From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Damned Registrations]

I think the primary difference was just that the silver knights tend to KILL you if that land an arrow on those narrow ledges. You go flying ass over teakettle right off the edge. Even blocking sends you back a ton. The only other part that makes it different is that one of the buggers is blocking your path, but at that point he's no different than the serpent on the first bridge in Sen's.

And while you don't need very specific tactics to get by the other situations, they can certainly fuck you up if you take the wrong action. Trying to fight while some ass is chucking firebombs on your head can cause a lot of grief for a new player. And the way the ghosts in new londo abuse their ability to fly in some locations can be really aggravating, especially if you have a short or slow weapon.

I'm better at running through Undead Burg than Anor Londo, but I'd chalk that up mostly to the fact that I've started a lot of characters that go through undead burg and get abandoned before new londo, so I've had more practice.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, the knockback alone is incredibly annoying, considering that your instinctive counter to everything else in the game (and arrows in general in all games) is to raise shield. If those paths had just a foot or two more of legroom it would be much nicer.

The other areas can be countered by carefully approaching/retreating from the situation as needed. No reason to fight when something is throwing firebombs on your head, back up and kill the melee undead then rush the bomber. Same for the ghosts, just wait for them to come. Just about everywhere else in DkS emphasizes careful, patient play. Those archers emphasize decisive charges where a single mistake means death.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Meh...

We are going to spend money on huge amount of marketing not on extra content...

 

[Jick Magger]

This is From's most internationally successful franchises in recent memory, I'd be surpriesd if they didn't try to cast a bigger net this time around.

Still, even though I remain cautiously hopeful, the news of an easy mode combined (OH GOD I MISREAD THE ARTICLE I FUCKING BLEW IT I'M SO SORRY) with this is enough to unsettle me a little.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

news of an easy mode

source?

 

[DragoFireheart]

news of an easy mode

source?

 

[Machocruz]

The whole "aiming the marketing at Skyrim players" is really weird. The laser focus on Skyrim and only Skyrim is weird. I understand the goal, but they say it like they can just go "Hey guize, look over here. We've got fantasy and swords and dragons too!" Like there is any meaningful crossover there -may as well aim the marketing at WOW or Diablo 3 players- or that Skyrim players live in a vaccum where they don't know of any other games and there is more to it than them just not being interested in another fantasy game or whatever.

It's also sad to still see game companies always trying to ice skate uphill, believing their game or franchise can rise above it's station. Just like the fools at Capcom thought Dragon's Dogma could ever do close to Skryim numbers, or that DMC could do more than DMC does by westernizing it, storywhoring it, and dumbing it down. Or Eidos and SE disappointed that a new and divisive game in a series well past its hey day ONLY sold 3 million copies. Game companies would do well to ponder phrases like "get in where you fit in" and "know your role."*

* "B-b-but Elder Scrolls sells more with each geam!" ES has a little something called momentum, its sales growing exponentially, which neither DMC or Tomb Raider had. It also delivers an experience that many will argue no one else does at its level**, while there are plenty of better alternatives to the other two games.




** Oh gawd how we needed people like Piranha Bytes to get their act together and deliver us from evil.

 

[Rahdulan]

The whole "aiming the marketing at Skyrim players" is really weird. The laser focus on Skyrim and only Skyrim is weird. I understand the goal, but they say it like they can just go "Hey guize, look over here. We've got fantasy and swords and dragons too!" Like there is any meaningful crossover there -may as well aim the marketing at WOW or Diablo 3 players- or that Skyrim players live in a vaccum where they don't know of any other games and there is more to it than them just not being interested in another fantasy game or whatever.

It's basically about using the only example mouth breathers who are vaguely interested in the genre are most likely going to be familiar with. As of recently Skyrim fills that role for RPGs, as sad as that realization may be. Your last sentence of the paragraph is sadly true. It's just about name dropping and grabbing the player's attention.

 

[Machocruz]

It's basically about using the only example mouth breathers who are vaguely interested in the genre are most likely going to be familiar with. As of recently Skyrim fills that role for RPGs, as sad as that realization may be. Your last sentence of the paragraph is sadly true. It's just about name dropping and grabbing the player's attention.

Yeah, I don't think it's going to work though. I think the "mouth breathers" don't care, don't want to know more, just want more ES and/or whatever game is hot. They're not fans because of genre, but particular content. They want LARP, lifestlye, dress up, lulz, memes. They're just 'normal' people who happen to play some games. Not mechanics focused, content focused.

It's like Stepford marketing. Robotic. Creepy fixation on Skryim, even though Diablo 3 sold just as much and has about as much in common. SkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkryimSkyrim all throughout their heads, and spilling from their mouths.

 

[J_C]

FFS! This whole easy mode and "catering to Skyrim players" shit is several months old. Since then we read interviews and saw gameplay videos, and we have seen that the game will be like Dark Souls, with challenging gameplay.

 

[Machocruz]

But the marketing comments were made recently, and their campaign still hasn't been rolled out. Still fair game for discussion.

 

[Jick Magger]

or that DMC could do more than DMC does by westernizing it, storywhoring it, and dumbing it down.

Well to be fair, it didn't help that Capcom handed it to a studio with a seething contempt and hatred for the original series and allowed them to basically go out of their way to isolate and drive away the original fanbase. The game probably would've fared well enough to get a sequel if they didn't pull that bullshit.

But I do agree overall. Though Namco's found a golden egg in the Dark Souls franchise, I fear they will be sorely disappointed if they truly believe that this game will ever be able to compete with a Western AAA commercially.

 

[Average Manatee]

The difference is that DMC tried to go in a totally new direction and fell on it's face. Dark Souls 2 is apparently trying to keep the same game but spread it to a wider audience. As cliche as this marketing speak sounds, that is the ideal way to do things. Dark Souls sold something like 50% more than Demons Souls, it's not inconceivable that with enhanced marketing DS2 could do that again and sell in the 3 million range. Obviously, barring a massive change in the industry, it's not going to be another Skyrim, but everyone in marketing has to pretend that they have the best shit in town.

It's like Stepford marketing. Robotic. Creepy fixation on Skryim, even though Diablo 3 sold just as much and has about as much in common. SkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkyrimSkryimSkyrim all throughout their heads, and spilling from their mouths.

D3 has a lot worse press. D3 news is about not being able to log in to servers, players getting scammed, accounts stolen, bugs in the economy that lead to real world financial losses, lead developers being fired. I don't think I've seen a single major news source post an article that didn't gargle suck Bethesda's dick.

Also Skyrim certainly looks to have a lot more in common at first glance. Marketing doesn't care about what games actually are, they care about what they look like.

 

[Fat Dragon]

"We're going to go guns blazing with it, and hope to God that it works,"

Oh wow, this is the guy in charge of PR?

Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much. This is Namco we're talking about, not EA or Activision or some other publishing giant. Their idea of "AAA" is stuff like Tekken or Soul Calibur which only sell around 1.5-2 million at best. Other than that, they mainly publish obscure niche stuff and licensed anime games. Kind of like Atlus US, but a bit bigger.

DS2 will likely get a decent marketing campaign this time, but nothing close to the ridiculous scale of something you'd see from a major publisher. I think this is mainly an overexcited PR guy talking hyperbole, what with the "guns blazing" and "hope to god it works" comments.

 

[Machocruz]

Yeah, I'm not worried about the game itself. That 12 minute preview sold me. Just think if they're trying to cast a wide net with their marketing, fixating on one game is not very thorough. Hell, I've seen DS compared more times to old school Zelda than I have Skyrim, and the comparisons were more apt. Get that Bethesda and Blizzard and Nintendo money.

 

[Fat Dragon]

That preview did inspire some confidence, but the game does also seem to have more emphasis on more scripted set pieces. Maybe that's just for demo purposes, but one thing I like about Dark Souls is how no-frills it is in presentation and scenario. It doesn't need to give you some "epic battle sequence" to get you to have fun or to be engaged with it, because it's the mechanics and systems, that element of attrition that keeps it going so far. Dark Souls has much more in common with old-school dungeon crawlers than almost any other modern game, and I'm afraid that will disappear as they try to show more open, dramatic scenes and have more "cool shit" happen.

They didn't really show a lot of scripted stuff. The thing with the dragon skeleton was a trap the player could activate and react quickly to or avoid altogether with perception, something that was already in DS1. The ogre only breaks through the wall if you go out of your way to provoke it, and it's also a good way of hinting at secret areas without the bullshit invisible walls in DS1, plus players now have to put effort into getting there (ie kill the gatekeeper) instead of just looking at a wiki to find the invisible wall. Nonlinear and creative level design is a good thing. And the dragon bridge is an event that's been in every Souls game, that's more for tradition's sake than trying to be "epic".

Not to mention they've stated the game will have no cutscenes and you can kill any npc anytime you want, and that the game will be experienced in the same minimalistic apathetic style of previous Souls games.

So not really sure why you think the game will be heavily scripted and full of "cool shit" and "epic battles"? From fully owns the DS ip and does what they want with it and they've been making this sort of game for 20 years now. Namco only markets and distributes it outside Japan. So it's not like this is a case of a dev being forced by a publisher to dumb their game down for mass audience.

 

[Morgoth]

Bunch of Dark Souls 2 concept art (not sure though this is official): http://s1260.photobucket.com/user/freedomourne/library/DarkSouls2 Concept Art?sort=2&src=wap&page=1

 

[Morgoth]

Also this:

 

[Fat Dragon]

It's "official" in the sense that it's made by a Chinese artist From contracted to produce some early pre-production concepts for them. Like that male knight, for instance. Compare this rough original version to the edited one From is using in all their Dark Souls 2 promos. You can tell this is very old stuff, from before the game started actual development. It's not even made by a From employee.

 

[felipepepe]

I hope this mean they'll fix dual-wielding...

 

[Fat Dragon]

I hope this mean they'll fix dual-wielding...

Didn't you watch the IGN gameplay video? They showed that dual-wielding has been improved, as has ranged combat with bows.

 

[Random]

But I liked dual-wielding being hard mode!

 

[Morgoth]

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

fuck this shit. its almost a year from now i might finally buy ps3 and play fucking demons souls

 

[wergle]

demons souls > dark souls

Though both are good.