Just like the original Dark Souls, when the prequel Getting Over It was released,
a lot of players went online to complain and rant.
The main complaint? That you couldn't warp at bonfires.
"Ugh, I can't take it! Why can't we warp between bonfires in this game? I'm stuck in Blighttown!"
"Same! I'm completely lost. I can't even find my way back to Firelink Shrine!"
"Yeah, me too! Why remove warping?!"
"Ahem, let me explain. Warping isn't gone. Once you reach Anor Londo and meet the Princess of Sunlight, you'll get the Lordvessel and unlock warping."
"I saw that guide too. Gotta say, the Princess of Sunlight is... huge!"
"Oh yeah, that's a lot of... personality!"
"Hehe, average, average. Nothing much."
"But honestly, when I fought Chaos Witch Quelaag, that cutscene... man, that was something else. Hard to keep it together!"
"Damn! Bro, you've got some taste. Even the spider body doesn't stop you!"
"Stop it, you pervs! Don't derail the thread. Weren't we talking about bonfires?"
"To be honest, at first I wasn't used to not having bonfires either, but later I realized the map design in Dark Souls: Age of Fire is just amazing, with so many connected paths."
"+1, Firelink Shrine links to places like Undead Burg, New Londo Ruins, Catacombs, it's insanely well-connected!"
"Yeah, newbies should check out the maps and guides online. Even without fast travel, there are shortcuts everywhere, so getting around isn't that hard."
"Exactly! Don't listen to those people saying 'don't use guides for the pure experience.' Dark Souls isn't some story-heavy game. Your first playthrough is when you're most excited—use a guide to avoid wasting time so you don't regret your first linking-of-fire journey!"
"+1! If I didn't use a guide, my poor Solaire would've gone crazy!"
"Guides and maps from the pros? Useless for me! They're out there fighting big-name bosses like Nito, the Witch, and Artorias, while I'm still suffering in Blighttown!"
As a sequel, most players already know what kind of game Dark Souls is.
So while some complain, even more defend it.
And as people play, they start to see how brilliant the map design is. More and more players are praising it.
At the same time, on gaming communities and big streaming platforms, Dark Souls: Age of Fire became a trending topic everywhere.
With its hardcore and punishing nature, it makes for explosive streaming content.
Plus, it rides on the fame of the previous game.
Even though Dark Souls: Age of Fire is harder than the last game,
its sales were amazing: 5.5 million copies worldwide.
The online buzz was even bigger than the sales numbers.
Lucas wasn't surprised.
After all, Dark Souls has always been a hardcore game.
Which means most people would rather watch than play it themselves.
Even if the difficulty curve is fair and most players can beat it if they stick with it.
But sticking with it is hard.
Still, for real Souls fans, especially those who love the lore, it's a feast.
Because Age of Fire fills in more details about the Dark Souls world.
It also answers some player questions—sort of.
Of course, the game leaves plenty open for interpretation, so everyone has their own idea of what Dark Souls means.
Should you link the fire, or let it go out?
That question runs through the whole game.
Every player wonders about it.
From the story, you can feel that the fire going out is the ultimate fate.
In Age of Fire, if you choose to link the fire, the First Flame looks like a blazing sun.
But in the previous game, linking the fire gave you only a tiny spark.
Which shows that even if you keep linking the fire, one day it will still fade.
Is linking the fire a lie? Players have many different takes.
Some think it's Gwyn's trick, some think it's not, and others have even wilder theories.
In the opening cutscene, four beings claim the Lord Souls: Gwyn the Sun Lord, the Witch of Izalith, Nito the Lord of the Dead, and an unnamed pygmy.
Many believe this pygmy might be the ancestor of humans.
Gwyn and the others got Lord Souls, so what if the pygmy got the Dark Soul? Later, he split it among humans—that could explain why he didn't fight in the war.
In Age of Fire, there's a line about humanity:
"If souls are the source of all life, then what is humanity, something only humans have?"
That's a big hint that humanity is a fragment of the Dark Soul.
So what is the true power of the Dark Soul?
It might be tied to the Abyss.
Dark sorceries in the game hint at this—they're fueled by strong human emotions.
Anger, sadness, love, jealousy, greed—these feelings amplify the power of souls.
That might be the real power of the Dark Soul: strong emotions, or maybe pure desire.
Manus's soul also hints at this—he was once a man, but now his soul is soaked in humanity, thick like a lump of human essence.
It suggests the Dark Soul gives humans power born from their deepest desires.
That's why fragments of the Dark Soul are called Humanity.
Both the gods and the dwarves feared Dark Souls going out of control and creating the Abyss.
So they used the First Flame to set up the Fire Seal, spreading the power of the First Flame across the world, and placing the Fire Seal on every human.
This cycle became like a curse, forever clinging to humans who carried Dark Souls.
But the First Flame would eventually go out one day, so the kings each began searching for a solution.
The king of the gods, Gwyn, led by example and was the first to link the fire, sacrificing himself to keep the Age of Fire and maintain the Fire Seal. This was to stop Dark Souls from running wild. The Witch tried to create the First Flame but was consumed by chaos, becoming the source of demons.
But just like how old dynasties are overthrown to build new ones, and how dragon slayers turn into evil dragons over time, after countless years, the gods used the Undead to link the fire, not to stop Dark Souls or the Abyss, but only to keep the gods' rule forever.
Of course, after some players brought up these ideas, new doubts appeared.
And they always managed to find solid evidence.
Lore fans on big game forums dig through every piece of info, every word, and even every punctuation mark in the game to prove their view and ending is the correct one.
As for normal players, they just watch for fun. Which storyline is really the true one?
A thousand Undead mean a thousand different stories about the Dark Souls world.
Everyone has their own take on the story.
And compared to the main plot, the characters that appear in the prequel are what really make players feel moved and immersed in the game.
Like the first character who helps the player — the Sun Knight, Solaire.
Like the player, Solaire also came to seek the Undead's mission. He praised and worshiped the sun, wanting to shine bright like it.
But unlike the player, in one bad ending, if certain conditions aren't met, Solaire goes mad. If you kill him then, you find out his gear is just normal equipment without any divine power, and the sun on it is just painted on. He relied completely on his own strong will to keep moving forward.
If you meet the right conditions, open the shortcut to Lost Izalith early, and kill all the sunlight maggots ahead of time, you can save Solaire. After that, he looks down and hopeless, earning the nickname "Crestfallen Bro."
But in the end, Solaire lifts himself up again and joins the player to complete the Undead's mission and fight Gwyn together.
His "Praise the Sun" pose is one of the brightest symbols in Lordran.
There's also Artorias, who signed a pact with the abyss monsters to walk freely in the Abyss, fighting it alone to save Oolacile and the whole world from being swallowed.
Then there's Lautrec, who kills the Fire Keeper; the Crestfallen Warrior, who regains his fighting spirit after being inspired by the player but later turns hollow in New Londo Ruins.
There's also the gentle White Spider girl, Quelaag, the Onion Knight, Gwyndolin…
Every NPC and boss has their own deeply moving story behind them.
Just my own thoughts, nothing more — hope you don't mind.
(End of The Chapter)
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