Dark Souls II - Screenshots & PC Release

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Digital Spy has some news from Producer Takeshi Miyazoe about the PC release date.

"It's tough to say," Miyazoe has now told Digital Spy. "We're still working on it at this point. I'm not going to say months. I hope it's weeks."

Miyazoe explained the delay is to work on PC specific features, such as key mapping and resolutions.

"The PC audience was an eye-opener for us," Miyazoe said, referring to the port of the original Dark Souls.

"We did do the PC port based on the fan petition and fan feedback. We were really happy for that, and we did our best to try and support the game as best as possible.

"But at the same time, we did realize the PC fan base and the PC audience really have high expectations for what a PC game should be. So for Dark Souls 2, we'll do our best to try and fulfill the basics of what the game should have."
Also All Games Beta has a bunch of new screenshots.

More information.
 
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"We did do the PC port based on the fan petition … we did our best to try and support the game as best as possible."

Absolute rubbish, they did nothing to support it after release - so much for Japanse honour.

"But at the same time, we did realize the PC fan base and the PC audience really have high expectations.."

Seriously - high expectations for a functional mouse support and ability to correctly set the screen resolution!

A single modder fixed it in a day after release, and they did not even had the decency to patch it months after release.
 
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Well the PC is not a huge game market for Japanese developers, and never was. The priority has always been consoles, and handheld devices.

It would be better if they outsourced to a well known western developer.^^
 
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Well the PC is not a huge game market for Japanese developers, and never was. The priority has always been consoles, and handheld devices.

Not really an excuse - you produce something, you do it right or at least try and fix it when its broken.

Outsourcing would have meant additional funding which I don't think From nor Bandai wanted - bad deal from the beginning, but at least lead to them releasing Dark Souls 2 on PC (still weeks later though).
 
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"We did do the PC port based on the fan petition … we did our best to try and support the game as best as possible."

Absolute rubbish, they did nothing to support it after release - so much for Japanse honour.

"But at the same time, we did realize the PC fan base and the PC audience really have high expectations.."

Seriously - high expectations for a functional mouse support and ability to correctly set the screen resolution!

A single modder fixed it in a day after release, and they did not even had the decency to patch it months after release.

I agree with the lack of any support after release. I just hope that at least they release a patch to remove the Games for Windows Live requirements, though I am not holding my breath on that either.
 
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Not really an excuse - you produce something, you do it right or at least try and fix it when its broken.

Outsourcing would have meant additional funding which I don't think From nor Bandai wanted - bad deal from the beginning, but at least lead to them releasing Dark Souls 2 on PC (still weeks later though).

Not really an excuse SpoonFULL just a fact. PC Gaming is not popular in Japan. I agree with your post I'm just telling you why the port was a mess. ^^

Read this link from Kotaku of all places.

Link- http://kotaku.com/5977001/why-pc-gaming-is-still-niche-in-japan
 
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Here is something more interesting (than stuff we have discussed a dozen times ;) ):

dark-souls-2-02122014-19.jpg
 
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Here is something more interesting (than stuff we have discussed a dozen times ;) ):

I agree next we will be talking about how the graphics are terrible.;)

I'm not kidding many people prefer graphics over anything else it seems. I checked a few other sites, and this is a big deal to many gamers.:roll:
 
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And lets not forget how the game is unfairly difficult and tedious too ;)
 
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I can's see anything wrong with the screen capture that JonNik posted - just more stats for us to tinker with and customise our (dead) PC.

Regarding graphics, I thought it was fine and scaled beautifully with the resolution fix (it is not a mod, it is a fix I say).

I see the same graphics in DS 2 and it looks very good. I perfectly understand why they used the same engine - so that they can focus on the world design and gameplay mechanics, and to make efficient use of flexible engine resources for the larger world map (compared to DS1).
 
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Not really an excuse - you produce something, you do it right or at least try and fix it when its broken.

I generally agree with the above. However, there is one wrinkle in this story that makes the situation different from other games with similar problems as it relates to PC ports.

From Software stated up front that PC-specific expectations would not be met.... specifically no changes in the UI and no visual upgrades or UI controls to alter the visuals.

Usually these 'facts' are hidden only to be revealed by reviewers and gamers. But they were up front about it before the release. So I give them some credit for that. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to buy Dark Souls off Steam. There were no surprises.
 
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I'm not kidding many people prefer graphics over anything else it seems. I checked a few other sites, and this is a big deal to many gamers.:roll:

But this is a good thing. It's what makes RPGWatch stand out and it's why I come here. We talk about graphics too but we also talk about other aspects of gameplay as well.. and in quite a bit of detail.

My 8 year old son still equates age with height. He tells me when I'm 100 I'll be very tall.

This is the same mentality of many gamers as evidenced on numerous message boards across the internet - good graphics = good game. This sentiment is a tsunami - no way one person can break this spell.

However, in my view, since the whole 3D era started, closely followed by the physics era... gameplay has actually staled quite a bit. This graphics/physics love affair on the part of both developers and gamers seemingly has no end, and in the meantime gameplay has really stagnated.

It's the same with the movie industry since CGI took off. Story has taken a back seat to visuals and we've had over a decade now of really good looking movies that are generally quite boring in the story department.

I hope the honeymoon will end before I exit this world... hoping crowd-funding will continue to release interesting games with interesting gameplay.
 
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From Software stated up front that PC-specific expectations would not be met…. specifically no changes in the UI and no visual upgrades or UI controls to alter the visuals.

I read this as well, but I did not expect them to fail at the fundamental level of mouse movement which is integral to PC usage.

However, in my view, since the whole 3D era started, closely followed by the physics era… gameplay has actually staled quite a bit. This graphics/physics love affair on the part of both developers and gamers seemingly has no end, and in the meantime gameplay has really stagnated.

This is expected in the strife to make games more 'realistic' and hence the focus and therefore shift towards exploting the technology for graphics and physics.

I don't think this will end, but it will mature and reach a steady-state with the technology development to allow more focus on the gameplay mechanics, story, world design .. etc.
 
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I generally agree with the above. However, there is one wrinkle in this story that makes the situation different from other games with similar problems as it relates to PC ports.

From Software stated up front that PC-specific expectations would not be met…. specifically no changes in the UI and no visual upgrades or UI controls to alter the visuals.

Usually these 'facts' are hidden only to be revealed by reviewers and gamers. But they were up front about it before the release. So I give them some credit for that. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to buy Dark Souls off Steam. There were no surprises.

Yeah, as someone who was damned happy even for the half-ass port we got (90 hours enthusiastically poured into the game.. even though I already owned it on PS3), I think the drama about the last port is -way- overblown.

Seriously, don't buy it if you don't want it but don't presume to speak for others when it comes to product availability.
 
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I see the same graphics in DS 2 and it looks very good. I perfectly understand why they used the same engine - so that they can focus on the world design and gameplay mechanics, and to make efficient use of flexible engine resources for the larger world map (compared to DS1).

It's a new engine, I think.

Someone said something like "The new engine allows us to really play with more environmental elements; shadows moving, [choosing between] shield or torch, that kind of thing. You'll sense wind and it'll mean something - everything will mean something."

The new shadows remind me of Neverwinter Nights shadows. And what nice shadows those were! And in combat their weapons actually make contact with eachother?! What happened to that in future game releases?! But, yeah… Back on topic!

I had DSfix up and running so fast I never really got to see the bad graphics, I have wireless controllers hooked up to my PC so I never really felt the mouse issues either. Also, there was a tiny bit of post release patching early on, like changing the ninja flip ring or nerfing a skirt.

I think you're being too hard on FromSoftware. Consider that these guys were 100% Playstation developers who can't even speak English. Them not knowing the western gaming codes and conventions for PC games probably helped them make a PC game which was unique. Nothing is really "how it should be". They didn't sit down at dev meetings and discuss World of Warcraft or horse armour like normal western developers. Half the content, the work put into the game is hidden and won't be seen by most players ever. That's just not something worth wasting resources on when you could have spent that time further developing something the majority of players will actually see.

From took a lot of "wrong" turns making Dark Souls, but they ended up at the right place and when you look back at the finished journey you can see its a lot more special because of it.
 
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SirJames - I deeply enjoyed Dark Souls on PC from the day it was released (with the fixes) and not questioning the advantages of this port or From's console's background.

My gripe was their current statements in media that "We were really happy for that, and we did our best to try and support the game as best as possible". This is totally untrue as there was no support what so ever from them. Hope they do better with Dark Souls 2.
 
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I Hope they do better with Dark Souls 2.

This is probably why there's been so little support! They're all working on Dark Souls 2 and don't have time to waste on official graphics option or mouse patches when the unofficial user made ones exist and work fine.

Things seem pretty positive with Dark Souls 2 so far. Fans of the original who have played all seem to have come away pleased and keen to play more. I certainly can't wait. :)
 
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