Posts Tagged "Souls Series"

The Shows Must Go On!

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, and I’ve been invited back to The Spider’s Web in Yonkers, NY to promote and sell my work. So if you’re planning to make any stops for FCBD 2022, be sure to add The Spider’s Web to your list of locations, and drop by to say hello. Also making appearances on Saturday will be Michael Grassia (of Get in Toon!) and Emilio Velez, Jr. (Dodgeball Teens). And this is only the first of a number of growing shows this season on my 2022 convention list!

Read more… ›

Soul Long: The End of Dark Souls

Soul Long: The End of Dark Souls

It’s a bitter sweet moment. On one hand I feel that all stories must have an ending, even when I wish they would never end–I’m not much for on-going series. On the other, the Soulsborne games (that is Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series) have been a singular source of entertainment and inspiration for me for the past eight years. With the recent release of the final Dark Souls III DLC, The Ringed City, From Software has brought an end to the Dark Souls story and possibly an end to an era in gaming. Read more… ›

Borne from the Soul: The Experience of Dark Souls and its Value to Creators (and Everyone, for that Matter)

BorneFromTheSoul Soulsborne

What I think has drawn people to the Soulsborne series (affectionately named by its fans for the Dark Souls series, Demon’s Souls, and Bloodborne, collectively) and evolves to obsession for many of us, is the experience the games provide. Not the story. Not the gameplay. But the totality of all of the games’ collective parts.

For anyone who is not a gamer (or game designer, for that matter), I’ve heard it said that the highest point in the art of game design, the greatest achievement a game can make, is to seamlessly integrate all of its parts into a complete experience for the player. Like reading a book or watching a film, you never once want the game to feel disjointed, a part of it forced or out of place; the suspension of disbelief should never be broken. And having been a gamer all of my life, and speaking as someone with a bit of amateur experience and classes in game design, I can honestly say I have never played a game or series which has achieved this so (near) perfectly. Read more… ›

Some Updates

J. M. DeSantis News: Some Updates

2017 is already off to a roaring start. Over the past two weeks two of my comics, Chadhiyana #5 and Gentleman Cthulhu: Year One, were released online (the former by Rosarium Publishing). Then there’s the US Presidential Inauguration and everything happening around it (such as the Women’s March on Saturday). Even with all of that, this is something of an in between week for me. One of those weeks where I’ve been so busy with work, and so many gears are turning and plans are in motion, but there’s nothing official to announce. So I thought I’d take the time this week to just write a few updates and maybe (maybe) hint at a few things to come. Read more… ›

A Return to the Land of the First Flame

Dark_Souls_2_cover

Not since I was working on Game-Flush.com (which is becoming quite a dated reference now) have I written about video games or my gaming experiences. Though this is a blog primarily about my writing and art, gaming has been one of the few past times in which I have consistently engaged since an early age. As such, video games have always been an inspiration to me creatively, and in fact are largely responsible for why I turned to comics as a medium for telling my stories (perhaps I’ll write more on that another time). So, I thought I’d change things up a bit this week and write about games. Specifically, the Souls series, in honour of recently completing my first play though Dark Souls 2. Read more… ›