Ash Lake is the greatest area in all of gaming.
Yeah. Sure. Whatever.
It's like Irithyll city in DS3, boring level but the background looks "cool" so people gush over it
>>738231218ruined by the existence of the yapping dragon in the second gameand then they went ahead and did it again in the third game because why not
>>738231347Except that it actually has a shit ton of lore significance and the best atmosphere in any area out of any game.
>>738231218It's a cool easter egg with great atmospheric music and visuals, but as an actual level it's kind of ass.
>>738231474yeah that's pretty cool, can't say I enjoy replaying it though
>>738231474>Except that it actually has a shit ton of lore significancelike what
>>738231581>We even have this skull! Hell if I know where it comes from!
>>738231581The intro seems very metaphysical and allegorical when you first watch it, so when you encounter Ash Lake, it dawns on you that maybe it was quite literal.
>>738231581I would say what really makes it such a special area is how it shows you the scale of the world you're in, and makes you actually question where the hell you are.Finding it almost feels like you're not supposed to be there. You have to roll through TWO fog walls just to get to it. Once you're there, the music starts playing. There's only like four other areas with music in the entire game, which is also what makes this area so special. The fact that everything that you've explored thus far has been somewhat small in scale to this makes it feel like you are in a different plane of existence or reality within the game. The way that the distant trees seem to be holding up the entire world just makes it FUCKING COOL. You're left to imagine what actually happened here. You have to imagine why this place is here, and what it's there for. Never ever has a video game gave me this feeling before. I don't even know how to describe it.
>>738231347Irithyll can't sniff the jockstrap of the kino that is Ash Lake
All these answers ITT are good but for me, it’s the schizo theory about Havel and the rebel group
Sorry but nothing in this game is very magical or atmospheric after you go through Lost Izalith and all the ass. it's still a great game and a lot of it is well crafted, but you really begin to see all the haphazard bits, and my mind goes "they didn't put much time into this" instead of "wow this is so mysterious"
I like the implication that there are hundreds of Great Hollow archtrees still out there. Also this area is a Nausicaa reference, the only thing Miyazaki seems to like as much as Berserk.
>>738231218>Being a dragon is amazing>Ruling over our endless grey landscape of grey water and grey trees
>>738231218It's one of the reasons why DS1 exists in another realm entirely when compared to the rest of the series.
>>738233104You will never be Japanese
The hydras always made me feel like puking, but I'm terribly scared of underwater stuff in games.
>>738231218its just a long straight path with an annoying enemy, its a pain in the ass to get to and to and theres nothing to even do there and no cool reward
>>738233104the fuck are you spewing about?
>>738231218This is a great painting
>>738231218What's great about it? It has a nice skybox but it's empty and linear. Feels unfinished
>>738233679>>738232206
>>738231218the area itself was whatever but finding it is a really cool moment especially if you didn't already know about it
>>738231218it's ok
>>738232206>I don't even know how to describe it.Yeah no fucking shit, you were asked to explain the lore significance and instead you just went on about inane, subjective nonsense.
>>738231218There's a "giant pillars everywhere the eye can see" area in like every FromSoft game, Miyazaki copied it from that Polish artist's paintings. E.g. Bloodborne hub, Elden Ring final boss arena etc
>>738233770KILL YOURSELF OR DISCUSS VIDYA.
>>738231581For me the bigger question, is each tree holding up a single world, or do they perhaps lead to other worlds with even worse problems than the one we came from?
>>738233053We even got this skull. The hell if I know where it came from. This really is the high life.
>>738234102What if there are infinite great hollows that each lead up to a totally different dimension?
>>738233805PAUL YOU FUCKING BASTARD, ITS GREAT, NOT OKAY.
best ost in the game, surenot the best area thiugh
>>738231581I once watched like a 3 hours lore video and the dude said something about ash lake but it was so long I forgot what it's about by the end of the video
SOVL
>>738232206>Describes his feeling in perfect detail>"I don't even know how to describe it"What did he mean by this?
