because by the time the pc version comes out, the game will have been fully dissected and every little piece of information put up on the web. Probably a good chunk of the people who play it for being "old skool" would also want to try to play it like they would before the internet was a thing. and for those people they are more interested in discovering things for themselves and trying to figure out how the mechanics work and what works best by discussing with their friends with a similar level of experience. While it's still fresh for everyone and you don't have to screen out 111 billion LP videos on youtube if you don't want the game spoiled for you.

It's something that's really only possible with Dark Souls 1 and 2, since Demon's Souls was already dissected before it even came out in the states and no one cared about From and the way they designed games before that (well besides Armored Core fans)

And for better or for worse the game balance is going to shift a lot in the next few weeks-months due to patches. (I played the first one before the OFFICIAL GUIDE NERF patch. Back before skeletons and ghosts dropped souls, and people glitched with the dragon's head). I can already tell that the respawning system is probably going to get patched out of controversy. >_>

Yeah, this is bullshit. What if I move to another country? I have to buy the game again? Can you even buy the game again in STEAM?

I can't even comprehend what goes through the minds of publishers to be honest.

you cant play it if you move to another country, the key nuvee or gmg offers is free region (or that's what they claim) so there are keys region free only that steam is not selling them

EDIT the gmg seems to be a NA version (north america only)

I honestly can't wait to play!

I'm just gonna be honest here.

If you play in offline mode, you are going to be having a very, very difficult time. I solo'ed all of Dark Souls including the DLC. This game is much harder. You really are going to want to co-op, if only to regain your humanity. It's like they tailored the game to say "Oh, you're good at Dark Souls? FUCK YOU." and then proceeds to kick you in the balls, cop a feel on your SO, and then while you are rolling on the floor in pain, it leans down and whispers "Welcome to Dark Souls II" in your ear.

Right up my alley then, i love games with hardcore challenge, a rare thing nowadays.

A local retailer sells the PC pre-order here for 35$'s where as steam wants me to pay 50 euros witch is 70$'s... now i call this a good deal, lol!

That'll be the normal IP block on activation I bet (which only takes a few seconds and a VPN to get around). As they think we'll pay $80 for the same product. I'll likely get it from GamersGate for $50 with $10 instore credit towards Child of Light which I also plan to buy.

You know what I loved and still love about DS1 ? the difficulty of the game, trying to beat a boss over and over until I succeed (Alone, not even with the help of the npc that you can summon) or dying again and again until you quit and start again the next day and you pass that part, that achievement can only be obtained by playing the game alone, hardcore mode, no other way :) So I'm glad to hear what you are telling me now :P .

Might be or not... this new region block is really a pain in the ass, not only for activation but they also block the game itself if you are not in the region of the game so be sure to check the region because they dont clarify that on any part of the page and for example south park is region locked (100% sure about this) and they dont say it either on their webpage and yeah Japan got screwed badly with this prices, Russia on the other hand...20 dollars on steam >_>

No might be about it. The allowcrossregion flag doesn't do what people think. As far as I can tell, it only blocks gifting/trading from regions where Valve display the only for use in X region notices. Copies from any other region can still be gifted/traded. I've tried this with LOS2 (not sold on Steam in Japan, UK copy successfully gifted to and playable in Japan).

The third party Thief key I purchased required a VPN to activate (as is generally the case these days) but South Park, on the other hand (also not sold in Japan), didn't even need a VPN to activate a retail key. Both games, contain the same for use in X region only messages on Steam in certain regions.

The only reason that Nuuvem are reporting a region lock for Japan is likely because the JPN version is a different App ID (as it contains the Japanese language build not available ROW).

Yeah I understand those motivations, I have just never shared them.

That's what I thought to. I never summoned Solaire, Mildred, etc. and took out everyone solo. That included Artorias, Manus, and Kalameet, the latter of which some people thought I was insane for, especially with the gear I used. I won't spoil any of the game or bosses, but I will tell you that the game is punishingly difficult. Estus no longer heals you instantly, and as of last night I only have a grand total of 4. Yes, you have to find them now.

Basically, anything that you might have relied on in Dark Souls? It's gone, so don't expect it. I would love to give you a few more tips but I think you need to experience for yourself just how they mess with people familiar with the original.

Eh. I don't know. I've fought one boss and two minibosses so far and they seemed pretty basic. And the levels feel a bit more logically laid out. Though, it could change later on (particularly since they're just early game bosses), since the level design in the first game sort of fell off a cliff halfway through.

Also you can depopulate areas either through concentrated farming/grinding effort or repeated kamikaze runs, though like I said earlier I expect that it will get changed somehow in the first big patch.

On the other hand, there's also a couple things you can do right at the start to make things a lot harder if you'd like.

Yeah, because the JPN version is a different appid and is likely published by From Software directly and not by Namco as it is in ROW. But that restriction is only going to be the usual activation one. It's one I've dealt with many a time. One I've been told (in the past) by a Valve employee to use a VPN to get around.

So I'll be buying Dark Souls for effectively half price from GamersGate and using my usual (paid for, but cheap) VPN to activate it. As I have done for a good 30 or 40 games over the course of several years =)

what vpn do you use? I'm looking for something cheap but that works.