Looking at the review scores of Dark Souls II, no one expected it to be a hasty patch product after a long time of deviation in development.
Dark Souls II can be said to be a difference between the Dark Souls game series. Not directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, Dark Souls II was not appreciated by fans at the time of release, mostly when it was an extremely anticipated sequel after Dark Souls’ brilliant success. However, it’s undeniable that Dark Souls II is still a pretty excellent game despite many inadequacies, especially when bringing many new and unique elements to the Souls series along with the best multiplayer section in the series game. Dark Souls II had a great ambition to succeed the quintessence that Part 1 left, but due to a complicated development process, ambition almost became a disaster.
After performing the Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, Miyazaki was promoted in the studio. He gradually became interested in new projects rather than making Dark Souls II, resulting in Bloodborne’s birth. The Dark Souls II project’s leading role is given to FromSoftware’s two veterans, Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, while Miyazaki will only act as an adviser supervisor. The new development team of Dark Souls II wants the game to overcome the shadow of part 1, both in terms of techniques and gameplay, to become the next masterpiece. They aimed to create a new and advanced graphics engine, paving the way for the Souls game series to go to the next-gen console. The team wants the graphics and lighting to be realistic and vivid to emphasize the storyline that revolves around fire and light that symbolizes Dark Souls II’s development and hope.
The original plan for the game context was the icy mountains. Gradually with increasing ambition, the game world is increasingly open to diverse areas, environments, and wonders for players to explore. Ambition is not feasible when putting all the content in the game is a great difficulty. Simultaneously, the game must also maintain a high challenge but fairness, which made the quintessence of part 1, which was not straightforward with a large and complex world structure like Dark Souls II.
Great ambition cannot guarantee everything to go smoothly. Right in the middle of development, Dark Souls II is a mess. The new graphics engine is impressive, but it cannot run smoothly on contemporary consoles and technical issues with bugs and glitches due to the high hardware requirements. Some characters and environments are designed in detail and beauty, but generally, most designs look very complicated and incomplete due to not having a specific direction. In general, Dark Souls II is nothing like a complete game. It is full of errors and technical issues, and the core of gameplay is not attractive at all. Even its risk can never be finalized.
FromSoftware’s upper-division now decided that the Dark Souls II development team needed to be restructured. Yui Tanimura became the sole director of the project to ensure a consistent vision. Tanimura no longer wanted to create something so great with Dark Souls II, instead of turning the mess that cost so much money and resources into something kind. It is almost impossible since Dark Souls II has gone quite far and is very expensive. The studio’s resources are limited, making it impossible to start from the beginning. The new game team must take advantage of what they have and fix them at an urgent time. That left Tanimura many sleepless nights.
The game world is rebuilt and rearranged in the most logical way to ensure minimal work from the beginning. Many of the game’s old designs have been completed, partly revised to fit the new format. It means that the team has to put aside the ideas and visions previously reserved for the characters or the environment to put them into a new position or role. Some designs even have to do all over again. A lot of complicated options are in place. Anyway, under Tanimura’s direction, the game team still works well and retains some of its creativity.
The last problem is the advanced graphics engine. No matter how you adjust it, it cannot work correctly. And then a sad decision must be made, which is to reduce the graphics quality of Dark Souls II. The game will not be as beautiful as what the game team always expected, but the most important thing is that it will run smoothly and playable.
Dark Souls II was released and received positive reviews from players with experts. This is not the masterpiece that its creators once thought of, but it is still a good game and worth playing. It is the result of the rise from the failure of the people behind it.
The last problem is the advanced graphics engine. No matter how you adjust it, it cannot work correctly. And then a sad decision must be made, which is to reduce the graphics quality of Dark Souls II. The game will not be as beautiful as what the game team always expected, but the most important thing is that it will run smoothly and playable.
Dark Souls II was released and received positive reviews from players with experts. This is not the masterpiece that its creators once thought of, but it is still a good game and worth playing. It is the result of the rise from the failure of the people behind it.
