KillScreen: How do you make an RPG after Dark Souls?

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/articles/feature/how-do-you-make-rpg-after-dark-souls/

Basically he's saying Dark Souls is the pinnacle of RPG, the standard-bearer other RPGs or even other games are striving to be like....

I pretty much agree with him....Souls series is the franchise of the forever, the best there is

Dark Souls is inside everything now. It rose into space and became pure energy. It comes back in the stones and secrets of new worlds. It’s in the black courtyards ofDark Arisen, the Agent Hunt invasions of Resident Evil 6, and the graffiti of ZombiU. It’s in Destiny, Star Citizen, Lightning Returns, Republique, Payday 2, The Witcher 2,Lichdom, Betrayer, Lords of the Fallen, Catacomb Kids, and The Evil Within, if you believe the makers of those games. It’s inside the PS4, if you believe Shuhei Yoshida. It mapped something into the minds of its players, jagged branches marked in soapstone.

In 2009, the world wasn’t ready. A light drawing-room conversation was taking place between the grand old RPGs before Demon’s Souls walked in screaming. It sounded like it was asking: What if all your forms and traditions are just stuff suffocating our ideas? What if all that comfortable repetition is deadening every live nerve in your work? Now the old fellows are having some trouble resuming their conversation. Two games on, the Souls games have grown into a general feeling, a shift in the World Tendency of the game industry.

i think you've just got to do it. make the game, make it as good as you can - then release it.

in a way, they created this 'problem' for themselves - because the last game was so good. to be fair, i think that's a good problem to have.

dark souls 2 is my most anticipated game, however i am not getting my hopes up.

Agreed. And I liked Demon's Souls a lot. This stuff happens with franchises though.

Idiotic, there is not one "pinnacle way" to make an RPG.... the dark souls games lack choices and story.... ect... therefore not pinnacle, just like other games have flaws in areas. hell dark souls character customization is not that deep. NO changeable stats do not make it deep.... its skills ect are so limited.

Its a great game, but far from pinnacle or perfect.

Looking foward to DA3 and The Witcher 3 more.

Why is DKS getting all the late praise? It should've being the pioneer DEMON'S SOULS <b> GODDAMMIT </b>

Man, if Dark Souls is the pinnacle of RPGs then RPGs are in bigger trouble than I thought.

Stopped reading there.

Anyone played a PC game called "Severance: Blade of Darkness"?

I cancelled the dark souls 2 pre-order after watching some youtube "all you need to know about dark souls 2", the multiplayer is the worse piece of crap ever made in a game. Co-op hmm not needed but could been ok, but i cant invite my friends to play... jeeez...

They could made multiplayer seperate for all those pvp fans, and all those pointless notes laying around is just..."eh meh"

oh please..... you can kill some NPCs. or choose where to go first. thats not what I meant and you know it.

This x100, it's nauseating at this point. And in all honesty i much preferred Demon's Souls.

The notes and ghosts of other players is my favorite part of the multiplayer.

Beating the games with friends is cheating in my book. Go it alone that's the real challenge. (IMHO)

You can choose pretty much where to go at any time, you choose to kill anybody which has drastic effects both positive and negative, you have choices of weapons and magic which completely change the physics and gaming altogether, there are covenants you can join to help or hurt other people, or in demons souls case, completely change the game worlds...you level your character to get the best effect for your play style...and other things if you think about it.

What you can't choose, and maybe this is what your referring to, is the arbitrary and pretty much useless lines of talk of dialogue in other games, or choose your set path based on 1 or a dozen of these throughout a "story", but even this makes a rare appearance a few times I believe.

Heck, the game even forces you to do things you wouldn't choose to do just by playing.

What other choices do you really need?

I put a lot of hours into it, not like many here but a lot for me, and I eventually tired of the repetition. I find dynamic scenarios to be favorable to the same thing over and over, and over, and over, etc...

So you must like sports games? or Halo pvp.

sorry, returning the favour now, "stopped reading at DRASTICALLY CHANGES" ... sigh.

You know I am talking about the D&D side of RPGs.... dont say its drastic, your lying.

I do like both of those. And Diablo and Starcraft, and recently Titanfall (good GOD that's outstanding). I'm digging FarCry 3, and Blood Dragon was also outstanding.

Honestly, I like most games and genres, but Dark Souls is literally the same thing over and over, and over, and over, and over again too many times to say "and over" without it becoming disruptive.

Simple, make a game follow your own damn vision.

And no, Dark Souls is not the pinnacle of RPGs, and no game should strive to become it. Taking notes and learning from it is one thing, but try to emulate it is just stupid. Not even ARPGs have to be designed around Dark Souls formula. Dark Souls design choices only worked for the game From Software were making, trying to shoehorn them to something like Mount&Blade or Project Eternity, both of which work on fundamentally different principles would be terrible. Dark Souls mechanics and design worked for a game without parties, small scale encounters and a brooding and dark atmosphere, it would be an utter mess on a game with proper party designed content, large scale battles and lighthearted RPGs.

You kill enough NPCs at a lower level, chances are your not beating the game without a whole lot of luck. Some of them are also important for later in the game, where you will realize that you need them for what your trying to do. Drastic as in, one and done. In other games, they are either invisible, unimportant or respawn.

But my guess is you haven't spent many hours playing the game am I right?

What's D&D?

I think of them more as a action game with progression than a RPG. There are plenty of better games, just not recent RPGs.

@Bread_or_Decide:

I think i just wait for this Darksouls clone...

The Witcher 3? other devs are doing it.

very good! i did not know this game existed - thanks dude.

lords of the fallen. i'll keep an eye on that one.

they need to take that fantastic combat engine and get it out of that japanese grief machine it has the bad fortune to be wrapped up in.

hell, at least give it a pause button so i can answer the damn phone or go take a leak.

why am on their time schedule?

what's the point of that?

seriously, **** dark souls, i'm not handing you sixty bucks just to become your bitch.

@CrownKingArthur:

Yeah it looks awesome, last half of the year will be awesome for next gen consoles :D

I can't wait to put hundreds of hours into it. I haven't been this excited for a game since Diablo 2.

This.

Yes why do that when you can whine like a bitch for free?