[0:00] Dark Souls is one of the best series of
[0:02] all time and has one of the most complex
[0:04] yet remarkable narratives I've ever had
[0:06] the pleasure of uncovering it's filled
[0:08] with so many ideas themes and values
[0:10] that breathe life into this series and
[0:12] its various interpretations allow people
[0:14] to add in their own details ultimately
[0:16] making their playthroughs a unique
[0:17] experience so today I want to take some
[0:20] time to talk about the trilogy I want to
[0:22] not only retell the game's main stories
[0:24] but also critique them along the way I'm
[0:25] going to examine why specific parts of
[0:27] the game are so well crafted and how its
[0:29] World design and bosses shape the story
[0:31] around them so with that out of the way
[0:33] thank you for watching and I hope you
[0:38] enjoy Dark Souls 1 is a fantastic game
[0:41] it's got a wonderful story that would
[0:43] set in motion numerous events that would
[0:44] occur throughout the trilogy but just
[0:46] within the bounds of its own game Dark
[0:48] Souls 1 has some incredibly deep and
[0:50] Rich lore filled with some of the
[0:51] greatest backstories this Series has to
[0:53] offer and today I want to discuss why so
[0:56] without further Ado let's get started so
[0:58] the opening cinematic of Dark Souls 1
[1:00] starts with the gray world one that is
[1:02] filled with giant trees and dragons and
[1:05] while the world stayed like that for a
[1:06] while one day fire was born as for how
[1:09] this fire came to be well it's never
[1:11] explained this is one of the many things
[1:13] we just have to accept the world of Dark
[1:16] Souls is fantasy and many things just
[1:18] can't be explained it's never mentioned
[1:20] how the first flame was created as it
[1:22] just happened but because the first
[1:24] flame was born disparity came with it
[1:26] life and death heat and cold and light
[1:29] and dark this description is literal
[1:31] since the first flame was created the
[1:33] people of the world felt its warmth and
[1:34] understood what heat was when they
[1:36] walked away from the flame they realized
[1:38] its heat didn't reach them which created
[1:39] the feeling of cold the discovery of
[1:41] fire during the Stone Age is to this day
[1:43] the greatest discovery known to man and
[1:45] in Dark Souls this is no different given
[1:47] how unique something like this in the
[1:49] world of Dark Souls was those who
[1:50] discovered it were obviously attracted
[1:52] to its power four notable people would
[1:54] discover Lord Souls next to these flames
[1:56] and be given immense power these people
[1:58] were Neato isth Gwyn and the pygmy from
[2:01] the intro we can infer that there was a
[2:02] civilization of people that existed
[2:04] during the age of ancients isth had
[2:06] daughters that were with her when she
[2:07] found her lord soul and Gwyn had his
[2:09] knights with him implying that people
[2:11] did exist during the time of the age of
[2:12] ancients but weren't of much value to
[2:14] the world given how powerful the Dragons
[2:16] Were eventually Neato isth and Gwyn
[2:19] would band together and use their power
[2:21] to overthrow the dragons Gwyn used his
[2:23] lightning isth used her flames and Neato
[2:25] used his death and disease they also
[2:27] received help from a SE the scales a
[2:29] Dragon who betrayed his own kind now
[2:32] that the new Lords were on top of the
[2:33] food chain the age of ancients was no
[2:35] more and the age of fire had begun this
[2:37] period would last thousands of years
[2:39] until we get to today currently the fire
[2:41] is fading and it needs to be rekindled
[2:43] in order to keep it lit but doing this
[2:45] is not as simple as it sounds you may
[2:47] have noticed I forgot to talk about the
[2:49] pygmy well the pygmy had a unique Soul
[2:51] called The Dark Soul using his soul he
[2:53] created something called Humanity he
[2:55] would then share this Humanity with his
[2:57] people these Dark Soul imbued people
[2:59] became became known as humans the pygmy
[3:02] is essentially our ancestor Gwyn feared
[3:04] this power though and created the dark
[3:06] sign which inadvertently caused the
[3:08] undead curse this isn't explained much
[3:10] in Dark Souls 1 but it is by far the
[3:12] most important plot in the whole series
[3:14] and while I just wanted to talk about
[3:16] this game for the whole video this needs
[3:17] to be explained or else the rest of the
[3:19] video going forward will make no sense
[3:21] the undead curse the dark sign and the
[3:23] fading of the fire are all linked the
[3:25] Dark Soul gets more powerful the closer
[3:27] the fire is to fading thus meaning human
[3:29] should get more powerful over time but
[3:31] gwin screwed Humanity twice by
[3:33] rekindling the flame thus removing our
[3:35] chance at power but also by branding
[3:37] humans with the dark sign think of this
[3:39] as a literal wall of fire that prevents
[3:41] the Dark Soul within men from getting
[3:43] too powerful the dark sign only
[3:44] activates when the flame is fading
[3:46] because that is when the Dark Soul
[3:47] within men starts to grow stronger this
[3:49] dark sign also prevents humans from
[3:51] dying but it also causes them to go
[3:53] Undead these fleshy creatures were once
[3:55] Undead humans but they have crossed the
[3:57] barrier of no return even though humans
[3:59] are able to revive after death
[4:01] eventually this will cause them to lose
[4:02] their Humanity lose their minds and lose
[4:05] their purpose causing them to go Hollow
[4:07] these creatures are Hollows beings who
[4:09] don't even remember who they are where
[4:10] they are or what they're even doing Gwyn
[4:13] likes being on top and he fears the day
[4:14] that he will lose his power so he'll do
[4:16] anything he can to prevent that from
[4:18] happening he did this by branding
[4:20] Humanity with the dark sign but by also
[4:21] rekindling the flame which is known as
[4:24] the first sin see the world is like a
[4:25] set of operations things are born but
[4:28] eventually they'll die but but then more
[4:30] things will be born only to die soon
[4:32] after that's just the way the world
[4:33] works but Gwyn broke the laws of the
[4:35] World by rekindling the first flame it
[4:38] was meant to be extinguished but due to
[4:40] Gwyn wanting to hold on to what he held
[4:42] dear he couldn't Dare See It Go he
[4:44] sacrificed himself by using himself as
[4:46] kindling for the first flame since he
[4:48] had one of the four original Lord Souls
[4:50] that came from the first flame it was
[4:51] deemed sufficient enough to be used as
[4:53] fuel unless the gauge of fire continued
[4:55] but as we know it is fading once more
[4:57] the undead curse is back humans are
[4:59] turning Hollow and the world is in chaos
[5:02] doesn't this sound like a fantastic
[5:04] story that's because it is this intro
[5:06] and even the game display a sense of
[5:08] desperation within our characters how
[5:10] far are people willing to go to get what
[5:12] they want or keep what they have and
[5:14] while each of their desires is different
[5:15] it always comes out the same Dark Souls
[5:17] 1 is just the start but the actions of
[5:19] its characters will continue to Echo
[5:21] throughout the entire Trilogy and we're
[5:23] just getting started after the opening
[5:25] cinematic we get to see the state of the
[5:27] world as it is today or at least the
[5:28] state of this we're an undead that is
[5:31] sitting in their cell awaiting the end
[5:32] of the world but one day we're given the
[5:34] key to our cell and are able to leave
[5:36] this person is Oscar and he speaks of a
[5:39] prophecy there is an old saying in my
[5:41] family thou who art Undead art chosen in
[5:45] thine Exodus from the Undead Asylum
[5:47] maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient
[5:49] Lords when thou ringeth the bell of
[5:52] Awakening the fate of the undead Thou
[5:55] shalt know this prophecy also happens to
[5:57] be the main objective of the game but
[5:59] it's only the first part the rest we'll
[6:01] have to discover later the intro of Dark
[6:03] Souls 1 sets up a new world by
[6:05] showcasing multiple important events in
[6:06] the world's history and also gives us
[6:08] enough information to understand the
[6:10] basic premise of the game while also
[6:11] purposely withholding some of that
[6:13] information to give us a reason to seek
[6:15] out set information one thing we need to
[6:17] consider though is our character's
[6:19] motivations why even bother making the
[6:21] trip to lordran the land of Lords well
[6:24] what else is there to do it's the end of
[6:25] the world and you were just given the
[6:27] keys to your cell allowing you to
[6:28] explore the world to Hearts content even
[6:30] if you're convinced that life is doomed
[6:32] and the world as we know it will
[6:33] disappear for good why not make the most
[6:35] out of it have some fun kill some
[6:37] Hollows it's a whole lot better than
[6:38] rotting in a cell with our objective
[6:40] laid out to us thanks to Oscar we can
[6:42] now set out to lordran and ring the
[6:43] bells technically the first area you're
[6:45] meant to go is the undead Berg but one
[6:47] wrong step and you can make it to New
[6:48] Londo out of all the souls games Dark
[6:50] Souls 1 will provide the best blind
[6:52] playthrough as due to its connected
[6:53] World players will go in different
[6:55] directions which in turn will create
[6:56] different experiences New Londo is
[6:58] actually a lake Game Area since the
[7:00] enemies here are quite strong and the
[7:02] boss at the end of the level is quite
[7:03] tough but you may stumble upon this area
[7:05] by accident within 5 minutes of arriving
[7:07] this is due in part to Dark Souls 1's
[7:09] level design which may have the best
[7:10] level design in the whole franchise it's
[7:12] been coined as a Metroid Vania a genre
[7:15] that started with the games Metroid and
[7:17] Castlevania these games have nonlinear
[7:19] progression as many areas can be
[7:20] accessed right away but others can't
[7:22] causing the player to go around the map
[7:24] looking for the key then running back to
[7:25] that same location such as this door
[7:27] that leads to havl which can only be be
[7:29] found in the dark grou Basin past the
[7:31] boss the door is found pretty early on
[7:33] in your playthrough but the key is found
[7:34] much later plus you'll also have to
[7:36] remember where that key goes you'll be
[7:38] doing lots of running in this game the
[7:40] highlight of one of my play sessions was
[7:41] going from BL town to Andre because I
[7:43] forgot to ascend my weapon before a boss
[7:45] fight meaning I had to take a 3-minute
[7:47] walk up to him then a 3-minute walk back
[7:49] down in future titles this would be
[7:50] remedied by fast travel but Dark Souls 1
[7:53] doesn't have fast travel initially and
[7:54] even when you do gain the power of fast
[7:56] travel via the Lord vessel it's not the
[7:58] typical fast travel were familiar with
[8:00] as we're only allowed to travel to
[8:01] specific bonfires these decisions
[8:03] further immerse the player into the
[8:05] world as it's all one connected level
[8:07] and since they're all connected that
[8:08] means you can see certain levels from
[8:09] different places such as Blight Town
[8:11] which is visible from Firelink Shrine So
[8:13] Not only was the level design of each
[8:15] area taken into account but also how the
[8:17] levels connected to one another and how
[8:18] this connection would affect other areas
[8:20] regardless of where you end up though
[8:22] whether that be New Londo or Undead Berg
[8:24] the very first enemies you'll come to
[8:26] see are these Hollow Men like the ones
[8:27] back in the Asylum all the undead we see
[8:30] here are humans who have lost their
[8:31] Humanity causing them to go Hollow and
[8:33] now since we are human we should go
[8:35] Hollow too however it's a bit more meta
[8:37] than that hollowing is a bit hard to
[8:39] Define as everyone can go Hollow for
[8:40] different reasons but the two main ideas
[8:42] seem to stem from constant death or a
[8:44] loss of purpose given that our character
[8:46] is set on ringing the bells he never
[8:48] goes Hollow despite being Undead as he
[8:50] still has a purpose should the player
[8:52] quit and uninstall the game they would
[8:53] lose their purpose so permanently
[8:55] quitting the game is sort of like
[8:56] hollowing in a sense I don't think
[8:58] everything needs to be explained with
[9:00] lore so this is more than likely just a
[9:01] gameplay mechanic but that's how I've
[9:03] interpreted hollowing on our way to the
[9:05] bells of Awakening we'll come across
[9:06] various different locations but sadly
[9:08] there isn't a whole lot of backstory
[9:10] involved in their creation locations
[9:12] like Undead Berg are just Undead
[9:14] settlements and the valley of Drakes is
[9:16] just a valley filled with Drakes the
[9:18] only exceptions though are Ash Lake and
[9:20] blight toown blight toown is next to a
[9:22] location called the deps and at the end
[9:24] of The Depths is the gaping dragon and
[9:26] while an interesting boss what's more
[9:27] important is the arena we can see water
[9:29] coming from the depths and going into
[9:31] the sewer system which leads to Blight
[9:33] Town according to various keys in the
[9:34] game we can piece together that those
[9:36] who previously lived in the undead Berg
[9:38] but were banished from the settlement
[9:39] were sent to Blight Town as punishment
[9:41] this is reinforced by the giant door
[9:43] that separates the sewer system from the
[9:44] outside world but this water from the
[9:46] sewer is poisonous well in Blight Town
[9:49] there's a spell called Poison mist and
[9:50] according to its description it seems
[9:52] that eni this egg bearing individual may
[9:54] have caused this as he was the creator
[9:56] of the poison Miss spell it's not fully
[9:58] confirmed that he did this but it's
[9:59] clear that ble Town isn't in the
[10:01] greatest State and it's due to the
[10:02] circumstances surrounding blle town that
[10:04] the town's folks seem to have built
[10:06] above the water in hopes of getting away
[10:07] from it this is a common theme in these
[10:09] games of things being built on top of
[10:11] one another as we see Blight Town above
[10:13] the swamp The Depths above Blight Town
[10:15] and the undead Berg above all that the
[10:17] idea of pushing things down and leaving
[10:19] them to Fester is also a common theme
[10:21] within this game but not everything is
[10:22] in such a sad State as at the lowest
[10:25] point of lordran we see Ash Lake a
[10:27] seemingly infinite land filled with
[10:28] archery trees that are surrounded by an
[10:30] equally infinite body of water for the
[10:32] purposes of Ash Lake this seems to be
[10:34] where the dragons used to live or at
[10:35] least one part of it as it's eerily
[10:37] similar to the environment in the intro
[10:39] which we do know was the land of the
[10:40] Everlasting dragons we can even find one
[10:43] of the few remaining dragons down here
[10:44] in Ash Lake he's a part of the dragon
[10:46] covenant in game and from various
[10:48] descriptions it seems like many people
[10:50] worshiped the dragons and tried to
[10:51] ascend to their level it's unclear
[10:53] though if that worked once the player
[10:55] feels confident in their fighting
[10:56] abilities they can approach the bosses
[10:58] defending the bells of wake ing these
[10:59] being the Bell Gargoyles and Chaos witch
[11:01] quag after ringing both Bells we'll see
[11:03] that s's Fortress a place that was
[11:05] originally blocked with a large gate is
[11:07] now open but if we travel back to
[11:09] Firelink Shrine we'll find a primordial
[11:11] serpent named frampt he claims to be a
[11:13] close friend of gwyn's and also claims
[11:15] to know our fate very well then I am
[11:19] pleased to share chosen
[11:22] Undead your fate is to succeed the great
[11:27] Lord Gwyn so that you May link the fire
[11:31] Cast Away the Dark and undo the curse of
[11:35] the undead to this end you must visit an
[11:39] Orondo and acquire the Lord vessel just
[11:43] like before this second part of the
[11:45] prophecy also happens to be our newest
[11:47] objective but frampt is quite a complex
[11:50] character if certain conditions are met
[11:51] within the game we can also be granted
[11:53] an audience with coth he however tells
[11:55] us a different story your ancestor
[11:58] claims the Dark Soul and waited for fire
[12:02] to
[12:03] subside and soon the Flames did fade and
[12:08] only dark remained thus began the age of
[12:13] men the age of dark so it wasn't just
[12:17] the fact that the fire was fading that
[12:19] caused Gwyn to rekindle it the flame
[12:21] actually went out furthermore despite
[12:24] being the same species both framp and
[12:25] coth have different views on the world
[12:27] framp wants to keep the age of fire
[12:29] going but coth wants to usher in an age
[12:31] of Darkness the question is who do we
[12:34] trust well that's up to you as these are
[12:36] the two endings of the game extinguish
[12:38] the flame or rekindle it the choice is
[12:41] yours what is important to note though
[12:42] is their motivations why are they doing
[12:44] this why are they against each other
[12:46] well we still don't know and it's been a
[12:49] widely debated topic that hasn't been
[12:50] given a proper answer yet regardless I
[12:52] don't think you should trust any of them
[12:54] framp claims that the undead curse will
[12:56] be cured if we link the flame but this
[12:58] isn't correct as we'll see in Dark Souls
[12:59] 2 and 3 The Curse is still present framp
[13:02] and cth are like politicians they say
[13:04] what needs to be said but never
[13:05] elaborate by technicality the undead
[13:07] curse will be cured when we link the
[13:09] flame as we know the dark sign only
[13:11] appears when fire Fades and if it's not
[13:13] fading then the curse of the dark sign
[13:15] is gone which means the curse goes with
[13:17] it but it will eventually come back
[13:19] Things Are Meant to run their course so
[13:20] over time the fire will fade again and
[13:22] the curse will come back just not in our
[13:24] character's lifetime frampt whether
[13:26] intentional or not is leading the player
[13:28] to believe that the Cur curse will
[13:29] disappear permanently when indeed it
[13:31] only just disappears for a few thousand
[13:33] years but cth is also lying as he isn't
[13:35] fully explaining what this age of
[13:37] Darkness entails and as we'll see kth
[13:39] isn't exactly the nicest person in the
[13:41] souls Universe I've always seen these
[13:43] two as Immortal beings ones that are
[13:45] ageless and due to this when the time
[13:47] comes they like to move the pieces a bit
[13:49] and see what happens cth and framp are
[13:51] basically playing a long game of chess
[13:53] but without the stakes regardless of who
[13:55] wins they both continue to live one just
[13:57] managed to convince the chosen and
[13:59] Undead more so why not cause a bit of
[14:01] chaos a lie or two here wouldn't hurt
[14:03] anybody as it's just extra pieces on the
[14:05] board to them to this day we still don't
[14:07] know what they really want from us and
[14:09] whether their goals they conveyed to us
[14:10] were actually genuine my interpretation
[14:12] of these could be wildly incorrect but
[14:14] that's the beauty of these games they
[14:16] allow you to shape your own story and
[14:18] create your own adventure and in my
[14:19] story I don't trust these two regardless
[14:22] of who you believe the one thing they
[14:23] agree on is that we need the Lord vessel
[14:25] thus we need to get to an Orlando to get
[14:27] there we'll need to pass through
[14:29] Fortress a place filled with deadly
[14:30] traps and is easily the most infuriating
[14:33] area in the whole game The Fortress is
[14:35] also used as a sort of trial as this
[14:37] leads us to an Orlando but many people
[14:39] have tried and failed to get there this
[14:40] is of course due to the numerous traps
[14:42] throughout the Fortress and the Iron
[14:43] Golem at the top although he was
[14:45] surprisingly the easiest part of the
[14:47] Fortress once the Golem is defeated we
[14:49] are then grabbed by these demons and
[14:50] taken to an Orlando
[15:19] [Music]
[15:23] it's hard to forget your first time in
[15:25] an Orlando nothing up until this point
[15:27] has been more extravagant and beautiful
[15:29] looking than this place and that's what
[15:30] makes it so memorable in a world devoid
[15:32] of beauty and color there's this
[15:34] incredible place that just exists but
[15:37] it's on the other side of the wall but
[15:38] something is off it feels empty like we
[15:42] showed up Lake to a party and in a more
[15:44] metaphorical and literal sense we have
[15:47] this place is gorgeous but if you'll
[15:48] excuse the Pun It's also quite Hollow
[15:51] lots of your time and an Orlando is
[15:53] spent walking but if you manage to make
[15:54] it past these Giants and exploit the AI
[15:57] of these silver Knights then you'll make
[15:58] it to the climactic fight of orstein and
[16:00] SM on ands is undoubtedly my favorite
[16:03] fight in Dark Souls 1 the balance of
[16:05] these two is unmatched as orstein is a
[16:07] quick nimble fighter that can go halfway
[16:09] across the arena just to hit you but his
[16:11] damage is nowhere near as staggering as
[16:12] the force that is SM whereas orstein
[16:15] instills fear from his speed sm's fear
[16:17] comes from his power orstein at the
[16:19] beginning of the fight is more or less a
[16:20] pushover he does deal decent damage but
[16:23] it's not enough to Warrant a healing
[16:24] item but no amount of damage resistance
[16:26] especially this early on could protect
[16:28] you from smos hammer and one hit from
[16:30] this Hammer can make orstein seem a lot
[16:32] more threatening their power grows from
[16:34] the other's presence as the more orstein
[16:36] chips at your health the closer you are
[16:38] to being within one shot range of SM and
[16:40] if SM hits you once well there's nothing
[16:42] that can compare to that level of stress
[16:44] they feed off each other in such a
[16:46] balanced way in fact they actually feed
[16:48] on each other as whoever Falls first
[16:50] becomes the power source for the other
[16:52] their health also goes back to full so
[16:54] it's never about dwindling them down
[16:55] over time it's committing to one and
[16:57] sticking with it the problem is is
[16:59] knowing when to strike and how given how
[17:01] well they complement each other it might
[17:02] seem like there's never an opening and
[17:04] that's what makes them such a difficult
[17:05] fight all that's required though from
[17:07] the player is patience it's arguably one
[17:09] of the best fights in the game and even
[17:11] the series as a whole and I can finally
[17:13] see why while on and may seem like the
[17:15] climactic Finish to the level hold your
[17:17] load as behind them is the real climax
[17:19] the princess of sunlight Gwen feel free
[17:22] to interpret climax however you want she
[17:25] is the one who gives us the Lord vessel
[17:27] we need to progress through the game but
[17:29] as I said earlier it feels like we
[17:30] arrived late to a party well I wasn't
[17:32] lying once the post-nut clarity settles
[17:35] in if we attack GW ofir the world of an
[17:37] Orlando shows its true colors and
[17:38] reveals that it's just as depressing as
[17:40] everything else in lordran and the one
[17:42] responsible for this illusion is dark
[17:44] swindin gwindel is an interesting case
[17:46] to me as he was the last born child of
[17:48] Gwyn who was a male but was raised as a
[17:50] female this was due to his strong
[17:52] Affinity with moon magic I'm not sure
[17:54] what the connection is but maybe it's
[17:55] some sort of cultural thing where the
[17:57] Moon is seen as a sort of feminine and
[17:59] symbol which would actually explain a
[18:00] lot regarding a future game and two of
[18:02] its characters gwindel also created the
[18:04] illusion of an Orlando to seemingly
[18:06] entice The Chosen Undead to continue
[18:08] their Duty remember gwindel only appears
[18:10] when we kill Gwen's illusion meaning
[18:12] that this is actually gwindel speaking
[18:13] to us through his sister he also shares
[18:15] the same viewpoints as framp which is
[18:17] interesting as he's basically telling us
[18:19] to kill his father and continue the age
[18:21] of fire gwiin seems to want to hold on
[18:23] to the power his family has and keep
[18:25] things running smoothly which is why he
[18:26] wants the age of fire to continue so
[18:28] that his family and their powers can
[18:29] stay and the reason why he created the
[18:31] illusion of and Orlando was also to
[18:33] desperately hold on to the Past H I
[18:36] guess it runs in the family then as for
[18:38] how Gwen ofir fits into this well she
[18:40] was gwyn's second born child who like
[18:42] many other deities left in Orlando she
[18:44] would then meet with a flame God FL and
[18:46] later become his wife besides these two
[18:48] Gwyn had two other children but we'll
[18:50] have to wait for Dark Souls 3i to
[18:51] discuss more about them so in Orlando
[18:53] the city of gods this place that was
[18:55] supposed to be seen as a Beacon of Hope
[18:56] to all within lordran is just an
[18:58] illusion but an Orlando isn't the only
[19:01] illusion of lordran by making our way to
[19:03] the painting inside the city upon
[19:05] touching it we're thrown into the
[19:06] painted world of Aramis Aramis as a
[19:09] concept is fascinating as it's this
[19:11] world within a world and these people
[19:13] inside the painting could possibly never
[19:15] know of the world outside of it from
[19:17] exploring this Hidden World we learn
[19:18] that Aramis was made for things the gods
[19:20] feared aramus is home to the followers
[19:22] of Vela and Vela is known as the goddess
[19:25] of sin furthermore this is the only
[19:26] location in the game where you can find
[19:28] the dark Ember which according to its
[19:29] item description is used to make occult
[19:31] Weaponry weapons that were favorable
[19:33] amongst those who plan to kill the gods
[19:35] and their kin Vela was more than likely
[19:37] someone who wanted to hunt the gods but
[19:39] was killed or thrown into the painting
[19:41] it's clear that this place has a
[19:42] malicious history behind it but it's not
[19:44] all bad as the person who watches over
[19:46] Aramis is crossbreed Priscilla Priscilla
[19:49] is a half-human half dragon crossbreed
[19:51] due to this unique birth she also gains
[19:53] some unique abilities mainly the ability
[19:55] of Life hunt which she uses on her
[19:56] Scythe these powers of hers could th
[19:58] threaten the God's rule so they also
[20:00] threw her into the painted world but
[20:01] what's rather interesting is Priscilla
[20:03] herself she's the only boss in the game
[20:05] that doesn't want to fight us she even
[20:07] tells us how to leave Aramis meaning not
[20:09] only does she have no intent of enacting
[20:11] Revenge but she knows how to leave yet
[20:13] refuses Priscilla may have felt how
[20:15] these new arrivals feel but instead of
[20:17] using Vengeance she uses acceptance and
[20:19] instead welcomes these people into her
[20:21] painted world it's actually quite
[20:23] wholesome and is the reason why I
[20:24] couldn't kill her every boss in this
[20:26] game is hellbent on killing me so when I
[20:28] finally discover Ed one that didn't want
[20:29] to and in fact help me I couldn't refuse
[20:32] so I left with the hope that Priscilla
[20:34] would be able to make this place a
[20:35] proper home for her people this whole
[20:37] area is swarming with Hollows and other
[20:39] creatures that want nothing more than to
[20:40] kill us but they were either tricked
[20:42] into here or thrown in because the gods
[20:44] will it and yeah some of them probably
[20:46] do belong in here but if Priscilla is
[20:48] set on making this place a home for
[20:50] those who have found themselves here
[20:51] then who am I to intervene after
[20:53] acquiring the Lord vessel when we meet
[20:54] with cth or frm they'll tell us that to
[20:56] gain access to Gwyn we must gather the
[20:58] remaining Lord souls and use them to
[21:00] satiate the Lord vessel these Lord Souls
[21:02] belong to four individuals SE the scalas
[21:04] The Witch of isth Neato and the Four
[21:06] Kings three of whom you will have
[21:08] already recognized from here we can
[21:09] tackle the game in any order we want so
[21:11] let's start with the Four Kings the Four
[21:13] Kings are well Four Kings who ruled over
[21:16] New Londo they were given fragments of
[21:18] Gwyn Soul which is why we need to kill
[21:19] them you may recognize their boss
[21:21] location as this is the same dark abyss
[21:23] that we met cth in well long ago the
[21:25] Four Kings were tricked by cth and were
[21:27] consumed by the abyss this caused the
[21:28] Kings to go mad and this also caused the
[21:30] citizens to either become these Blobs of
[21:32] mass or the dark wraith soldiers this
[21:35] area really utilizes the envirment to
[21:36] tell its tale as this place is overrun
[21:39] by the ghosts of the villagers and when
[21:40] we actually unlock the door to lower
[21:42] nandoo we see piles of corpses scattered
[21:44] throughout the land cth single-handedly
[21:46] destroyed an entire city simply by
[21:48] tricking its inhabitants and unleashing
[21:50] the abyss upon them while the mass
[21:52] extinction of a city sounds bad there is
[21:54] still more destruction to be seen one
[21:56] thing you may have noticed is a severe
[21:58] lack of human bosses quag would probably
[22:00] count as the first one you'd meet
[22:02] although she's sort of half human but
[22:04] there's a reason for this as this has to
[22:05] do with the witch of isth while Gwyn was
[22:07] frantically running around trying to
[22:08] figure out what to do with the flame The
[22:10] Witch of isth had a plan she was going
[22:12] to create a new flame that would replace
[22:14] the first flame but she attempted to
[22:15] create a replica in the presence of the
[22:17] very thing that was created which
[22:19] brought with it massive consequences The
[22:21] Witch of isth wanted to create a new
[22:23] first flame but there was already a
[22:24] first flame present in the world there
[22:26] can't be two first Flames due to this
[22:28] the the flame that she created couldn't
[22:29] be contained for long causing it to
[22:31] erupt and this not only consumed her and
[22:33] her children but also created new life
[22:35] as it gave birth to Demons the Asylum
[22:37] Taurus and cpra Demon roughly the first
[22:40] three bosses in the game were created
[22:42] from this event in fact anything that
[22:44] has the word demon in it is most likely
[22:46] derived from this flame of chaos but not
[22:48] only was New Life created old life was
[22:50] altered all of isela's family who were
[22:52] caught in the explosion were all
[22:53] transformed into demons themselves chaos
[22:55] which quag the fair lady and ceaseless
[22:57] discharge are three of eth's children
[23:00] just as Gwyn was desperate to continue
[23:01] the age of fire in an attempt to keep
[23:03] what he had so too did isth but the
[23:05] consequences are reflection of her
[23:07] actions in an attempt to give life to
[23:09] something bright and warm she ended up
[23:11] giving life to something cold and dark
[23:13] she also wanted to extend the age of
[23:14] fire in order to continue her prosperous
[23:16] life with her children but by doing so
[23:18] she ended up making their lives a living
[23:20] hell not a single person in this family
[23:21] tree is living a robust life anymore
[23:24] quag and her sister the fair lady are
[23:26] half demon and are more than likely
[23:27] suffering from their condition as told
[23:29] To Us by the fair lady
[23:32] qu what is
[23:36] it
[23:38] quog my dear sister the eggs it
[23:44] hurts they've gone still I am
[23:48] afraid it may be too late I am so
[23:54] sorry dear Sister C's discharge was
[23:58] covered in lavasa surus and birth so his
[24:00] life was a living hell from the start
[24:02] the flame of chaos just made it worse
[24:04] ceaseless discharge just like Priscilla
[24:06] doesn't actually want to fight us it's
[24:07] only until we steal this clothing set
[24:09] that he attacks us this clothing set
[24:11] rests upon a grave that belonged to his
[24:13] sister quana who he believes died in the
[24:15] explosion when in fact she was the only
[24:17] one who escaped quana will appear in
[24:19] Blight Town if the player is efficient
[24:21] enough in pyromancy quana explains that
[24:23] she was the only one who made it out of
[24:24] the reaches of the flame of Chaos in
[24:26] fact she was actually able to harness
[24:28] the power of the flame of chaos and
[24:30] create Magic which we know as pyromancy
[24:32] quana wants us to fulfill her Duty for
[24:34] her as she does not have the strength to
[24:35] go on she instructs us that we need to
[24:37] put down her siblings and her mother so
[24:39] that they may rest in peace this whole
[24:41] family Dynamic is horrific as ceaseless
[24:44] believes that all his sisters are dead
[24:45] even though quana is alive and quana is
[24:48] only a few meters from her sister and
[24:49] yet we can tell her about this clearly
[24:51] this is turning into a very depressing
[24:53] story but it only gets worse as we get
[24:55] closer to the final boss of the area
[24:57] we'll meet with a pyroman who was
[24:58] assumed to be another daughter of isth
[25:01] although it's unclear why she is so far
[25:02] down in these ruins yet is completely
[25:04] unharmed it's possible that she like
[25:06] quana escaped the flame of chaos but
[25:08] this daughter came back to finish off
[25:09] the boss right behind her or has
[25:11] possibly gone insane and is now
[25:12] defending said boss and by going down
[25:15] this slide we will meet this monstrosity
[25:17] who is the Bed of Chaos this is the
[25:19] witch of isth one of the four most
[25:21] powerful people in the world has been
[25:23] demoted to this deformed tree likee
[25:26] creature there are also these orbs next
[25:28] to her that we need to destroy in order
[25:29] to damage her and it's assumed by many
[25:31] that these are her other two daughters
[25:33] that were closest to her when the flame
[25:34] erupted so we have two daughters stuck
[25:37] to their mother two daughters who were
[25:38] half afflicted by the flame a son who is
[25:40] arguably the most affected and two
[25:42] daughters who managed to survive one who
[25:44] doesn't have the strength to carry on
[25:46] anymore and another who sits outside her
[25:47] mother's Arena this is by far the most
[25:50] depressing story I've ever had The
[25:52] Misfortune of uncovering the further we
[25:54] push into lost isth the more of the
[25:55] family we get to meet allowing us to see
[25:57] the consequence es of her actions we can
[25:59] see the pain that all of them are in as
[26:01] some of them are just wishing for their
[26:02] siblings back and others just want to
[26:04] stay alive it's an awful story that all
[26:07] leads to the final fight with isth
[26:09] herself and it is by far the most
[26:12] anticlimactic ending I've ever
[26:14] experienced it is agreed upon by many
[26:16] that the Bed of Chaos is the worst fight
[26:19] in Dark Souls 1 the boss is insanely
[26:22] difficult but it's not the difficulty
[26:23] itself that's the issue it's why the
[26:25] boss is difficult I would argue that
[26:27] just within the main game the two
[26:28] hardest bosses are the Four Kings in
[26:30] orstein and smoke ow ands are difficult
[26:32] bosses because there's two of them you
[26:33] have to have both on screen at all times
[26:35] or you'll lose this fight this is
[26:36] balanced by having orstein be fast but
[26:39] not as lethal and SM being slow and
[26:41] hard-hitting it's a wonderful dichotomy
[26:43] that makes for a satisfying fight and
[26:44] the Four Kings is a DPS check as every
[26:47] 30 to 45 seconds a second king will
[26:49] spawn and this will keep going until
[26:50] four on your screen at once to succeed
[26:52] you need to kill the current King before
[26:54] this happens both boss fights are hard
[26:56] but have weaknesses you can exploit the
[26:58] Bed of Chaos has none to defeat the boss
[27:01] you need to destroy both orbs on her
[27:02] sides then go down the middle inside of
[27:04] her so you can find the source of her
[27:06] power she's actually extremely weak as
[27:08] both the orbs and her die in one hit
[27:10] it's getting there that's the issue her
[27:11] hand attack is oddly timed and due to
[27:13] her design it's unclear where her hit
[27:15] box ends after defeating one of the orbs
[27:17] the floor will start to crumble so not
[27:18] only do you need to avoid her attacks
[27:20] but you'll also need to avoid the floor
[27:22] there's also a strict path you're meant
[27:23] to follow for this fight which will lead
[27:25] you right next to a broken piece in the
[27:26] flooring so you'll more than than likely
[27:28] get hit and fallen and die the walk back
[27:30] to this boss is also just as atrocious
[27:32] as you'll more than likely spend more
[27:34] time walking to the boss than actually
[27:35] fighting her thankfully there is no
[27:37] reset involved in this boss as every
[27:39] single run you've done is carried over
[27:41] to the next as it essentially has
[27:43] unlimited checkpoints it's like from
[27:44] software knew it was bad but still kept
[27:46] it in even if I actually enjoyed the
[27:48] fight the payoff narratively isn't worth
[27:51] the time we ventured further and further
[27:53] into the depths of lost isth coming
[27:54] across all of her children who were
[27:56] these hideous beasts that did incredible
[27:58] damage and she's just a puzzle The Witch
[28:00] of isth has one of the best Back stories
[28:02] in the game as the tale of her children
[28:03] is heartbreaking and being able to see
[28:05] their conditions face to face does take
[28:07] a lot out of you but it's completely
[28:08] soured by a boss fight that is
[28:10] mechanically and narratively a letdown
[28:12] our third Lord Soul belongs to grave
[28:14] Lord Neato and he's interesting to say
[28:17] the least Neato might have the most
[28:18] detailed boss design but the most basic
[28:21] story out of all the four Lords if you
[28:22] were to just assume that Neato simply
[28:24] became the Grim Reaper and just
[28:26] administered death you wouldn't be far
[28:27] off off which is a shame for someone of
[28:29] his importance grave Lord Neato lives in
[28:31] the Tomb of giants which is accessed via
[28:33] the catacombs both these arish Sher
[28:35] similar theme of death as this is where
[28:37] the dead are buried so we know that he
[28:38] administers death but what else does he
[28:41] do well not much else he does have a
[28:43] covenant that you can join but their
[28:45] goal is just to spread more death across
[28:47] the world it seems like he doesn't care
[28:48] about what's going on in the world as
[28:50] the only reason he attacks you is
[28:51] because we're obviously here with
[28:53] malicious intent Neo doesn't have any
[28:55] lore regarding his life during the age
[28:57] of fire and it's just about about him
[28:58] administering death from this we can
[29:00] infer that Neato either doesn't care
[29:01] about the age of fire or maybe even just
[29:03] wants the age of Darkness to occur the
[29:05] only other bit of lore surrounding him
[29:07] is a boss named pin wheel who was a
[29:08] necromancer presumably made up of three
[29:10] people as referenced by the number of
[29:12] masks on the body who stolen item from
[29:14] him known as the right of kindling there
[29:16] are quite a few theories regarding pin
[29:17] wheel like the fact that pin wheel was
[29:19] originally a father but his wife and
[29:20] child died so he attempted to resurrect
[29:22] them but it failed and some have stated
[29:24] further that he's still trying to figure
[29:26] out how to revive them as we can see
[29:27] skeleton throughout the room which could
[29:29] be seen as his test subjects but other
[29:31] than that we've pretty much discussed
[29:33] all of Neato there isn't anything else
[29:35] to speak about which is a real shame his
[29:37] backstory has a massive amount of
[29:39] potential but it just felt unfinished
[29:41] there are no major themes tied to Neato
[29:43] he's just kind of exists our final Lord
[29:46] Soul belongs to se the scalas SE as we
[29:48] remember Allied himself with our four
[29:50] Lords and attacked the dragons the
[29:52] reason he did this was because SE unlike
[29:54] the other dragons was not Immortal all
[29:56] the other dragons had impenetrable
[29:57] scales that could not be broken with any
[29:59] type of weapon SE was not born with
[30:01] these scales so in a sense he was not
[30:03] Immortal it was only until Gwyn was
[30:04] given their weakness from SE which we
[30:06] know is lightning that Gwyn was able to
[30:08] pierce the dragon scales and actually
[30:10] kill them SE was envious of his Brethren
[30:12] as they had what he didn't so as thanks
[30:14] for working with Gwyn he was named the
[30:16] Duke and given the duk's archives as
[30:18] well as some of Gwynn's lord soul for
[30:20] power during the war SE found the
[30:21] primordial Crystal an item that gave him
[30:24] temporary immortality but during this
[30:26] time in the Duke's archives he
[30:27] eventually went mad with his experiments
[30:29] and his research he is considered the
[30:30] grandfather of sorcery as well as the
[30:32] creator of these creatures and the
[30:34] Moonlight Butterfly our first
[30:36] interaction with SE is that he ends up
[30:37] killing us and throwing us in a prison
[30:39] cell we can see that theme of
[30:40] desperation as SE is trying everything
[30:42] he can to get what he wants but in the
[30:44] process it made him mad he's not as
[30:46] mindful of his actions as he used to be
[30:48] and is sort of a shadow of his former
[30:50] self one thing I find interesting in
[30:52] this prison is the abundance of Miracle
[30:54] related items and the clothing that are
[30:56] scattered throughout the prison it's
[30:57] possible that clerics were deemed
[30:59] suitable subjects for SE experiments
[31:01] maybe this is due to their magical power
[31:03] or because they were so easy to defeat
[31:05] to kill SE though we need to head to the
[31:06] Crystal Caves which I was originally
[31:08] going to say was probably the worst
[31:10] level in this game due to half the map
[31:12] being invisible but the walk to the boss
[31:13] is surprisingly straightforward
[31:15] venturing off that path though is where
[31:16] the problem lies to defeat SE we need to
[31:18] break his primordial Crystal so that we
[31:20] can sever his immortality giving us a
[31:22] chance to kill him the story of these
[31:23] Lords caused a bit of an imbalance
[31:25] throughout my playthrough you can go
[31:27] through lost isth and the demon ruins
[31:29] which is filled with Rich lore tons of
[31:31] backstory and compelling bosses that fit
[31:33] with the lore surrounding the witch of
[31:34] isth but then you go to the Four Kings
[31:36] and just find out that they were Lords
[31:37] of new Lando who got tricked by coth and
[31:39] consumed by the abyss it feels jarring
[31:41] going from one to the other as one feels
[31:44] thorough while the other feels
[31:45] incomplete like you miss something or
[31:47] there was more that should have been
[31:48] said I don't think every boss needs to
[31:50] have a multi-page Wikipedia article in
[31:52] order for it to be considered a good
[31:53] story I think that the boss's story said
[31:55] would needed to be said in regards to
[31:57] the overarching plot but I can't lie to
[31:59] you and tell you that I didn't leave
[32:00] these locations wanting more I wanted to
[32:02] know more about the 4 Kings and how they
[32:04] roast to power and I wanted to know more
[32:06] about Neato and SE in general but I
[32:07] never got that and I guess in a way this
[32:10] could be viewed as a positive as I
[32:11] didn't walk out of these places not
[32:13] wanting to learn them at all but rather
[32:15] wanted to learn more the game invested
[32:17] me so much into its story thanks to its
[32:19] characters and environmental
[32:20] storytelling that I wanted the game to
[32:21] provide me with more information on it I
[32:24] wanted to be encapsulated by this story
[32:26] more than I already was as with many
[32:28] Souls games not all answers are
[32:30] explicitly told to us but there was
[32:31] still a lot of burning questions I had
[32:33] that never got mentioned with the Lord
[32:35] souls in the vessel we are now able to
[32:36] fight gwin but we still have one final
[32:38] location we need to visit which is the
[32:40] land of ulil accessed by the artorius of
[32:42] the Abyss DLC the one and only DLC that
[32:45] Dark Souls 1 would have we start this
[32:47] DLC by defeating this Gold Golem that
[32:49] has a woman named dusk captured inside
[32:51] dusk was the princess of a place called
[32:53] ulil according to her it's a place from
[32:55] an age that existed long ago hilariously
[32:57] ly enough she doesn't actually say
[32:59] anything after this you would think that
[33:01] the DLC would sort of spin a story that
[33:03] her home is in danger and we need to
[33:05] save her but she doesn't actually tell
[33:06] us that she just sells us sorceries the
[33:09] DLC doesn't officially start though
[33:10] until we return back to her location
[33:12] with an item called the broken pendant
[33:14] which causes us to get sucked in into
[33:15] this portal and taken to UIL as dusk
[33:18] said ulil is a place from long ago and
[33:20] while you may be confused on how this
[33:21] fits within the geography of lordran
[33:23] this place is a lot closer than you
[33:25] think in fact we already ran through it
[33:27] to get to the DL see the dark R Garden
[33:29] is ulil this is evident by the tree
[33:31] enemies who have a similar design to
[33:33] these tree likee enemies and the same
[33:35] plans that are only found in the dark R
[33:37] Garden are also found here as well ulil
[33:39] was a city hundreds of years before the
[33:41] dark R Garden came to be so something
[33:43] happened that made this place turn into
[33:45] the garden that we know of well to
[33:47] understand the story of ulil we need to
[33:48] talk to Elizabeth but princess dusk is
[33:50] here no longer snatched away by that
[33:54] horrifying primeval human and so I must
[33:57] ask ask couldst thou once more play the
[34:01] Savior an abyss was begat of the ancient
[34:04] beast and threatens to swallow the whole
[34:07] of ulil Knight artorius came to stop
[34:11] this but such a hero has nearly a murmur
[34:15] of dark without doubt he will be
[34:17] swallowed by the abyss overcome by its
[34:20] utter Blackness indeed the abyss may be
[34:24] unstoppable still I have faith that
[34:29] princess dusk may be rescued yet this
[34:32] Prime evil human is Manis of the Abyss
[34:35] the final boss of the DLC and the thing
[34:37] that sucked us into ulil in the first
[34:39] place so our job is to hunt manace down
[34:41] my main gripe with the DLC is
[34:43] justification as technically with the
[34:45] Lord vessel we can just leave so why do
[34:48] we need to worry about this it's not an
[34:50] immersion breaking problem but it is a
[34:52] shame while traveling to the land of
[34:53] ulil you will come across this Coliseum
[34:55] like structure which is where we get to
[34:57] meet our next boss artorius of the Abyss
[34:59] artorius was one of the Four Knights of
[35:01] Gwyn the other three are Hawkeye goth
[35:03] who is sitting at the top of the tower
[35:04] right next to the Coliseum kin who
[35:06] appears in the Coliseum after we defeat
[35:08] artorius and the final KN is orstein
[35:11] each of them were skilled in their own
[35:12] ways as Hawkeye used his powerful grabow
[35:14] to shoot down dragons in fact he can
[35:16] actually help us shoot down calam who is
[35:18] the last of the ancient dragons Ornstein
[35:20] also used his spear that was able to cut
[35:22] through the scales of dragons with ease
[35:24] and we can also see The Spoils of his
[35:25] War due to the amount of dragon heads
[35:27] exist in an Orlando artorius is also
[35:29] able to wield his great sword with
[35:31] Incredible finesse and cabon used her
[35:33] two daggers to cut down anyone who
[35:34] opposed Gwynn's rule but all of them
[35:36] minus orstein are way past their Prime
[35:38] which is a growing theme amongst the
[35:40] entire series goth was imprisoned in
[35:42] this Tower with nothing left to do but
[35:44] to make carvings he also couldn't use
[35:45] his great bow anymore as all the dragons
[35:47] have been wiped out so he has no purpose
[35:49] kierin may have had a deep love for
[35:51] artorius as when we visit her she is
[35:53] next to a grave she made for him and
[35:54] asks if we can give her his soul if we
[35:56] do she gives us her weapon weens and
[35:58] continues to sit by the grave implying
[35:59] that she no longer wants to be a knight
[36:01] anymore and artorius came to uio and
[36:03] attempt to stop the abyss from spreading
[36:05] but ended up losing and being corrupted
[36:07] himself his left arm is also dangling
[36:09] which might suggest that it's broken
[36:10] this is because he used his shield to
[36:12] protect his wolf companion CF the same C
[36:14] from the main game although he is much
[36:16] smaller in this DLC C also has a
[36:18] different intro if you do the DLC first
[36:21] because ulio is in the past so he'll
[36:23] remember you in the present and it makes
[36:24] killing him that much harder in regards
[36:26] to CF it's possible that he doesn't want
[36:28] us getting the Covenant of the Abyss
[36:30] ring as that allows us to travel through
[36:31] the abyss to kill the Four Kings and
[36:33] given his owner's condition CIF probably
[36:35] doesn't want us to end up like artorius
[36:37] the artorius boss fight was actually
[36:39] really entertaining he was the first
[36:40] boss that felt like the antithesis of
[36:42] this game's combat most of the game's
[36:44] Pace has been very slow and methodical
[36:46] but he has these fast attacks and very
[36:47] few openers I do wish though that there
[36:49] was at least an ounce of buildup to this
[36:51] fight as you can literally start the DLC
[36:53] and be at the boss room in about 10
[36:55] minutes I think having the player
[36:56] traversed some of the areas that are
[36:58] covered in these Abyss creatures that
[36:59] grow in number as we get closer to
[37:01] artorius would have been great as it's
[37:03] slowly leading us towards this person
[37:05] responsible for all this death while
[37:06] narratively it felt a bit too fast for
[37:08] me the fight mechanically was great
[37:10] after artorius we can explore the rest
[37:12] of uio and we can see how much this land
[37:13] has been affected by the abyss as all
[37:15] the inhabitants have been infected by
[37:17] this dark energy turning them into these
[37:19] disgusting creatures eventually we'll
[37:20] reach the bottom and this feeling of
[37:22] fear starts to set in as the world
[37:23] becomes darker and darker the further we
[37:25] go down here in the chasm of the Abyss
[37:27] is where the darkness reaches its peak
[37:29] and it's where these dark Sprites of
[37:30] humanity live these are very similar in
[37:32] design to the actual Humanity we consume
[37:34] in game this seems to be Humanity in a
[37:36] more physical form one that is more
[37:38] exposed and not constricted by the dark
[37:39] sign at the foot of the chasm is our
[37:41] final boss Manis the father of the Abyss
[37:44] manace has an interesting story
[37:46] apparently the people of ulil were
[37:47] tricked by a serpent who was probably
[37:49] coth into digging mance's grave up in
[37:51] doing so it caused Manus to go wild and
[37:53] unleash his wrath upon them according to
[37:55] his soul Manus was once a human became
[37:58] father of the Abyss when his humanity
[37:59] went wild and now he eternally seeks his
[38:01] broken pendant the same pendant we had
[38:03] to find to start the DLC it's unclear
[38:05] why he liked this pendant so much but it
[38:07] was possibly nostalgic to him or was
[38:09] given to him by someone he loved and
[38:11] because this pendant was so important to
[38:12] him he did everything he could to get it
[38:14] back which inevitably drove him to
[38:15] Insanity it seems that he got so
[38:17] desperate to find the pendant that he
[38:19] pulled in random people into this world
[38:20] as the NPC marvelous Chester is clearly
[38:23] not from this world and he even says so
[38:25] himself he also kind of looks like the
[38:26] hunters from bloodborne which is a nice
[38:28] reference to the game the main question
[38:30] many within the community have though is
[38:32] who was Manis before he became his
[38:33] current deformed State well we really
[38:36] don't know many have said it's the fer
[38:38] of pygmy and I like that idea but I
[38:40] think it's less interesting than that
[38:41] many of the spells in this DLC say that
[38:43] they were created by an uilian sorcerer
[38:46] on the brink of Madness I can't help but
[38:48] think that this is perfect for mance's
[38:49] description one thing that is
[38:51] interesting is that in the middle of the
[38:52] arena is a grave with a Humanity shaped
[38:54] hole so maybe manace was one of these
[38:56] Humanity Sprites when he died or that
[38:58] this is what he turned into when he died
[39:00] regardless it's a very interesting
[39:02] detail I also couldn't get any footage
[39:04] of this as she disappears when you leave
[39:05] the boss room but dusk apparently
[39:07] appears out of manace when we kill him
[39:09] meaning that he kidnapped her this may
[39:11] confuse some people as dusk has been
[39:12] sort of all over the place in this game
[39:14] and due to her going from the past to
[39:16] the present it sort of screws with the
[39:17] time of it it seems like she was sent
[39:19] into our time somehow and was captured
[39:21] by this Golem she then disappears and
[39:23] goes back into her time which then leads
[39:24] to the abyss incident with the people of
[39:26] ulil artor is then called to defeat the
[39:28] abyss but fails and then we get summoned
[39:30] into this world via mance's hand then
[39:32] save Dusk and go back to the present
[39:34] it's still a little confusing and the
[39:35] world of Dark Souls is also very
[39:36] confusing when it comes to time as
[39:38] always during this fading of the fire
[39:40] time is very convoluted cuz we can
[39:42] summon people as Phantoms and the time
[39:44] sort of stops it's very confusing but
[39:47] that's how I think it went down but with
[39:48] Mana dead we have officially finished
[39:50] the DLC however this won't be the last
[39:52] time we'll hear of Manis but that's for
[39:53] Dark Souls 2 artorius of the Abyss was a
[39:56] great DLC while it does lack in
[39:57] motivation in regards to the player the
[39:59] actual story of the DLC was great it
[40:01] provides us with a nice timeline of
[40:02] events as well as more insight into the
[40:04] abyss and its effects on the world and
[40:06] while not known at the time it would
[40:07] eventually set up the plot to Dark Souls
[40:09] 2 it is without a doubt a worthy
[40:11] extension to the game story but now we
[40:13] can finally go to the Kil of the first
[40:15] flame and determine the fate of lordran
[40:17] the Kiln is coded in Ash and we can see
[40:19] the spirits of those who followed Gwyn
[40:20] into the Kil walk around aimlessly as we
[40:23] approach the first flame we have one
[40:24] person in our way and that is the Lord
[40:26] of sunlight himself earlier I said Gwyn
[40:28] sacrificed himself to rekindle the flame
[40:30] and he did but because of his Lord
[40:32] Soul's power he was able to keep his
[40:34] body but his mind was gone Gwyn has gone
[40:36] Hollow and while I'm more than capable
[40:38] of killing him myself I couldn't dare
[40:40] start the fight without the guy who's
[40:41] been by my side since the very beginning
[40:43] Solara vastor is easily the most
[40:45] well-known NPC in the entire Souls
[40:47] franchise and his story is a perfect
[40:49] representation of the mood this game is
[40:51] trying to convey throughout the whole
[40:53] game we've been meeting with NPCs of all
[40:54] kinds some with goals and others without
[40:57] but none of them have managed to touch
[40:58] my heart in a way that cair and sigm did
[41:01] both of them had a goal in mind one
[41:03] wants to find his sunlight and the other
[41:04] wants to explore the world but both are
[41:06] stuck sigm always seems to be getting
[41:08] himself caught in some situation whether
[41:10] that be a locked gate he can't enter or
[41:12] a poison swap he can cross and salair
[41:14] can find his sunlight they both
[41:16] willingly became Undead in order to
[41:17] achieve their goals and it tore me apart
[41:19] to hear that sigm couldn't see it
[41:21] through sigm Prides himself on being a
[41:23] knight of Katarina and that he can
[41:24] handle all of his troubles on his own
[41:26] but with my help showed him that he
[41:28] wasn't a worthy Knight after all and
[41:30] that he always needed someone to rescue
[41:31] him more often than not in these games
[41:33] your assistance will lead to their death
[41:34] so it's either converse with them and
[41:36] enjoy their company knowing that they
[41:37] will die because of you or distance
[41:39] yourself from them knowing that while it
[41:40] hurts it's better that they get to Live
[41:42] Another Day NPCs of these games will
[41:44] usually end up achieving a terrible fate
[41:46] but this sadness makes the few times a
[41:47] happy outcome occurs all the better
[41:49] Solair wasn't able to find Sunlight of
[41:51] his own he became depressed and wondered
[41:53] if this journey was really worth taking
[41:55] conveying the tone of the entire game is
[41:57] our journey and our struggle really
[41:59] worth it in the end which is why I owed
[42:01] it to him to make it right it may not be
[42:02] the actual Sun but the first flame could
[42:04] be considered the Sun so for one final
[42:07] time I summoned cair and we took down
[42:08] lord Gwyn
[42:33] gwinn's theme has such a fitting tune
[42:36] all these bosses have these intense
[42:38] sounds with loud music but gwyns is such
[42:40] a simple piano it's not intense it's
[42:43] almost sad in a way that the most
[42:44] powerful man in the world has been
[42:46] reduced to nothing and what was supposed
[42:47] to be a glorious fight between two
[42:49] Warriors really isn't it makes it all
[42:51] the more worse when you realize that
[42:52] Gwyn can be parried and once you nail
[42:54] this timing down this fight is a
[42:56] cakewalk for the showing how far from
[42:57] Grace he has truly fallen with Gwyn
[42:59] defeated we can now choose our ending
[43:01] but we aren't the only one who is able
[43:03] to choose since we managed to bring
[43:04] Solair all the way to the end of the
[43:06] game he was able to also fight gwin in
[43:08] his own world thanks to the convoluted
[43:09] timelines of Dark Souls and it is
[43:11] canonized that he succeeded and linked
[43:13] the flame in his own world he became the
[43:15] sunlight he was searching for and that
[43:17] might be one of the greatest endings in
[43:19] the entire franchise but while salair
[43:21] linked the flame that doesn't mean we
[43:23] have to if we choose the age of fire the
[43:25] world continues we rekindled the flame
[43:27] flame and use ourselves as kindling to
[43:29] continue this age of fire if we instead
[43:31] choose to leave we let the flame
[43:32] extinguish itself We join the primordial
[43:34] serpents including cth and probably
[43:36] framp and Usher in an age of dark one
[43:38] whereare humanity is at the top and we
[43:40] ourselves are the ruler at least that's
[43:42] what we think will happen like many
[43:43] plots in the soul Series this is once
[43:45] again left up to interpretation we only
[43:47] get to see the very beginning of our
[43:48] choice so anything after is just pure
[43:50] speculation who knows what will happen
[43:52] after and who knows if our choice was
[43:54] really the correct one that's always
[43:55] been up to the player to decide but I've
[43:57] always felt that these endings are about
[43:58] Comfort do we stay comfortable knowing
[44:00] that in the age of fire we aren't on top
[44:02] and might be mistreated due to our lack
[44:03] of strength or do we take the risk and
[44:05] see what the age of dark is about one
[44:06] thing to note though is the
[44:07] circumstances regarding these endings
[44:09] Fram says that the undead curse will be
[44:10] cured if we go with the age of fire and
[44:12] not even C says anything about this when
[44:14] we talk with him about it so does that
[44:15] mean that we'll stay Undead or at least
[44:17] still have the risk of going Hollow in
[44:19] the age of dark furthermore the age of
[44:21] fire was a time ruled by the gods and
[44:23] they did what they could to keep it that
[44:24] way but we killed them everyone in Anar
[44:27] Londo that is a God is either dead or
[44:29] gone gwindel is the only one that
[44:30] canonically lives thanks to Dark Souls 3
[44:33] so even though an age of fire can be
[44:34] seen as the age of gods that might not
[44:36] be true anymore as we took care of most
[44:38] of them so there is positives and
[44:39] negatives both ways and that's really
[44:41] been the point there's never going to be
[44:43] a clear answer it's just whatever you
[44:44] think is right as for me I think an age
[44:46] of dark is the proper way to go as we
[44:48] said in the intro the world of Dark
[44:49] Souls is like a set of operations things
[44:51] come and things go and the age of dark
[44:53] should have followed after the age of
[44:55] fire but du to when breaking the rules
[44:56] of the world world that didn't happen so
[44:58] I think in an attempt to set things back
[45:00] on track before further destruction an
[45:02] age of dark is the way to go regardless
[45:04] of what happens in this age of dark at
[45:05] the very least things will transition
[45:07] back to the way it was supposed to be
[45:08] however that might not be the actual
[45:10] ending given the future titles some have
[45:12] debated on proper endings and given the
[45:14] status of Dark Souls 3 linking the flame
[45:16] I think is the real ending and is
[45:18] definitely the most agreed upon as just
[45:20] about every person in this game will'll
[45:21] speak about linking the flame we only
[45:23] hear about the guge of dark from coth
[45:25] who we have to jump through several
[45:26] Hoops to just even meet I can almost
[45:28] guarantee someone has gone throughout
[45:29] the entire game and didn't even know
[45:31] that an age of dark was the real option
[45:32] because of how hidden it is and while
[45:34] it's not my preferred ending continuing
[45:36] the age of fire would set in motion
[45:37] numerous events for us to discover Dark
[45:39] Souls 1 was a fantastic experience from
[45:42] start to finish and while the road was a
[45:44] little bumpy sometimes along the way it
[45:46] story wrapped up wonderfully it's a game
[45:48] that I recommend you play at least once
[45:49] in your lifetime as you will never get
[45:51] to experience something like this ever
[45:53] again but we're just getting started
[45:56] Dark Souls 2 is a brilliant game it
[45:58] takes into account the age of fire and
[46:00] the age of dark and asks the question
[46:02] why are there only two options and then
[46:03] continues this idea by shutting out both
[46:05] ages by making something else the main
[46:07] plot of the story something that I will
[46:09] explain throughout this video so without
[46:11] further Ado let's get started so before
[46:13] we start talking about the story we need
[46:15] to address the game as a whole Dark
[46:16] Souls 2 requires a different mindset in
[46:18] order to grasp what the game is trying
[46:19] to tell you as we saw in Dark Souls 1
[46:21] the game relied heavily on the cycles of
[46:23] the world to be the main plot it's all
[46:24] about the age of fire and the age of
[46:26] dark and what these Cycles mean how they
[46:28] impact the world and what age we'll
[46:29] choose when we get to the end this means
[46:31] it also relies heavily on the world
[46:32] itself Dark Souls one was about our four
[46:34] Lords how they Rose to power and what
[46:36] they did with that power and what the
[46:37] state of the world is because of sad
[46:39] power as such we play a very
[46:41] insignificant person in regards to the
[46:42] overall world but Dark Souls I isn't
[46:44] like that it's not about the age of fire
[46:46] and the fate of the world it's about one
[46:48] Kingdom and how this one Kingdom handled
[46:50] its own cycle Lord dam was important as
[46:52] it was the first Kingdom in the age of
[46:53] fire but Drang Lake isn't important at
[46:55] all it's just one of the hundreds of
[46:56] kingdoms built on the same land and
[46:58] that's what makes Dark Souls 2 so
[47:00] special it's the insignificance of this
[47:02] game that makes it so compelling because
[47:04] it isn't tied down by the world's
[47:05] Pantheon it uses what Dark Souls 1
[47:07] created as a way to write its own story
[47:09] this game isn't about the Cycles it's
[47:11] about one small part of the Cycles the
[47:13] undead curse and the quicker you realize
[47:14] that Dark Souls I is reshaping the
[47:16] proverbial mold that is Dark Souls 1 the
[47:18] better this game gets but to explain why
[47:21] we need to start playing our opening
[47:23] cinematic shows our character collapsing
[47:24] in a rainy Forest the narrator talks
[47:26] about the undead curse and how it will
[47:28] infect your mind how it has the ability
[47:29] to remove all that you hold dear and all
[47:31] that you remember with every minute the
[47:33] curse gets worse and worse until you go
[47:35] Hollow is that is the Fate for all
[47:36] Undead but this narrator speaks of a
[47:38] kingdom called Drang Lake and how we'll
[47:40] walk towards its gate without ever
[47:41] knowing why we know why we're here in
[47:43] Drang Lake as our characters trying to
[47:44] find a cure for the undead curse so they
[47:46] no longer feel its effects but they're
[47:48] unsure of why Drang Lake specifically
[47:50] just as the Mind gravitates towards the
[47:51] smell of food when hungry the mind of
[47:53] the undead is drawn to souls and Drang
[47:55] Lake has plenty of them to to get to Dr
[47:57] Lake we must cross a lake and enter a
[47:58] portal the scene tries to portray this
[48:00] event as some marvelous spectacle but
[48:02] that couldn't be farther from the truth
[48:03] once we cross this gate we're never
[48:05] coming back we'll either be trapped here
[48:06] until we cure the curse or go Hollow the
[48:08] gate is even surrounded by bright bugs
[48:10] which are known to comfort the dead
[48:11] almost like it's luring us to our deaths
[48:13] so for one final Time We Gather our
[48:15] thoughts and jump
[48:31] on the other side of this portal is the
[48:33] things betwix a place stuck in limbo
[48:35] that serves as a connection between
[48:36] Drang Lake and the outside world like I
[48:38] said we're stuck here for good inside
[48:40] this limbo was a house of women three of
[48:42] whom are FireKeepers that are being
[48:44] cared for by their housekeeper and
[48:45] they're very honest about our arrival
[48:48] you're
[48:49] finished you'll go
[48:54] Hollow yes you will become one of
[48:58] them Hollows pray upon men Feast upon
[49:03] their
[49:06] souls this is the fate of the
[49:10] [Laughter]
[49:17] cursed we aren't the first Undead to
[49:19] walk through their doors and we won't be
[49:20] the last and all of them have met the
[49:22] same fate so what makes us any different
[49:24] Dark Souls 2 tries to set in this
[49:25] feeling of hopelessness so something
[49:26] that's very consistent throughout the
[49:28] trilogy no one truly believes we can
[49:29] accomplish our goal but that's what
[49:31] makes the emerald Herald so wonderful
[49:33] she believes that we can succeed in our
[49:34] goal and will help us in any way that
[49:35] she can and by providing us the means to
[49:37] level up she might be the most helpful
[49:39] person in the game this is why the level
[49:40] up ladies of the franchise have always
[49:42] been seen in such a positive light they
[49:44] don't discriminate and they don't bother
[49:45] questioning if what we're doing is
[49:46] working they have an undying motivation
[49:48] to help us succeed regardless of if
[49:50] there's something to gain from it
[49:51] they're like a bright light in a dark
[49:52] tunnel as all around them are people who
[49:54] have given up I am
[49:57] solden and like you I lost everything
[50:02] and now I'm here the location they both
[50:06] reside in is majula a small town on the
[50:08] outskirts of Dr Lake and its the music
[50:10] displays a feeling of Peace a place that
[50:11] is void of death a place that you can
[50:13] feel comfortable in and in the world of
[50:14] Dark Souls a place like that is more
[50:16] than necessary I've always preferred
[50:18] when the main hubs were seamlessly
[50:19] integrated into the world something that
[50:21] would be eventually lost with the series
[50:22] going forward as it makes the world more
[50:24] believable and in the case of bajula
[50:26] without it you'd be missing this
[50:27] beautiful scenery after taking in the
[50:29] view we can speak to the emerald Herald
[50:30] who reveal our objective seek those
[50:33] whose names are
[50:34] unutterable the four endowed with
[50:37] immense
[50:38] Souls these four beings are known as the
[50:40] four great ones the Lost Sinner the Old
[50:42] Iron King the rotten and the Duke's Dear
[50:44] Freya just like before we have four
[50:46] beings that need to be slain in order to
[50:48] continue and just like Dark Souls 1 how
[50:50] we go about killing them and in what
[50:51] order we want to go in is entirely up to
[50:53] us but one thing to point out though is
[50:55] that the emerald Herald isn't a firek
[50:57] keeper at least she wasn't originally
[50:59] her real name is Shanel lot and she was
[51:01] given this name by the dragons her
[51:03] purpose was to break the undead curse
[51:05] but seeing as there is thousands of
[51:06] Hollows in Drang Lake she clearly failed
[51:09] her goal now is to just rest at majula
[51:11] guiding the Undead on their Journey To
[51:12] Succeed King Vendrick before we go
[51:14] though I want to talk about the NPCs I
[51:16] think Dark Souls 2 really dropped the
[51:17] ball when it came to these characters
[51:19] many of them are extremely forgettable
[51:20] and seem to only be placed in the world
[51:22] so that the player can be given a
[51:23] tangible item rather than an engaging
[51:25] story Benard of Joo is a good example as
[51:27] he seems like a compelling character
[51:29] that may have a memorable Quest all for
[51:31] it to crumble almost immediately his
[51:32] whole quest line revolves around his
[51:34] family heirloom the giante teal sword
[51:35] resting on his shoulder which you may
[51:37] recognize as the moonlight great swword
[51:39] except this one is a fake it doesn't
[51:41] have the magical properties of the
[51:42] original but benhart believes that with
[51:44] enough strength he can unlock its true
[51:45] power I would have dropped this Quest
[51:47] entirely if it wasn't for the fact that
[51:48] he gives us the sword at the end of it
[51:50] he provides little to no substance to
[51:51] the world and this goes for a vast
[51:53] majority of characters we meet there are
[51:55] over 40 NPCs in this game and about 90%
[51:57] of them provide the player with a
[51:59] service and some of their services are
[52:00] either outclassed or completely useless
[52:02] logr is the Mula blacksmith but the
[52:04] player may find McDuff another
[52:06] blacksmith except McDuff can do
[52:08] everything lass can do but with the
[52:09] added bonus of being able to infuse
[52:11] weapons and gavon is a lonely Merchant
[52:13] who only sells five items four of which
[52:15] are poison he also has three set
[52:17] locations so in order to purchase his
[52:18] Services you'll need to go out of your
[52:20] way to find him and that's if you really
[52:21] want poison equipment there's just so
[52:23] much clutter as half these characters
[52:25] could literally just combine into one
[52:27] General Goods Merchant thankfully it's
[52:29] not all bad lucatiel has a wonderful
[52:31] quest line as she shows us the horrific
[52:33] reality that is the undead curse she was
[52:35] a warrior of mea but now she barely
[52:37] remembers who she is by the time we get
[52:38] to the end of her quest line she's
[52:40] practically pleading for us to remember
[52:41] her name as she may not remember it
[52:43] herself it's unclear why she came to
[52:44] Drang Lake in the first place but given
[52:46] that her brother astil will invade us
[52:48] only a few feet from her final location
[52:50] it's possible that she was looking for
[52:51] him but now both of them have succumbed
[52:53] to the curses Affliction never truly
[52:54] knowing what happened to the other
[52:56] thankfully lucao isn't the only
[52:57] character of note in this game as the
[52:59] feud between kraton and pate and the
[53:00] peaceful conversations with venaro were
[53:02] fantastic being able to take the role of
[53:04] a detective and truly uncover which one
[53:06] is telling the truth and then choosing a
[53:08] side before one prevails was a great
[53:09] investigation and the fact that a
[53:11] talking head can get me to listen to his
[53:13] life's story as he thinks about his past
[53:14] life and how much he despises it shows
[53:16] me that this game has some wonderful
[53:18] stories that are just waiting to be
[53:19] uncovered you just have to weed through
[53:21] the dozens of merchants in order to find
[53:23] them getting back on track we're still
[53:24] on the hunt for the four great ones once
[53:26] again this is similar to Dark Souls 1
[53:28] but instead of ringing the bells of
[53:29] Awakening and then finding the Lord
[53:30] Souls we just have to find the souls
[53:32] already if you remember from that video
[53:33] on Dark Souls 1 I said that the bells of
[53:35] Awakening section was a bit slow is not
[53:37] much in terms of plot was happening it
[53:39] wasn't until we rang them that the story
[53:40] really started to take off well in Dark
[53:42] Souls 2 it's the same unless you look at
[53:44] the bigger picture before we get to the
[53:45] four great ones there are a lot of other
[53:47] areas we need to go through first for
[53:49] example to get to the Lost Center we
[53:50] need to go through majula to Hay's Tower
[53:52] of flame to No Man's dwarf through the
[53:54] Lost Bast steel and then to Center's
[53:55] rise with the boss is located all these
[53:57] locations will seem pointless and if you
[53:59] just only do this boss fight it will
[54:01] continue to feel like that it isn't
[54:03] until later in the game when the climax
[54:05] hits that things start to make sense no
[54:07] man's Warf is a small Port town and its
[54:09] final boss is the flexile sentury the
[54:11] Sentry's job was to take as many Undead
[54:12] as they could fit on this boat and send
[54:14] them to the Lost Bas steel which is a
[54:16] prison for the undead but this isn't the
[54:18] only location to have lore regarding the
[54:20] curse the huntsman's cops was a hunting
[54:22] ground for the old iron King's Men Who
[54:23] were tasked with killing any Undead on
[54:25] site but as you would expect they too
[54:27] also succumb to the curse next to this
[54:29] area is the undead purgatory where a
[54:31] chariot Rider continually kills and
[54:33] punishes the undead it's also possible
[54:35] that these necromancers were purposely
[54:37] stationed here this may imply that the
[54:38] necromancers were used to resurrect the
[54:40] undead so that they can be repeatedly
[54:42] killed for entertainment like I said
[54:44] this game does not focus on the cycles
[54:45] of the world it's all about the curse
[54:47] and this is only discovered once we get
[54:48] further in the game but in the beginning
[54:50] it may seem a bit overplayed that's why
[54:52] it's required to have a different
[54:53] mindset going into this game if you're
[54:55] thinking about the cycle in this game's
[54:56] lore will be boring and repetitive but
[54:58] it's actually brilliant once everything
[55:00] comes together as these early areas are
[55:01] showing how different rulers are
[55:03] reacting to the curse and what their
[55:04] actions are as a result of it and
[55:06] speaking of rulers one of them happens
[55:07] to be one of the four great ones the Old
[55:09] Iron King resides in the Iron Keep but
[55:11] to get there we must pass through the
[55:12] Huntsman cops which we know is the place
[55:14] the Old Iron King sent his men to hunt
[55:16] the undead behind this location is
[55:17] Harvest Valley and earn Peak two areas
[55:20] that are coded in Poison thanks to one
[55:22] individual Mitha the banful queen
[55:23] mytha's story is rather tragic she
[55:26] wasn't a originally like this monster we
[55:27] see today she was a beautiful queen but
[55:29] her drive to win her beloved's heart
[55:31] back is what drove her to such lengths
[55:33] myth's story though does have some
[55:34] complications she is named both Queen
[55:36] and Princess in that she loved a prince
[55:38] and sought the king's affection her
[55:40] story is very confusing cuz we don't
[55:42] really understand whether she was a
[55:44] queen and a princess or just one of them
[55:46] but whoever this person was it's clear
[55:48] they did not love her un thus she began
[55:50] using poison as a way to obtain Beauty
[55:52] but this came with its own set of
[55:53] problems as the poison started turning
[55:55] her into a like monster and yet while
[55:57] she was sulking around her room day in
[55:59] and day out trying to win the heart of a
[56:00] man she unknowingly already succeeded in
[56:02] doing just that the Covetous Demon was a
[56:05] human Who Loved Mitha and cherished her
[56:07] no matter what form she took he tried to
[56:08] Showcase his love for her through
[56:10] gluttony but this too would change him
[56:11] and turn him into the monster we see
[56:13] today but despite his change in
[56:14] appearance his love for the queen never
[56:16] wavered behind the poisonous swamp of
[56:18] Earth and Peak is the Iron Keep home of
[56:20] the Old Iron King The Old Iron King was
[56:22] a lord of very little power but he would
[56:24] then eventually meet a knight called Sir
[56:25] Alon who trained to soldiers in the art
[56:27] of battle the Old Iron King would then
[56:28] eventually build his kingdom but doing
[56:30] so cost him almost all his assets but
[56:32] one day he discovered an iron producing
[56:34] Miracle this allowed him to control iron
[56:35] to his heart's content which led to the
[56:37] Iron Keep a giant Fortress made entirely
[56:39] of iron he started creating Soldiers
[56:41] made entirely of iron and even a demon
[56:43] of fire called the Smelter Demon this
[56:45] idea of creating things of Free Will
[56:47] with only raw materials is also related
[56:49] to the undead Chariot which of course
[56:50] was his creation so he's quite familiar
[56:52] with this craft eventually for whatever
[56:54] reason sir alone would leave the Iron
[56:56] Keep and set out in search of unknown
[56:58] lands after losing his most trusted
[57:00] Knight The Iron King sought the Council
[57:01] of a man named agel he was presumably a
[57:04] pyromancer due to his goal of trying to
[57:06] give fire a will of its own the two
[57:07] worked together to create the
[57:08] aforementioned Smelter Demon but this
[57:10] would bring disastrous consequences to
[57:12] the keep the two never considered that
[57:14] by giving Something Free Will it has the
[57:15] chance to turn on its creator and the
[57:17] Smelter Demon did just that with one
[57:19] swing it obliterated the Iron King and
[57:21] sent him into the lava it was born from
[57:23] this act also caused the lava to take on
[57:25] a much larger form and crash into the
[57:26] Iron Keep consuming it in lava as we see
[57:29] now but while the keep and its soldiers
[57:30] were scrambling to Higher Ground
[57:32] something else happened the iron King's
[57:33] body came in contact with an old soul
[57:36] the Old King Soul so those in the
[57:37] present day he's known as the one who
[57:39] shall not be named but for us we know
[57:42] him is Gwyn when killed the Old Iron
[57:44] King will drop the iron King's soul but
[57:46] it's only on New Game Plus that we
[57:47] uncover the truth that the Old Iron King
[57:49] has come to possessed the very soul that
[57:51] Gwyn possessed all those years ago but
[57:53] the Old Iron King isn't the only one
[57:55] each of our four great ones has come in
[57:56] contact with a soul that belonged to a
[57:58] notable character from the past game but
[58:00] not only did it give them strength it
[58:01] may have also carried with it the
[58:03] emotions of those it belong to both Gwyn
[58:05] and the Old Iron King share a theme of
[58:06] power Gwyn wanted to keep his Godlike
[58:08] power and as such took multiple steps in
[58:10] order to achieve that like linking the
[58:12] first flame branding Humanity with the
[58:14] dark sign and tossing things he felt
[58:15] could threaten their rule into the
[58:16] painted world of Aramis and while his
[58:18] feelings weren't as Fierce as gwis the
[58:20] Old Iron King also desired power he
[58:22] wanted to ensure a protected and
[58:24] impenetrable Kingdom while also
[58:25] relishing and the power that comes of
[58:27] being a king so he used his power to
[58:29] create a giant Kingdom with skilled
[58:30] Knights and dozens of monstrous
[58:32] creatures made from Iron and then
[58:33] displayed his power by tormenting the
[58:35] undead for sport and torturing them
[58:37] endlessly simply because he could but
[58:39] while the Iron King tortured Undead
[58:40] against their will there was one person
[58:42] whose torture was self-imposed located
[58:44] in the center's rise underneath the Lost
[58:46] ptio is a prisoner who willingly
[58:48] imprisoned themselves for the sins of
[58:49] their past according to Shala quar
[58:51] maula's resident feline her sin was that
[58:53] she tried to light the first flame but
[58:55] the key word is light implying that it
[58:57] had already gone out so how would this
[58:59] be considered a sin if anything it would
[59:01] be the opposite sadly we never truly
[59:04] know what any of it means one thing we
[59:05] do know is whose Soul she possesses
[59:07] before the boss fight starts a bug
[59:09] crawls into her eye specifically a chaos
[59:11] bug the same one from Lost isth she is
[59:13] in possession of the witch of isth Soul
[59:15] we know that these bugs have mind
[59:17] controlling capabilities as evidenced by
[59:19] the bad ending of cair's quest line so
[59:21] it's possible that the Lost Sinner
[59:22] intended to let us into her cell until
[59:24] the chaos bug felt threatened but it's
[59:26] still doesn't answer the question
[59:27] regarding herself self imprisonment
[59:28] maybe she wanted to keep the chaos bug
[59:30] and turn her from escaping as this craz
[59:32] version of the law cner could have run
[59:34] rampant and Slaughter dozens of people
[59:36] or maybe she's somehow feeling the
[59:37] emotions of isth who probably felt the
[59:39] men's guilt for creating the Bed of
[59:41] Chaos so maybe this feeling of guilt is
[59:42] being transferred over to the LW CER
[59:44] without her knowing to this day it's
[59:46] still a mystery but a very compelling
[59:47] one at that the witch of Isa had a
[59:49] desire to create life which is why she
[59:51] wanted to make a new first flame but she
[59:53] wasn't the only one who had desires but
[59:55] that that being's Legacy may have
[59:57] created even more Devastation than
[59:58] intended the Duke's Dear Freya is a
[60:00] spider who is in possession of se's soul
[60:02] but se's feelings and desires are able
[60:04] to engulf those who come in contact with
[60:06] it Freya Soul talks about a writhing
[60:08] ruin and how this ancient Thing cast a
[60:10] shadow over the land and that at some
[60:11] point in its life it came in contact
[60:13] with a solitary insect but grew its
[60:15] power feasting on the wealth of Twisted
[60:17] Souls found within the land if we defeat
[60:19] Freya we can enter the Lord's private
[60:20] Chambers which houses the Duke of sadora
[60:22] himself and a cage that presumably
[60:24] belonged to Freya the writhing ruin was
[60:26] created from se's intense feeling of
[60:27] want he searched endlessly for a way to
[60:29] be immortal even when he was plagued by
[60:31] insanity and it's because of how
[60:32] powerful his desires were that they
[60:34] seemed to linger on past his death the
[60:36] writhing ruin would go on to possess
[60:37] others in an attempt to obtain something
[60:39] as he possessed a being that turned man
[60:41] scorpion tar and his wife into half
[60:43] human creatures it has this insatiable
[60:45] urge to achieve something what that
[60:47] something is will depend on the
[60:48] individual SE wanted immortality and
[60:50] Freya may have just wanted strength or
[60:52] power regardless this writhing ruin will
[60:54] presumably seek something until it
[60:56] doesn't for eternity and ruin many lives
[60:58] in the process it's obvious by now that
[61:00] there seems to be a parallel between our
[61:01] old cast and our new ones in regards to
[61:03] their feelings and emotions whether they
[61:05] received these similar feelings when
[61:06] they came in contact with the old souls
[61:08] or the souls were attracted to them
[61:09] because of their feelings is unknown but
[61:11] our old friends legacies continue to
[61:13] bring disaster even after their death
[61:15] but for one of them that may not be the
[61:16] case our final great one is the rotten
[61:19] in Mula there is a giant pit and
[61:21] assuming you can get down there without
[61:22] dying you'll arrive at the Grave of
[61:24] Saints a catacomb that used to be a bar
[61:25] IAL site before it was overrun by rats I
[61:28] was admittedly a bit confused running
[61:30] through here as I thought this was some
[61:31] ongoing joke I wasn't aware of as
[61:34] there's a literal rat talking to me
[61:35] calling me his servant in the most
[61:37] serious tone possible it's pretty
[61:39] pointless and it's best if we ignore it
[61:41] and moved on but sadly we won't be doing
[61:43] much moving as much as we will be
[61:44] falling Dark Souls 2 somehow managed to
[61:46] surpass blle town in quality by making
[61:48] the gutter a darker version of Bight
[61:50] town all while being poisoned thanks to
[61:52] these statues just like Bight town the
[61:54] lore is quite similar as these are the
[61:55] citizens of various kingdoms that were
[61:57] tossed away out of sight from the rest
[61:58] of the world after the gutter is the
[62:00] Black Gulch the home of the rotten the
[62:02] rotten possesses the soul of Neato but
[62:04] instead of their emotions being similar
[62:05] it seems to just be their appearance
[62:07] Neato was an amalgamation of skeletons
[62:09] and the rotten is an amalgamation of
[62:10] dead bodies but where Neato was hellbent
[62:12] on administering death throughout the
[62:14] world the rotten seems to sort of
[62:15] Embrace or Comfort it these statues
[62:17] might possibly be the people who have
[62:18] died down here in the pits he might be
[62:20] trying to comfort these Hollows in their
[62:22] new life and these statues seem to be a
[62:23] showcasing of his feelings towards his
[62:25] new Community what is rather odd though
[62:27] is that these statues in the boss room
[62:28] don't shoot poison at us so it's
[62:30] possible that they weren't meant to
[62:31] shoot poison originally and it's because
[62:33] of this poisonous rot that is taken over
[62:34] the pits that they're allowed to do so
[62:36] through our discussion about the great
[62:37] ones you obviously notice the
[62:38] connections between our old and new cast
[62:40] of characters but you may have also
[62:41] noticed the lack of lore there is a lot
[62:43] of information that is either completely
[62:45] unclear or only given some amount of
[62:47] weight thanks to the abundance of
[62:48] theories from the community Dark Souls 2
[62:50] is both the most understood and most
[62:52] confusing game within the trilogy it
[62:53] just depends on what answers you're
[62:55] looking for however however I feel like
[62:56] I'm content with this one thing that
[62:58] bothered me about Dark Souls I as we
[63:00] discussed before is that I left some of
[63:01] these boss Arenas with more questions
[63:03] and answers I wanted to know who the
[63:04] Four Kings of nandoo were and how they
[63:06] Rose to power I also wanted to know more
[63:08] about Neato and his role in the world
[63:10] after the war with the dragons and while
[63:11] I definitely have similar questions
[63:13] regarding some of our great ones I left
[63:14] majority of these areas feeling complete
[63:16] like I had learned what needed to be
[63:18] learned and I uncovered the real story
[63:20] and that's the benefit of creating
[63:21] something like Dark Souls 2 we don't
[63:23] really need to know what these great
[63:24] ones did and how they shaped the fate of
[63:26] the world because they didn't despite
[63:28] how important many of the characters in
[63:29] this game may seem at the end of the day
[63:31] they're just another kingdom in a long
[63:32] line of other kingdoms no one is going
[63:34] to remember them and no one is going to
[63:36] care about them that is why I feel
[63:37] satisfied when leaving the black gulture
[63:39] centers rise have uncovered enough lore
[63:40] to get a generous picture of their life
[63:42] with a few holes just big enough for me
[63:44] to make some solid theories with all
[63:45] four great ones slain we can now go to
[63:47] Drang Lake Castle or can we
[64:08] this is Alia the brother of king
[64:10] Vendrick and the scholar of the first
[64:12] sin Alia story is very unclear at the
[64:14] moment but we'll eventually learn more
[64:15] about him later once we enter Drang Lake
[64:17] Castle we'll see this Phantom by the
[64:19] name of Weller he's a sort of lore dump
[64:21] which admittedly might not be the best
[64:23] way to handle this information but given
[64:25] the nature of of these games where you
[64:26] can go a whole playthrough Without
[64:28] Really knowing anything maybe it's
[64:30] necessary regardless weer shares with us
[64:32] some backstory on Drang Lake and
[64:33] Vendrick King Vendrick conquered four
[64:35] great ones and built a kingdom upon
[64:37] their very souls he then met a lady
[64:39] named nandra who warned Vendrick of
[64:40] another looming threat these beings were
[64:42] known as Giants King Vendrick would
[64:44] eventually cross the Seas and battle
[64:46] these Giants completely decimating their
[64:48] civilization as a constellation prize he
[64:50] took most of them prisoner and ran
[64:51] experiments on them this is what led to
[64:53] the creation of the Golems these beings
[64:55] we see inside the castle and with the
[64:57] Golems he was able to build Drang Lake
[64:59] Castle later in the game we'll acquire
[65:00] this item called the Ashen misted heart
[65:02] this allows us to peer into the memories
[65:04] of some specific beings most of these
[65:06] memories are from dead Giants we come
[65:07] across in the first level these all
[65:09] showcase different sections of Drang
[65:10] Lake being overrun by Giants and one of
[65:12] them even shows us the location of the
[65:14] giant Lord we see the destruction that
[65:16] they left Drang Lake castle and and we
[65:17] can also see how outmatch the soldiers
[65:19] really were even though they outnumber
[65:21] them three or four to one they're
[65:22] getting decimated at every turn but
[65:24] somehow they were able to persevere
[65:26] considering there's no Giants in Dr Lake
[65:28] but I think the person responsible for
[65:30] some of this Victory Is Us these
[65:32] memories operate like Olio from Dark
[65:34] Souls 1 where we go back in time to
[65:36] alter the past and then go back to the
[65:37] present this may tie into a subtle hint
[65:39] very early in the game the first boss in
[65:41] Dark Souls I is the last giant whose
[65:43] boss sold description reads the lord of
[65:45] the Giants who had brought wreck and
[65:47] ruin to the entire kingdom was said to
[65:49] have been felled by an unknown Warrior
[65:51] his beaten and broken remains were then
[65:52] dragged beneath the stronghold where he
[65:54] was sealed away this random giant Soul
[65:56] references the giant Lord and also
[65:58] describes the exact condition this giant
[66:00] is in meaning this giant is the giant
[66:02] Lord and that must mean the unknown
[66:04] Warrior was us this might explain why he
[66:06] thrashes his arms around trying to break
[66:08] free as he remembers us and wants
[66:09] revenge this is the complete backstory
[66:12] of Drang Lake which gives us enough
[66:13] answers to our questions but
[66:15] simultaneously gives us new questions we
[66:16] want answers to such as the whereabouts
[66:18] of nandra well close to the top of the
[66:20] castle is the queen herself the last
[66:23] king of this land King Vendrick as he
[66:27] was
[66:28] called he found the strength to rule his
[66:32] people and when the undead were born
[66:37] cursed he found more strength to face
[66:41] them but in the end he never took the
[66:45] true
[66:46] Throne visit
[66:50] Vendrick we have no need for two
[66:54] rulers so nandra wants us to find King
[66:57] Vendrick as she says there is no need
[66:58] for two rulers but she also mentions
[67:00] that King Vendrick never took the throne
[67:02] she just casually says this statement as
[67:04] if this isn't some huge Revelation since
[67:07] Gwyn people have been rekindling the
[67:09] flame but Vendrick didn't but it doesn't
[67:11] mean Vendrick wants to bring about an
[67:12] age of dark he doesn't want either this
[67:14] is even more unheard of as no one has
[67:16] even attempted to invoke a third
[67:18] solution to the fating of the first
[67:20] flame but to learn more we need to find
[67:22] Vendrick he resides in the undead crypt
[67:24] but blocking our path is to two bosses
[67:26] the Looking Glass Knight and vad the
[67:28] Royal Aegis both of these fights were
[67:30] fantastic both from the actual combat to
[67:32] the design of the bosses I'm just upset
[67:34] that it took this long for this feeling
[67:35] to finally come to fruition I rambled
[67:37] for quite a bit about the bosses in Dark
[67:39] Souls 1 like how orstein and SM were
[67:41] fantastic and how I despise the Bed of
[67:43] Chaos but I haven't found the right time
[67:44] to talk about the bosses in Dark Souls 2
[67:46] as there really isn't much to say most
[67:48] of them were pretty underwhelming for
[67:50] the most part and this is down to a few
[67:52] factors one was simply overleveling
[67:54] since Dark Souls 2 has 32 bosses in the
[67:56] main game it's very easy to miss some I
[67:59] didn't find the Chariot or old dragon
[68:01] slayer until much later when I Revisited
[68:03] those area so I was a bit overprepared
[68:05] for the boss fight Dark Souls 1 had a
[68:06] really great way of gaing the players
[68:08] progression while also guiding them down
[68:09] a path which in turn made every fight
[68:11] feel like a proper match it wasn't a
[68:13] one-sided victory for the most part
[68:15] there were a few exceptions like
[68:16] windelin and pin wheel but they have
[68:18] very low Health pools so it's a bit hard
[68:20] to judge them the other two reasons are
[68:22] just down to overall enjoyment and the
[68:24] summons the majority of the boss in this
[68:25] game not only have summonable NPCs but
[68:28] multiple at that I had two summons for
[68:30] the Looking Glass Knight and while the
[68:31] game does attempt to balance this by
[68:32] adding more Health we all know the main
[68:34] strength of the summons is to be an
[68:35] extra body for the boss to hit which
[68:37] means less attention on us and more time
[68:39] to get free hits in I will admit this
[68:40] trivialized many fights the Smelter
[68:42] Demon the rotten and probably a few
[68:44] others were really easy with summons but
[68:46] that comes to my next issue to complete
[68:47] some of these NPC quest lines we talked
[68:49] about earlier they need to be summoned
[68:51] for bosses as someone who's trying to
[68:52] get as much lore as possible in one
[68:54] playthrough I needed to continue
[68:55] continue the summons quest line so while
[68:57] I was gaining more progress with the
[68:58] NPCs it came at the cost of the quality
[69:00] of the fights this makes me even more
[69:02] disappointed as many of these quest
[69:03] lines didn't even go anywhere so they
[69:05] were just completely useless and wasted
[69:07] my time some of the boss fights though
[69:08] just sucked regardless I was pretty
[69:10] disappointed with Chariot fight even
[69:12] though it was a cool idea I just wasn't
[69:14] a big fan of it and this game's
[69:15] obsession with gang fights is quite
[69:17] insane the ruined Sentinels and the
[69:19] belfre Gargoyles were just not
[69:20] entertaining in the slightest orstein
[69:22] and SM only worked because of how
[69:23] different they were in regards to their
[69:24] move set and how the arena was designed
[69:26] and the Bell Gargoyles were okay for the
[69:28] most part since the second one didn't
[69:30] come until halfway plus they used
[69:32] different move sets the ruined Sentinels
[69:34] were the same enemy copied three times
[69:36] with zero obstacles to separate them
[69:37] minus the one platform you start on and
[69:40] the belfrey Gargoyles got way out of
[69:41] hand with close to three or four at the
[69:43] same time in the same Arena as the
[69:45] original fight which is not that large
[69:47] and very open I did manage to beat them
[69:49] on my own so I was happy that I won but
[69:51] only because I knew I'd never have to do
[69:52] that fight again as for the four great
[69:54] ones the old King was just awful even
[69:57] though I had a summon with me his moves
[69:58] would have been the same regardless and
[70:00] they were almost too easy to evade the
[70:02] other three were pretty good but nothing
[70:04] spectacular they did provide some
[70:05] intense moments but I did have to summon
[70:07] lucatiel for two of them so I may have
[70:08] missed some of that spectacle I will
[70:10] recognize though that this entire
[70:11] section is a very subjective take as a
[70:13] boss's enjoyment largely depends on the
[70:15] skill of the player and their build but
[70:17] since this is all about my thoughts on
[70:18] the game my opinion was that they were
[70:20] pretty underwhelming for the most part
[70:21] it felt like instead of focusing on
[70:23] fewer bosses with unique engagements
[70:25] they created more but at the cost of
[70:26] their depth behind the Looking Glass
[70:28] night is the Shrine of Amana and the
[70:29] aforementioned Undead CP each of these
[70:31] places were created specifically for the
[70:33] dead both the mileno and the phito watch
[70:35] over these respective places in an
[70:37] attempt to guide the undead to their
[70:38] final destination both of these
[70:40] creatures have interesting backstories
[70:42] as they were created by the old dead one
[70:44] who we know as Neato both of them seem
[70:45] to be a Reincarnation of Neo's Soul as
[70:48] if he created them we would have seen
[70:49] them in Dark Souls 1 but maybe they
[70:51] didn't plan that far ahead when making
[70:53] the games regardless it is a nice detail
[70:55] and finally gives us some actual story
[70:56] regarding Neato so I was more than happy
[70:58] to listen to it it also continues to
[71:00] reinforce the old one Soul descriptions
[71:02] that mention how their souls still hold
[71:04] power over the land as the power of
[71:05] Neato and his obsession with all things
[71:07] death are still utilized to this day as
[71:09] for what they specifically do it seems
[71:11] like the mil phito enchant or Comfort
[71:13] the dead via song as their singing can
[71:15] be heard throughout the level and the
[71:16] phito are grave wardens who watch over
[71:18] the dead both of these groups seem to
[71:20] revolve around comforting the dead so
[71:22] maybe Neato was a lot more like the
[71:24] rotten than I had initially thought at
[71:26] the very end of the crypt is vestad and
[71:28] while the boss fight was great what
[71:29] really piqued my attention was his soul
[71:31] and the items acquired from that Soul
[71:33] firstly his soul is a dark purple and
[71:35] black color this is the same as the DLC
[71:37] bosses from Dark Souls 1 I originally
[71:39] thought that this was made to
[71:40] distinguish the DLC from the main game
[71:42] but it wasn't Until Dark Souls 2 that I
[71:44] realized that the soul shape has actual
[71:46] meaning this is an image of a normal
[71:48] boss soul in this game next is from one
[71:50] of the great ones and the other is of
[71:52] those affected by the darkness both
[71:54] Manis and the royal AES have the same
[71:56] Soul meaning they're both affected by
[71:57] the darkness and that's due in part to
[71:59] him being down here since Vendrick
[72:00] locked himself away in the Crypt another
[72:02] detail that is interesting about vestad
[72:04] here is that his soul can buy Miracles
[72:06] specifically the sacred oath Miracle
[72:08] which is used by Warriors who once sered
[72:10] the god of Sun so it seems like the
[72:12] Royal AIS belong to the same Covenant as
[72:13] cair however we can see that this
[72:15] miracle has either been warped or is
[72:17] unable to be casted as he never actually
[72:19] uses this in the fight and instead Buffs
[72:21] himself with dark magic further showing
[72:22] how dark his soul has become after the
[72:24] Royal Aegis we can Vendrick and if you
[72:26] expected some grand entrance then you're
[72:28] playing the wrong
[72:44] game just like when the most powerful
[72:47] being in the game's world is reduced to
[72:48] a hollow and Mindless State vendrick's
[72:51] condition actually seems to be much
[72:52] worse as Gwinn at least retain some of
[72:53] his combat abilities but Vendrick can
[72:55] barely swing his sword if he choose to
[72:57] fight him all is not lost though for our
[72:58] King as if we return with the Ashen Mist
[73:00] Heart we can peer into his memories and
[73:02] be able to talk with Vendrick prior to
[73:03] his hollowing do you intend to link the
[73:07] fire then you must first take the
[73:11] throne prove your worth find the ancient
[73:16] crowns seek adversity and they will be
[73:19] yours Vendrick tells us to seek the
[73:22] crowns these crowns belong to three
[73:24] rulers and also happened to be R3 DLC
[73:26] these DLCs not only provide us with
[73:28] additional lore regarding other kingdoms
[73:30] but also what caus these kingdoms to
[73:31] collapse when we finish each DLC we can
[73:34] gain a crown and after obtaining said
[73:35] Crown we can talk to Vendrick for more
[73:37] dialogue some of the dialogue is
[73:38] relevant later but a common theme
[73:40] throughout his speeches is the idea that
[73:41] we're given a choice Al throughout Dark
[73:43] Souls 1 we were told to link the flame
[73:45] and that if we failed the age of dark
[73:46] would arise and that would be the end of
[73:48] the world but King Vendrick is more than
[73:49] content with you making your own choice
[73:51] this goes back to what we discussed
[73:52] before vedric didn't want an age of fire
[73:54] or an age of dark he just wanted to find
[73:56] a way to break the curse this also ties
[73:58] into his brother Alia and some of his
[74:00] dialogue when we meet him again old man
[74:03] trust fully the abusion of
[74:06] life but is this so
[74:09] wrong a construction of thead and
[74:12] yet a world full of WS and
[74:16] scandles noo I you intent for shattering
[74:20] the Y spoiling this wonderful
[74:24] for AIA is definitely the most
[74:26] fascinating character in this game like
[74:28] Vendrick he is completely aware that he
[74:30] is unable to change the world in their
[74:31] current state so he just observes and
[74:33] sees what happens Alia says that the joy
[74:35] of life is warm and Splendid but it's a
[74:37] facade as the undead curse will
[74:39] eventually come back but because of that
[74:40] warmth that life brings us are we intent
[74:42] on shattering this illusion we live in
[74:44] and spoiling this false life we have or
[74:46] are we content with our lives and
[74:48] embrace the warmth and pleasure that
[74:49] comes with it knowing full well that
[74:50] it's a lie Alia just like the game wants
[74:52] you to actually make a choice and not
[74:54] blindly follow follow what some random
[74:55] person will tell us use your own
[74:57] experiences your own knowledge and your
[74:59] own beliefs to come to an answer the way
[75:00] this was crafted was absolutely
[75:02] brilliant and it shows how impressive
[75:04] the writing of this game truly is but
[75:05] before we get to the DLC and obtain the
[75:07] crowns we need to talk about the rest of
[75:08] the content as to actually get the Ash
[75:10] and Miss heart item we need to travel to
[75:12] Alia's keep and the Dragon Shrine both
[75:14] Alia and Vendrick sought to cure the
[75:16] curse but had different methods of doing
[75:17] so Vendrick shunned the undead as he
[75:19] wanted them as far away from the kingdom
[75:20] as possible that's why he threw them in
[75:22] the undead prison of lost best steel in
[75:24] here are hundreds of Undead including
[75:26] some volatile variants as these were
[75:27] created by Alia whereas ventri shun the
[75:29] undead Alia embraced them as he felt
[75:31] that the key to Breaking the curse was
[75:33] within the undead themselves but he
[75:34] didn't welcome them with open arms as
[75:36] they were all subjected to his various
[75:38] experiments but Alia went even further
[75:40] with these tests and didn't just focus
[75:41] on the undead but other species he even
[75:43] recreated multiple dragons a race of
[75:45] beings thought to be extinct by now
[75:47] despite what their names imply though
[75:49] both the guardian dragon and the ancient
[75:50] dragon aren't actually dragons the
[75:52] guardian dragon soul can allow us to
[75:54] purchase the Wing Greatsword which
[75:56] states that the Drakes are likely
[75:57] descendants of ancient dragons this
[75:59] implies that this is actually a Drake
[76:00] and not a dragon furthermore we know the
[76:02] dragons especially the original dragons
[76:04] are gone as calamite was the last of the
[76:06] ancient dragons this is still true as
[76:08] the ancient dragon in Dark Souls I isn't
[76:11] a dragon as it drops a soul of a giant
[76:13] this thing used to be a giant and was
[76:14] somehow configured by Alia through
[76:16] rigorous experiments to look like an
[76:18] ancient dragon to get the actual ancient
[76:20] dragon soul we need to use the Ash and
[76:21] Mist Heart again but this time in
[76:23] freya's Boss Arena as it allows us to
[76:25] see the memories of the Dead Dragon
[76:26] hanging from the ceiling this memory
[76:28] seems to show the original resting place
[76:29] of this Dragon before it somehow made it
[76:31] down here there's not a whole lot to
[76:33] learn from this place other than the
[76:34] fact that these large broken structures
[76:36] look similar to the ones outside Alia
[76:38] keep and there's only one place in the
[76:39] world that we know that has giant
[76:40] structures like this it is my belief
[76:42] that this is Ash Lake it might not be
[76:44] the entirety of Ash Lake as we don't
[76:46] really know how far these trees went but
[76:48] it seems to be at least some part of it
[76:50] in regards to time this is most likely
[76:51] during the war between Gwyn and the
[76:53] dragons ashake exists did back then but
[76:55] it wasn't the Ash Lake that we're
[76:56] familiar with as if you remember it was
[76:58] all gray before fire was born so the
[77:00] memory was during the war with the
[77:02] ancient dragons and the present day
[77:04] location of Aldi's keep is where some
[77:06] part of Ash Lake used to be with all the
[77:07] areas covered we can head to the DLC and
[77:09] it's advised to finish all the bosses
[77:11] and content you missed before going
[77:12] which is why I retraced my steps and
[77:14] discovered the locations of the dark
[77:15] lurker and the old dragon slayer I
[77:17] didn't really find their stories that
[77:19] interesting but I figured I would cover
[77:20] them before we continue the old dragon
[77:22] slayer seems to be someone who was using
[77:24] orang Ste armor as a way to uphold his
[77:26] legacy as not only does orstein have
[77:28] other plans which we'll learn about in
[77:29] Dark Souls 3 some have claimed that this
[77:31] is a fragment of orin's old soul that
[77:33] now possesses the armor which would
[77:35] connect with the running theme of old
[77:36] souls from the past games coming to the
[77:38] present just like with the four great
[77:39] ones as for the dark ler there's pretty
[77:41] much nothing we know about this being at
[77:43] all their soul states that they're a
[77:45] remnant of some ancient dissipated being
[77:47] and the color of their soul is not dark
[77:49] implying that they weren't born or
[77:50] consumed by the abyss like the Royal
[77:52] Aegis or Manis they also look very
[77:54] similar to the these beings in the
[77:55] undead crypt that spawn when the bells
[77:57] are rung given the color of the dark
[77:59] lurker Soul it's possible that this
[78:00] being was actually here to fight against
[78:02] the abyss similar to artorius but there
[78:04] is very little evidence to support this
[78:06] Theory but now we can officially start
[78:07] the DLC Dark Souls 2 eventually release
[78:10] with three additional pieces of content
[78:12] the crown of the sunken King the crown
[78:13] of the Old Iron King and the crown of
[78:15] the ivory King even the disjointed
[78:16] nature of these DLCs they could be
[78:18] played in any order as they don't
[78:19] contradict one another but we'll just go
[78:21] in the order of release the crown of the
[78:22] sunken King starts near the shrine
[78:24] beside the rotten's boss room and
[78:25] entering the shrine will take us to
[78:27] shova the sanctum City upon entering we
[78:29] are greeted by not only a gorgeous view
[78:30] of the underground city but also a
[78:32] dragon with a giant spear through its
[78:33] chest this dragon is sin long ago a race
[78:36] of people found sin sleeping in these
[78:38] caves and because they had most likely
[78:39] never seen a dragon before they
[78:41] worshiped him as a God these people
[78:42] ended up building a city around the
[78:44] dragon with the rulers of the Kingdom
[78:45] being the sunken King and his Queen
[78:47] Alana but something happened a leader by
[78:49] the name of Sir yorg found the
[78:51] underground city and mounted a Siege
[78:53] against its inhabitants with the
[78:54] intention of slaying the dragon they
[78:55] were guarding sir yorg and his Knights
[78:57] believed that killing dragons was a way
[78:59] to obtain a true understanding of life
[79:00] so they hunted it down after making a
[79:02] past all their defenses sir yorg was
[79:04] face to face with sin himself and that
[79:06] giant spear in his chest was from him
[79:08] but clearly sin lived this wound and
[79:09] that's because upon Awakening from his
[79:11] Slumber he released a giant cloud of
[79:12] poison that coated the entire city that
[79:14] may also explain why the Black Gulch is
[79:16] covered in this poisonous green liquid
[79:18] since it's right next to the city but
[79:19] there's no way to confirm before we
[79:21] fight sin though we have to fight Alana
[79:23] so somehow despite the poison and the
[79:25] attack from Sir yorg she managed to live
[79:27] well this might be due to her true form
[79:29] according to her boss soul and weapon we
[79:31] can piece together that when the abyss
[79:32] dissipated it was broken into fragments
[79:34] and eventually these fragments came to
[79:36] create a life meaning that Elana is the
[79:38] daughter of Manis the reason the abyss
[79:40] was broken was that the chosen Undead
[79:42] defeated Manis back in Dark Souls 1 and
[79:44] since he was called the father of the
[79:46] Abyss that would make Alana his daughter
[79:47] clearly she opposes a threat to more
[79:49] than just shulva so we need to put her
[79:51] down after her death is when we gain
[79:52] access to sin as a final fight wasn't
[79:55] too bad he has a unique mechanic where
[79:57] the poison from his breath can break the
[79:58] durability of your weapon which could
[80:00] possibly kill the entire run if you're
[80:01] not careful the only issue is that this
[80:03] seems to do an insane amount of
[80:05] durability damage as my Bandit axe with
[80:07] only 50 durability was destroyed in a
[80:09] few hits I'm not entirely sure if 50 is
[80:11] on the low end of durability but going
[80:13] through all the weapons I picked up
[80:14] across my whole playthrough they were
[80:16] all between 40 and 70 so if anything I
[80:18] should be right in the middle this
[80:19] wouldn't have been that bad though if
[80:20] sin didn't act like the guardian dragon
[80:22] and just stayed put for more than a few
[80:24] seconds
[80:25] I think you can see from the gameplay
[80:26] the amount of chances I have to actually
[80:28] hit this thing are extremely low I think
[80:30] what makes shova so engrossing is the
[80:32] location how do you possibly build a
[80:33] giant civilization underground and for
[80:35] what reason that's at least what I was
[80:37] thinking when going into the DLC and
[80:39] while I got my answer I wasn't entirely
[80:41] satisfied with it one reason why is down
[80:43] to dialogue is there was no NPCs in this
[80:46] DLC to talk or converse with we can't
[80:48] gain any new information as all the
[80:49] people that could have been NPCs are now
[80:51] just walking corpses given that sin
[80:53] poisoned the whole city I wonder wonder
[80:54] if adding one NPC at the very beginning
[80:56] of the level who's the only survivor of
[80:58] the attack would have been a better idea
[81:00] as they could have provided the player
[81:01] with additional information surrounding
[81:03] the city such as why they worshiped the
[81:04] dragon or how they managed to build all
[81:06] these structures because in its current
[81:08] state it feels a bit unfinished the
[81:10] crown of the Old Iron King is our second
[81:12] DLC and is of course based around the
[81:14] Old Iron King from the main game this
[81:16] DLC takes place in one of the largest
[81:18] Towers he erected called the broom Tower
[81:20] to find the crown we need to Traverse
[81:21] the entire tower all the way down to the
[81:23] bottom which was incred L tedious there
[81:25] were a lot of traps and enemies that can
[81:27] be very annoying to deal with but given
[81:28] that the DLC seemed to want to spike up
[81:30] the difficulty these additions kind of
[81:32] made sense this tediousness also added
[81:34] to the realism of the level as it takes
[81:36] quite a long time to scale this entire
[81:37] Tower which is logical given its size
[81:40] and the tower itself is in just empty
[81:41] space as all the space is being used for
[81:43] some sort of purpose whether it's these
[81:45] smaller guys carrying these giant
[81:46] barrels or the vast amount of Machinery
[81:48] within the tower that was made to
[81:49] produce iron it also fits in well with
[81:51] the theme of the old iron King's
[81:52] obsession with iron and how he gained a
[81:54] lot of power from his production of iron
[81:56] this DLC however adopts the same
[81:58] storytelling as the sunken King in that
[82:00] there are no NPCs to talk to throughout
[82:01] the entirety of its runtime but what
[82:03] makes the broom Tower different from
[82:04] shova is that we already have numerous
[82:06] levels and items filled with lore about
[82:08] the Iron King shova was a completely new
[82:10] area with zero reference to the main
[82:12] story which is why I enjoyed it a bit
[82:13] less regarding the NPC interaction than
[82:15] the broom Tower even though the first
[82:17] boss is technically another Smelter
[82:19] Demon the real first boss is actually
[82:20] the fume Knight I have zero issues
[82:23] regarding this fight I actually thought
[82:24] it was perfect I've stated this many
[82:26] times before but I prefer the fast
[82:27] combat of the future fromsoft games as
[82:29] opposed to the slower more methodical
[82:31] nature of the early Souls games it's not
[82:33] that one is objectively better than the
[82:34] other it's just a personal preference of
[82:36] mine and just like with artorius and
[82:37] Manis the fum Knight is another boss
[82:39] that is slowly ramping up the speed of
[82:41] its attacks they aren't incredibly fast
[82:43] especially by modern Souls game
[82:45] standards where a 10-hit combo can be
[82:46] finished within mere seconds but the fum
[82:48] Knight is definitely a far more faster
[82:50] paced fight compared to the rest of the
[82:51] game and this even continues with the
[82:53] other boss in this DLC which is selon
[82:55] it's just like the other boss fights of
[82:57] this game where you have to look at your
[82:58] health stamina and both your and the
[83:00] boss's positioning all at the same time
[83:01] and then calculate what to do given the
[83:03] parameters except much faster I
[83:05] understand this is not everyone's cup of
[83:07] tea but it's most definitely mine and
[83:09] even better the fum Knight has actual
[83:10] ties to a previous character from the
[83:12] main Game King Vendrick had two trusted
[83:14] Knights who he considered his left and
[83:16] right arm one was vat and the other was
[83:18] the fum Knight however the two clashed
[83:19] which led to the fum Knight's defeat
[83:21] what's interesting is that if you defeat
[83:22] the Royal Aegis purchas his helmet and
[83:24] then wear it during the fight the fum
[83:26] Knight will start his second phase
[83:27] almost immediately showing that he still
[83:29] has a grudge against him as for the fum
[83:30] Knight himself he wandered the land in
[83:32] search of power and eventually came
[83:33] across the broom Tower and met nadalia
[83:35] the Bride of Ash nadalia would have been
[83:37] the queen of the Old Iron King but she
[83:38] arrived at the keep after he died she
[83:40] fell into a deep despair because of this
[83:42] and ended up separating her soul across
[83:44] the broom tower inside these Ash and
[83:45] Idols which caused the tower to be
[83:47] covered in this thick black fog this fog
[83:49] has the power to control those who wish
[83:51] to serve her and kill those who refused
[83:53] when the fumet arrived and instead of
[83:54] destroying the fog like he could have
[83:56] done he actually just opted to be
[83:57] consumed by it which is why he sits at
[83:59] the bottom of broom Tower defending the
[84:01] remains of nadalia since she has the
[84:03] ability to create this black fog and her
[84:05] soul is colored in darkness it is once
[84:07] again safe to assume that she is another
[84:08] daughter of Manis if you're noticing a
[84:10] theme here then you're catching on to
[84:11] the point of these DLCs each one of them
[84:13] is centered around a kingdom that a
[84:14] daughter of Manis inhabited and this
[84:16] goes for our final DLC but before we
[84:18] leave the broom Tower there's a secret
[84:20] room we can discover with Sur alone's
[84:22] armor and by using the Ashen Mard we can
[84:24] go back back in time to when he was
[84:25] stationed at the tower this leads to the
[84:27] boss fight we discussed earlier but it's
[84:28] a memory and if we take what we know
[84:30] about the memories and apply it here we
[84:32] can discover even more lore about siron
[84:34] if we assume that the unknown Warrior
[84:36] that best of the giant Lord is us since
[84:38] we went back in time then we're also
[84:40] responsible for killing siron so that
[84:42] statement I said earlier about siron
[84:44] leaving to search for new lands was
[84:45] possibly a lie as it may have been told
[84:47] by the Old Iron King so that his
[84:49] soldiers don't uncover his true fate
[84:51] which makes things a lot more Sinister
[84:53] than they seemed our third and final DLC
[84:55] is the crown of the ivory King the ivory
[84:58] King was the ruler of the Kingdom Elam
[84:59] Lo upon entering we can see that it is
[85:01] covered in snow and given that there
[85:03] isn't any snow in Dr Lake we must be
[85:05] pretty far from the original Kingdom as
[85:07] we approach though we are told to leave
[85:09] this voice tells us that the old chaos
[85:11] still hungers and that we are forbidden
[85:12] from entering clearly we're not going to
[85:14] listen and charge head first through the
[85:16] front gate eventually we'll meet with
[85:18] the first boss of the DLC Ava this is
[85:20] one of seven pets that the ivory King
[85:22] kept in his kingdom each one seemed to
[85:23] have a specific spefic role in the
[85:24] Kingdom as Ava was tasked with guarding
[85:26] the king's child of dark this child of
[85:28] dark is alsana and as you would expect
[85:31] she is our third daughter of Manis but
[85:33] her story is a lot less destructive when
[85:35] alsana was born she felt fear this is
[85:37] because she was a manifestation of mana'
[85:39] fears all the daughters of the Abyss are
[85:41] a manifestation of something nadalia
[85:43] seemed to be man' despair Elana was
[85:45] possibly a manifestation of mance's
[85:47] Wrath and alsana was his fears but when
[85:50] alsana was born the king managed to find
[85:52] her and welcomed her into his kingdom he
[85:54] provided the Comfort she desperately
[85:55] needed and was kind enough to not shun
[85:57] her away even after he discovered her
[85:59] true Origins it's because of this
[86:01] kindness that she stayed in Elam Lo and
[86:03] continued to fulfill the ivory King's
[86:04] wish which was to hold back the old
[86:06] chaos the old chaos is the flame of
[86:08] chaos the same one created by the witch
[86:10] of isth it's unknown when this was
[86:12] discovered by the ivory King but once he
[86:14] did find this ancient monstrosity him
[86:16] and his fellow Knights set out to
[86:17] extinguish it but they were defeated as
[86:19] none had come back alsana wants us to
[86:21] defeat the old chaos so that we can
[86:22] uphold the mission of the ivory King to
[86:24] do this though we're going to need some
[86:25] other Knights of alam L as they are
[86:27] absolutely necessary if you want the
[86:28] fight to be possible once we're all set
[86:30] we can jump down into the old chaos
[86:32] again just like we did with lost eolith
[86:34] and this boss is absolute perfection few
[86:37] fights in the souls games actually get
[86:38] better with summons and the ivory King
[86:40] is one of them I felt like I actually
[86:42] had to apply strategy to an encounter
[86:44] which was the first time the series has
[86:45] required me to do that I don't mean
[86:47] strategy in the sense of reading the
[86:48] boss's moves and making sure how to
[86:50] punish and when as that's just baked
[86:52] into the overall combat of the
[86:53] encounters but I mean the actual
[86:55] decision-making I had to employ such as
[86:57] which enemy to attack and when which was
[86:58] something I did not expect I would be
[87:00] doing going into this fight I was
[87:02] running around finding Knights who were
[87:03] outnumbered and assisting them or if it
[87:05] was the opposite side of the spectrum I
[87:06] would add myself into the mix making the
[87:08] fight easier this is almost necessary
[87:10] for the fight as well since you're going
[87:11] to be doing the most amount of damage
[87:13] compared to all the other Knights so
[87:14] your decision in this fight will largely
[87:16] impact how the second phase will go I'm
[87:18] not entirely sure if the knights can die
[87:20] in the first phase given they have an
[87:21] obscene amount of Health but if they can
[87:23] it just further as to my point having
[87:25] two giant teams of warriors fighting
[87:26] against one another is one of the
[87:27] greatest things I've ever experienced
[87:29] and is without a doubt the best fight
[87:31] this game has to offer from the actual
[87:33] fight to the layout of the Arena which
[87:34] is engulfed in the fire from the flame
[87:36] of chaos it was just all perfect and
[87:38] would have been such a great way to end
[87:39] this Trilogy of additional content but
[87:41] never in my life have I seen a DLC do so
[87:44] well all throughout the entirety of its
[87:46] runtime only to Fumble at the Finish
[87:48] Line The Frigid outskirts is an optional
[87:49] location that the player can discover
[87:51] towards the end of the DLC and it is
[87:54] awful it's not only painstakingly
[87:56] difficult just from the design alone it
[87:58] might actually be the worst level in any
[88:00] Souls game ever made the bonfire before
[88:03] entering the coffin is the only bonfire
[88:05] in the area meaning you have to go from
[88:07] one end of the map to the other just to
[88:09] get to the boss fight which is just two
[88:11] more of the ivory King's pets their lore
[88:13] is thankfully super basic and not
[88:15] important at all as their job was just
[88:17] to hunt Exiles that were presumably sent
[88:19] out of the kingdom and Into The Frigid
[88:21] outskirts this area would not be nearly
[88:23] as hard if the horses didn't and keep
[88:24] spawning every few feet not only wasting
[88:26] your time but draining your Estus in the
[88:28] process making the boss fight that much
[88:29] harder it's just an awful location and I
[88:32] think the more that I talk about it the
[88:33] closer I get to going insane so we're
[88:35] just going to cut it right here as a
[88:36] complete package the DLCs were pretty
[88:39] solid there were things in each that I
[88:40] found a little unpleasant like the
[88:41] method of Storytelling or an entire area
[88:44] but there was many things I liked about
[88:45] the DLCs and due to this confliction I
[88:47] can't say that together they're perfect
[88:49] but they're nowhere near close to being
[88:51] bad it's hard to judge though whether
[88:52] this was an actual Improvement over
[88:54] artorius of the Abyss considering that
[88:56] was one DLC with half the content that
[88:58] played out over half the time this is
[89:00] also due to the souls games business
[89:02] model if people complain about anything
[89:04] regarding the DLCs of the souls games
[89:06] it's that they're too short rather than
[89:07] too long whereas many games like to make
[89:09] additional content with run times of up
[89:11] to 6 to 20 hours Dark Souls is pretty
[89:13] much content with two it never overstays
[89:15] its welcome in fact it sometimes leaves
[89:17] too early and doing this gives us less
[89:19] time to learn about the DLCs and the
[89:21] locations they reside in but as I said
[89:23] at the top of the section as a complete
[89:24] package they were pretty great with all
[89:26] the crowns in our inventory we can
[89:27] revisit Vendrick who will now provide us
[89:29] with some very important dialogue The
[89:32] Abyss once had form but then
[89:36] dissipated and yet traces of its
[89:39] existence
[89:41] endured each fragment thirsting for
[89:44] power spread dark with no
[89:47] relent my dear Shandra was one such
[89:50] fragment so we now know the fourth and
[89:53] Final daughter of Manis nandra the queen
[89:56] of drag lake nandra is a manifestation
[89:58] of mance's feelings of power and want
[90:00] she came to this land in order to covet
[90:02] the first flame this explains why
[90:04] Vendrick was in the undead crypt
[90:05] Vendrick left the kingdom because he
[90:07] discovered n shandra's true Origins and
[90:08] not only locked himself away in the
[90:10] Crypt which was guarded by one of his
[90:11] loyal Knights but he also hid his soul
[90:13] as Vendrick doesn't drop this upon his
[90:15] death it's hidden behind a secret door
[90:17] only accessible to those who are human
[90:19] and nandra never truly was that's why
[90:21] she's been so adamant that we succeed
[90:23] Vendrick she figures that will blindly
[90:24] follow her order so that we can clear
[90:26] all the obstacles in her path because
[90:27] once we finally get to the throne of
[90:29] want and defeat the knights guarding it
[90:31] she appears similar to the Ivory King I
[90:33] found this fight leagues better when the
[90:34] summons were included mostly due to the
[90:36] narrative aspect since both benhart and
[90:38] vengarl were helped due to me so it's
[90:40] only right that they return the favor
[90:41] her boss design is impeccable and
[90:43] continues to uphold the standard that
[90:45] the Final Bosses of the game have but
[90:47] not even nandra is the actual final boss
[90:57] Alia is the actual final boss assuming
[90:59] you fulfilled a few tasks along the way
[91:01] which is just meeting him a few times in
[91:03] specific locations and then specifically
[91:05] killing Vendrick before Nashandra as a
[91:07] final boss fight though it felt like a
[91:09] bit of a let down I think nandra had way
[91:11] more intensity and narrative weight
[91:13] behind her Aldi has been this ominous
[91:15] figure that just shows up says a bunch
[91:17] of and then leaves and now all of a
[91:19] sudden I'm supposed to care that we're
[91:20] fighting him I get why he's fighting us
[91:22] he's supposed to test our might to see
[91:24] if we're truly going to be the next
[91:25] Monarch of the Throne of want but that
[91:27] doesn't make it right the same could be
[91:29] said for nandra given she makes an
[91:30] appearance a whole two times in this
[91:32] game but that seemed to be intentional
[91:34] as the reveal of nandra was supposed to
[91:35] be this mysterious event which makes
[91:37] this next part even more confusing as
[91:39] the Emerald Herald can literally spoil
[91:40] for us that Nashandra will be coming for
[91:42] us I completely miss her on the way down
[91:44] so I never got to hear this which
[91:45] ultimately made the impact of this cut
[91:47] scene hit harder which begs the question
[91:49] of why it was mentioned in the first
[91:50] place I find it hard to believe that
[91:52] many people Miss nandra at the top of
[91:53] the castle so they're well aware of who
[91:55] she is so just keep the mystery hidden
[91:57] until the final moments it kills the
[91:59] entire impact of the scene if we're just
[92:00] told right before entering that she's
[92:02] going to fight us after the defeat of
[92:04] the three bosses we can select our
[92:05] ending and while this game does have two
[92:07] endings what these endings represent is
[92:08] rather interesting our first ending is
[92:10] entering the Throne of want this is sort
[92:12] of like the Kil of the first flame just
[92:14] a little bit different it allows us to
[92:15] choose the fate of the world but we
[92:17] never get to see our choice it is both
[92:18] the age of fire and the age of dark
[92:20] ending together it's never known what
[92:22] our character chooses but that's the
[92:23] part of the role play when it comes to
[92:25] RPGs we make up the rest of the story
[92:27] did our character choose fire did they
[92:29] choose dark or did they do something
[92:31] else and that's something else is
[92:32] following in the footsteps of Vendrick
[92:34] and Alia we leave the throne and search
[92:36] for an answer to the undead curse we
[92:37] don't know if we'll succeed but it's
[92:39] worth a try anyway doing this is sort of
[92:41] like operating a dig site yeah Vendrick
[92:43] and Alia spent decades digging trying to
[92:45] find a solution and failed but now
[92:46] thanks to them we know of a decades
[92:48] worth of methods that won't work
[92:49] bringing us closer and closer to finding
[92:51] a cure for the curse and that's the
[92:53] beauty of the second ending it's not
[92:54] only in perfect sync with the rest of
[92:56] the game as it continues to make the
[92:57] curse the main plot of the story but it
[92:59] gives us an option that we as players
[93:00] hadn't really considered up until this
[93:02] point Dark Souls one did a phenomenal
[93:04] job of grooming us into believing that
[93:05] there were only two choices but Dark
[93:07] Souls I refuted this claim and as a
[93:09] third as a final note Dark Souls I was a
[93:12] brilliant game I went into this game
[93:14] with mild expectations but was blown
[93:16] away by how impressive the story was and
[93:17] how surprisingly easy it was to grasp
[93:19] many questions are still left unanswered
[93:21] and will never be answered but I left
[93:23] this game with an understanding of its
[93:24] story its themes and what emotions it
[93:26] had intended to invoke in me and that is
[93:28] incredibly admirable well the world of
[93:29] Dark Souls isn't over the fire of the
[93:31] world will fade once more and yet
[93:33] despite the impending doom of the age of
[93:35] dark getting closer and closer no one
[93:36] seems to care but we'll talk about that
[93:39] in Dark Souls
[93:40] 3 Dark Souls 3 is a perfect game due to
[93:44] the way a book ends the entire series
[93:46] but the only reason that I can say that
[93:47] is because of how much this game is
[93:49] being held up by its predecessors Dark
[93:51] Souls II on its own is still a good game
[93:53] but without all the effort put into the
[93:54] story from Dark Souls 1 and 2 its
[93:56] narrative wouldn't be as impactful
[93:58] that's the beauty of the Dark Souls
[93:59] Trilogy it's one of the few series out
[94:01] there that truly feels like a tightly
[94:02] niit game many games get sequels but not
[94:04] many truly feel like a proper sequel
[94:06] just a game set in the same universe a
[94:09] year or so after the previous game it
[94:11] might make callbacks to the Past game
[94:12] but not enough to feel like what
[94:13] occurred in that game was important the
[94:15] Dark Souls Trilogy and its repetitive
[94:17] ideas make the games feel properly
[94:19] connected the age of fire the undead
[94:21] curse hollowing and so much more have
[94:23] been a prominent part of the series
[94:25] since its Inception which is why judging
[94:27] these games individually based on their
[94:28] stories is so difficult as each of these
[94:30] games relies on each other to actually
[94:32] make their story have an impact Dark
[94:34] Souls 2 and 3 could not exist without
[94:36] Dark Souls 1 and not just because of its
[94:38] World building and important characters
[94:39] but because it's the game that showed us
[94:41] what the age of fire is and why it's
[94:42] important we then took this information
[94:44] into Dark Souls 2 which showed us how
[94:46] the age of fire is not all its cooped up
[94:47] to be and how as all the years go by
[94:49] people are starting to embrace the fire
[94:51] less and less this all comes to an end
[94:53] at Dark Souls I a game that is purely
[94:55] focused on the age of dark and why the
[94:57] first flame needs to go each one of
[94:59] these games provides a crucial step in
[95:00] our journey and without even one of them
[95:02] every other game loses its meaning we
[95:04] already talked about the previous two
[95:05] games and what they attempt to show to
[95:07] the player and all these themes ideas
[95:09] and plots all converge towards Dark
[95:10] Souls 3 creating one of the best endings
[95:12] in a series I've ever seen and today I
[95:16] will explain why so that wasting any
[95:18] more time let's get started so
[95:20] ironically for a game that's going to be
[95:22] about the age of darkness and how much
[95:23] death and Decay the current age has
[95:25] caused it starts off with an incredibly
[95:27] intense soundtrack it's not even been 10
[95:29] seconds and this electrified feeling of
[95:31] exhilaration seeps into your body Dark
[95:33] Souls is back and it's time to kick some
[95:35] ass this feeling continues right into
[95:37] the intro cinematic and Dark Souls 3
[95:38] weighs zero time getting into the story
[95:40] this is the first time in the trilogy
[95:42] with the game outright tells you who the
[95:43] main bosses are which are the abyss
[95:45] Watchers aldred saint of the deep and
[95:47] yor the giant there is also a fourth
[95:49] that isn't mentioned but we'll discuss
[95:50] them a bit later just like before it's
[95:52] four beings who will need to be dealt
[95:53] with in order to succeed but instead of
[95:55] them being the four Lord Soul users or
[95:57] the four great ones it's the four Lords
[95:59] of Cinder the question is why are they
[96:01] so important well oddly enough the game
[96:03] tells you but the pure spectacle of the
[96:04] intro is so hypnotizing you might not
[96:06] even realize what was just said
[96:08] according to the opening narration the
[96:09] bells only toll when threatened the
[96:11] reason they're being threatened is
[96:12] because the fire is fading again but
[96:14] furthermore it's because someone doesn't
[96:15] want to link the flame that person being
[96:17] Prince lothric since the prince doesn't
[96:19] want to link the flame the bells of
[96:20] Awakening revived previous Lords of
[96:22] Cinder from past Kingdom each of these
[96:24] aformentioned beings I mentioned earlier
[96:26] were people who linked the flame in
[96:27] their lifetimes the bells assume that if
[96:29] they've linked it already then they'll
[96:30] do it again but they all refused the
[96:32] abyss Watchers Aldrich and yor don't
[96:35] want to in a last Stitch effort to make
[96:36] sure the fire is linked the bells of
[96:38] Awakening have awoken other beings who
[96:39] are unkindled people who have failed to
[96:41] link the fire in the past but are now
[96:43] given a second chance and we are one
[96:45] such person known as the Ashen one our
[96:47] job is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and
[96:48] take their Ashes to their Thrones is if
[96:50] they won't come back willingly then
[96:52] their ashes will serve as a sub
[96:53] Institute this is the plot of the game
[96:55] no small objective in between like
[96:57] finding Vendrick or ringing the bells
[96:59] right away from the get-go we tasked
[97:00] with killing these beings and licking
[97:02] the flame assuming you've played the
[97:03] previous games already then you've heard
[97:05] this story twice before and already know
[97:06] what you're getting into which is why
[97:08] our first boss isn't even 5 minutes into
[97:10] the game in Dark Souls 1 it took around
[97:11] the same time to fight the Asylum Demon
[97:13] but the game also taught us about our
[97:15] inventory and weaponry but also showed
[97:16] us that we can converse with NPCs and
[97:18] used an Estus flask Dark Souls 2 took a
[97:20] bit longer with this as the first boss
[97:22] wasn't for a couple hours and the basic
[97:24] tutorial can take a bit of time to run
[97:26] through in Dark Souls 3 we start with
[97:27] the Estus flask get all our gear and
[97:29] start our journey immediately there is
[97:31] no handholding here as the game assumes
[97:32] you've done this all before and don't
[97:34] need much of a refresher the reason why
[97:36] they put udx in here is because he's
[97:37] supposed to test our strength not just
[97:39] the Ashen one strength but our since
[97:41] Dark Souls III underwent some drastic
[97:42] changes in regards to its combat and for
[97:45] those who have noticed yes I'm using an
[97:47] axe again it wasn't until starting this
[97:49] game that I realized I had used an axe
[97:50] for all three of them so I figured it'd
[97:52] be quite comical if I beat the entire
[97:54] Trilogy with the same weapon before
[97:55] killing udx though we'll see him become
[97:57] engulfed in this black form this is
[97:59] called the pus of man this is a unique
[98:01] disease that is taking over the kingdom
[98:03] and it originates from the abyss similar
[98:05] to how mana's humanity went wild causing
[98:07] him to become the Ferocious Beast that
[98:09] we know in game it's possible that this
[98:10] is happening to other Hollows but on a
[98:12] much grander scale is this won't be the
[98:14] last time we see this puss of man in the
[98:16] game after udx we can take the coiled
[98:18] sword from his body and use it to create
[98:19] the bonfire at the new Firelink Shrine I
[98:22] absolutely love the design of Firelink
[98:24] Shrine but the moment you walk in and
[98:26] see all the Thrones lined up around the
[98:28] bonfire you feel a sense of comfort it's
[98:30] definitely my favorite across the entire
[98:32] series but I lo its location Firelink
[98:34] Shrine feels so disconnected from the
[98:36] rest of the world even though majula was
[98:38] on the outskirts of drag Lake Castle it
[98:39] at least became a Nexus for all the
[98:41] various paths that the player could
[98:42] Traverse to the cherry on top here is
[98:44] that we can't even travel to the first
[98:46] location were forced to teleport to it
[98:48] it just further shuts this place away
[98:49] from the rest of the Kingdom there's no
[98:51] incentive to explore the other areas of
[98:52] the level is we've already seen
[98:54] everything it has I never understood why
[98:56] the series slowly moved towards this
[98:57] idea but it seemed to be a massive hit
[98:59] amongst the team as this would be used
[99:00] in other games going forward from a pure
[99:02] gameplay perspective the Firelink Shrine
[99:04] of Dark Souls II also reverts the
[99:06] changes in Dark Souls 2 to keep things
[99:07] more simplistic Andre is back and will
[99:09] handle anything regarding our weapons
[99:11] from upgrades to infusions and the
[99:13] shrine handmade becomes our
[99:14] all-encompassing Merchant so no more
[99:15] clutter like in Dark Souls 2 we also
[99:17] have our new level up lady who is just
[99:19] the fire keeper she doesn't have any
[99:20] unique backstory like the emerald Herald
[99:22] but her condition does spark a few
[99:24] questions it seems that all the fire
[99:25] keepers have some sort of condition that
[99:27] afflicts them Anastasia the lady under
[99:29] Firelink Shrine will initially be mute
[99:31] and cannot be spoken to the Dark Moon
[99:33] ntis in an Orlando has a disfigured
[99:35] appearance which is why she hides it
[99:36] from us with her armor and this fir
[99:38] keeper is blind this has always been
[99:40] fascinating to me as I've never been
[99:42] able to fully understand why this is the
[99:43] case it's possible that this is a sort
[99:45] of right of passage and the fire keepers
[99:47] are showing their willingness to The
[99:48] Flame by giving up something but what
[99:50] they lose seems to differ across the
[99:52] games it's possible that this is just a
[99:54] coincidence but there's also an NPC in
[99:56] the game will meet called enina who
[99:58] tries to be a firek keeper and is also
[100:00] blind FireKeepers being blind only
[100:02] occurs in Dark Souls I so I've always
[100:04] wondered why blindness is occurring now
[100:06] instead of across the series it's
[100:08] something we never get an answer to but
[100:10] definitely a fascinating topic to
[100:11] discuss speaking of the characters in
[100:13] Firelink Shrine I want to talk about the
[100:15] NPCs though before we embark on our
[100:17] journey Third times the charm as they
[100:18] say since the NPCs of this game are
[100:20] handled way better than in the previous
[100:22] two titles my issue with each game is
[100:23] that Dark Souls 1 kept replaying the
[100:25] same fate of hollowing across all of its
[100:27] characters which started losing its
[100:28] value very quickly and Dark Souls 2
[100:30] seemed to just make characters for their
[100:32] rewards rather than their stories but
[100:34] Dark Souls II seems to fix this issue
[100:36] the quantity of the NPCs has been
[100:38] drastically reduced as they're only
[100:39] around 27 or so in the main game there's
[100:41] also very little overlap in the
[100:43] merchants as each School of magic has
[100:44] one designated NPC with the exception of
[100:47] pyromancy and while grey rat does have a
[100:49] pretty useless inventory for the most
[100:50] part since he's a thief you can actually
[100:52] send him to find gear which will
[100:53] increase his options this was so much
[100:56] better as I didn't have to run around
[100:57] the base finding the one Merchant who
[100:59] sells the item I need furthermore the
[101:01] actual quests of the NPCs were much more
[101:03] enjoyable this time around there was
[101:05] five standout characters for Dark Souls
[101:07] I but one interesting change with this
[101:09] game though is that the NPCs connect
[101:11] with the main content both seart and HRI
[101:13] have a connection with a specific Lord
[101:14] of Cinder and yuria's quest line ends up
[101:16] becoming one of the endings of the game
[101:18] I really liked this idea as so far the
[101:20] NPCs have been separate from the main
[101:21] bosses so it was nice to see it all
[101:22] inter twine with one another it'll be a
[101:24] lot easier to explain what their quest
[101:26] lines are alongside the main content so
[101:28] we'll hold off on this for now which
[101:29] means the only other two that we have to
[101:30] talk about that have a more traditional
[101:32] quest line are enina and Cirrus as we
[101:34] talked about before enina is blind and
[101:37] this is because she came from her land
[101:38] of kareim to become a firekeeper you
[101:40] might recognize the name Kareem as
[101:41] Oswald the Trek and The Marvelous
[101:43] Chester from Dark Souls 1 are all from
[101:45] Kareem the reason we find Irina here in
[101:47] this cell is because she's failed and
[101:48] hasn't become a firek keeper yet due to
[101:50] this failure she believed that she was
[101:51] unfit to tend the flames and fell into a
[101:53] deep depression the Knight guarding her
[101:55] is Aon of kareim and has a sworn duty to
[101:57] protect her no matter her state of being
[101:59] to progress her quest line we need to
[102:00] buy her spells if we buy her Miracles
[102:02] then we'll be able to give her the
[102:03] enlightenment she needed and we'll
[102:04] eventually become a firekeeper at
[102:06] Firelink Shrine gameplay wise she's
[102:08] pretty useless in this state is not only
[102:10] is there already a fire keeper but she's
[102:12] also hundreds of feet away from the
[102:13] player as opposed to the actual fir
[102:15] keeper who is right next to you if we
[102:17] however only by her dark Miracles we
[102:19] further progress the ferocity of the
[102:20] humanity with inside of her causing her
[102:22] to be consumed by its dark power this
[102:24] turns aegon hostile who will fight you
[102:26] for betraying her she will eventually
[102:27] start to become worried and asks us to
[102:29] touch her again so that she can tell who
[102:30] is nearby but eventually she will not
[102:32] recognize our touch and ask to be killed
[102:34] it's a genuinely sad outcome and this
[102:36] emotion is heightened further because
[102:38] we're the ones that caused it head we
[102:39] instead just kept purchasing her regular
[102:41] Miracles we could have saved her from
[102:42] her impending fate it's a quest line of
[102:44] two extremes one where she gets
[102:46] everything she wants and one where she
[102:47] loses everything and it all depends on
[102:49] you as for sir she starts out as some
[102:51] random person who appears at Firelink
[102:53] Shrine sir seems to be a dark moon blade
[102:55] since she uses the Dark Moon blade spell
[102:57] which can only be acquired by those a
[102:58] part of the Covenant but yorka the
[103:00] leader of said Covenant states that
[103:02] we'll be the only Knight in the group if
[103:03] we join furthermore C says that she is a
[103:05] former servant of the Divinity which may
[103:07] imply that she was a dark moon blade but
[103:09] left some time later as for why she left
[103:11] it seems to be related to the two people
[103:13] we fight against throughout her quest
[103:14] line who are kraton and hodrick kraton
[103:16] is the same one from Dark Souls 2
[103:18] although this does not imply that he was
[103:19] the Canon winner between him and Pate as
[103:21] this was probably thousands of of years
[103:23] ago and I'm assuming that kraton is also
[103:25] unkindled as he most likely was revived
[103:27] alongside us sirra says that kraton was
[103:29] a part of the Rosaria fingers a rival
[103:31] Covenant and one that she despises and
[103:33] hodrick seems to be her grandfather the
[103:35] reason we know this is because she calls
[103:37] out to him before the fight and when
[103:38] defeated she says that she's pleased
[103:40] that her Granddad can rest in peace
[103:41] hodrick seems to have gone mad at some
[103:43] point and Sirius wanted to put him out
[103:45] of his misery she has a short but sweet
[103:47] quest line and the family connection to
[103:49] hodrick was quite the shock the question
[103:51] Still Remains though what is the Sun
[103:53] Realms because her full name is Cirrus
[103:55] of the sunless Realms it's nice to
[103:57] speculate about it but there isn't much
[103:58] information to go off of and this is a
[104:00] running Trend throughout the series and
[104:02] personally something I'm not a fan of
[104:03] there are so many locations in the game
[104:05] that we learn about like aora kareim
[104:07] Katarina mea Alin Ven and so many more
[104:10] but there's no in-depth lore about them
[104:12] hell most of them don't even give us a
[104:13] surface level idea of what they're about
[104:15] this is not a Dark Souls three issue and
[104:17] more of a series issue as the devs have
[104:19] been given three chances to develop some
[104:21] of these places and from software has
[104:22] just refused to do so many people
[104:24] including myself have tried to speculate
[104:26] on more details regarding these kingdoms
[104:28] but there's so little to go off of that
[104:29] it's not even worth it their inclusion
[104:31] in the game was probably because the
[104:32] team wanted to add a bit of flavor to
[104:34] the world to not only show that the main
[104:35] Kingdom isn't the only Kingdom in the
[104:37] Dark Souls universe but also that people
[104:39] from all over are flocking to this
[104:40] Kingdom in search of something important
[104:42] it just feels like a wasted opportunity
[104:44] to barely mention these places after
[104:45] three whole games as a whole Dark Souls
[104:47] II has some great quest lines and I
[104:49] would go as far to say that it's the
[104:51] most polished out of the entire series
[104:53] Dark Souls 3 recognized what was wrong
[104:54] with the previous two entries and made
[104:56] sure not to repeat those same mistakes
[104:58] again with the NPC's done we can now
[105:00] resume our objective which as a reminder
[105:02] is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and use
[105:03] their ashes as kindling so that we may
[105:05] travel to the Kil of the first flame and
[105:07] relink the fire to do this though we
[105:09] actually need five Lords of Cinder The
[105:11] Abyss Watchers yorm Prince lothric
[105:13] Aldridge and ludleth the reason I said
[105:15] four earlier is because lli is actually
[105:17] the only one who complies with the rules
[105:19] as he's already at Firelink Shrine When
[105:20] we arrive lless Throne says that he was
[105:22] EX ex from his homeland the reason why
[105:24] he was exiled was because of his art of
[105:26] transposition for gameplay purposes this
[105:28] allows us to take the boss souls and
[105:29] make weapons out of them just like the
[105:31] past games what's odd though is that
[105:33] when he dies he drops the skull ring
[105:34] which talks about a being called The
[105:36] Soul feeder and how it was this
[105:37] insatiable Beast that hungered for Souls
[105:39] due to the ambiguity of his past it's
[105:41] led to many theories such as lth being a
[105:43] soul feeder himself but was at one point
[105:45] defeated which is why he has no legs and
[105:47] possibly can fit on his throne it is
[105:48] also entirely possible that lth is just
[105:51] someone who wants to do the right thing
[105:52] and has no ill intentions but the skull
[105:54] ring definitely leaves a lot up to the
[105:55] imagination to get to the other four
[105:57] Lords we'll need to use the bonfire at
[105:58] Firelink Shrine which will take us to
[106:00] the high wall of lothric and it is
[106:01] absolutely stunning you're immediately
[106:03] greeted with an entire view of the
[106:05] castle and it's a breathtaking view but
[106:07] it's also an illusion the kingdom of
[106:09] lothric is riddled with corpses and
[106:11] those who survived either became Hollows
[106:12] or are still seen defending a lifeless
[106:14] kingdom lothric is governed by the three
[106:16] pillars of rule the knights who protect
[106:17] the kingdom the scholars who run the
[106:19] grand archives and the high priestess
[106:20] who also served as Prince loth's wet
[106:22] Nerfs those who abide by these rules are
[106:24] the Loth Knights but these Wing Knight
[106:26] variants are said to be Heretics as they
[106:28] don't accept their rules this is because
[106:30] of Gertrude the Heavenly daughter in the
[106:31] grand archives we can find a bird cage
[106:33] cell with a dead body in it this is
[106:35] assumed to be Gertrude she was one of
[106:37] the Queen's holy maidens although
[106:38] depending on some item descriptions she
[106:40] may also have been her daughter one day
[106:41] gertude was visited by an Angel and
[106:43] through this was able to establish the
[106:45] Angelic faith of lothar seeing as this
[106:47] isn't a part of the regular three
[106:48] pillars gertude was taken and imprisoned
[106:50] those who agreed with her teachings
[106:51] though baned together to defeat the
[106:53] current rulers of lothric which led to a
[106:55] massive Civil War out of all the Three
[106:56] Kingdoms we visited so far in the
[106:58] trilogy the kingdom of lothric is easily
[107:00] in the worst state this condition that
[107:01] we see the castle in may also symbolize
[107:03] the world of Dark Souls itself I'll
[107:05] elaborate more on this idea later but
[107:07] it's my personal theory that not only
[107:08] did our characters from Dark Souls 1 and
[107:10] 2 Link the flame but every person in
[107:12] between these games did so as well if we
[107:14] go back to the intro the narrator says
[107:15] that loar is really transitory lands of
[107:17] the Lords converge meaning this isn't
[107:19] like the past games in Dark Souls 1 all
[107:21] the main bosses were within Lord already
[107:23] but in Dark Souls 3 the lands of these
[107:25] Lords have been forced together it's
[107:26] unclear how this is even possible but it
[107:28] may go back to the first Flame the world
[107:30] of Dark Souls is dying it's a shadow of
[107:32] its former self places are being buried
[107:34] destroyed and created in an endless loop
[107:36] the intro does a great job of showing
[107:37] this but the one area that truly opened
[107:39] my eyes to this was drag Heap this place
[107:41] is covered in rubble and buildings that
[107:44] span so far and wide that you can't even
[107:46] tell what the buildings used to be or
[107:47] when they were built we talked about how
[107:49] time was convoluted in Dark Souls 1 but
[107:51] in Dark Souls 3 this has been progressed
[107:52] even further lands are being moved
[107:54] together creating a tidal wave of rubble
[107:56] and it's all because the first flame if
[107:58] you watched the past videos you may have
[107:59] noticed how worse things have gotten
[108:00] throughout the series and I believe this
[108:02] is because the first flame hasn't been
[108:03] snuffed out people are still clinging on
[108:05] to that illusion of life as Alia put it
[108:07] and are willing to stay in the comfort
[108:08] of what they know rather than step out
[108:10] into the unknown and because of that the
[108:12] world has gotten even worse each Dark
[108:14] Souls game has tried to push the player
[108:15] toward one specific idea the age of fire
[108:17] in one the breaking of the curse in two
[108:19] and the age of dark in three everyone in
[108:21] Dark Souls 3 is just doing what they can
[108:22] continue to do because it's all they
[108:24] know some are blindly following their
[108:25] faith and others are continuing to work
[108:27] on their craft this game truly conveys
[108:29] the attitude and the effects of a Dying
[108:30] World one that is practically begging to
[108:32] be put out of its misery it's basically
[108:34] saying look at all of this in game look
[108:36] at the destruction of the kingdoms the
[108:37] ruins of the world and the people who
[108:39] inhabit it do you think any of them are
[108:40] truly happy to be alive right now not
[108:43] even the Lords of Cinder beings who have
[108:44] insurmountable power don't even want to
[108:46] link the flame it lays all of this out
[108:48] for you and asks you to choose which is
[108:50] quite a heavy burden choosing to go
[108:51] against the status quot that has been
[108:53] said for who knows how long is a very
[108:55] hard decision but at least we don't have
[108:56] to make that choice now is the game will
[108:58] blindsight us again and create another
[108:59] boss encounter for us to be hypnotized
[109:01] by we'll talk about vort later though as
[109:03] he does have ties to another boss later
[109:04] in the game after vort will be taken to
[109:06] the undead settlement this place
[109:08] functions like the undead Berg in Dark
[109:09] Souls 1 as this place was the residence
[109:11] of many of the kingdoms Undead but one
[109:13] thing we'll see immediately upon entry
[109:15] is this massive pile of corpses at the
[109:17] end of the bridge these beings are
[109:18] pilgrims that are most likely from the
[109:20] kingdom of londor as the only Survivor
[109:22] is y go of londor he is related to Uria
[109:24] however so we will have to discuss him a
[109:26] bit later as we explore the undead
[109:28] settlement we can see that this place is
[109:29] in just as bad of shape as Loth Castle
[109:31] bodies are piled up everywhere and some
[109:33] have even been put into cages this land
[109:35] has also been subjected to various
[109:37] curses and because of this many of the
[109:38] settlements inhabitants sealed them away
[109:40] in a spe tree but would end up cursing
[109:42] the tree itself which would lead to the
[109:43] creation of the cursed rotted Greatwood
[109:45] during the second phase the Greatwood
[109:46] will slam into the ground and will
[109:48] discover the true resting place of all
[109:49] the settlement's hollows in the apply
[109:51] named pit of Hollows it's unclear though
[109:53] whether or not the hollows that were
[109:54] dumped here were alive or not upon
[109:56] arrival but since the mound Maker's
[109:57] Covenant is down here it's possible that
[109:59] they were thrown in here alive and all
[110:01] fought to the death which would explain
[110:02] the plethora of Bones covering the walls
[110:04] but it could also be that these people
[110:06] actually banded together to create the
[110:07] mound Maker's Covenant regardless it's
[110:09] clear that their Fates were sealed the
[110:11] moment they were thrown in while the
[110:12] curs at Greatwood is to the left of the
[110:13] dilapidated bridge if we instead go to
[110:15] the right we'll make it to the road of
[110:17] sacrifices and subsequently fairing keep
[110:19] which leads us to our first Lord of
[110:20] Cinder The Abyss Watchers fairen is
[110:23] rather interesting is not only is it the
[110:24] resting place for the abyss Watchers but
[110:26] it may also be the ruins of ulil in this
[110:28] area we can find the golden scroll and
[110:30] the dusk Crown items that have ties to
[110:32] ully seal and we can also find dead
[110:34] mushrooms and maybe even the final
[110:35] resting place of Elizabeth if this
[110:37] taller mushroom is assumed to be her
[110:38] this would also fit narratively with the
[110:40] abyss Watchers as they were a part of an
[110:42] organization dedicated to fighting the
[110:44] abyss and seeing his Manis was located
[110:45] under ulil this would tie together quite
[110:47] nicely the abyss Watchers were the main
[110:49] fighting force of a group called The
[110:50] Undead Legion of fen who took inspir
[110:52] aration from artorius and dedicated
[110:54] their lives to fighting the abyss but
[110:56] their group num seem to be much larger
[110:57] than they seem as these monstrous beings
[110:59] are seen guarding the abyss Watchers
[111:00] Boss Arena they even managed to recruit
[111:02] one of the twin Crystal sages that is
[111:04] said to have betrayed his scholarly
[111:05] Friends of the grand archives to Ally
[111:07] with the undead Legion as for the abyss
[111:08] Watchers themselves it said that they
[111:10] all Shar the blood of the wolf most
[111:11] likely in reference to this wolf found
[111:13] in the area and used its blood to
[111:14] increase their power and their power was
[111:16] unmatched is not only were they able to
[111:18] hunt together like a pack of wolves but
[111:20] they've been known to bury an entire
[111:21] Kingdom at the slight a sign of the
[111:23] Abyss this group would eventually link
[111:24] the flame presumably an attempt to Cast
[111:26] Away the abyss for good but with their
[111:28] main Force gone the rest of the forces
[111:29] dwindled and left the undead Legion as
[111:31] there was nothing else to do but as we
[111:33] know the abyss can't be destroyed that
[111:35] easily it eventually came back and went
[111:37] unchecked since none of the Legion were
[111:38] around and managed to turn their land
[111:40] into a festering swamp these
[111:41] monstrosities that we see may have been
[111:43] Legion soldiers who were corrupted by
[111:45] the abyss when the abyss Watchers awoke
[111:47] they came to the realization that their
[111:48] home was overrun and their mission was
[111:49] unsuccessful and while it's not stated
[111:51] when this happened at some point some of
[111:53] the members became tainted with the
[111:54] abyss itself which leads to the cut
[111:56] scene before the boss fight where
[111:57] they're all fighting one another as
[111:58] they're trying to fight back against the
[112:00] abyss but since they're all Undead
[112:01] they're constantly being revived so
[112:03] they're stuck in this NeverEnding battle
[112:04] between each other which is likely why
[112:06] they won't link the flame doing it the
[112:07] first time didn't stop the abyss and
[112:09] they have more important things to do
[112:10] than sit on their throne and let the
[112:11] abyss consume the world I absolutely
[112:13] love the abyss Watchers and not just
[112:15] from a lore perspective but also as a
[112:17] boss what really sold the fight for me
[112:18] was the hints of artorius that were
[112:20] spread throughout their move sets the
[112:21] undead Legion took took inspiration from
[112:23] artorius so it's only right that they
[112:24] mimic his fighting style and the
[112:26] fast-paced leaping attacks that they
[112:27] have really reminded me of that fight
[112:29] furthermore this fight's quality
[112:30] increases tfold once the other members
[112:32] join in as it turns this honorable duel
[112:34] into this chaotic mess you lose all
[112:36] Focus during this fight as you're having
[112:37] to keep track of three different Abyss
[112:39] Watchers who can slide across the arena
[112:40] in a second and the second phase is just
[112:42] as deadly as the last dead Abyss Watcher
[112:44] consumes the blood of all his brethren
[112:46] in a last ditch attempt to stop us he's
[112:48] a lot faster than last time and produces
[112:49] Flames from his sword which makes the
[112:51] fight even harder it shows how dedicated
[112:53] the group is to their mission and how
[112:54] they'll use anything they can as long as
[112:56] they win similar to how artorius fought
[112:58] us with all his strength and even a
[112:59] broken arm from both a presentation and
[113:01] gameplay perspective the abyss Watchers
[113:03] are fantastic Lords of Cinder and the
[113:05] best way to introduce the player to the
[113:06] sheer power these Lords hold behind the
[113:08] abyss Watchers is the catacombs of carus
[113:10] a place that has seemingly no actual
[113:12] Kingdom as this carus is never seen in
[113:14] game but given that wnir is located down
[113:16] here and is known to be a lord consumed
[113:18] by the abyss maybe the abyss Watchers
[113:20] leveled the entire Kingdom and while
[113:21] that is an inter idea to think about
[113:23] what's more important is actually what's
[113:24] underneath the catacombs if we break
[113:26] this bridge and use it as a ladder we
[113:28] can enter the smoldering Lake the
[113:29] original location of lost isth and
[113:32] possibly Ash Lake in here we can see
[113:33] giant structures that look very similar
[113:35] to Arch trees of Ash Lake and given the
[113:37] geography of lordran Ash Lake and lost
[113:39] isth weren't too far from one another so
[113:41] it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that
[113:42] they can exist in the same location if
[113:44] we continue deeper into the lake we'll
[113:45] see dozens of dead demons that resemble
[113:47] the Capra Taurus and stray demon from
[113:49] Dark Souls 1 it's very clear that the
[113:51] demon race is dying and that they're
[113:52] struggling to survive we can even see
[113:54] this in the stray demon near fair and
[113:56] keep which is covered in stone rather
[113:57] than the flesh and blood that we're used
[113:58] to there's even The Old Demon King whose
[114:00] Bostrom is covered in the corpses of his
[114:02] fellow demons he'll try his best to
[114:03] fight the ashim one with all his might
[114:05] but most of his power ran out years ago
[114:07] and as a last resort will release all
[114:08] his flames in a fiery explosion but in
[114:11] doing so he'll lose all the power he's
[114:12] ever consumed and will be unable to
[114:14] fight the Demons of Dark Souls 3 are a
[114:16] dying race and further adds to the theme
[114:17] of death and Decay the game is trying to
[114:19] convey kingdoms aren't lavish spectacles
[114:21] of beautiful architecture they a war
[114:22] zone and the demon race is no longer a
[114:24] formidable foe just a dying breed that
[114:26] won't last another generation the
[114:28] symbolism of this place is beautiful as
[114:30] it shows that everyone is being affected
[114:31] by the progression of time and no one is
[114:33] gaining from having this age continue
[114:34] but not everything needs to have a sad
[114:36] ending as if we explore the rest of the
[114:38] smoldering Lake we can find the corpses
[114:39] of a spider and a woman and judging from
[114:41] the tone that is located on her body it
[114:43] seems that quana found the fair lady and
[114:45] got to spend their last moments with one
[114:47] another it's a wonderful and happy
[114:49] ending quana got to find her sister who
[114:51] she thought was dead and the lady is
[114:52] finally able to die and no longer has to
[114:54] suffer anymore getting back on track to
[114:56] get to our next Lord of Cinder we need
[114:58] to find iril but to gain entry we need
[115:00] to find a specific item that is located
[115:01] in the Cathedral of the deep the resting
[115:03] place of Aldridge saint of the deep
[115:05] Aldridge's story is by far the most
[115:07] vague but also the most detailed amongst
[115:09] the Lords of Cinder as his story
[115:10] encompasses various other bosses that
[115:12] we've already had the pleasure of
[115:13] meeting years ago Aldridge was a common
[115:15] cleric but he would eventually start
[115:17] experiencing visions of a deep sea this
[115:19] deep sea was another form of the abyss
[115:21] and it was located in the lowest
[115:22] possible depths imaginable and form the
[115:24] core components of the world we never
[115:26] get to see the deep sea in game but it
[115:28] seems to be the lowest layer something
[115:29] only aldrid can see he then shared this
[115:32] info with only those he trusted who were
[115:34] his arch deacons McDonald Royce and
[115:35] Clint they not only kept this
[115:37] information within their Inner Circle
[115:38] but also encouraged one of aldrich's
[115:40] insatiable urges whether this was
[115:42] something he always had within him or it
[115:43] came about when he saw visions of the
[115:45] deep Aldrich had an insatiable urge to
[115:47] consume human flesh the arch Deans
[115:49] encouraged this behavior and used their
[115:50] influence to create an army of followers
[115:52] to not only worship Aldrich but also
[115:54] went out and gathered sacrifices for him
[115:56] that's why these evangelists are located
[115:58] in the undead settlement as they are
[115:59] trying to bring the undead to the
[116:00] cathedral so that they may be consumed
[116:02] by Aldrich we also learned that he would
[116:04] eat anyone even including children as
[116:06] HRI and Horus are said to be the only
[116:08] two children who managed to escape
[116:09] Aldridge's grasp where HRI and Horus are
[116:12] located happens to be the road of
[116:13] sacrifices the path that the settlers
[116:15] and evangelists took to get to the
[116:16] cathedral before consumption this
[116:18] Cathedral performed all manner of
[116:20] rituals and cleansings in order to
[116:21] purify those who entered its doors after
[116:23] numerous sacrifices the people around
[116:25] Aldrich managed to go insane and even
[116:27] though Aldrich himself was able to keep
[116:28] his sanity his form would change rapidly
[116:31] as he would eventually become the black
[116:32] sludge that we see in the intro due to
[116:34] his immense power he was used as a lord
[116:36] of Cinder but seeing as Aldrich was
[116:38] fully consumed by the visions of a deep
[116:39] sea linking the fire would be the
[116:41] opposite of what he had planned so this
[116:43] implies that it was linked against his
[116:44] will they would eventually return Al's
[116:46] Body to the cathedral to be placed
[116:48] inside the large coffin scene in the
[116:49] deacons of the deep boss fight these
[116:51] deacons were led by the archdeacons we
[116:53] discussed earlier but while Aldrich was
[116:55] laying in his coffin another piece was
[116:57] added to the board pontiff Sullivan was
[116:59] a former resident of the painted world
[117:00] of arandel just like the world of Dark
[117:02] Souls the painted worlds have their own
[117:04] cycles that need to be rekindled in a
[117:06] sense well the pontiff lived in the
[117:08] current painted world of arendel but
[117:09] felt no reason to continue his life here
[117:11] as he had not experienced any hardship
[117:13] or despair we'll learn about the
[117:14] paintings residents in the DLC but
[117:16] unlike the painted world of Aramis which
[117:18] was a world for all the things the gods
[117:20] feared arandel was for those who had no
[117:22] else to go and are without purpose
[117:24] Sullivan would then set out in search of
[117:25] a purpose and would eventually come
[117:26] across to ithel this place is very
[117:29] relevant to the story as right next to
[117:30] it is Anna Orlando the same one from
[117:32] Dark Souls 1 from various item
[117:34] descriptions we learn that gwindel
[117:36] didn't actually die in Dark Souls 1 as
[117:38] he is still very much alive in this game
[117:40] now whether or not the chosen Undead
[117:41] never fought him or they killed him but
[117:43] he somehow revived himself is unknown
[117:45] and ultimately irrelevant but with
[117:47] gwindel being the only God left in an
[117:49] Orlando he tried to reach out to those
[117:51] in his extended family in hopes of
[117:52] trying to rebuild the God's rule the
[117:54] only one he managed to find though was
[117:55] yoska a crossbreed girl similar to
[117:57] Priscilla it's unclear what her
[117:59] relationship with gwindel was or even
[118:01] her relationship with Priscilla was but
[118:03] all we know is that she was content with
[118:04] helping gwindel in his objective gwindel
[118:06] would also reinstate the Dark Moon
[118:08] blades as a way to help protect them
[118:09] from any adversaries one of their
[118:11] Knights though happened to be pontiff
[118:13] Sullivan who infiltrated its ranks and
[118:14] managed to corrupt all the members he
[118:16] came across he would then end up
[118:17] enacting his plan when gwindel was
[118:19] stricken with an illness that left him
[118:21] unable to care for his Covenant or city
[118:23] solivan in one successful swoop managed
[118:25] to imprison yoska in a nearby Tower and
[118:27] throw gwindel inside an Orlando
[118:29] Cathedral allowing him to have complete
[118:30] control of iel which is how he earned
[118:32] the title of pontiff in order to ensure
[118:34] protection of his new kingdom the
[118:35] pontiff would not only set athl knights
[118:37] in various positions as guards create a
[118:39] barrier over the whole city so that no
[118:41] one could enter but also send outrider
[118:43] Knights to conquer other lands we've
[118:44] already seen a few outrider Knights
[118:46] across the game already but the two most
[118:48] notable Knights are vort and the dancer
[118:50] of the boreo Valley now much is known
[118:51] about about the duo except the fact that
[118:53] the dancer was a daughter from one of
[118:54] the royal families in iril whether she
[118:56] served willingly or not is unknown
[118:59] either way both of their Fates would end
[119:00] up the same as they were both bestowed a
[119:02] ring given by the pontiff which would
[119:04] end up slowly turning them into these
[119:05] malform beasts after an unknown amount
[119:07] of time Aldrich would reawake again as a
[119:09] lord of Cinder and would foresee the
[119:11] world's eventual destruction at the
[119:12] hands of the deep sea due to this
[119:14] premonition though he would neglect the
[119:15] throne and wait for the Deep to overcome
[119:17] the world and it was during this waiting
[119:19] that he would dream of the old gods and
[119:20] how they wanted to relink the flame he
[119:22] saw this as a ploy against his own
[119:24] wishes and sought to Devour the very
[119:26] Gods he then traveled to iril decimated
[119:28] the knights guarding the city and forced
[119:30] the pontiff to surrender who gave up
[119:31] control of an Orlando allowing Aldridge
[119:33] to have an audience with gwindel what
[119:35] happened next is what we see during the
[119:36] boss fight we interrupt Aldrich midc
[119:38] consumption who now has to use the
[119:40] barely conscious body of gwindel as a
[119:42] weapon to defeat us Aldrich seems to
[119:44] have very Supernatural Powers as his
[119:46] soul when transposed can give us the
[119:48] Dark Moon Longbow which belonged to
[119:50] gwindel but also the life hunt scythe
[119:52] that belonged to Priscilla but
[119:53] interestingly though he never consumed
[119:55] Priscilla only dreamed of her from what
[119:57] I can gather it seems that Aldridge can
[119:58] acquire abilities from those he consumed
[120:00] and is also able to peer into that
[120:02] person's Memories the reason he was able
[120:04] to acquire the life Hunt sighte is
[120:05] because it's a miracle miracles in Dark
[120:07] Souls are like stories you're
[120:09] essentially reciting a story and using
[120:11] the Talisman as a medium for the power
[120:13] so aldrid consumed gwindel and dreamt of
[120:15] Priscilla during the consumption and
[120:17] then learned the story of the life hunt
[120:18] scythe and was able to cast it since
[120:20] it's basically just the equivalent of a
[120:22] story again earlier I said Aldrich had
[120:24] the most detailed story out of the Lords
[120:25] of Cinder and I wasn't lying his story
[120:28] doesn't just include himself but five
[120:30] other bosses and close to a dozen named
[120:32] characters it is a very long story to
[120:34] wrap your head around but it is the kind
[120:35] of Storytelling that got me interested
[120:37] in these games in the first place it
[120:39] showcases all the different events from
[120:40] different points of view and how these
[120:42] characters fit into one cohesive
[120:43] timeline but just as the story is
[120:45] detailed so too is it vague the Deep
[120:47] sits on a shelf alongside many of the
[120:49] concepts of the Dark Souls universe that
[120:50] are barely touched upon in its defense
[120:52] though the deep does have a lot of item
[120:54] descriptions tied to it so we can at
[120:55] least get a better understanding of what
[120:57] its true nature is but seeing as it's
[120:59] never shown to us in game or ever
[121:00] elaborated on further than what we
[121:02] talked about it just becomes another
[121:04] idea in the world of Dark Souls that
[121:05] leaves a lot open to the interpretation
[121:08] as for the boss fight Aldrich was pretty
[121:10] entertaining but I think a much better
[121:11] boss fight in my opinion was ponti
[121:13] Sullivan I've always liked Sullivan's
[121:14] design and plus the walk towards him is
[121:16] always very ominous as you don't know
[121:18] what to expect especially when he dashes
[121:19] right at you the moment you get too
[121:21] close fort and the dancer were pretty
[121:22] much on the same level as Aldrich in my
[121:24] opinion I still think pontiff ranks
[121:26] higher than all of them but they were
[121:27] really entertaining fights and honestly
[121:29] this opinion I have is pretty much the
[121:31] same for most of the bosses in this game
[121:33] even udx was an entertaining fight and
[121:35] he was the first boss we ever face it's
[121:37] clear that the quality of the bosses has
[121:38] been raised thanks to Dark Souls 3i and
[121:40] I think one reason for this was because
[121:42] the team reverted the previous ideas of
[121:44] Dark Souls 2 and instead focused on the
[121:46] quality again rather than the quantity
[121:47] each fight brought some sort of unique
[121:49] twist so that it never felt like you
[121:50] were in some traditional fight is that's
[121:52] what the enemies were for even fights I
[121:54] dislike due to their lack of difficulty
[121:56] like the deacons are still at least
[121:57] mildly impressive as its leagues better
[121:59] than the congregation from Dark Souls 2
[122:02] which I'm assuming was the inspiration
[122:03] for it those enemies between the bosses
[122:05] are allowed to have basic attacks and a
[122:07] combo or two but the bosses are where
[122:09] all the creative Talent is supposed to
[122:11] be spilled into it felt like there was
[122:12] real passion Behind These bosses again
[122:14] from their designs to their move sets
[122:16] and that's one of the reasons Dark Souls
[122:17] II is held in such a high regard within
[122:19] the franchise the other reason may also
[122:21] be down to the locations themselves
[122:23] there is Beauty in destruction as they
[122:24] say and Dark Souls 3 proves time and
[122:26] time again how this is possible the
[122:28] catacombs the cathedral and the
[122:29] smoldering Lake are all great examples
[122:31] of this but the way the game shifts this
[122:32] idea and it said showcases Beauty
[122:34] through architecture again through the
[122:35] lens of things like iril and an Orlando
[122:38] is genius even the smallest things like
[122:40] looking over a ledge and seeing the rest
[122:42] of the Kingdom or just walking through
[122:43] the hallway that leads to Gwynn's tomb
[122:45] are beautiful not only because we get to
[122:46] see some of these locations in a new
[122:48] more updated light but because from
[122:50] software has always expertly crafted its
[122:52] levels to showcase these moments for us
[122:54] that's one of the reasons an Orlando was
[122:56] so beloved amongst the community Is Not
[122:57] only was it the first area that showed
[122:59] actual Signs of Life in the world of
[123:00] lram but its design was a sight to
[123:02] behold even in Orlando in its current
[123:04] state still holds that beauty it's just
[123:06] a different kind of beauty not how
[123:08] various pieces of architecture can
[123:09] create a Godlike City that people can
[123:11] only dream of but how despite its
[123:13] destruction and loss of life and Orlando
[123:15] still manages to be a beacon of light
[123:17] and upholds the massive significance
[123:18] that it displayed in Dark Souls 1 after
[123:20] the defeat of Aldrich if we retrace our
[123:22] steps back to iro we can find a separate
[123:24] path that leads to the profane Capital
[123:25] ruled by yorum the giant interestingly
[123:28] though we don't just arrive in the
[123:29] capital as upon exiting through this
[123:30] hole in the wall we arrive in the ithil
[123:32] dungeon this place is a massive and
[123:34] convoluted prison filled with all manner
[123:36] of beings who have been imprisoned and
[123:38] tortured and abused by all the jailers
[123:40] these jailers are said to hail from the
[123:41] profane Capital but later served under
[123:43] the rule of pontiff Sullivan they're
[123:44] also very ruthless in their methods when
[123:46] it comes to subduing escape bees as they
[123:48] have a poisonous Mist that saure
[123:50] HealthWay and use a scolding p piece of
[123:52] hot iron that not only Burns at the
[123:53] touch but will hinder your ability to
[123:55] run away as you temporarily fat roll
[123:56] when Afflicted if you manage to escape
[123:58] the prison you'll be greeted by the
[123:59] underground city of the profane capital
[124:01] from a pure spectacle or design
[124:03] perspective I think shova had a much
[124:05] better greeting upon its entry but the
[124:06] profane capital is still nice to look at
[124:09] it is admittedly quite small this could
[124:11] once again be due to the geological
[124:13] shift of the lands towards lothric but
[124:15] that doesn't ignore the fact that the
[124:16] devs could have done a bit more with its
[124:18] design you'll likely spend more time in
[124:20] the adjacent dungeon than in the actual
[124:21] actual Capital while the area does lack
[124:23] in length it does try to circumvent the
[124:25] issue a bit by adding a bit more depth
[124:27] the capital is covered in various
[124:29] trinkets goblets and burned corpses and
[124:31] these bodies don't just stop at the
[124:33] entrance they are in every section of
[124:34] the capital it's trying to get the
[124:35] player to wonder what exactly happened
[124:37] here well the capital was under attack
[124:39] by a new flame called The profaned Flame
[124:41] this was a curse created by a group of
[124:43] women and while they did become
[124:44] disfigured and turned into these
[124:45] creatures we see just outside the
[124:47] capital they did manage to win in the
[124:49] end as it pretty much killed every
[124:50] single person who resided in said
[124:52] Capital but this is where yorm came in
[124:54] as he attempted to stop this profane
[124:56] flame before it caused any damage by
[124:58] linking the flame and becoming a lord of
[124:59] Cinder but it didn't work as the
[125:01] aformentioned destruction followed
[125:02] shortly after the main question
[125:04] surrounding it though is why did these
[125:05] women create such a thing and how well
[125:08] it's possible that it may have ties to
[125:09] the abyss as both Carla the witch and
[125:11] the profane Cole who are both found in
[125:13] the ithal dungeon have ties to the abyss
[125:16] you're here to save
[125:19] me but I'm guilty
[125:22] a wretched child of the
[125:24] Abyss
[125:26] Lords where did you happen upon this
[125:30] coal this is much too dark I see the
[125:34] abyss in it furthermore we need to look
[125:36] at the pontiff and elanora pontiff
[125:39] carries a sword called the profaned
[125:40] Great swword which stat that Sullivan
[125:42] discovered an unfading flame below the
[125:44] tundra of iiil in the axe elenora can be
[125:46] dropped from these monstrous creatures
[125:48] which says that the women who triggered
[125:49] the curse were relatives of a certain
[125:51] Oracle these words Tundra iril a land
[125:54] covered in snow and Oracle all point to
[125:56] Alam Lo and alsana being this Oracle
[125:59] from what we just talked about regarding
[126:01] the smoldering Lake and what we know
[126:02] from the old chaos in aam Lo it's clear
[126:04] that the flame of chaos is dying so
[126:06] maybe this is an altered version of the
[126:08] flame of chaos or at least maybe the
[126:10] last few Sparks of it it's definitely a
[126:12] stretch but the profane flame has always
[126:13] been interesting to me as the last time
[126:15] a new flame was mentioned in the series
[126:18] well we kind of know how that went upon
[126:20] his Revival though yor the state of his
[126:22] City and was in utter shock at what had
[126:23] occurred so now he sits in despair
[126:25] unwilling to link the flame but despite
[126:27] how depressing it would be to kill him
[126:28] we not only need his ashes but a friend
[126:30] also needs to uphold his
[126:41] promise
[126:43] y old
[126:48] friend hi secret of the Knights of
[126:52] Katarina have come to uphold my
[126:59] promise let the sun shine upon this Lord
[127:02] of
[127:06] Cinder when y became the ruler of his
[127:08] kingdom many of the people disapproved
[127:09] of him in an effort to gain their trust
[127:11] he created two weapons called the storm
[127:13] rulers and gave one to his people should
[127:15] he ever step out of line and the other
[127:16] to his best friend Seward who promised
[127:18] to kill him should he come back to life
[127:20] this is also the final step step in
[127:21] Secret's quest line it was the main
[127:23] reason I enjoyed it so much as being
[127:25] able to fight alongside an NPC such as
[127:27] him against a giant sounds like a blast
[127:29] but despite the wonderful presentation
[127:31] and design of y's character it's easily
[127:33] the most underwhelming fight in the game
[127:35] using the storm ruler is the only way to
[127:37] do real damage to your arm the main
[127:39] attack of the storm ruler is the weapon
[127:40] art that produces a slash of wind
[127:42] capable of Downing him but that's just
[127:45] it it's just the same move over and over
[127:47] again doing this alone is easy and with
[127:49] seag it becomes even easier as you can
[127:51] will stun lock yor for a large portion
[127:53] of the battle and for this to occur
[127:54] during a fight with a lord of Cinder is
[127:57] pretty pathetic on top of this y's
[127:58] second phase doesn't really change
[128:00] anything it just adds a bit of fire to
[128:02] his weapon I feel like there was much
[128:04] more potential for yor but it was never
[128:05] given to us thankfully this wouldn't be
[128:07] the last time this idea would exist in a
[128:09] Souls game as Elder ring repurposed this
[128:11] idea and it was much better handled
[128:13] there our final Lord of Cinder is Prince
[128:15] Loth the one who started this problem in
[128:17] the first place but the real question is
[128:19] why it's the one thing that's been
[128:20] rattling in my head since the very
[128:22] beginning why did Loth refuse to link
[128:24] the flame well the answer is honestly a
[128:27] bit sad Prince Loth was born to die the
[128:29] rulers of Loth Were King Osiris and his
[128:31] Queen Osiris had three children named
[128:34] lauan lothric and ocelot lauan was the
[128:36] first and was a formidable soldier on
[128:38] the battlefield who was able to
[128:39] single-handedly defeat the demon prince
[128:41] who is said to rule over all the demons
[128:43] Osiris figured that his lineage could
[128:45] push their power even further by
[128:46] creating a child specifically to become
[128:48] a lord of Cinder and lothric was to be
[128:50] that child but he failed Loth wasn't
[128:53] strong enough so the family committed a
[128:55] deed so heinous that it cursed him for
[128:56] Life despite the curse though it worked
[128:58] and Loth was capable of relinking the
[129:00] flame but his frail body combined with
[129:02] his poor health left him bedridden and
[129:04] resentful being The Helpful brother that
[129:06] he was lauan wanted to combine his soul
[129:08] with lathrix but because of lothric's
[129:09] curse it consumed lauan as well which
[129:11] left him mute and a due to this
[129:13] the current state of the world and the
[129:15] fact that even his teacher was having
[129:16] doubts about relinking the flame It
[129:18] ultimately caused lothi to refuse and
[129:20] honestly it's hard to blame him being
[129:22] created for the sake of power and not
[129:23] knowing what your sacrifice will truly
[129:25] do is a hard burden to put on a child
[129:27] especially when you consider how much
[129:28] grooming was presumably done to get Laur
[129:30] ready to link the flame had he been
[129:32] brought up in a different light this
[129:33] story could have been changed but due to
[129:35] the greed of the King It ultimately
[129:36] started a chain of events that would
[129:37] bring about the end of the world at the
[129:39] very least though the twin princes
[129:40] weren't the only ones that suffered
[129:42] Osiris is more Dragon than human now and
[129:44] has gone insane because of it similar to
[129:46] how Big Hat Logan became deranged from
[129:47] the knowledge he read on SE so to did
[129:49] Osiris and depending on what you believe
[129:51] believe he may also be hallucinating
[129:53] during the fight he talks about his son
[129:54] ocelot and we can infer that he's
[129:56] carrying him in his hand but nothing is
[129:58] there this however may not be as obvious
[130:00] as it seems there's currently two
[130:02] theories I believe in that argue for and
[130:03] against ocel lot's existence on one hand
[130:06] ocelot may be a hallucination from the
[130:07] King either because assalot died and he
[130:09] can't accept the loss or that he had
[130:11] been hallucinating the mere idea that he
[130:13] had a child in the first place however
[130:15] on the other hand ocelot may actually
[130:17] exist but was removed due to some real
[130:18] wol complications during the second
[130:20] phase of the boss fight Osiris will
[130:21] scream acel lot's name then slam the
[130:23] hand that carries him into the ground
[130:25] presumably killing him we can hear a
[130:26] baby crying in the background during the
[130:28] fight implying that he lived but I think
[130:30] this was a loophole by from software to
[130:32] get rid of complaints killing kids in
[130:33] games if I'm not mistaken will get a
[130:35] game banned just about everywhere and
[130:37] from software has honored this Rule and
[130:39] rarely ever adds kids their games to
[130:41] begin with the only ones that come to
[130:42] mind are Kuro and seiro and father gaso
[130:45] and's daughter in bloodborne but his
[130:46] daughter is never seen as we're forced
[130:48] to talk to her through a wall and while
[130:50] C does make an appearance numerous times
[130:52] he is never shown to be harmed there are
[130:53] three parts in the game that c is
[130:55] actually cut with something and each
[130:56] time it happens we never actually see
[130:58] the real act it is of course implied
[131:00] that he has suffered a wound but it's
[131:02] never actually shown from software most
[131:04] likely wanted to add ocelot and his
[131:06] death to the game but couldn't due to
[131:07] the possibility of the game being banned
[131:09] personally I've always been a fan of the
[131:11] four party and do believe that the king
[131:13] is not hallucinating and ocelot was
[131:14] meant to be in the game because this
[131:16] also connects to the king's current
[131:18] mindset as he is going so insane that he
[131:19] doesn't even realize the harm he's
[131:21] putting his child in but to make matters
[131:23] worse while the King was consumed by
[131:24] se's writings on immortality and the
[131:26] twins were currently suffering through
[131:27] no fault of their own the queen had just
[131:29] decided to leave she disappeared quietly
[131:31] into the night from the kingdom and was
[131:33] never seen again the Queen's identity
[131:35] though is unknown but it is heavily
[131:36] theorized to be gwy from Dark Souls 1 we
[131:39] know that gvir bestowed Divine blessings
[131:41] to her people and was seen as a symbol
[131:42] of bounty and fertility because of it
[131:44] and the divine blessing of Dark Souls 3
[131:46] says that the queen of lothric was
[131:48] initially revered as a goddess of
[131:49] fertility and Bounty but the issue is
[131:51] that we know that she left an Orlando
[131:53] and became the wife of a flame God flan
[131:56] so how did she go from him to Osiris and
[131:58] why did she leave him and come back here
[132:00] furthermore if gwindel was actually
[132:02] trying to get the gods back in an
[132:03] Orlando how did the two never find one
[132:05] another and why didn't Gwen ofir come
[132:06] back this could have been due to the
[132:08] presence of Aldrich and the pontiff
[132:09] within the cathedral but this also calls
[132:11] into question Rosaria as her soul can
[132:13] create the Bountiful sunlight Miracle
[132:15] which is one of the Miracles of Gwen and
[132:17] given the presentation of both
[132:18] characters from the room's layout to
[132:20] their positions on the bed it's clear
[132:22] that there is a connection between the
[132:23] two whether Rosaria is actually Gwen or
[132:26] simply someone Gwen knew is never
[132:28] explicitly told to us and really in the
[132:29] grand scheme of things it doesn't really
[132:31] matter but it is a very interesting
[132:33] Theory nonetheless it's clear though to
[132:35] no one's surprised that the royal family
[132:37] is in disarray and is currently
[132:38] suffering just like the kingdom is
[132:40] despite this though the Knights of the
[132:41] Kingdom still stay strong and continue
[132:43] to defend the castle against the
[132:44] corruption that is the puss of man but
[132:47] it's starting to fight back as the puss
[132:48] of man is embedded Within These twin
[132:50] wyverns and many of the Castle's
[132:51] soldiers and it seems like the pilgrims
[132:53] of londor have also started advancing on
[132:55] the castle as they've managed to control
[132:57] the armor of the Dragon Slayer and use
[132:58] it as a tool of their destruction after
[133:00] battling through all of this chaos
[133:02] though we can finally meet the prince
[133:04] himself the twin princes actually go
[133:05] against the status quo of the game not
[133:07] just in their decision to refuse the
[133:09] throne but also in how they're presented
[133:11] to the player lothric in a way is this
[133:13] game's Gwyn or Vendrick he's clearly not
[133:15] on the same level as the other two but
[133:17] it was lothric's choices that set the
[133:18] Game's plot into motion just like how
[133:20] Gwyn Advent rri's choices said their
[133:22] games pled into motion instead of being
[133:24] presented as a shambling corpse wrick is
[133:26] the opposite even if he's just some
[133:28] bedridden child that's cursed with a
[133:30] lifelong illness the boss fight isn't
[133:32] this sad encounter that makes you feel
[133:34] like you're doing them a service by
[133:35] putting them out of their misery you're
[133:36] fighting a being who is extremely
[133:38] powerful and is fully conscious of their
[133:40] actions as opposed to the hollow
[133:42] versions of the other two it was a
[133:43] wonderful twist as I expected to be
[133:45] greeted by a somber tune all while
[133:47] seeing the death and Decay that has
[133:48] continued to spread throughout the
[133:50] kingdom reach the prin Chambers but I
[133:52] didn't and that surprised me and now is
[133:54] probably a good time to correct a
[133:56] previous statement of mine a couple
[133:58] months ago I made a review on Dark Souls
[133:59] 3 it was a bit more gameplay Centric
[134:01] than this video is but in that video I
[134:03] said despite loving the twin princes
[134:05] laurian had always pissed me off due to
[134:07] his awful teleportation ability and I
[134:09] want to rectify that statement as I
[134:11] never felt these feelings this time
[134:12] around in the previous video on Dark
[134:14] Souls 2 I talked about how the quality
[134:16] of these bosses will always be a
[134:17] subjective opinion as the boss's
[134:19] enjoyment largely depends on the build
[134:20] and the skill of the player I naively at
[134:22] the time did not take this into
[134:24] consideration and never considered that
[134:25] I was the problem looking at the gaml
[134:27] now is downright embarrassing and I
[134:29] realized that lauan was never the issue
[134:31] it was me yes his teleport move does
[134:33] occasionally break line of sight which
[134:35] is still annoying but everything was not
[134:36] as bad as I had made it out to be I
[134:38] always liked the twin princes as a boss
[134:40] fight that opinion has never changed but
[134:42] I think I can now officially say that
[134:43] it's not only the best Lord of Cinder
[134:45] fight in the game which easily one of
[134:47] the few fights in Dark Souls I that I
[134:48] consider completely perfect the she Pres
[134:51] pres of these two is amazing the fight
[134:53] is pretty much laurian versus the player
[134:55] Loth is able to protect lauran with
[134:57] magic and heal him once he dies the same
[134:59] way the player can heal with Estus and
[135:00] use their equipment to Aid them Loth is
[135:02] like the support role in this Duo but
[135:04] he's also the main character that needs
[135:05] to be defeated as he can obviously
[135:07] revive lauan but his magic forces the
[135:09] player to not engage them prolonging the
[135:11] fight even longer than it already is
[135:13] giving lauan enough time to finish us
[135:14] off and the fact that the duo manages to
[135:16] be a threat no matter the distance
[135:17] always adds to the intensity of the
[135:19] fight I've always been one to admit when
[135:21] I'm wrong and except the fact that my
[135:22] opinions are never meant to be set in
[135:23] stone and can always be changed and this
[135:25] playthrough thoroughly changed my mind
[135:27] about this fight as the twin princes are
[135:29] not only worthy of the title Lord of
[135:30] Cinder but were such an excellent boss
[135:32] to put at the end of The Journey out of
[135:35] all the souls games I ended up talking
[135:36] about these bosses the most out of any
[135:38] in the trilogy and this is doe in part
[135:40] of the Lord Of Cinders being the only
[135:42] objective in the game so talking about
[135:44] them is really all we can discuss they
[135:45] are the main focus of the game and thus
[135:47] need to have detail lore to back it up
[135:49] this was forgivable in the other game
[135:51] games as while those beings did have
[135:52] some importance in the world they
[135:53] weren't the main focus but in Dark Souls
[135:55] 3 they are if it wasn't for the Lords of
[135:57] Cinder we wouldn't have a game so they
[135:59] ended up becoming the main focus of the
[136:01] story and the devs managed to deliver
[136:02] Aldrich is a testament to that statement
[136:04] as I may have spent more time on them
[136:06] than any character in the series with
[136:08] the exception of the witch of isth who
[136:09] coincidentally also had numerous bosses
[136:11] and characters tied to her plot I was
[136:13] really impressed by the overall
[136:15] presentation of this game especially
[136:16] when it came to our four Lords of Cinder
[136:18] even including yorm who had a wonderful
[136:20] design and presentation despite the
[136:21] fight being a bit blackluster their lore
[136:23] was rich with details and the item
[136:25] descriptions were long enough to create
[136:26] an essay's worth of information but also
[136:28] left enough info out to keep that Soul's
[136:30] Spirit of finding the context clues and
[136:32] filling in the gaps plus the encounters
[136:34] with said bosses made the time spent
[136:36] getting to them worth it even yorm as
[136:39] once again despite being disappointing
[136:40] there was at least an attempt to create
[136:42] the spectacle of tackling a monolithic
[136:44] siiz giant but if there was one thing
[136:46] that bothered me about this game it was
[136:47] the lack of attention given to Dark
[136:49] Souls 2 narratively this actually fits
[136:52] quite well as Strang Lake was supposed
[136:53] to be seen as this unimportant Kingdom
[136:55] that would be easily toppled and
[136:57] replaced with something else in time
[136:58] only to be forgotten by the rest of the
[137:00] world but if the point was to make the
[137:01] kingdom feel unimportant why are there
[137:03] constant references to it like kraton
[137:05] appearing in cirus' quest lucatiel's
[137:07] armor and ASO sword resurfacing in the
[137:09] game the dead giant at Firelink Shrine
[137:12] and not only a portrait of nandra but of
[137:14] aam Lo and broom Tower found in iril it
[137:17] just feels confusing it's like the team
[137:19] actively wants the player to know that
[137:21] despite not making Dark Souls 2 they are
[137:23] aware and care about the game but barely
[137:25] put in the effort to justify it what is
[137:27] truly the most upsetting part about this
[137:28] is that both Vendrick and Alia to my
[137:30] knowledge are never mentioned once
[137:32] throughout the game there is one magic
[137:33] spell found in the grand archives that
[137:35] says the words the first of the scholars
[137:37] which many people have pointed towards a
[137:39] link to Alia but he was a scholar of the
[137:41] first sin not a first scholar plus the
[137:44] first of the scholars could refer to the
[137:46] scholars of the grand archives not Alia
[137:48] it's a shame because they were the only
[137:49] beings that we know of who sought to
[137:51] break the curse through unconventional
[137:52] means and there's zero remnants of their
[137:55] work the two are never brought up in the
[137:57] game and the actual structures of Drang
[137:58] Lake or alus keep are never seen in game
[138:01] I understand that Dark Souls I was not
[138:02] everybody's cup of tea and maybe the
[138:04] original team wanted to do away with the
[138:06] B team's creation but you can't deny
[138:07] that Vendrick and Alia had the potential
[138:09] to create a sizable impact on the story
[138:11] and for their legacy to be tarnished
[138:13] like this is a bit disappointing with
[138:15] all the Lords of Cinder dead and their
[138:17] ashes within our inventory we can now
[138:18] link the first flame but before we do
[138:20] that there is two DLCs and a couple
[138:22] other bits of content for the main areas
[138:24] that I want to address first if we
[138:26] rewind and go back to Osiris and visit
[138:28] the area behind his boss Arena will
[138:29] uncover a place called the untended
[138:31] graves this place is identical to the
[138:33] cemetery of Ash in the beginning of the
[138:35] game with the only difference being the
[138:36] lighting it's one of the most talked
[138:38] about locations within the community as
[138:40] this confusion coupled with this feeling
[138:41] of nervousness settles in as upon entry
[138:43] you start to recognize all the familiar
[138:45] Landscapes and are just bewildered that
[138:47] a place like this even exists the boss
[138:49] is also identical as it's Champion Gere
[138:51] as opposed to udx according to his
[138:53] bosold description Champion gundar came
[138:55] to Firelink Shrine to relink the fire
[138:57] but failed and arrived too late he was
[138:59] then eventually bested by an unknown
[139:01] Warrior and given the series heavy use
[139:02] of that term we can assume that this
[139:04] Warrior was us afterwards he then became
[139:06] a sheath for the coiled sword so similar
[139:08] to ulil and the memory of the Giants we
[139:10] can go back in the past kill Champion
[139:12] Gunder who then becomes a sheath for the
[139:14] coiled sword and hopes say another
[139:15] Warrior will come and use it to link the
[139:17] flame who just happens to be us we then
[139:19] take the sword from his present body as
[139:21] udic gundar and use it at the bonfire if
[139:23] we happen to defeat Champion gundar
[139:25] though we'll be greeted with an
[139:26] identical Firelink Shrine and while the
[139:28] firekeeper is not here there are an eyes
[139:30] of a firekeeper located inside the
[139:32] building if we have the eyes in our
[139:33] inventory lwith and the fire keeper will
[139:35] comment on them lli refers to the
[139:37] firekeeper as her implying that he knows
[139:39] the identity of this person in the fire
[139:41] keeper will mention how these eyes
[139:42] reveal frightening images of betrayal in
[139:44] a world without fire so we can assume
[139:46] that this was in the past and since lth
[139:48] is familiar with the fire keeper and is
[139:50] a lord of it's possible that this was
[139:52] during the time he linked the fire which
[139:53] would also connect with the intro of the
[139:55] game that says that the land of Lords
[139:56] are converging together this L just
[139:58] happens to be lths but what doesn't make
[140:00] sense is the handmaid's dialogue as in
[140:02] the dark Firelink Shrine her attitude
[140:04] seems to imply that the flame is still
[140:05] lit as she tells us to hurry along but
[140:08] how is this possible well sadly I don't
[140:10] have an answer for that the untended
[140:12] graves is one of the hardest parts of
[140:13] this game to wrap your head around which
[140:15] makes discussing it extremely difficult
[140:17] one explanation though could be that the
[140:18] FireKeeper's eyes are what's causing
[140:20] this dark Ness as the world in present
[140:22] day Dark Souls 3 is getting close to the
[140:23] age of dark as evidenced by the giant
[140:25] dark sign eclipse in the sky but there's
[140:27] still plenty of light left in this world
[140:29] whereas in the untended graves there's
[140:30] nothing but if all the lights extinguish
[140:32] and that implies that this is an age of
[140:34] dark but love the link the flame and
[140:36] continue the age of fire so that's why I
[140:37] think it's the eyes of a fire keeper
[140:39] displaying a vision in the sense of what
[140:41] the world would come to should we enact
[140:43] this Grand betrayal which is letting the
[140:44] flame die out another thing of note
[140:46] though is the repair spell in Dark Souls
[140:48] 3 which says that light is time and the
[140:51] reversal of its effects is a forbidden
[140:52] art so this implies the untended graves
[140:55] could be like the things betwix it's
[140:56] sort of stuck in limbo because there's
[140:58] no light existing and therefore time not
[141:00] existing regardless this but it's very
[141:02] confusing backstory it's probably my
[141:04] favorite location to discuss in the game
[141:06] as there's so many possibilities as what
[141:07] this place truly means the final
[141:10] location is near IRL dungeon as we can
[141:12] use the dragon pose from the untended
[141:13] graves to be transported into Ark Dragon
[141:15] Peak we already know that immortality
[141:17] via Dragon form is not unheard of as
[141:19] many people worship these Stone dragon
[141:20] in Dark Souls 1 Osiris is assumed to be
[141:23] human before he became a dragon and we
[141:24] can actually find some Dragon Stones
[141:26] which will turn us into a humanoid
[141:28] Dragon similar to the one sitting next
[141:29] to us so it's pretty safe to assume that
[141:31] this place was used to worship the
[141:33] ancient dragons despite the fact that
[141:34] they're all dead now but even though
[141:35] they're all dead that doesn't mean the
[141:37] other flying types won't exist as we get
[141:38] to challenge a wyvern shortly after
[141:40] arriving which at first glance is a
[141:42] pretty cool fight until you realize that
[141:44] the enemies on the walkways are actually
[141:46] tougher than the boss itself I can
[141:47] recognize that the team was most likely
[141:49] experimenting with some B ideas for boss
[141:51] fights and while it's definitely cool at
[141:53] first it just feels a bit unnatural if
[141:55] you will as completely destroying its
[141:57] health bar in one plunge attack just
[141:58] felt off Arc Dragon Peak not only has a
[142:01] questionable first boss but also raises
[142:02] various questions that admittedly may
[142:04] leave people confused two characters
[142:06] have arrived at this location at certain
[142:08] points in time which are havl and
[142:09] orstein we find havl next to a down
[142:12] dragon and we find ornstein's armor
[142:14] towards the end of the level I can
[142:15] forgive havl for being here since he's
[142:17] always had a hatred for dragons and
[142:18] seaths since Dark Souls 1 but that
[142:20] doesn't explain how he's alive well havl
[142:22] had a band of knights who followed him
[142:23] and more than likely wore the same armor
[142:25] as he did so I don't think this is havl
[142:27] more just a knight of havl but while
[142:28] this is explained fairly easily orstein
[142:30] is not orstein has always had a
[142:32] complicated history within the series as
[142:34] he was clearly present in Dark Souls 1
[142:36] but then shows up again in Dark Souls 2
[142:38] as the old Dragon Slayer and then again
[142:39] in this game as the dragon slayer armor
[142:41] and in Arc Dragon Peak where we are now
[142:43] firstly I've always been a firm believer
[142:45] in the fact that we kill orstein in Dark
[142:47] Souls 1 the old dragon slayer is simply
[142:49] someone who is trying to uphold ste's
[142:50] Legacy or is somehow connected to
[142:52] orstein Soul since we know from Dark
[142:54] Souls 2 that the old Lord Souls can
[142:56] inhibit others bodies so it's possible
[142:58] or's Soul inhibited someone wearing his
[143:00] armor it's also possible that the soul
[143:02] felt comfortable with this decision
[143:03] given or Stein's armor is pretty
[143:05] synonymous with his legacy as for Dark
[143:07] Souls 3 we know that the dragon slayer
[143:08] armor is not orstein is simply just
[143:10] another dragon slayer as the weapon and
[143:12] armor are completely different but AR
[143:14] Dragon Peak is unique this is not only
[143:16] the same armor that orstein wore but its
[143:18] item description talks about how he left
[143:20] the anal orando Cathedral to come here
[143:22] but when did this happen he couldn't
[143:24] have came here and then went back to the
[143:25] cathedral as his armor is located here
[143:27] and he couldn't have left after Dark
[143:28] Souls 1 because he died so the only real
[143:31] explanation that makes any plausible
[143:32] sense is that orstein dies in Dark Souls
[143:34] 1 he then has his soul return like the
[143:36] previous Lord Soul wears but decides to
[143:38] inhabit someone wearing his armor or
[143:40] maybe even the armor itself as it's
[143:42] familiar to the soul we talked about in
[143:43] Dark Souls 2 how it seemed like the four
[143:45] great ones were connected to specific
[143:46] Lord Souls because of their feelings and
[143:48] emotions we still don't know whether or
[143:50] not these Lord Souls connected with them
[143:52] because of these similar emotions or if
[143:53] they gain these feelings from consuming
[143:55] the souls but if this is true then it
[143:57] would make sense that orstein is
[143:58] continuing to fight the same and has the
[144:00] same goals and Ambitions across all the
[144:02] games regardless of how orstein is a
[144:04] live verb how he even ended up here in
[144:05] the first place we at least know why he
[144:07] was here and that was because of the
[144:09] nameless King the nameless King has
[144:10] actually been teased since Dark Souls 1
[144:12] as he was the infamous firstborn son of
[144:14] Gwyn that was referenced in various
[144:15] items in that game from both one and
[144:17] three we can piece together that the
[144:18] nameless King is the firstborn son of
[144:20] Gwyn and was a dragon slayer during the
[144:22] war with the Everlasting dragons but at
[144:24] some point he would eventually cast all
[144:25] this away and Ally himself with the
[144:27] dragons and if you want to talk about
[144:29] presentation when it comes to boss
[144:31] fights this one needs to be mentioned
[144:33] not only does the introduction of the
[144:34] boss feel intense as the nameless King
[144:36] swoops in on a storm Drake but when we
[144:38] finish the Drake off he literally kills
[144:40] it and takes the power for himself from
[144:42] just a pure gameplay perspective he's
[144:44] easily the second best fight in the game
[144:45] there's a feeling that occurs across the
[144:47] entire series when everything comes
[144:49] together you've learned the move set
[144:50] understood the timings and discover the
[144:52] punishes all that's required is to put
[144:53] it together and when that clicks it
[144:55] becomes one of the best fights in the
[144:57] game his moves are punishing have delays
[144:59] and are even mixed together as one combo
[145:01] might have two swings but the next will
[145:03] be three or it will do away with the
[145:04] third swing and add a completely
[145:06] different move the fight requires
[145:07] complete concentration and the ability
[145:09] to be patient dodging too early will
[145:11] more often than not lead to your death
[145:12] so you have to be on high alert for the
[145:14] whole fight genuinely a great fight from
[145:16] top to bottom with it only being
[145:17] surpassed by one being we have yet to
[145:19] cover but before before we move on to
[145:21] the DLC I want to look back at the game
[145:22] so far Dark Souls III set out to create
[145:24] a Dying World that features places that
[145:26] have been ridden with disease and death
[145:28] showing to the player that their
[145:29] inability to let go of what they know
[145:31] and continue this age of fire will only
[145:33] make things worse even a basic
[145:34] understanding of the war will convey
[145:36] this as you can see just how bad
[145:37] everything has gotten from the fact that
[145:38] there's hundreds of dead bodies lit
[145:40] throughout each level and people are
[145:41] becoming corrupted and infected with
[145:43] these diseases and plagues causing them
[145:45] to either go Hollow or turn into a
[145:46] massive black sludge the demon race a
[145:48] group of beings thought to be on top are
[145:50] dying out the gods have all been wiped
[145:52] out and the Lords of Cinder beings who
[145:53] have the ability to rule over anything
[145:55] they please due to their power refuse to
[145:57] continue this age of fire Aldrich wants
[145:59] to continue his own age so admittedly
[146:01] that is a bit more selfish but the other
[146:02] three have recognized that their
[146:04] sacrifice did or will amount to nothing
[146:06] linking the flame never stopped the
[146:07] abyss and never stopped the profane
[146:09] flame and it's never going to end the
[146:10] suffering that's occurred since lordran
[146:12] so if the first flame is supposed to be
[146:13] this symbol of peace and comfort then
[146:16] what is actually so good about it all of
[146:18] this has been Illustrated to us
[146:19] throughout the story and is a testament
[146:21] to how genius the writing of Dark Souls
[146:22] 3i truly is but now it's time to move on
[146:25] not just to a new agees that will come
[146:27] later but to a new world a painted world
[146:30] even this old man in front of us is Gail
[146:32] and he's how we start the DLC ashes of
[146:34] arandel we talked about this place
[146:36] briefly when we discussed pontiff
[146:38] Sullivan and said it was a painted world
[146:39] for those without purpose upon entering
[146:41] we're greeted by a deformed being who
[146:43] welcomes us and tells us to get
[146:44] comfortable on a bed of rot similar to
[146:46] The Real World The Painted worlds have
[146:48] their own cycle and it's this cycle that
[146:49] is so interesting as in the main game
[146:51] the age of fire is being constantly
[146:53] prolonged and it's the age of dark that
[146:54] will take it over but as we'll soon see
[146:56] it's the rot that's being prolonged and
[146:58] the only way to get rid of it is to burn
[146:59] it the painted world of arandel is just
[147:01] a similar version of the Dark Souls
[147:03] Universe with the same themes and ideas
[147:04] just twisted around they're both
[147:06] separate worlds with separate cycles and
[147:08] each one has a particular cycle that is
[147:10] going on too long and it's either the
[147:12] fire that's causing it or the fire that
[147:13] will get rid of it this is also the
[147:15] reason Gail sends us to the painted
[147:16] world in the first place as opposed to
[147:18] the corvian we meet first who tells us
[147:19] to embrace the rot Gail and even this
[147:21] corvian settler want us to set it a
[147:23] flame setting the painting a flame will
[147:25] allow a new painted world to be created
[147:27] but they can't do that without fire and
[147:29] the person preventing this is Sister
[147:30] freed she is the reason the rot is being
[147:32] prolonged and she's also the other Ash
[147:34] that the Gale and the corvian refer to
[147:36] meaning she's unkindled it's because of
[147:38] her decision to keep the rock going that
[147:39] has caused much of the destruction of
[147:41] this place interestingly though only the
[147:43] corvians seem to care as we talked about
[147:45] the painted world is for those without
[147:46] purpose and the corvians aren't the only
[147:48] ones who reside here as the soldiers are
[147:50] the members of the undead Legion of fen
[147:52] in the beginning of the video when we
[147:53] talked about the abyss Watchers I
[147:54] mentioned that when they linked the
[147:56] flame the rest of the Legion left once
[147:57] that occurred the others no longer had a
[147:59] purpose and further lost any chance of
[148:01] having one once they came to the
[148:02] realization that their home had turned
[148:04] into a swamp according to their armor
[148:05] these Fen followers seem to be
[148:07] specifically tasked with killing any
[148:08] Undead Legion who succumbed to the abyss
[148:10] which makes me wonder how the abyss
[148:12] Watchers cut scene would have played out
[148:13] had the Assassins not left maybe the
[148:15] abyss Waters would have finally been
[148:16] able to regain their strength again now
[148:18] that they didn't have to kill each other
[148:19] the other group of of people are the
[148:20] Milwood Knights they don't have too much
[148:22] lore and anything to really tie any of
[148:24] the characters or events to them but at
[148:26] some point in time they lost their
[148:27] Forest that they called home and then
[148:29] sought refuge in the painted world these
[148:31] groups seem to just carry on throughout
[148:32] their day and simply exist within the
[148:34] painted world but the corvians are
[148:36] different as you have the regular
[148:37] looking settlers who want to burn the
[148:39] rod away but then there's also the
[148:40] corvian knights who were so infatuated
[148:42] with sister free that they've now turned
[148:44] against their Brethren just the basic
[148:45] idea of what the painted world
[148:47] represents to the people within it is
[148:48] such an intriguing concept the way this
[148:50] Loosely connects to the main game's
[148:51] themes is genius one thing I always
[148:54] found disappointing though about Ash
[148:55] sarenda was the length once we enter the
[148:57] painting we were to meet with sister
[148:59] Fred who welcomes us but just as quickly
[149:01] dismisses our arrival and tells us to
[149:02] leave because we no longer belong here I
[149:04] have no issue with this as it's not
[149:06] holding the player's hand but everything
[149:07] just feels like it's going so fast is
[149:09] right after this we're to find the
[149:11] painter enter the basement of sister
[149:12] Freed's Church activate a lever and then
[149:14] we're already at the final boss
[149:15] everything just feels so fast and I was
[149:17] surprised how quickly the final boss was
[149:19] introduced to me I've talked about
[149:21] before how most of the souls games DLCs
[149:23] are like this and don't take much time
[149:25] overall this of course though largely
[149:26] depends on how fast you beat the bosses
[149:28] as they're usually the main hurdles but
[149:30] ashes of Arendelle felt shorter than
[149:32] normal there is an optional boss that
[149:34] could take up more of your time but this
[149:35] was just so that the player could access
[149:37] the PVP matches and the lore of the boss
[149:39] also connects to this as this was the
[149:41] champion of the undead matches that the
[149:42] undead used to partake in other than
[149:44] that it's pretty much just going from
[149:45] one area to the next and the distance
[149:47] between them is quite short once we do
[149:49] finish talking with sister Freda though
[149:50] our path will eventually lead us to the
[149:52] corvian settlements and its Church where
[149:54] we will meet with sir vilhelm he was the
[149:55] guard that was outside the church where
[149:57] sister Fred was located but what's more
[149:59] interesting though about Sir vilhelm is
[150:00] that he not only has a black flame buff
[150:02] on his weapon but he also wields the
[150:04] dark hand both of which have ties to the
[150:06] abyss this relates back to Sister Freda
[150:08] as she was one of the three sisters of
[150:10] the Sable Church her other sisters were
[150:12] Lilian and yuria which means she has
[150:14] ties to londor and this is reinforced by
[150:16] the different dialogue options that we
[150:18] get from her if we have the dark sigils
[150:19] in inventory from yuria's quest line
[150:21] it's not much but she does recognize us
[150:23] as the Lord of Hollows given that she is
[150:25] unkindled it's possible that she tried
[150:27] to link The Flame or usurp it and this
[150:29] possibly got her Exile from the church
[150:31] without a purpose or home she may have
[150:32] been drawn to the painted world which is
[150:34] how she ended up here in the first place
[150:35] and figured that she could rule over
[150:37] this land by herself however given that
[150:38] we have this innate ability to ruin
[150:40] people's plans we're going to prevent
[150:42] sister freed from doing so to do this we
[150:44] need to talk to the painter and unlock
[150:45] the doors leading to her room for her to
[150:47] be able to paintt though she will need
[150:49] to see Flame and to do this we need to
[150:51] get to the source I see
[150:54] flame flame fuckering once
[150:59] again not enough bloody Ed
[151:03] shade my
[151:05] fle bring me my
[151:09] F this is Father arendel the painter of
[151:12] the painted world of arendel who is now
[151:14] being held captive by Sister Freda she
[151:16] managed to convince father Arendelle
[151:18] that the only way to preserve the
[151:19] painted world was to bury the flame and
[151:21] let the rock consume the world to stop
[151:23] him from spreading he uses his flail on
[151:24] himself causing him to bleed which
[151:26] appeases the flame it's quite a sad
[151:28] story and it makes sister Freda out to
[151:30] be even worse of a person than she
[151:31] already was given that we're going
[151:33] against her wishes though she fights us
[151:35] and she is very difficult which is also
[151:37] very entertaining I love this fight and
[151:39] I think it's a great way to end the DLC
[151:41] the fight starts out quite normal until
[151:42] her blood reaches father arandel who
[151:44] freaks out causing the room to be
[151:46] engulfed in flames and him to break out
[151:47] of his restraints and attack us Fred is
[151:49] is also back and it turns into a 2V1
[151:52] it's very reminiscent of orstein and Smo
[151:54] as the doo compliments each other quite
[151:55] well this is also the only fight in the
[151:57] trilogy to my knowledge where you can
[151:59] summon an NPC in the middle of the fight
[152:01] as Gail can only be summoned for the
[152:02] second phase it also makes sense to
[152:04] bring him along since both you and him
[152:06] have the same objective so there's no
[152:07] reason for him not to help you after
[152:09] sister Freda has been dealt with though
[152:10] we can return to
[152:13] the A
[152:20] [Music]
[152:24] the yeah so if it wasn't already bad
[152:27] enough sister Freda has a third phase
[152:29] this whole encounter is extremely
[152:31] stressful as you not only have to plan
[152:33] for one but two extra phases there's
[152:36] been so many times where I got pummeled
[152:37] during this fight in the first phase
[152:39] that I just reset as I knew it wasn't
[152:40] worth starting the next phase with half
[152:42] the Estus she really forces the player
[152:44] to learn her move set thankfully though
[152:46] Gail does make the encounter easier but
[152:47] it's still very difficult even with his
[152:49] assist
[152:50] with sister Fred and father arandel dead
[152:52] for a real this time the fire will now
[152:54] be able to consume the painting without
[152:55] any delays which means the painter can
[152:57] now work on the new world she plans to
[152:59] create a cold dark and very gentle place
[153:01] as she calls it she's going to need
[153:03] Paint to make that painting and from
[153:04] what we learned from father arendelle's
[153:06] Soul we know that the paintings are
[153:07] Written in Blood so Gail's objective
[153:09] will be to scour the land for some blood
[153:11] to use his pigment and while he does
[153:13] that we can go on to the next DLC but
[153:15] Gail's here too he has written messages
[153:17] for us and points us towards where we're
[153:19] supposed to go so what blood is he
[153:21] getting well Gail is trying to find the
[153:23] blood of the Dark Soul the Dark Soul
[153:25] which leads him to the ring City ashes
[153:27] of arendo was a short but decent DLC the
[153:30] bosses were great and the actual design
[153:32] of arendo was beautiful from its frozen
[153:34] Tundras to its rotted swamps but if it
[153:36] fell complete or if the DLC suddenly
[153:38] ended so soon that's the point as both
[153:40] of Dark Souls 3i's DLCs are a connected
[153:43] story the story of Gail and the painter
[153:45] and their quest to create a new world
[153:47] which leads us to the ring City the
[153:48] start of the Ring City DLC sees us
[153:50] travel to the drag Heap the area we
[153:52] talked about earlier in the video as I
[153:54] said then time is getting worse as the
[153:55] world progresses and this is a perfect
[153:57] example as now that the age of fire is
[153:59] getting even closer to the end lands are
[154:01] converging on each other more and more
[154:02] and the world is practically collapsing
[154:04] in on itself here in the drag keep we
[154:05] can see nostalgic callbacks to the Past
[154:07] like the earn Peak Windmill and the
[154:09] desert pyromancer from Dark Souls 2 this
[154:11] is a very long and convoluted level to
[154:14] really showcase how bad everything has
[154:16] gotten but at the very end of the level
[154:18] is the demon Duo not not only is the
[154:20] gameplay of this fight fantastic as it
[154:21] not only surpasses the previous Duo but
[154:23] might even be on par as orstein and Smo
[154:26] but the location of the fight is heavily
[154:27] theorized to be the original Firelink
[154:29] Shrine of Dark Souls 1 the reason being
[154:31] is that the exit of this arena is the
[154:33] same structure that framp appears in
[154:35] Gail can once again join you for this
[154:36] fight but it will trivialize this
[154:38] encounter tremendously as the demons
[154:40] have long cooldowns between their
[154:41] attacks and also alternate move sets I
[154:43] actually found this fight to be balanced
[154:45] while being outnumbered so adding more
[154:47] people makes it worse once the demons
[154:49] are both dead the last one to die gets
[154:51] to be reborn as the demon Prince just
[154:53] like the first Flame the chaos flame
[154:54] needed to be rekindled by a demon with
[154:56] vast power and the current demon Prince
[154:58] at the time was going to but ended up
[154:59] facing lauan and was defeated however
[155:02] all demons share memories with another
[155:04] so in theory that means they can share
[155:05] the power of the demon Prince and when
[155:07] the last demon Falls it is reborn as the
[155:09] demon Prince and the last of its kind
[155:11] the demon Prince is a genuinely great
[155:13] fight and for being the first boss in
[155:15] the DLC this is already a great start to
[155:17] the additional content when the demon
[155:19] Prince does fall though we can finally
[155:20] say goodbye to the demons the once great
[155:22] race thought to be almost on top has now
[155:24] withered away never to be remembered
[155:25] again just like everything else in this
[155:27] world with the drag he finished we can
[155:29] move on to the final location of the DLC
[155:31] but one thing that's been very
[155:32] interesting about the drag he is the
[155:34] progression of time as we go further
[155:36] down in the game we're actually going
[155:37] further back in the past as we start out
[155:39] at the very top in Dark Souls 3 we move
[155:41] further down to Dark Souls 2 with the
[155:43] earn Peak making an appearance and then
[155:44] we're all the way at the bottom where
[155:46] we're back in Dark Souls 1 with the
[155:47] Firelink Shrine but we can go even
[155:49] further further back as past the old
[155:50] Firelink Shrine we can travel to the
[155:52] ring City a place that has existed since
[155:54] the gods toppled the dragons the ring
[155:57] city is gorgeous and is one of the most
[155:59] beautiful locations in the Dark Souls
[156:01] Trilogy this place is home to the pygmy
[156:03] Lords and they have a wonderful
[156:05] welcoming
[156:09] committee oddly enough though these
[156:11] shadow archers actually look like the
[156:13] Ruin Sentinels from Dark Souls 2
[156:15] according to their armor set they were a
[156:16] band of knights who were sent to the
[156:18] ring City so it's possible that Vendrick
[156:20] may have sent them here as a way to find
[156:21] out more about the undead curse but were
[156:23] defeated and now are used by the city to
[156:25] defend its people the ring city is the
[156:27] home of the pygmies the ancestors of
[156:29] mankind we don't hear much regarding the
[156:31] actual furtive pygmy but the ring city
[156:33] is ruled by the pygmy Lords the early
[156:35] descendants of the original pygmy
[156:36] according to various item descriptions
[156:38] though Gwyn gave them the city as a
[156:40] reward for their help against the
[156:41] dragons but since this is located at the
[156:43] literal edge of the world it's possible
[156:45] Gwyn wanted the pygmies out of sight and
[156:47] away from his kingdom since they had the
[156:48] Dark Soul which of of course he does not
[156:50] like as for how the pygmies helped
[156:52] during the war well we can find out soon
[156:54] after as these ringed Knights were some
[156:55] of the soldiers who fought during the
[156:57] war with the Everlasting dragons the
[156:58] weapons they carry were forged from the
[157:00] abyss since that was the birthplace of
[157:02] humanity which would explain the BL and
[157:03] dark sign on their chest as it seems
[157:05] that they too were cursed like we were
[157:06] by Gwyn if we progress further into the
[157:08] level we'll end up in this Abyssal swamp
[157:10] and end up fighting the dragon slayer
[157:11] armor again and if we read description
[157:13] we'll discover that when we defeated it
[157:15] in lothric it somehow made its way down
[157:17] here and then became possessed Again by
[157:18] the feeling of battle
[157:20] look I love orstein as much as the next
[157:23] guy but we do not have to keep bringing
[157:25] him back we can just let his legacy die
[157:28] I understand in this case it is just a
[157:30] piece of armor and not actually orstein
[157:32] but you have to admit that this boss's
[157:34] design is purposely similar to orstein I
[157:37] found this encounter more annoying
[157:38] rather than interesting as there was
[157:40] Zero reason to bring back the dragon
[157:41] slayer armor again in the swamp we can
[157:43] also find a white face Locust similar to
[157:46] the one earlier in the level these
[157:47] Locust are beings from the abyss and
[157:49] they were were supposed to preach
[157:50] sermons to men so that they could draw
[157:51] them towards the dark but they couldn't
[157:53] see past their stomachs and cared more
[157:54] about what they were eating which is why
[157:56] they act like gluttonous monsters this
[157:58] description means that this is what they
[157:59] always looked like and didn't turn into
[158:01] these creatures at some point but it may
[158:02] also imply that they were born alongside
[158:04] Humanity within the abyss each of them
[158:06] ends up talking about specific people
[158:08] and are possibly referencing certain
[158:10] NPCs and so she lived in fear of the
[158:15] Dark of the things that gned at her
[158:19] flesh the little creatures that nibble
[158:21] at me in the
[158:22] darkness and so despite his weighty
[158:26] armor he lived in fear of a delicate
[158:31] thing little more than a girl where fire
[158:35] rideth Shadows twist and shrivel but in
[158:40] the
[158:41] abyss there are shadows none fear not
[158:44] the dark my friend and let the feast
[158:47] begin I've always found this interaction
[158:49] and odd as it's unclear how this
[158:50] creature even knows anything about these
[158:52] NPCs this has caused a bit of debate
[158:55] amongst many people in the community as
[158:56] some claim that it's showing how
[158:57] destructive humanity is but on the other
[159:00] hand like with the case of ir's dialogue
[159:01] the Locust preacher could be implying
[159:03] that the abyss is not as bad as it seems
[159:05] as that preconceived idea Irina had of
[159:07] the Abyss caused her to feel these
[159:08] insect likee creatures in her head I
[159:10] don't really think that there is a
[159:11] correct answer here as sort of ties into
[159:13] the world of Dark Souls and how the
[159:15] player views the abyss humanity and the
[159:17] age of dark and whether or not it's
[159:18] something that they should be embracing
[159:19] similar to how we have to make a choice
[159:21] at the end of the games before we leave
[159:23] though we can view this purging Monument
[159:25] which is only accessible to humans as to
[159:26] even get to this area we need to
[159:28] transform into a Humanity Sprite using a
[159:30] white tree branch this Monument may be
[159:32] the source of all the purging Stones
[159:34] purging stones have existed since Dark
[159:35] Souls 1 and we're used to remove the
[159:37] curse effect in that game but it's not
[159:38] about taking the curse and removing it
[159:40] it's just transferring it to the stone
[159:42] itself to be the new host but the stone
[159:43] is said to Once be a person so maybe
[159:45] these are the beings who were turned
[159:47] into stone or what they became once we
[159:49] transfer the curse to the stone or maybe
[159:51] it's something else entirely after
[159:52] getting out of the swamp we'll find a
[159:54] dragon named Mader this isn't fake like
[159:56] the ancient dragon Mader is an actual
[159:58] descendant of the Ark dragons from long
[160:00] ago even though he only seems to make an
[160:02] appearance here if we knock him off the
[160:03] bridge and find a secret tunnel we can
[160:05] find him again he is easily the most
[160:07] difficult boss in the entire game with a
[160:09] staggering 15,000 health and he's also
[160:12] equipped with some moves that might
[160:13] on-shot the player depending on their
[160:15] equipment according to his boss Soul
[160:16] Madar was actually raised by the gods
[160:18] and was tasked with fighting the the
[160:19] abyss and it seems that he's been alive
[160:21] for a long time as one description says
[160:23] from not long after the beginning
[160:24] meaning he may have existed before even
[160:26] fire was born back when the dragons
[160:28] ruled the world the reason he's going so
[160:30] crazy is very similar to artorius as the
[160:32] abyss has fully corrupted him so we need
[160:34] to put him out of his misery he is
[160:36] definitely the ultimate challenge for
[160:38] players given his kit of high damaging
[160:39] moves but assuming you can conquer him
[160:41] you'll receive the spears of the church
[160:43] which ties into our next boss halflight
[160:45] halflight is a member of the Covenant
[160:47] Spears of the church who guards fillian
[160:49] or who is said to be Gwynn's daughter
[160:50] who he left here in the ring City but
[160:52] halflight is a PVP boss as there's a
[160:54] chance a real player can replace
[160:56] halflight and be the boss instead but
[160:58] that is only accessible to those who
[160:59] defeat Madar since he drops the pendant
[161:01] that allows you to access the Covenant
[161:03] sadly though since this game is over 6
[161:05] years old you'll more than likely just
[161:06] get halflight instead interestingly
[161:08] though halflight may have been from ulil
[161:10] as the bow he uses says that it was a
[161:12] relic from an ancient land of sorceries
[161:14] that has been swallowed by the abyss and
[161:16] we know that ulio has many unique spells
[161:18] like repair hidden body and chameleon
[161:20] his outfit also states that a group of
[161:22] young missionaries went to the ring City
[161:23] long ago but halflight stayed behind
[161:25] making him the final Spear of the church
[161:27] this would also mean that there was a
[161:29] time in uil's history when it wasn't
[161:30] corrupted by the abyss and was a normal
[161:32] land before cth came and tricked them
[161:34] behind the church is filor the girl they
[161:36] swore to protect and she may have one of
[161:37] the best cut scenes the series has to
[161:39] offer upon touching her egg she wakes up
[161:41] which sees the world change out of
[161:43] everything in the Dark Souls Series this
[161:44] might be at the top as the most talked
[161:46] about interaction in the game as there's
[161:48] so much that happen happens with very
[161:50] little explanation as to what it means
[161:52] many people believe that fanor and her
[161:54] egg held up the illusion of the Ring
[161:55] City similar to gwindel and an Orlando
[161:57] and Dark Souls 1 but some have also
[161:59] claimed that this takes us to the Future
[162:01] and is a glimpse of what the world will
[162:02] look like should we keep things going
[162:04] her egg though is interesting as it has
[162:06] a very dark Center and if we relate this
[162:08] back to the repair spell from earlier
[162:10] that's as light as time by breaking the
[162:12] egg we break the dark inside of it which
[162:14] allows light to appear meaning now time
[162:16] exists and is no longer stagnant which
[162:18] would go along with the the that this is
[162:19] a future as the time accelerates after
[162:21] being stagnant for so long regardless of
[162:24] what you believe in though this cutscene
[162:26] is great and allows us to access the
[162:28] Wasteland of Ash inside this Wasteland
[162:30] is two beings and if you subscribe to
[162:32] the theory that this is the future this
[162:34] might be the last two beings left in the
[162:36] world us and
[162:43] Gail what still here
[162:50] handed over that thing your Dark Soul
[162:55] Gail has not only gone mad and grown in
[162:58] size but he is the final boss of the DLC
[163:00] the ring city was the final DLC and also
[163:03] the final piece of content in the Dark
[163:04] Souls Trilogy having played this game on
[163:06] release I had already beaten the final
[163:08] boss tons of times so for me Gail was
[163:10] technically my final boss of Dark Souls
[163:12] and I couldn't have asked for anything
[163:14] better to me Gail is the best boss in
[163:16] the game and even the entire Trilogy
[163:18] every everything from design to
[163:20] presentation to gameplay is completely
[163:23] perfect Gail is a slave Knight who are
[163:25] Knights that were used as fod in many of
[163:27] the land's bleakest Wars but it seems
[163:29] most of them went Hollow all except for
[163:30] Gail Gail came to the ring City in
[163:32] search of the Dark Souls and thus
[163:34] slaughtered the pygmy Lords as they
[163:35] contain the Dark Souls within them since
[163:37] they're the descendants of the furtive
[163:38] pygmy but Gail realized that the Dark
[163:40] Souls had dried up so in order to make
[163:42] them liquid enough to be used as pigment
[163:44] he consumed the Dark Souls that They
[163:45] Carried since it was now in his
[163:47] bloodstream it was able to mix into into
[163:49] a liquid again but doing so made him go
[163:51] mad Gail literally has the power of the
[163:53] dark soul within his body and uses the
[163:55] power of the dark soul and the abyss to
[163:57] fight us as evident by these red skulls
[163:59] that appear from his cape he and Gwyn
[164:01] also contrast each other in this respect
[164:03] Gwyn was a being who was a god from the
[164:05] beginning and on top of the food chain
[164:06] and is remembered by all for his
[164:08] sacrifice but Gail was a slave the
[164:10] lowest of the low whose sacrifice will
[164:12] be known by only us a lowly piece of
[164:15] unkindled Ash this sacrifice of gals
[164:17] ties into a theory of mine after his
[164:19] death we can take the blood of the dark
[164:20] soul to the painter to be used as Pigman
[164:22] for her new world Gail knew he wouldn't
[164:24] make it back but continued his mission
[164:26] Anyway by handing it off to us he helps
[164:28] us defeat sister Freda and the demon
[164:30] Prince which are the two required bosses
[164:32] we need to beat to get to the ring City
[164:34] and once we do get to the ring City he
[164:35] leaves markings of his cape along the
[164:37] way that it will eventually point us
[164:38] towards his location he wanted us to
[164:41] find him and he wanted us to defeat him
[164:42] so that we can continue his mission for
[164:44] him and give the painter the blood she
[164:46] needed as a whole Gail is easily my
[164:48] favorite character character and boss in
[164:50] this game he is like us a nobody he
[164:52] isn't some Godlike figure or a being who
[164:54] was born with insurmountable power he
[164:56] like US gain this power through battle
[164:58] and now the two strongest beings in the
[165:00] world are duking it out at the edge of
[165:02] the world truly the best boss this game
[165:04] has to offer and was the best way to end
[165:06] all the dlc's with Gail defeated we can
[165:08] now give the painter the pigment she
[165:10] thanks us and will eventually start
[165:12] painting she never actually finishes the
[165:14] painting though and this is an important
[165:15] detail just like the other DLCs in the
[165:18] trilogy this isn't the end of the game
[165:19] the final boss is at the Kiln it's not
[165:22] Gail so giving her this pigment doesn't
[165:24] mean the end of the game it's just one
[165:25] part of our long journey even if it
[165:27] seems like a wonderful conclusion to the
[165:29] game the DLCs of Dark Souls are the best
[165:31] in the series and the ring city is a big
[165:33] reason why ash is a very Andel is great
[165:35] and a nice additional Side Story
[165:37] especially since we get to learn more
[165:38] about the painted worlds but the
[165:40] callbacks references and answers to
[165:42] questions we've been wondering about for
[165:43] years are what makes this DLC so
[165:45] impressive furthermore both DLCs have
[165:48] some of the most intense fights in the
[165:49] game and are the Pinnacle of this game's
[165:51] combat from software has always made
[165:53] their DLCs with Incredible quality and
[165:55] sometimes are even better than the main
[165:57] game and Dark Souls II continues to
[165:59] honor this tradition Gail's objective is
[166:02] now complete so now it's time to
[166:03] complete ours which is go to the Kiln
[166:05] and determine the fate of the world once
[166:07] again defending this Kiln is being known
[166:09] as the soul of Cinder this is the
[166:10] physical manifestation of every being to
[166:12] link the flame since its Inception
[166:14] meaning our characters from Dark Souls 1
[166:16] and 2 are a part of this being he also
[166:18] fights like a real player too as his
[166:20] move set is by far the most diverse in
[166:21] the game he has three different melee
[166:23] weapons uses all the schools of magic
[166:25] and even has the ninja flipping from
[166:26] Dark Souls 1 but our old characters
[166:28] aren't the only ones in this being there
[166:31] is one other character we know of the
[166:33] one who was here from the very beginning
[166:35] he was the one that created this world
[166:37] so it's ironic that he gets to be here
[166:38] for when we destroy it
[166:49] oh
[166:58] [Music]
[167:23] [Music]
[167:25] the soul of Cinder not only has the same
[167:28] move set as Gwyn but also the same piano
[167:30] and its theme music I'll be honest I get
[167:33] a bit emotional whenever I hear this
[167:35] hearing that piano made me think of the
[167:36] journey I had taken to get here all the
[167:38] defeats and victories all the NPCs I had
[167:41] encountered all the kingdoms I uncovered
[167:43] and all the fates of the people I've met
[167:44] along the way we have seen the literal
[167:46] rise and fall of the entire world before
[167:49] our eyes and every single person and
[167:51] decision we have made has shaped us into
[167:52] the person we are now a person who now
[167:55] has to determine the entire fate of the
[167:56] world should you go against everything
[167:58] this game has taught you and still
[168:00] believe in the first flame you'll be
[168:01] shown a very depressing ending the Ashen
[168:04] one links the flame and continues the
[168:06] age of fire but it's not the spectacle
[168:08] we saw in Dark Souls 1 it can barely
[168:10] even cover our character let alone the
[168:11] rest of the Arena the Ashen one looks
[168:13] disappointed as if they expected
[168:15] something more in fact we the player
[168:17] were probably expecting something more
[168:19] and are now just as disappointed this is
[168:21] why I believe that everyone from Gwyn
[168:23] till now has linked the flame when it
[168:24] faded as if the world alternated like it
[168:26] was supposed to then this wouldn't make
[168:28] sense as to why the flame is this
[168:29] pitiful the first flame is on its
[168:31] deathbed and we still haven't granted it
[168:33] the death it wants if we instead summon
[168:35] the fire keeper she will take the first
[168:36] flame and extinguish it for good the age
[168:38] of dark will commence and the world has
[168:40] gone completely black and while it may
[168:42] seem scary to venture into a World
[168:43] Without fire the fire keeper assures us
[168:45] that the fire will eventually return
[168:47] someday just like it did all the years
[168:49] ago remember things are meant to live
[168:51] and die the age of dark is temporary and
[168:53] fire will return and an age of fire will
[168:55] begin again but hopefully it will not be
[168:57] extended this time if you're feeling
[168:58] greedy you can also enact the age of
[169:00] dark and take the Flames power for
[169:02] yourself this is similar to our final
[169:03] ending and the secret ending of Dark
[169:05] Souls 3 the usurpation of fire this
[169:08] requires us to complete yuria's quest
[169:09] line yuria is from a place called londor
[169:12] and we know that she's also the sister
[169:13] of Freda and lilianne who created the
[169:15] Sable Church in londor but what is
[169:17] londor well it's a land of Hollows as we
[169:20] can see all the hollows bowing down to
[169:22] us as the new Lord of Hollows londor
[169:24] also had many pilgrims that came to this
[169:26] land possibly to find the first flame
[169:28] and overtake lothric those Butterflies
[169:30] from the dragon slayer armor are called
[169:32] Pilgrim butterflies so maybe this is the
[169:34] Pilgrim's final form so to speak these
[169:36] pilgrims are most likely members of the
[169:38] Sable church as while these sisters
[169:39] created the church the pilgrims most
[169:41] likely went here to worship their God
[169:43] who happens to be the primordial serpent
[169:45] coth we never see coth in game and the
[169:47] only reason we even know this is because
[169:49] of Yu's death dialogue but the call back
[169:51] to him was insane and almost maybe
[169:53] nervous for a bit as he could have been
[169:55] orchestrating this church for who knows
[169:56] how long so that he finally gets what he
[169:58] wants if you remember he tricked the
[170:00] Four Kings and the people of ulil into
[170:01] being engulfed by the abyss so what's
[170:03] stopping him from doing it against the
[170:04] people of londor although in his defense
[170:07] when we place the Lord vessel in Dark
[170:08] Souls 1 cot says that every last one of
[170:11] them failed him so maybe he isn't trying
[170:13] to screw with londor and possibly found
[170:14] a genuine group of people that will
[170:16] follow and carry out his wish
[170:17] accompanying us into the new world is
[170:19] also hory of aora who depending on our
[170:21] actions either got to defeat Aldridge
[170:23] with us and finally be able to kill the
[170:25] person she hated the most or gets killed
[170:27] and unwillingly serves as our bride when
[170:29] we become the Lord of Hollows which is
[170:31] quite a dark twist Lor also seems to
[170:33] embrace its Hollow State but this may
[170:35] come at a cost Yol of londor can give us
[170:38] the dark sigils required to progress the
[170:40] quest line but once he does that he dies
[170:42] and the Assassin who gives us the
[170:44] wedding sword dies after the ceremony so
[170:46] it seems like they're only able to
[170:47] retain their sanity when Hollow but as a
[170:49] consequence die once their purpose has
[170:51] been fulfilled this is just about all we
[170:53] know in regards to Lor but there is
[170:55] still quite a few theories involved with
[170:56] the kingdom such as the fact that Lor
[170:58] could be tied to Drang Lake or Vela
[171:00] admittedly it's a small connection but
[171:02] items from Dark Souls 1 and 2 like the
[171:04] vow of silence dead again dark drift and
[171:06] dark hand have had their item
[171:08] descriptions changed vow of silence in
[171:10] Dark Souls 1 is a spell that was created
[171:11] by Vela but in Dark Souls 3 it's used by
[171:14] members of the church and the dark Drift
[171:15] from Dark Souls 2 was said to be used by
[171:17] the grave Warden and the dead Crypt but
[171:19] in Dark Souls 3 it's used by Uria
[171:21] however I don't think Vendrick and Alia
[171:23] are related to this though as the two of
[171:25] them wanted to remove the curse and Lor
[171:27] wants to embrace their Hollow form
[171:29] although in a manner of speaking the
[171:30] hollow form is the true version of man
[171:32] and thus could be in a way what the
[171:33] brothers desired but I'm not too sure I
[171:36] believe in this Theory especially given
[171:37] how the brothers are never mentioned in
[171:39] this game and would be weird if they
[171:41] finally made an appearance now
[171:42] regardless now it's time to say goodbye
[171:45] to the age of fire and to Dark Souls the
[171:47] age of dark is a metaphor for the Dark
[171:49] Souls series every Dark Souls game has
[171:51] taken place in the age of fire and by
[171:52] keeping this age going we can keep the
[171:54] Dark Souls games going but is that
[171:56] really what we want many games have gone
[171:58] on to make numerous sequels and ruin the
[172:00] Integrity of that series the age of dark
[172:02] is not just about moving on from the age
[172:03] of fire but from Dark Souls itself as
[172:05] much as I want more Dark Souls games to
[172:07] keep coming it's only going to ruin the
[172:09] franchise going forward but that doesn't
[172:10] mean we have to say goodbye to the souls
[172:12] genre we have Elden ring and any other
[172:14] Souls games that come after it so our
[172:16] hunger for this genre of games will
[172:17] never die but we do need to say goodbye
[172:19] to Dark Souls having Dark Souls end now
[172:22] means it ends on a high note and I'd
[172:23] rather see the game quit while it's
[172:24] ahead than watch it release sequel after
[172:26] sequel that will inevitably tarnish its
[172:28] reputation causing it to be one of the
[172:30] many games in the industry that ran
[172:31] itself into the dirt so it's time to
[172:34] finally put this game and its world to
[172:36] rest thank you for watching