The World Design of Dark Souls | Boss Keys
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
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The world of Dark Souls is a sprawling, branching, interconnected maze-like masterpiece. In this special, mid-season, spin-off episode of Boss Keys, I break down the world of Lordran and discuss the advantages and challenges of making non-linear worlds.
=== Sources and Resources ===
Dark Souls Design Works Translation | Giant Bomb
www.giantbomb.com/profile/7fo...
Dark Souls Map Viewer | Kayinworks
kayin.moe/?p=2218
=== Chapters ===
00:00 - Intro
01:29 - The five acts
03:35 - Breaking the order
06:11 - Interconnectivity
07:52 - The experience of exploring
09:46 - Giving players direction
12:32 - Fast travel
14:38 - Balancing baddies
15:59 - Local level design
18:57 - Conclusion
20:50 - Patreon credits
=== Games Shown ===
Dark Souls (From Software, 2011)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Retro Studios, 2004)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo, 2011)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo, 1991)
Metroid (Nintendo, 1986)
The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo, 1986)
Resident Evil (Capcom, 2002)
Dark Souls III (From Software, 2016)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games, 2017)
Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 2017)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog, 2017)
Dark Souls II (From Software, 2014)
Bloodborne (From Software, 2015)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware, 2019)
=== Credits ===
Music used in this episode
Firelink Shrine (Dark Souls)
What True Self - Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X (Chris Zabriskie)
Out of the Skies, Under the Earth (Chris Zabriskie)
Is That You or Are You You (Chris Zabriskie)
What True Self - Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X (Chris Zabriskie)
Is That You or Are You You (Chris Zabriskie)
I Don’t See the Branches, I See the Leaves (Chris Zabriskie)
What True Self - Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X (Chris Zabriskie)
Souls of Fire (Dark Souls)
Chris Zabriskie on Band Camp - chriszabriskie.bandcamp.com
=== Subtitles ===
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/v/C3BEe/ - Ігри
Ready for more Soulslike world design content? Check out my new video on the design of The Lands Between, from Elden Ring - ua-cam.com/video/LvnlvB9n6ic/v-deo.html
I like the outro " It's a one off thing, not sure I'll revisit souls game again. Never say never but right now I don't want to"
And then... E L D E N R I N G :D
Ariamis? After all these years have i missed a section of the game? There is a painted world of Ariandel, laugh laugh laugh see what i did there.
"Dark Souls forgoes traditional map systems in favor of a different system, where, if you go the wrong way, you get murdered by 100 skeletons."
That's the game telling you where you should go next
@@BF1_enthusiast That's telling the player where they should not go, it's very different. 2 people started their own characters after I did and I had to guide them to the Burg, and even then I only knew about it because of Dunkey's videos.
I spent the first two hours of the game battling skeletons. Lol
@@Fishballs697 Yes, but's there's three paths and the correct one is opposite of where your camera points where you arrive and is often blocked by the walls of the Shrine.
The map of Dark Souls is just a Metrovania map
You mention the feeling of being "homesick" in DS1 when you venture far from Firelink Shrine... Honestly I couldn't think of a better way to describe it. My first time playing the game I felt so much dread being so far away without having opened any shortcuts back to familiar territory. I don't think I've ever felt anything like that while playing a game before, and haven't since. What an amazing game.
This is truly one of the most unique feelings of dark souls, which makes it one of the best game I have ever played in my life
It feels amazing to go back to a safe place, after all that suffering stronger, more experienced and with new cool stuff.
The first journey to the Depths is a true horror game
STALKER makes you feel that way big time, and moreso than Dark Souls. Returning at last to a fire with fellow stalkers is a tremendous relief every time.
you explained perfectly one of my least favorite things in Dark Souls 1. thanks, it'll help me vocalize it better.
Its amazing that a game of this scale has no loading screens, impressive for a game from 2011.
(Except on death, but for there to be no other loading screens is incredible)
Well, long elevators like the ones in the undead parish and darkroot basin are actually loading screens in disguise
eh not that impressive gothic 3 a game from 2006 did it and has 0 screen loading
I think Miyazaki mentioned in an interview that that is what he was going for-he broke the world up into sections because of the limited hardware, that way loading screens were only when the player died/teleported
@@aligmal5031 thanks ali
one of my favorite sections of dark souls 3 is the cathedral of the deep, the whole place has just one bonfire, but it has so many shortcuts and connected paths that really one bonfire is all you need, and that really reminded me of dark souls 1.
Bro, it actually has two. Try finding Rosaria of the Deep!
@@markdewinter1962 i knew about the rosaria bonfire even a year ago, but the path to rosaria is so convoluted and out of the way, that i didn't counted it, specially because there is no easy amd fast way down from it
@@joster09 It takes like 1 1/2 minutes lmao.
Mark de Winter yh but in a first playthrough without a guide no one is finding her, well at least I didn’t
OXY I found the roof but didn’t know u could drop down onto pillar then drop onto random ledge that would then get you to the bonfire
"Amazing chest ahead. Try using two hands."
Ah yes, the thing everybody says before reaching Gwynevere
“Try tongue but hole”
"Try thrusting"
Try this. AVADA KEDAVRA!
‘Fatty’.
One thing that makes the world of Dark Souls so believable is that so much is hidden, that you won't find everything. The sense that you haven't done everything there is to do. Because at that moment you reach the boundaries of a game and realize it's just a game.
This is something I used to love growing up on brick-hard 8-bit games. It was exceedingly rare to ever finish or see a whole game, so as a child your imagination just extends the world to infinity, and countless imaginings and urban legends grew to fill those fields.
Crowbar I got this exact same feeling when playing Breath of the wild. The world just seems endless and engaging at the same time
So true. I always trie to "break" games, to exepose their linearity as a game. but in ds1 it took me about 40hours. This 40h were the best time i had in gaming ever.
Verflixte Klixx you're right!
Game design isn't art in the traditional sense, it's much more akin to architecture. You get great world design when you approach your levels like an architect, not an artist.
"At this point of the game you unlocked something very special"
*Proceeds to show Gwynevere's amazing chest ahead*
I thought that’s what he meant 😂😂 then the text came up. Oh yeah forgot about that. 😂😂
Try tongue but hole
Try two handing
God what I would give to be able to forget everything I know and just play this game blind again. No playthrough will ever be as fun as the first.
Trueee
Not sure if you already did, but play Demon Souls. It's incredible.
Yup. I wish this always. A sad reality. The first time can never happen again. Better than first time sex. True story.
I thought on my first playthrough that Sif was a required boss fight, long before I rang either bells. I... had a hard life.
If you have ds on PC, play the daughters of ash mod
I am a sucker for DS1 talks 10/10 good stuff Mark!
Good to see you here buns!
Hello lubricated bread
SuperButterBuns Fancy seeing u here I’m a bit late tho... 😔
SuperButterBuns I’m mostly a sucker for the fact that you could fight The Taurus Demon, Gargoyles, Pinwheel, Sif, Moonlight Butterfly, Gap Dragon, or Quelaag after fighting the Asylum demon.
Same here
That elevator back to Firelink Shrine is one of my more memorable gaming moments. I remember being completely blown away when I realised how small and intricately designed the game world actually was. But more than that, Firelink in DS1 really does feel like home.
One of my favorite things about Dark Souls is that it teaches you to belong in its world. It starts off "hard" because you don't yet know the rules. And when Lordran kills you, it's saying "You're not one of mine. Not *yet*. Let me teach you." And through repeated efforts, it teaches you to understand itself. I'd argue that most of the things that feel challenging on a first playthrough are a cakewalk in successive runs. Lordran isn't trying to mess with you... it's trying to show you the environment you're looking to blend into, similarly to the clown fish/anemone interaction.
Once it's taught you how to be a part of it, Lordran is a very welcoming world, and the magic of the first half makes it an absolute joy to explore.
Lordran is trying to mess with you *a little* though haha
It starts hard and ends hard. Which is very different.
I think a huge reason why so many people think dark souls is so difficult (it’s really not) is their mindset. You can either treat the game as everything trying to screw you over, being overly challenging and impossible to overcome and it’ll be the hardest game of all time. You wont learn anything and you wont improve. But if you accept death and learning from your failures, it’s a cakewalk
I just finished my first playthrough of dark souls remastered, and this is exactly how it was for me. I took a break for a few months very early only at undead parish, but by the time I got through blighttown something clicked and the world just started making sense. Can’t wait to get back to it for new game plus after a short break!
My favorite memory in this game is due to the lack of fast travel. I went into the catacombs early and inadvertently got lost in the Tomb of Giants. That suffocating feeling of being stuck and afraid I might have to start the game over was the definition of immersion. It didn’t feel like my character was lost down there, it felt like I was lost down there. Had I been able to warp out I would have never had the chance to feel that same connection to the game.
been waiting for this one!
TierZoo, holy shit if it isn't my favorite runescape biologist! Love your vids btw
Love your vids man!
You should do a crossover with Mark brown sometime. I don't know what it would be about, but it would be hilarious. Maybe you could do a game design analysis of the procedurally generated terrain of Terra?
(Edit: fixed grammar)
TierZoo of all dark souls creatures?
my god this is the best cross over idea i've ever heard
This has always been MY standout feature in Dark Souls. Not the difficulty, the skill you gain, the accomplishment, the great background story that can easily pass you by or the personal stories.
This, the level design. It's the reason why if I could ever experience a game for the first time again, it would be Dark Souls.
It's what inspired me to take the stray ways when walking through forests. Finding out where this path goes just to see that I know the place is an amazing feeling. One I first felt in Dark Souls and one I now seek over and over again in real life.
SimplyMav yep this was my favorite thing about dark souls too. I remember the feeling when I kicked that first ladder under the bridge and went down to the bonfire only to realize I was where I just was for the last hour and a half. It was so cool. And then the elevator mentioned in the video at the church, whoa that blew my mind
Wanna know why I'm a parkourer? There you have it!
skill, sense of accomplishment, background story and personal stories are all built into that solid foundation of great world desiign tho
Definitely agree. It's a shame because in my opinion it's one of the only things missing from DS3, with a more interconnected world I'd easily say it's the best Dark Souls game.
I forgive Bloodborne however as it's got so much depth to its themes, lores and semiology that I can forgive it's less interconnected world. It's also got some of the best local level design in the series.
In DS3 I tried to explore absolutely everything. I guess when I play DS1 I'll be at it for quite some time
What I loved about dark souls was when me and my brother would play. Whenever we watched each other and saw something happen (like being thrown into the painting) to the other, we would always ask "How did you do that?" and the answer would always be "I don't know"
I didn't connect the doll with the painting on my first playthrough, and got so confused when I was dissed by the painting on my second. Felt a bit dumb when I later had the doll and it's description says, "drawn into a cold and lonely painted world".
i live in north korea
@@OliverOcelot29 k.
some of my fondest memories are playing DS with my then boyfriend (now husband) and 2 roommates. One roommate introduced us to DS and we all got hooked. We'd all come home from work, sit down on the couch and watch each other play... we'd rotate who played each day. The amazing thing was that it was almost as much fun backseat gaming as it was to play yourself. Also I think less frustrating to have 4 heads rather than one in terms of getting lost
I strongly disagree with your criticism of the Lordvessel adding late-game warping (while still believing that the lack of fast travel is essential to this game's design).
When you get the Lordvessel, you are the furthest you have ever been from home, and you just faced the hardest challenge of the game yet. You're weary, weak and beaten dreading the long journey home after this gruelling challenge. At your lowest point, Gywenevere speaks to you like an angel from the heavens blessing you with the power to warp! It's one of the most sublime and cathartic moments in any game.
The only thing I could think when it happened was "damn, fast travel, well it was nice while it lasted". I wasn't happy or relieved, and even if I had been, that single moment isn't worth the loss of the greatest strength of the game for half of it to me. Still I overall love the level design. I'm sad it never got replicated in any subsequent From game. I would have been fine with the ability to teleport between Gweynevere and Firelink Shrine and leave it at that.
@@Arkayjiya I think I would have kept warping, I just would have limited it to: Anor Lando, Firelink, maybe the blacksmith's tower, the boss rooms for each of four lords (since they're mostly distant endpoints), the stone dragon (same reason, also, seriously secret, and it gives you an alternate to Queelag's Sister that's probably better than going through hell or Blighttown), the beginning and end points in Oolaciel, probably the painted world, and the Lordvessel itself for theme even though it's kinda pointless ^^.
I think you don't have it for the part where not having it is most important. All those places where you "loop back" to the Firelink shrine in the beginning. All of the places after that really are dead-ends, particularly because the way you enter the boss fights makes it almost impossible to backtrack (except Seath). But when I did my New Game+ I grabbed that Master Key and had an insane amount of fun being able to go *everywhere* else in whatever order I wanted. I can understand why backtracking is a bit of a loss but when you consider how often I had to visit the divine blacksmith (and farming titanite shards/chunks) ... it would be prohibitively painful to disallow it at that point and also kinda pointless without more interconnectedness of areas that lore wise really should feel as physically isolated as they do. Nito and the Bed of Chaos and the Four Kings and Seath should all feel like they haven't "seen" each other in thousands of years and that it's not trivial at all to get between their realms.
Funny story, when I played the game, I decided sometime after the Gargoyles (not sure when, whenever my Drake Sword stopped being effective at one-hitting enemies) that my "quest" would be to forge the greatest divine sword ever. A max-leveled divine Balder side sword (and later the same for the Claymore and Zweihander). That required getting the Greater Divine ember, which is, of course, half-way into the Tomb of the Giants. This was LONG before I had the Lord Vessel so I underwent the necessary trials of descending through the Catacombs, into the Tomb of Giants, suiciding to get the ember (after resting at the nearby bondfire) and then farming white titanite chunks down there until I had enough to max out my sword. Then I had to climb ALL THE WAY back up from the Tomb on foot. No warping. It left me with an incredible sense of accomplishment. But it was because I chose to "role-play" my character in that way and I was glad to do it. Would not have felt so good about doing that most other times. In fact, in most other cases, where I'm not farming, everyone on the way back would be dead anyway anyway so it would just be walking without a challenge. I think I *did* climb out of Ash Lake though, or at least tried.
I spent about 90% of my time playing the game without fast travel, and it felt just fine to finally get it, so I guess it's a matter of interpretation. I feel that, had I spent far less time wandering around and exploring before finally tackling the remainder of Anor Londo, it would still feel like just the right time to be granted fast travel.
I do not agree with having it from the start, which is one of the reasons why I'm a little frustrated with playing Dark Souls 3 now, despite the fact that it's still a good game.
I do feel that, based on what I've played and what I know about the rest of the Soulsborne series, that Dark Souls 1 still has the absolute best design, fast travel during the latter parts or not.
Fantastic video. The map of DS1 has always been the thing that stuck with me the most. It’s the reason I never completely finished DS2 or 3. I just never felt as invested or inspired.
pity. considering 3 is by far the better souls game. it does everything better other than level design and npcs. too many ppl seem to forget that ds1s second half also had the worst level design in souls history. nothing can compare to the shithole that is izalith and tomb.
Hey hotboi
I know you
AH silver are you high or something? Dark souls 1 is better then 3 in every way. 3 doesn't even have it's own lore it's just taking so much from 1 and giving more info on something that's it
Admyr 6 not in every way, but indeed it's better in execution, impact, and especially the world design.
DS3 objectively have better combat and polish through out the game (compared to the obviously rushed DS1).
Although my personal favorite is still Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne (especially Bloodborne), DS3 is pretty underwhelming to be honest even with the improved combat, etc.
Omg I forgot about the return to the asylum. I remember rolling off the elevator and just trying to jump off of every surface to get on the roof nearby. When I landed on that pillar I totally thought I had found something I wasn't supposed to, until I found items and the nest up top. I curled into a ball and nothing was happening, so I pulled out my phone and started to look it up when suddenly the crow came and picked me up. One of my absolute favorite moments in the game happened here, and I haven't ever heard anyone say they had this same moment: when you beat the asylum demon in the beginning, a dev note outside the door says "Good Job! Walk straight ahead". Okay so I forgot that this note was there and now I'm all fucking proud of myself for finding this secret, I kill the hollows, read the note, "Good job! Walk straight ahead". Oh man am I so proud of myself in this moment, even the devs are telling me good job, I walk straight ahead and fall through the floor and instantly get smashed by the secret boss. Oh man I laughed so hard, the devs fucking got me!
Er, no? There's a message on the ground for the exact same hole that says "WATCH OUT!"
@@protonjones54 that one is to warn you of asylum demon in the tutorial.... well, it depends on when you read it xD
After dying a million times and having to run through all of those paths, you will remember it. You will remember it so hard you start to suspect maybe you child is gonna inherit that memmory thorugh your DNA.
I took a screenshot in my DS1 playthrough and someone asked me where in the game it was. I was able to tell them exactly where, exactly which enemies are nearby without having to look at my file because i died so many times getting to it the first time. That shit sticks with you, man
That's kewl
"At this point in the game, you'll have unlocked something very special."
Me: Boobs
Video: Fast travel
Me: OH.
Amazing chest ahead
Yup. Same here.
Try thrusting but whole
Or you go to the catacombs as your first stop not realizing there are other paths, and spend an hour smaking your head against the skeletons outside.
Then people pick up the sweihander, turn themselves around, and easy mode their ass through the game
Struggling through the "wrong" ways was the best part of it all for me. Unforgettable.
I did go to to catacombs on my first playthrough, realised im doing shit damage and i can't kill anything 😂 decided just to run past enemies activating the switchs and i died, back to firelink decided to go downstairs to new londo, couldn't hit the ghosts accidentally jumped into water😂, back again in firelink finally saw the path to the bridge and undead burge and i continued on.
@@Rugg-qk4pl I mean, if you are willing to slog through the skeleton mosh pit so early on, you fucking deserved the zweihander.
"Amazing video ahead..."
"Try watching..."
That's Nito
"Tongue like button"
I like the shout out to The Great Hollow and Ash Lake near the end. These missable areas were my favourite places in the game. I couldn't believe that the game developers would hide the most beautiful part of their game.
Man, kicking down that ladder leading from the bridge back down to the bonfire in Undead Burg was one of my favourite gaming moments. The elevator back to Firelink Shrine then completely sold me on the world design of Dark Souls. Every new discovered connecting pathway was a thrill to find and as you said, thinking and executing optimal routes was a game in itself.
Same. Before I ever played the game I had read comments calling Dark Souls a metroidvania and thought "what? Isn't it an action RPG?" Then when I opened those shortcuts back to areas I had already explored, it all made sense. I think that was what sold me on the game and made the dozens of deaths I already had by that point worth it.
agreed. I was blown away when I saw that connection back to firelink while playing
That was a generous pronunciation of “Ariamis”
you mean he completely butchered it to the point where the word is misses parts as the letters frantically try to pull itself back together failing spitting itself out in a jumbled mess....ooo NASTY
@@jaygopinath1694 no? he just put the emphasis on the first i
"narrowly avoid getting roasted by a dragon" yeah right, like you didnt get immolated the first time through like all of us.
Liars love to say they don't died there
@@Raylightsen *Liars love to say that they didn't die there.
Fixed that for you
i hated that dumb bridge
Actually, I didn't die there, because I'm smart and I went another way.
Anindita Paul without the master key, there’s not another way
7:51 EXACTLY!, and that's why I'm very excited for Elden Ring, apparently that game is going to be an Open World Souls Game, imagine that feeling but amplified 100 times more. I can't wait to see what kind of open world Miyazaki and his team come up with. A harsh world where exploration becomes a conscious decision, a journey you have to prepare for. Imagine being deep into the mountains or a forest totally fucked up, begging for a bonfire or whatever it's going to be with you HP bar almost empty, regretting your decisions up top that point, thinking; "oh shit, should have took the other path, what the hell am I doing here anyway?, I'm not supposed to be here".
Hope it's gonna release soon
So long as they dont rush it like Cyberpunk.... Id be glad...
Based on DS3 I'm only expecting a game that's hard for the sake of being hard. I feel like Dark Souls 1 was lightning in a bottle they haven't managed to replicate. Dark Souls 2 threw off the beautiful world design and the series never looked back because people only really took notice of how hard the game is so that's what they capitalized on. Dark Souls 3 has just been a slog to get through and I didn't get very far into Bloodborne before I gave up on it. It's made me not want to try Sekiro and I'm extremely hesitant to try Elden Ring.
its released now,did you try it ?
@@shaikmansoorahamed2293 it sucks
4:15 "If you help out Solaire, you can skip the Demon Fire Sage and Centipede Demon."
I think you mean, if you help out the Fair Lady/ Quelaags sister. Helping Solaire is another of the easter eggs you get after helping the Fair Lady
You can also kind of cheat the system by using the poison cloud spell and use it at the shortcut locked door. The poison will kill the sunlight maggot and Solaire will survive without you ever opening that door.
Also, even if you do help the Fair Lady, you do still have to fight the demon firesage.
game looks cool
Fancy meeting you here.
Are you remastering your dark souls top 10 stones videos or top 10 dark souls remastered stones?
*Insert top 10 *insert concept* list*
gee i wonder why indeimaus of all people would say that
Are you gonna make videos about it?
You my sir, are in a lot of really good videos. Im just passing by to let you know that you seem to have really good taste ;)
One of the most memorable thing about Dark Souls for me is the hidden area, the first time I play it blind there is just sooooo much thing I missed
But unlike most AAA game these days, the thing I missed isn't just small item or weapon or collectable stuff or side quest but a whole area that is just so big filled with stuff to do and interesting things to see, so my second playthrough when I look up all the stuff I missed my mind is fucking blown away XD I love it
I played the games offline for my first playthrough on each, and I had the extreme strange luck to discover the Great Hollow and Ash Lake on my own. It blew my mind.
Ragnar Skarpsvärd Excuse me but wtf?
@Australiantatious huh? Come again? Both bosses are non-optional
I remember bragging to my best friend about how the entirety of the DLC "Artorias of the Abyss" can just... be missed. You could just never go there. Or worse, you could make decisions which block you from it (I think). I expected it would be like most expansion packs with a giant "Expansion Content HERE
I've just finished the game for the first time, agree with so much of this. Found the lack of fast travel irritating at first, but it made me learn to love the world and it's connections. It just feels so real. However I like that you get it after O&S - by that point you've made those journeys 1000 times, to the convienence of warping to some bonfires doesn't detract, for me at least.
That said, I've played Bloodborne and Sekiro too, and I think those games do it well too, but in their own way. Sekiro is boss focused, so many easily warpable checkpoints is really nice. Bloodborne also has a lot of connections, and using the Hunter's Dream to warp emphasizes the importance of that otherworldly home world, which I love.
"Gravelord Nito in the Valley of the Giants"
Literally unwatchable.
lolllll
It's such a traumatic zone to explore, obviously his memory is a bit hazy. No big deal.
Lmaoooo
Not to mention "Deeproot Basin"
I'm Imagining the eagle just dropping off Nito instead of The Pursuer.
"Boss Keys" is an amazing series, "Dark Souls" an amazing game and Mark Brown an amazing YT channel
I've never played Dark Souls. No idea why this showed up in my recommendations, but I love this video. You see I'm a D&D DM interested in making my campaigns more and more deadly and complex without sacrificing entertainment value so finding out new info on how to design an open world that is as deadly and complex as Dark Souls was a really good watch.
Thank you.
4:23 You don't need the Master Key to skip Taurus Demon. You can go through New Londo Ruins, kill Ingward for the Key to the Seal, open the door to the Valley of the Drakes and continue from there as if you had the Master Key. Obviously not something a new player would do and it's definitely out of the way, but the game does let you avoid the Taurus Demon even with other starting gifts.
Damn imagine hating Taurus demon so much you do all this shit :DD
@@jakubsvoboda7644 I think is usually to leave the area as a Pvp place, since the enemies can be easily killed and can fight uninterrupted
I genuinly think taurus demon is one of the hardest bosses in the game, his bridge is weird, you are weak, if your on first playthrough your about to be shot by archers. And to this day 5 playthroughs in i actually just have no idea how he works.
If you keep taurus alive for the first 20 or 30 levels of your playthrough, you can also reap the soft humanity that drops from killing specific numbers of undead enemies, something that only happens while the boss still lives.
@@Kevinopilous meh, i have never had a issue with humanity, i usually end up just selling them to frampt.
Is this the Dark Souls of Boss Keys videos?
It's the Boss Key of Dark Souls videos
Queque technically correct
I think that Dark Souls is the Dark Souls of the SoulsBorne games.
AdalRoderick
I think SoulsBorne is Zelda 2 of Zelda clones.
I’ll see myself out. 😁🔫
DaedricSheep Verily
I think you missed a pretty big aspect of the world design. The creator mentioned several times, that he intended Dark Souls to be kind of like a children's adventure, that has to be completed together. That's why such a large amount of content is hidden behind so many layers, it's not meant to be played alone. The point is that gamers would converse and socialize regarding their experience, and find secrets together. It's sort of like a social adventure.
This was something I actually felt a lot playing Breath of the Wild. Because the game is so open ended, every friend I've talked with who's also played the game has had their own stories and tips about what they learned while playing.
While walkthroughs and guides are wonderfully convenient, I've always found enjoyment in discovering a game alongside others. And when a game's design can encourage that it earns major points in my books.
Of course there are ways to take this too far, but I'm sure you get the gist of it.
Except BOTW has nothing to talk about past the locations themselves and the fact that the world itself is so big doesn't make it feel like those are hidden places you missed but more like you just went in an other direction.
BOTW is a good game with amazing exploration mechanics, but the world itself is shallow and I got bored of it after 10h :/
There's just nothing here to reward your exploration, I don't feel rewarded for going on my own path, hell ! If anything I felt punished because I just steamrolled every major boss in the game leaving a "that's it ?" taste in my mouth.
I don't feel Dark Souls at all in BOTW, I don't even feel Zelda in BOTW ^^'
For me this game is just a proof of concept, a statement about how games can handle exploration without handholding the players at every turn but instead giving them tools for them to plan their own trips.
As a game it failed in my opinion, too many shallow mechanics that are either too easily broken or just terrible and the entire game is plagued with that durability system that sucks the joy out of any loot you could get out of your exploration.
" Except BOTW has nothing to talk about past the locations themselves and the fact that the world itself is so big doesn't make it feel like those are hidden places you missed but more like you just went in an other direction."
You sound like someone that quit dark souls after the first area, never found anything secret, and then declares the game is super linear, has no secret areas, and is boring because there's only easy enemies.
BOTW is probably the most Zelda Zelda has been for years, too.
Most BotW secrets are... what exactly? Locations referencing other Zelda games? Items that you can get from numerous other places? Afaik there's only 1 proper secret in the game and it hides the Hylian Shield.
@@fy8798 wait, how does him talking down on zelda make it sound like he quit dark souls? Im lost
Thank you! This part of DS1 is so often overlooked, yet adds so much to the game feel.
It’s interesting to note that the individual areas are somewhat linear in order to avoid confusing the player, but when you put them all together they turn into this sprawling metroidvania.
Your videos are so in depth, it's rare to find someone that disects a game the way you do. Keep it up
UnicornForce check out Matthewmatosis' channel, he did a 6 hour review of this game
Dark Souls has always felt like a Mix of Zelda and Castlevania to me.
I know people will understand the Zelda, so let me explain Castlevania. I'm talking about the old school games. The combat of Dark Souls is far more complex then Castlevania of course, but I'm talking about how it makes me feel. Your attacks are very methodical in both games. You can't just go spamming attacks like you can most games, or you'll be severely punished.
check out Super Ghouls n Ghosts too
Xearrik Gaming Dark Souls basically feels like a modern version of retro video games like those.
and Diablo
Dark Souls is also some kind of Metroidvania. :-)
Classicvania also has that perfectly placed enemy design that will destroy you if you just try to rush through the most obvious path. Add to that the slight delay and long wind up time on your whip, the slow and limited movement and the huge knockback you'd get from being hit by enemies and each level becomes a very precise and tactical gauntlet. Dark Souls (and also Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne to some extent) is great because it managed to nail that same feeling but in 3D, with vastly more varied and complex combat and in a non-linear world.
I never realized the invisible wall, I thought I had explored the whole game, years later here I am watching dark hollow and ash lake, what a troll game I love it
The real troll move is putting the Great Hollow behind *two* illusory walls. My first playthrough I got through the first wall, and assumed that was it. It wasn't until my 2nd run that I discovered the wall behind the first wall.
2:25... Valley of the Giants... VALLEY OF THE GIANTS!!! An impostor, get him!
oh gawd he did said that
He also said "Moonlit Butterfly"
Nagini, dinner.
@@lordvoldemort8742 Abraca Dabra. There, I used the killing curse.
@@aninditapaul9291 Avada kedavra
There is a game that took this inspiration. Ghost of a Tale is this fable like game where you play a mouse in a fortress and you are jailed. Truought the game, you will be finding and activating more and more and more shortcuts that you literally will feel like a mouse scampering around through every little tunnel that directly goes to the place you want. It blew my mind just like dark souls did with its shortcuts.
Ghost of a Tale is an incredible achievement considering the minuscule dev team.
After having the chance of playing it, I wondered about how many similar great-though-underrated games were out there.
"all of the lords are equal in difficulty" *Laughs in 4 kings
Without poise they are harder than Seath.
4 kings were super easy, and seath was aswell, that skeleton dude was the hardest one for me, I dropped the game before I could beat him
@@theblancmange1265 With/without poise they are difficult as shit. Almost everyone killed Seath on their first try.
@@littlemoth4956 Seath & I killed each other simultaneously, which lead to the nightmarish task of navigating through the crystal caves to get the 70K souls and the bonfire. It was certainly one of the most intense moments of the game for me, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it.
@@littlemoth4956 really? I find seath the most difficult lord and the four kings the easiest.
I didn't even know that more than one can spawn at a time until my fourth playthrough.
I will say though seaths the first one i kill, and kings are the last so like arguably it could be how much stronger i am. But i kill the big dogs owner "the dlc knight guy" (the blades set you get by killing his follower is my favourite fashion souls set so i i like to get it asap)
But yeh i think his probably the hardest boss in the game, save maybe manus but idk i beat manus 1st try but i also only have thought him once and it was in my big bulky plate armour and dragon kings axe (i think thats the item you get from gaping dragons tail) build. Aka easy mode.
That elevator from the Parish down to Fireink Shrine is such an impactful moment. I'm glad you called attention to it, I had almost forgotten how strongly it affected me the first time.
I really love your Boss Keys videos and I'm excited to see you apply the kind of study you've put into these videos to a new franchise. Thanks for all the hard work.
I'm not even going to lie I sub to your channel months ago waiting for the day that you would upload this video
It's amazing how after just the first sentence you know what moment he is about to describe, just because almost anyone playing this game felt this sense of awe when finding the firelink shortcut for the first time
I am a game design student. I'm looking for my first actual game to be an indie Metroidvania, and I am so very grateful for the information that you've provided with your bosskey videos on DarkSouls, Hollow Knight, Metroid, and Castlevania. Genuinely it helps so very much and I've been watching most of your playlist as research.
15:50 keep in mind that Dark Soul is actually a unfinished game, lost izalith was rushed and that why the temple part before the bed of chaos only have those statue enemies.
If I'm not mistaken, if you look down the bridge that leads to the fog of wall of the bed of chaos you can actually see a missing floor there.
BOSS KEYS VOL 2 BABYYY
the dark souls of comebacks
gay
*how Dark Souls has even more in common with Zelda than you might think*
Me: Other than a silent MC that smashes pots???
I just discovered this channel - I'm really glad ! Very high quality content, interesting stuff. Keep going !
Crazy how im at my 9th playthrough when i discovered the "Great hollow" and "Ash lake'
No way bruh 😧😧
@@africanspiritual101coner7 fr crazy thing is i have been near that area alot of times farming for shards i just never thought that there is a hidden wall with a whole entire area behind it. I accidentally discovered it when i was going to pee and put down my controller and i hit the wall.
@@ergicgaming1618 yeah Blighttown is already a dangerous area nobody wants to visit more than twice, so it's easy to miss the great hollow.
Dude, I’ve played the game like 30 times over. It’s absurd. I always pay ash lake a visit for the Dragon Torso Stone, though (after I found the fucking place 600ish ours in).
I love your uploads so muchhhhh
That joke at 4:24 is sooo under appreciated lol
Mark, thanks for inspiring to analyze games in a way I've never done before. Thanks for sharing things I've always thought about it but could never find someone who would agree with me. Also thanks for making your videos so "interactive", I feel like I'm part of it and you are guiding me through it. Amazing work as always.
Mr. Brown, I have watched this video just about once every month or two since I started DS1 last year. I slowly got into the game more and more and was officially hooked by the time I reached Sens. I beat the game for the first time today, and am feeling pretty accomplished, and also very excited for the other FromSoftware games I have yet to play. Thanks for such an amazing video.
As someone who played Souls series for thousands of hours THANK GOD for fast traveling, you might find it not appealing if you play it once and leave it but it would become a horrible chore if you need to travel by foot everywhere especially late game when the world becomes much bigger it would have killed replayability and pvp for a lot of people.
Yeah, as someone who has replayed the game many times I'm very glad it's not in from the start, but if you had to walk your ass from Nito's boss room all the way to the Duke's Archives I would have thrown my controller through a wall.
Finally someone said it
I totally agree with you, but I think Mark was suggesting to give players other paths to connect more areas. Unfortunately, as we all know, the last bit of DkS was finished in a hurry and released without the content that eventually found place in Artorias of the Abyss, so I think that is why "part 4", as Mark named it, may give mixed feelings.
I think an easy solution would simply be to only allow it in New game+, preserving both world immersion for your first 50-60 hour playthrough and ease of replayability.
Yeah, I personally think that the game gives you fast travel almost at the perfect moment. It's a bit annoying prior to it, but only just.
18:00 You can actually dodge roll through illusory walls.
Some of them, others, like the one in Sen’s fortress, that has to be attacked.
Loved the way you started and ended the video, making a reference of coming back to firelink shrine
Great video! :) just finished the game and can now watch all these exciting videos about it haha
Valley of the Giants
ok you have 53% of my attention just because its dark souls
Boss Keys for Dark Souls?
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Don Billbo Hello there!
oaa2288 General Kenobi
Don Billbo you are a bold one.
Very well done analysis with lot's of graphs and snapshots!
Thank you for the free, quality content, Mark!
If you kill Priscilla, you have no soul.
Wait why (X I also do for the XP
@@NRGsensation Congratulations you have a killed an innocent child.
@@cj1535 🤣 also the lifehunt Scythe 😁(if you trade her soul)
I remember watching this video and having to stop watching so I could play this game, beat it, and then come back to watcg
Just love this video. Soothing and engaging. Two thumbs up
I really enjoyed watching this video. Looking forward to the remaster
This is the first time I've ever heard someone critique DS for the bosses not being hard enough
Pinwheel
Tbh
After you get used to the game
The bosses are a joke except the dlc
About the difficulty in the four lords act. I agree that the difficulty of the regular enemies is roughly the same for all of those areas, but I also think that most, if not all of them have some unique mechanic or obstacle, where your level doesn't matter much, that you have to deal with by figuring it out. If you don't do that, the areas will be significantly harder. Like knowing to use divine weapons to keep the skeletons from respawning. If you tackle this area as one of the last ones you will probably one-shot lots of stuff, but it is still going to be annoying if the enemies constantly respawn. Other examples would be: Finding/using the skull lantern, Bed of chaos being more of a puzzle(/luck) fight, ghosts in new londo ruins where you also need specific weapons or have to use an item with a time limit (albeit very forgiving), humanity draining attacks, Buffed enemies in the duke's archives that will hit hard regardless, and lots of other things like weird platforming that can influence an area.
Just something I was thinking about around 14:45.
I would argue that the four lords difficulty will depend on build since each lord is kinda a build seath-magic nito-str four king- dex bed of chaos-luck
Wow Mark, I didn't know you were a giant crow (1:20). The way the world fits together like this has always been one of my favorite parts of Dark Souls, it's great to see such a well-done video on it!
Thank you, your videos are entretaining and educational at the same time... great combination
More boss keys?! OH YEAH BOI!
A Link to the Past isn't the only Zelda game that uses that 5 act structure, though it is the only Zelda game that alternates between linear and nonlinear acts. Most other main Zelda titles (Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword specifically) follow an adapted 5 act structure that allows them to keep the gameplay consistently linear:
Act 1: Frequent story developments at the start of the game.
Act 2: Link is told to collect x number of maguffins to progress. Very little story development.
Act 3: Frequent story development. Link encounters the main villain (usually ganondorf), and probably gets his butt kicked.
Act 4: Link is told to collect x number of maguffins to progress. This is usually the longest act.
Act 5: Frequent story development as Link re-encounters the villain and wins this time.
Fantastic video, thank you for making this!
Really good, and needed, explanation of what everybody's been talking about since 2011!
When I was playing Dark Souls, I refused to fast travel, I always felt like I might miss something new in an area I've already been in, even if nothing new appeared, I still like to gather what I would considered extra souls while traveling to a new location, Sometimes I would farm the creatures in any new area I would find and learn the best tactics for me for clearing everything out, eventually using the many looped paths to farm souls until I ended up back to where I started, I'd rest up, and do it all over again, I really enjoyed Dark Souls, So much that I now get excited for and also look forward to any new game Fromsoftware puts out,
DARK SOULS BOSS KEYS?! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE
So now I got to a point when I tell people your channel is the best on UA-cam but deep down I know it's actually the best thing on the internet.
"They should have called it Demon's Soul" I see what you did there, Mark ...
Very good video as usual ! It's always interesting to see the way you see video games ... Keep it up ! :D
12:34 "Amazing chest ahead"
I’ve loved watching your videos for a while now. Recently I have decided to change majors from engineering to Game Design, so now the videos can be used as a tool for my studies. Thanks Mark!
Thank you for this video! Thanks for your time and your work :D
I came across your Boss Keys series shortly before running my first D&D campaign. At the time, I wasn't sure how I was going to do any dungeon design, then I started watching through all of these videos...and your analysis of each one really helped me out.
The first dungeon was simple, but started off with three possible paths, all of which were open from the start. The players could go any way they want. The catch with it was, the less you explored before find the heavy, locked door to the boss's room, the more henchmen he'd be able to call when you fought him. I used your discussions on branching paths and memorable things (in this case a much more menacing door) and made a fairly simple, yet successful dungeon.
I also made a secret room behind a bookshelf (cliché but effective), the idea being that upon defeating the boss, the players would find a key to a lock from somewhere. If they did not discover the secret room, then a sense of wonder what it does would be instilled; if they did find the room, they'd come across two locked chests with no way of opening them. Finding the key would be the "Aha!" moment.
And on a more video-related note, I'm so happy that you did a video on Dark Souls 1. I've drawn lot of inspiration for my writing and map designing from this game and love the feeling of being in such a large and connected world, the likes of which you don't see enough of. This feeling was lost in Dark Souls 2 with the multi-branch system that it did with the easy teleports to any bonfire.
17:53 *WRONG!* You can also roll to discover illusionary walls which doesn't degrade any durability whatsoever - which is what I am doing with any suspicious looking wall
Xrenyn the MusicMage
Plus it's super cheap to fix your weapon. Very damage weapons only take about 200 souls to fix, while most of the time it will only cost around ten to maintain. With the repair kit, you can do it anywhere.
Except for one in Sen's Fortress that can't be discovered by rolling. I only found out that rolls don't work on it yesterday.
There's one in Sen's Fortress? Maybe that's why I didn't find it XD
Weapon durability is a complete non issue in dark souls tbh.
... unless you are using crystal weapons :/
Also the crystalline armour gets a few thousand souls expensive if you get hit by an acid attack, so...
I know you probably won't read this, but thank you for you videos.
MrMlindsay you’re welcome!
Just wanted to say that THIS is the video that finally made me give Dark Souls a shot a little over two years ago. Ever since, I've played 2, 3, BB, Sekiro, Demon's, and finally Elden Ring these past few months--all multiple times. What a phenomenal series
Mark, you're an effin legend. Love your videos.
I'd love to see you cover more games in Boss Keys.
This felt especially review-y at points, even for Boss Keys. That's not a bad thing, just an observation.
Mister Apple I totally agree, but the reason I love Dark Souls is it had me feeling my love for Zelda 1 and ALttP again for the first time since I was a child and hopefully his conveying this so well will bring new players to explore this amazing world.
Absolutely love this series! Thank you very much for creating it and I hope you will tackle the Totk dungeons as well, someday :)
Cheers from Germany
I love how DS1 does this, it's a shame no other game in the series even tries to replicate it
Doom2Guy yeah. It's kinda like they sacrificed an amazing design choice for a more westernised, less epic, run-of-the-mill RPG
IMHO I think DS2 sotfs actually has better level design
I like it too but shushhh unless you want to get downvoted
It might just be the cost and time of designing such an interconnected world. Its really quite difficult to do a good job, and a large proportion of your consumer base won't care about it.
i think it's a mix, there are issues with the warp in ds1, the warp for a player are super convenient, which is why they are a staple after 1, but it sacrifices the interconected level design of the first, dark souls 2 doesn't have the interconection on the fist half of ds1 but people seem to forget that the hunt for the 4 lord souls are basically just how dungeons are designed from 2 to 3 since they are areas that are not connected to one another and enclosed on their own realms for the most part (considering New Londo a mix since there is no bonfire but there is access from 2 points once gates are opened), it's a pay off between being more player friendly, stream lined and basically better designed, since the biggest problem in dark souls 1 is the road towards the Lord Vessel and back tracking for points of interest (blacksmith, merchants, etc) at which point the warp transforms it and the rest of the levels into dark souls 2 and 3 broadly speaking.
I love how you pointed out that “the depths” aren’t even that deep. Places like Lost Izalith, Ash Lake, and the Abyss are literally several times deeper.
Randall Clark yeah I’m pretty sure that’s correct.
I always thought the depths referred to the entrance to the deepest parts of the game since it lead into blight town kinda like youre standing at the top and this *gestures to big deep hole* is the depths -referencing the area all the way down to the bed of chaos.
Mogreturns possibly, but you don’t even necessarily need to step foot in the depths to access blight town and below.
Well done! Can't wait to play Dark Souls remastered and relive this.
I think this is one of your best videos
I really hope Elden RIng continues to be able to provide the sense of mystery and achievement of Dark Souls 1. I love entirety of the soulsborne games, but just like you said, it has never been the same since Dark Souls 1. To me Dark Souls 1 is a masterpiece that i will always cherish. Since Miyazaki is spearheading Elden RIng, im really looking forward to its release.