Is the game still buggy, or do I just suck?

[Northern Star]

This is not my first souls game; I put a lot of time into the first game before moving to this one. At first, I felt my difficulties in this title were simply because the combat in this game is very different from the first, such as being faster among other things.

But, because of this quicker combat, I have noticed several things that make this game seem like it still has several flaws, over a year after its release. I think that this game is fair in some situations, but a lot less fair in others.

Lock on: While I know it is not good to use it in some situations, I have a lot of problems getting it to work right when I need it to. It will randomly disconnect from whatever enemy I am locked on to, making me turn around and getting hit.

Backstabs: These have never really been 100% perfect in any of the games, but the flaws stand out most in this title, to me at least. My character will do the backstab animation, but will not connect with or do damage to whichever enemy I should / would have. While doing the animation, I am somehow able to still be hit.

Enemy weapons going through walls: I should not be hit by enemies through walls or pillars if my weapons can't do that. One wild example I have, is having been hit while at the bonfire in the Smouldering Lake by the balista.

Animations getting skipped: One of the enemies I have noticed with this problem are the beasts in Irithyll, those huge dog things that look like the Gaping Dragon from DS1. Sometimes, they will "wind up" for their charge attack, and other times it just instantly happens. I did notice something simliar with the Old Demon King, in which his weapon would instantly connect with the ground, doing damage. Other situations include some attacks that start with the same animation, but turn out to have different times required to dodge the attack.

I have had more problems with this Souls title than the other 2 combined. Once I got accustomed to the first game, I pretty much flew through it with only a couple small hiccups. I really want to enjoy this game, but a lot of the problems I have mentioned, plus some others, are making it pretty difficult to.

Suggestions? Ideas? Discussions? Agree / disagree? Just gonna tell me to git gud? Anyone with similar issues?

[Evilcheesewheel]

Unlike Dark Souls 1, backstabs are neither instantaneous nor gauranteed.

[Northern Star]

Oprindeligt skrevet af EvilCheeseWheel:

Unlike Dark Souls 1, backstabs are neither instantaneous nor gauranteed.

I have noticed that. They can be a little more complicated on some enemies to execute, but they should be more consistant. I'm not sure if the backstab thing I mentioned is a "feature" or a bug.

[Facu]

WEll without the 100% guaranted of the backstab there arent chain stabbers 2017 but in pvp sometimes it piss me off cuz i have the penis between the butt cheeks of the host/invader and the backstab dont happen...

[Northern Star]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Facu:

WEll without the 100% guaranted of the backstab there arent chain stabbers 2017 but in pvp sometimes it piss me off cuz i have the penis between the ass of the host/invader and the backstab dont happen...

Lol, nice metaphor. While the lack of a 100% backstab chance is good for balancing, I'm referring to going through with the animation of a backstab, but not actually doing one.

I think latency issues are probably the cause of PVP backstabs not really registering

[Loren]

DS1 is more slow. DS3 is faster. This is a matter of taste. DS3 is like Dark Souls with a dash of Bloodbourne. I actually prefer it.

DS1 PVP is an economy of backstabs. It turned me off. DS3 backstabs are far better. The animation you mention is a feature.

Lock on is not permanent in this game. It is a feature too.

Enemy weapons going through walls. We have this problem. It doesn't happen often.

Animations getting skipped. Never happened to me.

[Dorito]

I may have some answers for you.

Lock on: There is a lock-on range, and the lock-on will disconnect of the enemy either leaves your screen for too long, or if you get too far away. The range does vary per enemy.
(EDIT: Forgot to add that, as OP said, if an enemy moves around too wildly, say an enemy jumping behind you, than the lock on gets confused and disconnects.)

Backstabs: As EvilCheeseWheel said, backstabs are neither gauranteed nor instantaneous. I'm pretty sure that this is an intended feature.

Enemy weapons going through walls: This is a bug, although I've never seen this happan as badly as getting hit at the smouldering lake bonfire by the ballista.

Animations getting cancelled: This sounds like a problem with your computer specs.

Hope this helped!

[Northern Star]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Mostepicdorito:

I may have some answers for you.

Lock on: There is a lock-on range, and the lock-on will disconnect of the enemy either leaves your screen for too long, or if you get too far away. The range does vary per enemy.

Backstabs: As EvilCheeseWheel said, backstabs are neither gauranteed nor instantaneous. I'm pretty sure that this is an intended feature.

Enemy weapons going through walls: This is a bug, although I've never seen this happan as badly as getting hit at the smouldering lake bonfire by the ballista.

Animations getting cancelled: This sounds like a problem with your computer specs.

Hope this helped!

Lock on range does make sense, as DS1 had that as well. Though, if I am right under a boss enemy it will also disconnect, as if moving around under it confuses the lock on or something like that.

And yeah, the ballista was the most extreme example I had of it. I ran into the bonfire room, and got hit by the second or third bolt that is shot in the sequence.
Edit: Hitting through walls and pillars happens most when enemies have longer weapons

I'm not sure if my computer specs would really be the issue, as everything else on screen will be running fluently / 60fps, and I never really get fps drops unless traveling to a new area, and it's usually only for a second or two.

That does help though, thanks for the response!

[Loren]

Yea. Everything is feature except animations getting cancelled. You need to look into that one.

[Average Citizen (Not FBI)]

In terms of attacks going through walls, it's a matter of hitboxes, and you can do it to attack enemies, as well. It was present on both ends in previous Souls games, so there are no grounds to include it in a list of Dark Souls 3's failings compared to previous entries in the series.

[Northern Star]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Average Citizen (Not FBI):

In terms of attacks going through walls, it's a matter of hitboxes, and you can do it to attack enemies, as well. It was present on both ends in previous Souls games, so there are no grounds to include it in a list of Dark Souls 3's failings compared to previous entries in the series.

I haven't had luck doing it, it always bounces off for me

[Dorito]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Northern Star:

I haven't had luck doing it, it always bounces off for me

If you are standing right up at the wall, than it will bounce off. (Although, if you stand farther away and swing, than the weapon finishes it's animation dispite having made contact with a wall. This is especially prevalent with longer weapons, such as spears.)

[Hugh Mungus]

Also, be aware that DS3 is probably the one with the worst latency issues in whole series, at least from my experience. Hits will not connect when they should and will when they shouldn't.

There's dozens of videos on youtube showing examples of how this affects gameplay, that said the only one I recommend is DamnNoHtml's one where he duels a guy who has his computer right next to him in the same router. The hitboxes became perfect, backstabs flawless, parries precise, a whole different game...

[Northern Star]

Oprindeligt skrevet af LeoK3191:

Also, be aware that DS3 is probably the one with the worst latency issues in whole series, at least from my experience. Hits will not connect when they should and will when they shouldn't.

There's dozens of videos on youtube showing examples of how this affects gameplay, that said the only one I recommend is DamnNoHtml's one where he duels a guy who has his computer right next to him in the same router. The hitboxes became perfect, backstabs flawless, parries precise, a whole different game...

I think I saw the same video. I watched one earlier today where two people were dueling on LAN, and it was flawless

[Hugh Mungus]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Northern Star:

Oprindeligt skrevet af LeoK3191:

Also, be aware that DS3 is probably the one with the worst latency issues in whole series, at least from my experience. Hits will not connect when they should and will when they shouldn't.

There's dozens of videos on youtube showing examples of how this affects gameplay, that said the only one I recommend is DamnNoHtml's one where he duels a guy who has his computer right next to him in the same router. The hitboxes became perfect, backstabs flawless, parries precise, a whole different game...

I think I saw the same video. I watched one earlier today where two people were dueling on LAN, and it was flawless

Not only that, but without latency poise and HA become really important, since hitting an opponent without HA will always instantly stop his animation, while normally you frequently get hit as well because the game took too long to register your hit. Makes trading and HA way more viable.

[Chupa666cabrA]

Weird. For me it's exactly the other way around. Combat is the aspect that has been improved the most in DS3 imo. Especially the higher speed made me pick it up much faster. While in DS 1/2 i rarely landed any backstabs I pull them off consistently in DS3.

I found DS2 to be the most difficult. I had to restart the game several times to find the class that suited me best (which made quite a difference btw.). In DS3 I rushed through NewGame+++ with no real problems.