From Software Dark Souls 3

[Verylittlefishes]

Ok, fuck Pyromancer Zoey. She is absolute bullshit. Why does a great fire orb from her deal like 1000 damage while mine does like 300? Why does her whip deal that much damage? Whips aren't that strong. Why can she just instantly pull out flame fan into combustion? I don't think the player can do that.
From was doing so well with Ringed City, and then they fucked it up with their try hard garbage.

NPC phantoms, friendly or hostile, make no sense in DS3. My personal favorite is Lion Knight Albert, who you can summon at the High Wall. He's got a greataxe, but doesn't have the stats to wield it. I was outdamaging him with an unupgraded broadsword (I was a deprived, by the by, so I only had minimum stats to use the weapon to begin with). Honorable mention to Hodrick, who completely transcends Dark Souls combat via Devil May Cry-like animation cancelling.

DS3 overall is mostly like a campfire with old friends (who happens to be hollow killers and also the world is ending).

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Ok, fuck Pyromancer Zoey. She is absolute bullshit. Why does a great fire orb from her deal like 1000 damage while mine does like 300? Why does her whip deal that much damage? Whips aren't that strong. Why can she just instantly pull out flame fan into combustion? I don't think the player can do that.
From was doing so well with Ringed City, and then they fucked it up with their try hard garbage.

NPC phantoms, friendly or hostile, make no sense in DS3. My personal favorite is Lion Knight Albert, who you can summon at the High Wall. He's got a greataxe, but doesn't have the stats to wield it. I was outdamaging him with an unupgraded broadsword (I was a deprived, by the by, so I only had minimum stats to use the weapon to begin with). Honorable mention to Hodrick, who completely transcends Dark Souls combat via Devil May Cry-like animation cancelling.

Sirris is pretty terrible too. She deals no damage and has no health. You'd think they'd fix useless NPC Phantoms from DS2, but I guess not.

From even breaks their own rules with invaders; in the Ringed City proper you get invaded by Alva even when you aren't cindered. Which is bullshit.
The enemy placement overall is pretty terrible. I thought Dark Souls 2 had some unfair enemy placements, but holy shit trying to run down from the inner ring city bonfire is a nightmare. Especially when you try to enter the swamp and they spawn like 4 Harald knights just to fuck with you.
Or at the very beginning where you can't attack the giant because they spawn a bunch of archers behind you who just delete you.
They even put a NPC at the end of Harald Knights' pair patrol rough. So if you don't skip through her dialogue you get attacked.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

From even breaks their own rules with invaders; in the Ringed City proper you get invaded by Alva even when you aren't cindered. Which is bullshit.

oh come one
you can invade while in forest hunters covenant in ds 1 when you are hollow at any time
what rules

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

From even breaks their own rules with invaders; in the Ringed City proper you get invaded by Alva even when you aren't cindered. Which is bullshit.

oh come one
you can invade while in forest hunters covenant in ds 1 when you are hollow at any time
what rules

Only against hosts who are Human, never when they are hollow. Forest Hunters, Watchdogs or Bellkeepers aren't red phantoms either.
Tell me at what point can you invade a hollow player as a red phantom in the game? Or in any of the games? That's what Dark Souls taught us; go human / cindered, get invaded.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Tell me at what point can you invade a hollow player as a red phantom in the game?

You are invaded by the red guy somewhere in Ringed City, at least once, while hollow or not. Somewhere above the lake (where these strange talking bugs are)

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Tell me at what point can you invade a hollow player as a red phantom in the game?

You are invaded by the red guy somewhere in Ringed City, at least once, while hollow or not. Somewhere above the lake (where these strange talking bugs are)

Yeah, exactly, and that runs contrary to how it's supposed to work. That red guy is Alva. His name is Seeker of the Spurned, but he has Alva's gear, just in the dungeon.
At least he's not bullshit like Zoey was. He actually takes reasonable damage from spells and doesn't spam quick casted fireballs.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Tell me at what point can you invade a hollow player as a red phantom in the game?

You are invaded by the red guy somewhere in Ringed City, at least once, while hollow or not. Somewhere above the lake (where these strange talking bugs are)

Yeah, exactly, and that runs contrary to how it's supposed to work. That red guy is Alva. His name is Seeker of the Spurned, but he has Alva's gear, just in the dungeon.
At least he's not bullshit like Zoey was. He actually takes reasonable damage from spells and doesn't spam quick casted fireballs.

Well, Ringed City is overall very campy. Can't imagine going through it solo, though.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So i let Anri die, 'cause fuck waifus. Have absolutely no idea what the hell her story was or what the whole story of this game is. There's also two NPCs missing, the depressed guy in the beginning, which i haven't seen for a long while, that lady with the hat that gave me the cracked red orbs, and the other one with the silver armor, which is also nowhere to be seen, and i'm up to Anor Londo now.

I didn't have an issue understanding the story in DS1 or DS2 and follow the NPC quest lines but here i just have no idea what is going on and what the hell anyone is talking about.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

So i let Anri die, 'cause fuck waifus. Have absolutely no idea what the hell her story was or what the whole story of this game is. There's also two NPCs missing, the depressed guy in the beginning, which i haven't seen for a long while, that lady with the hat that gave me the cracked red orbs, and the other one with the silver armor, which is also nowhere to be seen, and i'm up to Anor Londo now.

I didn't have an issue understanding the story in DS1 or DS2 and follow the NPC quest lines but here i just have no idea what is going on and what the hell anyone is talking about.

As I understood Anri and her autist companion as a kids escaped from becoming food for Oldritch (transported via swamp) and now they were seeking for...revenge? Confusing story, that's for sure.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

According to the lore, Pontiff seems to be the main villain behind the events in this game. He orchestrated everything and many bosses are his pals or even creations.

It is actually interesting story to read about, while in-game nothing makes sense.

 

[Thac0]

So i let Anri die, 'cause fuck waifus. Have absolutely no idea what the hell her story was or what the whole story of this game is. There's also two NPCs missing, the depressed guy in the beginning, which i haven't seen for a long while, that lady with the hat that gave me the cracked red orbs, and the other one with the silver armor, which is also nowhere to be seen, and i'm up to Anor Londo now.

I didn't have an issue understanding the story in DS1 or DS2 and follow the NPC quest lines but here i just have no idea what is going on and what the hell anyone is talking about.

Has been a while since I played the game, this was my take from it. The fire fades. The cyclical nature of the dark souls world is coming to an end, and noone can stop it.
The three endings reflect three possible reactions you and the world can take to this. Oppose the decay and keep to the dream of a world of fire and rekindle, accept the decay and willingly let the fire fade, leading the world headlessly into a new age, or ursurp the fire and become the new god of the world. Every NPC reflects one of those possible paths:

Anyway if you havn't beat Pontiff yet, I found him much easier when you bumrush him as soon as he summons his shadow jutsu clone bullshit. He spawns so close to him that you can usually capture both in the same hitbox, and you can kill the clone before he does anything. So his summoning turns from the beginning of the hardest part of the fight to just literally free damage for you. He is much easier with faster weapons than with slow weapons in general, much like the entirety of Dark Souls 3.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I killed Pontiff two pages ago.

Imma about to go kill the giant but i have a bad feeling. I went in as a sunbro and i did shit all damage to him, while the Onion Knight, summoned by the host, wrecked his shit. But i ain't bringing in any summons so we'll see how that goes.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

But i ain't bringing in any summons so we'll see how that goes.

Siegward appears by himself if you did his questline.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ho.

Well, i did his quest line (how can you not the guy is muh best fren). I guess i'll just waltz through this boss then.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

By the way, if you beat Demon Prince, don't transpose his soul into Seething Chaos.
I did and I was disappointed. I mean, I get that its meant for PvP in that if it misses it makes a mine, but it deals such pathetic damage on hit that it's more or less useless in PvE and even in PvP a savvy opponent would just take the hit and whack you.
I should have gone for the flame scar.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Ho.

Well, i did his quest line (how can you not the guy is muh best fren). I guess i'll just waltz through this boss then.

Well, he does give you a slab when you free him. He's a cool onion.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Predictably, the giant was a walk in the park. The Onion Knight basically soloed him, not sure why i even bothered trying to scratch his feet.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Near the throne there's a stormruler. You can use it to kill Yhorm faster.
Yhorm is something of a gimmick fight. They give a weapon that's more or less useless against everything except him. Its really just a big Demons' Souls reference.
Apparently if you do fight him properly he's one of the hardest bosses in the game, as you have to wait until you can attack his hands to deal decent damage.

 

[Lutte]

So i let Anri die, 'cause fuck waifu

Firekeeper is the only waifu anyway, accompanying you through

Spoiler

the end of the world

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Firekeeper is pretty, but Emerald Herald was pretty fine too.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

They give a weapon that's more or less useless against everything except him. Its really just a big Demons' Souls reference.

Why does he keeps the only weapon that can kill him fast by his throne?
Probably he wants to die.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

So i let Anri die, 'cause fuck waifus. Have absolutely no idea what the hell her story was or what the whole story of this game is. There's also two NPCs missing, the depressed guy in the beginning, which i haven't seen for a long while, that lady with the hat that gave me the cracked red orbs, and the other one with the silver armor, which is also nowhere to be seen, and i'm up to Anor Londo now.

I didn't have an issue understanding the story in DS1 or DS2 and follow the NPC quest lines but here i just have no idea what is going on and what the hell anyone is talking about.

Has been a while since I played the game, this was my take from it. The fire fades. The cyclical nature of the dark souls world is coming to an end, and noone can stop it.
The three endings reflect three possible reactions you and the world can take to this. Oppose the decay and keep to the dream of a world of fire and rekindle, accept the decay and willingly let the fire fade, leading the world headlessly into a new age, or ursurp the fire and become the new god of the world. Every NPC reflects one of those possible paths:

Anyway if you havn't beat Pontiff yet, I found him much easier when you bumrush him as soon as he summons his shadow jutsu clone bullshit. He spawns so close to him that you can usually capture both in the same hitbox, and you can kill the clone before he does anything. So his summoning turns from the beginning of the hardest part of the fight to just literally free damage for you. He is much easier with faster weapons than with slow weapons in general, much like the entirety of Dark Souls 3.

That's how I understood how the story works as well.
Though the Angels confuse me; its heavily implied in the base game that the Angels have something to do with the gods as the Winged Knights have similar weaknesses and resistances to Silver / Black Knights, Gertrude, the prophet of the Angelic Faith has a Grubman nearby and they serve Gwynevere / Rosaria, and you see instances of conflict between the Winged Knights and Lothric, which would happen as the Lothric princes refused to link the first flame, something that the gods really wanted them to do.

But then the ringed city comes along and introduces an angel enemy that's actually summoned by a hollow who's metamorphosing into something else, implying that Angels are actually hollow and as such opposed to the gods. Its weird.

Yeah, they made slow weapons too much of a viability. They sped up the enemies but not the player, and that's no fun.

I'm not sure what the nuance between the Lord of Hollows ending and Age of Dark ending is; in both cases Dark will reign and humanity will rise. Is the implication of the former ending that the Age of Dark is permanent, as there's a Dark god ensuring its continuation, whereas the latter ultimately changes nothing as there's already been countless Ages of Dark before?
I guess that would mean that the Lord of Hollows ending is the "good" ending, as a permanent Age of Dark would end the undead curse.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

But then the ringed city comes along and introduces an angel enemy that's actually summoned by a hollow who's metamorphosing into something else, implying that Angels are actually hollow and as such opposed to the gods. Its weird.

Maybe not angels are hollow, but only their summoners? Or these are not angels.

 

[Thac0]

Yeah, they made slow weapons too much of a viability. They sped up the enemies but not the player, and that's no fun.

Thats actually the reason why DS3 is my least favourite FROMSOFT game.
They made fast weapons so incredibly strong and all kinds of slow weapons a liability. Then they made any type of armor above light armor, or perhaps medium armor useless due to a fucked damage system and poise. Then they made miracles and spells the worst they have ever been.
If you are not playing Dark Souls 3 with a fast straight sword and flip rolls you are actively gimping yourself, and that is a feeling no other of their games ever gave me.
While Sekiro didn't give me terribly much choice in skillsystem and gameplay style it at least allowed those few choices to be at similar power levels.

 

[Lutte]

I'm not sure what the nuance between the Lord of Hollows ending and Age of Dark ending is; in both cases Dark will reign and humanity will rise.

The other dark ending isn't an age of rising humanity. It's called the End of Fire for a reason.
As ludleth puts it : 'the eyes show a world destitute of fire, a barren place of endless darkness'.
It isn't the reign of man. Or rather, not the men you know of. You end the current cycle for good, something that was never done before. (DS1's dark ending just has you leaving the room while listening to the preaching of the mad primordial serpents. Kaathe never did anything good in his life, see what happened to New Londo and Oolacile. He is an unreliable source of information on what a true age of dark would be, a bringer of corruption, and he is the one behind the Usurp the Fire ending of DS3 incidentally as the Sable Church has connections to him and Yuria shows loyalty to Kaathe directly when you kill her, showing that Kaathe has plans other than trying to convince you to put an end to fire itself).

What is different in DS3 from the other possible dark endings of the trilogy? You bring knowledge and understanding to the firekeeper, who becomes a little unhinged at the sight. She then becomes able to take in the last of fire and.. smothers it. No one will come after you to kindle this crap again, unlike when you just leave things in DS1.
She comments on visions of seeing distant embers, but those are not the revival of the current ones. It is more akin to the heat death of the universe being followed by a big bang. There is finality. The age of gods has truly ended. But there isn't an age of man. Civilization has ended and is done. Which is a good thing because you can see the very distant future when you time travel to the fight against Gael and everything you see points out to how hopeless everything is. Every time fire has been rekindled it has weakened and the world became more corrupt and distorted.

Meanwhile the Age of Dark proponents are just people with their own vile individual ambitions and loyalties.

EoF ending is 'nature finally regains its proper course'. You let go of everything everyone else wanted. You don't become the ruler of a new human civilization or rekindle the god's. Firekeeper calls it a grand betrayal while Ludleth remarks on how it is the one thing you have agency. The world of DS3 is like the painting. It has reached a point of no return which can only be fixed by reaching a proper end which entails the end of everything present and past. Everyone before you tried to fix the current world whether they just rekindled the flame or followed Kaathe's dark teachings, DS3 gives you the option to say fuck it and let the universe birth something else.