#sry..much to say. this took like my whole shift to write bcuz tumblr deleted by first attempt at this and also we got busy. oops

[siofra-river]

I don't know the dark souls words but uh, your fav boss/place/weapon?

Oh my god. I had a whole thing typed and tumblr destroyed it. Crying. ANYWAYS ILL START IT OVER. I’m going to go by each game for all of these questions! I have a lot to say ok!

Starting with dark souls 1

My favorite area in the game is ash lake!! It’s a super out of the way area , halfway thru the bottom of the second worst area of the game, past TWO hidden walls, and down the interior of a really tall tree, where you’re likey to fall or get petrified. But god. It’s SO ATMOSPHERIC! It’s one of the few areas in the game w ambient music and it’s loud, intimidating and ominous, it’s so pretty as well. It’s a really optional area too which makes this incredibly amazing atmosphere even better, if you don’t accidentally find the hidden walls or already know about it, you miss the presentation but also the dragon covenant! Which is really the only reason to go there.

I can’t really say much about a favorite weapon tbh? Since like all my play through feature similar builds (boring ik) but black knight straight sword my beloved. In terms of presentation tho I really enjoy quelaag’s furysword, it’s a neat and scary cursed sword which when you swing it, it lights up with flames. Super dope. I also really like the Channeler’s tridents, they let you do a funny dance ^_^

Also favorite boss? I really can’t say I have one like in gameplay? Like I won’t deny these bosses have been revolutionary in some way. Helping cement dark souls and the souls-like formula but. They’re just so..annoying? Like a lot of them are just plain annoying. Or have really annoying mechanics. Like knocking you off into an instant death pit, or powering up to insane damage if you don’t cheese with an animation cancel. In lore though my favorite has to be Gwyndolin, I find them a really tragic figure who has a lot going for them (if they weren’t written so poorly) w a really great design.

Now dark souls 2!

My favorite area has to be Frozen Eleum Loyce, but really on a very specific version of it. The version of it when you first get there, where a lot of the enemies aren’t active, but also a majority of the map is closed off as a result. While it’s like this, I find Loyce to be absolutely breathtaking, it’s got a gorgeous view from just about anywhere you can see off into the distance. And then it becomes a sequel to Shrine of Amana once you wake the city up, giving you the classic dark souls 2 scenario of: 7 melee enemies with 3 ranged ladies with absolute insane homing magic while you’re impaired in some way(can’t see well, can’t move well, poison, bleeding, etc)

Eleum Loyce also has one of my favorite bosses in the game there, the Burnt Ivory King, the build-up to his fight is nigh insufferable (I HATE FINDING THE KNIGHTS) but once you get there, and kill his minions. It’s worth it, you feel like you’re fighting against an actual king, and once you come out on top you feel like you’ve improved. Also the lore for the king is badass as fuck, one of the few guys in that game who is a genuinely good guy who did what he could to stop a threat.

Also as an honorable mention, my second favorite fight in dark souls 2. Velstadt. He’s cool as hell, he’s big, he’s intimidating, he’s tough but fair, and he’s unique. Like BIK, he’s at the end of a very annoying area/sequence. I HATE THOSE ENEMY SUMMONING BELLS, but once you fight him and win you feel god tier. He’s really fun to fight, he’s got pretty clearly telegraphed moves you can dodge but still does high damage and has a really interesting weapon, his hammer also is a bell, which he uses as a Catalyst to summon Hexes/Miracles. I also just think his armor is sexy as fuck, they really went nuts w it.

Also my favorite weapon in dark souls 2 is probably the staff of wisdom. Used it thru like all of my first ds2 playthrough so it has a special place in my heart ❤️ got me through like all the dlc and all the bullshit

Ok dark souls 3!!

Ok I have so so so much to say about dark souls 3 but I will restrain myself to talk about only 2 areas in the game. But honestly like every area of ds3 is good, like they really just put so much detail and love in to like every area. I can’t overstate how pretty and detail oriented this game is.

Anyways..first area is the Ringed City. This area was introduced as the last dlc for the game and as the way to wrap up the entire franchise. Effectively finishing it and ending the story in a way THATS slightly hopeful! The whole area is amazing, from the poison swamps to the temples. I adore it all. The whole ringed city dlc is amazing. I love the architecture and sense of style the city has, it’s ancient and decrepit in ways but still so full of life and action. I also love it overall for what it represents, a city lost to the rest of the world filled with reminders of the failure of Gwyn, the whole dlc is honestly a big fuck you to Gwyn, showing once again how terrible he was.

It also has my favorite fight in the entire game series, and one of my favorite boss fights of all time, Slave Knight Gael. Gael has a lot of lore around him that really contextualizes what he’s doing and how long he’s been doing it. This man has been around for thousands of years and is trying to fix things, at the cost of his own sanity, knowing that you the player are going to kill him and finish his job. The fight is full of so many details that frankly still astonishes me. When you run away from him, he uses a summon sign to get closer, during phase 2 Gael goes hollow (by completing his task of reforming the dark soul) which makes him take more damage from the hollowslayer greatsword, he uses a miracle from thousands of years ago. AUGH..I CARE HIM...

Ok now that I’m done crying abt Gael I’ll talk abt my next favorite area which is the demon ruins! The demon ruins isn’t a very combat intensive area, while there certainly is a lot of enemies they aren’t very hard, which really helps highlight the tragedy of the area. The demon ruins is the long forgotten ruins of lost izaleth from dark souls 1, the home of the race of demons. But in dark souls 3, they’re a dying breed, throughout the demon ruins you see countless corpses of demons such as capra and taurus demons, and even see the body of the fair lady, one of the daughters of the Witch of Izaleth, who was the leader of the Chaos Servants covenant from dark souls 1. It’s nice to see the game gave small acknowledgements and closure on characters. The demon ruins is another optional area you kind of have to go out of your way to get to, but the game subtle pushes you to explore it because at the end there’s a route to stopping the ballista that has been shooting you the entire time you’ve been at smoldering lake, which is an area necessary for the hidden ending.

(I can’t find a good pic sry)

Anyways! The last of my last rambling, favorite dark souls 3 weapon..in the ways of practicality..good ol reliable flamberge, used it my first playthrough and it was so nice. It’s also the weapon used by the scariest npc invader, holy knight hodrick. But in terms of visuals, both of pontiff sulyvahn’s weapons, their really distinct color glows are so fucking pretty and can make you feel god tier even if you aren’t. The ringed knight straight sword is also up there with the weapon art creating this beautiful effect of flames covering the whole blade...

Aughh dark souls..