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Dark Souls III |OT+2| Why Can't We Poise the Game?

I know, but I went into NG+, when the game first came out. I wasn't thinking about DLC at that point.

Another way is to just make a save file before starting NG+. I wouldn't mind waiting for DLC on all souls games tho. The best weapons tend to be in them anyway.

Edit: At darkeater midir (btw, coolest dragon name and design I've seen in a while). He's not too bad, but he has that dash forward attack that I can't predict for the life of me.

Unfortunately, we have yet another addition to "Why not just put a bon fire in front of the boss entrance?" Seriously, not doing this is just stupid and time wasting.

Edit 2: I decided to check the timing of it. With load times, plus running down the platform and latter and jumping off, that's all 1:10 if I sprint through that as fast as I can.

So if I take 30 tries to beat him (likely, because he's tough as shit), I'll be running through all that for half an hour.

Why? Why do they keep doing this?

This is like my number 1 problem with the series. I don't mind it if you're fighting things on the way to the boss (Skeleton Chariot from 2 is an example of a good run to a boss), but then you get stuff like Maneaters, Artorias, Orphan of Kos etc., where you're just running past nothing for a minute or two, and it just starts to feel like busywork. Some people argue that putting bonfires in front of boss doors would ruin the bosses, but then you get the likes of Lady Maria, Bloodborne's last boss, Fume Knight, Dancer, etc., which are all considered to be some of the better bosses in the series, which are all like 10 seconds max from a bonfire.

Phalanx, and Demon's Souls 1-1, is probably the best example. The boss door is right at the start, and you loop through the level, unlocking shortcuts, until you finally open the boss door. I wish more of the games would have had that approach.
 

Veelk

Banned
Holy shit, I just beat Midir on my first try after I equipped the steel protection +3 ring. Once he wasn't doing enough damage to kill me in 2 short hits, I kicked his ass.

Wish I had thought to use this in general earlier. The main problem I've been having with the DLC is that all the enemies do way too much damage. Well, not anymore!
 
Just finished my bloodborne dlc play through and moved onto this. I made a pyromancer and I'm steam rolling all the enemies and just killed the second boss, I forgot how much of a difference having a shield and magic makes, bloodborne is so hard in comparison.
 

Veelk

Banned
Beat Ringed City. Final boss kicked my ass enough times to make an impression, but otherwise wasn't so bad.

I don't know if I'm the minority on this, but I think I preferred Ashes of Ariandel. Just felt more unique and I love snow environments. But on the other hand, I cannot tell you how much I loved Midir (it not the route it takes to get to him). Fantastically designed dragon, tough as all fuck, just a beautiful creature.

Now if I ever manage to upgrade my PC, I'll finally be able to play Dark Souls 1.

Edit: Can I get a clarification for future reference? How does banning work on PC? When I get that upgrade, I'm gonna basically want to transfer my character over (meaning I'm just gonna spec them out to have the same look), but while I'm not gonna overlevel myself, I don't want to have to re-acquire all the stuff I got. So I'm gonna spawn all my weapons and armor at the beginning. Now, if the system detects me for cheating and they ban me, are they going to invalidate my entire save, or just restrict me from online play?

I ask because I have zero interest in multiplayer for these games and I play offline anyway, so I want to know if there is anything that I'm actually risking.
 
I know, but I went into NG+, when the game first came out. I wasn't thinking about DLC at that point.

Another way is to just make a save file before starting NG+. I wouldn't mind waiting for DLC on all souls games tho. The best weapons tend to be in them anyway.

Edit: At darkeater midir (btw, coolest dragon name and design I've seen in a while). He's not too bad, but he has that dash forward attack that I can't predict for the life of me.

Unfortunately, we have yet another addition to "Why not just put a bon fire in front of the boss entrance?" Seriously, not doing this is just stupid and time wasting.

Edit 2: I decided to check the timing of it. With load times, plus running down the platform and latter and jumping off, that's all 1:10 if I sprint through that as fast as I can.

So if I take 30 tries to beat him (likely, because he's tough as shit), I'll be running through all that for half an hour.

Why? Why do they keep doing this?
Word of advice: Put down your summon sign and help people for a while. Midir is one of the few DS bosses that's actually well balanced for co-op, and if you die you just respawn right back in front of the door. Great way to have fun, help people out, and learn the boss. I did this for a few hours, then beat him on my first solo try.

Fake edit: Just saw a few posts down that you beat him. Posting this anyway for any lurkers who might be on Midir.
 
Word of advice: Put down your summon sign and help people for a while. Midir is one of the few DS bosses that's actually well balanced for co-op, and if you die you just respawn right back in front of the door. Great way to have fun, help people out, and learn the boss. I did this for a few hours, then beat him on my first solo try.

Fake edit: Just saw a few posts down that you beat him. Posting this anyway for any lurkers who might be on Midir.

I'm going to disagree on summoning people for Midir. His effective health pool is already pretty big adding more people is just going to make that worse. Multiple people are also likely to not have the same game plan, so you're going to have Midir spinning around. This will lead to him throwing out some of his 1hit kill moves more often as a consequence. You want to always be standing in front of Midir where he's easy to read and can realiably do damage to his head for double damage and to trigger a stagger. Most people go for the legs, but that's just way too risky.
 
I'm going to disagree on summoning people for Midir. His effective health pool is already pretty big adding more people is just going to make that worse. Multiple people are also likely to not have the same game plan, so you're going to have Midir spinning around. This will lead to him throwing out some of his 1hit kill moves more often as a consequence. You want to always be standing in front of Midir where he's easy to read and can realiably do damage to his head for double damage and to trigger a stagger. Most people go for the legs, but that's just way too risky.
I didn't recommend summoning; I recommended being summoned. I agree there are challenges to co-oping, which is what makes it one of the few fun bosses to co-op.
 
I didn't recommend summoning; I recommended being summoned. I agree there are challenges to co-oping, which is what makes it one of the few fun bosses to co-op.

Fair enough I still think it's a bad way to learn the fight, since he's going to moving around more than he would if you were fighting him solo. But to each their own.
 
I haven't played DS3 since the first time I beat it on release, but wow invasions are way more common than I remember (and way harder.) I'm playing through with my friend on the road of sacrifice currently and I don't think we've beaten an invader once, even 2v1. The estus and lag are just too much.

Was there a pro patch for this game or anything? Running through on PS4 Pro and it seems way faster/smoother than I remember.
 
Fair enough I still think it's a bad way to learn the fight, since he's going to moving around more than he would if you were fighting him solo. But to each their own.
Yeah, to each their own I guess. Personally I didn't see much of a difference in how much he moved around. I had a lot of fun helping people. Nice to have a DS boss that isn't completely trivialized by co-op.
 

squidyj

Member
Finally finished a run through the ringed city. Midir was definitely the toughest. Demon Prince was a joke.
Found the last boss to be a little too easy, too many easily readable and dodgeable attacks. I suppose it might be tough if I went into it looking to rock an ultra weapon of some sort though.
I liked the zones and clearing in Ringed City better than Ashes

Anyway now I finally have the super cool Demon's Scar and Im looking to start a pyro run.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Is Darkeater Midir the hardest boss ever in not just this game but any game?

A friend and I literally tried this dude for several hours straight last weekend and never got him much lower than half. Hahaha... ha... He's just so fucking random and there's so little opportunity to hit him.
 
Is Darkeater Midir the hardest boss ever in not just this game but any game?

A friend and I literally tried this dude for several hours straight last weekend and never got him much lower than half. Hahaha... ha... He's just so fucking random and there's so little opportunity to hit him.

Not so much that he is random, that like the Nameless King's first stage, he is so large you can't see the indicators for his attacks.

For that reason I would probably consider him one of the hardest bosses in the game.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Not so much that he is random, that like the Nameless King's first stage, he is so large you can't see the indicators for his attacks.

For that reason I would probably consider him one of the hardest bosses in the game.

That and a kabillion hit points. I can't remember another soulsborne boss as hard as this.
 

Cels

Member
is dark souls 3 a good game for jolly cooperation? (for me and a friend, not for randoms)

i barely used summons in ds1, but i know in this game they made it easier to match with friends with the password system
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Is Darkeater Midir the hardest boss ever in not just this game but any game?

A friend and I literally tried this dude for several hours straight last weekend and never got him much lower than half. Hahaha... ha... He's just so fucking random and there's so little opportunity to hit him.
Not even close.

There's nothing random about him. Here's the trick: stay in front of his face and only attack the face. You can handle anything after that. Wait for his attack, stay in front (far enough away to not get hit but close enough to run up to his face and punish him when he lowers his head).

Fight him like you would Defiled Amygdala. Then you'll beat without hardly using any Estus. Also, do it solo, it's easier.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Okay, and I'll keep your advice in mind when I make another attempt on him.

Out of curiosity, what Soulsborne boss do you think is harder?
In DS3 alone, Sister Friede (hardest boss of the series IMO), Gail, L&L and The Nameless King are harder. I'd also include Soul of Cinders and even Abyss Watchers to a certain extent. All solo of course.

Note, Midir took me more tries than most of them (except Gail) to beat them the first time, but, once I got his pattern down, he became piss-easy, whereas the others can still give me trouble. Here's a video of me killing him by using only 4 Estus (katana user). I repeated this exact same thing with another character (warden twinblades user), using only 4 Estus again, and each time I needed to heal it was just a very sloppy, easily avoidable mistake. I think I could perfect this boss, tbh, and I can't say that about, say, Sir Alonne.

For other games in the series, those are more (consistently) harder, in that they are more likely to kill me than Midir:

Defiled Watchdog (because of the potential OHKO)
Defiled Amygdala (same)
Laurence, the First Vicar
Orphan of Kos
Headless Bloodletting Beast
Pthumerian Descendant
Darklurker
Sir Alonne
Fume Knight
Ruin Sentinels
Smelter Demon
Manus
Artorias
S&O
Maneaters
Flamelurker

Probably more... seriously, Midir ain't shit. :D
 

Thorgal

Member
Is Darkeater Midir the hardest boss ever in not just this game but any game?

A friend and I literally tried this dude for several hours straight last weekend and never got him much lower than half. Hahaha... ha... He's just so fucking random and there's so little opportunity to hit him.

Hardest in this game ? arguably maybe .

Hardest Boss in Any game ? HELL NO
 
Ruin Sentinels are super easy if you've got damage to burn them down. Totally with you on Sister Friede being the hardest Dark Souls 3 boss and with Alonne and Fume Knight holy shit are they tough. I haven't played enough though enough of Bloodborne to comment on its bosses yet all I know is to fear Orphan Kos. I can't remember Demon Souls or Dark Souls 1 bosses well enough to fairly judge them. I imagine I'd fine them way easier now then I would have in the past since I've played so many hours of this series at this point.

Regarding Midir he's super tough to learn because he's punishing I think for certain people that makes him super difficult, but for other that set routine makes it easy.
 
So, bought this yesterday and currently I'm sitting in front of Abyss Watchers boss room farming Sunlight medals, they seem to be very popular.

Question about how invasions work, can you be invaded in areas where you already defeated the boss?
 
Looking for some general advice, since I'm more than a little rusty... I picked up the season pass for a great discount and figured it would be great to get back in the game again. Unfortunately I found all my characters were deleted, so I have to start everything over from scratch. Which was probably a good thing, I had > 100 hours into DS3 and I felt like I was decent at it, trying special builds and 2H only runs, etc. Now I'm getting my arse kicked and finally just made it to watchers :)

Anyway, I've kind of forgotten what good weapons are... I made a 1H sword 'n board knight (figured it was the easiest way to get through the core stuff and to the DLC). I have a +3 Asotra's Straight Sword (Raw). This is supposed to be a good "early weapon", but when should I be looking to replace it? I picked up a Dark Sword in front of Abyss Watchers, but it doesn't seem to be as good as Asotra's right now. When does the early weapon phase end? Or should I just keep dumping titanite into Asotra's? +3 is no big deal right now, but large shards are going to be quite dear for a while longer, I'm not sure if I should put it into Asotra's, Dark Sword, or something else entirely?
 
What's this game like with keyboard and mouse controls? Very tempted to pick it up in the Steam sale!

Also I've seen a walk-through in it's entirety, but it was a while back... everything's kinda hazy in mind - do I need to play DS1 and DS2 to fully appreciate the game?
 
Übermatik;241711135 said:
What's this game like with keyboard and mouse controls? Very tempted to pick it up in the Steam sale!

Also I've seen a walk-through in it's entirety, but it was a while back... everything's kinda hazy in mind - do I need to play DS1 and DS2 to fully appreciate the game?

Never played any of the DS titles with a M&KB, but from what I heard it's decent, though it's obvious that it was meant to be played with a gamepad.
Each entry in the series has its good and bad parts, you don't have to play the other ones, but each makes you see the others in a new light.
 
Pretty bummed the season pass didn't go on sale. I was hoping to finally get the DLC.

I know, I upgraded my PC a few weeks ago so I could play, but was too impatient to wait for the sale.

I was at least hoping I could grab the DLC for cheaper

Your not missing out on much, as someone who's played DS1-DS3(all dlc), BB+Old Hunters. I didn't really care for DS3 dlc at all and consider it the weakest of the series. It was a huge letdown for me considering I absolutely love The Old Hunters.

I just didn't like the level design and found the new enemies rather dull.
 
Your not missing out on much, as someone who's played DS1-DS3(all dlc), BB+Old Hunters. I didn't really care for DS3 dlc at all and consider it the weakest of the series. It was a huge letdown for me considering I absolutely love The Old Hunters.

I just didn't like the level design and found the new enemies rather dull.

Good to know - just picked up the main game only on Steam, will maybe grab the DLC/Season Pass later if it's actually on offer.

Any recommendations on where I could get a good price (UK/EU) on a controller (Xbox?) for this?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Übermatik;241784572 said:
Good to know - just picked up the main game only on Steam, will maybe grab the DLC/Season Pass later if it's actually on offer.

Any recommendations on where I could get a good price (UK/EU) on a controller (Xbox?) for this?

FWIW I disagree completely, I think DS3 is stellar and the DLCs are all very solid and very much worth buying. *shrugs* Can't help for the controller, I use a DS4.
 
FWIW I disagree completely, I think DS3 is stellar and the DLCs are all very solid and very much worth buying. *shrugs* Can't help for the controller, I use a DS4.

I like main DS3 for the most part, just don't like the dlc.

I spent full price for the season pass too. I mean for $10 I guess it's fine if you get it cheap.

It's just...... ugh. I would rather not get into it about the dlc.
 
I think the DLC is really strong from the perspective of adding pretty distinct weapons and wrapping up the Dark Souls story. It fills in some key points from how the story began and closes out the series. It's a little unconventional with that second part, but I think it works. I think 4/6 of the bosses are at least decent. One has a gimmick that's pretty distinct and another has a pretty oh shit moment if you go in blind. The weak points for the dlcs are probably the armor sets and the design of the levels. I like the individual enemy encounters, but in some cases the window dressing the things funneling you through the level are kind not my thing. This is especially true of the first Dlc. I think the second DLC has a pretty solid stretch thats excellent for invasions. There's a good string of medium to hard difficulty enemies throughout one particular section that keep become pretty chaotic.

I think as a whole still I like the Dark Souls 2 dlc the best for the Souls games, but the Dark Souls 3 stuff does a lot right. I have only played up to Rom in Bloodborne, so I can't compare its dlc.
 

Veelk

Banned
I feel I'm in the minority, but I liked Ashes of Ariandel way more than the Ringed City.

Ashes felt like it told a complete arc in it's own segment, for one. The Ringed City didn't feel like it had a strong narrative element. For one, it's a continuation of Ashes, so it doesn't stand on it's own as much, and two, I don't get the same feeling of cohesiveness about it. Granted, that's atleast somewhat intentional as the Ringed City is where the last dregs of the living world end up, but still, it feels like a lot of it is just random debris that you happen to encounter on your quest to find the dark soul. Ashes also has a snowy environment which is just beautiful. Souls games are rarely ever straight up ugly and Ringed City certainly looks nice in a lot of ways, but it's hard to beat snowy landscapes. And you could definitely criticize some parts of ashes for being short or for areas being just way too open, but as an experience as a whole, I look back at it more fondly than I do with Ringed City.
 

Veelk

Banned
"strong narrative element"

I mean... it's Dark Souls

Well, everything's relative.

But I liked how it built up the image of Friede before we got to meet with her and fight with her, and which makes sense because it's literally her world we're in. That's what I meant, that everything about the world of Ariandel felt like it was leading up to that confrontation in a way that the Ringed City didn't with Gael.
 
Alright, I'm absolute dogshit at this game. I can't beat Gundyr.

I think I fucked myself by grabbing the Divine Blessing as my starting item and then throwing away all the firebombs I found at the start.

Gundyr's second phase fucks me so hard though... I can't judge the attacks through all the shit that's going on. Any tips?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Übermatik;241875484 said:
Alright, I'm absolute dogshit at this game. I can't beat Gundyr.

I think I fucked myself by grabbing the Divine Blessing as my starting item and then throwing away all the firebombs I found at the start.

Gundyr's second phase fucks me so hard though... I can't judge the attacks through all the shit that's going on. Any tips?
Um.. the tutorial boss?

Is this your first Souls game? What is your starting class?
 
Um.. the tutorial boss?

Is this your first Souls game? What is your starting class?

Nevermind I did it... Let's just say I should have read over the controls a little more. The default PC setup is a little unorthodox, and things aren't exactly well indicated. But I guess that's the infamous menu system I've heard so much about (it was lock-on that I was missing - which let me eventually get right up in Gundyr's ass and kill him no problem).

Anyway, yes to both your questions. Starting class is Knight.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Haha yes lock-on is an important feature! Though there will be times when it's preferable to not use it, but for most combat cases you'll want the lock-on.

That makes more sense, the game will be more manageable from now on. :) Enjoy!
 
The Irithyll/
Anor Londo
areas are so damn annoying. Enemies do an obscene amount of damage and you're always fighting 2-3 at once. And then you have to deal with fucking Pontiff Sillyvan and his bullet hell buddy after that. Best stretch of the game story/ art wise, easily the worst as far as gameplay. It's really keeping me from getting back into Dark Souls III every time I try.
 

Miletius

Member
Just wanted to give a huge shout out to Empty Space. We basically cooped the entire game together over the last 3 weeks or so. Even that damn dragon that took like 20 tries.
 

Estoc

Member
The Irithyll/
Anor Londo
areas are so damn annoying. Enemies do an obscene amount of damage and you're always fighting 2-3 at once. And then you have to deal with fucking Pontiff Sillyvan and his bullet hell buddy after that. Best stretch of the game story/ art wise, easily the worst as far as gameplay. It's really keeping me from getting back into Dark Souls III every time I try.

I dreaded that part too, and the dungeon that follows...

But on going a second run in order to play the DLC, I realised that they were much less scary when I know the area, enemy's moveset and such. Most importantly, knowing how far I am from the next(or previous, if it's a shortcut) bonfire really helps.

Using heavy weapon helps a lot too, I guess... lol

Don't let that one bit stop you from dying over and over.
 

neoemonk

Member
I picked this game back up yesterday after several months away. I'm at the Road of Sacrifices although I don't really remember how I got there or what I've done but man, I was getting my ass kicked. Giant crabs, a black knight that looks like he's out of the original Dark Souls, and those damn guys carrying logs around or whatever. My skills have definitely degraded.
 
I dreaded that part too, and the dungeon that follows...

But on going a second run in order to play the DLC, I realised that they were much less scary when I know the area, enemy's moveset and such. Most importantly, knowing how far I am from the next(or previous, if it's a shortcut) bonfire really helps.

Using heavy weapon helps a lot too, I guess... lol

Don't let that one bit stop you from dying over and over.

I've finished the game at least 3 times, it's just I get tired of the game there on every replay. It's such a mess, they cranked up the enemy damage and then made the whole area essentially a hallway.
 

Darkone

Member
Hey Gaf,

I need some advice, all souls games i played Melee class characters (One hand weapon & Shield) thinking of playing this time differently, any suggestions for a class?

Are the Ashes of Ariandel & The Ringed City DLC worth a purchase and play?

Thanks
 
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