Dark Souls III DLC - Ashes of Ariandel

First DLC for DaS3 has been officially announced and will be released on October 25.

Overview:
Return to the world of Dark Souls III and uncover a terrible secret that lies within the frozen land of Ariandel. Players will find themselves steeped in a brand new environment filled with terrifying new enemies, challenges, and exciting lore to expand the overarching Dark Souls III storyline.
Players are tasked to enter the land of Ariandel and defeat the evil within to uncover the mystery of what has caused the land to become defiled. In addition to adding a new environment to Dark Souls III, the Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel expansion will also include new weapons, armor sets, and magic for players to discover and experiment with, as well as new features for the game’s wildly popular competitive multiplayer mode.

Screenshots here:
gematsu.com/2016/08/dark-souls-iii-ashes-ariandel-dlc-launches-october-25


These games tend to have a superb track record when it comes to DLC but where's my fuckin' trip to Londor? Is this going to redeem all the blunders of the vanilla release?
Side note, I bet this area is accessed by entering the painting in the gallery guarded by Silver Knights.

Just looks like a mashup of the Painted World and Eleum Loyce.

Considering the boss reel from the vanilla game I can sorta see where this DLC is going.

More importantly though they actually made a dedicated PVP arena for this DLC and it seems to be a reskin of the Soul of Cinder area where it's not red and has white flowers instead. Hopefully you won't have to pay for the arena itself if it really is a reskin.

Also DaS General.

Recently started a Pyro build in DaS3 and I've realized my "beef" with the game is that, personally, most of the game feels like a chore after the Settlement. I love the first two areas both in terms of visuals and level design but IMHO it goes downhill after that, with a peak in Irithyll (though not perfect because fuck every single enemy in that area) and later on in Lothric Castle/Archives with all the shortcuts and interconnecting areas.

Pretty much how I feel too. I just don't get any enjoyment from playing the game after the first hour or so.

Fucking bought.
DS3 is the best souls.

What's with all the snowy castles in souls games? Can we get a jungle or a desert or something for once?

Hopefully not.
Every single fucking game has deserts, jungles and all those themepark locations. At least this one tries to be consistent with its setting.
Also snowy caslte is the best piece ever, and the most under used one. Last one before DS2 DLC was when? In shitty Dawn of Sorrow?

I really like the bosses design.

There was one in bloodborne right?

Why is this the least talked ds? even Bloodborne was talked and had more threads than this.

Because it didn't change a whole lot from DS1&2 so people got tired of it faster.

Jacking off the lost sixth archstone of Demon's Souls


It's the least talked game now, there was nothing but hype for at least a solid year prior to the game's release. Discussion died flat after people realized how dull the game ended up being

I could see them saying this for Das1 or Das2 but 3? Its multiplayer is shit.


Cause its the worst of the Dark Souls games. Even DaS2 outpaces it hard. They fucked DaS3 up by trying to mash together bloodborne with it, when theyre games with opposite mechanics. They also added other shit, further ruining NG+ compared to the previous games and ruining pvp compared to the previous games, ruining any reason to keep playing.

Hell, you want a good example? Compare DaS2 videos and Das1 videos to DaS3 videos, 1 and 2 have more and are wildly more varied. From and Miyazaki ruined DaS3.

People are probably tired of this series at this point. Not that I blame them, especially with Nioh looking amazing and far more interesting mechanically than a typical Souls game.

I'm still playing the shit out of DS3 when the DLC comes out, though. And this series will remain one of my favorites ever.

A jungle area for bloodborne would have been radical.

Yes, Eleum Noice started the winter gothic trend in Souls franchise, and I'm absolutely happy that it keeps on.
Undoubtedly the next DLC will be something else, and that will be it, but at least this last one lunge is gonna be fucking perfect.

All you had to do is to git gud.
DS3 has the best gameplay.

because it's the worst game in the series and people are tired of the same old formula they've had going for 3 games now

Or rather that unfinished area from DeS and Painted World, but Eleum expaned on it greatly.

Why would I need to git gud at a game that isn't difficult?

I won almost all my matches user. Thats not the issue. The issue is theres only a few viable options compared to the dozens Das1 and Das2 offered. Das3 is boring. And im salty because its NG+ is nothing compared 1 or 2's NG+. Everything in DaS3 has been so disappointing. The worst part is if they added that arena and redid poise it could work and thered be options again. But bloodborne combat apparently.


From is stupid.

Worst part is they kept the godawful teleporting from 2 and added even more bonfires, ruining any sense of tension in the game.

I dunno what do you mean "not viable".
Almost everything is viable in both PvP and PvE as long as you know what you're doing.

I just recently pirated this game myself and just make a basic spellblade character. Just buffed my shit with Great Magic Shield/Weapon and used Spook/Invis for tedious shit. Stats were fairly spread out.

Every area felt pretty neat. Game felt like the most linear of the three (I'm aware you can kill Dancer and do Lothric castle shit). Maybe I just don't understand the world geography enough yet to figure out how to move through it in a self-directed way. They seemed to really make an effort to bring back views of other areas you've been to like in DaS1.

There's just one thing. What the fuck is up with the enemies in this game?
It seems like after a certain point in the game, you're constantly dealing with big humanoids with armor and heavy weapons who attack nonstop. I didn't have high vitality but I tried to always stay as close to 70% weight as I could. Armor didn't seem to matter much, shit always just clobbers you for huge amounts of damage. Later in the game I would have got smoked if it weren't for Great Magic Shield + Spook/Invis. Simply didn't have enough stamina to be rolling 24/7 and fitting in attacks.

Was just wondering what newbies to the franchise do. Like, do they just equip a big fucking weapon and greatshield and have summons carry them? I remember this was super common in DaS2. I'm also trying to remember equivalents for these kinds of enemies in DaS1. The only enemies I remember being kind of like this is Artorias, O&S, 4Kings if you don't have the DPS and I guess Silver Knights to a lesser degree. I remember From really pulled this shit with the knight enemies in the Dragon Aerie in DaS2.

Maybe I'm just becoming shit at video games. I dunno. DaS1 was a pleasant experience except for the rushed areas with tedious enemies. This game felt like a slog after the Chapel.

What are you talking about? DaS2 was suffocated by its obnoxious and restrictive meta. All you ever saw on the iron bridge (worst dedicated pvp area of any souls game btw) were katanas, straight swords, rapiers and occasionally a warped sword. If your only interaction with DS2 was pvp, you'd think there were only four weapon types in the game.

I think you idealizing the first dark souls a bit. The NG+ didn't really add anything. I think dark souls 2 did NG+ the best out of all of the games. It actually changed the enemy placements around and added new ones. Im really dissapointed all of the good ideas from ds2 were scrapped entirely.

Bullshit. The new hyper armor shit makes it so that the instant you're hit twice you flinch, so fast enemies, ergo players and almost all npc enemies will make you flinch fast. Afterwords you become immune to flinching.

This kills slow weapons as you get flinched when hit ruining your long swings, and ruins fast weapons because the enemy gets hyper armor and you wont do enough damage before a dodge or a counter. Making anything from either spectrum other than some speed and power in the middle viable. DaS1 and Das2 both had weapons that worked, ranging from ultra greatswords to bandit daggers or caestus. Comparing the older games to DaS3 is just depressing seeing all we've lost. This isnt even accounting for the broken NG+ or the broken PVP mechanics with summons, less players and unviable covenants or enemy covenants working well. It's dead jim, and I wish it wasnt.


Dont use magic, unless you use pyro. Most magic has a range of around 8 yards, does shit damage and scales horribly. Its horribly underpowered. Especially with how aggressive enemies are compared to the previous games.


Bullshit. I saw the dark katana fuckers and other rapiers and such but there was also heavy greatswords, caestus, the bone gauntlet, poisoned whips, lances, clubs, some sorcerers, pyro, dual wielders, daggers, mace users. There was A LOT more variety in the game compared to DaS3. Same as DaS1 compared to 3. 3 is shit man.

And yet they kept the shit ideas, like the teleporting, the broken covenants, etc. Youd think they could have added an arena in vanilla.

I don't know what all or even the majority of newbies do but I know when I was invading in low level areas in 3 it was pretty much 90% greatweapons or katanas and they almost always had a summon babbysitting them through everything. Part of that is the matchmaking shunting invaders into only worlds with co-op summons though.

I'd say the fact that, PvEwise, Quality/DEX builds being immensely superior to every other choice is a bigger issue than poise.
It's not impossible to succeed with other builds but they certainly require a lot more work, better stat investment planning and will probably only begin to shine near the end.


They come in two varieties - nimbler ones that dodge everything you do and kill you in a chimp out and big lumbering monsters with perfect tracking and borderline infinite attack delays.
To tie with my previous observation, none are issues for twin sword or straight sword builds that can stuck lock any of those fuckers before they can do anything.
Seriously, the Sellsword L1 combo can stuck lock a Silver Knight for as long as you have health. My first build was a Mercenary and that shit carried me solo and shieldless through the whole game with no other weapon being close to being as effective - high damage, stun lock and low stamina consumption, it's basically a Bloodborne weapon in DaS.

Nah man, you're either blinded by your hateboner for 3 or you're plainly full of shit. I've spent over 500 hours pvp'ing in Dark Souls 2, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting someone using one of the weapons I listed. I occasionally saw people use other stuff too, but they were unicorn rare compared to the katanas, straight swords, rapiers.
Compared to 2, 3 has twice as much pvp weapon variety.

Youre full of shit. There was actual variety in DaS2 compared to DaS3. The poise changes in DaS3 ruined variety in the game and your katana and rapier shit is a blatant lie. DS3 is the one favoring shit like that.

Another thing - bleed is OP as fuck. Get a lacerating weapon (Warden swords especially), stock up on Carthus Rouge and watch the credits roll.

Poison is as meaningless as in DeS, maybe worse. (IMHO, making Poison viable was another thing DaS2 did right) and Frost feels like Frenzy in Bloodborne - mostly there for the AI to fuck you with.

Looks like I got my answer. You're full of shit and willing to tell whatever lies necessary to try and make 3 look worse than it is.
When it comes to Souls games, 2 is bottom of the barrel and has no build variety. Deal with it loser.

The enemies are what really make the game a drag to me. I just don't have the patience to deal with this shit after the first playthrough. Even just running past everything, enemies can damn near instantly smash you if you are anywhere near them. It gets old really fast. If your character wasn't the same average human shithead it could be more enjoyable.

Prove me wrong. I just showed a lot of variety in a 10 sample clip of some weapon variety. DaS2 had a lot more viable builds and diversity in weapons compared to DaS3. If its so much more varied in DaS3, show some proof nigger.

Quick addendum; Sunlight Blade announces the subject of those top ten vids he makes and people intentionally go out of their way to meet the criteria. The vid you posted means jack shit.

See


It's pretty embarrassing that you didn't think that through at all.

People show variety, doesn't make the build any less viable. Stop trying to minimize and prove that DaS3 has more viability. Lets see some proof on your end. I just showed proof of SOME variety in DaS2, lets see variety in DaS3.

How does that affect the way the game works mechanically or the weapons that are in the game? How many people choose a build doesn't change whether that build exists or not.

No, you're just actually retarded. DS3 objectively has less build variety than either of the previous games. Magic and Miracles are almost useless, Heavy armor is useless because the amount of hyper armor they add is negligible and fast rolling is more useful than a bit of extra HA. Heavy weapons in general are shit because each swing deals almost the same amount of damage as a longsword while taking twice as long and using three times as much stamina. Making midroll and fast roll near identical just makes anything past 70% equip load worthless.


What's embarrasing is that you're defending Dark Souls 3.

I sincerely hope you guys are only pretending to be retarded. A bunch of gimmick builds made to get into a le epic XD top 10 video says absolutely nothing about what the general state of builds in the game was.

If you can't get that, don't bother replying. You wont get anything more than "you're a retard" in response.


I'm confused, are you being retarded on purpose? Literally everything you posted appliesto DS2 but more.


Nothing more embarrassing than being so desperate to trash Dark Souls 3 you'd defend Dark Souls 2.
I guess its the Zelda cycle at work, you buncha dumb shit contrarians.

Some thoughts on the trailer:

The bodies in the distance at 0:30 look vaguely like Abyss Watchers, or like the guy who shows up holding the parchment later, thanks to the pointy hoods.

Lady at 0:35, who the fuck knows.

Dude at 0:40 whipping himself, I can only assume it's for the blood for the Lordvessel in front of him.

0:50 pointy hood man prostrating himself for some reason. Might be the narrator.

0:55 Person in front of a giant canvas. Given the Painted World tones we've been getting, is that possibly Ariamis?

Bigass wolf. Can't help but think it's nothing, but who knows.

1:25 Father Christmas/Odin-looking motherfucker. Looks pretty cool.

1:35 Wolf packs, because dealing with dogs already wasn't the worst thing ever in these games.

1:42 Offering you parchment, possibly a scrap from the canvas the painter was looking at earlier.

2:10 Self-flagellation man shows his face, he's a boss and he smashes you with what I can only guess is still the Lordvessel.

Holy shit somebody got their feelings hurt, why don't you just admit you can't think of a way to back up your position?

What a surprise, you've got nothing.

It's almost certainly going to be a Sif callback somehow

Well I think it's pretty clear that you kids are done here.
GG retards, thanks for the easy win.

You mean the part in DS2 where a pure faith build is totally viable? Or the part in DS2 where heavy armor is more than just a novelty? How about the part in DS2 where great weapons actually have utility? Oh, wait, what about that part in DS2 where dual wielding is viable because of weapon stances? Or the part of Dark Souls 2 where movement linearly scales with equipment load so there isn't a straight cutoff point.

Neck yourself retard.

That would indicate that Dark Souls 3 is indeed worse than 2

I'm not certain on that, we already got our Sif callback this game in the Old Wolf of Farron. But I wouldn't be surprised or annoyed if they figured out how to make another one.

Come back when you have some proof, like we did. Course you cant, since DaS2 does objectively have more viable builds than DaS3 since DaS2's poise isnt fucked like DaS3's.

He's right ya know, you guys are embarrassingly wrong.
SB announces those videos weeks in advance and everyone scrambles to make the builds for them. That vid isn't indicative of the average build in DS2 at all.

Oh boy. Filtered.

Man, Miyazaki sure likes snowy landscapes.

That part with the drawbridge looked a lot like the painted world.

Now this is just hard to watch.

Nice samefag, you need to switch IP to defend yourself?

It was a small sample to show variety possible in DaS2. The fact alone that working poise allows Ultra weapons to quick weapons like daggers, whips and caestus to be viable in pvp and pve in DaS3 is proof in itself that DaS2 would have more weapon variety viability.
Thats not even taking into account the fact that magic is fucked in DaS3 with the reduced casting range, the horrible damage, the scaling, the steep mana cost which was changed back to mana instead of amount of uses, the broken miracles that are shit now, with pyro also barely competitive shows that DaS2 has objectively more viable builds than DaS3.

in Das2 is proof in itself*

Everything you've said is wrong.
Wrong. Offensive miracles builds are not viable in DS2.
Wrong again. Poise was just as useless in 2 as it is in 3. That and no one wore is because if you weren't using Flynn's you weren't competitive.
Unsurprisingly wrong. DS3 great weapons are much more viable than DS2 great weapons.
That was useless, gimmicky shit.
I genuinely believe you're being retarded on purpose.

I power stanced Greatswords (as in, the ultra greatsword Greatsword). That shit was fun as fuck and actually very useful in PvE (absolute trash in PvP, though, at least that's how it seemed) and I was hoping I'd be able to do the same in DS3.

Dreams shattered.

I still ran with the Greatsword in DS3 for the entire game but fuck me if it didn't feel like the game was punishing me for it at every step.

...

It would, if people didn't stick only katanas, rapiers and straight swords.

Wow, you were embarrassingly quick to call samefag.
It must suck to have more than one person know you're wrong, eh retards?

Hey shit for brains, Sunlight Blade is making one of those top ten creative build vids for DS3 as well.
Are you gonna wait for that vid to be out to switch stance and say the vids don't matter? Or you just wanna keep being retarded ITT?

Which was part of my point and was slightly highlighted in the video i embedded earlier. DaS2 had build variety in pvp and pve, much much more than Das3 which barely has anything. Even in the video i listed people are dual weilding a fast weapon and slow weapon to alternate, and people would often switch between a greatsword and whips and other varieties in combat due to the build variety giving so many options in DaS2.

Then for pvp, big ass weapons, small weapons, almost everything was viable when upgraded, compared to Das3 where the fucked poise and bloodborne aggressive enemies make most of the quicker weapons and slower weapons unviable unless you want to suffer. Not to mention how easy it is to be shield broken in DaS3 compared to Das2, making dodging smarter than shielding, instead of a choice compared to previous games.


Except they didnt. I saw plenty of variety. You're just a liar, as evidenced by the bait you keep throwing in thread.

...

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Shitposting ironically is still shitposting and pretending to be retarded still makes you retarded

Haha, no. The dragon charm alone made faith builds useful. 50/50 atunement and faith made a really good offensive build.
Poise semiworking in DS2 is still better than no poise in 3.
Weapon arts don't make up for shit damage.
Read: I got fucked by powerstanced twinblades so now I hate powerstance.

The only retard here is you, user.

The vid will show just how viable they are and just how wrong you are. I know admitting when you've made a mistake is hard, but you need to be more adult about these things.

Even the name is similar, Ariamis - Ariandel. The whole DS3 was really a rehash of DS1 so I'm not surprised by this at all

He restated what a lot of people commonly know. Its not my fault you're an uninformed tard.

The irony is so thick you could choke on it and a retard like you probably would

That must be why youre still insisting youre right when everyone else knows you're wrong.

The fact alone that quick weapons and slow weapons were viable in DaS2 & DaS1, as well as the medium quick speed and medium damage weapons that DaS3 only uses shows that DaS1 & DaS2 would have more weapon variety in PVP and PVE. In what way is that wrong? Are game mechanics nonexistant because you say so? How can DaS3 have more weapon variety than DaS2 when it can only use weapons ranging from katanas and shortswords to halberd? When DaS2 can viably use weapons ranging from Caestus and Whips, to Ultra Greatswords and Great Clubs?

I'm still pissed the Sorceror's Twinblade fired from the tip and not the handle. I wanted to make it a quincy bow.

Just you and "him", looks like, I hadn't even heard of whatever e-celeb you're referencing until you brought him up.

The irony is especially thick here since you clearly don't know what irony is.

Keep up the argumentum ad populum and le epic shitposting pics, they're a poor substitute for facts and sound reasoning, but you're too cool for those things eh kiddo?
Only took you three tries to type "you're" correctly, GG


He's the creator of the video that the retard who's balls you've been cupping posted.
Do you even know what's going on ITT anymore? You seemed barely there from the get go, but now you've barely more than a stumbling moron making strenuously relevant posts.

What's more ironic than a retard like you calling others retarded?

Its also common knowledge what irony is. If you wanted to talk about relevancy you shouldnt have switched subjects.

But see, when you're presented facts you don't listen, so there's no point to do anything other than laugh at you.

Yes, THAT'S the part I was confused about, thank you, thank you for explaining. I just could not figure out the association between whatever e-celeb you were worshiping and an e-celeb video posted immediately prior to that, thank god you were here to help.

Looks to me like a retard convinced he's the only intelligent person in the thread desperately trying to ignore how many people are laughing at him.

There are genuinely people this retarded on Holla Forums right now.
They post among you, and they don't even know they're retarded.

Even for bait, this is boring. You'd think you could actually debate your position but we both know you cant, as DaS2 does have more weapon variety viable compared to DaS3. Either way, heres you (you), next time try harder.

Check ID's faggot. When I gave you a bullet point list of ways that DS3 shits the bed compared to 2 you plugged your ears and cried "nuh uh!"

No, user, you are the retard.

Clearly you couldn't retard, because when his shitty videos were explained by not just me but a third party, you were more keen to cry conspiracy then to use whatever clearly limited critical thinking skills you have.

Protip: laughing at someone doesn't make them wrong or you right, just makes you a shitposter with no leg to stand on.
I could post smug anime girls and le shitposting images too, but I'm content with being correct and standing my ground.

...

I gotta admit user, you aren't much one for persuasive arguments or facts, but when it comes to shitposting you've not bad.
The master baiter pretending he's being baited. I'll give you a 7/10 for the effort.
At least you aren't clinging to your debunked vid anymore.

The irony ITT is stifling.
Fuck off, no one likes a me too'er.

Holy shit this post is so moronic there's no place to even begin

Like I said a long time ago kiddo, you're done here.

Did you come from Reddit to spout such fag shit like

I hope you realize what I am implying user, otherwise I think you lack a few good chromosomes.

Is that picture supposed to be you?

This is true irony

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And like said, thats true irony. You are too dumb to understand the fact that you are doing everything that you say.

Besides this Faggot circle jerk thread.
I like winter levels, so I am excited and that dude with horned helmet looked cool.

Embarrassing. Its like you're not at all self-aware.

Didn't ya hear me when I said fuck off? I've got enough retards to contend with atm, bite someone else's ankles.

I liked DaS 3 enough, it wasn't awful but it didn't capture me like demon's souls did.

Major improvement over dark souls 2, that game was so bad that I stopped playing it an hour in after I got to the lock on giants that'd spin in a fucking circle to hit you at the tower of flame. The games so crappy that people spend hours discussing why it fucked up, my bitching won't add much.

The irony is so thick you could choke on it and a retard like you probably would

You got a reply to your "list' you sniveling idiot.


You were just blatantly saying things that were wrong and accusing 3 or things that 2 was just as or more guilty of.

I guess this is the best that DS2 fanboys are capable.
Ya tried kiddo.

The only time I ever hear that is from newfags, and when I was a newfag. What with the atm and the completely underage faggot attitude

You countered a guy up there with "UR DUM", in fact, dont you know what irony is, fag?

It had better enemy and boss design than 2, which is pretty much the most important thing to get right in any game.

I also liked the story, so that helps a bit. But everything else in 3 fucking sucks.

the story is better by merit of actually giving you a fucking objective instead of shoving old ladies in your face and saying "lol you have nooooo idea whats going on!".

the world design made more sense but it was more akin to demon's souls design where every area was a separate land and you warped there. Still it had its moments like when you wander from the boreal valley into irythll dungeon.

the only bosses I didn't like were the testicle tree and reverend fuck heaps. The dragon was stupid as shit but at least the real boss was good enough to make up for it.

And you ignored my reply ousting you as a lying faggot. Sasuga, user-san.

what the fuck was up with that. Why would they think that's a good idea?

Does this mean we're getting cold magic after being teased with it since the Crown of the Ivory King?

What's going on with the piece of bacon

So are you guys going in with your NG+(2-8) or a fresh build?

It's what pisses me off with Fromsoft in general now. It already started with some enemies in DS2, ggot infinitely worse in Bloodborne and now in DS3 enemies apparently just have infinity stamina in general and just keep on attacking relentlessly.
Champion Gundyr literally does not stop.

Probably gonna go with my first character on NG+, same as DS2. And then again with my second character in NG.

A fresh build. I went a Strength build before but didn't really care for it in this game, so next time I'll try a Dex build. Maybe with those dual katanas with that cheap as hell leaping special attack.

Spells never ever because I'm not a fucking coward.

Crystal Sage, Deacons of the Deep and Wolnyr were all garbage.
Yhorm the Giant is tedious bullshit unless you summon like a cuck and use the storm ruler.

I know some people will pay for a seasons pass for this shit, but i cant imagine why.

Who the hell is ariandel?

You don't need to summon to use the Storm Ruler. You just need to bait an attack and then run. Like, really, really fucking far. And then you'll have just enough time to charge and release the special attack.

*It's still really fucking tedious.**

Kill me, friends. I done fucked up.

Maybe a section of Londor? That pale woman in the black robes reminds me of the Velka statues, and there was this whole church like vibe from some of the scenes.

Why do people get so pissy about call-backs?

Because they make no sense in world you easily peased cretin.

If you think that kind of shit is there for any reason beyond "HEY MY LE PRAISE THE SUN MEH MAY XDDDDDD" you are a retard. You are a fucking retarded person who probably watches vaatis videos and considers 3 a good game.

Good job buddo, you are a pleb with no standards.

I played a Cleric, it was fucking atrocious until I decided to grind up pouring points into faith. Spamming Gnaw and then Dorhy's Gnawing was broken as shit though, Bleed does insane damage and Dorhy's Gnawing can bleed almost anything in 3 hits tops.

The only area I could not clear was the part in irythyll right after running from the giant lizard the first time. The wights kept chimping out on me and wrecking me, and when I did get past the fire mage enemies were hard to deal with. Luckily that part is super easy to just run through.

It didn't help that I assumed poise did something useful and dumped a bunch of points into vitality, if I had known I would've just gone with light armor.

the entrance looks fucking identical

People have broken down the shots. Its the same assetts with new textures. They are selling people content from DS1 again. But retards going "B-BUT ITS THE LORE, AND MY MEMES!" will eat this bamco shit up.

Calm down kid. I was just asking why it makes you so pissy.
It could be just to have a call-back to their first game. It's not like the area around Anor looks anything like it did ( the maid building aside) I get if you're mad they had a lot of swords from past games in there in place of making new ones. I wish they had less of that too.
and I also hate lore videos so nice try faggot.

I don't care about PvP, Das3 was such an improvement over Das2 I really loved it more than I thought I would.

Will be getting this probably at some point. I also agree never enough winter settings.

Judging from the thread, can i assume we can finally put the A-Team and B-Team maymay to rest?

Or is some soulsfag going to tell me the that Miyazaki-san and the A-Team did nuffin wrong and have somehow been cucked by Fromsoft?

This is a popular normalfag game ergo we need to find the ending and spoil it

Is DaS3 worth a pirate? How is the cestus/fist weapons?

My first Fromsoft game is Bloodborne loved it and decided to buy DS3. I think it can be fun but all the weapons are just so boring compared to BB
Should I just play DS1 and 2 instead?

...

play 1, skip 2, and finish 3 if you want more. Most people have pretty scathing views on DS2 and if you read the thread you'll see.

this

I'll probably skip the DLC, because I've never played the DLC in DaS or DaS2 because I have no idea how to unlock them.

forget both of those, play Demon's.
At least i have a hard time going back to any of the Dark series but I love an occasional Demon's playthrough.

Nothing wrong with a few here and there but DaS3 overdoes it. And I personally can't stand how the lore is some sort of "director's cut"; now Ornstein wasn't really there to fight the Chosen Undead because he went on some journey to become a scaly fag like Nameless King, Lords of Cinder can link the fire and after a while go on about their business and now Hollows aren't mindless but scheming fucks.
It also affects gameplay; Aldrich could have been a interesting fight against a crude shape shifter but instead we got Gwyndolin dragging his prolapsed asshole across the floor and it makes no sense to have a few stray Dickwraiths and Silver Knights still looking pristine (and upgraded!) when they should have been wiped out by Aldrich.
People bitch about DaS2 pandering but 3 turns it up to eleven. And I'll admit I can't stand the Watchers or the Nameless King but maybe it's just me being a contrarian cunt since everyone seems to cream their pants over them.
A shame because I like some of the game's own lore like Pontiff Sulyvahn and Aldrich's Age of Deep.

Cool trailer but the base game was buggy broken shit and if you size up the new shit shown given the current R1spam and chug meta its going to be useless unless they finally enable poise and add some real weight value movement to armors while fixing defenses.

I understand were you're coming from with it. It was a bit much at times. Is it ever said how long after this could be from the first game? The few Dickwaiths we do see are left behind ( 5-6 in all?)

BB > DeS >= DaS:AoTA > DaS > DaS3 >>>>> DaS2:SoTFS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> stepping in gum and shit and trying to get it off of your shoe >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DaS2

Part of my issue with 3, and why I can't seem to get enthusiastic about it is that it is using essentially the same premise as 1 with only minor additions as forced by the bullshit done by 2. DaS2 was fucking horrible in a lot of ways, but it stepped outside of the fading age premise with the invasion of the giants that you get to see first hand through time travel/memory bullshit. Plus, by 2, the premise is essentially "solved;" some fucker burns alive for a couple centuries or a dick gets power hungry and turns himself into a bark monster and eventually someone else burns.

The tragedy of the premise loses a lot of meaning when not only is it seen as natural cycles, but we see that several kingdoms survive the apocalypse repeatedly. Then they did fuck up one of the things that 2 did well, which is having the depiction of the gods be warped by the passage of time. So now the gods were alive all along, but the still alive gods just never bothered to correct the humans on what their family looked like.

There were other things I liked, such as how the darkness now has sludge monster forms that look like rats but without the humanity connection, its not as interesting.


It was after 2. The whole Lords of Cinder thing seems to be from 2, and there are various references to 2, though not as many. So a fucking long time should have passed.

SWWWIIIISH
*clop clop clop*
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

That might be true. I will say I wish Havel fucked off after the fist game.That was a bit much, I'll admit. I never thought of 2 being in the same place, but far away from Lordan.

Nothing specific is said but all of Lordran's neighboring regions still exist (Carim, Astora, Catarina etc), Kaathe is still around, Rosaria and the Dancer are descendants of Gwynevere (could be daughters) and Andre mentioned he knew the giant blacksmith from Anor Londo which got me wondering if he's not the same Andre from DaS1.
This is my speculation but I think Irithyll was built by Gwyndolin's descendants because the land is described as one of moon-worshiping nobles and IIRC the Irithyll preset face mentions the features being akin to divinity.

And another thing - who the fuck thought Yorshka was a good idea? Gwyn spends a lifetime fighting dragons and his kids are fucking them. No wonder he went to set himself on fire for millennia.

...

It's working as intended.

The guy forced his son to be a girl since his real daughter is a a no good dragon fucker.

It's the race traitor albino dragon, so they let him get away with it.

Canon.

Side note, that set better be a drop.

If you can walk around like a powerhouse like that, what does it matter if you still take damage? You're unable to run or roll using armor like that, so you're very susceptible to backstabs. I'd just keep my distance and harass that fucker with poison knives while waiting for an opportunity to get behind him

Good to see Dark Souls 3 is still having a identity crisis between Bloodborne and Dark Souls, either way the DLC looks like it may add some fun, so i'll be interested to see what it adds.

The ONLY reason anyone thinks BB and DeS are superior to DaS is because it came out on the sony platform exclusively.

So just saw the video, seems like its going to take place either back in the painted world or we are going to the real location the painted world is based on. Seems like this dlc will be based around velka. There were alot of things representing sin and repenting, like the guy whipping himself. Not to mention the robed woman at the begining who looks exactly like the velka statue. I hope karmic justice comes back and is useful unlike vow of silence which is sadly trash. Also expecting the black set to return, probly a small mention of oswald.

I never expected snow-based DLC.

I get the feeling that this is right. DeS is much less refined compared to DaSI in terms of mechanical fluidity and responsiveness, hit detection, and various other elements like enemy AI, their frequency of attack and general behavior, etc. I'm not shitting on the game, I think DeS is still fantastic in its own right; flawed, but beautiful. I enjoyed the Tower of Latria's atmosphere and level design and the Old Monk fight. Even so, you can't deny that DaSI improves on the original gameplay by adding less rigid animations, some more weapon variety that tweaks how the game is played, and varied boss and lesser enemy encounters, to say nothing of entirely new mechanics like the Estus flask and humanity/bonfires. Neither game is perfect, but DaSI was a step in the right direction. I wish they had found a way to preserve the Character and World Tendency system instead of replacing them with luck. That system had potential to alter how you play the game every time up to a certain threshold. Sad that it's gone.

I don't know about Bloodborne, I haven't played it, I've only briefly looked at some footage, and from where I'm sitting it looks exactly like DaS3 with a few minor tweaks

Humanity is one of the best mechanics that tied in lore AND gameplay.
If you wanted to get more estus humanity you had to turn human and risk getting killed by twinks, humanity was needed for kindling and pvp.
The only exception being Nito.

Humanity was so fucking good, then they scrapped it for effigies and embers which are nowhere near as important are mechanically sound.

at least they took their inspiration from the best souls game, but goddamn if that isn't cheap.

it will probably run just as shit as dragon archp- im sorry, i mean dragon 5fpspeak

They better bring back the fucking bone fist
one of the only good things in DS2

I think it's more about atmosphere. Demons and Bloodborne have a more gloomy feeling and help instill a feeling of hopelessness from the characters. But they are also alot more unbalanced when it comes to builds.

I think Bloodborne is more about the weapons and how you use them than actual builds

Despite my bitching about DaS1 pandering, I have to confess I was a bit miffed this wasn't in vanilla DaS3. Almost every NPC set is there but his.

You might have a point about Velka. This, well, boss I wager, also looks very crow-y which is another Velka trademark.


I felt Bloodborne was interesting because there was a constant air of imminent dread; you see everyone slowly but surely losing their marbles and the farther you go, the crazier things get. Feels like you're meddling in something you've no business meddling in but it's a point of no return and the only way is forward.
As for DeS, I dare say Tower of Latria still hasn't lost its charm. It's presented as some sort of enlightened utopia but once you get there, it's the most dark, dreary hole imaginable with the shit that went down there becoming more evident as you progress. And the sound design for the area is fantastic; from the incense to the rattling iron bars, everything adds to the sense of uneasiness.

Yeah, it eliminated the ability for players to complete the entire area before becoming human and simply summoning at the fog gate. Tying the human state to your checkpoint forces the host and his phantoms to go through the area while enemies are still present, which leaves them open to greater possibility of invasion. I also like how every major NPC has quests that reveal some flawed aspect of their personality. This ties into the concept of humanity; it's not just some consumable, it's a fragment of the human experience that you're using to comfort yourself and stave off insanity. Those who don't have a purpose, or who can't cope with some aspect of reality, will lose their humanity and go hollow. This makes humanity the real currency in Lordran, as it compels some to beg and plead and others to pillage. The race to acquire humanity, and the actions that undead take in order to acquire it, highlight the dark nature of the human nature, which is attributed to the currency itself.

Obviously this can sound somewhat pretentious, and you don't have to look that far into it if you don't want to, but it's there and that's why it's so great.

I think all the games have great atmosphere. I think in DeS the tone is a bit more consistent, but Dark Souls has a sort of regal, grand appeal for certain aspects of the game, and a damp, dreary, hopelessness that reverberates throughout other areas that I find appealing. DaSII is the worst offender with its geographical inconsistencies and shotgunning of ideas all over the place, but even that game has its moments. DaSIII offers a similar experience to DaSI, a sort of schism between the beauty that once was and the desolation of the curse that has managed to ravage the land in various different ways.

It's called Iron Flesh you daft cock, it's a pyromancy.

Ok, fair enough. It's a pyromancy. My point still stands, retard.

BS don't do a lot when that spell is on ( from what I remember)

So, for PvE, what are some fun and effective builds? As I posted above I did a basic spellblade build, but honestly it was shit except for Great Magic Shield.
Carthus Flame Arc adds just as much AR as Great Magic Weapon it seems. Crystal Homing Mass was hitting for 60 per projectile as 30 int. Shit like this turned me off from sorcery. Spook+Invis is fucking OP though.

Does this DLC come with poise?

Spells gain damage up to 60 int which basically means any int build is about 20 levels handicapped compared to a str or dex build in the same areas. At 60 int the damage is maybe comparable to hits from 40 str greatweapons just with even slower animations and limited by mana. All the cool spells are super garbage and there's no reason to use anything other than the basic soul arrow type spells.

All that being said, for PvP some fun can be had just attuning random garbage spells and going at people with the gimmick weapons like the heysel pick or the ritual spear. I think my sorcerer was using one of those daggers from the winged guys buffed with crystal magic weapon because it has retardedly long reach for a dagger and fully upgraded and buffed it did comparable damage to straightswords and shit. That dagger is decent for PvE too since you can get it early and most NPCs can't get out of dagger stunlock.

Hopefully this DLC can get me back into the game.

The NPC at 1:30 looks like it came right out of Norse mythology pretty sweet looking.


This game was good, the PVP just become incredibly dull, with that said I think it had the best combat of all the Souls games so far, with the exception of BB as I have yet to play it.

I'm glad they're keeping the religious theme up, that new offensive miracle looks neat too
Shame it's another snow area though, this game didn't need two of them, and I was hoping for a desert or something

Gonna be annoying as fuck replaying the game to get up to the point where the DLC is accessible unless I want to go in with a ridiculously OP endgame build

Will it fix the shit gameplay?

Of course not.

Some made-up bullshit that probably "answers" nothing and only raises more questions.

The integrity of the lore died with DS2.

...

...

Looks pretty standard, though I'm getting some Old Hunter's vibes from the way the trailer was set up (show a bunch of standard areas/bosses, some cool new weapons used in vanilla fights, and hide all the crazy shit that makes up 3/4 of the DLC as a surprise).

I'll give these a pirate on each release and once all 3 are out if they're good I'll buy them to support the game.

I won most of my matches. Hell, I touch of death'd most of my kills, since thanks to poise not being a thing you can stunlock people to death quite easily. The PvP is boring as fuck because there's extremely few viable builds, thanks to half of the equipment in the game and two entire player stats being completely worthless. PvE is boring as shit because it's imbalanced as fuck. Thanks to poise being disabled, the few viable PvP builds are also the only ones that aren't tedious to run against the PvE enemies, so I don't even have a reason to play the game more than once. Couple in the autosummon covenants being literally broken and unusable for half the playerbase (myself included), the only PvP I can do is to either form a gank squad, or invade against a gank squad myself. Both options are boring as shit.

I absolutely loathed DaS2, so I don't say this lightly. DaS3 is by far the worst game in the entire franchise. Even Bloodborne was better, and I don't even own a nogames4. I played through it at a friend's house

so I played some DS3 just finished the crystal guy and it seems a lot easier than Bloodborne
BB was my first soulsborn game so that might have something to do with it

DaS3 is trivial until you get to Pontiff Sulyvahn and pretty much every boss after that is appropriately balanced. DaS1 was my first and I played BB right before 3 so I shouldn't be too biased.

Why do fags act like DaS 3 is the worse game? Its weak compared to the others but 100x better then DaS 2

It looks like there might be ice magic in this one.

It's not the worst, but it was the most hyped and you can definitely see where corners had to be cut. I can think of atleast two areas where there are unfinished assets, as in literally unfinished, being a patch of ground where you fight the gargoyles in the Archives and a row of bricks over the door you entire High Lord Wolnirs room from, those are just the two that come to mind right now.
Then there are the finished-but-extremely-rushed areas like Consumed Kings Gardens and the Profaned Capital which are criminally short, especially the latter area which had an extremely high level of plot importance.

Meanwhile they streamlined the entire game, so you HAVE to beat the Abyss Watchers first and Yhorm\Aldritch are bottlenecked by the same boss and such a short distance apart it makes no difference and you can't fight Lothric until both of them are dead due to a lazy ass door of plot contrivance.
POISE
Ice element is introduced but fuckall is done with it except for 5 weapons (Vordts Mace, Longsword, Shortsword, Scythe, and one more I know I'm missing)
Those are just my major beefs right out the gate , It isn't a bad game, the Hitboxes are really good, which is especially nice to see after the shit show that was 2 but it still falls behind DaS\DeS in terms of actual freedom in progressing and was probably forced out too soon by Bandai Namco suits and it really hurt it. I wouldn't say it's worse than 2, but its definitely below all the other games once the spectacle wears off.

Frostbite is on Vordt's mace, the pontiff curved sword, the pontiff scythe, the irithyll longsword and the irithyll rapier and the effect is easily the weakest and least impactful status ailment in any of the souls games. Maybe if we're lucky it will be buffed in the DLC because as is there's no reason to use any of those weapons over their generic counterparts.

It's like Frenzy in BB; just there for the AI to fuck you with some arbitrary bullshit that builds up by just being close to an enemy.

Mostly but shit like the Dancer's grab where her arm runs three laps around her or the Croc-rats practically shoving their heads up their own ass to bite you are very aggravating.

It's also disappointing there's no traps/environmental hazards outside of the Catacombs.
Covenants are broken; why are the Dorkmoons the same as the Sentinels? I'm currently farming Ears for the ring and I have to kill like a million Silver Knights for them; this is Pure Bladestone levels of tedious.
And I know it's the CASULness speaking but it annoys that a lot of bosses have such short attack start-ups that using a heavy weapon turns the fight into a snoozefest of baiting that one move. Going solo against Nameless King, trying to hit him at any time besides after the dive bomb or impale is tempting fate and phase 2 Champion Gundyr can literally cancel all his moves into each other (Fuck you Gundam, you CAN'T follow the charge with a fuckin' 3 hit string and then do kicks or punches after that!).


Nah. Poison in DaS3 is even worse. At least Frost does a bit of damage. :^)
They're all shit but Bleed which, in turn, is far too good when the builds that make use of it are already strong without needing it.


Side note, with From's history of DLCs where everything is borderline immune to non-physical damage, I imagine INT/FTH builds are gonna get fucked even harder.

The currently accepted theory is that they added the Sentinels so that players could get access to some kind of Blue covenant early on without needing to reveal Yorshka quite so early, they wanted to save her for Irithyll.

That's all well and good but why does Darkmoon play out exactly like the Sentinels, when the Darkmoon covenant already existed and followed a different system (indictments)?
Just seems very poorly thought out but, then again, DaS1 also had two Sunbro flavors.

They probably just didn't have enough time to redo the mechanics of the Darkmoons, and just had to settle with it being identical to the Sentinels.

Considering how broken the covenants are in relation to the multiplayer (accounts over a certain age almost never being summoned ever) it wouldn't surprise me if they did just run out of time before being able to fix half of this shit.

every time I see that thumbnail, I just see him holding his massive black boobs.

i killed sulyvahn on my second try

like all souls bosses that aren't O&S, if you know how iframes work he's a chump

protip: roll into the attacks towards the boss and then use a weak attack until it dies


Greathammers were viable and almost OP for a while in 2. Most weapon classes and most weapons were viable if you knew how to build for them. I tore motherfuckers apart with broken straightswords, for god's sake. Sure, claws and greataxes were shit, but most weapons worked.

In 3, the viable weapons are
straightswords
some katanas
a few curved swords

In 3, all straightswords share identical movesets except for the broadsword, darksword, and twingotts (unless i'm forgetting one).

3 is shit because there's no variety. You're a refined build using a onehanded sword or you're an idiot. 3's only redeeming factor in weapon variety is bringing back 2kat and enabling edgemaster builds.

Well, I won't be unseeing that for a while.


Strike damage in general was pretty good in 2. Probably because 90% of the enemies and bosses wore armor.

I wish whips and claws were better because they sure are a lot of fun.


Anyway, I read it plenty of times but finally got to experience first hand what folks been saying about magic builds - it's a uphill battle through most of the game but you'll walk all over the last few bosses. I somehow beat Nameless at first try by just chucking dark fireballs at him; kinda awkward when he was probably the easiest boss in this run.

Side note, busted my ass (OK, took me about 10 tries but after killing a million Silver Knights, it was tiresome) trying to farm a Immolation Tinder thinking it would go pretty well for my pyromancer and I can't figure why L2 doesn't work. Lo and behold and the damn thing is a sorcery catalyst. What moron thought the flaming rake thing should pew pew blue stuff?!

Fucking shit taste

So anons, are you going to pirate/buy it day 1 or wait for the rest of the DLC to come out?

I forget, but didn't the Nameless King side with the dragons after Gwyn linked the fire? The Sunlight Blade in DaS1 implied that his exile from Anor Londo happened afterwards, so Gwyn might have been spared the heartache of what happened to him.

I thought the war with the ancient dragons was before the Age of Fire since after they got that shit done they could move on to build a wall around Anor Londo and make the Hollows pay for it
.
But you do raise a point.
''When the eldest son was stripped of his
deific status, he left this on his father's
coffin, perhaps as a final farewell.''
I'd say he could have stopped there to pay his respects and there wouldn't be much of a problem since Anor Londo is empty but Gwyndolin is keeping watch of Gwyn's coffin.

Nice trips, but yea there is a lot to be cleared with Gwyn's family and why did from not let us waifu the fire keeper?

...

(checked)
Well, you can always spoon her dead body for all pitch black eternity.

I'm more of a Doll guy anyway.

(fukken' checked)
Yeah, I can see that scene playing out. I think perhaps the Nameless King found the Stormdrake during the Age of Fire; we know that some everlasting dragons survived Gwyn's hunts because they were

But if they they pair up the ashen one and the firekeeper, then who's gonna keep the first flame company?

Yes, you are rig-


What are you doing. Build variety is DaS 2 only saving grace.

Now that I think about it, some description does say that he and the Stormdrake led a lifetime of battle which does make me wonder if the firstborn wasn't banished before the war ended since even though some ancient dragons survived, I think the gods settled down once they ensured their dominance, so to speak.
Maybe he was kicked out during some meeting where they discussed how to battle the dragons and Nameless was like "We fuck them to death." to which Gwyn just blurts "Get out. GET OUT!"

But what is the first flame?
(People can talk all the shit they want about DaS2 but Licia's great.)

Forgive my audacity Prince of Darkness but I think it did a few things right. Small things but important nonetheless. For starters, the improvements in the netcode - you could set a sign and explore the whole area without fear of it disappearing (while in DaS, you couldn't move a few feet from it) and the regional setting meant not having to put up with King Crimson bullshit.
Ascetics to respawn bosses, quick access to both quivers, power stancing, every weapon being upgradeable, access to a weapon's full move set with the left hand, two-handing the left hand weapon, poison being viable, the possibility to be invaded while hollow or after the area boss was a goner, being able to roll in more directions while locked on, changes that came with NG+ etc. And on a more subjective note, the fashion is top notch.
Admittedly, for every step forward, DaS2 takes two back but I sincerely think it got a few important things right. Just a shame it took the DLCs for them to really start doing things right.

...

fucking greasy slimy londor niggers


Firekeeper has such a banging body. I'm a sucker for braids like that too.

It does say that, but even that wording is elusive. Here's a story idea that also fits under this.
This is better tbfh

Nah, I love DS2. I concede it's weaker to its counterparts, especially in lore, but it's strong in many of the ways I like about the series. If you accept it as the sidestep, enjoy the atmosphere and enjoy calling phantoms then it's a fun ride.

There was a whole ending for that. It was the best one and also the true end of the series

Spending the end of the world with tour waifu I don't mind this.

Some dudes, mostly monsters, zero armor

This honestly killed the hype for me. Base game had tons of mysteries that I'd have liked to further explore
But 3 seems to refuse to be its own game and wants to rehash 1 some more with a painted world dlc. Even had the snowy bridge entrance again.

I just wish I could upgrade my armor again tbh fam.

Yuria of Londor did nothing wrong :^)


*muffled Careless Whisper playing in the distance**
Snark aside, being a god of war, I can see him respecting the fighting spirit in all things and see the dragons as the underdogs putting up a good fight while Gwyn charges them with a gank squad of lightning, fire and death.

That's probably the one thing that killed it for me. The transition between some areas destroys any sense of immersion the world could have.

And that's the other thing. You can tell the game was designed with multiplayer in mind. The summonable NPC quests even require bringing them to fights.
I'll admit DaS2 may be the hardest in the series for me. I only soloed the entire game once (in NG+++) but skipped all three DLC challenge areas in that run and never once beat the Ancient Dragon (getting OHKOed 5 times by that fire breath is enough for me to not want to bother).


I'll admit that the possibility of knowing more about Velka has me interested but I'm on the same boat in terms of being disappointed with their refusal of exploring the game's own unique mysteries.
Londor's my first choice with more development on the Manus' dotterus still roaming the land as the side plot then something about Sulyvahn and Aldrich's Age of Deep with Gwynevere's dotterus as the side plot.

Why? Upgrading armor just involves grinding that's nothing more that a stat. Not having to upgrade means that every armor piece is viable from the get go. However if you could upgrade with different gems to add different strength resistances then that would be better than the shit in DS1 and DS2. It should only be the once though otherwise you just end up grinding grinding grinding.

She's fine, you see her at the end of the lord of hollows ending

No you don't user.

gettin real fuckin tired of this shit
how about a tropical beach level or moon level or something original for a fucking change?

Too late. I bailed out on those Londor niggers and went with Firekeeperfu. No regrets.

I'm OK with that.

But I do wonder what Aldrich's Age of Deep would look like and if we could link the sink.