The lore in this game is deep and fantastic, and the situation is kinda reversed from the first game: In time, you will know the tragic extent of YOUR failings.
Also the first game went in with the idea where man was the bottom of the cosmic totem pole, each new beast a further unknowable improvement. In this the true greatest power is humanity, and it’s ability to grasp even the deepest parts of the cosmic order.
The funny thing is, the Ancestor in the first game was more or less the sole reason everything was beyond fucked. But as we see at 8:57, he is also indirectly responsible for everything being fucked in the second game. If he had not performed that ritual, you would never have become obsessed with doing the same thing, and as such, you would never have created the apocalypse scenario in the first place. This guy fucks shit up even when he's not there.
Man really stepped up to his role in the end, as a Herald of the Thing. even well before he knew what he was doing he was bringing about more insanity and madness upon the world. Now I'm kind of wondering what sort of effects the DD2 story had on the slumbering Heart from DD1. like, we beat it back then, but what the hell did this mess do to it? is it going to wake up again? lord knows it's had much blood to glut upon during this disaster.
The story appears to be basically "Local Man Silent Hills The World: ghost of a noble man reportedly heard muttering "how quickly the tide turns" in the distance."
A cool little detail is the Academic always has a glowing spot on the left side of the chest (even in the intro cinematic), that's presumably the wound that you gave him when creating the Iron Crown, It doesn't show up on the backstory sketches of him, but that makes sense, you hadn't stabbed him in the back yet.
21:18 I find it somewhat poetic that after every other character used their melee attacks to do Exultation, Dismas cocks his gun, a distinct sound. And rather than saying that he wishes for the betterment for the whole, to make up for his failings, he goes 'This is is, one last job.' I find it really poetic, in an almost nostalgic way.
I like to imagine that the protege contributed to the fire in that library. The academic mentions candles and the boss are literal lungs, possibly trying to put out the fire. It's quite poetic considering air normally feeds fire, so it might have not even been an accident. He might have just become jaded with his work, messed up early on in his findings, made it null and void and flipped out.
@@radazex2256 You're welcome, I'm sure that was a lot of work and it's much appreciated!! :-) I agree, I wish Red Hook would make the story into an audiobook, - perhaps as a short story collection.
I didn't finish the game but I really wanted to learn of its plot and its deep psychological elements. I'm glad I found your video.Thank you for your effort!
Since Obsession is now unbeatable, this is the only video where we can hear additional lore. I also hope for a Sixth Confession: Vengeance where the Iron Crown would destroy all who went against it.
I'm very sorry, but I do not think I will. The bank file for the sounds still aren't publicly available, so I couldn't just slap all the audio files into a video and call it a day. I'd have to replay the ENTIRE game over and over again to record every single quote. To put it into perspective, this video alone is but a FRACTION of all the quotes in the game. I don't have the patience for that sadly. But, If the narration audio bank files are made public, I'll certainly compile that into a video.
I find it interesting that there is no real cosmic threat. In fact, all enemies, except the shambler and maybe the swine, are creatures of this world. Most often cosmic entities are just a metaphor for a change to the status quo but here they were already in the world. Your fight is not one for the supremacy of people forever holding out against the truth. In this game you fight for positive change in the world fighting against pointless wars, hierarchy, religious oppression, and even humanities self-loathing that allowed them to turn against one another. This game I find is less scary because it can’t afford to be horrifying. It’s essential message is that this world has always had these monsters it is just that we can no longer ignore them. In the first chapter we believe we are fighting for the status quo, but when we learned what happened we are left with no choice but to bring an end to the systems that oppress our fellow people. It is also interesting to note that denial is the only non-organic mountain boss. By freeing your mind you learn that you can be the bad guy and you can keyword: can hurt people. This has been my first youtube comment essay. Please give me any feedback on how to improve my youtube comment writing. criticism is necessary and welcome
Does anyone else see the potential parallels that could be drawn between these games(yes, DD1 as well) and the arduous, grief-soaked journey that usually comes with overcoming ones trauma and/or mental health problems? Genuinely curious if anyone else sees the similarities, or if I'm just in a mental state thats trying to apply labels to things based upon purely circumstancial evidence, as well as the ramblings of my own tortured psyche👀😅🤣
I agree. The true "darkest dungeon" was always the mind, as made evident in both games. As someone with anxiety, I often worry about the consequences of my actions - and often times, I make them seem more troublesome than they are. The Academic says it best, "We make mountains of our mistakes, monsters of our misdeeds."
Absolutely understandable. As someone whom has been thoroughly traumatized, as well as suffering from a myriad of mental maladies, I often find myself seeing additional meanings to things, usually relating to whatever's on my mind, sometimes in places where there is no link or relation. Plus this is the internet and I know that MFs will absolutely eviscerate me in the comment section if I don't at least test the waters to gauge how closely others' interpretations of something matches my own before making a definitive statement😂
@@graysonfoga2279 Don't worry, I totally agree with your interpretation. I think it may be a bit silly to not agree, as all of the characters in the series have experienced trauma in one way or another. Their trauma will never truly leave them, but facing it is a key aspect of the characters' development. They face their failures, understand their short-comings wasn't their intentions, and they absolve themselves of their sins. Though their trauma never truly leaves them, they atone for their past actions by being a good person in the present. I hope you too are able to find peace in your past, and know that whatever may have happened is not reflective of who you are now.
The existential problem can be whatever you can imagine to be the big thing in all honesty. Guilt, grief, alienation from humanity from turning against it in pursuit of power. The story is sort of told from the middle part of the journey detailing the beginning. The protege (protagonist that the academic is speaking to) irreversibly destroyed the world by doing the ritual. Monsters roaming the world, academic is a walking corpse. And the protege has to embrace his flaws to reshape the world back to its original form. At the end he gives up his power, forgives himself and accepts the world for what it is, flaws and all, even if it means giving up hope for changing the ways of the world or humanity. The themes reek of Nietzsche and maybe stories like I have no mouth and I must scream and Drowned God. Then again, I like to cobble together the themes of complex narratives to grasp them.
@@jamzee_ They could explore all the other shit happening in the world. The whole “Your failings” is far too bland to explain the foetor’s plague eaters or the tangle’s corpse reanimating forest.
wait. since there is a hooded figure chained to a throne at the top of the final boss, does that mean that the person the academic spoke to he whole time was not the player character? I hope so at least, I was hoping the player character would be the heir from the last game. Anything else would mess with the continuity of the story
It can be assumed that the hooded figure is you, the player. From the flashbacks we see, the hooded figure is the player the Academic refers to. Essentially, it can be seen that you, the player, are the last shred of hope, sent out to right the wrongs of your past. The hooded figure atop the throne is the other part of you; the wretched sins you've committed (denial, resentment, obsession, ambition, and cowardice). I do not think the player is the heir, considering the Academic never mentioned you had any relation to the Ancestor when you visited his manor.
@@karlwikman3874 It still connects to the first game by referencing the Ancestor and his rituals. But I don't think this game needs to directly tie itself to the first to be a great story.
I don’t know if you are the heir or not but I keep leaning towards you are. The, “you were bold once,” was followed by showing the symbol of the first game, the world is created of your memories, so you clearly remember the heroes from somewhere, and equally many characters return with visible aging and changed career paths. Maybe they wanted the player to choose? Or equally maybe they wanted it to feel like it could be both if you played the first game or just one or the other if you preferred. The narrative is fine either way but I do find it satisfying for the heir to be the mc for both. Also, I just thought of this, but if the world was remade in a twisted memory, it would make sense that you would dream of a letter from the ancestor inviting you to a manor because it happened, just different to how you remember. Perhaps you felt guilty for what you did, so you made the world a time-loop where you infinitely commit suicide to atone for your sins while allowing some of the world as it used to exist to continue- albeit cyclical.
@@supersentaimexicano1967 I'm fine with it being different. I just think it's a serious overall game quality drop. As well as atmosphere drop. Don't get me wrong it still looks sorta cool. But the OG was just amazing.
But coherence is everything in a story like that. I think the problem is in the story trying to do too much at the same time while offering little *exposition. Like you are both the protagonist and antagonist, you're on a quest to atone for the evil you've done and you somehow can convince others to do your bidding. It's easier to imagine in DD1 a nobleman inheriting some land, making peasants fight the evils on it and decking them out to become trained killers. In DD2, the dynamic is weird. So you are 2 entities. And the world is unbalanced because of it. Iron crown. My head hurts.
Although it is considered a staple of cosmic horror, I do believe some semblance of reprieve and hope is necessary for the genre not to be overbearing. This game struck a fantastic chord of humanity's stubborn defiance of forces beyond their comprehension in spite of their comparative insignificance. Even games like Bloodborne manages to pull off a somewhat good ending by defying the dream and the player themselves ascending to the status of a Great One.
The lore in this game is deep and fantastic, and the situation is kinda reversed from the first game: In time, you will know the tragic extent of YOUR failings.
Also the first game went in with the idea where man was the bottom of the cosmic totem pole, each new beast a further unknowable improvement. In this the true greatest power is humanity, and it’s ability to grasp even the deepest parts of the cosmic order.
This narrator is unironically half of the reason why these games are so insanely epic and iconic
And the devs know, they capitalize on it
Wayne June, the madman
The funny thing is, the Ancestor in the first game was more or less the sole reason everything was beyond fucked. But as we see at 8:57, he is also indirectly responsible for everything being fucked in the second game. If he had not performed that ritual, you would never have become obsessed with doing the same thing, and as such, you would never have created the apocalypse scenario in the first place.
This guy fucks shit up even when he's not there.
Man really stepped up to his role in the end, as a Herald of the Thing. even well before he knew what he was doing he was bringing about more insanity and madness upon the world.
Now I'm kind of wondering what sort of effects the DD2 story had on the slumbering Heart from DD1.
like, we beat it back then, but what the hell did this mess do to it? is it going to wake up again? lord knows it's had much blood to glut upon during this disaster.
*_“Local man ruins everything”_*
@@thedarkgenious7967 "victory... a hollow notion."
@@thedarkgenious7967
The Heart slowly shrinks back into its den, wondering what the *fuck* happened during its nap
Local man ruins everything even when he's a fucking side character in someone's elses story
MC really saw the ancestor's failed ritual and got hit with negative quirk 'Dark Temptation'.
This is perhaps the most inspiring cosmic horror story to exist.
The story appears to be basically "Local Man Silent Hills The World: ghost of a noble man reportedly heard muttering "how quickly the tide turns" in the distance."
I am a sucker for symbolism and the fact this game is entirely symbolism and mindscapes. I am in love
Feels like reading one Lovecraft's better stories
Incredible vocabulary
Local man brings the end times upon mankind, murdered friend repeatedly says "told you so"
A cool little detail is the Academic always has a glowing spot on the left side of the chest (even in the intro cinematic), that's presumably the wound that you gave him when creating the Iron Crown,
It doesn't show up on the backstory sketches of him, but that makes sense, you hadn't stabbed him in the back yet.
I love the twist in the storyline. At the beginning there's no real indication YOU are the villain, but I love how it turns out you are
21:18 I find it somewhat poetic that after every other character used their melee attacks to do Exultation, Dismas cocks his gun, a distinct sound.
And rather than saying that he wishes for the betterment for the whole, to make up for his failings, he goes 'This is is, one last job.'
I find it really poetic, in an almost nostalgic way.
I like to imagine that the protege contributed to the fire in that library. The academic mentions candles and the boss are literal lungs, possibly trying to put out the fire. It's quite poetic considering air normally feeds fire, so it might have not even been an accident. He might have just become jaded with his work, messed up early on in his findings, made it null and void and flipped out.
Thank you for putting all this together, It's like listening to a really good short story written by Lovecraft himself!!
Thank you for the kind comment :) Chris Bourassa and Red Hook Studios made quite a wonderful story for this game to follow up its predecessor.
@@radazex2256 You're welcome, I'm sure that was a lot of work and it's much appreciated!! :-) I agree, I wish Red Hook would make the story into an audiobook, - perhaps as a short story collection.
Moral of the story: don't fling ur hommie made breakfast to unleash horrors beyond human comprehension
Other moral: don't go to the local man's crib, ever.
I didn't finish the game but I really wanted to learn of its plot and its deep psychological elements. I'm glad I found your video.Thank you for your effort!
Glad I could help! :)
Thank you for uploading this video. Been searching for these cutscenes for a while now.
Gotta admit, the voice acting from Wayne June is phenomenal
I’ve been waiting for this for so long! Great job for uploading this
Since Obsession is now unbeatable, this is the only video where we can hear additional lore.
I also hope for a Sixth Confession: Vengeance where the Iron Crown would destroy all who went against it.
Love the similarity drawn between the imperfection of humanity and the tilted axis of the earth. Beautifully cosmic.
Exactly the video i was looking for, THANK YOU!
My man, are you going to do this for all of them voice lines? It's awesome
I'm very sorry, but I do not think I will.
The bank file for the sounds still aren't publicly available, so I couldn't just slap all the audio files into a video and call it a day. I'd have to replay the ENTIRE game over and over again to record every single quote. To put it into perspective, this video alone is but a FRACTION of all the quotes in the game. I don't have the patience for that sadly. But, If the narration audio bank files are made public, I'll certainly compile that into a video.
ua-cam.com/video/G7XeBw39oyI/v-deo.html it's not all the quotes in game but a good chunk
I find it interesting that there is no real cosmic threat. In fact, all enemies, except the shambler and maybe the swine, are creatures of this world. Most often cosmic entities are just a metaphor for a change to the status quo but here they were already in the world. Your fight is not one for the supremacy of people forever holding out against the truth. In this game you fight for positive change in the world fighting against pointless wars, hierarchy, religious oppression, and even humanities self-loathing that allowed them to turn against one another. This game I find is less scary because it can’t afford to be horrifying. It’s essential message is that this world has always had these monsters it is just that we can no longer ignore them. In the first chapter we believe we are fighting for the status quo, but when we learned what happened we are left with no choice but to bring an end to the systems that oppress our fellow people. It is also interesting to note that denial is the only non-organic mountain boss. By freeing your mind you learn that you can be the bad guy and you can keyword: can hurt people.
This has been my first youtube comment essay. Please give me any feedback on how to improve my youtube comment writing. criticism is necessary and welcome
add punctuation at the end of what you say, else your sentences ooze like open wounds in need of stitching up.
Also capitalization at the beginning, for your words do matter and will touch the lives of many, no matter how much you doubt it
Does anyone else see the potential parallels that could be drawn between these games(yes, DD1 as well) and the arduous, grief-soaked journey that usually comes with overcoming ones trauma and/or mental health problems? Genuinely curious if anyone else sees the similarities, or if I'm just in a mental state thats trying to apply labels to things based upon purely circumstancial evidence, as well as the ramblings of my own tortured psyche👀😅🤣
I agree. The true "darkest dungeon" was always the mind, as made evident in both games.
As someone with anxiety, I often worry about the consequences of my actions - and often times, I make them seem more troublesome than they are. The Academic says it best, "We make mountains of our mistakes, monsters of our misdeeds."
Absolutely understandable. As someone whom has been thoroughly traumatized, as well as suffering from a myriad of mental maladies, I often find myself seeing additional meanings to things, usually relating to whatever's on my mind, sometimes in places where there is no link or relation. Plus this is the internet and I know that MFs will absolutely eviscerate me in the comment section if I don't at least test the waters to gauge how closely others' interpretations of something matches my own before making a definitive statement😂
@@graysonfoga2279 Don't worry, I totally agree with your interpretation. I think it may be a bit silly to not agree, as all of the characters in the series have experienced trauma in one way or another. Their trauma will never truly leave them, but facing it is a key aspect of the characters' development. They face their failures, understand their short-comings wasn't their intentions, and they absolve themselves of their sins. Though their trauma never truly leaves them, they atone for their past actions by being a good person in the present.
I hope you too are able to find peace in your past, and know that whatever may have happened is not reflective of who you are now.
The existential problem can be whatever you can imagine to be the big thing in all honesty. Guilt, grief, alienation from humanity from turning against it in pursuit of power. The story is sort of told from the middle part of the journey detailing the beginning. The protege (protagonist that the academic is speaking to) irreversibly destroyed the world by doing the ritual. Monsters roaming the world, academic is a walking corpse. And the protege has to embrace his flaws to reshape the world back to its original form. At the end he gives up his power, forgives himself and accepts the world for what it is, flaws and all, even if it means giving up hope for changing the ways of the world or humanity. The themes reek of Nietzsche and maybe stories like I have no mouth and I must scream and Drowned God. Then again, I like to cobble together the themes of complex narratives to grasp them.
well edited
Thank you!
Hope a #3 will be coming.
Feel like it kinda, cleaned it up yknow? Theres not much else a direction they can head.
@@jamzee_So we thought about the first game. After all, where can you go from a time loop?
@@jamzee_ They could explore all the other shit happening in the world. The whole “Your failings” is far too bland to explain the foetor’s plague eaters or the tangle’s corpse reanimating forest.
DESTROY this half-remembered spectre!
but the game is too difficult to play commonly
You get the hang of it. Try and try again. That's the beauty of it!
wait. since there is a hooded figure chained to a throne at the top of the final boss, does that mean that the person the academic spoke to he whole time was not the player character?
I hope so at least, I was hoping the player character would be the heir from the last game. Anything else would mess with the continuity of the story
It can be assumed that the hooded figure is you, the player. From the flashbacks we see, the hooded figure is the player the Academic refers to.
Essentially, it can be seen that you, the player, are the last shred of hope, sent out to right the wrongs of your past. The hooded figure atop the throne is the other part of you; the wretched sins you've committed (denial, resentment, obsession, ambition, and cowardice).
I do not think the player is the heir, considering the Academic never mentioned you had any relation to the Ancestor when you visited his manor.
@@radazex2256 that sucks. it doesnt tie in well to the first game
@@karlwikman3874 It still connects to the first game by referencing the Ancestor and his rituals. But I don't think this game needs to directly tie itself to the first to be a great story.
What that means is that it is YOU who were driving the coach and cooking the flapjacks all along. @@radazex2256
I don’t know if you are the heir or not but I keep leaning towards you are. The, “you were bold once,” was followed by showing the symbol of the first game, the world is created of your memories, so you clearly remember the heroes from somewhere, and equally many characters return with visible aging and changed career paths.
Maybe they wanted the player to choose? Or equally maybe they wanted it to feel like it could be both if you played the first game or just one or the other if you preferred. The narrative is fine either way but I do find it satisfying for the heir to be the mc for both.
Also, I just thought of this, but if the world was remade in a twisted memory, it would make sense that you would dream of a letter from the ancestor inviting you to a manor because it happened, just different to how you remember. Perhaps you felt guilty for what you did, so you made the world a time-loop where you infinitely commit suicide to atone for your sins while allowing some of the world as it used to exist to continue- albeit cyclical.
68 likes. We are close to perfection.
The perfect angle of cosmic malignity.
Eh a bit too hopeful for real cosmic horror. It doesn't feel as good as the OG.
I thinks thats good. As a sequel it's helps to get some identity, and not to be a copy of the first
@@supersentaimexicano1967 I'm fine with it being different. I just think it's a serious overall game quality drop. As well as atmosphere drop. Don't get me wrong it still looks sorta cool. But the OG was just amazing.
@@ramezhachicho1777Nah, I'd say 2 is overall of equal quality in story, ambience and gameplay. Less coherent, but thats part of the point
But coherence is everything in a story like that. I think the problem is in the story trying to do too much at the same time while offering little *exposition. Like you are both the protagonist and antagonist, you're on a quest to atone for the evil you've done and you somehow can convince others to do your bidding. It's easier to imagine in DD1 a nobleman inheriting some land, making peasants fight the evils on it and decking them out to become trained killers. In DD2, the dynamic is weird. So you are 2 entities. And the world is unbalanced because of it. Iron crown. My head hurts.
Although it is considered a staple of cosmic horror, I do believe some semblance of reprieve and hope is necessary for the genre not to be overbearing.
This game struck a fantastic chord of humanity's stubborn defiance of forces beyond their comprehension in spite of their comparative insignificance.
Even games like Bloodborne manages to pull off a somewhat good ending by defying the dream and the player themselves ascending to the status of a Great One.
It's a shame they followed up a brilliant game with this kitsch.
say what you want about the game but the lore is still on point
@@natethenotsogreat8349 nah it really isn't.
crazy how its better than dd1