Dark Souls II

F1ngers

As the title say, Dark Souls II was announced at the VGA ceremony tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMDQFwjm4WM

johnny_ultimate

I do express the most minor of disappointments that they have not continued the seemingly emerging trend of '____ Souls' titles. Dark Souls II is just a little bit less imaginative. No copyright shenanigans this time I guess!

In all other respects, this is the best gaming news since the announcement of Dark Souls.

Big Knox

N64

Hopefully they will make a decent PC port this time. Otherwise I'm not interested.

tuxy

N64 wrote: »

Hopefully they will make a decent PC port this time. Otherwise I'm not interested.

The PC port was good with some fan fixes.
They can do the same thing again and I will buy the PC version again.

ShadowHearth

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I do express the most minor of disappointments that they have not continued the seemingly emerging trend of '____ Souls' titles. Dark Souls II is just a little bit less imaginative. No copyright shenanigans this time I guess!

In all other respects, this is the best gaming news since the announcement of Dark Souls.

Who gives a shiet how it's called. As long as they butcher me at every single corner I will be a happy camper!

Good news, hopefully PC version will come out at the same tune. And hopefully no games for windows!!!

tuxy

A sequel allows them to go deeper into the lore of the Dark Souls world, it might work out better this way.

2smiggy

great great news !! i was waiting for an announcement for a new game for a while. i'm glad they are making a sequel rather than a brand new game. i just hope it's not a year or more away.

F1ngers

I don't have a word of Japanese, but Dark Souls II is on PS3, 360 and PC - that much I gathered from the press release:

http://www.fromsoftware.jp/corpinfo/release/pdf/ds2_jp_web_20121208.pdf

K.O.Kiki

I'll hop on with THIS one.
Really this time...

danthefan

Game has new directors, I'm a bit concerned, I don't think I can link to other forums but this is from a prominent gaming forum:

Two new directors are taking the helm from Miyazak.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=503292

An eternal battle rages at the heart of Dark Souls II. On one side stands the stern force of challenge, the very soul of the Souls series. It has inspired thousands of fans to hack their way through two of the most demanding and rewarding games of an era, fans who expect at least the same test on the next go around. On the other side is the bright promise of accessibility. And why not? Why shouldn’t FromSoftware and Namco Bandai open Souls up to a wider audience when it could otherwise be in danger of becoming stuck in a cult cul-de-sac?

There are many, after all, who have been put off by the series’ habit of obscuring its best assets from all but the most committed. 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?

As we find out in issue 249, the answers to these questions are in the hands of game directors new to the Souls series, Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, who have taken the reins from Hidetaka Miyazaki. Their descriptions of how they intend to mould Dark Souls II into a more approachable form seem reasonable. But Shibuya admits that their approach will be influenced by their individual characters. “I personally am the sort of person who likes to be more direct than subtle,” he tells us. “[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.

I really hope the bolded isn't management speak for "dumbed down" and "easy".

richymcdermott

they better leave the mysteries of the dark soul world and not give a narrative cutscene one.

Danonino.

Sounds like they will be doing a lot more explaining the lore rather than the way it was handled in Dark Souls... I've mixed feelings about that. On one hand i loved how the story didn't push itself on you and having to check items to piece it together, on the other I think it was a little too vague. Hopefully they get the balance right. A few more scenes with a voice over like when you first leave the undead asylum really wouldn't have hurt in my opinion. Once they don't go all Metal Gear and give us hour long waffle I'll be happy.



Best news in ages this is.. hopefully late next year

penev10

Danonino. wrote: »

Sounds like they will be doing a lot more explaining the lore rather than the way it was handled in Dark Souls... I've mixed feelings about that. On one hand i loved how the story didn't push itself on you and having to check items to piece it together, on the other I think it was a little too vague. Hopefully they get the balance right. A few more scenes with a voice over like when you first leave the undead asylum really wouldn't have hurt in my opinion. Once they don't go all Metal Gear and give us hour long waffle I'll be happy.

I'd be the same. It's nice not to have the narrative shoved down your throat but for most of my first play-through of Dark Souls I hadn't a clue what was going on. More exposition would be welcomed.

I get the feeling from the trailer that there might be an actual plot rather than just a loose overall goal.

I wouldn't have found any of the covenants (bar Way of the White) if I hadn't read it somewhere first so the odd bit of signposting mightn't be a bad thing but then again if it aint broke why fix it?

Big Knox

If they mean purely the narrative then it wouldn't be a bad thing but I have a feeling they mean the difficulty and unforgiving nature we know and love. There's something about that Elder scrolls reference that really worries me!

If they mess with the formula and change it to suit what they believe the "casual" gamer wants then I will have finally lost all hope with the gaming industry.

However I could well be looking into this too much and hopefully they are talking about the lore and narrative side of things. Personally I don't think they should change the current Souls approach but it could work.... right???

penev10

Well according to this both the producers and Namco are promising a game full of "unrelenting challenge." So hopefully they wont tinker with the difficulty.

The full piece was posted by noodler here

2smiggy

at 8 o clock this evening IGN will be showing 12 minutes of game play, and will also be doing a Q and A with the developers. The link is on the IGN site or app ,

Edit : link http://go.ign.com/ZMsnhc

Praise the Sun

YouSavedMyLife

2smiggy wrote: »

at 8 o clock this evening IGN will be showing 12 minutes of game play, and will also be doing a Q and A with the developers. The link is on the IGN site or app , I'm on my mobile now so I won't try and link it

Praise the Sun

Thanks for that, never visit IGN. Looking forward to this now

Big Knox

2smiggy wrote: »

at 8 o clock this evening IGN will be showing 12 minutes of game play, and will also be doing a Q and A with the developers. The link is on the IGN site or app ,

Edit : link http://go.ign.com/ZMsnhc

Praise the Sun

Holy ****, this will be very very interesting to say the least. Queue the entire internet going into meltdown after 12 minutes of QTE's, double jumping, wall climbing, button mashing action with massive floating arrows, dialogue wheels and an emo haired protagonist called Epic Dave. :pac:

tuxy

http://ie.ign.com/videos/2013/04/10/dark-souls-2-gameplay-reveal-12-minute-demo

tok9

Well more DS is a good thing but it does look very familiar. I'm curious to see what else they have added.

Right now, I'm looking forward to more but a little wary it's more of an expansion rather than sequel.

johnny_ultimate

Well, that definitely looks like Dark Souls.

Don't know what else to say really. Slightly prettier (or is that uglier)?

penev10

Looks like more of the same so that should allay any fears of a change of direction.

Nothing there really to get too excited about but I'm sure they#re saving the juicy bits for a later reveal.

johnny_ultimate

I'm not really sure it's possible to save the juicy bits, TBH. Sure, throw in a massive boss, but the joy of Dark Souls is that it slowly, slowly reveals its depths and pleasures to you over dozens of hours. A gameplay video just cannot capture that - it's not a traditionally marketable game, much like trying to put together a trailer for a slow, sombre arthouse film.

danthefan

Dark Souls is easily one of the best designed games I've ever played so if DSII is more of the same I'm ok with that. I can't actually think of how they could significantly improve on Dark Souls.

Danonino.

danthefan wrote: »

Dark Souls is easily one of the best designed games I've ever played so if DSII is more of the same I'm ok with that. I can't actually think of how they could significantly improve on Dark Souls.

This

2Mad2BeMad

cant wait for this
they can make it the same graphics, same mechanics all they want
once theirs new areas to conquer and new bosses , il happily pay full price for this

YouSavedMyLife

Yeah looks ok, looks like Dark Souls alright. Graphics seem to be worse and the main character animations seem to be off but its early days yet so can't judge it just yet. Gonna do a media blackout on this game now and pick it up on release :cool:

tonydude

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Gonna do a media blackout on this game now and pick it up on release :cool:

Looks great, feel ive spoiled it abit by watching that vid so going to do the same with a blockout. That's what made Demons Souls and Dark Souls so memorable, seeing it acting out for the first time and realising your mistakes the hard way

Kiith

There were enough surprises, and 'god ****** dammit' moments in Dark Souls, even after watching a ton of trailers, so i'll probably keep watching these updates for the time being anyway.

Kiith

Sums up the Dark Souls 2 pretty well i think :P

Sgt Hartman

I can't wait for this. One of my fave things about the original is the sheer variety of weapons and armor available. I really hope this remains. I hope they do something about the lagstabs as well:mad:

Zero-Cool

I know they said there would be a way, but any ideas how you will be able to get past those dragons on the bridge?

tok9

sheehy83 wrote: »

I know they said there would be a way, but any ideas how you will be able to get past those dragons on the bridge?

I'm hoping... you fly one

penev10

sheehy83 wrote: »

I know they said there would be a way, but any ideas how you will be able to get past those dragons on the bridge?

Some sort of stealth technique / invisibility maybe?

It was a cool looking scene, very dynamic.

danthefan

Apparently Dark Souls sold 2.36 million copies all told. Looks like good numbers to me.

tok9

Yup, sounds like good sales to me. Here's a new trailer just showing off the environments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOg7_jFPNNM

penev10

Liked the look of the battlements area. Hopefully reminiscent of Boletaria castle from Demons Souls.

YouSavedMyLife

This game cannot come soon enough. Worse thing is its probably another year off. From the IGN video it seems that dual wielding might be more viable this time around and that a torch has insane block rating :eek:

tok9

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

This game cannot come soon enough. Worse thing is its probably another year off. From the IGN video it seems that dual wielding might be more viable this time around and that a torch has insane block rating :eek:

I actually reckon it'll be out before the end of the year but even if it isn't I don't mind at all due to the games coming out and the games I have to finish or replay (including Dark Souls as I haven't played the DLC yet) :P

Kiith

Cravez

It's only 25-30% complete so id say it would be released end of 2014 or early 2015

Chairman Meow

Michael Cravez wrote: »

It's only 25-30% complete so id say it would be released end of 2014 or early 2015

I would highly doubt that. By the end of 2014, early 2015, the next gen consoles will be in full flight. Id say early 2014 at the latest

Here Come The Pretzels

I hope they leave out the bonfire warping from Dark Souls. I thought the game was at its strongest when you had to traverse the map on foot using all the various shortcuts.
When the lord vessel and warping was introduced the game world shrunk abit imo.
Its a minor grip though, I love the first one.
Even Bioshock Inifinite hasnt managed to release me from Dark Souls grip, I got sucked back into my third playthrough last night and loved every minute of it. What a shelf life...

Big Knox

I never thought I'd say this after all the initial talk but it almost looks a bit too similar to dark souls! :pac:

No in all seriousness if this is shapes up to be on par with Demon's and Dark then it will cement the souls series as my all time favourite. Not a huge amount to take from the video. The new environment effects look good and it's just more of the same all round really.

Bring it on!!

Kiith

A good overview of some of the major changes in Dark Souls 2, with some new ingame footage. No spoilers/boss fights either. Can't bloody wait for it.

2smiggy

watched this earlier commentator has a very soothing voice !!

for a self confessed dark souls addict , what he had to say is very positive. Small changes to the mechanics of the game, and he seems to think for the better. I only wish he could have accessed the menu to have a look at it, as he was limited with the characters and what he could do with them. It would be good to know about the humanity and maybe something about the covenants. Still this will all come out in time.

Mickeroo

For the love of god put a bonfire beside the fog gate to each boss :pac:

[CrimsonGhost]

Mickeroo wrote: »

For the love of god put a bonfire beside the fog gate to each boss :pac:

I absolutely hope they don't go that route. It's part of what makes it a challenge.

2smiggy

[CrimsonGhost] wrote: »

I absolutely hope they don't go that route. It's part of what makes it a challenge.

very true, plus if you really want, there is a quick route to the all the fog gates. Even the 4 kings can be got to in a few minutes once you know where to jump off. most others you can just sprint past enemies.

2Mad2BeMad

this game is the game that will make me return to my xbox360 once next gen is released

this game beats next gen . :D:D