Dark Souls III (FromSoft) is my favorite of the Souls game,s and it’s tied with Elden Ring for my favorite game of all time. This is a controversial take, but I don’t even care. I am very careful to say that they are my favorite From games, not that they are the best From games. The reason for that is because I have a very hard time putting an obejective value on any game because, well, it’s just so subjective.
I mean, it’s fairly easy to say that a game is good or bad. And, for me, it’s easy to say that all the FromSoft games I’ve played and finished (this would exclude Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon because I did buy it and played the first hour or two, but I simply could not play it. The combat was beyond my abilities. But, from what I’ve seen other people play of it, it’s easily a 9 as well.
Here is my post from yesterday, in which I outlined some of the improvements and innovations FromSoft made in the third game. I have heard it said that Miyazaki was not the main director on the game, but he is listed as the director. He was not the main director on the second game. I do know that he redid Lost Izalith, the worst area in the first game, to his satifsfaction. I mentioned that yesterday as well.
Anyway. I have played the three Dark Souls games, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. They are all easily 9+ games. I must say that I don’t give 10s. I don’t think anything is perfect. I know the reasoning behind giving a 10, but I just can’t do it.
Side note: FromSoft do banger music trailers for their games. The one I’ve included before is for Dark Souls III. I have not heard/seen it before (as I’ve said, I don’t usually watch trailers ahead of time if I’m going to play the game. And then I forget to do it afterrwards). The song is In the Woods Somewhere, and it’s by Hozier. I’m surprised because I only know the one song by Hozier, which I don’t like at all. This song, though, is fire. And this trailer goes hard–as all FromSoft’s trailers do.
My list is pretty static except for the top two games. I have moved them back and forth endlessly, so I’ve pretty much decided they are tied. I have played Dark Souls III fairly recently, and it definitely holds up. It’s hard to go back and forth between it and Elden Ring, but that’s beacuse FromSoft likes to fuck with the buttons, just slightly, from game to game. Since they added a dedicated jump button to this game (A), they had to change interaction to Y. And because of that, they had to change two-handing your weapon in your right hand to holding Y and RB at the same time. Or the one in your left hand with Y and LB at the same time.
One thing Krupa has said about FromSoft and I agree is that they are constantly iterating on their systems. They take what is best from each game and move them forward, with improvements. This is one of the reasons why Dark Souls III is my favorite of the three Souls games. I have to give it to Dark Souls for being the most innovative (though, again, we might say that is Demon’s Souls) and for the iconic Ornstein and Smough boss fight. The boss fights were not that impressive in Demon’s Souls (indeed, the boss runs were more a thing than the actual bosses. They were more trick/puzzle bosses than difficult bosses), and they really blossomed in Dark Souls. But that’s also looking back with rose-colored glasses because of how fucking iconic a few of the fights are.
Gwyn, Quelaag, Gwyndolin, and Priscilla are all memorable. So is the Four Kings. Then there’s the Bed of Chaos, but that is infamous for not-so-good reasons. It’s known as the worst boss in this game and perhaps the series. It’s just really fucking bad.
But, it’s Ornstein and Smough that really put FromSoft on the map. Two bosses who are so different. One is small and fast. One is big and hits hard. Both have siiiiiick armor. And they work together in a way that makes the fight so frustrating. It’s meant to be a skill check, and it took me a week to beat the boss. I limited myself to an hour a day, and on the fifth or sixth day, I was so spent. I messaged Ian saying I didn’t know if I could do it. He said he knew I could. I put on Escape (The Pina Colada Song) (Rupert Holmes) on repeat, and told myself if I didn’t do it in that one last try, I was giving up for good.
I had my Fursyword upgraded to +3 or +4. I also had the lightning spear upgraded a bit. I had my pyros, and I was going to do something I had never done before. I used the pyros to get rid of Ornstein as quickly as possible. Then, I had my Furysword in my right hand (fire) and my lightning spear in my left. With Super Smough, I let him do his attacks, then went in to swipe once with the Furysword and once with the lightning spear. I did this for the entire second phase of the fight, and I actually beat the boss. Solo.
I watched in disbelief as Super Smough crumbled into white dust, and I actually teared up. I could not believe I had done it (and I never go shield-less with a weapon in each hand. Never), and I could continue my journey. I fought the duo for over five hours (probably closer to six and seven) and died to them well over a hundred times.
Since I went in relatively spoiler-free, I did not know the best way to beat the duo and just eked out the win in the worst way possible. Nowadays, I can beat them in five or less tries, but I will never forget that first experience. If I had not beaten them, well, I would not be where I am now. Meaning, I probably would not have played the rest of the games.
I mentioned, though, in the last post that the second half of the game is, ah, not great to put it politely. They were rushed and had to get it out the door. It feels very unfinished and the areas leave a lot to be desired.
I talked enough about the second game, but I will say that I put it slightly over the first game in terms of favorite to play. At least I did before Elden Ring. Not so sure now. That’s a discussion for another day.
That’s all for now. More tomorrow.