After waiting over a year to actually raise the Lothric Castle banner and continue past Vordt, and 52 hours of playtime on this current run, I've finally completed Dark Souls III for the first time.
I'm a longtime fan of the Souls series, having gotten my start in 2009 with the NA version of Demon's Souls. I really cherish the experience I had with that game at the time, with it being a gift from my older sister and one I had to plead with my mom to let me play, having only been about 15 years old at the time. The game absolutely blew me away, and by now I must have beaten it upwards of 10-12 times. Runs with random other blue phantom players helping, invading a lot, helping a lot, playing with friends only, and solo - I'd go as far as saying my favorite online multiplayer experiences with some of my really close friends were playing Demon's Souls together for hour on end and figuring out all the systems together, or exploring and explaining to each other shit we'd seen on the Wikia when everything was still new. Everything from the combat to the lore and the way the whole game was paced and structured just clicked, and for years it stood as my favorite game.
Fast forward to now, and the series has closed with Dark Souls III's final DLC earlier this year. It's been a great ride! I loved Dark Souls and Bloodborne, but with both there always just seemed to be little things that made me yearn for another game that ticked the same boxes as Demon's Souls on more than just a superficial level to give me some of those feelings again.
Dark Souls was an absolutely incredible game, but I remember being disappointed with it at the time due to the slower combat, the art style, the online just not fucking work at all every time I tried to use it, and the story being more obtuse than its predecessor's. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but it felt like more of its own thing and I still preferred Demon's Souls personally. The highlights of the game for me were Sen's Fortress and the Painted World of Ariamis, honestly probably because they felt the most like Demon's Souls levels. I noticed I seem to gravitate towards the more labyrinthine level designs over the wider and more expansive ones.
I don't want to derail my own thread with talk about Dark Souls II so I'll just say I hated it and leave it at that.
The much loved Bloodborne is probably my next favorite after Demon's Souls, but for some reason I never really felt much desire to go back to it. I never played The Old Hunters since when it came out the only character I had available was at the beginning of NG+ and I didn't feel like going all the way through it again. I like the melee-focused, fast paced combat since that's usually how I like to play (I don't think I've ever actually done a magic build lol), but in hindsight the smaller number of weapons alongside armors all being the same might have made it less replayable for me. I also felt like a lot of the environments felt relatively samey without as much variation in color or architecture as Demon's and Dark Souls. Again, still an excellent game, but just not quite on that same wavelength I was at playing Demon's Souls in spite of the many improvements to the core mechanics. Best parts were probably the fights against Rom and Ebrietas, but most importantly the moment it pulls the wool out from over your eyes and you see all the Lovecraftian cosmic horror that had been going on without you knowing.
Finally, we're at Dark Souls III. I bought the full game with season pass on PS4 about a week or so after launch, but never actually got past Vordt (the first "real" boss at the Lothric Castle outskirts). I liked what I played, but I guess I just saw it as more of the same at the time and didn't really feel compelled to play more. I specifically remember thinking that the new Firelink just felt like another Majula - a superficial callback to the Nexus that didn't actually hit what I loved so much about it originally. I later found out I was wrong, but I'll get to that in a minute. The first thing I want to talk about is something Dark Souls 3 absolutely should have indisputably been best at, and definitely had an unfair advantage with for me - visuals. I came back to the game a few weeks ago after having upgraded my PC setup for the first time in a few years. Since I knew that the PC version was capped at 60 fps instead of 30, I felt that this was as good a reason as any to give the game another shot.
Visually, the game is just sublime. It's genuinely heartwarming to see how far From Software has come as a studio since their first few PS3 titles, and the artists on the team are putting out master-class work as always. Everything in Dark Souls III feels solid and detailed, and the environments more immersive. I found myself just panning the camera around and taking screenshots a lot. I absolutely loved the look of Firelink Shrine, Lothric Castle, Archdragon Peak, and the Painted World of Ariandel. It was also nice to get to see old armor sets, weapons, and certain locations redone in the new engine. Full disclosure though: I played using a Reshade preset that slightly altered the contrast and color saturation.
I thought the story was excellent, even compared to what came before it. Dark Souls III does a great job as a standalone entry in the series by giving the player character clear motivations up front and keeping the end goal in sight, just like in Demon's Souls. I liked being able to see my progression in-game by placing the crowns on the four thrones in Firelink. I also absolutely love the idea of the "true end of the world being brought about by the unnatural cycle of linking the flame and halting the world from progressing into a new age. Actually seeing the world's end as a gray and desolate landscape at the end of the Ringed City DLC was really cool, and finally achieving the Dark Soul of Man to use as a pigment for a new Painted World felt like the perfect closure for the series. I also liked the presence of the Usurp the Flame questline and how it lent a better understanding of the essence of humanity and the culture of Londor. Speaking of - I loved the NPCs this this around. They've always been really good, but it felt like they had more to do, more direct motivations, and more interactions with each other like the intersections between Yuria and Anri's or Greirat, Seigward, and Patches' questlines. I also loved how each of the major Lords had an NPC directly related to them. In regards to what I meant by Firelink not feeling "superficial" - most of the major NPCs know about it, and there are even some that you meet there for the first time. It feels like a hub for everyone and an important location just like the Nexus did. I really hated how in Majula, whenever a character went there it basically felt like their questline was over and they didn't have anything interesting left to do a lot of the time. It just did a great job of capturing what made the Nexus so memorable for me. Altogether the world just feels very well realized, more than it ever has before imo. It truly felt like the perfect end to the Dark Souls story to me.
Gameplay is the best it's ever been, just straight up. The speed is perfect - not as fast as Bloodborne, not as slow as Dark Souls, but very comfortably in the middle (kind of like demons souls 🤫
. Love it. Tons of cool weapons to use like for all sorts of builds, and I was very happy rocking a big dumb hammer for a lot of the game before switching to a Raw Astora Greatsword + Crow Quill build. Weapon skills were also a really cool addition to the combat system- I liked how distinct they made each weapon feel both in PvE and PvP. Level design was a big winner this time around too, with standouts like Archdragon Peak, Lothric Castle, the Dreg Heap, and Smouldering Lake.
So as you can obviously see by now, I was really blown away by this game. I'm almost sad I didn't play it sooner because it feels like the best the series had to offer, and I'm happy my lower expectations were proven wrong. Came wait to see what comes next from the team.
Now, some screenshots. These are off Facebook unfortunately since I'm not at my PC so I hope the quality is okay.
tl:dr DS3 was pretty good
I'm a longtime fan of the Souls series, having gotten my start in 2009 with the NA version of Demon's Souls. I really cherish the experience I had with that game at the time, with it being a gift from my older sister and one I had to plead with my mom to let me play, having only been about 15 years old at the time. The game absolutely blew me away, and by now I must have beaten it upwards of 10-12 times. Runs with random other blue phantom players helping, invading a lot, helping a lot, playing with friends only, and solo - I'd go as far as saying my favorite online multiplayer experiences with some of my really close friends were playing Demon's Souls together for hour on end and figuring out all the systems together, or exploring and explaining to each other shit we'd seen on the Wikia when everything was still new. Everything from the combat to the lore and the way the whole game was paced and structured just clicked, and for years it stood as my favorite game.
Fast forward to now, and the series has closed with Dark Souls III's final DLC earlier this year. It's been a great ride! I loved Dark Souls and Bloodborne, but with both there always just seemed to be little things that made me yearn for another game that ticked the same boxes as Demon's Souls on more than just a superficial level to give me some of those feelings again.
Dark Souls was an absolutely incredible game, but I remember being disappointed with it at the time due to the slower combat, the art style, the online just not fucking work at all every time I tried to use it, and the story being more obtuse than its predecessor's. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but it felt like more of its own thing and I still preferred Demon's Souls personally. The highlights of the game for me were Sen's Fortress and the Painted World of Ariamis, honestly probably because they felt the most like Demon's Souls levels. I noticed I seem to gravitate towards the more labyrinthine level designs over the wider and more expansive ones.
I don't want to derail my own thread with talk about Dark Souls II so I'll just say I hated it and leave it at that.
The much loved Bloodborne is probably my next favorite after Demon's Souls, but for some reason I never really felt much desire to go back to it. I never played The Old Hunters since when it came out the only character I had available was at the beginning of NG+ and I didn't feel like going all the way through it again. I like the melee-focused, fast paced combat since that's usually how I like to play (I don't think I've ever actually done a magic build lol), but in hindsight the smaller number of weapons alongside armors all being the same might have made it less replayable for me. I also felt like a lot of the environments felt relatively samey without as much variation in color or architecture as Demon's and Dark Souls. Again, still an excellent game, but just not quite on that same wavelength I was at playing Demon's Souls in spite of the many improvements to the core mechanics. Best parts were probably the fights against Rom and Ebrietas, but most importantly the moment it pulls the wool out from over your eyes and you see all the Lovecraftian cosmic horror that had been going on without you knowing.
Finally, we're at Dark Souls III. I bought the full game with season pass on PS4 about a week or so after launch, but never actually got past Vordt (the first "real" boss at the Lothric Castle outskirts). I liked what I played, but I guess I just saw it as more of the same at the time and didn't really feel compelled to play more. I specifically remember thinking that the new Firelink just felt like another Majula - a superficial callback to the Nexus that didn't actually hit what I loved so much about it originally. I later found out I was wrong, but I'll get to that in a minute. The first thing I want to talk about is something Dark Souls 3 absolutely should have indisputably been best at, and definitely had an unfair advantage with for me - visuals. I came back to the game a few weeks ago after having upgraded my PC setup for the first time in a few years. Since I knew that the PC version was capped at 60 fps instead of 30, I felt that this was as good a reason as any to give the game another shot.
Visually, the game is just sublime. It's genuinely heartwarming to see how far From Software has come as a studio since their first few PS3 titles, and the artists on the team are putting out master-class work as always. Everything in Dark Souls III feels solid and detailed, and the environments more immersive. I found myself just panning the camera around and taking screenshots a lot. I absolutely loved the look of Firelink Shrine, Lothric Castle, Archdragon Peak, and the Painted World of Ariandel. It was also nice to get to see old armor sets, weapons, and certain locations redone in the new engine. Full disclosure though: I played using a Reshade preset that slightly altered the contrast and color saturation.
I thought the story was excellent, even compared to what came before it. Dark Souls III does a great job as a standalone entry in the series by giving the player character clear motivations up front and keeping the end goal in sight, just like in Demon's Souls. I liked being able to see my progression in-game by placing the crowns on the four thrones in Firelink. I also absolutely love the idea of the "true end of the world being brought about by the unnatural cycle of linking the flame and halting the world from progressing into a new age. Actually seeing the world's end as a gray and desolate landscape at the end of the Ringed City DLC was really cool, and finally achieving the Dark Soul of Man to use as a pigment for a new Painted World felt like the perfect closure for the series. I also liked the presence of the Usurp the Flame questline and how it lent a better understanding of the essence of humanity and the culture of Londor. Speaking of - I loved the NPCs this this around. They've always been really good, but it felt like they had more to do, more direct motivations, and more interactions with each other like the intersections between Yuria and Anri's or Greirat, Seigward, and Patches' questlines. I also loved how each of the major Lords had an NPC directly related to them. In regards to what I meant by Firelink not feeling "superficial" - most of the major NPCs know about it, and there are even some that you meet there for the first time. It feels like a hub for everyone and an important location just like the Nexus did. I really hated how in Majula, whenever a character went there it basically felt like their questline was over and they didn't have anything interesting left to do a lot of the time. It just did a great job of capturing what made the Nexus so memorable for me. Altogether the world just feels very well realized, more than it ever has before imo. It truly felt like the perfect end to the Dark Souls story to me.
Gameplay is the best it's ever been, just straight up. The speed is perfect - not as fast as Bloodborne, not as slow as Dark Souls, but very comfortably in the middle (kind of like demons souls 🤫
. Love it. Tons of cool weapons to use like for all sorts of builds, and I was very happy rocking a big dumb hammer for a lot of the game before switching to a Raw Astora Greatsword + Crow Quill build. Weapon skills were also a really cool addition to the combat system- I liked how distinct they made each weapon feel both in PvE and PvP. Level design was a big winner this time around too, with standouts like Archdragon Peak, Lothric Castle, the Dreg Heap, and Smouldering Lake. So as you can obviously see by now, I was really blown away by this game. I'm almost sad I didn't play it sooner because it feels like the best the series had to offer, and I'm happy my lower expectations were proven wrong. Came wait to see what comes next from the team.
Now, some screenshots. These are off Facebook unfortunately since I'm not at my PC so I hope the quality is okay.
tl:dr DS3 was pretty good
![cV8Qqe0.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/cV8Qqe0.jpg"]https://i.imgur.com/cV8Qqe0.jpg)