Read on Twitter
Dark Souls 3 is by far the best game in the series in terms of the mechanics, systems and gameplay, which is why it's all the more galling that it's by far the shallowest narratively and thematically
Dark Souls 2 explores a lot of really new and interesting narrative territory compared to the first game, but 3 is really just a massive regurgitation of 1, but you also get repeatedly slammed over the head with the "message", and that's not a good thing
I like that in Dark Souls 1, the idea that the cycle of fire-linking is bad is something players largely have to figure out by themselves. If you play the game normally, you probably won't encounter anyone telling you that letting the Age of Fire die is even a possibility
Meanwhile Dark Souls 3 is the same story, but you get repeatedly beaten over the head with how rotten the world is, how futile the cycle is, how pointless linking the fire will be. That's kind of cool, sometimes, but it's also the completely opposite of DS1's subtle storytelling
It means there isn't really anything left to think about, because that *is* just the whole message of Dark Souls 3. And that's so frustrating because the bones of a deeper narrative are totally there!
The game's introduction foregrounds Lothric as a key figure - a person who was meant to link the fire, but chose not to. So right away, we're thinking about rejection of the fire as an option
The game's first area is the High Wall of Lothric, where we get some context on what kind of place this is and what's happening here, which we can use to start thinking about why Prince Lothric might have made that choice
And then the game is just like... OK, you're gonna go on a road trip to Anor Londo and high-five all the cool kids from Dark Souls 1. Do we have anything to say about that stuff? No
A really huge portion of the game's areas revolve around Aldrich, Pontiff Sulyvahn, and the Church of the Deep, but despite being cool those things have very little to speak to, thematically. You only return to Lothric at the very end of the game
I really wish the game had taken advantage of its setup to go beyond Dark Souls 1 and really interrogate the idea of choosing not to link the fire, because that actually *isn't* very thoroughly explored in the other games
There's so much about that to explore. Is the uncertainty of the Age of Dark worth embracing? Is it better to cling to the good things we have left from the Age of Fire, despite the rot? Who are you to make that choice for the entire world?
Why are you making that choice? Out of spite? Out of faith in the dark? Or are you simply trying to rule the Dark, as the Lord of Hollows? Is that better or worse than the disarray the gods have left for everyone?
There are all little seeds planted in the game. Lothric's choice not to link the fire seems prescient and correct in some ways, but in others it's framed as seflish. He's not trying to usher in the Age of Dark so much as he is hiding in his castle and leaving the world to die
That's really interesting!! But the game doesn't both to explore this stuff. I don't think it would be too hard... it just needed a touch more subtlety, along with more areas and characters that inform these themes and questions in interesting ways
That's how Dark Souls 2 did it, and it was really good. Areas like the Earthen Peak and the Iron Keep have little to do with Drangleic and King Vendrick on the face of it, but thematically they're places where the ambitions and obsessions of royalty brought a kingdom to ruin
They don't *tell* you the message of the game, but they encourage you to think about it and give you things to think about because they are thematically resonant and consonant with the game's core story
I want Dark Souls 3 to be like that so badly, but it isn't, beacuse it just kind of wants you to look at Anor Londo and Siegward and go 'oh, sweet, just like the first game'. And there's not really a whole lot more than that going on
Great game. Amazing game. I'm having a ton of fun replaying it. But also. aaaaa. Frustrating how much wasted potential there is here
