christian portrey

6/10 I love FromSoft, I love their Soulsborne titles. I own Dark Souls 1, 2, 3, and Bloodborne, and 2 and 3 I have on both PS4 and PC. However, to date, this is one of the worst experiences I’ve had with one of their games. I will go ahead and list my Pros first, and then the Cons. Pros: Brilliant worldbuilding and lore, as expected from a FromSoft game. The world is interesting, and different enough from their previous titles that it stands out. The storytelling and interactions with NPCs are a step above previous titles. Graphics, this game looks amazing and it’s always exciting to move into a new area and see what it’s like there. It’s an awesome experience to be able to see the back drops that in previous games you could not reach, and know that you can go there. Weapon Arts, Sorceries, and Incantations: they clearly put a lot of effort into the skills you can acquire and use in this game. They are visually stunning, interesting, and the new Weapon Art system (Ashes of War) lets you customize your fighting style. I do have something regarding Ashes of War in my Cons, but aside from that, I appreciate how well they filled out sorceries and incantations as well, and the new Frenzy debuff and Bleed options are engaging for me. Gathering and Crafting has made the game a lot smoother as well. Rather than farming an item or spending currency to get it, your efforts in the world are more directly rewarded, and how you want them to be. If you want arrows you can make them, firebombs, throwing knives, you have so many options. Cons: The game is actually pretty prone to crashes and disconnects. In addition there is a general underlying bugginess. I’ve crashed several times playing, and I have a friend I bought the game to play with who is unable to remain connected with me or our other friends. He has essentially had to play solo. Beyond that, another friend of mine has had the resource spawns bug out in a dungeon, and make it so he was unable to claim any of the upgrade materials inside, several somber smithing stones. I had a similar issue with the Ghost Graveworts. Upon re-entering the dungeon instance where I was unable to grab them, they all became the Violets. I was out several limited upgrade materials for seemingly no reason. Lack of Creativity, in other words the dungeons and dungeon bosses in this game are a bunch of re-used pieces. Get used to fighting the same boss over and over again, mostly just in greater numbers. Get used to the same dungeon enemies, and the same traps being thrown at you again and again. This actually wouldn’t be so bad if not for the following point, as I really enjoyed the chalice dungeons found in Bloodborne. Enemy movesets feel bland, uninspired, and repetitive. While common enemies have always been mildly repetitive, I have the feeling this game is the worst yet. From dogs that leap on you and then stay right in front of you and bite repeatedly, to bosses whose entire moveset is just jumping up and down at you. It feels like less skill is required, and more cheesing the enemy by denying them the one thing they’re good at. PVP: They absolutely ruined PVP in this game, to an extent that it’s almost disgusting and beyond surprising for FromSoft. Previously PVP was a more balanced exercise where the ability to invade was based on the state of the host player. Now you can only invade when the host already has a phantom ally. This means every time you invade you will be outnumbered two to one, if not worse. PVP was the biggest draw for me, and the current state of it is the primary reason for my rating.