From Software Promises To Fix 'Dark Souls 2's' Weapon Durability Bug

It's no secret that those who play "Dark Souls" are considered to have a masochistic tendency. The tough-as-nails action RPG is widely considered one of the most punishing videogames in recent times. The sequel "Dark Souls 2" had upped the ante with even harder enemies that keep players on their toes. The PC version of the game made things better by incorporating smooth 60fps gameplay, but in doing so it also introduced a terrible bug that put gamers at serious disadvantage.

The bug had been reported a year ago on the PC version. It has since then crept onto the current gen console versions as well, according to Gamespot. That's because the bug is tied to the jump from 30fps to 60fps, which is the case in both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of "Dark Souls 2." The weapon durability bug has been especially difficult to rectify because it's tied into the core framerate.

The problem arose because the game calculates the degradation of a weapon against the number of frames registered while using the said instrument. As the game's core framerate was doubled from 30fps to 60fps, the associated weapon degradation was effectively doubled as well. The weapon durability is therefore significantly lowered for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One versions as compared to the 30fps version of the game on the last-gen PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

The problem was made worse when the repackaged standalone version "Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin" was released. The ensuing update further reduced the durability of the Fire Longsword and Heide Knight Sword. These two weapons are obtained early on in the game and used by an overwhelmingly large majority of players for the entire course of the game. This compounded the durability bug further and made these primary melee weapons so fragile that they wouldn't even last an average play session.

Thankfully, the publisher Bandai Namco has finally confirmed through an official Tumblr post that it is working on a patch that will fix the long standing issue. Polygon reports that the patch will be rolled out simultaneously for both next-gen console as well as PC versions.

However, that isn't the only bug addressed by the upcoming patch. It will also fix the annoying glitch that prevents the game from recognising compound actions such as Jump Attack and Guard Break. These are crucial combat moves that spell trouble when not registered properly. Unfortunately, the work-in-progress patch doesn't have a confirmed release date yet. Hopefully From Software will fix these issues sooner rather than later.

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Dark Souls 2: PS4 Graphics Comparison Preview (Credit: IGN YouTube channel)