Dark Soul 3 is a flawed experience, full of contradictions, this game tries to embody a concept FromSoftware seems to not grasp, doing so, Dark Soul 3 ends up being deceiving, self convinced to be a difficult game, the reality is a bit more complex.
Starting with the good points, the level design is actually quite decent, procuring a nice feeling of adventure / exploration, despite being linear at times. The heavy oppressive atmosphere is well executed, even brighter areas to some extent, manage to capture the same feeling. Not only Boreal Valley is probably the best scenery in this game, but its introduction was cleverly thought too, after nasty swamps, dark catacombs and whatnot, the transition to Boreal Valley is even more impactful. Sadly, this is where praises end.
The supposed difficulty would come from combats, however, the vast majority of them can be ignored, the player can simply run pass by and refuse to fight. As for the mandatory fights, the rolling system is so overpowered it simply eradicates any notion of challenge. The process used to determine the number of iframe for a roll is hilariously complex for no reason, it features systems that are never explained. But it doesn't matter, by the time players realize weigh ratio impacts rolls and fatroll is a thing, they might have finished the game already, as the number of iframes is insane, in most cases between 12 and 13 iframes per roll, not only that but rolling doesn't even cost much stamina wise.
Most bosses are easily exploitable, in many ways possible, some are large enough so players can stay right under the boss and avoid many patterns this way, some bosses encourage players to stay close to them, with slow animations coupled with small cleaves hitboxes, it makes pole dancing around bosses way too easy, leading to eventual backstabbing. Bosses' patterns, rarely require more than 3 consecutive rolls at best and the move list for each boss is also quite poor, which makes for defense a very shallow challenge in terms of execution and knowledge check. Once the different patterns are learned, bosses oppose no resistances.
But in case someone struggles, it is not a problem with the existence of bonfires. Indeed, the very concept of bonfires respawning enemies also goes against the concept of difficulty.
What a so claimed difficult game should never do, is allow a struggling player to pass through a difficult spike, not by becoming better at the game, but simply by farming and having a better character. Sadly, this is exactly what offer bonfires in Dark Soul 3, because the amount of xp is not limited, it is very easy to farm in order to level up a character. Sure, it would take more time to do so, some people would say it's borderline cheating, but do not blame the player, blame the developers, it is nothing but bad game design choice, at least in the context of a difficult game.
Also, in the name of "difficulty" they end up taking questionable choices.
The idea of not holding players hand is great, most PVE games tend to backseat players to the point it becomes insulting, Dark Soul 3 isn't one of those games, so on paper it is a great point, however, its execution leaves a lot to be desired. I would say, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but when you take in consideration that combats are easy which is the core of the game really, well the absence of maps, the sometime unclear instructions, and everything else along those lines seems trivial and unnecessary. Post scriptum, I know PVP does exist in DS3, but it's not that important and the game was not designed with PVP in mind, or at least I hope so, considering how mediocre all multiplayer aspect are.
For what is worth, currently, according to steam more than 25% of the players reached the first flame ending, which is the normal ending I believe, I'm not sure about the other ones I honestly didn't bother, reaching the first ending was already a boring experience. Despite being the most common ending, 25% seems like a very high percentage, more than what it should be for a so claimed difficult game.
In conclusion, Dark Soul 3 is a sheep in wolf's clothing, a failure due to FromSoftware not understanding basic principles of what make difficult games difficult. Overpowered rolling mechanic, APM not even worth mentioning, possibility to bypass any difficulty spike by farming levels, underwhelming bosses that can be easily exploited. Obviously, selling this game as a difficult one, is also a marketing strategy, to what extent FromSoftware really believe that Dark Soul 3 is difficult doesn't really matter, the bottom line remains the same, it's just a lie.
Starting with the good points, the level design is actually quite decent, procuring a nice feeling of adventure / exploration, despite being linear at times. The heavy oppressive atmosphere is well executed, even brighter areas to some extent, manage to capture the same feeling. Not only Boreal Valley is probably the best scenery in this game, but its introduction was cleverly thought too, after nasty swamps, dark catacombs and whatnot, the transition to Boreal Valley is even more impactful. Sadly, this is where praises end.
The supposed difficulty would come from combats, however, the vast majority of them can be ignored, the player can simply run pass by and refuse to fight. As for the mandatory fights, the rolling system is so overpowered it simply eradicates any notion of challenge. The process used to determine the number of iframe for a roll is hilariously complex for no reason, it features systems that are never explained. But it doesn't matter, by the time players realize weigh ratio impacts rolls and fatroll is a thing, they might have finished the game already, as the number of iframes is insane, in most cases between 12 and 13 iframes per roll, not only that but rolling doesn't even cost much stamina wise.
Most bosses are easily exploitable, in many ways possible, some are large enough so players can stay right under the boss and avoid many patterns this way, some bosses encourage players to stay close to them, with slow animations coupled with small cleaves hitboxes, it makes pole dancing around bosses way too easy, leading to eventual backstabbing. Bosses' patterns, rarely require more than 3 consecutive rolls at best and the move list for each boss is also quite poor, which makes for defense a very shallow challenge in terms of execution and knowledge check. Once the different patterns are learned, bosses oppose no resistances.
But in case someone struggles, it is not a problem with the existence of bonfires. Indeed, the very concept of bonfires respawning enemies also goes against the concept of difficulty.
What a so claimed difficult game should never do, is allow a struggling player to pass through a difficult spike, not by becoming better at the game, but simply by farming and having a better character. Sadly, this is exactly what offer bonfires in Dark Soul 3, because the amount of xp is not limited, it is very easy to farm in order to level up a character. Sure, it would take more time to do so, some people would say it's borderline cheating, but do not blame the player, blame the developers, it is nothing but bad game design choice, at least in the context of a difficult game.
Also, in the name of "difficulty" they end up taking questionable choices.
The idea of not holding players hand is great, most PVE games tend to backseat players to the point it becomes insulting, Dark Soul 3 isn't one of those games, so on paper it is a great point, however, its execution leaves a lot to be desired. I would say, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but when you take in consideration that combats are easy which is the core of the game really, well the absence of maps, the sometime unclear instructions, and everything else along those lines seems trivial and unnecessary. Post scriptum, I know PVP does exist in DS3, but it's not that important and the game was not designed with PVP in mind, or at least I hope so, considering how mediocre all multiplayer aspect are.
For what is worth, currently, according to steam more than 25% of the players reached the first flame ending, which is the normal ending I believe, I'm not sure about the other ones I honestly didn't bother, reaching the first ending was already a boring experience. Despite being the most common ending, 25% seems like a very high percentage, more than what it should be for a so claimed difficult game.
In conclusion, Dark Soul 3 is a sheep in wolf's clothing, a failure due to FromSoftware not understanding basic principles of what make difficult games difficult. Overpowered rolling mechanic, APM not even worth mentioning, possibility to bypass any difficulty spike by farming levels, underwhelming bosses that can be easily exploited. Obviously, selling this game as a difficult one, is also a marketing strategy, to what extent FromSoftware really believe that Dark Soul 3 is difficult doesn't really matter, the bottom line remains the same, it's just a lie.