At the start of the year, I had every intention of playing One Piece: Burning Blood and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. You know what two game I've been playing instead? Dark Souls and Dark Souls III...with some Warriors Orochi: 3 Ultimate splashed in there as well, it's pretty cool. I've played the two "Souls" games mostly because one came free with the other, but mostly because it's so easy to get sucked into these worlds and the "Souls" community is such a interesting one to be in thanks to the rich history of the games. I want to know everything about these games and this world, but I never stopped to think if that's because Dark Souls III actually made things so confusing?
I wanna be upfront real quick before we head into the meat of the discussion; this is not an official review of the game. I will be giving my thoughts on it in full, so...
To get the technical stuff out of the way, let's discuss everything not pertaining to the story. Because the story and the atmosphere and the world is the reason anyone reads things about "Souls" games anyway.
This is a great game. The gameplay is solid, a nice update from the slower-based movement of the first game while not moving as fast as Bloodborne. There is still a nudge to be aggressive in one's play-style while keeping in mind this is a "Dark Souls" game. Overacting is going to get you killed or at least punish you severely. You have to think before you act...or at least outsmart the AI in some way. That works too.
The game is visually stunning. I've found that areas in the game that are of a higher altitude seem to be prettier to look at, but areas like Farron Keep and the Catacombs of Carthus are visually breathtaking in their atmosphere. They're unsettling and dank places. Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, when I first saw it, was jaw-dropping. It was immense and it was beautiful and I couldn't wait to explore it! We'll get into this area more...a lot more...soon, too.
This game also keeps up the From Software's, the production team, tradition of having excellent music to accompany their boss themes. The boss battles all have an epic feel to them even if they aren't huge in scale. Smaller, more personal fights like the one between the player and Champion Gundyr are scored by an epic cast. The "Dragonslayer Armour" score is one of my favorites, although the scenery around it is pretty fitting. Sound design in general is done well, like in the Irithyll Dungeon and all the cries, wails, and scratches on the walls that give away enemies or prisoners. The voice-acting is pretty solid too, although some actors are recycled from the first couple of games in nice, somewhat fitting ways.
Alright, but now it's time to get down to business.
And not to defeat the Huns.
Dark Souls III is definitely a direct sequel to Dark Souls that many fans were looking for. Dark Souls II explored the ideas of the first game, but didn't directly involve certain characters or aspects from the first game. This is for good and for ill, and I'll explain why in a moment.
Dark Souls didn't require a sequel, since it ends with what could be the end or the continuation of the world. Well, Dark Souls III shows that the world is ending and we, as the player, have to do something about it...in pretty conclusive ways.
With the basic premise of the games going from "link the First Flame" to "OH MY GOD THE FIRST FLAME IS DYING PLEASE SAVE IT" there is a bit of a change in tone. Dark Souls III is the apocalypse, for sure...but I still can't help the feeling that this is actually two games spliced into one.
Let's look at the game from a more direct point: we, as the player, are tasked with going and defeating the Lords of Cinder because Prince Lothric has refused to take up his mantle as a Lord of Cinder. Thus, the First Flame is going to die, and we're called into action by the actual Soul of Cinder (implied to be Gwyn, who first kept the flames together but was defeated by the player in Dark Souls). However, there are enemies in our way that we have to stop first, namely a squadron from the Abyss that may or may not have worked with Artorias, a conqueror, and a god-eater named Aldrich, who may or may not have started his own religion and formed his own sect of magic.
Yeah there's a bit of a drastic change there, and I think it mainly lies with the fact that the Lothric storyline, while seen throughout the game, goes quiet for the entire second act. Once we make it to the Road of Sacrifice and head for the Cathedral of the Deep, or the Catacombs of Carthus, it's clear that Lothric not being in charge has led to things going back, but the real villain isn't Lothric. It isn't Lorian. And it isn't Oceiros.
It's Aldrich.
I think the most crippling weakness in the Dark Souls III mythos comes the moment that we reach Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. Up until this point, we've seen the Outrider Knights scattered around the land. Be it through Vordt, the knight in the Road of Sacrifice, and optionally, the Dancer and the knight in Lothric Castle beyond the Dragon Barracks. Once we learn about Pontiff Sulyvahn, the story isn't about the travesties and atrocities that Prince Lothric committed, but what in the blue hell Sulyvahn, his Outrider Knights, the Evangelists, the Deacons, and Aldrich themselves have been doing: creating, and preparing the world, for the Deep.
One of the biggest questions for a while that I've seen online is: what's the difference between "Dark" and "Deep" in terms of weapon infusion? Isn't it essentially the same?
The short answer is yes but the long answer is quite symbolic of the divide and progress made between Dark Souls and Dark Souls III. See, in the original Dark Souls, going Hollow and being consumed by the mysterious Abyss was everyone's biggest worry. While that is relevant somewhat, mostly with the Abyss Watchers, the concept of the Deep is way more relevant here. It's more imposing and it affects the story of the second act as Aldrich attempts to, basically, consume the world.
Aldrich and his footprints are seen all over the world way more than Lothric, for the most part. We see the effect of the Lothric bloodline only near the castle itself. When we're pushed beyond it's boundaries, and into the extremities of the land, we learn more about the fate that has befallen the land. It doesn't help bolster the final fight looming with Lothric so much as it does gear us up for fighting Aldrich, Saint of the Deep...and Devourer of Gods.
I can't confirm or deny any of this, it's strictly speculation, but I firmly believe that there might have been plans for a Dark Souls IV to complete the story of the First Flame and thrust the world into the Age of Dark, or at least, whatever came next. I'm not sure on the order of the games, but there is heavy implication that there were two completely different concepts colliding. Biggest piece of evidence?
After slaying the final Lord of Cinder before Lothric, you're immediately transported to the High Wall of Lothric to watch Emma the handmaiden die and then gain access to Lothric Castle and the Consumed King's Garden. It's jarring. There's no indication that this is going to happen. We can assume it's because we defeated the final Lord of Cinder, but, after what we just took down, the thought of fighting someone else is a bit weird. After all, the player has either just killed Yhorm the Giant, someone who conquered and entire country all by himself, or Aldrich, who ate gods! Now we have to go to a castle to fight knights again?
Not to mention the story implications surrounding both as they pertain the overall story of "Dark Souls." We'll examine them individually and then compare them afterward. We'll start with the Lothric plotline, since it's a bit easier to follow.
At some point in history, King Oceiros, or a former king named Lothric, came and conquered this land and ruled over it. He bore two children and was obsessed with somehow melding them with dragons to make them more powerful. Lothric, his son, was crippled, and he could barely stand to watch this. Lorian also became crippled at some point, and so, King Oceiros and his queen bore a third child: Ocelotte, who was born of dragons. The Lothric family, overall, is a pathetic family built on meak morals but seeing themselves as above everyone else.
There is heavy implication that this was not always the case. After all, they did conquer an entire kingdom. Thus, it was the Scholars, one of the pillars of the family, that whispered in their ears. They convinced Oceiros to follow the Path of the Dragon, something the player and Hawkgood can do, and for Prince Lothric to not link the First Flame. This is also something the player can choose not to do, and instead become the Lord of Hollows, denizens of Londor.
This story is the one that bears the true sense of finality to the series. With the Lord of Hollows ending, there is no denial that the world is going to be thrust into the Age of Dark. In fact, much like how Gwyn ushered in the Age of Fire, the player has ushered in the Age of Dark. Everyone wants this to be explored in a DLC, though to be fair, everyone also wants the Profaned Flame to be explored in a DLC as well.
Where the true sense of finality comes, though, is with the Untended Graves, which is quite possibly the most jarring area that From Sofware has created with these games. Yes, Anor Londo is a spectacle, Blighttown is unnerving, but the Untended Graves are where it gets serious. Are we in another dimension, has the Abyss taken over, are we further back/ ahead in time? What is happening? I remember coming here and being spooked to death. How do you confront an area like this?
This is indeed a great optional area to the game, but it's more-so an incredible secret that the Lothric family is keeping. This whole time they've been right on top of our Firelink Shrine. They could have been the ones controlling it and controlling the Fire Keeper. We've never had a Fire Keeper go rogue, how crazy would it have been for our lovely lady to ditch the player? That would be mind-blowing! And to have an actual fight in the Untended Graves Firelink Shrine would be incredible! It's kind of what I was hoping for, but it never happened.
So, Dark Souls IV would have been the Lothric story. You could keep the Abyss Watchers, since Farron Keep and the Undead Settlement are, for the most part, still relevant to the story. The Catacombs sort of are, since Wolnir is implied to be dragging himself out of the Abyss and the Abyss would be a nice way to tether this story back.
Mostly, though, it's important to retain the final fight against the Soul of Cinder. I can't in good conscious say that the fight is poor in concept, I just don't think he should have been the final boss of Dark Souls III. He's a good final boss for the series, but the series didn't have to end here. It is a good baton-switch, though, to finally conquer the Lothric bloodline and then confront the fact that it's all too late and the world is going to end or barely hang on based on your actions here.
Things to keep in Dark Souls IV would definitely be the Sable Church of Londor, as they are all about the Age of Dark and it could relate back to New Londo in a way that I really wish it did or had been explored in the DLC. Instead we got the Ashes of Ariandel which was...well, it happened.
Not to mention the fact that, to fluff the game out a bit, there was an entire war that went unexplored. It's one of the few substantial connections I can think of that link Lothric's stuff to Aldrich's. Gertude, Mother Rosaria, and Gwynevere all play interesting parts in the realm of Lothric, though all they provide are more lore nudges rather than solid answers. Expansions on the war that occurred as a result of the angels' arriving to Gertude would certainly help this story out. Perhaps it could explain how Gwynevere came to become the Queen of Lothric (based on the Divine Blessing item description). That's a HUGE lore drop that is sadly hardly touched upon. It's a super cool idea, but, we never actually see her. We can go to her bedchamber again to find her ring, but that's about it. Mother Rosaria could also be removed from the Cathedral of the Deep, and, actually, be placed inside the bedchamber as a servant who did not join the Princess Guard, or is trying to rekindle that covenant again.
Thus, it returns the focus to the idea of "family." Gwynevere becomes relevant again, but this time, through her daughters from Flann: Rosaria and Gertrude. Both are clearly mystical beings the likes of which Oceiros could not produce, since he was a mortal man. Two gods, though? Probably. Thus, the player would embark on a quest to figure out just what happened to Gwynevere after she left Anor Londo, and the ultimate fate of her family. This easily relates back to the Lothric family line and probably has enough lore to fill a game and have enough meaningful connections to Dark Souls.
Now, Dark Souls III. What the heck do you do for that game?
Aldrich. All. Aldrich.
Think about it. We're returning to the series and the lands of Dark Souls, only things are in ruin. Locations have been decimated, and there's some new flame running around called the Profaned Flame. Knights of Catarina are back, and we're meeting people from Carim again. Why? What's happened?
Gwyndolin was consumed. And there's an army that's taken over the Boreal Valley...the area at the foot of Anor Londo.
You're going to fight Gods.
Dark Souls did a great way of tying each boss into the main story of the game in a way that Dark Souls III simply couldn't, because the main game was too convoluted. I love the idea of the Deacons of the Deep, of Yhorm, of Pontiff, of the Crystal Sages, and of all their areas as they relate to Aldrich. Heck, even the Curse-Rotted Greatwood could be related back to Aldrich if you change his backstory around a bit to make him corrupted by the Deep rather than Curse-magic (which he doesn't even inflict?).
All of these bosses are the ones that sort of intimidated me at first glance, regardless of difficulty. Running into the Cathedral of the Deep, expecting to finally fight Aldrich--since Anri said he would be here!--and running in on dozens of his disciples is horrifying. That solemn approach up to Pontiff Sulyvahn is amazing. You're finally meeting the man you think has spurned all of this, the one who raised hell with the Profaned Flame in the now-Profaned Capital and who actually sentenced Yhorm to his loneliness. And then, to top the game off, in ANOR LONDO, you confront Aldrich, who sits smug where Orstein and Smough once stood. He's killed any allies you had in Dark Souls all because he just felt like it, and wears a god like a crown.
Aldrich's story doesn't have series-finale implications to it, but if they were going to go this route, they should have stuck with it all the way through. The Lothric family story is too important to be told alongside this story. Both are, again, epic in proportion. One is about getting revenge on a monster for ravaging the land of the gods, and the other is about the finality of a lineage and the total end of the world. It's a Gods vs. Dragons balance that Dark Souls managed to balance because they all had something to do with Gwyn and his allies. The game established early on the connections to the final boss: Nico and his Hollows, the Witch of Izalith with her chaos flame, and Seethe and his dragons.
The same is done in the real Dark Souls III but only with Aldrich. Pontiff Sulyvahn and the Outrider Knights are all servants of Aldrich. Yhorm rests in the Profaned Capital because of Aldrich. Not that he's a servant, but he is definitely afilliated to Aldrich more than he is Lothric and Lorian.
The real Dark Souls III is the ultimate trip of Easter Eggs. It's a lot of "this is cool!" but no real reason for them to be there. What's Big Hat Logan doing scattered around the lands? I don't know, but, if you tied his sorceries into inspiring ideas that would eventually lead to Deep magic, then that could work.
Many concepts in Dark Souls III are left unexplored either because the developers ran out of time or just didn't want to see these concepts through. While I have said there is little connection between the two plotlines, there are ways to connect them.
It would be an incredible false climax to build Aldrich up as the final boss. The big showdown in Anor Londo! But, wait...we've been travelling through Lothric? Wasn't Lordran close to...
Then you figure it out. This land, Lothric, wasn't just usurped by Aldrich. Those multiple factions in the world? They weren't placed at random. With some better mixture of the bosses, and possibly some blurred lines of who is the enemy and who isn't, you could set up a war between the Scholars--who have corrupted the Lothric family--and the Evangelists, who are corrupted by the Deep. Suddenly, you realize, Lothric is only spoken of in relation to the royal family.
The land is Lordran. You've returned home to claim this land back under the name of the gods you've just rescued.
Suddenly, the game opens up again.
Now, before you started typing angrily, yes, there is reason to believe in the actual Dark Souls III that Lothric is a part of what Lordran is. The Undead Burg is now Farron Keep, Anor Londo is still the same, and the Sable Church of Londor is just the newly risen denizens of New Londo. That's all speculation with evidence both for and against it. All I'm saying is that I'm given little reason to care much about either plotline. Both could be interesting either in their own games or with a better connection. From Software did the best that they could but didn't go far enough.
Once again, it all has to do with that final boss: the Soul of Cinder. His appearance almost comes right out of nowhere at the end. The obvious connection to Prince Lothric is that Lothric did not want to go to link the First Flame, but what about Aldrich? What if that was the ultimate goal of Aldrich? After all, he had visions of a vast ocean, and perhaps he was looking to conquer one final area, the Kiln of the First Flame, to see that world come true. Now, we're in a fight against him to stop it, and he's gotten so close at Anor Londo, the home of the original Lord of Cinder. After we defeat him, Prince Lothric decides he doesn't want us, the Chosen Undead, to unite the flame, and we have to turn our direction back to Lothric--newly discovered to be Lordran--and fight our way to him. All the while learning about the atrocities his family has committed in the Consumed King's Garden, confronting a corrupted Fire Keeper in the Untended Graves, and ending the whispers of the Scholars in the Grand Archives, finally putting all the previous game plotlines to rest as we face Prince Lothric, and not him joined by someone else. This has to be an epic duel of two human-sized characters, like a prelude to our upcoming fight with the Soul of Cinder.
But once again, I hear you typing: What about the Nameless King? And I haven't forgotten about him. He is still in an optional area, but our reason for fighting him is different.
If I were to split the games up, he would appear still in Dark Souls IV after we've beaten the game. And only after we've beaten the game, though this also applies to my idea of how Dark Souls III should have gone: after defeating the corrupt Fire Keeper appointing our new Fire Keeper, the player meets with Hawkwood, who talks of rummages at Archdragon Peak. Someone is causing commotion up there, awakening dragons, draining the power of sunlight. Something only Gwyn could do...but his children are dead, right?
No. He has one left, one erased from history, who has become king of Archdragon Peak: the Nameless King, guarded by close friend Orstein after his ally, Smough, we felled long ago by an unknown Undead. The reason to go to Archdragon Peak, for Hawkwood, is to follow the Path of the Dragon. While that's available to you, and you can see results based on what happened with Lothric, you can choose this too. But mainly, you're going because someone is challenging you. It makes the fight with the Nameless King a bit more personal. Instead of "I'm going to conquer you because the game says so" it's "I'm going to duel you to finally settle who is stronger."
Plus this gives you a reason to throw in Solaire an see what happened to him, and if you believe he's Gwyn's son, then go for it.
But, obviously, these are all hypothetical. I can't say what really happened just like I can't say what it was like in the writer's room. I get the feeling that most of these were ideas that Miyazaki, or From Software, had bouncing around that simply were too large. That they figured could be tossed around with through DLC. And we do learn a bit more about the mechanics of the Painted World and of the Sable Church of Londor in Ashes of Ariandel, but not the answers we're looking for.
Dark Souls III remains to be a game of connections that raise questions, rather than questions that illuminate connections. Smouldering Lake is implied to be, or has been confirmed to be, the Demon Ruins because we see the demons from Dark Souls there. Okay, fine. But, is Lothric really Lordran because they both connect to Anor Londo? Spacial disparity has always been a factor in these games, so that's a tough call to make. In the original Dark Souls, we were given connections because they were important. Sen's Fortress existed as a part of Anor Londo not only as a means of defense, but as a way to test the player. I remember conquering Sen's Fortress and then feeling properly ready to go into Anor Londo. The challenge was intimidating, but I'd been prepped. There were parallels throughout the levels to give each new area some light in terms of the story. Dark Souls III, frankly, is too disorganized to do so.
There are many awesome ideas in this game. Like I said, making Gwynevere the Queen of Lothric was an awesome move that totally blindsided me. The concept of a war going on, or having just gone on, is super cool. The end of the world! A god-devourer that has taken over a once sacred land, and is defiling it with the memories of the former lords' servants. An entire legion of soldiers meant to watch over the Abyss, though have all unknowingly succumbed to it's touch. All great!
I love the lore of Dark Souls III but the biggest issue I have with it is how it so heavily relies on the lore of Dark Souls to make it seem relevant. Aldrich, yes, isn't relevant without him consuming Gwyndolin, but he is a new threat because this. The Profaned Flame could have been an amazing, innovative, new concept that just wasn't explored because what connections did it have that made even a lick of sense? None? Then don't worry about it.
I doubt that the second DLC pack for Dark Souls III will even answer half of the questions, so we're going to be left quite a while with our own interpretation of events. There are so many cool concepts in these games that I wish we had more time to see. Unfortunately, we just may never have that chance in a sensible manner. A darn shame for such a good game, too.
Social media:
Twitter: @seanovan13
Instagram: @seanovan10
No comments:
Post a Comment