I know the Steam community downvoted Dark Souls II after the Scholar of the First Sin announcement, but I was under the assumption that was due to no free upgrade for existing owners.

Is this not being released as a package for PC at all? It looks like total cost of game, and DLC right now, is about $65 (USD) anyway, and the patch will be available as well, so is there any real difference between the console version, and buying it all for PC?

It's coming to the PC, both as a patch for the existing game (DirectX 9 version) and as a new product (DirectX 11 version). Here's the official summary of the various versions:

no save import for the ps4?

:(

Huh. So PC users don't get the improved graphics/performance with the patch? They have to buy the new version? Kind of sucks.

@deathtrap:

Well, there is an upgrade pricing for people who already own the game. It's 29.99. Which, I think is worth it seeing as I just had OG Dark Souls 2 without any expansions.

Patrick wrote an article about the PC version over on Kotaku.

http://kotaku.com/important-answers-about-dark-souls-iis-expansion-on-pc-1694574853

What a mess. If someone needs to go read an article about which upgrade path to take or what features a game is going to have, then the developer has screwed it up. But I mean, this is From Software, so screwups and inexplicable decisions are par for the course at this point.

The entire "upgrade" is a terrible idea. Especially on PC. Incompatible versions split the community and it's overpriced for what you're getting if you already had the game and dlc.

I have no problem with it in on consoles. They can split the community all they want if it means a smoother experience for me. But it really makes no sense on the PC.

Does anyone yet know what the new weapons and armor are?

@bowielee: Yeah, I see that. Somewhat lessens the sting. Unfortunately, I have little interest in the DLC - I doubt I'll ever beat the game, let alone the DLC. So it really just comes down to how much of an improvement the graphical update is.

I picked up the Upgrade version - Didn't have the DLC for the base game so thought what the heck.

Only just reached Majula so haven't found any of the enemy spawn differences (and the lighting effects/graphical differences really are minimal, although I usually played DS2 modded) but noticed that weapons still degrade as fast, ie twice the speed of the 30fps old console versions.

I'd heard differing reports as this being a bug or intentional. If it is a bug, this is one hell of a lazy port...

Oh. My. God.

I picked up the upgrade yesterday. I already had the DX9 version but I didn't own any of the DLC so I figured I might as well. I've played up to the forest of fallen giants and the only real differences I've noticed are a little more detail on the character models (DX11 tessellation, I think) and better lighting. I'd need to see a comparison but I think this version might be From's attempt at addressing the lighting downgrade that the internet went berserk over when the game first released. There's an area upstairs from the bonfire where you first meet merchant hag melentia and I needed to bring a lit torch to navigate that room because it was so dark. It also seems like any well-lit areas are way brighter than they used to be.

@bollard: Yep. We're still playing Dark Souls 2 Hard Mode...

Once I got to the Forest I began to notice the enemy spawn differences and they really mix things up for a jaded old player like me who'd been through that area maybe 100 times.

@dave_tacitus: I got like 20 hours in to that game then gave up, much like I did with Dark Souls. But with the original I at least went back and played it through from the start again. Not sure if I will with DSII though, Bloodborne is taking priority now anyway.

@bollard: I wouldn't count the Souls games among my favourites and didn't even finish DS2 first time round (started it a couple of times, put about 70 hours in and finally got distracted by something else) so I want to at least finish it this time.

I don't own a PS4 (and hadn't planned on buying one) and wondered if the Bloodborne release would make me reconsider. It hasn't.

I'll probably end up buying one cheap at the end of its life cycle.