Dark Souls 3 - April 2016 : You Died, You Died, You Died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI09ZVuX5XI

looks predictably fuckin' awesome.

cool that you can kinda go into Bloodborne-mode using those knife/bow weapon arts.

i dunno about you but what i really needed was a dark souls branded endless runner for my phone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LputQewHUIw

lol.

it's getting really hard to avoid knowing more about this game than i want to. truly excited.

feel like today opened the floodgates of early game DS3 footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igWjGlNlgH0

so far it looks really good. a bunch of references to Dark Souls get spoiled in the above video btw.

i have seen some people freak out (not here of course) that it isn't a totally interconnected world like Dark Souls was. except Dark Souls wasn't. Undead Asylum was cut off from the rest of the world, so was Anor Londo, so was the Painted World.

i think the areas themselves will be bigger and more intricately designed. already just from watching this footage it looks 100x better than the starting Betwixt/Forest Of The Fallen Giants areas from DS2.

cannot wait to die.

i'm not worried about it. i know there's warping from the beginning, and Although I did love the parts of Dark Souls where it felt like you really might not be able to get back (like going down into Blighttown or the Great Hollow for the first time), I'm sure they know what they're doing.

I'm also super excited for pvp in this game. I never really did it in DS1 because i missed the learning curve (everyone still playing was already way too experienced for me to even learn from my mistakes, it seemed like), and by the time i wanted to go back and try, I didn't have XBL anymore. I kinda sucked at DS2 and didn't want to keep playing it after finishing, and played Demon's Souls offline on a borrowed PS3. But Bloodborne is where I finally did enough pvp to mentally relax and not care about dying (which is really 90% of it), and learn some of the psychological tricks (switching up attacks & weapons, not repeating attacks on people who will parry you, baiting people into getting parried, etc). Feel like this is going to transfer over to DS3 pretty well.

Worst parts of being into these games:

1) Looking at Reddit for info. I'd never actually looked at it before Bloodborne came out and the depressing parts definitely creep in.

2) Most people who make Souls videos are into terrible music.

3) Occasional hate mail from children when playing online.

Do these games have a story? And is there a larger, interconnected story?

they have a story but it's really up to the player to piece it together.

as for are the games connected there are many theories and i thought the world of 2 was largely completely disconnected from the world of 1 but 3 has a lot of things returning from 1 so who knows maybe we will be playing in the past or future of places we have been to before. the first game was tightly directed by creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, then he took on a more supervisory role for 2 so that he could make Bloodborne at the same time. 3 looks like it will be a return to form in many ways receiving his full attention and his intention for it to be the final game in the series. so chances are good there will be some overarching story themes concluded or fleshed out.

imo dark souls 1 starts when you are cursed/hollowed/undead. the main mechanic of the games - dying over and over - is part of the story. as a hollow you cannot die; that is your curse. this is the same with all of your non-boss enemies and many of the NPCs that populate the world. how this curse is tied into the king-queen-god-monsters whose thrones you usurp remains to be seen. the motivations for many characters, including the "helpful" ones who guide you, is unclear. the writing and voice acting is pretty great. then there are the major themes of the series: the meaning between Light and Dark, the flames, the bonfires and kindling, death and rebirth, etc.

i've beaten the two Dark Souls games multiple times and can barely grasp the story. there is a lot of symbolism and ambiguity there. if you want there are dozens of hours of lore analysis waiting for you on youtube.

i think from software's games are some of the greatest examples of environmental storytelling in gaming history tbh

what adam said, but basically the story is very vague and easy to miss/ignore (both the main one and those of the characters you meet). a lot of it has to do with reading the descriptions of the items you pick up.

i also love how it's done, partially because i like the option to completely ignore it much of the time. they provide just enough details to create atmosphere and let you fill in the gaps.

there is massive complex deep lore if you want it and it's totally not necessary to know while you play.
http://soulslore.wikidot.com/

3) Occasional hate mail from children when playing online.
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Thursday, March 3, 2016 2:07 PM

this is a plus in my book

playing the deep game

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.fromsoftware.darksoulscamera

important information imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm4IOCkc5n0

I wonder if Burial is trying to get that next EP done before this comes out.

reviews coming in for this now, sounds like more of the same? http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/dark-souls-iii/critic-reviews

perfect

yeah not a bad thing. I'm a bit discouraged by he Polygon review which said that environment design is more akin to DS2 than DS though.

huh, my impression was that it's the opposite, we'll see i guess.

I saw this thread was updated and fully expected to click through and see this: (warning bare butt semi NSFW) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfG10WFUYAAgTOm.jpg:large

Read a few conflicting reviews about world design and difficulty

Eurogamer's preview from the Japan build said it was slightly too easy, then the full Rich Stanton review from today said he wouldn't be surprised if the difficulty wasn't patched downwards because it's so brutal. Interesting to note he thought it spells out plot points and relies on fan service too much. I wonder if the localisation was by the same personnel as before?

The Eurogamer review is a bit too detailed re: locations and bosses for people who want to be surprised btw

Can I finish the Bloodborne DLC and late game in time to get DS3 on release then get burnt out by it, hm

he wouldn't be surprised if the difficulty WAS patched downwards ^

Read somewhere that one of the pre-release/review versions were easier in terms of low boss hp, at least in the beginning, but who knows. I'm sure there will be some early patches. I'm just looking forward to early days multiplayer chaos before everyone knows what they're doing.

apparently the XBox version everyone is playing early is a preview build that will be fixed in a day one patch. all enemies do lower damage to the player in the preview build.

i bought this yesterday, Steam said I was coming out April 11! i thought it was coming out April 12!

looks like it will unlock on the 11th at 7pm EST

I'll get a physical copy in the mail on the 12th, spent the rest of the day downloading the patches, then go out of town for work the rest of the week. ;_;

preordered a ps4 copy from an online retailer who often sends stuff out early - hoping it arrives tomorrow...

https://www.facebook.com/darksouls/videos/1069455576460819/

heh, just added that to the game-related lolz thread

omg my copy has shipped

goodbye weekend, i didn't have any plans 4 u anyway

so stoked for this, only know a few small facts about this and have kept myself in the dark to avoid over-hype like i fell for with 2 (which i wasn't into and didn't finish)

ahh why isn't tuesday now

very admirable, i let myself look at mechanics/weapons/pvp info, but drew the line at any levels/bosses/walkthrough videos.

order placed

2 days and 22 hours on steam

gahahah ShopTo sent me a dispatch e-mail at 12:30 and it came through my letterbox minutes later, say what you want about Royal Mail but

I'm on the Research Hall on the Old Hunters rn :/

no, my son is *also* named Vordt

Don't know if it's just me trying to go to back to a lumbering blubbertank character after playing a cardio freak in Bloodborne, but not really feeling the idea that the combat has been honed to perfection here, getting lots of camera lock-on fuck-ups and unwanted useless kicks coming out in critical situations

so far had very tough bits of levels but not really any tough bosses

mine now isn't arriving until Thursday, that's what i get from ordering from the evil empire.

watching Steam unpack this thing right now is torture!

alright i failed to get my brand new DS4 controller to work so i went KB+M (for now, hopefully someone will hack something to get this working)

but damn. this is already really great. i just fought a giant version of a common enemy in the other souls games and it was a lot of fun. i love having this speed in these games, this is going to be incredible.

art design is just draw dropping and dreamlike. i am just staring at corners for minutes looking at some strange beautiful scenery.

i've got to stop because i have work in the morning. but damn, this game is amazing. it LOOKS incredible, just the way light hits everything looks way more impressive than any Souls game. there is this cool green light left behind from your soul echoes in this game, which makes for some really cool lighting situations.

the game is hard too! ive been dying over and over in the beginning area for about an hour and a half, just loving it. the game looks amazing. that dragon draped over the entrance near the bridge is so cool. the combat/controls is flawless, perfect, all systems check. I would say Dark Souls: Championship Edition but the atmosphere in this is so thick and unique it really feels like a thing of its own. i love it!

http://i.imgur.com/I8z6Lk1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/c3Vfqad.jpg

Dark soulsssss!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QMS60h_ZRA

So it turns out those enemies chasing me don't respawn after you kill them?

Do you mean the monsters with crosses on their backs, or the humanoid duo that drop the Exile greatsword etc? I thought that the monsters respawn, but the player character-style ones don't (there are a few of those scattered throughout the game, and they all drop unique weapons).

I don't think Farron’s Followers respawn. They also don’t attack unless you annoy them and are pretty easy to kill if you do. They’re fast, though, so trying to run away will end badly.

Yeah the two black knight type guys. They gave me an awful amount of trouble and I was like "What is this place?" but once I beat them, they wwent all DS2 on me and didn't respawn. Is there a lore reason for that? Seems a bit arbitrary that I only need to fight them once.

oh I didn't find them especially easy to kill, no

especially while being chased by giant crabs and lycanthropes at the same time. this area is super bloodborney :-)

also the boss (who I had to fight a zillion mages to get to) is no joke - managed to one shot me

The conventional tactic is to make them fall down the the long ladder behind them. :)

I'm sure there's a lore reason behind the npcs, they're all area-appropriate. Different from npc invaders, which exist too (there's one in this area if you're embered and haven't killed the boss).

hehe, i think that's how i eventually managed to kill one of them. i didn't realise they were classed as NPCs as opposed to regular enemies - can you talk to them? Not sure whether or not I attacked them first either. They were not very nice to me

according to a podcast i listen to, there might be a bonfire i haven't discovered.

should i go to Farron's Keep first, or try to beat the boss?

No, they don't have much to say. There's a bit of a split route here, I say do Farron's Keep unless it feels like you're under leveled (though a lot of it is running while poisoned, lol) ? I think either is fine but it's been a long time.

I love the cathedral and it's my favorite invasion area by far, but I can't remember how hard it feels on a first run.

Ive felt about the right kind of leveled until now, but the boss of this area seems tough after fighting so many enemies. I reckon I still have a few bits of this area to unturn anyway.

Have to say, I'm really impressed with DS3 so far. Compared to the first two, it feels incredibly well balanced in terms of difficulty. I really like the way the levels are designed. It might not be the most original of the lot, but it does a good job of picking and choosing the best bits of all the previous games, and as such feels comfortable to play without feeling unchallenging or boring

I occasionally stream my DS3 playthrough (to no one, I should add - it's entirely for my own amusement and to keep myself company). But if anyone is especially bored, they can access a few of them here:

Catacombs of Carthus
Start of Central Irithyll, but mostly fighting minibosses and NPCs

I must say that Irithyll of the Boreal Valley presents one of the first serious challenges I've had in a Souls game in a long time. So far DS3 hasn't been exactly a cinch, but there's not been an area where I thought "How can I get through here?"

That gauntlet towards the start with the fire knights and the ganky zombies is just yikes

It's a gauntlet for sure, when I was invading there I would fight them to pass the time in between invasions and got very used to their quirks (you can parry the fire knights and kick/guard break the ones with shields, but if you start panic rolling backwards they can just keep coming). If I'm doing a new character, I'll just run through them all, which is kind of like its own minigame.

DS3 is still the one I feel most connected to. By the time I played DS1 I knew others had fully explored its mysteries (though it still feels the most mysterious out of all the games). And after the ungodly amounts of pvp I did in DS3 I know every inch of those maps, so it's nice to see your slow & blind playthrough and remember what they're like the first time.