Why Blighttown Really Matters (Dark Souls) - Writing on Games
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- In this episode of Writing on Games, I revisit perhaps my favourite game ever (Dark Souls) for the first time in months. I know a lot of you subscribed based on my previous Dark Souls videos, but since there are a billion people talking about how the game is 'harsh but fair', I didn't want to make another video on it until I had something resembling a unique angle on it. So I decided to defend an area most people hate...
On this playthrough of the game, I realised that Blighttown, an area despised by many, actually became one of my favourite areas in the game, despite the dread I still felt going through it. The way it toys with the verticality of the level design and how this plays into the way the game rewards the player make Blighttown genuinely oppressive in a way no area up to that point can be. The way it turns the world itself into your enemy is quintessentially Dark Souls, and I love it for that.
Also, I'm going to be able to play Bloodborne soon thanks to one of my patrons! I'm very excited, and it means you can stop telling me to play it soon...
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Anor Londo footage from EberonAdventures - • Dark Souls-Anor Londo ...
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One of my favourite part of dark souls is the "this HAS to be the bottom of the map" feeling.
"The depths? Sounds like the bottom"
"Blighttown? Okay. The bell's down here."
"A swamp? I'll keep going down"
"The bell, this is the end, right?"
"Hmm... All this lava must be stopping me going down"
"I drained it and there's MORE?"
"Right, demon ruins, that's got to be it"
"Lost Izalth, am I there yet?"
"Ash lake, wait what?"
you 🥫 what you mean there is furter down? What do you mean “the abyse”
I find hollow knight has a similar feeling
we want to know what is the bottomest place in dark souls, hehe
@@haroldomiyaura912 ash lake
the funniest part of the game is if you get back to fire link after blight town to find that Lautrec killed the fire keeper.
Kevin O'Connell I killed Lautrec after talking to him and he said "I've had my use for the fire keeper" or some bullshit like that
and got that awesome ring, right? Fuck that guy, i always have pleasure killing him in my playthroughs.
JeanBaptisteGrenouille I feel like I'll never end up using the ring. I'm on my first playthrough, and I'd hate to end up finding a better ring later on and having to break that ring taking it off
That's why you *always* kill him when you meet him :)
At least I always did. OGRE SMASH.
Yeah, that's where I started a new game and killed the fucker.
The true enemy of dark souls for everybody- gravity
Ornstein and Smough: are we a joke to you?
And getting trapped in a corner
More the camera
And the camera
No amount of stats can face that son of a
I honestly don't find blighttown that bad at all. I personally thought Tomb of the Giants was much much worse.
Oh man, the skeleton dogs.
Merovyn Kellion Holy fuck, the Tomb of Giants is fucking horrid. Maybe I could handle it if it were bright, but it just feels horrible having to attack things in the dark. You feel much deeper in the earth while in the Tomb of Giants versus Blighttown, not to mention the giant skeletons and the archers
Merovyn Kellion the tomb and catacombs were probably my favorite areas. they were really challenging, but not in a random way like blighttown were you die from bullshit. it was harder than blighttown and less artificially difficult. more actually challenging and rewarding. they were also perhaps my favorite areas aesthetically after anor Londo.
yuore idiet But is the tomb really free of random attacks? You have bone pillars popping up, skeletons that constantly bombard you with arrows and skeleton hounds that do massive damage to you. It has similar platforming as Blighttown in that you are often walking narrow paths while fighting enemies. You not only have to know where to go, but you also need to pick your fights. I found Blighttown to be fairly systematic in that you can take a scan around the area and pick out the hazards whereas tombs...you can't really do that.
Yeah those damn skeleton dogs. By the time I went into TotG, I was able to one-shot them with a forward R2 (Black Knight Sword +5 ftw), and I generally had no trouble with them until I ran into the NPC phantom prior to Nito. The phantom caught me off guard and killed me, so I swore to get revenge and reversed-hollowed at the bonfire. But now, the skeleton dogs were giving me a TON of trouble, and any time I missed an attack they'd instakill me regardless of my armor or HP, especially since there were three at this point. I blew through all my humanity just trying to get down to the guy, and eventually just said "fuck it" and took my anger out on that endless mob of skeleton babies (who, luckily, dropped Humanity, yay!).
Another reason that Blightown could be considered the litmus test for Dark Souls is that it's the final area that acts as tutorialisation in the game. If the Undead Burg exists to teach the player the fundamentals of Dark Souls, then the Lower Undead Burg through the Depths and finally Blightown exist to teach the player of status effects, ambushes, aggro control and the importance of thoroughly scouting an area.
After Blightown the next area is Sen's Fortress where I have always felt acts as a quite literal gate to the rest of the game, demanding that you know how the game works to advance. Sen's Fortress requires the player be proficient in all of the above skills to fully navigate.
Just, yes.
and the importance of projectiles
Very well stated.
+Razi Ex Give this man/woman a medal
Or be like me; just bumbling though, activating all the traps, accidentally dodging, and wondering how I suddenly got these new souls and why is there a dead lizardman here?
The Narrator: Ah yes, philosophy, deep meaning and learning.
Miyazaki: toxic darts go brrr
at least they dont fucking respawn
Deniz S. i was so relieved(not a shielder so they gave me hell)
@@Kkimishim Shields don't even help much, either. If you block the dart, it still does a huge amount of toxic damage.
@@LauncherSpiderMk7 you should use the spider shield from The Depths , it give you100% resistance to toxic darts
😂😂😂😂
This has to be the most Dark Souls-esk video ever: "Blighttown is the best because it sucks the most and is the least rewarding."
Ugh, tell me about it. I can't really support it!
Someone didn't listen to the video~
Least rewarding? Once you reach the swamp Blighttown isn't even hard anymore. It is also the best place to farm Large and Green titanite shards to crank your weapon until +10. It would be more rewarding if you are a pyromancer because you could buy the best spells there. Being able to get a +10 weapon itself is very rewarding.
@@muruganr4581 oh yeah, forgot to mention about loads of Titanite chunks in Great Hollow.
@mk43_GUNNER SHOCK Not to mention that the pyromancer is *perfectly* equipped for Blighttown.
Poison resistant starting gear, a way to deal fire damage to easily farm Purple Moss from the evil shrubberies in the forest...
...and most of your high tier pyromancies, all within a short walk of each other.
"Those previous enemies are hard..."
He says as he throws fireballs while Solaire tanks for him lol
If he gat gut he need no Jolly Coop.
Look at those darkwraiths from New Londo: They have Straight swords.
“Oh no, someone wanted to play a mage character and used a mechanic common in the game so they could cast from a safe distance. Burn the heretic! He has not got gud!”
@@cole4783 Its true tbh. If you go into the game knowing about the melee vs mage differences, why would you ever choose mage? the whole point of the game is the melee experience
See i am of the opinion that From software meant to build a challenging and engaging rpg, not a pure slasher
I used Solaire in every fight I could just because I liked him.
Blighttown always reminded me of (aesthetically) the goblin mines from the hobbit.
Right! I used to just call it hobbitville
"DOWN DOWN TO GOBLIN TOWN" I always make that joke anytime I go to deeper place
Ethan Hudson oh yeah. I only just realised that upon seeing your comment.
I just got through it and I think it’s aesthetically amazing
YES YES YES AND YES!!
Blighttown is like the admission exam to prove you are worthy, but the real turning point where you become a Dark Souls player i'd say is Anor Londo.
Yeah, I felt like the game truly only opened up to you after you defeat Ornstein and Smoug and realized you still had a long way to go. They even give you the fast travel at this point, 'cause you're going to need it.
... All I can think of is a song.
_Ohh! A graveyard to explore._
_HAHA! DENIED!_
Anor Londo is a fake out, and you could say that about any place.
Finally gotten through Undead Asylum? You're now a Dark Souls player.
Bested the entirety of Undead Burg and Parish? You're now a Dark Souls player.
Found Ash Lake without any help or tip, purely by accident? You're now a Dark Souls player.
Can run Tomb of the Giants without any lights? You're now a Dark Souls player.
No, let me tell you when it happens;
When you've screamed from the top of your lungs at the game,
When you've died non-stop for five hours yet still not given up and on the verge of tears from frustration of the unfairness and pure hatred of it all,
When you laughed for doing a silly thing that ended up in your favor,
All that conflict and strife from invaders that clearly were just trolling with +15 weapons or such,
When all is said and done and you've played for enough hours
For hate to turn into love,
That's when.
- It took me over 200 hours before I developed a Stockholm Syndrome for the game.
I hate it, yet I love it. That's, when you are a Dark Souls player.
Zeithri Yet the moment where most people give up is the O&S fight. So even when we've been through all of that gotta admit that was con a totally diferent level. Cause there was no easy solution like a plunging attack or an easy-to-kill method unless you spent a weekend farming for ascended flame+5 and even then you required sharpened skills not to get slam dunked. And even before O&S we have to face the infamous archers, the plattforming with the painted guardians and the castle filled with silver knights. If anything, Anor Londo is the place where you put in practice the experience gathered from all that you said
juanjo gomez
Honestly, it's not that difficult. Not even the first time through. And my first time through the game was as a pure caster character, without a shield, and never leveling Vitality.
The hardest part for me, was Oolacile. Seath's Library was also a challenge that's frustrating but due to my love of Occult libraries, it's still acceptable.
But yeah yeah, no, Anor Londo isn't that hard personally. So I disagree.
Zeithri Pure caster? ...like ...Sorcerer?
Pls don't talk to me or my Sun ever again
What is our reward for descending through Lower Berg, The Depths and Blighttown? HELL. (Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith)
"What is our reward?"
Quelaag the Spider Waifu
@@caprademon7787 #wouldbang #justiceforQeulag only kill I wish I could have avoided. Not even the amazing chest or sisters make up for the crime of murdering best girl.
Queelag's fury sword is worth it so is seigmeyer. Onion bro is best bro (yes even solaire fite me m8y)
"What is our reward?"
SOLAIRE
Doober McFly hell yeah
If you can survive Blighttown, you are now able to make it through the entire game.
Anor Londo: Am I a joke to you?
imo Anor Londo is easier than Blighttown AND Sen's Fortress. Don't get me wrong, the Batwing Demons and the archers fucking suck but 1. the atmosphere is so much less oppressive than the previous two areas and 2. it's pretty easy in my opinion once you get get to the bonfire inside the cathedral as long as you know how to parry
@@strangething7379 I overcame Anor Londo without parrying once so parrying isn't really necessary
Tomb of Giants and Sen’s Fortress were worse.
I've only played bloodborne first then ds3, without parrying on either game. Is parrying really that important for ds1?
Yes...
I agree with the spirit of this video. But, for me, the key moment was when I fell into some sewer to be ambushed by basilisks that cursed me, and then had to figure out that I had to walk half way across the world to find some obscure character that could remove the curse. That's when I knew I was a Dark Souls player.
Yes, beautiful indeed.
"The Depths" was the sewer area you reference and one of my favourite spots both for pve and pvp.
That was definitely a point at which I thought I was doing OK with the game (I had just beaten the Capra Demon) and after wandering around the Depths for aaages, in a matter of seconds that all came undone with the curse system. I knew I was nowhere near done with the learning process.
The depths served to remind me, that you have to keep a lookout even when you have already spotted one kind of the traps of the game. I had no problems with the oozes on the ceiling. And then this acursed rat fought with me across a gap which I then believed to be some sort of grit...
I walked without caution and fell, only to be instantly cursed by that frog motherfucker.
Good news were, however, that I knew this creepy guy in the belltower sold a cure. I just thought one of those stones cost 30.000 Souls. Yep, i memorized it ten times more expensive than it actually was. Needless to say, I spent quite some time farming souls in the Darkroot garden at those stonesoldiers.
I recently played the game for the first time, having watched a playthrough of it that left me with the impression that those bug-eyed twats are not to be trifled with. Curse sucks early on when removal is hard to come by. What happens when I do play? I get a bit careless and fall down one of the holes. So imprinted with the fear of these critters am I that I don't try to put up a fight, I run for it. I don't know my around it and end up going further into their area, falling into another hole which puts me at the end of it, by the Ring of the Evil Eye. My back is to the wall, flight is no longer an option, so I fight. There's either two or three of them packed in that space with me and, somehow, I thought, I killed them without getting cursed, even though my performance was almost a sort of panic-induced _faceroll_.
Turns out they can sprint and leap, but aren't actually agile and their puffing is rather slow. Turns out, I realized, they're easy to outmaneuver. Just don't hold your ground, dart around. They do no damage, so you can two-hand whatever you're using and don't need to time rolls precisely. Just move around and force them to turn. After vanquishing the lot of them unscathed, my fear of them was greatly diminished.
I still felt proud about my achievement and, in sight of that, didn't want to convince myself that they're actually piss. But as I fought more and more of them after that, my fear of them all but evaporated. I was only ever near being cursed once and that's when I was panicking in my first encounter. I think it was when I first fought back against multiple in that cell. I was lucky not to get cursed, but if those circumstances are what it took to come close, then they are indeed piss-easy.
In NG+, I went down there knowing I didn't need to, because I like covering most ground and because I found them that non-threatening. The more I killed, the less respect I had for them as a threat. Unlike with just about everything else in the game, I've not been punished for taking the piss. At this point, I'm only less careful with the unarmed Hollows; you know, the neutral ones. I suppose that farming them a bit for Eyes of Death after my first encounter didn't help preserve the dread of them I came into it with. Bottom line for me is that they look far more dangerous than they are.
That moment when you beat Quelaag, round the corner, go through a hidden wall and find a woman who, despite being turned into a horrid monster, is trying to help all of these fucked up people in blighttown even though it puts her own life at risk, and the only reason she's still alive is because her sister Quelaag goes out and finds humanity for her. And you just killed her.
FeelsBadMan.jpg
I don't put too much emotion into video games.
As much as I love the Soul games, the only game that actually made me feel genuine emotion is Witcher 3.
Dark Souls is just an Adult Zelda game to me, and I love it.
True Chaos Servants make sure to play through NG+7 to make sure she gets 600 humanity
Cosmic - Chris are you undead? This series has given me almost every emotion known lol
Yea and you also kill her only companion because you think it will hurt you. #BreastWaifu
Vinny Balzano
Nope, simply just human. I don't attach emotions to fiction unless I'm the one writing. There is a difference with experiencing a situation and then placing yourself into it.
Though the game you simply experience the world trying to kill you.Never do you logically get a emotional response out of this in mind.
Now... Placing yourself into it is where you actively feel for it. That is the biggest difference.
I feel like Ornstein and Smough are a key boss in teaching the player the art of souls, they make or break a player.
I’m currently on them. I got sooo close to defeating super Ornstein in phase 2 yesterday. The tricky part is what to prioritize... speed or heavy armor? Massive damage output or quick strikes? I know I can do it I just have to be patient and I will persevere
Madeleine Johansen
It took me about 30 tries, The finally method that worked for me was using gear with high poise and my Black Knight Halberd. Heavily geared I walk in and start standing near the entrance swinging Attacks to take down Ornstein.
Then when Smough was left I striped all my armor quickly and used a hit & run method.
@@saphireleine I remember cheesing Ornstein with toxic on my first playthru. I was not going to get slammed by that fatass.
Yup that was the point at which I gave up, despite liking so much about the game. I just ran out of will.
But on the plus side I did get past that narrow bridge and killed those fucking archers on the way in so I feel I'm the real winner here.
I remeber killing them after i took a one year break
i don't mind the place, i don't dread it for "difficulty" or anything like that. I just fucking hate how the framerate falls apart.
luna violet especially when you find the gang of giant slugs at the bottom.
luna violet i just went through blight yesterday and holy shit fuck frame rate
luna violet Anything over Tomb of the Giants!! that's hard.
Nathan Forrest tomb of giants is really difficult especially if you try to complete it without a lantern, which i did and it's not easy.
"Anyone know how to sort out the framerate issues in Blighttown?!?!" "Git gud."
And that feeling when you emerge back to light is something DS2 and 3 simply cannot do due to teleporting thru bonfires.
Well, until you get the Lord Vessel that is, then most players just warp whenever and wherever they can. But that's only obtained after being drenched over and over in the atmosphere of playing without warps, of course.
the lord vessel is extremely important to progress through the game, not because it open a lot of doors for new areas, but because after all that the game forced you though, to force you to backtrack everything would be just annoying and not rewarding at all... it would even waste all those feeling the areas gave you as it forces you to look at it again from another angle that you were not supposed to
And due to lack of Dark.
I don't know, The Gutter came fairly close to evoking the same feeling Blighttown did in addition to having a pretty good amount of TotG peppered in there due to the darkness. It was really rewarding carrying a torch through there and lighting all the sconces you could find yourself. Exploration was super important in that area as well because it was so labyrinthine.
I agree that DS2 and DS3's level design doesn't come close to DS1's, but they've got their merits. (But I'm also biased towards DS2 so that's my stance.)
I disagree.
“If you make it through Blighttown, you are steeled enough to beat the game.” Lmao when Blighttown is a breeze for you but you die to the moonlight butterfly like 7 times
I had a melee char. with only 1 ranged miracle. Just summoned Beatrice and watched
Y-you only died 7 times?
Trevor Sharp nah that was a lie, I died more like 17 times
@@roidell5140 To be fair, Moonlight Butterfly is not needed to beat the game as far as I remember.
moonlight butterfly is extremely challenging for melee only builds
Going full on the metaphor, Blighttown is a baptism by poison and darkness. Once you descend into Blighttown and come out on literally the other side, you're now a part of the game. You ARE a dark souls player at that point instead of a player playing dark souls.
And what's great is that afterwards you go into Sen's Fortress. Which is much quicker, much easier and, dare I say, slapstick. Seeing enemies get crushed by boulders or giant swinging pendulums catching you by your pants and flinging you off the narrow platforms.
Ularg the baptism metaphor is an interesting one, especially considering the ideas of verticality and ascension. You only have the chance to become a deitic figure within the world once you descend to the lowest point.
Also yeah, slapstick is the right word for Sen's Fortress. It's why I think Blighttown is the true turning point for players - it's more representative of the Dark Souls experience than what is essentially a comedy level.
Tomb Of the Giants makes blight town look like Disney world. I still find blight town to be my favorite place in the Game.
Dark Souls Is my all time favorite Game.
Nathan Forrest you should play bloodborne
@@Ape8658 Bloodborne is good but dark souls is still king
The Febo nAh the other way around
@@Ape8658 Bloodborne has a interesting setting but beside that it makes nothing better. Level Design, Heal System, NPCs, Variations all better in Dark Souls/Demons Souls
The Febo nope, you clearly never played bloodborne or played all these souls game first. Bloodborne was my first souls game and then I played the rest of the souls games, and even then, bloodborne was best
Sen’s fortress was my biggest challenge on my first way through. It stopped me to a point where I just stayed in the forest with the invasion covenant. Weeks after, I finally got through the fortress and my immediate reward was Anor Londo. Everything else after that was a breeze. The painted world was the only other barrier for me as I couldn’t just leave and go enjoy myself in the forest if I wanted.
I farmed *all* of the souls I needed to fully upgrade my pyromancy flame before realizing that I couldn't just _leave_ the Painted World.
What followed was the most stressful, careful progression through an area that I have ever done.
I once accidentally entered the painted world out of curiosity and i wasn't ready at all, immedieately tried to find the easiest way out after getting fucked by engorged hollows and bonewheels
Ano Londo was easier than Sens
Ano Londo is most dangerous due to pvp invaders
Other than that, the only two challenges imo were the rafters and giant sentinels
Forgot to mention that after um return to firelink from blightown, Lautrec will probably have killed the firekeeper. So that sweet bonfire that should be the end of your poisonous journey is not there. Of course you can just get the elevator and sit at Undead Parish. But those 5 seconds of shock are real.
Tomb of the Giants is worse than blighttown imo
iCresp yeah, tomb of the Giants sucks, but you never forget how grueling it was 300 leagues below the undead burg.
Blight town is sort of the inoculation.of a dark souls player, ironically.
Agreed. Once I learned what to expect from Blighttown it was just sort of an annoying chore. But the Tomb of Giants remains a place I'm always very reluctant to go.
nop once you get light source.. it is piece of cake. it is short too
Invasions in Tomb of the Giants is the worst.
Not to devalue the message here, but after getting so demotivated by the Basilisks' Curse in The Depths that I almost quit the game, Blighttown felt relatively approachable.
lol I did not even knew that the basilisks could curse you until I looked the area up after beating it -I always moved away from their fog breath because I saw how the curse meter increased, had no intention of finding out what consequences a full meter would have.
@@qinn1996 Same I've never been cursed once in the Depths.
Hahahaha, really??
I don't have a single problem dealing with Basilisks. They are so easy to me.
@@utisti4976 the problem is that if you just make one mistake or don't notice a basilisk approaching you are absolutely fucked.
I had a halberd, so maybe the long reach made it easy.
"and once you have learned that you can arguably handle anything the game throws at you"
Except those goddamn Anor Londo archers fffffffff
My brain just had a WTF moment when I saw Blightown at 60fps.
farrex0 DSFix is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
While recently replaying Dark souls, I went down to ash lake pretty early on, for some reason. I hate the great hollow more than blighttown.
At least blighttown doesn't have the goddamn basilisks. And the verticality of it is less noticable, compared to the thicket that is the great hollow. Blightown's rickety ramps and catwalks are way more managable in my opinion than the branches of that accursed tree.
Oh yeah the Great Hollow can be super annoying. Random twig nudges me off of a branch and I fall to my doom. Or a branch throws off my camera angle and makes me walk off the edge. or I jump down to what looks like a perfectly reasonable landing spot, and slide off instead. *Splat.*
Just gotta get the curse bite ring and the basilisks are a breeze to deal with. Just dont fall ._
Yeah man , you can easily fall off of the tree roots and have to start from thr top again lol
Hey! Thank you so much to everyone who has watched, commented and subscribed based on this video. I've been unbelievably busy making the next video (which will go up in a matter of hours) so haven't had a chance to respond to many comments. I've been reading them all though and will get round to replying very soon!
Writing on Games This video makes me appreciate the original dark souls, I enjoyed the video so much I wanted to leave a like, too bad I liked the video before I even watched it.
Those graphics are amazing. Is that a PC version of them game you were playing?
Voting for Hillary is voting for world war 3. Make America great again. #Trump2016
Most likely the Durante DSFix upscaler.
it makes you feel like you can best anything...... until you fight artorias lol
Wanna ruin the atmosphere of Blighttown? Go down to the bottom and look upwards, you'll see blue sky, trees, town wall and after that it doesn't look as dark and hopeless anymore :)
"for the first time in months" on a 7-year old game. XD Us Souls fans will never escape.
😂😂😂
Lol I share this sentiment. I can't stay away from this series more than a few months, and it's been that way since I first played these games in 2014.
in for a penny, in for a pound.
I know right, Stockholm syndrome at its peak
I felt pretty powerful after beating Quelaag for the first time. I'd also say that the Great Hollow is worse than Blighttown in my opinion.
Its not required to beat the game though so its less of a rite of passage compared to Blighttown.
rob bob But you don't need to go down Blighttown either, just go through New Londo and Valley of the Drakes to get to Quelaag.
still goes through blighttown just a shorter route.
But without all the unnecessary falling to your doom.
Aidan Ratnage
I cant say i ever fell off when i did the area the "proper" way. That said i got toxic and poisoned a lot. Also the fast way was not something new players knew about. They followed progression by going through the depths.
Ornstein's Armor, the Greatsword of Artorias and the Crest Shield? I can honestly say I've never seen that play style before.
fashion souls #1
Connor Tyler He is using the Black Knight Greatsword
Nope, wrong moveset. That's the (Cursed) Greatsword of Artorias, based on the coloration.
Connor Tyler That is the "I look so cool and die so easily" set.
EpicoLirico which doesn’t matter at all in PvE, if you’re any good.
For me it was just. Drop here drop there drop 5 times in a row. Oh, you somehow made it to the bottom without knowing wtf you're doing.
I always get lost on that dang wood maze/frotress and if i try to find route to the swamp i cant find it but when i dont try to find it i always accidentally go there-_-
@@tomi9562 Same here. Took me a couple hours to find out how to descend to the swamp area, and I did so by accident. Had to use a map later since I didn't want to spend anymore time down there.
I know this is so late,but i feel the same i just randomly drop here and there and i got to the bottom not knowing the way to go back up there
Returning to Firelink Shrine from the depth of Blighttown for the first time is one of the greatest moments in my gaming history (of 30 years). I just felt calm. At peace.
EquinoxIV the firelink music also makes it so much better when you finally get back.
Firelink shrine in Ds1 in the best hub area in all of these games, such calmness and peace with sad music, that place felt almost like home to me. Majula didn't get even close and i hate using teleport in DeS and Ds3 every time i want to level up. Never played Bloodborne yet so can't have an opinion about it.
Bloodborne is like DKS3 in that manner. You get to the Hunter's Dream just to level up your shit and move along.
***** Shame, i think Ds1 had the best system for leveling, the bonfires were really welcome when you found them for the first time and there was no need to have loading screens for something that takes less than a minute to do.
mustekkala I think so too
and here i am, still lost in the catacombs. I have no idea where I'm going or what i should be even doing
same as blightown really, move downwards
Get the skull lantern, and you'll be good ... And get yourself a massive shield if you're not used to the game.
ian icao go to lost izalith first and kill the headbug or whatever it is and you can equip it on your head to provide light.
Crysos Is back where do i get it?
Jonáš Přibyl dont know where that is but i'll probably be heading there. Just found out i should be going to the Depths first after the gargoyles
I’ve always liked DS1 for its poetic symbolism and to me personally the entire Blighttown area has been the emotional pit, the bog of life it’s designed and maintained on the feeling of “Jesus I wish I wasn’t here”
Asylum Demon and Gargoyles are supposed to be the bosses that separate wheat from chaff? I think you're confusing them for O&S
Johnny Elkazar but who out of the chaff you know made it past sen's castle?
I almost quit because of the Taurus Demon. Took me over a hundred attempts to beat it. Finally beat it, made rapid progress, decided Dark Souls was probably my favourite game of all time. Then I reached Ornstein and Smough and ran right into a brick wall. My excuse is that the fight itself isn't so bad, even for a beginner, if you summon, but summoning means beating the sentinels outside, who have far too much health and heal themselves.
The thing is though, for most new players, those are hard bosses. The first boss you beat is gonna take noobs at least a couple tries, and the gargoyles were really the first fight that just seemed completely unfair. They aren't at all the hardest bosses, but they really sorta showed you if you had what it takes to take on the harder ones. Once you get to O&S, or Sen's Fortress, you're basically committed. Even if they're hard, you've chosen to push through them. The Asylum Demon and Gargoyles didn't test your resolve as much as give you a taste of the resolve you would need to muster further into the game. I'd bet that the majority of players who quit Dark Souls and never came back probably did so around those points, more so than later bosses.
That's true, with experience, it's a pretty easy fight. But, as another example, Dark Souls was the first game I ever played that was even in the genre of action RPG, and the Gargoyles took me like 7 tries to beat. It just depends on the player
I had to summon to beat the gargoyles, but I noticed I only kept dying when I got the first gargoyle down to half health and the second one showed up. (Or I dodged an attack and fell off the roof.) Considering that they don't have much health, and both will be on half health by the time you fight both, if you do high damage they shouldn't be much of a problem. I put off summoning for ages because I was convinced I would loose anyway and waste a humanity, as I currently always do with O & S. In many ways I feel the game can be more enjoyable to an inexperienced player, I struggled with the Moonlight Butterfly fight and was genuinely proud when I beat it without summoning. Don't get me wrong, O & S proves that the game is also in many ways not enjoyable for an inexperienced player.
Blighttown ain't got nothing on the Valley of Defilement.
Hell, Blighttown is candyland compared to the Valley of Defilement
Preach
Being able to roll in the swamp alone makes Blighttown a cakewalk in comparison.
XioniX17 The bosses were total cakewalks, though
oh jesus christ yes
Separi Tilhinen But those Giant Depraved guys... on Ng+...
"Sometimes you work really hard for something, and get jack shit for it" Dark Souls in its entirety
i think Blighttown has an obvious purpose in the game. but i don't think you need to go too deep into it (no pun intended).
It's basically there as an intended low point. if a game, or any kind of story telling art form offers too much positive stimulation, or too much reward, etc, our brains get too used to the dopamine rush, and we become desensitized, and bored. but if you give the audience a low point, show them how shitty things can get, then the rush when something positive happens is increased.
Blighttown is this dark, dank and miserable place. It's there to make the light, peaceful areas seem like the reward for making it out of there. its also contrast to the first bell, where you basically are climbing upwards to ring it, and the 2nd bell after you beat Quelaag is the opposite, far down towards the depths of hell. and Blighttown is just representing how far down this place is. a cold, miserable place long deserted.
Kain Motthasmews what's your point that his video's too long? Your comments too long!
Kain Motthasmews and then you realize you made it all the way to that door to find out that it's locked and have to Trek all the way back through Blighttown
Basically a less pretentious summary of Blighttown than the video
ye I only read clifs notes, less pretentious than actual books
The OP didn't use an oxford comma. 0/10
I absolutely agree. Blighttown was one of my favourite areas because it was tense and claustrophobic and awkward and frustrating, but that both made it memorable and made the relief palpable when you finally overcame it.
I strongly resist the idea that an area being not fun is inherently bad game design.
When I enter Blighttown, I don't dread it, I don't fear it, I don't even mind it. All I think is: "Amazing chest ahead!"
Good ol' Bloittone.
where you get the beast taim of yeur leif
I didn't find Blighttown bad at all, I had heard so much about it that when I actually played through it I was scared before I even entered. Hands down one of the more easier locations in Dark Souls. Worst place as of right now for me is the catacombs with Nito, this place is legit creepy and once I saw an army of skeleton babies, I wanted out fucking fast.
Blight town was dreary and all, but the catacombs instilled crippling fear into me. I wandered in to early thinking I could save the girl. The enemies were overpowered, my attacks barely did damage, and before I knew it I was fighting pinwheel. Then I spent hours trying the tomb of the giants, then I spent hours trying to leave the catacombs but the skeletons kept regenerating.
@@charlesgauthier8287
Stupid wheel skeletons... ;-;
@@joaquinperez4830
Whenever I'm far away from the surface and need to get somewhere, I just switch out my armor for something much lighter and sprint right through everything and fast roll past the enemies until I reach a bonfire. I keep doing this until I reach the place I need to be.
When I decide to explore underneath the surface, I put on my heavy armor and slowly take my time to get myself back to where I was.
This approach really helped with the skeletons for me.
It's funny I got every feeling he described in this video from the catacombs and Tomb of Giants. Literalyl every step through catacombs was hell but I powered through because I thought I'd find the bell down there since I didnt discover the Depths. Inching my forawrd till I got past Pinwheel and it the ToG without a lantern. I must have died 30 times just brute forcing my through till the end and I discovered I couldnt progress because the Bell wasnt down here and I had to go back. Then I had to power through literally everything I just overcame just to get back to Firelink. That was my bend or break point with the game and I made it through so nothing could stop me now
@@able6542 I've been playing over the game with the Remaster pretty recently, and even with performance lag due to my outdated desktop I still got through Blighttown haha, also with context, when I posted my comment, I was playing the OG release with keyboard and mouse. I'm currently going through the Tombs/Catacombs to fight Nito and I feel that place is rather poorly designed because of how it implements lighting in a game with a weak lighting engine, how I got through it without using a lantern those two years ago is beyond me.
This is why I love dark souls. The challenge of it makes it so that just getting to the next area is enough of a reward in itself.
Imo, the Belfry Gargoyles are the breaking point/baptism for newbies. Happened to both the friends I coached through the game, they didn't even block/roll at first.
I know that feeling. That was the make or break point. They either continued on and played it for hours on end or quit and said the game was bad/too hard haha.
Personally I always saw the Bell Gargoyles as less of a test of will and more as a simple tutorial on summoning. Even a game as challenging as Dark Souls wouldn't expect you to be able beat two tough enemies on your own so early in the game without hours of practice and dozens of failed attempts, so it gives you the option to summon Solaire, which makes the fight a total cakewalk, thereby teaching you a useful mechanic.
I always thought of Quelaag as the boss who serves as the baptism for newbies. With her, you can't afford to fuck up even once or you're basically toast. Plus, once you get past her you can access multiple new areas you previously couldn't. If you want to get to the real meat of the game, you have to get past her.
ManiaMac1613
Lautrec and Solaire can be summoned.
Ärnust for sure, but once you get better at the game it's hard to see them as any kind of challenge. what I should have said in the video was that Blighttown tests my resolve every time I play through the game.
Writing on Games
I see it more as about 1 minute of my life speed running down to the ground haha
I always loved Blighttown, it felt like a big troll from the devs and I honestly enjoyed it a lot.
Crystal Cave is the biggest troll from gamedevs by far IMO. You have these orange messages informing you that you can walk through invisible platforms and then you get the the platform on which dev-message states "Imminent fall" which is WRONG and you have to move along to proceed through level. Not to mention the bullshit you have to go through to get to the Blue Titanite Slab and how many Prism Stones you have to drop to actually move.
lol the first time round I just kept stepping forward little by little to see where the edges were and where they weren't.
Totally. The Crystal Cave feels like one big joke on the developer's part, which is especially bad considering it's 100% required.
"Let's make this big cave with lots of long drops, right? Oh, and let's make the paths FUCKING INVISIBLE!"
"Oh, remember that boss from earlier? How about fighting several of them? Oh but don't worry, they're optional. We're not THAT evil!"
"There's the boss room! Almost there! Oh no, you got stampeded by a herd of GODDAMN CLAMS! Well, ain't that just a bitch?"
I never found Crystal Caves to be hard at all. You just have to have some patience to watch where the flakes drop. You can also mark your path with prism stones if you intend to do some backtracking. Easy.
I actually kinda like the area.
ManiaMac1613
Oh and I forgot mention that you can also shoot arrows if you are not patient enough to observe the flakes.
I personally enjoy areas that require a bit more ingenuity than just swinging your sword, since for me they're often a nice change of pace. I think the Crystal Cave falls into that category. Especially when compared to other areas after receiving the Lorvessel, I think it is actually rather decent along with the Duke's Archives. When it comes down to the gameplay, sometimes you have to have some kind of small gimmicks to make each area feel a bit different from each other. Most of the time when people have problems with gimmicky areas in Souls games, they don't usually fully utilize the tools the developers have included in the game.
Don’t forget that when you get out of Blighttown the firekeeper is usually dead, creating another feeling of dread, anger, and/or sadness
In my first playthrough I saw Lautrec sitting in front of the firekeeper before he killed her and went to talk to him (i didnt realize he was the guy I saw in the cage up above, and I didnt have the key so I hadnt freed him) and he said something along the lines of I dont want to deal with you, go away. So i was like "oh okay its like that then," and killed him then and there, accidently saving the fire keepers life. It was only in new game plus that i realized that was even a thing that happened
Blighttown is a great area conceptually, and really isn't even that bad from a difficulty perspective. The problem is that the PS3 and Xbox versions of the game have frame-rate issues so bad that entire portions of it seem broken. I dare say that Dark Souls, while being one of the best games I've ever played, is also probably the worst optimized console title I've ever seen. It's really almost embarrassing. If you are gonna play Dark Souls 1, play it on PC with DSfix.
true story and good advice
+xdan more fps is all you need :D
The bad port was in PC.
xdan+ Haven't seen any. If you unlock your fps with Dsfix, you can set the fps cap to 30. It makes the framerate more stable (haven't had any problems in Blighttown ever since), but you won't have bugs like falling through the ground when sliding down ladders which can happen at 60fps. Also your jumping distance isn't reduced.
xdan
I actually thought you were referring to some other bugs, since the framerate unlock -option is completely optional and it isn't enabled by default. Dsfix does many other things besides unlocking the framerate. Also the bugs caused by higher framerates are fault of the game and there's nothing Durante could do to fix them.
But yeah, I'm well aware of the bugs that may occur when you unlock your framerate, but I personally haven't experienced any of them, because, as I said, I run the game capped at 30fps.
I love that Blightown also hides a secret area for those willing to explore it, or worse return to it. It feels like a reward to those who can bear its burden, even if the area lacks much in it
We need blighttown because everyone LOVES swamp levels
Hot Shotgun I hate the swamp period!
Hot Shotgun I hate swamp levels
Especially this, Valey of Defilement and the swamp from DkS 3 :)
This is MY swamp... ;o
I love blighttown even more than farron keep
New Londo Ruins. I know the layout and have beaten it, but I will always hate it. I make it my first stop on replays for great souls because I want to be done with it. It's spooky as fuck, has ruthless enemies and most telling of all... not a single bonfire until you beat Four Kings.
PJB Rown I agree. it was the hardest area for me and it actually made me feel uneasy going through it. games never really have that effect on me that area did, which is good in a way. that area is the biggest fuck you to players who don't know what they're doing, since its impossible to complete without other steps being taken first, even though you can get there early. and the 4 kings fight is easily the hardest if you're a light build
four kings is a cakewalk with a decent shield and beatrice witch summon. i literally just tanked them smacked them a couple of time dodged the big purple ball of nope and that was it.
(if you circle them they wont do the big explosion as often)
I dislike the upper half with the ghosts more than the flooded bottom. Darkwraiths are badass and they can dent you hard, but you can make it backstab central. They're relatively few and can be pulled individually. No bonfire, but you can shortcut the Hell out of it -- just drop down by the first stairway. Also mind I only disliked the upper bit in NG+, when the ghosts are still frail but hurt a heckuva lot more. And it may be my impression, but they seemed to number more and aggro from farther away, which is particularly bad when the foe clips through walls and surrounds you in a place with little room to maneuver in, aside from the very start.
Eh, I think Blighttown is just the longest and/or most difficult stretch without a bonfire coupled with a horrible framerate. Combine the two, and dying becomes more irritating than it is anywhere else because it pushes you further away from the next area with a sturdy framerate.
Not to mention the ease of falling to your death. Even as an experienced player I've had more embarrassing fall deaths in Blighttown than anywhere.
I guess I'm kind of weirdo, cuz I fell in love at first sight with blighttown. When I picked DS1 for the first time I was already DS2&DS3 veteran, and when I arrived there I thought to myself "this is what Dark Souls is about".
Piotr Mittag i played through dsl a few weeks ago (after ds3 and ds2) and i gotta admit i felt the same. I felt the nostalgia of the game even tho i never played it (only watched as my brother played through it as i was younger
...and ugly as sin.
I never really felt this way. For me, even on my first playthrough, the only horrible thing about Blighttown was the Toxic blow darts. It was, quite frankly, disappointing.
Blight Town? You mean FALL Town...the fall kills you more then the enemies or poison.
The Depths were my Blighttown
When I got out of there, I felt like I could do anything
I appreciated the sunlight and freedom I had once again and I was steeled to fight and face anything from then on because I felt it couldn't get any worse
The Depths honestly saved me, I don't think I would've become a fan of the series without them
For me it was at Blighttown that i became a fan. At first i just played ds 1 because people said it was good. But i found everything before Blighttown boring when i entered through the gates from the Depths and the lighting changed everything turned upside down for me. For the first time in my playthrough i felt scared and intrigued. As i delved deeper the more i got scared but when i got to the platforms i got so fascinated with the architecture. i tried mapping them all out and it took me 5 hours to see how they all connected and at that moment i realised this game was gonna be one of my favorite games of all time. After finishing Blighttown i realised how much detail went into the level design. Everytime i would get to new areas i would explore everything first before going with the objective and i think i would have never fallen in love with this game without Blighttown.
I was disappointed of how easy the game was until I reached blighttown
I understand your argument, but I'd say finishing Anor Londo is where you know you can beat the rest of the game. Reme,bering my first playthrough, (offline, and no looking at guides) Blighttown really sucked, Sen's Fortress really, really, sucked, and Anor Londo really, really, really sucked, though mostly because of the silver knight snipers and O & S.
rareroe305 Dude, I understand if you disliked Anor Londo, but Sen's Fortress is one the best areas in the whole series.
Oh no, I didn't mean I disliked the area. I meant it sucked to playthrough. As in it kicked my ass.
Oh, okay, my bad. I was wondering if you really thought that O&S was a bad part of the game. The part where I struggled the most during my first playthrough was definitely Tomb Of The Giants (I didn't realize that the Skull Lantern was literally a lantern)
No problem, I wasn't very clear. Anor Londo is my second favourite part of the game.
So you went through without being able to see? That's insane!
rareroe305 Well, I know it sounds hardcore but it took me literally like 40 hours, probably 1/3 of the time that took me to complete the whole game on the first time.
Deepnest from Hollow Knight in a nutshell.
Except Deepnest is waaaaaaaaay scarier
Deepnest is worse. You can barely see in that area, even when you've got the lantern.
It’s more on par with ToG
Something important I wish you had touched on is the feeling of being utterly stuck and hopeless at that first bonfire. You can't go backwards, you feel that you can't go forwards, but the last thing you want to do is give up- unlike future games, there is no easy way out (Warping seriously neutered the efficacy of this game's environmental storytelling and was easily the biggest mistake the franchise ever made- if you ask me, it never recovered. Which makes me think this whole thing might have just been an accident.). It's the ultimate tipping point in the entire game, whether you give in or force yourself to move on through this hell. You might be forced to quit on the experience even though you don't want to because you just don't have any options. This one singular moment, sitting alone at that bonfire between a rock and a hard place, desperately wanting to see what else this game has to offer but dancing on the cusp of giving up thanks to the insurmountable difficulty, absolutely defines the entire dark souls experience to me. I was genuinely disturbed and upset here, I felt actual despair.
The persistent world gave every step a sense of permanence and gravity- If you found a situation that was out of your depth, you just got yourself into a mess that you alone can get yourself out of, and not even the game itself is going to help you. Reminds me of the time I went into tomb of the giants at a low level before I got the lordvessel- that was a shitty two hours, but it's fucking spectacular that the game allows you to do something that stupid and doesn't let you tap out, even as an experienced player like myself. If you take a wrong turn on a new character you might just need to delete it and completely start over. This game has consequences, and Blighttown rams them down your throat all at once like never before. It makes you fear the world itself, just playing the game is intimidating. It's the only game ever to have made me take it so seriously in such a fashion.
dssaas the Blighttown bonfire? I did mention that, yeah.
Skylitze Oh god, you reminded me about my first playthrough. Tomb of giants is hell. Especially if you don't know about lantern or maggot. I went there after pinwheel fight and didn't found exit near first bonfire, so I thinked I needed to complete area first. It was my worst mistake. After I finally beat it, I found barrier that blocked my way. I finally said nah fuck it, and looked online how to escape the Tomb of Giants. It was worst area.
Anor Londo is my first wall. Everything was going fine until someone started shooting massive arrows at me
Yes! I just finished Anor Londo. God dam for the first time I thought it was almost impossible. Those 2 javel guys were instantly knocking me off the building everytime. I tried everything. You cant block them, you can't out run them, you can't use your bow lol. Then one time I made the perfect dodge roll and both the front and the back javelins missed me. Right after i went to attack the guy blocking the path and he fell off before the other javel guy could snipe me from behind again.
Also the boss duo was fun 😉
Higher Level Poker Good luck with the catacombs 😢
@@PythonPlusPlus😯 is that next? Not sure where to go yet. I think 3 doors opened after I placed the lord's vessel
Higher Level Poker There’s the library, the catacombs and the area below the shrine bonfire. I’ve done the library, but rage-quite in the catacombs. Haven’t played in months.
@@PythonPlusPlus oh no that bad eh 😟
I felt so happy after seeing sun when i exited Blighttown. One of the best moments in the game :D
Absolutely - it's like basking in the sun... I had to take a moment to soak up the sunshine (and cover my eyes literally for a few moments).
Big Boss for sure! the way the game handles light/dark and bright/muted colours in terms of its reward structure is utterly fascinating.
You people need to visit the valley of defilement.
Basically you have Blighttown with more Blighttown, and then a little bit Blighttown at the end.
And a lot of depression through the valley, at least when you get what the people there do.
Fucking 5-2 was hell.
I remember giving up on that area pretty much immediately. Though that was before I had hardly any experience, and I'm sure I could handle it and the game in general considerably better now.
Valley of defilement is true king to make you want to smash a controller, the bosses where cake but that area so tough and I don't care about the unlimited health supply best believe I ate more grass than a cow in that area
Then it ends with a great boss fight that never gets old for me. Actually, I'm going to listen to the song from that fight right now.
I never had trouble with it, in fact you can get through 5-2 only fighting one shaman, the enemies on the wood platforms at the end, and one slug with the gold armor before that. You can get through 5-1 with the shortcut jump into the nest in a few minutes. The only part that's objectively hard about that area is the big dudes on the small bridges with more little dudes to clusterfuck you on that tiny little walkway. I do like the 5-3 boss though, and Dirty Colossus had the cool burn mechanic.
One of my brothers thinks he's a gamer but he admitted to giving up after the first boss because he thought the game was too cheap and unfair...
I died because I didn't know what happens when you walk through the door but then I leveled up 20 levels went back in there and won easily...
So far the game is hard but I think it's turning into one of my favorite games. It's definitely not impossible and it's just about timing and being smart about it.
err... no real dark souls fan hate blighttown... they hate lost izalith because it's boring and unfinished...
ohhh man, *bed of chaos"
Eduardo Meneghel
also the "dragon butts" area
Eduardo Meneghel Wait, the name of the Lost Izalith boss is Bed of Chaos? I thought it was called "Falling into Holes."
Holes "The bossfight".
Not to mention the fire spouting meatballs. The first time I saw them, I just thought that the designer must've been in IKEA eating some köttbullars and for a some very strange reason thought they'd make an awesome character design. At that point I kinda anticipated the boss would be a giant bowl of mashed potatoes or something like that.
Well, as it turned out the boss fight was something completely different. I would've preferred the mashed potatoes though.
I was under the impression O&S is where a lot of people give up.
Funnily enough it only took me 5 tries, just keep running and wait for ornstein to charge at you. Gives you time to get 2 hits in then run away before smough charges at you. Honestly artorias was the only boss that I got annoyed with and as soon as I 2 handed my weapon instead of using a shield i did it without dying again lol
Great, they are the next boss for me, cant wait to rage quit
TBH Ornstein and Smough are not that hard, I don’t want to say this to be edgy but you really need to just get good periods.
@@TheMisterFox5559 The Silver Knight Archers before them are much harder in my opinion.
@Bence Varga So fkn true but there’s a way to cheese them with Poison arrow.
The first time I discover Blighttown, I end up spending a whole day just discovering the place. The next day when I moved on to a next place, I feel like I miss Blighttown.
Wow, I've never watched your content and damn that was good. I've felt similar about Bighttown before, as in, it is an utter pain, but it separates people. I've had a couple friends that have said stuff like, "Yeah, I played Dark Souls for a little but those skeletons at the start kicked my ass," or "Oh I gave up so quickly, the first boss was incredibly hard," and I told them what you were supposed to do. They seriously looked at me in a way I can't describe, asking me stuff like "You played all of Dark Souls without a guide?" And it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I honestly don't think I'll ever look at Blighttown the same way, other then the overwhelming amount of salt I feel towards it. Thanks for the great video man, you've earned a new sub just with one video.
Dark Souls might have been a major part of my divorce.
Ryan Nelson How so..?
Evanz111
you cant neglect the wives, my dude. :) I mean, probably put 300 hours into Dark Souls 1.
Sorry to hear...
Dr Manhattan Nah. It's always women. Anyway you still have Sunbro.
but he dies
"If you can survive blighttown you are now steeled enough to make it through the entire game"
Smough and Ornstein: "Are we a joke to you?"
Currently on these fricking headaches.
@@saphireleine took me more than 4-5 hour straight and the help of solarus to beat them.
fox 01 i got so close the other day it was just me and super Ornstein and his health was under a quarter but he stabbed me in the butt
_Ryan_ I just killed them! Used stone armor and black knight great sword +5. Finally!
@@saphireleine ornstein and smough are a masterpiece
3:55 gotta love how the game really rubs it in, you die and THEN your poisoned!
True. I almost quit the game when I got to the entrance of Blighttown. But in the end I conquered it and am very glad I did.
I just want to say that I love this video. For me, Blighttown feels like my first year at college. I felt like I didn't belong and that it was something I needed to power my way through. College was the first time I felt like I needed to be the one to take initiative since it does not elevate you to a position of relative importance. You're the one who has to ask a girl out. You're the one that has to go to the financial aid office to fix an issue with money so your classes don't get cancelled. You're the one that will pass that test. It was hard, but it was always great when I did something right. It too, taught me to appreciate the little victories like coming to terms with transgenders and ultimately befriending them. It was because of this video, I was able to see the parallels between life and Dark Souls.
Why couldn't dark souls 3 have as good map design as dark souls? Makes me sad. Also, no poise.
The new poise system is a great addition to PvP, imo.
TheKillerManfred it RUINS PvE. That breaks the game. If poise were in the game, PvP would arguably be a bit worse, but the PvE would be great.
The Poise system is what ruined PvP in DS1. Well that and backstab chain, it's a 50% chance to escape depending on which way you roll and which way your enemy decides to stab you.
I really think that the old poise was a bit retarded, in DS1 you could face tank and spawn R1 to kill some bosses. the new poise/hyper armor protect you from getting your attack animation canceled every single time without letting you just wait for the enemy to attack first and smash him through his combo. it also avoid stupid things like the naked character with huge weapons, if you go naked people will simply wait for you to attack and then stagger your through your attack animation.
it could use some number tweaks, or course, I'm not saying that DS3 is perfectly balanced, but the poise system is not broken
why not have both? Poise active for non player entitys.
master key, opens shortcut*
hey look i skipped blighttown how nice
And that kids is the tale of how i skipped a frustrating zone
I just got there yesterday. Not a very welcoming place at all
Did you have fun in Tomb of Giants and Sen’s Fortress?
I left it a one star review on Yelp. I was surprised to find my room reeking of toxic sludge, the kitchen staff attacked me with a butcher knife and the whole place was infected with fire breathing spiders. The receptionist tried to steal my sole to feed to her sister and was quite rude. 0/10 would recommend.
@@ryansmith3448
Last time I stayed at Blighttown, the pool was just a stinky lake of made of brown disease-ridden sludge. There were way too many mosquitoes and there were people shooting spitwads at me from straw at me from 100 yards away.
The floorboards and walls were heavily damaged and felt like they were jury-rigged together underneath the sewers.
I would rate this hotel a 3/10.
@@mooganify dont you have to go to the catacombs in order to get to the Tombs of Giant?
@@davidberner8315 o founf blighttown pretty easy even when it was my first time :/
thoughts on the multiplayer aspect:
white signs: people you allow to come into your world, your life, and you let them help you overcome a challenge. You befriend them and enjoy each other's company in a harsh environment.
yellow/golden signs: similar to white signs but you know for a fact that when you let them in they will try their best to help you since helping you reach your goal also helps them reach their goal. Or they are just super friendly and wanna help you no matter what.
red signs: these are toxic people you let into your life. they only wish you are but your unable to make then leave without hurting them. though they do sometimes leave on their own most of the time they won't leave until youve lost something close to you and they can't hurt you anymore than they already have.
Invaders: similar to those of the red sign, but these people don't give you an option. they force their way into your life whether you like it or not. they will hurt you as much as they possibly can and do everything in their power to make you miserable and ensure you never reach your goal.
Blue Phantom: They only show up when an invader appears. They will help you so long as the toxic red is still in your world. They try to protect you as best they can. sometimes they succeed and you are safe for the time being, but they may also fail and you get hurt anyways.
So which phantom are you? do you force your way into other people's lives and try to rip it apart or do you wait for someone to let you in before your start tearing things up? Do you come to the aid of others when they are being attacked but then leave when they are safe? or do you wait for others to let you in and stick with them to the bitter end? in other words, are you a predator, a challenger, a guardian, or a friend?
Stop using the word toxic. Its such a shitty word for basic people.
Lol, strange comment.
Im the blue guy, ill help when your in dire straights but dont expect me to always be very useful or always come to your aid.
I got my own shit to do.
None. Im the guy that plays online but just wants to get through my world. When someone invades i beat their ass and give them the finger (point down finger)
@@jasonhymes3382 this ain't Demon's no more we can't say Plague
The heck is toxic about red's and invaders? There supposed to be there to pose a challenge and if you win that challenge than congrats you get the satisfaction of beating a real person rather than an AI.
If everybody's going to help each other then life's gonna be boring.
Blighttown plays great on PC and because of it, it's actually one of my favorite areas in the game.
They NEED to REMASTER this game!
if only you knew what was coming my guy hahaha. im glad you got what you wanted
Granted but more giant dads and dragon builds exist also Smough armour plus lightning Uchigatana
One of my favorite things someone has said is that Dark Souls and later entries have a feeling of homesick as you travel farther from the current bonfire and known areas, and I feel that Blighttown is the PERFECT representation of this feeling, you fight your way downwards, with little chance (assuming you don't know of the Drakes shortcut, which most people I believe will not on their first playthrough), of making it back up, that feeling of knowing that your only way out is straight through hell, and as said in the video, the feeling of escaping finally and returning out from below, is unparalleled.
I played DS years ago, probably a few months after it released. I had no expectations of the game. None whatsoever. It's easily one of my fave games of all time and def my fave PS3 game. I remember slowly making my way through blighttown... trudging along, fighting, dying, and learning after each death. I remember how dark it was... there was something about seeing that bright light after making it out of that damn dungeon. I remember going to the bonfire in firelink and just feeling so relieved and happy... like this pressure was lifted off my chest lol! Not many games gave me that feeling of being closed in, that psychological battle in your head. Then the feeling of accomplishment. That "omg, I actually made it out of there" feeling. Ppl might hate blighttown, but that place is truly a master piece, and the true test to see how bad you want to get through the game. Now I'm not saying BT is the hardest area, I just think it's important because it's the first time you really get tested. If you make it out of blighttown you should be able to get through the rest of the game with a bit of patience if it's your first play through.
Blight Town is still one of my favorite areas in any video game. The difficulty and the tone that it sets are absolutely perfect, although Quelaag is still a disappointing boss imo.
AnimeAddict The feels you get with the fair lady, tho
Artorias' elite to bad there's a huge ass spider attached to her though...
Still tits tho
Quelaag just feels unconnected from the experience aside that she's a spider. It makes sense in a broader context, but it did feel a bit jarring. Also the boss fight was a bit too easy.
I feel like they made her a bit of an easier boss for the people that speed run the game and go to her first.
I know it's slighty played out now but a gross monster with a nice set of titties is always a fun design choice.
I'd argue that the 2 moments of struggle where you really change are:
1) Defeating the gargoyles, and going from "these are my first steps in Lordran" to "Aight, that was hard but i guess that's my life now"
2) Defeating Ornstain and Smough, and going from "I'm making my way trough some undeads and a few demons too" to "Time to slay some God-like beings"
Valley of Defilement does everything blighttown does, but better. You start out with a much more drastic descent into darkness, finishing the first are with a fight against a mass of sludge. After that, you enter a much more depressing swamp- it's so far deep that you are surrounded in complete darkness. Combined with player messages like "I want to go home" and "I've been in soul form for so long", it creates a much better atmosphere.
I really hope they re-release Demon's Souls for the next gen machines one day. I would love to play it.
SteveDave Steve Minuse BS like item burden and the inability to rest at bonfires.
Also they should add the Land of Giants, should they re-release it.
FilthyFrankVEVO Yes. They could definitely tweak the game mechanics to make it similar to the others... I do like the idea of being able to warp between Bonfires... but maybe not at the start like in DS1
SteveDave Steve I agree, interconnected world is best.
They should get rid of world tendency, and change to 4 ring slots.
FilthyFrankVEVO Yess 4 Rings are so much better. Also I do like the extra quick item slots they use in Bloodborne... it's quite handy!
Never before have I seen a game series that bases so much of its theme and story on the player rage quitting (or "hollowing" if you will)
I love this video. My friend was about to give up on Dark Souls as a whole on this level. Showed him this video and it was such a morale boost! Great analysis! Don't you dare go Hollow!
Only 20 seconds in but Blighttown is despised because of the lag on console
I would say Tomb of the Giants does a better job. The place itself an enemy the same as the actual enemies which themselves are sort of like puzzles. I agree that conquering blighttown after the depths cements your commitment to the game, but TOG better tests your resolve. After you've gone through the game a couples times the shortcut through Valley of the Drakes cuts your time in Blighttown down to a few minutes at best.
john smith the only thing about that is that if youve got to the tomb of giants you're already fairly comitted
Joshua Reed yeah, that's my view on it. Blighttown is essentially the final tutorial for me - after that, it's about taking what you've learned going forward. The darkness of TotG acts as a figurative sludge (or rather, demands the player treat it as such) - it doesn't hurt you in the way Blighttown does, but TotG demands that you move as slowly as you were forced to in Blighttown.
Can I add that TotG does do something Blight Town does not, its darkness is almost a buff in and of itself to the enemies. While the sludge may hinder movement, it was never a big hinderance to me in combat. Honestly, with the exception of the blow dart enemies, I have actually become fairly used to managing all of BT's its various hazards and adversaries. However, because of its superior fog in the form of darkness, I still dread the tomb everytime my playthroughs progress to it. I can agree that Blight Town is the final Rite of Passage for any Dark Souls player, but I firmly believe that TotG is a much better vertical maze having you decesd through an entire dungeon of its own before effectively making you blind. On top of that, being unable to see makes every enemy and every ledge a bigger threat, often having to trade sight for power or defensive. Lastly, its late game status makes it harder to memorize in a game that autosaves the way Dark Souls does.
Soooo well put. You can see the bell tower where you fight the gargoyles from the very start, it's a tangible goal that is physically there waiting for you and it feels great to finally push through the jump in difficulty and you expect it to be the same for the second bell. Quickly you learn that it's not the case whatsoever and you continuously have to push downward towards something you can't even see fighting horrors that haven't seen the light of day in centuries. Before, you could make mistakes occasionally and still quickly adapt and succeed without much punishment, but in Blighttown a single misstep or poison dart or enemy attack can put you at great risk. Where previously there were shortcuts, tools, and npcs helping you along your merry way, now you are alone with nowhere to go but down. It teaches you to be prepared, deliberate, and careful with every step or you will be punished severely.
While Blighttown itself isn't overly difficult once you know how to deal with all the threats, it prepares you for the unforgivable and relentless nature of what's to come in your journey. There's nothing like the brief moment of happiness after finding the bonfire at the bottom, only to be hit with instant dread at the realization of where you are despite your victory, you eventually have to climb back out of the border of hell itself. You *conquer* Undead Parish and the Gargoyles, but you *survive* Blighttown and Quelaag.
Funnily enough, I always found myself dreading The Depths more than Blightttown. Anyway, very thought provoking and interesting video as usual!
Thank you for watching! I think for me the thing that pushes Blighttown over the edge is 1) the fucking sludge and 2) the enemies that inflict toxic damage on you. The panic those things instil in me to this day are unmatched anywhere in the game. The Depths is still fucking harrowing though.
Writing on Games Those are definitely good reasons to dislike the area. I just like the atmosphere and aesthetic design of Blighttown more. It's a small reason to prefer an area, but when you're spending a relatively large amount of time in one area, it goes a long way (for me anyway). The Depths just feels like a never ending snooze fest.
I remember wearing a ring that made me traverse the sludge easily so Blighttown was no biggie for me.
I still think that Blighttown is the high-watermark of Dark Souls level design though. By far the most intricate area, and it is very large without feeling straightforward or barren like Anor Londo (or indeed Lost Izalith).
Monolith Preacher Honestly, I actually forgot about Lost Izalith until I watched this video, so that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the area.
"Resistance is a useless stat!" They said. "You should just ignore it!" They said.
I'm sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over the sound of me strolling through Blighttown without taking a lick of damage.
but then you can't min/max you scrub
lel, just equip the pyromancer or gold-hemmed set. that way, the only time you should ever get poisoned is when you're running from Quelaag's Domain to the elevator, assuming you're skipping the boulder-throwing giants.
ManiaMac1613 "I'M UNTOUCHABLE," Resistance Man screamed as the only armour he could wear got cut through like butter by Quelaag ;)
Equip armor with poison resistance... Why waste levels on a stat you only need for that one area. Or just out-heal the poison.
I'm on my very first Dark Souls playthrough and I just reached Blighttown today. I'm loving the atmosphere and art style but I'm ill prepared for it as I didn't bring very much moss with me
Blightown is a huge challenge yes, but I believe Sen's + O & S is where the largest number of people were weeded out.
Although saying that 7.5% of players who rang the first bell failed to ring the second bell i.e pass blightown. vs. Only 4% of players failing to attain the Lord vessel of those who rang the second bell. Source: steamcommunity.com/stats/211420/achievements/
Ha plebs
The Dukes Archives just sucked. It was just a bunch of enemies in tight corridors
Quite literally wrong =D
A Namless King its one of the most boring, tedious areas
Sounds like Dark Souls 2
Tomb of Giants give me PTSD everytime I enter a dark place in video games
dude I can't wait for you to play bloodborne damn such a good game can't wait for your opinion of the game you will enjoy it mate
It's the same deal with The Gutter in Dark Souls 2, only after traversing through it on three different playthroughs and dreading every step, i realized that this was the best area in the entire game, no other place made me feel so terrified, lost, and hooked on exploring.
Except that means you have to play through Dark Souls 2 again. Gross
dark souls 2 is my favorite
That just means that it's clearly the first one you played, that's the only time it's people's favorite.
StoryoftheYear16 actually i played ds1 first
Then you realise the gutter is just blighttown 2.0, which kinda takes away from the significance of it. But of course, blighttown is just the valley of defilement again, but nobody ever played demon's souls...
It took me forever to realize you don’t need the master key to skip the depths.
I can relate to this comment lol
Sure, Blighttown... but what about Zen Fortress? I got through Blighttown easily enough, but Zen fuck me so hard I now have flashbacks.
Sen's Fortress gave me more nightmares than blightown... In Blightown you just have to take it slow and not fall down...
I've never had a problem with Sens Fortress, The most difficult part of the game for me was the Anor Londo archers :P
I wonder how long I can make this username, seriously though, this was Googles big "Improvement?" its one of the most interesting and fun areas for me
Whats wrong with sens aside from the bonfire? :p
I'm stuck at the tomb of giants. It's too fucking dark.
You should play Demon's souls. I think you'd enjoy the Valley of Defilement
If you look above from certain ooints, you can see the sky and the walls of Lordran even when you're at the bottom of Blighttown. It's what I love the most about that place, the fact that, despite being soaked deep in poisonous stinking mud, it's still connected to the outside somehow. Being able to see the sky from Blighttown must be like seeing the outside world from a jail cell.
Blighttown is when Dark Souls stops fucking around
I've been playing through Dark Souls for the first time, mostly blind. I just finished Blighttown earlier today and FUCK THAT PLACE. No amount of clever symbolism or well-made videos will make me like the place, despite the points in the video being completely valid.
ikr?! I remember missing an item or two from blighttown but when I defeated Qualaag I was like FUCK THIS PLACE, and I noped the fuck back to firelink shrine.
Sen's Fortress is one of my favorite places in the game, I have no idea why so many hate it. Even if it felt tricky at first. (won't spoil since you might not have reached this part yet).
I'm going through Sen's Fortress right now and I don't care for it. It's not as bad as Blighttown, but the traps are driving me crazy.
Patrick Bever-Chritton if you learn to use them to your advantage (i.e. kill or push an enemy with it) then they can fun. One of the two serpents at the start of the fortress can be killed purely with the arrow trap and correct positioning and the serpent atthe axe path can be pushed by the axes which allows you more than enough time to pass safely.
Tip: Keep your shield up against lightning projectiles or roll, or better yet snipe those cobra bitches (safest way if you don't allow yourself to get hit while aiming).
Thanks for the advice. I actually reached the Iron Golem boss, and I'm trying to kill him on my own without summoning. First try did not go so well because I didn't realize you could kill the firebomb-throwing giant...
pro tip: you can skip blighttown almost completely with the master key by going through the back entrance.