In late 2011, Namco Bandai released the original Dark Souls game which was a successor to their previous game: Demon Souls. It was hailed by critics as extremely tough, but had an appeal to it that kept you coming back for more due to its addictive third person hack-and-slash gameplay with a dark and gritty look. I have to admit I missed the original Dark Souls game when it first came out as it simply slipped under my radar. However, I just recently started playing the first game, and boy did I miss something special. Its huge world, exhilarating battles against tough enemies and unique atmosphere sucked me in. It is far more than I ever expected it would be.
From Software (Dark Souls developer) has been performing some beta-tests of the network component for Dark Souls 2 over the past month. I managed to get some hands-on time with it on the PS3. I am glad I started playing the first game to have a better sense of what I was getting into. I need to point out this as this was mainly a network stress-test so I didn’t get much of a sense of the storyline. I was just dropped into this world with no real backstory. A haggard merchant near the start point expressed it as “lonely times, these are” – aside from that, it was straight into exploration and battle.
The network test had six pre-made characters to choose from, which I suspect covers the main character classes. They were Soldier, Warrior, Sorcerer, Temple Knight, Dual Swordsman and the Hunter. I managed to play almost all the classes, and each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I expect the developers will add character customizations like the first game (body size, facial features and other add-ons) but this is still a work in progress.
The Soldier and Warrior class are good for those who want to get up close and personal, while the Sorcerer and Hunter classes are good for ranged battles. I noticed that spell casting and arrow shooting speed has been increased over the first game, which is a plus. It did seem these classes started out a little weaker than I would have liked for the area you were dropped in, but on the other hand, the game thrives on difficulty! The Dual Swordsman reminded me of a swashbuckler-type character, with a sword in both hands and very quick attacks (but obviously it becomes more important to dodge instead of blocking attacks). He was rather fun honestly, and I spent a lot of time playing as him. The only character I did not get much time with was the Temple Knight, due to the limited amount of time that the servers were up. I expect that he is some sort of cleric due to his armor markings.
Once I was into the actual game, the first thing that I noticed was an improvement in the graphics. Everything seemed a lot sharper and had more colour, and the character models had a lot more detail. This being said, the game is still dark and gritty looking, and enemies still like to use the environment to get the jump on you. Another notable difference is that fallen enemies no longer become feather-weight rag-dolls like in the first game, bouncing and flailing about if you walk over them. Instead, they just become part of the landscape now, or disappear altogether.
Gameplay has been polished out a bit in my opinion and the action seems to flow a lot better. Enemies are also much more aggressive, and will chase you down relentlessly, at least in the segments I played. The first game captured that feeling of the fear of the unknown, and you had to be careful around every turn. The sequel has that and more. Perhaps even more paranoia where you think: “Everything is going to kill me!” Little was changed with the controls, which was nice to see. So everything is familiar going from the first game to this current one.
The inner workings of the game have also been tweaked. Menus are easier to navigate and flow nicely. That said there is a bit of a learning curve as there are many stats to wrap your head around. You now can equip three weapons per hand, whereas in the first game the limit was two. Other changes to the game are the addition of new usable items, such as herbs that refill your spell casting count, to health crystals that slowly regenerate your health. I found that enemies dropped the crystals often when I played, and they were good to use if being chased as you don’t completely stop moving when using one like you do when using the Estus flask or casting a Healing spell – you just slow down a bit. All the old item types seem to be here as well and plenty of souls to play with.
So even though my first taste of Dark Souls 2 was a short one, it was tantalizing. Dark Souls fans will love the direction Dark Souls 2 is headed. Even at the beta stage, Dark Souls 2 is showing plenty of promise with slick looking visuals and smooth gameplay. It remains a tough game but also remains one that is so damn rewarding.
