History Trivia / DarkSoulsIII

* FlipFlopOfGod: Initially, Miyazaki said ''Dark Souls III'' [[http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dark-souls-3-interview-this-is-a-turning-point-for/1100-6429569/ would not be the last game, but mark a turning point]] in the ''Souls'' franchise. Later, he changed his mind and stated that it ''would'' be [[http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dark-souls-3-interview-it-wouldnt-be-right-to-cont/1100-6432425/ grand finale of the series]].

* BreakoutHit: Selling almost ''fifteen'' million copies, ''III'' is when the series went from popular yet niche to a massively ''mainstream'' success.

* TheWikiRule: The Wikia [[http://darksouls.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Souls_Wiki Dark Souls Wiki]], Fextralife [[https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Dark+Souls+3+Wiki Dark Souls 3 Wiki]], and Wikidot [[http://darksouls3.wikidot.com/ Dark Souls 3 Wiki]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In very early versions of the game, Pontiff Sullyvahn was meant to be the final boss of the game and had an entirely different, though unknown, backstory, with the in-game files simply referring to this non-canonical Sullyvahn as "[=BlackOldKing=]".

* TheWikiRule: The Wikia [[http://darksouls.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Souls_Wiki Dark Souls Wiki]], Fextralife [[https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Dark+Souls+3+Wiki Dark Souls 3 Wiki]], and Wikidot [[http://darksouls3.wikidot.com/ Dark Souls 3 Wiki]].

** Several boss weapons and armours:
*** The Ancient Dragon Halberd

* FanNickname:
** Because his magic-imbued swords look like lightsabers, fans have taken to referring to Pontiff Sulyvahn as a [[Franchise/StarWars Sith Lord]]. "Darth Sulyvous", if you would.
** Members of the new Mound-Makers covenant are often referred to as "Purpals" by the community, due to the fact that their summon signs and phantom appearances are purple.
*** "Grapebros" are also another popular name for Mound-Makers, for similar reasons.
*** Specific to the Mound-Makers, the covenant leader Holy Knight Hodrick is alternatingly referred to as "[[CounterAttack Parry God Hodrick]]," or "[[RhymingNames Hod the God]]."
** Naked [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]], coined by WebVideo/JesseCox for the BeefGate, Sword Master Saber, you run into if you take a detour when entering Firelink Shrine for the first time. This is because the dude's a LightningBruiser that only truly skilled gamers can take down when facing him right after the first boss.
** Some players refer to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley as [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} "Christmas in Yharnam"]].
** In their LP, [[WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay Super Best Friends]] refer to High Lord Wolnir as "Wrestling/TripleH", due to the latter's "King of Kings" gimmick, complete with a crown and a skeletal mask, and christen the Smouldering Lake "[[Franchise/MortalKombat Ed Boon's]] backyard".
** "Shirley" for the Shrine Handmaid, due to the Easterner's Ashes item description unintentionally setting up a reference to ''[[{{Film/Airplane}} Airplane!]]''
** The Painter in Ariandel is sometimes called Aria, based on the naming scheme of the previous Painters (Ariamis and Ariandel).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: As a general summary, what is known for sure is the game went through an ''extremely'' drastic shift in development mid way through, not as dramatic as ''2'', but pretty large, in which alot of experimental aspects of the game were cut, or neutered to the point of them being practically non existing, the game's level design was heavily altered, progression changed, bosses cut or reshuffled, and the lore changed. Many have suspected this was due to the fact ''Namco Bandai'' wanted a more open ended sequel to allow room for more ''Dark Souls'' games in the future, in contrast to Miyazaki's vision of a GrandFinale for the series, and eventually relented as per Namco's request, which resulted in such a drastic restructuring of the entire game.
** In terms of actual things still found in the retail releases files, it's a bit harder to come across in the final game, as it appears that Fromsoft wised up to the data mining of the previous games and removed early alpha and beta content and even developer notes from the game files. Hasn't stopped people from trying, though...until someone managed to acquire a copy of the ''alpha'' network test of the game, which contained a ''very'' large host of previously unseen content and aspects of the game that didn't make it in. Whoops.
** Before the Magic Meter (of ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' fame) was reintroduced, there was a different way to use weapon arts called Weapon Art Points. The only way they could've been regenerated was to rest at a bonfire.
** Interestingly, many of Miyazaki's concepts that were either scrapped or implemented in an unsatisfactory way in the original ''Dark Souls'' have been recycled and better integrated into ''Dark Souls III'', most notably [[spoiler:the second stage of the [[FinalBoss Soul of Cinder]] being an improved version of Gwyn's boss fight which isn't trivialized by parries]].
** A thing in the alpha test that was cut from the final game was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szg94hch5n0 Epitaph stones]]. While the initial idea was that only the High Wall had them, data mining the alpha reveals that just about all the areas had them. And although the alpha only had the text for the ones that were in the High Wall, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ILkLGZQUQ the full list]] is in the Japanese version's text files.
** There's a cut [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ILkLGZQUQ Ceremony mechanic]] that would have let you change the time of day and/or world state in each area of the game. The easiest to explain are the ones still in the final game: the "Default" state, the "Gloomy/Cloudy" state, the "Eclipsed World" state (the annular eclipse that resembles the Brand and the pure dark sky in the Firelink Shrine's graveyard), and "Boss Battle Time" (fight against the boss of Archdragon Peak). For the times of day list present in the alpha that didn't make it into the final game: "Evening/Dusk" (which has it's own skybox/lighting at the Cathedral of the Deep and the Undead Settlement), "Moonlit Night" (no sky texture in the Cathedral, has sky texture in the Undead Settlement), and "Noon" (Irythyll only, almost the same as the default skybox in the final game, although a bit darker and without the aurora and particle effects). As for the special world states: "The Past" (almost completely grayscale look with some chromatic aberration or color separation on the screen edges, exists for all game areas, unique skybox in the Cathedral, missing skybox in Farron Keep), "The Sun" (dramatically bright day sky with an absurdly large sun visible, appears in Farron, Irythyll, the Cathedral, and the Undead Settlement), "Eclipsed Night" (dramatically bright night sky with a total eclipse visible in Farron, Irythyll, and the Undead Settlement). Weirder still are that the versions of "Sun" and "Eclipsed Night" in the Undead Settlement have the cut winged Abyss pus serpents flying in the sky.
** At some point you would have been able to actually [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zziY68RdKK4 create bonfires and alter the world for PvP]]. Enemies would randomly have "cult deaths", which let you drag the corpse around and use said corpse to perform one of seven "cult rituals" and turn it into a bonfire. These corpses could also be used to make special [=PvP=] bonfires, via special ceremony swords rather than using the eye orbs from the previous games, shifting the world to a [=PvP=]-enabled "dark/eclipsed" variants and letting players invade that way.
** Oceiros was originally supposed to be holding Ocelotte in his hand. Data mining reveals that Oceiros' character model has a untextured skeleton in his left hand labeled "baby", there's four texture maps and a model labeled "baby", and there's a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6vCZdcp6hE rather disturbing sound file]] of what sounds like Oceiros killing Ocelotte during the transition between his boss fight phases, as well as sound effects of Ocellotte ''repeatedly being crushed under his hand and crying out in pain'' during his walking animation. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prownnvrwdo An alternate intro cinematic]] has been found, with the baby model intact.
** An entirely cut area has been found called "God's Grave", which had assets and ideas reused for ''The Ringed City'' DLC, as well as coding for world states regarding the time of day system was to be handled that also reveals how an earlier version of the game's story flowed, and some other very interesting tidbits. About the only remains of the area is a very low poly distance model without any textures.
*** The game was originally supposed to be like the first game: linear for the first third or half and branching for the rest of it. And as you progressed through the game, the time of day was supposed to change like it does in ''Bloodborne''. But here's the thing: the early area flow was at one point the same up until the Undead Settlement, where you went through either the Catacombs of Carthus or Irythyll Dungeon and arrived at the Profaned Capital, defeat the Profaned Capital king for something, then ''return'' to Lothric Castle and fight Lorian and Lothric, make your way through the cut "God's Grave" area, then go after the Lords of Cinder (or whatever they was supposed to be at this point), and then go for the endgame, which was supposed to be the ashen desert ruins of Anor Londo. Which explains why sheer dissonance between the opening cinematic and why Irythyll and Anor Londo are covered in snow rather than ash, the snow and snowdrifts are just retextured ashen sand.
*** The cut "God's Grave" area was supposed to be an area between Lothric Castle and the demon-guarded bridge over the swamp of Farron Keep, which unlocked somehow after defeating Lothric and Lorian. What little of the area's general appearance is that a chunk of it was a massive crypt built within the cliffs which Lothric sits on with a path leading out connected to a forested area. Shockingly enough, '''Oceiros''' was supposed to be a boss or the boss in this area, baby intact and all. He also appears to have been one of the earliest conceptualized bosses in the game, due to his voice lines being some of the first recorded for the game.
*** Archdragon Peak was originally part of Lothric Castle and connected to it in some way. The Nameless King was also one of the Lords of Cinder at this point, while the Abyss Watchers stayed about the same save the fact that the Wolf would have been part of the boss fight and Aldritch was part of the Deacons of the Deep fight. There's also a cut boss called "mother dragon" which seems to have been tied to the area in some way.
** Wolnir was originally encountered in a much different area than the Catacombs of Carthus, as shown in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HIxuGi_2TQ&list=PLToji_CQFzSQUVp2h7rgcpgG23Z7YttEM&index=13 Gameplay Reveal Trailer]]. The area appears to have been a large hallway filled with knee-deep water. Where the area is and if it is in the final game is unknown, although it's been compared to Yhorm's throne room in the Profaned Capital.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc-Ax9nW0Vg&t Footage of the alpha version]] of the Cemetery has been compiled and released, revealing some interesting things about some of the early builds. The dark version was supposed to be an endgame version the Cemetery, the path to the bell tower wasn't supposed to be blocked, and the bell had a lever to activate it, which in turn would unseal the route to the final boss fight. This discovery ended up being something of a smoking gun to help verify some of the info from [[http://www.kaagaz.io/84450f01 this]] document from a supposed anonymous insider, some of which also coincide with early footage of the game.
*** Wolnir's model was the original version of Yhorm, which lines up with the very early trailer footage. The insider claims that the proto!Yhorm was the leader of the Mound Makers covenant and that he was utterly obsessed with treasure, which accounts for the mounds of gold coins and the like found throughout the area. This early version also served as a boss, making the Mound Makers function in a way similar to Nito's Gravelord Servants. On a similar note, the Profaned Capitol was supposed to be traversed in reverse: you started at the bottom of the area and worked your way up, instead of working your way down to what's now a dead end.
*** Yhorm, or rather "Halleck" based on the model's internal name, was supposed to be awakened alongside you and served as the tutorial boss and you were supposed to have a rematch in the Catacombs of Carthus based on the internal name for one of the area's bonfires.
*** Gundyr was the original boss fight for the Consumed King's Garden, which fits with the fact that the Pus of Man enemies only appear in the High Wall, Garden, and Lothric Castle, as well as Gundyr's second form during the tutorial boss fight and the Garden bonfire's internal name being akin to something like "Gundyr's Mausoleum". The insider claims that Oceiros was only greenlit to ape off of Ludwig from ''[[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} The Old Hunters]]'' DLC.
*** The Smouldering Lake and Demon Ruins really did connect to Irithyll from the hole in the wall near the giant Avelyn ballista. The original idea was that it connected to the Irithyll Dungeon, [[https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1043429151204495361 as shown in the Alpha data]], with the bonfires in the Dungeon still being called "Deep Entrance to Anor Ruins" in the game files, which was supposed to be a second entrance to Irithyll proper via the waterway under the bridge. This explains why the Beast on the bridge can jump down and attack you if you just ran away from it when crossing the bridge. Smouldering Lake was also supposed to play host to a unique dual boss fight against a Giant Bat and the Carthus Sand Worm, with the ballista being required to ground the Bat and the Worm showing up during the second phase. On that note, the Sand Worm is still technically a boss fight, but the boss health meter has gone unused and there's no boss fog to impede you.
*** The Carthus Catacombs were apparently supposed to be entered from the Undead Settlement after defeating the Curse-Rotted Greatwood, instead of having to go through Farron Keep and defeating the Abyss Watchers. On that note, the Abyss Watchers fight was supposed to be much harder and the path after them instead led straight to the Irythyll bridge. One thing ''not'' revealed in the document is that there was supposed to be a boss fight between the Crucifixion Woods and the Abyss Watchers against a being called "[[https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1040752049170800641 the Wolf of the Eclipse]]".
*** The Deacons of the Deep fight was supposed to have a proper second phase, with Aldritch coming out of the massive coffin in the boss arena and joining in the fight, instead of him being fought later on in the ruins of Anor Londo. This potentially explains why the Deacons ended up as one of the easiest boss fights in the series.
*** The Lothric Castle section was supposed to take place at night, instead of during the weird Darksign Eclipse, which itself was only supposed to show up in the dark Cemetery after the Seal to the final boss was broken. Additionally, the Pilgrim Butterflies were supposed to be winged serpents, tying into the concept from the first game that the Primordial Serpents were incomplete dragons. One of the more dubious claims was that Kaathe was supposed to show up in some way during the Twin Princes boss fight.
** The reference name for Aldritch in the game files was "Sulyvahn" and implies that the Aldritch and Pontiff Sulyvhan might have once been one entity before they became two different characters.
*** Furthermore, separate to them being originally one character, Pontiff Sulyvhan was at one point referenced as "Black Old King" and meant to be ''the FinalBoss'' instead of the Soul of Cinder, explaining why he is so significant and causes so much impact in the lore and world of ''[=DSIII=]''; he really ''was'' meant to be the BigBad.

*** Furthermore, separate to them being originally one character, Pontiff Sulyvhan was at one point referenced as "Black Old King" and meant to be ''the FinalBoss'' instead of the Soul of Cinder, explaining why he is so significant and so much impact in the lore and world of ''[=DSIII=]''; he really ''was'' meant to be the BigBad.

*** Furthermore, separate to them being originally one character, Pontiff Sulyvhan was at one point referenced as "Black Old King" and meant to be ''the FinalBoss'' instead of the Soul of Cinder, explaining why he is so significant and so much impact in the lore and world of ''{=DSIII=}''; he really ''was'' meant to be the BigBad.

*** Pontiff Sullivan's model was supposed to be used for the final boss at one point (he's known internally as the "Old King of the Eclipse), with concept art for Irythyll showing that the original boss for the area was a version of the Fire Witches that serves as the area's elite enemies. On another note, Aldritch's internal name is still Sullivan and his original role is completely unknown, although the "Gwyndolin" section is just an altered version of Prince Lothric and the ass-end of the model is similar to Rosaria's grub people.

*** Pontiff Sullivan's model was supposed to be used for the final boss at one point, with concept art for Irythyll showing that the original boss for the area was a version of the Fire Witches that serves as the area's elite enemies. On another note, Aldritch's internal name is still Sullivan and his original role is completely unknown, although the "Gwyndolin" section is just an altered version of Prince Lothric and the ass-end of the model is similar to Rosaria's grub people.

** There's a cut [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ILkLGZQUQ Ceremony mechanic]] that would have let you change the time of day and/or world state in each area of the game. The easiest to explain are the ones still in the final game: the "Default" state, the "Gloomy/Cloudy" state, the "Eclipsed World" state (the annular eclipse that resembles the Brand and the pure dark sky in the Firelink Shrine's graveyard), and "Boss Battle Time" (fight against the boss of Archdragon Peak). For the times of day list present in the alpha that didn't make it into the final game: "Evening/Dusk" (which has it's own skybox/lighting at the Cathedral of the Deep and the Undead Settlement), "Moonlit Night" (no sky texture in the Cathedral, has sky texture in the Undead Settlement), and "Noon" (Irythyll only, almost the same as the default skybox in the final game, although a bit darker and without the aurora and particle effects).\\
\\
As for the special world states: "The Past" (almost completely grayscale look with some chromatic aberration or color separation on the screen edges, exists for all game areas, unique skybox in the Cathedral, missing skybox in Farron Keep), "The Sun" (dramatically bright day sky with an absurdly large sun visible, appears in Farron, Irythyll, the Cathedral, and the Undead Settlement), "Eclipsed Night" (dramatically bright night sky with a total eclipse visible in Farron, Irythyll, and the Undead Settlement). Weirder still are that the versions of "Sun" and "Eclipsed Night" in the Undead Settlement have the cut winged Abyss pus serpents flying in the sky.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A bit harder to come across in the final game, as it appears that Fromsoft wised up to the data mining of the previous games and removed early alpha and beta content and even developer notes from the game files. Hasn't stopped people from trying, though...until someone managed to acquire a copy of the ''alpha'' network test of the game, which contained a ''very'' large host of previously unseen content and aspects of the game that didn't make it in. Whoops. As a generally summary, what is known for sure is the game went through an ''extremely'' drastic shift in development mid way through, not as dramatic as ''2'', but pretty large, in which alot of experimental aspects of the game were cut, or neutered to the point of them being practically non existing, the game's level design was heavily altered, progression changed, bosses cut or reshuffled, and the lore changed. Many have suspected this was due to the fact ''Namco Bandai'' wanted a more open ended sequel to allow room for more ''Dark Souls'' games in the future, in contrast to Miyazaki's vision of a GrandFinale for the series, and eventually relented as per Namco's request, which resulted in such a drastic restructuring of the entire game.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A bit harder to come across in the final game, as it appears that Fromsoft wised up to the data mining of the previous games and removed early alpha and beta content and even developer notes from the game files. Hasn't stopped people from trying, though...until someone managed to acquire a copy of the ''alpha'' network test of the game, which contained a ''very'' large host of previously unseen content and aspects of the game that didn't make it in. Whoops.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A bit harder to come across in the final game, as it appears that Fromsoft wised up to the data mining of the previous games and removed early alpha and beta content and even developer notes from the game files. Hasn't stopped people from trying, though.