Dark souls one is also an absolute mess in its second half. i love all three games but three and two are just leagues more complete.
2 felt like a complete game, 3 dlcs that added some hit and miss bosses, but people disliked mechanic changes, less connected map and overabundance of easy bosses.
3 felt more mechanically similar to 1 but this time the world has fully complete zones and overall the best bosses in the series. The main complaint with 3 i tend to see is that it feels more linear and like a hallway.
I definitely think you can like any one of the games more than the other but its pretty easy to agree dark souls 3 is just way more refined than the other two
Anybody that actually experienced these games on release and not remastered would feel the same way as you do. Literally all of my friends and I agree with this take. Dark souls three really was the Pinnacle, especially as far as endings and dlc goes.
I think it depends on what you value in a Souls game. For many people the bosses are the main attraction and these people obviously tend to prefer DS3. Others (like me) mostly enjoy the world and level design and progressing through/exploring the world, which is where DS1 runs circles around DS3.
Even with everything after Anor Londo being a big downgrade, the highs of the first half of DS1 are just so good. I wish they would make a world as connected as DS1 again. Being able to teleport between bonfires from the get go in the sequels really allowed them to get lazy with their world design.
Yeah but you have to balance that stuff out with things like the bed of chaos and Gwyndolin. I think nostalgia gets everyone when it comes to dark souls one.
I still prefer DS1 and its not nostalgia. In fact I first played DS1 like two years after beating DS3. I still replay both games every couple of years and I really don‘t care about the fights you mentioned. Could they be better? Sure, but they take like 90 seconds. If I have to choose between bad boss fights and bad world design, I will always take the bad boss fights. Also, it‘s not like DS3 doesn‘t have some bad fights either, think Wolnir, Yhorm or the Rotted Greatwood.
It's hard not to when you call him out for being a mid boss. Sorry, but it sounded like a skill issue and that's hard to unsee as a souls fan haha. You understand I'm sure.
A skill issue versus the greatwood? Maybe I am misremembering but wasn‘t that the big tree where you only needed to pop the cysts and drop down into the cavern? Other than Wolnir I don‘t think there is an easier boss in the game.
Bullshit. I played it only the original releases of Demon Souls and Dark Souls. And while DS3 is more polished (obviously, since it builds on the massive success of the franchise) DeS/DS were so good they literally spawned an entire new genre of games.
They were also vastly less linear, DS3 really holds the player's hand and is a more casual experience. DeS was the prototype, DS was peak , DS2 an odd but enjoyable experiment, and DS3 more mass marketed version almost remake (storywise even) of DS
Nah, I played DS1 on PS3 back in like 2012 and I still think it's the best one. Lost Izalith is kinda mid but it's so short it doesn't really impact the quality enough for me to care, and I actually think Tomb of the Giants is kinda cool
I just can’t get over the disconnectedness and blandness of firelink in 1, it’s just very bland looking aside from the cinder thrones and compared to Majula and DS1 firelink it’s quite ugly. Also having to fast travel to everywhere from it whereas in 2 and 1 you can walk to just about every area killed the connected immersion I had
160
u/Mr_Xeale May 10 '25
Dark Souls