Dark Souls 3 {Dark souls 2 successor [Dark Souls successor (Demon's Souls successor)]} (Bloodborne's something)

[Dewar]

I'd be up for an impressions piece at least. I plan on watching the GB stream as soon as it's archived anyway. 

[Vulpes Absurda]

I'd be fine with doing that. You're all welcome to send me any questions and I'll spoiler tag the answers. I just won't be posting my moment to moment thoughts.

[Mawd]

AAAAAAAAH I WANT IT I NEED IT TO MAKE ME FEEL HEATED I'LL SHAKE IT, CAN'T TAKE IT, MUST BREAK IT, BREAK IT OFF YEAH, WHAT'D I SAY? YOU DIED

[Vulpes Absurda]

My download is only at ten percent...

Not because downloading it from Japan is slow bit because my stupid XBox turns itself off all the time.

[Vulpes Absurda]

Yeah it's totally in English. Character creation screen and everything.

 

(It let me play before the download was complete)

 

The first thing I've noticed: It's gorgeous. It feels next gen in a way nothing else has so far. Also it's a tad framey. I imagine the PC version will fix that though.

 

Also

 

I think this game might be structured like Demon's Souls a little. It seems to want me to warp from Firelink shrine to elsewhere but the game is not done installing yet so it won't let me.

[eot]

I've managed to stay almost completely blind on this game. Heard something about a location I wish I hadn't but no biggie. I still haven't built a new PC though so now I need to decide if I want to play this offline on PS4 or wait an indeterminate amount of time :[

[Griddlelol]

I've been completely blind on the game too, without even trying. I know I'm not going to get a chance to play it until like June with my move and new job etc. so I'm just remaining pretty indifferent to it.

 

I also am trying to make a conscious decision to avoid hype cycles. I bought a few too many games last year because I fell into that trap, which historically I've been able to avoid. It was a little silly to say the least. 

[Dewar]

I watched the GBeast stream. It looked like Dark Souls. They're always such lonely games that it's tough to get in the mood with three people talking.

[xchen]

I have watched a few of the streams for a bit and it looks fantastic as is to be expected. I'm going to continue working through my From backlog so won't get to this for some months but I enjoy going online and reading about others experiences when playing these games and watching tip vids, etc so waiting some time for those to build up is probably a good thing for me anyway.

[Vulpes Absurda]

I watched the GBeast stream. It looked like Dark Souls. They're always such lonely games that it's tough to get in the mood with three people talking.

 

Well I have news. It's Dark Souls. It's top notch Dark Souls though. It manages to find a near perfect middle ground between the weightiness of Dark and Demon's Souls and the floatiness (I never really got that complaint though so I'm not the best judge on that) of Dark Souls 2, with a bit of the speed of Bloodborne thrown in in really smart ways. One of the things they've done is put the emphasis back on parrying and backstabing and away from tanking hits with your shield. A shield is super helpful but if you try to take more then two or three hits you will have your guard broken and at that point you're basically screwed.

 

Oddly the biggest improvements are in graphics and sound. The Souls games have always been top notch in regards to both (For me design tops technical capability any day for me) but they've really stepped it up here. The frame rate isn't super smooth by any stretch but it's fine. What stands out is the animation and particle effects and how they're used in ways that I can't quite articulate but really make the game look a lot nicer even then Bloodborne. And the Soundtrack is just phenomenal.

 

Some quick notes:

 

1: This game is hard. They start it off a little easier in the tutorial area but once in the main game it holds no punches.

2: Whips seem to work more like the Threaded Cane from Bloodborne. It's not quite the same but it is way better then in 1 and 2.

3: Battle Arts seem really cool but you're unlikely to use them much unless you two hand your weapons a lot.

4: You have access to spells and miracles as soon as you get to the hub area but not pyromancy.

[Dewar]

I guess I'm just curious at this point if the PC version is going to be as crashy as it looked on stream.

[Vulpes Absurda]

I suspect the PC version is why it's not out in the US yet. They got a lot of complaints about it not being day and date with Dark Souls 2 and I think the PC version just needs more polish. Hopefully it's it's a solid port because this could well be one of the best looking games on PC.

[Bjorn]

Thanks for the thoughts Vulpes!  I don't have much of a reply, but you're really making me drool over here.  I'm so glad I don't have a modern console right now, I'd be buying two copies of DS3 the same way I did with 2 at launch.   

[Vulpes Absurda]

So quick update. It looks like the version I'm playing is the prerelease version so no multiplayer and any technical complaints I have may well get fixed. And honestly it's a mostly solid game in that regard anyways. The only major issue being that some of the bloom lighting in the first area is so extreme it blocks out anything else on screen if you look directly at it. It's a mostly easy issue to work around though so whatever.

 

But I do have my first, and so far only, complaint (Not really a spoiler but just in case):

 

I'm only three boss battles (this game is way less boss heavy then 2) in but the game seems fairly linear. The areas of the game still loop back on each other in interesting ways and they all have side paths that lead to interesting stuff but it seems like the boss progression is pretty much predetermined.

 

Not a deal breaker by any stretch and it may very well change later on. But I thought I'd bring it up.

[Bjorn]

So quick update. It looks like the version I'm playing is the prerelease version so no multiplayer and any technical complaints I have may well get fixed. And honestly it's a mostly solid game in that regard anyways. The only major issue being that some of the bloom lighting in the first area is so extreme it blocks out anything else on screen if you look directly at it. It's a mostly easy issue to work around though so whatever.

 

But I do have my first, and so far only, complaint (Not really a spoiler but just in case):

 

I'm only three boss battles (this game is way less boss heavy then 2) in but the game seems fairly linear. The areas of the game still loop back on each other in interesting ways and they all have side paths that lead to interesting stuff but it seems like the boss progression is pretty much predetermined.

 

Not a deal breaker by any stretch and it may very well change later on. But I thought I'd bring it up.

 

On your spoiler:

 

Linearity doesn't bother me a ton, like Demons' Souls was really linear for each area, as long as each area is designed in an interesting way.  I'm saying this as someone who hasn't played it, to someone who has, but I would be very surprised if boss progression can't be broken though.  In DS2 and Bloodbourne, people found interesting ways to break the expected progression even though at first glance they seemed very straightforward. 

[Vulpes Absurda]

Okay so I was going to wirte up my overall thoughts on the game today but they just updated the English version to have to day one patch minus the multiplayer so I'll hold off on that.

 

I will say my previous issue is only really an issue when you miss a couple branching paths.

[Dewar]

Apparently, people are already starting in on the Soul Level 1 runs.

[Mawd]

urgh just one more week and I can play it. 

I'm trying to decide if I want to race through and get into the pvp co-op meta as it emerges or take more time. I love the atmosphere of the Souls games but I also really adore the more temporary hustle and bustle of everyone forging on ahead with very little knowledge or familiarity of their surroundings. I'll try to stay away from magic but already I'm thinking of going Dex or I'll remake my beloved Caestus build.

[Woodfella]

Played this for about 30 hours now over 4 days. It's definitely Dark Souls! But I'm playing the Japanese version so everything a doubly incomprehensible. Only bit I haven't liked so far was a boss which reminded me of the worst of DS2.

Most enjoyment I've had so far is hosting my very own dark Souls fight club. I summon 2 enemy players in to my world and watch them fight while doing funny gestures on the side lines. I give the victor a prize, some humanity or weapon buffs then a summon another fella in for him to fight. One guy beat about 10 dudes in a row then disconnected. Then another guy won loads in a row. Then they finally, inevitably met and it was AMAZING. I gave the victor a prize befitting a true champion and then jumped off the edge. Smashin.

[Bjorn]

Fight clubs are one of the best things in Souls games.  Lots of fun evenings spent hanging out on the Bridge in DS2. 

[Woodfella]

Sometimes it would end up as two people fighting and me and another guy watching. At one point 2 guys were fighting and the third guy who i'd just summoned in started attacking me, the two fighting guys immediately stopped what they were doing and ran to my aid. We destroyed him, triple teamed him. BEST! Gave them both some humanity as thanks.

[Vulpes Absurda]

Reviews are out: This game is so good I preordered the deluxe PC version. The only thing that holds it back is that it's the fifth game in the series in almost as many years and even the greatest formulas wear thin after awhile. Just ask the antibiotics industry.

 

The Jim Sterling and PC Gamer reviews more or less sum up my thoughts.

[Bjorn]

Reviews are out: This game is so good I preordered the deluxe PC version. The only thing that holds it back is that it's the fifth game in the series in almost as many years and even the greatest formulas wear thin after awhile. Just ask the antibiotics industry.

 

The Jim Sterling and PC Gamer reviews more or less sum up my thoughts.

 

Man, Demon's Souls just came out in late 2009 and I don't think I got into it until early in 2010.  It seems like it was a lot longer than like 6is years ago that I started playing these games. 

[Dewar]

Well I guess since Jim Sterling was one of the folks complaining about crashes along with the GBeast guys, they must have fixed it if he was able to get a review out.

[Vulpes Absurda]

Durante of DSFix fame reviewed the PC port and seemed to be pretty happy with it. He notes that it's weirdly CPU bound and that lowering the setting doesn't really do a whole lot to less the load on CPU or GPU. But that most recent PCs should be fine at 1080 as long as you're okay with 30 FPS, and most will handle 60 for the most part.