Dark Souls III (2016)

8/10

Za razliku od jedinice i dvojke, ovdje se baš vidi da je u pitanju novi engine i da je riječ o "modernoj" igri(ci). Likovi su puno responzivniji, animacije puno fluidnije, okoliš puno "interaktivniji", fizika puno realnija. Baš ti bude gušt "razvalit neku rendom kutiju. Sve izgleda poprilično lijepo, pogotovo bossevi, a paleta boja je, recimo na Pontiffu Suljivanu, koji koristi narančasti i ljubičasti mač, baš wow. Boje općenito su wow. Ali koliko god da je to sve našminkano i ušminkano, nekako mi tu nema duše prijašnje dvije Souls igre (hehe, duše, souls, hehe). Je, način na koji progressamo likove, na koji funkcionira borba, gearanje i tako dalje je jako sličan prijašnjima, ali generalno mi je atmosferom sve nekako puno - vedrije. Možda baš zbog te palete boja. Jer likovi su i dalje mračni, a njihove sudbine (nerijetko i našim odlukama i postupcima) sjebane. Ne znam zašto, ali iako je svijet, barem što se njegove popunjenosti s ljudima tiče, i dalje lonely place to be, ovdje mi se činilo ipak da ima neke ljudskosti i živosti, samo da je eto, malo lonely. U prva dva nastavka se baš osjećao taj očaj u zraku. Ovdje ne toliko.

E sad, neki govore da je Dark Souls 3 kao najteži, čak sam vidio i podosta takvih komentara, ali pretpostavljam da je to zato jer je dosta ljudi u biti prvo zaigralo trojku. Koja je daleko najpristupačnija iz trilogije. Samo ilustracije radi, ja sam u jedinici, koja mi je kada su bossevi bili u pitanju bila daleko najteža (a možda i najteža općenito) pogledao na jutjubu guidove za jedno desetak bosseva. Ponajviše zato jer su runbackovi bili brutalni i nije mi se dalo gubiti toliko vremena na trčkaranje. Ali ne bježim i od toga da su bossevi bili teški. Kao niti od toga da mi je to ipak bila prva igra iz Souls serijala, pa sam se malo trebao ufurat. U svakom slučaju, u dvojci sam pogledao guidove za 5-6 bosseva, a u trojci za doslovno - dva. A čak desetak njih se jednostavno "izvrnulo" iz prve. A osim toga, runbackovi do nijh su ovdje puno puno manje iritantni, te uz možda nekoliko iznimki iznose tek 15-20 sekundi. Tako da, kad je težina u pitanju, ovaj ja najlakši. Ali to ne znači da to JA SAM ELITIST RAAAAWRRR znači da su loši. Većina ih ima dvije faze, raznoliki su, lijepo izgledaju i što je najbolje, fer su. Za skoro sve smrti sam si sam bio kriv kad bi umro, nije se nikada dogodilo (za razliku od jedinice) da dolazim treći ili četvrti put na bossa, a da mi i dalje nije jasno koji k me sad ubio. Tako da, sve u svemu, jako sam zadovoljan s tim aspektom. Negdje pred kraj igranja, tamo zadnjih desetak sati, sam već osjećao dobrano zasićenje jer mi je to bio već treći Souls naslov za redom koji prelazim unutar cca dva mjeseca, pa sam to samo želio zgotoviti i zatim pogledati lore video koji sve skupa objašnjava.

Na kraju, ako bi morao dati neki svoj zaključak kada su sve tri igre u pitanju, to bi nekako ovako izgledalo: Jedinica ima najbolji level design i najteže bosseve, dvojka najteži trash i najbolju priču, a trojka najbolje bosseve i najmoderniji gameplay, ali joj nedostaje prave Souls atmosfere.

Dark Souls III has, in my opinion, the best overall quality of the Souls-Trilogy, even though the level-design pales a bit compared to Dark Souls I.

Bosses like The Nameless King, Darkeater Midir and Sister Friede feel very challenging and are really refreshing after all the slow bosses that Dark Souls I and Dark Souls II feature. The boss design of Dark Souls III is the second-best out of all modern FROMSOFT titles I think wich is what makes this game the best in this series.

~500 hours played(I lost count of all my playthroughs lol)

One of the themes of Dark Souls is cycles; if enough time passes certain events, people and places are likely to repeat. It is also a series about death and rebirth. If From Software is to be believed, Dark Souls III is the death of this franchise and I have to say I'm glad. Now don't get me wrong, I really like this game (not quite as much as the original) but the franchise appears to be running out of ideas.

The story is a continuation on the dying fire needs rekindling theme with no major additions to the lore, or explanations for why this is happening. This show, don’t tell approach worked amazingly well in the original but this is the third game in the series and some answers would be nice. Items, characters and locations also repeat with little rhyme or reason. Are they connected to the originals world and if so how much time has passed? What happened?

In its favour DS3 has the most interesting location and monster design (in terms of visuals) so far in this series and the Cathedral of the Deep is some of the best level design. Combat is a mixed bag and often leads to spamming light attack especially in pvp. The faster pace occasionally makes things more exciting but I miss poise and blocking.

This is still a good end to the series and is well worth checking out if you’re a Souls fan; just don’t expect to be blown away in the same way as you were with dark Souls.

8/10

4.5

In short, the quality of life adjustments between DS1 and this are astonishing. This is smoothly and imminently playable. The control feel nearly perfect and the graphics are astoundingly good. Weapon variety is top notch as well.

It touches on a hallmark of a good souls game which is that all (nearly all) weapons are viable to beat the game. You can also make it very easy or very difficult depending on your personal constraints.

However, there is something to DS1 that make it the quintessential game in the series. The interlocking levels and character surprises push it to a special place in my heart. This game makes a very good effort at imitating that character element, but the levels are very linear and completely miss out on the sense of discovery present in the first game. It's a shame, but I think it is due to issues loading areas.

There is an impressive amount of content in this game and offers players a ton of replay value.

Dark souls 3 has appeared much more magnificent, attractive and extraordinary than ever the game, which began with Demon Souls, was powered by Dark Souls1, evolved with Bloodborne, a spiritual version of the Souls series, and now Dark Souls III has achieved its ultimate glory by combining the best of all past versions. Before I started playing the game, I thought that this version of the Dark Souls series would finally take me to repetitive environments and put the enemies in the style of the previous ones.

But after entering the world of Dark Souls III, I realized that everything wasn't the way I thought. Dark Souls III developers have been able to re-establish glory in their latest work in DS series. The story of Dark Souls III, like the story of other parts of the series, is full of vague and, of course, amazing tales and stories. There are more than 50 different models of enemies in the game, each with its own tricks and surprises. Different types of immortals with different shapes, powerful demons, strange reptiles, giants, skeletons, and many creatures that when you see them, you don't know you should be afraid to fight them or enjoy their strange and amazing artistic design.

Also, unlike the Dark Souls2, where the environments were a bit linear and the shortcuts and connections between the areas were very dim, Dark Souls III made up for it. Dark Souls III with its twisted and large environments, finding shortcuts that even make you happy after going through difficult stages, made the game world quite enjoyable. Dark Souls III has one of the best video game design stages. But in addition to this, the variety of environments, strange architectures, and extraordinary artistic designs have caused the game stages to overwhelm you more than ever. The Lothric castles, hollow soldiers walking around the castle, and the lifeless corpses of the knights, along with the wyvern carcasses, all smells of death and ashes.

The only drawback to the game's environment and stages is one thing: the Bonfires. There was a time when in the first Dark Souls, you killed a lot of enemies and carried thousands of souls with you. As the number of these souls increased, the game became scarier and scarier, and the fight against the enemies had a fear of losing all the Souls, which greatly increased your heart rate. Eventually, when we found a Bonfire, there was nothing we could do but scream. But now in Dark Souls III, its the opposite, and that sense of the past is completely gone. Each area of ​​the game has 4 to 5 Bonfires in the corner, and that sense of fear has completely gone.

Another important element of the Dark Souls series is the fightings. You should say goodbye to slow fights of Dark Souls I and Dark Souls II in Dark Souls III. Dark Souls III is very fast and there will be no more slow-moving, jumps and slow and heavy reactions of your character in games like Dark Souls I or Demon Souls. All of these things arise from the other end of the series and the masterpiece of Fromsoftware, Bloodborne. As the character grows faster and lighter, the main focus of the defensive style is more on giving space. In battles, whether with enemies or with bosses, the main thing to do is to dodge. Of course, the game has not disappointed people like me who prefer shields to lots of dodges, However, keep in mind that the faster you go, the faster enemies game puts in your way, or even faster than you. They are powerful and fast-moving at the same time, so you need to speed up your mind, thoughts, and reactions so that you can pass through these creatures more easily.

as I said The design of the game stages is unique and breathtaking, but the number of Bonfires has taken over the past sense of the Dark Souls series. Dark Souls III has the best ending for the Age of Dark souls. Now, these souls need a long rest...

Koko Dark Souls trilogia pelattuna tämän vuoden aikana ja tämä trilogian loppuhuipennus toimi myös koko tämän loistavan pelivuoden loisteliaana loppusilauksena. Sarjan kolmas osa oli se oikea jatko-osa, jonka DS1 ansaitsi. Tässä kolmososassa on paljon samoja elementtejä kuin sarjan avauksessa, mutta viritettynä modernimpaan muottiin, ja sopivasti nopeatempoisemmalla otteella. Ainoa selkeä heikkous ykkösosaan nähden on pelin maailmansuunnittelu ja alueiden kenttämäisyys. Jo alussa avautuva pikamatkustus rikkoo maailmaan syventymistä entisestään, kuten sarjan kakkososassa.

Peli näyttää yllättävän hyvältä yli viisi vuotta vanhaksi peliksi. Alueet olivat mielenkiintoisia tutkia ja perusvihollisten vaikeustaso sopiva. Yksi mielenkiintoinen muutos tässä pelissä oli aseiden kehittämisen ja muokkaamisen helppous. Itse virittelin kolme eri miekkaa tappiinsa, joilla jokaisella tapoin pelin vaikeimpia bosseja. Se on miellyttävää, kun ei tarvitse olla jumittuna käytännössä siihen yhteen valittuun aseeseen, kun upgrade esineitä ei tule vastaan.

Bosseista suurin osa oli turhan samankaltaisia, hiukan omaa hahmoa isompia kahdella jalalla käveleviä miekanheiluttajia. Mutta silti muistettavia (lue: todella vaikeita) bosseja oli kuitenkin DLC:t mukaanlukien useampia ja yksi muistettavimmista (lue: helvetin vaikea) vapaaehtoinen bossi on vielä vetämättä. Muutoin olen tahkonnut noin 50 tunnissa kaiken peruspelin ja molempien DLC:eiden sisällön ja nautin joka sekunnista. Yksi kaikkien aikojen parhaimmista peleistä!

5/5 Erinomainen

To me, this is easily the best game of the trilogy. It has the most beautifully bleak and grand atmosphere, combines the verticality of DS1 with the branching pathways of DS2, and features some of the most intense and brilliantly written music of the series. The bosses are by far the best, and it also includes Sister Friede who is in my opinion the best and the hardest boss in Dark Souls. The DLCs also provide the best conclusion I could have imagined. There are a lot of people who claim that the game was full of nostalgia bate, however, nostalgia is one of the most important aspects of any form of art, and if used correctly it can be all the more powerful. In this case, it was clearly used correctly.

5.00/5.00

Full Review: https://watchreadgame.com/dark-souls-3-review/

OVERVIEW

• Rating: 9,5/10
• Hours played: 90
• Pros: combat and controls, difficulty curve, bosses, level design
• Cons: linearity, originality, balancing of items

PLAYTHROUGHS

I have completed Dark Souls III 5 times so far. I also did both DLCs 3 times. My first run took me 22 hours, and the DLCs added about 10 hours to my time, at first.

GAMEPLAY

Dark Souls III (DkS3) is the end of an era. This trilogy has become my favourite game franchise and it was very bittersweet to see it coming to its (needed) end. The first game shaped a generation of gamers, but the sequels, while being very good games on their own, failed to bring back the same spark of creativity and emotion. It was time to end things, and I believe DkS3 was a fair way to say goodbye.

Let us start with what's different. DkS3 brought back the first game's animations and controls, but now everything flows much faster and players feel they have even more control over their characters (likely a change done thanks to the great response Bloodborne had). Lifegems are gone (thank God), but there's a new healing choice to make, which is tied to a new stat called Focus Points. Essentially, they removed the Spell Uses mechanic, so the FP works just like mana. FP is also used to perform weapon arts, a new mechanic where players use a special type of attack with their weapons. You gain FP by levelling up Attunement, an atribute that is also tied to how many spells you can "equip" at once. To restore your FP you need to use a new type of Estus, called Ashen Estus, but you have to choose how many normal (healing) Estus and how many Ashen Estus you will carry at once (the maximum is 15 if you don't bring any of the other type).

Those mechanics bring a few interesting things to the table: if you are playing a caster or want to rely on the weapon arts a lot, it will be necessary to sacrifice some of your healing potential. Pure melee builds that don't care about it could gain more healing, but likely at the cost of versatility. The weapon arts didn't really work as well as planned, since many players don't use them, many of them are the same on multiple weapons and some are only useful on specific situations. On the other hand, I believe the FP system worked just fine for spellcasters and some unique weapons (particularly the DLC ones) have very cool weapon arts that add some flavour to the gameplay, even if they fail to significantly change the combat's dynamic.

Thankfully, the level design of DkS3 brought back the high quality of the first game. Many areas have multiple paths to take, cool secrets to find and intelligent use of shortcuts to bonfires to keep the pacing of each level more engaging than the more straightforward approach the second game took on many ocasions. Enemy encounters were mostly well thought, and I enjoyed the new enemy varieties overall. Still, some parts of the game kept the problem of adding too many unnecessary bonfires, often giving the feeling that some portions were developed by different groups of people that did not talk to each other and then meshed it all together to complete the game.

One issue that a lot of players have found is on the linearity of the level-to-level progression, which I believe is a fault of the world design. DkS3's world consists of one main path with a few branching options that never allow you to avoid doing the other path anyway, while also adding some optional side-areas here and there. The early game is where this is felt the most, since most playthroughs will consist of the same first few hours until the game actually starts to give alternatives. Still, the late game has a good amount of side content, and the one major sequence break can provide some variation on subsequent playthroughs, even if this game remains the most linear of the trilogy. That said, the linearity helps with the difficulty curve, since there's never a moment where it feels the player character is underleveled for whatever challenge is thrown at him - that's very good for newcomers to the series, since they don't have to waste time grinding to be strong enough for anything.

The progression on any of the Souls games is based a lot on the bosses that are found on them. Players need to be strong and experienced enough to deal with fights that are going to demand all of the knowledge they acquired through the levels and also the ability to learn new things, since bosses are generally very unique enemies. DkS3 has the best average boss quality of the trilogy, working with less bosses than the other two, but making each of them feel very different to approach. The visual design of the bosses and their arenas and the way you fight them change with each fight - sometimes even within the same fight, because of the multi-fases -, there are many very difficult ones and even the bosses I don't like have some interesting ideas behind them, something that was lacking a lot on Dark Souls II.

To finish with the gameplay, I need to mention the DLC. The extra content was very important on the first game, to upgrade the quality of the second half, and also on the sequel, to provide high quality areas and bosses that were lacking during most of the main story. DkS3 wasn't at fault of quality, but quantity. The two DLC's that were released allow players to enjoy the game for longer, also including a fun PVP arena for those who care about these things. Despite Ashes of Ariandel being a bit on the short side of things, I believe it's worth it to play the season pass, the levels and bosses are fun and a nice change to what was already on the game. The only major downside is that they forced the difficulty a bit by giving bosses way too much HP at times - it works on a couple of them, but when every fight becomes an endurance challenge it can turn amazing encounters into a very boring time.

NARRATIVE

DkS3 uses the same methods to tell its story to the players, focusing a lot on continuing the main points of the first game, while making a few references to the second. I do enjoy most of the new characters and places, and I'm glad they answered some big questions players had for years. Also, the DLC represents a very interesting ending to the series (if you play them both), despite the fact that I missed an actual cut-scene to provide a bigger sense of conclusion, but I suppose at this point that's expecting something they don't really care about doing. A shame, anyway.

The one big downside of this game, and that includes NPCs, enemies and areas in general is the way it relies on previous content. That are too many unnecessary references to the other games, even to Demon's Souls and Bloodborne. The NPC's are very often too familiar to engage players the way they should, and the repetition of some themes for areas, like the annoying swamps are the reason a lot of fans dismiss the creativity of the developers here. That said, sometimes it was done right, and some of the fan-service did make me happy or satisfied, but the fact is that DkS3 lacks originality on many levels to really stand out within From Software's pantheon.

TECH

DkS3 has the best graphics, art design and music of the trilogy. I loved being able to experience a Dark Souls game that looked that pretty, and was honestly impressed by the care that was put to even tiny details on buildings, enemies and items. My one annoyance is on the fact that the game is frequently too loud, especially with some enemies that scream some horrifying sounds that are more upsetting than scary. Generally speaking, this is the best Dark Souls game when it comes to technical aspects, which is to be expected of the most recent one.

CONCLUSION

Dark Souls III is the last inclusion on this franchise, or at least it will be for quite a while. They pushed this game really far on the technical aspects, and despite it being seen as short and linear by many fans, here is where you'll find the best overall quality of bosses and levels. The clear lack of innovation and originality on many areas of the design stopped this game from becoming the best on the series for me, but I still consider Dark Souls III to be an amazing game and a great, yet somewhat bittersweet, goodbye to my favourite videogame series.

Dark Souls III wants to be the culmination of all Soulsborning you've done up to this point. It wants to take every shred of (the original Dark Souls) and remind you why you played this series, up to this very single moment of the END, DLC INCLUDED. That said, it doesn't reach the heights of its recent brethren at all, but provides an entertaining foray into what seems to be the in-game equivalent of smashing every single Dark Souls reference into a compressed whole.

The story is haphazard, but gives some sustainable narrative for your journey. In someplace where time and space is smooshed together, you must gain the power of the five Lords of Cinder and relight the First Flame (or whatever, yeah) to continue the cycle of fire and dark. Dark Souls 3 is a very linear (though not necessarily to its detriment) affair, pulling you from locations that feel like Anor Londo, the Painted Land of Ariamis, and (Yharnam?!), doing the same dang thing you've always done - fight enemies, explore carefully designed nooks and crannies, and facing tough and demanding bosses with the help of a friend and the danger of an invader.

As for improvements? That's where Dark Souls III falters. Its changes are in the slightest of mechanics, such as how you land from a jump, heavy attacks, parries, and the introduction of MP again (FP) in the form of Battle Arts, special moves for your weapons that share the same point pool as sorceries. Your use of these points, unfortunately, depends entirely on your playstyle, and at times you can very well ignore them (or use them for Soul Arrow potshots). Though Dark Souls III is not a game about improvements to the formula - it understands that its formula as is will be compelling enough.

As for bosses, the main crux of gameplay (I know, we're talking PvE), they have a pleasant difficulty curve, ranging from the tough but fair Iudex Gundyr to the Crystal Sage, ramping up with such monstrosities like Abyss Watchers and Pontiff Sulyvahn, to nasty pieces of work like the Dancer of the Boreal Valley and Nameless King, and topping it off with some of the hardest fights that Soulsborne has to offer with Sister Friede and Darkeater Midir. Needless to say, these fights are intense and satisfying but have a tendency to tax on your patience with life bars extended with phase after phase. Don't worry if you have to bring a friend.

Lorewise, it's a mess, but a juicy one. Stories mix and intertwine, and everything will feel all so familiar, whether it be the face of Gwyndolin, a familiar fight theme, or literally Anor Londo. Visually it's more consistent than something like Dark Souls II but Dark Souls II had some fun and creative environments, whereas the environments in Dark Souls III can feel a bit same-y at times without a kick in the pants from the DLC.

If you play the Souls games and want some kind of end to the series that pulls together every plot point in a cohesive whole, Dark Souls III will disappoint. But hey, it's a Dark Souls game and everything reminds you of Dark Souls (1), so that can't be all bad.