Been struggling for hours to write something of note about this, having just finished it earlier today, and now just laying awake at 4:a.m torn between several essayistic topics to choose from, but they will have to wait (for never, that is). The short thing I will say is that I don't think Miyazaki's intention of meta-reflective nostalgia-baiting really sticks here, as the story (or whatever the hell the russian formalists would call whatever the spines in these games are) are held up here by gameplay fundamentals that are of shocking craft by his/their standards. Totally understandable how the general sentiment around this game on here, and among the community at large, is that this is the natural step from the previous entries, since the surface of this game is so souls-y, but peel back barely half a layer and this'll feel like the most transparent studio-mandated rush-job since FromSoft's rebrand as a certified video game couture brand. From plain (or worse) level-design, to flaccid weapons, this just falls flat for me. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't fancy FromSoftware making easily-digestable content whose intended audience are people who undulates between words like "mid" or "epic". By absolutely astronomical proportions my least favorite FromSoft so far.

Reviewed on May 27, 2022


19 Comments


1 year ago

it's a 5/5 imo and i am not at all the target audience you describe (people who endlessly dump words like mid or based on everything make me tired). flaccid weapons? what? please go on about how the level design is "plain" (or worse). content? help me understand these words. the endless contrarianism around this game will baffle me forever. it just feels like empty memeing. what is it about dark souls 3 in particular that turns brains to mush?

1 year ago

surely there are ways we can engage with criticism that presents a perspective counter to our own without being so incredibly rude as to say something like "brains to mush"

1 year ago

@zenoslime I don't understand why you're being so hostile about this review, to be honest - this is part of the reason I don't talk about FromSoft's work, people just assume that you're being disingenuous if you have a negative take on it.

1 year ago

i apologize for the "brains to mush" dig. my aim wasn't to insult, but i already know that's going to be difficult to avoid when challenging anyone for perspectives counter to my own which appear to rely on arguments i feel make little to no sense. there's a lot of this going on with regard to elden ring, too. just absolutely bewildering stuff. i really want to know: what makes the weapons in dark souls 3 any more 'flaccid' than the weapons in fromsoft's other work? why is the lore in this one reduced to mere (really digestible) Content? i really strongly feel that there's a sort of groupthink in effect with regards to criticism of this specific game and it absolutely does make me irate. it's so constant and i would gladly accept differing views on the game that i felt were sound. especially noticing that bloodborne and elden ring are among your very favorites! but you didn't deserve my hostility and again i apologize. i mean it. i could've found a way to express my angst over this without coming across as such an asshole.

1 year ago

i probably shouldn't have said anything at all, because it likely never will make sense to me how or why dark souls 3 (a rush job!) suffers such condemnation and my complaining about this is only ever going to piss people off. i didn't even care for what noah caldwell-gervais had to say about it, and i think he's pretty much the best writer talking about games. so i'm just yelling about A Thing Stuck Under My Skin and i'm sorry for bothering you, nilsenberg.

1 year ago

This review is neither raw, kino, nor goated. Incredibly mid, if you ask me.

1 year ago

Apology accepted @zenoslime. Don't really think the apology was fully no needed in the first place, but I appreciate it regardless.

As far as my take on the game is concerned, it is strange because FromSoft has largely retread and retried the same formula and themes for well over a decade now (I guess similar to how Ozu made his films with recurring scenarios; a "tofu-maker" who doesn't know how to make anything else), so justifying this as a "bad" video game when two of their works belong in my personal favorites becomes a bit strange. I can only say that I didn't enjoy my moment-to-moment experience of playing DS3, unlike what I felt for Bloodborne (a game I've played for well over 200 hours) or Elden Ring (a game I've played for 150 hours). Dark Souls III, if anything, made me appreciate those titles more, as just the few minor changes between the three make for wildly different experiences. In the end, I really tried approaching this game on its own terms, but ultimately it left me cold and frustrated more often than not.

I can really understand the frustration you describe though, zenoslime. I can feel the same in regards to God of war (2018) which I really love, despite the grievances I have with it. Likewise, the criticisms towards Red Dead Redemption 2, a work that shook me to my core, stands out for me. I guess it always just seems like everyone else dislikes the thing you likes, but quick glances at the average ratings of each of these games (DS3 included), nevermind the critical consensus on sites like Metacritic, reveals a less skewered "reality" I guess.

1 year ago

only issue with this review is that people who say "mid" are much more likely to say "based" than "epic" in my experience

1 year ago

@jobosno I'm still semi-stuck in 2016. Gonna have to read up on that dude-dictionary to prevent this from happening in the future.

1 year ago

you're both wrong mid users will more likely say kino

1 year ago

I think Zenoslime seemed curious of what exactly made the weapons flaccid or why it is content since the review is pretty aggressive about what it's saying but doesn't really say why for any of it.

1 year ago

i've basically made it a rule for myself not to follow people who say 'based'. it drives me up the wall, lol.

thanks for that reply, nilsenberg. i'm glad you get where i'm coming from, and i really appreciate that tofu-maker analogy. honestly, i think that elden ring is one of their most blatantly meta-narrative games yet, and that all the lore around clones, iteration, repetition, etc is... well, it's several things, but it's definitely an autocritique and even, sometimes, a bit of a piss-take. godefroy!! they're clever people and they know they're making essentially the same game with new names, again and again. so i struggling to understand how it why dark souls 3 would be so astronomically removed from that loop (i think 2 would be the odd one out, though i still love that one, too...) and yeah, like frozenroy said i couldn't help but wonder about the specifics. in the end, though, if something about it didn't work for you, there's no sense in me arguing - it's just a reflex at this point, after seeing what i feel are so many poor, misguided takes on dark souls 3 being a casual, mainstream, easily digestible game. because everybody likes a spicy take, or something. but i digress!! and thank you, again. cheers.

1 year ago

* struggled, not struggling

1 year ago

The combat is flaccid, I feel, because it lacks the weight and crunch of Bloodborne or Elden Ring. It lacks the bloodsplatter of Bloodborne and the bass of the hit-sounds in Elden Ring I suppose. More importantly, I didn't like the weapons in DS3. Every weapon is unique in Bloodborne, whereas Elden Ring is insane in regards to the sheer number of weapons/sorceries. I appreciate that you can re-spec in DS3, but I guess I just miss the truly ridiculous weapon-arts/skills of Elden Ring. Dark Souls III is more low-key in this way.

Also I still haven't played Dark Souls 1 or 2. Maybe 2 is worse, maybe 1 is too. I don't know. I just thought 3 was so far below ER, BB and Sekiro. That's just me.

1 year ago

if i may:

there are over 300 weapons in elden ring, while dark souls 3 has about (exactly?) 200. a huge variety in either case. i'm currently playing on a level 35 character in dark souls 3 (preparing for the servers coming back up) using vordt's great hammer and it's certainly not lacking in crunch, weight, bass or what have you. i can only surmise you... didn't try very many weapons, or something? (if i'm wrong, then i'm even more confused.) i will agree that bloodborne's arsenal is strong due in part to how distinct every weapon is - made especially clear when there are only 26 of them with dlc (not counting guns). but dark souls 3's weapons simply are every bit as weighty, crunchy, and satisfying to use as the vast majority of those in elden ring. (there totally are some really impressive weapons with new tricks in elden ring!) i don't really have any way of getting my head around how they could be seen as flaccid (that's a pretty strong word) in comparison when they're broadly so similar. elden ring's got plenty of subtler weapons, too. this is a head-scratcher, but i guess i do find it difficult to argue that dark souls 3 isn't "more low-key" than elden ring in some ways. i don't think that's a bad thing, though - certainly not a difference of astronomical proportions imo. and we haven't even gotten into the level design, which is some of their strongest outside of bloodborne. there's no doubt that elden ring is the bigger game with more things in it, but...

anyhow. if you'd rather i didn't keep picking at this, i won't. i think i've said about all i could say, anyway. in the end, yes, i would agree that elden ring is absolutely the better game!! (bloodborne, too!) just not, like, 3 whole stars out of 5 better, haha

1 year ago

Perhaps I laid the blame too squarely on the weapons. What I meant to say was; I don't like the feeling of hitting things in this game. If that's due to the things doing the hitting, the things being hit, or the places where the hitting takes place (or, most likely, some combination of the three) I can't say for sure in full. If you think the combat is great, that's perfectly fine, I don't mind. I'm not trying to win people over here, it's just my take on it all.

1 year ago

likewise; i realize i'm unlikely to change your mind, but i still appreciate your toleration of my attempts. :)

1 year ago

This comment was deleted

1 year ago

@zenoslime dont apologize for your brains to mush comment, its spot on

1 year ago

I absolutely love this thread