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[TheCongressman1]

I thought dark souls was easy and I only died because of developers wanting to punish me by being cheap. Soured my experience a bit.

This isn't a joke post is it?

 

[Seance]

Existing stats being retooled, such as Dexterity

Good. Hopefully there is no best way to build a character in DS2.

 

[malboroking]

gif with a gigantic throbbing dick

Dude, that is pretty NSFW.

 

[Shengar]

This isn't a joke post is it?

Maybe he mean Anor Londo Twin Archers part? That sure looks cheap.

 

[Zeliard]

Way of Blue, DEX-based, nimble and acrobatic dual swordsman sporting an assortment of dark flowing cloaks

I'm already set on the character I intend to play. Now if March would just arrive, we could start jamming.

 

[fallagin]

Im gonna wait for black phantoms to get within view of me then ill banish their asses.

 

[Ridley327]

I wonder if the return of 50% HP in non-human form means they're bringing back the slight stat buffs you get? I always thought that was a nice trade-off, and it was proof that Demon's Souls didn't entirely have it in for you every step of the way.

 

[criesofthepast]

This isn't a joke post is it?

Honestly 90% of the deaths for me playing dark souls were cheap. In Demons souls I died cause I sucked at something.

 

[Cramoss]

I'm liking everything I've read so far.

It punishes people who experiment. I really don't like the sound of it at all.

Did you play Demon's Souls? I thought this thing made it a really good incentive to remain a human and not to lose it unlike Dark Souls.

 

[-tetsuo-]

It punishes people who experiment. I really don't like the sound of it at all.

It punishes people for dying.

 

[bhlaab]

Another thing they said the server-based setup would help with, since everyone who plays online will be sharing their credentials directly with FROM Software instead of the more hands-off approach that comes with P2P. Should make cheat detection and banning much easier.

Yeah, IF they're on top of things. It's a small dev and a small publisher.

The max HP things sounds fine. It sounds like you lose ~10% of your maxHP with each hollow death and you can always get it back by consuming a Humanity item without even needing to hit a bonfire.

Now, this does set players up for some potential difficulty walling. One of the nice things about Dark Souls was that you could just keep trying over and over on a stable playing field thanks to the Estus Flask system.
Now if you run out of Humanity items you could find yourself at a huge disadvantage in a spot where you're already obviously having some problems. It seems to be working against the ideas that the estus flask system was created to fix.

 

[Grief.exe]

Pink Soapstone

Activate and no one can enter your world.

 

[Mupod]

Pink Soapstone

Activate and no one can enter your world.

Just don't drop it.

 

[Vire]

It punishes people for dying.

What a great thoughtful post!

 

[Robot Pants]

Incoming crow buffet for everyone who predicted a casual game and the death of the series when the sequel was announced!

It's a pretty hefty, detailed article, so here's the rundown:

• Possible to be invaded while hollow.
• Humanity scrapped, replaced with a single item like Stone of Ephemeral Eyes.
• Repeated deaths while hollow decrease max HP up to 50%.
• White phantoms now have a limited duration, may have to leave sooner if they do too much work for the host player.
• More visible blood stains and messages thanks to being server-based instead of P2P, messages no longer require an item to write.
• Way of Blue covenant summons a player phantom to help defend if you get invaded.
• 3 item slots per hand, 10 consumable item slots. UI is much denser and more detailed, less scrolling necessary.
• Agility stat that increases movement and dodge speed. Existing stats being retooled, such as Dexterity making bleeding/poison more effective.

You'd better get ready to die.

Sounds so good

 

[NinjamicWZ]

I'm still going to play, but I don't really get into PvP despite loving these games. I do enjoy writing and reading messages, and getting an occasional surprise. I won't shy away from it, if that's how it is. I'll just grit my teeth and deal.

 

[SargerusBR]

Pink Soapstone

Activate and no one can enter your world.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Man oh man.

Continual hollow deaths gradually decrease your max hp.

You can get invaded while hollow, so there will always be a reason to be afraid.

Time limitations constraining how much you depend on phantoms to carry you.

Some drastic changes being made. Sounds like it won't just be the game players think they want, which is more dark souls...but rather a game that will really challenge players with new obstacles, shake things up and force them to become better the way Demon's and Dark did in their time.

Sounds like even without Miyazaki, FROM gets it. Bravo!

 

[Glorious_Paradox]

Sounds fantastic! Just like Demons Souls + Dark Souls, I'm planning to take a few days off work to enjoy this when it comes out. They're the only games that have made me do that since the SNES era

 

[scytheavatar]

Meh, sounds more like annoyance than making life harder. Life decrease with death will probably mean more grinding like in Demon's Soul rather than actually dying more. Invading those that don't want to be invaded will only mean more disconnects and wasting of your time. Still not convinced that Dark Souls II will actually top Dark Souls I if they are looking at Demon's Souls for inspiration.

 

[Seance]

Game looks like Durante Edition without the few awful textures. Hope no one thinks it will have that IQ on PS360.

 

[Mogwai]

Adding invasions to undead form is ridiculous. Now people are forced to play offline. What a stinker. As much as I like admire FROM, this decision is just no good. Respect that certain people do not want to spend time on PvP.

That time limited summon sounds sketchy too.

 

[daniels]

Well thats what you guys get for complaining that it will be easier maybe next time shut your mouths and dont give them any ideas :/ Fuck

 

[Vitten]

Sounds all good to me except the hollow invasions.
Hopefully there will be some way to prevent them or the low-level dickwraiths who like to invade beginner areas with maxed out gear will make the game insufferable after a few weeks.

Even now you still can't risk going through any part of the Burg in human form without getting some asshole with +5 lightening weapons up your ass.

 

[Horp]

YESSSS!

I'm so hyped. They weren't kidding when they said they didn't "get" why westerners were worried that the game would be made a lot easier.
Invaded while phantom? HP decrease. Please allow me to pee my pants.

Edit:
I think people should start approaching this game with the same mentality we approached games back in the days (early 90:s). You knew you would die, you knew you would fail. The games weren't that long, but it took many tries to beat them. When you beat a game you bragged about it at school. Prepare to die.

 

[toddhunter]

Sounds all good to me except the hollow invasions.
Hopefully there will be some way to prevent them or the low-level dickwraiths who like to invade beginner areas with maxed out gear will make the game insufferable after a few weeks.

Even now you still can't risk going through any part of the Burg in human form without getting some asshole with +5 lightening weapons up your ass.

Just play offline. Unless this is a stealth "always online" announcement...or they have worked out a way to still get invaded without a connection.

Honestly 90% of the deaths for me playing dark souls were cheap. In Demons souls I died cause I sucked at something.

90% of the deaths for me in Demon Souls were probably because of the camera or a sudden fall. It was far less forgiving in that respect.

 

[-tetsuo-]

What a great thoughtful post!

Just don't die

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Based on some of the comments I'm reading, a lot of the people in this thread should consider alternatives to the Souls games, I'm thinking.

Like, Kirby's Dreamland, maybe.

 

[Rezbit]

We still don't know the specifics, as they say it's "possible" to invade hollows, and "repeated" deaths lower max HP. I reckon you will need another special item as opposed to red eye orbs to invade hollows. Who knows how generous they will be with deaths and HP though. I like the sound of the changes at least, particularly the Blue covenant to take on the Dickwraiths. Hopefully now it's server based From have a bit more power to ban/delete illegitimate characters.

EDIT: Oh, and also, thematically I love the idea of trying to be in human form more often. Dark Souls repeatedly tells you how bad it is to be hollowed, that you'll slowly go insane, etc etc, but most people used it as a safety net. You should WANT to be human, IMO.

 

[Blimblim]

I'll have some good quality off-screen footage from the TGS demo in an hour or so.

 

[Zukuu]

Not sure if I like most of those changes...

Good:

Humanity scrapped, replaced with a single item like Stone of Ephemeral Eyes.
Repeated deaths while hollow decrease max HP up to 50%.
More visible blood stains and messages thanks to being server-based instead of P2P, messages no longer require an item to write.

Neutral

Possible to be invaded while hollow.
Way of Blue covenant summons a player phantom to help defend if you get invaded.

Bad

White phantoms now have a limited duration, may have to leave sooner if they do too much work for the host player.
3 item slots per hand, 10 consumable item slots. UI is much denser and more detailed, less scrolling necessary. (first part at least)
Agility stat that increases movement and dodge speed. Existing stats being retooled, such as Dexterity making bleeding/poison more effective.

Being invaded while hollow is kinda meh tho. Being alive just needs to have a better benefit. I really liked the balance Demon Souls did here. 100% health as alive and 50% as hollow. (it was 25%, but everyone wore that ring and it should be 50% imo).

 

[Shengar]

Just don't die

Reckless death, to be precise.

 

[CountAntonius]

I'll try to get my character as close to my Darksouls one. Hopefully they have something on par with the Man-Serpent Great Sword. I absolutely love that weapon.

and yes...I was a DarkWraith.

 

[Vire]

I'll have some good quality off-screen footage from the TGS demo in an hour or so.

 

[Shengar]

Not sure if I like most of those changes...

Being invaded while hollow is kinda meh tho. Being alive just needs to have a better benefit. I really liked the balance Demon Souls did here. 100% health as alive and 50% as hollow. (it was 25%, but everyone wore that ring and it should be 50% imo).

That part what makes soul form in Demon's Souls much more interesting. You can't get invaded, but your health cut down to half. Of course there is cling ring to make the health loss just 25%, but that mean you must use your ring slot for that.

 

[Kuro]

For the people that are complaining, have you ever played Demons Souls?

 

[Vire]

For the people that are complaining, have you ever played Demons Souls?

Yes, I like Dark Souls much more.

 

[Vitten]

If you're someone who's adverse to PVP perhaps you should consider another franchise entirely. The Souls games have always been created with PVP in mind. It has also never marketed itself as casual-friendly or accessible. Either you nut up and accept it for what it is or play a watered-down offline version. The gear complaints are short-sighted as almost all equipment is viable in even endgame if upgraded. I find that these complaints come from people who spend their souls on levelling up without giving a second thought to spending it on their equipment.

If the developers were to change the game around your whims the result would be a game different in design (due to PVP not being a focus anymore). With that being said I'm almost certain there will be ways to avoid player contact without needing to disconnect.

My biggest concern is whether there is any cheat-detection. I seriously doubt this will be the case but if things like health bars during combat are handled server-side then they can cut down on cheaters.

PVP has never been the prime focus of this series. It is an attributing factor to the game's succes but it can be skipped entirely and you can still enjoy tackling the challenges that the game itself has to offer you.

Also, all the PVP skills in the world aren't going to help you when you begin the game with starting gear and you get invaded right away by someone with maxed out weapons even before you had a chance to seriously upgrade your stuff.

 

[daniels]

New video from enb at around 9 min some more new stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CGvXh_pEWs

 

[Shengar]

New video from enb at around 9 min some more new stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CGvXh_pEWs

I need this straight to my veins

 

[Boken]

My god they better add gear value to the multiplayer equation

or else we're already dead.

 

[Maddrical]

BRING IT ON DARK SOULS!!!

All this news is good news to me. The more the challenge, the better.

 

[Stealth_Cobra]

Just play offline if you don't want to get invaded , whiners.

The only problem might be the Hp penality, but it's still not that different from Demon's.

 

[Arjen]

Yes, yes yes, this all sounds amazing, i'm ready to be tortured, to scream and pull my hair out.
And after that being the punisher myself, loooove that we're having more invasions.

 

[Meia]

Invasions being allowed in both human and undead states doesn't necessarily mean there's nothing you can do to keep invasions at bay short of playing offline.

Perhaps there will certain items you can use or a covenant like a more impactful and effective version of Way of White, which will possibly make invasions something that happen quite rarely or perhaps never after upgrades. The Way of Blue covenant that summons a helpful Phantom as soon as you are invaded is something I was hoping the game would include. The Way of Blue Phantom may also have some specific buffs or spells in dealing with invaders that we don't know about yet, or maybe they'll be summoned from a higher level pool.

From's main purpose seems to be to remove some of the advantages to being undead - which is more of a state of punishment for dying - and presumably because they didn't consider it ideal that people mostly went around as some ghostly entity or hideous skeleton thing in the first two Souls games.

If they also want to emphasize more of a social covenant style of play this time around, this will be another way to encourage online players to band together and take advantage of the co-op features.

This is fine, but this is all under the assumption that they're competent enough when it comes to online to stop hacking/cheating, something they've never demonstrated an ability to do. I just don't trust them when it comes to it. /shrug


I like a challenge. The challenge in Dark/Demon Souls works because I don't feel cheated if I die, I know there's something I did to screw up and I'll watch myself next time, but it creates unbelievable tension by doing so. Now I feel like I better just race from bonfire to bonfire before I get invaded by someone who flat out cannot be killed, or keep the plug pulled and miss out on messages/other people's mistakes. How is that fun?


And no, saying "I bet you can wear an item/use a covenant" isn't exactly a good thing either. Handicapping yourself in any fashion to get by a bad design decision is not something to proclaim as "good."

 

[V_Arnold]

I will SOO enjoy the hell out of this game while unplugging the Ethernet cable from the 360. I do not need no PVP bullshit in my RPG.

 

[Blimblim]

Our 10 minutes video is up, showing the whole TGS demo. The player struggles a bit in the beginning, but otherwise it's not too bad
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_tgs_10_minutes_of_dark_souls_2-14628_en.html

 

[Maddrical]

I will SOO enjoy the hell out of this game while unplugging the Ethernet cable from the 360. I do not need no PVP bullshit in my RPG.

You're really missing out, invasions are amazing fun.

 

[V_Arnold]

You're really missing out, invasions are amazing fun.

Once I am finished with multiple playthroughs, I might try it. Never enjoyed attacking other people in WoW, I can count the number of times in my hand when I purposefully attacked someone who just minded his/her own business.... and I had plenty of horrible hours thanks to gankers.

 

[Meia]

Once I am finished with multiple playthroughs, I might try it. Never enjoyed attacking other people in WoW, I can count the number of times in my hand when I purposefully attacked someone who just minded his/her own business.... and I had plenty of horrible hours thanks to gankers.

I can't fathom how hard it is to understand that some people may *gasp* not like the idea of PvP in a game like this. The old games gave you a choice to partake or not, the best solution for everyone. They removed a choice from this game because of REASONS.


It kind of makes me wonder if they didn't think they could pump up the difficulty themselves enough from a PvE standpoint. :\