Ghost Slayer
Member
Edit: aww shit, double post
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Dark Souls 3 announced (Early 2016, PC/PS4/XB1, Miyazaki Directing)
- Thread starter Lord British
- Start date
thefatness16
Banned
I am incredibly excited for the combat in this game. While I loved Bloodborne, I missed movement system of the earlier Dark Souls. Sword art stuff sounds really fucking cool plus DS1 movement could take this game over the top for me.
InfiniDragon
Member
Yep.
Those new weapon abilities and stances sound awesome, seems like weapon classes may be like trick weapons in BB only more than one of each (how it should have been).
thefatness16
Banned
I enjoyed Fire link shrine more than the other hubs largely due to not being able to teleport early in the game. After Undead Parish to Firelink and Blighttown to. It really felt like a reward to get back there. Made me appreciate it more.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
But it wasn't broken -- the torch was vital in the Gutter, and very useful (though also dangerous) in other places like the Black Gulch and Shrine of Amana.
I was lucky enough to be in the first showing of Dark Souls III, and here are my impressions:
Miyazaki gave a 20 minute presentation before the demo started. He said the focus of the game was to increase the sense of scale and immersion, evolve and deepen the concept that the series is known for, and push the apocalyptic world and heroic lore. The game has a very strong visual identity, with Miyazaki using the term "withered beauty" to describe the artistic theme.
That theme becomes immediately apparent once the demo began; the light from the faded sunset coated the entire level, the shrubs on the ground looked like they belonged in California, and there were decaying pillars and rubble everywhere. Personally, I was wowed when we came across a dead dragon; the player controller moved in closer and we saw the ashes of the dragon slowly drifting away, gently being pushed by the wind. I am by no means an expert in graphics, but I think the graphics are pretty close to Bloodborne, with this game edging it out. Since the visual identity is so strong, however, I'm partial to say that it's a beautiful game.
The demo mostly focused on the changes/additions made to combat, but Miyazaki did mention that he was a big fan of interconnected worlds, so he made it a priority to have that implemented. Generally, the combat is very much how you all remember it. However, they did take a page out of Bloodborne and introduced some new moves that you can do with the weapons you acquire throughout the game.
It seems that each weapon type have some "exclusive" moves that you could do. The concept for this was to increase the amount of tools and strategy needed (Miyazaki specifically mentions one-on-one fights). For example, holding the longsword with both hands gives you access to the "ready" stance. In this stance, you're able to strike using a strong swing that breaks a guard and a thrust that has long range.
We were then treated to a greatsword, which gives you a "lunge". Normally, the greatsword are weapons of long range and slow swings, but using the lunge and attack, allows you to do a quick upswing that does massive damage. The player character landed one of these hits on a enemy knight and it was sent flying 15 feet into the air. And I'm not talking about a trash mob enemy; it was one of those aggressive knights that has no problem ripping you to shreds. The downside of using this, however, is that you are very vulnerable if you miss.
Later on, we were able to see the player controller use the short bow, which allows you to shoot bows immediately out of moving and rolling. It looked really cool, being able to shoot and move made it look like the player was Legolas. Finally, the final weapon we saw was the dual wield scimitars. It's similar to the Blades of Mercy with longer range. Its special move was the spin move, which worked great for grouped trash mobs. It didn't look too strong though.
Anyhow, as we were going through the demo, the player ended up on a fork in the path. The bottom path had a formidable knight and a group of lower level mobs throwing projectiles. When the player went towards the upper path, we were greeted by a gigantic fire breathing dragon. Miyazaki described the level that was being demoed was a kingdom that was once guarded by many dragons. One by one, they slowly died off (the withering dragon mentioned above was one of them), and dragon on the upper path was indeed "the last guardian". This is the point in which they demonstrated how we could use the dangers of the world to your advantage. When the player ran away from the dragon and back down to the lower path, the dragon follows and unleashes his breath of fire, incinerating our once powerful enemies and effectively clearing the path.
Going forward, we were eventually treated to a mini-boss that was formed from a group of lower level mobs. I can't even describe what it looked like. It was some sort of tentacle, bug-like, slithery thing? Needless to say, it killed the player controller. Miyazaki mentioned earlier in the presentation that the E3 demo was more lenient in difficulty, but the enemies had no problem killing the player. I think he died three times total in that 30 minute total. Afterwards, time was running short so they rushed to get to the boss of the level.
We were given a preview of the boss of the level, "Dancer of the Frigid Alley" (might not be the correct name, as that's what I scribbled in my notes). This particular boss drew inspiration from middle eastern dancers; she had a long, slender body with light armor and a ghostly blue veil. She reminded me of Vicar Amelia from Bloodborne, but I definitely liked the look of this boss more (especially that veil). The boss in the game uses different moves depending on the amount of health it has, and we were supposed to see the second set of moves from the boss, but the player died before he could get there. And of course, we ran out of time from the demo.
A couple of miscellaneous notes: it was played on PC with the XB1 controller, and the build was 30 fps with minor hitches here and there. Miyazaki wanted to return to the fantasy theme after working on the Lovecraftian theme in Bloodborne and joined the DS3 production team once prototyping began. DS3 was planned before Miyazaki became president of From Software and it's now been in development for 2 years. He was able to work on Bloodborne and DS3 at the same time because From is now large enough to have multiple directors working in their studio.
Hope this gives you guys some insight on how the game is so far!
The second image is the mini-boss that was I was talking about above. It was as big as the Abhorrent Beast in Bloodborne and was crawling on all fours. I couldn't figure out what the hell I was looking at!
Miyazaki gave a 20 minute presentation before the demo started. He said the focus of the game was to increase the sense of scale and immersion, evolve and deepen the concept that the series is known for, and push the apocalyptic world and heroic lore. The game has a very strong visual identity, with Miyazaki using the term "withered beauty" to describe the artistic theme.
That theme becomes immediately apparent once the demo began; the light from the faded sunset coated the entire level, the shrubs on the ground looked like they belonged in California, and there were decaying pillars and rubble everywhere. Personally, I was wowed when we came across a dead dragon; the player controller moved in closer and we saw the ashes of the dragon slowly drifting away, gently being pushed by the wind. I am by no means an expert in graphics, but I think the graphics are pretty close to Bloodborne, with this game edging it out. Since the visual identity is so strong, however, I'm partial to say that it's a beautiful game.
The demo mostly focused on the changes/additions made to combat, but Miyazaki did mention that he was a big fan of interconnected worlds, so he made it a priority to have that implemented. Generally, the combat is very much how you all remember it. However, they did take a page out of Bloodborne and introduced some new moves that you can do with the weapons you acquire throughout the game.
It seems that each weapon type have some "exclusive" moves that you could do. The concept for this was to increase the amount of tools and strategy needed (Miyazaki specifically mentions one-on-one fights). For example, holding the longsword with both hands gives you access to the "ready" stance. In this stance, you're able to strike using a strong swing that breaks a guard and a thrust that has long range.
We were then treated to a greatsword, which gives you a "lunge". Normally, the greatsword are weapons of long range and slow swings, but using the lunge and attack, allows you to do a quick upswing that does massive damage. The player character landed one of these hits on a enemy knight and it was sent flying 15 feet into the air. And I'm not talking about a trash mob enemy; it was one of those aggressive knights that has no problem ripping you to shreds. The downside of using this, however, is that you are very vulnerable if you miss.
Later on, we were able to see the player controller use the short bow, which allows you to shoot bows immediately out of moving and rolling. It looked really cool, being able to shoot and move made it look like the player was Legolas. Finally, the final weapon we saw was the dual wield scimitars. It's similar to the Blades of Mercy with longer range. Its special move was the spin move, which worked great for grouped trash mobs. It didn't look too strong though.
Anyhow, as we were going through the demo, the player ended up on a fork in the path. The bottom path had a formidable knight and a group of lower level mobs throwing projectiles. When the player went towards the upper path, we were greeted by a gigantic fire breathing dragon. Miyazaki described the level that was being demoed was a kingdom that was once guarded by many dragons. One by one, they slowly died off (the withering dragon mentioned above was one of them), and dragon on the upper path was indeed "the last guardian". This is the point in which they demonstrated how we could use the dangers of the world to your advantage. When the player ran away from the dragon and back down to the lower path, the dragon follows and unleashes his breath of fire, incinerating our once powerful enemies and effectively clearing the path.
Going forward, we were eventually treated to a mini-boss that was formed from a group of lower level mobs. I can't even describe what it looked like. It was some sort of tentacle, bug-like, slithery thing? Needless to say, it killed the player controller. Miyazaki mentioned earlier in the presentation that the E3 demo was more lenient in difficulty, but the enemies had no problem killing the player. I think he died three times total in that 30 minute total. Afterwards, time was running short so they rushed to get to the boss of the level.
We were given a preview of the boss of the level, "Dancer of the Frigid Alley" (might not be the correct name, as that's what I scribbled in my notes). This particular boss drew inspiration from middle eastern dancers; she had a long, slender body with light armor and a ghostly blue veil. She reminded me of Vicar Amelia from Bloodborne, but I definitely liked the look of this boss more (especially that veil). The boss in the game uses different moves depending on the amount of health it has, and we were supposed to see the second set of moves from the boss, but the player died before he could get there. And of course, we ran out of time from the demo.
A couple of miscellaneous notes: it was played on PC with the XB1 controller, and the build was 30 fps with minor hitches here and there. Miyazaki wanted to return to the fantasy theme after working on the Lovecraftian theme in Bloodborne and joined the DS3 production team once prototyping began. DS3 was planned before Miyazaki became president of From Software and it's now been in development for 2 years. He was able to work on Bloodborne and DS3 at the same time because From is now large enough to have multiple directors working in their studio.
Hope this gives you guys some insight on how the game is so far!
The second image is the mini-boss that was I was talking about above. It was as big as the Abhorrent Beast in Bloodborne and was crawling on all fours. I couldn't figure out what the hell I was looking at!
Quick note: one change to the torch mechanic is that the timer was removed and you could use it as much as needed.
It's hard to say since we weren't given a guide on button prompts, but from what I can tell, you go into 2-hand mode, then use L2 or L1 to initiate ability (ex. longsword ready stance, greatsword lunge) and R1 or R2.
Eh, I don't know. I never used the torch there or anywhere else besides Earthen Peak for the boss. My torch has like 6 hours on it on my current character, lol.
JudgmentJay
Member
You sure about that? Someone else from the presentation said it was being played on an xbone.
A mouse cursor was idling on the bottom left of the screen, so I assumed it was PC.
InfiniDragon
Member
Went through The Gutter first playthrough in the dark, only died once and it was that damn dog and not a pitfall.
BB on the other hand gets legit dark in the Chalice Dungeons at times.
Oh, that would be interesting.
Sounds like the game is in good hands!
Thanks for the great impressions! I'm officially expecting this game to be nothing short of amazing.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Thanks for writing these! Very interesting and informative.
Seems like the Boletaria 1-2/Hellkite bridge is back, haha.
Dual wielding is back then? With powerstancing? Fucking awesome if so. That's my favourite DS2 feature. (Also I'll probably cosplay Drizzt again... xD)
CountAntonius
Member
pls no.
InfiniDragon
Member
Seriously.
Early build, but I really hope we aren't gonna be needing the Durante signal again.
It's a demo build for a game in development. I wouldn't worry too much about it. It was in way better shape than Bloodborne was at E3 last year.
AlphaDragoon
Member
It better be 60 on PC. They can get the fuck out with that 30 garbage, playing Bloodborne hurt my eyes at times because of the framerate plus frame pacing bug.
CountAntonius
Member
After DS2 I have faith in from on the PC end. Just scary to read lol.
Wasn't DS2 on PC 60 fps from the start?
StaffyManasse
Member
Palocca's impressions sound real good. Love what I am erading about the world design. And it's early 2016 (until delayed...)! Can't wait!
InfiniDragon
Member
It was. It was also made by Tanimura.
Miyazaki's Souls games (and BB) have always been 30 including PC Dark Souls, so even though it's probably an "early build" thing, there's cause for alarm when you say the PC version is 30 because he's done it before. Tanimura was the one that stressed PC performance.
Again, I wouldn't worry about it. It would be absolutely crazy for them to go backwards in terms of PC performance. If I recall correctly, DS1 had a 30 fps lock because they had very little experience developing for PC.
InfiniDragon
Member
I hope you're right, because all the rest of that stuff you described sounds amazing. The frame rate and instant backstabs are the only sour points.
Alot of interesting stuff here E3 2015: Chattin' About the Dark Souls 3 Demo: http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/e3-2015-chattin-about-the-dark-souls-3-demo/1600-1247/
Not sure if it has been posted yet.
Not sure if it has been posted yet.
Thanks for impressions!
That sounds really good, thanks for the impressions. I like how you can use the dragons fire breath to kill the other enemies, hopefully you can turn some enemies against each other in whatever form.
So now it's Team C or the same developers from DS2 but more people working in FROM?
KiteGr
Member
After playing Bloodborne, some how I feel like the Dark Souls universe has lost it's charm.
With Dark Souls 2 especially, things become same-y and video game-y, and it's story
, pretty much killed all my excitement for any sequel.
Also I feel like I'm gona puke if I fight yet another "dude in armor".
With Dark Souls 2 especially, things become same-y and video game-y, and it's story
about being in a loop of new chosen undead each time rekindling the fire for years
Also I feel like I'm gona puke if I fight yet another "dude in armor".
A lot of DS2 staff was working on Bloodborne.
Ghost Slayer
Member
What about leaking mechanics? Is it real or not because i don't like "making your own bonfire" idea at all
Well, then team A or B doesn't matter I guess.
Was this already posted?
PlayStation E3 2015 - Dark Souls III Live Coverage?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
All that whining about dudes in armour....
Nope, give me more. The best enemies and bosses have always been those melee using humanoids. The lamest/most boring bosses to fight? Dirty Colossus, Gaping Dragon, Ancient Dragon, Demon of Song.... Bed of fucking Chaos.
Now that's not to say all "monster" enemies are bad, but yeah, enough with the shitting on the humanoid dudes already, dammit!
Nope, give me more. The best enemies and bosses have always been those melee using humanoids. The lamest/most boring bosses to fight? Dirty Colossus, Gaping Dragon, Ancient Dragon, Demon of Song.... Bed of fucking Chaos.
Now that's not to say all "monster" enemies are bad, but yeah, enough with the shitting on the humanoid dudes already, dammit!
Chilli_Axe
Member
Everything I'm hearing about this game is pretty much exactly what I'm after in a souls game. Pretty excited to see some gameplay footage
Yep, I'm definitely starting to feel the Souls fatigue. I'm not nearly as excited as I was for Dark Souls 2 or Bloodborne. Although I know this game is in good hands, I can't seem to really get hyped.
I'm glad this game will conclude the Souls series. But From must never cease to make dark medieval fantasy games. Never.
I'm glad this game will conclude the Souls series. But From must never cease to make dark medieval fantasy games. Never.
Let's be real about this, the Team A or B discourse was never really about the actual development teams.
It's just rolls off the tongue better than Team Miyazaki or Team Not Miyazaki.
And that obviously matters. A lot.
GwyndolinCinder
Member
Waking up to hear combat is back to ds1 is brilliant, agility will not be missed!