For players of Dark Souls, the feeling could only be described as "it's New Year's again."
So even felt that hearing news about a prequel was more exciting than the New Year itself for many die-hard Dark Souls fans.
anwhile, in the office of Nebula Gas, Anna, Rachel, Hector, and the others sitting in the eting room were all completely confused.
Players outside were beyond excited, major ga dia were all reporting that a Dark Souls sequel was coming, and fellow designers and developers in the industry were quietly watching.
But they themselves knew the truth—this so-called prequel didn't even have a folder created yet!
Even the picture Lucas had posted on the official account was sothing he had quickly pulled from last year's promo materials.
And everyone knew today's eting was basically about this Dark Souls prequel.
"Lucas, there's only about a month before the gaplay expo. Trying to make a demo version isn't very realistic!" Before the eting even started, Hector, sitting next to Lucas, whispered to him.
"Yeah, even if the overall frawork is there, one month is just too rushed, right?" Rachel added.
Everyone shared the sa thought—getting a playable demo ready for the expo would be way too hard.
Even if they worked overti every single day, it didn't feel like they could make it in ti.
"Why are you all panicking? Whether it's interviews or the official account, didn't I already say? During the gaplay expo, we'll bring new content to players. Isn't a trailer also considered content?" Lucas sighed as he looked at them.
When it ca to skills, Rachel, Anna, and Hector had all been learning and improving a lot over the past two years. They were already capable of handling tasks on their own.
They could complete the jobs he assigned very well, but when it ca to understanding, they were still lacking a bit.
As ga developers, wasn't this the most basic ability?
If a ga developer couldn't "paint a picture of the future," could they really be called qualified?
Look at those famous ga studios and producers from before. Which of them wasn't a master at hyping things up?
So official accounts kept posting photos with celebrities that made people wonder if they were spending company money to chase stars, sotis even throwing in travel or food pictures. And whenever players asked about the progress of a ga, the answer was always, "We're working on it."
And then there was that one company starting with B, which was even bolder. At the expo, they just showed a ga title, then played a grand the song from the series with so scene images zooming in and out—and that was it.
Compared to that, at least Lucas was preparing a proper promo CG.
After hearing Lucas's words, everyone went quiet for a while, but then relaxed.
Because when you looked at it that way, the ti really didn't seem so tight.
Last year at this ti, they were making the promo CG while also developing Legends of the Three Kingdoms and Fall Guys at the sa ti.
This year, even though the ti was about a month shorter, they only needed to focus on one project.
On top of that, Dark Souls already had a frawork in place, which would save a lot of ti for developnt going forward.
Checking the ti, Lucas saw that all the staff from different departnts had arrived, so he stood up to start today's eting.
"Alright, I believe everyone already knows the topic of today's eting." Lucas spoke as he opened the laptop on the eting table.
The projector behind him lit up, showing a docunt with the title: Dark Souls Prequel.
Underneath was a subtitle: Age of Fire.
The people in the eting didn't look too surprised.
Because Lucas had already hinted on the official account that this prequel ga would be set in the ancient era—the very beginning of the Age of Fire.
So this subtitle also matches well with the ga's story.
The only thing everyone is curious about is what makes this prequel ga different from the past ones.
"The prequel to Dark Souls won't change much in the battle system, except for so adjustnts to the numbers." Lucas looked at everyone and set the foundation first.
Lucas didn't plan to change the core battle system.
After all, in the previous life, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3 shared the sa style of combat system, since both were directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki.
It was only because of technical limitations that so "difficulties" appeared in the details.
The clearest example is when drinking Estus in the ga.
In Dark Souls 3, players can move a little while drinking, which makes the combat feel smoother.
But in Dark Souls 1, drinking was a fixed action where you just stood still. This was more like a technical shortcoming. After all, when Miyazaki first developed Dark Souls 1, there was barely any funding. Even the artistic map design wasn't planned from the start, but was instead a compromise due to low budget—yet it unexpectedly beca the most iconic part of the ga.
Of course, drinking in Dark Souls 1 wasn't the most frustrating. The most frustrating was Dark Souls 2, a ga many fans considered no longer worthy of the "Souls" na. That ga added an Agility stat, and early on, drinking Estus was unbearably slow. Especially for characters starting with nothing, the drinking speed made countless players complain that it felt like they weren't drinking Estus but so bottle of urea—it was that hard to swallow.
Still, Dark Souls 2 wasn't without rits. Aside from its map design, its combat system leaned more toward "realism." But that style was completely different from Dark Souls 1, which caused a split among players. So thought it was an evolution, while others felt it was a huge step backward. For a series, changing its core style so directly was risky.
So when it ca to the battle system, Lucas didn't plan on big changes, only so small adjustnts.
As for bosses and monsters, Lucas skipped over that part for now. At this stage, there was no need to discuss it yet.
Right now, Lucas mainly explained how the map design would work with the ga chanics, so everyone could see what made this ga different.
"The biggest difference from the earlier gas is that we're redoing a huge portion of the map. The interconnected design will be shown even more fully in the prequel, and it will beco one of the core experiences for players. To let them feel its charm more deeply, there will be so small changes to the chanics." Lucas smiled at the group.
Small changes to the chanics?
Hearing this, Rachel, Anna, and the others all looked curious. But seeing Lucas's faint smile, they had a feeling those "small changes" might not be so small after all.
Sure enough, his next words left them stunned.
"For example, bonfires in the ga can't be used to teleport." Lucas chuckled at their curious expressions.
"Wha… bonfires can't teleport!?" Hector's eyes widened.
Anna, Rachel, and the rest of the team in the eting room all looked shocked.
Did they hear that right?
Bonfires in the ga's map can't teleport?
If there's one thing that gave players peace of mind in Dark Souls, it was the bonfire.
Because at the bonfire, you could return to Firelink Shrine and et the Fire Keeper, and it basically served as saving your progress.
But now the bonfire couldn't teleport?
How could anyone play this ga!?
If you wanted to see the Fire Keeper again, you'd have to climb mountains, cross obstacles, and fight your way back.
And if you were carrying tens of thousands of souls and wanted to head back to level up, but then died twice in a row on the way—wouldn't that drive anyone insane?
(End of The Chapter)
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