Dark Souls 2
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Even this Dark Souls 2 concept art is difficult
Fans of From Software's Demon's Souls and Dark Souls games sure like a challenge. While Dark Souls 2 will be "more understandable," we're expecting that it will retain the difficulty curve set by the previous games.Since we really don't know what to make of the recent pieces of concept art for Dark Souls 2 seen in the gallery below, we figure it's just another way the series is beating our brains up. %Gallery-174006%
The real danger in Dark Souls 2 is not 'accessibility'
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. It was only four years ago that From Software's "Souls" series couldn't even find a publisher in the US. It was roundly dismissed by Sony Computer Entertainment America for being too difficult, seemingly dooming it to the status of import gem and not much more. Then Atlus got it at a pittance, saw it sell dozens of times more units than they could have ever expected, and the hounds descended upon what was suddenly a profitable property.It was a cult hit. It had currency among the so-called hardcore gamer. Other publishers simply had to have it. In the end, it was Namco Bandai that came away with the right to publish more From Software titles in the series across multiple platforms, thanks to the minor name change from Demon's Souls to Dark Souls.Fast-forward to 2012, and Dark Souls 2 has enough cachet to warrant a debut trailer at the Spike Video Game Awards. Namco Bandai is cashing in on the success of Dark Souls and fans have a bona fide franchise on their hands.%Gallery-172917%
Dark Souls 2 will be 'more understandable,' says director
The upcoming Dark Souls 2 won't be quite as obtuse as its predecessor, Tomohiro Shibuya told Edge. Shibuya will direct the game alongside Yui Tanimura, taking the reins from Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki. Shibuya promises a less ambiguous experience, something that will be friendlier to new players. Noting that he personally prefers to be direct, he added that the game "will be more straightforward and more understandable."For experienced Demon's Souls and Dark Souls players, that statement might be more terrifying than the games themselves. After all, part of the appeal of the games is their mystery and the reward of overcoming their crushing difficulty. That said, all we have to go on right now is a single trailer for Dark Souls 2, and it's as grim as we'd expect from the series, so we're not panicking just yet. Here's hoping the game's new directors can lower the bar of entry without snuffing out what made the series special in the first place.Miyazaki himself made comments regarding Dark Souls' difficulty earlier this year in an interview with Metro. In the original interview, Miyazaki seemed to ponder the possibility of creating an easier difficulty mode for Dark Souls in order to make it more accessible. Namco later claimed that his comments were mistranslated.
Dark Souls 2 announcement trailer has us preparing to die all over again
This trailer paints a fate that's unsurprisingly bleak, but the news of a follow-up to From Software's grueling 2011 gem is anything but. We don't know when, but we do know Dark Souls 2 will lead to broken controllers and mangled keyboards on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
Dark Souls 2 screens are a little shy
Okay, so maybe we wanted to believe that there are adult Shy Guys in Dark Souls 2. At least, that's what we thought when viewing the announcement trailer during the 2012 VGAs a few nights ago. That's our mistake, but when you look at these screens from said trailer, can you really blame us?Not much is known about Dark Souls 2, besides From Software's unswerving commitment to making the game incredibly difficult. We can say with certainty that Shy Guys first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2. Dark Souls 2 has the number two in it as well. "Shy Guy" is also two words. None of that is a coincidence, right? %Gallery-172917%
Dark Souls 2 announced because your life wasn't hard enough already [update: PS3, Xbox 360 and PC confirmed]
Masochism returns in Dark Souls 2. Announced during tonight's VGA awards, no release window or any other details. You kill Shy Guys though! There's also dragons, a dude in armor and a lady wearing a hooded cape.Update: We've got the full live-action trailer just beyond the break.Update 2: Sadly, this trailer's been pulled. We'll update this post (and the rest of our VGA 2012 posts with video) as soon as it's back up.Update 3: From Software's Twitter account confirmed Dark Souls 2 will be on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
