Is Dark Souls 3 the BEST in the Series? ( 2022 Critique )

In this massive critique, I look into what makes Dark Souls 3 so great years after it's release. I love this game.
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[@EndymionTv]

Thanks for watching everyone, this video was a lot of fun to make. Consider subscribing & share if you think the video is good enough for that. And let me know what else you want in this kind of format. Thanks! I'm gonna go back to grinding Sunlight Medals in Ds3 now. 🤘🏼

[@MalevolentStudios]

Fun fact: Pontiff Sulyvahn was originally supposed to be the final boss of DS3, going under the title "Old King of the Eclipse". This was back when DS3's story was more about the eclipse and the rise of darkness across the lands (i.e. the lords of cinder were instead dark lords).

[@bobbywyatt3]

You can defeat Yhorm without storm ruler I've done it. I don't disagree I actually agree with you it's why I fought him with Siegward I will say I'm pretty I was on NG+ depending on your build your 100% correct you'll need storm ruler just saying if in New game plus take Yhorm on

[@bobbywyatt3]

DS3 is probably my favorite although I'm not sure its the best & I think a lot of what they call fan fare a lot of it is tying up loose ends. I also love DS2 because of the build variety & uniqueness people just hate to hate on DS2 there is so much there. Dark Souls speaks for itself its probably the best game in the series but its not my favorite the 2nd half of Dark really suffers not the DLC the main game but it probably is the best. Dark Souls 3 is definitely my favorite now I love Demons Souls remake also. I just don't compare Elden Ring in a " its part of Souls " way compare it yes but like it's part of Souls no. Bloodborne & DS3 my 2 favorites. Sekiro stand alone I love Sekiro

[@raider7790]

About the consumed king's lore. He got obsessed with dragons and so tried recreating a cross breed. His first born was a failure which he held during the fight. As dragons are shown to have ability to go invisible previously in ds, that baby too was invisible in his hands. We could hear him cry during the fight. In the second phase, he gets into a fit of rage and smashes his baby to death and starts rampaging on us. So, sadly we won't be fighting that baby as you hoped so....

[@nickjanecke6688]

In regards to DS3’s linearity, another content creator in their recent review of the game made the point that DS3’s linearity is a strength in that it allows for the balancing to be incredibly refined. I 100% agree, especially after experiencing all of the balance issues that came with Elden Ring.

[@miramaxcinemax5512]

Well I liked to do insane varied shit in ER open world more, even if not as balanced. For some strength, but for some weakness.

[@Rich_P_Anya]

I can't stand when people call basic game design elements like linearity a "flaw". It's like saying a painting is flawed because it features the color yellow.

[@Rich_P_Anya]

@@miramaxcinemax5512 congratulations you've finally uncoveted the elusive definition of "personal taste"

[@WarriorofSunlight]

@Amabile John agree 100% but unfortunately not everyone is so open-minded. If you go to the DS2 forum on Reddit, it’s literally just a giant DS3-hating circlejerk where people endlessly bash DS3 for the stupidest reasons and endlessly complain about others hating DS2, even though you almost NEVER see that anymore. And anyone trying to defend or say anything good at all about DS3 gets downvoted to hell. God forbid you express your own opinion and say it’s your favorite. It’s really so toxic and full of bandwagoners. On literally any other FS game sub, the people are actually talking about how much they like the respective game, open-mindedly discussing what their favorite area or bossfight is, sharing lore, asking for/giving advice, etc. It seems like DS3 has become the new scapegoat of the community, not because there was really anything wrong with it at all, but because people needed to redirect all the unnecessary hate somewhere else, I guess. It’s too bad people can’t just enjoy their games and let others do the same anymore.

[@hudcoomdue4719]

Ive never agreed more

[@GrievousGaming129]

I just…. i just adore Friede’s fight oh so much. Also, I also would love a “Fight Whatever Boss You Like” Mode in all From Soft games like Sekiro did.

[@EndymionTv]

Right? So I don’t need to save scum to fight Gael again just let me fight him! I don’t care if I don’t get souls or items from repeating the fights I just wanna do it!

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

I need a boss Gauntlet for Maliketh so bad.

[@Claudius43CE]

Yes that would great. I would fight Pontiff and Champion Gundyr over and over again.

[@luisapaza317]

oh yeah, like i love some fights of dark souls, like the fight with the Abyss Watchers

[@campbell9825]

Imagine if in a hypothetical 4th dark souls they made a sort of Smash ultimate “everyone is here” boss rush mode where they included the bosses from the last 3 games. They’d probably have to remake some of them to work with the modern mechanics but that would be incredible

[@richlacerra6668]

Fillanore sleeps and keeps the Ringed City in a bubble, time doesn’t move forward because of her sacrifice, when you wake her the spell breaks and the illusion is lifted. You end up at the very end of time when nothing remains but ash and the only two warriors left. Also Gael isn’t consuming people to survive. He’s consuming them to rebuild the dark soul. All humans have dark souls when the furtive pygmy split it with the entirety of humanity. However in the end of time all the remaining humans have become dry up corpses and Gael needs the dark soul for the power and pigment of the painters painting, which requires a more liquid substance not dried up ash. So being that he isn’t a rotting corpse he consumes everyone so that his blood is lush with the dark soul and in turn power just like we’ve been doing throughout our entire journey to become stronger. Gael is us. Except Gael knew what this would do to him that he would lose himself in the process, which is why he originally tasks us in the chapel to go to Ariandel, we are his insurance policy and the final step of his plan.

[@DRickAnderson]

To further this concept, I believe that OUR firelink shrine is also at the end of time, and every time we leave it we're travelling back in time to the same time that the ringed city starts in. That's why we find Champion Gundyr and an abandoned firelink when we're there. I never hear anybody talk about this though.

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

@@DRickAnderson This is 100% the case. You can literally go back up into Lothric Castle using mods from the Cemetery of Ash, and everything will function. So the two areas are connected contrary to what many DS3 haters like to critique about it, they just forced you to warp between them to drive home the point that our Firelink is separate in time. And they proved that with the Untended Graves. Same place, different time.

[@_Tzer]

that one ringed knight standing there at the end of time be like: why tho.

[@pinappleuwont8502]

​@TheStraightestWhitest so is the untended Graves back in time or forward in time?

[@pinappleuwont8502]

since it's at the end of time it would have to be before right

[@RadianceMarluxia]

When you defeat Midir on that bridge and he falls down into the abyss but doesn't give you any souls... that's terrifying

[@EndymionTv]

I loved sending his ass falling. I love Midir

[@zach.hanford]

"Huh, that's weird.... and in no way foreboding..... I'm sure it's nothing...."

[@Teo-uw7mh]

ye omg i was so scared i pooped and pissed my pants all over so scary omg scary

[@GILGAMESH069]

Ds3 has always been my favorite The boss design is masterful, the theme songs are epic and beautiful, the difficulty is the most balanced and unlike the other games it doesn't falter at the end like dark souls or bloodborne or elden ring did but rather end on a really high not from it's second half with pontiff ending on the series's best with sister friede midir and gael

[@EndymionTv]

Yeah the boss battles are truly the highlight here, they’re all astounding ( besides very few being okay )

[@UncreativePontiff]

i wouldnt say elden ring or bloodborne end on low notes, Farum Azula is a great area and Nightmare of Mensis is quite decent, both also have a great lineup of endgame bosses.

[@miramaxcinemax5512]

sister friede midir and gael are dlc bosses. But main game bosses are good too

[@GuytFromWayBack]

I don't understand the hate for Elden Ring's endgame. Haligtree/Elphael and Farum Azula are great and the endgame bosses are the best bosses in the game. The only kinda lackluster part is Mountaintops/Snowfield but it's just meant to be a dead mountaintop anyway and aesthetically it's good enough so who cares. When people talk about how great DS3 was, what they really mean is 'DS3's DLC was great and also Irithyll and Lothric Castle'. We haven't even seen Elden Ring's DLC yet. DS3 base game the good bosses were Nameless King, Pontiff, Abyss Watchers, Twin Princes, Dancer, Champ Gundyr, Dragonslayer Armour, and Soul of Cinder. In Elden Ring the good bosses are Margit/Morgott, Godrick, Rennala, Radahn, Loretta, Rykard, Astel, Malenia, Mohg, Maliketh, Godfrey, Radagon/Elden Beast, Placidusax, and Fortissax. Much stronger lineup of bosses imo.

[@GILGAMESH069]

@@GuytFromWayBack I don't hate the endgame mainly because it has the best bosses in the game but the mountain tops which a pretty huge area the first half of hailgtree and mohgwyn palace are boring, the second half of hailgtree and farum are the only excellent section as far as areas are considered I'd say ds3 have slightly better main game bosses than elden ring, the presentation in elden ring is next level but things like the theme songs, fairness and originality I think ds3 got better, I would rather fight champion gundyr over Godfrey for example simply because he doesn't have a billion grab attacks and I can doge him after he input reads my healing with good enough timing while I can't with Godfrey

[@Phoenix-oy3pn]

So about the lightning in Gael's fight. I never really thought it was his. Notice how the lightning is blue, not yellow like the normal divine lightning we find in dark souls. I think this is supposed to represent the lack of divinity in the lands, no gods, so nature is no longer controlled by them, so I think the lightning is like an outside interference

[@Timebomb_19]

The lightning also damages him. It could literally just be a storm

[@kajixdn]

yeah it's sort of like nature itself gathering at the end of the world to witness a climactic fight. kind of as if the stakes and power of you and gael created a storm

[@SimonPhungChannel]

Fun fact: the thing that burst out of Ludex Gundyr, "Puss of Man" is the unfinished Tree Serpent from Elden Ring.

[@whatthewhatthe9117]

Correct in the ds3 concept art and game files the ulcerated tree spirit is just straight up there, it was reworked into the pus of man and the ai was imported into elden ring

[@SimonPhungChannel]

@@whatthewhatthe9117 Right on. Looking back at the huge shadow, it is night and day. I wonder what's the lore around it if they managed to pull it off for DS3. Maybe part of the Undead Settlement and rotted Great Tree

[@brycekrispiez714]

This makes me think that Malenia in Elden Ring is like what Tomoe would have been had they done a Sekiro dlc. I mean waterfowl dance is literally the spiral cloud passage combat art and that combat art in lord was developed by Tomoe

[@zach.hanford]

@@brycekrispiez714 I swear I'm still not bitter at all about that. Totally not bitter that Dark Souls 2 got a literal dump truck of DLC, but Sekiro wins Game Of The Year and got none. Definitely not bitter.

[@berserksquid2747]

“The end of everything can turn even victims into monstrous survivors”, such a raw line…

[@SonKunSama]

Fun fact: Pontiff Sulyvahn was at first created to serve as the final boss (which became Soul of Cinder). Repurposed as the Pontiff they still gave him a central role in DS3, not only lorewise but also gameplay wise. Probably because he would have been (almost) completely developed when they decided to change things. He serves as a mid-game difficulty spike, being by far the hardest boss up to that point. Personally the Pontiff left much stronger of an impression on me than Aldrich, of whom he serves as a sort of gatekeeper. Which makes sense if you consider this. Maybe even more interesting is that he wasn't even the first "prototype" for the final boss which was developed enough to be repurposed in the game; the Fire Witches that appear in Irithyll before Pontiff Sulyvahn were actually an even earlier design for the final boss. If you pay close attention to their moveset you'll see that their animations are unusually smooth for a normal mob.

[@EndymionTv]

Where did you read all this

[@lerchomat]

@@EndymionTv this has been known for years

[@TobyKBTY]

This video nails it. For a long time DS1 was my favorite game in the series, but I found myself replaying DS3 over and over again. The DLCs are incredible. The list of amazing bosses AND levels in this game is bonkers.

[@AegisKHAOS]

I dunno, DS3's depiction of marriage seems pretty spot on to me. Also, seeing my favorite onion knight in jolly cooperation always makes me happy. Seriously, though, DS3 is a beautiful game. Some of my favorite bosses happen to be in DS3.

[@EndymionTv]

I’ve never been married and yet everyone says not to get married lmao

[@GameModTech]

Well get married, and then impaling is implied.

[@bed22455]

Marriage is great if it's done right 😅

[@akaroth7542]

@@EndymionTv have extremely high standards for behavior. I took a while to propose because I wanted to make sure my wife was genuinely a good person and could think outside of herself. When dating: walk away if you see childish/selfish behavior. Sunk cost fallacy is our enemy : )

[@cjc4347]

With champion gundyr, I’m pretty sure ur in the past, before the ashen one wakes up. This is the fight that makes gundyr the coiled sword carrier

[@Matt_History]

It is, he's just being either intentionally obtuse or stupid

[@rubeng370]

This is probably my favorite video game of all time 😁

[@az-cv1ql]

Agree - love this game so much! Also re: weapon durability, I believe it resets to full durability every time you rest at a bonfire. One time I did co-op for a few hours (getting summoned over and over without resting) and my weapon actually broke during a fight. I didn't know that could happen lol.

[@salimdeaibes]

I feel like ds3 is a finale but also a love letter to fans. The fan service just feels like a performer at an air show, gratefully saying goodbye to a great audience

[@EndymionTv]

I agree with this

[@_Tzer]

Agree. You even get some callbacks to classic from games. Like the moonlight sword with king's field(granted ya know it's in every game) and patches not only as a demon soul's callback but a callback to shadow tower abyss a game i feel directly inspired souls and bloodborne specifically with the character patches he isn't just an armored core character unnamed but still patches but in shadow tower abyss.

[@randokalunn8647]

The fan service in the game never really bothered me. While I did miss the interconnected level design in DS1 I also didn't dislike the game for being more linear and it definitely made the game feel better balanced in its difficulty, especially during boss fights. Also the bosses alone make this game my favorite in the trilogy because they're some of the best in the series. Replaying DS1 makes me realize the bosses in that game haven't aged as well apart from Ornstein and Smough and the dlc bosses.

[@JaeshaunDT]

not my personal favorite of the series however I highly regard it for it’s overall quality and find it to be quite an impeccable game in general.

[@Gee2316]

Great video brorherman. I just beat DS3 for the first time this last week. And I will say I am absolutely obsessed with this game now. 💯

[@Wrathios]

Problem with Ds3 isn’t linear design. It’s the fact that you can run past everything in each “level” and you aren’t punished for it. There few spots where a level forces you to adjust (which is good), but most of the time you can hold forward and B/Circle and you’ll find yourself at the end of the game in no time. (2 - 3 hours) Honestly, the clunkiness of DS1 and DS2 are part of the challenge and dictate your strategy. DS3 gives so much power to the player in movement it makes things too easy. The enemies are not well balanced around how well the player can control their character. From Soft tried and their answer was a game centered around reaction rather than strategy. And that’s not fun. You can prove it to yourself as well. Play Ds1 and play through undead burg until you get to undead parish. Then play Ds3 and play to Vordt. I guarantee you’ll see what I’m talking about. You will be strategizing more in DS1 than you will be in DS3. Play catacombs in Ds1 then play Catacombs in Ds3. Again, the evidence to my point is all there. Perhaps I should make a video explaining this.

[@Frostwulf1313]

Even though it's missing the interconnectedness of DS1, yes DS3 is the best of the series.

[@WarriorofSunlight]

It did bring back the verticality though, which was a welcome return. Areas like Lothric, Irithyll/Anor Londo, Ariandel and Ringed City all have a ton of verticality to them. Especially Lothric.

[@GatsuRage]

there are several connections to DS1.. not sure what you on about? maybe try replay it again and look for each corner of the game.

[@francl.1127]

@@GatsuRage he’s talking about how most of the areas, if not all are connected somehow

[@GatsuRage]

@@francl.1127 ooh I see, my bad.

[@KGLordofhollows]

"Gael and the ashen one, the two last survivors fighting at the end of the world" Meanwhile, the random ringed city knight hanging out at the end of the arena: "Wow, that's a dope fight happening down there"

[@iruga7379]

30:20 - Its not "sand" its ASH! Gwyn fucked up so hard on throwing himself in the first flame that Every time someone link the fire, not only the "chosen undead/ashen one" is used as fuel but the world "burn" a little as well. At the end of the Ringed City DLC you are not transported but you go foward in time because that women is using light magic (space and time theory shit) to maintain the world stagnated using the egg, and when you break it you not only wake her but you break the spell.

[@guilhermevilela8576]

I finished platinum yesterday, one thing I only noticed in ng+ was how easy it is to just run through the entire game, just facing the bosses

[@Charsept]

It was my first souls game technically. I bought it off the heels of playing Bloodborne for the first time. So there was no fan service for me. I immediately liked it more than BB. The slower pace and ability to use shields was really nice. And it felt way more refined than DS1 in all ways except map design. I have more hours in DS3 than any other From game and I've played them all now.

[@iHaveTheDocuments]

Bloodborne was also my first and I bought ds3 directly after

[@Akechifan]

I had finished 1 and 2 multiple times before 3 and I didn't really have an issues with fanservice. DS3 did fanservice right, it didn't rely on it but instead included to enhance the experience. Seeing Anor Londo again and fighting Soul of Cinder are some of the most memorable moments in gaming for me. Being able to use armour and weapons of characters from past games was amazing too since Artorias is my favourite Souls character.

[@EndymionTv]

I should do a retrospective on Bloodborne some day. I love these games lol

[@BigPanda096]

I got to anor londo and was like "yooooo lets go check in my boiiiii the giant balck smi-th... Oh.... Of course why did i expect literally anything else..."

[@christianotto5553]

Untended Graves are in the past. Dark Age has begun, sun went out. Because Gundyr was supposed to link the fire, but he arrived too late and his firekeeper was dead by that time. So Ludleth stepped up and linked the fire instead, probably by using the power of the soulfeeder.

[@LiloDemon]

Dark Souls 3 was my first Souls Game and it is my favourite. What I love the most in this game is the well paced gameplay and the bosses. Man, i fucking love this game's bosses. Gundyr, Dancer, Sulyvahn, Aldrich, Twin Princes, Soul of Cinder, Oceiros, Nameless King, Friede, Gael, Demon Prince and Midir. So many good bosses that I don't forget anything about them. About the dark shrine: It has do to with Gundyr's lore. You are in the past where Gundyr was supposed to awake after tolling the bell, but the fire was off when he awoke. As the world keeps in this cycle, he stayed in front of the doors that roads into firelink shrine as a Judge for those unkindled in future. That's why the name "Iudex", wich means Judge in latin.

[@EndymionTv]

Interesting! Also it’s cool how many of you guys played Ds3 first. Seems to be a common thing in my comments, which is great. Thanks for watching

[@LiloDemon]

@@EndymionTv it was cheaper than the other Souls games to me at time. 😆.

[@wildcard7831]

I am currently going through ds3 after having played through bloodbourne, ds2, des and ds1 (in that order). Personally, I find this game to be nothing but frustration and stress. The enemies relentlessly attack giving me hardly any room to counter. This combined with the lack of poise can lead to being combo’d to death over and over again. With how consistent this is throughout the game it really begins to grate at my mind. This is only a quick vent from built up frustration. I know this game has its merits and is enjoyed by the community. I guess my play style just isn’t suited for this game. I may just take another break from this game until I feel ready to go back at it. It’s just I have never felt so angry and stressed playing a souls game, I don’t even get much satisfaction from killing the bosses.

[@chaos5121]

Then you should probably try the Cinders Mod for Dark Souls 3. It has some of the things you asked for, such as a bosh rush. The guy who made it made a lot of changes to the game code, added weapons and spells from previous games, even weapon arts. Its a lot of fund, especially for someone who was already played through the entirety of Dark Souls 3. If you want to get a bit of a preview I would suggest checking out Prod, he is a Souls player and he plays a lot of these mods, just search Cinders on his channel. I think you would enjoy the mod, I certainly did.

[@GeorgisTrying]

7:14 I straight up do not think Darks Souls 3's linearity serves it very well, and I believe it is LESS repayable because of that. It's a straight line of what content you play when with no meaningful variance. Poor sequence breaking options mean the types of weapons, spells, and gear you can get is locked at exactly when you supposed to arrive, and massively reduces build variety.

[@Metalton95]

In terms of bosses, music, combat mechanics, endgame and armor? YES! In terms of early-game, areas, bonfire/healing mechanics, replayability and PVP? NO!

[@dajok]

Sometimes, I stumble over a Soulsborne Channel that is so good, that I wonder why I haven't subscribed to, yet. Thank you for your awesome content.

[@Facerip]

Looooove DS3. Tight combat. Excellent bosses. No sense of feeling so lost that i needed to google anything. Perfect game for me.

[@EndymionTv]

Facts

[@harls7317]

Tight combat? Naw fam

[@cakegal890]

I swear every time I hear dark souls lore I get chills it’s sooo good and dark souls 3 holds a special spot in my heart being my first from soft game

[@PaintBottle]

I have hard time raising DS3 above DS1. Sometimes I feel like I'm keeping DS1 above it only because what the game means to me personally and how replayable it is and how fast it is to replay(having less freetime nowadays :( ) DS3 would be as replayable if it wasnt for the boredom swamps. Everything before and after is fun but crab waters and farron bore me to death on repeated playthroughs so badly I think like more than half of my replay attempts die somewhere between.

[@OrphanCrippler1]

Boredom swamps? As if DS1 doesnt have blight town, demon ruins and lost izilith, catacombas and tomb of the giants...new londo ruins lol. Ds1 actually kinda sucks, and nostalgia blinds sooooo many people.

[@PaintBottle]

@@OrphanCrippler1 blight town is actually pretty fun area if you count the climb down without the master key and it's fast to run by with said key so it doesn't have much time to bore. Catacombs and Tomb I like as well. Catacombs for the necromancer hunt and the layout and Tomb for the darkness gimmick. Lost Izalith is just plain bad. There is so saving that one. Even if you hate these areas they are fast to go through other than Izalith unless you got 30 humanity to spare and in prepare to die edition that too is slow since you need to spend them 1 by 1. New Londo is a mixed bag but I like the haunted theme of it. Problem I have with DS3 swamps is that you have to spend time in the later one at the very least due to braiziers and the mudd that slows you down(altough quickstep helps). Not to forget that neither area has too much going for them other than some enemy variety. And if you compare the swamps to the areas surrounding them it gets even worse. Settlement is pretty fun area, catacombs have some fun gimmicks in form of skeleton balls and traps, cathedral of the deep is possibly my favorite area in the game due to it's layout and secrets with only downside being the boss. Abyss watchers are at least fun reward for crawling through the swamps. I'm strictly talking about repeated playthroughs here. I quite liked both swamps on first playthrough due to said enemy variety and some lore findings. Ruins/tower portions of these areas are still fine but due to farron tower not leading anywhere it's a place I rarely visit unless I want some specific item. It's the wide open areas of just swamp that I'm not big fan of.

[@cacodrippin5112]

Yeah I think DS3's biggest weakness is the earlygame. High Wall is definitely not bad, but undead settlement feels like a ton of fluff and Road of Sacrifices + Farron Keep are AWFUL. Cathedral is also pretty cool but the path kinda ends there so no matter what you still have to deal with Farron Keep. The game really starts at Abyss Watchers, that fight is a 10/10 and the game rarely drops from that high afterwards

[@Akechifan]

@@OrphanCrippler1 It really doesn't. It's world design is still unmatched. The first half, Lore, characters, the DLC is all perfect. The combat has been improved upon in later games but DS1s combat is still great. The later half has noticeable dip in quality mostly due to the underground areas but saying the game sucks is plain wrong.

[@OrphanCrippler1]

@@Akechifan @StrawHatCrow I love DS1 as much as the next person, but the simple facts are the game was an unfinished mess that was saved by good overall design. Nothing about it holds up compared to todays standards outside of the first half of the game. ONLY the first half of the game is even decent. Its clunky, doesnt even have omnidirectional rolling (remaster doesnt count here), blatantly unfinished areas and bosses, bad graphics, even for the time outside of Anor Londo. I will never forget the game due to my personal experiences, and I definitely acknowledge its impact, but the game is pretty bad lol. The remaster fixes a lot of the issues, but we are talking about the OG here. Forgot to mention the game running at 10 fps the entire second half of the game outside of New Londo

[@jucsgo9951]

Me, a Claymore Player seeing you play the claymore: „Ahhh, i see you are a man of culture as well“

[@mysteryneophyte]

Dark souls three is my favorite. I like it even more than Elden ring, and I like it more than blood-borne and I really love both of those games.

[@nickjanecke6688]

You can fight Yhorm on your terms, it’s just not particularly easy lol. I beat him w/o Stormruler and it took me 15 minutes, exhausted all my healing estus and had to heal myself with spells, exhausted all of those too 😆

[@EndymionTv]

Yeaahhhh not exactly what I would call a fun time 😂

[@nickjanecke6688]

@@EndymionTv oh definitely, I only did that once as a personal challenge lol

[@Jack_Sparrow_85]

DS3 was my first souls game and after playing every other souls game including sekiro and elden ring DS3 remains my favourite

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

that ending was awesome. well done.

[@EndymionTv]

Thank you for watching all the way through 🤘🏻🔥

[@evanmildrum897]

I still remember the day this came out. I came home from school, waited staring at my monitor for it to finish downloading. When the title screen came up and that PERFECT theme started, I knew I was about to experience something special. Fast forward to today, and I have over 2k hours on this game and its easily one of my favorite games to ever be made

[@wijayleon8159]

Jesus dude how many times did you replayed the game..?

[@b33lze6u6]

the demon prince fight takes place in the ruins of firelink shirne from ds1

[@NimbusTM]

The Untended Graves isn't an alternate dimension, it's a sort of time travel where we transport back to when Gundyr arrived at Firelink Shrine too late and wasn't able to link the fire despite being a fitting 'Champion', resulting in an Age of Dark, or at least something very close to it, after Ludleth rekindled the First Flame. "Once, a Champion came late to the festivities and was greeted by a shrine without a fire, and a bell that would not toll." - Soul of Champion Gundyr Us time travelling may also explain why Iudex Gundyr doesn't drop a soul when we defeat him at the start of the game, as has been possessed by the pus of man, as he already lost a long time ago, and is only being kept alive, if not just purely manipulated, by the parasite within the pus.

[@trilby3447]

As for your point in ludyx Gundyr’s arena, I feel it’s a reminder of the creeping inevitability of darkness and the desperation people have to keep the flame going, that they most likely made multiple fire link shrines in order to gather more potential warriors to keep it lit, and as the flame is nothing more than a sputtering thing darkness is beginning to consume parts of the land and people are just trying to pretend it’s not going to happen, hiding away the painful reminders

[@minoas-sunbro]

Ds3 is my favorite, enjoyed it video 👏🏼 just two things: Midir is much easier to fight if you stay in front of him. Triggering his physical attacks and attacking his head is easier than going underneath. I feel like the made it to punish people. Gael has three phases, the ost and the changes are there to indicate it.

[@ultrademice]

totally agree. ds3 is absolute perfection. elden ring is pretty close to that but my main issue is balance, being open world i found so hard not to be op, but kind of failed, it felt hard but ok in the beginning, then easy then hard again in the end.

[@EndymionTv]

Everything post Leyndell feels unbalanced IMO in Elden Ring

[@hunt7533]

@@EndymionTv Yet a lot of people suck with bosses despite being OP haha

[@yeahyeahwowman8099]

It would have to be the entire Cathedral of the Deep that became my favorite area in the series. Series presents an area and the name pops up, theres usually nothing to really unpack. Really remember just going through it and seeing the walking corpses outside, the prestine look inside, filthy water, then realizing through item descriptions that it refers to the lowest point a soul can sink to.

[@shalltearbloodfallen310]

Dark Souls 3 cannot be the best because they removed the poise mechanic which was my favorite thing about the Souls games.

[@bartholen]

5:20 I heavily disagree with this notion. I'd say DS3's level design is no less nonsensical than DS2's, just in a different way. DS2's geography often made no sense at all (sky elevators ftw) and often felt disconnected, but it definitely felt like you were exploring different parts of a world. DS3's geography does fit together, but only because *there is no world*. DS3's main game is just a bunch of areas slapped together, and there's no interconnectivity between them whatsoever. The game is easily the most linear in the whole series, with next to no choice in what order you tackle the areas. As a result the game feels more restrictive and "video gamey" than either of its predecessors.

[@Falas5898]

"Hoard of priest dudes standing around like they are waiting for rock concert to start."

[@klefthoofrobert787]

Usually people seem to like the souls game they played first the most, i played the games in this order DS3 > DS1 > DS2 > Bloodborne > Sekiro > Demon Souls > Elden Ring. Even though Dark Souls 3 was my first, I personally think Bloodborne and Sekiro are their best games by a long mile, and whom adhere to Hidetaka's mentality around a Soulslike the most are BB and Sekiro. Elden Ring however, while having 10/10 in many areas like artstyle, setting, music, length etc. It adheres to a soulslike the least in my opinion, and it is the first game in the series where they caved and implemented an easy mode, that alone kinda ruined the experience for me. And on a technical and balancing level, the game was too broken, i mean, whomever found Icerind Hatchet before it got fixed, literally finished the game with 0 effort of any kind, just by getting 1 single weapon, If you thought getting the Black Knight's Halberd in DS1 was OP, Icerind hatchet makes BKH look like a broken straight sword :) And don't get me started on Bloodhound step and Rivers of blood or some spells, sure they have been recently patched, but it took 6 months for that to happen, they actually thought that something like bloodhound step should really exist in a soulsborne game, like really Miyazaki? why even attempt to ever get good at these games in any sense when you gave everyone so many tools to actually brake the game is incredible :) why even attempt to time a roll when you can spam BHS and nothing will ever hit you, why even attempt to learn a boss mechanic when you can just pop mimic and one shot him. And yes the easy mode i'm refering to are spirits, if you think that Spirits are anything other than an easy mode but without selecting it in the menu, you're lying to yourself :)

[@TheFabledDavid]

Never really found spirits to be any more of an easy mode than summoning in past games. But I agree that bloodhound step and ROB were op, luckily for me I never used either of them on my first playthrough as I think I would've enjoyed the game less if I did.

[@tylercoffin2640]

Blight town is better because you can skip the worst part with the master key but you are forced to go through Farron keep every single playthrough.

[@BotsHateMe]

He knows that, but he's a ds3 fanboy who can't accept that other games are better in various aspects.

[@revolversnake126]

the worst part? climbing down to the swamp is the best part.

[@Bleachdemon88]

DS3 is clearly the best. The first one was awesome but kind of got a bit lackluster at the end. DLC was great. The second one was pretty bad BUT the DLC from that series was great and imo the saving grace for that game. DS3 starts off with a bang with that Gundyr fight and then ramps up quick into an amazing experience, the music and bosses were no question the best in the series. The DLC for DS3 is also very good.

[@RagnaRantz]

Pontiff Sulyvhan was always my favorite. It’s not the he’s truly the “antagonist”… But for this end of the world era; well then again he kind of is. Or rather the antagonist that has put up the most road blocks. It was him that ultimately used Lord of Cinder-Aldreitch It’s him that basically enslave Irithyll. He messed w/the Profaned Capital & took from the flame. He sets up his guards to prevent you from progressing to The Princes or down to the Village (and further to The Wolf/Abyss Watchers) He came from The Painted World a sorcerer, corrupted by the situation of this flickering world, using the very troubling problems to his gain. Fantastic antagonist.

[@daltonburroughs3811]

DS3 definitely has the best bosses amd combat. I think I liked DS2 more overall though and I am still halfway through DS1 so the verdict is still out on it.

[@EndymionTv]

Ds3 and 1 are a toss up for me imo

[@melissazadrozny1279]

You've already played the best parts of DS1 except the DLC

[@daltonburroughs3811]

@@melissazadrozny1279 I haven't fought Ornstien and Smough yet so maybe I'm not halfway but how I got into Souls was in reverse order that's why I'm not finished with DS1. Remnant From the Ashes and Elden Ring had my time back to back so DS1 has just been on the back burner

[@leadfaun]

ER has better bosses and combat. Most of DS3’s bosses are easily handled by rolling and strafing. The combat doesn’t ask you to use weapon arts or R2’s or jumping attacks.

[@daltonburroughs3811]

@@leadfaun Dark Souls 3 for me had way more challenging boss design without the difficulty feeling unfair like Melanias combos. Aside from her and Elden Beast and the rot dragon not a single boss gave me difficulty. I was able to easily beat most first if not second try and probably 95% of them in under 5 tries. I just missed how difficult but fair DS3 felt and all the difficulty in ER just felt unfair. Since it's open world I think they should of had the bosses scale up to your level to keep some of the difficulty. Elden Ring is definitely the best open world game ever made I just think the boss difficulty/fairness could be a little better.

[@CrisMW98]

19:44 dude was supposed to be the final boss of the game and the main menu song the soundtrack of the fight.

[@CobaltContrast]

Since there isn't a door, a veil, a barrier from boss to the graves before Indux Gundyr, I stand by my hypothesis that the fire link shrine we start at is the end of world. We can't walk or get to anywhere from there. We have to travel via bonfire. When the bonfires are linked. I think we go back to a time when all the lords of cinders are still "alive" and we are virtually time traveling as soon as the first teleport to the high walls of lothric.

[@josephsekavec5232]

“You should get Midir after ten times”. Well, I feel inept now.

[@zachdeel1595]

I'll never forget playing through the Ringed City for the first time in NG+6 with my friends and all of us getting destroyed by the angles over and over again

[@Hemestal]

DS3 was a good, but hardly at the level of BB or Sekiro.

[@chasegaetze4507]

I think the watchers have some of the coolest lore.. The spear of the church is an amazing pvp match. Getting to summon the spears during the fight. I used to decimate players in the boss arena. I never seen people play with the profamed gs and a lot of people didn't know its moveset so I'd throw so many people in the air and all I could do was just laugh. What I loved so much about Ds3 is every boss was so different. ER just felt like every boss was so similar in attack

[@notanimufailzone]

You’re fighting Midir wrong. Don’t attack his tail. Attack his head. It makes that fight way more fun.

[@EndymionTv]

But I don’t like being eaten alive

[@comradecatbug5289]

What about lore? The lore is by far my favorite part of the series as it's so intriguing and masterfully crafted. I value it much more than gameplay or graphics. This disappointed me tremendously when I played Dark Souls 3, because it's so lacking in lore (compared to DeS, BB and especially Dark Souls 1). There are so many things in Dark Souls 3 that seemingly lack all meaning. For example, why is a Black Knight guarding a coal? In Dark Souls 1, all the Black Knights were mindfully placed where they are, and you could decipher the reason for their presence from environmental storytelling. Instead, Dark Souls 3 feels like it's put together a whole lot more randomly. Why does Tsorig have the Fume Knight's sword and Tarkus' armor and why is he in the Demon Ruins? For no real reson, other than bringing in stuff from the previous installments. This might very well be true and have been due to deadline constraints, but that doesn't change how I feel about it. Secondly, DS3 also changes previously established lore. Not only by ignoring most of DS2, but also retconning DS1 lore. For example, the NPCs in Dark Souls that came from different kingdoms all were consistent to portray the culture which they came from. Thorolund is a very religious kingdom in which the Way of White has found a strong footing. No surprise that we only find maidens and clerics coming from there. Carim, instead, seems to worship Velka, and be a more dangerous place, since it's people (Lautrec, Oswald, Chester) all seem shady, suspicious and carry an aura of bad intentions. Now let's look at Dark Souls 3, where these cultures are somehow reversed, as we meet Rhea, who despite being a maiden and believer in the Way of White, comes from Carim? It makes no sense.

[@bane9951]

There is something Dark Souls 3 is missing compared to DS1 and 2, for me it might just be the slower weightier combat, DS3 fast combat is great of course, but I find slower combat in a medieval game to be more satisfying

[@DainHunter]

Is this why Elden Ring’s bosses feels underwhelming? Because DS3 have such a high quality lineup of awesome bosses? Dont get me wrong i love Margit, Rykard, Radagon, Maliketh and Godrick. But thats a few out of many bosses. I think DS3 have more great bosses overall

[@EndymionTv]

Basically yes. Also Dark Souls 3’s difficulty is borderline as perfect as it could be. Elden Ring’s difficulty flies off a cliff after Morgott imo

[@DainHunter]

@@EndymionTv Yeah most of the bosses are almost impossible alone without spending 4 hrs to learn their attacks. I think FromSoftware are trying to force the players to use spirit summons 🤔 And then we have the cave bosses which can be a walk in the park

[@EndymionTv]

@@DainHunter I think Elden Ring’s bosses post Morgott are unbalanced as hell IMO

[@DainHunter]

@@EndymionTv Yeah, perhaps because its an open world and player explore differently. My biggest issue is Malenia and Hoarah Loux. I feel they are insanely difficult just for the sake of it. With Hoarah Loux its mostly thosr grabs you cant avoid unless you hit the 0.1 sec mark. Malenia have that stupid water dance you definetly cant avoid unless you are a speedrunner.

[@leadfaun]

@@DainHunter you can avoid most of Hoarah Loux’s grabs by simply running away. His grabs also rarely linger, so there’s not .1 windows to dodge. Please don’t call bosses near unavoidable if you don’t understand the fight. The only legit unavoidable attacks are Waterfowl and a couple of gank fights.

[@oxymorfiend]

Excellent video as always. Loved DS3. Keep it up!

[@cashhegs1573]

champion gundyr is a gundyr from the past cos the untended graves sends u back in time

[@TheRitva26]

only scrubs prefer ds3 over the other games

[@zade8586]

Fun fact, its not sand, its Ash ( ;

[@lahunica2726]

So I played Ds1 and ds3 back to back, and although I really like Ds3, it is extremely unoriginal compared to almost all the other games. It's like Miyazaki thought of a great conclusion and therefore implemented a lot of knight bosses, epic musics devoided of identity for some and ds1 references. At what coast ? A linear world which unlike all other games doesn't provide as much variation in following playthroughs, a color palette and art direction that is the same throughout the whole game with rare exceptions, concepts and ideas being taken from either Bloodborne or ds1. This is exactly what From Software shouldn't be doing in the future, unrisky games.

[@EndymionTv]

That’s fair enough

[@ducky4605]

To be fair Ds3 took that linear approach really well you never truly feel underpowered in these areas. It's like a trade of an inter-connected world to a more streamlined experience that they could focus on the level design and bosses instead of world design. Also, if all of these games had the same world design as ds1 of an inter-connected world then DS1 won't feel as special ya know. Another thing is DS3 is supposed to be a continuation of ds1 and ds2 so there are going to be references because it has to build on what is already made but I can agree that there are a bit too many tho.

[@lahunica2726]

@@ducky4605 from a balancing standpoint the linear approach works but the transitions between areas are sometimes super weird and lack the immersive placement of the areas of Ds1 and Bloodborne (transitions between Farron and Carthus, Carthus and Irithyll, between Irithyll dungeon and the profaned capital). All of that is supported by the lore but this doesn't make the transitions more believable in my opinion as areas are super different, even climacticly, and are build super close to one another. It seems as if you're going from levels to levels (similar to ds2) rather than areas to areas. Bloodborne has the second best interconnected world behind ds1 and still manages to be memorable, even Sekiro does that with some areas and it doesn't make the world design more forgettable. As for ds1 and ds2 references, I get that it's a sequel, but I can recognize where they are natural evolutions or references of things from ds1 and ds2 and when it's fan service to appeal to the fans of the first game especially.

[@ducky4605]

@@lahunica2726 Yea I agree that some of the levels can feel like DS2 levels to where it doesn't make a lot of sense. But, I'm just saying mainly from a Gameplay perspective. It does what it should well which is having a balanced overall experience because the Devs know where most people would be at in terms of level, equipment, etc.

[@calebsheppard697]

The Dancer took me over 10 tries. She gave me more trouble than the namless king and Gael 😂😂😂

[@brutusmagnuson315]

Fighting an actual player for the champion boss can be a bitch and a half when a bunch of players know how to cheese and spam.

[@aka_questionmark]

Filianore transported us into a future. In the end of the world. Gael now became what he became, coz of eating souls. Now he's just a beast. Saddest partmis that he past the same way in Ringed city as we did. And for us it was just one second to transport into future. For him - it was thousands of years. And there, in the end of the world are You, Gael, Shira who lived only because she wanted to kill us. And and one of the ringed knights that existed at the start of the age of Fire and now watches this world dead. The game is absolutely masterpiece. It is the real art

[@gregorymifsud5389]

thank you. Loved listening to this

[@NAWWMANNN]

It's not sand at the end of the Ringed City or the cutscene with the pilgrims. Those aren't sand dunes. It's all ash. Literally, all just ash. The countless linkings of fire have burned the entire world out, until all that remains is ash and diminishing cinders.

[@jgkitarel]

What is the end? Is it truly an end? Or is it a new beginning? The entire thing about Dark Souls III is that you can interpret it however you like, and Miyazaki designed the story of the game to be that. To some, it is the end of the world and your role in it. Will you try to continue it, knowing that it is only a matter of time? Will you usurp the Flame keeping the world alive, becoming a new god of a world of the undead? Or will you put the fire our and let the embers spread? To give a chance, however slight, for a new world and age to come? The parallels to some interpretations of Ragnarok is apt, just like Elden Ring is, though the Ragnarok comparison is much more blatant in that game. That's the thing about the lore of Dark Souls, it is what you make of it and your interpretation is as valid as anyone else's. Just as my interpretation of it, especially the Fire Fades ending, is that it is merely the end of an age and that the world will recover and move on. Gwynn established his own rule with his war against the ancient dragons and beginning the Age of Fire, and setting up the cyclic nature of things that finally comes to an end in Dark Souls III. The Age of Fire has ended, but is it an Age of Dark as some would think, or is it merely an Age where the First Flame is no longer a singular thing, now that its embers have spread throughout the world?

[@Niespe99]

Your videos are awesome man!

[@EndymionTv]

Thank you for watching 🤘🏻🔥

[@felixcote1697]

Despite being easier, I find Dark Souls 3 bosses better than Elden Ring's, but as a whole game I prefered Elden Ring. Even tho I think DS3 is a perfect finale and they should probably stop there I would still buy the shit out of a Dark Souls 4

[@turbotegs2102]

I really like elden ring, but honestly I find myself either speed running ng+ or re exploring every area which both kinda burn me out. I don't think I can ever become burnt out on new ds3 runs.

[@deivid.adam-]

Deacons of the Deep and Curse-Rotted Greatwood feel like Demon's Souls bosses, not Dark Souls. They offer a different experience than roll perfectly a million times and strike the sponge boss till it dies. That's probably why people hate them, but to me they are way more memorable than the Dancer or Sulyvahn.

[@morgymomo8535]

definitely my favorite soulsborne game. definitely has the best bosses

[@makia3]

Nope

[@QuantumTelephone]

The ending to the ringed city totally threw me for a loop. I thought Gael was just some pervert who got off by tricking people to touch his painting. I would have never guessed he would be the final boss of the series

[@burningknight7]

Running to midir's tail is a death sentence. Just stay in front of his head, that's literally the easiest way you can fight him

[@AndrewSinitsin]

To me, DS3 is a step backwards. The world is beautiful, right, but it is missing some personality. I still cannot step over the fact I meet Andre, never explained how he got so far from DS1 (And we know this is different timeline due to giant's corpse in Anor Londo). Then Anor Londo, and stuff with Gwyndolin, its just so much fanservice. Not to mention what they did to Izalith. Like "we add some stuff you people saw in DS1 so you can be impressed by how much DSy the DS3 is". Dunno.. This is my problem I know, but I still find all this fanservice shit severely anticlimatic.

[@EclipsaEldrich]

I agree with everything but your opinion on ocieros. Did you do the whole fight without him charging you a single time? Absolutely no telegraph, he just runs at you full speed

[@christopherwager312]

ds3's world is very well refined but personally i still believe ds1s world overall is better. sure the late games design isnt as connected the locations largely are fine. but early and mid game the world feels the most real out of all the souls imo

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

I always find it weird when people use "fan-service" as an excuse to discredit the game... it's a fucking sequel, it's supposed to follow-up the previous games. This is a world I know many have spend hundreds, possibly thousands of hours getting to know and seeing the aftermath Dark Souls, of Dark Souls II to see where this world we've been fighting the endless cycle of the first flame and where it's headed as it fades will mean more to anyone who values this series. As for the world itself, as we saw with Demon's Souls, Dark Souls III's is tightly focused and wonderfully well organically connected which is something that never quite felt so immersive with Dark Souls while mechanically it was a great experience as it's own story it's not really something I cared to much about. As for Boss Fights, it's not even a contest Dark Souls III has the best in the series they take the fundamentals of DS1's combat and refine them to almost perfection and with exception to the age old Dragons and Camera's don't mix almost every boss fight in the game felt well designed and intense.

[@OmideFardaa]

Ds3 : best bosses/best weapons/best mechanics/best pvp. Just compare camera/lock between ds3 and elden ring. Why has fromsoft designed the camera and combat in elden ring awful/terrible?????

[@kingoppsanti5830]

Hope this comes for the switch!

[@EndymionTv]

I want xenoblade on PlayStation lol

[@jie8358]

your right in both gyndr and filanore the fireless shrine was his shrine for he was destined to link the fire and succeed however when he arrived his maiden was already sleeping and the fire was gone and stopped his chance to link the fire and filanore takes you to the end of time the very end of the world itself.

[@jie8358]

because the fire is gone the fireless shrine is outside of time and space but the arena with geal is the end of time as you travel to the end and you can even dee lotheric at the right angle

[@Steve-ox5fm]

I love how guts inspired the final boss is.

[@MrBedZeppelin]

Great Job!

[@grayshadow2597]

I don't think you get the point for repair powder. By resting at bonfire, you automatically repair all your weapons. That means for something like no bonfire challenge run or pvping with something like frayed blade, repair powder is a must. Because at a long fight against someone with only a single weapon, breaking their weapon pretty much guarantees your win.

[@grayshadow2597]

For the spear of the church, it is the one boss in the game that has the possibility of being the hardest boss in the game. In a 1v1 fight, a pve casul will have extremely small chance of defeating a tryhard with church buff + mob + kinda optimized build for church fight(even if they don't have estus, they can kill you very easily). Church buff get stronger with the number of dude in a party as well. But then again, it depends on the skill differences. If they are equal, the party can easily win.

[@coliver0]

Couple things, champion gundyr does not exist in a parallel universe, that is gundyr before you see him at the beginning and you are most likely the person who bested him according to his lore. You can also talk to the shrine handmaiden and she has a small hint in her dialogue in the normal shrine. Also, ariandel isn’t eleum loyce, it’s the painted world you find in anor londo in the first game Filianors egg was what was keeping the ringed city together, once you touched it you broke the illusion and revealed what it truly looks like. Gael fights you because he is looking for the dark souls so he can help his niece with the painting, he isn’t fighting to only kill you he is trying to take your dark soul. In his second phase, he realizes that he has had the dark soul the whole time and is now fighting for his life to keep it. And demon princes arena is the old firelink shrine from ds1 :)

[@EndymionTv]

Pretty sure I said Ariandel reminds me of Eleum Loyce, not that they’re the same. And the Gundyr thing yeah many people in the comments corrected me, which is cool! Cause I didn’t know

[@coliver0]

@@EndymionTv yeah lol, I was editing this comment like crazy while watching the video. It’s a cool video and I think all of your theories are really interesting and could be a part of the actual lore, nobody actually knows the true lore of dark souls except for the people that wrote it, so your theory about Parallel universes could be correct it’s just there is really nothing that confirms it but that also goes for a lot of other popular theories!

[@yungthunder2681]

Short answer: no Long answer: actually it's the 2nd worst

[@awhite1212]

Oceiros was originally meant to have a dead fetus in his hands, but it was the character model for Ocelotte. I assume the dead fetus Ocelotte will not be growing up for us to fight in the future :(. not to mention halfway through he smashes Ocelotte, completely destroying it in the process.

[@adjustedbrass7551]

27:40 you technically don't end all demon kind becasue the freaking batwing demons are STILL kicking.

[@God1stProductions]

Elden Ring, DS3 and Sekiro are my favorite games! In that order

[@EndymionTv]

Love them

[@dereksupernaut]

Elden Ring = Dark Souls IV: Open World... Dark Souls III has more Style&Substance, Elden Ring has more HorseRiding&DoubleJumps... fax!!!