Dark Souls

I like the jailers in DS3 (assuming we're talking about the ones with the brands). They're spooky

Gimmick bosses have their place in Dark Souls, there's nothing unusually aggravating about Wolnir and his fight is a great spectacle. I'd rather have a boring fight than one that makes you want to tear your own hair out. Thus I completely agree with Bed of Chaos being one of the worst, even though it's a spectacle on par with Wolnir.

You better watch your mouth, the Big Mushroom Boys are a treasure and I won't hear otherwise!

C'mon, you didn't think the big skelly emerging from the darkness at the beginning and then descending into the abyss at the end was well-designed? He gets points for style at least.

I think it's safe to say it's been out long enough to worry about spoilers.

The Dancer is probably one of the best fights of the entire series imo. Everything from the boss design to the setting, the music, it's moveset, animations etc. It's glorious.

I must confess, when I replayed DS3 recently I ended up summoning help to beat the Dancer. In my defence, the summon was awful and died halfway through and I somehow managed to beat them anyway.

I summon loads for my first playthrough of any souls game. It's generally only in subsequent playthroughs I set myself the task of soloing everything. I have now, multiple times and on various NG cycles and builds, but that first playthrough? Nah, I don't want to hit a road block. I'll always try the boss solo a few times but then I'll invariably summon.

Besides. Summoning is part of the fun.

This is what makes me reluctant to give Sekiro a go..

DS2 is very different, but I think DS3 is also very different. You've got similarities across all three DS game but they all play quite differently from each other. DS3 is so much like Bloodborne, with a reliance on evasion, and the fact they fucked up (and let's face it, everyone knows they did) poise, and removed the ability to upgrade armour, meaning the build variety just isn't there compared to the earlier two games.

DS2 is slower, more methodical, but far less linear. It has a much greater scope for builds and is more open at the start, but punishes you quite a lot early on until you get to grips with it. It's weird in that it is at once more accesible in part and less accessible in part compared to DS1, and it's got it's own unique atmosphere. It also uses a different engine so that contributes to it's look. It's the most divisive but, dare I say it, I genuinely think it's the most "fun" out the lot and the one I constantly go back to just for the sake of enjoyment.

It's three DLC areas are also utterly superb with one of the best dragon fights, and two of the best 1 vs 1 fights since Artorias.

Don't think for a moment that summoning help for the bosses means you're playing the game wrong. Spontaneous co-op is one of the things that elevates the Souls games above everything else, and I actually think it's a better feeling to help someone defeat a tough boss than defeating it solo. Summon to your heart's content.

Sekiro may not let you summon anyone but you have a lot more survival options to compensate. Usually when you're fighting a boss, you get one free revive and if you die again, that's it. But by default you have two free revives, and the second one is locked until you hit a deathblow. Or! You can use a Dragon's Blood Droplet to unlock that second revive immediately. 

Your first revive is refreshed when you respawn or rest at an idol. Your second revive, once used up, requires recharging, which you do by landing deathblows on enemies and/or bosses. Or! You can use a Bundled Jizo Statue which recharges your second revive instantly.

You can carry only one of either of these items at a time, but that still means you can survive three deaths against any particular boss if you use a Dragon's Blood Droplet after your first death and a Bundled Jizo Statue after the second. The Jizo Statue should be a last resort but if you just need to survive to get the last 5% of a boss's health bar down, sometimes it's just worth it. This tactic was essential to my 1 attack power challenge run.




I don't care what anyone says, poise backstabs no longer being a thing is 100% a win and upgrading armor never mattered for build variety anyway. You can have a massively successful poise build in DS3, take it from someone who spent 200 hours putting together a faithful Havel the Rock character.