From Software Dark Souls 3

[Jezal_k23]

My experience with DS3 levels and bosses summarized in very autistic manner:

It shows what I was talking about though. The experience is too mixed: either the level or the boss usually disappoint.

Notable exception being Irythill, which was generally awesome. Lothric Castle & Grand Archives were solid too.

Ashes of Ariandel, as it happens, was really good, albeit short.

Decided to actually rate Anor Londo because although it was really short, it was not really a non-level like the Kiln of the First Flame. Consumed King's Garden is also really short but I decided to rate it for the same reason.

 

[Strange Fellow]

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Nice, and quite similar to what my own list would look like. Can't agree with Nameless King getting top marks though, purely because of that obnoxious first phase. Did you miss Champion Gundyr, or did you just forget to add him to the list? One of the best bosses of the game, I thought. Cruel, but fair.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

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Nice, and quite similar to what my own list would look like. Can't agree with Nameless King getting top marks though, purely because of that obnoxious first phase. Did you miss Champion Gundyr, or did you just forget to add him to the list? One of the best bosses of the game, I thought. Cruel, but fair.

You can also shit all over him. That is not a figure of speech

 

[Lutte]

My experience with DS3 levels and bosses summarized in very autistic manner:

Fair list but I'd put Sage and the Consumed King area in shit tier. Sage like any pure magic user is just a sad joke even with his clones, I see him as moonlight butterfly level but without the atmosphere and more unique feel of the latter fight which, while trivial and mediocre mechanics wise, gives off an alien atmosphere.

I have nothing against short areas in themselves but Consumed King has to be the most concentrated source of obnoxious in the game. Poison areas + the absolute worst designed enemy in the entire souls series being spammed everywhere on the map. They are worse to deal with than literally any boss in the game if you don't fight them with fire to stop their unreadable spam bullcrap. It's definitely NOT ok, it's shit tier. The fact that they included a way to trivialize the fight (fire stun) only shows that they knew this shit was not ok but they still put it in there and I don't like gimmick fights that are meant to be trivialized like this. If you feel a moveset is good and well designed you don't feel the need to include a way to entirely stun the creature into doing nothing.

I'm still flabbergasted about everything around the Pus of Man bullshit. I was having some seriously bad feeling about the game when I met them the first time in Highwall of Lothric and my negative feelings only evaporated when I could confirm that this kind of retardation would not be throughout the game after going through the cathedral and catacombs. Putting this sort of shit into the game was retarded but doing it in Highwall made me wrongly think that the whole game would become that batshit but thankfully the insanity was limited to them and, to a much lesser extent, the boreal knights. I've died more to the latter than to all of the lore related bosses combined : Dancer, Pontiff, Vordt.
They could have been boss material for all the wrong reasons if you gave them more hitpoints and a second phase enrage.

 

[Jezal_k23]

I did forget about Untended Graves and Champion Gundyr. I'd rate them OK/awesome.

Good point about the NK, I forgot about his first phase too. Should be downgraded to good.

Lutte made some fair points as well. See, even when I'm trying to showcase why I felt the game was kind of mediocre, I'm also being too forgiving of several flaws that I should have considered, and if I lowered those ratings the game would probably end up with approximately an equal number of bad/awful/shit areas and good/great/awesome (since I have the impression the positive ratings win right now, but I didn't go count).

This is bad for a DS game imo. Pretty bad.

BTW thinking of maybe doing DS2 next, to see if my impression that it's better is wrong or not, since it also has some rough spots. It'll take a while though, these games are very long and I think DS2 is the longest of the trilogy.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Agreed, as a Souls game it was mediocre. I still enjoyed it, and I never really doubted I would finish it, which tends to happen to me in all but the very best games. It's just an incredibly solid formula, and I don't blame From too much for not changing a winning team; after all, there are a lot of games out there that never got the sequels they should have, and I'd rather see the attempt made than nothing at all. Iterative franchises are basically dead in the west, unfortunately.

You can also shit all over him. That is not a figure of speech

Souls youtubers do the craziest things.

Also, Lutte speaks the truth. Fuck the Pus of Man in its arse-equivalent with a rusty poker. Worst enemy of the entire series.

 

[Arnust]

Wew, Ds2 isn't gonna look too good on that sort of chart. Considering "the good stuff" being either more holistic or specific. Anywho. I'll say it again, but I don't think 3 should have been SO iterative of it was gonna be a series finale. But if that was the idea, then they could have gone fully into it and go super self referential, without pretense, a love letter to itself. It ultimately doesn't know what to really do with itself, and really doesn't become much more than "the most refined souls game I guess", that it's hard to find either in top high or top bottoms of rankings.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Wew, Ds2 isn't gonna look too good on that sort of chart. Considering "the good stuff" being either more holistic or specific. Anywho. I'll say it again, but I don't think 3 should have been SO iterative of it was gonna be a series finale. But if that was the idea, then they could have gone fully into it and go super self referential, without pretense, a love letter to itself. It ultimately doesn't know what to really do with itself, and really doesn't become much more than "the most refined souls game I guess", that it's hard to find either in top high or top bottoms of rankings.

With the bottom being Dark Souls 2 in most aspects and Bloodborne being the top in most aspects.

 

[Arnust]

With the bottom being Dark Souls 2 in most aspects and Bloodborne being the top in most aspects.

Their qualities are kargely irrelevant, I'm talking general consensus. In my experience I see either 1 or BB up there with 2 and rarely DeS ad the lowest.

 

[Wunderbar]

I did forget about Untended Graves and Champion Gundyr. I'd rate them OK/awesome.

untended graves is a lame rehash of cemetery of ash, why is it OK?

 

[Silva]

Yeah, that chart will do no good to DS2, since it's main qualities (builds, combat, fashion, multiplayer, majula, etc) are not mapped.

I did forget about Untended Graves and Champion Gundyr. I'd rate them OK/awesome.

untended graves is a lame rehash of cemetery of ash, why is it ok?

First it has better enemy selection and atmosphere. Then the context is better, I think, since you're coming from Oceitos domain, and find a hole to the past/alternate timeline and got to see whats it like when the flame is snuffed. It's one of the few moments in the game that really feels meaningful story-wise instead of another needless reiteration.

 

[toro]

If someone would be really rigorous then Dark Souls 3 would not qualify as a Dark Souls game.

For the last two weeks I watched some chick doing Bloodborne speed-runs and the most striking thing was that Dark Souls 3 is just BB reskinned. Entire areas and enemies are almost "literally" copied from BB.

This should not be an issue because technically BB's engine is clearly superior to DaS 1/2 engine and DaS3 takes full advantage of that however something went wrong after DaS2 - the soul of the original DaS in no longer there.

DaS1/DaS2: slow and methodical combat, poise works, multiple builds viable in PvP, original/medieval/Gothic lore.
BB/DaS3: fast pace action combat (encouraged to be aggressive), no poise because reasons (hyper armor!?), straight swords and R1 spam are OP in PvP, rehashed/Lovecraftian/Victorian lore.

Just think about it:
Dark Souls is released in 2011 and it sets a new benchmark for action role-playing games,
Dark Souls 2 is released in 2014 in a state nowhere close to what the original trailer was teasing, nevertheless the game is good (except the Soul Memory mechanic) and gets even better with the DLCs,
Bloodborne is released in 2015 and was created on Miyazaki's desire to create something "different" and not another Souls game (any retard can google for the exact quote)
Dark Souls 3 is released in 2016 and it was developed in parallel with BloodBorne, shares the same engine and the combat is crippled as in BB but somehow we should all believe that it's a true sequel to Demon's Souls or Dark Souls. Give me a break.

I have no issue with Bloodborne because it doesn't even mention Souls in the title (which is fine) but Dark Souls 3 is a complete hack job as Dark Souls game. Either Miyazaki doesn't know why Dark Souls was so good or he did Dark Souls 3 for the money.

At this point, I tend to believe both alternatives are valid and we will never see another slow pace action role-playing game from From Software.

 

[Wunderbar]

At this point, I tend to believe both alternatives are valid and we will never see another slow pace action role-playing game from From Software.

Yui Tanimura is still at From, so maybe they will work with namco one more time

 

[sullynathan]

At this point, I tend to believe both alternatives are valid and we will never see another slow pace action role-playing game from From Software.

this is a good thing, history has shown that the faster games we're always better action titles

 

[Somberlain]

I was just playing a new character in NG Irithyll. I had only two flasks left and was just going back to a bonfire and noticed that I couldn't interact with it. Then I was invaded by someone with Gael's Greatsword, Armor of Thorns, Lightning Heavy Crossbow and a shit ton of Lightning Urns and Firebombs.

Around level 55

 

[DragoFireheart]

Fromsoft needs to branch out and make a new IP so it's not tied down to moronics like Bambi Nub or Soy Studios.

 

[Adon]

Decided to give Dark Souls 3 a quick peek after finishing DaS2 just to get an idea of the changes since I plan on playing Tex Murphy: Overseer next as a break, and oooh boy. I can definitely see the Bloodborne influence here; it's clear that directing both at the same time (with BB most likely being Miyazaki's main focus) caused for BB's design to bleed into DaS3. Highwall of Lothric basically feels like a copy of Central Yharnam from the way some of the enemies look to the architecture which is clearly gothic -- it just lacks the same moody atmosphere -- to the way the level itself is cluttered. Overall though it was a good level, and no overabundance of bonfires as I've heard. Well at least as far as I know, I only ran into 2 in that whole area, but there are some places I haven't unlocked.

But it was no joke to hear that bonfires are literally 10 seconds away from each other. I reached the Undead Settlement, lit the first bonfire, got past the gate that's basically right in front of that bonfire and then found another bonfire within 5 seconds.



The only reason I went that far was to fight at least the first boss outside the tutorial area. Both were a joke.

 

[Adon]

Made some decent progress since the last time I played this. I made it through all of the Cathedral of the Deep, and now I'm at Farron Keep. So far the only boss that gave any real trouble is Cursed-rotted Greatwood which I thought was a decent concept with a mediocre execution. I ended up helping some other player out in coop so that I could get a better idea of what to do without having to run back through all those enemies if I died again. Which btw is pretty disappointing because after the first time I'm much more prone to run past every enemy in here than in the previous games.

I was even more disappointed with Deacons of the Deep because that could've been more interesting of a fight overall, but was even easier than everyone else. Crystal Wizard is not even worth mentioning.

Maybe it's because I've played Bloodborne, but I'm surprised at how much quicker I was able to adjust to the game than I did with DaS2. Took a bit to get used to coming off from DaS2, but once I did, I feel like I've been mostly breezing through levels. Although I'm sure it is partly due to how linear the game is. I mean Cathedral of the Deep was pretty good in comparison to every other location I've been to, but generally it's like there's a fork in my path and they both either take me to the same place, or to just a dead end that has an item or two.

So incentivizing an aggressive playstyle, linear levels, and bosses that aren't even a real challenge? Yeah, the decline is pretty apparent in this one; especially as a Souls game.

 

[Jokzore]

I don't get this ''linear levels'' criticism of DS3? How are the zones any more linear than DS1?

EDIT: If Curse greatwood gave you trouble you're in for an asswhooping later on.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

DS3 is the most linear game in the trilogy. No margin for discussion here. And it is not related with the level design quality of whatsoever... it has to do with their physical structure. It is not like the first Dark souls, with a convergent world design. Neither with DS2, which has a hub style with Majula being the core and different paths with death ends. It is linear like Demon's souls worlds.

 

[Wunderbar]

It is linear like Demon's souls worlds.

but in Demon's Souls you was able to explore all of these 5 worlds in any order. So DaS3 is more linear than DeS.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

dark souls is my favorite cat mario-like game

 

[Jokzore]

DS3 is the most linear game in the trilogy. No margin for discussion here. And it is not related with the level design quality of whatsoever... it has to do with their physical structure. It is not like the first Dark souls, with a convergent world design. Neither with DS2, which has a hub style with Majula being the core and different paths with death ends. It is linear like Demon's souls worlds.

Blanket statements is what people with no arguments use. Level for level DS3 has the same level of exploration and freedom that DS1 gives you. The only difference is that in DS1 all roads lead to Firelink shrine, which i suppose is cute and all, but it doesn't add anything gameplay-wise. The only reason it exists is because DS1 doesn't allow teleporting between levels, you have to run everywhere. I guess you could also try and do higher level content right off the bat, but you can do that in DS3 as well, just spawn the Dancer right after tutorial level.

 

[Jokzore]

With its weapon and build variety, fleshed out NPC quests, semi-functioning PvP and small quality of life improvements in form of inventory, boss weapon crafting and omni directional rolling DS3 is the best of the three. Even with its more bloodborne-esque aggressive style (which I despise, but that's just a question of opinion innit).

Most of the people who complain DS3 are absolute spazz monkeys that get infuriated that not every game is the same as the one 5 years ago.

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

If memory serves, DS2 was the first to have omnidirectional rolling.