So yeah, Dark Souls 3. Hi, I'm Joe and welcome to a video that I should have made three months ago. Sorry about that. If you're a long time viewer then you should know that this video won't be a big commentary, there are a few reasons why I'm not doing that. The most important of them is that I don't think it's fair to do to Dark Souls 3 what I've previously done to the other games that had over a year of patches and major DLC updates. I'm still going to show a lot of flaws that I hope will be fixed with time but I'm not going to come down with full judgement on them until the game is fully finished. Because the issues this game has really show it to be anything but finished. Regardless, I'll still be going into a lot of detail and that includes examples of all the areas in the game and a brief look at all of the bosses. So if you haven't played the game yourself this is your spoiler warning. It's probably safe to watch for a few more minutes to get the general gist of what I have to say, but you shouldn't watch the whole thing if you want to save some surprises for your own playthrough. So my first time through Dark Souls 3 was like a disappointment sandwich. I started out really disheartened at the start then I got into the game and was enjoying myself and then I was sorely let down again by the end. That's a pretty shitty analogy but we're going with it. Because I always end up coming across as more negative than I intend, I do want to say that I played the game a few more times since then and especially on my most recent playthrough, I found a lot more to like. So much so that I feel comfortable saying that in some ways, Dark Souls 3 is the best in the Soulsborne series. The thing is though, these games are so strong that I can say that about all of them. Dark Souls 1 has the best world design, and quite possibly the best first half of any game I've ever played period. Dark Souls 2 has the best DLC with its phenomenal level design and bosses. Bloodborne has the best combat system and atmosphere by far. And Demon's Souls deserves a hefty amount of recognition for being the first game to introduce so much and getting a shocking amount right on
that first attempt. It's the one I've played the least and it's also my least favorite of the five. Sorry, I know that's probably pissed a couple of you off but it still holds up next to the other games that came later and benefited so much from refinement. Since writing this I've read a bit about
the King's Field games and I know that Demon's Souls isn't strictly speaking the "first" attempt for some of these ideas still it deserves a lot of respect, in my opinion. Dark Souls 3 does level design better than any other game on this list. It also has the best array of bosses and a proper difficulty curve instead of the weird peaks and valleys
that plummet by the end. But it also does things worse than any of the other games. Let's talk about the levels first because I think I need to elaborate on what I mean. This will also explain the first slice of disappointment in the stupid sandwich I mentioned just a minute ago. When I started up Dark Souls 3 for the first time I chose my usual class that I go through
for every first run. I thought that the starting area was a bit lacking compared to the brilliance of the asylum in Dark Souls 1, but I can also understand that it's a lot more straightforward for multiple run-throughs, so I can appreciate what they were trying to do. I killed the first boss and I began to look around, and I saw a lot of potential. I didn't watch any trailers before playing this game, so I had no idea what kind of areas were waiting for me. As I went through this multi-layered graveyard, I saw multiple paths: a locked door, a supiciously and large coffin that might fall away at some point to reveal a hidden entrance to another level, and what looked like another path that could be revealed later to some massive kingdom high on a cliff in the distance. The more I explored, the more potential I saw: another locked tower! The name Firelink Shrine popping up was a surprise but inside there were a lot of routes and stairs. I thought that the series was finally trying to repeat what Dark Souls 1 did so beautifully. Multiple paths to many areas that are interlinked, interconnected, and thralling world design! And I got really excited! :) And then I created the central hub bonfire and realised that it was just like Bloodborne and Demon's Souls. This was a seperate, foreign area, severely ripped away from the rest of the game to act as your home base that is never woven intricately into exploration or a meticulously constructed world. This was a massive disappointment for me. It's something I've hoped to see again in the series for three games now and it's just not happening. Someone commented on one of my videos a few months ago that the series isn't meant to have that grand world design because, clearly, it would've been back in one of the games by now and that fans should stop bitching that it doesn't happen. I sort of dismissed that comment since I was so certain that Dark Souls 3 would have it, and here we are. It's gotten to the point now that I strongly suspect that this feature in Dark Souls 1 was an accident. I know it sounds crazy since it's so carefully put together, right? With the aqueduct link back, the elevator from the church going back to Lordran and Undead Burg and looping back from Blighttown but if you take these shortcuts away then suddenly it's a lot closer to the seperate, linear paths that you can find in Dark Souls 2 that branch out from the Majula Hub. It wouldn't surprise me if the levels weren't originally meant to work this way and that these changes just sort of happened as development went on, especially given that this type of world design doesn't carry forward into the rest of that game.
One point he makes about Prince lothric's teleport-downward cut: The warning animation is supposed to be how he raises his sword as he teleports, that tips you off on the timing that his sword is coming for your face when he teleports back in. I did not think that was unfair at all.
I can relate to his frustrations about the world connectivity so much, I just can't wrap my head around why they wouldn't do it again when it was one of the biggest things that Dark Souls 1 was praised for by critics everywhere.
Yes, warping is more "convenient", but so what? Restarting outside the boss fog after dying would also be more "convenient" and I don't see the series doing that, so I don't understand why they buckled over for this in DS2 and kept it that way for Bloodborne and DS3. One of the things the series does so well is providing an experience at the cost of the convenience that so many games get hung up on, and no other game in the series manages to create a sense of place as strongly as Dark Souls 1. In DS1 you were stuck at the bottom of Blighttown and it was harrowing, in DS3 you find a bonfire in the middle of the Catacombs and suddenly you're anywhere you want.
I think he made a really good point about the general combat speed (around 30 minutes in). Combos are so long and fast, and the telegraphs have been so shortened, that it feels like constant rolling and saving stamina for one or two hits is the only viable way to fight bosses and minibosses. In DS1 (and to a lesser extent DS2) you had so many options to avoid damage. Backstepping, rolling, blocking, counter attacks, etc. In DS3 everything happens so fast that you just kinda mash B until it's your turn to attack.
A good example is those Hollow Manservants in Undead Settlement (with the pots and sawblades). They raise their pot/saw and typically you'd be like "okay, better dodge this now", but really by the time they raise their weapon it's too late. If you trigger their attacks, it's at least 7 or 8 swings before you get a chance to retaliate. At that point in the game you have nowhere near enough stamina to block more than one or two, so even trying to block is probably a death sentence. Instead you just have to lazily roll out of the way, hope that the insane tracking doesnt stick to you and wait for them to finish. It got really boring after a while for me.
I disagree generally about the criticisms against the level design being "reused" for DSIII. Or at least, I agree that many of the designs are similar to previous Soulsborne's levels but feel it's a positive rather than a negative. For a game that is supposed to cap the series I thought that having recognizable callbacks to so many memorable places was amazing and surprisingly emotional. When I realized during the bridge crossing to fight the Princes that it looked exactly like the first area of Boletaria (so the last area of the last game being similar to the first area of the first game) the feeling of nostalgia was intense.
Totally agree with backstabbing mechanics. Fromsoft should have just copied Bloodbornes backstabbing mechanics.
Complaining about how the game shows you the shortcut long before you can open it is a really bizarre complaint to me. Clearly presenting a problem to the player and then letting them figure out how to solve it has not only been standard game design for a long time, it's typically praised as excellent game design.
The occasional surprise shortcut is nice, but making them rarer also makes them a bit more special.
Nah this video's too long. I'll just watch the first few minutes.
1 hour later Shit where did the time go?
I like listening to Joseph Anderson's critiques, but I can't really say I agree with almost anything he says. I'll have to go through this video later and see what he thinks.
Way to make me feel like shit. I've played all the dark souls games since they're the only ones available on PC (I wish I got to play Demon's/bloodborne) and while I do agree that DS3 is the easiest one he made it sound like the game is just a run run through lala-land with no challenges whatsoever.
I still die, and mess up, and repeat bosses... Ugh...
I blame my PS2 controller dongle thingie. I swear it adds something like 0.1 or 0.15 seconds of delay >_>