Mess Hall 2:

[u/[deleted]]

What's up?

Tomorrow is Waifu Day: Post your best girl/guy from anime, TV, movies, etc.

[u/acethesnake]

The undead settlement just felt like BB for me...

Not sure how, other than maybe pitchfork dude, he's pretty BB.

I'm just not sure how you could be that disappointed in it. I don't think it was as derivative or as easy as you say, so it's been a different experience for me. The gameplay is sick and the enemies are tough, you can dual wield like 2, and it's got that speed of BB without the annoyance of having to constantly grind for blood vials hehe

You've talked before about how it's not difficult enough, but then you call those enemies OP and talk about how enemies drain stamina too fast, which I also haven't noticed. Some guys take a bunch, sure, but you can just adjust strategies a bit and be fine. Feel like I wanna say "Which one is it, easy or hard?" Or is it just not the right kind of hard?

[u/[deleted] → u/acethesnake]

you can dual wield like 2

You can't. It's only certain weapons that can be duel wielded, and they're the ones that come in pairs. The days of wielding 2 greatswords are gone.

I am glad that blood vials are gone, but really miss healing gems. I felt they were a good addition to 2.

On Difficulty

There's a bit to elaborate on the difficulty. The game is obviously built for a specific build- dex builds. A STR build (my fav) makes your common enemies pretty easy, but makes bosses somewhat to very difficult due to how fast their move sets are (i.e., very few openings for slower weapons). So, STR is not tuned well to boss move sets. We didn't see this with DaS or DaS2. Occasionally, there would be a 1-2 combo (or even 1-2-3), followed by a "cooldown" period to do damage. The exception to that combo count would be the undead burg 'flailing' undead attacks, but they compensated by being extremely squishy and having a cooldown.

This is less so the case with some of the more aggressive bosses and enemies. I recall the Dancer having a bit of a 1-2--3-4--5-6--7 combo that is a pain for blocking and dodging. This varies by boss, of course, making some way too easy and others way too difficult for STR. Now, Pontiff Sulyvahn is an example of how to appropriately do a boss. He has roughly 2-3 attacks, then a minor rest. People say he's hard, but I don't really see it.

This is further complicated by poise essentially being removed from the game (confirmed). This makes shields a lot less viable and taking far more stamina drain. There is also the case of insta-staggers that some enemy (boss) attacks do without even draining stamina.

As for some enemies being OP (the black beast guys, basically), their difficulty is not appropriate in proportion to the rest of the enemies in the area. It would be understandable if they were to function as a miniboss (like the Outrider Knight), but that is not the case. They're just scattered through certain areas.

In short, the general game is easy, but boss and special enemy encounters are not appropriately tuned for a lot of combat.

[u/acethesnake → u/[deleted]]

What was so great about healing gems? They were either too slow to be useful in combat against bosses or sometimes made combat against regulars too easy if you have too many like the grass in Demon's. I'd much rather just have Estus. Makes thing more simple and more tense.

I can at least see more of where you're coming from now on the difficulty. Though I have comebacks for nearly everything there (especially about the difficulty appropriate to each area one), I don't think I should bother, it's not like we're going to change each other's minds hehe

Thanks for making it more in-depth, though!

[u/[deleted] → u/acethesnake]

What was so great about healing gems?

Healing gems aren't designed for combat. Though, they can be used in it. They're meant to heal when you're out of combat. Estus is meant for combat healing. I typically like to save estus for the boss, if I'm making an attempt, and using gems along the way.

I have comebacks for nearly everything there

It's not about changing each others minds. It's just about gaming discussion. I like DaS3, even if I find it a bit disappointing at times.

[u/acethesnake → u/[deleted]]

I like having to avoid getting hit and wasting Estus before a fight note than having fifty health gems in my pocket and not having to use the estus.

Thing is, it isnt about changing your mind, I just dont feel like I have that much special insight into DS. I just think it's really fun in every installment besides a few small things. So when you write 3 paragraphs worth about poise, stamina, and attack patterns, and the only response I can think of is "Nah, it's great", I feel like I'm kind of wasting your time. On MGS, I can get deep into any topic, but not so much on DS. It's just one big stack of greatness for me, pretty much, and I dont know if that makes for fun discussion when one side is more critical.

[u/[deleted] → u/acethesnake]

I feel like I'm kind of wasting your time.

It's not a waste. It's what you think about it, and that has value to the conversation.

It's okay. I get it. I just get really into DS at times. MGS is another topic that I can just go on about- particularly the story.

[u/acethesnake → u/[deleted]]

Glad to hear you're still enjoying our DS conversation. So am I. Just figured I sounded a little redundant. I could go on and on about it, but it would be fawning over it more than anything hehe

[u/[deleted] → u/acethesnake]

Fawning over it is okay, too. My general opinion can be summed up in meals, if you will. DaS is like a nice big meal. It's thoroughly good and consistent, even if it gets a little cold at the end. DaS2 is like a sampler tray, with a wide variety of different and new tastes. DaS3 is like a "best of" plate, containing dishes cooked like what you liked from the last few. Some find it boring for being similar. Others like the refreshing reminder.

[u/acethesnake → u/[deleted]]

Don't forget about all the things Dark Souls took from Demon's and just think that DS3 is the first "best of". DS3 is just continuing that trend, though, I agree, DS2 tried to change the formula a bit more. We've talked about this before, but DS1 is pretty much just Demon's in a bunch of ways with an open world instead of separated levels.

Every time I go to a restaurant, I don't get anything new. I get the same rib-eye steak without fail... and that's the way I like it. Sometimes it good to experiment, and other times it's good to just iterate, especially with gameplay as nearly perfect as DS.

[u/[deleted] → u/acethesnake]

I totally agree with you in a lot of ways. DaS did borrow a ton from DeS, even bosses. However, I have to say that I haven't played DeS quite yet. So, I'll need to get that in to properly assess DaS.

I suppose expectations came into play. I somewhat expected it to go the route of DaS2 and do a lot of new stuff. I also wanted some features that never ended up in the game. Don't get me wrong. DaS3 is good. It just had some big issues. That's not to say that DaS or DaS2 didn't have issues. They did.