Dark Souls II | Beauty Amid the Chaos
Peaceful memories from a hauntingly beautiful experience
Stories You Get to Live In
FromSoftware games have held a grip on my gaming life for many years now.
Every game developed by FromSoftware that I’ve played has amazed me in different ways, whether it’s the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, or Elden Ring. I fully let myself get immersed into the fantastical worlds that they create. Despite the difficulty, their games have captured my imagination and sense of wonder for over a decade now, primarily because of the richness in the atmosphere and gameplay. Whenever I pick up one of their games, I know that I am about to step into an experience that asks more of me, and I love to plunge myself into the darkness it contains.
Immersion is incredibly important to me when I play games, because it gives me the chance to escape from the real world, and allows me to explore the creativity from someone else’s mind in an interactive experience. To me, it’s a story that has come to life, and one that I can fully interact with and live in. Visually in my mind, I see it as opening an ancient book that was worked on tirelessly for many years, and literally falling right into its pages! Not just by reading the story, but actually being able to live in it, breathe its air, and experience it firsthand!
Plenty of games have given me that feeling of deep immersion. All of FromSoftware’s games certainly have done that as well for me. However, there is one game that did it so beautifully from this studio, that it still echoes in my mind years later, and it’s one that I knew I had to write about.
That game is Dark Souls II.
I’ve played it many times over the years, and every time I return to it, I find myself falling back in love with it all over again! It’s a game I would highly recommend you give a try, even if you have never touched a FromSoftware game before. And if you have played it before, I hope that this newsletter reminds you of the evocative beauty that Dark Souls II offers, and makes you want to jump back into it again!
Because for me, Dark Souls II isn’t just about the lore or the difficulty. It’s about who I was and what I felt when I was living in the world of Drangleic back over a decade ago. The peaceful memories of breathtaking awe, the satisfying beauty amid the chaos, and the bittersweet pull of a world that I still think about years later — all of it means so much to me!
And now, I want to rewind time and relive some of those moments with you!
First off though, I want to extend my warmest welcome and send my thanks to you for the privilege and honor of your time! My name is Joe, and The Saved Game is a weekly newsletter that will be a space about video game nostalgia, new and old favorites, and finding ways to rekindle your love for why you played video games in the first place!
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My First Step into the Fog
Pre-ordering games is rare for me, and has never really been something I do. I always want to wait until I see gameplay or early reviews, or just wait for the price to drop after enough time. It’s so rare for me, that the only game I can ever remember pre-ordering was Dark Souls II on the PlayStation 3 (PS3) back in early 2014 or so.
My history with the Souls games only goes back to a year or so prior to that, where I had fallen in love with the original Dark Souls on the PS3, and was hooked on it! I initially found out about the first Dark Souls from a YouTuber I used to watch named SSoHPKC, and I was pulled into it when I saw the combat, gritty and dark atmosphere, as well as the mysterious nature of that game. It wasn’t anything like I had ever seen before — so I picked up the first game, played the absolute hell out of it, and loved every minute of it!
Then, when I saw that Dark Souls II was coming out after that, I didn’t hesitate. I ended up pre-ordering the Black Armor Edition for my PS3, and waited patiently until it arrived! When I opened up the packaging, I found that it had a beautiful and textured metal case, as well as DLCs that I never ended up using in-game. It also included the soundtrack on disc, which was amazing, and I would highly recommend listening to it! The music was raw and atmospheric, with beautiful choirs and soft, almost mournful melodies that matched the game’s world of Drangleic perfectly. Even the safe areas had this subtle melancholy to them that stuck with me.
The PS3 version of the Dark Souls II worked fairly good for the time it came out. Performance was never something that I was too concerned with regarding the Souls series, especially after surviving Blighttown from the original Dark Souls on the PS3 with its terrible frame rate issues! What was important to me though in Dark Souls II was the immersive gameplay, and how I would experience it.
In the end, for me, it was a beautiful experience and the gameplay was amazing! It had a familiar, but deeply alluring quality to it from the moment I started, and left me with a longing to go back and replay it again after I finished it, which I’ve done many times over the years!
The Haunting Beauty of Dark Souls II
Thrilling. Stunning. Haunting. Bittersweet. Rewarding.
Those were the thoughts and feelings that washed over me throughout the time I was inside the world of Dark Souls II!
I was very satisfied when I opened up the metal case to my new Black Armor Edition of Dark Souls II. When I loaded the game in my PS3 Slim, it booted up to the title screen that I was already familiar with from the original Dark Souls, and I started a new game! I was suddenly launched into an incredible experience that I would talk about for years to come, with moments of beautiful awe that were sealed in my mind!
The first time I exited the tutorial area was one such area where I was nearly breathless and in awe! I left the darkness and viewed a beautiful, golden sunset over a vast sea in a location called Majula — with a soft, melancholic theme playing in the background. Majula is a windswept settlement that acts as the game’s safe hub, and it sits up on a cliffside with a sea that stretches off into the distance, only slightly hidden by jagged rocks that surround edges of the cliffs. Wind was lightly blowing, and I could sense the smell of salt water in the air from the surrounding seawater, with the crashing of waves you can hear in the distance. There were mostly empty buildings scattered around, partially falling in ruin, but all were held up by layers of mystery. Past the bonfire, and close to a ledge near a cliffside that looked out over the sea, was a monument that showed how many other players that have died so far. It was a simple reminder that while this peaceful place was meant for rest, the world just outside of Majula was filled with danger.
“This is Majula. It is a kind of settlement... A place where life is almost normal. And in Drangleic these days, there are very few places like that."
— Saulden, the Crestfallen Warrior
A bit later on in the game, there was one other place that drew me in and stayed in my mind years later. It was a small location in Harvest Valley. For me, Harvest Valley was a difficult location the first time I was there, as I had no idea where I was going. It was full of poison and roaming undead, and I got lost constantly. However, following one path led to the Altar of Sunlight. The shrine itself was crumbling, but I was able to learn the “Praise the Sun” gesture — and then I joined the Heirs of the Sun Covenant! While I never got too involved with the deep lore of the Souls series, I instantly felt a connection and throwback to seeing this, as it made me think of the friendly Solaire of Astora from the first game, who is still one of my favorite video game characters. Even now, years later, I have a small keychain designed as Solaire’s Sunlight Shield!
“The slight warmth of the medal makes valor brim within one's bosom. The brave fighters who bore these medals are gone, but the sun never sets. On this day begins the contest to find the Sun's truest son.”
— Item description of a Sunlight Medal
Dark Souls II had several moments like that when you would come across something that would make you pause. In that brief rest, you could take in the beautiful, but slightly haunting sights, or to reflect back on the previous game in the series. Just quiet echoes of past journeys, reimagined in this new, darker world of Drangleic. To me, none of it was forced, and I really enjoyed how they did it, especially at the time when I first played it back in 2014.
FromSoftware has always had a unique way of evoking memories and nostalgia inside their games, especially the Souls series. They do an amazing job at this, with certain characters that make reappearances, similar locations, and various enemies. It’s one factor of their games that I love so much, because it feels like in the harshest and most chaotic places in the universes they create, I could always feel the past lingering behind many corners!
As I wrapped up my first playthrough of Dark Souls II, I was left with a great sense of relief for having beaten it and the reward of knowing I completed it! I have always loved the difficulty in the Souls games, and the reward for beating bosses or wrapping up a playthrough is always worth it for me!
But… even as I continued with more playthroughs back in 2014 and even years later, I always carried a bittersweet attitude, as well as a quiet longing towards my first experience with Dark Souls II.
Bittersweet Endings
Dark Souls II was the kind of game that I immediately wanted to go back through and play again for the first time. Even when I had first completed it back in 2014 and when I saw as the credits rolled, I remember wanting to jump right back into it all over. It was this strange, restless pull that tugged at me. Almost like the type of pull and longing where I needed to go back, to experience it all over again for the first time.
And now, over a decade later, I still feel that same longing at times.
2014 was an amazing year that I loved, and a time that I fondly look back on. I was still in school, and had more free time than I knew what to do with! Everything in the real world seemed peaceful, and I feel a calming nostalgia when I think back to what I was doing then. And more often than not, I was filling the time with games that I wanted to play! Dark Souls II landed right in the middle of that, and makes up a huge part of my life back in early 2014. Nowadays, when I look back 11 or so years ago, I have a sense of bittersweet yearning for the type of peace that I felt back then, with Dark Souls II being tied closely to that season of life.
I think back to the moments in Dark Souls II that remind me of that bittersweet feeling, which for me, most often takes place in Majula.
Majula was a retreat from the heartache and danger that existed everywhere in the dark, chaotic, and twisted experience of Dark Souls II. In a way, and when thinking back on it, I look at Dark Souls II itself as a nostalgic and safe retreat from the real world, similar to how Majula was a safe haven from the dangers in the game’s world of Drangleic. I feel a peaceful warmth in my heart when I’m in that depressing world of Dark Souls II, especially Majula, and it’s a sense of nostalgia that I care deeply about, as it transports me back to a time when life was a lot simpler and seemingly more peaceful.
Comfort of Returning Years Later
Despite the bittersweet feelings I have, I love that Dark Souls II is still easily accessible to jump back into nowadays!
I was incredibly happy when FromSoftware put out Dark Souls II: The Scholar of the First Sin, as it was a great way to jump back into Drangleic years later! I didn’t pick up a PlayStation 4 (PS4) console until 2016 or so, so having an updated version of Dark Souls II with technical and gameplay improvements and enhancements was amazing! If you happened to be interested in picking this game up to try, I would highly recommend the Scholar version. It’s smoother, fuller, and in many ways, it feels like the definitive edition.
And now, more than a decade later, Dark Souls II is still one of those games that I love jumping back into, and am drawn towards. It’s a peaceful retreat, despite the difficulty as a Souls game, and its atmosphere is beautiful to still explore.
It’s not just the quiet settlement in Majula or the Altar of Sunlight in Harvest Valley, but all over the world of Drangleic!
The balance between the beauty of its world and the chaos it contains is something that feels creatively poetic. Whether it’s the amazing cliffside holding up Majula that is showered in a picturesque golden-hour sunset, but with dangers surrounding it from every connected path. Or finding bits of in-game nostalgia, such as the moment of respite at the Altar of Sunlight, but with it being just outside of caves and valleys that are seeping in poison. It’s those contrasting moments of peace and peril that make the world of Dark Souls II eerily serene and vividly memorable.
Sometimes, I’ll load up an old save just to walk around Majula. I often don’t fight anything. I just wander through the ruins, listen to the rustling wind and crashing waves, and take in the atmosphere. I love remembering back to when I first played it years ago, and reminiscing back to the time in life that was simpler, a bit more peaceful, and finding those moments of beauty amid the chaos in the world of Dark Souls II — moments that still mean so much to me!
Hope for the Future
My hope is that Dark Souls II has a place in your life too!
Your memories of this game may not mirror mine, or you might have some similarities with what I shared, but I hope that you have a video game you have fond memories of that you can travel back to and enjoy. One that brings you peace, and one that quietly reminds you of who you were — and who you’re still becoming.
If you haven’t played Dark Souls II before, I really encourage you to jump in and give it a try! Even though it is one of the only FromSoftware Souls-type games not directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, with him only having a supervisory role in its development, it is a game that still feels very modern and even had a great influence for the studio’s legacy and over the future development of other FromSoftware games! In fact, Miyazaki had said this fairly recently in an article posted on IGN:
“In regards to Dark Souls 2, I actually personally think this was a really great project for us, and I think without it, we wouldn’t have had a lot of the connections and a lot of the ideas that went forward and carried the rest of the series.”
— H. Miyazaki
It's a game that had an awesome amount of influence over future titles, and to me, it has stood the test of time really well for a Souls game! My hope for the game itself, especially the multiplayer aspect, is that it will still be supported, as well as engaged by players, for many more years to come! I know that for myself, I’ll definitely be jumping back into it in the future!
And if you have played Dark Souls II in the past, then I hope that something I wrote might have resonated with you, and that you would give it another go sometime soon! Maybe not to fully play through again, but perhaps to remember some of the quieter moments, or some of the peaceful ones that are often overshadowed by the chaos of Drangleic!
Thank you for reading, and for the privilege and honor of your time! It means a lot to me, and I hope that you enjoyed this week’s newsletter!
Take care, and I’ll see you next Saturday morning!
Joe
What are Your Thoughts
I want to hear from you!
Let me and others know down in the comments what your experiences are with Dark Souls II or any of the other FromSoftware games! I would love to know more, and to find out what this game meant to you!
Did you play it when it first came out like I did? Or maybe you waited around until much later! Either way, I would love to know more!
Likewise, did you have any games that you can go back to that give you a great sense of nostalgic peace?
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I for one, did not afford to spend the time on a Dark Souls game, unfortunately. Yet... I appreciate them so much.
My experience with DS games? I heard that DS was a "killer" game, but also heard that for many people, like yours as another example, DS brought comfort along amazement... for some even in their darker times of life.
So, instead of starting a run... I started a Youtube playthroughs of it... I was so amazed... so much so that I started watching documentaries, story analysis videos, essays on it's aesthetics, gameplay and how DS teaches you to play... could not stop and this was over quite the period.
Weirdly... even tough I've not actually played it... in my mind I remember it as fondly as my favorite games... maybe even similar as you remember it "reminiscing back to the time in life that was simpler, a bit more peaceful, and finding those moments of beauty amid the chaos". I know it's ways, secrets, fav zones... It's a wierd and cool feeling, but still part of my life, in a different way.
PS. Great writing! :)
Three things always stick with me about DS2. The first is the layout, and how disjointed the areas sometimes are from one another - it's usually excused as a 'lands converging' or dream state situation, but it's sometimes hilariously unsubtle. I remember after beating DS2 [I also preordered it] me and my friend met at a cafe and played a game where we tried to map out from memory how the game's progress went.
The second is how much more effort they put into both NG+ and the packaged rerelease, Scholar. Both are full of extra changes that make the playthroughs at least somewhat fresh for someone who finished the original game, and the NG+ changes especially feel like they were trying to re-engineer some of the World Tendency mechanic from Demons Souls into a more sensible system. I still don't understand why Scholar was almost completely reshuffled the way it was, but it's kind of cool.
But most of all, I think about the mechanics that didn't quite come into their own, which could have made DS2 stand out even more from the rest of the FromSoft games but wound up half baked. The lighting and torches are a good example - there are a few spots early on where you're encouraged to sacrifice one hand to carrying a flame, which you can use to permanently improve the lighting and give you a new spot to spark up, and the enemy and environmental behavior play off of it, with some enemies being afraid of the fire, backing away from you defensively, and others taking advantage of it, by throwing oil pots at you. That seems like it could have been a bigger focus of the game, but fell to the wayside as the lighting in general was made less oppressive. Same for the power stancing, the bonfire ascetics unlocking NG+ or beyond content without needing to finish the game, covenants with alternative objectives and unique gameplay.
I still revisit DS2 occasionally, though the last few times have been to check out some mods. My most recent playthrough, I did the Seeker of Fire 2.0 mod, and I actually really liked it - it rearranges the areas, which would be more confusing if DS2's layout wasn't already confusing enough, and makes surprisingly substantial changes to enemy and item placement. Generally it makes the game's difficulty a bit more even, and very frustrating areas a lot more tolerable. The best changes are probably to the bosses - some of the bosses that are normally too weak, too frustrating, or in an awkward place have been completely replaced or moved, and gotten new attacks or tweaked mechanics too.