@@NickyZanoni You went hollow. If an undead's resolve wavers and they feel their goals are out of reach eventually losing it and giving up, in lore that's the point they go hollow so if you give up on the game it's the same kind of thing.
So Dark Souls has actually three endings: 1-Continue the age of fire. 2-Start the age of darkness. 3-The chosen undead goes hollow. (which means the player had gave up.) How cool is that! Making players giving up as part of the game story.
Moreover, Gwyn himself has hollowed. What do most players do when the credits roll? Even in NG, players aren't coming back to tend the flame, they're coming back to kill the Lord of Cinder again
On the subject of spice, Japanese Curry is Hidetaka Miyazaki's favourite dish to cook... entirely because it's prepared slowly and this allows the concert of flavour profiles to become a symphony.
And even industry games that are in the vein of Dark Souls. The last boss of the SOTE DLC was getting too spicy for me to enjoy. I beat it thru a cheese build, and hated every moment. I then played Black Myth Wukong, which starts heaping on the spice in the last 1/3. Im sitting there, clenching up to get thru it but its just a tedious exercise in memorization and split second reflexes. Its the trend ot all these souls inspired games to slap your fingers with a ruler if you breathe once incorrectly. I beat them but I'm like "this was a waste of time and effort."
@BradyRamaker consort radahn was a little over the top, but that being said, you don't seem like the type of person who should play these games. I don't mean that as an insult, but the punishment and failure is a big part of why the victory feels so rewarding afterwards . I've been in shock after killing bosses before. No other games do that for me in the same way.
I would like to add a detail that a lot of people miss out on. If you anger Frampt, he will disavow you as the Chosen Undead, and says will return to waiting the real chosen Undead to come along. However, you can still choose the Link the Fire ending. To me, this says that the Undead Prophecy was a lie all along, that there is no Chosen Undead pre-determined to link the fire. The only thing that really seperates us from all the other Undead trying to Link the Flame is that only we had the syrength and willpower to see it through. This means that our choice in the ending doesn't really matter in the long run. Even if we choose to become the Lord of Dark, some similarly determined Undead will eventually come and Link the Fire in our place.
This doesn't mean the prophecy is wrong in any way, but more that Frampt thinks that 100% someone rude enough to anger him will probably fail on the way. He just gives up on you being his favorite.
All the NPCs connected to the gods that speak of the prophecy tell you to “usurp Lord Gwyn”, the word usurp is intended to imply that you will take his place as king/god. The fact that the role you’re actually usurping is kindling for the fire is proof enough that it’s all a scam. “Usurp Lord Gwyn” has real focus tested marketing energy and it makes me laugh.
It's sad how Ds1's many merits get buried under "epic hard game" journalism. I recently made a little vid about Darkroot Garden. There's so much in just that one area and I never see anyone talking about it much.
You should be proud of this video, it's a good one. I've always enjoyed the poignant item names like "Soul of a Proud Knight". The fact that they never achieved their goal didn't make me feel the game was too edgy or grim-dark. Rather, it was inspiring to see that there were heroes and proud knights still left in Lordran and the wider world. Seeing them as a marker for how far you've come is a different approach. I like that. This is a great analogy for the depth of feeling and even tenderness in DS1, especially compared to the uninspired writing for Elden Ring (things like "Golden Rune [1]"). I feel they made that game far too large and it was hard to keep the human element which makes DS1 (and 2 and 3 imo) so beautiful despite being sad. I'm so glad people still appreciate them, so many years later...
They were actually considering the "human element" in ER as well but it would have been a lot of useless naming. Numen's rune, Hero's rune, Lord's rune - they are the ones that made it though. And imagine having 8 different prefixes for upgrade materials: slightly chipped tarnished smithing stone, slightly less chipped tarnished smithing stone, tarnished smithing stone, slightly less tarnished smithing stone, mid-range but bottom-of-the barrel smithing stone, etc.
i remember on my first playthrough I left my controller on the couch while going to pee and it pressed r2, somehow multiples times and aggroed the crestfallen warrior, not yet having discovered the apology guy after gargoyles, I had to kill him. Its strange, how so many of these little differences in every player's journey makes everyone's experience completely unique and their own. Dark Souls truly is a masterpiece.
Bro, I thought these npc would be reactive to hostiles, and so cos I needed help with the skellys, I aggroed them all the way to firelink thinking they were gonna help but they didn't. Can't remember what happened but I think I kept hitting the NPC when I tried to defend myself so that's how I got into your situation 😂. Pretty sure everyone who started there died.
Thought Solaire was some kind of enemy like the Black Knights. Shot him from a distance until he aggro’d. When I heard his voice line and realised he was an NPC, ran to the ladder to lower Undead Burg and he fell down and died lmao
FromSoft have never been able to match the storytelling prowess of the first Dark Souls. Everything in the game reveals more about the world. It is a masterpiece in world building, that's stories can be heartbreaking when delved into.
@@fringillus1 idk, replaying it 10 years later i think it's the worst, by a large margin, imo. not that it's bad, it's still a good video game, but even if it launched in it's "complete" state i dont think it would necessarily be beloved, like Dark Souls 1 or Elden Ring are. i had loads of fun with the game at launch, and years afterwards. i still have a crappy 10 year old ds2 video on this channel that makes me nostalgic sometimes lol... .. but even then, it just has sooooo many more issues than any other souls game. here are a few that destroy the gameplay experience for me: 1.player movement --- animations --- inertia and physics 2. lack of follow-through on light/torch-based gameplay.. the game was obviously designed with lighting as a major focus behind the art direction. many places suffer without the implementation of light source gameplay mechanics --- designed for, but lack of implementation is a huge negative for me 3. the greatest proportion of "bad" bosses (highly subjective) but for my preferences in boss fights it is the weakest.. maybe demon's souls tbh, but it or DS2 ok enough negative, let me say 3 good things about the game too: 1. i love majula 2. i loved the pvp. i spent dozens of hours stuck at the iron bridge because the pvp was that fun. 3. bonfire ascetics are awesome too.
beautiful observation at 8:20. i never would have realized any of these 3 points about the Great Heros' souls, least likely of all the fact that each is at the zenith and nadir of the map.
This video is such a beautiful tribute to Dark Souls... it made me a little emotional tbh. You picked up on many things I'd never heard anyone else mention before. Fantastic music choices too. Instant like & sub for me.
When I started the game (and finally made a decent character for once), I did not fully understand what restoring humanity does and figured that it was best to save up my humanities to heal with. I ended up using very few of the humanities because I might need them later. Because of this, I fought and beat every boss without Solaire or anyone else. I played carefully and avoided most of the other NPC's as well. I did not use consumables in general. I beat the game with basically a pure warrior build. I wore chain maille that was heavily upgraded, the Mask of the Child, a black knight shield, and a black knight halberd, along with Havel's Ring and the Rusty Iron Ring. I did not wear the Ring of Favor and Protection or whatever you call it because I saw that you could not take it off, and I figured that I might want to put on another ring at some point in that same spot. After watching this, I realize that I beat the game as the Crestfallen Warrior. Before I got the Black Knight Shield, I used that same blue heater shield too.
Great video man! The part about the Crestfallen warrior, and us basically causing him to go hollow by fulfilling his task of ringing the bells, is something I've never realized or heard anyone else talk about. It kinda blew my mind haha especially considering I've watched so many lore videos. Was wondering though are you planning on making more videos? This one was great, Id love to see more and I'm sure others would as well!
I figured that he actually had rung the bells but could not handle the burden of being called "Chosen Undead". But the video's explanation makes more sense than my own theory.
really really well said man. i’ve finally gotten around to playing Elden Ring for the first time recently and while it’s an absolutely brilliant game, that’s kind of all it feels like to me for now: a brilliant GAME. the first Dark Souls’ meta narrative about going hollow and losing yourself is what elevates it to an incredible piece of art imo, and i wonder if i’ll ever play anything like it again. PS huge props for Persona 3 music, i played both games around the same time a few years back and was shocked to see how similar their themes were xD
The first track, played at the main menu through to the character creator where you recall your origin is titled "A Moments Peace" as the only moment of peace offered is the brief respite helt before the journey begins.
This video is so cool! I love finding more information about one of my favorite games. I feel like there’s always more to learn. The editing and presentation of this video are great. Keep it up :^)
I do a playthough every year and your video came along right after I beat the game with my new character. I’ve played this title so much, and yet every time I go back in I get entranced all over again. I’ve easily played almost 200 hours of this game and I still discover new things on every run. One of the most addicting and masterful games ever made.
I never comment on TH-cam videos but I just wanted to say I really loved and appreciated this video, an excellent video essay on ds1 hope to see new videos in the future
Idk if it was a glitch but I never used pyromancy or upgraded it and yet I still found Laurencius at the bottom of the swamp on my first playthrough. I talked to him loads as he was one of the only few genuinely friendly npcs and got chills when I just saw him standing there at the bottom of the swamp.
If a player invades or you or you summon someone who has an upgraded pyromancy glove it will trigger the quest progression in your world, moving Laurentius and even spawning Quelana. To put it simply the game only checks if there is an upgraded glove in the area, it doesn't care who wields it.
If you joined the spider lady covenant at any point, she gives you a Chaos Fireball scroll which will trigger Larentius to ask about it and go down and become Hollow if you tell him where you got it. You just have to get the pyromancy flame from him to access the dialogue option
This was an excelent video. While I knew all the things mentioned, it's a good intro to how in-depth and varied DS is for new comers and those who have played it once. Your editing, music choice and commentary/info kept my attencion all the way through. Keep on doing you thing!
Wonderful video!! There were some things I hadn't considered before but really like with how you put them. For example the souls ander starting class armors being like milestones for the player to compare yourself to. Or how the crestfallen warrior's goal was fulfilled and that's why he went hollow. Great work! :)
Great video, I loved it! As for feedback, I would not put louder memes but thats it (ofc a better mic would be... better, but its understandable to not have one on your first video of this style). Keep up the great work! :D
Watching this video at 360p really made the production feel contemporary to release, a nice touch on the video. Especially in the little touches, like the use of the wikidot as footage of the wiki as opposed to fextralife
You've done well, I've enjoyed the video to the fulliest. The monolouge, chosen details, and many more aspects of the video are really well put together. Nice work fellow undead.*ThumbsUp
Damn. I only played a little bit of Dark Souls 1 and 3, never finished either (maybe one day) but I always deeply respected these games for their design. You're right that it's the little things that sometimes make a work of art not just good but tuly great. Great video! Also thank you for including the ost names on the screen. It should be more common for content creators to include them.
Oh my god florentius' questline fucking broke my HEART man. That's one of the feelings this game always gave me was that it seemed anyone you interacted with was doomed the moment you spoke to them. After so many likeable and memorable npcs died, I felt more and more alone in a world that was truely and utterly against you. That alone, I feel, would make any stout hearted warrior struggle to push on.
The first ever time I saw the title screen to this masterful art piece was like an old rusting gate oozing with historic charm. I've always heard of dark souls and it's legendary status as "The hardest game ever". Particularly when I got into Cuphead back in the day. Hearing the selection sound, like a big bulging hand reaching out from the past to bring me back. It's a comfort noise for me. Finally gaining control in a dark murky asylum, no big standup signs with arrows pointing me where to go, no letter from a damsel or hero in need, but handed a decrepit corpse of what could only be assumed to be someone like me. It was an experience like no other. One of my favorite gaming moments of mine. Enough said. I'd also like to give a shoutout to my friends who were egging me on to get through the tutorial after dying to the asylum demon 20 times
As a lover of dark souls, I'm so happy with the perspectives and insights shown in this video. This is a great video. You should be proud. Made me think of all the things that could've been.
Laurentius' story also reveals the players own selfishness. As in the final quote you played of his, he gave you a piece of his soul. You then promptly, and without second thought, transform it into a flame of twisted chaos, all because it promised more power.
To that point, though, Larentius immediately goes "oh hey I want that power too, wanna tell me where you got it?" at first sight, so he's not exactly an innocent, not-power-hungry dude as it was. He views the world through a lens where everyone hates him because he's a pyromancer, and blames all his woes on that fact (if you attack him before he goes Hollow, he assumes "you just hate my pyromancy! That must be it!") He's playing at being a victim in every aspect of his life, and wants easy access to power to punish those who bullied him. He's not exactly a good guy, either
Really hope they go a totally different direction next game. Elden Ring shows A LOT of aspects of a studio burnt out on an idea. They need to give this formula a rest because it is nothing like Dark Souls anymore. When they made BB and Sekiro, it was a breath of fresh air. Here’s to hoping they can keep the magic going on the next release.
Totally have to disagree. I play demon, as well as dark 1, 2 and 3 every year. Love it. Hated sekiro, stopped playing it halfway through. Hated bloodborne, stopped playing it after about 30ish % Didn't really like elden ring because it was not enough like dark souls
Yes, I would agree. I felt the same way, Elden Ring's structure is it's most unique quality as it's the only traditionally open-world game in the series. In terms of story, the obvious Irish mythological influences are refreshing from a narrative and asthetic stand point as the art direction is beautiful. Where it falls very short of all the other titles in the series is in the open world/level design and sense of progression. Without exception, the enemies are re-used throughout the game several times over making levels not only feel less unique, but deminish the excitement of exploration and the character of progression. The reuse of the enemies hurt the level design in other ways too, such as from a gameplay perspective; Play Demon's Souls 1-1, the enemies are designed around the level and vice versa, in Elden Ring this is so rarely true and it shows in painfully obvious ways, such as two or more enemies that are encountered together doing contradictory attacks which the player can not react to properly at the same time and was never supposed to because these two enemies were designed totally seperately and never meant to be fought together (God Skin duo is a boss fight exemplifying this) as well as the location where you encounter the enemies often limiting the players movement and making alot of encounters and attacks unavoidable. The bossfights have too many stateffects, too much hp, endless stamina and poise and attacks that are too hard to read (some due to the boss litterally input reading the players movements) oh and those Chalice Dungeon-esc bossfights are disgraceful at least Bloodborne they were otherwise unique enemies you could only find in the dungeon chalices, in Elden Ring just reuse foes found every else in the world. While the world is visually varied it is less cohesive tonally, there were so many times that locations looked like they came from completely diffirent games and totally seperate settings (a lot of the worst examples are obviously reused assets from Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne which visually clash terrible and look totally out of place in any location) my dad has seen me play all the other games and can tell them apart, but I swear that everytime he walked into my room he would ask "which videogame is this, is this Elden Ring?" Oh, and a special side note for the mountain top of the giants being the worst location in the series Elden Ring is Froms most flawed game in my opinion
elden ring honestly feels a lot less uninspired and a lot more aimed at a bigger audience, thats fine but it makes it miss out on a lot of the stuff that made the other souls games special, specially ds1 which i think is the best by far
The biggest little thing is that feeling when the firelink shrine music comes on after you take the elevator down from the undead parish. Feeling the world's connectivity, the comfort of firelink after seemingly going so far away, what a feeling!
Love the idea of Laurentias going hollow after being told the truth and then denied by Queelana. Idk if that's what they intended, but I think that's the way I'll interpret it from now on. Great video.
last time I visited Blighttown I saw the pyromancer and he approached me with his spells, I couldn’t figure out who it was as I haven’t had seen him before in that area. This video reminded me that this was the exact dude I chose to share my knowledge with, I truly regret it, if I had chosen to deny him he would’ve lived and knowing this Im getting really sad :)
Dark souls is such a masterpiece for all of these reasons. The narrative and the mechanics work perfectly and they actually feel important to life. This is the most empowering fantsy I have ever experienced
I often asked myself: Where does Dark Souls "happen"? And it definitely is the whole with the miriad details strewn throughout this most magical of games
Approximately my first 10 hours of darksouls gameplay were tryng to find simewhere to go at the graveyard or new londo, imagine how it felt to sudenly see enemies up there and finding the path toward undead burg 🙏
I remember Dark Souls 1. I failed in killing any more than the first mob, gave it maybe 10 tries and then put the game away and didn't look back until I tried Elden Ring without realizing it was a similar game. That one worked alot better for me as I found out I could just grind and outlevel the game, making it quite enjoyable. Right now I'm doing Dark Souls 3 running back and forth in the beginner area trying to get to at least lvl 50 before I advance. 😂
The thing that stands out is your editing dude. A lot of video essays I see feel so boring to watch but the quick cuts make this actually watchable and not just a lecture well done
I just finished this game for the first time about 5 mins ago and I cannot express how much of an impact this video made on me to keep striving to beat this game. I deleted this game 3 different times and every night that I deleted it I dreamt about it, how my character would go hollow if I didn’t finish it. I definitely don’t think I would’ve bothered finishing it if I hadn’t randomly stumbled across this video. Thank you
If you give up playing the game, its a canon event
How so
@@NickyZanonihollowing
@@NickyZanoni You went hollow. If an undead's resolve wavers and they feel their goals are out of reach eventually losing it and giving up, in lore that's the point they go hollow so if you give up on the game it's the same kind of thing.
@@NickyZanoni
10:12
Don't you dare go hollow
So Dark Souls has actually three endings:
1-Continue the age of fire.
2-Start the age of darkness.
3-The chosen undead goes hollow. (which means the player had gave up.)
How cool is that! Making players giving up as part of the game story.
it's not an ending though is it
@@ennayanne lol no. It's just an interpretation of how giving up on the game is lore-friendly, I guess.
Be a cool hard mode@@David-jw1zh
@@David-jw1zh no
since most people dont actually play every single day
Moreover, Gwyn himself has hollowed. What do most players do when the credits roll?
Even in NG, players aren't coming back to tend the flame, they're coming back to kill the Lord of Cinder again
I love the analysis. Soulsborne games are spicy but aren't spicy for the sake of being spicy, it still has flavor. which a lot of fan games forget
On the subject of spice, Japanese Curry is Hidetaka Miyazaki's favourite dish to cook... entirely because it's prepared slowly and this allows the concert of flavour profiles to become a symphony.
@@MrJordwalk man you made me want some of that 🤤
And even industry games that are in the vein of Dark Souls. The last boss of the SOTE DLC was getting too spicy for me to enjoy. I beat it thru a cheese build, and hated every moment. I then played Black Myth Wukong, which starts heaping on the spice in the last 1/3. Im sitting there, clenching up to get thru it but its just a tedious exercise in memorization and split second reflexes. Its the trend ot all these souls inspired games to slap your fingers with a ruler if you breathe once incorrectly.
I beat them but I'm like "this was a waste of time and effort."
That pfp is incredible dude
@BradyRamaker consort radahn was a little over the top, but that being said, you don't seem like the type of person who should play these games. I don't mean that as an insult, but the punishment and failure is a big part of why the victory feels so rewarding afterwards . I've been in shock after killing bosses before. No other games do that for me in the same way.
I would like to add a detail that a lot of people miss out on. If you anger Frampt, he will disavow you as the Chosen Undead, and says will return to waiting the real chosen Undead to come along. However, you can still choose the Link the Fire ending. To me, this says that the Undead Prophecy was a lie all along, that there is no Chosen Undead pre-determined to link the fire. The only thing that really seperates us from all the other Undead trying to Link the Flame is that only we had the syrength and willpower to see it through. This means that our choice in the ending doesn't really matter in the long run. Even if we choose to become the Lord of Dark, some similarly determined Undead will eventually come and Link the Fire in our place.
This doesn't mean the prophecy is wrong in any way, but more that Frampt thinks that 100% someone rude enough to anger him will probably fail on the way. He just gives up on you being his favorite.
2 and 3 explore this further
Melina with the gloam eye ending. No I will not elaborate.
@@Passageofsky Sorry bro but we are like torah only jews. If its anything other than that then we walk!
All the NPCs connected to the gods that speak of the prophecy tell you to “usurp Lord Gwyn”, the word usurp is intended to imply that you will take his place as king/god. The fact that the role you’re actually usurping is kindling for the fire is proof enough that it’s all a scam.
“Usurp Lord Gwyn” has real focus tested marketing energy and it makes me laugh.
It's sad how Ds1's many merits get buried under "epic hard game" journalism. I recently made a little vid about Darkroot Garden. There's so much in just that one area and I never see anyone talking about it much.
My first few steps into the garden was through the entrance next to Andre. One shrub monster came out and I ran all the way back to Andre.
Not only Journalism. Also gamers
even fromsoft themselves buried themselves with it and now they are only doing epic hard game
@@Exel3nce that's true to a certain extent
@@adamyohan true to the fullest, sadly. There is nothing left but unfair spectacle
You should be proud of this video, it's a good one.
I've always enjoyed the poignant item names like "Soul of a Proud Knight". The fact that they never achieved their goal didn't make me feel the game was too edgy or grim-dark. Rather, it was inspiring to see that there were heroes and proud knights still left in Lordran and the wider world. Seeing them as a marker for how far you've come is a different approach. I like that.
This is a great analogy for the depth of feeling and even tenderness in DS1, especially compared to the uninspired writing for Elden Ring (things like "Golden Rune [1]"). I feel they made that game far too large and it was hard to keep the human element which makes DS1 (and 2 and 3 imo) so beautiful despite being sad. I'm so glad people still appreciate them, so many years later...
They were actually considering the "human element" in ER as well but it would have been a lot of useless naming. Numen's rune, Hero's rune, Lord's rune - they are the ones that made it though. And imagine having 8 different prefixes for upgrade materials: slightly chipped tarnished smithing stone, slightly less chipped tarnished smithing stone, tarnished smithing stone, slightly less tarnished smithing stone, mid-range but bottom-of-the barrel smithing stone, etc.
To be fair, Elden Ring thematically is different
i remember on my first playthrough I left my controller on the couch while going to pee and it pressed r2, somehow multiples times and aggroed the crestfallen warrior, not yet having discovered the apology guy after gargoyles, I had to kill him. Its strange, how so many of these little differences in every player's journey makes everyone's experience completely unique and their own. Dark Souls truly is a masterpiece.
Bro, I thought these npc would be reactive to hostiles, and so cos I needed help with the skellys, I aggroed them all the way to firelink thinking they were gonna help but they didn't. Can't remember what happened but I think I kept hitting the NPC when I tried to defend myself so that's how I got into your situation 😂. Pretty sure everyone who started there died.
Thought Solaire was some kind of enemy like the Black Knights. Shot him from a distance until he aggro’d. When I heard his voice line and realised he was an NPC, ran to the ladder to lower Undead Burg and he fell down and died lmao
FromSoft have never been able to match the storytelling prowess of the first Dark Souls. Everything in the game reveals more about the world. It is a masterpiece in world building, that's stories can be heartbreaking when delved into.
bloodborne came very close, and the others just eh
@@Exel3nceI think despite DSII not adding much new lore, it by far did the best job at fleshing out the existing lore around the curse.
@@fringillus1 too much bs around good ideas. Should have been seperated
@@Exel3nce I don´t think so and I am certain, that had DSII released in a better state, it would have been beloved
@@fringillus1 idk, replaying it 10 years later i think it's the worst, by a large margin, imo. not that it's bad, it's still a good video game, but even if it launched in it's "complete" state i dont think it would necessarily be beloved, like Dark Souls 1 or Elden Ring are.
i had loads of fun with the game at launch, and years afterwards. i still have a crappy 10 year old ds2 video on this channel that makes me nostalgic sometimes lol...
.. but even then, it just has sooooo many more issues than any other souls game. here are a few that destroy the gameplay experience for me:
1.player movement --- animations --- inertia and physics
2. lack of follow-through on light/torch-based gameplay.. the game was obviously designed with lighting as a major focus behind the art direction. many places suffer without the implementation of light source gameplay mechanics --- designed for, but lack of implementation is a huge negative for me
3. the greatest proportion of "bad" bosses (highly subjective) but for my preferences in boss fights it is the weakest.. maybe demon's souls tbh, but it or DS2
ok enough negative, let me say 3 good things about the game too:
1. i love majula
2. i loved the pvp. i spent dozens of hours stuck at the iron bridge because the pvp was that fun.
3. bonfire ascetics are awesome too.
beautiful observation at 8:20. i never would have realized any of these 3 points about the Great Heros' souls, least likely of all the fact that each is at the zenith and nadir of the map.
Bro your analysis of the Crestfallen Warrior is amazing. He def made the greatest impression on me during my 1st playthrough.
I always kill him right away
Sudden algorithm recommendation? It’s about Dark Souls? The writer shares my opinions? Based video.
hell yea
That waiting room dark souls ad was so awesome I havent seen that yet
This video is such a beautiful tribute to Dark Souls... it made me a little emotional tbh. You picked up on many things I'd never heard anyone else mention before. Fantastic music choices too. Instant like & sub for me.
Great video and the abundance of Kings Field music is extremely based, good content
When I started the game (and finally made a decent character for once), I did not fully understand what restoring humanity does and figured that it was best to save up my humanities to heal with. I ended up using very few of the humanities because I might need them later. Because of this, I fought and beat every boss without Solaire or anyone else. I played carefully and avoided most of the other NPC's as well. I did not use consumables in general.
I beat the game with basically a pure warrior build. I wore chain maille that was heavily upgraded, the Mask of the Child, a black knight shield, and a black knight halberd, along with Havel's Ring and the Rusty Iron Ring. I did not wear the Ring of Favor and Protection or whatever you call it because I saw that you could not take it off, and I figured that I might want to put on another ring at some point in that same spot.
After watching this, I realize that I beat the game as the Crestfallen Warrior. Before I got the Black Knight Shield, I used that same blue heater shield too.
Great video man! The part about the Crestfallen warrior, and us basically causing him to go hollow by fulfilling his task of ringing the bells, is something I've never realized or heard anyone else talk about. It kinda blew my mind haha especially considering I've watched so many lore videos.
Was wondering though are you planning on making more videos? This one was great, Id love to see more and I'm sure others would as well!
Never made that connection with the Crestfallen Warrior before. I always wondered what made him go hollow. That hit me in the feels.
I figured that he actually had rung the bells but could not handle the burden of being called "Chosen Undead". But the video's explanation makes more sense than my own theory.
I was genuinely shocked to see that you only have less than 100k subs, the video is amazing! Top notch quality, keep up the great work man.
really really well said man. i’ve finally gotten around to playing Elden Ring for the first time recently and while it’s an absolutely brilliant game, that’s kind of all it feels like to me for now: a brilliant GAME. the first Dark Souls’ meta narrative about going hollow and losing yourself is what elevates it to an incredible piece of art imo, and i wonder if i’ll ever play anything like it again.
PS huge props for Persona 3 music, i played both games around the same time a few years back and was shocked to see how similar their themes were xD
Well said. Souls changed lives, and ER just feels like a big game in many ways. A pretty one, an imaginative one, but its soul is weak.
@@ianwilliams2632Projection. You played souls when you were younger and in a different stage of life.
@@JigglypuffTutorials Assumption. You don't know anything about me. Accept that others can have a different opinion.
Eyyyy, Roachdoggjr!
@@nibiru2x410
That's Roach Dogg's son... Roach Dogg Jr. Wecome to the roach kingdom. haha
The first track, played at the main menu through to the character creator where you recall your origin is titled "A Moments Peace" as the only moment of peace offered is the brief respite helt before the journey begins.
Was very surprised to see the low view count upon finishing the video. Really good stuff
Well said friend. I hope to see more from you soon.
This video is so cool! I love finding more information about one of my favorite games. I feel like there’s always more to learn.
The editing and presentation of this video are great. Keep it up :^)
Love the video. Dark souls 1 is probably my favorite video game ever and your analysis is fun to watch and very insightful. Great stuff!
Man, i enjoyed a lot this little monologue of you here near the bonfire. Don't you dare go hollow until we meet again.
great video! never had noticed the positioning of armors and souls. keep up the good work!
i enjoyed the subtle humorous edits throughout the video and your voice is very soothing.
I do a playthough every year and your video came along right after I beat the game with my new character. I’ve played this title so much, and yet every time I go back in I get entranced all over again. I’ve easily played almost 200 hours of this game and I still discover new things on every run. One of the most addicting and masterful games ever made.
I never comment on TH-cam videos but I just wanted to say I really loved and appreciated this video, an excellent video essay on ds1 hope to see new videos in the future
This video's background musics were immaculate. Absolutely the most chill I ever was watching a video.
Thank you, TH-cam, for finally giving me something worth watching on my front page, ya goobers
Man what a well put together video! It really shows that you put loads of thought and love into it
It was really cool how the armor sets locations were specifically placed, I never thought about it when picking them up
I've beaten this game twice but never really thought about a lot of the details you bring up here. Very good video.
Idk if it was a glitch but I never used pyromancy or upgraded it and yet I still found Laurencius at the bottom of the swamp on my first playthrough. I talked to him loads as he was one of the only few genuinely friendly npcs and got chills when I just saw him standing there at the bottom of the swamp.
If a player invades or you or you summon someone who has an upgraded pyromancy glove it will trigger the quest progression in your world, moving Laurentius and even spawning Quelana. To put it simply the game only checks if there is an upgraded glove in the area, it doesn't care who wields it.
@@barg1465 I played offline tho,
You don't have to use or upgrade it for Laurentius to advance, you simply need to acquire a chaos pyromancy, or speak to one of the chaos witches.
If you joined the spider lady covenant at any point, she gives you a Chaos Fireball scroll which will trigger Larentius to ask about it and go down and become Hollow if you tell him where you got it. You just have to get the pyromancy flame from him to access the dialogue option
Exceptional video! Very well written and with a aeally good blend of serious stuff and humor. Keep going!
2:12 Welcome back
Stellar video and excellent choice of a soundtrack! Really love smt don’t you? :D
This was an excelent video. While I knew all the things mentioned, it's a good intro to how in-depth and varied DS is for new comers and those who have played it once. Your editing, music choice and commentary/info kept my attencion all the way through. Keep on doing you thing!
Wonderful video!! There were some things I hadn't considered before but really like with how you put them. For example the souls ander starting class armors being like milestones for the player to compare yourself to. Or how the crestfallen warrior's goal was fulfilled and that's why he went hollow. Great work! :)
Great video, I loved it! As for feedback, I would not put louder memes but thats it (ofc a better mic would be... better, but its understandable to not have one on your first video of this style). Keep up the great work! :D
checked out your channel and realized this is one of your first vids; this shits awesome dude keep it up!!
Watching this video at 360p really made the production feel contemporary to release, a nice touch on the video. Especially in the little touches, like the use of the wikidot as footage of the wiki as opposed to fextralife
Good video man! I love dark souls so this kinda stuff tickles that part of me quite well
Great video dude! Just started my second playthrough ever of DS1 this was a nice lil accompaniment to that.
Beautiful video! Don't you dare go hollow, my friend.
Very cool! The pacing, the narration, the dialogue, very cool.
Great video mate ! even though I played the game since 2011 I actually learned new things from your video :3 so, cheers for that!
yo insane video quality to sub ratio i mean wow. editing was fun and engaging and narration was good.
I'm glad to be here early on, because this video essay is fantastic! Great work.
great video! fun edits without being too over the top.
absolutely great video, i played and completed dark souls this past summer and it was truly awesome
Instant sub, you put in so much effort! Love you bro
Never knew that about the starting sets. Great video.
Great retrospective dude
8:20 Soul of a Great Hero gives 20,000 Souls. Gwyn gives 70,000.
You've done well, I've enjoyed the video to the fulliest. The monolouge, chosen details, and many more aspects of the video are really well put together.
Nice work fellow undead.*ThumbsUp
Excellent video brother. Very well done. This game is a masterpiece.
Damn. I only played a little bit of Dark Souls 1 and 3, never finished either (maybe one day) but I always deeply respected these games for their design. You're right that it's the little things that sometimes make a work of art not just good but tuly great. Great video!
Also thank you for including the ost names on the screen. It should be more common for content creators to include them.
Oh my god florentius' questline fucking broke my HEART man. That's one of the feelings this game always gave me was that it seemed anyone you interacted with was doomed the moment you spoke to them. After so many likeable and memorable npcs died, I felt more and more alone in a world that was truely and utterly against you. That alone, I feel, would make any stout hearted warrior struggle to push on.
A well made video, also really fun to watch.
The first ever time I saw the title screen to this masterful art piece was like an old rusting gate oozing with historic charm. I've always heard of dark souls and it's legendary status as "The hardest game ever". Particularly when I got into Cuphead back in the day. Hearing the selection sound, like a big bulging hand reaching out from the past to bring me back. It's a comfort noise for me. Finally gaining control in a dark murky asylum, no big standup signs with arrows pointing me where to go, no letter from a damsel or hero in need, but handed a decrepit corpse of what could only be assumed to be someone like me. It was an experience like no other. One of my favorite gaming moments of mine. Enough said. I'd also like to give a shoutout to my friends who were egging me on to get through the tutorial after dying to the asylum demon 20 times
I just watched this video. It was amazing man, you should make more! Maybe w/ ds2 or 3, or another one of ds1. Love the content.
Great fun to re-live this story. Thanks!
Wow this video deserves more views, and you deserve more subscribers. Well done.
As a lover of dark souls, I'm so happy with the perspectives and insights shown in this video. This is a great video. You should be proud. Made me think of all the things that could've been.
This video was really great and really emphazises what I love about this game and it’s details that maies this game a truely wonderful adventure
Laurentius' story also reveals the players own selfishness. As in the final quote you played of his, he gave you a piece of his soul. You then promptly, and without second thought, transform it into a flame of twisted chaos, all because it promised more power.
To that point, though, Larentius immediately goes "oh hey I want that power too, wanna tell me where you got it?" at first sight, so he's not exactly an innocent, not-power-hungry dude as it was. He views the world through a lens where everyone hates him because he's a pyromancer, and blames all his woes on that fact (if you attack him before he goes Hollow, he assumes "you just hate my pyromancy! That must be it!") He's playing at being a victim in every aspect of his life, and wants easy access to power to punish those who bullied him. He's not exactly a good guy, either
Crestfallen Warrior is just a representation of the players who got halfway through undead burg, giving up, and then retreating to Firelink Shrine
My top 5 games of all time, absolutely sensational and only played it for the first time during COVID
Great video! Love DS1.
Great job on this. Very well said.
0:15 That ad is so creative i love it
is that an official poster?
@@TK-bo5kjYep! It was commissioned from the UK-based Flipbook Studio by the game's publisher, Bandai Namco
This is one of the best DS videos I've seen. Thanks. ❤
Exzellent music choices, thouroghly enjoyable vid mate
great video with great music choices
:3 monotone tickles my hypothalamus. good video!
Really hope they go a totally different direction next game. Elden Ring shows A LOT of aspects of a studio burnt out on an idea. They need to give this formula a rest because it is nothing like Dark Souls anymore. When they made BB and Sekiro, it was a breath of fresh air. Here’s to hoping they can keep the magic going on the next release.
Agree so much with everything you said. I wish it was a more popular opinion.
What makes you say that?
Totally have to disagree.
I play demon, as well as dark 1, 2 and 3 every year. Love it.
Hated sekiro, stopped playing it halfway through.
Hated bloodborne, stopped playing it after about 30ish %
Didn't really like elden ring because it was not enough like dark souls
Yes, I would agree. I felt the same way, Elden Ring's structure is it's most unique quality as it's the only traditionally open-world game in the series. In terms of story, the obvious Irish mythological influences are refreshing from a narrative and asthetic stand point as the art direction is beautiful. Where it falls very short of all the other titles in the series is in the open world/level design and sense of progression.
Without exception, the enemies are re-used throughout the game several times over making levels not only feel less unique, but deminish the excitement of exploration and the character of progression. The reuse of the enemies hurt the level design in other ways too, such as from a gameplay perspective; Play Demon's Souls 1-1, the enemies are designed around the level and vice versa, in Elden Ring this is so rarely true and it shows in painfully obvious ways, such as two or more enemies that are encountered together doing contradictory attacks which the player can not react to properly at the same time and was never supposed to because these two enemies were designed totally seperately and never meant to be fought together (God Skin duo is a boss fight exemplifying this) as well as the location where you encounter the enemies often limiting the players movement and making alot of encounters and attacks unavoidable.
The bossfights have too many stateffects, too much hp, endless stamina and poise and attacks that are too hard to read (some due to the boss litterally input reading the players movements) oh and those Chalice Dungeon-esc bossfights are disgraceful at least Bloodborne they were otherwise unique enemies you could only find in the dungeon chalices, in Elden Ring just reuse foes found every else in the world.
While the world is visually varied it is less cohesive tonally, there were so many times that locations looked like they came from completely diffirent games and totally seperate settings (a lot of the worst examples are obviously reused assets from Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne which visually clash terrible and look totally out of place in any location) my dad has seen me play all the other games and can tell them apart, but I swear that everytime he walked into my room he would ask "which videogame is this, is this Elden Ring?"
Oh, and a special side note for the mountain top of the giants being the worst location in the series
Elden Ring is Froms most flawed game in my opinion
elden ring honestly feels a lot less uninspired and a lot more aimed at a bigger audience, thats fine but it makes it miss out on a lot of the stuff that made the other souls games special, specially ds1 which i think is the best by far
Such a good video. I wish it was longer. Mandatory sub
The biggest little thing is that feeling when the firelink shrine music comes on after you take the elevator down from the undead parish. Feeling the world's connectivity, the comfort of firelink after seemingly going so far away, what a feeling!
Amazing video, keep it up!
Chrono Trigger music and Dark Souls, never thought I'd see the day
Why? People mix things all the time and they are both videogames, really making the odds better
@@jarlwhiterun7478 Just two very different vibes that you don't see mashed together much.
5:15 This just blew my mind, I know what I'm doing for my next DS1 playthrough
Love the idea of Laurentias going hollow after being told the truth and then denied by Queelana. Idk if that's what they intended, but I think that's the way I'll interpret it from now on. Great video.
last time I visited Blighttown I saw the pyromancer and he approached me with his spells, I couldn’t figure out who it was as I haven’t had seen him before in that area. This video reminded me that this was the exact dude I chose to share my knowledge with, I truly regret it, if I had chosen to deny him he would’ve lived and knowing this Im getting really sad :)
Dark souls is such a masterpiece for all of these reasons. The narrative and the mechanics work perfectly and they actually feel important to life. This is the most empowering fantsy I have ever experienced
This game reprogrammed my impatient dingus brain to try and try and try again. Legit. It has actually helped me in my REAL LIFE insane
I often asked myself: Where does Dark Souls "happen"? And it definitely is the whole with the miriad details strewn throughout this most magical of games
What a beautifully made video by a small TH-camr
Approximately my first 10 hours of darksouls gameplay were tryng to find simewhere to go at the graveyard or new londo, imagine how it felt to sudenly see enemies up there and finding the path toward undead burg 🙏
Unironically getting over it is harder for me than souls games lmao
Same😂
Bro your editing skills are really good. I thought i was watching a semi-popular youtube channel and here you are with 588 subs. ❤🎉
I remember Dark Souls 1. I failed in killing any more than the first mob, gave it maybe 10 tries and then put the game away and didn't look back until I tried Elden Ring without realizing it was a similar game. That one worked alot better for me as I found out I could just grind and outlevel the game, making it quite enjoyable. Right now I'm doing Dark Souls 3 running back and forth in the beginner area trying to get to at least lvl 50 before I advance. 😂
Please tell me you're gonna do more Dark Souls content like this, this was great
The thing that stands out is your editing dude. A lot of video essays I see feel so boring to watch but the quick cuts make this actually watchable and not just a lecture well done
more of these please!!👏🏼👏🏼
Omg that persona theme song drop. Never thought I'd here that while seeing ds1 😂
You get a like and subscribe for the Chrono Trigger music 6:56. Ggs
Im literally this close to give up again thanks to Blight Town. That area breaks me
I just finished this game for the first time about 5 mins ago and I cannot express how much of an impact this video made on me to keep striving to beat this game. I deleted this game 3 different times and every night that I deleted it I dreamt about it, how my character would go hollow if I didn’t finish it. I definitely don’t think I would’ve bothered finishing it if I hadn’t randomly stumbled across this video. Thank you