Somebody told me to post this. He says to consider it a Christmas present.
------------
Edge Magazine has a blow out on Dark Souls 2 this month, and the details are out. Brace yourselves for the horror and anticipation of a brand new journey.
- Edge says they were shown a 10 minute playthrough of Dark Souls 2, and it is a huge step forward graphically. It looks on par with Watch Dogs and Star Wars 1313 in terms of "next-gen"-ness, or so they claim.
- Miyazaki is not working on the development of Dark Souls 2. He is not a director or producer, and is merely a "supervisor".
- Even as a supervisor, he isn't making any development decisions. He only tried to reinforce the team's commitment to releasing things on time, because of the bad experience they had with the patches in Dark Souls, and he also recommended the return to server-based gameplay ala Demon's Souls.
- The new directors, Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, are indeed the From Software staff who previously directed the Another Century's Episode series. The decision to have the two directors replace Miyazaki was a company decision made by both From Software and Namco Bandai Games to help move the series forward in a fresh direction.
- Miyazaki is working full time on directing a new game. He will not disclose if it is a new IP or a sequel to something else.
- Darks Souls 2 will be a direct sequel, and have an open world of about the same size, but more dense with content.
- It does not take place on Lordran. The name of the world is the key of the story, they will reveal it at a later date.
- One thing Shibuya wants to enhance is the action in the game. He feels that he can contribute because of his experience working on action games in the past.
- Shibuya says he wants to make things like the Covenant system clearer and more accessible, and he wants to make the story and messaging less subtle.
- He promises there will still be "hidden" elements in the story and world which can be missed.
- The game is 25% complete, and the team is substantially larger than Dark Souls. The world creation internal staff for the sequel is nearly double that of the first game.
- The game might not make it for 2013.
- They showed a fat grotesque creature, which Shibuya said was the result of the fusing of different creatures by a mad scientist character in the game, like Frankenstein.
- Another new enemy is a Nazgul-like black rider, who apparently serves as an executioner of evil doers. Shibuya confirms there is some sort of morality system in the game.
"(I): Is there any plans on a sequel? If it is what would be a good title for a sequel?
(P): Hold your horses. I don't know about a sequel but it seems like we can make a new one.
We still need to look at reviews and player feedback including overseas, whats
going on and is there a market for it. I really don't know about a sequel and even
if there is I don't know if I have a chance to work on it cause that's a seperate
issue so I can't talk about it carelessly. Dark Souls is not "mine" and I think it
might need some new "blood" (influence). If there is a sequel it going to be a
brand and it will need its brand power which might need some new "blood". With all
these issues I have no idea. I want to make something
(I): I want it to continue, with Mr. Miyazaki
(P): I want that too but . . . ."
"I'm not one to restrict the potential that Dark Souls has by insisting that only I can work on the titles. I want new expressions. It's true that I'm sad about not being involved in the development of Dark Souls II, because I've worked on Demon's Souls and Dark Souls' development for the past five years. I really love those two titles; however, maybe this is the time to have new inspiration, so I'm fine about that. I'm looking forward to playing Dark Souls II not as part of the development team, but with a little bit of distance."
"It was a company decision," clarifies Namco Bandai producer Takeshi Miyazoe. "Miyazaki worked on Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but for the IP to evolve and provide a new experience within the Dark Souls world the new wind from directors Shibuya and Tanimura is key to providing players with [a] brand new Dark Souls experience. In order to maintain the expectations and satisfaction and the rewards that players experience, this was the right time to bring in the new characteristics and taste[s of the directors] for this series to continue on evolving."