I’m going to do one (hopefully) final post about sequels. Not because I don’t have plenty to say about it, but because I’m ready to move on. In the last post, I griped a lot about how irritating subs have become. This is not specific to video games, but just in general. Ten bucks here and ten bucks there, it’s really not worth it if you don’t watch a ton of movies and/or TV. There’s Netflix and then Amazon Prime (on which you have to sub to sub-subs to watch most anything), Hulu, and Disney Plus as the big four. But there are so many more tahn that, I’m sure. Amazon Prime is $139 a year (which is basically $11.50 a month). The cehapest Netflix membership is $7.99 a month. That’s with ads. Hulu is $9.99 a month with adds or $99.99 a year. Disney+’s cheapest plan is $9.99 a month with ads, and you can’t download the content.
Netflix was supposed to be that, but things have become so splintered in the past dacade or two. And now that they’ve made my tier ad-supported, well, it guarantees I will not watch anything on Netflix. I tried to after the change was installed, and I could not stand it. I have ad-blocker installed, and I will not watch anything with ads. And, yes, you could argue that I could upgrade for ten bucks, but it’s simply not worth it to me. $7.99 is barely worth it to me–and I’m actually thinking about giving it up.
Netflix says that I’ll be pleasantly surprised how few ads there are at this level. Um, no. I used to pay the same amount for NO ads, so any ads more than none is not pleasant. Look. I get it. They need to make money. I have no problem with that. I can even see (begrudgingly) why they added ads to their lowest tier. But do not try to make it sound like a positive when it is not. Had they said, “We need to keep up with the times and our profits are flagging. We’re keeping the $7.99 tier, but we have to add ads to that level in order to make us competitive.” I might not have believed them, but I would have at least begrudgingly accepted t hat they had to do what they had to do.
But do not try to pretend that you’re not adding a negative when that’s clearly what you’re doing. Any ads is more than no ads for the same price. That’s a negative for the consumer, no matter how you slice it.
Back to sequels. Dark Souls III is tied for my favorite FromSoft game (with Elden Ring). Here’s the thing, though. It is very much comfort food and the ‘best of’ album that an aging rock band puts out after twenty years of playing together.
Some people really dislike it, thinking that it’s a cash grab. Or, as I’ve heard it put, that it’s what FromSoft produced (along with the second game) in order to finance their more creative and original games. I don’t think that’s completely fair, by the way.
There were some innovative ideas in the Dark Souls III. One, weapon arts. Each different type of weapon had a specific skill/art that they would do when you pressed LB. Special weapons had unique skills. Nobody used them in that game, but From tinkered with the formula and brought them back better than ever in Elden Ring. They’re called Ashes of War in Elden Ring, and I use them all the time.
Argh. The video I included is age-restricted. Oh well. It’s my favorite trailer from the third Souls game and shows that FromSoft has a sense of humor. It’s an ’80s style VHS trailer that really plays into the ‘this game is fucking hard’ rep that the games have gotten. There is a tagline to the trailer which is, “When you pick a fight with the devil, you better be stronger than hell.” I quoted that at Ian after I woke up from my coma. It made sense to me at the time, but I was bombed out of my skull on drugs, so take that as you will.
Another innovation was giving you two flasks instead of one. The first was the Estus Flask that is a staple of the Souls games. The second was the Ashen Estus Flask, which was blue and was used to replenish your FP (focus points, which is the mana of this game). This truly was a game changer because instead of having a limited amount of casts for your magicks, you could fire off as many spells/miracles/pyrros as possible as long as you had blue left in your bar. You could rejigger your number of each flasks back at Fire Link Shrine (Andre did it), and it really opened up the game.
From also refined that and carried it over into Elden Ring. Instead of going back to a hub to get Andre to do it, you can do it at any Site of Grace. Those were the concessions to the open wrold that From made in Elden Ring. And they added another flask into the mix in Elden Ring, but they started the idea of adding new flasks in Dark Souls III.
Dark Souls III is my favorite of the Souls games (and From games in general, tied with Elden Ring) for several reasons. One, it’s the first I played in real time. Meaning at the same time as it was released. There is something special about playing it that way, even though I did not dip into the forums that much.
In addition, it’s best mechanically of the three games. It combines the better parts of the first game and the second, and the sum is definitely more than the parts. The fast travel is there from the start, which is so decisive in the community. So many hardcore fans love the first game in part because you learn the areas by traversing them again and again and again. And again. I get why they feel that way, but as I’ve said many times, that’s one of the main reasons I don’t play that game as much as the others.
Look. The first time through, yes, I will concede it’s a good thing. Maybe. But by the hundredth time I’ve traversed the Undead Burg, I would have killed for a shortcut. Or traversal from the bonfire.
Another thing the third game did was introduce truly incredibly bosses. The bosses in the second game were not quite as memorable as the ones in the first game, but I would argue that there are several in the third game that hold up to scrutiny.
I’m done for now. I may continue tomorrow. Or not.