@Gaagaagiins#33187 This is exactly the sort of overthinking I‘m talking about! Love the idea of the asylum demon arena as some sort of concert hall - why not? This is why everyone’s unique perspective brings something important to an interpretation of space. I know nothing about old musical spaces, so I would never see it that way. Part of my reason for doing a series like this is as an example of “public archaeology.” Like with many disciplines, we have a representation problem in archaeology. Well, a number of representation problems. Diversity brings diversity of perspective - and I don‘t just mean racial or class or gender diversity (although those are important), but also diversity of experience and expertise. People have wracked their brains for decades about how we can bring everybody into the conversation of archaeology beyond just…I don’t know… Indiana Jones and Nathan Drake. Why not use technologies like youtube to open the conversation up to a community (like video game nerds) that maybe never would have engaged deeply with archaeology or archaeological thought?
Thanks for diving so deep into this! It makes me feel really good.
Great episode! I think this was also a measurable step up from the first–I feel like there was a greater amount and density of information, but still presented in a very natural way. I also felt like the gameplay and didactic components were harmonized more, whereas the first episode seemed like more compartmentalized lecture and “let's play” sections. Dark Souls is an inherently tough game for this, as you really need to keep your wits about you. I wonder if it might make sense to do an off camera run where you clear out the enemies pretty thoroughly so that you can take a more leisurely and methodical stroll through the area (although this discounts the “enemy” inhabitants as valid components of the archaeological identity of the area…so have to think about that).
Your discussion of the impact of geography seems very apt here--it's fascinating to see how civilizations can adapt to unusual or difficult terrain. I honestly have no idea where the "ground" is 90% of the time in this section of Dark Souls, leading to this arcane M.C. Escher-esque architecture. In fact, now that I think about it, much of Escher's earlier work (before the mathematical tesselations and abstract work he is most know for) consisted of architectural studies of Italian and Spanish architecture and countryside. Some of these look startlingly similar to the Burg. Here's a few examples from a book I picked up at an exhibition a few years ago:
As for your closing question--it seems like there is an inherent stratification of the world of Dark Souls, from both an architectural and gameplay standpoint. What I mean is, this seems to be a heavily fortified civilization built with concentric layers of stratified fortifications that you progress through. The Asylum is way on the outskirts while the Burg seems to be the most superficial level (at least this is what it seemed like when you were standing on that veranda with Solaire). I already feel like there is a progression of social hierarchy as you move inward, e.g. from the outcasts of society to the more mundane lower to middle class Burg. As you move inward to the heavily fortified center, we will see more and more opulence and decadence.
I dunno, all of that is off the dome and I actually haven't played in many years so I'm not sure how much of it holds up to scrutiny, but it's an impression I was left with.
Great episode! I think this was also a measurable step up from the first–I feel like there was a greater amount and density of information, but still presented in a very natural way
Thank you! Part of this was from some feedback from my spouse, who was listening to the episode without the visuals, and noted that the playthrough part had some big gaps in the dialogue. So I made myself a list of "stuff to talk about" and during the playthrough part I just tried to fill pretty much the whole time with either gameplay commentary (I'm sure some people at least partially are there because they just like to watch people play Dark Souls) and archaeological observations or topics.
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Some of these look startlingly similar to the Burg. Here’s a few examples from a book I picked up at an exhibition a few years ago
Oh wow! Those are awesome. Those almost have to have been an inspiration right? Part of this comes from the towns these are based on, which are pretty ancient themselves, and come from a period long before urban planning when things would have just been so much more compact. That tradition really dates back many thousands of years.
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As you move inward to the heavily fortified center, we will see more and more opulence and decadence.
I buy it! I think this phenomenon is even more apparent in Dark Souls 3. @Gaagaagiins mentioned before how it's hard to imagine some of the areas in that game as being cohesive spaces the way they do in Dark Souls 1. I haven't thought about that deeply yet, but there does seem to be some really big deviations in class between areas in DS3. That game has more of a renaissance vibe to it than an ancient vibe, like DS1 (to me). That's funny since I think both are presumably going for a medieval vibe. I'm going to follow up on this as we move closer to the center of Lordran. Which I guess is Anor Londo? Anor Londo always struck me as a sort of Mount Olympus kind of thing, rather than the actual royal seat. It's both I suppose. Again, unlike in DS3 where there is a clear royal center as you move towards it. As we've mentioned before, the far superior DS2 does some interesting stuff with this and has much more of a regional scale, rather than a single kingdom level of scale.
As always if anyone has any suggestions to improve I’m happy to hear them. Today’s project is to try and make stronger thumbnails, which is apparently quite important.
If it makes you feel better, I was thinking more along the lines of nice, clean, branded thumbnail like Tim Rogers‘s’s‘s’ Action Button Reviews, rather than the human cut out googly eyeing in front of a castle.
My favorite thumbnails are the simple, classy, easily recognizable ones that also clearly indicate the topic to be covered. Basically, something that will grab my attention and tell my brain “Hey! A new video from that channel I love! I will enjoy watching this and this is what I will be learning about today!” At some point the reaction really becomes almost subconscious–see 8-bit music theory, DF Retro, LGR/LGR thrifts. A good channel plus a distinctive font or color choice really just directly stimulates my lizard brain (can‘t speak for the algorithm’s brain, though). The silly face trend is disheartening, but in your case I'll allow it.
@CidNight#33317 Not bad! I like the classy, readable font and your concerned yet erudite physiognomy. I would suggest leaning into the color theming even more and maybe even putting a red border around the whole thing (same red as the numbersplat). Personally speaking, thumbnails with borders (see LGR) really stand out to me and also lend some brand cohesion.
@CidNight#33322 Yeah, I think you can go thicker–also I'm pretty sure the thumbnails are 16:9 aspect ratio (can double check that) so you might need to rescale–maybe can move the splat to the upper right so its more balanced visually.
Looking good! Really just minor things at this point, but I would still increase the red line weight all around (remember, people may be seeing these thumbails ~very~small, and maybe add a black outline to the upper title to help separate it from the background.
@kory#33332 Thanks for the suggestions! I actually like tripled the line weight on the red both on the border the episode # and it looks a lot better. I'll play around with the text too
Rather than spamming the thread with huge images, I've attached the final version above
