[Megathread] Dark Souls 3

[Wrecktangle]

I just recently played through DS3 (as a series virgin). I really enjoyed the game. WAY more than I expected. The difficulty felt fair and balanced.

It took me a very long time to adjust to a more patient game (the last time I played something like this was DND mode in original DMC). I think when people say these games are hard they're not saying WHY they're hard. I found that the hardest part of the game was myself. Everytime I died was due to me being stupid or greedy. Playing patient rewarded me with consistent boss kills every time.

There were a few bosses that I did genuinely struggle with. Aldrich fire phase really tricked me until I figured out I could space myself enough away to pull him from the fire, but he wouldn't summon floating orbs.

I also had a really hard time with Nameless King. Not because he was hard, (he wasn't honestly), but I couldn't figure out how to reliably hit his dragon to kill it. Once I figured out which attacks to ignore and which were safe to punish I skated through that fight.

Playing Bloodborne now and having a blast. I don't quite like it as much as DS3, but I got the MLGS and I am very happy how it handles. For reference I am a big FROM fan from the old times (Armored Core series & Kings Field).

[SirCowdog]

I mean, I used a single strategy for the entire game as well; press space bar when things are about to hit me and butt poke them to death.

The iframes in at least ds3 are also extremely forgiving and most attacks are fairly telegraphed to the point where its almost never an issue. And then they went overboard with the estus flask, so pretty much if something wasn't a 1shot or a combo you could chug your way through it.

I could tell you right now I didn't memorize and master every mobs attack patterns and timings to a T or anything of the sort, I just reacted to whatever they were doing the entire way through the game.



See I hear that, but at least ds3 absolutely wasn't. It was extremely forgiving for what it is, especially so if you're taking advantage of all the things the game allows you. For instance blocking everything and chugging estus would make the game a joke.

Yeah, see, I started out playing pretty similar to you. I saw an attack coming, I tried to dodge. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I just ended up feeling that blocking was a lot more consistent. It also had the side benefit of occasionally staggering enemies.

Mostly though, I'm impressed that you CAN choose to play either way. My only gripe was that on most full-bosses blocking had times where it just didn't work. Usually when a boss tries to grab you, although the final boss's uber-spam was full-strength cheese.

Thing about chugging estus is that you're vulnerable while doing it. And you can't block forever, since you still take some damage and it costs a lot more stamina to block than to dodge, leaving you nothing to attack with. It's not really cheese, just a more steady, defensive style of play rather than high-risk/high-reward that dodging gives.

- - - Updated - - -

I just recently played through DS3 (as a series virgin). I really enjoyed the game. WAY more than I expected. The difficulty felt fair and balanced.

It took me a very long time to adjust to a more patient game (the last time I played something like this was DND mode in original DMC). I think when people say these games are hard they're not saying WHY they're hard. I found that the hardest part of the game was myself. Everytime I died was due to me being stupid or greedy. Playing patient rewarded me with consistent boss kills every time.

There were a few bosses that I did genuinely struggle with. Aldrich fire phase really tricked me until I figured out I could space myself enough away to pull him from the fire, but he wouldn't summon floating orbs.

I also had a really hard time with Nameless King. Not because he was hard, (he wasn't honestly), but I couldn't figure out how to reliably hit his dragon to kill it. Once I figured out which attacks to ignore and which were safe to punish I skated through that fight.

Playing Bloodborne now and having a blast. I don't quite like it as much as DS3, but I got the MLGS and I am very happy how it handles. For reference I am a big FROM fan from the old times (Armored Core series & Kings Field).

I also was a series virgin. I played DS1 for like 10 minutes before getting sick of the controls and returning it. But I think you're right about difficulty. Part of it is the skill-floor required to acclimate yourself to the combat. I think a lot of people never take the time to really understand it. Then there's the simple fact that some enemies can and WILL one or two-shot you. I think most people are accustomed to RPGs or action games where you have a little more forgiving combat than that, where you can take multiple hits and keep on trucking. Monsters WILL cheese you just as hard as you can cheese them.

Also playing Bloodborne right now. Not sure if I'm ok with no blocking/shields, and the load times are killing me, but it's VERY much more of what I liked about DS3.

[Thelxi]

I have a Dark Souls related question (it could have gone in any of the DS megathreads, but this is the most active, so):

I've played, but never beaten Dark Souls 1. Actually, I don't think I got very far at all (I beat the Twin Gargoyles then tooled around in other areas, but never even found the next boss). It was fun, but I put it down for some reason and never went back to it. I own, but haven't played Dark Souls 2, but I've heard it's the weakest of the DS games. Now, while the Winter Sale is going on, I'm wondering if I should pickup Dark Souls 3 and give that a whirl then work my way back to DS 1&2, or would you recommend playing in order?

Or, perhaps, DS3 sucks and I should just avoid it - but I doubt that will be the case.

DS2 is a great game, no idea what the critics are smoking.

[dope_danny]

I just recently played through DS3 (as a series virgin). I really enjoyed the game. WAY more than I expected. The difficulty felt fair and balanced.

It took me a very long time to adjust to a more patient game (the last time I played something like this was DND mode in original DMC). I think when people say these games are hard they're not saying WHY they're hard. I found that the hardest part of the game was myself. Everytime I died was due to me being stupid or greedy. Playing patient rewarded me with consistent boss kills every time.

There were a few bosses that I did genuinely struggle with. Aldrich fire phase really tricked me until I figured out I could space myself enough away to pull him from the fire, but he wouldn't summon floating orbs.

I also had a really hard time with Nameless King. Not because he was hard, (he wasn't honestly), but I couldn't figure out how to reliably hit his dragon to kill it. Once I figured out which attacks to ignore and which were safe to punish I skated through that fight.

Playing Bloodborne now and having a blast. I don't quite like it as much as DS3, but I got the MLGS and I am very happy how it handles. For reference I am a big FROM fan from the old times (Armored Core series & Kings Field).

The difficulty shit was just a meme when the game hit mainstream popularity. Its kind of a running joke that the moment DS1 hit PC the term "artificial difficulty" being searched from on Google skyrocketed.

Souls games aren't 'hard' in design they are 'old' in design. Go replay a NES game like Megaman or Castlevania and its the same shit, different camera angle. Its why the games stand out. Not because they are hard because there are niche series' that are waaaay harder. Souls games stand out because they are a late 80's/early 90's school of design that was dead and buried before Demon's Souls brought it back, was expected to die a quiet death and ended up being a sleeper hit simply because it offers us what games used to be. You run in you are dead, back to the checkpoint, though you lose nothing in the longrun, you be thoughtful, watch your corners and be patient and you are tops.

Not that the assholes making "ebig rageface xD" montages about it on youtube wouldn't have you believe of course.

-Also if anyone likes these they arent the same at all but the same ethos in design is very prevalent in the Monster Hunter games which are also niche but has a lot of draw for mmo players and MH4U is an amazing title.

[pateuvasiliu]

DS2 is a great game, no idea what the critics are smoking.

No one is saying DS2 is bad, but it is the weakest of the 3. By far.

[Velshin]

Souls games aren't 'hard' in design they are 'old' in design. Go replay a NES game like Megaman or Castlevania and its the same shit, different camera angle. Its why the games stand out. Not because they are hard because there are niche series' that are waaaay harder. Souls games stand out because they are a late 80's/early 90's school of design that was dead and buried before Demon's Souls brought it back, was expected to die a quiet death and ended up being a sleeper hit simply because it offers us what games used to be. You run in you are dead, back to the checkpoint, though you lose nothing in the longrun, you be thoughtful, watch your corners and be patient and you are tops.
.

This is exactly one of the main reasons why I love the souls series (I also been a Kings Field fan and the souls series are spiritual successor to that old series). The souls series are not super hard they just require patience and you take your time getting better instead of giving you everything in a silver plate. The souls series reminded me so much of old Metriod series and Castlevania Symphony of the Night era like out of no where you hit an illusionally wall then baaaaam another hidden secret area which is totally optional. It gives you the feeling of exploration and discovery because there is no mini map telling you where to go exactly and no golden arrow or quest marking telling you about your objective nope you are on your own exploring by yourself.

[dope_danny]

This is exactly one of the main reasons why I love the souls series (I also been a Kings Field fan and the souls series are spiritual successor to that old series). The souls series are not super hard they just require patience and you take your time getting better instead of giving you everything in a silver plate. The souls series reminded me so much of old Metriod series and Castlevania Symphony of the Night era like out of no where you hit an illusionally wall then baaaaam another hidden secret area which is totally optional. It gives you the feeling of exploration and discovery because there is no mini map telling you where to go exactly and no golden arrow or quest marking telling you about your objective nope you are on your own exploring by yourself.

To be honest i could do with souls games going a little more metroidvania. Learn different abilities and such to access new areas in old places. Bloodborne has a little of this. At one point near the end you can find a key to go back to an early area to open a door to a high level area where some very dark shit has been going down with two bosses and you learn an emote called "contact" with a reminder that "the sky and the cosmos are one" and nothing else.
You can then return to the nightmare realm layer of the church of mensis' and use the contact emote in front of a "not named as such for copyright reasons" shoggoth and after holding the 'praise the moon' pose for a long time the thing communicates gifting you insight -a version of humanity analagous to more experience in these games leading to a form of madness that changes monsters and things in the world- and a rune which is the equivalent to rings and its a very good one if memory serves.

A little more of that in souls would be good, though DS3 makes me worry we are just going to see cash in sequels, possibly outsourced to bamco in the long run, but that doesnt mean games like Nioh arent taking the format and doing something good with it.

[WarpedAcorn]

No one is saying DS2 is bad, but it is the weakest of the 3. By far.

While I agree its the "weakest" of the series, I've also spent more time on it than any other of the Souls games (not including Bloodborne). This is mainly because I've felt more builds are viable in DS2, so I had a lot of fun replaying it as something wildly different. I also enjoyed the PvP a lot more in DS2.

[Poppincaps]

While I agree its the "weakest" of the series, I've also spent more time on it than any other of the Souls games (not including Bloodborne). This is mainly because I've felt more builds are viable in DS2, so I had a lot of fun replaying it as something wildly different. I also enjoyed the PvP a lot more in DS2.

Anyone who says that Dark Souls 2 isn't the most replayable of the entire series is either incredibly biased or isn't paying attention.

[Velshin]

Anyone who says that Dark Souls 2 isn't the most replayable of the entire series is either incredibly biased or isn't paying attention.

It is indeed in fact this reason is one of the good points of DS2 but yeah overall for me it was the weakest of the series.

[Borfl]

I normally never play pure magic because its boring and generally sucks in Souls games, but I'm starting a pure sorcery build just going all into INT to 55, going to get to 60 from Yoel's freebies, before leveling up my HP/Mana. The lack of magic spells you get until late game really sucks and the mana bar was a bad choice. I didn't like charges that much in 1 and 2 but they were better than the mana bar in 3. All I do is spam GHSA and SA if I can only afford to do quick casts. SGS costs too much and is too risky to use for the most part. I don't like how late in the game Soul Spear/CSS is because I don't have much to deal with aoeing mobs outside of SGS. Also don't like how Soulstream is super late game.

Have to invest so many levels before magic starts getting decent vs quality build. Generally I just go 27vgr, eventually 45, then hit END cap after that split between STR/DEX and I'm good to go. Hell on my first blind playthrough I just went 44VGR then 40END, by the time I started investing levels into damage to get the quality build rolling I already beat the game. The damage was a non issue due to how stupidly overpowered straightswords are.

Sorc build you have to get INT up high early on otherwise you don't hit for shit, also have to invest your shards early on into your staff and really the starting Sorceror staff is the best you're going to get until late game. You have to give up healing estus for FP estus which especially sucks even more if you're phantoming. Pushover fights become a lot harder due to 3's design. Curse Rotted you can't lock onto the weakpoints so had to manually aim which sucked. Crystal Sage I had to line of sight and just pop faron darts at the illusions to preserve mana. Casting GHSA in the open is too slow and leaves you too vulnerable. Although there are a lot of fights that become a lot easier with the Sorc build. A lot of it has to do with the huge lock-on range for bosses letting you sit across the arena and spam into them. Most enemies are pushovers and die to 1 hit but some mobs are just stupid to deal with like dogs and hollow slaves due to their high movement speed, aggression, and short hitbox.

This build seems really crappy to play especially in a new game considering I've cleared everything until AW including Dragonslayer and Champion Gundyr and excluding the DLC and only have hit 55 INT, 23 ATN, and 27VGR and still have yet to invest into END. Hoping NG+ might be more fun to play when I get enough levels for the build to start hitting all its softcaps. It's greatest strength is ONLY the fact it can deal with really scary enemies/bosses very easily whereas melee would have a much harder time. Overall shieldless melee build is much more fun to play.

[WarpedAcorn]

I've always played a "Wizard" build first in the Souls games because I like using magic in video games. You are definitely right that DS3 makes it hard, harder than any of the rest of the series. I always felt like I had to work twice as hard to accomplish half as much when compared to a pure Str or Dex build. The easiest time I had in any of the Souls series was just using a regular Longsword and Shield, forgetting about all Magic, Miracles, and Pyromancies.

[dope_danny]

The worst was a hex build. didnt get a chime for it till the library, had no good hexes till late game and was basically sword and board for 70% of the game.

[Wrecktangle]

Souls games aren't 'hard' in design they are 'old' in design. Go replay a NES game like Megaman or Castlevania and its the same shit, different camera angle

Metroid and Castlevania are 2 of my favorite series. Ironically I never got into the whole metroidvania thing on steam.

[Remilia]

Issue with cast builds is it's extremely glass cannon. You require 60+ or so Int before it actually starts hitting like a truck.
Stats in DS3 scale oddly for casters.
Endurance also scales weird as you gain 2 stam per stat until 25, and then you start getting 2-3 per stat until 40, then it tanks.

[Deleted]

I only got DS3 in the winter sales, and I must say that the infusions break the game for me. What is the point of putting anything into STR/DEX (beside the base requirement for a longsword/estoc) when you can put Raw on it and then buff it with Magic/Fire/Lightning?

Playing a pyro/sorc/miracle caster in this game is total faceroll right from the start. Sure you will use melee and pyromancies until you get better sorc or miracles but at no point in the game, because of Raw infusion, do you lack for damage options. I created an assassin and made a raw estoc, then got a longsword and put fire on that and put all my early points in vig and endurance, then attunement and faith until I got to level 60 ish when I got good miracles and from then on everything was being melted with little effort.

[Frozenbeef]

K just finished dark souls 3 after dozens of attempts on the soul of cinder i finally find out that you can summon other people to help you... this would have been wonderful to know earlier on, have just been selling embers for 1k each because i didn't need the health boost >.<

[Poppincaps]

K just finished dark souls 3 after dozens of attempts on the soul of cinder i finally find out that you can summon other people to help you... this would have been wonderful to know earlier on, have just been selling embers for 1k each because i didn't need the health boost >.<

Be glad. Playing with summons is for bitches. Anyone who disagrees, fight me IRL.

[Borfl]

I only got DS3 in the winter sales, and I must say that the infusions break the game for me. What is the point of putting anything into STR/DEX (beside the base requirement for a longsword/estoc) when you can put Raw on it and then buff it with Magic/Fire/Lightning?

Playing a pyro/sorc/miracle caster in this game is total faceroll right from the start. Sure you will use melee and pyromancies until you get better sorc or miracles but at no point in the game, because of Raw infusion, do you lack for damage options. I created an assassin and made a raw estoc, then got a longsword and put fire on that and put all my early points in vig and endurance, then attunement and faith until I got to level 60 ish when I got good miracles and from then on everything was being melted with little effort.

In NG, not much reason because nothing lives long enough to be a threat and Thrusting/Straight swords are just absurd in 3 due to their range, damage, speed and stunlocking. On my first playthrough I also dumped all my points into VGR/END softcaps while using a Raw Longsword, by the time I started investing into STR/DEX to the point Refined > Raw I already killed every boss in the game.

I'd say in higher NG+ magic is probably worse simply because you'll have to dump more mana to kill things and fighting multiple mobs with tons of HP and damage becomes a lot more dangerous when casting is so slow making you more susceptible to taking lethal hits. I'd say in NG+ the quality build is a lot stronger. It's also undoubtedly the best in PvP because casting is just awful in DS3 PvP.

[Deleted]

I'd say in higher NG+ magic is probably worse simply because you'll have to dump more mana to kill things and fighting multiple mobs with tons of HP and damage becomes a lot more dangerous when casting is so slow making you more susceptible to taking lethal hits. I'd say in NG+ the quality build is a lot stronger. It's also undoubtedly the best in PvP because casting is just awful in DS3 PvP.

Yes, I'm seeing this already in my game, where you run out of mana, particularly if you are a phantom, very often. Thankfully, though, if I'm on my last flask, I can fall back on weapon buffs to grind out more kills until I get another shot of estus. My biggest annoyance is those fire-bird-demon creatures around at the smouldering lake, they are so resistant to magic and fire and they attack so quickly, I tend to pillar abuse them to kill them. On my Hollowslayer character, they (and almost everything else) are a cakewalk.