Dark Souls Previews

The spiritual successor to From Software’s cult hit Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, has received some substantial coverage from the latest E3, and we rounded up some previews for your reading pleasure.

1UP:

As a fan of Demon’s Souls, I’m happy to report that Dark Souls seems to be a bigger, deadlier, and slightly more intuitive sequel to the last game. Miyazaki promised twice the content of the original, and, when asked if any bosses, monsters, or characters would return from Demon’s Souls, he assured me know that everything in Dark Souls would be entirely new. The Nexus from Demon’s Souls — a hub that connected the game’s various levels — has been replaced by an entirely open world, in the style of western RPGs. Bonfires peppered throughout the land will allow players to heal, save, and, in Miyazaki’s words, “share their experiences,” but what he means by the latter is still a secret.

The improvements don’t stop there; the much-maligned “world tendency” system from Demon’s Souls — where specific player actions changed the levels in a way that the game never explained very well — is now gone, much to the delight of those who pored over FAQs in an attempt to manipulate this somewhat irritating feature. In its place, Dark Souls includes what Miyazaki calls the oath/pledge system (the name is yet to be finalized), in which players determine their position in the world, and work together with others who share that same position — think of it like alignment in Dungeons and Dragons. Sadly, Miyazaki couldn’t share much more about this new feature, but he did hint that it would play a major role in multiplayer, and that players with conflicting oaths/pledges could soon find themselves at odds.

Joystiq:

Perhaps the most significant addition is the new bonfire system. Dark Souls ditches the various healing herbs of Demon’s Souls, replacing them all with a single health flask item. Players can carry a maximum of five flasks and are able to replenish them by visiting bonfires. These fires also serve as checkpoints, awarding players a new respawn point once activated.

Another interesting feature is the ability to strengthen bonfires. Strengthening a bonfire increases a player’s maximum health flasks by one for the rest of a play session. More intriguingly, the act of strengthening transfers to other online players. In other words, should another online player choose to strengthen a bonfire, you will gain the health flask benefit as well. Namco has been keen to highlight bonfires as a source of comfort in the otherwise oppressive world of Dark Souls and I’ll be the first to say that more health is very comforting.

IGN details their 15 minutes with the game:

12:30 PM: Selected the pre-made “Pyromancer” character because of tattered cloak and ability to control fire.

12:31 PM: Killed by fire dragon nested around corner. Respawned to start.

12:32 PM: Lit mystic bonfire located next to spawn point to replenish magic. Discovered magic was already full.

12:33 PM: Killed by skeleton hiding on stairwell. Respawned to start.

12:35 PM: Killed by skeleton troop guarding top of aforementioned stairwell. Respawned to start.

GameSpot:

The class we played also let us conjure lightning bolts and thrust them into the demons lurking in the murky shadows, which was great fun, though like in all of Dark Soul’s combat, the timing was important. We’re pleased to report that like Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls is tough but fair. It provided a challenge, but we felt like the tools to succeed were always under our fingertips. And if you can’t do it alone, why not bring another lost soul, or make an enemy? Dark Souls lets you join others in cooperative play, as well as invade other players’ worlds. We saw such an invasion in action, and like in Demon’s Souls, invading players glow a deep-red hue.

GamesRadar:

Venturing beyond the starting area, we move through an alleyway and up a short flight of stone stairs to confront our first opponents two undead swordsmen standing guard before a stone archway. As we trade blows with the two rotting sentries, we notice something certain blows thrown by the two guards simply glance off our armor as opposed to interrupting our attack entirely. It would seem that the developers of Dark Soul’s have seen fit to grant a few benefits to wearing a full suit of plate-mail armor instead of just decreasing the damage taken and slowing the character down to a crawl. We also noticed some familiar elements during the battle the ghostly apparitions of other players in the game world. We watched as these phantoms circled through the environment, diving and attacking at their own assailants in their own games. The ground was littered with blood stains that we could touch to see the final moments of players who didn’t fare so well against the two zombies. Soul signs messages from other players also peppered the environment, providing helpful clues to those who would read them.

The Escapist:

Graphically, the game looks identical to Demon’s Souls but the scale of the world is much larger. Everything in the player’s sight can now be explored, from distant towers to caverns. There is no confirmation whether the hub world of the original will return, but the new addition of bonfires will help players survive a long journey. Bonfires are essentially check points that heal you and replenish your potions. However, you are limited in the number of bonfires you can ignite unless you sacrifice souls (xp) you’ve collected. You’ll find these checkpoints throughout areas, but the game still retains its challenge. Replenishing at a bonfire not only requires extensive backtracking, but it also respawns all of the enemies you just defeated.

Meanwhile, producer Kei Hirono unsurprisingly told NowGamer that there will be virtually no difference between the two versions of the game:

“Officially there is no difference between PS3 and 360 versions,” said Hirono to NowGamer at E3, which is good news for those worried about the predecessor’s PS3 exclusivity.