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Dark Souls 3.... 10 minutes away.

Sharkonabicycle

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ZOGMF!!!!
 

Clayton

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As someone who has played Demons Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne....I just don't care anymore.
 

OutlawImmortal

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Kind of amazing that I can run giant games like Witcher 3 and FO4 smoothly on my PC but DS3's FPS just tanks (it's a smaller game than DS2 mind you), meanwhile it runs on weak consoles just fine. The button prompts are still for controller as well, Japanese developers just don't give a shit about PC users so I guess I'll just play DS2 if I get the itch. I'll try out Dragon's Dogma or buy XCOM2 instead.
 

Clayton

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No sports on so 4 years later I got around to playing (and beating) the base game of Dark Souls 3. For the most part I was pleasantly surprised.

The first 80% of the game is something I can really get behind. Its an ambush simulator that takes you to all sorts of different environments and slowly introduces new combat challenges as it goes all while providing a diverse and interesting world. The difficulty curve is fair and the pacing is easily the best in the series. You really take in the atmosphere and some of the boss fights even have some flavor to them. Every environment really nails what its trying to do, imo, and at the beginning of the game health is a real worry so I was on my toes that whole time.

The bosses come in two varieties: the type that really tests your ability to level gear up (stamina and relevant stats really gate your ability to deal and take damage unless you REALLY know the game) and the second type of enemy that has some sort of exploitable part of their AI pattern that you have to find and punish. There is a good variety of bosses throughout the game and the difficulty was all over the place but never anything too easy or too difficult. I'd say if the game ended at the Lothric Princes fight then I'd give it a 10/10 and be fine.

Then there are 4 optional boss fights after that and a final boss fight and some DLC. Here is my issue at this point - there is nothing left to ambush you because you've seen all of the traps. You can also have double digit potions so health is almost never an issue. As such, it seems like you're also never far away from a bonfire at all. 3 of the 4 optional boss fights I beat my first try. There is a boss garden area that looks like it was just slapped together and some other areas that are just repeats from earlier in the game.

It all feels like its setting you up for an ending where you just walk over the last two bosses....except the last two bosses are far, far tougher than anything before it. The Nameless King is one of the best boss fights ever but the actual final boss is...not. Dark Souls 3 is a great game that could have ended way better just by simply ending at one of the previous fights. I've seen the DLC and its widely praised but I'm ready for another break from Souls. I know that the DLC functions as the proper end to the game so I suspect I'll go back to it at some point down the road.

I also think that Dark Souls 3 would lose a ton of appeal on a second playthrough. The levels lack depth to them and without the surprise and angst of the unknown then most of the appeal of playing the game would be lost, imo. I suspect that people who play Soulsborne games all of the time probably don't think this is the best one but people who only kinda like the series (like me) probably like it the most.
 
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