Dark Souls Previews and Interview

Since the last time we checked, a few new articles on From Software’s Dark Souls have surfaced on the net, and we round them up for your perusal.

First, we start with previews, with Metro serving us a one-page piece:

Despite its heavy role-playing overtones Dark Souls is primarily a third person action game. You have a variety of different classes to choose from at the start of the game (we played as the new Solaire of Astra – a nicely balanced all-rounder) but their repertoire of moves is quite small and what complications there are, are mostly context sensitive.

Blocking is by far the most importing move though, closely followed by dodging and rolling (now with much smoother controls and animation). A new parry move is difficult to pull off but also emphasises the fact that in almost every single battle you are the underdog. There’s barely an enemy in the game that can’t kill you in a couple of attacks and many that take less than that.

The game is brutally difficult then, but also scrupulously fair. Mind you, we say that but when we first took hold of the controls it’d been a long while since we’d play Demon’s Souls and the old magic took a while to come back. Striding recklessly up a flight of stairs we’re immediately broadsided by a skeletal warrior rushing out of a side door and within minutes of starting the game we’ve died for the first time.

We try to mumble some excuses about ‘forgetting the controls’, but we haven’t met the Namco Bandai PR guy before and we can immediately sense his disappointment. We’ve made ourselves look like amateurs and the game has rightly punished for it.

And God is a Geek:

It is this mode of difficulty that will continue to make this series so divisive. Dark Souls isn’t hard in a way that other notably tough action games like Devil May Cry are, where your avatar is the most powerful being in the game world and responds immediately to any button press, the challenge coming from enemies that simply overwhelm your twitch fibres and ability to react to the action on screen. Dark Souls just makes it clear that your character is weak and fragile, susceptible to any enemy at any moment, just waiting for lapses in concentration. It also rewards the player differently. Rather than the sensation of player skill and feeling of excellence offered by other action games (deserved or not), Dark Souls rewards attritional thinking and the rote learned planning that comes from one hundred failures.

Dark Souls is released in October but it seems clear, even at this stage, what the game offers. Fans of the first game and players seeking a challenge will revel in its difficulty whereas players looking for an experience they can move through more serenely, enjoying the story whilst they stop and smell the roses shouldn’t even flirt with the idea of playing. This is to be commended, and from the brief time available with Dark Souls it is clear that, both from playing the game and listening to the way it is talked about, this is not a game for everyone, nor is it intended to be. In an industry that is obsessed with new IP hitting the biggest demographics and being attractive to as many people as possible, Dark Souls is a stubborn mule kick to convention, happy to have its hardcore following. In October, all the signs are that the hardcore will be happy to have it back.

Finally, Gamasutra offers an article/interview with Dark Souls producers Daisuke Uchiyama and Kei Hirono. Here’s an excerpt:

Strange to hear about a publisher advising its developer to make a game more challenging in this day and age, isn’t it?

“Actually, we wanted people to feel the sense of achievement or accomplishment — a ‘Yes!’ feeling. That was the reason why we increased the difficulty level. And I believe that this is the only game that people can feel that much sense of achievement,” said Hirono.

“We don’t really tell them to adjust the game balance or difficulty level,” said Uchiyama. Is it because you trust the team that you just get out of the way and let them do their job? “That’s exactly how it is.”

The new game is also building on original game’s quirky online mode, which didn’t allow for direct co-op. “People worldwide play,” said Uchiyama. “and they are having so much fun. So we are sure in Dark Souls, everyone will like it, worldwide.”

Of course, it’s not 100 percent radio silence from the publisher side, Hirono admitted. “You know, since we’re doing PR and marketing in our territories, we will provide them our feedback, and they will take that as much as possible.”

However, said Uchiyama, they don’t offer much feedback. “In the beginning, yes, we did. It’s about basic stuff, though.” The “details” have been left to the developers.