Dark Souls II - No Easy Mode Allowed

Couchpotato

Part-Time News-bot
Joined
October 1, 2010
Messages
36,179
Location
Spudlandia
Forbes has an interview with with Dark Souls Director Yui Tanimura.
According to From Software’s Dark Souls II director, Yui Tanimura, challenge is one of the things that made the original game so satisfying.

But as word of a push toward more ‘accessibility’ in the new game spread across the internet, fans began to worry. News that creator Hidetaka Miyazaki was not directing the sequel only made matters worse.

Would the sequel be dumbed down? Would it be made easier? Would it go for the “Skyrim audience?”

“I would like to clarify here that we do not have any plan to make the game easier,” Tanimura tells me. “As Dark Souls focused on giving a sense of satisfaction to players, Dark Souls II is also pursuing to provide this sense. We cherish Dark Souls fans’ voices and would like to improve this game based on their voices to let them enjoy a highly challenging game.”

Along these lines, the developer has no plans to include options within the game to make it easier for more casual players.

“We do not plan on having an Easy Mode,” says Tanimura, “since we are creating this game with a thought that challenge and difficulty are core elements of the game.”

No Easy Mode should certainly come as a relief to many Souls fans.
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,179
Location
Spudlandia
Yeah, god forbid someone you don't know will enjoy themselves in a manner slightly different than you.
 
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Messages
71
Yeah, god forbid someone you don't know will enjoy themselves in a manner slightly different than you.

I agree the game could be easier. Though from what everyone who likes it says that's it's appeal. Without it the game wouldn't be the same.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,179
Location
Spudlandia
Hmmm... I probably will be avoiding this game in that case (like the first one).

Personally, I just don't have the time to game that I used to. When I do play a game, I like to feel like I'm accomplishing something. If it takes me an hour to get past a boss battle (especially if I only have an hour to play), I lose interest very quick.

For fans of the series, this is probably good news. I don't quite understand why having a difficulty slider is sacrilege, but then again I guess I'm not the target audience.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
190
I suck at action games but I love rpgs so not having an easy mode makes me avoid the game. Why can't they base the gameplay around the normal difficulty and have an easy mode as an extra which lowers the damage you take by a large amount. That wouldn't change the game at all but allow people that are not good at action games to play.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
1,596
There's a river of tears in this thread. ;)

Some people have a hard time accepting that maybe a certain game just isn't for them.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,130
Location
Florida, US
Changing the difficulty is included and implicit in the game. If your reflexes are not as good (like me), then you can customise your character at the beginning with large health points and appropriate armour, weapons and items to get you by the first few stages relatively easily using button mashing and dodging only. As you level up, you can become a tank and destroy your enemies with little effort.

That's the clever and fair design of this game, you have a 'choice' on how to progress through the game through character customisation or by trying different paths in the game (and ofcourse by grinding, sorry training).
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
2,818
Location
United Kingdom
Great news!

The dark souls 2 gameplay I've seen so far hasn't got me any more excited (is that even possible?), but it has shown us its a proper dark souls game. Looks legit!

The most interesting thing shown, to me, was improved duel wielding, but the animations in general seem a lot nicer.

The "cant see unless you put your shield away" torch sections could be interesting, since the game is cake if you use your shield, and pretty lighting is always nice.

I also noticed the dead guys don't stick to your feet and get dragged along like 0 weight havok objects. Free up some memory by not having those!

My wish at the moment is for longer co-op play sections. Whole game co-op from the start would be great. Wont happen though. :)
 
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
2,974
Location
Australia
There's a river of tears in this thread. ;)

Some people have a hard time accepting that maybe a certain game just isn't for them.

Agreed. No need to make the game "easy". There are plenty of other easy games out there. Dark Souls is not one of them, and that is what makes it satisfying and special.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
84
I don't know why anyone would oppose a difficulty setting. If you want the challenge set it on hard, if you want to play causally, set it on easy.

I suppose you could make achievements only for hard mode to satisfy those who care about their e-peen.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
87
I personally dislike difficulty settings because I feel like picking the correct one is a crap shoot, and that picking wrong can severely impact my enjoyment of the game. Sometimes "normal" means completely unchallenging, and sometimes "hard" means massochists only need apply. I'd rather the designers focus on creating a single well designed level of difficulty, which I can pick knowing that it's how the game is meant to be played, then dillute their efforts among multiple difficulty levels that I have to guess between.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Difficulty settings are shit.. unless you're playing sudoku

The game designer should have a clear mind when balancing a complex game.

Having a 5 option settings, going in the game, and finding it impossible to play or too easy/boring happens way too often.

Without difficulty I would be thinking, what the hell am i doing wrong .. but this way I'm thinking. Damn these designers are lazy and stupid! - which in most cases is the reality
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
1,168
Location
Ro
There's a river of tears in this thread. ;)

Some people have a hard time accepting that maybe a certain game just isn't for them.

The people who wrote before you in this thread mostly wrote they'd avoid the game. So people avoiding a game that as you said "isn't for them" is tearful because... ?
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
2,315
I suppose people wanting them to implement an easy mode are the kind of people who would tell Coppola to simplify and streamline the plot and characters of Godfather - because some people don't enjoy subtlety.

The developers are trying to create a game according to their vision - and it's completely up to you to decide if that vision suits you or not.

Telling them to cater to your preferences is not only unreasonable - it's fighting the concept of art.

Game too hard? Invest yourself or don't play.

It's really that simple.
 
From playing Dark Souls, I found that it is cleverly designed to allow the player to 'choose' the level of difficulty through character customisation, world design and game mechanics.

Therefore I don't believe that the game is designed to be hard and destined for a specific audiance, in the same way I don't believe its combat is more difficult than say Risen.

A simple search through youtube for Dark Souls gameplay might clarify what I am saying: you will hardly find any two gameplays using the same character customisation (armour, weapons, items, skills, etc.) as players customise their PC according to the difficulty level that they desire, and the game allows them this.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
2,818
Location
United Kingdom
It's just a game that asks you to invest yourself to succeed. Anyone willing to do that will eventually succeed.

The vast majority of AAA games today would never dare to ask you to invest to succeed - so obviously a lot of gamers think the game is overly harsh.

That's ok - and they don't have to play games that ask them to invest themselves. Most games don't - so I don't see why it's a big deal.
 
Do there already exist T-Shirts with having "I beat Dark Souls" on the front ?
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
21,908
Location
Old Europe
I guess all of the videos I watched about this game showing twitch combat were wrong since that was the main reason I haven't played the game yet. If the combat is more like Risen then I wouldn't have a problem since that is usually about watching the enemy then about being fast and accurate like in the videos I watched for this game.

PS. I can't play highly action oriented (twitch) combat because I can't physically do it fast enough and accurate enough to not lose so I can't progress at all in those kinds of games.

SpoonFULL: Thank you for the information on making the game easier to play. I didn't read anything about that till now and if I get the time I'll probably try the game.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
1,596
Hmm, well... I'm not sure I would call it twitch combat - but you definitely need some fast reflexes in certain situations. But I guess it can be played in many different ways.

That said, I'm not really a fan of the game - so I'm probably not the right person to talk about it in-depth.
 
Back
Top Bottom