Dark Souls 2
Dark Souls 2 is an action RPG video game, set in an open world environment. The third game in series, Dark Souls 2 was developed for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 by From Software, which also published the game in Japan, while Namco Bandai Games published the game in other regions.
Dark Souls 2 was announced at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 7, 2012. Hidetaka Miyazaki, who served as director on the two earlier games in the series, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, acted as a supervisor, while the game was directed by Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura. Although set in the same world, Miyazaki stated there is no direct story connection between Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. The game uses dedicated multiplayer servers.
Gameplay
To begin the game,
players customize the sex and physical features of a character in addition to
choosing a gift and starting class, which determines starting statistics and
equipment. From a third-person perspective, players explore a continuous, open
world, where they are confronted by a hostile environment with unrelenting
enemies and bosses. As enemies are defeated, "souls" are accumulated,
which can be used as either currency or experience
points, with players upgrading various
character attributes to reflect a certain style of play.
The player moves through the world, advancing into different
areas, each with opponents of ever-increasing difficulty. Throughout the
course, players can save their progress by lighting "bonfires," at
which they can also rest to renew their health and magic, as well as repairing
damage to their weapons; resting at a bonfire also resets enemies. When a
player is defeated, they "die," losing all of the souls in the possession,
returning to the last bonfire where they rested. When players respawns at the
bonfire, not only have they lost all their souls, but they are no longer human
(called being "hollow"), and their maximum hit points have been
decreased. The players have the opportunity to retrieve those lost souls, if
they can advance to the spot where they were lost, without dying. As souls are
accumulated, the player has the choice to either trade them in to increase one
of more than a dozen attributes (e.g. strength — to increase the damage
inflicted, or vigor — to increase the maximum amount of damage taken), or
to use them to purchase items, equipment, or weapons. A third option, as one
progress in the game, is to use souls (usually in combination with another acquired
item) to upgrade weapons and armor. The end of each section of gameplay
consists of battling a boss — a much more powerful character.
In the early stages of the game, once a player becomes hollow
there are only two ways for them to regain their humanity: to use a "human
effigy," or to be summoned into another player's world and assist in
conquering a boss. There are several advantages to being human, with the main
one being the ability to summon other players into your world, discussed below.
Multiplayer features heavily in Dark Souls II. Players can call
up to two players to join them, in order to help them through a level and/or to
battle a boss. As a player, you can put down a "sign", which other
players can activate, calling you into their "world". You may only
call other players into your world if you are in human form, although you may
be summoned in either human or hollow mode. Players can also participate in
player versus player (PvP) gameplay, by either invading other players' games,
or by leaving a dark spirit summoning sign. There are specific areas set aside
for dueling, with neither player being penalized for defeat. While random
invasions still occur, many are part of belonging to a particular covenant.
Several areas, mostly for covenants (groups the player can join), also include
being summoned as a "gray spirit" to defend or invade the specific
region for specific rewards and progression within that covenant. For example,
the player can join the Bell Keepers covenant, to defend the in-game regions of
Belfry Luna or Sol. Upon joining the covenant, the player receives a ring that
will automatically summon the player to defend the bell in the latter areas
from other players who attempt to ring them. Every covenant receives a
covenant-specific ring, which all have their own covenant-related effect,
usually a way to summon each other or keep track of PvP kills for the covenant.
One major difference from the original Dark Souls, is that enemies do
not respawn indefinitely; after they are defeated a set number of times, they
disappear for the remainder of the current playthrough. They can be respawned
using a certain item at a bonfire, though this increases difficulty akin to New
Game+ mode. This allows players to eventually advance through trial and error.
On the other hand, this places strict limits on how much a player can farm for
souls and equipment during the first play-through. The other major difference
is the player's maximum HP are reduced upon each death, until their maximum HP
reaches 50% of the full health bar. This can only be overcome by a player
regaining their humanity.
Magic plays a major role of gameplay, with many enemies and
bosses being weak to particular forms of damage, such as lightning or fire,
either from magical weapons or spells. Both require the player to have a
certain skill levels, such as a minimum intelligence to cast a spells or
strength to wield a sword, as well as considering the overall weight of the
player's equipment set.
