Combat is Too Spammy?

[Sichimus]

It is so painful to come back to this after playing ds1 and ds2 exclusively for a year... every time I back away I try and learn the enemies attack patterns, just for me to end up realizing the only effective maneuver is hit r1 before they start to swing. I can't say it is incredibly challenging, just really annoying when you realize the game winds up being hit the swing button before they are within range, just as they are closing in. Otherwise the enemies might go on a massively large hit combo, breaking your shield guard or draining all of your stamina with rolls, even with the pitiful stamina deduction for rolls. Unless the enemy you are fighting is from Ds1 and has unbreakable or extremely high poise, in which case you have to actually play according to their moves. Does anyone notice this, or have a counterargument as to why it is good? And why is the pvp considered good when the lag is worse than ds1 or 2?
Also, no rose-tinted glasses argument because my first souls game I bought and beat was 3, before moving on to 1 and 2.
What do you think the best part of the game is? For me=
Ds1 = Best PvE and environments but not nearly as good after Anor Londo, and the PvP is manageable (for me atleast) as long as you don't try it in the township.
Ds2 = Best PvP but ♥♥♥♥ environments and got boring after a few playthroughs, not to mention how the dlc gives a neurotic 50% bonus resistance to ranged magic, but not bows, before resistances, making basic mobs take 8 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ soul spears. Actually in general the PvE sucks ass, but workable poise and good heavy weapons can make it fun sometimes
Ds3 = ??? Conclusion, maybe? The bosses are pretty fun, but combat in general vs mobs feels awful. Hopefully the game will feel better as I play, because my first run a long time was really fun.

[luminaxar]

DS3 is about spacing and timing, the game will punish you if you start to play too carefully. It's a good load faster than the two previous games as well.

[Sichimus]

Originally posted by Michalski:

DS3 is about spacing and timing, the game will punish you if you start to play too carefully. It's a good load faster than the two previous games as well.

It seems only based on timing in the sense that you have to attack before they do, not in the sense that they have weaknesses in their moveset. The spacing being the name of the game can make pvp a drag because of how you have to roll when your enemy attacks no matter what because of how hit or miss you'll take damage even if you clearly didn't get hit on your screen. Ds1 and 2 definitely did not seem to suffer from this, and I wonder if it is because I keep getting matched with high latency players or it is another issue altogether.

[Taco Cat]

Spacing, timing, positioning, and build effectiveness all come into play. The game is more diverse than people realize, just take the time to appreciate what is there.

[luminaxar]

DS2 and DS1 the most have a ton more lag issues than this game, alongside other stuff.

I can't relate with your DS3 PvE issue at all, I'm sorry. At the moment I'm earning myself a twink, my char is at SL14 +1 and I'm about to deal with the Abyss Watchers. So far I've died only once - while grabbing certain items from the first DLC.

When doing the Cathedral of the deep, not exclusively at this SL, there is no interupting the cathedral knights' attacks with any weapon that's not an ultra. You either hit and run (roll), backstab them over, parry and riposte (mace guy) break their guard and riposte (mace guy). Any newer player I've talked to I told that blocking is the worst you can do in this game. Any enemy that's not a hollow soldier or comparable will just whipe the floor with you. Also the game punishes you for being a p*ssy - it will just become worse if you try to turtle or run away.


DS3 is faster paced and a ton more action than the previous titles, just adapt to it and be more offensive. There is patterns to learn and measures to counter them. Lothric Knights? Easy peasy parry and riposte oneshot, straight from the start (for example).

[Sichimus]

Originally posted by Michalski:

DS2 and DS1 the most have a ton more lag issues than this game, alongside other stuff.

I can't relate with your DS3 PvE issue at all, I'm sorry. At the moment I'm earning myself a twink, my char is at SL14 +1 and I'm about to deal with the Abyss Watchers. So far I've died only once - while grabbing certain items from the first DLC.

When doing the Cathedral of the deep, not exclusively at this SL, there is no interupting the cathedral knights' attacks with any weapon that's not an ultra. You either hit and run (roll), backstab them over, parry and riposte (mace guy) break their guard and riposte (mace guy). Any newer player I've talked to I told that blocking is the worst you can do in this game. Any enemy that's not a hollow soldier or comparable will just whipe the floor with you. Also the game punishes you for being a p*ssy - it will just become worse if you try to turtle or run away.


DS3 is faster paced and a ton more action than the previous titles, just adapt to it and be more offensive. There is patterns to learn and measures to counter them. Lothric Knights? Easy peasy parry and riposte oneshot, straight from the start (for example).

Like I said I don't have real trouble with it because I have beaten it as my first souls game, but it just feels so bland and uninspiring. You literally just stunlock to death enemies with no poise before they stunlock you, and enemies with poise can be alright to fight but are mostly also annoying because miyazaki refused to turn the poise enabled from a 0 to a 1 for the player. Not that poise makes the game incredibly deep by any means, if you had poise the pve would probably just be hilariously sad because of how you can stunlock everything to death and ignore damage. I always enjoy learning movesets and learning when to attack, but when the best time to attack is before they do anything at all, and you continue doing so until they die, there just really is nothing to it. I just can't find any depth to R1R1R1R1R1R1R1 *enemy death scream*. Arguably the most "in depth" enemies in Ds3 end up being the ones with a lot of poise, because you have to do something different than mash r1 until they die. Despite dark souls 1 becoming really easy once you learn the movesets, it still provides the best feeling of progress and satisfaction. You straight up learn to outplay enemies, and with shield deflection being in the game, and enemies being cleverly placed, you really can't just spam attack as a new player and expect to win. Dark souls 3 ends up feeling like a far more heavily focused game on your stats.
Also, I don't know what you are talking about as far as multiplayer goes. I've never had a solidly connected match in Ds3, but it is extremely rare for me to get hit by something I seemingly shouldn't have in Ds1/Ds2.

[Tyler McRae]

Any well-practiced player can counter r1 spammers. Every single fast weapon can be parried if someone spams it too much, and every slow weapon is either parriable as well, or, you can easily roll and smack someone with a fast weapon (Or roll-backstab) the unparryable ones. SPamming does not win duels unless A: you allow it, B: You aren't PvPer, or C: Lag plays a factor. Lag can make anybody lose, sadly.

Plus, as a previous post said, everything is about timing. Using differently-timed heavy attacks, or swap between heavy and light attacks, or add weapon-artes into the mix. Swap weapons during combat to throw enemies' timings off, or swap between one-and-two handed. In this game, a good way to beat players who know the ins and outs of mechanics is to trick them. Play mind-games, swap out your attacks, do not fall into patterns that can be read. That's how combat works. For the spammy boys... just spam back, or learn the parry-windows for their weapons.

[Sichimus]

Originally posted by Tyler McRae:

Any well-practiced player can counter r1 spammers. Every single fast weapon can be parried if someone spams it too much, and every slow weapon is either parriable as well, or, you can easily roll and smack someone with a fast weapon (Or roll-backstab) the unparryable ones. SPamming does not win duels unless A: you allow it, B: You aren't PvPer, or C: Lag plays a factor. Lag can make anybody lose, sadly.

Plus, as a previous post said, everything is about timing. Using differently-timed heavy attacks, or swap between heavy and light attacks, or add weapon-artes into the mix. Swap weapons during combat to throw enemies' timings off, or swap between one-and-two handed. In this game, a good way to beat players who know the ins and outs of mechanics is to trick them. Play mind-games, swap out your attacks, do not fall into patterns that can be read. That's how combat works. For the spammy boys... just spam back, or learn the parry-windows for their weapons.

Thanks for the advice, but the pvp just doesn't quite suit my tastes so outside of getting my 10 shackles ill probably be avoiding it. My points pretty much exclusively focus on the PvE content

[Tim]

*peeks at profile*
>over 200 hours
ah b8

[Sichimus]

Originally posted by Tim:

*peeks at profile*
>over 200 hours
ah b8

I used to play this a LOT.. then I spent a few years on Ds1 and 2.