3 things: 1. (2:28) I know there are reasons to go to the catacombs early 2. I’m aware that Gwyn isn’t supposed to be a “grandiose” fight, I used the wrong word to just say that it’s cool. 3. While I do think the DLC is when they started making lots of legendary boss fights, I did forget about Allant in DeS, so I guess it was wrong to say they “cracked the code” here when they’ve done it before.

The general feel of ds1 is just magical. The combination of level design, difficulty, roadblocks, design of menus and ui, lack of fast travel, everyone's unique paths through the game, give it atmosphere unlike any other. That feeling is lost at around anor londo and later, but the first half alone is the coolest gaming experience i ever had, and even if mechanically a game like bloodborne is way better, that magic of ds1 was never captured again

I have a lot more respect for this game than the other souls games. Mainly because of the whole "Don't go hollow" thing. I think it's a good analogy for giving in. Don't lose yourself. Keep pushing on.

Certified Soulsborne Classic

The maze like design of the world is what makes it stand out the most even if people don't realize it. Nothing wrong with linear design but there is something amazing about having multiple paths to go down and not being outright told what awaits you where. Even Elden Ring failed at this because everything is so open and actually predictable.

This game gives me so much nostalgia, almost cried hearing that plin plin plon. To this day, I still think its the best for newcomers

I love ds1 it was the best and my first souls game, I’m now replaying it again for like 50th time it never seems to get old or boring

I remember going through the great hollow as I thought that was where I needed to go next. Then I found Ash Lake and was take aback by its beauty. Then I ruined it by resting at the bonfire…

A true work of art, and my favourite game of all time.

Yeah the map design of lordran is just stellar (excluding chaos). I have a horrible sense of orientation, i can barely go somewhere in my hometown without pulling out google maps, but somehow i know lordran like the back of my hands after traveling through it for so long, to the point that if someone told me any two points on the map (excluding things that require warping like getting out of the abyss or nito's cave) i could probably give them a detailed description of the route they need to take to get from one to the other, including enemies and objects nearby.

My favorite game in the entire soulsbornewhatever series. I have replayed it like 100 times and know almost everything about it other than some questlines.

One thing I think is really cool about Dark Souls and Elden Ring is that it truly feels like a world that exist whether you are there are not. There are countless places where you have to make some creative jumps to get to the place you need which is not obvious (like Anor Londo). You feel like you are exploring places that were built for others, doors shut or caved in and when you find the correct path it feels nice. A good example of this is Lennas rise in elden ring. So the rise buildings typically has some sort of riddle to enter but not this one. This one is completely sealed with no way of opening it. The stone statue is also broken so whatever riddle you had so solve is gone. In order to enter you need to jump on the roof and get in through the balcony. This way such a cool moment since at that point I realized that parts of the world is in decay. It's like a real world ruin with secrets that you have to search for. Also I went to both the graveyard and new londo the first time playing DS1. I was there for way to long, almost quit before I found the stairway up to undead burg. But it taught me an invaluable lesson. Just because an area exists it doesn't mean that I should go there. If it is way harder than what I would expect based on my characters level it is probably the wrong area. Without that lesson I would have probably spent hours trying to get past valley of the drakes at a low level, or getting to the sea monster, going to the graveyard early after I finally revenged the skeletons outside.

the reasons why I love Dark souls 1 so much. Takes me back to the days when I was completely alone in Arizona, going through a struggle after another, in a foreign area for me. Just to get some groceries, and pay bills, I had to sell all my games, and psp. As well as other things I had, manage to get the game for cheap. And that game was all I had as an escape. And the struggles of the game and playing it blind kinda resonated with my actual life. It was challenging and rewarding, just like when I was in my actual life struggles, it was challenging but rewarding when I got my car fixed, furniture, better job, and was able to get more food, etc. playing this during my downtime just somehow resonated with me like I said, for all that this game will always be special to me. Still currently playing as we speak.

I got the game a few months ago and I'm still replaying it constantly. It's just so fun finally seeing yourself improving :)

I love all From Soft Dark Souls games, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring so much. They all affected me differently throughtout the last four years of my life.

7:21 "One of the best aspects, that brings this game's world design to life is a design choice none of the other games have." = Amazing chest chilling in the background.

For me, it's the more grounded tone and methodical gameplay. I really don't like how every fight in more recent games is now an anime tier spectacle where everyone is flipping around the arena shooting lasers at one another.

Ahhhh, a fellow Queelag's Furysword enjoyer ;) I will always enjoy going back to DS1, the overall atmosphere is unmatched.

Literally agree on all fronts. This game just hits different, good video :)

Pre Anor Londo in dark souls 1 is my best gaming experience till date. You don't know anything about the world there is no fast travel so you actually feels lost in the game and revisit areas even though you don't need to. You truly feel lost and immersed in the world which was only possible because of that crazy level designing. The way areas got connected to each other was so cool to experience playing first time.

Dark Souls 1 is that game that I always replay every now and then.

I keep returning to Dark Souls over and over again. It's one of the few games that i consider timeless masterpieces.

Solaire goes crazy because of the sunlight maggot he finds. He doesn't go Hollow. He's completed his goal of finding his own Sun and being as grossly incandescent as it, but he still has a purpose. Defending his own sun. He goes crazy and attacks you because he can't recognize you and thinks you want to steal his sun. Also, I'm fairly sure that the NPCs that Hollow don't speak as much as Solaire does in Izalith. They don't speak at all, actually. Yes, Solaire mostly just moans and groans, but he is still human. You can also tell by his skin. Same for Logan. He isn't Hollow, just mad with power, knowledge and intellect. It's a common misconception that some characters goes Hollow when they actually go insane. Still, great vid, pretty interesting and I do agree with a lot of points made. The level/world design is great, though sometimes inaccurate or odd.

ON first playtrough i became one of the hollows scratching walls on the way to bell gargoyles. Its really intresting that you got so many mad hollows with broken straight swords over there its like the devolopers knew many ppl would quit at this point

I got to experience this game in its entirety completely blind because I didn’t have internet when I was playing it and on top of that I had never even heard of it, I grew up poor and the game was only $1 because it was loose and the store didn’t know if it worked but thank goodness I got it cuz it sparked my love for the series

Just completed my first playthrough of this game a week ago. First souls game I ever played. Had the game for a long time but never knew what to do at the start lol. All your points about world design and the wonder of discovering the world is spot on with what I felt. Very much a masterpiece of a game.

I remember trying to replay Dark Souls some years ago and I wanted to try the Dark ending. Overall despite some aspects being much the same as the previous play I remember taking alternative routes and trying a new build. It was exciting going a bit deeper into the land of Lordran, playing out events in different order. I managed to get pretty far and had fun rising to the old challenges. The funny thing is I tried the same thing with Dark Souls 3 and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did with Dark Souls 1. Even though I love Dark Souls 3 replaying that game was iffy especially if you try the Dark ending. I was also reminded of the things I hated about DS3 which wasn't anywhere near the negatives of DS1. I go far as to say that Dark Souls and Bloodborne have so much replayability at least for me. (I still have yet to play Sekiro and Demon's souls) I think a lot of us who are into the Soulsborne games can agree that Dark Souls is the definitive title.

DS1 is the greatest fantasy-genre game of all time, and probably will not ever be topped. Sure, the mechanics have been improved upon, but it was truly ahead of its time in every way, and no game has revolutionized videogames as a whole quite like this one has

I played ds1 few months before elden ring released and that was when i fell in love with these games. Even when others souls games are great they still don't feel the same as ds1. It feels like that i find out new things even tho i have played it through like 5 times already and i love the freedom how you can explore the world.

The problem in blighttown isnt gravity. It's the framerate. People should also remember that DS didnt have nearly the budget that Elden Ring had. And the reason ER did have the budget it had was the revenue DS created.

Ahhh Ashe Lake, I was in awe when I first set foot in that beach... The music...

You are absolutely right about all of it. I got started with souls a week after the launch of DS1. When I got invaded in the parish, i wanted to be that guy. So i learned how to become a darkwraith and the rest is history. This is why i am the invader video guy i am now. But, more importantly.... The PVE aspect of DS1 is unmatched. There is no other game in the series (except maybe bloodborne) that even came close to giving me the same feeling. DS1 is built different. All the new fans can't understand.

I prefer the slow telegraph combat over the fast paced combat that Bloodborne (my first souls) started, most of the time feels that you can humanly dodge the attacks.

Love how you’re just casually walking off the edge at the end.

This game changed my whole view on gaming and took me through multiple emotions whilst teaching me lessons along the way. Absolutely a masterpiece and I could play it over and over again.

I was cursed headed back from ash lake and at the bottom of the great hollow. Under leveled and without a purging stone, it nearly broke the game for me. I recall getting to a blighttown-looking area and being one-shot over and over. Anyone, who made it to the depths to purchase the stone and continue the game, is heroic through and through.

6:00 I did the same thing my first play through, except I gave up going through the catacombs, and ended up back tracking, through the undead berg, and discovering the depths. Also, I had the master key and could have skipped all of Blight-Town, but I ended up going the long way, not realizing that I missed an easy shortcut.

If you didn’t play DS1 when it was the current/latest souls game you will never know the true DS1 experience and how good it was.

love your video so far. Dark Souls was such a difficult experience for me and it took about 3-4 years of on and off play to beat it. At one point I finally 'got it'. I was like you and missed the lower undead burg. I got cursed and was at half health for an incredible amount of time due to not looking anything up. With half HP I found the secret Ash Lake and painfully made it to the end of the beach, only to find a dragon and nothing to cure me. I then had to travel all the way back to the surface and many hours later you can imagine my relief when I finally found the guy in the ghost castle who sold me an item to get rid of my curse. It was such a slog, but it was an adventure. I went on and did the same thing you did, traveling down into the tomb of the giants without a light and having to return all the way back to the surface. Once I finally found my footing I was able to beat the game. I think having no fast travel and an interconnected world made this game so special to me.

Hey, same here; I found out about the Lower Undead Burg/Depths some time after I had at least three lord souls. I'm sure had I been using a standard weapon, I'd have figured it out sooner, but I was using mostly a Catch Pole, a Black Knight Sword and a fire Zwei by Anor Londo, followed by the Crystal Halberd you get in Anor Londo until the end of the game, so I never bothered once even upgrading at Andre past Sen's Fortress. I was pretty much the only one of my friends who actually knew about the cave in Darkroot Basin, because a lot of them for years afterwards seemed to work into their memory that you NEEDED the master key to reach Blighttown's entrance from there and I always had to explain that was wrong. I started as a thief but never found the New Londo lift until NG+, though I'm sure many people who started as a thief or picked the master key got there that way. Consequently, I skipped the Blighttown frustration forever. I remember thinking people were disproportionately complaining about an area that I got through with relative easy only to find out much later that it was because I had stumbled upon the less bullshit entry to the place. I did go through the Depths entrance on a new character, but at that point I knew what I might be in store for and how to handle it. I can never experience that frustration. This is why every From Soft game now is streamlined with a mandatory poison swamp, so everyone has to experience it. Seriously though, it is one of the neater aspects of DaS that the other games in the series simply do not share enough.

Really enjoyed your video bro! I started my FromSoft journey with ER and am now currently playing through DS1 & Demon’s Souls remake. The exploration is what made me fall in love with ER and I’m really enjoying it in DS1! Getting my ass handed to me lol, but I’ve stumbled across some insane stuff already, just a few hours in. FromSoft has ruined me, I don’t think I’ll be able to play another genre again🤣

DS1 was the first From game I beat, 10 years ago, and I'm so glad it was. They really distilled and perfected the formula in later games, but in doing so, they unavoidably lost a little bit of what made it special in the first place.

4:15 I actually read this is even post-patch. As in, before this, curse used to build up pretty much instantly. That's crazy. I'm gonna have to test this one day on an unpatched version of DS1.

5:44 same thing happend to me and I was dumb enought to not find a way out of the catacombs so I left it there at level 28 or so and started a new playthrough XD😅

I decided to give elden ring a try last year, since I had nothing to play on my ps5, and it was my 1st experience with fromsoftware games. I loved it, got the platinum, and decided to make my way back to see what all the fuzz was all about. Played Bloodborne, Demons Souls, and when I got to Dark Souls I've had experience with both the fast paced combat oriented gameplay with Bloodborne, and the slow paced, shield tanking and timed rolling combat with Demon's Souls, but Dark Souls was something else, something magical. All of what you said here is the way that I felt on my first playthrough (quickly followed by another 3). The way that at first I felt lost, not knowing what to do or where to go, slowly making progress for fear of dying and losing my precious souls, it was after battling through blighttown when I got to an elevator, and heard a familiar tune, and the screen prompted that I was back in firelink shrine, it was when my mind was blown to see how the world is connected back to familiar places, how open ended everything is, and how the game doesn't tell you a thing, and leaves it to you to find it, amplifying the sense of discovery. It still is my favorite blind experience I had with the series, and the one game that I wish I could erase from my memory just to experience it all for the first time once again.

I recently got into the Souls series around 2 years ago, but played the games in order. For me DS1 is the best. Looking at it critically; it may have weak bosses at times, some bad late game areas, not yet refined combat, etc. But it has what people refer to as the "IT factor." What makes it special isn't anything in particular, but the entire package as a whole. Just everything about the game ranging from big things like world design, character builds, and combat; down to the little things like sound of your armor, obscure lore details, and even the tone in which NPCs talk to you.

As you mentioned there is many essays about DS1 but i really like to watch them. This game gives people different experience so every video is unique.

I went in order and its truly been one of the best journeys of my life. Nothing can ever replicate your first run of Dark Souls. Its beyond a masterpiece.

7:04 currently in my first play through and I completely missed the entrance to the chaos witch’s boss room so I kept going until I found the tree, and it had a message that told me about the entrance to the great hollow

18:14 Frampt: "Hraaaoogggh!" Automatic subtitles: [Applause]

on my first playthrough I completed the entire game with 6-10 estus because I didn't know about kindling

i love ur video,i played ds3 as my first souls and then ds1 and I LOVED IT,i liked the fact that i didnt know where to go,u are just right

Very nice video and ds1 will always be my favorite souls game, also nice brawlhalla music in the background

Elden Ring wasn’t my first fromsoft game (i played about half of DS3 over the course of a week at my cousins) but it was my true introduction. Fast forward to hundreds of hours in each Dark Souls has quickly become my favorite in the series and I quite literally have 0 clue why other than I like it more

Right now i am almost at the end of Sekiro and had a reminder why i love this franchise. Glad this video came out the right time

I thank myself for having played Dark Souls 1 as my first soulsborne game many years ago.

I haven't watched the video yet. But I agree. Still my favourite in the trilogy. I really like Demon's Souls as well

I recently decided to revisit Dark Souls 1. This time playing the original release on PS3. & purchasing the DLC. And honestly, I prefer it to the remaster. Sure there are cumbersome aspects. Like the frame lag in Blighttown, not being able to fast climb ladders, or having to consume soul items 1 at a time. But they're small inconveniences, in an otherwise all-time great game. Having played every From Soft game other than DS2. I'm finding myself reluctant to move onto DS2. Currently on my NG+++ playthrough. And I'm enjoying it as much as ever! I very much enjoyed your video. Great work!👍👊 Btw, best way to farm Titanite Chunks is the Darkwraiths after draining New Londo Ruins. They even drop Slab's 5% of the time.👌

Rolling/Dodge. Area design. Armor design, skybox art, texture design, voice acting, color palettes, enemy design, animations, controls. Story. Item descriptions. There are so many more things but these are the elements that make it so special

It is so crazy that my first playthrough mirrored yours, exactly the same except for the fact that i wasn't good enough to actually go up so i started grinding on the tomb until i had a high enough SL to confidently go up

You deserve much more subscribers, quality of your video is really high. Greetings from Bosnia ;)

There are so many Dark Souls 1 essays, analysis, etc. around here, but even after all these years I genuinely can't stop watching them. It is to the point where my wife makes fun of me for watching yet another DS1 video 😅 I love to hear what different people think about the game and I'm glad, that people still talk about it. So thank you for the video!

My first soulsborne experience was Elden Ring and I was absolutely amazed. After sekiro and ds1, and DS3 soon, it's amazing how well ds1 holds up. For me, though, I found sekiro to be the most purely enjoyable experience. I think every game in the franchise has unique strengths and aspects that make them quality games in their own right.

Dark souls was my second souls game, I started with Elden Ring. I had to power through the tough start and it really helped that a friend wanted to enjoy it through me by me streaming it via discord. I ended up absolutely loving the game. Now I’m playing 3, which is just another masterpiece on its own. But for some reason the magic feeling of DS1 just hits different!

the parrying is so good with replay. you feel like some kind of god

I came to fromsoft when I was 6 I am 13 almost 14 and came back to the first and only game I ever played but never beat it so I'm back and still love it

About ash lake I kind of got to experience it mostly blind. The only thing I saw when I was looking some stuff up mid play session was a picture showing the entrance to great hollow, when I saw that I closed out the tab, and booted up the game to go check it out myself. Even though I had a pointer, the experience was still so surreal!

I have honestly three favorites in their own right the best Best first time experience and remain in my heart: Dark Souls 1 Best game changer in terms of combat design: Blood Borne. I just love how much different and faster pace BB is. Side stepping it was just such a blast in terms of combat design. Best exploration and breathtaking: Elden Ring. It would be hard for me to rate this game to either 2nd or third. The open world, amount of exploration is just so good. Still plenty of bosses. I'm so happy how this game turned out. Still legit a Souls game in terms of level design but open world. Everyone praises Breath of the Wild but it has imo shortcomings they traded in level design for open world, but Elden ring makes no compromises! In terms of online experience: Dark Souls 2 was for me the best experience. Because Dark Souls 1 was a pain to connect and Dark Souls 2 streamlined that process a lot better.

Started playing DS1 for the first time this month. Elden Ring brought me here. After that I stopped by in Yharnam and after finishing yet another masterpiece I realized, that I need to know the legend itself. Bought the Trilogy and jump right into it. Right now I'm struggling with Ornstein and Smough in a magnificent sunsetlit city of Anor Londo, and so far I'm loving it! After I got out of there I love even The Sen's Fortress. No game ever give me what this place gave me.. Anyway, I see so many things that are just like from Elden Ring, sometimes I catch myself thinking these are The Lands Between or part of its lore at least. Too many similarities. Something similar to ER? Gimme! Can't wait to get to the 3rd. And I still have a hope that DS2 I might actually love, too.

Great video! I feel like you touch on it a bit but I feel like as far as souls games go DS1 has the world slider cranked to max and the mechanics slider low (relative to souls) and DS3 is the reverse, world on min mechanics on max. That’s why out of the 3 DS2 is my favorite to go back and replay. It’s just the perfect blend. I burn out on DS1 having a lot of runs end at the duke’s archives and I find DS3 loses its hook as after the first dozen crazy warrior with infinite stamina who never stops attacking I feel like I’ve seen everything the game has to offer. Though now Elden Ring is probably king of the dark souls

CONGRATS ON ONE MILLION VIEWS!!!!! ❤❤❤

I like to sit back and imagine how good the second half of the game would be if the team had more time and experience. Imagining Lost Izalith completely reimagined and the Bed of Chaos being a truly grandiose boss gives me goosebumps! But seriously what an amazing video congratulations!!

DARK SOULS 1 will ALWAYS BE my FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME! I keep going back from time to time since it's my home too!!!

Very few games have ever consumed my entire being the way the original DARK SOULS did the first time I played it--and it still does to this day. To the point that I spent weeks thinking about it and obsessing over all the small details even when I was going to my day to day. Only time that ever happened was when I first played Ocarina or Shenmue. Truly one of the most groundbreaking games in the history of the game industry.

when i first played ds1 i accidentally killed the giant blacksmith by clicking back into the game window while standing next to him, and i finished the game with a claymore, proceeded to do the exact same fucking thing in ng+ and rush through the rest of ng+ just because i was enjoying it so much and kept saying to myself “damn i’ll just save the boss souls for next ng+” just the fact that me fucking my entire run just made me wanna play more is a testament to the quality of the game

The world was absolutely mind blowing once you connected some of the loops. I mean, my mind was blown and than I discovered the lake underneath the tree and could not believe what I was seeing. Also, the fact that I had no clue what to expect from the start makes this game an all time classic. Right up there with Pong and Mario.

Sick vid of a great game, definitely stands up today amidst all of Fromsoft's home-runs!

To share my own experience, on my first playthrough I went to the cathedral but did not find the gargoille so I started to explore and discovered the butterfly, then I fought Capra demon, all the way down to queelag and after beating her I was clueless of what I should do so I went on Google and saw that dumb scale to the gargoille. The problem was that I was so ahead in the game that I 2-shotted the gargouille and took absolutely no challenge beating them. That's another proof that nobody will Follow the same path playing this incredible game! Nice video btw

The level design of this game is simply second to none, and none of the other games have ever been able to replicate the incredible feeling of realizing "oh shit, I've been here before!" and unlocking a shortcut back to the serene safety of Firelink Shrine. Complimenting that was the choice of not allowing fast travel until Anor Londo, which I think was absolutely incredible and it's an absolute shame that the other games all just let you fast travel from the get-go (well, with Elden Ring it's necessary but the others have no excuse). One of my most memorable moments in my first playthrough, being a total DS noob, was when I finally got to the bottom of Blighttown and found the entrance to the Great Hollow. I wanted to push on, like I always did. I was curious what awaited me beyond. And then I saw the basilisks. And then I realized... I had rested at the bonfire at the bottom of Blighttown. If I got cursed and died here, I would be stuck in the world's asshole with half health and no purging stones to my name, and might never see the surface again. The fear that gripped me in that moment was one of the greatest "oh shits" I've ever experienced in a game, and it's solely because of the level design and the fact that YOU CAN'T JUST FAST TRAVEL YOUR WAY OUT OF A STICKY SITUATION. It's the first time I actually chickened out and fled back to the surface to buy purging stones before pushing on. I absolutely love moments like this. DS made me feel so connected to the world that I got to experience first hand how truly insignificant and terrified my little undead character must feel in that moment. It wasn't the first or last time I felt that connection, but it was the most memorable.

Certified Dark Souls Classic

For any one who loves Dark Souls I, you should definitely try the mod Age of Sunlight. It literally makes the game better by fixing stuffs, adding new rings, weapons, spells and even enemies's attack while being lore friendly, keeping the game's core without anything excessive.

Dark souls is the more authentic, and memorable, there is bosses in ds3 that I don’t even remember anymore but all of them in ds1 are just more iconic

4:45 hehe. Same happened to me, skeleton wheels brings me nightmare to this day. but i did go to blight town after.

I have always likened Dark Souls 1 to the Mark I Ironman Suit Tony Stark fashioned in the cave in Afghanistan. Yeah, it's a clunky thing.... but it was the absolute best work that could be done with the given time/materials and it showcased creative genius.

I played DS1 when it first came out on the PS3. It was the most immersive and mysterious game I'd ever played. Nothing else was like it at the time besides Demon's Souls, which I hadn't played. Exploring Lordran is still unlike anything I've experienced since from FromSoft. Your point about no fast travel, super tight level design, and shortcuts made exploring the game like a tense dungeon crawl throughout. It's still my favorite souls game ever with the most memorable world and characters.

Phantastic Video. Spoke do my soul.

Dark Souls 1 is just that game you never forget. Ive done alot with it..hoo my.... The very 1st two rings i grab when i started a new build are that sacrifice ring in the bridge as a ensurance in case i die (need those souls from Pinwell not been wasted)to get my 2nd ring wich is silver serpent ring in T.o.T.G.then return to Firelink. By this point my new character has good souls (Pinweel), a random mask from it,some souls to pop up i grab in there and in some builds i also grab Gravelord G.S. Meanwhile returning to Firelink,binoculars and winged spear (if needed).Zweyhander and a small shield are picked when goin to catacombs before doing what ive described earlier so im quite ready for build my new character with 20% more souls gain. Its a ritual for me.☺

When I first played it I really didn’t like it because it was clunky and didn’t have the beet bosses just the other day I decided I needed to go back and beat it and I was shocked I had a blast

I’m quite new to the soulsbourn games with ds1 being the only game I have and I can honestly say it might be one of my favorite video games of all time

14:52 what is that transition art from?

Ive literally watched atleast 20 to 30 dark souls 1 review/ critiques and your one piece reference got you a like from me lmao The world when one piece is over probably is going to look like a dark souls game

I hold Dark Soul second only to Elden Ring. Still, its brilliant interconnected level design is second to none.

I'll say only this much: Any other Fromsoft game can frustrate me. But it's only the OG Plin Plin Plon that can make me cry. It's like the first time you ate your favorite dish. And no matter how many times you try to recreate that same experience, it just can't be replicated.

The first souls game I ever played, going through ds2 right now and will start ds3 once I beat the three dlcs

It's one of the few games that explains why you can die and respawn in a video game. It was just a standard mechanic in every game just so you could keep playing. But Dark Souls made it part of the story and worldbuilding and invented a whole new genre of game in the process. So much good design came from taking the concept literally. And going hollow is a metaphor for getting frustrated and quitting, the only true death. Love it. My favorite game of all time.

I especially agree with the RPG argument. When I play dark souls 1 I tried my hardest to find cheese ways (not to the level of glitches) to deal with bosses and I can always find some. The fact that pyromancy has no stat requirement to me is probably the most obvious hint to players that they should maybe find some level of cheese to deal with the challenges.

I played ds1 last year and gave up for a while...to make a long story short i beat it this morning and am now playing ng+1

The genius FromSoft did with tying the gameplay very heavily with the lore is such a big aspect why Dark Souls is so damn good(like you mentioned), when 3 came out it got even better because of the gameplay polish. When DS1 released, I considered it one of the most polished in terms of movements(obviously isn’t when compared to modern Souls) that back then it felt like I was controlling my own limb once I really got used to it, 3 just made it better, 2 was shit in this aspect. This polished controls(except 2…) and the fact that the world is so immersive due to the gameplay being so heavily tied to the story/lore itself, made me feel like I was truly in it. The emotions it gave me was so intense, no other game could replicate what I feel about FromSoft’s Soulsborne. Honestly, Gwyn to me was perfect. I personally didn’t have a hard time with Gwyn’s movesets, to me he felt like he was just swinging his weapon mindlessly(hence why parry works so well), just doing what his body remembers so it felt very fitting for me. He wasn’t supposed to feel special imo, he’s just a pathetic old god who’s way past his prime and you’re pretty much just putting him out of his misery when you defeat him. Once he died I just felt empty, it wasn’t much of an achievement, the music enhanced this feeling so much due to it setting the tone that the fight isn’t anything grandiose. Absolutely perfect.

16:59 Not me, I saved Solaire 😎

As a person whos currently playing Dark Souls 1, when should i play the dlc? After i beat the game or save gwyn for last?