5 Improvements Dark Souls 2 Should Have

3 min


With the announcement of Dark Souls 2 during the VGAs last year, a bit more info has trickled out about the game. For starters, while From Software is still making the game, a new director has been announced to lead the game’s direction. Many fans have met this news with some trepidation, as such a drastic change could very well alter the core of what makes Dark Souls such a good game. On the other hand, a new director might help to expand the lore of Dark Souls and add new quality elements too. So it’s too early too call this a failure. With that in mind however, this article will try to list 5 things Dark Souls 2 should have in order to improve on its predecessor.

5) More Boss Variety

The Souls series has a tremendous number of bosses, all with a good degree of individuality. However, looking at Dark Souls a bit closer, you see a few resemblances to Demon’s Souls in terms of boss attributes. For instance, the Bell Gargoyles boss fight in Dark Souls is similar to the Maneaters boss fight in Demon’s Souls. A few other comparisons can be made too, with Pinwheel similar to Fool’s Idol, Iron Golem similar to Tower Knight and Gwyn similar to Flamelurker. Perhaps there are others too. It’s not really a major fault with Dark Souls, but the implication of these similar fights is that players tend to already know what to do in the newer boss fights. Part of Dark Souls’ charm is learning a boss fight and overcoming it through perseverance. In similar boss fights however, that becomes a moot point, as the bosses generally share the same weaknesses. Of course, it may be overly critical if say a future boss in Dark Souls 2 has the ability to turn invisible, that one should automatically compare that boss to Priscilla in Dark Souls 1. There’s more to it than that, but it would be great if all bosses in future games had significant individuality over previous bosses.

4) Dedicated Servers

An easy point to make, dedicated servers did wonders for Demon’s Souls’ online compared to Dark Souls P2P structure. There were still issues with dedicated servers in Demon’s Souls, for instance lag was still a problem, but the overall quality of the online was much better. This is most painfully obvious whenever you see a message left by fellow players on the ground in any part of the game. In Demon’s Souls, you had hundreds of ratings on a number of different messages. That coupled with the bonuses you got by having a message rated positive, meant it felt rewarding to help others. In Dark Souls 2, you’d be lucky to find a message with more than 10 votes. Rarely did you feel rewarded for leaving messages in Dark Souls, and it was due to the online structure. Dark Souls 2 needs to desperately improve on this, as the online portions of the game are a huge positive aspect for it.

3) Environment Hitboxes

Let me explain what I mean by environmental hitboxes. I essentially mean the ability of enemies (mostly bosses), to swing their weapons through walls or pillars without detriment. You yourself can’t do this most of the time, instead your weapon swing is interrupted/negated and you’re left in a vulnerable state. Bosses however don’t have the same problem. It is, in all honesty, a bit cheap that enemies can get away with striking you through walls and pillars. Not only does it interrupt what generally are logical gameplay mechanics, it looks hideous too. An improvement in this aspect is very much welcomed.

2) Better Covenant Setup

The covenant system introduced in Dark Souls is a very neat idea. Unfortunately, it felt underwhelming in practice. Never was there a true conflict between covenants that should technically be in opposition to each other. It also felt whimsical, as you could change covenants without much issue, leading to no real reason to join certain covenants early on because the rewards only came much later. There never was a true reason to remain loyal to one covenant throughout a playthrough either, in fact it could be argued that it was a waste. Certain covenants, like the Gravelord covenant, also had major issues with the way its online interactivity worked. I would like to see the covenant system return in Dark Souls 2, but its relevance to the game and to the online could be drastically improved. The covenant system in Dark Souls 1 felt like merely a drop of water in an ocean of possibilities.

1) Mobile Enemies

Finally, the biggest improvement I’d like to see in Dark Souls 2 is to have mobile enemies in the game. Static enemies have been the norm in both Dark Souls 1 and Demon’s Souls, and it is rather stale. It’s too easy when you know exactly where every enemy is positioned and how to run around them. Mobile enemies would provide a slightly tougher opposition as the randomness will catch people out. There can still be a place for static enemies that only engage you when you’re close, but by and large, I’d like to see mobile enemies. Seeing zombies or snakemen standing around like statues, just waiting for you, makes things slightly boring and easy. Admittedly, a sight like 6 Taurus Demons in the Demon’s Ruins just waiting to pounce on you is a spectacular sight whether they are mobile or static, but in most other cases, I’d much prefer mobile enemies.

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10 Comments

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  1. I don’t think the bosses being hindered by the environment is a good idea. I think it’s better if they’re not or there will be way too much cheesing going on. Find a spot where they keep hitting a wall and launch arrows or spells. Way too easy. Even if you say you wouldn’t do it because you like the challenge, after losing to a particularly hard boss 15 times, you might just cheese him and ruin the game for yourself or just using it to beat enemies you haven’t the level or the equipment to beat.
    Sometimes realism has to be suspended for fun and to keep the vision.

  2. Mobile enemies?! Really?!
    Hostile human players invading my game and hunting me down are “mobile” enough for me. 🙂

  3. Agreed on #3. Would be nice, also, if they fixed the “rolling off cliffs.” Even if you had a chance to grab the ledge and recover, or a quicktime event to recover your balance before falling, it’s better than getting 30 minutes into an area with no save, then falling! I liked the challenge, but I hated how far you could get only to die by a faulty roll over a cliff edge!

    1. Forgive me for being rude, but go fuck yourself. If you roll off of a ledge and die from fall damage or leaving the map’s boundaries, you have only your own stupidity to blame. If you can’t remember the ledge is there, don’t fucking fight near the ledge. Circle around and kick them off of the damned thing.

      1. Alright asshole. Not everybody falls off the ledge on purpose. I’ve fallen off of a ledge plenty of times by accident or I wasn’t able to dodge a enemy attack in time and I got knocked off.

        1. But thats the point of Dark Souls/Demon Souls difficulty…. you fall off a ledge by not being cautious… thats too bad… now repeat your steps and learn from your mistake….. this is just the way it is and it has been and the CORE fans will not see it any other way. Make a mistake… Die… now do it again but learn from the mistake… it makes you play cautiously and carefully, thats that.

  4. Yes please on one. Being able to kite enemies away from their spawns and watch them go back if you get far enough way is too silly. Smarter enemies would be lovely.

  5. 1. Mobile enemies? – I would like Bosses being able to get away from their areas if you choose to teleport out during a battle…. like its looking for you. That would a good “mobile” feature.

    2. Covenant Setup – Well, I agree, there should be a more severe punishment when you are exiled or quit a covenant. Maybe a time duration (in-game wise) where you are targeted by your ex-covenant members, or a curse (temporary).
    Or a weapon you’ve obtained from that covenant can only unlock its ultimate damage while a member of that covenant…

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