The Souls games are known as that series of super hard games with old shchool level of difficulty with a modern sheen. But From Software Driector Yui Tanimura sees the games as more than that. He feels it isn’t about the difficulty itself, but upsetting the player’s expectations.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Tanimura expanded upon the idea:
“I try to be deeply cynical in terms of the things I put in the game. I’m not only interested in creating things that players will enjoy, per se. I also want to include stuff that is somehow iffy. It’s also about challenging expectations and not necessarily giving people what they want. That, in a way, is the essence of Dark Souls: upsetting expectations.
“If people talk about difficulty it’s crucial that it’s never discussed in terms of, say, the control scheme or the character not doing the things the player wants it to. That kind of ‘difficulty’ leads to pure frustration.
“It’s that knowledge that keeps a player going. alongside the chance to go back and make better decisions. Understanding that changes the way in which we design the game. We’re designing to inspire players to make poor decisions. That might seem perverse but it is where the game’s power is found: anyone can play and succeed, regardless of natural talent. They just need to pay attention.”
Demon Souls and Dark Souls may be hard, but they are far more fair than most other games out there. They just don’t go along with the rules that have become standard for the rest of the industry. They create their own rules and follow those rigidly. Learn them and you’ll be just fine.
Dark Souls 2 will be coming to the PlayStation 3 March 11th 2014 in North America and March 14th in Europe.