Dark Souls 3: A Return to Fire and Shadow

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Time to Beat: 101 Hours

For most gamers, there are few games which evoke the response of the Dark Souls series. Originally created by FromSoftware in the first form of Demon's Souls, the Souls series has a reputation for its horrid difficulty. A 2009 PlayStation 3 exclusive, Demon's Souls' critical and commercial success led to the spiritual successor, Dark Souls, in 2011. In spite of the famed difficulty of the game, PC gamers petitioned FromSoftware to port Dark Souls, which was initially only available on the PS3 and Xbox 360. With over ninety thousand signatures, the developer understood the potential monetary reward, and released a revamped product in 2012 for the PC. Aptly named the Prepare to Die Edition, the PC version included all sorts of bonus features, including the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. It also came packaged within the despised Games for Windows – Live DRM, and a 30 frames per second screen cap. Fortunately, the problem was fixed by a modder, who released a 60 fps alteration the day of release.

I'd never played Demon's Souls, but my brother repeatedly expressed his admiration for the original iteration, and convince me to the try the first Dark Souls. I'd never played anything like it; I feared it, loved it, revealed in it, despaired in it. In the end, I persevered through it. Dark Souls 2 was one of the handful of games I've purchased on release day (along with Mass Effect 3, uh), but oddly, I never finished it. I can't recall the reason why. I forgot about the series, but was convinced to purchase the March 2018 Monthly Bundle (again by my brother). This was a great decision.
In case it wasn't clear, the Dark Souls series is infamous, because death always hovers about the player, just hidden in the dark. The protagonist will die, repeatedly (unless you're this guy). When I began playing Dark Souls 3 for this review, I considered recording the number of deaths I incurred, but abandoned this record before it could be numbered in the hundreds.

The Dark Souls series is set in a medieval fantasy world, where there was originally no light, only a sort of grey timelessness, and many, many Everlasting Dragons. But in a time long past, the first flame appeared, creating both light and dark simultaneously. In the new born light, souls were seen, and beings without name took them and were granted great power. These were the gods who fought a massive war and overthrew the dragons. With their souls they created soldiers and servants, and birthed sons and daughters. But there was also the Dark Soul, taken by a pygmy and eventually broken up, with a shard placed in the soul of every woman and man. Just watch the video.

At the beginning of Dark Souls, the first flame had started to fade, and humanity suffered the curse of the dark sign. They could no longer die, but become hollow, forgetting their former self, and going mad. The player, as the Chosen Undead, was a hero, fated to link the flame and restore the fire to its former glory. Dark Souls 3 occurs after the flame has been linked and relinked countless times, but each iteration has weakened the fire, with the intimation that it, and everything it sustains, must eventually fade (Dark Souls 2 occurs somewhere between 1 – the beginning of the fire - and 3 – the end of fire - along this vast timeline).
So the Chosen Undead girds their armor, grabs their katana, great-sword, axe, curved sword, spear, whip, bow, hammer, stave, talisman, or sacred chime, and ventures into the land of Lordran and Lothric to summon the Lords of Cinder. These are undead who have previously linked the flame. See, linking the flame comes with a cost. When the supreme god of light, Gwyn, first linked the flame (because it had begun to fade) before Dark Souls 1, he degenerated into a husk of his former self. His essence was burned away, sparing only the an outer form ravaged by fire. In Dark Souls 3 the player must gather these husks of former powerful beings, and bring them to the Firelink Shrine.

To be successful in Dark Souls 3, the player must design a proper character. Every iteration in the Souls series is an action RPG, and one which punishes the player for a poorly conceived character. There are many correct builds, but many terrible ones as well. A player could be a heavily armored knight with a fearsome Lothric Knight Greatsword, a nimble slashing Uchigatana swordsman, a flame wielding Pyromancer, a deep delving Sorcerer of mystic arts, a light harnessing miracle worker, or any number of other options or combinations. The key is to not spread out one's Attributes.
Dark Souls 3 has nine Attributes; Vigor, Attunement, Endurance, Vitality, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Luck. These determine a hero's Health Points (HP), Focus Points (FP), Stamina, Poise, Item Discovery, Spell Slots, Defense, and Resistances.

There are numerous guides on the best builds, especially for beginners and experts. Polygon compiled an excellent review of the entire game with some character creation tips. Others have done the same. To conclude the first article on Dark Souls 3, Awkward Mixture offers a in depth understanding of each of the Attributes.
Vigor's core benefit is more Health Points, with a small bonus to Defense (protects against weapons) and Resistance (protects against all other damage, like lightning, fire, sorcery). Like many Attributes in Dark Souls 3, the benefits acquired for each point in Vigor decrease. The first 1 through 27 points of Vigor, reward the player with an average 20 HP, but the next twenty points are worth only an average of 10 HP , and any further points put into Vigor increase the player's health by 2.

Attunement increases the character's Focus points, which are spent to cast spells and weapon abilties. Improving Attunement beyond 35 does not add any additional FP, but it does unlocks spell slots (the number of different spells the player can equip at one time) at levels 10, 14, 18, 24, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, and 99.

Endurance increases stamina, which is the resource the player uses to swing a sword, guard with a shield, or cast a spell. Unlike HP and FP, stamina regenerates quickly when the player is not doing anything. Like most Attributes, its value depreciates, and the player should only put 40 points, at most, into this (Endurance also boosts defense and resistance).

Vitality increases the player's equipment load so they can wear heavier equipment and wielder greater weapons. Vitality determines the maximum weight the player can use, but also how nimble the player is at rolling and dodging. Also, like almost every Attribute, Vitality boosts the character's defense.

Strength increases the damage of certain (most) weapons until 40, and a bit more until 59. It's also necessary to have a certain strength to wield certain (most) weapons, like great swords, hammers, and maces. Strength also boosts defense.

Dexterity has the same effect as strength, except for different weapons, like katanas, rapiers, whips, and curved swords. Also increases the speed of casting Sorceries, Pyromancies, and Miracles, but only beginning at the 35th point.

Intelligence increases the damage of a few weapons, but its main benefit is that it determines the effectiveness of Sorceries and Pyromancies. Intelligence also boosts resistance. Like Strength and Dexterity, its best value comes from 1 – 40, but still has some value until 59.

Faith is the same as intelligence but determines the power of Miracles and Pyromancies. To cast the most powerful miracle only requires a Faith of 45.

Luck is the one Attribute I don't really understand. A higher Luck will increase the chance of a defeated enemy dropping an item on death. It also does something else?

This concludes the first Dark Souls 3 articles. There are quite a few more to come, as we've barely ventured a few steps forward with a dim candle into a great cavern. If I could recommend one action right now: if this game sounds at all interesting, even if it appears a bit frustrating, play the original Dark Souls!

More on Dark Souls 3 next week.

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