Dark Souls III

[ScorchingFlames]

It seem there was an early leak about Dark Souls 3 DLC being called Ashes of Ariandel and will be available Oct, 25.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dar.../1100-6442920/

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by ScorchingFlames

It seem there was an early leak about Dark Souls 3 DLC being called Ashes of Ariandel and will be available Oct, 25.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dar.../1100-6442920/

That's for the PS4, though. As far as I can tell, there's not much said about other platforms, like PC.

[Rising Dragon]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/u5JCsO6eblw

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[ScorchingFlames]

Well beat me to it might well post the synopsis of what the continent entails for us.

"Enter the Rotted World of Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel October 25, 2016

Leading interactive entertainment developer and publisher, Bandai Namco Entertainment America, today announced Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel, the first of two planned downloadable expansions to the critically acclaimed Dark Souls III for the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Return to the world of Dark Souls III and uncover a terrible secret that lies within the frozen land of Ariandel. Players will find themselves steeped in a brand new environment filled with terrifying new enemies, challenges, and exciting lore to expand the overarching Dark Souls III storyline.

Players are tasked to enter the land of Ariandel and defeat the evil within to uncover the mystery of what has caused the land to become defiled. In addition to adding a new environment to Dark Souls III, the Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel expansion will also include new weapons, armor sets, and magic for players to discover and experiment with, as well as new features for the game’s wildly popular competitive multiplayer mode.

“III: Ashes of Ariandel continues FromSoftware’s track record of providing best-in-class post game downloadable content support,” said Eric Hartness, Vice President of Marketing for Bandai Namco Entertainment America. “With hours of new challenges, new bosses, new mysterious locations to explore, new items to obtain, and new ways to challenge other players online, it’s the perfect time to jump back into one of the best games of 2016.”

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel will be available for download on the PlayStation 4 system, Xbox One, and PC via STEAM October 25, 2016 for a MSRP of $14.99. A season pass for Dark Souls III which includes Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel and a second expansion, expected to be released in early 2017, is available for purchase for $24.99 for all versions of the game."

[SMT]

I can't wait, Soulsborne is my favourite game series of all time, it pretty much quenched my thirst after the terrible sequels of Zelda. (And I kinda thought I'd never be as excited about a game again after growing up :P )

Dark Souls 3 wasn't the absolute masterpiece I wanted it to be (even Miyazaki admits he kinda didn't get it completly right with the level design ) but it was absolutely great and you totally noticed his touch, which was lost in Dark Souls 2 (Bland level design, logically as well as the textures were terribly bland; boring bosses etc etc ).

I can't wait for the DLC and my favourite scene was the one where the old knight gives the player a cloth piece, so theatrical really amazing scene.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

That looks like a Child of the Dark to me or like Nito had a daughter or something. That and saying its been defiled, could go either way with those options.

[Rising Dragon]

Once again I find myself feeling like the only fan of Dark Souls 2, unable to see the supposed "flaws" everyone else finds, in the graphics, design, animation, whatever.

My brother gets the feeling that this Ariandel is possibly the Painted World of Ariamis. The opening dialogue of the trailer strongly hints at it, as the Painted World was a place for those unwanted souls who had no home to call their own.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

I didn't click on that it could be Ariamis... makes more sense than anything else though I suppose.

Images

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On the plus, new spells, hurrah.

Miyazaki pays bare lip service to DS2, which is a pity because I liked DS2. DS2 was not as bad as people make it to be. IMO spells were much better in DS2 than DS1 or DS3, the DLC were awesome as well.

[Kafriel]

Once again I find myself feeling like the only fan of Dark Souls 2, unable to see the supposed "flaws" everyone else finds, in the graphics, design, animation, whatever.

You can win a boss fight by ring-out, secret walls are placed among staircases (and you have to press X to reveal them), spell requirements were pretty high, pyromancy was even slower than in DSIII (and thus not very reliable), it was not so much hard, as it was unfair. My biggest gripe: the water urns at red keep do not respawn, so if you blow your chance to get the lava chests, you're screwed for that playthrough...much like I was. Black gulch poison dolls were annoying and the game had its fair share of backtracking, in order to access high-level areas hidden in the early stages. There were also a few NPCs that were very dangerously placed upon discovery, prone to taking hits or dying in traps. God-forsaken shrine of Amana and its watery abyss. I think everyone hates that place...

Of course, it has its own charm and I still enjoy it a lot as a game, the NPCs have proper background and the plot leaves less to imagination than you'd expect. The mood is set just right for every different map and it has an amazing variety of stages to die in...I mean, explore.

On the DSIII DLC: I hope it's better than the old hunters in bloodborne. That one felt...short.

[Rising Dragon]

I can think of only one boss that can be ring-out'd like that, and it's a bitch and a half to do so and far easier to kill him the regular way. Spell requirements could be high for certain spells, but in exchange you got far more of them to play with. You all KNEW they were going to do something for pyromancy, because it made Dark Souls 1 a cakewalk, and Dark Souls games never should be a cakewalk. The game was designed to be less frustrating overall, not less difficult..

But really those are all complaints I can understand. It's the bitching about graphics or animations and such (I see a lot of people whine about the animations for whatever reason) that I can't see. Even the older version of Dark Souls 2 looked better than Dark Souls 1.

Which is why it's vexing for me that Dark Souls 3 all but ignores 2. I mean hell, it's even copy-pasted the same animations and gear designs, and DS1's animations were worse than 2's.

[Kafriel]

But really those are all complaints I can understand. It's the bitching about graphics or animations and such (I see a lot of people whine about the animations for whatever reason) that I can't see. Even the older version of Dark Souls 2 looked better than Dark Souls 1.

Which is why it's vexing for me that Dark Souls 3 all but ignores 2. I mean hell, it's even copy-pasted the same animations and gear designs, and DS1's animations were worse than 2's.

I really have to agree with you here. DS2 was many things, but it was beautiful and graphically well-made. It is disturbing to see DS3 make soooo many references to DS1 but leave out DS2 with almost nothing (I think I'd seen a single reference somewhere, can't remember right now). I suppose DS1 had much more impact in the world and it's what was left in most people's mind (since DeS went relatively unknown)...

I can think of only one boss that can be ring-out'd like that, and it's a bitch and a half to do so and far easier to kill him the regular way.

I remember that dragon rider charging to his death as if we were playing crash bash :P

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

There are about 3 or 4 references that I can think of and they are token at best and dismissive at worst. Miyazaki didn't like DS2 apparently, and he does his best to ignore it.. which is fucking stupid.

Only bad thing with animations in DS2 was that hitboxes, like the Pursuer impaling you on his sword from three feet to the side. But.. DS1 and DS3 too a lesser extent still have that issue.

[RWBladewing]

You know, this is probably a very big stretch, but I actually have seen some things that I think are yet more negative references to DS2 that I haven't really heard mentioned on the usual lore channels.

Specifically, the whole Profaned Capital segment. The obvious dead Gilligan, creatures that appear to be mutated versions of the DS2 ogres, and, in addition, that entire area really looks to me like the stuff under Drangleic Castle, specifically the Undead Crypt and the area surrounding the Throne of Want. Yhorm's boss room in particular reminds me a great deal of the room you fight Velstadt in.

Speaking of Yhorm, he continues the trend of DS2 style stuff here, and a lot of flavor text on items related to him mentions him as having been a conqueror. Maybe implying the giants actually won the war there in the canon timeline?

I wonder if it was actually the Profaned Flame that ended up being linked at the end of DS2. Would not really speak kindly to what you were trying to accomplish in that game if so.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only person who liked Dark Souls 2. I feel like the only person on the internet who does, sometimes.

But Dark Souls 3 does have a few hitbox issues, though less so than 2. Mostly against the Dancer and Cinder boss fights. Dancer I get hit way too often when rolling through attacks (despite having 40 Dex and Carthus Bloodring), and the Cinder boss's grab attack seems to get me even when it looks like it missed.

Aside from that, everything is pretty much on-point when it comes to the hitboxes (ignoring lag issues in PvP, of course).

[SMT]

Aside from its terrible hitboxes that are mostly fixed in DS3 I don't quite understand whats so much more visually stunning about DS2? (For me even DS1 looked better)
At some parts of the game it was basically just tiling textures, not even decals breaking it up. Some rooms were just boxes with no interesting details put into them. The level design wasn't good (click for showcase). The lighting felt really flat at times as well, sometimes I felt like they turned it to flat shading or like they are still stuck in prototyping phase.
The animations in DS2 were fine but the character looked like floating across the ground sometimes, it looked like they put a smoothing filter on all of their animation curves. I liked the snippier movements in DS1.

The graphics in Dark Souls were never that great, especially the texture quality is not that amazing, the textures are pretty blurry at times. But when it comes to set dressing the games shine a lot. They really know how to combine shapes in order to make the environment feel alive.
In DS2 I felt that was missing a lot.

Not to say DS2 had some nice places. The DLC places were decent. I haven't played the new edition, maybe it's better now but I'm not gonna buy a game upgrade that should have been in the game from the beginning. I wanted to like this game, I was really hyped back then but it failed me completly.

Originally Posted by Spectacular_Insanity

But Dark Souls 3 does have a few hitbox issues, though less so than 2. Mostly against the Dancer and Cinder boss fights. Dancer I get hit way too often when rolling through attacks (despite having 40 Dex and Carthus Bloodring), and the Cinder boss's grab attack seems to get me even when it looks like it missed.

Guess not everyone had that experience. :P
https://gfycat.com/ReflectingMindles...swedishfarmdog

[Kafriel]

The animations in DS2 were fine but the character looked like floating across the ground sometimes

Check the path from Anor Londo to Yorshka in DSIII to see real floating skills :P

Some rooms were just boxes with no interesting details put into them.

OTOH, using the stones of pharros to move the stages around was fun and had me thinking which ones to unlock first. I also liked how you could engage the tower prisoner boss whose name I forget in complete darkness OR spend some extra time to illuminate that room, or having to lead a cyclops to break a locked door, etc. It had its moments.

[SMT]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Check the path from Anor Londo to Yorshka in DSIII to see real floating skills :P

:P

Originally Posted by Kafriel

OTOH, using the stones of pharros to move the stages around was fun and had me thinking which ones to unlock first. I also liked how you could engage the tower prisoner boss whose name I forget in complete darkness OR spend some extra time to illuminate that room, or having to lead a cyclops to break a locked door, etc. It had its moments.

Ofc I also thought it had its moments. But very few for me, the only really good moment I felt when entering the second DLC Area with the big chains. That part was really damn nice especially since they finally introduced some vertical level design.

[ScorchingFlames]

Spoiler for Laughs:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/2kr7KDCsIws

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Anyway I personally liked Dark Souls 2 level design more than DS3. Especially when DS2, had a lot more variety in areas, and plus almost every area provided two bosses (even thou the optional ones where easier) the main bosses and the other boss which lead to a convenient. Not to say that DS3 doesn't offer a lot bosses. The areas in DS3, where almost identical in atmosphere now granted I understand thatin the world of DS3 is screwed, cause of the fading flame. But there wasn't an area that was like Ashe Lakes (aka now Smoldering Lake) or Shrine of Amana (DS2).

The only things that I can say I didn't like was the Hollowing system, at first it's easy to avoid but then you screw up a few times and run low on human effigy for boss fights. I had no internet for a bout month, so I had to rely on NPC phantom's to invade me then later found the certain enemy dropped them.

Then there was the limit to how many times enemy's respawn (12 times I think unless your with the champion Covenant) while resting at the bonefire. I know you can burn an item that resets all the spawns plus one more add for everytime you did. I guess they did that to prevent players from over farming at first, but it didn't help that some bosses were easy and can be exploited.

The Lost Crowns DLC, were really well done. Each of the bosses were (even though they recycled one boss the smelting demon) fun to tackle, and even reaching the final boss was a great build up to each one (the Dragon, Fume Knight, and Burnt Ivory King) and even the optional bosses from the Iron King (Sir Alone) and the Ivory King (Ivory Kings Pets) were great too. So I really do hope that DS3 DLC, can be just as enjoyable as the lost crowns were.

[SMT]

Originally Posted by ScorchingFlames

Spoiler for Laughs:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/2kr7KDCsIws

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Anyway I personally liked Dark Souls 2 level design more than DS3. Especially when DS2, had a lot more variety in areas, and plus almost every area provided two bosses (even thou the optional ones where easier) the main bosses and the other boss which lead to a convenient. Not to say that DS3 doesn't offer a lot bosses. The areas in DS3, where almost identical in atmosphere now granted I understand thatin the world of DS3 is screwed, cause of the fading flame. But there wasn't an area that was like Ashe Lakes (aka now Smoldering Lake) or Shrine of Amana (DS2).

The missing variety in areas is also what I didn't like in DS3, especially with the forest being a boring swamp and not something amazing like the darkroot garden forest. At least they kinda fixed the flat lighting there some patches ago.
I just wish they would add some more beautiful places again and you can do that even when everything is in ruins proven by the Dark Souls 1 DLC area. But even so the hidden dragon area is proof the game can have some "happy looking places".

[RWBladewing]

Originally Posted by ScorchingFlames

The Lost Crowns DLC, were really well done. Each of the bosses were (even though they recycled one boss the smelting demon) fun to tackle, and even reaching the final boss was a great build up to each one (the Dragon, Fume Knight, and Burnt Ivory King) and even the optional bosses from the Iron King (Sir Alone) and the Ivory King (Ivory Kings Pets) were great too. So I really do hope that DS3 DLC, can be just as enjoyable as the lost crowns were.

That area leading up to the King's pets though... I never did beat them. Died once and decided I did not want to even bother trying that run back. I died over 60 times to Orphan of Kos in Bloodborne without ever giving up but that blizzard and those lightning horses can [expletive] right off.