Prepared to Die...One Last Time · 7:09am Apr 20th, 2016
There is an unmistakeable tinge of melancholy in the final entry of Dark Souls; one that couldn't be completely overshadowed by the hype and grandeur of the game. The moment I stared at the title screen and listened to a main menu theme that could easily have been the final boss music of another game, I knew that this was it.
Of course, I'm well aware that there's nothing stopping From Software from coming out with Demon's Souls 2 or Bloodborne 2, but for the gloomy world of Dark Souls, this was the end.
Spoilers ahead as I ruminate on bosses, lore, and the game.
Opening Story - the Souls games have never been known for their simple, straightforward story. As far as one could deduce, the First Flame is dying out yet again. The Lords of Cinder were supposed to help light it up again, but have all fucked off somewhere. Except, Ludleth, who stayed. Then again, he had no legs. It's up to the player to make the other lords get back to work.
This is a change up from the first and second games as the previous linkers of the First Flame have never been involved in linking the First Flame of the current generation, suggesting that this may be the last time it has to be done. Perhaps the combined might of all the Lords of Cinder will keep the flames lit forevermore. Fitting for the last game of this world.
Iudex Gundyr - this boss is piss-easy, especially for a Souls veteran, but it does set the tone of the game's bosses. The instant the abyss burst out of Gundyr's armor, I knew that the bosses in the game were going to be procedural, as the lesson learned by Bloodborne, which probably also explains the exaggerated blood spatters when hits take place in the game.
I got to meet Gundyr again after a bit of time traveling. People claim that 3 is trying to forget that 2 happened, but this shows a strong reminiscence to the Memory of Giants, and how to fight Sir Alonne. I love the second fight for its balance of simplicity and grandiosity. The fight is basically a duel with an incredibly skilled halberdier. The second phase doesn't involve horrific transformations or magical augumentations, just a warrior getting pissed and bringing it. I have to say, I've never been more enamored by the sight of a big, fat guy do a turning side kick. To be fair, he's probably buff under that metal, it's just the armor that looks fat.
Firelink Shrine - the nostalgia just washes over at the sight of Firelink, and the game folds in an extra wallop. It is Firelink with the all too familiar sight of another crestfallen warrior and Andrei, but the sight of the blind fire keeper in dark robes and the circular structure is more Demon's Souls than anything else. There are a lot of callbacks in this game in terms of NPCs, but it honestly felt more like a celebration of Dark Souls rather than rehashing.
Vordt of the Boreal Valley - Vordt introduces the new frostbite status effect and the new pace of the game. It's not as fast as Bloodborne, but Vordt plowing across the arena at ridiculous speeds is a sight to see. And dodge.
Curse-ridden Greatwood - this is Bed of Chaos finally done right. It's a fight with a giant tree with multiple weak points, but it's not a static fight. There is a puzzle element at first, but the fight doesn't devolve into a weak platformer once you figure it out. The tree lumbers after you, and the movement alters where the weak points are. So it turns into this frantic dance of you chasing after the next cluster of pustules while the tree swings at you and an endless supply of minions harrass you. And damn did I gasp when the floor gave way.
Deacons of the Deep - doing previous bad bosses right seems like a running theme for 3. The crappy congregation fight from 2 somehow manages to be interesting by combining elements of the Royal Rat Vanguard in there. The sight of a mob of undead priests lumbering towards you is a surprisingly unnerving spectacle.
Watchers of the Abyss - God, I love this fight. The soundtrack just nails it. The introductory cut scene reveals the crazed Bloodborne-looking watchers eternally slaying each other. The lore of this band of brothers linking the fire together is just awesome and all the more makes it sad to see them reduced to mindless in fighting. They also introduce greatsword-dagger dual wielding, which is another layer of awesome. It's their area, though. From really abuses the whole poison swamp thing here. It's not even confined to a single area of the game. In a previous post, I talked about not wanting any more poison swamps. From must have read that that post and decided to add more.
High Lord Wolnir - the King of Spooking here wasn't particularly interesting in terms of mechanics as he is a duller Bed of Chaos mixed with Nito. He is, however, an example of how something so minor as a death animation adds so much. Reading up on his lore and watching him be dragged screaming unto the Abyss was a grimly satisfying sight.
Pontiff Sulyvahn - Fuck this guy. He's easily the first huge difficulty spike in the game. It took me over a dozen tries to get him down. He mixes Gwyn and Fume Knight during phase one, then adds Darklurker when he hits phase two, which meant that it was a damage race in the end. My deprived simply wasn't built to deal a lot of damage very quickly. It's not just in mechanics. This guy was an asshole in lore too. It's rare to find a character in a Souls game that is so wretched, but Sulyvahn and his master later on really take the cake.
Aldrich, Devourer of Gods - I never liked Dark Sun Gwyndolin. I didn't like that he was lying to me so I could set myself on fire forever. I didn't like that he talked down to me when I joined his covenant. And I didn't like chasing him down the world's longest corridor while he shot arrows and sorceries at me. Still, I had some sympathy for him. He was a lonely god watching over an empty city when all the other gods, including his sister, had gone away. When you come upon his personal chambers in the "tomb" of Gwyn, you don't see a magnificent throne, just a simple chair and some cut flowers for the Lord of Sunlight. Some players think that Gwyndolin was preserving the Age of Fire to maintain his rule over Anor Londo, but I don't think Gwyndolin ever styled himself as ruling over anything. He watched in a sad vigil, perhaps in a futile attempt to do as his father willed. I think that he tries to trick you, not for his own grandeur, but simply because he didn't want his father to suffer anymore. And to link the fire so Gwyn's wishes may be fulfilled.
So, when I realized what Aldrich had done, and what the cult of the Deep had done to Anor Londo...yeah, a measure of revenge was in order. That's the beauty of this game's storytelling, among other things. The fight itself was difficult as hell too. I had to change my deep axe into a fire one just to deal some kind of damage.
Yhorm, the Profane Giant - the problem with gimmick bosses like Yhorm is that they quickly become dull as the gimmick is exposed. The thing is, there's just something so deeply satisfying in bringing a giant to his knees with a single slash of the Storm Ruler. And to complete Siegward's storyline was a heartwarming sight. Only in a Souls game have I seen a man cosplaying an onion suddenly gain so much gravitas.
Dancer of the Boreal Valley - this boss was as slow as fuck, but she killed me a bunch of times anyway because the slow erratic moves threw me off. Oh, and my low health meant that her grab was instant death even when I haven't taken any damage. Love the armor set too, the way the veil just flows like a cape is awesome.
Oceiros, the Consumed King - Charge attack, the boss. Kudos to whoever voiced this. The anguish when he hits second phase is real, enough to make me want to dig more into the lore.
Dragonslayer Armour - halfway through the fight, I realized that he had a shield to make himself fucking invincible, then he had flying things shoot at me while we fought on the roof. Yeah, it's Dark Souls Sundowner. This boss wins, hands down, the most relentless use of shield bash ever.
The Twin Princes - and I had thought the Crystal Sage's teleport spam was bad. This was a particularly fun fight because Lorian's attack style can't be traced to an existing Souls boss. And when Lothric joined the fray, hoo boy.
Ancient Wyvern - From, who in their right mind told you that the Ancient Dragon fight in 2 was fun? It wasn't. It was dull as fuck and took too long. This boss had the courtesy to get one-shotted by the right attack, but it would have been more courteous not to include it at all!
Nameless King - Easily my favorite fight, and the hardest. Epic is an oft-abused word in describing boss fights. This was...outright surreal in its magnificence. Fighting the dragon-riding god of war amidst storm clouds seems more like a feverish delusion of grandeur in its sheer awesome. Completing it left me breathless. And finding the dragonslayer spear and armor set leads me to believe that we never did fight the real Sir Ornstein, just his illusion and some abyss-corrupted cosplayer. The real Ornstein departed Anor Londo after Gwyn's sacrifice. Perhaps he had little faith in Gwyn's chosen successors, namely Seath, the Four Kings, Gwynevere, and Gwyndolin, so he set out in search of Gwyn's firstborn. For his trouble, his old teacher slew him.
Soul of Cinder - the first phase is both fun and frantic, fighting the DS equivalent of Edgemaster from Soul Caliber, but it's the second phase that really left me in a pleasant melancholy. After thousands of years, after so many eras, after so many Lords of Cinder, there was still Gwyn, STILL fighting for the First Flame. I swear my heart skipped a beat when those all too familiar three notes began during phase 2. What a game.
I'm not done with the game. There are builds to try, other endings to acquire, and a platinum trophy to obtain. But, now, I can sit back and look to this awesome trilogy with fondness.
Haven't completed the game yet (don't worry; I was already spoiled on some of the later bosses), but so far, the Abyss Watchers are my favourite. And Sulyvahn can suck my nuts. Fuck that guy.
I've had a great time with the game so far and am decently far I think. Just killed Dragonslayer armor and am probably gonna go back and kill Oceiros before I advance any further. Did you do any coop at all during the game? I am pretty sure a few bosses I would never have beaten had I not had some help on them. You mentioned it took you over a dozen tries on the pontiff. I give a boss maybe 2 - 4 tries before getting help involved. It depends on my patience and if I'm having a good time and am going "Ok, I can do this, let's try it this way next time." versus "Wow I love cheap, near impossible to dodge attacks. Thanks game." It's easy to see which scenario I grab a phantom to help me in sooner. Plus, for me anyway, I'm more concerned about just getting further in the game. At the end of the day I don't care if I can say whether or not I solo'd bosses. What matters is seeing the end of this story and having fun. That and coop for sunlight medals. Definitely need those whenever I can get them.
I will also say I think my favorite thing in DS3 is rolling. In DS1 I never really rolled much. I seemed to get annihilated and the timing for the frames of invincibility during the roll seemed very small to me. So I didn't really bother with rolling. Got myself the Zweihander, Ornstein's armor, and the Eagle Greatshield and just tanked the crap out of everything and it worked really well (outside of Manus and Kalameet that is). But just the first Judex encounter in this game made it very clear that rolling was not an option, it was required, especially considering how some enemies can get the equivalent of a parry attack in if they break your guard. Despite that rolling seems to work really well in DS3 and I enjoy it a lot. May have to go back to DS1 and try a more agile build sometime to see if it feels the same.
3883459
I killed all the bosses solo for 2 reasons.
1. I'm a proud and stubborn player who would rather die dozens of times than summon.
2. I'm a cheapskate who refuses to buy a PS+ subscription so I have to play offline.
3883462
Heh, I can understand both those reasons. For the first reason I'm exactly like that on some games (just not the Souls series). As for the second reason there's nothing wrong with saving money but for me it's PC version ftw so no subscription fees. On the bright side if you're offline you don't have to worry about invaders. I hate pvp so much in Dark Souls.
I just realized you didn't mention the Old Demon King from Smouldering Lake. Did you skip that one?
I was pretty satisfied with DSIII. I'm looking forward to what From Software will do next, personally I hope its a new IP entirely. Although I suspect we will get a setting change before anything else, they must be sick to death of Medieval Fantasy. I've heard people discussing the concept of a Science fiction style Bloodborne often enough, but I suppose that's just people wanting transforming laser swords and robots.
At the end of the day DSIII was a fond send off to a great series.
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Well, they did make Armored Core so From Software knows a thing or two about science fiction.
Or they could make another Adventures of Cookie and Cream.
The Soul of Cinder's backstory, as you laid it out, isn't entirely accurate. The Soul of Cinder, according to the soul description, is a physical manifestation of everyone that has linked the world's flame in the past. You could say that includes every person that finished Dark Souls .
3888760
Exactly. That is best reflected in phase one when you had all the various builds coming at you, representative of the many Lords of Cinder after Gwyn.
The second phase, though, is Gwyn, manifesting after you've peeled back all his successors.