Dark Souls III
Action RPG Lore 'Em Up
1-3 Players via summons
System: Playstation 4
Developer: From Software
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: April 29th, 2016
Dark Souls has quickly ascended the ranks and become one of my absolute favorite series, including precursor Demon's Souls and spin-off Bloodborne. There's just something about the world From Soft has managed to craft that speaks to me, even the least liked of the series, II, was an amazing game in my opinion that I played through several times. This is one of the few series where I say "fuck it" and purchase the outrageously expensive collector's editions (glad I skipped that "Estus" Prima guide bullshit though) because of just how much I know I'll connect to these games. Even at their absolute worst they provide an interesting world with fun, engaging combat. Dark Souls III is no different
Actually, Dark Souls III acts a bit like a greatest hits collection of the Souls series. Many areas are very reminescent of previous areas, surprisingly many areas reminded me of specifically Demon's Souls. Irithyll Dungeon screams Latria to me, and the final run up to the final lord of cinder feels just like that final battle before False King Allant. Many item descriptions and even NPCs reference places, items, people and events that have occurred throughout the series. I know that a lot of fans have a problem with this "fan service", but as far as I understand the plot of the game (and anyone who knows of this series knows that I probably have no idea as to the actual plot of the game) almost all of these references fit in perfectly. Not as a simple cheap call back as was often the case in Dark Souls II, but as an integral part of the story. This isn't always the case, but more often than not it feels like it's there for a reason.
The game plays just as well as ever. Attacking, dodging, blocking, estus chugging, are all intact and weapons arts are an added mechanic that usually have limited use. Weapon arts are basically your equipments secondary ability. Parry is now a weapon art, but many new attacks were added to weapons. Katanas have a new stance feature, that while holding L2 change your normal and heavy attacks. Axes have a buff that increases attack and alters your heavy attack for a bit. Boss weapons special attacks are usually activated in this way now too. Depending on which weapon route you go weapon arts might play a big part of your play style, or might be regulated to a nifty new feature. Another change I appreciate is that rolling is divided into just two tiers now, fat rolling at 70% equip load and more and fast rolling below that. It makes item management a bit less stressful and allows players to focus more on the ever important fashion souls angle.
The world of Lothric is interesting. It is seemingly dragging together many places from throughout history, and as mentioned above, a lot of areas feel familiar. Early in the game you come across a vista that shows off every area in the game, and from each of those areas there is at least one location that lets you get a view of where you are in relation to your surroundings. It's a shame that this feature was included in the game with a world only slightly more logically laid out compared to Dark Souls II. Visually it's fantastic though and works well, "Oh that's where I came from!" The areas in this game have one glaring flaw though. Every area is so god damned short. There's a forest early in the game that is basically three hallways that lead to the next bonfire. That's it. Another area is literally a winding path that leads to two crystal leaders, three enemies and the next bonfire. It's utterly disappointing that the layout is so great, but there is just so little of it. I don't know how the game world compares in size to the previous games, but it feels oh so much smaller.
Another odd thing about the world of Dark Souls III is how incredibly linear it is while presenting itself as pretty open ended. Even the most wide open areas are pretty small, nothing is as vast as Dark Root Basin (Dark Souls) or the Forbidden Woods (Bloodborne). There are many side paths, but they all end quickly, or wrap back on themselves. I don't know how to feel, because as I've said the world design is nigh masterful and it was a true joy exploring these areas and realizing how everything connected and finding little hidden alcoves but going back through a second time you realize how limited everything is.
Enemy designs are mostly interesting, though many enemies seemed to have weaned some aggression from Bloodborne. Many a time I wound up trading blows and wishing that the healing system from Bloodborne worked in this game too. Souls is at it's best when it presents you with a challenging encounter, but never crosses that line into unfair, and for the most part Dark Souls III pulls that off. There are a few rather annoying groups of enemies, but even then they rarely felt unfair. Especially once you realize almost every group can be simply ran past, though I recommend killing everything your first time through. The bosses in this game were all great. Many of them were easy, and a few extremely gimmicky, but they all really worked for me. From the standard big guy with a sword, to the teleporting mage, to the congregation type boss, to a giant skeleton who really loves his bracelets, to a tree with very few vulnerable areas, almost all of the boss fights felt spectacular to me. Many could have been injected with a bit more of a challenge, but that could just be experience talking.
My biggest qualm with the game by far is how absolutely shit NPCs and quests are in this game. Quest triggers in such a way that a guide is nearly mandatory. Activating in an area you've already passed after doing some minor action with no indication or hint that what you did will progress anyone's story. Making sure to set things up for NPCs without fucking up or losing them forever. Going back and forth between areas with little indication of what is going on, or that you should head to some of these out of left field areas. Not buying specific spells lest someone becomes hostile and a happy ending is all but lost. It was incredibly frustrating for me that even in my second play through I fucked up a few quests with a guide helping me. Worse still there seems to be very limited dialogue with NPCs. When you first meet them they have unique dialogue, when you trade in items to upgrade stock they have a bit more to say, and sometimes, very rarely, events in game will trigger a new line. As such almost all of the lore is scraped from the item descriptions, which isn't a problem, but I really enjoyed almost all of the NPC plot lines from earlier games. Souls has always been vague on story details, but these one just feels lacking, almost unfinished in some respects. Many of these plot threads are short, confusing, underwhelming or a combination thereof. Onionbro managed to still be awesome at least.
Dark Souls III doesn't push the envelope really at all, but it's a nice tidy Souls package to end the series (or at least this "era" of Souls) that I recommend anyone try out. At least one of the endings is beyond satisfying, if a bit cryptic to find. I'm not sure what From Soft is doing next, I hope something new, or maybe they revive another of there series', but whatever they do Souls has had a profound effect on games, and on myself. I can't wait to see what other games come out that are inspired by the series. (My mind races at the enticing idea of a Souls flavored Zelda game. Oh my god.)
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