• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

New previews for Dark Souls II

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
My impressions after the press event in Paris. I'll post an interview with Tak Miyazoe later this evening.

- biggest surprise during the intro talk was the respawn stop after you die 'a lot', like Dawg mentioned. Hadn't heard or read about this before, was new to me.
- We played from the very start as well. There are a few cutscenes here, but Miyazou reassured me that this wouldn't be a regular thing, this is just to introduce you to the world.
- The second cutscene has some great trollish dialogue:
the old crone mocks you through the entire thing and says "try to hold on to your souls. Ah who am I kidding, you will lose those souls over and over again".
- equip load is also shown in percentage now, yay!
- crestfallen warrior is back and even has the same voice actor
- the beginning is very open. At the outset there are a bunch of directions you can go. Running around in Majula has a relaxing effect and does feel like a mix of firelink shrine & the nexus. I loved this area.
- combat feels slower. I'll definitely go fast roll for my first playthrough. What I assume is the midroll feels slow as hell.
- enemies tend to gang up on you more.
- drinking estus is a LOT slower. I don't know how much points you'd have to dump into agility to speed things up, but from the start there is no option to heal quickly in a pinch. Normally in DkS you could evade/run and drink estus at your leisure, forget it here. I hope agility is useful, because I wouldn't say no to faster anything :p
- healing at the start is limited apart from the life gems you find, but don't burn through these too quick, as there's only 1 flask. First mission'd be to find a second charge asap.
- all this creates a pure DkS feel, more than ever... Huge DkS fan but I wasn't strolling through this demo at all. The challenge is most definitely there.
- there seem to be more bonfires though. more about that in the interview later
- Miyazoe said to not go to the area to the right, of course this was the first thing I did. Area spoilers (maybe tempting, good stuff :p):
This area is called Heide's tower of Flames. It has giant guardian type enemies and if you speed through them, at the end you get to a keep that's channeling Anor Lando in a major way. The area leading up to this is a big seaside ruin, very pretty. The dragonrider boss here destroyed me. I don't see how you can get this guy at low level. I couldn't get a hit in. He has a halberd that knocks you back, and consider you're fighting in a small arena with a pit... yeah.
- Info on traps:
there's this room that has some enemies inside, but 3 giant crossbows trigger as you enter. I dodged just in time. Nod to Sen's from the very start.
- Don't read if you want to be surprised but there's also a
crossbow trap mechanism IN A CHEST. Who needs mimics? :p
- Loading times are long(er) :/ (PS3) Since you're fast traveling more, you're staring at the loading screen quite a bit.
- On those loading screens, I noticed that the red tearstone ring is back, and there's a new ring that breaks when removed: restoration ring. Health restore over time.
- the icon on the upper left tells you your current covenant (could be known, this was new to me)
- random illusory walls are back

Overall I really liked what I played. I had a hard time letting the game go, there's so much to explore and see from the outset. Really wish I had more time with it, but alas. It's very much a Des/DkS cocktail.

itv coming soon. I will answer any question! I picked the knight class.
 

Visceir

Member
I'd be all for a Dark Souls II spoiler thread that would have all the known/confirmed information compiled in the OP.

What class did you play Dawg?
 

Dawg

Member
I'd be all for a Dark Souls II spoiler thread that would have all the known/confirmed information compiled in the OP.

What class did you play Dawg?

I played Creamiums character for a bit, think he picked warrior (not sure) :p

Got the blacksmith key like you said btw, opened the blacksmith shop with it :p And I did try killing the guy under the tree (that "miniboss) but he owned my ass. Got to around 50% hp though... if only I could backstab him, he was just too fast :p
 

Shinjica

Member
The developers made this change to stop you from grinding; with no enemies to gather souls from to then spend on levelling up, you are eventually forced to venture into dangerous, unknown territory
.

This is a lie

This also makes repeated runs to a boss encounter less frustrating.

This is for casual
 

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
Thanks for the impressions Creamium. Everything sounds awesome. The wait is killing me!
 

Dawg

Member
- Don't read if you want to be surprised but there's also a
crossbow trap mechanism IN A CHEST. Who needs mimics? :p

I remember this one, surprised the fuck out of me. I really didn't expect it,
especially after opening a bunch of chests before without any problem at all
. From Software at its finest...
 

Riposte

Member
Sounds like they are making all sorts of compromises in this one, essentially a step away from adding an easy mode (or rather adding a hard mode to an easier game).
 

mattp

Member
- On those loading screens, I noticed that the red tearstone ring is back, and there's a new ring that breaks when removed: restoration ring. Health restore over time.

ah man, i guess this means the dark souls style loading screens are back?
i was hoping for the full screen art like demon's souls had haha
 

Dawg

Member
Sounds like they are making all sorts of compromises in this one, essentially a step away from adding an easy mode (or rather adding a hard mode to an easier game).

I'd argue they make up for it by making the game harder (yet again). Despite all of these improvements and the more "accessible stuff", I died many times in the intro zone. Way more than I did in Demons Souls or Dark Souls.
 
My impressions after the press event in Paris. I'll post an interview with Tak Miyazoe later this evening.
Oh you made the trip to Paris? :D
If I lived there I would've gone but Brussels->Paris would've taken too much time and money :( I prefer paying 60$ on the US PSN and get the game one week earlier than pay the trip and play for 1 hour or so. (making it my THIRD version of the game...I really hope the trophies are region-specific so I could get 2 platinums on PS3 and one full steam list <3)
 

J4g3r

Member
I'm wondering if I can do this:

The release date for Dark Souls II in EU is the 14th, while in the US it is the 11th.

Could I make a US PSN account and preorder the game off of PSN and play the game on Tuesday instead?

I was thinking I could add the funds through https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com with Paypal. (60$ is £36 - Actually cheaper!)

Would I get in trouble doing something like this?

EDIT:

Would I still be able to play the game on my UK account?

Would the DLC and Dynamic Theme from the preorder work on my UK account?

Thanks in advance!
 

slash3584

Member
I'm wondering if I can do this:

The release date for Dark Souls II in EU is the 14th, while in the US it is the 11th.

Could I make a US PSN account and preorder the game off of PSN and play the game on Tuesday instead?

I was thinking I could add the funds through https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com with Paypal. (60$ is £36 - Actually cheaper!)

Would I get in trouble doing something like this?

EDIT:

Would I still be able to play the game on my UK account?

Would the DLC and Dynamic Theme from the preorder work on my UK account?

Thanks in advance!

I think it should work, I moved to Spain and my main account it's still a US one.

I have a second EU account on my system that I use to activate/download DLC codes and stuff from EU, and I can use them on my main account.
 

J4g3r

Member
I think it should work, I moved to Spain and my main account it's still a US one.

I have a second EU account on my system that I use to activate/download DLC codes and stuff from EU, and I can use them on my main account.

Thanks!

Anyone else had any experience doing this?
 
Thanks!

Anyone else had any experience doing this?

I have 3 accounts, one for each major region.
I think you'll need to buy PSN cards, they don't like foreign cards on a region's store.

Otherwise, DLC works great on your UK account if you get it for the game's own region. You can't get UK DLC to work with a US copy for example.
 

J4g3r

Member
I have 3 accounts, one for each major region.
I think you'll need to buy PSN cards, they don't like foreign cards on a region's store.

Otherwise, DLC works great on your UK account if you get it for the game's own region. You can't get UK DLC to work with a US copy for example.

Thanks!

Not even if I add the funds via Paypal?
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Here's my itv with Tak Miyazoe. Considered making a seperate thread, but there are enough DkS threads already.


Starting development of DkS II, what were some of the main things you wanted to do differently? And what did you want to keep?

Main objective: streamline away the fat. Get rid of things that may hinder the experience.

Give an example of 'fat'.
It's a small thing, but some players got frustrated because they couldn't jump properly. So now we've changed that and added the option for a dedicated button. The difficulty in this game shouldn't come from not being able to jump properly or at the right time.

In the demo I've also noticed that bonfires are closer to each other. Is that another example?
Definitely. Some people say that the bigger gap between fires is a good thing, because it creates a bigger risk. That's one way of thinking. Now however, we've been able to finetune and balance the game so that the closer bonfires don't take away from the experience.
After DkS I, the dev team thought that having to travel all the way back and redo everything - that you already knew how to do! - was something that could be changed.

So what you're saying is that this won't happen as much in II? We'll get bonfires closer to bosses for example?
Not everywhere! But it's something we did try to enhance, yeah. One frustrating aspect about DkS I was that, for a particular area, you knew it all: the enemies, the path, placement,... You knew everything, you just had to do it. It was tedious at times. That long distance dent ultimately didn't add to the experience.

Does this 'streamlining' extend to the storytelling? Or is it still up to the player to tie everything together, without much exposition?
The latter, definitely. It's up to you.

There are some cutscenes at the start, but this won't be a regular thing throughout the game?
Nah, just the main ones in the beginning. No more after that.

When looking at combat in videos and now from having played the game, I'd describe it as 'slower' or 'more deliberate'. What did you want to improve after DkS?
We wanted to improve on how it felt. After DkS we hope that the combat feels more natural.

Since we're talking about speed, just looking at the new stats, Agility seems incredibly useful: faster dodging, blocking, chugging estus,... Seems a bit overpowered even...
I think the dev team has balanced and tuned it in a way that this won't happen. You might experience a difference, but not so much that it 'breaks' the game.

Elements from Demon's Souls are seeping back in to the Dark: you don't level up at bonfires but at the maiden, and your max health drops every time you die in hollow form. What's the reason for bringing this back?
The main goal of director Yui Tanimura was to blend the greatest things of Demon's and Dark Souls into a new experience. He liked the Demon's Souls design of a 'hub safe place' better.

But why put leveling there then? Since you can now fast travel from the very beginning, isn't this just creating an extra step?
I think the director wanted Majula to be the 'safe place from danger', where you can regroup and strengthen your character, with everything that entails: buying or upgrading weapons, leveling... It's an emotional thing.

Has the team taken steps to reduce the amount of 'power users' invading new players? I see that armor sets now require certain stats... Is that one way?
Yes, but we also looked at the matchmaking system. This time around, it's a lot more complex. For DkS 1, what counted was mainly the level you were at, like you could only invade someone 10% lower and higher. That's changed. We realized this was an issue and gave it another look. It's more complex.

Complex how?
It considers gameplay time, your number of souls, etc. There are more parameters now in the progress.

In DkS From hid large and impressive areas like Ash lake and Painted World, knowing that certain players would never see them. Just fishing for a hint here. I'm sure it's back, right?
I'm.... sure it is (laughs) I really have to avoid talking about this too much... But I can assure you: this is what FROMsoft does. You won't be disappointed.

A quick jump back to DkS: on july 1st, the GFWL service will be shut down. Will the pc version of DkS be patched so that online play is still possible?
I hope so (laughs). We realize how many players there still are for DkS I on pc. We're still working hard on finding a proper solution, but I don't have the answer yet to be honest.
 

Dawg

Member
Cool stuff, Creamium. Might post my interview here too tomorrow, but it's a tad shorter.

The fact he's merely a producer shows though, a lot of short answers in there. Devs usually have the longest answers ever :p
 

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
That interview IMO eases some concerns I had. Great Interview Creamium. Now its a matter of the waiting game.
 

Seance

Banned
The fact is that Souls is made of small details. At the beginning when you adjust the brightness you have a flame and a dragon, when the flame starts growing brighter the dragon starts to disappear...
That's what makes Souls what it is.

Brightness calibration is quintessential Souls? Huh.
 

dreamfall

Member
Very nice interview Creamium!

God dammit- wondering if I should just bite on the PS3 CE online. If I don't do it soon, it'll be gone I bet. Missed my Amazon chance, curses.
 
I was all for the changes I had been hearing, but a few of the more recent ones have me a little concerned.

Respecing your character - I don't have anything against it per se, I just feel it's rather unsoul like. I always felt like the souls games were about living with your decisions and the consequences therein.

More bonfires - I see where they're coming from, but once again this adds to the suspense of the game. Less bonfires means more traveling if you die, which means more at stake. This is one of the reasons Demon's Souls is harder than Dark Souls in my opinion: The lack of bonfires throughout each level really adds to the weight of how you play and force you to play as cautiously as possibly.

Enemies failing to respawn after a certain about of deaths - I've been hearing conflicting reports on this one. Do "certain" enemies stop respawning after the enemies have died about 15 times, or do they stop respawning after you've died to them 15 times? I'm hoping it's at least the former.

If it is the former it's interesting to imagine how this affects level caps. Enemies that no longer respawn after a certain about of deaths means there's a finite amount of souls one can obtain through the PVE side of game.

Of course, I hear that this only affects "certain" types of enemies, so not all enemies will stop respawning. Maybe this is limited to the miniboss type of enemies found in DkS1 that don't respawn after being killed.

*shrug* I dunno. It's still my most hyped game this side of the original Dark Souls, and I'm sure it'll be great in its own way. In Fromsoft I Trust.
 

Orayn

Member
I was all for the changes I had been hearing, but a few of the more recent ones have me a little concerned.

Respecing your character - I don't have anything against it per se, I just feel it's rather unsoul like. I always felt like the souls games were about living with your decisions and the consequences therein.

More bonfires - I see where they're coming from, but once again this adds to the suspense of the game. Less bonfires means more traveling if you die, which means more at stake. This is one of the reasons Demon's Souls is harder than Dark Souls in my opinion: The lack of bonfires throughout each level really adds to the weight of how you play and force you to play as cautiously as possibly.

Enemies failing to respawn after a certain about of deaths - I've been hearing conflicting reports on this one. Do "certain" enemies stop respawning after the enemies have died about 15 times, or do they stop respawning after you've died to them 15 times? I'm hoping it's at least the former.

If it is the former it's interesting to imagine how this affects level caps. Enemies that no longer respawn after a certain about of deaths means there's a finite amount of souls one can obtain through the PVE side of game.

Of course, I hear that this only affects "certain" types of enemies, so not all enemies will stop respawning. Maybe this is limited to the miniboss type of enemies found in DkS1 that don't respawn after being killed.

*shrug* I dunno. It's still my most hyped game this side of the original Dark Souls, and I'm sure it'll be great in its own way. In Fromsoft I Trust.

It's confirmed only to affect certain enemies, and they stop respawning when you've killed them 15 times. Not when you've died 15 times, respawned them with a bonfire 15 times, etc.
 

Zukuu

Banned
Has the team taken steps to reduce the amount of 'power users' invading new players?
It considers gameplay time, your number of souls, etc. There are more parameters now in the progress.

That's interesting.
 

Tiops

Member
I wonder how upgrade stones farming will work now that some enemies do not respawn after killing them some times...
 

Orayn

Member
I wonder how upgrade stones farming will work now that some enemies do not respawn after killing them some times...

Maybe just make the loot drops deterministic for affected enemies, e.g. there's a group of slimes that are all guaranteed to drop one shard each before they stop spawning.
 

Tiops

Member
Maybe just make the loot drops deterministic for affected enemies, e.g. there's a group of slimes that are all guaranteed to drop one shard each before they stop spawning.
But I made a lot of +14 weapons on DkS1 to test them. It would be really terrible if I couldn't make a lot of upgrades, especially on my first playthrough, as I'll want to test weapons to see which ones are good.
 

E92 M3

Member
I wonder how upgrade stones farming will work now that some enemies do not respawn after killing them some times...

Not if this is news or not, but maybe we will have to reevaluate how we look at upgrading. Maybe the systems changed. I don't know though. They could just be pushing for NG+ runs now.
 

Kieli

Member
Honestly, at this point, I don't care if the game is crap. Pre-ordered to show my support for FromSoft.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
It's possible that burning an effigy to make harder enemies forces constant respawn.
 

Needham

Member
Has there been any talk about upgrading armor? I hope they changed it around or removed it. Maybe just limit it to upgrading magic and elemental resistance.
 

Visceir

Member
Has there been any talk about upgrading armor? I hope they changed it around or removed it. Maybe just limit it to upgrading magic and elemental resistance.

You mean how experienced players could roll around in top-tier upgraded armor while still being low level and how unbalanced that was? Armor now has stat requirements, much like weapons.

Don't see why else one would dislike armor upgrades.

Also, I'm pretty sure they are still in the game.
Cool stuff, Creamium. Might post my interview here too tomorrow, but it's a tad shorter.

Would def love to read it.
 

Shinjica

Member
Here's my itv with Tak Miyazoe. Considered making a seperate thread, but there are enough DkS threads already.

Cool interview but, why people didnt ask about the fact dont respawn after killing them 15 times? It seems a big change for go unnotice
 

Sanctuary

Member
Sounds like they are making all sorts of compromises in this one, essentially a step away from adding an easy mode (or rather adding a hard mode to an easier game).

Exactly what it sounds like, which is bullshit. This is what almost always happens to every once great franchise.

Cool interview but, why people didnt ask about the fact dont respawn after killing them 15 times? It seems a big change for go unnotice

There seems to be confusion about what is supposed to be killed 15 times; you, or enemies. He even stated in his changes list that it was when you died a lot, enemies stopped respawning. Maybe there's something else that applies to specific enemies as well, or people were just mistranslating from the start.

Get rid of things that may hinder the experience.

Kind of like dying?


Looks like someone was trying more to be poetic than give an actual preview.
 

Shinjica

Member
There seems to be confusion about what is supposed to be killed 15 times; you, or enemies. He even stated in his changes list that it was when you died a lot, enemies stopped respawning. Maybe there's something else that applies to specific enemies as well, or people were just mistranslating from the start.

Still, seem a big change and i didnt read any question about it
 

Steez

Member
Sounds like they are making all sorts of compromises in this one, essentially a step away from adding an easy mode (or rather adding a hard mode to an easier game).

Sometimes I feel like people want to hate the game and are purposefully not looking at the big picture.

I mean, we have items and covenants that increase the difficulty of the game and everybody who has played it at one of the recent events says that it's at least on par with Demon's or Dark's difficulty, probably even harder. And those are not random journos but hardcore fans.

From has given us an amazing experience twice so far. They deserve the benefit of the doubt imo.
 

Shinjica

Member
Sometimes I feel like people want to hate the game and are purposefully not looking at the big picture.

I mean, we have items and covenants that increase the difficulty of the game and everybody who has played it at one of the recent events says that it's at least on par with Demon's or Dark's difficulty, probably even harder. And those are not random journos but hardcore fans.

From has given us an amazing experience twice so far. They deserve the benefit of the doubt imo.

Is not that people wake up in the morning and say "today we start hating every news of Dark Souls 2 for no reason".

Is not that in the past we didnt have seen game changed and ruined because the want to increase the audience, changing the very basics of the game (EA games anyone?).

If people have doubt is because the industry have given us bad taste in the past.
 

Steez

Member
Is not that people wake up in the morning and say "today we start hating every news of Dark Souls 2 for no reason".

Is not that in the past we didnt have seen game changed and ruined because the want to increase the audience, changing the very basics of the game (EA games anyone?).

If people have doubt is because the industry have given us bad taste in the past.

But FROM has time and again proven that they're not "the industry". From creating a worthy sequel to releasing amazing DLC and yet here we are, acting like they've been actually bought out by EA, lol.

I have some concerns too, but after overwhelmingly positive feedback from hardcore fans who have played the game, I'm willing to be optimistic.

And again, it's like people only focus on the bad things, when there's actually something in-game that affects those things in a positive way.
 

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
Bandai Namco its worse than EA. Look at the prices for Tales of Graces and Xillia DLC.
 
Top Bottom