The Souls series has, to me, become like MOBAs -- I respect the passion, love and drive that goes into these games, but damn if I just can't wrap my head around why people put themselves through it. Joaby is something of an expert on them though, and while we oft argue as to why I play every game I do on the hardest difficulty level I can, yet shy from the Souls games, I usualy remind him it's because he's the better glutton for punishment than I and the games just plain scare me.

From Joab's intense hands-on:

Other weapons also have modified attacks based on your use of the Left Trigger. Not all shields can parry in Dark Souls 3, so you need the right tool for the job -- but that doesn't mean your shield won't have a Left Trigger-based move. We got to play around with a shield slam type attack on the larger buckler we started the game equipped with (it had 100% physical attack blocking as well, so it was our main shield), and we were able to stun enemies if they were close enough when we triggered it. The Greatsword has what I believe to be a guard break attack on its Left Trigger (only when two-handed) which will no doubt prove handy in PvP.

The small shield seemed to have a huge parry window on it -- I felt like it might have even been too easy to parry enemies as they came at me, especially because you remain invulnerable while riposting. On the other hand, the backstab window felt quite narrow, and I felt a little cheated on a number of what I thought were clear backstab opportunities which turned into normal attacks instead.

The full piece, of course, is much more in-depth and obviously better, so click here to be transported to it.