Not even going to bother with this one due to the patently absurd DX11-only requirement. My 8800 GTS still runs new games at a perfectly acceptable framerate and quality, there is absolutely no reason to lock out gamers without DX11 hardware when the exact same game will be released on consoles that never supported DX11. At least not until the next generation consoles come out.
Unfortunately, modern PCs are much like consoles in terms of upgrades. Upgrades beyond adding a bigger hd or extra RAM tend to either require a complete rebuild or be too incremental to justify the cost. For example, adding a new video card to an older system like mine may run into PCI-X compatibility issues. Then there's the matter of power supply and whether the CPU will be enough for the game (and changing the CPU will require a new mobo, RAM, and most likely new power supply). At least transplanting an existing windows install into a new box has gotten a lot easier than it used to be in the past. That's an awful lot of trouble for a game that's perfectly capable of running on non-DX11 GPUs. I'm guessing Crytek got some good sponsorship money in exchange for cutting out older GPUs.
Honestly, microtransactions are not even the biggest problem with DS3. The bigger problem is that the gameplay got completely gutted in an attempt to appeal to the Call of Duty crowds.
More action is not necessarily a bad thing, but not when you are trying to make an action game by simply turning up the number of enemies and ammo drops by 10x. Don't even get me started on the universal ammo that took a lot of strategy and thinking out of your combat loadout. The crafting system is an interesting change, but it still doesn't hold a candle to the depth and versatility of the individual upgrade trees for each weapon in DS/DS2. One of the more fun things to do in the earlier DS series was to play on new game+ and upgrade some of the weapons that didn't get much playtime on the first playthrough. DS3? Forget it! The campaign is pretty decent, but it's definitely padded up to the point of getting tedious.
It's just plain sickening to see the smurfberrification of a once great game series. Oh, and there is nothing "micro" about having $5+ transactions in a $60 game.
Sadly, any sort of IAP eventually leads to the game being designed to coax players to pay rather than be fun to play, and to punish those who don't. Just at the new levels latest Angry Birds releases - total PITA to play without using powerups, and I'm not going for the whole 1c per bullet nonsense.
@124C1 : Honestly, I haven't even gotten around to Skyrim due to not having the necessary amount of time to commit to a game that size like I used to be able to.
On the other hand, I've been playing the latest Ghost Recon on my comp for the last week and a half, and it's actually FUN to play - with keyboard and mouse, at that.
I don't begrudge the people who are genuinely having a blast with this one, but me and obviously quite a few others are having trouble understanding how a mainstream-oriented site like gamespot (vs something like rpgcodex.net who are still gushing over Planescape: Torment) would rate this one above games that are far more polished technically, and FAR more fun to play by a typical gamespot reader using proper keyboard/mouse controls.
How in God's name does this game rate a 9.5? Whatever the writer of this review took or smoked - I sure want to try some!
For starters, there is the lack of technical polish, not to mention lack of proper keyboard and mouse support. I do have a controller, so I was willing to look past that if the game REALLY rated a 9.5 score in spite of pretty dated graphics and broken keyboard-mouse controls.
That's all well and good, but I am already stuck at Firelink's Shrine simply due to lack of basic modern conveniences such as a quest log or even a basic map. I do have a job and other responsibilities in life, so I don't have the time or the patience to run between bonfires and having to kill all the enemies that get respawn whenever you do hit a bonfire, and go through the die-revive-collect your body routine. There is always the walkthrough, but it should not be mandatory to have one next to you just to get started with the game. If you play one day, but then don't get around to it again for another day or too, good luck remembering what you need to do, or where exactly your next destination is without a quest journal or a functional map. I can see where the more old-school gamers would appreciate Dark Souls, but there is absolutely ZERO justification for giving it a 9.5 score.
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