I am recommending this game but its the worst in the trilogy.
Good: Visual Design is the best of the 3 and that is inarguable. Between enemies, architecture and the world so much is conveyed to the player without anything but outright told. Narrative is amazing, it may be the finale of a trilogy but they didnt fumble the bag and all the setup, side stories, character stories are fantastic and a joy to sink your teeth into.
Bad: The RPG aspects are the worst in the series. Build Diversity is the worst in the series. The PvP is the worst in the series and of any souls-like I have ever seen. Worst "questlines" or "side quests" system of all the From Soft soulslikes and thats impressive considering none of them are good but DS3 took a bad system and made it worse. The gameplay is a total miss in my book and prioritizes the "action" over anything else. Limb flailing enemies with either big delayed swings or what feels like single digit frame attacks. All just to encourage roll slop gameplay. A sincere shame this game didnt learn from the past 2 games on these elements. DS2 had the best PvP in a souls-like ever. DS2 and 1 had amazing RPG elements that made every playthrough feel unique and impactful. DS2 and 1 both offered different iterations of souls combat that could have been blended together in DS3s very smooth and refined movement to make gameplay that was insanely rewarding and fair but instead threw the baby out with the bathwater to make a knock off Bloodborne style gameplay with none of the fun parts of that ecosystem.
All in all, its certainly worth a playthrough or 2 to get to experience the various strengths it has(especially the aforementioned visual design and stories) but beyond that this game just feels like a worse ER in all forms whereas DS1 and 2 still stand on their own 2 feet to this day with unique and engaging offerings.
All Achievements: Genuine sinister intention put into this games all achievements. DS1 was actually quite nice, DS2 wasnt bad but a bit "checklisty" imo and didnt feel as intuitive to gameplay as DS1. DS3 is the biggest piece of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in this regard. Unfathomable levels of cringe between covenant item farming and NPC quests. I would 100% DS1+2 5 times over again before doing 3 again. At least those games were fun to partake in so ticking the boxes werent bad but DS3 is a game that ages terribly with time then they have you hyperfixated on its worst aspects to 100% the game. Terrible call on behalf of the devs.
