Even though I literally make videos on the souls games as a pseudo job I will admit I come to your page all the time just to see if you uploaded again. Thankfully this time I was rewarded! Keep up the awesome work, you always have my favorite commentary. I'm too into this series...
How about an idea: you and Magicat make some sort of podcast-esque video about Soulsborne. I think you two have different enough opinions to balance each other really well.
Castle Mourne deserved to be called out as a great mini introduction to legacy dungeons for new players. there's multiple paths through it, some platforming, an interesting variety of enemy encounters, including a bunch of ways to get overwhelmed if you aren't careful. but there's also good early game treasures, a neat little npc questline that provides a helpful summon for the boss, and an environmental story scenario that is both interesting and well suited for a beginner dungeon in that it has many of the enemy groups fighting each other to give the player an easier time of things. it's honestly just a great overall experience for new players, absolutely nails what it was aiming for.
Castle Morne is absolutely the worst one of them. First, there is only one grace for the actual "castle" part the dungeon, placed at the bottom of it, and every time you die, you then have to take an annoyingly long elevator ride, then, next two checkpoints are ONE WAY dropdowns which is just poor design. The boss of this area is then reused like 3 times and even becomes regular mob lategame, and it also drops the ugliest weapon in the whole series. Icing on the cake is a goofy questline tied to this place. On my first playthrough, when I've killed Lionel and HAD TO teleport back to the YET AGAIN thrilling elevator ride in order to talk to Edward, guess what happened? He already vanished! And that's because teleportation caused this area to reset. I had to read his dialogue on wikipedia.... The only redeeming quality about this place is Claymore.
I think it's barely an area, you go in and out. By the end you think to yourself 'was that it?' Though I think a lot of the castles seem too short but Mourne was definitely the most bare bones basic out the bunch.
The little castles are just refined parts of the open world, not legacy dungeons, which is why you can enter and leave them during multiplayer. I like Mourne more than Shaded and Sol but that's not saying much. Has Claymore, has Grafted, has Edgar's quest other than that? not really for me.
I love the lore of it. It really fleshes out the misbegotten and how there so mistreated that it's satisfying to see them revolt. It's too bad you end up killing all of them lol.
I honestly find it hilarious how i genuinely never had any problem with any single area in soulsborne, not in the "they're not hard" type of way, It's just that i never minded anything, I always acted that it's an adventure from it's bads and goods. However i hard disagree with Frozen Eleyum Loyce placement, that place is so good, it has good exploration and level desgin, alot of good items, unique enemies and puzzles, and it's pretty atmospheric, my favorite area in dark souls 2. Even the hunt for the knights is pretty cool and worth it for the fight ahead. I would also put Shunning grounds above depth, blighttown and farron keep, the level design and maze like progression is pretty cool, atmosphere fits really well, great ambiance etc...
Absolutely agree. Eleum as a level is honestly anor londo but better. I also feel like chasm of the abyss was fantastic. Those “reused” enemies he mentioned were the abyss creatures, which I didn’t mind since they are imo the best enemy type in dark souls 1. Besides they only appear at the start of the level
Fr I don’t even care about running in between bonfires because there is stuff to find here and it’s not some garbage like 3 copper coins or souls of a great warrior, also can’t get over him placing the catacombs of all areas as better than Eleum Loyce like does anybody even play trough it once you find out about the skip straight to pinwheel?
Same, but I didn’t play DS2 and Elden Ring yet. Don’t know if that changes with going through these😅 the only exception I really dislike may actually be hemwick charnel lane. I don’t know but the big clearing in the forest with the shooters before the actual area gives me anxiety every time and the rest is really stressing for me.
I actually really like the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. Just the fact that there was a massive intricate area below Leyndell was so fucking cool discovering it the first time. It has that old school Soulsborne level design of looping shortcuts. I like how you can get totally lost in the pipe system, and how there's catacombs to be discovered as well as one of the most fucked up areas in the game (the frenzy flame nomad graveyard). I also like the lore of the area in that it's where the Omen's get cast away at birth. The OST is great as well. 5 things I like about Ashina Depths even though I do agree that it's the 2nd Weakest Sekiro area: killing Mist Noble was actually pretty cool the first time just because of the illusion of the house changing into the dilapidated wreck. O'Rin of the Water is one of the best unique minibosses in the game. I like crawling beneath the house and using the flip door (especially after using mind control on the bell wielding taro trooper). Also, I still remember how cool it was when you get the Mibu breathing technique and use it in the river or the lake for the first time (it genuinely amazed me we could go underwater on the first playthrough). Finally, I like that you can do the whole area before you even fight Genichiro.
I unironically really like Blighttown. Maybe it's because I've never had fps problems with it, but the atmosphere is amazing, and the area is fun to navigate due to its verticality. Blighttown also has a very natural feeling progression, starting with the rafters at the top, before you reach the swamp at the bottom. I've always looked forward to going through Blighttown whenever starting a Ds1 playthrough.
My man ! Blighttown is probably my favourite zone from these games. I wish I could forget it to re-experience my first time there, carefully walking in the dark, on my guards for any sound-effects that would pop in my headphones, witnessing all its immersive horror. I really felt like an adventurer, wanderer outfit, two-handing a basic long sword with a basic longbow on my back (yes I'm a weirdo who roleplays even soulsgames) trying to sneak my way through the mines of Moria (or what it would look like once controlled by Isengard).
The atmosphere of the area is really cool indeed, but I found myself always going straight to queelag with the master key because.. Speed? 😅 I lied, sometime I go in there to get power within and that's always a great time because this area is scary, not because of the enemies nor the atmosphere but because gravity 😆
I agree with you! I like that the area is designed to force the player to take their time and not rush through it. On the surface it could be the most annoying or the most difficult area to some players but I think the verticality adds to the level's form of progression. When the player finally gets to the bottom, the game designers put the swamp there as an insult to injury. The player is not forced to explore the swamp, but they could if they like or they can make a B line to the boss and the bonfire is right across from it. The other areas with swamps from the soulsborne series in my honest opinion often lack progression and are often added just because Miyazaki loves his swamp areas. No other area besides maybe the Lake of Rot incorporate this idea well. The swamp isn't supposed to be pleasant to the player but it is not supposed to be the main focus of the level, it is supposed to add to the level's harshness. For blighttown it makes sense, it used to be a village that was built structurally on a swamp and afflicted its inhabitants. From a level design and story telling standpoint, it makes sense to have the swamp. Blighttown has to be one of my favorite levels in the series because it is really one of the first areas in Dark Souls that is really a challenge, especially for new players.
This might be big but blighttown is my number 3 in the entire series I love the asthetics I love the level design of the first half and also I did farron keep before so I was just so happy I could roll at normal speed
All these videos are what I like about videos on TH-cam with talking: Direct, concise, good humour and presented with a meticulous level of detail to presentation. Just like your boss ranking. Thank you. 😁
Fia's questline was awesome. A cool boss at the end with an ending that alludes to a dlc or sequel. It is also combined with the Ranni questline which is the best in the game.
This, and the deeproot depths feel a little like im playing ds1. i personally had a ton of fun clearing the entire area. seeing godwyns corpse was also an amazing moment. Definitely wouldve put it in good tier
Personally I don't understand why people don't rate Nightmare of Mensis higher. Yes it is a bit difficult in the start but it is really great thematically up until last part and also quite fair challenge-wise for the last level of the main game. First the irrational threat of something unknown that lights up the bridge and messes with your mind gollowed by quite rational fear of giant spiders hanging from the ceiling menacingly followed by such a common fear of being lost when you encounter micolash and his labyrinth and finally no matter how annoying they are, hideous monsterns with a human shape triggering an uncanny valley response - winter lanterns. I really like how they put together such a chain of a very loosely connected common fears and made it look quite seamless. Also how all of these are much less scary when you start actually trying to deal with them. And the feeling of conquering of Nighmare when you drop the brain of mensis into the abyss. The weaker part would be just the last part of a level. You could interpret it as a common fear of actual in-game night of the hunt survivors - maneating pigs and mythical shadows of yarnham might be the things hunters see in their nightmares afterwards, but overall the last area is a bit disconnected from overall level theme and feels just like another street from cathedral ward or something.
The Catacombs in Dark Souls 1 is another great level. Tons of verticality and shortcuts. A maze-like structure full of enemies that aren't hard if you've leveled your stuff. A very important blacksmith for fire and chaos upgrades. Hunting the Necromancers is fun. The Bonewheel Skeletons are a pain. Remastered added a third bonfire, which was unnecessary. And the boss is hilariously easy. I'd place the level higher.
When you don't know how you can skip the entire level in a few seconds, it's actually really cool. All the objects in the environment really fit the theme of catacombs like scary statue traps, spikes everywhere, aged stone bricks, gross bugs, color pallete is perfect. The level design is also great, different caves and tombs spiraling around a big ravine with flying spirit heads until you get to the dark bottom filled with piles of bones and dangerous skeletons is a great premise for a level. It's really easy to overlook the area on future playthroughs, but when you think back to your first, you realise how well it served its purpose
I can't say I agree with Shaded Castle and Castle Morne being left out, as I think they both have their strengths and unique qualities, especially lore-wise. Shaded is a good combination of Gelmir's rot with Altus' beauty in castle form, seeing as it's situated right between them, and the level design especially stands out. Morne drips with atmosphere, has a cool story and worldbuilding tied to it, level design is pretty good, and the vertical section in the back that leads to the coastline is pretty and offers variety. Like most, hard disagree on Eleum Loyce, you and Vaati. Also hard disagree with Archdragon's Peak. I never found the enemies unlikeable. The twin knife guys can easily be handled by blocking their attacks, as it staggers them and leaves them open (mostly two-hand myself, but I always carry either the Shield of Want or Grass Crest Shield on my back). I love the larger snake-men, as I think their attacks have a lot of weight and are fun to dodge through, while keeping you on your toes with fire. And the summoner is a cool scenario, too. I probably don't need to mention how gorgeous the area is. I do think that a lot of these enemy encounters are disliked because people tend to rush through the areas on repeat playthroughs and get ganked for their carelessness, and the encounters are simply not designed for that style of play (nor do I think they should be).
@@bravingbrivatebrian Pretty sure both are bigger than at least a few of the areas. Shaded Castle has to be almost as big as Undead Burg and Parish combined, in terms of paths and explorable area, and is definitely bigger than New Londo and all the Artorias DLC areas. Castle Morne is a tad smaller, but not by much.
@@ThroughfulGamer95 I think what makes them feel smaller compared to Burg is the level design, or lack thereof. It's mostly an open swampy area and castle walls. Fromsoft at their best can make a tiny space feel huge.
@@bravingbrivatebrian That's what I meant by "paths and explorable area"; Shaded Castle geographically takes less space than most of the mentioned areas, but uses more of it for exploration. There are, I think, at least two shortcuts and more than a few paths and sections that are layered on top of one another. It's definitely more open-ended than all the Artorias DLC areas, and maybe New Londo and Undead Burg/Parish (as a whole; definitely more than the Burg and Parish individually).
I think hemwick charnel lane in mediocre is outrageous, i really like the athmosphere and enemies. The boss isn't all that good but i like the design and progression
16:25 shaded woods has one of the most offensive level designs if I remember correctly. This small shrine only opens if you got enough of those big boss souls (I can't remember exactly what they were called) and to get to it, you need to walk up a small path. The road you are coming from is blocked by some stones. Basically: Everything you would need to do to get to the last area is to walk to shaded woods and WALK OVER SOME STONES. There is no need for all the boss killing if your character could walk over some stones.
You didn’t talk about the cool transition to the stormy sky’s once you ring the bell at archdragon peak. Very cool and scary setting for nameless king too
Man am I the only one who loves hemwick charnel lane? It’s way better than lost woods, and it has such a cool atmosphere. It introduces the more aggressive dogs, it also has the crazy women and this Halloween-like atmosphere. Like ur literally fighting your way through the graveyard for yharnam residents, and honestly the boss is still pretty unique even if it isn’t the best or hardest. Edit: I also like ashina depths too. It has a similar vibe to hemwick but with a Japanese feel.
@@magicat7356 what is awful about that quest? It's not particularly hard to do compare with other quest in previous games. Also, Fortissax has 3 different moves, his own arena and OST and you can find him before any of the other ancient dragons. He isn't in the same league as Midir or Placidusax, but he isn't a bad boss.
@@warcoder you need to sit through all those long hug animations, do ranni quests, go to the Miriam area, climb atop the divine tower, talk a bunch more to fia and you can't finish the quest until you reload the area and hug/talk to her again, then reload again and you get lichdragon. Which 3 new moves does he have? The dive move where he spins around is the only new one as far as I remember
@@magicat7356 the hugs are definitely too long when you just want to rush the game, but I think you just need 4 to do the quest. Having the quest connected to Ranni's isn't bad in my opinion, it makes the story more interesting. I like the Carian hall, with sniper and all, but I know I'm on the minority here. Same for the divine towers. Having to reload the area is one of those weird things fromsoft does that is quite annoying, I kinda get why, but it's still annoying. Fortissax has the death lightning and the double lightning spear aside from the spinning glaive attack. I know he isn't the most challenging dragon and has room to improve, but the atmosphere of the fight, the ost and the arena are very cool. Honestly, I think less of the other ancient dragons because of him.
if you beat the obstacles in the subterranean shunning grounds, there’s an invisible wall that leads to the deep root depths which is an enormous area in elden ring
eyleum loyce the first city with is like an actual city up to this point amazing atmosphere great rewards fun enemies and the best boss of the whole game at the end how could anyone hate it.
cuz its way to big with the forced exploration really ganky at places, enemies are just annoying some are reskinned, and everything looks the same which is an issue with a alot of the older souls games but it is still an issue
Blightown is a great place, I don't think the toxic dart shooters take away anything from the place, it maintains that tension of "I don't want to die so I must do everything in my power to not catch toxic".
Hot take: I'd put Castle Cainhurst on this list 🤐 I know people love it, and the setting itself is gorgeous, but the enemy placement feels very copy-pasted, and it's far too short for a giant castle. This is especially apparent after Elden Ring's legacy dungeons like Stormveil Castle and Leyndell, which are HUGE levels with tons of exploration. Honestly, if I didn't like Logarius so much, I'd skip Cainhurst on most playthroughs Great video, btw! Loving this series
I do like Cainhurst a fair amount but I agree it’s pretty overrated for the reasons you listed. The lore is awesome, the setting is beautiful and Logarius is one of my favorite bosses, but the area itself was fairly forgettable for me. For one thing, it had one of the worst boss run backs in Bloodborne. The level is also pretty linear, with very little to explore off the main path, and as you said, too short and slightly underwhelming for a giant castle. I also think it’s really cryptic how they expected you to know to platform off the roof to get to the boss. I would say it barely scratches the top 10 in Bloodborne, mostly because of how great the other areas are in the game
To be completely honest, the main reason why I loved Blighttown when playing the original DS was because of how much I hated going through it. When there was something I needed that required me to go there or pass through it I always felt it was big undertaking that required a decent level of preparation (both physical and mental).
Frozen Eleum Loyce I think is an example of confirmation bias. People talk abouyt all the cool parts of the area, but don't really factor the negative parts into it. The Brume Tower also has this to an extent. Everyone talks about the cool views, but don't really take into account the awful gank rooms where you need to flip the switches to open the door
Archdragon Peak will always be peak design for (a bit biased as a romaboo since the area is literally fantasy constantinople). I won't disagree on the wyvern and the ganky gauntlet that the "boss fight" is, but the lore and the Nameless King fight are too good. S tier area dont @ me.
The only cool and memorable part of Hemwick Charnel Lane is walking along the side of that building on the cliff and being able to see Castle Cainhurst in the distance. And it being the zone where you actually enter Castle Cainhurst from.
I would only swap Shunning Grounds to Mentis, since the frenzy affliction, the ganks and some enemies drag the area a lot, not to mention that exploration isn't as rewarding as other areas. Shunning Grounds is just a vertical marvel with lots of paths and ways to tackle it. I agree some enemies aren't the best to fight, but you can bait them one on one or straight up kill them with one projectile. I'm also surprised to see the Cave from DS2 above Blightown. Makes this videos kinda more interesting to see.
@@spyegle probably the most important reason I gravitated to dark fantasy (eventualy to soulsborne) later in life. I remember playing original medievil for the first time at like 5 or so, it was just like hearing metal as a kid.. Just pure love at first sight. Sorry for this lenghty response man
Entirely in agreement about Eleum Loyce. Didn't feel like finishing that DLC when I realised I had to replay the zone to find knights just so I could get a chance at defeating the boss. While it's not a bad area on paper, to me it's the one that made me put down the game - so one of if not the worst.
Eleum Loyce is easily my favorite area in DS2, it does suffer from typical DS2 crap like featureless rooms, enemy spamfest but it's the one place in the game that looks halfway believable which makes it far more fun to explore than most of DS2 for me, I like how it loops around too so I don't really mind being forced to go through it multiple times, I like the useless snowball shortcut, I like the grand scale.
Huntsman's Copse deserves better. It has good enemy placement, fun enemies to fight imo, good verticality and plenty of little hidden pieces of loot to find. And also Executioners Chariot is one of the only actually good gimmick bosses in the series. It would be way better if the Horse wasn't randomly in Drangleic Castle too but it's still a great boss. And Skeleton Lords is always fun, just smashing dozens of Skeletons is fun and you cannot change my mind.
I don’t know why, but I genuinely love the road of sacrifices and the swamp behind😅 The atmosphere did everything for me and smh I feel super comforted there. That area was the moment I fell in love with DS3. Undead Settlement on the other hand was the only area in DS3 that I didn’t like that much. But i look through rose-tinted glasses when talking about DS3 and can’t be objective hahaha I fckn love this game.
Before I started playing Dark Souls, I heard how dreadful and awful Blighttown was, by the time I started playing, not gonna lie, I actually enjoyed Blighttown, it was a challenging area especially for my first time, but it's not as dreadful as ppl made it out to be.
New Londo Ruins is a great level. It has several unique enemies, including ghosts that can't be killed without a special item or a cursed weapon (or being cursed). It has NPC lore. It has complex verticality. The Darkwraiths are scary, and you can farm them for chunks and slabs. And it leads to a great boss, after which one can join one of the best PvP covenants in the game. One downside is that the runback to the boss is a little bit on the long side, and then the summon for the boss is not great.
@Magicat Are you Finnish? The way you pronounce "that" putting more weight at the beginning of the word and yet it still comes out flat makes it sound really Finnish.
Blighttown is actually one of my favorite areas I ds1 and it ends with a great boss in my opinion only thing i hate about it is the fat guys with the clubs they don't drop anything good they just drop shit
Missing some of BB that should have been on the awful and mediocre Nightmare Frontier is one of the worst in the entire collection. It initially was interesting because so much of BB looks the same , but then you realize there’s nothing memorable whatsoever. The look is so cluttered it hurts your eyes. Awful awful
The reason I hate Nightmare Frontier is that, in my opinion, it just looks so boring to me. It’s got an extremely dull colour palette, which would fine if it had any majesty to it but it doesn’t. I remember watching those ‘Soulsborne if it was an 80s fantasy’ videos, the Nightmare Frontier in that looks waaaay cooler then the Nightmare Frontier in the actual game.
Agree with eleum loyce, i think that the area is pretty mediocre, is giant, but almost everything feels the same, specially the inside of the buildings, too many enemies that are not very fun overall, is just a giant pizza, but the pizza doesn't even have tomatoe sauce, cheese or pepperoni and the area takes forever overall
The Catacombs are a masterclass of level design. This still doesn't make them that enjoyable, so I agree with your ranking there. But I stand with my point.
Dark Souls 3 has the worst early/mid game areas in the series imo. All the brown and gray. A swamp/marsh area, followed by a poison swamp area. The catacombs and the catacombs again but red with lava. And all the gothic buildings wore me down so much, that by the time I got to Irythill I just wasn't impressed. It's probably my least played souls game because of it.
I played Dark Souls 1 Remastered after I finished Bloodborne twice and heard many bad things about Blight town before first blind playthrough, so when I nailed it I kinda liked it. The only reason why I liked it is that it was over rated by many people in terms of difficulty and I had no problems with it. It's not great, it's just nice, cool atmosphere and shit The same thing I can say about Ornstein and Smough(I guess it's spelled like this on English, sorry for mistakes if they are done, too lasy to Google it rn), I killed them underleveled with Katana without shield only in 2 tries, and died the first time cause I was standing up, couldn't roll in few frames and died when was standing up, Felt a big frustration right there. I also tried it on PTDE and it was the same in terms of difficulty. So I still don't understand why they are so difficult for many people during the first encounter The first game is over rated in terms of difficulty overall in my opinion
Even though I literally make videos on the souls games as a pseudo job I will admit I come to your page all the time just to see if you uploaded again. Thankfully this time I was rewarded! Keep up the awesome work, you always have my favorite commentary. I'm too into this series...
How about an idea: you and Magicat make some sort of podcast-esque video about Soulsborne. I think you two have different enough opinions to balance each other really well.
I enjoy your videos a lot too I’ve watched a great deal of them!
@@enman009 I'd love to!
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Castle Mourne deserved to be called out as a great mini introduction to legacy dungeons for new players. there's multiple paths through it, some platforming, an interesting variety of enemy encounters, including a bunch of ways to get overwhelmed if you aren't careful. but there's also good early game treasures, a neat little npc questline that provides a helpful summon for the boss, and an environmental story scenario that is both interesting and well suited for a beginner dungeon in that it has many of the enemy groups fighting each other to give the player an easier time of things. it's honestly just a great overall experience for new players, absolutely nails what it was aiming for.
Castle Morne is absolutely the worst one of them. First, there is only one grace for the actual "castle" part the dungeon, placed at the bottom of it, and every time you die, you then have to take an annoyingly long elevator ride, then, next two checkpoints are ONE WAY dropdowns which is just poor design. The boss of this area is then reused like 3 times and even becomes regular mob lategame, and it also drops the ugliest weapon in the whole series. Icing on the cake is a goofy questline tied to this place. On my first playthrough, when I've killed Lionel and HAD TO teleport back to the YET AGAIN thrilling elevator ride in order to talk to Edward, guess what happened? He already vanished! And that's because teleportation caused this area to reset. I had to read his dialogue on wikipedia....
The only redeeming quality about this place is Claymore.
I think it's barely an area, you go in and out. By the end you think to yourself 'was that it?' Though I think a lot of the castles seem too short but Mourne was definitely the most bare bones basic out the bunch.
The little castles are just refined parts of the open world, not legacy dungeons, which is why you can enter and leave them during multiplayer. I like Mourne more than Shaded and Sol but that's not saying much. Has Claymore, has Grafted, has Edgar's quest other than that? not really for me.
@@logiclunacy606 Nah. Redmane Castle was the most boring one by far.
I love the lore of it. It really fleshes out the misbegotten and how there so mistreated that it's satisfying to see them revolt. It's too bad you end up killing all of them lol.
I honestly find it hilarious how i genuinely never had any problem with any single area in soulsborne, not in the "they're not hard" type of way, It's just that i never minded anything, I always acted that it's an adventure from it's bads and goods.
However i hard disagree with Frozen Eleyum Loyce placement, that place is so good, it has good exploration and level desgin, alot of good items, unique enemies and puzzles, and it's pretty atmospheric, my favorite area in dark souls 2. Even the hunt for the knights is pretty cool and worth it for the fight ahead.
I would also put Shunning grounds above depth, blighttown and farron keep, the level design and maze like progression is pretty cool, atmosphere fits really well, great ambiance etc...
Absolutely agree. Eleum as a level is honestly anor londo but better. I also feel like chasm of the abyss was fantastic. Those “reused” enemies he mentioned were the abyss creatures, which I didn’t mind since they are imo the best enemy type in dark souls 1. Besides they only appear at the start of the level
Fr I don’t even care about running in between bonfires because there is stuff to find here and it’s not some garbage like 3 copper coins or souls of a great warrior, also can’t get over him placing the catacombs of all areas as better than Eleum Loyce like does anybody even play trough it once you find out about the skip straight to pinwheel?
@Jay Aava is a fantastic normal boss
Same, but I didn’t play DS2 and Elden Ring yet. Don’t know if that changes with going through these😅 the only exception I really dislike may actually be hemwick charnel lane. I don’t know but the big clearing in the forest with the shooters before the actual area gives me anxiety every time and the rest is really stressing for me.
FUCK eleum Loyce. It looks samey, the enemies are shit, and to make burnt ivory king less cancer than it normally is you have to go through it TWICE
I actually really like the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. Just the fact that there was a massive intricate area below Leyndell was so fucking cool discovering it the first time. It has that old school Soulsborne level design of looping shortcuts. I like how you can get totally lost in the pipe system, and how there's catacombs to be discovered as well as one of the most fucked up areas in the game (the frenzy flame nomad graveyard). I also like the lore of the area in that it's where the Omen's get cast away at birth. The OST is great as well.
5 things I like about Ashina Depths even though I do agree that it's the 2nd Weakest Sekiro area: killing Mist Noble was actually pretty cool the first time just because of the illusion of the house changing into the dilapidated wreck. O'Rin of the Water is one of the best unique minibosses in the game. I like crawling beneath the house and using the flip door (especially after using mind control on the bell wielding taro trooper). Also, I still remember how cool it was when you get the Mibu breathing technique and use it in the river or the lake for the first time (it genuinely amazed me we could go underwater on the first playthrough). Finally, I like that you can do the whole area before you even fight Genichiro.
Yeah subterranean shunning grounds is lit
I unironically really like Blighttown. Maybe it's because I've never had fps problems with it, but the atmosphere is amazing, and the area is fun to navigate due to its verticality. Blighttown also has a very natural feeling progression, starting with the rafters at the top, before you reach the swamp at the bottom. I've always looked forward to going through Blighttown whenever starting a Ds1 playthrough.
My man !
Blighttown is probably my favourite zone from these games. I wish I could forget it to re-experience my first time there, carefully walking in the dark, on my guards for any sound-effects that would pop in my headphones, witnessing all its immersive horror.
I really felt like an adventurer, wanderer outfit, two-handing a basic long sword with a basic longbow on my back (yes I'm a weirdo who roleplays even soulsgames) trying to sneak my way through the mines of Moria (or what it would look like once controlled by Isengard).
The atmosphere of the area is really cool indeed, but I found myself always going straight to queelag with the master key because.. Speed? 😅 I lied, sometime I go in there to get power within and that's always a great time because this area is scary, not because of the enemies nor the atmosphere but because gravity 😆
I agree with you! I like that the area is designed to force the player to take their time and not rush through it. On the surface it could be the most annoying or the most difficult area to some players but I think the verticality adds to the level's form of progression. When the player finally gets to the bottom, the game designers put the swamp there as an insult to injury. The player is not forced to explore the swamp, but they could if they like or they can make a B line to the boss and the bonfire is right across from it. The other areas with swamps from the soulsborne series in my honest opinion often lack progression and are often added just because Miyazaki loves his swamp areas. No other area besides maybe the Lake of Rot incorporate this idea well. The swamp isn't supposed to be pleasant to the player but it is not supposed to be the main focus of the level, it is supposed to add to the level's harshness. For blighttown it makes sense, it used to be a village that was built structurally on a swamp and afflicted its inhabitants. From a level design and story telling standpoint, it makes sense to have the swamp. Blighttown has to be one of my favorite levels in the series because it is really one of the first areas in Dark Souls that is really a challenge, especially for new players.
I agree for thre most part. What I don't agree on is it's "fun" layout. I never found it fun, rather distressing, it's easy for me to get lost there
This might be big but blighttown is my number 3 in the entire series I love the asthetics I love the level design of the first half and also I did farron keep before so I was just so happy I could roll at normal speed
I gotta give Road of Sacrifices credit for being the first area to introduce the Giant Crabs. They're definitely a highlight on a first playthrough
I'm halfway through dark souls 3 and I'm really enjoying it but I hate those damn carbs😑
"Have Nameless King appear somewhere else."
Well, he certainly did...
Fantastic timing, I just finished your first video on the areas
Same here lol
All these videos are what I like about videos on TH-cam with talking: Direct, concise, good humour and presented with a meticulous level of detail to presentation. Just like your boss ranking. Thank you. 😁
Fia's questline was awesome. A cool boss at the end with an ending that alludes to a dlc or sequel.
It is also combined with the Ranni questline which is the best in the game.
This, and the deeproot depths feel a little like im playing ds1. i personally had a ton of fun clearing the entire area. seeing godwyns corpse was also an amazing moment. Definitely wouldve put it in good tier
10:21 “have nameless king appear somewhere else” I have news for you 👀
That's not the nameless king, that's the graceless king. Get it right 😤
Every time i watch you videos and get to end i start to dance to the outro music, it's such a banger
I applaud you for not falling asleep making this section. Highly looking forward to you geeking out about the best areas!!!
Personally I don't understand why people don't rate Nightmare of Mensis higher. Yes it is a bit difficult in the start but it is really great thematically up until last part and also quite fair challenge-wise for the last level of the main game. First the irrational threat of something unknown that lights up the bridge and messes with your mind gollowed by quite rational fear of giant spiders hanging from the ceiling menacingly followed by such a common fear of being lost when you encounter micolash and his labyrinth and finally no matter how annoying they are, hideous monsterns with a human shape triggering an uncanny valley response - winter lanterns. I really like how they put together such a chain of a very loosely connected common fears and made it look quite seamless. Also how all of these are much less scary when you start actually trying to deal with them. And the feeling of conquering of Nighmare when you drop the brain of mensis into the abyss. The weaker part would be just the last part of a level. You could interpret it as a common fear of actual in-game night of the hunt survivors - maneating pigs and mythical shadows of yarnham might be the things hunters see in their nightmares afterwards, but overall the last area is a bit disconnected from overall level theme and feels just like another street from cathedral ward or something.
New Londo ruins was listed as a DS2 area, it is in fact a DS1 area however
No
The Catacombs in Dark Souls 1 is another great level. Tons of verticality and shortcuts. A maze-like structure full of enemies that aren't hard if you've leveled your stuff. A very important blacksmith for fire and chaos upgrades. Hunting the Necromancers is fun. The Bonewheel Skeletons are a pain. Remastered added a third bonfire, which was unnecessary. And the boss is hilariously easy. I'd place the level higher.
When you don't know how you can skip the entire level in a few seconds, it's actually really cool. All the objects in the environment really fit the theme of catacombs like scary statue traps, spikes everywhere, aged stone bricks, gross bugs, color pallete is perfect. The level design is also great, different caves and tombs spiraling around a big ravine with flying spirit heads until you get to the dark bottom filled with piles of bones and dangerous skeletons is a great premise for a level. It's really easy to overlook the area on future playthroughs, but when you think back to your first, you realise how well it served its purpose
I just 100% Cuphead and now started playin From Software games, and just can t explain how i found your channel at this perfect time =))))
Ah yes, Cuphead, the Dark Souls of 2D plattformers.
@@noahraab2429 The 2d dark souls of dark souls 2d 3d games souls dark of dark souls of platfromers souls of dark of 2d
I think modern science is quite capable of explaining this curious phenomena
@@Reinoiro🎉iiiiiiiijjijijjijj😅jjjjijkjj 21:04 kjji 21:04 jjjj 21:04 😅kjjjjo😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😅ijjjkjjiiijjjjookooyo😢o😅ou😅i
Seeing Eleum loyce ranked this low hurts my emotions😢
hearing you use the medievil music is amazing, it's so rare to hear others who appreciate it's soundtrack now a days!
It's my favorite video game soundtrack to this day probably, definitely top 3.
@@magicat7356 Right? I mean, the organs and just the general dark tonality of it all. It's my childhood man T-T
Very much appreciated the inclusion of the MediEvil soundtrack. It fit so well for some reason, bravo 🎉
The Undead Setlement is my favorite area in DS 3 after Grand Archives.
I can't say I agree with Shaded Castle and Castle Morne being left out, as I think they both have their strengths and unique qualities, especially lore-wise. Shaded is a good combination of Gelmir's rot with Altus' beauty in castle form, seeing as it's situated right between them, and the level design especially stands out. Morne drips with atmosphere, has a cool story and worldbuilding tied to it, level design is pretty good, and the vertical section in the back that leads to the coastline is pretty and offers variety.
Like most, hard disagree on Eleum Loyce, you and Vaati.
Also hard disagree with Archdragon's Peak. I never found the enemies unlikeable. The twin knife guys can easily be handled by blocking their attacks, as it staggers them and leaves them open (mostly two-hand myself, but I always carry either the Shield of Want or Grass Crest Shield on my back). I love the larger snake-men, as I think their attacks have a lot of weight and are fun to dodge through, while keeping you on your toes with fire. And the summoner is a cool scenario, too. I probably don't need to mention how gorgeous the area is.
I do think that a lot of these enemy encounters are disliked because people tend to rush through the areas on repeat playthroughs and get ganked for their carelessness, and the encounters are simply not designed for that style of play (nor do I think they should be).
Morne and Shaded Castle are just so damn short compared to most of what's on this list, but he did include some others like that.
@@bravingbrivatebrian Pretty sure both are bigger than at least a few of the areas. Shaded Castle has to be almost as big as Undead Burg and Parish combined, in terms of paths and explorable area, and is definitely bigger than New Londo and all the Artorias DLC areas. Castle Morne is a tad smaller, but not by much.
@@ThroughfulGamer95 I think what makes them feel smaller compared to Burg is the level design, or lack thereof. It's mostly an open swampy area and castle walls. Fromsoft at their best can make a tiny space feel huge.
@@bravingbrivatebrian That's what I meant by "paths and explorable area"; Shaded Castle geographically takes less space than most of the mentioned areas, but uses more of it for exploration. There are, I think, at least two shortcuts and more than a few paths and sections that are layered on top of one another. It's definitely more open-ended than all the Artorias DLC areas, and maybe New Londo and Undead Burg/Parish (as a whole; definitely more than the Burg and Parish individually).
I think hemwick charnel lane in mediocre is outrageous, i really like the athmosphere and enemies. The boss isn't all that good but i like the design and progression
I like that is leads to cainhurst only memorable thing about it
Im surprised you didn't mention the HORRENDOUS amount of basilisks all over deep root depths while also mentioning the ants too
16:25 shaded woods has one of the most offensive level designs if I remember correctly. This small shrine only opens if you got enough of those big boss souls (I can't remember exactly what they were called) and to get to it, you need to walk up a small path. The road you are coming from is blocked by some stones. Basically: Everything you would need to do to get to the last area is to walk to shaded woods and WALK OVER SOME STONES. There is no need for all the boss killing if your character could walk over some stones.
My immersion is shattered and my day is ruined.
Omg 😂 I didn't even think of that while playing cause there's no climbing in that game
You didn’t talk about the cool transition to the stormy sky’s once you ring the bell at archdragon peak. Very cool and scary setting for nameless king too
Man am I the only one who loves hemwick charnel lane? It’s way better than lost woods, and it has such a cool atmosphere. It introduces the more aggressive dogs, it also has the crazy women and this Halloween-like atmosphere. Like ur literally fighting your way through the graveyard for yharnam residents, and honestly the boss is still pretty unique even if it isn’t the best or hardest.
Edit: I also like ashina depths too. It has a similar vibe to hemwick but with a Japanese feel.
Blighttown is iconic man. So sorry for you that you don't see i that way brother.
You forgot to mention that at the end of deeproot depths you fight fortissax. It should give the area a few extra points
There's OnlyFians before Forty...
Fortissax has about 1 single unique move though. Not enough to justify the awful questline
@@magicat7356 what is awful about that quest? It's not particularly hard to do compare with other quest in previous games. Also, Fortissax has 3 different moves, his own arena and OST and you can find him before any of the other ancient dragons. He isn't in the same league as Midir or Placidusax, but he isn't a bad boss.
@@warcoder you need to sit through all those long hug animations, do ranni quests, go to the Miriam area, climb atop the divine tower, talk a bunch more to fia and you can't finish the quest until you reload the area and hug/talk to her again, then reload again and you get lichdragon. Which 3 new moves does he have? The dive move where he spins around is the only new one as far as I remember
@@magicat7356 the hugs are definitely too long when you just want to rush the game, but I think you just need 4 to do the quest.
Having the quest connected to Ranni's isn't bad in my opinion, it makes the story more interesting.
I like the Carian hall, with sniper and all, but I know I'm on the minority here. Same for the divine towers.
Having to reload the area is one of those weird things fromsoft does that is quite annoying, I kinda get why, but it's still annoying.
Fortissax has the death lightning and the double lightning spear aside from the spinning glaive attack. I know he isn't the most challenging dragon and has room to improve, but the atmosphere of the fight, the ost and the arena are very cool. Honestly, I think less of the other ancient dragons because of him.
The catacombs and new londo ruins are very underrated areas
"Have the nameless king appear somewhere else"
Fromsoft: "Bet"
Bruh, Archdragon Peak walked so Farum Azula could fly (literally)
if you beat the obstacles in the subterranean shunning grounds, there’s an invisible wall that leads to the deep root depths which is an enormous area in elden ring
This video was 90% Magicat saying "This is one of the areas of all time".
Ah yes, New Londo Ruins is my favorite area in Dark Souls 2
eyleum loyce the first city with is like an actual city up to this point amazing atmosphere great rewards fun enemies and the best boss of the whole game at the end how could anyone hate it.
cuz its way to big with the forced exploration really ganky at places, enemies are just annoying some are reskinned, and everything looks the same which is an issue with a alot of the older souls games but it is still an issue
Blightown is a great place, I don't think the toxic dart shooters take away anything from the place, it maintains that tension of "I don't want to die so I must do everything in my power to not catch toxic".
hes actually a champ that he used the medievil music as a backround noise
i love no mans wharf its like old yharnam of ds2
Eleum loyce is my favorite area in dark souls 2.
Hot take: I'd put Castle Cainhurst on this list 🤐 I know people love it, and the setting itself is gorgeous, but the enemy placement feels very copy-pasted, and it's far too short for a giant castle. This is especially apparent after Elden Ring's legacy dungeons like Stormveil Castle and Leyndell, which are HUGE levels with tons of exploration. Honestly, if I didn't like Logarius so much, I'd skip Cainhurst on most playthroughs
Great video, btw! Loving this series
I do like Cainhurst a fair amount but I agree it’s pretty overrated for the reasons you listed. The lore is awesome, the setting is beautiful and Logarius is one of my favorite bosses, but the area itself was fairly forgettable for me. For one thing, it had one of the worst boss run backs in Bloodborne. The level is also pretty linear, with very little to explore off the main path, and as you said, too short and slightly underwhelming for a giant castle. I also think it’s really cryptic how they expected you to know to platform off the roof to get to the boss. I would say it barely scratches the top 10 in Bloodborne, mostly because of how great the other areas are in the game
To be completely honest, the main reason why I loved Blighttown when playing the original DS was because of how much I hated going through it. When there was something I needed that required me to go there or pass through it I always felt it was big undertaking that required a decent level of preparation (both physical and mental).
Frozen Eleum Loyce I think is an example of confirmation bias. People talk abouyt all the cool parts of the area, but don't really factor the negative parts into it. The Brume Tower also has this to an extent. Everyone talks about the cool views, but don't really take into account the awful gank rooms where you need to flip the switches to open the door
10:20 HOLY SHIT
Shunning grounds is somehow one of the most important areas in the game as it leads to two endings, being lord of frenzy and age of despair.
Archdragon Peak will always be peak design for (a bit biased as a romaboo since the area is literally fantasy constantinople). I won't disagree on the wyvern and the ganky gauntlet that the "boss fight" is, but the lore and the Nameless King fight are too good. S tier area dont @ me.
The only cool and memorable part of Hemwick Charnel Lane is walking along the side of that building on the cliff and being able to see Castle Cainhurst in the distance. And it being the zone where you actually enter Castle Cainhurst from.
I would only swap Shunning Grounds to Mentis, since the frenzy affliction, the ganks and some enemies drag the area a lot, not to mention that exploration isn't as rewarding as other areas. Shunning Grounds is just a vertical marvel with lots of paths and ways to tackle it. I agree some enemies aren't the best to fight, but you can bait them one on one or straight up kill them with one projectile.
I'm also surprised to see the Cave from DS2 above Blightown. Makes this videos kinda more interesting to see.
Pissed a bit in my pants hearing that Medievil ost after so many years.
came to the comments for this.
@@spyegle probably the most important reason I gravitated to dark fantasy (eventualy to soulsborne) later in life. I remember playing original medievil for the first time at like 5 or so, it was just like hearing metal as a kid.. Just pure love at first sight. Sorry for this lenghty response man
13:42 I was so confused for a sec there. I was thinking "They brough back new londo in ds2? WHERE?!" Until it cut to ds1 footage
That eleum loyce and shunning grounds placement is ungodly
Entirely in agreement about Eleum Loyce. Didn't feel like finishing that DLC when I realised I had to replay the zone to find knights just so I could get a chance at defeating the boss. While it's not a bad area on paper, to me it's the one that made me put down the game - so one of if not the worst.
You do a great job with these videos man
Eleum Loyce is easily my favorite area in DS2, it does suffer from typical DS2 crap like featureless rooms, enemy spamfest but it's the one place in the game that looks halfway believable which makes it far more fun to explore than most of DS2 for me, I like how it loops around too so I don't really mind being forced to go through it multiple times, I like the useless snowball shortcut, I like the grand scale.
13:43 ah yes, my favorite ds2 area
Road of Sacrificess is actually amazing if you are into PvP/Invasion
you should do all areas from best to worst after this :D
Thumbs up for the Medievil soundtrack
that Medievil ost brings a tear to my eye
For some reason i really love chasm of the abyss and i don’t even know why
damn that medievil music hit hard
I am curious, what’s so bad about fias quest?
Sewers always invoke a sense of wonder in me...
How does all the poop get there?
Huntsman's Copse deserves better. It has good enemy placement, fun enemies to fight imo, good verticality and plenty of little hidden pieces of loot to find. And also Executioners Chariot is one of the only actually good gimmick bosses in the series. It would be way better if the Horse wasn't randomly in Drangleic Castle too but it's still a great boss. And Skeleton Lords is always fun, just smashing dozens of Skeletons is fun and you cannot change my mind.
I don’t know why, but I genuinely love the road of sacrifices and the swamp behind😅 The atmosphere did everything for me and smh I feel super comforted there. That area was the moment I fell in love with DS3. Undead Settlement on the other hand was the only area in DS3 that I didn’t like that much. But i look through rose-tinted glasses when talking about DS3 and can’t be objective hahaha I fckn love this game.
Before I started playing Dark Souls, I heard how dreadful and awful Blighttown was, by the time I started playing, not gonna lie, I actually enjoyed Blighttown, it was a challenging area especially for my first time, but it's not as dreadful as ppl made it out to be.
This has made me realise that, of all the souls games I wouldn't mind seeing Bluepoint getting their hands on, it's DS2
I think the duke's archives is my favorite late game dark souls area. It feels like the most complete level the other ones feel more unfinished.
ahh yes new londo ruins from dark souls 2
New Londo Ruins is a great level. It has several unique enemies, including ghosts that can't be killed without a special item or a cursed weapon (or being cursed). It has NPC lore. It has complex verticality. The Darkwraiths are scary, and you can farm them for chunks and slabs. And it leads to a great boss, after which one can join one of the best PvP covenants in the game. One downside is that the runback to the boss is a little bit on the long side, and then the summon for the boss is not great.
I always found new Londo ruins below the water to be the best area post anor Londo. Great mob, lot of good loots and the atmosphere damn!
@Magicat Are you Finnish? The way you pronounce "that" putting more weight at the beginning of the word and yet it still comes out flat makes it sound really Finnish.
Yeah I'm finnish perkele
He put new londo ruins as dark souls 2 lol
Enjoy the Medievil music during the vid, reminds me of when I was a kid playing that game with my uncle on his ps1
Blighttown is actually one of my favorite areas I ds1 and it ends with a great boss in my opinion only thing i hate about it is the fat guys with the clubs they don't drop anything good they just drop shit
4:31 Bro didn’t play the same DS1 as I did
Can you rank every souls boss theme song pls i have never seen a youtuber do it in a good way
Chasm of the Abyss also has two of the best weapons in the game: Black Flame and Dark Bead.
What about the dragon fight in Deeproot Depths? You did not even mention it.
Missing some of BB that should have been on the awful and mediocre
Nightmare Frontier is one of the worst in the entire collection. It initially was interesting because so much of BB looks the same , but then you realize there’s nothing memorable whatsoever. The look is so cluttered it hurts your eyes. Awful awful
The reason I hate Nightmare Frontier is that, in my opinion, it just looks so boring to me. It’s got an extremely dull colour palette, which would fine if it had any majesty to it but it doesn’t. I remember watching those ‘Soulsborne if it was an 80s fantasy’ videos, the Nightmare Frontier in that looks waaaay cooler then the Nightmare Frontier in the actual game.
13:28 that has to be the worst analogy I’ve ever heard.
I think you mean best
@@magicat7356 Nope, I meant worst. But if "worst" means "best" to you, then you making that analogy isn't so far-fetched..
That actually made me laugh
How you gon mention Deeproot Depths without mentioning the badass Lichdragon Fortissax bossfight
Don't you mean, Dead Space monsters in the Brightstone Cove Tseldora? Those are not Resident Evil monsters at all. They look like necromorphs.
Weird that you didn't mention the platforming section in Deeproot Depths.
But I did? I mentioned it as a positive, unless you're talking of a different platforming section?
But LichDragon Fortissax!!!
wow dude actually mentioned my comment, W (love the vids btw, that place was the hardest time in all of soulsborne for me though.)
Agree with eleum loyce, i think that the area is pretty mediocre, is giant, but almost everything feels the same, specially the inside of the buildings, too many enemies that are not very fun overall, is just a giant pizza, but the pizza doesn't even have tomatoe sauce, cheese or pepperoni and the area takes forever overall
What's the theme he's playing at the beginning?
All the soundtracks you don't recognize from any souls game thus far has been from MediEvil
15:36 Bamboozled me, how does that even happen?? \O_o/
Also surprised blighttown made it this far up the list
The Catacombs are a masterclass of level design.
This still doesn't make them that enjoyable, so I agree with your ranking there. But I stand with my point.
Nononono 10:30
Archdragon Peak is one of the best areas of DS3 and I will stand by it
13:45 you made a mistake, new londo ruins is not in ds2
I thoroughly enjoyed the last video and this one, but gotta say that rape "joke" was disappointing. Uncalled for and fully unnecessary.
You know what else is uncalled for and fully unnecessary?
It's was funny.
5:36 my dad actually completed 100 present Eleym lois Griffin or whatever and was completely quiet and calm.... Wtf
Putting Eleum Loyce in Mediocre tier is a take hotter than 2B from Nier Automata and Carolina Reaper chilli pepper
Dark Souls 3 has the worst early/mid game areas in the series imo. All the brown and gray. A swamp/marsh area, followed by a poison swamp area. The catacombs and the catacombs again but red with lava. And all the gothic buildings wore me down so much, that by the time I got to Irythill I just wasn't impressed. It's probably my least played souls game because of it.
At 8:40 did you forget about the lichdragon boss?
No
Cap
eleum loyce is the best souls level imo
Sekiro is alright, I didn't get to beat it though. I got stuck on mist noble.
You've got the perfect voice for ranting. If that's an insult or a compliment, it's up to you to interpret
I played Dark Souls 1 Remastered after I finished Bloodborne twice and heard many bad things about Blight town before first blind playthrough, so when I nailed it I kinda liked it. The only reason why I liked it is that it was over rated by many people in terms of difficulty and I had no problems with it. It's not great, it's just nice, cool atmosphere and shit
The same thing I can say about Ornstein and Smough(I guess it's spelled like this on English, sorry for mistakes if they are done, too lasy to Google it rn), I killed them underleveled with Katana without shield only in 2 tries, and died the first time cause I was standing up, couldn't roll in few frames and died when was standing up, Felt a big frustration right there. I also tried it on PTDE and it was the same in terms of difficulty. So I still don't understand why they are so difficult for many people during the first encounter
The first game is over rated in terms of difficulty overall in my opinion