Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-24494913-20140319193521/@comment-5264386-20140323032212

@AWC: A quote from Hidetaka Miyazaki:

"However, I wouldn't say there's a direct connection as far as story is concerned. The game is set in a different part of the same planet -- to put it another way, if the first game was set in the North Pole, this one would be in the South Pole; that sort of contrast."

Source article: Dark Souls 2 developer: If Dark Souls was set in the North Pole, this one would be in the South Pole (Polygon)