So yeah, Dark Souls 3.
Hi, I'm Joe and welcome to a video
that I should have made three months ago.
Sorry about that.
If you're a long time viewer then you should know that
this video won't be a big commentary,
there are a few reasons why I'm not doing that.
The most important of them is that I don't think
it's fair to do to Dark Souls 3 what I've previously done to
the other games that had over a year of patches
and major DLC updates.
I'm still going to show a lot of flaws that I hope will
be fixed with time
but I'm not going to come down with full judgement on them
until the game is fully finished.
Because the issues this game has really show it to be anything but finished.
Regardless, I'll still be going into a lot of detail and
that includes examples
of all the areas in the game
and a brief look at all of the bosses.
So if you haven't played the game yourself
this is your spoiler warning.
It's probably safe to watch for a few more minutes
to get the general gist of what I have to say,
but you shouldn't watch the whole thing
if you want to save some surprises for your own playthrough.
So my first time through Dark Souls 3 was like a
disappointment sandwich.
I started out really disheartened at the start
then I got into the game and was enjoying myself
and then I was sorely let down again by the end.
That's a pretty shitty analogy but we're going with it.
Because I always end up coming across as more negative
than I intend,
I do want to say that I played the game a few more times since then
and especially on my most recent playthrough,
I found a lot more to like.
So much so that I feel comfortable saying that
in some ways, Dark Souls 3 is the best in the Soulsborne series.
The thing is though, these games are so strong that I can say that
about all of them.
Dark Souls 1 has the best world design,
and quite possibly the best first half of any game I've ever played period.
Dark Souls 2 has the best DLC
with its phenomenal level design and bosses.
Bloodborne has the best combat system and atmosphere by far.
And Demon's Souls deserves a hefty amount of recognition
for being the first game to introduce so much
and getting a shocking amount right on
that first attempt.
It's the one I've played the least
and it's also my least favorite of the five.
Sorry, I know that's probably pissed a couple of you off
but it still holds up next to the other games that came later
and benefited so much from refinement.
Since writing this I've read a bit about
the King's Field games
and I know that Demon's Souls isn't strictly speaking
the "first" attempt for some of these ideas
still it deserves a lot of respect, in my opinion.
Dark Souls 3 does level design better than
any other game on this list.
It also has the best array of bosses
and a proper difficulty curve
instead of the weird peaks and valleys 
that plummet by the end.
But it also does things worse than any of the other games.
Let's talk about the levels first
because I think I need to elaborate on what I mean.
This will also explain the first slice of disappointment
in the stupid sandwich I mentioned just a minute ago.
When I started up Dark Souls 3 for the first time
I chose my usual class that I go through
 for every first run.
I thought that the starting area was a bit lacking
compared to the brilliance of the asylum in Dark Souls 1,
but I can also understand that it's a lot
more straightforward for multiple run-throughs,
so I can appreciate what they were trying to do.
I killed the first boss and I began to look around,
and I saw a lot of potential.
I didn't watch any trailers before playing this game,
so I had no idea what kind of areas were waiting for me.
As I went through this multi-layered graveyard,
I saw multiple paths:
a locked door,
a supiciously and large coffin that might fall away at some point
to reveal a hidden entrance to another level,
and what looked like another path that could be revealed
later to some massive kingdom high on a cliff in the distance.
The more I explored, the more potential I saw:
another locked tower!
The name Firelink Shrine popping up was a surprise
but inside there were a lot of routes and stairs.
I thought that the series was finally trying
to repeat what Dark Souls 1 did so beautifully.
Multiple paths to many areas that are interlinked,
interconnected, and thralling world design!
And I got really excited! :)
And then I created the central hub bonfire and realised
that it was just like Bloodborne and Demon's Souls.
This was a seperate, foreign area,
severely ripped away from the rest of the game
to act as your home base that is never woven intricately into exploration
or a meticulously constructed world.
This was a massive disappointment for me.
It's something I've hoped to see again in the
series for three games now
and it's just not happening.
Someone commented on one of my videos
a few months ago that the series isn't meant to have that
grand world design because,
clearly,
it would've been back in one of the games by now
and that fans should stop bitching that it doesn't happen.
I sort of dismissed that comment since I was so certain
that Dark Souls 3 would have it, and here we are.
It's gotten to the point now that I strongly suspect
that this feature in Dark Souls 1 was an accident.
I know it sounds crazy since it's so carefully put together, right?
With the aqueduct link back,
the elevator from the church going back to
Lordran and Undead Burg
and looping back from Blighttown
but if you take these shortcuts away
then suddenly it's a lot closer to the seperate,
linear paths that you can find in Dark Souls 2
that branch out from the Majula Hub.
It wouldn't surprise me if the levels weren't originally meant to work this way
and that these changes just sort of happened
as development went on,
especially given that this type of world design
doesn't carry forward into the rest of that game.
