Bandai Namco starts digging? (Re-release dark soul 2 with visual enhancement & enhanced multiplayer at full price )

[ahhming]

Dark Soul 2 has been suffering from mass  downvote on steam .

 
But why?
Instead of upgrading the game for existing owners, Bandai Namco is trying to charge them again for the same game with " updated graphics ". Maybe the company has been taking lessons from Ubisoft.
 

It appears that the last-gen and new-gen versions won’t be compatible across save games or online matchmaking, due to them using different servers. Dark Souls 2 owners will receive some of the extra content for free as a large 1.10 update, but PC owners will still have to pay to get the performance their machine was capable of from the beginning.

 
New features in the patches

New Features:
- New characters and events (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
- Story and world additions (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
- Graphics and performance upgrades (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
- Improved online multiplayer (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
- Enemy and game design adjustments (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
- Various balancing tweaks (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
Included DLC:
- DLC1 (Included in all versions of SoFS, not included in the 1.10 Patch)
- DLC2 (Included in all versions of SoFS, not included in the 1.10 Patch)
- DLC3 (Included in all versions of SoFS, not included in the 1.10 Patch)

 
 
TLDR:
Bandai Namco announce  A new "HD version" of this game has been announced. It will be an entirely separate game and include all DLC content. Most importantly, this "old" version (released May, 2014) WILL NOT update to the new version, which will be sold separately.

The new version of the game will contain new enemies, events, multiplayer enhancements, and graphical updates not available in this version of the game. Furthermore, the two versions of the game will not be compatible with each-other for online play, nor will saves be compatible between games.

It is worth noting a patch for the "old" version will include some of the new content, such as a new NPC and SOME of the new enemies and events. However, the remaining content will be exclusive to the new version.

 

A video by FoxeoGames explaining everything:

 

• Last-gen and new-gen versions use different game servers.
• Last-gen and new-gen versions are not compatible for online matchmaking. 
• You cannot transfer save data from last-gen to new-gen.
• You cannot upgrade the Windows (DirectX9) version to the Windows (DirectX11) version.

Source:
 
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/12/dark-souls-2-is-being-mass-downvoted-on-steam/

[Bloodyvalley]

[Norman_the_Owl]

Thank god i don't play dark souls

[Ineko]

Eh, they've spent their own time working on this after the original game was finished and released. They have no obligation to hand it out for free to owners of DS2.

[deathjester]

snip

 

Meh all companies are doing this. If you want to blame someone, blame the people with next gen consoles who buy the same game again. Expect an announcement of a re release of the Mass Effect series soon, seeing that an EA guy was asking what people wanted on Neogaf, and left after most people responded him with "a new ending", a "whole new third game" lol.

 

Do I care? Nope. I played Dark Souls 2 with Gedosato at a 5.2k downsample already...People with xfire/sli setups can prob downsample the game from 8 k. Highly doubt DX 11 is gonna make Dark Souls 2 look any better cept for water which I can only remember in 2 areas anyways (beach and the zone with the old dragonslayer).  You can also inject things like HBAO+ into Dark Souls 2. They can re release Mass Effect to, but my version looks like this with 4 k texture packs and a 4k plus downsample so...yeah...

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127177328@N03/

 

Seeing how mediocre and average Dragon Age looked? Old ME games downsampled with texture packs > next gen ME and will blow away re release. 

 

Don't blame the companies, blame the people who buy a game again for texture packs. Asking the companies not to do this is asking them to turn down money for MINIMAL work. Freakin interns could prob port the PC Mass Effects with a few updated textures to "next gen". Hell they prob still have the original textures/assets before they were scaled down.

[zacRupnow]

[Mooshi]

No one forced people into purchasing the 'old game' from earlier this year. Some of those comments read as if they already knew of the newer version and complain anyway. For some reason, Nintendo's Wind Waker comes to mind and I don't remember reading about people who owned the original game making a huge deal over buying the same game again for the HD remake - a game that doesn't look that dramatically different from the original since it's cel-shaded. These things happen because consumers eat it up. Blame those willing to buy a game again at retail for higher res textures and a whole lot of not much else.

 

It's like those who complain about Ubisoft all day long, but still buy their products, eat up that DLC and support the game's recognition via pirating it. If people actually cared about these type of practices, they wouldn't give the companies the time a day. So many who complain are hypocritical. 

[IdortMasterRace]

[Misanthrope]

What else, nerf it back to 30 FPS I bet.

[EChondo]

Heard about this a week ago when DS2 was on the daily sale. I was tempted to buy it, but I went over to /r/GameDeals and was notified about this.

 

I appreciate the community spreading this information, but hopefully Namco(I'm completely dropping the Bandai off of the name) will come to their senses and actually allow us to purchase an "upgrade" DLC that converts our already purchased DS2 copy into the new enchanced version. Or give owners a steep discount.

 

I'm going to buy the new enhanced edition when it reaches $15-$20 since I've enjoyed DS1 and have been wanting to play the new one, hopefully it doesn't disappoint both in gameplay and compatibility. 

[haloharry97]

2years later, dx12 darksouls 2 comes out, nother 2 years later next gen open gl dark souls 2 comes out

[Bleedman0xx]

Nintendo's Wind Waker comes to mind and I don't remember reading about people who owned the original game making a huge deal over buying the same game again for the HD remake - a game that doesn't look that dramatically different from the original since it's cel-shaded.

 

Nobody complained because of the following: 

 

Wind Waker to Winder Waker HD - 10 years

Dark Souls 2 to Darks Souls 2 DX11 - 1 year

 

Your point?

[IdortMasterRace]

Nobody complained because of the following: 

 

Wind Waker to Winder Waker HD - 10 years

Dark Souls 2 to Darks Souls 2 DX11 - 1 year

 

Your point?

 

Why does it matter what the difference in time is?

 

Both required a lot of time and development to get to their next state, and both were released as full games. Wind Waker HD probably took less than a year to develop too.

[Mooshi]

Nobody complained because of the following: 

 

Wind Waker to Winder Waker HD - 10 years

Dark Souls 2 to Darks Souls 2 DX11 - 1 year

 

Your point?

 

Longer years and lazier remake since the original didn't have much of a graphical overall or even needed one. Time span is irrelevant, we're basing on the amount of work done. This on the other hand implies crazy high res texture for PC and be more complete. If the game wasn't sold complete in the first place, that's on the consumers end for being content with this. Businesses do what the market dictates. If you accept incomplete works, they'll sell you incomplete works. That isn't excusing the practice, but we have to be a realist here instead of raising pitchforks. The honorable thing to do is offer steep discounts to those who already bought the game and have them pay for the equivalent of whatever DLC was added in. The blame game works both ways. The consumer for accepting mediocrity and the business for gouging.

[sgloux3470]

This is karma for whining so much about the "graphics downgrade." on release.

 

Just throwing it out there.

 

They'll have some sort of paid upgrade option, like Deux Ex did.

[Bleedman0xx]

Why does it matter what the difference in time is?

 

Both required a lot of time and development to get to their next state, and both were released as full games. Wind Waker HD probably took less than a year to develop too.

 

Longer years and lazier remake since the original didn't have much of a graphical overall or even needed one. Time span is irrelevant, we're basing on the amount of work done. This on the other hand implies crazy high res texture for PC and be more complete. If the game wasn't sold complete in the first place, that's on the consumers end for being content with this. Businesses do what the market dictates. If you accept incomplete works, they'll sell you incomplete works. That isn't excusing the practice, but we have to be a realist here instead of raising pitchforks. The honorable thing to do is offer steep discounts to those who already bought the game and have them pay for the equivalent of whatever DLC was added in. The blame game works both ways. The consumer for accepting mediocrity and the business for gouging.

 

Time span is totally relevant. If consumers and companies let this drag on, the time span between re-releases is going to just get shorter and shorter.

 

People asked for a remake of the Zelda games. That's what they wanted and they got it. Nobody asked for the bullshit that FromSoft and Bamco are trying to spoon feed us. So no, nobody thought they were buying a game that would get re-released later. I certainly didn't when i bought DS2 just a few days ago on Steam. Had I known I wouldn't have bought it.

 

I bet people reading this post are thinking "we'll, it's your fault. you should have known." Fuck that. By that logic, nobody should buy any game ever.

[Derangel]

This is usual for HD rereleases. Beyond that it's not like Bandai Namco is exactly the most reputable of publishers. Who didn't see this coming when From Software said Dark Souls 2 would be last gen only?

[lutewan]

Omg people it's game of the editions u get all the dlc s for 60 bucks

How is this keep on digging

[IdortMasterRace]

Time span is totally relevant. If consumers and companies let this drag on, the time span between re-releases is going to just get shorter and shorter.

 

People asked for a remake of the Zelda games. That's what they wanted and they got it. Nobody asked for the bullshit that FromSoft and Bamco are trying to spoon feed us. So no, nobody thought they were buying a game that would get re-released later. I certainly didn't when i bought DS2 just a few days ago on Steam. Had I known I wouldn't have bought it.

 

I bet people reading this post are thinking "we'll, it's your fault. you should have known." Fuck that. By that logic, nobody should any game ever.

 

Everyone has been asking for DSX11 in Dark Souls II. Everyone has also been asking for the pre-release graphics.

 

I don't think there was a huge amount of people that wanted Wind Waker remade either. Of every Zelda game, that was the one that needed it the least. It is the Zelda game that has aged the absolute best and the old art style still stands up completely today. In fact, they ruined it by adding a silly lighting system and a fuck ton of bloom. So I'd say it's worse Nintendo re-released Wind Waker than it is for Namco to re-release Dark Souls II in this instance.

 

Also, from what I've read, every old version of the game still gets the content update. The only thing the new version has is some reworked lighting system, and the new graphics. Big deal.

 

In fact, I just checked again, that's right. You get all the new content for free through - the new NPCS, the new area, the covenant changes, the item description changes, and everything else - in a free patch. The new version is completely worthless if you already have the game.

 

A lot of misinformation in the OP.

[Bleedman0xx]

Omg people it's game of the editions u get all the dlc s for 60 bucks

How is this keep on digging

It split's the online multiplayer community in half for one. That's the worst part of this nonsense really especially for PC players.

 

Let's say your friend bought the DX11 version and you have the DX9 version. Will you two be able to play online together? "Lolnope, cause fuck you, give me money!" says Bamco

[lutewan]

Hmm that's about it

I think that's the only thing wrong with this

Yeah that does

[Bleedman0xx]

Also, from what I've read, every old version of the game still gets the content update. The only thing the new version has is some reworked lighting system, and the new graphics. Big deal.

 

In fact, I just checked again, that's right. You get all the new content for free through a patch. The new version is completely worthless if you already have the game.

I don't care about the visual enhancements at all. I'll direct you to a post from earlier.

 

It split's the online multiplayer community in half for one. That's the worst part of this nonsense really especially for PC players.

 

Let's say your friend bought the DX11 version and you have the DX9 version. Will you two be able to play online together? "Lolnope, cause fuck you, give me money!" says Bamco

[IdortMasterRace]

I don't care about the visual enhancements at all. I'll direct you to a post from earlier.

 

I agree the split community will suck but it's whatever. I'd be incredibly surprised if they don't offer a heavily discounted upgrade for existing owners.

[Tech_Dreamer]

i stopped bothering about these things a long a time ago with companies making bad decisions or whwen ever they do something "shocking" because they are "companies" & that's what they do, you cannot walk in there like it's your home & tell em hey you need to sell this at a price i think it's fair , it's their product & they make the final call & have the right to do so.. even if it seems harsh.

[Sors]

So this is why Namco filed a DMCA complain last week against the guy who made the patch to fix their game in PC. 

 

They were fine with the patch while it was helping sell copies of their broken game, but now that they want more money from a remake, they need to "protect their intellectual property"...