[Spoilers] Dark Souls 2 part Deux

[MerenthaClone]

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

So far, I've found that spears are...not great. And the claymore is pretty okay in terms of speed imo (but I've been rocking a bastard sword all game and have exactly zero plans to stop).

[Muttering Bill]

Just spent 2 hours getting through Dragon Shrine. That is not a nice place unless you have magic or a stack of poison arrows. And Ancient Dragon is the laziest designed boss in the game. It's not even fun. Run away, run forward, run away, run forward. Tedious,

So far, I've found that spears are...not great. And the claymore is pretty okay in terms of speed imo (but I've been rocking a bastard sword all game and have exactly zero plans to stop).

Bastard Sword :love:. Unless you're going straight STR or DEX, there's no reason to use anything else. Even for STR, you can just use a Mastadon Greatsword, which basically the same thing only a little bigger.

[Slurktan]

Just spent 2 hours getting through Dragon Shrine. That is not a nice place unless you have magic or a stack of poison arrows. And Ancient Dragon is the laziest designed boss in the game. It's not even fun. Run away, run forward, run away, run forward. Tedious,

Bastard Sword :love:. Unless you're going straight STR or DEX, there's no reason to use anything else. Even for STR, you can just use a Mastadon Greatsword, which basically the same thing only a little bigger.

Just did that section tonight myself although I didn't fight the big dragon. Those big sword/shield combo guys that hit through shields are a nightmare though.

Bastard sword has too little reach lol I like my big club and my patented zweihander.

[Muttering Bill]

Just did that section tonight myself although I didn't fight the big dragon. Those big sword/shield combo guys that hit through shields are a nightmare though.

Bastard sword has too little reach lol I like my big club and my patented zweihander.

The sword and shield Drakekeepers aren't even the problem. It's the ones with the warhammer and greatshield, because they never run out of stamina. Think they're done after 4 hits? Nope! They've got a few more for you.

Zweihander's too slow. Mastadon Greatsword is where it's at for ultra greatswords. Bastard Sword moveset, good speed and reach, A scaling in STR, insane hit tracking.

[aceluby]

Just spent 2 hours getting through Dragon Shrine. That is not a nice place unless you have magic or a stack of poison arrows. And Ancient Dragon is the laziest designed boss in the game. It's not even fun. Run away, run forward, run away, run forward. Tedious,

Bastard Sword :love:. Unless you're going straight STR or DEX, there's no reason to use anything else. Even for STR, you can just use a Mastadon Greatsword, which basically the same thing only a little bigger.

Really? I found the dragon shrine to be a cake walk with melee, just bait the fire or stomp and attack. The only tough part is if Navlaan invades you during one of the dragon fights which requires arrows.

On a Demon's soul note... Fuck Maneaters...

[Muttering Bill]

Really? I found the dragon shrine to be a cake walk with melee, just bait the fire or stomp and attack. The only tough part is if Navlaan invades you during one of the dragon fights which requires arrows.

On a Demon's soul note... Fuck Maneaters...

I think you're talking about Dragon Aerie, and on that I agree. I was talking about Dragon Shrine; which is the castle area. Those Drakekeepers are a nasty bunch. Not that bad one-on-one, excepting the Warhammer/Greatshield ones. But they're really tough when they come at you in pairs. Add with my playthrough rules - Company of Champions, no shield/bow/magic, no running past enemies** - the area is quite a chore.

Almost done with this playthrough. Just got Vendrick and the Throne of Want trio left. Also Pilgrims of Dark, but I'm debating whether or not to do that as I'll have to leave the CoC for it. But it will be really hard, so I'll probably go for it.

** I had to make any exception to not running by enemies in one of the Giant memories, as they just don't give me enough time kill everything and still get to the end.

Also, Mateaters are the worst. Always save them for last. Have to be at least SL 80 before I can get through them. I was thinking that since DS2 has so many multiple enemy bosses, maybe I'll have gotten better and it won't be so bad. Hopefully. :uhoh:

[Inigima]

Maneaters was one of the parts I never did get past in Demon's. Very tricky.

The thing that ultimately made me quit was the Black Phantom in the swamp. I know it was optional but for some reason I really wanted to win. It's very hard since the swamp fucks with your mobility and the Phantom is not similarly encumbered.

Tower of Latria was my favorite other than Maneaters. Horror incarnate.

[MerenthaClone]

Mastodon GS is weird. It looks like it should do more damage (AR is greater than my bastard sword and it has better scaling with STR, which I have higher) but it consistently does about the same or less, meaning its basically the bastard sword with more reach, the same/less dmg, slightly slower attacks, and more stamina per use. Personally I don't think its worth it.

[Muttering Bill]

So the Bastard Sword is confirmed as the best weapon in the game. ;) I remember hearing that once before, wasn't sure if it was true and didn't care enough to test it. It was also demonstrated in a video that the stat screen can just outright lie sometimes - was demonstrated with the Pyro Flame vs Dark Pyro Flame.

I've been switching through a few Ultra's and haven't used the Mastadon extensively. It serves in some situations, but I've mainly stuck to either a regular Longsword or Pursuer's sword. Pursuer's moveset is not so great, but it puts out tons of damage. For some reason enemies that typically dodge a lot don't dodge it. Also cycle in the Black Knight Ultra Greatsword, which is like a Zweihander with fire. AR matches the Pursuer's but it's split damage. Still, useful sometimes due to it's horizontal R1's.

[TheEvilKing]

Finally had some invasions on PC after entering Heide's Tower. First one some Blue Knight was summoned and helped me kill the vagrant. Second time I got wrecked in 2 hits by some spell.

[aceluby]

Finally had some invasions on PC after entering Heide's Tower. First one some Blue Knight was summoned and helped me kill the vagrant. Second time I got wrecked in 2 hits by some spell.

Most spells will do that because they are so easy to dodge.

[Muttering Bill]

And most armors have very low magic defenses.

[aceluby]

And most armors have very low magic defenses.

True, the best magic defense typically has low physical defense. Balance and all...

[MerenthaClone]

Get Fth up, cast Great Magic Barrier. Sprint through spells and punch the caster in the face.

[aceluby]

Get Fth up, cast Great Magic Barrier. Sprint through spells and punch the caster in the face.

Pretty much the 'auto-die' for my Hexer who uses the Moonlight Greatsword for melee

[Muttering Bill]

Darklurker tonight. I've got 50 tries, and I think I can buy 20 more Effigies from merchants if it becomes necessary.

Get Fth up, cast Great Magic Barrier. Sprint through spells and punch the caster in the face.

Or get a Magic Shield and infuse it with Magic. Magic Magic Shield +10 = 100% magic block. Only useful against full mages though. GMB is definately preferred if you're running Faith.

[aceluby]

Darklurker tonight. I've got 50 tries, and I think I can buy 20 more Effigies from merchants if it becomes necessary.

Or get a Magic Shield and infuse it with Magic. Magic Magic Shield +10 = 100% magic block. Only useful against full mages though. GMB is definately preferred if you're running Faith.

Dark defense, fire imbued sword, add more fire... profit!

[snowleper]

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).

Oh, there are flaws certainly - but I found Dark souls 1 and 2 easier than Demon Souls difficulty wise. Demon souls also set the standard for punishing the player for dying -- the world tendency shift is fantastic and was one of the gameplay/level design elements that I was disapointed to see not carry over into the other two games.

I also really like the level design and the bosses in demon souls -- there are some stand outs in Dark souls 1 and 2, but nothing quite like Demon Souls.

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

I've played the game with my brother who has a ps3. I enjoy the game, it's fun -- but the level design and bosses are somewhat lackluster.

I bought a ps4 - and one of the reasons I did so was under the assumption that Dark Souls 2 was going to be released for it -- and as far as I know they are working to port it over. When they do that, I'll buy it.

[Muttering Bill]

Dark defense, fire imbued sword, add more fire... profit!

I only gave her a couple of tries so far. I tried using my Fire infused Black Knight Ultra Greatsword and the damage was unimpressive. I was getting better results out of the Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword. Probably due to getting better benefits out of the Ring of Blades +1.

My plan next is to try to break her Poise in order to prevent her from splitting. Ring of Giants, Ring of Blades +1, Chloranthy Ring +1, 2-hand my a Longsword with the Blossom Kite Shield on my back. Got to have my Ring of Binding, so no resistance rings, but my Watcher's armor has decent magic defenses. I'll have to see Magerold about some Charcoal Pine Resins so I can add a little fire into the mix. Also have to check if any of the Jester's peices improves stamina regen.

I also really like the level design and the bosses in demon souls -- there are some stand outs in Dark souls 1 and 2, but nothing quite like Demon Souls.

I've played the game with my brother who has a ps3. I enjoy the game, it's fun -- but the level design and bosses are somewhat lackluster.

Demon's Souls is great, no doubt. But I think the level design in DS2 is really good. Maybe not as good as DeS, but still good. The way areas connect are a bit of a mess, but the levels themselves are well designed. Even though some of them are too short and feel unfinished. It also falls short on the dark, forboding atmosphere that Demon's Souls had, but that's mostly down to the lighting. In DeS most of the areas were dark and you just had your little belt flashlight to see by. DS and DS2 are much brighter and that takes a lot away from it. If they had been able to keep the lighting they had in the Network Test and other pre-release footage, they would have had DeS level atmosphere. The Network Test was almost scary. That lighting with the compromise of the Torch would have been intense.

DS2 has some good bosses and some bad ones. DeS was the same. Unless we're going to pretend that Phalanx and Leechmonger were good bosses. Or that Storm King, which requires a special sword that is only useful that fight, was well designed. DS2 has more duds, but there are also twice as many. They're not all going to be brilliant. It still has some good ones though. And at least there's no Bed of Chaos this time. :ack:

The combat has been polished and refined, and is much improved. Going back to DeS now it feels rather clunky.

Having put in a couple hundred hours and gettting the Platinum Trophies for all 3 of them, I'm going to say that DS2 is my favorite one. It's getting a lot of hate around the net, and there are some genuine issues that From needs to fix, but a lot of it is just nitpicking by people who don't understand what a mess DS1 was when it first released, or that DeS was also unfinished.

Whatever. You've played it and can decide for yourself if you like it. I just think it may be a little premature to say that all the levels and bosses are weak if you've only sampled a few of them.

I bought a ps4 - and one of the reasons I did so was under the assumption that Dark Souls 2 was going to be released for it -- and as far as I know they are working to port it over. When they do that, I'll buy it.

I actually did the opposite and held off on the PS4 because DS2 wasn't being released on it.

I haven't heard anything to indicate they are working on a PS4/XBOne port. A bit of speculation since the PS4 is selling well. And mabye some of the other PS3 games that got bumped up and re-released are too; I don't know. It makes sense for them to put out a PS4 version, since it probably won't cost them too much to port it, but there's been no word that they are. Unless you've seen something I haven't...? Probably better off to just look forward to Project Beast.

[MerenthaClone]

One thing that really does disappoint me is going from the intricate, interconnected level-design in DS1 to DS2. Someone explain the transitition from Earthen Peak to Iron Keep for me. It makes zero sense. Or walk down to Heide and turn around. Shouldn't there at least be the cliff Majula is sitting on? But no, there's nothing. And a lot of the shortcuts don't really work either. I feel like they decided halfway through that they were going to change it so that you can freely warp, and then they added a bunch of bonfires semi-randomly. I liked No-Man's Wharf a lot, and I think it had to do with the one bonfire. Why does Earthen Peak need three? Or Brightstone Cove Tseldora? And that place is just a dud level-wise.

Oh well. With so many bosses/areas, its not surprising that some are just fair. Some of their changes to combat are great, though, no question.