How was the Dark Souls DLC Discovered?

[@illusorywall]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zl6nnquserF1e5I If the location of Artorias' grave not being the same between Darkroot and Oolacile is surprising to you, check out my video that compares the landmarks of Darkroot and Oolacile. It was titled "Oolacile is Darkroot in the past", which I think a lot of people skipped thinking "wasn't that obvious??". But trust me, while a lot of people have an understanding of that in the lore, the precise ways in which the maps align (or don't) is something the community has a fuzzier understanding of. The video might provide more detail on a few specific things you haven't seen or considered before. It also shows why the Wolf Ring corpse is Chester (kind of). Extra bonus detail: You'll find a lot of guides saying that you need to get and place the lordvessel as one of the requirements for accessing the DLC. This is a de-facto requirement, because of course you need to clear the yellow fog gates in order to enter The Duke's Archives. However, in the actual game code it is not technically a requirement. If you can find a way to sequence break and get in and out of the Duke's Archives without the Lordvessel, you can still get the broken pendant and thus the entrance of the DLC to spawn.

[@LabTech41]

I guess it wouldn't be that much of an issue for new players, given that not long after DS1 came out, the era of being able to google whatever you want became a thing, so if a noob was looking to find out how to access it these days, chances are a video like yours would immediately come up and there'd be no hard process.

[@SpikeVallen]

The description on the PlayStation store for the DLC had instructions on how to get to the content in game

[@illusorywall]

@@SpikeVallen An interesting consideration! Though players on PC wouldn't have had that a couple months prior.

[@GuardianOwl]

Similarly I'm not all playes have put it together that the Giant Memories of DS2 all trod the same ground as the Forest of the Fallen Giants. Two of the Three memories are just in areas of the Fort that you can't access in present day.

[@SpikeVallen]

@@illusorywall I hadn’t quite gotten to PC by that time so I only have knowledge on the PlayStation platform’s release

[@IronPineapple]

Videos like this remind me of the fact that the fanbase of these games has grown so much since the Dark Souls 1 days, and the vast, vast majority of current fans weren’t there at the time. Like it’s obvious that’s the case, but I still forget sometimes, and something about this video made me realize how old all this history really is now.

[@OFSheep]

How many newer fans are people who got in through Elden Ring and went backwards? I know one, it's me, I started with ER.

[@aperson7368]

fortnite burger

[@Swim_Jonse]

Wasn't there for DeS but starting with Dark Souls on 360, it has always felt so weird to see anyone who started post DSII.

[@4PeteSake9]

I can remember my friend in high school band telling me about this insanely cool game that nobody’s heard of and it’s stupidly hard. I laughed at him, asked what’s fun about it, and he said I just had to experience it to believe it. There’s absolutely nothing like your first playthrough with nobody on the internet talking about it outside of random forum threads lol

[@ChristopherWaddelow]

It's funny I was just rewatching your old videos yesterday. I remember my friend trying go get me to play DeS back in 2013 when I was 13 years old. Time certainly flies.

[@jeromearanas4050]

I remember my best friend lending me his PS3 and DS1 CD with the DLC a decade ago. I "finished" the game and was about to hand him back the PS3 and CD. He asked me if I enjoyed the fight with Artorias because it was his favorite. I told him who the f is that and our meetup concluded with me going home still with his console and the CD to play it. Man those days were awesome, glad to have a great friend to lend me his console back when I could not afford one.

[@batbutchasing]

He sounds like a really good friend I definitely couldn't trust anyone with my gaming console let alone if they're trying to play dark souls on it I wouldn't be able to guarantee that a controller or 2 would be broken lol

[@rando843]

This happened to me too 😭 I never owned the game, borrowed it off a friend, but I only later after returning it thought to myself “damn, I never did play that DLC did I” I even got platinum trophy idk how I forgot

[@nightshadehelis9821]

This honestly made me smile. I miss those days.

[@BahamutZEROOO]

As someone who went into the DLC almost completely blind when it was new, it did indeed go pretty much like: -Already have rescued and moved Dusk because doing that to buy her spells was a routine thing to do -Stumble on the pendant crystal golem while progressing into the archives and kill it because it's very hard to miss -See Oolacile mentioned in the item description, think of Dusk, go to try to show it to her, and then notice the new spooky orb in the back

[@christopherschneider2968]

Similarly i too stumbled upon the portal. I killed the hydra late in my first run and had to stop playing. Restarted the game found the golem and wen to the dukes archive found another golem and made the connection.

[@BreakdancePeach]

lol same. _"Wow, I found a pendant from Oolacile? And there's only 1 NPC from Oolacile, selling items from Oolacile, named Dusk of Oolacile?"_

[@NeutralDrow]

In my case, it was -already have rescued and talked to Dusk once, because I just coincidentally went there after killing the hydra very early -stumble on the pendant crystal golem, kill it because it's in the way -see Oolacile mentioned in the item description, don't remember an NPC from hours ago that I stopped caring about almost immediately because I wasn't running a sorcery build -finish the game and wonder when the DLC was supposed to start

[@billymays313]

How did you know Dusk existed?

[@dragan4324]

@@billymays313You would know she existed simply by exploring the game thoroughly. She wasn't hidden, like say behind 2 illusory walls, unlike some parts of the game...

[@chrismsutcliffe]

It's so fascinating that the cove entrance and Artorias' grave are so closely aligned vertically. I would never have made that connection without videos like this one

[@Solibrae]

I can imagine that perhaps at one point they planned on having you enter some hidden chamber connected to Artorias' Grave through that tunnel, which then eventually led to the ruins of Oolacile Township if it still existed at all. Well, that's just complete speculation but it would've been a cool way for what would become the DLC areas and characters to be a more naturally connected part of the game world!

[@Scowleasy]

Chester losing the wolf ring is the reason there’s no poise in Bloodborne lol

[@LilacMonarch]

lmao, he really does look like he came right out of BB

[@mechapope9168]

​@@LilacMonarchim pretty sure he came back to the past from the future by going off his dialouge, so i assune dark souls and bloodborne are connected. I know it was stated that there all different universes but i still like to think that.

[@pliskin101]

@@mechapope9168I always liked the idea that Bloodborne is a painted world of Dark Souls, painted with blood.

[@obscure.reference]

@@mechapope9168 i thought the ds3 painted world dlc pretty heavily implied that bloodborne could exist within dark souls

[@mightilyoats2729]

Bandai owns Dark Souls Sony owns Bloodborne/Demon's Souls FromSoft owns Elden Ring and Sekiro (but Activision has some publishing rights. Just doesn't own the IP) @@mechapope9168

[@PsychoticSausage]

3:45 How did I not know that you can see dusk inside the crystal golem, that's so cool. Can't believe I've never noticed that before!

[@tipofoxy]

You can also see Sygmeyer's daugther in the golem she's trapped in

[@curseyou_bayle]

I didnt notice it either

[@MeatThrasher]

Imagine buying DLC and not finding the entrance

[@DreadHalfling9]

Yup only played the story once... didnt know how to get into the dlc until after I beat the game and I havent gone back since

[@MeatThrasher]

@@DreadHalfling9 Aaah, sad. It's like the best of ds1 content

[@Swim_Jonse]

Thankfully it was 2012/2013. If you didn't have a friend tell you ahead of time, you weren't going to struggle to find the answer.

[@jesusisrael4122]

I was like 16 at the time. I beat the game without realizing that there was dlc until years later

[@yourlocalnerd5981]

This actually happened to me. Not in DS1 but in Bloodborne. I thought you had to find some way to open the big gate at the beginning of the Hunter’s Nightmare, and completely missed the path that circumvents it. I did a second play through immediately after to actually play the DLC I paid for once I realized I was a big dumb dumb

[@Malysitos]

I still love the idea that Chester stole the ring from Artorias’s body after we defeated him. Even though it’s cut dialogue, Ciaran witnessing Chester’s pillaging is great. My personal head-canon about the exact nature of his death is that a Stone Guardian caught him by surprise and it, for some reason, guarded his corpse, which is why a Great Stone Knight guards the body that has the Wolf Ring in the Darkroot Garden.

[@Fidsco]

I played the Prepare To Die edition on PC blind. Then when I finished the game I looked up stuff and realised I had missed the DLC entirely.

[@imtonysopro]

I played the shiz out of DS2 on launch so didn't revisit till all DLC dropped and with the SOTFS version and man that was some whiplash.

[@yewtewbstew547]

I do that every time with optional base game content as well tbh. On my first Dark Souls playthrough I completely missed Great Hollow and Painted World. First Bloodborne playthrough I missed Cainhurst. It's part of the fun of a blind playthrough to me, and it gives you something fresh to look forward to on a repeat playthrough. Though I can completely understand why people who have more limited free time would want to just look stuff up.

[@AntiNihilist]

Honestly, that felt mostly intended since it's the hardest area in the game so it should be the most hidden. But then the game forces you into NG+ so...not ideal.

[@umittaskin]

I missed Smouldering Lake in DS3 when I first played it.

[@ennayanne]

​@@umittaskinI mean, it's a secret area so not that surprising

[@Future_Doggo]

I can't wait for Shadow of The Erdtree, where you have to find a specific Catacombs that nobody has found yet, and then solve the Collatz Conjecture just to get the DLC key.

[@CuriosityMisledMe]

Please, no more generic caves or catacombs. Anything but those.

[@TREVORVADER]

You have to learn the Secret Handshake gesture and do it in front on Miquella’s cocoon.

[@WunderbredSyndicate]

And you have to fight two Ulcerated Tree Lizard things in a tiny closet. And they both hate you.

[@itsukarine]

i was expecting it to have to do with the needle in placidusax's arena and saving the fireke-- melina

[@adiadiadi333]

No worries, knowing fromsoft, it will have to do with all the comments in this thread here combined in a specific order.

[@blargghkip]

Ok, now do a 15-minute deep dive on how players were expected to find the Pickaxe in DS2

[@Jarrot]

This would be incredible

[@NisseDood]

It would be funny if the pickaxe actually opened a super secret zone by using it on some specific wall. :V

[@thehittite6982]

One of the doors in the room where you find it opens to reveal a red phantom wielding it and the Porcine Shield. It's not much, but it's something.

[@Androu1]

​@@NisseDood Oh God that really brought me back to the community collectively hitting every wall with the pickaxe

[@ryaneftink7364]

The boring answer is that it was in a guidebook. The slightly less boring answer is that those pigs are one of the only mobs in the game to ignore set-piece transitions and maintain pursuit of the player, so someone probably guessed that was more than just an easter egg and eventually led them far enough into the level to get them to dig the pick up.

[@generalgrievous92]

Funny story I have about this, is I actually managed to almost find it myself by complete accident because my motherboard was dying. It was my first time playing DS1 and i was experiencing frequent PC shutdowns (I didn't know it was the MB at the time) and one of them just so happened to be in Darkroot Basin. When I reloaded, the Golden Golem was there and I killed it to free Dusk. Later on, I got the pendant and I was pretty much set for the DLC without even knowing it. My old motherboard gave me one final parting gift. RIP old MB 2016-2021

[@ChristopherWaddelow]

That's a really funny story, thanks for sharing😂

[@andreworders7305]

The idea that you could pay money for DLC and not be able to play it until the community discovers the obscure way to access later that day is kind of funny, but it’s a good thing they published instructions though, because people’s patience goes way down when money is involved.

[@Epistolary8]

If only everyone across the planet was willing to work without compensation.

[@lillyclarity9699]

​@@Epistolary8there are ways to be compensated without allowing hoarding of wealth

[@SirBucelotte]

​@@odaduhmost probably Miyazaki wouldnt even had the chance to make Demon Souls or DS1 if money wasnt a influence, because FromSoftware probably wouldnt even exist. And he couldnt have the chance the director gave him to make DS to save the company.

[@TheAntiSanta]

Who would buy the DLC for Dark Souls if they didn't have the patience for Dark Souls' Bullshit?

[@leeroyjenkins2923]

Man The DLC was FREE....

[@dragons_advocate]

For Elden Ring, I'd like for the DLC entrance to require the player to kneel before Godrick, as he commands in the cutscene.

[@illusorywall]

Godrick - "I command thee, kneel!" Tarnished - "Yeah sounds good actually.' 😅

[@TheAntiSanta]

I think it'd be real cool if I don't have to make a new character or play on New Game Plus to enter the DLC. Please no requirement that involves a boss I've already killed.

[@prexot2341]

@@TheAntiSanta what if they also give you the ability to respawn bosses?

[@SaHaRaSquad]

@@prexot2341 And make them stronger! They could even give that a new name, like New Game+ or something, would be dope.

[@venerablewu8744]

​@@SaHaRaSquadhe means sekiro style

[@egoborder3203]

what's funny to me is when the Ringed City released for DS3 and everyone was claiming they "accidentally" found the solution to the "show your humanity" puzzle

[@user-ns4zm8qe9p]

Bro I missed the hell out of that till I saw it in a vaati video lmao glad I found it Midir is dope

[@hydrophobia936]

The "Show your Humanity" puzzle has nothing to do with Midir ​@@user-ns4zm8qe9p

[@embargovenom9948]

I didn't accidentally found it, I arrived at the solution on my own the first time I saw the puzzle. I never understood why people consider it so hard, when there's much more difficult headscratchers in the series, like the example in this video.

[@WeeabooPocky]

i still remember people discussing about it, like people saying you should went in hollow form or embered.

[@ZoglerRandomiel]

I had a random guy i summoned show it to me, otherwise i dont think i would have found it on my own

[@maxdishaw]

I always thought the blue crystal golems were so out of place in the hydra basin. But the fact that a blue crystal golem drops the pendant in the dukes archives validates them being there and is a huge clue for the player to explore that area further.

[@MertcanAkardere]

During his Dark Souls 3 playthrough ENB(EpicNameBro) mentioned he was chosen by Bandai Namco to write the official guides. He wrote guides for DS1, DS2, and maybe others, until he turned it down to play DS3 blind.

[@illusorywall]

Yup! And Future Press got resources directly from Bandai Namco and/or Fromsoftware, they weren't made in complete isolation. I don't know that ENB would've been working on any DS1-related guides around the time the DLC was coming out, however with his connections to Future Press and by extension BN it's not at all unlikely someone just told him, and that he was explicitly allowed to share that info when it launched.

[@stevenpollock3653]

He helped with the Bloodborne guide too. I had a copy, and you could see his ENB mark on the bottom of some pages.

[@shizachan8421]

Tbh, it kinda makes sense that Fromsoft probably liked to make it some convoluded way to access and then leak the information into the community. It kinda emulates the way how hidden secrets in oldschool ways would spread, through word of mouth, gaming magazines and strategy guides. It fits into their style of really wanting their games a more social experience, where players are encouraged to seek guidance in the community.

[@PAPA_CEO_PUMA]

Damn ENB was the OG. I haven’t thought about him in a while.

[@SuncrispCore]

He is credited in the Dark Souls Remastered official guide. along with LobosJr, A German Spy, and PeevePeeverson

[@DarkstarAshura]

5:18 Dusk in Kronk Voice: "The Sorceries of Oolacile. Oolacile's Sorceries? Right here."

[@lt_johnmcclane]

My first Fromsoft game was Bloodborne so I love to see these sort of first hand accounts from players that were playing the older games when they were still new

[@zacharydeguzman7377]

I liked that in Bloodborne, they also made it interesting since you had to get grabbed by the amygdala in order to enter the dlc

[@krodmandoon3479]

God damn, imagine jumping into the games of a company that's been active for decades with their best one

[@oxsila]

They didn't play Sekiro first though? Lol just kidding. All subjective@@krodmandoon3479

[@TREVORVADER]

It’s always cool to hear about all this old history with games. Takes me back even if I wasn’t there for it

[@corywertz9268]

@@krodmandoon3479 Being a free ps+ game and then hearing NakeyJakey talk about it in one of his videos is what made me play it. Holy shit, what a journey it's been since then 😶‍🌫

[@jamesgornall402]

I genuinely had no idea that Dusk was base game. I had just always assumed they were added with the DLC. That's so cool!

[@MultiDakman]

Same

[@MeowHype]

I’m 99% sure it was because Artorias of the Abyss was never supposed to actually be DLC. Dark Souls’ production was notably crunched and rushed, which is how we got things like Lost Izalith.

[@Minecraftgnom]

A friend of mine has recently started playing Dark Souls for the first time, it being also their first ever souls-like in general. I was watching, but committed to not giving ANY hint, with the exception of some basic info on some stats. The took the master key and found both havel and the hydra before fighting the Taurus Demon. They were immediately intruiged by the Hydra being there, seeming like a boss but not in a classic boss-arena, so they were determined to fight it somehow. After a lot of trial and error, before even ringing the first bell, they managed to kill the Hydra and some time later, explored the area further and found the cove. They found the golem and rescued Dusk. So, simply by exploring and intruige, they found the first steps to the DLC. They have rung both bells by now and are dealing with Sen's Fortress now. I'm definitely looking forward to them getting the pendant. The only problem is, that they haven't really been paying attention to most dialogues yet and have only rung the bells by pure chance. (Yes, they have completely ignored the guy next to the first bonfire telling you to ring the bells...), although they at least listened to Frampt. xP

[@AntiNihilist]

As someone who was there at the time, I found out with...youtube. surprise surprise. The forest being connected to the dlc was clear though. Only one true forest in the game after all and the forest was the most prominent location in the dlc trailer.

[@BlondeMcGuinn]

Artorias of the Abyss is one of my favorite all-time gaming experiences. The locations are awesome and fit perfectly with the mystique and sorrowful atmosphere of the base game. And the characters! Dusk, Chester and especially Gough. The cutscene with him and Kalameet is one of my favorite in all of Souls. Thank you illusory wall for these fascinating videos. You have been on a roll since you started uploading. I’ll add this to my playlist with your other work and watch it over and over again. Big Ups! I wish you nothing but the absolute best.

[@Morgannin]

Haven't even gotten through the ad yet but thank you for the thumbnail validating my complaints after people on a forum gave me shit for not finding this without a guide back in the day. I didn't have any experience with Dark Souls or even much with Demons Souls in advance, so one thing that bugged me was being told "if you played Demons Souls, you'd be in the habit of reloading in empty areas to see if anything changed." Well thanks. I didn't play it (for very long), so I wasn't in that habit. Also, I had gotten through the Duke's Archives before bothering to defeat the Hydra who had successfully warded me off previously, so I never would have had cause to go back and stumble upon the random golem with the pendant. Which I was *also* mocked for, for playing this open-ended game "out of order."

[@mrwizard5012]

So funny thing with that, you dont reload in empty areas with no reason to do so anywhere else in the _series,_ nevermind in ds1, and those people were assholes.

[@cdurkinz]

I was actually there at the time the DLC released already with 100s of hours in the game. It was instantly known by everyone what to do it was all anybody talked about for those few days. "Go run and get the pendant in the archives then get into the DLC over by the hydra." (proceeded by being absolutely destroyed by sanctuary guardian for hours)

[@illusorywall]

Yup! And I didn't bring it up in the video, because the two-month head start on PC meant all the potential discovery was going to happen there regardless... But for a lot of players on console, finding the DLC also would've been really easy in that the only thing to do was find the new crystal golem and get the pendant from it. If you had a save file with Dusk already rescued (which a lot of players had end-game characters ready to go), the word of mouth on that would've been "oh there's a new golem in the Duke's Archives, go get it!". Players might've been a little confused on the order of operations on a new character, but the steps of actually getting into the DLC was truncated for a lot of people going there their first time on console.

[@kurgo_]

I remember an enb video (deleted/hidden now, like everything else) a few months in advance of the dlc speculating about the location/time of the dlc and it was eerily accurate, and he wasn't the only one thinking that either tbh.

[@LilacMonarch]

as frustrating as it can be, there's some charm to how absurdly convoluted things are in DS1

[@MATCHLESS789]

It felt like the most esoteric experience and it's what made me fall in love with it. I hope Fromsoft will do something like his again, I'm personally not a fan of their new more streamlined experiences.

[@HeevaEgo]

@@MATCHLESS789 tbf Elden Ring and Sekiro aren’t exactly streamlined. ER has the least mandatory content in any From game - with most of the game’s content being accessed through vertical traversal, and Sekiro has an incredibly circular map - so you don’t exactly know where you are going, despite only having 1 optional area compared to the other games. Hell even Dark Souls 2, while geographically inconsistent, still is convoluted. I understand your sentiment for Dark Souls 3 though

[@Yorikoification]

No, plenty of people hate that shit but they gotta grin and bear it cause you cannot throw any criticism towards Fromsoft these days

[@MATCHLESS789]

@@HeevaEgo I'm talking about mechanics like dragon tail cuts, resonance rings, unexplained "reverse hollowing", vagrants, world tendency, no fast travel, no map, invasions (it's not an invasion if you need to use an item to invite "invaders"), etc, etc. The only which still remains is the quest system and people can't stop crying about it so it's only a matter of time before that goes too.

[@gator3962]

@@MATCHLESS789 Same, but I don't think it's likely since a lot of people would see it as a bad thing or "a step back" or something like that.😔 I mean there are STILL ppl complaining about questlines in Elden RIng, even though they're 95% absolutely fool proof now ( which sucks imo).

[@Kyoko_]

I always thought the way that you unlocked this DLC was really cryptic. When I asked my friends about how to access it, it reminded me of rumors on playgrounds when action games were new in the N64 era.

[@grayfruit]

I always think similar questions with secret character select codes in fighting games, particularly in arcades, like the devs MUST have leaked that information to the public for them to possibly have known, right? DS1's DLC is complicated to get to, for sure, but if you look at stuff like the code to select Akuma in street fighter ii turbo, or the codes to get the secret characters in the early marvel vs. capcom games, they're *ridiculously* specific and complicated and I find it very difficult to believe that they were ever discovered by trial and error... trying to brute force figure it out would genuinely be a hopeless process, especially considering each attempt would literally drain money from your pocket. assuming they DID leak the information to the public I wish I could see the trail of information as it spread throughout arcade culture. the internet was just barely a thing at that time! did people tell each other how to select akuma over the phone while the other person scribbled it down in a notebook? fascinating stuff to think about

[@zubrhero5270]

Plain and simply, magazines. I was playing arcade cabinets from MK2 onwards, and people used to basically rip the pages out of the magazines with the cheats and moves, or fetch the little handbooks that came free on the front of magazines, and bring it with them to the arcades.

[@StockpileThomas1]

​@@zubrhero5270You unlocked a hidden memory. Good times!

[@thedarter]

Oh look guys, I can obnoxiously point out that this is a somewhat large youtuber! Oh wow, that's crazy that this fairly large youtuber is active in a community he's known for being part of! Am I doing this commenting thing right?

[@StockpileThomas1]

@@thedarter what

[@thedarter]

@@StockpileThomas1 grayfruit is a fairly large youtuber, and I was poking fun at the type of commenter that absolutely loses their minds when they see a comment from a youtuber they watch on a different video.

[@getreadyforthecircus]

man, i forgot about EpicNameBro he's the guy I watched to learn how to play the game properly. i did my first playthrough hiding behind shields and never parrying, then I watched him and learned i could roll through attacks with the right timing and how parrying looks for most enemies.

[@darrensucksatgames]

Best advice I got early on was from some random redditor who said “parry the hand, not the weapon” and he broke my brain with how accurate that ended up being across all of the games.

[@nowwithvitaminr]

1:44 MY CAT JUMPED AT MONITOR

[@samuelhdiamond42]

The Duke's Archive golem being moved rather than a new entity really highlights how conservative and cautious FromSoft were in adding the new content. Same with there being two copies of the Darkroot Garden map just so they could add a few extra elements!

[@illusorywall]

It reminds me of the non-hidden developer messages of the Catacombs that overwrote the unpatched hidden messages you helped find! It appears that they were really afraid of breaking things, so altering stuff already in the game must've felt a lot safer than adding completely new stuff for whatever reason. 😅

[@ashemedai]

​@@illusorywallGiven it released on PS3, maybe they were overly cautious given its 256 MB/256 MB limits. Adding new elements could push it over its memory budgets.

[@StockpileThomas1]

​@@ashemedaiThe PS3 version got several exclusive patches because when they Trier to fix the resonance rings it made effects in the game really glitchy. It was a back and forth for a couple times before they eventually gave up.

[@ludleththelost6824]

The thing you said about how Dark Souls likes to use in-universe tools and mechanics got me thinking. I hadn't considered the subtle genius of have all the mechanics be immersive. Saying it now seems obvious, but i always admired how the base mechanic of death in a video game was so completely explained by/woven into the dark souls story.

[@StockpileThomas1]

Thats why I love DaS1, Demons Souls and to an extent Bloodborne so much. They try to immerse mechanics in a way the other games dont and instead on building on some rough edges they kinda forgot about it with their games and focused on other stuff.

[@HorrorCoffee]

When the PC version and DLC were anounced i remember watching ENBs trailer analysis countless times while waiting for the DLC to come. Good times!

[@lingricen8077]

That was the guy who everyone thought highly of until he did a DS3 livestream and played like an absolute p*ssy

[@jackbishop8610]

I wish there were more videos like this, analysis on how secrets were found in games. It's a bit more exciting when the answer isn't just "devs told us" unless the secret was one of many isolated and undiscovered. It's probably a part of why speedrunning is so fun to learn about, finding secrets not even the devs, or a select few devs knew about. Or secrets they thought no one would find.

[@PlagueOfGripes]

FromSoft has a tendency to view their quest lines with this child-like hope that the internet doesn't exist to ruin organic discovery in-game, while simultaneously hinging all understanding of them on absolutely sharing information online - sometimes info that is 100% unavailable from all official sources. When people mention how absurd the DLC discovery is, they're typically talking about someone playing the game for the first time, with no outside help. No internet, no noticing changes during updates, etc. I imagine most people doing that would completely miss the DLC, almost every time, unless they were very devoted to exploring.

[@BeardedNerdSE]

I was there on day one of the PC version. Levelling up to an appropriate level took way longer than for the info to be widely known.

[@illusorywall]

Heh, exactly!

[@BeardedNerdSE]

Just checked my screenshots. I played a couple of hours that night to get to Blighttown and get the Washing Pole, then in the afternoon I went to Anor Londo, got the Lordvessel and went into the DLC fifteen minutes later. I was at Artorias less than an hour later. So this was common knowledge on day one.

[@Greatot]

I was literally just thinking about this a few days ago and was sad there weren't any videos about it. While I do appreciate the video I ask that you take down any hidden spy cameras around me

[@ElysianAura]

Honestly, I view the process of getting to the DLC and the Painted World as both convuluted bonuses meant to just give you some unique unlocks. It's probably more egregious that the DLC is something you pay for, but the process of getting to either is similar in nature to a new player. I suspect very few people naturally find that they need to jump from the elevator to the bird's nest, although after that I would bet people who get the doll could find the painting on accident at least

[@JohnDoe00107]

You mentioning EpicNameBro really hit me with great waves of nostalgia. I think pretty much everyone that jumped onto the train with Elden Ring has no idea who he is.

[@RealMarvellousChester]

Can confirm I never found my way back home and you did indeed loot my corpse. Thanks.

[@octagonseventynine1253]

I often wonder about the unsung heroes who first discover these wildly convoluted aspects of the series.

[@cloudbloom]

I felt that way about the elden ring npc quest lines in particular, those are the most convoluted ones by far it's amazing how quickly people figured them out

[@michaelcollins4534]

Shout out to whoever the hell found archdragon peak first

[@PERCEIVE_ME]

@@michaelcollins4534 I found it on day 1 of the Japanese release thanks to a sign that that said try gesture with his phantom doing the correct one, I don't know how that guy found it but I bet it was a developer or someone who got in early.

[@MarkHogan994]

@@cloudbloom Lol Elden Ring quests are absolutely not the most convoluted ones, they're actually pretty easy. In Elden Ring NPCs give you a lot of hints about what to do. DS3's quests are way more convoluted imo, Anri's quest for example is just mind-boggling, same goes for Sirris.

[@michaelcollins4534]

@cloudbloom not as bad as solaire in dark souls, it makes good sense up until the, find and join this unrelated hidden covenant, get tier 2 devotion, and then go down the hidden passage and kill the random bug you probably wanted to walk past at this point of the game

[@trap631]

Honestly im deeply thankful for this mini documentary about the history of the game,community and development of the dark souls games, as a child i was dream of being able to be part of these communities, so im happy to learn about how those early days were, learning and playing this games, thank you for all the work

[@atoucangirl]

i like that Fromsoft learned their lesson and the next DLCs were much less weird to find. still hidden behind puzzles and convoluted by industry standards, but DS2 has these shrines and keys that are somewhere you would find if you explored a decent amount, Bloodborne gives you the key for free with a riddle to find the entrance... it's not too obvious, but at least you don't have to reload a random seemingly empty location multiple times.

[@pdiddlers3268]

I played the Orginal Dark Souls 2. The DLC keys were placed in your inventory upon loading your character or creating a new one. Scholar placing the Keys in the world in the way that they was a simple yet welcome addition. My only complaint is for "No Bonfire Runs". The placements for keys and shrines are inconveniently placed for all 3 pairs. A minor complaint though. As I can just load up the OG DS2 and avoid that problem.

[@scarab5648]

​@@pdiddlers3268finally someone that also like the softs aproach to the keys in DS2! I believe that the og DS2 way of handling the keys were more pratical, but the DS2 Softs implementing then on the game made me feel more immersed and now more clear when the Dlcs are supposed to be entered(but I accept that it is a incovenient change for the majority of players) N.t.: sorry for the poor english😅

[@Archimedes.5000]

It's not "seemingly empty", like the video literally mentioned the area had Dusk and you already had to reload the shit out of it to progress her

[@Regularguy2nd]

@@Archimedes.5000 bro not every knows that they have to reload entire areas multiple times just to find something as important as dlc content

[@atoucangirl]

@@Archimedes.5000 yes, having to reload the shit out of a little corner behind a mini-boss, which will have nothing the first time you go there, is weird

[@ughwdym]

After all these years I knew I wasn't crazy when I remembered there being 2 crystal golems outside

[@PoweredByFlow]

Never saw this as DLC and more like an additional bonus area even though i played DS1 on console first and then on PC later. This being basically an entire secret area with bosses and all for players to uncover is a really cool idea for me. I've found for example the Dragon area in DS3 on my own without any guides and that was one of the best highlight of my first playthrough.

[@The_Scryer]

I remember the day the DLC dropped. What a world we sank our teeth into, the speculation that was confirmed, the rumors proven false with new lore, completely new points of view to ruminate on how it affected the story at large, truly one of the best times in Souls history.

[@KeithBallardA]

"lol, we know ya'll are just looking everything up already anyway," the DLC.

[@zehantig]

In the direct opposite of this, i remember how in the original DS2 i was given the keys to the dlc out of the gate on my first playthrough because of some purchase bonus (i played it way later through a friend's account) and just stumbled in the DLCs thinking they were the path forward i did not have a great time, but thankfully they fixed it in SOTFS when i finally got to beat the game

[@Ginocide_TV]

I'm one of those insane people that found it pretty much organically. When I played the game I fell in love with it, and I tried to play it as blind as possible. I was warned by my cousin that the moment you beat the boss, you were forced into NG+. Ever since I was a kid I didn't like ending games that did this as it felt like I was ending the world I had fallen in love with and killing the characters who had evolved alongside me, so instead I would wander and explore every detail and facet of the world and prolong the inevitable. This process of mental-montage made me attuned to differences in the world as I would return over and over, and the Hydra zone stuck out to me as particularly interesting as it was totally unique within the game (or so I thought, I wasn't aware of the Great Hollow yet). When I was exploring the area again and exploring every corner, the golden crystal golem stuck out to me like a sore thumb. After such a unique encounter I naturally returned several more times to the area to trigger the rest of the events, just to make sure I was exploring all the content, only to be gripped by Manus and to pull me into Oolacile. Just to be clear, I'm no genius or anything, I beat the entire game before my cousin informed me about the Darkroot Garden bonfire.

[@_Salok]

Reminds me of accessing the Outer Wilds DLC : without being too spoilery, it requires solving a puzzle that is very obvious to someone who bought the DLC after playing through the game.

[@michyarry]

The community of DkS1 was such a rare phenomenon. Rarely will such a massive ammount of gamers pour so much energy into dissecting the same game, and it was so magical being a part of this. Because of this, the replayability was soooo good, because between each run you would probably have seen a few more lore/tips videos, and that added more layers to your playthroughs.

[@jamesarthurkimbell]

Dubiously Locatable Content

[@SoShiBias]

The channel seems to have grown exponentially recently. And I'm glad. Your light-hearted humor is very welcomed while showcasing these findings.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

As a Dark Souls early adopter who actually downloaded the Artorius of the Abyss DLC as a DLC and not as a part of the Prepare to Die Edition of the game, I can absolutely confirm that at least half of the extremely convoluted steps that newer players run into were already done by 99% of anyone playing at that time. After being out a whole year, you'd have already moved Dusk in at least one of your save files and killed the hydra ages ago when the DLC dropped. So really, the DLC was just adding the new golem drop to Sen's Fortress, which was REALLY obvious, and I think made a lot of sense I think for most players as it's a pretty natural difficulty gate location to keep low level/newer players from accessing the DLC too early, which since everyone assumed the DLC was intended to be even more of a challenge than the base game, made some of this obscurantist methodology make sense to the player base. But yeah, objectively, this is definitely one of the most convoluted set of steps I've ever seen to access content you've actually bought as an add-on. But at least it's "in universe" convoluted steps in a a game that already declares that the timeline is convoluted to begin with?

[@unnamedvisitor1649]

It took me over 2 years of owning the game to figure this out without looking it up, but I honestly didn't know I was looking for it, I had no prior knowledge of a DLC in DS1, and I was happy to be fresh to the stuff in it

[@RiftFishing]

The level of obscurity for the DLC makes me wonder if the devs were trying to come up with a game world reason why the player hadnt encountered it before. Maybe it was supposed to suggest "it was actually here the whole time, you just never found the method of access" vs. "here's a giant new area that just appears when you buy the dlc". Hopefully what im trying to say makes sense. Even with how weird the access method is, I always appreciate efforts to make paid content *feel* more organically integrated into the game world rather than just something appearing in the world just because you paid for it.

[@theonlyJayn]

I like the suggested changes to finding the dlc. It makes it so its still hidden and requires effort but not overly complicated. Great vid very interesting to see how lore ties into how the world is made :)

[@greenpiano6175]

2:35 Always nice to hear King's Field music. Have you ever considered making a video on the King's Field series?

[@jimmygames5557]

Dam bro I'm huge Dark Souls fan, between you and Vati I know so much more than I ever thought I would about these games. Been playing since DS1 in 2011 and you are still keeping my interest making content for my favorite game ever made. Good Shit.

[@Richie_Godsil]

I remember killing the Hydra back in 2011, running into the cave and being like "wait, there's nothing back here?!" On subsequent playthroughs I learned about saving Dusk but always thought the cavern was wasted space... Until the dlc came out lol

[@OrdinaryApprentice99]

New fan of Dark souls since 2019: When I first played Dark Souls1 it was a fascinating experience. After I’ve finished the last boss and stopped playing, I sometimes went back and explored the areas for items I might’ve missed and areas I intentionally left until I beat the game. One of those areas was the hydra and the little water passage at the side of the cliff. I was really scared about approaching it, but eventually tried going forward. I’ve found the Crystal mob walking around from afar and wondered „hmm, that wasn’t here before?“ and cleared it. The crystal monster came as a hint to me to go back to the area where these monsters were normally spawning at. I cleared the whole area from 0-100 and eventually found the item or answer I was looking for. Now, with that item, I thought what to do with it. I went back to the beginning talked to every NPC again, travelled through EVERY SINGLE area and talked to every single npc present. The last place I missed out on intentionally was the original area for the DLC entrance. After I’ve had checked everything and found unexpected mini bosses, story lines and items, I came to the conclusion that my journey was not wrongly chosen. There was a reason, this game never directly told you where to go, you were free to find your own path which eventually leads you to the end. With many difficulties I’ve cleared the DLC and with a last bright smile, I’ve said goodbye to DS1 and started playing DS2. DS2 was one of my most favourite experiences on a souls-like game which I was gladly able to find in DS3 again. The level of difficulty just kept increasing but in the end Elden Ring felt like a soft wind compared to them in difficulty. It was more about the core storylines than the difficulty of the bosses I think. From Software is a GEM and I’m glad i talked myself into giving souls-like games a shot.

[@matrix3509]

I first played the DLC the day it released on the 360. I never looked up any third party information on how to access it. I have no proof, but I am nearly 100% certain that instructions on how to access the DLC was included in the description text of the DLC on the Xbox store page at the time. That's the only explanation for why I had no trouble finding the DLC, at least. It never even occurred to me that people might have trouble accessing the DLC until years later when the console generation advanced. But yeah, when the DLC was new, nobody I knew at the time had trouble accessing it because instructions were freely given by the devs themselves.

[@yayday]

3:40 I honestly had no idea you could see Dusk trapped in the golem like that lol. All these years later and I still learn things about this awesome game

[@wjr4700]

Its always great when ENB gets mentioned in DS videos. He made me realize that there was an amaizing story I did not notice on my first playthrough. Truely a grandfather of DS lore.

[@djxgam1ng]

What made him so beloved? Is he kind of like Fightin’. Cowboy??

[@Goooober12]

Thinking back to when this game was new, learning basic stuff like the names of characters in the lore and locations of items and merchants was all extremely esoteric. The only way to find stuff was to trust word of mouth from forums, since most of my friends had never even heard of Dark Souls until I showed it to them. The lore in particular was so hidden. It took a long time for people to even realize there was a coherent, overarching narrative going on.

[@GuardianOwl]

I mean in fairness, a huge portion of the base game, The Great Hollow & Ash Lake, is hidden behind *two* consecutive illusory walls. So players should expect some odd requirements for finding new areas.

[@Cashmoneez]

Honestly I love that dark souls can be so cryptic BUT by playing online you get help from soapstones it genuinely feels cool that there are other people helping out

[@bunchacolors1501]

I gotta say, with content this high quality, it is inevitable the channel would become this big (and bigger in time). Having said that: thank you for making the same amazing videos you always have. I've loved your stuff since I can remember and it still feels the same. It has evolved in quality, but the essence is still there and I appreciate that

[@cookieeaturface]

This series has always been about the community exploring, discussing, and sharing information, discovering secrets and cracking mysteries. It's what made Dark Souls feel so alive and exciting well past the first playthrough and it's pretty clearly a central assumption of Fromsoft's game and world design.

[@TheGoldenLynxx]

Just as I was binging these again reliving nostalgia you drop another amazing video. Really makes me miss the old days, I got there through looking online, the actiivity and community buzz was so amazing back then, it really did feel special and there was so much activity and so much awesome cool unique stuff

[@StockpileThomas1]

I would compare the launch and beginning phase of Dark Souls to that of Pokemon Go only on a smaller scale. There was so much hype back then. The mystery and discovery - we had to find out ourselves. It felt like a community event.

[@Yarsig]

One of my favorite aspects about the game is that entire areas and chunks of the game are so well hidden that you could easily miss them on multiple playthroughs. This is why exploring every nook and cranny is so fun in soulsborne games. A small wall behind a chest can lead you down roots to a flooded wasteland. Or a completely innocuous dragon pose can take you to a hidden sky temple. Stuff like that makes Miyazaki one of the greatest game designers to ever live.

[@SHDW-nf2ki]

I think the worst part about this is that the broken pendant isn't covered in the lost and found chest. So its entirely possible to soft lock yourself out of the DLC if fromsoft missed a glitch with the item

[@Neuvost]

sometimes I wonder how different / more finished DS1 would be if the devs hadn't needed to crunch *so* hard. they were probably wayy too sleep deprived to remember that they had built a lost'n'found into the game. even an extra week (either on the base game or dlc) might've improved so many little things

[@Archimedes.5000]

I mean nothing is covered this way except estus

[@piotr78]

​@@Archimedes.5000estus?

[@MrXMysteriousX]

It happened to me, the Golem in Dukes Archives never spawned on Day 1 of the dlc being out (for me) I figured my save was bugged so I went through to NG+ and that fixed the issue but man was I annoyed.

[@kasane1337]

@@Archimedes.5000 This channel has literally made a video on that topic, and no, it covers a *lot* more than just estus.

[@yami_323]

I, as a new player, was never able to find it naturally 😢 I missed that dlc when I played the remastered version for the switch. My plan was to play as pure and authentic as intended.

[@hivemind514]

nice king's field music, very tasteful choice

[@michaelberlin8526]

this question randomly popped into my head this past week, thinking about the incoming ER DLC. so cool to have Illusory Wall just read my mind and make this great video.

[@KingSvenDeluxe]

I found it by accident on my first playthrough easily enough. I frequently returned to different places because I had no idea where I was supposed to go next.

[@atrashfromsaturn]

I played DS3 and Elden Ring before playing DS1. While creating my character, I stumbled on the gift "pendant." It states that it is pretty much useless but it reminds of pleasant memories on a journey. Later on, I managed to save Dusk. As a sorcerer, I kept going back to her sign so I can buy her items. Obviously, she was gone after a few summons and I picked up her outfit while finding her. Later on my way to Seathe, I saw a message sign that says "key" near the golemn. I picked up the broken pendant and connected the dots. "Pendant... Memories... Nostalgia," which prompted me to go back to where Dusk was in hopes of finding her again. The Dark Souls series is a fun game not just for fighting but also backtracking several locations in the hopes of meeting my favorite NPCs.

[@squigy2006]

I always liked the small journey you had to do to access this dlc, and I hope the Elden ring dlc is something closer to this instead of the instant teleport once you reach a certain area like dark souls 3.

[@CuriosityMisledMe]

Don’t get your hopes up. So far Elden Ring has done everything it could to appear more accessible to a casual audience. Wouldn’t surprise me if you just touch the two fingers in the round table hold and warp there.

[@squigy2006]

@@CuriosityMisledMe yeah i get that but a man can dream that i will have to quit and reload in mogh's arena ten times to teleport to the dlc

[@CuriosityMisledMe]

@@squigy2006 Would be a nice throwback if the DLC unlocked an NPC quest line in the base game that tells you vague riddles on what must be done first to access potentially Miquella’s memories; and the end result would be obtaining the Ashen Mist Heart from Dark Souls II.

[@zohrabeslem9058]

The DLC will BE activated by touching miquellas Hand in mohgs Castle so IT IS Just a teleport

[@slyfrailzz]

I had no idea the Hydra was a prerequisite because I love that fight.

[@Conandus]

I think they googled it

[@illusorywall]

In short: Correct. Even on day 1.

[@SalvageET]

What an ignorant comment, the internet didn’t exist in 2012

[@IHeart16Bit]

I can confirm that I didn't, the knowledge came to me via ENBs launch day video in my subs box :)

[@lingricen8077]

@@IHeart16Bitnah you never even played the game, sad

[@vvjvv]

thanks for mentioning epic name bro ! newer players will never know just how important and critical he was in those early days

[@maxcalderon9171]

It's really cool that you show how players can figure out the way forward with these clues, looking up a guide is easy but it kinda breaks immersion and momentum and robs you of that eureka moment. Would love to see more content showing this thought process and solving!

[@SkellionPowalskiz]

I've seen people complain about how obtuse the DLC entrance was for years and for me it was as simple as finding the spooky black thing first by going to Darkroot because I actually recognized it from the trailer, then eventually getting the pendant and reading the description. Like for a franchise and fanbase so dedicated to lore and whatever it was really annoying to see so many people act like reading a thing in a game where people claim to like reading things was too hard to figure out. The games have all fed pretty obvious hints to players in item descriptions, the only real difficulty is following what it says and seeing if it's bullshit or not.

[@illusorywall]

As a community effort at the time, or even just as a returning player at the time who wasn't keeping up with all the details, it was a lot easier to find. If you had a pre-existing save on PS3/ 360, it was as easy spotting the obvious new Crystal Golem and reading the Broken Pendant's description (if you somehow avoided the published instructions). You are firmly in that camp, where it was a lot easier because you watched the trailer. You already knew about rescuing Dusk, etc. But that doesn't really disagree with it being obtuse either, since the context is very different for someone coming to the game later and not looking things up. The cove being empty and seemingly not having anything to do there, and the broken pendant not dropping are two pretty major sticking points that were simply not an issue for you and me. But it should be understandable why it is for many others. :)

[@entheo302]

I’ve wondered this so many times and am psyched you made a video on the topic.

[@monkeyzone4562]

As someone who’s been a part of the zombies community for far too long I can confidently say that even if there’s was no hints or anything, and the dlc was completely hidden, it wouldn’t matter

[@45noop]

I poured cereal into a bowl to watch this and there was no milk left in the fridge

[@Pakenija]

Dark Souls is still my favorite gave ever... I visit it every couple years to play it through and it's always a blast. It's like visiting a best friend you haven't seen for while.

[@brianbertucci2845]

Ah Epicnamebro is really a blast from the past, definitely the Vaati before Vaati was a thing. I know he still streams regularly on twitch.

[@lumiannah]

I have a habit not reading guides, thus severely struggled to find it back in the day. Took me three new game plusses and oh boy what a ride after those difficulty spikes. Good times.

[@MainTopmastStaysail]

It's a shame they couldn't hide the Pendant and let the community work it out, but it should be obvious why hiding DLC you have to pay for is a non-starter. Since DS2 SotFS had the DLCs included for free, they were able to hide the DLC entrance items more organically in the world - can't ask for your DLC money back if you can't find them.

[@brandonrogers5207]

Some of us don’t have the luxury to wander around aimlessly until we find the next task. Guides really save the series

[@undergravitydownforce714]

I managed to play this game without having seen spoilers back in 2016, i managed to find this dlc because I always re-explored areas when i was around or just having a good time walking through the world I did not how ever find the "key" item for beating manus I tanked those BS magic attacks with a greatshield and great magic shield spell Also! I couldnt beat the game then because i never figured out the invis bridge section to seeth- because when i DID try going the right way it would slip me off in a stupidly unfair way that made me think i was going into an invisible wall 😅 i returned to the game months later after having looked it up online

[@GBlockbreaker]

another thing that would've hinted people to go check Duke's Archives is that Dusk was trapped in a "rock monster made out of urine", the only other npc this happens to is Sieglinde who just so happens to be in the garden of the Archives so people doing a sweep of that area would make sense

[@Godzilla7712]

I kinda just found it by exploring. Like.. I was already used to this franchise being something you had to walk around to hunt for items with. So its kind've a shock to this day to me that people wouldn't find just find a secret hole into a whole new worldscape as part of the wonder of it all. I dont think i'd have the same experience of going "DAMN WHAT IS THIS PLACE, HOLY HELL, WHAT DID I JUST FIND?" if I had just looked it up. I feel like that factor is vastly important. but I mean. I guess. To each their own.

[@peacemaster8117]

This video was fascinating. I always assumed that Dusk wasn't in the game before the DLC.

[@Forfingus]

the meganerdery required to say that the crystal golem stood out is something else

[@illusorywall]

I mean, it very much stood out! That's the context for people who had already played the game prior to the DLC. It's the only one indoors and not near others, so it was an extremely obvious change. Noticing that wasn't remotely like, datamining-level-nerdery. At the end of the video I recognize and talk about how knowing any of this was still unreasonable for newer players, I'm not denying that. :)

[@jedgrahek1426]

That is so goddamn amazing about the map relationship between Artorias's grave and the DLC cove... I can't believe I never knew about that until now. What an insane masterpiece of a game.

[@dayxah]

My friend started with ER. I started with Demon’s Souls. He hasn’t played anything but Elden ring. He argues with me every time It’s brought up that he’s better than me. He got dropped almost every weapon in thegame and 70 levels worth of runes his 2nd day playing. I played through ER completely blind with no help. I love playing the souls games with no help. The struggle is the best part. I’ll never understand people who like playing the games just 3 shotting every boss and having every item immediately. The experience of finding everything on your own is amazing. He dosent understand the struggles of the early games. We didn’t have sorceries and weapons doing 3k+ damage per hit. He didn’t go through the struggle of low level fighting Dancer. I’m glad ER brought new players to the fanbase but they are VERY annoying. ER magic completely ruined the PvP experience. There’s no more battling to the death. It’s just sniping each other to the death.

[@randdomize858]

I struggle playing games with a friend because of this. We just approach tough encounters totally different. I want to hit a wallth at feels impossible and thrke myself at it for hours until I master it. As soon as he dies to something 2-3 times he's frustrated and to him grinding snd chsnging builds is the only option. Just two totally different approaches.