Dark Souls - What We Want @ IGN

Dhruin

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IGN lays out what they would like from the PC release of Dark Souls. In practice, the article goes through the issues PC gamers will likely have with Namco's "straight port" approach, offering existing comments from the company. I don't think there's anything new but, if you haven't been following this closely, might be worth a catch-up on the issues:
Few things scream "straight port" louder than a lack of control configuration options or the appearance of in-game messages advising players to "Press Start" or "Hold LT". With Dark Souls' extensive move-set, alternate weapon load-outs and multiple spell and item slots it's a perfect candidate for the hotkey-heaven that is a keyboard or gaming mouse. The occasional finger acrobatics required by the console version could be eliminated to ensure that the game's firm-but-fair difficulty level stems from its impeccable level design, rather than the challenge to recall the correct control input in the heat of the moment.
Again, Miyazaki appears to have poured cold water on extensive work being done in this area, "Since it's a straight port from the console version we strongly recommend that players use a game pad, but as it's a PC version we will support keyboard, even though that support will be minimal."
More information.
 
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If they don't want to tailor the performance, graphics, UI, and controls to PCs, I'm not sure why even bother making a PC version.
 
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i guess in their favour - at least they're being honest about it and PC players know what to expect.

That said I am much less likely to buy it without decent keyboard/mouse support and custom key binding
 
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They are not interested in PC-specifics. It's as simple as that.
 
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Oh well... that's fine with me, if they won't bother porting it properly then I won't bother buying it, and everyone will be happy.
 
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"Since it's a straight port from the console version we strongly recommend that players use a game pad, but as it's a PC version we will support keyboard, even though that support will be minimal." --

Then keep your friggin' game. Jack-wagons.
 
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All I want is:

60fps
good x360pad controls
full 1080p support
no bugs
working multiplayer (invasions)
no GFWL

If the PC version manages that, it will be great.
 
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All I want is:

If the PC version manages that, it will be great.

60fps X?***
good x360pad controls
full 1080p support - apparently not locked at 720p**
no bugs - X? - realistically, there's going to be some bugs
working multiplayer (invasions) ? (hopefully)
no GFWL X*

*** Alright so the quote from the interview was "The frame rate won’t be 60 FPS" apparently this remains the interpretation after getting information correction the resolution confusion.

**Apparently the 720p thing was confusion over an answer that texture resolution would be the same - not that the pixel resolution would be locked.

* There has been some misunderstanding regarding the Namco Bandai rep's response when asked about possibly going away from GFWL said:

"The partnership is still ongoing, so we might have another announcement regarding publishing."

Yeah that means no; he's just saying it politely. (towards the bottom of page 12 - explanation of this exact sort of misunderstanding, which is apparently common and costly enough that professors of commerce are still writing papers on it today.)
 
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IMO, one part of what makes Dark Souls so difficult is the lack of hotkeys. You can only assign stuff to the D pad, then hit the "Use" button. Meaning you have to scroll through bombs, healing items, etc., on the fly while you are fighting in a game where almost anything can kill you very quickly. Hotkey-ing a bunch of individual items would make it at least a little easier.

I couldn't take the game, just too difficult and repetitive for my taste. One of the only games I've ever tried that truly, seriously is for the hardcore player only.
 
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I don't think this game is worth buying for PC unless you plan on using a game pad.

I can see all the people crying about dying with no save re-loads too.

This game is brutal by itself let alone with the invasion elements.

Ha.
 
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full 1080p support -X locked at 720p

It's a common misunderstanding, but that isn't true, the question asked at the press event was about texture resolution and that's why the director replied that there would be no changes. Journalists present at the press event would swear that the game wasn't running at 720p : https://twitter.com/#!/DanStapleton/status/193050498327248897
No worries, initial reports seemed to suggest that, however unlikely it was, but it turned out to have been the result of misunderstandings/probably mistranslations too.

No idea on the rest, it seems like most of the decisions are in Namco's hands and they don't seem to be willing to pay that much for the PC port from what I've seen, plus From Software doesn't have exactly a lot of experience in this field. I'm not gonna be surprised if it turns out that the new content is going to be released in DLC form on consoles and that Namco is holding the news to sell more copies of the PC version. There were rumors of Dark Souls DLC coming for quite a while, after all, and I'm going to be really surprised if they managed to produce all that content that quickly for the PC version.
 
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