Dark Souls III Review Thread

yeah, the music really is pretty good. The way it responds the the fight in progress is simple but very effective.
 
MineralCraver420 said:
Since everyone's ranking the SoulBorne Games

Bloodborne > Dark Souls >> Dark Souls 3 > Demon's Souls >>>> Dark Souls 2

Bloodborne and Dark Souls are both very close to me, and among the finest games of their generations. I prefer Bloodborne's atmosphere, lore and gameplay though.
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I think only BB2 could top BB for me. Like you, I prefer its gameplay, setting and lore. Also: trick weapons are the best.
 
These review threads are so full of here's mine here's mine, so if y'all want the opinions of some random internet person

Here's mine:

Its good, buy it.
 
semiconscious said:
in english, please? :) ...
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Bloody phone hates me sorry lol, the characters fit the theme of slowly and quietly losing an unwinnable battle.

Much like someone who dies in their sleep, no matter how hard you struggle, your energy will wain and you go quietly into the night was my general point.
 
RevenWolf said:
I like that you count lore/world building/ story as three separate things when for the most part they're pretty much the same in these games :p

Unless you mean character stories which I still prefers ds2 which has a more extended look at a characters fall jock fits it's overall theme of gently losing an unsinkable battle and slipping away.
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No, they're clearly not haha. Story is what you actually do in the game, lore/world building exist outside of that. I'd also use world building as a substitute for "sense of place" or atmosphere of that makes sense.

In DS2 case, the story makes no sense ("Seek the king?" Huh? Why? Why do I have to go to this sea prison and kill a lady with a bug in her face first? And now there's some giant trees that I have to time travel through? What's with this chair?), the lore is pretty garbage ("Everything's muddled, this might be a callback to the previous game... or it might not be. Who can say? The curse muddles all"), and the world building is atrocious (the famous surprise volcano).

And the character stories in DS2 are shit too because they just move to Medula and sell you stuff after you talk to them a few times. The end. The only exception is Lucatiel.


Dark Souls 3 does all this stuff better than DS2, which is good.
 
Titanoboa said:
No, they're clearly not haha. Story is what you actually do in the game, lore/world building exist outside of that. I'd also use world building as a substitute for "sense of place" or atmosphere of that makes sense.

In DS2 case, the story makes no sense ("Seek the king?" Huh? Why? Why do I have to go to this sea prison and kill a lady with a bug in her face first? And now there's some giant trees that I have to time travel through? What's with this chair?), the lore is pretty garbage ("Everything's muddled, this might be a callback to the previous game... or it might not be. Who can say? The curse muddles all"), and the world building is atrocious (the famous surprise volcano).

And the character stories in DS2 are shit too because they just move to Medula and sell you stuff after you talk to them a few times. The end. The only exception is Lucatiel.


Dark Souls 3 does all this stuff better than DS2, which is good.
Click to expand...

I'm not even going to address the great souls when you miss the entire points of those gathered in Majula.

When you first meet them they are fairly close to the edge but still lucid, as the game progresses and you achieve their goals for them, they feel joy at it, but by achieving their goal they just lost their primary goal in life, and you see in their dialogue as they start to slip into full hollowness as a result.

But as I mentioned story beats, characters and world building is FAR from objective.

Not to mention that your hate of ds2 is kinda well known, you prefer ds1 and that's great! It's a fantastic game (all the ones in the series are) but you gotta tone done the hyperbole about the negative aspects of the ones you don't like, every single one of them is better than the majority of games our right now.


*edit also glad you feel ds3 did it better than ds2 and thus presumably enjoyed it more than ds2, it's always nice seeing people enjoy games :)
 
Emedan said:
DLC doesn't magically fix all the fundamental design flaws in DkS2. DsK1 was nearly the perfect adventure
Click to expand...

Perfect? Baaaaaahahah.

Everything post-Anor Londo is too dreadful to enjoy and I honestly hate a larger percentage of Dark Souls 1 bosses more than I do Dark Souls 2 bosses.

And honestly "lack of interconnected world" isn't a flaw. Lack of a sense of space didn't detract it for me much at all. I preferred Dark Souls 2's combat and think it has generally better bosses even if there are some reeeal bad ones. Dark Souls 1 makes some shitty bosses as well and worst of all they're giant big and fat shitty ones. I'll take a dull swordsman boss any day of the week.

On top of that I ended up getting more invested in Dark Souls 2's lore (I just like Vendrick, Nashandra, the whole fragments of the abyss, Aldia way more than anything in Dark Souls 1).

And on top of all of that, you have the Dark Souls 2 trio of DLC. Fuckin' god damn, it was the best back to back content period to go through. Getting more of Vendrick, and the daughters of the Abyss, and my fucking god, they actually made the best damn levels since Latria and Stonefang 2-2. I adored every second of each of those DLCs. I can't praise them enough, that trio of DLCs alone shits so highly over all of Dark Souls 1 that I just don't really care for anything Dark Souls 1 did. It solidified what I already loved about Demon's Souls. The singular large complex and maze like levels are the best and I'm tired of anything outside since we get so few of them.

Demon's Souls > BB > DS2 =?= DS3 > DS1

Dark Souls 1 just doesn't do anything I adore above any of the other games in the series. I'll borrow Yoshichan's score: 6/10
 
RevenWolf said:
I'm not even going to address the great souls when you miss the entire points of those gathered in Majula.

When you first meet them they are fairly close to the edge but still lucid, as the game progresses and you achieve their goals for them, they feel joy at it, but by achieving their goal they just lost their primary goal in life, and you see in their dialogue as they start to slip into full hollowness as a result.

But as I mentioned story beats, characters and world building is FAR from objective.

Not to mention that your hate of ds2 is kinda well known, you prefer ds1 and that's great! It's a fantastic game (all the ones in the series are) but you gotta tone done the hyperbole about the negative aspects of the ones you don't like, every single one of them is better than the majority of games our right now.
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That whole hollowing thing is done better in DS1 though, and those characters feel more like independent beings because they don't sit in one spot forever and do nothing else ever again after you talk to them three times.

The way the story is told and your goals are made clear is also objectively better handled in DS1. Again, Oscar gives you a deliberate goal from the start, and when you achieve that Frampt gives you further instructions. You're supposed to ring the bells so you go to ring the bells.

I suppose if you really get down to it, it's far from objective that Dark Souls does this stuff better than Dark Souls II. Just like it's far from objective that Super Mario 64 controls better than Superman 64. In Superman 64 you can move along all three accesses of 3D space!
 
Reading beyond the numbers leaves some concerns.

-Performance; even on high end PCs the framerate drops to the teens in swamp areas. I can't imagine the dips on PS4.

-Recycled bosses, one hit bosses.. Seems like they went overboard with the boss count.

=Seems kinda standard fair, more of a love letter/greatest hits..

-Covenant grinding; even more grindy than before :|

-Camera and lock on issues.. I can already see fast moving targets being a huge problem.


Still getting the game, but I was already on the fence about when. The reviews don't help.
 
Titanoboa said:
That whole hollowing thing is done better in DS1 though, and those characters feel more like independent beings because they don't sit in one spot forever and do nothing else ever again after you talk to them three times.

The way the story is told and your goals are made clear is also objectively better handled in DS1. Again, Oscar gives you a deliberate goal from the start, and when you achieve that Frampt gives you further instructions. You're supposed to ring the bells so you go to ring the bells.
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How is that literally any different than being told to go see the King but to first collect four great souls? :p

And you keep using objectively but no sorry don't work that way :p in ds1 the characters turn quickly, and it makes sense in the story, if that appeals to you great!

For me the theme of slowly losing strength is much more interesting this to me was done better.
 
Stanton's EG review:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-04-dark-souls-3-review

The fact is that From Software own the action RPG genre to such an extent that the only valid comparison is with themselves - not a single other studio can match the quality or rate of production of the four Souls games and Bloodborne. Dark Souls 3 bears the hallmarks of a mighty heave to bring closure, from creatives who have long since mastered their tools and style.
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This is a truly epic journey, from your first faltering steps across gloomy cliffs to striding like a lord-slayer through Lothric Castle. Like all epics it has endless diversions, quarrels, unexpected companions, and great big fights. Is it the finest Souls game yet? I don't know; it might be. I can say this, though: Dark Souls 3 is a fabulous game, and a fitting conclusion to the greatest trilogy of modern times.
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One thing i think is definitely the best in the series is the sense of scale and place in the world. I love being able in stand in one place, look around, see how far i've come and be able to recognise where i've been and where i still need to explore. It makes everything so much more immersive. Dark Souls did it brilliantly, and BB did it too to a lesser and more subtle extent.

After the first real area you get that sense pretty much every time you step outdoors in DS3, it's fucking ace.
 
anddo0 said:
Still getting the game, but I was already on the fence about when. The reviews don't help.
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I believe there are fewer bosses than either Dark Souls 1 or Bloodborne (or close to it).

Definitely has standard-fare issues, though.

Covenant grinding is hilarious. Worse than trying to get humanity pre-patch Dark Souls 1.
 
anddo0 said:
Reading beyond the numbers leaves some concerns.

-Performance; even on high end PCs the framerate drops to the teens in swamp areas. I can't imagine the dips on PS4.

-Recycled bosses, one hit bosses.. Seems like they went overboard with the boss count.

=Seems kinda standard fair, more of a love letter/greatest hits..

-Covenant grinding; even more grindy than before :|

-Camera and lock on issues.. I can already see fast moving targets being a huge problem.


Still getting the game, but I was already on the fence about when. The reviews don't help.
Click to expand...
Performance and camera/lock on issues are comparable to Bloodborne, but I would say the latter in particular is better than Bloodborne. The are fewer recycled bosses in this game than any other Dark Souls game.

Covenants are grindy, but each one maxes out at the same levels they did in Dark Souls 2. For me it's hard because all Japanese people seem to summon three companions at all times.

RevenWolf said:
How is that literally any different than being told to go see the King but to first collect four great souls? :p

And you keep using objectively but no sorry don't work that way :p in ds1 the characters turn quickly, and it makes sense in the story, if that appeals to you great!

For me the theme of slowly losing strength is much more interesting this to me was done better.
Click to expand...
Nobody tells you why you should bother to see the King, what seeing the King is supposed to do, or why you need to acquire great souls before that (why is that dumb door even there when there was clearly supposed to be an open path to the castle before that small pillar fell down?) You need some sort of motivation other than nothing at all.

And in regards to the characters, you're confusing slow development with a complete lack of development.
 
Titanoboa said:
Performance and camera/lock on issues are comparable to Bloodborne, but I would say the latter in particular is better than Bloodborne. The are fewer recycled bosses in this game than any other Dark Souls game.

Covenants are grindy, but each one maxes out at the same levels they did in Dark Souls 2.
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Oh good, when I heard Grindy I was worried worse than ds2 which I felt was borderline way too much, good to know!
 
Fakeknowledge said:
One thing i think is definitely the best in the series is the sense of scale and place in the world. I love being able in stand in one place, look around, see how far i've come and be able to recognise where i've been and where i still need to explore. It makes everything so much more immersive. Dark Souls did it brilliantly, and BB did it too to a lesser and more subtle extent.

After the first real area you get that sense pretty much every time you step outdoors in DS3, it's fucking ace.
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Yeah, they really did nail that. As I was revisiting areas, it really became clear how much care they put into all of that (even if they fudge distance, here and there).
 
RevenWolf said:
Personally I'd go ds2>>demons>>>ds1>>>>>>>>>>bloodborne,

It's still a great game, but the lack of build variety, and the very linear order of progression compared to the other games really makes it the worse of the bunch for me.
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I like the cut of your jib.
 
I tried DS2 again last night and found it incredibly difficult. I just can't get a good idea of the combat system.

There is an area where the second bonfire is, and the three pigs (?) slaughter me each time. My weapon seems to do zero damage.
 
Opus Angelorum said:
I tried DS2 again last night and found it incredibly difficult. I just can't get a good idea of the combat system.

There is an area where the second bonfire is, and the three pigs (?) slaughter me each time. My weapon seems to do zero damage.
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Yeah no clue why they added those, they guard nothing and have insane physical resistance, magic is basically your only choice early on.

I think they were put in as some Easter egg.

Just avoid them and if they aggro just sit on the bonfire.
 
Here's my mini review:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
Great reviews as expected. Thoguh at thhis point FROM has my trust. I don't even feel like reading the reviews.


Going on vacations for 2 weeks and I'll get home to this waiting for me :D
 
Its still premature because I think that every Souls game gets better or worst the more you play (NG+, new builds etc) but for now my ranking goes like this:

DkS + DLC > DkS2: SotFS >= DkS3 > BB + DLC > DeS

This will probably change and DkS3 will end up ahead of DkS when the DLC releases if it is consistent with the series past DLC.
BB is one of my favourite games of all time but I felt the game was much more linear and less replayable.
My ranking is not very popular due to how high I put DkS2: SotFS but I think every game on the SoulsBorne series is oustanding and some of the best games ever created.
 
anddo0 said:
-Recycled bosses, one hit bosses.. Seems like they went overboard with the boss count.
Click to expand...

Could you source some quotes on this because I don't recall a single boss being a repeat of an earlier boss or a boss from a previous game (I'm not counting
Aldritch
). There are minibosses (no big health bar but large/especially tough enemies) that do show up more than once, and one of them is
a boss from a previous game
but the fight is not completely identical. There are also bosses that summon or use normal enemies during the fight in some fashion.
 
Right now my ranking is:

DS2 > DS1 > DeS >> BB

I'm hoping for DS3 to at least be better than BB, and based on some key points and focus areas I think it may be.
 
"The fact is that From Software own the action RPG genre to such an extent that the only valid comparison is with themselves - not a single other studio can match the quality or rate of production of the four Souls games and Bloodborne."

Well said.
 
tcrunch said:
Could you source some quotes on this because I don't recall a single boss being a repeat of an earlier boss or a boss from a previous game (I'm not counting
Aldritch
). There are minibosses (no big health bar but large/especially tough enemies) that do show up more than once, and one of them is
a boss from a previous game
but the fight is not completely identical. There are also bosses that summon or use normal enemies during the fight in some fashion.
Click to expand...

On the surface I guess you could point at
Ludex Gundyr
and
Champion Gundyr
but the fights play out completely different.

The mechanics to
Yhorm
are similar to
Storm King
, but come on.

I'm not sure what he's talking about either.
 
Sub Zero said:
I'm on a media blackout on the game and only read a few verdicts from the reviews. There seem to be a lot of mixed opinions on level design, late game encounters and PvP, which were also an issue in the 2nd game
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Really? That's weird. If anything early game encounters are underwhelming but the late game bosses are great
 
TatteredHat said:
On the surface I guess you could point at
Ludex Gundyr
and
Champion Gundyr
but the fights play out completely different.
Click to expand...

You're right, I did forget those bozos. I'm not sure why you would expect anything different considering where you find the second one but eh.

TatteredHat said:
The mechanics to
Yhorm
are similar to
Storm King
, but come on.

I'm not sure what he's talking about either.
Click to expand...

I played sorcerer and did not know about that mechanic until after the fact haha.
 
DS1>BB=DS3>DeS>>>>DS2

Although DS2 probably has the highest replay values of all, it's still my least played one and yes I played SOTFS.

BB has a more fresh, original and impressive PVE experience than DS3, but DS3 has the better build variety and everything online.
 
Ugh I hate ranking games so much but I can't resist

If you asked me honestly

DS1=BB=Demon's=DS3>DS2

And that's about the only ranking I can give. I love all of them too much and they all do different things so well that I can't tell you which one is best overall despite having put hundreds of hours into each.
 
Sweet mother of Kos,i'm so excited!
This is it,the dark souls franchise is complete and every single entry is a high quality game,thank you FROM and Miyazaki.
 
Dark Souls III sounds amazing, even with some very rough edges.

Hopefully there's going to be a day one patch (beyond version 1.02 or whatever the latest is) for western releases to further improve the framerate on PS4.
 
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