So the guys from Namco Bandai dropped by to show off a bit of Dark Souls yesterday, and I'm not sure if the GB crew had any plans to do a Man, I Saw That with it (we couldn't get any direct feed, and the trailer they released wasn't super long). I sat in on the session, and got a good look at around half an hour of the game. This is...basically Demon's Souls II, for all intents and purposes. It looks the same and it acts pretty much exactly the same: the demo took place in a trap-filled tower that the Namco guy walked up, battling some crazy-looking reptilian enemies along the way. One of the new things that enemies can do is grapple you; there's a fun Mimic enemy that will pop out when you try to open it, and attempt to kick you and bite you. Occasionally it'll even grab you and throw you in its mouth; most of the enemies seemed to have these kind of grapple moves that you can't break out of, so you'll have to be extra careful this time around.

The major differences I saw:

• No more hub world. The entire world is apparently streaming this time around, with checkpoints/campfires scattered around that will let you heal up and save your game before wandering back out into the world. All enemies respawn when you hit a checkpoint, though, so you shouldn't expect to be able to cheese your way through the levels with them. NPCs are also apparently going to be scattered around the world, rather than in a central hub world. I asked about warping around between areas that you've visited, but I don't think the demoer knew the plan for that yet.
  
• Crafting is now apparently extended to armor this time around. I asked about crystal lizards (my absolute least favorite part of Demon's Souls), but I think the guy was non-commital about his answer. At any rate, look forward to collecting more stones and upgrading your weapons along the way. 
• Your character is no longer a ghost, but instead a new kind of undead that can resurrect himself as many times as he likes. The drawback? Eventually he'll go insane and become a kind of demon (I think; this part was a bit fuzzy). Your goal in the game is to escape this fate. It wasn't clear how resurrections work; you do lose all your souls when you die, and have one chance to return to the spot of your death to retrieve them, but you don't resurrect with half a health bar anymore. 
• The color scheme is apparently going to be slightly more colorful, perhaps because you're no longer in a ghost world. It's by no means bright and cheery, but the character's armor was noticeably more colorful than the stuff I wore in Demon's Souls. But then again, those were the Binded Cross armor items which were pretty dank.
  

So the guys from Namco Bandai dropped by to show off a bit of Dark Souls yesterday, and I'm not sure if the GB crew had any plans to do a Man, I Saw That with it (we couldn't get any direct feed, and the trailer they released wasn't super long). I sat in on the session, and got a good look at around half an hour of the game. This is...basically Demon's Souls II, for all intents and purposes. It looks the same and it acts pretty much exactly the same: the demo took place in a trap-filled tower that the Namco guy walked up, battling some crazy-looking reptilian enemies along the way. One of the new things that enemies can do is grapple you; there's a fun Mimic enemy that will pop out when you try to open it, and attempt to kick you and bite you. Occasionally it'll even grab you and throw you in its mouth; most of the enemies seemed to have these kind of grapple moves that you can't break out of, so you'll have to be extra careful this time around.

The major differences I saw:

• No more hub world. The entire world is apparently streaming this time around, with checkpoints/campfires scattered around that will let you heal up and save your game before wandering back out into the world. All enemies respawn when you hit a checkpoint, though, so you shouldn't expect to be able to cheese your way through the levels with them. NPCs are also apparently going to be scattered around the world, rather than in a central hub world. I asked about warping around between areas that you've visited, but I don't think the demoer knew the plan for that yet.
  
• Crafting is now apparently extended to armor this time around. I asked about crystal lizards (my absolute least favorite part of Demon's Souls), but I think the guy was non-commital about his answer. At any rate, look forward to collecting more stones and upgrading your weapons along the way. 
• Your character is no longer a ghost, but instead a new kind of undead that can resurrect himself as many times as he likes. The drawback? Eventually he'll go insane and become a kind of demon (I think; this part was a bit fuzzy). Your goal in the game is to escape this fate. It wasn't clear how resurrections work; you do lose all your souls when you die, and have one chance to return to the spot of your death to retrieve them, but you don't resurrect with half a health bar anymore. 
• The color scheme is apparently going to be slightly more colorful, perhaps because you're no longer in a ghost world. It's by no means bright and cheery, but the character's armor was noticeably more colorful than the stuff I wore in Demon's Souls. But then again, those were the Binded Cross armor items which were pretty dank.
  

Is it good?

Does every animation take so long it makes the combat feel almost as slow as an MMO.

did you see any large monsters in game?

Does it have hatred? Does it have puppies?

Rorie, I will pay you $500 if you sneak me this game early. I NEED THE PAIN! It HURTS SO GOOOOD!

Does every animation take so long it makes the combat feel almost as slow as an MMO.

Will dying be needlessly punishing taking away all your exp/$?

Honestly, you've just about answered everything I'd think to ask :P Well there's the targeting system, and more importantly did you see any targeted flying enemies, with the camera then spazzing out all over the place as was common when the creature would fly across? I loved close to everything about Demon's Souls, though the World Tendency (which is scrapped, thank the lord) and the sketchy targeting were some noticeable flaws that cheapened the game.

Are the areas big and explorable?


Game looks fucking rad by the way.

O I got a question. Are the mechanics so different that picking up Demon's Souls now will create bad habits? I don't want to buy it and play it a bunch only to have learn everything all over again. Basically will having knowledge of how to play Demon's Soul benefit me going in Dark Souls?

Any words on special edition stuff?  The last one has a very awesome manual and soundtrack with it, will this be getting the same treatment?

The first game had amazing level design, in terms of the look of each level, how it made the player react to the design of a level was nearly as important to the experience as the enemy placement and combat design.  Does that game have a similar feel?

I thought Dark souls was a ways off, is it seriously ready to be played or is the a pre-e3 demo?

Sounds like all good news!

thank you for the write up rorie

As someone who has never played Demon's Souls, will I be able to pick up this one or would I be better served by going through the first game?

Is the Boss of Bosses scared of the game's difficulty?

@bhhawks78: 

Butthurt?

" As someone who has never played Demon's Souls, will I be able to pick up this one or would I be better served by going through the first game? "

Did they do any analysis of the first game to see where people were dying a lot, and giving up? Are they trying to address that? 

The last game I played that was published by Namco Bandai was Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake Ga Nai! Portable (My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute! Portable)

Came.

No questions, but thanks for the write-up and answering others. Really looking forward to this game.

Will there be some option of any kind to respec your character?

Are the emotes back? My one gripe was the terrible emote system, so I'm hoping they tweaked it.

" Does every animation take so long it makes the combat feel almost as slow as an MMO.

Will dying be needlessly punishing taking away all your exp/$?

"

Is there going to be a story to tell?  Demons Souls didn't seem to have one at all.

Long time listener, first time caller.  Did the rep happen to mention whether or not there will be voice chat?  Nothing worse than getting speared because your coop buddy wasn't wearing a Thief's Ring or healing you when you were low health for Clever Rat's Ring and Morion Blade.

Did they improve the actual look of the characters?

Hey Matt, any idea on how they'll handle xbl silver users? I haven't checked out DS online because PSN is down (just started playing it like 3-4 days ago), but it seems that online interactivity is pretty core to the experience.

I'm curious as to whether your character's animation gives you more of a hint when you're about to walk off of a ledge - like stumbling or going off balance. Also, how are the swordplay physics compared to the first one?

" @bhhawks78: I wouldn't say needlessly punishing, but if you thought Demon's Souls was too hard, you're not going to want to play this.  "

I still have to play Demon's Souls.

" Hey Matt, any idea on how they'll handle xbl silver users? I haven't checked out DS online because PSN is down (just started playing it like 3-4 days ago), but it seems that online interactivity is pretty core to the experience. "