The announcement of Dark Souls II at the 2012 VGAs was greeted by fans with both great enthusiasm and also, I think it’s fair to say, a little bit of uncertainty, even worry. Original creator and lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki was stepping down as director and passing on the reins to Tomohiro Shibuya, who said he wanted to take the series in a more mainstream direction.
There’s no doubt that the original Dark Souls was one of the most intense and (some would say sadistic) gaming experiences of 2011. Brutal and uncompromising it in its bleak environments, obtuse storytelling and challenging boss fights, Dark Souls was clearly not for everyone. Those who persevered would have experienced a richly engrossing game and a deep (though ultimately obscure) story.
Dark Souls was hard but fair in its difficulty, rewarding perseverance and careful progression; all in all an experience one was not likely to forget. Yet, no one would argue that it wasn’t without its problems. Let’s look, then, at ten improvements that should be made to Dark Souls II that would make it an even more memorable gaming experience.
10. Improved Frame-Rate
The original Dark Souls was capped at 30fps on console, although as anyone who’s travelled to Blighttown, New Londo Ruins and other busy areas will tell you, that could drop to as low 15fps as the game creaked under the weight of its own slightly outdated engine.
Casting certain spells and pyromancies (Fire Whip, for example) also slowed the frame rate down to a crawl, making the game unplayable and spoiling player immersion in the process. It’s a no-brainer, then, that for Dark Souls II, From Software should look to improve the game’s frame rate in order to avoid sudden dips and troughs performance wise that take players out of the fantasy.
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6 Comments
correction: you can sell unwanted gear to both snakes for souls, granted the amount isn’t that great but it is in there.
What boss is that in the New Londo Ruins screenshot??
I think having pyromancy or sorcery spells be of any use, would be a huge improvement.
@dragon covenant: My bad, should have done a bit more research on that front. Would be good to see this extended beyond the snakes though, together with an increase in the number of souls recieved.
@zumbie: I believe the enemy in the screenshot is Knight Kirk )AKA the Knight of Thorns), an NPC who invades your game at certain points when you’re in human form.
@Warden64: Pyromancies and spells used to be much more powerful before patch 1.05, but they got nerfed after that. That said, I’ve pretty much been a pyromancy in my last two playthroughs and at max level, the pyro damage is still pretty satisfactory. Haven’t had much experience with sorcery spells.
I really want to be able to parry while 2handing a weapon!
I agree with all of this. Dark souls is probably the most amazing game I have ever played and yet it did have its problems. There is no such thing as perfection but in my opinion out of every game I have played this ones the closest. My biggest hopes for the next game is that it will be more challenging, have a way longer and more twisted story line, several different endings that rely on what you have actually done in the game and not what you do at the very end, a more advanced and fluid combat system, and hopefully they will change the leveling system so getting a stat past 40 or 50 will still change your character. I would also like to see stats effect the way you use weapons. EX strength making a weapon easier to swing and have less of a staggering effect on yourself and more on your opponent, Dexterity making you swing faster and chaining attacks together faster, and maybe intelligence boosting your status effects like causing bleeding and poison faster. These are just some of the things I hope to see. Whether they add them or not I am sure that Dark Souls 2 is going to be amazing. Oh and *dragon covenant* is wrong you can only sell stuff to frampt mot kaathe. Trust me.