From Software Dark Souls 3

[Nathir]

I replayed this game recently, and it's easily the worst From game. Something that stood out to me, that I missed completely on my first playthrough. There is an NPC in the ringed city DLC which is searching for his memories. After you finish his quest, it is revealed... the NPC is Patches! But Patches is already in the base game, doing his own thing? I was so confused when it happened. The whole story/lore of the game feels like some elaborate trolling by Miyazaki and co.

Ringed City happens in the future of base game.

No, I get that. I am wondering why put Patches out of all things here? He already trips you up twice in the base game. And now you put him into the last DLC just so he can do what he already did in the base game? And he wears full plate just to troll the player. Like, did they think it is funny? Is Patches considered such a big deal that he has to appear at the literal end of time? Again, he's already in the base game. Feels like they thought it was funny or something. This game feels very "meta" as far as the story and concepts go imo. Very confusing design, that only makes sense for the people who made it.

 

[NJClaw]

Is Patches considered such a big deal that he has to appear at the literal end of time?

I can't find the interview, but I'm fairly sure Miyazaki said Patches is his favorite character. Ringed City was supposed to be the last piece of content in the DS series, so it makes sense for Patches, the character who appeared the most throughout the adventure, to be there.

 

[Ivan]

this reminds me of the original teaser for DMC4. I'd love a more gothic/spooky take on DMC again.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[Caim]

Took them about seven months.

 

[toro]

Took them about seven months.

Elden Ring copies don't move by themselves.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[Caim]

Again?

 

[Bloodeyes]

So I'm playing this for the first time and I've got a couple questions:

What level am I likely to reach over the course of a normal playthrough? I'm doing my best to find everything but I don't want to use a walkthrough so I'm likely to miss some or all of the secret content.

Is the homeward spell worth it? 18 faith is a lot, and I'd need another spell slot. Its the difference between running 12 faith and 14 attunement and 18 and 18. I'm currently running only Heal, and working on 14 attunement so I can also run the status curing miracle. Also, what about Replenishment? In Elden Ring Bestial Vitality was a must have spell for FP efficient healing so I just assumed I'd go straight for something like this, but with less levels to spend I have to be tight with my build and that's 3 more faith than running heal. Is it better? It'd be either or, not both.

What is a reasonable amount of endurance for a great hammer user? I'm running 18 at the moment and can swing my hammer 3 times or twice then roll away. I'd love to be able to swing it 5 times and then roll out. Is this realistic? What about 4 times then roll out? How much endurance should I take to be able to do these things?

I like my spiked mace but the damage kind of sucks. I've already put it and another weapon to +2 though, and a third to +1. I'm concerned that if I switch from it to the great machete I won't be able to find enough titanite shards to upgrade it, not to mention I haven't even begun upgrading my talisman yet, which I should if I'm going to keep using heal (but shouldn't if I use replenishment instead as I assume its non scaling). Do titanite shards ever become available for purchase? Or should I just commit to the spiked mace and hope the damage improves as I upgrade it and level strength?

 

[D_X]

So I'm playing this for the first time

Big mistake.

What level am I likely to reach over the course of a normal playthrough?

Depends on how much stuff you're going to do, if you'll go into the dlcs etc. I'd say low to mid 100s easy.

Is the homeward spell worth it? 18 faith is a lot, and I'd need another spell slot. Its the difference between running 12 faith and 14 attunement and 18 and 18. I'm currently running only Heal, and working on 14 attunement so I can also run the status curing miracle. Also, what about Replenishment? In Elden Ring Bestial Vitality was a must have spell for FP efficient healing so I just assumed I'd go straight for something like this, but with less levels to spend I have to be tight with my build and that's 3 more faith than running heal. Is it better? It'd be either or, not both.

Why do you need any of these? Estus shards are not too hidden and there's a bonfire every 5 meters.

What is a reasonable amount of endurance for a great hammer user? I'm running 18 at the moment and can swing my hammer 3 times or twice then roll away. I'd love to be able to swing it 5 times and then roll out. Is this realistic? What about 4 times then roll out? How much endurance should I take to be able to do these things?

Unless you're trying to stay under a certain level there's no point in not getting 40 end.

I've already put it and another weapon to +2 though, and a third to +1.

Yeah, this was probably a mistake. IIRC, scaling in ds3 sucks until you both get a decent amount of stats and the weapon to something like +5, +6.

Do titanite shards ever become available for purchase?

You're gonna have to find some crap for it. So yes if you find it, no if you don't. But there are plenty in the game and enemies also drop them so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

You can buy every resource in the game, save slabs, iirc.
You have to find Ashes for them though. The ashes that give titanite shards is pretty early in the game, I think.

 

[Silverfish]

What level am I likely to reach over the course of a normal playthrough? I'm doing my best to find everything but I don't want to use a walkthrough so I'm likely to miss some or all of the secret content.

Is the homeward spell worth it? 18 faith is a lot, and I'd need another spell slot. Its the difference between running 12 faith and 14 attunement and 18 and 18. I'm currently running only Heal, and working on 14 attunement so I can also run the status curing miracle. Also, what about Replenishment? In Elden Ring Bestial Vitality was a must have spell for FP efficient healing so I just assumed I'd go straight for something like this, but with less levels to spend I have to be tight with my build and that's 3 more faith than running heal. Is it better? It'd be either or, not both.

What is a reasonable amount of endurance for a great hammer user? I'm running 18 at the moment and can swing my hammer 3 times or twice then roll away. I'd love to be able to swing it 5 times and then roll out. Is this realistic? What about 4 times then roll out? How much endurance should I take to be able to do these things?

I like my spiked mace but the damage kind of sucks. I've already put it and another weapon to +2 though, and a third to +1. I'm concerned that if I switch from it to the great machete I won't be able to find enough titanite shards to upgrade it, not to mention I haven't even begun upgrading my talisman yet, which I should if I'm going to keep using heal (but shouldn't if I use replenishment instead as I assume its non scaling). Do titanite shards ever become available for purchase? Or should I just commit to the spiked mace and hope the damage improves as I upgrade it and level strength?

Assuming you don't go out of your way to grind, you'll probably end up around 80-90something.

The Homeward spell is useless. Homeward bones are commonplace and later on you'll get a reusable warp item. Replenishment is okay, but requires a lot of coaxing to get the most out of it (a ring, a dlc shield and your weapon options drop to about 3). Not worth it unless you really, really want passive regen.

D_X is right, there's no reason not to invest in 40 endurance, but early on, you could easily get by with 20 or so. That's enough to block here and there, roll and pop off a couple of attacks while you boost other stats.

Don't worry about spreading upgrade materials too thin. For strength users, the best stuff comes later on in the game and won't use standard titanite anyway (Yhorm's machete uses scales and Ledo's hammer uses twinkling). The spiked mace is actually pretty beast early on. The base damage isn't that great for a heavy weapon, but the bleed effect makes up for the loss and can be sped up via consumables.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I'm doing my best to find everything but I don't want to use a walkthrough so I'm likely to miss some or all of the secret content.

Nameless King is the best boss and you have a big chance of missing him. You should definitely check out how to find him.

 

[D_X]

Nameless King is the best boss and you have a big chance of missing him. You should definitely check out how to find him.

You misspelled Curse-Rotted Greatwood.

OTOH, given Bloodeyes's love for ER, NK would be right up his alley.

 

[Bloodeyes]

So I just got to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. What the fuck? I've seen difficulty spikes before but this has to be some kind of a joke, some kind of a mistake. I went from one shotting skeletons and vigor tanking my way through the crocodile thing to this? Fuck this shit if the rest of the game is like this I'm not finishing it.

 

[cvv]

So I just got to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. What the fuck? I've seen difficulty spikes before but this has to be some kind of a joke, some kind of a mistake.

Push through broski. You'll have an ample opportunity to ragequit at the boss mid-way through the area.

 

[d1r]

So I just got to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. What the fuck? I've seen difficulty spikes before but this has to be some kind of a joke, some kind of a mistake. I went from one shotting skeletons and vigor tanking my way through the crocodile thing to this? Fuck this shit if the rest of the game is like this I'm not finishing it.

Welcome to any Souls game past Dark Souls 1.

 

[D_X]

So I just got to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. What the fuck? I've seen difficulty spikes before but this has to be some kind of a joke, some kind of a mistake. I went from one shotting skeletons and vigor tanking my way through the crocodile thing to this? Fuck this shit if the rest of the game is like this I'm not finishing it.

I told you playing ds3 is a mistake.
What's your build, weapons, rings?

 

[Matador]

So I just got to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. What the fuck? I've seen difficulty spikes before but this has to be some kind of a joke, some kind of a mistake. I went from one shotting skeletons and vigor tanking my way through the crocodile thing to this? Fuck this shit if the rest of the game is like this I'm not finishing it.

For me the problem is not difficulty level, but the kind of difficulty breaking with classic Souls design.
Can´t stand attack spam with excess of contrived delayed timings, infinite stamina, bloated HP enemies in later Souls games, the peak of that being Elden Ring.

For me Sekiro was a breath of fresh air, because you could punish hard that kind of behaviour, in a very satisfying way, with well timed parries, and it is a hard game. Souls games are not made to be funny with those enemy patterns.

They designed the game around professional Souls streamers not cruising through it first day. They maybe achieved that but worsen game design.

 

[Wunderbar]

So I just got to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. What the fuck? I've seen difficulty spikes before but this has to be some kind of a joke, some kind of a mistake. I went from one shotting skeletons and vigor tanking my way through the crocodile thing to this? Fuck this shit if the rest of the game is like this I'm not finishing it.

it's the only major difficulty spike in the game, there aren't many of these twirling knights. After you power through them and unlock a shortcut, there will be a very difficult boss, and then the game becomes relatively easy again.

 

[Ryzer]

I'm eager to see his reactions to the boss .

 

[cvv]

For me Sekiro was a breath of fresh air, because you could punish hard that kind of behaviour, in a very satisfying way, with well timed parries, and it is a hard game. Souls games are not made to be funny with those enemy patterns.

This.

They started cranking it up in the DS2 DLCs, after the angry feedback at all the easy bosses in DeS, DS1 and DS2 vanilla. And while the DS2 DLCs was a satisfying challenge spike for me (Fume Knight remains my personal challenge G-spot), for the most part, some of the the BB/DS3 and Elden Ring bosses crossed the point where the challenge stopped being fun for me.

Goes to show the FromSoft one-fixed-difficulty approach is interesting and innovative but fundamentally flawed. You simply NEED to have traditional diff. options coz what is a sleep inducing cakewalk for some is a rage inducing, unsurmountable obstacle for others.

 

[Wunderbar]

You simply NEED to have traditional diff. options coz what is a sleep inducing cakewalk for some is a rage inducing, unsurmountable obstacle for others.

summoning

 

[D_X]

For me the problem is not difficulty level, but the kind of difficulty breaking with classic Souls design.
Can´t stand attack spam with excess of contrived delayed timings, infinite stamina, bloated HP enemies in later Souls games, the peak of that being Elden Ring.

For me Sekiro was a breath of fresh air, because you could punish hard that kind of behaviour, in a very satisfying way, with well timed parries, and it is a hard game. Souls games are not made to be funny with those enemy patterns.

They designed the game around professional Souls streamers not cruising through it first day. They maybe achieved that but worsen game design.

Brofisted with just the small mention I do not endorse Sekiro in any way or form.

 

[Elwro]

The only way I could ever progress when reaching Irythill was by running like hell and unlocking the shortcut; figuring it the first time around (blind) was even kinda fun. This is FROM fucking with you, I don't see why we should expect consistent, steady difficulty increases throughout their games...