The third installment in From Software’s breakout Dark Souls series will hit next year, and for the fanbase, which finds itself splintered between the first Dark Souls game, and Dark Souls II, it will come as good news, as the game is going to take the best of both the games to craft a new whole.
Game Informer today reported on all the elements that the game will be borrowing from the previous two games– for instance, the fast travel system will be returning to the game, and it will function exactly like it did in Dark Souls II. Respecialization is also something that the game’s director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, wants in the game, though he is unsure if it will work like it did before.
“I’m not sure if the same sort of item [as before] will be implemented, but there will be a method for players to re-assign souls,” Miyazaki says. This feature was sorely missed in Bloodborne, so it should come as good news.
We also got more information about New Game+, which will function like Dark Souls II’s New Game + mode- this means new weapons, items, and reconfigured enemy locations and placements, to keep players on their feet, and to keep them invested in playing through the game again.
Durability has always been a controversial aspect of the games- after a certain point, weapons in Dark Souls break. But in Dark Souls, the mechanic was never implemented well enough for it to amount to much, while in Dark Souls II, they went overboard, and weapons broke far too easily and frequently. For Dark Souls III, Miyazaki says he is looking for a balance between these two extremes.
“Still tuning the balance, but I personally think that the weapons in Dark Souls II break a little too easily. This was implemented intending for the players to try out many types of weapons, but even so, I felt they broke too quickly. However, in Dark Souls I, they didn’t break enough, and so I’m hoping to find a good balance for Dark Souls III. “
Miyazaki also confirmed that summoning and invasion will not work like they did in Bloodborne, where they were tied to depletable items, which stunted the PvP community’s growth. They will also not work like they did in Dark Souls II, where the Soul Memory mechanic made it hard for players to play with each other. Instead, the game will return to using the Soul Level mechanic for matchups from the original Dark Souls game.
Hidden walls are also returning to Dark Souls, and they will function like they did in the original game. “This is due to my thinking behind this type of feature,” Miyazaki says. “I like to have coincidences happen during battles, or accidental reveals due to swinging weapons around, randomly shooting arrows. I want to implement this sort of surprise discovery in a natural way when playing the game.”
In addition to all of this, magic will also be getting massive overhaul in this game– it will no longer function like it did in either of the past entries. Instead, Miyazaki will be going all the way back to the original Demon’s Souls, and use its MP mechanic for magic in the game.
“By changing the magic management system to an MP scheme, options and freedom of utilization should increase. This way we can better clarify the differences in managing items and magic,” Miyazaki says.
He also confirmed that different kinds of spells would be appropriately differentiated.
“We will make sure that they are not just the same type of spells with different attributes (i.e. Spear type, lightning type) but actually have specific characteristics that can enhance the players’ play styles and strategies,” Miyazaki says. “Players will be able to have more criteria to accurately choose the different types of spells to best fit their tactics and strategies. This is similar to the thinking behind the characterization of each weapon and their specific battle arts.”
Dark Souls 3 will launch early next year on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.