Dark Souls Level Design.

[TheGreatCthulhu]

So in a fit of curiosity, I decided to look at the level design of the first Dark Souls game.

And some crazy person likely did a lot of work on all of the objects you are able to collide with, creating this map of Dark Souls's Lordran.

And I gotta say, how From Software managed to connect everything together is staggering.

The only separations are Oolacile, the Undead Asylum, the Painted World of Ariamis, and while it may seem Sen's Fortress is connected to Anor Londo, in reality, Anor Londo, and by extension, the Duke's Archives are separated from them.

That leaves everything else connected together.

Here's a video showing the map:



And here's where you can download the file for yourself:

https://kayin.moe/?p=2218

Love or hate the game, you have to give credit to its absolutely stellar level design.

Further, you have to give From Software credit on managing a staggering open level design this large on the Xbox 360 of all things.

Lemme know what you think!

 

[Jirohnagi]

It's one thing they kinda left out in the 2nd and 3rd games, you can't really see everywhere you can visit and it's all oddly disconnected, Dark Souls 1 was so damn fluid in that regard, you saw a place, you COULD go there, you can sight lost Izalith from the Tomb of the Giants, you can see ash lake from there too, from Undead burg, you can see the lower burg, the parish, sens fortress and even anor londo. It was excellent, some zones were disconnected but it wasn't excused by some wierd transtionary tunnel or elevator like 2 and 3 favored, and hell even the Fire placements were so much smarter and far less infuriating to hunt out at the end of the day.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

It's one thing they kinda left out in the 2nd and 3rd games, you can't really see everywhere you can visit and it's all oddly disconnected, Dark Souls 1 was so damn fluid in that regard, you saw a place, you COULD go there, you can sight lost Izalith from the Tomb of the Giants, you can see ash lake from there too, from Undead burg, you can see the lower burg, the parish, sens fortress and even anor londo. It was excellent, some zones were disconnected but it wasn't excused by some wierd transtionary tunnel or elevator like 2 and 3 favored, and hell even the Fire placements were so much smarter and far less infuriating to hunt out at the end of the day.

If I was to award medals for level design, it'd go like this.

Dark Souls 1 gets a gold medal.

Dark Souls 3 gets a silver medal.

And Dark Souls 2 gets 4th place.

Sorry, From Software, in what world does taking an elevator up send you to an area filled with lava?

There's some interesting things about Dark Souls 3. But in terms of the quality of locations, it beats out DS2 in my opinion.

 

[Jirohnagi]

If I was to award medals for level design, it'd go like this.

Dark Souls 1 gets a gold medal.

Dark Souls 3 gets a silver medal.

And Dark Souls 2 gets 4th place.

Sorry, From Software, in what world does taking an elevator up send you to an area filled with lava?

There's some interesting things about Dark Souls 3. But in terms of the quality of locations, it beats out DS2 in my opinion.

Honestly here i'd fully agree, though if we threw bloodborne in the mix that'd get gold ove DS1

I love DS2 to pieces but it's level design is godawful, it's shining glory is it's PvP and how the weapons interact with each other, of only DS3 had Power Stancing

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Honestly here i'd fully agree, though if we threw bloodborne in the mix that'd get gold ove DS1

I love DS2 to pieces but it's level design is godawful, it's shining glory is it's PvP and how the weapons interact with each other, of only DS3 had Power Stancing

That's fair.

Bloodborne's level design is superb. Can't argue with that.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Dark Souls 1 is definitely on top when it comes to the interconnected nature of the open world. It's incredibly satisfying to fight through a tough area, take an elevator, and find yourself back in the safety net that is Firelink Shrine. That being said, I don't think that Dark Souls 3's actual level design is inferior. Everything is still cool and interconnected, but there was definitely more of an emphasis on linearity.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Dark Souls 1 is definitely on top when it comes to the interconnected nature of the open world. It's incredibly satisfying to fight through a tough area, take an elevator, and find yourself back in the safety net that is Firelink Shrine. That being said, I don't think that Dark Souls 3's actual level design is inferior. Everything is still cool and interconnected, but there was definitely more of an emphasis on linearity.

There's some interesting aspects of Dark Souls 3's level design.

As these videos show, there's some places that you can see that you can go to, but in terms of actual game data, aren't in the same locations that you see in game.



So it's still good level design, but DS1 was basically a true interconnected map.