Dark Souls 3
Last week Awkward Mixture began a trek into the heart of Dark Souls 3 examining, the history of the series, the briefest shadows of the universe of Dark Souls 1 and 3, and the basics of character creation.
As mentioned previously, Dark Souls
3 is an action RPG where the player controls a medieval style
knight, composed of nine different Attributes which can each be
leveled up from one to ninety-nine. In most RPGs a character's level
increases upon earning a specific amount of experience. Experience
is normally gained by killing enemies and completing tasks. In Dark
Souls 3, every slain monster releases a number of souls. Souls
are both currency and experience. They can be spent on a variety of
actions; purchasing items, improving weapons, and increasing
Attributes. The key difference between most RPGs and Dark Souls
3, which many find frustrating, is that the player can't save in
advance of a tough fight. There is no option to Save, only to
Save and Quit. Simultaneously, the game records and saves
every moment of play. When the player dies, they don't reload a save
file, but are reborn at the most recent Bonfire, without their souls.
All the souls the player was carrying, unspent, are deposited on the
spot of the player's demise. They can be recovered, by traveling to
the location, but if the player dies again, any unreclaimed souls are
lost. A player can rest at a Bonfire, and this will not delete any
unrecouped souls.
Bonfires light the path for the Chosen
Undead. As mentioned in the previous article, fire is significant,
practically and symbolically, in Dark Souls 3. It is life,
power, and knowledge, but also chaos and destruction. It is the
First Flame, but also the linking of the flame which led to the curse
of the Darksign, and the decay of the gods. There are seventy-seven
Bonfires spread across Lordran, and activating (or resting at) each
restores the player's Health and Focus Points and refills their Estus
and Ashen Flasks. Unlike Dark Souls 1, the player can
immediately travel from any Bonfire to another instantly. Also
unlike the original game (in which the player could level up at any
Bonfire), a player can only level up with the aid of the Firekeeper
at the Firelink Shrine Bonfire.
Dark Souls 3 does an incredible
job at maintaining the proper proportion of souls. To advance from
level 9 to 10 requires 829 souls, and the player will be in an area
where most foes release 10 to 20 souls upon death. In the first hour
or two, 2,000 souls seems like a phenomenal amount. Then, the
player will reach level 17, which costs 2,113 souls. The same
pattern repeats endlessly, because 10,000 souls will then seem like a
monumental amount, but at level 40, it's the amount needed to improve
one Attribute point. At which point 30,000 souls seems unachievable
until level 72, where 50,000 sounds impossible, but that's the cost
only 19 levels later. In spite of this escalation, the rewards of
success are designed to provide the perfect amount of souls to lead a
hardy soul onward. Each new enemy is worth enough to challenge them,
but is also a threat capable of ending the players quest in a few
careless seconds. If one dares to look back, the player will be
astonished at how much they've achieved since they were awoken by the
tolling of the bell.
There are seventy-seven Bonfires, but
the player begins without any, as they arise from a unknown burial
plot in the Cemetery of Ash, and must defeat a few simple foes before
they can rest their grave chilled bones. Traveling from one Bonfire
to another is always a risky enterprise, because the distance between
any two flames is highly variable. For instance, upon the Road of
Sacrifices, the Bonfire of Crucifixion Woods was so close to the
Halfway Fortress Bonfire (and well sheltered in a grove of trees off
the main path), that I missed it, and only discovered it after being
led to its light by a Host of Embers as a Phantom. On the other
hand, I died more than a score of times trying to find and light the
Ringed City Streets Bonfire when beginning from the Ringed Inner Wall
in the Ringed City DLC. Even including Bosses, I don't believe I
died more when starting at any one Bonfire than the Ringed Inner Wall
Bonfire. It was the only location where I died so much, trying to
reach the next Bonfire where I was swearing at the game in
frustration.
To reach the next Bonfire on the road,
the Ashen One's most valuable tools for enduring the trials of
darkness are his two flasks, the Estus and the Ashen. The Estus is
the most vital element of all three Dark Souls games, as it
heals the player's Health Points with each sip, and can carry an
increasing number of charges as the player improves it with Estus
shards. The Ashen flask debuted in Dark Souls 3, and restores
Focus Points. It wasn't in the previous games, because the previous
Dark Souls games did not include Focus Points. In Dark Souls 3
spells costs FP. In 1 and 2, each spell had a limited number of uses
before the player must tag a Bonfire to recharge them.
In Dark Souls 3, the Unkindled
player is tasked with searching for five Lords of Cinder. As the
only willing Lord of Cinder says, “Five thrones will take Five
Lords, as kindling for the linking of the Fire.” Unsurprisingly,
these Lords have abandoned their thrones and hidden themselves away,
and the player must retrieve their unwilling souls and return them to
Firelink Shrine. While the player character is called many insulting
names, Unkindled, Ashen One, Hollow, Undead, and Cursed, they can
enkindle themselves by spending an Ember or aiding another player as
a Phantom. When they do this, they become a Host of Embers and can
summon other players, as Phantoms, to their world to aid them.
Next Monday, Awkward Mixture will
examine the integral aspect of always online multiplayer in Dark
Souls 3 and how it fits into the lore of the series.
But before we conclude today, each
article going forward will have few odds and ends, that wouldn't fit
anywhere else. Today, some stuff from the beginning.
One, there's a sign in the Ashen
Cemetary which says, “Turn Back.” I won't spoil the surprise,
but I beat the area at level 17, and I'm not that great at the game,
so you probably can as well.
And Two, which is more inane? That a
Dragon in the Highwall area won't adjust his position (from which he
can't harm me) even as I shoot 100 crossbow bolts into him, or that
the developer made it impossible to fight this monster with sword and
shield.
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