Summary
With the largest roster in theSoulsseries,Dark Souls 2takes a lot of swings at boss design, with some hitting high points for the franchise and others not quite meeting the standard fans hold FromSoftware to. The encounter with Vendrick, the husk of the former king of Drangleic, is one of those fights that lean so heavily on lore that it fails to stack up againstDark Souls' best and toughest bosses.
This state of decline that players find Vendrick in is nothing new for theSoulsseries, and keeps a familiar tradition alive with fallen heroes inDark Souls 2. However, while many of the most prominent figures inDark Souls' lore are found to have fallen from grace, Vendrick’s fight is significant in how it seems to have sacrificed the quality of the encounter for the sake of the story.
Vendrick Becomes a Tragic Spectacle Worth Seeing, But Not Fighting
The Build-up to Finding Vendrick in Dark Souls 2
ThroughoutDark Souls 2’s long campaign, many players talk at length about King Vendrick, the leader of Drangleic alongside his wife Nashandra, with many holding him in a positive light. However, the current state of Drangleic when the player arrives already casts a shadow over the leadership quality of King Vendrick, considering that his kingdom has now been besieged by the undead curse. So, it comes as both a shock and a confirmation of something gnawing at the back of the player’s mind when they finally encounter Vendrick and he is not the regal figure others describe him as, but a pale husk circling mindlessly in a tiny room.
There have been hints of the descent of King Vendrick from the very beginning, most notably when discussing the way that he had handled the war against the Giants in the distant past. While some characters speak of Vendrick responding in defense of an assault by the Giants against Drangleic, others are more than willing to reveal that the King initiated the war in the first place. The result in the current time ofDark Souls 2is a sorry state for Vendrick and his Kingdom that molds his story around thedark themes of decay found throughout theSoulsseries.
Actually Fighting Dark Souls 2’s Vendrick
While thelore being built up inDark Souls 2around Vendrick falling to the whims of Nashandra and casting his kingdom into decline is compelling, this version of the king does little to make an engaging boss fight. This is because the fight itself amounts to little more than playing keep-away with Vendrick and repeatedly striking him from behind for several minutes. The boss only has a few attacks, which he does once every ten or so seconds, and barely reacts to actually being hit by the player.
Finding Vendrick for the first time, players will also be greeted with one of the largest health bars andhighest defense stats inDark Souls 2. The trick here is that players are supposed to go out and collect Giant Souls to reduce Vendrick’s defense and make the fight easier with each new soul acquired. However, with every Giant Soul in the player’s possession, this only amounts to cutting down the ten minutes of uneventful combat into five minutes of the exact same encounter.
Was Debasing Vendrick Worth It?
From the perspective of boss design, it is hard to defend the choice of making Vendrick a giant brick wall that rarely fights back but packs a massive punch when he does. That being said, lore is a key aspect of theFromSoftware formula, andDark Souls 2certainly delivers on that end by having players face off against the shell of the man who was once Vendrick. So, for the sake of paying off the plethora of lip service Vendrick receives throughout the game regarding his greatness and his mistakes, this is more than a fitting end.
Dark Souls 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Dark Souls 2, released in 2014, is the second title in From Software’s iconic Dark Souls series. Players create their own character, an “undead” who will one day become a zombie-like Hollow if players cannot break the curse by defeating a powerful enemy.
