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New previews for Dark Souls II

Hope it'll be a one time thing. With incredibly heavy costs, like a complete reset in accumulated souls, levels, and progression. And all items broken.

The Japanese site's blurb about the Soul Vessel made it sound like that. Something about "losing everything" and "starting over."
 
Going both.
Digital Day 1 on PS3 (US version) - To get to play it one week early
Black Armour edition retail on PS3 (EUR)
Collector's Edition retail on PC (EUR)

aw so your in eur bummer is coming out later there



Gonna buy US version from PSN to get it as soon as possible.
Then again digital only on the PC.

i cancelled my amazon.ca to get it digital mostly cause i want it to load faster lol (i have SSD)

i cannot wait!!
 
Love the new Mage design. I always thought the mages in Demon's and Dark Souls looked more like people who studied magic more than people who wielded it - they were too clean, compared to the very worn-down looking gear of the other starting classes. First thing I did as a magic-user in Dark Souls was find a proper set of robes, ASAP. DSII's design definitely evokes someone who uses their power to vaporize shit.

I agree. I have a feeling there will still be a set of scholarly clothing somewhere, so those that want that look can get it.
 
Love the new Mage design. I always thought the mages in Demon's and Dark Souls looked more like people who studied magic more than people who wielded it - they were too clean, compared to the very worn-down looking gear of the other starting classes. First thing I did as a magic-user in Dark Souls was find a proper set of robes, ASAP. DSII's design definitely evokes someone who uses their power to vaporize shit.

Is that a Dorohedoro avatar, by the way?

I haven't kept up with DHD in years. It just makes me sad there isn't a DaS like game for DHD. I would sell my soul for something like that.
 
Love the new Mage design. I always thought the mages in Demon's and Dark Souls looked more like people who studied magic more than people who wielded it - they were too clean, compared to the very worn-down looking gear of the other starting classes. First thing I did as a magic-user in Dark Souls was find a proper set of robes, ASAP. DSII's design definitely evokes someone who uses their power to vaporize shit.

Is that a Dorohedoro avatar, by the way?
That's fine but in the DaS universe mages study in the Vinheim Dragon School, but i really doubt that the new directors gives a damn about that.

Yes it is, one of my favourite mangas.
 
I like the mage's new starting outfit, but it could definitely use the old hat or even just a hood.

Yes! In fact I wouldn't be surprised if you can find one such hood early on.

That's fine but in the DaS universe mages study in the Vinheim Dragon School, but i really doubt that the new directors gives a damn about that.

Yes it is, one of my favourite mangas.
Keep in mind that DSII predates DS by centuries, so the Dragon School may not even be established yet.

I haven't kept up with DHD in years. It just makes me sad there isn't a DaS like game for DHD. I would sell my soul for something like that.
Now that would be sick.
 
img6-4.png


Im going with this! I really like the look.

I also think that us starting with less "epic" armor (knights/fluted etc) is fitting. It is more rewarding when you then find that armor during your adventures.

Keep in mind that DSII predates DS by centuries, so the Dragon School may not even be established yet.

Whaaa? Judging by the item descriptions in the beta and those leaked/datamined Dark Souls II takes place AFTER Dark Souls 1.
 
All you are telling us is that you want developers to remove options because you have poor impulse control.

I'm actually a bit surprised by it, especially here in this thread where people anticipating the game would visit. It is very much one of my favorite things about the game and it seems many folks didn't even see it as a positive aspect of souls.

You can respec in DeS, can't you?

I mean where the hell is the pyromancer? That's my favorite class.

A. No worry about stat scaling like with faith or sorcery. Just pour all your souls into setting people on fire (ok dex but not really a big deal w/ combustion)
B. Ace pvp weaponry/dickery
C.Power within + Dragon Roar Makes for an interesting Glass Cannon combo
Pyromancy is now part of sorcery.
 
Actually Visceir swapped the Knight and the Warrior. If you look at the official page, this image

img6-4.png


is labeled as 騎士 (Knight), and this

img6-1.png


as 戦士 (Warrior).

The Knight looks like more of a nobleman this time around, which is pretty cool.

Visceir said:
Dawg and Creamium got to play the game in Paris and Dawg refered to their character as the warrior. In the Majula gameplay video people also refered to that character as the warrior. The other character also looks more like the typical knight character. But then again the official website description does have it the other way around...

Perhaps Creamium could clear this up?

Yep, I picked the knight for my run, and that's definitely him up top (no shield + broadsword).
 
So has Pyromancy been removed?

Pyromancy is a type of Sorcery now. You cast it with a catalyst, fire damage scales with Intelligence, but the spells have requirements in both Intelligence and Faith. Hexes are basically the inverse of that, a subset of Miracles that do dark damage and have Intelligence reqs.

Also, casting speed now scales with Attunement for everyone.
 
img6-4.png


Im going with this! I really like the look.

I also think that us starting with less "epic" armor (knights/fluted etc) is fitting. It is more rewarding when you then find that armor during your adventures.



Whaaa? Judging by the item descriptions in the beta and those leaked/datamined Dark Souls II takes place AFTER Dark Souls 1.

Okay, this could be true as well, I'm not certain. Does anyone know for sure? The one thing I know for certain is that centuries separate the two settings, meaning Vinheim and the Dragon School could be totally in the wind.
 
My take on the the big changes:

1. Respeccing


Horrible idea. I don't know what FROM where thinking. In the souls series pretty much any build can effectively make it through the adventure so unless your doing pvp allocating some points to some other stat really is meaningless. If its respeccing all your levels then wow they have effectively killed off the re-playability of the game. I trust FROM are not that stupid. Actions should have consequences especially important ones that determine your characters build.

2.Warping

This could effect the number of shortcuts but is will greatly reduce the tedious backtracking. Heard theres a home town as well like the Nexus and another maiden :).
Exploration will still be there.

3.Voice Chat

Yesssssssssss!

Co-op walkthroughs with your friend may finally be viable. Great news.

Pyromancy is a type of Sorcery now.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!
 
Yeah I'd like the starting armor to be bad so it makes early armor finds more meaningful.

Infact I'm hoping loot is improved in the game overall, 2 changes I'm hoping for are:

Auto pick up loot. I don't like all the button pressing to pick up loot plus sometimes you accidently ragdoll the body around trying to get the loot(slugs in Blightown). Or the enemy will sometimes fall off a cliff, although they did auto loot the Blighttown blow dart guys.

The other thing is I wish loot would sell for better prices, it's annoying how much loot there is that is basically pointless because it's doubles or it's not for your build. For DS1 way too much loot is meaningless, I want to get excited for drops.
 
Yeah I'd like the starting armor to be bad so it makes early armor finds more meaningful.

Infact I'm hoping loot is improved in the game overall, 2 changes I'm hoping for are:

Auto pick up loot. I don't like all the button pressing to pick up loot plus sometimes you accidently ragdoll the body around trying to get the loot(slugs in Blightown). Or the enemy will sometimes fall off a cliff, although they did auto loot the Blighttown blow dart guys.

The other thing is I wish loot would sell for better prices, it's annoying how much loot there is that is basically pointless because it's doubles or it's not for your build. For DS1 way too much loot is meaningless, I want to get excited for drops.

I like good loot, but it seems like you want the game to revolve around loot like a Diablo type of game. I'm not interested in playing slots disguised as a video game, and I was perfectly happy with the type of loot in Dark Souls. Actually, one of the things I really liked was how you could get really good gear from lowly ordinary enemies, or guaranteed drops could be some of the best items in the game.
 
I like good loot, but it seems like you want the game to revolve around loot like a Diablo type of game. I'm not interested in playing slots disguised as a video game, and I was perfectly happy with the type of loot in Dark Souls. Actually, one of the things I really liked was how you could get really good gear from lowly ordinary enemies, or guaranteed drops could be some of the best items in the game.

Huh, where are you getting that from. Because I want changes to the loot system I want the game to revolve around loot? What I actually want is less time wasted picking up useless loot.
 
Huh, where are you getting that from. Because I want changes to the loot system I want the game to revolve around loot? What I actually want is less time wasted picking up useless loot.

What exactly are you proposing then (other than auto-loot)? No doubles at all, hollows and such simply don't drop loot, or greatly reduced drop rates across the board? What would make loot exciting for you?
 
You guys are really making me want to start playing through Dark Souls again. Maybe this time I can reach the DLC I paid for with my NG+ character, Orenstein and Smough be damned.
 
What exactly are you proposing then (other than auto-loot)? No doubles at all, hollows and such simply don't drop loot, or greatly reduced drop rates across the board? What would make loot exciting for you?

Either being able to sell it for a reasonable price or some other way FS can come up with to make it more interesting. I wouldn't mind reduced drop rate as long as when a drop happens it's something I could find useful in some way.
 
The warrior armor looks a lot lighter than previous heavy melee sets. I have noticed that a very common trait of new players (especially in demon's souls) is that they end up picking the 'knight' kind of class but don't realize that if they wear the entire set they'll end up with a gimped fatroll. So the game is a lot harder than it should be.

So it wouldn't surprise me if every starter class has a midroll or better, that way if you equip too much stuff you'll get immediate feedback that you messed up, in that your character's roll will be worse.
 
Either being able to sell it for a reasonable price or some other way FS can come up with to make it more interesting. I wouldn't mind reduced drop rate as long as when a drop happens it's something I could find useful in some way.

I remember reading that you can choose a number of soul items and such to consume at a time rather than having to use them in singles like you had to in Dark Souls. Maybe there will be something like that for selling items to make the process of junking items less tedious. After a while I just stopped selling 50g large leather shields, and then stopped looting those enemies entirely. :p
 
So it wouldn't surprise me if every starter class has a midroll or better, that way if you equip too much stuff you'll get immediate feedback that you messed up, in that your character's roll will be worse.

Not sure how much it was changed from beta to final build but the whole weight/equipment/movement system definitely isn't the same in DS2 as it was in DS1. In the beta the way you rolled changed at ~ 70 - 80% weight and below that it had no real impact. Raising the "agility" stat helped you to roll faster, but that doesn't exist now anymore and is replaced with a different stat.

Besides the safest way to push forward in Dark Souls was to turtle up and not roll, especially for a new player.
 
Re-specing is great from a PVP standpoint. Currently in Dark Souls, you're left with no choice but to either make a completely new build or use cheat engine if you want to switch things up. I've got about 10 builds in total, covering all classes, but it does become a pain in the backside having to re-do the PVE side of the game countless times, just to get your classes PVP-worthy.

One of my faith builds has 9 casts of WoG. That is 3 complete playthroughs of the game right there. There comes a point for many players in Dark Souls where the PVE side of things takes a major backseat to the PVP side, and in this instance, the ability to re-spec is an absolute godsend.

Besides which, you don't HAVE to use it anyway. I'm not sure why it's a problem for people, actually. It's a useful feature for people who do want it, and something you can easily ignore if you don't want it. Win/win really.
 
I'm glad Pyromancy is now tied to a stat, it was a really poor decision to not have it so in DS1. All the talk about DS2 being casual etc, that was a casual change for DS1, any one could whomp you with a full force great combustion, they couldn't do that with a crystal soul spear etc. It makes sense.
 
The warrior armor looks a lot lighter than previous heavy melee sets. I have noticed that a very common trait of new players (especially in demon's souls) is that they end up picking the 'knight' kind of class but don't realize that if they wear the entire set they'll end up with a gimped fatroll. So the game is a lot harder than it should be.

So it wouldn't surprise me if every starter class has a midroll or better, that way if you equip too much stuff you'll get immediate feedback that you messed up, in that your character's roll will be worse.

When i start as knight i always put all my souls into endurance as i play along so soon enough i'm able to at least mid roll while also wearing enough armour to take a few hits.
And fast roll is a bit overrated IMO.You can parry/backstab almost everything in the start so you don't really need it for common enemies.For early bosses though i usually take out half of my equipment in order to mid/fast roll and then wear it again when i beat them.
 
I hope they make respecting take a permanent penalty on soul levels. Like 10% of your soul levels are permanently lost when you respec. e.g. Level 100 respec => you're at level 90 afterwards.

This way you can also level ahead, and get back to the "agreed pvp level".
 
Not sure how much it was changed from beta to final build but the whole weight/equipment/movement system definitely isn't the same in DS2 as it was in DS1. In the beta the way you rolled changed at ~ 70 - 80% weight and below that it had no real impact. Raising the "agility" stat helped you to roll faster, but that doesn't exist now anymore and is replaced with a different stat.

Besides the safest way to push forward in Dark Souls was to turtle up and not roll, especially for a new player.

Agility + Resistance (which now is the only stat that increases defense) got combined into Adaptability, so the 'speed-up' stat is still there. The 70-80% thing is interesting though...from descriptions and watching people play it seemed like the old equip burden system was still in place, but everything was more sluggish unless you invested into agility.

It does make sense though, since stamina and equip burden are separate stats now. So you presumably don't need to pump the equipment burden stat unless you plan on using superheavy armor with a giant tower shield and huge weapon, unlike in past games where putting points in endurance was almost always worth it up to 40.

I hope they make respecting take a permanent penalty on soul levels. Like 10% of your soul levels are permanently lost when you respec. e.g. Level 100 respec => you're at level 90 afterwards.

This way you can also level ahead, and get back to the "agreed pvp level".

The thing is unless there's some VERY heavy restrictions on respecs you could potentially end up with SL1 invaders using endgame equipment. I mean, you could always do that, but it required either being good enough to beat the game at SL1 or just straight up cheating. If anyone can do it, then it'll be a mess and I'm not confident the new matchmaking system will prevent low level twink invasions once the game's population dies down a bit.

I think we just need to wait and see what it means before freaking out.
 
The thing is unless there's some VERY heavy restrictions on respecs you could potentially end up with SL1 invaders using endgame equipment. I mean, you could always do that, but it required either being good enough to beat the game at SL1 or just straight up cheating. If anyone can do it, then it'll be a mess and I'm not confident the new matchmaking system will prevent low level twink invasions once the game's population dies down a bit.

I think we just need to wait and see what it means before freaking out.

It doesn't work like that any more in Dark Souls 2. Armor and equipment is tied to your soul level, meaning you can only use higher-end gear when you reach the minimum soul level to wield it. Likewise, invasions are no longer based exclusively on soul level; you are match-maked with another player, based on your soul level, total souls gained during the entire game and total playtime. It'll stop twinkers dead in their tracks, assuming it works as promised.
 
My take on the the big changes:

1. Respeccing


Horrible idea. I don't know what FROM where thinking. In the souls series pretty much any build can effectively make it through the adventure so unless your doing pvp allocating some points to some other stat really is meaningless. If its respeccing all your levels then wow they have effectively killed off the re-playability of the game. I trust FROM are not that stupid. Actions should have consequences especially important ones that determine your characters build.

when you can grind out souls and buy any levels you want to boost any stat you want in DS1, respeccing doesn't break anything in DS2. Maybe you're not shifting in DS1, but you can easily without much danger boost any level with multiple grindy spots if you want. ("oh but I don't do that!" - well then don't do it in 2?).
 
On respec: while i don't really feel it was necessary or that it helps the game a great deal in a way i like it: I've always wanted to try a moonlight butterfly horn/moonlight sword run because they seem really interesting weapons but i could never be arsed to deal with how long it will take me to unlock them and how tedious the Sorcerer's early game is so i always end up rolling a STR or DEX based character.
I feel a somewhat decent compromise would be to get back your skill points but keeping your current level so you can't abuse it for pvp.
 
What exactly are you proposing then (other than auto-loot)? No doubles at all, hollows and such simply don't drop loot, or greatly reduced drop rates across the board? What would make loot exciting for you?

I get what he is saying. you cant tell me you are happy with having 100 "hollow soldier wastecloths" and "broken straight swords" in your inventory. They aren't worth shit and cant be used for anything. This applies to many items other than the two I mentioned.

Im fine with the loot, was just backing up the dude cuz he does have a point.
 
when you can grind out souls and buy any levels you want to boost any stat you want in DS1, respeccing doesn't break anything in DS2. Maybe you're not shifting in DS1, but you can easily without much danger boost any level with multiple grindy spots if you want. ("oh but I don't do that!" - well then don't do it in 2?).

With this post and your earlier one about fast travel, I think you're missing the point. The issues people have with fast travel have been discussed to death and are not solved by "just don't do it." As far as respecs go, in Dark Souls you certainly could grind out souls and max everything out until you're SL700+, but then you wouldn't be in level range of anyone. To ensure that you have people to play with/against for PvP or co-op, you have to plan your builds around hitting a certain level, so no you can't just boost any level you want in Dark Souls.

I get what he is saying. you cant tell me you are happy with having 100 "hollow soldier wastecloths" and "broken straight swords" in your inventory. They aren't worth shit and cant be used for anything. This applies to many items other than the two I mentioned.

Im fine with the loot, was just backing up the dude cuz he does have a point.

Sure, and I agreed with that in my second reply. As stated, I just personally like that the game's appeal doesn't revolve around loot. If it's just making less garbage drop, I'd be ok with that (but then why are you bothering to loot it in the first place?), but I wouldn't really be happy if there was power creep such that endgame gear makes all of the early stuff irrelevant. One of the reasons that I like Dark Souls so much is that you don't ever have to grind if you're good enough, and you can beat the whole game even without leveling and with starting gear or early vendor stuff.
 
when you can grind out souls and buy any levels you want to boost any stat you want in DS1, respeccing doesn't break anything in DS2. Maybe you're not shifting in DS1, but you can easily without much danger boost any level with multiple grindy spots if you want. ("oh but I don't do that!" - well then don't do it in 2?).
This isn't comparable at all. There is still permancence. You still have to live with your earlier decisions, good or bad, which in return means decisions are actually meaningful. There is no cheap way to correct mistakes and optimize builds.
 
This isn't comparable at all. There is still permancence. You still have to live with your earlier decisions, good or bad, which in return means decisions are actually meaningful. There is no cheap way to correct mistakes and optimize builds.

Meaningful consequences are too hardcore. From want dat blue ocean Wii octogenarians and soccer mums.
 
I get what he is saying. you cant tell me you are happy with having 100 "hollow soldier wastecloths" and "broken straight swords" in your inventory. They aren't worth shit and cant be used for anything. This applies to many items other than the two I mentioned.

Im fine with the loot, was just backing up the dude cuz he does have a point.



Well, strictly speaking, one broken straight sword does have a use. Beyond that they're just clutter though. Locking the ability to sell items back and forcing inventory management to be a pretty hefty cost early game were both mistakes in my eyes, hopefully those are two things they fixed and just haven't mentioned.
 
I'd actually be fine with the game having less items and gear, somewhat more like the King's Field series and Demon's Souls where the weapons and armor were rarer and more unique.

Meaningful consequences are too hardcore. From want dat blue ocean Wii octogenarians and soccer mums.

Please don't.
 
I get what he is saying. you cant tell me you are happy with having 100 "hollow soldier wastecloths" and "broken straight swords" in your inventory. They aren't worth shit and cant be used for anything. This applies to many items other than the two I mentioned.

Im fine with the loot, was just backing up the dude cuz he does have a point.

That reminds me. I hope there's a quantity multiplier in the inventory, so I see Broken Straight Sword x100 instead of 100 separate Broken Straight Swords.

Anyway back to arguing: I hate that there are miracles in the game. I don't use them, and I hate that the option is there for those that want it. ;)
 
when you can grind out souls and buy any levels you want to boost any stat you want in DS1, respeccing doesn't break anything in DS2. Maybe you're not shifting in DS1, but you can easily without much danger boost any level with multiple grindy spots if you want. ("oh but I don't do that!" - well then don't do it in 2?).

Yes it clearly does. Being able to change where you allocate your points on the fly is game breaking. I can just acquire all weapons, sorceries etc, level them up and then change my stats accordingly without eve having to do re runs of the game. The consequence of placing 40-50 points in STR or FAITH is gone as I can just remove 20 levels and put them in VIT or END if it not worth it.

The souls games are all about trial and error yet is respeccing is true then it scraps a fundamental theme of the games and replaces it with a mechanic solely implemented so players don't get frustrated.


lol wut?


Knight.
 
I ruined so much of the first game for myself by letting ENB essentially play it for me (his channel was insanely helpful in the beginning but so damn addicting) that I've essentially been trying to avoid any press releases and spoilers for this one that may pop up.... However, this made me incredibly happy to see. I was so worried that the hype for this game would die off before 2014 rolled around but now it's just stronger than ever.
 
It doesn't work like that any more in Dark Souls 2. Armor and equipment is tied to your soul level, meaning you can only use higher-end gear when you reach the minimum soul level to wield it. Likewise, invasions are no longer based exclusively on soul level; you are match-maked with another player, based on your soul level, total souls gained during the entire game and total playtime. It'll stop twinkers dead in their tracks, assuming it works as promised.

interesting, I'd never heard about SL requirements on gear. I know about the matchmaking of course, but I figured that was the only thing they'd done.
 
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