[Spoilers] Dark Souls 2 part Deux

[aceluby]

The Chariot, Darklurker, and Ancient dragon fights were extremely memorable for me. Much better than anything in the original Dark Souls. And that's one thing that I think people keep forgetting, A LOT of the lore wasn't explained until the DLC, and some of the best bosses in the game didn't come out until DLC. We're also accustomed to this type of game after 3 iterations, so it's going to be easy. I'm realizing that right now while playing Demon's Souls... the only hard part has been managing my item inventory... what a pain! The levels are great, and big, but they are not that hard.

[Slurktan]

Lost Sinner is still my favorite fight so far. There are things you can do to make it easier though, f you found it easy maybe you did them.

I could see Lost sinner being harder for a ranged or a caster as its hard to lock on. As a strength based melee, she wasn't hard at all. She gives you breaks to heal and buff and shit if you choose and her stuff is pretty easily dodged. Granted my experience comes from 2 fights with her at this point; NG and one with a bonfire ascetic burned.

[MerenthaClone]

I can't remember which, but apparentlyin some patch either Sinner was nerfed or Lucatiel buffed, so that might affect people's perception of difficulty.

[Muttering Bill]

I don't think Sinner herself was supposed to have been nerfed, but her NG+ helpers. Maybe she was hit too. I fought them solo in NG++ and it wasn't that bad, beat them on the 2nd try. 1st attempt failed because I was trying out the Blinding Bolt miracle, which sucks.

Lucatiel was buffed. A lot.

Still, I think that the lights being on or off makes a big difference. NG, lights out, and it was tough. NG++, lights on, additional enemies, and it was farily easy. (NG+ I brought phantoms, so that was easy too.)

[Inigima]

Sinner was nerfed. But mostly in ways that just make the fight shorter IIRC.

The thing about this conversation is that there are several factors that confound different experiences.

1. Lights on/off: if you fight her with the lights on the fight is much easier because she moves much more slowly.

2. Partners: I fought her solo. With a partner -- AI or co-op -- she wouldn't be very hard.

3. Weapon choice: I love my mace, but it's pretty slow. For me, I could only counterattack after specific attacks, or I'd be too slow and get hit.

Even in the dark solo, though, it's true that if you're VERY careful, you can drink estus.

The thing about the lights is that it's optional, so people who turned the lights on might not even realize the fight could have been harder.

[Muttering Bill]

The Belfry Gargoyles with no shield is hardest thing I've done yet. Nevermind how many times I didn't even get in the room due to invasions.

Sinner wasn't an issue, even with the lights off. But this was my 5th time facing her, so I'm pretty well attuned to what she likes to do.

I couldn't get Najka to knock that item off the tree. That's supposed to be the way to get it. And she hit it a bunch of times. Maybe just got the wrong attacks.

Should be arriving at the Shrine of Amana tonight, just Freja and Drangleic Castle to go. I'm looking forward to this.

[MerenthaClone]

The Belfry Gargoyles with no shield is hardest thing I've done yet. Nevermind how many times I didn't even get in the room due to invasions.

Weird, two-handing a non-upgraded large club was how I got through it, because resistances mean that my +5 bastard sword was doing less damage. I don't mind resistances playing a role, but that's one irritating mechanic that completely obscures the relative effectiveness of weapons.

[Muttering Bill]

Well, yeah, but clubs are horribly OP, scale really well with STR and will stagger anything.

I was using a Longsword +7. Also, Company of Champions.

[Muttering Bill]

New and exciting! Project Beast leaked screenshots. Very Souls looking PS4 title. I can't read the source, since that's blocked at work. Reddit link:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/24k0fs/rumour_project_beast_from_software_ps4_looks_like/

While the idea pleases me greatly, I don't know that I'd want these to turn into annual release games.

Edit - I got to look over the info, and it's being heavily suggested (by people who are supposedly industry insiders) that this not fake and is a sequel to Demon's Souls with Miyazaki in charge. I'll be anxiously awaiting the proper announcment at E3.

Don't know if I'm allowed to post that link though. Or if I'm allowed to post the one I did. Whatever. Follow the trail if you want to know more.

[Slurktan]

New and exciting! Project Beast leaked screenshots. Very Souls looking PS4 title. I can't read the source, since that's blocked at work. Reddit link:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/24k0fs/rumour_project_beast_from_software_ps4_looks_like/

While the idea pleases me greatly, I don't know that I'd want these to turn into annual release games.

Edit - I got to look over the info, and it's being heavily suggested (by people who are supposedly industry insiders) that this not fake and is a sequel to Demon's Souls with Miyazaki in charge. I'll be anxiously awaiting the proper announcment at E3.

Don't know if I'm allowed to post that link though. Or if I'm allowed to post the one I did. Whatever. Follow the trail if you want to know more.

I'm actually very shocked that they would do a Demon's Souls sequel as that would mean its only on Playstation since Sony owns the rights. Awesome regardless though.

EDIT: So I'm through the Shrine of Amana and thus far the hardest enemy/boss is Havel in the Chasm of old Dark or whatever its called. He is absurdly fast with his combo and in tight quarters.

[Jory Cassel]

Looking glass knight was at least somewhat of a challenge, but when I summoned the npc on fifth try it became ridiculously easy as the boss was only targeting him.

It's a bummer that the strong attack of the longsword is no thrust anymore, that was always incredibly useful in narrow passages.

[snowleper]

I'm just waiting to play the game on the ps4.

Dark souls 1 and 2 are nice, but I still think Demon Souls was the superior game compared to the other two.

[AndrewJ]

Wouldn't it make sense to play Dark Souls 2 before deciding if it's inferior to Demons Souls or not?

[MerenthaClone]

Looking glass knight was at least somewhat of a challenge, but when I summoned the npc on fifth try it became ridiculously easy as the boss was only targeting him.

It's a bummer that the strong attack of the longsword is no thrust anymore, that was always incredibly useful in narrow passages.

Try two-handing it. Also, try the claymore. It has an R2 thrust attack one-handed, iirc.

Wouldn't it make sense to play Dark Souls 2 before deciding if it's inferior to Demons Souls or not?

Pretty sure he's talking about Project Beast, which is PS4 exclusive. (Since DS2 isn't available on the PS4)

[Muttering Bill]

This game has gotten pretty interesting. Still working through my CoC melee only run, getting close to the end. A bunch of bosses that I breezed through the first 4 times have given me a bit of trouble: Freja, Looking Glass Knight and Velstadt specifically.

Shrine of Amana wasn't as hard as I'd expected/was hoping for. Only the group of enemies right before the 3rd bonfire that were a problem. Took maybe 8 or 10 tries to figure out the best way through them.

One change that was a nice surprise was the Ruin Sentinels in Drangleic Castle. They originally spawned the normal 12 or 15 (or whatever it is) times. Then one of the patches changed them to single spawn. Except for CoC. Nice little surpise when I went back through that room.

And Navlaan's as ass. He invaded right as the 2nd ogre in Aldia broke through, and in the same spot. I never had a chance. :laugh:

I'm actually very shocked that they would do a Demon's Souls sequel as that would mean its only on Playstation since Sony owns the rights. Awesome regardless though.

Hard to tell from just a few screen shots whether it's really Demon's Souls 2 or something else. Just a lot of speculation since Sony owns the IP and has expressed regret for not supporting it more. But it makes a lot of sense for Sony, as hot as From is now, to get an exclusive Souls game to help push PS4 sales. I'm guessing that Sony is funding the project, and Japan Studio is doing most of the work.

I'll likely be buying a PS4 for it. As was always the plan. Dark Souls 3 (Demon's Souls 2 is just as good), Ninja Gaiden 4, or Dead or Alive 6 - whichever comes first.

EDIT: So I'm through the Shrine of Amana and thus far the hardest enemy/boss is Havel in the Chasm of old Dark or whatever its called. He is absurdly fast with his combo and in tight quarters.

That's a tough entrance. I think the one in Black Gulch is worse though, with the Pyro/Turtle tag-team as soon as you show up. I like to go through the Shaded Woods entrance for my attempts on Darklurker.

Try two-handing it. Also, try the claymore. It has an R2 thrust attack one-handed, iirc.

Yup. That Longsword thrust has gotten me through many tight spots. 2 handed R2, also 2 handed running and rolling R1's.

I've ended up using my Longswords much more often than the Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword, despite the Pursuer's sword hitting twice as hard. The moveset is not that great.

[aceluby]

I'm just waiting to play the game on the ps4.

Dark souls 1 and 2 are nice, but I still think Demon Souls was the superior game compared to the other two.

Have you played it recently? There are quite a few flaws in it, especially in regards to the length of the levels and forced inventory management. Nothing worse than going through the entire level and get to the end only to not be able to pick up some gear. It's also not that difficult. I took out flamelurker on my first try this weekend just circling w/ my purple flame shield and counter attacking when I can. Only needed to heal twice the entire fight. I did all of level 2 w/out even dying, though I did sort of 'cheese' the Dragon God w/ arrows at the end. Died a lot in world 3 though... so many damn spots to fall through.

Having a whole lot of fun on my Demon's Soul run. Maneaters tonight! It'll be fun to see how many times it takes me to take them out w/out cheesing them. Also finally got summoned to help someone else out. It's funny when you notice people doing this game for the first time as they switch out different unupgraded weapons throughout the level while I only use my bastard sword, bow, and spear, all upgraded to +5 or better (sword is at +8).

[aceluby]

That's a tough entrance. I think the one in Black Gulch is worse though, with the Pyro/Turtle tag-team as soon as you show up. I like to go through the Shaded Woods entrance for my attempts on Darklurker.

If you have lightning or sorceries the Drangleic entrance is the easiest. Just cheese Havel, swoop in and take out the guy in the tunnel before the sorcerer comes in for help, get him out of there, then it's just the one guy at the end who's pretty easy. It's MUCH harder w/ melee only since there's so little space there. That Black Gulch one is a pain. So many hard hitters!

[Slurktan]

If you have lightning or sorceries the Drangleic entrance is the easiest. Just cheese Havel, swoop in and take out the guy in the tunnel before the sorcerer comes in for help, get him out of there, then it's just the one guy at the end who's pretty easy. It's MUCH harder w/ melee only since there's so little space there. That Black Gulch one is a pain. So many hard hitters!

Thats my problem. I'm a melee so I can't cheese Havel. If I shoot him with anything he then fights me on the narrow bridge and that is a recipe for disaster. The mage after him you can just kill with poison arrows before she(or the rapier dude) sees you and the rapier guy I just don't find to be a hard fight. But fuck havel, you block his side swinging attack on the bridge and it knocks you off.

[aceluby]

Thats my problem. I'm a melee so I can't cheese Havel. If I shoot him with anything he then fights me on the narrow bridge and that is a recipe for disaster. The mage after him you can just kill with poison arrows before she(or the rapier dude) sees you and the rapier guy I just don't find to be a hard fight. But fuck havel, you block his side swinging attack on the bridge and it knocks you off.

Yeah, I did the Darklurker quest line with a mage, so it was pretty easy. I haven't tried, but is there a point on the bridge he won't cross so you can cheese him w/ poison too? Seems you should be able to hit him, run back across the bridge and see what point he turns around at which point you can pepper him w/ poison.

[Jory Cassel]

Try two-handing it. Also, try the claymore. It has an R2 thrust attack one-handed, iirc.

Two handing does not really work for me, but the claymore-thrust is what I'm looking for. Alas, it is incredibly slow, so I'm thinking of upgrading a spear, but all this is futile as I have no idea where to find regular titanite shards. nvm