Dark Souls II - Yes Another News Roundup

More news today for Dark Souls II , and yet still no word on the PC release. Lets get started. Up first Namco Bandai has a press release about a voice actor.

PARIS, FRANCE – 30th January 2014 – NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe S.A.S. is pleased to announce today that Peter Serafinowicz will lend his voice to a brand new character in DARK SOULS II. DARK SOULS II is still scheduled to launch in Europe and Australasia on March 14, 2014 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360® games and entertainment system from Microsoft. DARK SOULS II for PCs will launch in Europe and Australasia shortly after in 2014.

Peter Serafinowicz amazing work includes his well-known dubbing as the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, but that’s not it. Having more than one trick up his sleeve, he has appeared in a variety of excellent British and American comedies such as Shaun of the Dead, Parks and Recreation and South Park and will be part of the cast of this year awaited big movie Guardians of the Galaxy. He also has a great experience in voice acting for video games like Star Wars: Battlefront II or Lego City Undercover.

In addition to being a very talented comedian, Peter Serafinowicz is a huge fan of DARK SOULS. When asked about the game, Peter said “DARK SOULS is the most engrossing game I’ve ever played. For me, it’s the best game of all time”. DARK SOULS lovers can be sure that with Peter’s excellent and unique career as an actor and his strong appeal for the game, he will be a great asset to the DARK SOULS II cast in order to bring you not only the most challenging game of this year, but also the most immersive experience the DARK SOULS franchise has ever offered to its survivors.

Peter will dub a new character named Mild-mannered Pate. Players will encounter this mysterious man during his journey in search of treasure. He may teach players a few tricks of his own in order to survive during their quest. Will they dare to trust this enigmatic character?

Click to expand...

Next Game Revolution has a new preview.

As far as can be told, Dark Souls II occurs somewhere after the original title, likely still in the now extended Age of Fire following the "good" ending of Dark Souls. Actually, the entire plot reminds me of the popular manga and anime Berserk, due to the main character Guts being branded with a dark curse and having to slaughter his way through legions of undead. All we know about The Cursed is that he is fated to lose his soul many, many times (literally) and that he symbolizes the idea that humanity is full of suffering.

Click to expand...

And for last I have a video interview on Gamespot. Followed by a video from PlayStation Access showing how to defeat the Mirror Knight. Enjoy everyone.

More information.

Did you do this one yet? I might have missed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncNsvA0AAmI

I have played Blade of Darkness and Mount and Blade after Dark Souls, and noticed the following 'issues' from the youtube gameplay videos of Dark Souls 2:

1) In dark souls games, the attacks seem to be deliberatley handicapped - I mean that once you press a button to initiate an attack, the animation has to continue and can not be interrupted and with cool time. For me, that is taking control away from the player just for the sake of making the game more difficult.

In blade of darkness, the attack buttons and combos are very response and exactly controlled by the player and can be interrupted any time during the attack. The same with Mount and Blade.

In the above video, the player had so many openings on their enemies from the side and back but did not attempt a hit because of the lame animation sequence, in fear of missing the target. In BoD, a player would have butchered the enemy with these opennings.

2) Shields in Dark Souls don't function logically - you lose considerable life points when hit even when the shield is equipped and used? In Blade of Darkness and Mount and Blade, shields, when equipped properly, provide - you guessed it - full protection until they are broken or shoved out of the way by a strong strike. Again to me this is just a poor design decision to increase the difficulty of the game.

In summary, the designers of the Dark Souls games seem to take control away from the player during instances of battle just to add more difficulty, which I find very poor or 'lame'.

Don't get me wrong, Dark Souls is a brilliant game and I am one of its supporters, but after playing Blade of Darkness realised how much control is taken away from the player to add difficulty.

1. Yes and no, dark souls is trying to be realistic if you aim a hit with a huge sword, try suddenly stopping your swing and changing it, it'll not work well, they might exaggerate it a bit though.

2. This is wrong it depends on your shield, some shields block 100% damage other don't.

GothicGothicness said:

1. Yes and no, dark souls is trying to be realistic if you aim a hit with a huge sword, try suddenly stopping your swing and changing it, it'll not work well, they might exaggerate it a bit though.

Click to expand...

With heavy swords it is the same situation in BoD. But even with daggers and small swords you still have to go through attack animation in Dark Souls with no way of interrupting. The added handicap with this is that this forces you to attack your opponents 'head on' with little or no way of attacking side ways by 'dashing' in these direction (rather than rolling).

2. This is wrong it depends on your shield, some shields block 100% damage other don't.

Click to expand...

Possibly I have missed these shields in Dark Souls, but in all DS II videos that I have seen shields never block 100% (except for arrows and some thrown knives).

Well, attack is much faster with daggers and small swords though, but I partially agree with you for those.

You can do side attacks and such if you plan it, but if you've started the animation you are right.

Possibly I have missed these shields in Dark Souls, but in all DS II videos that I have seen shields never block 100% (except for arrows and some thrown knives).

Click to expand...

Almost all great shields as well as some medium sized shields.

I believe that even with a successful block, if an enemy depletes all your stamina (takes stamina to block - heavier hit=more stamina loss) then damage will be taken by the player.

Ovenall said:

I believe that even with a successful block, if an enemy depletes all your stamina (takes stamina to block - heavier hit=more stamina loss) then damage will be taken by the player.

Click to expand...

That is my issue, it would be much more 'fair' and 'realistic' if the shields break, knocked down or moved before significant damage can be taken.

I gave up on DS after getting to the archers in new londo. Got boring to me. Was really obsessed for a couple months though.

Stamina being depleted is also ok by me, that is not directly related to shields but rather to another game mechanics, stamina at 0 means that you are completely exhausted to the point where you are unable to move.

With a great shield that would seldom happen as it has very high stability, but if you block a huge axe with a fairly light shield that is made by a material tough enough not to break, I imagine your arm being kind of useless after that, the blocking animation actually even looks like that in dark souls if you try to block with low stamina, and it runs out.