There's No Shame In Returning To The Bonfire.

I get it now. There's no shame in returning to the Bonfire if you need to; the only shame is ending up back there because you were stupid.
— Chris Spann (@cs87) February 11, 2013

I had this realisation last night.

In most games, checkpoints are just that; a point in space that signifies progression. Checkpoints represent a safe zone that you can (usually) backtrack from safely, and allow you to press on, safe in the knowledge that not only was your last checkpoint not long ago, you're never too far way from the next one. Returning to a previous checkpoint is usually the result of you dying, running out of resource, or triggering some sort of failstate.

Dark Souls fucks that idea into a bin straight away.



In Dark Souls, returning to a previous checkpoint can (and indeed, should be considered progress) if you do it right.

Should anyone be stupid enough to follow my progress through Dark Souls, going will likely be slow. I'm not very good at it, and I can only usually sink an hour or two into the game before I either cry or have to go and do something like shopping or eating or other stupid real life things. As such, what I tend to do is set myself small milestones each time I play; a thing to achieve so that I can stop playing the game in a good mood, all the more ready to get back into it at the next available opportunity.

Last night's milestone? Kill the fucking Fanged Tusk boar thing.

I'd seen the boar twice before: The first time I'd learned what happens when you approach it (exactly what I expected, funnily enough), and the second time I'd cleared the area of the Hollowed soldiers with only a slither of health left, before running away from the boar so quickly I fell down the ladder I'd climbed up and died from the fall damage.

But not last night.

Upon entering Undead Parish I made short work of the soldier on the stairs, the swordsman and spear-bearer on the ground floor, then took out the archers above the tusky cunt. I'd already picked up and wasted the luring skulls, so I only had one option: lure the pig out, run back to the stairs where he couldn't get me, then shove my sword up the porcine bastard's jacksy as it walked back to its perch. Boom. One dead pig.

I checked my situation: 8 Estus flasks, and a fairly decent wodge of health. I decided to push on, see what was round the corner. Yes, I was carrying a couple of thousand souls that I really didn't want to lose, but I had Homeward Bones. "Fuck it", I thought. "If anything goes wrong, I'll just Homeward Bone back to the bonfire."

I climbed the tower, and ran straight into a Balder Knight and a spearman (who I have issues with anyway). I ran away from them, and ran straight into another Balder Knight. It was like every single one of those Slender reaction videos ever.

I Homeward Boned my pathetic little arse out of their without hesitation, my pride shattered (As far as I was concerned this was fine anyway, Dark Souls has no place for pride) but my crucial cargo of souls in tow.

That was my progress for last night: I'm level 14 now, I know where those Balder knights are, the fucking boar is dead (They don't respawn, I checked), and I'm going back to that trader I found to buy myself some firebombs. Next time, I'm getting to the next bonfire, and I'm going to find out what the shiny thing that second knight is guarding is.