The Painted World is the worst design decision in the game so far.

[Elemental Phoenix]

I don't want to come back to the game anymore. I'm in my first playthrough and I went into the Painted World without knowing YOU CAN'T GET OUT WITHOUT BEATING IT. Not only am I severely underprepared (my main weapon against the toxic guys is a spear that does peanut damage and my main weapon is only +3 because twinking titanite is rare as all hell), the Painted World also presents some of the most complicated combat puzzles in the game. That's fine, but it's optional! I want to go fight O&S, I was HYPED to fight them, but this design decision is like "Nope, you gotta beat me first because you had no idea what I was!"
Just let me out and I'll be happy again, but as it is I don't want to come back to the game because I know I'll be wasting my time trying to get out of a situation I don't like or even want to be in.

[Kojuro]

This location is pretty easy. If you suck at beating it, I don't know how you're gonna fight Pikachu & Snorlax

[cridus]

1- ask somebody to help you so you can summon them
2- kill the undead dragon together
3- go to the dragon's legs and attack them with a two-handed jump attack (forward + R2)
4- pass under the legs and drop down to the bridge
5- escape from the enemies, go through the fog gate
6- send your friend home with the black separation crystal (maybe it's optional)
7- don't attack priscilla, go behind her and jump from the plank, like she says.

p.s. skipping the level with the jump attack trick is considered... uh, not cool. (I can't remember the right term to use)

[DeckarddCain]

yeah...painted world is like devs wanted to troll unprepared players

[Sareth]

you don't need to fight Priscilla... you could've walked straight past her...
now that you've aggro'ed her you're probably ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and have to kill her.
Yes, painted world is a bit out of line difficulty wise, but if you get through Anor Londo without being tossed about you will manage it. What's your SL anyway?
(Twinkling Titanite isn't THAT rare either, if you keep an eye open for the crystal-lizards.
I managed to get a +3/+4 BK-Sword on my chars before even getting into AL.)

[Bones]

It's actually both quick and easy if you're adventurous. The enemies are all easy to deal with apart from bonewheels and harpies that are entirely avoidable.

[The Green Mage]

What's you SL? I'll help you out of there if you like. It kicked my butt the first time I went in there but now that I understand how the level works, its one of my favorites. It's clearly an easter egg of sorts for the Boletarian Palace in Demon's Souls.

[76561198006416723]

considering that by playing without guides it's not that easy to realize that (and how) you can get back to the asylum, and that by going all the way back to the starting prison room you can find the Ariamis dool, it's not a bad decision at all.

[NITRO]

You know... You don't need to kill the toxic dudes. Just run past them and open the shortcut.

BTW, the level design of this part of the game is pretty damn good. And don't kill Priscilla.

[supertrooper225]

The Painted world isn't all that bad.

[FirstUtterance]

I think it's silly that with the Lordvessel you can warp to it but not out of it. I mean if I can use the Lordvessel as a friggin' time-traveling device then I don't know why it has such problems warping me out of a Super Mario 64 level.

I'm not a fan of the Painted World myself but for other reasons. It's a kind of tacked-on "anything goes" kind of level with a very random assortment of enemies that mostly don't make sense in a snow setting. The level itself is rather boring, it's a maze of dull architecture and uninteresting backgrounds. If "Ariamis" is Thomas Kinkade's alias then the level would make a lot more sense to me. For a mystical painting I'd expect something a bit more... impressionistic? Abstract? Painterly? I dunno. It just feels like they wanted a snow level but could think of no way to organically connect one to the main world so they just said "screw it, let's just put it in a friggin' magic painting." The sleigh bells that go off in the background just put it over the top for me. The best thing about it for me is the farming spot for the Phalanx. And Priscilla is a character with an interesting and mysterious background, even if as a boss fight she isn't the greatest.

Dunno why this level gets so much love. I can see why it would be cool if it's something you discovered completely on your own/by accident but with all the DkS secrets out of the bag already it's lost that intrigue, for me anyway.

[Walrus-Sama]

Lost Izilith is probably the worst designed area in the game.

The Painted World is easy, even as a SL 1.

[Bones]

Originally posted by FirstUtterance:

It's a kind of tacked-on "anything goes" kind of level with a very random assortment of enemies that mostly don't make sense in a snow setting.

The painted world is a prison and everything banished there was seen as unfit to exist in the outside world. It's not just a "snow level".

[FirstUtterance]

Originally posted by WalrusSama:

Lost Izilith is probably the worst designed area in the game.

From a design standpoint yeah it's not very good. Just a short, ultra-linear walk through some lava and temples they had to compensate for its emptiness by filling it with thousands of dragon butts and stone gargoyles. Not to mention it contains the Worst Boss Ever Designed (TM).

Still from an artistic standpoint it at least is redeemable. Lava amidts ruined ancient temples and odd tree branch growths everywhere and large vaulted magma ceiling. Too bad they didn't do more with it.

[daviejams]

Fire for the toxic hollows

[Walrus-Sama]

Originally posted by FirstUtterance:

Originally posted by WalrusSama:

Lost Izilith is probably the worst designed area in the game.

From a design standpoint yeah it's not very good. Just a short, ultra-linear walk through some lava and temples they had to compensate for its emptiness by filling it with thousands of dragon butts and stone gargoyles. Not to mention it contains the Worst Boss Ever Designed (TM).

Still from an artistic standpoint it at least is redeemable. Lava amidts ruined ancient temples and odd tree branch growths everywhere and large vaulted magma ceiling. Too bad they didn't do more with it.

It looks like the made the area, started adding things like Ceaseless, then realised they where close to a deadline and started to rush it, copy and pasteing Capra and such. Also, to the side of the stairs that leads to Bed of Chaos boss fog, you can see they didn't even add a floor/wall, and you can see the purple Skybox.