When From Software expounded on Dark Souls 2's details last April, they indicated that the game would be server based, and will also include a mode to allow you to continue playing offline. Now, in a recent press event in Japan, they elaborated further that they would be rolling it back to the dedicated server system used in Demon's Souls.
In their April interviews, the game's producer, Yui Tanimura, explained he would be following up with more details on how the server systems were to work. He did indicate a desire to add new features with this functionality, as well as looking into the possibility of carrying over some data from Dark Souls to Dark Souls 2, such as equipment and armor.
From Software now reframes the changes as a return to the old system from Demon's Souls. They talked about the issues and concerns that emerged in using a peer to peer system in the first Dark Souls. Network issues caused problems in-game, leading to many unfair deaths.
Dark Souls had these issues as early as launch, as players with better network connections had an unfair advantage over other players. Opponents would stalk these disadvantaged players and stab them in the back for easy victories. Namco released a patch, but it failed to address the issue and the game remains broken for this reason.
From Software's comments are very similar to those recently made by Respawn Entertainment, explaining the merits of using dedicated Windows servers for their upcoming game Titanfall.
The press event also yielded other game details previously discussed with the Western press, including tweaks to difficulty and gameplay. They reiterated the game's release to Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC scheduled for March 2014.
