Support NeoGAF

[Akuun]

I'm kind of holding out on Dark Souls III because it isn't Bloodborne. BB was my first "Souls" game & it was mostly due to the way the weapons were handled & the faster, more offensive pace of the game. I don't know if I want to curl up with shield during most of the game or try to see what it's like to be a magic user.

You don't have to use a shield. All the Souls games were perfectly viable without a shield. I did my first playthrough with a shield in DS1, and then rarely used a shield in any Souls game after that.

Pacing and feel is totally subjective though so yeah, it's probably best to wait and see for yourself. Personally, BB and DS1 felt best to me. DS2 and Demon's Souls feel kinda floaty.

 

[Gbraga]

If it's a seprate hub and interconnected world, does that mean the player can teleport from bonfires from the beginning ? Or was this already mention?

Yep, already confirmed.

You don't have to use a shield. All the Souls games were perfectly viable without a shield. I did my first playthrough with a shield in DS1, and then rarely used a shield in any Souls game after that.

Pacing and feel is totally subjective though so yeah, it's probably best to wait and see for yourself. Personally, BB and DS1 felt best to me. DS2 and Demon's Souls feel kinda floaty.

Everyone knows shields are only for stamina regen :')

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

Bloodborne art style and world with gameplay, customization, and depth of Dark Souls. This has potential the be the dopest Souls of them all.

 

[Akuun]

Everyone knows shields are only for stamina regen :')

I spent a lot of time in DS1 two-handing something with the Grass Crest Shield on my back lol.

 

[Wagram]

Really can't wait to be back home in Souls. I want all of the non-sense back. Bloodborne was a fun deviation, but it's not Souls, and it couldn't fully capture that for me. I must say that I do see a lot of Bloodborne and even Dark Souls 2 in these screens.

 

[Nephtes]

Really can't wait to be back home in Souls. I want all of the non-sense back. Bloodborne was a fun deviation, but it's not Souls, and it couldn't fully capture that for me. I must say that I do see a lot of Bloodborne and even Dark Souls 2 in these screens.

I agree... Bloodborne was missing a lot of the customization and different playstyles Dark Souls offers...

Dark Souls
Want to be a mage? OK.
Want to run in with a 2h sword and to town? Alright.
Want to hide behind a shield and poke things with a spear? Sure!
Want to hang back and chuck lightning at stuff? Why not?
Want to Dual wield shields? Well I mean, who am I to stop you?

Bloodborne
You're going to be balls to the wall melee. And you're going to like it.

Looking forward to seeing Lordran's Dark fantasy setting realized with Bloodborne's engine... Victorian tropes were okay I guess... But no substitute for that medieval feel.

 

[Lingitiz]

I agree... Bloodborne was missing a lot of the customization and different playstyles Dark Souls offers...

Dark Souls
Want to be a mage? OK.
Want to run in with a 2h sword and to town? Alright.
Want to hide behind a shield and poke things with a spear? Sure!
Want to hang back and chuck lightning at stuff? Why not?
Want to Dual world shields? Well I mean, who am I to stop you?

Bloodborne
You're going to be balls to the wall melee. And you're going to like it.

I felt like Bloodborne lacked decent gear progression, too. In Dark Souls it was a big moment to forge a weapon using a boss soul and get your armor to a high level. It was a real turning point in the game that got me hyped to power through the rest of the game.

Most of that feeling is missing from Bloodborne. Early on you settle into whatever weapon moveset you like the most and armor is a non factor.

 

[Disaster Nebraska]

I agree... Bloodborne was missing a lot of the customization and different playstyles Dark Souls offers...

Dark Souls
Want to be a mage? OK.
Want to run in with a 2h sword and to town? Alright.
Want to hide behind a shield and poke things with a spear? Sure!
Want to hang back and chuck lightning at stuff? Why not?
Want to Dual world shields? Well I mean, who am I to stop you?

Bloodborne
You're going to be balls to the wall melee. And you're going to like it.

Though I do understand where you're coming from, that's a gross simplification. DS has a lot of garbage weapons and is an easier game to min/max your stats.

Bloodborne's combat has a great deal of nuance because it plays more like a character-action game than a traditional Souls game. Each weapon has a fairly broad range of applications. The items are more limited-use, but they still have a good amount of flexibility. When you add in things like Bone Ash, Beast Pellets (and/or the Claws), and various elemental effects and Blood Gems, there's more variety than people give BB credit for.

 

[tiny raptor]

Can't wait to explore this bitch!!

 

[Bloodporne]

That's actually one of the few things I actively missed in Bloodborne, boss souls. I really looked forward to their little backstories in the boss soul descriptions.

I know it's been said many times by others, but the only thing so far that is truly a bummer about DS3 is the fast travel from the beginning and hub. It's not like it was an active detriment in Bloodborne in a way, but the constant warping made me feel much more disconnected from the world than DS1. It's a shame and I don't know why it can't be handled Zelda-style like in DS1 again. Fast travel should be a reward at a later point in my opinion.

 

[Lingitiz]

That's actually one of the few things I actively missed in Bloodborne, boss souls. I really looked forward to their little backstories in the boss soul descriptions.

I know it's been said many times by others, but the only thing so far that is truly a bummer about DS3 is the fast travel from the beginning and hub. It's not like it was an active detriment in Bloodborne in a way, but the constant warping made me feel much more disconnected from the world than DS1. It's a shame and I don't know why it can't be handled Zelda-style like in DS1 again. Fast travel should be a reward at a later point in my opinion.

Thankfully with the PC version those load times to the hub should be cut down by a lot, making it way less of a chore to port back. But let's hope the console versions don't suffer from the same problems Bloodborne had before the patch.

Dark Souls 1 style was definitely still the best though.

 

[Gbraga]

Bloodborne art style and world with gameplay, customization, and depth of Dark Souls. This has potential the be the dopest Souls of them all.

Dope Souls, next IP.

I spent a lot of time in DS1 two-handing something with the Grass Crest Shield on my back lol.

Yep, best shield. 95% is way too much defense for how good the stamina regen is.

That's actually one of the few things I actively missed in Bloodborne, boss souls. I really looked forward to their little backstories in the boss soul descriptions.

I know it's been said many times by others, but the only thing so far that is truly a bummer about DS3 is the fast travel from the beginning and hub. It's not like it was an active detriment in Bloodborne in a way, but the constant warping made me feel much more disconnected from the world than DS1. It's a shame and I don't know why it can't be handled Zelda-style like in DS1 again. Fast travel should be a reward at a later point in my opinion.

I was REALLY worried about the effect it could have on the level design when they announced that structure for Bloodborne. Thankfully, the level design was still godlike all the way through, even if less connected in some parts due to the nature of the game. It's not my preferred method, but I'm not worried about it being used in Dark Souls III at all.

 

[Auctopus]

I agree... Bloodborne was missing a lot of the customization and different playstyles Dark Souls offers...

Dark Souls
Want to be a mage? OK.
Want to run in with a 2h sword and to town? Alright.
Want to hide behind a shield and poke things with a spear? Sure!
Want to hang back and chuck lightning at stuff? Why not?
Want to Dual wield shields? Well I mean, who am I to stop you?

Bloodborne
You're going to be balls to the wall melee. And you're going to like it.

Looking forward to seeing Lordran's Dark fantasy setting realized with Bloodborne's engine... Victorian tropes were okay I guess... But no substitute for that medieval feel.

I agree, build variety was sorely missed in Bloodborne.

 

[Movalpolos]

Though I do understand where you're coming from, that's a gross simplification. DS has a lot of garbage weapons and is an easier game to min/max your stats.

Bloodborne's combat has a great deal of nuance because it plays more like a character-action game than a traditional Souls game. Each weapon has a fairly broad range of applications. The items are more limited-use, but they still have a good amount of flexibility. When you add in things like Bone Ash, Beast Pellets (and/or the Claws), and various elemental effects and Blood Gems, there's more variety than people give BB credit for.

Exactly. I swear people always forget about gems.

 

[Gbraga]

Exactly. I swear people always forget about gems.

I hate them :C

Upgrade paths were way more interesting than gems. Having to do chalice dungeons for certain types of gems for PVP builds is such a chore.

But I do agree that the lack of build variety in Bloodborne is overstated, especially after the DLC. They definitely heard to the main complaints about the game with it.

A lot more weapons, and most of them you can pick up as a regular item, no need to buy them after getting badges, and you can access the DLC pretty early on.

I had a problem with lack of weapons, and even though I LOVE trick weapons, it wasn't enough to make up for the difference, but with the DLC it's now much much better, and I can't choose between them. I love Dark Souls and Bloodborne way too much.

 

[Bloodporne]

I was REALLY worried about the effect it could have on the level design when they announced that structure for Bloodborne. Thankfully, the level design was still godlike all the way through, even if less connected in some parts due to the nature of the game. It's not my preferred method, but I'm not worried about it being used in Dark Souls III at all.

I'm hoping that they'll strike a compromise kind of like DS1 post-lordvessel. Basically some major 'hub' bonfires that allow warping and regular bonfires in between. I think that'd be a nice compromise and appease both factions more or less.

I definitely don't think it affected the Bloodborne level design negatively. What I mainly dislike about the mechanic is being torn out of the current area and situation, it makes things feel a bit disjointed when it happens regularly and one knows there was already a remedy for this in place in DS1.

 

[KorrZ]

I've enjoyed every Souls game since I played Demon's Souls back when it was still a sort of under the radar sleeper hit, so I'm definitely excited to jump into Dark Souls 3.

However, I do really feel the "Souls" fatigue at this point. Bloodborne in particular with it's more limiting character builds really made that hit home for me even with the benefit of the new setting. I think it's the perfect time to give the series a break after this game.

 

[muteant]

Even the hit/impact physics is straight out of BB lol

Not that it's a bad thing...

indeed, this is a positive, the one thing about going back to dark souls et al after playing bloodborne is that your weapon's collision with an enemy or object feels relatively non-tactile.

 

[Nephtes]

I've enjoyed every Souls game since I played Demon's Souls back when it was still a sort of under the radar sleeper hit, so I'm definitely excited to jump into Dark Souls 3.

However, I do really feel the "Souls" fatigue at this point. Bloodborne in particular with it's more limiting character builds really made that hit home for me even with the benefit of the new setting. I think it's the perfect time to give the series a break after this game.

Not me.
If there is any series I wish was annualized it's Dark Souls.
I could play a new one every year and be a happy person. Even the weaker entry in the series, Dark Souls 2, is better than most games.

I mean if Dark Souls 2 is a "bad" game... Then there are plenty of other games out there that wish they could be that "bad"...

 

[Sumio Mondo]

I've enjoyed every Souls game since I played Demon's Souls back when it was still a sort of under the radar sleeper hit, so I'm definitely excited to jump into Dark Souls 3.

However, I do really feel the "Souls" fatigue at this point. Bloodborne in particular with it's more limiting character builds really made that hit home for me even with the benefit of the new setting. I think it's the perfect time to give the series a break after this game.

Well, Miyazaki said that the first game that From has made from scratch since he became President would be unveiled to the world soon, so hopefully it is a new IP or a revival project like a new Armored Core or Tenchu or something like that. He even said himself that DkS3 would be the last one for a while due to series fatigue and I can see them at least dropping it to work on new stuff for a bit and return to the series again later. I love Souls games a lot but I also love From as a developer and think it's be nice to see them do something different again like they did in the past.

 

[DannyDanger]

Wait wut?

You can teleport in Bloodborne?

Somebody school me PLZ

 

[Ferr986]

Wait wut?

You can teleport in Bloodborne?

Somebody school me PLZ

Old hunter bone. Its a tool, it uses bullets. Its more of a quick evade more than a teleport.

 

[Manny Calavera]

That artwork looks glorious like expected. This game cannot come soon enough even though I'm still happily playing Bloodborne after ~160 hours in.

 

[Gbraga]

That artwork looks glorious like expected. This game cannot come soon enough even though I'm still happily playing Bloodborne after ~160 hours in.

I know how you feel. Can't wait for this but I'm not even near done with Demon's, Dark, Dark II and Bloodborne, I still want to play a lot more of each of them :')

 

[Nephtes]

Old hunter bone. Its a tool, it uses bullets. Its more of a quick evade more than a teleport.

That's another thing about Bloodborne where Dark Souls trumps it...
Magic and Miracles in Dark Souls are clearly labeled, there's no ambiguity about what they are...

The hunters tools, which are ostensibly "magic", and dumped at the bottom of the items list and not well explained at all...

Let's take the Augur of Ebrietas:
"Remnant of the eldritch Truth encountered at Byrgenwerth.
Use phantasms, the invertebrates known to be augurs of the Great Ones to partially summon Ebrietas."

Me after finding Augur of Ebrietas:
Partially summon?
Hmmmm, I guess that means I need to find more of these so I can fully summon Ebrietas and kill it! I'll just hang onto this for later...

Which as it turns out is not what it's for at all...
Sigh. Thanks Bloodborne... Thanks for not making a section of the interface called "Hunter Tools that can be use kind of like Magic"

 

[PensivePen]

snip

I mean, it has a clearly labelled bullet cost and arcane requirement on the item description.

 

[Gbraga]

That's another thing about Bloodborne where Dark Souls trumps it...
Magic and Miracles in Dark Souls are clearly labeled, there's no ambiguity about what they are...

The hunters tools, which are ostensibly "magic", and dumped at the bottom of the items list and not well explained at all...

Let's take the Augur of Ebrietas:
"Remnant of the eldritch Truth encountered at Byrgenwerth.
Use phantasms, the invertebrates known to be augurs of the Great Ones to partially summon Ebrietas."

Me after finding Augur of Ebrietas:
Partially summon?
Hmmmm, I guess that means I need to find more of these so I can fully summon Ebrietas and kill it! I'll just hang onto this for later...

Which as it turns out is not what it's for at all...
Sigh. Thanks Bloodborne... Thanks for not making a section of the interface called "Hunter Tools that can be use kind of like Magic"

That's on you, though. The game also lists it as Unlimited Use, tells you it scales "S" with Arcane, requires 18 arcane to use and 1 QS Bullet.

There's no mistaking it, this is not a consumable, you don't need to worry about losing it before getting more, even with your interpretation of the description.

This information shows up along with the description, so not even an extra square press required.

I mean, I guess it could be even more clear, but the game made it clear enough, in my opinion.

The moment you see Unlimited Use, you could just test it for yourself and you'd instantly understand what "partially summon" means.

You also only get it in the Lecture Building. Even if you get there as early as possible, through the Tonsil Stone, you still had other Hunter Tools you could have used before to know how they work, like the Old Hunter Bone, Tiny Tonitrus and Beast Roar.

EDIT: Beaten.

 

[JerkShep]

That's another thing about Bloodborne where Dark Souls trumps it...
Magic and Miracles in Dark Souls are clearly labeled, there's no ambiguity about what they are...

The hunters tools, which are ostensibly "magic", and dumped at the bottom of the items list and not well explained at all...

Let's take the Augur of Ebrietas:
"Remnant of the eldritch Truth encountered at Byrgenwerth.
Use phantasms, the invertebrates known to be augurs of the Great Ones to partially summon Ebrietas."

Me after finding Augur of Ebrietas:
Partially summon?
Hmmmm, I guess that means I need to find more of these so I can fully summon Ebrietas and kill it! I'll just hang onto this for later...

Which as it turns out is not what it's for at all...
Sigh. Thanks Bloodborne... Thanks for not making a section of the interface called "Hunter Tools that can be use kind of like Magic"

Kos...or some say Kosm... grant him eyes!

 

[KorrZ]

Well, Miyazaki said that the first game that From has made from scratch since he became President would be unveiled to the world soon, so hopefully it is a new IP or a revival project like a new Armored Core or Tenchu or something like that. He even said himself that DkS3 would be the last one for a while due to series fatigue and I can see them at least dropping it to work on new stuff for a bit and return to the series again later. I love Souls games a lot but I also love From as a developer and think it's be nice to see them do something different again like they did in the past.

Yes, I remember that quote from him which is why I mentioned it. Great series but I think it will definitely benefit from a bit of an off-period. I really really would love to see From's talent put to something else as well.

 

[Switch Back 9]

I will NEVER get tired of souls.

Honestly, me neither. Four games in and I'm still not even close to sick of it.

 

[sear]

Looks fantastic. Great attention to detail - for instance, I like how the lady on the steps' cloak actually folds on the steps instead of just clipping through.

If I had one complaint, it's that the lack of color and the fact that the art direction looks a bit more Bloodborne than Souls to me. The color filtering with blue and orange everywhere gives the game less personality than I'd hoped for.

 

[Nephtes]

You also only get it in the Lecture Building. Even if you get there as early as possible, through the Tonsil Stone, you still had other Hunter Tools you could have used before to know how they work, like the Old Hunter Bone, Tiny Tonitrus and Beast Roar.

EDIT: Beaten.

Nope. I completely missed the fact that all of those were in actually magic and not consumable items...

I didn't realize the game even had magic till I found and killed Ebrietas Daughter of the Cosmos and killed her and was like "Wait... Didn't that thing say I could summon Ebrietas? The fuck? I just killed it!" And went back and found all these wondrous tools I could use but not really since I was under the impression that Arcane and Skill were useless stats and had been pumping everything into STR.

Thanks Bloodborne. Thanks. Bloodborne 2? MAKE A HUNTERS TOOLS TAB.
That is all.

 

[Gbraga]

Nope. I completely missed the fact that all of those were in actually magic and not consumable items...

I didn't realize the game even had magic till I found and killed Ebrietas Daughter of the Cosmos and killed her and was like "Wait... Didn't that thing say I could summon Ebrietas? The fuck? I just killed it!" And went back and found all these wondrous tools I could use but not really since I was under the impression that Arcane and Skill were useless stats and had been pumping everything into STR.

Thanks Bloodborne. Thanks. Bloodborne 2? MAKE A HUNTERS TOOLS TAB.
That is all.

I wouldn't mind not having to scroll through everything (even with quick scrolling) to map my hunter tools, I'll give you that.

 

[Clevinger]

The game's art direction looks way, way more Demon's than Bloodborne to me.

Second pic looks like Latria. Fourth and fifth like Shrine of Storms. Six and seven, the Nexus.

 

[Movalpolos]

That's another thing about Bloodborne where Dark Souls trumps it...
Magic and Miracles in Dark Souls are clearly labeled, there's no ambiguity about what they are...

The hunters tools, which are ostensibly "magic", and dumped at the bottom of the items list and not well explained at all...

Let's take the Augur of Ebrietas:
"Remnant of the eldritch Truth encountered at Byrgenwerth.
Use phantasms, the invertebrates known to be augurs of the Great Ones to partially summon Ebrietas."

Me after finding Augur of Ebrietas:
Partially summon?
Hmmmm, I guess that means I need to find more of these so I can fully summon Ebrietas and kill it! I'll just hang onto this for later...

Which as it turns out is not what it's for at all...
Sigh. Thanks Bloodborne... Thanks for not making a section of the interface called "Hunter Tools that can be use kind of like Magic"

You thought it was a consumable?

Kos...or some say Kosm... grant him eyes!

Spot on.

 

[Nephtes]

Kos...or some say Kosm... grant him eyes!

Speaking of... That boss should TOTALLY not have been able to use Augur of Ebrietas against me seeing as that Ebrietas was dead by the time I found him... :/

Y'all are reminding me of all the reasons I like Dark Souls way more than Bloodborne.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Didn't really like Dark Souls 2 all that much. It felt....off.

Let's hope that with "the man" back at the helm this will be great.

 

[Kazuhira]

That's actually one of the few things I actively missed in Bloodborne, boss souls. I really looked forward to their little backstories in the boss soul descriptions.

I know it's been said many times by others, but the only thing so far that is truly a bummer about DS3 is the fast travel from the beginning and hub. It's not like it was an active detriment in Bloodborne in a way, but the constant warping made me feel much more disconnected from the world than DS1. It's a shame and I don't know why it can't be handled Zelda-style like in DS1 again. Fast travel should be a reward at a later point in my opinion.

Totally agree,especially about the lack of boss "souls" in BB.

 

[Kazuhira]

I will NEVER get tired of souls.

Me too bro,i have a huge backlog and i still come back to souls/bloodborne instead of finishing my new games.
Witcher 3? Fallout 4? Nope,let's replay ds1 one more time.

 

[Gbraga]

Speaking of... That boss should TOTALLY not have been able to use Augur of Ebrietas against me seeing as that Ebrietas was dead by the time I found him... :/

Y'all are reminding me of all the reasons I like Dark Souls way more than Bloodborne.

Nah, that's not actually an inconsistency.

Me too bro,i have a huge backlog and i still come back to souls/bloodborne instead of finishing my new games.
Witcher 3? Fallout 4? Nope,let's replay ds1 one more time.

This is my story

 

[Buburibon]

Me too bro,i have a huge backlog and i still come back to souls/bloodborne instead of finishing my new games.
Witcher 3? Fallout 4? Nope,let's replay ds1 one more time.

Exactly, and I don't think it'll get better before I get my fill of Dark Souls III.

 

[dan2026]

Everyone knows the only way to play Dark Souls is with a Greatsword.

More akin to "a heap of raw iron" than a sword I suppose.

 

[DoubleTake]

Everyone knows the only way to play Dark Souls is with a Greatsword.


More akin to "a heap of raw iron" than a sword I suppose.

Im so glad DS3 is going back to the more realistic looking approach for weapon sizes.

Nope. I completely missed the fact that all of those were in actually magic and not consumable items...

I didn't realize the game even had magic till I found and killed Ebrietas Daughter of the Cosmos and killed her and was like "Wait... Didn't that thing say I could summon Ebrietas? The fuck? I just killed it!" And went back and found all these wondrous tools I could use but not really since I was under the impression that Arcane and Skill were useless stats and had been pumping everything into STR.

Thanks Bloodborne. Thanks. Bloodborne 2? MAKE A HUNTERS TOOLS TAB.
That is all.

Look Skyward....

 

[JadedWriter]

Everyone knows the only way to play Dark Souls is with a Greatsword.


More akin to "a heap of raw iron" than a sword I suppose.

Lol its the fucking dragonslayer.

 

[DannyDanger]

Old hunter bone. Its a tool, it uses bullets. Its more of a quick evade more than a teleport.

thx, i'll try it out

 

[En-ou]

Everyone knows the only way to play Dark Souls is with a Greatsword.


More akin to "a heap of raw iron" than a sword I suppose.

+ zeus enchant = nightmare for the enemies

 

[Manmademan]

thx, i'll try it out

its pretty good in the right situations. Some NPC hunters abuse the shit out of it though and are hard to hit.

 

[Styles]

I am kinda glad that they reverted the Greatsword back to DkS 1's size.

 

[neoism]

Art design is top notch as always, but damn, the engine shows its age..

lol what isnt it using the BB engine?

 

[mulac]

Guess I'm never going to beat Witcher3, MGS5 or Fallout 4...ever.

One question I have - new to the Souls genre with BB which I loved and still play months after Platinum-ing it...I have immersed myself in the lore and enjoy reading the theories here or on reddit or even in the Official Guides.

Is there a similar lore story to the DS universe? Where can I read up on it all prior to DS3. At the moment I'm about 10% of the way through SOTFS (havent played DS1) and its a bit confusing re. overall storyline and lore of this world.

Any help apprecaited for a Hunter.