When I criticise anything I try not to weigh the pros amongst the cons. I try to trust every intention of the creator/artist and consider how much it affects or resonates with me. Dark Souls is the perfect example of why I view art and media like this.

If you call this game perfect you're lying. A lot of it feels objectively fucking stupid. But how often do you get something as outstanding and influential as Dark Souls. The environments are like nothing I've seen before in video games, nor is the tone or the storytelling. I love the janky combat and the icky graphics. The builds can range from complex enough to satisfy a dedicated run, and simple enough to carry a casual to the finish line.

The first time I approached the notoriously difficult final boss, I figured I'd try to parry all his moves (despite having no experience with parrying or its timing) and to my surprise I parried all his moves with ease and beat him first time no stress. This may sound like bad boss design, but I felt rewarded for thinking outside the box, and it only happened because Dark Souls allows those type of things to happen. The combat and bosses are hard but rarely overpowering, they can best you quickly but you can best them just as quickly, you can outsmart almost every obstacle or even luck or cheese your way through it.

For every part that may be completely unfun is compensated for all the times I've thought about the game and realised how thankful I am for its existence. It's flawed but I don't care because it means too much to me.