Dark Souls

THE BUZZ: Japanese gaming website, Degenki, posted an interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki of From Software in which he reveals a few new gameplay details for Dark Souls.

WHAT WE KNOW: In the interview he touched on subjects including, areas, status effects, weapons, humanity, invasions and magic spells. You can check out the details below.

Areas

- There are over 20 areas in the game (areas that display a name when you enter them)

- There are areas that have no impact on the main story (bonus areas.) In one of these areas, there is a secret covenant that can only be obtained at this particular location (director Miyazaki’s favorite covenant)

Status Effects

- There are 3 status effects: bleed, poison, and curse. Curse in particular is a very nasty status effect

- You cannot reverse the status points allocated to your character

Weapons

- You can add elemental effects to weapons through forging

- There is a new weapon category called “giant bow,” which is a bow that is as big as the player and fires projectiles the size of spears

Humanity

- Humanity can be obtained from items, humans or enemies who used to be human

- Humanity affects item drop rate, resistance to curse and affects some spells and weapons

- Only players with humanity can summon phantoms to help them

- In Co-Op, players who successfully aided a host are rewarded with humanity. In addition, players may be awarded additional benefits based on what covenant they have

Invasions

Invasions can occur for three different reasons:

- To steal another players humanity

- To steal a valuable item away from another player

- To punish a player for betraying something

Magic Spells

- The total of sorceries, pyromancies, and miracles is over 60

- Director Miyazaki recommends two miracles to players: the “force” miracle and the “requesting aid” miracle. The “requesting aid” miracle allows the player to see a bunch of messages from other players

EGM’s TAKE: Dark Souls is shaping up to be an excellent successor to Demon Souls and the invasions mechanic could really add some extra difficulty to an already complex game.