So I beat Pontiff and are looking around what next. I know Aldrich is somewhere there - the Deacons are here after all. I pass the Giant's Square and move up the stairs.
Hmm... Silver Knights with Dragon Bows? I remember that! So I move from roof to roof running up the slanted architecture, rolling under arrows and thinking to myself
"man, they even took inspiration from Anor Londo in DaS3!"
I enter the Darkmoon Tomb and run down the secret path ready for some old school Gwyndolin boss battle etc. I was kind of "disappointed" that they used exactly the same "piece" with the big round room and the corridor leading up to the tomb. I mean I understand inspiration as Ithryll Dungeon being inspired by Tower of Latria, Smouldering Lake by Lost Izalith, Catacombs by well Catacombs
etc. but this was straight up copy pasting.
(After that I got stuck for 2 days not knowing how to find Aldrich. I went to Ithryll Dungeon and Profaned Capital instead. Yesterday however I tried again to find something, anything after Pontiff.)
I finally find the lever and lo & behold the spinning escalator-elevator comes up. Again I am getting *really* disappointed in how it is straight up copy of Anor Londo. First time after 49 hours with the game. The very first feeling of real disappointment starts to creep in...
I go up.
And then I lay my eyes on the set of two different stairs going up and the sound note comes up with a big white text reading:
ANOR LONDO
I was... I was shellshocked. I stood there in awe, not believing what am I seeing and thinking how they played me like a fiddle... I simply could not move forward, could not process how unbelievably AMAZING this unveil was. No simple 10/10 game can do that. No simple AAA title does that. There is a piece of magic in work here. I cannot describe it with simple words.
I could not proceed. I spent like 30 minutes up there playing with the Binoculars, sightseeing the whole area, Anor Londo above, Ithryll below, Farron Keep in the distance, the Undead Settlement Giant Archer tower etc.
That moment, that part cemented DaS3 as being better than DaS1 for me. I would have never believed that I would be saying this one month ago.
And then battling Aldrich in the Ornstein & Smough room...fucking bravo!
Well done, From Software.