Dark Souls 3: Reading Signs and Summoning Phantoms

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Dark Souls 3

The Dark Souls series is unique for many reasons, particularly the difficulty and the death. But at a time when behemoth video game companies are awkwardly inserting multiplayer into single player games, From Software was able to integrate a surprisingly simple multiplayer which elevates the experience. Dark Souls isn't a multiplayer game in a conventional understanding of the term, but player interaction is integral to the world and lore the player encounters.
In Dark Souls 3, ninety-nine percent of multiplayer begins after a player becomes en-kindled, (discussed in a moment), but there is an aspect available immediately to the player. Any player can use the menu to leave a message on the ground for others to read. They are limited in scope. Dark Souls 3 offers only a few phrase structures, and includes a large but limited selection of words to choose from. There are three types of messages a player will encounter; helpful truths, harmful lies, and pointless irrelevancies. Upon reading a message, a player can mark it as positive or negative. This number is recorded, so anyone reading it can see how many times it has been rated, but they can not discern whether it was rated positively or negatively. Instead of positive ratings adding to the number, and negative ratings subtracting, both add. In either case, the player posting it will be healed when it is rated. This creates a conundrum, the player must judge for themselves. This isn't too much of a problem, as a lies are easy to spot. No, there is something more insidious than a lie. A void...

Entering into a boss battle is risky. A player can lose their souls, and if they die while en-kindled, they revert to dead ash. Almost always, some helpful soul will have left a message for new players, warning them of an impending boss battle. But rarely, other players will let them down, by not placing a message to warn of an imminent encounter., and they'll stumble in, empty of Estus and burdened with a preponderance of souls.

To enter the realm of more significant interaction, the hero must become en-kindled, a Host of Embers. A player can undergo this transformation by defeating a boss or consuming an Ember item. Once a Host of Embers, multiplayer is enabled, but in Dark Souls 3 there are two different multiplayer aspects, though they overlap.
The first is P+PvE. Player (Host), plus summoned other player (Phantom) versus the enemy (computer controlled monsters and bosses. Most players don't summon others to help them all the time, but only for difficult areas or boss battles. There are a few requirements (and also restrictions) to summon another player beyond being en-kindled. To summon another player the Host must search for a summon sign. Players that want to be summoned have to mark the ground with their White Soap Stone. Most players leave their summon sign right before a boss fight or next to a Bonfire. A Host can not summon a player if they have marked the ground with their own White Soap Stone. A Host can not summon any allies if they already defeated the boss in the area.

Even though summoning allies for boss fights is a common practice, some players prefer to go solo. For those people, Dark Souls 3 includes NPC allies, Phantoms which can be summoned to aid the player, controlled by the computer. My brother only summons NPC allies, while I made at least one attempt to defeat each boss alone without NPCs or other players. There are 25 bosses in Dark Souls 3 and its DLC, and I beat nine of them without the aid of players or NPCs: Iudex Gundyr, Vordt of the Boreal Valley, the Curse-Rotted Greatwood, Deacons of the Deep, Dragonslayer Armour, Oceiros the Consumed King, Champion Gundyr, Champion's Gravetender and Greatwolf, and the Soul of Cinder. Some of the remaining bosses I can't imagine defeating alone, though certainly thousands of players have. In most cases, I summoned other players to help.
But as I was fighting on my own, I wondered, by not summoning other players for each boss fight, was I depriving them of an integral aspect of Dark Souls 3? First, there is the monetary benefit: defeating a boss rewards any allies with a quarter of the boss's souls. Second, each Phantom which survives a successful boss fight is awarded an ember, so they can en-kindle themselves. But lastly, each Phantom who fights in a boss fight experiences the enjoyment of working together, and acquires the knowledge of the Boss's weakness, without risking any of their own souls or embers.

It's especially helpful to have an ally to challenge a boss. A Host of Embers can summon up to two Phantoms (player and NPC) at any one time, though I preferred only one, because each ally increases the boss's health and damage. While Dark Souls 3 includes a large variety of Bosses, who fight with different styles, the most common is archetype is either the corrupted knight or cruel dragon. The best strategy for defeating most bosses with an ally is as follows. One player approaches and deals damage to the boss, drawing their attention, or aggro. Bosses will only attack the last player to hurt them. While the boss chases its target, that player should fight defensively, while the other player attack the boss from behind. The boss will change targets, and the players can repeat this system. Summoned NPCs do not do this and charge in blindly. Sometimes the boss will land a hit, damaging the player it is targeting. At this point, it is crucial the other player draw aggro to themselves, so the first player can heal with their Estus flask or Miracle spells. Some bosses can kill a player with only 2 or 3 hits (especially when there are allies which increase the boss's damage). A player drawing attention from a boss must consider whether they should attack aggressively to deal damage (but risk receiving damage), or poke carefully to draw the enemy's attention (but avoid taking any themselves). A second Phantom is only needed if a boss battle includes more than one monster, like the Demons in The Ringed City DLC or Sister Friede in the Ashes of Ariandel DLC.
A successfully vanquished foe is cause of celebration, a praising of the sun, before the aiding Phantom's return to their own reality with their rewards. Phantoms also return home if the Host is defeated. It is also possible to be sent home by a Host of Embers who no longer needs assistance. However, it is incredibly rude to summon a Phantom at a Bonfire, use their aid to reach a boss, and then unsummon them just before the fight, denying them of their souls. This happened once to me, and unfortunately there is no recourse. Just as rude, is the player who summons Phantoms, and expects them to lead the way, so that they can pass through dangerous areas without any effort. Please, when you summon someone, lead, because it is your adventure, not theirs.

The final act of politeness and effective communication is the gestures. Dark Souls 3 does not allow audio communication between players. Players can not speak or type to each other. They can use gestures such as Point Forward, Wave, Bow, or Collapse.

Summoning allied Phantoms increases the natural enjoyment of a great game, but there's a down side to all this summoning: it increases the player's chance of being invaded...

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