Dark Souls 3's DLC Will (Probably) Mark the End of the Series

[Saelune]

You know, there still is Dark Souls 1 to bring to modern systems with visual and other such upgrades...so...that would be really nice to experience for a non-pc peasant with nary the console to appreciate the allegedly best entry to the series. If you made it very extra nice and shiny and smooth, that would be a bonus. Just throwing that out there. It would be great to end on a fitting tribute, right?

Its on PS3 and 360 though.

While I love Dark Souls 1, and honestly...would likely buy an updated version...I think Demon Souls is the most logical game to update, since it is currently just a PS3 exclusive.

Unfortunately for PS4 owners, so far the only option is a subscription service to stream those old titles, which limits the quality of the picture and the framerate. I have no idea what the online capabilities are through that service. It is pretty limited, though I did own Dark Souls 1 on an old 360, it is far far away now in a distant mysterious land. Also would like to try Demon Souls, but not through laggy streaming restrictions. The Dark Souls 2 port/upgrade they did was pretty polished and still runs at least twice the frame rate of DS3 and Bloodborne. It would be nice to see either of the popular early games to be more publicly available if not upscaled to DS2's performance levels.

I just want everything to be "archived" for continual play. Its why I re-buy games on Steam, (and occasionally GoG) so that I can keep playing them. Id love to add Demon Souls and Bloodborne to my Steam library.

Hell, I literally have Morrowind and Skyrim (not counting remaster) on every possible platform.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

i'm sure there will be more games from From with similar dynamics.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Dark Soul's ended with one, as far as I'm concerned. How many times can the fucking world end?

In Dark Souls they established the the cycle of fire age to dark age to fire age is pretty much a continuous thing. Which is why there were sequels.

OT: Let's remember that Hidetaka Miyazaki also directed Dark Souls II, the hands down weakest entry in the Dark Souls series, and arguably the weakest entry in the entire style. So him killing the goose that laid the golden egg is a given at this point. Considering the success of Kings Field, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, which are all spiritually linked. This is killing off one of the traditions of FROM Software, who is bereft of an on going franchise now, after the death of Armored Core... This is looking more and more like they're going to try to pull a damn Konami on the fans.

 

[Fox12]

Dark Soul's ended with one, as far as I'm concerned. How many times can the fucking world end?

In Dark Souls they established the the cycle of fire age to dark age to fire age is pretty much a continuous thing. Which is why there were sequels.

OT: Let's remember that Hidetaka Miyazaki also directed Dark Souls II, the hands down weakest entry in the Dark Souls series, and arguably the weakest entry in the entire style. So him killing the goose that laid the golden egg is a given at this point. Considering the success of Kings Field, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, which are all spiritually linked. This is killing off one of the traditions of FROM Software, who is bereft of an on going franchise now, after the death of Armored Core... This is looking more and more like they're going to try to pull a damn Konami on the fans.

He didn't work on two. They took him off the project very early, and gave it to another director. That guy messed up so badly that they removed him, and replaced him with another guy. He did work on DS3, though, which was pretty bad in its own right.

I'm curious in what way you think their following after Konami, though?

 

[runic knight]

I support this decision. The series, while amazing, is starting to be worn a little thin, so giving it some time away from the light and letting fade a little is a good thing to prevent it from being overdone and going stale ala assassin's creed. It also shows restraint on behalf of the company as opposed to milking the cash cow til it is way past dead, and I can appreciate that. The series didn't overstay its welcome yet, and as such if they come back to it 5 years or so down the line, it will be more fondly remembered for it.

Also this increases the likelihood of more Armored Core...

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I'm curious in what way you think their following after Konami, though?

Well Konami, Capcom, Nintendo, Sega, and basically every other Japanese game company. Pairing down franchises until they have nothing left, until the good will of the fans is basically dead. Because these companies are looking for ways to make more money, especially with game sales faltering in Japan... Nintendo is looking to get more into the mobile market, Konami went to Pachinko. That sort of thing.

I support this decision. The series, while amazing, is starting to be worn a little thin, so giving it some time away from the light and letting fade a little is a good thing to prevent it from being overdone and going stale ala assassin's creed. It also shows restraint on behalf of the company as opposed to milking the cash cow til it is way past dead, and I can appreciate that. The series didn't overstay its welcome yet, and as such if they come back to it 5 years or so down the line, it will be more fondly remembered for it.

If they toss out a new title every 3-5 years at this point, they'll be able to keep the franchise alive for a long time yet. Ubisoft screwed up with Assassin's Creed by demanding a new installment every year. It's not that the games have worn out their welcome. It's that they're all the same, there is very little innovation, and they're running out of both plot and historical settings. Dark Souls on the other hand, you can basically make a new one regularly and it'll remain familiar, but also be fresh. It's just not a game you can add a new sequel to every year, like with sports games and most shooters, where you're just giving incremental updates and tweaks for competitive online players. Dark Souls tends to be an intense single player experience, that outside online players occasionally interrupt with an intense assault on the host. That's something that can get stale, but only if the developers are so constantly tasked with such a game, that they get stuck in a rut.

Also this increases the likelihood of more Armored Core...

Armored Core was getting kind of stale and obtuse by the time of Armored Core 3: Nine Breaker, Nexus, and Last Raven. Armored Core 4, For Answer, Armored Core V, and Verdict Day all got roundly mediocre scores generally speaking. The games are pretty niche to begin with, because the depth of customization that's not only possible, but necessary, makes them unfriendly to most gamers. In a gaming market that's already hurting, like in Japan... I wouldn't get my hopes up, unless the Nostalgia bug is really bitting hard for Mech sim fans.

 

[Dalisclock]

Dark Soul's ended with one, as far as I'm concerned. How many times can the fucking world end?

In Dark Souls they established the the cycle of fire age to dark age to fire age is pretty much a continuous thing. Which is why there were sequels..

What bothers me about this is that, from the best of my knowledge, they haven't actually shown the age of dark. Apparently, cycles seem to run as such: Flame is going strong, flame starts to die, undead curse appears, some poor smuck gets roped into killing a bunch of dudes to gather souls to rekindle the flame and sacrifice themselves in the process. Rinse, wash, repeat.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Dark Soul's ended with one, as far as I'm concerned. How many times can the fucking world end?

In Dark Souls they established the the cycle of fire age to dark age to fire age is pretty much a continuous thing. Which is why there were sequels..

What bothers me about this is that, from the best of my knowledge, they haven't actually shown the age of dark. Apparently, cycles seem to run as such: Flame is going strong, flame starts to die, undead curse appears, some poor smuck gets roped into killing a bunch of dudes to gather souls to rekindle the flame and sacrifice themselves in the process. Rinse, wash, repeat.

It's hinted that, while that happens, a specific undead breaks the rekindling cycle and initiates a dark age. Especially with the first Dark Souls where your character is either the descendant of, or is in actuality, the Furtive Pygmy, carrier of the Dark Soul. Which means the canon ending for each game is the walking away from the first flame/throne of want/whatever the end objective in Dark Souls III is. It's heavily implied that Darkstalker Kaathe is right and Kingseeker Frampt is merely delaying the inevitable, for example, in the first game. Also we haven't a clue how many cycles passed before the humans appeared, became intelligent, discovered the first flame, obtained the lord souls, and took the surface from the Everlasting Dragons. Also since kingdoms rise and fall, in the same place, over countless eons... That also backs up the idea that the cyclical nature of Fire Age to Dark Age to Fire Age again. Especially with the fact that nothing seems to stay truly dead in the Dark Souls universe.

 

[Naldan]

It's OK. Honestly, even though DS' lore is one of my favourite lores in gaming, they proved that they can do great with one-shots considering Blood Borne. Or Demon's Souls.

Just the style is OK for me. I wouldn't even put it behind them to make a fantastic Sci-Fi Dark Souls not set in a melee-heavy world. Yeah. Actual, proper shooting and melee.

 

[Neuromancer]

It's ending two games too late, to be honest. The lore of the first perfectly tied up its story and there should've never been sequels to begin with. I can at least appreciate the second game shifting the focus from the cycle to the curse itself, but overall the execution of its themes was shoddy.

The third game's themes and execution were abysmal. Rehash of the first game's plot, shoddy writing, fanservice for fanservice's sake, weak characters with weak plotlines... I found DS3 an utter disappointment lore-wise, and it's the only DS I won't be revisiting or buy the DLC of.

 

[runic knight]

If they toss out a new title every 3-5 years at this point, they'll be able to keep the franchise alive for a long time yet. Ubisoft screwed up with Assassin's Creed by demanding a new installment every year. It's not that the games have worn out their welcome. It's that they're all the same, there is very little innovation, and they're running out of both plot and historical settings. Dark Souls on the other hand, you can basically make a new one regularly and it'll remain familiar, but also be fresh. It's just not a game you can add a new sequel to every year, like with sports games and most shooters, where you're just giving incremental updates and tweaks for competitive online players. Dark Souls tends to be an intense single player experience, that outside online players occasionally interrupt with an intense assault on the host. That's something that can get stale, but only if the developers are so constantly tasked with such a game, that they get stuck in a rut.

I agree. The break will do good to prevent that, both on the developer's end, and on the players end. Also gives more time to think up innovations in design, mechanics, or execution. And to fix poise.

Also this increases the likelihood of more Armored Core...

Armored Core was getting kind of stale and obtuse by the time of Armored Core 3: Nine Breaker, Nexus, and Last Raven. Armored Core 4, For Answer, Armored Core V, and Verdict Day all got roundly mediocre scores generally speaking. The games are pretty niche to begin with, because the depth of customization that's not only possible, but necessary, makes them unfriendly to most gamers. In a gaming market that's already hurting, like in Japan... I wouldn't get my hopes up, unless the Nostalgia bug is really bitting hard for Mech sim fans.

I enjoyed the series. Granted the controls were clunky as hell, and customizing was a bit obtuse, but it was still a fun experience, and one I think even as a niche it is not being filled right now. I think taking what they learned from the souls and bloodborn series to help tackle those problems (perhaps making the mechs a little less clunky to handle and aim with, and going more for the soul's idea of variety in equipment that is not often outright upgrades of other stuff.) Even if unlikely, it has been some years yet, I can hold hope they may revisit the series.