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Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin announced for PS4/XBO/PC - April 2015
- Thread starter RoKKeR
- Start date
Yup.
Most of the people complaining about it for some reason think that you fight Myttha at the top of the windmill, rather than in a room built into the mountainside behind the base of the windmill. Earth Peak is HUGE and the entire zone is in the lower ~25% or so.
The key problem is that staircases, tunnels, etc. between zones are shortened for travel purposes (in-game lore clarifies that the areas are hours or days apart).
justjustin
Member
Yep, Dark Souls 2 is my favorite in the series and I played all three games as they came out. The game retains the series' spirit while adding a ton of new stuff to dig into and rebalanced certain aspects to make it all more fun to play. I have 120+ hours on the PC version and I never felt like anything was missing.
Absolutely agree. The series was always great in spite of the "lol you died" moments, certainly not because of them. They all emphasize playing with caution, it's just that Dark Souls 2 punishes you least when you're caught off guard-- as it should be!
It's probably a vocal minority cause there's a large group of people playing the game, yet we have a bunch of guys saying how the game is completely bad. So I see a group of people accepting some problems and still enjoying, and some crazios talking of B-Team and how every level of the game is an affront to game design.
Game ain't perfect, sure, but neither were the other two games.
re: enemy placement. I never got this complaint. In Demon and DS1, if I was able to fight one on one against an enemy, 99.9% of the time I won. Defeats came from terrible mistakes -falling into holes mainly- or simply running into another enemy. In Demon there were the black phantoms, ok, those were a challenge.
So instead of making every enemy into satsuki, they simply decided to force the player to fight several enemies at once. Feel this is a better option than letting you kite every enemy into a duel. Not that this is impossible in DS2, but from time to time the game will ambush you.
The superior decision in all three games would be to have the enemies roam around or doing other stuff, so every encounter is different, but barring that, forcing the player into unfair fights is cool.
I wasn't saying they aren't lacking in talent either, just that there are many possibilities, and it is very difficult to blame the 'team' on the game's quality exclusively, as publishing factors play a significant role on the quality. DR/LI is just a useful counterpoint because it's an immediate reference point a Dark Souls fan will know.
And you're absolutely right, fans are the most critical, because they're the most invested. I haven't played Dark Souls 2 yet, I was waiting for a next-gen port, I've seen it all the way through a couple of times actually, but I reserve all judgement until I've played it myself.
I don't know if it's better or worse, however, I am confident it's still a very good game. I think people who expect Dark Souls quality for any game are going to be largely disappointed, and given the sales, there are a lot of Dark Souls 1/2 players who haven't played Demon's Souls. No doubt DS2 is the most contentious so far, but the series is still so young, there's plenty of room for more controversial entries.
The thing is, people want to know why a game is the way it is, and specific talent is just the most transparent way of denoting change. Publishing details are never released, sometime you'll get a budget figure, often you'll get a development timeline, but you'll never get cash-flow based on milestones, you'll never get staff changes at specific times, you'll never get exactly when something was cut and for what reason, etc.
People want to know why the games are different, and the talent is a simple thing people can look to for that.
I really liked Uncharted 2, and I was very excited about UC3, I bought the collector's edition, I moved the chair directly in front of the TV, had four energy drinks ready to marathon it, and I hated it. It had never crossed my mind the game might not be good, and when I thought it was shit, I wanted to know why. Similar budget, similar development cycle, a smaller change in design than from 1 to 2, so a less ambitious task really, it should have been considerably stronger than 2, but I don't think it is. When finding out some of the leads weren't involved because they were on TLoU, and then playing the TLoU and seeing a similar UC1->2 leap in quality again, I associate it with those key staff.
Miyazaki's absence from DS2 was not a secret, almost as soon as the game was announced, he was confirmed to be working on a new game, and only involved with DS2 in a supervisory role, which even that turned out to be kind of bullshit. So it's a different situation compared to UC, people knew and feared Miyazaki's absence, which may have colored their experience, so the credits thing may have been a bigger deal than it would have, but I'm confident that if From/Bamco had never addressed a staff change, people would have suspected it from playing the game and checked the credits anyway.
If the differences make for a better or worse game is subjective, but the differences alone would have caused people to research the staff.
I think Dark Souls 2 was a huge improvement over Dark Souls 1. I like pretty much every single mechanical and balance change, as if they made a list of all of my complaints and fixed them.
- Infinite-blocking with a shield is harder due to more points needed to increase Stamina, increased Strength requirements for 100% shields.
- Super-rolling is harder because you need to spend points improving your roll "quality", and that roll improves linearly with reduce weight, which makes gear decisions far more interesting.
- EZ Kiting Casters are harder because enemies have actually been given moves to close distances faster. There are very few bosses where you can just walk backwards from the enemy kiting and spamming, and those that you can are mostly early-game bosses.
- There are no spells as remotely broken as Iron Flesh in the release DS1.
- There are no zones as terrible as Lost Izalith.
- Sidestepping around enemies, while still good, is nerfed by enemies "locking" later in their animations.
- There are fewer enemies where you can just walk under their legs.
- There is extraordinarily less clipping. No stupid flies that clip through floors that are impossible to hit.
- The camera functions better due to open areas or slight ledges around bosses, so it doesn't squeeze up and flip out.
- The lockon system works due to fewer bosses suddenly jumping up, breaking the lock, and reversing your controls.
- The crafting system is clearer and less of a hassle to use throughout the game.
- The Estus system is better with incremental gains in # and strength. The Kindling system in DS1 was dumb.
- Lifestones or whatever are dumb, but they are super nerfed compared to chewing Humanity.
- I didn't feel like I was punished for exploring with horrible walks back. I did Ash Lake, Demon Ruins, and Tomb of Giants prior to getting warping, and wow was that a horrible experience.
Dark Souls 2 is an awesome, awesome game, and I'm looking forward to this update. I still haven't played the DLC.
- Infinite-blocking with a shield is harder due to more points needed to increase Stamina, increased Strength requirements for 100% shields.
- Super-rolling is harder because you need to spend points improving your roll "quality", and that roll improves linearly with reduce weight, which makes gear decisions far more interesting.
- EZ Kiting Casters are harder because enemies have actually been given moves to close distances faster. There are very few bosses where you can just walk backwards from the enemy kiting and spamming, and those that you can are mostly early-game bosses.
- There are no spells as remotely broken as Iron Flesh in the release DS1.
- There are no zones as terrible as Lost Izalith.
- Sidestepping around enemies, while still good, is nerfed by enemies "locking" later in their animations.
- There are fewer enemies where you can just walk under their legs.
- There is extraordinarily less clipping. No stupid flies that clip through floors that are impossible to hit.
- The camera functions better due to open areas or slight ledges around bosses, so it doesn't squeeze up and flip out.
- The lockon system works due to fewer bosses suddenly jumping up, breaking the lock, and reversing your controls.
- The crafting system is clearer and less of a hassle to use throughout the game.
- The Estus system is better with incremental gains in # and strength. The Kindling system in DS1 was dumb.
- Lifestones or whatever are dumb, but they are super nerfed compared to chewing Humanity.
- I didn't feel like I was punished for exploring with horrible walks back. I did Ash Lake, Demon Ruins, and Tomb of Giants prior to getting warping, and wow was that a horrible experience.
Dark Souls 2 is an awesome, awesome game, and I'm looking forward to this update. I still haven't played the DLC.
Clearly I wasn't paying enough attention
Edit: So who's guessing the possibly new content will be locked behind the DLC paywall? The voiceover in the trailer mentions the 3 kings in the DLC content after all.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Le sigh.
What are you talking about
I know right. It ruins the WHOLE GAME.Funny how you complain about using the same argument yet use the admittedly silly transition from Earthen Peak as if it's the sole indicator of Dark Souls 2's quality
This graph is cool, I never thought of it that way, but I don't know if it makes sense. I need to take another look at the windmill I guess, but it doesn't seem that the windmill is built that close to a mountain side. You don't actually see a mountain in the background of the windmill down from Harvest Valley. But who knows, perspective can play tricks on your eyes... though it's probably more likely that they didn't really think it all the way through.
Does it? Where?
grandwizard
Member
I don't understand the problems with Shrine of Amana. The ranged enemies were easy to see and I could pick them off with my bow, or just run sideways and dodge their attack while closing distance.
clutch.as.it.gets.
Member
OMG, are you serious? i totally called it if thats true, if it is, it really does not justify charging for the game again, so the big upgrade will be DX11 which pc should have had in the first place and we dont even know if the lighting engine will be back
Arjen
Member
Every piece of DLC opens up at a different part of the game. But it's pretty endgame stuff, some of the bosses are brutal.
Trogdor1123
Member
I guess, but how did you not think this was going to happen? The was successful and had loads of DLC. A GOTY edition was a certainty especially after the Artoria of the Abyss for DS1 (which I never got to... shame on me!). There was also loads of discussion here on gaf that it was going to happen and that the port to the new systems would happen as well.
I thought I also read that the "upgrades" were supposed to be free for the old versions but I could be 100% wrong there.
Edit:
NM, I read what I wanted to read
- New characters and events (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
- Story and world additions (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
- Graphics and performance upgrades (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
- Improved online multiplayer (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
- Enemy and game design adjustments (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
- Various balancing tweaks (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
SiegfriedFM
Member
I was being sarcastic (which is stupid to do online, I know), which is kind of lost when removing what I initially quoted. I was pointing out that people are quick to excuse DS1's problems with release dates/budget limitations, while DS2's problems are always blamed on the team simply being worse.
As for Earthen Peak, why can't it just be a simple mistake? "Bob, did you model the mountain behind EP?" "Pretty sure I did." "Ok, great." Or, as suggested, there was going to be a zone in-between and someone forgot to recheck for consistency.
But no, it has to be intentional malice: "Haha, our players are so stupid, no use spending time building a mountain. Now let's put together that interview where we lie to them about no DLC! Haha, suckers!"
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
I still have a few issues with DS2, but I feel that the DLC areas really elevate the game and showed how much talent is on that team when given the opportunity to really iterate upon the content in an area.
My main take-away was that any drop-off in quality was I suspect largely due to the sheer number of zones needing to be covered, especially those that needed a proper second pass after the lighting model/torch gimmick was cut.
Maybe they'll reinstate it for the new version, but I get the feeling that it may not have been a decision made entirely on performance grounds. The first few areas of the game feel markedly different to me than the rest, for example the way enemies link and aggro in the first part of "Forest Of Fallen giants" is not really replicated anywhere else.
My main take-away was that any drop-off in quality was I suspect largely due to the sheer number of zones needing to be covered, especially those that needed a proper second pass after the lighting model/torch gimmick was cut.
Maybe they'll reinstate it for the new version, but I get the feeling that it may not have been a decision made entirely on performance grounds. The first few areas of the game feel markedly different to me than the rest, for example the way enemies link and aggro in the first part of "Forest Of Fallen giants" is not really replicated anywhere else.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I chalk Earthen Peak up to a combination of sloppy development and lack of effort put in to visualizing the theme of the game world being fragmented in space and time.
It really is there in the lore, and once it is understood it even enhances the experience. But they could have indicated what was going on in the same way DS1 used visual storytelling so effectively. For the most part the player is left confused at a bunch of short corridors connecting wildly different zones.
It really is there in the lore, and once it is understood it even enhances the experience. But they could have indicated what was going on in the same way DS1 used visual storytelling so effectively. For the most part the player is left confused at a bunch of short corridors connecting wildly different zones.
vasametropolis
Member
Not a chance. The gameplay mechanics were ripped out and did not exist in the PC version at all. That said, it really doesn't matter because it was awesome anyway.
hydrophilic attack
Member
This is an excellent post.
I would also like to add that the slightly slower combat amd nerfed poise, together with new mechanics like the guard break, makes for much more interesting and tactical PVP. This, together with dedicated servers for matchmaking and some really interesting PVP covenants (Bell Bros and Rat Bros) Makes for the best Souls PVP, so far. Such a shame about the SM mechanic.
CountAntonius
Member
I hate how every Dark Souls 2 thread gets derailed as a lets shit on dark souls 2 thread. Game has been out for a year either you like it or you don't what's the point of pointing it out in every single thread.
Getting this (not entirely unexpected) remastered version announced almost makes me think my PS3 breaking down (or at least every part responsible for internet/wifi capabilities) while playing the Crown fo the Ivory King DLC was for the best ( :-( ).
I now have yet another reason for buying a PS4 and one less to repair or replace my PS3 (though only ports of Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and SFIV would ever fully seal that deal for me).
Sure, Dark Souls 2 may disappoint here and there in terms of level design and some wonky animations / control but it's still the game I played and enjoyed the most overall by far this year. In fact, pretty much the first half of this year seems to have been absorbed by it in my memory, with some breaks in between. Loved the DLC as well, even more than most of the main game.
Now to wait with buying a PS4 until this and Bloodborne are released or take the plunge now with a holiday deal...
I now have yet another reason for buying a PS4 and one less to repair or replace my PS3 (though only ports of Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and SFIV would ever fully seal that deal for me).
Sure, Dark Souls 2 may disappoint here and there in terms of level design and some wonky animations / control but it's still the game I played and enjoyed the most overall by far this year. In fact, pretty much the first half of this year seems to have been absorbed by it in my memory, with some breaks in between. Loved the DLC as well, even more than most of the main game.
Now to wait with buying a PS4 until this and Bloodborne are released or take the plunge now with a holiday deal...
hydrophilic attack
Member
So could anyone actually hear what the narrator was saying in the trailer?
I think I missed at least half
I think I missed at least half
??Bloodborne?
Looks like a return to form to me.
what does that have to do with anyting written in my post.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Ohhhh shit, sorry. Seeing so many negative hyperbolic vitriol about the game made me think you were just another one piling on. ^^
...See? I can't tell if that's sarcastic or not. How do I fix my detector?
It definitely takes some work getting to it. They're each after the end of a level path.
So something like 3-4 whole areas until you get to that last boss of that branch, THEN you can access the DLC there.
Eh, enough of Dark Souls already. Can we just PLEASE fucking get a new King's Field game!? I knew From was going to reach this point. This is getting a bit out of hand, in my opinion. I just fucking bought the 3 DLC packs and they plan to release this a month after Bloodborne?
From's starting to sour me a bit, actually. I really, genuinely miss their earlier days, specifically their PS2-era. Bloodborne looks great and everything, but it's still very Souls-like. I miss when these guys had breadth in their portfolio; Lost Kingdoms, Evergrace, Eternal Ring, King's Field, Otogi, Cookies & Cream, etc. Company felt more personal and special to me back then, I don't know. Not liking where they're headed.
From's starting to sour me a bit, actually. I really, genuinely miss their earlier days, specifically their PS2-era. Bloodborne looks great and everything, but it's still very Souls-like. I miss when these guys had breadth in their portfolio; Lost Kingdoms, Evergrace, Eternal Ring, King's Field, Otogi, Cookies & Cream, etc. Company felt more personal and special to me back then, I don't know. Not liking where they're headed.
So could anyone actually hear what the narrator was saying in the trailer?
I think I missed at least half
Here:
My theory: Possibly Aldia is introduced as a character. He kinda works like Kaathe in that he wants you to not light the first flame, unlike Shanalotte.
King's Field is a bit too medieval fantasy. It's time to bring back Shadow Tower abyss!
Fuck, I'd take Shadow Tower 3 as well! Just fucking stop farting around and make a first person dungeon crawler already! I'm so over Souls games.
SeventhSon
Member
There's no mountainside at the base of the windmill. It's "miles" in the background. You don't travel "miles" into Mytha's chamber, not even a little jog like from Majula to Huntsman's Copse.
gioGAF
Member
Rofl, I just spit out my drink. Hope this is not serious, otherwise, the crack is strong with this one...
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
There's no mountainside at the base of the windmill. It's "miles" in the background. You don't travel "miles" into Mytha's chamber, not even a little jog like from Majula to Huntsman's Copse.
Perfect.
Another stupid thing: defeat 4 of the biggest souls to by pass some gate because the pathway is blocked by some rubble.....I can't.
Dark Souls 2 was one of the biggest disappointments in gaming for me but it kind of makes me happy knowing it was not made by the A team or Team Miyazaki since it means they have not lost their way. Bring on Bloodborne!
There's no mountainside at the base of the windmill. It's "miles" in the background. You don't travel "miles" into Mytha's chamber, not even a little jog like from Majula to Huntsman's Copse.
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.
Maybe they had an extra area in between, but cut it at the last second.
I think Dark 2 is still a great and incredibly fun game, but it's full of bullshit that is pointless trying to defend.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Wait, I'm struggling to keep up now, is the content patch coming in February now and April is the next gen rerelease?
You can but it wouldn't be recommended, the DLC is easily harder than the base game.
You can but it wouldn't be recommended, the DLC is easily harder than the base game.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
we already have proof on the poor world design ( in terms of how they are connected). The geography is entirely wrong for one.
I will agree that DkS2 is not the most revolutionary of the three, nor impactful, but I won't have anyone say it doesn't have the best artstyle and isn't the best playing. Yes, adaptability is weird, but do you realise how broken the Endurance stat was in DkS1? Literally just put points in that and dex. Not much of an RPG anymore once you can min-max so heavily.
Love DkS2. Easily my GOTY.
Red Liquorice
Member
I didn't even think of that. When I saw the title I immediately thought of Seath (Scholar and his betrayal) but that makes much more sense especially about her bonfire being the only one not linked to DLC.
CountAntonius
Member
Pretty sure it's about(DS2 Lore spoilers)
King Vendrick's brother Lord Aldia who used his studies(probably learned from Seath)to become The Ancient Dragon.
Here's something I want to see for myself from the Next-gen(or should it be current-gen ?) upgrade and that's the graphical upgrades. It';s all well and good they'll be using the extra horsepower on PS4, for example, for some extra polish, but I still remember the pre-release demo's everyone harped on about and what we got on release, although to be fair, we know now the PS3 and 360 were just unable to handle what was displayed on screen.
Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the game as much as the original Dark Souls, for all the flaws that were apparent because ultimately I had fun with the game and the DLC for it was miles better then I anticipated. If I have the money at release, I'll probably double dip for it, alongside getting Bloodborne before it, but I want to know what the notable differences will be when I compare it between the PS3 and the PS4 version, like there's been for GTA V and The last of Us Remastered.
Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the game as much as the original Dark Souls, for all the flaws that were apparent because ultimately I had fun with the game and the DLC for it was miles better then I anticipated. If I have the money at release, I'll probably double dip for it, alongside getting Bloodborne before it, but I want to know what the notable differences will be when I compare it between the PS3 and the PS4 version, like there's been for GTA V and The last of Us Remastered.
You can, but to my understanding, most of it is designed that you play it near the end of the game, similarly to the first games DLC. The difficulty spikes heavily if you're playing the game proper and then enter one of these DLC locations before even getting halfway into the game.
That being said, if you know what you're doing, you can spelunk into a couple of them really early and get a few massive power-ups for the rest of the game.
Namely Flynn's Ring and Puzzling Stone Sword.
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Speaking of this game, Extra Credits just released a video today about Dark Souls II's difficulty and argues they got it right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2dDF4B9a4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2dDF4B9a4