#brightstone cove

[navlaanchair]

this guy is never talked about but is actually top tier meme potential

Duke Tseldora!!

the duke of the Old Iron King, this guy started digging in the Brightstone Cove and randomly found Seath's crystals (which probably came to Alken because of the Flame fucking up space and time...)

he then settled in his Private Chamber studying Seath and Logan's documents and asked his people to dig up more, and they eventually found Freja, which led the duke to become obsessed towards spiders!

eventually he went hollow because he realized his cute lil spiders weren't so cute after all... (they were parasites)

honestly Tseldora is so silly, just a duke minding his own business chilling with his spiders and his crystals...

also, he was the only one (other than Aldia and Vendrick) who knew about Velka!!

there are many Velka-related stuff in his cove, such as the statue in the Prowling Magus' boss area, and of course, the presence of Cromwell

also many people claims that he is actually Vendrick's duke, but honestly... i think it makes more sense that he is the Iron King's duke

in his cove there are the same mages who are also in Huntsman's Copse and the Undead Purgatory, both Alken's settlement (also Vendrick didn't really liked mages, as stated in the Varangian Sword description...)

also, i don't think Vendrick would've let the Brightstone Cove died out, as loving as he is for his court. however i can totally see the Iron King genuinely not caring about the conditions of the cove lmao

also hey! Gwyn/Seath parallel!

sighh i love Alkenian guys...

[but-a-humble-goon]

So did Duke's Dear Freja kill that dragon or did she and her brood just find it's body there and set up shop inside it? It would seem like the most Dark Souls thing ever that this majestic, ancient godlike creature's final fate was getting trapped in a web like so many helpless flies to be eaten alive by someone's overgrown pet spider. Circle of life bitches.

[winged-void]

DS2 if it was the best soulsborne game:

Old IRON keep

DRANGLAEIC

Shaded WOODS

Belfry LUNA

Brightstone COVE Tseldora

[go-go-devil]

Dark Souls 2 is certainly infamous for its large amount of cut content, including its music.

Within the deepest files of the game I discovered an unused theme that was apparently supposed to play once the player encounters Creighton the Wanderer and Mild-Mannered Pate fighting each other in Brightstone Cove Tseldora. The length of the track has led to speculation that the original fight the player was to witness and/or assist in was supposed to be longer and more involved than what we ended up with.

Although the instruments and lyrical bits are pretty cool, I can see why this ended up getting cut since it really doesn't fit in well the rest of the game's soundtrack (and is probably a bit too dramatic for a non-boss theme).

[gjorg-of-drangleic]

Dark Souls lore is like being given 100 pieces to complete a 500-piece puzzle with no guarantee that they even belong to the same puzzle in the first place. I say this lovingly – it's an essential part of what makes this series so compelling to me.

On a loosely related note, Creighton the Wanderer being Schrödinger's Serial Killer is so fucking funny to me and I need to share my thoughts.

For those who don't know who I'm talking about, Creighton is an NPC you first meet in a location named Huntsman's Copse, in DS2. He's locked up in a cell and somewhat pissed off about it. When you free him to initiate his questline, he says:

"[...] I am Creighton, of Mirrah. I travel from land to land to hone my blade. [...] I joined forces with a man on the way, but he was no more than a back-stabbing knave. He took the first chance he had to try and off me. I decided to set a trap for him here, but then I got trapped myself. I can't believe that I was so dense. Thank the stars that you came along. You be careful of him. Pate, I think he said. [...] I've seen his type before. He kills entirely for the pleasure of it. I'm sure I won't be his last victim. The man's better off dead, I tell you. He's a slick talker, so don't let him fool you. [...] Watch out for the slimy rat. And don't you believe a word he says. I'll find the common footpad, and put an end to his roguery. Heh heh."

If you've played DS1 before, this might sound familiar to you. Indeed, you may think of Pate as DS2's stand-in for Patches. By this point in the game, there's a good chance you've encountered him already, and while you haven't been pushed down any cliff this time, you did end up locked up and surrounded by hostile hollows. I'd argue that this being the likeliest order of events is the game priming you to feel sympathetic towards Creighton once you reach him, as by then, the both of you would have been tricked by the same man. You might even feel so sympathetic as to overlook how immediately eager to kill Pate he is. And, if we're going down that route, metacontextually, you might have thrown Patches off that cliff as retribution yourself back in DS1.

You then find yourself speaking with Pate and Creighton back-and-forth at different locations, with Pate indirectly putting you in additional danger, and Creighton sounding more and more eager to kill the guy. The questline ends when you reach the Brightstone Cove of Tseldora, where you find them both fighting, and are given the opportunity to intervene to save either one by killing the other.

Now if this was all the questline was, there wouldn't be much to it, would there? Creighton is a bit bloodthirsty but, you could reasonably argue that his motivations are understandable. Why ever side with Pate in this? He almost got you killed twice! The man's clearly dangerous! Well, you see – after you're done helping either one, they both gift you a key leading to a trapped chest which explodes when you open it! That's right, even Creighton. "Ooh, that'll leave a nasty scar!" he says, if you survive the explosion. Now why would Creighton who remained friendly throughout end up doing this to us? Another DS2 character, Cale the Cartographer may be the key to understanding his motivations. Here's what he says.

"Ah yes, there is something I wanted to tell you. I was born in the land of Mirrah. Mirrah is also the home of an infamous killer, a 'knight' in name alone. He was locked in the dungeon for multiple murders. But shortly before his execution, he managed to escape. And the other day… I saw a fellow with a striking likeness! And then! And then… Wait… Well… I think he looked rather similar… N-no, it's true! I saw just such a man, I swear! I believe his name was…Cr…Cr…err Cray-something… I believe… They shared…some resemblance, I… I think…"

Cale tells you this back in Majula – the Firelink Shrine of DS2 – after you meet Creighton at least once. Our wandering friend has been a serial killer this entire time it would seem. DS3 would also agree with this statement. He is featured there as an NPC invader who attacks both the Ashen one and Sirris of the Sunless Realms. Here is what his armor set and weapon descriptions from DS3 tell us.

Creighton's Steel Mask: Attire of Creighton the Wanderer, a notorious deserter who fled an order of Mirrah Knights. Despite the mask's being a symbol of a criminal sentenced to death, Creighton never removed it.

Mirrah Chain Mail: Formal attire of the honorable knights of Mirrah, featuring their heraldry, a stag set against a blue field. Oddly, it was a dishonorable deserter who wore this attire most religiously.

Dragonslayer Axe: Axe favored by Creighton the Wanderer, infamous deserter of the Knights of Mirrah. Called Dragonslayer's Axe for the lightning that pulsates within its blade, but Creighton used it to slay men.

This all seems pretty damning. Helping Creighton in Tseldora means helping a serial killer. Pate may have tried to kill us before but, it's not like we were ever actually in any danger. What's a couple of hollows to a big strong undead like us, right? Helping Pate it is then? Killing them both? Walking past them and leaving them to it? At any rate, not helping Creighton! There. Problem solved.

You fool. You think we’re done? We haven't even started. I present to you his DS2 armor set descriptions.

Creighton’s Steel Mask: Atypical steel mask. Belonged to Creighton the Wanderer. Its design resembles that of the knight order of the eastern land of Mirrah, but with some odd differences that catch the eye. Perhaps it is a finely-crafted imitation.

Mirrah Chain Mail: Belonged to Creighton the Wanderer. Its design resembles that of the knight order of the eastern land of Mirrah, but with some odd differences that catch the eye. Perhaps it is a finely-crafted imitation.

Now, reading this, you might point out that this seemingly contradicts part of Cale’s statement as well as the DS3 item descriptions. I wouldn’t say so out of hand. One could reasonably argue that Creighton could very well have infiltrated the Knights of Mirrah by wearing a replica, thus in a manner of speaking, indeed belonging to that Order, or at the very least, being perceived as such by the wider public. Though I will admit that wearing a replica of a mask marking oneself for the death penalty, even in a different land, is rather shortsighted. Anyways, what of his axe, which I have conveniently omitted here? Well, I did so for a reason. We stumble across DS2’s Dragonslayer Axe nowhere near Creighton unlike in DS3 where we would obtain it after defeating him. In fact, until DS3, the Dragonslayer Axe being Creighton’s was unconfirmed. Besides… Have a look at the item description for yourself.

Dragonslayer’s Crescent Axe: The beloved black axe of the gallant Shieldless Lothian, formerly of Forossa. No warrior matched the ferocity of unbeatable Lothian, but he abruptly retired from the battlefield and was never heard from again. Some say that he grew tired of the frailty of human foes, and set off to slay the legendary dragon.

“Who in Gwyn’s name is Shieldless Lothian?” I hear you ask. No worries, I got you covered.

Ring of Giants: [...] Lothian was born a peasant, and died a general. His determination and diligence were unmatched, especially on the battlefield, where he earned his name by choosing to fight without a shield.

Annnnd, that’s it. That’s pretty much all we know. Let’s unpack all of this, shall we?

The Dragonslayer’s Crescent Axe belonged to a certain Shieldless Lothian of Forossa, a man who abandoned the battlefield to go chase after dragons, but also somehow still died a general. And this axe is seemingly now in the hands of Creighton of Mirrah, serial killer. Are we to understand that Creighton is actually a man named Lothian? That he faked his death? Or that he killed Lothian and took his weapon for himself? Or that he merely wields a replica of Lothian’s axe? Yea. Remember what I said about the puzzle pieces and all that? 

I’d like to briefly move the focus back around to our cartographer friend. I may have omitted to tell you earlier that, prior to speaking to you in Majula, Cale was actually located in a location called the Forest of Fallen Giants, which Creighton never sets foot in during the events of DS2. However, it does happen to be the location you first meet Pate in. Speaking of Pate, here is what his spear description has to say.

Pate’s Spear: A long spear wielded by Pate. This appears to be a very ordinary spear, but seems to have accumulated power over the course of countless battles. It is not always advisable to stand out. Especially if you have something to hide.

Now, this is so vague it could mean anything. But if one were to decide for whatever reason to have the most charitable read on Creighton’s character, they could conceivably argue that Creighton is an – albeit strangely revengeful – innocent man who was framed by Pate, who is the true serial killer of Mirrah. We know that Pate and Creighton have traveled together a while. We know that Pate is a dangerous manipulator who seemingly has a pattern of purposefully leading people to their death. Creighton meanwhile only shows resentment towards Pate, who supposedly almost killed him. He is also consistently friendly to us, up until the last moment, with the chest, though who knows if that was intentional? Maybe Pate is the one who boobytrapped it! Speaking of Pate, he’s the one to be present in the Forest of Fallen Giants, while Creighton isn’t. Pate might well have met Cale there who’d have recognized him, and in turn, he’d have introduced himself as Creighton to protect his own identity, with the lie still not cleared out by the time of DS3. One might also point out that Creighton has a distinctly Cockney accent which isn’t shared by other Mirrah characters like Lucatiel or Cale, which could hypothetically make sense should one accept the idea that Lothian and Creighton are the same person. Whilst speaking to us about Pate, Creighton says “[...] For the good of the world, and for my own honour. I won't let that bastard live another day.” One may wonder what good a serial killer would have to present himself as honorable and selfless, all the while not bothering to tone down his bloodlust at all when speaking to us. It’s stupid, in a weird authentic sort of way.

Do I believe this theory? Not really, no. I don’t think Dark Souls has the kind of character-driven narrative that thinks so deeply about its characters beyond how they best serve the overarching themes of the story, how they best contribute to building that specific “Dark Souls” atmosphere that makes those games so special. Ultimately, we have no evidence of Cale and Pate actually interacting with one another. Cale calls Creighton a killer, and it’s later on confirmed by his DS3’s weapon description. I can’t think of any reason why the game would lie to us over what is ultimately a very minor character, even within DS2. The slight discrepancies between DS2 and 3 can be explained away by time, or just, different people having worked on the games. I’m just a bit too pragmatic to believe that there would have been such a convoluted process involved for building up this non-character into a complex double fake-out innocent man. I think both Creighton and Pate were intended to be awful in DS2, probably as a way to hammer home that the world is broken, and good people, like your friends in Majula, are a rarity to be cherished. Still, I appreciate that the series allows for the above kind of badshit thinking to emerge to be honest. It’s fun! Trying to rebuild the puzzle with much of it missing is fun! People coming to different conclusions is fun!

Anyways, we all know Creighton was hired by Licia to kill Pate as part of an intense multidimensional war between the Covenant of Clerics and Patches.

[foxgirltail]

DS2 if it was the worst soulsborne game:

Old IRON keep

DRANGLAEIC

Shaped WOODS

Belfry LUNA

Brightstone COVE Tseldora

[isotridecanol]

been replaying dark souls 2. do you think they were giggling and kicking their feet at fromsoft when they thought about not putting mimics in the whole first half of the game and then surprising you with one in a tiny ass room in brightstone cove tseldora out of nowhere

[youtherthyf]

the dark souls 2 NG+ expirence

the early duke fight in NG+ legit jump scared me lol

i am divided on ds2's NG+. some changes are legit great(like the jump scare in brightstone cove, the new pyromancers in the lost sinner fight, the new rewards like old souls) ...

but then there is ng+ iron keep and amana.

[beyblaiddyd]

if you've played ds2 you might have questions like 'how did you fall off a cliff in brightstone cove twice' or 'when you got attacked by spiders why didn't you move further into the perfectly fine room instead of retreating onto a bridge surrounded by spikes' and the answer to these questions is that i am not a brilliant battle strategist

[tatzelwyrm]

In Defense of Dark Souls 2 – Scholar Edition

Now that I have finished all of the Dark Souls 2 DLCs, I must say, people don’t give Dark Souls 2 enough credit.

Is DS2 a perfect game? No. But think of all the nice things Dark Souls 2 gave us that later Soulsborne games (including Elden Ring) adopted:

Fast Travel between bonfires is immediately available after leaving the tutorial area.

Fast Travel is available from every bonfire to every bonfire (excepting Primal Bonfires).

To increase the number of Estus uses you upgrade your flask instead of upgrading individual bonfires.

Levelling up is tied to the Firekeeper/Finger Maiden/Doll equivalent rather than the bonfires, allowing for Majula to become something of a hub world, much more than Firelink in DS1.

As a consequence, Emerald Herald, to me, is much more fleshed out as a a character (like the Doll) than the Firekeepers in DS1 (Elden Ring chose a unique middle ground by having you level up via your friendly neighbourhood maiden, but having her appear at every bonfire equivalent rather than in a hub area – which made me not feel connected to Roundtable Hold or any of the other areas as much as I did to Majula, the Hunter's Dream or DS3's Firelink).

Weapon upgrades are far less complicated in DS2 and subsequent Soulsborne games. There’s still different weapon categories that use different upgrade materials but the different upgrade paths are easier and quicker to unlock because they aren't locked behind as many different kinds of embers.

There’s also a bunch of exciting stuff only DS2 did. The most prominent example of this is

ADJUSTABLE DIFFICULTY!

By giving us the following:

Extinction – Enemies stop respawning after you’ve killed them about 12 times.

Bonfire ascetics – Burning an ascetic at a bonfire allows you to manually force an area into a higher NG state, respawning enemies that had previously been extinct (ensuring you can keep farming souls) and even respawning bosses that you’ve already beaten.

Joining the Company of Champions covenant increases damage output and defenses of enemies and disables friendly summons (you can leave the covenant any time via the talking cat. There are no penalties for leaving covenants in this game).

The only other Soulsborne game that allows you to play around with difficulty a bit is Bloodborne by making enemies becoming stronger and giving them additional moves if you increase your Insight score enough.

Do you know how many times playing DS1 and DS3 I thought “If this was Dark Souls 2, I’d be getting rid of that one guy”?

And, finally, I simply feel like DS2 managed to capture the spirit of DS1 very well while still managing to be its own game (as evidenced by the new mechanics mentioned above) rather than simply being a rehash of its predecessor.

I don’t think the areas in DS2 are as consistently creatively unique as the areas in DS1, but the spirit is still there.

There are multiple areas that can be made easier or harder by using your torch (Brightstone Cove Tseldora (at least in Scholar which is the version of the game I played), the Gutter, Shrine of Amana. The torch can also unlock special items for you (Things Betwixt, the Gutter). The windmill in Earthen Peak can be burned (there’s even an NPC summon pointing this out to you). It's a neat way to make players consider using a 1-handed weapon without a shield for a bit.

The invisible enemies, thick fog and moaning trees make navigating Shaded Woods particularly creepy – and you can use the moaning trees to distract the enemies while you sneak around them!

Aldia’s Keep has that Dragon Skeleton that moves – once! I’ve already forgotten what the trigger for this was, so this is gonna be a guaranteed jumpscare the next time I play this game.

The Wyverns at Dragon Aerie only become hostile if you step on too many of their eggs.

If you duel the big fellas at Dragon Shrine one-on-one the other enemies won’t attack you.

There’s also the many Pharros contraptions that you can unlock to find treasure and/or traps throughout the game. (I just wish these had been more integrated into the gameplay in Doors of Pharros. Like, there's an entire area littered with these things, named after the guy who invented them, but it’s also the one area in the game in which the contraptions don’t do anything exciting. Imagine if this place had been more akin to Sen’s Fortress. They could have given you special Pharros stones to disable the traps in this area – special ones so you can’t accidentally insert them somewhere else and make the level unplayable.)

And that’s just some examples from the base game. The DLCs are each centered around unique level mechanics.

Navigating Shulva requires you to find and keep track of multiple switches to raise and lower platforms – and to disable traps and find hidden pathways inside the Dragon Sanctum. (So maybe they overdid it a bit with the switches in this one. There’s like 3 of them that I never figured out what they did because I lost patience, but it was still a nice change from the more combat-heavy areas.)

Brume Tower (probably my favourite area in the entire game) has a lot of elevators for you to navigate once you figure out how to active them while the Ashen Idols pose something of an environmental threat. Additionally, there's lots of gunpowder and fire for you to use and abuse as you wish.

Frozen Eleum is, well, frozen the first time you enter it and unfreezing parts of it allows you to access new areas and make the final boss fight a lot easier (with Burnt Ivory King making for the best spectacle fight in the entire series, IMO, if you find and bring all the Loyce Knights).

Compare this to Dark Souls 3. I loved DS3 when I played it (still do). It has incredible boss fights and very smooth, fast-paced gameplay and an epic soundtrack. But you can’t deny it’s is also a lot less daring than its predecessors when it comes to level design and the related mechanics. This is true for what I've played of Elden Ring as well.

DS3 (and Elden Ring) are well-made games, but there’s an unhinged charm to the some of the more unique level mechanics of DS1 and DS2 that make them such weird little games and it breaks my heart a bit to see that the newer games didn’t try to replicate any of that.

Even though a lot of these mechanics were a bit broken, Dark Souls 1 and 2 wouldn't be the same without them. I can’t help but wonder if it were all the complaints about DS2 that made the developers deliberately cut back on weird little ideas for DS3, resulting in a very enjoyable, very polished game that is still somehow less than what it could have been because the devs decided to play it safe.

[joompheart]

Nightmare so bad I was relieved to wake up. Returned to the old house to get something out of the shed that I needed, but it was completely overrun with massive spiders. Dark Souls 2 Brightstone Cove Tseldora style, with only 4 legs and glowing orange abdomens - maybe 1/4 or 1/3 the size of a grown man at the largest.

They hung upside down from their sprawling webs, strung from house to house and a trampoline with a tall net and the shed and the fence. Thickest from maybe a foot off the ground to the top of the bungalow. I had to carefully navigate under this on foot, as disturbing any webs would cause the devils to investigate.

Of course I stumbled into the webs. Luckily I was dumb enough to honestly believe that I had a quicksave/ quickload system at the ready, and being a dream this became true. Each time I tripped into the webs there was an unsettling crunching sensation that might have been one of the spiders or some of their slowly liquefying prey, then I would be swarmed by spiders larger than my head (which luckily never bit me before I could quickload, though I was terrified that they would).

Eventually I decided that even though whatever I needed in the shed was important for dealing with a larger undefined problem, it wasn't worth the stress and discomfort of dealing with spider hell. Finding out that I didn't actually have to deal with ANYTHING that was going on in the dream was soothing like nothing else.

[epidaleacalamita]

if dark souls 2 was real i would go to brightstone cove tseldora to hang out with my buddies prowling magus and congregation

[cielhunternorwood]

Dark Souls 2. Brightstone Cove. Rain of spiders. Enjoy!

[siofra-river]

This is crazy, seeing the kinds of enemies they had planned to be in izaleth really made it seem to be almost an extended/more corrupted blightown. The hollows especially remind me of the ones in brightstone cove tseldora from ds2, wonder if they served as a base for the spider infested hollows we see there . And the idea that necromancers were once pyromancers who’ve twisted & change their powers or at the minimum associated with them, they do shoot fireballs even in the catacombs . And that “bug-king” enemy I had seen a Zullie the witch video about it but in association with bloghttown, as a spawner of mosquitoes..also prototype sanctuary guardian looks so funny someone get him a brush

[sadlazzle]

where’s the best place to farm titanite chunks in ds2 ? i heard u can farm in brightstone cove but um . other options would be quite nice

[alittlereclusive]

Average inhabitant of Brightstone Cove Tseldora.

i need to pin someone down underneath me and make them 8eg for their life as all 8 clawed hands peel them apart