Dark Souls III Leaked info + screenshots + updates

[Ryoudji]

4th August 2015

 

New trailer released during Gamescom event, including some short gameplay footage.

 

 

17th June 2015

 

A demo of Dark Souls III has been shown during E3, with Miyazaki himself narrating on many elements and aspects found in the new game:

 

 

I just got done watching the E3 demo of Dark Souls III. Miyazaki narrated but his assistant played through the starting area of the game. Our journey began in a place called “Wall of Lodeleth“, which was a castle-like area that looked similar to the Boletarian Palace from Demon’s Souls. Initial impressions are striking: the art style of the game looks very much like Bloodborne and we are rather sure the game runs on the exact same engine and there are shared assets.

When asked about FPS, Miyazaki confirmed that the game will run on 30FPS

 

 

We progressed through the level fighting undead warriors, knights, a Stone Dragon and the first boss named “Dancer of the Frigid Valley“. The setting is familiar and the enemies have that slight deja-vu effect from a distant memory: The undead warriors were very similar to those in Undead Burg in Dark Souls, and the knights were wearing shiny silver armor that and fought somewhat like the Black Knights from Dark Souls. But it wasn’t until we got to a bridge that the true feeling of Dark Souls settled in: Out of nowehere, a Stone Dragon landed atop a wall in front of us and burnt the many undead to ashes, also blocking the player’s way and forcing him into an unexpected detour he was not ready for.

 

Miyazaki: “I like to place dragons early on the game”

 

 

 

We doubled-back down and into a tower where the torch was lit as visibility was very low, slowly progressing through the castle. A new enemy type with a familiar trick: his torso distorted into a black cobra in an ultimate merge between Sen’s Fortress enemies and Bloodborne’s Vipers. Finally we arrived to a heavy door guarded by two Knights, one spear and the other sword. After defeating them and pushing the door open in a very similar way to Bloodborne’s chalice dungeons, we entered the boss arena for the Dancer of the Frigid Valley. A cutscene showed her dropping into the area where the player was as the doors ominously closed behind her.

The excellent music score and its intensity set the mood for the fight. The boss stood hunched over, almost like an invisible manikin wearing armor. It wielded a flame scimitar and its moveset will remind Game of Thrones fans of a “Water Dancer”. A silhouette trailed behind her marking her swings – I can honestly say she wasn’t like any other Souls boss I have seen. The environment effects were impressive: everything struck by the flame scimitar was set on fire, even the pillars in the area, including the player. The player carried on with a sword and shield combo (yes, shields are back!), and at around 50 percent health the Dancer added an “Ash Scimitar” to her offhand: pulled from right out of the ground and started to spin with them in a flowing whirlwind, absolutely annihilating MIyazaki’s assistant. That concluded the demo.

 

Story & World Design

The story in Dark Souls 3 revolves around the “Lord of Cinder“, his resurrection and the Dark Hero trying to defeat him.

When asked about the Lord of Cinder being directly connected to Dark Souls I or II (we’re all thinking Gwyn right?) we were given a very vague answer which essentially meant “It will be open for the player to decide“. We were also given the impression that the story of Dark Souls III would not be directly linked to the previous titles, but again be open to interpretation.

 

A new feature, epitaphs, are the lore notes of Dark Souls III. These tiny gravestones of fallen knights can be found through out the game and once lit will allow the players to read the epitaphs inscribed on them. Epitaphs tell you about the lore of the game:

This knight fought for the Lord of Cinder

 

 

World interconnectivity is completely back. Everything is once again completely connected, as was the case in Dark Souls I. Everything you can see you will be able to explore and go to.

Miyazaki stated that he personally has taken over the world design for the game, and there will be no world hub. 

 

 

Combat & Mechanics

The combat is very similar to that of previous Souls titles, but there are some new improvements. First off is “Stances“. It seems that several weapons in the game have Stances that allow for powerful attacks when used. In the demo we saw the Straight Sword have what is called the “Ready Stance“. In this Stance the player holds the Straight Sword in a two-handed fashion (putting away his/her shield) and holds the sword up like a Samurai holding a katana. The hilt is held back by the head of the player with the tip of the blade pointing directly forward. The player was able to Guard Break two shield-wielding enemies with the attack from this Stance. This was the only Stance shown in the demo.

 

The Greatsword had a new move called a “Lunge” where you hold the blade in two hands and quickly lung forward about half a foot with your shoulder and then can attack quickly with a slicing uppercut that can knock enemies into the air. The Lunge allowed the player to gain iframes through the incoming attack and then punish the attacker with a devastating blow. It was difficult to tell if he actually iframed or not as no health bars were shown on the screen and the player was not staggered during the enemy’s swing.

 

Certain weapons can be dual wielded. The ones we saw in the demo were called “Legion Scimitars“. The player could wield one and a shield or swap to one in each hand. These swords appear to only be 1 item and therefore should only take up 1 slot in your inventory, even though you can use two. It wasn’t 100% clear, but it sounded like duel wielding is not unique to weapons you find this way, and that these were only one example. The player was able to use a skill called “Spin” while duel wielding that sort of looked like a mini blade tornado and effectively killed 4 enemies at once with it. But it appears to have a delay from the time you start it until the time it fires off, thus making anticipating when to use it key to its effectiveness since the player was staggered when hit on his first attempt to use it.

 

Bows completely got a revamp. You can now effectively use the Short Bow in close range combat. If fires quickly and is nearly instantaneous.

 

The Long Bow on the other hand, will have a longer draw, will hit harder and be more effective from range. There were no skills or Stances shown with this weapon so I do not know what they are.

Miyazaki: “Using the short bow is a bit like being like Legolas in Lord of the Rings. Ok, I’m probably exaggerating a little.”

 

 

One important thing to note here is that enemies can use Skills and Stances just like the player. This makes the combat more intense and more difficult as they tend to do it unpredictably. And, Parries and Backstabs looked nearly identical to Dark Souls II and are also in the game once again.

 

One of the recurrent complains about recent Souls titles have been the lackluster upgrades. When asked about the upgrade system:

Miyazaki: "The upgrade system will be an improved version of Dark Souls II"

 

What that means exactly is anyone’s guess.

 

We also got to see some Gestures return to the game along with the fan favorite “Praise the Sun“, similar to Dark Souls II. I know you will all love that  

 

 

 Online and Multiplayer

Co-op and PvP are of course back. Players will summon one another the same way they have in previous Souls titles, through the use of Signs.

Miyazaki said that the matchmaking for co op and PvP will be based on Soul Level. I specifically asked Miyazaki during the demo if Soul Memory would be in the game and it was reiterated that Soul Level will be the only criteria for matching players. There will also be no Dueling Arena and when asked whether there will be unique multiplayer PvP mechanics, Miyazaki said there will be “unique” ones for sure.

No info was given about the Hollowing mechanic seen in the previous two titles, except that it would be slightly different this time around. No details about how.

 

 

Summary

The game looks to be a lot like a hybrid between Dark Souls and Bloodborne, if only artistically. The combat is not Bloodborne, there are no dashes or fastness,  this is Dark Souls II movement speed and timings. The improvements to the combat system should make Souls combat more interesting than ever before and help it keep up with the frenetic pace of Bloodborne that we’ve all come to love. The matching of players by Soul Level once again will give many piece of mind and I know we all love the connected world from the first game (as well as Bloodborne). I have no data on Hollowing except that it will be in the game and “improved”. No magic, miracles, hexes or devices were shown.

 

I hope I covered everything. We have more follow up and another demo, so if you guys have questions post them in the comments and we will answer them as soon as I can.

 

Source

---

 

05th June 2015

 

This come from The Know, the same channel of the Silent Hills rumor, though this time they have screenshots and everything.

 

 

- To release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One in 2016
- PC release is "negotiable."
- 1-4 players
- Sacrifice ritual allows you to enter other people's games
- Bosses can "heat up," changing their form
- Swordfighting arts add special moves that can be equipped and changed 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source

Edited August 4, 2015 by Ryoudji

[Saltyie]

Already? I love From's games but they're starting to run it into the ground. We'll see after E3 though, none of those 'new' features interest me that much.

[Remilia Scarlet]

This is old news to me. I first saw images on Facebook through the PlayStation Gaming Underground page.

[ZeroXOF]

Already? I love From's games but they're starting to run it into the ground. We'll see after E3 though, none of those 'new' features interest me that much.

 

Probably being developed by B team. Also I guess they pissed off their fan-base making BB and not announcing a new game for all platforms. I guess we just have to wait for them to confirm it. 

[Woop982]

Miyazaki likes placing dragons early in the game, huh? I wouldn't expect anything less from that sadistic bastard.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Woop982

[Undead Wolf]

Definitely cant say no to more Souls games! In my opinion, Demons Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne are all masterpieces but I thought Dark Souls 2 wasn't anywhere near as good as the other "Souls Like" games, enjoyable but not anything amazing. If this turns out to be true, hopefully so are the rumours that Miyazaki-san is coming back to direct it. I guess well have to wait for E3 to know for sure, it's not long now! 

[HaSoOoN-MHD]

Probably being developed by B team. Also I guess they pissed off their fan-base making BB and not announcing a new game for all platforms. I guess we just have to wait for them to confirm it. 

I hate that term so much. Dark Souls II's flaws are all time constraints, it genuinely has better gameplay than the previous one.

 

 

Already? I love From's games but they're starting to run it into the ground. We'll see after E3 though, none of those 'new' features interest me that much.

How? this is 2016. Dark Souls II released 2 years from the time this game is coming out. Do not count Bloodborne.

 

As for the actual features themselves, they sound promising but 15 bosses? and that whole ''make a bonefire'' aspect could flat out ruin the game. Might not be getting the full story though so i'm optimistic.

Edited June 5, 2015 by HaSoOoN-MHD

[Dragon-Archon]

I hope this is true. I wonder if that second sword can be used too, if so we can finally dual wield .

[Condemned09]

Please let this be true all soul series are a masterpiece i be happy if they.announce on e3

[ZeroXOF]

I hate that term so much. Dark Souls II's flaws are all time constraints, it genuinely has better gameplay than the previous one.

 

I use that term to describe the second group, only ignorant people use it to rank the teams by letters lol. I felt that there was nothing wrong with DS2, people just like to worry and whine about stupid stuff. All opinions are subjective unless they hold truth.

Edited June 6, 2015 by ZeroXOF

[Xx_ForTheSesh_xX]

I really don't want this to turn into a yearly game, such as Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty. ;__;

[HaSoOoN-MHD]

I hope this is true. I wonder if that second sword can be used too, if so we can finally dual wield .

Uggh dude, DW been in since the first Dark Souls game.

I really don't want this to turn into a yearly game, such as Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty. ;__;

It's been two years since Dark Souls II. Bloodborne is an entirely different beast, can't be counted IMO.

[Dragon-Archon]

Uggh dude, DW been in since the first Dark Souls game.

Wait, what! I thought it wasn't possible to wield 2 weapons at the same time?

[HaSoOoN-MHD]

Wait, what! I thought it wasn't possible to wield 2 weapons at the same time?

It is completely possible. It kind of sucks in the first game though, its much better in DkS2 with special power stanced move sets for duel wielded weapons.

[skinner49]

I would hope that From Software will announce something at E3. That would make me happy.

[Gregorymany]

I really don't want this to turn into a yearly game, such as Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty. ;__;

 

Yeah, me too. I don´t want they start to rush the souls series just for the money. Call of duty is almost the same over all these years, always with a very weak story, and AC still have a good story, but it´s coming out with a lot of bugs every launch.

[hyappatuhyakuchu]

These games are welcome any time.

[Goekie]

Where is my demons souls 2...

[Saltyie]

Probably being developed by B team. Also I guess they pissed off their fan-base making BB and not announcing a new game for all platforms. I guess we just have to wait for them to confirm it. 

They have a B team?? Nonetheless this will probably be another un-inspired entry like DS2. Without Miyazaki doing what he does these games feel pretty bland.

 

 

How? this is 2016. Dark Souls II released 2 years from the time this game is coming out. Do not count Bloodborne.

 

As for the actual features themselves, they sound promising but 15 bosses? and that whole ''make a bonefire'' aspect could flat out ruin the game. Might not be getting the full story though so i'm optimistic.

Why shouldn't I? It is still a full AAA game that released, it still required just as much effort, if not more to create.

[ZeroXOF]

They have a B team?? Nonetheless this will probably be another un-inspired entry like DS2. Without Miyazaki doing what he does these games feel pretty bland.

Why shouldn't I? It is still a full AAA game that released, it still required just as much effort, if not more to create.

 

Yes or half of team will start early on it. That's subjective I liked Dark Souls 2 but I do admit that's the only one I've played.

[HaSoOoN-MHD]

They have a B team?? Nonetheless this will probably be another un-inspired entry like DS2. Without Miyazaki doing what he does these games feel pretty bland.

Why shouldn't I? It is still a full AAA game that released, it still required just as much effort, if not more to create.

Tbh Dark Souls II has the best PvP and mechanics when compared to its predecessors. It was constricted by time and the systems it was released on. 

 

Because Bloodborne is not a Souls game.

[Saltyie]

Because Bloodborne is not a Souls game.

Still using near enough the exact same mechanics but with an upgraded engine. It may as well be.

[HaSoOoN-MHD]

Still using near enough the exact same mechanics but with an upgraded engine. It may as well be.

A completely different pace, gameplay dynamic, approach to builds and equipment is not near the exact same mechanics. When I play BB and return to one of the Souls games I genuinely struggle for a bit with adjusting to different mechanics. It only shares the basics.

[Happy]

I'm all for more Souls, but i'm afraid pushing out sequels at such a rate will have the final product feeling uninspired. I'll definetly play it since i'm the worlds biggest Dark Souls fanboy, but i'm more worried than hyped unless they announce that Miyazaki's going to be involved again.

[Aoi Nagisa-chan]

can't wait to hear more about it