How Dark Souls Lies to You

Dark Souls is known for its sick and twisted difficulty, that’s no secret. Random ambushes, poison rats, cursed enemies, knockback archers, lava pits, insta-kill fire breathing dragons, and literally immortal bosses, are just a few of the things the game holds above your head to make you feel beneath it, like you don’t even deserve to be holding the controller in your hands. That is why I will never forget the defining moment of my first ever Dark Souls playthrough. With the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC being right around the corner, I felt that it was time to finally talk about why I loved its progenitor so much.
Music:
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[@thunderbruh]

As someone who hasn't really played a Souls game I like the idea that you can't hack and slash every single enemy you come across

[@LoungeAct_]

What’re you waiting for then? Play one!

[@indrast5203]

You could convince them to walk off cliffs

[@MegaJackolope]

Go play DS1 prepare to die edition the yarr harr way, it's still a top 3 game of all time for me. Remastered edition changes the visuals in a not great way, also changes the way PvPers are grouped from being based on levels to whether or not they had picked up a weapon from the list of these predetermined lists of tiers. DS1 level design and the bosses alone are worth your time. Suffice to say, there's a reason why people compared every game to dark souls for the next ten years... Play it.

[@seagull6636]

Ds3 you can with a straight sword

[@pudimy]

As a souls player I guarantee that you can kill every enemy you come across, you just have to be careful and take one by one first

[@thesmolpopato4972]

The merchant in the depths sells the master key when he moves to firelink

[@ToucanDivineQuest]

Aye, siwmae

[@MrMetallix]

But by the time you make it to the depths do you even need it anymore? 😅

[@Ronam0451]

​@@MrMetallixif you want to get to blighttown from the other side without going through the valley of drakes.

[@ToucanDivineQuest]

@@Ronam0451 it's useful for random things too like you don't need to run all the way down pass the crestfallen merchant in Sen's to get the key that will free Logan

[@roccogough254]

Not to mention the fact that you can just go through New Londo (Killing Ingward for the key to The Seal)

[@mockingchief8144]

You actually don’t need the master key to skip the depths and blighttown There is a passageway near the bottom of darkroot that has a bonfire and leads to the valley of the drakes. From there just go to the other end of the area and enter the back door into blighttown

[@paradoxxikal7327]

The secreter way

[@zaboono]

You can also get the master key from the merchant you find in the depths by the blight town gate after he moves to firelink if you’re down to do a bit of platforming under the tunnel leading to the undead burg

[@mockingchief8144]

@@zaboono true, but that still requires you to kill gaping dragon for him to move, so you still would have to complete the depths

[@DarknessIsTheTruth]

You just have to cut through several drakes and an undead dragon.

[@zerumsiru5204]

Bit of a long way to run there, but that's true. There's also the merchant that sells boss armor, he sells the boss key after he moves under the bridge in fire link. Or you could just start off as the thief class, as they start with the master key regardless of the gift you pick.

[@nickoliekeyov746]

I find the way people approach problem solving in these games very interesting. I beat Capra with the elite knight armor and wolf ring, poised through the dogs and killed them quick before hard swapping out my armor to get a faster roll to deal with Capra. My friend used the spell that distracts enemies to kill the dogs. I also know that you can 'cheese' him by tossing firebombs over the wall, lol.

[@brunocampos8640]

I think that's the beauty of these games the areas/bosses are puzzles and it's up to you to find your way to overcome them

[@quaddamage7765]

You also can purchase poison daggers, get to the top of arena ans safely poison him

[@prosaic.7944]

Your friend is the only person in the world who used that spell.

[@nickoliekeyov746]

@@prosaic.7944 I know lol I’ve tried it myself but like, I could just kill whatever I’m distracting instead

[@leonlai8270]

​@@brunocampos8640People will call it "UnfAiR" nowadays

[@xerathgaming1915]

its not a lie its more like a puzzle

[@skew5386]

You don't need the master key to skip the depths and blighttown. You can just take darkroot down from the blacksmith to valley of drakes which leads you to the same door and the key for it nearby. There's always ways to trivialize entire sections of DS1. It was never meant to be a hard game where you bash your head against a wall for hours. It's only meant to push you to find creative ways of solving problems

[@TeamKatastrophe]

Lol I found this road before blight town on my first playthrough. Getting through that entire area only to find you've gotten back to the valley of drakes was... interesting

[@skew5386]

@@TeamKatastrophe I did too! I was really underleveled at the time I got there though so I restarted my playthrough because I couldn't get back up

[@AaronSAllison]

one of the coolest things about the soulsborne games is playing the new game plus cycle and seeing how easy everything becomes and you just wreak face through it. so satisfying

[@geordiejones5618]

For me it's how much you improve on an entirely new game. It becomes a new challenge because you WANT to challenge yourself, at least I do. How far can I get without dying? Can I beat the first boss without leveling? Oh what about that mid game weapon I love how early can I actually get that? And of course once you stop min-maxing, the role playing feels like I'm a kid again, imagining crazy monsters and getting deep into some fictional faction and it's internal dramas.

[@xristoskoumpourlis1614]

one comment i have on this topic is just how good of an idea it was for ds2 and softs to have more/unique items in ng+ cycles along with some enemies etc it really gives you a reason to play a ng+ cycle

[@stevemichael652]

That’s the worst way to play. The best way is making a new character and using a new build and new weapons and having a brand new experience with a new perspective and strategy , not burn out the game on one OP character

[@nikodemvankenobi]

@@stevemichael652tell em dude, how dare they enjoy a video game how they like lmao

[@stevemichael652]

@@nikodemvankenobi it’s an objective fact the souls games are so good bc they’re challenging idk wat ur biching about lmao weird comment

[@jessewilliams6459]

Well, I feel at least a little better about how I killed the Fire Giant last night.

[@MrMetallix]

I helped someone fight the fire Giant last night too 😂

[@jessewilliams6459]

@@MrMetallix I didn't help or give help 😢I had to cheese him on the cliffs with Latenna. I fought him eight times (what's with people saying they fight bosses150-200 times? I can only fight a boss 3-6 times before I lose interest) before I googled it 😢I'm just an innocent merchant hoooo

[@darthnoir6370]

@@jessewilliams6459 tbh that cheese takes more effort than just whacking his legs until he cries

[@geordiejones5618]

I could never get into the Souls titles themselves, but Bloodborne absolutely hooked me and its atmosphere alone forced me to change how I fundamentally approached games after running into a wall in the starting area. I tried to get invest myself in Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3, to no avail, but Elden Ring and now Sekiro/AC6 have brought me back to this company. I think what I appreciate most about these games is that "Fashion Souls" really becomes the whole game when you lean into the roleplay and figure out the pace of combat. I've had some of my most memorable roleplaying moments by just committing to Fashion Souls in the purest form: choosing a faction/allegiance/creed and having all my gear reflect those choices, as well as headcanon PC idiosyncracies. There's no other games where I can truly get lost in a world and see my playstyle coordinate so well with my roleplaying, with possibly the sole exception of Fallout: New Vegas.

[@caveirainvocada9438]

I'm not a big roleplayer in my games unless it's a very pure RPG that really encourages it, I'll just do what will get me the coolest stuff lol, but It's really cool that you get so much from RPing in Soulslikes to the point of comparing it to New Vegas!

[@cottonuwu3167]

Video in a nutshell: Souls series: im the hardest game youre ever gonna play *quietly hands you a tactical nuke under the table *

[@ennayanne]

"Dark Souls' difficulty is a facade to get you to think outside the box" perfectly summed up why I love this game and why every other souls game pales in comparison to it

[@shoe7ess2]

Capra is what woke me up and made Dark Souls click for me. It's a cheap fight, but that huge difficulty curve gave me the best feeling of accomplishment when I finally beat him. I remember standing up in my chair and doing that arm-cross "suck my dick" pose and screaming my victory. That feeling is something I rarely ever am able to hit with many other games (maybe some like GoW, or other similar ARPGs.

[@MrMetallix]

I’ve never had trouble with the Capra demon… ornstein and smough were where the difficulty curve hit for me

[@jiggycalzone8585]

And then you see a herd of Capra demons in the underworld and realize how easy you had it the whole time

[@shoe7ess2]

@@jiggycalzone8585 For real, that's when you realized the fight wasn't against Capra... it was about the cardboard box you fight him in XD

[@obstaculo2]

the thumbnail didnt have to go so hard

[@lordstronghold7189]

You can enter the short way to Blighttown without the master key Dark root basin---> valley of drakes---> Blighttown. You don’t need the key.

[@LoungeAct_]

Yeah but then you still have to go through Undead Burg but I guess you could also go through New Londo.

[@lordstronghold7189]

@@LoungeAct_ Yeah but you don’t have to fight Capra and Gaping dragon. And dark root basin is accessible from Andre.

[@tommikoistinen2321]

You kinda need large ember from Depths so basically you need to kill Capra.

[@HyrulianBeast]

@@tommikoistinen2321 Nah just build Fire Path by dropping down to ol' Vamos, Fire Path is good if you're literally building Full Vigor, I see that health bar.

[@dreamz1417]

​@@HyrulianBeastIt's way easier to just use a twinkling titanite weapon like the bonkers broken black knight weapons.

[@juicyjuustar121]

Entirely unrelated to the video, but hearing What We Did in the Desert in the background of the video hit me with a wave of nostalgia. I know its weird to have nostalgia for a song thats only like 2 years old but I cant help it

[@nullifyyourlife8135]

For some reason I played through all of DS1 only upgrading vitality 2 times. Most bosses and a lot of enemies could 1tap me, but my endurance was so high I could tank hits to the shield, could literally face a direct hit to the face from Smoughs hammer and just slide back a few feet. I didn’t do this intentionally to make it challenging, just kinda happened. Now playing the other games and adding to vitality is making it a walk in the park

[@CrammyCram]

I’ve said it once before and I’ll say it again, you should never, under any circumstances, have to feel wrong or guilty because you don’t like playing unreasonably difficult video games. Difficulty can be super fun to some players (like me) but I can totally understand where it becomes so tedious that it becomes more frustrating than challenging. Frustration isn’t fun, and sometimes just leaning back and having fun with your friends in a super easy but satisfying game is the best way to go. Like I said, I personally enjoy the games but I don’t hold anything against those who don’t.

[@qwasedral]

great video dude!!! scrolled down expecting a huge channel and saw 16 comments... keep it up bro i was engaged the whole time

[@_Gharm]

Awesome thumbnail, happy your back

[@xryeau_1760]

To me the Bed of Chaos is still a fun fight in spite of it's many glaring issues because it's gimmick prevents the encounter from being a matter of raw stats: You can't do a kajillion damage to a boss that functionally doesn't have health and you can't tank straight through everything because gravity can always kill you. I see it as a very good idea that was executed poorly due to unfavorable circumstances and I think it had the potential to be one of Fromsoftware's all-time best bosses if it was given the time it needed. Out of the four lordvessel bosses the Bed of Chaos is my favorite - and for similar reasoning the Four Kings is my least favorite since it's basically just a DPS test. I hope Miyazaki keeps making bosses with interesting and fun gimmicks because a well designed gimmick boss can really spice up the gameplay (Pls not just another Storm King clone)

[@dreamz1417]

Oof, idk man. Bed of Chaos is just another Dragon God but somehow worse. Like how do you even go backwards from Dragon God? I know development got screwed in the entire second half of the game but that's an actual achievement.

[@xryeau_1760]

@@dreamz1417 I disagree, Dragon God had less going on and felt more boring even when things go well. I think Bed of Chaos does a better job at taking advantage of it's changing environment even if it might be more frustrating at times. I usually find myself having more fun on Bed of Chaos on a good encounter than Dragon God

[@dreamz1417]

@@xryeau_1760 Well I have negative fun with both, but the Bed's worse.

[@chrislevack405]

Bed of Chaos is not fun

[@xryeau_1760]

@@chrislevack405 Ah yeah I forgot that fun is an objective thing that everyone feels the same way, sorry, I'll delete my comment now

[@mishademchyshak6719]

This video is so beautiful. I feel like its my friend whos telling me about his favorite game in great details to make me want to play it too. And in fact i have not beaten this game yet, so now i know what i will play after the ER dlc :)

[@hazyspliff]

i would say honestly play ds3 first. it’s the most similar in terms of mechanics i tried to go straight from er to ds1 and it was rough but after beating ds3 it was much more enjoyable

[@Chily-lm1kc]

@@hazyspliffI agree. That or Bloodborne even.

[@dreamz1417]

​@@hazyspliffBut Dark Souls 3 has 10000 "look, it's thing from Dark Souls 1" moments that kinda don't do anything for you if you didn't play the first one. So if you don't plan on playing Dark Souls 3 again to get most things you should really start with number 1.

[@robertl7334]

Been playing since DS1, and love the growth the From team have gone through. Sekiro, AC6, and ER+ Shadow; all have me wondering what's next. I hope for something focused like sekiro with more ng+ changes like AC6. The lengths for both were much more manageable too.

[@methatis3013]

AC6?

[@robertl7334]

@@methatis3013 Armored Core VI, directed by Masaru Yamamura.

[@allorfh2495]

I really like the Ng+ system ds2 had. it really felt like a different playthrough not just hp buffed enemies. also you get access to class respec really early on so you can make an entire different build for your ng+1

[@robertl7334]

@allorfh2495 I agree that the DS2 ng+ changes made the playthroughs unique and fun. However, it felt more like, throw whatever at the wall and see what works. The devs tried it with DS2 and refined it with AC6. The ng+ playthroughs flow into the original story much more fluidly, and I hope to see it developed to a greater extent.

[@allorfh2495]

@@robertl7334 I have yet to play AC6 maybe I'll check it out when a larger discount drops

[@JSAmember]

I had no idea that the Valley of the Drake's entrance lets you skip Blightown. For my playthrough that's how I first entered Blighttown was through the Valley of the Drakes. I explored that side of blighttown and found Quelags Cave. Later on in my playthrough I was a little bit lost about where I should be going and where I should look for stuff. So when I found that other entrance to blighttown I thought something I needed could be over there. So I intentionally explored the other half that I inadvertently "skipped" only to not ever find what I really needed. I had no idea I skipped that only to go back and torture myself 😐😂

[@carrikmcnerlin1770]

You can technically skip the Depths and Blighttown with the key or the darkroot path, but the first chunk of the depths (where you fight the butcher, so super early on after you open the locked door) holds an ember that locks you out of leveling your weapons if you don't get it. You can still play without it (see: SL1 runs), but it behooves you to at least venture that far. Check item list for blighttown and decide if you want any of the weapons. If not, you can safely do the skip after this point.

[@kadenfrfx]

you having amazing taste in music

[@mattlech29]

That's so interesting, the only thing my Capra fight taught me was to fight without the lock-on system

[@CNSninja]

Man, I had no idea how many things had to go just right in order for us to end up with our favorite series, and Miyazaki at its head. If one seemingly little decision had gone any differently, we might not know who Miyazaki is, and we probably wouldnt have Dark Souls, and most certainly wouldn't have Elden Ring. Things like this always kind of blow my mind. The stars aligned, and today we're very fortunate to have been blessed with the creations of Hidetaka Miyazaki.

[@digitalquartergod2989]

I am so dumb. I am currently playing Dark Souls 1 with a friend and we fought Ceaseless Discharge 1v1 because we didn't know there is a tactic to defeat him haha

[@jamiewass1960]

Yoooooo, I've never clicked so fast.

[@richardbriley8072]

I love yt recommending me new channels that happen to cover all of my interests. Also props for the name, Lounge Act is one of my favorite Nirvana songs.

[@Some-robot-guy]

The master key is not a requirement to skip the lower burg, the depths and blighttown. You can just go from the undead parish through the dark root garden and valley of drakes. So the capra demon is an optional boss.

[@exposingpowerfullieslivest5082]

Miracles were certainly not "all the rage" in demons souls. There were almost no offensive miracles in either demons souls nor dark souls.

[@dreamz1417]

Dark Souls has lightning spears to stomp early to midgame bosses. Demon's Souls' only attacking miracle is God's Wrath. I remember seeing a God's Wrath only-challenge once, it sucked ass lol

[@exposingpowerfullieslivest5082]

@@dreamz1417 that's true I totally forgot about lightning spear/sunlight spear haha was so OP

[@Scrappy_Coco]

Great video!!! I agree with everything especially with that take on ds3. I hope you'll release a dark souls 2 vid cause its my favorite fromsoft game. I wish you well man with your channel and all

[@davidtippy7976]

I think the issue with the late-game in Elden Ring is that if you explore everything, you'll obtain levels and weapons that let you breeze through the early to midgame, only to be stopped by the wall of difficulty at Mountaintops of the Giants. The endgame is not more difficult from a design standpoint, it's just scaled higher and players who waltzed through the first two-thirds without actually learning how to fight well will perceive this as a massive spike in difficulty.

[@LoungeAct_]

I actually think most of the bosses in the late game like Malenia and Maliketh are actually really well designed. But others feel far too rushed and are just kinda not good. Specifically the Godskin Duo and the Elden Beast being the biggest two. Whenever I replay the game I always find some fun crazy build but it becomes unusable in the late game. I actually think the DLC fixes this by still making the bosses hard but allowing you to keep your fun builds.

[@davidtippy7976]

@@LoungeAct_ Yeah, but there are also annoying midgame bosses like Valiant Gargoyles and Lichdragon Fortissax who would probably be just as hated if scaled for endgame.

[@dreamz1417]

​@@LoungeAct_The only build that really starts becoming bad endgame is a holy build, iirc Elden Beast has 80% holy res. Literally everything else is perfectly fine though?

[@metal4k787]

Im sure when you fight the Asylum Demon from the very start it tells players that dropping attacks will do big damage before getting to the Capra Demon. Its not something you had to work out.

[@mikecoxlong7072]

I recently got into souls game, starting with ds1, and realized one thing. The game relies and want you to die as much as possible, either to learn how the game works, or to learn how to master your skills. To prove my point, don't forget that we have the souls items, where if you use it, you get souls. if the game doesnt want you to die, then these items wouldnt exist

[@dr.plumcake5165]

I don't agree. The souls items can be used for obtaining souls without killing enemies, that's their purpose. If you want to obtain souls because you lost them it's a way to use them. But you could also use them for reaching the souls required for a new level or buy things from merchant without farming

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

Hard disagree. it doesnt even want you to lose souls. hence every boss drops a free single "homeward bone" an item that lets you instantly fast travel back to a safe location making sure that you use your massive Exp gain from the boss and not lose them during exploration or runback. DS1 is probably the only fromsoft game that really wants you to win and succeed. if you are observant and keen eyed it is the most fair game. I barely d'ed in my first blind playthrough, and it still fascinated me to no end. if you want to play your own way, DS1 lets you do it balance be dammed. wanna r2 spam stunlock everything to 0 HP even bosses? Zweihander availabe from early game. wanna feel like a wrecking tank? broken OP Poise. Love using shields? Broken OP shields. Wanna utilize something with long reach? spears. that have longer reach in hitbox then their model implies. and the souls items are there to top off your amoumt of souls so that you can level up even if you slightly lack to reach the next threshold. thats it

[@thescatologistcopromancer3936]

This video popped on my feed out of nowhere lol

[@Vizion0513]

I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a video essay but all this video was was a lot of basic info and factoids most of the souls community already know about. The "how dark souls lies to you" part seemed to just be about the game's unique level progression and secret exploits the game lets you take advantage of which isn't anything new and I'd hardly call the game lying to you, and the rest of the vid is just a basic and slightly misunderstood synopsis of the game and its level progression with a lot of big words and an unnecessary Miyazaki history lesson at the beginning, it feels more like a "why I like dark souls" video. if we're talking about how dark souls lies to you I think of its npc's, their questlines and the lore, and specific level design aspects like how ash lake is hidden behind 2 illusory walls, and how Gwynevere and the sun in Anor Lando are illusions, as well as the fake out Seath fight before you eventual figure out he's invulnerable unless you destroy his crystal beacon thing. the game is also filled with literal and ambiguously designed traps that take advantage of a new players trust in what they'd expect in a game, Sens, the catacombs and the return to the Asylum are good examples of this kind of level design that lies to you

[@Chily-lm1kc]

Yeah cause god forbid someone talk about how they enjoy something

[@Vizion0513]

@@Chily-lm1kc And god forbid I be critical of a video that doesn't know what it wants to be about

[@ernestbatiy1070]

The Capra demon was my trial by fire. Challenging me to the limits of my 14 year old sanity. It took me 13 straight hours against it to beat it. This, because I was stubbornly using the halberd.

[@corneliussmiff2773]

Great video. Thanks for the content!

[@nulls5408]

My favorite game in the series is ds2 and what I can say is: are there problems with the games? yes but each one has its own unique strengths to it. Ds1 has its interconnected world design, ds2 rewards paying attention to your surroundings, bb its atmosphere and trick weapons, ds3 its covenants and finishing the trilogy’s story, sekiro its stagger system, and elden ring its size and variety of options. Plus AC6’s character conflicts.

[@TheRenaSystem]

As a disabled gamer who just completed my first all bosses no summons SL1 run, I have to agree! DS1 is an incredibly easy game that does near everything in it's power to trick you into thinking it's not, but it still makes you feel accomplished all the same, even when you already know that. I've actually been trying to convince my souls-fearing friends of this argument for over a year now lmao Also, super pedantic, but there are actually 3 ways into Blighttown, without the Master Key: obviously, the first is through the Depths, as you stated Second, from Andre's building head out and right, down into Darkroot Basin, and take the elevator by the bonfire to arrive in the Valley of Drakes Third, this one is a little wacky, but through New Londo itself. Not through the locked door, mind you, but through the giant floodgates, opened after obtaining the Key to the Seal from Ingward. (yes this is possible to do from a fresh save file lol) Also, you can buy the Master Key from Domhnall of Zena at Firelink as soon as you beat the Gaping Dragon, which still skips upper Blighttown without Master Key as your starting gift (this game gives you sooo many options lmao)

[@Jikuri]

There's no such thing as balanced in a true RPG

[@ennayanne]

Ceaseless isn't a gimmick boss, you aren't "meant" to kill him by dropping him to his death. That's a secret.

[@mysterium364]

I found an entirely different way to cheese Ceaseless and Capra. Use the gorge to bait an attack and move back for Ceaseless. Use the heavy attack as soon as you enter Capra arena to instakill both the dogs then kill Capra with magic as he chases you around. So many fun ways to beat bosses and enemies when skill isn't there yet.

[@viperspike1709]

Another "bug" that dark souls has is the arrow drop soul duplicate. Not only is it in both the original and remake. Its also easier to do in the remake.

[@s.farazdak1547]

Another dark souls video essay lets gooo

[@Skaroosh]

Are there people that DONT know about using the master key to skip blighttown?

[@mrpropper1696]

Great video bro! Just a hint: you can access blighttown early without the master key before the gargoyles fight, only thing you need is to go darkroot garden elevator and go down to valley of drakes :D

[@roccogough254]

I know I'm late but and I know you're only framing it this way for dramatic effect but 13:00 is completely wrong. Also for 14:50 I've played Remastered on both PC and PS4 and this has never been an issue? This video just feels very uninformed about Dark Souls itself despite the fact that you know a lot about Miyazaki's history.

[@justinponkow2378]

8:09 I wonder if Atlus is where they got the name for Altus in Elden Ring.

[@dreamz1417]

Altus is literally just a normal latin word

[@P-KopSlayer]

It's almost impossible to dodge bed of Chaos arms. Out of desperation i put on heavy armor (i forgot wich) and shield with high stability to block those arms. Surprisingly i managed to reach the second weakness.😂

[@ThaFuriousJoegan]

Capra Demon : get filtered

[@Husky_rng]

13:10 not rlly ,u can go down into an elevator,next to the dark root basin,u don t need the master key

[@Mrblackblackboy]

Great video!!

[@lanceuppercut7418]

I really, really wish you'd encountered pre nerf Capra Demon.

[@ErikLobsel]

Wait hold on, you mean I straight up don't have to go to Blight Town if I have the Master Key? Like it just straight up doesn't have anything obligatory to progress in Blight Town itself?? Oh boy it might be reinstall time...

[@SoupTasty]

You always have to go through Blighttown because you have to kill Quelaag (the area boss) and ring the bell in order to progress the game. Also later in the game yo need to go through Blighttown to reach Demon Ruins. But if you take the Master Key, you can take the elevator from Firelink to New Londo Ruins, walk through a (Master Key locked) door into Valley of Drakes, and from there into Blighttown. But that takes you to the side of Blighttown that's closer to Quelaag so you just have to hop down a couple of platforms and you're at the bonfire in front of Quelaag's arena. You don't have to go through the area with a lot of enemies and platofrms. You can do the same without a Master Key, so no need to reload. Go to Undead Parish (Andre's bonfire), walk out into the Darkroot Basin, take the first right, before you reach the area leading to the hydra, the windy path continues looping around downhill. There's a black knight there, but run around him and you'll find a bonfire in a cave. From there you can take an elevator into the Valley of the Drakes and follow the same path to Blighttown without needing the Master Key.

[@bartekowczarek6861]

I just got grave lord sword by joining the covenant i had no idea it had to do with killing demons

[@LoungeAct_]

That’s how you get it but the only way to upgrade it is to fight titanite demons

[@JoaoVictor-rg5ix]

Bro. Dark Souls was Lies of P, but without the P, bro.

[@camerongranger6301]

My first time through DS1 I ended up skipping the depths route without the master key by going the long way through the forest, then through the valley of the drakes. I didn’t realize it was a skip at first so I remember thinking “this is what everyone said was so horrible?” Lmao. Fucking video games man.

[@dudeistpreist5721]

Playing through ds3 for my first time. Got to the dregs and early game I got the farron arrow so I could spam down the blade master and first demon. Punched my way through the giants and deacon, beat the palidans and the zume sword user the same way. Now I'm using a blessed darksword to rampage through the archdragon Peak and then beat the dregs. Hopefully I can have good gear to break poise a bit better as that pyromancer is a mean bitch.

[@lukamilic227]

very good video

[@kaimusic7884]

I honestly don’t mind the bed of chaos

[@Dindosaur]

Multiple Characters also lies to you

[@spacesatan5840]

The most important ingridient in souls games are enemy design even more then weapons Your foes tell you a story Their greatness/horror overshadows you the average man yet you have to overcome them overcome other players even

[@dreamz1417]

I feel like we had very different experiences playing Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Demon's Souls was my first Souls game back in 2009 and the melee weapons were fine? Barely anyone online used magic except for buffs. There also is only one miracle that does damage so no, not everyone got funneled into magic. Melee in Demon's Souls is as viable as melee in Dark Souls, and if you think Dark Souls 1 magic is any weaker than Demon's Souls magic I can honestly only assume you haven't played a mage build in both.

[@dreamz1417]

I genuinely think your multiple points of feeling that you are 'funneled into a build' is just a you problem, no offense. Yes, any and all Souls games have builds that perform better than others but the only thing that even slightly comes close to 'funneling you into a certain build' in Elden Ring is that you really should level health a decent amount for endgame content.

[@weskerpawnch]

Totally agree, I know you didn't take Shadow of the Erdtree into consideration but the overall balancing definitely still applies. I was having lots of fun with the new fedora-tipping light greatsword "M'lady" and its rhythm, but switched to a bleed build because it was objectively superior, and I really hate that. It got better results in a game that kills me in two mistakes and takes over five minutes of intense concentration for every boss fight, so it was a no-brainer. All these cool weapons and everyone is just funneled into something that makes the game less of a drag.

[@dreamz1417]

Eh, if I can beat the final boss of the dlc with a slow colossal greatsword anyone can.

[@In.New.York.I.Milly.Rock.]

Good video, terrible title, but I get it

[@terimichelle747]

great video

[@WOOKMEISTA]

Excellent video 👌

[@tavysek3193]

Do i hear Rhapsody by Toe? Instant like and sub!

[@hollowmatthew]

The first time i met the capra demon i killed it with 4 hit XDD (i forgot hes exist)

[@officialshinky]

Being cursed making you unable to kindle is not really important as you havent unlocked kindling at that point and is actually lesser known than the masters key, everyone knows about that, you can also skip blighttown without it, just go to the valley of drakes through the darkroot basin and voila

[@officialshinky]

and come on what are you talking about these things being bugs theres a staircase in the capra demon arena how is that a bug 😭

[@Chily-lm1kc]

You literally can kindle at the beginning of the game? What are you talking about unlocking it?

[@SoupTasty]

you can kindle to 10, but you need the rite of kindling (Catacombs) in order to kindle to 20.

[@ShoobieBoobie]

Just beat this game for the first time. It forced such a primal rage out of me that I genuinely don’t think any other game will ever make me feel and it made me kind of sad after it was over. Fuck the bed of chaos tho

[@niemand7811]

07:00 You know, talking about games becoming too linear, and yet non linear action rpgs exist for such a long time, just makes the argument redundant. Dark Souls did not invent anything new. A game like Doom did. It took the classic ego perspective dungeon crawler and turned it into a fast paced shooting galore while also running on a game engine that could run the game on a potato. A potato in the 90s. Which is worse than today's potatoes. The game never lied to me. It never made me expect something that never happened. People are lying.

[@cottonmouthasmr8713]

Has anyone tried Steel Rising its pretty sweet

[@LegenDz_Evil]

Okay I almost clicked off at the beginning but I stayed an watched an I Agree with most of the points you made in this video BUT the bit about bed of chaos a bit of strategy to try next time throw on ninja flip ring an Whenever you start to go destroy the anchors Just flip through the branches destroy the anchor then quit out reload and do it again then quit reload an repeat

[@bonelessman56]

Imagine it fromsoft made demon's souls an open world like elden ring as their first "souls game" and now imagine the actual dark souls franchise as all open worlds... that'd be a weird timeline ( 5:52 )

[@Lordlaneus]

Fromsoft games are tsunderes

[@jakabshaw4127]

woohoo

[@jjones6244]

Great vid but depths and blight town aren’t half of dark souls😂

[@michaelcarroll5801]

I liked the vid but you used examples for ds2 being broken that apply to every souls game I.e. janky grab attacks. Example iron giant, gaping dragon grab attacks.

[@tekashisun585]

Yeah I’m playing ds2 right now, it’s not nearly as bad as what ppl make it out to be

[@dreamz1417]

​@@tekashisun585It's the best one fr fr

[@Hugo_Tate]

What was the point of this video? halfway thru and youre just talking about Miyazaki history and DS history

[@cheesecrackers29]

Why would dark souls lie to me thats very rude od dadk siuls

[@NuevoExistence]

Hot take: bed of chaos is not hard. Block with enough endurance or dodge as it's about to hit you.

[@niemand7811]

And why are so many people playing a naked zombie? Is there some hidden fetishism going on in the DS community? That's just disgusting.

[@LoungeAct_]

Dang it! They caught us folks!

[@vvf6e]

skill issue. I didn't have any difficulty facing capra or frogs

[@UFO-vj2zy]

U definitely have some difficulty touching grass

[@vvf6e]

@@UFO-vj2zy oooh yes, yes indeed, i mean with the fact that you'r tongue wont leave my foot

[@niemand7811]

No, no, no, no, no. Dark Souls is NOT know for its difficulty. It is know for people complaining about difficulty. That's a major difference. Because after awhile it gets easier and also a tad boring since there is not much of actual role playing involved. It is like they just rebooted the Otoki franchise.

[@niemand7811]

11:50 every well designed action rpg rewards the player for being patient and and thoughtful. Like I mentioned before, DS didn't do anything special. DS games are good action titles. But except those stat counts and some shop keepers and black smiths there isn't much role playing going on if any worth mentioning. That is an aspect that had me going for a while now. While playing the games was fine, there was always something weird about them. I realized it after replaying other rpgs. You know, ROLE PLAYING games. Where I take on a character, interact with other characters, take on the membership of a guild. And all of that is equally important to pumping up the skills and character statistics. So weird enough Dark Souls and the likes are rpgs without actual role playing. I think this has become lame and boring to me. If I want twitch action I keep playing Devil May Cry or Soulstice or Bayonetta. Or Prince of Persia. Or ....... any action title that doesn't pretend to be an rpg.

[@CygnusX-11]

Dark Souls >>>>>>> Elden Ring

[@NuevoExistence]

WHAT DS2 allows the MOST experimentation😂

[@gradyturay4240]

Overleveled for capra maybe you should get better

[@butterscotch3021]

This video is a waste of time