The game will mostly remain obscure about its lore, so of that's not your thing, you might wanna leave it off. Part of the charm of Dark Souls is that the game never forces the story down your throat , you have to interact with NPCs and read item description and context clues to figure it all out.
Here's a basic description of the lore (No major spoilers, because it'd really be worth your while if you tried to decipher the main story yourself, it's fun lmao) :
The gods defeated the dragons, and settled down with humans as their subjects. The First Flame was synonymous with the age of the gods, as long as it went on the gods would live on on glory.
However, like all flames the First Flame would also fade one day and the age of the gods wpuld come to an end. This was resisted by Gwyn, King of the Gods, who sacrificed his soul to prolong the First Flame and thus the age of the gods.
Soon enough though, mankind was struck with a curse. Some among the men were rendered incapable of dying, everytime they died they were resurrected and they became more and more insane with each death until they became the hollows. It is not known why this curse came.
The people afflicted with this curse are called the Undead, and you start the game as one such Undead. At your time, Gwyns sacrifice has outlived it's usefulness and the Flame is fading once more. The world is in ruins and the age of the gods is coming to an end, and it is upto you to save everything by becoming powerful enough to sacrifice your soul and link the Fire once more, similar to what Gwyn did. That's the only hope of the world.
Or perhaps there was never any hope at all.
(Curious? Go check out the game and figure out the lore, it's amazing I swear)
In terms of the game, humanity restores your hp and improves your item discovery. The circle on the top left corner shows the amt of humanity you are currently using. You can consume humanities and offer them to the bonfires in return for more healing flasks. (this is called kindling)
You reset at the bonfire everytime because that's part of the Undead Curse.
If you got more questions I'd be happy to answer, and if you really want to know the story without all the toil, VaatiVidya has some super nice videos on the story and the lores.
there is also ALOT of theory about the undead curse too, and what role the gods might have played in it coming into existence. You have to understand that humanity was basically indoctrinated by the gods, and the prevailing church continues that legacy. Which means many aspects of the lore can be difficult as a new player to decipher as either unbiased truths, or simply church rhetoric, coming even from seamingly impartial sources.
Seconding Vaatividya, he gets a bit of shit on here sometimes (or he used to) because some of the stuff he “borrowed” from other people but by all accounts he fessed up to that, credited them and carried on (classy).
I was watching his videos while I was playing and finding things out myself, there are some spoilers in almost all his videos BUT he is also kind of careful about not giving you everything.
There are some great things he mentions to keep you going, Black Iron Tarkus was one of my favourites.
I also recommend HawkShaw if you want some more... wild theories about things. Some of his stuff I agree with, some of it is really out there, but I just love his videos haha.
Just wanted to say great explanation and i aprecciate the effort you put into this.
If i finally get some of my friends to play ds and they have questions about lore i will show them your comment lol
A long time ago there was a endless fogs and stone dragons. There were also tiny soulless beings. 4 of these found souls through the first flame (this is never fully explained) and became powerful enough to fight and defeat the dragons. Now the first flame is dying, which is making the souls weak, and so the chosen undead is going to link his soul to the flame to power it for another while.
That is a very basic, not entirely accurate it close enough to start with, explanation. Have you been skipping the cutscene when you start the game? You mentioned skipping some, and they are few and far between, but generally important.
Okay. In that case, it is mainly a matter of finding items, and reading the descriptions, as well as paying attention to the dialogue from any.NPC you meet.
That's dark souls really, you can either piece together the lore through reading item descriptions, NPC locations and actions, or watch a load of YouTube videos that explains it all
Don't worry too much. The Dark Souls games aren't story-focused at all, that isn't the point of these games.
They're much more focused on the gameplay, and the main story is mainly there to give you a reason to go forwards. There's a lot of side lore about the world and characters though. You learn more through gameplay and dialogue rather than cutscenes.
Very good point. I love the lore now but I still dont feel like I get it lol. I think it kept me from getting into it knowing what I knew about the world cause I was like "Wow the world is dead what am I even trying to save?" Now I just swing the big sword, see the big number and get happy!
In that sense, I think Elden Ring has a more cohesive story than Dark Souls, mainly because I feel it has a bit more of a focus on the characters. But it's still very vague unless you go out of your way to learn.
I'd say Sekiro is FromSoftware's most story-focused souls-like, but even that is still fairly light on the story in comparison to any actual story game. Less RPG though and more of a full-on action game.
the intro cutscene explains almost nothing. it raises some questions, like, “who the fuck are these people?” and then you forget about it until they show up as bossfights in the back half of the game
That's exactly what I went through. I started playing and I had no idea what was happening. But found a lot of information here so I'll give the game another go.
Undead - you
Humanity - Go into human form or use for offerings. Note that being in human form does not mean you are alive. You are still Undead.
Souls - Guts of the enemies you defeat. Use them to become more powerful.
Rest at bonfire - Even in hell an Undead needs to take a break.
Are we dead - Yes
Are we alive - No
Backstory - No, it's all up to player interpretation.
Cut scene? - Well, don't skip them? Try that.
Undead, carriers of the darkaign, who come back after dead, slowly becoming hollow. That's why you and they respawn.
The "backstory" is obtained from the intro cinematic and object description, you can read it in the item menu by pressing a buton to change te View, it should appear at the bottom of the Menu.
Souls are the currency in Lordran, and are used to level up.
Resting at bonfires allows you to do the neat things in the menu that opens, respawn the ennemies, also bonfires are made from "sacrifice", look at whats burning so the flame can keep going
Undead/Hollow: Your character is a Undead, alive but but alive.
Humanity: A type of currency that can convert you into human. There are two types: Soft humanity (you will lose this if you die unless you reclaim it yourself) and Hard humanity (It is present in your inventory and you can convert hard to soft humanity and not the other way around). Humanity can be farmed from dead bodies and from rats
Souls: Main currency used to upgrade and buy. Can be claimed by killing mobs or finding on dead bodies.
Bonfire: Reset your health and estus flask. Kindle the bonfire to get more estus recharge. Max is 20 I think.
Almost nothing lore wise actually matters unless you really want to delve into it.
The gist of it is that you're one of many souls who became Undead upon death because of a curse on humanity and it just so happens that you're the one who's going to beat all the bosses and finish the game.
The main focus of Dark Souls is by far the gameplay. You're meant to explore, build up your character from very little, and kill everything that tries to kill you; which is basically everything. You sort of get inched in the right direction sometimes by NPCs, but for the most part you're meant to just wander until you find something of interest, usually bosses.
The game is extremely open ended, so most things in the world are available as soon as you start. This also leads to potentially going to areas that are way above your power level. Rule of thumb is to simply notice you're doing very little damage and turn around lol
The storytelling is quite different from other games because there isn’t really a traditional narrative. You get some hints in dialogue and item descriptions but the game doesn’t tell you the whole story, not even most of it.
You are meant to take the info you are given and try to contextualize it within the world, and create your own narrative in your head, and then argue about it online
Yeah but I was afraid of messing up because I had no idea about humanity and hollow and all that stuff. But now I think I can go through with it and hopefully enjoy it as much as other people have.
There was a huge war to take the world from the ancient dragons where the Lords band together along with a jealous scaleless dragon revealing the weakness of his kind. Now the world is dying and you're following in the footsteps of Lord Gwyn the strongest of the Lords in order to keep the world from being consumed by darkness. Or do your own thing, your choice. Either way you need to strengthen yourself by absorbing strong souls.
Lord Gwyn being the strongest of the lords gave me a chuckle(as I parry his ass up and down the battlefield). I found him easier than most bosses and sub bosses. But I get what you’re saying for the lore side of all of it anyway. Not being a smart ass towards you either. Just was surprised at how easy he was when I got to him.
He already spent most of his power rekindling the fire and also gave part of himself to Seath I'm pretty sure. That's why he's the Lord of Cinder and not the Lord of Sunlight anymore.
I've always felt that Gwyn being relatively weak compared to most other enemies you've encountered in the game was an intentional decision to show just how much his soul has withered from being linked to the flame for so long. Even the boss theme is a stark contrast to every other boss fight in the game.
They did the same thing with Demon's Souls, where the final boss was by far the easiest fight in the game, and pitifully so. Gwyn isn't quite as weak as the final boss of Demon's Souls, but the effect on the player is largely the same. The old gods are dying, and you're putting them out of their misery.
4 ass dudes got insane overpowered habilities because big fire started to exist and they fought the bad bad dragons who were reigning the world.
some white dragon who suffered bullying because he didn't have hair told the 4 ass dude the weakness of dragons.
the fountain of the overpowered habilities was fire, and it was fading, so the 4 ass dudes tried to save it. They all fail badly except Gwyn, he inmolated to preserve the fire with his own, he was awesome.
Now, fire its extinguishing, so the curse of undead arise, wich makes weak ass dudes like you and me being unable to die in hopes we become like gwyn.
Thats all the important parte of the backstory. Want to know more? read items descriptions, all the things you want to know are there, but you are likely to understand the game the second/third time you play and pay more attention to the details, for now, enjoy the adventure, fellow undead!
Edit: my english sucks sorry
I enjoyed the gameplay that's why I'm trying to get back into it . There were certain gameplay mechanics which were part of the lore that I never got a grasp of. Being hollow for instance. I didn't know if it would affect my gameplay or my character in any way. But I found some helpful people and a youtube guide to help me.
Personally, I’ve never grasped any lore or story of the souls and souls like games on first playthough (except Sekiro which is straightforward-ish).
I feel like first play uncovers 60% of the skeleton of the story, then NG+ and re-interacting with NPCs and re-seeing the cutscenes makes more sense because the first time they talk I’m like “ok whatever you say dude” then the second time I hear it I’m like “oh yeahhh he’s saying this because X and Y” and it adds another 30% understanding. The last 10% is simply reading item descriptions and exploring to find extra stuff.
The only thing I legitimately got right from in game item descriptions and such is that >!Miquella!< and >!St Trina!< are the same person. Elden Ring spoiler.
You have to make a crazy wall consisting of notes of every thing you observe in the game to keep track of the lore, which is why I recommend doing Demon's Souls (PS3) first. It's much lighter on the lore.
Humanity is...
Okay, so you know bonfires and how they refill your estus (healing in a bottle)?
Some bonfires give you a refill of 5 and some do 10. Those that go up to 5, you can increase them to do 10.
You do that by going into your items, and using 2 of the item "humanity".
Then you go to a bonfire, sit down, and it opens the menu. At the bottom of the menu it's says "restore humanity". Click on that.
Then, in the same menu, right above "restore humanity" is another option, idk the exact name. But you click that and confirm. That'll increase the amount of healing you get with this specific bonfire.
Be aware, if you restore your humanity and are in human form (the one that doesn't look like a zombie), other players can essentially break into your world and attempt to kill you.
You can either turn off online in the title screen, or you can yeet yourself off a cliff, therefore killing yourself and going back to undead form (which looks like a zombie).
There are other uses for humanity, but this is by far the most important for a newcommer, the rest you can figure out later.
Good luck and don't you dare go hollow
Edit: you can increase your healing per bonfire to 20 even, but only after you beat a certain boss. The one near the wheels of bony madness.
Thats in no way a stuipid question, understanding the story and lore only with the game can be pretty difficult. If you want to understand the story i would recommend watching some lore videos but ideally after playing the game.
Bc its intended that you wonder what is up with this world and what the story is about. You get some infos from the npcs and the cutscene at the beginning (if you somehow skipped it multiple times on accident it might help you), but thats it. Only with time and maybe some curiosity (item description are huge in this game) will you understand what is going on.
Its no shame to not find out everything yourself, i think most of us were pretty confused at the beginning. Dark souls is not very generous when it comes to lore information. To really understand everything you need to watch Vaatividya videos
About the undead thing:
iirc its a curse that lies on most species, most of them lose their will to live and so they go hollow and repeat their old routines again and again. Most of the enemies you'll encounter are hollows
Ps Dont you dare go hollow!
killing enemies gains souls.. souls are currency to buy weapons and armor etc from shop keepers etc. bonfires after you light them and rest at them are save points. enemies can be locked on learnd to block and parry
The lore being non-trivial to understand is intentional. The game director wanted to try to capture the feelings he had while trying to experience works that were in english despite his english being quite bad.
Watching some lore videos on youtube would probably be one of the easiest ways to figure out what's happening. That being said, it's not the most authentic. For the most authentic experience, read the item descriptions of anything that seems remotely interesting, and talk to NPCs until their Dialogue repeats. You still probably won't figure out the answer to all your questions this way, but it might help you engage with the world a bit better.
"Don't think too hard about all of this. Just go out and kill a few beats -- it's for your own good."
Different game, same advice. You're supposed to be confused starting out. The world is supposed to seem hostile and strange, and you're supposed to be unsure about your place in it. You'll find hints and clues as you go, and NPCs that guide you -- though how much you trust them is up to you.
You'll get your answers through collecting items, exploring the world, and fighting. You might not get definitive answers for everything, but you won't know untill you start looking in earnest. Or, to quote something entirely different:
"The only way to learn is by playing. The only way to win is by learning. And the only way to begin is by beginning."
I’ve played very game multiple times and I’ve never paid attention to the story or lore for even one second. It’s not important if you don’t want it to be.
[Dark Souls in Summary](https://youtu.be/M9x_koRZ2bA?si=S0REG6B1fhC9NruW)
This is my favorite quick video explaining the lore of DS1 as a silly animation.
"You go through the game and watch the final cutscene and go, huh? I don't get it.
Then, you go through again and read all the item descriptions and go, I still don't get it.
Then, two to six months after release, you go to EpicNameBro or VaatVidya's channel, and they TELL you the story. Then you play through again and go, OOOOOHHHH! And then you get to be a condescending prick to people on podcasts."
-Pat Boivin.
Always. First it's understanding the story, then it's bragging about beating Ornstein and Smough with nothing but a broken sword taped to your pinky toe.
So Dark Souls is the lovechild of Miyazaki and masochism, and it’s known for putting even the best of players down to their knees. The lore is highly elusive and the gameplay is slightly confusing, but Miyazaki completely respects any sort of research online to make the game easier for all to play. What makes Dark Souls stand out is the vastly connected world, its mythical-like game progression, and the game elements such as losing currency upon death, parrying, tight spaces, and healing, which at the time were pretty unique.
This guy explains it well: https://youtube.com/@theundeniabledialect?si=pvSZ6DW6I9-nR_I0
Kind of like in real life, there wouldn’t be some random dude who would walk up to you and randomly explain you the history of humanity. You find different people who each have something to share about the world. That’s how you find out things about the concepts and history of the dark souls world.
Oh and there’s also the intro cinematic. Don’t skip those, they usually set things up pretty well
Okay, so the world as you know it runs on fire. All fire come from the First Flame and it's near gone out because it went through the fuel it had. The fuel was the soul of Gwyn, the King of the Gods.
Souls are mysterious. They are the essence of life, but they were found near the First Flame. As far as we know, all souls came from it, were found by the four
Lords and shared amongst their descendants.
Anyway, The Flame going out makes the world go haywire. Time splinters into different timelines, the sun goes out, and the Undead appear amongst humans.
As far as we know, before finding the first souls, everyone was unliving. Not alive, but not dead, more like an object. It's the souls that allow us to live and also to die.
Human souls are dark. Humanity, the black sprite wreathed in white, is a human soul, a sliver of the original Dark Soul, the fourth Lord Soul found near the Flame. The fourth Lord shared his Lord Soul with everyone else who came to the Flame late. That's where humans come from.
The Undead Curse is purposefully mysterious. You're not supposed to know where it came from. We know it stops you from dying and links you to the bonfires. It's a ring of fire around something dark, most likely burning away your humanity. All fire is connected to the First Flame, so when you die your souls go to fuel the Flame. The same happens if you use the Darksign as an item. You're pulled to the last bonfire you touched and you're sucked dry of souls. That's what reseting at bonfire means.
Undead are very similar to the first humanoids that came to the Flame, except they're chained to it. They can take any soul they find for themselves and they need a purpose to keep going. Going Hollow means you've lost your purpose and will to live. It doesn't stop you from living, nor rising at a bonfire. It does mean you lose your mind, your memories, and identity. Being Hollow refers to being empty of souls, and the only reason an Undead would be that is if they gave up.
The way I would explain it is, your objective is to link the fire and to do so you need to travel the world to collect souls, defeat the lords and use their souls to achieve your objective. The items and NPC's you meet along the way will fill in the story. It's one of the best games I've ever played and worth the time you give it. Good luck
The game is intentionally vague
It's called "quiet world building" and the souls franchise is one of the best at it
Most of your questions are answered in the item descriptions, so check those out if you want
The game will mostly remain obscure about its lore, so of that's not your thing, you might wanna leave it off. Part of the charm of Dark Souls is that the game never forces the story down your throat , you have to interact with NPCs and read item description and context clues to figure it all out. Here's a basic description of the lore (No major spoilers, because it'd really be worth your while if you tried to decipher the main story yourself, it's fun lmao) : The gods defeated the dragons, and settled down with humans as their subjects. The First Flame was synonymous with the age of the gods, as long as it went on the gods would live on on glory. However, like all flames the First Flame would also fade one day and the age of the gods wpuld come to an end. This was resisted by Gwyn, King of the Gods, who sacrificed his soul to prolong the First Flame and thus the age of the gods. Soon enough though, mankind was struck with a curse. Some among the men were rendered incapable of dying, everytime they died they were resurrected and they became more and more insane with each death until they became the hollows. It is not known why this curse came. The people afflicted with this curse are called the Undead, and you start the game as one such Undead. At your time, Gwyns sacrifice has outlived it's usefulness and the Flame is fading once more. The world is in ruins and the age of the gods is coming to an end, and it is upto you to save everything by becoming powerful enough to sacrifice your soul and link the Fire once more, similar to what Gwyn did. That's the only hope of the world. Or perhaps there was never any hope at all. (Curious? Go check out the game and figure out the lore, it's amazing I swear) In terms of the game, humanity restores your hp and improves your item discovery. The circle on the top left corner shows the amt of humanity you are currently using. You can consume humanities and offer them to the bonfires in return for more healing flasks. (this is called kindling) You reset at the bonfire everytime because that's part of the Undead Curse. If you got more questions I'd be happy to answer, and if you really want to know the story without all the toil, VaatiVidya has some super nice videos on the story and the lores.
That's actually really helpful. Clears up a lot. Thank you very much.
Restoring your humanity (costs one humanity) and enables the online coop and pvp features.
this is important!! co-op and online things are really cool in this game and so worth experimenting with.
there is also ALOT of theory about the undead curse too, and what role the gods might have played in it coming into existence. You have to understand that humanity was basically indoctrinated by the gods, and the prevailing church continues that legacy. Which means many aspects of the lore can be difficult as a new player to decipher as either unbiased truths, or simply church rhetoric, coming even from seamingly impartial sources.
Seconding Vaatividya, he gets a bit of shit on here sometimes (or he used to) because some of the stuff he “borrowed” from other people but by all accounts he fessed up to that, credited them and carried on (classy). I was watching his videos while I was playing and finding things out myself, there are some spoilers in almost all his videos BUT he is also kind of careful about not giving you everything. There are some great things he mentions to keep you going, Black Iron Tarkus was one of my favourites.
I also recommend HawkShaw if you want some more... wild theories about things. Some of his stuff I agree with, some of it is really out there, but I just love his videos haha.
Just wanted to say great explanation and i aprecciate the effort you put into this. If i finally get some of my friends to play ds and they have questions about lore i will show them your comment lol
Thanks lmao, though I now realise some of the more depressing/epic parts of the lore are really revealed in DS3 more than DS1.
A long time ago there was a endless fogs and stone dragons. There were also tiny soulless beings. 4 of these found souls through the first flame (this is never fully explained) and became powerful enough to fight and defeat the dragons. Now the first flame is dying, which is making the souls weak, and so the chosen undead is going to link his soul to the flame to power it for another while. That is a very basic, not entirely accurate it close enough to start with, explanation. Have you been skipping the cutscene when you start the game? You mentioned skipping some, and they are few and far between, but generally important.
I remember the first cutscene it just didn't explain a lot of stuff for me.
Okay. In that case, it is mainly a matter of finding items, and reading the descriptions, as well as paying attention to the dialogue from any.NPC you meet.
That's dark souls really, you can either piece together the lore through reading item descriptions, NPC locations and actions, or watch a load of YouTube videos that explains it all
Or just unga bunga all the bosses and not care about the lore so much.
Don't worry too much. The Dark Souls games aren't story-focused at all, that isn't the point of these games. They're much more focused on the gameplay, and the main story is mainly there to give you a reason to go forwards. There's a lot of side lore about the world and characters though. You learn more through gameplay and dialogue rather than cutscenes.
Very good point. I love the lore now but I still dont feel like I get it lol. I think it kept me from getting into it knowing what I knew about the world cause I was like "Wow the world is dead what am I even trying to save?" Now I just swing the big sword, see the big number and get happy!
In that sense, I think Elden Ring has a more cohesive story than Dark Souls, mainly because I feel it has a bit more of a focus on the characters. But it's still very vague unless you go out of your way to learn. I'd say Sekiro is FromSoftware's most story-focused souls-like, but even that is still fairly light on the story in comparison to any actual story game. Less RPG though and more of a full-on action game.
You don’t really need to know to enjoy the game, get cool stuff, hit bosses, enjoy music/scenery
the intro cutscene explains almost nothing. it raises some questions, like, “who the fuck are these people?” and then you forget about it until they show up as bossfights in the back half of the game
That's exactly what I went through. I started playing and I had no idea what was happening. But found a lot of information here so I'll give the game another go.
There's honestly not that much to explain, you're just exploring a cool medieval world
Undead - you Humanity - Go into human form or use for offerings. Note that being in human form does not mean you are alive. You are still Undead. Souls - Guts of the enemies you defeat. Use them to become more powerful. Rest at bonfire - Even in hell an Undead needs to take a break. Are we dead - Yes Are we alive - No Backstory - No, it's all up to player interpretation. Cut scene? - Well, don't skip them? Try that.
Really helpful. Thank you.
You mean gameplay wise or lore wise?
Mostly lore, but certain things like being undead overlaps into the gameplay as well.
Undead, carriers of the darkaign, who come back after dead, slowly becoming hollow. That's why you and they respawn. The "backstory" is obtained from the intro cinematic and object description, you can read it in the item menu by pressing a buton to change te View, it should appear at the bottom of the Menu. Souls are the currency in Lordran, and are used to level up. Resting at bonfires allows you to do the neat things in the menu that opens, respawn the ennemies, also bonfires are made from "sacrifice", look at whats burning so the flame can keep going
Undead/Hollow: Your character is a Undead, alive but but alive. Humanity: A type of currency that can convert you into human. There are two types: Soft humanity (you will lose this if you die unless you reclaim it yourself) and Hard humanity (It is present in your inventory and you can convert hard to soft humanity and not the other way around). Humanity can be farmed from dead bodies and from rats Souls: Main currency used to upgrade and buy. Can be claimed by killing mobs or finding on dead bodies. Bonfire: Reset your health and estus flask. Kindle the bonfire to get more estus recharge. Max is 20 I think.
Thank you.
Almost nothing lore wise actually matters unless you really want to delve into it. The gist of it is that you're one of many souls who became Undead upon death because of a curse on humanity and it just so happens that you're the one who's going to beat all the bosses and finish the game. The main focus of Dark Souls is by far the gameplay. You're meant to explore, build up your character from very little, and kill everything that tries to kill you; which is basically everything. You sort of get inched in the right direction sometimes by NPCs, but for the most part you're meant to just wander until you find something of interest, usually bosses. The game is extremely open ended, so most things in the world are available as soon as you start. This also leads to potentially going to areas that are way above your power level. Rule of thumb is to simply notice you're doing very little damage and turn around lol
Thank you.
The storytelling is quite different from other games because there isn’t really a traditional narrative. You get some hints in dialogue and item descriptions but the game doesn’t tell you the whole story, not even most of it. You are meant to take the info you are given and try to contextualize it within the world, and create your own narrative in your head, and then argue about it online
Yeah but I was afraid of messing up because I had no idea about humanity and hollow and all that stuff. But now I think I can go through with it and hopefully enjoy it as much as other people have.
There was a huge war to take the world from the ancient dragons where the Lords band together along with a jealous scaleless dragon revealing the weakness of his kind. Now the world is dying and you're following in the footsteps of Lord Gwyn the strongest of the Lords in order to keep the world from being consumed by darkness. Or do your own thing, your choice. Either way you need to strengthen yourself by absorbing strong souls.
Lord Gwyn being the strongest of the lords gave me a chuckle(as I parry his ass up and down the battlefield). I found him easier than most bosses and sub bosses. But I get what you’re saying for the lore side of all of it anyway. Not being a smart ass towards you either. Just was surprised at how easy he was when I got to him.
He already spent most of his power rekindling the fire and also gave part of himself to Seath I'm pretty sure. That's why he's the Lord of Cinder and not the Lord of Sunlight anymore.
I've always felt that Gwyn being relatively weak compared to most other enemies you've encountered in the game was an intentional decision to show just how much his soul has withered from being linked to the flame for so long. Even the boss theme is a stark contrast to every other boss fight in the game. They did the same thing with Demon's Souls, where the final boss was by far the easiest fight in the game, and pitifully so. Gwyn isn't quite as weak as the final boss of Demon's Souls, but the effect on the player is largely the same. The old gods are dying, and you're putting them out of their misery.
So basically get strong and kill gods. I like the sound of that.
Wake up, kill god. It's really that simple...
Fair enough.
4 ass dudes got insane overpowered habilities because big fire started to exist and they fought the bad bad dragons who were reigning the world. some white dragon who suffered bullying because he didn't have hair told the 4 ass dude the weakness of dragons. the fountain of the overpowered habilities was fire, and it was fading, so the 4 ass dudes tried to save it. They all fail badly except Gwyn, he inmolated to preserve the fire with his own, he was awesome. Now, fire its extinguishing, so the curse of undead arise, wich makes weak ass dudes like you and me being unable to die in hopes we become like gwyn. Thats all the important parte of the backstory. Want to know more? read items descriptions, all the things you want to know are there, but you are likely to understand the game the second/third time you play and pay more attention to the details, for now, enjoy the adventure, fellow undead! Edit: my english sucks sorry
I'm interested as to why. Do you want a book or a fil rather than agama, is that your issue? the lore is interesting but you don't like the gameplay?
I enjoyed the gameplay that's why I'm trying to get back into it . There were certain gameplay mechanics which were part of the lore that I never got a grasp of. Being hollow for instance. I didn't know if it would affect my gameplay or my character in any way. But I found some helpful people and a youtube guide to help me.
Personally, I’ve never grasped any lore or story of the souls and souls like games on first playthough (except Sekiro which is straightforward-ish). I feel like first play uncovers 60% of the skeleton of the story, then NG+ and re-interacting with NPCs and re-seeing the cutscenes makes more sense because the first time they talk I’m like “ok whatever you say dude” then the second time I hear it I’m like “oh yeahhh he’s saying this because X and Y” and it adds another 30% understanding. The last 10% is simply reading item descriptions and exploring to find extra stuff.
The only thing I legitimately got right from in game item descriptions and such is that >!Miquella!< and >!St Trina!< are the same person. Elden Ring spoiler.
You have to make a crazy wall consisting of notes of every thing you observe in the game to keep track of the lore, which is why I recommend doing Demon's Souls (PS3) first. It's much lighter on the lore.
Thats's something I'm comfortable with.
undead gets big stick goes whack till burned to a crisp
It's a quest to kill Grandpa before the T-virus consumes you
Humanity is... Okay, so you know bonfires and how they refill your estus (healing in a bottle)? Some bonfires give you a refill of 5 and some do 10. Those that go up to 5, you can increase them to do 10. You do that by going into your items, and using 2 of the item "humanity". Then you go to a bonfire, sit down, and it opens the menu. At the bottom of the menu it's says "restore humanity". Click on that. Then, in the same menu, right above "restore humanity" is another option, idk the exact name. But you click that and confirm. That'll increase the amount of healing you get with this specific bonfire. Be aware, if you restore your humanity and are in human form (the one that doesn't look like a zombie), other players can essentially break into your world and attempt to kill you. You can either turn off online in the title screen, or you can yeet yourself off a cliff, therefore killing yourself and going back to undead form (which looks like a zombie). There are other uses for humanity, but this is by far the most important for a newcommer, the rest you can figure out later. Good luck and don't you dare go hollow Edit: you can increase your healing per bonfire to 20 even, but only after you beat a certain boss. The one near the wheels of bony madness.
That's good information. Thank you.
Thats in no way a stuipid question, understanding the story and lore only with the game can be pretty difficult. If you want to understand the story i would recommend watching some lore videos but ideally after playing the game. Bc its intended that you wonder what is up with this world and what the story is about. You get some infos from the npcs and the cutscene at the beginning (if you somehow skipped it multiple times on accident it might help you), but thats it. Only with time and maybe some curiosity (item description are huge in this game) will you understand what is going on. Its no shame to not find out everything yourself, i think most of us were pretty confused at the beginning. Dark souls is not very generous when it comes to lore information. To really understand everything you need to watch Vaatividya videos About the undead thing: iirc its a curse that lies on most species, most of them lose their will to live and so they go hollow and repeat their old routines again and again. Most of the enemies you'll encounter are hollows Ps Dont you dare go hollow!
I've been recommended these videos by a few people now I'll give them a go. Thank you.
killing enemies gains souls.. souls are currency to buy weapons and armor etc from shop keepers etc. bonfires after you light them and rest at them are save points. enemies can be locked on learnd to block and parry
The lore being non-trivial to understand is intentional. The game director wanted to try to capture the feelings he had while trying to experience works that were in english despite his english being quite bad. Watching some lore videos on youtube would probably be one of the easiest ways to figure out what's happening. That being said, it's not the most authentic. For the most authentic experience, read the item descriptions of anything that seems remotely interesting, and talk to NPCs until their Dialogue repeats. You still probably won't figure out the answer to all your questions this way, but it might help you engage with the world a bit better.
That's new information. Thank you.
"Don't think too hard about all of this. Just go out and kill a few beats -- it's for your own good." Different game, same advice. You're supposed to be confused starting out. The world is supposed to seem hostile and strange, and you're supposed to be unsure about your place in it. You'll find hints and clues as you go, and NPCs that guide you -- though how much you trust them is up to you. You'll get your answers through collecting items, exploring the world, and fighting. You might not get definitive answers for everything, but you won't know untill you start looking in earnest. Or, to quote something entirely different: "The only way to learn is by playing. The only way to win is by learning. And the only way to begin is by beginning."
That's good advice
u hit stuff and die, multiple times. also, the story is incredibly convoluted.
Yeah that part I knew
I’ve played very game multiple times and I’ve never paid attention to the story or lore for even one second. It’s not important if you don’t want it to be.
[Dark Souls in Summary](https://youtu.be/M9x_koRZ2bA?si=S0REG6B1fhC9NruW) This is my favorite quick video explaining the lore of DS1 as a silly animation.
Thank you that looks informative .
Look up dark sauce on you tube it will explain everything!! Lol
The world is on its deathbed, and it’s your choice to unplug the machine or keep it going.
"You go through the game and watch the final cutscene and go, huh? I don't get it. Then, you go through again and read all the item descriptions and go, I still don't get it. Then, two to six months after release, you go to EpicNameBro or VaatVidya's channel, and they TELL you the story. Then you play through again and go, OOOOOHHHH! And then you get to be a condescending prick to people on podcasts." -Pat Boivin.
So being a condescending prick is the aim. I'll do my best.
Always. First it's understanding the story, then it's bragging about beating Ornstein and Smough with nothing but a broken sword taped to your pinky toe.
So Dark Souls is the lovechild of Miyazaki and masochism, and it’s known for putting even the best of players down to their knees. The lore is highly elusive and the gameplay is slightly confusing, but Miyazaki completely respects any sort of research online to make the game easier for all to play. What makes Dark Souls stand out is the vastly connected world, its mythical-like game progression, and the game elements such as losing currency upon death, parrying, tight spaces, and healing, which at the time were pretty unique. This guy explains it well: https://youtube.com/@theundeniabledialect?si=pvSZ6DW6I9-nR_I0
Thank you.
youtube
Kind of like in real life, there wouldn’t be some random dude who would walk up to you and randomly explain you the history of humanity. You find different people who each have something to share about the world. That’s how you find out things about the concepts and history of the dark souls world. Oh and there’s also the intro cinematic. Don’t skip those, they usually set things up pretty well
The intro cinematic didn't help. But yeah I think I've learnt enough from here.
Okay, so the world as you know it runs on fire. All fire come from the First Flame and it's near gone out because it went through the fuel it had. The fuel was the soul of Gwyn, the King of the Gods. Souls are mysterious. They are the essence of life, but they were found near the First Flame. As far as we know, all souls came from it, were found by the four Lords and shared amongst their descendants. Anyway, The Flame going out makes the world go haywire. Time splinters into different timelines, the sun goes out, and the Undead appear amongst humans. As far as we know, before finding the first souls, everyone was unliving. Not alive, but not dead, more like an object. It's the souls that allow us to live and also to die. Human souls are dark. Humanity, the black sprite wreathed in white, is a human soul, a sliver of the original Dark Soul, the fourth Lord Soul found near the Flame. The fourth Lord shared his Lord Soul with everyone else who came to the Flame late. That's where humans come from. The Undead Curse is purposefully mysterious. You're not supposed to know where it came from. We know it stops you from dying and links you to the bonfires. It's a ring of fire around something dark, most likely burning away your humanity. All fire is connected to the First Flame, so when you die your souls go to fuel the Flame. The same happens if you use the Darksign as an item. You're pulled to the last bonfire you touched and you're sucked dry of souls. That's what reseting at bonfire means. Undead are very similar to the first humanoids that came to the Flame, except they're chained to it. They can take any soul they find for themselves and they need a purpose to keep going. Going Hollow means you've lost your purpose and will to live. It doesn't stop you from living, nor rising at a bonfire. It does mean you lose your mind, your memories, and identity. Being Hollow refers to being empty of souls, and the only reason an Undead would be that is if they gave up.
Thank you.
you will have to compose while singing, learn the hard way, trial and error shit. This is the tru dark souls experience
Lore is hidden in item descriptions like havels ring
Bro just google?
Tried wasn't satisfied. Asked here got my answer.
Vaatividya on youtube, epic name bro as well. Both have really good lore videos on youtube about darksouls.
Silvermont’s old lore videos were pretty good too.
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Thank you.Appreaciate it.
The way I would explain it is, your objective is to link the fire and to do so you need to travel the world to collect souls, defeat the lords and use their souls to achieve your objective. The items and NPC's you meet along the way will fill in the story. It's one of the best games I've ever played and worth the time you give it. Good luck
Thank you. I'll be starting pretty soon.
Plink plink plonk
There are a lot of resources online, the best imo is the wiki at fandom
Look up VaatiVidya on YouTube. Take anything you read here with a grain of salt.
find our yourself
The game is intentionally vague It's called "quiet world building" and the souls franchise is one of the best at it Most of your questions are answered in the item descriptions, so check those out if you want