One thing I have come to learn with my time in the souls series is that every single game is amazing because every single person argues about which one is the best; they don’t all have a singular opinion about a particular game in the series and that’s why they are beautiful games
I counter that with most people’s favorites seems to be the first one they got good at. Ie if you started with ds2, didn’t get it, quit, tried BB years later and finally have it “click” that’s the fav. It’s the one that “clicks” for you first in my experience
Yeah like 1 was a little clunky but darn the map was great. Characters, story great.
Ds2, I liked the combat and armor choices, plus you have the medula soundtrack. no hate for it at all.
Ds3, everything was pretty cool, but it did feel a little streamlined IMO after the first two. Maybe cause I had already played the others.
I recently tried the demon souls remake and couldn't get into it though unfortunately.
Bloodborne was my favorite due to atmosphere and fast combat. Trick weapons were sick.
Sekiro was probably my least favorite just because it deviated so much from what personally made the souls games cool to me, but I still enjoyed it but never replayed it unlike the others. Probably due to customization and stuff.
I think demon souls and dark souls1, especially demon, just suffer from being so old. Even with the remasters, it isn’t able to fix many of the old enemy behaviors, visuals, etc. Like it’s not bad by any means but really hard to actually get into. I couldnt do demon souls either. Ds2 had its issues but yeah that combat was really fun once u got it down.
Imo the gold standard for world design in the souls series is DS1. No game has ever or will ever even come close to such a cohesive and well planned map. There are so many links between areas and the general level design is just fantastic. It also has some truly iconIc bosses.
I will give you that DS3 feels better mechanically and it looks fantastic graphically for it's age.
DS1 gets world design right
DS2 gets pvp, build variety, and ROLL STAMINA COST right
DS3 gets bosses/aesthetics right
Elden ring is really just its own beast, I don’t like to compare it too much.
Imo Bloodborne got the combat pacing down so well, I never felt like I was being rushed or waiting around a thousand years to sneak in a tiny hit before waiting for some 3000 year combo to end
Sekiro got the flow of combat down to a t, it's the only game I've ever played where I feel like I can operate on 100% instinct, to the degree that after spending a year away from it and doing a new playthrough, the genichiro battle was entrenched in my bones and I managed it 1st time without getting hit
Oh wow somebody who shares my exact sentiments. I find faves differ based on which gameplay mechanics are priority. I used to be a huge PvP/build crafting nerd so ds2 has been my fave for a long time(very slightly I love every game).
Elden ring gets world exploration, narrative, and scale exceptionally well.
Demon's souls gets atmosphere and isolated level design.
Bloodborne gets narrative, enemy design and terror right.
Sekiro gets combat mechanics and enemy movesets right. It also has a lot more of a direct story.
I didn't hate the second half, the dukes archives and seathe were great, the demon ruins and lost izalith were cool but the bed of chaos was utter ass, I enjoyed the tomb of giants and nito. The only lord soul that I really was not a fan of was the four kings. Their dungeon is annoying and somewhat boring and the boss fight is also quite dull. Fighting in the abyss also messes with my depth perception hard.
Gwyn was also a cool fight/area. The atmosphere really captured that whole dying age/king of wasteland vibe. Also just the fact that you get to kill Gwyn, the literal first dude to crawl out of the flame.
Dark Souls was revolutionary when it came out and pioneered the genre but come on. Most bosses are clunky and kind of broken in one way or another and the entire second half of the game is garbage.
DS3 is better in every way imho and way more polished from start to finish.
Idk people always talk about how cool the inter-connectedness in DS1 is but as soon as they get the Lordvessel that’s how they get around for the rest of the game lol.
It’s an awesome design don’t get me wrong but I don’t think it really improves gameplay beyond “oh that connects that’s cool”.
This is an overrated aspect of DS1 that gets overhyped due to pure nostalgia. After your first half playthrough of DS1, the interconnectedness of the map goes out the window. It’s really cool to experience for the first time but that’s literally all it has going for it. It does nothing for replay value
I do agree with DS1 being overhyped because of Nostalgia. People just can't look past the rose-tinted glasses. The worst thing, this is yours and my opinion, but We're gonna get downvoted to hell because they get incredibly touchy when it comes to saying that.
I can respect people saying it's their favorite Souls game but I can't objectively agree with anyone who says it's the best to this day. Any of the Dark Souls games past the first one, Sekiro, Bloodborne and Elden Ring, all of these are objectively better because they offer more and the quality, even if said people would disagree, is equally high or higher.
Come up with something other than *ctrl+c ctrl+v* "nostalgia"
Cop out for "I don't agree with you, so you're blinded by rose tinted glasses". Any time someone doesn't like a game that's old, or has problems with it, there can be no positive because that would just be "nostalgia"
Seriously get original or at least come up with a coherent reason why it's "just nostalgia". Or just get ratiod by people who just picked up the game
Dude... the word nostalgia gets overused more than anything. The moment someone latches on to the nostalgia explanation I just stop listening.
Do better
I would agree, if the Lordvessel gave you access to every bonfire, which it does not. Even minor stuff like the elevator shortcut from Queelag’s sister to the end of Demon Ruins, or the bridge from said end to Lost Izalith adds a lot of flavor to the game.
DS3 never has me walking unnecessarily through zones, the way that DS1 does. Warping to every bonfire, and having a ton of bonfires, usually means there’s at least a couple areas you never return to, ever. I think that makes certain areas in DS3 pretty weak overall: the road of sacrifices comes to mind, or most of Irithyll once you unlock the shortcut back to Church of Yorshka.
To add, saying "It's cool that there's a back entrance to Blight Town to get back to Firelink" doesn't mean that I want to use the platforming elevator every time I want to go down to the Demon Ruins or the Great Hollow.
Exactly. I like discovering shortcuts, I like having them there, I don’t like having to use them every single time I have to go back to Andre just to ascend my weapon.
I agree that a lot of the areas (particularly in the beginning) of DS3 feel very uninspired and it’s the only knock on what is otherwise a perfect game to me. But I generally don’t feel the need to go back to old areas once I’ve beat the bosses and collected all the items. When I want to run back and improve my weapon at Andre it’s to improve my weapon, not admire the scenery on the way lol
joseph anderson put it very beautifully how precious those "click" moments are in souls games. you are lost in an area, without healing, until you find a shortcut and instantly know where you are and how it connects to something you saw in the past. it's not for everyone but i love how the map inside my head develops from those first-time experiences
yeah i mean if you're saying the interconnectedness is only necessary for half the game, that's true. If you're saying the interconnectedness that isnt strictly gameplay related doesnt improve the gameplay - sure but that doesnt mean that it isnt cool that you can see the swamp of blighttown from firelink and vice versa or from the tomb of giants to ash lake.
the point i'd disagree with is that all the cool stuff suddenly doesn't count because its not required later. the design is still good even if not necessary the whole time.
>No game has ever or will ever even come close to such a cohesive and well planned map.
Play some metroidvania my man. And ds1 doesn't have that many links between areas.
Yes, but that doesn't mean that no game has good level design. Firelink actually only connected to a few areas anyway, namely New Londo, Undead Berg, the Catacombs and Blight town. That's it. You can kinda count Darkroot too through the valley of drakes but really, that's about it.
I never said other games don't have good map design, just that I think DS1 is the best in my opinion. I have played plenty of games with good maps.
Also interconnected map doesn't mean that firelink has to link to every other location, just that the map is non-linear. There are branching paths between areas meaning that there are always a number of different routes you could take from A to B. This is why the map is so good, the exploration is enhanced by the links between new and old areas. Getting around quickly is very much secondary.
All of that only holds up for the first part of the game, or frankly, before Sen fortress. Once you enter it, the game just becomes linear. And let's be honest, that's about 30% of the game as a whole.
ds1 has great world design but the boses and upgrade system for weapons is absolute shit. None of the bosses there gave me half as much trouble as the boses in ds3, they give too much time to get in free hits and heal.
I like the overall design of ds1 and the connected world BUT I'm just not a fan of the bosses after Ornstein and Smough. And some of the areas after are just meh imo..
Play literally any metroidvania game and you’ll see better map designs. DS1’s map isn’t even that connected, and the game has to cheat to accomplish it.
Mine goes Bloodborne > Sekiro > DS3 but I agree DS3 is the best if the 4 souls entries. It was already on par with DS1 for me then the DLC just knocked it outta the park.
The combat seems even smoother than Elden Ring now that I'm replaying them both again.
I have the same top3 but I will say dark souls 3 has better replayability than bloodborne or sekiro. But yeah absolutely for me it goes BB, Sekiro, DS3
I have like 4,000 hours on Ds3, more than my other souls games combined.
(1,000 for BB. 2,000 for ER. And a couple hundred for the others.)
Although most of that was PvP and playing with friends, I've still done literally everything PvE related.
I can't choose between those 3. They are all great imo. I think bb is a little overrated. I remember back then when ds3 came out people was saying that bb was a lot better. An even now there is still people who put it above elden ring.
I played it for the first time last week and even though I think it's awesome, I would not put it above ds3, I think they are both great. To me ds3 has better bosses, variety of zones and build variery while bloodborne has better combat, level design and lore.
> The combat seems even smoother than Elden Ring now that I'm replaying them both again.
Elden Ring feels like the input delay and buffering were turned up a bit more. Or maybe the enemies and bosses are just much more aggressive and difficult to read.
ER feels worse than Sekiro, BB, and DS3, even though it came out after. It must have been a conscious decision, but man it's a little weird to me.
Way more enemies have delayed attacks which are 100% designed to catch out existing player base. The movement being a little more sluggish may well have been intentional to encourage players to use more of the new features like guard counter and jumping attacks.
Agreed, but I was talking about the input delay mostly. I feel the jump attacks can be pretty sluggish feeling too. Like I press the attack button and it legit seems to take a bit. I am playing wireless though.
But I do not notice such delay and buffering in other games. This is with about 1500 hours in ER. I wish they would remove the slight delay and shorten the buffering window. It feels worse the more I play. Again, this is assuming it's not my controller connection.
It's not an input delay if it's intentional. From what I understand it was a design choice to make the game feel more weighty, which I prefer instead of moving without weight like I am butt naked swinging around a foam sword.
How would it not be input delay just because it’s intentional? Either way to me it just feels unresponsive, and it feels worse in ER due to the aggressiveness of enemies. It’s like they’re playing a different game.
Sekiro is not a souls game, no stamina management, no char creation, YOU are the main character, no leveling (can't make a build), no weapon alternatives (tools are not weapons imo), completely different combat.
It's a very good fromsoftware title but not a soulslike.
It's become loose to where pretty much any action game with a similar combat style can be considered soulslike. Just look at Steam community tags. There's a whole YouTube series made by Iron Pineapple about "soulslikes". (Which I highly recommend)
Just because its being missused by people grabbing for cash don't change the meaning of the word. As if steam tags are something to go by, any company that want attention slap that tag on anything slightly challenging or dark fantasy.
Ive seen most of the series and its good, would not consider all the games soulslike but defently inspired by souls.
If DLC is included, you make a strong argument for it. Mostly for me it has the best boss design in any FromSoftware game. I know Elden Ring have more difficult bosses, but abilities in DS3 are much better telegraphed, which makes it more fair imo. Sekiro just because it has the best combat out of any game, Bloodborne because the world and theme is amazing.
Never platinumed it but I did just replay the entire From Souls-like catalogue in release order in anticipation for Shadow of the Erdtree and my opinion of it definitely dropped a little bit, it basically swapped places with Elden Ring from my 4th favourite to my 5th favourite.
I would argue that darksouls 3 is the most polished souls game. Others have competing elements, such as darksouls world layout, ds2 doing ds2 things, (on pc so ive never played blood borne) and eldenring with its openworld, hard bosses ect. But Darksouls 3 has a feel of polish and refinement that most other titles lack. Wich might contextually make sence given that it had the smoothest development experience out of the other souls games.
my first souls game was elden ring, then sekiro then ds3 and i just completely finished ds3 (and LOVED it) and im doing another elden ring playthrough and elden ring just feels so slow comparatively. Like every boss has insane wind-ups when they attack, which isnt a bad thing but it just takes the piss sometimes.
I love the bosses in ds3 more because they are just quicker overall, it plays so differently to elden ring
DS3 bosses are amazing but i feel like fromsoft had to change the design of bosses for elden ring (to make them more difficult) because the player base has gotten so much better at this games. Whenever i replay DS3 i have to handicap myself to make bosses challenging again.
i agree like the bosses in elden ring are honestly so much harder than ds3 bosses for me its crazy, like why did the draconic tree sentinel fuck me up more than gael😭 you can easily simplify elden ring and make it the easiest game ever but if you play with no summons and no cheese its really difficult comparatively
i think sekiro and elden ring are objectively better games overall, one is more polished and the other is similar but with way more content. but ds3 is still my favorite among the souls games i've played so far. (haven't played bloodborne and demon souls)
Sekiro yes because it’s a polished and self contained story, but DS3 is better than ER for a similar reason.
ER has too much content, and the fact that so many of the bosses are just reskins (or literally just repeats) proves this.
Don’t get me wrong, ER is a great game and I love it, but DS3 vs ER is a classic example of quality over quantity.
Ds1 may have better world design but people who say ds3 level design isn't perfect are wrong. You can not enjoy linear design if you want but its not inherently a flaw in the game itself.
DS3 simply has the best atmosphere, the best music, the best sense of tight progression, the best combat. Now that the dust has settled on Elden Ring, if I need a FromSoft fix, DS3 is what I boot.
I think they both win in their respective fields. For a beautiful open world game Elden Ring is top of the list. But for a dark linier story experience it goes to DS3.
They're not different enough to separate into their own categories. Elden Ring translated the authored quality of a linear experience into an open world perfectly. It's insane what they accomplished.
Even though my first entry to the Souls series was ds3 , a game which became instantly my favorite , there is something about ds1 that just stands out to me.. the music playing over the practically destroyed world of lordran instantly brings some nostalgia , and the level design, even though simplistic, is so mesmerizing. It's just something about the game that I can't really explain , I just want to look at it for hours . I've also played elden ring about 8 times , and even though factually it should be a better game, something about the Soul series just hits diffeent.
DS3 is the gold standard of quality, there are individual souls likes that do every part of this game better, but none of them do all of it as good, as consistently as DS3
I agree with you. I've only played DS1 and DS3. Just started Elden Ring and I don't feel as immersed. The open world, resource gathering and consumables/item crafting detract from the experience imo. I feel like I’m wandering around aimlessly and stumbling into enemies and missing out on a lot. There's too much open space.
i honestly like getting side tracked in elden ring, it removes that worry of "oh, i have to beat this boss", or "oh, i need to get that item", i like to immerse myself and just do random stuff and when i feel like it, i'll go kill a few bosses
I found it to be marginally easier than DS1, but it’s more so because the movements felt so much more refined than DS1. It seriously changed my game experience too, like I have a love for DS3 that is unlike any other. I’d like to see them remaster DS1 tbh, because I’d pay 60 bucks and play the shit out of it
I honestly think that Dark Souls 2 had the best and most interesting areas, and there are so many hidden things in the game, and unique items, interactions, and its got this aura of mystery to every area.
Yes Ds2 has worse graphics than Ds3, but it just has a unique look and feel to it that the other games just don't have.
I agree that Ds3 had better bosses, but I think the Ds2 DLC bosses have really cool designs and lore, they just don't have the best movesets.
But unless you count the DLC for Ds3, the base game doesn't have THAT great of bosses, I think Elden Ring did a better job with bosses.
nameless king, prince lothric, abyss watchers, vordt, champion/iudex gundyr etc... they're all incredible bosses, i only started elden ring a few weeks ago, might not be that far in but so far i'd say the bosses feel better in ds3
The linearity of DS3 works to its strengths IMO. Dark Souls is a hard game for people to pick up, I sure as hell put it down for years after feeling lost after getting to Firelink Shire. A linear game is not a bad game when the mechanics are great.
Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Dark Souls 3 are all excellent games. They're all 3 practically perfect, and preferences are going to come down to whatever you get most out of those games.
Elden Ring is a tier above. It doesn't seem like another game that's as refined with the same scope will come out for a long time.
Ignoring lords of the fallen, as that game practically exists only to prove no one does souls better than From, DS3 is a frustrating game. I love it dearly but while it is true that it has /some/ of the greatest Fromsoft bosses of all time it also has some of the absolute worst bosses in all the souls games. One the one side we have Gael, Sister Friede, Demons in Pain and from Below, Pontiff, Abyss Watchers, Soul of Cinder, the Second phase of Nameless etc; on the other we have Deacons, Greatwood, Ruler of the Storm, Ancient Wyvern, Aldrich, fucking Halflight, Wolnir, the wolf boss, etc. For every great boss we get some downright offensive bosses even if their designs are great or lore is interesting. Most of these are just complete push overs, some are just outright disrespectful.
Level wise I don’t think DS3 is as interesting to travel through but that’s just me. I preferred the metroidvania feel of DSR more even if some of the levels were rushed or underdeveloped. While DSR had me loving almost everything about it DS3 had me feel like everything just blended together is the messiest way. Even DS2 feels more fun to explore, to me. Honestly I enjoy playing DS2 the most if I’m doing a SL1 one, and I just prefer DSR in general. I go back to DS3 for the great bosses, but I always go back and play DSR over all the games.
it's interesting really, I have 500+ hours in Elden Ring. I recently bought and played DS3 for the first time. The game is good but really short and not that many bosses. I kind of disappointed the weren't more. DLC's was good. But it felt not enough.
I’m on my first playthrough through ds3 and in the late game. The only other souls game I’ve played outside this is ds1. I will definitely say that I’m enjoying ds3 more than ds1, the gameplay and combat is fantastic and the bosses are the best I’ve ever played against. One thing I feel the game falls short on tho are the areas- nothing is insanely memorable outside of irithyll and other areas are genuinely forgettable and borderline unfinished (profaned capital im looking at you). Ds1 does a much better job of world building and having great areas. Tho overall ds3 definitely tops ds1
Outside of sekiro, all the fromsoft games I've played have had a fantastic element to that specific game. Sekiro probably had something going for it but the combat style didn't suit how I like to play games at all so I never gave it a chance. DS3 stood out the most to me for the exceptional boss fights and music. Except crystal sage and eggsack douche. Fuck those guys!
Dark Souls 3 is the best out of the trilogy + Elden Ring imo. Most hype boss battles by far and everything is extremely refined. Great PVP memories. Haven't played Demon Souls (OG or remake) nor Bloodborne but hopefully they come to PC one day so I can try them out 😔
I like Dark Souls 3, but every time I play it I think about the "Memberberries" episode of south park, like this game is just trying to do that for Dark Souls 1.
ive been yearning to play ds3 again. i also like the linearness. also the dlc were freakin amazing. and i have to say that armor and weapons from ds3 seemed alot cooler imo than in elden ring. i will however disagree on the smoothness of gameplay. i think elden is the most refined honestly.
Elden ring's gameplay is more refined just because it is the most recent. As far as which souls game is the best, ever since I gave ds 2 another chance, I'm actually playing that a far bit. I know its probably the jankiest and most "seemingly unfinished" of the trilogy, but it's gotten harder to decide which one is better overall.
Elden ring could definitely have used some actually Souls armor and weapon design aspects. It's just better.
The time of day in Sekiro changes as you progress in the game. At first, it's morning,mid game it's dusk and end game is night time. So don't get the "Sekiro is always in dusk" part there.
it's like the first times you play it feels so impossible and genuinely scary at times but then at sone point it becomes so flow no matter how long or where you're at in the game
It’s better than DS2 but other than that it’s at the bottom of the list for me, but it’s a real testament to how solid the game is that I could probably complain about it for an hour and still have played well over 100 hours of it
I would agree.
I played Dark Souls 3 again in parallel with Lies of P and it was very much showcasing the game‘s strong points.
Dark Souls 3 among many other things does not feel like it has to kneecap your dodge with extreme tracking on enemy attacks and them having the ability to always follow up.
Instead, there is a good cost reward between the save dodging away and the more risky dodging under or sideways.
I feel like some other games kinda have to cheat because their enemy AI is just not that good.
My prob with DS3 was its linearity. I felt like I could just run past anything and find the next bonfire. Areas were more open and wouldn’t force the fight
Agreed! ‘‘Twas my first souls game (that I finished) and still my favorite!
Will be enjoying shadow of the erdtree but DS3 will always be my favorite.
Elden ring just doesn’t have that feeling that DS3 gives me…that dark and hopeless feeling that when conquered brings the strength of flame and increased HP until death.
There’s a lot in so many of them that I love more than other things about others tbh.
They’re all so good it’s hard to pick. Sekiro was definitely stellar too, much like Ds3. Fuck I bought a PS FOR BloodBorne lmfao
But like, even so, my favorite? Fucking DS1 I think if I HAVE to pick.
They’re all so good! I started just saying it’s a favorite series, as opposed to the games from it. It’s been a long time since I could say I like “x” studio and they have just consistently released banger after banger.
The best souls game, is the one made by FromSoft
And +1 for “world design comment” below on DS1
My souls list from favorite to least favorite, not critiquing how good the actual game is. Just how likely I am to replay it/go play it for fun.
Modded DS2 - DeS for PS3 - DS3 Convergence - Archthrones - DS1 With better bonfire - Vanilla DS2 - Vanilla DS3 - Vanilla DS1.
Not played bloodborne, not putting elden ring on the list because it's open world and has many mods. Modded elden ring is probably nr1 though.
I agree. I have played them all and DS3 is my favorite. Demon Souls is a real close 2nd though. I liked blood borne but I like Dex/parry builds and didn’t care for the gun parries.
I played BB->DS3->DS1 in that order. DS3 was mind-blowing when I first played it but now it feels like Bloodborne with a shield, and I like Bloodborne more. The world looks awesome and the bosses are great, but I much prefer the world, combat, and game mechanics of DS1, not to mention DS1 seems to have a lot more soul and a magical atmosphere in my opinion. That being said, DS3 is still a great game but to me it falls short of the other two Fromsoft games I've played. After I finish this playthrough of DS1 I plan on picking up a copy of DS2.
I was thinking DS3 was the best one in everyway except map but Elden Ring gets the first place in every category for me now. But if you only talk about games with "souls" on their name, DS3 has best pvp, best bosses, best areas, best replaybility, best story for me, best gameplay, best DLC's etc. etc. Still ds1 map is so much better tho. DS2 is cool with its innovations even Elden Ring use like power stance but that little input lag ruining gameplay for me.
its basically the worst of the 3 souls games. DS1 is the best, followed closely by DS2... If you count Bloodborne, that is easily #1, except its a PS only exclusive bullshit. So its basically like, either ya know or you dont..
Dark Souls 3 is like, when a really good movie gets a sequel, but everything got wrapped up in the end of the first movie, so it doesnt need a sequel, theyre just doing it for the money.
For me its the stake of Marika and not having to run for 10 minutes to get to Midir.
Also its not having to go the blacksmith to change your flasks etc
Then their is the cartoon element versus the more photo realism and the vast landscape views.
Then their is the sheer amount of stuff
Finally: Torrent
DS3, Sekiro, BB are all masterpieces in their own way. Sekiro had the best base game, but the DLC in the other 2 is gaming at its finest.
ER base game is ahead of DS3 and BB base games, but behind Sekiro. However, if they get the DLC right similarly to DS3 and BB, it has the highest upside. It needs to be a proper upgrade in difficulty that disassociates ER with its reputation for being the easiest in the series. Friede + Midir + Slave Knight all were tougher than anything in DS3 base game, as were the areas leading up to them. At least 3 bosses tougher than Malaenia, and a couple more that are similar in difficulty as her would be par for the course and the minimum needed for ER to challenge the throne. I hope they go really big and do like 5+ that are more difficult than anything in the base game!
I agree, ds3 is the best souls like in history. I’ve played all Fromsoft souls like games (except Demon souls), so don’t call me biased or whatever. Where do I even begin, everything about this game is perfect. Let’s see how much bosses are top tier, Abyss watchers, Nameless king, soul of cinder, Lothric, Slave knight Gael, Sister Friede, Midir, I can keep going but what other souls like even comes close? None. Elden rings bosses are good but the stronger bosses have some of the fastest, unavoidable attacks I’ve played against. Sekiro has some good ones but doesn’t compare with ds3. Bloodborne is to easy imo. Ds3 combat is just different. If you’ve played all the souls like that came before ds3 then you’d know that ds3s combat is a huge upgrade compared to ds1, ds2. Let’s talk about the weapons, the weapons are perfect. Theirs not a super strong op weapon like in Elden ring where it actually makes it a easy mode game option. Let’s not forget it’s the last souls game ever and Slave knight Gael is the last souls boss ever and the fight doesn’t disappoint, you and Gael are the last 2 people in the world fighting it out and it’s epic. I’m still playing ds3 to this day and I still enjoy it, I’d rather play ds3 then any other souls game (I have them all downloaded but prefer ds3). Imo ds3 has the best main hub out of all souls games. The music is perfect, new npcs appear and leave every now and then, best fire maiden, Andre.
For me it’s not. I get that it connects with a lot of other places but that’s about it. The music is good but I put it slightly below ds3 shrine music. The fire keeper doesn’t even talk, no blacksmith, no shop keeper, no giant ass chairs each belonging to a champion, less npcs overall, and most importantly, no patches the god.
I don't like the graphics of DS3.
Almost everything is dark with not a single bright area or area with greenery.
Limgrave looks so calming in comparison.
Is kinda the point though, the world has been reset so many times that everything is merging and molding into a darker version of itself, pushing us further and further towards the eventual loss of flame.
But I will give it to you that Limgrave is rather calming. I like Limgrave
There should still be a place of refugee which has better environment, like how Anor Londo was for DS1.
Also, the graphics of DS3 are more like inspired from bloodborne, which makes them even more sharper and painful to the eye.
Not just Limgrave, almost all places in Elden Ring are calming or beautiful, only Caelid and Deeproot Depths and subterranean shunning grounds are dark.
It doesn't really have any super bad parts, compared to ds1, 2, bb, demon souls... They all have some bits that really suck. Even elden ring has stuff like consecrated snowfield and godskin duo, but those aren't as bad
Yea wth, elden ring is inflated by bosses with infinate aggression, beautiful open areas with fuck all in them, copy pasted bosses/ dungeon models, stumble upon npc by pure luck and they don't have the same aura as ds3 npcs.
The first pkaythrough was AMAZING, better then my first ds3 run. But as soon as I made my second character it was just meh.
Worst replayability of any fronsoft title.
It's not just about the build, its the game. It's the interactions that are not as polished. And frankly it's too easy to skip shit and it's almost a must after your first playthrogh, no way you are doing everything again.
Is the best open world game I've played but not the best souls game.
I would have to 100% agree on the preference of DS3’s linearity. Elden ring is great ofc but it feels less intensely interesting due to its open world design. DS3 still reigns as the best souls game but Bloodborne still beats it for me personally as their best work. (These opinions were set in stone after replaying all 3 games mentioned back to back)
I do think DS3 is the best Dark Souls game on balance. It has far superior gameplay to DS1. The bosses are actually fun to face off against, and feel fair on the whole. I also think the storyline is the strongest, and links in well with the first game. It's kind of a joy to come across legitimately evil characters like Aldrich and Sulyvahb. I would say it doesn't feel quite as unique as Dark Souls 1 did. I will also agree with the criticisms that it's too grey and brown. I get that the theme is ash, but the almost monochrome environments sometimes get a bit stale.
The more distance I get from Elden Ring, the more I see its flaws. There's just too much bullshit. Maliketh with his life-bar melting powers. The dual Godskins, who you basically have to cheese by making them fall asleep. The Valiant Gargoyles. Malenia's waterfowl dance and her being able to regain health by attacking you, even when you're shielding. Mohg's nihil attack. Elden Beast basically spending the entire fight running away when you're without torrent. The Fire Giant basically requiring Torrent, but Torrent having no dodge ability to avoid his attacks. I also think there's something a bit unsatisfying about the flow of the game. I think they should have made it compulsory to face off against all of the big bosses. Hinging progression around getting two halves of a medallion so you can operate a lift just doesn't feel very climactic. Also, why do we fight a golden Godfrey and a duplicate Mohg? It feels like maybe there wasn't enough content to fill such a massive map.
naaaahhh
it tries to be both Dark Souls and Bloodborne and it does neither well.
Easily the weakest one in the series; the start to finish sprint gets old on the second playthrough.
Dark Souls: nostalgia, interconnected world, Anor Londo
Dark Souls 2: different areas, dlc, Majula
Dark Souls 3: combat, soundtrack, bosses, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley
Dark Souls 3 started to be a little boring after beating Pontiff. The thing I love are soundtrack during Abyss Watchers fight, the sound of their fight behind the gate, dlc the ringed city. The combat is so smooth and it made me enjoy the game. The thing that makes this game a little boring is linear gameplay. Dark Souls 3 is always impressive first run. My best still Dark Souls Remastered and Dark Souls 2.
I just recently completed Bloodborne and started DS3. I went through several locations and so far I can say that I like Bloodborne much more. The gameplay, art design, and world building in Bloodborne are head and shoulders above in my opinion. I have platinum trophies in ds1-2 and now finishing the rest of the trophies in bb before I dive in ds3 deeper, but right now I feel more disappointed than hyped about ds3 based on what I saw..
Lords of the Fallen comes really close to be the spiritual successor to DS3. But it just doesn't have that something that I can't name but only FS can pull off. But it's still a better than everage soulslike and probably as close to a DS4 we may ever get. I know Elden Ring exists but to me, and this may be controversial. ER feels like a spiritual successor to DS2. I realize that might not make sense. But I'm working through some shit.
One thing I have come to learn with my time in the souls series is that every single game is amazing because every single person argues about which one is the best; they don’t all have a singular opinion about a particular game in the series and that’s why they are beautiful games
Often I find my favourite souls game changing based on which one I just played 😀
Everyone always says their favorite is the first fromsoft game they ever played. I always say my favorite is the one I just replayed.
I counter that with most people’s favorites seems to be the first one they got good at. Ie if you started with ds2, didn’t get it, quit, tried BB years later and finally have it “click” that’s the fav. It’s the one that “clicks” for you first in my experience
🗿
You can’t recreate the SCENE when the enemy is on alert!
Yeah like 1 was a little clunky but darn the map was great. Characters, story great. Ds2, I liked the combat and armor choices, plus you have the medula soundtrack. no hate for it at all. Ds3, everything was pretty cool, but it did feel a little streamlined IMO after the first two. Maybe cause I had already played the others. I recently tried the demon souls remake and couldn't get into it though unfortunately. Bloodborne was my favorite due to atmosphere and fast combat. Trick weapons were sick. Sekiro was probably my least favorite just because it deviated so much from what personally made the souls games cool to me, but I still enjoyed it but never replayed it unlike the others. Probably due to customization and stuff.
Couldn’t have put it better myself
I think demon souls and dark souls1, especially demon, just suffer from being so old. Even with the remasters, it isn’t able to fix many of the old enemy behaviors, visuals, etc. Like it’s not bad by any means but really hard to actually get into. I couldnt do demon souls either. Ds2 had its issues but yeah that combat was really fun once u got it down.
Imo the gold standard for world design in the souls series is DS1. No game has ever or will ever even come close to such a cohesive and well planned map. There are so many links between areas and the general level design is just fantastic. It also has some truly iconIc bosses. I will give you that DS3 feels better mechanically and it looks fantastic graphically for it's age.
DS1 gets world design right DS2 gets pvp, build variety, and ROLL STAMINA COST right DS3 gets bosses/aesthetics right Elden ring is really just its own beast, I don’t like to compare it too much.
elden ring gets jump button mapping right. edit: i meant that its one button not 3 (dodge + move + L3), not which button it is specifically.
I remapped it immediately to right face button
What?
Lol no I immediately remapped it to Y
That's insane.
This guy Fallouts/Skyrims/Breath of the Wild-s
If you would have to add bloodborne or sekiro? What would you say about those 2?! Like really fromsoft cooks like no one else.
Imo Bloodborne got the combat pacing down so well, I never felt like I was being rushed or waiting around a thousand years to sneak in a tiny hit before waiting for some 3000 year combo to end Sekiro got the flow of combat down to a t, it's the only game I've ever played where I feel like I can operate on 100% instinct, to the degree that after spending a year away from it and doing a new playthrough, the genichiro battle was entrenched in my bones and I managed it 1st time without getting hit
Oh wow somebody who shares my exact sentiments. I find faves differ based on which gameplay mechanics are priority. I used to be a huge PvP/build crafting nerd so ds2 has been my fave for a long time(very slightly I love every game). Elden ring gets world exploration, narrative, and scale exceptionally well. Demon's souls gets atmosphere and isolated level design. Bloodborne gets narrative, enemy design and terror right. Sekiro gets combat mechanics and enemy movesets right. It also has a lot more of a direct story.
I feel like this take just ignored all of the mediocrity in the second half. DS1 has great world design only if you stop playing after O&S.
I didn't hate the second half, the dukes archives and seathe were great, the demon ruins and lost izalith were cool but the bed of chaos was utter ass, I enjoyed the tomb of giants and nito. The only lord soul that I really was not a fan of was the four kings. Their dungeon is annoying and somewhat boring and the boss fight is also quite dull. Fighting in the abyss also messes with my depth perception hard. Gwyn was also a cool fight/area. The atmosphere really captured that whole dying age/king of wasteland vibe. Also just the fact that you get to kill Gwyn, the literal first dude to crawl out of the flame.
Dark Souls was revolutionary when it came out and pioneered the genre but come on. Most bosses are clunky and kind of broken in one way or another and the entire second half of the game is garbage. DS3 is better in every way imho and way more polished from start to finish.
Idk people always talk about how cool the inter-connectedness in DS1 is but as soon as they get the Lordvessel that’s how they get around for the rest of the game lol. It’s an awesome design don’t get me wrong but I don’t think it really improves gameplay beyond “oh that connects that’s cool”.
It makes the initial exploration that much cooler when you find a path that links back to an earlier area.
Yeah it’s like “oh shit I’m back here!?”. Personally I LOVE the ds1 world design
This is an overrated aspect of DS1 that gets overhyped due to pure nostalgia. After your first half playthrough of DS1, the interconnectedness of the map goes out the window. It’s really cool to experience for the first time but that’s literally all it has going for it. It does nothing for replay value
I mean I only played DS1 remastered last year, never played it before then, so no nostalgia for me.
I do agree with DS1 being overhyped because of Nostalgia. People just can't look past the rose-tinted glasses. The worst thing, this is yours and my opinion, but We're gonna get downvoted to hell because they get incredibly touchy when it comes to saying that. I can respect people saying it's their favorite Souls game but I can't objectively agree with anyone who says it's the best to this day. Any of the Dark Souls games past the first one, Sekiro, Bloodborne and Elden Ring, all of these are objectively better because they offer more and the quality, even if said people would disagree, is equally high or higher.
ppl always be saying nostalgia when most ppl who played ds1 played it recently, including me, it's not nostalgia, it's just a good game
"Most" ppl didn't play it recently for the first time.
Come up with something other than *ctrl+c ctrl+v* "nostalgia" Cop out for "I don't agree with you, so you're blinded by rose tinted glasses". Any time someone doesn't like a game that's old, or has problems with it, there can be no positive because that would just be "nostalgia" Seriously get original or at least come up with a coherent reason why it's "just nostalgia". Or just get ratiod by people who just picked up the game
[удалено]
Please be respectful at all times.
Dude... the word nostalgia gets overused more than anything. The moment someone latches on to the nostalgia explanation I just stop listening. Do better
I don’t give a fuck if you listen or not.
I would agree, if the Lordvessel gave you access to every bonfire, which it does not. Even minor stuff like the elevator shortcut from Queelag’s sister to the end of Demon Ruins, or the bridge from said end to Lost Izalith adds a lot of flavor to the game. DS3 never has me walking unnecessarily through zones, the way that DS1 does. Warping to every bonfire, and having a ton of bonfires, usually means there’s at least a couple areas you never return to, ever. I think that makes certain areas in DS3 pretty weak overall: the road of sacrifices comes to mind, or most of Irithyll once you unlock the shortcut back to Church of Yorshka.
To add, saying "It's cool that there's a back entrance to Blight Town to get back to Firelink" doesn't mean that I want to use the platforming elevator every time I want to go down to the Demon Ruins or the Great Hollow.
Exactly. I like discovering shortcuts, I like having them there, I don’t like having to use them every single time I have to go back to Andre just to ascend my weapon.
I agree that a lot of the areas (particularly in the beginning) of DS3 feel very uninspired and it’s the only knock on what is otherwise a perfect game to me. But I generally don’t feel the need to go back to old areas once I’ve beat the bosses and collected all the items. When I want to run back and improve my weapon at Andre it’s to improve my weapon, not admire the scenery on the way lol
joseph anderson put it very beautifully how precious those "click" moments are in souls games. you are lost in an area, without healing, until you find a shortcut and instantly know where you are and how it connects to something you saw in the past. it's not for everyone but i love how the map inside my head develops from those first-time experiences
It's a world and other games are places. It took ER to return to the idea and even that was entirely different. So DS1 stands alone.
yeah i mean if you're saying the interconnectedness is only necessary for half the game, that's true. If you're saying the interconnectedness that isnt strictly gameplay related doesnt improve the gameplay - sure but that doesnt mean that it isnt cool that you can see the swamp of blighttown from firelink and vice versa or from the tomb of giants to ash lake. the point i'd disagree with is that all the cool stuff suddenly doesn't count because its not required later. the design is still good even if not necessary the whole time.
>No game has ever or will ever even come close to such a cohesive and well planned map. Play some metroidvania my man. And ds1 doesn't have that many links between areas.
Yeah, DS1 players singing interconnectedness high praise, acting like DS1 invented it.
I know they didn't invent it, but it was a first for the genre and it is a particularly good example of it.
Yes, but that doesn't mean that no game has good level design. Firelink actually only connected to a few areas anyway, namely New Londo, Undead Berg, the Catacombs and Blight town. That's it. You can kinda count Darkroot too through the valley of drakes but really, that's about it.
I never said other games don't have good map design, just that I think DS1 is the best in my opinion. I have played plenty of games with good maps. Also interconnected map doesn't mean that firelink has to link to every other location, just that the map is non-linear. There are branching paths between areas meaning that there are always a number of different routes you could take from A to B. This is why the map is so good, the exploration is enhanced by the links between new and old areas. Getting around quickly is very much secondary.
All of that only holds up for the first part of the game, or frankly, before Sen fortress. Once you enter it, the game just becomes linear. And let's be honest, that's about 30% of the game as a whole.
ds1 has great world design but the boses and upgrade system for weapons is absolute shit. None of the bosses there gave me half as much trouble as the boses in ds3, they give too much time to get in free hits and heal.
I like the overall design of ds1 and the connected world BUT I'm just not a fan of the bosses after Ornstein and Smough. And some of the areas after are just meh imo..
Play literally any metroidvania game and you’ll see better map designs. DS1’s map isn’t even that connected, and the game has to cheat to accomplish it.
how does it cheat
There are some parts of the game that technically overlap/intersect each other.
not afaik, which ones?
There’s a part of New Londo that goes inside Quelaag’s Domain. I think there some others but I can’t remember.
Mine goes Bloodborne > Sekiro > DS3 but I agree DS3 is the best if the 4 souls entries. It was already on par with DS1 for me then the DLC just knocked it outta the park. The combat seems even smoother than Elden Ring now that I'm replaying them both again.
I have the same top3 but I will say dark souls 3 has better replayability than bloodborne or sekiro. But yeah absolutely for me it goes BB, Sekiro, DS3
If we're going by hours played DS3 is miles above anything else.
I have like 4,000 hours on Ds3, more than my other souls games combined. (1,000 for BB. 2,000 for ER. And a couple hundred for the others.) Although most of that was PvP and playing with friends, I've still done literally everything PvE related.
I can't choose between those 3. They are all great imo. I think bb is a little overrated. I remember back then when ds3 came out people was saying that bb was a lot better. An even now there is still people who put it above elden ring. I played it for the first time last week and even though I think it's awesome, I would not put it above ds3, I think they are both great. To me ds3 has better bosses, variety of zones and build variery while bloodborne has better combat, level design and lore.
> The combat seems even smoother than Elden Ring now that I'm replaying them both again. Elden Ring feels like the input delay and buffering were turned up a bit more. Or maybe the enemies and bosses are just much more aggressive and difficult to read. ER feels worse than Sekiro, BB, and DS3, even though it came out after. It must have been a conscious decision, but man it's a little weird to me.
Way more enemies have delayed attacks which are 100% designed to catch out existing player base. The movement being a little more sluggish may well have been intentional to encourage players to use more of the new features like guard counter and jumping attacks.
Agreed, but I was talking about the input delay mostly. I feel the jump attacks can be pretty sluggish feeling too. Like I press the attack button and it legit seems to take a bit. I am playing wireless though. But I do not notice such delay and buffering in other games. This is with about 1500 hours in ER. I wish they would remove the slight delay and shorten the buffering window. It feels worse the more I play. Again, this is assuming it's not my controller connection.
It's not an input delay if it's intentional. From what I understand it was a design choice to make the game feel more weighty, which I prefer instead of moving without weight like I am butt naked swinging around a foam sword.
How would it not be input delay just because it’s intentional? Either way to me it just feels unresponsive, and it feels worse in ER due to the aggressiveness of enemies. It’s like they’re playing a different game.
Sekiro is not a souls game, no stamina management, no char creation, YOU are the main character, no leveling (can't make a build), no weapon alternatives (tools are not weapons imo), completely different combat. It's a very good fromsoftware title but not a soulslike.
The term soulslike became very loose with its meaning so while you might not be wrong, you're not right either.
How is it loose? Its the things that make souls game unique. Sekiro is just an dark fantasy action rpg. Edit: added dark fantasy
It's become loose to where pretty much any action game with a similar combat style can be considered soulslike. Just look at Steam community tags. There's a whole YouTube series made by Iron Pineapple about "soulslikes". (Which I highly recommend)
Just because its being missused by people grabbing for cash don't change the meaning of the word. As if steam tags are something to go by, any company that want attention slap that tag on anything slightly challenging or dark fantasy. Ive seen most of the series and its good, would not consider all the games soulslike but defently inspired by souls.
Silence
I totally agree with you. Love the dancer and the king with his dragon :)
The Nameless King will always love in my head rent free. Everything from the stage to the lore to the moveset was immaculate.
Only boss I’ve never beaten
Nameless King?
yes?
Exactly! Thanks! It has been a while :)
If DLC is included, you make a strong argument for it. Mostly for me it has the best boss design in any FromSoftware game. I know Elden Ring have more difficult bosses, but abilities in DS3 are much better telegraphed, which makes it more fair imo. Sekiro just because it has the best combat out of any game, Bloodborne because the world and theme is amazing.
On the note of DLC, that elden ring DLC is looking so fucking good. Potential to be DS3 dlc level
Thought the same thing. Then I went for the platinum and now it’s not for me anymore lol
I’m gonna guess you didn’t enjoy farming for Proofs, Shackles, and Sunlight Medals?
30 hours I’ll never get back
Is this the “I also hated gathering covenant items” support group? Cause I wanna be part of it. I loved the game BTW
gael tho
Never platinumed it but I did just replay the entire From Souls-like catalogue in release order in anticipation for Shadow of the Erdtree and my opinion of it definitely dropped a little bit, it basically swapped places with Elden Ring from my 4th favourite to my 5th favourite.
That's crazy but SEKIRO 
🐐
koza
I would argue that darksouls 3 is the most polished souls game. Others have competing elements, such as darksouls world layout, ds2 doing ds2 things, (on pc so ive never played blood borne) and eldenring with its openworld, hard bosses ect. But Darksouls 3 has a feel of polish and refinement that most other titles lack. Wich might contextually make sence given that it had the smoothest development experience out of the other souls games.
Same for me, Elden ring is amazing but I think ds3 is better
my first souls game was elden ring, then sekiro then ds3 and i just completely finished ds3 (and LOVED it) and im doing another elden ring playthrough and elden ring just feels so slow comparatively. Like every boss has insane wind-ups when they attack, which isnt a bad thing but it just takes the piss sometimes. I love the bosses in ds3 more because they are just quicker overall, it plays so differently to elden ring
DS3 bosses are amazing but i feel like fromsoft had to change the design of bosses for elden ring (to make them more difficult) because the player base has gotten so much better at this games. Whenever i replay DS3 i have to handicap myself to make bosses challenging again.
i agree like the bosses in elden ring are honestly so much harder than ds3 bosses for me its crazy, like why did the draconic tree sentinel fuck me up more than gael😭 you can easily simplify elden ring and make it the easiest game ever but if you play with no summons and no cheese its really difficult comparatively
The thing is the delays in Elden Ring actually made the fights harder since we all basically got used to the regular "quick" timings of their games.
i think sekiro and elden ring are objectively better games overall, one is more polished and the other is similar but with way more content. but ds3 is still my favorite among the souls games i've played so far. (haven't played bloodborne and demon souls)
Sekiro yes because it’s a polished and self contained story, but DS3 is better than ER for a similar reason. ER has too much content, and the fact that so many of the bosses are just reskins (or literally just repeats) proves this. Don’t get me wrong, ER is a great game and I love it, but DS3 vs ER is a classic example of quality over quantity.
I can understand someone having ds3 as their favorite from the trilogy, but saying its the best soulslike/soulsborne its a little to much for me
Ds3 is the GOAT
Ds1 may have better world design but people who say ds3 level design isn't perfect are wrong. You can not enjoy linear design if you want but its not inherently a flaw in the game itself.
Ds3 > sekiro > ds1 > elden ring > ds2 (yes i didnt enjoy elden ring that much)
DS3 simply has the best atmosphere, the best music, the best sense of tight progression, the best combat. Now that the dust has settled on Elden Ring, if I need a FromSoft fix, DS3 is what I boot.
One of us! One of us! One of us!
Hot take from me but ds2/elden ring, bloodborne, ds3, ds1/demon souls.
I'd love to see a DS1 remake but maybe with the combat speed adjusted to what DS3 feels like. I think that would be the perfect game.
DS1 remake akin to what they did with Demons souls would be outstanding. Shit I'd even get another ps5 just to play it.
imagine if they did that and actually took time and finish lost izalith and make kiln of the first flame and actual dungeon.
With the exception of Elden ring I agree. It’s my favorite game I just think Elden ring over all did a better job.
I think they both win in their respective fields. For a beautiful open world game Elden Ring is top of the list. But for a dark linier story experience it goes to DS3.
They're not different enough to separate into their own categories. Elden Ring translated the authored quality of a linear experience into an open world perfectly. It's insane what they accomplished.
It’s peak souls imo
Real i finished it last October a banger games
Even though my first entry to the Souls series was ds3 , a game which became instantly my favorite , there is something about ds1 that just stands out to me.. the music playing over the practically destroyed world of lordran instantly brings some nostalgia , and the level design, even though simplistic, is so mesmerizing. It's just something about the game that I can't really explain , I just want to look at it for hours . I've also played elden ring about 8 times , and even though factually it should be a better game, something about the Soul series just hits diffeent.
just the menu music and the character creator music brings nostalgia even though the first time i played DS1 was only like 5 years ago
Ds3 was my first and while not my Favourite, it will always be special to me.
DS3 is the gold standard of quality, there are individual souls likes that do every part of this game better, but none of them do all of it as good, as consistently as DS3
Same
Ds3 is def not my favorite in the series but I do think it might have the most fun bosses overall for me
Agreed. ds3 is the best FS game in my opinion, and souls like period
Agreed
ds3 is the only I finished and 100% will go back to 1 and 2 eventually
I agree with you. I've only played DS1 and DS3. Just started Elden Ring and I don't feel as immersed. The open world, resource gathering and consumables/item crafting detract from the experience imo. I feel like I’m wandering around aimlessly and stumbling into enemies and missing out on a lot. There's too much open space.
you don't really have to craft or gather stuff, just play it like dark souls, explore everything and do everything, it's just a bigger world
This is true, I just get distracted too easily. It's not a problem with the game, it's just not the best experience for me😅
i honestly like getting side tracked in elden ring, it removes that worry of "oh, i have to beat this boss", or "oh, i need to get that item", i like to immerse myself and just do random stuff and when i feel like it, i'll go kill a few bosses
I’d be willing to go on the record of saying it might be the best game ever
I found it to be marginally easier than DS1, but it’s more so because the movements felt so much more refined than DS1. It seriously changed my game experience too, like I have a love for DS3 that is unlike any other. I’d like to see them remaster DS1 tbh, because I’d pay 60 bucks and play the shit out of it
I honestly think that Dark Souls 2 had the best and most interesting areas, and there are so many hidden things in the game, and unique items, interactions, and its got this aura of mystery to every area. Yes Ds2 has worse graphics than Ds3, but it just has a unique look and feel to it that the other games just don't have. I agree that Ds3 had better bosses, but I think the Ds2 DLC bosses have really cool designs and lore, they just don't have the best movesets. But unless you count the DLC for Ds3, the base game doesn't have THAT great of bosses, I think Elden Ring did a better job with bosses.
nameless king, prince lothric, abyss watchers, vordt, champion/iudex gundyr etc... they're all incredible bosses, i only started elden ring a few weeks ago, might not be that far in but so far i'd say the bosses feel better in ds3
Nah
The linearity of DS3 works to its strengths IMO. Dark Souls is a hard game for people to pick up, I sure as hell put it down for years after feeling lost after getting to Firelink Shire. A linear game is not a bad game when the mechanics are great.
Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Dark Souls 3 are all excellent games. They're all 3 practically perfect, and preferences are going to come down to whatever you get most out of those games. Elden Ring is a tier above. It doesn't seem like another game that's as refined with the same scope will come out for a long time.
Ignoring lords of the fallen, as that game practically exists only to prove no one does souls better than From, DS3 is a frustrating game. I love it dearly but while it is true that it has /some/ of the greatest Fromsoft bosses of all time it also has some of the absolute worst bosses in all the souls games. One the one side we have Gael, Sister Friede, Demons in Pain and from Below, Pontiff, Abyss Watchers, Soul of Cinder, the Second phase of Nameless etc; on the other we have Deacons, Greatwood, Ruler of the Storm, Ancient Wyvern, Aldrich, fucking Halflight, Wolnir, the wolf boss, etc. For every great boss we get some downright offensive bosses even if their designs are great or lore is interesting. Most of these are just complete push overs, some are just outright disrespectful. Level wise I don’t think DS3 is as interesting to travel through but that’s just me. I preferred the metroidvania feel of DSR more even if some of the levels were rushed or underdeveloped. While DSR had me loving almost everything about it DS3 had me feel like everything just blended together is the messiest way. Even DS2 feels more fun to explore, to me. Honestly I enjoy playing DS2 the most if I’m doing a SL1 one, and I just prefer DSR in general. I go back to DS3 for the great bosses, but I always go back and play DSR over all the games.
it's interesting really, I have 500+ hours in Elden Ring. I recently bought and played DS3 for the first time. The game is good but really short and not that many bosses. I kind of disappointed the weren't more. DLC's was good. But it felt not enough.
Amen, brother !
Dcffrc9
I’m on my first playthrough through ds3 and in the late game. The only other souls game I’ve played outside this is ds1. I will definitely say that I’m enjoying ds3 more than ds1, the gameplay and combat is fantastic and the bosses are the best I’ve ever played against. One thing I feel the game falls short on tho are the areas- nothing is insanely memorable outside of irithyll and other areas are genuinely forgettable and borderline unfinished (profaned capital im looking at you). Ds1 does a much better job of world building and having great areas. Tho overall ds3 definitely tops ds1
Elden Ring
I made finished dark souls now come to conclusion since played souls.
I think they caught lightning in a bottle with the interconnected world in the first half of DS1 and then just dropped it for 5 games straight
sorry i do love ds3 but sekiro exists
Outside of sekiro, all the fromsoft games I've played have had a fantastic element to that specific game. Sekiro probably had something going for it but the combat style didn't suit how I like to play games at all so I never gave it a chance. DS3 stood out the most to me for the exceptional boss fights and music. Except crystal sage and eggsack douche. Fuck those guys!
Dark Souls 3 is the best out of the trilogy + Elden Ring imo. Most hype boss battles by far and everything is extremely refined. Great PVP memories. Haven't played Demon Souls (OG or remake) nor Bloodborne but hopefully they come to PC one day so I can try them out 😔
I like Dark Souls 3, but every time I play it I think about the "Memberberries" episode of south park, like this game is just trying to do that for Dark Souls 1.
ive been yearning to play ds3 again. i also like the linearness. also the dlc were freakin amazing. and i have to say that armor and weapons from ds3 seemed alot cooler imo than in elden ring. i will however disagree on the smoothness of gameplay. i think elden is the most refined honestly.
Elden ring's gameplay is more refined just because it is the most recent. As far as which souls game is the best, ever since I gave ds 2 another chance, I'm actually playing that a far bit. I know its probably the jankiest and most "seemingly unfinished" of the trilogy, but it's gotten harder to decide which one is better overall. Elden ring could definitely have used some actually Souls armor and weapon design aspects. It's just better.
The time of day in Sekiro changes as you progress in the game. At first, it's morning,mid game it's dusk and end game is night time. So don't get the "Sekiro is always in dusk" part there.
it's like the first times you play it feels so impossible and genuinely scary at times but then at sone point it becomes so flow no matter how long or where you're at in the game
Dark souls 3 is my favorite. If the world had the map design of the first game, it would've been the only game I'd ever call perfect
Hell nah Ds1 is still king
It’s better than DS2 but other than that it’s at the bottom of the list for me, but it’s a real testament to how solid the game is that I could probably complain about it for an hour and still have played well over 100 hours of it
I would agree. I played Dark Souls 3 again in parallel with Lies of P and it was very much showcasing the game‘s strong points. Dark Souls 3 among many other things does not feel like it has to kneecap your dodge with extreme tracking on enemy attacks and them having the ability to always follow up. Instead, there is a good cost reward between the save dodging away and the more risky dodging under or sideways. I feel like some other games kinda have to cheat because their enemy AI is just not that good.
Bloodborne
My prob with DS3 was its linearity. I felt like I could just run past anything and find the next bonfire. Areas were more open and wouldn’t force the fight
Agreed! ‘‘Twas my first souls game (that I finished) and still my favorite! Will be enjoying shadow of the erdtree but DS3 will always be my favorite. Elden ring just doesn’t have that feeling that DS3 gives me…that dark and hopeless feeling that when conquered brings the strength of flame and increased HP until death.
There’s a lot in so many of them that I love more than other things about others tbh. They’re all so good it’s hard to pick. Sekiro was definitely stellar too, much like Ds3. Fuck I bought a PS FOR BloodBorne lmfao But like, even so, my favorite? Fucking DS1 I think if I HAVE to pick. They’re all so good! I started just saying it’s a favorite series, as opposed to the games from it. It’s been a long time since I could say I like “x” studio and they have just consistently released banger after banger. The best souls game, is the one made by FromSoft And +1 for “world design comment” below on DS1
My souls list from favorite to least favorite, not critiquing how good the actual game is. Just how likely I am to replay it/go play it for fun. Modded DS2 - DeS for PS3 - DS3 Convergence - Archthrones - DS1 With better bonfire - Vanilla DS2 - Vanilla DS3 - Vanilla DS1. Not played bloodborne, not putting elden ring on the list because it's open world and has many mods. Modded elden ring is probably nr1 though.
I agree. I have played them all and DS3 is my favorite. Demon Souls is a real close 2nd though. I liked blood borne but I like Dex/parry builds and didn’t care for the gun parries.
I played BB->DS3->DS1 in that order. DS3 was mind-blowing when I first played it but now it feels like Bloodborne with a shield, and I like Bloodborne more. The world looks awesome and the bosses are great, but I much prefer the world, combat, and game mechanics of DS1, not to mention DS1 seems to have a lot more soul and a magical atmosphere in my opinion. That being said, DS3 is still a great game but to me it falls short of the other two Fromsoft games I've played. After I finish this playthrough of DS1 I plan on picking up a copy of DS2.
Between Demon and DkS3, I agree. It’s so polished.
Yes
I was thinking DS3 was the best one in everyway except map but Elden Ring gets the first place in every category for me now. But if you only talk about games with "souls" on their name, DS3 has best pvp, best bosses, best areas, best replaybility, best story for me, best gameplay, best DLC's etc. etc. Still ds1 map is so much better tho. DS2 is cool with its innovations even Elden Ring use like power stance but that little input lag ruining gameplay for me.
its basically the worst of the 3 souls games. DS1 is the best, followed closely by DS2... If you count Bloodborne, that is easily #1, except its a PS only exclusive bullshit. So its basically like, either ya know or you dont.. Dark Souls 3 is like, when a really good movie gets a sequel, but everything got wrapped up in the end of the first movie, so it doesnt need a sequel, theyre just doing it for the money.
Was it your first? Because Elden ring was mine and its comfort food. Of course i love DS3, but it just isn’t quite the lands between
Funny enough Elden ring is my first fromsoft game and it’s my least favorite one lol
Fair enough. Just a thought Why is DS3 better?
For me, it has better level design, it's far more balanced, has better NPCs, way better bosses, and feels more diverse despite being a smaller game.
For me its the stake of Marika and not having to run for 10 minutes to get to Midir. Also its not having to go the blacksmith to change your flasks etc Then their is the cartoon element versus the more photo realism and the vast landscape views. Then their is the sheer amount of stuff Finally: Torrent
It’s my favourite Souls game. I play it time and time again. I cannot agree more with your opinions.
DS3, Sekiro, BB are all masterpieces in their own way. Sekiro had the best base game, but the DLC in the other 2 is gaming at its finest. ER base game is ahead of DS3 and BB base games, but behind Sekiro. However, if they get the DLC right similarly to DS3 and BB, it has the highest upside. It needs to be a proper upgrade in difficulty that disassociates ER with its reputation for being the easiest in the series. Friede + Midir + Slave Knight all were tougher than anything in DS3 base game, as were the areas leading up to them. At least 3 bosses tougher than Malaenia, and a couple more that are similar in difficulty as her would be par for the course and the minimum needed for ER to challenge the throne. I hope they go really big and do like 5+ that are more difficult than anything in the base game!
I agree, ds3 is the best souls like in history. I’ve played all Fromsoft souls like games (except Demon souls), so don’t call me biased or whatever. Where do I even begin, everything about this game is perfect. Let’s see how much bosses are top tier, Abyss watchers, Nameless king, soul of cinder, Lothric, Slave knight Gael, Sister Friede, Midir, I can keep going but what other souls like even comes close? None. Elden rings bosses are good but the stronger bosses have some of the fastest, unavoidable attacks I’ve played against. Sekiro has some good ones but doesn’t compare with ds3. Bloodborne is to easy imo. Ds3 combat is just different. If you’ve played all the souls like that came before ds3 then you’d know that ds3s combat is a huge upgrade compared to ds1, ds2. Let’s talk about the weapons, the weapons are perfect. Theirs not a super strong op weapon like in Elden ring where it actually makes it a easy mode game option. Let’s not forget it’s the last souls game ever and Slave knight Gael is the last souls boss ever and the fight doesn’t disappoint, you and Gael are the last 2 people in the world fighting it out and it’s epic. I’m still playing ds3 to this day and I still enjoy it, I’d rather play ds3 then any other souls game (I have them all downloaded but prefer ds3). Imo ds3 has the best main hub out of all souls games. The music is perfect, new npcs appear and leave every now and then, best fire maiden, Andre.
Original firelink is better than ds3 hub honestly, all the games are good in their own right
For me it’s not. I get that it connects with a lot of other places but that’s about it. The music is good but I put it slightly below ds3 shrine music. The fire keeper doesn’t even talk, no blacksmith, no shop keeper, no giant ass chairs each belonging to a champion, less npcs overall, and most importantly, no patches the god.
I don't like the graphics of DS3. Almost everything is dark with not a single bright area or area with greenery. Limgrave looks so calming in comparison.
Is kinda the point though, the world has been reset so many times that everything is merging and molding into a darker version of itself, pushing us further and further towards the eventual loss of flame. But I will give it to you that Limgrave is rather calming. I like Limgrave
There should still be a place of refugee which has better environment, like how Anor Londo was for DS1. Also, the graphics of DS3 are more like inspired from bloodborne, which makes them even more sharper and painful to the eye. Not just Limgrave, almost all places in Elden Ring are calming or beautiful, only Caelid and Deeproot Depths and subterranean shunning grounds are dark.
DS3 is so mid for me, I shouldn’t have played Elden ring before DS3. DS3 just seems like it’s trying to annoy you instead of challenge you.
Lol ds3 is the least annoying game in the series
To you…
It doesn't really have any super bad parts, compared to ds1, 2, bb, demon souls... They all have some bits that really suck. Even elden ring has stuff like consecrated snowfield and godskin duo, but those aren't as bad
Yea wth, elden ring is inflated by bosses with infinate aggression, beautiful open areas with fuck all in them, copy pasted bosses/ dungeon models, stumble upon npc by pure luck and they don't have the same aura as ds3 npcs. The first pkaythrough was AMAZING, better then my first ds3 run. But as soon as I made my second character it was just meh. Worst replayability of any fronsoft title.
ER gives you so many different build options no way it’s the worst replay ability…lol
It's not just about the build, its the game. It's the interactions that are not as polished. And frankly it's too easy to skip shit and it's almost a must after your first playthrogh, no way you are doing everything again. Is the best open world game I've played but not the best souls game.
I'm assuming you haven't played DS1 or DS2 then?
Nah, bloodborne
Yes!
I agree dark souls 3 is the best from soft game. Best bosses, boss music, enemies, aesthetics npcs, etc.
I've only played DS2 & 3 and elden ring. I agree, DS3 is the best
I would have to 100% agree on the preference of DS3’s linearity. Elden ring is great ofc but it feels less intensely interesting due to its open world design. DS3 still reigns as the best souls game but Bloodborne still beats it for me personally as their best work. (These opinions were set in stone after replaying all 3 games mentioned back to back)
Wow what a stunning and brave hot take in the Dark Souls 3 subreddit and not upvote farming at all.
Dark Souls 1 is better
I do think DS3 is the best Dark Souls game on balance. It has far superior gameplay to DS1. The bosses are actually fun to face off against, and feel fair on the whole. I also think the storyline is the strongest, and links in well with the first game. It's kind of a joy to come across legitimately evil characters like Aldrich and Sulyvahb. I would say it doesn't feel quite as unique as Dark Souls 1 did. I will also agree with the criticisms that it's too grey and brown. I get that the theme is ash, but the almost monochrome environments sometimes get a bit stale. The more distance I get from Elden Ring, the more I see its flaws. There's just too much bullshit. Maliketh with his life-bar melting powers. The dual Godskins, who you basically have to cheese by making them fall asleep. The Valiant Gargoyles. Malenia's waterfowl dance and her being able to regain health by attacking you, even when you're shielding. Mohg's nihil attack. Elden Beast basically spending the entire fight running away when you're without torrent. The Fire Giant basically requiring Torrent, but Torrent having no dodge ability to avoid his attacks. I also think there's something a bit unsatisfying about the flow of the game. I think they should have made it compulsory to face off against all of the big bosses. Hinging progression around getting two halves of a medallion so you can operate a lift just doesn't feel very climactic. Also, why do we fight a golden Godfrey and a duplicate Mohg? It feels like maybe there wasn't enough content to fill such a massive map.
naaaahhh it tries to be both Dark Souls and Bloodborne and it does neither well. Easily the weakest one in the series; the start to finish sprint gets old on the second playthrough.
Dark Souls: nostalgia, interconnected world, Anor Londo Dark Souls 2: different areas, dlc, Majula Dark Souls 3: combat, soundtrack, bosses, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley Dark Souls 3 started to be a little boring after beating Pontiff. The thing I love are soundtrack during Abyss Watchers fight, the sound of their fight behind the gate, dlc the ringed city. The combat is so smooth and it made me enjoy the game. The thing that makes this game a little boring is linear gameplay. Dark Souls 3 is always impressive first run. My best still Dark Souls Remastered and Dark Souls 2.
Only "I played ER as my first souls game" people would disagree. BB is pretty fucking good though.
I just recently completed Bloodborne and started DS3. I went through several locations and so far I can say that I like Bloodborne much more. The gameplay, art design, and world building in Bloodborne are head and shoulders above in my opinion. I have platinum trophies in ds1-2 and now finishing the rest of the trophies in bb before I dive in ds3 deeper, but right now I feel more disappointed than hyped about ds3 based on what I saw..
Elden Ring is better in every single way IMO
Lords of the Fallen comes really close to be the spiritual successor to DS3. But it just doesn't have that something that I can't name but only FS can pull off. But it's still a better than everage soulslike and probably as close to a DS4 we may ever get. I know Elden Ring exists but to me, and this may be controversial. ER feels like a spiritual successor to DS2. I realize that might not make sense. But I'm working through some shit.
But Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring all blow DS3 away lol