The Congo Civil War, or Congo Crisis, was a complex political tumult that began just days following Belgium’s granting of Congolese independence in 1960. Lasting four years, the associated violence claimed an estimated 100,000 lives including the nation’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, and UN Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld, who was killed in a plane crash as he attempted to mediate the crisis. Escalating with the secession of the southernmost province of Katanga, the conflict concluded five years later with a united Congo emerging under the dictatorship of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.
On June 30, 1960, Belgium negotiated post-colonial mining rights in declaring an independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Yet within days, soldiers of the Congolese army mutinied, demanding increased pay and the removal of white officers from their ranks. When Belgium intervened militarily, more soldiers rebelled. Many of these soldiers gravitated toward the radical nationalist Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba.
Then, dominated by Belgian business interests, the mineral-rich Katanga province under the leadership of Moïse Kapenda Tshombe seceded from the DRC with Belgian support. Congolese President Joseph Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba asked and received a peacekeeping force from the United Nations (UN).
The conflict also became the site of a dangerous Cold War “proxy” contest between western powers led by the United States and the Soviet Union-led Communist bloc. Under pressure from western nations and in exchange for UN support, President Kasavubu purged his government of radical elements including Prime Minister Lumumba. The ultra-nationalist Lumumba, though supported by the Congolese, was viewed by Western business leaders as an obstacle to their continued investments in Congolese diamond mines. Fearing Lumumba was secretly a Communist, the United States was particularly adamant about his removal from power.
Lumumba responded by firing Kasavubu as both leaders claimed control over the country, and Army Chief of Staff Joseph Mobutu in turn orchestrated a military coup d’état which ousted the two leaders. Mobutu’s government was supported by western governments. The Soviet Union and other Communist nations supported Lumumba who ultimately was killed by Katangan rebels.
With his chief rival removed, Mobutu pledged nominal support to President Kasavubu and the two led the successful effort to end the Katanga secession. UN forces eventually recaptured all of Katanga province. In 1964, a new rebellion began in the Eastern Congo when armed fighters (“Simbas”) began to spread across the region. Ironically, Moïse Tshombe, who had led the secessionist Katanga province, was made prime minister with the mandate to defeat these rebels and end other regional revolts. The Simbas were defeated in November 1964.
One year later, Mobutu seized power from President Kasavubu after having persuaded Western leaders that he was the most effective leader in the fight against communism. Kasavubu and Tshombe were exiled as Mobutu set up a one-party dictatorship, controlling the nation until 1997. Nonetheless, for the first time since independence, all of the country was ruled by one government.
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The feeling of combat in newer Soulsborne games has never felt quite right to me.
Take a look at weapon animation in DS1 vs Elden Ring. In DS1, the vast majority of the weapons had realistic animations. Only 2-3 weapons had you performing acrobatics beyond what a normal human could do. Sure there was magic and giant swords, but it felt grounded within a low-fantasy setting.
In Elden Ring, the majority of weapons feel straight out of an anime. You zip around doing flashy moves as a standard attack. Spells also got significantly more flashy and absurd. The Tarnished feels closer to a demigod in their abilities than they do a human. I feel like this shift in feeling has kinda destroyed the whole “overcoming these challenges as a small insignificant dude” vibe because your guy is able to swing their sword like a shonen protagonist.
I feel like the emotional heart of dark souls has been lost in order to create cool looking combat.
I’ve been enjoying using the Iron Cleaver for this reason. The moveset is brutal and quite strange. My character is still wearing the starting Prisoner gear. I think the average ER protagonist is meant to be more dignified than this, but the game still has a bit of space to be the same trodden-on cellmeat of DS1.
(Also the chest hair slider is independent of whether or not your character has breasts so the plunging v-neck of the prisoner gear is very important)
Mixed feels, cause I agree that like the giant hammer summersaults look cool, but within the story you are preparing to take over the mantle of a god. Plus, iirc the last souls before ER was Sekiro which plays quite differently in many ways, having only one primary weapon in the Katana.
You’re kinda doing the same thing in DS as well though, taking up the mantle of Gwyn as the Chosen undead.
I don’t fault Sekiro since it’s fundamentally a different combat system. ER and DS3 are more or less further developments of the formulas in DS1 though so I think it’s fair to criticize how they changed.
Totes fair.
Have you played Bloodborne? I haven’t, but I’ve heard it had a lot of influence on SoulsIII and ER’s combat.
Weird how a game that’s not part of the dark souls series of games is not 100% the same as the dark souls games.
Like yeah everything in elden Ring is more flashy than in dark souls pretty sure that’s on purpose because it’s a different game doing a different thing
It’s a gradual process that started in DS2 and continued into Elden Ring. Hence why I said “later soulsborne” instead of just Elden Ring.
If you’re going to be snarky, at least read the original comment.
yeah dark souls 2 and 3 suck, really good thing elden ring isn’t part of the dark souls series