thomasmahler
Member
Aloha!
I just finished Dark Souls 3 earlier today (English Xbox One Version) and wanted to start a review thread, so everyone who finished it could join in and players could get a few honest reviews before launch. Note that all of this is highly subjective and based on my previous experiences with the Souls series.
So, first of all, let me get this out of the way:
This is easily one of the best games to come out in recent years. It's easily better than Bloodborne and will probably end up being one of the best games of this generation. Dark Souls 3 is truly the Dark Souls 1 sequel everyone has been waiting for and more.
For a few reasons, I don't feel like it quite holds up to Dark Souls 1, but I'm sure that'll boil down to personal preference.
My personal ranking of the Souls games after finishing DS3 now would be DS1 -> DS3 -> DeS -> DS2 -> Bloodborne. Again, this is HIGHLY subjective. I loved Bloodborne for what it was, but the design choices that were made there (forcing players to effective run through the game with a single weapon, all armors effectively being the same, all builds feeling very similar to one another, etc. just killed the replay value) didn't agree with me at all. But let's stick with Dark Souls 3...
So, let's break it apart:
1) Difficulty: I was really surprised by that - This is a tough as nails game. I felt like it was harder than Dark Souls 1 (might also be because I finished Dark Souls 1 like 20 times already), but if you thought that this would be an easier game, think again: The beginning of DS3 is still a bit soft on you, but once you get to the mid / late stages, you better make sure you're a damn good Souls player or you'll get eaten alive. Some of the bosses in this game will probably go down as the hardest the series has ever seen. You'll experience shit like taking down a boss after 5 tries only to find out that that was only phase 1 and now you're faced with another full boss health bar when phase 2 is starting... I haven't played through the game with any online functionality, so I'm sure once you invite other players, the difficulty level will go way down again, but brace yourself if you want to do it all yourself, this game will do nasty things to you. Better bring some lube.
2) Layouts / Levels: Personally, I feel like Dark Souls 1 still takes the cake on this one. Dark Souls 1 to me was basically Zelda 1. Once you got through the tutorial part, you were free to go wherever you wanted, you could make your way to places like Blighttown, Valley of the Drakes, Tomb of Giants, etc. right away - The game taught you to not go there in the same way Zelda 1 did 20 years before: By placing enemies along the way that'll rip you apart, so you understand that you'll have to return later. Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 went into a different direction: The games ended up being far more linear. Yes, there are some side things to do apart from the critical path and sometimes you can choose to either do this or that area first, but it's a far cry from the direction Dark Souls 1 laid out. New players will probably be happy about that, but this kinda design definitely diminishes the crazy replay value you got out of Dark Souls 1 by trying to find better and better ways to get good equipment right at the start or to finish the game in a new and unique way. Again, DS1 worked like Zelda 1: Either enter the first dungeon or roam around and get the Master Sword right away. Dark Souls 3 feels more like the later Zeldas: There are some things to do apart from the critical path, but you're way more constrained. People who preferred Bloodborne over Souls will probably like this design choice, I felt like it was a step backwards.
3) Combat: I was really hoping for the combat system, especially the sword arts stuff to become a much bigger part of combat, so that the combat would become much more diverse and PVP more interesting. Sadly, I found that the Sword Arts system didn't really add that much to the (already fantastic) Dark Souls combat. I rarely used the Sword Arts skills and found quite a lot of them fairly useless. Granted, this might be due to the weapons I used to finish the game, but seeing how the Sword Arts stuff isn't adding a lot, I also didn't spec heavily into Attunement (the skill that enhances your mana bar). So yeah, we're once again dealing with the same old Dark Souls combat system: It's still as brilliant as ever, but little has changed. I think it could've been cool if the player could've unlocked various new skills for each weapon and customized that, so that even players with the same weapons could get way different playstyles. Just stuff like that would've helped to make the Dark Souls combat feel even deeper. Regarding PVE, the good old tricks still very much work: With most bosses and heavier enemies, you're usually well advised to just stay very close to them, wait for an opening and then start hitting them -> Rinse and Repeat. Now, sticking close to what you're good at is not a bad thing, but why not try to make the combat even better than it was before? The things that were added are nice little additions, but I definitely had high hopes for a more varied combat scheme this time around.
4) Innovation: I was a bit worried about From Software not being able to have enough time on DS3 - I mean, we've seen From releasing a new Souls game every year now since Dark Souls 2 and I personally would've loved to see them do a few cooler things. One of the things I always wanted to see in the Souls games was an actual change in the weapons when you upgrade them: Don't just tweak the specs, make them look and feel more powerful. None of that is there this time either, the weapons just get stronger and stronger. You also can't upgrade any armors anymore, which is a pity. In general, this very much felt like another Souls iteration: Great for people who just wanted more Souls, but in terms of bringing new stuff to the formula, DS3 adds very little.
5) Bosses: The cornerstone of every Souls game. Luckily, I think this is where Dark Souls 3 hit all the right notes: Many times your jaw will fall to the ground and you'll be flabbergasted about a boss just ripping you to pieces within a mere seconds.
Yes, some of you might be disappointed that we again see a lot of dudes in armors with big swords: There's definitely a lot of that in Dark Souls 3. There is a distinct lack of monsters and dragons and crazy creatures here. You'll not find anything like a Gaping Dragon or Khalameet or Manus in this game. While that's a slight bit disappointing, I was always more focused on the mechanical side of things here and wasn't that concerned with what the shape of the boss is and man, is this stuff ever good. Most of these bosses are ruthless and unless you're willing to dance to the death with them and use all your rolling and Souls skills, you'll get brutally fisted. While I was a bit disappointed with the first 4-5 bosses and them going down very quickly, the difficulty soon ramped up to crazy levels and some of these bosses gave me the hardest time I ever had with a Souls game. A lot of them took me a good 10-15 tries to finally nail them and yes, finally beating a boss still feels ever so satisfying.
6) Graphics: Let me preface this with the fact that I played version 1.0 and it seems like the patch that'll come out launch day will optimize the framerate quite a bit, but often times playing this game on Xbox One was a painful experience: Most of the time you play with somewhat stuttery 30fps, a lot of times during combat, the framerate dips down to probably around 20-25fps and in some of the mid- and later stage boss battles, the game dips so hard in performance that you actually start playing in slow motion. This is obviously a big issue and I hope From optimized the hell out of the game towards the end of development, which isn't unheard of.
That said, this game looks exactly what I hoped a Next-Gen Dark Souls would look like. There are quite a few environments that look utterly stunning and will want you to just put the controller down to stare at the scenery: This is easily the best looking Souls game ever made. Not just because of the tech behind it, but because of the Art Direction. The first time you'll reach that castle during snowfall, you will absolutely be stunned by the sheer beauty. There are a few areas where the look doesn't quite hold up, but it never ever repeats what Dark Souls 1 did, putting you into huge, empty, barren environments that look far worse than earlier areas of the game. It's a stunner through and through.
Verdict: I consider Dark Souls 3 to be the true sequel to Dark Souls 1 and everyone who loved that game will undoubtedly love Dark Souls 3. While it doesn't add a whole lot of new stuff to From's trusty formula, this game shows an incredible confidence in design and I'm pretty sure it'll keep players playing for years on end. I finished my first playthrough at level 92 after about 40 hours of playtime and I'm already going back in to try a Bow-only and a Sorc build next. This is easily a 9/10 game, a true classic and will easily end up being one of the defining games of this console generation. You've done it again, Miyazaki, you crazy bastard.
I just finished Dark Souls 3 earlier today (English Xbox One Version) and wanted to start a review thread, so everyone who finished it could join in and players could get a few honest reviews before launch. Note that all of this is highly subjective and based on my previous experiences with the Souls series.
So, first of all, let me get this out of the way:
This is easily one of the best games to come out in recent years. It's easily better than Bloodborne and will probably end up being one of the best games of this generation. Dark Souls 3 is truly the Dark Souls 1 sequel everyone has been waiting for and more.
For a few reasons, I don't feel like it quite holds up to Dark Souls 1, but I'm sure that'll boil down to personal preference.
My personal ranking of the Souls games after finishing DS3 now would be DS1 -> DS3 -> DeS -> DS2 -> Bloodborne. Again, this is HIGHLY subjective. I loved Bloodborne for what it was, but the design choices that were made there (forcing players to effective run through the game with a single weapon, all armors effectively being the same, all builds feeling very similar to one another, etc. just killed the replay value) didn't agree with me at all. But let's stick with Dark Souls 3...
So, let's break it apart:
1) Difficulty: I was really surprised by that - This is a tough as nails game. I felt like it was harder than Dark Souls 1 (might also be because I finished Dark Souls 1 like 20 times already), but if you thought that this would be an easier game, think again: The beginning of DS3 is still a bit soft on you, but once you get to the mid / late stages, you better make sure you're a damn good Souls player or you'll get eaten alive. Some of the bosses in this game will probably go down as the hardest the series has ever seen. You'll experience shit like taking down a boss after 5 tries only to find out that that was only phase 1 and now you're faced with another full boss health bar when phase 2 is starting... I haven't played through the game with any online functionality, so I'm sure once you invite other players, the difficulty level will go way down again, but brace yourself if you want to do it all yourself, this game will do nasty things to you. Better bring some lube.
2) Layouts / Levels: Personally, I feel like Dark Souls 1 still takes the cake on this one. Dark Souls 1 to me was basically Zelda 1. Once you got through the tutorial part, you were free to go wherever you wanted, you could make your way to places like Blighttown, Valley of the Drakes, Tomb of Giants, etc. right away - The game taught you to not go there in the same way Zelda 1 did 20 years before: By placing enemies along the way that'll rip you apart, so you understand that you'll have to return later. Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 went into a different direction: The games ended up being far more linear. Yes, there are some side things to do apart from the critical path and sometimes you can choose to either do this or that area first, but it's a far cry from the direction Dark Souls 1 laid out. New players will probably be happy about that, but this kinda design definitely diminishes the crazy replay value you got out of Dark Souls 1 by trying to find better and better ways to get good equipment right at the start or to finish the game in a new and unique way. Again, DS1 worked like Zelda 1: Either enter the first dungeon or roam around and get the Master Sword right away. Dark Souls 3 feels more like the later Zeldas: There are some things to do apart from the critical path, but you're way more constrained. People who preferred Bloodborne over Souls will probably like this design choice, I felt like it was a step backwards.
3) Combat: I was really hoping for the combat system, especially the sword arts stuff to become a much bigger part of combat, so that the combat would become much more diverse and PVP more interesting. Sadly, I found that the Sword Arts system didn't really add that much to the (already fantastic) Dark Souls combat. I rarely used the Sword Arts skills and found quite a lot of them fairly useless. Granted, this might be due to the weapons I used to finish the game, but seeing how the Sword Arts stuff isn't adding a lot, I also didn't spec heavily into Attunement (the skill that enhances your mana bar). So yeah, we're once again dealing with the same old Dark Souls combat system: It's still as brilliant as ever, but little has changed. I think it could've been cool if the player could've unlocked various new skills for each weapon and customized that, so that even players with the same weapons could get way different playstyles. Just stuff like that would've helped to make the Dark Souls combat feel even deeper. Regarding PVE, the good old tricks still very much work: With most bosses and heavier enemies, you're usually well advised to just stay very close to them, wait for an opening and then start hitting them -> Rinse and Repeat. Now, sticking close to what you're good at is not a bad thing, but why not try to make the combat even better than it was before? The things that were added are nice little additions, but I definitely had high hopes for a more varied combat scheme this time around.
4) Innovation: I was a bit worried about From Software not being able to have enough time on DS3 - I mean, we've seen From releasing a new Souls game every year now since Dark Souls 2 and I personally would've loved to see them do a few cooler things. One of the things I always wanted to see in the Souls games was an actual change in the weapons when you upgrade them: Don't just tweak the specs, make them look and feel more powerful. None of that is there this time either, the weapons just get stronger and stronger. You also can't upgrade any armors anymore, which is a pity. In general, this very much felt like another Souls iteration: Great for people who just wanted more Souls, but in terms of bringing new stuff to the formula, DS3 adds very little.
5) Bosses: The cornerstone of every Souls game. Luckily, I think this is where Dark Souls 3 hit all the right notes: Many times your jaw will fall to the ground and you'll be flabbergasted about a boss just ripping you to pieces within a mere seconds.
Yes, some of you might be disappointed that we again see a lot of dudes in armors with big swords: There's definitely a lot of that in Dark Souls 3. There is a distinct lack of monsters and dragons and crazy creatures here. You'll not find anything like a Gaping Dragon or Khalameet or Manus in this game. While that's a slight bit disappointing, I was always more focused on the mechanical side of things here and wasn't that concerned with what the shape of the boss is and man, is this stuff ever good. Most of these bosses are ruthless and unless you're willing to dance to the death with them and use all your rolling and Souls skills, you'll get brutally fisted. While I was a bit disappointed with the first 4-5 bosses and them going down very quickly, the difficulty soon ramped up to crazy levels and some of these bosses gave me the hardest time I ever had with a Souls game. A lot of them took me a good 10-15 tries to finally nail them and yes, finally beating a boss still feels ever so satisfying.
6) Graphics: Let me preface this with the fact that I played version 1.0 and it seems like the patch that'll come out launch day will optimize the framerate quite a bit, but often times playing this game on Xbox One was a painful experience: Most of the time you play with somewhat stuttery 30fps, a lot of times during combat, the framerate dips down to probably around 20-25fps and in some of the mid- and later stage boss battles, the game dips so hard in performance that you actually start playing in slow motion. This is obviously a big issue and I hope From optimized the hell out of the game towards the end of development, which isn't unheard of.
That said, this game looks exactly what I hoped a Next-Gen Dark Souls would look like. There are quite a few environments that look utterly stunning and will want you to just put the controller down to stare at the scenery: This is easily the best looking Souls game ever made. Not just because of the tech behind it, but because of the Art Direction. The first time you'll reach that castle during snowfall, you will absolutely be stunned by the sheer beauty. There are a few areas where the look doesn't quite hold up, but it never ever repeats what Dark Souls 1 did, putting you into huge, empty, barren environments that look far worse than earlier areas of the game. It's a stunner through and through.
Verdict: I consider Dark Souls 3 to be the true sequel to Dark Souls 1 and everyone who loved that game will undoubtedly love Dark Souls 3. While it doesn't add a whole lot of new stuff to From's trusty formula, this game shows an incredible confidence in design and I'm pretty sure it'll keep players playing for years on end. I finished my first playthrough at level 92 after about 40 hours of playtime and I'm already going back in to try a Bow-only and a Sorc build next. This is easily a 9/10 game, a true classic and will easily end up being one of the defining games of this console generation. You've done it again, Miyazaki, you crazy bastard.
