Why Dark Souls II Won't Sell Its Soul

Bryan Le writes, "With the VGA 2012 surprise announcement of Dark Souls II, From Software directors Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, may have pushed a few buttons amongst the hardcore lot of DS fans around the world. Their minds certainly blown from the unexpected reveal, it wasn't long before Dark Souls' enthusiasts began picking apart the trailer…and some did not like what they saw. For many, the sequel's unveiling did not capture the spirit of Dark Souls, well at least up until the part where the knight was struck by about a million arrows. For all intents and purposes, Dark Souls is supposed to be about a bunch of faceless dudes surviving a demon-plagued kingdom. So I ask, oh mighty From Software, developer of the punishing yet rewarding Soul's franchise, is the series going casual, maybe even generic?"

[PhoenixRising37]

Most of this used the same lines from Devs that the past 1,000 dark souls 2 articles used. other than that, Demon's Souls is definitely harder than Dark Souls. Do people even know that if you die in Demon's your health is halved?

[FriedGoat]

Ah demon souls, will have to crack that out again soon.

[BlackTar187]

i just started playing again and died on the fire thrower in level 2 and then again on the easiest part for the game really the stupid fire lizard sin the circle room. I was so pissed but then i remembered that is what makes the game so rewarding and fun.

[isarai]

it's the same in dark souls :/

[PhoenixRising37]

No, it's not. Your health is halved in Dark Souls when you get cursed.

[isarai]

oh wait no it isn't, haven't played either in a while. but I still found Dark souls harder cause you couldn't farm for Grass/health items. the estus flask made shit intense

[JoySticksFTW]

"it's the same in dark souls :/"

what is? half health penalty upon death?

Only if cursed in Dark Souls.

In Demon's Souls, you were limited to half your health when you revived from any death.

You can find a ring pretty early on to raise this health a bit, but then you only had one more ring slot.

And on top of death, if you died anywhere but the Nexus, your "World Tendency" darkened - meaning enemies got tougher and your game got harder with each death until total Black.

In Black Tendency, Black phantoms started started popping up, and some BP versions of npcs attacked.

Wow, Demon's Souls was crazy when you think about it :D

Great point with the grass-munching, though in Dark Souls you can farm humanity to heal

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

@JoysticksFTW

But, your game didn't shift its tendancy if you are already in soul form when you die. Solution? Die in the Nexus and and play all levels in soul form so the game gets easier as you play as it shifts towards white tendancy. :-) Worked both ways, bro.

It was great how the features all worked together, but I wouldn't say it made the game harder. Its an opinion, but I don't feel there was much difference between the two in terms of difficulty.

[JoySticksFTW]

That's true.

I actually used to suicide in Nexus to manage my soul tendency.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

So what if your HP was halved? It didn't make the game much harder (if you had cling ring), BUT it did make things more interesting. I enjoyed doing coop and invading in order to get full HP and freeing up a ring spot. I would say the 2 games are very much on par in terms of difficulty. Depending on which you played first the other game should seem more difficult to you.

People said Dark Souls would be a dumbed down game and it wasn't. I have full faith in the franchise.

[BiggCMan]

No way in hell Demon's Souls is harder than Dark Souls. I am a God in Demon's Souls, the game is easier to me now than Angry Birds. I have platinum trophies in both games, and I can say without hesitation that Dark Souls is definitely the harder game. While still easier to me now than when I started because I know it 100%, I still occasionally have difficulties with some of the bosses and AI.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

Out of curiosity which bosses do you still struggle with?
All bosses are easy to me now, but I find cutting off Seath's tail rather difficult.
Actually, I have problem with 4 kings, but only with certain builds.

[Imalwaysright]

Well I found Demons souls to be more difficult. That poisonous swamp area in Demons souls gave me nightmares. Not only that but parrying is ridicously easy in Dark Souls. So easy that i lost count on how many times i killed people that invaded my world just by parrying.

@Gametime using iron flesh (piromancy) when fighting the 4 kings makes things a lot easier.

[BiggCMan]

4 Kings also, for some reason I can't find a way to beat them easily. Ornstein and Smough still give me some trouble, but only solo. Co-op I can beat them easy, even if the other person does nothing, the distraction helps me out tremendously. And Gwyn is still not that easy to me. Other than that it's pretty easy now, but I must be more cautious than I would be in Demon's Souls which is why I think Dark Souls is more difficult.

[Tenkin]

Demon's starts off harder but the second stage of every world was the peak in difficulty, while dark souls peaked at the tomb of the giants bosses none of the bosses where too difficult it comes to the maneaters vs ornstein and smough

[Kelun]

I think Demon's Souls was actually easier. First time I played with a mage build and pretty much owned every boss. Couldn't do the same in Dark Souls from my experience. Being in Soul Form in DS had positive and negative effects. Soul form = Less HP, DMG Increase and couldn't be invaded. Human=More HP, No DMG Increase and could be invaded. Still enjoyed DS better then DKS though.

[MysticStrummer]

"Demon's Souls is definitely harder than Dark Souls."

Both are my favorite games this gen, and I disagree.

[RXL]

They really need to start these articles with "WHY I THINK".