7 Most Obscure Puzzles in Soulsborne Games You Were NEVER Going to Guess

Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring are famous for weird, inscrutable requirements to progress, unlock items, get good endings, the list goes on! Here are the most bonkers ones that you were never going to figure out by yourself, with huge thanks to the Outside Xtra community for their suggestions too.
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#darksouls #eldenring #bloodborne

[@ljfoe92]

Luke explaining reversing the frenzied flame. “And after that” was said so many time I’m dying lol.

[@malogranatum4914]

“And after that, you just need to...” was said at the start of basically every sentence in that section 😆

[@TheWeaponshold]

I know not a lot of people will believe me but I did ALMOST all of it without looking it up all the way except 2 things I had to look up. 1: I did not know about the summon sign for Melina or where to find it and 2: I did not know what the needle did after I put it in the flower so I looked up that I had to go to Placidusax's arena which I had already beaten. I just did mostly what I felt was right and luckily ran into stuff. I was exploring when I found the Shaded Castle and the prosthesis inside and thought "You know who would love this? That 1 armed lady!" And I even beat Placidusax 1st try and Malenia on my 2nd. Mimic tear/Starscourge Blades for P and Black Knife Tiche/Eleonara's poleblade for M. I was so mad too when I finally saw the reward was getting rid of frenzied flame so I finished it and was like "Now Melina will come back right?!................... R-r-right?.... Please." Basically what I am saying is the game is fucking good and I hate it. XD

[@lc9245]

​@@TheWeaponshold It's not beyond the realm of imagination at all. I think most people who runs around the game would too. The quest line also involved the blind maiden Hyetta. They put a lot of hints about Frenzy Flame in the first place. The old man who wants to kill the boss can also be found by chance exploring Caelid. He's also the one giving clue to how to solve Caelid puzzle. Even Millicent locations can be ran into during explorations. I think Elden Ring is much easier to figure out because the game actively encourages backtracking and exploration. Their older titles make returning to old zones feels a little pointless, which makes long quest line involving backtracking more obscure.

[@uchiha617hh]

...and you just have to beat the hardest boss in the game... yeah, you JUST have to beat melania do you? ok good luck with that, see you tomorrow, maybe.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

What's weird is this is the first time I've found thats what the needle if for. I've got it but not the frenzied flame, where are the 3 fingers anyway?

[@SeiPR727]

For me, the "convolutedness" peaked in the Demon Souls remake. To get the Penetrator's set, you have to find all 13 ceramic coins twice (i.e. you need to get them all, then go through new game+ to get another 13). 7 of these coins only appear on Pure White World Tendency, and the other 6 only appear in Pure Black World Tendency. All are scattered across all archstone areas. They only appear in Fractured mode (your screen is horizontally flipped) and they are hidden within breakable environment elements. Once you have 26, you must trade them to the crow in Shrine of Storms for the Rusted Key that opens a locked door behind an illusory wall in Boletarian Palace Inner Ward. If the internet didn't exist, this would be a playground rumor.

[@jameshoffman9189]

Trueeeeeeee lol

[@DGiovanni]

It's a nod to a puzzle in the SotC remake they did. That puzzle was based on an unfinished puzzle from the original game that people tried for like 10 years to solve.

[@carlsczepanski]

Fair but I love that. When I was a kid growing up, I never knew of the existence of Mewtwo in Melee. I thought the kids at school were lying...until I left my console on by accident while randomly playing the endless mode. I was blown away by the secret character then the secret mode after unlocking him then Game and Watch. I genuinely miss the surprises in games. Even DS1 had so many secrets that took awhile to find.

[@whimsycole246]

I remember watching them figure this out back when the game dropped. Wild shit.

[@gabrielmontes289]

Y'know that's because it was never supposed to be in the game right? XD

[@weltallelite]

Things like this make me believe that the mystery of Ready Player One would never have taken years to figure out because Reddit community would have cracked that puzzle inside of two weeks.

[@NavyMonk89]

The difference is that only one can win in RP1 so nobody shared because all wanted to be the winner, otherwise you are absolutely right.

[@paigethedork9693]

@@NavyMonk89 theres bound to be quite a few people who didn't give a shit, and leaked the answers

[@epsteindidntkillhimself69]

Its almost like RP1 was a terrible book... Oh wait.

[@alexvazquez5087]

@@NavyMonk89 not true they shared all the info when they found out the puzzle the news spread like wild fire

[@IamLukifer22]

@@alexvazquez5087 didn’t Artemis make how to videos on trying to hunt the Easter eggs?

[@Buff-Wings]

I love Miquella’s Needle so much. What’s crazy is that you skipped like half the convoluted steps in curing the frenzied flame. In order to find the door to the Three Fingers in the first place, you need to drop down an incredibly difficult platforming puzzle, which is locked behind a uniquely hidden path, locked behind an optional boss, at the end of a completely optional unmapped area of the game, accessed by one tucked away ladder running down a well in a back alley of the most dense area of the game. And then you have to mention that in order to reach Millenia and finish Millicent’s questline you have to find both halves of the Haligtree secret medallion; one is found after an optional and easy to miss endgame level boss, and the other is found after talking to a man who is disguised as a pot, at the end of another optional and easy to miss area of the game. And even after that, you need to hold both halves of the medallions up through a hidden prompt at the great lift which previously took you to the mountaintop of the giants, something you aren’t told anywhere in the game outside of one other incredibly easy to miss NPC questline, which is accessed in a hidden area after the end of an optional early game cave dungeon. Then you have to navigate the consecrated snowfield and solve the puzzle of the Ordina Township evergaol in order to traverse the haligtree and Elpheal, all to reach the hardest boss in the game, which you need to beat to get the item that will cure you. This is in addition to everything else you mentioned on Millicent’s quest, finding her arm in the Shaded Castle and eventually using the needle in Placidusax’ boss arena, which is something you’d only learn to do in game through a merchants note, hidden behind some set pieces that can only be destroyed if you lure an enemy to attack you. Truly some of the most cryptic and non linear quest steps in all of gaming, I don’t know how people would figure this all out without the internet. The cherry on top that makes it the best Soulsborne secret to me, is that there is practically no point in doing it in an actual playthrough of the game. It is purely a convoluted cure to a problem that you must have created for yourself as a player. Similar to the rest of the Soulsborne catalogue, the whole quest is a great metaphor for hardship in real life. If you locked yourself into the frenzied flame ending you had to have gone through the steps to get there, you dug yourself into that hole and now you either have to sleep in the hole or start digging your way out, and while it’s way easier to lean into it and take the bad ending, the gratification you feel in overcoming your past mistakes is worth the struggle you face along the way. Personally, I still do the quest for my preferred ending, where Melina turns on you for taking the frenzied flame, you burn the Erdtree in her place, then cure yourself and take Ranni’s ending. That way Melina doesn’t have to die but doesn’t want to kill you in the end either. Given all the trouble you have to go through I do wish they included some kind of ending with Melina for curing the frenzied flame and sparing her but it’s pretty fitting they didn’t all the same.

[@TheTanakaMiyuki]

What I love even more, though not related to Miquellas needle or the frenzied flame, is that the door after the ridiculous jumping puzzle isnt even the end of secrets. There's another hidden wall, which has another hidden wall, that takes you to another completely new and relatively big area in the game where you end Fias questline. It's just so many secrets within secrets, it's honestly ridiculous lol.

[@jamesloucks2562]

It's disgusting to hear you defend such an obsurd, incoherent, poorly designed quest like its some beautiful metaphor for struggling. You wanna know something? My friend DID find the frenzied flame *by accident* by exploring and following player hints. The game does NOT properly warn you what happens if you open the door...but PLAYERS will show you how. The fact you can add on to how UNFAIR the path to curing that mistake is.....and love it as some good thing? Is just insane, you're a fanboy. This is bad game design, period. Convoluted nonsense for the sake of being Convoluted.

[@Buff-Wings]

@@jamesloucks2562 Lol my guy and you TRUSTED the player hints telling you to take off your clothes and open the door? How many times did you read a note that said “hidden path ahead” that was total BS? Plus if you’re taking your time and paying attention, Melina will even warn you multiple times not to take the Frenzied Flame. You’d need to be daft or just plain ignorant to actually fall into this ending by mistake and be upset about it. It’s actually perfect game design, as it is 100% intentional. They know players are going to be pissed when they get locked out of endings, but whether you knew it or not it was a choice you made and afterwards you have to live with the consequences, or get to work fixing your mistakes. FromSoftware have made a career out of making games that are difficult in intentionally unfair ways, this quest is like a microcosm of that whole design philosophy. And yes, I am a Dark Souls fan and a huge fan of Elden Ring, and I can tell you from my year’s experience with these games and this community, you and your friend just need to git gud.

[@noahhaller4540]

In Melina's eyes, any ending in which she is not burned is a bad ending. She tells us the player a half dozen times throughout the game that she is a kindling maiden, and no one, not even you, would look down on her for that. By doing the frenzied flame, you aren't saving her life, you are denying her the purpose for which she was born for. And considering how bleak every souls game and particularly Elden Ring is about immortal life, you have cursed her to be a hollow from Dark Souls. A pointless, purposeless, unending existence. Which is why Melina is effectively dead after the forge of giants, regardless of your choice, except for in the cutscene of Chaos ending.

[@Buff-Wings]

@@noahhaller4540 Yeah but effectively dead and actually dead are two very different things. I do agree that Melina chose that path and truly wanted for herself to be burned as kindling, but ultimately the choice comes down to us as a player, as with everything in this game. Also it always seemed to me that Melina didn’t expressly hate the Frenzied Flame path for denying her birthright as a kindling maiden, but more for the greater implications of how it would affect the lives of everyone in the lands between. She only comes back to swear vengeance if you claim the Elden Throne as Lord of Frenzied Flame. And if you choose Fia’s ending, the rune of death is placed back in the Elden Ring and people (presumably Melina too) could live and die as they please again. Idk how Melina would really feel about Ranni’s ending, though they do seem to have some connection due to obvious similarities. But really in the end, I think the messages I’m trying to get across is that people don’t need to let their identity be chosen for them at birth, and that one’s goal in life should never involve one’s death. Melina more than anyone feels like a friend in the Lands Between, she looks out for you and sets you on the path you travel. Friends don’t let friends hurt themselves, even if it’s what they want. Sometimes you have to save someone from themselves, even if it means they never talk to you again. It’s better to force Melina to make a different choice in life than let her continue on a self destructive path, so long as it doesn’t also send you down that path. That’s why I burn the Erdtree myself and cure the Frenzied Flame. True hidden altruism ending.

[@jonni.e.299]

"find three wise beasts" Google: "translucent tortoises" Me: only finds ghost dogs

[@marhawkman303]

DOG here!

[@nomukun1138]

dog

[@tommybear4458]

Only one was hard to find kinda

[@nathreetimesnineequalstwen7172]

😂

[@hotdoggamz9777]

Try dog

[@tba113]

Yuria: Aren't you a little thin for a Fat Official? Luke: What? Oh - the uniform! I'm Luke Westaway, I'm here to rescue your hat!

[@blarg2429]

lmao

[@jaded_gerManic]

LOL 🤣

[@SirRavix]

😂 Well done

[@Blizz3112]

I mean, the Asylum is one thing, but remember there's also the whole needing to be infected into an egg head in order to even buy specific spells from Eingyi... Who would even in their right mind think to do that, let alone know... XD

[@fabi3790]

Well he does say "you have no eggs" And at some point you may get infected

[@spencersguitarcovers]

I found Ash Lake behind the double illusory wall and am still in awe of that hidden area.

[@matthewgriffin3486]

lol thank you myazaki for the soapstone messages or I would've never

[@MsKornkitty]

I think the funniest thing about DS2 is they find lots of ways to try and make you use the torch, and then in a late game area using the torch is suddenly a Very Bad Idea.

[@corywertz9268]

Which area is that? I can't think of it, but it's been a while.

[@kajus]

@@corywertz9268 "Halt. Human. Do not produce light." Is probably what they're referring to? Undead Crypt with Grave Warden Agdayne. He'll aggro on you if you walk up with a torch, iirc. Then when you light the main hall up, the area gets populated with red phantom enemies wearing the Insolent armor set.

[@kawaimu3066]

@@kajus Yup lol. You also have to kill the undead that has a torch because he will follow you around if you dont. Its a great area. RIP that undead :(

[@tinchoide]

@@kajus yeah also remember the zone before dragons shrine? if u lit the torches some red npcs will try to kill you, they are easy to kill tho just swing the greatsword and they die quite fast, like every other thing in the game lol

[@ApetureTestSubject]

"You could easily blunder into the Three Fingers, not really knowing what the consequences could be." Yes, of course. You just blunder into the secret hidden tunnel beneath Lyndell, fight your way through the sewer maze and the monsters within, accidentally break through the illusory wall behind the boss area, navigate your way down the merchant graveyard jumping puzzle, then, by chance, got naked to open the door. I mean, it's so easy to do. Then again, this is a Soulsborne game. By their standards, this is pretty straightforward.

[@Douge11]

If you have completed hyetta’s quest to this point, she does explicitly tell you to get naked to open the door. But that means you gotta go through the bullshit of finding her grapes and locations

[@sirflimflam]

Absolutely. Once I met Shabriri, he told me to go down there to save Melina and I was determined to meet the three fingers. Then she left me, cursing me on a long journey to fix my fate.

[@ApetureTestSubject]

@@sirflimflam I had actually forgotten about Shabriri pointing you in the right direction. Though, to be fair, first time round I completely missed most of his questline. Didn't even realise he was possessing the dead body of a guy I'd met once in Limgrave many hours ago. Still, if you're needing direction from a possessed corpse, you really aren't just gonna stumble on the place.

[@orsolyafekete7485]

@@sirflimflam to be fair, Melina tells you twice (well, I guess if you check if you can talk to her, which is far from unreasonable to miss) to turn back and leave the Frenzied Flame alone

[@sirflimflam]

@@orsolyafekete7485 I know. But I didn't wanna use my girl as kindling :(

[@oliverhendrix8176]

7:10 One detail about the windmill is that one of the npc phantoms will point at the windmill if you haven’t burned it yet.

[@MamaTrixxieAsmr]

That is scholar exclusive, there is no npc there in base version, nor any dev messages

[@psterud]

Fun list. I'm mostly familiar with Dark Souls 1, and there are more doozies in that one. Like, for instance, how to get into the DLC, completing the questlines of Solaire and Siegmeyer, how to find the Gwyndolin boss room, how to join the the Gravelord Servant covenant and how it actually works, and how to join the Darkwraith covenant, among other things. But honestly it's these extremely obscure things that contribute to my love for that game specifically. It's so incredibly deep and mysterious, and I have so much admiration for a game developer that goes to such lengths to ensure that much of their work is missed by casual players. It's still hard for me to believe, even now.

[@skaraturbo]

And finding the great hollow needs u to find 2 illosuary walls in a row

[@darkbugo7212]

I do prefer that some games have such mystery. Then it creates a natural space of players who would post on the internet "Did you know there was another hidden area behind the tree? Wow! Really???". I wouldn't like developers to sanitize things like that to "not confuse the player", although a hint here and there is sometimes welcome. Back in the days it was more magical because people were not on the internet. So you were on your own and when you discovered something it was unique, like maybe nobody has found it. Or maybe in a computer magazine or if you had gamer friends at school (which was like 5% chance :) you would discuss and dream about your favorite games and secrets that you have discovered. Different times. Now, I end up looking at walkthroughs for some of these games and I wonder if I should.

[@psterud]

@@darkbugo7212 There was a game called Adventure on the Atari 2600, arguably the first action RPG, and therefore the origin of Dark Souls. In it was a secret that would have been extremely difficult to find if it weren't for word of mouth. I don't remember how we kids learned about it, but when we did it in the game it was mind-blowing. It's a very similar thing to what you're talking about, and it's so valuable, which is not just mysteries in games, but how people learn about them.

[@Skenjin]

For draining the poison, it wasnt until i ignored the windmill that i found out that room normally is filled with poison.

[@amahashadow]

me too, I solved it by accident in my first run, and on my second time trough, couldn't figure out why this boss was so difficult that time arround

[@Skenjin]

@@amahashadow As a creature of habit I have no idea how many times I went through there on characters before I figured out what it actually die. Hell, when I encountered the poison for the first time I may have googled it and had an Aha! Moment.

[@yummybubbles194]

@@Skenjin If I remember correctly there's also a dude near a ladder on a ledge who talks about the windmill.

[@endermage77]

@@amahashadow Usually there's a bunch of user messages nudging you into torching the windmill. Those vital messages aren't there now, now that online is disabled.

[@ryoumakoushiro7447]

I kinda just "Hee-hee, funny windmill goes burn" the first time I went to that area

[@sirflimflam]

Two points about Miquella's Needle, too. When you find Millicent's summon sign in the room, it's even more confusing because you are presented by two summoning signs. Pick the wrong one and you begin an event to kill Millicent, not help her. No needle for you! Though you do get a decent item. And as for using Miquella's complete needle. You don't actually have to fight the optional boss. Entering his arena at all is enough for you to use the item, since it just needs you to be in a "timeless" area.

[@henryrosie]

To be fair to From Soft, while this entire quest is a convulated rollercoaster, you can't really "pick the wrong" summon sign unless you're completely not paying attention. They are literally a gold (co-op) sign labeled Help Millicent and a red (invasion) sign labeled Challenge Millicent. Pretty hard to misinterpret that.

[@iHaveTheDocuments]

The sign literally tells you you'll fight her if you pick that option.

[@Orhionocerous]

Another messed up aspect of this quest (that has now been patched) was that if you succeeded in assisting Millicent and jumped off the ledge to talk to her afterwards, you could accidentally kill her by landing on top of her since she only has 1 hp. If she died that way, she did not drop the needle.

[@Orhionocerous]

@Trash Potato thankfully no, I followed the guide very closely and the wiki made it very clear

[@navdragoni]

People saying that it's obvious which sign, that's only the case If you're already checked the wiki for the path. Getting there blind you wouldn't know what each would result in.

[@Chillton]

Considering eldritch horror themes in Bloodborne, the moment you get the make contact gesture you end up running around making contact with anything that doesn't kill you instantly 😂

[@ZhaneX24]

lol I love the Windmill Puzzle. I remember it being demonstrated to me by a guy I summoned to help with the level, and I subsequently tried to do the same (with varying levels of success) whenever I got summoned there too!

[@Alastor13teryn]

finding the mound makers covenant in dark souls 3, you have to talk to a somewhat hidden npc who looks like other enemies you have to fight along the way (the walking cage filled with people), which lets you climb into a cage on a different enemy's back. and you have to do this before attempting the curse rotted Greatwood fight, because once it breaks the floor, it lands on and kills the npc who gives you the covenant

[@SolaScientia]

Ooh, that's a good one too! I looked at the wiki to do that bit because I'm rather obsessed about not missing out on stuff in these games, which usually ends up just driving me even battier than I am already, lol.

[@denniswijker7162]

This is a fantasticly well hidden one as well! You don't actually have to talk to the cage enemy for the quest to trigger, you can just interact with the creature with the cage on its back. I think the cage enemy is there as a sort of hint ?

[@ASpooneyBard]

"Another nana's disappeared. Now grand-son caries a caaage He evveer haaas his caaage And nana's never coming back. So climb into his cage and become nana's shade!" I like that guy.

[@dowfreak7]

@@ASpooneyBard Very memorable melody to those lines, too.

[@denniswijker7162]

@@ASpooneyBard I can hear that in the voice, such a fun encounter, and SO WEIRD if you don't have the context :P

[@sstsalazar]

I love how convoluted all Frenzy Flame quests are in Elden Ring, specially because they involve some of the most interesting NPC like Yura, Millicent, and Hyetta while giving more depth to the merchant's background. Also it gives the Haligtree more purpose beside suffering to reach Malenia and then truly suffering trying to beat her..

[@bustinarant]

Meanwhile, I just joined the Moondoll immediately and stumbled everywhere on my own trying to find something pretty. I think I killed the chaos guy because he creeped me out, like Sir Maidenless..

[@jaredcrabb]

I actually didnt suffer fighting Malenia. Trying to reach her killed me more times than all the rnemies there combined.

[@tommybear4458]

The humanity puzzle for D's 3 and the moon rune from blood born are truly mind bogglers

[@Tbar67]

I'd say the Sekiro Ending where you need to figure out how to get the flower from the already dead Father Owl is way more obscure. Having to talk to and spy on the exact people at just the right point in the game, was almost impossible to figure out on your own. Where as I did the ending you mentioned on my own.

[@fabi3790]

Tbh as I spied on everyone.. i got that ending relatively easy But yes it is easy not to get

[@SorowFame]

Not sure why that ending is harder to get to than Dragons Return.

[@G8d3v1L]

And this one, for me, is actually the "best" ending; Sekiro fulfills his purpose and Kuro gets a chance to live a normal life. How being absorbed by the divine child is somehow a "better" ending is beyond me...

[@crestfallenhussar895]

The Asylum also holds the rusted iron ring, the ring that makes the blight town swamp bearable by letting you walk in it normally.

[@Awwscrewit]

@@psterud You can get a second one by fully completing Siegmeyers quest, which is even more obscure.

[@alwaysdtf2197]

Wait, it gets rid of the poison swamp?

[@WhisperingNavajo]

@@alwaysdtf2197 no, it lets you walk normally in the swamp

[@psterud]

@@Awwscrewit That's right. Always forget about that one.

[@crestfallenhussar895]

@@psterud There are infinite Titanite slabs but they have a less than 1% chance to drop from Dark Wraiths.

[@nathan.w4981]

So interesting thing about that whole torch fiasco in darksouls 2, that game originally was going to have a complex lighting set up to make the torches more important, but was later scrapped last minute leading to the pointlessness of said item. It's likely that if they didn't scrap that a lot more people would have lit torches on them throughout the game making the puzzle easier.

[@dowfreak7]

They also doubled down on the mechanic when sotfs came out, so now you basically see jack shit in semi-dark environments. I do think the idea CAN work in a Souls scenario. Long ways between bonfires, some dark ruins you need to slowly traverse with the torch, traps that react and show up due to the torchlight etc. But it just really doesn't work the way they put it in. A little too ambitious and then not thorough enough when they implemented it later.

[@shindrac]

@@dowfreak7 To be fair, I think the way The Gutter works (at least in vanilla DS2) is the best example of a good use of the torch: It's dark enough that the torch helps a lot, but not dark enough that you NEED the torch either, which seems like a good compromise on the mechanic.

[@HiImBQ]

The interesting part is.. Mapocolops actually figured out the Sekiro Return ending on his own in a blind first playthrough... I was amazed to say the least.

[@herrzyklon]

The thing with these games is that the puzzles can be well communicated in a fun way by the community in the form of messages. That's how I figured out the monkey trick in sekiro

[@jedrzejkoszewski4342]

The hardest puzzle i did in Elden ring on my own is opening of one of mage towers where you get a clue "Erudition lights the way". Erudition is an emote and when you wear any glintstone crown while using that emote then the crown lights up. So you have to emote while wearing it and it's done. I probably wouldn't figure that out if i haven't seen someone emote with crown saying it's a cool easter egg.

[@zacyquack]

And the worst part is, there is another puzzle in another area that only required you to use Erudation by itself, not with the crown. So it becomes infinitely more confusing

[@skroomber]

@@zacyquack and the worst part is that there is another rise where you can enter just by jumping up the outer wall. I thought that was the erudition required.

[@guitarbow11]

The sheer amount of pain expressed at 01:50 is really impressive

[@wolfancap6897]

I actually figured out the Earthen Peak puzzle by myself, here's how. -When i walked into that ledge i saw that it looked suspicious an enemy standing in the way to the windmill on guard duty, not attacking until you come close, as if he wants to stop you from breaking something important. -The windmill looked important enough to warrant all that attention, so there was clearly something up there. -This is Dark Souls, although the game is tough as nails its fair, therefore, there must be a solution to that. -After trying to hit it and burn it with firebombs, on a whim i tried the game's gimmicky new mechanic, the torch (as it had already helped me in a similar way in the lost sinner fight).

[@farmer_joe_]

Fire didn't work because you used too much fire, ds2 was a videogame of all time that's for sure

[@chaoticstarfish3401]

Did anyone else get the Frenzied Flame ending on accident? I was trying to explore as much of this game as I could in my first run, then for some reason I decided to ignore Melina's warning out of curiosity, only to have her abandon me and watch Hyetta burn to death, and then destroy the world.

[@mykal4779]

how did you know to get naked?

[@chaoticstarfish3401]

@@mykal4779 I believe Hyetta tells you to do so. Either that or the door is blocked and there's some text to guide you when trying to open it. It must be one of the two because I would not have thought of getting naked.

[@42percenthealth]

I actually did find my way back to the Undead Asylum on my first playthrough. I noticed that certain player ghosts were carrying halberds (which is not a starting weapon), and there were bloodstains in areas where there were no enemies at the start, so I worked out that there must be a way to get back here later, and that the area would have new baddies at that time.

[@khajiitimanus7432]

Considering that bloodstains aren't blocked by NG cycles, that leap in logic was surprisingly lucky. Seeing ghosts of other players with late-game gear wouldn't mean anything when paired with that context. However, seeing a player die to a riposte from Oscar or get pancaked by a Black Knight via bloodstains would definitely clue it in, particularly when knowing that the Undead Asylum isn't a multiplayer zone.

[@42percenthealth]

@@khajiitimanus7432 Bro it was my first time playing my first souls game. I didn't know that multiplayer zones or NG+ were even a thing.

[@khajiitimanus7432]

@@42percenthealth "when paired with that context." The point is, it's one half logical deduction and one half luck, but I suppose a lot of science is capable of being like that. :p

[@TheGrandslam89]

Its also mentioned by the depressed fellow at the start.

[@shindrac]

The first time I played, I just realized that there was an unreachable item on a ledge and a locked door, which meant I would have to go back later.

[@arellajardin8188]

In SotFS, if you use a particular npc summon in Earthen Peak, they’re programmed to stop and point at the windmill, as a clue that you need to do something. There is still no prompt without a torch, though, so good luck guessing what. In the Gutter of SotFS, lighting every single sconce will spawn in a new phantom to fight. She drops a full witch set, including the unique Witch’s Veil, an item that completely negates curse buildup. Very useful for the final boss. Good luck finding all the sconces on your own, though, some of them are pretty well hidden.

[@themightymcb7310]

Eh curse in ds2 isn't much of a problem, especially if you have the ring of binding so it only knocks you down to 75% max health. I think it's honestly easier to eat the curse and wreck Nashandra anyway than it is to fully explore the gutter.

[@SilverstarandFriends]

You can also complete all 3 DLCs and take all 4 crowns to Vendrick to become immune to curse/hollowing. It's a cool reward but comes so late in the game and is disabled for NG+ that's its fairly worthless.

[@bustinarant]

@@SilverstarandFriends I had enough trouble just getting Vendrick's armor set after using a couple Giant souls naively. Dark Souls 2 was my first attempted, but last finished, Souls game. By the time I went back to it I was eating every boss soul in a first playthrough just for fun. Fighting the "Ancient Dragon", because I *needed* the two or three Giant Souls left to be able to do damage to Vendrick, took me a while.

[@SilverstarandFriends]

@@bustinarant I love DS2, it and BB are the only ones I replay. Vendrick is a pain just because of his health bar but I only ever fought the Ancient Dragon once because it's a harder fight than Vendrick is so the one extra soul isn't worth it to me.

[@arellajardin8188]

@@SilverstarandFriends The fact that the crown’s buff doesn’t carry over into NG+ is infuriating. If it did, it’d be a cool bonus, and you could run around in a crown for the next cycle. Instead, it’s effectively useless. More so, since I tend to fight Nashandra before tackling the dlc.,

[@thePhantomStalker]

Strangely enough, I almost figured out the reverse frenzied flame option in my first playthrough. The only thing I ended up looking up was the final location of Milicent, as I had no clue that you even could get to that area by walking the tree roots...

[@DijonFromage]

It seems like in any of their games, if there's bigass tree roots or branches, you will eventually end up walking on them. And almost certainly at least once will be an enemy with a ranged attack with a lot of knockback to yeet you off of them until you rip your controller in half.

[@AfroRyan]

Some of these I figured out not so much on my own, but because of all the soapstone messages hinting at what to do in their typical, broken sentence structure way. It helped me to use the torch on the windmill, but also find a hidden bonfire behind a wall right by that bossfight, and not a typical illusory wall, but a more typical (in any other game) press-a-button to interact style sliding wall.

[@mykal4779]

that's how all the illusory walls were in DS2

[@phthalojohan]

The location of the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman in elden ring. In a game where fall damage is very much a thing, you have to platform down the cliff near bestial sanctum several times to get it. Problem is that 1) you probably won’t even realise the location is even there. The “towers” aren’t really visible unless you look down the cliff. 2) If you do attempt to jump you are more likely going to conclude it’s inaccessible because most of the platforms are higher than fall damage death height.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

That one was more of an execution challenge than a recognition challenge - I know I saw it and instantly wondered if I could climb down it, and assume many others must have also done it naturally. My own doubts came halfway down when I started to wonder if there'd actually be anything to pay off the stupid climb.

[@alrightalright4585]

That one seemed more intuitive to figure out on my own than most of the other obscure stuff in ER, such as that ledge in Caelid with the Painting solution and the ridiculously overpowered blue beam giant. That one was extremely obscure, and I definitely had to look it up.

[@sirflimflam]

The funniest part was they accidentally ADDED a kill plane to the area. So not only was it hard to get to but if you tried on the wrong patch, it would actually kill you when you tried.

[@MsCunningLinguistic]

Wait WHAT

[@HanabiraKage]

There's also a unique dagger down there next to the talisman.

[@xian1978]

Fun fact, in the original Demon's Souls you only needed the hat of the guard, but they changed it to the full outfit in the remake.

[@fabi3790]

But the old game only had the hat I think

[@acidmeltedbrain]

@@fabi3790 Yes so those of us who played the PS3 version immediately knew as soon as the arms legs or chest piece dropped when they were for.

[@Jrhoney]

Just so happens that I cured the frenzied flame this morning. I bumbled into the Three Fingers and didn't realize I would be locked out of the other endings. Had to do half of the remaining steps including beating Melina to continue my first playthrough and complete Ranni's questline.

[@zxb995511]

Finding Kaathe the serpent in Dark Souls 1 is BEYOND difficult. I wager that not even 1 in 10,000 players even with 1000++ hours could find Kaathe without help.

[@danlorett2184]

It's not that bad at all. You just have to take a different route thru the game.

[@Sir_Him]

I never fought Mytha while the room was full of poison. I didn't even know the room would have poison until I watched a let's play later. I just thought she was a sub-par boss and didn't realize I made the fight easier for me thanks to trying to figure out how to burn the windmills.

[@mr.irrelevent8956]

Same I just saw I could burn the wind mill and did it

[@ghostderazgriz]

I find it hilarious how many people actually worked this puzzle out without knowing what it was for.

[@timelessnugget]

I had absolutely no idea there was even a puzzle. I fought her like three times and thought there's no way it's supposed to be this impossible.

[@victoriousf.i.g.3311]

R/That Happened

[@collinsims2413]

Same, i had a habit of walking around with a torch for no reason, and i was confused why my friends were warning me about her being super hard lol

[@DerpyBerb]

In Sekiro, My first play through was blind and I got the homecoming ending. I had my partner look up one part only, and it was if I should, or not, give the rice from her body, to Kuro. I was pretty sure they were centipede eggs and it would be the worst ending.

[@Killroy007]

Your imagination is quite fitting for imagining it being centipede eggs, lmao.

[@xXMetalFuryXx]

I actually drained the mythas poison on accident, I remember just exploring seeing the prompt to light it on fire and then doing it without thinking. I didn't even know the room was supposed to have a poison floor until after I beat DS2

[@MmeCShadow]

The Moon Rune was is pretty funny to look up on the wiki. "Tier 1 - Go to this place. Tier 2 - Go to this place. Tier 3 - [500 word block of text]." This kind of nonsense is ridiculous but I love it. I really miss that era of mystery around a game; games these days tend to be so streamlined and accessible that this sort of deranged multi-part playground rumor puzzle just doesn't have a chance to flourish any longer (and dataminers kind of ruin the magic if a game does try to do so).

[@DiardanRose]

I did actually find Miquella's Needle and completed all the steps to curing the Frenzied Flame on my own. But without any idea what it was or why I was doing it because I hadn't done anything related to the Frenzied Flame so at the end I just had this thing in my inventory that seemed ludicrously important but I had no context for.

[@stevenn1940]

So what you're saying is that you had the answer to the riddle, but never found the riddle lol

[@DiardanRose]

@@stevenn1940 Pretty much! I only found eyeball eating girl once at her initial spawn and never naturally found her again in my first playthrough so just never realized that was a thing 🤣

[@DreamskyDance]

Same here... didnt knew what was for but completed all the steps for it and completed all the steps for getting marked by the fingers but gave up in front of the door because Melina told me not to...

[@DeadCobar1996]

I was wondering if anyone else had done that

[@someasian6uy80]

Here's 3 puzzles in 1. The way to get to Archdragon Peak in Dark Souls 3. You need to go to the optional area, Consumed King's Garden, defeat the boss there, Oceiros the Consumed King, and then you can get to the treasure room where you get the gesture "Path of the Dragon". Also in the room is an illusory wall that leads to Untended Graves where you can get a bunch of cool items including, Coiled Sword Fragment, which is an infinite use Homeward Bone, and, Eyes of a Fire Keeper, which can be used to unlock 2 secret endings. Then there's the way to get to Archdragon Peak. You have to go to Irithyll Dungeon and find an area where you'll find a dragonoid statue and a few dead npc's, all doing the "Path of the Dragon" gesture. After you do the same for a few seconds, you'll end up in Archdragon Peak. From here, you need to get to the Dragon-Kin Mausoleum bonfire, close to which you'll find a room with a bunch of the dragonoid statues pointing at a central statue of a dragon and doing the "Path of the Dragon" gesture. So you go in front of said dragon statue and do the gesture and voila, Calamity ring. Yes for all that you get quiet possibly the worst item in all of the souls games.

[@fabi3790]

Don't you dare insult the calamity ring At least you didn't have to fight a boss to get it (not directly)

[@lucashaug3945]

8:50 for the windmill in ds2 there is a shade summon, I believe its Felecia, that when brought near the windmill does an emote and points to the windmill for you. I did not know this until my 15th passthrough of the area though. There is technically an in game hint for it... but how likely are you to be Human and have summons everytime?

[@tinchoide]

almost everytime, unless you die an insanely amount of times, i dont like having my hp reduced, so i just dont die, to keep my hp bar full.

[@kevinfortsch]

I discovered it by accident because I always walk through areas with a torch out anyway..

[@finndriessen5829]

The secret ghost knight boss when you light all the torches in the gutter and jump towards the wall at the second bonfire. Was greatly hidden i knew their was something more to that location.

[@maxvel0city906]

Luke: "The solution isn't designed to make logical sense." Me: "Well how the f&*k are you supposed to figure it out then." As I slam the door walking away waving my hands in the air.😂 Great video as always Luke and Ellen.👍😃💜

[@BrotherAlpha]

If these puzzles were in another game, people would be calling them bad game design, because they are bad game design. However, because they are in a From Software game, people will just yell at you to "Get Good!"

[@alexmed2646]

@@BrotherAlpha I like their games and ive played all of them, but oh God, they are filled with BS.

[@Hyperdisk]

Pitty, you're supposed to wave only one hand AND THEN walk away if you want to start the path to the secret ending. After that there's about 7 other steps, but waving your hand then walking away is the first. Only works if it's the correct door though.

[@connortheandroidsentbycybe7740]

Use everything on everything

[@kyleslinkard9715]

I have absolutely loved watching you guys catch the Souls bug one by one these last couple of years. Even Andy's come round thanks to Elden Ring.

[@alwaysdtf2197]

Surprised that for demon souls you didn't mention the process of getting the pursuers armor. You need to break bits of random scenery in each area under certain light/dark conditions and do that in at least 2 play throughs since you won't get enough of the items you need in just 1

[@joedominguez8064]

I actually did find the Mytha poison solution totally by accident, I just liked the visual of walking with a torch and did it a lot 😂

[@GM_Darius]

I don't know about "easily stumbling upon" the Frenzied Flame ending. For one, it's tucked away hidden pretty well in a... well... in Lyndell. And even then, Melina warns you *quite a few times* not to go poking around the Three Fingers. Basically anytime I was in the area she'd tell me "Don't. Seriously, bro. I don't want this. You don't want this. No one SANE wants this. You're SANE, right?!"

[@izawa9211]

I got there, i have the habit of punching walls since DS3 with the secret door too fighting tutorial Boss but stronger

[@younggod5230]

yes, but it's easy to skip melinas dialogue before the frenzied flame. Why would anyone rest at that bonfire? Plus, typically in dark souls, such decisions are non commital. So for example joining covenants, or doing the questlines in sekiro. At the end you could always choose to do something else. So people might think "lmao, sure, but I'll do it, just to have the option". The other guy already talkes about the habit of punching these walls. Finally,there is a mirad of references throughout the game, that the three fingers are below the capital,cluing you into this fake wall thing. There are several notes sold by merchants, then there is vykes armor set, and of course shabriri, outright telling ypu to go an do that. He also presents it in a way of "oh, if you do this, melina doesn't have to kill herself", so you might be fooled by that. You might argue that the sewers are difficult to find, but thats also invalid, because after killing maliketh, that giant golden manhole is just open for some reason, inviting every player who missed it previously, into it's depths.

[@GM_Darius]

@@younggod5230 There are a total of 21 locations in the game that have secret walls. I would argue it's easier to miss any single one of these than go "Eh, I'll skip sitting at this grace" and miss Melina's dialog. With a reversal method like the Needle, that doesn't seem as "non-comital" as one might think, considering how much it requires of you to do to undo that ending. But yeah it, it's there. I agree with the various references to the Three Fingers. And I recall running into Yura at that time, talking about saving Melina. He was also a raving lunatic when he talks about saving Melina. What ever a first timer running into him might hear, I'd hope it was taken with a grain of salt. I know I certainly did.

[@younggod5230]

@@GM_Darius Well, I guess a lot comes down to how any individual player feels at the moment. After all, thinking a wall is "supicious" is a very subjective thing, and most walls that look suspicious end up being real. Especially the one in mohgs arena looks super duper real. And I can see how you'd just rather ignore shabriri. After all he's... well. He's kinda frenzied. The merchant notes are also something many player will just not buy, most of them end up being rather obvious information, that rrads like a tutorial text. Other notes will literally give you the solution to sellen questline, that she (or rather her body) is in that selluvis cave. And I guess the armor set, well, many people just might not think that the description even is a clue at all. How many armour sets end up hiding vital information about ine of the games endings? From soft does have a weird habit to make dialogue weirdly incomprehensible. Or maybe it's just that players will instinctively think that the dialogue is something kryptic and obscure, even when an npc is just explicitly telling them something. I kinda felt like that with a lot of melina stuff. The kadence of her voice was just so mind numbing to me. "In. Marikas. Own.... Words." And i guess you have every reason to wait at that grace, since you have no idea what might be behind that door. Caution is always smarter. So I was probably kinda just coping a bit when I wrote that. It just feels weird to, that I should have done that on my own, in my first playthrough, because I followed what felt like a couple of basic steps. And I never want to brag like "Oh I did this, clearly I'm the smartest" so in my mind I have the reflex to go, "no, I'm not smart, everybody else is just dumb, if they missed this very easy thing" but in reality I was probably just lucky, and not only is this about a video game, its6about only the first playthrough

[@bhull242]

To be fair, this is a Soulsborne game. If you still had sanity at the start, the game will do its damnedest to remove it.

[@Kefkaesque13]

Regarding the Sekiro one: Did... did you guys somehow miss the NPC standing next to the idol just before the poison swamp that, once given the rice she asks for, will point you towards the cave on the other side and straight up tell you that you'll need to "make the monkey dance" to get the dried fruit there?

[@ardo210]

Yeah I don't think they did any research on that

[@nahuel3433]

Agreed. That one was easy to figure out. But to be fair, the larger point was that getting the ending was convoluted which yeah, fair.

[@thewizardninja]

I didn't even know this NPC existed. But I also got the viscera with a completely different, much more unga bunga brained strategy. I just Mist Ravened the snake. That's it. You have JUST enough time to aggro the snake, use the prosthetic, teleport away from the lingering hitbox and run inside. Timing is tight but I've done it multiple times and didn't even know this other method existed, in fact, until seeing this video I thought the Mist Raven WAS the intended method.

[@turtlelore2]

@@thewizardninja i've also done it several times without using the monkey or the mist raven. I just trigger it, try to run through, and I either get through unharmed, die, or almost die by being pushed into the safe zone.

[@duncanidaho5834]

@@ardo210 yeah waaay more time spent on hair, makeup, wardrobe, lighting, and writing awful "jokes"

[@jseigle_]

Well, I certainly learned something today. Mytha is the “Baneful” Queen, not the “Baleful” Queen

[@deathshop2172]

12:10 I just used the mist raven. honestly, the fresh one was way more obscure, there was no clear indicator of a puzzle, just a random enemy

[@_BBAGG_]

No clear indicator, except for an Old woman that basically says what to do if you give her rice and also Blackhat badger who says hints that the enemy at the crank can be forced to raise the kite.

[@deathshop2172]

@@_BBAGG_ yeah, but I didn't follow the badger's quest the first time (cause I didn't run into him), and the old woman speaks in riddles on purpose. plus, even if I grant you that, that doesn't change that the dried one is much easier to just find. there's a giant snake guarding a temple, of course I'm gonna try and sneak past. as opposed to a single random enemy just sitting there that I have to either feed an old lady halfway across the map rice to get a hint to, or progress a quest-line.

[@Xavire1603]

There is a summon sign way before Mytha, the phantom will help across the majority of the level and will guide you to the windmill mechanism and point at it, suggesting you have to do something there. Im not saying is easy to find but thought this detail was missing.

[@nelsonk4104]

What’s wild about this is that I believe it was only added in scholar of the first sin. In the base game this wasn’t an option.

[@manoftherainshorts9075]

The thing is, many people don't actually use phantoms on their first playthrough.

[@Toni_560]

Only in scholar, not vanilla ds2

[@Apexapee]

​@@nelsonk4104this! Vanilla game didnt have hints

[@Agamemnon2]

The moral of this story is: If a door requires you to take your clothes off to travel through, consider if it's really worth the hassle to do so.

[@ghostderazgriz]

In hindsight, it should have been a red flag.

[@MamaTrixxieAsmr]

There are very few reasons one should ever strip before going through a door, fire is not one of them

[@jaredcrabb]

In Evergrace (ps2, also from software), theres an area you have to be naked to pass. Its also required. If someome played that first they might think it was something necessary to beat the game (I didnt cause I was trying to find the deeproot depths for Rannis quest).

[@lucasmarquesdecamargos4298]

To me, the way to get into the DLC in the original Dark Souls is one of the most cryptic things ever, along with the Bloodborne rune, or the Moon Presence ending by eating the 3 umbilical cords. That one in Elden Ring I was kinda getting Millicent's quest naturally, so it was just the last part in Placidusax arena that I could not in a hundred years have guessed.

[@Dan-zc3ou]

"And where is Smug, poor underdog?!" "Smough!" "I'LL EAT YOUR HEART OUT"

[@blitzgirl6522]

All of Ranni's questline especially made me have to peek at a guide to know where to go next. Elden Ring certainly has the most convoluted character quests that can get locked at any given point. But I still love this game so much!

[@a.h.8269]

All to have best boy die

[@dowfreak7]

I actually thought it was mostly very intuitive. Some parts were extremely obvious (the upside down statue thing) and others were something you could realize, but might also easily miss. For me it was the "talk to the doll" issue. I did want to talk to it, I read the description in my inventory and I felt like I should be able to talk to it. But nowhere worked. I traveled around half the world, trying out all the places she was in before, talking to her connected npcs, even went to the mistwood area. I eventually looked it up and it turns out you can ONLY talk to the doll at the one specific bonfire you arrive at. But that's the kinda souls hidden quest jank you sorta come to expect, so I can't be too mad about it.

[@blitzgirl6522]

@@dowfreak7 For me it was more about "where to go next". Yes, more characters in Elden Ring actually tell you where to go than in any other From Soft game, but there were many points in certain quest lines that were vague. Or, if you knew where to go (such as Nokron), you'd have to be sure you explored the place thoroughly to then find Blaidd. He was off the beaten path, not near one of the fires you'd want to light, so easy to miss. Just things like that. And don't get me started on how to locate Milicent once she's wandering around the Lands Between!

[@dowfreak7]

@@blitzgirl6522 Blaidd, I'll give you. I probably walked around for half an hour, back and forth between fires to find the spot where he finally invades you. I guess it was just a mix of "very obvious" and "very convoluted" for that questline. And Millicent I didn't even complete. Got the needle, gave it to her, saw that she lived and that was the end of the quest for me :D

[@tomm35]

@@dowfreak7 Yeah, I also looked up about talking to the doll, but the guide was wrong (or outdated) - you can talk to Ranni at each grace on the way there, just that it's progress locked and the grace in question is the one that unlocks the last bit of her monologue.

[@Ashtarte3D]

Miquella's Needle is pretty weird but two things wrong here: 1) that is not the worst ending in the game and 2) it's not the most absurd quest in the game. To get the actual worst ending you needed to decipher the complete Dung Eater quest line and HELP THE PSYCHO to use the rune he gives you on the Elden Ring. The Frenzied Flame ending is dark but it's about trying to let chaos force a new stage of evolution in the Lands Between. But Dung Eater's rune? Nah he just curses everyone in the Lands Between to eternal torment cause he's a dick.

[@crestfallenhussar895]

In the eternal curse of the Dungeater life still goes on and eventually won't even realize it is cursed or in torment as it will just be "normal" in the Lord of Frenzied Flame life in its entirety is whipped out. There may be new life one day but the life that existed was consumed by the fire. That's assuming Melina is still around to stop the Frenzied Flame. I guess it's a matter of perspective, but I think there is a reason Melina only leaves you if you do one of them. Although they are ideologically opposed endings. Since the fell curse is about inflicting suffering on all so that it is no longer seen as a curse and the Frenzied flame is about destroying all suffering at the cost of all life because the suffering of even one person is not worth life existing.

[@Elena_von_Weiss]

Frenzied Flame Ending is the best ending. Melina is annoying, it was a blessing as she said she would leave me. Finally some silence. In a world where almost everything tries to kill you (yes, I mean you dogs and birds!) or best buddies die after the quest, it's only logical to turn into a huge middlefinger out of fire and burn everything. ..shouldn't have called me maidenless.

[@crestfallenhussar895]

@@Elena_von_Weiss You did the quest wrong then cuz now Melina will chase you eternally as some kinda god of death. You gotta yeet her into the flame AND THEN accept the Frenzy Flame to make her gone for good.

[@nghtbot340]

Funny thing is, show your humanity arguably isn't even the hardest puzzle in the game. To reach the Archdragon Peak, you have to beat Oceiros, obtain a gesture and use it on a fully entirely irrelevant location.

[@gamedevandcode9875]

Absolutely priceless. Loved the whole video, me and my mate got dark souls 2 the day it came out and we got to the serpent woman, where your drenched in poison from the very beginning , and we actually did it, but couldn’t do it a second time, for my mate… it begs the question, why didn’t we think to set fire to the clearly metal pole holding the windmill , it was just so obvious .

[@Brian-tn4cd]

I actually discovered the Windmill thing in DS2 by myself because i carried lit torches all the time in my first playthrough and went to that ledge cus i thought it was weird that a guard was well, guarding it, saw the prompt (didn't read it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) and did it, until this day i never knew what it did, but it seemed important so i just kept doing it

[@AngelBeatYunara]

Ooh, must've missed the suggestions bit! From puzzles are so wild. Also, it's just nice to see some Dark Souls 2 action!

[@denniswijker7162]

Dark Souls 2 is so massively underrated :( It's actually very good, but it just plays very different than 1 (or 3 for that matter). But Majula is probably my favourite Hub, and the Emerald Herald is BY FAR my favourite of the level up ladies (I don't own a PS so I've never fully played Bloodborne, so maybe the doll would win out, if I had done so)

[@RegalRoyalWasTaken]

I'm going to make an earnest attempt to rationalize the Earthen Peak. The poison is likely being pumped into the place via the mechanism the windmill is powering. And additionally, the rate at which the poison drains itself is probably just a bit slower than the poison can be pumped in, or about the same. Therefore, when the windmill's sails are set alight and the windmill's ability to properly spin is sabotaged, the poison drains itself out, aside from some pools that don't have drains.

[@DarkKaij]

"Hum, accutually..." You don't need to defeat the Dragon to cure the frenzied flame, just need to get to the doorstep to the fight XD

[@xizar0rg]

Getting back to the undead asylum is the least unreasonable one of these; I managed stumble into it by accident while exploring. All the rest of the ones on this list look like absolute madness to figure out. (Same with stuff like getting the "good" ending in Dark Souls 3... I *never* would have figured that stuff out on my own.)

[@joserincon340]

Did you follow the blood stains too? Finding the undead asylum taught me the importance of verticality in Souls games which is funny cus the jumps are usually so janky

[@PastaMaster115]

Elden Ring made it slightly more straightforward getting back to the starting area. The problem is getting to that point and knowing in the first place that the transporter even leads back to there.

[@insaincaldo]

Well if you use the first key on that gate, the other keys are harder to find.

[@jonathanwalmsley721]

That last Elden Ring entry... completely insane stuff! People think From games are masochistic because of their difficult combat, but it's this kind of convoluted questline messiness that's the real challenge to overcome! When you need to rely on a wiki for your players to realistically experience different story moments, you've failed as a storyteller as far as I'm concerned.

[@Borislks]

Loved this list! Wouldn't mind if you do another one :)

[@Felstable]

Pleeeeease do another of these!! Theres so many more to make another list 😆 love it so much fun hehe

[@usagiem]

You could literally do one of these videos on just how to access the DLCs in these same games. I remember missing the entrance to the Old Hunters DLC until NG+… The fight with Laurence went so badly I stopped playing for a while.

[@zxb995511]

Without an explanation, getting into the Dark Souls 1 DLC is basically impossible. Dark Souls 2 and 3 DLCs are much more "accesible".

[@naproupi]

"It's not clear what awaits us after this door" Melina literally telling you : "Ok fuck you too I guess ?"

[@MaxWeb2599]

1:50 the "I feel nothing" just was too real😂😐

[@coffeeaddict9605]

20:05 A deadly drinking game. Take a shot every time Luke says "And after that" during this explanation.

[@manderic5436]

You know, it just occurred to me that if a Fromsoft QA tester every solves one of these mysteries without having it carefully explained by its designers, the mystery will have to be overhauled and its designers have to cut off a finger in front of the directors.

[@DemigodDan]

I actually slowly figured out the return ending for sekiro across a few playthroughs reading item descriptions and finding key items like the book at the bottom of the lake and the fresh viscera from killing the snake u stab in the eye and talking to the divine child and all that, very proud of that one

[@sagacious03]

Fun analysis & list video! Thanks for uploading!

[@kenzieuchiha1191]

5. And don't forget to mention how you aquire this gesture for this complicated process. Somehow figuring how to get to the tip tippy top of Cathedral Ward! Which is one of the creepiest parts of the game along with Hypogean Gaol and Yahar'gul. Upper Cathedral Ward can be entirely missed on a first playthrough because unless you explored Cathedral Ward enough and didn't immediately go to fight Amelia you could miss the Blood-Starved Beast boss fight which unlocks the secret door to UCW in the first place.

[@michaelbaker3868]

You can miss blood starved beast I always thought that's where the game leads you. But Amelia always scared me so i always did every boss possible before her

[@kenzieuchiha1191]

@@michaelbaker3868 Yeah if you're not the most enquisitive person you can miss that boss, I nearly missed it myself because I didn't immediately notice the lever in the church that opens the entrance to Old Yharnam at first.

[@michaelbaker3868]

@@kenzieuchiha1191 that explains it. Im part of the old school gamers that have been programmed to look in every fucking corner especially by these games now because shits hidden every where the hardest bosses I had to try and find were ebrietas and there was another that I can't remember the name of now.

[@kenzieuchiha1191]

@@michaelbaker3868 And that’s the best gamer to be truthfully, leave no stone unturned. You could lose a whole quest line because you missed one thing.

[@michaelbaker3868]

@@kenzieuchiha1191 you know what's the greatest about being that type of gamer especially with souls borne games? You can leave no Stone unturned you can explore as hard as you can. Your still gonna miss shit! AAAAHHHHH

[@PlagueDaddyJeefSandass]

Actually in the ps3 version to find and save Yuria gets mostly spelled out for you in the developer messages

[@ghostderazgriz]

Ps5 Version should also have a message on the floor if I'm not mistaken.

[@BraydonMcCallum]

funny thing about Mythas puzzle is that i had actually discovered the burning the windmill before i ever stepped foot in her boss room which was due to just reading messages so i never actually knew that her boss arena is supposed to be flooded with poison until years later when a friend kept complaining about how hard that boss was with all the poison around her lmfao it actually blew my mind

[@SCAR3DY_C4T]

I did the Undead Asylum one and Elden Ring one on my own. I'm.. proud?.. of myself? idk.. thanks for the hug.

[@masonmeade5506]

Now how was I supposed to find that out

[@Cbb88dragonborn]

Sekiro true ending is my pick for the most obscure. I would have never figured out the puppeting and permissions without a guide

[@Gensolink]

I just brute strenght it and obtained the viscera because I'm a big dumb

[@MrGbin96]

The most obscure puzzles I ever met in Soulsborne games are: - Figuring out how to prevent Solaire from going insane in Dark Souls 1 - Triggering the alternative voiceline when you fight Demon of Hatred in Sekiro Both of them were worth every seconds spent to solve them, though.

[@IAmOnFyre]

"Dragonlord Plasudisacks" is definitely a name someone can up with after being told "quick, give me a boss name"

[@RGR2155]

I thought “Fire Giant” was the laziest or last second boss naming in the game.

[@kaitenova]

I got the gold needle and even dipped it in the rot flower but I still didn’t know I could only use it in plasadux

[@JankyHB]

The Description mention it's use location: "However, the needle is as yet unfinished and can only be used in the heart of the storm beyond time said to be found in Faram Azula."

[@viktor_v-ughnda_vaudville_476]

I love how he went for the backstab and missed but covered it up by laughing hahaha

[@augustarpg8035]

You can also use the bloodborne gestures on the doll and using the 'make contact' correctly (wait full minute) she will clap and bow at you using it correctly. As for extremely hidden areas and hidden walls, its the whole reasom the message system exists. They wanted the community to help each other solve these puzzles.

[@gruggerduggerhoose]

3:40 “hooray i am so confused” Luke neatly summing up my life story as well as the soulsborne experience there lol

[@danielollett9783]

Just realised that FromSoftware have released the mythical 7 games. Perfect for all Oxboxtra list videos 😁

[@viktor_v-ughnda_vaudville_476]

Having to sit in that particular spot to get to arch dragon peak in dark souls 3 was pretty obscure and randomly finding the spot to lay down in farahm Azula to fight plasidusax was obscure too

[@IrvineTheHunter]

Arch dragon peek is only obscure because you'll normally pick up the gesture AFTER passing through the area, you see a bunch of figures doing the special gesture and there is an open place, for me at least I picked up there should be SOMETHING right away.

[@RHouseThreat]

That's actually the only obscure puzzle I figured out myself. I felt pretty great after figuring it out

[@danlorett2184]

I feel like these kinds of puzzles would be AWFUL in a normal game but fine in Dark Souls literally just because of the message system.

[@CT-yc4gd]

9:01 "You want die like last men on Amazonia?" "What'd they die of?" "Crushed pelvises...."

[@cammerritt2207]

The first puzzle makes sense in a way lol the shadow looking form you take is in the dlc from the first dark souls. They were floating humanity spirits.

[@Trowelhands]

I assumed the Earthen Peak windmill's metal parts caught fire due to the fact the moving parts of the windmill would likely be greased with something flammable so it doesn't stick or rust.

[@patrickj]

Don't you dare offering a logical explanation! 😉

[@azearaazymoto461]

It makes sense because the metal part doesn't keep burning.

[@LIEBE44]

No way… I can’t believe I did the Elden Ring puzzle by myself 🤣🤣🤣 I thought that was pretty easy tbh… I probably just got lucky! Right place at the right time!

[@VernulaUtUmbra]

If you ever get around to doing another one of these, Remnant II's Archon Class unlock definitely takes the cake in a game with a ton of good choices. Void Heart: Play through a story questline then wait 12 real hours for the ship you're on to travel back into a black hole. Go in and grab it. Meridian: Find a hidden tileset in the sewers, kill a specific enemy, and wait 90 minutes for the room to flood. Go back to the room, jump across some platforms, and pick up the gun. Invader Class: You must take a very specific item to a spider web, get the melee weapon that eats people's dreams, go to the last location in the campaign, find a secret dead enemy, steal it's dream, go into said dream, and kill it. Archon: Wear a cosplay of a specific character to become glitched out, open up a door to The Backrooms, and find the class before you get kicked out. How do you know what items you have to use to cosplay the character? There's no in game hint, the community had to datamine the solution. The items you need include an amulet you only get by bellyflopping 100 times, the afformentioned Void Heart and Invader Class, specific skills equipped, and more.

[@brundonsmith3830]

Yes, it is easy to blunder into the frenzied flame ending. You first need to learn that the three fingers are located beneath LLeyndell, and then fight your way to the bottom of the subterranean shunning grounds, and then fight a boss, And Then go through a hidden door, AND THEN go down a frankly INFURIATING platforming section, AND THEN take off all your clothes before you can FINALLY go through the door - IF you completely ignore all the dialogue from Melina telling you NOT TO DO THIS, that you get when you rest at sites of grace, which ALL elden ring players do with regularity. Easy...

[@aReT4RTedduck]

Thank you FromSoft and Miyazaki for existing and making a godly franchise. Y'all are very appreciated!

[@giaiaspirit]

I'm sorry… did Luke just say "a player can EASILY stumble into the three fingers embrace?!" How is finding the subterranean shunning ground, then go through the pipe maze, then fight mogh, and HIT the illusory wall behind the chest, and FALL through a dead merchant filled room, AND figure out you need to be naked to open that door EASY?!

[@littlerave86]

Hyetta tells you to drop all your belongings. If you went through her quest as well, you'll find her down there, so the naked part is not hard to figure out ... I honestly only missed the text messages after Mohg, otherwise I'd have also found the hidden area behind, and the sarcophagi with tons of dead player's blood marks are also "quite" telling (for a souls game that is). If you explore enough, you'll also find the Shabriri Grapes (unless you're stupid like me and do all of Liurnia first, without visiting the Weeping Peninsula prior, where you have to go through Irina's quest first to stumble upon her maddened father later on in Liurnia, who invades and drops the 3. grape ... that was pure chance for me going for some optional bosses but less so in natural progression).

[@giaiaspirit]

@@littlerave86 I had to played offline, no player mark or message could help me. Otherwise I'd imagine all invisible walkways aren't even invisible… the point is, finding the three fingers is not an easy task. It's not an obscure one either I guess, as long as the player is exploratory enough they should be able to find everything to get to the three fingers. But stumble on him/her/it? I think not!

[@littlerave86]

@@giaiaspirit Well, no. You certainly won't just "stumble" upon the three fingers, but with a lot of exploration, you're "likely" to find them. Likely, in terms of FromSoft, that is... They're still invisible often enough. To help with that (although I don't know if it works for the one in Mogh's room specifically as that one has an animation and not just fades out, but I guess it still works) you can use Mogh's or Margit's shackles in dungeons every once in a while. They have a very large radius and trigger invisible walls as well as those fire spewing pillars, you encounter every once in a while. Much nicer doing that from a safe distance.

[@giaiaspirit]

@@littlerave86 that method works through walls actually. You don't need to have direct line of sight to deactivate illusory walls. Zullie made a video about this. But theb again… the game doesn't tell you any of this. And normally you would have no reasons to use either of the shackle items outside of their fight… yet another obscure mechanics…

[@littlerave86]

@@giaiaspirit Yeah, I know. I never said you need line of sight. I used it in one of the hero's graves, where you have to trigger one of the pillars to spawn in more chariots so they crash into each other. Did that from a very safe distance pretty far away where I was safe from the chariots without dropping down into the hole with the wooden beams lol Though I'm honestly not even sure if that mechanic was intentional. But I didn't figure it out myself either.

[@atrashedpanda6044]

I'm sorry to the rest of you but Ellen makes me laugh the hardest when even describing small details. "It gives you the prompt curl up like a ball, hey that's how I spend my weekends" lmfao me too me too

[@DanielCNoble]

9:21 summoning a nearby NPC will walk over and point at it. Better than nothing.