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Dark Souls III |OT2| Welcome to NG+, Unkindled One

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Taruranto

Member
Real talk - top to bottom I think Dark Souls 3 has the best levels in the franchise.

DS1 still ace. Sen, Blightown, Catacombs. Even levels like Amala in 2 are better than most areas in 3.

My problem with 3 levels is the gray palette in the first half and the lack of environmental hazards. A lot of areas felt kinda straightforward in their approach, basically a lot of big rooms in which you kill stuff.
 

Arjen

Member
Jezus what is up with the lag in this game? Every single invasion has the people floating around with no animations
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
I'm glad I am not the only person that hates
the ruins
, I ended up there by accident when t
he Ballista blew a hole in the ground and I fell thru it
. There are SO many tough enemies and I am finding it difficult to explore.
When I got to the room with the fire summoners I took it really slow and ended up being killed by monsters that just swarmed me and chain-grabbed me. Another time I ended up being 1-shotted by the Knight on the bridge over the lava.

Is there a point to this area, it seems I don't need to do it to get to the boss.
 
Poison lake areas are the sections of every Souls game that I love to hate. I wouldn't want more than one but I'm glad they are part of the series. Generally when I play I just stay poisoned and deal with the dwindling HP, which makes for a fun change of pace and gives you another resource to manage. It adds a nice layer of tension that works well for a single area, I think.

Plus, my favorite build in Bloodborne was pure Bloodtinge with the Chikage, so I'm kind of used to slowly draining HP. :)
 

Jharp

Member
Is there a way to open the door to the right of the main entrance to
Anor Londo
? You walk up the stairs, the main door is locked by the lever inside, the door to the left tower is open with the dead giant and the way into the chapel, and the right tower's door is closed and won't open. Is it just closed or is there something behind it and a way to open it?
 

kencey

Member
Found a Dark Sword but it requires 15 Faith, i have 9 right now, is it worth it to invest 6 points in Faith ?
I have 30 Str and 9 Faith right now on my Knight
 

Sephzilla

Member
DS1 still ace. Sen, Blightown, Catacombs. Even levels like Amala in 2 are better than most areas in 3.

My problem with 3 levels is the gray palette in the first half and the lack of environmental hazards. A lot of areas felt kinda straightforward in their approach, basically a lot of big rooms in which you kill stuff.

Dark Souls 1 has the entire third act of levels holding it down though, in my opinion. After Sen's Fortress the game takes a steady nose drive in terms of levels. Demon Ruins is a glorified boss rush level, Lake of Dragon Asses just sucks, Tomb of the Giants is blah, Crystal Cave isn't good either. And most of the bosses after Snorlax and Pikachu aren't that good either.

Dark Souls 3 avoids that dropoff and actually gets better as it goes on.
 

Dahbomb

Member
Shrine of Amala is garbagio tier.

It looks beautiful except that it's a nightmare to trek through with hard to see bottomless pits in the water, sorcerers sniping you, hidden monsters ambushing you all while having limited mobility. The level itself is exceedingly straight forward too.

5 of the major areas in DS3 are among the best designed areas in all of Soul games. They have a good balance of verticality, branching paths, shortcuts, secrets etc. DS3 has some weak areas for sure, two in particular but they in no way compare to the worse of worst levels in the series.

I just wished that the world connected these levels better because the world design in this game is disappointingly straightforward. Good for new players because it makes it less likely that they can't figure out where to go next after killing a boss but meh for fans of the series.
 

Manu

Member
DS1 still ace. Sen, Blightown, Catacombs. Even levels like Amala in 2 are better than most areas in 3.

My problem with 3 levels is the gray palette in the first half and the lack of environmental hazards. A lot of areas felt kinda straightforward in their approach, basically a lot of big rooms in which you kill stuff.

But that was literally the greatest problem with DS2?
 

daxter01

8/8/2010 Blackace was here
Holy shit just beat
abyss watchers
on my first try while had only two estus flasks. Is he that easy or me being drunk helped?
 

LiK

Member
Shrine of Amala is garbagio tier.

It looks beautiful except that it's a nightmare to trek through with hard to see bottomless pits in the water, sorcerers sniping you, hidden monsters ambushing you all while having limited mobility. The level itself is exceedingly straight forward too.

5 of the major areas in DS3 are among the best designed areas in all of Soul games. They have a good balance of verticality, branching paths, shortcuts, secrets etc. DS3 has some weak areas for sure, two in particular but they in no way compare to the worse of worst levels in the series.

I just wished that the world connected these levels better because the world design in this game is disappointingly straightforward. Good for new players because it makes it less likely that they can't figure out where to go next after killing a boss but meh for fans of the series.

Hehe, I loved Shrine of Amala. I think I was in the minority in GAF OT.
 
I just finished the
Pontiff Sulyvahn
boss fight and while that was fantastic I kind of agree that bosses this time have been a let down so far. They have been too easy and not that fun to fight. The most disappointing thing though is the music. Coming of Bloodborne the music so far has been pretty underwhelming. BB started with Cleric Beast, Father G and BSB. All of them had tremendous themes. The DS3 boss music has been seriously underwhelming so far.

Having said that - Bosses in Souls have always been epic. Very few stuidios do boss fights as good as From Soft. Also in DS3 A
Byss Watchers
and the one I mentioned earlier are fantastic fights.

I kinda agree with you although I really loved the music in several battles, but it's true that most boss fights are quite lame so far, I'm at the same point as you and only count
Abyss
and
Pontiff
as awesome battles, the rest were crap.
Bloodborne had an amazing quality of bosses. It had some lame ones too but they were mixed with the good ones, not all together like here.
 

myco666

Member
I don't mind farming for the Wolf's Blood Swordgrass, since there is a bonfire with 3 of them with easy access to kill (prob takes me 30 seconds to kill them each time currently). So that will go quickly. Not looking forward to farming the rest. Already got the tongues, so hopefully I can get what I can of the others before I need to farm.
Swordgrass drops at a decent rate, but Proofs...I can only do a couple a day before I slowly start hating everything lol.

Swordgrass is indeed fine to farm. Got sometimes even 2-3 of them at once. Those Proofs though... I did them in two sessions and I seriously don't know why. Worst grind I've done in these games easily.

DS1 still ace. Sen, Blightown, Catacombs. Even levels like Amala in 2 are better than most areas in 3.

My problem with 3 levels is the gray palette in the first half and the lack of environmental hazards. A lot of areas felt kinda straightforward in their approach, basically a lot of big rooms in which you kill stuff.

While Blighttown is very well thought out and is cool I would never say it belongs anywhere in the top areas because of the performance. By that alone it deserves to be in the same tier with Izalith or even lower since you can at least play Izalith.
 
Able to play with a friend last night, truly a fun experience being a phantom and helping him out. Really glad the online matchmaking is working.
 

Zocano

Member
I actually quite like (mid game optional area)
Demon Ruins/Loster Izalith
in this game. I'll take a level that's interesting to explore over pretty and nothing any day and I end up like how maze-like and confusing that particular level is.

It's why I love the fog area of Shaded Woods a bunch (and wish it was more fleshed out) and why I like Frigid Outskirts a bunch, too.

I've been warming up to Tomb of the Giants the more I play any of these games and care less for places like Undead Burg/Parish. I've always thought the forest area was boring and nothing.

I really like Farron Keep in this game because they made exploring a large open area more interesting by having you actually have to find three different points in the area (that are actually really close together but because of the swamp and trees you can get lost easily).

Alternatively, the mid-game area I
rithyll of the Boreal Valley
was kind of boring for me even though it was very pretty. The actual method of exploring it was disappointing because it was almost literally a "line" to explore.
 

ElFly

Member
DS1 still ace. Sen, Blightown, Catacombs. Even levels like Amala in 2 are better than most areas in 3.

My problem with 3 levels is the gray palette in the first half and the lack of environmental hazards. A lot of areas felt kinda straightforward in their approach, basically a lot of big rooms in which you kill stuff.

I would not go so far, and I love ds2, but the problem in ds3 is that the areas, while topologically great, are p boring in the looks department

High walls looks ok, tho it is weird to start in the high walls instead of outside the castle, like in demon; then the undead settlement, farron and the cathedral are very by the numbers design wise.

Great level design tho.

It has been better once I hit the catacombs and the levels that follow it.

Hehe, I loved Shrine of Amala. I think I was in the minority in GAF OT.

Shrine of Amana is super great. People needed to actually git gud to get past it. P soon From caved in to the whiners and they nerfed the area by taking away the lazors auto-aimedness, but the vanilla experience was better imho.

I actually quite like (mid game optional area)
Demon Ruins/Loster Izalith
in this game. I'll take a level that's interesting to explore over pretty and nothing any day and I end up like how maze-like and confusing that particular level is.

It's why I love the fog area of Shaded Woods a bunch (and wish it was more fleshed out) and why I like Frigid Outskirts a bunch, too.

Shaded Woods is ugly as sin, but it is great to fight the invisible enemies there.

I wish invasions there would work as that too, with both the victim and the invader rendered invisible, if only for that area.

In gral I wish invasions weren't announced, and that you didn't get a huge banner on top of your head while doing it and the brilliant color red. They'd be way scarier.
 

Kusagari

Member
Swordgrass drops at a decent rate, but Proofs...I can only do a couple a day before I slowly start hating everything lol.

Proofs and Shackles are by far the worst to farm.

The other covenant items aren't bad and seem to drop fairly often. I didn't farm Sunbros though since it's so easy to just co-op and do that one.
 
Got to
Archdragon Peak
, killed
Ancient Wyvern
quite easily (got him to 50% HP before i realised that's not "how" you can do it) then go up to
Nameless King
and was like HOLYSHIT - THIS ARENA IS FUCKING AWESOME and died 3 times getting him to his second form then he glitched and did no animations - like not even gliding around the arena - and i got wrecked...

This fucking game (is awesome)....

Apart from him tho I've only got final boss to go i think.
 

ogbg

Member
Simple question.

Best infusion for Black Blade?

Heavy seems pretty good. However I don't understand refined at all...

Refined increases both strength and dex scaling at the expense of base damage. Heavy increases only strength. Sharp increases only dex.
 

CHC

Member
Finished (most of) the game last night. Have one more area to explore but the final boss is down.

REALLY excellent. I liked DS2 well enough but this is a much more fitting entry in the series and now when I think back o DS2 I tend to remember only its worst parts.

I think DSIII is certainly the tightest yet in terms of environments and level design. There really isn't anywhere I've been that is sparse, unfinished, or half-baked feeling. As much as I love all the other games I can't really say that about any other From game (except Bloodborne but that had Chalice Dungeons which I felt were a negative).

A few of the bonfire placements were dubious though. The ones in L
othric
C
astle
especially were weird. If they had added 2 kick down ladders they could have made the ENTIRE zone stem from a single bonfire, which would have been much more impactful and interesting.

It should have been:
one (kick down) ladder leading to the where the second bonfire is (armory room above the main hall), another ladder leading to a ledge which drops down on the dragon barracks bonfire.
 

Neoweee

Member
Shrine of Amala is garbagio tier.

It looks beautiful except that it's a nightmare to trek through with hard to see bottomless pits in the water, sorcerers sniping you, hidden monsters ambushing you all while having limited mobility. The level itself is exceedingly straight forward too.

5 of the major areas in DS3 are among the best designed areas in all of Soul games. They have a good balance of verticality, branching paths, shortcuts, secrets etc. DS3 has some weak areas for sure, two in particular but they in no way compare to the worse of worst levels in the series.

I just wished that the world connected these levels better because the world design in this game is disappointingly straightforward. Good for new players because it makes it less likely that they can't figure out where to go next after killing a boss but meh for fans of the series.

WHICH version of Amana? There's been at least four versions now:

1) Launch version.
2) Reduced magic tracking.
3) Reduced magic tracking but broken (on 360 for a while).
4) SotFS version.

And you can see the drop offs in the water crystal clear if you have a torch.
 

Onemic

Member
They both look great, albeit DS3 doesnt feel as fresh. There are some parts of DS3 that are breathtaking. In terms of art style, I do prob prefer BB overall, though obviously it can only look so good running on a PS4. DS3 at 3440x1440 is quite the visual treat.

It definitely does, but DS3 from a technical perspective isnt as good as BB. Lower textures, worse texture mapping, lower polys, worse lighting, and lower resolution on special effects. Just take a look at how blood splatters are handled in DS3 vs BB. DS3 blood splatters are very limited and pretty static vs BB. I really think that limitations were made due to the xbone considering that the game is running on the same engine as BB.

The only thing I can give to DS3 is 60FPS and higher resolution if you're on PC. If BB was ever released on PC it would look absolutely amazing.
 

Sephzilla

Member
I'm with Dahbomb, Shrine of Amana is garbage tier especially in the vanilla version. I'd rather fight the Bed of Choas for 20 minutes straight.
 

LiK

Member
WHICH version of Amana? There's been at least four versions now:

1) Launch version.
2) Reduced magic tracking.
3) Reduced magic tracking but broken (on 360 for a while).
4) SotFS version.

And you can see the drop offs in the water crystal clear if you have a torch.

I only played launch version. Didn't follow the changes after I platinumed the game. Any difference in SotFS version?
 

E92 M3

Member
Proofs and Shackles are by far the worst to farm.

The other covenant items aren't bad and seem to drop fairly often. I didn't farm Sunbros though since it's so easy to just co-op and do that one.

Shackles were easy, but I could just invade all day long if needed and actually like PVP lol. Unfortunately, Darkmoon doesn't work. I'd love to be able to do it normally.
 

ElFly

Member
WHICH version of Amana? There's been at least four versions now:

1) Launch version.
2) Reduced magic tracking.
3) Reduced magic tracking but broken (on 360 for a while).
4) SotFS version.

And you can see the drop offs in the water crystal clear if you have a torch.

There was any difference in sotfs? I only played through sotfs once.

Launch was def best.
 

K' Dash

Member
I have nowhere to go but Irithyll Dungeon and reading your sories about this place makes me not want to enter AT ALL, I've been sitting at the bonfire for 10 minutes now :(
 

gaugebozo

Member
Trying to decide on a greatsord/pyromancy build. How are wolf Knight's, hollowslayer, and wolnirs holy swords late game? Is any one really great or really terrible?
 

pringles

Member
I would not go so far, and I love ds2, but the problem in ds3 is that the areas, while topologically great, are p boring in the looks department

High walls looks ok, tho it is weird to start in the high walls instead of outside the castle, like in demon; then the undead settlement, farron and the cathedral are very by the numbers design wise.

Great level design tho.

It has been better once I hit the catacombs and the levels that follow it.
Hah that's literally all the areas I've been to so far and I am in awe over how great the design is and just how good it looks. So many great visuals.
 
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