The Lordvessel is the Ocarina of Time
(This is a repost of an article I wrote for the Dark Insight blog, with some minor adjustments)
In Ocarina of Time, the titular item in the game shows up after you've completed the child portion of the main questline and proven yourself worthy of the Master Sword. Once you lift the Master Sword out of the pedestal in the Temple of Time and move forward to adulthood, the latter portion of the game opens up and the player can learn songs for the Ocarina that allows them to warp to different areas enabling much quicker movement around Hyrule.
Similarly, in Dark Souls the Lordvessel is given to the player after they reach the Princess in Anor Londo, which is preceded by a shorter portion of the main quest centered around ringing the Bells of Awakening to learn the fate of the Undead and proving yourself to be the Chosen Undead by making it through Sen’s Fortress. Acquiring the Lordvessel unlocks the ability to warp around the world between key bonfires and finally, after placing the Lordvessel, the world further opens up to the player.
These two items represent in their respective games the world becoming much larger while also being easier to traverse. They also represent a moment in the game where the main quest changes to encompass the rest of the game.
Examining the “Pivot” in Dark Souls and Zelda
There's been much discussion about whether or not the decision to unlock warping from the start in Dark Souls II was a good one. I think the best way to make that assessment is by thinking about where in Dark Souls II the “pivot” is, and whether it happens before or after the halfway point in the game.
A game doesn't need a pivot — there isn't one in Demon's Souls — and the pivot is not the same as a plot twist; there isn't a significant plot twist in Ocarina of Time, but there is an obvious pivot. A plot twist recontextualizes previous events, whereas the pivot is the moment where the main objective changes and the quest goes in another direction, but is essentially the same quest.
In Ocarina of Time, the pivot is the moment where Link becomes an adult, because the quest opens up and changes venues to reflect the new world, but the primary objective, stopping Ganondorf, is still there. In Dark Souls, the pivot is when the player talks to the Princess. The plot hasn't twisted, yet, and you're still going after the fate of the Undead, but it has been migrated from ringing two bells to learn of that fate to collecting lord souls and putting them in the Lordvessel to fulfill that fate.
In Dark Souls II, the pivot is at Drangleic Castle where the player meets Nashandra and is directed to find and retrieve the King’s Ring from Vendrick. The exact moment of the plot twist is a bit shaky since the signs beforehand are numerous and the exact moment of reveal at the end of the game that Nashandra is evil is not nearly as powerful as the moment where the player meets Vendrick and he is non-hostile, hollowed and wandering aimlessly.
The player doesn't meet Nashandra until much later into the game, and the amount of game left after that is significantly smaller than the amount of game prior. The pivot doesn't make the world feel larger either. Up to that point you've pretty much explored the corners of Drangleic and the King's Ring only opens up a few more areas. It also doesn't introduce any mobility since warping has been available from the start.
Warping in Ocarina of Time and Dark Souls is a convenience
Ocarina of Time, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II all feature warping — I would never make the argument that any of these games shouldn't have warping, there is way too much shit to deal with to not be able to cut down travel time — but there's a significance to the portions in Dark Souls and Ocarina of Time where you don't have the ability to warp.
The child quest in Ocarina of Time doesn't actually cover that much ground in Hyrule. You start out in Kokiri Forest and the Deku Tree, the first dungeon, is literally next door. Death Mountain is near Hyrule Castle, and Zora’s Domain is just south of Death Mountain. You can make some treks outside of this concentration of areas for sidequests, but warping isn't nearly as important as it is when the adult quest covers areas all over Hyrule that may require switching between the two time periods (having to walk all the way from the Gerudo Desert to the Temple of Time and back, if that were even possible, would be unforgivable).
Dark Souls pre-Lordvessel also doesn't mandate warping. The areas are interconnected and have shortcuts that lead back to Firelink. The game makes excellent use of some key bonfires to make it relatively easy to get to Andre (who is right under the bonfire for both the Gargoyles and Sen’s Fortress), and the Lower Burg, the Depths, and Blighttown are all not too far from Firelink via shortcut, which connects up to the Parish and back to Andre.
Warping in Dark Souls II is a necessity
There's a significant detail about bonfires in Dark Souls as well that isn't true in Dark Souls II and may be why warping was changed to always be active in the sequel. In Dark Souls, bonfires are less plentiful, but they have much more utility than they do in Dark Souls II. Firelink Shrine is a centralized location, and it's where merchants and key NPCs migrate to, but there's nothing about the bonfire there that is particularly special. Leveling up can be done at any bonfire, and a repairbox and smithbox can be purchased from Andre, making it only necessary to visit him if you need to ascend a weapon. This means that with enough bonfire tools, you can stay in the same area and work towards the boss from a bonfire there indefinitely with little to no reason to leave. Even the extra flasks granted at Firelink are reproducible by kindling another bonfire. Warping becomes a utility that helps cut down on travel time, but the amount of stuff you can do at a bonfire means that you are warping to your next destination, not to a hub.
Dark Souls II changes this dynamic, hence there not being a Lordvessel (or similar item). Leveling up, repairing or upgrading equipment (at least until you find McDuff), and making improvements to your Estus Flask (in both number and strength) has to be done at Majula. This means that when you're knee deep in water after killing the Flexile Sentry and on your way into the prison to find your next bonfire, if you want to level up, you have to get back to Majula, and Majula is nowhere near the Bastille. This need to go back and forth to and from Majula for services that were previously linked to the bonfire itself means that bonfires are less valuable (hence more plentiful), and that not being able to warp back, even to the first area, would be insane because of how frequent leveling up and upgrading equipment in these games are.
Dark Souls and Ocarina of Time are both games that don't have typical hubs, so when the concept of warping is introduced, it's entirely as a convenience to the player. Dark Souls II, by creating the hub, turns the act of warping which has the negative effect of breaking the world into isolated chunks from a convenience to a necessity, and the benefit of having a world that feels connected, which Ocarina of Time and Dark Souls both achieve through clever physical shortcuts between zones, is totally lost on Dark Souls II.
Dark Souls II lacks the impactful pivot in Dark Souls and Ocarina of Time that opens up the world and makes warping a convenience, and instead further segments the world by not only introducing warping immediately, but also mandating its use.
