Dark Souls II: Global Gamers Day and Shield Contest

Director Yui Tanimura spoke about  Dark Souls II at the recent Global Gamers Day event. He stated that he “felt encouraged to hear that a lot of people are interested in Dark Souls II, but that he also feels a good sense of pressure to delivering a great game—one that has much to live up to in its predecessor” (Cheong). He believes that his task as director is to enhance and deliver a more challenging experience than what existed in the previous game Dark Souls. Blood messaging, invasions, and summoning phantoms will all be in Dark Souls II.

Tanimura wants to provide players with a little more freedom to decide on their own with how they want to conquer the stage. This includes having the boss appear mid-way through and allowing the opportunity to defeat the boss even if you're not at the end of the stage.  Also as a side note the Dark Souls II's official Facebook page has allowed contestants to design shields to be featured in Dark Souls II. This contest can be similar to "the contest that brought the Sanctus shield to Dark Souls" (Tach). The contest will end May 13. You can find more details about the contest on the official Dark Souls Facebook. Anyone can visit the Dark Souls II Shield Design Contest app on Facebook, "where they can download and design on three shield templates and vote on those that have been submitted" Tach). Representatives at From Software will choose from the top-rated designs and select  the winners for each category.

Sources:
Cheong, Ian. Dark Souls 2: Unorthodox Multiplayer and Level Design Detailed [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/14243/article/dark-souls-2-unorthodox-multiplayer-and-level-design-detailed/ [Last Accessed April 24, 2013].

Tach, Dave. Dark Souls 2 contest lets players design in-game shields. [ONLINE] Available at:  at:http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/15/4227352/dark-souls-2-facebook-contest-shield [Last visited 4/24/13]