I know the lighting looked great when it was dynamic in the beta, but I hope that they fix it up for brighter environments like this. If it's overcast then just some baked soft AO or a post process AO would help get rid of the rubbish unlit viewport look.
Haha that's exactly my current build. Invading in the tomb of the giants is pure satisfaction.
You better hope there are shields here, as the roll will have even less invincibility frames !
eh, ill just get used to it! Feel like its been long enough since I played with the ultra-hax cartwheel ring, that I'll be relearning the game anyhow. Never been a big shield user in these games, only have one on hand to parry. Have always played light armor, 2h curved swords (wanderer) a majority of the time, shield to parry, mid bow use, little to no magic use, never block.
I usually play some kind of archer or a fully decked-out melee warrior. If you look at the top 2 characters for my WoW, Skyrim, Oblivion, or Dark Souls, you can see that pattern XD
Pff shields. I'm going hardcore. I'm going to beat entire game without using shield, and just using magic!. And staff of course.
After all. Mage without stick is not a mage.
This is the only game I have reserved for months lol. I can't wait until march. I played the beta and loved it was very hard I am not a hardcore gamer but this game will make me one again.
Fun little video. Nothing really new, just some points to take note. For example it no longer auto locks the swings so you gotta really aim your melee'ing. Backstabs no longer make you invincible while doing it and capes....capes are cooool
Correction, only GREAT SWORDS don't auto lock on, small weapons still home in on enemies. And the ultimate thing...You can DUAL wield two greatswords and swing them together for ultimate damage @_@
geh! those screens are pretty horrible. so much black in the textures and shadows. the lighting is brute.
I tried dark souls for about an hour and just couldnt get into it, way to japanese for me, horrible UI, and well pretty much everything from art to animation turned me off it. everyone always raves about the gameplay but I found it so damn clunky it just wasnt fun. I like my games hard, always pound through god of war on insanity etc but this series I just cant get into.
Different design tastes. God of War is very linear and even on insane difficulty, the gameplay is very expected and scripted.
There is a beauty in the simplicity of how things spawn in Dark Souls.
I admit, I hated it the first time I tried it too because it was so ugly, but after a couple days I went back and that's when it hit me that I loved it.
This game reminded me what fear is capable of in games... to literally be afraid to go around the corner because you know the consequences of what could happen. It's a crazy feeling to know you have become more brave in a game because of your experiences.
Different design tastes. God of War is very linear and even on insane difficulty, the gameplay is very expected and scripted.
There is a beauty in the simplicity of how things spawn in Dark Souls.
I admit, I hated it the first time I tried it too because it was so ugly, but after a couple days I went back and that's when it hit me that I loved it.
This game reminded me what fear is capable of in games... to literally be afraid to go around the corner because you know the consequences of what could happen. It's a crazy feeling to know you have become more brave in a game because of your experiences.
Agreed. The fact that, for the majority of the game, you are all alone makes the game that much more intense. All you have for company is the passing phantom of a player far far away, or the blood stain reminding you of their failure.
Different design tastes. God of War is very linear and even on insane difficulty, the gameplay is very expected and scripted.
There is a beauty in the simplicity of how things spawn in Dark Souls.
I admit, I hated it the first time I tried it too because it was so ugly, but after a couple days I went back and that's when it hit me that I loved it.
This game reminded me what fear is capable of in games... to literally be afraid to go around the corner because you know the consequences of what could happen. It's a crazy feeling to know you have become more brave in a game because of your experiences.
honestly i never felt i became brave playing dark souls, it just somehow becomes routine.
you learn how the enemies behave, how the animation system works and how the leveldesigners indicate traps. and the game gets easier as it gets familiar.
its mechanics are just not what we are used to from most modern games.
you don´t get braver playing dark souls, you maby just get cocky cause you think you know the game.
still its rare that you realy are afraid in a game and thats why i´m looking forward to DS2
I felt that from a technical perspective the art in Dark Souls was sub-par but the art-direction and overall vision was great and it worked with the premise of the game.
These DS2 screens do seem particularly..."dry". Reminiscent of the Autodesk viewport.
If however they've rushed out the art in order to spend more time developing the combat system and other gameplay aspects then I will happily take that trade off.
Considering how much better DS looks (on PC at least) compared to the screenshots in this thread, I think it's safe to say the screenshots are not exactly a safe representation of the final product. Regardless, can't wait.
TwoListen: The PC port is actually not that bad once you install DSFix. Admittedly, M+K controls are awful, but if you do own a controller, the game plays just like it does on consoles. It's a bit better in fact since you don't get to experience the awful framerate in Blighttown :poly142:
On the topic of graphics. I hope that they will polish up the lighting a bit before the game ships. I've spent way to many hours with DS1 to be put off by the graphics, but the initial videos that showed fully dynamic shadows looked like a decent step up from DS1. I hope that they can manage to bring up the rest of the game to that level of quality.
DS1 had a major problem with art getting progressively worse towards the end of the game. As much as I love this series, Lost Izalith is one of the ugliest levels in recent games and made my eyes bleed. These kind of environments could really benefit from having some ambient lighting baked in.
That said, their creature designs are always top notch. Even if the execution of their in-game models could have been improved.
pretty graphics are nice but atmosphere is so much more important to me alongside gameplay.
Well you're in luck, Dark Souls is all atmosphere with some solid gameplay to boot.
Edit: I noticed the screenshots in the previous page and everyone commenting on how terrible it looks, but the game itself looks much better than those screens. I played the TGS demo and the Network test demo and it is great, not sure why those screens look like that.
I actually find myself strangely attracted to these screenshots ! I am not sure if it because of their technical simplicity, or because they remind me older bullshots from PC gaming magazines from the mid nineties... But there is certainly something quite attractive about them, not unlike the look of Diablo2 back then ... Cool stuff.
Anyways - I never played any DS game but I am now really looking forward to doing so. One thing that bothers me a bit after watching a few videos of both DS1 and DS2 tho is that the animation blending and movement, which looked really, really good in DS1, now seem somehow off in DS2. The game doesn't seem to have that nice stability anymore, and the motion blending engine seem to jerk the center of mass of the character all over the place. Am I imagining things ?
Yeah, pior, the new animation system (at least until now) doesn't look right. In the beta the feet were still skating all over the place, which is pretty strange to see given I think they're using morpheme, so they at least should have that working.
I like these screenshots too, but more because of how amazing it is that they're focusing not on graphics of the game but on the gameplay.
All of them from that batch are made to show some specific gameplay thing. If you watch footage you'll know that the game actually looks way better than that, but From are naive/awesome enough to think we'll notice the gameplay stuff and not focus on the graphics.
You guys are over-thinking it. I bet they just got some interns/QA to take the screenshots and thus ended up with a bunch that don't necessarily show the same things artists would look for in a screenshot.
I can't wait for DS2. I've spent a ton of time in Demon's and Dark Souls. I'm a bit disappointed the PC release is going to be pretty delayed, but I played the previous games on PS3 so it will be tradition, I guess.
The hub village looks interesting. I was wondering about that hole and had a thought that maybe specific areas are only accessable with certain stats. If he had more hp I wonder if he could have survived the drop...
I'm curious how the increased amount of healing items will affect the gameplay. In the beta, healing stones had a very high drop rate. By the end of the session I had a really big supply of them in my equipment. While the game itself didn't feel any easier due to HoT effect, I do wonder what impact they would have over longer sessions and in PVP.
One of the worst things about DeS was how tedious PVP could get. As in this comic
One of the worst things about DeS was how tedious PVP could get. As in this comic
I went through a lot of this early on in DeS. Until I got the Bramnd and vinlands set. Repeatedly smashing R2 until they died solved the problem. Heavy weapons were a bitch in that game.
But.... do they not realize this is inherently discouraging pre-orders...?
If a certain group of people truly believe in Dark Souls' difficulty (like myself), why would I want to get some badass weapon right at the start of the game due to pre-ordering?
A better pre-order bonus would be for them to give me that weapon after I beat the game for the first time.
But.... do they not realize this is inherently discouraging pre-orders...?
If a certain group of people truly believe in Dark Souls' difficulty (like myself), why would I want to get some badass weapon right at the start of the game due to pre-ordering?[/i].
+1
Unfortunately, this is a standard marketing strategy these days but for a game like this? Clumsy in my opinion.
I think the weapons would only be an issue if they were poorly balanced. Unless I missed something, my guess is that they'll just be slightly better than the average starting gear but we'll have to quickly replace them after playing the game for a little bit.
It sounds like a lot of them are similar to crystal in that they break pretty quickly but have higher damage. Probably something to get you through the intro section. If it's anything like Demon's then I guess it aint so bad.
New trailer, nothing fancy, uses a bit of DkS 1 footage.
Why on earth would they choose footage dual-wielding those two huge axes for the dragon battle? They clip all over the place and just look weightless and goofy.
- Dark Souls 2 vs Castlevania like PS2 vs PS3, very bad graphic
- Teleport between all Bonefires from the start = no shortcuts or secret ways?
- Respec option
- bad/not so good NPCs
Replies
I love Dark souls but fucking hell, those shots look rubbish. They need better lighting!
need cooler (curved) swords! Hopefully there will be another sweet one like the Luck sword in Demon's Souls, but not holding my breath.
For fun, my 3rd character was pure melee dex and used the Scythe + gold hemmed black set. I was the grim reaper :P
You better hope there are shields here, as the roll will have even less invincibility frames !
gonna be amazing!
I know the lighting looked great when it was dynamic in the beta, but I hope that they fix it up for brighter environments like this. If it's overcast then just some baked soft AO or a post process AO would help get rid of the rubbish unlit viewport look.
eh, ill just get used to it! Feel like its been long enough since I played with the ultra-hax cartwheel ring, that I'll be relearning the game anyhow. Never been a big shield user in these games, only have one on hand to parry. Have always played light armor, 2h curved swords (wanderer) a majority of the time, shield to parry, mid bow use, little to no magic use, never block.
getting more excited!
Look at left:
The 2D trees.
Texture resolution for cave floor.
The skyline seam.
The lighting.
As you can see....well not the greatest art BUT I will say in terms of atmosphere there's no contender!
After all. Mage without stick is not a mage.
Fun little video. Nothing really new, just some points to take note. For example it no longer auto locks the swings so you gotta really aim your melee'ing. Backstabs no longer make you invincible while doing it and capes....capes are cooool
Correction, only GREAT SWORDS don't auto lock on, small weapons still home in on enemies. And the ultimate thing...You can DUAL wield two greatswords and swing them together for ultimate damage @_@
I tried dark souls for about an hour and just couldnt get into it, way to japanese for me, horrible UI, and well pretty much everything from art to animation turned me off it. everyone always raves about the gameplay but I found it so damn clunky it just wasnt fun. I like my games hard, always pound through god of war on insanity etc but this series I just cant get into.
There is a beauty in the simplicity of how things spawn in Dark Souls.
I admit, I hated it the first time I tried it too because it was so ugly, but after a couple days I went back and that's when it hit me that I loved it.
This game reminded me what fear is capable of in games... to literally be afraid to go around the corner because you know the consequences of what could happen. It's a crazy feeling to know you have become more brave in a game because of your experiences.
Agreed. The fact that, for the majority of the game, you are all alone makes the game that much more intense. All you have for company is the passing phantom of a player far far away, or the blood stain reminding you of their failure.
So many memorable areas in the game.
More shields!
Why the hell would anyone want this out as a screenshot? Everything about it screams PS2, sans the geometry.
honestly i never felt i became brave playing dark souls, it just somehow becomes routine.
you learn how the enemies behave, how the animation system works and how the leveldesigners indicate traps. and the game gets easier as it gets familiar.
its mechanics are just not what we are used to from most modern games.
you don´t get braver playing dark souls, you maby just get cocky cause you think you know the game.
still its rare that you realy are afraid in a game and thats why i´m looking forward to DS2
These DS2 screens do seem particularly..."dry". Reminiscent of the Autodesk viewport.
If however they've rushed out the art in order to spend more time developing the combat system and other gameplay aspects then I will happily take that trade off.
Pretty excited about this though, pretty graphics are nice but atmosphere is so much more important to me alongside gameplay.
On the topic of graphics. I hope that they will polish up the lighting a bit before the game ships. I've spent way to many hours with DS1 to be put off by the graphics, but the initial videos that showed fully dynamic shadows looked like a decent step up from DS1. I hope that they can manage to bring up the rest of the game to that level of quality.
DS1 had a major problem with art getting progressively worse towards the end of the game. As much as I love this series, Lost Izalith is one of the ugliest levels in recent games and made my eyes bleed. These kind of environments could really benefit from having some ambient lighting baked in.
That said, their creature designs are always top notch. Even if the execution of their in-game models could have been improved.
Play Demons Souls
Find a way to do so. It nailed atmosphere right on the head. Especially if you're playing with randoms online instead of friends.
It saved my ps3 from the life of a dust magnet
Well you're in luck, Dark Souls is all atmosphere with some solid gameplay to boot.
Edit: I noticed the screenshots in the previous page and everyone commenting on how terrible it looks, but the game itself looks much better than those screens. I played the TGS demo and the Network test demo and it is great, not sure why those screens look like that.
Anyways - I never played any DS game but I am now really looking forward to doing so. One thing that bothers me a bit after watching a few videos of both DS1 and DS2 tho is that the animation blending and movement, which looked really, really good in DS1, now seem somehow off in DS2. The game doesn't seem to have that nice stability anymore, and the motion blending engine seem to jerk the center of mass of the character all over the place. Am I imagining things ?
I like these screenshots too, but more because of how amazing it is that they're focusing not on graphics of the game but on the gameplay.
* This screenshot is to show the cool addition of messaging to the normal menu
* This screenshot shows a new region which is likely the start of a boss battle (all the summon signs)
* This one shows a bloodstain with a player dying. Were they duelling? Or is there an ambush coming up?
All of them from that batch are made to show some specific gameplay thing. If you watch footage you'll know that the game actually looks way better than that, but From are naive/awesome enough to think we'll notice the gameplay stuff and not focus on the graphics.
I can't wait for DS2. I've spent a ton of time in Demon's and Dark Souls. I'm a bit disappointed the PC release is going to be pretty delayed, but I played the previous games on PS3 so it will be tradition, I guess.
[ame="
screenshots of starting classes:
[ame="
Glad to see that the deprived is still there
Primary heal effect is now a slow HoT instead of the insta-heal of the Estus Flask. That changes a lot of gameplay, for the better in my opinion.
So excite.
+1
One of the worst things about DeS was how tedious PVP could get. As in this comic
Some new pics.
I went through a lot of this early on in DeS. Until I got the Bramnd and vinlands set. Repeatedly smashing R2 until they died solved the problem. Heavy weapons were a bitch in that game.
Pre-order and get weapons early to make the game easier...yeeeeep. >.>
If a certain group of people truly believe in Dark Souls' difficulty (like myself), why would I want to get some badass weapon right at the start of the game due to pre-ordering?
A better pre-order bonus would be for them to give me that weapon after I beat the game for the first time.
+1
Unfortunately, this is a standard marketing strategy these days but for a game like this? Clumsy in my opinion.
Dat armour
Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vesssel? :O
Monocles confirmed. OP. Nerfed in 1.01.
Seeing Dragon's Dogma here @_@
New trailer, nothing fancy, uses a bit of DkS 1 footage.
Why on earth would they choose footage dual-wielding those two huge axes for the dragon battle? They clip all over the place and just look weightless and goofy.
http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht/PC-CDROM/Vorschau/33597/80324/0/Dark_Souls_2.html
- Dark Souls 2 vs Castlevania like PS2 vs PS3, very bad graphic
- Teleport between all Bonefires from the start = no shortcuts or secret ways?
- Respec option
- bad/not so good NPCs
Looks like a cheap copy.