" Scholar of the First Sin is happening simultaneously with all the story elements from the original Dark Souls 2."ĭespite that assurance, Yoshimura coyly hints that the cryptic Scholar could lead to a new final boss encounter or perhaps even a new ending altogether.
Yoshimura is quick to note that the original story is not being replaced. The Forlorn can and will show up at multiple points throughout the game The titular Scholar of the First Sin is a mysterious character who has fresh information on the tragic past events of the world that Dark Souls 2 takes place in. Yoshimura won't spill details on new weapons, armor or items in Scholar of the First Sin, but he makes it clear that defeating the Forlorn will provide rewards that players will want.Īlong with the Forlorn, a new friendly non-player character will provide story developments. Unlike other invasion NPCs, though, the Forlorn can and will show up at multiple points throughout the game, hunting the player mercilessly.
If that doesn't sound challenging enough, From Software has also come up with a new enemy named "The Forlorn." Like some other non-player characters in Dark Souls 2, the Forlorn is an "invasion NPC" - a computer-controlled opponent that pops into your game in the same terrifying way as a real-life PvP opponent. More dense packs of enemies have been placed in some areas, and they'll now track players for much longer, effectively ending the strategy of just running past less bad guys. In addition to different enemies in different locations and enemies from the DLC making their way into the core game's zones, Yoshimura says that enemy AI has been improved across the board. Players need to come up with a new battle strategy." All those safe zones that players remember from the original Dark Souls 2 are no longer safe. "This new enemy placement completely changes the gameplay experience. "We revised the enemy placement completely for all maps in the game," Yoshimura says. But we will let players control soul memory to at least let them match more easily."Īnother major change in Scholar of the First Sin is enemy placement. "Indirect communication with other players is the unique aspect of the Dark Souls franchise. "I'm not saying players can directly communicate with their friends, "Yoshimura says. This will also allow friends who want to play co-op together to find each other more easily, a long-standing request from many fans. Many players complained about this system, as it was difficult to determine the best soul memory range to ensure that you could find people to play with or against.įrom Software isn't dumping soul memory altogether, but Yoshimura says that players will now have ways to control the range of soul memory that the game searches for when connecting to other players. In Dark Souls 2, your ability to join someone's game (whether as friend or foe) was determined by something called "soul memory" - basically a stat tracking how much currency a player had earned and spent throughout their total time in the game. In addition to changing the number of players able to appear in your game at any one time, From Software is also tweaking how those characters get there. The major changes to Scholar of the First Sin include a new multiplayer cap of six players (up from four in the original Dark Souls 2), which can include a mix of cooperative partners and PvP players seeking to ruin your day.
"This is not just a remaster," Yoshimura tells Polygon.
It will be available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but Dark Souls 2 global producer Atsuo Yoshimura is focused on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions of the upcoming release.
But according to Bandai Namco and From Software, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin will be something different.įirst revealed in November last year, Scholar of the First Sin is a package that will include a revised version of Dark Souls 2 with all three of its downloadable content add-ons plus other new additions. At this point, ports of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games to the latest generation of consoles are a dime a dozen.