Dark Souls II Review - Dark Souls Refined

[Vrach]

Very important question, in case anyone knows the answer - if you can be invaded while Hollowed, does that mean you can summon too?

I think so. In fact, there's a covenant that is supposed to be dedicated to being summoned to the world of people who have been invaded and helping them out.

Which is something I'll have a really strong love/hate relationship with, leaning far towards the latter - awesome idea on paper, but when you think about all the gankers waiting in groups of 2/3 to farm invaders in PvP zones, this literally just piles that onto literally every situation but actual enclosed PvP arenas (I mean something like the stuff right behind Artorias in the DLC). And that could really completely ruin PvP for me unless they actively made it possible to team up for invasions (something I'd love to see, but not in a gangbang scenario where 3 invaders invade one poor soul, but where the game sets up the number of invaders appropriately to the number of people in the host's world)

However, it's not much proof to anything. That covenant perk itself may demand you to be Human and it still says nothing of what you can do as Hollowed. Thing is, if it's less likely that you'll see invaders while Hollowed (though I maintain that's likely worth fuck all unless it involves some kind of giant timer between invasions) and you can still summon people to help, there'd be little reason to be Human... aside from any required areas/events like in the first Dark Souls (if they exist) or if you were actively going for PvP.

 

[vipLink]

I'm 90% on this, perhaps someone could confirm - but I'd assume the game is not online-only?

Now, I'm all for that feeling of being hunted, but there's a difference between feeling like there's a danger of being invaded and there being a motherfucking factory line of assholes at my world's doorstep waiting their turn.

Very important question, in case anyone knows the answer - if you can be invaded while Hollowed, does that mean you can summon too?

I'll just answer the Questions in your Post:

The Game is not online only, thought it requires steam so you'll definitely need to initially be connected to the internet on the PC Version.
PS 3 and Xbox360 do not require an online connection in any form.

Apparently you can only be invaded a certain amount of times before it should generally decrease or stop all together, but also as everybody can be invaded the pool of users should be enough from preventing a constant invasion in only your world. Unless your specifically asking for it (certain Items raise your chance of being invaded or Convenants can do similar things) you shouldn't be invaded as much as you were in human form in Dark Souls.

The hollow system is still quite important in Dark Souls 2. If your hollow your chance of invading, or summoning/seeing summon signs and seeing player messages decreases. The more hollow you are the more this chance decreases, the ingame explanation is that your becoming more distant to connecting worlds the more you hollow. So yes you can summon and be invaded while hollow, it's just less likely.

Also some Convenants summon other Members to protect you, this works without signs (a sort of auto summon) there we're convenants for this in Dark Souls aswell but they we're restricted to certain areas or hidden in high level areas where you just wouldn't need protection as much. It seems like all of this has been balanced a lot better this time, so I'm guessing most people won't find being invaded quite so annoying anymore.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

and now ill have to wait here a month for the PC version...

 

[Clovus]

I'm glad they are sticking to similar story-telling elements as Dark Souls. I think some people complain that there was no "story" in Dark Souls, but I think it was better than Skyrim in terms of it's world-building. By limiting the dialogue/text everything is presented as a mystery. Allowing the player to search for clues about the story of the world is much more interesting than hearing character after character babble on or reading a book on a screen. I felt the same way about Shadow of the Colossus.

 

[AntiChri5]

Will i be able to play the PC version with a controller?

 

[joest01]

How can anyone review this game without the full online being operational.

Me? If I cave and buy it (not at all convinced yet) I will probably need to play the whole thing offline.

Because it gets annoying. And I know. Because I am that guy. Six pack in front of me and taking a break from the campaign invading folks. Lagstabbing them all night long. But I'm also the other guy. The one who doesn't need another firestorm spamming invader right now while he is dealing with a brand new level.

Will be looking forward to a review that actually looks at the online dynamics.
[And the first boss battle that actually intrigues me ...]

 

[Gitty101]

So it begins... The long wait for the PC release whilst avoiding all spoilers.

 

[StormShaun]

Recommendation: It's the best RPG released this year.

Ho ho, my friend, we still have a lot of this year to go.
I shall respect your opinion, but I do think The Witcher: Wild Hunt will certainly be a contender as well, possibly Bravely Default as well, but I still need to play that one, so I shall not confirm it.

But reading the review, it certainly sounds good.
Mostly for a fan or someone who knows and likes what they are getting into.
I'm not someone who likes this kind of RPG (I've played Dark Souls and I didn't like it) so I'm not really going to play it.

Now The Witcher: Wild Hunt ... I am sure as poop that I am getting that one.
Also possibly Dragon Age: Inquisition, but like many people, I am highly sceptical about that one and will wait for a review first.

EDIT: One thing I will say is that I will watch a Lets Play of it.

 

[Falterfire]

I'd be really interested in an update on this when the PC version releases. I never could get my PC copy of Dark Souls 1 to function properly. I'm apparently not even hardcore enough of a gamer to start the game and not have it either crash or encounter serious graphics errors.

 

[Auberon]

I will echo the sentiment of bloodstain ganking, especially with cumulative penalties. I expect that this weekend some ass is already stalking the hub world for any poor souls unfortunate enough to fire up the game and literally die the second they spawn.

 

[Vrach]

The Game is not online only, thought it requires steam so you'll definitely need to initially be connected to the internet on the PC Version.
PS 3 and Xbox360 do not require an online connection in any form.

Yeah, I figured as much, just you know... never 100% without my hands on the actual thing

Apparently you can only be invaded a certain amount of times before it should generally decrease or stop all together, but also as everybody can be invaded the pool of users should be enough from preventing a constant invasion in only your world. Unless your specifically asking for it (certain Items raise your chance of being invaded or Convenants can do similar things) you shouldn't be invaded as much as you were in human form in Dark Souls.

Well, if you say so, but I'll have to see for myself. There was talk of some timer in the original Dark Souls as well, but as I've mentioned above, I shit you not, I just had invasions lining up one after another. As for the size of the pool, the size of the pool is irrelevant, what matters is a ratio of invaders to non-invaders. If they're 50/50, you're always gonna have an invader and after a while, certain areas become more filled with invaders than actual players going through the content. So once it gets to 50/50, all those "reduced chances" are flushed down the toilet because the situation is a bunch of invaders on one side and not enough actual live Humans for them to hunt. Add onto it the fact that if someone's playing the content, they're a lot more commonly gonna be Hollow. So it's either gonna be several invaders on one Human, or the odds of getting invaded in Hollow form are quite real.

The hollow system is still quite important in Dark Souls 2. If your hollow your chance of invading, or summoning/seeing summon signs and seeing player messages decreases. The more hollow you are the more this chance decreases, the ingame explanation is that your becoming more distant to connecting worlds the more you hollow. So yes you can summon and be invaded while hollow, it's just less likely.

Cool, I figured it works this way, would be truly evil of them to make it you can be invaded, but not actually summon for help with the content. I like that explanation too, it makes sense within the world, which is always a nice plus

Also some Convenants summon other Members to protect you, this works without signs (a sort of auto summon) there we're convenants for this in Dark Souls aswell but they we're restricted to certain areas or hidden in high level areas where you just wouldn't need protection as much. It seems like all of this has been balanced a lot better this time, so I'm guessing most people won't find being invaded quite so annoying anymore.

There's no such thing that I'm aware of in Dark Souls. You never get auto summoned to help someone fend off an invader. In fact, the closest thing to an "auto" summon is the invader kind, the Cat Covenant Ring and the Darkmoon one. But if someone wanted your help AGAINST an invader, they'd need to summon you manually.

 

[Vrach]

I'd be really interested in an update on this when the PC version releases. I never could get my PC copy of Dark Souls 1 to function properly. I'm apparently not even hardcore enough of a gamer to start the game and not have it either crash or encounter serious graphics errors.

April 25th, I think it's stated at the end? It's a confirmed date anyway
And don't feel bad, I spent 6 straight hours getting it to work on my brother's PC. It's what you get with a GFWL game >.>

 

[scorptatious]

Well, good to see this game is good. I enjoyed the first Dark Souls and I'll pick this one up sometime in the future.

 

[sageoftruth]

So the PVP is forced no matter what you do? Ehhh, that killed Aion for me. I was thinking of picking up this one since I was intrigued enough by the first one to give it a shot but I think I'll wait it out.

I agree. That's a step down for me too. Thankfully you can still play offline. Much less convenient, sure, but it at least makes it playable for the guys who don't want to be constantly assaulted by OP player killers.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I've played a couple of hours of the game and I'm not sure I completely agree with the review. I can not quite put it into words but it "feels" like a cheap immitation of dark souls.

They said the original designer have moved to only being in a supervisory role and they made the game with a new engine and I'm not entirely sure it's for the better. Framerate is pretty choppy and aesthetically poor. I'm not talking about the graphics on a technical level, but on artistic choice, the lighting and textures choosen just feels cheap compared to dark souls.

Mechanically it seems like a souls game but less polish, perhaps its influence by the choppiness or perhaps they just tweak the swings and blocks 0.5 seconds less or more but the combat just feels off, the whole game just overall feel less than dark souls was.

I could be bias on this because I spend too much time on dark souls but I would love to hear what other players think after they tried the game. I'm playing it on ps3 by the way so maybe the 360 or pc version would be better technically.

 

[grey_space]

Friday can not come quick enough for me. This is definitely the first game released this year that I am actually in any way excited about.

 

[EvilRoy]

I don't know if I like invasion being a constant threat now. There needs to be some room to breath and not be afraid of someone fucking your shit up. I'd rather they just did what Demon's Souls did and cut your health bar in half when in hollow form.

This just feels a bit too much. I guess I can always play offline, but that'll mean not getting the entire experience. I wish they handled this differently, because this one aspect is making me very stand offish whether or not I wanna get this game.

If you don't mind abusing the system a little bit, I found that while playing DS1 if I had a youtube video going I could cut my invasions by 50-90% while keeping orange messages, bloodstains and ghosts, depending on the video quality setting. Presumably because my horrible latency was turning down most connection attempts.

When I wanted to go co-op I just turned off the video and went ahead.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't know if I like invasion being a constant threat now. There needs to be some room to breath and not be afraid of someone fucking your shit up. I'd rather they just did what Demon's Souls did and cut your health bar in half when in hollow form.

This just feels a bit too much. I guess I can always play offline, but that'll mean not getting the entire experience. I wish they handled this differently, because this one aspect is making me very stand offish whether or not I wanna get this game.

If you don't mind abusing the system a little bit, I found that while playing DS1 if I had a youtube video going I could cut my invasions by 50-90% while keeping orange messages, bloodstains and ghosts, depending on the video quality setting. Presumably because my horrible latency was turning down most connection attempts.

When I wanted to go co-op I just turned off the video and went ahead.

I'm not playing it on PC, so that's not an option.

 

[EvilRoy]

I don't know if I like invasion being a constant threat now. There needs to be some room to breath and not be afraid of someone fucking your shit up. I'd rather they just did what Demon's Souls did and cut your health bar in half when in hollow form.

This just feels a bit too much. I guess I can always play offline, but that'll mean not getting the entire experience. I wish they handled this differently, because this one aspect is making me very stand offish whether or not I wanna get this game.

If you don't mind abusing the system a little bit, I found that while playing DS1 if I had a youtube video going I could cut my invasions by 50-90% while keeping orange messages, bloodstains and ghosts, depending on the video quality setting. Presumably because my horrible latency was turning down most connection attempts.

When I wanted to go co-op I just turned off the video and went ahead.

I'm not playing it on PC, so that's not an option.

Ah, that's too bad. You might still try it (running the video on your computer while you play on the console) just to see if intentionally eating up your bandwidth will still work, but I've only ever tried this on the PC.