Dark Souls III is here! You know, this the first in the series that feels a bit easy to begin with (and deliberately so), but make no mistake; easy in a Dark Souls game is still tougher than a month old Big Mac. Newcomers are still going to sit wide-eyed, loudly declaring ‘blimey!’ or something less polite as a lowly husk with a dagger stabs them to death in seconds. So, let PSU ease you into the Dark Souls III experience with a few tips to get you started.
Your Basic Objective
In Dark Souls III, you progress by finding bonfires and levelling-up. Bonfires act as the game’s checkpoints. You are returned there when you die, and these are the points from which you able to fast-travel to and from.
To find the next bonfire, you generally have to figure out what to do and where to go within an area. Each area in Dark Souls III essentially acts as a giant puzzle to be solved; a puzzle filled with traps, unspeakable horrors and deliciously dark discoveries. Oh, and you have to kill a lot of monsters whilst not dying too much yourself.
The way to some bonfires are blocked by boss fights, and these are no ordinary boss fights. Often intimidating, almost always thrilling, and acting almost as a mark of your progress as a player. These are generally far tougher tests than the rest of the game, though there are some notable exceptions, but that’s a way off yet so don’t worry about it!
Collecting and Spending Your Souls
As in the previous Souls games, you buy everything with the nourishing Souls found around the place by killing enemies, or by finding one of many ‘essences’ lying about the place and converting them into more Souls.
Souls are used for levelling your Ashen One (character), but they are also used to buy items and weaponry from merchants, as well as in upgrading your weapons at the blacksmith. That means you need to carefully consider which aspects of your character you wish to bolster, particularly after taking down a boss.
The costs of levelling doesn’t change depending on the stat you pick, either, only the level you’re currently at (the price increases with each level). This too makes choosing the stat to upgrade tricky. You’re effectively stuck with what you’ve picked once you’ve picked it.
Also to take into account is that you lose any souls you’re carrying should you perish, though you still retain all your items. When you die, your Souls are left roughly where you were at the point of death. Upon restarting at your last bonfire, you can go and pick them up. But if you die again before reaching them then that’s all folks, they’re lost forever. If you’re having trouble dealing with an area, you can just try milking it for Souls in the early hours of the game in order to get your stats up, but be warned, as it’s not the most enjoyable way to play Dark Souls III, even if you do learn a bit about enemy patterns in the process.
The best advice for anyone trying this approach? Use this time wisely to improve your fighting skills and you’ll not have to rely so much on the grind for stats.
Where to Spend Souls
The first place you get to buy and sell items, refine weapons and level up is at Firelink Shrine, an area that serves as a hub going forward, and is also a safe zone. This is found immediately after the opening boss battle.
Once you arrive in Firelink Shrine, you can talk to three separate characters here that perform trading, smithing and levelling. In the centre, the female character deals with levelling, sitting in a corridor just beyond this is your source for trade, and at the end of that corridor you’ll find the smith. You can return here from any bonfire to cash in your Souls at these vendors.
Class Choices, Offense and Defense
Nothing new for the series, but there are lots of ways to play Dark Souls III. Your choice of character class is important, and you may have to experiment with a few different ones to nail the style that’s right for you. Some favour ranged attacks like projectiles, others are a little more up close and personal. Combat is less methodical than in previous Souls games, but patience is still very much a golden virtue. If you want an easier time of it, the Pyromancer class is probably the best option for beginners thanks to a decent starting weapon and the ability to throw fireballs from range.
Otherwise, a trusty shield and the good ol’ dodge roll are consistent lifesavers. Just make sure the situation calls for it. Shields block attacks and set up parries, but they don’t apply to every enemy, and you will lose a small amount of health at the very least. You can also be stunned this way by certain enemy types. The dodge roll is great for close combat avoidance, but it puts a drain on your stamina bar, which also serves as your attack power, so being clinical with it is vital.
Weapon Skills
One of the bigger changes to combat in Dark Souls III is the “weapon skills.” These special powerful attacks drain the same bar used in casting spells.
By holding down the left trigger, your character enters an alternate ‘stance’ that lets you perform the secondary attacks. Though it might seem like each secondary attack set is a class-based thing, the weapons alone are the source of the ‘skills’ attack you get to use. This means you don’t have to play as a thief with daggers, nor a brutish Knight with heavy weaponry. It’s a little more freeing than previous games, and one of the best changes to the established formula.
Patience and Concentration
Dark Souls III is hard, but it is so in a very fair way. That won’t prevent some acute frustration from time to time of course, so patience is key, and concentration essential.
The main worry for a newcomer to Dark Souls is the overwhelming feeling that you can’t beat it. There will always be an area you get stuck on to the point of despair, but fear not; Dark Souls III is filled with ways to alleviate that stressful feeling and help rebuild confidence. Exploring every nook and cranny and going in every possible direction are just some of the ways to not only discover more about Lothric, but provide great therapy and tuition for the tougher parts. The more you familiarise yourself with the patterns of enemy types early on, the more it’ll become engrained in you to study the patterns of all enemies, including bosses.
A keen eye can find shortcuts quicker, easier ways to dispatch with troublesome foes, and secrets that aid your journey. In short, breathe in the game world, and breathe it deep. It helps with focusing on the challenge at hand, and is a huge part of what makes Dark Souls so enthralling.
Don’t Be Afraid to Look For Help
If all else fails, there are plenty of strategies out there in the wild. On YouTube, in guides, and through communities. You’ll also be able to summon others in to help with trickier battles, and the message system provides helpful (and cruelly unhelpful) hints about upcoming dangers and secrets. Yes, there are some very elitist snobs in the Souls community, but there are far more helpful types out there. Whatever the advertising, or internet commenters may have had you believe, Souls games are some of the most accessible titles around—they just don’t hold your hand. Just remember: the challenge is only a part of what makes these games so special.