Dark Souls II - GameGPU Preview
| BASIC INFORMATION ON THE GAME |
Release date : April 25, 2014
Genre : Action, RPG
Developer : From Software
Publisher : Japan From Software, Europe and USA Namco Bandai Games, Russia 1C-SoftKlab
A modern action game is like an art gallery. The paintings in which are beautiful textures, explosions, breathtaking scenes, and the plot, this is your guide in this world, takes you by the hand and shows everything. Hit points are restored, saving at any point and the death of your character is not very upsetting. Very convenient, the player does not think about whether he can complete the game, it's just a matter of time.
| GRAPHIC COMPONENT |
That is why the Dark Souls series is needed in order to dilute the Action genre with hardcore. Dark Souls II is an open-world sequel to Dark Souls developed by From Software. It was released on March 13, 2014 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles. The PC release is scheduled for April 25.
Five years ago, Japanese developers from From Software introduced Demon's Souls to players. Director of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls Hidetaka Miyazaki has never hidden that he made the game for himself without focusing on the general public, but the response from the players certainly surprised him a lot. And then Dark Souls appears on the scene, which grew up on the ideas of Demon's Souls, which in turn brought incredible success to the company. Separate locations have grown into an open world, combat mechanics have become more universal, resistance to various types of attacks is practically absent, the game has also become softer for the player, after death half of the health is not taken away and "checkpoints" bonfires come across more often.
Having collected all the available information on the game, we can tell you that the continuation of the Dark Souls II series will not be an exception and there will be even more changes in it. Dark Souls II isn't the most difficult game ever made, but it's the best game to reward you for your hard work. The victory over the boss will bring as many emotions as some games throughout the story are not able to squeeze out of you.
| Plot |
The story in Dark Souls II begins many years after the events of the first part. At the very beginning, a dark portal that opens up sucks the main character in, delivering you to the scene of action. The scene of action will be transferred to Drangelik, the kingdom to which the curse of the undead has reached. First you have to choose how the character will look like, and then decide on the class to choose between a warrior and a sorcerer.
They won’t trust us to throw fireballs right away, but now a warrior can use two weapons and spells now also use endurance. The mechanics of sneak attacks have been reworked, they have become more situational. You can still wield weapons with one or two hands, rolls are still more effective than blocks, and after parrying a blow you feel like a really cool warrior.
The protagonist is no longer the Chosen One, and he is driven by the desire to survive, not to turn into an inhuman monster, to find a cure, to remove the curse or his agony, and not the mythical coming of a savior. Many in the kingdom follow the same principle, for the world of Drangleic is filled with souls, the only matter that sustains the smoldering sparks of mind in the damned.
| Dark or Demon's |
In Dark Souls II, it is not clear which Souls are actually larger than Dark or Demon's. The plot is promised to be presented little by little, as in Dark Souls, but now it will not do without cut-scenes. The story will be more emotional than in Dark Souls and similar to the story of Demon's Souls. The developers of the game mentioned that the sequel is indirectly related to the predecessor and also that the time in the game can greatly affect the plot. Also, players who are familiar with the previous part of the game firsthand will find a decent amount of references and funny memories of the experience gained then (bosses, locations, item descriptions).
The general concept is still the same as in the first part, we travel through the open world, fight the curse, fight opponents and take away their souls in order to survive. The main character will not have an easy battle to save his own soul and humanity. Death takes away part of humanity along with experience, that is, when we die, we lose not only vitality, but also slowly turn into a ghoul. The character does not immediately turn into a monster, but gradually moves towards this.
Although the number of "mistakes" a character can make has been increased, the road back to humanity will be bumpy and difficult. Humanity can no longer be accumulated, in order to regain its former appearance, you will have to kill bosses or look for rare items, as it was in Demon's Souls. and now it is not necessary to look for a fire to return the human form. The importance of bonfires has also been slightly reworked, now by lighting a bonfire the player will not receive additional flasks, but will only strengthen the existing ones, which will have to be searched all over the world. It is better to restore health in moments of respite with the help of ordinary healing stones, and leave the flasks for battles. Campfires will also not help to spend souls on character development, for this you will have to return to the starting village.
| Combat mechanics |
Let's take a closer look at the changes in combat mechanics. Sword combat is even more difficult, and the stamina bar will have to be monitored more than ever. Those who are used to going on the defensive, hiding behind a shield, will have to retrain, because a blow to the shield, knocking the last of your strength out of you, stuns the character. And at that moment, the enemy will be able to deal a critical hit to you - in the manner of what was possible in Dark Souls after parrying.
A series of tricks have become much more dangerous. If a player is hit by the first blow, he has almost no opportunity to escape before the end of the combat combination. Somersaults to the side have ceased to be a panacea. The time of invulnerability in the roll has been significantly reduced, and certain attacks have to be dodged in the right direction.
It remains to carefully monitor the enemy and competently position themselves on the battlefield or increase a new characteristic for the series - agility. She is responsible for the speed of rolls, parries and the ability to cover herself with a shield in time. The rethought characteristic of resistance (resistance), which was not very useful before, is now also able to provide all possible assistance in combat. At a high value, light damage - say, from arrows - deals minimal damage. And hiding behind a shield, the character loses less stamina.
Armor and shields have also been reforged. Shields are very close to becoming an equal combat unit. Now they can not only defend, but also attack. Yes, and with a critical blow to "please" a stunned enemy.
| Bosses |
When people talk about the Dark Souls series, they usually immediately think of the bosses. Dark Souls II is no exception. The feeling of helplessness at the first meeting with a serious opponent remains in the memory for a long time. But as soon as you leave the starting village and find yourself in a foggy forest full of fir phantoms, or in a tomb occupied by rodents, you understand that the mythology of the world of Dark Souls II is surprisingly rich. Drangelic is not as impressive as Boletaria or Lordran, but from the standpoint of artistic taste, From Software is able to wipe the nose of many.
Bosses are the most important element of the world of Dark Souls II, and in this respect From Software it was difficult to surpass themselves. A giant Gray Wolf with a huge sword, the nightmarish guards Ornstein and Smough - such heroes are hard to forget. There are 30 strange bosses in Dark Souls 2, and they are all mostly secondary. "Fire Demon", "huge knight", one generally resembles a gargoyle from the first part, but for every deja vu there is a fight in an acid pool or some other impressive scene.
| Multiplayer |
The multiplayer has also been changed. Red phantoms will be able to invade everyone without restrictions. It doesn't matter if you're in human form or not. But even here there are no rules, as it turned out. The developers decided to develop the concept of the sinfulness of the character. In Dark Souls, doing bad things - killing friendly NPCs, other players, or betraying your covenant - risked the wrath of the Blade of the Darkmoon faction. Now the sins of the character will not let the player sleep peacefully. Scoundrels, dying over and over again, risk being left with 15% of their maximum health and at the same time become a priority target for those who are just beginning to comprehend the dark path and the art of hunting other players. The higher the level of sinfulness, the higher the chance that other phantoms will invade you. Slightly less chance of being caught off guard - players The covenant system has also been reworked. We are unlikely to see the old names, but it is not difficult to notice whose ears grow in some of them.
Way of Blue and Blue Sentinels are covenants united by mutual assistance. By entering the Way of Blue, the player will be able to get help if his world is invaded by a red phantom. This covenant is perfect for those who do not like PvP, but prefer to focus on passing the game.
Blue Sentinels are sentinels that help members of the Way of Blue fend off phantoms. If you become a defender, you can be called upon to help someone whose world has been invaded by a red phantom at any time. The most interesting thing about the guards is that, once in the world of the attacked player, they will not be able to help him deal with the monsters. For the guards from the Blue Sentinels, the main target is the red phantom.
Brotherhood of Blood is a covenant that is suitable for pvp lovers. Swear allegiance to the ancient god of war and make bloody sacrifices to him. The main thing - remember that in the form of a red phantom, your health automatically drops to 75% of your maximum.
Heirs to the Sun is a famous covenant of helpers with a golden golden aura. Call on such a phantom for help, and the monsters will fall under the onslaught of your combined might.
Bell Keepers - become a guardian of two bells symbolizing two lovers who were never destined to meet. This covenant, apparently, will become an analogue of the Forest Hunter from the previous game, whose participants had to protect a certain location from any encroachment.
| Supported OS and graphics API |
Dark Souls II uses the latest version of the Havok Physics multi-platform engine, the Havok Physics hardware platform is quite wide and includes all currently existing operating systems and consoles. Announced support for Playstation 3,Xbox 360 and PC. The game will be compatible with all major systems of the Microsoft Windows family of 32-bit or 64-bit systems, support for OS X and Linux was not mentioned by the developers. The priority and main graphics API for Dark Souls II will be DirectX 11. The game will work through the Steam digital distribution service. Steam is already accepting pre-orders for the game.
By making an early purchase, users will receive free access to a dynamic theme and access to 10 types of weapons and shields that are part of the Black Armor Weapon Set. They will also receive the 35-track original soundtrack, an art book, and the complete Dark Souls 2 comic book series.
| Game engine |
The basis for Dark Souls II was the Havok Physics game engine, better known simply as Havok, a physics engine developed by the Irish company Havok. The engine creates a simulation of physical interaction in real time, which makes the game world more alive and realistic, similar to Ragdoll physics. Ragdoll is a type of procedural animation that replaced static, pre-rendered animation. The name comes from the English phrase rag doll, which is why in Russian this type of animation is often called a “rag doll”. Havok Physics is a multiplatform engine. Initially, the developers planned to create a game on a new game engine, however, due to insufficiently powerful technical characteristics of the seventh generation consoles, the old Havok engine will be used.
The Havok SDK 1.0 was released at the Game Developers Conference in 2000. At the moment, the seventh version of the product has been developed, which was released in December 2009. On February 20, 2008, Havok announced that the Havok Physics engine was becoming free to download for PC game developers, but only for non-commercial use. For multi-platform developers, Havok will still be paid. On June 1, 2008, the Havok Physics and Havok Animation engines become available for download and commercial use to PC game developers for Microsoft Windows. On June 11, 2008, Havok, an Intel Corporation company, entered into an agreement to work with AMD to optimize ATI Radeon graphics cards and AMD CPUs for the Havok physics engine.
Most recently, the company introduced the sixth version of Havok technology, which for the first time introduces the Havok Cloth (realistic fabric behavior) and Havok Destruction (imitation of various destruction) tools. In October 2009, Ubisoft signed an agreement with Havok under which the "Havok" engine will be used in games developed by Ubisoft for many years to come. Since the introduction of the first SDK in 2000, it has been used in more than 150 PC games. Initially, most of the games powered by Havok technologies belonged to the first-person shooter genre. For example, the physics engine in the Source engine, created by Valve Corporation and used in Half-Life 2 and its expansions, includes some of the refactored Havok Physics version 2 code.
To date, the use of this physics engine can be seen in genres such as adventure (Uru: Ages Beyond Myst by Cyan Worlds), real-time strategy (Company of Heroes by THQ and Relic Entertainment and StarCraft II by Blizzard Entertainment), action ( Assassin's Creed by Ubisoft), platform game (Super Smash Bros. Brawl by Nintendo). At the moment, the purchase of a license and the use of a physical engine in Wargaming projects in the KTTS #16 program by the main producer Sergey Burkatovsky has been confirmed. Havok is used not only in games, but also in educational simulators, for example, in the driving simulator 3D Instructor, which is designed to improve driving skills and obey traffic rules. Havok is also used in Autodesk Media & Entertainment products,
| Gameplay video |
Below we publish directly the video of the gameplay itself from the official website of Dark Souls II:
| Estimated system requirements |
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS REQUIRED FOR GAMEGPU " Dark Souls II "
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Based on the above material, some conclusions can be drawn. Dark Souls II is apparently not very demanding on RAM resources, and the maximum that it can require is 4 gigabytes of RAM. Also, the game is unlikely to use more than 4 computational threads.
Well, if you think about the graphics subsystem that will be needed for Dark Souls II, then in our opinion, video cards starting from the level of NVidia GTX 750 Ti or AMD Radeon HD 7850 can provide sufficient performance. Optimal performance, taking into account all activated maximum settings, can be expected from NVidia GTX 770 or AMD Radeon R9 280X.