History YMMV / DarkSoulsI

** The Crystal Cave is extremely short with linear traversal via bending invisible bridges, making it feel empty. There are no bonfires within until you defeat the area's boss, so if you fall off (which is very likely at multiple points), you have to start all over again. Fortunately, it's just a capper on the Duke's Archives area, which is very well-designed and easily the only endgame area memorable for the right reasons.

** The Tomb of the Giants is pitch-black, filled to the brim with instant-kill pitfalls, and features 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 by the time they attempt to traverse it.

* SpiritualAdaptation: 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. The variety of weapons, the requirement to pay attention and master patterns to survive, and the shocking ease of death also arguably makes it the modern successor to ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins''. It also just may be the best ''Franchise/{{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''.

** The Giant Blacksmith has been referred to as "Fapsmith", due to the fact that, [[http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/712/951/9ac.gif if viewed from a certain angle]], it looks less like he's hammering and more like he's doing [[ADateWithRosiePalms something else entirely]].

* AntiClimaxBoss: Boy howdy. The second half of the game is generally agreed on to be a step down from the first half but if your first boss after getting the Lordvessel is the Four Kings, the last '''FOUR''' bosses you fight fall under this.

* AntiClimaxBoss:
** [[WordOfGod Miyazaki]] was disappointed with how cheap the fight against [[spoiler:Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]] turned out. It was originally supposed to thoroughly 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]]. If you complete [[spoiler:Solaire's]] sidequest, he becomes summonable to fight by your side against [[spoiler:Gwyn]], and his presence trivializes the battle. Once [[spoiler:Gwyn]] has to split his attention between you and your ally, it's far too easy to strike him down from behind, and while [[spoiler:Solaire]] probably won't be able to do much damage, he's so [[StoneWall unbelievably tough]] that you'll have all the time you need to tear [[spoiler:Gwyn]] a new one (or at least heal yourself, something extremely hard to find time to do in a simple one-on-one).

** Siegmeyer of Catarina is popular due to his funny-looking armor, very laid-back attitude, and friendly demeanor. His love from fans made sure that the Catarina set appeared in every ''Dark Souls'' game, and a similar onion-knight, Siegward, is a major ally in ''Dark Souls III''.

* FandomRivalry: It's died down since, but it once had a fairly fierce one 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 vocal and 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'' for being "too difficult and confusing". Fans who like both games were labelled "traitors" and stuck between a rock and a hard place.

* FirstInstallmentWins: ''Dark Souls'' tends to be the least controversial installment in its series, and much of the criticism people give to the other entries is made in relation to this game. ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' receives criticism for poorer difficulty scaling, changes to lore, and sluggish animations among other things. ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' gets criticized for adhering very closely to the first game's lore at the expense of the second game, close similarities in its level design, and its combat being more like the faster combat of ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' than ''Dark Souls''' slower, methodical combat.

** As noted above; {{Downplayed}} with tbe New Londo Ruins. It's filled with wall-ignoring ghosts, which are impossible to block or attack without limited-time consumables, rare cursed weapons, or being cursed yourself. Once you drain the water there, the second part involves fighting many deadly Darkwraiths on the way to the Four Kings, who are locked behind an item Sif holds and can be a major health-based wall especially in NewGamePlus. It also has to be done before the other Lord Soul regions to join the Darkwraiths, when you may be less powerful than is ideal. The area, however, is more complete then the others and is considered to be the best of the end game zones; with it's nightmarish lore, horriying atmosphere, SurvivalHorror themed level design, and bleak story revelations.

** Aside from Sen's Fortress, most of the pre-Lordvessel areas are based around dangerous enemies and not so much level hazards. Once you place the Lordvessel and reach the areas it unlocked, the challenge of simply navigating the map intensifies. You have the [[LethalLavaLand lava field]] in Lost Izalith, invisible floors in the Duke's Archives, and worst of all, the near pitch-darkness of the Tomb of the Giants. In comparison, the final area, save for a few {{Elite Mook}}s, is very straightforward.

* CommonKnowledge: A defining element of the game's world is that all of the bosses are [[WorfHadTheFlu severely weakened from their primes]], right? Well, not really. This only explicitly applies to the FinalBoss and Nito. The vast majority of the bosses are as strong as they've always been and are fought in their natural forms (such as all of the demon bosses, Manus, Kalameet, Havel, the Sanctuary Guardians, Priscilla, Gwyndolin, Sif, Moonlight Butterfly, and the Iron Golem). As for the rest? They're explicitly ''powered-up'' from their past selves (Pinwheel has been sapping Nito's power, the Four Kings went from regular people to superpowered abominations, Ornstein or Smough power up by consuming the other during the phase transition, and Seath gained immortality and crystal breath that he didn't have before).\\

* ThatOneComponent: The Soul of Sif, required to craft the Greatshield of Artorias and ''both'' versions of the Greatsword of Artorias, all required for [[ThatOneAchievement the Knight's Honor achievement]]. As with all boss souls you can only get one per playthrough, but it's the only one with ''three'' potential crafting results, requiring you to do another entire NG+ cycle (or at least half of one) for it alone if you want the achievement.

** The Souvenirs of Reprisal or Dragon Scales needed to progress in the Blades of the Darkmoon or Path of the Dragon covenants 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. This is the only way to get them without fighting powerful players online, which is especially bad for Dragon Scales since 30 of them are required for every reward. The other covenants have much easier grinding items to collect, whereas the Forest Hunters' Ring of Fog (which requires going online) can be gotten from one of Snuggly's trades instead.

** The Bounding Demons in Lost Izalith are hilariously [[JustForPun half-assed]] enemies. Even if you don't know or notice that they are repurposed from the bottom half of the Zombie Dragon, they just look ridiculous, being mostly legs with a vague mass for a head-like thing. Their haphazard and excessively numerous placement in their lake doesn't help, as it only contributes to them being a part of the level's decline in quality relative to earlier areas of the game.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: When the ''Remastered'' version was announced, much of the existing PC player base complained that they would have to pay full price to upgrade a game that they could already play just fine[[note]]While the features of ''Prepare to Die Edition'' would continue to work, the online features would mostly shift to the ''Remastered'' version, leaving PC players who didn't want to pay to update out of the loop[[/note]]. Fortunately, Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment announced about a month prior to the remaster's release that it would be discounted by 50% for owners of the existing PC version for the first two years after its release.

* DemonicSpiders: [[DemonicSpiders/DarkSouls Has its own page]]. Strangely enough, the actual spider-demons are among the easier enemies in the game.

** The attack dogs in lower Undead Burg, which jump at the player in packs to quickly attack them and are low enough to the ground that certain weapons have tremendous difficulty even hitting them. Their biggest infamy comes from the two in the Capra Demon's tiny room, which will likely kill you more than the boss itself will. There are even fire versions of them in the Blighttown rafters, though they're much less dangerous.

* CompleteMonster: [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Seath the Scaleless]] is an EvilSorcerer and MadScientist who betrayed the Everlasting Dragons and oversaw their extinction [[DrivenByEnvy due to his own envy]]. Joining Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, as a Duke who was hated and feared by almost everyone, Seath plunged into research and cruelty where he had countless innocents kidnapped to conduct torturous experiments on them with his crystals, mutating numerous people into lobotomized crystal zombies where many other died, while kidnapped women are turned into snake-like monsters called Pisacas, all in his pursuit of his [[ImmortalityImmorality selfish immortality]].

* CommonKnowledge: A defining element of the game's world is that all of the bosses are [[WorfHadTheFlu severely weakened from their primes]], right? Well, not really. This only explicitly applies to the FinalBoss and Nito. The vast majority of the bosses are as strong as they've always been and are fought in their natural forms (such as all of the demon bosses, Manus, Kalameet, Havel, the Sanctuary Guardians, Priscilla, Gwyndolin, Sif, Moonlight Butterfly, and the Iron Golem). As for the rest? They're explicitly ''powered-up'' from their past selves (Pinwheel has been sapping Nito's power, the Four Kings went from regular people to superpowered abominations, Ornstein or Smough power up by consuming the other during the phase transition, and Seath gained immortality and crystal breath that he didn't have before).
** A specific example is Artorias. It's commonly claimed that you fight him at his weakest because he's been corrupted by the Abyss and has had one of his arms broken, preventing him from using a shield along with his sword. The latter point is true, but the former is pretty clearly debunked by the game itself; his second phase is marked by him charging up a BattleAura of Abyss energy, after which his speed, damage, and aggression all increase. It's straightforwardly making him ''physically stronger'', just like it does to everything else it corrupts, from the Four Kings to the regular citizens of Oolacile. He also gains AOE and ranged attacks that he, of course, wouldn't have without being corrupted.

** Quelaag's Sister/The Fair Lady, the IllGirl who leads the Chaos Servant covenant. Giving her humanity [[spoiler:helps save fellow darkhorse Solaire]]. She also serves as the MoralityPet of the ''Dark Souls'' community, with some players having hacked to give her ''60,000'' humanities just to alleviate her suffering (you only need to give her 30 to save Solaire and cosmetic differences stop after 80).

* FanPreferredCouple: Artorias/Ciaran has quite a lot of supporters. So does Solaire/Chosen Undead.

* TheWoobie: [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters So many]] that it got [[Woobie/DarkSouls its own page]].

** 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 you're running across [[spoiler:her]] branches. Fortunately, this attack only starts happening during the last third of the fight.

** Compared to the Undead Burg and Parish, the Depths and Blighttown are far more difficult in terms of what you faced previously, and in some cases is harder than many other areas due to how different they are than what came before.

** As noted above; {{Downplayed}} with tbe New Londo Ruins. It's filled with wall-ignoring ghosts, which are impossible to block or attack without limited-time consumables, rare cursed weapons, or being cursed yourself. Once you drain the water there, the second part involves fighting many deadly Darkwraiths on the way to the Four Kings, who are locked behind an item Sif holds and can be a major health-based wall especially in NewGamePlus. It also has to be done before the other Lord Soul regions to join the Darkwraiths, when you may be less powerful than is ideal. The area, however, is more complete then the others and is considered to be the best of the end game zones; with it's nightmarish lore, horriying atmosphere, SurvialHorror themed level design, and bleak story revelations.