Dark Souls II 'more straightforward'

Players who love fighting their games for every last bit of satisfaction squealed with delight when Dark Souls II was revealed at Spike's Video Game Awards Friday night. But an altered course for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 game, mentioned in an EDGE interview with new directors Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, may worry those tenacious few.

“I personally am the sort of person who likes to be more direct than subtle,” Shibuya said. “[Dark Souls II] will be more straightforward and more understandable.”

The From Software directors, who are taking over from Hidetaka Miyazaki, said they hope to make the next game more approachable for newcomers than its notoriously convoluted predecessors. Demon's Souls and Dark Souls incorporated whole systems which even moderately experienced players may never realize they're interacting with. In terms of depth versus accessibility, they definitely favored the former.

Keep in mind that there's a difference between being understandable and being easy--perhaps Dark Soul II will just have better documentation and a friendlier user interface to keep you informed as some giant horror beast smears you against the wall. Or it may mean a more fundamental difference in the game's design.

What do you think, could the Souls series use a little bit of user-friendliness or do you prefer it ornery and obtuse?