Dark Souls Commentary

[@mgodchild8738]

You know your heart is pure gold when you make a 6+ hour video and didnt put a single ad in the whole video. Man you da real mvp

[@davewaveradio390]

This comment isn’t getting the attention it deserves

[@dickheadrecs]

you have a heart of goold dont let them take it from ye

[@rat4992]

matthew doesn’t fuck around and I have full respect

[@tonyramirez5707]

Why would be mean to put some ads? This man would totally deserve every single one of them.

[@lukascook8477]

Exactly!

[@dstarr3]

This is great, but have you considered doing something more long-form? Something like 15-20 hours? This is just kind of brief.

[@jja5265]

@Colby S Oh, I bet he came somewhere.

[@Pan_Z]

@Colby S He's gotta come at some point

[@josephagnetti8921]

Pan Z very true

[@w.547]

6 hours long “brief”

[@lorencered5204]

@@w.547 That's the joke

[@JKSmith-qs2ii]

Was able to share this video with my cousin who is deaf and a huge fan of Dark Souls 1, thank you ThatOtherAlex for the English captions.

[@thatotheralex9780]

You're welcome! I'm glad your cousin was able to watch it.

[@BlowBow2]

@@thatotheralex9780 true heroes don't wear capes. (Unless you do)

[@erik_arman]

@@thatotheralex9780 Seriously, captioning this video must have taken an EXTREME amount of time and effort. Well done!

[@Xpzilla]

@@thatotheralex9780 Dude you're so awesome for that

[@Xpzilla]

Wholesome

[@Punkandcannonballer]

Matthew, I want you to know that I play this for my puppy every morning to calm her down while I'm at work.

[@danielsherwood3880]

I hope this wasn't a lie cause that's cute aha

[@mellowvalentine9354]

I sleep to these videos.

[@rat4992]

BRUH

[@JMiN___]

I fall asleep to this and his devil may cry video all the time

[@theintrospectre208]

@@JMiN___ I’m glad I’m not the only one who does this exact thing. Both vids are long enough to last until well after one has fallen asleep.

[@IronPineapple]

heck yeah, you're back there's something very therapeutic about just chilling and listening to your thoughts on a game

[@colin-campbell]

Iron Pineapple Even if his most of his thoughts are shallow level “analysis”.

[@colin-campbell]

Aldrich Leblanc Show me one groundbreaking piece of analysis in this video and I’ll eat my hat.

[@colin-campbell]

@Analytical Gaming And the commentary is mostly shallow level "analysis".

[@xfivezerofive]

@@colin-campbell k

[@colin-campbell]

505e06b2 x Potassium

[@shmovenub]

When you try and go one minute back in the video but you end up going back 4 years, 9 days, and 6 minutes

[@darksoulmetal1255]

Right? It's worse on a mobile.

[@Tulanir1]

+Shmove nub use J and L to go back and forwards 10 seconds. K pauses/plays. So you could press J 6 times to go back 1 minute

[@Ryan-Streams]

DarkSoulMetal I know this comment is 11 months old, but the new double tap feature that lets you go back 10 seconds is so handy in big videos like these

[@spawngregory68]

Shmove nub ii

[@psy0m934]

420likes

[@greenhowie]

This was made 7 years ago and is still better than most commentaries on this game.

[@donogoodatgames]

Not going to lie, I thought that comment was going a completely different direction. I thought you were going to say that this was made 7yrs ago, and the first person to watch through it all, only just finished it 😂😂😂😂😂

[@landonny]

better than all commentaries on this game combined*

[@aaronhigham1251]

This was made 8 years ago and this comment holds up

[@TheFloodFourm]

I was watching someones DS3 commentary and it was just “and this happens then this happens then this happens then this happens”

[@wafflemcmulligan9186]

@@TheFloodFourmGuess they took the idea of a “commentary” a bit too literally

[@IanZWhite00]

Matthew’s characteristic foresight coming into play with KZbin’s new “chapters” feature. To my understanding the process is automatic if the description has time stamps, but it can be janky. Leave it to Mr. Matosis to utilize it flawlessly by total accident 5 years in advance.

[@nicholascampbell90]

I was just thinking that.

[@aero9710]

I believe its automatic if you have a (00:00:00) timestamp, if you don't it doesn't work.

[@ricniclas]

Holy shit, this video is 5 years old. I can't believe it is this old

[@justPLEASE_579]

Currently on ios, simply rewinding by 10 seconds has a large chance of rewinding several hours for seemingly no reason. Hopefully an update will fix it

[@لمعان-ض9ع]

@@justPLEASE_579yeah, be careful when tapping the screen

[@jane-wing]

I'll never go into blighttown without thinking about color correction and matrices and backface culling and classical mechanics again.

[@nathaneskin3572]

jon wong I read that as "blackface culling" lol

[@MrSmoore77]

Ll

[@Pan_Z]

That is exactly how Miyazaki intended Blighttown to be parsed.

[@clintkarklus5523]

And diagetic and non-diagetic sound

[@LostOneOmega]

...it really makes you think. About culling. Lots of culling. Excessive amounts, even.

[@PlagueOfGripes]

"Darkroot" is probably a reference to the area being the root of the Dark of Manus, not how much the sun shines. Hence the name change and so on. Whether the sun is real or not is pretty up in the air, but you'd think if no one had seen a sun before coming to Anor Londo it would be way more of a topic of conversation - what it is, where did it come from, and so on. However, even when the sun 'goes out,' the sun doesn't vanish, it's just replaced with something that looks more like a moon. Maybe because of Gwyndolin's association with the moon, or maybe it's merely a dimmed sun. It gets pretty confusing, and I wouldn't expect DaS3 to explain any of it, as it seems to clearly be an afterthought to the whole point that the gods have orchestrated a lie.

[@soulreaverable]

Plague pls

[@darqfalls849]

+PlagueOfGripes "up in the air" nice pun m80 10/10

[@slightlytwistedagain]

+PlagueOfGripes I think Dark Root is just more of a literal term for the area, it's dark and there are lots of roots. Also considering the furtive pygmy is so easily forgotten I somehow doubt that he would have had his name immortalized with the forest, even Oolacile is practically forgotten and in a way deliberately buried so having the forest carry his legacy in name wouldn't make much sense.

[@slightlytwistedagain]

+Corydon LaPaz Yup it's the way I prefer to see it, would make more sense but unfortunately it doesn't really point to that. You could say Gwyndolin put a Darkmoon curse on the player so in a way the illusion is in the mind of your character but I think I would be stretching it there. I would just put it down to an unfortunate oversight by the developers that should have gave the scenario some more thought.

[@oxodunk]

+PlagueOfGripes Dark Souls god is here just as espected

[@Haedox]

Six hours?! Damn, this was worth the wait.

[@doubleberger5983]

One hour for each month we waited

[@Haedox]

SirMacGuffin *unzips* I am ready

[@SpicyChickenGodAJ]

+Haedox Well he wanted to give the game a full assing.

[@TheMrNomadus]

+Haedox Unlike MGS V

[@TheMrCarina]

+Haedox Fuck me, Haedox you are here too? I know you love Nintendo but have you played any of souls games? Just wondering...

[@Rafterman955]

It's really incredible just how good this video is and how he just intuitively understands games like Demon's/Dark Souls. Even his personal theories about events are well thought out. Cheers Matt.

[@EoghanMcCarthy900]

This guys videos are so well done it's crazy, compare this to all the other completely shallow reviews on youtube just shows how much effort and analysis this guy actually does.

[@luislopez6260]

+EoghanMcCarthy900 I agree, most reviews on KZbin are virtually identical to one another and are SO shallow

[@EoghanMcCarthy900]

***** ya I'm already subscribed he's awesome as well but he's a bit niche

[@EoghanMcCarthy900]

***** Matthew has put up a video in ages

[@jonslamlee6539]

+Michael Josefsen I would also check out errant signal. he does pretty insightful commentary on game mechanics

[@Alex-kn5tr]

+Michael Josefsen there's also Noah Caldwell-Gervais

[@jacklucy8745]

This video is truly my comfort watch. I’m sure you never look at comments these old Matt, but I hope you know how beloved you are by the gaming community.

[@mctooch]

Sameeeee

[@Teo-uw7mh]

yikes thats peak cringe

[@TheFloodFourm]

@@Teo-uw7mhif matt is reading this stuff he’s probably disappointed when people praise him mindlessly rather than attempt to engage with the actual topics discussed in the video

[@Superkirbeh]

@@TheFloodFourmI wouldn’t say people praise him mindlessly. There’s a reason people praise him. It must’ve taken weeks if not months of work for this video so I’m sure he appreciates his efforts being noticed and praised

[@torchedheavily]

2:57:16 "I particularly like the last enemy on the right, here, because he distracts you from the amazing chest on the left." I actually nodded in agreement until I realized what you really meant lol, you sly dog.

[@shoocharu]

I have legitimately watched this entire video more than 10 times. I let a lot of time go by between each watch, but man, I love coming back to it.

[@classica1fungus]

Same

[@ryzae6202]

I see your cock is as big as mine

[@whatnottodo]

Birds of a feather

[@malcum7947]

I knew you had taste but didn’t realize you were this based.

[@lewisb3409]

exactly why im here right now

[@paris-1911]

The reason I like Artorias being literally the second boss in the DLC, and him being at almost the start of it, is this idea that not even one of the strongest warriors to walk Lordran could stand against the Abyss, as if to warn you that if he couldn’t do it, how could you hope to do it? To repress the abyss? It’s tragic, but I love it.

[@michaelnelson8618]

nary a murmur of Dark

[@thatwaygaming8679]

@@michaelnelson8618 it's an interesting little plot point that Artorias only lost so badly because he was SO loyal to Gwyn and his age of fire. He was so good, he didn't stand a chance.

[@nalvious]

6 hours? Good, i wasn't going to sleep anyway. Good to have you back, Matt

[@Greener221]

NOBODY SLEEPS ON 4CHAN

[@anthonychase6906]

I fell asleep but barely woke up when he said "Are you still awake?" and said something about his voice being soothing

[@sunnyjim1355]

How such an inane comment can get so many thumbs-up is shocking to me. I guess that there are way many inane people out there than I previously thought.

[@aliets]

@@sunnyjim1355 Salty Jim

[@deathfrombelow1193]

@@sunnyjim1355 listen pussycat eh smile a bit yeah?

[@Luanciel]

Funny enough same happened to me, next day I finished watching. 4:20:00

[@HonsHon]

@@Luanciel That is quite the coincidence that that moment happens to be located at 4:20:00

[@slaebae3434]

I guess I am gonna keep watching this video until I die cause I've watched it like 47 times and it is basically long form asmr about dark souls and it makes me so comfy. Love ya Matt

[@PatrickProductions12]

"Even though I wear heavy armor, I wouldn't really miss poise if it was gone." ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?

[@Arexion5293]

Yes, very much so.

[@Arexion5293]

***** Imagine a fast rolling dude in heavy armour, using twinswords and an estoc. Now imagine he doesn't get stunned by anything. Do you really want that to return?

[@Arexion5293]

***** You'd have to reanimate and reprogram pretty much every weapon in order to get poise work in some way. It was pretty poorly balanced in DS1, and I highly doubt it'd work at all in DS3.

[@sandysnyder3640]

As sad as it is, Dark Souls is apparently over.

[@jmacknyc]

he said he still wants to do dark fantasy. just not dark souls.

[@aledthomas9403]

As a Welshman and a fluent Welsh speaker I was absolutely delighted when I first came across Domnhall of Zena. Easily one of my favorite NPC's in Dark Souls. "Siwmae" is basically slang for "Siwt Mae?" which means "How are you?". Dark Souls has quite a few Welsh references, as does Dark Souls 2, especially in the names. Lord Gwyn for example, Gwyn is a Welsh word meaning white. Then you have his son Gwyndolin which translates as "White Ring" and that's a pretty interesting connection considering his affinity with the moon. From this I could surmise that Domnhall of Zenas' slang and accent were intentional.

[@Gadget-Walkmen]

@@loopnugz1663 What? What happened?

[@leonardo9259]

@@BBQcheese why?

[@toomuchstarbucks6787]

I actually sleep to this, and his DES commentary. I dunno why but it's so relaxing and, yeee.

[@toomuchstarbucks6787]

Played each Souls game numerous times, and I've legitimately watched all of his videos at least once. This was more after the fact.

[@zombieboy3000]

Don't forget Franz's DES in depth!

[@iopohable]

its just the best thing

[@Hyperlink1337]

fucking rude

[@Malgys]

Still do?

[@Future_Doggo]

To the guy who captioned this entire video, you're a fucking hero.

[@connorcorn7309]

The start of this video was enough for me to pause and give dark souls a real shot. Whole game plus DLC beat, now I can finally finish this video. Thanks for making me play this great game Matt.

[@Jungbeck]

Connor Corn that’s great, man! :D

[@DRaven-of2lv]

Praise the Sun! \`[T] /

[@whiskeysour1179]

This is the video that made me play ds1 also ^_^

[@somniloguy12]

One solution I found for the mimics is to have them hinted at in npc dialogue. Just make the crestfallen warrior say something like: "A while back, one undead came to me with the most absurd story. Claiming he was gobbled up by a chest! (empty laughter)"

[@altoroark4233]

I thought of having a couple blood puddles in in front of it, but your idea is great, too! :>

[@jorimills1368]

......if he died how would he tell the crestfallen warrior, mimics tend to chase and when you get grabbed its usually an instant kill.

[@DATskorge]

jori mills Undead dont die permanently or did you forget what we are talking about

[@DrossProwler]

+DrTheKay I love how you come here to insult without providing any other ideas that are not "absolute crap".

[@DrossProwler]

I was trying to keep this relatively civil but holy fuck you're an absolute tool. Your comparison is also, to put it in your, admittedly very limited vocabulary, "absolute crap". Do you even have any idea what the word "criticise" means? Because I don't think you actually do, pal. When you criticise, you point out flaws and suggest solutions in accordance. What OP did in his comment was criticising. What *you* are doing is flinging shit and acting intelectually superior without any merit. Criticising a meal at a restaurant does not mean having to fucking cook it yourself. It goes something like, "I think this was too salty, maybe cut back on the spices next time". Is that so incomprehensible to you? "hyuck hyuck I called them dumb," are you proud of yourself, you cunt? The world would smell and look a lot better if you took your head out of your ass.

[@WarCriminalPhlox]

Matthew's laughter when he tells his story of fighting Kirk is one of the best things ever

[@tommero6584]

Tell me you watched The Kamiya Dream

[@keioboy7610]

@@tommero6584 That may be one of the greatest things I've ever seen. I just died.

[@josore117]

@@keioboy7610 sorry uuuyuu km uk uk kisii i iii ur j😢h🎉uy😂hhhhyjntnny😂bgbbhbgbttbbgbtg😂nm i have cece ve ya a cmne n month

[@keioboy7610]

@@josore117 yeah that makes sense

[@tommero6584]

@@keioboy7610 Yes! That video is a comedic masterpiece, even after all these years.

[@Fronzel41]

I consider the Crestfallen Warrior's fate in this game to be a joke. While in Demons' Souls when the players succeeds enough he seems to lose his mind and kills himself, this version of the character contrarily seems to be inspired by the player’s success to get off his behind. However, the player finds him Hollowed in the entrance to New Londo, an area just a few minutes from where the warrior started out. He went the wrong direction and immediately gave up instead of trying somewhere else.

[@authenticbaguette6673]

Maybe a nod to all the poor bastards who heard exaggarations about the game being difficult, went to New Londo first, kept trying it over and over again, then uninstalled the game. I like this theory!

[@funwithphobias]

Based on his annoyance at Frampt I assumed he was attempting to summon Kathe

[@batchagaloopytv5816]

just relax

[@tyb.531]

@@funwithphobias I don’t think kaathe and frampt are well known around lordran, so I doubt he specifically searched for kaathe

[@Yami1300]

I think he had given up a long time ago Just sitting around and Lagthing at people. He is them forced to step Up,and the moment he fails he just accepted what he knew all along,than he was a failure all along

[@CoreyHunter]

I never get tired of this game. A true classic.

[@wildhogs2849]

I still play the original only offline on my 360 😁😁

[@wakkjobbwizard]

Why not remastered?

[@wakkjobbwizard]

Ah, okay. Makes sense. I’m young so I still have time to play those games. I enjoy them while I can!

[@kristienwhitney-johns5863]

Its time for an elden ring commentary. Its everything you feared this series would become

[@shalashaska9319]

I was just thinking this when I re watched his demons souls video after replaying demons souls myself. I was wondering how a Matthew Elden ring critique would play out lol. I am sure he would rip it a new one

[@lucasimmons075]

Prepare for a 30 hour video lmao

[@mitchboland9591]

Matt could do this sort of commentary for literally any game and I’d love it.

[@Milkra]

Really stretching the video to hit that 10 minute mark

[@goaty7766]

Wow so funny

[@littlemoth4956]

@@goaty7766 Yes

[@goaty7766]

Little Moth how

[@NoName-cz3wn]

@@goaty7766 its funny because it made some jerk feel the need to insult OP and ruin their harmless comment

[@goaty7766]

Sean Cone yes I’m a big jerk, you really owned me, I’m literally crying. You are a true hero. Also, please point out where I insulted OP.

[@invadersanonymous1727]

Literally one of the best KZbin vids ever made.

[@JustGoodGames.]

Agreed. This one and The Ocarina of Time - Masterclass in Subtext video.

[@hand_of_sithis2575]

This continues to be one of my favorite videos on KZbin. It's introduced new ideas and observations to a game that I love, combined with diving into theories about the lore of the world, the internal story of the game you play through, giving context to something I wasn't old enough to see (I was only like 10 when this game came out.). I've seen other videos on the game, but none of them even compared to this. Side Story: I was watching this before bed one night, and when you asked "are you still awake?" I actually snapped awake, as I'd dozed off to the commentary of Lost Izalith. You were right, you do have a soothing voice :)

[@dongodongo12]

The greatest bedtime story ever told

[@OldEstatica]

When there is nothing new on YT, i aways come back to this, watch this at least once a year.

[@raccoononymous]

6 months with no video. _THEN 6 HOUR VIDEO._

[@Chud_Bud_Supreme]

+Space Jew Oh hey.

[@soulreaverable]

+Son of Tiamat (formerly known as tiakpark) *Oh vey

[@Chud_Bud_Supreme]

Christian Alfaro Ha, ha! Good one!

[@blakecasimir]

+Space Jew 6 hours. Yes, this is truly a thing of wonder.

[@michaelmaverick1185]

+Space Jew My intuition tells me there must have been a slightly better way of handling that. +Daniel W I just thought he's a professional KZbin commenter.

[@dan5858]

I have to say, looking at the sheer length of this video, I was worried your commentary would take a bit of a hit, but it was just as good as normal all the way through. You should be really fucking proud of this, because it stands as a testament to your work ethic, as well as this medium as a whole. You somehow managed to make 6 hours of content engaging and interesting talking about something that already exists, when sometimes movies of a quarter of that length can struggle to be interesting for even a few moments. Finding your channel was a blessing and I anxiously wait for more of your content

[@mintsleaf]

Hey Matthew. Im not quite sure if you’re even gonna read this, as this is quite an old video of yours. I only started watching it in the last couple of days, slowly taking my time with it, while enjoying every second. This whole video about dark souls was incredibly well made and insightful. Even for someone like me, who already completed DS1 a couple of times and watched several lore videos. Your own speculations and opinions only add to the quality of it. I’m not sure if enough people appreciated your work on this, the time you spend, so I thought to myself I’d give a thanks for the time and joy your videos bring me in general. If you ever see yourself doing such a long and insightful playthrough of a game, I’d be the first to watch it. No but seriously, you’re one hell of a cool guy and offer us the most relaxing time with our favorite game(s). Have a good one

[@MOODKILLER9]

Agree

[@Jungbeck]

WORD

[@estebanstrangiato]

>1.4M views "Im not sure if enough people watched this"

[@RadXader]

I didn't even know there's a thing like "lag switch". Didn't really know how peer to peer works in games, too. It's really cool to hear that useful info from someone who said that they're just gonna commentate about the game,.

[@user-qo6lk2xl2s]

Haha i bought dark souls 3 today and its awesome its so much fun to play sometimes its Hard but thats a Part of it

[@pigggy2313]

This is definitely my favorite video on youtube, thanks Matthew

[@Grueneaxiom]

2:57:22 "Distracts you from the amazing chest on the left", you know what you did there, Matthew, lmao

[@matthias5745]

just what i was thinking :D

[@RobertPayne556]

We all knew.

[@Manu8X]

I will not like the comment, it has 69 likes and we shall leave it like that

[@wetigaz]

1:01:07 You can actually fight any of these bosses as your first boss (including the Capra Demon!) *without* the master key. You have to immediately kill Ingward in New Londo to get the key to the seal. Opening the floodgates of New Londo creates a route from Firelink to Blight Town, Darkroot and Undead Parish. If you clear Undead Parish, pick up the Basement Key, and cross the Hellkite Bridge backwards you can even get to the Capra Demon!

[@matthewshafer9545]

You can also do Taurus Demon first by jumping from upper to lower undead burg from the roof with the throwing knives to the window ledge and run jumping to the right from the ledge . I meant Capra lol .

[@authenticbaguette6673]

That's actually the speedrun route in the glitchless category!

[@funkymachine]

This shit is always so cool I remember thinking this through when I saw the vid for the first time

[@DenniTheDude]

1:26:34 This ruins a lot of games for me, I really dislike finite consumables. I have no idea how plentiful they will be before I play the game, and I have no idea if I should save them for harder parts of the game, so I just end up never ever using the items and dying a million times instead. Then when I beat the game, I have a million of those items in my inventory.

[@apcreed]

Yeah I feel the same way. I always keep hold and think 'No I might need it later' then never use them for the entire game. End up forgetting by the last boss.

[@christopherrapczynski204]

I feel the same and didn't realize why until now, astute observation.

[@dstarr3]

I partially agree, because that's what goes through my mind, as well. I hoard everything I find on the off-chance I'll REALLYREALLY need it later, only to never use it. But the alternative is that every consumable is infinite, which I think is just a different problem and a worse problem. I do appreciate what occasional games do which is cap the amount of a consumable you can carry. If you're full on those items and come across more, use those for whatever gain they're worth and then replenish. Like if you've got 10/10 medkits or something and you're at 95% health and you come across another medkit. Welp, pop one, bump your health up that 5% and grab that medkit to fill that back up again. At least it keeps you using these things when you otherwise wouldn't.

[@DenniTheDude]

Yeah I prefer that too, Dark Souls is the only game where I didn't feel as bothered by this issue, but that might just be because of the feel of the game to me. You kind of start the game and immediately you barely know what's going on, you're just pushing forward because you're intrigued by the atmosphere and gameplay so far. In all other cases I can think of, this could ruin a game for me and not make me want to play it. In that case, the finite amount of pickups helps a lot.

[@557deadpool]

DenniTheDude that's your own fault. as someone who plays mainly RPGs it's not hard to figure that out.

[@SiempreConMago20Nov]

The "dragon friends" segment remains as one of the best things anyone has done on youtube 5:35:30

[@galaxy7nails613]

It's adorable

[@jerm5466]

That fucking music man, so great

[@spendroid8952]

LMFAOOO just got to this and this was so genuinely funny

[@Xenoforge78]

Dark Souls. A game so amazing, only a 6 hour video can do it justice. Masterpiece.

[@schmoop3660]

But even then no one video can truly do justice to this amazing game!

[@HeatIIEXTEND]

"...without the wheel-skeletons, these are one of my favorite enemy designs in the game...." sick fuck

[@jessehopson291]

My only major disagreement I have is with the item descriptions. With Solaire you said that since your player character would have no idea that Solaire drew the emblem himself, that you probably shouldn’t either. That kind of applies to everything in the game tho. Your player character would have no idea the Witches gave their brother a ring to help with his pain. The player character would have no idea that Lautrec forsook everything in solitude because he believed in the goddess’s love. We wouldn’t know why Big Hat Logan wore his big hat either. I get what you are saying but without descriptions from items, armor, weapons, and souls we wouldn’t know a lot of the lore we do

[@EmberBright2077]

I agree about Lautrec, but the things with Ceaseless and Logan could be knowledge that exists in the wider world that an adventure may have I think.

[@MediHusky]

I like to think the chosen undead has gone through so many cycles of death and rebirth that they almost forget everything. Every item description is like an echo of a memory awakened upon finding a new thing.

[@Rislear]

I did find myself wondering about that point. If the descriptions were written from the player character's point of view then most would end being pretty flat and superficial, even if they were an adventurer of some sort. Maybe he wants some sort of seer character that could derive more information about items you took to them but that might end up becoming too tedious. I remember that King's Field does have an item that you get at some point that basically does the same thing so maybe something like that could've also been used in Dark Souls, it could have been like the Augite of Souls that he says he missed from Demon's Souls and just be a starting item.

[@erebusreact0r]

Seems like the descriptions are from a narrator and not the player character. Tolkien does this often in the Lord of the Rings novels, giving additional details that the main characters could never know. The passage about Shelob is a good example. IDK maybe that's the inspiration.

[@jaymanzor]

@@erebusreact0rI agree. The player character himself probably doesn’t know these things but narrator is explaining them to us. Explaining why the Giant Smith uses the wood hammer, that the dusk crown ring was granted to Dusk upon her birth, where the white seance ring came from, or pretty much any item that has lore that the character just wouldn’t know. It was just an odd decision to wait all the way until Solaire to bring this up when there was examples of this all the way in the beginning of the game. The item descriptions purpose is to tell us a bit of lore behind the character that used it. Without it we would have almost nothing to go on.

[@AnonyMap1]

Best video on KZbin

[@jakereason8095]

Just finished rewatching this a second time, and I must say I enjoyed watching it more than the first. It's a real work of passion. It's obvious how much effort you've put into it. Of the thousands of videos I've watched on youtube, this video is by far my favorite. Thank you mat!

[@trentinbarnhart8345]

This is a minor thing that someone else has probably mentioned because I'm really late, but at 4:48:42 you comment on the seemingly pointless opened chests in the dlc. They're actually supposed to reference the doc spells since one is in the closed chest beside them, while the other are found later, the inference being that someone else took them for themselves and now you're taking them from that person.

[@AshenWednesday]

TIL

[@_ArsNova]

I still have yet to see anyone come close to analyzing both the positive and negative aspects of this series. Very good introspection into the lore as well. The perfect companion to your Dark Souls 2 critique.

[@fatchris3626]

I’ve come back to this video numerous times over the last 7ish years. Thank you for giving me my favorite video about my favorite game

[@pigggy2313]

@Mew2WinJust watch it. It’s the best video on youtube. If you’re just interested a bit in game design or game development, you’ll love it.

[@shayposting]

Logan doesn't go hollow. Look at the texture on his body, he doesn't look like a prune. He was driven mad by the knowledge he found in the Archives and tried to become a dragon.

[@Furthermore26]

TIL: Mimic chests breathe. It's amazing that you can still learn new things about this game even after having spent so much time playing it. I thought I knew most things, but this video has proven me wrong. I've never watched such a long video on youtube before, so kudos to you, Matthew. Epic work.

[@ignotumperignotius630]

ash lake is just a lower level than izalith and tomb of the giants; the trees hold up the earth that newer layers are built upon. Ash lake is a holdover from the into vid detailing the land before fire.

[@reachfanatic1234]

Ignotum per ignotius it’s kinda like the bedrock of our world where it’s the oldest and strongest piece of “ground” that isn’t constantly melting

[@alfrink1c]

I'm about to rewatch it as background noise and omg I still can't believe that I watched the whole thing in one go when it was first uploaded. Can't believe that was almost 9 years ago

[@BurkaMurka]

I re-watch this to fall asleep to

[@Fr0stGenesis]

I challenged myself to beat Dark Souls in the time it takes to watch this video. Only missed it by 10 minutes. (time was 6:33:15)

[@Chaosian]

+FrostGenesis It'd be totally possible. People speedrun the game in an hour, right?

[@Fr0stGenesis]

Yeah, but I'd never speedrun before, and I was trying to be efficient, not sprinting to the end. It was kind of like, "I bet I can play this area faster than he can talk about it." Whatever, it was fun.

[@connorwoods162]

That was probably the time it took him to play it, due to the time cut out

[@CustardCream515]

I'm definitely trying this x

[@arkayv]

Connor Woods dude he must have played at least 10 hours or even more because he covers every single area of the game, remember, you don't have to complete the artorias dlc, great hollow, Ash lake, gwyndolin, return to undead asylum and so on to complete the game, but he does cover them in this review/commentary.

[@WelcomeTheDamned]

This video should be watched by every gaming company, it's amazing how well he describes how even the little details make up a good game

[@Syz_gy]

Just casually grinding in Dark Souls 3 with this in the background. Absolutely lovely time.

[@NeverduskX]

I've watched this at least three times, and for some reason I'm still in love with it. It's such a thoughtful and insightful and even inspiring analysis of one of my favorite games. I'm really glad I found this video, and I'm incredibly thankful for the tons of work that must have gone into it.

[@craylik5589]

I am dusk of Oolacile. It is an honor to see the- OOOOOOOOOOOOF

[@CapitaineToinon]

I did it ! I watched the entire video ! :D

[@jerec1267]

+CapitaineToinon congratulations it only took you a week to do it!

[@PlanetCapeStudios]

+Jerec 12 weird, it only took me 6 hours

[@RedDaLord]

+Fluttershy Is Bae - it only took me 3 hours, yay for 2x speed!

[@JasonCM87]

+CapitaineToinon fine work!

[@Blag_Cog]

+Fluttershy Is Bae nice you somehow managed to watch almost 6.5 hours in 6 hours.

[@dictionaryofwords1108]

This is the type of DS content I didn't even know I wanted. Fantastic video, I stayed for the whole thing

[@IIIIIVEERATIIIII]

Had a great time watching this an hour at a time over the course of a week. Learned a few new things, like making mimics go to sleep, and I had no idea there were two endings. I thought you had to light that fire and I've never before seen the other serpent who wants you to become the Dark Lord. Makes me want to play again, and to try out the different starting route the pyromancer player did. Thanks for the effort you put into this video.

[@automap]

God damn, that bit with Dusk took me by storm. Literally laughed out loud.

[@looinrims]

“And as we all know cheating to get to the top of a meaningless leaderboard is the definition of fun”

[@shadyminkins5704]

yep, that is indeed a sentence in the video. nice catch.

[@looinrims]

@@shadyminkins5704 it’s a great quote, but I mean okay Whatever floats your boat

[@captain_malaria]

@@shadyminkins5704 your sarcastic comment would be more meaningful if this was a 6 second video, rather than over 6 hours.

[@s--b]

the fact that everyone can agree with that opinion yet people still cheat in video games is crazy to me

[@looinrims]

@@s--b because not everyone does, mostly it’s fragile ego idiots who need something to justify their own existence to themselves who do shit like cheat with god mode or hack leaderboards, they have nothing in their life to celebrate apparently so they need meaningless validation

[@nicholasdismukes6741]

Thank you for 8 years of good sleep. Wherever you are these days I hope you are happy

[@_ArsNova]

He's developing a 2D video game of his own and releasing the occasional video still. Tends not to focus on any one game in them anymore however.

[@MV-oi5jl]

​@@_ArsNova Do you know if he has a second channel?

[@tyler-xo3rb]

@@MV-oi5jlhe does, matthewmatosis extra

[@mariuszpudzianowski8400]

I can't even image the amount of time and effort you had to put into make this. Absolutely amazing, we need more stuff like this on youtube!

[@SilentTree12]

3:52:44 Logan doesn't go hollow, he goes insane after reading those quantum physics shit

[@shadyminkins5704]

Biggest takeaway: Matthew loves to say "that little bit more/less." Also, fun fact: In the Nito boss fight, if you hold block while two-handing most weapons, the sword-from-underneath attack will miss because your feet spread out while blocking, and the attack's hitbox only applies to the very surface of the ground. Sorry if that's already well-known, I just found out about it recently and thought it was an interesting detail.

[@Lumigle]

I didn't know that! Works with a shield or it only works two handing weapons?

[@landonny]

That's crazy, never heard of that.

[@halcionjoy7]

That's really good to know. That's the only attack in the game where you will need the audio cue, so I got hit by it all the time when I listened to music.

[@robertmonroe7930]

​@@halcionjoy7also of you look at nito himself and dodge his real sword as he plunges it into the ground, you'll dodge the sword dance attack.

[@sloppyjoebreadbowl5184]

Legendary video. One of the best on KZbin. Been coming back to it for years and I feel like I learn something new each time. Thanks Matthew, you’re amazing for this

[@samditto]

I wonder how often this video is chewed on by AI programmers

[@_ArsNova]

@@samditto I'm sure showing this video to AI is like asking AI to read Finnegan's Wake.

[@casualcadaver]

Anyone else come back to this video and just chill out even though youv seen it a couple times throughout the years?

[@Dondillilochevrolet]

Doing that now night after night

[@kingbrandor237]

I’ve spent the last 3 days watching this video, not even really watching, since I’ve beaten Dark Souls a good bit of times. But watching this I’ve learned more about the game development wise and lore wise than any other videos on the game. I know I’m 5 years late to this video so this may go unseen but this video is incredible. Thank you for this 🤙🏼

[@Jbswe]

One of the best videos on KZbin

[@rika8484]

This is definitely one of the most thorough and insightful commentaries I've watched. It really scratched my itch to revisit this game, I learned a lot, and you're certainly easy to listen to. Thank you for doing this!

[@belly-avrill]

the dual narration of the Knight and Pyromancers journeys makes me weirdly invested in both of them as characters.

[@Rogther]

I rewatch this every couple months, truly a KZbin classic

[@triplebog]

I think that the crestfallen warrior does serve a function gameplay wise though; cause he's a super dick, which might provoke the typical RPG player to attack him offhandedly; which would agro him and he would whoop their butt for the next half an hour. And in doing so cement the idea that you DO NOT ATTACK npcs in Dark Souls. But ultimately, its not that big a deal if you kill him, since the crestfallen warrior doesn't really have any story/shop-y significance.

[@hockeater]

+Tar Alacrin But I quite regularly attack and kill various NPCs... I just judge how tough they are via where they're found, how they dress, and if they're a shop what kinda spells to expect. I also generally only do this when they have more to offer dead than alive.

[@ImminentDingo]

+Tar Alacrin i did this. I killed him eventually god dammit.

[@brscic]

+shadowoble101 lol,.. good points guys,.. and also LMAO at all of you guys,.. funny shit

[@shadowoble101]

brscic I remember coming back to Firelink after beating the Gargoyles thinking I was hot shit with my boar helm, knight shield and halberd. He still beat me quite a few times lol. Hearing him say "now why'd you let me do that to you" and "that's just embarassing" was always really trying on my patience haha.

[@brscic]

+shadowoble101 Funny stuff bro lol

[@Joseseo]

One of the greatest videos on this website. You’re a blessing, Matthewmatosis. Thank you.

[@TheGuwrovsky]

Matthew, I watched your video. I mean, for beginning to end. I want to say a huge thank you for making this 6 hour journey. Dark Souls is one of my favorite game of all time. That said, you just became one of my favorite youtuber online. Funny thing is that I didn't really get to know a lot of new thing in this video, compered to it's length (mainly because I already studied an enormous amount of time prior), yet I get to know you for which I am grateful.

[@TheGuwrovsky]

+Guszti Tóth - Guwrovsky Also... fun note... First time I have ever played this game, I didn't give it any respect... I created my character, without any real thinking, choosing something cool looking class and origin... I even played around the face creator a little bit, and I remember thinking "I kinda created a little bit old looking reddish skincolored guy. Nahh, he'll be fine" And I skipped the prologue video. I just didn't really cared at that point. However, when I first saw my character hollowed (which I did not know back then) I panicked. I thought to myself "Did I fuck up my guy at the face creator? Okay, I'm redoing him again" and I immediately quit the game to restart still in the prison cell... That's a hell-ova first impression to change by any game...

[@alicesmith8134]

I HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT F5 YOUR CHANNEL FOR 6 MONTHS PRAISE JESUS ITS FINALLY HERE

[@theworld1461]

Same

[@Gabranth121012]

+Alice Smith AND IT'S FREAKING 6 HOURS LONG ! HOLY SHIT !!

[@ridleyroid9060]

+Alice Smith PRAISE JESUS!? UNWORHTY HEATHEN, LEAVE THY COMMENT SECTION! IF THOU ART WON'T PRAISETH THE SUN, THOUR ART NOT WORTHY OF BEHOLDING SUCH BRILLIANT COMMENTARY!!! \o/ praise the sun! \o/ (jk. of course)

[@argo3635]

+Ridley On Steroids That was very autistic

[@Erapien]

upvoted for both your comment AND your pic. Thank you.

[@MMLCommentaries]

You've been a huge inspiration, man. I first found you with your Mario 64 video about a year ago and it's made me completely rethink how I look at games. I delved really deep into level and game design to the point that I'm likely going to be picking up a game design minor at my college and have refocused this KZbin channel, which used to be a bland and uninteresting Let's Play channel, to focus more on game design. There are few people who are as in-depth and particular with their KZbin videos as you, and you leave no stone unturned. Like I said, a huge inspiration. Thanks for doing what you do.

[@moonkeyman1]

This is my favorite youtube video, I watch it all the time. I've seen it 50 times.

[@bruhman5829]

While I was listening to the Anor Londo rafters section about “supposed to” parts of games, I thought, “yeah, taking actions like going through the random broken window feel weird because you’re doing an action as a player, and not as the character” and then you said something very similar not ten seconds later. Tiny moment, but the high that I got from knowing that Matthewmatosis and I had the same thought independently from one another will probably last my whole life. This might be a little odd, but this whole video is honestly a really nice intellectual exercise for me. This is just the kind of content that gets me thinking

[@Nevi234]

I think the whole hollow thing stems from not having a purpose anymore. Logan's purpose was to find the archives; he achieved that and now there's not much else to do(like you said, perhaps the magic was too advanced for him or he couldn't understand, etc). The Crestfallen Warrior's purpose was to constantly sulk; once you start making the world better, he doesn't have anything to complain about. Siegmeyer's purpose is to explore and conquer the obstacles in his way; your character essentially does all that for him, and he fulfills his purpose of adventuring. Once Rhea gives you all her miracles, she doesn't have much else to do. Solaire wants to find his own sun; once he does, he goes hollow because he's purposeless. Similarly, the reason your character doesn't go hollow is because his/her purpose carries them all the way to the end of the game. Anyway, that's just my interpretation of it and it's definitely not without flaws. Also holy crap I just watched a 6 hour video and enjoy all of it.

[@sanchy1826]

Nice

[@TheEkainMagix]

Yeah, the purpose thing is very clear but there's a detail that nearly everyone misses. Logan ISN'T HOLLOW, he never goes hollow. Whenever when some NPC go hollow, they take like this skinless body appearance, including ourselves. But Logan has perfect human appearance. So here's my theory, I think it makes much more sense. (By the way, the purpose of Logan isn't reaching the Archives, but getting the knowledge there, it's not like he's just doing some tourism there, he seeketh knowledge). He's just lost his mind. The knowledge he found drove him crazy, going completely insane, loosing every sense. That's why he's completely naked (except his beloved hat), because he's simply crazy, which I find really funny, how such a powerful person can end up running around naked. Rhea and Crestfallen, yeah, that's so clear. Rhea had the purpose to get the Kindling Rite and failed on it. She was destined to die along her friends, but the Chosen One avoids that from happening, this person becoming the new purpose of Rhea. And Crestfallen the same thing, once the Chosen One achieves what he told him to, that being his only purpose, there's nothing else he can do. And Solaire. Our lovely sunbro has two "hostile" appearances. I haven't really seen myself the one just in front of the Bed of Chaos, so I don't know how he looks. But the one with the Sunlight Maggot on his head, he's not hollow at all. He attacks you (but he even talks to you) because the insect on his head is both attacking his mind or Solaire is just too excited to make any sense about anything. As he refuses to accept what he found has nothing to do with the sun he was seeking. ^^

[@sanchy1826]

***** right

[@HeatIIEXTEND]

das it mane

[@ManFromTheFizz]

Lolz "your theory " ^_^ I'm pretty sure the dark souls community has already come to this conclusion years before it popped into your skull so please do your research before claiming such a lofty idea B )

[@ComposerKuandohan]

What a journey. Excellent video, Mathew! Edit: After thinking about it a bit more, this is one of the best videos I've seen on KZbin. Despite it just being you talking over gameplay footage, you have a almost magical way of keeping this extremely long video interesting, insightful, and entertaining. I can't say that to many things that are of such great length, let alone how simple the video is. Once again, excellent work, Matthew!

[@ThePigKnight]

“You don’t know what [Estus] tastes like.” Yeah I do, Sunny D.

[@APPEALtoFEAR]

I laughed out loud when the Crystal Golem killed Dusk.

[@NeverduskX]

This may have been the most thoughtful retrospective I've watched. Definitely a fan after this.

[@oscar-cm4rc]

I really appreciate how critical you are of Dark Souls’ strengths and weaknesses. Dark Souls is one of my favourite games and I love analyzing it’s design, but the vast majority of Dark Souls design analysis videos I’ve come across mostly focus on the positives, and portray Dark Souls as this example of game design perfection. That, and it’s hard to do an in-depth analysis of Dark Souls in just 20-60 minutes. You, however, were highly critical of the game (especially of it’s shortcomings) and scrutinized every area of the game. Even 6 hours probably isn’t enough to really pick apart a game that I spent 60 hours on my first playthrough. I know this video is 5 years old but it was an excellent video and I will be watching more stuff from your channel when I have the time. Subbed.

[@turntapeover5749]

One thing you did not mention about Lautrec by securing firelink shrine is that he also has the subtle function of guiding you where to go once you rung both bells. Because on a first playthrough you are unlikely to kill him. In the cutscene after ringing the 2nd bell, whatever which one it is, there is a visual emphasis on the bell in undead parish, hinting it's nearby this bell. You are likely to come back from blighttown and have a moment of panic when you see the firelink shrine bonfire extinguished and Lautrec gone and the firekeeper dead. But if you paid attention to the cutscene where the gate opens, it should remind you of the shortcut to this bell and make you explore the area, go in the tower (assuming you didnt explore it before), find the undead parish bonfire which just so happen to be next to the gate. Lautrec is more or less a way to keep the player from sidetracking and getting lost or forgetting the location shown to you in the cutscene by create the urgency to go there as the loss of the firelink shrine bonfire will make you less likely to get sidetracked and more likely to make you go towards Undead Parish which after Blighttown the player should see as easier. First, to get to the gate, but also in search of a bonfire, in an area the player sees now as easier and safer to explore since the trek back from blighttown was quite long the player is likely to play it safe. Lautrec will be seen as an antagonist by the player, but I think it's interesting that he also serves as a subtle guide towards where to go next to prevent the player from getting lost in New Londo and the Catacomb without competely gating them off. The loss of this bonfire is firelink shrine should be an indicator that the player should go somewhere else now. It's not just a troll pulled by Miyasaki, it is a legitimate way to create the urgency to go towards the right way without necessarily knowing it's the right way.

[@Bignic2008]

Turntapeover good point. Dark Souls does this several times - using the state of the world or the player character to essentially give you a quest without spelling it out for you. As you said, Lautrec disabling the Firelink bonfire is effectively a quest to find him and restore the fire keeper’s soul. Another example is getting cursed in the depths. Losing half of your health is incredibly detrimental in Dark Souls - at this point the player will know this, so they’re compelled to seek a cure for the curse. For many newbies this should lead them to New Londo.

[@gus_bock]

mate the cutscene shows the gates opening to sen’s fortress and lautrec has nothing to do w it

[@emida2012]

I honestly watched all of this. And of the Demon's Souls commentry. Very well written, very well spoken, very well edited, was a pleasure to watch and listen to after years of having played Dark Souls for the last time. You should really do more of these videos, you're a natural. But please, please, please do a Bloodborne commentary next. Cheers.

[@justaguy9681]

Bruh I always put this video on the background to sleep (No disrespect I watched the entirety of this video a couple times) it's so so good I love how cozy dark souls content is, and you take the cake, always waking up pretty well slept close to the end of your vid Thanks for making this, I've never considered Gwyn not being hollow until now

[@thewerepyreking]

It's fantastical how good this commentary is for an entire 6 hours. How do you do it?

[@ChaseFace]

thewerepyreking Dedication, focus, persistence, and a metric fuckton of patience.

[@looinrims]

He puts in effort

[@leesimpson4905]

Emboldened by the flame of ambition

[@batchagaloopytv5816]

he use his mouth and then words(oh and for the smooth brains its called edits)

[@funkymachine]

Unironically, don't record all the talking in one day, put in dedication, and enjoy what you do.

[@alvarotavares1966]

I really enjoy playing DS3, because the mechanics are so fine tuned and the bosses are so much fun. But playing DS1 feels... different. Difficult to put into words, but the first game feels _special_ to play, like It's an important occasion.

[@BlackGoatofQohor]

The former is made by committee, the latter is handcrafted so to speak, and in my opinion, this explains the experience you are describing. Note that "made by committee" doesn't mean it's bad. For example: Marvel movies are made by committee.

[@TheFloodFourm]

To me it last just that the controls don’t feel fine tuned for an action game. Walking slowly in dark souls feels like it could belong in a full blown open world RPG you just happen to be stuck in Lordran.

[@leonardo9259]

@@BlackGoatofQohor Marvel movies are bad tho

[@keeganwullaert4996]

@@leonardo9259 Objectively i wouldn't say they're all bad. Although i think almost all creative works have some good aspects.

[@keeganwullaert4996]

ds1 has nostalgia but that isn't the only reason i think this is. Ds1 is special for me partially because of the world and map design. The fact a dark souls 1 playthrough can be reasonably done in only a "few" hours and each playthrough can be so different because of your choices of where to go. whereas ds3 is much longer and more linear especially in the early game

[@DamienMortemus]

Used this as a sleep aid. Thankyou. I'll watch it while awake at some point when I have time. Edit: I had headphones on at work and listened to it all day :)

[@StrayCatAnimations]

2:50:29 Some people have been able to actually find the map of Yahrnam inside Dark Souls 1's file, so I think your assessment is spot on!

[@AshenWednesday]

Source?

[@insertedgynamehere___969]

@@AshenWednesday I think Lance McDonald has mentioned it in one of his cut content videos

[@DesuLuckyStar]

4:02:00 i don't know if this has been mentioned yet but the corpse with Gold-hemmed set doesn't belong to Quelana. The opening cinematic shows 7 daughters of the Witch of Izalith and all are accounted for throughout the game. Daughters 1 and 2 became part of the Bed of Chaos with their mother(the two orbs on it's sides) Daughter 3 is Quelaag Daughter 4 is the Fair Lady Daughter 5 is Quelana in Blighttown swamp Daughter 6 attacks you in front of the BoC boss fog and Daughter 7 died at some point and is the corpse Ceaseless Discharge watches over, and upsetting her corpse is why he attacks you

[@invadersanonymous1727]

@juter4397 hand-me-downs

[@beagle626]

Dude I'm out sick today from work and for some reason this shit is the most relaxing and pleasant stuff to listen to when you're on the couch with a cold. It's positively therapeutic.