[Spoilers] Official Dark Souls 2 Thread - Prepare to Die... again.

[Muttering Bill]

I actually think magic is quite well balanced in DkS2. Have you actually tried it? I kill most things with melee, including bosses, and with neither the stats for it nor with help of any kind. So suggesting I ain't no Dark Souls bad motherfucker just because I carry a staff is a bit much.

Well, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek about it. As I said, I've been relying heavily on Faith based magic for the past several areas. Great Lightning Spears, Great Magic Barrier and Sunlight Blade definitely are OP.

I haven't tried magic in this one yet. From observations on various MB's, it seems that the casters are raging the most about the place.

Regarding your first spoiler tag: How so?

It'd probably be more accurate to say that it's a combination of Ash Lake and Blighttown.

The setup of the level is very similar to that of Ash Lake, all water, with just a little strip of land in the middle. And the cieling is made of tree roots, as Ash Lake was under the Great Hollow.

In the area after the boss, with the Milfanito and the Shrine that turns you human. Downstairs from that is the area where the Fair Maiden lived, right after the room where you fight Quelaag in DS1, boss of Blighttown. There's even a body with a Fire Seed on it. Although, I guess technically, Quelaag's Domain was a different area than Blighttown. Whatever.

From there I moved to the undead crypt and basically took it on solo. I would recommend listening to the dude who tells you to shut the light off.

I didn't light a torch in my entire time in there. I saw the message, then I saw that Agdayne sells Dark Arrows, so I really don't want to piss him off. Until I come back to kill him later.

After that I went and did all of the Giant Memories and now have 4 Giant Souls

These take down the defenses of Vendrick

There is a 5th Giant Soul.

Kill Ancient Dragon.

And you can use the Ash Heart in Freja's room.

[aceluby]

Well, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek about it. As I said, I've been relying heavily on Faith based magic for the past several areas. Great Lightning Spears, Great Magic Barrier and Sunlight Blade definitely are OP.

I haven't tried magic in this one yet. From observations on various MB's, it seems that the casters are raging the most about the place.

It'd probably be more accurate to say that it's a combination of Ash Lake and Blighttown.

The setup of the level is very similar to that of Ash Lake, all water, with just a little strip of land in the middle. And the cieling is made of tree roots, as Ash Lake was under the Great Hollow.

In the area after the boss, with the Milfanito and the Shrine that turns you human. Downstairs from that is the area where the Fair Maiden lived, right after the room where you fight Quelaag in DS1, boss of Blighttown. There's even a body with a Fire Seed on it. Although, I guess technically, Quelaag's Domain was a different area than Blighttown. Whatever.

I didn't light a torch in my entire time in there. I saw the message, then I saw that Agdayne sells Dark Arrows, so I really don't want to piss him off. Until I come back to kill him later.

There is a 5th Giant Soul.

Kill Ancient Dragon.

And you can use the Ash Heart in Freja's room.

Yep, going to go after the AD for the 5th one this week. I had bought everything from Agdayne before going in w/ a torch, I just wanted to see what he would do when you did. Not the smartest of moves, but now I know. Die and learn, that's Dark souls :)

I think I'm going to run through some of these levels again and see if I can match up the DS1 level w/ the DS2 level... I think it could be a cool experiment :)

[Muttering Bill]

Some of the geography seems to match up. Some others seem to be way off.

The Sunlight Alter puts Earthen Peak in what used to be Undead Parish. Then Harvest Valley would be Undead Berg. Maybe. And they are pumping up poison from the old Blighttown Swamp? Except Blighttown in way off in an other direction. So maybe not that.

And Iron Keep would be at the other end of Undead Parish. That works, with Belfry Sol housing the old Bell of Awakening.

So the other Bell would have to be in Shrine of Amana, since that where the Chaos sisters house is. Only it's not. (Unless they are not supposed to be the Bells of Awakening at all.) It's out in the Lost Bastille, and who knows where that is supposed to be. Belfry Luna looks a lot more like the Parish anyway.

Continuing out from Amana, what used to be Demon's Ruins is now Undead Crypt? I don't see how that could work.

Heide's/Cathedral of Blue seems to be Anor Londo. But that wasn't on the coastline. If that's now sunken in the sea, the rest of Lordan would have had to go with it.

A fun excercise, but it's all terribly confusing. A 3D map would be a big help.

[Inigima]

Can't link right now but I will when I'm home -- someone on another forum I frequent is doing exactly this analysis.

[Sullen]

The wait for the PC port is killing me...

[aceluby]

Here is some pretty good analysis:

http://jcwigriff.com/2014/03/20/dark-souls-2-takes-place-in-lordran-lore/

[aceluby]

So while I'm on my DS2 hiatus so I can get some real world stuff done I did some research and figured out why the first part of the game was so damn hard for me. I joined the Champions covenant right away before going anywhere and went as far as beating the Last Giant in that covenant and tried taking on the Persuer. It wasn't until I went and explored Majula further that I discovered the Herald and then the Cat to remove my covenant that things started becoming easier. Basically it puts you into NG+ right away as far as enemy defense and strength goes. I thought I was just terrible as I died at least 2 dozen times in the Forest of Giants.

On a side note, it looks like in order to complete all of the sorcery, hex, and miracle trophies that you either need to fight and win hundreds of PvP battles, or carry through to NG++ and get to Drangleic Castle. So my plan now is to make this character a SL200-250 and fly through NG+ and NG++, play around with some other styles besides a magic glass cannon. Apparently the enemies and their placements are different for NG+ and onward. Shoud be able to take NG+ on with little to no trouble, but we'll see... Should be there by Friday.

[Muttering Bill]

I know Wellager sells some covenant spells in NG++. Not sure which exactly, but that one is Wrath of the Gods. Which you need to level up Blue Sentinels to get earlier. I'm quite irritated that it's so far out of reach. And Bonfire Ascetics won't help.

But as far as I know, you still need to level up with the Sunbros to get Sunlight Spear. For that, I'm staying at lvl 150 for NG+ co-op. Then I'll charge through to NG++.

I'm going to have to check which ones I'm missing.

I'll also need to make a new character for the Lucatiel and Benhart questlines.

But for now... 2 down, Darklurker to go. Hopefully I can wrap this up tonight. I've got 52 Human Effigies, so that should be plenty of chances.

[aceluby]

I know Wellager sells some covenant spells in NG++. Not sure which exactly, but that one is Wrath of the Gods. Which you need to level up Blue Sentinels to get earlier. I'm quite irritated that it's so far out of reach. And Bonfire Ascetics won't help.

But as far as I know, you still need to level up with the Sunbros to get Sunlight Spear. For that, I'm staying at lvl 150 for NG+ co-op. Then I'll charge through to NG++.

I'm going to have to check which ones I'm missing.

I'll also need to make a new character for the Lucatiel and Benhart questlines.

But for now... 2 down, Darklurker to go. Hopefully I can wrap this up tonight. I've got 52 Human Effigies, so that should be plenty of chances.

Yeah, the only ones you need to do are the sunbros and dark covenant quests, the rest are available in NG++ from Wellager in Drangleic Castle.

I'm planning on doing the Lucatiel and Benhart questlines in NG+, hopefully it'll be fairly straightforward w/ how much damage I can currently do along w/ some maxed out gear.

[aceluby]

New update announced:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/21kuq4/new_update_103_announced/

[Muttering Bill]

Finished up and going over to NG+.

Final results.

Time - 78:12:00

Level - 151

Deaths - 375

[aceluby]

Finished up and going over to NG+.

Final results.

Time - 78:12:00

Level - 151

Deaths - 375

Nice! Realizing I've been probably under levelled throughout most of the game. Been at the end game part for 5+ hours now (80 hours in) and was only SL103. Spent all my boss souls last night to level up my health and get me to SL125ish which made the darklurker fight stupid easy. Tonight it's time to take on the Ancient Dragon :)

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Some of the 8th graders I teach were talking about Grand Theft Auto 5 a couple of weeks ago, and Black Ops too, and I mentioned how I got Dark Souls 2 and they hadn't heard of it. I explained it was tough and they shouldn't get it because they would hate me.

So one of them got it--quarterback, cowboy type of kid. He was a little upset at first that he got a "pansy" knight and sword and shield game, and he was real upset there was no map or compass. But he keeps going back for more. I coached football earlier in the year and I always sprint with the boys, and it means a lot to them to gain respect from me (which is dumb)--they kind of hold my military experience as something amazing (so silly), so now all these kids are getting Dark Souls 2 and embracing the punishment of it and reporting their (mis)adventures, the anger and pain they feel, and they've finally admitted they're nerds at heart.

Now I have these "jocks" admitting that they love Star Wars, in front of girls no less!, talking about what kind of armor their characters wear, how fast they can roll, etc. I'm so proud of them. They come in at lunch recess just to talk Dark Souls.

[Inigima]

I like this post more than words can express

[aceluby]

snip

This is so incredibly awesome, and I know the feeling as my little brother just got turned on this game and absolutely loves it.

I beat the Ancient Dragon last night in two tries which was almost pitifully easy. Tried helping others but most people just aren't looking for the tells she gives or how to bait attacks. One of the easier fights IMO.

Went from there to take Vendrick who gave me a whooping... over and over again... Finally turned to pyromancy and beat him w/ some fire swathes and fire storms. My lack of END gave me a HUGE handicap, plus it didn't help that he could pretty much one shot me at any time with any of his attacks.

From there I invaded the girl who sells miracles at the switch for her spell, which leaves Chaos Storm as the only piece of NG magic that I have left before NG+.

Finally went and finished up the last boss, whose guards gave me FAR more trouble than the final boss himself, and then took out the pursuer in Iron Keep. So tonight I go in and frustrate myself in some lava to get the last spells and then move on to see what NG+ has in store. 95 hours in and absolutely everything and more that I'd want with a Dark Souls sequel. The sheer number of bosses has just been fantastic.

[Muttering Bill]

Spent all my boss souls last night to level up my health and get me to SL125ish which made the darklurker fight stupid easy.

That was an odd boss.

I started off trying to take it at range with Great Lightning Spears, and it would always split at 50% health and ruin me with magic spam. After about a dozen tries I finally decided to change tactics; buffed with Great Magic Barrier and Sunlight Blade, and went melee. It never split at all, and I took it down on the first try.

Went from there to take Vendrick who gave me a whooping... over and over again... Finally turned to pyromancy and beat him w/ some fire swathes and fire storms. My lack of END gave me a HUGE handicap, plus it didn't help that he could pretty much one shot me at any time with any of his attacks.

He 1-shots everybody. I had 40 Vigor and the Third Dragon Ring equiped, and still had to do it without getting hit. Wasn't too hard though. His attacks are easy to dodge and a Sunlight Blade buff took him down quickly.

Started on NG+. It hasn't been too bad yet. There were some new enemies that took my by surprise, but nothing that managed to kill me. Went as far as to clear out the Forest. I was just hanging around waiting for Blues to show up (due to my endgame killing spree), but I only got 2. I got bored and summoned phantoms for the Last Giant and the Pursuer. Didn't really need them, just helping out other people who were looking to get summoned.

Apparently killing Pursuer early doesn't get any credit for Phantoms. I had taken the Giant out first and summoned a new phantom for Pursuer. But once we beat him, the phantom was just... there. With nothing to do. Sorry guy. But he did climb up there first. I would have been fine with running down to the boss room.

So, don't bother trying to get summoned in the Forest. I'll probably camp out in front of Flexile Sentry and the Ruin Sentinels for co-op.

[aceluby]

That was an odd boss.

I started off trying to take it at range with Great Lightning Spears, and it would always split at 50% health and ruin me with magic spam. After about a dozen tries I finally decided to change tactics; buffed with Great Magic Barrier and Sunlight Blade, and went melee. It never split at all, and I took it down on the first try.

He 1-shots everybody. I had 40 Vigor and the Third Dragon Ring equiped, and still had to do it without getting hit. Wasn't too hard though. His attacks are easy to dodge and a Sunlight Blade buff took him down quickly.

Darklurker:

I took him out w/ my best sorceries, but had to have enough HP to eat one of the dark bombs that is cast from behind you. Once that didn't one-shot me he was pitifully easy. Just kept casting soul spear, dodge the fireballs, cast as much as possible when the dark magic comes, eat it and heal, then once the split happens finish 'em off with a couple soul geysers. Took two tries after I stopped trying to utilize pyro

As for Vendrick, he does one shot everybody, but most videos I saw (after about 20 deaths and a free run to the boss fog) were able to take at least one of the horizontal strikes. My guy couldn't, so I had to gain some levels until I could.

At that point I just kept close on his right side, dodged the horizontal attacks, countered his smash attacks with fire swathe, then moved on to firestorm (which he'll miss you over your head if he attacks horizontally), and then finished with some soul spears. HUGE fist pump moment for me since I spent a good nearly 2 hours just trying to take him down. The ancient dragon fight was WAY easier IMO

NG+ tonight, and working towards platinum'ing this thing.

[aceluby]

DON'T KILL NPC'S BEFORE NG+!!!! You'll be invaded by blues non stop for every one you do in NG+, which I've been told is less restrictive for invasions and co-op.