Dark Souls III Review Thread

probably gonna switch my preorder to PC. The PS4 community will probably be superior but then I remembered what Souls game loadtimes are like on consoles. Also I don't trust amazon to get me the game on the 12th and I'm gonna need something to take my mind off life exactly around that time.

if there's no -25% for GMG then I guess Steam is still the way to go for Canadians. 60 ain't too bad.
 
Can't decide if I should go for retail Apocalypse Edition for 52€ or stick with 38€ digital...
That metal case and soundtrack is so awesome!
 
Mupod said:
probably gonna switch my preorder to PC. The PS4 community will probably be superior but then I remembered what Souls game loadtimes are like on consoles. Also I don't trust amazon to get me the game on the 12th and I'm gonna need something to take my mind off life exactly around that time.

if there's no -25% for GMG then I guess Steam is still the way to go for Canadians. 60 ain't too bad.
Click to expand...

From my experience, load times were at least not as bad in DS3 as they were in Bloodborne or the PS3 version of Dark Souls 2.

The secret sauce is that, despite you having to go back to the "hub" to level up, there are fog gates outside of the main little pit, so it is loading only that small chunk when you warp there and attempting to keep the rest of where you were at originally in memory, so warping back and forth to level up is not quite as bad.

Your mileage may vary, though.

PC will be way better though, because the framerate can get awful at times on the console versions.
 
Gbraga said:
Didn't spend too much time in this thread thinking it would be all review talk, which is not very interesting to me, but this seems like it's pretty much the Pre-OT thread? Man, I'm in.

Can't wait to fight the fuckers in the intro, I have a huge interest in Aldritch, for some reason. Really really excited to know his story.
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I think gaf already embraced that, since we can't have OTs before the release, all the talk (mostly speculatory) is starting to belong to the review thread, you should check them out because they stop talking about the review pretty quickly and start the discussion of the game (usually about its quality)
 
Why would you choose PC version - no resell with PS4 retail - resell :) me like to sit on sofa and big screen.
I know PC version is better looking and little cheaper :)
 
Mupod said:
probably gonna switch my preorder to PC. The PS4 community will probably be superior but then I remembered what Souls game loadtimes are like on consoles. Also I don't trust amazon to get me the game on the 12th and I'm gonna need something to take my mind off life exactly around that time.

if there's no -25% for GMG then I guess Steam is still the way to go for Canadians. 60 ain't too bad.
Click to expand...

Yup. I just love the PS community for the souls games. They have such a incredible life span too. Gonna main on PS4 for PVP, and other reasons. I'll Definitely get the PC version down the line though.
 
Gbraga said:
Didn't spend too much time in this thread thinking it would be all review talk, which is not very interesting to me, but this seems like it's pretty much the Pre-OT thread? Man, I'm in.

Can't wait to fight the fuckers in the intro, I have a huge interest in Aldritch, for some reason. Really really excited to know his story.
Click to expand...

This is a weird situation in that the game has been out two weeks and beaten by a whole bunch of posters here. I think people aren't very judicious with what type of talk belongs here and what doesn't, but I'm happy to give my perspective and to try to explain what reviewers mean by various comments, etc.
 
comshoplesce said:
Why would you choose PC version - no resell with PS4 retail - resell :) me like to sit on sofa and big screen.
I know PC version is better looking and little cheaper :)
Click to expand...

First off, why would I sell a Dark Souls game? Or a game I really like, for that matter.
Second, I played Dark Souls 2 in a 48" TV at stable 60fps without a single frame drop (unlike the PS4 version) and 1080. Even when I didn't want to connect the desktop PC to the TV, I just plugged the laptop and played at 900p and solid 30fps, which is probably better than what the consoles can do and I could still "sit on sofa and big screen". I also didn't have to go through a scammy paywall to enjoy the online features of the game -even when they're asynchronous-, while also enjoying the much better Steam free online features and tools.

But what do I know, everybody knows the sub 30fps PS4 version in which you can't even see player messages -let alone engage in any kind of direct interaction with other players- if you don't pay for PS+ (in a game with huge online features) is the way to go.

Try harder.
 
wiibomb said:
I think gaf already embraced that, since we can't have OTs before the release, all the talk (mostly speculatory) is starting to belong to the review thread, you should check them out because they stop talking about the review pretty quickly and start the discussion of the game (usually about its quality)
Click to expand...

That's great to know. Well, at least to me, maybe people who do enjoy talking about reviews would be disappointed.

comshoplesce said:
Why would you choose PC version - no resell with PS4 retail - resell :) me like to sit on sofa and big screen.
I know PC version is better looking and little cheaper :)
Click to expand...

I would never sell a Souls game :P

Neoweee said:
This is a weird situation in that the game has been out two weeks and beaten by a whole bunch of posters here. I think people aren't very judicious with what type of talk belongs here and what doesn't, but I'm happy to give my perspective and to try to explain what reviewers mean by various comments, etc.
Click to expand...

That's really cool, and very appreciated. Especially for Souls games, where the fanbase (myself included, of course) gets really fearful at any comment that's a tiny bit negative before they can play it.

I know I was very worried about Bloodborne's weapon variety, to the point of being worried about the game's quality as a whole, and, even though it was indeed a problem pre-Old Hunters, it still ended up being my favorite Souls game.
 
Can someone link me or direct me to fan impressions? I can't trust the reviewers that made Dark Souls II the highest rated title in the series on Metacritic.

I think they play too many crappy games for their job, making FromSoftware games look like GOTY next to them. However, I want to know how this compares to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls II from normal fans (not Bloodborne). I want to know mechanics without boss spoilers and too many spoilers in general (a little is expected of course).

I would think that this is at least better than Dark Souls II which I liked but found disappointing in some respects. However, last was in this thread, I was reading comments suggesting the opposite, which concerns me.
 
Walpurgis said:
Can someone link me or direct me to fan impressions? I can't trust the reviewers that made Dark Souls II the highest rated title in the series on Metacritic.

I think they play too many crappy games for their job, making FromSoftware games look like GOTY next to them. However, I want to know how this compares to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls II from normal fans (not Bloodborne). I want to know mechanics without boss spoilers and too many spoilers in general (a little is expected of course).

I would think that this is at least better than Dark Souls II which I liked but found disappointing in some respects. However, last was in this thread, I was reading comments suggesting the opposite, which concerns me.
Click to expand...

Read the import thread
 
Walpurgis said:
Can someone link me or direct me to fan impressions? I can't trust the reviewers that made Dark Souls II the highest rated title in the series on Metacritic.

I think they play too many crappy games for their job, making FromSoftware games look like GOTY next to them. However, I want to know how this compares to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls II from normal fans (not Bloodborne). I want to know mechanics without boss spoilers and too many spoilers in general (a little is expected of course).

I would think that this is at least better than Dark Souls II which I liked but found disappointing in some respects. However, last was in this thread, I was reading comments suggesting the opposite, which concerns me.
Click to expand...

A lot of people have wildly different rankings of the Souls games for them, so you should take this kind of talk with a grain of salt. If I play the game and think it's not as good as Demon's, someone who thinks Demon's is still the best Souls game would just think "that's understandable", but since it's my least favorite, that would be a huge disappointment to me.
 
Walpurgis said:
Can someone link me or direct me to fan impressions? I can't trust the reviewers that made Dark Souls II the highest rated title in the series on Metacritic.

I think they play too many crappy games for their job, making FromSoftware games look like GOTY next to them. However, I want to know how this compares to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls II from normal fans (not Bloodborne). I want to know mechanics without boss spoilers and too many spoilers in general (a little is expected of course).

I would think that this is at least better than Dark Souls II which I liked but found disappointing in some respects. However, last was in this thread, I was reading comments suggesting the opposite, which concerns me.
Click to expand...

Different people have different views of the series, and it is far from universal that DS2 is considered worse. For me, BB and DS2 were the standouts of the series, and DS3 feels like the intersection of those two games, with some good changes and some bad changes. It still needs a whole bunch of balance patches, unfortunately, and overall game progression is relatively linear to the series.

Most people regard the game highly so far, and I think is listed in the top three (of 5) in the series on most lists I've seen so far. It's a fantastic adventure. Of those that viewed it poorly in the Spoiler thread, the complaints were the linearity, the boss fights, relatively low difficulty, and "more of the same" syndrome with regards to a lot. I agree with some of those points, and not others.

ogbg said:
Read the import thread
Click to expand...

People have gotten really awful with spoiler tags there, IMO.
 
Walpurgis said:
Can someone link me or direct me to fan impressions? I can't trust the reviewers that made Dark Souls II the highest rated title in the series on Metacritic.

I think they play too many crappy games for their job, making FromSoftware games look like GOTY next to them. However, I want to know how this compares to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls II from normal fans (not Bloodborne). I want to know mechanics without boss spoilers and too many spoilers in general (a little is expected of course).

I would think that this is at least better than Dark Souls II which I liked but found disappointing in some respects. However, last was in this thread, I was reading comments suggesting the opposite, which concerns me.
Click to expand...

Buy it. So much better than DS2. I have the same stance on DS2.
 
Sullichin said:
:) :)
Who the hell would sell a Dark Souls game
Click to expand...

And even if...
Let's do the math for him:
DSIII PS4 digital: 70$
DSIII PS 4retail 60-70$

Selling price on eBay 35$-40$ (selling it within 5 month of release). So he has paid 30$-35$ for the game.

DSIII PC: 39$

Huuuuge difference.....not ;P
 
Trace said:
You care far too much.

It's similar design to Bloodborne, DS2 design was horribad and so you end up with either DS1 or BB. They chose the latter, it's fine.

If you hated BB, don't buy it.
Click to expand...

I thought BB's world design, while better than DkSII's, was far behind Dark Souls' :(
 
eot said:
I thought BB's world design, while better than DkSII's, was far behind Dark Souls' :(
Click to expand...

You can't know how a game and its world will make you feel until you play it. I certainly never went around thinking about whether or not this or that will link to this other thing or whether it was more like BB or DS1. To me it just felt like being on an adventure which is the feeling I got from those other games too.
 
eot said:
I thought BB's world design, while better than DkSII's, was far behind Dark Souls' :(
Click to expand...

This where things get messy, because when people start viewing design of levels, bosses, and worlds as completely unique to each game, it ends up missing a lot of subtleties of their respective designs. Dark Souls 3 is kind of its own thing with its own blend of different aspects of the series.

A whole bunch of complaints about Dark Souls 2 can be levied here, but I think most of those will be vast oversimplifications just like I thought they were when levied against DS2 originally. There's at least one giant complaint people throw at DS2 that is even more pronounced here, but you know who cares? Barely anybody that has actually played the game.
 
Such brilliant reviews. I am almost 100% certain this game is not for me but these reviews sure as hell do tempt me.

Does playing it in coop take anything away from the experience or is it just as viable?
 
Lyng said:
Such brilliant reviews. I am almost 100% certain this game is not for me but these reviews sure as hell do tempt me.

Does playing it in coop take anything away from the experience or is it just as viable?
Click to expand...

It takes most of the challenge away. It's basically an easy mode. If that's not a turn off for you, then go for it. A lot of people love the co-op in the series.
 
Lyng said:
Does playing it in coop take anything away from the experience or is it just as viable?
Click to expand...

It's just as viable because it buffs bosses accordingly, to the point that coop can sometimes be harder if it's a boss whose move set you're really comfortable with. HOWEVER, most of the time it's a good bit easier.

If you haven't played a Souls game, though, the co-op doesn't work like it does in many other games. Most of the time you will be summoning a stranger and taking on a boss with them at your side, after which they disappear back to their world. It's not something where you can easily play through the whole game with a friend. It's more a case of summoning temporary aid.
 
Lyng said:
Such brilliant reviews. I am almost 100% certain this game is not for me but these reviews sure as hell do tempt me.

Does playing it in coop take anything away from the experience or is it just as viable?
Click to expand...

it is viable, but it usually is hindrance to the experience since these games are more focused at throwing things at you, when a monster takes out its focus from you, you lose that sense of danger, which is vital from the game.

Still, even with co-op it is pretty good, and even the Co-Op has its limits to stop the player from totally breaking the game
 
Markoman said:
And even if...
Let's do the math for him:
DSIII PS4 digital: 70$
DSIII PS 4retail 60-70$

Selling price on eBay 35$-40$ (selling it within 5 month of release). So he has paid 30$-35$ for the game.

DSIII PC: 39$

Huuuuge difference.....not ;P
Click to expand...

If you don't mind me asking, where can you grab DSIII on PC for $39? Cheapest I can find it is like $49.
 
wiibomb said:
it is viable, but it usually is hindrance to the experience since these games are more focused at throwing things at you, when a monster takes out its focus from you, you lose that sense of danger, which is vital from the game.

Still, even with co-op it is pretty good, and even the Co-Op has its limits to stop the player from totally breaking the game
Click to expand...

I think From needs to spend more time experimenting with ways to make bosses scale better with the number of players. Elana summoned more skeletons during multiplayer, but that's it for the entire series, isn't it?
 
Neoweee said:
I think From needs to spend more time experimenting with ways to make bosses scale better with the number of players. Elana summoned more skeletons during multiplayer, but that's it for the entire series, isn't it?
Click to expand...

They had a great chance with that enemy before The Lost Sinner in DkS2 (they could have made it so both sides attack kind of independently), but they didn't do anything with it. Many enemies could do creative things like that.

the only real change I saw in bosses are the health and this is just minimal when you have a good co-op partner
 
Getting DS3 on PS4 first, so i can get that sweet sweet Platinum Trophy(I have the trophy for DS1, DS2 and Bloodborne already)

Later on i might get it for pc
 
CHC said:
It's just as viable because it buffs bosses accordingly, to the point that coop can sometimes be harder if it's a boss whose move set you're really comfortable with. HOWEVER, most of the time it's a good bit easier.

If you haven't played a Souls game, though, the co-op doesn't work like it does in many other games. Most of the time you will be summoning a stranger and taking on a boss with them at your side, after which they disappear back to their world. It's not something where you can easily play through the whole game with a friend. It's more a case of summoning temporary aid.
Click to expand...

Ahh okay. Thanks alot that pretty much answered all my questions.
 
Lyng said:
Such brilliant reviews. I am almost 100% certain this game is not for me but these reviews sure as hell do tempt me.

Does playing it in coop take anything away from the experience or is it just as viable?
Click to expand...

In my experience, co-op definitely takes away from bossfights. Some it changes in a bit of interesting way as well as making it easier, such as with Ornstein and Smough, but co-oping masks the subtleties of many bossfights as well as makes them a cakewalk, like with Knight Artorias.

Of course, it's part of the game and it can be very fun to summon, and I highly recommend summoning others for help with very frustrating bosses.
 
Hoping simply games come through and deliver this early like usual, its not unheard of for Tuesday releases to arrive on a Saturday....fingers crossed :)
 
I will probably be able to get the PS4 version this friday already, but would rather buy the pc version for that 60FPS....
GAF, please help me decide. What's the area called that causes framedrops like blighttown? I want to see if there are PS4 previews for that place...

Markoman said:
I got $ and € confused, but since us Europeans usually pay extra, I assume $ is even cheaper


http://www.cdkeys.com/pc/games/dark-souls-iii-3-pc-cd-key-steam

Edit: 32,99 $
Click to expand...
It shows 38,99€ for me
 
Co-op really depends on the boss I think. Of course, it almost always makes it easier, but some of the more annoying bosses detracted from my enjoyment of the game after the 20th attempt alone.

Others, like Artorius, Gaping, that horrible fire thing in DeS, are best experienced alone for the memories. It's a mixed bag, but if you aren't too great at the game like me I wouldn't hold back from cooperative play.

DS2 can also be a blast co-op on higher ng+s, like smelter at +5
 
Kamina said:
I will probably be able to get the PS4 version this friday already, but would rather buy the pc version for that 60FPS....
GAF, please help me decide. What's the area called that causes framedrops like blighttown? I want to see if there are PS4 previews for that place...


It shows 38,99€ for me
Click to expand...

Yes, because you are from EU I assume, so the website will show you prices in €.
The 32.99 $ price is only shown in the search engine, so maybe someone from US can confirm this?
 
Markoman said:
Yes, because you are from EU I assume, so the website will show you prices in €.
The 32.99 $ price is only shown in the search engine, so maybe someone from US can confirm this?
Click to expand...
If i could get it for 32,99 i'd buy both this and the PS4 version.
 
Kamina said:
I will probably be able to get the PS4 version this friday already, but would rather buy the pc version for that 60FPS....
GAF, please help me decide. What's the area called that causes framedrops like blighttown? I want to see if there are PS4 previews for that place...


It shows 38,99€ for me
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat with possibly getting it Friday, but I think I'm just going to have to stick it out for the PC version
 
JudgmentJay said:
I'm curious what it is you're talking about.
Click to expand...

Big Spoiler (not really plot or location or anything related, but does give a hint about what to expect in a way that most reviews haven't really discussed):

Thing people disliked:
Humanoid bosses / guys in armor / bosses being against multiple things
.

More details:
Arguably, every single required boss falls in the broad Humanoid / Guy in Armor category, with the optional bosses being the largest deviation. And then one of the fights is like a less interesting version of Prowling Magus and the Undead Congregation.

The complaints never really held water with me in the first place because I think it comes down to arbitrary classifications and overly aggressive binning, and puts a bunch of frustrating boss fights on unjustified pedestals based on visual design rather than for them being mechanically interesting. But it is one major complaint about Dark Souls 2, and I think it is clearly worse in DS3. That's why your comment about boss designs being more like Dark Souls 1 completely flabbergasted me last night.

I overall liked the boss fights in 2, but loved the fights in 3. But there's so many more in 2 that the bar for what constitutes a boss is much lower.
 
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