Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Xbox 360

Released on 26-Oct-2012

• Dark Souls 2 creators talk difficulty, location and multiplayer

  
  

  Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has explained a little more about how the upcoming sequel to 2011's toughest game will be more accessible to new players without sacrificing the gritty heart of the series.

  "I'm talking about how we think about the difficulty level and how you achieve things in-game, about the concepts behind the mechanics and level design," Miyazaki told Japanese games mag Famitsu when asked what elements he considered part of the core Dark Souls experience. "Outside of that core, though, it's better to leave things to the discretion of the director," he continued. "There's a lot around that core that we need to fix or adjust besides, and individual touches always tend to come out in the world setting and artwork, so I'm not meddling in that very much."

  Miyazaki will oversee production on the sequel, but he's handed the creative reins over to Tomohiro Shibuya, a veteran of Capcom's similarly hardcore Monster Hunter franchise. For his part, Shibuya is staying coy about how the setting of the sequel connects to the previous game.

  "I can't completely answer this question, but the two settings are connected, yes," he said. "However, I wouldn't say there's a direct connection as far as story is concerned. The game is set in a different part of the same planet -- to put it another way, if the first game was set in the North Pole, this one would be in the South Pole; that sort of contrast. 'Time' is one of the central keywords we're keeping in mind as we create this. I can't give concrete details about this yet, so hopefully you'll be able to use your imagination for now."

  Also revealed in the interview is the news that Dark Souls 2 will have dedicated multiplayer servers, rather than the peer-to-peer connections used in the last game. "Setting up a dedicated server lets you retain your data, making it easier to share it with other players," says Shibuya. "We'd like to evolve the asynchronous message-oriented online support from the previous game; we're imagining a framework where players are able to directly interact with each other."

  Dark Souls 2 is awaiting a final release date, but is expected next year. For the truly hardcore, why not pass the time by trying the Dark Souls: Prepare To Die special edition, out now.
  

  Published: 19/12/2012

• Dark Souls 2 confirmed

  Super rock hard Japanese action RPG Dark Souls is getting a sequel, publisher Namco Bandai has confirmed. A teaser trailer for the game was shown at the Spike Video Game Awards. It shows a knight exploring suitably gloomy locations and discovering the bleached bones of a dragon, while a voiceover reminds you that you have "no hope" and "no light".

  That's business of usual for Dark Souls, of course, which impressed hardcore gamers with its ruthless but fair approach to combat and ingenious online features that enabled players to invade each other's games, leaving clues or attacking fellow gamers.

  Dark Souls 2 is once again being developed by From Software, under the watchful eye of series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki. Tomohiro Shibuya, veteran of Capcom's similarly tough Monster Hunter saga, will be the game director. No release date has been announced, but the game will be coming to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

  If you've never tackled Dark Souls, there's still plenty of time to get started. The ominously titled Prepare To Die special edition is out now, and while it's a fierce challenge it's also absolutely brilliant and incredibly rewarding. Of course, Dark Souls itself is an unofficial sequel to the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls, also developed by From Software and published by SONY. That's pretty tough too.
  

  Published: 10/12/2012

• Dark Souls creator considers adding easy mode to his notoriously tough masterpiece

  
  

  Some people are put off from playing the critically acclaimed role-playing game Dark Souls because of its reputation for being ruthlessly difficult, and that makes the game's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, sad.

  "Dark Souls is rather difficult and a number of people may hesitate to play," he told the Metro newspaper. "This fact is really sad to me and I am thinking about whether I should prepare another difficulty that everyone can complete or carefully send all gamers the messages behind our difficult games."

  "However, I suppose gamers do not particularly prefer easy games," he added. "What they want is interesting and worthwhile games to play, so I think it is natural that hindrance or stress that does not attribute to such interesting and worthwhile elements will be removed in the end."

  He goes on to explain how he'd rather have been describe Dark Souls as "satisfying" rather than "difficult", and worries that gamers have become too used to easy games that fail to tie difficulty to "interesting and worthwhile game elements".

  Dark Souls recently came out in a PC version, tastefully dubbed the "Prepare to Die" edition. The game already came out for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last year, where it was showered with praise by critics who are obviously rock hard and not scared of no game, not ever.
  

  Published: 05/09/2012

• Prepare to die, as Dark Souls special edition heads to consoles

  When it was first released last year, few would have argued that Japanese RPG Dark Souls needed to be tougher. A ferociously daunting challenge, the game killed off players frequently but fairly. Each time you met another sticky end, you knew it was because you'd rushed into a situation or simply not paid attention to your surroundings.

  Last week the game finally reached PC, in the frankly terrifying title Prepare To Die Edition, and publisher Namco Bandai has now confirmed that this special edition will also be released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 26th. Included in the Prepare To Die edition is Artorias of the Abyss, an all new gameplay chapter which introduces new bosses, weapons, quests and characters. Apparently it adds ten hours to the game, although you can probably triple that to accommodate all those deaths you'll be enjoying. If you already own the game, then the new content will be available to download instead.

  Dark Souls was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2011, nominated for multiple awards and featuring on almost every Game of the Year list of note. If you haven't tasted its brutal wonders, now is definitely the time.

  Published: 28/08/2012

• Rule of the Dice - The Games That Made Role-Playing Cool

  
  

  If you wanted to paint a portrait of the stereotypical geek, you'd have to include a nod to role-playing games in there somewhere. Along with Star Trek, the stat-based fantasies of the RPG form the basis of society's clichéd view of 'sad geek stuff'. And yet to look at the games charts today, you'd swear that role-playing was the hottest ticket in town.

  

  The Skyrim's The Limit

  The massive success of Skyrim last year was perhaps the most obvious indicator that RPGs were cool again. Bethesda's vast time-sucking epic is about as nerdy as role-playing gets, filled with magical weapons, skill tree management and all the trolls and dragons you could shake an enchanted mace at, yet it still thundered to the top of the charts and stayed there. Millions bought it, and the acclaim was unanimous from the critical community as well. As 2011 came to a close, Skyrim was over-encumbered and could not run, so full was its backpack with Game of the Year trophies.

  

  But Skyrim wasn't alone. Vying for hardcore affection at the same time was Dark Souls, the punishingly brilliant third-person RPG by Japanese developer From Software. As foreboding and claustrophobic as Skyrim was empowering and liberating, Dark Souls showed that the genre could take console players to terrifying new places, simply by slowing down the pace, ratcheting up the difficulty and making every swing of your sword count. Few will manage to excavate all of Dark Souls' depths, but for those who make it out the other side alive, the experience will be transforming.

  

  Royal Flush

  Had the RPG bandwagon ground to a halt there, it could be written off as a freak occurrence, brought about by anticipation stoked by the five-year wait between Elder Scrolls sequels. But then along came Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, another massive open world fantasy game, stocked with elves and magic and dwarves, and that too raced up the charts.

  With a story by acclaimed fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, and design work from legendary comic artist Todd McFarlane, Kingdoms of Amalur wore its geek credentials on its extravagantly embroidered wizard's sleeve. It may not have achieved the same ubiquity as Skyrim, but the fact it was so successful, so soon after Bethesda's monster smash should have exhausted the available pool of role-playing enthusiasts suggested that the genre could be on the upswing.

  So where will this renaissance take us next? Onwards and upwards seems to be the answer.

  

  Dungeons and Dragons and Monsters and Pirates and Demons and...

  April sees the Xbox 360 release of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, a console remake of the critically acclaimed PC adult role player. Cast as a monster hunter in a complex world governed by prejudice and fear, it's a far cry from the whimsical fare people commonly associate with fantasy gaming.

  Had Polish developer CD Projekt simply shunted the Witcher 2 code into an Xbox shape and hurried it to shelves, it wouldn't be a surprise. That it's instead opted to completely rebuild the game for console players, with additional content and a lavish collector's edition, proves that there's a mature market beyond the usual dice-rolling hobbyists for this kind of long-term in-depth gaming experience.

  

  Then in May we'll get Risen 2: Dark Waters, another sequel but one that trades the generic swords and sorcery realms of its predecessor for a saltier tale of pirate folk. Developed by Piranha Bytes, the studio behind hit RPG series Gothic, it promises to be more than a cult hit.

  

  We've just learned that May will also be the month that we'll finally get our hands on Diablo 3 from World of Warcraft developer Blizzard. A mere twelve years in the making, this top-down loot-dropping hack and slash RPG dungeon crawl is arguably the most eagerly anticipated PC game of the year.

  So what has caused this surge in role-playing fever? Are gamers simply burned out on militaristic first-person shooters and hungry for change? Or is it just that with their lengthy playing times and flexible character progression, RPGs offer more value for money and greater opportunities to define your own gaming experience?

  Whatever the reason, role-playing is firmly entrenched as the games industry's next big thing. These may be the games that have made it cool to roll the dice, but they certainly won't be the last.

  Published: 15/03/2012

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