From Software Dark Souls 3

[cvv]

Best bet for enjoyable PvP in DS3 was to just stick to fight clubs.

This. I personally prefer DS2 PvP but from what I could see the Arena in DS3 is solid. At least it removes the constant insta-chugging and ganking which completely killed the invasions for me.

Invasions in DS3 is by far the shittiest experience in any Souls game ever. I honestly wonder why would anyone still keep at it. I guess most of the invading activity comprises of hackorz or griefer twinks camping the starting areas.

P.S. - to be fair the Aldrich covenant was fun, mainly because the wait was never too long and it allowed for ganking on both sides....the melee of hosts and their sunbros, Aldrich phantoms, blue phantoms, red invaders and Mound-maker tricksters was often the most entertaining PvP experience I've ever had.

 

[Raghar]

Invasions in DS3 is by far the shittiest experience in any Souls game ever. I honestly wonder why would anyone still keep at it.

Because the genre was designed like that.

 

[Ash]

"genre"

What makes Souls games their own genre or even sub-genre as opposed to falling under action RPG/hack and slash? It can be argued for Immersive Sim or even Metriodvania, but there's not a lot that makes the Souls games uniquely identifiable over games like Kings Field, Devil May Cry (original), Onimusha, Dragon's Dogma etc.

And if you say "difficulty" then you deserve death by 1000 needles.

 

[Arnust]

I was a Mound Maker, all the way through. Despite the shctick of their covenant being completely ruined for like Day 2, friendly fire was always fun. I still find that DS3's covenant alignments are BULLSHIT when the Sunbros will get rewarded anyway for "halping" in an invasion or killing a host, but the "evil", PvP focused covenants don't get shit when cooping. Nevermind that all covenant rewards are either useless garbage or the sole crutch for a build that could be vaguelly called "fun" somewhere.

And sure, the DS3 arena is alright- well, it would be if:
- There was literally any fucking reason to do it, ever. The "Badges" are useless and acquired fast. It's got an even negative soul benefit if you use any kind of consumable or ammo. Way to go that you have to go outside and farm for a bit if you're that dumbass using a Greatbow.
- It wasn't just a fucking menu. Seriously, DS3 does this shit too much, the password matchmaking, even the UI. They don't even bother to keep some layer of fantasy or mystique over it, statues, any physical ineration of the access to it; nah, here's a stupid menu tab like any of the others you got.
- Wasn't DLC, and bundled with the worst DLC in the series and acquired after a shitty letdown of a bossfight that didn't even have anything to do with the arena.
- Had more than exactly three maps. I'm not even counting the Plaza map because that's just a circle floating in the sky. The maps are nothing special either; there's not even one with pitfalls or enviromnental hazards besides some spots to do leap attacks from.
- Had an option to turn off chugging besides in just duels.
- Rematch mechanic. You love simple menus UI, right, DS3? So what about letting the players tick if they want to do another game with the same lads, or not?
And last but not least;
- PvP in DS3 wasn't shit in the first place. Hell, I prefer normal PvP/Coop because that's at least flexible and you can goof around.

EDIT: I'd say giving it a lore/story rellevance to it, but... This is Ds3 we're talking about. There's already an "Ashen ones used to do this for some reason as well, let's not name one to not get people's hopes up"

About it being a bland menu, someone told me there wouldn't be logical room in Firelink Shrine for it. Really? So what about the opposite upper stairwell to the second floor mirroring the one that leads to the belltower? There's literally nothing there besides dust...

 

[Bester]

cvv was it you who bought PS3 + BB from me? Was it worth it, any regrets? Just curious.

 

[sullynathan]

DS3 is by far the worst multiplayer experience of the series, both coop and PvP

This is a bold faced lie.

IDK, it pissed me off too.

Two handed heavy weapons were dominant, as no attacks could be parried (fine on its own), and the hyperarmor frames shit made matters worse. Adding on TOP of that was the "phantom range", which does not combine well with the previous things. That dual wield DLC sword in particular was bullshit and people were always spamming it.

Ganker scum seemed more present than ever.

Ganker scum that would disconnect their internet when they were down to 1hp with no estus and no hope left of summoning their healing mage buddies seemed heavily present.

Hornet ring + dagger + parries for instakills.

Most locations weren't that great for PvP, resulting in everyone fighting in Anor Londo after Pointiff Sullivan and often not being able to find a match elsewhere.

I never had these problems in DS2, or if something shitty did happen it was rare.
Best bet for enjoyable PvP in DS3 was to just stick to fight clubs.

Have you played multiplayer ( both co-op and pvp) in Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and/or Bloodborne?

Phantom range shit has been in these games since the first Dark Souls. You can literally boot that game up right now and try it but it was worse in Dark souls because the game had shit servers, lag and is currently filled with cheaters.

The reason the hornet ring combo exists in the first place is because it was effective in other games, not like it was something that even happened to me when I played the game.

Most locations in these games aren't great for PvP, they're made for PvE and invaders exist to be assholes and ruin your game. That's why when they wanted "fair" pvp in Dark Souls 1 people PvP'd a lot in the area after Artorias boss arena or the area after Pontiff's boss arena.

If you had a problem with two handers, get a spear. or duel-wield It goes a long way.

 

[Arnust]

That it's shit in other games doesn't make the extremely marginal shitty changes that even out to be just about as shit doesn't make this shit any less shittier, sullynathan . In fact, it only makes it shittier that it's not just about objectively better in every single way, especially considering that it was their last shot to do anything with it besides having another mediocre instance of the same- shit.

 

[sullynathan]

That it's shit in other games doesn't make the extremely marginal shitty changes that even out to be just about as shit doesn't make this shit any less shittier, sullynathan . In fact, it only makes it shittier that it's not just about objectively better in every single way, especially considering that it was their last shot to do anything with it besides having another mediocre instance of the same- shit.

it was always shit and they should've gotten it right the first time

 

[Ash]

I'm aware phantom range has been around since the beginning, and instakill parries with an inconsequential dagger switch since at least DS2. I was stating that heavy weapon hyperarmor + phantom range is a bullshit (new) combo, especially in the case of that DLC dual wield ultra sword, which was just ridiculous. Absolutely was not even remotely balanced. I used spears a lot. Against those DLC ultra sword wielders spamming their spin attack you really had to keep your distance and poke away at them. It was like a super OP version of the spear's 'charge' attack.

Every other battle had some dickhead spamming that DLC weapon. Still managed to win my share of fights but a great number of deaths was down to highly unbalanced bollocks. I never really encountered much of this in DS2 even though some of it did exist in some form. Either less players knew of all the possible abuse back in DS2, or I just got unlucky and met a lot of faggot players in DS3.

 

[sullynathan]

I'm aware phantom range has been around since the beginning, and instakill parries since at least DS2. I was stating that heavy weapon hyperarmor + phantom range is a bullshit (new) combo, especially in the case of that DLC dual wield ultra sword, which was just ridiculous. Absolutely was not even remotely balanced. I used spears a lot. Against those DLC ultra sword wielders spamming their spin attack you really had to keep your distance and poke away at them. It was like a super OP version of the spear's 'charge' attack.

Every other battle had some dickhead spamming that DLC weapon.

I've been using heavy weapons before they became cool. Back when everyone was using bullshit straight swords, I stuck with heavy weapons and it paid off. I haven't played any DLC for DS3 but have fought people that used DLC weapons. You should be able to get past all the anime charges

 

[Ash]

It was just the one DLC weapon.

Oh look, it's a meme.

"but...but all you need to do is have x specific weapon to counter it!"

So the result if everyone followed that gay defense of OP shit would be half the people using the UGS, and half the people using its best chance of counter. All the time. Gay unbalanced shit.

 

[cvv]

I don't remember any specific weapon being so completely dominant in DS2. There was the Monastery Scimitar that was first banned from most fight clubs and subsequently patched because its parry frames were bugged. I also remember the Warped Sword fags spamming their running attack at you which you couldn't dodge 8 times out of 10. But that was easily countered by the spear/lance turtle poke. After the Iron King DLC the Majestic Sword became popular because you could almost always catch people from their backstab recovery with the spin...but that was a high-skill weapon with many drawbacks (no parry).

There were a lot of weapons that were good but nothing that would completely shit on everyone, unlike DS3. But DS3 balance is all fucked up in general so no surprise there.

 

[Lazing Dirk]

Oh man, I'm so excited to be back in a poisonous swamp with those stupid leeches. Great times. This game has all the classics cuntpasted back in.

What the fuck is up with the pacing? It felt like it took years to reach the first bonfire after the firelink shrine, now the game is shitting them out all over the place.

 

[cvv]

What the fuck is up with the pacing? It felt like it took years to reach the first bonfire after the firelink shrine, now the game is shitting them out all over the place.

Yep, From pandering to casuls and idiots (basically game journalists). Most of the fuckup is due to the idiotic decision to place a bonfire in almost every boss arena. It's just one of the lazy, half-assed design decisions that start piling up until you realize this game is a side project at best or a drab, blatant money grabbing shovelware at worst, a flimsy shell of a former glory that feels like From outsourced it to some C-grade Chinese sweatshop with just basic instruction about what should be in a Souls game and then slapped "Directed by Miyazaki" on the the box.

 

[Arnust]

I mean, I hate the game for an array of reasons as much as the next guy but it doesn't mean it's incompetent at literally every aspect, haha

 

[cvv]

I mean, I hate the game for an array of reasons as much as the next guy but it doesn't mean it's incompetent at literally every aspect, haha

Nah sorry, that's the "well Hitler built the highways" argument. You don't compare DS3 to fucking Kingdom of Amalur or some other dumb popamole vomit like that. Ofc it's competent next to those. You compare it to the previous masterpieces. And especially Bloodborne that it was developed pretty much simultaneously with. Why is Bloodborne an exquisite masterpiece but DS3 a shoddy, half-assed schlock in comparison?

 

[Arnust]

I mean, I hate the game for an array of reasons as much as the next guy but it doesn't mean it's incompetent at literally every aspect, haha

Nah sorry, that's the "well Hitler built the highways" argument. You don't compare DS3 to fucking Kingdom of Amalur or some other dumb popamole vomit like that. Ofc it's competent next to those. You compare it to the previous masterpieces. And especially Bloodborne that it was developed pretty much simultaneously with. Why is Bloodborne an exquisite masterpiece but DS3 a shoddy, half-assed schlock in comparison?

I don't know, I guess it's because I see again the more generalized negative tide flings words and terms I saw thrown at DaS2, to only say the one with the noticeable antihype. I think DS3 still is a pretty fantastic experience, and it's not even a "would have been better if it didn't have DS on its name" but a pretty intense case of not living up to the, admittedly, quite ludicrous expectations we all did have. All the little misses and nuisances snowball hard and it being what is supposed to be taken as the ultimate wrap just became unadvisable to be treated as such.

BB most likely had an even fatter budget and production value and they did a pretty good at overshadowing themselves, and there are many things we can speculate at varying degrees of certainty.

I don't think it's all that fair on that first PvE experience which is high up there with the great, and the realization of the "story" for some people's interpretations of it, admittedly mostly fags thinking than a shitty anticlimax pretending to be a climax is totally a great final toll or that a dude on a hill is suiposed to be held against even fucking Nashandra, but their experience still is as legitimate as yours or mine.

I think that, simply put, they didn't seem to acknowledge this, at least on paper (probably not for Bandai) was going to be the very last go at this Dark Souls thing, modern classic, meme, husband and son. And while it still is an uphill to compare it to works that didn't have the burden of responsibility of being a finale (IMO all the Soulsborne even out but hardly any has the same good and bad points), I think we all can agree it just would, could, and should just have been more. But all we can really do is save ourselves the bother and stop wondering about the game that would, could, or should have been but keeping bitching and moaning about this stupid series without completely denying their undoubtedly, several dimensions above the norm status.

So.

Fuck the removal of the Counter Bonus stat and having is redoing all the game to fight those lovely dearies that are Gundy and the Artorias fanboys, and then allowing boss rematches on the Old Monk 2.0.

 

[Socur Toxanarosa]

I mean, I hate the game for an array of reasons as much as the next guy but it doesn't mean it's incompetent at literally every aspect, haha

Nah sorry, that's the "well Hitler built the highways" argument. You don't compare DS3 to fucking Kingdom of Amalur or some other dumb popamole vomit like that. Ofc it's competent next to those. You compare it to the previous masterpieces. And especially Bloodborne that it was developed pretty much simultaneously with. Why is Bloodborne an exquisite masterpiece but DS3 a shoddy, half-assed schlock in comparison?

Because Bloodborne was Miyazaki's project; Dark Souls 3 has a Bandai Namco stinky smell all over it with it's idiotic designed by committee decisions: "oh people liked that Artorias guy, let's make every boss his clone".

 

[Blaine]

Lazing Dirk soloed far ahead, and last night we co-oped me all the way past the Crystal Sorcerer. I've gotten my Dank Rolls legs back under me after being out of practice, and am now effortlessly backstabbing and demolishing groups of enemies even when solo.

So far, the non-boss PvE is easier than DS2, far easier than DS1, and is it just me or is this game linear as fuck compared to previous entries? It's like a corridor peppered with one-way doors. Also, seemingly every enemy in DS3 flails around like it's having a fucking grand mal seizure.

I do like the guys with the doors lashed to their backs, crosscut saws, and the huge pots of shit that they can either hurl at you from afar or slam around during the inevitable bouts of flailing tard rage most of the game's enemies suffer from.

Sure would like to play a magic-using character, but I'm aware they've nerfed magic even harder since DS2, and melee is simply the path of least resistance at this point. It was amazing how much easier DS2 became when I respecced from magic to melee.

 

[praetor]

I don't remember any specific weapon being so completely dominant in DS2. There was the Monastery Scimitar that was first banned from most fight clubs and subsequently patched because its parry frames were bugged. I also remember the Warped Sword fags spamming their running attack at you which you couldn't dodge 8 times out of 10. But that was easily countered by the spear/lance turtle poke. After the Iron King DLC the Majestic Sword became popular because you could almost always catch people from their backstab recovery with the spin...but that was a high-skill weapon with many drawbacks (no parry).

There were a lot of weapons that were good but nothing that would completely shit on everyone, unlike DS3. But DS3 balance is all fucked up in general so no surprise there.

ti be fair, DS2 had "phases" where one thing in particular was THE meta, but every time it was nerfed in a relatively timely fashion and now it's in a really good place. mundane santier + mundane avelyn, dagger parries/backstabs, resonant souls, ice rapiers, duel wield helix, etc etc

 

[cvv]

Oh yeah I forgot about the Santier and Avelyns, that was the biggest cancer. But in both cases - as with the Monastery Scimitar - they were basically balance bugs that were quickly patched, not fundamental design flaws beyond repair.

 

[CyberWhale]

"genre"

What makes Souls games their own genre or even sub-genre as opposed to falling under action RPG/hack and slash? It can be argued for Immersive Sim or even Metriodvania, but there's not a lot that makes the Souls games uniquely identifiable over games like Kings Field, Devil May Cry (original), Onimusha, Dragon's Dogma etc.

And if you say "difficulty" then you deserve death by 1000 needles.

3D Castle/Metroid-vania is the best description for Dark Souls game. They certainly capture that "feel" better than MercurySteam attempts.

 

[Lazing Dirk]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of landing fully-charged 2H R2s with the black knight greatsword on charging enemies. Did some more co-op with Blaine earlier and it was particularly fun when he backstabbed something, kicked it towards me, and then I'd smash it into the air to finish it off. 10/10 wombo combo, would do again.

Also the pontiff is a little bitch who is nowhere near as scary as I had been led to believe. Wrecked him on the third go.

 

[cvv]

You wrecked Pontiff on your third go? Solo? With a black knight greatsword? Well, kudos I guess.

 

[Blaine]

Doable or not, that boss is gay as fuck. They're getting way too cute with this shit. Seriously, chains of five or six 270- and 360-degree-coverage dual-wielding sweeping elemental attacks that carry him 20 feet forward in some cases?



It's the General Grievous of Dark Souls.

Also, after we reached a certain point, we began to defeat absolutely every single invader that's ever come to visit us. I'm starting to feel sorry for them at this point, because we use our numbers advantage to its utmost tactical application. I remember seeing plenty of videos of 1 vs. 2 and 1 vs. 3 fights in DS3, and generally they're all just trying to out-and-out attack the one invader, but our goal isn't to attack so much as it is to outflank and herd, and sprint chase when we realize they're about to estus.

Yeah, I feel bad, but then again, fuck 'em. Also, I love how you get absolutely 0 reward for repelling invaders, even if you're solo. Thanks, Dark Souls.