The Dark Souls series has seen phenomenal success with the critics and the community, but in general, it has always been perceived as something a bit niche- something that can only cater and appeal to a few players dedicated enough to put up with its punishing difficulty, while the mainstream rejects it. That premise is now coming under question, as From Software recently revealed that sales of the Dark Souls series have now touched 8 million units sold worldwide.

The original Dark Souls game makes up a staggering 5 million of these sales, with Dark Souls II and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin making up the other 3 million. 900,000 of these total 8 million sales come from Japan- the rest of these games’ popularity all comes from the rest of the world.

All in all, it is not difficult to see why From and Bandai Namco are already working on a Dark Souls III, which is due to release next year. And between this news, and the commercial success of Bloodborne, it is increasingly becoming more and more foolish to deny the selling power these games have.

Weapon durability is sort of a big deal in the Souls games (including Bloodborne). As you use your weapon, it loses its edge, and the damage it deals starts to go down. To restore it to its optimum state, you have to repair it periodically, so that you aren’t being unnecessarily held back in a world which is already pretty hostile and difficult to maneuver.

Dark Souls II features this same mechanic, but in all versions which feature 60FPS gameplay – that’s the original release of the game on PC, as well as Scholars of the First Sin on PC, PS4, and Xbox One – weapons degrade twice as fast as they should, because durability seems to be tied to some sort of cumulative framerate count since last weapon repairs. It’s absolutely annoying, and can interrupt the flow of your gameplay needlessly.

Thankfully, a fix to this bug has been released by From Software, which makes weapon damage degrade at the normal rate- currently, it is just available on PC (for both, Scholars of the First Sin, as well as the original Dark Souls II release), but the console patch can’t be too far behind.

So now when you die because your weapon had grown blunt, it will be entirely your fault!

Hot on the heels of the Bloodborne 1 million announcement, Bandai Namco have confirmed that Dark Souls II, the hit sequel to From Software’s original Dark Souls game that was released last year, is now at 2.5 million copies sold worldwide. This includes sales across all platforms, and Namco notes that the release of Scholar of the First Sin on PS4, Xbox One, and PC might see sales spurred even more.

That is not the only quality Bandai Namco game that is doing well, however. The recently released Dragon Ball Xenoverse, which is being hailed as the greatest Dragon Ball game ever, has also taken off enormously, selling 2.5 million units as well; unlike Dark Souls II, however, it did this in just three months since its launch back in January.

For me, this is good news. Although Bandai Namco often get a lot of flack, they are a great developer and publisher, willing to take risks, and support a diverse portfolio of games. Seeing them get rewarded for it makes me happy.

Dark Souls II may not have been the game that its predecessor was, but it was still a pretty darn amazing game. It is also one that From Software have made a point to support after its launch via some extensive, extremely well done post launch DLC, exemplified perhaps best by the Lost Crowns trilogy of downloadable episodes.

The last chapter in that trilogy is now available- it’s called Crown of the Ivory King and it can now be accessed over Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam. The trailer above gives us some idea as to what we can expect from the final chapter. It looks pretty exciting and interesting and extensive, and if you have invested a significant amount of time into the game already, then this DLC chapter might be right up your alley.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage of Dark Souls II, as well as of From Software’s next big game, the PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne, due to release some time next year.

From Software has made a name for itself over the last five years as the crafter of immaculate game designs, games that are extremely difficult but also extremely fair, such as Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II. It’s upcoming game, Bloodborne, seems to offer no such respite from the difficulty that pervades all of their games, and if you were expecting them to tone down the difficulty in order to appeal to a broader audience (that may or may not include you) any time soon, you will find yourself incredibly disappointed with what they had to say recently.

“Other than focusing on a dark fantasy world, we’re focusing more on making players experience the sense of accomplishment,”Dark Souls II director Yui Tanimura said during TGS. “That’s what we have been always pursuing for all games that From Software has created. We are aware that creating [games] featuring higher difficulty is becoming a minority in this industry. But that’s what From Software has been working on. In order to bring a sense of accomplishment to the players, that’s something we have to keep, stick with it, and keep remaining to do for all the upcoming titles that we will be creating.”

Personally, this makes me heave a sigh of relief. like many, I too expected From to make its games more accessible with time, but I dreaded that transition instead of welcoming it. To see From eschew it and to stick to its roots, even in the face of contradicting commercial evidence, is very reassuring indeed.

Dark Souls II released earlier this year, and while the sequel was certainly nowhere near as good as its generation defining predecessor, it was still a hell of a game. A game that was only available on the Xbox 360 and PS3. A game, therefore, that ignored the next gen consoles sitting right alongside it.

Since then, there have been numerous rumors that the game may be ported to the next gen consoles, and now, UK retailer Tesco certainly seems to have bought into them, listing Xbox One and PS4 SKUs of the game on their website.

A next gen port of Dark Souls II is actually not that much of a stretch, especially when you consider that mostly any game worth its mettle last generation has been getting remastered releases on the next gen systems- The Last of Us, Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3, and Halo 4, just off the top of my head- so it definitely wouldn’t be extraordinary if it happened.

Still, it would be a waste of resources. And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m kind of getting tired of seeing the exact same games on these new consoles that I’ve already played on the older ones.

From Software has become one of the most prestigious names in the industry, thanks to their work on the Demons Souls and Dark Souls games. Dark Souls II just released, and has been widely acknowledged as a worthy follow up to the ground breaking original game, which has been hailed as one of the purest games of all time. So naturally, any company that wants to make inroads into the gaming business would do well to snatch up this independent developer.

And that is exactly what has happened- Kadokawa, the guys who most recently got us Demon Gaze on the PS Vita, have bought up From Software. Kadokawa is a big media conglomerate in Japan, who produce movies, music, anime, and manga, so this might lead to more brand awareness for the Souls games (leading to bigger budgets). And as long as Kadokawa don’t interfere with From’s daily functioning, it shouldn’t be an issue. I hope.

From Software released Dark Souls II, the sequel to the seminal, generation defining Dark Souls, last month on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (a PC release is due this month), and they have been busy at work since then supporting the game to make sure its balance is not broken.

Proper balance is, of course, necessary especially for a game that can be as exacting on a player’s skill level as the Souls games often are- if a boss is unfairly difficult, it can completely undermine the integrity of the game (not to mention cause many players to simply quit in frustration, by sheer virtue of the fact that they won’t blame the game, they’ll simply think their own skill level is lacking).

So From’s laundry list of fixes in v1.03 and 1.04 mostly includes balance tweaks and nerfs. The full list is below:

• Changed the “heavy” throwing animation for Corrosive Urns. Reduced corrosive damage to items when hit.
• Increase in durability on Twin Blade Weapon / Decreased their durability degradation.
• Moonlight Greatsword can no longer be enchanted and buffed. Attack animation has been slowed / adjusted.
• The upward adjustment weight, the degree of toughness, the defense of “large helmet of Gerumu warrior” Armor (Thanks Google Translate. I have no idea what a Gerumu is).
• Reduced damage from the Ring of Thorns.
• Reduced damage from the Ring of the Old Sun
• Damage will not decrease for every enemy that Soul Spear pieces trough.
• Increase in casting time and decrease of damage for Soul Greatsword
• Upward adjustment of the bullet speed “lump of Seoul to be tracked” magic “crystal mass of Seoul to be tracked”, and a lower adjustment of stamina take the amount of darkness surgery “those who follow” (Unsure of the horrible Google Translate)
• The downward adjustment of the amount of damage “torrent of Seoul” magic (I’m guessing a nerf in Soul Geyser or Soul Vortex)
• Casting speed on recovery spells being lengthened.
• Decrease in damage and increase in casting time for all Fire Storm-esque pyromancies. Might also include a decrease in damage for Forbidden Sun.
• Increased defense for Lucatiel, Benhart, and Manscorpion Tark (one other NPC mentioned).
• The downward adjustment of the HP enemy “rupture the Dead” (???)
• Female mages in Shrine Of Amana receiving nerf in both damage and their spell’s tracking ability.
• Fire Lizards in Forest of Fallen Giants will not spit fire in slower intervals.
• Downward adjustment period the occurrence of the shock wave of attack during downswing enemy of “backpack hammer”
• The Last Giant now does even less damage to players and Well-Mannered Pate.
• The Lost Sinner now has less HP and does less damage.
• Royal Rat Authority now has less HP and does less damage
• Duke’s Dear Freja’s laser breath now does less damage.
• Enemies around Sinner’s Rise now do less damage
• Shadow Men in the Flexile Sentry’s Boss area in NG+ now do less damage

Sounds like a fairly substantial overhaul, all said and done.

Have you bought Dark Souls II yet? What do you think of it?

Fans have been worried that developers From Software will downgrade the visual side of Dark Souls II’s PC version, especially considering the fact that they even took down the really good looking high res images of the game from Steam. But it looks like there won’t be much cause for worry, as the game might still retain the high end graphical options that were promised to us back when it was first announced.

A Reddit user has leaked an image of the game that shows its graphics options, including the likes of anti-aliasing, texture quality, shadow quality, anisotropic filtering, water surface quality, motion blur and more. The image, of course, shows that they’ve all been set to the highest possible settings, but of course, we don’t know what that will look like yet. Take a look at the image below anyway.

There’s no confirmation yet, but we’ve kept our eyes and ears peeled for any hint of a clue. So stay tuned and watch this space for more updates.

Dark Souls II, the surprise sequel to From Software’s breakout hit Dark Souls, will be releasing in March this year on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with a PC release to follow shortly. Ahead of its release, we’ve been obliged with nine minutes of gameplay footage of the upcoming title, which mostly shows your character in relentless combat.

The one thing this footage does is lay to rest any lingering fears you might have had that the insane difficulty of the first game would be reduced in order to appeal to a broader audience- the simplest enemies in the gameplay footage seem to be adept at kicking the main character’s ass, making his life difficult on every level, generally.

After the incredible success, both critical and commercial, of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, all eyes are set on From to see if they can land it home for the third time in a row.

We’ll keep you posted on if they do.