Dark Souls III Review (Revisited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, so I did a revisitation of Dark Souls II quite recently and I actually did one of Dark Souls Remastered over a year ago, so I figured it was time to do a revisit of my Dark Souls III review and expand on it a bit more, as I have played many times since and thought I would do an update on my thoughts on it. 

So, with that said, let's take another look at the final game of the Souls trilogy...

And I will say a bit about the plot below, so the usual warning is coming...

STORY

So, I will quote a bit of the story line from Wikipedia just to save myself a bit of time...

"Set in the Kingdom of Lothric, a bell has rung to signal that the First Flame, responsible for maintaining the Age of Fire, is dying out. As has happened many times before, the coming of the Age of Dark produces the undead: cursed beings that rise up after death. The Age of Fire can be prolonged with the linking of the fire, a ritual in which great lords and heroes sacrifice their souls to rekindle the First Flame. However, Prince Lothric, the chosen linker for this age, has abandoned his duty and instead chooses to watch the flame die from afar.

The Ashen One (your playable character) an Undead who failed to become a Lord of Cinder and thus called an Unkindled, rises and must link the fire by returning Prince Lothric and the defiant Lords of Cinder to their thrones in Firelink Shrine..."

THOUGHTS

As a sequel and what is a conclusion to the series, Dark Souls III is an excellent and highly enjoyable game similar to its predecessors and it is arguably a better game than Dark Souls II as it is tighter one with fewer bosses, which are of a higher quality than the previous game. I also felt in Dark Souls III, they raised the bar on the level of challenge too, albeit in a more consistent manner than in Dark Souls II, which is a good thing given DS2's difficulty was very inconsistent.

It also makes quite a few references to the previous games throughout and brings back a few things that were missing from Dark Souls II, so it stays more faithful in a way to the original Dark Souls and also makes references to Demon's Souls.  So, you could argue that the game is lacking in innovatie new ideas as it appears to borrow so much but it still does have some new features and challenges to work through, which I will get to as the review goes on.

GAMEPLAY BASICS

The gameplay mechanics here are very similar to the first two games with the usual third person perspective in use here and your character do the usual running, jumping, attacking etc but I will mention more about that later. Your character has a similar inventory system as before in Dark Souls II where you can access your equipment and items. The HUD (heads-up display) is also similar with a red bar for health and green bar for stamina but this time round there is a blue bar, which is for what's known as "Focus Points" which are reserved for casting spells and carrying out special moves with your weapons. Focus points or "FP" also featured in the first game in the series, Demon Souls (the predecessor to Dark Souls).

Throughout the game you will also be able to upgrade your various stats such as your vigor (health), endurance, strength, intelligence and faith. These stats can be upgraded with the number of souls that you claim from fallen enemies and the requirement becomes higher each time you level up. However not all the choices of character have the same starting stats as they will be based on their different skill sets, e.g. a warrior's main stats will fall under strength and endurance whereas a sorcerer would rely more on intelligence and a cleric could be a mixture of faith and intelligence.

Similar to the previous games, the player will also rest at bonfires, which act as checkpoints throughout the game and through the main bonfire at Firelink Shrine, the player can also upgrade their health recovery items, Estus Flasks at the bonfire with the help of additional items (known as Estus Flask Shards). The shards are spread throughout the game and can be obtained as the player progresses, which will see them end up with 15 Estus flasks in total. Estus flasks this time around are a little different as with the introduction of the FP system, you also get blue coloured flasks called Ashen Estus Flasks, which will restore your Focus Points for casting spells and using specific weapon skill moves. The player can also through Andri, allot their estus flasks between using one for restoring health and another for your focus points.

WEAPONS

The game also has a very similar number of weapons to the first two DS games with a large selection available such as swords, bows, axes, halberds, spears, throwing knives and firebombs in addition to shields and armour. All the weapons and shields can be upgraded through the game's blacksmith, Andri of Astora (who also appeared in the first Dark Souls) at Firelink Shrine (also from DS1!) which he will do via the use of different types of material known as titanite, which come in different shapes and sizes. The player will also have to meet certain strength and dexterity requirements to successfully wield these weapons, which they can. However this time around you can no longer get your armour upgraded unlike in the previous DS games and this is similarly the case in Bloodborne where you can't upgrade armour.

Of course the game also features options as before for sorcery, pyromancy and clerics all of whom can cast spells via the use of specific items, such a staff for the sorcerer, a pyro glove for the pyromancer and a chime for the clerics. The spells for sorcery generally require intelligence to use and the miracles require faith, which you will need to upgrade as you go on in the game. Again these items can be upgraded by the blacksmith Andri with the use of titanite or if not some other materials, so they can increase their power and damage output.

COMBAT

The combat system is pretty much the same as before but with some slight changes with the main one relating to the FP system, where a player can perform a skill move with their weapon, which could be a weapon buff or a specific enhanced type of attack. The player can as before also lock onto their enemies to keep track of them in combat although this isn't always 100 percent reliable as you can tend to lose sight of them at times, which automatically cancels out the lock-on! Another big addition this time around is the inclusion of liberal amounts of blood gushing from your enemies as you hit and kill them, however if you don't like that you can turn the blood settings off.

ENEMIES

The enemies in the game are very much varied and can range from being a minor nuisance to being downright brutally difficult! As usual there are a mix of enemies from the previous games such as the standard hollows, skeletons, basilisks (who can curse you, which ends up killing you!) as well as the return of the black and silver knights. However there are of course plenty of new enemies as well some of which can be very challenging while others more straight forward but you always tend to fight the enemies will get tougher as the game progresses and DS III is no different here.

So, this time around we get new enemies such as the really annoying Ghru, who come in different varieties and can cast a poisonous mist at you aswell as smother you to near death. There are also other enemies such as the loudmouthed fat female Evangelists, who cast spells at you and can cause heavy damage with their large spiked clubs. And later there far more challenging enemies such as Pontiff Knights, who can hit hard and fast with curved swords. Then there are stranger enemies that include the Jailers, who can attack you with soldering irons and use lanterns that when lit red can reduce your health bar down to near zero! So, these new enemies can be quite annoying and challenging all at once for sure.

RINGS

Another key aspect of the game similar to the previous ones is the use of rings, which all give the player different abilities throughout and like Dark Souls II, you can now equipment four rings at once. Some rings will give you the ability to boost your attacks, especially for pyromancy and sorcery whereas others will allow you boost your overall health or discover more items or increase your resistance to hazardous things such as poison, toxicity, frostbite (new to this game) and curse.

It also recycles one or two rings from the original game such as the Dusk ring (increases spell use) and of course the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring (I think!) that cancels out any noise you make when you move, which is very useful sneaking up on enemies. It also brings back the Silvercat ring, which appeared in DS2 and is one of the best rings in the game, which negates fall damage very well. 

NPCs & SUMMONS

As before, in Dark Souls III, there are plenty of non-playable characters (NPCs) for you to interact with as the game progreses and some of which become merchants who will sell and trade items with you. However some of the NPC merchants require you to save them from capture in order for them to make it back to Firelink Shrine to trade with you. As for the summons, similar to the previous games, you can summon certain NPCs to help you in the boss fights but in order to do this your character must use an ember so that the summon sign will appear. 

HOLLOWING

The hollowing process (which always happened when you died in Souls 1 and 2 and it left you looking more zombie-esque with emaciated skin) is different this time around to the previous games in the series because in this game when you die, you will not go hollow, so their appearance will not change. However you can still become hollow in this game by gaining an item called a dark sigil, which is supposed to increase your "inner strength". Hollowing can also be reversed with the use of an item called a purging stone (which was used to remove curse in the first Dark Souls). Your hollowing level increases with every time you die and will max out at 99 and being hollow can also benefit some weapons as you can infuse them with hollow gems for additional damage. 

BOSSES

Again just like the previous Souls games, DS III has its share of bosses to fight although they had reduced the number that appear after the excessive amount that appeared in Dark Souls II. So, this time round there are only 19 bosses in the official game but there are an additional six more in the two DLCs for the game.  As usual as in the previous games, the player will take on these bosses by stepping through a fog gate into an area where they will fight and they cannot leave until the fight is over.

The bosses themselves are for the most part very high in quality and range in difficulty level from easy to extremely difficult. There are also plenty of memorable boss encounters to be found here also that include the Abyss Watchers, which are a legion of undead knights who keep resurrecting and fight you. Pontiff Sulyvahn is another boss, who can be pretty tough to deal with as he uses two swords with a giant range and he can also spawn a clone of himself that deals hefty damage. Then there is of course the notorious Nameless King, who I struggled BIG TIME against on my first playthrough and took almost 200 goes to beat him! 

And lastly there are a couple of DLC bosses worth of note, Sister Friede, who is hands down one of the hardest bosses in the game as she has a 3 phase fiight, which is incredibly difficult to get through and to this day still haven't beaten her solo! And last of all is Slave Knight Gael, who is the final DLC boss in the Ringed City and he is unquestionably a difficult boss but is easily the best DLC boss in the entire game. 

So, DS3 definitely isn't short on challenge when it comes to its bosses.  

GRAPHICS 

As for the graphics, I was initially disappointed in the game's visuals as I played it on the base PS4, which is locked at 30 fps but when I got the PC version, I saw a big upgrade in terms of visual quality as well as a steady 60 fps, which makes the game a lot more enjoyable. And on the PC, Dark Souls III looks terrific as it has arguably the best visuals of any Souls game up to this point as the environments are nicely detailed throughout with plenty of rich textures and details to the buildings and surrounding areas. 

Character models for the most part are quite good although the shading and lighting on their faces in darkened areas doesn't look as good and does lack fine contrast it has to be said and their hair lacks the vivid colours of the previous games. In fact I would say that out of the Fromsoft games so far, Bloodborne has the best character models with DS3 a close second. 

Your character also unlike the previous can also get all messy as they go through areas such as poison swamps or indeed just water, they're clothes will get all muddy and wet, so its a nice touch that they added this in. However, it has to be said that the blood in this game looks a bit silly as it looks like your character is covered in black tar! 

MUSIC

As for the music score it is primarily scored by Yuka Kitamura with some contributions by Motoi Sakuraba who composed in the first two Souls game and overall this is an outstanding score with plenty of highlights contributed by both composers. And the score has a real epic and emotional feel to it on a greater scale than the previous games with the tracks all primarily for the boss fights.

The standout tracks for me are Pontiff Sulyvhan, The Abyss Watchers, Twin Princes, Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Sister Friede to name a few but the very best two tracks for me are The Nameless King and Slave Knight Gael themes, which are both outstanding in different ways but both are undeniably brilliant pieces.

If there was one criticism I could level at the score maybe is that it does have a somewhat repetitive feel to it with its extensive usage of choral singers and operatic singing and the score itself can be a bit of a downer at times. However, none of this really detracts from what is largely a terrific soundtrack with superb contributions by both Kitamura and Sakuraba. 


FLAWS

As for flaws...yes Dark Souls III isn't perfect.

For starters there are some frustrating omissions from the game such as the ability to upgrade your armour, which is pretty daft if you ask me as you could upgrade it in the previous so why take that option in this one??? It makes little sense to me as upgrading armour was a key aspect in Dark Souls I and II but here they just followed Bloodborne mandate of having armour with a base level of defense only the settings for Bloodborne I feel were better optimized than they are here. Further to this, in DS3 you can upgrade your torch but not your armour but how often will you use a torch in the playthrough compared to armour?! Not as much that's for sure, so yeah it doesn't make sense why they changed this. 

Another thing that bugged me was to do with the whole idea of Andri, the blacksmith being the go-to guy to upgrade your estus flasks and NOT the bonfire keeper! I mean what is all that about??? However you can upgrade your Estus flask's strength at the Firelink bonfire yourself, so it makes little sense as to why you would need Andri to do the rest.

In fact it would have been much easier to have you upgrade your stats, allot your estus flasks between health and FP ones at the bonfire yourself without even relying on Andri to all that in the first place! It just makes things less convenient for the player and involves a lot of tedious back and forth between areas.

I also felt that the game's progression is just a bit too linear as you don't have the same freedom as you did in Dark Souls I and II to branch off to different areas, so instead you need to logically make your way from A to B. This might not be a problem for everyone but I have to say it does kind of bug me a bit although there are a couple of exceptions to this in the game as you can enter inside Lothric castle earlier on if you kill an NPC but you need to fight a pretty tough boss first (the Dancer). Also the DLC for Ariandel provides a break from the linear path of the game, which is a good thing. However, those two aside, you are pretty much forced to play the game in a linear order.  

Another issue is to do with how the game makes farming for titanite shards difficult early on as they are pretty sparse in the game until a bit later and you of course need 2 to upgrade weapons to +1, 4 for +2 and 6 for +3. After this again you are forced to wait until you can upgrade your weapon using large titanite shard (which upgrades your weapons to +6) until later on in the game. And of course don't get me started on the wait you have before you can upgrade your weapons up to +9 as you need titanite chunks for that and that is also pretty sparse in the game until much later on! So, the whole titanite upgrade process does get quite frustrating but again no doubt it was deliberate on the part of the makers to make life tricky.

And this brings me onto another area of frustration about the game, which is to do with the limited amount of alternative items to estus flasks that can replenish your health and while there are some they are always available in a limited capacity. So, as an example in the game you have an alternate health restoring item called divine blessing, which will restore your health completely and cure any poision/toxic effects but they are available only in limited amounts. You can however use miracles to heal if your faith is high enough and have a cleric build. So, if you are going into a big boss fight and find you are burning through your estus flasks too quickly you are left with little or no viable alternative most of the time, which does suck.

And then of course we get to the NPC summons for the boss fights, which are a bit of a mixed bag in their effectiveness in the fights themselves as some are clearly better than others. As an example both Sirris and Orbeck are summonable into the Twin Princes fight but they generally don't last beyond the start of the 2nd phase and then they are clobbered to death by sword wielding prince, Lorian, which makes them pretty useless at lasting the whole fight. 

Its also a bit annoying that you can only click on a single summon sign at a time and you need to wait for the first summon to come in before you can click on the second summon sign. This feels like a backward step from DS2 where you could easily click on summon signs one after the other and didn't have to wait ages for them appear either.  

I also wish there would have been more options to top up your focus points for casting spells as there will be times in boss fights or indeed enemy areas where you will run out of FP until you get back to a bonfire. However there is one item that can do this in the game called hidden blessing but they are available in limited quantity, which kind of sucks it has to be said. Another alternative is to equip a weapon infused with a simple gem, which will slowly regen your FP but I mean SLOWLY as it takes forever to do it!

Then there is of course the issue with the game's blood options, which I am OK with to an extent as you see the animation of blood flying from your enemies when you attack them and vice versa (a la Bloodborne style). However my main grip here is with the blood option turned on, your character ends up with a bloodied face but instead of the blood being red its black! So, instead the character looks like they are covered in tar or soot and it looks silly!

Another problem I have with the game is to do with volume of the enemies as there are some enemies in the game that are way TOO NOISY!!! Yep, there are quite a few enemies that screech like hyenas such as the female hollows who carry lanterns, the tree enemies in the Painted World DLC area and of course the Ghru, who screech loudly when you kill them (OK they are pretty funny the way they screech I admit!). So, I do wish that they turned down the volume just a little bit on these enemies as the previous games were never like this and it can be annoying and it was clear that DS3 borrowed its soundscape from Bloodborne, which was also a noisy game.   

I also felt that with this game, the director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, took the idea of bringing back mimics (i.e. the monsters that disguise themselves as a treasure chest) just a little too far as virtually every second chest you come across is a mimic! Now, it is common practice to hit chests to make sure they aren't a mimic in disguise in the Souls games but they did not feature as half as much as they do in this game! So, yeah I think they went a bit too far with the mimics in this game.

And last of all is to do with cursing (not swearing!) in the game, which appears to do nothing in this game other than kill you and that's it with no other after effects! Now in the previous games when you were cursed it actually did something to you when you were resurrected at the bonfire as in the original game, cursing halved your life and in the second game it increase your level of hollowing by one each time. However here apart from death, the curse has no other effect so to me I think it was just a pointless inclusion in the 3rd game, which I think was just added for the sake of consistency with the other games.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Dark Souls III is an excellent conclusion to the Souls series and it is packed with plenty of gripping and exciting combat and stern boss fights that will keep you thrilled and frustrated in equal measure. The game does still have some faults but overall would say its still the second best of the Souls trilogy with the original Dark Souls being the best of the three and Dark Souls II the slightly weaker overall. So, suffice to say Dark Souls III is a game that is still as addictive and long lasting as the previous ones with near endless replay value and is well worth checking out.

So, I will give Dark Souls III a rating of:

9.2 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back again soon with another post.

Till the next one, its bye for now!