If you've already seen my Lordran's Layout video, I'm revisiting some familiar territory here. But I realized that googling about this specific topic gets a bunch of scattered resources, one of which is an old imgur album of GIFs I made years back. I figured I'd try my hand at doing a more definitive-examination, and one that's hopefully easier to find & link whenever this comes up in discussion. I'm chipping away at the next Demon's Souls Compare-Through but I also might have another off-series, shorter video like this on the way as well. If you'd like to support this channel please consider supporting me on Patreon! www.patreon.com/illusorywall Thanks for watching! :)
I have already once proposed this, but do you think it might be possible to get map data from ds1 and map data from ds3 into one programm and overlaying them exactly where anor londo is, to see how much the land around it has changed? I don't know if it would even interest you but i think it would be cool to see if for example they bothered putting farron keep at roughly the same location as darkroot garden and stuff like that.
Thanks for the in-depth video! In regard to the possible collapsed pathway to Oolacile in the present, what does that area look like in the past? We can peer down into the Valley of Drakes from Kalameet's boss arena and see that New Londo (or its drainage gate) doesn't exist yet, but we can't see if the Oolacile gate exists. Also, can you free-cam down to where Oolacile should be in the present?
@@nightscout9979 Sadly none of the Valley of Drakes is rendered from Oolacile's perspective, it's just an empty valley. I don't know if the takeaway is that New Londo didn't exist yet, or if they just didn't bother putting it in. You can look down towards Oolcaile in the present. Sadly there's not much to see, just some low-res trees and hills. One semi-tantalizing detail is that there's an opening down and to the left, which should be near to where the Township descends from (starting up near the bonfire and going down). Near the last screenshot seen here- imgur.com/a/p2XQf4E
@@illusorywall You mentioned that the valley isn't rendered, but aside from New Londo's drainage seal and the bridge, what in the Valley of Drakes appears in the present that should also be there in the past? The general terrain, when looking down from Kalameet's arena near the Gough's Great Arrows corpse, seems to match the general terrain seen from the cliffside at Havel's tower and the Grass Crest Shield path. Also, speaking of the present and Oolacile, is there a rendering of the collapsed Oolacile pathway when using free-cam from the Darkroot Basin? Perhaps if there is, the rubble might be gone due to the area normally not being visible, which could reveal an early development idea. Thanks for the close shots of the old Oolacile territory in the present. I was curious if it might have been flooded, due to the dried-up river in the past becoming a roaring river in the present.
I think it is more likely that, between solid bark and flimsy cloth, bark can stand the test of time and weather far better than cloth. Especially when there is such a massive long time gap between the past and present.
It could also just be that she left the ring that symbolized her allegiance as a knight of qwen as a tribute or as way to symbolically leaving her old life behind
Where are they now: Dark Souls edition! Gwyn: Dead. Giant blacksmith: dead. Quelaags sister: dead. Andre the blacksmith: Still alive! Trusty Patches: literally survived until the end of the world.
Here's a weird theory: Hydras drop dragon scales... One hydra is found in Ash Lake, near the last Everlasting Dragon... One hydra is found in Darkroot Garden, where the second-to-last Everlasting Dragon (Kalameet) was killed... What if hydras grow from severed parts of Everlasting Dragons? The Everlasting Dragon grows that part back, and the severed part tries to grow back a whole dragon. But dragon anatomy is way more complicated than that of, say, starfish, so it ends up creating this weird mutant thing that repeats complex extremities like heads and tails too many times. That's why you use dragon scales to upgrade dragon tail weapons - they're still alive, and if left unattended for long enough (perhaps centuries, given how long it may have taken one to grow in Darkroot) they would eventually grow into new hydras. Scales themselves are too small, and not actually made of living tissue, so they're preserved in later games even though Everlasting Dragons and even hydras have gone extinct.
@@aceboogie8941 Not hard to do, but virtually no one noticed. So it was still some amount of effort for a little detail that was generally overlooked, which is cool.
I already was well aware that Oolicile and Darkroot were indeed the same, but with how a lot of the assets and the map in general has just enough subtle changes to disorient you, it was hard to visualize. This video feels like one of those unanswered questions finally getting an answer and relieving you.
The way its reversed so you start in the Boss Arena of Darkroot, and work your way backwards through it is also pretty confusing to wrap your head around from an on-the-ground perspective.
@@peeeepthis right? Can we take a moment to appreciate just how wrong they were, though? The devs could have easily done less work to make the place feel different while keeping everything copy-pasted, but they actually went and replaced each tree with a younger looking one?? Without a video like this, I certainly wouldn't have noticed. It's cool that they put in that extra effort, but I don't envy the person who had to make sure every tree lined up 🤣
Or more accurately at least 200 or 300 years, maybe more (the DLC occurs in that timeframe before DS1 since pyromancies amongts humans are a thing and those got to the human world around about that time, since Salaman was the first human pyromancer and was taught by quelana around 200-300 years ago)
@@floppydisksareop But in Ds3 you can find ruins of Ds1 locations like the Depths which even has Izalith's daughter's corpses, or Anor Londo. So it's not out of the realm of possibility.
@@PatienceKiss You also find Earthen Peak and a Giant Tree from DS2, but Drangleic is very much not Lordran. Time is convoluted, worlds are crashing together.
I was proud of myself for looping the spinning attack animation to make it look like clearing the area out, but I realized now I could've moved Sif somewhere else with trees still standing to sell the effect better. Oh well! :p
2:25 here you have the proof that Gwyn didn't banish the firstborn: _The events in the AOTA dlc take place 200 years before the main story (it was said in an interview) _Gwyn sacrified himself to the first flame 1.000 years ago (dialogue with Frampt), so Gwyn was already death in the events of the dlc _There is a broken statue of the firstborn in the undead burg, and thank to this video we learned that the burg was build after Gwyn's death and the AOTA dlc, and you don't build a statue of a person who has been exiled and his name has been erased from history just to destroy it a few seconds later, the firstborn wasn't yet exiled _You have sunlight blade description too ("when the eldest son was stripped of his deific status, he left this on his father's coffin, perhaps as a final farewell") which implies that Gwyn was already dead _Also in the japanese text when Kaathe says "Lord Gwyn resisted the course of nature by sacrificing himself to link the Fire and commanding his children to shepherd the humans" the word used for children is 息子たち (musukotachi): 息子 (musuko) means "son/male child" while たち (tachi) points at the plurality of the noun, so before linking the fire he left the power specifically to his sons aka the firstborn and Gwyndolin So, if Gwyn didn't banished the firstborn, who did it? I think that the only candidate is Lloyd, Gwyn's uncle, and there is why: _He was the only person with enough power to do such a thing (he was the head of the Way of White, the main religion of dark souls world, he was like the pope) _After Gwyn's death the firstborn became king of the gods: since Gwyn left the power to his sons is safe to assume that the firstborn succeded him and became the new king of Anor Londo (Gwyndolin on the other hand remained in the shadows and became the head of the Blades of the Darkmoon), and the fact that he succeded his father is further supported by the description of the ring of the sun's firstborn, in japanese in the "inherited the sunlight" part the world used for inherit is 継いだ and it means "to succeed to a position or to a person in a business or inheritance, to take on, to take over, to inherit", so it could be read as "he succeded his dead father and inherited the sunlight, becoming the new Lord of Sunlight", also the description of the lightning storm miracle in ds3 reads "the FORMER KING and wargod tamed a stormdrake", and that's why he's known as the nameless king _In japanese Lloyd's title is not Allfather but King of the Gods (主神/shushin, literally "main god (of a phanteon)" or "chief god"), so he banished the firstborn and then he took the throne for himself, that's why the description of Lloyd's sword ring says "Lloyd was a derivative fraud, and the Allfather (King of the gods) title was self-proclaimed" Also "derivative fraud" should be more correcly translated as "collateral relative": the clerics of Carim are not criticizing Lloyd existence or the fact that he was a random dude that declared himself Gwyn's uncle, they are saying that Lloyd, being Gwyn's uncle and thus a collateral relative, was not in the position to assume the role of king of the gods since Gwyndolin, being the other son of Gwyn, shoul have inherited the throne. In DS3 however we see that Gwyndolin has finally taken his rightful title since Lloyd is nowhere to be found and the soul of Sulyvahn in japanese specifically says that he imprisoned the chief god of the old royalty in the abandoned cathedral, and also you can see Gwyndolin with a crown on the silver coin thar appears near the messages with a lots of upvotes. And fun fact: in japanese Lloyd is called 叔父 (oji) which means uncle, specifically younger than one’s parent, so he's the little brother of Gwyn's father/mother :)
Holy shit, that does make sense. It also explains why we find the Sunlight Blade miracle in Gwyn's cenotaph; at first I thought Nameless just came back after Gwyn linked the fire, but it's clear he simply left it there before being banished. One thing I don't understand, though: what happened to Lloyd between the banishment of Nameless and the events of Dark Souls 1? Gwyndolin is clearly in control of Anor Londo by the time the Chosen Undead gets there and Lloyd is nowhere to be seen, yet he's clearly influential since human gold coins are fashioned after him and Undead Hunter Charms are still named Lloyd Talismans. Did he give Gwyndolin the throne and move somewhere else for some reason, or did Gwyndolin out-Scar him?
@@Dinoman972 I think Lloyd in ds1 fled with the other gods (sun princess ring description) but nontheless he was still the king, Gwyndolin just refused to abandon Anor Londo along with the others and so, since he was the last remaining deity, he took control of the city and with Frampt created the Chosen undead prophecy and Gwynevere's illusion trying to save the situation. Then at some point after the Chosen undead sacrifice Gwyndolin, having earned more followers, decides to dethrone Lloyd and take his rightful title as king of the gods (in japanese he's refereed as king of the gods in the description of the soul of Sulyvahn). So the timeline is: _Lloyd is king, you can find his imagine on coins and undead hunter charms have his name _King Lloyd, along with the other gods (like Gwynevere and Flann) abandon Anor Londo _Gwyndolin decides to remain in Anor Londo and with Frampt creates the prophecy and the illusions _Chosen undead sacrifice _Gwyndolin earns followers and decides to take the power for himself so he depose Lloyd _In ds3 Gwyndolin is the righful king of the gods, Lloyd adoration in the Way of White is no longer common and he's treated as an opportunist
I find it fascinating to look up to the anor londo wall from the dlc. At that point in time, oolacile was dealing with its own problem, but the rest of the world was theoretically functioning in the age of fire. Before the undead curse. Before the flame started to fade. When you look at that wall, there is a normal world with normal people and lives going about their day just behind it. A point in time or history that we never really get to witness.
As far as I know, the events of the dlc take place 300 years before the events of the main game. Gwyn linked the fire 1000 years ago. Meaning the flame was fading once more by the events of the dlc. The fire had already been linked. I could easily be wrong about the timeline of oolacile though. Another thing I noticed, is that the Sanctuary Guardian soul glows brighter than the souls of current day, meaning the flame was much stronger in the time of oolacile
tbf thats probably happening by the events on the game as well. The entire world hasnt gone to hell youre just visiting the ground zero of it all. Carim, Catarina, Vinheim, other than one of their own turning undead these places are probably living normal lives still while ds1 is happening. I guess its another thing entirely to be able to literally SEE an area.
@@wowitsfrostygames155 argueably not all of the game even, sure all the burgs, depths, New Londo and blighttown are all in the shiter but Anor Londo is doing great and both the forest defenders and demons have very functional societies that are still making stuff and hacing like culture and stuff
The Kalameet area being the same as the Hydra fight blew my mind. I always knew Oolacile was just Darkroot in the past but for some reason I didn't connect that specific area. In my defence I was too busy fighting a stupid dragon.
@@seedmole Yeah, it really makes it feel like that DS2 is hundreds of thousands of years after 1 with only scant artifacts remaining. People who say that they aren't related are the same people who say Nashandra was too easy for no reason, despite her being called the weakest and smallest piece of Manus.
Love it when devs think of a smart way for re-using levels & textures, therefore reducing cost and time that could be used for something else (a.k.a. the amazing bossfights in this DLC)
and tbh, its much more fun having it like this then having a complete new area. time is such a fun and interesting concept for areas and a world that changed
It still felt like a completely different area, the way we start from a different point, enemy placements and the very few changes they did made it play completely different. If it wasn't for the luminous flowers, architecture and tree folk, would we recognize the layout?
And it also fots thematically. They make it clear that time and space itself is fucked in that whole area, which is why we see much of the same landmarks and locations in all three games. (Slightly corrupted and changed as time goes on, of course)
I've always wondered if the grass crest shield was linked to Oolacile. It's found in Darkroot and is said to be magical with an unknown origin. I like to use it in Dusk cosplay builds for that reason
Yeah I believe it's intended to be linked thematically, but since you go down that zig-zagging path in the Darkroot Basin, and we see how from Kalemeet's arena there's just a cliff that dead-ends there, that means we can't go to the exact spot where we find it. Maybe it got passed down a few generations but never made it far from the area. :p
Well if you consider that the reward you get from Spear of Church does the same effect as chloranthy ring and grass crest shield, I think that maybe that unknown symbol that such items have could belong to Filianore's instead, also Ringed CIty have connections to Oolacile
@@TastyCarcass Yeah the NPC that you fight at the spear of the church boss battle came from a mission from oolacile that visited the ringed city that also would explain how one of the pilgrims from ringed city came to oolacile who would become manus
I remember reading a theory somewhere that a dragon dying near a body of water causes a hydra to spawn. That's why we see the blue hydra where Kalameet died and the black hydra in ash lake where the last everlasting dragon is and where you can also find some dragon scales.
Oh dang, I never noticed the walls of Anor Londo were visible in Oolacile as well! That's so cool, so it existed back then before the whole Undead Burg was built.
@@user-tw1pm6nr5e probably exactly the same, just with people the whole theme of the gods in the game is of a lack of change, clinging to the past, clinging to the fire, so it's hard to imagine the city being dynamic and changing over time also the anor londo we see is literally an illusion so
I would love to see that happen more in from software games. The map design of dark souls is one of my favorite things from that game, it sticks in your memory. Travelling through the same areas in different eras is wonderful addition to an already great map. I think this has been the topic of many videos along the years but yours is great for it's clarity, thanks and well done!
It is a thing in each of the souls games, my favorite is the memories of the war with giants in 2! Being able to speak to vendrick in the past was very cool as well.
One of my favorite parts of DS3 when I played through it for the first time was stumbling my way through Irythill only to discover a very familiar chamber containing a very familiar statue hiding a very familliar hallway leading to a very familiar ceremonial tomb. Returning to Anor Londo after so long (albeit a frozen, stripped down version), was such an absolute treat!
I didn't play the other two games although I am aware of the Anor Londo amongst other references. I don't think I was clear but I meant that wish they done that more than once per game, if they did that a couple times within a game I would love that. But maybe it would get overwhelming?
Shame we never find out what happened to Gough, as far as I'm aware. I like to think he's still out there somewhere, carving beautiful woodwork for phantoms to throw at each other for janky communication.
I guess he finally went to Anor Londo to visit his friend the blacksmith Giant and left him his ring? or maybe that happened before he went to Oolacile?
The fact they took the time to fucking replace the trees with smaller trees, but keep them in the same spot is such good attention to detail holy shit. I always thought they just 1-1 copied Darkroot garden and brightened it up.
I had a big mindblow moment when staring at the drake bridge, always wondering whats on the other side of the caved in road... After playing the dlc it hit me, Oolacile was on the other end. The path from Old Londo Ruins used to lead to Oolacile before it completely fell to ruins. Little details like this make Dark Souls 1 still have my favourite map design of all time. Edit- I commented this at the start of the video, so glad you picked up on it too! Haven't seen anyone else mention it, seems like a big detail. The fact that the abyssal boss arenas literally overlap is amazing! I'm so happy about this haha
This really puts a new perspective on Alvina and the forest hunters. We technically only see her a little in the chasm of the abyss, but it‘s safe to say she lived in Oolacile. She wants to protect what little remains of her home and preserve the dignity of all the poor souls who fell with Oolacile
Marvelous Chester has always been one of the more enigmatic characters in the Souls series. I always found it really hard to believe that he was some sort of Bloodborne reference, but I guess it could have been in early conceptual stages by the time this dlc was first released.
I don't think its a direct reference. I believe he is what he says he is, a traveler from a different world and time. His outfit certainly could have been inspired from early bloodborne concepts though.
I own the Dark Souls Collector's Edition when it came out in 2011. It came with an art book that had Chester and a Fat Official like character from Demon's Souls, which we never see in game. Both characters have similar attire, and his design definitely existed before Bloodborne and maybe been an inspiration for some Bloodborne concepts later on.
I was prepared to write a snarky comment about how everyone already knows oolacile is darkroot garden, but this video is really well done and draws attention to details that I’d never have noticed otherwise
I always knew, on some level, that Darkroot and Oolacile were the same place, even if I wasn't consciously aware of it. The place is just vaguely familiar enough to give off that feeling. But this honestly puts a whole nother perspective into exactly how long the Age of Fire lasted. For the ground to heal, for water to fill that basin, for a whole undead burg to be constructed, all of that probably would've taken hundreds of years. I always assumed that it was all 20-30 years ago but no, this event was probably near the tail end of the "Lordran Golden Age", which was centuries before us.
It's hard to know if it's meant to be literal or not, but multiple characters mention that Gwyn linked the flame 1,000 years ago. We can safely assume that Gwyn was still alive during the events of AOTA, since New Londo hadn't fallen to Dark yet and Gwyn bequeathed a portion of his soul to the Four Kings before he died. If we're taking the “1,000 years” line at face value it means the DLC could take place anywhere between the beginning of the Undead Curse, and 1,000ish years ago at most recent. Of course, 1,000 years could be an exaggeration but considering how drastically the world changes between AOTA and the base game, I can believe it.
Considering how Fromsoft originally planned for the dlc to be in the base game, I wonder if they would have implemented that Valley of the Drakes entrance to be the dlc entrance, maybe exit. Also never heard that Ciaran audio before, which gives more insight on the weird placement of the Wolf Ring corpse and why it's there.
i forgot where that was and i went to see a video on where its located and of ALL the coincidences the player in this 2018 video is in all Chester gear. lol th-cam.com/video/WvMs_MhsZps/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=GamerGamer
Why it's there is at least in part to reinforce the connection between this place and artorias, which new players going in blind may need for when they hear Ingward's dialogue and wonder how they are supposed to find that artorias guy
The thing is a whole DLC's content was planned for base game. There is no content in DLC that was made up further, after base game was released. Always.
At first I was wondering why you made this video, since I thought this topic was more or less common knowledge among fans. But it totally makes sense to create an easy to find and understand video explaining the whole thing. Also, that ending section was hilarious
@@KaptainKommissar me neither no one i watch ever talks about it, probably bc they think everyone already knew, thus completely the circle leading to our shared ignorance lmao
Years later, the weight of his constant thievery was too much for Chester to handle, and he sought out Sif, who after serveral bites, was satisfied by the return of Artorias' ring. Hence why she was able to "give" us the ring
There's an unused version of Chester with some kind of short Zweihander looking weapon. That same weapon can be found stuck to the ground around Artorias' grave
Stuff like this is why Dark Souls has stayed one of my favorite games for years, and it makes me so happy to learn things I never realized about a game I thought I knew so well. It really goes to show you Miyazaki's excruciating detail on world building, lore, and how he wanted everything to fit perfectly like little puzzle pieces. The fact that you could take both maps side by side and show exactly what happened to each other is so fucking cool. Big props for all the work you put in man.
2:49 dude i never noticed the scarecrows trim trees and grounds keep basically. It puts a new context on the world there and makes it seem like they were appointed to be grounds keepers for nobles or gods i guess, almost like a well maintained garden forest. I usually spend so much time either pissed or speed running past them to notice, or they trigger and start attacking me before i could ever see the trimming animation.
Hey! The research i did years ago does show up when people wonder about this topic. But I don’t like the way it is presented so I’ll do a fully fledged video to give them an easy answer. That is commitment.
I have to say, you ended up doing a very nice synchronized choreography job on this video. As a Dark Souls video maker as well, I can appreciate the efforts you put in. Your work has always been a delight for me, and I am still, after all this years, enjoying the Dark Souls community at it finest thanks of you! Thank you!
While I had always known they were the same place in different time periods, it's nice to see them compared side by side. Not much has changed as far as the forest goes, but I never considered looking for undead burg or any other landmarks in the distance. Thanks for this!
Finally, some side-by-side action, this is all I’ve been tryna see. The idea of revisiting familiar locations that have changed over time is such a cool concept, but it’s so hard to appreciate all the overlaps and differences just by memory alone. Thanks for this bro.
It’s also worth some note that the stone golems and the stone soldiers have VERY similar helmets, with the main difference being that the top part is cut in half. Though aside from size and being stone they really lack any other similarities
I genuinely had never heard about this or thought about it, but when you showed what the bridge to Sif's arena looks like when you turn around, I made the connection instantly. Really impressive how many of the details match up, and how much sense it made. Thought I knew everything about thsi game already, but never knew about this. Good work.
You're one of my favourite content creators for Dark Souls, I knew about you from the DS community beforehand (albeit on the fringe as my interactions there are best described as a fringe lurker) so I was properly stoaked when you started creating videos, due to a combination of my being lazy and honestly finding I absorb information via video best these days (time restrictions and the wonderful world or responsibility that comes with being an adult) being the reason. But honestly thank you so much, Dark Souls is one of my favourite game franchises of the last 30 years (being a big fan of all it's primary inspirations helps, been reading the Berserk manga since 1997 lol) and your diligence and approach in peeling back this onion of inspirations, aspirations and limitations puts you so far ahead of your standard DS lore/mechanics channel (with some notable exceptions, Zulie for one) that they pale in comparison. So once again, from the abyss that's become my heart, thanks so much. You've given me many respites from my life and allowed me to vicariously escape from a world that's seemingly more grim than the fantasy one we enjoy. I can't support you financially yet (let's just say that being a full time carer for a parent doesn't exactly pay well), but once I am able to I most certainly shall be. I wish you nothing but success and happiness in all your endeavours.
Thanks for going out there and getting the footage we all needed. I know I always caught onto that bridge and a few other spots, but as others have said, it's nice actually seeing it line-up in a video.
i knew already that it was the same place as i put the pieces together while playing like probably most people. but the detail all the way up to the age of the trees and the identical spots on the map? dark souls 1 is a genuine masterpiece. they didnt have any reason to be so detailed as im sure very few/no regular players would have noticed without an actual comparison like this. beautiful, genuinely.
wow i knew the two areas had significant overlap but this tour showed it so perfectly. for some reason i just never recognized MOST OF IT. like wow they start you out in sifs arena!
Farron Keep is Darkroot in the far future! You can find the Mushrooms there, The crown of dusk, and some landmarks look a lot like parts of OOlacile/Darkroot.
This was awesome to see. I knew that they were one in the same, but I've never seen them directly compared like this and didn't realize you could see things like the future path outside the gardens. Thank you for this.
There is something very peaceful and calming about being able to see a player-character walk past the scarecrow gardeners in peace. 🙂 (edit: the music definitely helps.)
The Undead Burg not being there brings up some big lore questions. 1. Was Sen's Fortress there yet? 2. Was Firelink Shrine there yet since it connects to the parish 3. Where is Oolacile and the construction of Undead Burg in the timeline exactly? (was it before or after Gwyn linking the flame)
If the DLC happened before the Undead curse, there would be no reason for Sen's Fortress to test worthy undead. Bonfires are made from undead ash (as stated in DS2), so there shouldn't be any present yet. And Gwyn linked the fire in response to the Undead curse, so it should have happened after the DLC.
I was wrong. A commenter here @Aifos said that Gwyn linked the fire 1000 years before the game, seemingly as a prophylactic measure. So the Undead Curse arrived way after the linking. My other points should still stand.
@@ixian_technocrat But I thought Sen's Fortress was originally a training ground for the knights and soldiers and then modified into the death trap we all know. I am pretty sure that Andre mentions that
Back when dark souls first came out I remember part of the reason I liked it to much was that you could look off into the distance and see all the other locations you'd be going to. I felt like that always made the world seem so much more real.
Chester died in BB and got isekai'ed into DS1 then he died again and now he is in Elden Ring. Or it was Amirs cat, who did all this. We need more investigations.
That bit at the end about Nashandra gave me pause: I always assumed, Nashandra and her sisters were born of fragments of the abyss, after its manifestation as Manus was gone. But what if that only held true for 3 of them, and Nashandra is not only created in the likeness of, but instead indeed IS Dusk, after being consumed by the abyss herself - That would mean in an effort to save Lordran in the past, the Chosen Undead would have doomed Drangleic in the future.
I like how you get straight to the point. No lengthy overdrawn intro explaining what I already know from the thumbnail and title. Just "I see a topic in my suggestions", I click it, *topic being discussed*. No sponsor segments, no begging for likes just straight to the point. Really shows you are authentically enthusiastic about the game and not just using it and the fanbase as a means to an end. Cool video also!
5:04 I must correct you: the New Londo's Abyss was indeed older than Oolacile's. Artorias ventured in the former before failing his mission in the latter.
Wait, where exactly does it say that Artorias had anything to do with New Londo? I always took it for granted, but none of the item descriptions mention it - Darkwraiths and the Abyss itself aren't exclusive to New Londo. The items also mention "beast of the abyss", which we don't see in Dark Souls 1.
@@ilmezzofondiere I've already read multiple Reddit discussions about this, precisely because it sent me into a research spree. None of the Artorias items mention New Londo, and it's extremely improbable that New Londo existed at the time of Oolacile. Ingward talks about Artorias as a "legend", despite being a person that has flooded New Londo. If New Londo is a job of Artorias, for which he was granted a lot of accolades, then it's a really crappy and botched job. There's nothing signifying any kind of influence Artorias had on New Londo - the Darkwraiths are still there, so are the Four Kings.
I have been trying to visualise this for years since the first time I walked back from Sif’s area and noticed how similar it is to the dlc. Thank you so much for making these side by side comparisons. Also, I know what happened to Chester, but he called me ‘thick’ so he does not deserve to have his story shared, cheeky beggar!
Totally! I mean, it's only hinted at in cut content (Ciaran asking where you found his ring), and there's not any particular reason cut content should be treated as canon. But since it's also not really incongruous with anything in-game, the idea Chester never made it out and eventually just died in the area is pretty cool to me. It's been my headcanon ever since finding that cut dialog. :)
@@illusorywall - While it doesn't quite jive with Ciaran's cut dialog, I do like the idea that Chester might have looted the corpse or the grave of Artorias at some point, & this infraction inspired Alvina to form the Forest Hunters.
@@illusorywall Oh interesting. Are we thinking the Wolf Ring being a loose link into Bloodborne? Given BB was in dev around the same time, Chester is almost proto BB character design and the Brotherhood of the Wolf inspiration.
If you've already seen my Lordran's Layout video, I'm revisiting some familiar territory here. But I realized that googling about this specific topic gets a bunch of scattered resources, one of which is an old imgur album of GIFs I made years back. I figured I'd try my hand at doing a more definitive-examination, and one that's hopefully easier to find & link whenever this comes up in discussion.
I'm chipping away at the next Demon's Souls Compare-Through but I also might have another off-series, shorter video like this on the way as well. If you'd like to support this channel please consider supporting me on Patreon!
www.patreon.com/illusorywall
Thanks for watching! :)
I have already once proposed this, but do you think it might be possible to get map data from ds1 and map data from ds3 into one programm and overlaying them exactly where anor londo is, to see how much the land around it has changed? I don't know if it would even interest you but i think it would be cool to see if for example they bothered putting farron keep at roughly the same location as darkroot garden and stuff like that.
Thanks for the in-depth video! In regard to the possible collapsed pathway to Oolacile in the present, what does that area look like in the past? We can peer down into the Valley of Drakes from Kalameet's boss arena and see that New Londo (or its drainage gate) doesn't exist yet, but we can't see if the Oolacile gate exists. Also, can you free-cam down to where Oolacile should be in the present?
@@nightscout9979 Sadly none of the Valley of Drakes is rendered from Oolacile's perspective, it's just an empty valley. I don't know if the takeaway is that New Londo didn't exist yet, or if they just didn't bother putting it in.
You can look down towards Oolcaile in the present. Sadly there's not much to see, just some low-res trees and hills. One semi-tantalizing detail is that there's an opening down and to the left, which should be near to where the Township descends from (starting up near the bonfire and going down). Near the last screenshot seen here-
imgur.com/a/p2XQf4E
@@illusorywall You mentioned that the valley isn't rendered, but aside from New Londo's drainage seal and the bridge, what in the Valley of Drakes appears in the present that should also be there in the past? The general terrain, when looking down from Kalameet's arena near the Gough's Great Arrows corpse, seems to match the general terrain seen from the cliffside at Havel's tower and the Grass Crest Shield path.
Also, speaking of the present and Oolacile, is there a rendering of the collapsed Oolacile pathway when using free-cam from the Darkroot Basin? Perhaps if there is, the rubble might be gone due to the area normally not being visible, which could reveal an early development idea.
Thanks for the close shots of the old Oolacile territory in the present. I was curious if it might have been flooded, due to the dried-up river in the past becoming a roaring river in the present.
Wow thank you so much! I played the DLC for the first time this weekend and googled this yesterday. This is immediately more clear than what I found.
I've always loved how the tree people at some point decided "Yeah we don't really need clothes."
I think it is more likely that, between solid bark and flimsy cloth, bark can stand the test of time and weather far better than cloth. Especially when there is such a massive long time gap between the past and present.
I always thought/think that they are just overgrown
Big Hat Logan thought the same thing.
Like that naked wizard from adventure time
@@SeaSudsy I see what you did there 😏
Never realized that the reason the hornet ring is behind Artorias' grave is because Ciaran never left his side, that makes her story a little sadder.
nooooooo ,now i want to cry because i always kill her for her armor
It could also just be that she left the ring that symbolized her allegiance as a knight of qwen as a tribute or as way to symbolically leaving her old life behind
@@dh3725 On a dead body?
@@CarrotConsumer ....oh, yeah... I forgot about that
@@dh3725 hhhh😂
The 'Where are they now? Lordran Edition' absolutely killed me.
Ditto! Came for the archaeology, stayed for the comedy
It killed me in a different way at 6:01.
💔
love that part xD
Where are they now: Dark Souls edition!
Gwyn: Dead.
Giant blacksmith: dead.
Quelaags sister: dead.
Andre the blacksmith: Still alive!
Trusty Patches: literally survived until the end of the world.
@@somethingelse1388 Patches is honestly probably Allfather Lloyd in disguise or something
Here's a weird theory:
Hydras drop dragon scales...
One hydra is found in Ash Lake, near the last Everlasting Dragon...
One hydra is found in Darkroot Garden, where the second-to-last Everlasting Dragon (Kalameet) was killed...
What if hydras grow from severed parts of Everlasting Dragons? The Everlasting Dragon grows that part back, and the severed part tries to grow back a whole dragon. But dragon anatomy is way more complicated than that of, say, starfish, so it ends up creating this weird mutant thing that repeats complex extremities like heads and tails too many times.
That's why you use dragon scales to upgrade dragon tail weapons - they're still alive, and if left unattended for long enough (perhaps centuries, given how long it may have taken one to grow in Darkroot) they would eventually grow into new hydras.
Scales themselves are too small, and not actually made of living tissue, so they're preserved in later games even though Everlasting Dragons and even hydras have gone extinct.
Given the nature of titanite demons and the centipede demon... and maybe crystal lizards... Yeah, why not?
@@D3Z3R7 in this game a naked fuck with a stick can kill ancient gods
Everything is possible there
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola eh add some skill and patience puls some souls and some tinate yes
@@matthewbennett3353 I'm planning to all 99 stats my character just for fun
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola okay? Cool i have a account that has 99 stat not resistance
The trees in the past actually being thinner... FromSoft's dedication to minor details continues to impress.
These were really slow growing trees :)
That's some really infertile land then. Or unnaturally slow-growers.
@@s2korpionic or hearty growers, being the only things to survive chaos, abyss, and destruction for millennia.
Not hard to do but okay
@@aceboogie8941 Not hard to do, but virtually no one noticed. So it was still some amount of effort for a little detail that was generally overlooked, which is cool.
I already was well aware that Oolicile and Darkroot were indeed the same, but with how a lot of the assets and the map in general has just enough subtle changes to disorient you, it was hard to visualize. This video feels like one of those unanswered questions finally getting an answer and relieving you.
Couldn't have said it better myself well done.
yep
The way its reversed so you start in the Boss Arena of Darkroot, and work your way backwards through it is also pretty confusing to wrap your head around from an on-the-ground perspective.
@@phant0mdummy lol you're the worst
@@peeeepthis right? Can we take a moment to appreciate just how wrong they were, though? The devs could have easily done less work to make the place feel different while keeping everything copy-pasted, but they actually went and replaced each tree with a younger looking one??
Without a video like this, I certainly wouldn't have noticed. It's cool that they put in that extra effort, but I don't envy the person who had to make sure every tree lined up 🤣
4:19 in case you were wondering how a Laddersmith could be famous, this ladder has survived, unchanged, for thousands of years!
Or more accurately at least 200 or 300 years, maybe more (the DLC occurs in that timeframe before DS1 since pyromancies amongts humans are a thing and those got to the human world around about that time, since Salaman was the first human pyromancer and was taught by quelana around 200-300 years ago)
it's the same ladder on farron keep that goes to the farron wolf?
@@filippopaolillo2006 Not... exactly. By DS3, it's kinda impossible to tell. It's not a perfect match. It's not even the same world, really.
@@floppydisksareop But in Ds3 you can find ruins of Ds1 locations like the Depths which even has Izalith's daughter's corpses, or Anor Londo.
So it's not out of the realm of possibility.
@@PatienceKiss You also find Earthen Peak and a Giant Tree from DS2, but Drangleic is very much not Lordran. Time is convoluted, worlds are crashing together.
Sif helping clear The Sanctuary is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Cuter than Priscilla running?
Chester:
>Barges in a different timeline
>Sells overpriced items
>Stole a high ranking Knight's ring
>Dies
>Refuses to join the hunt
>Escapes the nightmare
>Space-Time travels
>Accomplishes nothing
>Dies
For that is the fate of every Souls character
We need Chester in Elden Ring's DLC
Killed for the fashion souls
I really liked that guys aesthetic and fighting style. They should make a soulslike based around it
Sif is a such hardworking puppy.
I was proud of myself for looping the spinning attack animation to make it look like clearing the area out, but I realized now I could've moved Sif somewhere else with trees still standing to sell the effect better. Oh well! :p
wait, the whole reason sif holds the sword and spins like that is to clear trees?! 😳
@@squintygreeneyes and we heartless monster slayed this poor puppy
2:25 here you have the proof that Gwyn didn't banish the firstborn:
_The events in the AOTA dlc take place 200 years before the main story (it was said in an interview)
_Gwyn sacrified himself to the first flame 1.000 years ago (dialogue with Frampt), so Gwyn was already death in the events of the dlc
_There is a broken statue of the firstborn in the undead burg, and thank to this video we learned that the burg was build after Gwyn's death and the AOTA dlc, and you don't build a statue of a person who has been exiled and his name has been erased from history just to destroy it a few seconds later, the firstborn wasn't yet exiled
_You have sunlight blade description too ("when the eldest son was stripped of his deific status, he left this on his father's coffin, perhaps as a final farewell") which implies that Gwyn was already dead
_Also in the japanese text when Kaathe says "Lord Gwyn resisted the course of nature by sacrificing himself to link the Fire and commanding his children to shepherd the humans" the word used for children is 息子たち (musukotachi): 息子 (musuko) means "son/male child" while たち (tachi) points at the plurality of the noun, so before linking the fire he left the power specifically to his sons aka the firstborn and Gwyndolin
So, if Gwyn didn't banished the firstborn, who did it? I think that the only candidate is Lloyd, Gwyn's uncle, and there is why:
_He was the only person with enough power to do such a thing (he was the head of the Way of White, the main religion of dark souls world, he was like the pope)
_After Gwyn's death the firstborn became king of the gods: since Gwyn left the power to his sons is safe to assume that the firstborn succeded him and became the new king of Anor Londo (Gwyndolin on the other hand remained in the shadows and became the head of the Blades of the Darkmoon), and the fact that he succeded his father is further supported by the description of the ring of the sun's firstborn, in japanese in the "inherited the sunlight" part the world used for inherit is 継いだ and it means "to succeed to a position or to a person in a business or inheritance, to take on, to take over, to inherit", so it could be read as "he succeded his dead father and inherited the sunlight, becoming the new Lord of Sunlight", also the description of the lightning storm miracle in ds3 reads "the FORMER KING and wargod tamed a stormdrake", and that's why he's known as the nameless king
_In japanese Lloyd's title is not Allfather but King of the Gods (主神/shushin, literally "main god (of a phanteon)" or "chief god"), so he banished the firstborn and then he took the throne for himself, that's why the description of Lloyd's sword ring says "Lloyd was a derivative fraud, and the Allfather (King of the gods) title was self-proclaimed"
Also "derivative fraud" should be more correcly translated as "collateral relative": the clerics of Carim are not criticizing Lloyd existence or the fact that he was a random dude that declared himself Gwyn's uncle, they are saying that Lloyd, being Gwyn's uncle and thus a collateral relative, was not in the position to assume the role of king of the gods since Gwyndolin, being the other son of Gwyn, shoul have inherited the throne. In DS3 however we see that Gwyndolin has finally taken his rightful title since Lloyd is nowhere to be found and the soul of Sulyvahn in japanese specifically says that he imprisoned the chief god of the old royalty in the abandoned cathedral, and also you can see Gwyndolin with a crown on the silver coin thar appears near the messages with a lots of upvotes.
And fun fact: in japanese Lloyd is called 叔父 (oji) which means uncle, specifically younger than one’s parent, so he's the little brother of Gwyn's father/mother :)
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HOLY SHIT! What a Scar move by Lloyd! *_"Looong liiive the Kiiing."_*
I don't think the devs have thought this far xD
Holy shit, that does make sense. It also explains why we find the Sunlight Blade miracle in Gwyn's cenotaph; at first I thought Nameless just came back after Gwyn linked the fire, but it's clear he simply left it there before being banished.
One thing I don't understand, though: what happened to Lloyd between the banishment of Nameless and the events of Dark Souls 1? Gwyndolin is clearly in control of Anor Londo by the time the Chosen Undead gets there and Lloyd is nowhere to be seen, yet he's clearly influential since human gold coins are fashioned after him and Undead Hunter Charms are still named Lloyd Talismans. Did he give Gwyndolin the throne and move somewhere else for some reason, or did Gwyndolin out-Scar him?
@@Dinoman972 I think Lloyd in ds1 fled with the other gods (sun princess ring description) but nontheless he was still the king, Gwyndolin just refused to abandon Anor Londo along with the others and so, since he was the last remaining deity, he took control of the city and with Frampt created the Chosen undead prophecy and Gwynevere's illusion trying to save the situation. Then at some point after the Chosen undead sacrifice Gwyndolin, having earned more followers, decides to dethrone Lloyd and take his rightful title as king of the gods (in japanese he's refereed as king of the gods in the description of the soul of Sulyvahn).
So the timeline is:
_Lloyd is king, you can find his imagine on coins and undead hunter charms have his name
_King Lloyd, along with the other gods (like Gwynevere and Flann) abandon Anor Londo
_Gwyndolin decides to remain in Anor Londo and with Frampt creates the prophecy and the illusions
_Chosen undead sacrifice
_Gwyndolin earns followers and decides to take the power for himself so he depose Lloyd
_In ds3 Gwyndolin is the righful king of the gods, Lloyd adoration in the Way of White is no longer common and he's treated as an opportunist
I find it fascinating to look up to the anor londo wall from the dlc. At that point in time, oolacile was dealing with its own problem, but the rest of the world was theoretically functioning in the age of fire. Before the undead curse. Before the flame started to fade. When you look at that wall, there is a normal world with normal people and lives going about their day just behind it. A point in time or history that we never really get to witness.
As far as I know, the events of the dlc take place 300 years before the events of the main game. Gwyn linked the fire 1000 years ago. Meaning the flame was fading once more by the events of the dlc. The fire had already been linked. I could easily be wrong about the timeline of oolacile though. Another thing I noticed, is that the Sanctuary Guardian soul glows brighter than the souls of current day, meaning the flame was much stronger in the time of oolacile
@@darkstalkerkaathe4582 assuming you are correct, that's still a little over halfway through. Things were still a lot better, probably.
tbf thats probably happening by the events on the game as well. The entire world hasnt gone to hell youre just visiting the ground zero of it all. Carim, Catarina, Vinheim, other than one of their own turning undead these places are probably living normal lives still while ds1 is happening.
I guess its another thing entirely to be able to literally SEE an area.
It would be cool to see some Dark Souls locations that aren't completely decrepit and destroyed yet.
@@wowitsfrostygames155 argueably not all of the game even, sure all the burgs, depths, New Londo and blighttown are all in the shiter but Anor Londo is doing great and both the forest defenders and demons have very functional societies that are still making stuff and hacing like culture and stuff
The Kalameet area being the same as the Hydra fight blew my mind. I always knew Oolacile was just Darkroot in the past but for some reason I didn't connect that specific area. In my defence I was too busy fighting a stupid dragon.
"Nashandra, a talented daughter with a strong entrepreneurial spirit" LMAO so true. Thanks for the video, the final bits were too funny.
And people say dark souls 2's plot is unrelated, S M H
@@seedmole I acctually liked that you had to dig really deep to find connections, unlike DS3 which is pure fanservice.
@@JC-kl3uc you should watch Jacob Geller's "dark souls 3 is thinking of ending things." if i remember right it explains how that's not really true
@@beardedpike3881 thanks, I'll check it out later.
@@seedmole Yeah, it really makes it feel like that DS2 is hundreds of thousands of years after 1 with only scant artifacts remaining. People who say that they aren't related are the same people who say Nashandra was too easy for no reason, despite her being called the weakest and smallest piece of Manus.
Marvelous Chester found his way back to his own timeline in Yharnam.
A Hunter must Hunt...
@@shakybeevessouls a hoonter must hoont
Then died miserably to the worst despair filled fromsoft world. xD
@@YuyuHakurei I dunno, man. Have you seen Simon? Mf'ers with bows are deadly.
@@supergoodadvice853 I saw it when Simon died like a bitch like everyone else in the game. xD
Love it when devs think of a smart way for re-using levels & textures, therefore reducing cost and time that could be used for something else (a.k.a. the amazing bossfights in this DLC)
and tbh, its much more fun having it like this then having a complete new area. time is such a fun and interesting concept for areas and a world that changed
It still felt like a completely different area, the way we start from a different point, enemy placements and the very few changes they did made it play completely different. If it wasn't for the luminous flowers, architecture and tree folk, would we recognize the layout?
And it also fots thematically. They make it clear that time and space itself is fucked in that whole area, which is why we see much of the same landmarks and locations in all three games. (Slightly corrupted and changed as time goes on, of course)
memories broken
manus was a horrible boss lol
I've always wondered if the grass crest shield was linked to Oolacile. It's found in Darkroot and is said to be magical with an unknown origin. I like to use it in Dusk cosplay builds for that reason
Yeah I believe it's intended to be linked thematically, but since you go down that zig-zagging path in the Darkroot Basin, and we see how from Kalemeet's arena there's just a cliff that dead-ends there, that means we can't go to the exact spot where we find it. Maybe it got passed down a few generations but never made it far from the area. :p
Well if you consider that the reward you get from Spear of Church does the same effect as chloranthy ring and grass crest shield, I think that maybe that unknown symbol that such items have could belong to Filianore's instead, also Ringed CIty have connections to Oolacile
do you know what the connections to oolacile there are?
@@dreadknight0@SolidShook Halflight was from Oolacile, bringing its magic with him
@@TastyCarcass Yeah the NPC that you fight at the spear of the church boss battle came from a mission from oolacile that visited the ringed city that also would explain how one of the pilgrims from ringed city came to oolacile who would become manus
"Marvelous Chester is now a US Senator"
"The Abyss, son! It hardens in response to physical trauma!"
@@supergoodadvice853 Said the Pus of Man obliterating my health bar with an incomprehensible series of movements
"nanomachines son"
I remember reading a theory somewhere that a dragon dying near a body of water causes a hydra to spawn. That's why we see the blue hydra where Kalameet died and the black hydra in ash lake where the last everlasting dragon is and where you can also find some dragon scales.
Wow that's definitely some detail hidetak miyazaki's team would care about
Oh dang, I never noticed the walls of Anor Londo were visible in Oolacile as well! That's so cool, so it existed back then before the whole Undead Burg was built.
pretty sure it was one of, if not the first thing built after the war with the dragons so
Man I wish I could know what anor Londo was like then
@@user-tw1pm6nr5e i wonder if it was populated like a real city then
@@user-tw1pm6nr5e probably exactly the same, just with people
the whole theme of the gods in the game is of a lack of change, clinging to the past, clinging to the fire, so it's hard to imagine the city being dynamic and changing over time
also the anor londo we see is literally an illusion so
It was already decaying by the time of the DLC. Gough mention that even mighty Anor Londo *didn't dare* to challenge Kalameet
I would love to see that happen more in from software games. The map design of dark souls is one of my favorite things from that game, it sticks in your memory. Travelling through the same areas in different eras is wonderful addition to an already great map. I think this has been the topic of many videos along the years but yours is great for it's clarity, thanks and well done!
It is a thing in each of the souls games, my favorite is the memories of the war with giants in 2! Being able to speak to vendrick in the past was very cool as well.
One of my favorite parts of DS3 when I played through it for the first time was stumbling my way through Irythill only to discover a very familiar chamber containing a very familiar statue hiding a very familliar hallway leading to a very familiar ceremonial tomb. Returning to Anor Londo after so long (albeit a frozen, stripped down version), was such an absolute treat!
@@ButterscotchPenguin Seeing Vendrick hollowed and walking aimlessly around after the whole game hyped him up was something else.
I didn't play the other two games although I am aware of the Anor Londo amongst other references. I don't think I was clear but I meant that wish they done that more than once per game, if they did that a couple times within a game I would love that. But maybe it would get overwhelming?
Yeah, I love the first game but I still hate lost izalyth and the bed of chaos
Huh. Marvelous Chester is the corpse with the Wolf Ring then. Makes sense, he has too much poise relative to the armor he's wearing.
Shame we never find out what happened to Gough, as far as I'm aware. I like to think he's still out there somewhere, carving beautiful woodwork for phantoms to throw at each other for janky communication.
I guess he finally went to Anor Londo to visit his friend the blacksmith Giant and left him his ring? or maybe that happened before he went to Oolacile?
Isn't he the same giant firing arrows from the tower in Dark Souls 3? I guess he headed to Lothric as most others did
@@Axekan nope that ain't him though he has a bow similar to Gough's
HELLO
@@kahlzun VERY GOOD
The fact they took the time to fucking replace the trees with smaller trees, but keep them in the same spot is such good attention to detail holy shit. I always thought they just 1-1 copied Darkroot garden and brightened it up.
This is fromsoft we’re talking about
They did "copy paste" then "replace by new tree"
Wouldn't even have to do much but modify x y scaling for all the trees. Still a cool detail
I had a big mindblow moment when staring at the drake bridge, always wondering whats on the other side of the caved in road...
After playing the dlc it hit me, Oolacile was on the other end. The path from Old Londo Ruins used to lead to Oolacile before it completely fell to ruins.
Little details like this make Dark Souls 1 still have my favourite map design of all time.
Edit- I commented this at the start of the video, so glad you picked up on it too! Haven't seen anyone else mention it, seems like a big detail.
The fact that the abyssal boss arenas literally overlap is amazing! I'm so happy about this haha
This really puts a new perspective on Alvina and the forest hunters. We technically only see her a little in the chasm of the abyss, but it‘s safe to say she lived in Oolacile. She wants to protect what little remains of her home and preserve the dignity of all the poor souls who fell with Oolacile
Marvelous Chester has always been one of the more enigmatic characters in the Souls series. I always found it really hard to believe that he was some sort of Bloodborne reference, but I guess it could have been in early conceptual stages by the time this dlc was first released.
I don't think its a direct reference. I believe he is what he says he is, a traveler from a different world and time. His outfit certainly could have been inspired from early bloodborne concepts though.
I own the Dark Souls Collector's Edition when it came out in 2011. It came with an art book that had Chester and a Fat Official like character from Demon's Souls, which we never see in game. Both characters have similar attire, and his design definitely existed before Bloodborne and maybe been an inspiration for some Bloodborne concepts later on.
I was prepared to write a snarky comment about how everyone already knows oolacile is darkroot garden, but this video is really well done and draws attention to details that I’d never have noticed otherwise
I always knew, on some level, that Darkroot and Oolacile were the same place, even if I wasn't consciously aware of it. The place is just vaguely familiar enough to give off that feeling. But this honestly puts a whole nother perspective into exactly how long the Age of Fire lasted. For the ground to heal, for water to fill that basin, for a whole undead burg to be constructed, all of that probably would've taken hundreds of years. I always assumed that it was all 20-30 years ago but no, this event was probably near the tail end of the "Lordran Golden Age", which was centuries before us.
It's hard to know if it's meant to be literal or not, but multiple characters mention that Gwyn linked the flame 1,000 years ago. We can safely assume that Gwyn was still alive during the events of AOTA, since New Londo hadn't fallen to Dark yet and Gwyn bequeathed a portion of his soul to the Four Kings before he died. If we're taking the “1,000 years” line at face value it means the DLC could take place anywhere between the beginning of the Undead Curse, and 1,000ish years ago at most recent.
Of course, 1,000 years could be an exaggeration but considering how drastically the world changes between AOTA and the base game, I can believe it.
A developer interview puts the DLC 300 years prior to the base game
Considering how Fromsoft originally planned for the dlc to be in the base game, I wonder if they would have implemented that Valley of the Drakes entrance to be the dlc entrance, maybe exit.
Also never heard that Ciaran audio before, which gives more insight on the weird placement of the Wolf Ring corpse and why it's there.
i forgot where that was and i went to see a video on where its located and of ALL the coincidences the player in this 2018 video is in all Chester gear. lol
th-cam.com/video/WvMs_MhsZps/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=GamerGamer
Why it's there is at least in part to reinforce the connection between this place and artorias, which new players going in blind may need for when they hear Ingward's dialogue and wonder how they are supposed to find that artorias guy
@@nathanjora7627 Bro i think having a 20,000 soul item in Andre's inventory labeled "Crest of Artorias" was enough of a lead
@@trequor Redundancies are generally a good idea, especially when you're in the business of indirect storytelling ^^
The thing is a whole DLC's content was planned for base game. There is no content in DLC that was made up further, after base game was released. Always.
At first I was wondering why you made this video, since I thought this topic was more or less common knowledge among fans. But it totally makes sense to create an easy to find and understand video explaining the whole thing. Also, that ending section was hilarious
wdym I had no idea any of this even existed
@@KaptainKommissar me neither no one i watch ever talks about it, probably bc they think everyone already knew, thus completely the circle leading to our shared ignorance lmao
@@casadastraphobia I would say it is pretty easy to notice this yourself while playing though. At least by Dark Souls standards
@@shacuras8201 i mean. I was busy trying not to die!! And looking for cool gear!!!
I've been playing souls games for 10 years and never knew this.
Another great video. Loved that "Where are they now?" segment!
it's so crazy how i didn't notice how accurate it is
Years later, the weight of his constant thievery was too much for Chester to handle, and he sought out Sif, who after serveral bites, was satisfied by the return of Artorias' ring.
Hence why she was able to "give" us the ring
I thought he meant the wolf ring
@@katonbot could be both. I imagine Sif took the covenant ring to avoid what became of her master happening to others.
There's an unused version of Chester with some kind of short Zweihander looking weapon. That same weapon can be found stuck to the ground around Artorias' grave
In my head the subtitles read out in your voice
This comment was read out of your voice as well lmaooo
Hey man!!!!
Humanity restored every time I see one of these videos.
"you revived to human"
Stuff like this is why Dark Souls has stayed one of my favorite games for years, and it makes me so happy to learn things I never realized about a game I thought I knew so well. It really goes to show you Miyazaki's excruciating detail on world building, lore, and how he wanted everything to fit perfectly like little puzzle pieces. The fact that you could take both maps side by side and show exactly what happened to each other is so fucking cool. Big props for all the work you put in man.
the trees in oolacile being in the exact same spot but slimmer and brighter is such an incredible attention to detail
illusory wall I love you thank you for caring about this game like you do
2:49
dude i never noticed the scarecrows trim trees and grounds keep basically.
It puts a new context on the world there and makes it seem like they were appointed to
be grounds keepers for nobles or gods i guess, almost like a well maintained garden forest.
I usually spend so much time either pissed or speed running past them to notice, or they trigger
and start attacking me before i could ever see the trimming animation.
Hey! The research i did years ago does show up when people wonder about this topic. But I don’t like the way it is presented so I’ll do a fully fledged video to give them an easy answer.
That is commitment.
I have to say, you ended up doing a very nice synchronized choreography job on this video. As a Dark Souls video maker as well, I can appreciate the efforts you put in. Your work has always been a delight for me, and I am still, after all this years, enjoying the Dark Souls community at it finest thanks of you!
Thank you!
By the way, I enjoyed a it too much the speculative lore about the area ^^
While I had always known they were the same place in different time periods, it's nice to see them compared side by side. Not much has changed as far as the forest goes, but I never considered looking for undead burg or any other landmarks in the distance. Thanks for this!
7:19 these breathing sounds are creepy as hell without seeing the player. It's like there's someone by my side uh...
This is my favourite kind of reused assets
Finally, some side-by-side action, this is all I’ve been tryna see. The idea of revisiting familiar locations that have changed over time is such a cool concept, but it’s so hard to appreciate all the overlaps and differences just by memory alone. Thanks for this bro.
a shame its such a rare thing...hell, i cant even think of a different game right now
It’s also worth some note that the stone golems and the stone soldiers have VERY similar helmets, with the main difference being that the top part is cut in half. Though aside from size and being stone they really lack any other similarities
I genuinely had never heard about this or thought about it, but when you showed what the bridge to Sif's arena looks like when you turn around, I made the connection instantly. Really impressive how many of the details match up, and how much sense it made. Thought I knew everything about thsi game already, but never knew about this. Good work.
I saw that other people like me already knew this fact but also wanted to see it exposed in a video.
I say "Thank you so much!"
You're one of my favourite content creators for Dark Souls, I knew about you from the DS community beforehand (albeit on the fringe as my interactions there are best described as a fringe lurker) so I was properly stoaked when you started creating videos, due to a combination of my being lazy and honestly finding I absorb information via video best these days (time restrictions and the wonderful world or responsibility that comes with being an adult) being the reason.
But honestly thank you so much, Dark Souls is one of my favourite game franchises of the last 30 years (being a big fan of all it's primary inspirations helps, been reading the Berserk manga since 1997 lol) and your diligence and approach in peeling back this onion of inspirations, aspirations and limitations puts you so far ahead of your standard DS lore/mechanics channel (with some notable exceptions, Zulie for one) that they pale in comparison. So once again, from the abyss that's become my heart, thanks so much. You've given me many respites from my life and allowed me to vicariously escape from a world that's seemingly more grim than the fantasy one we enjoy.
I can't support you financially yet (let's just say that being a full time carer for a parent doesn't exactly pay well), but once I am able to I most certainly shall be. I wish you nothing but success and happiness in all your endeavours.
Thanks for going out there and getting the footage we all needed. I know I always caught onto that bridge and a few other spots, but as others have said, it's nice actually seeing it line-up in a video.
i knew already that it was the same place as i put the pieces together while playing like probably most people. but the detail all the way up to the age of the trees and the identical spots on the map? dark souls 1 is a genuine masterpiece. they didnt have any reason to be so detailed as im sure very few/no regular players would have noticed without an actual comparison like this. beautiful, genuinely.
This video was beautifully done. I knew the DLC was in the same area as Darkroot garden, but I had no idea it matched this closely. 10/10
The first half feels like a Prepare to Cry video without the voiceover.
That was super fascinating. I have trouble visualizing in general, so seeing the two side-by-side was really helpful for connecting the dots
wow i knew the two areas had significant overlap but this tour showed it so perfectly. for some reason i just never recognized MOST OF IT. like wow they start you out in sifs arena!
Farron Keep is Darkroot in the far future! You can find the Mushrooms there, The crown of dusk, and some landmarks look a lot like parts of OOlacile/Darkroot.
This was awesome to see. I knew that they were one in the same, but I've never seen them directly compared like this and didn't realize you could see things like the future path outside the gardens. Thank you for this.
That cut dialogue about Chester is mind blowing. I'm glad you gave me 30 seconds to think about it
There is something very peaceful and calming about being able to see a player-character walk past the scarecrow gardeners in peace. 🙂
(edit: the music definitely helps.)
I love how From gets away with re-using shit man
Like i genuinely enjoy the reasoning here
I never noticed this, so cool
Good stuff, if you woulda said the floating humanities turned into the dark wraiths I would started crying. Amazing video by the way.
6:29 looking at that painting and suddenly getting cursed legit scared me
Nice timing for youtube to provide me this video, i just found Dusk and Elizabeth's bodies in dark souls 3
The Undead Burg not being there brings up some big lore questions.
1. Was Sen's Fortress there yet?
2. Was Firelink Shrine there yet since it connects to the parish
3. Where is Oolacile and the construction of Undead Burg in the timeline exactly? (was it before or after Gwyn linking the flame)
If the DLC happened before the Undead curse, there would be no reason for Sen's Fortress to test worthy undead. Bonfires are made from undead ash (as stated in DS2), so there shouldn't be any present yet. And Gwyn linked the fire in response to the Undead curse, so it should have happened after the DLC.
I was wrong. A commenter here @Aifos said that Gwyn linked the fire 1000 years before the game, seemingly as a prophylactic measure. So the Undead Curse arrived way after the linking. My other points should still stand.
@@ixian_technocrat But I thought Sen's Fortress was originally a training ground for the knights and soldiers and then modified into the death trap we all know. I am pretty sure that Andre mentions that
Man, i knew It was Darkroot Garden but I thought it was just a ways down the road, not an actual 1 to 1. Can't believe i didn't see it before
Back when dark souls first came out I remember part of the reason I liked it to much was that you could look off into the distance and see all the other locations you'd be going to. I felt like that always made the world seem so much more real.
Beautiful video. It's amazing what a change in lighting and a little delapidation does, also the change in what story takes place in each time.
Love world comparison videos on dark souls like this. Lmao "Alvina took a bath" 😂 🐈
This was absolutely brilliant. Wonderful editing and creativity throughout the whole video. Much love and respect illusory!
This was hilarious!! And so amazing informative at the same time, bravo sir and thank you
That Ending with the crickets was so somber and peaceful, really great touch..
Can't wait to watch and thank you for the new content, you do fantastic work.
Being so familiar with the landscape, this really felt like going back in time, nice video
Nice to see you again :3
What a cool video! I especially liked the humorous bits in the last half. Compelling stuff man, as always.
Oolacile - the best asset flip in history? YES OR YES?
Chester died in BB and got isekai'ed into DS1 then he died again and now he is in Elden Ring. Or it was Amirs cat, who did all this. We need more investigations.
That bit at the end about Nashandra gave me pause: I always assumed, Nashandra and her sisters were born of fragments of the abyss, after its manifestation as Manus was gone. But what if that only held true for 3 of them, and Nashandra is not only created in the likeness of, but instead indeed IS Dusk, after being consumed by the abyss herself - That would mean in an effort to save Lordran in the past, the Chosen Undead would have doomed Drangleic in the future.
I like how you get straight to the point. No lengthy overdrawn intro explaining what I already know from the thumbnail and title. Just "I see a topic in my suggestions", I click it, *topic being discussed*. No sponsor segments, no begging for likes just straight to the point. Really shows you are authentically enthusiastic about the game and not just using it and the fanbase as a means to an end. Cool video also!
Goddamn that was so insightful. I would of never have seen that myself
I know it was Cut but Chester having artorias ring is a good question that may never get answered
5:04 I must correct you: the New Londo's Abyss was indeed older than Oolacile's. Artorias ventured in the former before failing his mission in the latter.
thats absolutely true, but unfortunatly from forgot to add the bridge and the doors in the dlc T_T
that true? never heard that before tbh
Wait, where exactly does it say that Artorias had anything to do with New Londo? I always took it for granted, but none of the item descriptions mention it - Darkwraiths and the Abyss itself aren't exclusive to New Londo. The items also mention "beast of the abyss", which we don't see in Dark Souls 1.
@@singami465 if you have some time, read the Reddit link I'll post below this answer (hoping that TH-cam doesn't censor it)
@@ilmezzofondiere I've already read multiple Reddit discussions about this, precisely because it sent me into a research spree. None of the Artorias items mention New Londo, and it's extremely improbable that New Londo existed at the time of Oolacile. Ingward talks about Artorias as a "legend", despite being a person that has flooded New Londo. If New Londo is a job of Artorias, for which he was granted a lot of accolades, then it's a really crappy and botched job. There's nothing signifying any kind of influence Artorias had on New Londo - the Darkwraiths are still there, so are the Four Kings.
knew this for a long time, but seeing side by side comparison shots still sends a chill down my spine
that ending though!
wow nice new format to the content here I'm kinda impressed dude , I'm still waiting for more DS2 i love that game
I have been trying to visualise this for years since the first time I walked back from Sif’s area and noticed how similar it is to the dlc. Thank you so much for making these side by side comparisons.
Also, I know what happened to Chester, but he called me ‘thick’ so he does not deserve to have his story shared, cheeky beggar!
Marvelous work
Ooo I still need to get to the DLC in a new run. Thanks for the inspiration/motivation!
Always wanted a video showing both areas side by side, great work!
That was a blessed distraction from the woes.
Many thanks!
I'm really enjoying this new video format, especially the fun bit at the end!
Brilliant stuff, fascinating how it all ties together 👍👍.
Thank you for this bro. You are one of my favorite channels, and I was thinking about this topic just yesterday. Have a great day.
I gasped when I saw the bridge turned around.
Nice to see such a recent video on this I'm sure everybody already knew but seeing it all again is a nice nostalgia trip
hol' up. you mean to tell me that we strip the Wolf Ring off Chester's corpse? Huh. Well then.
Totally! I mean, it's only hinted at in cut content (Ciaran asking where you found his ring), and there's not any particular reason cut content should be treated as canon. But since it's also not really incongruous with anything in-game, the idea Chester never made it out and eventually just died in the area is pretty cool to me. It's been my headcanon ever since finding that cut dialog. :)
@@illusorywall - While it doesn't quite jive with Ciaran's cut dialog, I do like the idea that Chester might have looted the corpse or the grave of Artorias at some point, & this infraction inspired Alvina to form the Forest Hunters.
@@illusorywall Oh interesting. Are we thinking the Wolf Ring being a loose link into Bloodborne? Given BB was in dev around the same time, Chester is almost proto BB character design and the Brotherhood of the Wolf inspiration.
I've always known this to be true; thank you for the comparison shots. What a beautiful video.