The world of Dark Souls II doesn’t exactly inspire frolicking in beach sandals and cut-offs. It’s a cold, wet place. But the latest DLC, Crown of the Ivory King, is downright freezing.
At a recent roundtable discussion at Namco Bandai headquarters in Tokyo, Dark Souls II director Yui Tanimura discussed the thinking behind the DLC’s wintery setting.
“The purpose of the DLC is to provide another experience to gamers,” said Tanimura. The post-launch downloadable content seemed like the best way to offer a snow-covered Dark Souls experience to players.
“The snow-storm climb changes and isn’t stable,” Tanimura explained. So, depending on the weather, the path that players take — and the tricks and traps that can be sprung along that route — vary with the weather. This kind of gameplay is different from other Dark Souls experiences.
“During development, initially, we had it so the weather could actually impact your character’s health,” Tanimura said. “But the gameplay wasn’t that fun, so we removed that element.” Instead, the focus is being thrown into a snowstorm and getting lost in the blizzard.
Dark Souls II: Crown of the Ivory King will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 on September 24.
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3 responses to “What Cold Weather Does In Dark Souls II’s Newest DLC”
Just so long as they dont re-skin another boss I will be happy. Ive loved the dlc so far but that shits just lazy…..
Maybe I missed something, but after all that, what does cold weather do in Dark Souls II’s newest DLC? I know somehow the weather changes the “tricks and traps” but that really doesn’t tell me anything other than there’s an element of randomisation. Or is the answer “Not that much”?
It’s kind of disappointing they removed the effects of the cold on the character. Slowly freezing and losing your reaction times or limiting your stamina in between sources of warmth would have been cool (pardon the pun).
There’s an article on Polygon that’ll explain the effects of the snow on the person. Basically, we’ll be getting progressively blinded by the snow. The harder it snows, the harder it is to see, which is kind of realistic as snow isn’t easy to see through (*cough* Skyrim).
Anyway, I would have loved to see that health draining mechanic though. Would have added an even greater challenge to this DLC.
Bad Company 2 had a level like that where you had to get from heat source to heat source in the snow or you would freeze to death
I like the idea of slowed reaction time! Or slower attack speed. Maybe using the torch could counter-act that, by keeping you warm.
The footage I’ve seen from when it’s snowing does look pretty awesome though, can only see a few feet in front and enemies come out of no where.