Dark Souls 3

[brat-sampson]

I decided to start a no shield two-handed strength run, managed to beat Vordt within an hour with the Dark Axe +1 with no real trouble whatsoever[nb]i.e. probably around 10 deaths[/nb], having fully cleared Lothric, rescuing Greirat and grabbing the estus shard, bow, binoculars and everything. Feeling like a real life Kratos or something now.

[Thursday]

Went online. Now I understand. I ate some of those red things I found but got absolutely battered by someone who seemed to have multiple mates.

However, two blokes helped me out with the attack of the fiery monks. Made it a breeze.

Now, I need a pale tongue to readjust my weird stats. I wasted one just by giving it to her and she gave me nowt in return. Can you buy them or do you have to stumble around and hope you find one?

Mostly from doing invasions, but there are a few just lying around the world, and there's one enemy that can drop them occasionally.

Also I think there's other covenants that give you pale tongues when you invade. It's something to keep in mind because I believe there's one NPC that you might have come across that stops leaving their summon sign for some bosses if you join the covenant and keep invading as one.

[Shay Chaise]

My updated Dark Souls 3 opinion after seven weeks or so of playing it is:

Good:

- Most consistent.
- Fewest bullshit areas or bosses.
- Best individual area level designs, partly because they're massive.
- Best pacing.
- Good fashion.
- Most beautiful vistas.
- Lump in my throat halfway through SoC, a feeling I've not had since Sif/AotA.

Not good:

- NPCs. Almost no emotional impact, very few voices I copy endlessly to myself/wife. I do have a soft spot for Yoel's insincere, weakling 'be saaaafe', though. Bloodborne had the best voices of any game ever so I feel they dropped the ball a bit there. Plague ridden rat! Overdose of 'ashen one', as well.

- Related point, loads of quests but so fiddly and no real engagement with any of them. This comes down to the writing and voice acting. Maybe over time, when I really understand what's going on, they'll have a greater impact but I've found most of the boss back stories much more powerful and beautiful/tragic/inspiring.

- Great sense of exploration but relatively little sense of threat or adventure or interlinking world because of the bonfire placements and geographical design choices. I actually really liked the patchwork approach in Dark Souls 2, initially much more than Dark Souls believe it or not, but this feels very 'spokey', hence the occasional jumps, as signposted from the very first transition to the first proper area. On a more micro level, I had to try to stop myself from just accepting death and suicide running from bonfire to bonfire and then working my way backwards to see what I'd missed. Even in DS2, I don't think it was quite so easy to do so. Maybe I've just played too much Souls now but it's somewhat game breaking to feel I don't need to engage with much of the content of certain areas. It's also why I didn't much like the nightmare areas of Bloodborne, except from DLC.

- Build variety. It's virtually redundant to attempt any build beyond melee. You're best off levelling strength and just doing a respec two thirds of the way through to go pure caster. The alternative is so painful, honestly. It takes 70 INT to feel you're making up for the slow cast speed and pitiful damage and basic stat sacrifices you've had to endure. PvP doesn't really exist for a caster, either, except for auto invasion stuff when you can rely on the help of others and enemies to distract but even then, only HCS is fast enough to catch anyone off guard.

- The DLC won't be out for ages!

Conclusion:

I still think it's the best, most playable, least bullshit, most complete and consistent Souls game. It's often breathtaking and it's the perfect culmination of their mechanics.

It's not really close to the sense of dread and adventure and decaying beauty and mystery of Dark Souls, and arguably not ahead of the depressing existentialist patchwork gorgeous vibe of Dark Souls 2. It lacks a little heart.

Any thoughts?

[Thursday]

It's really too early to say with the lore but I'm going for the

Spoiler alert

Lord Of Hollows

[close]

ending now.  I don't know exactly how it'll end up, but it seems to be lacking something. I mean if there was anything quite on the level of Anor Londo reveal and Kaarthe stuff in Dark Souls we would have heard about it. And Dark Souls 2 at least seemed to understand it's place as a sequel more, and with the DLC and the new additions for the Scholar version they really managed to make it it's own thing, and I liked the theme of NPC's all having a sort of amnesia and the fact that they know everything is futile but they go on anyway because there's not really anything else they can do. Lucatiel's story was a highlight, although the problem is you often don't finish her story because there''s one location where she's very easy to miss.

Obviously I've not seen any lore videos yet, I'm too thick to work stuff out for myself and we haven't had the DLC, but at the moment it still feels like it's basically just Dark Souls put through a synonym machine.


But yeah purely in terms of mechanics and not having any really shit areas (There's some weaker areas, but nothing terrible) It's the most consistent Dark Souls. And for the first time, I'm also really getting into the PVP. Dark Souls 2 taught me to love co-op and DS3 has taught me to enjoy being a dick.

[Shay Chaise]

Yeah, I agree with all of that. As much as it's a love letter to both itself and the fans, there's an awful lot of repetition, frankly. I quite enjoy fan service, it's not that, but almost none of it is subverted, nor feels like it has any other reason for being. I know I'm now close to parroting Gary Butterfield, and ignoring all the marvellous things it does right, but I'm just trying to nail down how I feel about it.

Best game. Worst lore (at this point).

[Jawaka]

Spoiler alert

Apart from the guy at Archdragon which I'll deal with tomorrow, hopefully. I've got to him, but went off a bit in the other direction which took longer than I thought it would, didn't wanna get too involved this late.

[close]

Spoiler alert

That one fell flat, I did have one good attempt on him prob around 10 or 20%. With phase 2 I can accept that it's my fault, think I'm dodging too early. Phase one the camera is just fucked though, I wouldn't mind so much if I could just stand behind the drake and swipe at his legs but it doesn't seem worth it for the amount of the damage he takes. It also feels like that while that breath can be outranged, you can't hop out and outrange it from melee. I'll take one hit from it most of the time, but sometimes it gets me twice.

[close]

I'll get him though, went to this from The Division, a game I was enjoying but became far too grindy.. You expect it from an mmo of sorts, but unlike something like WoW there isn't enough to encourage me to keep playing. It's nice finding a game tricky and hitting a roadblock, haven't really had that since the fish boss in Majora's Mask - That one genuinely did feel unfair though due to having to swim.

Prob don't need to spoiler a bunch of this stuff but others might be avoiding any info about upcoming bosses so it's the best way.

[Thursday]

Yeah I think it was a really poor decision to make you do the first phase of that fight  every time, just buff their health up a bit and make them separate fights. The phase is great otherwise and I love it once I realized who it was.

[Jawaka]

Yeah I think it was a really poor decision to make you do the first phase of that fight  every time, just buff their health up a bit and make them separate fights. The phase is great otherwise and I love it once I realized who it was.

Yeah when you're meant to pay attention to a bosses movements so you know what's coming next, it's a bit irritating when the only way to see that is by not locking on and playing with the camera angle a bit.. Though to be fair half the time guessing kinda works. I'll get him though, I've still got a bunch of embers left on a vendor but I'd rather not deplete them all. There was enough where I didn't need them and they are basically a safety net so you can get away with missing a dodge or block.

Ain't much of a walk anyway, just that slightly too long loading screen. Can't stand loading screens.

[Jawaka]

Yay got him.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Well friends, I just got to the end of the game. Last boss was tough but felt achievable after a couple of goes, and it was. I thought the armour was the toughest boss although I've only just found out about Archdragon Peak. Summoned some random bloke there not realising there was a boss ahead. It rocked up and he charged off somewhere, I tried to keep up but got lost. Then I was fighting some fat thing on a tower and suddenly the boss is dead! Fuck knows what that guy did. Couldn't even thank him as it teleports you off. Anyway I'll have a poke round the next bit tomorrow and that's me until the DLC. Top game.

[brat-sampson]

Hah, what happened was

Spoiler alert

it's kindof a gimmick fight. You can't fight the boss head-on but there are a bunch of dev messages around (i.e. placed by the devs so they appear even if you're completely offline) saying 'try plunging attack'. So after wasting some time poking its feet you spot how damn big the area behind the fog wall is, go exploring, fight enemies etc and either run or battle your way to a position where you can actually get the plunging attack in causing it to die immediately. I guess your helpful phantom just assumed you wanted a hand and took care of things. Afterwards you port to the next bit, I guess to save you the run back.

[close]

[Shay Chaise]

Hmm, my updated opinion on this is that I absolutely killed it. I finished it three or four times between the Japanese release and when I last touched it a few weeks ago with a good bit of PvP and summoning stuff. I thought about doing the Platinum, started it up again and it's just dead to me. I had done a bit of Scholar in between, too, and when I went back to DS3 the frame rate was quite jarring. Funny that. So, yeah, very well designed levels, very pretty, lots of fashion, but I've no inclination to play it ever again, at this point. I think a big part of that is the unsatisfying lore and the fact that all the callbacks haven't added up to anything at all. I really really hope that the DLC will tie things together, and they've got a great track record there, but as this point it seems less like the love letter I initially felt it was and more shameless fan service.

Meanwhile, I've loved going through Scholar, and I increasingly respect that it's a unique thing. Basically, this is now the hipster opinion, I know. I just happen to agree.

[Shay Chaise]

Well, I've reached the first boss in the DLC and this is damn good. It's easily the most beautiful From Software game, you'll know what I mean when you're there. I also feel that enemies are more intelligent and cunning than they have been before. I've had a number of surprises where the (illusion of) AI has really given me trouble.

Funnily enough, I started a new character in preparation about a week ago and I really enjoyed romping through the game, despite feeling I never needed to touch it again. I even killed John Aldridge solo for the first time ever. Battered him I did. I also managed to do the Dancer very early, and Oceiros, so I was banging a +10 hollow weapon by Irithyll, which was fun. It definitely has a certain character to it, and the pacing is great, albeit not especially tense. I guess it's just lacking the emotional connection, and I haven't been able to see any overarching theme that speaks to me particularly. Still, very much enjoying the DLC and can't imagine who's played the game not being really pleased with the quality.

[Shay Chaise]

Finished this in about five hours, including getting lost a fair bit but shortened by doing suicide runs everywhere and not fighting the toughest enemies if I could avoid it. I did still wreck most enemies once but there are a few pretty cheesy crap enemies that I feel don't suit the environment very well, like making you fight on stairs and tight corridors and you get stuck and the camera goes mental.

It's essentially the Painted World of Ariamis crossed with the Hunter's Nightmare, which is a fine thing. One boss is up there with the upper tiers of Bloodborne and the original Dark Souls, purely in terms of grandeur. I liked the voice acting throughout and liked the atmosphere. It's very pretty, and a bit disgusting at times. Good sense of threat, maybe maybe too many mob enemies for me. It doesn't really address much from the main game at all though so we're no nearer to closing that circle.

[Bhazor]

Shay and Dark Souls sitting in a tree ef eye es tea eye en gee

I'm waiting for the bundled DLC. Never feel the urge to NG+ the souls games because I replay each level a dozen times on the first time through. So I'll wait till it's both sets together before I replay it.

[Thursday]

Not put that many hours into this yet, my character was slightly underleveled so I played a bit of the vanilla game to level up.  I feel like I've made a fair bit of progress, but I still haven't encountered a boss yet. Thought there was an absolute cunt of an NPC fight.

Yeah, it seems there's quite a bit of overwhelming you with enemies in this. The result is, I just think "oh fuck this" and do a couple of suicide runs to get all the items since there's just too many to bother fighting through. I am liking the general vibe of everything though.

[Thursday]

Finished it, yeah it was alright, but turns out I was further in than I realised. A bit much for the price of admission, (DS2's season pass was the same price for 3 episodes and they were all longer than this.) and the bosses are those multi-phase one's where you have to repeat them from the beginning that I tend not to be a such a big fan of. It's fine, but easily the weakest piece of Souls DLC. A bit too on the nose with it's echoing of the Painted World of Ariamis.

Hope the 2nd one makes more of an impact.

[Thursday]

...Having said all that. Friede's Staff is a great weapon, I've been having so much fun playing around with it.

[Bhazor]

Really great episode of Boundary Break about Dark Souls 3 and its hidden details including a fully rendered village hidden in the mountains you'll never even see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbaA6_84gyY

[Cuellar]

Playing through this now, and there seem to be even more convulated game mechanisms than II. And they're never explained.

For instance, going Hollow. I rock up to Yoel, he offers to 'release the true strength' or whatever. Yeah, ok, go for it mate. Oh I've got a Dark Sigil now, what does that do? Nothing it seems.

I've died - and now my Hollow level is 1. Ok fine - like II yeah? Find a human effigy or something. Hmm, my Hollowing level keeps rising, I wonder what happens? Nothing it seems.

Oh wait I can't summon anyone anymore. How do I fix this? No NPCs are giving me info...never seen a human effigy, so maybe it's not that.

Fine I'll look online. I've got to buy the tower key, get a 'firekeeper soul' from the top of the tower, then give it to the firekeeper, then pay a fuckload to 'heal the dark sigil'.

Fucking what? It's like having to bury the beds for not polishing the brass moustache. You're meant to work all that out from...what?

[Swoz_MK]

Dawned on me that despite two playthroughs I've not once fought Nameless King. So I have that to do before DLC 2.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Dawned on me that despite two playthroughs I've not once fought Nameless King. So I have that to do before DLC 2.

Don't bother mate it's impossible.

[Shay Chaise]

As many people have said, this is mechanically probably the best Souls game, and no dud areas at all. It's pretty consistent, lots of high points, workable covenants, loads and loads of weapons and fashion and so on. It's challenging, rewarding, has some great secrets, it's pleasingly obtuse in some respects.

It just also happens to exist for no particular reason. I don't feel Miyazaki has anything at all to say with this, and there is barely a single NPC or quest or character or boss or anything lore related which resonates with me in the slightest. It feels like Souls fanfic. I only realised when I saw on the PSN store that the 'final' ever Dark Souls DLC is coming out this month, and I literally couldn't give a shit. If they somehow manage to close the circle and make the lore suddenly meaningful and connected to the other games, I'll be delighted, but it looks like nothing more than another spoke on a pretty meaningless wheel.

Anyone else as not arsed about more Dark Souls 3?

That said, if the original came to the Switch, I would shit my heart.

[Thursday]

Yeah I'm kind of shocked by my own lack of interest in it.

I think Miyazaki basically said, fromsoft had agreed to make the game before he became President. I'm glad they seem eager to do something different next.

[brat-sampson]

The first expansion getting a lukewarm reaction was depressing as fuck tbh considering their past DLCs. I'm hoping this one is something special and gives me a good reason to pick up the season pass.

[Barry Admin]

I've not even finished it, but I wouldn't say that was a reflection on the game, and I was really enjoying it. It's just I spent months and months going back through DS1 and 2, and completely wiped myself out. I love having the digital copy of DS1 on my Xbone and 360, so I can fire it up whenever I want, without fucking about with discs. At some point I'll get back to my NG+ and SL1 runs. SL1 was soooo much fun.

[Thursday]

Kind of hoping they just go full-on fan-service with the DLC and have Solaire shagging Artorias and Sif.

[Shay Chaise]

I would actually prefer something really tasteless and over-reaching than this dull as dishwater Yuria shit. It's absurd how many meaningless references these made to the first game, while introducing countless unresolved and quite boring characters and stuff. They couldn't even do lame fan service properly with this. I understand that FROM had agreed to this before Miyazaki became top wank so I just hope that whatever they have up their sleeve will be Bloodborne tier good shit, when it finally comes.

[Swoz_MK]

DLC2 is hard as all fuck. But a brilliant learning curve that starts about half way from 1st bonfire to 1st boss. And that boss is a fucker. L140 on NG+ and I am swearing like a flipping sausage.

[Shay Chaise]

Do you think it is going to complete the circle in any way whatsoever? I came home yesterday excited about Snake Pass - of all things - having again forgotten this was coming out.