Yeeeeeeeeeeees! I'm still knee deep in the first Dark Souls and hearing about this has just made my night!
Folks over at Neogaf are having a meltdown because apparently Edge magazine has an exclusive and the game director says they making the game "understandable" and "straightforward" to grab a bigger audience. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=503292
Though Namco's official press release kinda assures us the game will be the same difficult game we want.
My take: It is a bit alarming I admit. The game sold over a million copies, which pretty damn good for a hardcore title. I can see Namco wanting to turn into a big franchise say Halo, Assassin Creed, Call of Duty. At the same time I doubt "understandable" and "straightforward" means "easier." I would imagine they may just be streamlining things like stats and the tutorial. Or have a move list, you know how to back stab, right there viewable in a menu at all times. Or even give you a prompt over your head when you able to back stab, because I know many times I thought I was behind an enemy for a back stab and it does not come out. I've watched a ton of "virgin-no-hints" playthroughs on twitch.tv that new players easily forget how to do stuff told in the tutorial.
I hope it is not dumb down for a wider audience like everyone fears. That would be stupid of From Software, since that has never worked ever for games like this. What usually happens when a developer goes that route is it kills the game for the hardcore players that were going to buy it, however casuals were not going to buy it anyway (recent example Ninja Gaiden 3).
If From Software is smart, and I give them credit for being, the best approach to make the game more accessible would to be to have a full co-op mode from the start. Most casual players, I think, want to play with their friends anyway. Hell one of my casual gaming friends refused to buy this game after I showed it to him. However, when I mentioned you can summon other players to play with and he is was like "How come you did not tell me that at first,? Let's do it." Then explained how the system worked, how it is hard to find your other players and it's limited to areas you have not beating the boss. He was like "Oh? Nevermind then." I think full co-op mode is the route. But, I'll wait and see.
My reaction: Bring this shit on. This is right on time. I don't know if you guys have noticed but hardcore games are coming back. It's trending. Game that don't hold your hand, like FTL, XCom remake, Binding of Issac and Path of Exile. There is this MMO that I am in beta for "Wizardry Online" (yeah old school hardcore Wizardry). It's a Japanese take on the series; the best way I can describe it is FFXI mixed with Dark Souls. Been meaning to make a thread about this one.
I can't wait though. I will be pre-ordering this baby as soon as there is a collector's edition available.
We can look to the DLC as maybe the new making things "understandable" and "straightforward" approach they will be using. Pretty much in the DLC the developers seem to be more conscientious of making sure you are pointed in the right direction via NPC or developer messages. Like there is this one part where you come to a wall, and there is a developer message that makes a sound when you read it to alert you, which reads "Let there be light." Well use a light spell or your lantern and it opens the illusion wall. Before, a secret such as this would give no hint and you would have to rely on some other player accidentally discovering it then putting down a message or in a FAQ. Does not hurt the difficulty of the game because the bosses in the DLC are waaaaaay harder than much found in the main game, but indeed these hints do make getting around more understandable. I think this most likely what From will being doing in Dark Souls 2.
Hyped, just gimme more Dark Souls.
As usual NeoGaf is blowing shit out of proportion and jumping to conclusions without even really knowing anything.
I would actually prefer some clarity into the game's systems in-game. Like what stats and items do/mean. By their nature "Souls" games should not have hand-holding tutorials or waypoints showing you where to go, but I think From Soft understands that's part of the appeal, and I doubt they'd sacrifice that aspect just to make the games more accessible.
I agree with you that adding REAL co-op that you can play with your friends is the best thing they can do to make the game reach a broader audience. It's was frustrating to no end trying to get matched with anyone you know on Demon's Souls, and I was NEVER able to get it work on Dark Souls. Being able to trade equipment and items to you friends would be a nice addition too. Really they just need to make sure that having traditional co-op doesn't throw the difficulty of the game out of balance, and make sure the encounters stay complex enough that the game still retains it's challenging spirit.
It was also announced as a PC release along side consoles, which makes me happy.
*skeet skeet*
Trailer tomorrow! 12 minutes, hel yeh!
Looks damn good, I like the monsters interaction with the environments. Whats up with climbing ladder button being on B though? Throwing off my whole Dark Souls mojo.
The new HUD looks good, I like how it collapses when you're not switching items to give more screen real estate. The new monsters and environments look awesome. I can't wait for more!
Yup that's Dark Souls alright. It was cemented when dude got one shotted by the axe to the head. Can't wait!
Wow been really busy lately, but I managed to play the Network test.
Game is very very fun. After experiencing the game myself I don't see where people are getting the game feels floating and does not have the weight anymore. Yes the animations are different, but imo it feels the same. Rolling and jumping is different because it's not only tied to equipment weight but also a stat; Agility. People also complaining about swinging weapon and changing directions. Well you need to turn off all new settings that were not in Dark Souls, like "Auto-aim when not locked on." Then the game feels exactly like Dark Souls. There are changes to Stamina though, with the recovery speed. And how if you at low or no stamina and get it hit several things can happen to you it seems. Like I could either get staggered, stunned, or knocked back. Managing Stamina is more important it seems.
Really shakes things up imo if you are coming from Dark Souls. Since with the how stats are broken down now you have to make more choices on how you want to build your character. It seems you have to choose which "default" features you want from Dark Souls through stats. For example, Estus Flask drinking is very very noticeably slower than Dark Souls. However, if you put points in Agility I imagine you can eventually get it to Dark Souls drinking speeds.
Speaking of Estus, I hardly used it because of how slow it was. Seemed too risky. Using Life Gems (very slow HP recovery over time) seemed overall better for my play style. I take my time, and run if I think things are getting out of hand.
New equipment UI is going to be very PC friendly. Kudos.
The feel of Dark Souls is still there. Though I think with the new mechanics it's actually a bit tougher. They are not afraid to throw surprise Dark Phantom ambushes at you when you least expect it. Speaking of Dark Phantoms, this feels like a return to Demons' Souls. I think I encountered more Dark Phantoms in this one area of Dark Souls II than the whole of Dark Souls.
Not sure about the whole torch mechanic. I do kind of agree mostly with others impressions here, though disagree the game is too dark and it's like Doom 3 all over again. I thought it really added to the mystery. And man there is one part that did creep me out. Sound seems to play a part in giving you hints as to what is coming in these dark areas if you have no torch (I can't think of any parts in Demons' or Dark Souls where I had to depend on sound).
I killed both bosses. And there was quite a few things I missed because of limited time, like items and areas. The last hour of the test they enabled "High Difficult" mode to test balancing. Was not that bad, except some stuff doing a lot more damage.
I did stream and have video footage of the entire thing if anyone is interested. I am not posting it willy nilly for two reasons. One, it's against the terms to take video from beta. Two, my streaming software decided to reset the screen region and capture resolution when I hit full screen on my capture software (Aver Media player). So the video quality is bad, in that only a little more than the upper left region of the screen was captured and for some reason it decided to stream at 480p for some reason. You can still see most of the character, health bar, and a little bit of the item UI in the lower left. So it's a little more than 1/4 of the upper left screen. You can still make out what is going on though. But it's got that bootleg feel lol.
There is also a 14 minute section I highlighted and upload to youtube that kind of summarizes my experience. So let me know if you guys want to see.
Dying Intensifies
Soon! Apparently this game has a shit ton of content and bosses. Way more than Dark Souls and it's DLC combined. And NG+ supposedly has exclusive enemies, different enemy placement, and exclusive items this time around. Only a few more days!
Twelve hours played so far. Game so far is better than Dark Souls for me. It's definitely harder, considering I am very familiar with the gameplay from playing hours and hours of Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. Getting my ass handed to me. Love the changes, like the UI. Game seems to take the best parts of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls; though it seems to be a bit closer to Demon's Souls in a lot of ways.
Only thing that is a bit disappointing is the interconnected open world seems to be faked this time around. It's how they did it in Metroid Prime (which is not bad tbh) from I can tell. Meaning there is still a sense of space and where things are in world. However, when you head to a place where another area should be, it is just cleverly loaded in via tunnels and elevators. When you try to view other areas there is either walls and mountains to cover it up or a scaled down representation in the background because the area you are looking at does not seem to be physically there, which is unlike Dark Souls. In Dark Souls, you can see how everything is packed together and connected, like you can see Demon Ruins from Tomb of the Giants (there is map viewer for PC so you can see how everything is connected). When see one area from another in Dark Souls it is the actual physical game area that you are looking.
I imagine there is a technical limitation, in the same way it was for Metroid Prime, for having the world like this because the game world is larger than Dark Souls. The flip side is you still get an open world with clever shortcuts of Dark Souls, but some of that Hub World with focused atmosphere "levels" that a lot of people enjoyed better with Demon's Souls too. As mentioned this game is not only larger than Dark Souls, plus DLC, but pack with more content per space used. It's insane. There is a lot of stuff to do in this game. Then you have new stuff to look forward to in NG+ and NG++ (confirmed). Crazy! Really, the cool thing about the world design is you have more options on where you want to go. If you get stuck on a boss, you can just go work through another area. Should make multiple playthroughs feel fresh as well.
Beat it. Game is excellent. The cool thing is it does not go straight to New Game+ allowing you to finish up any content you did not do. Man does this game have a shit ton of content. Not only that is the multiplayer a lot better thanks to dedicated servers. As far as difficulty, yea this game is harder than Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. You will get owned, and then there is NG+ where "The real Dark Souls II starts here." Good shit! Finished up the loose ends and already excited about not only starting NG+ and ++ but also a new character. And there is also a reward for both beating the game with no resting at Bonfires and Not dying! Man this game. So fucking good!
Will be playing this for months to come and then once again for PC version.
Still waiting for the master race version to come out. /tap
Pre-Downloading this badboy as we speak on mah PC.
Man PC version vs PS3 version is night and day. Only hell does native 1080p, better texture quality, and most of all 60 FPS make a difference. The sound quality seems better too.
For those that waited for PC release hope you enjoy your first playthrough as much as I did. Really my favorite Souls as of now because it's a lot more consistent (no drop in quality late game like most every thing after Anor Londo), a lot more variety in weapon and armor selection, and nice quality of life changes. Dark Souls has the better boss designs and higher highs, while this one does a great job of mixing the good elements of Demons' and Dark Souls. Covenants are a lot more fun. Not to mention NG+ has new stuff.
A bit of a shame that they nerfed some of the bosses before PC release with the current patch. Also, a later area in the game got nerfed, but I think it was well deserved because it was complete bullshit. It might still be pretty rough still, did not play it after nerf on PS3.
And man death counter already high. I am surprised this many people were on the PC version. It peaked at 58k on Steam.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/540742399400360842/
PC version broke; it is highly suggested that you lock your FPS to 30 until FROM fixes some rather nasty bugs.
Interesting. Why did it take a month for folks to notice? Did not notice much difference compared to PS3 version except gameplay was much smoother with the 60 fps. Though come to think dodge rolling was giving me trouble on a few bosses and enemies and I remember thinking "I just did this shit the other day on PS3 with same build, no way I am rusty so soon."
Some people noticed earlier, though a lot were the same as you and I where it was more of a "am I just sucking a bit today?" deal, or of course the classic 'getgud' replies to people inquiring. The difference is quite noticeable locking the PC version to 30fps. Easily 1 shot the Pursuer once I did so, while prior I would just get whittled down to glancing hits during dodges that I felt should have been invuln frames. I also had the curse attack bs hit me like the gif in the steam post on two occasions. That and the durability of my dual club power build was just so insanely short, nearly breaking both weapons killing 6 old knights (which I can 2 shot with an L1 + L1) just going to one of the bosses in Heid's. It was after all that when I started poking around forums trying to figure out wtf was wrong.
I hate running it at 30 fps compared to 60, but having to pack around 6 fucking clubs due to how fast they break from their power stance attack striking the ground is even worse.
So hows everyone doing on this game? I picked it up a few weeks before I went on the boat and felt like a total scrub. I died like a million times to the first fat looking troll dood hiding behind some rocks next to the house where you start the game with the old ladies. Managed to kill him eventually but my health bar was sooooo low. Then I made out into the town looking area with the Green herald chick and almost got raped by some zombie pigs. Now I'm just trying to figure out what the fuck to do. I think I started off as a night or a swordsman. You guys have any recommendation on builds or what I should do first?
I was looking at the leaderboards and I hate that all the builds people have look stupid, a bunch weird mismatching gear.
Poison arrows are almost a must have investment for melee in this game just due to the less than ideal method of "making the game hard"; which consists of a small side of bullshit with a heavy dose of 'MOAR MONSTERS'! The vast majority of fights in this game consist of spending a few minutes figuring out the strike patterns, waiting till the 2-3-4 swing sets, move in and get off a hit then back out. Repeat till you win, or die being too greedy trying to end the fight before boredom sets in.
The 2h mace dragonshrine fucks are the dictionary definition of bullshit in Dark Souls 2. Lets give generic oversized humanoid with a massive 2h weapon unlimited stamina to chain attacks non stop. Enjoy melee players!
Well, whenever I play these Dark Souls games I make it a point to exhaust every NPC dialogue I can just because I like to learn as much about the world as possible. So not too worried about that.
I've made a lot of progress these past few days, I least I feel like I have. Killed the Pursuer, The Forgotten one, The Ruined sentinals, The Dragonslayer and Old Dragonslayer. I thought the Old Dragonslayer was a cool throwback to Ornstein. I've been going for a pretty Melee focused billed. 25 on Dex and Str with 21 on my equip load stat. Went down the pit in Majula and got to the Rat Vanguard boss fight where I got owned cause I didn't have enough health recovery shit. Been using partial Dranglic armor with Falconer body set and the Dranglic sword which is pretty beast. Been wondering if there is some kinda of secret or something for lighting all the torch spots in this game. Been trying to do it anytime I can and now that I have those fire butterfly items its a lot easier to do it.
Also yeah I've been playing it offline, think I managed to get the patch though, its still fucking hard though. But I've been doing pretty good at thinking outside the box and overcoming the challenges I come across.
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