For Game Informer’s October cover story on Dark Souls 3, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki spoke on what players can expect from Dark Souls 3, which features are returning, which ones are leaving, and what ones are changing when the next entry in the Souls series is released next year.
One thing players can expect to see returning is the ability to fast travel from the very beginning of the game, as it was in Dark Souls 2. Once a bonfire has been activated, fast travel between that bonfire and any other bonfire is allowed.
Reallocating attribute points will no longer require players to create a new character and then transfer all of their souls from their old character to their new one. Miyazaki is unsure if the “Soul Vessel” item will be back, “but there will be a method for players to re-assign souls,” he said.
Summoning will not mimic Bloodborne’s bell summons mechanism. Instead, summoning in Dark Souls 3 will work as it does it Dark Souls 1 and 2. Soul level, not soul memory, will be used for matchmaking. Miyazaki says that players need not worry about carrying a specific consumable item in their inventory in order to summon. Players will be able to summon at their own leisure without having to use a cracked red orb.
For magic, Miyazaki wants spells to be unique in their own right so that each spell feels different from one another.
"We will make sure that they are not just the same type of spells with different attributes (i.e. Spear type, lightning type) but actually have specific characteristics that can enhance the players' play styles and strategies," Miyazaki said. "Players will be able to have more criteria to accurately choose the different types of spells to best fit their tactics and strategies. This is similar to the thinking behind the characterization of each weapon and their specific battle arts."
Additionally, magic will run on a mana or MP resource instead of individual spells having consumable charges that are recharged upon sitting at a bonfire.
"By changing the magic management system to an MP scheme, options and freedom of utilization should increase. This way we can better clarify the differences in managing items and magic," Miyazaki said.
Dark Souls 3 is expected to be released sometime in “early 2016” for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It was announced in June at E3 2015 with an announcement trailer.
Source: Game Informer (1), (2)
