When comparing Tales from the Borderlands vs Dark Souls III, the Slant community recommends Tales from the Borderlands for most people. In the question“What are the best RPGs on PS4 that play in third person view?” Tales from the Borderlands is ranked 14th while Dark Souls III is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose Tales from the Borderlands is:
The story is about a ragtag group of misfits who team up to find a treasure vault on Pandora (a rather dangerous planet infested by deadly wildlife and bandits) that is guaranteed to make them incredibly rich. This unlikely crew comes together through a series of unfortunate events chronicled in episode 1, and is led by corporate middleman Rhys, an employee of the Hyperion corporation with cybernetic enhanced parts, and conwoman Fiona, a young streetsmart woman who makes her living swindling. Between them and their treasure are murderous bandits, explosions, a greedy corporation, betrayals, bounty hunters, revenge, secret identities, and plenty of shocking plot twists.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Thrilling and engaging storyline
The story is about a ragtag group of misfits who team up to find a treasure vault on Pandora (a rather dangerous planet infested by deadly wildlife and bandits) that is guaranteed to make them incredibly rich.
This unlikely crew comes together through a series of unfortunate events chronicled in episode 1, and is led by corporate middleman Rhys, an employee of the Hyperion corporation with cybernetic enhanced parts, and conwoman Fiona, a young streetsmart woman who makes her living swindling.
Between them and their treasure are murderous bandits, explosions, a greedy corporation, betrayals, bounty hunters, revenge, secret identities, and plenty of shocking plot twists.
Pro Very funny
The banter among the various characters is very humorous, often featuring strong levels of sarcasm and silly dialogue options even when they find themselves in dangerous situations.
Additionally, most of the story is told as a flashback, with the two main characters (Rhys and Fiona) retelling events of the story with plenty of funny embellishments. They will also try their best to make the other character look bad. For example, when Rhys is telling how he used his smarts and wits to make a deal with a smuggler, Fiona will remind him that he actually broke down and cried, begging the smuggler to accept his offer. Rhys and Fiona have a lot of back and forth like this throughout the game which really brings the humor to a new level, and gives the story a lighthearted comedy vibe.
Pro Entertaining and likeable characters
Each character is charming in their own way, with their own personalities, hopes, and special talents. For example, Rhys is corporate guy who dreams of striking it rich, and has a cybernetic eye that lets him scan and hack almost anything electronic. Fiona is a conwoman with a sarcastic attitude and quick to draw her gun, whose biggest goal in life is protecting her daredevil younger sister Sasha, another member of the team who is constantly taking risks.
Their differences help compliment both the story and humor, as they are constantly debating how to best handle the predicaments they find themselves in. You can't help but laugh along and cheer them on during some of their oddball schemes as they work together.
All in all, there are over a dozen recurring characters, both protagonists and antagonists, all with their own refined quirks and plot lines. The character writing is consistent and excellent, helping to make each and every one endearing as they learn and grow over the course of their adventures.
Pro Hilarious and awesome action sequences
While most action is handled through basic quicktime events, the accompanying onscreen theatrics are intense and filled with explosions, fighting, bandits, armored vehicles, robots, weird animals, and crazy futuristic weapons around every turn.
One particular demolition derby scene very early in the game is especially well done. As you race around a track with armored vehicles and fight off heavily-armed bandits, a crybaby bandit king with a malfunctioning megaphone helmet is fighting against a teleporting bounty hunter on the platform above the race. To top off the strange scene, a very large monster being kept captive by the bandits somehow escapes its cage and joins in the fun. Chaos is everywhere, and you're right in the middle of it.
The action throughout the game is all just so fantasically bizarre and utterly hilarious, that you can't help but really get into it.
Pro Keeps you highly invested in the story thanks to interesting choices
Each of the five episodes features many different choices you can make which changes the course of the story and the fate of various characters. These might be minor details such as a dialogue choice or which location you want to visit. At the end of each episode, it presents you with a major choice that will greatly influence the way things unfold. Pondering each one and then wondering if you made the "right" choice keeps you highly invested in the plot and characters, knowing it was your choices that are shaping the story.
Pro Standalone adventure makes it easily accessible for all
While there are some crossover characters and references to the other Borderlands games, you can still understand this game just fine without any prior knowledge. Whenever a character or location is introduced, the story itself does a great job of letting you know why and how it's important without a lot of fluff. This is great for people who haven't played Borderlands, and allows it to be enjoyed by all.
Pro Impactful character introductions
Rather than just "showing up" on screen, characters are introduced into the story with flashy introductions. Their name will appear big and bold on the screen along with their picture and a humorous observation about them. This goes a long way towards making each and every character memorable, and making each character introduction into the plot feel like a grand entrance of sorts.
Pro Extensive lore that's presented in unconventional ways
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story.
Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you.
Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Pro Stunning environments
The world of Dark Souls 3 looks amazing, so you may often feel the need to stop and take in the beautiful sights. This can be the sheer size of structures, mountains, or caves. It can also be the decorations, inscriptions, or details in a room. There's always so much to look at, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in its world.
Pro Can give a great feeling of accomplishment
The Dark Souls series is known for its difficulty and Dark Souls 3 is no exception. It's filled with difficult enemies and tough boss battles, able to cause you grief on more than one occasion. However, every time you progress to the next safe spot or defeat a boss you'll often be filled with a mix of joy and relief. Beating this game will almost certainly feel like an achievement.
Pro Unpredictable boss battles
The boss battles in Dark Souls 3 consist of several phases, changing up how the bosses fight over the course of the battle. They will gain new abilities, become more aggressive, or reveal various nasty surprises. This creates an enjoyable experience that is different from most modern games where bosses are just glorified pincushions.
Pro A great variety of equipment for almost any playstyle
You'll be finding new pieces of equipment quite often, giving you many options to choose from. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to pick the equipment that best suits your playstyle.
For example, heavy armor will make you move slower, but you'll be better protected. Greatswords have a wide reach, but you swing them really slow. Conversely a dagger is very fast but it has a horrible reach.
Pro Solid controls
This game feels and plays really well. Your character responds to button inputs immediately and it almost never feels like you're losing control over it. The control scheme can also be customized, giving you the option of a more personalized experience.
Pro Great combat system
Dark Souls 3 is a very fast-paced game but it's not just about having quick reflexes. A lot of the combat comes down to exploiting your enemies. To do that, you have to learn their patterns and attack the moment they pause or perform a telegraphed attack. This creates a combat system, which rewards awareness and patience, and is satisfying to master, even if you don't have extraordinary reflexes.
Cons
Con Starts off fairly slow
The first couple of hours are rather slow while certain key characters are being introduced, and there's quite a bit of weaving through side stories before the main plot gets rolling. Thankfully, the game does pick up after the first episode.
Con Graphical glitches
Sometimes characters disappear for a split second before returning to the screen in a slightly new position a few pixels away. This usually occurs during dialogue choices, and it's as if the game needs to queue up the animation for the specific chosen line of dialogue. Overall, it's not too jarring, but it tends to happen quite often.
Con Long quicktime events
Some of the quicktime sequences are rather long, and if you mess up, you have to do the entire scene over. While they're fun to watch, it can be overly punishing having to replay things in a story-based game where the plot should keep moving at a steady pace.
Con A couple "gross out" moments
There are few scenes with some rather gross subject matter that some people may find disturbing or disgusting. Thankfully, they are few and far between.
Con Poor support for mouse+keyboard control
The default DS3 key/button bindings actually prevent full use of certain weapons by requiring the shift key to be pressed and not-pressed simultaneously. Rebinding is possible, but limited by issues like the left mouse button overriding all others and certain bindings not actually working in game (e.g. Shift+MiddleClick).
Con It's hard
You should try avoiding the trap of great review scores since most of them fail to mention the difficulty. It's simply put - hard. A lot of the combat requires quick reflexes, good mechanics, and the mental fortitude to carry on after failing for hours. If you're new to the Souls-like genre or simply want to enjoy a relaxing evening playing a video game, you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls III.
Con Poorly tuned dynamic visiblity
You may notice some texture pop in while sharply turning the camera. It can be somewhat distracting if you notice it, but most of the time you won't because it happens in the distance.
Con Occasional performance issues
There are portions of the game that will have noticeable framerate drops, which can negatively affect the gameplay. Most of the fault lies with the game engine, so getting better hardware won't help that much.