RE: "In Defense of Dark Souls 2" - A Measured Response - Part 1

Hey guys!
I have returned and I am bringing you another installment to my response series.
This time around we are delving into a defense video for Dark Souls 2. This video was created by HBomberGuy and a link to it is right here:
• In Defense of Dark Sou...
The music for the intro is right here:
• Horror Piano Theme
I do reference a few videos throughout and I figure I best put them here also:
Joseph Andersons videos on Dark Souls 2:
• Dark Souls 2 - Series ...
Matthewmatosis' video on Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 2:
• Dark Souls Commentary
• Dark Souls 2 Critique
I HATE EVERYTHING's video on Destiny Comments:
• ANNOYING DESTINY PLAYE...
Logicked's video on Armoured Skeptic:
• Video
and finally;
Should you feel as though this channel is something you would like to see more content from, please take a gander at my Patreon page and consider supporting this kind of content;
patreon.com/user?u=4817956

[@MauLerYT]

Hello there everyone! I have returned!!! This time I have a rather long series for you, one focused on responding to another content creator but doubles as a criticism of this KZbinrs method of delivery but the final purpose would be to serve as a way for me to explore and critique Dark Souls 2. This series is a grand total of 9 videos and the total length is just over ten hours, this one took me three months with many processes and there is a few experimental ideas in terms of a response that I look forward to seeing you guys react to. This has been an extremely important passion project to me and I apologise if you guys really aren't interested in it whatsoever but even still, this thing has a load of errors despite multiple renders, we have spelling, transitional, editing and grammar here and there. Please know that I tried to erase as many as I could. however, I am now on my way with the next project already so in about 18 days, once this series is fully released. you can expect a bit of a break once again, thank you all so much for supporting the channel and I hope you enjoy the show :)

[@StratEdgyProductions]

Wow, remind me never to piss you off. This was like watching a dude get whipped with a cat of nine-tails. Eventually I just wanted to step in and stop the carnage. Great video. Liked the Star Wars: Last Jedi series as well. You are good sir!

[@AnonymousAZ]

you seriously expect me to watch a 4 hour long review on this? This is a fucking miniseries. You start off missing the basic statement in the first 2 minutes of his video of what 'fun' means as a contrast to 'frustrating'. Waste a lot of time discussing a moot point, since he compares the healing system to each other, not just subjectively to 'fun' as you seem to fail to grasp the terminology, the rest would seem flawed from there.

[@112523]

10 hours of video as reply to someone stating his opinion in the effort to try and change peoples mind is just sad man. its really really sad

[@aceacer2231]

You missed the point yourself dude. The 10 hours of video replies only tells me that there is plenty of stuff to debunk, dissect and analyze to prove H is wrong on a lot of things and he don't seems to even have noticed it.

[@112523]

i didnt miss any point matey, an opinion on an object or entertainment cannot be debunked. its HIS opinion, wich he stated in the video and even a biased opinion. and you feel the need to debunk everything he says? thats just pointless.

[@velnoa]

I’m here to once again take the sacred pilgrimage

[@tusk_7071]

this makes twice in a month for me

[@Jesusfreak2639]

As am I. We are all they who maul

[@ribz4539]

Amen

[@peterbarlow5709]

Join us brother

[@irishtimelord3314]

This is my second time, I am glad I am not alone 🙏

[@coherentramblings7326]

“The health bar is your mistake allowance” I f*cking love that description

[@TheAssassin642]

That is literally what it was invented for. Originally, you were either alive or dead in old games. Then life bars became a thing to give you a chance even after you make a few mistakes

[@bartkorol611]

@@TheAssassin642 then moving into speed runs and such, it has been used as a buffer to make something that would be extremely difficult with a 1 hit kill to much easier with a buffer for the invincibility frames, and allow for skips and other shenanigans.

[@weedingaloud7891]

Coherent Ramblings haven’t even got to that yet but it hilarious 😂

[@pariswood2236]

health bar as mistake allowance is an idea hbomberguy alludes to at 7:57 in the video this is critiquing. It's not wrong, but this is also not an original observation. Not to say that Mauler intended it to be.

[@weedingaloud7891]

Paris Wood I don’t even play this game but the hours of arguments on it are hilarious the fact People still nitpicking things to gripe about is just funny and the hours upon hours I. Just this one series is a gauge of the compulsory nature behind these subjects it’s insane!

[@Egalitariat-likesecretariat]

"Dying... Is supposed to kill you." -MauLer, October 2017

[@redseagaming7832]

The highest I've ever grinded offline in blood-borne was 345 that was so I could break the Chalice dungeons by myself that I did a stream where I was fighting bosses at level 365 people were enjoying it I felt invincible despite dying easily because this was the 4th playthrough on the same file

[@scottlock8584]

Yes that's what ...dying means

[@DiZtheJedi]

But people die when they're killed!

[@GiygasStarman]

@@DiZtheJedi But... are they killed when they die?

[@alexanderinoa7850]

"The Archer class really is made up of Archers!"

[@ItsHaldun]

In attack of Dark Souls 2: -Dark Souls 2 has the Ancient Dragon boss battle. -Dark Souls 3 fixes this by not having the Ancient Dragon boss battle.

[@doncheadlegaming7521]

-Dark Souls 2 has the Frigid Outskirts -Dark Souls 3 has the Painted World of Ariandel

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

-In Offense of Dark Souls 2- In Defense of Dark Souls 3: ''Dark Souls 3 fixed a problem Dark Souls 2 presented with its Ancient Dragon bossfight. That boss was just a damage sponge which totally wasn't cool or smart, and DS3's response to it was brilliant: It created its own version of the Ancient Dragon called the Ancient Wyvern and made it an extremely similar fight, but in a genius twist it also gives the player the potential to traverse this epic and brilliantly designed pathway of majestic and unique enemies in order to take away all its health in a single blow by jumping at it and plunging into the dragon's head from above. I say that again; plunging into a dragon's head from above! Clearly the developers realised that DS2's way of handling this in comparison was just... a bit rubbish.'' This is basically how Harris would make In Defense of Dark Souls 3 if he had a boner for that game instead of Dark Souls 2.

[@stanleysmooth]

Dark Souls 1 also fixed this issue, with some incredible foresight of over 3 years

[@SavageGreywolf]

git gud

[@doncheadlegaming7521]

@@SavageGreywolf git gud with some bitches man.

[@Wyzarka]

"Dying isn't supposed to be fun. Dying is supposed to kill you." This made me giggle.

[@TheOnlyObserver98]

People die if they are killed.

[@superapm9620]

That's the way its supposed to be.

[@brokenlordofcinder4128]

I see your a man of culture as well

[@bass-dc9175]

Well you see: on a game when you are dieing: you die. So enemies will have to force you to die wheb you are killed. They do this by killing you so hard, you die to death. Which is cool and smart.

[@jacksonbowns1087]

@@TheOnlyObserver98 Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right.

[@josephbroseph3003]

So a 50 minute review of DS 2 spawned a 90 minute response video from another youtuber to only then spawn an over 10 hour video series from another youtuber critiquing the last youtuber. The internet is a wonderful and interesting place.

[@DildoBraggins]

Joseph Castella did bomberguy make a response?

[@James.Stark.Ben.Edition]

@@DildoBraggins no op was talking about Matthewmatosis making his video which Harris replied to and then this video is a response to that video.

[@RandomCarrot2806]

The rate of expansion does worry me. Soon enough we will have a response to this series that will be close to 2 weeks long.

[@znightowlz6585]

uber goober Ikr. The most hbomberguy said was life gems, map design. Maybe there was other things but it feels like those two were the parts he was actually putting effort into yet mauler somehow made a 10 hour long series. Like wtf, how tf did he milk enough content to do so. Seriously, like mauler ignored quite a lot if not all of the reasons hbomberguy used when making the argument about life gems in particular so I still don't know how he's managed to stretch it so long while making it shorter by leaving out most of it

[@papershadow]

As the saying goes. It takes 3 seconds to throw dirt everywhere and 3 hours to clean it all up properly. It's one reason I tend to get very into long form content and analysis because not only is there discussion to be drawn out of the content at its center (Dark Souls 2), but there's a very thorough look into how presentation can also affect a message's reception.

[@realnito6422]

I feel like mauler would be the teacher that sends you an hour long audio message critiquing your essay

[@thesnatcher3616]

I love how honest he is. Rips it apart, but he does it with style and grace.

[@Shyguymask]

Time to give this series a third listen.

[@burnypython8230]

Interesting seeing you here.

[@lvk6730]

touch grass

[@edcaous]

@@lvk6730 You first.

[@scpfilechildrenbarrow2212]

@@lvk6730 A wild stan in its natural habitat.

[@ViktorOcurra]

Amateur. I unironically use this as ASMR to fall asleep too almost every night. That or some giant StarCraft 2 KZbinr.

[@LateNightHalo]

I think Harris seems to not understand he can like Dark souls 2 for it being so different from the first game. Not objectively better, just different. It’s pacing probably resonates with him better. The annoyance comes from him trying to rationalize a deviation from the formula as “an objective improvement”

[@gebill1885]

@@bubbleboy2590 quit telling yourself hbomb is a character please, he is exactly like that across all social media and when he casually streams games.

[@bubbleboy2590]

@@gebill1885 character was the wrong word, more 'on-screen persona'

[@wgo523]

@@gebill1885 still, using hyperbole and then having someone explain that it's an exaggeration is pretty cringy.

[@Mikey_Meltdown]

This is far too well written to be a real youtube comment

[@goldenpants1239]

Late Night Gaming yes his argument should have been that he can say that

[@thekillingtomat]

"dont spell defence like you're in the colonies" LOL

[@mikehunt4023]

And he called hbomberguy narrow minded like 2 minutes before

[@matarthegreat803]

@@mikehunt4023 r/woosh

[@loopus1717]

Fr that killed me. I love this man

[@aredjayc2858]

@@mikehunt4023 It's a joke

[@beiwubsnsod7378]

@@matarthegreat803 shut up redditor

[@nicklarson6634]

I really wish he'd make more content like this, I can only probably watch this series about 178 more times until I'm done with it :/

[@bob1422]

How many times are you up to?

[@ducktape-3470]

Only the 58th time

[@sgtboom7]

I feel like I can't like this comment because you have 178 likes and it feels wrong to ruin that. So I'll just do this: 👍 Edit: Also same Edit 2: It is about 9 months later and I found this while doom scrolling the newest comments. I have no idea how my obvious reply to a comment showed up down here. But I assume it means the original comment was taken down? Either way, I have no idea why I didn't want to press like and bump it up to 179 and it seems no one will know. Conclusion: KZbin is dumb.

[@ianatkinson5509]

Amen I miss old mauler

[@nicklarson6634]

After some quick math, counting the 10 or so runs before making this comment, and at an average of 2 to 3 times a month SINCE making this comment, and counting this new run, I'm at about 101 times... I am aware I have a problem and I am not getting help. @@bob1422

[@chibbertooth5521]

“This is going to be my most disliked video series” Heh, not like we would know now here in 2021. Anyways good job sir this is probably your best work on covering a video game.

[@ori.g4mi]

January 1st 2022 here. This is still one of his best video series ever made.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@ori.g4mi Yeah, but Hbomberguy's videos are just... better, tbh.

[@Gamer-ln5we]

@@loturzelrestaurant that's just your opinion.

[@stormcutter59]

@@loturzelrestaurant yeah......no

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@stormcutter59 Compare Subs, honey. Compare Subs. He has more Likes and Subs thanks to his Dark Souls video, so yeah: OBJECTIVELY spokeaing (like adults sometimes do) one is better than the other.

[@jacksonbowns1087]

"Attrition isn't fun." *The Death Korps of Krieg would like to know your location.*

[@nathanjora7627]

Jackson Bowns in the DS universe, you don’t die for the Emperor, this sucks the fun out of attrition. (If you can even die, that is. Can you imagine not being able to die for the Emperor ? The horror...)

[@BrainlessMonke]

Did someone say 'Die for the Emperor'?

[@xarshoon7157]

I am expendable A tool for his plans

[@combatwombat2134]

@@BrainlessMonke *paints Black Templar insignia on body and grabs a sword* I do believe someone did...

[@NordisktLejon]

@@xarshoon7157 To kill as is needed and die as He demands

[@se7enhaender]

Oohh, new thumbnails... guess I have to watch the entire playlist... again... for the 5th time. Cheers!

[@MrRifleguy1]

Literally what i said same thing with hbomber but I think he was joking mostly it wasn't a legit argument with 90% of every thing he said lol

[@se7enhaender]

@@MrRifleguy1 I'm not even sure if you replied to right comment (mine?), but let me say this: Harris is being hyperbolic, smug, inconsistent and is trying to appeal to emotion, among other things. Here's the problem tho: It could all be for comedic purpose alone, with him not really being convinced of the claims he's making, but it's also very possible that he is just using humor to make his side of the argument more appealing (this unfortunately happens a lot in debates, when one of the sides is arguing dishonestly). In any case, Mauler's argument stands either way, whether or not Harris was being sincere.

[@MrRifleguy1]

Your right different comment but, maulers videos (all of them lol) dissecting of hbomberguys in defence of dark souls 2 are really just something else truly, bringing light to what it is to be a critic I couldn't do it. But when you look at hbomberguy and some of his other videos there actually really good and when he has an argument it can be backed up fairly well. But in this video in defence of dark souls 2. It's different like his seriousness is gone in this video completely. like it's more for views or even to get someone else's to make a critique video off his video. Like he maid arguments that maid no sense they were one sided and when you watch it your like listin here dude your dumb what you just said makes no sense and its wrong dumb ass. You know? But I loved this measured response seires and think all of its valid lol I I didn't think it was id say but that wasn't my point any way brotherhave a good night or where ever you are

[@se7enhaender]

@@MrRifleguy1 Yeah, he (hbomberguy) can be more of a logical and rational thinker, as you and Mauler pointed out. This however, combined with the smug attitude and the misrepresentation of Matthews' (?) original video or argument, is what makes it so infuriating. We know he can do better, yet for whatever reason he doesn't here. So I agree completely with you. As to Mauler's critique, I very much welcome this long form exercise in critical thinking. It's something that doesn't get enough attention or doesn't seem to have the value it should have. So it's great that these videos exist so ppl that didn't learn or even had the chance to yet, can experience, evaluate and learn through a video series that probably was mostly envisioned as being entertainment from the viewers side. Everyone should study logical fallacies and argumentation; learn about straw-maning, emotional appeals, ad-hominums and cherry-picking! ... And it was more like a good morning for me ;)

[@makani9004]

5th time? I wish it were only the 5th 🥴

[@crow__bar]

Someone: "Do you think healing in Dark Souls should be tactical and punishing, or super easy and effortless?" Harris: "Yes"

[@Waltuh_World]

There are two options

[@patmos09]

Jonas Brock a)that’s a shit argument B) that’s not the argument Harris makes.

[@littlemoth4956]

Nick Wow you sure showed him...

[@patmos09]

​@@littlemoth4956 Even if you disagree with the first proposition, the second one is undeniable.

[@littlemoth4956]

@@patmos09 I kinda don't care lmao

[@jakubSwaps]

I couldn't tell you how many times I've returned to this series for a rewatch since 2018, but I'm pretty sure the hours I've spent watching would be well into 3 figures by now. Once again, I take the sacred pilgrimage.

[@LordViran]

This series is a great demonstration of how much longer it takes to refute falsehoods or fallacies than to spout them. Great videos, btw.

[@papershadow]

A favorite saying of mine on that same line: It takes 10 seconds to throw mud at the wall and 10 minutes to properly clean it up. The response scales similarly huge in this instance

[@cursedkarmastudiosllc9198]

@@papershadow Love that saying.

[@billiecruz4399]

You could easily use that logic to pull apart this video, the trick is to make it so long that no one who doesn’t already agree would bother watching it. Those already agree clearly being people who just want to hear Harris corrected or whatever. This shit is bizarre.

[@richardslivingston]

@@billiecruz4399 what did he get wrong?

[@CarrotConsumer]

@@richardslivingston He didn't say he got anything wrong, he's saying it's an echo chamber.

[@soyekinthehideaway6763]

Consider the fact this series was made when you are an extremely small channel (And in comparsion it still is) it is amazing and awe-inspiring with the method you used to approach the issue. I really enjoyed your style and thank you very much for provide such methodical video on this platform.

[@bizzzzzzle]

Soye'kin The Hideaway idk why you wouldn’t expect a KZbinr to attack a bigger KZbinr in attempt of views and subs, and we fall for it.

[@papershadow]

@@bizzzzzzle I think it's a bit cynical and accusatory to assume this was done "in attempt of views and subs, and we fall for it" as if the video itself is disingenuous or in bad faith. The fact is, HBomb is a fairly large channel, lots of people view his content. Law of averages makes it inevitable that people would respond to it in various ways, especially in this case where MauLer both has a clear passion for the subject matter of Dark Souls and takes issue with the subpar argumentation/presentation by a content creator he tends to like. Obviously those factors contribute to its traction/traffic, but there's little to suggest this was an "attack" for the sake of quickly growing the channel, rather than the natural result of someone having a response to someone with a larger following that may be interested in similar aspects of the two's content. I'm not even sure how much I'd say this was made in pursuit of views (as if fitting to a formula over contributing to the discussion first) rather than content for an existing audience that grew because they liked it. The extremely long form presentation of the content going point by point is interesting if you dedicate time to watch, but it's also not something one can casually sit down and watch. People joke about "Long Man Bad" when critics deflect from discussion with the length, but I do think it fair to say the length might put people off from viewing the content if just casually looking for video essay content. The series would have probably been 1/5th of its current length if it was made for the purpose of clicks first and informing/presenting second.

[@bizzzzzzle]

papershadow69 papershadow69 You not including the timing of its release and its description calling him out. Also, I can be cynical and accusatory and be correct. I replied to someone who was surprised, and I dont understand why he would be. Smaller channels do this all the time. His was done well and blew up, but doesn’t change that it was riding on a bandwagon.

[@princestarfy8278]

@@bizzzzzzle He blew up due to Star Wars, not these series of videos

[@Slender_Man_186]

@@papershadow this video was made not to long after Idubbz Content Cop brought down LeafyisHere, another KZbin David vs Goliath story. I find Mauler’s 10 hour long a droll to be an attempt at replicating this while also attracting people who think bigger equals better.

[@whiskeysour1179]

I love how Harris plays the entire Life Gem argument like he's a total scrub and he's standing up for people who struggle with the game... Then he turns arrogant and demeaning when we get to talking about spam and shields.

[@theintrospectre208]

Mauler’s voice is like chamomile tea with honey being injected right into your ears. Im afraid to admit how many of your extensive analyses i have listened to multiple times.

[@ZaiTsk36756]

arent we all afraid to admit it?

[@mr.m2914]

No shame, I have listened more then three times and still not bored

[@CoD7Vietnam]

I’ve listened to some over 20 times lol, when I g to bee

[@dw3134]

It helps me sleep. I mean that in the best way possible though 😁

[@mr.m2914]

Like plenty of butter spread over warm soft bread

[@IsaacG97]

I was surprised to see Harris' reaction to these responses. I would expect him to support discussion/debate, not make fun of the person who argued points from a somewhat controversial video.

[@spenser9908]

Why would you expect that? He's a smug lefty.

[@Doctor_Birds]

He has never been receptive to actual critique. Just like most arrogant reviews that got bloated from one hit where they actually tried for once.

[@someguywhocanfly]

Unfortunately a lot of people that like to frame themselves as intellectuals who like to critique and debate things do not have pure motives. They like to criticise because putting things down is fun, and having people listen to your opinion is fun. But he does not care about the truth.

[@tirone231]

@@someguywhocanfly like this comment section?

[@sjorshoeijmans5442]

the irony of this comment

[@higodelaluna]

While sometimes you sound like you're nitpicking Harris, I must congratulate you for your extensive, detailed and argumented series. It's a shame that instead of confronting the criticism head on he, apparently, is opting mocking you for investing your time in a videogame you clearly love. I won't say you're 100% right because maybe some stuff is up to debate, but you sure made strong points proving them accordingly.

[@JoesGuy]

I dunno, MauLer was very careful to only point out the faults in his arguments and fallacious manner in which he presents them.

[@Boredman567]

Hbomb is criticizing people for wasting their time, even though he makes multi-hour-long movies about how he doesn't like a piece of media?

[@dumbfish97]

>hbomberguy makes a bad video about a game that's over an hour long >someone makes a great video about the same game and they're essentially a gamer nerd I can't stand that dude tbh, the more time I spend on KZbin the more I start to hate egotistical people.

[@toxicitzi357]

same as you Billy. It's not that I want to say his audience to stop watching him, but I can't honestly see what the people see in him.. he seems just so full of himself at times and it is really irritating to listen to him prattle on about how much he's right, even though he comes across as exactly the same kind of person as the strawman he's creating of other people, really, no different at all from any of his constructions, because he's no authority, I wouldn't even be surprised if he's read even a single book on game design from what he's saying because nothing he has said made any sense to me. predicative gameplay? the fuck does that mean? a developer made a game that is made to be experienced one way. Mate. Many game developers have done the complete opposite to that idea and it is an idea in a gamer's mind that is generally painted it as a lazy, hackneyed job, the kind that is most predominant in games that are adaptations of movies and even then not always, like in the case of one of my liked movie games Lotr Return of the King, or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, but just generally. So really, this is at best a non-argument painting itself as objective fact and being the best kind, according to HBomber. It's not that this sort of gameplay isn't viable, but painting it as the best is so disingenuous that I can't believe his audience isn't combating it, when gaming has come such a long way and done so many amazing things along the way. In fact, Dark Souls 1, like any previous generation of games before it is a great example of the contrary and how much people enjoyed that more, because you weren't hogtied to its predicative gameplay and the exact point to point same, was for Demon's Souls. Even Devil May Cry did that long before these ones. Note, being linear or non-linear has literally nothing to do with this, we're talking about gameplay and how the developers expect players to tackle situations/problems presented in the game, ie, enemies/bosses/precarious environment, etc. In a shorter sentence, there is a saying in game designing. You first create the toys, then the game. To me, DS 2 feels like it was too busy creating the game before the toys and that's the thing I don't get with it, because its toys feel clunky to control and for a game that came after the one that felt consistent and only constrained by design, that felt like a big step back. That's how HBomberGuy isn't wrong with what he's saying, but I'd argue it's the wrong way to create good games, because I first of all want a toy that feels and controls satisfyingly, way before I get wrapped up in its rules, because if I'm not convinced by the toy that I should play this game, why would I care about the game's rules? the same goes for people who didn't like DS1, but that's adhering to an argument of people who come from Real Time Strategy games, or Date simulators, or City building simulators, basically any gamer and walk of life, it's not the same as saying that people of the Souls' series came to one of its sequels and didn't find it satisfying to play. DS 1 has some form of what some would see as predicative gameplay too if one wants to look at it that way, in the sense of how the gameplay is designed to be slower and more methodical, which I would argue is more how the game was thought out to work and that being the way it is isn't so much predicative, because it can't be, it's just the only way it works. You can't for instance, make the game run faster like Devil May Cry does, because it's literally impossible, the game was built with that one speed. Where as the gameplay itself is concerned around how the toy functions, finding unique solutions to situations and problems is actively encouraged by the game's internal logic of allowing mistakes in player's choices, as well as the rolling mechanic avoiding almost all damage. basically, just one point that is a major point of contention in just that one sentence HBomberGuy talks about, but the way he talks about it is as if it's a mutually agreed principle that is uncontested. If he had something deeper to say, I think he would've defended his arguments further and better explained himself, but he hasn't so far and his only response to Mauler here seems to be, "Lol, TL:DR".. Yeah.. That's basically how you know I will not take him seriously, ever.

[@dumbfish97]

toxic Itzi Totally agree with you, solid points you raise! Yeah Hbomberguy is the quintessential example of someone who thinks they know everything because their ego and fame has got to them. None of his videos present any insterestung takes on debates, he just churns out easy strawmen, the completely obvious or uneducated waffle. He only gets away with it because of his delivery

[@KingM1023]

one thing i just noticed after all this time is that Hbomberguy had a +0 estus... against O&S. no wonder he hated the healing in DS1

[@tolman4497]

god damn, man never killed a firekeeper before huh

[@KingM1023]

@@tolman4497 there are like 3 Firekeeper souls you can find before O&S. Blight town, New Londo, and Undead Perish. By then you'll be healing double the amount the base estus heals

[@aidanb58]

he was also naked, and showed off having a +2 estus in another part of the video. It was probably a challenge run.

[@aidanb58]

@I why the hostility, jesus

[@aidanb58]

@I here i am speaking the truth, you can cope with it

[@giovanialvarez33]

Here in 2024, this series is legit one I come back to every now and then because of Mauler's content. Love it

[@soliduswasright678]

hbomberguy is currently having a big ol' cry on twitter about your videos so good job.

[@HellaJayGaming]

I wonder how many more times will he pull the "I was only PRETENDING to be retarded!" shtick.

[@salokin3087]

Big Boy Dan Cannon What's wrong with being a leftie? Being correct?

[@bigboydancannon4325]

Salokin Funny

[@Garry_Combine]

Big Boy Dan Cannon remember, he's an Sjew

[@bloodmachine6049]

Big Boy Dan Cannon, simply no. Hbomberguy has made many absolutely fantastic, entertaining, funny and well reasoned videos, as well as many lacking in all of those aspects. It is genuinelly somewhat puzzling to me how does he manage to be so utterly inconsistent in his reasoning, he can make a meticuous point, followed by an utter, unsubstantiated fallacy. Kinda like the difference between his video on Fallout 3 and DS2. One features all of his qualities, while the latter virtually none.

[@inquisitorMence]

Hbomberguy using wordplay tor force a narrative? Imagine my surprise!

[@lastmanstanding7155]

Inquisitor M *DRAMTIC MUSIC*

[@smugalice6206]

Inquisitor M Just like him and "SJews?" Nuh-uh!

[@Leotheleprachaun]

I want to like your comment but it's at 555

[@messikimoshi69]

@@Leotheleprachaun now you can

[@LuroRose]

When I first this video I honestly didn't like how mauler picked apart HB and at the time I was in love with this game. Being older now I see that his assessment was fair but brutal. No punches were pulled. I was under the toxic influence of, " If the don't agree, hate them"

[@meddle333]

Some moments still make me very uncomfortable... or they would, if I still had much respect left for Hb... But that's just because I'm wildly overly empathetic... It makes me exceptional at knowing what's right and wrong (if I can say so myself) but ZERO idea how to explain why. But that's why I've watched this entire series an unprecedented amount of times, lol. It's honestly helped me SO MUCH in learning how to put my arguements into words. Just like you said... fair, but brutal. Respectful, but piercing. But no, the empathy thing is a curse. I feel cursed. lmao

[@LuroRose]

@@meddle333 I don't think enough people actually have a good amount of empathy. It might make it difficult to be direct and pointing out people's flaws. But having a heart and actually trying to do the right thing will hopefully get you where you need to be in life. So whether it's a curse or a blessing it's all dependent on your perspective.

[@B2Roland]

Hbomber shouldn't have a channel. He's garbage

[@Mothbean]

Let's be honest, the best thing to come from Dark Souls 2 was Happy Souls

[@Exel3nce]

God yes

[@conarbabbitt4795]

And fume knight greatsword.

[@randomyoutubename4488]

LIGHTNING

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Well that and the fist weapon that lets you kamehameha a force blast. That thing was fun to dick around with on the Iron Keep bridge back when PVP was fresh.

[@Leotheleprachaun]

@Yogurt cuss sure...but have you *played the game?*

[@SomeBlackGuy]

Recently discovered your channel and have been binging on your content for the past 2 days. Seeing my channel pop up in the beginning of this video completely caught me off guard. Anyway, good stuff man.

[@sugarnips141]

didn't think I see you here welcome fellow wakandan

[@wolveraspeaks]

Short King sneaking in!

[@gottesurteil3201]

Hello there SomeEwok

[@marciamakesmusic]

This is all the proof I need to know this video is a joke lol

[@daman8492]

@@marciamakesmusic "This video is bad because a certain person likes it."

[@cardiffmad]

DS1 - Healing takes too long and you can get hit while healing which is annoying DS2 - Healing takes longer than DS1 and thats a good thing Me - Confused face

[@weberman173]

a year or so late. If its about HBomberguys comment on the way DS1 and 2 handle healing the point he made was that DS2 healings takes long, but its just SHORT enough that you think you may get away with it, leading to a lot of "death during healing" situations(or Healed but get instantly hit loosing most of their health again) While DS2s Estus is so much slower(especialy at lower AGI) that it often is not even remotly realistic to heal using it in combat, and it also dosnt heal instantly but over a short period of time, making "heal trading" impossible in DS2(as in, you heal, get hit, and you still healed, even if you lost most health again) Its 2 different types of slow.

[@fffeeelll7745]

​​@@weberman173also, even though using gems takes about the same time to use as an estus flask, they don't root you in place while doing so, it's actually easier to heal in battle without dying, but they now require you to avoid damage in between the time the gem heals you

[@littlemoth4956]

@@weberman173So basically DS1 has an intricate system wherein you have to plan your heals, while DS2 has a completely pointless feature that has no reason to exist and no viability

[@weberman173]

@@littlemoth4956 what? They are booth intricate systems, just in different aspects. in DS1 healing is instant, but the action takes time. in DS2 healing takes time but the Action is (oftentimes) faster itself. In booth systems you have to plan your heals, in DS1 however you only need to plan the action itself, while in DS2 you have to plan the action AND the time it takes for the heal to heal you away from lethal. Booth require you to do in moment decision making.

[@WaraxTheThird]

Dont know how many times ive come back to this. And I do enjoy DSII. Unfortunately it is flawed. And this series is fantastic. Incredible attention to language and arguments that makes it more than just a measured response. Its almost a study of language.

[@thatwaygaming8679]

Gasp! A nuanced opinion on ds2?! I don't believe it

[@rigorm136]

Holy shit a rational ds2 fan. That’s wild.

[@frederikspudnik1792]

I lost count how many times I've watched this, but here we go again

[@uglypineapple03]

Same Let's take on the journey once more

[@frederikspudnik1792]

@@uglypineapple03 I also decided to do the Mauler DS2 run. I've had 99 lifegems most of the game. It's been the EASIEST run I've ever done in DS2, and I have Scholar. Also with this series playing in the background

[@dickheadrecs]

8:20 Dark Souls 2 does have a "hard mode" - you can enter the Covenant of Champions at Soul Level 0 before your first bonfire if you want. It's a thing DS2 introduced.

[@scotcheggable]

You mean the covenant that is absolutely essential for anyone that actually wants the opportunity to mess up a few times and not be eternally punished for it when the game strips you of enemies to kill in order to gain exp?

[@GiygasStarman]

@@scotcheggable Wait, what?! That's the benefit? Didn't fucking know that...

[@christophersmith7412]

@@scotcheggable You have to kill enemies something like 10+ times before they stop re-spawning. You have to mess up A LOT OF TIMES if you run out of enemies to kill and can't collect any souls.

[@harrygarris6921]

​@@scotcheggable Dark souls was never meant to be a game where you farm for hours and hours to get your character stronger to face the next boss. And even for the incredibly tiny portion of the player base who does that I don't think it's unreasonable for the enemies to be slightly stronger after you join the covenant as a result.

[@zakatalmosen5984]

@@harrygarris6921 I actually enjoy my clear Drangleic runs. It's a meditative thing, it chills me out a lot to methodically erase every enemy from the game, while becoming extremely OP. I love this about DS2, the fact you can actually affect the world. Run around, making the world safe, lighting every sconce, disabling every trap, opening every shortcut. I find it very wholesome.

[@TheAliasGaming]

I know this video is old, and it's actually your movie analysis that brought me to the channel, but I just wanted to add to the pool of people supporting you. I think it's ridiculous that the main judgments against you are just "look at how wordy he is" and "why would someone spend this much time arguing against someone's internet video". It's like, since you take the time to be so coherent and structurally sound, there's no real way to diminish your presentation, so people just decide to be petty. It's as if people aren't allowed to be judged based on what the say. The guy made key grammatical and logic errors and, through a critical lens, his video and argument were weakened because of it, yet people act as if you keenly paying attention and breaking down his sentences is some sort of snobby act. I hope you keep doing what you're doing. There's very few people out there who are capable of strong analysis, and even less who take the time to do it. The world needs more people who will think about what they're saying before they speak.

[@whatsupbossanova]

CaptainThunderWolf based

[@zarlei6048]

It’s a basic ad-hominem attack, I know strawmen and ad homs are thrown around a lot on the internet but this really is an ad-hom in its purest form. Can’t refute the arguments MauLer makes? Longman bad

[@argondrolf785]

well... there is such thing as being a pedant

[@nathanjora7627]

Anon Johnson Yeah, but it’s not a question of length then, but of unnecessary length, which Mauler doesn’t have.

[@argondrolf785]

@@nathanjora7627 that's exactly what being a pedant is, and something Mauler definitely does

[@jiggycalzone8585]

Ive never been so wrong that someone made a detailed 10 hour breakdown of exactly how wrong I am So I got that going for me, which is nice

[@azraphon]

Yes, clout chasing is a wonderful thing and Mauler is good at it.

[@uberdjura4003]

@@azraphon Painfully low effort criticism lol

[@mechamahou8467]

@@uberdjura4003 that would require it actually being criticism and not a random baseless accusation lol

[@rocklemillion8041]

@@mechamahou8467 true

[@insensitive919]

@@mechamahou8467 If we're being honest, calling somebody a clout-chaser has become the equivalent of calling somebody a meany doo-doo head, so I would lean towards calling it a low-effort criticism. Can you imagine how much better youtube would be if detailed breakdowns and refined argumentation were the best way to gain "clout"? Seriously.

[@BrahmaBull96]

I love how when he says humanities are too rare of a resource to consider it a healing item, he literally shows a clip of him having 25 of them on hand.

[@TalkingSandvich]

thats in comparison to life gems or moongrass, which are comparably abundant; humanities are not finite, but farming them is slow and tedious

[@liamwebster6528]

Imagine if you only had 25 estus flasks, that didn't recharge at a bonfire. At the very least you would play the game like they were rare.

[@BrahmaBull96]

​@@liamwebster6528 If humanities were the only healing item in the game then sure I'd consider that rare. Instead we have Estus which means any additional healing items are just extras to use in a pinch. Point is, just because a healing item is "rare" doesn't mean you're right to not consider it a healing item, especially when it fully heals you no matter what.

[@ameshizen381]

@@TalkingSandvich nah not in ds1. If you had SOA 10 humanity and gold serpent ring you could go to the depths and farm 30 in 20 mins

[@zesork5627]

@@liamwebster6528 I pop humanities when I run out of Estus lol, they aren't rare.

[@Ed_MCasul]

Loved watching this. Not only because I thought hbomb's defense of DS2 was questionable at best, but because I found it odd nobody tried to debunk his arguments for a long time. I really liked how you presented everything. You got a new subscriber, and I hope you go a long way.

[@TheSamuraiGoomba]

As someone who likes DS2 a lot, I think hbomb's defense of DS2 is really shitty. Joseph Anderson's arguments had more weight to them. A lot of hbomb's arguments are very questionable. He chooses to ignore some of DS2's greatest strengths, like build diversity and balancing, in favor of arguing that dudes in armor x 1000 with 3-hit tracking swings is amazing design. He strikes me as being overly confrontational and unwilling to budge on anything. DS2 isn't a perfect game, any more than DS1 was. DS1 had a massively shit and unfinished back end.

[@vallytine]

I mean Mitch L made a video about it, but he backtracked some of his statements later.

[@soraudagawa3022]

And another subscriber.

[@alexsmith2910]

No one bothered to reply to his 'argument' because it was clearly an opinion piece.

[@wasteman9548]

Balogna you seem mad, homie

[@clairetellkamp6253]

His whole "Life gems are genius argument" completely contradicts himself, as well. He just got done saying that estus flasks aren't fun because they take so long and limit the game. But life gems are genius because they... take so long... and... limit the game....

[@powwow1645]

^ This dude gave up playing ds 2 since he got stuck on a boss Too bad

[@clairetellkamp6253]

@@powwow1645 what?

[@clairetellkamp6253]

@@powwow1645 If you're talking about Dank Music, it's just a bunch of music that I've liked over the years. I havent gone through and cleaned it up in awhile. The Stormlight Archive Soundtrack is not actually my playlist. I just transferred it over from Spotify, where Brandon Sanderson has it.

[@clairetellkamp6253]

@@powwow1645 I tend to get into and out of various genres of music. Like right now, I am listening to the "Of Beauty and Rage" album by Christian Metal band 'Red'

[@powwow1645]

I see Thats interesting I'll give it a try, thanks. : )

[@seriousbacon3676]

And thus begins the yearly pilgrimage for the fourth time

[@rakenzie]

And so shall I begin mine.

[@royalenigma434]

I always start this playlist when i go to sleep. It helps me get to sleep and stay asleep. And i dont mean that in a bad way, Maulers voice is so calm and relaxing that its easy to have as background noise

[@KarmasAB123]

Harris' arguments about healing basically amount to "I don't want to be held responsible for my actions"

[@camerabox1]

Imagine my shock

[@legoy6415]

Well, shock my imagine.

[@mkelley03]

That’s not at all what they were tho

[@devynmalu]

@Hi How Are You? no fuck off

[@Jxuptosae]

Funny enough, that is everyone's argument that thinks consumables are an issue in general. They choose to use the items, then claim that said optional usage ruins the balance of a game, even though they could just choose not to use them.

[@envimai1843]

Funny that for all that Harry gave grief to Mathew about not 'playing the game right' (by using locked camera against multiple targets) and 'not learning anything' the same could be said of him and the healing mechanic. Healing during battles is possible, it's not necessarily encouraged but neither is it discouraged, all he had to do was take his time and learn when to do it. He mocked Mathew for being unable to adapt to crowd control and for approaching every battle as if they were Demon Souls or Dark souls, without realizing that he had also been doing this, except with the healing mechanic and treating combat similarly to Bloodborne. (The footage of his O&S fight compared to Mathew's fight against the Dragonriders, and his comment about shields and trying to not 'unlearn' what he learned in the other game.) "Mathew didn't like Dark Souls 2 as much because he didn't learn his lesson and kept playing it the same way he played the previous two." The pot calling the kettle back.

[@matthegarty6235]

@Vasyanka Are you seriously going around as many threads as you can, spewing unsubstantiated claims on comments poster several months ago? I mean Jesus dude, get a life.

[@giancarlocaballero7684]

@Vasyanka Got any sources on that? Lmfao He's never advocated for this.

[@matthegarty6235]

@Vasyanka "Got any sources on that?" Well, do you? I don't really care otherwise. And thank you, I will. I happen to like weiners.

[@taitia8619]

@Jordan Ghill You should go watch his video on virtue signaling, I'm sure you'd LOVE it

[@taitia8619]

@Jordan Ghill I just find it funny he has a video addressing exactly what you're calling him. You'd actually probably hate it.

[@Crash_Knight]

I have come back to watch this entire video series multiple times. I even got my friend to watch it with me in its entirety. It is SO GODDAMN GOOD. The jokes, the critical analysis, everything about it is phenomenal. Its like 10 hours for the love of god and its all solid gold. I've had full price games provide less entertainment time than that. This is in my personal KZbin Hall of Fame.

[@tristanchittenden7140]

Im currently on my 8th or 9th go right now so few well made videos nowadays. Just have to come back and get the fix

[@0That_Guy0]

This along with his SW critiques are among my favourite content on KZbin. Also used it to fall asleep, which is nice. It is entertaining and relaxing at the same time, thanks to his voice and style of narration.

[@Marines_Memelevolent]

God I love rewatching this series. My third odyssey begins today, March 24th 2021.

[@domeplsffs]

I'm here for you mate! :D

[@SirBigWater]

Will the 4th be in two days ?

[@Marines_Memelevolent]

@@SirBigWater it will be now 👌😤

[@ColmanRetro]

@@Marines_Memelevolent Begin the fifth odyssey. The rift calls.

[@Marines_Memelevolent]

@@ColmanRetro The time has come. December 31st, 2022. May I see all of you at the end of this road once more.

[@nannobot1280]

Man i learned alot more about writing and critique skills from this video alone than my entire school life

[@atticuspappin2504]

You should watch jack saint.

[@VladDascaliuc]

@@atticuspappin2504 Why so?

[@mooliciousmaul6514]

@@VladDascaliuc I hope that man is trolling

[@MerrStudio]

Time for my 4th journey, letsa go

[@nicolasoliveira4903]

I Lost the count. I dont know how many times i run this and why. Iam hollowing...

[@theintrospectre208]

Its interesting that some people criticize the length exclusively;a ten hour analysis of an 80 minute video. You know how many pieces of work that might amount to a single page of writing that have been analyzed in entire books? Single 5-6 minute scenes in a movie with hours of commentary?You know how many hours people have spent writing about a painting? If anything, I would be flattered someone took the time to criticize me that extensively. People these days conflate criticism with shade/insults and its disappointing. Criticism is absolutely necessary for improving one’s ability to formulate an argument and to add more substance to the conversation. Additionally, if you actually watch everything it isn’t a ten hour video criticizing one guy; the guy is just a backdrop or canvas for the larger conversation: thinking critically about what you are saying and, to the best of one’s ability, substantiating your arguments with evidence and logic. He even plainly states at the beginning that the series likely has a myriad of mistakes and is clearly open to acknowledging those mistakes so that he can improve his own writing.

[@Slender_Man_186]

Criticism should be short and concise, and certainly not multitudes longer than what you’re criticizing. It’s beyond pedantic, extremely anal, and makes it a hundred times more obtuse to counter any of his points.

[@SouBU95]

@@Slender_Man_186 but it's a criticism of a criticism, conciseness when it's not a debate in real time is impossible. It requires even more context and thus substantiation. Most of the run time is dedicated to fully explaining the context of an argument, analyze what the argument most likely means and to what purpose it serves, and then finally refute it along with evidence. Saying it's pedantic is intellectually dishonest, he's giving a holistic view, which is as good faith and comprehensive as it gets.

[@lordofdarkness4204]

@@Slender_Man_186 every single statement you stated is factually incorrect . Criticism can be concise, or it can be large. The rest of your statements are incoherent insulting, so I will leave it at this: your arguments are not valid.

[@naedanger123]

@@Slender_Man_186 For somebody of your attention span, perhaps

[@Lucas-zg3hh]

Oh my goodness, they deleted their comment. You guys proved them wrong that hard.

[@turtlelore2]

that montage using the life gems while being mobbed by those ice things is so abusive and glorious

[@wurst1284]

Life gems would've been fine had they adopted bloodborne style item limits earlier and if you could only carry 5-10 at the same time. I liked that aspect of being able to pre-emptively heal things like fall damage.

[@Tainuo]

And now we see this exact thing done in Sekiro with Pellets and the Rice items. Miyazaki magic lol

[@widexawake_]

MauLer out here bragging about having five friends. We get it bro, you're better than us.

[@littlemoth4956]

Huh?

[@widexawake_]

@@littlemoth4956 It's a joke

[@Kernwadi]

Own a sword for manor defence, since that's what the Magna Carta intended. Four heathens break into my cottage. "What in the Lord's name?" As I grab my aventail bascinet and windlass arbalest. Punch a bolt through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Throw a pot of naft at the second man and miss entirely since it's a hand thrown grenade in the dark and burns down the neighbour's harvest causing them to starve in the winter. I have to resort to the pot of boiling oil at the top of the hay loft "Deus Lo Vult!" The boiling oil completely drenches two men and cause them to scream in agony and writhe on the ground, racked with incomprehensible pain. The screams of pain frightens horses in nearby stables. Draw sword and charge the last terrified infidel. He bleeds out with no one to assist him since this is Feudal Europe and nobody gives a shit. Just as the Magna Carta intended.

[@thomgizziz]

y the pasta?

[@lurien6156]

I think I will never get tired of this series.

[@Soapy-chan]

same lol

[@BoxyBrown717]

Agreed.

[@MCFPapa]

As someone who's never played, watched, or talked about the Dark Souls games, I'd like to commend you for illustrating your points so well that I could actually understand your arguments and the flaws in hbomberguy's perspective. I also like how you put hbomberguy's words on screen and highlighted the important parts for the viewer to focus on. Also, could you tell me how you decide which topics you want to make long video series on?

[@MauLerYT]

Hey dude! So when i'm considering making a video (series) there are three big considerations; First, I need to be passionate about the subject. I need the fire to pursue all of the sources that will make the video strong, it will pretty much guarantee that I will create my best work. my videos will be so much better if I have a personal investment because I will be hell bent on creating the video I would want to see as a strong fan or detractor of the content. The video should then be better than it would be had I just made it randomly. Secondly, it needs to be relevant. This means that I need to have something to say, that (as far as I am aware) nobody else has said yet or at least not in the method of presenting it that I employ. That, combined with the idea that nobody has done the job better already, for example, Ahoy has created a Quake analysis that was fantastic and despite my love for Quake, I don't think I could make a better video, and so wont. Thirdly, I need to be able to create a strong plan. For example, I knew that I could tackle this video by playing the game several times with specific requirements that he laid out in his sections to get the information I needed. While doing that, I planned to collect every last criticism and praise I could find as a byproduct. I talked to those who loved the game, checked out positive reviews and videos, had 5 friend play through it so I could collect more and more and more information. So overall, look at Mass Effect. I don't care about it at all, I have never played it and I have no idea what the game offers. I have no idea if the most pressing things about Mass Effect have been said already, and it isn't something I could find out unless I pushed myself to go and look but I have literally no reference and on top of that, I don't know if there is third party content I would need to absorb and I don't have any reference for how long the games are and how much you should replay them, I simply wasn't there for Mass Effect in it's time. Basically, it would be a mess, and I know it would be. So, even if everyone wanted it, I would have to avoid the topic. With this series however; I am a rather big fan of Hbomberguy. Having seen all of his videos, I know and enjoy his content, I know how and why he makes it and I have a strong sense of how he slips up. I know the subject extremely well, I play Dark Souls for fun these days, it's a game I chill out with and I know a lot of the inside commentary about the game and how everything went down with it over time as a series. I know what people have as the biggest issues and what made people including myself so passionate about the games, and why everything went down the way it did with Dark Souls 2. On top of that, I could immediately see a long and productive plan to find all of the sources I would need for the project and the fire was absolutely there because this is someone I really enjoy, doing a poor job pushing something up that is down and pushing something down that is up (to be deliberately vague). So, I knew I could make this right, and that is the process for all of my series'. It doesn't mean I wont make mistakes, I absolutely will but hopefully, I will make less than the average content creator with the time that I take. Sorry for the super long comment but I wanted you to have a worth while response. o/

[@MCFPapa]

This is why I love your videos MauLer. You go in-depth to explain your points clearly even in the comments

[@CROWTURDSAMIDNIGHT]

MCFPapa has come in the

[@SpookySkeleton738]

Hang on, I haven't seen his video but let me get this straight: He opens up by telling us that making the game less difficult would make the game less fun as a result. He then goes on to explain how making the game easier (in the form of quicker healing) makes the game more fun?

[@bubbleboy2590]

His argument was more that the addition of other healing items gave the act of healing a little more of a tactical edge to it

[@micfrog]

He fucking explains that whole point, did you even watch the video

[@papershadow]

To be fair, I think Hbomb has a reasonable premise in that adding another option for healing tactics with the Life Gems can make the game more fun, or at least add more ways to play which means more ways people can find fun in it. The problem is the conclusion that they are an objective improvement to the game's healing system that definitively makes the game "more fun" to play, rather than a neat idea clumsily used. In the case of life gems, the idea seems fair enough in that you have quicker but more gradual healing options with the regen, to the point they can function in ways Estus cannot, but they work too fast and are too plentiful to be an alternative with its own drawbacks as opposed to being an outright better option that makes the game easier when used for healing by the majority of playstyles. Like, say hypothetically they popped faster than Estus but regenerated at a slow enough rate (no stacking) that most hits would outpace it. Then compared to Estus, which can restore most of your health if you find one fairly long (in terms of a DS combat instance) gap to use it, Lifegems can be popped more easily but require you to know the enemy well enough to spread your mistakes out and give the regen time to work. Estus could undo 3-4 hits in succession as long as you find an opportunity (say 1.5s) to consume it safely after and return you to full/neutral; a Lifegem might only survive if you only take 1 hit every 5-10 seconds instead, but in exchange it only takes half a second to pop one and thus might be easier to get a chance at than Estus. The problem is that Hbomb is arguing in defense of DS2 as the game we got, rather than discussing good ideas it had with or without flaws in implementation. Lifegems are an idea that can indeed add options/depth to the healing system on paper, but in practice are too easily available and spammed to work as an equal option, which makes it a mechanical weakness in the DS2 we got.

[@hashvendetta7226]

Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.

[@looinrims]

Yes and that sorta thing is throughout his 80 minute video

[@TheBobby2legs]

11:11 yo to me dying in the middle of healing was some of the biggest game changer I experienced in a video game. It forced me to fight when my instincts screamed heal and it taught me to be calm in really stressful situations so I can find the right times to heal.

[@thebonelessboy7204]

That's uh... one of the things mentioned in the hbomberguy video. He talks about how DS2 more accurately conveys that in comparison to DS1 with even longer animations.

[@GiygasStarman]

@@thebonelessboy7204 ... It was still taught in DS1, even more so with the lack of almost any other healing item, and that it's an animation attached. This isn't unique or better in any of the game, though I know personally it was frustrating that it was so slow in DS2 until I figured out the magical formula to fix it was higher adaptability.

[@JohnDoe-kn7ex]

@@thebonelessboy7204 Was the “uh…” necessary in conveying the message or are you just trying to come off like a smug prick?

[@anafu-sankanashi8933]

​@@thebonelessboy7204 it also handicaps that thought process by giving you tons of effigies and lifegems. Down to the endgame I always carried over 50 lifegems and barely felt the same fear and tension ds 1 gave me since estus and humanity is all I had, the later of which was used in many mom combat moments.

[@Punkandcannonballer]

"I can't regard humanity as a source of healing as it's such a rare resource" -The stale donut who is showing his inventory has over 20 humanity and 4 twin humanity. Yes, Harris. It's SO rare...

[@oliverp3545]

What a surprise someone who's played a game alot knows how to stock up on some of the rare resource.

[@myb8955]

@@oliverp3545 It's not rare. Humanity is a resource whose scarcity is entirely based on whether the player is willing to go to the locations where it drops. The rats in the Depths drop them frequently, and using humanity increases your item discovery rate. Using 10 humanity (something that is easy to do since the game just gives you like 20 by the time you reach the Depths) gives you a 4.1 times increase to item discovery chance so long as you maintain that soft humanity counter, which applies to future humanity drops. There are literal trash items like "rubbish" that are harder to accumulate than humanity is.

[@candanaci9258]

are you dumb he has that many humanities because he didnt use any as they are very rare if he were to use them when he was low hp he wouldnt have any left

[@Punkandcannonballer]

@@candanaci9258 yeah, they're SUPER rare. You only get at least one from every single area, start with 5, have several enemies that drop it frequently, have a few merchants that sell stacks, and earn some passively by killing enemies. Such a rare resource.

[@IvanPerez-tc7wk]

@@Punkandcannonballer The ones you get passively cannot be used to heal though. But nitpicking aside, I agree with you. They're not rare.

[@Summer_Tea]

DS2 is my favorite souls game, but I also largely disagreed with Harris' defense video. It's strange that he can love the game as much as I do, but for seemingly opposite reasons. This video made me realize something: I never actually use lifegems. I have always largely played with only the estus flask in DS2. If I need just a little bit more to push on, I will use a lifegem or two. But what's more common is for me to just invade someone to get a full refill. I guess you could say my take on lifegems was similar to Harris' take on humanity from DS1. You've made me realize that I, too, have a romanticized view of DS2's healing system in my head, albeit different from Harris'. I view the lifegem and estus balance as one of attrition, much like DS1, where it's your limited healing items against the limited respawns of enemies in a level. I like that feeling of attrition a lot. You can either grind through a level by despawning every enemy, which is how I had to handle the Forest on my first playthrough (didn't know of the shortcuts). Or you can 'get good' and make sure you don't take any hits so you preserve your estus for the boss. Of course, that falls apart once you buy lifegems, but during my first few playthroughs, I had no idea you could buy more than the 10 limited lifegems from the hag. That kind of set the pace for me in how I viewed DS2.

[@innocentbystander1993]

I love DS2. Ds1 is great for a first playthrough but the 2nd half is meh, and DS3 is boring. DS2 is the best mechanically and it has the most content.

[@innocentbystander1993]

Dark Souls 3 is Castles cathedrals and swamps: the game, and you call DS2 boring? The linearity of the world makes it a chore to play through the game more than 3 times, dual wielding is barely there outside of dual weapons, which isn't enough to replace the flexibility of powerstancing. Bonfire ascetics being gone mean you can't re-fight any boss you want without having to make a new character or go into NG+. Speaking of, NG+ in DS3 sucks compared to DS2s. There's barely any variations in weapon movesets, and before you say anything about weapon arts, they're as copy/paste as any other thing. Almost every SS has stance, almost every great hammer/mace has perseverance, etc. There's more i could sat but this argument has been going on for years and i'm kinda tired of it.

[@innocentbystander1993]

Development time doesn't determine the quality of a game. Look at fallout NV, it had like a fifth of the dev time of any 3d fallout and it ended up being the best one.+

[@innocentbystander1993]

Which, thank god for that.

[@innocentbystander1993]

Really? I haven't heard about that.

[@Spectacular_Insanity]

One thing Dark Souls 2 did objectively better than 1 or 3 was New Game+. The different enemies, enemy placement, and other subtle changes made playing New Game+ after a first playthrough was genuinely enjoyable and just a little bit terrifying. The game had a lot of issues, to be sure, but I really liked that aspect. There were also more subtle improvements to gameplay, like the ability to roll in a full 360 degree movement range, not just in the cardinal directions. People who hate DS2 seem to forget that some improvements were made (mostly combat, balance, and making more builds viable), and some things got worse (story, level complexity, more extensive lore/backstory, and general world-building). This is much more subjective, but it also was the best Soulsbourne game in terms of Fashion Souls. Even after the DLC packs in DS3, DS2 still had a lot more variety in armor choices. I love Dark Souls 3 and it's my favorite Soulsbourne game, but it did have some things that were failures in my eyes. 1) Introduction of Focus Points (made estus management a chore rather than a challenge, and also killed too many magic builds), 2) Poise is worthless (and it was intentionally broken) unless using specific weapons and armor basically does nothing for Poise on its own (no point in even wearing heavy armor except for fashion, since you'll get stun-locked by a rapier-user anyway even while in full Havel's) 3) Sped up enemy attacks way too much without giving us Bloodborne's hp regain system or speeding up players' attacks. 4) Most character arcs were not much better than Bloodbourne and gave unsatisfactory endings or very little ultimate character motivation outside of item descriptions. 5) Not enough Fashion Souls, especially for female avatars. (Shallow, I know, but there you have it.)

[@lolbuster01]

I'm not so sure about the ng+ adding enemies being wholly good. I like it but when you go into the lost sinner fight and have two pyromancers that must be hit with ranged attacks, is that good? I never touched a bow in my first completion of the game and ignored casting entirely. Once I got there it was a huge issue for me. Plus, all the extra enemies do is remind me of the original enemy placement of ds2 and that they just added alot of those placements back in in some areas, such as the cardinal tower. Lazy.

[@mothsforeyes]

When you say "objectively better", you actually mean "I liked it better", which is... wait for it... subjective.

[@hamyman35]

The enemy placement is BULLSHIT, iron keep for example. Fuck that place I don't need 70 alonne knights on my ass at all times

[@Alex_Fahey]

Poise in dark souls 3 can still be an overpowering weapon. Pair some moderately heavy armor or heavier with a poise weapon art (i.e. black knights sword - incredibly unbalanced weapon by the way) and you can poise through and get two or three free hits on an enemy regardless of their weapon used. I helped a friend test that exact style of build with my strength build and he could easily poise through every single attack in the game.

[@yunghobo4849]

austin winn fuckin heide knights that make getting to you old dragonslayer almost impossible after killing dragonrider

[@jazzzplaymonkey]

When I first saw this series a couple yrs ago I had no idea who Harris was. Returning to this video since actually becoming a big fan of Hbomb's stuff, and it's super gratifying to see just how good-faith and well considered all of the points you raise are.

[@dhpyt4327]

I've watched these like 50+ times. They get me in the mood to play the souls series again and again

[@puffwad]

30 minutes in and you've already demolished his arguments. What the hell do the next hours entail...

[@Mr.Mosquito89]

The showing, the burial, and the afterparty.

[@marlonyo]

this video series has make me question my sexuality i never knew i could get so much pleasure from watching a guy destroy another guys ass and for 9 hour no less

[@turtleanton6539]

@@marlonyo 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@turtleanton6539]

Mauler Ethering Him.

[@aidanb58]

well hopefully he could actually get to the arguments. i'm still waiting.

[@MorganaOld]

This is so needlessly detailed and thorough and I love it.

[@afonsosimoes676]

You break his argument down phrase by phrase. I have never seen this, my hat off to you Sir. Impressive devotion and attention to detail

[@henrybenson1501]

22:23-22:42 26:46-27:10 I like the fact Harris criticizes a system that he didn't liked, but then proceeds to praise said system in DS2.

[@avyntide]

I’m a very big fan of Hbomb but I knew something was off about some of his vids, especially his defense of Dark Souls 2, but I couldn’t really articulate it. This video series is fantastic, very good insights and criticisms. You’ve got a new fan :)

[@avyntide]

@Switch Stance im not much of a fan of neither mauler nor hbomb anymore, but yea my pfp is furry, you should make yours one too:)

[@BlkPrm]

Slander is a common technique within H's "offense" and the only thing it does is make him look snobbish. I still love DS2 but, he just makes a very sloppy defense of it, even though no one really asked.

[@lolbuster01]

This almost motivated me enough to make a video actually defending it properly. Almost, but mauler did a fantastic job. Harris's defense is abysmal and is clearly ego driven.

[@znightowlz6585]

Anthony Bowden “make him look snobbish” have you even watched 3 minutes of maulers video? Being a pretentious snob is his quintessential character trait. He fucking reeks of it

[@znightowlz6585]

FatalxWolfsgrin “is clearly ego driven” god the Level of tunnel vision. Again, HAVE YOU WATCHED MAULERS VIDOES!? The dude makes Harris look humble by how fucking narcissistic he is

[@markhirsch6301]

@@znightowlz6585 How is MauLer a narcissist and a snob?

[@ImaTroper]

@@markhirsch6301 he isnt but when a person has no ground to stand on they end up taking every swing they can.

[@exurbian2420]

absolutly love your style of video essay. it works wonders as a background podcast, and the way you dissect Hbomber's arguments is downright therapeutic.

[@augustblade6167]

I'm back again to watch this series; I've watched it every year since it was released. Thanks again, Mauler. Your insight and attention to detail are superb and wonderful to listen to.

[@capnblackbeard7822]

This is one of the only series I come back to basically yearly to experience again. Absolutely magical.

[@MoonlitMarch]

Rewatching this absolute banger of a series having just reached Shrine of Amana in my latest playthrough

[@toasterteostra5906]

Take a shot everytime hbomberguy says "fun". You´ll be dead haflwas through the video.

[@quidic5479]

can you fucking spell!?

[@MetalYourMetalMetal]

I have watched this whole series 3 times and I’m not even ashamed

[@pokekiller787x]

Same

[@SatoruwaFeng]

Amateur

[@pokekiller787x]

@@SatoruwaFeng lmao

[@Leotheleprachaun]

But; were you bored tho?

[@charlie1234500]

The sycophants of Hbomb's channel coping so hard with almost any comment that has any likes and here I am again watching this as a critique of Dark Souls 2, itself, rather than a critique of a shitty video and I'm learning even more why I don't like Dark Souls 2 as a game and why its systems either suck or is inferior to not just Souls games but video games in general.

[@Fingolfin7455]

DS 2 was my first souls borne game and I bought it just because of the challenge. I also never used lifegemes, because of my personal preference. In all games that I play that have consumables, I never use them because of my tic to never waste any of my resources. It was pretty challenging and I strongly remember first going to heides tower and being stuck at the first enemy for an hour.

[@elvickRULES]

“Why if I need these for later!” I’m the same way, I try to use them more. By NG++ I used gems more just because I couldn’t pick them up anymore

[@hafaball]

Watching Harris' video recently, after watching matthewmitosis', I was completely dumbfounded by the borderline, if not total nonsensical arguments Harris makes. Forget the Dark Souls series, in this segment what he's talking about is just the most basic foundation of video games. And even if he was able to make a cohesive argument, we're hit with contradiction after contradiction. really baffling.

[@cooldud7071]

Harris has always been a pseud, I don't see why you're so dumbfounded

[@GeorgisTrying]

I watch this whole series about once a year, it's like super comforting and I can tune in or out whenever

[@jaredjimenez2305]

Cheers! I use these videos to help me fall asleep. This is how I was introduced to your channel and I adore them. Thanks MauLer for providing such quality pieces of work that hold up time and time again.

[@ZwiffleOwnsU]

I've watched this series before, but I loved it so much that I'm coming back to watch it again. Just a god-like rebuttal

[@dosbox907]

HOLY CRAP. I didn't know gems were THAT broken. I heard negative stuff about them but nothing like that. Anyways.. Great video. I feel like hbomberguy has some great content but often lets his own bias and personal feelings infect his arguments. Your reasoning is rock solid and I look forward to seeing more of your stuff m8. Cheers

[@allbottledup9513]

“Don’t spell defense like you’re in the colonies.” Be proud, you made an American spit his drink laughing!

[@Horltum]

Australian reporting for duty and seconding your message.

[@ChangeUrAtOnYT.comSlashHandle]

"Be proud you made an American spit his drink laughing because my American spit is worth more than any other country's cuz America #1"

[@terrarianangel8274]

@@ChangeUrAtOnYT.comSlashHandle huh?!!!

[@ChangeUrAtOnYT.comSlashHandle]

@@terrarianangel8274 Rephrasing: I was quoting that person as if I was typing what he *really* meant to say. Like, who would say "be proud" as if it is this grand achievement to make him, an *American*, exaggeratedly do an involuntary spit-take. I only say this cuz there's a running joke on the internet that Americans think they shit diamonds and piss liquid gold. I guess irl they also think themselves superior to other countries cuz they are American citizens.

[@charlie1234500]

@@ChangeUrAtOnYT.comSlashHandle Ew. Go back to watching Hasan.

[@lordscorch3167]

welp, Herris went off and insulted and soiled the reputation of yet another one of his peers. time to take the pilgrimage again.

[@Matt-km7yk]

By stating the truth?

[@lordscorch3167]

@@Matt-km7yk don't get me wrong, Internet Historian is in the wrong for stealing that article for his script, thats not up for debate. but it was completely unnecessary for Herris to attack IH's character by pointing at IH's video history out of context, such as implying he was a tucker carlson fanboy, or that his dashcon video was about "attacking SJWs" and not about how a home-grown con was entertainingly destroyed by a perfect storm of bad actors. Herris has a tendency to poison the well whenever talking about other content creators, a trait he has not grown out of as this video series proves.

[@randomname9723]

@@Matt-km7yk Just providing voice over and animating that article is already transformative btw. Obviously it would have been better if he credited immediately but he quickly did after the initial upload and then 6 months later hbomberguy brings up a completely resolved conflict and slanders IH from tenuous or false accusations.

[@Matt-km7yk]

@randomname9723 by that logic it's impossible to plagiarise provided you change the format? He copied someone's work, never provided credit or acknowledged he did it, and simply changed the video when pressured to do so.

[@lordscorch3167]

@@Matt-km7yk that is an interesting topic that Harris didn't bring up in the video, the argument of fair use and transformative work. however i do agree with you that credit was one of the more important, damning aspects for IH. fair use is a very tricky subject that tends to be weighed in favor of the copyright holder, by definition its nearly impossible to have something be fully transformative, so you are almost always at the mercy of the holder if you use their work (using anime clips in a video reviewing it, for example). one of the biggest mysteries will be why the hell IH didn't site the article, because at this time we really still don't know enough from IH's side.

[@Jacaroni_and_cheese]

imma be real with you guys, that hypothetical Jack is me I suck at games XD

[@dogoneshame]

Pettiness level: Fucking infinite. This is epic. Bless you, sir.

[@Bardathe111]

"Colonies." Don't make me throw your tea in the ocean again. How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?

[@Frog_Wizard801]

Nice

[@mq9demo]

That is not an argument. The United States were originally the colonies of the United Kingdom. Mauler is from the UK, he is using terms from the history of his country. The fact that UK colonies eventually became independent does not stand in conflict with the fact that they were UK colonies in the past.

[@Frog_Wizard801]

@@mq9demo dude it’s a joke

[@mq9demo]

@@Frog_Wizard801 Right. A bad one as it roughly references a past event which doesn't change the fact that the US land was UK colonies before.

[@Bardathe111]

@@mq9demo Chill.

[@Rusher4444]

I rewatch this series at least once a year if not twice It's so good

[@ThePickleBehindTheSlaughter]

to be fair his "One of those good at dark souls people" seemed to be more of a joke onto himself rather than the playerbase itself

[@Magicman3990]

I have now watched this whole series twice, and have watched many more of MauLers other content and i love it, i feel like i could watch his content all day just because of how detailed he is and how he makes sure to do his research, i no longer watch other reviewers simply because i don't think it can be done better than this. Good job MauLer and I personally look forward to your next series.

[@DukePegasus]

Hey man i dont know if u still read comments on these videos, but i just wanted to say that this is like my 4th time viewing this series and ive really learned a lot from it. Not just from gameplay and develloping standpoints but also for arguing and trying to understand peoples perspectives. So thank a lot for making these man keep up the good work.

[@-MrFozzy-]

Man, I love the amount of research and time taken in creating your long form content, I’m relatively new to your channel...love your work, but I could not live in your world, constantly on the offence/defence and getting pressure from your work...massive respect to you... Also, your force awakens and TLJ content was excellent...I always saw TFA as similar just because of the big ideas...(starkiller etc) but the sheer amount of points you bring up is absolutely staggering, it’s actually ridiculous...thank you

[@mrbubbles6468]

‘Harris you’re a Brit for Christ sake. Don’t spell defence like you’re in the colonies.’ I am happy that the incorrect spelling bugged someone else. If I may though, Hguy does not add new perspective. He merely presents what people have been saying for ages as if it’s new and wholly original and no one else has talked about it. The vast majority of commentators do this.

[@PlanetDiablo16967]

Defense Armor Color Flavor Murica

[@asdergold1]

It is not "wrong", elitistic brits. Variation in language is a thing. That exists and that kind of statement is what many people who deal with the area dread and hate. You are saying something is right when it is just different. People say it differently officially somewhere else, does that make it wrong?

[@mrbubbles6468]

Asdercol For the part of the world HGuy is from, it is incorrect. I am saying using a different spelling is incorrect unless you are in a place that spells it like that. HGuy is not.

[@Decrystallizing]

It's not incorrect. It's right. Get gud at regional dialects.

[@mrbubbles6468]

Sam Rhodes There is no region in Britain where that spelling is used though,

[@Weldedhodag]

the statement about how you can use runs where you get to a boss with low amounts of healing items can be valuable for learning, it can also be valuable as you might wind up altering how you're playing with less items. You might wind up being more cautious and slow with your approach and that might wind up to you actually over coming the boss in the end. I know its happened to me a few times.

[@grzybiarzgaming7800]

The time has come to take this journey once again

[@TheSlammurai]

Getting ready to watch the whole 9-part series again. For the 5th time. That's probably like 60 or so hours of my life so far that I'll never get back. Lol

[@finmat95]

It restores you sanity after you've read a lot of stupid and dub comments in defence of DkSII

[@bloodrunsclear]

Ah yes: the razor difference between the statement 'IS' and 'I THINK'

[@nubblieidiot8761]

Now, when you opened on talking about how defenses of his arguments boil down to "that's his opinion," I was almost expecting you to talk about how "An objective opinion is a popular one". Instead, to my shock and awe, you did the smart thing, And pointed out internal inconsistency in his arguments. Good job, you brilliant bastard.

[@deviousskylark5767]

I know this is an older video, but good job nonetheless. It's disturbing how much the comment section became a spitting war when the video is, plain and simple, a critique made by analysing an existing critique. It's literally how some dissertations and thesis are written - you take an argument that you disagree with and you dissect that. It doesn't mean that gives the original author of that argument to turn around (or their fanboys, in this case) and starts badmouthing you. Also, having studied in the UK for some time, and knowing the way people speak there, I think it's hilarious that people in the comments section are talking about how Mauler sounds like he's talking down to people. It's their own insecurity speaking. I find the tone quite normal.

[@chukyuniqul]

Mauler seems like that guy who will unironically go "oh so pineapple pizza is better than normal pizza well you are WRONG because many people vocally express their dislike of pineapple on pizza on top of the fact pineapple is already acid as is the tomato sauce so therefore you are not correct". Which only correct if you dont imply subjectivity (which is a failure in art discourse) not to mention that if you pay close attention you will notice that being baked in the oven takes a significant edge off the acidity from both tomato sauce and pineapple, so that argument is also not valid once you look into it. And that would not even be a fucken problem, but what ticks me the most off is that this guy will unironically call what he says about a piece of ART (which is what dark souls and most quality horror games, the two topics I've listened to his responses on) objective. He's not an idiot, but he is a prat, and honestly nobody but the people who agree with his opinion would tolerate him in a discussion. The guy could really do with learning to mentally append "in my opinion" at the start of sentences because it drives me up the fucking wall when he calls others out on apparently passing their opinion as fact. And that is because to me it entirely looks like he is leveraging his skill with words to bypass needing to challenge the actual points being made, working to misrepresent them so they are easier to combat-again, chiefly the "you're passing your own opinion as fact" while he does the same thing by abusing the word objective.

[@competent5761]

@@chukyuniqul Didn't Mauler make this video because Harris claimed what he said was objective/framed it as being objective? So it wasn't about something subjective in the first place, right?

[@chukyuniqul]

@@competent5761 hmm, I actually haven't watched or don't remember Harris' video on the topic. But the only difference that would make to me is that like a very bad colonoscopy this would be a 2 asshole system then. People overthink art in relation to others, the only wrong way to express about it is to present things that didn't happen or brush over thingd that happened and would disprove a point (think yahtzee's sore losers club joke from deus ex human revolution but without the justification of heing used for a joke.

[@competent5761]

@@chukyuniqul I suppose it's possible, but at least it seems likely Harris is at minimum a hypocrite. Mauler seems consistent to me, though he tends to repeat himself.

[@thesnatcher3616]

@@competent5761 Well even if Mauler is a prat(which I don't think he is at all), he at least backs up his own opinion with reasonable arguments with solid and believable evidence with little to no bias involved. He's not saying that you CAN'T like something He's saying that your reasons for liking this particular thing are wrong and groundless.

[@royalswordsman4523]

Honest, in alright with criticism towards youtubers i watch, and i encourage it, thank you for expanding my views and viewpoint

[@royalswordsman4523]

@I I never said that he completely changed my view on anything, but he did help me see some of the things i was missing. I still like hbomb, i still think i should make my own opinion of ds2, which i still havent gotten, and I still want to play it, just for the simple fact of playing all the dark souls games, its why i want to play demons' souls, it hasn't changed me much, but it helped me see some thing i didn't notice before hand, because I had watched his bloodborne video, and i still think that its alright despite mauler kinda ripping it a new one. In fact, his bloodborne video was the thing that got me to buy bloodborne... so i don't think I'm that guy, especially since while i might have been during when i wrote this, over time i think my opinions even if changed revert back to my own, or what I had before, its kinda like how I sucked at bloodborne, but enjoyed it enough, that i convinced my parents to get me ds3, which i was better at, and after i completed it, i went back to bloodborne, and beat it. My opinion was always that bloodborne was harder, and it was "changed" after i completed it, but now that I have played it multiple times, over the course of years, its back to being harder, the first boss is one i still often die to.(gascoigne or cleric beast, whichever i do first)

[@Crade1]

Harris is correct that items like a divine blessing are so rare, it's hard to regard them as healing items. You get like 1 or 2 divine blessings per game. But Humanity does the same thing (albeit doesn't heal status ailments) and is farmable. Idk I never once used a divine blessing, there never was any need. Why Harris completely forgot about divine blessings are conflated humanities with them is beyond me.

[@Lucas-zg3hh]

That's like saying a Rail Cannon can't be considered a gun just because it's rare. It fills every single criteria of a gun, and it being rare does not disqualify it. Divine blessings and Humanity heals you, thus it is a healing item.

[@Crade1]

@@Lucas-zg3hh when he says "regard it as healing item" he means actually wanting to use it to heal. The divine blessings are so rare and so powerful, the first time through Dark Souls I held onto them, thinking they are some kind of key item that doubles as a consumable, that I can use them on an npc or something. You are 100% correct that it still counts as a healing item objectively, but you would never have it ready, and when it would be the last line of your defense.. it'd probably be best to just die and go humanity farming. Humanities make divine blessings obsolete, too. I guess this is all arguing from a subjective classification of Healing Item. My larger question is why Harris conflated humanities with divine blessings.

[@Chaoseyes]

I can't believe I missed this. Mauler, for fuck's sake, explode already. Your content's way too good to not have at least 100k subs.

[@MauLerYT]

Chaos Shooting Odd-Eyes Ultimate Beyond the Pendulum Quasar Synchro Dragon Victory Awh man, that's a really kind comment there, thanks :D

[@Gew219]

Chaos Shooting Odd-Eyes Ultimate Beyond the Pendulum Quasar Synchro Dragon Victory I think he might just explode in popularity thanks to his TLJ videos. Unbridled Rage has nearly half a million views now.

[@Siris101]

Christian Changer Think you might be on to something, that's how I found him.

[@joshaqy]

As long as he doesn't churn out alot of half baked content like hbomb for the subs, i'm good.

[@joeman99983]

Don't worry. Mauler will be at 100k very soon. He's growing extremely fast.

[@camolotthe42]

These exceedingly-detailed and well-constructed dis-assemblies of arguments are probably my favorite videos on the channel. Being perfectly honest, these taught me a lot about writing and properly constructing arguments, and have been core to a lot of what I do ever since.