Last November, I participated in
the Dark Souls 2 server test and got to play the latest build of the game. I
jotted down notes and observations about the game’s mechanics (which I’ll post
at the bottom of the page), but I’d still like to write about the overall feel
of the game and my current expectations for it. Before you even ask, yes, the
game looks good.
In the test, I only fought against
bandit-esque enemies, Necromancers, and some corpulent butcher-like enemies,
but their behavior seemed much more responsive than enemies in prior Souls
games. The bandits were particularly interesting to me because they were always
arranged so that a small party of agile dagger wielders would engage you while
archers would crouch and pelt you from behind. And, like in Dark Souls, archers
would switch to melee weapons once you entered melee range. And I keep
mentioning melee combat because it was much less formulaic than in the other
Souls games. The old block and counter tactic proved completely ineffectual
against these swift-footed enemies as they would backstep a good distance
almost immediately after being blocked. If I used an average straight sword,
they would back step outside of my range and if I used a greatsword (in this
case a Claymore and Zweihander) they would backstep too quickly for my weapon
to reach them in time. So in order to melee them effectively, I had to employ
some of the more advanced opportunistic tactics I learned back in Demon’s
Souls, only striking when I could hit and stagger multiple targets at once or
after stepping just outside of the range of an attack. It was, in a word, fun.
The world, however, was a whole
different beast. Unlike Dark Souls, the world felt mysterious yet oppressive.
The land was blighted covered in blood-soaked mud and ichor. The sky was dark,
blackened by ominous clouds and a sickly green sky. Long, stringy reeds blew in
the heartless wind and countless abominations permeated the darkness. There
were ruined stone cages with metal barred doors scattered across the land and
hills overlooking endless chasms that seemed to swallow the earth. The few
signs of life would unfailingly be ruthless and cutthroat and thirst for what
life you had. And above all, there was no assistance. You could throw down your
soul sign and call out to someone, anyone, but no one would answer. It was
lonely, dangerous, and terrifying. And I loved every minute of it.
The haunting atmosphere immediately
immersed me in the acheronian world while the relentless enemies forced me to concentrate
on staying alive. What’s more, the areas were much more open than most of those
in the original Dark Souls, which when coupled with the brutal difficulty and
limited supplies, encouraged me to explore the environments despite the
omnipresent fear of death. It is here where Dark Souls 2 has its largest
divergence from its predecessor.
Anyone who plays Dark Souls beyond
the first few hours very quickly learns to devalue their own (in-game) life.
Every player eventually smacks against brick wall of some kind, and the
constant deaths and losses that wall brings will invariably break the player’s
will to fight for survival. One could say that both within the game and outside
of it, their humanity fades away, leaving only cold, calculating concentration;
A single-minded desire for progress. But, while an apathetic attitude towards
death promotes the recognition of the mechanics and patterns of the game it
also diminishes the feeling of accomplishment for making progress. Essentially,
the act of making progress becomes more important than the progress itself
(killing a particularly difficult boss, barely escaping a harrowing forest,
etc). It is at once the game’s greatest strength and greatest failing.
Dark Souls 2 however, did not spawn
this feeling of apathy but a wanderlust akin to that from Demon’s Souls: a
burning desire to explore, and more importantly, overcome. It’s worth noting
however that my reaction may have been in response to my interpretation of the
end of Dark Souls (a topic I’ll explore more thoroughly at the end of my book).
Assuming that Dark Souls 2 is a sequel to Dark Souls and that the rest of the
outside world is about as bleak as the area in the demo, I would conclude that
the canon ending for Dark Souls was the “bad ending” where you choose not to
link the fire and bring about the age of darkness: the age of man. I viewed
this ending as a denial of the gods and an acceptance that people, of equal
birth and background, need to solve their own damn problems instead of
submitting themselves to powerful, selfish beings primarily concerned with
their own interests. And while their denial of “the fire” would bring about
untold horrors from the Dark Wraiths and denizens of the Abyss, I refused to
keep “kicking the can down the road” and perpetuate a system that had already
proven to be insufficient. Now these are, of course, only my thoughts on these
games and others will most assuredly have had different experiences, but if the
rest of the Dark Souls 2 maintains the tonal consistency of the demo, then this
game might already be my GOTY for 2014.
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NOTES:
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Basic Mechanics
--------------------------------
- When you die, your available maximum health decreases by about 10% of what it was the last time you died. Reviving to human form resets the maximum to 100% I do not know how much maximum health you can lose at a time, nor the specific rate of decay.
- You now have 3 weapon slots for each hand, 10 item slots, 2 arrow slots and 2 bolt slots
- Striking with an ultra greatsword like the zweihander now knocks smaller enemies back several feet with each swing, serving as an effective crowd control weapon
- Having over 50% weight no longer affects roll speed, though weight supposedly still effects movement in some way.
- The game has a somewhat advanced lighting system and realistic shadows, which makes dark areas very hard to navigate.
- There are torches for use in dark areas. When in use they replace the offhand weapon.
- You can now set messages via the menu. You no longer need an orange soapstone.
- You can view the last 10 messages you've seen and what area they were in.
- You can view the last few messages you've written and what area they were in.
- Can now toggle auto aim attack, auto lock on, and a "cinematic camera" (basically a more “intelligent” camera).
- Clothes blow in the wind.
- Jumping now covers even less distance.
- Can switch the jump button from L3 to O (as it was in Dark Souls).
- Jumping towards enemies now staggers them, but inflicts no damage.
- The world still has a high emphasis on verticality.
- Climbing swiftly and sliding down ladders drains stamina.
- Some secret doors now need to be opened with the X button instead of an attack, though there is no button prompt.
- More aspects of the environment are destructible and yield benefits (ex. in one very dark room, there are boarded up windows. You can destroy the boards and light up the room).
- The offhand weapon can now combo for 2hits like main hand attacks and can be woven between main hand attacks.
- Enemies are even faster and react more quickly to player actions
- Backstabbing now requires an initiation and does not give the backstabber invincibility
- Chaining backstabs appears to be impossible
- Enemies turn to face the player as you attempt to strafe around them (i.e. they are hard to backstab)
- Like in Dark Souls, all skeletons seem to have a necromancer that revives them. The necromancers are now akin to the pinwheel demons instead of the torch wielders in Dark Souls
- One time spawning enemies (ex. titanite demons) return from Dark Souls
- Black Phantom enemies are one time spawns now
- Some strong enemies have limited spawns (I counted 3 spawns on the butcher enemies in the demo).
- Some Black Phantom enemies are placed, and visible, while others appear as you approach their area. This can lead to traps
- Black Phantom Invaders can use Estus flasks
- Most enemies travel in groups
- The entire game feels faster and more fluid than Dark Souls, though the framerate seems a bit lower. Note that playing with heavy armor has a noticeable impact on your action speed.
- The overall difficulty feels almost identical to Dark Souls.
- The first demo boss was a joke, and the fight consisted of killing a horde of various skeleton enemies. I did not fight the other demo boss, though I’ve read it’s a more traditional boss and is even easier than the skeletons. This disappoints me.
Stats
---------------------------------------
- Vigor
increases max health
- Endurance
only increases Stamina and does so much more slowly than before
- Attunement
now increases casting speed in addition to spell slots
- Strength
only affects weapon damage and equip thresholds
- Dexterity
now boosts poison and bleed effects in addition to affecting damage
- Resistance
boosts physical defense and poison and bleed resist
- New
Stat: Agility increases dodge speed, block speed, item use speed, and movement
speed
- Intelligence boosts magic and fire
damage and defense in addition to being a stat requirement for spells and
certain weapons
- Faith
boosts lightning and dark attack and defense
- Defenses do NOT increase by
levelling up. You have to either equip stronger armor or raise particular
defensive stats.
Performance (Effective Stats)
------------------------------------
- New stats include: Dark Defense,
Spellcasting speed, Phys attack dex and str (now split), Evasion, Action Speed,
Trap Disabling
- Other
attacking stats (Mag atttack, Poison attack etc.) are now always visible
- Curse is
still a thing and still reduces maximum health (I don’t know how much).
- Bleeding
now temporary immobilizes the victim
- # of
souls required for level up is now visible from the stats screen
- 0 poise
now is enough to withstand many small attacks (including some arrows)
- There
are new covenants such as The Way of The Blue and Brotherhood of Blood
- The covenant symbol appeared to have
spherical slots in it
Items
------------------------------------
- Estus is
much slower to use and restores health slightly more slowly
- There are other healing items
called life gems that restore health very slowly. They can be used a little
more quickly than estus.
- Many new
armors and weapons + 1 new weapon type (dual sided spear?)
- Talismans
seem to have been replaced by Sacred Bells.
- Catalysts
are huge, Izalith style.
- Spellcasting
speed and poise damage are now visible stats.
- There is
now a small white soap stone in addition to the white soapstone.
- The white soap stone rewards the
user with a token of fidelity, while the small white soapstone does not reward
a token of fidelity and does not last as long, but it claims to reward the
player for successfully assisting nonetheless.
- Twilight
Herbs and Amber Herbs restore spell uses.
- There
was no pyromancy in the demo
- Humanity
is no longer a stat or item.
- You now
receive human effigies which can be used to instantly revive with your body.
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