Namco Releases Dark Souls II "Cursed" Trailer

[Church185]

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Why are so many people obsessing about graphics? The first game wasn't exactly a looker, but it is still regarded as a great game for it's atmosphere and gameplay. From Software is not a big developer with a large budget, so far they have been making the best games they can without breaking the bank and so far they have been successful. Big publishers could learn a thing or two from them.

 

[Ishal]

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I get what you're saying, but I don't think there is anything to worry about. I get the fear about the big M (Miyazaki) not at the helm. But he was involved, he supervised it and acted as a guide during development. I think he took a big role from how certain things appear in the game.

From what I've read, I think that the first half of the game will be more simplistic in its approach to doling out lore, "quests" such as ringing the two bells in DKS, and item/covenant descriptions. After newer players get their feet wet, then it gets into the nitty gritty. I'm not too displeased with that, to be honest. Lots of things could have been explained much better in DS and DKS. In Demon's Souls it was almost impossible to discern world tendency without the use of a wiki. That's what they seek to change in the early parts of the game, that's what I took away from listening to the developers and reading articles. The core of the Souls experience and the lore are all still going to be there. Tanimura has stated that, and from what came out of the beta I believe him. The difficulty was changed during the beta and people were dropping like flies due to increased damage from enemies. I think that aspect will be okay as well.

As for characters, I anticipate we'll be seeing Patches again, and there are references to DKS characters in the item descriptions and such.

Most of those themes, the insanity, loss, grief, hollowing, torture, all those things tend to fly under the radar as far as the ESRB goes. They aren't really concerned with that, but rather the more overt things. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Church185]

Most of those themes, the insanity, loss, grief, hollowing, torture, all those things tend to fly under the radar as far as the ESRB goes. They aren't really concerned with that, but rather the more overt things. We'll just have to wait and see.

Blah, waiting and seeing is going to kill me. March can't come soon enough.

Do you understand my point though? Your original response to me said that the Souls series wasn't that mature, but then you compared it to the visuals of Mortal Kombat. I would argue that DS and DkS are far more mature in the way they handle their subject matter, without having to result to over the top gore. I think you get my point, but I just wanted to make sure.

VaatiVidya has a bunch of great [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLedd0Zw3c5RCXboUsPwHsZJlXB2CzCz] examples [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLedd0Zw3c4z4PZRGyLh8uFMSae11ZuR].

 

[Colt47]

If people can invade even while hallow now, this game is going to turn into a convoluted nightmare of black phantoms.

From what I've seen From software seems to have taken steps to ensure that doesn't happen,enemy invaders are also on a time limit and I don't think the time limit before you can be invaded again has gone anywhere (in fact if anything its been extended) so it won't be a constant stream of enemy invasions, there's now also a covenant that auto summons a phantom to assist you when you get invaded.

Now I'm getting images of some poor player wandering along a precarious ledge, and suddenly a heavenly light sucks them into another persons world to counter a black phantom. Yes it probably doesn't work like that, but it would be hilarious.

 

[Ishal]

Most of those themes, the insanity, loss, grief, hollowing, torture, all those things tend to fly under the radar as far as the ESRB goes. They aren't really concerned with that, but rather the more overt things. We'll just have to wait and see.

Blah, waiting and seeing is going to kill me. March can't come soon enough.

Do you understand my point though? Your original response to me said that the Souls series wasn't that mature, but then you compared it to the visuals of Mortal Kombat. I would argue that DS and DkS are far more mature in the way they handle their subject matter, without having to result to over the top gore. I think you get my point, but I just wanted to make sure.

VaatiVidya has a bunch of great [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLedd0Zw3c5RCXboUsPwHsZJlXB2CzCz] examples [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLedd0Zw3c4z4PZRGyLh8uFMSae11ZuR].

I getcha.

I agree that the things in DKS are mature, and I'm familiar with Vaati's content. He presents it well. My point is simply that the ESRB mainly wants to placate moms who take a quick glance at the cover and back cover their son or daughter puts in their face at Walmart. I can't see the ESRB talking about the existential struggle of insanity and hollowing, where the only way to stave it off is the hoard/consume the souls of others. Does that make sense?

When I said mature, I meant in the way mature games are labeled by the ESRB, and a game like DKS is likely going to be on the intense gore/sexual themes side of things. I think. It's subtle and mute in the way it presents things. If you watch Vaati's content, you've seen his Nito video? The ending has a quote from Tanimura. "The first game's focus was humanity, this one is about the curse."

I think all our stuff will be there, as the curse of the undead is really, really nasty. Not to mention the dialogue from one of the NPC's who appeared near the end of the beta, Tiny Gren. His dialogue is... violent... and creepy.

 

[IFS]

I don't see why that matters, honestly both of its predecessors probably could have been rated teen, the series has a more muted approach to violence and blood/gore as compared to a lot of games, there isn't any swearing, and very little in the way of sexual content (I guess partial nudity from your ability to undress your character, and maybe Quelagg's bare torso, but even thats kind of stretching it). So in my opinion at least I doubt a lower rating would correspond to a decrease in content or altering of tone in the game.

Why are visuals all that matter when it comes to rating? It should be noted that according to the ESRB this game will feature partial nudity as well, but still manages a Teen rating.

Dark Souls may not have been the goriest or the most sexually charged game, but it was certainly a mature title. More mature in my mind than titles who use gore and sex in excess. So many mature, thoughtful subjects are touched on in this game. Grief, loss, insanity, torture and those are just a few. Because of that, I'm afraid that Dark Souls 2 will leave out all of the interesting minor characters and lore to give us something less. I don't want this series becoming Ninja Gaiden, where you play for the challenge and nothing more.

I'm a huge fan of this series so far. I just hope that they aren't just trying to put out what they think people want to garner more sales. They can do what they like with their IP, but it will certainly make a lot of Souls fans sad.

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Quoted you so that you would see this response too.

The reason I only talk about visuals and such is because thats what games are awarded ratings on, not because those actually constitute a 'mature' game. The rating systems always been broken in this way, and a game is perfectly able to have mature themes without being rated for 'mature' audiences.

 

[Alarien]

I have to say, as excited as I am for the game, I really hope that the released in-game graphics are higher res and cleaner than those in the trailer. They really look like a step backwards compared to Dark Souls 1, and maybe not even on-part with Demon's Souls. I do realize that the game is not finished and graphics tend to get cleaned up last... and also that gameplay graphics in trailers, when not touched up, tend to look lower-res... but still, they looked almost bad.

Well, at least they are not pulling a Colonial Marines and releasing "game footage," that was redone as a pre-render.

 

[Church185]

I getcha.

I agree that the things in DKS are mature, and I'm familiar with Vaati's content. He presents it well. My point is simply that the ESRB mainly wants to placate moms who take a quick glance at the cover and back cover their son or daughter puts in their face at Walmart. I can't see the ESRB talking about the existential struggle of insanity and hollowing, where the only way to stave it off is the hoard/consume the souls of others. Does that make sense?

Tons actually. I enjoyed DS and DkS so much that I'm terrified that this one won't live up to that. Looking for reasons to doubt the game allows me space to be impressed once I actually get the thing in my hands. I'm hoping I don't ruin the game for myself with my own hype.

I think all our stuff will be there, as the curse of the undead is really, really nasty. Not to mention the dialogue from one of the NPC's who appeared near the end of the beta, Tiny Gren. His dialogue is... violent... and creepy.

Spoiler: Hmm...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Baresark]

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Why are so many people obsessing about graphics? The first game wasn't exactly a looker, but it is still regarded as a great game for it's atmosphere and gameplay. From Software is not a big developer with a large budget, so far they have been making the best games they can without breaking the bank and so far they have been successful. Big publishers could learn a thing or two from them.

I was actually critiquing the trailer, not the game. The fact is, the Souls games are actually pretty good looking games. They aren't great looking, by any stretch, but the worlds are packed with details, the armor sets are downright amazing (IMO), and the character models have a lot of details and articulation. The trailer basically negates all of that. It's constantly zoomed in on the character from strange angles, shows little to nothing of the world and is over very poorly made (IMO). I don't think anyone who has invested well over a thousand hours into the both the previous Souls game can possibly be obsessed with graphics.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I'll give this game a shot. I don't know why. The first Dark Souls beat the snot out of me and I got so sick of it, hit a wall so hard that my body broke, that I gave up and traded the game while barely making it halfway through the story. But man, they do a good job of making this game look fun and interesting.
Can well please have a better tutorial this time? Pretty please? That was a huge part of my troubles in the first game. I couldn't figure a lot of the stuff out because I didn't know what to do or how to do it. And if not that, then at least include a basic instruction guide.

 

[Church185]

I was actually critiquing the trailer, not the game. The fact is, the Souls games are actually pretty good looking games. They aren't great looking, by any stretch, but the worlds are packed with details, the armor sets are downright amazing (IMO), and the character models have a lot of details and articulation. The trailer basically negates all of that. It's constantly zoomed in on the character from strange angles, shows little to nothing of the world and is over very poorly made (IMO). I don't think anyone who has invested well over a thousand hours into the both the previous Souls game can possibly be obsessed with graphics.

Then I apologize. Of the three people I quoted your post definitely seemed more concerned with the trailer quality, but you still said something in the end about bad graphics so I snatched you up as well. IMHO the character models are stunning, and the armor sets are awesome. The worlds are sometimes lacking in detail, but I can forgive From Software because they have such a tiny budget compared to other AAA games.

I do kind of hate that they are spending tons of money on prerendered cinematics that probably won't show up in the game. It feels like the beginning of big budget marketing bloat. /sigh

 

[otakon17]

Here's hoping they make it so stats can only be so high for a soul level because the editing in Dark Souls on PC makes invading and being invaded an utter pain.

 

[major_chaos]

Souls marketing always seems lazy to me. It never feels like they are trying to build hype or establish quality, just going "Your gonna DIE! Lots! And the controller sprouts razor blades! because accessibility is for casul filth!". As for the game itself: meh. I enjoyed Dark Souls quite a bit, but everything about DKS2 screams "cheap difficulty". With a return of the moronic health loss on death, buffs to enemies, constant invasions that will be 90% hackers/twinks/trolls within a few months and backstabs, rolls, and parries being nerfed to near worthlessness I can't say I'm excited.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

so, is that PC release date confirmed? I;ve not found anything

 

[RejjeN]

so, is that PC release date confirmed? I;ve not found anything

From what I've heard it's "a few weeks after console release" to get it ready and not have a debacle like last time, something I can certainly get behind.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

so, is that PC release date confirmed? I;ve not found anything

From what I've heard it's "a few weeks after console release" to get it ready and not have a debacle like last time, something I can certainly get behind.

same I'd prefer to wait, and get a well optimised game. But I'd like regular updates on the progress