Dark Souls 3

Finished it this weekend, stuttering didn't bother me I figured it was my computer. Not sure if I'm gonna NG+. I didn't like this one as much as Dark Souls 2. The Area's and Bosses weren't as interesting. As usual the Final Boss wasn't even as difficult as some of the Early game bosses. I just played a boring supped up Knight with Lothric suit and Dark Sword, I just like the way the sword looked and then read online that it was a good choice.

If I did NG+ I'd like to re-spec and play something different. I'd like to do something with Pyromancy and the Black Glaive. can anyone give me advice on which armor set I should use and Stat focus?
 
I'm not super far (Profaned Capital) but I'm not sure I like it as much as 1 or 2. The graphics are great and I like the gameplay tweaks. At the same time, it just feels like the whole game is less complex. Almost like Bloodborne. With all of the invasions and multiplayer action, it seems like 2/3 of the people I encounter are playing the same way as everyone else. It's just a matter of execution. DS1 and 2 lended themselves to a wider variety of strategies....or at least more people seemed willing to explore alternate strategies.
 
Domingo said:
I'm not super far (Profaned Capital) but I'm not sure I like it as much as 1 or 2. The graphics are great and I like the gameplay tweaks. At the same time, it just feels like the whole game is less complex. Almost like Bloodborne. With all of the invasions and multiplayer action, it seems like 2/3 of the people I encounter are playing the same way as everyone else. It's just a matter of execution. DS1 and 2 lended themselves to a wider variety of strategies....or at least more people seemed willing to explore alternate strategies.
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Each of the Souls games has suffered from balance issues early on. I don't think the original Dark Souls was in what I would call an acceptable state until after the DLC came out and it was patched up to version 1.06, which happened more than a year after the game was released.
 
I was okay with Dark Souls 2 "out of the box" I suppose. Something about this one feels like Bloodborne in that it's almost pre-scripted. You go here, do this, find this item to power this up, equip this, etc.
DS2 was linear (up until the end), but I don't think I really ever noticed or cared. With DS3, I'm noticing it more. I'm also just not a fan of the spellcasting system either. I think that might be one reason people aren't using it as much. It just doesn't feel "right."

All of that said, it's still a great game and I'm having a fun time with it. I'm just not sure I'll look back at it like I do the first two. To me, it's a little like a bastard child somewhere between DS1 and Bloodborne.
 
polonyc2 said:
they actually removed the patch that was causing the issues...nice!
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According to From Soft, the patch fixed three issues related to cheating. While nobody likes performance tradeoffs, I'm hoping they can work the fixes back in.
 
ghostwich said:
Looks like they pulled the patch that was giving everyone stuttering:

App Version 1.04.1 / Reg Version 1.06.1 Update :: DARK SOULS III General Discussions

EDIT 16/05: The patch has been removed temporarily to fix the freeze issues. We hope to reinstate the patch ASAP. If you fall victim to one of the bugs previously fixed, don't worry, you won't be penalized. We will keep you posted as soon as we have more info. Thank you for your understanding.
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Awesome. Reinstalling as I type.

I learned my lesson From, I'll never go online again.
 
That's an interesting approach - they just full-on put the old version back. Fine by me.
Took out both Yhorm and the Dancer on the first try. It probably helped that I'd helped like 30 people kill the Dancer when soul farming earlier. It's still fairly effective, but I think the Anor Londo steps are my best spot. With the silver ring and shield of want you get 16K for killing those 3 knights on the steps. 2 Club swings each and they're toast.

Think I'm just going to stick to a combo of the great club and dark sword all the way to the end. I'm toying using pyromancy a little more, but it doesn't seem as effective as in the last two games. I think the overabundance of shielded foes and quick/flying attacks affect that.
 
Domingo said:
I'm toying using pyromancy a little more, but it doesn't seem as effective as in the last two games. I think the overabundance of shielded foes and quick/flying attacks affect that.
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You would be wrong there. Pyromancy is extremely effective and more so than sorcery especially for bosses. Pyromancy has the best 2 spells in the game that can take care of you in pretty much all situations. Greater Chaos Fire Orb and Black Fire Orb. Spell efficiency and timing are the key and so far I have not run into a situation that one of those spells didn't handle it (PvE btw).

Sorcery though got gimped in DS3 IMHO. The FP efficiency of all the upper tier spells is garbage especially since they seemed to buff most of the larger enemy types + Bosses to resist magic. Magic is just magic so anything with a mid/high resistance (and there are many) make it impractical to use as your sole weapon. But with pyromancy, you only really need 2 spells. GCFO hits with fire damage, BFO hits with dark damage and both hit for a lot of damage with very little FP cost. In this game I don't think there is anything that is resistant to both of those at the same time. FYI, GCFO hits for a little less damage than Crystal Soul Spear and costs 25 FP vs 55 FP respectively.
 
I just got the Profane Flame spell like two days ago it's one of the best but it doesn't have the explosion like DS2.
 
LurkerLito said:
You would be wrong there. Pyromancy is extremely effective and more so than sorcery especially for bosses. Pyromancy has the best 2 spells in the game that can take care of you in pretty much all situations. Greater Chaos Fire Orb and Black Fire Orb. Spell efficiency and timing are the key and so far I have not run into a situation that one of those spells didn't handle it (PvE btw).
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Huh. I have GCFO. It always feels like the times I want to use it, it doesn't hurt all that much or the range is too short. Either that or the various shield knights just walk right through it with their shields up.
I have no comparisons to sorcery (I tend to favor up close and personal with big weapons) but it's not cutting it for me.
Can't say I've used it on any bosses, though. Never really needed it. For me, the times I really want to use something at range are vs. huge crowds or shielded foes.
Got any tips for getting additional damage or making things work a bit better?
 
Domingo said:
Huh. I have GCFO. It always feels like the times I want to use it, it doesn't hurt all that much or the range is too short. Either that or the various shield knights just walk right through it with their shields up.
I have no comparisons to sorcery (I tend to favor up close and personal with big weapons) but it's not cutting it for me.
Can't say I've used it on any bosses, though. Never really needed it. For me, the times I really want to use something at range are vs. huge crowds or shielded foes.
Got any tips for getting additional damage or making things work a bit better?
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Pyromancy scales with both Faith and Intelligence, and I think the soft cap for these is either 30 or 40 for pyromancy damage output. If you need to prioritize one over the other I believe INT is the more important stat, but try to keep them both within 10-15 of each other. Also don't forget to upgrade your Pyromancy Flame. The Fire Clutch Ring and/or Dark Clutch Ring can also boost your damage.
 
the Fire Snake pyro spell in DS2 was nice...the way it tracked enemies was great even for pvp...is there anything like that in DS3?
 
Am I crazy or are the NG+'s not getting harder? I'm on round 3 and just surfing through. Are we really expected to play PVE online for the extra challenge? That's not normal.
 
rsbennett00 said:
Am I crazy or are the NG+'s not getting harder? I'm on round 3 and just surfing through. Are we really expected to play PVE online for the extra challenge? That's not normal.
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I don't think they scale too well, but they do scale. My Cleric required 3 hits to kill each of the hollows the very beginning when I did NG+ where NG I could one shot them. Of course my cleric is very weak. I just started a new playthrough on the PS4, and my knight is cruising through enemies, barely taking any damage, that would have one shot me.

And apparently there's a convenant summoning bug? Makes sense, seeing the complaints in this thread about Blue Sentinals/Dark Moon being impossible to farm for, whereas I had my 30 proofs before Anor Londo, and could barely take 10 steps without being summoned by someone.

*EDIT*
Since the PS4 couldn't connect, I went back to the PC for a bit. From the boss of the Highwall to the second bonfire in Undead Settlement, with pretty much a straight run there, I was summoned 4x as a Blade of the Darkmoon. 10 minutes total, 4 summons. On the PS4, I have yet to be auto-summoned once, and am at the Cathedral of the Deep.
 
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people are saying to make a family sharing plan, export your character to another profile and then import it back to fix the covenant issue. sounds screwed up.

For NG+, it appears to have incremental scaling.
In DS1 NG+ probably had 2x health, up to 3x @ NG+6. They toned it difficulty down a lot in DS2, just lots of extra phantoms in SotFS and some other minor changes. In DS2 you only get extra items and a bump in difficulty, so it is underwhelming.
 
With the exception of a few bosses, the various NG's have never been that bad. Part of what makes the early part of the Dark Souls games difficult is that your stats/gear suck and you don't know what you're doing. You get killed in 1-2 shots, your weapons don't hurt much, you have no stamina, you don't have as many iFrames, and you don't know what to expect.
By the time you're on your 3rd or 4th pass you know the drill and you're locked and loaded. Some enemies can still be tough (especially the bosses with multiple enemies), but I'm not sure any are as bad as when you first start out.
 
jiminator said:
people are saying to make a family sharing plan, export your character to another profile and then import it back to fix the covenant issue. sounds screwed up.

For NG+, it appears to have incremental scaling.
In DS1 NG+ probably had 2x health, up to 3x @ NG+6. They toned it difficulty down a lot in DS2, just lots of extra phantoms in SotFS and some other minor changes. In DS2 you only get extra items and a bump in difficulty, so it is underwhelming.
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Yes, the difficulty scaling in DS3 seems more linear while it was logarithmic in DS1. But I'm only up to NG++ in DS3 so far.
 
Domingo said:
Huh. I have GCFO. It always feels like the times I want to use it, it doesn't hurt all that much or the range is too short. Either that or the various shield knights just walk right through it with their shields up.
I have no comparisons to sorcery (I tend to favor up close and personal with big weapons) but it's not cutting it for me.
Can't say I've used it on any bosses, though. Never really needed it. For me, the times I really want to use something at range are vs. huge crowds or shielded foes.
Got any tips for getting additional damage or making things work a bit better?
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Like Armenius said so I won't repeat it, but as far as tips, timing is key. Also remember DEX plays a role in cast times. I have 20 dex only and GCFO casts decently fast given it's damage output. Pyro has only really 2 issues and that is range and timing. There is no real way to get around them but to use them a lot and figure it out. I have int 50 and faith 20 and those are rather high, but I can tell you the silver knights in Anor Londor I farmed are 2 GCFO casts to kill each if they don't have their shield up. The shield will almost negate all damage so you have to learn when to cast it. For example the First Silver Knight to appear in Anor Londo at the Stairs always charges with a lightning spear attack. Most people would dodge it but the instant I see him charge up I cast GCFO. It will hit as he speeds at me and will stop him in his tracks. I can then roll back and away from him and if he does it again I repeat and know I won. Occasionally he will put up his shield and block the lava damage part partially so after the second cast I'll have to tap him 1x or 2x with a rapier or estoc to kill him.

Spells are just as bad for shielded foes as melee. As far as crowds I avoid them. In the Decons fight I tried using spells (I didn't have GCFO at the time) but it was a waste so I ended up full melee. Sorcery has no real AOE spells but White Dragon Breath, Soul Stream, Soul Spear and Crystal Soul Spear. But those AOE are expensive at FP and worse only affect what is directly in front and lined up in a row. Pyro has a few AOEs but they seem to have a pretty long cast time and I have never used it. I avoid or run from crowds and take them 1on1. Best way to deal with crowds is a bow to pull them to you one at a time IMHO.

Right now I am stuck at the Nameless King. Dark Orb seems to work well but I am missing way to much and he does so much damage. :banghead: I have to change my controller settings next time I play cause I can barely spin the view around in time to even see me get hit most of the time lol.
 
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In dealing with any shielded foes, I tend to use the R2 charge-up attack for the Great Club (or any other uber-large weapon). If you hold the button down, you'll do an attack that takes about a second to charge up and fully unleash. It's a wide swing that will hit several enemies, blasts through shields, and knocks enemies on their back, too. Best of all, you can get hit while you're doing it and it won't knock you out of the move. Unless you try to do it while they're already attacking, it'll come out.
For anyone that played Bloodborne, it's kind of like the charging attack for the Axe in that game.
That said, it's pretty worthless for PvP...at least 1 on 1.
 
Domingo said:
In dealing with any shielded foes, I tend to use the R2 charge-up attack for the Great Club (or any other uber-large weapon). If you hold the button down, you'll do an attack that takes about a second to charge up and fully unleash. It's a wide swing that will hit several enemies, blasts through shields, and knocks enemies on their back, too. Best of all, you can get hit while you're doing it and it won't knock you out of the move. Unless you try to do it while they're already attacking, it'll come out.
For anyone that played Bloodborne, it's kind of like the charging attack for the Axe in that game.
That said, it's pretty worthless for PvP...at least 1 on 1.
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Horsehoof Ring is pretty OP against shields, and kicking is faster. Though the hyper armor on heavy weapons is pretty nice.
 
Sweet. Gonna get some time to play tonight.

Random question - do you ever get to the point where you can farm chunks and slabs? I have a single maxed out weapon (went with the Dark Sword) but I'd love to be able to upgrade 2-3 others all the way. So far all of the Chunks I've gotten have been pre-placed and not from random drops. My only Slab was from Siegmeyer.
 
Domingo said:
Sweet. Gonna get some time to play tonight.

Random question - do you ever get to the point where you can farm chunks and slabs? I have a single maxed out weapon (went with the Dark Sword) but I'd love to be able to upgrade 2-3 others all the way. So far all of the Chunks I've gotten have been pre-placed and not from random drops. My only Slab was from Siegmeyer.
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If anything drops Slabs it hasn't been discovered, yet. I think you can get 8 or 9 in each playthrough as loot. Chunks reliably drop from mobs in the Grand Archives, in my experience. But once you get the Dragon Chaser's Ashes from Archdragon Peak you can infinitely buy Chunks from the Shrine Handmaid. It's far more easier to farm for souls than it is items.
 
there are 8 slabs per run, you will want to look them up in a walkthrough so you don't miss any - as they upgrade all weapons.
 
I haven't farmed the Grand Archives AFAIK there isn't a close quick bonfire farming spot in the Grand Archives, but I know the knights at the Lothric Castle bonfire drops them as one of their rare drops along with the sunlight medals. I farmed there for a long time and picked up enough medals to get the full 30 sunlight medals for the 2 miracles the covenant offers. So as far as speed and efficiency go that's where I would still farm souls and get a steady rack of Large Titinite shards + occasional Chunks and then buy the chunks, scale and twinkling titanite from the handmaiden after you get the ability to buy them. 2500 per kill per knight + Large Titanite Shard + occasional equipment drop to sell, rare drop Titanite chunk and/or Sunlight Medal. If you kill the cleric there also it has a rare drop of a blessed gem.
 
I've never played any of the Souls games past NG+...no point...it just becomes a grind where enemies have a much larger health bar and hit harder...if others enjoy that then so be it but it's never been something that I've been interested in...the game ends at NG+ for me and pvp becomes the focus
 
polonyc2 said:
I've never played any of the Souls games past NG+...no point...it just becomes a grind where enemies have a much larger health bar and hit harder...if others enjoy that then so be it but it's never been something that I've been interested in...the game ends at NG+ for me and pvp becomes the focus
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I've heard that one of the NPC sidequests is only able to be finished in NG+, but I forget what it was exactly.
 
There are 4 different endings. Some things turn NPCs hostile. Some weapons/armors have to be gotten from hostile spawns. Not to mention some boss souls craft 3 items.
 
piscian18 said:
I've heard that one of the NPC sidequests is only able to be finished in NG+, but I forget what it was exactly.
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which one is this?...I think I completed all the NPC quests

jiminator said:
There are 4 different endings. Some things turn NPCs hostile. Some weapons/armors have to be gotten from hostile spawns. Not to mention some boss souls craft 3 items.
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I finished 3 playthroughs...I didn't know that you only get a Steam achievement for 3 of the endings...if I had known that I would have done the 3 Achievement endings first
 
polonyc2 said:
which one is this?...I think I completed all the NPC quests
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it may be this
: You can summon her in Farron Keep right after the Keep Ruins bonfire for the Abyss Watchers fight if you killed her in Road of Sacrifices, but you'll need to have given a Pale Tongue to Rosaria, which will block you out of Sirris' quest line, so I recommend saving this part for another playthrough. You'll gain the Proper Bow Gesture after her summon
 
jiminator said:
it may be this
: You can summon her in Farron Keep right after the Keep Ruins bonfire for the Abyss Watchers fight if you killed her in Road of Sacrifices, but you'll need to have given a Pale Tongue to Rosaria, which will block you out of Sirris' quest line, so I recommend saving this part for another playthrough. You'll gain the Proper Bow Gesture after her summon
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I completed her quest in 1 playthrough...meaning I got the Proper Bow gesture...I got all 3 gestures by summoning all 3 NPC's in that area in 1 playthrough...you just need to summon 1 NPC, use the Black Separation Crystal to send them back to their world and summon the other 2 the same way
 
Domingo said:
Random question - do you ever get to the point where you can farm chunks and slabs?
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Slabs are fixed per run. A good place to farm chunks is Lothric Castle, preferably post-game. I used Rosaria's to respec a max luck build (449 luck) and got Chunks to drop somewhat frequently from Lothric Knights.
 
Absalom said:
Slabs are fixed per run. A good place to farm chunks is Lothric Castle, preferably post-game. I used Rosaria's to respec a max luck build (449 luck) and got Chunks to drop somewhat frequently from Lothric Knights.
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Try the serpent guys at Archdragon Peak Using the dragon spear, you can clear all four of them in roughly 45 seconds or so, and it's right by a bonfire. Decent XP for buying titanite chunks, plus they also drop them occasionally. (With 250 luck, I was getting a titanite chunk about once every 5 minutes or so).
 
Absalom said:
Slabs are fixed per run. A good place to farm chunks is Lothric Castle, preferably post-game. I used Rosaria's to respec a max luck build (449 luck) and got Chunks to drop somewhat frequently from Lothric Knights.
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I farmed gold coins from the white witches near Yhorm bonfire, put on the ring of item drops and the Mimic helmet. Those three combined got me all the rare items I needed like covenant drops and chunks. Just another option if you don't want to respec, agree lothic castle bonfire is good archdragon peak is good as well.
 
there is also the crystal rapier which gives a good bump. and if you don't have a mimic helmet you just use the soldiers tokens on them until you get a drop. may take 10 or 15.
 
I just cleared Lothric Castle (I only got to play about 30 minutes last night) and will probably give the Archives a go tonight. I played the first little area for 5 minutes and was getting bombarded by spells from every direction. I bailed pretty quickly, but will give it a better effort later.
 
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