I got some help from Stayd for this, as we figured out the game wasn't wanting to load it because its textures were too big. Stayd determined they were all upscaled from the regular resolution to 4k, and downscaled them back to normal.
@@autisticbraindamagedmoron there's a huge statue sword sticking from the wall (below the pursuer boss fight) where you find the halberd and get ambushed, I believe it was this gaint's doing
This actually gives greater context to what Saulden says about the giants rising from the ocean and devasting the land. In game they're pretty small, and it's hard to believe these guys took down an entire empire. Seeing the giant as so big it totally towers over castles walls really justifies the idea these guys used to be a major menace.
I mean you say that but I dont have trouble believing they were a major menace at all they're already as big as trees and with more muscle mass than a couple dozen men. Considering that regular human sized men can destroy kingdoms, I absolutely dont find it difficult to believe massive musclebound creatures that look like they're made of stone wielding weapons larger than a human could do so...
@@lenkagamine4145 In the flashback sections, we see that a single balista and a handful of giant-bow archers can handle the average giant without much issue. In melee combat, they're a nightmare to be sure but there were much better alternatives to fighting them. Giants are big and strong but we don't see them use real weapons, outside of maybe the Giant King or Yhorm, so they'd be outmatched in ranged combat.
@@SheerSniper7 on the other hand, if we're talking realistically, those archers and ballista don't have infinite ammo. Considering how much ammo is needed to put down a small regiment, Id say it's not unlikely that they simply didn't have enough ammo to engage in ranged battle with every single giant. And don't forget the Giants did have ranged options too: they had pyromancers, who hurled fireballs the size of Forbidden Suns.
@@SheerSniper7 'a handful' to match 'an average giant', though. What if the giants had comparable numbers to the royal infantry? I mean we dont see that many ballistae all over the place, what if theres hundreds or thousands of giants attacking at once? In the flashback sections there arent *that* many more humans than giants.
Would've been cool to see this giant even walking in the distance. Still being absolutely massive from ways away. Darksouls will never fail to make me feel so many things at once and completely be amazed by everything, especially lore.
Climbing up to the platform where the bird drops the pursuer and seeing a giant slowly walking in the distance would be extremely cool. Slowly approaching to it while traversing the area and fighting it as a mini boss would be simply phenomenal. Man, how I wish DS2 wasn't rushed.
it should've been a boss fight. You enter an arena to fight some mob-like enemy, i.e Watchers in DS3. You're at the edge of a cliff. You keep fighting them, and killing a bunch of really weak mobs. Then, you notice something approaching in the water, like a black mass, way from the distance, slowly getting bigger and bigger. You don't think much of it, you have enemies to fight. Then the theme hits a breaking point, as a 40 metre giant pops out of the water to fight you.
@@SalvageET I feel you bro, that would be amazing and feel so perfect within the game. I wish more time was put into it aswell because ds2, while different from 1 and 3, had this other feel to it and its something I love to this day
I love that about them. It makes them seem like a whole different genus or family, rather than a singular type of being. It makes the world feel so much larger IMO.
@@nickkarrick Which fits with the world since Irithyll's location implies it, Carthus, and Lothric all likely existed in some form around the time of Lordran or are at least a stone's throw from the remains of it.
One thing I thought would've been neat if they leaned in on the giants having some attachment to the archtrees since they turn into trees. Maybe dumb but I thought it would've been neat if DS2 giants were like more of a force of nature by the trees in response to seeing how the cycle of relinking the fire was having on the world.
Ive always assumed that the giants in DS2 are evolved from the great grey archtrees that were in the DS1 intro - because they share similar features, a hatred of the flame of life/the kiln, and the giants turn into trees when they die. So perhaps being a giant is just part of an archtrees life cycle or something
@@indigoli9220 why do you say they have 'a hatred of the flame of life', they themselves have extremely powerful souls and only invaded Drangleic as a counterattack against Vendrick, who was doing Nashandra's bidding. If they hated the age of fire then surely them and Nashandra would have been aligned, right?
@@lenkagamine4145 same ideals dont necesarily mean same alligments we now little of their culture or motivations but Nashandra sent Vendrickto learn and get back their soul arts iirc, giants had great control over the most basic element in darksouls which were souls, by vendrick going and stealing potentially dangerous secrets if missused i can see why they attacked, nashandra also wanted to have absolute control over the world as she is the most agresive incarnation of manus, and now that i think of may be the reason why vendrick and most of his elite soldiers are almost gigantic sized, vendrick himself is as tall as a giant his tomb warden is almost as big as him, the dragonriders are also huge humanoids maybe fruition of their discoveries on the giants secrets aswell as creating artificial life as u can see on aldia research lab
This is not cut content, just some alpha design version. Also, I think it's for the better that they choose smaller ones because there are like few "enormous boss" fights in the series that are good.
DS2 had a brutal development cycle. New directer, extremely tight budget, and very short time to push for release. The fact that the game turned out as good as it did is a small miracle. So much potential was never reached because the studio said "do more, but with less time, money, and people"
Ooooh, so maybe the fireballs in the Memory of Jeigh that scatter periodically as we approach the Giant Lord would've been the ones seen during the regular advance through the Forrest and Bastion area. I could imagine a giant atop the Cardinal Tower hurling Fireballs in a similar fashion to the Hawkeye Giant in the tower of the Undead Settlement of DS3.
Those fireballs come from giant pyromancers seen in other memories, likely these are firing from the ships in the background. The video makes it sound like that was supposed to be the giant showcased here throwing them, visibly.
@@Ollybollyk I know of the Giant Pyromancers, their accuracy is nothing to be taken lightly. :) I mean the AoE fireballs that persist even after slaying the Giant Lord, where the Ascetic and Divine Blessing can be grabbed along the Crows Nest. I feel the ones the Giant Pyromacers throw are like a variant of Great Fireball/Fire Orb, whereas the Memory of Jeigh fireballs are much larger (forbidden sun sized if not larger)
Giants in the Dark Souls series have been given such cruel fates. Enslaved, victims of constant prejudice despite their gentle nature, even to the point of having buildings constructed around them, such as Irithyll Dungeon. Only one giant has claimed any form of glory, Gough, and even then he was cruelly made to believe he was blind. Yhorm was resented and hated by his subjects, and the giant blacksmith was forced to produce endless supplies of crossbow bolts, a task he did not enjoy. Those of the cathedral of the deep, made to live in lakes made of their own waste and the sludge produced by the sacrifices of the cathedral. The Giant Lord wasn't even granted death, but forced to wander naked and humiliated at the place of his defeat. Giants deserved better. It's clear from our interactions with them that they're friendly, honest and noble beings. Slavery and humiliation is ill fated for friendly beings such as them.
@@kuski5512 I always thought Yhorm gave his people the weapon as a challenge. Since they all so openly opposed and disrespected him, their protector, he gave them his own weakness to see if they really felt that they could do something about it. Obviously they never tried.
Don't remember well but I think king Vendrick stole them "knowledge" after he conquered them. And in a sad irony, this must be what made him realized he was a puppet of his own wife Nashandra. But it was Nashandra who wanted Vendrick waging war to them, so could it mean she was aware a peace with Giants could be compromising to her as if they would have gotten closer to Vendrick, they'd have discovered her true nature ?
I always wondered why they were so small, considering there's one of the giant statues' swords that's been ripped off and thrust into the castle walls with the hand still attached. Would've taken something awfully big and strong to do that!
@@lapelcelery42 I kinda figured it broke during the Giant Lord fight (like how the big statue head gets broken there too) and just fell down which makes the hole where the Drangleic armor is in SOTFS.
@@missbelled6700 naw, something definitely ripped it off. The placement of the sword won't allow it to just randomly puncture a wall. More than sure that a giant giant ripped it out or something Maybe the same giant was what killed our boy Drummond
I loved the giants of DS2, both from a story and a design perspective. When you go back in time it really feels like you've been plunged into a war, and it's hard not to sympathise with the giants considering Vendrick stole something important from them, and they were essentially attacked without provocation.
Imagine if DS2 had released with the same quality as the pre release footage and with all the cut content back in 2014, would've been this best game for years.
I believe there's a fellow working on a mod for that. I haven't checked in ages though. His original intention was to get the game looking like the early footage!
@@maxmazza2987 can’t agree more. I mean fuck I already love 2 wayyyyyy more than 3, but if 2 had everything it was intended to have I don’t even think I’d play other fromsoft games very often
Imagine seeing the boat in the distance with slowly coming to no man's wharf, and then suddenly the biggest giant in the world comes out of the Water and smashes it. That would be amazing and horrifying to watch
You cant imagine how sad that moment was when i realised yhorm isnt that huge. From the cutscene i expected something like this especially after seeing the giants in the Cathedral.
Music fits because the game fits; take away the "Dark Souls" from Dark Souls and you basically have the fundamentals of a mainline Zelda game: 3rd person over the shoulder camera with a targeting system in a dark fantasy setting. Although the level design is more comparable to a Metroidvania IMO This doesn't seem like a big deal nowadays but when Ocarina of Time (and Super Mario 64, even) released for the N64 back in ~1996, no one had really figured out how to handle 3rd person cameras Total nerd out I know, just interesting trivia
I love how this guy looks. Imagine walking up the giant stone sword that hangs out of the fort wall only for this massive dude to pick it up while you're on it.
@@Odinsday isn't Dark Souls already power fantasy? Half naked fuck with a dragon head, glowing red with a lightning buffed giant ass club beating a God to death in three attacks sounds pretty power fantasy to me
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola I mean, it definitely is, but at any moment, you can get your ass destroyed by some random dog. I was mainly talking about GoW style power fantasy, which is basically taking down an entire pantheon of gods and a legion of titans double the size of the Eiffel Tower without breaking a sweat.
0:57 "As we said previously, originally it towered over the castle walls, and would hurl great fireballs at the player." huh, that makes me think of the area where you fight the giant lord and those fireballs that come falling down on top of you. i always thought it was weird how if you look out at the ocean where they're coming from, they just seem to spawn in the middle of the air and don't actually come from any ships in the water. could be that they're spawning from where he would've been standing and throwing them at you
It looks like the Giant literally walked across an ocean and smashed through a boat, which kind of lines up with the idea of a war between humanity and giants that Dark Souls II kinda of bandies about
So the giants were originally supposed to be more of a stage-hazard? That could've been interesting, and really set the scale for how the war with them played out. And admittedly, them no longer being normal enemies wouldn't have been much of a loss. The giants were probably one of the major flubs in DS2's narrative that I think needed more time to be worked on. There's little detail given on them and the Throne, as well as their connection to the giants in the first game, despite how important they are for the history of the setting as well as the game towards the last third.
This is so cool because there's so much amazing art and concepts that get made for games and some of it you never get to see. Knowing artists who've created things like this only for it to never be featured in the game, it's so nice to see that you found it and are showing it off
There's something so neat when hearing Majora's mask and or kings field music in dark souls, it brings a new feel to it even though it kinda follows the same doomy gloomy feel it still sounds unique. Especially when viewing unused content from the Soulsborne series and or Sekiro it really highlights what could have been in the game but now it's not.
Technically from a lore perspective, they're all separate races of the same species. So the "Giants" moniker is definitely a catch all term to describe them easily to players. Common ancestor territory for sure regarding the DS1 and DS3 giants. DS2 giants seem to be an offshoot race due to the difference in appearance and general thinking towards other kingdoms and such. Same again later in DS3 regarding Yhorm.
Ah ds2.. The most prolific "what if?" In the whole series... It was going to be vastly different than what we got. Still incredibly varied armor and weapons, power stancing.. Hell I made a detailed steam guide on having link cosplay that had every weapon and equipment from ocarina of time that fits perfectly translated into the world of drangleic. Fond memories of ds2, forever will be my highest hours played. 1.2k hours on steam!
The half ship is so awkward, it genuinely looks a part of him. I wonder if the giants' flesh used to be able to reform, and catch objects in the new flesh as it did.
Kinda reminds me of an early concept of yet another thing we saw in Dark Souls III. Instead of fireball-throwing giants we had to get past (and maybe got rid permamentely of with the ballistas?), we got the Ringed City "Angels" that provide the same mechanical challenge of a giant threat the first time through.
I've always thought that Dark Souls 2 was meant to be much more ambitious than maybe we know already. We know it was downgraded hugely. But I totally believe that assets like this were originally planned to wander in the scenery, making noises in the distance echoing for miles in the general atmosphere, probably eventually to be challenged later. This is planned for Elden Ring however, maybe Elden Ring will allow them to present all the ideas they had that never made it throughout the series
Oh my god, I WISH they’d kept those massive giants. DS2 already has some of the best environments, imagine walking through the Forest and getting jump scared by one of those things standing up on the other side of one of the towers
DS2 had so much ambition. Yet the end result is such a mixed bag for me. I really wonder what the game would've been like if it hadn't gone through development hell. If the devs had been able to achieve everything they originally envisioned. Guess we'll never know.
@@MarkHogan994 me too, but the reused animations in the leak that released a few days ago is a tad worrying. I played another game called for honor and bc of covid they couldn't really add animations to the game bc of it. It is reasonable to think that maybe the reused animations are place holders until they get access to mocap, which is what I'm hoping. That being said it's very clear that the game is full of non mo cap animation, so that's good atleast.
@@cwonincucumber1552 Fromsoft reused animations all the time across games such as from Demons Souls to Dark Souls 3, I wouldn't worry about the game purely based on that alone. Plus if they already have existing animations for basic things, why bother remaking them? Especially since Fromsoft always prioritized gameplay over the graphical side of things.
Near the Pursuer boss arena, you can clearly see that one of the enormous stone statues has had its sword torn off, then thrust into the castle walls. No way that could've happened without some super-sized help. The ship and mast pieces also make sense as the giants were said to have come from their far-off island homeland and marched out of the ocean to attack Drangleic. During the battle in the Memory of Jeigh, you can see ships in the ocean bellow the castle, presumably trying to fend off the giants.
It's so obviously meant to have been way more dramatic, specially since The Last Giant is obviously implied to be the ancient lord of giants and some kind of time travel shenanigans. I love this detail so much.
i like how you ended the video with the big fingers holding the player as a freeze frame. unfortunately that is not a giant. just really big gross fingers
I found this channel a couple months ago and man, I enjoy these videos a lot. So much interesting information of the souls universe which I wouldn't bother to look up myself as it could be quite difficult
The music makes this so nostalgic that I cried... Legend of Zelda has a permanent pedestal in the hall of GOAT in my book. If you grew up in that Era, there's nothing more heartwrenching than the melancholy soundtracks of those games
Dark Souls 2 was too ambitious for its time. There are so many good ideas they had that were unfortunately scrapped due to both hardware limitations, and time constraints. The Gutter is probably the best example of this.
I just want to let you know that your videos, quality and passion have inspired me to get the games, I bought all 3 DS games today and plan on taking my time to play through them all before hopong on Elden Ring.
I think the flame of ambition the Elden Ring trailer was talking about was that of Dark Souls 2. Really, it amazes me how the game in the series that gets usually laughed at has some of the coolest and most original ideas, that are even being used in a game that will release almost 8 years after. DS2 surely left a mark, that's for sure.
this channel is so fucking great Zullie’s too consistent with the uploads and they’re all crazy facts that are super interesting and i’ve never seen any of them
Now I actually understand why Vendrick would have considered them such a huge threat after Nashandra whispered in his ear. Also, I much more believe the hag merchant when she says "...when the giants crossed the sea". These enormous monsters could cross maybe cross a shallow sea. Nobody tells us where the giants actually came from, how big of a distance their homeland was from Drangleic, and how deep the sea in that area is. I kinda like the idea of gigantic humanoid monsters wading through the sea to enact vengeance.
Uhhh, Fire Giant from Elden Ring anyone? They really did use a lot of their cut content from their games on this one title. It's reminiscient of a fever dream of FromSoftware's biggest "what-ifs"
I think The boats on the giants model refers to what Nashandra said to Vendrick" The Threat of the giants across the sea", so the ships must have come from their battle.
keep in mind that the royal swordsman armor set says that the king's men were fitted with incredibly well made gear that would certainly win them fights against humanoid opponents, but even with that *and* with extra numbers and weapons they still were absolutely torn apart by the giants. now imagine if the giants that sieged drangleic were *these* guys.
So since it has ship parts on its back, I guess he was supposed to tower over the player in one of the Memories we fight the Giant Lord since you can destroyed boats in there
The masts coming out of the giants is the link between DS2 and Bloodborne. All of Bloodborne takes place in a universe that exists on the giant. The masts represent the Hunter's Nightmare.
It's cool how we saw the idea's of the giants attacking you later in DS3, with the giants attacking you as you run past through the cathedral of the deep.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I got some help from Stayd for this, as we figured out the game wasn't wanting to load it because its textures were too big. Stayd determined they were all upscaled from the regular resolution to 4k, and downscaled them back to normal.
Dark Souls 2 first 4k game CONFIRMED
Probably those giants are theoretically still in game. What else could throw a giant over the wall in memories of Vammar?
Perfect choice of the music for this video Zullie. I can hear the Oath to Order without it actually being there.
@@autisticbraindamagedmoron there's a huge statue sword sticking from the wall (below the pursuer boss fight) where you find the halberd and get ambushed, I believe it was this gaint's doing
So I suppose you could say, while working this out he... Stayd determined.
This actually gives greater context to what Saulden says about the giants rising from the ocean and devasting the land. In game they're pretty small, and it's hard to believe these guys took down an entire empire. Seeing the giant as so big it totally towers over castles walls really justifies the idea these guys used to be a major menace.
I mean you say that but I dont have trouble believing they were a major menace at all they're already as big as trees and with more muscle mass than a couple dozen men. Considering that regular human sized men can destroy kingdoms, I absolutely dont find it difficult to believe massive musclebound creatures that look like they're made of stone wielding weapons larger than a human could do so...
@@lenkagamine4145 In the flashback sections, we see that a single balista and a handful of giant-bow archers can handle the average giant without much issue. In melee combat, they're a nightmare to be sure but there were much better alternatives to fighting them. Giants are big and strong but we don't see them use real weapons, outside of maybe the Giant King or Yhorm, so they'd be outmatched in ranged combat.
@@SheerSniper7 on the other hand, if we're talking realistically, those archers and ballista don't have infinite ammo. Considering how much ammo is needed to put down a small regiment, Id say it's not unlikely that they simply didn't have enough ammo to engage in ranged battle with every single giant. And don't forget the Giants did have ranged options too: they had pyromancers, who hurled fireballs the size of Forbidden Suns.
@@SheerSniper7 'a handful' to match 'an average giant', though. What if the giants had comparable numbers to the royal infantry? I mean we dont see that many ballistae all over the place, what if theres hundreds or thousands of giants attacking at once? In the flashback sections there arent *that* many more humans than giants.
Well, steal shit get hit I guess. I wonder if they used to literally come from stone and mountain, having half a boat attached to you is no easy feat.
Would've been cool to see this giant even walking in the distance. Still being absolutely massive from ways away. Darksouls will never fail to make me feel so many things at once and completely be amazed by everything, especially lore.
Climbing up to the platform where the bird drops the pursuer and seeing a giant slowly walking in the distance would be extremely cool. Slowly approaching to it while traversing the area and fighting it as a mini boss would be simply phenomenal. Man, how I wish DS2 wasn't rushed.
it should've been a boss fight. You enter an arena to fight some mob-like enemy, i.e Watchers in DS3. You're at the edge of a cliff. You keep fighting them, and killing a bunch of really weak mobs. Then, you notice something approaching in the water, like a black mass, way from the distance, slowly getting bigger and bigger. You don't think much of it, you have enemies to fight. Then the theme hits a breaking point, as a 40 metre giant pops out of the water to fight you.
@@Xenomorphin1 Jesus christ I can feel the atmosphere from the description alone, such potential it could've had but we can only dream, great idea man
@@SalvageET I feel you bro, that would be amazing and feel so perfect within the game. I wish more time was put into it aswell because ds2, while different from 1 and 3, had this other feel to it and its something I love to this day
Kind of like the Goliaths in Resistance or the Reapers in Mass Effect.
Dark Soul giants are always interesting. They basically appear in each game, but their execution changes in each iteration. Love the work here, Zullie
I love that about them. It makes them seem like a whole different genus or family, rather than a singular type of being. It makes the world feel so much larger IMO.
Yeah. Goes from "we work with them" to "we fight them" to "we enslave and loathe them". What did the big boys ever do?
Yes the dark souls 3 giants look similar to the ones in 1
@@TheKing-qz9wd what makes you think they didn’t enslave them in dark souls 1?
@@nickkarrick Which fits with the world since Irithyll's location implies it, Carthus, and Lothric all likely existed in some form around the time of Lordran or are at least a stone's throw from the remains of it.
Truly is a shame the team’s vision for this game couldn’t be achieved. It was so ambitious.
We got Elden Ring now, maybe they can do more of what they originally wanted
@kremitthefrag5718 hey have you tried the dlc, how's elden ring going?
“The Giants used to be huge.” Well, they aren’t called giants for nothing.
this one was a hugant
*Laughs in Norse mythology*
Your pfp fits your coment
The world's smallest giant, standing at a cool 5'11
One thing I thought would've been neat if they leaned in on the giants having some attachment to the archtrees since they turn into trees. Maybe dumb but I thought it would've been neat if DS2 giants were like more of a force of nature by the trees in response to seeing how the cycle of relinking the fire was having on the world.
@@shemsuhor8763 kinda like the elementals in berserk yeah
Ive always assumed that the giants in DS2 are evolved from the great grey archtrees that were in the DS1 intro - because they share similar features, a hatred of the flame of life/the kiln, and the giants turn into trees when they die. So perhaps being a giant is just part of an archtrees life cycle or something
@@shemsuhor8763 there is an old hag that says that the forest of fallen giants came from the corps of giants that turned into trees
@@indigoli9220 why do you say they have 'a hatred of the flame of life', they themselves have extremely powerful souls and only invaded Drangleic as a counterattack against Vendrick, who was doing Nashandra's bidding. If they hated the age of fire then surely them and Nashandra would have been aligned, right?
@@lenkagamine4145 same ideals dont necesarily mean same alligments we now little of their culture or motivations but Nashandra sent Vendrickto learn and get back their soul arts iirc, giants had great control over the most basic element in darksouls which were souls, by vendrick going and stealing potentially dangerous secrets if missused i can see why they attacked, nashandra also wanted to have absolute control over the world as she is the most agresive incarnation of manus, and now that i think of may be the reason why vendrick and most of his elite soldiers are almost gigantic sized, vendrick himself is as tall as a giant his tomb warden is almost as big as him, the dragonriders are also huge humanoids maybe fruition of their discoveries on the giants secrets aswell as creating artificial life as u can see on aldia research lab
Man, the amount of cut content in ds2 is just amazing and yet sad
This is not cut content, just some alpha design version. Also, I think it's for the better that they choose smaller ones because there are like few "enormous boss" fights in the series that are good.
DS2 had a brutal development cycle. New directer, extremely tight budget, and very short time to push for release. The fact that the game turned out as good as it did is a small miracle. So much potential was never reached because the studio said "do more, but with less time, money, and people"
The whole game is sad
@@advanced8998 Only for you.
@@yourewallsareveryconvenien8292 A lot of people actually.
Ooooh, so maybe the fireballs in the Memory of Jeigh that scatter periodically as we approach the Giant Lord would've been the ones seen during the regular advance through the Forrest and Bastion area. I could imagine a giant atop the Cardinal Tower hurling Fireballs in a similar fashion to the Hawkeye Giant in the tower of the Undead Settlement of DS3.
Those fireballs come from giant pyromancers seen in other memories, likely these are firing from the ships in the background.
The video makes it sound like that was supposed to be the giant showcased here throwing them, visibly.
@@Ollybollyk I know of the Giant Pyromancers, their accuracy is nothing to be taken lightly. :) I mean the AoE fireballs that persist even after slaying the Giant Lord, where the Ascetic and Divine Blessing can be grabbed along the Crows Nest. I feel the ones the Giant Pyromacers throw are like a variant of Great Fireball/Fire Orb, whereas the Memory of Jeigh fireballs are much larger (forbidden sun sized if not larger)
@@LichPenguin It's implied that giant pyromancers are hurling the fire balls from the ships, as the ships are where they originate
@@maxmazza2987 Ah, my mistake. That makes sense. :]
@@maxmazza2987 the ships have the Drangleic crest tho
Giants in the Dark Souls series have been given such cruel fates. Enslaved, victims of constant prejudice despite their gentle nature, even to the point of having buildings constructed around them, such as Irithyll Dungeon. Only one giant has claimed any form of glory, Gough, and even then he was cruelly made to believe he was blind.
Yhorm was resented and hated by his subjects, and the giant blacksmith was forced to produce endless supplies of crossbow bolts, a task he did not enjoy.
Those of the cathedral of the deep, made to live in lakes made of their own waste and the sludge produced by the sacrifices of the cathedral.
The Giant Lord wasn't even granted death, but forced to wander naked and humiliated at the place of his defeat.
Giants deserved better. It's clear from our interactions with them that they're friendly, honest and noble beings. Slavery and humiliation is ill fated for friendly beings such as them.
@@kuski5512 I always thought Yhorm gave his people the weapon as a challenge. Since they all so openly opposed and disrespected him, their protector, he gave them his own weakness to see if they really felt that they could do something about it. Obviously they never tried.
Don't remember well but I think king Vendrick stole them "knowledge" after he conquered them. And in a sad irony, this must be what made him realized he was a puppet of his own wife Nashandra.
But it was Nashandra who wanted Vendrick waging war to them, so could it mean she was aware a peace with Giants could be compromising to her as if they would have gotten closer to Vendrick, they'd have discovered her true nature ?
Maybe that was the issue. Being too friendly when they should have laid down the law.
This hurts my heart.
Don't forget there was a Giant blacksmith Deity, but he dissapeared
I always wondered why they were so small, considering there's one of the giant statues' swords that's been ripped off and thrust into the castle walls with the hand still attached. Would've taken something awfully big and strong to do that!
That just brings to mind, if that would have been the lord, imagine the upscaling of the rest of the smaller giants
That is the sword of one of the statues there
@@66Kusmu Yes, but something tore it from the statue and put it in the wall.
@@lapelcelery42 I kinda figured it broke during the Giant Lord fight (like how the big statue head gets broken there too) and just fell down which makes the hole where the Drangleic armor is in SOTFS.
@@missbelled6700 naw, something definitely ripped it off. The placement of the sword won't allow it to just randomly puncture a wall. More than sure that a giant giant ripped it out or something
Maybe the same giant was what killed our boy Drummond
Why is it that the most powerful giants in Souls lore are always shorter than regular giants?
Manlets rise up
It is known that the closer an enemy is to the player size, the stronger they are.
@@IDSearcher
It is known!
CONDENSED
They want what the pygmies have
in awe at the size of these lads
Absolute unit.
He eat one dozen eggs every morning to help him get large~.
@@zaishijunior9455 and now that he's grown he eats five dozen eggs, so he's roughly the size of a bAAAAAAAAAArge
I loved the giants of DS2, both from a story and a design perspective. When you go back in time it really feels like you've been plunged into a war, and it's hard not to sympathise with the giants considering Vendrick stole something important from them, and they were essentially attacked without provocation.
Imagine if DS2 had released with the same quality as the pre release footage and with all the cut content back in 2014, would've been this best game for years.
Ikr
I believe there's a fellow working on a mod for that. I haven't checked in ages though. His original intention was to get the game looking like the early footage!
From wouldn't have bothered making DS3, or they would have had to make DS3 absurdly better than it is to meet and exceed a fully realized DS2.
@@maxmazza2987 can’t agree more. I mean fuck I already love 2 wayyyyyy more than 3, but if 2 had everything it was intended to have I don’t even think I’d play other fromsoft games very often
DS2 deserves a bluepoint remake with all the original cut content
We love u Zullie
Dark souls 2 tends to be really interesting in terms of cut content. They had so much ambition.
The oath to order song choice is absolutely perfect. *chef's kiss*
My thoughts exactly
I'm glad we got something closer to this scale with the Fire Giant in Elden Ring.
it would have be pretty horrific to find him at no man's wharf, just when the boats moors
Imagine seeing the boat in the distance with slowly coming to no man's wharf, and then suddenly the biggest giant in the world comes out of the Water and smashes it. That would be amazing and horrifying to watch
You cant imagine how sad that moment was when i realised yhorm isnt that huge. From the cutscene i expected something like this especially after seeing the giants in the Cathedral.
Why does Zelda music fit so well in dark souls!? Also I think having a giant that tall in ds2 would've been really cool.
Music fits because the game fits; take away the "Dark Souls" from Dark Souls and you basically have the fundamentals of a mainline Zelda game: 3rd person over the shoulder camera with a targeting system in a dark fantasy setting. Although the level design is more comparable to a Metroidvania IMO
This doesn't seem like a big deal nowadays but when Ocarina of Time (and Super Mario 64, even) released for the N64 back in ~1996, no one had really figured out how to handle 3rd person cameras
Total nerd out I know, just interesting trivia
I thought it was the nashandra theme lmfao. I'm a dumbass
Souls is just Zelda for older fans. They even do their lore the same way.
"Dark Souls is like Zelda in hell" - peter serafinowicz
Legend of Zelda (OoT and MM) is just Dark Souls with better lock on targeting.
I love how this guy looks. Imagine walking up the giant stone sword that hangs out of the fort wall only for this massive dude to pick it up while you're on it.
He’s kinda got the same weird small arm proportions that the colossal titan does
"Giants would be over the castle walls"
Eren, what have you done??!!
ew aot
This is FREEDOM!
@@JamietheEmperor Ew CoD player
Looks like the Fire Giant prediction aged well.
That's a neat find. I wonder if you'd fight him like ceaseless discharge or Wolnir.
Read text, so yes
I kind of want to see a God of War style fight in a souls game. Not full on power fantasy, but something explosive.
@@Odinsday isn't Dark Souls already power fantasy?
Half naked fuck with a dragon head, glowing red with a lightning buffed giant ass club beating a God to death in three attacks sounds pretty power fantasy to me
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola I mean, it definitely is, but at any moment, you can get your ass destroyed by some random dog. I was mainly talking about GoW style power fantasy, which is basically taking down an entire pantheon of gods and a legion of titans double the size of the Eiffel Tower without breaking a sweat.
@@Odinsday wdym?
You can die from enemies in Dark Souls?
0:57 "As we said previously, originally it towered over the castle walls, and would hurl great fireballs at the player."
huh, that makes me think of the area where you fight the giant lord and those fireballs that come falling down on top of you. i always thought it was weird how if you look out at the ocean where they're coming from, they just seem to spawn in the middle of the air and don't actually come from any ships in the water. could be that they're spawning from where he would've been standing and throwing them at you
It looks like the Giant literally walked across an ocean and smashed through a boat, which kind of lines up with the idea of a war between humanity and giants that Dark Souls II kinda of bandies about
man so many unrealised prospects in ds2 makes me so sad as its my favourite of the three.
Godamnit it From, No giant mountain dragon, Tiny "Giants", just let me fight colossal things.
The Majora Mask music definitely adds a nice touch
Nice choice of background music. Calling The Four Giants is probably one of the most memorable songs in the Zelda franchise.
So the giants were originally supposed to be more of a stage-hazard? That could've been interesting, and really set the scale for how the war with them played out. And admittedly, them no longer being normal enemies wouldn't have been much of a loss.
The giants were probably one of the major flubs in DS2's narrative that I think needed more time to be worked on. There's little detail given on them and the Throne, as well as their connection to the giants in the first game, despite how important they are for the history of the setting as well as the game towards the last third.
This is so cool because there's so much amazing art and concepts that get made for games and some of it you never get to see. Knowing artists who've created things like this only for it to never be featured in the game, it's so nice to see that you found it and are showing it off
I appreciate the choice of the Four Giants theme from Majora’s Mask for this video
There's something so neat when hearing Majora's mask and or kings field music in dark souls, it brings a new feel to it even though it kinda follows the same doomy gloomy feel it still sounds unique. Especially when viewing unused content from the Soulsborne series and or Sekiro it really highlights what could have been in the game but now it's not.
Zullie the witch, feeds me more info in 1.36 than podcasts that talk about the subject for hours. And Zullie still end up entertaining me more
I like the design on this guy. He's really creepy but a little bit whimsical at the same time. Fits dark souls 2 perfectly
I definitely would like a genealogy of how/why the Giants in 1/2/3 change in appearance so drastically, yet are all called the same thing.
Technically from a lore perspective, they're all separate races of the same species. So the "Giants" moniker is definitely a catch all term to describe them easily to players. Common ancestor territory for sure regarding the DS1 and DS3 giants. DS2 giants seem to be an offshoot race due to the difference in appearance and general thinking towards other kingdoms and such. Same again later in DS3 regarding Yhorm.
Oath to order is perfect for these giants
I’m thankful for your content
Your music choices are always on point. Oath to Order while talking about the giants. That's poetry
I appreciate the Oath to Order being the music for this one.
Ah ds2.. The most prolific "what if?" In the whole series... It was going to be vastly different than what we got. Still incredibly varied armor and weapons, power stancing.. Hell I made a detailed steam guide on having link cosplay that had every weapon and equipment from ocarina of time that fits perfectly translated into the world of drangleic. Fond memories of ds2, forever will be my highest hours played. 1.2k hours on steam!
Damn,
If these were implemented, dark souls 2 would have predicted attack on titan
Perfect song choice there friend.
The half ship is so awkward, it genuinely looks a part of him. I wonder if the giants' flesh used to be able to reform, and catch objects in the new flesh as it did.
Kinda reminds me of an early concept of yet another thing we saw in Dark Souls III.
Instead of fireball-throwing giants we had to get past (and maybe got rid permamentely of with the ballistas?), we got the Ringed City "Angels" that provide the same mechanical challenge of a giant threat the first time through.
I've always thought that Dark Souls 2 was meant to be much more ambitious than maybe we know already. We know it was downgraded hugely. But I totally believe that assets like this were originally planned to wander in the scenery, making noises in the distance echoing for miles in the general atmosphere, probably eventually to be challenged later. This is planned for Elden Ring however, maybe Elden Ring will allow them to present all the ideas they had that never made it throughout the series
I love the idea of a ship just embedded into this lumbering giant. I’d love to see this revisited in a future game
Oh my god, I WISH they’d kept those massive giants. DS2 already has some of the best environments, imagine walking through the Forest and getting jump scared by one of those things standing up on the other side of one of the towers
The music you chose for the video brought back memories😭
DS2 had so much ambition. Yet the end result is such a mixed bag for me. I really wonder what the game would've been like if it hadn't gone through development hell. If the devs had been able to achieve everything they originally envisioned. Guess we'll never know.
I have a feeling we'll be saying the same thing about elden ring, since half of its development was during lockdown.
Honestly I think it would have been an amazing game but maybe TOO different in style if not tone to share a franchise name with dark souls 1.
@@cwonincucumber1552 God, I hope not. That would be horrible. I really hope the pandemic didn't compromise Elden Ring too much.
@@MarkHogan994 me too, but the reused animations in the leak that released a few days ago is a tad worrying.
I played another game called for honor and bc of covid they couldn't really add animations to the game bc of it.
It is reasonable to think that maybe the reused animations are place holders until they get access to mocap, which is what I'm hoping.
That being said it's very clear that the game is full of non mo cap animation, so that's good atleast.
@@cwonincucumber1552 Fromsoft reused animations all the time across games such as from Demons Souls to Dark Souls 3, I wouldn't worry about the game purely based on that alone.
Plus if they already have existing animations for basic things, why bother remaking them? Especially since Fromsoft always prioritized gameplay over the graphical side of things.
Boy you nailed it with that Fire Giant comparison. Huge, throws fireballs, is the last of it's kind...
Near the Pursuer boss arena, you can clearly see that one of the enormous stone statues has had its sword torn off, then thrust into the castle walls. No way that could've happened without some super-sized help. The ship and mast pieces also make sense as the giants were said to have come from their far-off island homeland and marched out of the ocean to attack Drangleic. During the battle in the Memory of Jeigh, you can see ships in the ocean bellow the castle, presumably trying to fend off the giants.
It's so obviously meant to have been way more dramatic, specially since The Last Giant is obviously implied to be the ancient lord of giants and some kind of time travel shenanigans. I love this detail so much.
i like how you ended the video with the big fingers holding the player as a freeze frame. unfortunately that is not a giant. just really big gross fingers
I found this channel a couple months ago and man, I enjoy these videos a lot. So much interesting information of the souls universe which I wouldn't bother to look up myself as it could be quite difficult
Music choice: 100% expected, and still *chef's kiss*
This is fascinating. So much stuff was cut from ds2. Also, Impeccable music choice.
Very fitting music considering the video is about giants
When I read how they were supposed to attack you on the castle walls, my mind immediately played the AoT opening - thanks brain.
It's instead of coming across the sea, the giants came *from* the sea.
How fitting should the music be?
Zullie: Yes.
The giants in Dark Souls are always amazing
Imagine 4 of those bad boys coming to hold the moon before it crashed
And the Giant's theme ties into it so perfectly
The music makes this so nostalgic that I cried... Legend of Zelda has a permanent pedestal in the hall of GOAT in my book. If you grew up in that Era, there's nothing more heartwrenching than the melancholy soundtracks of those games
Zullie, big brownie points for having giants song out of major's mask for this video theme, perfect.
Wasn't the original text on Majula's tower "Giants came from the seas"?
That would explain the boat on his shoulder
Dark Souls 2 was too ambitious for its time. There are so many good ideas they had that were unfortunately scrapped due to both hardware limitations, and time constraints. The Gutter is probably the best example of this.
I just want to let you know that your videos, quality and passion have inspired me to get the games, I bought all 3 DS games today and plan on taking my time to play through them all before hopong on Elden Ring.
So it looks like the giant Giant did end up making it to Elden Ring as the Last Fire Giant
Zulliie, I love it when you add in development history. This is a great short video, very punchy and informative.
I feel the sudden urge to scream "SASAGEYO".
**Attack On Elden**
I’m watching your channel as I wake up, and as I’m doing so you upload another video. You are wild, keep doing what you’re doing!
Perfect, closer to a full on video going into detail about souls 2's hitboxes.
That Giants Theme from MM gave me flashbacks of my childhood
what a fitting soundtrack for this particular video, hit me with that nostalgia as soon as I heard it lol
I think the flame of ambition the Elden Ring trailer was talking about was that of Dark Souls 2. Really, it amazes me how the game in the series that gets usually laughed at has some of the coolest and most original ideas, that are even being used in a game that will release almost 8 years after.
DS2 surely left a mark, that's for sure.
Perfect music choice, it still gives me chills!
man, i love these videos so much.
this channel is so fucking great Zullie’s too consistent with the uploads and they’re all crazy facts that are super interesting and i’ve never seen any of them
Now I actually understand why Vendrick would have considered them such a huge threat after Nashandra whispered in his ear. Also, I much more believe the hag merchant when she says "...when the giants crossed the sea". These enormous monsters could cross maybe cross a shallow sea. Nobody tells us where the giants actually came from, how big of a distance their homeland was from Drangleic, and how deep the sea in that area is. I kinda like the idea of gigantic humanoid monsters wading through the sea to enact vengeance.
as for the ship in the Giant Giant: Vendrick probably ordered to catapult the whole ship into them.
Uhhh, Fire Giant from Elden Ring anyone?
They really did use a lot of their cut content from their games on this one title. It's reminiscient of a fever dream of FromSoftware's biggest "what-ifs"
I think The boats on the giants model refers to what Nashandra said to Vendrick" The Threat of the giants across the sea", so the ships must have come from their battle.
keep in mind that the royal swordsman armor set says that the king's men were fitted with incredibly well made gear that would certainly win them fights against humanoid opponents, but even with that *and* with extra numbers and weapons they still were absolutely torn apart by the giants.
now imagine if the giants that sieged drangleic were *these* guys.
So since it has ship parts on its back, I guess he was supposed to tower over the player in one of the Memories we fight the Giant Lord since you can destroyed boats in there
The masts coming out of the giants is the link between DS2 and Bloodborne. All of Bloodborne takes place in a universe that exists on the giant. The masts represent the Hunter's Nightmare.
Very good choice in music, Zullie!
Keep up the great work!
I am certain they made the right call there, both from a gameplay and a lore perspective
The giants used to be giants
Clever use of Oath to Order while talking about giants
It's cool how we saw the idea's of the giants attacking you later in DS3, with the giants attacking you as you run past through the cathedral of the deep.
Music choice is on point as always
I'd honestly love to see dark souls 2 remained with alot of the cut content restored and see the game given the time and care it deserves
Love your music choices for these videos.
Majoras mask and any zelda music really adds to them. Zulie knows whats up.
Love the song choice "Song of the Giants"