• Dark Souls II PC preview: better second time round
    49 replies, posted
[url]http://www.pcgamesn.com/dark-souls-ii-pc-preview-better-second-time-round[/url]
I wonder if they took help from the DSfix guy.
How is this a PC preview? It just lists game features.
[QUOTE=Jojje;43774799]I wonder if they took help from the DSfix guy.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't be surprised, he is genius after all. I am glad more japanese devs are getting their games out on PC though, this is great.
Just me or is PCGN falling in quality? This has nothing to do with pc which leaves me to assume that they used the keyword for more clicks.
[QUOTE=Jojje;43774799]I wonder if they took help from the DSfix guy.[/QUOTE] Doubt it. Although Durante is great at reverse engineering, it's not like he implemented features that are beyond a normal graphics programmer to code in during development. The reason Dark Souls' PC port was shitty was because From Software didn't spend a lot of resources on it. The only reason it existed was because the fans were calling for it, which is a small miracle in itself. Now that the PC audience has proven itself, we get a fully fledged PC version of DS2.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;43776003]except dks2 is going to be on pc?[/QUOTE] We've known that since the original announcement though, the "PC preview" makes it sound like they specifically played the PC version and could comment on what separates it from the console versions. What we have here is a very general preview with some stuff the devs said months ago thrown in. I'm still hoping to hear just how extensive the options menu will actually be...
I like that they're adding communication between players. Beforehand, you'd just be sending messages through GFWL anyway which was just tedious.
-snip-
[QUOTE=Dirty_Ape;43778729]I like that they're adding communication between players. Beforehand, you'd just be sending messages through GFWL anyway which was just tedious.[/QUOTE] I kinda liked the lack of communication, it added a sort of eerie mystery to summoning.
[QUOTE=Liem;43778920]I kinda liked the lack of communication, it added a sort of eerie mystery to summoning.[/QUOTE] It's optional and takes up a ring slot I think, so it shouldn't be too bad
Voice ring: [sp]According to a video posted in the Dark Souls thread, both players, not just one, need to have it equipped in order to hear one another. Could just go without it if you choose. I know I will.[/sp]
[i]Welcome back to the realm of sadistic design for the masochistic player. As third-person, melee-biased RPGs go, this is not going for everyone.[/i] I hate reading statements like that, the games aren't that hard. The difficulty is really overhyped.
[QUOTE=Lukeo;43774983]How is this a PC preview? It just lists game features.[/QUOTE] Welcome to the new age in gaming, where Demos and trials are out and taking the company's word for it is in. It's been a trend for a while but it's getting worse, unfortunately. But I have faith in DS2 being what they say it is Dark Souls is the only game where I walked as slow as I could through most of it, ready to dodge back at any second, for the entirety of my playing it
[QUOTE=junker154;43779537][i]Welcome back to the realm of sadistic design for the masochistic player. As third-person, melee-biased RPGs go, this is not going for everyone.[/i] I hate reading statements like that, the games aren't that hard. The difficulty is really overhyped.[/QUOTE] Game journalists are just shit at playing games. I still get chills when I remember all of the reviews of Rising by all the "professional" reviewers who couldn't even figure out how the goddamn game worked. [editline]4th February 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=TheTalon;43779600]Welcome to the new age in gaming, where Demos and trials are out and taking the company's word for it is in. It's been a trend for a while but it's getting worse, unfortunately. But I have faith in DS2 being what they say it is Dark Souls is the only game where I walked as slow as I could through most of it, ready to dodge back at any second, for the entirety of my playing it[/QUOTE] I think that, given how open they were about the quality of the first one on PC, they've earned some trust points when it comes to their word. If they're willing to say how bad their game is when it's bad, they're probably willing to make it good.
[QUOTE=PCGamesN;43774765]To make things even more difficult, Dark Souls 2 features a new approach to health that sees your bar shrink each time you die. Numerous deaths can result in it dropping as low as 50 percent of its normal level, presumably making the kinds of unexpected boss battles that no doubt await deeper in the game even more arduous.[/QUOTE] Or, how to make things more unneccesarily difficult. One of the good things about Dark Souls was that while it did punish you for dying, it didn't make the game more difficult because of it. This just makes no sense. "Well let's see, he's having a difficult time of playing the game, what should we do." "Uhh... minor debuff that encourages him to try harder" "No!." "Shrink health and make it even harder for him to continue?" "THATS THE SPIRIT!"
[QUOTE=Funktastic Dog;43779759]Or, how to make things more unneccesarily difficult. One of the good things about Dark Souls was that while it did punish you for dying, it didn't make the game more difficult because of it. This just makes no sense. "Well let's see, he's having a difficult time of playing the game, what should we do." "Uhh... minor debuff that encourages him to try harder" "No!." "Shrink health and make it even harder for him to continue?" "THATS THE SPIRIT!"[/QUOTE] Shrinking health was in demons souls, and yet people still didn't have a hard time with it.
[QUOTE=Funktastic Dog;43779759]Or, how to make things more unneccesarily difficult. One of the good things about Dark Souls was that while it did punish you for dying, it didn't make the game more difficult because of it. This just makes no sense. "Well let's see, he's having a difficult time of playing the game, what should we do." "Uhh... minor debuff that encourages him to try harder" "No!." "Shrink health and make it even harder for him to continue?" "THATS THE SPIRIT!"[/QUOTE] Well maybe you should hone your skill at the game then it won't be (as much of) an issue. Seriously, you people are insufferable.
[QUOTE=smileykiller447;43779814]Shrinking health was in demons souls, and yet people still didn't have a hard time with it.[/QUOTE] I bet there will be an item which will slow down the hollowing process or always keep your maximum life at 75 percent. Like the Cling ring in Demon's Souls.
[QUOTE=smileykiller447;43779814]Shrinking health was in demons souls, and yet people still didn't have a hard time with it.[/QUOTE] And actually this is more forgiving than Demons Souls since it chips away at your health with each death instead of halving it in one go with just one death.
In terms of difficulty the one thing I'm wary about is the combination of invasions while hollowed and losing health with each death. Neither on their own is a problem (the former should have been in DkS to be honest) but I wonder if you can get "spawntrapped" at a point in the game at half health with invaders constantly ruining your shit.
A good idea to balance this out is to reduce the rate of invasion connectivity while you start becoming more hollow. Altough I'm fairly sure that they kept the idea on purpose that invaders can invade you at any time to increase the dread and hostile feeling.
I cannot for the life of me understand how anybody complains about Dark souls's difficulty. [B][I]It's not even HARD.[/I][/B]
[QUOTE=Laferio;43780322]I cannot for the life of me understand how anybody complains about Dark souls's difficulty. [B][I]It's not even HARD.[/I][/B][/QUOTE] I've had some friends play Dark Souls while I watched and I noticed that they think it's hard because death has more consequence than other games. They will die maybe 3 times at the most on the boss and get super frustrated since they had to run all they way back, killing whatever's in their way. Had the same people play Metal Gear Rising and they thought it was easier despite dying to a boss 10+ times.
[QUOTE=chunkymonkey;43780023]Well maybe you should hone your skill at the game then it won't be (as much of) an issue. Seriously, you people are insufferable.[/QUOTE] this is such a dumb, elitist statement. the dark souls games are not hard for those who have played them. tell me that you breezed through the game the first couple of hours. unless you played demon souls, i'm willing to bet you didn't. i bet you died a lot. that initial difficulty and learning curve - and don't even pretend that dark souls doesn't have a massive learning curve for the unitiated - really, really easily turns off a lot of people. [QUOTE=junker154;43779537][i]Welcome back to the realm of sadistic design for the masochistic player. As third-person, melee-biased RPGs go, this is not going for everyone.[/i] I hate reading statements like that, the games aren't that hard. The difficulty is really overhyped.[/QUOTE] let's view the world relatively. on ng+, how many times did it take you to kill the four kings? on your first run, how many tries did it take you to kill the capra demon and his dogs? don't try to pretend that dark souls isn't brutal, it's fucking brutal. it's not [I]unfair[/I], it's just [I]unforgiving[/I]. [editline]4th February 2014[/editline] now compare that to 95% of other games where bosses are usually beat on the first or second try.
[QUOTE=Laferio;43780322]I cannot for the life of me understand how anybody complains about Dark souls's difficulty. [B][I]It's not even HARD.[/I][/B][/QUOTE] Are you serious? Are you here just to brag about how good you are at the game, or are you trying to say that Dark Souls objectively is not hard, even though that is a relative concept? Maybe you've not realized, maybe you otherwise mostly play NES games, but nowadays games generally aren't anywhere near as hard as Dark Souls. I'm pretty sick of hearing people say this. [editline]4th February 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=smileykiller447;43779814]Shrinking health was in demons souls, and yet people still didn't have a hard time with it.[/QUOTE] Lol yes people had a hard time with it. It's known for being a hard game! [editline]o[/editline] Just to clarify I'm all for the difficulty of Dark Souls and the stuff DkS2 will introduce, can't wait to play that shit. But I'm sick of the elitism from some people.
[QUOTE=Funktastic Dog;43779759]Or, how to make things more unneccesarily difficult. One of the good things about Dark Souls was that while it did punish you for dying, it didn't make the game more difficult because of it. This just makes no sense. "Well let's see, he's having a difficult time of playing the game, what should we do." "Uhh... minor debuff that encourages him to try harder" "No!." "Shrink health and make it even harder for him to continue?" "THATS THE SPIRIT!"[/QUOTE] honestly i agree with this in spirit BUT i think what it will do is force people with reduced health to get better at not getting hit - if you go from being able to take 10 hits before dying, and suddenly you can only take 5, you're going to get [I]a lot[/I] better at avoiding getting hit, at blocking, dodging, etc. it'll force the player to learn the movesets of their enemies and take their time. dark souls is very much a game of rinse and repeat, learning where enemies are placed, what sort of pace you should keep, and figuring out what enemies are going to do and then hit them when they're weak.
[QUOTE=paul simon;43780435] Lol yes people had a hard time with it. It's known for being a hard game![/QUOTE] Well, yeah I realize that, however they probably still finished the game at least once.
[QUOTE=smileykiller447;43780466]Well, yeah I realize that, however they probably still finished the game at least once.[/QUOTE] Well, I guess most who bought it knew what they were up against. If not they'd be in for a surprise, and I'd like to see their faces.
[QUOTE=BrickInHead;43780419]on ng+, how many times did it take you to kill the four kings? on your first run, how many tries did it take you to kill the capra demon and his dogs? don't try to pretend that dark souls isn't brutal, it's fucking brutal. it's not [I]unfair[/I], it's just [I]unforgiving[/I]. [editline]4th February 2014[/editline] now compare that to 95% of other games where bosses are usually beat on the first or second try.[/QUOTE] I disagree with you though, at first Dark Souls gives you a hard time but once you get some basic knowledge it gets a lot easier. You can breeze through a lot of areas once you know how to get around. Some bosses can be hard but the 4 Kings are also some endgame bosses and are supposed to be somewhat hard. The game is difficult but calling it a masochistic experience is a huge exageration. There are many other games that can be far more difficult and unforgiving. Once you accept that souls are somewhat expendable, the game feels a lot easier. One thing that is just a bit frustrating is to know how all the underlying mechanics work, the game doesn't tell you anything.
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