Dark Souls II

[Jowy]

FOUR MORE DAYS.

Have the limited edition pre-ordered and I'm picking it up right after work before my weekend starts. :aimsun: I'm assuming everyone's getting this on PS3 so let's preemptively share some PSN names to get some jolly cooperation in the works. Mine is dabrowskitron! Any idea on what sort of class you're likely to start off as? I'm leaning towards the sorcerer equivalent again this time; I like fastrolling and lightweight weaponry.

[Pete for President]

EoFF needs this thread! Props :D

I'll be playing it as soon as Amazon decides to deliver it but I have no idea when that'll be. I'll probably go for a dex character with faith or warrior/quality just to try out all the weapons.

I'm definitely up for jolly co-op and I'll add you on PSN Jowy. My PSN ID is PietZooter.

[Slothy]

I lack sufficient funding to purchase and lose myself in this game. Someone donate sufficient funding to allow me to purchase and lose myself in this game.

If not, I may have to get creative.

You don't need both of your kidney's, right?

[NeoCracker]

PS3 here as well. :p

I think I already have Jowy's PSN, though yeah, mine...

Jiggledaddy. :p

This is going to be off the hook!

[Nicolas]

Lucky you getting it all early. Mine'll be here sometime during the week. I think I only have Keanu on my list out of you guys, but if you wanna add me it's lucaszyrus.

Cannot wait for this game. I'll probably fool around with a DEX heavy attacker. Really just depends on what I like though.

[Pete for President]

I lack sufficient funding to purchase and lose myself in this game. Someone donate sufficient funding to allow me to purchase and lose myself in this game.

If not, I may have to get creative.

You don't need both of your kidney's, right?

That might just be worth it :p

What platform will you be on?

[Slothy]

PS3. Though I should clarify that I have no intention of selling my kidney.

[Pete for President]

New trailer. Resisting the urge to watch it and keep myself spoiler free. Not sure if I can though!

Dark Souls II - Locomotive Breath Trailer - IGN Video (http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/03/10/dark-souls-2-locomotive-breath-trailer)

[NeoCracker]

Welp, I never have tuesdays off, but due to some completely coincidental hair up my bosses ass I got the day schedualed off! In 24 Hours my all day Dark Souls Marathon will commence!

[Nicolas]

Lucky jerks. Don't even know when mine is supposed to get here. :(

[Madonna]

I dislike that trailer because it shows a lot of bosses, it seems. I like my Souls more vague and dreadful, thank you very much. Oh, it did leave one burning question: who was that over-encumbered dick with the camera panned on himself? There were so many hits he should have avoided or hits he could have landed, but instead took melee blows to the face. I was kind of embarrassed to watch for his sake.

[Pete for President]

Lucky jerks. Don't even know when mine is supposed to get here. :(

Same :cry:

[TrollHunter]

I NEED A CONSOLE TO PLAY IT ON
I spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours in DkS1... not being able to play this game just kills me.


I dislike that trailer because it shows a lot of bosses, it seems. I like my Souls more vague and dreadful, thank you very much. Oh, it did leave one burning question: who was that over-encumbered dick with the camera panned on himself? There were so many hits he should have avoided or hits he could have landed, but instead took melee blows to the face. I was kind of embarrassed to watch for his sake.

The Dks1 trailers showed a ton of bosses, and the trailers also had people sucking and getting their asses kicked.
Now, I'm not watching the trailer so I dont know if its worse here... but this isnt a new thing.

[Pete for President]

Get creative Trollhunter! Surely secondhand PS3's/X360's can't be that expensive by now would they?

[TrollHunter]

Get creative Trollhunter! Surely secondhand PS3's/X360's can't be that expensive by now would they?

I used to have a 360, its library doesnt warrant a second purchase. I'm getting a ps3 because it has an absurd number of games that I want to play on it.
Ratchet and clank future
disgaea
persona 5
and a ton of other titles.

Ps3's are surprisingly still quite expensive, even crappy used ones. Most are easily still $170+ and I sure as hell don't have that AND the 60 bucks for a new title. I'll be getting as creative as possible though don't you worry. I have too many scrubs to kill and bosses to die to to allow this game to slip out of my grasp.

[I Took the Red Pill]

I've been playing for about 4 straight hours. It is excellent, though so far it seems easier than the first. I can't figure out if it's because it is actually easier or if I'm just no longer a noob after beating the first. And I haven't run into a boss yet, so there's that too. I would post more about it but I'm going to go play more. :-)

[Pete for President]

I've been playing for about 4 straight hours. It is excellent, though so far it seems easier than the first. I can't figure out if it's because it is actually easier or if I'm just no longer a noob after beating the first. And I haven't run into a boss yet, so there's that too. I would post more about it but I'm going to go play more. :-)

Oh man I envy you. Glad to hear it's good and lives up to expectations! Now please excuse me as I retreat from the thread and weep in a corner until Amazon delivers my copy... sometime next week.

[TrollHunter]

I've been playing for about 4 straight hours. It is excellent, though so far it seems easier than the first. I can't figure out if it's because it is actually easier or if I'm just no longer a noob after beating the first. And I haven't run into a boss yet, so there's that too. I would post more about it but I'm going to go play more. :-)

Oh man I envy you. Glad to hear it's good and lives up to expectations! Now please excuse me as I retreat from the thread and weep in a corner until Amazon delivers my copy... sometime next week.

MAY BE GETTING IT TODAY
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

[I Took the Red Pill]

I'm about to call it quits on the first day of playthrough, but just under 6 hours in and I'm still enjoying it immensely. I've just beaten The Pursuer, was a bit of a tricky fight. Died a few times but triumphed in the end.

Some comments on game mechanics below (don't read if you want to go in as a completely blank slate, I guess):

There are some changes to Estus and the Hollowing system, and enemies drop Lifegems at a fairly consistent rate, which makes keeping your health up a good bit easier. You can teleport to and from any bonfire from the get-go, which changes the dynamic pretty significantly. It seems like a lot of the changes made were geared towards accessibility to a wider audience, but so far nothing of this sort has really bothered me or ruined the experience in any way. I'm interested to see what you hardcore Dark Souls nerds think about it.

This game will consume me.

[TrollHunter]

I'm about to call it quits on the first day of playthrough, but just under 6 hours in and I'm still enjoying it immensely. I've just beaten The Pursuer, was a bit of a tricky fight. Died a few times but triumphed in the end.

Some comments on game mechanics below (don't read if you want to go in as a completely blank slate, I guess):

There are some changes to Estus and the Hollowing system, and enemies drop Lifegems at a fairly consistent rate, which makes keeping your health up a good bit easier. You can teleport to and from any bonfire from the get-go, which changes the dynamic pretty significantly. It seems like a lot of the changes made were geared towards accessibility to a wider audience, but so far nothing of this sort has really bothered me or ruined the experience in any way. I'm interested to see what you hardcore Dark Souls nerds think about it.

This game will consume me.

So, you mean teleportation akin to that of post-anor londo? Interesting. Honestly, I'm okay with this. Hopefully this means people won't be in a situation like in Dks1 where they got stuck in the tomb of the giants because they couldnt teleport out. There were ways out of that situation, but it was definitely one huge stupid guide-dangit moment. The bonfire teleportation may make things a bit easier, sure, but I see this as a good change when it comes to creating new characters a lot faster.

[Pete for President]

I've been playing for about 4 straight hours. It is excellent, though so far it seems easier than the first. I can't figure out if it's because it is actually easier or if I'm just no longer a noob after beating the first. And I haven't run into a boss yet, so there's that too. I would post more about it but I'm going to go play more. :-)

Oh man I envy you. Glad to hear it's good and lives up to expectations! Now please excuse me as I retreat from the thread and weep in a corner until Amazon delivers my copy... sometime next week.

MAY BE GETTING IT TODAY
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

I hope you do man!

I will remove myself from the thread for real this time before I go hollow and such :Oo:

[TrollHunter]

I've been playing for about 4 straight hours. It is excellent, though so far it seems easier than the first. I can't figure out if it's because it is actually easier or if I'm just no longer a noob after beating the first. And I haven't run into a boss yet, so there's that too. I would post more about it but I'm going to go play more. :-)

Oh man I envy you. Glad to hear it's good and lives up to expectations! Now please excuse me as I retreat from the thread and weep in a corner until Amazon delivers my copy... sometime next week.

MAY BE GETTING IT TODAY
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

I hope you do man!

I will remove myself from the thread for real this time before I go hollow and such :Oo:

Stay, stay and hollow with us. It's not so bad.

[Slothy]

It's amazing how well your sig works with that post TrollHunter.

[NeoCracker]

Cleared out my first boss battle solo and Hallowed. Took a couple tries though, ended up leveling a couple times so I could equip the Bastard Sword, since I was dying close to the end due to simple screw ups, so I figured I'd just decrease the fight time to minimize my own fuckupery from interfering. :p

Going Two Handed weapon now, so STR and Health Focused.

[TrollHunter]

It's amazing how well your sig works with that post TrollHunter.

I don't know what you're talking about. Are you trying to imply that I'm being mischievous? I'll have you know that I am the pinnacle of sincerity.

OT: Dark Souls 2 get. My body is ready.
Going to go Strength/Faith and try and go without a shield. BRING IT ON.

[NeoCracker]

...And even with the Ring that reduces falling damage I still can't survive hitting the first plank in that well. :(

[Fonzie]

Aww yiss, it begins. Anyone know when the servers will be up?

[TrollHunter]

Goodness
This game is jacking me up something fierce. I'm not sure if going to the area called hilde's tower of flame or w/e its called was the right way to go... but they gave me quite a rude welcome. Dodging is not nearly as OP as it was in Dks1

[NeoCracker]

Trollhunter, I did some grinding their to great effect. Haven't beaten the second boss yet, so I'm there a bit early, but those guys are pussies compared to the second boss. :p

(Stay away from the single dude past the middle three, and don't enter the mist, and you're kosher. :p)

[TrollHunter]

Trollhunter, I did some grinding their to great effect. Haven't beaten the second boss yet, so I'm there a bit early, but those guys are pussies compared to the second boss. :p

(Stay away from the single dude past the middle three, and don't enter the mist, and you're kosher. :p)

Yeah, found out that was basically this games equivalent of the firelink graveyard. I found the proper way, but thanks to the fasttravel I'll probably hang out there to get some well needed souls.

I wonder what the average pvp levels will eventually fall around, there are SO MANY important stats now.

[NeoCracker]

...And by mop the floor with, I mean when I'm not rolling off the side cause I stopped paying attention. XD

Edit: Wow, I actually cleared one of the boss's in Heide's Tower before doing the second boss in the first area. XD

I did, however, kind of fuck myself by bying the Titanite to enhance the Falcon armor, since I right after I did that I got a full set, minus the gloves, of the Old Knight Armor in like, one go. And enhanced it was superior to my current set, yet I barely had remaining shards to enhance them. :(

[Jowy]

Already rerolled and started over...Sorcerer is borderline offensive for a starting class your first time through. 3 STR won't allow you to use a shield or anything resembling a real weapon. I made it to the first bonfire in the Forest of the Giants.

This game is nothing short of perfection so far.

[nirojan]

Just got my Black Armor edition! Can't wait to play this badboy :love:

[NeoCracker]

Second boss at the Giants Forest Place went down pretty easy this time. I freaking love this Old Knights Armor. <3

Only problem was Avoiding that damned blue sword, since I got so use to blocking and absorbing hits. :p

[I Took the Red Pill]

I've made an unhealthy amount of progress today.



The Last Giant
The Pursuer
Ornstein clone
Dragonrider
Flexile Sentry
Ruin Sentinel

Soul Level 64



Heide Knight Sword +5
Archdrake Shield
Old Knight Helm +3
Archdrake Robes
Brigand Gauntlets
Old Knight Leggings
Royal Soldier's Ring
Ring of Blades
Ring of Restoration
Chloranthy Ring

Currently at Sinner's Rise and need to take a break for my own sanity. Seems like the first place that could keep me stuck for a little while. You have to wade through waste-deep water and fight these huge abominations with crazy scorpion tails and it sucks. And I love it.

[NeoCracker]

Only one of those boss's I haven't seen is Flexile Sentry And I've beaten all but two of the rest. Shield didn't last the Sentinal Fight, and I'm having issues alternating between Shield and dodging which is getting me in the Dragon Slayer fight.

Probably need a good chunk more Stanima, as I'm Sword and Shielding it with a Two-Hander in my solo hand. Wasn't how I roginally planned to go, but when I build my Stanima up some, ain't nothing stoppin' this beast.

Edit: Also, lvl 47. Been doing all this offline since the servers aren't running right apperently. :p

[Ultima Shadow]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel7.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/rydia5-1.png
"Where is my copy? WHERE IS IT?"
"C-calm down Bern, it's just a ga-"
"I AM CALM!!! I JUST WANT TO
KNOW WHY THE HELL MY BLOODY
COPY HASN'T FREAKING ARRIVED YET!"

[Pete for President]

Funny how journalists seem to spell the name all differently. So far I've seen Drangelic, Drangleic and Dranglaec.

[TrollHunter]

Won't be able to play this again till the weekend, and even then I have a smash tournament on saturday.
GAHH, why must I value my grades so much?! I could just skip all of my classes and blitz through this game, but nooooo I want to pass. :colbert:

[NeoCracker]

After embarassingly losing 32K souls at the dock area, and geting my ass kicked by the boss at the prison-like ruins, I went back to Heides to fight the Old Dragonslayer again, and kick his ass, only took one hit the whole fight. :p

Edit: Just need to take out those Sentinals and I'm up to where Pill is. Currently Lvl 57!

[Fonzie]

How the fuck do I level up, holy christ.

Am I retarded?

[NeoCracker]

You trade your souls in to the lady by the Majula Bonfire. :p

[Fonzie]

When does she appear? I just spoke to the decrypt lady from the tower and teleported back to the main town.

[NeoCracker]

She's there when you first arive in town. The first time I saw her she was actually a ways from the bonfire. She was between the bonfire and the giant monument, standing under a tree. She's got all the green stuff on. :p

[Ultima Shadow]

How the smurf do I level up, holy christ.



http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"You don't. They decided to remove the feature
to put everyone on equal grounds during invasions
and you are forever stuck with you initial stats."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/mio2y.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.png
"Oh knock it off Bern. That's the worst
and most stupid lie I've ever heard!"
"If I can't hinder people's progress
by invading, I have to find other ways."
"You really do have some serious issues."

[Fonzie]

How the smurf do I level up, holy christ.



http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"You don't. They decided to remove the feature
to put everyone on equal grounds during invasions
and you are forever stuck with you initial stats."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/mio2y.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.png
"Oh knock it off Bern. That's the worst
and most stupid lie I've ever heard!"
"If I can't hinder people's progress
by invading, I have to find other ways."
"You really do have some serious issues."



I have no idea what you're doing, but it's interesting!

And I found her, she was sort of blending in with a tree and I haven't upgraded through another person since Demon Souls.:p

[Fonzie]

Just beat the first boss and huh, was pretty easy. :p

[NeoCracker]

It takes a while for this one to get challanging compared to the first, though the difficulty does start going up.

[TrollHunter]

Hmmm, it's been a while since I've been hooked on co-op.
Ahhh, this is nice. The time limit adds a nice bit of tension as well.

[NeoCracker]

...Okay, taking a break now that I'm to the same spot Pill stopped at. One of those things is easy, one of them and one of those boom zombie things I can do. Two of them got tricky, and I got mobbed by explosion on another spot.

Here comes the Darksouls I know and love. :love:

[McLovin']

I was farming those big dudes at heides flame and then they startrd to disappear. This worries me, what if I want to farm souls later in the game? Mobs are just gonna despawn forever it seems after 10 kills or so.

[I Took the Red Pill]

Defeated The Lost Sinner, that Scorpion Lady (forgot her name), and that creepy Magus and his Congregation. The Lost Sinner was definitely the toughest battle yet, and had me red in the face more than a few times.

Currently at the bonfire in Chapel Threshold, Soul Level 78.

[TrollHunter]

Screw the ruins sentinels. Screw them so hard.
First one? EASY.
Two at once? I just get overran. I cant kite them around pillars like O&S, and their ranged options are far superior. How do I do this? I have no magic except for a heal miracle and I use a +5 bastard sword.

edit: Beat them. Picked up the drangleic shield and chloranthy ring. Took it slow and won. I did have two summons... but they both died on the very first one which is absolutely hilarious to me. Tried to cheese it with summons and they both died instantly... won anyway. GG

[NeoCracker]

My sole problem with fighting all three solo was my Shield couldn't last the fight. I'm built so I don't have much Maneuverability, so I was pretty much always taking hits from at least one. :p

[TrollHunter]

I'm not sure who I hate more... the bell gargoyles or the lost sinner
Probably that one guy. At least the other guy isnt a damage race that I cant keep up with.
Gahhhh, I have so many titanite chunks. I just need TWO MORE large titanite to get my bastard sword to +6 so I can make it like +9 with all my titanite chunks. I've scoured the land and simply cannot find any more large shards at this point of the game. How frustrating.

[black orb]

>>> So, is this one as good as the first?..:luca:

[Pete for President]

52441

Finally! Copy incoming on Monday :greenie:

[TrollHunter]

>>> So, is this one as good as the first?..:luca:

Wayyy too early to say. I have like 40 hours in this one compared to well over 400 in dks1.
I havent even beaten NG yet, let alone NG+.
I've been enjoying it so far but its very different from the original.

EDIT: Beat that one dude who did the sinning and stuff.
Took... 3 attempts? Maybe 4. Strategy for winning fight? Katamari music in the background. That and taking it very very slowly and not being greedy as hell. Took like 2 small hits in the entire fight. In all honesty he wasnt too bad. He reminded me a lot of artorias from DkS1 and I treated the fight as such. Definitely not as hair-pulling as the sentinels, though the crossbowmen leading to the fight were annoying as hell. Lv.73 when I fought him by the way.

[NeoCracker]

I seem to have gone a completely different route then Pill here and got me my second great soul, don't think I've fought some of those listed yet. :p

I beat a guy called 'The Rotten'. I made it to him by fighting my way through the gutter, the area at the bottom of the well in town. :p

[I Took the Red Pill]

Defeated Duke's Dear Frelga for my 2nd Great Soul, so yeah, we definitely took different paths. After that headed through the Huntsman's Copse, the Earthen Peak, currently inside that big windmill.

Bosses/Miniboss Beaten:

Duke's Dear Frelga
Skeleton Lords
Skeleton Chariot Thing
Covetous Demon (I think this may be the easiest boss in DkS1 or 2)

SL 90ish? I turned off the game and don't remember the exact number.

I still think this game is easier than Dark Souls was, at least at a comparable percentage of the way through the game. Still having a blast. I'm getting a little bored of my Heide Knight Sword +8, I'm thinking of switching it up. The thing is that this sword just cuts everything down so easily and doesn't weigh me down too much, so it might be a difficult transition.

[TrollHunter]

I found the dear frelga last night, but decided to keep exploring. Currently at the smelter demon. Got a feeling this guys gonna be a bit of a roadblock for me. Once he puts his sword on fire the chip damage takes out like a 4th of my HP... in a single swing. Good lord, not to mention he has quite a fair bit of HP.

Gotta say though, as I get further and further in I like this game more and more. The first portion of the game from tutorial ~> sentinels is really "eh" but the game becomes utterly fantastic later on. The mid-game atmosphere and level design has been really quite amazing.

EDIT
So, smelter demon felled in 3 tries. After the first try I took a break and did some exploring. Managed to nab a Gyrm greatshield from those dwarf guys in the pharros and it has 100% FIRE RESISTANCE and 100% physical resistance. YES!!!! Not done yet though. I also found the dull ember and brought it to the blacksmith in the bastille. He sells infinite large titanite shards and some really really sexy weapons. One of which was the greataxe, my new main weapon. I got it to +9 and its moveset is ridiculously satisfying. So, after all that I went and took on the smelter demon and it was extremely simple from there. Got greedy and died from a power attack I didnt know the boss had, but the third attempt was a simple and clean win. Oh yes.

[Nicolas]

Haha. I'm getting mine tomorrow... FINALLY.

52447

[Ultima Shadow]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel4.png
"Finally! It has arrived! Let's
celebrate with a bloodbath!"










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/mio2y.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.png
"...are you sure it's a good idea to kill
all those old ladies? You might regret it."
"Regret? What's that? Is it edible?"

[I Took the Red Pill]

I'd like to mention how much I love the Majula Theme from the Soundtrack. As one Youtube commenter puts it, "This song makes me feel like I just fell down a well and now I'm sitting on my mangled legs staring at the blue sky." Very melancholic.

CMScc7Fokts

[NeoCracker]

Raw Bastard Sword + 8
Lightning Shortbow +5
Old Knighs Shield +6
Old Knights Helm + 6
Old Knight Armor + 7
Royal Swordsman Gloves + 6
Old Knight Leggings + 6
Ring of Steel Protection + 1
Ring of Binding
Chloranthy Ring + 1
Bracing Knuckle Ring.

Oh yeah, I should be set to take on the Smelter now. :p

[Hollycat]

Everyone I've talked to has told me that the game still plays fine, but has framerate issues on both Xbox and PS3, and it apparently looks like crap. As in, all the special lighting they touted is not in the final game.

[NeoCracker]

Looks great to me. :p

Anyway, update on progress!

Solo'd the Giant two headed spider, took down the Smelter with a bit of help, and really the only way forward I'm seeing is to go through the giant fire dude that kicked my ass before, so I guess I go kill him now!

Also, Old Knight Armor upgraded to +10, Royal Knight gloves to +7, and my Raw Bastard Sword +10.

[TrollHunter]

Everyone I've talked to has told me that the game still plays fine, but has framerate issues on both Xbox and PS3, and it apparently looks like crap. As in, all the special lighting they touted is not in the final game.

And that would be correct, but really.... the game looks and feels way better than the original dark souls, and while the game definitely loks iffy early on... it becomes absolutely drop-dead gorgeous later on in the game. Frame-rate issues are apparent, but at least for me they've been minor and primarily in area transitions, nothing serious. All in all, it's really not a big deal. Game is still fantastic.

Oh right, an update. I'm losing track of all the bosses that I've felled.
Slowly and carefully cleared out drangleic castle. At no point did I have like 5 sentinels and a ton of rock soldirs ganking me. I did a couple rounds of co-op before trying myself so I found out just how bad you could get wrecked in this area... so I tried to see if you could take it really slow when I went solo. You could. Thank god. Got the royal soldiers ring +1 and my new main sword... the mastodon sword. Easily one of the most gorgeous greatswords in the game, and it came with the same moveset as my bastard sword but with A scaling in strength. WOO. Also, farmed mastodons for their halberd. I'm pretty sure it's the only strength based halberd and it is absolutely terrifying. As for bosses?

In no real order:
Killed the OLD IRON KING. I love this boss. I felt like I was in a battle straight out of a 80s heavy metal album. Err, I mean, more than usual.
Killed the one spider boss. Freja I believe?
Killed the Rotting guy. Cant quite recall his name as my greatsword ripped through his health like butter
Killed the skeleton kings (forgot to update this earlier)
Killed the three mage guys that led to freja... errr... cant recall their names. Sorry.
Killed the two dragonriders
Annnd killed the looking glass knight.

I'm now in a swamp area filled with the MOST ANNOYING CASTERS I have ever experienced. Holy crap batman, I was burning through life gems like they were candy because I was constantly being pelted by their attacks. Theres still so much loot I havent gotten in the area too (you can see all of it in the distance) but... this area is driving me mad. I don't want to loot it. D:


Armor? Varies. A lot. Most of it is +3~+6 though.
Weapons.
Mastodon sword +10
Longbow +0 (POISON ARROWS OP)
Royal kite shield +6

Other weapons:
Greataxe +9
Mastodon halberd +9
Bastard Sword +9
Poison Whip +9


The bell covenant is so utterly fantastic. Once I found out that belfry sol existed and that the bell keepers could be summoned to either depending on your area... I was officially sold. That is absolutely fantastic, and while im not sure that it beats the forest... it definitely is absurdly enjoyable and my main source of titanite chunks.


Also, incase anyone was wondering... A ton of people are trying to get everyone to move the PvP meta to 150 instead of 120. 120 is really just too low and gimps far too many builds (especially casters, holy crap casters suck at 120) to make it an effective pvp point. I myself will be going to 150 in the end and would love to see you guys there.

[krissy]

I'm trying to find a used copy
Then I'll join this thread
Frig. I have rdr and sh and dishonored to play. Should I skip them and just buy this?

[Ayen]

When do you all start invading and killing each other? It demands a sacrifice of blood for the cleansing of its world.

[NeoCracker]

First boss at the castle, figured I'd take a break after I lost my first shot. :p

[McLovin']

You gotta kill someone first!

[NeoCracker]

Welp, got the Kings Ring, so anyone else who has it will know where I am in the plot, and now I'm taking another breather. I need to shower, go to sleep, early day at work, and then gaming group. So no more Dark Souls until Tuesday. :cry:

[Nicolas]

Whoo. Finally got the game and I'm enjoying it. I've already run into the despawning of an enemy on the way to the Last Giant. Died against him a couple time before realizing that I should dodge a little. The Pursuer was a little more difficult, but apparently summoning someone and being used as bait, it's pretty simple as well. The debate is to now go to Lost Bastille or elsewhere.

[Ultima Shadow]

Been to busy playing, eating and sleeping since friday to post my progress here, but I've just defeated the Lost Sinner and the Skeleton Lords and I've made my way into some place full of poisonous stuff.

Where/when/how can I get Large Titanite Shards by the way? I have my sword at +4, but can't get it any further than that because of my severe lack of Large Titanite Shards. =(


Also: screw the Gargoyles

Also: I've never summoned help from a white phantom, and plan to keep it that way. :cool:

[Pete for President]

My copy finally arrived! Gonna dive into it tonight or tomorrow morning :greenie:

[Pete for President]

Double post because I dove into it and played for about 4 hours straight.

So far this game reminds me more of Demon's than it does Dark Souls. Man oh man praise the sun there is some epic scenery around, I do dig. Chose the swordsman to start out with, but switched to a decent shield as soon as I found it. As Trollhunter mentioned dodging definitely has a lot less immunity frames, but I guess that's a good thing as dodging literally straight through a giant enemy weapon always seemed a little... magical.

Beat Dragonrider before even finding the way into the Forest of the Giants. Beat the Last Giant too, pretty cool that he rips his own arm off. Both of them were fairly easy and I assume these are to lead in any newcomers. I wonder if/what 2 v 1 boss fights we shall be facing...

So far I have one gripe and that is the return of the Crystal Lizards. By the lords I find that one annoying game mechanic in all Souls games. At least the could've made them easier to hit but I tried slaying the same lizard twice and failed even with a vertical swinging weapon. But hey, I'm nitpicking now!

I'm hyped : ) can't wait to invade/be invaded!

Edit: also props for talking cats!

Edit #2: i love how tense the slow healing effect of the drops are.

[TrollHunter]

Well, found out where to go. The last boss I fought was a blast.
Throne watchers. Oh baby, they were fun. Took me 3 tries total, overall it really wasnt that bad... I just kept choking in the early fights. On the successful fight I actually found out that they could revive eachother. As in, they were both killed and revived once each till I found out that you had to kill both at about the same time (or at least before any reviving takes place). Was a fun fight though. 5/5 would fight again


So... one thing
IM SO CLOSE TO THE END OF THE GAME IT HURTS!!! THIS GAME IS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

[Ultima Shadow]

So far I have one gripe and that is the return of the Crystal Lizards. By the lords I find that one annoying game mechanic in all Souls games. At least the could've made them easier to hit but I tried slaying the same lizard twice and failed even with a vertical swinging weapon. But hey, I'm nitpicking now!

I kinda have to agree on that one. Well, I didn't mind it much until just a few hours ago actually.

Basically, this is what happened: There was one on a bridge. I managed to kill it. The loot fell right through the bridge. There was ground below, and I just barely survived the jump... and right before I could pick up the loot, I was attacked by a foe I hadn't seen from the bridge and I died, losing out on the lizard's loot forever. =(

[Nicolas]

Yeah. Those stupid lizards. Not a fan of them at all. I actually think I had near the same issue as you with the bridge one, Ultima.

Progress Update:
After beating the Pursuer, I went through Heide's Tower and beat the Dragonrider. Continued that way and found the Miracle woman, Lucatiel, and then Gavlan in No Man's Wharf. Beat the Flexile Sentry on Davey Jones' ship ('cause pirates). Made my way back to the Blue Cathedral and beat the Old Dragonslayer after two tries. That stupid AoE attack he did kinda ended me quickly. Stayed human throughout all of that until that damn AoE. The well area was a bit of a pain due to falling down so much. The rat area... that was interesting and the hardest part of the game so far for me. I walked into an area and was immediately summoned as a gray spirit to fight some guy that was set up waiting to kill me. Didn't end well. After that, I fought the Rat Vanguard. Whatta dick. So many rats. Beat him after about 4 tries. Joined that covenant too.

Next was Lost Bastille, which was easier to navigate than anticipated. Stopped at the fog before the boss because I've gotta improve my equipment. To do that, I'm at the second bonfire in Huntsman's Copse. From there, I hope to explore more and hopefully find that stupid ember.

But man, I'm loving this game.

[Pete for President]

So far I have one gripe and that is the return of the Crystal Lizards. By the lords I find that one annoying game mechanic in all Souls games. At least the could've made them easier to hit but I tried slaying the same lizard twice and failed even with a vertical swinging weapon. But hey, I'm nitpicking now!

I kinda have to agree on that one. Well, I didn't mind it much until just a few hours ago actually.

Basically, this is what happened: There was one on a bridge. I managed to kill it. The loot fell right through the bridge. There was ground below, and I just barely survived the jump... and right before I could pick up the loot, I was attacked by a foe I hadn't seen from the bridge and I died, losing out on the lizard's loot forever. =(

Oh man that's exactly why they don't work.

Some more progress: Beat Pursuer solo after helping out others for a while. Well.. helping out isn't exactly what happened. I've accidentally slain more allies with the ballistas than I'd like to admit but it was super funny nonetheless. For the solo fight magic ooze worked wonders. Found a Titanite Slab. Met the emberless blacksmith and pirate lady in the Bastille, as well as the Cartographer. Ventured on to No Man's Wharf where I was slain.

[TrollHunter]

I want to play the last level so bad... but... but class
DAMN MY SCHOLARLY PURSUITS
Also, just a heads up for everyone. Even with me spending 90% of my souls on magic/poison arrows and lifegems... im still at Lv.123. So, if you ever think you're overleveled... you probably arent.

In no mans warf... did anyone else think that the guys with the two swords looked a bit like mr. dragonborn because I seriously cant unsee it now.

[NeoCracker]

I'll probably have the game beaten by the end of the night!

[TrollHunter]

If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

[NeoCracker]

...The final boss is easy as fuck.

[TrollHunter]

...The final boss is easy as smurf.

Hm... that's disappointing. I will see for myself and report back as quickly as possible.
Have you done all the optional bosses yet?

[Skyblade]

If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.

[TrollHunter]

If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.


At endgame a spoiler could easily consist of new equipment or lore or general story and the usual boss strategies. Lots of this stuff people dont want spoiled. Regardless, I was being sarcastic so your bit of attitude there was pretty uncalled for.
And besides... why are you here if you arent interested in the games? This thread doesnt really need pointless negativity.

[Skyblade]

If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.


At endgame a spoiler could easily consist of new equipment or lore or general story and the usual boss strategies. Lots of this stuff people dont want spoiled. Regardless, I was being sarcastic so your bit of attitude there was pretty uncalled for.
And besides... why are you here if you arent interested in the games? This thread doesnt really need pointless negativity.

It wasn't meant to be primarily negative (just a little bit at the end). It was mostly curiosity, as I HAD read the spoilers, and didn't really see why any of them would have to be marked. I could see possibly strategies being spoilered in such a combat-heavy game, but just the route you took and what you encountered/defeated? It struck me as odd. Nothing I've seen here is even close to what I would consider a "spoiler", so I was honestly wondering what the objection was, and why someone might object to seeing it.

[NeoCracker]

A portion of the games fun is discovering what comes next. If for example I said There is a giant two headed spiders with death rays they would completely miss out on the amazement of seeing it for the first time. That is part of the games charm is the outstanding boss's, and the impact of first seeing them. :p

[Pete for President]

Beat No Man's Wharf boss in the ship, I reckon this is arguably the easiest boss of any Souls game. Tried helping at least 10 people fight the 3 Sentinels as a summon but the party only made it through the mist maybe three times and then got slaughtered anyway.



If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.

Join us Skyblade. It is the only way to understand :shifty:

[TrollHunter]

If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.


At endgame a spoiler could easily consist of new equipment or lore or general story and the usual boss strategies. Lots of this stuff people dont want spoiled. Regardless, I was being sarcastic so your bit of attitude there was pretty uncalled for.
And besides... why are you here if you arent interested in the games? This thread doesnt really need pointless negativity.

It wasn't meant to be primarily negative (just a little bit at the end). It was mostly curiosity, as I HAD read the spoilers, and didn't really see why any of them would have to be marked. I could see possibly strategies being spoilered in such a combat-heavy game, but just the route you took and what you encountered/defeated? It struck me as odd. Nothing I've seen here is even close to what I would consider a "spoiler", so I was honestly wondering what the objection was, and why someone might object to seeing it.

Neocracker already covered what I was going to say. A lot of joy in this game comes from finding out stuff yourself, even so much as a boss name or area name can kill things a bit. They wouldnt be spoilers for most games but here, in a game so much based around being lost and alone, every new area is exciting. Even the little things are important, and thats why so many posts that seem insignificant are spoil tagged. It's weird, but it's how it is.

Update: Killed final boss, she was pretty easy once I used a lightning pine resin on my mastodon halberd. Was doing upwards of 800 damage a hit. Her attacks were extremely easy to dodge and I only died twice because I didnt understand her telegraphing for her "wrath of god" type spell. This fight probably wouldve been a lot better if it wasnt such a heavy damage race. Oh well, it was still fun. Time to kill all of the optional bosses and pick up the rest of the soul vessels and I'll be on my way to NG+

[Skyblade]

Beat No Man's Wharf boss in the ship, I reckon this is arguably the easiest boss of any Souls game. Tried helping at least 10 people fight the 3 Sentinels as a summon but the party only made it through the mist maybe three times and then got slaughtered anyway.



If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.

Join us Skyblade. It is the only way to understand :shifty:

Every time I even feel tempted to start up Dark Souls, I just play Monster Hunter. But it doesn't happen often.

[McLovin']

Been to busy playing, eating and sleeping since friday to post my progress here, but I've just defeated the Lost Sinner and the Skeleton Lords and I've made my way into some place full of poisonous stuff.

Where/when/how can I get Large Titanite Shards by the way? I have my sword at +4, but can't get it any further than that because of my severe lack of Large Titanite Shards. =(


Also: screw the Gargoyles

Also: I've never summoned help from a white phantom, and plan to keep it that way. :cool:

You can buy Large titanite from McDuff at Lost Bastille after you give him an ember.

Been pvping a lot at level 80 and have a pretty awesome k/d ratio compared to DS1 lol. Flame Swathe + a powerful sword + Chariot Lance and they go down eaaassily.

People walk right into flame swathe and it does like 800-900 damage if they're not in heavy gear. Generally that and one swing and theyre dead. Every stupid gray spirit at those bell places has met my wrath. But I can't even rank up in the brotherhood of blood so what da fack.

[Jowy]

Starting tomorrow, I have three days off entirely to myself. Now I'll be able to get out of the Forest of the Giants.

Am I supposed to be getting sodomized so much by those turtles? I can't handle two at once.

Also, I can't bring myself to unbox the rest of my collector's edition; There's a small dent on the box due to a few collisions with my messenger bag on my walk back from the mall. I feel like that lowers the future value enough to justify popping out the cloth map and ironing it out.

[Nicolas]

Beat No Man's Wharf boss in the ship, I reckon this is arguably the easiest boss of any Souls game. Tried helping at least 10 people fight the 3 Sentinels as a summon but the party only made it through the mist maybe three times and then got slaughtered anyway.



If you post a spoiler tag detailing your experience.... I will click it
and I will blame you.

You do realize that "spoilers" here consist of "I went here and killed this thing", right?

The fascination with these games still eludes me.

Join us Skyblade. It is the only way to understand :shifty:

Haha. I helped out with the same one all night last night. Did it until I got about 120k souls from it from 0. It took a while. People are terrible at that. Though, fighting that made the Skeleton Lords in Huntsman's Copse stupidly easy.

[TrollHunter]

So, did the giants memories which put things in a very interesting perspective, and met some cool ass NPC's. Killed the giant king who was easy once I stopped getting 1-shot and am debating on if I should just kill vendrick now with only 3 souls or if I should kill the ancient dragon first. I'm killing both either way... but the trek to the ancient dragon is a royal pain in the butt. After that it's kill all the npc's time and then off I go.

Once I hit NG+ I'm going to get the MLGS ASAP and use a soul vessel to test out a high level sorc build. If it works well I'll probably continue my low level mage or just keep my main build as that. The MLGS is one of my favorite weapons and I definitely want to test it out. (I'd use a bonfire ascetic but the last thing I want to do is trek through that area in ng++ soon

[Pete for President]

Some more progress: found and beat the Old Dragonslayer. Really curious to see how this might affect the lore. Once again Magic Ooze worked wonders. Found the Rat Vanguard but haven't beat him yet. I wonder how feasible solo beating the Ruin Sentinels is.

I think I might start a new character on the side as a Cleric.

[Ultima Shadow]

Progress:

I made it through the Black Gulch, beat the boss there, and now I'm at the Iron Keep. Took me quite a while to find out how to get rid of the poison in the room against the headless gorgon boss. Only figured it out thanks to online messenges.

Also, I now have a +10 Royal Knight Greatsword, which is the weapon I've been sticking to ever since I got it. I can't figure out whenever it's worth to enchant it or not though.









http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Rider4b-1.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"So, how is your progress Bern?"










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel6.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Riderb-1.png
"You know that lady in the begining?
The Emerald Herald? Well, she told me
to seek misery. But you know... I'm
Bernkastel. I don't seek misery. I
create misery. And so, I decided
to do just that by slaying every friendly
NPC, including the Emerald Herald."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Riderb-1.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.png
"Hold on... so you actually killed the person
that you need in order to level up in this game?"
"Yes. And to answer your first question,
progress is pretty slow now. Like... really slow."

[Ayen]

Bern is a bawse.

[Jiro]

I played for like an hour and died about 40 times, I am not good at this game.

[McLovin']

Whoever thought of putting quick swap as the R3 button was an idiot. And the fact you can't disable it makes it more annoying. 50% of all my deaths are due to weapon switching or random item usage due to the quick swap feature. Its a fucking disaster.

[TrollHunter]

The ancient dragon can go smurf itself

Also, the curved dragon greatsword is an absurdly awesome weapon. Definitely basing my main build off of this baby.

[Nicolas]

Some more progress: found and beat the Old Dragonslayer. Really curious to see how this might affect the lore. Once again Magic Ooze worked wonders. Found the Rat Vanguard but haven't beat him yet. I wonder how feasible solo beating the Ruin Sentinels is.

I think I might start a new character on the side as a Cleric.

It's definitely possible, but I found it best to summon one person to pull the extra when you're going against them.

Been having a blast going through Harvest Valley and making my way up through Earthen Peak. Didn't realize that all those actions I took lead to the room not being filled with poison when fighting the Baneful Queen. She was really easy for me, beat her in one go just as I was going to see how the fight would go. I continued my way through Iron Keep, but had issues often with those GreatBow Archers. Tried the Smelter. Got him halfway when he decided to kill me with no issues. After picking up the Dull Ember there, I went to Lost Bastille to beat the Ruins Sentinels with one summoned phantom and gonna make my way through that area. Can't wait to keep going in this game. It's so much fun.

[Pete for President]

Whoever thought of putting quick swap as the R3 button was an idiot. And the fact you can't disable it makes it more annoying. 50% of all my deaths are due to weapon switching or random item usage due to the quick swap feature. Its a smurfing disaster.

Quick swap on R3? Doesn't really ring a bell. Maybe you can turn it off in the options?

For me R3 means lock-on.

[Pete for President]

This covenant of the Rat King is my new favourite thing ever. The arena is awesome and reminds me of the Catacombs in 1, acid pools are maliciously evil and we serve a talking rat. Nothing but pro's!

[TrollHunter]

New Game+ is SOOO FUNNNNN
It actually brings in new enemies and black phantom enemies to mix it up, and oh god does it get intense. Also, soul memory no longer hinders pvp/co-op in NG+.
This is truly heaven.

[McLovin']

Whoever thought of putting quick swap as the R3 button was an idiot. And the fact you can't disable it makes it more annoying. 50% of all my deaths are due to weapon switching or random item usage due to the quick swap feature. Its a smurfing disaster.

Quick swap on R3? Doesn't really ring a bell. Maybe you can turn it off in the options?

For me R3 means lock-on.

You're right, meant L3.

[Pete for President]

Whoever thought of putting quick swap as the R3 button was an idiot. And the fact you can't disable it makes it more annoying. 50% of all my deaths are due to weapon switching or random item usage due to the quick swap feature. Its a smurfing disaster.

Quick swap on R3? Doesn't really ring a bell. Maybe you can turn it off in the options?

For me R3 means lock-on.

You're right, meant L3.

Ooh. That's jumping in my game :0

More progress: Beat the Ruin Sentinels solo. It was tough, but poking with the estoc and handy shield work did the trick. Ventured on into Sinners Rise and beat the Old Sinner on 3rd try. Cool boss, hardly gives any room to heal.

Two more gripes: We're still offering one item at a time for covenants. How hard is it to give the option to offer more at once?

Second one is I find the Old Bastille and Sinner's Rise a bit cold and dull. I miss how our character emits a bit of light in both Demon's and Dark 1. It's beautiful once you light a torch but I find that these indoor areas lack atmosphere. They're mostly square rooms, hardly decorated, cold walls with nothing in it. Even after beating the sinner that ancient bonfire is in a square room... with nothing. I suspected something sinner-ish. A room full of torture devices, weapons or other malicious things. Even a staircase with an altar of sorts would do. Compared to other boss rooms like the Old Monk from Demon's, reaching Gwynevere after O&S, Nito's coffin in his boss room, all of those make it credible that the boss lived here. And things mattered here. Some kind of lore-ish reward for slaying an old one would have been nice. But this was the first one I beat so I have hopes for the other ones.

On the plus side of things I find the level structures to be as genius as ever. Lot's of secrets, routes to explore, surprises around every corner, and a pretty constant feel of dread. I dig.

[McLovin']

Whoever thought of putting quick swap as the R3 button was an idiot. And the fact you can't disable it makes it more annoying. 50% of all my deaths are due to weapon switching or random item usage due to the quick swap feature. Its a smurfing disaster.

Quick swap on R3? Doesn't really ring a bell. Maybe you can turn it off in the options?

For me R3 means lock-on.

You're right, meant L3.

Ooh. That's jumping in my game :0

More progress: Beat the Ruin Sentinels solo. It was tough, but poking with the estoc and handy shield work did the trick. Ventured on into Sinners Rise and beat the Old Sinner on 3rd try. Cool boss, hardly gives any room to heal.

Two more gripes: We're still offering one item at a time for covenants. How hard is it to give the option to offer more at once?

Second one is I find the Old Bastille and Sinner's Rise a bit cold and dull. I miss how our character emits a bit of light in both Demon's and Dark 1. It's beautiful once you light a torch but I find that these indoor areas lack atmosphere. They're mostly square rooms, hardly decorated, cold walls with nothing in it. Even after beating the sinner that ancient bonfire is in a square room... with nothing. I suspected something sinner-ish. A room full of torture devices, weapons or other malicious things. Even a staircase with an altar of sorts would do. Compared to other boss rooms like the Old Monk from Demon's, reaching Gwynevere after O&S, Nito's coffin in his boss room, all of those make it credible that the boss lived here. And things mattered here. Some kind of lore-ish reward for slaying an old one would have been nice. But this was the first one I beat so I have hopes for the other ones.

On the plus side of things I find the level structures to be as genius as ever. Lot's of secrets, routes to explore, surprises around every corner, and a pretty constant feel of dread. I dig.


Its jump and quick swap. Try using it and attacking or rolling, your inventory lights up and switches. Its fucking annoying.

[Pete for President]

Oh man the more I progress the more hyped I get. This game seems to be incredibly massive. I am loving the Shaded Woods, Huntsman's Copse and Brightstone. Well... Brightstone in the sense that it keeps you on your toes. The enemies are tedious to fight. Challenged the boss and lasted maybe 20 seconds, ouch. The Skeleton Lords and Magus & Congregation were super fun boss fights.

Having a hard time finding blacksmiths, but I upgraded a falchion to +8 and I seem to manage.

I can't wait to start a fresh character and use the knowledge of the community to see everything. For now I march onwards, blind as can be.

[TrollHunter]

Whoever thought of putting quick swap as the R3 button was an idiot. And the fact you can't disable it makes it more annoying. 50% of all my deaths are due to weapon switching or random item usage due to the quick swap feature. Its a smurfing disaster.

Quick swap on R3? Doesn't really ring a bell. Maybe you can turn it off in the options?

For me R3 means lock-on.

You're right, meant L3.

Ooh. That's jumping in my game :0

More progress: Beat the Ruin Sentinels solo. It was tough, but poking with the estoc and handy shield work did the trick. Ventured on into Sinners Rise and beat the Old Sinner on 3rd try. Cool boss, hardly gives any room to heal.

Two more gripes: We're still offering one item at a time for covenants. How hard is it to give the option to offer more at once?

Second one is I find the Old Bastille and Sinner's Rise a bit cold and dull. I miss how our character emits a bit of light in both Demon's and Dark 1. It's beautiful once you light a torch but I find that these indoor areas lack atmosphere. They're mostly square rooms, hardly decorated, cold walls with nothing in it. Even after beating the sinner that ancient bonfire is in a square room... with nothing. I suspected something sinner-ish. A room full of torture devices, weapons or other malicious things. Even a staircase with an altar of sorts would do. Compared to other boss rooms like the Old Monk from Demon's, reaching Gwynevere after O&S, Nito's coffin in his boss room, all of those make it credible that the boss lived here. And things mattered here. Some kind of lore-ish reward for slaying an old one would have been nice. But this was the first one I beat so I have hopes for the other ones.

On the plus side of things I find the level structures to be as genius as ever. Lot's of secrets, routes to explore, surprises around every corner, and a pretty constant feel of dread. I dig.


Its jump and quick swap. Try using it and attacking or rolling, your inventory lights up and switches. Its smurfing annoying.

Tried doing that while mashing the crap out of both analogs. Nothing happened.

Taking a break from my quality build to make a sorcerer/maybe a hex based character. Sorceries are such a pain in the earlygame, but the more I progress the more fun I have.

[Pete for President]

These areas Earthen Peak and Iron Keep, they are awesome. I started this swordsman character with the intention to make it a katana man, but so far I have found none. I bet the enemies in Iron Keep can drop em as they wield katana's. Are those some lightning-Iaito's those higher powered knights are using?

I also can't wait to try hexes properly. They have the most awesome descriptions.

[Nicolas]

These areas Earthen Peak and Iron Keep, they are awesome. I started this swordsman character with the intention to make it a katana man, but so far I have found none. I bet the enemies in Iron Keep can drop em as they wield katana's. Are those some lightning-Iaito's those higher powered knights are using?

I also can't wait to try hexes properly. They have the most awesome descriptions.

I really liked the latter area.

The Iaito's have been renamed Blacksteel Katanas, I think. Which are definitely dropped by the normal knights. Their armor is really useful too. Same with the Captains with the lightning blades.

Also, I can safely say that the area I'm in is, by and large, the most irritating place I've ever encountered in the Souls series for me. I hate you, Shrine of Amana. So much. Stupid mages.

[TrollHunter]

These areas Earthen Peak and Iron Keep, they are awesome. I started this swordsman character with the intention to make it a katana man, but so far I have found none. I bet the enemies in Iron Keep can drop em as they wield katana's. Are those some lightning-Iaito's those higher powered knights are using?

I also can't wait to try hexes properly. They have the most awesome descriptions.

I really liked the latter area.

The Iaito's have been renamed Blacksteel Katanas, I think. Which are definitely dropped by the normal knights. Their armor is really useful too. Same with the Captains with the lightning blades.

Also, I can safely say that the area I'm in is, by and large, the most irritating place I've ever encountered in the Souls series for me. I hate you, Shrine of Amana. So much. Stupid mages.

Ugh, I know your pain.

Also, getting further in with hexes. This character is a blast, loving it so much. Though it's quite tricky when you run into magic resistant enemies.

[Ultima Shadow]

Also, I can safely say that the area I'm in is, by and large, the most irritating place I've ever encountered in the Souls series for me. I hate you, Shrine of Amana. So much. Stupid mages.
Yes. I was there too just a little while ago. It really is the worst place ever. >_>

Also, while it's sad that there is no full Red Eye Orb and that you can't buy the cracked ones until NG+, I do love the other aspects of PvP in this game. The Bell Keepers are totally badass too. I've already spent lots of time on PvP.

[TrollHunter]

Also, I can safely say that the area I'm in is, by and large, the most irritating place I've ever encountered in the Souls series for me. I hate you, Shrine of Amana. So much. Stupid mages.
Yes. I was there too just a little while ago. It really is the worst place ever. >_>

Also, while it's sad that there is no full Red Eye Orb and that you can't buy the cracked ones until NG+, I do love the other aspects of PvP in this game. The Bell Keepers are totally badass too. I've already spent lots of time on PvP.

I adore the sheer amount of variety of pvp in this game. It's so amazing.

Also, With my int build I have again become convinced that the longsword is my favorite pvp weapon just like in Dks1. Its just such a comfortable weapon to me, everything works exactly as I want it to and thats extremely important. I'm so happy that this weapon still wrecks faces.

[Nicolas]

Hah. Yeah. PvP has its ups and downs for me as well. I'm spending a lot of time as a Bell Keeper to farm. It's getting to the point that you know exactly what to expect going in now. Definitely becoming less of a fan of pyromancers though. Jerks with their stupid faces.

I'm currently at Dragon Aerie and, ah, how lovely it is. Accidentally released Navlaan though. Hm. Not my best decision, but he's not overwhelmingly difficult. Just annoying. Pretty much have my build done and my armor and weapons fully upgraded. Just need to finish farming Invaders for Titanite Chunks. Then I make my way through the Aerie and go back to defeat Vendrick at some point. Fun times these be.

[Ultima Shadow]

Hah, our progress seem to be about the same at the moment. I'm at that very same location, and yeah - it might even be my favourite place so far. Everything just looks so amazing. One of the most beautiful places in the entire series if you ask me.

And fighting dragons = epic.




As for PvP, I've just been using my good old Royal Greatsword up until recently. I just now switched to a fully upgraded Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword.

Yeah... I love those big, wacky weapons that just smash things to pieces. <3

I also found out that the Ultra Greatsword is great against bosses. The damage is just massive compared to everything else I've been using.

[Pete for President]

Argh I wish I could play more! There's still so much to discover.

Does anyone know where Rosabeth moves to after de-petrifying her? I've looked all over Majula but can't find her.

[Nicolas]

Argh I wish I could play more! There's still so much to discover.

Does anyone know where Rosabeth moves to after de-petrifying her? I've looked all over Majula but can't find her.

If she's the girl before the woods, she should have moved near the shrine showing the worldwide deaths.

I LOVED the two portions I just went through, Dragon Aerie and Dragon Shrine. Probably my two favorite places. Glad they put a good few dragons in this one.

[TrollHunter]

The more I play my sorcerer... the more I prefer it over my ol' quality build. New main build for sure.

Also, Soul Greatsword is amazing. Since I play a more aggressive approach-oriented mage it fits in perfectly and oh GOD that damage at close range is absurd.

[Pete for President]

Argh I wish I could play more! There's still so much to discover.

Does anyone know where Rosabeth moves to after de-petrifying her? I've looked all over Majula but can't find her.

If she's the girl before the woods, she should have moved near the shrine showing the worldwide deaths.


Hmm strange, she isn't there. I wonder what happened.

Looted a Blacksteel Katana in the Iron Keep and upgraded it to +10. It's probably not the best weapon as the falchion swings faster, does bleeding and has similar AR while being a lot lighter, but I'm enjoying the Katana a lot more. Met the Iron King and fell into the lava embarrassingly quick. Met the Smelter Demon afterwards, but got slain by his firesword.

Ventured into the Gutter and Black Gulch, felt like the Valley of Defilement and Tomb of Giants had a baby. Beat The Rotten, it's a cool boss fight. Afterwards I got my revenge on Freja. I dig how the old hollow fellow is in the room afterwards. Really curious about the lore.

Still going strong solo-ing everything :D

[TrollHunter]

So, back in the shrine of amana. I remember why I hated this place so much. And now I dont have a long range option as I use mid-range magic as opposed to a +9 long bow on my quality build. I am fuming right now because of just how infuriating this area is. This area was the first to make me break out not only a shield but also a smurfing bow. And even with both the level is only SLIGHTLY less stupid as hell

[Nicolas]

So, back in the shrine of amana. I remember why I hated this place so much. And now I dont have a long range option as I use mid-range magic as opposed to a +9 long bow on my quality build. I am fuming right now because of just how infuriating this area is. This area was the first to make me break out not only a shield but also a smurfing bow. And even with both the level is only SLIGHTLY less stupid as hell

hehe. I have to head back there to farm for one item. Just need one. I'm dreading the entire experience as well.

[Pete for President]

Got my fourth great soul, beat the Smelter Demon (awesome battle) and the Old Iron King was surprisingly easy. Also found Belfry Luna and Belfry Sol, but I have yet to meet the Sol boss. It's a fun way to farm Chunks!

[TrollHunter]

So, back in the shrine of amana. I remember why I hated this place so much. And now I dont have a long range option as I use mid-range magic as opposed to a +9 long bow on my quality build. I am fuming right now because of just how infuriating this area is. This area was the first to make me break out not only a shield but also a smurfing bow. And even with both the level is only SLIGHTLY less stupid as hell

hehe. I have to head back there to farm for one item. Just need one. I'm dreading the entire experience as well.

I had to get my end-game staff there. Thankfully I'm done now, and im also past the next area. I'm at the home stretch now as I'm not doing most of the optional stuff on this character (thats what my first blind run was for). The last few areas are a joy to go through, so I'm looking forward to wrapping up new game on this build. Finishing 2 characters in 2 weeks? That's what I call progress. This game is beautifully put together.

[Nicolas]

So, back in the shrine of amana. I remember why I hated this place so much. And now I dont have a long range option as I use mid-range magic as opposed to a +9 long bow on my quality build. I am fuming right now because of just how infuriating this area is. This area was the first to make me break out not only a shield but also a smurfing bow. And even with both the level is only SLIGHTLY less stupid as hell

hehe. I have to head back there to farm for one item. Just need one. I'm dreading the entire experience as well.

I had to get my end-game staff there. Thankfully I'm done now, and im also past the next area. I'm at the home stretch now as I'm not doing most of the optional stuff on this character (thats what my first blind run was for). The last few areas are a joy to go through, so I'm looking forward to wrapping up new game on this build. Finishing 2 characters in 2 weeks? That's what I call progress. This game is beautifully put together.

Yeah. I finished my build today as well. Though, I've had a run in with all the bosses in the game and only have the last 4 optional bosses to complete. I'm getting ready to fight them now. After that, it's the final area of the game for me.

[Ultima Shadow]

Though, I've had a run in with all the bosses in the game and only have the last 4 optional bosses to complete. I'm getting ready to fight them now. After that, it's the final area of the game for me.Same. :cool:

Well, except I only have two of the optional bosses left.



Also, I'm trying out the King's Ultra Greatsword, fully upgraded. The power is crazy and it has pretty good physical defense and stability while two-handing and blocking with it. The only problem, though, is that its moveset is kinda "meh". You pretty much have to two-hand it for it to be useful, so I think I actually still prefer the good old Greatsword after all as far as Ultra Greatswords goes. I might switch to the Melter Sword though, if I can just be bothered to farm enough petrified Dragon Bones again.

Still... it is pretty fun to two-shot people with a Sunlightblade-enchanted King's Ultra Greatsword, when you just get the chance to land a hit. :p

Oh yeah... and I absolutely love the item Bonfire Ascetic by the way. But I've already used 4 in the best area for Petrified Dragonbone farming, and the difficulty bump really did show when "certain enemies" I could previously one-shot didn't even get staggered by a one-handed attack from an Ultra Greatsword anymore. :greenie:

[Pete for President]

Reached Drangleic Castle. Those stone spear guys are a pain.

[Ultima Shadow]

I have now defeated the optional bosses. I will do some more random PvP and stuff and then go beat the game. :greenie:

[Nicolas]

I have now defeated the optional bosses. I will do some more random PvP and stuff and then go beat the game. :greenie:

Yeah. I've got three more to go. I beat Ancient Dragon and Vendrick last night. The last three for me though are probably going to be a bit tougher since I've started a fight with each one besides the covenant based jerk who is in an area that is a huge pain for me.

Drangleic Castle was fun, I thought. Fairly short, but you do see the return of a certain enemy there. The areas after, or at least one of them, I thought was harder than Drangleic Castle.

[TrollHunter]

In NG+ on my mage now.
The quest to get good at PvP with my longsword has begun. My goal: to not be a gimmicky scrub like most mages in pvp. Trying to not be completely godawful at basic melee fights and then I'll start implementing magic.
CMW MLGS users are annoying as hell, even with my 100% magic block magic infused magic shield. Lord knows I'd stand no chance against them without it.

UPDATE: So... pvp experience as a blue sentinel. It's been... interesting.
Sparring/Dueling: Did about... 10-12? Lost every single one expect for 2
Invasions: Did about 15. Won every single one except for 1. And that ONE was against gankers.

....curious results to say the least. I need to work on my dueling skills, I'm a total scrub. Oh well, invasions are a blast (except when you get gankers. Once I get good again I'll love gankers... but sadly I'm still a complete noob right now)

[Pete for President]

Whoohoo more progress. Can't believe how huge this game is, it feels so much bigger than 1. Beat the Dragonrider duo, Looking Glass Knight, found the Embedded which I thought was freaky and intriguing at the same time, made it through the Shrine of Armana of which the boss was surprisingly easy. I like how the difficulty ramped up in Castle Drangleic. Gonna upgrade a Twinblade for awesomesauceness, not sure which one yet. Either the normal or the Stone version.

I've started reading up on the knowledge about areas I've beaten and I had no idea there were so many NPC's to summon. But I can't recall seeing any of the NPC summon signs. I saw people summon the guy for the Ruin Sentinels but he surely didn't show up when I went in there. Does anyone know what's up?

[Nicolas]

Whoohoo more progress. Can't believe how huge this game is, it feels so much bigger than 1. Beat the Dragonrider duo, Looking Glass Knight, found the Embedded which I thought was freaky and intriguing at the same time, made it through the Shrine of Armana of which the boss was surprisingly easy. I like how the difficulty ramped up in Castle Drangleic. Gonna upgrade a Twinblade for awesomesauceness, not sure which one yet. Either the normal or the Stone version.

I've started reading up on the knowledge about areas I've beaten and I had no idea there were so many NPC's to summon. But I can't recall seeing any of the NPC summon signs. I saw people summon the guy for the Ruin Sentinels but he surely didn't show up when I went in there. Does anyone know what's up?

Yeah. Going through all the dialogue for every NPC tends to net you some pretty neat things, such as summoning them when you get to certain bosses. The one you're mentioning is located in one of the open cells near the boss fog.

And apart from the Shrine of Amana, I found the entire last portion of the game to be pretty easy. Even the final bosses were pretty easy. The only ones I had difficultly with were the optional bosses you don't even have to bother with in any way.

I finished the game after beating Ancient Dragon and Vendrick. The only boss I have yet to beat, or get to really, is the Darklurker. That was mostly because you are forced to use your Human Effigies get to him. As I said earlier, most of New Game's ending segments were a bit too easy. Heck, the hardest bosses for me were Ancient Dragon and Demon of Song towards the finale. The Dragon was only difficult due to the fact that he OHKO'd me every time if I wasn't exact with my running. The Demon of Song just liked spamming his ram move against me.

I know they added a bunch of phantoms and irritation in New Game + that I want to get to with this character, but I'll save that for later.

As far as the game goes, I very much enjoyed it. It combines great systems from both Demons' Souls and Dark Souls to make a very well rounded entry in the series. I loved the overall layout of the game. It was a fairly neat combination of Dark Souls' open world with Demons' Souls' level like progression. That's about all I'm gonna say for now until I replay this game with a new character build or NG+ it.

[TrollHunter]

Whoohoo more progress. Can't believe how huge this game is, it feels so much bigger than 1. Beat the Dragonrider duo, Looking Glass Knight, found the Embedded which I thought was freaky and intriguing at the same time, made it through the Shrine of Armana of which the boss was surprisingly easy. I like how the difficulty ramped up in Castle Drangleic. Gonna upgrade a Twinblade for awesomesauceness, not sure which one yet. Either the normal or the Stone version.

I've started reading up on the knowledge about areas I've beaten and I had no idea there were so many NPC's to summon. But I can't recall seeing any of the NPC summon signs. I saw people summon the guy for the Ruin Sentinels but he surely didn't show up when I went in there. Does anyone know what's up?

Yeah. Going through all the dialogue for every NPC tends to net you some pretty neat things, such as summoning them when you get to certain bosses. The one you're mentioning is located in one of the open cells near the boss fog.

And apart from the Shrine of Amana, I found the entire last portion of the game to be pretty easy. Even the final bosses were pretty easy. The only ones I had difficultly with were the optional bosses you don't even have to bother with in any way.

I finished the game after beating Ancient Dragon and Vendrick. The only boss I have yet to beat, or get to really, is the Darklurker. That was mostly because you are forced to use your Human Effigies get to him. As I said earlier, most of New Game's ending segments were a bit too easy. Heck, the hardest bosses for me were Ancient Dragon and Demon of Song towards the finale. The Dragon was only difficult due to the fact that he OHKO'd me every time if I wasn't exact with my running. The Demon of Song just liked spamming his ram move against me.

I know they added a bunch of phantoms and irritation in New Game + that I want to get to with this character, but I'll save that for later.

As far as the game goes, I very much enjoyed it. It combines great systems from both Demons' Souls and Dark Souls to make a very well rounded entry in the series. I loved the overall layout of the game. It was a fairly neat combination of Dark Souls' open world with Demons' Souls' level like progression. That's about all I'm gonna say for now until I replay this game with a new character build or NG+ it.

Go NG+, it's absolutely terrifying.

[Pete for President]

Whoohoo more progress. Can't believe how huge this game is, it feels so much bigger than 1. Beat the Dragonrider duo, Looking Glass Knight, found the Embedded which I thought was freaky and intriguing at the same time, made it through the Shrine of Armana of which the boss was surprisingly easy. I like how the difficulty ramped up in Castle Drangleic. Gonna upgrade a Twinblade for awesomesauceness, not sure which one yet. Either the normal or the Stone version.

I've started reading up on the knowledge about areas I've beaten and I had no idea there were so many NPC's to summon. But I can't recall seeing any of the NPC summon signs. I saw people summon the guy for the Ruin Sentinels but he surely didn't show up when I went in there. Does anyone know what's up?

Yeah. Going through all the dialogue for every NPC tends to net you some pretty neat things, such as summoning them when you get to certain bosses. The one you're mentioning is located in one of the open cells near the boss fog.

And apart from the Shrine of Amana, I found the entire last portion of the game to be pretty easy. Even the final bosses were pretty easy. The only ones I had difficultly with were the optional bosses you don't even have to bother with in any way.


Ah, I also found out that being fully human helps. Or at least, I was able to summon the Gravewarden for the Velstadt fight. Still fought him solo and it's probably one of my favourite fights. Could be a little harder a-la Artorias, but fun nonetheless. I want his bell weapon! The Crypt was pretty tough.

[TrollHunter]

Whoohoo more progress. Can't believe how huge this game is, it feels so much bigger than 1. Beat the Dragonrider duo, Looking Glass Knight, found the Embedded which I thought was freaky and intriguing at the same time, made it through the Shrine of Armana of which the boss was surprisingly easy. I like how the difficulty ramped up in Castle Drangleic. Gonna upgrade a Twinblade for awesomesauceness, not sure which one yet. Either the normal or the Stone version.

I've started reading up on the knowledge about areas I've beaten and I had no idea there were so many NPC's to summon. But I can't recall seeing any of the NPC summon signs. I saw people summon the guy for the Ruin Sentinels but he surely didn't show up when I went in there. Does anyone know what's up?

Yeah. Going through all the dialogue for every NPC tends to net you some pretty neat things, such as summoning them when you get to certain bosses. The one you're mentioning is located in one of the open cells near the boss fog.

And apart from the Shrine of Amana, I found the entire last portion of the game to be pretty easy. Even the final bosses were pretty easy. The only ones I had difficultly with were the optional bosses you don't even have to bother with in any way.


Ah, I also found out that being fully human helps. Or at least, I was able to summon the Gravewarden for the Velstadt fight. Still fought him solo and it's probably one of my favourite fights. Could be a little harder a-la Artorias, but fun nonetheless. I want his bell weapon! The Crypt was pretty tough.

The more I go through that area the more I love it. Both from a pure atmospheric experience (meeting the gravewarden and talking to him, lighting the torches, the husk of the king after the boss) to a design perspective (the bells spawning enemies, the room with the two sorceresses and how many ways there are to tackle it). It's just an awesome level in my opinion.

[Nicolas]

Yes. The level design of that area was short but sweet. As with all the last few areas, actually. All sparse but full of different ways to go and tackle the obstacles in your way. Pete's comin' up to one of my favorite places in the entire game. It's essentially a fantasy wonderland of my dreams in which I pretty much felt like Ornstein, or at least what he's known for being. It was a great feeling. I'm really hoping the PC version improves on the graphics end just to see how that area will look.

I'll probably start NG+ this weekend or next week after I beat MGS lite. My major debates now is whether I want to max out the Blue Sentinels, finish collecting the items around NG, use the boss souls for leveling or trades, and actually delve deeper into the dark before I head off to NG+. I really do wanna make a new character though. I'd love to make either my character from Demons' Souls, a dual katana wielding high DEX/INT character, or try out a Hex DEX character. But the first one should be more fun since they intro'd Power Stance which seems to be pretty great for low weight fast weapons based around DEX.

Hell, I'm open for suggestions too.

EDIT: I'm actually curious as the to overall builds and stats you folks are using and how you like them. Stuff like weapons, armor, enchantments, and whatnot that you used through your playthroughs would be cool to read. Also, maybe why you chose them. I'll put my full stuff up when I get a chance tonight.

[Pete for President]

I'm using a fairly standard Dex build. Started out with the swordsman class and kinda stuck with it. The stats are roughly:

20-ish for vigor, endurance and vitality
26 dex
14 strength
32 adaptability

It was kinda dull for a while until I realised Adaptability gives more immunity to your rolls. Pumped that to 32-ish as soon as I found out and since then all fights got a lot more fun. More dodging, less shielding.

Used the falchion and estoc for the first half of the game, then switched the falchion for a blacksteel katana. Turned the estoc into a poison one which works wonders for larger enemies like the turtles and elephants. Standard kite shield and short bow for the left hand.

Standard pretty much sums it up, it's not that exciting as I have yet to find the more interesting weapons. Might upgrade a twinblade if I'm not too lazy to farm some shards.

I wanted to use pyromancy too but since Rosabeth never showed up in Majula that plan kinda got scrapped.

[TrollHunter]

I'll post pictures of it all later but my int build is as follows.

Class: Sorcerer
SLv. 120
VGR: 31
END: 15
VIT: 5
END: 26
STR: 18
DEX: 18
ADP: 8
INT: 40
FTH: 12

Now, this build was interesting to make. The base vitality is because I dont need extra equip load, I get by perfectly fine with base.
Base ADP is because all points in it are better put into attunement when it comes to casters, especially considering just how little points a caster has to work with.
18/18 is for the MLGS, which I have named the dubstep sword and use purely in invasions.
12 faith is to heal in invasions, it was a small investment for a huge payoff.


I have 2 equipment loadouts depending on my environment though.
:
RH: Longsword +10
LH: Magic Staff of Amana +10 / Magic Magic Shield +10 (yes, it is really called that. It's a magic shield infused with magic and its AMAZING. Completely counters high int builds that only know how to deal magic damage.)

Armor: Tattered Cloth Hood +9 / Hexers Robe +5 / Leydia Gauntlets +4 / Dragon Acolyte Boots +9
Reasoning? I like how it looks, and it's light.

Rings: Ring of Blades +1 (As of right now I'm only using my CMW buff in duels so that I can get better at melee range fighting. Else this would be a diff ring)
Third Dragon Ring (RoFaP has returned!)
Ring of Thorns +1 (Quite frankly, this ring is really slept on when compared to the ring of sun. I don't know if this ring can be dodged, it stuns the enemy, and it does over 200 damage.)
Cloranthy Ring +1 (Of course!)

Still working on getting all of my +2 rings, this character only started NG+ Last night.

Spells:
Crystal Magic Weapon
Will implement more when I stop being a scrub at melee combat

So yes, this build is based around me mastering the longsword and understanding the basics on melee range pvp. The limitations I have set for myself here result in me almost always losing, but I'll improve over time without a doubt. Eventually I'll even start using sorceries and getting hatemail!


:
RH: MLGS +5 / Clerics Sacred Chime +3 (I really should max this out sometime...)
LH: Magic Staff of Amana / Magic Magic shield
Armor: Same
Rings:
Clear Bluestone Ring +2 (I never know when I'll need to quickly cast a soul spear into a crowd or quickly heal to save myself. This ring is essential for heavy casting)
Cloranthy Ring +1
Third Dragon/Ring of Thorns
Bracing Knuckle Ring +2 (So that my dubstep sword never breaks in a single invasion regardless of me spamming dubstep waves)

Spell Loadout
CMW (I've only had to use it once thankfully, I hate buffing the MLGS but in some situations where I'm at a huge disadvantage it can be a potential lifesaver)
Soul Spear
Soul Greatsword
Heal
Great Heavy Soul Spear / Soul Vortex

This build is about killing the filthy sinners who roam Drangleic. I cleanse the world of them with the utmost efficiency. Now, this is basically my all out build... but it very rarely reaches it's final form. I'm not a fan of 1-shotting people so I typically don't buff my sword, and 40 int kind of makes it to where 1-shotting anyone won't be a huge thing. It's a blast though and the dubstep sword is a fatastic weapon even unbuffed and it's moveset lends itself perfectly to invasions. Due to my only limitation being the lack of ability to 1-shot people this build has a huge success rate in invasions. My only loss so far has been to a set of gankers, the like of which I'm not very skilled at fighting yet.


And that's just my mage. I don't even know what I want my Lv.139 quality build to do when it hits 150. I'll get back to that character in time.

[Nicolas]

Luca
Explorer
SL 125
VGR 15
END 15
VIT 20
ATN 20
STR 25
DEX 16
ADP 12
INT 5
FTH 50

R.H. Lightning Bastard Sword+10, Dark Claymore+10, Witchtree Bellvine+10
L.H. Royal Kite Shield+10, Lightning Shortbow+10

Head Syan's Helm+10
Body Llewellyn Armor+5
Arms Llewellyn Gloves+5
Legs Llewellyn Shoes+5

Rings varied for the most part, but this is the equipment that I grew to love through the course of the game. Kinda went for that high faith crusader feel, I suppose. Works pretty decently in PvP as well. As you can see, faith was high enough to use the assorted Spear Miracles as well as healing myself. It was just a boon in most situations. Very much enjoyed this build. The armor, mostly for looks, is actually pretty good. Lighter weight with good defenses, it got me through the end of Drangleic castle and beyond with no real issuses other than those mages in Amana. Will probably cap this character around 150 if I wanna use it for nothing but PvP. Otherwise, I'll just keep leveling this character for subsequent runs of NG+s.

The Explorer is not a great class to start off as. You get some neat items, but nothing you can't find before you need them, plus the stats are rather low besides ADP. Will probably start every character as Deprived from now on, though.

Your builds both seem like fun. I've never played this game as a sorcerer type, so yours seems like a good goal for me to try, Trollhunter.

Also, I had no idea that ADP was good for that. I know the description mentioned it helped with evasions, but it seems like a pretty great stat to use if that's the case. You noticed a fairly good difference when you upgraded it, yeah? Would it be something you'd want to have at a fairly decent level for any of your other builds?

[Pete for President]

I want to make a strength/faith build so bad. Looking through the inventory I think From really stepped up their game when it comes to hammers and axes!

Progress as of late: once again I was confused where to go after getting the King Ring, totally forgot there was another King's gate in the Shaded Woods. Had to look it up for I was looking in all the wrong places. Everything from Aldia's Keep, Dragon Aerie and Dragon Shrine was awesome. Why I'm supposed to dive into memories now is a bit unclear. The dragon's words have yet to make sense.

[Pete for President]

Yahtzee reviewed Dark Souls 2 after his very positive DkS1 review a couple weeks ago (one of the few games he was actually positive about and I like his reviews, so I thought I'd post it).

Zero Punctuation Video Gallery | The Escapist (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation)

Fact that he hasn't played beyond the initial 4 great souls seems like a setback and sets a negative tone for the review, but I do see a lot of his points: seeing the scorpion lady boss was just disappointing. They could've at least given her a scorpion head while she herself was the tail or something.

I also completely missed the miracle lady where the path to Heide's tower branches to a new area. I think the ability to warp from the get go has a few big downsides and this is one of the results.

[NeoCracker]

I will say, I still prefer Dark Souls 1, but this game is still great. DS1 had a higher challange, and more boss's that just left an impact from the boss fights. Dark Souls had some amazing boss's like Maw Dragon, who is so horrifying when you first lay eyes on it, or The Chaos Witch.

The only fight that just feels intense from the get go in DS2 is The Last Sinner, otherwise they all look cool, but don't have the same wow factor of the first game.

[TrollHunter]

I will say, I still prefer Dark Souls 1, but this game is still great. DS1 had a higher challange, and more boss's that just left an impact from the boss fights. Dark Souls had some amazing boss's like Maw Dragon, who is so horrifying when you first lay eyes on it, or The Chaos Witch.

The only fight that just feels intense from the get go in DS2 is The Last Sinner, otherwise they all look cool, but don't have the same wow factor of the first game.

Here's how I feel

What I prefer in DkS1
Bosses
Levels in terms of scale
Enemy variety
Bosses
Farming
Invaders being able to heal
Not being able to buff the MLGS
Did I mention bosses?

What I prefer in dks2:
Basically everything from a mechanical standpoint
The revamp to online play and the sheer variety found through covenants
The weapons
The upgrade system and infusion mechanic
Being able to earn easy mode through sheer force of will. (Having to learn and kill the enemies enough to make them despawn instead of it being like a toggle or difficulty setting)
Atmosphere, this game is creepy as hell at points


So yeah, as a pvp/co-op guy myself I definitely prefer the online experience provided by dks2... but if I had to choose between the two in an offline situation... I'd totally choose dks1. It really was just a tighter experience overall, even if the game falls out a bit after O&S in my opinion. Also, note how I put two things regarding farming/despawning enemies. I like both really, despawning the enemies can be a godsend after a while if a boss has you stuck... but its also a huge pain if the RNG decides to crap on your face while farming. So, as always, my relationship with dks and dks2 is love/hate.
TL;DR:
Dark Souls 1 for PvE/offline
Dark Souls 2 for online play

[Pete for President]

Beat the game today :D

I'm impressed by:
Playstyles made more viable (dual wield power stance, archer mechanics, two-handing doubles strength for weapon requirements as opposed to 1.5)
Weapon infusion & simplified upgrading mechanics
Character creation blended into story presentation
Velstadt. What a legend. Cosplay build incoming!
World pacing
Lot's of optional bosses
Some really interesting lore boss characters
Covenants are more relevant gameplay wise
The slow healing mechanics
Variety in areas and enemies
The sex-change coffin
Axes and hammers more unique, and new weapon classes like lances and twinblades.

What I like a little less in 2:
Warping from the get-go makes me not know the world thoroughly
Some bosses seem quantity over quality
Unclear goal story wise
Confusing homestretch in terms of story
Little sense of urgency
FromSoft played it on the safe side with it's NPC's this time around
Crystal lizards

Really good game and I'm impressed! Maybe some of these cons will disappear as I get more into the lore :cool:

Edit: read this article and trout gets real. http://fextralife.com/dark-souls-2-total-lore-and-location-breakdown/

[krissy]

got to main hub
fought some piglets
and some goblins with giant ballsacks
no idea where to go next, but that's all right
might leave this game to my bro for a bit
he doesnt know we have it yet he'll be so excite

[TrollHunter]

So, I made some huge alterations to the build after I realized that it had become more of a high-int buff build. A lot of the high end sorceries aren't really my style, but I do simply adore using the MLGS. So... I mixed things up.

35hp
20end
5vit
20attn
18str
35dex
22int
10faith

Now, this gives the build a lot more utility. I used some skeptics/simpletons spices to allow me to still use my spells like Heal/dark weapon/CMW/soul greatsword and used the saved points to get my hp end and dex up.

The 35 dex is NICE though and allows me a lot more flexibility with my build. I'm now thinking of messing around with power-stance spears... which, judging from the moveset, seems absurdly annoying and effective.

I'm starting to now experiment with pyro in this game... and my god is it enjoyable. I love the changes made to pyro and it's a very nice backup to my more close-in fighting style. Important to note though, I did all of this tinkering while my internet was down. I still need to test it out in a proper PvP environment. Hopefully this wasn't a stupid move on my part.

New equipment setups
Armor:
Mask of Judgement
Lucatiels Armor
Lucatiels Gloves
Varangian Pants
(New favorite armor BY FAR. I hated killing Luca but smurfing hell it was worth it. Will post a picture soon)

Weapons I use
Longsword
pyro flame
Sorcerer's Catalyst (Gotta do a bit of ADVENTURING to find my new endgame staff since the staff of amana requires 35 int)
Uchi
Mail Breaker (definitely planning on upgrading this)
MLGS (Dubstep Sword will never die)
Shotel
Magic Magic Shield (still, of course, absolutely awesome in every possible way)

As for progress through NG+...
Killed the rotten, screw that guy. Every hit brought me down to like 20% health, and I have a bad habit of dodging his attacks way too early. No changes to his NG+ self though, at least from what I saw.

Killed the scorpion chick first try. Not a hard fight for me anymore, and my +9 uchi really ripped through her pretty quick. I got hit once in the entire fight, and that was due to me being silly.

Freaking out because now caster/spider valley is in NG+2, and that place sucked enough in NG+1. At least I can get another paledrake soul... BECAUSE I TOTALLY NEED THAT. Powerstance MLGS hype confirmed.

Bosses to kill before shrine of winter:

Ruined Sentinels (screw these smurftards)
*Lost Sinner (Screw his new friends that spam pyro at you in NG+)
*Dukes Dear Freja (Screw that boss)
Gargoyles (GOD, WHO GAVE THESE GUYS THE COVETOUS GOLD RING +2? Now I cant just skip them like I would very much like to do.)
Smelter Demon (Fun fight, will get to him soon. Screw his 2-shotting me and my not having a 100% fire reduction shield though)
*Old Iron King (ezpz, will get to him soon)
Flexile Sentry (So.. he has 2 new friends. They have cool ass armor, killing them is the only way to get said armor. If I kill the boss they're gone forever. Even just killing one is a nightmare, let alone killing both and feathering out. This boss might be alive for a good while)

So yeah, this NG+ run is gonna take a while.

[Jowy]

i killed ornstein on the first attempt. :)

i'm going to be the last person to NG+ and i'm okay with that. taking my time to enjoy what trumps Chrono Trigger as video game perfection is why we still have cords hanging from the back of the TV.

[Nicolas]

i killed ornstein on the first attempt. :)

i'm going to be the last person to NG+ and i'm okay with that. taking my time to enjoy what trumps Chrono Trigger as video game perfection is why we still have cords hanging from the back of the TV.

Nice. Did you change your character from the Sorcerer?

One a side note, I started a second character as a Swordsman for my DEX/INT build. I'm just before No Man's Wharf after clearing out Heide's Tower and Forest of Fallen Giants. Not using a shield at all or summoning is a decent challenge. Power stance is pretty great too.

[Fonzie]

Currently PvPing with my faith/dex build in Iron Keep at sl 150. :)

[Quindiana Jones]

*clicks Last Page*
*shuts eyes*
*scrolls down*

I'm just here to say that I refuse to read or participate in this thread and I hate all of you for having the game that I still don't have. :(

[TrollHunter]

*clicks Last Page*
*shuts eyes*
*scrolls down*

I'm just here to say that I refuse to read or participate in this thread and I hate all of you for having the game that I still don't have. :(


http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/345/4/4/thrustingsolaire_gif___dark_souls_by_novacevia-d5nqx5s.gif

[Pete for President]

So many things to try, so little time. But made good progress on a new Str/Fai character.

Me and fellow invader in Belfry Luna got our butts handed to us by a naked dual Caestus power stance character. Trout is real.

Question for whoever is pvp-ing on 150; Is sorcery really one or two-shotting everything? Watched a couple video's and it looked like a buffed Moonlight Greatsword is ultimate wreckage. Can anyone give me the heads up on tactics I should know?

[TrollHunter]

So many things to try, so little time. But made good progress on a new Str/Fai character.

Me and fellow invader in Belfry Luna got our butts handed to us by a naked dual Caestus power stance character. Trout is real.

Question for whoever is pvp-ing on 150; Is sorcery really one or two-shotting everything? Watched a couple video's and it looked like a buffed Moonlight Greatsword is ultimate wreckage. Can anyone give me the heads up on tactics I should know?

Well, I have a character at like... 138 and another at 120. On my 120... if I decided to buff my moonlight dubstep sword with CMW... it would rip through people like butter. I've experienced wrath of gods a few times and it 1-shots both of my characters with 35/40 vigor. Great Resonant Soul does well over 1k damage in most cases, and many other hexes absolutely destroy people if they get caught offguard.

Magic right now is ABSURDLY power, but there are distinct counters. My counter for CMW MLGS builds is a little shield called the magic shield. It requires next to nothing to equip, and if it is infused with magic it acquires 100% magic damage blocking. This renders the builds quite a lot less scary, and many of the mages I've faced tend to get a bit confused when they're death beams do nothing to me. The rebel shield is another alternative that can have 100% in any element depending on what you infuse it with, and it has more stability as well at the cost of a far higher strength requirement.

And also, magic in general is still really easy to read and dodge. It becomes terrifying when lag is involved, but thats no different from it in DkS1. You really just have to get up in the mages face and bait out the magics. Many mages are actually garbage at pvp and they panic once you just roll through all of their stuff. So really, for mages, stay super aggressive and never let your guard down... and if you arent confident in your baiting/reading/dodging abilities... it really cannot hurt to pick up one of the two shields mentioned earlier.

That's really the basics of dealing with mages. I was one myself for a little while so I primarily analyzed the things that worked and didnt work in different environments. Mages are easily neutered in a proper duel environment, but in an invasion setting they can truly be a nightmare to face. Hell, even in a dueling environment they're terrifying. If you get hit by a CMW dubstep sword you'll know what I mean. I'm improving at fighting them, but getting 1-2shot results in any mistake I make ending in my doom. As time goes on though magic should become less and less of an issue.

The real issue is buff builds/the crappiness that is quality/non-buff builds. Scaling means extremely little from what I've seen, and even with my MLGS it's simply been better for me to lower my int down to the point where I can use my favorite sorceries and invest the points elsewhere. My quality build is utter garbage right now, and I really need to tinker with his stats to make him not horrible (By tinker, I mean find my main weapon... get base stats for it... and put the rest in other stats). Going down elemental paths is just the best way to go right now, and if you can use a buff... use it. Resins at least are really good now, so if you lack the stats/spices to use a buff you can just use those.
But yeah, you're sadly gimping yourself by not buffing right now. It's really a shame as I've always been a fan of not buffing my equipment.

I will go more in depth later, but I really need to sleep. Hopefully this was decently helpful though.


Beat the ruined sentinels in like... 3 tries. The NPC phantom has a tendency to go rambo and get himself killed, so I had to pump as much damage into the 2 sentinel gonkers as I could before my magebro died. After that it was all about taking it nice and slow, this fight is so much easier for me on NG+.

Beat the gargoyles, no summons no nothing. Hell, I beat them first try with like half of my spells/estus left just to try and see how tough they were NG+. They were terrifying actually, but I screamed and panicked my way to victory. As much flack as this weapon gets, the MLGS is just a glorious weapon. Being able to safely back away and shoot dubstep waves made that fight so much less insane and allowed me to maintain a safe distance while still doing some solid damage. Covetous gold ring +2 get.

So, about that lost sinner in NG+
This will be SO FUN TO SOLO. /sarcasm
The pyros that come in to backup the sinner deal insane amounts of damage, and since I murdered lucatiel in cold blood for her sweet-ass armor (NO REGRETS) I have no NPC phantom to keep aggro off me. Oh boy, this will be interesting to beat. Might put it off till after I beat the old iron king and have some new weapons upgraded to try out new strats.

So, as with everything I decided to co-op and learn how the fight goes. I also took this as an opportunity to try a new strat based around proper tanking.

Protip for co-oping that fight:
If you're the phantom and arent an absurdly heavy hitter you should do two things.
>Get the red-eye ring. (From shalquoir, this ring makes enemies prioritize you as the main target)
>Two-hand a 100% physical shield. (Two-handing it allows for more stability, probably not necessary if you have a greatshield)

I've been doing this and oh my god. This has allowed me to safely kite the sinner around the room while the host and other phantom deal with the pyros. It's not full-proof as you can attract the aggro of the pyros and they hurt... but it gives your two allies some insanely nice breathing room and allows for the two other guys to get some really easy hits on the boss once the pyro's are gone. I highly recommend this for a ton of bosses actually, it's a really cool and fun strategy.

But yeah, beating the sinner myself will be interesting. Might try a rapier or a spear to allow for some safe pokey damage that doesnt leave me super open. Hrmmmm.... It's all about killing the pyros without getting killed myself. This will be tricky.

[Unbreakable Will]

I beat the game, and I'm halfway through my second play-through (I'm in Tseldora now), my soul level is around 185 (I think I've leveled since then) and I'm a Heavy Armored Cleric. Havel's Armor and Shield with a Lightning Idol's Chime+5, Fire Sunsword+10 and a troutload of lightning spear spells.

52659

[Ultima Shadow]

Currently PvPing with my faith/dex build in Iron Keep at sl 150. :)


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Mio1.png
"I'm currently doing one those myself!
Sunlight Blade with Lightning Washing Pole.
But I really like the other katanas too,
and for PvE I switch to Blacksteel for
the better durability. For armour I just
run some really light stuff like the
Black Leather because it looks cool.
Hardly any need for vitality investment."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Mio4.png
"You're actually trying to play too, n00b?
And PvP in Iron Castle? Psh! You gotta
invade in the Shrine of Amana and snipe
them with high-speed Binocular castings
of Greater Resonant Soul. That's where the
true fun lies. The only problem I have is
that I can't invade new players early on and
ruin their experience with a Wrath of the Gods
to the face midway through a level. Ahhhhh,
doing that would have been sooo satisfying."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/mio2y.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel6.png
"You are more rotten than The Rotten."
"Also... Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring so that
the host won't get any invasion notifications."

[Pete for President]

So many things to try, so little time. But made good progress on a new Str/Fai character.

Me and fellow invader in Belfry Luna got our butts handed to us by a naked dual Caestus power stance character. Trout is real.

Question for whoever is pvp-ing on 150; Is sorcery really one or two-shotting everything? Watched a couple video's and it looked like a buffed Moonlight Greatsword is ultimate wreckage. Can anyone give me the heads up on tactics I should know?

Well, I have a character at like... 138 and another at 120. On my 120... if I decided to buff my moonlight dubstep sword with CMW... it would rip through people like butter. I've experienced wrath of gods a few times and it 1-shots both of my characters with 35/40 vigor. Great Resonant Soul does well over 1k damage in most cases, and many other hexes absolutely destroy people if they get caught offguard.

Magic right now is ABSURDLY power, but there are distinct counters. My counter for CMW MLGS builds is a little shield called the magic shield. It requires next to nothing to equip, and if it is infused with magic it acquires 100% magic damage blocking. This renders the builds quite a lot less scary, and many of the mages I've faced tend to get a bit confused when they're death beams do nothing to me. The rebel shield is another alternative that can have 100% in any element depending on what you infuse it with, and it has more stability as well at the cost of a far higher strength requirement.

And also, magic in general is still really easy to read and dodge. It becomes terrifying when lag is involved, but thats no different from it in DkS1. You really just have to get up in the mages face and bait out the magics. Many mages are actually garbage at pvp and they panic once you just roll through all of their stuff. So really, for mages, stay super aggressive and never let your guard down... and if you arent confident in your baiting/reading/dodging abilities... it really cannot hurt to pick up one of the two shields mentioned earlier.

That's really the basics of dealing with mages. I was one myself for a little while so I primarily analyzed the things that worked and didnt work in different environments. Mages are easily neutered in a proper duel environment, but in an invasion setting they can truly be a nightmare to face. Hell, even in a dueling environment they're terrifying. If you get hit by a CMW dubstep sword you'll know what I mean. I'm improving at fighting them, but getting 1-2shot results in any mistake I make ending in my doom. As time goes on though magic should become less and less of an issue.

The real issue is buff builds/the crappiness that is quality/non-buff builds. Scaling means extremely little from what I've seen, and even with my MLGS it's simply been better for me to lower my int down to the point where I can use my favorite sorceries and invest the points elsewhere. My quality build is utter garbage right now, and I really need to tinker with his stats to make him not horrible (By tinker, I mean find my main weapon... get base stats for it... and put the rest in other stats). Going down elemental paths is just the best way to go right now, and if you can use a buff... use it. Resins at least are really good now, so if you lack the stats/spices to use a buff you can just use those.
But yeah, you're sadly gimping yourself by not buffing right now. It's really a shame as I've always been a fan of not buffing my equipment.

I will go more in depth later, but I really need to sleep. Hopefully this was decently helpful though.


Beat the ruined sentinels in like... 3 tries. The NPC phantom has a tendency to go rambo and get himself killed, so I had to pump as much damage into the 2 sentinel gonkers as I could before my magebro died. After that it was all about taking it nice and slow, this fight is so much easier for me on NG+.

Beat the gargoyles, no summons no nothing. Hell, I beat them first try with like half of my spells/estus left just to try and see how tough they were NG+. They were terrifying actually, but I screamed and panicked my way to victory. As much flack as this weapon gets, the MLGS is just a glorious weapon. Being able to safely back away and shoot dubstep waves made that fight so much less insane and allowed me to maintain a safe distance while still doing some solid damage. Covetous gold ring +2 get.

So, about that lost sinner in NG+
This will be SO FUN TO SOLO. /sarcasm
The pyros that come in to backup the sinner deal insane amounts of damage, and since I murdered lucatiel in cold blood for her sweet-ass armor (NO REGRETS) I have no NPC phantom to keep aggro off me. Oh boy, this will be interesting to beat. Might put it off till after I beat the old iron king and have some new weapons upgraded to try out new strats.

So, as with everything I decided to co-op and learn how the fight goes. I also took this as an opportunity to try a new strat based around proper tanking.

Protip for co-oping that fight:
If you're the phantom and arent an absurdly heavy hitter you should do two things.
>Get the red-eye ring. (From shalquoir, this ring makes enemies prioritize you as the main target)
>Two-hand a 100% physical shield. (Two-handing it allows for more stability, probably not necessary if you have a greatshield)

I've been doing this and oh my god. This has allowed me to safely kite the sinner around the room while the host and other phantom deal with the pyros. It's not full-proof as you can attract the aggro of the pyros and they hurt... but it gives your two allies some insanely nice breathing room and allows for the two other guys to get some really easy hits on the boss once the pyro's are gone. I highly recommend this for a ton of bosses actually, it's a really cool and fun strategy.

But yeah, beating the sinner myself will be interesting. Might try a rapier or a spear to allow for some safe pokey damage that doesnt leave me super open. Hrmmmm.... It's all about killing the pyros without getting killed myself. This will be tricky.


Thanks so much, very detailed and in-depth! Going to get my hands on that Magic Magic Shield. I've been looking at (Great) Magic Barrier and got stoked that these now reduce damage by all types of magic, but their damage reduction % is disappointingly low compared to Dark Souls 1. It was probably the best defensive spell for PvP in 1 :0

[Fonzie]

God, made my blacksteel katana plus 10+/lightning and I enchant it with SLB. Does insane damage now. I've raised my winning chances back to 70%. :p

[Pete for President]

Has anyone tried powerstance twinblades yet? Must be epic.

Currently Sun-bro-ing to max out the covenant while two-handing a Raw Greataxe +9. The other day I helped someone out with the Gargoyles and got a message: "thanks so ****ing much, been stuck here for hours!". Co-op in this early stage of release is glorious :greenie:

[TrollHunter]

Has anyone tried powerstance twinblades yet? Must be epic.

Currently Sun-bro-ing to max out the covenant while two-handing a Raw Greataxe +9. The other day I helped someone out with the Gargoyles and got a message: "thanks so ****ing much, been stuck here for hours!". Co-op in this early stage of release is glorious :greenie:

Is it bad that one of my favorite parts of co-op is getting hosts who don't do anything killed?
I just love watching my cowardly host panic when he realizes that his phantom isnt going to just play the game for him.
...It's not like I'm killing all of my hosts or anything, just the ones that stay back during the boss and turtle by the fog gate while I basically solo the big scawry monster for them.

But on a less homicidal note, I do love the messages of thanks from people who get stuck on bosses. They always make me smile.
Gotta say though, nothing is more memorable than the runs where almost every possible thing goes horribly wrong but the job is done in the end. Everyone out of heals, the other phantom dying early on in the boss room, the only survivors near death. It's that kind of situation that gets the blood pumping and makes success oh so immensely satisfying.

[McLovin']

The best pvpers ive seen are the ones in glowing red auras and they all have either havel armor or this armor with rounded shoulderblades. WTF IS THAT ARMOR! :(

[TrollHunter]

I've officially found my biggest complaint with dks2 pvp that makes me want to just put it down entirely.
Estus
Estus is absurdly overpowered in this game.

I invade either as a blue phantom or in the bell covenant. I can put a ton of work on an opponent but as soon as they go for the estus.... if they have high adaptibility there really is no real way to punish it. With my SPEARS I cant even reach high adp characters in time... and thats with them estus'ing in my face. My attack always comes out 1 half a second too late. And good luck powering through the absurd amount of hp it recovers. The only weapon I've had success with punishing estus spammers with is the MLGS, and even then its useless if someone hides behind a wall.

This would be less of an issue if invaders could actually heal, but no... there's no option for that here unless you pump into faith. This ends in me destroying the host for the entire fight but losing the battle of attrition due to my inability to heal. It's ridiculous, and it makes this pvp so much more infuriating than dks1 pvp. I don't care about dark magic, it's easy to dodge. I don't care about the MLGS, it's easy to read. I care about estus, and I really do feel that it is a HUGE issue. I'm taking a break from dks2 honestly. I'm going to focus on other games. This just isn't fun to me right now.

[Pete for President]

I've officially found my biggest complaint with dks2 pvp that makes me want to just put it down entirely.
Estus
Estus is absurdly overpowered in this game.

I invade either as a blue phantom or in the bell covenant. I can put a ton of work on an opponent but as soon as they go for the estus.... if they have high adaptibility there really is no real way to punish it. With my SPEARS I cant even reach high adp characters in time... and thats with them estus'ing in my face. My attack always comes out 1 half a second too late. And good luck powering through the absurd amount of hp it recovers. The only weapon I've had success with punishing estus spammers with is the MLGS, and even then its useless if someone hides behind a wall.

This would be less of an issue if invaders could actually heal, but no... there's no option for that here unless you pump into faith. This ends in me destroying the host for the entire fight but losing the battle of attrition due to my inability to heal. It's ridiculous, and it makes this pvp so much more infuriating than dks1 pvp. I don't care about dark magic, it's easy to dodge. I don't care about the MLGS, it's easy to read. I care about estus, and I really do feel that it is a HUGE issue. I'm taking a break from dks2 honestly. I'm going to focus on other games. This just isn't fun to me right now.

What about Lloyd's Talismans? Or poison arrows? Or firebombs/throwing knives that stun?


I've been going through the game with something resembling a Str/Fai build, although I haven't pumped strength high at all. I find two-handing a weapon way more viable in DkS2 compared to 1 and haven't felt the need to raise strength above 20 because of it. My faith is at 37 right now, but I don't think I'll level it any higher either. With the Ring of Prayer it's high enough to cast Great Lightning Spear and the higher faith miracles seem kinda meh.

I think I'll turn this into a Str/Hex build instead with faith being the higher stat. Might raise Int to 20 and use spices or Int boost equipment to still be able to use Profound Still.

Loving the smaller axes and blunt weapons this time around. Maybe I'll even keep strength at 20 and just rock these smaller powerhouses or just two-hand the bigger guns while pumping vitality, adp or attunement.

With DkS1 I already got into the habit to not raise endurance but get nifty with stamina management instead, and that seems a big plus in DkS2 where End doesn't raise equipment load anymore. Base endurance ftw.

[krissy]

is dex not super important anymore except for weapons?

is end not super important?! the first thing i did in dk1 was get end to 40
anyway it doesnt really matter i guess

i found the fire longsword
and i keep dying on the rooftops
ive got no patience at the mo so i just run and try to avoid things and jump to where im going
and them boom a rolling indiana jones stone ball

heh

[Pete for President]

is dex not super important anymore except for weapons?

is end not super important?! the first thing i did in dk1 was get end to 40
anyway it doesnt really matter i guess


Hmm I guess it's a taste thing. I didn't think End was that important in 1 and I just think there are ways to get more of it/faster recovery with items, rings or equipment. Same in 2.

I recommend initially raising strength and dex solely to the requirements of weapons you want to use. Unlike 1 you can now check the full moveset of all weapons even if you don't meet the requirements, so you can kinda see what a weapon does before investing levels or upgrades.

Dex doesn't increase cast speed anymore, but attunement and adaptability do. Adaptability also speeds up the use of items like the Estus Flask, and increases invulnerability during rolls. Some people don't level it at all, others level to 20, or 38 as it supposedly gives you the maximum rolling action but apparently the difference is between 20 and 38 is kinda minimal.

Other than that have fun and level what you feel like :greenie: there's also a way to reassign level points mid-game so don't worry, there's nothing to screw up or let go to waste.

[TrollHunter]

I've officially found my biggest complaint with dks2 pvp that makes me want to just put it down entirely.
Estus
Estus is absurdly overpowered in this game.

I invade either as a blue phantom or in the bell covenant. I can put a ton of work on an opponent but as soon as they go for the estus.... if they have high adaptibility there really is no real way to punish it. With my SPEARS I cant even reach high adp characters in time... and thats with them estus'ing in my face. My attack always comes out 1 half a second too late. And good luck powering through the absurd amount of hp it recovers. The only weapon I've had success with punishing estus spammers with is the MLGS, and even then its useless if someone hides behind a wall.

This would be less of an issue if invaders could actually heal, but no... there's no option for that here unless you pump into faith. This ends in me destroying the host for the entire fight but losing the battle of attrition due to my inability to heal. It's ridiculous, and it makes this pvp so much more infuriating than dks1 pvp. I don't care about dark magic, it's easy to dodge. I don't care about the MLGS, it's easy to read. I care about estus, and I really do feel that it is a HUGE issue. I'm taking a break from dks2 honestly. I'm going to focus on other games. This just isn't fun to me right now.

What about Lloyd's Talismans? Or poison arrows? Or firebombs/throwing knives that stun?


I've been going through the game with something resembling a Str/Fai build, although I haven't pumped strength high at all. I find two-handing a weapon way more viable in DkS2 compared to 1 and haven't felt the need to raise strength above 20 because of it. My faith is at 37 right now, but I don't think I'll level it any higher either. With the Ring of Prayer it's high enough to cast Great Lightning Spear and the higher faith miracles seem kinda meh.

I think I'll turn this into a Str/Hex build instead with faith being the higher stat. Might raise Int to 20 and use spices or Int boost equipment to still be able to use Profound Still.

Loving the smaller axes and blunt weapons this time around. Maybe I'll even keep strength at 20 and just rock these smaller powerhouses or just two-hand the bigger guns while pumping vitality, adp or attunement.

With DkS1 I already got into the habit to not raise endurance but get nifty with stamina management instead, and that seems a big plus in DkS2 where End doesn't raise equipment load anymore. Base endurance ftw.

Poison Moss is a thing, and anyone with a poison build can attest to how long it takes to build up in the first place. Poison arrows especially take extremely long to build up the meter.
Lloyds talismans are extremely expensive in this game, but it is definitely an option. It requires taking many breaks from pvp to farm souls for them though. They cost 1600 souls compared to dks1's 500. Hmmm... I need to check when shalquoir starts to sell infinite ones.
Throwing knives could work actually, but you also need to realize that those leave you stationary and if you miss or a second too late... they still get the estus off.

I may start packing a short bow in my left hand to see if I can catch etus spammers off guard, but at least in the bellfry sol area they tend to try and break your lock-on behind pillars. This makes throwing knives/MLGS/arrows effectively useless. I may just have to farm souls for lloyds. They cost 1600 souls a pop so I may have to do some co-op.

Guess I was being a bit blood-thirsty after my earlier invasions today. But it really sucks that it's absurdly difficult to punish it with melee, and there's still the huge problem that comes from being unable to heal without faith. They seriously need to fix that by the way.

[Pete for President]

I wonder if the cat even sells Lloyd's Talismans infinitely. The wiki's say nothing about it.


Made some good progress today and I'm now getting my head bashed repeatedly by the Royal Aegis Velstadt. Going in two-handing a mace, no shield, no summons, no magic and it's glorious.

This is by far my favourite boss fight in 2 and probably in the top bosses of any Souls game.

How about you guys, what's your fav boss in 2?

[TrollHunter]

I wonder if the cat even sells Lloyd's Talismans infinitely. The wiki's say nothing about it.


Made some good progress today and I'm now getting my head bashed repeatedly by the Royal Aegis Velstadt. Going in two-handing a mace, no shield, no summons, no magic and it's glorious.

This is by far my favourite boss fight in 2 and probably in the top bosses of any Souls game.

How about you guys, what's your fav boss in 2?

She sells them infinitely once you reach drangleic castle. I'm not sure what the exact trigger is, but she sold them to me after I hit the first bonfire there.

And definitely either Velstadt or the Guardian Dragon. The only problem I have with the latter is that He's designed as a normal enemy later on, so as a boss he has absolutely NO HP. It's sad really, as he is a total blast to fight and the arena he is in is just gorgeous

I'm at the mirror night now, been mostly doing some jolly co-operaation so progress has been a bit slow. I cheesed freja and lost sinner with summons because they're the two biggest obstacles keeping me from getting everything I need for this build. Freja on NG+2 1-shots me when she steps on me at max health. Considering the huge trek there I was not in the mood for that. Lost sinner in NG+ just scared the ever living crap out of me and I caved after only a few attempts ended by those godforsaken pyros. Oh well, got a ton of easy bosses coming up. Mirror knight ~> demon of song ~> and then hex hammer of screw you ~> giant lord and then finally throne watcher/defender and natasha. THEN I WILL HAVE MY INFINITE TITANITE CHUNKS AND HERBS!

Also, the Estoc is a really fun weapon. It reminds me a lot of the Balder Swag Sword from DkS1 and it makes me wonder why I never used the estoc in that game,

[Ultima Shadow]

I've officially found my biggest complaint with dks2 pvp that makes me want to just put it down entirely.
Estus
Estus is absurdly overpowered in this game.

I invade either as a blue phantom or in the bell covenant. I can put a ton of work on an opponent but as soon as they go for the estus.... if they have high adaptibility there really is no real way to punish it. With my SPEARS I cant even reach high adp characters in time... and thats with them estus'ing in my face. My attack always comes out 1 half a second too late. And good luck powering through the absurd amount of hp it recovers. The only weapon I've had success with punishing estus spammers with is the MLGS, and even then its useless if someone hides behind a wall.

This would be less of an issue if invaders could actually heal, but no... there's no option for that here unless you pump into faith.
Just use enough "Sceptic's Spice" on Med Heal or something to bring it down to like 7-8 Faith requirement, since the healing amount is set and doesn't scale anyway. Or just go reeeaaaally heavy on the damage output and make sure that one stunlock equals victory. :p

I've had a little bit of trouble with sky-high adaptability invested Estus-addicts, but I don't see them that often and it has rarely been so bad that I couldn't either work my way around it, or I was partly at fault for not managing my stamina well enough and letting them get their distance too easily.



As for favourite boss, I liked the Darklurker and Smelter Demon. I also like the Skeleton Lords at NG+ (and above) - the battle is still a bit easy, but cool and fun nevertheless.

[Fonzie]

Just use enough "Sceptic's Spice" on Med Heal or something to bring it down to like 7-8 Faith requirement, since the healing amount is set and doesn't scale anyway.

You can only use the spices to reduce the minimum stat to 10, after that you can no longer use it on that particular spell.

[Pete for President]

And definitely either Velstadt or the Guardian Dragon. The only problem I have with the latter is that He's designed as a normal enemy later on, so as a boss he has absolutely NO HP. It's sad really, as he is a total blast to fight and the arena he is in is just gorgeous


Also, the Estoc is a really fun weapon. It reminds me a lot of the Balder Swag Sword from DkS1 and it makes me wonder why I never used the estoc in that game,

Oh yes, the Guardian Dragon is awesome too, I like how the arena is such a big part of the fight.




As for favourite boss, I liked the Darklurker and Smelter Demon. I also like the Skeleton Lords at NG+ (and above) - the battle is still a bit easy, but cool and fun nevertheless.

Haven't fought Darklurker yet, but I will soon. Missed him on my first playthrough without a guide and I will definitely go through all optional bosses this time.

Other favourites are Lost Sinner, Demon of Song, the Throne Duo, Looking Glass Knight, and Magus & Congregation (surprisingly fun fight in a cool place).

Least favourites must be Covetous Demon, Flexile Sentry (both of these are more retarded than intimidating), Mytha and her gimmick, and the Scorpion Lady as it's just too much a rip-off.

You guys have any least favourites?

[Ultima Shadow]

You can only use the spices to reduce the minimum stat to 10, after that you can no longer use it on that particular spell.
Aha. Well, investing in Faith up to 10 shouldn't be too much trouble for most builds I'd guess though. Great Heal is certainly worth it if you can just get it that low.:greenie:



Least fav boss is probably the Flexile Sentry. It's not all that cool looking, it's far too easy and it doesn't have any really interesting moves.

[Pete for President]

You can only use the spices to reduce the minimum stat to 10, after that you can no longer use it on that particular spell.
Aha. Well, investing in Faith up to 10 shouldn't be too much trouble for most builds I'd guess though. Great Heal is certainly worth it if you can just get it that low.:greenie:


The Warmth pyromancy could be an option too, although the healing is slow and I think it heals anyone near it including your target.

Going through all the optional bosses and beat Darklurker. I got blasted the first time around but long range spells seem to fry it pretty easily. Seems like it could be a really tense melee only fight.

I'm still really confused about the ending. Why do we visit the Ancient Dragon? Why do have to fetch something from the memories of giants? What does beating Nashandra solve exactly? I have no clue about these things.

In any case, FromSoft's attempt to be more direct in it's storytelling this time around was clearly either a false statement or they failed miserably. Here's hoping for some enlightening lore video's.

Now rocking the Sacred Chime Hammer which can be buffed with Resonant Weapon. It rocks the Dark like no other. Also, Moonlight Greatsword is getting the no-buff nerf next update.

[Fonzie]

Dark Darkdrift + 10 with Resonant Weapon does insane damage. I got a backstab off someone healing and hit for 1561 damage. :jess:

[Pete for President]

Dark Darkdrift + 10 with Resonant Weapon does insane damage. I got a backstab off someone healing and hit for 1561 damage. :jess:

That's an awesome combo. Can boss weapons be infused too?

Edit: as my new character is almost ready I can finally dive into some proper invasions >: )

Edit#2: what level are you guys PvPing at? There's apparently an unsettled debate for the meta to be 125 or 150. Just curious what works.

[Fonzie]

Nico and I go sl 150.

[Nicolas]

Yep. I tend to go by Reddit's Meta debate. SL 150 seems to feel right. I found just as many that do both. You're set either way. You do see more Havel wearers and Moonlight dubsteppers though. Well... probably not so much the latter anymore.

I fought Darklurker with a melee character. It's just as easy as fighting it far away. It only has one close range attack that is easy to dodge.

My Hex Dex character just ends up being an even stat'd character by SL 150. I'm not sure how well it'll end up in PVP, which is the reason I have this character.

I'm unsure of the boss weapons being infused. I don't remember. That should be an easy check though. But stacking element buffs is so great though. Resonant Weapon is definitely the most powerful thanks to the percentage increase with max souls and the fact that people rarely have dark defense.

[Ultima Shadow]

Can boss weapons be infused too?

Most of them can, but some - like the Smelter Sword - can't. Which is a shame, because I'd love to infuse the Smelter Sword with additional fire damage.



I'm also going for 150, since it gives you a little more room and options to work with for many builds. Like, for example, hex builds need to invest in Faith, Intelligence AND Attunement just to get their spellcasting going. At 125, it feels like you hardly get any room to put points in anything else at all, while at 150 you can at least invest enough in Str/Dex to carry a decent weapon and have some vigor so you don't die in like one powerful hit.


Does anyone know how the level-matching works in NG+ by the way? I've invaded a few times in NG+, and I might be wrong, but it at least seems like I've invaded players of very varying levels. I've heard that the soul memory apparently doesn't matter anymore at least.

[Nicolas]

Can boss weapons be infused too?
Does anyone know how the level-matching works in NG+ by the way? I've invaded a few times in NG+, and I might be wrong, but it at least seems like I've invaded players of very varying levels. I've heard that the soul memory apparently doesn't matter anymore at least.

It actually does it based on Soul Memory range. This should explain it for you. (http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/22opz9/what_the_sm_on_your_sl_150_characters/) Well, at least the first comment should give you how it works very roughly. But it seems that can be changed on the fly and they might have lowered it to get people around your levels.

[Pete for President]

Infused the Sacred Chime Hammer with Dark. It goes bananas when buffed with resonant weapon.

Been PvPing in the Covenant of Blood. Had some fun fights in the arena but I don't like the mechanics behind levelling the covenant much. Every loss deducts the kills count to gain a rank and I think that makes the arena a bit too serious. The scarcity of the prize for winning gives the fight enough value imo.

Still I did ok, somewhat like a 50/50 k/d ratio and managed to land my first parry+riposte. Ran into some of the problems often stated on PvP forums like katana phantom range and such.

Tried out the Magic Magic Shield like Trollhunter suggested, but it has too low stability for my taste. Switched to a Llewellyn shield which has some pretty awesome resistances for a shield weighing only 2.5 as well as fair stability so I can setup parry :greenie:

Done about 15 invasions in Dragon Aerie/Shrine and that was a lot more fun than the arena.

Gonna give the Blue Sentinels a go next.

[Ultima Shadow]

It actually does it based on Soul Memory range. This should explain it for you. (http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/22opz9/what_the_sm_on_your_sl_150_characters/) Well, at least the first comment should give you how it works very roughly. But it seems that can be changed on the fly and they might have lowered it to get people around your levels.
Ahhh... that explains a few things. See, I just beat NG+ and am almost at 7m in soul memory, but have kept my level at 150 and only bought lots of cracked eye orbs and other usable items for all the souls. And I sometimes encounter fast-rolling havel mages with enough inteligence to have 5x Crystal Soulmass orbs while also having enough strength to carry Havel's sheild. Aww well. :p

[Pete for President]

Gave the Blue Sentinels a try and it was a lot of fun. Was summoned to the world of a host in distress through the ring and it was one of the most awesome invasions I've ever done.

There was the host, a white, an invading red and I spawned right in the middle. We brawled the red and a Drakekeeper, when the red decided to run to go hide behind more enemies. I chased him and funny thing; the enemies don't aggro on you when summoned to the hosts' world with the ring.

It was a tense battle to the death, but won :D. It was one of the most satisfying experiences I've had in any Souls game.

In other news, this guy the Ancient Dragon has wrecked me quite a lot.

[Pete for President]

:D Beat the Ancient Dragon today. Used a Dark Mace +9, running naked for maximum mobility and took about 20 tries in total.

So beat all the optional bosses, grabbed all worthwhile treasure and moved on to NG+ where epic PvP will finally commence.

[Ultima Shadow]

Aaand, I've made it all the way to Drangleic Castle on NG++ and got WoG and Great Chaos Fireball. Also, beat the NG+ and NG++ bosses so far without help from summons. The Lost Sinner was a big pain both times. And right after I beat it on NG++, they nerf him/her and the pyros in the patch released the next day. I'm glad I could manage to beat the Lost Sinner while he/she was still at his/her hardest though.

I've also managed to win my first 3v1 invasion, in the Sinner's Rite - right after going down the elevator. Lured the first phantom out while the host and the other phantom were being chickens and staying back in the elevator room. Got a a few hits in, then killed with a backstab. One phantom fell down the elevator hole by accident while trying to cast great lightning spear and then rolling away after I rolled through it (the elevator had gone up again for some reason) and then I beat the host 1 v 1. Very satisfying, even though the second phantom basically just suicided. :greenie:

[Pete for President]

Aaand, I've made it all the way to Drangleic Castle on NG++ and got WoG and Great Chaos Fireball. Also, beat the NG+ and NG++ bosses so far without help from summons. The Lost Sinner was a big pain both times. And right after I beat it on NG++, they nerf him/her and the pyros in the patch released the next day. I'm glad I could manage to beat the Lost Sinner while he/she was still at his/her hardest though.


Those phantoms are no joke! Even Flexile Sentry became a lot harder. Currently stuck on Smelter Demon on NG+...

Been PvPing for a while and so far I'm enjoying duels a lot more than random invasions cause I get ganked a lot. Challenging dragon-bro's on the Iron Keep bridge has been the most fun.

Anyone up for some friendly duels? I want to get parry timings down. I'm on PS3. :roll2

[TrollHunter]

Ive skipped smelter demon for now with the shortcut.
Oh right, I havent left this thread. Ive just been busy.

Update: got the ring of people who rule things in ng+ got some cleaning up to do and ill be ready for pure pvp and co-op

Powerstance rapiers are amazing. Screw the longsword, the estoc is the most beautiful weapon ever in dks2. Its so perfect in every way.
Estoc best waifu <3

Also, im so glad the MLGS was nerfed as its one of my favorite weapons to use but it cheesed the pve and pvp really bad. Its still a fantastic weapon, but its no longer broken. Me and my dubstep sword can continue to be together without guilt. Hoorah.

[Pete for President]

I see what you mean now with Estus being OP in PvP Trollhunter. Today I summoned a Dragonbro for a duel and he was a pure caster. Not only did he cast seemingly infinite amounts of affinity and great resonant soul, he probably had 40 adaptability for his healing (note the duel blasphemy here) was just not punishable enough.

Other than that I'm really enjoying PvP. Dual avalyn wielders can be dealt with, most casters can be dealt with and I've been getting some parries+ripostes which is still the most satisfying thing in all of PvP for me. :p

[black orb]

>>> Any familiar face from the first DS in this game? Someone like Logan or the Catarina knight?
I loved the NPCs from Dark Souls..:luca:

[Pete for President]

>>> Any familiar face from the first DS in this game? Someone like Logan or the Catarina knight?
I loved the NPCs from Dark Souls..:luca:

Click to read there are no Dark Souls 1 NPC's in this game in person, although there are familiar armour sets. An NPC Catarina knight invades in NG+, but it probably isn't Siegmeyer. He drops Catarina gear when defeated. Other returners in the form of armour equipment are Havel's and the Pyromancer set.

There is also one familiar figure on the enemy side; a boss called the Old Dragonslayer is actually Ornstein, or someone resembling Ornstein. The armour and spear he uses are the same although he has no longer lightning powers but dark instead. I don't really like that he's in the game.

Hate to say it but I think From really played it safe with the characters this time around and therefore I don't feel like many stood out, let alone cared for. There's a couple, but it's definitely not as impressive a cast as DkS1 imo.

[black orb]

>>> I was afraid that DS2 would not care much about NPCs, kind of sad because they were really awesome..:luca:

[TrollHunter]

>>> Any familiar face from the first DS in this game? Someone like Logan or the Catarina knight?
I loved the NPCs from Dark Souls..:luca:

Click to read there are no Dark Souls 1 NPC's in this game in person, although there are familiar armour sets. An NPC Catarina knight invades in NG+, but it probably isn't Siegmeyer. He drops Catarina gear when defeated. Other returners in the form of armour equipment are Havel's and the Pyromancer set.

There is also one familiar figure on the enemy side; a boss called the Old Dragonslayer is actually Ornstein, or someone resembling Ornstein. The armour and spear he uses are the same although he has no longer lightning powers but dark instead. I don't really like that he's in the game.

Hate to say it but I think From really played it safe with the characters this time around and therefore I don't feel like many stood out, let alone cared for. There's a couple, but it's definitely not as impressive a cast as DkS1 imo.

Its not that there werent any good npc's, this game is full of them. The issue lies in the fact that you dont see many around on quests and they dont get fleshed out as much. They all just go back to majula and thats it for them. There are some that have quests, but they just arent nearly as well done as the ones in dks1.

[Pete for President]

>>> Any familiar face from the first DS in this game? Someone like Logan or the Catarina knight?
I loved the NPCs from Dark Souls..:luca:

Click to read there are no Dark Souls 1 NPC's in this game in person, although there are familiar armour sets. An NPC Catarina knight invades in NG+, but it probably isn't Siegmeyer. He drops Catarina gear when defeated. Other returners in the form of armour equipment are Havel's and the Pyromancer set.

There is also one familiar figure on the enemy side; a boss called the Old Dragonslayer is actually Ornstein, or someone resembling Ornstein. The armour and spear he uses are the same although he has no longer lightning powers but dark instead. I don't really like that he's in the game.

Hate to say it but I think From really played it safe with the characters this time around and therefore I don't feel like many stood out, let alone cared for. There's a couple, but it's definitely not as impressive a cast as DkS1 imo.

Its not that there werent any good npc's, this game is full of them. The issue lies in the fact that you dont see many around on quests and they dont get fleshed out as much. They all just go back to majula and thats it for them. There are some that have quests, but they just arent nearly as well done as the ones in dks1.

You're right. They do just sorta hang around and nothing else as opposed to DkS1 where everyone had more important business to attend to rather than talking to the player. I also loved running into characters in different locations, and while Benhart and Lucatiel do move around there's not nearly as much going on as let's say Solaire, Siegmeyer, Sieglinde, Reah & crew, Logan and Lautrec. Add the fact that no-one goes hollow like they did in 1 and the result is a dull cast with very few memorable moments.

Stuff about areas; some are really starting to grow on me. The Gutter, Black Gulch, Castle Drangleic, Lost Bastille, Undead Crypt; the more time I spend in them the more I see how cool these areas are.

Went through Shrine of Amana on NG+ and while I was still in doubt what the verdict on this area would be I have to conclude it is not very well designed. I love the vibe, the music, the aesthetics and the boss, but the enemy placement and their attacks/abilities from the second bonfire onwards are just borderline retarded.

I tried many times to go through melee only and there's just no fun in it, and it's challenging in the wrong ways. We get punished for bravery and storming the mages by the underwater creature ambushes, and how come the archdrake enemies are able to run fast in the water while we can't?

People started calling it 'Shrine of Aimbots'. Thought it's spot-on.

Edit: I've done something bad and apologies for being a negativitron. I know my obsession with the first Dark Souls praised it to unreachable heights and some of my negativity results from it. I tried to be a realist and lower my expectations of Dark Souls 2 before release. I knew I felt pro's on the technical, mathematical side of things and cons on the more emotional and mentally challenging side while playing through 2, but still couldn't quite put my finger on it why I'm not too hyped. And then I watched this video:

(Warning: there will be spoilers in it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UScsme8didI

And it pretty much sums it all up. I don't agree on everything, but definitely on a lot. Seeing the Dark Souls and Demon's Souls footage in there really showed the contrasting atmosphere in this instalment and it made me want to dive back into them, rather than Drangleic.

Every time I play I want to love this game, but I'm having a hard time to do so. I even underestimated how important atmosphere is for the PvP I loved so much. Invasions lack tension due to the environments they're in. Not to say there is no potential; so far the most memorable invasions I've had were being summoned as a Blue Sentinel, or being summoned by the Looking Glass Knight. Either way I've enjoyed these 120 hours in Drangleic, but I think the world is starting to wear me out.

[I Took the Red Pill]

Went through Shrine of Amana on NG+ and while I was still in doubt what the verdict on this area would be I have to conclude it is not very well designed. I love the vibe, the music, the aesthetics and the boss, but the enemy placement and their attacks/abilities from the second bonfire onwards are just borderline retarded.

I tried many times to go through melee only and there's just no fun in it, and it's challenging in the wrong ways. We get punished for bravery and storming the mages by the underwater creature ambushes, and how come the archdrake enemies are able to run fast in the water while we can't?Dude, yes. This was by far the most rage inducing section of the entire game for me on the first run-through (pure melee). Slowly trudging through the water while trying to dodge 3 or 4 EZ-lock spells at once is infuriating. I ended up having to cheese like all of the casters with poison arrows. A very poorly designed section in my opinion.

btw, check out our new smilie :praisethesun:

[Pete for President]

btw, check out our new smilie :praisethesun:

Omg praise the sun!

[Ultima Shadow]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"Yes, Dark Souls 2 is a rather good
game, in its own right, but less so when
viewed upon as a sequel to Dark Souls
and Demon's Souls. It never really has
that same feeling of dread and despair.
The consistency of bonfires and the
repairable Life Protection rings takes
away the fear of dying. And Soul Memory
and the lack of a whole Red Eye Orb
constantly gets in the way of my fun.
I do enjoy Dark Souls 2, but I still hold
Dark Souls 1 closer to my heart."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Rider4b-1.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.png
"...what heart?"
"Hush. That was just
a manner of speech."

[TrollHunter]

I havent even had the urge to play dks2 for a couple weeks now. This is extremely depressing to me.
I might be picking up demons' souls soon though! So thats exciting.

[Pete for President]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"Yes, Dark Souls 2 is a rather good
game, in its own right, but less so when
viewed upon as a sequel to Dark Souls
and Demon's Souls. It never really has
that same feeling of dread and despair.
The consistency of bonfires and the
repairable Life Protection rings takes
away the fear of dying. And Soul Memory
and the lack of a whole Red Eye Orb
constantly gets in the way of my fun.
I do enjoy Dark Souls 2, but I still hold
Dark Souls 1 closer to my heart."




I kinda feel the same way. I like DkS2, but I don't live and breathe it like DkS1.


I havent even had the urge to play dks2 for a couple weeks now. This is extremely depressing to me.
I might be picking up demons' souls soon though! So thats exciting.

Never hurts to check out the roots!

Did anyone check out the PC version? Apparently it's a lot more Dark. I also played the PS3 version at a friends place and his TV brightness settings (read: more dark) also gave the game a bit more dread.

[Nicolas]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"Yes, Dark Souls 2 is a rather good
game, in its own right, but less so when
viewed upon as a sequel to Dark Souls
and Demon's Souls. It never really has
that same feeling of dread and despair.
The consistency of bonfires and the
repairable Life Protection rings takes
away the fear of dying. And Soul Memory
and the lack of a whole Red Eye Orb
constantly gets in the way of my fun.
I do enjoy Dark Souls 2, but I still hold
Dark Souls 1 closer to my heart."




I kinda feel the same way. I like DkS2, but I don't live and breathe it like DkS1.


I havent even had the urge to play dks2 for a couple weeks now. This is extremely depressing to me.
I might be picking up demons' souls soon though! So thats exciting.

Never hurts to check out the roots!

Did anyone check out the PC version? Apparently it's a lot more Dark. I also played the PS3 version at a friends place and his TV brightness settings (read: more dark) also gave the game a bit more dread.

The PC version is essentially the same but better looking. You can download ENB and make it darker as well as Durante's Downsampling mod. Both of them make the game prettier.

There is nothing in this game that causes particular dread. Hell, the only thing in the first one that caused anything close to dread was the Tomb of Giants and that was easily fixed with the Sunlight Maggot or Cast Light.

[Pete for President]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.png
"Yes, Dark Souls 2 is a rather good
game, in its own right, but less so when
viewed upon as a sequel to Dark Souls
and Demon's Souls. It never really has
that same feeling of dread and despair.
The consistency of bonfires and the
repairable Life Protection rings takes
away the fear of dying. And Soul Memory
and the lack of a whole Red Eye Orb
constantly gets in the way of my fun.
I do enjoy Dark Souls 2, but I still hold
Dark Souls 1 closer to my heart."




I kinda feel the same way. I like DkS2, but I don't live and breathe it like DkS1.


I havent even had the urge to play dks2 for a couple weeks now. This is extremely depressing to me.
I might be picking up demons' souls soon though! So thats exciting.

Never hurts to check out the roots!

Did anyone check out the PC version? Apparently it's a lot more Dark. I also played the PS3 version at a friends place and his TV brightness settings (read: more dark) also gave the game a bit more dread.

The PC version is essentially the same but better looking. You can download ENB and make it darker as well as Durante's Downsampling mod. Both of them make the game prettier.

There is nothing in this game that causes particular dread. Hell, the only thing in the first one that caused anything close to dread was the Tomb of Giants and that was easily fixed with the Sunlight Maggot or Cast Light.

I disagree man, I felt tons of dread in DkS1. Not all of it relies on things being dark. The gargoyle storming at you when you come down the stairs in Anor Londo, the rafter section always made me nervous even after a dozen playthroughs, Ornstein & Smough solo is always dreadful, the ghost house in New Londo, Artorias, several parts in Oolacile Township/Dungeon, Crystal Caves and Upper Blighttown amongst others. And these are things I still kinda dread after all my playthroughs. If I had to count first times through Depths and Lower Undead Burg the list would go on and on.

In 2 I find dreadful encounters like these pretty rare given the bigger size the game is. Lost Sinner probably, several parts of Castle Drangleic, the King's Passage, Undead Crypt, the Gutter & Black Gulch. Thing is, a lot of encounters are too much of a chore to be dreadful. The 2 Mastodon statues coming to life at Castle Drangleic's entrance are the perfect example. The only valid strategy is back off and go ranged. Not really well thought out.

I've done a couple duels every now and then but there's little to hook me into die hard PvP. Was stoked on nailing parrying but judging from a couple youtube video's as the Monastery Scimitar makes parrying an instant skill for everyone. Might boot up DkS1 again soon :roll2

[black orb]

http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/from-softwares-leaked-project-beast/

>>> Is that true or just BS?..:luca:

[TrollHunter]

So, it's the current theory that Soul level doesnt even matter anymore and that everything is decided by SM entirely.If thats the case... then I really want to pick up DkS1 again soon.

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/254ty1/soul_memory_tiers_and_exact_ranges_for/ (http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/254ty1/soul_memory_tiers_and_exact_ranges_for/)

[Pete for President]

http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/from-softwares-leaked-project-beast/

>>> Is that true or just BS?..:luca:

If Miyazaki is directing I am hyped.


So, it's the current theory that Soul level doesnt even matter anymore and that everything is decided by SM entirely.If thats the case... then I really want to pick up DkS1 again soon.

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/254ty1/soul_memory_tiers_and_exact_ranges_for/ (http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/254ty1/soul_memory_tiers_and_exact_ranges_for/)

I don't really mind this whole SM business. In the forest it wasn't any different; you'd fight level 700's too. Or as a Darkwraith you'd invade any player higher level than you.


I've given DkS2 story and a lore some more thought and I gotta conclude that I'm disappointed by the direction From has chosen. I think the fact that the Age of Fire is destined to play out again and again really undermines the events of Dark Souls 1. DkS1 events were presented in fantastically great legendary manner; our actions (and those of the Lords) mattered even though the Age of Fire would end. But DkS2 undermines all this.


Here's what I would have done:

DkS2 would take place in the Age of Dark. We no longer rest at bonfires but in small pitch black areas charred black by remains of bonfires instead. The Age of Dark thrived - behind the scenes an undead pulled the strings who possibly had the Dark Soul. However, very much like a certain someone from the age of fire, the dark corrupted man and a great war started. Heavy casualties in the war weakened mankind and thus faded the power of the Age of Dark. Once again cursed Undead emerged. Undead were hunted and killed time and time again by order of rulers who survived the war. Think church leaders, royalty etc.

Gods who had fled during the Age of Fire spent most of their time in the Age of Dark hiding, gathering powers to avenge the fall of the gods when the time was neigh (read: now, because dark is fading). But the Dark does not do them well and some have been corrupted by it, letting their powers wreak havoc uncontrollably. Ofcourse in true Souls fashion this is what spawns demons etc. Not fully corrupted gods storm the land of man and avenge their precious age of fire.

So this stuff all went down, the land is in rubble, Dark vs. Gods vs. Demon Gods are all at an impasse, neither side is organised let alone ruling something, there's nothing to save and the player would be caught in the middle of the mess. Ultimate goal being: break the curse. Things happening because of it: stop the Dark's corrupting powers, or pick up the power lying around for there is no-one ruling atm. Grey morale: (like dks1 fire will always eventually fade) Dark will always eventually corrupt you.

Thoughts.

[TrollHunter]

I'm a big co-op guy.
Soul memory effectively neuters co-op even in NG+ and even after only a few full runs of an area I get knocked out of the popular bracket for that area and get kicked into a bracket that results in me waiting 10-15minutes for a quick co-op run.
I despise soul memory. It's a mechanic build on good intentions with completely atrocious execution.

Also, invasions/co-op items still function similar to how they did in dks1 if you read the link I posted. Once you reach the highest bracket covenants like the bell keepers and blood-bros who have this formula (Down 0, up 3) get absolutely screwed in online play since they're restricted to only one bracket. It's absolutely stupid.

[krissy]

OK cool. First boss down. Pursuer is a dick

[krissy]

3 gargoyel!?
What was the thought process
"How do we make bosses harder?"
"Make more of them!!"

Lol this game

Frig I opened up like 10 fires in two days
Summoning makes you overpowered

[Pete for President]

3 gargoyel!?
What was the thought process
"How do we make bosses harder?"
"Make more of them!!"

Lol this game

Haha yeah, while DkS1 had mostly smart engaging ways of providing difficulty and challenge DkS2 definitely plays it rough and dumb more often. There will be more where that came from so beware :p

I do hope you enjoy it though, I know I have!

[krissy]

Rockin a great sword now
Its game changing
Perhaps game breaking
Too bad I didn't have it for royal rat authority
That took twenty tries

Greatawords the bestttt
I feel like a female guts from berserk

[Pete for President]

The greatsword is devastating indeed! Are you dual wielding them too? :p

[krissy]

omg
i havent' considered that even :|
ill have to get back to you on that i'm away from my saves for a while

[krissy]

one more primal bonfire at iron keep
i go in there to fight the 'old king' and he one shots me/i fall in the lava
kind of an awkward fight
should i just not target him?

22 gold medals for helping with bosses!

but tonight i think ill boot up demon's souls and continue my quest to platinum
it is probably the hardest of the three to platinum because of stupid world affinities

[Pete for President]

The Old King gets easier the more you fight him. He telegraphs his moves fairly easily and is therefor one of the better designed bosses. Be sure to use the available terrain to the maximum and always reposition yourself. Go for light armor so you can fast-roll. He scares me when he goes for the long range options, but other than that he's not too bad : )

[krissy]

Soup memory is dumb

So does anyone else hear muffled drums in black gulch sometimes? Particular ly in the hidden bonfire

Might be nearby monsters, the piggies freaked me out by the big book in majula til I figured out what they weree

[krissy]

Chariot is sofar my s&o here
Friggg
Just so annoying if you don't do everything right
And that horse is not a pushover

[Fonzie]

shoot lightning at it

[krissy]

My faiths at 5

Anyway I did it, took 1\4 of health down with arrows then greatsworded the rest of them
Annoying!!

[Pete for President]

The Chariot is one of my favourite bosses and it's one of the few moments that really got me on the edge of my seat for the entire fight. The way to the boss however is very poorly designed imo. Did you know the boss has a hidden death sequence?

if you go long range and never close the gate the chariot will become too weak to clear the jump at about 20% health. You can find it hanging onto the ledge, waiting for you to knock it down the pit.

[krissy]

That's pretty cool, I'll do that in ng+ :-P
Yeah I remember I had to slow my heart rate after I won
Difficult fight cause he don't care you're guarding
And you can't maneuver like with royal rat authority

[TrollHunter]

So, isnt there apparently some DLC coming out for this game soon?
I need a reason to put this disk back into my ps3 after a few months of it taking up space and that might be what does it.

[Pete for President]

Did anyone check out the DLC yet? I'm curious to see if it's any good.

[krissy]

30 effigies and a new fire great sword +10 later
And darklurker didn't split
Phew
I feel kind of like I cheated but maybe the game just gave up on me...

[Quindiana Jones]

It has arrived.... :excited:

Gonna be running a Dex/Faith build, but apart from that, I have absolutely no idea about anything. Any recommendations for weapons and such?

[krissy]

GREATSWORD!!

but i was str
dex/fth you're looking at one of them fancy schmancy special swords that build on those stats
like sun sword
but you dont get that forever
there's a nice starting sword at the bottom of a valley/castle side in forest of the fallen giants, in a little cave with a fire breathing lizard trying to snipe you

[Quindiana Jones]

Fire Longsword? Yeah, got it.

I'm about to enter Heide's with a Winged Spear +3. I think I'll end up rocking the Partizan, since I loved that weapon for PvE in Dark Souls and I imagine it'll still be awesome here.

[Quindiana Jones]

No Man's Wharf completed and have entered La Bastille, which is damned impressive. These environments, man. I've already entered it before via the eagle, but I'll be exploring it properly now. Have already defeated the area boss as a phantom, which is cool. I'm looking for to those bastards. :D

I'm having a much harder time with this game than with the first, in particular rolling seems to have to toned down a bit. No problems there, though. :D

[krissy]

yeah those bastards are bastards on your own

i think rolling now depends on adaptability/speed instead of weight, right guys? extends frames where you're invincible while rolling

[Quindiana Jones]

Theoretically, but I think it's being investigated. Even those who've maxed it claim it not to be the lifesaver that DS1 rolling was. :D

You certainly still roll faster with a lower weight, though, but I've yet to be able to get it below 50%. xD

[Pete for President]

FromSoft is at it again! Good news to all you Dark Souls 2 owners; when Dark Souls 2 gets released on PS4/XBONE all other platforms get a free update which involves the following:

Existing Dark Souls II owners will receive a patch to implement these elements:


Additional NPCs added for an enhanced story experience.
Parameter adjustments for improved game balance.
Augmented item descriptions.
Improved online matchmaking functionality.


I mean, new NPC's! Tweaks! For free! Which developer ever does this? FromSoftware does, and they are awesome.

Full story here (http://fextralife.com/forums/t40330/dark-souls-ii-coming-to-ps4-xbox-one--all-dlc-and-new-features/?sid=c0a784a30c65337577c22eb32bdf6b3d).

[black orb]

>>> I was going to get this game today, I saw it in a store right in front of my eyes and I even had the money to buy it!!!..
and then I remembered I had to use that money to buy food.. :(

well, better luck next time. LOL