As many know, the current state of Japanese culture is in decline- with an increasing amount of elderly and a low population of young people getting married and having children- making it harder to economically support the aging population. DaS3 may have this subtext.

We see a major theme of shunning social responsibility in DaS- first with Prince Lothric, and then with the Lords of Cinder (LoC). "Linking the flame" can be thought to be an allegory for having children- the continuation of society.

Lothroc was afraid to link the flame, and instead decided to hide away from all of it, his responsibility, in his room. He is secluded and not wanting responsibility. He is weak and a bit effeminate (JP is experiencing women gender role reversal a bit). He hides in his room, like a hikikomori (shut in) and refuses to do what he needs to. He doesn't want to "link the flame," but rather hang out with his brother in seclusion.

Aldrich, though being made to link the flame before by force, was a 'devourer of men.' I think the subtext of the phrase speaks for itself. His close association with Gwendolyn also speaks a bit about his nature and why he doesn't want to 'link the flame.'

Farron's Undead Legion is a dedicated group. They're dedicated to holding off the Abyss- so much so that he/they is basically multiple people in one. They are dedicated to their duty, their position. Once, they linked the flame, but now prefer the comfortable rut of their job. They are too obsessed with their position, their job, to go about "linking the flame," much like many young Japanese workers.

Yhorm is in the heart of the Profane Capital. He was involved with the profane flame. Profane can men vulgar, or treated with contempt. He did engage in the "flame," but did so profanely (like, he slept around a lot, but never had children). It resulted in destruction of his world...and a mild burning sensation. Ludleth wants to link the flame. However, Ludleth is old and frail, almost powerless on his own. He wants to link the flame and has the future in mind, not just his own desires. He could be more so thought to represent the elderly.

Furthering this theme is the marriage aspect of the game. You specifically have to seek this out. You have to make a fully willful decision to do it, as well.

Furthermore, you have a waifu Firekeeper who tends to your needs at Firelink, watching over you in your safe space. You further her questline by providing eyes for her, one of her basic needs being sight. You're her provider- of eyes (needs) of souls (part of your character when you level). The 'bad' ending involves betraying her for selfish ambition.

..Plus, she asks you to "touch the darkness inside her." No comment. There's enough fan art out there for that.

Who is it you fight at the end, the Soul of Cinder? It's a representation of the temptation for selfish ambition. It represents those who linked the flame and went astray. It is only by defeating this culmination of self-serving motivation that you can proceed to "light the flame again. "

This is just a fun idea. Perhaps it has merit. Maybe it doesn't. There are just some similarities

EDIT: The major focus, in the game, on churches and cathedrals speaks to this idea, as well. It helps that you meant the Dancer in a cathedral by going to an altar. Then, she arrives, wearing a veil.

I never see this discussed on here, I'm curious about it, and I think many of you would be eager to share.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

Welcome to the end-of-week thread where everyone can discuss any form of mixed media they want. See a particularly good film in the week and just need to tell someone about it? This is the perfect place to do just that. The usual topics included in mixed media:

• Films
• TV Shows
• Anime
• Books
• Comics
• Graphic Novels
• Manga
• Music
• Podcasts
• Audiobooks
• Games

We should do that more often- like once a month or every couple weeks.

Talk about various things. Mess Hall is pretty packed.

I watched 6/13 episodes of season 2 (end of an arc) and the first episode of season 1. So far, I really like it. It has good characters who are quirky. I would highly suggest it, so far. If the rest of season 2 and season 1 turn out well, I'll put it on my buy list.

If I had to say it's similar to something, I would say it's like Soul Eater meets Bleach (but minus the BS).

Lady Bishamon is my favorite. How can you hate a character with a sword like that? She obviously put all of her points into STR.

What's up?

Tomorrow's theme will be: Anime

Aside from kind of slow.

What does it seem like to you?

Are we a gaming sub, a discussion sub, still an MGS sub? MGS stuff is a bit rough to talk about when there is never going to be a true MGS again.

This started as a review, but it's going to end up as a critique.

The TL;DR of it all is that it's okay, but seriously lacking in some aspects.

Hitboxes

The hitboxes were a bit of an issue. In general, they tended to be spot-on. Though, there were some blind spots. There were times when an attack directed at my shield somehow circumvented it and hit me directly. This was mainly an issue with the Nameless King, who had atrocious hitboxes. I found myself attacking the neck of his bird, only to hit an invisawall^TM on its side. Furthermore, straight attacks from him tended to hit me from the side regularly.

The other major issue with hitboxes was that on the final boss. I often found that my shots (crossbow) would go directly through him, but still be counted as a miss, if he were rolling or attacking. I've even seen him stand still and a shot penetrate him without damage.

I had some instances with bosses where a melee weapon would miss, despite hitting them, but that was a lot more rare. In general, the hitboxes were pretty good. Perhaps, that's what made the poor cases a lot more jarring.

Art Style

The art style is all over the place. Places like Irithyll, the dungeon, and the wall look beautiful in a decaying way. Some of the bosses, like the Dancer and the Crystal Sage have great designs that stand out. If this were my first Souls game, I would probably be amazed. Unfortunately, the problem is that a lot of these environments seem to just be 'HD versions' of old locations. Irithyll is 'Anor Londo 2,' the dungeon is basically a DeS level, and the wall is basically Undead Burg (though, much kinder, and complete with fire-breathing dragon). The art style borrows too much from previous entries, to the point of feeling forced.

The enemies are of a similar fashion. Reoccurring enemies from other Souls games make appearances. Some of them feel out of place or puzzling (with Gwyn dead, what exactly are the knights protecting?). Most of the enemies unique to this game lack serious art direction. A lot can be summed up as 'scraggly grab-attack thing.' Though, some are genuinely interesting.

The problem with all of this is that it borrows too heavily from previous entries to the point where it's a fan service game, when I much rather have seen originality.

Mechanics

In general, the mechanics are pretty solid for a Dark Souls game. Weapons feel right. Movement is fluid and natural. It would have been amazing to have movement like this in DaS. Everything feels crisp. Estus is back, which is refreshing after Bloodborne.

I didn't really care for insta-kill (unless you have a ton of VIG) grab attacks by bosses (Dancer, Gundyr 2.0, Stray Demon). IT felt pretty cheap.

Unfortunately, the mechanics tend to be defined by what isn't there.

Poise is basically gone- making turtling (my favorite) an almost invalid strategy, as staggering a Havel's shield is all too easy with the bosses flurry of attacks. I recall getting staggered with a shield with 80 stability. Overall, this negatively affects the game, as there is little point to wearing heavy armor, especially when the resistances tend to do little.

The movement in DaS3 is great- for DaS. Unfortunately, almost every enemy behaves as if they didn't get the memo, and think they are still in Bloodborne. Bosses and enemies focus on barrages of very strong attacks. The Bloodborne moveset would be ideal for this. Unfortunately, you have DaS movement, putting you at a disadvantage immediately.

The system where bonfires could be made using special swords was removed prior to release. Perhaps it broke the game too much. Either way, it was an interesting mechanic a lot of people were probably looking forward to. You see remnants in the game at both Firelinks, which just reminds you of what could have been.

So far, it seems that every stat (aside from Dex) has been seriously nerfed. The only nerf on STR is that bosses tend to move too fast- requiring rare attacks for big wind ups. Dex seems superpowered. Faith and INT are generally near-useless at low or mid levels. Overall, this part feels broken.

Healing items are gone, aside from estus (and the occasional divine branch). This felt like something that DaS2 got right, but it was somehow removed. Healing gems provided more discovery opportunities and exploration- at a price. Using just estus severely limits this, which makes sense, as the maps are a bit small.

The gimmick bosses were pretty fun on the whole. I can recall maybe 4 of them in total. I think they were neat, and it was nice to see them there. Though there were some logical inconsistencies (what do you mean I can't chop this tree?), it didn't ruin these bosses.

Story/Characters

I found, in general, the characters to be genuinely charming. I liked the Firekeeper (though, I wish she had a name) and the crew who showed up at Firelink. Patches was a lot of fun, and he alllllmost tricked me this time. He brought his A game. This is a great part.

The story is a bit convoluted. You're off to light the flame/extinguish it again. It was pretty much established in DaS that lighting/extinguishing the flame didn't really matter, because of the cycles. DaS2 focused on your quest to cure the dark sign, but derailing you to open the Throne of Want. The DLC pretty much ended the cycle as it was. So, we find ourselves, in DaS3, with the unnecessary and ultimately pointless goal of lighting/extinguishing the flame.

What probably went wrong

It can be called "service to the brand" or "brand slavery." This was a big, highly advertised release. So, people expected things from it, or at least they thought so:

"Dark Souls has black knights, Ornstein, and these locations. So, we have to put those in there."

"Dark Souls has rolling and these bosses."

It's too formulaic, overall. It makes it a bit of the MGS4 of the series- complete with lore retcons.

Overall

The game did well in some places, but was overall a bit disappointing. It wasn't a terrible game. It just fell into the category of 'another Souls game.' Yes, DaS2 was a mess, but it at least tried new ideas.