Dark Souls II interest check

[Aerox]

So the best game of the decade (most likely dozens of decades) is about to come out in roughly a week for USA and a couple of days after in Europe.

The game isn't region locked so you can play with whoever be it in Japan, USA or Europe.

I'll be playing it on the PS3 and a couple of weeks later on PC, when it comes out.

If you tried Dark Souls and it wasn't for you (you probably don't like games at all or never gave it a true chance) this time around the game is more accesible for newcomers. It still doesn't hold your hand and if you want to know anything about the plot you will have to find it out yourself, but gameplay features are now more explained in the game not like in the previous one where you could complete it 10 times and be ignorant on 80% of the game's content.

You can check some Making of videos to convince you on how FormSoftware is the new leading example of videogame producing and how you're most likely missing on one of the biggest experiences in gaming if you don't give it a proper go (it's interesting from a game deveoloping point of view, since these guys have their own dogma on making games)

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/03/making-dark-souls-ii


So, anyone is planning on playing from release?

[TheWalrus]

WB ropa.  Dark Souls was a great game, will eventually get this for the 360 when it is cheap.  Is it going to be as damn hard as the first game? 

[Aerox]

WB ropa.  Dark Souls was a great game, will eventually get this for the 360 when it is cheap.  Is it going to be as damn hard as the first game?

Yeah, it's equally hard. Most likely harder since FromSoftware will mislead players based on what they expect they know from the previous game...

Like I said though, features are now more explained in the game (albeit there are no cutscenes explaining you everything nor tutorial messages) so there's a less chance you might miss on whole areas, bosses, plots or even gameplay features (like covenants in the first).

But the Souls series are not hard once you get your head around them. It's said to be the hardest series of games and yet there are speed runs of under 2 hours. It's just a big f@#!ing learning curve and one that is harder to climb if you're already used to mainstream gaming.

It's basically common sense v.s. mainstream gaming. If you're up against a big f@#!ing dragon with a club 5 minutes into the game and you're a naked human holding an axe, you shouldn't feel cheated if 5 minutes into the game that big ass club contacts and you're one shotted, it's your fault for thinking he's there to teach you how to play like the tutorial bosses we're so used to by now in games. If you cross a bridge and get one shotted by dragon fire you shouldn't feel cheated, you should of paid attention to the burned corpses all oer the path but you probably where expecting a warning cutscene! It's basically this, play the game with an open mind and sooner than later it will be natural to you.

In my case it has completely ruinned gaming for me. I can't play other games. They're not Dark Souls. They don't put half the effort into the world, the plot, the gameplay and the feeling of reward you get for overcoming a part of the game.

[Xrayez]

Dark Souls has the best fighting system so far, I hope second part will be even more harder xD!

[darKz]

Spoiler! View

In my case it has completely ruinned gaming for me. I can't play other games. They're not Dark SoulsDota. They don't put half the effort into the worldmap, the plotmechanics, the gameplay and the feeling of reward you get for overcoming a part of the gamehuge gold/exp deficite.

Just how I feel.

I heard Dark Souls was pretty damn good, two of my mates played it and really liked it. I didn't get to play it yet because I've been busy as f@#! with exams, but those are gonna be over soon so I'll nerd through DS soonish. A proper gaming controller is recommended for the PC version if I'm not mistaken, I'll have to buy one then.. Which one do you guys use? Any recommendations?

[rU`]

good stuff

[Aerox]

Spoiler! View

In my case it has completely ruinned gaming for me. I can't play other games. They're not Dark SoulsDota. They don't put half the effort into the worldmap, the plotmechanics, the gameplay and the feeling of reward you get for overcoming a part of the gamehuge gold/exp deficite.

Just how I feel.

I heard Dark Souls was pretty damn good, two of my mates played it and really liked it. I didn't get to play it yet because I've been busy as f@#! with exams, but those are gonna be over soon so I'll nerd through DS soonish. A proper gaming controller is recommended for the PC version if I'm not mistaken, I'll have to buy one then.. Which one do you guys use? Any recommendations?

Yeah but Dota has ruinned the genre for you I guess?. Dark Souls has ruinned my gaming life.

I recall telling you about Dark Souls ages ago. I tell everyone that I think could be into it. But the game just appears* to be trying really hard to make you stop playing at the begining, so most people never really manage far enough to start 'getting' it.

You cannot play with a keyboard and a mouse. The game allows you to but I don't know anyone that masochist.

I'd recommend the Xbox controller (the wired one that works with windows) although any PS2-PS3 pad works (download motionjoy and have it emulate the xbox controller). I have both (because it wasn't until recently that motionjoy worked with signed drivers) but I find the Xbox one better for gaming (and I've never owned an Xbox, only playstations)

For the PC version you need DSfix, a program that unlocks the resolution and most importantly breaks the 30fps limit (as well as other graphic enhancing options). It's a really bad port, but it looks amazing witth DSfix even though it probably wont run properly on a laptop regardless of how good it is.

I also recommend buying it because even though the game's multiplayer is very subtle you would be missing on big part of the game (bloodstains, messages (really useful for first playthroughs), ghosts, summoning, being invaded, playing with ropa, etc)

Also, in order to give the game a proper chance you shouldn't stop until you beat the Gargoyles (one of the very early bosses) because it's usually agreed that that is the point where most people start to feel the high and then it's like a drug you can't drop.

*it appears to be trying to f@#! you not because it's hard, but because you play with preconcieved ideas on how games play and you get f@#!ed for not paying attention or not reading text (very little text in this game, but every single item descrpition and NPC conversation tells you something revealing, even though you might have to read between the lines)

[Aerox]

Peter Serafinowicz explains better than I could http://video.wikia.com/wiki/File:Peter_Serafinowicz_on_Dark_Souls

(talks about DS1)

edit: when he talks about the free roaming of the world... for a guy that has played basically every game worth playing ever I think Dark Souls 1 has the best level design seen in a game bar none. The whole world is linked, vertically, horizontally, through shortcuts that you open from either way. You can see whole zones from other zones. It's just something that to this day hasn't been done before and hasn't been done since (although DS2 comes out soon)

edit2: it's not so much of a technical feat, it's just clever level design, since they use "tricks" to do this. Like if you're on top of a mountain looking down to the town you can actually visit you might be looking to a partial model with lower poly count etc (free roam camera hacks have proved this) that assumes that's as much as you can actually see from your view. But it does an amazing job at providing a global atmosphere

[Kyho]

Praise the sun !

[Aerox]

Praise the sun !

\o/

[van]

As long as ds2 PC release isn't another f@#!ing horrible rushed piece of shit of a port.

[lacoste]

Im waiting for DS2 since like 2-3 months hoping devs will make it as suitable for PC as they promised it to be.. Never tried first part and probably never will.

[Xrayez]

I've never had problem with playing DarkSouls on my PC ;o Gamepad is required if you want to have fun, though. Occasionally it lagged like 20 fps but even that was fine 

[Aerox]

It's a bad port in the sense you need better hardware than you're supposed to and need third party patches to unlock the resolution and the fps. I remember being pissed because my laptop could run Mass Effect 3 flawlessly but there was no way around Dark Souls 1 fps lag, even with the aforementioned fixes.

If Dark Souls 1 didn't run in your computer, bad port or otherwise, don't expect 2 to be much better.

[Anubis]

DS2 will be amazing no doubt, unfortunately my old D3 buddies all pre-ordered the addon and we plan on rocking HC the coming weeks/months.

Off-topic: have you tried the new patch 2.0 yet, ropa?