Dark Souls II Previews and Interview

If you’re interested in From Software’s Dark Souls sequel, or have been selected for the network-focused beta that will start this Saturday on PlayStation 3, you might want to read these previews we have rounded up, starting with this piece from Official Xbox Magazine, which argues the game is harder than its predecessor:

Smarter enemies
Several times throughout the demo, we see the player character come up against new, trickier enemy AI. In one instance, the player moved to the rear of an opponent, once the perfect spot to get in a devastating backstab. However, the hulking, heavily armoured foe was having none of it, and crushed the player by falling backwards on top of him. If this trend of AI reacting to our position and tactics carries over to boss fights too, we could be in for a very tough time indeed, with whole battles spent lingering in blind spots between their feet or behind their off-hand a thing of the past. In another instance of devious enemy behaviour, what first appeared to be a corpse proved to be a live enemy playing dead. As soon as the player passed by the “corpse” stood up and attacked. We’re on to you, undead.

Even more unpredictable
A few months back, project leads provoked outcry by remarking that Dark Souls 2 would be more accessible. What we’ve seen suggests otherwise. The demo footage was rife with random, seemingly unpreventable deaths – a tumble from a rope bridge which was suddenly severed by a swooping wyvern, for instance, though Tanimura promises there is a solution to this particular problem. At another stage in the demo, the player was chased down and run over by a silver chariot drawn by ethereal horses, and a third death, brought about by several pig-like creatures, suggests that enemies will be able to toss players from ledges if they’re caught up-close and without warning.

Stick Twiddlers:

Working through the first few areas, everything feels familiar. The graphics and framerate are notably enhanced with no more juddering through populated rooms everything runs buttery smooth. Moving through the demo I am reminded that unequiping my shield is a very foolish mistake in new areas. Working my way over a fire pit and dispatching three skeletal warriors was reminiscent of playing both Demon and Dark Souls and Dark Souls II reminds me of the better aspects of both games.

Making my way into a truly dark stairwell I was forced to abandon my shield for a torch. Down a stairwell and into a more open area I find three more skeletal warriors and a hulking ogre like creature. It is in this moment I am reminded of how relentless the Souls universe can be. Easily keeping up with my dodges, the hulking horror fades my screen to black more than once with that dreaded ‘˜You Died’ screen. Determined, I pick my character back up and continue to retry. Half skill but mostly luck allows me to survive the next encounter. The beast falls, exploding into a shower of viscera: unforgiving.

Unforgiving is more than a word in Dark Souls II. It is the very fabric of how the game was designed. After a number of retries I find myself making my way through a more open area. A number of paths branch off before me and like every Dark Souls player, I know each of them lead to one death or another so I simply pick a direction and advance.

Xbox360Magazine asked director Tanimura if the game is getting a next-gen port, and how they design levels for the title:

X360: Did you consider a next-gen version of Dark Souls II for release?

Tanimura: We understand that next-gen is coming up, and it’d be a lie to say we didn’t consider it at all, but right now there’s no intent to have Dark Souls on next-gen at this point.

We feel the potential for current gen is still there and we want to deliver it to current gen consoles.

Finally, Eurogamer has an interesting article-style interview:

Miyazaki casts a long shadow over Dark Souls 2. The news that the esteemed director – a man who, during Dark Souls’ development kept a digital photo frame on his desk which cycled through fan criticisms of his previous project, Demons’ Souls, as an incentive to work harder – would not be directing this sequel was met with consternation from fans. Tanimura’s challenge is to meet the expectations of the vociferous fan base, while adding his own character and imprint to the world and the systems that fire it. “Miyazaki and I are different people,” he says, “so of course we direct in very different ways. I want to put my own personality into the game where possible and I actually think the game is a strong reflection of who I am, and what I’m interested in. Not only in games but also in my approach to life. But I’m mindful of the Dark Souls essence. Conceptually the two games are close, but it’s important to be different too.”

Tanimura begins to speak psychology again. “Of course we must stay true to the Dark Souls core. People expect that. But to only do that in our design would be disastrous. Players, whether they admit it or not, want to be surprised by a video game; they crave novelty. So a great deal of my work is thinking up new things I can implement to surprise the player, while at the same time remaining true to the game’s lineage.” This is a problem faced by every game director on a well loved and, by definition, well-worn video game series: how to introduce the new without losing that which led to the original’s success.

For Tanimura, the challenge is increased thanks to the fantasy aesthetic, a haunting and haunted netherworld of chinked cobblestones, crumbling clock-towers and knights in tarnished armour, all of which long predates the series in the cultural consciousness. “Castles and fortresses are a classic example,” he says. “This kind of stuff has been done so many times before. So the fun and challenging part of the work is to work out how to play on these tropes, to make them surprising and exciting again.”