From Software Dark Souls 3

[Valky]

Is there a mod that removes bonfires? This game would be so much better if you could remove certain bonfires, because there are so many situations where there's a bonfire right next to a previous one which trivializes what otherwise would have been a more engaging run through areas and ultimately detracts from the game.

 

[Jasede]

Yes, it's called willpower. Same mod people use to play "never get hit" runs.
Sorry, that response was probably uncalled for, but come on.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Man if only there was an extra 15 seconds of running through an empty area with no enemies every time I respawned, such engagement.

 

[Ventidius]

Ashes of Ariandel is worth it for Friede alone.

 

[Black Angel]

Man if only there was an extra 15 seconds of running through an empty area with no enemies every time I respawned, such engagement.

Maybe they should've designed the levels better so that extra 15 seconds is filled with meaningful engagement, instead of what we got which resulted in bonfires every few steps or so.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There aren't bonfires every few steps. There are places in the game where a boss bonfire is next to a new area bonfire and retards sperg about it.

 

[Ventidius]

I think it's more than that. Can't think of any area in DS3 that puts you through as much crap before its bonfires as Iron Keep, Earthen Peak, or Amana Shrine, just to name a few. It's not so much the distance as the density and structure of content between bonfires. DS1 and especially DS2 were much better at coming up with challenging self-contained set pieces. I think it's very hard to argue that DS3 did not streamline the level design of the series, though it can still be appreciated for its combat (which in many ways was an improvement) and its excellent bosses.

 

[Black Angel]

There aren't bonfires every few steps. There are places in the game where a boss bonfire is next to a new area bonfire and retards sperg about it.

I was just exaggerating, but DS3's level designs left much to be desired. One most prominent example where the replacement of the bonfires are rather dumb is when you first descend from the High Wall down to Undead Settlement. You're immediately greeted by a bonfire, and past that you can go forward to progress or turn around, walk until you arrive at the end of broken bridge and speak with an NPC. If you go forward to progress, you'll meet some enemies, past a gate and.... you arrive at the next bonfires. I can only vaguely remember it, but a lot of the levels in the game are designed this way, which is extreme opposite of how DS1 handled its best levels. There are some places in DS3 where they seemed inspired by DS1 level designs, like Cathedral of the Deep and iirc latter parts of Lothric Castle after Dragonslayer Armor, but they're few and far between.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The flipside is, early in the game you only have a few estus, so going through 30 enemies between bonfires would be pretty brutal. And DS2 gave you infinite healing between bonfires, so it didn't really matter how far they were spread out. DS1 had a happy medium, where you didn't have unlimited healing but kindling a bonfire gave you 10 estus, which is quite a lot.

Some of the bonfires in DS3 were definitely extraneous like that one at the start of the undead settlement you'll never go back to and barely have to fight anything to reach the next fire, which is in plain sight. But I don't really see it as a problem either. If they take it out, what does it change? You need to watch a cutscene to get to it if you happened to die? There's no enemies between it and Vordt.

And I think the addition of bonfires after each boss is a good one, since it lets you continue exploring instead of having to choose between the safe tedium of backtracking to spend your souls (and then back backtracking to the boss to go forward again) or actually seeing a new area while you're still excited from your victory.

 

[Ventidius]

Yeah, the issue of resource management is a good point. I want to say that its implementation of a degenerate system of healing consumables is one of the biggest flaws of the game, but then again I doubt that they would have made the level design as punishing as it was in DS2 without it. Nevertheless, it is also possible to overstate the importance of this, as these are very high-lethality games in any case, and not being able to get through at all because of some tricky situation was arguably as often a problem in advancing in DS2 as running out of Estus was in DS3. For example, no amount of extra consumables was gonna save you in Shrine of Amana if you fell down the chasm while being distracted by an enemy. The "tactical puzzles" were very crafty in DS2, and perhaps the only downside was that they got weaker on replays when you knew what to expect.

It's probably also worth pointing out that I personally prefer to use restraint and not abuse the consumables in DS2, but we all know that self-imposed rules are irrelevant when discussing game design quality.

 

[Black Angel]

Some of the bonfires in DS3 were definitely extraneous like that one at the start of the undead settlement you'll never go back to and barely have to fight anything to reach the next fire, which is in plain sight. But I don't really see it as a problem either. If they take it out, what does it change? You need to watch a cutscene to get to it if you happened to die? There's no enemies between it and Vordt.

I'm thinking of not just taking it out, but change the entire level designs completely. Honestly, a cutscene where we're shown our character being carried by the gargoyles is such a nostalgia bait I'd rather this scrapped off completely. Instead, in the spirit of Dark Souls 1 I'd rather scale down the High Wall to Undead Settlement on foot, and from here I would like they make the world open up sooner while unlocking shortcuts here and there. This is an entirely different topic, but my point is I was expecting the level designs and world designs to be more faithful to Dark Souls 1.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, I can't argue with wanting more DS1 world design. I kept thinking of DS1 Taurus Demon > get wrecked by dragon moment in DS1. I don't think making you walk back to taurus demon after getting nuked there really adds anything to the game, but at the same time, when you get to the shortcut back to your same fucking bonfire through the bridge, it's pretty awesome. OTOH, if you happened to go across the bridge instead of down the bonfire and died, you're in a pretty shitty situation. But the base mechanics kind of fix this for you- if you go too far without seeing a bonfire to the point you die twice and lose all your souls, you're now incentivized to try a different path and realize there was a bonfire nearby all along. It works pretty well as a self correcting difficulty mechanic. Though some of the bonfires were in pretty retarded places. I missed quite a few in DS1 on my first run through. DS2 had a lot of super gamey bonfires, like that one next to the rotten so you can farm him with ascetics.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

So, I think I might be one of those crazy people who thinks Dark Souls 3 plays better with Mouse and Keyboard than controller.
I tried using a controller and I found the control scheme to be clunky. At first I thought it was because I don't use controllers all that often, but the I played through Nier Automata and DMC 5 with a controller, and that actually felt natural.
Playing DS3 on a controller felt wrong.

 

[Alkarl]

Alright, I finally played this pile of shit. Very disappointed, this game was boring ass fuck. Not even challenging after I realized they just crammed it in the Bloodborne engine. More like Prepare to Roll then Spam R1 Edition. So glad I got the GOTY for $20. If I had spent more I would have seriously felt cheated. My pro tip is if str build, snag the broad sword and slap a heavy gem on that bitch, if dex build farm a lothric knight sword and slap a sharp gem in that bitch. Ignore everything else. If a magic build well..
Hope you like jewelry princess.
Why is the fast roll under 70%? Is it because they only balanced the game around rolling? Idk, you try to block any boss or mobs attacks and tell me how it goes, you'll get guard broken and then gang raped cause holy hell did they turn up the spam in this one! Lothric must have been the most happening place in the multiverse cause everyone and their teleporting dog is hanging out when things go tits up!
This isn't to say I had a lot of trouble. I found I could typically clear whole maps before needing to sit on a bonfire. Just be smart about how you pull agro and, as said, right bumper them all to death, even if they have a shield just spam that shit. Only thing missing is my L1 transformation attacks.
I'll be happy if they don't make another one of these for awhile. They quite obviously forgot how. I always saw Dark Souls as a mediocre action game crossed with a mediocre rpg, the main things it had going for it was atmosphere, interesting aesthetics and encounter designs, a great deal of narative freedom approaching and, dare I say, possibly exceeding the best games in the Ultima franchise, and a history to its world that was fun to encounter and engage with. I own better action games, I own better rpgs. But I don't own another game even approaching the majesty and quality of Demon's Souls or Dark Souls, and after two more tries, it looks like I never will.

But that's just like, my opinion, man.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Fast roll is under 30%. Your opinion is now invalid.

 

[Alkarl]

Fast roll is under 30%. Your opinion is now invalid.

You might wanna check again mate.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Equipment+Load

 

[praetor]

https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Equipment+Load

the difference between "fast" and "medium" in DS3 is so small it might as well not even exist. plus, "medium" in DS3 is pretty much on-par with "fast" in DS1/DS2

not that it matters, 'cause armour in DS3 is garbage

 

[HarveyBirdman]

There's a huge difference between fast and medium roll.
Medium rolling has a significantly longer windup and recovery.
Fast rolling is pretty much impossible to rollcatch.
Medium rolling is easy to rollcatch.

Armor in DS3 isn't garbage at all. You just don't understand how poise works.

 

[Alkarl]

Armor in DS3 isn't garbage at all. You just don't understand how poise works, which is unsurprising because you played with a meme SS build.

That was just a joke man. I've rolled Greataxe, Great club, SS, and Twin blades. Their fine, but they aren't as good as just plain old SS R1 spam. That greataxe is a boss killer though.

Dominant strategy is still dominant strategy, and the contrast still exists, try that shit in Demon's or Dark Souls and you'll get wrecked, but hey, it works pretty good in Bloodborne, another game I hardly felt the need to try other weapons in. But at least in Bloodborne weapons were more interesting, Dark Souls 3 introduces completely irrelvant weapon arts which typically end up replacing old spells or amount to a weapon buff. The SS standard weapon art is nearly equivalent to plain R1 spam, the only difference is R1 spam doesn't cost fp. Same result though.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

I edited because I thought I was responding to you, Alkari.

Anyway, I disagree wholeheartedly.

>dominant strategy is dominant strategy
Every strategy is viable for PvE, and big weapons are even better than straight swords.
PvP is where the combat really shines. Straight swords are very easy to counter, especially R1 spam. R1 spammers are begging to get murked.
Everything has a counter (except for free-aimed exploding crossbow bolts, which really break the game, but thankfully most people aren't cheesy faggots).

>not trying other weapons
Your loss man, seriously.
There's not much reason to try other weapons in Bloodborne, because they all play the same way.
On the other hand, DS3 has incredible variety. SS is meat and potatoes. The rest of the game beckons.

>weapon arts are useless
Whaaaa? Weapon arts are fantastic.
You mentioned straight swords. Not the sexiest WA, but still great: telegraphed attack with long range that breaks shields; R2 increases poise and halves incoming damage; can chain into other attacks; great for mind games.Totally different use than R1-R1.

 

[Alkarl]

I'll give you the pvp points for sure. I tried some SS spam there and I got a couple people (must have been casul) but eventually I started trying other weapons and parrying feels so great in this games pvp. Roll catching is pretty easy too once you realize what needs done. If they hadn't shat on the pvp covenants it would be the best in the series, might still be really, Dark Souls 2 gets fucked by its own covenants and SM, so yeah. It's infinitely better than getting BS'd through the face in the remaster.

My main gripes are all pve, and even the past games, when it came to pve, there was no one way, but I just feel like this game really pushes fast light weapons and rolls thanks to how poise works and how many bosses are just combo machines. Pontiff has that stupid 9 hit combo, Dancer with her wooshy wooshy wooshy shit and the range. And the ones who don't try to wombo you to death all have this annoying thing where they will hold the anticipation frame of an attack at some variable length trying to catch you out. I hate that. I swear a lot of the bosses and enemies are reading my inputs sometimes.
Speaking of inputs, I've had some pretty egregious buffering in this game. Nothing I didn't see in the others from time to time though, so business as usual I guess. But its compounded by this games desire to run at break neck speeds, I just really don't think Dark Souls mechanics and design mesh well with Bloodbornes engine and speeds.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Covenants in DS3 are complete shit, and invasions are usually gank squads (which is really fun as an invader with an anti-gank build, but sucks for 1v1). The Undead Arena is the only real option for 1v1.

I always found bigger weapons easier for PvE in general. Big range, big damage, keep your distance, and don't get greedy. But I see your point. Freida would be pretty tough with great hammer.

Here's a fun build for you to try:
pyromancer
right hand -- chaos whip, blessed dagger
left hand -- demon's scar, blessed caestus

Mastering the whip is tons of fun, and is the best kept secret in the game IMO.

 

[sullynathan]

I beat the game first try by blocking everyone. Get good faggot

 

[Alkarl]

I beat the game first try by blocking everyone. Get good faggot

And then I killed them in one hit. lol