Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.Did you miss your activation email?
Demon\'s Souls creator From Software is working on a "dark fantasy" game for the PlayStation 3 called Project Dark. The game was announced during Sony\'s stage show at the Tokyo Game Show by From\'s Hidetaka Miyazaki. The game is said to appeal to fans of Demon\'s Souls and, according to our on-the-scene reporter, a first-look trailer shows "lots of undead monsters in helmets and booming music."
Supposed details from the magazine that are appearing in the usual sources for early leaks include:[list=a]The difficulty has been increased greatly over Demon\'s Souls.Dark Souls shares the same themes as Demon\'s Souls: learning from mistakes and the joy of discovery.There\'s no connection with Demon\'s Souls in terms of story or world.As with Demon\'s Souls, the basic gameplay is based off classic RPGs -- things like character creation, obtaining weapons and items, leveling up, etc.The biggest change, according to Hidetaka, is in the area of exploration. The action battle component is an important element, but on top of this, exploration of a large, seamlessly connected field is an important element. You walk to areas that you can see far off in the distance.All the maps are connected, rather than having you move to each area from a shrine. This time, you head off on a journey from a large base of operations, and find smaller bases along the way as you progress further and deeper into your adventure.There are far more areas with complex land formations of varying height.The goal in character development is to get rid of elements that may hinder freedom of play style. This is why there\'s no job concept during initial character creation.Weapons have a great variety of motions and special capabilities, and there are a great number of magic and item types. This will allow players to play in their own style.Regarding network play, Hidetaka said that he can\'t share too many details, but the game will have cooperative and competitive multiplayer elements. You\'ll be able to call upon people to help you out when you\'re stuck.The game will also have indirect online elements like the original -- seeing the images of other players, messages from the dead, and so-forth. The game will not have its own servers this time, though, so elements like Soul Tendency from the original will not be here.There are some other online elements that will be detailed in future updates.Dark Souls will be released in Japan in 2011. The game\'s overseas release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is being handled by Namco Bandai. Japan will get just the PlayStation 3 version, published by From itself.
What I saw of Demons Souls was mostly dark and decrepit environments -- broken down castles full of claustrophobic halls. So when I see a highly detailed knight making his way through a grand (but still decrepit) castle nestled within a lush valley, my interest gets piqued. Other people and places that Miyazaki shows off include an "onion knight" (which I would have nicknamed "the Steel Stay Puft Marshmallow Man") wandering through an area called "the dark forest," an exotic/Asian-inspired knight traipsing through a level referred to as "underground hell" (which is full of lava), and a traditional knight navigating his way through the "trap road." The detail in the characters, combined with the distinct looks of the environments, and the creatures within (such as a sleeping red dragon curled up on top of a precarious bridge), makes for a great looking medieval fantasy game. Then Miyazaki starts talking about how the enemies are still lethal -- to the point that multiple types of foes attack simultaneously. I only had to deal with fools rushing at me for melee combat in my limited experience of the first game, but seeing a throng of undead melee guys running towards Miyazaki\'s knight while three of them are tossing medieval Molotov cocktails and four more are shooting arrows from the other side already induces stress and panic in me, and I\'m just an observer. Later on, seeing the screen suddenly fill with sword-wielding bipedal snakemen also induces a mild videogame panic attack. And then Miyazaki encounters the miniboss.
Darks Souls, the spiritual successor to the PS3 exclusive Demon\'s Souls, is said to feature a fully seamless world and over 60 hours of game time, according to an interview on 4Gamer, as translated by Andriasang.Game director and producer Hidetaka Miyazaki revealed that, unlike Demon\'s Souls where dungeons were sectioned off, Dark Souls will focus a lot on exploration and to help with it, the game will feature a fully seamless map. When compared to games like Oblivion, Miyazaki suggested instead of thinking of Dark Souls as a "full dungeon" where previously separate stages have now been intertwined seamlessly together.Miyazaki also noted that the game will be significantly longer than Demon\'s Souls. Expect at least 60 hours in comparison to Demon\'s Souls 30-40 hour play time.Unfortunately, Miyazaki does not plan on releasing any demos for the game as the team feels that the appeal of Dark Souls can\'t be conveyed through a demo. That and Miyazaki doesn\'t think he\'s all that great at making demos.Dark Souls is due later this year on both the PS3 and Xbox 360.
It\'s back and badder than ever...Full disclosure: I loved Demon’s Souls. I know not everyone has, but I thought From Software really brought something new in an ocean of sameness that is the current video game market.Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls, so-called because of a goofy licensing issue that is far too tedious to discuss here. Anyway. It’s not related to Demon’s Souls in plot, but game play mechanics and visuals were very familiar. That’s a good thing. While calling Dark Souls (a dank, wet, gritty, bloody game) might be a misnomer, it is visually stunning.You use left-hand and right-hand weapons with the left and right trigger. Also, you can equip items and weapons with the D-pad, much like the first game.The big change here is now there’s no Nexus. There’s no hub-world after you die. The game is one continuously flowing map. Now you use bonfires to level up, regain health and (TA-DA!!) checkpoints! But it’s not the respite you might think. Using one re-spawns all the monsters. There\'s also a lot of ways to evade big baddies. You won\'t be able to avoid all of them forever, but since it\'s an open world game, you can dart by some of them to get to other areas in the world.Each time you die, your avatar changes a little bit, becoming a little less human, a little more demon-looking. I actually didn’t see this happen, but I was told about it. Also each time you die, all your accrued experience points leak out. You can travel back to the same spot and pick them up later.I really enjoyed playing this game, and it’s a must-have for hardcore players.
