The COMPLETE Dark Souls Series Story Retrospective

[00:00] Dark Souls is one of the best series of

[00:02] all time and has one of the most complex

[00:04] yet remarkable narratives I've ever had

[00:06] the pleasure of uncovering it's filled

[00:08] with so many ideas themes and values

[00:10] that breathe life into this series and

[00:12] its various interpretations allow people

[00:14] to add in their own details ultimately

[00:16] making their playthroughs a unique

[00:17] experience so today I want to take some

[00:20] time to talk about the trilogy I want to

[00:22] not only retell the game's main stories

[00:24] but also critique them along the way I'm

[00:25] going to examine why specific parts of

[00:27] the game are so well crafted and how its

[00:29] World design and bosses shape the story

[00:31] around them so with that out of the way

[00:33] thank you for watching and I hope you

[00:38] enjoy Dark Souls 1 is a fantastic game

[00:41] it's got a wonderful story that would

[00:43] set in motion numerous events that would

[00:44] occur throughout the trilogy but just

[00:46] within the bounds of its own game Dark

[00:48] Souls 1 has some incredibly deep and

[00:50] Rich lore filled with some of the

[00:51] greatest backstories this Series has to

[00:53] offer and today I want to discuss why so

[00:56] without further Ado let's get started so

[00:58] the opening cinematic of Dark Souls 1

[01:00] starts with the gray world one that is

[01:02] filled with giant trees and dragons and

[01:05] while the world stayed like that for a

[01:06] while one day fire was born as for how

[01:09] this fire came to be well it's never

[01:11] explained this is one of the many things

[01:13] we just have to accept the world of Dark

[01:16] Souls is fantasy and many things just

[01:18] can't be explained it's never mentioned

[01:20] how the first flame was created as it

[01:22] just happened but because the first

[01:24] flame was born disparity came with it

[01:26] life and death heat and cold and light

[01:29] and dark this description is literal

[01:31] since the first flame was created the

[01:33] people of the world felt its warmth and

[01:34] understood what heat was when they

[01:36] walked away from the flame they realized

[01:38] its heat didn't reach them which created

[01:39] the feeling of cold the discovery of

[01:41] fire during the Stone Age is to this day

[01:43] the greatest discovery known to man and

[01:45] in Dark Souls this is no different given

[01:47] how unique something like this in the

[01:49] world of Dark Souls was those who

[01:50] discovered it were obviously attracted

[01:52] to its power four notable people would

[01:54] discover Lord Souls next to these flames

[01:56] and be given immense power these people

[01:58] were Neato isth Gwyn and the pygmy from

[02:01] the intro we can infer that there was a

[02:02] civilization of people that existed

[02:04] during the age of ancients isth had

[02:06] daughters that were with her when she

[02:07] found her lord soul and Gwyn had his

[02:09] knights with him implying that people

[02:11] did exist during the time of the age of

[02:12] ancients but weren't of much value to

[02:14] the world given how powerful the Dragons

[02:16] Were eventually Neato isth and Gwyn

[02:19] would band together and use their power

[02:21] to overthrow the dragons Gwyn used his

[02:23] lightning isth used her flames and Neato

[02:25] used his death and disease they also

[02:27] received help from a SE the scales a

[02:29] Dragon who betrayed his own kind now

[02:32] that the new Lords were on top of the

[02:33] food chain the age of ancients was no

[02:35] more and the age of fire had begun this

[02:37] period would last thousands of years

[02:39] until we get to today currently the fire

[02:41] is fading and it needs to be rekindled

[02:43] in order to keep it lit but doing this

[02:45] is not as simple as it sounds you may

[02:47] have noticed I forgot to talk about the

[02:49] pygmy well the pygmy had a unique Soul

[02:51] called The Dark Soul using his soul he

[02:53] created something called Humanity he

[02:55] would then share this Humanity with his

[02:57] people these Dark Soul imbued people

[02:59] became became known as humans the pygmy

[03:02] is essentially our ancestor Gwyn feared

[03:04] this power though and created the dark

[03:06] sign which inadvertently caused the

[03:08] undead curse this isn't explained much

[03:10] in Dark Souls 1 but it is by far the

[03:12] most important plot in the whole series

[03:14] and while I just wanted to talk about

[03:16] this game for the whole video this needs

[03:17] to be explained or else the rest of the

[03:19] video going forward will make no sense

[03:21] the undead curse the dark sign and the

[03:23] fading of the fire are all linked the

[03:25] Dark Soul gets more powerful the closer

[03:27] the fire is to fading thus meaning human

[03:29] should get more powerful over time but

[03:31] gwin screwed Humanity twice by

[03:33] rekindling the flame thus removing our

[03:35] chance at power but also by branding

[03:37] humans with the dark sign think of this

[03:39] as a literal wall of fire that prevents

[03:41] the Dark Soul within men from getting

[03:43] too powerful the dark sign only

[03:44] activates when the flame is fading

[03:46] because that is when the Dark Soul

[03:47] within men starts to grow stronger this

[03:49] dark sign also prevents humans from

[03:51] dying but it also causes them to go

[03:53] Undead these fleshy creatures were once

[03:55] Undead humans but they have crossed the

[03:57] barrier of no return even though humans

[03:59] are able to revive after death

[04:01] eventually this will cause them to lose

[04:02] their Humanity lose their minds and lose

[04:05] their purpose causing them to go Hollow

[04:07] these creatures are Hollows beings who

[04:09] don't even remember who they are where

[04:10] they are or what they're even doing Gwyn

[04:13] likes being on top and he fears the day

[04:14] that he will lose his power so he'll do

[04:16] anything he can to prevent that from

[04:18] happening he did this by branding

[04:20] Humanity with the dark sign but by also

[04:21] rekindling the flame which is known as

[04:24] the first sin see the world is like a

[04:25] set of operations things are born but

[04:28] eventually they'll die but but then more

[04:30] things will be born only to die soon

[04:32] after that's just the way the world

[04:33] works but Gwyn broke the laws of the

[04:35] World by rekindling the first flame it

[04:38] was meant to be extinguished but due to

[04:40] Gwyn wanting to hold on to what he held

[04:42] dear he couldn't Dare See It Go he

[04:44] sacrificed himself by using himself as

[04:46] kindling for the first flame since he

[04:48] had one of the four original Lord Souls

[04:50] that came from the first flame it was

[04:51] deemed sufficient enough to be used as

[04:53] fuel unless the gauge of fire continued

[04:55] but as we know it is fading once more

[04:57] the undead curse is back humans are

[04:59] turning Hollow and the world is in chaos

[05:02] doesn't this sound like a fantastic

[05:04] story that's because it is this intro

[05:06] and even the game display a sense of

[05:08] desperation within our characters how

[05:10] far are people willing to go to get what

[05:12] they want or keep what they have and

[05:14] while each of their desires is different

[05:15] it always comes out the same Dark Souls

[05:17] 1 is just the start but the actions of

[05:19] its characters will continue to Echo

[05:21] throughout the entire Trilogy and we're

[05:23] just getting started after the opening

[05:25] cinematic we get to see the state of the

[05:27] world as it is today or at least the

[05:28] state of this we're an undead that is

[05:31] sitting in their cell awaiting the end

[05:32] of the world but one day we're given the

[05:34] key to our cell and are able to leave

[05:36] this person is Oscar and he speaks of a

[05:39] prophecy there is an old saying in my

[05:41] family thou who art Undead art chosen in

[05:45] thine Exodus from the Undead Asylum

[05:47] maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient

[05:49] Lords when thou ringeth the bell of

[05:52] Awakening the fate of the undead Thou

[05:55] shalt know this prophecy also happens to

[05:57] be the main objective of the game but

[05:59] it's only the first part the rest we'll

[06:01] have to discover later the intro of Dark

[06:03] Souls 1 sets up a new world by

[06:05] showcasing multiple important events in

[06:06] the world's history and also gives us

[06:08] enough information to understand the

[06:10] basic premise of the game while also

[06:11] purposely withholding some of that

[06:13] information to give us a reason to seek

[06:15] out set information one thing we need to

[06:17] consider though is our character's

[06:19] motivations why even bother making the

[06:21] trip to lordran the land of Lords well

[06:24] what else is there to do it's the end of

[06:25] the world and you were just given the

[06:27] keys to your cell allowing you to

[06:28] explore the world to Hearts content even

[06:30] if you're convinced that life is doomed

[06:32] and the world as we know it will

[06:33] disappear for good why not make the most

[06:35] out of it have some fun kill some

[06:37] Hollows it's a whole lot better than

[06:38] rotting in a cell with our objective

[06:40] laid out to us thanks to Oscar we can

[06:42] now set out to lordran and ring the

[06:43] bells technically the first area you're

[06:45] meant to go is the undead Berg but one

[06:47] wrong step and you can make it to New

[06:48] Londo out of all the souls games Dark

[06:50] Souls 1 will provide the best blind

[06:52] playthrough as due to its connected

[06:53] World players will go in different

[06:55] directions which in turn will create

[06:56] different experiences New Londo is

[06:58] actually a lake Game Area since the

[07:00] enemies here are quite strong and the

[07:02] boss at the end of the level is quite

[07:03] tough but you may stumble upon this area

[07:05] by accident within 5 minutes of arriving

[07:07] this is due in part to Dark Souls 1's

[07:09] level design which may have the best

[07:10] level design in the whole franchise it's

[07:12] been coined as a Metroid Vania a genre

[07:15] that started with the games Metroid and

[07:17] Castlevania these games have nonlinear

[07:19] progression as many areas can be

[07:20] accessed right away but others can't

[07:22] causing the player to go around the map

[07:24] looking for the key then running back to

[07:25] that same location such as this door

[07:27] that leads to havl which can only be be

[07:29] found in the dark grou Basin past the

[07:31] boss the door is found pretty early on

[07:33] in your playthrough but the key is found

[07:34] much later plus you'll also have to

[07:36] remember where that key goes you'll be

[07:38] doing lots of running in this game the

[07:40] highlight of one of my play sessions was

[07:41] going from BL town to Andre because I

[07:43] forgot to ascend my weapon before a boss

[07:45] fight meaning I had to take a 3-minute

[07:47] walk up to him then a 3-minute walk back

[07:49] down in future titles this would be

[07:50] remedied by fast travel but Dark Souls 1

[07:53] doesn't have fast travel initially and

[07:54] even when you do gain the power of fast

[07:56] travel via the Lord vessel it's not the

[07:58] typical fast travel were familiar with

[08:00] as we're only allowed to travel to

[08:01] specific bonfires these decisions

[08:03] further immerse the player into the

[08:05] world as it's all one connected level

[08:07] and since they're all connected that

[08:08] means you can see certain levels from

[08:09] different places such as Blight Town

[08:11] which is visible from Firelink Shrine So

[08:13] Not only was the level design of each

[08:15] area taken into account but also how the

[08:17] levels connected to one another and how

[08:18] this connection would affect other areas

[08:20] regardless of where you end up though

[08:22] whether that be New Londo or Undead Berg

[08:24] the very first enemies you'll come to

[08:26] see are these Hollow Men like the ones

[08:27] back in the Asylum all the undead we see

[08:30] here are humans who have lost their

[08:31] Humanity causing them to go Hollow and

[08:33] now since we are human we should go

[08:35] Hollow too however it's a bit more meta

[08:37] than that hollowing is a bit hard to

[08:39] Define as everyone can go Hollow for

[08:40] different reasons but the two main ideas

[08:42] seem to stem from constant death or a

[08:44] loss of purpose given that our character

[08:46] is set on ringing the bells he never

[08:48] goes Hollow despite being Undead as he

[08:50] still has a purpose should the player

[08:52] quit and uninstall the game they would

[08:53] lose their purpose so permanently

[08:55] quitting the game is sort of like

[08:56] hollowing in a sense I don't think

[08:58] everything needs to be explained with

[09:00] lore so this is more than likely just a

[09:01] gameplay mechanic but that's how I've

[09:03] interpreted hollowing on our way to the

[09:05] bells of Awakening we'll come across

[09:06] various different locations but sadly

[09:08] there isn't a whole lot of backstory

[09:10] involved in their creation locations

[09:12] like Undead Berg are just Undead

[09:14] settlements and the valley of Drakes is

[09:16] just a valley filled with Drakes the

[09:18] only exceptions though are Ash Lake and

[09:20] blight toown blight toown is next to a

[09:22] location called the deps and at the end

[09:24] of The Depths is the gaping dragon and

[09:26] while an interesting boss what's more

[09:27] important is the arena we can see water

[09:29] coming from the depths and going into

[09:31] the sewer system which leads to Blight

[09:33] Town according to various keys in the

[09:34] game we can piece together that those

[09:36] who previously lived in the undead Berg

[09:38] but were banished from the settlement

[09:39] were sent to Blight Town as punishment

[09:41] this is reinforced by the giant door

[09:43] that separates the sewer system from the

[09:44] outside world but this water from the

[09:46] sewer is poisonous well in Blight Town

[09:49] there's a spell called Poison mist and

[09:50] according to its description it seems

[09:52] that eni this egg bearing individual may

[09:54] have caused this as he was the creator

[09:56] of the poison Miss spell it's not fully

[09:58] confirmed that he did this but it's

[09:59] 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

[1:00:00] spider who is in possession of se's soul

[1:00:02] but se's feelings and desires are able

[1:00:04] to engulf those who come in contact with

[1:00:06] it Freya Soul talks about a writhing

[1:00:08] ruin and how this ancient Thing cast a

[1:00:10] shadow over the land and that at some

[1:00:11] point in its life it came in contact

[1:00:13] with a solitary insect but grew its

[1:00:15] power feasting on the wealth of Twisted

[1:00:17] Souls found within the land if we defeat

[1:00:19] Freya we can enter the Lord's private

[1:00:20] Chambers which houses the Duke of sadora

[1:00:22] himself and a cage that presumably

[1:00:24] belonged to Freya the writhing ruin was

[1:00:26] created from se's intense feeling of

[1:00:27] want he searched endlessly for a way to

[1:00:29] be immortal even when he was plagued by

[1:00:31] insanity and it's because of how

[1:00:32] powerful his desires were that they

[1:00:34] seemed to linger on past his death the

[1:00:36] writhing ruin would go on to possess

[1:00:37] others in an attempt to obtain something

[1:00:39] as he possessed a being that turned man

[1:00:41] scorpion tar and his wife into half

[1:00:43] human creatures it has this insatiable

[1:00:45] urge to achieve something what that

[1:00:47] something is will depend on the

[1:00:48] individual SE wanted immortality and

[1:00:50] Freya may have just wanted strength or

[1:00:52] power regardless this writhing ruin will

[1:00:54] presumably seek something until it

[1:00:56] doesn't for eternity and ruin many lives

[1:00:58] in the process it's obvious by now that

[1:01:00] there seems to be a parallel between our

[1:01:01] old cast and our new ones in regards to

[1:01:03] their feelings and emotions whether they

[1:01:05] received these similar feelings when

[1:01:06] they came in contact with the old souls

[1:01:08] or the souls were attracted to them

[1:01:09] because of their feelings is unknown but

[1:01:11] our old friends legacies continue to

[1:01:13] bring disaster even after their death

[1:01:15] but for one of them that may not be the

[1:01:16] case our final great one is the rotten

[1:01:19] in Mula there is a giant pit and

[1:01:21] assuming you can get down there without

[1:01:22] dying you'll arrive at the Grave of

[1:01:24] Saints a catacomb that used to be a bar

[1:01:25] IAL site before it was overrun by rats I

[1:01:28] was admittedly a bit confused running

[1:01:30] through here as I thought this was some

[1:01:31] ongoing joke I wasn't aware of as

[1:01:34] there's a literal rat talking to me

[1:01:35] calling me his servant in the most

[1:01:37] serious tone possible it's pretty

[1:01:39] pointless and it's best if we ignore it

[1:01:41] and moved on but sadly we won't be doing

[1:01:43] much moving as much as we will be

[1:01:44] falling Dark Souls 2 somehow managed to

[1:01:46] surpass blle town in quality by making

[1:01:48] the gutter a darker version of Bight

[1:01:50] town all while being poisoned thanks to

[1:01:52] these statues just like Bight town the

[1:01:54] lore is quite similar as these are the

[1:01:55] citizens of various kingdoms that were

[1:01:57] tossed away out of sight from the rest

[1:01:58] of the world after the gutter is the

[1:02:00] Black Gulch the home of the rotten the

[1:02:02] rotten possesses the soul of Neato but

[1:02:04] instead of their emotions being similar

[1:02:05] it seems to just be their appearance

[1:02:07] Neato was an amalgamation of skeletons

[1:02:09] and the rotten is an amalgamation of

[1:02:10] dead bodies but where Neato was hellbent

[1:02:12] on administering death throughout the

[1:02:14] world the rotten seems to sort of

[1:02:15] Embrace or Comfort it these statues

[1:02:17] might possibly be the people who have

[1:02:18] died down here in the pits he might be

[1:02:20] trying to comfort these Hollows in their

[1:02:22] new life and these statues seem to be a

[1:02:23] showcasing of his feelings towards his

[1:02:25] new Community what is rather odd though

[1:02:27] is that these statues in the boss room

[1:02:28] don't shoot poison at us so it's

[1:02:30] possible that they weren't meant to

[1:02:31] shoot poison originally and it's because

[1:02:33] of this poisonous rot that is taken over

[1:02:34] the pits that they're allowed to do so

[1:02:36] through our discussion about the great

[1:02:37] ones you obviously notice the

[1:02:38] connections between our old and new cast

[1:02:40] of characters but you may have also

[1:02:41] noticed the lack of lore there is a lot

[1:02:43] of information that is either completely

[1:02:45] unclear or only given some amount of

[1:02:47] weight thanks to the abundance of

[1:02:48] theories from the community Dark Souls 2

[1:02:50] is both the most understood and most

[1:02:52] confusing game within the trilogy it

[1:02:53] just depends on what answers you're

[1:02:55] looking for however however I feel like

[1:02:56] I'm content with this one thing that

[1:02:58] bothered me about Dark Souls I as we

[1:03:00] discussed before is that I left some of

[1:03:01] these boss Arenas with more questions

[1:03:03] and answers I wanted to know who the

[1:03:04] Four Kings of nandoo were and how they

[1:03:06] Rose to power I also wanted to know more

[1:03:08] about Neato and his role in the world

[1:03:10] after the war with the dragons and while

[1:03:11] I definitely have similar questions

[1:03:13] regarding some of our great ones I left

[1:03:14] majority of these areas feeling complete

[1:03:16] like I had learned what needed to be

[1:03:18] learned and I uncovered the real story

[1:03:20] and that's the benefit of creating

[1:03:21] something like Dark Souls 2 we don't

[1:03:23] really need to know what these great

[1:03:24] ones did and how they shaped the fate of

[1:03:26] the world because they didn't despite

[1:03:28] how important many of the characters in

[1:03:29] this game may seem at the end of the day

[1:03:31] they're just another kingdom in a long

[1:03:32] line of other kingdoms no one is going

[1:03:34] to remember them and no one is going to

[1:03:36] care about them that is why I feel

[1:03:37] satisfied when leaving the black gulture

[1:03:39] centers rise have uncovered enough lore

[1:03:40] to get a generous picture of their life

[1:03:42] with a few holes just big enough for me

[1:03:44] to make some solid theories with all

[1:03:45] four great ones slain we can now go to

[1:03:47] Drang Lake Castle or can we

[1:04:08] this is Alia the brother of king

[1:04:10] Vendrick and the scholar of the first

[1:04:12] sin Alia story is very unclear at the

[1:04:14] moment but we'll eventually learn more

[1:04:15] about him later once we enter Drang Lake

[1:04:17] Castle we'll see this Phantom by the

[1:04:19] name of Weller he's a sort of lore dump

[1:04:21] which admittedly might not be the best

[1:04:23] way to handle this information but given

[1:04:25] the nature of of these games where you

[1:04:26] can go a whole playthrough Without

[1:04:28] Really knowing anything maybe it's

[1:04:30] necessary regardless weer shares with us

[1:04:32] some backstory on Drang Lake and

[1:04:33] Vendrick King Vendrick conquered four

[1:04:35] great ones and built a kingdom upon

[1:04:37] their very souls he then met a lady

[1:04:39] named nandra who warned Vendrick of

[1:04:40] another looming threat these beings were

[1:04:42] known as Giants King Vendrick would

[1:04:44] eventually cross the Seas and battle

[1:04:46] these Giants completely decimating their

[1:04:48] civilization as a constellation prize he

[1:04:50] took most of them prisoner and ran

[1:04:51] experiments on them this is what led to

[1:04:53] the creation of the Golems these beings

[1:04:55] we see inside the castle and with the

[1:04:57] Golems he was able to build Drang Lake

[1:04:59] Castle later in the game we'll acquire

[1:05:00] this item called the Ashen misted heart

[1:05:02] this allows us to peer into the memories

[1:05:04] of some specific beings most of these

[1:05:06] memories are from dead Giants we come

[1:05:07] across in the first level these all

[1:05:09] showcase different sections of Drang

[1:05:10] Lake being overrun by Giants and one of

[1:05:12] them even shows us the location of the

[1:05:14] giant Lord we see the destruction that

[1:05:16] they left Drang Lake castle and and we

[1:05:17] can also see how outmatch the soldiers

[1:05:19] really were even though they outnumber

[1:05:21] them three or four to one they're

[1:05:22] getting decimated at every turn but

[1:05:24] somehow they were able to persevere

[1:05:26] considering there's no Giants in Dr Lake

[1:05:28] but I think the person responsible for

[1:05:30] some of this Victory Is Us these

[1:05:32] memories operate like Olio from Dark

[1:05:34] Souls 1 where we go back in time to

[1:05:36] alter the past and then go back to the

[1:05:37] present this may tie into a subtle hint

[1:05:39] very early in the game the first boss in

[1:05:41] Dark Souls I is the last giant whose

[1:05:43] boss sold description reads the lord of

[1:05:45] the Giants who had brought wreck and

[1:05:47] ruin to the entire kingdom was said to

[1:05:49] have been felled by an unknown Warrior

[1:05:51] his beaten and broken remains were then

[1:05:52] dragged beneath the stronghold where he

[1:05:54] was sealed away this random giant Soul

[1:05:56] references the giant Lord and also

[1:05:58] describes the exact condition this giant

[1:06:00] is in meaning this giant is the giant

[1:06:02] Lord and that must mean the unknown

[1:06:04] Warrior was us this might explain why he

[1:06:06] thrashes his arms around trying to break

[1:06:08] free as he remembers us and wants

[1:06:09] revenge this is the complete backstory

[1:06:12] of Drang Lake which gives us enough

[1:06:13] answers to our questions but

[1:06:15] simultaneously gives us new questions we

[1:06:16] want answers to such as the whereabouts

[1:06:18] of nandra well close to the top of the

[1:06:20] castle is the queen herself the last

[1:06:23] king of this land King Vendrick as he

[1:06:27] was

[1:06:28] called he found the strength to rule his

[1:06:32] people and when the undead were born

[1:06:37] cursed he found more strength to face

[1:06:41] them but in the end he never took the

[1:06:45] true

[1:06:46] Throne visit

[1:06:50] Vendrick we have no need for two

[1:06:54] rulers so nandra wants us to find King

[1:06:57] Vendrick as she says there is no need

[1:06:58] for two rulers but she also mentions

[1:07:00] that King Vendrick never took the throne

[1:07:02] she just casually says this statement as

[1:07:04] if this isn't some huge Revelation since

[1:07:07] Gwyn people have been rekindling the

[1:07:09] flame but Vendrick didn't but it doesn't

[1:07:11] mean Vendrick wants to bring about an

[1:07:12] age of dark he doesn't want either this

[1:07:14] is even more unheard of as no one has

[1:07:16] even attempted to invoke a third

[1:07:18] solution to the fating of the first

[1:07:20] flame but to learn more we need to find

[1:07:22] Vendrick he resides in the undead crypt

[1:07:24] but blocking our path is to two bosses

[1:07:26] the Looking Glass Knight and vad the

[1:07:28] Royal Aegis both of these fights were

[1:07:30] fantastic both from the actual combat to

[1:07:32] the design of the bosses I'm just upset

[1:07:34] that it took this long for this feeling

[1:07:35] to finally come to fruition I rambled

[1:07:37] for quite a bit about the bosses in Dark

[1:07:39] Souls 1 like how orstein and SM were

[1:07:41] fantastic and how I despise the Bed of

[1:07:43] Chaos but I haven't found the right time

[1:07:44] to talk about the bosses in Dark Souls 2

[1:07:46] as there really isn't much to say most

[1:07:48] of them were pretty underwhelming for

[1:07:50] the most part and this is down to a few

[1:07:52] factors one was simply overleveling

[1:07:54] since Dark Souls 2 has 32 bosses in the

[1:07:56] main game it's very easy to miss some I

[1:07:59] didn't find the Chariot or old dragon

[1:08:01] slayer until much later when I Revisited

[1:08:03] those area so I was a bit overprepared

[1:08:05] for the boss fight Dark Souls 1 had a

[1:08:06] really great way of gaing the players

[1:08:08] progression while also guiding them down

[1:08:09] a path which in turn made every fight

[1:08:11] feel like a proper match it wasn't a

[1:08:13] one-sided victory for the most part

[1:08:15] there were a few exceptions like

[1:08:16] windelin and pin wheel but they have

[1:08:18] very low Health pools so it's a bit hard

[1:08:20] to judge them the other two reasons are

[1:08:22] just down to overall enjoyment and the

[1:08:24] summons the majority of the boss in this

[1:08:25] game not only have summonable NPCs but

[1:08:28] multiple at that I had two summons for

[1:08:30] the Looking Glass Knight and while the

[1:08:31] game does attempt to balance this by

[1:08:32] adding more Health we all know the main

[1:08:34] strength of the summons is to be an

[1:08:35] extra body for the boss to hit which

[1:08:37] means less attention on us and more time

[1:08:39] to get free hits in I will admit this

[1:08:40] trivialized many fights the Smelter

[1:08:42] Demon the rotten and probably a few

[1:08:44] others were really easy with summons but

[1:08:46] that comes to my next issue to complete

[1:08:47] some of these NPC quest lines we talked

[1:08:49] about earlier they need to be summoned

[1:08:51] for bosses as someone who's trying to

[1:08:52] get as much lore as possible in one

[1:08:54] playthrough I needed to continue

[1:08:55] continue the summons quest line so while

[1:08:57] I was gaining more progress with the

[1:08:58] NPCs it came at the cost of the quality

[1:09:00] of the fights this makes me even more

[1:09:02] disappointed as many of these quest

[1:09:03] lines didn't even go anywhere so they

[1:09:05] were just completely useless and wasted

[1:09:07] my time some of the boss fights though

[1:09:08] just sucked regardless I was pretty

[1:09:10] disappointed with Chariot fight even

[1:09:12] though it was a cool idea I just wasn't

[1:09:14] a big fan of it and this game's

[1:09:15] obsession with gang fights is quite

[1:09:17] insane the ruined Sentinels and the

[1:09:19] belfre Gargoyles were just not

[1:09:20] entertaining in the slightest orstein

[1:09:22] and SM only worked because of how

[1:09:23] different they were in regards to their

[1:09:24] move set and how the arena was designed

[1:09:26] and the Bell Gargoyles were okay for the

[1:09:28] most part since the second one didn't

[1:09:30] come until halfway plus they used

[1:09:32] different move sets the ruined Sentinels

[1:09:34] were the same enemy copied three times

[1:09:36] with zero obstacles to separate them

[1:09:37] minus the one platform you start on and

[1:09:40] the belfrey Gargoyles got way out of

[1:09:41] hand with close to three or four at the

[1:09:43] same time in the same Arena as the

[1:09:45] original fight which is not that large

[1:09:47] and very open I did manage to beat them

[1:09:49] on my own so I was happy that I won but

[1:09:51] only because I knew I'd never have to do

[1:09:52] that fight again as for the four great

[1:09:54] ones the old King was just awful even

[1:09:57] though I had a summon with me his moves

[1:09:58] would have been the same regardless and

[1:10:00] they were almost too easy to evade the

[1:10:02] other three were pretty good but nothing

[1:10:04] spectacular they did provide some

[1:10:05] intense moments but I did have to summon

[1:10:07] lucatiel for two of them so I may have

[1:10:08] missed some of that spectacle I will

[1:10:10] recognize though that this entire

[1:10:11] section is a very subjective take as a

[1:10:13] boss's enjoyment largely depends on the

[1:10:15] skill of the player and their build but

[1:10:17] since this is all about my thoughts on

[1:10:18] the game my opinion was that they were

[1:10:20] pretty underwhelming for the most part

[1:10:21] it felt like instead of focusing on

[1:10:23] fewer bosses with unique engagements

[1:10:25] they created more but at the cost of

[1:10:26] their depth behind the Looking Glass

[1:10:28] night is the Shrine of Amana and the

[1:10:29] aforementioned Undead CP each of these

[1:10:31] places were created specifically for the

[1:10:33] dead both the mileno and the phito watch

[1:10:35] over these respective places in an

[1:10:37] attempt to guide the undead to their

[1:10:38] final destination both of these

[1:10:40] creatures have interesting backstories

[1:10:42] as they were created by the old dead one

[1:10:44] who we know as Neato both of them seem

[1:10:45] to be a Reincarnation of Neo's Soul as

[1:10:48] if he created them we would have seen

[1:10:49] them in Dark Souls 1 but maybe they

[1:10:51] didn't plan that far ahead when making

[1:10:53] the games regardless it is a nice detail

[1:10:55] and finally gives us some actual story

[1:10:56] regarding Neato so I was more than happy

[1:10:58] to listen to it it also continues to

[1:11:00] reinforce the old one Soul descriptions

[1:11:02] that mention how their souls still hold

[1:11:04] power over the land as the power of

[1:11:05] Neato and his obsession with all things

[1:11:07] death are still utilized to this day as

[1:11:09] for what they specifically do it seems

[1:11:11] like the mil phito enchant or Comfort

[1:11:13] the dead via song as their singing can

[1:11:15] be heard throughout the level and the

[1:11:16] phito are grave wardens who watch over

[1:11:18] the dead both of these groups seem to

[1:11:20] revolve around comforting the dead so

[1:11:22] maybe Neato was a lot more like the

[1:11:24] rotten than I had initially thought at

[1:11:26] the very end of the crypt is vestad and

[1:11:28] while the boss fight was great what

[1:11:29] really piqued my attention was his soul

[1:11:31] and the items acquired from that Soul

[1:11:33] firstly his soul is a dark purple and

[1:11:35] black color this is the same as the DLC

[1:11:37] bosses from Dark Souls 1 I originally

[1:11:39] thought that this was made to

[1:11:40] distinguish the DLC from the main game

[1:11:42] but it wasn't Until Dark Souls 2 that I

[1:11:44] realized that the soul shape has actual

[1:11:46] meaning this is an image of a normal

[1:11:48] boss soul in this game next is from one

[1:11:50] of the great ones and the other is of

[1:11:52] those affected by the darkness both

[1:11:54] Manis and the royal AES have the same

[1:11:56] Soul meaning they're both affected by

[1:11:57] the darkness and that's due in part to

[1:11:59] him being down here since Vendrick

[1:12:00] locked himself away in the Crypt another

[1:12:02] detail that is interesting about vestad

[1:12:04] here is that his soul can buy Miracles

[1:12:06] specifically the sacred oath Miracle

[1:12:08] which is used by Warriors who once sered

[1:12:10] the god of Sun so it seems like the

[1:12:12] Royal AIS belong to the same Covenant as

[1:12:13] cair however we can see that this

[1:12:15] miracle has either been warped or is

[1:12:17] unable to be casted as he never actually

[1:12:19] uses this in the fight and instead Buffs

[1:12:21] himself with dark magic further showing

[1:12:22] how dark his soul has become after the

[1:12:24] Royal Aegis we can Vendrick and if you

[1:12:26] expected some grand entrance then you're

[1:12:28] playing the wrong

[1:12:44] game just like when the most powerful

[1:12:47] being in the game's world is reduced to

[1:12:48] a hollow and Mindless State vendrick's

[1:12:51] condition actually seems to be much

[1:12:52] worse as Gwinn at least retain some of

[1:12:53] his combat abilities but Vendrick can

[1:12:55] barely swing his sword if he choose to

[1:12:57] fight him all is not lost though for our

[1:12:58] King as if we return with the Ashen Mist

[1:13:00] Heart we can peer into his memories and

[1:13:02] be able to talk with Vendrick prior to

[1:13:03] his hollowing do you intend to link the

[1:13:07] fire then you must first take the

[1:13:11] throne prove your worth find the ancient

[1:13:16] crowns seek adversity and they will be

[1:13:19] yours Vendrick tells us to seek the

[1:13:22] crowns these crowns belong to three

[1:13:24] rulers and also happened to be R3 DLC

[1:13:26] these DLCs not only provide us with

[1:13:28] additional lore regarding other kingdoms

[1:13:30] but also what caus these kingdoms to

[1:13:31] collapse when we finish each DLC we can

[1:13:34] gain a crown and after obtaining said

[1:13:35] Crown we can talk to Vendrick for more

[1:13:37] dialogue some of the dialogue is

[1:13:38] relevant later but a common theme

[1:13:40] throughout his speeches is the idea that

[1:13:41] we're given a choice Al throughout Dark

[1:13:43] Souls 1 we were told to link the flame

[1:13:45] and that if we failed the age of dark

[1:13:46] would arise and that would be the end of

[1:13:48] the world but King Vendrick is more than

[1:13:49] content with you making your own choice

[1:13:51] this goes back to what we discussed

[1:13:52] before vedric didn't want an age of fire

[1:13:54] or an age of dark he just wanted to find

[1:13:56] a way to break the curse this also ties

[1:13:58] into his brother Alia and some of his

[1:14:00] dialogue when we meet him again old man

[1:14:03] trust fully the abusion of

[1:14:06] life but is this so

[1:14:09] wrong a construction of thead and

[1:14:12] yet a world full of WS and

[1:14:16] scandles noo I you intent for shattering

[1:14:20] the Y spoiling this wonderful

[1:14:24] for AIA is definitely the most

[1:14:26] fascinating character in this game like

[1:14:28] Vendrick he is completely aware that he

[1:14:30] is unable to change the world in their

[1:14:31] current state so he just observes and

[1:14:33] sees what happens Alia says that the joy

[1:14:35] of life is warm and Splendid but it's a

[1:14:37] facade as the undead curse will

[1:14:39] eventually come back but because of that

[1:14:40] warmth that life brings us are we intent

[1:14:42] on shattering this illusion we live in

[1:14:44] and spoiling this false life we have or

[1:14:46] are we content with our lives and

[1:14:48] embrace the warmth and pleasure that

[1:14:49] comes with it knowing full well that

[1:14:50] it's a lie Alia just like the game wants

[1:14:52] you to actually make a choice and not

[1:14:54] blindly follow follow what some random

[1:14:55] person will tell us use your own

[1:14:57] experiences your own knowledge and your

[1:14:59] own beliefs to come to an answer the way

[1:15:00] this was crafted was absolutely

[1:15:02] brilliant and it shows how impressive

[1:15:04] the writing of this game truly is but

[1:15:05] before we get to the DLC and obtain the

[1:15:07] crowns we need to talk about the rest of

[1:15:08] the content as to actually get the Ash

[1:15:10] and Miss heart item we need to travel to

[1:15:12] Alia's keep and the Dragon Shrine both

[1:15:14] Alia and Vendrick sought to cure the

[1:15:16] curse but had different methods of doing

[1:15:17] so Vendrick shunned the undead as he

[1:15:19] wanted them as far away from the kingdom

[1:15:20] as possible that's why he threw them in

[1:15:22] the undead prison of lost best steel in

[1:15:24] here are hundreds of Undead including

[1:15:26] some volatile variants as these were

[1:15:27] created by Alia whereas ventri shun the

[1:15:29] undead Alia embraced them as he felt

[1:15:31] that the key to Breaking the curse was

[1:15:33] within the undead themselves but he

[1:15:34] didn't welcome them with open arms as

[1:15:36] they were all subjected to his various

[1:15:38] experiments but Alia went even further

[1:15:40] with these tests and didn't just focus

[1:15:41] on the undead but other species he even

[1:15:43] recreated multiple dragons a race of

[1:15:45] beings thought to be extinct by now

[1:15:47] despite what their names imply though

[1:15:49] both the guardian dragon and the ancient

[1:15:50] dragon aren't actually dragons the

[1:15:52] guardian dragon soul can allow us to

[1:15:54] purchase the Wing Greatsword which

[1:15:56] states that the Drakes are likely

[1:15:57] descendants of ancient dragons this

[1:15:59] implies that this is actually a Drake

[1:16:00] and not a dragon furthermore we know the

[1:16:02] dragons especially the original dragons

[1:16:04] are gone as calamite was the last of the

[1:16:06] ancient dragons this is still true as

[1:16:08] the ancient dragon in Dark Souls I isn't

[1:16:11] a dragon as it drops a soul of a giant

[1:16:13] this thing used to be a giant and was

[1:16:14] somehow configured by Alia through

[1:16:16] rigorous experiments to look like an

[1:16:18] ancient dragon to get the actual ancient

[1:16:20] dragon soul we need to use the Ash and

[1:16:21] Mist Heart again but this time in

[1:16:23] freya's Boss Arena as it allows us to

[1:16:25] see the memories of the Dead Dragon

[1:16:26] hanging from the ceiling this memory

[1:16:28] seems to show the original resting place

[1:16:29] of this Dragon before it somehow made it

[1:16:31] down here there's not a whole lot to

[1:16:33] learn from this place other than the

[1:16:34] fact that these large broken structures

[1:16:36] look similar to the ones outside Alia

[1:16:38] keep and there's only one place in the

[1:16:39] world that we know that has giant

[1:16:40] structures like this it is my belief

[1:16:42] that this is Ash Lake it might not be

[1:16:44] the entirety of Ash Lake as we don't

[1:16:46] really know how far these trees went but

[1:16:48] it seems to be at least some part of it

[1:16:50] in regards to time this is most likely

[1:16:51] during the war between Gwyn and the

[1:16:53] dragons ashake exists did back then but

[1:16:55] it wasn't the Ash Lake that we're

[1:16:56] familiar with as if you remember it was

[1:16:58] all gray before fire was born so the

[1:17:00] memory was during the war with the

[1:17:02] ancient dragons and the present day

[1:17:04] location of Aldi's keep is where some

[1:17:06] part of Ash Lake used to be with all the

[1:17:07] areas covered we can head to the DLC and

[1:17:09] it's advised to finish all the bosses

[1:17:11] and content you missed before going

[1:17:12] which is why I retraced my steps and

[1:17:14] discovered the locations of the dark

[1:17:15] lurker and the old dragon slayer I

[1:17:17] didn't really find their stories that

[1:17:19] interesting but I figured I would cover

[1:17:20] them before we continue the old dragon

[1:17:22] slayer seems to be someone who was using

[1:17:24] orang Ste armor as a way to uphold his

[1:17:26] legacy as not only does orstein have

[1:17:28] other plans which we'll learn about in

[1:17:29] Dark Souls 3 some have claimed that this

[1:17:31] is a fragment of orin's old soul that

[1:17:33] now possesses the armor which would

[1:17:35] connect with the running theme of old

[1:17:36] souls from the past games coming to the

[1:17:38] present just like with the four great

[1:17:39] ones as for the dark ler there's pretty

[1:17:41] much nothing we know about this being at

[1:17:43] all their soul states that they're a

[1:17:45] remnant of some ancient dissipated being

[1:17:47] and the color of their soul is not dark

[1:17:49] implying that they weren't born or

[1:17:50] consumed by the abyss like the Royal

[1:17:52] Aegis or Manis they also look very

[1:17:54] similar to the these beings in the

[1:17:55] undead crypt that spawn when the bells

[1:17:57] are rung given the color of the dark

[1:17:59] lurker Soul it's possible that this

[1:18:00] being was actually here to fight against

[1:18:02] the abyss similar to artorius but there

[1:18:04] is very little evidence to support this

[1:18:06] Theory but now we can officially start

[1:18:07] the DLC Dark Souls 2 eventually release

[1:18:10] with three additional pieces of content

[1:18:12] the crown of the sunken King the crown

[1:18:13] of the Old Iron King and the crown of

[1:18:15] the ivory King even the disjointed

[1:18:16] nature of these DLCs they could be

[1:18:18] played in any order as they don't

[1:18:19] contradict one another but we'll just go

[1:18:21] in the order of release the crown of the

[1:18:22] sunken King starts near the shrine

[1:18:24] beside the rotten's boss room and

[1:18:25] entering the shrine will take us to

[1:18:27] shova the sanctum City upon entering we

[1:18:29] are greeted by not only a gorgeous view

[1:18:30] of the underground city but also a

[1:18:32] dragon with a giant spear through its

[1:18:33] chest this dragon is sin long ago a race

[1:18:36] of people found sin sleeping in these

[1:18:38] caves and because they had most likely

[1:18:39] never seen a dragon before they

[1:18:41] worshiped him as a God these people

[1:18:42] ended up building a city around the

[1:18:44] dragon with the rulers of the Kingdom

[1:18:45] being the sunken King and his Queen

[1:18:47] Alana but something happened a leader by

[1:18:49] the name of Sir yorg found the

[1:18:51] underground city and mounted a Siege

[1:18:53] against its inhabitants with the

[1:18:54] intention of slaying the dragon they

[1:18:55] were guarding sir yorg and his Knights

[1:18:57] believed that killing dragons was a way

[1:18:59] to obtain a true understanding of life

[1:19:00] so they hunted it down after making a

[1:19:02] past all their defenses sir yorg was

[1:19:04] face to face with sin himself and that

[1:19:06] giant spear in his chest was from him

[1:19:08] but clearly sin lived this wound and

[1:19:09] that's because upon Awakening from his

[1:19:11] Slumber he released a giant cloud of

[1:19:12] poison that coated the entire city that

[1:19:14] may also explain why the Black Gulch is

[1:19:16] covered in this poisonous green liquid

[1:19:18] since it's right next to the city but

[1:19:19] there's no way to confirm before we

[1:19:21] fight sin though we have to fight Alana

[1:19:23] so somehow despite the poison and the

[1:19:25] attack from Sir yorg she managed to live

[1:19:27] well this might be due to her true form

[1:19:29] according to her boss soul and weapon we

[1:19:31] can piece together that when the abyss

[1:19:32] dissipated it was broken into fragments

[1:19:34] and eventually these fragments came to

[1:19:36] create a life meaning that Elana is the

[1:19:38] daughter of Manis the reason the abyss

[1:19:40] was broken was that the chosen Undead

[1:19:42] defeated Manis back in Dark Souls 1 and

[1:19:44] since he was called the father of the

[1:19:46] Abyss that would make Alana his daughter

[1:19:47] clearly she opposes a threat to more

[1:19:49] than just shulva so we need to put her

[1:19:51] down after her death is when we gain

[1:19:52] access to sin as a final fight wasn't

[1:19:55] too bad he has a unique mechanic where

[1:19:57] the poison from his breath can break the

[1:19:58] durability of your weapon which could

[1:20:00] possibly kill the entire run if you're

[1:20:01] not careful the only issue is that this

[1:20:03] seems to do an insane amount of

[1:20:05] durability damage as my Bandit axe with

[1:20:07] only 50 durability was destroyed in a

[1:20:09] few hits I'm not entirely sure if 50 is

[1:20:11] on the low end of durability but going

[1:20:13] through all the weapons I picked up

[1:20:14] across my whole playthrough they were

[1:20:16] all between 40 and 70 so if anything I

[1:20:18] should be right in the middle this

[1:20:19] wouldn't have been that bad though if

[1:20:20] sin didn't act like the guardian dragon

[1:20:22] and just stayed put for more than a few

[1:20:24] seconds

[1:20:25] I think you can see from the gameplay

[1:20:26] the amount of chances I have to actually

[1:20:28] hit this thing are extremely low I think

[1:20:30] what makes shova so engrossing is the

[1:20:32] location how do you possibly build a

[1:20:33] giant civilization underground and for

[1:20:35] what reason that's at least what I was

[1:20:37] thinking when going into the DLC and

[1:20:39] while I got my answer I wasn't entirely

[1:20:41] satisfied with it one reason why is down

[1:20:43] to dialogue is there was no NPCs in this

[1:20:46] DLC to talk or converse with we can't

[1:20:48] gain any new information as all the

[1:20:49] people that could have been NPCs are now

[1:20:51] just walking corpses given that sin

[1:20:53] poisoned the whole city I wonder wonder

[1:20:54] if adding one NPC at the very beginning

[1:20:56] of the level who's the only survivor of

[1:20:58] the attack would have been a better idea

[1:21:00] as they could have provided the player

[1:21:01] with additional information surrounding

[1:21:03] the city such as why they worshiped the

[1:21:04] dragon or how they managed to build all

[1:21:06] these structures because in its current

[1:21:08] state it feels a bit unfinished the

[1:21:10] crown of the Old Iron King is our second

[1:21:12] DLC and is of course based around the

[1:21:14] Old Iron King from the main game this

[1:21:16] DLC takes place in one of the largest

[1:21:18] Towers he erected called the broom Tower

[1:21:20] to find the crown we need to Traverse

[1:21:21] the entire tower all the way down to the

[1:21:23] bottom which was incred L tedious there

[1:21:25] were a lot of traps and enemies that can

[1:21:27] be very annoying to deal with but given

[1:21:28] that the DLC seemed to want to spike up

[1:21:30] the difficulty these additions kind of

[1:21:32] made sense this tediousness also added

[1:21:34] to the realism of the level as it takes

[1:21:36] quite a long time to scale this entire

[1:21:37] Tower which is logical given its size

[1:21:40] and the tower itself is in just empty

[1:21:41] space as all the space is being used for

[1:21:43] some sort of purpose whether it's these

[1:21:45] smaller guys carrying these giant

[1:21:46] barrels or the vast amount of Machinery

[1:21:48] within the tower that was made to

[1:21:49] produce iron it also fits in well with

[1:21:51] the theme of the old iron King's

[1:21:52] obsession with iron and how he gained a

[1:21:54] lot of power from his production of iron

[1:21:56] this DLC however adopts the same

[1:21:58] storytelling as the sunken King in that

[1:22:00] there are no NPCs to talk to throughout

[1:22:01] the entirety of its runtime but what

[1:22:03] makes the broom Tower different from

[1:22:04] shova is that we already have numerous

[1:22:06] levels and items filled with lore about

[1:22:08] the Iron King shova was a completely new

[1:22:10] area with zero reference to the main

[1:22:12] story which is why I enjoyed it a bit

[1:22:13] less regarding the NPC interaction than

[1:22:15] the broom Tower even though the first

[1:22:17] boss is technically another Smelter

[1:22:19] Demon the real first boss is actually

[1:22:20] the fume Knight I have zero issues

[1:22:23] regarding this fight I actually thought

[1:22:24] it was perfect I've stated this many

[1:22:26] times before but I prefer the fast

[1:22:27] combat of the future fromsoft games as

[1:22:29] opposed to the slower more methodical

[1:22:31] nature of the early Souls games it's not

[1:22:33] that one is objectively better than the

[1:22:34] other it's just a personal preference of

[1:22:36] mine and just like with artorius and

[1:22:37] Manis the fum Knight is another boss

[1:22:39] that is slowly ramping up the speed of

[1:22:41] its attacks they aren't incredibly fast

[1:22:43] especially by modern Souls game

[1:22:45] standards where a 10-hit combo can be

[1:22:46] finished within mere seconds but the fum

[1:22:48] Knight is definitely a far more faster

[1:22:50] paced fight compared to the rest of the

[1:22:51] game and this even continues with the

[1:22:53] other boss in this DLC which is selon

[1:22:55] it's just like the other boss fights of

[1:22:57] this game where you have to look at your

[1:22:58] health stamina and both your and the

[1:23:00] boss's positioning all at the same time

[1:23:01] and then calculate what to do given the

[1:23:03] parameters except much faster I

[1:23:05] understand this is not everyone's cup of

[1:23:07] tea but it's most definitely mine and

[1:23:09] even better the fum Knight has actual

[1:23:10] ties to a previous character from the

[1:23:12] main Game King Vendrick had two trusted

[1:23:14] Knights who he considered his left and

[1:23:16] right arm one was vat and the other was

[1:23:18] the fum Knight however the two clashed

[1:23:19] which led to the fum Knight's defeat

[1:23:21] what's interesting is that if you defeat

[1:23:22] the Royal Aegis purchas his helmet and

[1:23:24] then wear it during the fight the fum

[1:23:26] Knight will start his second phase

[1:23:27] almost immediately showing that he still

[1:23:29] has a grudge against him as for the fum

[1:23:30] Knight himself he wandered the land in

[1:23:32] search of power and eventually came

[1:23:33] across the broom Tower and met nadalia

[1:23:35] the Bride of Ash nadalia would have been

[1:23:37] the queen of the Old Iron King but she

[1:23:38] arrived at the keep after he died she

[1:23:40] fell into a deep despair because of this

[1:23:42] and ended up separating her soul across

[1:23:44] the broom tower inside these Ash and

[1:23:45] Idols which caused the tower to be

[1:23:47] covered in this thick black fog this fog

[1:23:49] has the power to control those who wish

[1:23:51] to serve her and kill those who refused

[1:23:53] when the fumet arrived and instead of

[1:23:54] destroying the fog like he could have

[1:23:56] done he actually just opted to be

[1:23:57] consumed by it which is why he sits at

[1:23:59] the bottom of broom Tower defending the

[1:24:01] remains of nadalia since she has the

[1:24:03] ability to create this black fog and her

[1:24:05] soul is colored in darkness it is once

[1:24:07] again safe to assume that she is another

[1:24:08] daughter of Manis if you're noticing a

[1:24:10] theme here then you're catching on to

[1:24:11] the point of these DLCs each one of them

[1:24:13] is centered around a kingdom that a

[1:24:14] daughter of Manis inhabited and this

[1:24:16] goes for our final DLC but before we

[1:24:18] leave the broom Tower there's a secret

[1:24:20] room we can discover with Sur alone's

[1:24:22] armor and by using the Ashen Mard we can

[1:24:24] go back back in time to when he was

[1:24:25] stationed at the tower this leads to the

[1:24:27] boss fight we discussed earlier but it's

[1:24:28] a memory and if we take what we know

[1:24:30] about the memories and apply it here we

[1:24:32] can discover even more lore about siron

[1:24:34] if we assume that the unknown Warrior

[1:24:36] that best of the giant Lord is us since

[1:24:38] we went back in time then we're also

[1:24:40] responsible for killing siron so that

[1:24:42] statement I said earlier about siron

[1:24:44] leaving to search for new lands was

[1:24:45] possibly a lie as it may have been told

[1:24:47] by the Old Iron King so that his

[1:24:49] soldiers don't uncover his true fate

[1:24:51] which makes things a lot more Sinister

[1:24:53] than they seemed our third and final DLC

[1:24:55] is the crown of the ivory King the ivory

[1:24:58] King was the ruler of the Kingdom Elam

[1:24:59] Lo upon entering we can see that it is

[1:25:01] covered in snow and given that there

[1:25:03] isn't any snow in Dr Lake we must be

[1:25:05] pretty far from the original Kingdom as

[1:25:07] we approach though we are told to leave

[1:25:09] this voice tells us that the old chaos

[1:25:11] still hungers and that we are forbidden

[1:25:12] from entering clearly we're not going to

[1:25:14] listen and charge head first through the

[1:25:16] front gate eventually we'll meet with

[1:25:18] the first boss of the DLC Ava this is

[1:25:20] one of seven pets that the ivory King

[1:25:22] kept in his kingdom each one seemed to

[1:25:23] have a specific spefic role in the

[1:25:24] Kingdom as Ava was tasked with guarding

[1:25:26] the king's child of dark this child of

[1:25:28] dark is alsana and as you would expect

[1:25:31] she is our third daughter of Manis but

[1:25:33] her story is a lot less destructive when

[1:25:35] alsana was born she felt fear this is

[1:25:37] because she was a manifestation of mana'

[1:25:39] fears all the daughters of the Abyss are

[1:25:41] a manifestation of something nadalia

[1:25:43] seemed to be man' despair Elana was

[1:25:45] possibly a manifestation of mance's

[1:25:47] Wrath and alsana was his fears but when

[1:25:50] alsana was born the king managed to find

[1:25:52] her and welcomed her into his kingdom he

[1:25:54] provided the Comfort she desperately

[1:25:55] needed and was kind enough to not shun

[1:25:57] her away even after he discovered her

[1:25:59] true Origins it's because of this

[1:26:01] kindness that she stayed in Elam Lo and

[1:26:03] continued to fulfill the ivory King's

[1:26:04] wish which was to hold back the old

[1:26:06] chaos the old chaos is the flame of

[1:26:08] chaos the same one created by the witch

[1:26:10] of isth it's unknown when this was

[1:26:12] discovered by the ivory King but once he

[1:26:14] did find this ancient monstrosity him

[1:26:16] and his fellow Knights set out to

[1:26:17] extinguish it but they were defeated as

[1:26:19] none had come back alsana wants us to

[1:26:21] defeat the old chaos so that we can

[1:26:22] uphold the mission of the ivory King to

[1:26:24] do this though we're going to need some

[1:26:25] other Knights of alam L as they are

[1:26:27] absolutely necessary if you want the

[1:26:28] fight to be possible once we're all set

[1:26:30] we can jump down into the old chaos

[1:26:32] again just like we did with lost eolith

[1:26:34] and this boss is absolute perfection few

[1:26:37] fights in the souls games actually get

[1:26:38] better with summons and the ivory King

[1:26:40] is one of them I felt like I actually

[1:26:42] had to apply strategy to an encounter

[1:26:44] which was the first time the series has

[1:26:45] required me to do that I don't mean

[1:26:47] strategy in the sense of reading the

[1:26:48] boss's moves and making sure how to

[1:26:50] punish and when as that's just baked

[1:26:52] into the overall combat of the

[1:26:53] encounters but I mean the actual

[1:26:55] decision-making I had to employ such as

[1:26:57] which enemy to attack and when which was

[1:26:58] something I did not expect I would be

[1:27:00] doing going into this fight I was

[1:27:02] running around finding Knights who were

[1:27:03] outnumbered and assisting them or if it

[1:27:05] was the opposite side of the spectrum I

[1:27:06] would add myself into the mix making the

[1:27:08] fight easier this is almost necessary

[1:27:10] for the fight as well since you're going

[1:27:11] to be doing the most amount of damage

[1:27:13] compared to all the other Knights so

[1:27:14] your decision in this fight will largely

[1:27:16] impact how the second phase will go I'm

[1:27:18] not entirely sure if the knights can die

[1:27:20] in the first phase given they have an

[1:27:21] obscene amount of Health but if they can

[1:27:23] it just further as to my point having

[1:27:25] two giant teams of warriors fighting

[1:27:26] against one another is one of the

[1:27:27] greatest things I've ever experienced

[1:27:29] and is without a doubt the best fight

[1:27:31] this game has to offer from the actual

[1:27:33] fight to the layout of the Arena which

[1:27:34] is engulfed in the fire from the flame

[1:27:36] of chaos it was just all perfect and

[1:27:38] would have been such a great way to end

[1:27:39] this Trilogy of additional content but

[1:27:41] never in my life have I seen a DLC do so

[1:27:44] well all throughout the entirety of its

[1:27:46] runtime only to Fumble at the Finish

[1:27:48] Line The Frigid outskirts is an optional

[1:27:49] location that the player can discover

[1:27:51] towards the end of the DLC and it is

[1:27:54] awful it's not only painstakingly

[1:27:56] difficult just from the design alone it

[1:27:58] might actually be the worst level in any

[1:28:00] Souls game ever made the bonfire before

[1:28:03] entering the coffin is the only bonfire

[1:28:05] in the area meaning you have to go from

[1:28:07] one end of the map to the other just to

[1:28:09] get to the boss fight which is just two

[1:28:11] more of the ivory King's pets their lore

[1:28:13] is thankfully super basic and not

[1:28:15] important at all as their job was just

[1:28:17] to hunt Exiles that were presumably sent

[1:28:19] out of the kingdom and Into The Frigid

[1:28:21] outskirts this area would not be nearly

[1:28:23] as hard if the horses didn't and keep

[1:28:24] spawning every few feet not only wasting

[1:28:26] your time but draining your Estus in the

[1:28:28] process making the boss fight that much

[1:28:29] harder it's just an awful location and I

[1:28:32] think the more that I talk about it the

[1:28:33] closer I get to going insane so we're

[1:28:35] just going to cut it right here as a

[1:28:36] complete package the DLCs were pretty

[1:28:39] solid there were things in each that I

[1:28:40] found a little unpleasant like the

[1:28:41] method of Storytelling or an entire area

[1:28:44] but there was many things I liked about

[1:28:45] the DLCs and due to this confliction I

[1:28:47] can't say that together they're perfect

[1:28:49] but they're nowhere near close to being

[1:28:51] bad it's hard to judge though whether

[1:28:52] this was an actual Improvement over

[1:28:54] artorius of the Abyss considering that

[1:28:56] was one DLC with half the content that

[1:28:58] played out over half the time this is

[1:29:00] also due to the souls games business

[1:29:02] model if people complain about anything

[1:29:04] regarding the DLCs of the souls games

[1:29:06] it's that they're too short rather than

[1:29:07] too long whereas many games like to make

[1:29:09] additional content with run times of up

[1:29:11] to 6 to 20 hours Dark Souls is pretty

[1:29:13] much content with two it never overstays

[1:29:15] its welcome in fact it sometimes leaves

[1:29:17] too early and doing this gives us less

[1:29:19] time to learn about the DLCs and the

[1:29:21] locations they reside in but as I said

[1:29:23] at the top of the section as a complete

[1:29:24] package they were pretty great with all

[1:29:26] the crowns in our inventory we can

[1:29:27] revisit Vendrick who will now provide us

[1:29:29] with some very important dialogue The

[1:29:32] Abyss once had form but then

[1:29:36] dissipated and yet traces of its

[1:29:39] existence

[1:29:41] endured each fragment thirsting for

[1:29:44] power spread dark with no

[1:29:47] relent my dear Shandra was one such

[1:29:50] fragment so we now know the fourth and

[1:29:53] Final daughter of Manis nandra the queen

[1:29:56] of drag lake nandra is a manifestation

[1:29:58] of mance's feelings of power and want

[1:30:00] she came to this land in order to covet

[1:30:02] the first flame this explains why

[1:30:04] Vendrick was in the undead crypt

[1:30:05] Vendrick left the kingdom because he

[1:30:07] discovered n shandra's true Origins and

[1:30:08] not only locked himself away in the

[1:30:10] Crypt which was guarded by one of his

[1:30:11] loyal Knights but he also hid his soul

[1:30:13] as Vendrick doesn't drop this upon his

[1:30:15] death it's hidden behind a secret door

[1:30:17] only accessible to those who are human

[1:30:19] and nandra never truly was that's why

[1:30:21] she's been so adamant that we succeed

[1:30:23] Vendrick she figures that will blindly

[1:30:24] follow her order so that we can clear

[1:30:26] all the obstacles in her path because

[1:30:27] once we finally get to the throne of

[1:30:29] want and defeat the knights guarding it

[1:30:31] she appears similar to the Ivory King I

[1:30:33] found this fight leagues better when the

[1:30:34] summons were included mostly due to the

[1:30:36] narrative aspect since both benhart and

[1:30:38] vengarl were helped due to me so it's

[1:30:40] only right that they return the favor

[1:30:41] her boss design is impeccable and

[1:30:43] continues to uphold the standard that

[1:30:45] the Final Bosses of the game have but

[1:30:47] not even nandra is the actual final boss

[1:30:57] Alia is the actual final boss assuming

[1:30:59] you fulfilled a few tasks along the way

[1:31:01] which is just meeting him a few times in

[1:31:03] specific locations and then specifically

[1:31:05] killing Vendrick before Nashandra as a

[1:31:07] final boss fight though it felt like a

[1:31:09] bit of a let down I think nandra had way

[1:31:11] more intensity and narrative weight

[1:31:13] behind her Aldi has been this ominous

[1:31:15] figure that just shows up says a bunch

[1:31:17] of and then leaves and now all of a

[1:31:19] sudden I'm supposed to care that we're

[1:31:20] fighting him I get why he's fighting us

[1:31:22] he's supposed to test our might to see

[1:31:24] if we're truly going to be the next

[1:31:25] Monarch of the Throne of want but that

[1:31:27] doesn't make it right the same could be

[1:31:29] said for nandra given she makes an

[1:31:30] appearance a whole two times in this

[1:31:32] game but that seemed to be intentional

[1:31:34] as the reveal of nandra was supposed to

[1:31:35] be this mysterious event which makes

[1:31:37] this next part even more confusing as

[1:31:39] the Emerald Herald can literally spoil

[1:31:40] for us that Nashandra will be coming for

[1:31:42] us I completely miss her on the way down

[1:31:44] so I never got to hear this which

[1:31:45] ultimately made the impact of this cut

[1:31:47] scene hit harder which begs the question

[1:31:49] of why it was mentioned in the first

[1:31:50] place I find it hard to believe that

[1:31:52] many people Miss nandra at the top of

[1:31:53] the castle so they're well aware of who

[1:31:55] she is so just keep the mystery hidden

[1:31:57] until the final moments it kills the

[1:31:59] entire impact of the scene if we're just

[1:32:00] told right before entering that she's

[1:32:02] going to fight us after the defeat of

[1:32:04] the three bosses we can select our

[1:32:05] ending and while this game does have two

[1:32:07] endings what these endings represent is

[1:32:08] rather interesting our first ending is

[1:32:10] entering the Throne of want this is sort

[1:32:12] of like the Kil of the first flame just

[1:32:14] a little bit different it allows us to

[1:32:15] choose the fate of the world but we

[1:32:17] never get to see our choice it is both

[1:32:18] the age of fire and the age of dark

[1:32:20] ending together it's never known what

[1:32:22] our character chooses but that's the

[1:32:23] part of the role play when it comes to

[1:32:25] RPGs we make up the rest of the story

[1:32:27] did our character choose fire did they

[1:32:29] choose dark or did they do something

[1:32:31] else and that's something else is

[1:32:32] following in the footsteps of Vendrick

[1:32:34] and Alia we leave the throne and search

[1:32:36] for an answer to the undead curse we

[1:32:37] don't know if we'll succeed but it's

[1:32:39] worth a try anyway doing this is sort of

[1:32:41] like operating a dig site yeah Vendrick

[1:32:43] and Alia spent decades digging trying to

[1:32:45] find a solution and failed but now

[1:32:46] thanks to them we know of a decades

[1:32:48] worth of methods that won't work

[1:32:49] bringing us closer and closer to finding

[1:32:51] a cure for the curse and that's the

[1:32:53] beauty of the second ending it's not

[1:32:54] only in perfect sync with the rest of

[1:32:56] the game as it continues to make the

[1:32:57] curse the main plot of the story but it

[1:32:59] gives us an option that we as players

[1:33:00] hadn't really considered up until this

[1:33:02] point Dark Souls one did a phenomenal

[1:33:04] job of grooming us into believing that

[1:33:05] there were only two choices but Dark

[1:33:07] Souls I refuted this claim and as a

[1:33:09] third as a final note Dark Souls I was a

[1:33:12] brilliant game I went into this game

[1:33:14] with mild expectations but was blown

[1:33:16] away by how impressive the story was and

[1:33:17] how surprisingly easy it was to grasp

[1:33:19] many questions are still left unanswered

[1:33:21] and will never be answered but I left

[1:33:23] this game with an understanding of its

[1:33:24] story its themes and what emotions it

[1:33:26] had intended to invoke in me and that is

[1:33:28] incredibly admirable well the world of

[1:33:29] Dark Souls isn't over the fire of the

[1:33:31] world will fade once more and yet

[1:33:33] despite the impending doom of the age of

[1:33:35] dark getting closer and closer no one

[1:33:36] seems to care but we'll talk about that

[1:33:39] in Dark Souls

[1:33:40] 3 Dark Souls 3 is a perfect game due to

[1:33:44] the way a book ends the entire series

[1:33:46] but the only reason that I can say that

[1:33:47] is because of how much this game is

[1:33:49] being held up by its predecessors Dark

[1:33:51] Souls II on its own is still a good game

[1:33:53] but without all the effort put into the

[1:33:54] story from Dark Souls 1 and 2 its

[1:33:56] narrative wouldn't be as impactful

[1:33:58] that's the beauty of the Dark Souls

[1:33:59] Trilogy it's one of the few series out

[1:34:01] there that truly feels like a tightly

[1:34:02] niit game many games get sequels but not

[1:34:04] many truly feel like a proper sequel

[1:34:06] just a game set in the same universe a

[1:34:09] year or so after the previous game it

[1:34:11] might make callbacks to the Past game

[1:34:12] but not enough to feel like what

[1:34:13] occurred in that game was important the

[1:34:15] Dark Souls Trilogy and its repetitive

[1:34:17] ideas make the games feel properly

[1:34:19] connected the age of fire the undead

[1:34:21] curse hollowing and so much more have

[1:34:23] been a prominent part of the series

[1:34:25] since its Inception which is why judging

[1:34:27] these games individually based on their

[1:34:28] stories is so difficult as each of these

[1:34:30] games relies on each other to actually

[1:34:32] make their story have an impact Dark

[1:34:34] Souls 2 and 3 could not exist without

[1:34:36] Dark Souls 1 and not just because of its

[1:34:38] World building and important characters

[1:34:39] but because it's the game that showed us

[1:34:41] what the age of fire is and why it's

[1:34:42] important we then took this information

[1:34:44] into Dark Souls 2 which showed us how

[1:34:46] the age of fire is not all its cooped up

[1:34:47] to be and how as all the years go by

[1:34:49] people are starting to embrace the fire

[1:34:51] less and less this all comes to an end

[1:34:53] at Dark Souls I a game that is purely

[1:34:55] focused on the age of dark and why the

[1:34:57] first flame needs to go each one of

[1:34:59] these games provides a crucial step in

[1:35:00] our journey and without even one of them

[1:35:02] every other game loses its meaning we

[1:35:04] already talked about the previous two

[1:35:05] games and what they attempt to show to

[1:35:07] the player and all these themes ideas

[1:35:09] and plots all converge towards Dark

[1:35:10] Souls 3 creating one of the best endings

[1:35:12] in a series I've ever seen and today I

[1:35:16] will explain why so that wasting any

[1:35:18] more time let's get started so

[1:35:20] ironically for a game that's going to be

[1:35:22] about the age of darkness and how much

[1:35:23] death and Decay the current age has

[1:35:25] caused it starts off with an incredibly

[1:35:27] intense soundtrack it's not even been 10

[1:35:29] seconds and this electrified feeling of

[1:35:31] exhilaration seeps into your body Dark

[1:35:33] Souls is back and it's time to kick some

[1:35:35] ass this feeling continues right into

[1:35:37] the intro cinematic and Dark Souls 3

[1:35:38] weighs zero time getting into the story

[1:35:40] this is the first time in the trilogy

[1:35:42] with the game outright tells you who the

[1:35:43] main bosses are which are the abyss

[1:35:45] Watchers aldred saint of the deep and

[1:35:47] yor the giant there is also a fourth

[1:35:49] that isn't mentioned but we'll discuss

[1:35:50] them a bit later just like before it's

[1:35:52] four beings who will need to be dealt

[1:35:53] with in order to succeed but instead of

[1:35:55] them being the four Lord Soul users or

[1:35:57] the four great ones it's the four Lords

[1:35:59] of Cinder the question is why are they

[1:36:01] so important well oddly enough the game

[1:36:03] tells you but the pure spectacle of the

[1:36:04] intro is so hypnotizing you might not

[1:36:06] even realize what was just said

[1:36:08] according to the opening narration the

[1:36:09] bells only toll when threatened the

[1:36:11] reason they're being threatened is

[1:36:12] because the fire is fading again but

[1:36:14] furthermore it's because someone doesn't

[1:36:15] want to link the flame that person being

[1:36:17] Prince lothric since the prince doesn't

[1:36:19] want to link the flame the bells of

[1:36:20] Awakening revived previous Lords of

[1:36:22] Cinder from past Kingdom each of these

[1:36:24] aformentioned beings I mentioned earlier

[1:36:26] were people who linked the flame in

[1:36:27] their lifetimes the bells assume that if

[1:36:29] they've linked it already then they'll

[1:36:30] do it again but they all refused the

[1:36:32] abyss Watchers Aldrich and yor don't

[1:36:35] want to in a last Stitch effort to make

[1:36:36] sure the fire is linked the bells of

[1:36:38] Awakening have awoken other beings who

[1:36:39] are unkindled people who have failed to

[1:36:41] link the fire in the past but are now

[1:36:43] given a second chance and we are one

[1:36:45] such person known as the Ashen one our

[1:36:47] job is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and

[1:36:48] take their Ashes to their Thrones is if

[1:36:50] they won't come back willingly then

[1:36:52] their ashes will serve as a sub

[1:36:53] Institute this is the plot of the game

[1:36:55] no small objective in between like

[1:36:57] finding Vendrick or ringing the bells

[1:36:59] right away from the get-go we tasked

[1:37:00] with killing these beings and licking

[1:37:02] the flame assuming you've played the

[1:37:03] previous games already then you've heard

[1:37:05] this story twice before and already know

[1:37:06] what you're getting into which is why

[1:37:08] our first boss isn't even 5 minutes into

[1:37:10] the game in Dark Souls 1 it took around

[1:37:11] the same time to fight the Asylum Demon

[1:37:13] but the game also taught us about our

[1:37:15] inventory and weaponry but also showed

[1:37:16] us that we can converse with NPCs and

[1:37:18] used an Estus flask Dark Souls 2 took a

[1:37:20] bit longer with this as the first boss

[1:37:22] wasn't for a couple hours and the basic

[1:37:24] tutorial can take a bit of time to run

[1:37:26] through in Dark Souls 3 we start with

[1:37:27] the Estus flask get all our gear and

[1:37:29] start our journey immediately there is

[1:37:31] no handholding here as the game assumes

[1:37:32] you've done this all before and don't

[1:37:34] need much of a refresher the reason why

[1:37:36] they put udx in here is because he's

[1:37:37] supposed to test our strength not just

[1:37:39] the Ashen one strength but our since

[1:37:41] Dark Souls III underwent some drastic

[1:37:42] changes in regards to its combat and for

[1:37:45] those who have noticed yes I'm using an

[1:37:47] axe again it wasn't until starting this

[1:37:49] game that I realized I had used an axe

[1:37:50] for all three of them so I figured it'd

[1:37:52] be quite comical if I beat the entire

[1:37:54] Trilogy with the same weapon before

[1:37:55] killing udx though we'll see him become

[1:37:57] engulfed in this black form this is

[1:37:59] called the pus of man this is a unique

[1:38:01] disease that is taking over the kingdom

[1:38:03] and it originates from the abyss similar

[1:38:05] to how mana's humanity went wild causing

[1:38:07] him to become the Ferocious Beast that

[1:38:09] we know in game it's possible that this

[1:38:10] is happening to other Hollows but on a

[1:38:12] much grander scale is this won't be the

[1:38:14] last time we see this puss of man in the

[1:38:16] game after udx we can take the coiled

[1:38:18] sword from his body and use it to create

[1:38:19] the bonfire at the new Firelink Shrine I

[1:38:22] absolutely love the design of Firelink

[1:38:24] Shrine but the moment you walk in and

[1:38:26] see all the Thrones lined up around the

[1:38:28] bonfire you feel a sense of comfort it's

[1:38:30] definitely my favorite across the entire

[1:38:32] series but I lo its location Firelink

[1:38:34] Shrine feels so disconnected from the

[1:38:36] rest of the world even though majula was

[1:38:38] on the outskirts of drag Lake Castle it

[1:38:39] at least became a Nexus for all the

[1:38:41] various paths that the player could

[1:38:42] Traverse to the cherry on top here is

[1:38:44] that we can't even travel to the first

[1:38:46] location were forced to teleport to it

[1:38:48] it just further shuts this place away

[1:38:49] from the rest of the Kingdom there's no

[1:38:51] incentive to explore the other areas of

[1:38:52] the level is we've already seen

[1:38:54] everything it has I never understood why

[1:38:56] the series slowly moved towards this

[1:38:57] idea but it seemed to be a massive hit

[1:38:59] amongst the team as this would be used

[1:39:00] in other games going forward from a pure

[1:39:02] gameplay perspective the Firelink Shrine

[1:39:04] of Dark Souls II also reverts the

[1:39:06] changes in Dark Souls 2 to keep things

[1:39:07] more simplistic Andre is back and will

[1:39:09] handle anything regarding our weapons

[1:39:11] from upgrades to infusions and the

[1:39:13] shrine handmade becomes our

[1:39:14] all-encompassing Merchant so no more

[1:39:15] clutter like in Dark Souls 2 we also

[1:39:17] have our new level up lady who is just

[1:39:19] the fire keeper she doesn't have any

[1:39:20] unique backstory like the emerald Herald

[1:39:22] but her condition does spark a few

[1:39:24] questions it seems that all the fire

[1:39:25] keepers have some sort of condition that

[1:39:27] afflicts them Anastasia the lady under

[1:39:29] Firelink Shrine will initially be mute

[1:39:31] and cannot be spoken to the Dark Moon

[1:39:33] ntis in an Orlando has a disfigured

[1:39:35] appearance which is why she hides it

[1:39:36] from us with her armor and this fir

[1:39:38] keeper is blind this has always been

[1:39:40] fascinating to me as I've never been

[1:39:42] able to fully understand why this is the

[1:39:43] case it's possible that this is a sort

[1:39:45] of right of passage and the fire keepers

[1:39:47] are showing their willingness to The

[1:39:48] Flame by giving up something but what

[1:39:50] they lose seems to differ across the

[1:39:52] games it's possible that this is just a

[1:39:54] coincidence but there's also an NPC in

[1:39:56] the game will meet called enina who

[1:39:58] tries to be a firek keeper and is also