From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Jaedar]

From what I understand, the first two souls games were made under Miyazakis iron fist, where all attempts of streamlining and making it easy were thoroughly discourages.

We'll see.

 

[Crooked Bee]

It would really suck if Dark Souls II went the way of streamlining and lost the previous games' edge, challenge and atmosphere. So far From Software has been the only RPG company I'm aware of that kept the quality of its games consistently very high and didn't follow the path of the decline.

 

[Monocause]

It would really suck if Dark Souls II went the way of streamlining and lost the previous games' edge, challenge and atmosphere. So far From Software has been the only RPG company I'm aware of that kept the quality of its games consistently very high and didn't follow the path of the decline.

Fortunately it's the Japs we're talking about here, and Japanese company culture is diffirent, so the Codexian Cassandra might be wrong, at once. I'm not an expert on Japanese games but from what I've seen and played they understand the meaning of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" much better than our western corporate overlords, always on the move to strike even bigger figures and failing horribly at some point.

I hope that day 1 PC release means it will be finally playable on mouse&keyboard, and interface will have at least some convenience improvements. Controls were such a pain in the ass that I gave up on the first game real quick on PC.

 

[taxalot]

From what I hear, the Dark Souls series also descend from the King's Field series which had around the same gameplay. They have a long legacy of doing things right. An easy Dark Souls would be pretty much pointless. I trust them on this one, they aren't Square-Enix.

 

[Emily]

I am a little worried for the new director. However this is FROM we are talking about here, decades of no-compromise work behind them, i doubt they will turn popamole.

 

[praetor]

hopefully the "more direct approach" (or whatever) will only be in the story department. but i'll wait for some gameplay vids before passing judgement. and i'm happy this'll be released for the current gen of consoles so i won't have to buy a new rig to play it (and i guess it means it'll be released winter 2013 at the latest?)

 

[Mortmal]

If it was under miyazakis iron fist again, i would say day 1 purchase as well. But right now its better to not be too optimistic about it, that edge interview is worrying indeed, it screams we want skyrim sales.They want more straighforward and understandable? Who here had any trouble understanding dark souls factions, seriously ?

 

[ShlongMaster]

Everyone turns popamole eventually, or stops making games alltogether. It's just a matter of time.

 

[Surf Solar]

Oh how I yourn for MOAR! Dark Souls, but this doesnt sound very promising..

 

[Bladderfish]

From that Edge article:

“[Dark Souls II] will be more straightforward and more understandable.” We sympathise if that sort of statement concerns you, but at the same time, we can surely agree that we would all like to see Dark Souls attain as great a presence as The Elder Scrolls. How it gets there is a worthy matter for debate, but it’s certainly a noble task.


What the hell is wrong with some journalists? Can't they understand the simple fact that by making a game more palatable to the lager-drinking, pop-listening majority they'll take away the very thing that make them worth playing? The Elder Scrolls seems has consistently removed any depth or complexity from their games until they've become nothing but an Explore-Em-Up! If that was to happen to Dark Souls, I'd consider murder.

 

[St. Toxic]

DaS was already a step down from DeS. This trend will hardly change.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Entire systems, such as Dark Souls’ covenants and Demon’s Souls’ World Tendency, remain mysteries to even reasonably experienced players – wouldn’t it be a service to the games to help everyone understand them better? On the other hand, isn’t the very nature of the Souls series about obfuscation and what it makes you work for? Aren’t its greatest pleasures about the slow crawl of discovery in a world that refuses easy interpretation? What would the series lose if it was made more explicit?

So we want to please everyone! Combine the best of both worlds! Be accessible! History has proven that it always goes right!

INB4 big pile of dung incoming

 

[praetor]

DaS was already a step down from DeS. This trend will hardly change.

how so? they pretty much fixed most of the stuff that made DeS too easy (grasses, massive amounts of HP regen, mana-based magic etc..) or too tedious (unnecessarily diversified upgrade paths for "normal" damage that required way too much farming) and introduced new mechanics that made it more fun and diverse in MP (covenants, although most don't really work all that well, and they could use quite a bit more work and thought put behind them), just to name a few things...

 

[Bitcher1]

Have to say it would be damn near hysterical if the first game in the series to be released simultaneously on PCs also ended up to be the first one to go the popamole route. For once consoletards could taste the joys of seeing your beloved franchise going multiplatform.
That said, it's way too early to make any definite predictions.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

I should be optimistic, but " they intend to mould Dark Souls II into a more approachable form" kills it for me so far. I love Dark Souls as much as I can love a modern game, but I'm not waiting for it.

 

[felipepepe]

Yeah, that talk at EDGE made me shiver...

I personally am the sort of person who likes to be more direct than subtle

FUCK, this and the lack of qualifications in this new director makes me feel he is just a way they found to stop Miyazaki's from having control... and make thing more streamlined.

The addition of a "easy mode" is not as bad as all the lore & mechanics dumbing down it will probably have...

 

[St. Toxic]

how so? they pretty much fixed most of the stuff that made DeS too easy (grasses, massive amounts of HP regen, mana-based magic etc..)

And yet DaS is easier, with all the campfires, less traps and ambushes, fewer enemies that can kill you in 1 hit or with stunkills.

or too tedious (unnecessarily diversified upgrade paths for "normal" damage that required way too much farming)

So you can farm for upgrades a lot easier huh?

and introduced new mechanics that made it more fun and diverse in MP (covenants, although most don't really work all that well, and they could use quite a bit more work and thought put behind them), just to name a few things...

So they added some broken features huh?

 

[Metro]

Incoming:

1) Dumbed down gameplay;
2) Easier difficulty;
3) Smaller world; and of course...
4) Shitty item DLC.

 

[felipepepe]

St. Toxic, still the game itself was harder. DeS had some very gimmicky bosses, like that retarded metal spider, that were just annoying. DaS bosses are way more interesting and hard, even if some of them seemed reused concepts from DeS, they seemed to all be much more balanced and challenging.

 

[praetor]

how so? they pretty much fixed most of the stuff that made DeS too easy (grasses, massive amounts of HP regen, mana-based magic etc..)

And yet DaS is easier, with all the campfires, less traps and ambushes, fewer enemies that can kill you in 1 hit or with stunkills.

but DaS isn't easier... plenty of enemies that can kill you in 1 hit if you don't have high enough Vit (just like in DeS, if not more so), and a good variety of enemies and bosses with unblockable attacks (like grabs), enemies that respawn if you don't kill the summoner or don't use a specific type of weapons, enemies that buff everything nearby (making even dredglings a danger), and no shitty, boring enemies like the bearbugs from 2-2. the only thing DeS has arguably "better" when it comes to enemies are the NPC black phantoms (but that's mainly because you fight them on really unfavourable terrain and they have more HP than the ones in DaS)

or too tedious (unnecessarily diversified upgrade paths for "normal" damage that required way too much farming)

So you can farm for upgrades a lot easier huh?

less tedious and less pointlessly "complex". but hey, if you like spending 10s of hours farming for that pure bladestone, more power to you..

and introduced new mechanics that made it more fun and diverse in MP (covenants, although most don't really work all that well, and they could use quite a bit more work and thought put behind them), just to name a few things...

So they added some broken features huh?

still less "broken" than DeS's magic

 

[St. Toxic]

St. Toxic, still the game itself was harder. DeS had some very gimmicky bosses, like that retarded metal spider, that were just annoying. DaS bosses are way more interesting and hard, even if some of them seemed reused concepts from DeS, they seemed to all be much more balanced and challenging.

Can't agree with that. I thought the game and the bosses in DaS were a lot easier.

but DaS isn't easier... plenty of enemies that can kill you in 1 hit if you don't have high enough Vit (just like in DeS, if not more so), and a good variety of enemies and bosses with unblockable attacks (like grabs), enemies that respawn if you don't kill the summoner or don't use a specific type of weapons, enemies that buff everything nearby (making even dredglings a danger), and no shitty, boring enemies like the bearbugs from 2-2. the only thing DeS has arguably "better" when it comes to enemies are the NPC black phantoms (but that's mainly because you fight them on really unfavourable terrain and they have more HP than the ones in DaS)

I can't imagine beating DeS on lvl 1, but I did it twice for DaS without any fuss.

less tedious and less pointlessly "complex". but hey, if you like spending 10s of hours farming for that pure bladestone, more power to you..

No thanks, farming isn't my cup of tea.

still less "broken" than DeS's magic

 

[felipepepe]

St. Toxic, still the game itself was harder. DeS had some very gimmicky bosses, like that retarded metal spider, that were just annoying. DaS bosses are way more interesting and hard, even if some of them seemed reused concepts from DeS, they seemed to all be much more balanced and challenging.

Can't agree with that. I thought the game and the bosses in DaS were a lot easier.

Perhaps not because you already got beated to death and learned hot to play in DeS?

 

[St. Toxic]

Perhaps not because you already got beated to death and learned hot to play in DeS?

Could be, but there wouldn't be any shortage of getting my ass handed back to me if I went back to DeS at this point. DaS, however, was streamlined to be more accessible to new players.

 

[felipepepe]

Perhaps not because you already got beated to death and learned hot to play in DeS?

Could be, but there wouldn't be any shortage of getting my ass handed back to me if I went back to DeS at this point. DaS, however, was streamlined to be more accessible to new players.

Well, I can agree that DeS has more difficulty spikes & walls... I think I really would die more now in DeS than DaS.

 

[ShlongMaster]

Dark Souls seemed a bit easier and more casual to me, mainly due to poise which saved so many bad people from getting trashed, it allowed people to stand and trade too many blows with enemies without getting stunlocked + stand around and heal through attacks ( it got especially overboard once you got the high poise sets + ring of wolf ) as well as the ridiculous amount of estus you could get which further supported attrition, even 10 estus flasks was way too much seeing as how a lot of the bonfires weren't all that far apart. Don't forget you could run out of grass completely in Demons Souls...

There were some notable areas where the bonfire was hidden and not easily visible, but those cases were far and few between. Npc summons also trivialized many of the boss fights. Overall I would say Dark Souls was streamlined and made a bit more accessible, some of these changes/improvements did feel like a natural step forward, and Dark Souls felt about right to me, apart from having too much estus and the safety net of poise.

Problem is that if they decide to go a step further again with how forgiving the game is then it might very well be too much, and while Dark Souls has many things going for it, the removal of the difficulty would cause the game to lose much of it's charm.