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REVIEW: DARK SOULS 3 (PS4/Xbox One/PC)

15/4/2016

54 Comments

 
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So, you've been tasked to review a game, which is more or less universally loved, which you acknowledge is a polished and capable product, but which you yourself struggle to enjoy.

Now imagine going to a local corner shop, buying a big bag of Polish crisps, and then pouring half of the bag into a bowl - because "This is all I'm going to eat" - and then after emptying the bowl into your flapping gob, going back to the kitchen for the other half of the bag, and then complaining to everyone around you that you ate the entire lot without realising, and now you feel fat. 

Congratulations: you have now successfully and comprehensively imagined my life.

If Digitiser2000 had a budget sufficient to pay money to other writers - and didn't, y'know, regularly blow a significant chunk of what we do make on Patreon every month by accidentally buying two copies of almost every game, because I generally forget what I've pre-ordered on Amazon - I'd have asked someone else to review Dark Souls 3 for me.

​You know: someone who shares a bit of history with the series, who doesn't mind that famous grind, who appreciates the lore, the little details, and doesn't find the visual style drab and ugly.

Unfortunately, Digitiser2000 doesn't have that luxury. You're lumbered with this idiot for your Dark Souls 3 review - someone who gave up on the game long before he could finish it.

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OUR SOULS
​I dare say there's little point in me explaining what Dark Souls is, but in the unlikely event that you're a "Clueless G-Henry", here's the briefest of summaries.

Dark Souls 3, like its predecessors, is a sort of medieval fantasy, action-RPG thing. Albeit a largely plotless one - Dark Souls favours atmosphere over story. Though the story-telling is exemplary.

​Pick a character class, create a character, stumble around a rich, haunting, evocative, and mostly empty world, trying to kill an assortment of increasingly outlandish supernatural opponents, while levelling up and that. What marks out the Dark Souls series - including the Dark Souls-ish Bloodborne - from almost every other superficially similar game, is that it's as much memory test as hack-and-slash 'em up.

Enemies are hellishly difficult to defeat - particularly the bosses - yet attack in patterns that can be learned. Consequently, when you die - and you will die, repeatedly - if you can remember how you died, you can learn to predict where the enemies will attack, and then avoid those attacks.

The moment when you do so is euphoric... but everything leading up to that moment of release I found a hideous grind, making me question my life choices. A bit like how I imagine it would feel to have sexual congress with a drain.

​That's Dark Souls 3 in a nutshell, and there are other, more detailed, reviews out there if you're offended by me paying but lip service to what is clearly uniquely designed game. One that you've probably already decided you love.

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BIG ISSUE
My biggest issue with Dark Souls 3 - the worst thing I can say about it - is that it isn't for me.

Like the only other game in the franchise (sort of) that I've played - Bloodborne - I can acknowledge the skill that has gone into it, without actually liking it all that much.

I mean, yeah... I can see that the graphics are good. I just don't much like the art design, or even the level layout; it feels like a generic fantasy RPG having a migraine. I've felt the euphoria of finally defeating a boss - the incremental way the game inches you forward - I just wish I could find some enjoyment in that.

The sense of progress is steady - and this series' USP - but for me it's like being stuck in slow-moving traffic, which is enlivened sporadically by another driver getting out of his car and coming along to press his buttocks against your side window

​I'm not even one of these people who've been advocating an easy mode: that's missing the point. You don't get "easy" modes in poncey art house cinema, or with haute cuisine. 

Dark Souls 3 is a game for the connoisseur, not those of us who are more at home fishing around in a bin, to find that half-eaten packet of Polish sour cream and dill flavour crisps that they threw in there in the misguided belief that they weren't going to want to finish them off.

Which merely leaves the question of how I rate a game like this... which I know I'm not "getting", in the way that other people aboard The Souls Train (ha ha) do. 

SUMMARY: Dark Souls? I prefer PORK ROLLS!!!!!! LOL. Whatever.
SCORE: 7.32432423 FMLs out of 10.1 FMLs 

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
​10 PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER PLAYED DARK SOULS
​
SMILE! WE IMAGINE HOW THE GAME DESIGNERS BRUSH THEIR TEETH
10 KIDS HAVING THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES AT DISNEYLAND

54 Comments
NobbyWallis
15/4/2016 10:02:09 am

I don't get the fuss about the souls series either. I think half the people that say they like it only do so to look "cool" because it's what "the kids" like.

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Martin Wright
11/5/2016 02:11:56 pm

I disagree. It's genuinely a brilliant, brilliant game. To say that people pretend to like it 'to be down with the kidz' is a little pithy.

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Hoboerotica
15/4/2016 10:31:20 am

Will you please do a video review, Uncle B?

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Mr Biffo
15/4/2016 10:45:26 am

Of Dark Souls 3? So you can laugh at my hopelessness? Maybe.

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Euphemia
16/4/2016 02:16:31 am

Watching you get taken apart by ten year olds on Destiny was brilliant. Do this!

Clive Peppard
15/4/2016 10:48:52 am

Ive always wanted to play one of these but am scared of wasting my money on something i will want to enjoy but wont be able to because of the amount of frustation (rage) it will cause.

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Hoboerotica
15/4/2016 12:12:12 pm

I'm right crap at video games, but really enjoyed Bloodborne.
I reckon the difficulty things with these games is overblown

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MrDrinks
15/4/2016 04:56:05 pm

If you have a PS3 I'd highly recommend playing Demon's Souls. I found it much better structured than any of the Dark Souls games, actual seperated levels so you know where you most likely can go and expect to make progress and where you're likely to just die and be booted back to the start. The whole open world style of the newer games that just leaves you to wander about until you happen on the "right" direction (and even then wonder if that's where you're meant to be going) put me completely off them after loving the first game.

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MrKlaw
15/4/2016 08:13:59 pm

I thought the same but dark souls sucked me into its world and didn't let go. I'm not a fan of the bosses but you can summon people to help. But I love the art style and the way you have to be cautious to progress.

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paul jon thrillin'
15/4/2016 11:14:28 am

I love Dark Souls, it scratches a 90s gaming itch I have of when they were unforgiving hellworlds that made you want to bite your controller in frustration. I enjoy the awful grind leading up to a boss, so the game is definitely for me.

Good, fair review, though, Mr. Biffo! I'm with you on the art direction, too. It is pretty generic, though bits of it certainly look nice. Being able to see really far in the distance in modern games still blows my miiiind.

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Superbeast 37
15/4/2016 11:50:06 am

Let's be honest.

The type of people that like Dark Souls had already pre-ordered it long before release and their only reason for reading reviews is to either look for a reinforcement of their beliefs or look for those reviews that are negative so that they can leap on the reviewer and defend "their" game.

A review by someone that hasn't really played the previous games is the most useful to those people that are actually *considering* whether to buy the game or not and are going to a review for advice. I tend to find that those who are fans already are not really able to view it objectively - more so than fans of other titles who are more able to look at them critically. Something to do with its Marmite nature I think.

Personally I love the "rich, haunting, evocative" world etc, I just don't like *some* aspects of the game play.

I like the combat, I like the difficulty of the combat - albeit I find the camera and the way you and the camera clips through bosses and objects etc has often caused me to lose situational awareness and die. You can work around it with practise but it feels clunky at times.

That's minor stuff though. Really my only issue is what I call the "downtime" between attempts at something that killed me. I.e. if a boss kills me, how long it takes to make an another attempt at that boss.

Too many times in these games I've found myself killed by a boss or particularly hard mob and then forced to slog back down empty corridors or even kill half a dozen regular mobs (that I already killed X times already) before you can attempt the boss again. Even with short cuts that can be unlocked, it is still too long for me.

I feel that it uses time-sinks to string out the number of attempts per hour you can make on whatever particular part is currently roadblocking you. I therefore feel that my progress is being artificially slowed - not by my skill (or lack of) but by time wasting that is integral to the design.

Sure the "time" that is at stake when fighting the boss/mobs is what creates that tension. You are always gambling your time or the precious souls that you bought with your time. Personally, my time is far too precious to gamble away like this. I don't enjoy that. If I had all the time in the world I'd probably view it has "good value for money". In reality I view it as "bloody expensive" because the currency that restricts my life is "time", not money. I'd rather when a boss killed me, the game just respawned me directly in front of the boss and took £1 off my credit card!

If Dark Souls were an MMORPG raider, he would be Guild-Kicked after one raid for not getting back to the boss and all buffed, fed and flasked quickly enough after each wipe.

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Chris
15/4/2016 12:15:23 pm

"A review by someone that hasn't really played the previous games is the most useful to those people that are actually *considering* whether to buy the game or not and are going to a review for advice."

Precisely why I was waiting for Mr B's review. However, what Biffo thought of the game is precisely what I was expecting him to think of it so... I'm not sure it helped.

"That's minor stuff though. Really my only issue is what I call the 'downtime' between attempts at something that killed me. I.e. if a boss kills me, how long it takes to make an another attempt at that boss."

I didn't find that a particular issue in Bloodborne. The shortcuts are such that usually you're only killing a couple of things and it doesn't take long to get back. It's particularly useful as you can pick up blood vials on the way. But... maybe Dark Souls is different.

"I'd rather when a boss killed me, the game just respawned me directly in front of the boss and took £1 off my credit card!"

Don't give them ideas! (or, rather, don't give companies like EA ideas)

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Superbeast 37
15/4/2016 01:28:24 pm

Chris - yeah I found Bloodborne wasn't as bad as previous games.

As you say, you can open up shortcuts but it was a faster game so you could run past mobs quite a bit. I gather that DS3 is very similar and I've seen a lot of people in videos just running clean past mobs. Maybe it isn't as bad as the previous two?

A classic example I remember is one point early on in Dark Souls 2 where I kept getting killed by a really large armoured mob (not a boss) whilst I was learning his attack patterns and the safe attack windows (I'd also made the mistake of rolling a rather squishy character).

Each time he killed me I had to run from the Bonfire all the way down a lengthy set of empty sewers before I even reached him. It was minding numbing stuff. Like a 5 minute slog with absolutely nothing to do but hold the stick forward. Then after an hour of this nonsense I killed him....and then got killed by another mob! So I had to go right back to the start and repeat it all again!

If I look at what I achieve in 2 hours in that game, compared to the progress, rich experiences and fun I'd have in Fallout 4, Witcher 3, GTA V etc in two hours......no contest.

Paul Cornford
15/4/2016 12:18:52 pm

That pretty much sums up why Im afraid of these games. i wouldnt finish it at all, and im a completionist!! the rinse and repeat aspect is what has always put me off the big push to purchase these, if ive done something in a game i expect it to stay done so i can move on to new areas and enjoy progression.

Agree that fans or haters have no need of a review. like me & Fallout 4 - its a 10 out 10 regardless of any aspect because i love them so. This is something i want to like but cant get my head round so reviews like this one are massively helpful.

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MrPSB
15/4/2016 12:14:19 pm

THIS IS NOT A VERY OBJECTIVE REVIEW MISTER BIFFO YOU MUST BE OBJECTIVE

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Mr Biffo
15/4/2016 12:25:58 pm

I am never knowingly objective.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
15/4/2016 06:44:15 pm

As an Amiga owner and Sonic 3 fan, I now feel vindicated. This is Biffogate.

devwan
15/4/2016 12:36:18 pm

Only one I've ever played was Demon's Souls. I stuck with it for a while, accomplished a few things yet enjoyed so very little of it. I found it tedious (which normally I can often live with in many RPGs) but unfulfilling, simply offered little I look for in games. "what the fuck are you doing wasting your time with this?" was the approximate phrase I mumbled to myself as I ejected the disc. Was tempted to give Bloodborne a try several times, but think I'm best off leaving this loose series alone.

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Mr Jonny T
15/4/2016 12:55:28 pm

The only reason I've never played a souls game is the time it takes to get anywhere. Only getting a couple of hours a week to play games - i don't really fancy playing one game for a whole year.

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Darren link
15/4/2016 12:57:08 pm

Hey, I work for free these days and hate modern games too. Can I be your freelance lackey?

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Panda
15/4/2016 01:39:13 pm

Reasonable stance to make and one that most people I've spoken to (in real life) understandably share. Some comments down here suggest it's the emperor's new clothes of gaming, though, which is just wrong in my book. It's been easily my favourite type of game since 2011 when I played Dark Souls 1. It's not the difficulty that makes me enjoy it; it's the compulsion to search every part of the environment for items, secrets, shortcuts and new areas. Those things hold a lot more meaning in the souls games for me, compared to over-padded stuff like The Witcher. Leveling up and finding items isn't trivial in the souls games and I can barely think of many other games where that applies.

Incidentally, I've noticed a few people who say they're not prepared to commit or invest so much time in a game like Dark Souls but they're still happy to pump 100+ hours into The Witcher and Fallout 4 and Ubisoft Game #14632 etc. I get that you might find those many, many hours more enjoyable than frequently dying and retrying seemingly impossible bosses and other punishing enemies but some of those other games are so over-padded with copy/paste content that the problem of just doing the same thing over and over again is almost exactly the same anyway. Except in Dark Souls the reward for doing so is far greater and feels more meaningful.

And despite the game asking a lot of you, that's in terms of effort rather than content. Too many games these days just present you with a map that you can barely even see because of all the icons. If gamers can commit to games like that - ones that are so trivial your participation borders on passive - and find them more satisfying than 40-60 hours on Souls then that's fair enough but before they come to that conclusion, I hope they at least give them a decent shot. Using a guide or online communities isn't ruinous to the experience either. In many ways, it can enhance it.

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Chris
15/4/2016 02:50:20 pm

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Agree 100%

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Mr Jonny T
15/4/2016 02:54:20 pm

I think, for me, if I played Skyrim for 100+ hours (which I have) - I could play that a few hours here and there and progress each time I played. If I were to do that with Souls, I expect it could be weeks before I progressed anywhere.

I am not against the idea of Souls games and I if I were in the position I could play a couple of hours multiple times a week i'd definitely give it a go.

Having said that - I've never played one of the games so could be wrong in my assumption that I need to dedicate that amount of time to it.

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Minglefingler
16/4/2016 12:36:07 pm

Yup, I find that the proliferation of maps full of icons has taken all sense of mystery and discovery out of games. Four or five different activites are plopped down with minor variations across a map and then collectibles are scattered around often to the effect that you know what you're going to find in a place before you get there. I'm fairly shit at the Souls games but I love the fact that when I walk into an area for the first time I have no idea what I'm going to come across, that if I don't pay attention to my surroundings I will miss secrets and I will die. It's hard to convey to someone who hasn't played one of these games but once it clicks with you then the constant alertness you need isn't draining, it becomes stimulating. This, combined with the lack of a mini or world map, the enemy and level design suck me so strongly into these worlds that I feel a sense of child-like wonder when playing. Also dread, apprehension and frustration but the lower the lows the higher the the highs. That's something I rarely get nowadays and this codger is grateful for that even if I never finsh one of the things.
On the difficulty, the games give you tools to make things easier, these may not always be apparent but a quick look at a wiki will explain things that you aren't sure of.
I wouldn't lump Witcher 3 or Fallout 4 in with the Ubisoft template though.

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Jareth Smith
15/4/2016 01:44:02 pm

I think 7.22432421 would have been a more accurate score. You call yourself a games journalist!?!?!?!

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Dr Kank
15/4/2016 02:32:39 pm

Do Digitiser 2000 reviews count towards Metacritic scores?

One thing I really like about the Dark Souls series is the sense of isolation. They remind me of old 8 bit games where you would feel like the only person in the world when you played them. Even when there's online co-op, you can only communicate through violence, awkward gestures and jumping to your death. Until somebody sends you a friend request which you ignore...

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Mr Biffo
15/4/2016 03:09:15 pm

Nah, we're not important enough to matter on Metacritic.

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Mr Jonny T
15/4/2016 03:29:49 pm

If it makes you feel better - I read you more than I do metacritic

AcidBeard
15/4/2016 04:01:03 pm

I spent so long gazing at the giant hypnotic nutsack of that giant bastard tree boss that my feelings of anger and frustration soon gave way to feelings of arousal. I now get wood whenever I see a tree.

Fair review though. My thoughts about the series are similar. I can admire them as games and see they have an incredible amount of systemic depth and what not but don't actually enjoy them that much.

Does anyone remember Wizards and Warriors on the NES? Used to love that and only ever give Souls games a bash because they evoke my nostalgia gland for this game for some reason.

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Euphemia
15/4/2016 04:14:29 pm

I do love these games, but they're absolutely not for everyone. This one feels way more of a slog than the last one, which I thought was firm but fair.

I also like to be whipped with chains, but I don't think that the two are related.

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Bruce Flagpole
15/4/2016 04:30:40 pm

Dark Souls is a game (series) I want to like and just wish it had been around 10+ years ago, when i had the time and inclination to put in the hours this game requires. Now with job/kids/wife/housework like many others that frequent here, i like for my limited free time to be relaxing - I put some time into Demon's Soul, less into Dark Souls 1, but actually found it all just too 'tense' and involved...it's not so much that it's hard, but that you're kind of 'working' at it, not playing it. and you (me anyway) need to keep playing it to make progress, and play regularly so you don't forget whatever enemy patterns and placement, and lore etc.

to gain pleasure from dark souls it seems you have to put in the hours to get to the reward for 'a hard job done well'. the payoff might be great but i never finish that job, i've got enough 'real' jobs to do. i need my games to be more fun 'in the moment' than the promise it will be worthwhile when you get there in the end.
so a game like 'shadow of mordor', whilst far less deep and clever, i can put on for half an hour and have fun running amok chopping up groups of orks. not trying to start something or directly compare the games, but yeah...i'll stop now.

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Kelvin Green link
15/4/2016 06:36:10 pm

I bought the first one for a fiver, but I haven't played it yet. I'm a little afraid to, because I don't think I'll be any good at it.

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Mr Jonny T
15/4/2016 06:50:09 pm

Feck it - after all this talk, I've the urge to give it a go... just bought it on Steam.

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Bruce Flagpole
15/4/2016 10:49:14 pm

All this talk made me go back and give the first Dark Souls another crack (there's a good article on eurogamer at the moment that delves into the lore and narrative of the first 2 games, though it spoils the end of them if you care about that)...so after finding the disc for the ps3, installing updates, creating a character and getting through the opening intro stage... right at the start of the game proper, you chat to a bloke who hints at where you need to go while acting rather smug. remembering some interesting chatter about how killing some NPCs can affect things later in the game, i decide to give the bloke a slap.
he fights back, turns out he is much more powerful than me, and kills me. "oh well, lesson learnt" thinks I. and i respawn, and he's there waiting, and he kills me again. and again and again. running away doesn't help, he just hunts you down...i can't kill him, that's beyond my beginner skills. eventually i just turn the game off in frustration. even a look online reveals the best suggestion is basically 'start again from scratch and don't attack him'.
so it makes for a fun story, the game shows its integrity within its world and how 'tough' it is....and i just think "sod this for a game soldiers" and decide to do something else!

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Euphemia
16/4/2016 02:13:55 am

That right there describes, in a nutshell, ALL Dark Souls experiences ever. An acquired taste. For masochism.

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Minglefingler
16/4/2016 12:44:36 pm

It perfectly describes them in that you learn from your mistakes.

It is shitty to get hammered so early in the game but it is so early that a restart should cost you as much time as dying and respawning at a checkpoint in practically any game with such a save system. Just don't hit NPCs unless you're sure you want to fight them, this could have been a harder lesson to learn a bit later in the game.

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Chris
16/4/2016 07:18:30 pm

I accidentally hit an NPC in Bloodborne, thinking he was a bad guy. He killed me and it took me ages to get past him after that (like elephants, NPCs don't forget)

Minglefingler
16/4/2016 10:58:40 pm

I hope my last comment didn't come across as impatient or dismissive, it was meant to be friendly, encouraging advice but I had to leave unexpectedly when typing it and reading it back now it seems rather less than genial than I intended.

Scott C
16/4/2016 02:14:39 pm

Thanks for the great review confirming that this game is indeed not for me (being at a similar life stage). I also do not have big blocks of time to put into getting repeatedly killed and forgetting how to survive each time I load up the game when I do have time; not a fun, relaxing or immersive experience for me and my lifestyle. I did try Demon Soul's but I just could not get into the grind and did not find the progress rewarding enough for the time investment.

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Clueless G-Henry
16/4/2016 08:17:39 pm

I've never heard of Dark Souls.

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Minglefingler
16/4/2016 11:04:07 pm

It's an obscure film about an unfortunate man's journey to find black socks that are compatible with his profusely sweaty feet. Along the way he becomes less jaded, finds love and comes to terms with his own mortality. Heartwarming stuff although some argue that Jason Statham was miscast.

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Toaster
17/4/2016 12:24:12 pm

I didn't know that the boss fights were about learning patterns, that's a shame. I'd be far more interested if it was hard because the enemies were intelligent. A challenge that's based on memorising things doesn't appeal at all.

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Quinn
17/4/2016 11:30:23 pm

It's not ''patterns'' it's moves. You are learning what moves an enemy does so you can counter them, or take evasive action. It's not like it's the same thing each time and you have to memorise a list of moves. Have you never fought a boss in a game before?

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Rakladtor III The Terrible
20/4/2016 07:26:14 am

It doesn't make any difference if you call them 'moves' or 'patterns'

Toaster
7/5/2016 11:29:53 pm

Not that anyone will read this now, but in the review Biffo calls them 'patterns'. If they aren't patterns your problem is with him, not me. Hope that's clear.

Panda
20/4/2016 08:19:16 am

Of course it makes a difference whether you call them moves or patterns. A pattern suggests they perform the same moves in the same sequence until you spot it and take advantage of it. A moveset is the collection of abilities and attacks that an enemy has access to and will adopt as its developed to see fit. If you're fighting a souls boss and it has fifteen moves to choose from and could pull off any of them at any moment, that's not a memory test, particularly if there are multiple ways of avoiding or countering every move. This isn't a bullet-hell game.

All enemies in all games are restricted to the abilities they were developed with. If you don't accept there's a difference between a moveset and a pattern then what you seem to be asking for is an organic AI who makes up its own moves based on how you act. Good luck with getting that out of a game in the next two decades.

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Rakladtor III The Terrible
29/4/2016 08:13:05 am

A move is just a form of pattern. It suggests an enemy gives a cue before attacking, that the player must respond to in a particular way (otherwise they wouldn't be able to respond or counter). However the word 'pattern' is broad and can imply a pattern of 'moves', or a pattern of movements.

In any case, Toaster was clearly talking in general terms about being turned off by noob trap game design, and he probably didn't deserve to be answered in such a pompous manner.

I've programmed AI myself. I don't think Toaster was expecting an organic AI that makes up it's own moves (lol), but rather an implementation that encourages improvisation from the player. Such games do exist, and have done for a long time.

Panda
29/4/2016 08:44:24 am

I don't see what that particular definition of pattern, however accurate, has to do with any perceived shortcomings from those who've played Dark Souls. Some moves can be easily projected, some can't be at all. Almost all moves have multiple ways of countering/evading/defending, whether that be parrying, blocking, using the environment, dodging, staying close, keeping distance. I don't know how you could encourage improvisation and experinentation any more than the games already do. Any boss or enemy that can only be dealt with one way is in a tiny minority so I don't think the game can be summed or dismissed in that way any more than it can be dismissed as a shallow hack n slash.

Anyway. I prefer to stick to addressing the points made in comments so I have no idea why you interpreted that as pompous.

Rakladtor III The Terrible
29/4/2016 08:41:20 pm

No I was saying that Quinn's answer to Toaster was pompous. Don't worry man, we're gonna be ok :)

I didn't exactly mean that there wasn't more than one way to evade/counter. Still, it comes down to having to learn the enemies. This always boils down to patterns on some level. It's a game of trial and error, it punishes a noob for not being omniscient. This is the issue to some of us.

I don't know why you've wedged experimentation in there. In any case the need to experiment in DS would be partly attributed to the trial and error inherent in the game design.

Here's how game design can encourage improvisation: By being balanced to not require previous knowledge of the game in order to progress. I played a pc Engine shooter for the first time last night, it was challenging, enjoyable, and I reached the final level on my first attempt because I've come to be excel at shooters, not because it's easy or because I've learnt by trial and error or learnt patterns.

Dark Souls doesn't cater for this, you will die, and that's ok but it's not going to be to everyone's taste. Just accept it.

Panda
29/4/2016 08:51:57 pm

No problem. It's my current favourite series (well it's all over now, I suppose) but I don't feel so strongly as to insist that everyone should love it - I just wouldn't want people unfamiliar with the games to get the wrong impression.

I agree that a game can be rewarding without the prospect of frequent and recurring failure. But most games don't involve the latter on an even remote level nowadays and that can make a lot of the content feel trivial to some. That's one of the reasons Dark Souls is welcomed so warmly by so many, but not the only one I think.

Rakladtor III The Terrible
17/4/2016 05:04:06 pm

Monster Hunter: fisher price my first blood sport.
Dark Souls: Monster Hunter 'herdcore hipster' edition.

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Wicked Eric
18/4/2016 11:14:58 am

Dark Souls and its cousins are the best games around in my opinion.

The brilliance of the games isn't in their difficulty though. The punishing nature of death in Dark Souls is there to provide a consequence for failure and to raise the stakes so that the decisions you make feel as if they really matter.

The brilliance then is in the weight of the choices that you are forced to make as you play the game. Should you heal or attack when the enemy you are fighting is wide open? Should you adopt a defensive or aggressive posture? Should you dodge or raise your shield when an enemy is attacking? Should you flee to a previous resting place and regroup before trying again or press on and risk losing everything? Should you summon a co-op helper, knowing it leaves your game open to invasion? Should you go through that fog gate with only 3 Estus Flasks left, not knowing what is behind it?

All these decisions are arrived at by considering your current health & stamina, the amount of healing items you have left, your familiarity and competence with the area's enemies, how brave you are feeling at that particular moment... And often these are decisions that you have to make in a fraction of a second. You are constantly being forced to weigh up probabilities in your head and make trade-offs and calculated risks in order to proceed.

Get it wrong and you face real consequences. You'll be forced to redo the area, with the added pressure of knowing that your accumulated souls are on the line if you don't, at the very least, match your previous performance.

But every time you die you learn what not to do. It's a perfect engine of experimentation, risk, reward, punishment and ultimately refinement. There's nothing else quite like it in mainstream gaming.

Success in a Dark Souls game feels rewarding and meaningful, because when you do succeed it feels like you've earned it. That's what Dark Souls is really all about.

It does require a certain time commitment but so does anything worthwhile.

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Panda
18/4/2016 12:32:34 pm

Good post and I agree 100%. As I said above, so many other games are completely trivial when it comes to objectives, progress, achievements and choices. The only other game where I get that Dark Souls feeling is XCOM. Shame I don't have a PC to play the recent sequel.

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Rakladtor III The Terrible
19/4/2016 09:39:01 pm

Sure, I get the 'stakes is high' aspect, the most exhilarating games usually have this quality, one which isn't exclusive to the Dark Souls games. But I appreciate how it's rare to find other mainstream games that up the ante to such an extent, and respect what Dark Souls brings to the table.

However from what I observe, despite the lavish visuals there's something missing in the execution, particularly the fight mechanics. Watching players run around the back of enemies just looks straight up goofy and for a game to ask so much of a player I would expect that the game would be able to convincingly keep me locked into the atmosphere, the way something such as Resident Evil 4 was able to.

As for your final statement, I broadly agree, but will consider that other games require slightly less time commitment, while still being equally (or more) worthwhile, which comes down to what a player is after.

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