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Famitsu reveals brand new info on Dark Souls (Demon's Souls spiritual sequel)

Pooya

Member
duckroll said:
Maybe. But it's not unusual for a large publisher to make contracts cover a franchise (or at least have first-right to refusal) instead of a single title.
I edited my post, FROM owns Armored Core trademark in NA but not Dark Souls, seems to be a bit different, looks like Namco really owns it, I don't know...
 
Blah, I don't want an open world at all. I like the hub world and the linear, tightly designed stages of the first game. I guess I'll have to wait and see how this turns out.
 

duckroll

Member
miladesn said:
I edited my post, FROM owns Armored Core trademark in NA but not Dark Souls, seems to be a bit different, looks like Namco really owns it, I don't know...

Really? That's pretty interesting. Maybe Namco really bankrolled the entire game...
 

Erasus

Member
I never got into Demons Souls, only about 3-5h played. But I like it!
I look forward to this. So there are no stages, its gonna be like oblivion with an open world?

And 2011 release! Awesome. Got time to really get into DS then. I wonder what engine they will use...
 
SteelAttack said:
Kenshinav.jpg

The fuck? I finished the game at SL 120 or so. I honestly didn't know that. I kinda knew about turning the system off if dying before the main hub was loaded to prevent the loss of your souls, but never tried it either.

How do you not know, thats mind boggling! Whenever I was ready to quit, I would just press O -> inventory, it would save, and badda bing I turn off the system. Easiest system ever.

btw good luck playing this with a 360 pad lol.
 

Zeliard

Member
TigerUppercut said:
Why would they? Demon's Souls was incredibly well received because of how challenging but fair it was.

Yeah, but in the search for a wider audience and greater sales, hopefully they don't compromise. Track record says they won't though I can't help but be a bit wary. Demon's Souls is one of those games where the thing people cite the most about it as a positive, the overall challenge, is also what the detractors focus on.

Demon's Souls isn't even that difficult in terms of actual mechanical skill, like say the Ninja Gaiden games. It's mostly focused on being patient, using weapons properly and generally knowing what sort of character you're building. But what happens is people die in 1-1 and see they have to restart the level, and that's already enough to send them home (that's if they even bother trying the game after hearing about that). Asking patience out of players these days is a crapshoot.

Kyoufu said:
I don't think they should ignore obvious flaws either though. Nothing good about being invaded while trying to summon your friend, losing your human form and then having to use either a rare item or killing a boss for another opportunity to play with a friend again. I don't know about you but that needs work.

I'm certainly not saying they should ignore flaws. Demon's Souls was a masterful effort, but no game is perfect. They just shouldn't do anything that negatively impacts the core challenge of the game. Death, for example, should still be potentially highly punishing yet still salvageable. It was so beautifully balanced. You die, and you have to restart the level with the normal enemies respawned, but you get to go grab your souls back. Go wreck some shit.
 

The Crimson Kid

what are you waiting for
Sounds great. The only flaws that Demons Souls had was not enough unique environments and the grinding. Having it be one interconnected world will be awesome for those level designers to go to town with.

Now I wonder, will this RPG have high-definition towns? They should have a few, if just to show what an RPG developer can do when they don't blow their budget on FMV.
 

Dambrosi

Banned
The info in OP sounds like a persistent-world MMO with Demon's Souls flavour.

No, actually, it sounds like Guild Wars + DS. And I LOVED Guild Wars and DS.

I'm SO friggin' in. I just hope Scamco don't futz it up somehow.
 

Yoboman

Member
The Crimson Kid said:
Sounds great. The only flaws that Demons Souls had was not enough unique environments and the grinding. Having it be one interconnected world will be awesome for those level designers to go to town with.

Now I wonder, will this RPG have high-definition towns? They should have a few, if just to show what an RPG developer can do when they don't blow their budget on FMV.
Did we play the same game?
 

Merovin

Member
The Crimson Kid said:
Sounds great. The only flaws that Demons Souls had was not enough unique environments and the grinding. Having it be one interconnected world will be awesome for those level designers to go to town with.

Now I wonder, will this RPG have high-definition towns? They should have a few, if just to show what an RPG developer can do when they don't blow their budget on FMV.

HD towns can't be done! We know this!
But seriously; so psyched for this!
 

WilyRook

Member
Sounds great so far. I'm glad messages and deathspots are staying, and I hope white phantoms are staying too. It's very cool to be able to see the ghosts of other players in real time like that. Can't wait.
 
Haven't seen: is there a reason why Sony isn't publishing this sequel? I thought Demon's Souls did pretty well over all (sales-wise and praise-wise), right?
 
Great, more trial and error. The question is, will they add any other skill on top of that? One of the main reasons mainstream reviewers cheerleaded Demons Souls is that once you trial-and-errored your way through a section, the actual execution was incredibly easy. Skill cap? Shallow. Start adding anything more difficult or complex than 'trial and error with grinding' and I guarantee you it will be far less popular.
 

ijed

Member
FromTheFuture said:
Haven't seen: is there a reason why Sony isn't publishing this sequel? I thought Demon's Souls did pretty well over all (sales-wise and praise-wise), right?

It's a PS360 exclusive.


More DS this year - Yeah baby!

<insert awesome gif here>
 

BeeDog

Member
Sounds insanely awesome, let's hope it turns out to be as good as Demon's Souls (second best game this console generation).
 

hteng

Banned
i went to 2ch for more info, what a fucking cesspool of shit there was. all urls to pictures (indicating those are scans) are fakes or porn or virus links. so much worse than 4chan. arg... gonna wait for 4gamer i guess.
 

Teknoman

Member
Didnt the game do alot better in NA/EU regions than Japan? Hopefully that means we'll get the game alot sooner than before.
 

_Xenon_

Banned
duckroll said:
There are checkpoints in Demon's Souls. What are you talking about?
If you are talking about the soul stones after each boss ... that's not the check point I want. I just don't feel like to waste 30 mins of exploring and get respawned back to the start just because I fall off a cliff :(
 

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
_Xenon_ said:
If you are talking about the soul stones after each boss ... that's not the check point I want. I just don't feel like to waste 30 mins of exploring and get respawned back to the start just because I fall off a cliff :(

Protip: Don't fall off cliffs.
 
sounds awesome except that i liked the contained stage -system instead of an open world. This might fall hard and become a bleak copy of Morrowind?

But im not judging yet, want to see it in action!
 

Massa

Member
I have not played Demon's Souls yet, but I'm interested. People often refer to it as challenging but fair, and now I read this:

duckroll said:
- The gameplay will be similar to Demon's Souls in concept, where it's about trial and error and learning from your mistakes to play better.

What's up with that?

Also if someone could point to a decent podcast episode discussing the game I'd appreciate it.
 

duckroll

Member
Noisepurge said:
sounds awesome except that i liked the contained stage -system instead of an open world. This might fall hard and become a bleak copy of Morrowind?

But im not judging yet, want to see it in action!

Why Morrowind and not Zelda?
 
I have a lot of faith in them to make this good because of Demons Souls, but I dunno about the exploration/open world thing. Part of what made DS awesome was that it kind of played like an old school Mario game or something in that there were stages that were challenging and you would die but you would be compelled to play them over and over.

The stage design was intricate and concise, packed with constant action. Roaming open lands like in Fallout I think would take away from the intensity and fast pacing of it.
 
duckroll said:
Why Morrowind and not Zelda?

Just as visual reference, i have not played much zelda games. Morrowind came to mind because this might become a lot like that gameworld, roaming the lands in search of treasure and high adventure.

But since it's a new territory for them the world might be empty of content and random generated dungeons that are usually crude in comparison to hand crafted.

Anyway, i guess im being too pessimistic.
 

bloke

Member
Good to hear game will be more about free-roaming and open-worldness, interest +100. Too bad it's not coming to PCs aswell.
 

Kuran

Banned
Should I be worried of From developing this without SCEJ's supervision?

It seems that Demon's Souls enjoyed a lot of extra polish and technical support. What engine is it using now? I'm assuming Phyre-engine is out of the question?
 

Bebpo

Banned
lack of soul tendency is a little disappointing, but understandable with the reason given.

Everything else sounds great, and ghosts + blood splatters still being in is awesome and if it's got more of a true coop this time that should be neat.
 

Tain

Member
- They aim to make the game just as challenging than Demon's Souls, but also just as rewarding when you succeed. The sense of achievement is important.

I kinda wish it were harder.

Demon's Souls wasn't a pushover or anything, especially by this generation's standards, but the game definitely becomes calmer once you've been taught how to be careful.

Either way, I'm excited. More developers should have the combination of FROM's balls and budget.
 

Pooya

Member

Grayman

Member
_Xenon_ said:
If you are talking about the soul stones after each boss ... that's not the check point I want. I just don't feel like to waste 30 mins of exploring and get respawned back to the start just because I fall off a cliff :(
how do you waste exploring? you know what was in those areas, you get to keep all the items, and you get a chance to pick up your souls.

Thinking about that Demon's Souls is actually more forgiving than most games. Any changes and it would be PoP 2008.
 

Grayman

Member
I wonder where the player will respawn when they die and if there will be randomness to monster locations outdoors.
 

Speevy

Banned
I have a hard time believing that any game actively trying to follow the original is going to succeed in that pursuit, but I welcome the attempt.
 
God damn i can't even imagine how awesome demon's souls gameplay will be in an open world. I'm going to get endlessly fucked by skeletons while exploring but i will love every second.
 

Danielsan

Member
Speevy said:
I have a hard time believing that any game actively trying to follow the original is going to succeed in that pursuit, but I welcome the attempt.
I too wonder if From will be able to capture lightning in a bottle twice in a row. The information thus far sounds fantastic though, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.
 
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