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Learning from past experiences
From Software's Souls games and Bloodborne have an amazingly intuitive, challenging gameplay formula, fascinating worlds to explore, and brutal enemy encounters to overcome. From Demon's Souls to the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne, each of From's action RPGs is built around the same, challenging philosophies while managing to feel fresh by adding new features and tweaks here and there (for better or for worse). Now Dark Souls 3 is on the way, and there are a few things the next game should learn from the previous entries.
Bring in some of Bloodborne's combat mechanics
Bloodborne has taught me something important about the Souls game formula: fighting without a shield is exceptionally entertaining. By adding health regeneration mechanics and faster movement speed to compensate for the lack of defenses, it makes less defensive play far more manageable. In the Souls games, I've always equipped a shield because, from the start, blocking is almost essential - at least until you get the items, experience, and abilities to go without (and, yes, speed builds can be quite effective in Dark Souls). It's just that shields always remain the safety blankets of the series, and that needs to change in the next sequel.
Cut down on loading times, and let us fast travel to specific bonfires
At certain points in the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne, you have the ability to fast travel between the bonfires spread across the world. Whether that ability comes right from the get-go like in Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne, or is earned halfway through the game like in the first Dark Souls, warping across the world is wonderfully convenient.
Do more things to mess with players when they die
You know what's a bigger pain in the ass than retrieving your souls after you die (but rather brilliant with it)? Having to defeat the thing that just killed you to get your souls back. Bloodborne introduced a system that screws with failed adventurers just a bit more than the Souls games. Occasionally, one of the enemies near your bloody death site will gobble up all your blood echos (Bloodborne's equivalent to souls). You can't just run by and pick them up anymore. You have to kill that enemy (and possibly die again) to get the game's precious currency back.
Don't make (almost) every boss an armor-clad, evil knight
Don't get me wrong. The Dark Souls games have some fascinating boss designs. The Chaos Witch Quelaag, the Gaping Dragon, and Ceaseless Discharge (ew) in the first game are all memorable encounters. Dark Souls 2, though, is not as creative. Many of the bosses are just huge weapon-wielding dudes in plate armor. Dark Souls 3 needs to get back to putting us in front of eccentric boss designs that we haven't seen before, and with original game - and Bloodborne - Director Hidetaka Miyazaki back for the second sequel, we should expect nothing less.
Let us dig into the lore as much, or as little as we want
The Dark Souls stories let you dig into the narrative as much as you want. If you don't care much to sort out the lore, you can get by with simply knowing you're an undead warrior who needs to go out and kill a bunch of monsters to lift the curse. On a base level, that simple scenario is all you need, really. You can ignore the lore almost completely, and the things you do and see in the game will still make sense, more or less. If you want more, you can read into all of the weapon descriptions, boss souls, and environmental clues to decipher the rest of the lore, which ends up being as much fun as playing the game itself.
Bring back all of the goofy and practical Dark Souls 2 multiplayer stuff
One thing that Dark Souls 2 expanded on much more than any other From game was the PvP system. There were dedicated PvP covenants that allowed players to receive significant rewards for their efforts in ruining other players' lives. You could hop into PvP arenas for one-on-one battles that wouldn't be interrupted by annoying NPCs or Blue Sentinels. In almost all of the previous games, there are also fun bonuses, like items that let you disguise yourself as a piece of furniture, or turn invisible, to surprise anyone who invades your world.
Go back to the interconnected world of Dark Souls and Bloodborne
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 2's have a hub-style layout. Demon's Souls has players teleporting to its different environments, while Dark Souls 2 sends players down semi-linear branches that typically end in big boss battles. Those world layouts work well enough, but I've always found it much more interesting to explore the interwoven environments of the first Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
