cerastes:

Quiet Resolve is a peak gesture and I think very indicative of the general atmosphere of Dark Souls.

It’s what the Chosen Undead does in the Dark Souls 1 “Ignite” trailer, and it was finally brought into gameplay in Dark Souls 3 (alongside the other heavily fan-requested gesture, Patches Squat).

You gotta keep in mind that Dark Souls is a very positive, optimist franchise in its core. It’s set in a desolate, dark fantasy setting with misery at every turn, and what’s your ‘superpower’? What’s what allows you to be the difference the world needs? Not giving up. Not staying down. 

So when you’ve gotten eviscerated, crushed, burnt, devoured, torn apart, and petrified for the 500th time, what do you do? You get the hell up, and you walk away from the bonfire. Maybe the 501st try will be the golden one. And if it isn’t? There’s always 502nd.

And after your first run those 502 attempts become something like 2 or 3. Because you stopped running headfirst into the wall and instead learned how to take it down properly. The 502 attempts will seem like a funny story by then. “Wow, how could it take me so long to figure out that boss?” Yeah, that’s what winning feels like.

A game that punishes failure and rewards success is a good game, and a game that makes you work for that success by providing difficult but fair challenges is an excellent game. That’s why we have this legacy here and now. That’s Quiet Resolve. Just a little gesture that says big words:

“Screw that. I am not staying down. See you, bonfire.”

So, I’m not a fan of the usual gremlin that puts others down for not minmaxing or ~*~knowing~*~ how to do everything from the get-go. “Git gud” is the creed of the fool. Elitism and pessimism aren’t the point of the game. Dark Souls is not a good game because it’s hard, it’s a good game because it punishes failure harshly, so that you understand you need to improve and do something differently, and then, once you do, it rewards success generously. 

I hope all the people that are getting started with Remastered or revisiting 1 through it keep this in mind, though it is obviously mostly aimed at newer players. Don’t let the game intimidate you, have fun with it, and the sooner you understand that defeat is not supposed to be exclusively frustrating, that it is supposed to be educational, and that there’s no better challenge than one worth overcoming, the more you’ll enjoy your trip through Lordran.