Although the Nexus Archstone is already broken by the time we arrive, the northern land of the giants was originally planned to be among our explorable areas. Cut content reveals that FromSoftware was developing a snowy mountain area internally named “Northern Limit”, (北限) which is consistent with the Japanese website prologue’s description of the hinterland […]
Preface I was immediately intrigued by the Shrine of Storms based on aesthetics alone. Once I scratched the surface of this haunting aesthetic, I found the substance to the mystery wanting. But delving even more thoroughly into these layers left me intrigued once again. The story to this area may not be as complicated as […]
Preface As the first castle map to lie at the core of a Souls setting, Boletaria could have easily been made just a generic medieval European-style kingdom. Instead, it became a deconstruction of that romantic image, setting the brutal tone for game Director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s first fantasy title. In fact, in terms of pure attention […]
Preface At its core, Demon’s Souls is the story of a hero setting out to defeat the demon king, an all too common premise in modern Japanese fantasy. But it is easy for this thought to never cross the mind, in large part thanks to the underlying conflict between the Old One and the Monumental […]
Preface What makes us human? What makes us not? Even though the world of Demon’s Souls is far less fantastical than the setting of its spiritual successor Dark Souls, it is no less fascinating due to how it revolves around such simple yet fundamental questions. Better still, the world is constructed so that we must […]
Preface Latria’s place in the narrative is two-fold. First, it serves to show that evil exists and will commit terrible atrocities if given the power to make its will reality. Second, it highlights the oftentimes arbitrary distinctions regarding the concept of humanity. It is ingrained in our psyche to look at such horrors with revulsion, […]
Preface C.S. Lewis once stated that he would rather live under the tyranny of robber barons than that of moral busybodies, for the latter’s conscience encourages them to never relent. While I cannot say if Director Hidetaka Miyazaki is familiar with the words of a Christian theologian, they are certainly appropriate for the story of […]
Preface I originally found Stonefang Tunnel to be the least interesting area of Demon’s Souls. Indeed, it is a rather unremarkable locale compared to the more culturally unique places we visit, with its people perhaps the most uni-dimensional in theming. Even in terms of gameplay, the area serves mostly as a place to farm and […]
Preface During an interview for the original Dark Souls, Director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that he had created the character of Solaire partially to rebut accusations that he had a slant against religious people, presumably in reference to his depiction of the priesthood in Demon’s Souls. While I can understand these complaints on their surface, the […]
Lokey Lore 