Dark Souls 3

[Golem]

In Dark Souls, you couldn't teleport between bonefires, and dragon covenant area was hidden behind double illusory walls
Oh, and that pitch black Nito area... I lost hope so many times - had to push on only because I couldn't find my way back.

You could also level up at Bonfires, which meant you didn't have to return to the shrine so often.

[Falka]

Quite the opposite in fact, i thought i was too easy to find my way around everything.

We have different expectations then. For my taste there's definitely too much senseless running.

Not sure if I'm gonna finish the game. I'm in Catacombs of Carthus now, so looks like I finished more than half of the game in less than 16 hours. Not very long game then. And I'm a total scrub. Dark Souls Prepare to Die was much harder I think.

All in all one of the most disappointing games I've played in recent years. After all this hype expected much more. But what's the worst, I've bought season pass... 

[Overdriven]

I thought the same when I got to Catacombs. I don't think that's really even half way through the game. The difficulty also ramps up quite a bit from there.

[Molly]

[...] But what's the worst, I've bought season pass... 

You got ran over by the hype train!

[SixThumbs]

My experience was similar to the past Souls titles. I struggle a bit at the beginning just getting the muscle memory, breeze through most of the rest of it bar minor roadblocks, get completely lost once, dick around with PVP after finding my way and then continue doing so for the last 2/3rds until I finish (although I never got better at PVP this time around).

I missed quite a bit of side stuff and debating whether I'll look up spoilers for them or go back to the game in the future still mostly in the dark.

Still motoring along Witcher 3 but it shares an issue Fallout 4 has, the main story having the urgency of finding your lost kid when I just want to do Witcher things.

[Kafein]

Meh, it's boring. Too much running around, too little meaningful fighting. And fighting is too slow and just not very funny. Bosses are decent. Kinda. But my biggest issues is lack of the map and overall design of the... map. Don't find it very funny when half of the time I spend looking for some passage from here to there and back again.

You bought the wrong game boi

fighting in Witcher3 was more enjoyable to me than it is in DS3.

Dodges that don't even work, hp sponges and proc chances = better combat. Falka pls

And since there's nothing else apart from fighting in DS3...

wat

You didn't have any problem with finding a way to the new areas?

That's the point.

I really can't so even, Falka.

[Golem]

Dodges that don't even work, hp sponges and proc chances = better combat. Falka pls

Dodges in Witcher actually do work, only there are no i-frames so you have to use them to get your hitbox quickly out of the way


By the way, is there some setting like covenant of the champions from DS2? Think that would help me, since I always give up and summon people and ruin the experience. But I do want invasions so going offline isn't really an option.

EDIT: I guess thats why I loved DS1, I got into it when there were no summon signs so I had to play it without help.

[Falka]

= better combat.

I didn't say "better". I said "more enjoyable to me".

You didn't have any problem with finding a way to the new areas?

That's the point.

It was a few years ago so can not be sure, but I think that DS1 had better design of areas, which didn't require so much running. At least I don't recall it as a chore like in DS3.

wat

Tell me then what I'm missing.

[Banok]

Well I would at very least agree there is nothing in darksouls but combat, pretty much but there is PvE, PvP and Co-op. darksouls 1 had best exploration/story but even then its very minimal really.

For example Darksouls 3 "quests" are fucking awful, unpopular opinion amongst fans. but really you fail siegwards quest simply by going into irithyl dungeon first, which is the most obvious route to go and thats just one of the many unhinted ways you can fail it. So unless you are omnipotent, the quests are 100% designed to be looked up on wiki/guides, even then its overcomplicated and obtuse. Its's just not good design, and I dispute that souls obscurity is always intentional - it often seems like lazyness and/or bad translation.

[Gravoth_iii]

It was a few years ago so can not be sure, but I think that DS1 had better design of areas, which didn't require so much running. At least I don't recall it as a chore like in DS3.

Its pretty much the same, but less packed with obstacles and items, so theres more empty running in ds1.

(click to show/hide)

Well I would at very least agree there is nothing in darksouls but combat, pretty much but there is PvE, PvP and Co-op. darksouls 1 had best exploration/story but even then its very minimal really.

For example Darksouls 3 "quests" are fucking awful, unpopular opinion amongst fans. but really you fail siegwards quest simply by going into irithyl dungeon first, which is the most obvious route to go and thats just one of the many unhinted ways you can fail it. So unless you are omnipotent, the quests are 100% designed to be looked up on wiki/guides, even then its overcomplicated and obtuse. Its's just not good design, and I dispute that souls obscurity is always intentional - it often seems like lazyness and/or bad translation.

I dont think its laziness or bad translation. They just prefer to do quests differently. The irithyll dungeon part is quite weird, but to me it certainly feels like they lead you towards the kitchen before that.
I like them being so cryptic that i basically have to wiki most of it, it actually makes me want to do them.

[Falka]

So unless you are omnipotent, the quests are 100% designed to be looked up on wiki/guides,

Same with some areas. Farron Keep where you have to distinguish 3 lights to open the gate and where you can not run, just walk or roll, and you're attacked by a couple of bigass mobs. Wasted half an hour before I gave up and checked in wiki where is the last light. That was retarded map design.

@Kafein
At least you don't say finding a way is too easy and too straightforward.

I thought the same when I got to Catacombs. I don't think that's really even half way through the game.

I just checked the list of areas and already was in more than half of them. But okay 

[Overdriven]

I just checked the list of areas and already was in more than half of them. But okay 

I made the same mistake 

[Kafein]

I didn't say "better". I said "more enjoyable to me".

Hence "Falka pls".

It was a few years ago so can not be sure, but I think that DS1 had better design of areas, which didn't require so much running. At least I don't recall it as a chore like in DS3.

Pretty sure it's the nostalgia talking. Except for the much higher inter-connectivity of DS1 (missing this in DS3 is indeed a real shame), it actually required effectively more running because you'd be without teleports for most of the game.

Tell me then what I'm missing.

Lore, finding secrets, dealing with traps and ambushes, dealing with risk, rewards and progression. The true quality of this franchise is not the combat system itself but in level design. A huge majority of the difficulties that most players trip on are not resolved through a better mastery of the combat system but rather by approaching each problem in the correct way, which depends on your knowledge of the game universe, not really of its combat mechanics.

The thing is, the game offers a world that can be explored in a variety of ways, some more rewarding and some easier than others, and you have to make choices without knowing all the consequences. I think it is more important to allow people to "fail" to do a quest rather than making sure they 100% everything like everyone else. An authentic journey is ultimately more personal and more valuable than one that was dictated by an abstract need of completion. Even though I'm pretty sure every school of game design would tell you is it abhorrent, the possibility of making errors along the way without realizing makes your own playthrough much less of a dull, controlled experiment. It confronts you with things that were not necessarily intended and transforms you into a genuine explorer.

[Gravoth_iii]

Same with some areas. Farron Keep where you have to distinguish 3 lights to open the gate and where you can not run, just walk or roll, and you're attacked by a couple of bigass mobs. Wasted half an hour before I gave up and checked in wiki where is the last light. That was retarded map design.

But the chimneys clearly showed the locations, with some vantage points to get clear views on them.

[Golem]

But the chimneys clearly showed the locations, with some vantage points to get clear views on them.

I ended up summoning a phantom to find it, because I thought the first one I extinguished was the first one coming from the first bonfire. Turned out that I passed it and then found the second one first. Third one I found on accident, while rolling out of the way and through those crosses.
I don't like the area, especially how it flows. ___H___. They basically put a tower in the middle and then a few islands and that's it. Not impressed.