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[RoboGeorgeForeman]

No. no. no. no. no.
Make it even harder. make it frustrating. make it flame lurker.

Honestly Flame Lurker isn't that bad, they need to make it much harder. If there aren't wheel skeletons of every variety (imagine Crystal Wheel Skeletons) waiting for you to drop your guard before spooking you, I won't be satisfied.

Edit: Better idea, what if there were Wheel Skellingtons that could cast chameleon. They could be hiding anywhere in plain sight, and you wouldn't suspect a thing...

 

[EviLore]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

 

[AcceptableGhost]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

You forgot the button you push that shows a line on the ground showing you the exact route to the next objective.

 

[Eccocid]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

For a moment i thought it was serious.lol

 

[140.85]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

Haha, bravo.

Also, I'm calling it now: unkillable merchants.

 

[Grief.exe]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

GOTY

You forgot "dumb it down"
"We want the call of duty audience"

For a moment i thought it was serious.lol

Ya at first I felt my rage bubbling up...then I realized the joke and laughed.

 

[Orayn]

Might this have something to do with the shape of the game? I personally loved all the Metroidvania style shortcuts and interesting connections, but the main path of the game had a little too much backtracking for my liking. Getting to the Lower Undead Burg from the Undead Parish and coming back to the surface after Blighttown were both a pain, the Lordvessel giving you the ability to warp after Anor Londo seemed like an admission that the levels were big and tangled enough that it wasn't worth doing the whole thing on foot any more. Later zones having fewer and fewer connections to each other kind of cements that point.

They can keep it a Metroidvania, but making the main spine of the game more obvious and navigable wouldn't hurt.

 

[Foffy]

That doesn't mean much. Things changes and people lie. I still remember ESP saying Twisted metal was not being made up until E3 when they showed the trailer.

How are you lying about what platforms its on when you never once claimed it was a next-gen title? The only information made about the game claimed it's a current generation game...

You sound awfully hopeful that it's not on 7 year hardware, when there's been nothing to claim otherwise.

 

[Dictator93]

Haha, bravo.

Also, I'm calling it now: unkillable merchants.

I hope not. On my first preview I killed the Blacksmith Andrei by swinging a weapon.

That was horrible and awesome

 

[ezekial45]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

Technically speaking, "Soul Insurance" was already present in the other games. The Rings of Sacrifice.

 

[zkylon]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

-Co-op Hordemode
-Killstreaks
-Purchase land and build your own home from the ground up - from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with an armory, alchemy laboratory, stable, garden, and more. Use all-new tools like the drafting table and carpenter’s workbench to transform quarried stone, clay, and sawn logs into structures and furnishings. Even transform your house into a home by adopting children.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

Might this have something to do with the shape of the game? I personally loved all the Metroidvania style shortcuts and interesting connections, but the main path of the game had a little too much backtracking for my liking. Getting to the Lower Undead Burg from the Undead Parish and coming back to the surface after Blighttown were both a pain, the Lordvessel giving you the ability to warp after Anor Londo seemed like an admission that the levels were big and tangled enough that it wasn't worth doing the whole thing on foot any more. Later zones having fewer and fewer connections to each other kind of cements that point.

They can keep it a Metroidvania, but making the main spine of the game more obvious and navigable wouldn't hurt.

But it only takes a few minutes to go up the waterwheel in Blight Town and get to the surface. The only bad backtracking that I remember is the Great Hallow and Ash Lake as there's no shortcut back.

 

[CronoShot]

But hopefully they do difficulty modes. Some sort of casual mode can give you more direct hints and greater drops or something. Normal mode for the rest of us.

 

[99%]

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

 

[KPJZKC]

Hopefully they don't forget to introduce a cover mechanic, for popping out with dem bows and arrows. Hell, why not just put guns in it, pull a Fable and say it's 500 years in the future. With jets. Dark Duty's 2.

 

[Cyrano]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Difficulty levels
-Quicksaving
-Soul insurance
-Scanning to reveal boss weaknesses, hidden enemies, items
-Cinematic story cutscenes before and after every encounter
-Ever-present sidekick zombie to explain new game mechanics, areas, enemies, and what to do next via unskippable unscrollable dialogue exchanges
-Paid DLC cheat codes
-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

But... but... THE BABY.

But hopefully they do difficulty modes. Some sort of casual mode can give you more direct hints and greater drops or something. Normal mode for the rest of us.

As Miyazaki said, difficulty modes are a failure in design.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

Anything that divides the community and results in less prey for the Darkwraiths is a negative. There should be only one difficulty setting and it should be harder than Dark Souls.

 

[zkylon]

But it only takes a few minutes to go up the waterwheel in Blight Town and get to the surface. The only bad backtracking that I remember is the Great Hallow and Ash Lake as there's no shortcut back.

How do you actually get out of Ash Lake without the firevessel?

 

[TheSeks]

DARK SOULS II WISH LIST

-Strawberry jelly HUD effects
-Spec-Ops starting class with M4 Carbine

I'd pay pre-order money for these, no joke.

Let me get into cover to remove the jelly while blind-firing at S&O. Suddenly wouldn't be the worst boss fight in Da Souls. :3

Seriously though, guys: All they need to do is turn invasions on/off. BOOM, instant accessability since people/the host can choose to have dickheads invade or not and have Jolly Co-operation through the whole game.

Why they didn't do this in Dark Souls 1, I'll never know. It would help IMMENSELY for casual players to get into the game if they had a friend that was more knowledgeable able to help them through levels. Yeah, they aren't "learning" the game, but really some people don't want to "learn" an obtuse system with symbols for stats system and want to enjoy the game/story over that.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

How do you actually get out of Ash Lake without the firevessel?

Backtrack through the Great Hallow. There's a series of ladders that you can take, but it's a huuuuuuuuuuge pain in the ass.

 

[Varna]

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

I'm not sure how this would help you. Lots of deaths are from the environment and the ones involving enemies are usually from getting overconfident and not paying attention. None of this would change in an easy mode. I guess being able to survive a few more hits would be helpful, though ultimate you would still die a lot from the environment alone.

 

[Grief.exe]

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

There is a lot wrong with it.

Adding difficulty levels would destroy the online balance, separate the community, and would force them to spend way too much time tuning different difficulty levels instead of perfecting the game.

 

[Majukun]

i'm yet to receive the first one by zavvi..so i'll wait before become worried about what they meant with those words

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

Easy mode is already in the game, though. That's the thing about Demon's Souls and Dark Souls: they can be as easy or hard as you want them to be. I think just straight-up adding a menu option would be inelegant.

 

[Risette]

Why? Do you want me to toss a controller in anger and have it lodged in my $2,000 TV?

Accessibility is good. I play games to have fun, not to get aggravated.

If a game aggravates you, play something else.

You don't have to like every game. Just move on and play something else.

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

Unnecessary options are bad things.

 

[Sullichin]

Definitely against the idea of difficulty selection, it would segment the online community and it's just not in the spirit of the series. They could ease new players into the game in a more creative way than relying on a difficulty selector, like an option to start with five rings of sacrifices or something.

 

[mxgt]

I really hope they will add dificulty levels so I can finally enjoy it. Nothing wrong with adding the option.

Easy mode is already there

It's called co-op

Difficulty levels in a Souls game is entirely unnecessary. If you want an easy game go play something else. These games weren't intended to be easy so why would you even want to play them if they were, it'd ruin the experience.

 

[Dresden]

I'd pay pre-order money for these, no joke.

Let me get into cover to remove the jelly while blind-firing at S&O. Suddenly wouldn't be the worst boss fight in Da Souls. :3

You mean, one of the best.

Seriously though, guys: All they need to do is turn invasions on/off. BOOM, instant accessability since people/the host can choose to have dickheads invade or not and have Jolly Co-operation through the whole game.

Why they didn't do this in Dark Souls 1, I'll never know. It would help IMMENSELY for casual players to get into the game if they had a friend that was more knowledgeable able to help them through levels. Yeah, they aren't "learning" the game, but really some people don't want to "learn" an obtuse system with symbols for stats system and want to enjoy the game/story over that.

Until they tune content to raise difficulty in a meaningful way (rather than just becoming bigger health sponges when you summon friends), the possibility of being invaded is the only real check on co-op players running through the game.

 

[Protein]

Let's not forget those exclusive pre-order bonuses for Dark Bros II. If they think we need an 'easy' mode then they should create the game we know and love and just tack on extra health-player, less health-enemies for casual gamers in a separate mode, with a short disclaimer that lets you know that you won't be getting the true Dark Souls experience. But there are probably other alternative/better ways that I'm not seeing right now.

 

[Trey]

60 frames per seconds locked, please.

 

[Riposte]

What always gets me is that Dark Souls isn't even that difficult or unforgiving.

I'd pay pre-order money for these, no joke.

Let me get into cover to remove the jelly while blind-firing at S&O. Suddenly wouldn't be the worst boss fight in Da Souls. :3

Seriously though, guys: All they need to do is turn invasions on/off. BOOM, instant accessability since people/the host can choose to have dickheads invade or not and have Jolly Co-operation through the whole game.

Why they didn't do this in Dark Souls 1, I'll never know. It would help IMMENSELY for casual players to get into the game if they had a friend that was more knowledgeable able to help them through levels. Yeah, they aren't "learning" the game, but really some people don't want to "learn" an obtuse system with symbols for stats system and want to enjoy the game/story over that.

Do you really think S&O is a bad boss fight?

I think they kept it this way to balance out the fact that playing with a co-op partner or two makes the game very easy.

 

[AcceptableGhost]

This game has an inbuilt easy mode (co-operative gameplay breaks the game essentially, none of the encounters are balanced around it) and guide (player notes). What more do you want?

 

[Risette]

This game has an inbuilt easy mode (co-operative gameplay breaks the game essentially, none of the encounters are balanced around it) and guide (player notes). What more do you want?

win button

 

[EviLore]

When you target a broader audience and introduce difficulty levels, there is no Dark Souls = normal and then an additional easy mode for people who can't handle that level of challenge. There is dumbing the game down, making that the new normal, and then spending a relatively trivial amount of time bumping up hit points and reducing item pickups and so forth for the minority of hardcore users. That's how it plays out unless you have a very strong personal conviction otherwise and the ability to keep your vision intact, e.g. Itagaki with Ninja Dog mode. New director's quotes don't suggest anything promising on that front.

 

[Ridley327]

Let's not forget those exclusive pre-order bonuses.

We should totally do a mock pre-order campaign.

Pre-order at Gamestop today and receive the Killblood Murderscythe!

 

[Santiako]

Boob physics, bikini armors for female characters should also be in your wishlist.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

Boob physics, bikini armors for female characters should also be in your wishlist.

Amazing chest ahead!

 

[CronoShot]

Boob physics, bikini armors for female characters should also be in your wishlist.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Easy mode is already there

It's called co-op

Difficulty levels in a Souls game is entirely unnecessary. If you want an easy game go play something else. These games weren't intended to be easy so why would you even want to play them if they were, it'd ruin the experience.

Play games that you like and not because other people like them? Way too reasonable for the internet.

 

[Anth0ny]

This does not sound good at all. Hype down

When you target a broader audience and introduce difficulty levels, there is no Dark Souls = normal and then an additional easy mode for people who can't handle that level of challenge. There is dumbing the game down, making that the new normal, and then spending a relatively trivial amount of time bumping up hit points and reducing item pickups and so forth for the minority of hardcore users. That's how it plays out unless you have a very strong personal conviction otherwise and the ability to keep your vision intact, e.g. Itagaki with Ninja Dog mode. New director's quotes don't suggest anything promising on that front.

This is EXACTLY what I'm afraid of, and believe will probably happen. I'm not totally opposed to difficulty levels... but I can see easy being super easy, and normal being easy.

Though to be honest, Dark Souls is one of the handful of games from this gen that I consider a classic, and will be returning constantly over the next few years, at least.

What I'm trying to say is... I don't need a sequel next year. Or even in 2014. Dark Souls is still gonna last me a loooooooong while. Hopefully, when the time is right for II, they don't fuck it up.

 

[Zeliard]

Apparently this morbid generation still has to get its clammy paws on the good stuff that's managed to come out of it.

 

[zashga]

I don't want to overreact, but that sounds really ominous. Are the Souls games really not popular enough to justify making sequels with the same feel and challenge?

 

[Ciastek3214]

I'd stick an arrow between those.

 

[Dr.Hadji]

Easy mode is already in the game, though. That's the thing about Demon's Souls and Dark Souls: they can be as easy or hard as you want them to be. I think just straight-up adding a menu option would be inelegant.

It is. I'm fairly ignorant about the game. What do you mean by "easy mode".

 

[FairXchange]

Aside from the imminent changes headed toward the series, I'm elated by the news that Dark Souls 2 is indeed real and slated for release in the coming months.

 

[twinturbo2]

Accessibility means the game will give you the tools you need to overcome challenges, but it doesn't guarantee you'll succeed and not be frustrated when you fail.

I just don't want to get my ass kicked over and over.
How would you guys do it, offering a perfect blend of accessibility and challenge? I want to hear some ideas.

 

[Varna]

It is. I'm fairly ignorant about the game. What do you mean by "easy mode".

Heavy magic user is basically easy mode.

 

[alazz]

What always gets me is that Dark Souls isn't even that difficult or unforgiving.

It's true. Hastily acting is your own fault, not the fault of the game. If anything, you just need to be prepared for the area. It's more about adjustment than skill, unless you die so often that you can't level up. I mean, the OT encourages you to read the wiki to better understand the game. Is his intention to make it "understandable" really any different?

Losing souls is a bummer but there are a lot of farming areas that make soul collection trivial. Outside the first bonfire in Anor Londo, the Wyvern Bridge, the forest covenant area, giant leeches. You can also buy those one-time use rings to prevent soul loss and sell nonessential items (and there are a ton) to Frampt.

 

[RPGamer92]

DS2 better have a boss that shoots Doritos out of its mouth.

 

[Freakinchair]

I'd stick an arrow between those.

DARK WORLD