DARK SOULS 2

[Zaarock]

Tell me if they fixed the Covenant system to be actually worth something for the other 70% that aren't Sunlight or Forest Hunters.

Eh, what was wrong with way of the dragon and blades of the darkmoon? they get a bunch of stuff in the covenant and items for every pvp victory. Darkwraith obviously as well(humanity for every win, indictions should be automatic though).

[cj iwakura]

Tell me if they fixed the Covenant system to be actually worth something for the other 70% that aren't Sunlight or Forest Hunters.

Eh, what was wrong with way of the dragon and blades of the darkmoon? they get a bunch of stuff in the covenant and items for every pvp victory. Darkwraith obviously as well(humanity for every win, indictions should be automatic though).

Well, maybe 50%. I felt that the Chaos Servants(my covenant), Princess' Guard, and Way of White got especially left in the cold compared to the rest.

[CMoon]

I thought the covenants were a great idea, but just not taken as far as possible. Belonging to a covenant should radically change your playthrough, thus genuinely increasing gameplay. Would be nice if it was more than just an excuse for pvp or co-op. At a minimum, belonging to different covenants should bring with it its own story component (even resulting in a unique ending), so there should be a reason to want to play through the game with each covenant.

[Zaarock]

The darkwraith covenant sounds like what you're talking about; it's tied to the Dark Lord ending and gives you the most info on the world & deities out of anywhere. They could've fleshed out the other covenants more for sure, but I don't think it's that important. Having a lot of "important" covenants would mean you couldn't switch inside playthroughs which could be annoying as well.

[LtC]

Some interesting quotes at http://www.shacknews.com/article/78682/ ... -whats-not

If there's one "concession" to make the game easier, it's his increased "flexibility" in the amount of items he gives players. Whereas you could only hold two items in each hand in the previous game, you'll be able to hold three items in the sequel. But it's "still being discussed and thought about," Tanimura advised. He also said that the relationship between HP and Stamina will be "revisited" to "enhance the experience," but wouldn't elaborate on how. Finally, the relationship between weight and movement and speed will be "maintained," with Tanimura pointing out that it was "faster than it should be for the sake of the demo."

They also confirmed covenants will return but won't necessarily be the same.

Apparently there will be playable demo at E3 and they will also announce the release date. Seems to be coming out later this year. Interesting since they were saying earlier the game wouldn't most likely make it to 2013.

And if you're in Japan and got some artistic skills and inspiration you might want to participate in this: http://www.darksouls.jp/shield-design/
Based on what From said in some Japanese events there will also be 2 different contests in the west but neither have been announced yet.

[CMoon]

http://www.cinemablend.com/images/galle ... 532787.jpg

Game is available for pre-order, but no release date.

(Huge embedded image changed to a link -Ghegs)

[CMoon]

Been watching Seraphim 17's youtube videos about ideas for DS2, a lot of which is a mixed bag, but it got me thinking about world tendency (Demon's Souls) and what I would really like to see in a souls game.

Basically, Demon's Souls had it backwards. The worse you played (or the less you understood the game system) the harder the game became, and this is of course the opposite of how arcade games work where increasing rank punishes players that can survive the longest. Probably the most modern game that had this right was God Hand with a visual rank meter that could either be managed or ignored (depending on your skill level.)

Demon's Souls already had the premise in place, but instead of an obtuse light/dark system, world tendency could be directly darkened by the number of souls you absorbed without taking damage/healing. Darker the world = more souls, better drops, more mobs/black phantoms, greater difficulty. Both taking damage or healing would increase the white/lightness of your world, where bonfires or dying would completely reset the world to pure white. Beating worlds or bosses in pure black would be something only attainable by very skilled players.

Like Silent Hill, I'd like to see the world change as it became pure black (max rank) with secret areas, short cuts and optional bosses becoming available. The world could also become more horrific visually. I miss how Demon's Souls had at least hints of horror that are subdued or absent in Dark Souls. The idea that as you are absorbing more demon power, you are abandoning all humanity and you are seeing the world as a true hell. For those managing rank, the 'ammo management' concept of survival horror would come into play since estus flasks (or perhaps other special items/spells) would be required to keep worlds from going pure black. Running away/avoiding monsters would make sense.

Well, I've heard a lot of really stupid suggestions for Dark Souls 2. More co-op, blah blah blah. The idea of organic difficulty that restores the world-tendency concept with hard-as-balls black phantoms and rewards skilled players with a deeper game experience sounds like a no-brainer to me.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I didn't like the tendency system at all in DS mainly because I found it hard to control the tendency and missed chunks of the game. Personally, I prefer something more traditional, like say conversation options or choices that change the outcome of the game. As for "rank," I prefer to have difficulty settings so I can just set it to the hardest and not have the game pity me for sucking and lowering the bar for me.

[Weak Boson]

Wasn't convinced by world tendency either. Before I played the game I really liked the sound of it but in actually playing the game I just felt like I was locked out of tendency events and their rewards for no good reason. What CMoon suggested does sound good, but I worry that it would just become an unnecessarily complicated system for effects which could be achieved in a simpler way.

[CMoon]

E3 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKREwisQ_vw

[cj iwakura]

That enemy kicking out your legs is some terrifying stuff.

[guigui]

E3 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKREwisQ_vw

Who the hell decided that Dark Souls needs bloody emocore (or whatever this is called) music ?!?

[LtC]

Gametrailers showed some new footage in an interview yesterday. It looks like pyromancy is gone and fire magic works as sorcery like in Demon's Souls. They also showed a melee magic spell where your catalyst turns into a sword and does a broad swing. Looked like there was an animation for dual wielding backstab. It looked like a bit off place to me.

[Zaarock]

That melee spell is cool, sort of what dark bead should've been. Maybe they're taking out weapon buffs(the icon looks like magic sword) to make spellswords less of a jack of all trades. I wonder what they'll do to faith spells, they were weird in DkS(pretty much just aoe melee attacks and healing..)

[CMoon]

Gametrailers showed some new footage in an interview yesterday. It looks like pyromancy is gone and fire magic works as sorcery like in Demon's Souls. They also showed a melee magic spell where your catalyst turns into a sword and does a broad swing. Looked like there was an animation for dual wielding backstab. It looked like a bit off place to me.

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/00rh ... o--stream-

This was also sort of interesting...

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/199c ... first-take

Very happy they are sticking with the current gen and not making two versions or switching boats. March is already too damn long to wait.

[LtC]

You can now apply for the Closed Beta on PSN. The beta itself will take place 12th (first phase) and 27th of october (second phase)

Right now as far as I know it seems to only work for Europe, Australia and Japan, but the beta ticket should be in US PSN store soon as well.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/09/ ... s-ii-beta/

[CMoon]

I wonder how they'll decide who gets the beta? Been anxiously refreshing that link every hour, waiting for the thing to become available in the US.

[LtC]

I wonder how they'll decide who gets the beta? Been anxiously refreshing that link every hour, waiting for the thing to become available in the US.

Lottery (抽選) according to the official Japanese FAQ. There should be no hurry in signing up since the 12th of October beta phase lottery will be done after the initial Japanese test phase that will happen 27th of September.

[Weak Boson]

Applied to the beta. I don't actually own a PS3 but I have no scruples about imposing myself on others when there's Dark Souls to be had.

[CMoon]

Analysis by ENB of the beta after 20 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CGvXh_pEWs

[Leader Bee]

E3 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKREwisQ_vw

Is that a tribute to Ghouls and Ghosts I see at the 1 minute mark?

[evil_ash_xero]

Analysis by ENB of the beta after 20 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CGvXh_pEWs

Thanks for that. I actually respect his opinion a lot when it comes to the Souls games. He actually made the story...well, he told the story, better than the game did. A story being hidden in item descriptions always puzzled me a bit.

I was totally uninterested in the game, when I heard they got rid of Miyazaki. I'm a little more interested now. I'll wait for reviews, but I definitely wait for fan reaction, and ENB's opinion, to see if it stays true to the series, before I buy it.

[CMoon]

I was totally uninterested in the game, when I heard they got rid of Miyazaki. I'm a little more interested now.

I still wish we knew more about that decision. Miyazaki is still there, contributing to the game, but not the director??? I keep thinking this is because they have him working on Dark Souls 3 for next gen, but that's nothing more than an optimistic guess. Regardless, people like ENB have said the game feels more hard core than the previous two, and gameplay wise, like a mix of them. Sounds like a first day purchase to me.

That said, my only concern with so much emphasis going into multi-player is that I hope they consider what this game will be like without it. Dedicated servers sound awesome until of course they decide to pull them a couple years down the road.

[evil_ash_xero]

Miyazaki has said he has nothing to do with the development of the game, and was kicked off by his superiors. Although he has said later that he is there to make sure it stays true to the series.

He is listed as a producer, in my opinion, to keep fans from freaking out.

We'll see.

[Leader Bee]

Just pre-ordered my copy. Only 6 months to wait.
I don't even know why I pre ordered either, it's not like it's going to sell out; I suppose it's so I make sure it's delivered on day one or whatever.

[CMoon]

Miyazaki has said he has nothing to do with the development of the game, and was kicked off by his superiors. Although he has said later that he is there to make sure it stays true to the series.

He is listed as a producer, in my opinion, to keep fans from freaking out.

We'll see.

Yeah, it is a weird choice. I want to be optimistic it was for some reason other than 'making the series more accessible'. Perhaps someday we'll find out why.

[CMoon]

Footage from the beta is turning up...probably getting taken down just as fast. Here's a clip that's still working for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQsoMWNF2ZQ

[evil_ash_xero]

Watching this now.

Looks good, and faithful. I'm still super worried about Miyazaki not being involved though. I don't anything will get rid of that until I read reviews from people who have finished the entire game. I'm THAT concerned about it.

But it does look nice. I like that fat guy in the woods. Spooky.

EDIT: The surprise attacks and aggressive enemies look pretty sweet too.

[CMoon]

Well looky what we have here:

[guigui]

Bleah those icons.
I had gotten used to non-sense icons.

How do we know if we've been chosen for the beta ?