For some players the words 'Ornstein and Smough' will conjure up so many various horrific memories of rage-induced controller-pounding it's enough to call in the men in white coats. So sickening and disgustingly programmed were the twin-enemies present near the previous title's end point....they decided to include a reworked Ornstein in DS2 by way of the Old Dragonslayer. What fun. Digressions aside though, the realisation that you had to do something of a Rocky Balboa and put the time in training your character up to take these guys on is one of the defining aspects of a Souls game. Or at least it should be. Most players would find an area near a bonfire and proceed to 'farm' or grind their way through said enemies over and over, eventually accruing enough points to slowly tot up their strength, defence, dexterity etc. until they approached the fight with renewed vigour...and got decimated again. Such is the nature of Ornstein and Smough. However the fact that you COULD grind those levels to your hearts content, was something that reminded many of doing a similar thing in the Final Fantasy's of old, custom-levelling themselves up to stand a better chance against a particularly hard boss. This time though, not only are you losing segments of your life bar with each death, but you can only defeat any enemy in a given section 12 times, before they disappear altogether (unless you procure Bonfire Ascetic - an item that makes surrounding enemies harder to kill, and is rumoured to bring them back to life too). How are you going to procure such an item to save yourself from a soulless purgatory though? You certainly can't afford to buy it being there are no enemies left to kill, and any other exploration into an unknown path quickly reminds you of how much damage you cannot take. It seems that any not versed in strictly managing their inventory can easily game themselves into a corner. However the obvious rebuttal will always be "But that's Dark Souls", and as much as you can expect people to somehow pick up the necessary skills to progress through social media and mass coverage osmosis, it is still extremely unforgiving and unfair to veterans and newbies alike.
