One of these pieces adopted the appearance of a queen and journeyed to a foreign land to manipulate its king into a war, leading to the primary conflict of the game. These fragments gained individual awareness and began to hunger power.
The story of Dark Souls II involved an abyssal entity known as Manus shattering into numerous fragments. All three installments of the trilogy received positive reviews, and, thanks to a deliberate effort to employ level designs unlike anything found in Dark Souls II, some critics considered the new content an improvement on the base game. Each pack was available for individual purchase or as a complete season pass.
On June 4, 2014, The Lost Crowns was officially announced. Director Yui Tanimura also decided to emphasize discovery in the DLC and take advantage of the experience players developed from going through the base game. Early design meetings led to the decision to make the trilogy as varied as possible, and this was facilitated by the freedom of not being bound by Dark Souls II's overarching story. According to Yui Tanimura, one of the game's directors, work on the content packs began directly after the base game was completed.
Before Dark Souls II was released, Bandai Namco Entertainment producer Takeshi Miyazoe said that there was potential for downloadable content, depending on how fans reacted to the game.
