Saying Goodbye to Dark Souls
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- So far in this year I've learned that I enjoy Elden Ring more than I thought I did, and that I enjoy Dark Souls less than I thought I did. Maybe someday I'll get to just play a FromSoft game and enjoy it exactly as much as I expect.
In truth, this video was hit pretty hard from me realizing half-way through production that the message was going to be entirely different than I'd planned. The working title here was 'Dark Souls is a Perfect Game', but this ended up being a story about outgrowing a thing you used to love. Coupled with the fact that I ended up being swamped with non-video work for the second half of this month, I'm really just content to have this one done. I hope you all enjoy.
Help support the channel! - / thanebishop
I mean this is kinda the point of the game right? The whole philosophy of dark souls is that nothing can last forever. An age of fire, no matter how bright can't shine eternally. I feel it's the exact same with the game, because you're right it IS perfect, it's a shining gem in video game history. A true masterpiece, a timeless classic. And yet. Time marches on, and just like the great heroes and gods of dark souls, they all fall into obscurity when faced with the endless march of time. It's actually quite beautiful, you're experiencing the final lesson dark souls has to teach you, that you can't cling to the fire forever, don't endlessly do the same thing over and over again like some mindless hollow, it's okay to let the flame fade and fearlessly embrace what comes next...
TLDR: you're choosing the real life age of darkness ending. And that's perfectly fine.
That was beautifully said; I’m just at the beginning of my time with Soulsborne games (I played Bloodborne for the first time last October) & I hope there are still many more lovely memories to be made in these games for me, but yes, everything does come to an end; when explaining DS1 to my family (it’s my favorite & the one that spoke to me most personally) I tell them that it is both a game about saving something that’s still worth saving, or about how everything dies eventually & that’s okay; we link the fire every time we do something we love, but eventually the time for the age of dark comes & all we’ll have left is the memories of that fire, but we can cherish those memories & hold them close, being grateful for the time we had when we made them
I don’t know how much longer I have with DS1, I’ve beaten it three times in the last seven months, but I’ll always remember how it made me feel, & I’ll hold those feelings close when my time with it is up
@@siekierskipaa-nm2ps yeah exactly, for the rest of my life I'll remember how I felt the first time I encountered the moonlight butterfly in dark root garden, and how I felt when I heard the boss music.
Man you must have done great in your English and Literature classes because A+ connection fuck. Unironically very profound insight.
Holy yapping of the yappingtons.
this hit me so deep bru, shed a tear. playing this game at a difficult time in life this game helped me escape from, i remember how much i have changed since then and experience different areas of life and got thru the hard parts like i have in the game, and for it is such a beautiful thing to look back on, for that i can feel this way about a video game
Oh great algorithm, pleased be you and recommend this video to others, so that Thane can buy lunch.
It seems your request has been granted. Although I'm probably in the DS algorithm demographic.
Sup, not in dark souls algorithm but still here!🙋♂️👍
It is working I'm not even in the ds demographic.
Algorithm brought me here❤
This video is brutally relatable to me, getting 'tired' of something once beloved just happens so much, whether it is games or music or whatever, a lot of times maybe it just means that i need to try new things, but the feeling of not being okay while doing something that is supposed to be comfortable is awful
Very relatable to me as well, so this video hit home in ways I wasn't expecting.. which is chiefly responsible for why I'm watching a video on the game rather than playing it myself. Good memories though, and I'll have those memories forever. ;)
I never know where this seeming expectation to enjoy things repeatedly and forever comes from? Dark souls is my absolute favourite game and I've only played through it 4.5 times over all these years. With 3.5 times of that being achievement runs.
It's been my favourite game since my first play through but I can never be someone that does 10(0!)ts of playthroughs because that's just not how i love things
Sometimes getting tired of something just means you need to find something new to be excited about! Eventually you might enjoy going back and enjoying the classics again, even if that takes years. Because, you know, you do *have* years!
Goddamnit Thane i didn't need a philosophical discussion on the nature of personal growth and change hidden within a dark souls video essay like my past regrets and losses wrapped up in a suspiciously friendly looking trenchcoat
Ha ha ha I tricked you into doing emotions get pranked
@@ThaneBishop Man became Patches, respect
It maybe appropriate, put down the game and move on, love spell broken, game over.
But wait ✋️, dog breathe, are you really done or have you simply completed half of your journey!?!
This point you are describing is the first half of actual life where 99 percent of humans tag out and go for rest relaxation and security. But those few chosen ones who find this phase (stuck with an awareness of what is happening but having no ability to take it inward and transform it). It's not falling out of love with ds1 that is the problem, it's a lack of imagination to see the ds1 world (npcs, invaders , helpers, bosses and architecture ) as all parts of you and your psyche (unconscious psyche).
If you could do that then this "game" opens up a whole new experience
When you know the entire game front to back, every cheese and every powerful item, every perfect synergy for every possible build including ones you’ve never touched without needing a guide.. coming back is pretty much just for the nostalgia for me by this point, there’s a strange comfort with the relative ease
I imagine you'll be back in a decade with a renewed enthusiasm for Dark Souls.
Yeah, I feel like you never truly know the last time you'll ever play a game or watch a show or movie.
Yeah besides he very clearly still likes it very much, otherwise he wouldn't be so desperately trying to cling on to the feelings it once evoked through forcing himself to replay it for essays on how it's the perfect game lol. I completely get it, I've been there. We've all burnt out on our favourite games, and that's ok. Doesn't mean we don't like them, means we just can't be surprised by the game if we already know most of it by heart. Gotta take one of those really long breaks, for sure.
that lack of surprise is one of those big hurdles. once you know everything there is, once you've done everything, there's nothing more to chase. but it also gives you a nice way of coming back to it with fresh eyes down the line, or experiencing it again for the first time through sharing it with kids or a partner.
@@GilbertTheGilbertGuyYou are entitled to your opinion but seriously. You can only be trolling if you are coming into a Fanbase this dedicated and telling them that it’s irredeemable crap. It’s just not a productive conversation.
@@GilbertTheGilbertGuy dks2 fan moment
For a brief moment in my teens, maybe two weeks, I just had /zero/ interest in gaming. Like none. I genuinely contemplated selling my PC, because I just couldn't imagine that numbness going away. I hope your joy comes back after some time apart or you find something new to help you enjoy your time.
Me? After a while I found a new game, specifically with a friend to enjoy and enjoying it together brought a new dynamic gaming that's kept me part of the hobby decades later.
Take care of yourself Thane, this is your sign to treat yourself to a little self care :)
That happens every few months to me
Which game?
There's always a sense of melancholy when you feel you've moved on or outgrown a series because it meant so much to you for a period of your life. But, you'll always have the memories that came with it.
This video feels like a tearful breakup conversation. I went into it knowing the title and so hearing all the wonderful things about darksouls left me waiting for the “but.” And when it came it felt really familiar. “There are so many wonderful things here and I truly do want to love it but at some point the flame went out and I didn’t even notice. I wish I could bring it back and I tried so many things that used to be wonderful and it just…. Isn’t.”
Excellent video, I hope you can find joy in it once more or appreciate what was.
I have done everything in Dark Souls I have ever wanted and have no desire to pick it up again. And I doubt that will change. Nowadays I enjoy watching opinion pieces like yours or watching someone experience it for the first time. This will always ne beautiful.
So I know that I will someday return to Dark Souls, simoly because I will play the game with someone. And I am really looking forward to it!
Bro hasn't heard of mods 😭😭😭😭
@@Dubulcle For me mods never really did much. It always ends up feeling like a remix of the same stuff, not like a new experience.
Unfortunately Thane, what you're feeling is completely normal. The human brain provides diminishing returns on THE GOOD CHEMICALS for repeated actions. It's like watching a TV series you're a big fan of and the main couple has their Big Kiss or the villain dies in a Massive Explosion. The first time you stand up screaming in joy, the second you do a fist pump and give an excited 'yes!' the third time you smile and by the fifth or sixth time you're barely watching because you know exactly what happens. This is, and I cannot stress this enough COMPLETELY NORMAL. It does not mean you are a completely different person or are bad, or that the media you once enjoyed was secretly trash all along, you just got burned out from over familiarity. The only thing you can really do is put it down and come back in a year, or three, or five before you try it again and you might find yourself saying 'holy crap, I forgot how much I loved this'.
In short, give yourself enough time to forget the details of the game. And if you never want to play it again, or you come back in a few years and still aren't enjoying it? THAT'S OK TOO
I still love dark souls, I make new characters all the time, have thousands of hours on it, I'm playing it right now as I see your video actually haha. But you know? Your video made me realize that I always, ALWAYS, play it on mute with a video on the side, a podcast, or at the very least music. I know the game so well that I can do that and that's how I have so many hours on it. I was watching your video and laughing because, well, I was playing the game "weird thing buddy, that never happened to me" but it did hahaha. I don't think I'd find very fun to play DS without something on the side anymore.
But I guess that's alright, I hate the idea that a game has to be infinitely replayable in order to be good. Gotta let the things we love go, sooner or later, so as a good firend always says: Be safe, friend. Don't you dare go hollow.
I'm a bit late, as I've never seen one of your videos before (curse you algorithm!) but I find it neat that I am just getting into Dark Souls and funnily enough I think the day you posted the video (although I didn't watch it the day you posted it) I played Dark Souls for the first time. As one player leaves another is just entering.
I've experienced something like this before, many, many times. I'm a little up there in years in terms of your average games enthusiast, and its just something I've come to accept. Sometimes you go to dust off a (totally not emulated) copy of an older game you used to love as a kid and find the magic was mostly in your head at the time, your youth and inexperience and the fuzziness of old memories paving over the rough edges of an older, flawed product. Sometimes your mounting familiarity with a mechanic or setting begins to build apathy instead of enthusiasm. Sometimes you want to play something familiar for a hit of nostalgia and instead come face to face with a stranger.
It's something that exists outside of games media too. That meal you grew up eating doesn't taste the same anymore, and you just can't replicate the taste in your memory. That show you used to love has just become grating and irritating. The first movie to make you cry fails to stir anything in you. As you delve the pages of a familiar novel or series, you can't help but wonder how it ever held your attention.
It's never a fun feeling, to learn that something about you has changed so much that you can no longer connect with a part of your past, a part of who you used to be... but often the reverse is also true. Sometimes it's worth trying something you used to dislike. You might just surprise yourself with what you find you enjoy now.
As a fellow games enthusiast who has a higher-than-average amount of years behind him, I find myself completely agreeing with you.
I thoroughly enjoyed your comment, and wanted to say thank you for posting it. Your point at the end about trying things you once disliked puts a nice spin on this otherwise depressing subject, and that was neat. Cool stuff man.
Weak
great comment!
I played Prepare to Die Edition with my best friend back in 2013. We played the whole series together multiple times with multiple builds. The day he first told me about Dark Souls, he just bought it on a whim and immediately called me. He was so excited to show me something he thought was right up my alley. He was right.
Now I don't get much time to game because of work and responsibilities, but even here, in the darkness, I know tiny embers will dance again one day. We made some great memories playing Dark Souls together. My comfort now is that no one can take that from me. The age of Fire is safe, because it's in the past. It happened.
Many never see the sun. I am lucky to have memories of a better time.
I’ve had this feeling before in some way or another, I keep replaying things I SHOULD be enjoying because they’re “masterpieces” and I’m missing out if I’m not sucking out every last drop of entertainment I can.
You have to let go, because you’re not going to “find” the spark again, you either come back to it after time has made it alluring again or you just accept that you have seen enough of what a game or piece of media has to offer.
Masterpieces aren’t so because we can come back and continue to constantly experience them, they’re masterpieces because they change us and alter how we see the world. That change equips us to move BEYOND the art, to enjoy it not by repeating our consumption ad nauseam; but to enjoy art through how we live after seeing it.
Your memories are enough, they aren’t useless because they aren’t present
Ultimately, after many many hours of Dark Souls, I’ve found that my enjoyment with it stems from doing more and more increasingly insurmountable challenges. I went through a similar thing as you and doing these “Challenge Runs” so to say was extremely helpful in revitalizing my love for the game. Currently I’m working on a SL1 no magic, no armor, and no estus/healing run. I’ve been stuck on Ornstein and Smough for awhile, but every time I sit down for a session, I’m once again on the edge of my seat as I battle tooth and nails against a once again seemingly insurmountable challenge.
From Software has gotten better at making games and challenging their players. As they evolve, we evolve as gamers. Going back to their older games shows how far we came. I love Dark Souls but Elden Ring is the standard now.
I completely disagree! I still much prefer the design of DS1 to ER, it was genuinely one of the highest points of gaming for me. Elden Ring *is* probably harder, but that's not strictly a positive. It is, however, entirely expected that you'd get tired of a game when you've played it for years and know everything about it. The first time experiencing a piece of media is often the best experience with it you'll ever have, so experiencing newer media *should* feel better to almost everyone.
@@impishlyit9780 maybe not in the open world aspect, but in every other regard i would say elden rings the new standard. I love that ER is an open world game, and i wouldnt change it at all. but i hope their next soulslike project returns to a more... planned experience. at least as planned as their other titles were. Every game has had some level of directional freedom but ultimately your experience was more calculated and i think it creates a better experience if you plan your game to give each player a specific experience.
"New standard". Lol.
Mr thane, I just have to say I appreciate your honesty.
Like you, I've been enjoying Elden Ring and been obsessed with Cyberpunk 2077's world, it's what made me interested in your videos in the first place.
I can imagine the anxiety and strange sense of 'this can't right, I'm doing what has always been what I've enjoyed in the past, am I doing something wrong?' When you started to realize that dark souls just.... doesn't hit the mark for you anymore. I can somewhat understand, as I personally have a hard time going back to dark souls myself, after numerous playthroughs of both Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3, there's certainly an upscale in gameplay, speed, and diversity of play that DS1 just doesn't have. The runbacks in some areas, just don't make me want to play it at all.
However I suppose I still appreciate Dark Souls in a vaccum without comparing it much too it's successors, like a starting point that future entries improved upon, but I could also simply be baised to DS1 too.
Anyway, to make a long comment shorter, I just want to say that I really appreciate you putting your honest thoughts out there, as others have said, take some time for yourself, and after checking over your channel, I realized I wasn't subscribed, so I went ahead and fixed that. ❤
Take care of yourself Mr Bishop, looking forward to whatever you release next!
Your content is great and perfect to listen to seeing how much you care for video game I have played and interested in thank u
Man this video really struck a chord. I've had similar realizations with a couple games and it's a strangely emptying feeling when you realize it. Great video.
You've reached the point that its time to start doing challenge runs, you'll find a whole new appreciation for the game.
Yup dark souls 1 is a great one to do a SL1 playthrough!!!
Wonderful video. I find that with what we enjoyed in our youths or were told by others of something so great, it may not live up to the herald of praises once we take off the rose tinted shades and listen to our own thoughts. Growing up there were so many games I wished I could play and experience on my own but as a child I would simply just watch gameplay of others. With Dark Souls I heard of the great challenges and daunting journey, so once I was able to play it on my own it was indeed an arduous labor to begin. The experience provided such beauty with the music, the art, and characters that I thought no game could surpass such a peak. As time has passed I relate to you not able to find the same spark that once pulled yourself and I into the compelling game. I believe that is okay because change does not allow stagnation and through finding new sparks can provide opportunities to get lost in something beautiful again.
I can 100% understand this to the core. I love(d) Halo for the longest time, i grew up with the series and would play it everyday. It came to the point where I would know how every thing happened, where every enemy was, what path to take, what weapons to use. One day i came home from school and I didn't what to play Halo anymore. I have since moved on to other pastures. The only thing I've recently interacted with regarding halo was the Rubicon protocol book, and that was over 3 months ago. It sucks looking back on something you love deeply and realizing you just don't have that emotion anymore, but i think that's ok, nothing can stay in that honeymoon phase forever, eventually we will all move on to something else. Whether it be a franchise, activity, or even people; we all grow and change and sometime and especially with games they don't change with us. Sometimes the fire fades, and whether it us or the thing we love, withers and goes hollow.
Makes perfect sense, honestly. Once you absolutely master the mechanics of any game and the challenge is gone, especially for a game like dark souls where the challenge is a huge selling point, it becomes a pretty rote experience. Not bad, just not...exciting.
I haven't touched the original dark souls in like 8 years. However, just a couple weeks ago I got a tattoo of the greatsword of artorias on my forearm. Why would I permanently mark my body with a symbol of a game I haven't played in almost a decade? It's because my enjoyment and appreciation of the thing has long since developed past the experience of the thing itself. I don't play dark souls anymore, and I probably never will again. But it still means something to me, and I drive joy and beauty and identity from that meaning.
Dark souls is a property that resonates with me. It resonated with me then and it does today. Similarly in some ways and differently in others, but it's still important to me in how it has gently, subtly influenced the ways in which I perceive the world. I don't see the lonely, quiet, dark, and dead spaces of the world and of my life in the same way I once did. A video game may not be wholly responsible for that shift, but there's no denying it played enough of a part to be impactful and special to me.
19:30 that bit about growth taking people away from things really rakes over memories of Shamus Young
he noted that a few times in his writings
Have you considered that it's because you've played it so much, that you are sick of it? Burn-out is real.
some memories are special because you can do it once. starting your first dark souls game and discovering it is something that you can only live once. just like baldurs gate and cyberpunk you mentioned. you can enjoy a game more than once but eventually you come to an end point which your enthusiasm ends. and it is actually a good thing because it drives you to try new experiences new adventures. in the end you remember and enjoy the irreplaceable memories.
This video is so fascinating to me, because I've grown and changed a lot in my adult life. Basically all my friends, where I live, hell even my gender is different from a decade ago. So you can imagine my interests and tastes have also evolved. But I tend to be very judgemental towards my younger self and her tastes. I was into a lot of media that was juvenile, abrasive, and (for lack of a better world) problematic. I was a CoD Bro for goodness sake. But this video makes me reflect on how unfair that is to her. It's possible to grow out of things that still have merit, that were good for you at the time and you don't connect with now. The critiques I have of what I used to enjoy can be true, but the joy they brought me, the comfort and escape they gave me during those hard years of growing up is just as real. So thank you.
I think it’s fine to be over playing a ten plus year old game you’ve sunk a lot of time into.
I sunk almost 2k hours into Nioh 2. Until one day I just…stopped. And I’ve never been able to go back. But I still hold it in high regard and cherish the time I had with it.
I replay a souls game once or twice every year. somethimes i enjoy it more and some times less. but i alway get that itch to play it again. and sometimes i not really having fun and just get it over with and sometimes i end up playing a single save for 50 hours. Im sure youll come back to it, and even if you dont DArk Souls will always be special
"I've reached the point where I'm comfortable and will never struggle with this game" That's the exact reason I embarked on my first ever SL1 run - in some ways it made me feel the magic of overcoming the challenges presented by the game again like it was my first time playing. On my first SL1 run I was using an upgraded pyro glove which was quite busted since a lot of enemies are weak to fire so decided to go again with just the club that deprived starts with. Loved it and it felt great to beat!
Wanted to give a shoutout to the shared memory of Rosie's PVP Compilations and Dark Souls 1 pvp in general. Composite Bow Enjoyer Solidarity.
I’ve been avoiding this video for so long because it seems so sad
Watching this has made me appreciate the game more, and it has made me appreciate myself more.
I’ve learned how to continue loving things. Not forced, but learned.
When I replay DS, I always do something I’ve never done before, whether it be a new weapon combo or new spells, I can’t get enough. I like to really hone in on damage types, pay attention to enemy resistances and weaknesses, test out talismans and staffs. I love every bit of it. I love doing a dex Int run and comparing a buffed weapon with GMW to the damage I get from an enchanted weapon.
When I return, I plan on using Lightning infused weapons just bc I’ve never done that before. You have to train your brain to appreciate things outside the standard box.
You have to come to an understanding that the competitive nature of wanting to beat the game is long gone. You already achieved that. Now it’s time to ride the wave and relax, take in the lore, the scenery , the obscurity. Every play thru is a new perspective with different experiences.
Despite the modern worship of convenience, life without challenge lacks savor. If our full potential is not engaged, we disassociate from the world and no measure of pleasures can truly reengage us. Once a challenge is mastered, we've learned and grown all we can from it and must engage with the next more challenging cycle of being if we are to feel alive.
This is why you can enjoy a good thing too much. Moderation is the key to true fulfillment and joy.
I feel the same way about Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. Great fun games, but I’ve played them so much it’s hard for me to get through an entire play through. Which is why I’ve made a conscious decision to step back from those games for a few years and come back later to see if getting away from them for awhile cures it. It’s a form of burnout and burnout can make you not only not love something you once lived but can make you despise it
This really resonated with me. I never realized this could happen, but as I listened to your words, I felt the same way. I have several games that I played and loved in the past. Many of them are on my list to replay because I adore them so much. However, whenever I start a game, I end up quitting after a few hours because I get bored. Sometimes, I don't even find the motivation to start. There's this internal conflict between "I'm not motivated to play this" and "I should be, because this is my favorite game ever."
It's the same with Bloodborne. Every now and then, I start it up again, create a new character, and rush through half of it-all on muscle memory, regardless of the playstyle-and then I stop. I've only finished the game once and never found the motivation to complete it again.
It's really disheartening for me to realize this, especially after hearing your words and recognizing the same feelings in myself. I know I should have accepted this a long time ago.
Nevertheless, I appreciate your video and your words. Thank you.
After all these years, it seems I've become hollow regardless.
god, this video was genuinely eye opening for me too. around a month ago, i wanted to replay my personal favorite, dark souls 3 again. so i booted it up, and the same story happened with me. i even tried downloading the cinders mod to spice things up, but still nothing.
now, i find myself watching all the lore videos and exploring the parts of dark souls lore that i never even bothered to look at before. and damn, im eating it up, but its also getting tiring. just reading the same things over and over again finding tiny new insights doesnt really add up to much for me anymore.
without delving too deep, it says a lot to me about my own growth and change as well. im a completely different person than i was when i loved playing dark souls - and that's okay with me. in saying goodbye to dark souls for myself, ive found a new path forward, much like the series itself.
Just watched this and honestly it made me emotional. Ive been playing through fromsoft games after beating the elden ring dlc. I just beat ds1 for the first time. 10 years ago i couldn't even imagine beating ds1.
These games have become so special to me and I want to keep riding this wave for as long as I can. I think I got emotional because of fear of losing my love for these games. But if dark souls has taught me anything I shouldnt be afraid to move on when the time comes
For me, as someone who often struggles to be happy, moving past something I loved often feels painful. Its like I lost a friend without making another.
It is what it is, sometimes I keep those things in my life for the joy of sharing them even if I cannot do it firsthand anymore
This is a good video. I have had a similar experience with Dark Souls over the last few days and I came to feel the same way. I don’t think it’s goodbye forever for me, but I hate this feeling like nothing will ever be as good as that second attempt at enjoying Dark Souls (the first attempt ended with the Capra Demon and a broken controller). Now, more than fifty playthroughs later, the atmosphere falls flat on me. The game is about the world and its inhabitants and their struggle against fate, but now when I play it, it’s just about the build and hurrying through to the next area. Other games have their own appeal, but I feel nothing will ever hit me the same way Dark Souls did. One thing I have enjoyed however is watching newcomers play for the first time and take their time with it.
HAVEN MENTIONED 🥳
Even if you've grown out of it, you can still cherish something for what it was to you, and for the role it played in your growth as a person. You don't have to be a nostalgic Gen Xer rewatching 80s action movies and telling yourself they're just as good as when you were 12. I think there's beauty in holding dear the memories and lessons from art and experiences that we wouldn't want to have today... Because we've already had them.
you dont not love dark souls, you just dont like playing it anymore. this game has been with you for so long its okay to get tired of it.
Edit: you've been threw the motions, you know how it works and how the map shows itself. i think the main appeal of these games is the discovery and if you already know everything..
Real shit (the best part is learning :D)
even our enjoyment of the game is thematic. what i mean is the story and everything surrounding it is about this repetition of the world and how lighting the flame, while pretty damn spectacular, after a few (thousands of) years the just doesnt, it CANT burn NEARLY as bright. it's more like a sad whimper than fireworks. and hey maybe letting go and walking away might leave you with just darkness, but that doesnt mean hopelessness. letting the flame rest a few more (thousands of) years might just result in the next rekindling being the most spectacular fucking blaze by far.
while i dont believe this to be at all intentional, it still takes a next level of writing to make a theme so good it extends to the real world.
So I liked your video. It reminds me of a place I was with Final Fantasy 10-2 about 2 years ago.
I’d just like to offer some advice as somebody who lost interest in video games completely but found it again.
I really love Final Fantasy 10-2. When I was little it was the only final fantasy I had for a long time and I played the boots off of it. As I got older I really put the controller down for a lot of those older ps2 titles and just walked away saying to myself: “why am I playing with toy cars we have jet planes now.”
As I got even older I lost a family member and went through 2 years of therapy to help with the grieving process and also to address some underlying issues that I can whole heartedly say I’ve come out a healthier person for.
After I beat Elden Ring at 100% I needed a break and ironically did what you did and played something I knew just for the ease. I re-played Final Fantasy 10-2.
I had probably the most valuable playthrough I’ve ever had with that game. It’s a story about the main characters 2 year journey of grief and it hit home in a place I’ve Never felt in my heart before that.
My point is that if you’re feeling like Dark Souls is growing mold for you… Go ahead and do step away. Live your life. Have fun. Grieve. Doubt. Be Joyful. It took garnering new perspectives on my own life for me to see my favorite game in a way I simply couldn’t before.
I mean it. After recovering from that loss I connected with that game in a way that felt like it just kept giving even after every stone had been turned.
Sometimes we as people and our interests, much like the First Flame, much like _any_ flame, simply burn out. I've done the same thing, I've tried to enjoy an old hobby or hyperfixation, only to experience the quiet dread and sorrow of realizing that what was once my whole world now just... isn't doing anything for me. It hurts. It hurts, and it sucks, and I wish I could change it, I would do anything to go back to the days when such a simple thing gave me so much joy, but alas. Those days are gone. But we'll always have the memories. We'll always know that once upon a time, we enjoyed something. That once upon a time, that thing meant everything to us, that it gave us moments of elation, of excitement, of booming emotion. Those feelings cannot be taken away. Not unless we let them be. I know I won't...
wow this is a beautiful video
It's ok to have your fill of something
It is also ok to come back to it after a while with renewed passion. It is also ok to put it behind you and never come back
We can love a game, without needing to make it our entire life
Don't force yourselves to play games fellas, just let it come to you naturally
Expertly presented. I don't think I've seen the same deprecation as you have with Dark Souls, but gaming in general. A lot of it is *because* of Dark Souls, where other games feel like they aren't bringing their A-game to the table, and I have less patience for them as a result. I'm playing through Wind Waker again, and the hand holding his driving me nuts. I'm not allowed to explore things until the game had decided it's time to take the training wheels off, and when it does, there's nothing interesting about the combat.
Back in 2002, when I first beat Wind Waker, I thought it may have been the best Zelda game in the series. Graphically, it hasn't aged a day in 22 years, but I'm sick of waiting for useless text to scroll across the screen to tell me how to equip an item for the 50th time, or for a NPC to tell me in their words the problems I know they have from the visual cues around them.
We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.
This actually touches on some of the themes of Dark Souls 3 and why we'll never see a Dark Souls 4. Namely the idea that sometimes, things just need to end. One can recognize Dark Souls for the masterful game that it is but you can't stay in this world forever. The ashes of that brilliant fire piles up eventually, smothering any coals still lingering. Only for you, it's your experiences and knowledge that piles up, eventually smothering any surprise the game could give you. It's okay to let things go, necessary even. That doesn't have to mean the game is suddenly bad or anything, just that it's time to leave it behind you.
I mean something worth considering on top of what you discussed, is how much you enjoy something can be dependent on how you feel at the time. Not necessarily mental state; but just that you’re craving some types of experiences and not clicking with others at that moment.
There’s been many times I’ve gone to play something either a have enjoyed, or was confident I will enjoy; but recognised at the time that I just wasn’t feeling it. Doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it again at some point later, no need to force yourself right now 👍
I had a similar experience a few years back. Not entire sure what changed or when it happened, but I was doing a run in Dark Souls 3 and as I was putting the build together I had planned I kept finding that I couldn't get the spells/ items I was interested in until relatively late when I wouldn't have long left in the playthrough to actually use them, and somewhere in that it clicked that I hadn't really been enjoying playing the game, that it was largely setup not using what I was interested in while assembling a build, or finally getting to test a build that couldn't live up to the expectations or which was already falling off by the point in the game it finally becomes usable. It lead to reflecting on how much I'd enjoyed actually playing the games compared to how much I'd enjoyed thinking about them over the years and realising I just didn't want to play them anymore.
It happened once with me on Dark Souls III, the one i had played the most, and one of my favorite games of all time. Having that kind of experience got me a new mindset about it. Dark Souls is a game about the journey, and not the end of itself... We don't play to defeat all the enemies and simply get to the ending credits, but to learn how to defeat the challenges and master the Journey. Once you have exhaured all the paths of that journey, you no longer have motivation to complete it, since the challenge had been already completed long ago... And then I started to understand why people do NG +7, Speedruns, Sl1, beat the game with guitar hero control, that kind of crazy stuff to revive the game, because it always was about the challenge of the journey. It looks like obvious, but once you mastered it, there's no longer a game to beat, and it's faded on essence.
I would also say theres an element of enjoyment that gets lost in obligation. I used to love playing piano, but when lessons became a slog and my teacher wouldnt let me do the songs I enjoyed most, i started resenting it and fell off. Playing Dark Souls or Elden Ring or whatever because you want to for fun and playing something because you have to for lessons or a video to get recordings are different. Its just a different headspace, and who knows, maybe one day you'll come back in a different light and love playing it just as much again
Oh to be able to play games for the first time again. Sometimes I rewatch ENB's From the Dark series, and the pacing takes me back to that feeling more than starting a new playthrough these days
Right after I beat the trilogy 🎉🎉 , great timing , what an adventure
If you get dementia you're gonna have the best time replaying this
Same thing has happened to me with several different games. It always helps when you have a friend along, I've found - but you hit a point where the world isn't so big anymore, and it starts to feel empty and lonely, and kind of pointless. Happened to me with Skyrim - and then I discovered Dark Souls, and the steep skill level required engaged me again. Specifically, DS3; that felt a lot bigger, just because there were two other games before it (plus Demon's Souls), adding a feeling of depth and memory as I looked back at bosses from other games in the trilogy (and Demon's Souls). For a while, I would confuse which bosses were in which games, and that made everything feel a lot bigger. Then I played DS1 and 2, and... Still love them, but the declining player base leaves them feeling less engaging.
And that's my story of the Dark Souls experience. Thank you for reading - and next time, bring a friend! Bring two friends! Everything's better with friends!
I remember first getting dark souls 1 I was around 11 didn't know Jack about these games and yet I loved it more than anything the story the characters everything but now me being 20 I just can't replay anymore I tried but once I get out of the asylum I think to myself do I really want to do this all over again. But even still I will never stop loving any of the games they will always be in a special place in my heart.
much how I have "only" played Final fantasy 9 around 7 times, beginning to end - there's big swats of time the game is nowhere near on my mind.
yet I have a deep connection to FF9, in a way I can only describe as - "it's my Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood of games" - it's shaped my personality so much that it IS a part of my identity.
I would argue that even with it's flaws it still holds up TO ME.
the same with Dark souls 1 for me - I've spent at least 2k hours on prepare to die edition and remastered.
it also has significant meaning to me because in my depression, just the fact that I went back to it and applied myself and got rewarded for it and beat it - I had an adventure of my own. not just a scripted executable that leads me from scene to scene but *I* was the driving force that made the story possible. Tie that with how Dark souls holistically intends this with their portrayal of hollowing and the undead curse.
you can "live" but be dead inside - IF YOU GIVE UP - you need to keep your agency and identity and keep on going. and that's a lesson I desperately needed in my 20s and the open ended "persistent world" that it offered is just majestical. it's apocalyptic - which is the aspect of "souls games" i've come to hate/be annoyed by...
I wish I could gather the npcs of the world, I wish I could save them, I wish that the relationships with the characters of the world doesn't always end in tragedy, melancholy or violence...
Keep it up, you are doing great.
I turned 30 this past year and can relate with a few things. That said sometimes a goodbye can be a “see ya later” as cliche as it sounds. Maybe down the line you’ll revisit DS1 and get that spark again. If not, that’s perfectly fine, too. There’s a fondness I have for many things that I would prefer to remember as is.
I think what you said a few times in the video, that you solwed this puzzel years ago is part of why its boring to you now. I really get that feeling, it can be a sad thing, wanting to keep enjoing something a bit longer, but suddenly not beeing able to. This is the main reasen I rarly do more than one playthoure of many games.
Also this melancholy is pefectly fitting for a Dark Souls video ^^
You don’t need the master key for the short way to Blighttown. You can enter it from Darkroot basin ---> drake valley---> Blighttown
Another video hath been blessed down upon us.
The first playthrough is where all the magic is, especially in ds1 where a lot of the intrinsic enjoyment is from puzzling level design,world building, world design/progression. Of the linear fromsoft game ds1 has some decent playstyle variety, so revisiting it after long periods of time always boded well.
Dang, it's always hard to see someone go hollow.
I recall once being told an old proverb:
A man cannot walk through the same river twice, for it shall be neither the same river nor the same man.
The point being, just as new, different water flows down the river, so to do new, different experiences change a person.
The year that you started playing Dark Souls, I started playing Skyrim. And I'm not certain that discovering Skyrim was a net positive at this point in my 2000 collective years of gameplay
I'm feeling this way about video games in general. I'm just not having much fun anymore
That you mourn, made it worth your time.
I. Can't. Stop. Watching. Your. Videos 🙌
I can relate to this video. My favorite game was Final Fantasy VIII when I was younger. Although a lot of people panned it, as someone who enjoys breaking a game with numbers I learned how to speed run the game in less than ten hours. I would beat the game two or three times a week trying to beat my best time. Then one day, I didn’t finish it in one sitting on a Saturday afternoon. I played other games instead here and there. Eventually, I put it down and never picked it back up. I still remember it fondly, but I just don’t enjoy it the way I did twenty years ago.
Gwyn: I... poisoned... the water supply. Now everyone (un)dead. Oops.
Bro went hollow... 💀
I actually did fight everything in the tomb of giants. Always do. It's slow, it's hard... but I do it!
Dark Souls is nearly perfect, but part of what makes it so great is the mystery. You mentioned The Outer Wilds here, and I think it's appropriate. Once you know where everything is and how to get wherever you want, there's not nearly as much joy left to experience, in either of these games. Their mastery is on you discovering the world and learning how it works. Once that's done then there's only so much it can still do.
There's still PvP and challenge/speed runs, but the game itself has given you all it can give. I started a second Elden Ring playthrough shortly after I finished my first one, and I never finished it. My first one was so complete that I was just treading old ground again. I'll probably do a new one for the DLC, but doing a new run so close to finishing the first was a mistake. The enjoyment of these games is built so much upon the enjoyment of learning that when there's nothing more to learn there isn't much left to enjoy.
I feel this immensely. I've felt the same about souls likes in general, and the way I put it is that you've gotten too good.
When I played through Elden Ring I played through it several times alongside about 4 friends in total who had never played a Souls game before. My understanding of From Software's games escalated my abilities in the Elden Ring, and it really shined in PvP.
I set up traps, knew that dodging towards opponents and doing rolling attacks was very potent. Most folks roll away, and I used roll catchers constantly. I used to host and join high level fight clubs back in DS3.
Even more, I suffered through NG+7 of Dark Souls 2&3 several times. So I had experienced the Souls games at their worst NG+7 and their best. And this made playing the original Dark Souls feel terrible. This super difficult game that was hyped up by the community was just lacking to me. Unfair is the way I'd describe the lows, and the highs were just ok. I didn't really enjoy my time with DS1, and when I finished the game it felt hollow. The jubilation I felt defeating bosses like Fume Knight, Gael, and even The Soul of Cinder made defeating Gwyn feel like nothing.
For about 5 years I had played Souls games before playing DS1, and Gwyn was something I looked forward to. And I just found him... Pathetic. I get it, that's the point about Gwyn. He's just a husk of who he was. So why did I write all this?
Because when I played Armored Core 6 I felt something I hadn't felt in so long with From Software's games. Insurmountable odds, and not giving me agency. In the Souls games I can kill NPCs if they give me lip. In Armored Core I have to deal with being called a dog and just another body in the war. It took me 6 hours to reach Balteus and I genuinely cried when Ayre spoke to me. Because for the first time in the game I was spoken to as a person.
Her dream pushed me to get all three endings. To S-Rank every mission. I didn't look up a single thing about the game, something I unfortunately had to do with every other From Software game. Especially Sekiro with getting the returnal ending.
And so with Shadows of the Erdtree coming this month I know that I'm likely going to feel the same hollow feeling I once felt when I defeated Gwyn. I'm only in NG+2, which is a shame. I enjoy doing the DLC in NG+7 for the ultimate challenge, but I'd be lying if I said that Elden Ring's difficulty spike and damage scaling wasn't an issue. Enemies at the end, and likely the DLC will have NG+7 levels of damage on a NG. And I fear that artificial nature will just push me further away from the Souls style games.
Because I'm not that 13 year old kid who felt they had to prove themselves as a gamer. I'm 24 now, and I just want to enjoy my time with them.
I had a similar problem with Elden Ring. It was my first Fromsoft game, I finished it once, then the second time on another character. I had great time with it. Some time passed, I played other Souls games, had fun there, then thought "hey, how about another run in ER?". Rolled a character, planned my build, started collecting stuff for it only to realise somewhere around Morgott that I don't want to play anymore. Collecting the exact things I needed was fun for a while, but the longer I played the faster it was turning into a chore. Going in blind was the most fun I had in games for a long while, and when I knew exactly where to find what I needed I just lost interest. I'm still planning to play on DLC release, but... I dunno.
U will come back trust me. I had this exact same thing happen to me with Escape From Tarkov. I will probably come back one day to that game but in the past year i just cant get into it anymore.
This video made me want to go play Dark Souls again.
It happens. No single game is supposed to be enjoyed forever. Resident Evil 4 used to be a game I could replay monthly, ever since my childhood, until one recent day, it wasn't. It's still one of my favourite games, and I still consider it damn near perfect and one of the best ever made. It's a masterpiece that I've simply had my time with. That's all there is to it.
Quelana is the still-humanoid sister sitting out by the pillar in Blighttown. The spider one is simply known as the Fair Lady.
A lot of the magic of dark souls comes from that first playthrough. Getting jumped by the asylum demon, the skeletons in firelink, realizing theres this tiny path you missed leading up to the undead berg. A lot of Dark Souls' magic comes from that realization, that discovery. Once that discovery has gone away, it can start to feel empty, almost monotonous. Once you know how to get through each level, subsequent playthroughs become a checklist of hitting each area/boss you remember liking or is required to progress. Now Dark Souls isn't about discovery, overcoming challenges, or even overcoming yourself. It has become about trying to rediscover that same feeling, that satisfaction from that first playthrough. Whenever I replay Dark Souls, the moment I grab the lordvessel I head straight to the dlc. Those bosses, especialy Artorias and Manus, are so late in the game its hard to remember how to fight them. I end up challenging them over and over even after my third playthrough. But after that? I stop. The Izalith gauntlet isn't fun to run through. The asylum demon copy-paste stopped being a fun fight after that first rematch. The Duke's Archives is just projectile and enemy spam, some of the least engaging Dark Souls encounters. New londo and the catacombs aren't fun because of the areas mechanics. New londo's ghost are a pain to get through and The catacombs/tomb of the giant's removes a lot of the awe from the game. No more incredible vistas like Solaire's platform or the first step into Anor Londo. Dark Souls is the type of game where that first playthrough will make or break your experience and love for it. And that love, should it develop, dwindles the more we play it. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and as that first playthrough gets more and more distant in our memories, we want to experience what it was that made us like it in the first place.
As gaming evolves over time, Dark souls surprising lack of player freedom and mechanical limitations only heightens this issue. The lack of a jump button, the limited spell casts, the looping yet linear level design. That first playthrough makes the level design stand out. That first run through undead berg and the parish only to realize you have found yourself back at Firelink is an incredible feeling. The walk back up through blighttown, when that music kicks in and you feel at home. That slight melancholy as you realize you must venture out once more. And yet that first playthrough is the only time you truly felt this. Subsequent playthroughs you may feel some amount of dread, as you knowingly head back out towards lost Izalith, through the catacombs, or peruse New Londo. It is not until you claim the lordvessel for that second time, do you realize it is not as fun as it once was. Dark souls has lost its magic.
A moment of silence for our fallen brother 😢
As a guy who took a while to fall in love with this game, and is probably in the thralls of his love for it, this is a bit tough to watch. But, it makes sense, and like you said, growth is a weird and unpredictable thing. Who knows, maybe one day we'll summon each other, but we'd never know it. Good luck.
for me the saddest thing I experienced was finally 100 percenting ds3 cause it's my favorite and first and now I have nothing left to do
Me and FPS games. One day it went from my favourite genre to an icon clicking simulator and it's never gone back since. Eventually we all go hollow.
Kids, in real life, if you die, you don't respawn. And what you killed stays dead. Remember.
I still love all the old FromSoft games. Playing Elden Ring and its expansion actually makes me want to play DS1 and the other older titles more because I enjoy how the studio evolved over the years. I think one of the biggest strengths of their games is the replay value. The fire has not gone out for me.
I never thought someone could ever defend bed of chaos but the way you explained that makes a lot of sense
Still terrible but the vision was there
Don’t you dare go hollow and hopefully you’ll be back to Dark Souls some day 🫡
Don't you dare go hollow!
My flame will never die
While I'm not at the point where I'm unable to have fun with it, I can definitely relate somewhat. I'm replaying the game @ SL1 for the first time since before DS2 came out, and while I'm (mostly) enjoying the challenge of having absolute dogshit stats and only using the starting pyromancer's robes + a reinforced club, the magic of that first experience I had 12 years ago exists only in memory. Unfortunately trying to recreate the memories in our heads tends to overwrite them to a degree which can quickly change how we feel about something we once held dear.
That said, replaying the game in this context has actually helped me come to appreciate certain things a bit more. For example, dropping your souls when you die doesn't sting so much when you weren't saving them for anything in particular like leveling. But then at the same time every enemy becomes that much more threatening and you become punished far harder for your mistakes which adds a bit of excitement back into the experience, especially as you get further and further into the game and the gap between your stats and theirs becomes more and more pronounced.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend SL1 to someone who's burnt out on the game as a whole because it's not necessarily going to rekindle your enjoyment, but it's definitely an interesting way to approach the game, rejecting a system that we as players typically take for granted in RPGs. Though it does kinda suck not being able to effectively use 99% of the weapons in the game, or *any* spells and miracles lol
That feeling you're feeling is the lack of jump button
You can jump is all soulsbornez
I too have felt this.
this video is beautiful
Yeah I agree. Dark Sousl 1 is my favorite game of all time. But hten again, time and growth is inevitable. And we just gotta accept that the things we held so dearly will have different impacts on us on different times in our life. We must remain rational and not be blinded by emotional attachments. Recognizing that one thing we love long ago no longer have the same meaning to us does not mean that that thing is any less valid for it. It does not make Dark Souls 1 any worse. But it makes us all the worse for deluding ourselves that we still value it the same. We just gotta accept it, carry the past on our shoulders and face the future.