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[Lumination]

Now's a good time to probably start playing Dark Souls and maybe even Demon's Souls. I have those two sitting there, unplayed, because I am honestly always feel intimated every time I wanted to play them, heh.

Dive into Demon's Souls, man! I remember reading your post on FE12 difficulty levels. I'm going to assume you like the idea of a game that forces you to stop, assess the situation, and pick the optimal solution. If that's the case, this is your series! Honestly, it won't be as hard as any FE on Lunatic+.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Dive into Demon's Souls, man! I remember reading your post on FE12 difficulty levels. I'm going to assume you like the idea of a game that forces you to stop, assess the situation, and pick the optimal solution. If that's the case, this is your series! Honestly, it won't be as hard as any FE on Lunatic+.

I didn't "enjoy" playing Lunatic and especially not Lunatic Reverse on FE12; in fact, it is safe to say that I was actually really frustrated at times and often I said to myself, "Why am I doing this to myself?" Hahaha. I was actually very amazed at myself that I stuck to it and finishing it, heh.

But I suppose you are right. If I can handle FE12 on Lunatic Reverse I should be able to handle everything, hahahah.

 

[Vazra]

First video was the VGA trailer.

Both are up. VGA Trailer and Of Masks and Dragons

Basically same trailer.

 

[params7]

Don't Blur charge like 1 million for every 30 sec or something like that?

hope it's Namco money not From's.

Namco's. They're the publishers here and pay for marketing/development.

Trailer was worth it though. Just one of the best trailers I've ever seen for a game.

 

[EatinOlives]

Don't Blur charge like 1 million for every 30 sec or something like that?

hope it's Namco money not From's.

Damn. If they do charge that much Namco must REALLY want this series to become a cash cow for them.

I truly hope it doesn't mean they'll dumb it down in any way.

 

[zkylon]

Both are up. VGA Trailer and Of Masks and Dragons

Basically same trailer.

I just checked and yeah, you're right. That's disappointing.

Damn. If they do charge that much Namco must REALLY want this series to become a cash cow for them.

I truly hope it doesn't mean they'll dumb it down in any way.

Wow that's a big conclusion jump.

 

[Vazra]

I just checked and yeah, you're right. That's disappointing.

I guess we shall wait till next year. T_T

 

[EatinOlives]

Wow that's a big conclusion jump.

How so? Namco wouldn't pay Blur millions (presumably) for a trailer and pay for adspace at the VGAs on a niche game if it didn't have plans of expanding the userbase. Historically, expansion of the userbase generally means appealing to the lowest common denominator. I'm saying I certainly hope that's not the case here.

 

[zkylon]

How so? Namco wouldn't pay Blur millions (presumably) for a trailer and pay for adspace at the VGAs on a niche game if it didn't have plans of expanding the userbase. Historically, expansion of the userbase generally means appealing to the lowest common denominator. I'm saying I certainly hope that's not the case here.

I'm saying it's a big jump to make, specially since the game already sells well, it's adding a new platform (PC) and you probably wouldn't think that if it weren't for the very scary Edge comments.

 

[EatinOlives]

I'm saying it's a big jump to make, specially since the game already sells well, it's adding a new platform (PC) and you probably wouldn't think that if it weren't for the very scary Edge comments.

The game doesn't sell well enough to be prominently featured in a show that for the longest time has been considered to be the mainstream of the mainstream of video game advertisements. Demon's Souls was considered wildly successful when it sold 500K, mostly on word of mouth. That's generally how the game started, as yet another obscure Atlus-published (in the US) game quitely released and has been slowly gaining traction from there. Many more games that go on to sell better and have a bigger presence in the industry aren't announced at this venue, which is why it sticks out. The alleged cost of the trailer and employing CG-trailer big-shots Blur studio supports that Namco probably wants to expand the game's userbase. What it results in is anyone's guess.

I don't see the big jump here, sorry. Note that I'm saying I'm HOPING it doesn't affect the game negatively. Nowhere am I predicting it will. There isn't any conclusion to jump to.

 

[sixghost]

The game doesn't sell well enough to be prominently featured in a show that for the longest time has been considered to be the mainstream of the mainstream of video game advertisements. Demon's Souls was considered wildly successful when it sold 500K, mostly on word of mouth. That's generally how the game started, as yet another obscure Atlus-published (in the US) game quitely released and has been slowly gaining traction from there. Many more games that go on to sell better and have a bigger presence in the industry aren't announced at this venue, which is why it sticks out. The alleged cost of the trailer and employing CG-trailer big-shots Blur studio supports that Namco probably wants to expand the game's userbase. What it results in is anyone's guess.

I don't see the big jump here, sorry. Note that I'm saying I'm HOPING it doesn't affect the game negatively. Nowhere am I predicting it will. There isn't any conclusion to jump to.

Source
Dark Souls has probably sold somewhere near 1.5-2 millions copies after the release of the PC version, that's nothing to scoff at. All that with virtually zero advertising too. It's all been word of mouth. Fans of the series are so quick to crap on any hint of making the game more accessible, but there are plenty of things the game could do that would help more people make it past the first 5 hours, or convince them to give it a shot. There is literally no reason why the crafting system should be so hard to figure out without a faq. There's no reason why the weapon info screen should be so obtuse. There's no reason why humanity shouldn't be better explained. There are just some people who aren't willing to go out of there way to research info for a game. The games are overwhelming as it is, just by the nature of the gameplay, people struggling to comprehend basic mechanics doesn't help.

If they decide to throw some money behind this game and advertise, there's no reason why it couldn't do well enough without compromising what makes it good.

 

[Castor Krieg]

Do you guys continue to play dark souls even after you have achieved everything the game has to offer?

The game is a sandbox. You can play it multiple times.

There is literally no reason why the crafting system should be so hard to figure out without a faq. There's no reason why the weapon info screen should be so obtuse. There's no reason why humanity shouldn't be better explained. There are just some people who aren't willing to go out of there way to research info for a game.

Then those people should not be playing Souls games. I am very sorry majority need to be spoon fed everything nowadays - go back to Skyrim. Really, what is up with Defense Force here? That "difficulty" is part of Souls series, it goes back to the 90s where you had to figure things out on your own, where game magazines were publishing pages of data and secret information. Where secret meant SECRET.

In a moment we will go from explaining Humanity to explaining the story - why should people have to piece together lore information? Just guide them along the path and show everything. Why make branching areas? Some gamers will not see them, better to make game linear so they can experience everything.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Then those people should not be playing Souls games. I am very sorry majority need to be spoon fed everything nowadays - go back to Skyrim. Really, what is up with Defense Force here? That "difficulty" is part of Souls series, it goes back to the 90s where you had to figure things out on your own, where game magazines were publishing pages of data and secret information. Where secret meant SECRET.

Unwillingness to commit to "deep research" is not necessarily the same as like being spoon fed. I agree devs spoonfeding all the infos/secrets are bad, but there is also a line that should not be crossed IMO like when an integral gameplay mechanics are not even explained properly.

Especially important in a game as difficult as the Souls game, seeing that even a small error can especially punish you in the long run. There is nothing wrong with people wanting the games to explain all the important mechanics properly.

No one want a repeat of the Zodiac Spear of FFXII's fame after all.

 

[Eusis]

There is literally no reason why the crafting system should be so hard to figure out without a faq.

Let's be honest here: of all the things obtuse about the game the crafting is damn near the lowest. Certainly it pales compared to many MMOs where there's millions of items to harvest then use to make whatever, here it's simply the weapon, an ore, and maybe a soul. The biggest problem was how spread out the smiths were, and consolidating that again (one regular one, one specialized one, or just one period) would do wonders.

You may have a point about figuring out what weapons you can use to upgrade with a soul, in which case... give an option to display currently available upgrade paths, I guess? That's about it I'd think.

It's not inherently BAD if you need to look up information online, but it does need to be for stuff that's meant to be hidden or whatever, IE the embers, versus how to use something in the first place like the stat requirements/scaling.

No one want a repeat of the Zodiac Spear of FFXII's fame after all.

To be fair you simply shouldn't be doing something like THAT. Ever.

 

[Castor Krieg]

Also to the people saying "the game can have Easy Mode, just make the regular difficulty hard" - it doesn't work like that. Let's use extreme example - Call of Duty. I'm sure CoD is VERY challenging on its highest difficulty in Single Player. When players talk about the game, do they mention "relentless difficulty"? No they do not, because there is an option to tone it all down and play the game on Easy.

Same would happen to Souls series - you cannot make the claim anymore that the game has punishing difficulty if it can be completed easily on lowest difficulty setting. And since difficulty is part of the appeal for many - fuck you Namco Bandai if you mess with it.

 

[sixghost]

Let's be honest here: of all the things obtuse about the game the crafting is damn near the lowest. Certainly it pales compared to many MMOs where there's millions of items to harvest then use to make whatever, here it's simply the weapon, an ore, and maybe a soul. The biggest problem was how spread out the smiths were, and consolidating that again (one regular one, one specialized one, or just one period) would do wonders.

You may have a point about figuring out what weapons you can use to upgrade with a soul, in which case... give an option to display currently available upgrade paths, I guess? That's about it I'd think.

It's not inherently BAD if you need to look up information online, but it does need to be for stuff that's meant to be hidden or whatever, IE the embers, versus how to use something in the first place like the stat requirements/scaling.

To be fair you simply shouldn't be doing something like THAT. Ever.

It's not bad if you just stay on the Normal+15 path, but it can get pretty confusing when you start trying to make Enchanted, occult or chaos weapons and you aren't looking at that crafting chart. Combine that with 4-5 different colors of materials, the scarcity of those materials and only being able to upgrade certain paths at certain blacksmiths. I wouldn't have been able to figure out half that if I didn't just have the wiki open.

 

[Eusis]

Also to the people saying "the game can have Easy Mode, just make the regular difficulty hard" - it doesn't work like that. Let's use extreme example - Call of Duty. I'm sure CoD is VERY challenging on its highest difficulty in Single Player. When players talk about the game, do they mention "relentless difficulty"? No they do not, because there is an option to tone it all down and play the game on Easy.

Same would happen to Souls series - you cannot make the claim anymore that the game has punishing difficulty if it can be completed easily on lowest difficulty setting. And since difficulty is part of the appeal for many - fuck you Namco Bandai if you mess with it.

At the same time, those hard difficulties maybe a little TOO unrelenting. Similar applies here I think, it may be hard but trying to account SOMEWHAT for the widest variety of players with the only difficulty there is means they can push anyone while not going overboard. Putting in an Easy potentially means they may let loose on normal and don't really make it fun for semi-casual players that just want to be challenged a bit. Alternatively, with hard and potentially higher as options too they may soften Normal, maybe going too far with Hard.

It's not bad if you just stay on the Normal+15 path, but it can get pretty confusing when you start trying to make Enchanted, occult or chaos weapons and you aren't looking at that crafting chart. Combine that with 4-5 different colors of materials, the scarcity of those materials and only being able to upgrade certain paths at certain blacksmiths. I wouldn't have been able to figure out half that if I didn't just have the wiki open.

The main problem there is the fact the smiths are spread all over the place, with Andre at least being a necessity for many upgrade paths. Consolidate that, and it's much simpler and easier to get without actually doing anything to the upgrade mechanics themselves. Plus like said it IS mild, even Skyward Sword is more convoluted with all the assorted garbage you need to collect, nevermind stuff like Monster Hunter.

 

[zkylon]

The game doesn't sell well enough to be prominently featured in a show that for the longest time has been considered to be the mainstream of the mainstream of video game advertisements. Demon's Souls was considered wildly successful when it sold 500K, mostly on word of mouth. That's generally how the game started, as yet another obscure Atlus-published (in the US) game quitely released and has been slowly gaining traction from there. Many more games that go on to sell better and have a bigger presence in the industry aren't announced at this venue, which is why it sticks out. The alleged cost of the trailer and employing CG-trailer big-shots Blur studio supports that Namco probably wants to expand the game's userbase. What it results in is anyone's guess.

I don't see the big jump here, sorry. Note that I'm saying I'm HOPING it doesn't affect the game negatively. Nowhere am I predicting it will. There isn't any conclusion to jump to.

I know Dark Souls sold a couple millions on consoles, so I'm sure it's doing ok.

I do wonder how much the VGA space might cost. I mean, it's not the Superbowl or anything, and since the reveals are pretty much 90% of the point of watching them, I'm sure they come to an agreement where don't cost like a million a minute or anything like that.

But I join your hoping that neither that ad or what's been said on Edge is any indication of dumbing down the game. That would honestly be very heartbreaking.

 

[TEH-CJ]

Going back to this after the god of war beta feels like a revelation, jesus christ. Controls are so nice and smooth...and responsive...yum yum.

 

[Varna]

Unwillingness to commit to "deep research" is not necessarily the same as like being spoon fed. I agree devs spoonfeding all the infos/secrets are bad, but there is also a line that should not be crossed IMO like when an integral gameplay mechanics are not even explained properly.

Especially important in a game as difficult as the Souls game, seeing that even a small error can especially punish you in the long run. There is nothing wrong with people wanting the games to explain all the important mechanics properly.

No one want a repeat of the Zodiac Spear of FFXII's fame after all.

Nothing even close to that is featured in either Soul game. Please, the games let you recover from any failing.

What integral game mechanics are not explained? Humanity and covenants are integral at all. It's easy enough to get without worrying about either of them.

 

[Forkball]

Nothing even close to that is featured in either Soul game. Please, the games let you recover from any failing.

What integral game mechanics are not explained? Humanity and covenants are integral at all. It's easy enough to get without worrying about either of them.

To be fair, I don't think anything close to the Zodiac Spear is in ANY game period.

I disagree about humanity being easy to get. There were only specific areas you could get it, and I found myself running out and was one of the reasons I rage quit the game. I really wish they would revamp that system somehow (maybe allow hollows to summon, but human players have more benefits).

 

[Castor Krieg]

I disagree about humanity being easy to get. There were only specific areas you could get it, and I found myself running out and was one of the reasons I rage quit the game. I really wish they would revamp that system somehow (maybe allow hollows to summon, but human players have more benefits).

You do not need Humanity at all to progress in the game...

 

[Midou]

Even among the 'casual mainstream' audience of the VGAs, Dark Souls II had a pretty explosive reaction.

They know why the series is popular, selling well and getting high reviews. There is literally no reason to change that. Some better (actual) advertising would probably be enough to have the audience grow.

Throw in a bit more explanation of mechanics, in some optional way, but that makes it obvious to people as well, and you'll keep that bigger audience too.

 

[TheThunder]

This is probably old and already been covered in past pages so I apologize , but I noticed that now when you go to the official website and hover over the "PC" logo it doesn't redirect you to the xbox site anymore.

Did they give any updates or comments on that ?

 

[decoyplatypus]

Also to the people saying "the game can have Easy Mode, just make the regular difficulty hard" - it doesn't work like that. Let's use extreme example - Call of Duty. I'm sure CoD is VERY challenging on its highest difficulty in Single Player. When players talk about the game, do they mention "relentless difficulty"? No they do not, because there is an option to tone it all down and play the game on Easy.

Same would happen to Souls series - you cannot make the claim anymore that the game has punishing difficulty if it can be completed easily on lowest difficulty setting. And since difficulty is part of the appeal for many - fuck you Namco Bandai if you mess with it.

Well, that seems kind silly. What you're saying is that your enjoyment of the Souls series is not about the default difficulty actually being difficult - it's about you being able to claim that the game is difficult. I'm not sure why you think the measure of a game's difficulty has to be its lowest possible difficulty setting. People don't rate the difficulty of FE12 or the new XCOM, to take two recent examples, by their easy modes. Even if you insist that a game with an easy mode is now, by that very fact, easy, it's not clear to me why that should affect your enjoyment of the game. We're all going to be playing on the higher (normal) difficulty setting.

At least make the argument that difficult would hurt the game by forcing core design changes or splitting the online. I'm not convinced either would have to happen, but at least they would be tangible effects on your experience.

You do not need Humanity at all to progress in the game...

That is technically true, but you're not thinking of the player who is genuinely struggling with the game. That player needs humanity to kindle bonfires and to summon friends - the two main ways of turning the odds in your favor. I personally think humanity is easy enough to figure out (and cheap enough to experiment with), but it would be pretty harsh to make a key mechanic for struggling players too obscure for those players to understand.

 

[Castor Krieg]

EDGE on December 20th will the first print mag I will buy in like 3 years. Just for that interview.

Well, that seems kind silly. What you're saying is that your enjoyment of the Souls series is not about the default difficulty actually being difficult - it's about you being able to claim that the game is difficult. I'm not sure why you think the measure of a game's difficulty has to be its lowest possible difficulty setting. People don't rate the difficulty FE12 or the new XCOM, to take two recent examples, by their easy modes. Even if you insist that a game with an easy mode is now, by that very fact, easy, it's not clear to me why that should affect your enjoyment of the game. We're all going to be playing on the higher (normal) difficulty setting.

I explained that very clearly with CoD example. The essence of the Souls games is the difficulty, that is destroyed if you allow people to just run around on Easy and kill everything with little trouble. You will have discussing like that:

A: "Damn, I just beat XYZ, the fight was so difficult!"
B: "Lolz, I went there and one-shotted him, died in 5 seconds!"
A: "What difficulty?"
B: "Lol, easy, no reason to play any other, I like my games stress-free"

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Nothing even close to that is featured in either Soul game. Please, the games let you recover from any failing.

Aren't you completely fucked if you accidentally attack Stockpile Thomas or Sage Freke?

I guess you could change your playstyle to a less maic-focussed one if you lose Freke, but still.

 

[Shin Kojima]

Aren't you completely fucked if you accidentally attack Stockpile Thomas or Sage Freke?

I guess you could change your playstyle to a less maic-focussed one if you lose Freke, but still.

I know someone who accidentally killed Thomas and still completed the game so no, not completely.

 

[Midou]

I know someone who accidentally killed Thomas and still completed the game so no, not completely.

It must be crazy frustrating throwing away most of the items you get, but I guess it could be done. Especially considering I basically used starting gear from start to finish in demon's souls. Other than crescent falchion atleast.

 

[Hindle]

I'd like more varied settings this time, different styles of castles etc. the past two games were both influenced by Medievil England, so maybe try other ancient eras or something.

 

[BadWolf]

There should be two difficulties I think, one normal and one easy. Normal for those who want to play the game like it was meant to be played (in line with the rest of the series) and easy for those who weren't able to get into the series due to difficulty.

An easy mode should definitely be there, no need to lock certain people out. These are great games and difficulty isn't the main reason that they are so good. The more people get to experience them the better.

 

[decoyplatypus]

I explained that very clearly with CoD example. The essence of the Souls games is the difficulty, that is destroyed if you allow people to just run around on Easy and kill everything with little trouble. You will have discussing like that:

A: "Damn, I just beat XYZ, the fight was so difficult!"
B: "Lolz, I went there and one-shotted him, died in 5 seconds!"
A: "What difficulty?"
B: "Lol, easy, no reason to play any other, I like my games stress-free"

Right, and once again, I don't see how the game's difficulty "is destroyed" if players are allowed to opt-in to an easy mode. Was XCOM's difficulty destroyed because you had options other than Classic? Was Fire Emblem's difficulty destroyed because 12 added an optional "casual" mode that no self-respecting FE fan would ever choose?

If you're worried that new players will gravitate toward easy mode, not bother with normal, and therefore never get a true Souls experience, I guess I can understand that. But that's just a matter of framing. Make easy mode opt-in rather than opt-out and only the few people who desperately want it will take it. Some players may even graduate from easy to normal. Happens often enough with other games. Easy mode is there specifically for people who are not initially prepared for the "essential" Souls experience.

[Nevermind]

EDIT: Look, I agree with you that challenge is part of the Souls experience, and I even agree that difficulty modes should not be on From's list of priorities for the next game. I just think there are good and bad reasons for not offering an easy mode, and the ones you've given aren't terribly persuasive.

 

[Castor Krieg]

If you're worried that new players will gravitate toward easy mode, not bother with normal, and therefore never get a true Souls experience, I guess I can understand that.

Yes, these are precisely my worries.

 

[Midou]

There should be two difficulties I think, one normal and one easy. Normal for those who want to play the game like it was meant to be played (in line with the rest of the series) and easy for those who weren't able to get into the series due to difficulty.

An easy mode should definitely be there, no need to lock certain people out. These are great games and difficulty isn't the main reason that they are so good. The more people get to experience them the better.

There are ways to do it without an easy mode. Like adding a tutorial in the menu that is more detailed in explanations than the simple messages. You could have starting items that help players too, like maybe 10x humanity-esque item.

The game isn't that hard for people who are willing to commit some time to it, the game is about patience and planning out what to do against a foe who previously beat you. Removing that would be removing part of what makes the game great. People have gotten their 11 year old children to go through the game after explaining certain mechanics to them. There is loot you can get early on that makes most encounters fairly easy as well.

Just because people don't want to try, doesn't meant the game should be altered so they don't have to.

 

[Misterinenja]

I've always thought that no selectable difficulty levels = more solid game design. The game is same for everybody.

 

[Midou]

I've always thought that no selectable difficulty levels = more solid game design. The game is same for everybody.

Yes. Then you gotta balance all kind of stats and numbers to not make anything like too easy and be constantly balancing both. Better to add mechanics that ease players into the existing game.

 

[decoyplatypus]

Yes, these are precisely my worries.

Okay. I think we have two very different paradigms in mind. You are worried about the player who is perfectly capable of beating Dark Souls but would choose an easy mode if given the choice because he or she really just wants to "clear" the game as fast as possible and get it off his/her backlog. I tend to think that this player does not want a real Souls experience, and so I don't really care about him/her. I am worried about the player who wants a Souls experience but cannot beat Dark Souls.* For this player, Dark Souls is basically impossible, and an easy mode would effectively bring the game down to the hard but manageable level that the rest of us start with. I need a really good reason to tell this person why he/she shouldn't have that easy mode. The possibility that some other people might abuse the easy mode when they could be playing on normal isn't good enough. If multiple difficulty modes would have a negative impact on the game for people playing on the default (normal) mode, that would be a reason.

*I happen to think that between summons, level grinding, and learning, almost all experienced videogame players are capable of beating Dark Souls, but that may be optimistic.

 

[twobear]

EDGE on December 20th will the first print mag I will buy in like 3 years. Just for that interview.



I explained that very clearly with CoD example. The essence of the Souls games is the difficulty, that is destroyed if you allow people to just run around on Easy and kill everything with little trouble. You will have discussing like that:

A: "Damn, I just beat XYZ, the fight was so difficult!"
B: "Lolz, I went there and one-shotted him, died in 5 seconds!"
A: "What difficulty?"
B: "Lol, easy, no reason to play any other, I like my games stress-free"

Where is that XBox Achievements advert kid when you need him?

 

[derFeef]

They should not touch the combat balance - you can make it easy yourself if you know what to do. They should add more context to some stuff I thought was poorly described in DS. Why am I undead? What does humanity do? Why am I running into other players and sometimes not? There exist weapons that are better against undead? Stuff like that...

 

[Arjen]

Okay, so let's say you want to make an Easy mode, what will you end up with.
Probably that enemies deal less damage and or you will have more health.
This will take away the need to block and to move carefull.
Being carefull and exploring things is the heart and soul (no pun intended) of this game.
I play games like God of War/Ninja Gaiden/ Bayonetta on easy because i lack the reflexes to finish the game without to much frustration on Normal or Higher.
I finished Dark Souls without to much trouble.

 

[krYlon]

For those worried about an easy mode diluting the souls experience and offering no incentive for the casual player to work through hard mode. What about these suggestions:

1) If you play on easy mode you get a different ending, or even end the game a few areas early through an unnavoidable/story related death, making it clear that you failed because you were a coward/a cheat.
It could be called "coward's mode"

2) If you play on easy mode you don't get any trophies.


Surely this would give some kind of incentive for a player who completed easy mode to try hard mode straight after.
It would also appease fans of the series to know that casual players are still punished.


I just think there is so much about the series that should be seen by more people. The level design, art, architecture and general atmosphere.

 

[Midou]

For those worried about an easy mode diluting the souls experience and offering no incentive for the casual player to work through hard mode. What about these suggestions:

1) If you play on easy mode you get a different ending, or even end the game a few areas early through an unnavoidable/story related death, making it clear that you failed because you were a coward/a cheat.
It could be called "coward's mode"

2) If you play on easy mode you don't get any trophies.


Surely this would give some kind of incentive for a player who completed easy mode to try hard mode straight after.
It would also appease fans of the series to know that casual players are still punished.


I just think there is so much about the series that should be seen by more people. The level design, art, architecture and general atmosphere.

Something like that would not be too bad, but then I'm sure most players would just skip easy mode all together. I still believe there could be some kind of easy mode, just one that does not really change the difficulty of the enemies and such, but adds other elements. Perhaps you could ONLY play with people also on easy, you can turn human at any bonfire without the need of humanity but cannot kindle without it. At least this helps co-op. Stuff like that, plus perhaps a coward's ending and only certain trophies are gettable on easy might be a good mix without harming the core game.

You could even let people choose in a canon way. At the end of the opening sequence, there could be a fork in the road, one with a message that reads 'perhaps I should take a rest now' and another that reads 'death and chaos ahead'(but something less stupid) with the rest path being serene grassy and have light at the end, with the other being into the abyss.

 

[Dyno]

There should be two difficulties I think, one normal and one easy. Normal for those who want to play the game like it was meant to be played (in line with the rest of the series) and easy for those who weren't able to get into the series due to difficulty.

An easy mode should definitely be there, no need to lock certain people out. These are great games and difficulty isn't the main reason that they are so good. The more people get to experience them the better.

There cannot be variable difficulties in Souls games because they are SHARED EXPERIENCES. People enter each other's games. Different settings between games sounds like a server nightmare.

Which brings me to the second point, player interaction. How are you going to easy mode a hard core player who invades you? They will own noobs and the noobs have no real hope of getting better because their game is so easy they are not going to learn the necessary skills to survive.

Finally, another truth. The games are hard but not unfairly and not relentlessly. If a player takes their time and applies themself they can get over the difficulty. Stop being lazy! Put in the proper effort or just find another game.

 

[bj00rn_]

The game is same for everybody.

No. The game is certainly not the same for everybody . The reason for that is very simple: Because people are not the same!

Like I wrote in another post: your easy may be another person's hard.

 

[Midou]

No. The game is certainly not the same for everybody . The reason for that is very simple: Because people are not the same!

Like I wrote in another post: your easy may be another person's hard.

I don't think this has been posted often enough:

A little bit of patience and planning is enough to get through the game.

You can find countless posts of people rage quitting because insanity(minor Far Cry 3 spoilers) as a strategy didn't work.

 

[derFeef]

Comic is lying... I carefully and slowly went up a circular stair, only to find a black knight on the top then. I COULD NOT PREPARE!

 

[krYlon]

Something like that would not be too bad, but then I'm sure most players would just skip easy mode all together. I still believe there could be some kind of easy mode, just one that does not really change the difficulty of the enemies and such, but adds other elements. Perhaps you could ONLY play with people also on easy, you can turn human at any bonfire without the need of humanity but cannot kindle without it. At least this helps co-op. Stuff like that, plus perhaps a coward's ending and only certain trophies are gettable on easy might be a good mix without harming the core game.

Yes I think that's the best way to go ahead. Not to change the difficulty of enemies themselves.
You could even add more bonfires, as that is the complaint of most people, not enough checkpoints. There could be certain bonfires that only appear in easy mode.

I think most would be put off from playing "coward's mode" at first, but then many will hit a brick wall in normal mode and revert to the easier option.
After completing on easy they may enjoy the game so much they are compelled to start normal again or carry on where they left off.

 

[Misterinenja]

No. The game is certainly not the same for everybody . The reason for that is very simple: Because people are not the same!

Like I wrote in another post: your easy may be another person's hard.

Twist: Players aren't same for the game. But it's easier to keep the game cohesive and makes it easier for players to help each other via co-op or message boards. And change their tales and experiences when they have played through the exact same game and probably had trouble at very different situations depending on their personal play style.

That's the beauty of Dark Souls!

 

[jns]

The only way I see to have a 'fair' easy mode is to not allow any multiplier interaction between normal and easy mode. This will immediately split the player base of an already niche game. I don't understand why any casual gamer who thought the first two were too hard thinks the entire game design should change just so they can play a souls game. That's no different than me asking whatever flavor of the month CoD type game to made brutally hard because that's what I like.

I'm sure there are lots that think both game types can exist--and if we were talking about a summer-blockbuster type game I might agree--but the online in the souls games is a large part--if not the largest part--of what makes them awesome, and personally I haven't seen any suggestions which would keep it in tact without splitting the player base from easy/normal mode people.

I guess this is a series I hold very dear right now and looking back over the last few years of gaming its pretty obvious how games that have any real challenge get re-tooled to be 'more accessible' and end up losing what made them great to begin with.

If FROM do decide to make an easy mode, or change the game play to make it 'more accessible' (read add a compass, red jam on screen, retry after dying to a boss etc) Then I hope it's something that comes from within the team and not from pressure from publishers or people that couldn't be bothered to learn how to play the first two.

Who knows, they may be able to do something which would keep existing fans happy and appease those who want to see what all the fuss is about.

Whichever way things go, FROM have built up enough goodwill from me that I'll pre-order whatever collectors I can and take some time off work for Dark Souls 2 and I hope as many people can enjoy it as possible.

Praise the sun--bros!

 

[astroturfing]

Comic is lying... I carefully and slowly went up a circular stair, only to find a black knight on the top then. I COULD NOT PREPARE!

you should've been prepared to run away.