I always feel bad about Gravelord Nito. He's the only Lord not explicitly insane, corrupted, or evil. He's literally just sitting there, chilling, doing his job as the Lord of the dead. However, despite being the only functional Lord, he's completely apathetic to what is going on in the world of the living, even when the other lords had gone crazy and a necromancer was stealing Nito's powers, the Gravelord just sat there, doing nothing but his duties, even as the world fell apart around him.
@@StephanuSneed Initially, they weren't. However, by the time you encounter them, all of them are, save Nito. That's why I feel bad about having to destroy him, since he's the only one still sane and doing his job.
It's so cool how you can see Izalith and even what looks to be the Ash Lake and the arch tree's from the TOG. They made such an effort inter connecting the world.
Absolutely they make the world seem like it connects together that way you actually feel after eight years of playing Dark Souls I have memorized the entire game from memory
And most of them are correctly located relative to one another! Zullie's got another video on it on her channel, but if you can see somewhere else from the game world like this, it's usually in the right general direction/orientation. You can see this if you die somewhere then take the long way around - since player bloodstains are always loaded, you can die in the right place in Izalith, head to TOG, and then see the green particles in the distance.
Agreed. Every From game is amazing, but I still hold Dark Souls in such high regard for this very reason. Other games have done it, but never to this degree, at the time.
Nito strikes me as someone who knows his place is a mess, but he's too lazy to get up and do something about it. He just turned off all the lights instead and hopes that no one notices anything. Heh.
I just realized that by sheer coincidence I found the quickest way to Nito first playthrough and missed large parts of the tomb on all subsequent runs...
I somehow found Nito pretty quickly too. Next runs I got lost everytime, I was so scared when found the grave with 10 giant skeletons and had 0 estus :(
This reminds me back when I first played, I went down into the Tomb before getting lordvessel, and not knowing how skull lantern worked, so I did the whole thing by looking for the slight glint in the skeletons' eyes, and learning exactly where every enemy was, walking very slow in heavy armor
Bro I did the same thing, and I went through the lower part of Blighttown first before the Depths and got to the gate connecting the two and had to backtrack all the way back down Blighttown on that wonderful Xbox 360 framerate lol
it's been over 4 years that I played DS, but I remember every single inch of this place because I mapped it in my mind. I had no idea there was a lantern in the game.
Not surprising. The Skull Lantern has a very low drop rate, though that rate goes up with every Necromancer you kill (until it drops, then it resets back to its base 2% chance). If you skipped some of the Necromancers, it's very likely you'd have never seen the item at all.
If you remember every inch of the map why didn't you find the skull lantern as loot in the pit of the first bonfire, where patches pushes you in? probably ran your way out of their and never returned 😂
Ah yeah my first run in dark souls surely had some really bad luck moments that made it extra difficult like never get a lantern for tomb of the giants. Along other discoveries that regular runs had.
@@dragonslayer3552 Zullie plays tennis with Archdeacon Royce (by means of hurling Archdeacon Royce across the box, I mean), so certainly she preferes active livestyle and to walk everywhere instead of using brooms.
That's right! It is surprising how many people fail in the sound department when making videos. The songs used on Zullie's videos fit the game being shown, I have no idea why the normal thing for almost every youtuber who decides to put a song over the video is for them to choose songs that not only do not fit the video theme at all but are also annoying as fuck most of the time. Props for Zullie for doing what is the most obvious, sensible thing to do when picking sound.
I mean, it's a zelda soundtrack, I wouldn't be suprised if people are afraid of copyright, Nintendo doesn't exactly have a great track record with that stuff And if your talking about youtube videos like stuff from FighterPL I thing their music does fit their content, it's more fast pase actual combat and multiplayer and pranks and stuff, whereas this is calmly and curiously exploring an area. That music wouldn't work here but what is chosen here does.
it's a shame that the sense of exploration is replaced with that of dread in the tomb because seeing the sheer size of some of these coffins is amazing
It’s replaced by dread? You saying you wouldn’t feel that in a giant underground tomb that is right next to the fiery land of demons and the old world of dragons long gone
Its supposed to be dreadful. It's a crypt of a dying/dead species that was wiped out and forced into servitude until extinction. Its vibe is very fitting.
Those big doglike skeletons on all fours are the enemy I fear more than anything in the game. Even when you know their moves they are so terrifying and potentially lethal
You know, ever since the release of the ring city dlc for ds3, considering how big the ringed knights are, it would make sense that the skeletons in this area would be primal humans
@@moonlightostrich3690 The big skeletons can't be regular giants either, though, because they're too small. As others have pointed out, they might be remains of the gods' race.
I don't think there are really any differences between the "god" race and the human race, they only vary in size but their physical characteristics are the same and there don't seem to be any other differences between them in the three games. So it is not impossible that the giant skeletons, ringed knights, lords and humans are all simply the same race! The giants may be part of a different race and the term "giant" refers to several types of creatures encountered in the three Souls, so it's impossible to know if all these creatures are related to each other or not, nor if they are related to humans and lords. What seems to be certain is that the Tomb of the Giants does not refer to the giant skeletons that we meet or even to Nito, but rather to the giants that rested in the giant coffins that have been built in the meantime. It is also a proof that giants must have been very important in the civilization that preceded the advent of Gwen, and of which Nito was also an important character (Izalith too, the two kingdoms being connected and seeming to be complementary).
@@walter1383 I've watched some modded playthroughs and on one he was placed in the Taurus Demon's boss fight and there I saw clearly he does have double jointed legs. They're especially visible when he does his lungh attack. He actually looks really cool in the light and I've liked him a lot more ever since seeing him better
Holy moly I just realised that when you're playing as Dusk you go through areas that are lit up VS when you're playing as Zullie you're hacking/doing arcane bullshit!
You can almost tell where they expected the darkness to obscure things. It'll go from okayish texture to fully repeating around the roof of buildings. Thanks for all your hard work, Zullie. It's always fun to see these, and gives me some new appreciation for the souls series.
It's painfully obvious in DS2. Areas that were meant to be shrouded in darkness are fully lit, exposing tiled textures and unfinished level geometry. The fact those same flaws are present in DS1 but not noticeable goes to show how much the lighting system in DS2 harmed that game.
You know a labyrinthine map is done right when even with all lights on you still feel lost and overwhelmed and have no idea where you're going. The Tomb of the Giants is such a cool place.
After sinking thousands of hours into the entirety of thr soulsborne series and Platinuming everyone game +sekiro I can say with confidence that this area is the only one I haven't fully explored. It's miserable and I hate it.
Bruh, it's so linear. You only have two or three branches and those lead to items that aren't essential for gameplay anyway (and it takes like, two minutes to explore those branches). Except for the smith tools or whatever they were called, but it's not that hard to find. The Forbidden Woods is far more complex and difficult to map.
@@biggrocc19 I would argue that the fact that it's giving you an emotional reaction of any kind is interesting on itself. Honestly, some of the new games could use that variety in the scenarios imo. But it's fine if you don't like it 🤷♂️
Damn, never realized just how much of this places structures are coffins and half destroyed coffins lol. The human access ladders make me wonder what and why they're there for, and why would humans want to make a burial ground for them anyway considering how tenuous the relationship between man and giant seems across all 3 games. Weird.
@@backonlazer791 definitely done by the clerics, but that begs the questioning of their hollowed state upon your arrival, if they could climb out, why didn't they?
It seems the "Tomb of the Giants" is actually a Tomb of the Gods. The "Giants" being the Gods and now I see why they called humans pygmies. Seeing how large Filianore and Gwyn were made it make even more sense. I also think the first of the dead for Nito is not about being the first Human to die, judging by the size of his own skeleton he was the first God to somehow die and his Skeleton somehow rose and grabbed the Death Soul.
The name for the pygmies in japanese is actually a play on words. It means "lesser" or "smaller" people. And humans were "lesser" both size wise and also in that they were less civilized or less powerful than the gods' civilization.
Then what's with the more massive coffins, like the one where you find the Large Divine Ember? The only god that comes anywhere close to that size is Gwynevere's illusion, and her size could have simply been exaggerated by Gwyndolin. I think it's likely that the actual giants were buried here as well.
@@Dinoman972 We see her bed and her family, so we know she wasn't that big. We even see the statue that inspired her illusion. And it's literally called Tomb of Giants. Since the gods are never referred to as giants, while other creatures (like the actual giants) are, yes, that is a tomb for mainly giants, since humans are mainly buried in the catacombs above. Also, the gods seem to have buried their dead in Anor Londo, if Gwyn's and his knights' tombs there imply. However, the large stone coffins could simply be dwellings, or spaces for general use rather than actual coffins, being shaped like that because that's the architectural style of the Tomb.
Ikana Valley... it's been so long since Majora's Mask that upon hearing the OST for Ikana Valley it awakens the feeling of unsettling of Majora's Mask. That game was terrifying as a kid...
My first playthrough I came down here immediately after ringing the bell of awakening in the undeadburg. They told me to go down and this seemed like the most down I could go. Fought my way all the way to Nito's door. It was a truly terrifying experience. But it was far more terrifying realizing I'd made a terrible mistake and would have to climb my way back up. After that i actually made it into Blight Town, fought Quelaag, then proceeded to walk straight passed the bell and into the depths of Chaos. My sense of direction is really bad man.
Watching you run through the caves reminded me of when I was a kid playing pokemon crystal, scouring every part of every cave and pressing A while facing every rock, hoping I'd find some hidden loot, or an easter egg locked away somewhere. Unfortunately, I never found any easter eggs, but I loved the sense of mystery I felt at the time.
if you've played DS3 or Bloodborne... heck even DS2, it's honestly pretty hard to go back to DS1. The gameplay is dated by comparison, and the whole 2nd half of the game just feels so rushed.
@@AtypicalAdventurer I'm pretty guilty of having nostalgia for DS1. I can definitely agree that the PvP is pretty mundane especially compared to DS2 and 3, however the PvE and bosses hold a special place for me. Nothing is more memorable, and terrifying as trying to navigate blight-town at 5fps while also trying to micro-manage toxin, poison, and the infinite heat-seeking blood mosquitos.
@@AtypicalAdventurer you're right Dark Souls does drop the ball a bit in the second half of the game but still it's great to see the origins of the Dark Souls series it's worth a playthrough or heck many playthroughs because of how addicting the game gets the more powerful you become. I say bloodborne is the best Souls game mainly because it was one of the first 8th generation console games actually meet expectation and exceed them.
When you do these particular videos, you get a real appreciation for the amount of detail the artists put into these levels when you're not busy trying to stay alive. I never noticed all the skeletons were in various positions of worship right before Nito's boss chamber before because I'm usually so busy trying to not die from the various amounts of magic and other dead things being thrown my way. Thanks for the video and for allowing some of us to gain greater appreciation for the artistic visions put forth by the game creators.
I wonder if the Tomb of Giants is meant to be a burial ground for members of the "God" race like Gwyn, and if that is the case, what are those beast like skeletons supposed to be? I guess the same could be said for the baby skellies as well, they give me a Valley of Defilement kinda vibe.
it's funny to think how few of these enemies I've actually fought. This has always been a run through area for my play throughs, but there's a lot going on!
@@Scuuurbs no wonder Nito made the gravelord covenant. He/it was probably napping when an earthquake and tree came ripping through his place and half his shit just fell everywhere. So then he probably made. a covenant to keep shit from getting even more fucked.
3:57 wait is that the intended way to get the silver serpent ring? holy shit all this time i just did the reverse of your jump at 4:10 ... no wonder it always felt so awkward
damn, Nito almost seemed scarier when in full view; great video and soundtrack, made me wonder what was Nito's stance on darkness and the situation as a whole. What a place and level design, even though it's not one of my favorites.
You can see the second half of the game was rushed and relied on gimmicks to make it more grandiose (which imho worked _VERY_ well). The crystal cave relied on invisible paths, the tomb of giants relied on darkness, Izalith literally depended on "the floor is lava" and filled the place with half dinosaur legs, 4 kings relied on making you use a key item from a previous early game area (ring of Artorias)... The second half of the areas for the second half of the game were all rushed, but imho it gives it a lot of charm that's missing from every Souls game released since then. Other than Bed of Chaos and most of Izalith, I think it worked really well and those areas still make up some of my favorite memories within gaming, the sense of adventure and exploration that's so hard to get right nowadays.
Funny, I thought the exact opposite. I was thinking that this area would be a lot more fun if it was lit up like this. Similar to Catacombs of Carthus. It's not as bad an area as people say. Yeah, it was clearly rushed, but it's still a better area than at least half of the other areas I've played in Souls games. *coughFarronSwampcough*
resuggesting my last suggestion: could you try to set the armored warriors hp to 0? i wonder if hell just dissapear or if theres a seperate death animation if he doesnt fall off the bridge
If you bother to write these comments you might as well take the time to read Zullies reply. Because they already answered this question in the last video.
@@HostileAtHeart Hey, not everyone who watched the video might have read that exact comment, or they might be new. Nothing wrong with curiosity ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1:34 I have completed Dark Souls more times than I can remember and played it on more systems that any other game, I thought I had been everywhere but I have never been up this ladder...
@@alexepic3255 I’m sure they were able to tell since literally everyone including the boss doesn’t make a single move. They were just making an unserious joke.
I love it when you use that song in exploring this area... EDIT: I have a request, please show us all the accessible ruins in Oolacile and how to get there. There are 2 places where I simly can not get access.
That place where I wish I had Cast Light on my build. Also does anyone else wonder why Nito knows pyromancy and spells related to Dark and Humanity? Like, *he is wearing Humanity as a cloak* so I think we can assume that the occult is his damage type.
I don't see what makes you think Nito knows anything about pyromancy, but the Humanity cloak is definitely an interesting detail. It might have to do with the fact that the Rite of Kindling, which employs Humanity, used to be in his posession before Pinwheel stole it.
@@TheKing-qz9wd None of those pyromancies even exist in DS1, so we have no proof Nito can use them. Sacred Flame was created by a bunch of barbaric pyromancers who believed themselves to be servants of the gods, which doesn't sound like Nito's doing at all, and while DS2's Warmth is sold by a Fenito in the Undead Crypt, a healing fire-based spell doesn't fit someone who is supposed to oversee and administer death.
Alright this is straight up creepy. I reached Stone Tower Temple in Majoras Mask like three hours ago on my first playthrough. Now I am watching this video and BAM the music instantly brings me back to the game. Great content as per usual Zullie.
How many books are in the Duke's Archives? I assume there are only 1-3 variants of bookshelves (to avoid a repeating pattern). If you count the books for each bookcase pattern, then you have a predefined number to go by and you can count the variants instead of counting the books individually. For example, if Bookcase Type A has 50 books on its model and there are 100 of Type A, you'd have counted 5,000 books.
Brings me a lot of joy to see my favorite games from different perspectives (literally) and in ways that I could never see by myself. Love your channel :D
Pushing through this area is definitely a test of courage and persistence that I don't think I've experienced in most games. Braving this places is definitely an achievement in itself.
Large divine ember room has got to be one of the best trolls in dark souls. Finally clearing all the giant skeletons just for an item that’s borderline useless 😂
@@protonjones54 What do you mean? A divine weapon wouldn't help you much in the Tomb of the Giants unless you were a faith build, and it certainly wouldn't be particularly special in that room. It's good for the upcoming boss though. But yeah, it's not useless at that point, but should be located earlier.
@@Wveth Divine is the best weapon to use in Tomb of the Giants. It's the strongest against skeletons. I used a Divine Ricard's Rapier on my last playthrough & it was 1-shotting the 4 legged skeleton beasts things.
It's cool that the skeletons in Nito's arena spawn around him like that, I wonder the bigger skeletons once started agro the way the smaller ones do but they decided it was too hard.
I know it's already been used, and stone tower is also a good fit for this area, but... this area's theme choice really should have been shadow temple.
So THAT'S what the suicidal black knight is doing....he dies so quickly off-screen every time I come here, I had no idea he's supposed to protect the bonfire hidden in the area.
Finally, RU-vid brings me the content I truly want. This is fascinating, and I kind of wanted to see this area for a long time. Something about seeing it this way feels... almost heretical. It feels immoral, like I caught the map undressing and didn't look away or something.
You're the only person who can still make that flame 🔥 of love for all things dark souls burn brighter, even after all these years. Sincerely Another dark souls fan.
Not going to lie, I really thought you were about to play Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight as the song. Equally fitting for the frustration this place has caused me.
Ah, Stone Tower temple. I really have to play Majora's Mask again. Such an amazing game. Btw, hey it's me again. Can you show us the out of bounds from the Giant Memories? They look like great and big places that we never got to see in the game ;')
Awesome to see these vids. Keep up the good work. Also, to me it says a lot about my childhood that I recognized the music within a few seconds of it starting...
