Support NeoGAF

[WhiskerFrisker]

I can. I spoilt myself for the soundtrack on youtube...Didn't even play the game, haha!

That self-control is impeccable.

Soundtrack is amazing

I cannot wait to hear it.

I honestly like BB's OSTs much more

Gehrman's theme is still unbeaten

Understandable. That theme was absolutely incredible. I shall see.

Yes, OST is excellent.There are a couple of themes that are easily among the best in the series.

I expected as much after I heard the main menu theme a couple of months ago.

 

[Sylas]

Any news on how the co-op works? I mean, how the "match making" works.

I adore the souls games, but the biggest hassle has always been getting my friends to join my game and vice versa. DS II kind of alleviated the problem, but caused different problems with it's soul level system. I haven't played Bloodborne yet, so I don't know how it works there.

I believe it's just level-based and you can set a password to only see/summon whomever has the password.

 

[Confused Cheeseburger]

There's a bunch of 7s now, and there are bound to be more.

There's like 3....hardly a bunch.

 

[ogbg]

I believe it's just level-based and you can set a password to only see/summon whomever has the password.

Level and gear based

 

[Durrzerker]

http://wethenerdy.com/dark-souls-iii-review-kindle-the-fires-once-more/


Here's my review for WTN. 90/100, really liked it with a couple of minor quibbles.

 

[MikeE21286]

Will be hopefully the first new game I play on a new Pascal GPU

 

[Freeman76]

Yeah, and hardly anyone cares how other people rank stuff.

Its hard to care about reviews either, everyone and their mum posts one these days.

 

[anddo0]

Any of those reviews spoiler free?

ACG- Dark Souls 3 Review "Buy, Wait for Sale, Rent, Never Touch?" - 100% Spoiler Free"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_8K71EUNbg

Love his review, likes/dislikes seem fair.

 

[Kusagari]

The game is more linear than Dark Souls but saying that the areas aren't diverse is a bold-faced lie.

 

[Raitaro]

World is plenty diverse, no worries.

e: well, the first 5 areas alone, and unlike Dark Souls 1, it seems the game actually gets better the further you get.

It felt very diverse to me.


There are some strange ones. They're mostly just for convenience though (e.g. one in boss room, one at start of next area but with no enemies in between)


I liked the world design. It really felt like I was on an epic journey

I'm at roughly 30hrs and have the last 2 bosses to finish and I completely disagree with the Polygon review. I respect Phil's opinion, but outside of his mentioning the technical issues (which are true) I don't agree with his view of the world and the story it creates. The areas are larger and far more intricate than the previous souls games. There are plenty of secrets to discover and I definitely had a few "oh shit" moments exploring the world. The environments are steeped with lore and nods to the previous entries, tying it all together.

I'm only about halfway in (as far as I felt comfortable getting in the JP release), but it's far and away the most diverse game after Demon's Souls, and DeS only felt so diverse because it's massively diverse areas weren't interconnected. The level design, while not on par with DeS or DkS, feels very good and enjoyable--I've gotten lost a number of times, and not in a bad way. Bonfires can be a little weird sometimes, but keys have needed good ol' Google Translate for me to figure out where they go and then remembering where the hell that door even is.

Polygon is, like so many times before, flat out wrong. It's many people's 5th Soulsborne game--some burn-out is to be expected, but saying it's not diverse in it's level design and aesthetic is like saying chicken-fried steak is the same thing as fried chicken.

I don't even know how they'd call it unified when you about halfway through the game in the first place. Like, it smells like someone straight up didn't get that far. In fact, the review only mentions areas up to that point. So lol.


I think the goals from DkS1 were far different from what the rest of the series wanted. DkS1 never felt like I was journeying through a kingdom, just a city that's unfortunately stacked. It was definitely a cool feeling and added to the eldritch-badness of it (this place is built on top of some dire shit. Dig too deep, etc, etc), but I enjoy the epic journey that DkS3 invokes. You're searching, and what you're searching for is far-spread.

Thanks for making my fears about the level design variety instantly go hollow guys!

My HYPE is now even higher than before, though my impatience is as well...

 

[generic_username]

Bloodborne > Demon's Souls = Dark Souls 1 > Dark Souls 3 >>>>> Lords of the Fallen > Dark Souls 2

How anyone can rate Lords of the Fallen better than any Souls game I will never know. I understand the hate for Dark Souls 2 and I think it is inferior but rating it below Lords of the Fallen seems a bit too much.

 

[Diprosalic]

So what's the length the reviewer are reporting? I hope it's not over 20h.

 

[Kanann]

And why did it lose a .1 ?

I'm a horror goer
Dark Souls III lack of horror elements for me

Ps. I gave BB 10/10

 

[SlickShoes]

So what's the length the reviewer are reporting? I hope it's not over 20h.

lol wot?

All souls games > 20h.

This is maybe 30+, if it's your first ever souls game think 50/60.

 

[aravuus]

So what's the length the reviewer are reporting? I hope it's not over 20h.

Haven't read the reviews, but the fastest first playthrough times I've seen in the import OT have been around 20-22 hours, and these are Souls vets we're talking about, so it's definitely over 20h on average.

 

[Bluenoser]

I think when looking at freedom to play the way you want, there are pros and cons, but ultimately to cater to the mainstream gamer, there has to be some linearity.

Demons Souls, once you beat 1-1, you could go anywhere you want. Probably the most freedom in any Soulsborne game, but of course at the expense of non-interconnected worlds.

Dark Souls 1, you probably had the most freedom, and level design was insanely connected. It felt like a real place in that regard.

Dark Souls 2... you could go several directions at the beginning, but there were some checkpoints blocking your way (stone statues and locked doors). Then once you went a direction, the level design made no sense at all. Probably the worst in the series from this aspect.

Bloodborne, the level design flowed, and made sense, even if it didn't all connect together like Dark Souls. I did like how you could open shortcuts though- it took me back to Demon's Souls in that regard.

Sounds like DS3 is a bit of a hybrid, with big levels with lots of secrets, but not a lot of connectivity. This makes sense where Firelink is a hub this time, more like Demon's Souls than Dark Souls.

Regarding the frame rate, I had hoped that they would learn their lessons from mistakes with Bloodborne and fix it with DKS3... very disappointed that it sounds like not only have they not fixed frame pacing, but the actual frame rate dips more too. Not happy about this.

 

[Neoweee]

There's like 3....hardly a bunch.

It's like 15% of reviews. I'm just saying people pile on Polygon for whatever reason when ignoring that they aren't alone.

Even in our Spoiler thread, there were multiple people that called it the worst of the Soulsborne games.

There's a lot to love in the game, and a fair amount to not like. People should be able to toss out slightly more negative opinions about the game without being dissected why they are wrong.

 

[jimboton]

Game branches in a few points, including secret areas. I think he clearly missed them. BB was more linear.

I had hoped that would be a factor.

There are segments of the game that can be tackled in any order within themselves but the segment order is fixed apart from one big possible segment order skip that can be performed

EDIT: I just realised that's about as clear as mud. Basically there are chunks of the game that must follow each other in order but within each chunk you have freedom to do different orders of stuff. This is me thinking back and analysing it though. At the time all I'd say is that most of the time I felt like I had 2 or 3 options.

When you say chunk I take it you mean something larger than a level right? Like for instance ringing the bells is a chunk of DS1 that has to be completed before going to Anor Londo but the bells themselves can be done in any order?

 

[ogbg]

I had hoped that would be a factor.


When you say chunk I take it you mean something larger than a level right? Like for instance ringing the bells is a chunk of DS1 that has to be completed before going to Anor Londo but the bells themselves can be done in any order?

Yeah. I mean like 3 or 4 bosses per chunk. Like I said, I only really analysed this structure after the fact. At the time I just mostly felt like I had 2 or 3 options at any time.

 

[aravuus]

Even in our Spoiler thread, there were multiple people that called it the worst of the Soulsborne games.

Really? Shame these people haven't visited the OT, would be interested in hearing why they think 3's the worst.

 

[Neoweee]

Really? Shame these people haven't visited the OT, would be interested in hearing why they think 3's the worst.

Linearity and difficulty and replay/covenants, namely.

It's the most linear Soulsborne game by fairly wide consensus, and balance is still kind of a mess. Covenants being a step down from DS2 is also cited.

(I'm not in the negative crowd. It's definitely in the cluster of my top 3. However, I do agree with the underlying substance of all of the core complaints).

 

[capybara]

I love this quote from the eurogamer review, it really puts into context all the souls ranking that's filling up this thread:
"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."

 

[Easy_D]

Uh.... btw. who owns the Dark Souls IP again? Is it Namco, or From Software?
The 3-game deal with Namco ends now, so..... who owns the IP if one of the two wants to make a 'Dark Souls 4'?

Well, From self publishes in Japan so it's probably From's and by extension, Kadokawa Games IP.

 

[ogbg]

Sounds like DS3 is a bit of a hybrid, with big levels with lots of secrets, but not a lot of connectivity. This makes sense where Firelink is a hub this time, more like Demon's Souls than Dark Souls

The levels are connected. You can walk from end to end if you want and you can see most of the world from certain points. The difference with DS1 is that here the levels only connect with their neighbours whereas in DS1 most levels have 2 connection points (most notably via the Valley of Drakes).

 

[papo]

Who has the game cheapest for PC?

 

[UrbanRats]

Linearity and difficulty and replay/covenants, namely.

It's the most linear Soulsborne game by fairly wide consensus, and balance is still kind of a mess. Covenants being a step down from DS2 is also cited.

(I'm not in the negative crowd. It's definitely in the cluster of my top 3. However, I do agree with the underlying substance of all of the core complaints).

Still no good Covenants? It will never happen, will it?

 

[Diprosalic]

lol wot?

All souls games > 20h.

This is maybe 30+, if it's your first ever souls game think 50/60.

i finished BB in 15h (according to in-game timer) with all bosses (no chalice dungeons) and that felt like the right amount of time, it was my first From Software game.

Haven't read the reviews, but the fastest first playthrough times I've seen in the import OT have been around 20-22 hours, and these are Souls vets we're talking about, so it's definitely over 20h on average.

just a tad over 20h is fine.

 

[Neoweee]

Still no good Covenants? It will never happen, will it?

Bellbros and Company of Champions are by far my two favorite of the series.

Neither has a good analogy here.

 

[aravuus]

Linearity and difficulty and replay/covenants, namely.

It's the most linear Soulsborne game by fairly wide consensus, and balance is still kind of a mess. Covenants being a step down from DS2 is also cited.

(I'm not in the negative crowd. It's definitely in the cluster of my top 3. However, I do agree with the underlying substance of all of the core complaints).

Well, I definitely agree with you/them on balancing problems. Hope they buff magic soon.

 

[Neiteio]

BB>DeS>DaS1=DaS2 (with DLC)

Dark 1 was disappointing to me coming off Demon's. With rare exception (Painted World), the individual area design wasn't up to par, leading to me not really giving a shit about the interconnected world, and of course the latter half of the game drops off a cliff. Dark 2 is more consistent, but rarely reaches Dark 1's highs outside of the DLC, which is excellent. Demon's still has my favorite bosses in the series, and the level design is absolutely on point and consistently great - only real issues for me are systemic, like world tendency, weapon upgrades, and encumbrance.

Bloodborne to me provides the best PVE experience with the best enemies, combat mechanics, level design that's a bit above Demon's, and my favorite aesthetics and lore - combat feedback is also on another level from the rest of the series. Sure, it doesn't have a ton of build variety, but I don't really think that's the point. I look at Bloodborne's replay value similar to Resident Evil 4's; the main thrust of replays is based on how damn good and fluid the game is, but there are some weapon and upgrade choices along the way that don't necessarily change how the game plays, but instead add different flavors to combat - think Bolt Action Rifle vs Semi Auto Rifle and Threaded Cane vs Kirkhammer: same mechanics, but an end experience that's a bit different.

Amazing series either way. I have it on good authority that Dark 3 is the series' best, and I'm looking forward to evaluating it for myself.

 

[UrbanRats]

Bellbros and Company of Champions are by far my two favorite of the series.

Neither has a good analogy here.

There are good, individual Covenants, but no game in the series really fleshed out that idea to its full potential, like it did other areas of the design.
I had hoped they would finally nail Covenants with this one.
Especially after Bloodborne dropped the ball hard on that front.

 

[Neiteio]

I honestly can't remember covenants being in Bloodborne

 

[Bluenoser]

The levels are connected. You can walk from end to end if you want and you can see most of the world from certain points. The difference with DS1 is that in that here the levels only connect with their neighbours whereas in DS1 most levels has 2 connection points (most notably via the Valley of Drakes).

Ok cool, thanks for the clarification.

I honestly can't remember covenants being in Bloodborne

They were more subtle. You had to complete NPC quest lines to access them.... they weren't in your face like, speak to NPC, press yes when they ask if you wish to join covenant. It was possible to go through Bloodborne and entirely miss them because they were all connected to missable quest lines.

 

[BumRush]

Reviews looking great (not like it needed them, to be honest).

When Bloodborne released it got a pretty sizeable patch that make it run A LOT smoother. Do you guys think this needs the same TLC?

 

[Ridesh]

DS3 > BB > DS1 (the best until Anor Londo) > Demon's > DS2

 

[butman]

Dat 9!

 

[Denzar]

I believe it's just level-based and you can set a password to only see/summon whomever has the password.

Great news! Thanks for the reply!

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Still no good Covenants? It will never happen, will it?

Define good. Most DS2 covenants are there with some fun additions, no silly rat covenant. There's also a few QOL improvements, that DS2 didn't have.

Actually some problems remain from DS2 that weren't resolved. But outside of some quibbles covenants are actually an improvement.

 

[Ferr986]

They were more subtle. You had to complete NPC quest lines to access them.... they weren't in your face like, speak to NPC, press yes when they ask if you wish to join covenant. It was possible to go through Bloodborne and entirely miss them because they were all connected to missable quest lines.

It's more like they were too samey. Just basically confront each other covenant when they are summoned, be PvP or PvE.

Also the Coop covenant that is just a ranking without any meaningful end.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Watching streams over the weekend I knew this game would get slammed for it's console performance.

 

[DustyVonEric]

I haven't played it yet, but it sounds like Dark Souls 3 may be the true Demon's Souls sequel (yessss!). Hub with huge self contained levels. I could be wrong as I'm trying to only glance over reviews.

But I don't know why some people have an issue with DaS3 getting lower ratings than Bloodborne, which shook up the Souls formula enough to keep it both familiar and fresh.

 

[ogbg]

Hub with huge self contained levels. I could be wrong as I'm trying to only glance over reviews.

That's not quite true. The levels are all connected to each other

 

[krakov]

Bellbros and Company of Champions are by far my two favorite of the series.

Neither has a good analogy here.

There are two covenants in DS3 that are like bellbros. Company of champions I'll agree would have been nice to see again though.

Infinite invasion items and no soul memory instantly make the invasion based covenants better than their DS2 counterparts.

You can invade in this game without grinding and your character will never go "out of range" unless you make an active choice.

 

[King Gilga]

DS1 > DS2 > BB > DeS.

 

[Walpurgis]

Covenants being a step down from DS2 is also cited.

Incredible.

There are good, individual Covenants, but no game in the series really fleshed out that idea to its full potential, like it did other areas of the design.
I had hoped they would finally nail Covenants with this one.
Especially after Bloodborne dropped the ball hard on that front.

Agreed. I've always felt like they have never lived up to the potential for covenants. They were an afterthought in DS1, good but not groundbreaking in DS2.... and a step down in DS3. That really sucks.

 

[aravuus]

But I don't know why some people have an issue with DaS3 getting lower ratings than Bloodborne, which shook up the Souls formula enough to keep it both familiar and fresh.

Some weirdos care about metascores

 

[DustyVonEric]

That's not quite true. The levels are all connected to each other

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification. Is that a magic bar though, like DeS? Because I would love this.

Or would that be too spoilery to answer? Lol, screw it. What is that bar?

 

[ogbg]

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification. Is that a magic bar though, like DeS?

I'm not sure what you mean, sorry. I haven't played DeS

EDIT: Ahhh! Sorry. I don't know why I didn't understand that. Yes, it's a magic bar

 

[-Horizon-]

Good stuff.

 

[aravuus]

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification. Is that a magic bar though, like DeS? Because I would love this.

Yep. Magic and weapon arts use FP (mana) now.