{"id":4591,"date":"2023-11-12T00:45:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T00:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/?p=4591"},"modified":"2023-11-12T00:49:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T00:49:45","slug":"dark-souls-iii-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/archives\/4591","title":{"rendered":"Dark Souls III: Complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Barring a short stint with Demon’s Souls<\/b> and Bloodborne<\/b> a long time ago, I missed the entire Souls<\/i> phenomenon. It wasn’t until 2018 when I fell in love with Bloodborne<\/b> and since then, it’s risen to become my favorite game ever. I plunked a few hours into the remaster of Dark Souls<\/b>, at some point tested out DS3<\/b> and even started Demon’s Souls<\/b> on the PS5, none really drew me in. Sekir<\/b> just kicked my ass and despite making it to the final boss, I never beat that one either.<\/p>\n

Now, Elden Ring<\/b> was a different story. I wrote about this game not once<\/a>, not twice<\/a> but three times<\/a> and I think it’s in my top-20 games ever, though that list keeps changing. In fact, that title alone ruined me for games for most of 2022, with only a few titles even holding my interest as the year went on. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Several weeks ago, afer playing Bloodborne<\/b> AGAIN<\/i>, I had the itch to try out Dark Souls<\/b> again and I booted up DS Remastered<\/b>. I would have to restart, but I hated the visuals and chose to delete it immediately. Instead, why don’t I wait to see if DS3<\/b> ever goes on sale? While perusing a used bookstore with my daughter, I saw a bargain bin of games, mostly Wii and Xbox 360 cases. There was one blue one, however, and to my great surprise, it was Dark Souls III<\/b>! The game cost $4 and contained a sticker disclaimer that it was badly scratched. I bought it, installed it and never once had an issue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, I had played a few hours of this game while in Europe but with a new save in tow and years of guides to lead me, I set off into the land of whateverthehell in order to do…something. The story aside, I absolutely loved<\/i> traipsing through another Miyazaki world replete with winding passages, hidden areas and beautiful landscapes. In fact, only recently did I realize that FromSoftware level design has a lot in common with Mario, fitting now that I completed two of those games in one day (see next post). There are so many locations where you simply know<\/b> that a hidden section exists. In both games, you’re rewarded for that exploration with some perk, though in Mario they often are easier to decipher. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With a claymore in hand, I plowed through most bosses – much to my delight – all while reveling in the joy of discovery. I loathe bosses as they detract from my favorite element of videogames: exploration. It’s clear as the years progress that I never mind being OP as the true enjoyment is no different from 30+ years ago. “How do I get over there?!” It worked in Spyro<\/b>, it worked in THPS<\/b>, in God Of War<\/b>, Tomb Raider<\/b> and more. And Dark Souls<\/b> has that in spades. Now, the tough-as-nails portion of the game is digestible alongside a super-powerful weapon and a little patience. Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dark Souls III<\/b> with the exception of a few moments and that annoying Twin Princes battle. I legitimately planned on deleting the game if I didn’t beat him\/them today – which I did, fortunately! <\/p>\n

While I won’t likely return to this game, or either of its predecessors, or even to Demon’s Souls<\/b> or Sekiro<\/b>, but I’m so happy I played this. The call of Elden Ring<\/b> beckons me repeatedly, perhaps I’ll revisit it again some day. But for today, DSIII<\/b> has been a fun, 37-hour romp and one whose exploration was simply top notch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barring a short stint with Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne a long time ago, I missed the entire Souls phenomenon. It wasn’t until 2018 when I fell in love with Bloodborne and since then, it’s risen to become my favorite game ever. I plunked a few hours into the remaster of Dark Souls, at some point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,139,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-worst","category-bloodborne","category-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4591"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4596,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591\/revisions\/4596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}