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** The Fair Lady, the IllGirl who leads the Chaos Covenant. Giving her humanity helps save fellow darkhorse Solaire. She also serves as the MoralityPet of the Darks Souls community with some players having given her ''60,000'' humanities just to alleviate her suffering.[[note]]You only need to give her 30 to save Solaire and cosmetic differences stop after 80.[[/note]]
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* TheWoobie: [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters So many]] that it got [[Woobie/DarkSouls its own page]].
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* TheWoobie: [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters So many]] that it got [[Woobie/DarkSouls its own page]].page]].
* WoobieFamily: The Witch of Izalith and her children. The Witch herself and two of her daughters turned into an EldritchAbomination when their attempt to prolong the Age of Fire went bad. One more daughter died, two were turned into SpiderPeople, one eventually went Hollow defending what was left of her mother, and the only brother became a HumanoidAbomination without his sisters' help. The only daughter who escaped relatively unharmed suffers from horrific PTSD even centuries later, when you come along and have no choice but to kill all but one of her surviving family members ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you can then kill them both, as well]]).
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* WoobieFamily: The Witch of Izalith and her children. The Witch herself and two of her daughters turned into an EldritchAbomination when their attempt to prolong the Age of Fire went bad. One more daughter died, two were turned into SpiderPeople, one eventually went Hollow defending what was left of her mother, and the only brother became a HumanoidAbomination without his sisters' help. The only daughter who escaped relatively unharmed suffers from horrific PTSD even centuries later, when you come along and have no choice but to kill all but one of her surviving family members ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you can then kill them both, as well]]).
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It says quite clearly on the page for And The Fandom Rejoiced not to link to it. It is for in-universe examples and links from the descriptions at the beginning of related trope pages only. This example is also incorrectly indented.
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** Solaire of Astora qualifies as well. His ceaseless desire to find his personal "sun" as well as his ability to help you in a number of difficult fights up to and including the FinalBoss have made him pretty popular. He's even gotten himself the nickname of Brolaire, and players who join his covenant, the Warrior Of Sunlight, nickname themselves Sunbros. He is SO popular that there's a covenant in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' that is descended from his, and the fans still call the members of the covenant Sunbros.
*** And the Warrior of Sunlight covenant by name is back in ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII''. [[AndTheFandomRejoiced Much rejoicing by the fandom.]]
*** And the Warrior of Sunlight covenant by name is back in ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII''. [[AndTheFandomRejoiced Much rejoicing by the fandom.]]
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** Solaire of Astora qualifies as well. His ceaseless desire to find his personal "sun" as well as his ability to help you in a number of difficult fights up to and including the FinalBoss have made him pretty popular. He's even gotten himself the nickname of Brolaire, and players who join his covenant, the Warrior Of Sunlight, nickname themselves Sunbros. He is SO popular that there's a covenant in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' that is descended from his, and the fans still call the members of the covenant Sunbros.
***Sunbros. And the Warrior of Sunlight covenant by name is back in ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII''. [[AndTheFandomRejoiced Much rejoicing by the fandom.]]
***
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*** And the Warrior of Sunlight covenant by name is back in ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII''. [[AndTheFandomRejoiced Much rejoicing by the fandom.]]
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** The use of the word "knightess" to describe female knights is one such example. The only suggestion of the word InUniverse comes from the Darkmoon Knightess, who is also referred to as the Lady of the Darkling and the Darkmoon ''Knight'' by the game itself. The fandom has extended its usage to practically all female "knight" characters, such as [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Lucatiel and Felicia]], and it's a popular term for the names of builds and female [[PlayerCharacter Player Characters]].
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** The use of the word "knightess" to describe female knights is one such example. The only suggestion of the word InUniverse comes from the Darkmoon Knightess, who is also referred to as the Lady of the Darkling and the Darkmoon ''Knight'' by the game itself. The fandom has extended its usage to practically all female "knight" characters, such as [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Lucatiel and Lucatiel, Felicia]], [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII Anri, and Sirris]], and it's a popular term for the names of builds and female [[PlayerCharacter Player Characters]].
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** [[TragicHero Artorias]] is possibly the second biggest ensemble darkhorse, second only to Solaire. His tragic story, awesome design, and [[BestBossEver his boss fight]] in the DLC have made him so popular that you can find his sword and armor in the other games in the series.
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** [[TragicHero Artorias]] is possibly the second biggest ensemble darkhorse, second only to Solaire. His tragic story, awesome design, and [[BestBossEver his boss fight]] in the DLC have made him so popular that you can find his sword and armor in the other games in the series. It helps that he gets a surprising amount of characterization for a background character, even including a possible romance with Ciaran.
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for NintendoHard modern video games ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]] [[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for NintendoHard modern video games ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]] [[DiscreditedMeme worn out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]] [[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] games ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]] [[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme worn]] [[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] ("It's like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] ("It's ("_____ is like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard video game difficulty]] ("It's like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard modern video game difficulty]] ("It's like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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* FandomRivalry: With ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. This is despite the ''vast'' gulf in differences between them to the point where the only things they have in common are extremely broad fantasy genre conventions.
** It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
** It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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* FandomRivalry: FandomRivalry:
** With ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. This is despite the ''vast'' gulf in differences between them to the point where the only things they have in common are extremely broad fantasy genreconventions.
**conventions. It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
** With ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. This is despite the ''vast'' gulf in differences between them to the point where the only things they have in common are extremely broad fantasy genre
**
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* HypeBacklash: Some feel that the series' memetic status as the gold standard for [[NintendoHard video game difficulty]] ("It's like ''Dark Souls''!" "The ''Dark Souls'' of _____") has gotten [[HypeBacklash worn]][[DiscreditedMeme out]] over time. Most of these complaints come from players who have gotten used to the series' brand of challenge, as well as [[FandomRivalry fans of other challenging games]].
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** [[TragicHero Artorias]] is possibly the second biggest ensemble darkhorse, second only to Solaire. His tragic story, awesome design, and [[BestBossEver his boss fight]] in the DLC have made him so popular that you can find his sword and armor in the other games in the series.
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* ViewerGenderConfusion: Despite his willowy appearance, androgynous voice, distinctly female name, and ''tits'', Dark Sun Gwyndolin is confirmed in the flavor text of several items to be male.
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* ViewerGenderConfusion: Despite his willowy appearance, androgynous voice, distinctly female name, and ''tits'', Dark Sun Gwyndolin is confirmed in the flavor text of several items to be male.male, albeit he was RaisedAsTheOppositeGender for nebulous reasons.
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** Pharis. The description Pharis' Hat refers to Pharis as male, yet closer examination of the archer who drops it (easily done if the player is a member of the Forest Hunter Covenant) reveals the character model to be female, leading to speculation that she is only using Pharis' equipment.
** Ciaran before the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, since the English translation decided to omit any gendered pronouns when mentionin her in the Hornet Ring's description.
** Ciaran before the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, since the English translation decided to omit any gendered pronouns when mentionin her in the Hornet Ring's description.
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** Pharis. The description Pharis' Hat refers to Pharis as male, yet closer examination of the archer who drops it (easily done if the player is a member of the Forest Hunter Covenant) reveals the character model to be female, leading to speculation that she is only using Pharis' equipment.
equipment, or that she is indeed Pharis, and the English description mistranslated her gender (a frequent problem in Japanese-to-English translations).
** Ciaran before theArtorias ''Artorias of the Abyss Abyss'' expansion, since the English translation decided to omit any gendered pronouns when mentionin mentioning her in the Hornet Ring's description.
** Ciaran before the
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** The use of the word "knightess" to describe female knights is one such example. The only suggestion of the word InUniverse comes from the Darkmoon Knightess, who is also referred to as the Lady of the Darkling and the Darkmoon ''Knight'' by the game itself. The fandom has extended its usage to practically all female "knight" characters, such as [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Lucatiel and Felicia]], and it's a popular term for the names of builds and female [[PlayerCharacter Player Characters]].
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** Disconnecting your game in order to prevent yourself from being invaded is a hot topic in the community. The people that do so are often called cheaters by the invaders for depriving them of their kill. DC's maintain they do it because they aren't interested in {{PvP}} and would like to experience the online features of the game or kindle bonfires without needing to return to hollow form (not that there's any penalty to being hollow other than being able to summon helpers). Any type of middle ground on this issue is made with either annoyance or spite from all parties involved, so the only other option you can take on this matter besides agreeing with one side is not caring about it in the first place.
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** Disconnecting your game in order to prevent yourself from being invaded is a hot topic in the community. The people that do so are often called cheaters by the invaders for depriving them of their kill. DC's maintain they do it because they aren't interested in {{PvP}} and would like to experience the online features of the game or kindle bonfires without needing to return to hollow form (not that there's any penalty to being hollow other than being able unable to summon helpers). Any type of middle ground on this issue is made with either annoyance or spite from all parties involved, so the only other option you can take on this matter besides agreeing with one side is not caring about it in the first place.
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** Releasing Lautrec from his cell [[spoiler: results in Anastacia's death.]] To be fair, he kills her regardless of whether you help free him, but at least in this case you ''know'' your responsible.
** Really, the only way to ensure they live is to not talk to them at all.
** Really, the only way to ensure they live is to not talk to them at all.
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** Releasing Lautrec from his cell [[spoiler: results in Anastacia's death.]] To be fair, he kills her regardless of whether you help free him, but at least in this case you ''know'' your you're responsible.
** Sometimes even talking to characters can get them killed. Exhaust of all the Crestfallen Warrior's dialogue? [[spoiler: He'll go to New Londo Ruins and turn hollow.]] Really, the only way to ensure they live is to not talk to them at all.
** Sometimes even talking to characters can get them killed. Exhaust of all the Crestfallen Warrior's dialogue? [[spoiler: He'll go to New Londo Ruins and turn hollow.]] Really, the only way to ensure they live is to not talk to them at all.
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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Most of your actions bring doom to the NPCs.
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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Most of your actions bring doom to the NPCs.other characters.
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** Releasing Lautrec from his cell [[spoiler: results in Anastacia's death.]] He kills her regardless of whether you help free him, but at least this way you know your responsible.
** Really, the only way to ensure the NPCs live, is to not talk to them at all.
** Really, the only way to ensure the NPCs live, is to not talk to them at all.
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** Releasing Lautrec from his cell [[spoiler: results in Anastacia's death.]] He To be fair, he kills her regardless of whether you help free him, but at least in this way case you know ''know'' your responsible.
** Really, the only way to ensurethe NPCs live, they live is to not talk to them at all.
** Really, the only way to ensure
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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Most of your actions bring doom to the NPCs.
** Telling Laurentius about Quelana causes him to go looking for her. [[spoiler: He hollows in Blighttown.]]
** Buying all of Rhea's spells wil leave her completely defenseless. [[spoiler: She is kidnapped and sent to the Crystal Prison, where she hollows.]]
** Repeatedly helping Siegmeyer destroys his self-confidence, [[spoiler: which leads to him going hollow out of despair.]]
** Releasing Lautrec from his cell [[spoiler: results in Anastacia's death.]] He kills her regardless of whether you help free him, but at least this way you know your responsible.
** Really, the only way to ensure the NPCs live, is to not talk to them at all.
** Telling Laurentius about Quelana causes him to go looking for her. [[spoiler: He hollows in Blighttown.]]
** Buying all of Rhea's spells wil leave her completely defenseless. [[spoiler: She is kidnapped and sent to the Crystal Prison, where she hollows.]]
** Repeatedly helping Siegmeyer destroys his self-confidence, [[spoiler: which leads to him going hollow out of despair.]]
** Releasing Lautrec from his cell [[spoiler: results in Anastacia's death.]] He kills her regardless of whether you help free him, but at least this way you know your responsible.
** Really, the only way to ensure the NPCs live, is to not talk to them at all.
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** The Basilisk's curse cloud. It kills you instantly, and places a curse on you that permanently removes half of your health with the exception of a few difficult ways you can remove the curse. This effect also stacks.
** How difficult is curing a curse? There are three ways; be wearing a Rare Ring of Sacrifice when you are cursed, visit Ingward in New Londo Ruins, or use a Purging Stone. There's only four Rare Rings of Sacrifice in the game, planting them firmly in the TooAwesomeToUse category. New Londo Ruins is rather out of the way, and is lousy with horrendous DemonicSpiders that you ''really'' won't want to fight with only half health, and if you can make it to Ingward, he charges one humanity for curse removal. That leaves Purging Stones, which are sold by two merchants, Oswald of Carim and the Female Undead Merchant. Oswald sells five per playthrough, and the Female Undead charges 6,000 souls a piece. The easiest option, for those who have persevered and discovered either of the two areas where they appear, is to farm the from man-eating clams.
** How difficult is curing a curse? There are three ways; be wearing a Rare Ring of Sacrifice when you are cursed, visit Ingward in New Londo Ruins, or use a Purging Stone. There's only four Rare Rings of Sacrifice in the game, planting them firmly in the TooAwesomeToUse category. New Londo Ruins is rather out of the way, and is lousy with horrendous DemonicSpiders that you ''really'' won't want to fight with only half health, and if you can make it to Ingward, he charges one humanity for curse removal. That leaves Purging Stones, which are sold by two merchants, Oswald of Carim and the Female Undead Merchant. Oswald sells five per playthrough, and the Female Undead charges 6,000 souls a piece. The easiest option, for those who have persevered and discovered either of the two areas where they appear, is to farm the from man-eating clams.
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** The Basilisk's curse cloud. It Your curse meter is smaller than the poison or bleed meters, and the cloud fills it ''fast''. Being cursed kills you instantly, and places a curse on you that permanently removes half of your health with the exception of a few difficult ways you can remove the curse. This effect also stacks.
**used to stack until a patch was released, and it seemed less like a bug fix than an address to player complaints. How difficult is curing a curse? There are three ways; be wearing a Rare Ring of Sacrifice when you are cursed, visit Ingward in New Londo Ruins, or use a Purging Stone. There's only four Rare Rings of Sacrifice in the game, planting them firmly in the TooAwesomeToUse category. Ingwald's location in New Londo Ruins is rather out of the way, and is lousy with horrendous DemonicSpiders that you ''really'' won't want to fight with only half health, and if you can make it to Ingward, he charges one humanity for curse removal. That leaves Purging Stones, which are sold by two merchants, Oswald of Carim and the Female Undead Merchant. Oswald sells five per playthrough, and the Female Undead charges 6,000 souls a piece. The easiest option, for those who have persevered and discovered either of the two areas where they appear, is to farm the from man-eating clams.
**
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** The ambulatory mushrooms in Darkroot Garden are probably the closest we'll get to realistic [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Toads]]. They come in child and adult sizes, and while the adults [[MamaBear pack a surprising wallop]], the children will typically just run around aimlessly and ignore you. Attacking them causes them to run away to their parents, and when killed they sometimes [[TearJerker let out a pitiful, loon-like call for help.]] Makes you wonder if that Gold Pine Resin drop is really worth it, [[WhatTheHellHero doesn't it?]]
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** The thing that makes most of these punches all the worse? There's often no warning. You'll be walking along a shadowed path, and suddenly a NPC who you were just talking jovially with half an hour ago will suddenly lurch out of the shadows, swinging a weapon at your head. No warning, no dialogue, no buildup....and it is entirely possible that you could cut down that character and not realize who you just killed until a few moments after they're already dead.
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** The thing that makes most of these punches all the worse? There's often no warning. You'll be walking along a shadowed path, and suddenly a NPC who you were just talking jovially with half an hour ago will suddenly lurch out of the shadows, swinging a weapon at your head. head, just like any regular enemy. No warning, no dialogue, no buildup....buildup, not even a health bar with a name like boss fights have... and it is entirely possible that you could cut down that character and not realize who you just killed until a few moments after they're already dead.
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** It can be difficult to take Smough seriously at first; his general appearance makes him look obscenely overweight while also carrying a comically giant hammer as a weapon., and not helping is his statue near the entrance of Anor Londo and his running animations, which can look like he really needs to use the bathroom. At first it's easy to say he's ridiculously silly compared to the more refined and imposing Ornstein, but he's still ThatOneBoss alongside him for good reason however, and is an EnsembleDarkhorse for being a surprisingly competent badass.
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** It can be difficult to take Smough seriously at first; his general appearance makes him look obscenely overweight while also carrying a comically giant hammer as a weapon., and not Not helping matters is his statue near the entrance of Anor Londo and his running animations, which can look like he really needs to use the bathroom. At first it's easy to say he's dismiss him as he seems ridiculously silly compared to the more refined and imposing Ornstein, but he's still ThatOneBoss alongside him for good reason however, and is an EnsembleDarkhorse for being a surprisingly competent badass.
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** It can be difficult to take Smough seriously at first; his general appearance makes him look obscenely overweight while also carrying a comically giant hammer as a weapon., and not helping is his statue near the entrance of Anor Londo and his running animations, which can look like he really needs to use the bathroom. At first it's easy to say he's ridiculously silly compared to the more refined and imposing Ornstein. He's still ThatOneBoss alongside him for good reason however, and is an EnsembleDarkhorse for being a surprisingly competent badass.
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** It can be difficult to take Smough seriously at first; his general appearance makes him look obscenely overweight while also carrying a comically giant hammer as a weapon., and not helping is his statue near the entrance of Anor Londo and his running animations, which can look like he really needs to use the bathroom. At first it's easy to say he's ridiculously silly compared to the more refined and imposing Ornstein. He's Ornstein, but he's still ThatOneBoss alongside him for good reason however, and is an EnsembleDarkhorse for being a surprisingly competent badass.
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** It can be difficult to take Smough seriously at first; his general appearance makes him look obscenely overweight while also carrying a comically giant hammer as a weapon., and not helping is his statue near the entrance of Anor Londo and his running animations, which can look like he really needs to use the bathroom. At first it's easy to say he's ridiculously silly compared to the more refined and imposing Ornstein. He's still ThatOneBoss alongside him for good reason however, and is an EnsembleDarkhorse for being a surprisingly competent badass.
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-->''{{Beat}} ''
--> '''Reah''' "Let us speak of miracles!"
--> '''Reah''' "Let us speak of miracles!"
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Those NP Cs actually probably make Gaping Dragon harder rather than easier.
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** The Gaping Dragon in the Depths is a bit of a breather after the WakeUpCallBoss that is the Capra Demon. The Gaping Dragon's patterns are lengthy, relatively easy to dodge, and there's two NPC summon signs before the boss room. Just don't get grabbed by it or have it jump on top of you...
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** The Gaping Dragon in the Depths is a bit of a breather after the WakeUpCallBoss that is the Capra Demon. The Gaping Dragon's Demon, mainly because his patterns are lengthy, relatively lengthy and easy to dodge, and there's two NPC summon signs before the boss room.dodge. Just don't get grabbed by it or have it jump on top of you...
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Figuratively
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** It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
to:
** It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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* LoveItOrHateIt: The game is either an incredible experience that provides a satisfying challenge and is a welcome change from the easier recent games, or it's an overhyped mess that only reward patience and require to die at least once on every enemy. The second opinion isn't very common but it's til there.
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* LoveItOrHateIt: The game is either an incredible experience journey that provides a satisfying challenge and is a welcome change from the easier recent games, or it's an overhyped mess rife with FakeDifficulty that only reward rewards patience and require to die requires dying at least once on against every enemy. The second opinion isn't very common but it's til there.still there. [[TakeaThirdOption Alternatively, some people think the game is heavily flawed in many areas but is still a highly memorable experience with a lot of good things going for it.]]
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'''This page is full of unmarked SPOILERS''', being a game literally built upon StoryBreadCrumbs.
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** Using the Dark Hand on any human-sized NPC and enemy can, from certain camera angles, look like a rather [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGDp_UdsHxE passionate kissing session]].
** A few [[UnfortunateName character names]] may count too, such as Maneater Mildred and Ceaseless Discharge.
** Some of Reah's dialogue comes off as this as well. She sounds a little too eager to teach you some miracles...
--> '''Reah:''' "It is a great relief to see you! I was ''wondering'' when you would come and visit again. ''I am ready...''"
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Dark Souls invites this with pretty much every character, but most notably with the Primordial Serpents, Frampt and Kaathe.
** Frampt, [[spoiler:is either willing to do anything to save the world by prolonging the Age of Fire, [[GoodIsNotNice even if it means manipulating one undead into sacrificing his/her very being to do so]], or he simply wants he and/or his allies in Gwyn's family to maintain their power.]]
** Likewise, Kaathe [[spoiler:is either being honest about his intention to serve mankind by ushering in the Age of Dark, or he's being every bit as deceitful as Frampt and is pushing his own agenda forward. Either way, as the patron of the Darkwraith covenant, he's utilizing some very violent and shady methods.]]
** In the [[spoiler: Dark Lord ending, both Frampt and Kaathe pledge to serve you. Does this mean that they were always working together to play both sides, or are the both simply looking out for themselves and siding with the most powerful being nearby?]]
** Gwyndolin gets hit with this pretty hard. [[spoiler: Is he the true villain of the game who drove away the other gods so he could rule Anor Londo himself? Is his desire to continue the Age of Fire at the expense of the player make him the ultimate enemy of mankind? Is he a fiend who uses deception to rule and manipulate others merely to benefit himself? Is he a pragmatist who is aware of how disastrous the coming darkness will be for everyone, not just the gods and realizes that some sacrifices must be made? Is his status as the last deity in Anor Londo not something he actually intended? Is his use of the illusory Gwynevere a sign of vulnerability rather than manipulation? Is he secretly Velka, the black haired witch goddes of sin?]]
** Griggs is unambiguously a spy for Vinheim. Is he really the NiceGuy he appears to be?
** Kirk of Thorns, after it was [[WordOfGod revealed]] that [[spoiler: he's in the Chaos Servant covenant]]. Speculation as to why a notorious Darkwraith would have such allegiances tends to paint him a little more sympathetically.
** Gwyn. Is he a WellIntentionedExtremist who did everything he could to keep a great(er) evil at bay, a JerkassGod who ordered and/or endorsed a number of horrible things to delay the inevitable waning of his powers, or is he something in between? At the very least, the personal sacrifices he's willing to make suggest that whatever his agenda is, he's a true believer.
** Alvina of Darkroot Wood. Is she an old, vengeful cat spirit selfishly guarding Artorias's grave from "defilers"? Or is she, in claiming that traversing the Abyss is a fairy tale (which is a lie), trying to prevent anyone else from suffering Artorias's fate, which she was witness to?
** Is Solaire merely an odd man who wants to find a sun of his own, or is the whole thing a philosophical search for purpose?
* AnticlimaxBoss: A couple of bosses don't quite live up to the hype:
** [[WordOfGod Miyazaki]] was disappointed with how cheap the fight against [[spoiler:Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]] turned out. It was originally supposed to ''thoroughly'' challenge/test whatever character build and playing style you had developed throughout the game. Instead, [[spoiler:Gwyn can be easily beaten by any build capable of parrying and riposting, or, [[GoodBadBugs due to a programming error]], be forced to constantly dodge repeated use of Great Combustion pyromancies.]]
** The towering Ceaseless Discharge, which can be taunted into falling off a cliff, with only a few hits from your sword necessary to serve as 'encouragement'.
** The Bed of Chaos hits like a ton of bricks and has a ridiculous number of cheap tricks (bottomless pits, lakes of fire, et cetera), but there's nevertheless much grumbling about any endgame foe that [[PuzzleBoss can and should be killed in three hits]].
** Seath the Scaleless, the inventor of sorcery and its greatest practitioner (not to mention the last living dragon) should be a hellaciously difficult foe, right? Wrong. He's blind and immobile, only capable of pivoting on the spot, which is a serious problem thanks to the blind spot that none of his attacks can reach on his left flank.
** The Gaping Dragon is easily one of the biggest bosses you've faced up to that point. None of his attacks are able to be blocked, and he deals massive amounts of damage, some of which could be a flat out OneHitKill depending on how much you've leveled your vitality. He's also ''very'' easily baited into a series of endless charges, and even heavily armored characters can run circles around him, making it a slow but pretty easy boss fight so long as you don't get careless.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Oh yes. Even when areas are pitch dark, they still look breathtakingly beautiful.
* BreatherBoss: While a fair number of the bosses are relatively simple once you know the tricks to handle them, some are even simpler.
** The Ceaseless Discharge can end up like this, given [[ArtificialStupidity it's possible to goad him into leaping off the cliff he's on]].
** Pinwheel. You're ([[SequenceBreaking technically]]) supposed to face him once you obtain the Lordvessel, but he has low health (only about 100 more than ''the second boss of the game''), he only has a handful of attacks that are easy to spot and dodge, and he's cripplingly weak to melee attacks. Nearly every Dark Souls board agrees that he's a total joke.
** The Gaping Dragon in the Depths is a bit of a breather after the WakeUpCallBoss that is the Capra Demon. The Gaping Dragon's patterns are lengthy, relatively easy to dodge, and there's two NPC summon signs before the boss room. Just don't get grabbed by it or have it jump on top of you...
** Sif is pretty easy after the difficult DualBoss of Smough and Ornstein, being a pretty straightforward boss with a short walk from a safe bonfire. If you wait to do New Londo until even later in the game (instead of immediately after Anor Londo), he becomes even more simple.
** Hidden very close to the Iron Golem's fog door is a brutally effective NPC summon that makes him much simpler to defeat[[note]]Step one: Walk into fog gate. Step 2: Watch Tarkus beat the Iron golem by himself[[/note]]. The Moonlight Butterfly is likewise easy for its respective NPC summon to take out solo, but finding that particular sign can be a GuideDangIt.
** Seath the Scaleless is ridiculously easy to kill for a Lord Soul bearer once you fight him for real - he has a blind spot next to his leftmost tail (the one on your right) which none of his attacks can reach, letting any character, ranged or melee, dish out the hurt with impunity provided they turn as he does.
* CatharsisFactor: The Blowdart Snipers in Blighttown are [[GlassCannon small, weak]], hard to see and hear, and will [[PoisonedWeapons poison you]] in about a second from [[MoreDakka rapid-fire]], [[ImprobableAimingSkills super-accurate]], BlowGun darts. Given the wide open, TreeTopTown-like nature of Blighttown that gives them both excellent cover, a clear line of sight to you, and makes them difficult to reach, [[ThatOneLevel these guys will make a player's life hell]]. Maddening as they are, finally killing them with the knowledge that they do not respawn is highly gratifying.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: New players who rely exclusively on the [[DiscOneNuke Drake Sword]] tend to fall victim to this. The Drake Sword's high physical damage will shred through the first few areas, but the Snake Men that infest Sen's Fortress can shrug off most physical damage. If they're particularly inattentive, they might not even notice as it is rapidly outpaced by other weapons, since it gains no benefit from any of your stats.
* CrazyAwesome: His name is Artorias, the Abysswalker. It's a good thing [[spoiler:Manus corrupted him]] so he'd become a raving mad [[TheBerserker berserker]] (taking some cues from [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] while he's at it), otherwise fans would not experience one of the most brutal fights in the DLC.
* CreepyAwesome: [[spoiler:Manus, Father of the Abyss]] is an honest-to-God freak who might as well have come out from your worst nightmares, but he definitely brings [[AwesomeBosses/DarkSouls one of the most memorable boss battles in the entire game]].
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A potential result among some players once the FridgeLogic and JigsawPuzzlePlot start to come together. Either the player [[spoiler: locks the world into another cycle of endless undead without really solving anything]] or the player [[spoiler: condemns the world to darkness with themselves as the Dark Lord]]. On top of that, [[spoiler: the DLC indicates that humanity [[HumansAreCthulhu might be the cause of the spread of the Abyss itself]].]]
* DemonicSpiders: [[DemonicSpiders/DarkSouls Has its own page]]. Strangely enough, the actual spider-demons are among the easier enemies in the game.
* DisappointingLastLevel: The game's final three areas, the Tomb of the Giants, Lost Izalith, and the Crystal Caves have a very apparent dip in quality and are all very gimmicky and, compared to some of the game's other zones, are very linear.
** The Tomb of the Giants is pitch black, filled to the brim with instant kill pitfalls as well as some of the nastiest enemies in the game. The darkness can be alleviated with a special shield, helmet, or spell, but none of them are something first time players will have found reliably.
** The Crystal Caves is extremely short area with just a few invisible bridges (some of which actually bend). It is very empty, and very gimmicky. Fortunately, it's just a capper on the Duke's Archives area, so it isn't a "waste" of a level so much as it is a bothersome little extra.
** Lost Izalith has the same elite enemy, one that is nasty as hell for melee players, placed 30 times through out the zone. You're likely to spend hours here just chipping away at them from a high area with arrows. The patch that reduced enemy aggro ranges made them much less problematic.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Siegmeier of Catarina is probably the most popular character in the game due to his funny-looking armor, very laid-back attitude, and friendly demeanor.
** Solaire of Astora qualifies as well. His ceaseless desire to find his personal "sun" as well as his ability to help you in a number of difficult fights up to and including the FinalBoss have made him pretty popular. He's even gotten himself the nickname of Brolaire, and players who join his covenant, the Warrior Of Sunlight, nickname themselves Sunbros. He is SO popular that there's a covenant in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' that is descended from his, and the fans still call the members of the covenant Sunbros.
** Priscilla, who despite having only half a dozen lines and [[GuideDangIt difficult]] to reach in the first place, is very popular with the fanbase.
** The 'Great Grey Wolf Sif; Despite having no talking lines, and the only interaction with the player is trying to kill them, he is still a very popular character. This is helped by the fact he's cool NobleWolf, wields a BFS (''[[CutlassBetweenTheTeeth in his mouth]]''), and more or less breaks the RuleOfCool 'o meter. The fact that his death feels like somewhat of PlayerPunch is also a factor. It's made even worse after the "Artorias of the Abyss" DLC, where [[spoiler: you can find him as a pup and even summon him in the final fight - and if you do, the cutscene for meeting him in the present has him ''recognize'' the player; he still takes up his sword anyways to protect his master's grave, however]].
* EsotericHappyEnding: Solaire may get one of these, as he ends up like the sun.
* EvenBetterSequel: ''Dark Souls'' added {{Metroidvania}} style world design, helping give the game a sense of scale and scope that was impossible with ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' HubLevel and level select design, the more concise and densely packed level design, the huge increase in weapons, spells and armor, enemies and bosses as well as adding covenants which added unique flavor to online gameplay.
* EvilIsCool: You almost feel sorry for defeating nearly every major boss due to how awesome their design is. Prominent examples are [[DualBoss Ornstein and Smough]], [[WolfPackBoss the Four Kings]], [[TheGrimReaper Gravelord Nito]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Black Dragon Kalameet]] (aka [[Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Alduin]]'s demonic cousin), [[spoiler:[[FallenHero Knight Artorias]]]], [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac Manus, Father of the Abyss]]]], and, of course, [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]]]].
* FandomRivalry: With ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. This is despite the ''vast'' gulf in differences between them to the point where the only things they have in common are extremely broad fantasy genre conventions.
** It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
* {{Fanon}}: Lots and lots of it. The StoryBreadcrumbs-plot of this game leaves a lot of room open for interpretation about people, places, and events.
* FanPreferredCouple: Artorias/Ciaran has quite a lot of supporters. So does Solaire/Chosen Undead.
* FashionVictimVillain: Xanthous King Jeremiah. Even the game comments on the eye-searingly yellow color of his armor, and his crown looks like a giant light bulb.
* FountainOfMemes:
** Solaire, by virtue of being one of the most recurrent [=NPC=]s in the game (hence more dialogue), overall jovial behavior, and obsession in finding his own personal sun.
** The fan-made Giantdad character build; nearly every single line in [=OnlyAfro=]'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyA8odjCzZ4 video]] gets parroted over in the forums at the mere mention of it.
* GameBreaker: ''[[UpToEleven By the almighty beard of Gwyn!]]'' To put it simply, there are countless ways to turn the game and its multiplayer aspect into a cakewalk, [[GameBreaker/DarkSouls some of which are explained here]].
* GoddamnBats:
** Goddamn giant mosquitos in [[ThatOneLevel Blighttown]]! They will trail you like a heat-seeking missile half-way across the map to stunlock you at the worst possible moment.
** Goddamn blowdart snipers, ''[[RunningGag also]]'' in Blighttown. Hard to see, even harder to reach, deadly accurate with their blowdarts, and they quickly infest you with toxin.
** Goddamn attack dogs [[spoiler:in [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Capra Demon's room]]!]] and other assortment of fast-moving, fast-attacking critters [[UpToEleven IN GROUPS]]. Funnily enough, you can find ''fire'' variants of these attack dogs in [[RuleOfThree Blightown]]!
* GodDamnedBoss: [[spoiler: Gwyndolin]] is this. He has relatively low health and fairly predictable attacks but the fact that he teleports out of reach every time you get close can make fighting him a frustrating experience nonetheless, especially as a melee-oriented character.
* GoodBadBugs:
** At one point, shooting the Hellkite Dragon (the red drake in the Undead Parish/Burg) in the right spot caused it to jump off its perch and fall down the bridge. Apparently that counts as a BottomlessPit, so he ends up killing himself and gives you 10,000 souls. This has since been fixed - now he just disappears until you move across the boundary that makes him spawn.
** The Bottomless Box glitch. Which allows you to dupe as many items as you want from an existing character onto a new character. There are some things you can't put in the box, and thus cannot dupe (spells, keys), but giving a new character a +5 Lightning Weapon, a fully upgraded armor set, any rings you want and a +5 Ascended Pyromancy Flame will make your character a weapon of mass destruction. Fans of the glitch state that it makes alts much easier and more fun since you can start off with the build you want, rather than have to wait until near the end of the game to pick up some item that happens to be in one of the final levels. Those that dislike the glitch state that it allows for much easier low level griefing and it's cheating. It was patched as of Update 1.06, so it's a moot point either way.
** The Hydra residing in the Ash Lake can be goaded into setting foot on land if you approach it from the Everlasting Dragon's bonfire. This in turn kills it instantly, removing the need to even fight it.
** For some strange reason, [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]]]] will constantly dodge you if you keep spamming Great Combustion or Black Flame pyromancies, making the fight easy even on [[HarderThanHard New Game+7]] and [[spoiler:eschewing the need to even [[DifficultButAwesome parry him]].]]
* HellIsThatNoise: The Titanite Demons [[SwordDrag dragging their pole as they limp towards you]]; the unsettling laughter of the [[ChestMonster Mimics]]; the scream when Nito unleashes his Gravelord Sword miracle on the player; the shrieking every time you defeat one of the Four Kings; the sonic sound whenever Kalameet uses his curse on you; the growling of the Infested Ghouls in Blighttown (you hear them LONG before you see them); and the list goes on...
* HilariousInHindsight: One UrbanLegendOfZelda that went around near the beginning of the game's release was that Alvina would eventually request the PlayerCharacter to go kill Sif because she did not trust him. In the new content that was added a year later, [[spoiler:she guides you to the area where Sif is hidden, presumably so you can rescue him, and proving that they were never enemies to begin with]].
* HolyShitQuotient: The more you learn about ''Dark Souls''[='=]s lore, the grittier things get. This reaches an all-time high in ''[[DownloadableContent Artorias of the Abyss]]'', where the true antagonist of the series rears its ugly head and exposes some the darkest truths in the game.
* InternetBackdraft: Some points of contention in the community, often returning from Videogame/DemonsSouls, include:
** Disconnecting your game in order to prevent yourself from being invaded is a hot topic in the community. The people that do so are often called cheaters by the invaders for depriving them of their kill. DC's maintain they do it because they aren't interested in {{PvP}} and would like to experience the online features of the game or kindle bonfires without needing to return to hollow form (not that there's any penalty to being hollow other than being able to summon helpers). Any type of middle ground on this issue is made with either annoyance or spite from all parties involved, so the only other option you can take on this matter besides agreeing with one side is not caring about it in the first place.
** The fact that the PC version uses Games For Windows Live, a service loathed by most every PC gamer, rather than a more intuitive service like UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}. [[http://www.change.org/petitions/namco-bandai-and-from-software-release-dark-souls-pc-edition-without-games-for-windows-live Petitions started almost immediately to remove it, to give you an idea.]]
** Modded save files. While some claim that they're useful for bringing character builds up to speed to a desired level (this is especially true for players who have finished the game repeatedly with different character files and often don't find the time to grind all the way to a viable [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] level), there is an ''absurd'' amount of abuse with them, often in the form of massive health pool in the five digits (in a game where you can have at max 2600 or so without mods) and thus making them NighInvulnerable save for pushing them off a cliff, infinite stamina and infinite spellcasting, and it crops ''very'' frequently while playing online, almost to the point of invaders coming in prepared for countering such abuse or even [[PayEvilUntoEvil cheating themselves]].
*** Note that the contention here is mainly for the save files that have the aforementioned abuse that turns it into a GameBreaker. Otherwise there are a lot of likeable mods such as [[PaletteSwap armor recoloring]], [[HarderThanHard perma-Gravelording and hyper aggressive enemies]].
** Ganking, i.e. awaiting incoming invaders with up to two allied phantoms (usually summoned ones, but other invaders can be this, too), which often stacks the odds against the invading phantom since it becomes 2v1 or 3v1, not counting [[PlayerVersusEnvironment the enemy NPCs still present host's world]]. While this makes all the more easier for the host and his allies to farm souls and humanity, this gets ''a seriously massive amount of hate'' among players who are more often than not subjected to this mild form of abuse.
* ItsHardSoItSucks: A common criticism of the game, and it ''does'' get frustratingly difficult at times.
* LoveItOrHateIt: The game is either an incredible experience that provides a satisfying challenge and is a welcome change from the easier recent games, or it's an overhyped mess that only reward patience and require to die at least once on every enemy. The second opinion isn't very common but it's til there.
* MemeticBadass:
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbHtRggFsNA Black]] [[http://i.imgur.com/J7Cyh.gif Iron]] [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/9d339504443d7aef513dbf2878acfff8/tumblr_mgfpm8LXmv1s27wvfo1_500.jpg Tarkus]]. Let's be honest: [[MemeticMutation he's better at this game than you]].
** [[http://i.imgur.com/8xV3P0P.jpg Giant]] [[http://i.imgur.com/vuSDPlE.png Mushroom]] [[http://i.imgur.com/hgWClgE.gif People]].
** Havel the Rock, [[http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4706/tumblrmfplzbapje1qhgocg.gif because]] [[http://i.imgur.com/Fby2E.gif you]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQaDjSVjtHs can't]] [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb8mn4yHea1r2k3boo1_1280.png stop]] the Rock.
** For one reason or another, [[ThatOneBoss the Capra Demon]] [[http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5641/tumblrmfbbjcqmec1s058kq.gif can't be taken seriously]].
** The Giantdad build, which is an unholy fusion of this and FountainOfMemes, has become emblematic to the {{game breaker}}s plaguing the game.
* MemeticMolester: Manus, the Father of the Abyss. It's canon that he [[spoiler:dragged you and Chester into the DLC area]] with his hand, and, [[{{Fanon}} if the fandom is to be believed]], his badtouch got to [[spoiler:Dusk of Oolacile]] big time, setting up [[spoiler:Queen Nashandra in [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII the following game]], whose human form looks very much like Dusk, and his corpse's dissipation created even more abominable spawns like the Darklurker and the three Children of Dark found in the ''Lost Crowns Trilogy'']].
--> '''Artorias:''' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9x_koRZ2bA%t=4m29s Alright, Manus, it's time to- oh no! Oh god, he's putting his Abyss into my catacombs]].
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/DarkSouls In an incredible amount]].
* MostAnnoyingSound:
** The alarm the serpent-men hit when you escape from the prison in the Duke's Archives. It's not unheard of for invaders to run over to the alarm, turn it, and Black Crystal out of the world.
** The archtree carvings from the DownloadableContent. Using it once to state your expression is as decent as any other gesture, but spamming it repeatedly can get on the nerves of most online players.
** The hollow, grinding clack of Kingseeker Frampt's teeth. Also, the sound he make when he eats items given to him, especially after feeding him several in a row.
* NarmCharm: The original text that appears when killing bosses, "You Defeated". While it has been since changed to "Victory Achieved" in the UpdatedRerelease, it's still present in some console versions.
* NauseaFuel:
** The Four Kings battle is this for some. [[spoiler:You have to battle them in the Abyss, a dimension of pure blackness with nothing but you and the Kings. Its hard to judge distance or if you're even moving at all.]] For extra fun, try playing this fight right in front of a large TV in a pitch black room so that you can't tell where the edges of the screen are.
** Then you have the Depths, a disgusting sewer with pus seeping out of the walls and Blighttown, a vile, disease and filth ridden swamp. The first chamber of the Catacombs is filled with thousands of insects and you can hear them crawling around the room.
** New Londo, once you've drained the water from it. [[spoiler:The sheer number of bodies lying on the ground is just sickening...]]
* ParanoiaFuel: Simply playing in human form is this since you can be invaded at any time, anywhere (save a few rare safe areas and areas where you have killed the boss). It gets even worse when the invasion message pops up, because you don't know where the invader is; you just know he's lurking ''somewhere''.
* PlayerPunch: Some of the friendly [=NPC=]s turning Hollow can qualify as this, especially when it happens to [[spoiler:Solaire.]] [[GuideDangIt (Unless, of course, the player discovers how to rescue him from this fate.)]]
** The conclusion to the Siegmeyer and Sieglinde sidequest. [[spoiler:After everything the player goes through with him, he ends up turning Hollow and [[KillTheOnesYouLove having to be killed by his daughter]].]]
** If the player has the [[TranslatorMicrobes Old Witch's Ring]], ''every single line'' of [[spoiler: Quelaag's sister]] [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging is like a laser-guided guilt missile]]. Even ''worse'' is if you kill her for her Fire Keeper's Soul, [[spoiler: she thinks her beloved sister just murdered her for no reason. Eingyi calls you a [[YouMonster monster]], and it's kinda hard to disagree with him.]]
** Were you hoping that befriending [[spoiler: Sif]] in the past would allow you to avoid killing him in the present? Well, you can't, and the thing is, he ''actually recognizes you'', but you must kill him anyway because letting you past without a fight would mean betraying his oath.
** The thing that makes most of these punches all the worse? There's often no warning. You'll be walking along a shadowed path, and suddenly a NPC who you were just talking jovially with half an hour ago will suddenly lurch out of the shadows, swinging a weapon at your head. No warning, no dialogue, no buildup....and it is entirely possible that you could cut down that character and not realize who you just killed until a few moments after they're already dead.
* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: There are more than enough players who are content to just kill things, get souls, buy stuff and other crazy things with not a care in the world for the story or characters.
* [[PolishedPort Polished]] PortingDisaster: The PC version, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, is both of these. It's polished in that it comes out of the box with new content - it's disastrous in that you need to download a fanmade patch to support additional resolutions, it effectively requires a gamepad to play, and the fact that it (originally) used Games For Windows Live. The developers [[http://www.pcgamesn.com/dark-souls-2-director-admits-originals-pc-port-was-half-assed-promises-take-more-care-sequel later admitted]] that the port was "half-assed", and that the [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII sequel]] will have a much better PC version, due to it being developed in-tandem with the console versions.
* ScrappyMechanic: The matchmaking system, returning from Videogame/DemonsSouls. Unlike a lot of multiplayer games which use a dedicated server for the players to play on, this one uses a peer-to-peer (or [=P2P=]) connection, which can badly hurt players who face frequent internet connection issues. It's also not unheard of to spend a good half hour or even more trying to search for one of your friends who are in the same area and level range, and NOT being able to summon them at all, despite having met all the requirements to summon one another.
* {{Scrub}}: The punishment for death in this game, whether in PvE or PvP, causes a lot of friction during online interactions whenever a player sees a particular armor or weapon type, especially when it's being used in a way they perceive as unfair. Made even worse by the abundance of [[GameBreaker/DarkSouls gamebreakers in the game]].
* SpiritualLicensee: This game, along with ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' may be the best 3D ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games ever made. ''Dark Souls'' even adds [[WhipItGood whips]] too, so now you can play it like a real Belmont. It also just may be the best ''VideoGame/{{Berserk}}'' game ever made. On top of that, WebVideo/SuperBunnyhop [[https://youtu.be/4_ZLoHl5UH8?t=23m57s argues]] that it's a spiritual remake of VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask.
** SerialNumbersFiledOff: Let's face it, this game ''is'' ''Demon's Souls 2''. Same interface, same leveling system, same gameplay, same voice acting... they just changed the title a bit so they can claim it as an independent IP from the one that Sony holds the rights to.
* ThatOneAchievement: Notably averted compared to ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''. There is nothing compared to the random drop insanity of ''Demon's Souls'' Pure Bladestone requirement.
* ThatOneAttack
** The Basilisk's curse cloud. It kills you instantly, and places a curse on you that permanently removes half of your health with the exception of a few difficult ways you can remove the curse. This effect also stacks.
** How difficult is curing a curse? There are three ways; be wearing a Rare Ring of Sacrifice when you are cursed, visit Ingward in New Londo Ruins, or use a Purging Stone. There's only four Rare Rings of Sacrifice in the game, planting them firmly in the TooAwesomeToUse category. New Londo Ruins is rather out of the way, and is lousy with horrendous DemonicSpiders that you ''really'' won't want to fight with only half health, and if you can make it to Ingward, he charges one humanity for curse removal. That leaves Purging Stones, which are sold by two merchants, Oswald of Carim and the Female Undead Merchant. Oswald sells five per playthrough, and the Female Undead charges 6,000 souls a piece. The easiest option, for those who have persevered and discovered either of the two areas where they appear, is to farm the from man-eating clams.
** The Four Kings' magic homing attack. They'll throw it at you when you're out of their melee range. It's hard hitting, can be spammed by any of the Four Kings (even when you can't see them spam it) and worse of all is extremely hard to dodge and block due to difficulties with depth perception in the horizonless Abyss.
** The Bed of Chaos's firestorm attack, which involve firing flame pillars throughout the ground. Not only do these ''really'' hurt but they can also launch you into the air, leaving you open for more attacks, or worse, into the BottomlessPit the boss creates throughout the fight. This attack can even hit you when your running across [[spoiler: her]] branches. Fortunately this attack only starts happening during the last third of the fight.
** Both [[spoiler:Artorias]] and [[spoiler: Manus]] from the DLC have their own variants as well. [[spoiler:Artorias]] is already a [[ThatOneBoss hellish fight]], with his attacks blowing through all but the most sturdy guards and him being ''incredibly'' aggressive, but his one attack comes from when he's gotten too far from the player: he'll crouch for a moment, before launching himself across the arena at high speeds with a downward swing that can break through ''any'' guard and deal very high damage. It's not so bad for lightweight players who can potentially dodge it, but ones using heavy equipment have virtually no way of avoiding it besides staying right up against Artorias to keep him from using it at all. [[spoiler: Manus]] on the other hand ''will'' shower you with multiples flurries of [[spoiler: Abyss spells]] if he's not relentlessly attacking you with melee moves (one of which is a downright nasty combo that stunlocks you easily, preventing you from escaping the full damage of the attack). With the right equipment ([[GuideDangIt and pendant]]) they can be resisted, but there is little to no opportunity to avoid them as [[spoiler: Manus]] executes his moves really fast.
** Black Dragon Kalameet's breath attacks drain your stamina very quickly, even if you have a high stability shield, and can sometime last long enough to break your guard ''and'' deal massive damage successively. And here you thought your [[GameBreaker Black Flame pyromancy]] was ridiculous...
** ''Very nearly every enemy [[NintendoHard in the game]]'' has a potential ThatOneAttack: From getting eaten by ents and getting pecked to death by Crow Demons, to being grabbed and drained several times in a row by [[spoiler: The Four Kings]], very few creatures in Dark Souls lack means to brutally murder the player as they helplessly watch their hard-earned souls vanish into the air.
* ThatOneBoss: [[NintendoHard Inevitably]] [[ThatOneBoss/DarkSouls has its own page.]]
* ThatOneLevel: While the game's levels are certainly not a walk in the park, levels like Tomb of the Giants and Lost Izalith have gotten backlash from players due to being too dark or too bright respectively.
** Sen's Fortress. A hellhole filled with deadly traps and packed to the brim with DemonicSpiders. And when you get to the top, you face giants throwing gigantic bombs at you. On top of that, the naturally dangerous nature of the Fortress has made it [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential an incredibly popular invasion spot]]. It might not be so bad normally, but the most effective, and usually only way for new players to beat the [[LivingStatue Iron Golem]] is by summoning help from [[WorldsStrongestMan Black Iron Tarkus]], and thereby opening themselves up to invasion. There's a reason this place has the FanNickname of [[SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom Sen's Funhouse, where the fun never stops]].
** 'That Part' of Anor Londo. Everyone who's played it knows what part 'That Part' is. To clarify, you have to run up a narrow walkway and go right across a very narrow ledge to get inside a massive cathedral. There's two Silver Knights, one on the left, one on the right, both firing Dragonslayer Greatbows at you. Dragonslayer Arrows are essentially javelins, and for pretty much anyone without insanely high poise, even ''blocking'' a Dragonslayer Arrow will push you off the walkway. Not only do you have to run up there, but you actually have to kill one of the Silver Knights to get past and get to a safe spot. While the other Silver Knight is still shooting at you.
*** An alternate method for dealing with them that's potentially more boring but safer involves poison arrows, a bow with good range, patience and a little luck. When you first come down to the first platform instead of going left, go to the railing on the right. Once standing as close to it as possible, equip your bow and poison arrows and enter first person view. From there you can take pot-shots at the archers without fear of reprisal (as they never aim high enough to actually hit you there) and keep shooting them (yes it will take a little practice to hit them at that distance, just keep trying and bring a lot of arrows) until you see their life bar pop up. Once that happens repeat for the other one and then wait. They'll die from the poison and you'll be able to cross without getting skewered. You'll still need to watch your footing though because if you die before you make it to the next bonfire you'll have to do it again.
*** Even before that, you have to circumvent the [[BrokenBridge sealed-off rotating bridge]] by making your way through an adjacent cathedral (''[[InsaneTrollLogic and on its rafters no less!]]''), which is a ''nightmare'' for acrophobic players.
** Blight Town has gotten quite the nasty reputation, to the point that it's considered the point in the game where you either keep going or just give up and RageQuit. Numerous annoying enemies, constant danger of falling off the narrow walkways, and enemies using attacks that knock the player back (almost always knocking them off a ledge) with hardly any bonfires AND it leads into some of the most annoying bosses in the game. There's a reason its FanNickname is Suck Town. And then, should you tolerate these flaws, there's the ''lag'' resulting from so many polygons in the scenery, which is bound to hamper your experience of the area drastically.
** New Londo Ruins is full of ghosts, which can [[IntangibleMan fly and pass through walls.]] And the game makes use of this to full effect, with ghosts popping out of the walls, floor, and ceiling to ambush you. This makes every bit of progress arduous as you have to [[ParanoiaFuel constantly keep looking around for ambushes]]. They also love to reach through walls or float over pits while attacking, so you'll spend a lot of time maneuvering on very narrow walkways to draw them out. There's even a trio of ghosts which is smart enough to ''retreat'' instead of chasing you mindlessly. If you go here to get your curse removed, you're in for a world of hurt.
*** After you managed to drain the water and use the elevator, the first thing you'll see '''almost immediately''' is the big pile of muddy corpses just sitting just about everywhere, but [[LeftForDead especially just outside the elevator]]. Then you'll probably see this [[DemBones imposing skull-faced knight]] slowly walk towards you. It's probably still fresh in your mind that this entire area was just flooded. Rather then a conventional shield,[[FearIsTheAppropriateResponse he's got this strange, dark, pulsating, and humming glow shield that comes from his hand instead.]] He might just try to grab you with it too! [[YouCanPanicNow These Darkwraiths are the ''normal enemy'' in the Lower parts of the New Londo Ruins!]] ''You'll be begging and missing the ghosts in no time.''
* ThatOneSidequest:
** Getting some of the dragon tail weapons can be an absolute pain.
*** Want to get the Moonlight Greatsword? You'll have to cut Seath's tail. However, Seath has an infuriating habit of turning extremely fast, and if you DO get to his tail, you need to watch out for his tail slam attack, which he ''will'' perform just to spite you. On top of that, while almost every other boss tail has a clear area where it can be cut off, [[HitboxDissonance only the tip of Seath's tail will register the damage properly]]. It's possible to take off his entire health bar by just attacking what you thought was his tail, and still not obtain it.
*** Want to get Priscilla's Dagger? You'll have to cut Priscilla's tail first. However, she has relatively low health, and at the start of the battle, she will go invisible, and needs to be staggered before she can be visible again. This can result in you lowering her health too low to actually get the dagger before killing her.
*** Want to get the Obsidian Greatsword? Good luck, because you'll need to cut off [[BonusBoss Kalameet]]'s tail. You'll quickly discover that there are almost no openings to strike his tail, and the only two that are require you to prolong the fight for a painfully long time waiting for him to attack you in three very specific ways, two of which require you to get right next to him as he's doing extremely high-damaging attacks. You can't shoot at it with a bow because Kalameet is facing you nine times out of ten, and any magic you throw at it is nearly guaranteed to miss. The only solution is to summon phantoms, that way somebody is able to unload on the tail while the boss is paying attention to someone else.
** Want to get Souvenirs of Reprisal or Dragon Scales in order to progress in the Blades of Darkmoon or Path of the Dragon covenants respectively without having to actively invade people online? Good luck, because both items are dropped at an ''absurdly low rate'' by DemonicSpiders who often fight in packs, have insanely high health and have a relatively unpredictable A.I. pattern.
* UglyCute: The Giant Blacksmith. Some of the enemies, such as the Skeleton Babies, can qualify as well.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Hidetaka Miyazaki suggested [[WordOfGod before the game released that the player should choose the Pendant as a starting gift or nothing at all.]] Many players followed suit, and a crusade began to find the truth about the item but nothing was found. Rumors began circulating until [[TrollingCreator Miyazaki eventually broke and admitted that the Pendant has no use.]] Despite this, many players still believe that he is trolling and there is still a use behind the Pendant that no one has found.
* ViewerGenderConfusion: Despite his willowy appearance, androgynous voice, distinctly female name, and ''tits'', Dark Sun Gwyndolin is confirmed in the flavor text of several items to be male.
** Sif is also a mild case, as none of the descriptions of the items concerning the wolf and its fallen master Artorias ever allude to its gender other than its name, which is that of a Norse ''goddess''.
** Pharis. The description Pharis' Hat refers to Pharis as male, yet closer examination of the archer who drops it (easily done if the player is a member of the Forest Hunter Covenant) reveals the character model to be female, leading to speculation that she is only using Pharis' equipment.
** Ciaran before the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, since the English translation decided to omit any gendered pronouns when mentionin her in the Hornet Ring's description.
* TheWoobie: [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters So many]] that it got [[Woobie/DarkSouls its own page]].
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** Using the Dark Hand on any human-sized NPC and enemy can, from certain camera angles, look like a rather [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGDp_UdsHxE passionate kissing session]].
** A few [[UnfortunateName character names]] may count too, such as Maneater Mildred and Ceaseless Discharge.
** Some of Reah's dialogue comes off as this as well. She sounds a little too eager to teach you some miracles...
--> '''Reah:''' "It is a great relief to see you! I was ''wondering'' when you would come and visit again. ''I am ready...''"
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Dark Souls invites this with pretty much every character, but most notably with the Primordial Serpents, Frampt and Kaathe.
** Frampt, [[spoiler:is either willing to do anything to save the world by prolonging the Age of Fire, [[GoodIsNotNice even if it means manipulating one undead into sacrificing his/her very being to do so]], or he simply wants he and/or his allies in Gwyn's family to maintain their power.]]
** Likewise, Kaathe [[spoiler:is either being honest about his intention to serve mankind by ushering in the Age of Dark, or he's being every bit as deceitful as Frampt and is pushing his own agenda forward. Either way, as the patron of the Darkwraith covenant, he's utilizing some very violent and shady methods.]]
** In the [[spoiler: Dark Lord ending, both Frampt and Kaathe pledge to serve you. Does this mean that they were always working together to play both sides, or are the both simply looking out for themselves and siding with the most powerful being nearby?]]
** Gwyndolin gets hit with this pretty hard. [[spoiler: Is he the true villain of the game who drove away the other gods so he could rule Anor Londo himself? Is his desire to continue the Age of Fire at the expense of the player make him the ultimate enemy of mankind? Is he a fiend who uses deception to rule and manipulate others merely to benefit himself? Is he a pragmatist who is aware of how disastrous the coming darkness will be for everyone, not just the gods and realizes that some sacrifices must be made? Is his status as the last deity in Anor Londo not something he actually intended? Is his use of the illusory Gwynevere a sign of vulnerability rather than manipulation? Is he secretly Velka, the black haired witch goddes of sin?]]
** Griggs is unambiguously a spy for Vinheim. Is he really the NiceGuy he appears to be?
** Kirk of Thorns, after it was [[WordOfGod revealed]] that [[spoiler: he's in the Chaos Servant covenant]]. Speculation as to why a notorious Darkwraith would have such allegiances tends to paint him a little more sympathetically.
** Gwyn. Is he a WellIntentionedExtremist who did everything he could to keep a great(er) evil at bay, a JerkassGod who ordered and/or endorsed a number of horrible things to delay the inevitable waning of his powers, or is he something in between? At the very least, the personal sacrifices he's willing to make suggest that whatever his agenda is, he's a true believer.
** Alvina of Darkroot Wood. Is she an old, vengeful cat spirit selfishly guarding Artorias's grave from "defilers"? Or is she, in claiming that traversing the Abyss is a fairy tale (which is a lie), trying to prevent anyone else from suffering Artorias's fate, which she was witness to?
** Is Solaire merely an odd man who wants to find a sun of his own, or is the whole thing a philosophical search for purpose?
* AnticlimaxBoss: A couple of bosses don't quite live up to the hype:
** [[WordOfGod Miyazaki]] was disappointed with how cheap the fight against [[spoiler:Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]] turned out. It was originally supposed to ''thoroughly'' challenge/test whatever character build and playing style you had developed throughout the game. Instead, [[spoiler:Gwyn can be easily beaten by any build capable of parrying and riposting, or, [[GoodBadBugs due to a programming error]], be forced to constantly dodge repeated use of Great Combustion pyromancies.]]
** The towering Ceaseless Discharge, which can be taunted into falling off a cliff, with only a few hits from your sword necessary to serve as 'encouragement'.
** The Bed of Chaos hits like a ton of bricks and has a ridiculous number of cheap tricks (bottomless pits, lakes of fire, et cetera), but there's nevertheless much grumbling about any endgame foe that [[PuzzleBoss can and should be killed in three hits]].
** Seath the Scaleless, the inventor of sorcery and its greatest practitioner (not to mention the last living dragon) should be a hellaciously difficult foe, right? Wrong. He's blind and immobile, only capable of pivoting on the spot, which is a serious problem thanks to the blind spot that none of his attacks can reach on his left flank.
** The Gaping Dragon is easily one of the biggest bosses you've faced up to that point. None of his attacks are able to be blocked, and he deals massive amounts of damage, some of which could be a flat out OneHitKill depending on how much you've leveled your vitality. He's also ''very'' easily baited into a series of endless charges, and even heavily armored characters can run circles around him, making it a slow but pretty easy boss fight so long as you don't get careless.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Oh yes. Even when areas are pitch dark, they still look breathtakingly beautiful.
* BreatherBoss: While a fair number of the bosses are relatively simple once you know the tricks to handle them, some are even simpler.
** The Ceaseless Discharge can end up like this, given [[ArtificialStupidity it's possible to goad him into leaping off the cliff he's on]].
** Pinwheel. You're ([[SequenceBreaking technically]]) supposed to face him once you obtain the Lordvessel, but he has low health (only about 100 more than ''the second boss of the game''), he only has a handful of attacks that are easy to spot and dodge, and he's cripplingly weak to melee attacks. Nearly every Dark Souls board agrees that he's a total joke.
** The Gaping Dragon in the Depths is a bit of a breather after the WakeUpCallBoss that is the Capra Demon. The Gaping Dragon's patterns are lengthy, relatively easy to dodge, and there's two NPC summon signs before the boss room. Just don't get grabbed by it or have it jump on top of you...
** Sif is pretty easy after the difficult DualBoss of Smough and Ornstein, being a pretty straightforward boss with a short walk from a safe bonfire. If you wait to do New Londo until even later in the game (instead of immediately after Anor Londo), he becomes even more simple.
** Hidden very close to the Iron Golem's fog door is a brutally effective NPC summon that makes him much simpler to defeat[[note]]Step one: Walk into fog gate. Step 2: Watch Tarkus beat the Iron golem by himself[[/note]]. The Moonlight Butterfly is likewise easy for its respective NPC summon to take out solo, but finding that particular sign can be a GuideDangIt.
** Seath the Scaleless is ridiculously easy to kill for a Lord Soul bearer once you fight him for real - he has a blind spot next to his leftmost tail (the one on your right) which none of his attacks can reach, letting any character, ranged or melee, dish out the hurt with impunity provided they turn as he does.
* CatharsisFactor: The Blowdart Snipers in Blighttown are [[GlassCannon small, weak]], hard to see and hear, and will [[PoisonedWeapons poison you]] in about a second from [[MoreDakka rapid-fire]], [[ImprobableAimingSkills super-accurate]], BlowGun darts. Given the wide open, TreeTopTown-like nature of Blighttown that gives them both excellent cover, a clear line of sight to you, and makes them difficult to reach, [[ThatOneLevel these guys will make a player's life hell]]. Maddening as they are, finally killing them with the knowledge that they do not respawn is highly gratifying.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: New players who rely exclusively on the [[DiscOneNuke Drake Sword]] tend to fall victim to this. The Drake Sword's high physical damage will shred through the first few areas, but the Snake Men that infest Sen's Fortress can shrug off most physical damage. If they're particularly inattentive, they might not even notice as it is rapidly outpaced by other weapons, since it gains no benefit from any of your stats.
* CrazyAwesome: His name is Artorias, the Abysswalker. It's a good thing [[spoiler:Manus corrupted him]] so he'd become a raving mad [[TheBerserker berserker]] (taking some cues from [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] while he's at it), otherwise fans would not experience one of the most brutal fights in the DLC.
* CreepyAwesome: [[spoiler:Manus, Father of the Abyss]] is an honest-to-God freak who might as well have come out from your worst nightmares, but he definitely brings [[AwesomeBosses/DarkSouls one of the most memorable boss battles in the entire game]].
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A potential result among some players once the FridgeLogic and JigsawPuzzlePlot start to come together. Either the player [[spoiler: locks the world into another cycle of endless undead without really solving anything]] or the player [[spoiler: condemns the world to darkness with themselves as the Dark Lord]]. On top of that, [[spoiler: the DLC indicates that humanity [[HumansAreCthulhu might be the cause of the spread of the Abyss itself]].]]
* DemonicSpiders: [[DemonicSpiders/DarkSouls Has its own page]]. Strangely enough, the actual spider-demons are among the easier enemies in the game.
* DisappointingLastLevel: The game's final three areas, the Tomb of the Giants, Lost Izalith, and the Crystal Caves have a very apparent dip in quality and are all very gimmicky and, compared to some of the game's other zones, are very linear.
** The Tomb of the Giants is pitch black, filled to the brim with instant kill pitfalls as well as some of the nastiest enemies in the game. The darkness can be alleviated with a special shield, helmet, or spell, but none of them are something first time players will have found reliably.
** The Crystal Caves is extremely short area with just a few invisible bridges (some of which actually bend). It is very empty, and very gimmicky. Fortunately, it's just a capper on the Duke's Archives area, so it isn't a "waste" of a level so much as it is a bothersome little extra.
** Lost Izalith has the same elite enemy, one that is nasty as hell for melee players, placed 30 times through out the zone. You're likely to spend hours here just chipping away at them from a high area with arrows. The patch that reduced enemy aggro ranges made them much less problematic.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Siegmeier of Catarina is probably the most popular character in the game due to his funny-looking armor, very laid-back attitude, and friendly demeanor.
** Solaire of Astora qualifies as well. His ceaseless desire to find his personal "sun" as well as his ability to help you in a number of difficult fights up to and including the FinalBoss have made him pretty popular. He's even gotten himself the nickname of Brolaire, and players who join his covenant, the Warrior Of Sunlight, nickname themselves Sunbros. He is SO popular that there's a covenant in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' that is descended from his, and the fans still call the members of the covenant Sunbros.
** Priscilla, who despite having only half a dozen lines and [[GuideDangIt difficult]] to reach in the first place, is very popular with the fanbase.
** The 'Great Grey Wolf Sif; Despite having no talking lines, and the only interaction with the player is trying to kill them, he is still a very popular character. This is helped by the fact he's cool NobleWolf, wields a BFS (''[[CutlassBetweenTheTeeth in his mouth]]''), and more or less breaks the RuleOfCool 'o meter. The fact that his death feels like somewhat of PlayerPunch is also a factor. It's made even worse after the "Artorias of the Abyss" DLC, where [[spoiler: you can find him as a pup and even summon him in the final fight - and if you do, the cutscene for meeting him in the present has him ''recognize'' the player; he still takes up his sword anyways to protect his master's grave, however]].
* EsotericHappyEnding: Solaire may get one of these, as he ends up like the sun.
* EvenBetterSequel: ''Dark Souls'' added {{Metroidvania}} style world design, helping give the game a sense of scale and scope that was impossible with ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' HubLevel and level select design, the more concise and densely packed level design, the huge increase in weapons, spells and armor, enemies and bosses as well as adding covenants which added unique flavor to online gameplay.
* EvilIsCool: You almost feel sorry for defeating nearly every major boss due to how awesome their design is. Prominent examples are [[DualBoss Ornstein and Smough]], [[WolfPackBoss the Four Kings]], [[TheGrimReaper Gravelord Nito]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Black Dragon Kalameet]] (aka [[Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Alduin]]'s demonic cousin), [[spoiler:[[FallenHero Knight Artorias]]]], [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac Manus, Father of the Abyss]]]], and, of course, [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]]]].
* FandomRivalry: With ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. This is despite the ''vast'' gulf in differences between them to the point where the only things they have in common are extremely broad fantasy genre conventions.
** It doesn't help that various video game media sites and magazines kept hyping up the "rivalry" between the two games prior to release, and that there are ''very'' vocal and VERY annoying haters of the opposing game on both sides of the spectrum. Dark Souls fans bash Skyrim for being too "boring and cliché" while Skyrim fans bash Dark Souls fans for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like ''both'' games are labelled "traitors" and are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
* {{Fanon}}: Lots and lots of it. The StoryBreadcrumbs-plot of this game leaves a lot of room open for interpretation about people, places, and events.
* FanPreferredCouple: Artorias/Ciaran has quite a lot of supporters. So does Solaire/Chosen Undead.
* FashionVictimVillain: Xanthous King Jeremiah. Even the game comments on the eye-searingly yellow color of his armor, and his crown looks like a giant light bulb.
* FountainOfMemes:
** Solaire, by virtue of being one of the most recurrent [=NPC=]s in the game (hence more dialogue), overall jovial behavior, and obsession in finding his own personal sun.
** The fan-made Giantdad character build; nearly every single line in [=OnlyAfro=]'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyA8odjCzZ4 video]] gets parroted over in the forums at the mere mention of it.
* GameBreaker: ''[[UpToEleven By the almighty beard of Gwyn!]]'' To put it simply, there are countless ways to turn the game and its multiplayer aspect into a cakewalk, [[GameBreaker/DarkSouls some of which are explained here]].
* GoddamnBats:
** Goddamn giant mosquitos in [[ThatOneLevel Blighttown]]! They will trail you like a heat-seeking missile half-way across the map to stunlock you at the worst possible moment.
** Goddamn blowdart snipers, ''[[RunningGag also]]'' in Blighttown. Hard to see, even harder to reach, deadly accurate with their blowdarts, and they quickly infest you with toxin.
** Goddamn attack dogs [[spoiler:in [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Capra Demon's room]]!]] and other assortment of fast-moving, fast-attacking critters [[UpToEleven IN GROUPS]]. Funnily enough, you can find ''fire'' variants of these attack dogs in [[RuleOfThree Blightown]]!
* GodDamnedBoss: [[spoiler: Gwyndolin]] is this. He has relatively low health and fairly predictable attacks but the fact that he teleports out of reach every time you get close can make fighting him a frustrating experience nonetheless, especially as a melee-oriented character.
* GoodBadBugs:
** At one point, shooting the Hellkite Dragon (the red drake in the Undead Parish/Burg) in the right spot caused it to jump off its perch and fall down the bridge. Apparently that counts as a BottomlessPit, so he ends up killing himself and gives you 10,000 souls. This has since been fixed - now he just disappears until you move across the boundary that makes him spawn.
** The Bottomless Box glitch. Which allows you to dupe as many items as you want from an existing character onto a new character. There are some things you can't put in the box, and thus cannot dupe (spells, keys), but giving a new character a +5 Lightning Weapon, a fully upgraded armor set, any rings you want and a +5 Ascended Pyromancy Flame will make your character a weapon of mass destruction. Fans of the glitch state that it makes alts much easier and more fun since you can start off with the build you want, rather than have to wait until near the end of the game to pick up some item that happens to be in one of the final levels. Those that dislike the glitch state that it allows for much easier low level griefing and it's cheating. It was patched as of Update 1.06, so it's a moot point either way.
** The Hydra residing in the Ash Lake can be goaded into setting foot on land if you approach it from the Everlasting Dragon's bonfire. This in turn kills it instantly, removing the need to even fight it.
** For some strange reason, [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]]]] will constantly dodge you if you keep spamming Great Combustion or Black Flame pyromancies, making the fight easy even on [[HarderThanHard New Game+7]] and [[spoiler:eschewing the need to even [[DifficultButAwesome parry him]].]]
* HellIsThatNoise: The Titanite Demons [[SwordDrag dragging their pole as they limp towards you]]; the unsettling laughter of the [[ChestMonster Mimics]]; the scream when Nito unleashes his Gravelord Sword miracle on the player; the shrieking every time you defeat one of the Four Kings; the sonic sound whenever Kalameet uses his curse on you; the growling of the Infested Ghouls in Blighttown (you hear them LONG before you see them); and the list goes on...
* HilariousInHindsight: One UrbanLegendOfZelda that went around near the beginning of the game's release was that Alvina would eventually request the PlayerCharacter to go kill Sif because she did not trust him. In the new content that was added a year later, [[spoiler:she guides you to the area where Sif is hidden, presumably so you can rescue him, and proving that they were never enemies to begin with]].
* HolyShitQuotient: The more you learn about ''Dark Souls''[='=]s lore, the grittier things get. This reaches an all-time high in ''[[DownloadableContent Artorias of the Abyss]]'', where the true antagonist of the series rears its ugly head and exposes some the darkest truths in the game.
* InternetBackdraft: Some points of contention in the community, often returning from Videogame/DemonsSouls, include:
** Disconnecting your game in order to prevent yourself from being invaded is a hot topic in the community. The people that do so are often called cheaters by the invaders for depriving them of their kill. DC's maintain they do it because they aren't interested in {{PvP}} and would like to experience the online features of the game or kindle bonfires without needing to return to hollow form (not that there's any penalty to being hollow other than being able to summon helpers). Any type of middle ground on this issue is made with either annoyance or spite from all parties involved, so the only other option you can take on this matter besides agreeing with one side is not caring about it in the first place.
** The fact that the PC version uses Games For Windows Live, a service loathed by most every PC gamer, rather than a more intuitive service like UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}. [[http://www.change.org/petitions/namco-bandai-and-from-software-release-dark-souls-pc-edition-without-games-for-windows-live Petitions started almost immediately to remove it, to give you an idea.]]
** Modded save files. While some claim that they're useful for bringing character builds up to speed to a desired level (this is especially true for players who have finished the game repeatedly with different character files and often don't find the time to grind all the way to a viable [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] level), there is an ''absurd'' amount of abuse with them, often in the form of massive health pool in the five digits (in a game where you can have at max 2600 or so without mods) and thus making them NighInvulnerable save for pushing them off a cliff, infinite stamina and infinite spellcasting, and it crops ''very'' frequently while playing online, almost to the point of invaders coming in prepared for countering such abuse or even [[PayEvilUntoEvil cheating themselves]].
*** Note that the contention here is mainly for the save files that have the aforementioned abuse that turns it into a GameBreaker. Otherwise there are a lot of likeable mods such as [[PaletteSwap armor recoloring]], [[HarderThanHard perma-Gravelording and hyper aggressive enemies]].
** Ganking, i.e. awaiting incoming invaders with up to two allied phantoms (usually summoned ones, but other invaders can be this, too), which often stacks the odds against the invading phantom since it becomes 2v1 or 3v1, not counting [[PlayerVersusEnvironment the enemy NPCs still present host's world]]. While this makes all the more easier for the host and his allies to farm souls and humanity, this gets ''a seriously massive amount of hate'' among players who are more often than not subjected to this mild form of abuse.
* ItsHardSoItSucks: A common criticism of the game, and it ''does'' get frustratingly difficult at times.
* LoveItOrHateIt: The game is either an incredible experience that provides a satisfying challenge and is a welcome change from the easier recent games, or it's an overhyped mess that only reward patience and require to die at least once on every enemy. The second opinion isn't very common but it's til there.
* MemeticBadass:
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbHtRggFsNA Black]] [[http://i.imgur.com/J7Cyh.gif Iron]] [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/9d339504443d7aef513dbf2878acfff8/tumblr_mgfpm8LXmv1s27wvfo1_500.jpg Tarkus]]. Let's be honest: [[MemeticMutation he's better at this game than you]].
** [[http://i.imgur.com/8xV3P0P.jpg Giant]] [[http://i.imgur.com/vuSDPlE.png Mushroom]] [[http://i.imgur.com/hgWClgE.gif People]].
** Havel the Rock, [[http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4706/tumblrmfplzbapje1qhgocg.gif because]] [[http://i.imgur.com/Fby2E.gif you]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQaDjSVjtHs can't]] [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb8mn4yHea1r2k3boo1_1280.png stop]] the Rock.
** For one reason or another, [[ThatOneBoss the Capra Demon]] [[http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5641/tumblrmfbbjcqmec1s058kq.gif can't be taken seriously]].
** The Giantdad build, which is an unholy fusion of this and FountainOfMemes, has become emblematic to the {{game breaker}}s plaguing the game.
* MemeticMolester: Manus, the Father of the Abyss. It's canon that he [[spoiler:dragged you and Chester into the DLC area]] with his hand, and, [[{{Fanon}} if the fandom is to be believed]], his badtouch got to [[spoiler:Dusk of Oolacile]] big time, setting up [[spoiler:Queen Nashandra in [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII the following game]], whose human form looks very much like Dusk, and his corpse's dissipation created even more abominable spawns like the Darklurker and the three Children of Dark found in the ''Lost Crowns Trilogy'']].
--> '''Artorias:''' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9x_koRZ2bA%t=4m29s Alright, Manus, it's time to- oh no! Oh god, he's putting his Abyss into my catacombs]].
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/DarkSouls In an incredible amount]].
* MostAnnoyingSound:
** The alarm the serpent-men hit when you escape from the prison in the Duke's Archives. It's not unheard of for invaders to run over to the alarm, turn it, and Black Crystal out of the world.
** The archtree carvings from the DownloadableContent. Using it once to state your expression is as decent as any other gesture, but spamming it repeatedly can get on the nerves of most online players.
** The hollow, grinding clack of Kingseeker Frampt's teeth. Also, the sound he make when he eats items given to him, especially after feeding him several in a row.
* NarmCharm: The original text that appears when killing bosses, "You Defeated". While it has been since changed to "Victory Achieved" in the UpdatedRerelease, it's still present in some console versions.
* NauseaFuel:
** The Four Kings battle is this for some. [[spoiler:You have to battle them in the Abyss, a dimension of pure blackness with nothing but you and the Kings. Its hard to judge distance or if you're even moving at all.]] For extra fun, try playing this fight right in front of a large TV in a pitch black room so that you can't tell where the edges of the screen are.
** Then you have the Depths, a disgusting sewer with pus seeping out of the walls and Blighttown, a vile, disease and filth ridden swamp. The first chamber of the Catacombs is filled with thousands of insects and you can hear them crawling around the room.
** New Londo, once you've drained the water from it. [[spoiler:The sheer number of bodies lying on the ground is just sickening...]]
* ParanoiaFuel: Simply playing in human form is this since you can be invaded at any time, anywhere (save a few rare safe areas and areas where you have killed the boss). It gets even worse when the invasion message pops up, because you don't know where the invader is; you just know he's lurking ''somewhere''.
* PlayerPunch: Some of the friendly [=NPC=]s turning Hollow can qualify as this, especially when it happens to [[spoiler:Solaire.]] [[GuideDangIt (Unless, of course, the player discovers how to rescue him from this fate.)]]
** The conclusion to the Siegmeyer and Sieglinde sidequest. [[spoiler:After everything the player goes through with him, he ends up turning Hollow and [[KillTheOnesYouLove having to be killed by his daughter]].]]
** If the player has the [[TranslatorMicrobes Old Witch's Ring]], ''every single line'' of [[spoiler: Quelaag's sister]] [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging is like a laser-guided guilt missile]]. Even ''worse'' is if you kill her for her Fire Keeper's Soul, [[spoiler: she thinks her beloved sister just murdered her for no reason. Eingyi calls you a [[YouMonster monster]], and it's kinda hard to disagree with him.]]
** Were you hoping that befriending [[spoiler: Sif]] in the past would allow you to avoid killing him in the present? Well, you can't, and the thing is, he ''actually recognizes you'', but you must kill him anyway because letting you past without a fight would mean betraying his oath.
** The thing that makes most of these punches all the worse? There's often no warning. You'll be walking along a shadowed path, and suddenly a NPC who you were just talking jovially with half an hour ago will suddenly lurch out of the shadows, swinging a weapon at your head. No warning, no dialogue, no buildup....and it is entirely possible that you could cut down that character and not realize who you just killed until a few moments after they're already dead.
* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: There are more than enough players who are content to just kill things, get souls, buy stuff and other crazy things with not a care in the world for the story or characters.
* [[PolishedPort Polished]] PortingDisaster: The PC version, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, is both of these. It's polished in that it comes out of the box with new content - it's disastrous in that you need to download a fanmade patch to support additional resolutions, it effectively requires a gamepad to play, and the fact that it (originally) used Games For Windows Live. The developers [[http://www.pcgamesn.com/dark-souls-2-director-admits-originals-pc-port-was-half-assed-promises-take-more-care-sequel later admitted]] that the port was "half-assed", and that the [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII sequel]] will have a much better PC version, due to it being developed in-tandem with the console versions.
* ScrappyMechanic: The matchmaking system, returning from Videogame/DemonsSouls. Unlike a lot of multiplayer games which use a dedicated server for the players to play on, this one uses a peer-to-peer (or [=P2P=]) connection, which can badly hurt players who face frequent internet connection issues. It's also not unheard of to spend a good half hour or even more trying to search for one of your friends who are in the same area and level range, and NOT being able to summon them at all, despite having met all the requirements to summon one another.
* {{Scrub}}: The punishment for death in this game, whether in PvE or PvP, causes a lot of friction during online interactions whenever a player sees a particular armor or weapon type, especially when it's being used in a way they perceive as unfair. Made even worse by the abundance of [[GameBreaker/DarkSouls gamebreakers in the game]].
* SpiritualLicensee: This game, along with ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' may be the best 3D ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games ever made. ''Dark Souls'' even adds [[WhipItGood whips]] too, so now you can play it like a real Belmont. It also just may be the best ''VideoGame/{{Berserk}}'' game ever made. On top of that, WebVideo/SuperBunnyhop [[https://youtu.be/4_ZLoHl5UH8?t=23m57s argues]] that it's a spiritual remake of VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask.
** SerialNumbersFiledOff: Let's face it, this game ''is'' ''Demon's Souls 2''. Same interface, same leveling system, same gameplay, same voice acting... they just changed the title a bit so they can claim it as an independent IP from the one that Sony holds the rights to.
* ThatOneAchievement: Notably averted compared to ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''. There is nothing compared to the random drop insanity of ''Demon's Souls'' Pure Bladestone requirement.
* ThatOneAttack
** The Basilisk's curse cloud. It kills you instantly, and places a curse on you that permanently removes half of your health with the exception of a few difficult ways you can remove the curse. This effect also stacks.
** How difficult is curing a curse? There are three ways; be wearing a Rare Ring of Sacrifice when you are cursed, visit Ingward in New Londo Ruins, or use a Purging Stone. There's only four Rare Rings of Sacrifice in the game, planting them firmly in the TooAwesomeToUse category. New Londo Ruins is rather out of the way, and is lousy with horrendous DemonicSpiders that you ''really'' won't want to fight with only half health, and if you can make it to Ingward, he charges one humanity for curse removal. That leaves Purging Stones, which are sold by two merchants, Oswald of Carim and the Female Undead Merchant. Oswald sells five per playthrough, and the Female Undead charges 6,000 souls a piece. The easiest option, for those who have persevered and discovered either of the two areas where they appear, is to farm the from man-eating clams.
** The Four Kings' magic homing attack. They'll throw it at you when you're out of their melee range. It's hard hitting, can be spammed by any of the Four Kings (even when you can't see them spam it) and worse of all is extremely hard to dodge and block due to difficulties with depth perception in the horizonless Abyss.
** The Bed of Chaos's firestorm attack, which involve firing flame pillars throughout the ground. Not only do these ''really'' hurt but they can also launch you into the air, leaving you open for more attacks, or worse, into the BottomlessPit the boss creates throughout the fight. This attack can even hit you when your running across [[spoiler: her]] branches. Fortunately this attack only starts happening during the last third of the fight.
** Both [[spoiler:Artorias]] and [[spoiler: Manus]] from the DLC have their own variants as well. [[spoiler:Artorias]] is already a [[ThatOneBoss hellish fight]], with his attacks blowing through all but the most sturdy guards and him being ''incredibly'' aggressive, but his one attack comes from when he's gotten too far from the player: he'll crouch for a moment, before launching himself across the arena at high speeds with a downward swing that can break through ''any'' guard and deal very high damage. It's not so bad for lightweight players who can potentially dodge it, but ones using heavy equipment have virtually no way of avoiding it besides staying right up against Artorias to keep him from using it at all. [[spoiler: Manus]] on the other hand ''will'' shower you with multiples flurries of [[spoiler: Abyss spells]] if he's not relentlessly attacking you with melee moves (one of which is a downright nasty combo that stunlocks you easily, preventing you from escaping the full damage of the attack). With the right equipment ([[GuideDangIt and pendant]]) they can be resisted, but there is little to no opportunity to avoid them as [[spoiler: Manus]] executes his moves really fast.
** Black Dragon Kalameet's breath attacks drain your stamina very quickly, even if you have a high stability shield, and can sometime last long enough to break your guard ''and'' deal massive damage successively. And here you thought your [[GameBreaker Black Flame pyromancy]] was ridiculous...
** ''Very nearly every enemy [[NintendoHard in the game]]'' has a potential ThatOneAttack: From getting eaten by ents and getting pecked to death by Crow Demons, to being grabbed and drained several times in a row by [[spoiler: The Four Kings]], very few creatures in Dark Souls lack means to brutally murder the player as they helplessly watch their hard-earned souls vanish into the air.
* ThatOneBoss: [[NintendoHard Inevitably]] [[ThatOneBoss/DarkSouls has its own page.]]
* ThatOneLevel: While the game's levels are certainly not a walk in the park, levels like Tomb of the Giants and Lost Izalith have gotten backlash from players due to being too dark or too bright respectively.
** Sen's Fortress. A hellhole filled with deadly traps and packed to the brim with DemonicSpiders. And when you get to the top, you face giants throwing gigantic bombs at you. On top of that, the naturally dangerous nature of the Fortress has made it [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential an incredibly popular invasion spot]]. It might not be so bad normally, but the most effective, and usually only way for new players to beat the [[LivingStatue Iron Golem]] is by summoning help from [[WorldsStrongestMan Black Iron Tarkus]], and thereby opening themselves up to invasion. There's a reason this place has the FanNickname of [[SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom Sen's Funhouse, where the fun never stops]].
** 'That Part' of Anor Londo. Everyone who's played it knows what part 'That Part' is. To clarify, you have to run up a narrow walkway and go right across a very narrow ledge to get inside a massive cathedral. There's two Silver Knights, one on the left, one on the right, both firing Dragonslayer Greatbows at you. Dragonslayer Arrows are essentially javelins, and for pretty much anyone without insanely high poise, even ''blocking'' a Dragonslayer Arrow will push you off the walkway. Not only do you have to run up there, but you actually have to kill one of the Silver Knights to get past and get to a safe spot. While the other Silver Knight is still shooting at you.
*** An alternate method for dealing with them that's potentially more boring but safer involves poison arrows, a bow with good range, patience and a little luck. When you first come down to the first platform instead of going left, go to the railing on the right. Once standing as close to it as possible, equip your bow and poison arrows and enter first person view. From there you can take pot-shots at the archers without fear of reprisal (as they never aim high enough to actually hit you there) and keep shooting them (yes it will take a little practice to hit them at that distance, just keep trying and bring a lot of arrows) until you see their life bar pop up. Once that happens repeat for the other one and then wait. They'll die from the poison and you'll be able to cross without getting skewered. You'll still need to watch your footing though because if you die before you make it to the next bonfire you'll have to do it again.
*** Even before that, you have to circumvent the [[BrokenBridge sealed-off rotating bridge]] by making your way through an adjacent cathedral (''[[InsaneTrollLogic and on its rafters no less!]]''), which is a ''nightmare'' for acrophobic players.
** Blight Town has gotten quite the nasty reputation, to the point that it's considered the point in the game where you either keep going or just give up and RageQuit. Numerous annoying enemies, constant danger of falling off the narrow walkways, and enemies using attacks that knock the player back (almost always knocking them off a ledge) with hardly any bonfires AND it leads into some of the most annoying bosses in the game. There's a reason its FanNickname is Suck Town. And then, should you tolerate these flaws, there's the ''lag'' resulting from so many polygons in the scenery, which is bound to hamper your experience of the area drastically.
** New Londo Ruins is full of ghosts, which can [[IntangibleMan fly and pass through walls.]] And the game makes use of this to full effect, with ghosts popping out of the walls, floor, and ceiling to ambush you. This makes every bit of progress arduous as you have to [[ParanoiaFuel constantly keep looking around for ambushes]]. They also love to reach through walls or float over pits while attacking, so you'll spend a lot of time maneuvering on very narrow walkways to draw them out. There's even a trio of ghosts which is smart enough to ''retreat'' instead of chasing you mindlessly. If you go here to get your curse removed, you're in for a world of hurt.
*** After you managed to drain the water and use the elevator, the first thing you'll see '''almost immediately''' is the big pile of muddy corpses just sitting just about everywhere, but [[LeftForDead especially just outside the elevator]]. Then you'll probably see this [[DemBones imposing skull-faced knight]] slowly walk towards you. It's probably still fresh in your mind that this entire area was just flooded. Rather then a conventional shield,[[FearIsTheAppropriateResponse he's got this strange, dark, pulsating, and humming glow shield that comes from his hand instead.]] He might just try to grab you with it too! [[YouCanPanicNow These Darkwraiths are the ''normal enemy'' in the Lower parts of the New Londo Ruins!]] ''You'll be begging and missing the ghosts in no time.''
* ThatOneSidequest:
** Getting some of the dragon tail weapons can be an absolute pain.
*** Want to get the Moonlight Greatsword? You'll have to cut Seath's tail. However, Seath has an infuriating habit of turning extremely fast, and if you DO get to his tail, you need to watch out for his tail slam attack, which he ''will'' perform just to spite you. On top of that, while almost every other boss tail has a clear area where it can be cut off, [[HitboxDissonance only the tip of Seath's tail will register the damage properly]]. It's possible to take off his entire health bar by just attacking what you thought was his tail, and still not obtain it.
*** Want to get Priscilla's Dagger? You'll have to cut Priscilla's tail first. However, she has relatively low health, and at the start of the battle, she will go invisible, and needs to be staggered before she can be visible again. This can result in you lowering her health too low to actually get the dagger before killing her.
*** Want to get the Obsidian Greatsword? Good luck, because you'll need to cut off [[BonusBoss Kalameet]]'s tail. You'll quickly discover that there are almost no openings to strike his tail, and the only two that are require you to prolong the fight for a painfully long time waiting for him to attack you in three very specific ways, two of which require you to get right next to him as he's doing extremely high-damaging attacks. You can't shoot at it with a bow because Kalameet is facing you nine times out of ten, and any magic you throw at it is nearly guaranteed to miss. The only solution is to summon phantoms, that way somebody is able to unload on the tail while the boss is paying attention to someone else.
** Want to get Souvenirs of Reprisal or Dragon Scales in order to progress in the Blades of Darkmoon or Path of the Dragon covenants respectively without having to actively invade people online? Good luck, because both items are dropped at an ''absurdly low rate'' by DemonicSpiders who often fight in packs, have insanely high health and have a relatively unpredictable A.I. pattern.
* UglyCute: The Giant Blacksmith. Some of the enemies, such as the Skeleton Babies, can qualify as well.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Hidetaka Miyazaki suggested [[WordOfGod before the game released that the player should choose the Pendant as a starting gift or nothing at all.]] Many players followed suit, and a crusade began to find the truth about the item but nothing was found. Rumors began circulating until [[TrollingCreator Miyazaki eventually broke and admitted that the Pendant has no use.]] Despite this, many players still believe that he is trolling and there is still a use behind the Pendant that no one has found.
* ViewerGenderConfusion: Despite his willowy appearance, androgynous voice, distinctly female name, and ''tits'', Dark Sun Gwyndolin is confirmed in the flavor text of several items to be male.
** Sif is also a mild case, as none of the descriptions of the items concerning the wolf and its fallen master Artorias ever allude to its gender other than its name, which is that of a Norse ''goddess''.
** Pharis. The description Pharis' Hat refers to Pharis as male, yet closer examination of the archer who drops it (easily done if the player is a member of the Forest Hunter Covenant) reveals the character model to be female, leading to speculation that she is only using Pharis' equipment.
** Ciaran before the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, since the English translation decided to omit any gendered pronouns when mentionin her in the Hornet Ring's description.
* TheWoobie: [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters So many]] that it got [[Woobie/DarkSouls its own page]].
