Dark Souls II Is More About Balance Than Difficulty, Says Director

Those of you who’ve played Dark Souls can probably describe the game using a single word with ease, such as “difficult,” “death,” “nightmare,” and countless others along those lines. However, it’s that very same challenge that makes the game unique and appealing. In a recent interview, Dark Souls II director Yui Tanimura talked to 4Gamer about the difficulty of the game.

During the interview, 4Gamer asks about Dark Souls II’s difficulty and asks  the director if he thinks it’s harder than the first game.

“We didn’t intend on making it more difficult, but there were definitely some people who voiced ‘it’s harder than the last game’ within the company,” says Tanimura. “Since this is a sequel title, in a way, it wouldn’t be fun to simply repeat things again, so like I’ve talked about before, there are certain parts with quite a different range in difficulty. For this reason, people may not be used to it, so it may feel more difficult.”

4Gamer points out that in the first Dark Souls, you could look at the map and say ‘since the map is like that, there’s got to be something in the shaded area,’ but it’s not quite the same in Dark Souls II.

“Yes, but even for Dark Souls II, once you understand the setups, it isn’t exactly too difficult, so there’s not too much to worry about,” responds Tanimura as the 4Gamer interviewer jokes about doubting him.

“Okay, saying that there’s nothing to worry about might be a bit of an overstatement,” Tanimura continues with a laugh. “However, when we were developing Dark Souls II, we didn’t really have any ideas on what to do about difficulty. If anything, we focused more on a ‘balance that can provide a sense of fulfillment,’ so please challenge [the game] and enjoy it for yourselves.”

In February and early March, From Software held various demo sessions across Japan. 4Gamer asks if the demo experience was well received by the players.

“There were a lot of people who said ‘This feeling you get from dying in the early stages… I’m relieved that it’s still the Dark Souls we know’,” shares Tanimura. “I believe that since it’s a sequel, there were a lot of people who were worried that too much would have changed.”

“However, during the network testing we did from September through October 2013, we got a lot of opinions on the game’s controls and UI,” adds the director. “We looked through the feedback thoroughly and put it to good use, so if some of you guys have been worried since the network testing, please give the full version a chance.”

Finally, 4Gamer asks about the volume of the full game.

“While we were developing the game, our aim was to make it 1.2x the volume of the first title,” says Tanimura. “However, when you take the difficult parts into consideration along with other features, it might feel closer to 1.5x of the first game.”

“We’re confident that the sense of accomplishment you’ll get from playing the game until the very end will be much higher than any other game. So, to those of you who are fans of the series, or playing it for the first time, please try clearing the game; you won’t be disappointed,” concludes Tanimura.

Dark Souls II is currently available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A PC version will be released on April 25, 2014. If you’re currently struggling through the game, you can check out this earlier post for some pointers!