"Dark Souls III" was recently previewed during the Bandai Namco's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2015 conference with the original game director presenting the game demo. Several key aspects of the previous games in the franchise were adapted while new ones were added to differentiate the upcoming game.
FromSoftware Inc., game developer of the highly-rated "Souls" game series, has been prompt with their game releases. "Dark Souls II" was initially released for personal computer (PC) last March 2014. A year later, in March of 2015, it was ported to console platforms (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, and PS4). Later in the same month, "Bloodborne" had its multiplatform release.
Less than three months after, during the E3 2015 event that was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, "Souls" series publisher Bandai Namco held a demonstration for "Dark Souls III," which was presented by Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Note that Miyazaki was the game director for "Demon's Souls," "Dark Souls," and "Bloodborne." He opted to have a supervising role for "Dark Souls II" due to the overlapping schedule with the development for "Bloodborne." This is why it comes as no surprise that "Dark Souls III" will have similarities with "Bloodborne." However, the game director pointed out that "Dark Souls III" will be sticking to the game franchise's key fundamentals, which are accomplishment through overcoming difficulty, unique online features, and combat.
Speaking of combat, Steve of the TerraMantis Youtube channel was present for the game demo at E3. Through a video, he shared his thoughts on the similarities and differences of "Dark Souls III's" combat system from that of the previous games in the series. He said, "For the most part, the fundamentals of 'Dark Souls III' combat looks very much the same as previous 'Dark Souls' installments — meaning weighted, concise."
However, Steve also pointed out some big changes, which were also highlighted by Miyazaki during his presentation. The most significant was the new aspect of combat for various weapons. "One specifically discussed was the 'ready stance' for the straight sword. From the 'ready stance' the sword can perform unique attacks. Additionally, from the four weapons shown — from my understanding, they'll all be able to be held in an alternate fighting stance. Dual-scimitars for example could be held in a mode called 'circle'," the youtuber explained. "The great sword could enter a stance called "lunge," allowing you to perform powerful strikes and guard breaks," he further elaborated.
Steve concludes that the "Dark Souls III's" fighting arts and stance swapping answered "Bloodborne's" weapon diversity, which is done through weapon transformations. He also noted that the animation fluidity during combat is similar to "Dark Souls II" but the mechanics are very similar to "Dark Souls."
