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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HIxuGi_2TQ

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/09/16/hands-on-with-dark-souls-iiis-new-magic-system.aspx

that crowned skull looming out of the darkness at 1:24 is giving me the serious heebie-jeebies

psyched for this obv

coma until March, please

i signed up for the beta network test

same. if i get in i look forward to explaining to my gf why i have to play video games for three hours on a Friday night.

ditto

japan needs me

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-17-dark-souls-3-is-a-surprisingly-different-beast

Critical Arts are special attacks tailored to each weapon and available when you're two-handing. With a scimitar, for example, you launch into a dervish of blades, while a greatsword can be used to launch enemies comically high into the air. There's a magic meter sitting between your health and stamina bar, a throwback to Demon's Souls own approach, and performing critical arts as well as summoning spells eats into this. Restoring MP's more straightforward than the spice gathering of Demon's Souls, too - you've now got in your possession a second, blue estus flask that can be glugged to top up that bar.

Hoping this comes out for PC also.

they make too many of these games

it'll have been two years since the last dark souls came out by the time this is released, and four-and-a-half since the first one was released - it's not exactly fifa in the churning-them-out stakes

but also bloodborne! that's one every 1.5 years

three games in one series, each with their own subtly different take on the template, and one offshoot with distinct differences in its combat system and overarching theme, all packed with content - i dunno, i'm happy to play them as regularly as they come out as long as the level of quality remains this high

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyd8dY8rRtA

If Bloodborne is any indication then this is going to be the best souls game yet.

http://cdn.yourepeat.com/media/gif/000/085/261/88fed98d30151cb92ae8c81165ac80f8.gif

I'm in on the beta!

nice! i didn't get in, but at least i don't have to explain why i'm cancelling all Friday night plans now.

yeah, there's a conversation i'm looking forward to.

have You Died yet?

testing is fri/sat/sun from 8pm to 11pm

should i liveblog tonight, y/n

just post I DIED every time you get killed

k

y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcAa8gHHfg4

fucks sake, this is 8pm PACIFIC
which is 11pm until 1 in the morning.

still not working...

a quick look around reddit and the internet suggests it's borked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyARBkovYCw&

i died about six times. this looks fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c2EJMd7ZN7w#t=253

http://i.imgur.com/NmX9h6f.gif

that's pretty much my dark souls experience except i'd be getting stuck in the corner and accidentally rolling off a cliff, too

if it ended with the rolling guy running out of stamina then getting one-shotted by his opponent it'd be more true to my dark souls experiences for sure

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/

And like many bosses in this game, there's a riposte opportunity midway through the fight, so it goes faster than you think it will (based on the damage you're doing initially)

(I won't pretend like I didn't watch a couple fights on Youtube to help learn his moveset)

Yeah, I can't figure out a weapon strategy. I was using a heavy lothric knight greatsword, which scales A with strength and has bonus lightning, plus reach, but it's heavy and you have to be judicious with swings. Then I went back to the heavy claymore+10, and you can swing it more, and it has OK reach, but the dragon rarely lets you hit it more than once or twice before moving, anyway. That's why I suspect beating it could ultimately prove boring. Hit once, dodge, wait, hit once, dodge, wait, heal, repeat. And any mistake can seriously set you back if not take you out instantly. My biggest frustration is just finding its head again after dodging. There are times I could have sworn I had a clear shot, but my sword just did not connect. Of course, clearly plenty of people have no problem with Midir, so there's that, too.

I had tons of trouble with Nameless King, too, but there seemed more incentive to do that one. He had some similar issues, though. Fighting the camera, plus a super boring arena. I wish the bonfire was right outside the Midir drop down.

It's definitely a fight where you're only going to get in one hit at a time, maaaaybe two (can't remember, but there's maybe only one or two moves of his where you're safe to keep swinging afterward).

If you can get the hang of controlling your camera without locking on, I think that helps (although you can always lock on once you're going in for a swing, and then unlock again).

I also had a big incentive to beat him, because that's the only way you get to BE the boss in another spot (instead of Halflight, who you probably already fought?).

Yeah, that was easy. Offline, at least.

Exanima - a broken rag doll physics Dark Souls - sounds like a fever dream and this video makes it seem like it plays like one too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAE9k33Qbag

Playing this on PC in 2020 is wild with the hacking. An invader used what's apparently called a "monster vac" hack on me, summoning like a dozen enemies at a time to teleport right on top of me. The third time he did it it even included the nearest boss (it was the rotten tree boss). Managed to survive (somehow the boss just kinda died on its own?), but I'm not looking forward to anything like that happening again, and I hope it didn't break my saved game in some way that doesn't become apparent for another 20 hours or something.

Damn, I play on PS4, and I think of I was on pc I would constantly be wondering if people were stat-hacking or giving themselves tons of divine blessings and siegbraus, even aside from the crazy stuff.

All the way at the end of this game and I finally beat a (non-NPC) invader. Great, I'm about 1-and-15 against invaders!

so... i'm supposed to defeat Ludex Gundyr and ffs he's harder than the last boss in Witcher 3. People say this game is fun?

i think one of the main issues i have is controlling the camera at the same time as fighting him. he never seems to be in my field of vision, so it is very hard to know what's happening

Are you locked on to him? (don't mean to patronize, but he's near the beginning of the game, and sometimes people miss fundamental mechanics. I remember reading about a guy that played some big open world thing and somehow missed that fast traveling was a thing, so he played the entire game traveling from place to place in "real time")

This is the first boss, right? I don't remember him being that bad, though I guess it depends what your starting class/weapon is. Iirc circle/strafe and stab in the butt is a strategy that almost always works with this game. Circle, stab, dodge/move, repeat.

It throws you in the deep end, don't get discouraged. Blocking can help depending on your starting gear, locking on will help with the camera, although his phase 2 can make it tricky. Don't attack until you're out of stamina, attack two or three times and then strafe to the right (because at least in phase 1, his weapon is in his right hand), repeat.

Also if you picked cleric, the Perseverance weapon art makes it easy.

(congrats Dan, now you can start invading! Best way to learn. Well, maybe dueling is the best way to start, although they're very different.)

ahhhh, maybe i have to lock on! didn't realise you could do this. i'll try tonight and see how i get on

Locking on, in many cases, is how you win the battle against the camera.

thank god i asked. would have been a very long, difficult and painful game had i not known

lol, i remember the day after weeks of playing when i discovered lock on

happy memories of when I first played DS1 and managed to toggle off the HUD, meaning there was no indication of health levels, stamina, equipment etc. I didn't last very long!

Haha. I know I've said this before, but it's also good to be able to play without lock-on and control the camera manually, like when there are multiple opponents, or certain bosses (often very large ones that mess with the camera, ones that can fly or teleport across the arena rapidly, or consist of multiple enemies). But no need to worry about that at the beginning.

Also weapons that have a wide horizontal sweep (like straight swords) make it a lot easier to play without lock-on. Lock-on is pretty essential for thrust-type weapons like spears.

update: ffs still impossible

also I've used all my firebombs now so I'm double fucked.

PS, what's the significance of the Souls you pick up and then lose when you die?

What did you pick for your starting class?

You use souls to level up and to buy things. I wouldn't worry about them too much, they come and go. It's a good idea to use them after defeating a boss though, especially early on.

If have 1000 souls and then you die, you get a chance to pick up those 1000 souls. But if you die again before picking them up, they're gone.

I DID IT
I DID IT!!!
I FUCKIN DID IT!!!
WHOO WHOOP!!

starting class though?

I'm a Knight

now do it a hundred more times and then real dark souls begins

Haha YES, there it is.

Knight is an excellent starting class, you get a 100% block shield and a straight sword, really you could stick with that for the rest of the game.

accidentally started a fight with a depressed nihilistic Knight who is quite a toughy nonetheless. determined to beat him

sounds like Hawkwood. This one's not such a big deal, but in the future try really hard not to attack non-hostile NPCs, as you can miss out on lots of questlines and goodies that way

Ha, if you want to you can probably ignore him, there's eventually a way to get him back on your good side. Or just kill him for practice, he's a jerk anyway.

xp

Btw dl, if you're playing on PS4, let me know if you want a phantom sometime!

(assuming you're playing online)

right, onto the high tower. nobody told me there'd be a massive fire breathing dragon!!

i am on PS4 Jordan. I don't have PS Plus, is that what you mean though?

ah no I don't think I can play online alas

Ah yeah, too bad. I love the multiplayer aspect of the game, but it's still totally worth playing through offline.

Verdict on this game so far: Infuriating, addictive, very creepy*, difficult.

Haven't worked out if this is for me yet, but I like how it keeps me in my seat. I seem to make tiny little bits of progress each time; and when it comes to an obstacle such as that boss, I feel compelled to beat him, despite my heart pounding in frustration.

It came bundled with Witcher 3 when I bought my PS4. But other than a few aesthetic similarities it seems to be quite a different thing in terms of gameplay: It's much more of a tactical action game than a story-based RPG. More in common with things like Celeste than other third person adventures,in many ways. I can see why people like to speed run it.

*Altogether I'm finding the setting and design very satisfying, if rather grim. Dank labyrinths of stone and marble, dead-eyed wraiths attacking me, NPCs intoning gnomic wisdom in detached voices. Maybe this sounds ridiculous, but does it ever lighten up at all, I mean, even a little bit?

I know I felt this way about Witcher 3 when I was first trudging around Velen, and was thankful for the moments of light relief, especially once I got to Novigrad and later Toussaint. DS3 strikes me as a very serious, unfriendly and unforgiving game by comparison.

There's almost no levity, ever, but what little there is comes almost exclusively from the messages left by other players (if you think things like "tongue but hole" written next to a corpse draped over a railing is funny) and the slapstick-like humor of a well-chosen gesture during cooperation or invasion. The game itself is relentlessly grim

does it ever lighten up at all, I mean, even a little bit?

There's almost no levity, ever

fought any skeletons yet?

there's pelenty of humour sprinkled about in these games than it might seem at first, quoting myself from another souls thread

when you are lured to a shiny and fall into a cartoon death pit trap, when you come back and do get the shiny it's probably a dung pie or something

I found that bit hilarious, because it seems like the sort of troll someone would have left you in a message (treasure ahead! jump here! fake wall!) but for once it's the right thing to do.

I liked this game a lot (even if I skipped two DLC bosses, because one was too difficult and/or tedious and the game was over already. Whenever I finish Ratchet & Clank I think I'll dive into Bloodborne.

/does it ever lighten up at all, I mean, even a little bit?

There's almost no levity, ever/

fought any skeletons yet?

there's pelenty of humour sprinkled about in these games than it might seem at first, quoting myself from another souls thread
_when you are lured to a shiny and fall into a cartoon death pit trap, when you come back and do get the shiny it's probably a dung pie or something_

press A to dunk head on wax

Yeah, one reason why I've taken an extended break from playing "Alien: Isolation" is because it was so relentlessly stressful. Having played DS1 and 3, there were more than a few places where I would feel safe, say, leaving the game on while I went to the bathroom or off to get a snack or something, without having to worry about returning to find myself dead. Sometimes that's because I killed everything, but other times it was just some place where I could chill and admire the view.

there were more than a few places where I would feel safe, say, leaving the game on while I went to the bathroom or off to get a snack or something, without having to worry about returning to find myself dead

Not recommended if you're playing online ;)

well, yeah. no online for me.

I uploaded some of the clips I'd recorded when I had a really dramatic invasion, usually one where it seems like there was no way I was going to win, and it somehow came together. If anyone's curious why I play this game in 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbXLS6eMcvg

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcSiFP0eCQw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUofmeS28qA

And then there's this one, where the phantom was invisible the whole time, but that's the only time I've ever experienced that glitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unc_Fxbh0Cg

The first one was a squeaker, but it was fun to see the moment where you go from desperate defense to offense.

Ha that was incredibly lucky, I went in there hoping the elevator was active (it wasn't), and somehow cornered the phantom instead of getting cornered myself. No idea why the host didn't attack then.