DARK SOULS 2

[evil_ash_xero]

The nonsense icons are one of the things I would have changed right off the bat.

[Sinful]

It's really nice to see a hard game can be so popular in this day and age.

Have yet to play these games, but I own both of them at least. Just a matter of starting them (just that I'm an STG binge right now).

[Leader Bee]

It's really nice to see a hard game can be so popular in this day and age.

What do you think the reason difficult games went out of fashion was? Personally i miss them and DS series is a breath of fresh air. Nobody makes games like they used to and those aren't rose tinted glasses; this is why I still prefer 2D games to the majority of their 3d counterparts.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Wasn't Nintendo the first company that systematically made their games completable by people not too eager to rise to the challenge?
Is difficulty the new 60 fps?

[LtC]

Played the beta for a little while earlier today. Played the sorcerer, dual swordsman and temple knight. Summoning and invading didn't work so didn't get a chance to try those.

Feels a lot darker and more claustrophobic than the previous games. You can't rely on rolls saving you on the very last moment anymore and relying on your shield isn't nearly as effective anymore. You can boost your overall action speed with the agility stat but you're looking to spend 30 levels for 15% increase (if I'm reading the stats right). I noticed endurance increases your stamina a lot slower than before, although you start with more stamina than in the previous games. I forgot to check poise and how it works but it seems like even with heavier armor almost every enemy attack will stagger you, while it seems to be really hard to stagger bigger enemies.

Another thing I noticed was that certain enemies seem to disappear once you die certain amount of times and your max health drops low enough. I believe those enemies started spawning again once I used an item to bring it to max. I'm not 100% about if I got it right but it might be a cool mechanic if it works sort of like world tendency in Demon's Souls.

Overall it feels like they put a lot more work into the game and I'm really looking forward to taking my time and playing the whole game when it comes out.

[cj iwakura]

Yeah, but if you were in the US last night, this was the snafu to end all snafus.

[guigui]

Another thing I noticed was that certain enemies seem to disappear once you die certain amount of times and your max health drops low enough.

In Demon's Black tendency, ennemies appeared the more you failed, didn't they ?

[cj iwakura]

Another thing I noticed was that certain enemies seem to disappear once you die certain amount of times and your max health drops low enough.

In Demon's Black tendency, ennemies appeared the more you failed, didn't they ?

In pure black, red phantoms would appear, yes. But it seemed to go away if you died again.

[LtC]

Another thing I noticed was that certain enemies seem to disappear once you die certain amount of times and your max health drops low enough.

In Demon's Black tendency, ennemies appeared the more you failed, didn't they ?

Yeah I always felt it was backwards that you had to kill yourself in human form multiple times to make the levels harder. This would make a lot more sense.

Yeah, but if you were in the US last night, this was the snafu to end all snafus.

Dodged a bullet there. I got the download code for both the Japanese and NA beta and only ended up using the JP code because I happened to read that e-mail first. They are holding another beta test 10th of November at the same time to make up for the mess.

[CMoon]

Got invited to the beta, but online doesn't open until tomorrow night. It will be the end of a really long day, but can't wait!

[cj iwakura]

I'll be moving all day. Goody.

On the bright side, maybe I'll be tired enough to fall asleep early and wake up for the beta.

[guigui]

So, any report of the beta ?

[CMoon]

The session was at a late hour and I'd been up since the ass crack of dawn (brewed beer then went to a party.) I'm imagining they do this intentionally as a natural limit to how many people are willing to stay up til midnight to have a go at the game. Maybe on a different day I would have done it, but not that particular day.

Still, there are a lot of videos up and I've no doubt it will be a good game. Whether it will be a great game or not--we probably won't know the answer to that until the full game is out.

[LtC]

I think it's more about everyone having to go with normal Japanese hours since it was a worldwide test. Which leads into people in America suffering the most.

I was playing again this time too and tried different classes. Looks like I was wrong about the enemies disappearing once you die enough times. It seems that if you kill certain enemies certain amount of times they will stop respawning.

The multiplayer worked this time. One thing I immediately noticed is how invading is a whole lot less tedious. When you use a red-eye stone you will either nearly instantly invade a world or instantly get a failed message. So no more waiting like in the previous games. I also got summoned extremely fast every time I put my summon sign for co-op. But it seems that if someone fails to summon you your summon sign will disappear and you will have to set it all over again. I also had a problem with most co-op summon signs not working at all, but that probably had something to do with expired summon signs not disappearing like they are supposed to. Another new thing to co-op I noticed was that white phantoms can get some shared loot now too although I believe all of them were recovery items. I had some fun with the blue covenant too, and I really like the fact that you don't have to deal with the enemies in the level to fight the invader.

Towards the end of the test they announced they were testing "high difficulty mode" for balancing purposes. The only difference I noticed was that enemies were doing a lot more damage and that healing items no longer dropped as often (?). It most likely doesn't mean that there is going to be a difficulty slider, as they've said there wouldn't multiple times, so I wouldn't think about it too much. They most likely just switched game balance from beta test version to planned difficulty of the beta area. But if they can change game and its balance without patching the game I wonder if that means there are going to be some kinds of world events like Demon's Souls had.

Can't wait for March, and I really hope they can get the game 100% finished this time without all the rushing like they did with the first Dark Souls.

[cj iwakura]

Loved the atmosphere and aesthetics, as always. UI updates were nice too.

Mage was uber challenge mode, like I expected. I was too exhausted to get to the boss, so I can't wait for the final product to really explore that place.



As for the story, I speculate this is the world outside Lordran, and not all the enemies will be undead.

[Cagar]

Overall loved the game. It felt much better than demon's souls or dark souls. Darker, harder, more unforgiving in combat, better inventory & shop.
The only thing that worried me was the notification during beta testing, which said something about "We will test 'hard mode' now blabla engrish" Does this mean that the game will have difficulty selection, or was it just that the test was at nerfed difficulty at first (as they wanted to test connectivity etc.) ?

[CMoon]

Time to resurrect this thread...game is only two months away, time to some frothing anticipation going.

Few things...
1) EpicNameBro has already played the game; says it is better than Dark Souls 1, and is writing the strategy guide. Holy shit!

2) Here's one of the best videos I've seen covering what we know about Dark Souls 2 so far (I know it is titled PVP but actually deals with a lot of topics): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vbrryKE1Es

3) On the same channel I found out something that might be one of the coolest additions to Dark Souls...you can now aim spells in first person just like bows. I wonder if this will apply to all thrown items?

Finally pre-ordered the game and that book by ENB. Also, the Dark Souls artbook--the one originally only available in Japan has now been released in the US. Seems very, VERY late, but I ordered one anyway.

[evil_ash_xero]

Honestly, the fact that ENB has had access to it so early, and that he is writing a guide, makes me question his opinion now.

Which sucks, because he is who I was most interested in hearing from.

[Cagar]

EpicNameBro has already played the game; says it is better than Dark Souls 1, and is writing the strategy guide. Holy shit!

Wat. You mean the full version?

[LtC]

EpicNameBro has already played the game; says it is better than Dark Souls 1, and is writing the strategy guide. Holy shit!

Wat. You mean the full version?

Yep. He claimed to probably be the first person in the world to finish it apart from playtesters and devs.

Also, the the achievements are out. There's one for your first death. Might be interesting to see how far you can get without triggering it.

[evil_ash_xero]

Does that not make you guys a little suspicious of his feelings on the game?

Obviously someone at Namco or From hooked him up. He's writing a guide. I mean...seriously. He's IN BED with them, basically.
And he's not gonna be like "I'm writing this guide to this piece of garbage game. But buy this game anyway, then buy my guide!".

I do hope it's a great game though. Souls games are like the oasis in a desert of crap.

[brokenhalo]

Also, the Dark Souls artbook--the one originally only available in Japan has now been released in the US. Seems very, VERY late, but I ordered one anyway.

received mine on saturday. there's a few things in there i wish i could get blown up to poster size to hang up. there is some seriously gorgeous art in there.

[Cagar]

Does that not make you guys a little suspicious of his feelings on the game?

Why would it?
You think he would suddenly stop liking the series for some reason after getting in bed with namco/from?

I've tried the beta myself and it did seem like the game will be way better than the previous ones.

[CMoon]

Honestly, the fact that ENB has had access to it so early, and that he is writing a guide, makes me question his opinion now.

I think it is natural to be suspect of any one's opinion in a situation like this, however note ENB's wording: He actually says it is better than Dark Souls, and this is a huge statement from him given his opinion on the first game. Nothing about being in bed with Namco required him to say the game is actually better. He could have called it a total success, the sequel that DS deserves, cementing the dark souls legacy, etc. Instead he specifically says he thinks the game is better.

I mean, anything is possible, but with ENB I'm prone to believe his opinion is legitimate and not bought.

[CMoon]

Interesting that the achievements don't include upgrade paths. I was getting a little worried, however I think these are confirmed:

Normal
Magic
Fire
Lightning
Dark
Poison
Bleed

Edit: Saw on thread on gamefaqs that suggests that instead of particular paths, a weapon has a maximum number of upgrades, and you can combine types of upgrades, such that a +15 weapon might include upgrades to bleed, poison and lightning. Obviously can't confirm this, but it is an interesting idea.

[CMoon]

Also, the Dark Souls artbook--the one originally only available in Japan has now been released in the US. Seems very, VERY late, but I ordered one anyway.

received mine on saturday. there's a few things in there i wish i could get blown up to poster size to hang up. there is some seriously gorgeous art in there.

Yeah, just got this yesterday (Amazon seems to really be on there game since I just ordered it on Sunday.) For the right person, pretty fucking great, but it does manage to be less substantial than I thought it would be. The points where you can see how they got from point A to point B in the development of the game world are pretty awesome. I agree that a LOT of the artwork could easily be poster size. I'd buy that shit!

Also, gotta assume we've all seen the Cursed trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbDmI_2IVQ8

Here are VaatiVidya's reflections on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN9YF3CDRR0

[retrojc]

Loved Dark Souls, I think the mask in this gif looks exceptional too.



Worried how much emphasis is on co-operative play, I don't mind the odd boss rush with one or two people but playing through the game with people would ruin it for me, I like being the nomadic player within a hellish world.

Loved defending darkroot basin against 3 people, Think i got like 1,000,000 souls from one encounter.

[CMoon]

Worried how much emphasis is on co-operative play, I don't mind the odd boss rush with one or two people but playing through the game with people would ruin it for me, I like being the nomadic player within a hellish world.

Loved defending darkroot basin against 3 people, Think i got like 1,000,000 souls from one encounter.

Well, if you want to dodge pvp, you'll need to play offline. This was no big deal in Demon's souls where we played offline to manipulate world tendency. That said, I'm the WORST PVP player, but I welcome the whole experience because ultimately you realize it adds this novel experience. Maybe you're already playing at your best and have narrowly scraped by a bunch of mobs and are about to get to the boss, suddenly you get invaded. Yes, it is stressful and maybe even a nightmare, but also ensuring that whenever you play the game it will be something new. At the moment I am tentatively embracing it, but worried about how frustrating it will get.

[Bananamatic]

That said, I'm the WORST PVP player

I don't really think PvP is all that skill based with all the lag and the only thing mattering being stacking poise while maintaining fastroll

[guigui]

That said, I'm the WORST PVP player

I don't really think PvP is all that skill based with all the lag and the only thing mattering being stacking poise while maintaining fastroll

At first, it may come down to that indeed.
But I seriously think good players can defeat any rolling/poising character, and with not that much luck/lag involved.
I never felt attracted by such PVP though. Coop play, surviving regular invasions is the way to go for me.