From Software Dark Souls 3

[Cowboy Moment]

Strictly speaking, the only required bosses/areas in DS2 are the ones in the endgame starting at Drangleic Castle.

Still we should divide what it means linear in this case. Each level does have multiple paths to goal, shortcuts, optional areas and so on which means as levels they are not linear but early on you will have to beat one boss after another which in this case is linear. Only after you reach Sgrounds you will be able to go different directions fight different bosses etc.

can't wait to get to the endgame so that i can encounter these awesome bosses, because so far i've been thoroughly underwhelmed

Don't hold your breath, if you're quite good at the Soulsborne games there won't be anything overly challenging. I played DS1 and 2 to prepare myself for this one and the hardest boss (for me) only killed me six times. Anyway, as far as I can tell the end game bosses should be quite difficult for new/average players.

I honestly don't know why are you playing these games. By default you knew what build to make, you knew all the bosses patterns and you could execute every hit and roll with surgical precision. I mean where is the challenge when you are so good!?

Lol, dude, I'm not even bragging, you think it gives me a lot of satisfaction to breeze through most of the bosses? It's the opposite of that, what I was looking for was the frustration of getting stuck on a boss just like I did on O&S the first time and the satisfaction you feel once you overcome that. Also, where did I say that I knew all of the bosses patterns? I did my best to avoid spoilers and I had only seen the first three or so of them.

Did you use a shield? If not, you either have pretty good reflexes or learn movement patterns very quickly to have beaten Pontiff and Dancer in under 6 attempts. Both of those can punish small mistakes very harshly if you get unlucky.

 

[ghostdog]

So, can anything be done about the texture pop-in issue? In some areas it can be really annoying. I have a GTX970 with 4GB of memory, I don't think this is on me.

 

[Perkel]

idk really. playing SG and i have essentially shitload of places to cover. saw boreal but can't get there for now. In cathedral of deep currently

no you don't.

IDK means "i don't know". Just got to boreal. That cathedral boss was the worst boss in DS3 so far. Second pinwell basically in therm of def.

So, can anything be done about the texture pop-in issue? In some areas it can be really annoying. I have a GTX970 with 4GB of memory, I don't think this is on me.

?? for me there aren't any pop ins.

Also you don't have 4GB. You have 3,5 + 500 virtual. Maybe this is the reason ? Game loads up into your 500 mb of shitty ram and can't keep up switching textures ? Generally it shouldn't do that but i don't know how you are playing with enough res this could be it.

Playing on SSD btw

 

[Murk]

Anyone else find the game running like shit? Even on low settings I'm getting constant dips into 15fps territory, enough that I'm unable to play online for any consistent length (btw, hilarious that instead of just going offline it kicks you back to the main menu.)

EDIT: Oh, it appears I'm not alone.

I'm hoping they push some optimization patch as I'm not likely to build a new desktop for a while.

 

[Damned Registrations]

first boss is Gundyr. after that, you have to kill Vordt (you can also kill the Dancer at this point, but it's an excercise in tedium and near pointlessness that accomplishes nothing other than giving you souls and not having to fight the boss later). after that, you have to kill the shitty wood boss (actually, you can skip the actual boss fight, but why would you do that as it's required for boss soul transfusions?), after that, you have to kill both the deacons (and the pinwheel sage on the way), and the watchers. and after that, you have to kill the big skellie dude. after that, you have to kill Priest McSullivan. now i have 2 mandatory paths i can take. yay! so open and non-linear! so far, the only optional boss (and according area) has been the demon king.

So, to sum up, you don't have to kill any of the bosses you mentioned in any particular order, and you're just doing it as you meet them because you're retarded? Did you entirely miss the stray demon? Did it not occur to you that fighting the dancer early lets you reap huge rewards for that stage of the game, and therefore isn't pointless at all, not to mention it unlocks paths to 3 more bosses? After killing Vordt your next boss kill could be the dancer, sage, stray demon, greatwood, watchers, or deacons. But yeah, no options at all, totally and completely linear, woe is us.

Totally full of shit. Your complaint basically boils down to 'I can't finish the game by only killing 3 bosses, this isn't non-linear at all!'

 

[Perkel]

Anyone else find the game running like shit? Even on low settings I'm getting constant dips into 15fps territory, enough that I'm unable to play online for any consistent length (btw, hilarious that instead of just going offline it kicks you back to the main menu.)

EDIT: Oh, it appears I'm not alone.

I'm hoping they push some optimization patch as I'm not likely to build a new desktop for a while.

what is your rig ?

It's a laptop, but it runs games of similar graphical quality just fine at med-to-high settings. Ran ds 2/scholar smooth as silk.

a10 quad @ 2.5ghz, radeon 8750m, 8gb ram

sorry to break it you but 8750m is gpu that at best can handle Far Cry 2 ~40 fps @ 720p dx10 high detail.

DS3 is like eons above FC2 in therms of graphic and tech it uses. I don't think anyone can do anything here. Only way for you to get better fps would be for devs to release basically stripped down version of game from most of geometry (which is chock full off)

 

[Urbanolo]

Finished the game today, fortunately didn't have even a single crash. Still, the game's the worst DS game I've played to date. Most of the issues were already mentioned (infinite stamina monster/bosses, bloodborne feel, poise not working, PvP being god awful shit, fucking worse fanservice than in the newest Star Wars movie) so there's nothing more to add.

But it has shitload of shortcuts, so retards will all go 'MIYAZAKI PERFECT WORLD DESIGN' even though the game's linear as shit (moreso than any previous dark souls game), and only forks 3 times.

 

[Murk]

Anyone else find the game running like shit? Even on low settings I'm getting constant dips into 15fps territory, enough that I'm unable to play online for any consistent length (btw, hilarious that instead of just going offline it kicks you back to the main menu.)

EDIT: Oh, it appears I'm not alone.

I'm hoping they push some optimization patch as I'm not likely to build a new desktop for a while.

what is your rig ?

It's a laptop, but it runs games of similar graphical quality just fine at med-to-high settings. Ran ds 2/scholar smooth as silk.

a10 quad @ 2.5ghz, radeon 8750m, 8gb ram

---------

I'm gonna try different resolutions and some shit to see if I can up the performance. So far it's playable but not enjoyable, and makes certain enemies/bosses outright unbearable (namely the ones that fuck with the camera and blind you with their screen covering bodies.)

Content wise, only thing I can really say is I'm not terribly fond of the blue/gray everything and everywhere, but otherwise it seems fun enough. The animations are pretty derpy though, especially the 'locked on and running around' pvp dance. Straight out of ds 1 I guess. It's hard to judge the game when the actual experience is marred by low FPS and I can't get any online activity, but eh such is life.

 

[Wolfe]

Did you use a shield? If not, you either have pretty good reflexes or learn movement patterns very quickly to have beaten Pontiff and Dancer in under 6 attempts. Both of those can punish small mistakes very harshly if you get unlucky.

No shield through the whole game, but I agree, Pontiff was the first boss I had trouble with. Dancer not so much, but damn, she's an amazing boss.

 

[Perkel]

After killing Vordt your next boss kill could be the dancer, sage, stray demon, greatwood, watchers, or deacons.

??

isn't greatwood nessesary to open road to road of sacrifice ?
sage blocks your way to deacons

I think point here is that in all other DS games you have simply more roads to choose from start while in DS3 you are railoaded into essentially one of two-three pathes that in the end will end up in that place boss fight.

Can't comment on what is later but that is till boreal. Can't seem to find any other road to go somewhere else at this point.

 

[toro]

Still we should divide what it means linear in this case. Each level does have multiple paths to goal, shortcuts, optional areas and so on which means as levels they are not linear but early on you will have to beat one boss after another which in this case is linear. Only after you reach Sgrounds you will be able to go different directions fight different bosses etc.

can't wait to get to the endgame so that i can encounter these awesome bosses, because so far i've been thoroughly underwhelmed

Don't hold your breath, if you're quite good at the Soulsborne games there won't be anything overly challenging. I played DS1 and 2 to prepare myself for this one and the hardest boss (for me) only killed me six times. Anyway, as far as I can tell the end game bosses should be quite difficult for new/average players.

I honestly don't know why are you playing these games. By default you knew what build to make, you knew all the bosses patterns and you could execute every hit and roll with surgical precision. I mean where is the challenge when you are so good!?

Lol, dude, I'm not even bragging, you think it gives me a lot of satisfaction to breeze through most of the bosses? It's the opposite of that, what I was looking for was the frustration of getting stuck on a boss just like I did on O&S the first time and the satisfaction you feel once you overcome that. Also, where did I say that I knew all of the bosses patterns? I did my best to avoid spoilers and I had only seen the first three or so of them.

Did you use a shield? If not, you either have pretty good reflexes or learn movement patterns very quickly to have beaten Pontiff and Dancer in under 6 attempts. Both of those can punish small mistakes very harshly if you get unlucky.

He is just gifted in a way that we mere mortals cannot understand.

* He is praising a game which didn't give him satisfaction.

** He is not bragging when he is actually bragging.

*** I give up. I cannot comprehend the knowledge encapsulated in his posts.

 

[ghostdog]

So, can anything be done about the texture pop-in issue? In some areas it can be really annoying. I have a GTX970 with 4GB of memory, I don't think this is on me.

?? for me there aren't any pop ins.

Also you don't have 4GB. You have 3,5 + 500 virtual. Maybe this is the reason ? Game loads up into your 500 mb of shitty ram and can't keep up switching textures ? Generally it shouldn't do that but i don't know how you are playing with enough res this could be it.

Playing on SSD btw

I'm playing on ssd too. The texture pop-ins became very visible after the undead settlement area especially near the dilapidated bridge bonfire. The damn rock walls very visibly change texture quality a couple of times as you come closer.

 

[toro]

first boss is Gundyr. after that, you have to kill Vordt (you can also kill the Dancer at this point, but it's an excercise in tedium and near pointlessness that accomplishes nothing other than giving you souls and not having to fight the boss later). after that, you have to kill the shitty wood boss (actually, you can skip the actual boss fight, but why would you do that as it's required for boss soul transfusions?), after that, you have to kill both the deacons (and the pinwheel sage on the way), and the watchers. and after that, you have to kill the big skellie dude. after that, you have to kill Priest McSullivan. now i have 2 mandatory paths i can take. yay! so open and non-linear! so far, the only optional boss (and according area) has been the demon king.

So, to sum up, you don't have to kill any of the bosses you mentioned in any particular order, and you're just doing it as you meet them because you're retarded? Did you entirely the stray demon? Did it not occur to you that fighting the dancer early lets you reap huge rewards for that stage of the game, and therefore isn't pointless at all, not to mention it unlocks paths to 3 more bosses? After killing Vordt your next boss kill could be the dancer, sage, stray demon, greatwood, watchers, or deacons. But yeah, no options at all, totally and completely linear, woe is us.

Totally full of shit. Your complaint basically boils down to 'I can't finish the game by only killing 3 bosses, this isn't non-linear at all!'

Look at the map: 3 lords required even if you kill the dancer.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Except it isn't, the map is wrong. I killed the dancer before I even finished catacombs. To clarify; I had attempted both dragonslayer armour and oceiros before finishing catacombs, and gathered quite a lot of titanite chunks in the process of exploring lothric castle.

 

[Wolfe]

He is just gifted in a way that we mere mortals cannot understand.

* He is praising a game which didn't give him satisfaction.

** He is not bragging when he is actually bragging.

*** I give up. I cannot comprehend the knowledge encapsulated in his posts.

Then give up, you're not doing anything else except pulling words out of your ass. I said I never felt such great satisfaction as when I killed the most difficult boss from the first game. Does that mean I had 0 satisfaction? Not even close. Can I not praise the boss design, atmosphere and movesets even though it wasn't that challenging for me? How the fuck am I bragging or being obnoxious?

 

[Damned Registrations]

isn't greatwood nessesary to open road to road of sacrifice ?
sage blocks your way to deacons

You're probably right about the sage, but I'm sure greatwood is just optional. It's in a total dead end that leads nowhere.

The bottom line is that unless you're at the very end of the game and have systematically wiped out all your other options first, you've always got other routes to progress in whenever you feel stuck on a boss or area. Arguing that it's linear because you need to kill them eventually is a non sequitur; that isn't what linearity means. The fact that the catacombs are gated behind the watchers is no different than the sinner being gated behind the ruin sentinels in DS2. Big fucking deal.

 

[sullynathan]

Some people need to git gud

 

[toro]

Except it isn't, the map is wrong. I killed the dancer before I even finished catacombs. To clarify; I had attempted both dragonslayer armour and oceiros before finishing catacombs, and gathered quite a lot of titanite chunks in the process of exploring lothric castle.

Maybe, I did not check it myself. But here are a couple of points:

1. The area after the dancer is for high level players.

2. Most players are under-leveled for killing Dancer at that point. In fact, I remember giving up because I was doing something like 50-100 dmg per hit which is shit.

3. Also a normal player would not kill the priestess by default. I know there is a ladder above her but the game doesn't say why she needs to die.

4. Later after a boss fight you are automatically teleported in front of the priestess and I think (I'm not sure) but you break a quest if you kill her too soon.

The game expects and enforces a certain path on the player. It might be true that you can do it but not on the 1st blind playthrough. *In retrospective, I just realized Namco managed to spoil the game story. Fucking cretins.

Anyway, in reality most players will take the path of less resistance which is the path intended by Miyazaki. You might be the exception to the rule.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I mean, thats exactly what I did on my blind first playthrough, so... git gud?

In all seriousness though, even ignoring the dancer (it is admittedly a bit obscure -that ladder is super obvious and tempting though- and rather difficult, akin to getting the key to the seal early in DS1 and fighting something like Sif before the taurus demon) you still have a lot of options after Vordt. If you're not some walktrhough following mongoloid, you've no reason to suspect the greatwood is any more or less important than the watchers or the sage for your progression. I had gone all the way to the keep before I backtracked to fight it, and had yet to explore several other minor paths as well which I thought might lead to bosses or new areas. That is a ton of space to explore openly, and most of your options from that point reveal more areas after fighting them.

 

[Perkel]

isn't greatwood nessesary to open road to road of sacrifice ?
sage blocks your way to deacons

You're probably right about the sage, but I'm sure greatwood is just optional. It's in a total dead end that leads nowhere.

oh i think i know why i thought this way.

When i reached those door to SC they were in fog and i couldn't enter so probably it wasn't game blockade but someone tried to connect to me while online. So i beat greatwood and then those doors were not in fog anymore.

Where the hell people you found road to that castle though ? I think i searched every nook and crany of highwall and undead village. No don't spoil it !.

 

[toro]

He is just gifted in a way that we mere mortals cannot understand.

* He is praising a game which didn't give him satisfaction.

** He is not bragging when he is actually bragging.

*** I give up. I cannot comprehend the knowledge encapsulated in his posts.

Then give up, you're not doing anything else except pulling words out of your ass. I said I never felt such great satisfaction as when I killed the most difficult boss from the first game. Does that mean I had 0 satisfaction? Not even close. Can I not praise the boss design, atmosphere and movesets even though it wasn't that challenging for me? How the fuck am I bragging or being obnoxious?

You are a poseur. End of the story.

Some people need to git gud

The second poseur in this thread.

And Perkel which is just retarded. Honestly, this guy is not even posting logical arguments. He is either suffering from autism or he is high.

Well, enjoy the club. 3 imbeciles craving attention. Posting mostly apologetic shit, denying facts and bragging about their epenis. There are a plethora of broken mechanics in the game but not one of you will ever post any criticism to the game. Did not happen and will not happen.

And you know what is the problem with poseurs like you? You never contribute anything to the discussion because in the end: IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU.

In fact all your posts about DaS3 could be resumed in one meme "git gud". Because that's actually all you have to say on this topic.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

There's a lot of space to explore in a given area, but if you do explore every area thoroughly, the linear nature of the game is quite apparent. The moment I moved to Road of Sacrifice from Undead Settlement, I knew this was the only path left to me, and I also knew that there were two paths leading from RoS. In fact, when playing these games, I always keep a mental checklist of "places I can go right now" - and in previous Souls games said lists would be way longer than in DS3.

 

[Wolfe]

You are a poseur. End of the story.

And you are a retard. I'll tag you when I post my review of the game so you can delight in reading my criticisms of the game.

 

[Metro]

So are there any areas like Sen's Fortress or places that have excessive platforming?

 

[Damned Registrations]

I mean, when I was at that point in the game, my checklist was (this should be obvious but spoilers for people still playing blind):

Fight the greatwood
Fight the sage (I ended up doing this, which simply changed it to 'explore the cathedral')
Go fight the fire thing in the settlement with seigmeyer
Fight the watchers
Fight the dancer
Explore the swamp some more
Buy the key to the tower

That didn't feel very linear at all. By the time I only had one possible boss left to fight (as far as I knew, I actually missed 2 whole areas on my playthrough so I literally always had at least 3 options everywhere between Vordt and the very end) I was basically at the very endgame and only had 3 bosses left before I finished.

DS2 felt a lot more linear while I was playing, mostly because a lot of the 'options' didn't feel like options. I missed heide completely because of that retarded chain pull door being in a spot I never saw after exploring that room like 5 times, the well was a deathtrap, I had no branch to open the way to the woods, so all I had to go on was basically forest of giants, extremely linear and dull. Later I had access to cursed woods and it opened up a bit, but still in a rather linear fashion, because I happened to kill the chariot first, which led nowhere, and because I finished the boss chains to the great souls one at a time instead of hopping between them which would have made it feel open.

This largely boils down to happenstance in where you chose to go at any given time, I could see the game feeling linear if you coincidentally ran into one dead end after another. But there's certainly nothing forcing you to play that way, just like there's nothing stopping you from going into the catacombs or lower londo in DS1 (which is still probably the least linear of the series imo.) and nothing was stopping me from doing all sorts of shit in DS2 that would have made it a lot less linear for me.

Edit: In regards to my progression, I was also only ever artifically restricted/gated once: the archives weren't open after I killed the boss before them, so that felt like a cheap dead end. OTOH, in retrospect, I can see why that was barred when I was there and I still had plenty of options left.