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Dark Souls 2 is just around the corner with a scheduled release date of March 11. If you were turned off by the infamous difficulty or design decisions that were made in Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls, know that the developers at From Software have given extra effort to make this the best Souls game yet, one that is still every bit as challenging as its predecessors, but is a truly fair game. No one will truly know how successful From has been, but I have faith in them, and these are 5 signs that they have given it all they have to produce something truly special for fans and newcomers alike. Many of these are taken from my experiences with the network test beta.
[promo title=”5: Graphics and Engine”][/promo]
This is a pretty obvious and easy sign to pick, but it’s true. The polygon count and texture resolution don’t appear to be significantly better than they were in Dark Souls, but the physics and lighting are significantly better, with PS3 version’s lighting rivaling that of many next-gen titles. The animations are significantly better than the ones in Dark Souls, with smoother, more realistic movements, and greater attention to subtle detail. Not only does Dark Souls 2 look great, but watching for tells in the enemy’s attack patterns feels more natural than ever.
[promo title=”4: Accessibility”][/promo]
Possibly the biggest problem in Demon’s Souls and especially Dark Souls was how difficult it was for newcomers to begin playing and enjoying the experience. Demon’s Souls didn’t explain world tendency at all, and Dark Souls never explained one of its core mechanics, humanity. Dark Souls 2 aims to make the game as easy to pick up as possible, while not hand-holding its players. Humanity and hollowing are better explained, and the game mechanics surrounding these is more accurate to series lore, making them easier to understand and use. Experienced players may not notice or care about this, but newcomers will certainly appreciate the care the dev team took to never confuse or trick the player, but to instead give the player the knowledge to face the challenges ahead.
[promo title=”3: Magic System”][/promo]
Magic in Dark Souls wasn’t a highly viable tool, and was only useful to complement a primarily melee character. Magic was nearly impossible to aim well without locking on to an enemy, which made spells with longer casting times less useful, and each spell had a very limited number of casts before resting at a bonfire. Meaning the player would either have to spend most of his or her magic getting to a boss, or run past enemies to get to the boss with magic at the ready.
In Dark Souls 2, however, From Software added consumable items that replenish the number of times magic can be cast, they added a greater variety of spells, and added two modes of casting. When the player taps the button for light attack, the character casts a quick, weak version of the spell, but if the player presses the button for a heavy attack, the character casts a slower, more powerful version of the spell, greatly fleshing out the magic system. Spells can also be aimed in first person now, like bows in previous Souls games, making spells such as “soul arrow” much more effective. Playing the game as a sorcerer, pyromancer, or cleric in Dark Souls 2 is proving to be perfectly viable now.
[promo title=”2: Superior UI”][/promo]
The User Interface, while not an atrocity in Dark Souls, was unimpressive and mildly inconsiderate of the player’s needs. The UI in Dark Souls 2 is a huge step up, not just because it’s more aesthetically pleasing, but because it is better organized and is generally cleaner. The inventory screen is a great example. In Dark Souls, when the player opened the inventory screen, he or she was met by a slightly transparent, gray box that obscured all the action, particularly problematic in a game without a pause function. Filling this grey box was an unorganized collection of available inventory slots. When the player selected an inventory slot, he or she was met with a descending list of the gear that can be assigned to that slot, showing only 5 or 6 items at a time.
In Dark Souls 2, the UI takes a more cinematic approach. The camera pulls to the side, the UI taking up most of the screen, but to the right of the UI, a zoomed-in view of the player character can be seen, not only allowing the player to see a detailed view of the character, which allows the player to instantly see equipment changes on the character, but also lets the player see what is happening in the game world. The organization of inventory slots is more streamlined, organized, and comprehensive. When the player selects an inventory slot to fill, he or she is brought to a tabbed grid. Each tab shows the weapon or item type, and the grid showing all of the weapons or items of that type, showing closer to 15 weapons or items, unlike the 5 or 6 from Dark Souls.
[promo title=”1: Improved Camera”]
In my experience of Dark Souls, the biggest threat to the player wasn’t any of the enemies or bosses, no traps or ambushes, but the camera. In both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, I have experienced more player deaths because of the camera than any other reason. Dark Souls was worse because it used the same camera as Demon’s Souls, but with a more complicated environment with more complicated environment geometry. Examples of camera-induced deaths include death by forest, when I was in the Darkroot Garden, and avoiding enemy attacks became a nightmare with the camera getting caught on every branch and twig.
This problem has been solved in Dark Souls 2, with the camera being positioned behind the trees, and trees becoming transparent, allowing the player to avoid disorientation and allowing him or her to see past the trees to observe his or her foes. Another instance of death by camera occurred in tight corridors when locked on to enemies. The camera could get caught behind the character’s back, jammed up against a wall, making it impossible to see what the enemy was doing. This has been handily solved in Dark Souls 2. The lock on camera in the previous Souls games often stayed primarily behind the character’s back, but in Dark Souls 2, the camera stays elevated above the character, and stays slightly off to the side, close enough to keep the controls well-oriented, but just enough out of the way to not obscure any of the action.
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These are just 5 of my favorite ways Dark Souls 2 improves upon the Souls franchise. There are many more, smaller improvements and changes that bode well for a successful launch and a great sending off of this past generation of consoles. I expect gamers everywhere can expect to enjoy the fantastic gameplay and lore the series is known for in this upcoming title.
