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This is literally the only place in the entire world where you can see footage of a man performing a song from Oklahoma overlayed over footage of a Dark Souls boss battle, and that's rad as hell
"This is literally the only place in the entire world where you can see footage of a man performing a song from Oklahoma overlayed over footage of a Dark Souls boss battle, and that's rad as hell" Except Nebula, right?
I did the "bad" ending of Dark Souls 3 where I relit the flame, and the sheer anticlimax of it was one of the most powerful game endings I've ever experienced. After all those hours of loud, bloody, grueling gameplay... you just slowly sit down, alone with your dubious victory, the world around you as quiet as a grave.
Summoning the Fire Keeper to snuff out the flame is probably the best ending. I got the impression that this was the last cycle even if you rekindled the flame, so it was better to just let it die. All other endings basically just have you use the flame to keep the world going, even the Londor ending, and the painting being made in the DLC wouldn't have mattered either way.
What makes it even better is that you see Soul of Cinder also sitting in exactly same pose before you enter the arena. Looking at fire and resting for who knows how long.
I never noticed before, but the painting kinda looks like red curtains being drawn back. From my perspective in game it was always just some red smudges and some white. From the video there was a kind of remove or abstraction and I'm wondering how I missed it after so many play throughs.
When I was younger Dark Souls was about fighting your way through great adversity to obtain your goal no matter what, but as I grew up I realized that it's always been about letting go and moving on, the whole series happens because Gwyn couldn't let go of the age of fire and wouldn't let humanity move move on to our full potential, most of the bosses in the series are twisted and fallen because of their inability to let go of something, be it power, a loved one, or a memory. I find it funny that playing the games at different times in my life revealed such different messages.
I think the "let it go" interpretation is based on what is, essentially, a misconception. The only person who gives you the impression that Gwyn burned himself selfishly (selfishly committing suicide to... preserve his own rule, somehow?) is Kaathe. He tells you that the Dark Soul is supreme, that Humanity is the next fate, and that Dark isn't a bad thing. He says this over the corpses of the Four Kings in New Londo, ravaged and mutated by Dark and consumed by Abyss because they listened to him. And if you did things the extra-special way, you're coming from Oolacile, where they also fell for his spiel and ended up releasing The Abyss to begin with. What is Kaathe's proposition? "Snuff the flame, become the new Lord". A direct mirror to Frampt's with the very same carrot, who he's clearly in league with. There isn't a single NPC in the game who embraces Dark and isn't horrendously mutated and savaged by it. Hollowing is caused not by the Flame's unnatural lifespan, but by the First Flame fading which it was doing anyway. Beef jerky zombie men are the norm, not an exceptional circumstance, and you see this before the game begins. So how is reverting the world to that state good for the humans that don't exist within it? How many humans embroiled in Dark gain anything other than a bad case of monsteritis, and why would you be different? What evidence is there that the Age of Dark is natural, and not another abberation caused by the creation of the Abyss thanks to Kaathe's manipulation? Moreover, what do the Serpents have to gain from either of this, and why would they help you? Their goals align no matter what you do. For me, a much more compelling message has been "live, and learn". The player starts off in a state of total disorientation and slowly unravels these mysteries by progressing forward and growing, and always seeking more truth. You hear of things like the Chaos Witch of Izalith long before you see her, and the fact that you're going to see her isn't even obvious until you're down there. And yet by inching forward and being insatiably hungry for a deeper understanding, one can piece together everything until you're able to understand what's going on, and guess what's happening before you get there. This carries through into NPC questlines too. Seeing Quelaag for the first time makes you think she's just a scary monster lady, then you meet the Fair Lady, hear that Quelaag was hunting people simply to ease her sister's suffering, and learn that the Daughters of Chaos are still people, ultimately, capable of intelligence and mercy and wrath. Later you meet Quelana, but you already know enough to guess she's another Daughter, and you can guess her goals: protect her last sister, and end her mother's suffering and the danger she poses. She's fully formed because the player sought out the knowledge and insight into this world. That's the core difference between Hollows and humans in Dark Souls 1. A human can grow, and a Hollow can merely persist. That's what I think Miyazaki wanted to convey by having both sides being the same. The player is meant to think "am I being played by this one, too?" when they meet Kaathe, because the lesson is that the Serpents can't really be trusted. Ultimately I think Dark Souls 2 did the most damage to the lore in this regard, but that's a wider problem with that game being forced to shoehorn in a First Flame 4 Lord Soul plot where it wasn't needed.
@@jacksmith3148 I wouldn't consider it a misconception, Gwyn did burn himself selfishly to preserve his own kind, admirable to some, a monster to most, his actions doomed the world by making it a cycle that distorts with every round done. He lied, he cheated and he stabbed the race that helped him get to where he was, maybe the age of dark isn't benign like the snakes tell us but at least there's a chance, you talk about the 4 kings and Oolacile but what about the goddamn ring of fire in the sun that turns people into monster just as much if not worse (probably worse) than the dark? There's only two choices, hold on and go to a steadfast death or let go and hope for the best.
When I told my friends Dark Souls 3 had my favorite souls story and setting no one understood why even after I tried telling them that it's about "ending everything". Time starts looping in on itself, regurgitating stories, feats and achievements until they help no symbolism to the point that is better and logical to forget about them and move on. I feel like I consolidated thoughts that I couldn't express on this game after watching this video, thank you .
As cool and interesting as the series lore is, I feel like it blinds a lot of people to the actual story being told by the series. This at least partially explains why people don't give DS3 the credit it deserves, they can't see past the supposedly derivative lore in the game.
Same hat, Dark Souls 3 is my favorite game of all time, its themes are so profoundly interesting and multi-layered that I could spend years just listening to people talk about them and also talking about them to others. The first time I finished the game and the fire just...sputtered out despite my best efforts, I kind of just sat there, stunned. When Ringed City came out and the fallout of what the world comes to is ultimately revealed, it hits even harder.
Gael helped you out to slay him. He endured until the end of time so that he is the last living thing, therefore the only possible vessel for the dark soul. But he knew he was going to go insane. So he needed someone to slay him (you) to get the blood of the Dark Soul. Even then, when he sees you he thinks you have the Dark Soul, for having gone hollow he no longer can think consistently, to think that he indeed had taken every life in the world is impossible, once he sees somone else, he doesn't even remember you, he only thinks you are "another one" to slay to get the Dark Soul (of which he already has inside him). Gael's sacrifice for humanity is so selfless that makes Gwyn's sacrifice for the gods look like child's play. He had to think so much in advance, endure so much in a world he hated, seeing its ash taking it over completely, surviving far past those he cared for, only for the small hope that YOU succeded in taking his life in that insane, techically successful, final state of his. That in your kindness you may even then go back and take his blood to his niece, which in his time has long passed away (does he even know that somone could maybe go forward in time? That even this might be a legend he had to blindly believe in order to attempt his plans?). But as a Slave Knight, this is all he knows how to do. Being sacrifical is his job, tiring other foes until the main troops arrive. All to give a small home for humanity. He survived eternity and infinity, in an elaborate suicide plan with close to zero chances of having success, to never see the fruits of his labor, when in the world, by any metric, both his labor and sin had to be endless to even be able to kickstart this vision. That is the true ending to DS3. Shame that it was DLC. But it makes sense. In the first DLC in the series you fight the first incarnation of the Dark Soul. In the final DLC you fight the last.
I hit that like button as hard as I could. In the end, cheap comedy comments using the same format seen on almost every other video with a substantial amount of views on this site will be at the top but, I just have hope that more will see this. Thank you for writing this.
Every human has a piece of the dark soul inside. Gael fights you because you have the last piece, but in defeating him it’s you who finishes with the entire soul
The "descent" of Audrey Horne in The Return is one of the most harrowing and satisfying character arcs I've seen in television. We're absolutely blessed that we were able to see The Return realized in the first place. 🥰
Haunting? It felt hopeful to me, even in the dark we still live, we were so scared of letting the flame fade for so long and for what? We didn't need it and will endure without it.
I feel like every one of your video essays is like a long form version of the critic review at the end of Ratatouille. Like, your reviews are genuinely affective. Thanks for putting these out there.
it sold ten million copies in the past five years? FIVE YEARS? It's been so long since I stayed up ALL NIGHT on release day trying to make it through Farron Keep before the sun came up and I had to go to school? What the hell
'The strands stretch across realities, binding them together, intertwining timelines and dimensions, in a rich tapestry of fibres that gleam with the light of 10'000 suns. Their reach is infinite. They are the foundation to which the universe is built upon. Yet, to the average passer-by, they look like a simple mustache.'
But, this hair isn't so thin at all. On the microscopic level, fibers hug each other, the combined threads forming a monument that pierces its way through the skin. Each hair blocks the air from travelling freely, traps the heat, reflects light, closes you off from the full feeling of touch. It's a pause then, so to speak, a barrier, yet not a wall.
God, this may genuinely be my favourite thing you've made. I'm Thinking of Ending Things was one of the most cerebral, impactful films on me in recent years and to see someone take almost exactly my feelings on that film and make a truly brilliant comparison to another piece of media that I absolutely adore means a lot to me. Thanks Jacob.
The rotten painting fits into this theme perfectly as well! It is supposed to be burnt away by the fire but Friede and Father Ariandel don't want to let go of it. They prolong it's existence artificially which leads to terrible rot and disease. Eventually though it doesn't matter because someone will come and bring flame to the painting.
It's a perfect reflection of the creative process. Do you move on to make bigger and better things? Or do you cling to what garnered a positive response until it withers away?
It pretty much matches up with what is happening with the world. They're keeping the world extended via the paintings and it's getting worse and worse. Similar to how kindling the fire isn't helping, it's just delaying the inevitable.
@@GigaWh4tt I've always found it amusing seeing people get upset at the art that is deliberately designed to be "not art" (Like say, a blank canvas) when that is exactly the point, and thus the art successfully engaged their emotions in the way the artist intended. Art is about the feeling it gives you more than anything.
@@ThrottleKitty I liked that Jacob Gellar video as well lol. When I see "Non-Art" like the blank canvas, I feel... confusion? Confusion as to why people would be so angry at something that simply exists & does nothing to affect them negatively. Mostly though, I feel confusion as to what the purpose of the piece in question is.
@@GigaWh4tt I felt that before his video, but he sums it up well. I personally dislike art that is "confusing on purpose", but I respect it for doing what it does well. I think it's just cause I'm not the intended viewer. The intended viewer is someone with really strict personal ideas of what they consider to be "Art". I consider anything intended to be art as art, so for me it doesn't challenge my sensibilities or confuse me. I do find it impressive how unreasonable they make the people who hate it look though. It's usually people who are very hateful with very strict worldviews who hate "blank" art, and watching them lose their shit at LITERALLY NOTHING is a godamn hilarious and brilliant ay of juxtaposing their beliefs against the beliefs of those they are usually angry at.
Yeah it feels like the ending of DS3 and it’s DLC’s wrapped everything up in a neat little bow. Love the series but I’m ok if we never get a continuation, just maybe a re vamp in the future like DS. Honestly elden ring looks neat concept wise so I’m excited for whatever comes next.
@@trevor0245 I hope Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring don't get sequels and From continues making one-off concepts which is what they appear to be doing.
this is the wildest connection ive ever seen and I can't believe how perfect it is. what a fantastic video. this is true artistic analysis. thank you for actually looking at a video game from a truly artistic viewpoint.
Dark Souls 3 is basically a parody of a game sequel. All the things that came on the previous games **have** to show up. That concept is so interesting.
If you watch Noah Caldwell-Gervais' essay on his Dark Souls retrospective, he essentially also comes to the same conclusion. It's also why he thinks narratively, Dark Souls 2 makes the boldest choice of basically painting you as a monster for continuing the cycle.
I think the analogy can continue in a sense. I feel that one of the many aspects that led Jake to end things was stagnation, it was ending up emotionally and socially stunted because of a reliance on his past. He constantly reflects on his parents, their dismissiveness of his appreciation for art in paintings, film, poetry. All of Jake's "greatest accomplishments" were from when he was 7 or 8 years old, the only time his parents seemed to be proud of him. His worldview is so distorted by so much of his past that he retreats there to escape his current state, and he does it over and over, for god knows how long, the ice cream in the bin outside the school imply as much, this has been cycling for so long. And so, the way I would read the analogy to continue is just that, retreating into what was stunts growth, it stops people from evolving, from discovering new things, it keeps you stuck, and Jake was stuck. Dark Souls continuing on indefinitely would've led to creative bankruptcy and a lack of fulfilment, the spark of passion gone. Dark Souls 3 feels like Miyazaki saying "it's time to move on to other things, but dark souls will be a core component of everything we ever make from now until forever", the painter at the end of the DLC solidifies that. And so to port that idea over to Jake. Had he not spent so much time in his head, had he allowed himself to move past his trauma, his past, his guilt and his regret, if he's taken that first step on a long road toward healing, he wouldn't be in the dire position he is now. The past is powerful, and it's important but we can't get lost there or we lose ourselves, learn from it, grow from it and move on into a brighter future.
@@menage6051 im pretty sure he could tell by the various times its said in the last area. Or the prompt when giving it to the painter. or the fact that the item is called "blood of the dark soul"
@@zade8586 I'm just surprised he didn't mention it. So I brought it up here to corroborate his argument. It's a pretty straightforward metaphor I had never noticed before, so kudos to Jacob.
I've always thought 3 got a bit of a bad rap. "It's derivative of the first game"? I think it's meant to be. The developers sat down and unironically made the Dark Souls of Dark Souls. It's always darkest before the soul and so forth.
Yeah, it's so clearly a meditation on the series and the cycles repeating in the lore. I am shocked that people just took it at face value and felt like it had no new ideas. It's not repeating plot points, it's saying "what if plot points repeated?". Slightly but MASSIVELY different.
@@smirfbroil6934 Nope. I jumped in at Demon's Souls on PS3. Played them all as they came out. I think Dark Souls 3 is the best of the DS games. It refines the gameplay in every way. I think it has the most creative bosses. And I love the collapsing in on itself story, as this video explores.
I greatly appreciate the fight with Gael because it's extremely symbolic: two humans fighting at the end of the world over something that doesn't matter any more. And yet, it's the only thing that ever really mattered. Defeating Gael and collecting the "blood of the Dark Soul" is arguably the only important thing that happens in the entire franchise, because everything else is just delaying the inevitable.
@@DarkLord3709 that sounds like a good theory, the entire world is either hollow or in the process with almost no hope of escaping Hollowing, and the world itself has been branded, contorting into itself to finally lay to rest, the end the entire world yearns for
I think that's a great way to put it, the Darksign Sun is the world itself going dark, like how humans turn into Hollows. But I wouldn't say its the end of the world, in the end the world of Dark Souls doesnt actually die. It's always stated that way from the gods, Gwyn and his followers, always so adamant that an end to fire is the end of the world, of life. But that's not true, that's the gods being afraid of *their* end, of *their* rule and world. Remember that's its also constantly said the age after the fire fades will be the Age of Man, or Age of Dark. In the end the world doesn't die, it changes into a dark world that's meant to be ruled by humanity. Letting the fire fade isn't killing reality, it's letting someone else finally take the reins and make something better-- and the gods' interference is desperate futile struggling to keep in power when every attempt to do so just stagnates and harms the world more. You could ALSO apply that to real life. Dying is inevitable and struggling against it is both pointless and harmful, at least mentally. The best fate we can ask for, much like DS3 states in its themes, is to let go and let the next generation take your world and make something better of it, whether its by fixing what was broken or improving what's already great.
@@TowerArcanaCrow There are powerful parallels between Gwyn's unwillingness to let the Age of Fire end, and a concept in leftist theory called Capitalist Realism. In our world, it's easier for many (especially those in power) to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of Capitalism. To the point where the rich actively work, at every step of the way, to interfere with anything that could end the present system. Even if that means ruining the world. They would rather kill the world, than cede power and wealth to the masses. That's Gwyn and his ilk in a nutshell. The idea of humanity rising up and becoming the masters of the world is so existentially terrifying, Gwyn would rather burn himself alive just to forestall it. And everyone aligned with Gwyn's aims would burn themselves - or make other people burn in their stead - to perpetuate it further. All to keep the present power structures going. Until the Age of Fire has been artificially extended for so long, it has worn the world down to the stumps. Kept the fire burning, until anything and everything has been used as fuel, and nothing remains but blackened stone and mountains of ash. It is easier for them to imagine the end of the world than the end of the Age of Fire.
@@DakkaSolae It would be fitting, that Gwyn's brand had grown so powerful over countless cycles, it grew to eclipse the sun he championed. What was once a shackle for humans became a shackle for the world. Slowly strangling it to death.
I always thought that the fact the dragon looks like an anorexic goat and miracles being useless was just a nod to the fact that the gods are dead and the dragons are gone making them weak
@@laughingman9574 You can't even make a good miracle build, the only good miracles are the healing ones and ToD, the fucking flying disc thing is useless.
@@PyroFTB Yes, you can. All lightning miracles are great, stake, spear and all of that, I made killer pve build with miracles, and you can go watch ChasetheBro for pvp and what miracles can do. Way of the white Corona is garbage, that I agree
Currently researching video games and meaning for an academic conference and yet all of the peer-reviewed journals can't hold a candle to the type of analysis you provide in your videos. Fucking amazing as always. Please keep promoting video games as works of art.
"Tiny flames dancing in the dark. Ashen One, hearest thou my voice, still?" I want to believe that the ending where you snuff out the First Flame with the Fire Keeper is a new beginning for the gods-forsaken world I cut a bloody swathe through for the sake of keeping a glorified campfire lit. Considering the world of Dark Souls, it might be a worse existence than the last. But I have hope that with that ending, the world has a chance to be made anew
I think the tiny flames dancing in the dark are an implication that you're, in some sense, pushing a proper reset button on the world. It's how it all started, wasn't it? Heat and Cold, Light and Dark. Disparity. Tiny flames in the darkness, and the meek things that cradled them and grew to be gods. Which could either sound like a great idea or a terrible one, depending on your disposition!
@@pedroscoponi4905 Thing is, the flames are pretty much linked to the Undead Curse made by Gwin which pretty much enslaves humanity out of fear for their power (mainly because they are linked with the Abyss). For me, the best ending is to stop the chain by literally removing the fire and bringing out the Age of Dark. It removes the curse and makes sure that humanity isn't enslaved anymore. As long as the fire comes back, humanity is going to end up being enslaved again by the Old Gods.
I still hold onto the fan theory that regardless of how the Age of Fire ends, it eventually leads to the world of Bloodborne, or as I like to call it "the Age of Blood".
The other possibility is that the end of the fire brings the end of disparity, and the age of dark, and the dark may very well be an age of infinite death and devoid of motion (as the abyss, the cold and the darkness also suggest inertia), and after that decay even further in a colorless fog, mist and stone coming to life as dragons, closing the circle in an even more bleak way as there's no real escape from the cicle of the ages
Dark Souls 3 is the classiest way Miyazaki shouts back at fans and tell them he hates sequels and won’t do a series again, and its a joy to go through such a unique experience.
This is honestly probably the most chilling game/film analysis I’ve ever seen on UA-cam. Your comparisons and connections between DS3 and the film are some of the most interesting I’ve seen in my three years of professionally watching video essays in my pajamas. Chillingly beautiful
I’m Thinking of Ending Things was one of the most brilliant surprises of a film for me. I went into it completely blind, I hadn’t even seen a trailer or read a review. It kind of blew my mind, and as a horror buff, I can comfortably say it was one of the most unsettling movies I have ever seen. Truly genius.
@@cgijokerman5787 just finished watching it, wow! I tought i would like it but it completely blew away my expectations. What an amazing film. And you are totally right when you say it's about the journey
The ultimate message of Dark Souls has always been to take losses and move on, it's the core aspect of it's gameplay. Every part of it is a meditation on loss and losing
I think that the Ash Lake could be a video by itself. You are at the bottom of the world... at a beautiful lake, never-ending trees and probably one of the few truly peaceful atmospheres. There is just something untouched by fire and man, probably what the world would have been without fire. It's probably a lot like what the painter would draw "Twill be a cold, dark, and very gentle place. And one day, it will make someone a goodly home."
When you said this story was exhausted, I think it's supposed to be. This world is on it's last legs. When you relight the First Flame, you don't get a brilliant explosion like the first game, but a sad, barely flickering fire. The bosses further emphasize this with their design. This is a game about exhaustion, of needing things to end.
Combining the Lore and Vibes, this is what I settled on: The world of Darksouls is (as you said) exhausted from being stretched far beyond it's natural span of the age of fire, and it needs the dark to heal and piece itself back together. This is Death, and the need to let go otherwise things get warped and pained as they are forced to continue. The saving grace is the "blood of the Dark Soul". The Dark Soul is the soul of mankind, and the "Cold, Gentle" world the girl paints with it is therefore a sort of Heaven made of and for the souls of mankind that comprise it. Whether that heaven is literally an eternal afterlife or eternal memory etc. is kinda up to the belief of the individual. But the prospect of this world is what makes the pain and everything before worth it. Otherwise we would be left with ending a world that was warped and exhausted for no reason, and that's too bleak, even for Dark Souls.
The way I always saw it, fire represents purpose and ideals, whereas dark is peaceful albeit nihilistic. Gwyn feared more than anything the collapse of his kingdom, because that would prove his efforts WERE for nothing. He deceives mankind into fearing their own, creating an endless cycle of adversity that generates nothing but suffering, all for the sake of providing a paradoxical sense of purpose. Dark is associated with human emotions, which contest Gwyn's worldview of unending advancement. It shows what we are at our core, being dimwitted, yet harmonious creatures that desire nothing more than basic amenities and camaraderie-more like animals, ironically. This is the uninteresting reality of our species, though we may pretend to exist under some guise of genius. However, fire and dark are bound to compete unless either can be teased from the other, without destroying both entirely (if that's even possible). This is where the painting comes into play. It's a sort of ark, providing shelter for those weary of conflict. In filtering dark from fire, mankind is at last offered freedom, no longer bound by a singular monarch's decree. That's why the painter requires two keys: the vision of fire, and the pigment of dark. Those who seek purpose may do so on one side, whereas those in search of rest will find it on the other. This was the intention behind Ariamis and Ariandel, but they lacked the required keys to sustain it from rot, and the disparity eventually took hold again. Whether it will really work is up to anyone's guess, but at least it provides a chance. After all, "luck" is the hidden might of humanity.
Indeed. If we went through all those punishing hours of gameplay and brutal bosses just to put down the dying universe and there was no hope for anything beyond it, the series would have nothing to distinguish itself from every other pretentious edgelord everything-sucks wankfest, and it would suck. The fact that a new world is born even after everything you’ve been through makes it all worth it.
ive had a script lying around for years with the same reading (but from a slightly different angle). im honestly a bit upset that i never took the time to finish it, but if someone was gonna get there before me im glad it was you, you have such an excellent vibe
Love this. The way that Mergo's Lullaby and the Hunter's Dream theme come in was so good. In DS3, if you end the fire, the firekeeper will talk about seeing 'tiny flames' appearing across the dark. Also in Ashes of Ariandel, this little bird guy (idk his name) says 'that's one thing we do better. When our world dies, we start anew' or something like that. It really makes clear how linking the fire in the first game was ultimately a losing game, and the importance of letting things die so new things can replace them.
The way you described the ending with the new world being painted - I don't know why - but it made me weep a little. I guess I needed someone to explain the beauty of this game to me.
Son, let me tell you the Story of Dark Souls 1: There's a swamp with Demons in it, and There was this big door you had to open, And there was this man, the Abyss... watcher I think. He was... corrupted by darkness, but maybe still true to his calling. You had to fight this naked dragon thing, that had a halfbreed Baby with a godqueen once, and that Baby could... go invisible! There was the yellow thing that invaded you and the guy in the Spike armour.
I was dropped from law school recently and it's been really difficult. This is helping me process that loss. Thank you. EDIT: Thanks for kind replies everyone. I got an interview for an opportunity I'm really excited for!
You've got this. My poor mental health lead to me getting dropped from my Masters program this year as well. This doesn't mean you're a failure or an idiot. You'll get through this.
You can do it, I screwed up my shot at a degree but made the best of things anyway Weirdly enough I think my life is turning out better for having failed, so don't ever tell yourself you have no chance!
This video single handedly showed me that this movie that I thought was pretentious and awful was actually well filmed and I was just too dumb to realize it. This is probably the best video essay of all time. Thank you for making this.
Both of those ideas can be true. A movie can be pretentious while also possessing unexpected depth. :p You should look up an analysis of The Last of Us 2 on the channel "Like Stories of Old". I really really despised the story, still do to a large extent. But I have a respect for it now.
In the end of Dark Souls 3 DLC, you take the Dark Soul of the world and give it to the painter to create a new world, I think it's a genius allegory on taking the lessons that were learned from the Dark Souls franchise to give life to a new game. A new world from the ashes of the dying old one, just absolute genius. Great video, Jacob, there's a reason why you're my favorite creator on UA-cam.
I played dark souls 3 at a really bad time in my life. Unmotivated, incredibly depressed, lonely, that’s all I knew for the longest time. There was a sale for ds3, everything for ten bucks, why not. (I’m crying typing this out) and as I began playing, I realized that there was something there. Beating Gundyr for the first time, fighting that stupid tree, god it was all so good. I had a purpose now, just to beat this game. First I beat the base game, leaving the dlc untouched. I didn’t want to be “done.” I then played again, and again. At one point I played through the dlc, leaving midir alive this time, my final expedition. I’ve killed every boss at this point, countless invasions of players, as many that can fit into 1000 hours. Thank you dark souls 3. I may have not been here without you. (Also Gael’s theme makes me cry every time)
@@Wykesidefruitmachine I can say I’m doing a bit better now. Still untouched trauma with my childhood and dead relatives, but alas. With the game completed, and no game giving me such a feeling, I found my new midir. In such a terrible year, my senior year has been torn asunder, but I’ve failed too many classes in my lifetime. It’s my last year I’ll make it the best, shooting for all As and Bs this go around. I just can’t believe some video game motivated me more than anything else haha
@Omnius Maximus Gluteus LXIX how’d you know I was a Vaush fan haha, just watched it and I never knew the change from man to hollow. Take it as a motivator to never go hollow again, or at least try my damndest
Dark Souls 3 will forever be my favorite souls game, It's a story made of the wisps of a fading world in which fading people live. It's a beautiful game that I think deserves more attention for its place in the series. It's the tragically beautiful ending to a tragically beautiful series that I will forever hold dear to my heart because of how important it is to me. Thank you so much for covering DS3 I really enjoyed the essay and I'm definitely going to check out some of your other content!
Here is how I've overall understood the story of Dark Souls 3: The Firelink Shrine you wake up is the present time. Bonfires in the first game had been established to be capable of traveling in time, travelling to specific points in time. So when you travel to the main game world from Firelink Shrine, you're travelling to the past world. The past world exists, but it is falling apart, and the Firelink Shrine you find in it is already dark. If the Firelink Shrine of the past is already gone dark, what is going on with the present one? It is the same case as the Anor Londo in DS1: it's an illusion. Light has been established to be associated with illusions and time, so the Firelink Shrine hub is nothing more than an illusion that sustains itself until all of the cinders have been gathered. Once they're gathered, the illusion gives away and reveals the truth to you. This is the same case for the Ringed City, it too is upheld by an illusion which breaks once you wake up the princess from her slumber, so she can realise that she and the world died a long time ago. You cannot revive an already dead world with the cinders of the past.
This works with the position of the shrine too. It's on an impossible promontory basically floating behind Lothric castle. If you look down it's pretty clear it's not attached to anything. But after dropping off the cinders you can see the shrine in its actual position, suspended on a cliff edge. Still, I don't think illusion is quite the right word. Everything in the shrine area is a lifeless gray hue. It's kinda suspended between black and white, light and dark, past and present. I like to think of it more like a time bubble. Physically it's in the same spatial location as it is in the present. But it's time has been displaced. Structures that crumbled away are now whole because it didn't teleport through time, it literally reversed itself backwards through time. It's not an illusion but the shrine as it was at the time travelled back to. But it's in its weird time bubble so it's sort of a superposition of shrines. You can only access the gray shrine via bonfire while you can just walk to the dark shrine.
@@rainbowkrampus That is actually how the illusions relating to time magic work in this series. They reverse and sustain the time of entire areas, despite real time always moving forwards. Repairing Powder is one of the prime examples of this, as instead of fixing the weapon it instead reverses its time with Light magic, and Light magic is synonymous with illusions. Dark Souls illusions aren't exactly fake, but more of magic emulating and pretending to be real things.
@@tofu3193 That is in 2, back when the cycles hadn't gone on for way too long yet. 3 is the point where the cycle has reached the extreme and can no longer be sustained.
I love dark souls, I don't like 2 but that's cause I've only played scholar of the first sin, and 3 was the first I played played the name souls after finishing bloodborne, and I loved every second. Lately I got bored but I've been trying a miriacle run of 3 and it feels like it's been reignited for me
@@goreman7160 I was the same. Only started on DS3 but then went back to 2 (sotfs). Truly amazing game. 4 play through`s with 4 builds. Easily my favorite. Then there`s Bloodborne. Also amazing in it`s own right
No one such a big brain to be able to do so in an extempore. It requires writing and thinking and trashing your writing; writing again, thinking... for a long period of time until you get something good enough to present.
I used to struggle trying to explain how it is you make your videos so compelling, what it was that made you my favorite video-essayist. But then you made an offhand comment about how you make abstract and inexplicable emotions physical and understandable. And I knew that then and there that you knew exactly what you were doing. I can always count on your artistic process to make me feel some new, and obscure sorrow. You make me feel small in all the grandest ways. Thank you for adding to my life. By the way, digging the facial hair, absolute King ‘stache.
I had to watch I'm Thinking of Ending Things for a class recently and didn't understand it past "This isn't necessarily the young woman's story, it's Jake's." A classmate directed me to this video, saying it was basically their introduction to the movie. So... thanks for clearing up the plot for me haha
I watched the entirety of I'm Thinking of Ending Things to prepare myself for this video and oh boy was it worth it. Thank you so much for the great content as usual.
Funny enough, I can only think of three characters in the entire series to reference the Dark Soul by name; one is the narrator from the first game during the intro, and the other is the pigmy at the start of the Ringed City that tells you its all an illusion. I'm sure there are more but those are the only ones I remember.
I love how you look at art with such an emotional leans. You seem very passionate about theses pieces of media, and I can feel that through a screen a million miles away. Isn’t that crazy?
The 'question' on the phone in I'm Thinking of Ending Things is from Hamlet, also visible on his bookshelf: To be or not to be, that is the question. He's thinking of ending things, 'the question' is literally to be or not to be!
I've been having thoughts about DS3 for a long time now, and you put most of them into words for me. But I wanted to talk about the Abyss Watchers a bit more. They have obviously modeled themselves after Artorias, but they don't really understand why. The thing is, the story of Artorias has been stretched and changed and altered so much over the centuries since his death that no one really knows what happened. There's been a historical forgetting of the past. Everyone keeps going through the motions, keeps reproducing cycles of myth that have already happened, but there's no meaning to it. No one knows why.
18:38 the illusion falls away, the basement is found. That orb was literally hiding the state of the world from everyone in it, canonically. what was a metaphorical expression of the basement becomes a literal one.
you dont need to argue that. the soulsborne series is one of the best series ever made in gaming history whether anyone admits it or not. ds3 included. these games influence on ppl, especially other game makers, speak for themselves. i can count the games that make people like jacob put together such an artfully masterful video in one hand. and now elden ring came out, and imo, is easily the best game fromsoft made by FAAAAR. games are true art, and my 1st example to give anyone of that fact is the souls series.
Same for me. My favorite moment is the start and the whole progression of the Oceiros fight. The Dialogue, the seething he demonstrates. The lack of holding back to a point where he literally throws away as he himself says : "all that i have" just to keep himself alive. It's the perfecto representation of what linking the flame is. Throwing the greatest warriors to ever exist just to prolong something futile, something that at the end of day, will end, and should end. Something which does not belong.
I think I have more sentimental feelings towards ds1, because I felt instant nostalgia as soon as I finished playing. But ds3 is unarguably one of the best endings to a series ever. It absolutely understands what dark souls is about and incapsulates previous experience very eloquently.
13:02 funnily enough there’s actually not much lore there. to this day no one completely knows why is there dark fire link temple behind a mad mans garden as a physical place. Your explanation is just as valid as any other lore
As far as I can tell from following dataminers, it was an early concept for the end of the game. You would turn Firelink dark, possibly climb up to the then-inaccessible roof, and fight a character called "Old King of the Eclipse" who eventually got recycled into Pontiff Sullyvahn.
i see the dark firelink as the real firelink that actually exists in the world, as it actually is connected to the overarching map. the firelink you start in, however, must be fast-traveled out of. that could mean the firelink that's our hub area is an illusion, much like the illusion in dark souls 1 that anor londo is this grand shining palace surrounded by sunlight
@@sphete6341 Or, ya know... DS3 is a frankenstein of a game by a director who just wanted to be done with it, in a pretty short amount of time by AAA game standards, from a studio who have been known to put their games through drastic revisions fairly late in development? So maybe it doesn't have to make sense ;p
@@artemis_smith Here's something another youtuber once said about people requesting him to do things with his facial hair. The title of the clip does recontextualize it but that is the original context, I assure you. ua-cam.com/video/g_kUGaB0nyY/v-deo.html
Hey Jacob, I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but I gotta thank you for putting what I’ve felt about both of these art works for so long into such beautiful words. Dark Souls 3 has been my favorite game and I’m thinking of ending things my favorite movie and book ever since I first experienced them. I could never truly explain what I loved about them but you really spoke to me with this video. Again, thank you.
As to what you say about the Ringed City, I always thought of it as the black hole at the center of the dying Dark Souls universe. It's the dialectical opposite of the First Flame, the anchor for the Age of Fire. Touching the egg causes that black hole to collapse in on itself, bringing the whole world with it.
One of my favorite things about the fight with Gael is this line: “hand it over, that thing, your Dark Soul.” it’s so perfect to me because it destroys the mystique and gravitas of the single most important element of the series, what the games are freaking named after! We the player have held on to this series for years, from Dark Souks 1, Dark Souls 2, and finally Dark Souls 3 expecting to get those answers. For all the secrets to be revealed, for everything to fall into place, for our grand sacrosanct moment of conclusion. And what do we get? A nobody, an old man we barely interacted with, literally mugging us for an object that is the core of our being at the point of his sword. This is the series subtle but not so subtle way of saying: “come on, give it up, we can’t keep going forever. Dark Souls never belonged to you, you gotta give it back.”
Also the fact that you are fighting the chosen avatar of the dark soul. The collective power and rage of humanity, concentrated in a slave knight. This is the first time you fight a complete lord soul, untainted by the fire. Lore-wise, this is the hardest dark souls fight, the ultimate battle before you leave the world to the darkness.
I dont really agree with your takes... He is the final boss of the saga so his story is tangled to that of the main concept and the tittle of the game, thats it. I dont think they were going for anymore than that. On the other hand, here we have the "two nobodies fight" misconception that fans do love to share... They're the last beings standing on earth, i think that is more than enough for them to not get called "nobodies".
@@schmebulockjizz Firstly, let's ease of the contrarian pomposity of calling a commonly held community notion as a "misconception" implying your theory of the Gael fight is somehow more valid because it goes against other people's. Secondly, if you wanna talk about main concepts of the games, being a nobody in an uncaring world is literally the bedrock of Souls themes. In Dark Souls 1, you aren't THE Chosen Undead, you are A Chosen Undead, both Kaathe and Frampt lie and manipulate you into thinking you're some significant fated historical figure when really you're just the latest in a long line of fuck ups trying to go the distance. In Dark Souls 2, you are quite literally a no one, a faceless nameless undead who stumbles into Drangleic for purely selfish reasons, and in your ill fated quest to cure your own curse you fall into the same trappings of grandeur of becoming the net monarch. Finally, in Dark Souls 3 you are just one of countless Unkindled whipped up in a last ditch effort to rally the Lord of Cinders, you're a tool, a means to an end. Gael is a relic, a disposable and dispensable slave knight, he lasted to the end of time purely through force of will not out of any ordained importance granted by history. Just because you and Gael are the last ones alive, doesn't make either of you special, it's not an accomplishment to cling on the longest in a world that should have died eons ago.
I mean you can ignore the diegetic text of the series all you want, but you can’t act like an analysis that purely rejects material elements of a piece of a fiction is complete.
Dark Souls 3 was the first FROM game that I played and my favorite by far. I've since played and beaten all of them except for dark souls 2, and have always felt the importance of 3 was misunderstood. That people want a 4th shows me that they missed the point. As always I love the video and am excited to see what you will tackle next.
At first, I wanted another DS sequel that shows us what happens after the ending of DS3. But after years have past and me giving some thought about it, DS ending at 3 is the perfect place to end the series since it fits with the whole theme of a tired and dying world. I also wanted Fromsoft to create new IPs so they can flex some of their stories and gameplay mech. without being tied to the series that made them popular. The fact that Bloodbrone and Sekiro exist proves that Fromsoft can created new and interesting games.
Dark souls 3 means a lot to me. It helped me get through a tough time in my life and I'm glad people are recognising the masterpiece it is. Thx for the vid man.
Im still convinced that the world in the painting that the Painter is painting is the world of Bloodborne, Yharnam. It is cold, dark, surprisingly gentle (before everything went to sh*t) and it *did* make some people (and great ones) a goodly home.
@@LuM4rex At least you have a friend that would trust you enough to borrow his console. l don't have a option except to watch gameplay on UA-cam. That's not the first time PC players has to suffer because of this, Red Dead Redemption, GTA 4, and overall PC PvP games, looks like we are coming back to monopolies.
My god, I just have to say, this entire video is Video-Essay GOLD… But that one about half minute, where the comparisons between Gael and Artorius, your voice gets stronger, more passionate, as Oklahoma swells in the back, until it ends. THIS is artistic brilliance. Not by trying to be snotty and all knowing or TRYING to make everything perfect… like you have all the answers, but by letting the art speak for you when words no longer can. It’s beautiful.
I love how every single time I watch one of your videos, I leave with a new movie, a new musical, or a new book to read and investigate. Thank you so much.
Always enjoy your insights! I've not finished Dark Souls, but there's something about its setting and perseverance that keeps drawing me into lore videos for it.
Probably one of the best videos I've seen. It's beautfiul. Just played Ds3 drunk out of my mind and wandered to the untended graves and the feelign i got was nothing short of sublime. Jacob, please continue with your weird, unexpected and, not unlike ds3, underrated videos.
Jacob geller is still even at half a milion subs one of the most underrated video essay channels on UA-cam. This man deserves to be heard by so many more people.
Loved this. Actually, seeing it pop up made me go back and re-watch "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" so it'd be fresher in my memory while watching the video, so thanks for that too. It's a beautiful, sad, thoughtful movie. Now I need to read the book.
God damn, watching how much this channel has grown over the last two years has been wild. I remember finding you on reddit when you had around 2000 subs and I knew this channel would be a big deal. Now you're making videos talking about Dark Souls and Charlie Kaufman films in the same context and I'm still so here for it.
Something about summation of your argument makes me think of Sekijo’s, the sculptor, line “The limb you lost has given way to something more … useful. You’ll learn to appreciate its worth.”
Makes me think of a thought from the philosopher albert camus. He said that there is really only one question in life that truly matters, if you should end yours or not. If its worth it, if it means anything, if it matters if it does or not, these are all just parts of that larger question
"Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy." - Albert Camus. There are thematic similarities here with the recent Wisecrack video on Hades, which focuses on Camus' view of Sisyphus. Also, DS3 feels like it carries on a tradition of creators being pushed to beat a dead horse. Stories are meant to end. A show pushed beyond the scope of its premise tends to sour. Metal Gear Solid 4 felt like Kojima begging to be allowed to let the series end.
I adore that you brought up the Alzheimers-like nature of Dark Souls 3, because I feel it builds off an incredibly important theme that the second game established, being all about how cyclical everything has become to the point of nobody bothering to learn the name of the kingdom anymore. Essentially, it's all about how humanity has no original stories anymore, and it's only going to keep getting worse with every rekindle. Aldia, the Scholar of the First Sin, explains that the first sin was creating the cycle in the first place, and he knows exactly because he has merged himself with the First Flame in an experiment gone awry. And through the whole of the game, he's constantly encouraging you to think about ending things.
I'm probably really late to this, but you talking about Dark Souls 2 makes me curious, how do you imagine the secret ending of that game applies to themes both it and DS3 set up? Because honestly that particular bit has always stuck out to me as being weird compared to everything else in the series.
@@LEGOBoy922 Well it's been 2 months and I'm not the OP but I'll bite. So the "secret" ending of DS2 is, as I'm sure you know, different from leaving the flame at the end of DS1, because you never reached the flame in the first place. Your goal in DS2 is to take the throne and succeed Vendrick, and the game strongly implies that the flame is near the throne as well. But if you decide to become the new king, you don't get to choose what you do with the flame. Instead, the narrator says that you have a choice, but it is unknown whether you link it or don't. This is because the point of the game is that it's meaningless - the choice is an illusion and nothing you do as the king will ever matter, just as all those kings from the past have, in the grand scheme of things, done nothing to change the world in the long-term. If you link the fire, it will eventually fade again and the cycle will repeat. If you don't, undead will keep flocking to Drangleic and sooner or later, one of them will defeat you and link the flame. This is literally what happens in the game - Vendrick chose to reject the throne and even hid the means of reaching it and then you appear and ruin his plan. Both DS1 and DS3 imply that your final choice will determine the fate of the world, but in DS2, the choice is so meaningless that the game refuses to even give it to you. Aldia is, of course, aware of this. He is the one man who truly understands the horror of the cycle, who understands that all of his efforts, his brother's efforts, everybody's efforts were fruitless and nothing will ever truly change. He takes interest in you, but not because he believes that you can achieve anything. The way I see it, Aldia has come to terms with his lack of purpose, but he wants to know how you react to realising that your entire existence is pointless. And that's where his ending comes in. This final choice of taking the throne or leaving is not about choosing the fate of the world, rather it's about your place in it. It's a choice between playing your role in the cycle, whether as the one who links the fire or the lord of dark, or rejecting the cycle and trying to find meaning elsewhere. For the world of Dark Souls, this choice doesn't matter, if you don't take the throne, another undead will come along and do that anyway. Dark Souls 2 is ultimately a much more personal story than 1 or 3, it's not about the fate of the world, it's about realising that you have no power over that fate and deciding what to do with this knowledge. At least that's my interpretation of this game. So in that sense, it doesn't have as much in common with DS1 and 3 as you'd think, it tells a similar story but with a different focus, which I think makes it a brilliant addition to the overall story of these games.
Man IToET is one of the scariest and most upsetting books I’ve ever read. I couldn’t believe how god damn scary a book could be. I feel like the movie didn’t capture how straight up “Horror” the book was.
Same. I read it over the course of an evening and oh boy. The two (three?) pages that were just "What are you waiting for?" repeated over and over and over again actually made my head spin a bit.
i love hearing these sorts of interpretations of the souls games. i feel like in video games, there’s often a tendency to take things literally, and trying to build some sort of self-contained universe with it, yknow? that works for some people, but personally i much prefer talking about what these games are trying to say overall- why do they exist as they do? i really appreciate that you had a similar approach💞 awesome video as always, Jacob!
Personally, I believe that knowing the lore would help significantly with the understanding of the world, and the state it is in, but I'm impressed at you "vibe only" description of the game, it was quite accurate despite the lore being so hidden.
For access to the Geller Discord, the ability to ask me questions about each essay, and full length director's commentaries on my vids, join the Patreon at: www.patreon.com/JacobGeller
Being subscribed to someone with their actual name as their profile is strange
How did you comment this one week ago? O_o
@@brendan6774 patreon early access
Has anyone told you look like a happy Daniel Plainview now lol.
Thats one hell of a mustache
This is literally the only place in the entire world where you can see footage of a man performing a song from Oklahoma overlayed over footage of a Dark Souls boss battle, and that's rad as hell
Kinda like that forest fire/sunset bit from the translation of a forest video lol
And it is also the only place where that combination is somehow profound, rather than interminably corny.
@@PhantamSam or be a shitpost.
Oklahoma is quite nice sometimes. Casinos are cool.
"This is literally the only place in the entire world where you can see footage of a man performing a song from Oklahoma overlayed over footage of a Dark Souls boss battle, and that's rad as hell"
Except Nebula, right?
I did the "bad" ending of Dark Souls 3 where I relit the flame, and the sheer anticlimax of it was one of the most powerful game endings I've ever experienced. After all those hours of loud, bloody, grueling gameplay... you just slowly sit down, alone with your dubious victory, the world around you as quiet as a grave.
I destroyed the flame on my first playthrough.
@@colbyboucher6391 why does everyone love killing her
Summoning the Fire Keeper to snuff out the flame is probably the best ending. I got the impression that this was the last cycle even if you rekindled the flame, so it was better to just let it die. All other endings basically just have you use the flame to keep the world going, even the Londor ending, and the painting being made in the DLC wouldn't have mattered either way.
@@TheSlammurai I agree, letting her snuff the flames and *_not fucking killing her_* is definitely the best ending
What makes it even better is that you see Soul of Cinder also sitting in exactly same pose before you enter the arena. Looking at fire and resting for who knows how long.
"I shall name this painting Ash, it will be a cold, dark, and very gentle place. and someday, it will make someone a goodly home..."
I love the painter's lines.
The chosen undead from beyond the grave : let me guess, the land will be peaceful, its inhabitant kind -_-
I never noticed before, but the painting kinda looks like red curtains being drawn back.
From my perspective in game it was always just some red smudges and some white.
From the video there was a kind of remove or abstraction and I'm wondering how I missed it after so many play throughs.
people who name the painting after themselves weird me out.
@@rainbowkrampus To me it just looks like either flames or rote, depending on the particular painting.
When I was younger Dark Souls was about fighting your way through great adversity to obtain your goal no matter what, but as I grew up I realized that it's always been about letting go and moving on, the whole series happens because Gwyn couldn't let go of the age of fire and wouldn't let humanity move move on to our full potential, most of the bosses in the series are twisted and fallen because of their inability to let go of something, be it power, a loved one, or a memory. I find it funny that playing the games at different times in my life revealed such different messages.
Art.
I think the "let it go" interpretation is based on what is, essentially, a misconception. The only person who gives you the impression that Gwyn burned himself selfishly (selfishly committing suicide to... preserve his own rule, somehow?) is Kaathe. He tells you that the Dark Soul is supreme, that Humanity is the next fate, and that Dark isn't a bad thing. He says this over the corpses of the Four Kings in New Londo, ravaged and mutated by Dark and consumed by Abyss because they listened to him. And if you did things the extra-special way, you're coming from Oolacile, where they also fell for his spiel and ended up releasing The Abyss to begin with.
What is Kaathe's proposition? "Snuff the flame, become the new Lord". A direct mirror to Frampt's with the very same carrot, who he's clearly in league with. There isn't a single NPC in the game who embraces Dark and isn't horrendously mutated and savaged by it. Hollowing is caused not by the Flame's unnatural lifespan, but by the First Flame fading which it was doing anyway. Beef jerky zombie men are the norm, not an exceptional circumstance, and you see this before the game begins. So how is reverting the world to that state good for the humans that don't exist within it? How many humans embroiled in Dark gain anything other than a bad case of monsteritis, and why would you be different? What evidence is there that the Age of Dark is natural, and not another abberation caused by the creation of the Abyss thanks to Kaathe's manipulation? Moreover, what do the Serpents have to gain from either of this, and why would they help you? Their goals align no matter what you do.
For me, a much more compelling message has been "live, and learn". The player starts off in a state of total disorientation and slowly unravels these mysteries by progressing forward and growing, and always seeking more truth. You hear of things like the Chaos Witch of Izalith long before you see her, and the fact that you're going to see her isn't even obvious until you're down there. And yet by inching forward and being insatiably hungry for a deeper understanding, one can piece together everything until you're able to understand what's going on, and guess what's happening before you get there. This carries through into NPC questlines too. Seeing Quelaag for the first time makes you think she's just a scary monster lady, then you meet the Fair Lady, hear that Quelaag was hunting people simply to ease her sister's suffering, and learn that the Daughters of Chaos are still people, ultimately, capable of intelligence and mercy and wrath. Later you meet Quelana, but you already know enough to guess she's another Daughter, and you can guess her goals: protect her last sister, and end her mother's suffering and the danger she poses. She's fully formed because the player sought out the knowledge and insight into this world. That's the core difference between Hollows and humans in Dark Souls 1. A human can grow, and a Hollow can merely persist. That's what I think Miyazaki wanted to convey by having both sides being the same. The player is meant to think "am I being played by this one, too?" when they meet Kaathe, because the lesson is that the Serpents can't really be trusted.
Ultimately I think Dark Souls 2 did the most damage to the lore in this regard, but that's a wider problem with that game being forced to shoehorn in a First Flame 4 Lord Soul plot where it wasn't needed.
@@jacksmith3148 I wouldn't consider it a misconception, Gwyn did burn himself selfishly to preserve his own kind, admirable to some, a monster to most, his actions doomed the world by making it a cycle that distorts with every round done. He lied, he cheated and he stabbed the race that helped him get to where he was, maybe the age of dark isn't benign like the snakes tell us but at least there's a chance, you talk about the 4 kings and Oolacile but what about the goddamn ring of fire in the sun that turns people into monster just as much if not worse (probably worse) than the dark? There's only two choices, hold on and go to a steadfast death or let go and hope for the best.
Great art has many ways of being interpreted by different people or at different times
@@jacksmith3148 no I’m pretty sure you are the one with the misconception
When I told my friends Dark Souls 3 had my favorite souls story and setting no one understood why even after I tried telling them that it's about "ending everything". Time starts looping in on itself, regurgitating stories, feats and achievements until they help no symbolism to the point that is better and logical to forget about them and move on. I feel like I consolidated thoughts that I couldn't express on this game after watching this video, thank you .
same
@@PrimesNewExperiment what?
As cool and interesting as the series lore is, I feel like it blinds a lot of people to the actual story being told by the series. This at least partially explains why people don't give DS3 the credit it deserves, they can't see past the supposedly derivative lore in the game.
Same hat, Dark Souls 3 is my favorite game of all time, its themes are so profoundly interesting and multi-layered that I could spend years just listening to people talk about them and also talking about them to others. The first time I finished the game and the fire just...sputtered out despite my best efforts, I kind of just sat there, stunned. When Ringed City came out and the fallout of what the world comes to is ultimately revealed, it hits even harder.
"Thou will understand, one day.
At thy twilight, old thoughts return, in great waves of nostalgia.
"
- Hawkeye Gough.
This is very beautiful and I never noticed it
I just watched the simpson couch gag video and this hits too close to the homer that has memories.
This is a perfect connection to the movie he talked about in the video
Gael helped you out to slay him. He endured until the end of time so that he is the last living thing, therefore the only possible vessel for the dark soul. But he knew he was going to go insane. So he needed someone to slay him (you) to get the blood of the Dark Soul. Even then, when he sees you he thinks you have the Dark Soul, for having gone hollow he no longer can think consistently, to think that he indeed had taken every life in the world is impossible, once he sees somone else, he doesn't even remember you, he only thinks you are "another one" to slay to get the Dark Soul (of which he already has inside him).
Gael's sacrifice for humanity is so selfless that makes Gwyn's sacrifice for the gods look like child's play. He had to think so much in advance, endure so much in a world he hated, seeing its ash taking it over completely, surviving far past those he cared for, only for the small hope that YOU succeded in taking his life in that insane, techically successful, final state of his. That in your kindness you may even then go back and take his blood to his niece, which in his time has long passed away (does he even know that somone could maybe go forward in time? That even this might be a legend he had to blindly believe in order to attempt his plans?). But as a Slave Knight, this is all he knows how to do. Being sacrifical is his job, tiring other foes until the main troops arrive. All to give a small home for humanity. He survived eternity and infinity, in an elaborate suicide plan with close to zero chances of having success, to never see the fruits of his labor, when in the world, by any metric, both his labor and sin had to be endless to even be able to kickstart this vision.
That is the true ending to DS3. Shame that it was DLC. But it makes sense. In the first DLC in the series you fight the first incarnation of the Dark Soul. In the final DLC you fight the last.
You just rekindled my fire to start playing Dark Souls, I thank you, kind stranger
You just perfectly described why Gael is my favourite character, very well said
I hit that like button as hard as I could. In the end, cheap comedy comments using the same format seen on almost every other video with a substantial amount of views on this site will be at the top but, I just have hope that more will see this.
Thank you for writing this.
Every human has a piece of the dark soul inside. Gael fights you because you have the last piece, but in defeating him it’s you who finishes with the entire soul
This is the first time I've shed a tear for a character since the end of TAZ: Balance...
"what you remember has been decaying for all the time you let it slip from your mind" is the exact feeling I felt when I saw Twin Peaks in The Return
oh, GREAT connection. absolutely.
Yes!! Twin Peaks also fits right into it, and even makes you feel bad for watching it!
"Twin Peaks: The Return is the 'Dark Souls' of television" is a take that sounds as dumb as it is pretentious and I 100% agree with it.
*sits down by the bonfire in the ending of DS3*
... what year is it?
The "descent" of Audrey Horne in The Return is one of the most harrowing and satisfying character arcs I've seen in television. We're absolutely blessed that we were able to see The Return realized in the first place. 🥰
"Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?" That last line of dialoge from the firekeeper still haunts me to this day
And one day, the dark I see little sparks of flame dancing
But one day, tiny flames will dance across the darkness. Like embers linked by lords past.
I find the final line more soothing, like ashen one and the firekeeper are together in this darkness
Haunting? It felt hopeful to me, even in the dark we still live, we were so scared of letting the flame fade for so long and for what? We didn't need it and will endure without it.
I feel like every one of your video essays is like a long form version of the critic review at the end of Ratatouille. Like, your reviews are genuinely affective. Thanks for putting these out there.
LOVE THIS
I also watched metal gear sold 4 was a mistake
I genuinely forgot this video was about dark souls when you started talking about ‘I’m thinking of ending things’
Same!
In a good way
"I watch VaatiVidya I'm not a monster" is the funniest thing to me
cut to VaatiVidya squealing like a fangirl because he secretly really enjoys Jacob's content.
Who doesn't watch vaati?
@@kabukiblooki People that doesn't care about the lore.
In my case i want to connect the dots, not that someone do it for me.
@@omg241 I've never thought of it in that way. Thanks for the different outlook.
@@A_Stranger2256 he used to plagiarize?
it sold ten million copies in the past five years? FIVE YEARS? It's been so long since I stayed up ALL NIGHT on release day trying to make it through Farron Keep before the sun came up and I had to go to school? What the hell
It’s been QUITE a while :/
Ah I remember farron I got very lost
Very very lost
Time flies...
@@sleepyhead644 I remember making my own boss battles with my friends damn was it so much fun just fucking around
@@sleepyhead644 I still see quite a few there. They are not all gone.
I imagine Jacob doing an essay about his own mustache: "The thickness of it transcends time and reality themselves"
'The strands stretch across realities, binding them together, intertwining timelines and dimensions, in a rich tapestry of fibres that gleam with the light of 10'000 suns. Their reach is infinite. They are the foundation to which the universe is built upon. Yet, to the average passer-by, they look like a simple mustache.'
But, this hair isn't so thin at all. On the microscopic level, fibers hug each other, the combined threads forming a monument that pierces its way through the skin. Each hair blocks the air from travelling freely, traps the heat, reflects light, closes you off from the full feeling of touch. It's a pause then, so to speak, a barrier, yet not a wall.
God, this may genuinely be my favourite thing you've made. I'm Thinking of Ending Things was one of the most cerebral, impactful films on me in recent years and to see someone take almost exactly my feelings on that film and make a truly brilliant comparison to another piece of media that I absolutely adore means a lot to me. Thanks Jacob.
This video makes me cry peaceful but bitter tears. I don't know how many times I have watched it. And I know I will continue watching it.
Buy him a drink first.. 😆
The rotten painting fits into this theme perfectly as well! It is supposed to be burnt away by the fire but Friede and Father Ariandel don't want to let go of it. They prolong it's existence artificially which leads to terrible rot and disease. Eventually though it doesn't matter because someone will come and bring flame to the painting.
It's a perfect reflection of the creative process. Do you move on to make bigger and better things? Or do you cling to what garnered a positive response until it withers away?
"When the world rots, we set it afire.
For the sake of the next world.
It's the one thing we do right, unlike those fools on the outside."
It pretty much matches up with what is happening with the world. They're keeping the world extended via the paintings and it's getting worse and worse. Similar to how kindling the fire isn't helping, it's just delaying the inevitable.
"I am simply trying to express the vibes"
Art in a nutshell.
"Art is that which stays in your mind for the longest" - Noah Cadwell Gervais.... I think that's what he said at least.
@@GigaWh4tt I've always found it amusing seeing people get upset at the art that is deliberately designed to be "not art" (Like say, a blank canvas) when that is exactly the point, and thus the art successfully engaged their emotions in the way the artist intended. Art is about the feeling it gives you more than anything.
@@GigaWh4tt fucking Amogus
@@ThrottleKitty I liked that Jacob Gellar video as well lol. When I see "Non-Art" like the blank canvas, I feel... confusion? Confusion as to why people would be so angry at something that simply exists & does nothing to affect them negatively. Mostly though, I feel confusion as to what the purpose of the piece in question is.
@@GigaWh4tt I felt that before his video, but he sums it up well. I personally dislike art that is "confusing on purpose", but I respect it for doing what it does well.
I think it's just cause I'm not the intended viewer. The intended viewer is someone with really strict personal ideas of what they consider to be "Art". I consider anything intended to be art as art, so for me it doesn't challenge my sensibilities or confuse me.
I do find it impressive how unreasonable they make the people who hate it look though. It's usually people who are very hateful with very strict worldviews who hate "blank" art, and watching them lose their shit at LITERALLY NOTHING is a godamn hilarious and brilliant ay of juxtaposing their beliefs against the beliefs of those they are usually angry at.
Originally, the ending of Dark Souls 3 was Miyazaki coming on stage saying there would never ever be a sequel.
I'm kinda hoping for that to be the case. If anything, I'm hoping for remakes more then a new DS.
Yeah it feels like the ending of DS3 and it’s DLC’s wrapped everything up in a neat little bow. Love the series but I’m ok if we never get a continuation, just maybe a re vamp in the future like DS. Honestly elden ring looks neat concept wise so I’m excited for whatever comes next.
@@trevor0245 I hope Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring don't get sequels and From continues making one-off concepts which is what they appear to be doing.
Miyazaki comes out of bathroom: "You're still here? The franchise is over, go home!"
@@TheSlammurai woah pal don't get the bloodborne fanboys angwie
this is the wildest connection ive ever seen and I can't believe how perfect it is. what a fantastic video. this is true artistic analysis. thank you for actually looking at a video game from a truly artistic viewpoint.
I was this comment's 70th like - sorry.
%3#*
Dark Souls 3 is basically a parody of a game sequel. All the things that came on the previous games **have** to show up. That concept is so interesting.
If you watch Noah Caldwell-Gervais' essay on his Dark Souls retrospective, he essentially also comes to the same conclusion. It's also why he thinks narratively, Dark Souls 2 makes the boldest choice of basically painting you as a monster for continuing the cycle.
I think the analogy can continue in a sense. I feel that one of the many aspects that led Jake to end things was stagnation, it was ending up emotionally and socially stunted because of a reliance on his past. He constantly reflects on his parents, their dismissiveness of his appreciation for art in paintings, film, poetry. All of Jake's "greatest accomplishments" were from when he was 7 or 8 years old, the only time his parents seemed to be proud of him. His worldview is so distorted by so much of his past that he retreats there to escape his current state, and he does it over and over, for god knows how long, the ice cream in the bin outside the school imply as much, this has been cycling for so long. And so, the way I would read the analogy to continue is just that, retreating into what was stunts growth, it stops people from evolving, from discovering new things, it keeps you stuck, and Jake was stuck. Dark Souls continuing on indefinitely would've led to creative bankruptcy and a lack of fulfilment, the spark of passion gone. Dark Souls 3 feels like Miyazaki saying "it's time to move on to other things, but dark souls will be a core component of everything we ever make from now until forever", the painter at the end of the DLC solidifies that. And so to port that idea over to Jake. Had he not spent so much time in his head, had he allowed himself to move past his trauma, his past, his guilt and his regret, if he's taken that first step on a long road toward healing, he wouldn't be in the dire position he is now. The past is powerful, and it's important but we can't get lost there or we lose ourselves, learn from it, grow from it and move on into a brighter future.
You're literally giving the painter girl the pigment of the Dark Soul to create something new from the ashes. Can't get anymore blatant than that.
Did anyone say it wasn’t? I mean he mentions it in the video..
@@zade8586I'm agreeing with him there. But I don't think he mentioned it being the literal "Dark Soul"? like the name of the game?
@@menage6051 im pretty sure he could tell by the various times its said in the last area. Or the prompt when giving it to the painter. or the fact that the item is called "blood of the dark soul"
@@zade8586 I'm just surprised he didn't mention it. So I brought it up here to corroborate his argument.
It's a pretty straightforward metaphor I had never noticed before, so kudos to Jacob.
Narrator: "You're literally giving the painter girl the pigment of the Dark Soul to create something new from the ashes."
see, more blatant
I did not expect such an exquisite mustache at the end credits.
Reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite's creepy uncle.
I was unprepared.
Dude NO SPOILERS COME ONNNNNNNNNN
You must be new ;)
It broke new ground!
I've always thought 3 got a bit of a bad rap. "It's derivative of the first game"? I think it's meant to be. The developers sat down and unironically made the Dark Souls of Dark Souls. It's always darkest before the soul and so forth.
Yeah, it's so clearly a meditation on the series and the cycles repeating in the lore. I am shocked that people just took it at face value and felt like it had no new ideas. It's not repeating plot points, it's saying "what if plot points repeated?". Slightly but MASSIVELY different.
@@ERoBB1 But that doesnt make for a good series like this
@@smirfbroil6934 As someone who thought Dark Souls 3 was the peak of the series, I disagree.
@@ERoBB1 Did you play it first?
It's good, it does everything better except bosses and music imo. Doesn't have the same charm tho
@@smirfbroil6934 Nope. I jumped in at Demon's Souls on PS3. Played them all as they came out. I think Dark Souls 3 is the best of the DS games. It refines the gameplay in every way. I think it has the most creative bosses. And I love the collapsing in on itself story, as this video explores.
how do you do it. how do you write so good
WOW THANK YOU GUY
drew? gooden?
@@JacobGellerTHIS GUY KNOWS THIS OTHER GUY AND I KNOW THEM BOTH
@@Unimportant_eggME TOO YAAAAAAS
Right?! Homie's syntax is hypnotizing.
I greatly appreciate the fight with Gael because it's extremely symbolic: two humans fighting at the end of the world over something that doesn't matter any more.
And yet, it's the only thing that ever really mattered. Defeating Gael and collecting the "blood of the Dark Soul" is arguably the only important thing that happens in the entire franchise, because everything else is just delaying the inevitable.
This video brute forced me out of writers block. I know exactly what I want to write, and for the first time in months, I want to.
Huge
Good luck, Ben!
Nice!
This is such a well written essay that I felt more creative after watching it.
The mirrors are reflective yet again? (Grins)
basically in the world of dark souls 3, the world itself is hollowing.
The fact there's a giant Darksign in the sky near the end would suggest the entire world itself is branded with the curse.
@@DarkLord3709 that sounds like a good theory, the entire world is either hollow or in the process with almost no hope of escaping Hollowing, and the world itself has been branded, contorting into itself to finally lay to rest, the end the entire world yearns for
I think that's a great way to put it, the Darksign Sun is the world itself going dark, like how humans turn into Hollows. But I wouldn't say its the end of the world, in the end the world of Dark Souls doesnt actually die. It's always stated that way from the gods, Gwyn and his followers, always so adamant that an end to fire is the end of the world, of life. But that's not true, that's the gods being afraid of *their* end, of *their* rule and world. Remember that's its also constantly said the age after the fire fades will be the Age of Man, or Age of Dark. In the end the world doesn't die, it changes into a dark world that's meant to be ruled by humanity. Letting the fire fade isn't killing reality, it's letting someone else finally take the reins and make something better-- and the gods' interference is desperate futile struggling to keep in power when every attempt to do so just stagnates and harms the world more.
You could ALSO apply that to real life. Dying is inevitable and struggling against it is both pointless and harmful, at least mentally. The best fate we can ask for, much like DS3 states in its themes, is to let go and let the next generation take your world and make something better of it, whether its by fixing what was broken or improving what's already great.
@@TowerArcanaCrow There are powerful parallels between Gwyn's unwillingness to let the Age of Fire end, and a concept in leftist theory called Capitalist Realism. In our world, it's easier for many (especially those in power) to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of Capitalism. To the point where the rich actively work, at every step of the way, to interfere with anything that could end the present system. Even if that means ruining the world. They would rather kill the world, than cede power and wealth to the masses.
That's Gwyn and his ilk in a nutshell. The idea of humanity rising up and becoming the masters of the world is so existentially terrifying, Gwyn would rather burn himself alive just to forestall it. And everyone aligned with Gwyn's aims would burn themselves - or make other people burn in their stead - to perpetuate it further. All to keep the present power structures going. Until the Age of Fire has been artificially extended for so long, it has worn the world down to the stumps. Kept the fire burning, until anything and everything has been used as fuel, and nothing remains but blackened stone and mountains of ash.
It is easier for them to imagine the end of the world than the end of the Age of Fire.
@@DakkaSolae It would be fitting, that Gwyn's brand had grown so powerful over countless cycles, it grew to eclipse the sun he championed. What was once a shackle for humans became a shackle for the world. Slowly strangling it to death.
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper
But a simper
and not in fire, but in ice
The cardinals truths neither clash nor mesh. No one is invalidated, but nobody is right
With no bonfire
HELTER SKELTER, FACE MELTER
I always thought that the fact the dragon looks like an anorexic goat and miracles being useless was just a nod to the fact that the gods are dead and the dragons are gone making them weak
It would make sense if only miracles weren't op in the game.
@@laughingman9574 You can't even make a good miracle build, the only good miracles are the healing ones and ToD, the fucking flying disc thing is useless.
@@PyroFTB Yes, you can. All lightning miracles are great, stake, spear and all of that, I made killer pve build with miracles, and you can go watch ChasetheBro for pvp and what miracles can do. Way of the white Corona is garbage, that I agree
@@PyroFTB *poise casts lothric war banner body buffed lightning storm into your face*
_into, your, face_
Wow. That opening, "the entropic scream of a dying world." That gave me chills.
You should watch "Timelapse of the Future" by Melodysheep.
@@eliasjakob3358 one of the best videos out there
The entropic stench of a lingering fart.
Currently researching video games and meaning for an academic conference and yet all of the peer-reviewed journals can't hold a candle to the type of analysis you provide in your videos. Fucking amazing as always. Please keep promoting video games as works of art.
DEEP MEMORY UNLOCKED :
“You got a bionicle fighting a power ranger “
Glad to know I’m not the only one
ua-cam.com/video/T_gTc6qCrH0/v-deo.html
"Tiny flames dancing in the dark. Ashen One, hearest thou my voice, still?"
I want to believe that the ending where you snuff out the First Flame with the Fire Keeper is a new beginning for the gods-forsaken world I cut a bloody swathe through for the sake of keeping a glorified campfire lit. Considering the world of Dark Souls, it might be a worse existence than the last. But I have hope that with that ending, the world has a chance to be made anew
I think the tiny flames dancing in the dark are an implication that you're, in some sense, pushing a proper reset button on the world. It's how it all started, wasn't it? Heat and Cold, Light and Dark. Disparity. Tiny flames in the darkness, and the meek things that cradled them and grew to be gods.
Which could either sound like a great idea or a terrible one, depending on your disposition!
@@pedroscoponi4905 Thing is, the flames are pretty much linked to the Undead Curse made by Gwin which pretty much enslaves humanity out of fear for their power (mainly because they are linked with the Abyss). For me, the best ending is to stop the chain by literally removing the fire and bringing out the Age of Dark. It removes the curse and makes sure that humanity isn't enslaved anymore. As long as the fire comes back, humanity is going to end up being enslaved again by the Old Gods.
I still hold onto the fan theory that regardless of how the Age of Fire ends, it eventually leads to the world of Bloodborne, or as I like to call it "the Age of Blood".
The other possibility is that the end of the fire brings the end of disparity, and the age of dark, and the dark may very well be an age of infinite death and devoid of motion (as the abyss, the cold and the darkness also suggest inertia), and after that decay even further in a colorless fog, mist and stone coming to life as dragons, closing the circle in an even more bleak way as there's no real escape from the cicle of the ages
i like to think that the tiny flames the firekeeper was talking about were humanity, the dawn of man and end of gods
Dark Souls 3 is the classiest way Miyazaki shouts back at fans and tell them he hates sequels and won’t do a series again, and its a joy to go through such a unique experience.
It's not that he hates sequels. It's that he knows when things should end and doesn't like going past that. In some interviews he's said as much.
This is honestly probably the most chilling game/film analysis I’ve ever seen on UA-cam.
Your comparisons and connections between DS3 and the film are some of the most interesting I’ve seen in my three years of professionally watching video essays in my pajamas.
Chillingly beautiful
I’m Thinking of Ending Things was one of the most brilliant surprises of a film for me. I went into it completely blind, I hadn’t even seen a trailer or read a review. It kind of blew my mind, and as a horror buff, I can comfortably say it was one of the most unsettling movies I have ever seen. Truly genius.
Check out more Kauffman films, he's a genius
Jacob should have put a spoillers alert, i feel robbed of the pleasure of finding out about the plot for myself :c
@@emanuelpaulino2910 I urge you to watch any Kauffman movie, while you may know the plot, it's really the journey that's also important!
@@cgijokerman5787 just finished watching it, wow! I tought i would like it but it completely blew away my expectations. What an amazing film. And you are totally right when you say it's about the journey
The ultimate message of Dark Souls has always been to take losses and move on, it's the core aspect of it's gameplay. Every part of it is a meditation on loss and losing
There's an exception, Lucatiel of mirrah
Thank you for making this. Dark Souls 3 is my favorite souls game for all the reasons you put into words better than I ever could.
Hello brother
How is this comment then 10h old?
Big same. I adore DS3
@@spiffmalone probably early viewing from patreon
exactly my thoughts!
I think that the Ash Lake could be a video by itself. You are at the bottom of the world... at a beautiful lake, never-ending trees and probably one of the few truly peaceful atmospheres. There is just something untouched by fire and man, probably what the world would have been without fire. It's probably a lot like what the painter would draw "Twill be a cold, dark, and very gentle place. And one day, it will make someone a goodly home."
When you said this story was exhausted, I think it's supposed to be. This world is on it's last legs. When you relight the First Flame, you don't get a brilliant explosion like the first game, but a sad, barely flickering fire. The bosses further emphasize this with their design. This is a game about exhaustion, of needing things to end.
Great video btw
Combining the Lore and Vibes, this is what I settled on: The world of Darksouls is (as you said) exhausted from being stretched far beyond it's natural span of the age of fire, and it needs the dark to heal and piece itself back together. This is Death, and the need to let go otherwise things get warped and pained as they are forced to continue. The saving grace is the "blood of the Dark Soul". The Dark Soul is the soul of mankind, and the "Cold, Gentle" world the girl paints with it is therefore a sort of Heaven made of and for the souls of mankind that comprise it. Whether that heaven is literally an eternal afterlife or eternal memory etc. is kinda up to the belief of the individual. But the prospect of this world is what makes the pain and everything before worth it. Otherwise we would be left with ending a world that was warped and exhausted for no reason, and that's too bleak, even for Dark Souls.
The way I always saw it, fire represents purpose and ideals, whereas dark is peaceful albeit nihilistic. Gwyn feared more than anything the collapse of his kingdom, because that would prove his efforts WERE for nothing. He deceives mankind into fearing their own, creating an endless cycle of adversity that generates nothing but suffering, all for the sake of providing a paradoxical sense of purpose.
Dark is associated with human emotions, which contest Gwyn's worldview of unending advancement. It shows what we are at our core, being dimwitted, yet harmonious creatures that desire nothing more than basic amenities and camaraderie-more like animals, ironically. This is the uninteresting reality of our species, though we may pretend to exist under some guise of genius.
However, fire and dark are bound to compete unless either can be teased from the other, without destroying both entirely (if that's even possible). This is where the painting comes into play. It's a sort of ark, providing shelter for those weary of conflict. In filtering dark from fire, mankind is at last offered freedom, no longer bound by a singular monarch's decree. That's why the painter requires two keys: the vision of fire, and the pigment of dark. Those who seek purpose may do so on one side, whereas those in search of rest will find it on the other. This was the intention behind Ariamis and Ariandel, but they lacked the required keys to sustain it from rot, and the disparity eventually took hold again.
Whether it will really work is up to anyone's guess, but at least it provides a chance. After all, "luck" is the hidden might of humanity.
Indeed. If we went through all those punishing hours of gameplay and brutal bosses just to put down the dying universe and there was no hope for anything beyond it, the series would have nothing to distinguish itself from every other pretentious edgelord everything-sucks wankfest, and it would suck. The fact that a new world is born even after everything you’ve been through makes it all worth it.
“The end isnt represented by loss but new life” damn
ua-cam.com/video/T_gTc6qCrH0/v-deo.html
Don't forget what the Fire Keeper says. She tells you that there are new flames in the darkness.
ive had a script lying around for years with the same reading (but from a slightly different angle). im honestly a bit upset that i never took the time to finish it, but if someone was gonna get there before me im glad it was you, you have such an excellent vibe
You were not worthy
You should still make it, not everything can be the same as one other person. I'd watch it.
@@endertwelve same. It's nice to see it through other lenses.
Go make it. i'd love to watch it
Love this. The way that Mergo's Lullaby and the Hunter's Dream theme come in was so good. In DS3, if you end the fire, the firekeeper will talk about seeing 'tiny flames' appearing across the dark. Also in Ashes of Ariandel, this little bird guy (idk his name) says 'that's one thing we do better. When our world dies, we start anew' or something like that. It really makes clear how linking the fire in the first game was ultimately a losing game, and the importance of letting things die so new things can replace them.
The way you described the ending with the new world being painted - I don't know why - but it made me weep a little.
I guess I needed someone to explain the beauty of this game to me.
"I feel... thin; sort of - stretched. Like butter spread over too much bread"
Dark souls 3 feels like an elderly person remembering their life in fragments crashing together before death and ending barren
Dark Souls is the Everywhere at the End of the Times of videogames, and Everywhere at the End of the Times is the Dark Souls of music.
_Poethic._
@@jallerxzl1966 Holy shit though, you're right. Dark Souls 3 really does feel like the last stages of dimentia.
Son, let me tell you the Story of Dark Souls 1: There's a swamp with Demons in it, and There was this big door you had to open, And there was this man, the Abyss... watcher I think. He was... corrupted by darkness, but maybe still true to his calling. You had to fight this naked dragon thing, that had a halfbreed Baby with a godqueen once, and that Baby could... go invisible! There was the yellow thing that invaded you and the guy in the Spike armour.
I was dropped from law school recently and it's been really difficult. This is helping me process that loss. Thank you.
EDIT: Thanks for kind replies everyone. I got an interview for an opportunity I'm really excited for!
It hurts, but it doesn't mean your life is over. A part of your life is over, but that doesn't mean it's all over.
You've got this. My poor mental health lead to me getting dropped from my Masters program this year as well. This doesn't mean you're a failure or an idiot. You'll get through this.
You can do it, I screwed up my shot at a degree but made the best of things anyway
Weirdly enough I think my life is turning out better for having failed, so don't ever tell yourself you have no chance!
ua-cam.com/video/T_gTc6qCrH0/v-deo.html
I am really sorry for your loss. I am still trying to process a recent loss of my own. It will get better hopefully.
This video single handedly showed me that this movie that I thought was pretentious and awful was actually well filmed and I was just too dumb to realize it. This is probably the best video essay of all time. Thank you for making this.
Both of those ideas can be true. A movie can be pretentious while also possessing unexpected depth. :p
You should look up an analysis of The Last of Us 2 on the channel "Like Stories of Old". I really really despised the story, still do to a large extent. But I have a respect for it now.
In the end of Dark Souls 3 DLC, you take the Dark Soul of the world and give it to the painter to create a new world, I think it's a genius allegory on taking the lessons that were learned from the Dark Souls franchise to give life to a new game. A new world from the ashes of the dying old one, just absolute genius.
Great video, Jacob, there's a reason why you're my favorite creator on UA-cam.
I played dark souls 3 at a really bad time in my life. Unmotivated, incredibly depressed, lonely, that’s all I knew for the longest time. There was a sale for ds3, everything for ten bucks, why not. (I’m crying typing this out) and as I began playing, I realized that there was something there. Beating Gundyr for the first time, fighting that stupid tree, god it was all so good. I had a purpose now, just to beat this game. First I beat the base game, leaving the dlc untouched. I didn’t want to be “done.” I then played again, and again. At one point I played through the dlc, leaving midir alive this time, my final expedition. I’ve killed every boss at this point, countless invasions of players, as many that can fit into 1000 hours. Thank you dark souls 3. I may have not been here without you. (Also Gael’s theme makes me cry every time)
How are you doing now?
I love how art can make this kind of growth possible
@@Wykesidefruitmachine I can say I’m doing a bit better now. Still untouched trauma with my childhood and dead relatives, but alas. With the game completed, and no game giving me such a feeling, I found my new midir. In such a terrible year, my senior year has been torn asunder, but I’ve failed too many classes in my lifetime. It’s my last year I’ll make it the best, shooting for all As and Bs this go around. I just can’t believe some video game motivated me more than anything else haha
@Omnius Maximus Gluteus LXIX how’d you know I was a Vaush fan haha, just watched it and I never knew the change from man to hollow. Take it as a motivator to never go hollow again, or at least try my damndest
"God bless this brave warrior. Umbasa."
Comparing a Charlie Koffman film to a video game is maybe my favorite thing ever
ua-cam.com/video/T_gTc6qCrH0/v-deo.html
Jacob Geller really is the Dark Souls of video essayists
ua-cam.com/video/T_gTc6qCrH0/v-deo.html
@@TalalR05 thanks, man. Idk what I’d do without your quantum break walkthroughs
Dark Souls 3 will forever be my favorite souls game, It's a story made of the wisps of a fading world in which fading people live. It's a beautiful game that I think deserves more attention for its place in the series. It's the tragically beautiful ending to a tragically beautiful series that I will forever hold dear to my heart because of how important it is to me. Thank you so much for covering DS3 I really enjoyed the essay and I'm definitely going to check out some of your other content!
“For every soul has its dark.”
-Dark Soul-
"It's always Darkest before the Soul"
- The Dark Soul, 2011
my name is borne, bloodborne
-bloodborne 2015
Sauce on that profile picture
@@talltale9760 its Angel Devil from chainsaw man
@@Legend_Twenty_Seven that’s why it’s so familiar
Here is how I've overall understood the story of Dark Souls 3:
The Firelink Shrine you wake up is the present time. Bonfires in the first game had been established to be capable of traveling in time, travelling to specific points in time. So when you travel to the main game world from Firelink Shrine, you're travelling to the past world. The past world exists, but it is falling apart, and the Firelink Shrine you find in it is already dark. If the Firelink Shrine of the past is already gone dark, what is going on with the present one? It is the same case as the Anor Londo in DS1: it's an illusion. Light has been established to be associated with illusions and time, so the Firelink Shrine hub is nothing more than an illusion that sustains itself until all of the cinders have been gathered. Once they're gathered, the illusion gives away and reveals the truth to you. This is the same case for the Ringed City, it too is upheld by an illusion which breaks once you wake up the princess from her slumber, so she can realise that she and the world died a long time ago. You cannot revive an already dead world with the cinders of the past.
i love this interpretation
But you can, we did it in the second game.
This works with the position of the shrine too.
It's on an impossible promontory basically floating behind Lothric castle. If you look down it's pretty clear it's not attached to anything. But after dropping off the cinders you can see the shrine in its actual position, suspended on a cliff edge.
Still, I don't think illusion is quite the right word. Everything in the shrine area is a lifeless gray hue. It's kinda suspended between black and white, light and dark, past and present. I like to think of it more like a time bubble. Physically it's in the same spatial location as it is in the present. But it's time has been displaced. Structures that crumbled away are now whole because it didn't teleport through time, it literally reversed itself backwards through time. It's not an illusion but the shrine as it was at the time travelled back to. But it's in its weird time bubble so it's sort of a superposition of shrines. You can only access the gray shrine via bonfire while you can just walk to the dark shrine.
@@rainbowkrampus That is actually how the illusions relating to time magic work in this series. They reverse and sustain the time of entire areas, despite real time always moving forwards. Repairing Powder is one of the prime examples of this, as instead of fixing the weapon it instead reverses its time with Light magic, and Light magic is synonymous with illusions. Dark Souls illusions aren't exactly fake, but more of magic emulating and pretending to be real things.
@@tofu3193 That is in 2, back when the cycles hadn't gone on for way too long yet. 3 is the point where the cycle has reached the extreme and can no longer be sustained.
I wish I wasn’t such a Brainlet so that I could properly explain how and why these games are absolutely fantastic
i... same :(
I love dark souls, I don't like 2 but that's cause I've only played scholar of the first sin, and 3 was the first I played played the name souls after finishing bloodborne, and I loved every second. Lately I got bored but I've been trying a miriacle run of 3 and it feels like it's been reignited for me
@@goreman7160 I was the same.
Only started on DS3 but then went back to 2 (sotfs).
Truly amazing game. 4 play through`s with 4 builds. Easily my favorite.
Then there`s Bloodborne. Also amazing in it`s own right
@@LONETK sekiro took me a year to beat once
No one such a big brain to be able to do so in an extempore. It requires writing and thinking and trashing your writing; writing again, thinking... for a long period of time until you get something good enough to present.
I used to struggle trying to explain how it is you make your videos so compelling, what it was that made you my favorite video-essayist. But then you made an offhand comment about how you make abstract and inexplicable emotions physical and understandable. And I knew that then and there that you knew exactly what you were doing.
I can always count on your artistic process to make me feel some new, and obscure sorrow. You make me feel small in all the grandest ways. Thank you for adding to my life.
By the way, digging the facial hair, absolute King ‘stache.
“You make me feel small in the grandest way” 🤌
I had to watch I'm Thinking of Ending Things for a class recently and didn't understand it past "This isn't necessarily the young woman's story, it's Jake's." A classmate directed me to this video, saying it was basically their introduction to the movie. So... thanks for clearing up the plot for me haha
I watched the entirety of I'm Thinking of Ending Things to prepare myself for this video and oh boy was it worth it. Thank you so much for the great content as usual.
I love how Jacob's content is so good people will watch whole movies "in preparation"
Good that you stressed that "ending things" can also mean "new beginnings".
* *cough* * e l d e n r i n g * *cough* *
@ArtEnkidu Nah G, she was painting Bloodborne. Look up the theory, it's pretty convincing
"What, still here? Hand it over. That thing, your *_Dark Soul."_*
Funny enough, I can only think of three characters in the entire series to reference the Dark Soul by name; one is the narrator from the first game during the intro, and the other is the pigmy at the start of the Ringed City that tells you its all an illusion.
I'm sure there are more but those are the only ones I remember.
@@gregorycarmichael6907 thats 2, right?
I love how you look at art with such an emotional leans. You seem very passionate about theses pieces of media, and I can feel that through a screen a million miles away. Isn’t that crazy?
It's been 4 months and I keep coming back to this video because it's so beautifully written.
The 'question' on the phone in I'm Thinking of Ending Things is from Hamlet, also visible on his bookshelf: To be or not to be, that is the question. He's thinking of ending things, 'the question' is literally to be or not to be!
I've been having thoughts about DS3 for a long time now, and you put most of them into words for me. But I wanted to talk about the Abyss Watchers a bit more. They have obviously modeled themselves after Artorias, but they don't really understand why. The thing is, the story of Artorias has been stretched and changed and altered so much over the centuries since his death that no one really knows what happened. There's been a historical forgetting of the past. Everyone keeps going through the motions, keeps reproducing cycles of myth that have already happened, but there's no meaning to it. No one knows why.
when "existential dread - the youtube channel" uploads a video about "existential dread - the video game" 🤤🤤🤤🤤
😅
Don't forget "existential dread - the movie" 🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤
@@MrTurnip1000 feeling awful in the best way possible
@@topichu970 lets not forget the comment and the reply too
its almost poetic how afwul it can go
I’d say that halo reach is a better example of “existential dread - the video game”
Your videos is like a cool breeze on a summer's day. Like arriving at home after a long walk. Your videos are home.
Thank you for making content
18:38 the illusion falls away, the basement is found. That orb was literally hiding the state of the world from everyone in it, canonically. what was a metaphorical expression of the basement becomes a literal one.
I will passionately argue that DSIII is one of the best games ever made.
It became my favorite when I blindly ran into the "Yhorm" boss fight, no fight has felt more badass to me than that!
you dont need to argue that. the soulsborne series is one of the best series ever made in gaming history whether anyone admits it or not. ds3 included.
these games influence on ppl, especially other game makers, speak for themselves. i can count the games that make people like jacob put together such an artfully masterful video in one hand.
and now elden ring came out, and imo, is easily the best game fromsoft made by FAAAAR. games are true art, and my 1st example to give anyone of that fact is the souls series.
Same for me. My favorite moment is the start and the whole progression of the Oceiros fight. The Dialogue, the seething he demonstrates. The lack of holding back to a point where he literally throws away as he himself says : "all that i have" just to keep himself alive. It's the perfecto representation of what linking the flame is. Throwing the greatest warriors to ever exist just to prolong something futile, something that at the end of day, will end, and should end. Something which does not belong.
I think I have more sentimental feelings towards ds1, because I felt instant nostalgia as soon as I finished playing. But ds3 is unarguably one of the best endings to a series ever. It absolutely understands what dark souls is about and incapsulates previous experience very eloquently.
Well, yeah. And no one would disagree with you.
''Someone has to be Hollow, Right? Might as well be you''
13:02 funnily enough there’s actually not much lore there. to this day no one completely knows why is there dark fire link temple behind a mad mans garden as a physical place. Your explanation is just as valid as any other lore
As far as I can tell from following dataminers, it was an early concept for the end of the game. You would turn Firelink dark, possibly climb up to the then-inaccessible roof, and fight a character called "Old King of the Eclipse" who eventually got recycled into Pontiff Sullyvahn.
i see the dark firelink as the real firelink that actually exists in the world, as it actually is connected to the overarching map. the firelink you start in, however, must be fast-traveled out of. that could mean the firelink that's our hub area is an illusion, much like the illusion in dark souls 1 that anor londo is this grand shining palace surrounded by sunlight
@@sphete6341 Or, ya know... DS3 is a frankenstein of a game by a director who just wanted to be done with it, in a pretty short amount of time by AAA game standards, from a studio who have been known to put their games through drastic revisions fairly late in development? So maybe it doesn't have to make sense ;p
@@Skullivon or, perhaps... i can have my own interpretation of it. which is why i said that's how i see it
@@Skullivon Pontiff was supposed to beat my ass as a final boss? That actually makes me feel better.
Diggin the moustache, the age of beard has ended
I have to disagree. Jacob please bring the beard back?
@@artemis_smith Here's something another youtuber once said about people requesting him to do things with his facial hair. The title of the clip does recontextualize it but that is the original context, I assure you.
ua-cam.com/video/g_kUGaB0nyY/v-deo.html
@@blarg2429 fair lol. Jacob, if you read this, please know that I wasn't trying to be rude.
ua-cam.com/video/T_gTc6qCrH0/v-deo.html
Hey Jacob,
I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but I gotta thank you for putting what I’ve felt about both of these art works for so long into such beautiful words. Dark Souls 3 has been my favorite game and I’m thinking of ending things my favorite movie and book ever since I first experienced them. I could never truly explain what I loved about them but you really spoke to me with this video.
Again, thank you.
As to what you say about the Ringed City, I always thought of it as the black hole at the center of the dying Dark Souls universe. It's the dialectical opposite of the First Flame, the anchor for the Age of Fire. Touching the egg causes that black hole to collapse in on itself, bringing the whole world with it.
One of my favorite things about the fight with Gael is this line: “hand it over, that thing, your Dark Soul.” it’s so perfect to me because it destroys the mystique and gravitas of the single most important element of the series, what the games are freaking named after! We the player have held on to this series for years, from Dark Souks 1, Dark Souls 2, and finally Dark Souls 3 expecting to get those answers. For all the secrets to be revealed, for everything to fall into place, for our grand sacrosanct moment of conclusion. And what do we get? A nobody, an old man we barely interacted with, literally mugging us for an object that is the core of our being at the point of his sword. This is the series subtle but not so subtle way of saying: “come on, give it up, we can’t keep going forever. Dark Souls never belonged to you, you gotta give it back.”
Also the fact that you are fighting the chosen avatar of the dark soul. The collective power and rage of humanity, concentrated in a slave knight. This is the first time you fight a complete lord soul, untainted by the fire. Lore-wise, this is the hardest dark souls fight, the ultimate battle before you leave the world to the darkness.
I dont really agree with your takes... He is the final boss of the saga so his story is tangled to that of the main concept and the tittle of the game, thats it. I dont think they were going for anymore than that.
On the other hand, here we have the "two nobodies fight" misconception that fans do love to share... They're the last beings standing on earth, i think that is more than enough for them to not get called "nobodies".
@@schmebulockjizz Firstly, let's ease of the contrarian pomposity of calling a commonly held community notion as a "misconception" implying your theory of the Gael fight is somehow more valid because it goes against other people's. Secondly, if you wanna talk about main concepts of the games, being a nobody in an uncaring world is literally the bedrock of Souls themes. In Dark Souls 1, you aren't THE Chosen Undead, you are A Chosen Undead, both Kaathe and Frampt lie and manipulate you into thinking you're some significant fated historical figure when really you're just the latest in a long line of fuck ups trying to go the distance. In Dark Souls 2, you are quite literally a no one, a faceless nameless undead who stumbles into Drangleic for purely selfish reasons, and in your ill fated quest to cure your own curse you fall into the same trappings of grandeur of becoming the net monarch. Finally, in Dark Souls 3 you are just one of countless Unkindled whipped up in a last ditch effort to rally the Lord of Cinders, you're a tool, a means to an end. Gael is a relic, a disposable and dispensable slave knight, he lasted to the end of time purely through force of will not out of any ordained importance granted by history. Just because you and Gael are the last ones alive, doesn't make either of you special, it's not an accomplishment to cling on the longest in a world that should have died eons ago.
@@tychoazrephet3794 *calls me out for pointing a misconception
*proceeds to educate me on the entire Dark souls lore
I mean you can ignore the diegetic text of the series all you want, but you can’t act like an analysis that purely rejects material elements of a piece of a fiction is complete.
Dark Souls 3 was the first FROM game that I played and my favorite by far. I've since played and beaten all of them except for dark souls 2, and have always felt the importance of 3 was misunderstood. That people want a 4th shows me that they missed the point. As always I love the video and am excited to see what you will tackle next.
At first, I wanted another DS sequel that shows us what happens after the ending of DS3. But after years have past and me giving some thought about it, DS ending at 3 is the perfect place to end the series since it fits with the whole theme of a tired and dying world. I also wanted Fromsoft to create new IPs so they can flex some of their stories and gameplay mech. without being tied to the series that made them popular. The fact that Bloodbrone and Sekiro exist proves that Fromsoft can created new and interesting games.
Like people who wants a third portal game
Dark souls 3 means a lot to me. It helped me get through a tough time in my life and I'm glad people are recognising the masterpiece it is. Thx for the vid man.
Same here. The game taught me how to move on and move away from a very toxic and depressing point in my life.
Same
Bloodborne is better
Masterpiece is bit much, isn't it?
@@ceral1871 agree to disagree.
Im still convinced that the world in the painting that the Painter is painting is the world of Bloodborne, Yharnam. It is cold, dark, surprisingly gentle (before everything went to sh*t) and it *did* make some people (and great ones) a goodly home.
l wish l could fucking play Bloodborne but greed speaks louder, thanks Fromsoftware.
(l'm a PC player)
@@yuukiyoshizawa7007 Oof sorry about that my dude
@@LuM4rex At least you have a friend that would trust you enough to borrow his console. l don't have a option except to watch gameplay on UA-cam. That's not the first time PC players has to suffer because of this, Red Dead Redemption, GTA 4, and overall PC PvP games, looks like we are coming back to monopolies.
My god, I just have to say, this entire video is Video-Essay GOLD…
But that one about half minute, where the comparisons between Gael and Artorius, your voice gets stronger, more passionate, as Oklahoma swells in the back, until it ends.
THIS is artistic brilliance. Not by trying to be snotty and all knowing or TRYING to make everything perfect… like you have all the answers, but by letting the art speak for you when words no longer can.
It’s beautiful.
I love how every single time I watch one of your videos, I leave with a new movie, a new musical, or a new book to read and investigate.
Thank you so much.
"I told you I'm just running on vibes" Mood.
Always enjoy your insights! I've not finished Dark Souls, but there's something about its setting and perseverance that keeps drawing me into lore videos for it.
Hello brother
Finish all of them, you won't regret it.
I always liked its medieval grimdark themes and story.
Probably one of the best videos I've seen. It's beautfiul. Just played Ds3 drunk out of my mind and wandered to the untended graves and the feelign i got was nothing short of sublime. Jacob, please continue with your weird, unexpected and, not unlike ds3, underrated videos.
Jacob geller is still even at half a milion subs one of the most underrated video essay channels on UA-cam. This man deserves to be heard by so many more people.
Loved this. Actually, seeing it pop up made me go back and re-watch "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" so it'd be fresher in my memory while watching the video, so thanks for that too. It's a beautiful, sad, thoughtful movie. Now I need to read the book.
Hello brother
Your comment 20 hours ago. The video uploaded 13 min ago.
Hmmm...
@@johanneshaukanes4531 patreon supporters
@@iain2080 ok, nice
Just watched the extra content in Nebula, and you did a great job conveying the difference and how scary the book was.
God damn, watching how much this channel has grown over the last two years has been wild. I remember finding you on reddit when you had around 2000 subs and I knew this channel would be a big deal. Now you're making videos talking about Dark Souls and Charlie Kaufman films in the same context and I'm still so here for it.
"Fear not the dark my friend, and let the feast begin.."
Something about summation of your argument makes me think of Sekijo’s, the sculptor, line “The limb you lost has given way to something more … useful. You’ll learn to appreciate its worth.”
Makes me think of a thought from the philosopher albert camus. He said that there is really only one question in life that truly matters, if you should end yours or not. If its worth it, if it means anything, if it matters if it does or not, these are all just parts of that larger question
"Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy." - Albert Camus. There are thematic similarities here with the recent Wisecrack video on Hades, which focuses on Camus' view of Sisyphus. Also, DS3 feels like it carries on a tradition of creators being pushed to beat a dead horse. Stories are meant to end. A show pushed beyond the scope of its premise tends to sour. Metal Gear Solid 4 felt like Kojima begging to be allowed to let the series end.
[sorry for the necro-post] Now that you mention it Metal Gear Solid 4 made me feel something similar to Dark Souls 3.
The flow of time itself is convoluted, relations shift and obscure...
I adore that you brought up the Alzheimers-like nature of Dark Souls 3, because I feel it builds off an incredibly important theme that the second game established, being all about how cyclical everything has become to the point of nobody bothering to learn the name of the kingdom anymore. Essentially, it's all about how humanity has no original stories anymore, and it's only going to keep getting worse with every rekindle. Aldia, the Scholar of the First Sin, explains that the first sin was creating the cycle in the first place, and he knows exactly because he has merged himself with the First Flame in an experiment gone awry.
And through the whole of the game, he's constantly encouraging you to think about ending things.
I'm probably really late to this, but you talking about Dark Souls 2 makes me curious, how do you imagine the secret ending of that game applies to themes both it and DS3 set up? Because honestly that particular bit has always stuck out to me as being weird compared to everything else in the series.
@@LEGOBoy922 Well it's been 2 months and I'm not the OP but I'll bite. So the "secret" ending of DS2 is, as I'm sure you know, different from leaving the flame at the end of DS1, because you never reached the flame in the first place. Your goal in DS2 is to take the throne and succeed Vendrick, and the game strongly implies that the flame is near the throne as well. But if you decide to become the new king, you don't get to choose what you do with the flame. Instead, the narrator says that you have a choice, but it is unknown whether you link it or don't. This is because the point of the game is that it's meaningless - the choice is an illusion and nothing you do as the king will ever matter, just as all those kings from the past have, in the grand scheme of things, done nothing to change the world in the long-term. If you link the fire, it will eventually fade again and the cycle will repeat. If you don't, undead will keep flocking to Drangleic and sooner or later, one of them will defeat you and link the flame. This is literally what happens in the game - Vendrick chose to reject the throne and even hid the means of reaching it and then you appear and ruin his plan. Both DS1 and DS3 imply that your final choice will determine the fate of the world, but in DS2, the choice is so meaningless that the game refuses to even give it to you. Aldia is, of course, aware of this. He is the one man who truly understands the horror of the cycle, who understands that all of his efforts, his brother's efforts, everybody's efforts were fruitless and nothing will ever truly change. He takes interest in you, but not because he believes that you can achieve anything. The way I see it, Aldia has come to terms with his lack of purpose, but he wants to know how you react to realising that your entire existence is pointless. And that's where his ending comes in. This final choice of taking the throne or leaving is not about choosing the fate of the world, rather it's about your place in it. It's a choice between playing your role in the cycle, whether as the one who links the fire or the lord of dark, or rejecting the cycle and trying to find meaning elsewhere. For the world of Dark Souls, this choice doesn't matter, if you don't take the throne, another undead will come along and do that anyway. Dark Souls 2 is ultimately a much more personal story than 1 or 3, it's not about the fate of the world, it's about realising that you have no power over that fate and deciding what to do with this knowledge. At least that's my interpretation of this game. So in that sense, it doesn't have as much in common with DS1 and 3 as you'd think, it tells a similar story but with a different focus, which I think makes it a brilliant addition to the overall story of these games.
Man IToET is one of the scariest and most upsetting books I’ve ever read. I couldn’t believe how god damn scary a book could be.
I feel like the movie didn’t capture how straight up “Horror” the book was.
Same. I read it over the course of an evening and oh boy. The two (three?) pages that were just "What are you waiting for?" repeated over and over and over again actually made my head spin a bit.
i love hearing these sorts of interpretations of the souls games. i feel like in video games, there’s often a tendency to take things literally, and trying to build some sort of self-contained universe with it, yknow? that works for some people, but personally i much prefer talking about what these games are trying to say overall- why do they exist as they do?
i really appreciate that you had a similar approach💞 awesome video as always, Jacob!
i can't believe jacob "this star simulator made me have an existential crisis" geller watched a black hole documentary to unwind
I am once again asking Jacob to talk about the game journey
Personally, I believe that knowing the lore would help significantly with the understanding of the world, and the state it is in, but I'm impressed at you "vibe only" description of the game, it was quite accurate despite the lore being so hidden.