DARK SOULS II Announced - [PC/PS3/360 - PR in OP]

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Should try this someday, but I never hear about anything other than "everything will kill you over and over again and you'll like it".

I had a machine that smacked me in the nuts every time I pulled a lever and that got boring after a while, so why should I try this?

Seriously, how is the story, atmosphere, characters, are there any villages, exploration...?

The Souls games belong to the anti-spoonfed category of entertainment. They leave bits and pieces here and there and it's up to the player to put them together or not. If you want story, atmosphere, characters, etc they're totally there, just not with big signs on top of them that say LOOK LORE AND BACKSTORY HERE. There are no civilizations, only remnants, which is the basic premise of both games.

The games are not hard, at all.. they just came out in a generation where the way games are presented and tutorialized have changed. They're the equivalent of old school side scrollers, Mega Man even, where trying to rush through a level for the first time will inevitably lead you to falling for a trap the stage has set. Once you know the trap is there, it's only carelessness that allows you to fall for it again.

The combat does require a bit of video gaming skill though. Man..I feel like I've written this post..100x..over years now..

Jesus Christ, there a lot of misconceptions about this game and the challenge it offers, apparently.

Basically this.
 
Anybody known more about that "director" Tomohiro Shibuya? All I can find under his name is that he's some chief graphics designer at DAG Inc. and as such has been minorly involved in the Monster Hunter series. No prior involvement with Dark Souls, doesn't look particularly connected to From at all...
I was told that Shibuya was the director of ACE:R and Tanimura was the director of ACE3.
 
It's more like everything will kill you over and over. Until you learn to kill everything just as effectively


Incredible on all fronts

There is lots of exploration. Story has a minimalist approach but the world building is second to none.

That's perfect for me. I'm not big on overwhelming story if I can freely explore a huge, creative world.

And as for the difficulty, I was a bit turned off by that, if only because I have started to suck in my old age - the eyes are getting worse and I don't have the time to practice anymore with a full time job, wife and kid - same reason I don't play competitive online multiplayer games anymore.

But I am willing to put some time into a single player RPG and screw around.

Jesus Christ, there a lot of misconceptions about this game and the challenge it offers, apparently.

Well few people mention anything else, which is why I asked.

The Souls games belong to the anti-spoonfed category of entertainment. They leave bits and pieces here and there and it's up to the player to put them together or not. If you want story, atmosphere, characters, etc they're totally there, just not with big signs on top of them that say LOOK LORE AND BACKSTORY HERE. There are no civilizations, only remnants, which is the basic premise of both games.

The games are not hard, at all.. they just came out in a generation where the way games are presented and tutorialized have changed. They're the equivalent of old school side scrollers, Mega Man even, where trying to rush through a level for the first time will inevitably lead you to falling for a trap the stage has set. Once you know the trap is there, it's only carelessness that allows you to fall for it again.

The combat does require a bit of video gaming skill though. Man..I feel like I've written this post..100x..over years now..



Basically this.

Well, like I said, my main concern wasn't really the combat, but the rest of the game which is rarely spoken of outside of dedicated threads (which I skip because, having not played the game and not fostered much interest I just don't look at them...much like sports threads).

So I'm already sold on the game based on what you and Chuck said. I love love LOVE a fucking post-apocalyptic medieval world and I love a sense of mystery and despair and haunted atmosphere.
 
Should try this someday, but I never hear about anything other than "everything will kill you over and over again and you'll like it".

I had a machine that smacked me in the nuts every time I pulled a lever and that got boring after a while, so why should I try this?

Seriously, how is the story, atmosphere, characters, are there any villages, exploration...?

The atmosphere is dark and mysterious; NPCs are small in number but memorable; there are no villages, exactly, but Demon's Souls has a safe hub area, and Dark Souls plays out in the ruins of multiple cities. The games are all about carefully exploring your environments. Dark Souls in particular has a large, beautiful world full of interconnecting areas and secrets.

Both games have effective stories, but neither is a straightforward, narrative experience. They're a bit like Metroid Prime in that there is more context than plot. Dark Souls, for example, has an immense amount of lore, but you have to talk to NPCs, read item descriptions, and study your environments if you want to pull the threads together. It's not that the story is hidden, exactly (although certain deeper questions require inferential reasoning). It's just that the game doesn't have info-dump cutscenes. You're free to talk to NPCs or not.

As others have pointed out, the difficulty should not be a deal-breaker for anyone who is basically proficient at 3D games. The Souls games are harder than average, yes, and you will die a lot, but you can beat the game by being thoughtful rather than highly-skilled. Plus you can summon allies to help you.
 
You know i didnt even notice that there wasnt a map until just now :P

There is one. In your head. Pretty sure I could map out both games completely from memory right now if you asked me to. Maybe everything but Demon's 3-2.
 
Most of Demon's Souls levels are pretty short and straight-forward to be honest, maps aren't needed.

Which is why I was always so confused at people thinking the game was OMG SO HARD..or even people complaining about 5-2. 5-2 can be done in like 45 seconds haha.
 
Which is why I was always so confused at people thinking the game was OMG SO HARD..or even people complaining about 5-2. 5-2 can be done in like 45 seconds haha.

I do think it was hard for most of us the first time.You here people say Dark/Demon's isn't hard but they forget the trouble they had on their first playthrough.
 
I do think it was hard for most of us the first time.You here people say Dark/Demon's is hard but they forget the trouble they had on their first playthrough.

I remember reading here on gaf that it took people DAYS to beat 1-1, or to even get to the point where they unlocked the gate to the boss. That's just..crazy. I beat 1-1 in about an hour. I honestly didn't find the game difficult in the slightest. I died way more due to pvp than to the enemies/bosses. And no, I'm not "hardcore" or a super gamer. I was married with kids when I played both games lol, had to get up at 4am to even play.

I seriously attribute the "difficulty" people had to a sort of desensitizing of gamers nowadays. They don't make games like Souls anymore, which is why it's so popular, no?
 
A lot of people aren't playing these games (or any?!) more than once, so they never get any better at it.

Complete the game, check it off the to do list. So their memories are "OMGZ Blighttown!!!!1! OMG fuck O&S so cheap!!!1!"

I remember hating 5-2 in DeS, but went back and played it again recently and found it wasn't as difficult as I remember, it was just it was new to me, I hated it and never wanted to play that level again. This time around I loved it, up there with Boletaria and Latria for atmosphere and fun.
 
I remember reading here on gaf that it took people DAYS to beat 1-1, or to even get to the point where they unlocked the gate to the boss. That's just..crazy. I beat 1-1 in about an hour. I honestly didn't find the game difficult in the slightest. I died way more due to pvp than to the enemies/bosses. And no, I'm not "hardcore" or a super gamer. I was married with kids when I played both games lol, had to get up at 4am to even play.

I seriously attribute the "difficulty" people had to a sort of desensitizing of gamers nowadays. They don't make games like Souls anymore, which is why it's so popular, no?

Well you do have a point.I have to say when i picked up Dark Souls the gargoyles were the hardest for me...died countless times to them.After that it was smooth sailing( obviously i had deaths) but for the most part with the exception Smough and Ornstein i got the hang of it pretty quickly.
 
I always felt that while hard, Dark/Demon are more easy when you take your time and think carefully your actions, clearly both games punishes the player when he gets confident or harsh.
 
A lot of people aren't playing these games (or any?!) more than once, so they never get any better at it.

Complete the game, check it off the to do list. So their memories are "OMGZ Blighttown!!!!1! OMG fuck O&S so cheap!!!1!"

I remember hating 5-2 in DeS, but went back and played it again recently and found it wasn't as difficult as I remember, it was just it was new to me, I hated it and never wanted to play that level again. This time around I loved it, up there with Boletaria and Latria for atmosphere and fun.

Boletaria Castle is seriously the best kingdom/castle level of any game ever. The design and layout is so, so good.

Well you do have a point.I have to say when i picked up Dark Souls the gargoyles were the hardest for me...died countless times to them.After that it was smooth sailing( obviously i had deaths) but for the most part with the exception Smough and Ornstein i got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Haha, yeah, I read this a lot too. I one shotted the gargoyles my first time.. solo even. Some how I missed the summoning point for Solaire. Man I used that tail axe for like 30 hours.. S&O I purposely didn't summon anyone to make sure I got O down first. That's such a ridiculously fun fight, especially on any NG+.
 
Hopefully it has true multiplayer this time.

No thank you, enough "straight forward" mp games out there. If they manage to fix the kinks of their current system the MP portion of Dark Souls is one of the best parts of the game ( again, in theory... when it bloody works ).
 
Hopefully it has true multiplayer this time.

They just need to refine the Covenant stuff by making it much easier to connect with friends if you're all in the same Covenant. Book of the Guilty needs to be expanded on, giving particular Covenant a reason to go hunting players.

Also, the summoning stuff is a bit clunky. Just give us the Nexus back to make a PSO style hub and team up and then go into the worlds alive and have the rest of the world open and sprawling like Dark Souls.
 
If they bring back convenants they need to not have multiple useless ones in the game.

Also they need NEED to have armored core x ace combat x idolm@ster DLC armour and etc. Please namco please.
 
I always felt that while hard, Dark/Demon are more easy when you take your time and think carefully your actions, clearly both games punishes the player when he gets confident or harsh.

I think most people think of the Souls games as repackaged NES games, where the checkpoints are nightmares and success mostly comes from memorizing every step of the game. This is true to some extent, but the actual combat is only difficult because people are so used to games with block buttons that are, for all practical purposes, affectations. How many games have you played where there was a block button, but the game gave you 17 other things you could spam instead that were far quicker and more efficient?

I'll never forget the first time I played Demon's Souls I was trying to mow through things like I was playing Champions of Norrath or something and kept dying on the starting staircase. Once I realized this was a game where the shield wasn't window dressing, it all came together.

It's methodical gameplay, and I think that's a turn off for a lot of people nowadays. That's actually just fine, the pace of the gameplay may well just turn you off. But if you're patient with it, you might find it rewarding, and in a way that has been lacking for the better portion of a decade.
 
They just need to refine the Covenant stuff by making it much easier to connect with friends if you're all in the same Covenant. Book of the Guilty needs to be expanded on, giving particular Covenant a reason to go hunting players.

Also, the summoning stuff is a bit clunky. Just give us the Nexus back to make a PSO style hub and team up and then go into the worlds alive and have the rest of the world open and sprawling like Dark Souls.

Do not want.

If they bring back convenants they need to not have multiple useless ones in the game.

Also they need NEED to have armored core x ace combat x idolm@ster DLC armour and etc. Please namco please.

Definitely do not want.
 
Things I wanna see in a Dark Souls 2:
- have objects be actual objects in the game world instead of floating orbs
- better/new message system
- actual moving mouths on characters when they talk
- have areas feel less like areas and more like part of a world (have enemies that don't just back away once you get out of a certain area or another kind of persistent threat)
- more invasions (have for example areas where you can be invaded even if not human)
- less boxed-in multiplayer where you can't use bonfires/ leave the area
 
I think the basic ideas behind the covenants were fantastic, they just need to be more polished.

In particular, I hope that they bring the Gravelord mechanic back -- but in a more useful and impactful fashion.
 
I think the basic ideas behind the covenants were fantastic, they just need to be more polished.

In particular, I hope that they bring the Gravelord mechanic back -- but in a more useful and impactful fashion.

Agreed, it will probably work much better with a dedicated server system.
 
I think the 9 covenants might have been to represent the 9 alignments from D&D. But it did seem like it would be better to have fewer, more functionally diverse covenants than having 3 co-op friendly ones or whatever that just seemed superfluous.
 
If we're talking about what we'd like from the game, I have some ideas in my head.

- A greater, more unique premise. Dark Souls seems very light and not too interesting in the main plot of the game, but it's the lore of the world that was interesting. Why can't the sequel try to make the goals a little more interesting.
- Give Covenants more of a prominent feeling in the game. What I mean is many of the Covenants didn't have explanations, and felt like disconnected factions. Having Covenants that seem to have more pervasive effects in the game world, or even Covenants designed for team-based gameplay would be interesting. Imagine if there was a Covenant that had many people invade one players game at once, like a team of assassins? Or even, for the sadist in me, spawn in boss rooms and work with the boss to take down foes?
- More variety in spells. While I think spells are often what can make these fantasy RPGs from From so simplified, having a more diverse library of spells at your disposal seems cool. Primarily you had fire spells, projectile spells, and buff spells. The thing was so many of those types of spells seemed to overlap with one another.
- Less reuses of bosses. I hope maybe a larger focus will be on more unique fights, but Dark Souls got a little lazy when all of the ____ Demons with the big booties all really fought the same. Make each fight its own thing like in Demon's Souls, so that there's always some level of uniqueness to each fight. Repeating bosses and recoloring them, or having them appear elsewhere loses the uniqueness of those creatures.
 
I think the 9 covenants might have been to represent the 9 alignments from D&D. But it did seem like it would be better to have fewer, more functionally diverse covenants than having 3 co-op friendly ones or whatever that just seemed superfluous.

4 or 5 would be fine but flesh them out and give them their own starting area. Would be way more interesting to delve into the Covenant lore as well as the world lore.
 
Things I wanna see in a Dark Souls 2:
- have objects be actual objects in the game world instead of floating orbs- better/new message system
- actual moving mouths on characters when they talk
- have areas feel less like areas and more like part of a world (have enemies that don't just back away once you get out of a certain area or another kind of persistent threat)
- more invasions (have for example areas where you can be invaded even if not human)
- less boxed-in multiplayer where you can't use bonfires/ leave the area

This one I actually strongly disagree with, simply because of the subtle brilliance of having them being white light. When you see them off in a distant area, they draw your attention, which in turn promotes the exploration of the area. It also helps to promote experimentation if said items are somewhat inaccessible; a good example of this being the Covetous Serpent Ring in Sen's Fortress. It's one of the very first items you actually see in the entrance, but getting to it is where the challenge lies, and I don't think that would have been possible if they hadn't been dangling it like they do with the current item display setup.
 
This one I actually strongly disagree with, simply because of the subtle brilliance of having them being white light. When you see them off in a distant area, they draw your attention, which in turn promotes the exploration of the area. It also helps to promote experimentation if said items are somewhat inaccessible; a good example of this being the Covetous Serpent Ring in Sen's Fortress. It's one of the very first items you actually see in the entrance, but getting to it is where the challenge lies, and I don't think that would have been possible if they hadn't been dangling it like they do with the current item display setup.

Along with this, I also enjoyed the mystery of not knowing what the item was until you actually pick it up.
 
I think the basic ideas behind the covenants were fantastic, they just need to be more polished.

In particular, I hope that they bring the Gravelord mechanic back -- but in a more useful and impactful fashion.

The Gravelord covenant is amazing in theory, but it was shit in practice. If they improve the rate of infection and give you some kind of reward when one of your BPs ganks some dude, then it would be really awesome.

"Amazing in theory, shit in practice" describes a lot of the multiplayer in Dark Souls really.
 
Any particular reason?

They can still retain the solo play of Demon's Souls. while letting players actually team without the clunky soapstone troubles.

The brilliance of Demon's was that hopelessness you had even with companions. No way to communicate, no way to coordinate (putting aside the tricks we eventually found out later). The same is true for Dark. This game is not meant to be tag teamed by friends with headsets. Going in and having no idea who your ally/enemy will be is the main draw. It's the same reason a game like Journey is so unique.
 
If we're talking about what we'd like from the game, I have some ideas in my head.

- A greater, more unique premise. Dark Souls seems very light and not too interesting in the main plot of the game, but it's the lore of the world that was interesting. Why can't the sequel try to make the goals a little more interesting.
- Give Covenants more of a prominent feeling in the game. What I mean is many of the Covenants didn't have explanations, and felt like disconnected factions. Having Covenants that seem to have more pervasive effects in the game world, or even Covenants designed for team-based gameplay would be interesting. Imagine if there was a Covenant that had many people invade one players game at once, like a team of assassins? Or even, for the sadist in me, spawn in boss rooms and work with the boss to take down foes?
- More variety in spells. While I think spells are often what can make these fantasy RPGs from From so simplified, having a more diverse library of spells at your disposal seems cool. Primarily you had fire spells, projectile spells, and buff spells. The thing was so many of those types of spells seemed to overlap with one another.
- Less reuses of bosses. I hope maybe a larger focus will be on more unique fights, but Dark Souls got a little lazy when all of the ____ Demons with the big booties all really fought the same. Make each fight its own thing like in Demon's Souls, so that there's always some level of uniqueness to each fight. Repeating bosses and recoloring them, or having them appear elsewhere loses the uniqueness of those creatures.

I would like to add weapon and armor rebalancing. Sometimes you need 50 strength for a weapon that is somehow still worse than one that needs half as much. Wearing Havel's armor or leather armor is a minor difference in damage. Heavy armor should make you slow, but make weak enemy blade attacks do very little damage. Many weapons are overall fairly useless too. Fist weapons for instance. Sure you have videos of people using them well, but they are not as practical overall. There are a handful of weapons that most people seem to use.

In Demon's Souls, switching to a morning star to smash skeletons was worthwhile, even if it was not upgraded. In Dark Souls, you essentially need to upgrade something to make it worthwhile later, making you have to grind to keep different weapons for different situations. While certain weapons in Dark Souls will cause skeletons to fall apart more readily, they are still not as useful.

Going farther on the armor front, armor that works for certain situations does exist in Dark Souls, like anti-fire, anti-curse, whatnot, but I would like to see more of it. Something like spiked armor to lower damage of slash attacks, strong back plating to limit backstab damage, thing like that. I also end up going to 1 or 2 armors for the most part, in all my runs past the first. This is also because I basically pick what looks nice, since most armors do not have much of difference in the damage you take. I'm not saying to make it so much that you need to change your armor for every situation, but more like having a unique armor set be part of your build plan, and not having everyone using the same armor sets and rings, as seems to be the case now. They have rebalanced a lot of overused gear for Dark Souls, but I hope they do something from the start to encourage larger amounts of useful builds in both PVP and PVE.

Stuff like the gravelord covenant working better would be nice too. I hope they keep the covenant system, but make it work better.
 
This one I actually strongly disagree with, simply because of the subtle brilliance of having them being white light. When you see them off in a distant area, they draw your attention, which in turn promotes the exploration of the area. It also helps to promote experimentation if said items are somewhat inaccessible; a good example of this being the Covetous Serpent Ring in Sen's Fortress. It's one of the very first items you actually see in the entrance, but getting to it is where the challenge lies, and I don't think that would have been possible if they hadn't been dangling it like they do with the current item display setup.

It would be good to combine the two ideas though.

Having something tangible in the world is better for immersion, but having a little light to show you the way is great too for the reasons you listed.

For the Zwei, it would be great if there was a piece of light, but you could see the fully rendered item on the ground. Taunts you into trying to acquire it from the skeleton army guarding it.
 
Which is why I was always so confused at people thinking the game was OMG SO HARD..or even people complaining about 5-2. 5-2 can be done in like 45 seconds haha.

I generally agree, but the part where you're walking across the swamp constantly disorientated me. I'd get into a fight with something, which involved moving around, circling the opponent, and when I'd kill it I'd have no idea which was I was going and which way I came. I'd follow the torches only to realize I was backtracking. Repeat that every major fight in that section.
 
I feel that the game just needs to have an optional section that thoroughly explains the basics (take it slow, figure out the enemy patterns, every action counts, etc...) instead of watering down the overall difficulty.

Yep that is what I was saying. Something like a separate tutorial option in the menu that holds your hand through the basic elements of the game and allows you to try them out as well. They can also try to explain the differences between certain weapons, like what some of the stats in the weapon descriptions are and how one sword and another may seem similar but have different movesets and can be used to adjust to your playstyle.

For example, I told my friend the Baldar Shield is super awesome, but he compared stats with the Knight Shield he was using and said he could not tell the difference. Stability being an important part of shields is something you may figure out as you play, but someone who just equips whatever may never figure that out and end up being extra frustrated at a part where he can't block attacks and not understand why.
 
The brilliance of Demon's was that hopelessness you had even with companions. No way to communicate, no way to coordinate (putting aside the tricks we eventually found out later). The same is true for Dark. This game is not meant to be tag teamed by friends with headsets. Going in and having no idea who your ally/enemy will be is the main draw. It's the same reason a game like Journey is so unique.

Fair enough but do you think that having a third game with the same mechanic is really going to keep things fresh? I am all for keeping the same solo feel but at least give players the option to team up in an easier and less problematic way. I love DS for the solo adventure but I also love it when I get a few friends together and get murdered by monsters. :D

I am sure they can make a co-op version just as fun, even more so if they balance things correctly. Sure you don't want 4 players just zerging everything but having some co-op puzzles in there that basically force the team to split up could offer some compelling gameplay if they nail it.
 
Yep that is what I was saying. Something like a separate tutorial option in the menu that holds your hand through the basic elements of the game and allows you to try them out as well. They can also try to explain the differences between certain weapons, like what some of the stats in the weapon descriptions are and how one sword and another may seem similar but have different movesets and can be used to adjust to your playstyle.

For example, I told my friend the Baldar Shield is super awesome, but he compared stats with the Knight Shield he was using and said he could not tell the difference. Stability being an important part of shields is something you may figure out as you play, but someone who just equips whatever may never figure that out and end up being extra frustrated at a part where he can't block attacks and not understand why.

This would be a perfect way to ease people into the series without jeopardizing the gameplay or balance.

Fair enough but do you think that having a third game with the same mechanic is really going to keep things fresh? I am all for keeping the same solo feel but at least give players the option to team up in an easier and less problematic way. I love DS for the solo adventure but I also love it when I get a few friends together and get murdered by monsters. :D

I am sure they can make a co-op version just as fun, even more so if they balance things correctly. Sure you don't want 4 players just zerging everything but having some co-op puzzles in there that basically force the team to split up could offer some compelling gameplay if they nail it.

You can get together with friends fairly easily in Dark Souls. I remember teaming up with some GAF guys and it only took a couple minutes and an out of the way corner.

Will probably be made even easier with dedicated servers and possible steamworks integration.
 
It would be good to combine the two ideas though.

Having something tangible in the world is better for immersion, but having a little light to show you the way is great too for the reasons you listed.

For the Zwei, it would be great if there was a piece of light, but you could see the fully rendered item on the ground. Taunts you into trying to acquire it from the skeleton army guarding it.

I think that's why the current setup makes the most sense currently, because rings would be really hard to see as a fully rendered item, even on the PC version. Perhaps a compromise in the form of how they currently handle player-dropped items, which have a simple 3D model showing off the kind of item that it is?
 
You can get together with friends fairly easily in Dark Souls. I remember teaming up with some GAF guys and it only took a couple minutes and an out of the way corner.

Will probably be made even easier with dedicated servers and possible steamworks integration.

If they make it easier, they most of the issues get sorted. I am sure most players here have had connection issues when summoning, or invasions not working out etc.

I loved the idea of the Fires, where they shows players appearing as ghosts but it very rarely happened. Would be awesome to expand on that and actually have the Fireplaces at areas to team up and venture forth.

Would be cool to have World Tendency back in though.
 
Should try this someday, but I never hear about anything other than "everything will kill you over and over again and you'll like it".

I had a machine that smacked me in the nuts every time I pulled a lever and that got boring after a while, so why should I try this?

Seriously, how is the story, atmosphere, characters, are there any villages, exploration...?
This was posted before and is relevant here:
Rpnlc.jpg


Players who think Dark Souls is too hard and unforgiving are Adventure #2.

Don't be a #2 and the game is actually easy.
 
^^that is awesome and true in a lot of cases. Surely not every death happens due to carelessness, but being careful almost always yields better progress.
 
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