Playing Dark Souls after Elden Ring
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 2. 06. 2024
- Tips for playing Dark Souls for the first time if your intro to the Soulsborne franchise was Elden Ring. I cover differences in game design philosophy, itemization, skills, stats, and statuses that differ between the two From Software games. Hope to encourage you to go back to Dark Souls 1 after beating Elden Ring, and smooth out any gaming culture shock.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction and thesis
1:16 (Visual) spoiler warning & RFC
2:01 Level design
4:00 Difficulty and balance
5:51 Gameplay
8:45 Itemization and builds
11:04 Random gotchas
13:54 Outtro and thanks
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The level design is unmatched. Restricting fast travel in place of a vertical world that branches together with clever shortcuts is a genius design decision, and it sadly has not been repeated in this series.
I find Sekiro's level design to be better imo.
The lack of vertical level design was added with Sekiro and it completed the package.
@@CrystronHalq he isn't talking about individual areas but the world as a whole.
@@CrystronHalq Sorry dude, I used the term "level design" when I should have wrote "world design", or something.
@@leeham6230 Yeah. DS1 has better world design cause it tries to connect the entire world as much as possible with its levels.
because it's not really that great, in the end is just a big resident evil area but you don't have a map, so it's a surprise everytime you return to a place you already visited
The lack of fast travel before O&S has always been so great. It encourages you to get "stuck" on a boss and push through, instead of warping out, grinding/hunting upgrades, and then steamrolling. Even on repeat playthroughs, it encourages you to be smart with your time and not make needless trips back to firelink
Exactly! 2 core memories for me: taking 30 tries to beat Gargoyles cause I really wanted to "get" dark souls, and also when I fell down a deep deep hole or three in the catacombs and stupidly rested at the fire when I was waaaay too weak to fight my way back up
This is exactly why I was glad to hear that Elden Ring is finally a new player friendly game. I'm enjoying it so much.
The area immediately around O&S was actually a pretty great place to farm souls/titanite
I also miss when fast travel had to be earned.
Doesn't have any affect on pointless trips to firelink when you can level up at every bonfire
The first souls has the best world map. Its fantastic.
demons souls ?
I meant Dark, Demon had the nexas which I'm glad they got away from.
No it didnt. Bloodborne does.
apart from londo , frikin curse to fight ghosts makes it annoying as hell
â@@cactusmann5542 when im in a meatriding competition but my opponent is a bloodborne fan
Sitting down at the bonfire in the swamp of Blighttown for the first time and realizing I cannot just fast travel out of there was a frightening but also exciting experience I will never forget! Especially because I played DS3 and BB first where such a problem cannot occur. Loved it :D
It was kinda comforting knowing it's your safe place
I would add that the fact you can't fast travel for the most part of the game (AND not having a map nor direction) makes you really connect with the environment, the world, the scenery. And you have to walk through it SO MANY TIMES, it becomes second nature to you. You'll find yourself knowing how to get to every part of the level effortlessly or get lost in an unknown location for a new adventure. DS1 is truly special the first time.
I just completed ds1 remastered which has been my first ever soulsborne game, and the feeling of travelling the areas and getting lost at first like in blighttown but then the level design just clicks feels so rewarding, it feels like knowing your way around a city in real life and allows you to connect with the game and the scenery so much better
@@aminyashed2016 i Will say the level design in this game is unmatched
@@aminyashed2016 One of the best thing about Dark Souls was that you understood where places were positioned, and on top of that you would see areas in the distance that you later reach, or that you already reached, and you start really getting how everything is connected. For example when you see Ash Lake from the Tomb of Giants, or I remember being able to see the Demon Ruins from another area, or obviously Anor Londo on the top of the mountain. That and being able to reach it later makes it all so epic and I've never felt that way before with games, even games like Resident Evil 4 or Ocarina of Time which had later game areas visible in the distance didn't give me this type of feeling cause I could tell it was an illusion, while in Dark Souls it actually felt like a real world.
This is a good point, I know Undead Burg/Parish inside and out by now haha.
It's just amazing to learn the paths by heart, I haven't played in several months but I could probably find my way from the bottom of the map to the top pretty easily.
I decided to revisit Dark Souls this past week and had an absolute blast with it, probably the most fun since my very first playthrough. Even decided to get the platinum trophy for it and that says something since I rarely go for 100% completion in games. What a masterpiece it is and holds up well to this day!
Congrats on plat! How long did you farm channeler's trident lol
@@ji_mothy Get this, only 25 minutes! I read how some took multiple hours, even days to get it. That was the one obstacle I dreaded when I decided to go for the plat but I guess it was just meant to be.
I decided to get all the achievements before DS3 came out and I regret doing it. It somehow made me play the game in a tedious way not the way I accumulated over 500 hours in it before and still wanted to play it again.
I have it on switch, only played like 5 mins of it but I want to find the time to get into it, got elden ring on the ps5 and havent even loaded it up yet. I think im just scared that if I get into one of them ill end up doing nothing elseđ
@@joedwyer3297 can confirm that lmao. i got elden ring in march and never got past the second main boss because i gave up. picked it up again around thanksgiving, became obsessed, and beat the whole game by new years. so worth it lmao
Being that Elden Ring was the first Fromsoftware game that I 100% and even completed a level 1 run in I decided to go back and play the rest. While I agree the bosses are easier the most brutal part for me is the long runs you have to take to get back to where you were. That was definitely the biggest shock after being allowed to spawn directly outside of most boss room in Elden Ring.
Same thing I said but Iâm loving every frustrating moment
Manus though. I had to have died at least 40 times fighting him đ
Getting rid of the long boss run-ups is one of the best improvements in Elden Ring. It's great that Dark Souls 1 challenges you to be careful with fewer bonfires, but it's pure agony trying to overcome a new boss when you have to waste like two minutes between every death just getting back to the room.
â@@moondogvi3238 honestly i have a love-hate relationship with that
because like you said its annoying as fuck (seriously i almost never get mad during a fromsoft game, especially with most of the time its something i did, but holy shit when i fuckup a feew times and i spend literally over half an hour just running back to the boss room, then i get annoyed)
but on the other hand it does make it feel that much more rewarding and encourages actually getting gud, either to quickly slay the enemies on your way, or to just avoid being ganked while running to the boss.
Its basically something that i don't really care if it stays or leaves, but if it wasn't there to begin with and then they added it, i'd be pissed as fuck/i don't mind it as much because im used to it
i played this one entirely inmediately AFTER elden ring (only had played a couple of hours in ds1 before and never reached the end) and it blew my mind, its a masterpiece of a game
Immo, Elden Ring is great and I'm glad it was different but DS1 is just so damn classic feeling. I think it will age the best.
Dark souls 1 is so good because of how unique it is. Itâs noticeable whether itâs your first fromsoft game, or your last.
@@bigsmall2842 indeed it is my hollow frriend
Elden Ring was the first SoulsBorne I actually played more than an hour or 2... Until last week. I played through DS Remastered, and I have to agree with you.
Echoing the level design mastery....It's simply one of the best to ever be created. Every space is utilized. Secrets hidden everywhere. Everything means something. Entirely connected. As amazing as Elden Ring has been the world of the Original Dark Souls is unmatched, in my opinion by any game.
I never felt more unsafe and the need to be careful as in DS1. In all other games I dont care if I make misstakes or die, because I can only fast trevel. Especially in DS3 and Elden Ring where theres bonfires everywhere. Whereas in DS 1 youre really punished for dying, as bonfires were pretty rare and it was important to learn by failure, having to redo things over and over! Finding shortcuts in the later games means nothing because the fast travel is always enabled. But in DS1 finding a shortcut means everything, when youre totally lost in a hard area, and find yourself back to areas youve been to and know where the bonfire is. If you need to go to an area, you need to go on foot, and know that travelling huge distances is a time consuming thing, which is a much more risk reward situation, which gives way more satisfaction when you arrive at the area you wanted to go to.
what a lovely little video. i love that you sound calm but keep me interested. not too energetic like "WHATS UP GUYS" and not monotone like video essays. the goldilocks of voice overs
Bless the algorithm, because I was just writing about playing Dark Souls after Elden Ring, and I was just making a very similar point about the world building. I think that by Elden Ring, writers had figured out how to make the terrain seem like it has affected the history of the world around it, whereas Dark Soul's one weakness is the that the world serves as a game-space first and then as a lore-building device. Of course, every game has the world at the service of the gameplay, but the way Elden Ring makes it seem that it's the other way around is very artistic. Anyways, great video, congratulations.
When I played dark souls 2 and dark souls 3i was legitimately upset when I learned you could fast travel right out the gate. I loved having to learn the layout of the land and having to earn the ability to fast travel
Yup, and also the restricted nature of Dark Soulsâ early game kinda forced From to make it as engaging as possible. Fast travel allows them to have more generic areas.
@@LateStageCap that and they simply ran out of time and money
lol imagine no fast travel in ds2
@@gaythugsmatter7029 You get a reward and I think an achievement if you beat DS2 without ever resting at a bonfire, so... it's possible
right? itâs pretty disappointing in dark souls 3 too because playing without it you realize there is intention there to make shortcuts and pathways. It is kinda cool in the end of the world and time itself aesthetic that firelink is disconnected from everything, but having it as a fast travel hub and not built into the world is also pretty lame, I mean you can go to lothric from a tp and thatâs it.
Nice job. I just finished demon souls on PS5. I think that was a masterpiece, now you got me interested in Dark souls.
I've always said that the biggest character of Dark Souls 1 is the very map itself. The level design is the best of any game and the feeling of connecting areas when you discover that ladder or that tunnel or that lift is amazing. I'm playing it again nowđ
Hey, just wanted to say congrats on your channel growing. I just started one myself not long ago. It's cool hearing your perspective as someone who played Dark Souls later on unlike myself who was eagerly awaiting the game after playing Demon's Souls on PS3. This game really changed everything and I look at it still today as one of my most memorable and affecting gaming experiences. Sometimes I would just sit at the hub and listen to the music and let it wash over me. Keep up the good work. Cheers!
I am now subbed this was a fantastic quality video and I am about to start up Dark Souls Remastered for the first time ever. Can not wait to see more from this channel.
I personally loved Elden Ringâs open world the first time around. Stumbling on the field of lightning goats was such a memorable funny moment, stumbling on the wormfaces felt like I had fallen into a dark, secret place that the rest of the world had the common sense to avoid.
Not so much third and fourth time around
@@chase6579 I've beaten it twice, but yeah the open world is gonna make repeat playthroughs a bit of a slog. It's just such a huge pacing killer and time sink. Meanwhile I've replayed DS1 more times than I'd like to admit. I can beat DS1 at a relaxed pace in like 12-14 hours, Elden Ring took me 70 lol. Granted I have way more experience with DS1... but I'm probably never beating Elden Ring in under 50 and that's just too long.
@@yewtewbstew547 yeah with ER I've beaten it 5 times but the last 3 I used the rune glitch in mohgs palace to hit 125 (for pvp builds) and even still, you have NO freedom because there are certain things you HAVE to do and certain quests you have to complete to get all of the ancient stones. Why do I need to check a guide on my fifth play through to make sure that I didn't forget anything? And I'm sorry but the bosses are often just too much imo. Love Godfrey. That imo is the perfect boss of the game over all. Marget is good as well as radagon and astel is fine, but the rest? I don't even want to fight them. DS3 is the perfect balance and given fromsofts track record with DLC bosses I'm kind of dreading to see what they will be like.
@@yewtewbstew547 The best thing about Elden Ring is the exploration and I think it's not as replayable as Dark Souls. What I like about Elden Ring is thinking it's some 16bit era videogame where there are no limits to the levels and you can just explore endlessly. The idea that there's something hidden everywhere makes it incredible as an experience and I don't mind copypasted enemies cause to me it's like Golden Axe on a giant scale. This all makes it cool but it's not nearly as good as Dark Souls, it's a wonderful game for its scope alone but it doesn't have the artistry of Dark Souls
@@chase6579 You even disliked Rennala? The fight was more cinematic than challenging for me, even though it took me a few attempts anyway. Didn't find anything particularly obnoxious about either phase.
I can't help but maniacally laugh when killing the mushroom children I know I'm a monster but an undead had gotta make some mushroom stew
I live by: if I can lock on to it, it's dying
Mario has no problem slaughtering them.
Don't worry they come back to life after you sit at a bonfire unlike Sif. đ„șđą
When I saw the dead ones in the swamp in DS3, I laughed.
mofo out here roleplaying as anakin
For such a small channel this video is very well edited and put together. Great job on this, I look forward to seeing more from you.
My dude! New Elden ring player here. Lovely video, picked up Dark souls recently (havent finished elden ring yet, but am definitely going for it).
This entire video has been a good disclaimer for me to get into a different mindset!
I played DS3 first and then Elden Ring. It was really hard for me to get into DS1 but what honestly got me kinda hooked was how interconnected the world was. I picked the Master Key on my first play through and it ironically was the thing that got me hooked because it made realize, âHoly shit, this location leads to this location????â Then I finally figured out the combat and everything just clicked.
Now for me DS1 is my favorite, but I have a soft spot for DS3 since it was my first Souls.
Very crisp solid round about video with concise nostalgic little comments that remind me of my first time playing the original souls series. Keep it up đđŒđđŒ
Cheers to you buddy. Wishing you lots of channel growth for 2023. Keep doing your thing!
I would add that you can hurt NPCs by accident and that in some cases you can really screw up with this. In Elden Ring they made it impossible to do it in the Round Table, but in Dark Souls, press the wrong button and you can aggro o kill and NPC, even the blacksmith!
You can still attack most npc in the Lands Between, outside of the Roundtable hold.
@@lahunica2726 That's what he said...
there are lore reasons why you can't attack in the round table hold, i wouldn't call it a negative either, i don't think you have to be allowed to kill anyone and everyone you want in these games.
@@justarandompepe8961 Yall are dense as fuck. They said you can do it by ACCIDENT and to be CAREFUL not to. No one called it a negative.
Or falling on them. Had to pay 50,000 to some pirate đą
Hey great video, didn't even realise it had small views, meaning its good because your speech and video presentation is well done. I appreciated the neat and clean on screen graphics too.
Awesome video man the pace and editing is great and you arenât giving me a nothing burger your words actually have meaning. The background music is sick too
This is an awesome video! Iâve only finished DS1 once but itâs a really special game. I feel like thereâs still so much I want to see and do and I canât wait for my next play through.
You should do it bro đ
this is amazing, i left these games alone cus of their reputation and didnt feel like suffering, but after playing elden ring because of its seemingly endless praise i realized its an extremely rewarding suffering and im excited to try out all of fromsofts previous entries.
I think what people seem to misunderstand when they say it's hard is that you're not really replaying the same level constantly. You progress by collecting items, opening shortcuts and killing minibosses, so it's not like failing a level in other games. Though of course you will replay some boss fights a lot
A lot of people dont like the souls games because they don't understand that you are ultimately challenging yourself to beat the boss or difficult enemy. If you can be patient then every death will add to the learning curve and eventually you will succeed abd progress. That's why I love these games. Have fun discovering these games.
@@OldboyGamergeek Exactly. The real challenge is within yourself. The only way you get a game over is if you give up.
Some bosses in DS3 donât have any summons available, and if there is, youâre limited on the amount of embers you have to summon them. This requires you to beat most bosses completely on your own
Go with Dark Souls 3 or Soulsborne first, both fantastic in their own way. DS3 is for me still the all time best of all FromSoftware titles. Even if it doesn't have an open world, but the open world also comes with some disadvantages (e. g. in Elden RIng I was overpowered half of the game because you run into areas that were supposed for way lower levels). In the other, more linear FromSoftware titles you have more like a constant challenge. And there are no such overkill weapon skills which are very cool in the first place but then making the game just way too easy. In DS3 & Co. you have constant challenge and you constantly must master the combat system and respect your enemies instead of just spamming overkill skills.
Gotta mention that everything you can see you can go to, like how in Tomb of the Giants you can see 'below' blight town into Ash Lake, and you can actually get down there.
Love the editing this was an extremely professional video especially for a small channel! Subscribed
Great video! Really appreciate the comparisons.
I had started into DS1 Remastered, but put it down to play Elden Ring; you have convinced me to go back and finish it đ.
12:40 if i remember correctly there are embers you can give to blacksmiths, and one of them can infuse your weapon with occult type damages which actually deal extra damages to gods :)
Yes, embers are the equivalent of Elden Ring's whetstone blades
I think it's fair not to include that for multiple reasons;
Occult does not do extra damage to 'gods', per say. It does extra damage to 3 bosses. One of which is fairly hidden and is a gimmick fight. One of which is probably one of the easiest bosses in the entire game and you won't face until you're maxed out in terms of build. The last of which is a double boss where one of the enemies is weak to occult, and the other is not. (Which you fight at a point where 95% of players will have no occult weapon, or will have a single occult club that you find in the area and is generally much worse than any other option you have.)
The Dark Ember required to make occult weapons is located in an area that 95% of new players will not find on their first run, as it requires puzzling parkour and exploring an area that most would ignore, then happening to interact with an object that isn't particularly thrilling. Then you have to discover the ember in an area most players will be trying to rush through as fast as possible considering the enemies nearby. On top of that, it requires having a maxed out divine weapon which requires another ember.
The main strength of occult is the special faith scaling, but it almost always results in lost damage over divine or chaos weapons.
4:05 is a HUGE point for me. I feel like the later games in the souls series use areas simply as a means to funnel you into an epic boss fight, rather than areas being individually cool themselves. I think I struggled to enjoy Elden Ring so much because I don't care for boss battles that much, and many of the areas aren't that interesting or fun to explore as Dark Souls 1.
I have a similar issue. I'm accostumed to the areas being the game's challenge themselves while the bosses being the medals that prove you beat that section. In ER it feels like areas are an excuse to get to a boss fight that will take most of your gameplay's time.
is it just me or does elden ring have a LOT OF COPY PASTE DUNGEONS
yeah and sometimes when i thought the game rewards my attempts at exploration, i just get another fucking arteria leaf or mushroom
This is my first video from you and I wanted to say that I love it! Great video. Good luck to you and your channel growth.
Always exciting finding a hidden gem on youtube. This is refreshing :D. Look forward to your future content.
lovely music, nice pace, REMARKABLE narration, excellent content. Loved the video and your style. I am the exact customer marketed in this video. Elden ring as my first From software game. I was in doubt about trying DS1 (I tried DS2 SotFS... meh), but now I am convinced. Thanks and keep up the good job!!
Tysm! Who let you play DS2 first haha. It's the black sheep of the series
@@ji_mothy It was on a very good sale years ago ... and my friends are crazy about the franchise, so I gave it an opportunity xd truthfully I dont get why it's considered the black sheep (I've seen lots of DS1 playthroughs and I see basically no difference :O)
@@aguantejp if you have money/can get it for cheap try the original dark souls 2 after ds1. Its honestly better than scholar of the first sin imo, much less frustrating.
@@aguantejp The biggest thing I remember people complaining about in SotFS (and DS2 in general) is janky enemy attack hitboxes and enemy placements. Also Frigid Outskirts in The Crown of Ivory King. The thing I hated the most was cutting a bit of your max hp everytime you died, especially cause Human Effigies were so rare. Other than that I really enjoyed that game. In my opinion, after DS1 they had it really hard to live up to the expectations, so they tried some different things. Some worked, some didn't, all of them were necessary in the development of their next games, so I tend to view them as positives.
Oh man dark souls, I played darls souls 1 and 3 and never finished them, got about halfway on both of them. This year I bought elden ring hoping it'll be the first fromsoft game I'll finish yet that didn't happen but it made me go back and finish dark souls 1 and it was great. My biggest struggle with the games was not knowing how to build my character I still can't do it. Oh and great vid btw such great quality yet so few subs I'm sure you'll get big in the future
This is probably the worst comment I've ever seen related to Souls content.
Just evenly invest into vigor/endurance and other stats according to the damage and weapon type your using
Once you get how to build a character it becomes second nature across all the games, so I really recommend you check out the fextralife wiki for one of those games, and maybe a build video or two on this site. Then for each game just brush up on what the stats do each game so you don't make mistakes based on the minor differences between the games.
@@IndieGinge No
@@cannyanemone5739 Yes. This is how a man plays.
Well done and well said! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I wish your channel all the success in the world.
amazing video, so easy to get lost in your narration, subbed!
Another big thing I notice is that in Elden Ring, poise breaking is huge. Dark Souls enemyâs donât get their poise broken hardly ever. In Elden Ring, however, I just abuse every enemyâs lack of poise to eventually get a riposte off
I was a bit confused because DS1 does have poise, but of course it works entirely differently.
No poise breaking in DS1? *laughs in zweihander*
Elden Ringâs enemies are way faster and take way more to kill than Dark Soulsâ though. And also, Elden Ringâs poise system isnât just a niche mechanic, itâs there to reward a player for keeping constant pressure on the boss, and for finding news opportunity windows to cause damage.
My brother is currently trying to beat Morgott and since I already beat him at RL1 with an +0 club, I know the boss inside out. Watching my brother play was kinda painful, because I saw so many opportunities for him to cause damage and he just didnât take them. Once I told him that, he gave me the controller and said âI wanna watch you playâ. I proceeded to use nothing but uchigatana light attacks, and broke Morgottâs poise three times, in virtue of knowing when and how to attack.
You COULD theoretically abuse the poise system by getting two colossal swords and spamming jump attacks, but thatâs not its main purpose.
just kick em
@@mellomoose_ đŠ¶đą
Exactly
This video is a good introduction to Dark Souls 1/Remastered, but there is one small mistake, you have the option to fast travel after defeating one of the main bosses of the game. It is kind of limited, because it does not allow the player to go to an exact location, and you have to find a specific bonefire for that area that is "warpable", and the game does not tell you if that is a "warpable" bonefire or not. Not all areas have "warpable" bonefires (some areas have no bonefires at all) while other areas have like 2 that are pretty close to each other. So while is not the best fast travel system, it exists and is pretty useful when you want to go to a blacksmith or some npc that does not relocate to Firelink Shrine.
I believe he left that out intentionally so as not to make people look forward to unlocking fast travel.
Amazing video my guy. Production quality and the humor and everything was on point for my taste, never would have guessed that u have such a low sub count. You deserve way more and im sure youll get it in short time. Keep it up and cant wait for the DS2 and 3 videos!!
There is actually a way to sell items (step 1: ring the two bells)
(Step 2: go back to firelink shrine)
(3: go the the path that would lead you to the graveyard)
(Step 4: talk to kingseer frampent (he is the massive thing where the water would be) )
(Step 5: say yes)
And now you can sell items
If you do a video on playing DS2 after DS1 (DS2 after DS1 *after* ER? lmao), remember ADP and lifegems, two of the most important things in the game imo
Also, the really important reason you have to play through Dark Souls 2: to understand all the jokes in Happy Souls.
Also, in DS2 you can't afford to run past enemies before the boss most of the time. First of all, the fog gates in that game don't give you I-frames, so you can very easily be cancelled out of the animation and die right before the boss. Second, enemies follow you for way longer than in the other games. Slow and steady does it, luring enemies one by one, making sure you don't get overwhelmed. If you're used to running past everybody, you'll get jumped by 10 knights with katanas before you've gone through a quarter of the area.
Heals are 3 to 4 times slower in ds2 than in Elden ring. Healing is only advisable after the boss has just finished an attack, combo, so you're sure you won't get attacked before your health can restore itself.
Durability can be a bitch, so watch it closely.
Poison in DS2 is SCARY. It's about as strong as Scarlet Rot in Elden ring, while Toxic is even stronger. That's what lifegems are very good for. Since their healing stacks, you can use two at a time to negate the poison damage.
I think you should look into DS2 and look at the mechanics that were added in 2 and that made their way in elden ring since some of them were absent from DS3
My favourite game of all time! 400+ hours over various playthroughs. Had the itch to go back recently and check out the remaster and it's still so good, a timeless classic for sure. Nice video, v enjoyable
Yo!! Great video brother. Iâm playing DS1 right now. Itâs a game I continue to go back to. After 400 hours of Elden ring I still wanted more. Got my subscription. Keep it up dude!!
So in ds1 healing is bonfire specific but as you kindle a bonfires your flasks go up. After beating pinwheel you can kindle each 3 times for 20 flasks
Is that a lot or less when compared to elden ring?
@@moosiemoose1337 In Elden Ring, you can only have 14 flasks (minus any allocation to Cerulean), but you can upgrade them to +12 which means they heal for 810 HP. With the Crimson Seed Talisman, which increases the flask heal by 20%, the max heal is 972 HP.
In Dark Souls, you can have up to 20 flasks and upgrade them to +7, which gives you back 800 HP. There's no flask-heal-boosting item in DS1. But the amount of flasks, as stated, depends on which bonfire you spawn from. Certain bonfires come pre-kindled with ten flasks, but most are going to start with only five. Besides that, the upgrade item for the flasks is a lot harder to find than in Elden Ring's sacred tears and most players aren't going to have all of them by the end.
So the max healing is pretty similar, but Dark Souls gives you a much harder time in the journey to max healing. There's also no physicks and spells work on a DnD spell slot system rather than a mana system.
Bonfires with a fire keeper automatically have 10 estus, the rest only give you 5 estus without being kindled.
The game will give you estus charges if you're at an area where another player is, and that player consumes an estus.
@@necromax13 The estus charges happens when someone online kindles your last-rested bonfire.
@@elias.t đ
great video, i may actually give it a try now. got into elden ring as it came out as my first souls experience, and needed a video like this to give me the push to play through them and dive into the world, before starting elden ring for another playthrough
If you like how elden ring plays you will like dark souls. Best lvl design and I would say elden ring is more user friendly but if you have the basic down you will be fine. Biggest difference as for combat is no button just for jumping(you can jump but itâs a lil more complicated)you can duel weapons but it doesnât have its own move set so itâs better to use a shield. Only advice I will give if it takes more then 3 hits to kill the regular enemies where your at then your probably at the wrong place and if you are good at pairing things will be a lot easier. Good luck
@@mitchhartsell4448 adding to that, you can't parry any of the bosses, except for the final boss
Hey,! really great, thoughtful explanation of the differences, design philosophy, and best approach to have fun with the game!
Just got this for Christmas been loving it! I'm trying to beat all souls games with my friends its been great so far love these games.
I think you forgot one key difference: jumping! IMO the jump button is the single greatest improvement in Elden Ring.
Facts. Dark souls HAS a jump, but it's only for grabbing like 1? item in the whole game
@@ji_mothy ...and it requires some weird combination of inputs that I mess up like 90% of the time and fall to my doom đ
Demon's Souls: Wait, you guys can jump?
Sekiro: Am I a joke to you?
I think Darksouls took a special person to really dig in and get into the series and fall in love with it, but Elden Ring such as myself was finally a version of the game that I could dig my heels in, find the love for that kind of format and thus go back and play all the old titles.. which I have over the last year.. so sure for some people who are OG fromsoftware/souls players Elden Ring lacks that magic for them but I think it's also a perfect Gateway drug for newcomers
I bought Dark souls 1 the first week it came out and I've always loved it. Didn't play Demon's souls as I didn't have a PlayStation but from the moment I started playing I was hooked. I have to say though I was still just as excited when I played through Elden Ring for the first time, it was pretty special to see the evolution of all that went before culminate into such a great game.
You but it's not going to be a good thing going forwards
I just started playing elden ring and the first thing I noticed is how there's too much just vast emptiness from the get-go, with goats in between and such. I'm finding it a bit hard to get into considering they somehow made the scaling weird with insane difficulty spokes where you deal no damage to bosses and realize you have to go somewhere else
@@ConeTheBoss559 caelid is the biggest offender in this regard.
congrats on the hit vid man, glad youtube put you on my timeline, subscribed :)
Subscribed! Loved the commentary, edition and clean audio. If you are looking for another souls-like to cover I'd recommend Thymesia, it is an indie game but pretty good, short but good.
Started with Elden Ring, after 5 playthroughs it was time to try something else. Went with DS3, ran a quality build and had a lot of success with it. The only boss that I canât beat is Midir đą. Next was Bloodborne, absolutely loved it but the 30 fps was pretty rough at times. Now Iâm on DS2 and I actually like it a lot. I was a little worried because people say itâs the worst one but I think itâs one of my favorite games so far. I really like the world design and Majula. Next will definitely be DS1z
How are you feeling about how the movement and camera is on DS2? After 100%ing DS1 this week I gave DS2 a try and couldn't force myself past the second boss.
The camera having sudden acceleration in speed when you push the right analog stick past a certain point and how walking forward and adjusting the stick slightly to the side does almost nothing and suddenly turns you like 60 degrees was a killer for me. I'd like to add DS2 was my first Souls game and I absolutely loved it as a teenager, played through it more than 10 times. DS2 feels by far the most outdated in the series simply thanks to movement and camera feeling very janky.
@@RikuFemma if you understand how movement in ds2 works it's not an issue, your character turning snaps to eight cardinal directions based on the camera, so you can finely control your character by slightly adjusting your camera or keeping it in a certain position for accuracy. As for combat you can either keep the camera in a fixed position most of the time or lock on. Also a controller is mandatory.
@@Ghorda9 I'm not looking for answers how to manage the jank, just asking how this guy feels about it since he's new to DS2. I can easily beat DS2 in less than 5 deaths without really even focusing, the controls and camera just feel terrible and make me not want to play it. Also for combat, keeping your camera fixed or locking on is a terrible idea in my opinion.
@@RikuFemma is said mostly fixed not always.
I just picked up DS2 after doing BB and DS1. Stamina regen is definitely very slowly so that's annoying me, but enjoying it mostly so far. I was a bit confused at the start with the leveling up and only starting with one estus haha
nice vid, would be cool to see your view on other souls games.
thank you, happy to! I'm a DS2 lover and actually just started DS3 this week đ it's amazing how close DS3 is to Elden Ring so far
Great video! Very thoughtful and insightful takes. Hope to see more stuff from your channel!
The algorithm blessed me with this video. Loved it. Subbed. Cheers!
How is
"running away in Elden Ring to come back and try later" (4:40)
any different from
"avoiding an area to come back and try later in Dark Souls" (6:14) ?
Same thing.
You're totally right, and this got me thinking. I feel like it comes down to the homogeneity of difficulty within an area. In DS if you can handle part of an area you can handle the whole thing; in ER I cleared most of the weeping peninsula only to get crushed by a deathbird i had to "remember" for much later, at which point I was OP and crushed it. There was no incentive to come back after say 5 levels instead of 30 and make incremental progress against it. Thanks for the comment
@@ji_mothy I see. Well to each his own.
I used the map markers very extensively in Elden Ring to keep track of stuff I need to remember.
The difficulty disparity didn't bother me as much. Tbh, I never felt obligated to (get good enough to) kill every miniboss, I encountered. And I liked that. I encountered the deathbird once, said "fuck this" and walked the other way. Coincidentally returned to the area some 100+ levels later and wiped the floor with it.
I liked Elden Ring more, because it offers more options on how to approach the game. Maybe it's because I don't have so much free time anymore, I don't like when a game forces me to learn the one specific way how it should be played.
I somehow missed all the dark souls games. I also started with Elden Ring, but I am enjoying it so much I definitely plan to go play the series from the start. Isn't Demon's Souls the first game of the series though?
Yes, Dark Souls is the spiritual successor of Demons Souls.
And Bloodborne and Sekiro are also great Souls likes from FromSoftware
Yes but he might not have mentioned it because it is PS3/PS5 exclusive which makes it less accessible unfortunately.
@@chopsandtoots It's well emulated now, so that barrier of entry is basically non existent nowadays.
Yeah, demon's souls is the first proper game of the series and, if you think about it from the design standpoint, the order to play the games should be:
Demon's souls.
Dark souls.
Bloodborne.
Dark souls 3.
Elden Ring.
@@necromax13 not all of us are PC elitists.
loved your vid iâve been a souls fan for almost a decade and your points for the value an ancient game like ds1 still holds to this day are spot on, fromsoftwareâs catalogue is something special that stands the test of time and definitely deserves revisit upon revisit from veterans and new fans alike
My First ever FromSoftware title was elden ring like with many others and i got hooked with these games. I just completed DS 2 Yesterday after finishing DS 1 2 weeks ago and Sekiro in early december. Now im starting with DS 3. Also your video was great. Keep pushing
Where as Elden Ring feels like a grand epic with lots of variety and gameplay experiences, which I love. Dark Souls is like my cozy safe space game, as weird as it sounds. Thereâs something entrancing about learning the entire puzzle of a map and building your character based on how you traverse it. Which almost never gets old. If thereâs one game that deserves a proper high level remake itâs Dark Souls.
Good video! I honestly agree with everything you said, except for maybe the point on upgrading weapons, since boss weapons/unique weapons use different materials than regular weapons, and those use different materials than infused weapons, I often found myself with a good chunk of upgrade items for different build paths/weapons. Also I'd say you forgot to mention that armor matters a lot more in dark souls 1 as a protective tool, especially since it can be upgraded.
Great point on armor--ER felt like I was 2 hits from death at all times regardless, DS you can have much grindier slugfests
@@ji_mothy ritual shield talisman and opaline hard tear are really good even at 30 vigor.
Congrats on this video being popular! Itâs a good one!
As a souls fan since the beginning, I appreciate you making this video to enlighten new players on the roots of Elden Ring
Iâm doing dark souls 2 now after going back to ds1. Would def be interested in your take!
If the majority of the community is to be believed, skip it.
@@mutilator97 that's not the majority, it's a 50/50 split, you would be surprised at how many people like it a lot more than they initially thought they would .
Yeah you would be surprised how many people like it, especially now. Back when it was the newest people hated it and thatâs where all the bad reviews and opinions came. Personally I like ds2 the most with demon souls a close second
@@Ghorda9 I mean, I like some of the things they tried, even if it wasn't implemented the best(archaic damage change mechanics anyone?), and definitely like the powerstancing system(glad it got a return in ER), but I dunno if I like some parts of it. Then again, haven't played it. Don't know that I really want to, honestly. Older souls games just feel too slow, especially 2(basing off footage and my experience with DS3).
@@mutilator97 it's more replayable than ds1 and 3 and it has more better bosses than ds1
I played sekiro after elden ring. Even though sekiro is infinitely smaller, the sense of exploration is just on another level, I found senpou temple, sunken valley, and ashina depths WELL before kuro or isshin mentioned them. It was the best exploration feeling I had EVER. in elden ring, it mostly felt like I was just running mindlessly absorbing the sceneries with a landmark on the next map location. It was still a great experience, but it just felt shallower due to the fast travel and huge map at your disposable, tbh felt like im going through a checklist of points of interest on a map.
I'm giving DS1 a shot and hopefully I don't get too lost.
I knew I wanted to play Elden Ring but told myself I had to at least play a Souls game first before I would allow myself to buy it. So I saw Dark Souls was on sale, bought it, got my ass kicked and thought WELL maybe these games aren't for me. Then I found the youtube channel FightingCowboy. Needless to say those videos carried me through darksouls 1, but by the end of it I felt confident and fell in love with the game. MY GOD THE SOUNDTRACK IS BEAUTIFUL and firelink is just so peaceful to sit at and listen to the music. Anyways I got elden ring, beat it three times with out watching guides (besides basic ones like what are good weapons) and ended up getting 100% achievements on xbox. I now have dark souls 3 downloaded and bloodborn on the way in the mail. I do have Sekiro as well, I actually have had it since release but never played it for more than 10 minutes but I remember it being HARD AF. I will try it again at some point.
Awesome comparison! Keep up the good work, very happy to subscribe.
One thing to point out, you can have up to 20 Estus flasks if you kindle the bonfire. You will learn how to kindle the bonfire after you kill pinwheel
You can kindle up to 10 estus from the get go.
You need the pinwheel ritual for further kindling
And the great thing about pinwheel is you can kill him pretty easily right at the start of the game (if you can reach him).
I played DS1 in early 2022 as my first fromsoftware title. This game made Äe buy Elden Ring. Absolutely amazing game, a masterpiece!!
I played Dark Souls back in 2012 when it by some miracle came out on pc and it's always nice seeing someone playing it for the first time and making a video about it.
I'd say the PC version and strangely enough the Swtich version are the definitive versions to play. OG Dark Souls on 360 has rough textures and some FPS issues and the remasters really changed some of the effects and isn't as good looking as the OG PC version or even the Switch version (which is based on the original game not the PS4/Xbox One/PC remaster)
Glad the video blew up, good job!
Ds1 is the better close followed by ds3 (the true direct secuel) . Ds 1 is harder when is your first playthrough, but you nailed it :) . Good review.
Harder? The hardest part about DS1 is New Londo and navigating Tomb of the Giants, and better than? In like no way is DS1 better than DS3 and Elden imo literally none
@@jarrett3556 oh look, an elitst, bro, im talking about a first playthrough when you never played another soul in your life, if played another one it's easy .
@@jarrett3556 Ds1 is the best because of the Metroidvania style mapping. Just with that it wins . So just stfu.
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@@matiasmoreno3562 youâre first soulsborne will always have your hardest first playthrough no matter what game it is from Demon-Elden
@@matiasmoreno3562 DS1 also has slow ass combat and outdated graphics just with those 2 itâs far from the best
there is fast travel, but you have to earn it. there is up to 20 estus flasks
Makes me think he has not defeated O&S yet
Only a couple of minutes and can say you have a great style and narration voice. Keep it up.
Awesome video, man! Can't wait to see more content from you.
Elden Ring was my first souls-type game. I can't even play any of the other souls-type games because ER was so good.
I think DS1 is still worth playing. It's a unique experience and does some things better than Elden Ring. Not saying it's a better game per se, but you'll find stuff to love for sure.
@@gamble777888 I tried DS1 and Bloodborne. Just couldn't get into them. I did buy Sekiro and played the beginning of it, but not being able to change the controls to be similar to ER is putting me off even though I love the graphics and story so far. I think I am just going to have to quit playing ER and just concentrate on Sekiro every day to reprogram my muscle memory of ER.
Started DS3 again and man the combat is so much tighter, it actually feels like a fair fight with most bosses instead of a scrap. I love Elden Ring but the damage output and tracking of enemies is ridiculous towards the mid point and end game.
That's hilarious. I actually just started playing DS3, and I always feel this is the most laughable argument of the entire thing. DS3 makes EVERY boss's hits feel like endgame Elden Ring. And you don't even have as many tools to combat them, so when you get true combo'd by, say, the Abyss Watcher, it's just not fun. Not to mention the super strict stamina management makes any full strength heavy bonk build completely non-viable. Either that, or you just slow down the already practically turn-based combat.
Don't get me wrong, I like the earlier games, but y'all are on some serious copium about Elden Ring.
@@mutilator97 You've clearly never actually played the game if you think Ds3 has any form of damage as bad as ER. And being "true combo'd" by the fanboys is literally impossible unless you take your hands off whatever you're using to play. Gonna be honest, don't try to argue for something you just got the training wheels for.
@@LoverofTragedy chose knight starting class, Iudex does 2/3 my health per hit, 1/3 health on a light attack. That's relatively equal to Maliketh's attacks in ER. Abyss Watcher has at least three different attacks that if he uses the correct second attack, you literally can't dodge out of the way due to stunlock from the first. That's what's referred to as a true combo.
Cope harder.
@@mutilator97 Wow, really? That's crazy honestly. Have you tried looking at the size differences of your health bars in each game? The starting class that you said you chose, Knight, starts with a total of 454 health. You saying that he does about 2/3 of your health means that Ludex Gundyr does an average of about 302 damage per hit, and only about 154 damage per, what you call a "light hit." Now lets compare Elden Ring. If we're going by what the average ER player would have in Vigor, 60, they'd have about 1900 health, not talismans of course. We're also not taking any armor into account, just to give you a bit more of a fair chance. If we do the math, that means Maliketh does about 1266 on an average attack, and 633 on a "light attack." Now, if we compare the damage values and... WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?! If we compare them, Gundyr does about 964 less damage than Maliketh. This also isn't including the health debuff that Maliketh inflicts, or armor for any of the fights. I thought you said the damage was relatively the same. If you want relatively the same damage, try comparing Gundyr to one of Godrick's Knights and you'll get about the same damage.
Now for the Abyss Watchers... that's what most people in the business would call: "A Skill Issue." As long as you are wearing armor and have more than 15 vigor, there is literally, let me say that again for you, literally no combos that can stunlock you do death. I'm gonna assume you have armor on right? And if you're talking about the second Abyss Watcher, now you're talking about two enemies, not one. If you need help on them, you can summon for them, there's at least to npcs, or I could even help you. I've got a couple of characters ready at level 40. And a little tip. Try leveling vigor. Its your health stat.
Now, I don't want to spoil the game for you (as you obviously haven't completed it) but not a single boss can stunlock you to death unless you have less than 15 vigor or are wearing no articles of armor. There's something call "inherent poise" which your character gains when wearing a full set of armor. It essentially allows your character to be hit by a max of two enemy attacks before giving you the chance to roll out even if the boss is still hitting you. It's essentially a free rollout. Not even the dlc bosses can do this to you. Only players are able to abuse this mechanic to roll catch you. Bosses only punish mistimed rolls. Yes by the way; "Inherent poise" is what other people would just call poise. I'm going to say that what you are complaining about isn't issues with the bosses, but an issue with your playstyle. Now to be honest, I'm not a physician so I can't cure you of "Skill Issue," but you can cure yourself by performing a ritual called "Practice." I heard it works for many a thing. Don't worry, I believe in you!! If you have any more "complaints", I'd be glad to take you up on them.
@@LoverofTragedy This will be my last comment to you, as you are seriously unhinged about this. It would be funny if it weren't so...concerning.
60 vigor is NOT the average for a person taking on Maliketh. Most people I know, and most of my builds(beaten the game thrice on different characters, going for a fourth currently) end the game around 45-50 vigor. You also seem to be ignoring my point about relativity, but I get that the concept may be a bit out of your depth. Simple version is that 2/3 of my health is still 2/3 of the bar, whether it stretches across the screen or it barely reaches a tenth of it.
I killed the Abyss watchers, which is why they annoy me. Also, because of DS3's poise system(a fucking joke), it doesn't matter how heavy your armor is(I go heavy armor, was using mostly lothric knight set at the time) because your poise while not attacking is zero. Always. Thus, a hit from them will stun a mage just as much as a heavy armor user. Also, don't put words in my mouth. I said I was hit by a true combo, never anything about it killing. It was fucking annoying, but I learned to handle it.
Oh, and currently running 28 vigor. gfys.
HAHAHAHAHA, you clearly haven't gotten to the end of the game if you think Soul of Cinder's 5 hit juggle combo can't kill you at over 15 vigor. Your copium levels must be through the roof.
As for "skill issues," it's mostly me getting used to the slow go style of the game, mildly offset by leveling vitality.
You seem to think I think the game is bad. I don't. If I did, I probably wouldn't still be playing it. But I can also note problems. Hell, I do the same for Elden Ring. And your constant unnecessary insulting combined with an inability to accept criticism is not only why I say you're butthurt, but also why Soulsbornes have such a negative stigma among non-players. Hell, people like you are why I never tried a game until Elden Ring.
Wanna know what the best course of action is? Fuck off. And when you get there, fuck off again.
I didn't realise you were sub 1K subs until you said you were a small channel. Great video structure, content and quality. Keep it up mate.
I really enjoyed this Video after playing Elden Ring 5+ times this past year I wondered how I would feel going back to Dark Souls For first time since 2021 a Game I still consider a favourite of mine and after watching this Video it has helped me to remember why I fell in love with the Souls Series in the first place - great content keep it up đ
I finally picked up dark souls 1 AFTER putting so many hours into all the other soulsborne-sekiro games and I was truly amazed at that level design. Everything is so incredibly laid out and connecting. I really Hope people will appreciate how special dark souls 1, especially after playing elden ring.
Awesome video btw!
Iâm currently replaying DS1 after playing Elden ring this time last year. LOVING IT. The levels are really fun to explore
Excellent video. Well edited and greatly explained and Iâm genuinely interested in playing the first DS now. Only critique is the dead silence the chapter cards, maybe add a sound effect or music queue or something and thatâll sort it!
Iâve just started dabbling in both Elden Ring and this. Great vid.
Subscribed.
Found your video on my front page.
Clicked it because, well, dark souls. Really liked your video and I think you explained it all well.
Gonna replay Dark Souls thanks to you now lol.
Also liked and subscribed, hopefully there'll be more great videos in the future :)
Elden Ring was my first FromSoft game.
I was immediately hooked. After getting the Platinum trophy, I had surgery, and picked up Demon's Souls, all 3 Dark Souls games, and Bloodborne, and have gotten the Platinum in all of them in 8 months.
I canât say how much I loved this, this is one of the best videos Iâve watched in a long time your putting the top people like vati to shame, amazing content! â€
You have a brilliant demeanour for a CZcamsr - hope you go big!
This is the exact video I was looking for lol. Thanks legend.
Just want to say great video man! Keep it up
your editing is AMMAZING for only 1.9k subs hopefully the algorithm picks you up
hey man, if you see this, i just wanna say this is a great video! the writing is really good, and i love the little notes without the video. keep it up!
May seem like a nuanced compliment, but the cadence and tone of voice really help lead the video and keep me watching. Best of luck growing your channel!
Very good video and I think it does very well what you intended it to do so good job :)
I couldn't stop nodding for the entirety of the video.
You have a bright future on CZcams, my friend.
Very informative and honest! Looking forward to more content