The Second Beginning

Despite the provocative imagery and creative editing, the opening sequence is fairly straightforward. A man had been trudging through a forest during a heavy storm where he had at one point collapsed. He serves as a generic stand-in for our player character prior to selecting our appearance and class, and so I shall refer to […]

The Gutter

Preface The Gutter is perhaps the most visually appealing iteration of FromSoftware’s infamous trash levels, largely because it is divorced from the traditional swamp aesthetic. Despite inheriting almost all of the themes and motifs from past levels of its ilk, omitting their most recognizable aspect helps alleviate the repetition. That said, a more creative aesthetic […]

The First Beginning

This post covers everything relevant to the opening hours of the original Dark Souls as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from October 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. In the Age of Ancients, the […]

Logan

This post covers everything relevant to Logan as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from July 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. Urban Metropolis Hat worn by proper sorcerers who studied at Vinheim Dragon School. […]

Dragons

This post covers everything relevant to dragons as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from April 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. The Everlasting The original dragons are denoted as their own species of “old […]

Artorias

This post covers everything relevant to Artorias as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from February 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. Off to See the Knight … Oh, and do not forget… The Darkwraiths […]

Rat Kingdom

While giant rats are nothing new to Dark Souls, a rat kingdom certainly is. Various beasts have displayed similar intelligence to the bipedal races, some even capable of speech like Shalquoir. Nothing stops these intelligent creatures from banding together and forming their own societies. Therefore, it is reasonable for rats to establish a kingdom for […]

Irithyll

Preface Irithyll is the lengthiest topic I have ever written an analysis for, which serves as a testament to its importance to the story and setting of Dark Souls III. (DS3) Expertly building upon the circumstances from Dark Souls (DS1) and Dark Souls II (DS2) to advance the overall narrative to its natural conclusion, the […]

Heide

Preface Heide embodies perhaps the most frustrating aspect of FromSoftware’s approach to Dark Souls II. We are provided very little to work with even compared to similarly ancient events in the original Dark Souls. (DS1) As a result, reconstructing the overall picture of these ancient civilizations relies more heavily on inference than ever before, though […]