Dark Souls 2 aiming for addictive intro, 'more clear' story elements

Further comments from Dark Souls 2 director Tomohiro Shibuya have shed more light on how he intends to make the game more accessible, focusing on a better learning curve for new players.

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Following the announcement of Dark Souls 2, new director Tomohiro Shibuya created some trepidation by saying he aims to make the game more approachable. In a series that has thrived on brutal difficulty and serious mettle, fans seemed afraid this would ruin its unique charm. But further comments from the interview shed more light on his intentions.

"Right in the beginning when players first pick up the game is something that I will definitely focus on," Shibuya told Edge. "To not immediately throw them into Dark Souls but provide a good introduction in terms of what the game's about and how the game should be played. Hopefully that adjustment at the very beginning of the game will help draw in players and get them addicted right away without immediately making players feel rejected [by] the game system itself."

He stopped short of sharing precise details on how to draw in players, but he did say the covenant system was "difficult to fully absorb and experience" in the prior title. "I will follow the same concept as Dark Souls, but there were a lot of hidden story elements that some players may not have caught before and I'm hoping to make some of that a little bit more clear or directly expressed to the player as well," he said.

It seems that Shibuya is talking more along the lines of clearer explanations of game systems than simplifying the challenge of the game itself. Now that Dark Souls has become a bona fide cult hit, it makes sense for From Software to attempt to expand the audience. It just had to tread lightly so it doesn't lose the fans it already has.

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  • reply
    December 17, 2012 9:33 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Dark Souls 2 aiming for addictive intro, 'more clear' story elements.

    Further comments from Dark Souls 2 director Tomohiro Shibuya have shed more light on how he intends to make the game more accessible, focusing on a better learning curve for new players.

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      December 17, 2012 10:20 AM

      ughhhhhhh

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      December 17, 2012 10:21 AM

      oh fuck right off, Mister Shibuya. Give us back Miyazaki.

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      December 17, 2012 10:25 AM

      Nothing wrong with simplifying the game's systems. I maintain that many systems in Demon's and Dark 1 were too obtuse. So long as the game is difficult and makes me feel like I just climbed a mountain every time I conquer a tough segment, I'll be happy.

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        December 17, 2012 10:30 AM

        He's not even talking about simplifying them, just explaining them to the player more clearly.

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      December 17, 2012 10:28 AM

      I'm really glad the internet isn't in charge of designing creative things.

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        December 17, 2012 10:33 AM

        "The controller includes a peripheral which is hooked up to a car battery. In the event your character dies, so do you."

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      December 17, 2012 10:42 AM

      What was wrong with the intro sections to both Demon's and Dark? Messages explained the controls. The enemies were fucking easy. And you got your ass stomped on by the boss. This is how the game works. You clear a bunch of enemies whilst getting better along the way, and then the boss puts you in your place :)

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      December 17, 2012 10:44 AM

      Incoming progress arrows everywhere

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      December 17, 2012 10:45 AM

      EpicNameBro responds with thoughts regarding the article in Edge magazine

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB0LXzDfLKs

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        December 17, 2012 9:54 PM

        Oh, God. If Dark Souls II becomes a God of War clone I will beat my head upon my keyboard.

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      December 17, 2012 10:53 AM

      Accessibility = Less Quality

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        December 17, 2012 7:45 PM

        Not a fan of nintendo products?

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      December 17, 2012 11:19 AM

      [deleted]

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        December 17, 2012 11:51 AM

        That said, would us hardcore fans even care? I just sprint through the opening areas of both Souls games nowadays. After the initial shock of not knowing WTF you're doing they're stupidly easy. So if the intro areas are made more accessible to newbies, would we even notice or care?

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          December 17, 2012 12:02 PM

          If they are popping up forced tutorial text, you'll notice. Sure.

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            December 17, 2012 12:08 PM

            I didn't see anything like that in the article.

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              December 17, 2012 12:15 PM

              I["Right in the beginning when players first pick up the game is something that I will definitely focus on," Shibuya told Edge. "To not immediately throw them into Dark Souls but provide a good introduction in terms of what the game's about and how the game should be played"]i

              Tutorialization is the easiest way to make that happen, what do you think will really happen with that? Mine was just a guess.

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                December 17, 2012 2:37 PM

                They can do a tutorial via messages. They just need to be a little more thorough.

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                  December 17, 2012 5:16 PM

                  They've done that though, and the messages are optional so some new players may miss or skip them.

                  I wouldn't be surprised if they went as far as forcefully explain certain concepts to you going from room to room of a tutorial level, and introduce specific actions that you have to complete to move on to the next one, like any other "accessible" game.

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            December 17, 2012 12:17 PM

            I recall starting Demon's Souls twice just because some of the tutorial text went by too fast for me to absorb it while I was in the middle of having some enemy jump out at me from a dark corner. 'Didn't have a problem with that, but it felt a little unpolished to me at the time.

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        December 17, 2012 2:36 PM

        Half the fun...for the people who like the game. Assuming From wants more people to buy Dark Souls 2 than the first game, they need to find a way to bring back the people that played a very small amount and said "This is too complex" or "This makes no sense, what the hell is covenant?", or any number of other concerns that took what *SOME* think is awesome and challenging and fun, that others find just needless obtuse and poorly explained.

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          December 17, 2012 2:40 PM

          [deleted]

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          December 17, 2012 6:19 PM

          The question is whether you can do anything about that without lessening the appeal for the series' current audience. I think it's a dubious goal in the first place. Not everything needs to appeal to a large market; there's value in the narrow focus of niche entertainment.

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            December 17, 2012 7:21 PM

            I agree, but since businesses seem focused on the idea that every new iteration of a thing must be more successful than the last, they're not likely to follow that route.

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      December 17, 2012 11:37 AM

      Sounds good to me, I don't understand why anyone would be upset by this.

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        December 17, 2012 12:06 PM

        I think people believe it may lead to a slippery slope where the systems and aspects they do care about will get changed as well, and not for the better.

        I don't think anyone would be against a more straightforward explanation of how stuff like covenants work.

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        December 18, 2012 4:58 AM

        [deleted]

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      December 17, 2012 1:00 PM

      On the plus side since he specifically mentions making the introduction to the game more accessible, he's also suggesting that the rest of the game is still going to be classic Souls.

      I don't have a particular problem with it. I thought the start of Dark Souls was much easier difficulty wise, but in terms of accessibility they sort of countered that by making some of the core gameplay systems (bonfires, estus flasks, humanity and reverse-hollwing etc) even more obtuse.

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        December 17, 2012 1:15 PM

        The start of Dark Souls is easier, but you also had the benefit of knowing how the most everything works (combat especially) coming from Demon's Souls. I'm sure those who didn't have a PS3 and played Dark Souls for the first time on 360 or PC didn't have the same experience.

        I'd say Dark Souls was easier all around, the bonfires seemed a lot closer together than the bosses / archstones in Demon's, which cut the penalty of death back as well as dropped some of tension.

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          December 17, 2012 2:13 PM

          I agree, my experience in Demons Souls certainly carried over to Dark Souls.

          For me personally I don't mind if they make the start a little easier, but I think they'd be better off adjusting the difficulty curve all round.

          I found it was all over the place in Dark Souls. In terms of levels you had stuff like blight town and the depths fairly early on which were filled with insta-death situations and things like the curse affliction which required some fairly decent knowledge of the game to overcome. Later on I found stuff like Anor-Londo and the Dukes Archives to be pretty straightforward in comparison.

          The bosses were even worse offenders. The gargoyles and capra demon were pretty difficult and Ornstein and Smaugh, arguably the most difficult boss in the game appeared only half way through. Seathe the Scaleless, Bed of Chaos, Nito and Gwyn were all relatively easy.

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      December 17, 2012 1:08 PM

      The game will be titled: "Dark Souls 2: The Sequel: Because there was a game prior to this one"

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      December 17, 2012 1:37 PM

      hes going to fuck it up

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      December 17, 2012 2:47 PM

      So I guess that basically it means that it will have less weird-ass Japanese style stuff and shit actually makes a bit of sense.

      I hope there will be less cheap stuff too. It's not always your fault if you die in Dark Souls, because some parts in the game were just BOOSHIT.

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        December 17, 2012 5:18 PM

        Traps and unknown dangers, even if cheap and not your fault, are part of this dungeon crawl experience that Demon's Souls established. Wouldn't be the same without that stuff.

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          December 17, 2012 6:56 PM

          I don't think that's what he means. Dark Soils had many technical problems such as slowdown and a twitchy camera that caused me more grief than enemies.

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            December 17, 2012 8:17 PM

            Dark Soils sounds like Halloween DLC for Farming Simulator 2012

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      December 17, 2012 3:07 PM

      Trying to expand your audience in a direct sequel defies logic to me. I don't get it. Do people really buy direct sequels without playing the prior games? It seems more sensible to either leave things well alone or at least name the game something that doesn't imply it's a direct sequel.

      I won't mind if they add some clarification to gameplay elements, but they really need to be careful about how they do it. One of the things I love about the game is how easily I can jump right into it without being bombarded with mandatory tutorials or being overly restricted so I can't shoot myself in the foot. There is a balance that needs to be struck there. Information is the most acceptable mitigating factor for screwing yourself over to me.

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        December 17, 2012 8:46 PM

        "Do people really buy direct sequels without playing the prior games?"

        Yep. Crowd psychology.

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      December 17, 2012 9:16 PM

      I like that he stipulates he's talking about the opening of the game at least. I don't this is terrible news although like all the Dark Souls 2 news so far it's worrisome.

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      December 18, 2012 8:51 AM

      Apparently the gaming community wants the game unchanged so they can complain about it not doing anything new.

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        December 19, 2012 1:25 PM

        Cus "I'm perfectly happy wit it" doesn't make a conversation.

        Seriously, there's no point trying to please people. A complete waste of time like borderlands 2 has broad appeal, something of the depth like dark souls gets criticized for trying to get more players in so devs can have nicer things.

        you love the garbage and loath the treasure, of course you'll get time-wasters for the majority

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