DC1
Member
Are you really a souls fan?
Personally, .. I couldn't wait to get back to safe zone.. it was the only time that I could go take a piss!
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Leaked Dark Souls 2 Concept Art looks grossly incandescent
- Thread starter Noi
- Start date
Are you really a souls fan?
Personally, .. I couldn't wait to get back to safe zone.. it was the only time that I could go take a piss!
Impracticality for the sake of appeal, namely impracticality that sticks out badly, is kind of annoying still both to people who want better treatment of women in games and people who understand why it's impractical and get annoyed something that senseless was done. They'd probably be better off keeping it more subtle or focusing on gear where that's a none issue, IE cloth, leather, and chainmail rather than steel.
Fairly Rational
Banned
To be fair you could completely ignore the NPCs at Firelink if you wanted to. I don't think offering the choice for a deeper RPG experience constitutes a betrayal of Dark Souls' gameplay focus.
Not sure if anyone cares about Dark Souls spoilers but redacted for politeness:
For me personally the biggest hook to Dark Souls was how over the course of the game all the undead gathered at Firelink. Each person had their own quest and sense of purpose, but they also came together almost like a community. I thought that was really cool. The idea that Firelink Shrine was slowly becoming this hub of life. That it was a place for all of these travelers to rest and talk and have a few moments of sane, social interaction. Of course that only served the silence of the end game all the more. When you return to Firelink for the final time, everyone is gone. They've all either gone hollow or have been murdered in some horrific way (usually by the player). You're the only one left and your entire support structure is gone. It's just you and whatever waits at the Kiln.
I thought that was a pretty masterful use of NPC interaction without relying heavily on standard storytelling conventions.
Indrid Cold
Unconfirmed Member
Hmm these pieces are a lil hit and miss. Most of it's good mind, but it doesn't have the same dark style as the earlier art from december or dark souls 1/demon's souls stuff.
Ghost_Protocol
Member
This looks so fucking good.....God damn....
H_Prestige
Banned
Woah, getting some Latria vibes from this.
First, the purpose of the Nexus/Firelink Shrine is being the sole place of comfort in the game, adding others would change the game feel.
Second, the few NPCs that are there mostly serve the purpose of teaching you pyromancy/sorceries/miracles. So dividing the few "teacher" NPCs in many cities and filling the rest of these multiple cities with useless NPCs would slow down the gameplay significantly. There's no proper questing system in Dark Souls (and there shouldn't be).
Third, the story in Dark Souls is subtle and many like it being so, so if there's a lot of NPCs (which there would have to be to fill the multiple cities) they would either talk only non interesting gibberish or transform the storytelling method of the series.
Adding on then: yes "offering choice for a deeper RPG experience" with bustling living cities constitutes a betrayal of the Dark Souls experience, it ruins the atmosphere of the game (and there's already people that feel Dark Souls itself is too "happy" compared to Demon Souls), it completely changes the subtleness of the storytelling method (which was AWESOME to unravel like a puzzle) and it would add big areas which you'd have to spend a lot of time running through with nothing interesting gameplay-wise happening. Also, no developer in the world would add a major amount of dialogue and make it all 100% optional, if they add a lot of NPCs and dialogue, you would probably have to stop and talk to someone at some time if only for they to just "show it off".
Dark Souls didn't have the same dark style as Demon's Souls either. It was a very green, mossy game by comparison, and completely lacked the foreboding "everything is dead" tone of DeS in quite a few places, focusing on other things instead. This is just another step to the side.
DC1
Member
But what if the female warrior has a size double D?
It would be very practical to have breast armor.
In truth.. We should not discriminate. FROM software is likely considering the larger female gamers who would prefer to create a character model after their own likeness...with appropriate armor.
H_Prestige
Banned
Agreed. Dark Souls is a bit twisted looking at times, but Lordran could fit right in a children's fairy tale book.
Demons Souls is freaking brutal in comparison. Not a place you want to take your kids to.
Not really. Boobs are soft and would easily fit inside a normal breastplate. The shoulders and waist are the parts that would actually be customized in a breastplate made specifically for a woman's body.
Good breakdown of why boobplates are silly.
I think you are mistaking the washed out, grey and drab style of DeS for atmosphere. Just because Dark souls had colours and life, didn't detract from the oppressive feel of the game...
Thank you so much.
Not having read the entry fully, but I'd imagine at worst... the chest area just protrudes more. Not in a boob shape, but think, say, Samus's power suit. That isn't blatantly sexualized, but it notably does protrude more at the chest. Nevermind that I doubt that much is even necessary in reality for the most part.
Definitely something I missed in Dark Souls. While it has the more visually impressive areas, most of them just feel abandoned, where in Demon's Souls, the first level of Tower of Latria alone makes you go "Jesus Christ, what happened here?", let alone areas like the Valley of Defilement and it's tons of corpses. It's a vibe that I hope Dark Souls 2 can balance better along with the impressive, expansive locales.
Woah, getting some Latria vibes from this.
ART
DC1
Member
I have been enlightened! Although there are some compelling discussions in the commentary.
Oh it's still plenty foreboding, just a different flavor. Demon's Souls was pure dark fantasy, Dark Souls was a high fantasy kingdom gone mad, and Dark Souls II seems to be channeling some low fantasy and exotic stuff like Zendikar from Magic: The Gathering.
The Souls series is a Venn diagram, with a substantial overlap of gorgeous art and things that kill you.
I think you'd sort of get that effect anyway from the slimmer shoulders and waist, assuming it was made for females and not just a male breastplate with extra padding.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Fairly Rational
Banned
But almost all of the NPC dialogue in Dark Souls is already optional. You don't have to talk to anyone except the shopkeepers and one or two other NPCs. You can miss all of the other interactions completely. Furthermore I don't think a city hub is something From Software would do, personally. When another poster mentioned other non-combat zones I was thinking more like a small tavern lit by lantern on a cold dirt road in the forest. It'd be a place to stop and rest, maybe interact with a shopkeeper or whoever happens to be drinking that night. I think it'd be a small, cool way to build atmosphere and add character to the game.
I agree with you on the no bustling cities, though. That'd just be dumb.
MrBambinoDent
Member
lol why not?
I like them any way haha plus having ugly faces won't help see the game all the time.
If this is all the work of just one concept artist, then it worries me a little less that not all of this looks very good. I think the guy does some nice environments, but i'm not digging the monsters. I remember seeing some pretty uninspired early concepts for Dark Souls, back when it was just Project Dark, but none of those found their way into the game. I hope the same happens here, and only the very best of this stuff is developed further. I love this one.
ripastraea
Member
You're welcome
Now I can enjoy them properly as well. By the way, you can find more of the artist's work here:
http://www.leewiart.com/space/998
While I see the difference, I like Demon's Souls' equally as Dark Souls', but still prefer the latter. I think Dark Souls had a good compromise, it still had some opressiveness (okay, maybe it could a TAD more) and it had something much better than Demon's Souls: a reward for exploration.
Dark Souls' locales were much more beautiful, magical and detailed and so exploration in itself became a reward. For instance, I distinctively remember going to Ash Lake in nearly every single of my many playthroughs just because of how awesome it looks and despite not having nearly anything to do there. In Demon's Souls stuff was more like "this is messed up, well, moving on" and that's great, but it doesn't awe me and make me wanna go back just for the locale itself and look at it and think "this is awesome, lemme look at it". (also, many areas felt like giant barren corridors in Demon's Souls, but that's just level design, not so much the art style)
Tl, dr: Dark Souls' areas are haunting while being beautiful and sort of become a reason in itself to propel you forward through the game in your first time and in subsequent playthroughs become a reason to revisit the game.
Yeah, they are all optional in Dark Souls, but it's because the NPCs are few. If they added a lot of NPCs/dialogue, some of it would end up being non-optional, just for the sake of making it useful/showing off. Also, as I said, they either wouldn't say anything interesting or they would and then the storytelling method would change from its usual, cool, subtleness.
True, there's not much reason to go for anything that sticks out badly as being really impractical.
Look a few posts above yours!
Wasn't Gaping Dragon shown when it was called Project Dark?
SatansReverence
Hipster Princess
More DS2 info is all I want from E3. Anything else is a bonus.
I dunno, new londo literally had a floor of corpses.
This is true! I never said Dark never dabbled in it, just that Demon's did it all the time.
Totally fair, I like the ambiance in Dark Souls as well as Demon's Souls! I liked the DeSo locales more for the same reason you favor the Dark Souls ones, I'm aware it's mostly a "different strokes for different folks" kinda deal.
I don't go back to Ash Lake because the Great Hollow is a piece of shit to navigate though. :v
Rygar 8 Bit
Jaguar 64-bit
yeah it was the first thing they showed off in the initial teaser for the game
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
I thought dual wielding having different movesets was confirmed already.
I honestly didn't even notice the second sword.All this bullshit talk about boob plate and you guys are glossing over the most important thing
This man is Dual Wielding.
Dual Wield builds may now become practical? Praise the sun!
Maybe, I don't remember. But the stuff I'm talking about wasn't officially shown, like the gaping dragon concepts. It was just a concept artist's work that made it's way online, like this stuff.
Phonomezer
Banned
Isn't it tho
Spring-Loaded
Member
We'll be able to fire dual crossbows? Duel wands with fire sprays?
John Rabbit
Banned
at first i thought the thread title was a dig at how bright the art was (i.e. -diablo 3).
then i realized.
then i praised.
Y
then i realized.
then i praised.
Y
beksiński doing artwork for dark souls II?
Ghost_Protocol
Member
Definitely my favorite shot!
Recently completed Dark Souls for the first time, and it was really something wonderful.
You've only just begun. The real Dark Souls starts now.
Speaking of swords one looks like a standard sword, his armor looks standard but the second sword looks special like the balder sword you probably get it from an enemy.
Confirmed, Demon Jesus boss.
ripastraea
Member
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