PREVIEW

Dark Souls: So Difficult That Its Producer Dies Over 200 Times In One Day

(PS3, XBOX 360, PC)

Invincible octopodes, treasure chests that eat you, and a death count of 250+ mark this Gamescom demo.

By Francesco Dagostino 08/19/2011

Dark Souls producers Daisuke Uchiyama and Kei Hirono cross the ocean for Gamescom 2011, bringing with them a brand new demo build of their incoming gritty fantasy action RPG. I get a chance to talk with both of them about their intentions with the spiritual sequel to one of the best games of 2009, while they show me a new area called the Archive Tower -- a spiraling mixture of books, monsters, jails, and traps.

Dark Souls, it's well known by now, works almost exactly like its predecessor. Uchiyama plays as an overpowered character -- equipped with full-health restoring potions and swords capable of taking down most enemies with just one hit. Nevertheless, he still has a hard time.

As Hirono explains, a lot of effort is being spent on carefully balancing the game. His objective is making it even harder than Demon's Souls -- he is definitely achieving it. When I ask Hirono if Uchiyama is dying often despite cheating so much, he confesses that they are actually counting the number of deaths. Up till this point (as of four in the afternoon in Gamescom's first day), he had died 264 times.

Dark Souls' difficulty is being improved mostly by exploring new level design ideas, and by pitting the players against even more powerful enemies. This new tower stage provides a good example of how mean Dark Souls can get, thanks to the presence of several literal dead-ends filled with traps. At some point Hirono even approaches a useful-looking chest -- only to discover that it's actually a mimic, which promptly devours him and makes him respawn at the beginning of the stage.

The interaction with the environment now appears to be more prominent: The number of ladders and machinery that the player's avatar can operate has noticeably increased, and will now not only be used to unlock doors, but also to solve some interesting puzzles.

Hirono makes himself very clear when he says that the team is developing the game so that retreat must be one of the first options to be considered by the player. A good example comes from the almost invincible octopus-like creatures inhabiting in the tower -- which can only be moved out of the way by disabling a certain device. A device located, of course, in the heart of these enemies' nest.

Players can still receive help by being joined by other people online, but once again the matchmaking is completely random, and no one can guarantee that the person joining the game will be a useful ally or a heartless enemy.

As noted back in E3, there is no hub or Nexus; every stage is seamlessly connected to the next. It's not clear if it'll be possible to go back to earlier locations after clearing them, but Hirono mentions that there might be some kind of special ability to make this possible later on in the game. Not only the game will feature a big, seamless world -- past the Archive Tower is an intriguing ice area that Uchiyama doesn't explore much -- but the producers promise that each stage will be at least three times bigger than those featured in Demon's Souls.

The release date of this game, set worldwide for the beginning of October, is getting closer and closer. One can only hold their breath waiting to find out if it will be able to surpass its predecessor. It's hard not to wish that it will.

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Comments (25)

choose your partner in crime
Posted: Aug 23, 2011 12:00AM PST by magicmidget

i am absolutely ecstatic for this game. and getting to be an older gamer there's not many that do that for me anymore. about the only thing i think they can do as an improvement is being able to invite friends to quest with you. if i'm reading correctly this still seems to be a random decision when requesting someone come for help, or to invade a game.
it would just be really cool to quest it up with a couple buddies or invade them at will.

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Gonna love it
Posted: Aug 22, 2011 12:00AM PST by AgentTalon

It will be nice to get a break from these hadholder that make up almost every game to come out in the last few years, at least big budget games, some indie games are really tough.

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Finally Got Platinum in Demons Souls
Posted: Aug 22, 2011 12:00AM PST by ohmikkie

It'll be interesting to see if I can do the same in Dark Souls. I will damn well give it a try.

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- you sir....
  Posted: Aug 23, 2011 12:00AM PST by magicmidget
  
  ....are a patient man. started working my way towards the weapon trophies. after two i couldn't grind anymore. absolutely love the game...and am salivating for dark souls
  
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Well...
Posted: Aug 22, 2011 12:00AM PST by kman123

Time to start stocking up on those Xbox controllers.

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Such a great game, I cant wait!
Posted: Aug 21, 2011 12:00AM PST by MonsterHunter45

I cant remember the last time ive played a game where ive ever said "OH MY GOD! I HATE THIS GAME!!! . . . . ok lets try this again . . . " There was just something about the difficulty, i could never play when anyone was watching me because i was so concentrated which you need to be if you want to survive in this game. The first game took me many monthes on leveling up to finnaly beat. Im hoping the next game is just as hard, maybe even harder, I cant wait to get my hands on this game!

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Most games I play are relatively easy to complete.
Posted: Aug 21, 2011 12:00AM PST by alrighthearthis

Every once and a while I need something that unapologetically kicks me in the teeth and makes me question my gaming skills. I'm looking forward to this sitting proudly on my shelf along side the few rougelikes I have.

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Demon's Souls was the first game in over 10 years
Posted: Aug 20, 2011 12:00AM PST by KilgoreTrout-XL

that manages to give you that nreve-wracking, sweaty-palm "holy Sh*tballs please don't let me die on this part, please, I'm sooooo close" feeling.
There's probably differing opinions on where that feeling is the strongest, but people who say world 4-2 are the only correct ones. Except for 4-1, which was kind of similar. Or 3-2, right before you unlock the route to maneater, or when you beat the first maneater and are getting raped by the second. Or 1-1, which took me a week to clear. Or 1-2, I guess. And defeinitely 5-2, that was a pain.

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- ...
  Posted: Aug 22, 2011 12:00AM PST by ohmikkie
  
  In general I found 4-1 & 4-2 pretty hard at low soul levels. Once I found out the usefulness of soul remains and higher endurance stat (blocking) it got easier.
  The most consistent hard enemy for me were the giant depraved ones in world 5, especially when trying to obtain the Instrelle.
  
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- ...
  Posted: Aug 23, 2011 12:00AM PST by magicmidget
  
  latria's tower when first encountering the cthulu monsters and their damn bells. and the maneater..damn the maneater. until i figured out to spam firestorm :) agreed on 5-1 with the depraved ones, in the swamp...those guys gave me hell
  
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cool
Posted: Aug 20, 2011 12:00AM PST by staticmouse749

sounds really hard but some thing i'll like coming back to again and again

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OMG
Posted: Aug 20, 2011 12:00AM PST by ol'guy

Headbangers delight!

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Bring it.
Posted: Aug 20, 2011 12:00AM PST by Keefman -X-

Demon's Souls is one of the few games in recent memory that elicits the intoxicating excitement I used to feel as a kid, except the challenge and tension is really there, i.e. not just from me being young and shitty at games.

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Dark Souls delayed
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by jonnyjones72

The release date has been delayed by one week in Japan. It was originally set to come out on Sept 15 but now will be released on Sept 22. I think this may have something to do with the Tokyo Game Show, which also opens on Sept 15. Due to the March 11 disaster and problems with power conservation, there might have been some issues with confirming the event schedule, some even questioning whether it would be held at all. I'm thinking From Software will be holding one last big demo and death filled fesitval of group masochism before everyone can take it home for themselves and repeat the ritual alone in a cold, dark room.
This is all just speculation by me. I've been following this game for quite awhile.
http://www.fromsoftware.jp/darksouls/releaseinfo/

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So basically...
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by Gixman

This game will be a 1,000 times as difficult to finish as any game i've played in my entire life!!! well that's discouraging lol. i like a hard games but not so insanely hard that i'll never get through the entire game lmao.

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Obviously
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by ThuperThathy

It's doing something right to make you want to come back so many times. MAybe the thrill of succeeding , better checkpoints, etc.

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All I have to say is....
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by catgirl147

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. wow, this game sounds like a controller smash fest.

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- Yeah...
  Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by Archintyeron
  
  smash in a wall! lol
  
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Well now...
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by GenesisDoes

That's rather discouraging. XD

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- I wouldn't worry.
  Posted: Aug 20, 2011 12:00AM PST by HandsomeRay
  
  I don't doubt that it's harder, but this sounds like them cranking up the hype machine. I wouldn't be surprised if this is highly exaggerated.
  
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I wonder
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by wiseman4380

If there is no Nexus, maybe you can level up your stats anytime in a menu? That would take alot of frustration of dying out of the equation. That was the only thing that would make me want to quit playing -- i would die with a shit load of souls in my possesion, then die again on my way to retrieve them, rendering the past few hours of playtime almost meaningless. It never kept me away from playing for long, though.
Something tells me it wont be that easy, though. They'll probably just have a character standing in a corner or something here and there throughout the stages that can let you spend your souls, like the armorers and merchants in Demons Souls.

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- Way Fires
  Posted: Aug 20, 2011 12:00AM PST by ArcDerek
  
  Hey wiseman, I believe the campfires will perform a similar role as the Nexus in this game. I can't see them allowing you to utiilize your souls immediately after acquiring them; as you said, it'd be too easy.
  That being said, there will probably be points in this game where the amount of souls rendered from each enemy dramatically increases (just like when you reach 4-2 in Demon's Souls) making it easier to reacquire lost souls. However, I wonder how they'll address grinding or replaying areas with the more linear world structure.
  Once I discovered that losing your souls in Demon's Souls was essentially meaningless - you can farm the Reaper enemy in 4-2 for massive amounts in very little time; heck, even in 4-1 near the beginning of the game and you get comfortable with the rolling skeletons you can easily gain a lot of souls in runs up to the first fog gate - it made the game a helluva lot easier. Losing all of your souls can be discouraging but once you discover a way to get them all back (and then some) in under 10 mins, the frustration disappears.
  
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Can't Wait
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by ArcDerek

Eagerly anticipating my collector's edition. So stoked. Not stoked for being in school when this drops.

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OMG!
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by Archintyeron

"This is harsh. Evaluate Me."
Why the release date isn't tomorrow? I need this, now!

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yikes
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 12:00AM PST by p-spiddy

I'm already nervous and uneasy in anticipation. Sounds like they're tyring to do the impossible by making the sequel more intense. Not having the safety net of warp and the Nexus hub sounds a little scary. Here's to hoping they make the release date!

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