Dark Souls 3: A Blending of Souls
Aug. 5, 2015Dark Souls 3: A Blending of Souls
Ijust got done playing theDark Souls 3 Gameplay demoat Gamescom. We got there as soon as the doors opened so I could get the information to you guys as soon as possible. We have an English-language hands on at 2PM and then a behind closed doors presentation at 3PM, so expect screenshots, video and more detailed information in a few hours!. For now, let me tell you a bit about the game and what I think so far, with the disclaimer we played only a short demo so we may notice other things later.Update:Screenshots & Mechanics Post is live!
There is no doubt about it, Dark Souls 3 takes elements from all of the recent From titles and ties them all together in one game. Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne collide in a very pleasant merge in this title.
Afterseeing the game at E3I believed the game was run on the Bloodborne engine and that it looked like Dark Souls running on said engine. After my second session with the game, it has the look and feel ofDark Blood Souls 2.5. The things that remind me of Bloodborne here, is the general setting and theme, as well as the statues and decorations of the environments. The design seems to smoothly blend the previous Dark Souls games including Bloodborne into the ultimate Blood Souls.
The game never went over 30 FPS and sometimes was even less, that’s not a criticism, that’s just a statement. I’m aware this is probably and alpha build. One of the things I really noticed was the effects seem much improved.
The demo was clearly running on a PC. Resolution is great, and the draw distances are impeccable which is nice as you can see other parts of the castle in the distance.Fire lingers on the ground after things are lit andit is the most realistic fire I’ve seen in a Souls game.
The backstabs take their looks from Dark Souls 2(the animations were different for various weapons), but the timing felt much more like Dark Souls 1. Combat overall felt very similar to Dark Souls 2, and the fears of Bloodborne speed on the game are no longer valid. The game is fluid and reconciles the sword and shield mechanics with a slightly speedier swing.
I was wondering how I’d take to blocking and rolling again after the far greater mobility of Bloodborne. To be fair, the character feels responsive and the rolls felt a tad faster that they used to be, but not a lot. Your character’s movements were slightly heavier than Dark Souls 2, but it had some of that weightless feel, not as much, but some. You do get staggered quite hard, however and it is extremely easy to be stunlocked.
What we mean about combat speed, this is a comparison of Longsword gameplay:
Gif from unauthorized recording published toyoutube– not by us!
Poisewas hard to get a feel of in the short time I played. Nearly everything I attacked staggered in one hit (including knights). After playing a bit more I’m starting to get the idea that Poise determines the length you are staggered when hit, not IF you are staggered, but this has not been confirmed.
Enemyhealth bars when hit turned yellow while their missing health was being depleted (just as they did in Dark Souls 2). The lock on looks like it has been “improved” and looks slightly different, but you still rotate through targets with R3. It felt much more accurate and easy to use.
I was able to use multipleWeapon Arts, although they were new so I was extremely bad with them. Something to note about them is that you have to hold L2 to use some of them and others preform an action instantly when pressed. TheLongswordfor example, you have to hold L2 or you cannot use it, and while holding L2 you can’t block, heal, etc. It makes timing important. The Axe on the other hand, has a Battle Cry of sorts (I think it is called “War Cry“) that seems to stun nearby enemies and is instantly cast. It also puts a red aura around the player, which is what I believe was shown in the Gameplay trailer yesterday. I don’t know if it buffs you, but I suspect it does.
Bonfires, estus flasks and even Green Blossoms are all duly in place and seem to be exactly like you know them – in a world that is interconnected with shortcuts, much like Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne. AsMiyazaki had hinted, there is a dragon guarding loot early in the game (assuming we are at or near the beginning). There are corpses with souls strewn around and in locations I couldn’t fathom how to get to (like usual). The hud looks nearly identical to Dark Souls 2, with the exception of a Solaire symbol in the upper left corner, possibly depicting theCovenantof the player.
Enemies looked and felt a lot like Demon’s Souls/Bloodborne. Between the skeletons and the knights, I seriously had a flashback there to Boletaria and between the pack after pack of them roaming around I felt like I was back in Yharnam.
I did see one giant knight that looked similar toSmoughin Dark Souls 1, who was wearing full plate armor that was silver and reflected light, which looked beautiful. I didn’t make it to the boss, but I’ll try and get there in the next demo in a few hours, at which point I’ll also have screenshots ready for you. I did, however, get to see a second boss that looks like a wirey knight in silver armor that almost crawls like a beast on the ground, attacking with his sword (It is rumored you can find him in the Gamescom demo).
Something of note, courtesy ofGod’s Slave, the attention to detail on the title matches the high resolution and impeccable graphics. See for yourself:
The game clearly takes things from all the games in the Series and sort of mashes them up into one new game. Dark Souls 2 is a big influence here, perhaps with strong design elements from Bloodborne blending in, and models from Dark Souls reminding you of the roots. It didn’t take me 5 minutes of playing to see that. It really feels like they took the strongest elements of all the From games and put them all together in one game. Perhaps this will be the Dark Souls we are waiting for, only with some new Weapon Arts and nuances. We’ll all have to stay tuned and see as this is not the final build. I just hope they get the Multiplayer right.
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Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
On this we agree.
What do I want from the series?
More of it.
I love all the Souls games I’ve played (and Bloodborne) about equally, so I’m indifferent to which one they’ll draw the most from. In terms of art direction though, everything I’ve seen from Dark Souls III looks incredible. It looks like Bloodborne, but with more contrast, which I felt was a tad bit lacking in that game.
Those gif comparisons… Wow! The swing speed on that longsword is more than twice as fast as in DkS2! The roll looks to be much quicker, too; maybe 30% faster, with an instantaneous recovery? Just my guess based on sight. That excites me. I was really hoping it would be faster-paced than the first two Dark Souls…es.>I’m not sure I understand what point you’re making. What do you want from the series?
Personally, I want to see everything Miyazaki has learned from making Souls, combined together, and then turned on its head. By the inclusion of Sword Arts, that seems to be what we’re getting. I’m curious if the ones that change your stance overhaul your entire moveset, or simply gives you a few additional moves like powerstancing. I hope it’s the former. The concept behind BB’s trick weapons should become a staple.
Basically, the faster the flow (to a point) and the more options I have to respond to it, the better.
when’re they making that mech game or that ninja game, anyway?
I still maintain that the biggest problem with Dark Souls II for much of the community was that it was too similar to Dark Souls. There were differences but nothing that really defined it as the next progression in the series. For the record, I personally felt the same way going from Demon’s Souls to Dark Souls.
It’s like a sports title, say Madden. Maybe they tweak the timing of a lob pass versus a bullet on the button press, or adjust the physics and AI a little. But it’s still football. You buy it because you like football and roster and graphics updates mean something to you.
Trust me, I’ve been way too involved in all the complaints about Soul Memory and Linear versus Connected levels. But those aren’t much different than arguments over whether the hit stick in Madden ’14 is superior to the version in ’15. Maybe Madden ’12 had that easy to exploit run play that drove the purists crazy (“you casul, I can’t believe you use the HB dive you n00b”). Maybe Madden ’16 will be the one where they FINALLY deliver the realistic crowd experience. Maybe ’15 has the best commentator audio.
You get the idea.
What I’m getting at is that one of two things will happen.
-
Dark Souls III will find a way to redefine the series (hasn’t happened yet, Bloodborne would be the closest to that and many argue it’s not really part of the series).
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Dark Souls III does not redefine the series. Despite some tweaks, it’s fundamentally the same thing I’ve played three times already.
So then what?
If option 1 happens, some people will LOVE where they took the series and proclaim it to be the best one ever. Some people will HATE it and posit how it should never have been made. Those are the groups we’ll hear from. Others will be in the middle and less vocal about it.
If option 2 happens, some people will LOVE that they “kept awesome thing ____ as awesome as they wanted.” Some people will find a reason to HATE the game. Many people will be in the middle.
I hate to be the guy to say it, but at this point…
It’s still football. This is a full on franchise that we’re bound to see more of and arguably already have 4 games (or 5 if you count Bloodborne).
Souls ’09Souls ’11Souls ’14
We all have different opinions on those three for sure. For some of us, Souls ’16 will be the best one yet. Others the worst. Many of us, somewhere in between.
But remember, it’s still football.
DkS2 feelsslooowwwto me, which i’ve always disliked about it. maybe i’m jaded by hitting rank 3 in BoB twice over, but the PvP never gave me the rush that DkS PvP did, or that BB did subsequently – that feeling that the split seconds really counted, and you had to always be on your guard. now, maybe that has to do with its gaining popularity and a surge in new/not that great players…maybe it’s the nature of the arenas, and them having basically no matchmaking limitations beyond NG/NG+…but, for me, the feel definitely had something to do with it. and don’t get me wrong – before the game came out, i held the opinion that slowing combat down could really balance out PvP – but in the end, however they executed it, everything ended up simply feeling sluggish as opposed to more balanced.
so, maybe it’s an unpopular opinion. i know many people – especially a lot of the reddit community – will be happy to hear this news. but as somebody who feels that BB combat is really pushing things forward and putting the ‘action’ into ‘action RPG’ from its rally system to simply its pacing, i, however, am not. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
in the full article you said Bonfires confirmed, but how exactly do they work? Were you able to create your own bonfire as rumors suggest?
I don’t see what’s wrong with that. DS2’s major problems didn’t lie in how the game felt. It was the consistency and soul memory that mainly killed ds2. And the game looks consistent and we know there is no soul memory. Plus it’s sped up to be faster then DS2 just not as fast as BB.
I see a lot of design being influenced by DKS as well.
We don’t know about Humanity, and there’s a LOT of Dark Souls in the game, it’s just not going to be a darksouls remastered title and it is probably foolish to expect it.
A lot of people say it “feels” like Dark Souls and its a sentiment I can agree with on a hype level – the game is exciting me, looks beautiful, looks familiar yet different, has so much promise. I wasn’t as hyped for Dark Souls 2. I certainly was for Bloodborne, so maybe that is why our comparison focuses on that one, its closer by.
oof. no humanity, DkS2 feel, with BB’s main influences being in design only…
what can i say? not happy to hear that.
Nice. To me in terms of mechanics and RPG elements, DS2 is the best. Biggest variety and biggest complexity. I like the fact that bloodborne has more extensive moveset, like rolling strong attacks, but that;s it. So a slightly faster DS2 for me would be the ultimate souls game in terms of gameplay.
The 30 FPS remark though has me concerned. If the PC port has locked 30 FPS i will NOT buy the game. We’ve had it with shit ports.
Well if you do get to use any heavy gear you know what I’m hoping for…..
(Test the fatroll please)
A lot of interesting stuff there. Can’t wait to see your refined impressions later on.
This might bring me out of my destiny\mine craft addiction.
After playing Bloodborne I realized that I liked a lot of things from dks2 mechanics so I am rather not unnerved by what you describ as feeling like ds2. I am happy to hear that the rythm is slightly faster without reaching the pace of Bloodborne
Hopefully they will balance out poise to make wearing armors worthwhile in this one though. And hopefully they will get rid of adaptability and soul memory!
Thanks for the feedback Cas
