Dark Souls 2 Preview: Dying Over and Over Never Looked So Good

[Lovely Mixture]

Most of my worries have been averted from the new trailers, the animations are looking better and the graphically the game is looking much more like Dark Souls.

Sounds awesome, add to that the fact that From is putting a greater emphasis on a PC version! It makes me giddy with anticipation, since I;m a huge Souls series fan.

Yeah I'm really happy how really opening it up to everybody, platform wise. I'm hoping that if the Demon's Souls license expires (from Sony) then they can port that to the PC.

Let's just hope that the final boss is more difficult than parry/stab over and over again.

Heh, that fight was a bit simple. Though it was challenging for me cause the parrying windows are little different for him.

 

[creatorx2]

I like the tune. Where's the song from?

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

It became the benchmark for grounded combat in fantasy games for me.

Well put. Everything else feels so floaty and video game-y. The only other recent fantasy action-rpg with good combat, IMO, is Kingdoms of Amalur, but I couldn't stomach the periphery on that one.

 

[Quicksilver_Phoenix]

Well, dual-wielding wasn't very useful over having a shield in the first game, to me at least.

There's actually a guy on Youtube/Twitch (Peeve) who has a build where he dual wields certain weapons together so that he can parry, get a swing in with his left hand weapon and then finish the riposte with his right. It's quite a large chunk of damage while an opponent can't react at all, but it obviously takes a lot of skill and practice to pull off. Hopefully they'll create some specific movesets for offhand weapons in Dark Souls 2.

 

[Darkness665]

The 'new' character creation sounds like Fallout 3 and New Vegas. So, new to them I suppose.

Also on the dual wield I used the parry dagger and various sword combinations often. It was actually effective assuming one could parry. And the parry is actually quite simple as the YouTube guy shows how it is done. Each attack that can be parried has a specific window that any parry mechanism can respond to. If you are overwhelmed in the beginning it is tough to do. Once you get familiar at all with the game then just start a new character as a thief. Then you can practice parrying until your are blue in the face, dead and revived or whatever buzz phrase floats your boat.

Spider shield, thief's dagger and the stamina regen ring. A fun combo. I also wear the shirt from the painted guardians armor set. Looks cool and if you can parry, armor is not needed.

 

[Gormech]

All I have to say is that I'm buying it. The thing's coming out on the PS3 even after the next gen console release. That's more time to enjoy Dark Souls without tossing another paycheck.

 

[Jamous]

Looking very pretty; not going to lie, I'm sold already. Definitely going to be picking it up: I love the Dark Souls world.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

I wonder if it will still control like a mental patient reversing a pickup truck loaded with depleted uranium through a hedge maze on an ice rink?

Naw, it wouldn't be "hardcore enough" if it was easy to control.

I bet the cheap deaths and thirty minute intervals between checkpoints will be present and accounted for, as will the complete inability to pause.

But hey, it's all speculation at this point.

I'm sorry you never figured out the very simple controls of Dark Souls. I suppose it being the only game on the market that punishes button mashing and poor decision making can cause that. As for cheap deaths, most enemies, encounters, and traps are actually quite predictable if you pay attention. And thirty minutes is a massive overstatement on your part.

Misread much, fanboy?

It's not that I didn't learn the controls, it's that the game controls like shit.

I have no idea how you could come to that conclusion so I assumed you button mashed. It controls perfectly. Aside from the run button not being on a control stick, I have no complaints. You press a button you do a thing. Once you are done doing the thing you press a button and do something else.

Well, it's like they say; "When you assume, you make an ass out of U and Me."

 

[Ishal]

An opinion from a youtuber I trust. Thought it might be relevant here.

Spoiler

So far it sounds like they are listening to the community and aren't making too drastic of changes. I also love the fact that its a completely new engine but it seems so much like the Dark Souls we know and love. Pretty good stuff.

The setting of this just screamed Painted World at me. Its looking pretty good so far.

 

[Korten12]

Forty hours long? It took me 62 hours and 23 minutes to beat my first runthrough of Dark Souls. Hopefully this is an estimate for if you blaze through the game and you know what you're doing.

Who says dual wield wasn't functional in DkS? OP, that's simply wrong. Also, Green Blossoms aren't a new item either.

Well, dual-wielding wasn't very useful over having a shield in the first game, to me at least. But yeah, the article should have its facts straighter than this.

If you know what your doing, you can beat Dark Souls in a few hours.

 

[NeutralDrow]

"To reduce the amount of time players are tediously wandering around, Dark Souls 2 will allow players to warp to and from any bonfire in the game."

Thank merciful jeebus. Dark Souls probably deserved a medal for being one of the only explorative RPGs where I, easily distracted wanderlusting little squirrel that I am, couldn't stand the exploration. So that's one problem down. And it looks totally fucking sweet, the combat is promising to rock on toast, and if I managed to get through Dark Souls PC, I can handle any controls they throw at me, so those aren't a problem.

Now they just need to fix either the lack of story or the pointlessly overpunitive death mechanic, and I will be well-and-truly hyped. And since I know there's absolutely no chance of the latter, I'm hoping they'll give me something I can actually get immersed in.

...and yes, I can feel you opening another tab to load up that Youtube video. Don't bother, I know it already. I'm talking about story, not lore.

If you know what your doing, you can beat Dark Souls in a few hours.

If you know what you're doing, you aren't playing Dark Souls. At least, according to all the fans I've spoken with.

Either that, or you know what you're doing because you're on New Game++.

 

[Korten12]

If you know what your doing, you can beat Dark Souls in a few hours.

If you know what you're doing, you aren't playing Dark Souls. At least, according to all the fans I've spoken with.

Either that, or you know what you're doing because you're on New Game++.

What? No, even on your first run if you have played the game before you can easily go through the game. Hell on youtube you can watch a player beat Dark Souls in like an hour.

It's not so much that there is a lot of content, just that once you know what you're doing, getting to bosses is very easy.

 

[NeutralDrow]

If you know what your doing, you can beat Dark Souls in a few hours.

If you know what you're doing, you aren't playing Dark Souls. At least, according to all the fans I've spoken with.

Either that, or you know what you're doing because you're on New Game++.

What? No, even on your first run if you have played the game before you can easily go through the game. Hell on youtube you can watch a player beat Dark Souls in like an hour.

That's pretty much what the joke was.

Of course, on second readthrough, I missed the part you were specifically responding to, so no wonder it fell flat, (for entirely my fault).

 

[CrazyFikus]

When trailer music is the only thing you can complain about, it's a good thing, it just doesn't fit with the style and tone of the game, even if the lyrics did fit

Again and again I've come back...

Know that feeling, and looking forward to it

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

Praise the Sun!

Although the persistent bonfire warping irks me no end. Obtaining the Lordvessel and that ability in the first game felt like a glorious achievement, and now it's just going to be default? I don't want them to give me anything on a plate, I want them to be nasty and treat me wrong.

 

[FYI I Am Some Guy]

So;

Fast-travel
Regenerating health
More narrow classes
Shorter game overall

Wonderful news

Honestly, this would all seem like terrible news to me if you put it like that. I also don't understand where you're getting most of that. Narrower classes? Regenerating health? I guess that's supposed to be the healing crystals you're referring to? Also, they said that the world in the second game would be twice as large as Lordran, so I doubt it'll be shorter. And Dark Souls already had bonfire warping, it was just restricted to being able to go to certain bonfires, which it won't be this time around.

Obtaining the Lordvessel and that ability in the first game felt like a glorious achievement, and now it's just going to be default?

He didn't say that, just that you'd be able to warp between all bonfires instead of a few key ones.