With this weekend’s announcement of Battlefield 1 dominating the newsosphere, it put us to considering whether this could be the game to finally topple Dark Souls 3 from the top of things people will click on if we write a headline like that. It’s okay, people don’t read this bit – they start at 1) below.>
TolomeoR can see things before they happen. That's the only explanation for how he beat Dark Souls 3 without blocking, parrying, rolling or levelling up. Neither did he wear armour.
His 50-60-hour run is close to the time I've spent on my first playthrough, rolling away from anything that moves. Starting with your bog-standard broadsword, he clung onto it all the way through Champion Gundyr, at which point the Priestess Ring allowed him to swap in Astora's Straight Sword. The Cloranthy, Flynn's and Lloyd's Sword rings completed the set.
There's a playlist of every bossfight, minus the abortive attempts. It's particularly maddening to see Tolomeo run circles around the Nameless King, one of the most alarmingly vicious bosses in the game. His admission that Soul of Cinder alone took about 15 hours to beat makes me feel marginally better about myself.
Dark Souls III is a favourite here at RPS, but it hasn’t lit a fire in the hearts of the entire team. Recently, Alec jumped into the game, having observed the series from afar for some time, and shared his thoughts. He, Pip and Adam gathered to discuss the appeal of the series, and talked about its divergence from traditional RPG systems, the intimidation factor and the complicated nature of its much-debated difficulty.>
Adam: Dark Souls III is probably going to be in my top three games of the year, despite the thousands> of good games coming out this year. I m continually surprised to see it selling quite as well as it does though, because so many people that I recommend the series to treat those recommendations as a form of sadism.
Before you read on, be well aware: this story contains huge Dark Souls 3 spoilers.
Now that we've got that out of the way, consider this: Pontiff Sulyvahn, one of Dark Souls 3's first brutally difficult bosses, took me around a dozen attempts to defeat. Some players might be forgiven for thinking Dark Souls 3 isn't that hard until they come up against this nasty bugger, hidden in a stately hall above the Irithyll Valley.
Except one clever player has managed to beat the fiery sword-wielding brute in a solitary swipe of his sunlight straight sword. You can watch YouTuber neptunusequester pull that off in the video below, but how did he do it? Redditer HolidayForHire has a strong theory, though be warned that it'll only work in New Game Plus, as it requires a bunch of high level equipment. Even so, neptunusequester claims he was only at Soul Level 70 when he pulled off the feat.
There's a wealth of videos online depicting brave hollowed smiting bosses in Dark Souls 1 and 2 with one hit, and it looks like the community is determined to do the same in this final instalment. Wake me up when someone brings the Nameless King down with one hit.
Cheers, Eurogamer.
Blindspots is a new, irregular series in which I play games, series or genres that I have, for one reason or another, never spent significant time with. Sometimes that’s because of simple omission, other times it’s because I’ve deliberately avoided them – convinced that I wouldn’t enjoy them or that they were poor quality. My intent is to play each for long enough that, at the very least, I understand their appeal in order that I no longer dismiss them out of hand, but ideally I’ll reach the point where I break through the wall of ignorance or fear and love them as my own.>
We begin with the Souls games, specifically the recent Dark Souls III. I have resolutely steered clear of this series because I have been certain that they would be too ‘difficult’ for me. Because I am a pathetic little babyman.
When Dingle arrives at the circular ruins outside the old church, the first thing he sees is a man in a crown, holding a flaming torch – it is the man he must kill. But the crowned man shows no fear, he simply waves and beckons him over. Dingle is curious. He approaches with caution and looks into the grassy arena below, where he sees two dark spirits – red phantoms like himself – taking swings at each other. The man in the crown begins silently dropping glowing stones everywhere, one by one. There are two more red phantoms squatting on the stone ledge nearby, quietly watching the duel below.
Dingle (full name: Dingle Dongle) looks at the fight, then at the man he is supposed to kill, then at the spectators. Then he does something that more and more dark spirits in Lothric are doing. He puts his weapon away, he sits down and he waits his turn.
Travel along the Road of Sacrifices in Dark Souls 3 and you ll come across a massive, festering swamp. It s a grim place, crawling with the undead and, most terrifying of all, giant crabs. But it s also littered with useful items, making a dash through the sickly green sludge worth the danger of getting caught in their pincers. One of these items is the Fallen Knight set, an intriguing suit of black armour with decent protection against fire. It s stylish and intimidating, looking like something Kylo Ren would wear to a Renaissance fair, and it s one of my favourite sets in the game. But beyond its fashionable design, there s also a secret tragedy lurking behind that menacing helm.
In the Souls series, lore can be uncovered by reading item descriptions. Checking the description for the Fallen Knight set, it describes the former owner of the armour as a member of an order of knights who disbanded and fled, but met untimely deaths. One of those deaths, it seems, was in this stinking swamp. Take some time to study the armour and you ll see delicate gold patterns engraved into the black metal. It s clear this isn t just a bog standard suit of armour knocked up by a village blacksmith. The knight would have earned this, or been given it for some special reason.
Which makes the fact that he s attempted to hide it with an old, tattered cloak all the more mysterious. At one time this knight might have worn this armour with pride, but now he s trying to disguise it, as if he s ashamed of it. Or, more likely, ashamed of himself. I get the feeling that, after whatever made him flee, and whatever he was fleeing from, he became something similar to a masterless samurai. I can imagine him wandering Lothric, working as a sellsword, looking for a purpose in life, before meeting his demise on the Road of Sacrifices, probably in the claws of one of those monstrous crabs.
The armour is badly worn too. There are dents, scratches, and weapon impacts all over it, indicating many battles fought, or a hard life on the road. You can t help but wonder what this magnificent black and gold armour looked like when it was new, pristine and gleaming on the back of a proud young knight. But now it s battered, filthy, and draped in a ragged cloak. Dark Souls is great at imbuing its world, weapons, and armour with a melancholy sense of history, and the Fallen Knight set is a wonderful expression of this. Even the slot on the helm makes it look like it has a sad, pained expression.
But there s more. The helm, armour, and gauntlets have almost identical descriptions, but examine the trousers and you ll find an additional detail about the troubled past of their former owner. It reveals that the trousers are dampened and indelibly stained with the misery of flight , which is a lyrical, poetic way of saying our knight pissed, and possibly shit, himself while he was running away. I love this, because at first glance the Fallen Knight set looks so cool and sinister, but then you learn the truth. It s a nice subversion that only makes the backstory of the armour even sadder, and an amusing joke at the expense of players who don t read the item descriptions.
There might be other items in Dark Souls 3 or clues from previous games that further embellish the story of these fallen knights, proving my speculation wrong. But that s the beauty of the Souls games. You re given subtle clues and left to piece the lore together yourself. That a single suit of armour found lying in a swamp can tell such an evocative story whether my version is accurate or not speaks volumes about the attention to detail in these games. I ve fought through gruelling dungeons and vanquished fearsome bosses in this old, forgotten armour, so perhaps I ve restored some glory to it and the memory of its previous owner. And you get used to the smell after a while.
If I have learned anything from reading other people’s opinions about Dark Souls it’s that Dark Souls is probably a metaphor for something. But what? WHAT? There are so many conflicting opinions out there.
Well, that’s where your pal, Pip (that is me), can help. I have come up with a definitive list of ways to interpret Dark Souls correctly:
“These charts are supposed to be weekly, Meer.” “I know, but I keep having to go away for unhappy reasons.” “Oh OK, but you’d damn well better tell me what were the top ten best-stelling Steam games last week, or I’m going to spraypaint pictures of bottoms onto your house.” “Alright, alright, here you go.” … [visit site to read more]
Leaving and receiving gifts is one of the few genuinely nice things you can do in Dark Souls 3. After all, if you ve got 99+ Embers in your inventory, why not drop a bunch for the pyromancer you ve just invaded? Better still, why not hand off that boss weapon you don t need anymore? It s a noble gesture for sure, but it looks like some hackers have been using the system to destroy save files.
In a statement by Bandai Namco at the weekend, the publisher warns that players receiving an invalid game data message upon booting the game might be the unsuspecting receivers of illicit goods. Basically, if a hacker has jacked the damage up on a weapon and then attempted to hand it to another player, the recipient will receive the message until they ve removed the offending save data.
This message is intended to inform end users that some external file, modification of game save data, exploit or cheat/hack, or alterations to the game have been detected by the Dark Souls III server team and that the end users' account/profile has been flagged for further investigation, the statement reads.
As a result of these shenanigans, players are warned to remove the offending save data quickly if they receive the message. Meanwhile, all users are warned to regularly back-up their save data if they want to keep swapping goods with other players.
The warning message will continue to be displayed until the Dark Souls III server team has determined whether or not a violation of the End User License Agreement (EULA) occurred, the statement continues. At that point the account/profile will either have restrictions placed on it (to limit the online interactions during multiplayer sessions and a further penalty message of "You have been Penalized" issued) or the "Invalid Game Data" warning message removed.
It s an unfortunate situation, but with an online system as freeform as Dark Souls these problems are bound to emerge. If you ve not mustered the bravery to interact with other players in Lothric yet, here s a good argument for why you shouldn't.