Finished the game in 20 hours. There's still the area after
Consumed King's Garden left, though. And the final boss at Archdragon Peak.
Shortest game in the series, I feel. Or about the same as Demon's if you know what you're doing. Kinda glad it didn't overstay its welcome though.
The ending
I went ahead and linked the flame anyway, really stopped caring about the lore after DkS1. Final bossfight was okay, the music during the second part of the fight was nice, and the battle arena was absolutely gorgeous.
I was kinda expecting to fight Solaire or Gwyn or someone else from DkS1 considering how much the game referenced the first one. Glad that didn't happen though.
The boss armor was really awesome but now that I've bought it, it looks fucking terrible. Looks like a beggar or something.
Aside from a couple of bosses, none of them really stand out. Although, I checked out the
Archdragon Peak boss for a sec (he killed me in a few moments) but that seems like one hell of a bossfight.
I found the game to be pretty easy, but that could be cuz I was getting used to DkS2 bullshit mobs and unnecessary difficulty. Only a couple of bosses gave me trouble, the rest of the game was a piece of cake.
The artstyle is breathtaking, with some of the best looking areas I've seen in a Souls game, but also a couple of the worst looking areas ever
Road of Sacrifices and
Farron's Keep. I hated them so much.
Hardly any NPCs to be seen, thanks to the linear as fuck quests, having to do them in a specific order. Only met a couple of NPCs a few times, the rest of my journey was solitary aside from the NPCs in the Shrine.
The shrine music was nice, and a couple of boss tracks were too.
I felt like the game relied on DkS1 too much. Throwing the Firelink Shrine (although it seems like it could be a different place from the one in DkS1) at you right at the very beginning, then the references, and
Anor Londo (while admittedly a neat surprise), took away from what could have been an awesome moment when you reach Kiln of the First Flame. I ended up expecting it.
Lots of DeS references as well like
the Firekeeper being similar to the Maiden in Black, Firelink being similar to the layout of the Nexus, the Storm Ruler during the Yhorm fight, and the two dragons.
The level design was decent with shortcuts and stuff etc. The world was pretty linear though, and it wasn't very memorable.
One thing I loved about this: the awesome ember glow on your armor. Looks fantastic.
Overall, the game was a lot better than the shitfest that was DkS2. Well, anything would be better than DkS2. I enjoyed my time with DkS3 but it doesn't come close to the greatness of DeS and DkS1. I don't think it brings anything new to the table, and I'm glad they're laying this series to rest.