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Edge 249: Dark Souls II. To be more "direct," "straightforward," and "understandable"

web01

Member
The nature and timing of the Dark Souls article is in no way a coincidence they are basically telling us now straight up at announcement the game is going be casualised to some degree and we better get used to it. No doubt Bandai Namco are the pressure behind the changes.

Can see this turning into a disaster where its panned by the hardcore and casuals do not play it anyway.
Seriously chasing other games audiences has basically always ended in disaster.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Was excited for Dark Souls 2. Then I read... those words. Please don't take like one of three games series I actually still enjoy fully away from me. Just... keep the difficulty, definitely keep the maze like interconnected overworld, but explain the games systems a little better.

New directors is weird as well, but I guess Miyazaki has earned the "dont put me just on sequels please" after 2 incredible Souls games.
 

NBtoaster

Member
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?

Nothing wrong with this really.

qte prompts to free yourself from enemy grappling you and avoid traps.

Dark Souls already has button mashing to free you from grapples and mimics, it just doesn't tell you what to press or even give you any indication you can be freed. Would a button prompt ruin the moment?
 
I don't see "accessible" and "easy" as the same thing. Intuitive and clearly-explained mechanics make a game accessible. I guarantee many players would find Dark Souls 1 much less difficult if the backstab was more emphasized in the tutorial. That move alone turns a large chunk of the game into easy mode. Same with upgrading equipment. If the game's only hard because it's obtuse, that's horseshit.
 
The nature and timing of the Dark Souls article is in no way a coincidence they are basically telling us now straight up at announcement the game is going be casualised to some degree and we better get used to it. No doubt Bandai Namco are the pressure behind the changes.

Can see this turning into a disaster where its panned by the hardcore and casuals do not play it anyway.
Seriously chasing other games audiences has basically always ended in disaster.

Just ask Halo 4.

The trailer reminded me of the Skyrim advert from last Christmas. They've already goofed in a very very minor way by making it a numbered sequel. I look at my games collection this gen and literally every game has a number after the title (Orange Box contains a sequel). Souls seemed almost purer for not having a number.

Really hope they don't make it too casual friendly. I considered Dark Souls as the last bastion of proper video gaming on consoles this gen; don't take that away from the series.
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
They aren't dumbing the game down the devs said a few months they are just considering a difficulty slider
 
LOL...Terrible pieces of shit games have been made with the word accessible in mind

Also amazing games. Terrible games have been made with every word in the dictionary in mind. Accesibility in itself is not a bad word or incompatible with challenge.
 
Still not getting how accessibility equates to challenge. An accessible (clear, intuitive) set of play mechanics doesn't automatically mean that the scenarios will be easy.
 

Perkel

Banned
Game is so succesful because doesn't pander to casual crowd and gives hardcore players challenge, sense of exploration, mysterious story and world which nothing is written straighforward also introducing multiplayer aspect that are not in-face with matchmaking but introduced in immersive manner to give hardcore players better immersion with world. And thanks to that and word of mouth game is growing form day to day with big crowd of people going wild over next sequel.

What is the answer for sequel ? More straightforward story, skyrim inspiration, broader audience support.

Seriously i want DS2 to be fucking amazing but right now i feel like i am expecting Diablo 3 again.

I'm feeling scamco has something to do with it.

Still not getting how accessibility equates to challenge. An accessible (clear, intuitive) set of play mechanics doesn't automatically mean that the scenarios will also be easy.

Hey i have news for you i had learned from listening news for decade. If someone tells you that they want broader audience, more accessibility i mean one thing they want casual crowd.
And you know what that mean.
 

Sid

Member
They aren't dumbing the game down the devs said a few months they are just considering a difficulty slider
That itself would break the balance of the game,the entire franchise has been built on the elements of trial and error and exploring the world and story yourself.
 

NBtoaster

Member

Perkel

Banned
They aren't dumbing the game down the devs said a few months they are just considering a difficulty slider

Sure and balance will be ruined then. And how to balance multiplayer ? easy normal button before multiplayer match ? That would be immersive.
 
That itself would break the balance of the game,the entire franchise has been built on the elements of trial and error and exploring the world and story yourself.

As if summoning phantoms, even AIs, didn't already break the game.

Easy mode is there right now if you want it. Make that interface a little less obtuse and the difficulty problem is solved without compromising the scenario design one bit.
 

Sid

Member
As if summoning phantoms, even AIs, didn't already break the game.

Easy mode is there right now if you want it. Make that interface a little less obtuse and the difficulty problem is solved without compromising the scenario design one bit.
The stipulation to summoning is that you have to stay human it's not possible everywhere.
 

Durante

Member
As if summoning phantoms, even AIs, didn't already break the game.

Easy mode is there right now if you want it. Make that interface a little less obtuse and the difficulty problem is solved without compromising the scenario design one bit.
Actually, summoning is well balanced by the fact that you can get invaded if you are human.

"Easy mode" is simply overleveling.
 
It's just not a fucking "Souls" game unless you have to have a wiki on hand just to understand key mechanics and the game is so trial and error that players everywhere build cognitive biases so powerful they will be outspoken and hostile about dissent towards the game to the point of absurdity (ie defending the PC port of "Dark Souls")
 
when will game marketers learn that if you put "accessible" in a pr statement, you've put yourself in an uphill battle.

Up there you were kings and we trusted you with all things. Now we are doubting whether or not your return is worth anticipating.

DS2 developers and pr must now spend the rest of their days clarifiying and promising things will be ok.
 
Actually, summoning is well balanced by the fact that you can get invaded if you are human.

"Easy mode" is simply overleveling.

I've found the risk-reward is biased more toward summoning. An invader versus three humans is a tough fight. Very rarely I see two invaders at a time. Three players quickly rushing to the boss gate also makes it tough for invaders to do anything. Not that invaders won't ever win, but I'd place my bets on the human team. If anything goes wrong, the host can just pop another humanity (not like it's rare) and try it again. It's very unlikely to get screwed by invaders multiple times in a row.

Backstabs are also easy mode for a decent chunk of the game, at least until Anor Londo.
 

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Series destroyed.

Scamco is probably behind these accessibility nonsense.
 

Pumpkins

Member
I've found the risk-reward is biased more toward summoning. An invader versus three humans is a tough fight. Very rarely I see two invaders at a time. Three players quickly rushing to the boss gate also makes it tough for invaders to do anything. Not that invaders won't ever win, but I'd place my bets on the human team. If anything goes wrong, the host can just pop another humanity (not like it's rare) and try it again. It's very unlikely to get screwed by invaders multiple times in a row.

Backstabs are also easy mode for a decent chunk of the game.

I've always felt like the invader's role isn't necessarily to "win". Really, it's a way of enhancing another player's world by creating a potentially unpredictable obstacle for them.

If the invader ends up taking out a phantom or two, or causes the host to exhaust a good chunk of their healing items, then they've done a good job.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Wow that summary actually has me pretty worried haha, "more accessible", "more straightforward", "broader audience", "new game directors".


Ehm... I don't like the sound of any of that.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
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.

This is a slightly worrying quote. Sounds like they want it to become a big mainstream franchise. I love the style of the world but I just hope that doesn't mean diluting things too much
 

Zeth

Member
I hope the in game fur armor doesn't look like Sif >.>

As if summoning phantoms, even AIs, didn't already break the game.

Easy mode is there right now if you want it. Make that interface a little less obtuse and the difficulty problem is solved without compromising the scenario design one bit.

Agreed.
 

bomma_man

Member
Never played dark or demon's souls but hate this market focused shit. Artists shouldn't have to fucking care. Just make something great.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Namco HAS to be reading everyone's reaction right?

they are going to put out a PR statement reassuring us right?

And then still fuck up the series? Yeah probably. Gamers are easily manipulated with PR until the company does it too much that they all go cynical, like with Bioware.
 

NBtoaster

Member
Never played dark or demon's souls but hate this market focused shit. Artists shouldn't have to fucking care. Just make something great.

Artists want people to enjoy their content. These games sometimes have an unfortunate reputation that they're just out to destroy you unfairly, which isn't true for those that understand the mechanics or are willing to learn.
 
Last night when I saw the sentence "...to bring new gamers to the series..." in the Dark Souls II press release I figured this would happen. The games probably aren't super profitable, maybe just a little, so they're making them more accessible.

Now with that said, I'm one of the filthy casuals who didn't play the series yet due to its reputation so maybe it will work.
 
I don't want them to stream line the game, I like the way it is. It lets me feel like its the nes SNES era of gaming where I go buy an rpg with the guide book and sit planning out where I am going to go and what I want to do with my guide book.

Also the YouTube community for dark souls is amazing, I learn so much from watching more experienced players tackle the fights and learning more about the amazing lore of the world.
 
That probably helped, but it seems like it's indicating a growing trend of the industry becoming narrow sighted. It's not like there weren't copycats or industry leaders before, but either it's being taken to a new extreme or they're showing it more than before.

And none of them notice the vast heaps of developer corpses who sacrificed to accessibilty as if was some obvious guarentee. Forget the creative angle, from a business perspective, it's been proven to be superstitious horseshit, nothing more.
 
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