00:04Hey guys, it's Holly here for PlayStation Access. I am at a Dark Souls 2 event in London, where I
00:10am being taken inside the crypt, where I'll be checking out the game and speaking to some of the producers.
00:23Now, let's start with how you're going to make this game open to more people, get more people into the
00:28series, but still not lose what makes Dark Souls so amazing, which is, of course, that brutal difficulty.
00:33Right, well, obviously we want to keep the difficulty and the challengingness as high as possible. So again, the game's
00:41not going to get any easier, we're going to be just as mean to anybody, whether you're a hardcore fan
00:46or a newbie to the game.
00:47But we've made sure that the difficulty doesn't come from how good you are at controlling the controller, how fast
00:54your reflexes are. The difficulty comes from being able to be patient enough to continually try not to give up
01:02and try different strategies, try different tactics as you take one step at a time.
01:07So I think the difficulty and the challenge will be there, but it will be open for everybody that tries
01:12the game, as long as they're patient, courageous, and willing to try to take the next step, I think.
01:18Amazing. Right, so Dark Souls is featured in Anilondo, and obviously one of the things the community did, which was
01:25amazing, was dissect that lore, pick it apart, and build this kind of beautiful picture of the world.
01:30But we're not in Anilondo this time, so where is the game set?
01:33Well, the game is set in the same universe, but sort of, say, different continents, different parts of the world,
01:40I think.
01:41The size of the world itself will be fairly similar to what Anilondo was, but when I actually explored through
01:47the game, it almost seemed a little bit bigger.
01:51The world is actually called Drangleg, and again, it's set in different places, but core players or hardcore fans might
02:00be able to see some connections between the two worlds.
02:03So I hope players can look forward to that.
02:05So the hardcore community can be looking out for the little hints of life in Anilondo.
02:09It's amazing.
02:10So let's talk about the online function for Dark Souls.
02:12So you're going to be adding some new things, and as well as improving on old, such as matchmaking will
02:17now be server-based from your side, as opposed to hosted by the player.
02:20We have implemented a dedicated game server, so hopefully the matching will be a little bit more efficient.
02:25You will see a lot more signs on the ground.
02:27You will see a lot more blood messages, a lot more ghosts.
02:30So the matchmaking itself will be, hopefully, more frequent.
02:35But at the same time, we have revisited how we match players up against each other.
02:40Again, we know there were...
02:42For Dark Souls 1, we basically matched players up against each other based on levels.
02:47I think it was about 10% plus minus in terms of who you match up against.
02:51We know that there were a lot of people who not necessarily cheated, but did enjoy sort of the invading
02:56part a little bit more.
02:58So we've modified that so that a lot more parameters are taken into consideration when we do the calculations for
03:04matching players up.
03:05So again, I hope that all players that play the game both cooperate and players who like to invade will
03:12have, you know, just as fun an experience, but also really enjoy the new sort of matching systems that we
03:18have implemented for Dark Souls 2.
03:19Covenants are, of course, back, but this time they've also had a rework from the cooperative to the PvP side.
03:25So should we talk a little bit about those and what they'll be offering now that we haven't seen before?
03:29Well, in terms of the Covenants, we have revisited them and have enhanced them.
03:34The main thing that we wanted to enhance with the Covenants is for the Covenants to have a bigger part
03:40in the role playing and how players really take on their roles within the world itself.
03:45So I've introduced a couple of Covenants in the past, like the Way of Blue, the Blue Sentinels, all those.
03:52But again, we want players to really find themselves in the world.
03:55So obviously it's one goal to try and finish the game from start to end.
04:00But then the second goal, I think, is to really find your spot, you know, decide whether or not you
04:06want to be a helper, whether or not you want to be sort of an invader, what you want to
04:10do in the world, and really play that role out within the Covenants.
04:14And hopefully that will increase the depth and have players immerse themselves even further into the Dark Souls 2.
04:19So when people are getting started now, there are some new character classes, and some of the old ones have
04:24been slightly changed and adapted.
04:26Should we talk about what kind of experience new players and old players returning will have when they go to
04:30pick their new character?
04:32Well, in terms of the new players, there are the basics. There's the warrior, there's the knight, there's the magician.
04:37I think we've been able to enhance sort of the character classes so that you can more fit into the
04:45character that you've chosen.
04:48Hopefully the new motion capture animations have brought the characters really to life so that you feel like you're actually
04:54controlling the characters and you, you know, you can react to any different types of movements that they do.
05:00So the basic character classes will be there. For the more hardcore players, or players that want a challenge, obviously
05:07I've introduced the dual wielding before.
05:10Forget your shield, take two swords, try to hack your way through the enemies. That's another, sort of more of
05:15an experience play style, but it's something that adds more excitement, I think, to the game itself.
05:20There are a couple more classes, sorry I'm not able to, you know, reveal them yet, but I think, you
05:26know, we're less than two months away, so as soon as you pick up the game, hopefully you can try
05:29and experiment with the different classes that we've implemented.
05:32Character customization and creation, is that still in there and has that put any changes to it?
05:35No, it's definitely in there. We have enhanced it in terms of, you know, different parameters, you know, you can
05:41put tattoos on yourself, you can change more facial changes to the characters themselves.
05:47You can actually see your face within the game, so hopefully players will be able to enjoy the character customization
05:53and how deep it has gotten as compared to ourselves.
05:56Now, talking about the way your character looks, being undead, it sounds horrific from what we've heard so far, but
06:02can you explain what being undead means in the game and how that affects not only the way you look,
06:07but kind of how difficult it is to continue to progress through the game, especially as you keep dying?
06:11Sure, being undead is going to be, you know, a bad thing in Dark Souls 2. It was a bad
06:17thing in Dark Souls 1, but even more so in Dark Souls 2.
06:19First of all, visual appearance, you're going to get uglier and uglier and uglier. You're going to lose your hair,
06:24you know, you're going to look like an undead the more times you die.
06:27From a gameplay perspective, when you die consecutively as an undead, the maximum health will gradually decrease so that game
06:35will become, I guess, more challenging, I think.
06:40For Dark Souls 2, you will be invaded as an undead as well, so it's not really a safe zone
06:46to be playing as a hollowed.
06:48But at the same time, I've mentioned this before, but I want new players to not be afraid, you know.
06:55I keep saying that even as an undead, you will be invaded, but not all the time, you know.
07:01The probabilities will be low, but I'm just warning players that even if you aren't undead, you might be invaded.
07:07Okay, so you've been warned that you might be invaded.
07:10And let's finish up with, obviously, the one thing that makes Dark Souls so challenging, which is, of course, the
07:14enemies.
07:15Now, we've got loads of new enemies as well, but the AI's had a rework.
07:18So do you want to give some examples of how you guys have enhanced the AI to make the game
07:21way more in-depth and way more challenging?
07:24In terms of the AI itself, we've improved it in that we've added more variations in terms of how the
07:30enemies will attack you.
07:31And you will be surprised in terms of, you know, things that you couldn't do in Dark Souls 1.
07:36When you're up against enemies in Dark Souls 2, you know, they'll give you a good surprise.
07:40But at the same time, you know, we're being...
07:43The goal of the game is to make sure that players can try again and find a way to conquer.
07:49So we're going to be fair to the players.
07:52The enemies will spawn in the same places.
07:54You know, they'll play their same attack patterns, generally.
07:58But they are a little bit smarter.
08:00And so there's not any easy way to defeat any of the enemies.
08:03So players can be prepared in terms of what's up to come.
08:08Okay, and I think I'm going to finish off by asking you, out of what you've been playing,
08:11because I imagine at Namco you've been playing a fair bit.
08:13Sure.
08:13What's been your favorite weapon that you've used so far?
08:16There's a lot of new weapons that have been implemented.
08:19but I like the big, fat, long swords that you can just, you know, powerhouse with you.
08:24So I'm not the smartest player.
08:26Attack is the best defense.
08:27Exactly.
08:28That's what I like to think.
08:29And, yeah, I try not to give up.
08:32I just try to break as many things as possible in the game.
08:35So that's the play style.
08:36But I wouldn't ask you to do the same thing.
08:40There you go.
08:41That's the best advice you can get from Namco Bandai.
08:43Thank you so much for talking to us.
08:45Dark Souls 2 is looking fantastic.
08:46And you guys will be able to play it in March, so I hope you're all looking forward
08:50and getting ready to be nice and patient.
08:53Yes.
08:53And take on some of the amazing bosses that you guys have got lined up.
08:56Thank you very much.
08:56Try not to give up.
08:57Thanks.
08:57Bye.
09:14Bye.
09:16Bye.
09:19Bye.
Commenti