Quick Look: Dark Souls III

Having played through most of this game on the 1.00 version on the Xbone (lots of frame drops in various areas, the Xbone patch didn't release until I had already beaten the game once), I can't wait to play the PC version at glorious 60 fps and high resolutions. That being said, this game is probably up there in terms of my favorite souls games.

It is pretty easy actually. While i did not watch the video it makes sense to have the option to fireball some stuff if you happen to need it later.

The enemy design definitely looks more like bloodborne than dark souls

So i can't make a full mage character?other then that the game looks amazing.

"Well? What is it?" confirmed. Okay, Dark Souls, you win this round.

Yeah, don't think anyone knows yet. If you get the game & figure it out, post back please.

I'm kind of surprised at how much this reminds me of Bloodborne. It might be just confirmation bias, and I know it's built on the Bloodborne engine, but nearly everything about the enemy and environment design in this quicklook feels very Bloodborne, especially how tall and thin most of the enemies seem to be.

It could be a case of the past Souls games being more barren for technical reasons, but this feels uncharacteristically overgrown.

Also, I could be imagining it, but it feels like you have way more stamina? I liked Bloodborne a lot, but I always preferred Dark Souls for it's more methodically paced combat and dark-fantasy aesthetic.

Either way, all aboard the hype train.

"I am a big fan of thrusting." - Jason Oestreicher, 2016

Steam won't let me download this game until 6pm my time so this will do!

"I thought killing the leveling NPC always gives you something cool...wait, she respawns?"

Brad, there have been FOUR of these games, you've played all of them at least a little, the leveling NPC drop has happened ONCE. It's been more common that they've respawned.

Played a pure melee build from start to finish on Xbone 1.00 without encountering much trouble. Can't speak for full magic builds however.

Some excellent Brad Shoemaker-isms in this quick look. I wouldn't have it any other way.

@ntm: He played through Demon's souls for the site and platinum'd Bloodborne for the site in the Breaking Bradborne series. The opinion of the Soulsborne games have definitely been on every end of the spectrum since Demon's Souls with the duders, but there's no denying Brad's Souls prowess.

Gonna go ahead and ignore the brad hateathon thats most definitely happening in these comments.

Is pyromancy really considered a low skill class? I feel like that notion just steams from fat rollers tendency to overrely on Iron Flesh in DS1, otherwise it seems just like the other caster classes in this game.

Looking forward to watching this in a few days!

Don't heave your boulders in public shared spaces.

Must... not... buy... now....

@brad: I wouldn't really say reviews of this one have been 'mixed' so far: http://opencritic.com/game/1520/dark-souls-iii

I totally agree with you on the iteration though. I really don't like rehashes of content at all. That's also one of DSII's big problems. If you're going to bring something back at least put a cool twist on it and subvert expectations.

I'm really enjoying this and the East coast stream. Definitely makes it way more fun then ignoring everything related to the game.
Love seeing Jason on QLs.

...and now i have it preloading. the cycle begins anew.

This game is great! That is all.

@hassun: But Hassun! The Stray Demon is all rocky now! I mean sure he has the exact same attack patterns as all three identical Stray Demons you fought in DS1 but...but he us rock skin! It's ...it's fan service I'm not listening lalalala.

@radiance1990: The bigger question is why he un-equipped the ring you get when you start a pyromancer that boosts your pyromancies.

Can't wait to get stuck in...though it will be at least a week before I'm able to pick this up. This is the worst problem anyone has ever had!

I love that Brad just destroyed his save right there at the end.

Is where you fight the Stray Demon here supposed to be the same place you fought the Taurus Demon from Dark Souls? I had a strong sense of "wait, this is the wrong boss" watching that.

edit: Nevermind, I looked up a video and that was a smaller, curved wall. I'm just noticing the "big monster on top of wall near tower" aspect of it.

Looking forward to watching this in a few days.

@humanity:

@newhuman: No, you just answered that. Interesting, I had no idea that, that happened. Thanks.

My body is ready, again.

@themaintank: Yeah, that totally passed me by. Cool, thanks. Oh, and what'd he think about the game?

I'm considering playing this game offline, I don't like the PvP invasion mechanic and I never have. I'll see how bad it is during the first few days. If I get twinked I'll go offline immediatly.

It'll be especially bad due to the Japan release making it easier to quickly build twinks for those that already know everything. Still, I would personally leave it on since it is a fundamental part of the game's design. Not every invader is going to be a gank and it feels really good when you win a fair-ish fight.

God-fucking-damnit I'm this close to caving in and buying it now. I found £100 lying around earlier today which is NOT HELPING.

Listen...guys.... I love your work.

But this really needed more Wrestling talk. I'm disappointed. :(

@hassun said:

@humanity:

Four times now huh? Four times we fight that same fatass..

I wish I could watch this but I just can't bring myself to until I've played some of the game. Soon!!!

i'll admit the handful of times ive actually experienced invasions they weren't too trolly, though i died each time. the ones i see on GB streams and such, however, just seem to reaffirm my notion that PvP was designed purely for trolls. even seeing that guy's stupid hat in this made me grit my teeth a bit in annoyance. you gotta wonder why that stuff isn't better balanced to at least make it fair-ish. it might just be cool and exciting in that case instead of purely frustrating.

The biggest problem for me is the weapons that are inherently good for PvP, pretty much all fast swords and spells, directly hardcounters my favorite weapons, oversized greatswords and greataxes. When I get invaded I just run back close to the bonfire and wait for them so I won't lose my souls.

Yay, more Floogan adventures!

Jason: Do the thing.

Brad: No, I'm going to do other thing!

Brad: Oh, thing would have been much easier!

classic Brad.

Thanks Brad andJason. I enjoy watching you guys play this game. I would love a series with you two playing this or some other game you both enjoy. Time for Brad to get a series going again.

@humanity: Well, the visual design is very reminiscent, for sure, but the attack pattern is actually totally different. There was no rock barfing in any previous iteration of Fat Demon with Axe, nor was there a grab move where he crushes you and then throws you off the goddamn wall.

Actually, there are totally different demons in this game that are way more Stray Demon-y, but they're lurking about elsewhere.

Also, there are lore reasons for all of the fanservice stuff in this one, for whatever that's worth.

I'm like 90% certain the "invasion" in this QL is an NPC, judging by the character's name. Maybe you just don't care for Souls' sense of humor?

Nah, it's just people like to give Brad a hard time. People got on him for using a Royal in Demon's Souls and using a Pyromancer in Dark Souls cause they said he was bad at games... It's dumb

Not watching. (but Yay)

probably should of just had Jason play lol

With the amount of coverage this game has received over the past few weeks, it feels like it has been out for years.