Let’s Follow Up: Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III is a vending machine where you pay by punching yourself instead of coins. You keep going because each time you step up the machine you know you that you’re going to hurt yourself, but you’ll get something cool out of it. At the same time, I think I’m getting a little tired of forced masochism. I’ve now played DSIII for around 40 hours and have a much better idea of how the game is put together. Let’s finish looking at Dark Souls III, (hopefully) the last Souls game.

For a quick recap of my first impressions, click here.

Take a break from playing every ten deaths or so; your controllers and screens with thank you. I'm not one for throwing controllers, but I came close a few times with DSIII.

The combat in DSIII is my favorite in the whole series, by far. The variety of weapons is impressive in scale and the designers clearly had some fun giving some weapons pretty wacky movesets; things definitely get a little anime-looking with the Farron Greatsword or Onikiri and Ubadachi. Soul Transposition, the ability to use Boss Souls to create weapons/rings/spells, adds a new dimension to the game and more value to boss souls. You find a lot more upgrade materials in DSIII than the other games which is nice if you want to try out a variety of weapons throughout any one playthrough. The large variety of enemy movesets encourages you to try out different kinds of weapons/tactics as well.

Keep acting cocky, buddy. I'm taking that dagger and fancy greatsword when you're ash. 

The Bosses in DSIII are fun to fight, though ideas were clearly running a little short. DSII was criticized for most bosses falling into the “people in armor” category, but it seems like the designers of DSIII didn’t find that to be a problem. There are some really interesting bosses, both in their visual design and how to fight them, but you’ll be facing off against a lot of people in armor in this one. That being said, the non-human looking bosses are really cool. Most bosses have two stages, the second one usually being faster and more difficult, which is cool because it forces you to change around your strategy. Oceiros, The Consumed King, is a great example. He starts out as a mage, casting spells at you from afar and retreating whenever you get too close. In his second stage, he attacks in a way that matches his dragon-like appearance; up close and on all fours.

He's quite the chatterbox too. A charmer, really.

In the online sphere, things have definitely become smoother compared to DSI/II. There’s a total of eight covenants (one down from DSI/II) each of which falls into the summoner or invader type. There’s a tied-together nature to a bunch of the covenants, which is interesting. For example, followers of the Blue Sentinel Covenant will be automatically summoned whenever a follower of the Way of Blue is invaded. This definitely creates a new kind of dynamic to invasions, where you have to think if you’re ready to fight two or three people at once. The netcode has been improved massively, so PvP is much smoother in general and parrying is actually viable, unlike the horror that was DSI PvP.

From left to right and top to bottom: Rosaria's Fingers, Way of Blue, Blades of the Darkmoon, Blue Sentinals, Watchdogs of Farron, Mound-Makers, Aldrich Faithful, Warriors of Sunlight.

Despite what some people think, you can have too much of a good thing. Dark Souls is feeling a little tired by the end of Dark Souls III. Some of the issues I noticed in my first twelve hours became more glaring as time went on. The lack of a “working” poise stat seems like a huge oversight for the developers. In DSI and DSII poise affected how likely you were to be staggered by an enemy attack. DSIII has the stat, but it basically means nothing now. The only way to get poise to have the same effect as previous games is with certain Weapon Arts. I don’t think this is as much a problem for PvP, but in PvE it means that fast hitting enemies can rip through you. The Dogs or Thralls, for instance, pose an incredibly high threat if you can’t take them on one on one. Given how fond DSIII is of throwing multiple of these kinds of enemies at you (along with some kind of ranged enemy), things can get very frustrating very fast. DS combat is about one-on-one fights and DSIII habit of sic’ing multiple enemies on you at once makes the elegant, well-thought out, and generally enjoyable combat feel more frustrating than it should.

Here's somebody wearing the highest poise armor in the game, with a shield that also increases poise. They're still getting staggered by the first kind of enemy in the game.

The Souls games are supposed to be hard, for sure, but it seems like the developers of DSIII cranked things up to eleven when we were barely making it through at eight. Some of the mini-bosses are incredibly fast, strong, and presented in areas where you have almost no room to maneuver. Some levels towards the end of the game, like the Grand Archives, are very enemy and obstacle dense which makes progressing through them feel like more a slog than it should. There are some enemies which seem a little broken, frankly. The Jailers in Ihyll Dungeon, for instance, have the ability to lower your total possible health as long as you’re in their line of sight. They have a grab attack which will almost certainly kill you if they’ve lowered your health and their normal attack slows your movement speed to a crawl. I know this games are supposed to be punishing, but they were fun because you could overcome a great challenge, not because you beat your face into a wall.

You will hate these things by the end of your first trip to the Dungeon. They are the most annoying enemy I've ever fought in any game, period.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

Dark Souls III is a great game, but the cracks we started to see in Dark Souls II are definitely in the fore here. The formula is turning stale and the designers seem like they’re making things harder without giving the player more abilities to compensate. However, the combat is still better than 99% of games, the world is beautiful in that dead-tree-kind-of-way, and the amount of replayability is insane. I’ve put 40 hours into this game, but I feel like I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I hope this is the last Souls game, because it’s a good way to go out. Dark Souls III isn’t perfect, but it’s fun, special, and worth your time.

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Let’s Start Looking At: Dark Souls III

Ah, Dark Souls. You’re always there for me. Sometimes you get tired of beating games or winning at anything and Dark Souls III is here to slap you around a bit, just like you wanted. Dark Souls is the 5th game in the series, despite the III attached to the name. DSIII introduces a number of new mechanics and revisits some older ones. I’ve put around twelve hours into DSIII and I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s jump right in.

Woof. Could you get a little darker, Dark Souls III? I think I can still feel something like hope and love.

DSIII has a plot as barebones as the rest of the games in the series. We’re questing through “Lothric” this time around, trying to find and bring back the Lords of Cinder to sit on their thrones, for some reason. Do we even care at this point? It’s all suitably epic and morose and makes me realize how awesome of a word cinder is. The game starts with you literally crawling your way out of the earth, which I appreciate. How many games let you play as a zombie? You move through the introductory area and find yourself at the Firelink Shrine, which is appropriately sad, confusing, and useful.

The Shrine is well designed, which is good given the amount of time you need to spend here. You can see the five Thrones of the Lords of Cinder. Not quite sure what they did or why the thrones are here, but hey, let's find out.

The Fire Keeper who lives there is your only method of leveling up, ala Dark Souls II. Andre, the blacksmith from Dark Souls is in the shrine as well, available from the get go. This sets the tone for the rest of the game. Bits and pieces are taken from DS1 and DSII and changed around a bit to make something that’s starting to feel very similar. After some exploration, you’ll be off to the High Wall of Lothric to start your quest in earnest.

The combat is DSIII is definitely the fastest of the three Dark Souls games, which is a nice change. Faster combat allows for a more enjoyable aggressive playstyle and a more nuanced defensive playstyle; it’s hard to turtle up behind a shield when five enemies are hitting you at once. The parry and riposte mechanics are back to their Dark Souls 1 style, which I personally appreciate. The faster combat means it’s a little harder to riposte than it used to be, but still very much an option.

Bows are usually niche use weapons, but I think I'll try for a bow only run at some point.

There’s a wide variety of weapons to use, from daggers to whips to halberds, all of which are viable for the whole game. In a twist on Dark Souls II’s power stance, each weapon now has a “skill”, which usually involve a new way to move or attack. The rapier, for instance, let’s you jump back and then stab and enemy from afar, or deliver multiple piercing attacks in quick succession. I really like the weapon skills and, though I’ll miss power stance, this mode adds a new dimension to combat that keeps the formula fresh.

Your character will glow around the edges when Embered, which is a really cool effect.

Parallel to combat, the “hollowing” system has is similar to the one in Dark Souls II.  You can use “embers” to become human again, restore your health, and open yourself up to multiplayer content. Unlike DS1, you can use embers anywhere, which is a good mechanic that the designers kept from DSII.

DSIII came out fairly recently, so there’s still a lot of multiplayer activity. I put down my summon sign and got summoned within five minutes every time. I’ve only been invaded twice, but I tend not to ember up until I’m right about to fight the boss. The online play is way smoother than DS1; it’s actually possible to parry other people online.

You can summon more people this time around, which is pretty cool. You can also totally mess with invaders, as seen here.

I haven’t done a lot of exploration into the covenant system in DSIII, so I can’t speak to that, but I’ve definitely seen some new covenants that I haven’t heard of before. I’ve seen some kind of purple echoes that are attached to certain messages, which is very interesting.

The enemy design is interesting and enjoyable, but not as unique as previous games. All the enemies seem to fall into archetypes that are repeated in every level. Each level (so far) ties its general look to the look of its inhabitants. The High Wall of Lothric has dragons, knights, and soldiers. The Undead Settlement has workers, clerics, and slaves and so on. You know where you are just by looking at the enemies, which I appreciate. The bosses are similarly well designed. Dark Souls II came under criticism for the design of its bosses, most of whom were just people in armor. Dark Souls III appears to be taking a much more classic approach, where each boss is represented by its “level.”

Vordt, meet the player. Player, meet Vordt. He'll be mashing you into a fine paste with his gigantic mace.

The first boss is a special favorite of mine. He moves and attacks very quickly, despite his size. He reminds me a lot of the Taurus Demon in Dark Souls in his placement and usage. The Taurus demon is designed to teach new players that they can’t just turtle up behind a shield and hope to block all the enemies attacks; instead they have to think in a more circular fashion, use their environment, and perhaps even get a little too close for comfort.

While the combat is very enjoyable, the level design has declined in quality. The levels in DSIII are very linear, much like DSII. You have the ability to teleport from bonfires as soon as you start the game, so I think the developers felt freer to expand the size of the typical level. Running from one end to the other takes a lot longer than it did in DSI, which is a little annoying.

There also doesn’t appear to be as many connections between levels as you found in DS1, which seems like a step backwards to me. The world of DS1 was very interesting because of how close it all felt. You were doing grand things, fighting monsters fifteen times your size, but the scope of the world felt understandable and manageable. The levels of DSIII look lovely and are fun to explore, but getting through a whole level takes more time than it should.

Your Estus flask has changed for the worse as well. In DS1 you had up to 10 uses of your flask at any “kindled” bonfire (20 if you got the Rite of Kindling from a certain boss). In DSII you started with a much lower Estus usage, but you found items to upgrade that soon enough. In DSIII you start with a lower usage, and your Estus is split between the health restoring flask and the Focus Point restoring flask.

You can head to Andre the blacksmith to allot your estus, which is a little odd. Wouldn't the firekeeper have more influence over your Estus flask, seeing as it's restored by bonfires?

The weapon skills mentioned above take focus points, as does magic, pyromancy, and miracles. No longer do these magic skills have a set number of uses, which sounds great on paper, but since you have to split your Estus flask to restore your focus, it gets annoying quick. Any decent sorcerer, cleric, or pyromancer will have more than one spell equipped at any time and since they all draw from the same focus pool, you’ll run out of uses way too fast. I think things would have worked better if your focus slowly regenerated on its own, or if the designers just went with the old system of each spell having a certain number of uses.

While the weapon selected is varied and interesting, there are some serious balance issues in DSIII. Poise doesn’t do anything for some reason. In the older games, Poise was a stat that represented how unlikely you were to be staggered by an enemy attack. Because poise doesn’t do anything, there’s no point to wearing armor other than aesthetics. While armor does offer some defensive bonuses, it’s generally not worth the weight it adds to your character. Faster weapons are overpowered, at least as of the latest patch.

Even the longsword (seen here), previously a solid choice for PvP and PvE, is definitely second to the faster weapons

The rapier, estoc, and katanas just rip through enemies and bosses while the slower weapons, like great axes/swords etc., can’t match the damage output of the lighter weapons. In PvE this isn’t much of a problem, because using an optimal build isn’t really important, but I think the PvP scene will really suffer until some of the other weapon are powered up a bit. I think this will be balanced out in later patches, but for now, stick with the lighter fare.

Worth Playing

Yes.

If you like Dark Souls or Dark Souls II, you’ll like this game. The formula is definitely starting to go stale and issues are popping up, but this game is well designed and fun. Miyazaki-San, the designer of the Souls series has said that this game will be last one and I think that’s good. Far too few people know how to stop when faced with profits.

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Let's Follow Up: Fallout 4

Fallout 4 has been out for a number of months now. Since then, there have been somewhere around 3 patches, talks about the future DLC and season pass, and some more conversation about what was done right and wrong.  Last time we spoke about it, I had only put about 13 hours into the game. I’ve now been playing it for about 80 hours, so I definitely feel like I know the game a little better. I’m here to talk about the experience, now that I’m good and settled. Time to kick the fires and light the tires, people.

More like Fallout: 4get-this-game, right? Right? Hello? Is this thing on?

This is a huge amount of story missions to program. Maybe we should focus on the less-is-more approach.

Fallout 4 has a story, and clearly somebody put a lot of work into thinking about how the various factions would meld with the overall narrative. Thing is, I don’t think it worked out. Giving the player four different factions to side with just means that you’re spreading the butter really thinly instead of giving us a nice pat right in the middle of the toast.Because the designers decided to work with 4 factions, they had to create leaders, foot soldiers, bases, and quests for all of them, meaning we just up with various radiant quests that have zero story impact or memorable rewards. Story isn’t really a huge part of why I play games, but there comes a point where Fallout 4’s story doesn’t feel purposefully sparse, like in Dark Souls, but more half-ass, like in Daikatana. I mentioned this in another piece, but the ludo-narrative dissonance in Fallout 4 is utterly insane, at least with the main quests. The designers actually did a really good job with the settlement defense quests, which are timed, so you have to hurry to deal with them. But the main quest will keep harping on in your face about how it’s so urgent that you find your son right the hell now, but you can piss off and build a giant wooden robot-house with flamethrowers for eyes in your settlement and nothing changes. It seems like all they would have to do is make things a little less urgent sounding, and then the issue just drops out.

Fallout 4 is an “action role-playing game”, but I feel like you could take serious issue with the back half of that statement. While yes, you level up, and there are quests to do and gear to be found, a lot of elements have been stripped out. I mentioned the speech system in my first impressions, but it’s also evident in the lack of gear, meaningful customization, and quests. Yes, you can modify your weapons, but almost all the mods make very little in the way of change. Almost every weapon has the same general set of modifications. There’s an automatic, semi-automatic, and shotgun options, damage increasing internal components, different stocks, and maybe a bayonet option.

Despite the large number of options for modifications, there's only two actual options on this screen: semi-automatic and automatic.

Most of the more interesting weapons are the legendary weapons, which you get from defeating legendary enemies. Some of the weapons do more damage to enemies who haven’t seen you, or fire two shots instead of one, but with seriously increased recoil. Maybe the developers were thinking that exploration should be more rewarding than modifying your weapons, but it kind of falls flat. What about an option that would let you overcharge your laser weapons to deliver a much more powerful shot, but with a massive cooldown time, or maybe the ability add a grenade launcher to an assault rifle? Basically, make things more unique, instead of giving all weapons the same treatment.

This kind of weapon can really change how you play the game. In this case, you might try to focus more on sniping and stealth, rather than running-and-gunning.

The same holds true for armor. Most of the modifications there are just “armor gets better.” There are some more interesting ones that reduce melee damage when blocking, or increase aim stability, but they’re far and few between. There’s also a very strong hierarchy of armor, which makes it really annoying when you upgrade your early-game armor only to find better pieces down the road. Maybe the different kinds of armor should offer different benefits that make them more viable throughout the game, like leather armor increasing movement speed, or metal armor dealing damage to anybody to melee attacks you.

There is also little to point to focusing on any non-combat perks. Lockpicking and hacking do little besides open safes that have the same assortment of items, or perhaps open a door that you’ll find the open button for later in the level. Usually these skills would open up new paths, or change how you play the game, but not in this case. It’s not much of an RPG if there aren’t roles to play, you know? Also, while we’re on the subject, why are the Lockpicking and hacking minigames the same exact ones that we say in Fallout 3/Fallout: New Vegas. Why is this game the same game with a new coat of paint!? Even the engine is the same engine as Skyrim, which came out 5 years ago!

Skyrim Lockpicking

Fallout 3 Lockpicking

Fallout 4 Lockpicking

All of the above is annoying, for sure, but my biggest bone to pick with Fallout 4 is actually the settlements. Settlements, and the making thereof, are hugely emphasized in the game. One of the first quests you get is a tutorial teaching you process, and if you spend any time with the Minutemen, you’ll end up building a bunch of them. Here’s my issue: there’s no point to any of it. Settlements offer no advantage, whether the inhabitants are happy or miserable. You can build shops that operate in your settlement that give you some money, but since there’s nothing to buy that’s better than what you find by killing legendary enemies, what’s the point? It’s a huge subsystem in the game, but at the end of the day, it’s a waste of time, resources, and developer hours. I didn’t ignore settlements in my first playthrough, either. I had a fair number up and running, they were all linked, had the required foods/shelters/etc., and I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. It’s frustrating that it’s such an emphasized part of the game with very little to show from it. Honestly, it seems like it should have been downloadable content, rather than a bullet on the back of the box.

Cool? Yes. Any impact on gameplay? Nope. I really can't understand why so much time was spent on this, rather than fleshing out the rest of the game.

Worth Playing?

No.

Honestly, nothing got better the more I played the game. The combat, as mentioned in the first impressions, is definitely the best it’s been, but everything else here is a downgrade from the earlier games. The story is half-assed, the RPG elements are nonexistent, and the settlements are useless. Maybe the next game will be better, this one certainly sold enough to warrant a sequel, but I doubt it. Going with the current trend of Bethesda RPGs, the next game will just start you off with power armor and a Fat Man nuke launcher.