Dark souls 2: Wishlist

More optional bosses and more optional areas.
>Secrets upon secrets.

No visible health bar on the bosses.

Difficulty scaling on co-op for all enemies.
> The whole game should be possible solo but co-op would allow for better control against bosses while not making it too easy.
>> Tactics over steamrolling co-op.

Improved boss AI.

Server based play like Demon's Souls.

Speed running should be similar to how it is in Dark Souls.
>The viability of it like on a non-glitch run, clocking in at about 1-2 hours.

A well executed story that adds to the Dark Souls universe.

MagisterM wrote:

No visible health bar on the bosses.

hmmm, have to disagree with that one, I think one of the great things about a big boss battle is whittling them down to near zero, then being destroyed by them at the last minute, the health bar sometimes adds real tension when youre both down to your last and its a sudden death finish, especially if the boss has got improved A.I too. . . corrr, got me mouth watering just thinking about it!!!

Pretty much resonating everyones thought on dedicated severs. Or, the idea of a server list. As long as co-op with a friend is more user friendly. I want invasions to be smoother too though of course. Less lag/latency makes for a more enjoyable online game.

As far as in game mechanics and cosmetics goes....it's hard to say. Volume. Volume. Volume. I want tons of armors. Even if there are 4 sets of armor with the EXACT same stats, the variey in visuals would be nice. Same goes for weapons. More more more. I understand the difficultys it may pose for them to do. But thats all i want. Variey. In every aspect. Level design. Enemies. Sounds. I say the people making it need to sit down and play demon's souls then work on dks2. Every day before work they should play some of what started this souls obbsession.

eminusx wrote:

MagisterM wrote:

No visible health bar on the bosses.

hmmm, have to disagree with that one, I think one of the great things about a big boss battle is whittling them down to near zero, then being destroyed by them at the last minute, the health bar sometimes adds real tension when youre both down to your last and its a sudden death finish, especially if the boss has got improved A.I too. . . corrr, got me mouth watering just thinking about it!!!

I think it's a matter of taste really but to me, not being able to see their health raises the tension. Am I using the right weapons? How strong is this creature? My ideal in game design is to infer these things by how the boss reacts through the fight. As you whittle down it's HP, it may get more panicked and frenzied - you'd know you were getting somewhere.

Likewise, from the area it dwells in and its visual attributes, you would be able to infer the types of weakness it may have and without having a health bar, you'd be more inclined to read it's behaviour before attacking instead of just hacking away and seeing immediate effects. You'd want to wait it out, look for openings, all the while you'd wonder if you are doing the right thing.

I love the uncertainty that not having a health bar brings. It works well in the Monster Hunter series - I think it would be quite becoming of Dark Souls should they improve the boss AI. Though I said it's a matter of taste, I think it has the potential to work really well in this title.

I would like to see :

1 Large Scale Bosses ( that consist of 2-3 parts)
2 More customizable character's
3 If we have elemental weapons, I want to see the animation e.g Fire Weapon would be coated in Fire, and lightning would be blue not yellow :|
4 More Armors !
5 Balanced PvP

Here is what Id like to see in the next game. (Dark souls terms used)

[Level design]

- Better atomosphere (I.E. Great swamp was just a way point to go to Quelaag, The great hollow, valley of drakes, and so on)
- Puzzles
- Exploration (Smaller areas with loot, NPCs, lore easter eggs)
- More traps
- Less obvious paths (Branching paths; not shortcuts. All leading to the boss fog)
- Weather in certain areas (Thunder and lightning while going through a castle or forest)
- Open world
- Climbable ledges
- Improved jumping
- Swimming through some areas (Just imagine doing this in the depths or great swamp)

[HUD]

- Magic bar displays how many uses you have left (Should be able to toggle)
EX: [>>>]-[>>>]-[>>>]-[>>>]
Each bar counts as 10 uses

[Combat & equipment]

- Improved dual wielding
- Sweep kick
- ADS for crossbows
- Reload and move with crossbows
- Options for a left handed character when starting a new character
- Unobtainable starting gifts or stats ( IE: Less fall damage or killing skeletons permanantly without a divine weapon)
- Necklace slot
- More rings with better effects
- Armor with accessory physics

[Multiplayer]

- Invade before and after the boss
- Be invaded before and after the boss
- A farmable common drop that heals when in phantom form
- Improved covenants
- Playthrough the game with friends without using a sign (Multiplayer/ LAN option main menu)

[End game/ New game+]

- Options to refight bosses once beaten by talking to a NPC or sitting at the bonfire with a certain key item (Pendant maybe..?)
- Stats screen shows what NG+ you're on, number of bonfires fully kindled, death count, number of messege ratings, invasion count in all areas, etc etc.


Thats all I could think of. @_@

MagisterM wrote:

eminusx wrote:

MagisterM wrote:

No visible health bar on the bosses.

hmmm, have to disagree with that one, I think one of the great things about a big boss battle is whittling them down to near zero, then being destroyed by them at the last minute, the health bar sometimes adds real tension when youre both down to your last and its a sudden death finish, especially if the boss has got improved A.I too. . . corrr, got me mouth watering just thinking about it!!!

I think it's a matter of taste really but to me, not being able to see their health raises the tension. Am I using the right weapons? How strong is this creature? My ideal in game design is to infer these things by how the boss reacts through the fight. As you whittle down it's HP, it may get more panicked and frenzied - you'd know you were getting somewhere.

Likewise, from the area it dwells in and its visual attributes, you would be able to infer the types of weakness it may have and without having a health bar, you'd be more inclined to read it's behaviour before attacking instead of just hacking away and seeing immediate effects. You'd want to wait it out, look for openings, all the while you'd wonder if you are doing the right thing.

I love the uncertainty that not having a health bar brings. It works well in the Monster Hunter series - I think it would be quite becoming of Dark Souls should they improve the boss AI. Though I said it's a matter of taste, I think it has the potential to work really well in this title.

in all honesty that sounds like a much better idea, i'd be perfectly happy to have no health bar if you could surmise from their condition and weakened state just how close to the end they were, maybe at that point theyre more likely to go for big finishing moves in an attempt to finish you off, the big attacks are much more dangerous so you wouldnt just rush in to finish them off, you'd have to be careful and plan your move or they'd split you in two. Sounds like classic Dark Souls to me, much more in the spirit of the game too, using your surroundings to keenly devise your approach. I do like the tension of the dwindling health bar and knowing your 'nearing the end' but this sounds like it would be a great improvement if it could be implemented properly, I dont see any reason it couldnt, its not such a far cry from Sif's limping.

eminusx wrote:its not such a far cry from Sif's limping.

Yeah, certainly. That was the exact image I was thinking of to relate the concept to. More of that would be great.

- More varied character creation (gimme my moustache and beard goddamit!)

- Improved stealth gameplay

- Remove the "xxxx has invaded" keep it as a suprise = keeps players on their toes all the time

- Add more events like when some other players rings the bell after Gargoyles you can hear it in your game.
This is a really cool little feature they could really mess around more
with in the next game (maybe you could hear other peoples foot steps in
some scary dungeon at times or hear their death screams etc.)

- Include Bossrush

- Include detailed death counter

- Remove all kinds of leaderboards

- Covenants should matter more. Make every covenant have significant bonuses and limitations.

- Include an option to turn off the messages (yellow soap stone)

- Add flintlock-style blackpowder firearms as a slow, but powerful mid-range weapons

- Add more non-hostile areas (like little villages or towns)

- Add more death animations.
The game is all about dying constantly and learning from that so why
not make dying more cool? add decapitation or dismemberment. When a
character dies by flame attack make an animation of him burning to death
in horrible pain.

- More creative ways for game to tell you that your world has been invaded by hostile phantom.
As I listed above I don't want the game to tell you with a huge box:
"dark spirit xxxx has invaded", but I want the hosting player to have
clues about it in his world (maybe some enemies could act restless, or
fire in torches could flicker more...some suddle stuff you could notice
if you pay attention, but could also miss if you're careless.

- Add more invader spawn points to each area. This is mainly for the element of suprise and to avoid instant ganking.

Way more serious weapons. Like balder side, clay, chaos blade etc.
I dont see any point using weapon´s like, pickaxe ur stuff like that.

And balanced rings, no wolf ring and no ring of favor!

And maybe fast roll with 33% equip burden, then 66% vor mid roll and up to 100% fat roll.

Juutas wrote:- Remove the "xxxx has invaded" keep it as a suprise = keeps players on their toes all the time

Many players are kept on their toes after they get the invasion message
What if the message is not displayed if you wear the ring of fog while invading, but if you remove it during the invasion the message will pop up. This way, to balance it, the stealth-invader will only have one other ring slot available.

Bring Kilij back. It was in Demon's Souls, but not in Dark Souls. Gimme mah friggin' kılıç back. That is all. Also, I liked the Northern styled armor the character wears in the DS2 trailer.

ublug wrote:

Juutas wrote:- Remove the "xxxx has invaded" keep it as a suprise = keeps players on their toes all the time

Many players are kept on their toes after they get the invasion message
What if the message is not displayed if you wear the ring of fog while invading, but if you remove it during the invasion the message will pop up. This way, to balance it, the stealth-invader will only have one other ring slot available.

Yeah that could be a nice way to do it too

Juutas wrote:-
More creative ways for game to tell you that your world has been invaded by hostile phantom.
As I listed above I don't want the game to tell you with a huge box:
"dark spirit xxxx has invaded", but I want the hosting player to have
clues about it in his world (maybe some enemies could act restless, or
fire in torches could flicker more...some suddle stuff you could notice
if you pay attention, but could also miss if you're careless.

would definately be cool if you got some really subtle indication that you'd been invaded, maybe tie it to the covenant. . . .that way it would take a while for you to understand the relevance between each indication. .
. dark clouds start to gather for darkwraiths. . . colour begins to drain from parts of the screen for Gravelord. . . the screen blurrs with a heat haze for dragon cov. . . also reactions from the nearby npc's or enemies or environment.
there could be several indications for each covenant dependent on the SL of the invader. . .that would build the fear factor.


Great idea Juutas!

eminusx wrote:

Juutas wrote:-
More creative ways for game to tell you that your world has been invaded by hostile phantom.
As I listed above I don't want the game to tell you with a huge box:
"dark spirit xxxx has invaded", but I want the hosting player to have
clues about it in his world (maybe some enemies could act restless, or
fire in torches could flicker more...some suddle stuff you could notice
if you pay attention, but could also miss if you're careless.

would definately be cool if you got some really subtle indication that you'd been invaded, maybe tie it to the covenant. . . .that way it would take a while for you to understand the relevance between each indication. .
. dark clouds start to gather for darkwraiths. . . colour begins to drain from parts of the screen for Gravelord. . . the screen blurrs with a heat haze for dragon cov. . . also reactions from the nearby npc's or enemies or environment.
there could be several indications for each covenant dependent on the SL of the invader. . .that would build the fear factor.


Great idea Juutas!

Yeah, I think that could really spice invasions up and it would be really simple to put in the game. I really like your idea of invader's covenant having the effect on events that the host players has in his/her world

Oh I dunno. . .

Ability to increase one's toons physical size, to that of a silver/black knight or larger

High dex/str or maybe the inclusion of different fighting forms that affect your moveset with certain weapons. (like once you hit the expert threshold for str for something like zweilander your character stops wielding it like he can barely lift it)

More magic, and magic that is different, and affects the battlefield and what not. (like maybe summong mobs?)

More NPCs

The ability for high sin players to be invaded while hollow

Covenants having more items and benefits that require players to have consistent interaction with them

A leaderboard for covenants

More useful items that require some amount of collection, like bombs/throwing knives that are feasible later in the game

The ability to replay bosses on a playthrough

Split screen co-op? (I know, it's controversial)

More status affects, that have to be used in more interesting ways (like having to be cursed to fight ghosts was awesome, the fact that transient curses existed ruined it)

Make the game generally darker, as in ToTG dark

Bring back carrying capacity on the character (and make lanterns slowly run out, so if the game had a ton of really dark areas, the player would have to stock up on multiple lanterns and do some inventory management and such)

MAKE NG+ AND NG++ AND NG+++ ETC SPAWN DIFFERENT/MORE ENEMIES, CHANGE BOSS FIGHTS TO MAKE THEM HARDER, AND GIVE A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE, DON'T JUST MAKE EVERYTHING HAVE MORE HEALTH AND DO MORE DAMAGE. I WASN'T GETTING HIT DURING NG, JUST BECAUSE THEY DEAL MORE DAMAGE DOESn"T MEAN IT IS ANY HARDER, I'M STILL NOT GETTING HIT.

Make shields have way less stability, and very few block 100% physical

Make switching weapons and two handing weapons have more or less frames depending on the weight of the item you are switching to. Meaning you can't quickly switch between using a giant greatshield and then two handing a massive hammer.

Try to find ways to minimize the amount of invincibility frames players need, as in, give a combat system should players be knocked down.

Give a way to knock down players in relation to their stamina.

Raise the amount of players allowed in one world.

Allow planned two person invasions, perhaps as a covenant thing, that invade players with three+ people on their server.

Reduce farming by slowly making the souls from one area gained slowly diminish if players stay in that area and just consecutively use the bonfire and keep going back to the bonfire without challenging the boss. Also make this true to invaders killed. . . so yeah, ganking.

Make covenants that get specific perks and things from interacting with players of another covenant.

Get rid of equip load as the determining factor of mobility. Instead give armors mobility ratings that scale with specific stats. (I.e. light armor has S scaling with Dex and C with End, heavy armor has B with Str D with Dex and B with End, as well as armors having a base mobility rating)

Make elemental weapons less of a base damage deal, like perhaps hurting players who use them for the benefit of having unscaling high damage.

Make enchanted weapons have different benefits.

Buffing is the most OP thing in the game (not saying it can't be beaten, just it gives teh greatest advantage)

Recognize that players that do a ton of PvP are going to get more than 100 humanity, and need something to spend that humanity on/more use for humanity, as well as more use for souls of PvP heavy players. Perhaps good weapons that are very easy to break and cost a ton of souls to repair?? I dunno.

Make online work.

Add more depth to combat, with perhaps the ability to strike each others blades at a certain distance, more precise hitboxes that mirror models. Fixing deadangles, but making it so that more weapons have the shotel affect if they are actually hitting around the shield, and not having things like that shotel that automatically hit through shields even if they hit the shields. I dunno, tighten it up, make it good.

Give aiming reticles for magic users.

Make the crosshairs for the bows actually where the arrow goes.

Give a dex threshold for specific bows that allow more movement while firing ones bow.

Let arrows hit players in I frames.

Give more depth to the bow system.

Make low level magic (like soul arrow/fireball) for players with high dex/(int/fai) have very fast casts that can be done while jogging.

Make more unique weapons that have very special abilities, perhaps a straight sword that is also a catalyst/talisman.

Get rid of auto drops/let the player see the item they are trying to pick up before they accept it.

Make players that quit during invasions have the same affect as dieing.

Make high sin players able to be invaded even when the boss is dead.

Better enemy AI.

Better enemy AI.

Please.

Better, more intuitive weapon advancement system (basically right now, you either want chaos, lightning, or normal)

More cool online interaction, that work better, things along the lines of messages, and resonance rings.

Bosses that are more like the DLC bosses (They are by far the best, other than perhaps Orn and Smo)

Add more attacks to movesets by mapping more attacks onto the controller.

Make armors and enemies that are noticeable more resistant towards specific types of damage, I.e. slashing versus piercing

Add more longterm status affects with interesting affects, like egghead/curse.

Closed Beta

WOW there was a lot discussed during my slumber lol .

lets start with the invasion concept is great maybe those without a covenant are announced when invading and those in a special unspoken covenant are stealthier and are only signaled in by shadows waving in fear.

as far as more safe areas . no just .. no lol i believe the player should always bein jeopardy or course some places less likey than others

more attacks mapped to the controller .. no .. they make use of every button on the controller . its not broken so don't fix it

crossair for magic users would be great so you aren't forced to miss you target because you're locked on and shooting where they are and not wear they are going

stat connected poise would be great with the armor but knocking people down becoming easier will bring in a constant rage factor with kids yelling " HE WONT EVEN LET ME GET UP" that's garbage i would break a controller over that -_-

armor sets and weapon set bonuses yes

Enemy AI has to be improved no buts about it.

i want to see enemy AI fighting each other maybe the trees try to take back the castle

magic needs to be overhauled in creativity and effectiveness

as far as removing boss health bar visibility i can see it working out having to study the boss more for a weakness i mean it should be common since not to walk into a fire boss useing pyromancies like you're gunna do work .... but i doubt it will happen its just part of the gameplay

Not seeing the boss health bar worked great in Monster Hunter and really makes your enemy more intimidating. I would vote for no health bar, but I'm not sad if they keep the health bar.

The ONLY thing that i would really really REALLY want it to NOT be in this game is BACKSTABS ON THE F***ING LINE!!!

Heres one guys. When they bring back throwing knives (which im sure they will) and other throwable objects i think they should have a stat scaleing, like throwing knives should have some sort of damage buff with dex, and maybe if they have bombs again it would scale with strength since throwing a bomb at sombodys face with alot of strength behind it will problably do more damage.
Because lets face it, the throwing knives in des and dks are useless from the begining on.

I agree with scaling throwing knives, not so much about str scaling bombs. . .

Bombs would be interesting as very costly, or very hard to get items, that are as good depending on how much you are willing to spend, and items you are able to collect. Kind of like how pyromancy is now.

I dunno, if you want a str scaling throwable weapon, add an ax or something.

Buggy Virus wrote:I agree with scaling throwing knives, not so much about str scaling bombs. . .

Bombs would be interesting as very costly, or very hard to get items, that are as good depending on how much you are willing to spend, and items you are able to collect. Kind of like how pyromancy is now.

I dunno, if you want a str scaling throwable weapon, add an ax or something.

Maybe throwing stones? I mean sure it sounds ridiculous but i mean hell it can do blunt damage? and it would make sense if it scaled with strength. And i mean stoning people would have made sense in a medieval like era. LOL now that i think about it, if they actually put throwing stones in the game, I can imagine a host and 2 phantoms with 99 stones each ready to gank invaders by stoning them to death.

I think throwing weapons should be changed so the way they work will allow them to be usable in any area.

For example, a throwing knife is ALWAYS going to aim for the head if possible, so it is a guaranteed stun Firebombs need a larger AoE and we need combustible objects (be it enemies or platforms) where, if hit, will erupt into more powerful flames or cause certain effects.

For example, if we take a current DkS example, the armored boar in Undead Parish can be defeated by luring it into flames, but let's say their are no flames and just a bunch of scattered wood. You take a Firebomb, throw it to the wood and then it comes alight and you can lure the boar there. On another note, the wooden bridge in Undead Parish could also work as an example. An invader could burn the bridge to give the player more trouble or vice-versa the player could burn the bridge to avoid the invader.

If we were to take a more unique example. Let's say there is an enemy that, if hit with fire, will frenzy around in a savage attack, damaging everything around it. It would be unwise to try fire weapons, but perhaps you could throw a firebomb to it so it hurts its allies while you remain a safe distance. In terms of exploration, it would be nice if they could make drawbridges held by thin ropes so we could burn them and cause them to come down or else be forced to take a more dangerous route.

Demon Souls actually had this concept, but it was removed here. In Demon Souls we had explosive barrels that hurt A LOT if you struck them with fire, but could safely be broken with standard attacks. They were often used in favor of enemies (I recall at least 1 death trap that revolved around Chester's cousin shooting fire at you in a room filled with barrels) and sometimes where made where you could save yourself a hoard of enemies by using firebombs to detonate a couple of barrels.

I suppose that is one thing I hope they do here (and Monster Hunter was known to do this a bit with using pebbles to detonate bombs, using bombs to open passages,etc). Firebombs in Demon Souls, while still ouclassed, had more uses.

I mean, we have lightning conducts electricity, so where is fire detonates bombs, destroys or aggravates? As the director of Dark Souls II were part of Monster Hunter, I'm sure they are already planning this stuff.

I hope that they do not bring back any characters from previous games or explain the more mythic figures, like the God of War.

Especially I hope they don't bring back my two most hated things in Dark Souls. Chester, and the Bed of Chaos.