The Souls-Borne Series has been like a breath of fresh air when games were becoming increasingly condescending. The series introduced innovative online multiplayer and messaging system.
More than that though, From Software dared to bring back rules and design choices that had not been seen in years. Going through the whole level just to face up with a boss who might squash you in seconds? Ninja Gaiden did that on the NES in 1988. Demon’s Souls, dared to do it 2009.
Two years later, Dark Souls refined the ideas further and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time. Dark Souls II followed up, and though it was equally well received, middling level design and other issues meant that it didn’t quite reach the heights of it’s illustrious predecessor.
Why do all gaming sites use the same screenshots?
Dark Souls 3 steps up to the plate under huge expectations. The first souls game (discounting Bloodborne) on next gen consoles and PC, with the original director – Hidetaka Miyazaki, returning. And what a return to form it has been. Dark Souls 3 is almost certainly the last game of the souls series, and it is befitting swansong to this smashing franchise.
Sights both familiar and new will greet you.
This time we find ourselves in Lothric, where not only time but space too has become distorted. Since (before) the events of Dark Souls 1, when Gwyn linked the fire for the first time, countless others have repeated the cycle, becoming lords of cinders in the process. The curse of undead remains, and lords of cinder have abandoned their duty and their thrones. It is up to us to bring them back, typically by poking them to their death with the biggest sword we can carry.
When you praise the sun a bit too hard.
Combat and exploration still form the core pillars of the game. Combat in souls games have always been meaty but post Bloodborne, it has also become speedy. Very very speedy. Accelerated combat means you will always be on your toes, and tanking behind a shield will get you killed even quicker. Thankfully, the assortment of daggers, swords, halberds, hammers, axes clubs and other medieval weapons too can be swung around faster, and the introduction of weapon arts adds an extra layer of tactics to fights. Pressing L2/left trigger while 2 handing the weapon executes special moves depending on the weapon – such as a guard breaking move or a flurry of hits. The limit on these moves is set by your Focus points. Focus Points also determine your ability to use sorcery spells and miracles.
Kill it with fire!!
One aspect that I think the game finally nails is the health reduction/increase based on the players state. In Demon’s Souls, while in soul state, you health points were cut in half, and the HUD displayed the halved health bar tauntingly. Dark Souls dropped the health reduction system altogather, which meant turning human was essentially opting for online play. Dark Souls messed it up by punishing repeated deaths with reducing health. In a sort of glass half empty/full contrast, you retain your full health bar in normal state (called unkindled). Using an ember and going into kindled mode given you and additional one third HP.
The Demon’s Souls DNA still runs deep. Tower of Latria, anyone?
The world of Dark Souls 3 is best described as Demon’s souls style level connected in a semi linear fashion. Each location is comprehensive map, with nooks and cranny’s filled with treasures and secrets and almost inevitably, shortcuts that loop back. It is almost as if the design team took the DS 2’s level design criticism to its heart and ensured that each level had to have an elevator or locked doors for shortcut purposes. What is surprising though, is how linear the game feels in the way these locations meld together. A branching path manifest only after about 5 location have been cleared, and even then, it is usually a binary choice. Compare this to Dark Souls, where you could go 3 locations after the tutorial, and same was the case with Dark Souls 2. There are hidden areas which can be easily missed if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings.
Eventually, to clear an area, you will have to defeat the area boss, and there are plenty of them here. And there are some excellent (Horrible?) bosses. There are no abject gameplay horror like Bed of chaos, and at their worst, the bosses are merely forgettable. At their best though, the boss will easily increment your death counter by double digits, and you will love every bit of it. I need to point out though that there is a distinction between an Interesting, memorable boss, and one which is merely difficult.
Bosses remain the stars of the show. This one floats like a sylph and impales like a kebab vendor. (Sorry bad analogy)
A boss can be cool even if it is a cakewalk (remember Gaping Dragon?), while an unnecessarily difficult boss merely saps your interest in the game. Many bosses in the game have a heat up mechanic, which means that they change their tactics and moveset after losing some percentage of their health. Iudex Gundyr, the tutorial boss, will erupt into mass of black goo at half health, while another will transform the boss arena itself. Almost all of the bosses in the second half of the game are impressive, with Nameless King perhaps the most epic fight in the whole series. The final boss too, is an equally impressive challenge with a rousing soundtrack (that you might hear while you are not getting skewered by him).
The Dark Souls universe remains very dark and very bleak. From crippled brothers to Gods eaten alive, there is little to cheer here.
Whether intentional or not, Souls name has become irrevocably tied with the idea of difficulty. There is an adage in the souls community that your first souls game is the most difficult one, and indeed experienced player should sail through it without much of a problem. Sections and bosses that would have been like hitting a brick wall for the new player, are now reduced to speed bumps. Also, the obfuscated systems have been simplified to, dare I say it, make it more convenient for the players. Upgrade material will be plentiful by the last third of the game, all your NPCs are available in the central hub.
Some of the mini bosses and NPC invaders prove tougher than regular bosses.
So this must be the perfect souls game, right? Not quite. The game is very linear, unless you deliberately sequence break. The central hub gets dull very soon as all the NPCs and merchants who converge here have very few lines of speech that are repeated ad nauseam. Sample this conversation:
(Setting: A Smug Sorcerer who agreed to come after you promised Big Books of Brilliant Magic © )
ASS: I don’t mean to be rude, but have you forgotten…
Player: (okay, okay I will get you your damned books)
(From the depths of a cursed bookcase you retrieve the ancient scrolls, barely making out alive)
(Hand it to Ass)
ASS: Woah! Brilliant. You da real MVP. Wow.
Player: (Okay, lets see what you have to say now, selects Talk)
ASS: I don’t mean to be rude, but have you forgotten…
ASS: I don’t mean to be rude, but have you forgotten…
Player: (Fuuuuu….)
Which is another reason why I am still not convinced with the necessity of having a level up lady. She just has too little to say, and what she says is hardly engaging, ever.
Not representative of her boring, repetitive drivel.
Another distressing aspect is the rampant fan service. Lot’s of sun praising aside, From decided to bring back multiple aspects from Dark Souls, including an entire area leading up to the venue of perhaps the most (in)famous boss fight of the whole series (O & S). It gets a lot worse when one of the more important boss fight is compromised because someone thought bringing an exact same gimmick from Demon’s Souls would work. Baffling, since these two games aren’t even supposed to have a connection. Recycling maybe too harsh a word, but the game sometimes relies too heavily on previous games, perhaps saving the effort of creating new. Also, Dark Souls 2 has almost completely ignored, including its stellar new game plus mode which shook things with enemy placement and behaviour.
Dark Souls 2 references are few and far between.
Ultimately, series veterans will find some answers, some closures, a very satisfying game but with very few surprises.
Pros:
Good looking
Superb Level design of individual areas
Bloodborne influenced combat is fast and furious
Weapon arts add additional strategic layer to the combat
Epic boss fights
Cons:
Surprisingly linear
Off putting Fan service
No surprises for series veterans
Niggling issues that ought to have been fixed in this next gen game
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