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I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020 film by Charlie Kaufman, 2016 book by Iain Reid)
Dark Souls Lo-Fi Remixes by Jesse Miller: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDGBd0NpfmfLNavF9irC_aQ
Games Shown: Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, Dark Souls III, INSIDE, The Last Guardian, DOOM, Titanfall 2,
Music Used (Chronologically): Sister Friede and Father Ariandel (Dark Souls III), Dark Souls Lo-Fi Hip Hop Mix 2 (Jesse Miller), Main Theme (Dark Souls III), King Vendrick (Dark Souls II), Flock (Hyper Light Drifter), Tower Knight (Demon’s Souls), Dark Sun Gwyndolin (Dark Souls), Lullaby for Mergo (Bloodborne), Secret Betrayal (Dark Souls III), Nameless Song (Dark Souls), Dark Souls Lo-Fi Hip Hop Mix 2 (Jesse Miller), Great Grey Wolf Sif (Dark Souls), Lonely Room (Oklahoma!), Hunter’s Dream (Bloodborne), Slave Knight Gael (Transitory Lands Version, Dark Souls III)
Description Credit: Coming Home From The Post Office, Philip Levine
45 Comments
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Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas , Bioshock, Bioshock 2 and Super Mario land , Super Mario land 2.
finally someone els gets it
I watched this movie because of this video. Glad I did.
this video single-handedly made me actually like Dark Souls 3’s story
This kind of theme "world ends, new world begins" is done very well in another game, Outer Wilds. It is odd that these two games have such a similar theme…
Dark Souls 3 to me, is a love-letter to Dark Souls. It calls on those things we experienced long ago. With mechanics that perhaps would have been in that original, had it been made later. Dark Souls 3 shows the end-state of the Age of Fire. And it asks you, finally, is this world really worth sustaining, rekindling, again and again and again? It is broken beyond repair, the natural next age, of dark, has been postponed for so painfully long. The world is stretched so very thin, now. It asks that question, much more clearly than Dark Souls did. And forces you, if you think about the world you not only travel, but persevere through, to confront it. To answer, in the end. After all that struggling, all those points near breaking, where you pushed through, one obstacle after another. To me, the only real ending, is letting there finally be an age of dark, so that at some point, in a distant future, perhaps among new archtrees and eternal dragons, a new flame will flicker to life. Dark Souls, more than any other game I've ever experienced, is a reflection on life. A message to persevere. To not regret your life, and let it end with a peace of mind that you did all you could. Because even though you failed, countless times. You never gave up the fight, because no matter how hard, or how painful it was, there was always a way forward.
In terms of plot and atmosphere, Dark Souls 3 is at the top for me. Perhaps that had something to do with Elden Ring introducing me to FromSoftware. Dark Souls 3 just perfectly jumps on the themes of the series. The sheer exhaustion of the world and characters from being kept in the Age of Fire too long is a beautifully tragic concept to explore, and one I’m also exploring for a story I’m making
And the painter painted Armored Core 6
IDK, I really liked seeing Anor Londo again
Bear in mind your initial impression has coloured your entire experience. Viewing the world as a series of iterations leading into incoherency as the series has always implied leads to the same conclusions you drew without the extra steps.
There's nothing wrong with your interpretation, and I have to say that because people will otherwise assume I'm taking issue with it.
I merely wish to encourage a wider perspective on not just Dark Souls 3, but the video you have made as a whole.
Dark Souls teaches us to be wary. We are being shown the familiar and it is not to encourage a 'lightbulb' moment. It's to set off your warning lights.
The painted worlds are their for humanity to retreat to and hide away from the worst of monsters that hide in the abyss. Monsters' that gnaw on humanity and have been waiting for the feast to begin. Your character and slave knight Gael reassemble the dark soul at the world's end proving that it is never too late to make a difference. So as the age of fire ends, dark will remain until one day the fire burns bright once again.
there's also, intentionally or not, elements of dark souls that read to me as a critique of capitalism. It depicts a world where those in power prolong the status quo far beyond the point that it's doing anybody any good, even the nominal beneficiaries don't seem to be getting much out of it anymore. This is done by imposing restrictions (the darksign) on those without power and deceiving them into maintaining those restrictions even as it figuratively and literally consumes them.
Ds3 is the only from soft game since demon's souls that I don't go back to play
The 'question' on the phone in I'm Thinking of Ending Things is from Hamlet, also visible on his bookshelf: To be or not to be, that is the question. He's thinking of ending things, 'the question' is literally to be or not to be!
Im personally the opposite i often times find myself eschewing the grander details of the plot and getting utterly drawn into the side stories. The soulsborning have always been a huge dopamine hit for me because of how much little side stuff there is, but we all enjoy our games differently and to me the ultimate beauty of a soulsbornring game is that there really is no wrong way to play the game. I think a huge takeaway for me from every soulslike ive played specifically made by fromsoft wctually comes from the new game + mechanic. Regardless of whichever ending you choose we always go back to the start, the cycle can never and will never end because we always forget….we arent singularly alone in our journey, while every ooayer may choose different weapons and magics, take different strategies and even progress differently through the game, ultimately the choice is trinary, the flame will fade the flame will be rekindled the flame will be usurped (for 3 specifically, yes there is the unkindled ending but thats technically just some extra dialogue for your final betryale on top of the standard flame fades ending)
Someone will inevitably choose to rekindle the flame and so even we we try and end things the world is doomed to its eternal decaying cycle. Eventually the world of DS3 will be naught but a singular pile of ever burning ashe
Something about summation of your argument makes me think of Sekijo’s, the sculptor, line “The limb you lost has given way to something more … useful. You’ll learn to appreciate its worth.”
Congrats u made my fav utube video🫶🏾
I get what Dark Souls 3 was trying to do. I just don’t think it did a particularly great job of it. Or maybe it did, since the repetition of elements long past their expiration date made me apathetic to what I once found lovely.
Dark Souls 2 is a game that shouldn’t have been Dark Souls, but I can appreciate it on what it tries to do and say on its own merits. Dark Souls 3 is a game that could only have been Dark Souls, even when Dark Souls probably never should have had a sequel.
thats not "dust". i dont know that for sure, but the themes of fire make me think its ash. the world burned so long in the age of fire that it turned to ash.
the old lady calls us "ash" at the beginning of the game.
Thank you
I remember being really divided on the movie but this made me want to watch it again. I need to read the book too.
I love dark souls 3. For me it was unobtuse Dark Souls 1. As someone who could never get around the controls or Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 3 was my gateway to loving the format
"I'm thinking of ending things" is so stupid. It's all in the head. And it's told from a perspective of figments of someone's imagination.
I see mega fans of the DS series say they can't wait for a DS4 and I guess some people literally just pay attention to the button presses and moment to moment combat
Man you should revisit the DLC because it's all about what you're saying in this video. The DLC reveals the truths of the series. The lies. Why it's about damn time that things come to an end
Hmm, that was interesting.
Dark Souls 3 is the classiest way Miyazaki shouts back at fans and tell them he hates sequels and won’t do a series again, and its a joy to go through such a unique experience.
12:11 sorry, I hyperfixated on this movie for over a month and need to chime in on what I believe is a misinterpretation. The paintings the main character supposedly painted herself are independent from the ones signed with Jake's name. The specific paintings shown earlier in the film on her phone are print posters of pieces created by known artists and the ones signed with Jake's name are his attempt to replicate them. A very large part of the movie that i personally empathize with very deeply is Jake's self loathing, whether it be about his age, or imperfection, or inability to perform to his own standards Aside from providing an oh my god moment for the viewers, this scene is the perfect showing of this part of Jake. He has his artistic idols posted on the wall in a desperate attempt to be able to create something like them but could never do so, and so he hides all his failed ventures in the basement to be forgotten.
He didn't always have a mustache?
Is the word at 2:59 droll ? If so you mispronounced it.
Hey Jacob,
I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but I gotta thank you for putting what I’ve felt about both of these art works for so long into such beautiful words. Dark Souls 3 has been my favorite game and I’m thinking of ending things my favorite movie and book ever since I first experienced them. I could never truly explain what I loved about them but you really spoke to me with this video.
Again, thank you.
While DS3 is my least favorite of the series (mainly due to the map feeling incredibly linear compared to the other 2), I appreciate the amount of story development that went into it. This was a beautiful representation of it, thanks Jacob.
“I watch VaatiVidya, I’m not a monster” – A Good Man
The ending of the dlc is this idea and thought continued beautifully.
I think I'll have a coffee…
-Camus
Me when my name is dark souls III
its true these things are similar and they both suck
“Heir of Fire Destroyed” over the end of Plemons’s Oklahoma song literally made me laugh aloud.
This was a great video. I also felt when playing it that the whole thing was metaphor and "off" in some ways but couldnt put my finger on it. Thanks!
Canon
Why is Jacob Geller the only person discussing this movie and adding to it rather than explaining or critiquing it?
almost 3 years and absolutely 0 dislikes, my man is cooking
This video is so, so beautiful. Amazing work
Miyazaki knew that Dark Souls was an incredible game, and that when creating sequels, ideas would sooner or later run out of steam, and stupid fans would argue and figure out which was better. The series cannot live forever, and this should be ended once and for all. He did it brilliantly, as this game is still remembered after all these years.