Anyone who’s played Dark Souls knows the hard swallow that occurs on being briefed that someone with an intimidating PSN ID like Psycho_Punisher666 has invaded your world. You see that person’s glowing-red phantom sprinting across the map with Zweihander at the ready, hunting you like prey and closing on your position fast. No survival-horror game has matched the terror of the seconds leading up to that fateful clash.
More on Dark Souls 2
Forget, for a second, about Dark Souls 2’s enhanced, almost photo-realistic graphics, fluid mo-cap character animations and tantalising new story. The game-changer in the upcoming sequel is how it pushes the series’ “loose connection” online play to the fore. Prepare to be invaded.
The Mirror Knight is on of Dark Souls 2′s new boss and summons other players to fight you.
“Our main intent is not to foster a greater frequency of multiplayer, but more to give players the opportunity to interact even within the ‘loose’ parameters allowed,” From Software’s Yui Tanimura, Dark Souls 2 co-director (along with Tomohiro Shibuya), tells OPM. The franchise has always made innovative use of online features – and then evolved them for future titles. In Demon’s Souls, players could choose to leave messages with hints for the road ahead. In Dark Souls, players who used Humanity to take on a living form could be invaded via PvP or summon some additional help, and in Dark Souls 2 a new server-based network will bear the load as even players in a Hollow (undead) state are vulnerable to invasion from other human adventurers.
In Dark Souls 2 even players in a
Hollow (undead) state are vulnerable to
invasion from other human adventurers
Scared? Don’t be. Namco Bandai producer Takeshi Miyazoe explains that the game will be balanced in other ways to ensure that newcomers are not constantly griefed by professional invaders. “Before, the matchmaking was based upon player level,” he tells OPM. “That will remain, but we also want to focus on how much time you’ve played the game. Also, there will be penalties for players who invade, but still lose. There are risks. And there will be ‘policemen’ against invaders and a ransom system where if you constantly invade or kill NPCs there will be motivation for summoned players to go after you.”
This is where the game’s next online enhancement comes in. An overhauled Covenant system means that players in need of protection can find their protectors. Way Of Blue members who are invaded will automatically summon members of the Blue Sentinels, while the Heirs To The Sun will act as benevolent heroes who get summoned by priority to players in PvP and PvE situations. The Brotherhood Of Blood, meanwhile, get to role-play as the bad guys, with an increased capability for invasion, while the Bell Keeper apostles will automatically invade players who enter a certain area of the game. There will be seven or eight Covenants in all, and another of these will be the policeman class that Miyazoe mentioned earlier, who will reap bounties on the heads of “wanted” serial invaders.
Dark Souls 2′s bonfires act as checkpoints and open up new areas to explore once you’ve reached them.
Summoning itself has been enhanced, too. Dark Souls’ soapstones are back, but now carry a time limit. Large White Soapstones have a generous timer, but smaller ones give a shorter window of around 15 or 20 minutes, which gets narrower with every kill – offering clearer rewards for players who choose to go into battle for others. Some boss fights will also make creative use of online for a more immersive world – such as the Mirror Knight. This hulking armoured swine summons real-life players with his reflective shield to attack the player. Of course, if all of that sounds nightmarishly difficult or just too complicated, there is also an Offline mode on offer as well.
“Even when playing offline, we’ve implemented AI elements and enemy elements that will function as if the player is playing in the online space,” says Tanimura. “You won’t be able to see blood messages and bloodstains, though,” adds Miyazoe. “You won’t be invaded, but you also won’t be able to summon – and there are difficult bosses out there. But the bosses and the venue structure will be the same offline, and the challenge and sense of achievement and satisfaction when you overcome something will be there. We’ve also implemented some elements that will make you feel as if you’re online, like you might be invaded by an AI enemy.”
The recent network beta gathered 30,000 fans in the Huntsman’s Copse woodland area as a means to test server load and the functionality of invasions and summons. Effectively it spoiled some elements of the game, something Miyazoe says “was a tough one”. It was a necessary evil, though, he says in order to check technical aspects: “We had to test things like summoning and invasions”. Other elements where there “to keep players excited” he explains. “There were a couple of mid-level bosses in there that we were forced to spoil, and the venue too, of course. But there are a lot more elements that we’re still hiding from you guys!”
“There are going to be castles, dungeons
and caves as well, but as soon as we start to step into castles or caves there will be a lot
of puzzles and gimmicks that we want the players to figure out for themselves”
Takeshi Miyazoe, producer
Spoilers aside the beta offered a glimpse into the aesthetics of the new game. A puzzle-based design philosophy adds a new dimension of exploration, with paths branching off to hard-to-reach bonfires or non-essential items that may tempt die-hards aiming to 100% the game. “The forest is just a single part of the whole world,” explains Miyazoe. “There are going to be castles, dungeons and caves as well, but as soon as we start to step into castles or caves there will be a lot of puzzles and gimmicks that we want the players to figure out for themselves when the game is released”.
“Our brand new engine allows us to illustrate more photo-realistic visuals and make more effective use of the contrast between light and dark,” says Tanimura. “We have put emphasis on moving shadows and movement of light, which are not only visual enhancements but will also have a lot to do with the strategies and tactics the player might decide to take.”
One example of this is in a pitch-black cave or room, of which there seem to be many. Will you brave the darkness and tiptoe a treacherous path over an abyss? Light a flaming torch off a nearby brazier to illuminate the path at the expense of equipping a shield? Or maybe search the walls for a stone face in whose mouth lies an item-activated light switch? Most likely you will try all three, until multiple deaths reveal a solution.
In Dark Souls 2 Blue Sentinels will protect players who join the Way Of Blue covenant
Motion capture, too, has been implemented not only to make the game look prettier, but also as a way of giving players more subtle feedback as they fight their way through the hordes of darkness. “We hope that the natural movements will help players make reflex decisions as if they were actually the ones fighting in the world,” says Tanimura. Environmental effects and sounds will signal clues, for those players perceptive enough to notice. For instance, the grass could simply be swaying in the breeze, or it could be a sign that something is approaching – “Something big, perhaps,” Miyazoe teases.
The visuals are incredible in places, squeezing triple-A graphics out of a less-than-triple-A budget. In the opening movie, which Miyazoe shows us, a soft-spoken old hag fixes the camera with a gaze so deep you could get lost in her milky-white cataracts, while stone ruins are reach-out-and-touch realistic – and all this on PS3.
Storytelling and descriptions, meanwhile, will be opaque as ever. While the UI has been upgraded for legibility’s sake and NPCs will help flesh out the information, you’ll have to fill in the blanks with your imagination – or better yet, be clasped to the bosom of the Dark Souls online community.
“The start of the game is crucial for new players to get involved in the game, so at least we will try to relay the key elements, such as the sense of achievement and the loose connections, earlier on so that they can taste what Dark Souls is about from the beginning,” says Miyazoe. “But as the publisher, it’s very interesting for us to see the community setting up forums and whatever online, so we don’t intend to provide too much more in-game context.”
Dark Souls 2 Heirs To The Sun covenant members can be summoned by players in PvP and PvE situations
And that of course is the charm of Dark Souls. The network beta, trade-show demos and info revealed online have provided plenty of feedback from fans on what could make the game better: optional avoidance of invasions, brighter environments, clearer explanations of how to light a torch, heavier character movement. And From Software is tuning just the unbalanced parts, while ignoring the rest.
“We’ll create what we think we need to create and it will be up to the fans to dissect it how they want,” insists Miyazoe. And that’s what it’s all about. Although hardcore Souls fans may be convinced they know what they want from Dark Souls 2, From Software still knows better.
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