Just started playing Dark Souls II and really enjoying it. I only got about ten hours into Dark Souls so never got too deep, and recently found out I was now entirely unable to play my copy because of GFWL, so I can't go back and experience the lore that way. I've been looking around for a good primer on the entirety of the lore from the original game but haven't really found much that goes as in-depth as I'd like in a clear way; I began watching VaatiVidya's excellent videos but they seem to focus on a small element each, rather than starting with the basic story and then filling all that out either along the way or after. Does anyone know where I might find something like this? I kinda assumed a post like this would already exist, but I did a forum search that turned up nothing.

@gunslingerpanda: What error message do you get from Gfwl? I played Dark Souls yesterday and it updated and worked fine. I would recommend EpicNameBro's Youtube channel for Souls lore, he has a playlist with a plot synopsis and many in depth videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4825DBA198EBE9B9

Quelaag's videos are also filled with information:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1FFC0C4F88D3A150

If you want a proper summary, check out ENBs videos. He's a little rambly, but he's the one that helped me get a grasp on the whole thing.

It's not an error message, it's just that game is attached to my Live account which I no longer have access to and I can't play the game at all without doing so despite steam verifying my purchase. tl;dr: GFWL is fucking stupid. Doesn't matter, though, I'm happy to skip 1 and go straight to 2.

Thanks for the videos everyone, I'll eat them up today.

http://thedcgamer.com/2013/07/25/the-history-of-dark-souls-by-deddan-on-rdarksouls/