The Rebirth of the Male God Starts From Playing Games Chapter 511

Chapter 511 509. What story does Demon's Souls tell?

 The most frequently asked question on the Internet is—

"Why is Demon's Souls so difficult?"

“Actually, Latvian prisons are pretty good, there aren't many monsters in them.

And if you have a thief's ring, it's okay, you can do a sneak attack and backstab.

The road in front of the old warrior BOSS at the Storm Sacrifice is disgusting. The Skeleton Mage's soul arrow will kill him instantly when hit. There are also a bunch of monsters and skeleton soldiers. It's really disgusting. I died all night. I finally beat the BOSS. At the beginning, I didn't know that I had to bring a thief's ring to fight. If I died once, I would have to run this route again. I almost collapsed. The evil spirits are really unfriendly. There is no save point near the BOSS, and there are no shortcuts. If you die once, you have to start over. "

"Speaking of Demon's Souls, I think it might be biased to give all the credit to producer Hidetaka Miyazaki. Let's take a look at what happened before this.

A Different RPG Before becoming famous for its difficult ARPGs, FromSoftware, founded in 1986, was just a small company developing commercial software in Shibuya, which is where its name comes from.

Nearly 10 years later, with the launch of the Sony PlayStation, FromSoftware decided to try to enter the game market, and the first game they developed was a slightly clumsy real-time 3D rendering game - "King's Quest". "King's Quest" was completely different from the popular Japanese RPGs at the time.

Works like "Final Fantasy 6" released in the same year as it all have fascinating character settings, turn-based combat and beautiful 16-bit pixel art.

In comparison, as a first-person RPG game, the dark and monotonous dungeons of "King's Quest" seem a bit shabby.

However, the combat in "King's Quest" is extremely challenging, and it focuses on exploration but is also full of dangers. These will become popular features of FromSoftware games in the future.

That being said, difficult role-playing and dungeon crawling didn't begin with King's Quest. "Witchcraft", released in 1981, relied on decades of board game experience to become the leader of early RPGs. Two Japanese fans of "Witchcraft" later created the "Dragon Quest" series, which shows the deep impact of "Witchcraft" on Japan at that time.

Under the general trend, many Japanese RPGs choose to draw heavily on the design of "Witchcraft" and the equally influential "Genesis", but "King's Quest" goes in the opposite direction.

If we insist on making a connection, the inspiration for "King's Quest" may have come from "Ultima Underworld" released in 1992 - one of the earliest full 3D first-person RPGs.

Deep Connection: FromSoftware has produced a total of 4 "King's Quest" games, each of which has a clear influence on the gameplay and tone of "Dark Souls".

But beyond that, there are more fascinating connections, such as the well-known "Moonlight Sword", which can often be seen in FromSoftware's later games, even in the mecha action game "Armored Core" No exception.

The phantom wall that appeared as early as "King's Quest 1" has become more and more common in later works. What's more direct is that the white dragon Hiss in "King's Quest" also appears in "Dark Souls". Even in the ending of "King's Quest 1", we can see the tragic fate of "Dark Souls"'s reincarnation.

The player finally closed the Dark Door and saved the world. However, when the credits are played, the subtitles will tell the player that one day someone will come here again and reopen the Dark Door. "King's Quest" provided the basic framework for FromSoftware's game production in the following decades.

Another first-person RPG "Shadow Tower" released in 1998 added strict settings such as energy bar, equipment weight and equipment durability. The narrations that can be seen everywhere in the world of "Tower of Shadows" are also reminiscent of the messages written by players using marker wax stones in subsequent games of "Demon's Souls".

But the most important contribution of "Tower of Shadows" to the "Souls" series is probably the mechanism of collecting souls and the addition of a shield that requires players to manually set up in the game. Although FromSoftware's mecha fighting games were selling like crazy at the time, they still put their energy back into fantasy RPGs during the PS2 era.

"Shadow Tower Abyss" has become the most gloomy of their early games. The tone of the game is dark and melancholy, and it gradually begins to reveal the shadow of the sad world in the "Soul" series of games. Oddly enough, this fantasy-themed RPG takes place in the modern world, and the player's starting weapon will be... an M1911 pistol. The new dual-wielding system allows players to hold a gun and a melee weapon in one hand, an idea that was revived in Bloodborne, released in 2015. Over the next few years, FromSoftware was busy making more conventional games, such as Lost Kingdoms and Chromehounds. The classic left and right-handed weapons of "Bloodborne" are world-famous. In 2009, when "Demon's Souls" was launched on the PS3 platform, the whole world finally realized its unique charm.

This success is no accident. "Demon's Soul" can be said to be the crystallization of FromSoftware's fifteen years of design philosophy. "Demon's Soul" However, "Demon's Soul", which made FromSoftware famous in one fell swoop, was actually a failure in its early stages - until Hidetaka Miyazaki appeared. Miyazaki joined and participated in the production of "Armored Core" in 2004, and now his name has become synonymous with the "Souls" series.

As a loyal reader of fantasy literature, Miyazaki was very excited to be able to personally participate in the production of a game with a beloved theme. And it's his design direction that brings perspective and cohesion to Demon's Souls. He refined the "recipe" behind "King's Quest" and "Tower of Shadows" and applied it to a new generation of more complex and mature games. FromSoftware's goal is to make "Demon's Soul" inherit the characteristics of its early traditional RPG as much as possible.

"Demon's Souls" cleverly builds on these elements, while including new content added by FromSoftware along the way-a load-carrying system, shield combat, and a focus on exploration. But Miyazaki's penchant for the melancholy tone of games like Ico and dark, mature fantasy stories like Berserk brought a new spin to these basic frameworks. "Demon's Souls" unexpectedly became a masterpiece.

Today, the resurgence of difficult but fair games is a strong testament to the uniqueness of FromSoftware's design formula. But to truly understand the magic of this recipe, we must not ignore its origins. "

There are a lot of discussions about "Demon's Souls" on Bowen.

As the number of players increases, more and more people are interested in this game. Because the story itself in the game is very fragmented, and a lot of information needs to be discovered and put together by the players themselves, so there are also dedicated people to open it on Bowen. asked a question, and the relevant answers are organized below:

"What kind of story does Demon's Souls tell?"

"The earliest times

A long time ago, in a world unknown to the ancestors of the important people, ancient magical beasts were born. The game does not tell us the specific time when this ancient monster was born, nor does it tell us whether there were longer humans before the Yaoman.

Human beings are not even defined in the game. However, we may find some clues as the game progresses as to how human beings were born.

Although the time has been so long that it is unknown, we can still hint to us through conversations with important people that the war between humans and ancient monsters may have been experienced countless times. It's just that the previous wars and times have been forgotten by us.

So we heard the important people's warning to us: "However, no matter how eternal time is, human beings are still stupid and unpredictable creatures. We have lost many important people, and the existence of the keystone has been gradually forgotten."

This seems to start a cycle of reincarnation. As time goes by, the next generation of humans will always forget the sufferings of the previous generation of humans, and inevitable tragedies will occur again and again.

The war between important people and ancient monsters

All the beginnings of the awakening of ancient monsters come from human beings' excessive use of souls. So after we kill the first demon and talk to the only surviving dignitary, he will tell us: "In the distant past, we once ruled the world through the function of our souls. But because we were unwilling to be satisfied, Awakening the ancient monsters with the spirit of exploration.”

From this we can know that the existence of ancient monsters has long been beyond people's awareness. The reason why ancient monsters wake up from sleep is because of people's unsatisfied pursuit. This is basically the same as the reason behind Oulant's awakening of Warcraft. This time, due to the greed of the important people, the ancient monsters awakened, bringing with them colorless fog and demons.

It should be noted here that the awakening of the ancient Warcraft will not only bring thick fog, but also demons, and the emergence of demons is closely related to the outcome of our game, because in the end, whether it is the fireproof woman or us players, there will always be one person who will stay in the ancient world. In the body of Warcraft. It's just that what the fireproof girl brings is false sleep, and what we players bring is destruction.

In order to prevent the world from being destroyed, the ancestors of the important people tried their best to guide the ancient monsters to enter the state of sleep again, and the sealing method was to seal the sleeping ancient monsters into a wedge.

This wedge is the place where our souls were summoned after we stepped into the death of Pretania, which was wrapped in thick fog - the Temple of the Wedge.

Because the thick fog generated by the ancient monsters will cause the loss of communication between countries and the killing of humans by demons, the world will fall apart. In order to maintain the close connection between the world again, the ancestors of the people gave the six keystones to the leaders of the villain.

The word villain, in the Chinese translation, is the same as the Dark Souls series, it is still translated as dwarf.

However, the production team said in an interview that the villain symbolizes humble status rather than short stature.

So in "Demon's Souls" we clarify this meaning again. The villain here refers to their power being far weaker than the power of the important people.

The leaders of these six villains are the ambitious king of a small country, the king of the miners who dig holes, the intellectual queen of the ivory tower, the leader of the wandering poor, and the priest of the shadow man who worships death and storms. and the Giant of the North.

Except for the destroyed giant's keystone, which we cannot teleport to, we can enter the other five areas in the game. It seems that in this game, the giant's country lives in the text of the game, and we can never enter it. I don't know if this is the obsession of the production team.

Although the ancestors of the important people won the war with the ancient monsters, they finally sealed the ancient monsters. But they cannot bear the responsibility of ruling the world. Whether it was to atone for their sins or because they were powerless, the ancestors of Yaito gave up the idea of ​​ruling the world, turned themselves into Yaito, and became the people who maintain the world.

We also saw the emergence of important people clearly stated in the ending of the game: "The spreading world needs new important people, and it needs warriors who can obtain inhuman power."

Yes, from the moment we step into the Temple of the Wedge, our souls cannot leave this place. But even in the end, the soul is no longer bound by the Temple of Wedge, but we find that even our bodies will be transformed into important people in the ending, and we will still be trapped in the Temple of Wedge.

This also implies to us that reincarnation has happened countless times.

After the important person wins, he treats the function and knowledge of the soul as a taboo, and prohibits research and dissemination in the human world.

But we can see this description from the demon brand or the soul brand: "A sword that can cut into pieces of souls, passed down from generation to generation in the royal family of Preretania."

This description tells us that even if people are prohibited from using the soul, the role of the soul cannot be buried. Just like these two swords, the sword that causes demons to regenerate and the sword that destroys demons are actually one with each other. Therefore, in the final duel of the game, Old Wang Ouellette holds the soul mark in his hand, and ours The protagonist is holding the demon brand in his hand.

The soul's inability to restrain is not only reflected here, but also reflects the new power that will be generated by the soul - miracles and magic.

The Making of Miracles and Magic

Due to the war between demons and important people's ancestors, suffering people must look for spiritual support, so religions and gods believed by believers naturally emerged. In the game, whether it is the dragon **** in the country of the miners. The Storm King in the Shadow Man Sacrifice Country is the corresponding demon and **** created by the imagination and admiration of the ancestors.

This shows that people's beliefs and consciousness can indeed generate power, and this power can be projected into reality.

So our clergy in the Temple of the Wedge can learn the wonders of faith.

Because we can see the existence of miracles, religion must have expanded further. Unlike miracles, which are powers that can only be obtained through piety, magic is entirely the result of theory and research. It is precisely because of this that we can see a lot of research on the soul in the country of the ivory tower queen, who symbolizes intelligence.

Whether it is the man-eating ghost made by the old man in yellow, or it is recorded in the golden mask: "Among the hidden people who are locked in a secret room and dedicate their lives to their souls, only those with particularly high status are allowed to wear it. "

All this information tells us that asking people to ban souls to prevent tragedies from happening again cannot really stop human beings' desire for souls. Because the game also tells us that soul is power. The more souls you have, the more power you have. This urge for soul and power is almost written in human genes and cannot be stopped at all.

Therefore, the words written in the soul imprint almost predict the recurrence of the inevitable disaster. It is recorded: "After Oulant took the throne, he has been worn by the king on his waist. The power of this sword will change due to the The closer the user's soul is to the devil, the more it increases, so Old Wang Oulant chose this sword."

Oulante's ambition and desire have been obvious since the day he ascended the throne. He just needs to wait for an opportunity to open the door of his desire.

Ancient monsters awaken again

The animation at the beginning of the game tells us: "In the era governed by the 12th generation King Oulant, the great northern country of Preretania, which was glorious and prosperous because of its soul, was suddenly and strangely swallowed up by a thick fog of unusual color."

There is a lot of information shown here.

First, the country that traveled to Beretania from the Temple of the Wedge was called a small country full of ambitions in the era of dignitaries, but now it has become a big country in the north.

Second, the reason for becoming a great country is just as the text tells us, "it is glorious and prosperous because of its soul."

Third, being engulfed in white mist is similar to the war between the ancient monsters caused by the ancestors of the important people, which means that the ancient monsters have once again awakened from their slumber.

We can also clarify the information we got in the dialogue of the important person: "The unknown Oulant has revived the ancient monster again."

Yes, both the description in the Soul Mark and the text of the opening animation have already hinted to us that Oulant's ambition will inevitably lead to the reawakening of the ancient Warcraft.

We can restore this plot through some relevant information about the game.

Although Preretania is a large northern country in the game, the prince's dialogue tells us the specific situation of this country: "Preretania used to be a very beautiful country. No matter the king, knights or people were honest and simple, Despite the poverty, there is still a strong and deep warmth. Although I have studied in many progressive countries in the south, I have never found a country more charming than Pretania.”

From this we can know that in the world view of "Devil's Soul", these southern countries that have not appeared in the game are stronger than the northern countries in terms of setting.

Coincidentally, there is a set of suits called Groove Knights in the game, and it also records: "This is the equipment used by knights in the more advanced areas in southern Beretania."

When we entered the town of Beretania. We saw a large number of soldiers and wooden planks from wars lined up on the city walls, which indicated that there was probably a war going on in the country.

This similar scene also appeared in "Dark Souls 2", and these remnants of "Dark Souls 2" are the war between King Pankrad and King Giant.

And this may be the trigger for Oulant's decision to seek the forbidden soul and power.

In the game, it is clearly mentioned that there are two areas where people brought demons back. One is the royal city of Beretta. When talking to the female believer who believes in the gods, she will tell us: "I used to live in Beretta." In the small town outside Nia, when King Oulant went into hiding and came back with a group of terrifying demons, the scene was so terrifying that I still don't want to think about it.”

The other is Ladovia, Queen of the Tower. We got clear information from the imprisoned noble. She would say: "The queen banished the old man with a ragged appearance. But the old man was dressed in strange yellow clothes. , come back with the demons."

At the last BOSS in Ladovia, we can see that the old man in yellow is actually possessed by yellow clothes. Without the yellow clothes, he will die immediately.

When we piece this information together, we can get the corresponding process.

Ladovia, the country where the old man in yellow lives, is a country that studies the soul through theory. When the old man violated certain taboos, this taboo was probably recorded in the cannibal's keystone: "Once upon a time In an ivory tower, hung in a prison by chains, made from flesh **** fused with humans, the current king of Ladovia, a demon made with the hands of a non-human old man, right?”

So he was exiled by the queen, and although the specific process was not described after the exile, the old man must have formed a connection with Oulant.

It is very likely that Oulant was facing a war and could not defeat it with the current strength, which led him to find the Temple of the Wedge where the ancient monsters were sealed at the instigation of the old man.

The specific location of the Temple of Wedge was told to us when we were first summoned by the fire-proof woman in black: "This is the Temple of Wedge, but it is now called Pretania, and it is the main point of the north. "

Here Olandt broke the seal and awakened the ancient evil.

At the same time, we obtained some kind of truth, and finally left ourselves here in despair, so we can hear the words of Orlande who turned into mud at the moment we entered the body of the ancient monster: "You also witnessed it with your own eyes. Isn't it? Originally, the world was a tragedy. That's why God left the poison named Warcraft in order to bring an end to all tragedies!”

The real Oullanthe stayed here, but the demon transformed into the fake Oullanthe and led the demon back to Preretania, and White Mist and the demon reappeared in the world.

Pretania was shrouded in white mist, turning into a **** on earth and a paradise for demons.

Disappearance of Pretania

As the title text says: "Contacts with Preretania were cut off after being swallowed by the white mist. No one who stepped into that thick fog came back safely. Only one of the two swords of Oulant Byron Fax, fleeing the fog from the rift, and recounting the demise of Beretania."

The awakening of the ancient monsters in Beretania has had many impacts on reality.

One of the effects is that due to the creation of demons, human souls can be absorbed, and the more souls absorbed, the greater the power gained. This makes the way for a person to obtain power extremely simple and direct, so many heroes are beguiled by its power and constantly walk through the rift into this land cursed by the white mist.

The second influence is that the soul can separate from the body and materialize. In order to seal the ancient monsters again, the Temple of Wedge summoned the souls of certain selected people to this place through the power of the fire-proof woman in black.

As the fireproof girl said: "You can't leave here. You can only accept the guidance of the fragments of the five keystones..."

The duties of the fire-prevention woman were clearly told to us through important people: "Have you killed all the demons? Please follow the fire-prevention woman to the place where the ancient monsters live under this wedge. Only she can guide the monsters to sleep again. This job. You are all imprisoned in the wedge for that purpose."

Of course, don't wonder why these demons didn't just kill the fire-prevention woman and the dignitary when they were born? Wouldn't this be the end of the matter?

The plot is set up like this, so let's not take it seriously.

The devil is trying to absorb souls, while the fire-proof woman and the dignitary are trying to trap souls. One makes it impossible for humans to live, and the other makes it impossible for humans to die.

This indestructible item is called the Binding Ring of the Wedge, and it reads: "Proof of being imprisoned in the Temple of the Wedge. The person holding this item will be bound by the Wedge. Even if he loses his body, he cannot die. Only his soul will last forever." Imprisoned in the wedge.”

Yes, it has exactly the same effect as our undead dark ring.

The third impact is that both miracles and magic have become more powerful.

As Frick, who teaches magic, said: "I can approach the hidden truth of the soul with the touch, and grant you other new magic. The devil's soul is not just a simple accumulation of a large number of souls."

Whether it's miracles or magic, we can learn a lot of new powers through the demon souls obtained in the game.

It is also recorded in the miracle of refuge: "A new miracle discovered in Pretania. The Temple of the Wedge binds a very powerful soul. This opportunity is the product of tracing that power."

The power of the Temple of Wedge also comes from demons, which lays the foundation for our ending choice.

Precisely because Pretania has become the place where new powers, magic and miracles appear, many people have come here, not only the various heroes mentioned in the title, but also people like our protagonist. ordinary people.

Therefore, we see the corresponding description in the text: "So, the last hope stepped into Pretania through the rift. Will he prevent destruction, or become a servant of the devil?"

Is this last hope the hope of mankind or the hope of demons? And this tells us almost explicitly that at the end of this game, we must make corresponding choices.

Game start time

At the beginning of the game, we entered the rift under the guidance of the fireproof woman's voice, just as she said to us: "Humans who are not afraid of death and have a strong soul. I will lead you to the rift. I hope you can guide the ancient monsters." Take another nap.”

The purpose of our existence has already been stated - to guide the ancient monsters to sleep again. But there is more than one ending.

Whether after killing the demon for the first time, the important person told us one of the truths of the world - that the ancient monsters will exterminate mankind, or after we killed all the demons along the way, we heard another truth told to us by Oulant - the world That is a tragedy.

They all imply that this world hides many secrets, and these secrets will be interpreted differently depending on people's positions. You can choose to be a brave man who suppresses the ancient monsters, or become another Oulant who is addicted to soul and power. So while we were killing all the demons entrenched in the northern continent, we were thinking about how we should make our own choices about this world.

Just like at the end, there are still two demon-like humans whispering in our ears.

The priesthood tells us: "This is not the sound of evil beings like the devil. It is simply like a baby who is simply hungry. Do you know what's going on? I feel more and more uneasy for no reason..."

Although the priesthood does not know where the power of their prayers comes from, they have a heartfelt worship of the ancient monsters.

But there is also awe, and this awe makes them choose to seal even gods.

But another magician said: "I have been thinking about one thing over and over again. Should we really seal the ancient monster? Then, I finally realized, listen, the ancient monster should not be sealed. You will get the equivalent of With the power of the king, I will gain great knowledge.”

Magicians clearly know the source of their power and knowledge. They should understand the dangers of ancient monsters better than the priesthood, but now they try to use their own insignificance to control creatures far beyond their knowledge. This arrogance has also become a huge irony that runs through the three works from "Demon's Soul" to Dark Souls.

As for after defeating the demon Oulante in the ancient World of Warcraft, whether we will become another Orlande, or whether we will become new dignitaries and continue to seal the ancient Warcraft, this choice is in the hands of every player.

Still like the Dark Souls series, we seem to have decided the direction of the world, but we cannot fully grasp what the world will become.

at last

The power of the king is a slow poison. It will lead the world to the right path at the beginning, but in the end, it will lead the world to destruction again. The dignitaries and Oulant in "Demon's Souls" have actually expressed this meaning.

Perhaps this is also a point that the production team has always wanted to express, that nothing is eternal. When the old era passes, the kings of the old era must also abdicate, otherwise it will only bring more suffering to this world.

When the suffering reaches its extreme, it will lead to total destruction.

Just like one of the endings of "Demon's Souls", if we choose to kill the Fireproof Girl and become the new demon of the ancient monster, the game text will say: "In this way, the ancient monster got a more powerful new demon. The world will eventually dissolve and pass away in the thick fog! ”

The last sentence, "Let's get the soul," seems to finalize the entire Soul series. Whether it is the person who caused the destruction of the world or the person who saved the world, all his actions are in the process of pursuing soul and power. The difference in the results is just the difference in the final choice.

They are the two aspects of the ancient evil. The power is already here. How to obtain and use it is a question for all humans in the game. "

Background: A world rooted in the power of the soul. In the worldview of "Demon's Souls", the soul is a real energy that has resided in humans since ancient times. According to the knowledge passed down by the ancients, the soul is the "compound" that enables living beings to think and understand things. It not only has visibility, but also keeps the environment where humans live clear and pure.

Soul is the theme that runs through the game Demon's Souls.

What's more important is that by using certain technologies that suddenly appear in human society, the soul can also trigger power that is enough to change the laws of reality. From another perspective, the soul is like a convenient and highly plastic energy substance in this world.

Many ancient civilizations have become extremely prosperous because of soul technology, attracting many forces to compete for it. However, the soul also attracts beings other than humans.

A group of cruel demons far beyond common sense suddenly appeared from the thick fog, constantly attacking humans and taking away their souls.

Then those whose souls were devoured will turn into zombie-like beings, turning around and attacking all living creatures they see.

People who have lost their souls are left with only the instinct to kill. During the battle with demons, people discovered that they do not have their own entities; except for the thick fog that appears with them to maintain them, demons are actually more like some kind of spiritual body. Such attitude exists.

When humans have enough soul power, they can stop the spread of dense fog. "On the first day, human beings were given souls, which brought clarity; on the second day, the earth was sown with hopeless poison - soul-devouring demons." This opening CG of the game predicts the game. core themes. There is a confrontation between humans/souls and demons/fog. Humans with souls can protect the land from the thick fog and prevent the demons living in it from invading; but if the soul is taken away by the demons, the world that has lost understanding will not be able to block the thick fog, and the demons will inevitably devour humans. All.

There were many wars between ancient humans and demons, so people in ancient times unified civilization and used the power of souls to develop teleportation devices that allowed people to travel freely between different countries. Unlike the famous bonfire in the Dark Souls series, the teleport point in this game is a stone with a decorated sword stuck on it. The traditional Chinese version is called the "Keystone", while the Japanese version is called the "Keystone" - the same name as the real spiritual stone located at Kashima Shrine in Kashima County, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

Most of the teleport points in this game need to defeat the BOSS to open the keystones that serve as teleports to different countries. They are stone tablets engraved with the characteristics of each civilization. They are - 1. The keystone of the king of the small country: that is, the main story stage of the game - the stone tablet of the northern kingdom of Beretania. Over the years, the kingdom has spread the legend of the two swords named "Soul Brand" and "Devil Brand", as well as the founding hero Duran. During the main storyline of the game, it was a country that advocated martial arts and gave birth to many heroes such as towers, double swords, and piercing knights. However, the record of "a small country in the north" is still engraved on the stone tablet created shortly after its establishment.

The cutscenes are much more grand than the ones in the game. 2. The keystone of the king of burrows: the neighboring country around Beretania. If you don't take into account the weird appearance and relatively low intelligence level, this nation can be understood to some extent as the dwarves in the world of ghasts. They live in caves and tunnels all year round and even built a city called "Stone Tooth" underground. The diggers are proficient in forging and refining, and have even developed the ability to use their souls to strengthen weapons. The antagonistic/symbiotic relationship between the creatures lurking in the underground world and them has also become a feature here.

The local specialty is the pickaxe 3. The keystone of the Queen of Towers: Victoria, ruled by the Queen, is also known as the country of the ivory tower. The country has considerable magical attainments and is famous for its interconnected air castles and towers. However, one day, an old man who had been exiled by the queen suddenly returned; he wore a strange yellow dress and drove an unspeakable monster to kill the queen. Subsequently, Victoria's tribesmen were imprisoned one after another, and their souls were continuously squeezed out by the jailers in the prison. Now there are only the wails echoing in the shadows and the twisted monsters produced by the experiments of the old man in yellow.

The traditional guest of the series The King in Yellow 4. The keystone of the giant king: the famous kingdom of giants in the north. Due to unknown reasons, this stone monument was damaged and therefore became an inaccessible area in the game. This is the farthest northern region, covered with snow all year round, and giants have built towering fortresses here. Many giant beasts form a strong contrast with the ruins. It is rumored that it was originally intended to be added as DLC content. It's a pity that we still haven't been able to see its true appearance.

That is, the giant stone tablet before it was destroyed. 5. The keystone of the Shadowman Priest: A country built on an island seems to have had quite frequent exchanges with the Eastern civilization in the Ghast worldview.

Hundreds of years ago, the shadow people established a sacrificial site on the island to pray to storms and the spirits of the dead. But now it has been destroyed for hundreds of years.

People can only see the skeletons still using the powerful fighting skills in life, and demons wandering around in various forms. And the legendary sword that can split the sky is still waiting in the forest of carved stone pillars where the Holy Spirit rests.

Shadowman Island is the highlight of the picture improvement. 6. The keystone of the poor leader: a valley hidden in the valley, inhabited by many strange creatures and with extremely harsh environment. It is called the "Valley of Decay" by outsiders.

Humans suffering from diseases and mutations, or other beings spurned by the outside world, regard this place as their resting place. Countless corrupt things eventually gathered at the bottom of the valley, becoming a breeding ground for poisonous insects and diseases.

But according to legend, even in such a filthy abyss, the moonlight that symbolizes hope can be found.

The origin of the series specialty "Sick Village" is that in addition to the above-mentioned countries that are part of the game process, there is also a "land of dignitaries" with the highest level of civilization in the legend.

The residents of this country all look like children, but they possess the most powerful soul power and even built city-states on the clouds. It was also during their battles with demons in ancient times that they discovered the cruel truth behind the power of the soul.

The nature of the soul is different from what we first learned on our mission, and demons are not born as invaders. Long before humans appeared, an ancient demon named The Old One had survived for countless years.

Unlike the concept of "Demon King" in traditional fantasy stories, the ancient Warcraft does not show specific concepts of good and evil, and it does not even have a so-called personality.

Compared to the Demon King, it is closer to a primitive beast, driven only by instinct. It will continue to breed demons and let them search for and collect souls and store them in their bodies.

But even though it is extremely dangerous to humans, ancient monsters are still vital to many people. Because it is the source of soul power.

It is true that the ancient monsters are different from the commonly known creatures. It is precisely because of the existence of the ancient monsters that various skills that rely on the soul can be realized.

Warcraft is usually in a sealed state - called "false sleep" in the game. It is precisely because of excessive abuse of human souls that it will be awakened at a certain moment and cause a demonic disaster.

As the only surviving dignitary said - "In the distant past, we once ruled the world through the function of souls. However, due to our unsatisfied desire for exploration, we finally awakened the ancient monster."

Unlike those demons that can be killed—or whose spread can be prevented by physical means—the ancient monsters are not affected by the natural laws of death.

Therefore, in order to prevent the world from being further eroded, the VIPs and other races can only try to make the ancient monsters enter a state of sleep again. This sealing system first requires a human pillar named Fireproof Girl as a sacrifice.

This is the girl in black who guides us all the way in the process of conquering the devil. It is described in the game that she must be a person with a pure heart and an extremely determined person, so that she can bear the burden of being a container for the soul of the ancient Warcraft.

When she guides the giant beast into a slumber, she needs to always guard it; and if the giant beast is awakened again in time, the girl also needs to take the responsibility of sealing it again.

There is also a saying that she is actually the incarnation of the devil. Ironically, the dignitaries living in the Sky City are probably not the first civilization to cause a devil's disaster - and obviously they will not be the last.

Although the game only hints at this kind of reincarnation, we can basically confirm that the disaster of ancient Warcraft is definitely not as simple as once or twice.

In any case, people built the "Wedge Temple" in today's Beretania as a sealing place for ancient monsters. And volunteered to stay here with the fire prevention girl to prevent the devil from appearing again.

Therefore, the entire human history of the evil spirit world is actually a ridiculous reincarnation.

Various miracles caused by people's thirst for souls have repeated the same mistakes again and again to awaken the ancient monsters; and the giant beasts have constantly given birth to demons that devour human souls, causing humans to find ways to seal them.

But at least, during the period when the dignitaries established the Temple of Wedge, mankind still ushered in a relatively peaceful time. People gradually forgot about the devil and no longer relied on the power brought by the soul.

Although the game does not tell whether people still retain the relevant technology after sealing the ancient Warcraft, from several NPCs, it can be learned that soul power is not that popular.

The sacrificial site in Dark Souls 3 is a tribute to the temple and has developed over hundreds of years. In the past, when the keystone teleportation monument was built, Beretania, which was still called a small country, had become a powerful country in the north.

It has many famous knights and heroes, and the Temple of the Wedge, where ancient monsters sleep, has been preserved from generation to generation along with the royal inheritance.

Regrettably, as time gradually faded away the tragic experiences of the ancients, mankind once again embarked on the path of destruction in pursuit of power.

The thick fog returns. During the reign of Olande, the 12th king of Beretania, an indescribable thick fog of unknown origin suddenly enveloped the entire kingdom.

What's even more frightening is that along with the thick fog appear demons that feed on souls. According to rumors, the thick fog did not come from outside invasion, but began to spread from the center of the city-state of Beretania.

Therefore, the fortifications in the city had no time to react, and the royal family, nobles and troops became the first batch of sacrifices to be devoured. After this, contact with the outside world and Beretania was completely severed.

People cannot know what happened to this northern power with many years of glorious history. Even if some people try to explore into the fog, no one has ever returned safely.

The thick fog completely isolated the country from the outside world. It was not until Bylan Fax, one of the two swords of Orant, escaped that people learned the truth from the northern knight.

For unknown reasons, King Oullanth awakened the ancient monsters sleeping deep in the Temple of the Wedge, causing thick fog and demons to flood the entire country.

Nowadays, Beretania is filled with nameless twisted monsters, or the walking dead whose souls have been stolen and turned to attack the living. It can be known from many people in later generations that Oulant was once a very respected wise king.

He was powerful but also full of benevolence and righteousness. He never tolerated despicable and evil behaviors and was deeply loved by his subjects during his reign.

Even if Paretania becomes a hellish city where demons and aliens are raging, Bjorn, another knight of the two swords, or the returning prince are still unwilling to believe that it was the wise Oulant who caused this. A disaster.

But people now had to believe what the knights beside the king said. Then the outside world discovered that the thick fog was spreading.

In time, the demonic threat will no longer be limited to Beretania.

Sooner or later, thick fog will cover the entire world, and the crisis of destruction is slowly but desperately approaching everyone. The crisis is not limited to the North. What needs to be emphasized here is that the game does not mention how long it took from the awakening of the ancient Warcraft to the beginning of the main line of the game. But we can know that after the thick fog appeared, even some people from the outside world gradually awakened to soul magic.

Apparently some time must have passed after the northern border was blocked by thick fog. During this period, in human society, new beliefs arose due to various miracles caused by the soul.

But the irony is that the **** this religious organization talks about is, in the end, we will learn that it is the ancient monster that was regarded as a natural disaster in the past.

It can also be seen from this point that the legends about the raging monsters in the past have long been distorted with time and are no longer vigilant to the world. Although we now know that in essence, the soul arts all originate from the same being, they have gradually become differentiated due to religious and sectarian disputes. Some wise men who study the soul, as well as those who are born with soul power, are considered by the world to have divine favor. As for other unlucky ones, they were scorned by the world, regarded as heretics and bullied. Typical ones were people like the witch Yulia.

The awakening of the ancient monsters inspired the power of miracles in many people. The most ridiculous thing is that Bylan Fax announced the demise of the Northern Kingdom to the world, but instead further intensified human stupidity. Because he mentioned that demons would accumulate souls in their bodies to condense them into power that ordinary people could not imagine, many people who were hungry for power became greedy for it.

Even though they have learned that murder lurks within, there are still people trying to walk into the thick fog through the cracks. Many of them are famous heroes - the silent elder Ute, the saint Urbain, the sixth saint Yathlanlia and her guardian knight Karl Vinland, etc. They entered the cracks with their own purposes to explore the truth about souls and demons. However, no one came out of the fog alive. It wasn't until an unknown warrior stepped into Beretania from the crack that the world finally ushered in a turning point.

It's just that no one knows whether he will prevent the catastrophe or become a minion of the devil. The only thing the devil fears is you. When you are an unknown warrior—actually any possible role played by the player—you hear a voice when you enter the fog. Mysterious voice. This is the fire-prevention woman deep in the Temple of Wedge. In order to let the ancient monsters sleep again, she will guide those powerful warriors to complete their mission step by step. It's obvious that the player looks like he can play well.

By the way, the protagonist's identity in the English version is called "Slayer of Demons" - Demon Slayer. Now it seems that I suddenly have the illusion of traveling to DOOM or the world line of "Demon Slayer" (laughs). Following the guidance of the fire-prevention woman, the warrior moved towards the Temple of Wedge. Along the way, he (or she) encountered many Beretanian soldiers whose souls were taken away, leaving only behavioral instincts and the desire to kill; but what is even more strange is that as a famous northern country, there are actually a large number of them here. Few slave soldiers. It seems that before the demon attacked, this place was also facing some kind of change. There seemed to be signs of insufficient troops before the country was destroyed. The soldiers soon encountered the first demon - the diffusion vanguard. This kind of demon is the most common and the most directly threatening class.

They generally have strong enough soul power and have found someone they can incarnate into; therefore, various forms of BOSS will be shown in the game.

Whether it is the gigantic knights of the North or the schistosome aggregates at the bottom of the decaying valley, their origins are actually similar. As for those powerful demon lords, which are the final BOSS of each stele in the game, they do not necessarily need actual objects to host them.

Even some things that only exist in beliefs or legends may become objects of their materialization as long as they can produce the power to interfere with reality.

For example, the legend about the ancient dragon spread in the Stone Tooth Cave, or the Lord of Storms that the shadow people feared, all turned into demons after the thick fog spread.

Demons are somewhat similar to parasites in nature. The reason why they are called "diffusion vanguards" is precisely because this kind of demon hunts on the outermost edge of dense fog.

They don't need such a high dose of fog to survive, so they attack humans on the periphery to expand the dense fog, making the devil's activities wider and wider.

Although slow, the crisis of world destruction is real.

Although they defeated the diffusion vanguard, the warrior immediately encountered the Dragon God Demon in the Stone Tooth Cave.

The result of insufficient strength was that as soon as the two sides came face to face, the warrior was hammered to death by the Dragon God. However, death in today's Beretania is just the beginning of a journey of suffering. After the physical body was destroyed, with the power of the Temple of Wedge and the Fireproof Girl, the warrior reawakened as a soul. The girl told him that like many people, he was bound here in the form of a spiritual body.

But, if you can defeat those demons with powerful souls, maybe you will have a chance to regain your physical body? One punch surpassed the dragon. So the warrior used a few keystones in the temple to hunt demons in various places in the north. In the process, he met adventurers who had entered this place but were imprisoned because they became spirits.

Some still maintained their sanity and gave a lot of help to the warriors; but others were not so lucky and fell into madness, either taking their own lives or fighting swords with the warriors and eventually being killed.

Because he was sent abroad to learn advanced knowledge, Prince Eliona became one of the few members of the royal family who did not experience the entire mutation. He always believed that his father would not do such a foolish thing, so he chose to sneak into his hometown that was shrouded in thick fog to find out. It's just as Bjorn commented, although the prince is very smart, his too gentle character is obviously unable to cope with the dangerous environment of Paretania today. Although he often finds himself in trouble and needs to be rescued, the prince remains one of the warrior's most loyal companions on his journey.

He always believed in his father's character and wanted to find him to find out the truth personally.

The prince is one of the many tragic NPCs in this game, but the reality is cruel. When the prince, warrior and Bjorn defeated the blue flying dragon and arrived in front of the hall, they discovered that King Oulant was now just an incarnation of the devil.

The despairing prince handed over the key to the temple that contained the "Devil's Brand" to the warrior, and asked him to prevent the destruction of the world before taking his own life.

After arriving at the temple, the warrior was actually challenged by the first founding king of Beretania. But after a battle, even the ancient king Duran, who had become a demigod, recognized the warrior and entrusted him with the sword passed down from generation to generation. The warrior holding the devil's brand came to the throne and defeated the devil who took the form of Olande.

Then, he heard Oulante's voice - "How dare you kill my demon! You are just a mortal, but how many souls have you taken away so far? Anyway, if the monster wants you, we will meet sooner or later." After returning to the Temple of the Wedge, the Fireproof Girl told the warriors who had killed a large number of demons that the ancient monsters were calling the warriors.

Since he has accumulated countless souls in his body, he is now a very tempting existence to ancient monsters. The Fireproof Girl will take this opportunity to guide the giant beast back into sleep and disappear into the long river of history again. After arriving at the bottom of the temple, the warrior also met the real Oulant. But now it has become an amorphous mess driven by desire. But even so, Oulant is still shouting, longing for the warrior to become the same existence as it.

In this way, the ancient monsters will always provide souls to those who are tempted by souls.

But as the important person said, such a gesture is far from the essence of life. The soul is supposed to be the silent, peaceful, formless and formless source of thinking within the human body. Instead of being twisted by the devil and possessing an entity that can be plundered at will. It's just that those whispers are just other people's opinions, and the decision-making power is always in the hands of the players. Whether he killed the fire-prevention woman and became the minion of the ancient monster; or whether he gave up the infinite power brought by his soul and dedicated his life to sealing the monster was just a part of reincarnation. The final choice was just a whim of the unknown warrior. "

Overall, Demon's Souls produced by the production team is still a very meaningful work, and it also conveys some of his philosophical thinking.

… (End of this chapter)

Chapter end