5. Accessible Difficulties
I can tell I've lost some of you here! Before you angrily head to the comments section and tell me how the difficulty of Dark Souls should never be compromised, hear me out. I too believe that the challenge of Dark Souls led in it's extreme difficulty and unwillingness to tell you where you needed to be and why, but this also steered many gamers away from the series. Now, Dark Souls 2 will reportedly feature various difficulty settings, so if you want to play with the vicious difficulty of the previous games you can still do that, but now other gamers who are new to the series or unable to get used to the challenge can play on a lower difficulty and still experience the game for themselves. To me this is a logical progression, the more gamers that play your game, the more they tell their friends about it and the more money the studio makes which will in turn allow them to continue making games for this series that we all know and love. There might be some concerns regarding multiplayer, but I can only assume you will only be able to connect with those playing at the same difficulty as you. From Software hasn't led us astray with Demon's or Dark Souls, so there is no reason to believe the difficulty will be completely lost from a direct sequel. Reports are that the Covenant system will also be made more accessible and easier to understand. Covenants were introduced in Dark Souls and although it was clear you could only join one Covenant at a time, how you would progress through each Covenant and what you would achieve from each one was rather vague. Whilst this did add to the mystery of the world and promoted the same kind of self discovery as the rest of the game, it is definitely a good thing that it will be better explained and easier to grasp in the sequel.
4. Online Capabilities
What was so engaging about the Online Capabilities of Dark Souls was how well integrated they were into the solo player experience. You could summon strangers to help you out through summon signs left before key boss battles or check bloodstains to see how its owner died and stop yourself from making the same mistake. However, to keep that sense of isolation ramped up and make sure the game didn't become too easy, these same online capabilities could be just as much of a hindrance as they are a help. Whilst it was possible to leave helpful messages in the game world, it was also possible to lie and I found myself jumping from a path to my death after reading a particularly believable message promising a new sword below. There was also the opportunity to invade another player's world and assassinate them, all of which added to the tension as you travelled each area. All of these online features are likely to make a return upon the release of Dark Souls 2 and I will definitely be surprised if there isn't a new twist on each of them to keep things feeling fresh and exciting for each gamer and I am extremely excited to find out what other ways there are to connect with strangers in the Dark Souls universe.