I disagree . I think it is easy to assume some great artistic vision when you like something , but the actual evidence is almost nonexistent . One line in the game and a bunch of speculation proves nothing . Glad that the game means that to you , but to me it appears like laziness . And keep in mind that plenty of sequels fail to understand what makes their predecessor popular , so your assertion that FROM knew that the level design style was important to fans is a little silly . It is far more common for a series to improve after a failure then to maintain quality after success because people always complain louder than they praise . And your argument about Majula is also silly . The idea that the only way they were going to try to draw in Demon ' s Souls players was by going 100 % back to the same kind of hub is silly . They obviously were trying to find a balance between the Nexus and Firelink to appease fans of both . I believe I even remember an interview stating it was the best of both worlds . But either way I am glad to hear about this theory . I will do my next playthrough with this in mind .