Dark Souls 2 dev talks dedicated servers, protecting 'core' features

Dark Souls 2 development is being overseen by the previous game's director Hidetaka Miyazaki, and he has revealed From Software's approach to the sequel in a new interview features in this week's issue of Famitsu. We reported on some of the article's key facts earlier today, but now Polygon has translated Miyazaki's full quotes. Check them out after the break.

Polygon reports that Miyazaki feels there is a core to what makes Dark Souls 2 a 'Dark Souls' game, and has assured fans that these fundamental ingredients will be preserved by the game's new co-directors Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura.

Miyazaki said, "If we're going to announce this as a sequel to Dark Souls then I think there's certainly a core that we need to protect. 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.

"Outside of that core, though, I think it's better to leave things to the discretion of the director. 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."

Responding to a question about the game's setting, Shibuya chipped in, "I can't completely answer this question, but the two settings are connected, yes. 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."

On the issue of Dark Souls 2's dedicated servers, Shibuya continued, "Setting up a dedicated server lets you retain your data, making it easier to share it with other players. 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.

Miyazaki added, "I think having dedicated game servers will be the source of a lot of new potential in Dark Souls 2. There was a lot with the original Dark Souls I wish I could have done if we had the ability to have those serviers, so in that way I'm pretty jealous of the new director here.

"I think the concept behind online play in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls was pretty plain to gamers, so I'm hoping we can evolve on that concept here without removing ourselves too far from it."

Thanks Eurogamer.