A friend shared this video with me today, and the entire time I watched all I could think was “thank god I’m not alone.” Immediately subbed, and binging the rest of your videos (especially all these dope-looking Metroid/Metroidvania ones).
Awesome video! One of the better "why Dark Souls is a masterpiece" videos. I like how you contrast the future games with this one with bosses. People always talk about level design, but I agree that even more, just regular enemies and environments in DS don't feel like something to be quickly overcome to get to the cool boss, but you really do want to explore everything and just enjoy the journey while exploring. The bosses really are just cherries on top. Especially O&S, Artorias, Manus, Kalameet and Gwyn, which all have significant lore behind them.
For me, the biggest example of the design philosophy change from DS1 to Elden Ring, is running past stuff on my horse. It feels completely antithetical to what the first game was trying to do, and while I understand it, I don't exactly love it. Your point about enemy design and placement is a more subtle thing you can see happening in DS2 and DS3 as well, to a degree.
Fantastic video. Your style feels so refreshing in a UA-cam full of mile a minute rants about useless subjects. This felt both fun and insightful, a very hard thing to be. I can't wait for more vids!
That first time I beat Dark Souls, I sat there with a look of disbelief. The excitement of beating Gwen quickly disappeared as the credits rolled with the somber "Nameless Song". That moment has stuck with me. Now every time I play it, I just take my time and make sure to soak it all in. I go out of my way to see unique stuff or to stare out beyond the horizon at places I either have or will visit. It's such a poignant game.
i just watched multiple videos on your channel thinking it was a large channel with at least 100k subs before realizing you didn’t even have 1000. the production value and quality of your videos is amazing. i felt like i was being told a story in each one. keep up the unbelievable work!! elden ring was my first souls game so it was especially jarring getting used to the combat and progression of dark souls (especially the boss run backs which totally threw me for a loop) but after pushing through the kinks i completely agree with you. i’ve never heard someone say that a souls game was not about the bosses but you really nailed it.
There is something about Elden Ring that feels like a video game, where Dark Souls feels like a place. It's mostly intangible. Both great games, but DS1 is lightning in a bottle. And thanks for the kind words.
ER is so large and empty, and the rewards for exploration are so lackluster (often mushrooms for some reason), that it makes exploration so soul crushing to me. In all three DS games I loved exploring most areas to find all the secrets, but in ER I look at a big, open, featureless field and I dread trying to comb it for secrets. Density is the perfect way to describe it, the DS series just has so many more hidden things and goodies to get over a much smaller area, so you never have to go far out of your way to find something useful or interesting. Sheer size of the map isn't what's important, it's how many interesting things there are to find.
I had to stop watching around 3:22 because I’m fixing to play Elden Ring for the first time and I’ve avoided seeing much about the game so far - but as for Dark Souls it’s my favorite in the series that I’ve played to date. It is the odd-one-out in its own franchise. The lack of fast travel for the first half; the pacing; the connectedness and freedom; the way you can do almost everything from a bonfire without having to warp back someplace. Even the visual and sound effects were just different. The slow bonfire and the way the fog looks. It’s why I like the switch remake best: because it retains all the visual intricacies I love about the first game. I’ll come back to this if I get a chance after playing ER. Nice channel.
The lack of fast travel for the first half of the game is one of Dark Souls' secret weapons. They give you the Lordvessel at the perfect moment: Right before you were about to start complaining about getting around the map, and right after you've learned your way around and ingrained Lordran in your memory like an old neighborhood.
Finally came back to this. Still haven't started Elden Ring, but it turns out there weren't really any huge spoilers? When stuff showed up on-screen I just switched tabs. But I gotta say I loved this video. Great pacing, editing, and points. I'm still very pumped for ER; but Dark Souls is just such a special game.
I remember gaining DS1 in Xbox Golg years ago, and after one hour and half i just could beat Asylum Demon, and a longe time after a friend of mine said that he discovered a way to have a good start (pyro class and master key go get astora and some firekeeper souls), but not only that, was when i realized that asylum demon boss room has a door on the left, and i was trying to beat him with the broken sword. Long story short, i played for 1,600+ hours probably the game i most played in my life, my first save alone was 600+ bc of how much i explored and got lost in the game, but i absolutely loved, and was my favorite game for a long time. Now my favorite is DS3 mainly because the maps are just beautiful in DS3, and a lot have a great design (imo), and the bosses are great (which is important to me). Elden Ring i played for 70 hours, started at day 1, but it wasn't the same, i hoped that the world was scaled down, like the other games, bc this way i think that everything looks and feels better, the game its good, but i just don't feel like playing that much.
My first time, I got smashed by the Ass Demon. And I'm talking about after getting a proper sword and hitting him with a plunging attack. I was wearing heavy armor and couldn't dodge to save my life, quite literally. I googled it and the recommendation was to take off my armor and fight the boss naked for better mobility, which worked instantly. That little moment changed my whole mindset about the game and I never looked back.
Very good video! I’ve never heard of these games until everyone started playing dark souls so I thought it was cool to learn about. You also did a very good job with explaining and keep my attention since I’ve never played and this is not my type of game.
Elden Ring is a great game, but a lot of the differences between it and Dark Souls are steps away from the design philosophies that built the reputation of the company, and toward a much more typical action-RPG formula. There is nothing inherently wrong with that design, but there's no reason FromSoft has to become a part of the homogeny of big game studios. Apart from money, obviously. Not that Elden Ring went too far down that path. Just a few little steps. Enough for somebody like me to weakly complain on the Internet.
Great video, man i wish i played DS1 as my first, it's a game like Ocarina of time, Morrowind and Fallout New Vegas where i feel that i would've appreciated it more immensely back then. It was a huge mistake to start with Bloodborne and DS3 first and working my way backwards. WIth that said, i still like DS1 a lot despite its age.
I can see it feeling stiff and slow, going back. But when I replay it that feeling disappears pretty quickly. There's something really satisfying about little things, like the way your feet hit the ground in the original, that make the clunk kind of a good thing. For me.
@@fancydink Definitely, it's something i can't hold against it since it's a 2011 game, and even if we don't factor in when the game released, it's mechanically great, full stop! Similarly to you, i do get used to it again. I guess it's just i got so used to fromsoft's modern combat systems and boss designs a lot. Fortunately there is demand for a DS1 style combat system even now, Mortal Shell tried to capture that a little, i would love a faithful remake of DS1.
DS1 is a really special game, even with some areas being more developed than others, it's a journey that has impacted me more than any other game I've played. Though, I don't focus much on the comparisons to Elden Ring since Elden Ring, while souls-like in gameplay, is an entirely different game. DS3 is the game that I look at in a more disappointing way. I've come to accept what DS3 is and enjoy it, but it will never be the ideal game I wanted from a Miyazaki led sequel. I wanted more slow and methodical gameplay, I wanted an interconnected map rather than a linear experience with some areas being slightly layered, and the lore of DS3 was a real mess. I'm excited for where Fromsoftware goes with future Souls-like games, but at the same time, it's a real shame we didn't get one more game like DS1 from them before moving into the "open field" style.
I can't remember exactly where I read it, but I distinctly remember an interview with somebody at FromSoft-maybe Miyazaki-where they very specifically said they didn't want to do interconnected maps like in Dark Souls in the future because the extra work isn't worth it. I should look this up, but I've already started typing and nothing can stop me now. Maybe I dreamt it. Also, re: comparisons to Elden Ring... yeah. This video started as a comparison between the two, but by the end I forgot about Elden Ring entirely and it turned out to be just a Dark Souls retrospective. Some of the mentions or ER feel clumsily thrown in now, in hindsight.
I've always intended to do a faith build, but inevitably I end up veering toward a pure melee playstyle and a quality build. Totally different experience and, somehow, I've still never had yours.
@@fancydink I enjoy DS2 and Elden Ring the most, i never enjoyed bloodborne and think ds3 is too linear for my tastes. Dark souls 2 was the least linear imo
@@duckyduckington9736 Dark Souls 2 is severely underrated. For me, the reason I rate it lower than the first is mostly atmosphere and a sense of cohesion in the world. DS1 feels like a place, DS2 feels like a video game. But if I wasn't all about my precious immersion or whatever, I would probably agree with you. And DS2 is the most fun to replay for me.
@@fancydink I can't agree with the sense of immersion in ds1, not when dogs suddenly start floating and i backstabbed an enemy that was looking at me and was 10 feet away from me. Dark souls 2 is my favorite in immersion since the world just feels otherwordly, in dark souls 1 it felt like i was just in a generic fantasy world. Dark souls 2's level design and world building are absolutely amazing in my opinion.
A friend shared this video with me today, and the entire time I watched all I could think was “thank god I’m not alone.” Immediately subbed, and binging the rest of your videos (especially all these dope-looking Metroid/Metroidvania ones).
Dang I wonder who ur friend is lol
I'm really sorry to hear you're friends with that guy, but at least one good thing came of him in the end, and that's you.
Awesome video! One of the better "why Dark Souls is a masterpiece" videos. I like how you contrast the future games with this one with bosses. People always talk about level design, but I agree that even more, just regular enemies and environments in DS don't feel like something to be quickly overcome to get to the cool boss, but you really do want to explore everything and just enjoy the journey while exploring. The bosses really are just cherries on top. Especially O&S, Artorias, Manus, Kalameet and Gwyn, which all have significant lore behind them.
For me, the biggest example of the design philosophy change from DS1 to Elden Ring, is running past stuff on my horse. It feels completely antithetical to what the first game was trying to do, and while I understand it, I don't exactly love it. Your point about enemy design and placement is a more subtle thing you can see happening in DS2 and DS3 as well, to a degree.
Fantastic video. Your style feels so refreshing in a UA-cam full of mile a minute rants about useless subjects. This felt both fun and insightful, a very hard thing to be. I can't wait for more vids!
Wow, thank you!
10th video in 14 years. Subbed.
And to think, these are the "good" videos left after a series of late-night rampages with the delete button.
That first time I beat Dark Souls, I sat there with a look of disbelief. The excitement of beating Gwen quickly disappeared as the credits rolled with the somber "Nameless Song". That moment has stuck with me. Now every time I play it, I just take my time and make sure to soak it all in. I go out of my way to see unique stuff or to stare out beyond the horizon at places I either have or will visit. It's such a poignant game.
Yeah. Poignant is a really good word for it, as strange as that might be for an action game.
i just watched multiple videos on your channel thinking it was a large channel with at least 100k subs before realizing you didn’t even have 1000. the production value and quality of your videos is amazing. i felt like i was being told a story in each one. keep up the unbelievable work!!
elden ring was my first souls game so it was especially jarring getting used to the combat and progression of dark souls (especially the boss run backs which totally threw me for a loop) but after pushing through the kinks i completely agree with you. i’ve never heard someone say that a souls game was not about the bosses but you really nailed it.
There is something about Elden Ring that feels like a video game, where Dark Souls feels like a place. It's mostly intangible. Both great games, but DS1 is lightning in a bottle.
And thanks for the kind words.
ER is so large and empty, and the rewards for exploration are so lackluster (often mushrooms for some reason), that it makes exploration so soul crushing to me. In all three DS games I loved exploring most areas to find all the secrets, but in ER I look at a big, open, featureless field and I dread trying to comb it for secrets. Density is the perfect way to describe it, the DS series just has so many more hidden things and goodies to get over a much smaller area, so you never have to go far out of your way to find something useful or interesting. Sheer size of the map isn't what's important, it's how many interesting things there are to find.
I had to stop watching around 3:22 because I’m fixing to play Elden Ring for the first time and I’ve avoided seeing much about the game so far - but as for Dark Souls it’s my favorite in the series that I’ve played to date.
It is the odd-one-out in its own franchise. The lack of fast travel for the first half; the pacing; the connectedness and freedom; the way you can do almost everything from a bonfire without having to warp back someplace. Even the visual and sound effects were just different. The slow bonfire and the way the fog looks. It’s why I like the switch remake best: because it retains all the visual intricacies I love about the first game. I’ll come back to this if I get a chance after playing ER. Nice channel.
The lack of fast travel for the first half of the game is one of Dark Souls' secret weapons. They give you the Lordvessel at the perfect moment: Right before you were about to start complaining about getting around the map, and right after you've learned your way around and ingrained Lordran in your memory like an old neighborhood.
Finally came back to this. Still haven't started Elden Ring, but it turns out there weren't really any huge spoilers? When stuff showed up on-screen I just switched tabs. But I gotta say I loved this video. Great pacing, editing, and points. I'm still very pumped for ER; but Dark Souls is just such a special game.
I heard rumor you were planning to stream Elden Ring in the not too distant future. I'm looking forward to all 100+ hours of your pain and elation.
I remember gaining DS1 in Xbox Golg years ago, and after one hour and half i just could beat Asylum Demon, and a longe time after a friend of mine said that he discovered a way to have a good start (pyro class and master key go get astora and some firekeeper souls), but not only that, was when i realized that asylum demon boss room has a door on the left, and i was trying to beat him with the broken sword. Long story short, i played for 1,600+ hours probably the game i most played in my life, my first save alone was 600+ bc of how much i explored and got lost in the game, but i absolutely loved, and was my favorite game for a long time. Now my favorite is DS3 mainly because the maps are just beautiful in DS3, and a lot have a great design (imo), and the bosses are great (which is important to me). Elden Ring i played for 70 hours, started at day 1, but it wasn't the same, i hoped that the world was scaled down, like the other games, bc this way i think that everything looks and feels better, the game its good, but i just don't feel like playing that much.
My first time, I got smashed by the Ass Demon. And I'm talking about after getting a proper sword and hitting him with a plunging attack. I was wearing heavy armor and couldn't dodge to save my life, quite literally.
I googled it and the recommendation was to take off my armor and fight the boss naked for better mobility, which worked instantly. That little moment changed my whole mindset about the game and I never looked back.
Very good video! I’ve never heard of these games until everyone started playing dark souls so I thought it was cool to learn about. You also did a very good job with explaining and keep my attention since I’ve never played and this is not my type of game.
Dare you to play it though.
Dude I have come back to this video like 6 times. It's soooooooo so good. Still stoked for your next one whatever it may be.
Dude your quality is unreal for how small you are keep the good work
Big thanks.
I still get chills from the original, and long for the days of the slower paced PVP.
Good video, you have a good voice for video essays
Hey, thanks buddy!
I don't strictly consider elden ring to be a better souls experience than all the others out there but just one in a format I enjoyed more.
Elden Ring is a great game, but a lot of the differences between it and Dark Souls are steps away from the design philosophies that built the reputation of the company, and toward a much more typical action-RPG formula. There is nothing inherently wrong with that design, but there's no reason FromSoft has to become a part of the homogeny of big game studios. Apart from money, obviously.
Not that Elden Ring went too far down that path. Just a few little steps. Enough for somebody like me to weakly complain on the Internet.
"... where it will beat you until you agree to pay more attention." Very well said. And yes, Dark Souls is still the very best of the series.
The game doesn't need a map because you will goddamn remember every brick.
Great video, man i wish i played DS1 as my first, it's a game like Ocarina of time, Morrowind and Fallout New Vegas where i feel that i would've appreciated it more immensely back then. It was a huge mistake to start with Bloodborne and DS3 first and working my way backwards. WIth that said, i still like DS1 a lot despite its age.
I can see it feeling stiff and slow, going back. But when I replay it that feeling disappears pretty quickly. There's something really satisfying about little things, like the way your feet hit the ground in the original, that make the clunk kind of a good thing. For me.
@@fancydink Definitely, it's something i can't hold against it since it's a 2011 game, and even if we don't factor in when the game released, it's mechanically great, full stop! Similarly to you, i do get used to it again. I guess it's just i got so used to fromsoft's modern combat systems and boss designs a lot. Fortunately there is demand for a DS1 style combat system even now, Mortal Shell tried to capture that a little, i would love a faithful remake of DS1.
DS1 is a really special game, even with some areas being more developed than others, it's a journey that has impacted me more than any other game I've played. Though, I don't focus much on the comparisons to Elden Ring since Elden Ring, while souls-like in gameplay, is an entirely different game. DS3 is the game that I look at in a more disappointing way. I've come to accept what DS3 is and enjoy it, but it will never be the ideal game I wanted from a Miyazaki led sequel. I wanted more slow and methodical gameplay, I wanted an interconnected map rather than a linear experience with some areas being slightly layered, and the lore of DS3 was a real mess.
I'm excited for where Fromsoftware goes with future Souls-like games, but at the same time, it's a real shame we didn't get one more game like DS1 from them before moving into the "open field" style.
I can't remember exactly where I read it, but I distinctly remember an interview with somebody at FromSoft-maybe Miyazaki-where they very specifically said they didn't want to do interconnected maps like in Dark Souls in the future because the extra work isn't worth it. I should look this up, but I've already started typing and nothing can stop me now. Maybe I dreamt it.
Also, re: comparisons to Elden Ring... yeah. This video started as a comparison between the two, but by the end I forgot about Elden Ring entirely and it turned out to be just a Dark Souls retrospective. Some of the mentions or ER feel clumsily thrown in now, in hindsight.
This video is amazing
Oh, thank you kindly.
Got it on my switch and played for the first time. Chucking lightning bolts and fireballs at everybody was the best part of my journey.
I've always intended to do a faith build, but inevitably I end up veering toward a pure melee playstyle and a quality build. Totally different experience and, somehow, I've still never had yours.
accidentally hit a random key and was met with "no really these are dragon asses" 10/10
Sub to my onlyfans for more hot gaming action.
Fuck me get this man some more subscribers
Praise the sun!
Subbed
I'm so sorry that happened to you.
@@fancydink I have subbed. I see your video. I like. Is pretty
DS1 is not as good as people make it out to be and i will never be able to be convinced otherwise.
Do you like the rest of the series, or Elden Ring?
@@fancydink I enjoy DS2 and Elden Ring the most, i never enjoyed bloodborne and think ds3 is too linear for my tastes. Dark souls 2 was the least linear imo
@@duckyduckington9736 Dark Souls 2 is severely underrated.
For me, the reason I rate it lower than the first is mostly atmosphere and a sense of cohesion in the world. DS1 feels like a place, DS2 feels like a video game.
But if I wasn't all about my precious immersion or whatever, I would probably agree with you. And DS2 is the most fun to replay for me.
@@fancydink I can't agree with the sense of immersion in ds1, not when dogs suddenly start floating and i backstabbed an enemy that was looking at me and was 10 feet away from me. Dark souls 2 is my favorite in immersion since the world just feels otherwordly, in dark souls 1 it felt like i was just in a generic fantasy world. Dark souls 2's level design and world building are absolutely amazing in my opinion.
fortnite is the dark souls
Will screenshot this comment and frame it on my wall so nobody forgets you.
Elden ring is broad road Dark souls 3.
subbed.