Current Events > Dark Souls 2 is everything Dark Souls 3 failed to be

(+) Yeah! (+)

BB and DaS3 are the best, come at me!

I initially meant to post that here, no clue how it ended up in the Baldur's Gate topic. Probably got tabs confused. Embarrassing.

Hairistotle posted...

i dont understand how u could think 2 is better than 3 aside from nostalgia or something. it's so clunky. the lack of mobility and clunky viscerals/backstabs are hella annoying, plus dark souls 2 enemy tracking is buuuuuuuuuullshit. also most of the environments and bosses are the lame

This.

I think DkS 3 will be appreciated more as the memory of the epic Bloodborne fades. It came too close on the heels of BB to be fairly evaluated on its own merits.

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brestugo posted...

This.

I think DkS 3 will be appreciated more as the memory of the epic Bloodborne fades. It came too close on the heels of BB to be fairly evaluated on its own merits.

It's too similar to BB. Feels more like BB 2 than Souls. Even down to how painfully linear it is.

I love BB but I didnt want BB with a DS1 skin draped over it for DS3.

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I dont like the faster paced gameplay of 3. I like Souls to be more exploration and RPG than action game. I prefer the pace of 1 and 2. I love BB and Sekiro and the speed works for them. Roll spamming looks so much more ridiculous in 3 too since you do it so much more now. They should have stuck with the quick step from BB.

And the linearity kills a lot for me. Even in 2 you can sequence break and get later game stuff for certain builds early. DS3 (like BB) is basically a straight line with a couple off shoots here and there. I hate that.

2 has a lot or issues like its ugly af and most of the boss fights are too easy and garbage, but at least for me it has the pace of DS1, it has a lot of options in terms of progression, the best magic builds of any of the games, a shit ton of content, and some good ideas like bonfire ascetics that they didnt keep for some reason. And it at least feels like it's own game. DS3 brings nothing new to the table.

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Zodd3224 posted...

I dont like the faster paced gameplay of 3. I like Souls to be more exploration and RPG than action game. I prefer the pace of 1 and 2. I love BB and Sekiro and the speed works for them. Roll spamming looks so much more ridiculous in 3 too since you do it so much more now. They should have stuck with the quick step from BB.

And the linearity kills a lot for me. Even in 2 you can sequence break and get later game stuff for certain builds early. DS3 (like BB) is basically a straight line with a couple off shoots here and there. I hate that.

2 has a lot or issues like its ugly af and most of the boss fights are too easy and garbage, but at least for me it has the pace of DS1, it has a lot of options in terms of progression, the best magic builds of any of the games, a shit ton of content, and some good ideas like bonfire ascetics that they didnt keep for some reason. And it at least feels like it's own game. DS3 brings nothing new to the table.

this guy knows what's up

BB>Sekiro>Demon's=DS1>>>>>DS2=DS3

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I recently played through the entire series again, and I came away thinking a little differently about each game than I did before, and shifting my ranking around

Dark Souls 1 is just...man, it's not good. Everything up to Anor Londo works so well, but the entire 2nd half of the game is an absolute dumpster fire. It feels like they started running out of development time around Tomb of the Giants, and had to rush shit to completion around Lost Izalith.

Mad respect to DkS1 for being what started it all (eh...or Demon's Souls?), but its flaws are extremely apparent

Dark Souls 2 is better than I remember. The base game is pretty good, with what seems like a logical difficulty curve, and there are a lot of unique design choices. It's bogged down by the hordes of enemies and (potentially bugged in SOTFS?) weapon durability system though. Especially in the DLC. The dlc has some horrible run ups to the bosses (looking at you, Kings Pets and Blue Smelter demon)

Dark Souls 3 does literally everything right though. There's no ridiculous difficulty curve at any point, the weapons are varied aesthetically and mechanically with the weapon arts, theres so much fan service that had me cheesing at parts, and the DLC has the best bosses in the entire series. The soundtrack is also far and away the best in the series, contested only by Bloodborne

I'm not gonna speak too deeply on BB though, since it's just as irrelevant to the discussion as Sekiro is.

I've decided to shelf DS1 and 2 for the time being, since I just dont think theres much worth revisiting in them anymore.

DS3 > DS2 > DS1
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I loved 2, but I was always playing single player. Still that lady with the mask hat Lucatiel is one of my favorite characters from the series.

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I feel like, for some of the reasons why people have issue with Dark Souls 3, like it being too similar to Dark Souls and/or Bloodborne, is similar to what I have issue with Dark Souls - it's too similar to Demon's Souls.

it has the open-world thing going on, though, which is its only strength in relation to the rest of the series, IMO, but it probably has the weakest bosses, and the second half isn't really good.

everything up to Anor Londo was great, though.

and while Dark Souls 2 wasn't my favorite, I think that the "journey" aspect is one of the best in the series. like, maybe it's because the geography didn't always make sense, but it gave a great feeling of you going on some mythological quest.

with some polish, I'd definitely rank it higher.

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They have never recaptured the brilliance of exploration pre lord vessel DS1. And the sad thing is they havent even tried to replicate it.

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boxington posted...

it's too similar to Demon's Souls.

i have never felt this way at all and I started with demons souls

Zodd3224 posted...

They have never recaptured the brilliance of exploration pre lord vessel DS1. And the sad thing is they havent even tried to replicate it.

DS1 from the opening cinematic through Anor Londo is perfect, the best gaming experience Ive ever had.

Problem is Izalith and New Londo are terrible and bring the game down.

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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

DS1 from the opening cinematic through Anor Londo is perfect, the best gaming experience Ive ever had.

Problem is Izalith and New Londo are terrible and bring the game down.

Izalith is steaming pile of horseshit, that is true. But I love New Londo.

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New Londo is good on paper, but the execution of the ghost type enemies was pretty lackluster

You either:
-Gimp yourself by being cursed
-Build around cursed weapons with odd requirements
-Keep popping transient curses, which are so abundant and last so long that they might as well have just made the ghosts vulnerable to normal weapons

I do enjoy the aesthetic of New Londo though. Especially the lower section with the dark wraiths
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MarqueeSeries posted...

New Londo is good on paper, but the execution of the ghost type enemies was pretty lackluster

You either:
-Gimp yourself by being cursed
-Build around cursed weapons with odd requirements
-Keep popping transient curses, which are so abundant and last so long that they might as well have just made the ghosts vulnerable to normal weapons

I do enjoy the aesthetic of New Londo though. Especially the lower section with the dark wraiths

You're looking through the lens of an experienced player. My first go through in New Londo none of those were options. I struggle big time there trying to figure out what to do and the place terrified me because it felt impossible at first. I love that. I wish more of the later games had gimmicky areas like New Londo, Sen's, Blighttown with the dart guys not responding, etc. The later games just add more action. Less RPG, more action game.

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Reis posted...

i have never felt this way at all and I started with demons souls

gameplay, some of the levels, NPC quests, some bosses (Fool's Idol > Pinwheel, Maneater > Gargoyles, "Asylum Demon" (I forget its name) > Asylum Demon)

but tbf, looking back, Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 heavily borrow from Demon's Souls, too, iirc.

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Zodd3224 posted...

MarqueeSeries posted...

New Londo is good on paper, but the execution of the ghost type enemies was pretty lackluster

You either:
-Gimp yourself by being cursed
-Build around cursed weapons with odd requirements
-Keep popping transient curses, which are so abundant and last so long that they might as well have just made the ghosts vulnerable to normal weapons

I do enjoy the aesthetic of New Londo though. Especially the lower section with the dark wraiths

You're looking through the lens of an experienced player. My first go through in New Londo none of those were options. I struggle big time there trying to figure out what to do and the place terrified me because it felt impossible at first. I love that. I wish more of the later games had gimmicky areas like New Londo, Sen's, Blighttown with the dart guys not responding, etc. The later games just add more action. Less RPG, more action game.

I mean, aren't we all looking at it through the same lens at this point? There was a time for looking at Dark Souls as a new experience, but the game is almost a decade old at this point. I think whether a game mechanic holds up in subsequent playthroughs is a reasonable metric of its worth.

Like Sens Fortress, I think it was great as a first time experience, but the ol' elevator that goes up to a spiked ceiling trick only works once

I dont completely disagree with you, though; the newer games left a lot of RPG tropes behind. I always thought it was kind of neat that you could kill skeletons for good with a blessed weapon, without dealing with the necromancers. The series definitely tended more toward action, owing mostly to Bloodborne
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MarqueeSeries posted...

I mean, aren't we all looking at it through the same lens at this point? There was a time for looking at Dark Souls as a new experience, but the game is almost a decade old at this point. I think whether a game mechanic holds up in subsequent playthroughs is a reasonable metric of its worth.

Like Sens Fortress, I think it was great as a first time experience, but the ol' elevator that goes up to a spiked ceiling trick only works once

I dont completely disagree with you, though; the newer games left a lot of RPG tropes behind. I always thought it was kind of neat that you could kill skeletons for good with a blessed weapon, without dealing with the necromancers. The series definitely tended more toward action, owing mostly to Bloodborne

To me the most important playthrough is the first. In that regard DS1, BB, and Sekiro are easily the best imo. But Sekiro is so limited in replayability I dont think it's on the same level as DS1 and BB.

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1 then 2 then 3
In that order

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y'all know i'm right

I like 2 because that was the first one i seriously played and beat.

And punching invaders to death with powerstanced caesti was amazing.

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