Dark Souls 3 GOTY 2016 confirmed.

Aldia's is universally regarded as one of the WORST areas of the game. Claiming its a highlight is embarrassingly gross. If by 'interaction' you mean putting in a stone to light the area, consider me unimpressed. Its just a straight line.

If you have to use the finding of an 'item' in an area as a highlight then it tells me its probably a pretty shit area (item locations don't give an area great level design). All they did was change the aggro AI of the dragon bros so they don't attack until attacked. OMG SO INNOVATIVE.

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Then fans must be idiots then. Simply put, Aldia's Keep does not play to series norms. It is a very unique level in the series to where its only as hard as you make it. You can rush through it if you want, following a straight line, that's your choice. Or you can explore and face more dangers such as mirror knights as well as you can release every monster in the area. On DX11, its also where you can fight Forlorn for the key to the side path.

No, they changed the AI to where the Shrine is about duels, like the covenant it represents. Its a smart change to make the level in stronger connection with the lore.

And if you think DS2 is linear, progression wise, DS3 is the most linear Dark Souls game. That game is going to make a lot of hypocrites out of those who bash DS2, but praise Miyazaki as Jesus.

i actually agree with him.....same recycled animations, slow unrealistic combat, shit graphics. I want another dev team to take over the series and give it a reboot.

You want them to use different animations for every weapon in every Souls game? You do know that there's a shitton of weapons in each game? How do you want to change the animations for ~50 weapons per game? Unrealistic combat... they have the best combat system of any third person action game (especially BB) and its slow and unrealistic for you? lol okay. I agree about shit graphics but the art style and atmosphere saves them in every entry. I do want to see a progress in visuals but since even their current graphics are barely running at 30fps, anything over would be too much for consoles.

This game has even mob using a tentacle attack, and with a purple phantom on their side it shattered a soul of a western famous stream player being blue phantom. It cause him trauma not become a blue invader hence the monotone voice he speak of.

It's pretty funny that he can't overcome a simply test like his teammate refuse using golden xbox controller. Lol.

I beat the game (JP PS4 version). I don't think it's going to be my GOTY but it was still amazing. Probably tied with Bloodborne for my favorite Souls style game.

The game actually gets better as you progress, I'd say it's the most consistent game in the series. Dark Souls still has the best start but gets pretty lame after O&S, which is why I put both Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 ahead of it.

I'll see how I feel about the game further down the line since I'll be playing it much longer and I'll double dip on the US version. Plan on doing a bow build for that. Played as a standard knight in my first playthrough.

@kratosyoloswag: please tell us more, how's the world like? How's the interconnectivity?

@kratosyoloswag: Cool, where do you think it sits in size compared to DS2 f.e?

It's not Dark Souls level interconnectivity. It's not like Firelink Shrine where the whole world is connected together from that spot and you can't skip a lot of things in beginning of the game, like going straight to Blighttown.

It's closer to Bloodborne in that sense. You have your main hub (which is huge) separated from most things in the world and you have to warp to areas. The beginning of the game is pretty linear but eventually opens up.

The world itself is amazing. Much bigger than Dark Souls and Bloodborne with a variety of locations. The level design is top notch, the areas themselves are huge and interconnected with tons of branching pathways, illusory walls, hidden areas and bosses. I'm pretty sure I missed at least one huge area on my first playthrough. Some areas are just gigantic, unlike in any other Souls game, where it's really easy to get lost, and it doesn't help that I'm playing in Japanese.

@howmakewood: The game was longer than Dark Souls and Bloodborne but shorter than Dark Souls 2 so I don't think it's the biggest but I'd say it's the most dense Souls game. Individual areas are bigger and more complex than anything in Dark Souls 2 though.

@kratosyoloswag: gah, oh well. The lack of interconnectivity sucks, but if the level designs are good, then I'm happy. One more thing, how's the general sense of exploration?

I'd put it above every other Souls game in terms of exploration. There's so much to the world, and you have to go out of your way to find certain areas. I've gotten lost in this more than any other Souls game. I took my time with the game but it still feels like I only scratched the surface, but it doesn't help that I don't read Japanese.

Not with that 8 it aint getting goty

LITERALLY fanservice: the video game

im glad this series is finally going away with this one, these games get way too many free passes...

good on gamespot for giving it an 8

Durante's(the guy who made dsfix or ds1 etc) PC port analysis:

http://www.pcgamer.com/durantes-dark-souls-3-port-analysis/

too lazy to to write tldr