LogFAQs > #923896289

#13: Dark Souls III

The Dark Souls series, taken as a whole, is just so damn good. It was really tough to rank the three, because none of them get the formula perfect. It created a new genre of gaming, and that doesn't happen very often.

Dark Souls 1 was the soul, the premise, the mystery. Dark Souls 2 was the game, the competition, the fairness. Dark Souls 3 is the magnum opus, taking the gameplay lessons learned from those and Bloodborne and finally creating a direct sequel and conclusion to Dark Souls.

The environments are absolutely gorgeous, if not as labyrinthine as in 1. Everything is fair. The premise is more directly spelled out from the start, and your character finally actually has a bare minimum motivation. Everything is super balanced.

Combat is a little floatier and more forgiving than in 2, but almost as good, and the core is still there. The best thing about dark souls is that when you push the same buttons, your character will always do the same exact animation every time. The stamina system is genius.

You go back and actually see many of the places you toured in 1, the effects of time upon them as well as their residents, and that sense of nostalgia is hard to top.

For that reason, I would never suggest jumping into the series with 3. A newcomer should play the series in the order 2 > 1 > 3, unless they are 100% positive they are devoted to completing the series. In which case I would say to go 1 > 2 > 3. One has too many glitches, tricks and pitfalls that could turn people off of the series. Three just has so many great callbacks to both games that it'd be a shame to miss them.

Did I mention the graphics are phenomenal? Some of these bosses are just so impressive. Black guck technology has gotten really, really good, and so has spooky ghost tech.

The story is still bullshit, though. It was bullshit in 1, and it's still bullshit in 3. By this point, I was just along for the ride.

But to tell you the truth, I don't know if I'll ever be able to play another soulsborne type game ever again. After Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3, Demon's Souls, and Bloodborne, I've heard this song too many times. I'm not sure if I'm going to play Sekiro or Elden Ring.

Oh, who am I kidding. I'm going to come around eventually.
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You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured.