Dark Souls Continuation

R e F

Anyone else think that its best if the Dark Souls Series stopped? I heard a rumour that they will continue the series and even by the third game, there seems to be a bit of creative stagnation

Pickpocket

R e F wrote: »

Anyone else think that its best if the Dark Souls Series stopped? I heard a rumour that they will continue the series and even by the third game, there seems to be a bit of creative stagnation

I started with 3 and then Bloodborne, so I'm playing them out of sequence, but I imagine by the time I'm finished them all I'll have had enough of the formula.

Or maybe not. I've tried to play a number of games recently, most notably The Witcher 3, and I just cannot settle into anything else. From's games have their hooks in me and I don't know what I'm gonna do when I have them all beaten, except play them again.

Anway, that's not really answering your question...

The difficulty, the environmental story-telling, the plot that won't allow the player to be a passive observer, the sheer idiosyncrasy of what these games offer, all of that has plenty of life left in it as far as I'm concerned.

I see that Miyazaki has recently hinted that his next game may also be set in a dark fantasy universe, so perhaps he feels he has unfinished business with those types of environments, but it's abundantly clear that he wants to move on from that exact Souls template. He's also hinted at a sci-fi project.

From Software have clearly made a lot of money from Demon's Souls through Bloodborne, so as a company do they continue to service that market? It would certainly make sense from a good-business point of view. And that would suggest more of the same, in one way or another. On the other hand, they do seem to enjoy doing things differently, so perhaps a huge surprise awaits us all.

johnny_ultimate

The time is right to kill the series.

I've said this a few times now, but the problem with Dark Souls now is that it, inevitably, has lost some of the capacity to surprise. The settings, the mechanics, the story - they're all exemplary, but Dark Souls 3 is undoubtedly a safe, conservative sequel. That's not to say anything other than one of the finest games of recent years, but From have set their own bar pretty high :pac: I also think the three-year straight run of new Souls game (+ Bloodborne) led to a bit of a burn out - no series, no matter how great, can maintain that sort of schedule without some adverse effects (although it must be said that they managed to sustain the quality they did is nothing short of miraculous)

I adored Bloodborne, though. Sure, the foundations are similar in many respects, but that dragged me out of my comfort zone. The world was fascinatingly new, and vivid in its sheer menace. The mechanics drew veteran Dark Souls players into a new style of aggressive, engaged play - well, it did for me anyway! Even the storytelling had the space and opportunity to do the sort of things Souls didn't have the capacity to do. DS3 didn't hit that mark for me, and while it's unmistakably a masterclass in design, it feels more like a class we've sat through before.

I'm excited about the prospect of From taking their trademark 'Souls' style into further new environs, subverting the rules they've established over the last few years. But I'd be even more excited to see them really push the boat out and design a game that feels entirely new again. Drop some of the familiar iconography and mechanics that have been shared between every game between Demons Souls and Dark Souls 3, and give us something new altogether. I think no other studio has the capacity to push themselves so hard creatively, and they now have a loyal audience who will follow them too.

So yes, Dark Souls has earned its place in gaming legend, and has even helped encourage more and more developers, indie and AAA alike, out of their comfort zones (not to mention the direct clones, almost constituting a subgenre of their own at this stage). From could turn Soul games every year or two and they'd still undoubtedly be 'really good'. But it would be a shame to see such a unique, legendary series disappear into the franchise trap, and thankfully From seems to recognise that. Fingers crossed they're conjuring up entirely new and imaginative ways to **** us over

Retr0gamer

I'd say give it a few more years before bringing it back when we are all gagging for more souls action. Also take the time to build a much more cohesive world like in DS1. I found DS2, 3 and Bloodbourne quite linear while the DS2 DLC I really enjoyed.

Sieghardt

They're taking a break, it's not gone forever but they doing 3 other projects right now

one is a bit like souls but different, one is an armored core reboot or reimagining or something and one is something completely weird and original

Miyazaki said maybe in 5 years or so they'll go back to it

CiDeRmAn

There's plenty of room over the next two years for remasters of both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, then follow them both with a new Bloodborne title.
The we might see a new Souls game in 5 years as the man says.... 2021 :eek:

heebusjeebus

I'm a bit burned out by DS3 but still looking forward to the DLC.
For me though, I'd love a sequel to Bloodborne. I think the combat is better and the world has more room to expand in terms of lore and location.

Generic Dreadhead

How about a Dark Souls 4 Pachinko machine?

Icaras

Im replaying DS3 at the moment and it really is a fantastic game. I wasn't massively impressed during the first playthrough but now Im taking my time, exploring, reading all the descriptions Im finding it a lot more enjoyable. There are some fantastic touches and additions in there.

Overall I prefer DS and I think the reason for this is the feeling of complete isolation and loneliness you have during the game, Im DS2, Bloodborne and DS3 you have the little group together the dragon lady/doll/firekeeper guiding you - in DS you feel completely alone, even when you meet Frampt he doesn't seem trustworthy, I think thats why some of the NPC's are so memorable as all you have is each other struggling through a strange world.

With having a "guide" to interact with to level up drives me nuts. I don't want to hear the same dialogue 100+ times in a game, once I hear it 3 or 4 times I get the message.

As for finishing the series - that will not happen, it makes too much money. There will be more Dark Souls games. I agree with the above the formula is a bit stale and "easy" for veterans but I think this is partly down to the enemies - skeletons, knights, hollows all fight with roughly the same style. From the endings though and some comments from FROM there could (hopefully) be some pretty big changes for the next game.

Pickpocket

Icaras wrote: »

Overall I prefer DS and I think the reason for this is the feeling of complete isolation and loneliness you have during the game, Im DS2, Bloodborne and DS3 you have the little group together the dragon lady/doll/firekeeper guiding you

I fully agree. I'm playing DS for the first time at the moment. I initially thought that I'd miss being able to warp from bonfire to bonfire (or travel via the Hunter's Dream), but being out in the wilds and on my own really adds to the challenge. I might feel different as I get further into the game, but right now I'm loving the sense of isolation.

I was so surprised by being able to warp back to the Shrine in DS3. It felt totally at odds with the infamous Souls difficulty I'd heard so much about. Don't get me wrong, I did plenty of grinding and made use of that feature, but I definitely feel they had the correct idea the first time around. Here I can grind and upgrade if I want to, but everything else in the game is willing me further into the game. It also makes shortcuts feel that bit sweeter.

Icaras

I think one of the issues was the size of the game could not allow the level design of DS, one thing I thought was really disappointing with DS3 was NG+ doesnt add anything - (maybe a spoiler ahead) DS2 definitely starting something good with the extra enemies in NG+ (sorry but I dont know how to do spoilers)

Id love to see DS4 being the size and clever level design of DS but when you go into NG+ and beyond things change more than just extra HP on enemies.

CiDeRmAn

Bloodborne did such a good job of a HP Lovecraft type story, I'd love to see it extended, there's a big world out there, and we've heard from three cities/lands in the Dark Souls mythos, all of which are connected, but there must be more stories in the Bloodborne universe, and seeing as there's even aliens drawn into the BB world, it could delve down deeper into Lovecraftian weird fiction, Call of Cthulhu informs a lot of what is going on in the Bloodborne world, with the big difference being the Lovecraft gods are worshipped in secret by sects, the BB gods are worshipped openly.
Anyway, I think there lots of room for Color Out of Space type shenanigans, the chance to play in this world and shift planes to another darker more bizarre one, this might give you an idea of what would be very cool in a BB sequel

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