Dark Souls Lore

[trillykins]

This might sound kind of... stupid, but where to people get the background story for this game? I've played through it three times now, and outside of the intro and the bits and pieces you get from talking to the NPCs, I can barely find any lore.

Where are all the Wiki sites getting their information from?

 

[Tallim]

All the lore comes from what people say in the game and the item descriptions of which there are many. If you read them all it builds up a very large and deep lore but it can be a bit disparate when read at random.

 

[Pandalisk]

Rings, armor, Shields, swords, they all come with dialogue text about that item. Gives you the background of things such as Witch of Izalith, Ceaseless Discharge whatever really. Like mentioned above you have to piece it together to figure it all out.

 

[Sp3ratus]

Well, the lore section of the official wiki right here, gets all their information from in-game sources, as far as I know.

The lore in the game isn't spoonfed, but the world still contains a lot of lore that you'll miss if you just plow straight through it, because of all the NPCs, weapons, items and so on that contain descriptions.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Oh yay! I get to complain about the Dark Souls' lore again! >

But seriously, I know it's meant to be all subtle and underlying and shit but I have to raise the point that subtle only works effectively when there's some sort of obvious background to support it.

You can't build a house without a solid, dependable foundation.

Trying to understand most of DS' lore is like grasping at smoke.

The lore itself is actually pretty interesting if it didn't take 50 thousand wiki entries for people to get it. If people need to look up the wiki (or Epicnamebro) to understand your story you're doing it wrong.

 

[Tallim]

Oh yay! I get to complain about the Dark Souls' lore again! >

But seriously, I know it's meant to be all subtle and underlying and shit but I have to raise the point that subtle only works effectively when there's some sort of obvious background to support it.

You can't build a house without a solid, dependable foundation.

Trying to understand most of DS' lore is like grasping at smoke.

The lore itself is actually pretty interesting if it didn't take 50 thousand wiki entries for people to get it. If people need to look up the wiki (or Epicnamebro) to understand your story you're doing it wrong.

Or are they?

I found Dark Souls' lore much more engaging than any of TES games for instance simply because it was so scattered and hard to piece together. This is a world at the end of an era, death and destruction is everywhere and precious few things survive intact.

Dark Souls is less lore and more archaeology.

 

[hazabaza1]

Go watch these when you have spare time. [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4825DBA198EBE9B9]
Lots of lore hidden away in this game, some of it's speculation, some of it's confirmed, all of it's freaking cool.

 

[DoPo]

I found Dark Souls' lore much more engaging than any of TES games for instance simply because it was so scattered and hard to piece together.

inb4 SajuuKhar

But TES has tons of lore that is even harder to piece together. Or do you mean those qualifiers were for TES lore and DS is better because it's easier?

 

[Windcaler]

Oh yay! I get to complain about the Dark Souls' lore again! >

But seriously, I know it's meant to be all subtle and underlying and shit but I have to raise the point that subtle only works effectively when there's some sort of obvious background to support it.

You can't build a house without a solid, dependable foundation.

Trying to understand most of DS' lore is like grasping at smoke.

The lore itself is actually pretty interesting if it didn't take 50 thousand wiki entries for people to get it. If people need to look up the wiki (or Epicnamebro) to understand your story you're doing it wrong.

I disagree. The fact that the lore is so scattered and requires people to piece it together is yet another aspect of the sense of discovery that the game is trying to give each player. Then there's the fact that with so much mystery surrounding certain characters like the firstborn son of Gwyn there is endless speculation to be had. It creates interesting questions about these mysteries because there are no answers

Some people dont care for that kind of storytelling and thats ok. Not every game will be for everyone but that doesnt change the fact that the mysteries still compel people to look for answers and it forms a strong community in the process

 

[Tallim]

I found Dark Souls' lore much more engaging than any of TES games for instance simply because it was so scattered and hard to piece together.

inb4 SajuuKhar

But TES has tons of lore that is even harder to piece together. Or do you mean those qualifiers were for TES lore and DS is better because it's easier?

Yeah sloppy writing sorry, trying to do too many things at once. No I prefer Dark Souls because it is more obscure and tantalising.

Personally I really hate TES lore, it's so bland with a couple of exceptions. Particularly in the more recent iterations. Morrowind was ok.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Dark Souls own wiki or Youtube vids are your best bet, otherwise you might as well buckle down for some proper archaeological digging and keep your notes tight to make any sense of it.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

The lore is tied into the "Nintendo callback" that the game enjoys. Almost everything about the game, including the story bits, are really enhances by the kind of learning you did at elementary/middle school. Talking to each other at recess, trading theories and hints and figuring out the world through discussion and fellowship. The wiki and forums are the internet's way of emulating that. The lore is sprinkled like bread crumbs as you proceed in game, and it's yet another thing you have to think about and work towards. Hell, if you wanna know anything about Queelag,

Spoiler

You have to decide to choose the witch's ring instead of the obvious benefit goodies like the key at start, make it into her sister's lair and defeat her, and have the presence of mind to remember you have the ring and wear it while you talk to her. Just for a few sentences of perspective (and guilt).

That's the result of working towards any bit of understanding in a world that's dying and on the brink of oblivion. It has very little to tell in the first place, the item descriptions help fill in how life was before the undead.

 

[Shadowstar38]

As people have said, you really need to go looking for it to learn anything.

And this is why it fails.

When you create a world in a game, the player should be able to put it all together in game. Linking wiki's and videos to explain it doesn't make the whole thing less convaluted when you actually play the thing.

 

[King Billi]

You don't need to know the finer points of the lore or the any of the obscure details in order to play or enjoy the game as it is, none of it affects your progress in any way.

If you are intrigued by it however then there's alot you can uncover if you just take the time to look around.


For those that are up for the journey and can dig this kind of storytelling, you're going to freakin, LOVE it!

Otherwise like I said it doesn't intrude on the game at all and if you're not interested then what harm does it do? Theres no reason to complain or say that it somehow "fails" for not being overt.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Much like anything in the game, you have to work hard to find out about the lore. You can get quite a few tidbits from the descriptions shown in the loading screens if you can't find any of the rarer items.

Clothing/armour dropped by specific characters often has lore about them in the description. For instance, the Orange Charred ring dropped by the Centipede Demon tells you that Ceaseless Discharge was the brother of the Daughters of Chaos and suffered from weeping lava sores, which the ring prevented until he dropped it and created a terrible centipede demon.

You know, it's strange that people always complain about Dark Souls' lore being inaccessible but never Half-Life. It's not until Half-Life 2 Episode 1 that you find out such a basic thing as how long it's been (10 years) since the first game!

 

[lapan]

As people have said, you really need to go looking for it to learn anything.

And this is why it fails.

When you create a world in a game, the player should be able to put it all together in game. Linking wiki's and videos to explain it doesn't make the whole thing less convaluted when you actually play the thing.

But you can piece it all together in that game. The only reason those wiki articles and youtube videos exist is because most people are too lazy to do it themselves and just rush through the game. You can't blame the developers if you don't take the time to talk with the npcs or read through your item descriptions.