Dark Souls II

penev10

Danonino. wrote: »

I think the fact you can warp to any bonfire instantly takes a lot from the game too, it dosnt force you to become as familiar with the areas as in dark souls. In dark souls you had to trapse back and forth, learning each area like the back of your hand. In 2 you see a lot of areas once and thats it untill NG. Dark Souls was a masterpiece imho, and for this to even come close again is pretty awesome.

The warping definitely takes from the feel of the game but I suppose it does reduce frustration. The way the areas in DS1 were so intricately linked is something I really miss. The shortcuts were great but more so the way they so organically bled from one into another. It felt like a natural progression as you went further down into the dark or likewise up into the light.

It can feel badly juxtaposed at times in DS2 (going from Heides Tower to No Man's Wharf was a real WTF moment for me) but I reckon that the more I play and revisit the areas the more sense they will make as you move between them.

krudler

penev10 wrote: »

The warping definitely takes from the feel of the game but I suppose it does reduce frustration. The way the areas in DS1 were so intricately linked is something I really miss. The shortcuts were great but more so the way they so organically bled from one into another. It felt like a natural progression as you went further down into the dark or likewise up into the light.

It can feel badly juxtaposed at times in DS2 (going from Heides Tower to No Man's Wharf was a real WTF moment for me) but I reckon that the more I play and revisit the areas the more sense they will make as you move between them.

Yeah, maybe it's just a familiarity thing but the world of DS1 makes more sense to me, like when you're down in Blightown and can look up to see the sky way up above, or see the boss area in Lost Izalith way off in the distance from the bonfire in the catacombs. The whole world is brilliantly designed and interlinked. Like in Heide's Tower, you run down a small walkway and go through a sewer to get there and if you look back at where you came from the Majula area is absolutely miles away. Areas on top of other areas don't make as much sense.

J_E

I definitely think, that unlike DS1 where the isolation adds to the game, online play really enhances the experience in this game. Co-oping and duelling has been so thrilling in this game, and the world definitely feels more 'human' than Lordran in that sense.

krudler

Cydoniac wrote: »

I definitely think, that unlike DS1 where the isolation adds to the game, online play really enhances the experience in this game. Co-oping and duelling has been so thrilling in this game, and the world definitely feels more 'human' than Lordran in that sense.

Same, I co-op play far more than I did in the first game, fought a few bosses solo on the previous playthrough but mostly with co-op. some of them were a breeze if you got guys who had lightning miracles or big spells.

TimeToShine

Worth pumping all of my twinkling titanite in the the black knight ultra greatsword or is there a better option out there? 35 STR and DEX.

weiland79

My head hurts from trying to get through no mans wharf:( Do you remember in one of the Superman movies, Supes squeezed a piece of coal so hard that he made a diamond? Well i think thats what I'm going to do with my controller.:mad:

J_E

weiland79 wrote: »

My head hurts from trying to get through no mans wharf:( Do you remember in one of the Superman movies, Supes squeezed a piece of coal so hard that he made a diamond? Well i think thats what I'm going to do with my controller.:mad:

Take it slowly. Once you take on only 1-2 enemies at a time and use a torch/lockstone in parts it is not that difficult.

Taltos

weiland79 wrote: »

My head hurts from trying to get through no mans wharf:( Do you remember in one of the Superman movies, Supes squeezed a piece of coal so hard that he made a diamond? Well i think thats what I'm going to do with my controller.:mad:

I played it using ranged weapons (sorcerer), made it a bit easier for me. Also on some enemies you can trigger them to move and then pick them off from other vantage points.

Key thing as above is to take it slowly, don't be afraid to back up but watch out for the water or any falls...

Eggy Baby!

It can feel badly juxtaposed at times in DS2 (going from Heides Tower to No Man's Wharf was a real WTF moment for me) but I reckon that the more I play and revisit the areas the more sense they will make as you move between them.

I agree. Many areas in DS1 segued nicely into each other (like Undead Burg-Depths-Blighttown-Quelaag's Domain-Demon Ruins-Lost Izalith all connected up very nicely in one long, contiguous, epic trek) but in DS2 many areas are connected by elevators (Heide's and No-Man's Wharf/ Aldia's and Dragon Aerie) or fast travel sequences (Forest of Fallen Giants-Lost Bastille/No Man's Wharf-Lost Bastille).

A long elevator ride to the next area disconnects the player from the journey and feels like (or is) a loading screen. It's a cop-out really. Some areas are pretty well done in DS2 though, like Shaded Woods-Shaded Ruins-Doors of Pharros.

Danonino.

The way they have done multiplayer and changes to how poison etc work are awesome though. The game is brilliant, just, we've become accustomed to Dark Souls which imho was the best game of the last generation. Maybe if they had included more story ties to 1, or set them closer in date or something

Edit: Multiplayer in the PVP sense is still horribly unbalanced and a bit ****e though

Eggy Baby!

Anyone know a helmet that goes well with the Throne Defender set? (aside from the Throne Defender helmet, of course)

penev10

weiland79 wrote: »

My head hurts from trying to get through no mans wharf:(

You can actually run through the early part. Go past the initial dudes on the docks then leg it up the stairs, go right and straight up the next stairs. None of the enemies behind you will follow you up. This is the trickiest bit of the level - on the ledge with the black long-limbed yokes. If you hold a torch they will recoil away from you and you can just batter them. After that its just a matter of slowly going through the next couple of buildings until you can call the boat.

saidinmilamber

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

Anyone know a helmet that goes well with the Throne Defender set? (aside from the Throne Defender helmet, of course)

Archdrake Helm. Provides the best lightning defence out of any helm in the game.

Sgt Hartman

saidinmilamber wrote: »

Archdrake Helm. Provides the best lightning defence out of any helm in the game.

And really cool looking as well.

I've killed the Giants at the bottom of the Black Gulch and completed the 3 memories. Just the Ancient Dragon to beat for the 5th Giant Soul. Man he's painful. No matter whether I'm fighting him naked or in full Havel's I end up getting one-shotted.

saidinmilamber

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

I've killed the Giants at the bottom of the Black Gulch and completed the 3 memories. Just the Ancient Dragon to beat for the 5th Giant Soul. Man he's painful. No matter whether I'm fighting him naked or in full Havel's I end up getting one-shotted.

It took me about 30 tries. I hunted everything between the bonfire and him well into extinction before I figured out how weak he really is! Do it alone, help will only bump up his health and make him less predictable. Plant yourself right in front of his head, medium range out and wait. If his wings flap, run back and resume your position after the rain of fire. If he rears back, run to his front right paw and hack or spell the ****e out of him while he blasts fire, then resume your position. It's PAINFULLY easy when you do this! I'm fairly sure the devs did this to punish you for trying to get him from behind and for bringing help; this is a fight you can only win easily if you're "brave".

F1ngers

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

Just the Ancient Dragon to beat for the 5th Giant Soul. Man he's painful. No matter whether I'm fighting him naked or in full Havel's I end up getting one-shotted.

Stand under him, always walking into his back foot and attack, as soon as he lifts his leg to stomp you, walk over and into his other leg and attack.
Continue until he dies.

Because you're always walking into his leg, he will only use his stomp move.

calex71

F1ngers wrote: »

Stand under him, always walking into his back foot and attack, as soon as he lifts his leg to stomp you, walk over and into his other leg and attack.
Continue until he dies.

Because you're always walking into his leg, he will only use his stomp move.

And in the event that he takes off get to the tip of his tail fast!!!!!

F1ngers

calex71 wrote: »

And in the event that he takes off get to the tip of his tail fast!!!!!

Not once, he only used his stomp attack.

krudler

Got a soul vessel in the Lost Bastille last night so took a load of points out of INT since I had it stupidly high and put it back into DEX, ahhh, welcome back hit power.

J_E

F1ngers wrote: »

Stand under him, always walking into his back foot and attack, as soon as he lifts his leg to stomp you, walk over and into his other leg and attack.
Continue until he dies.

Because you're always walking into his leg, he will only use his stomp move.

Also if you're really stuck for a giant soul you can just ascetic the first Black Gulch bonfire and repeat the bottom area.

Sgt Hartman

Cydoniac wrote: »

Also if you're really stuck for a giant soul you can just ascetic the first Black Gulch bonfire and repeat the bottom area.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I'll try the Ancient Dragon again later and use the back foot stomp dodge technique. If I keep getting killed though I'll try the ascetic. At the same time though I don't want that pesky dragon to get the better of me:P. I just need the Giant souls to weaken King Vendrick and give myself a chance against him.

GK1001

With the talk of how tight DS felt in comparison to this, how many of us played DS1 on release?
And when I say tight I mean the combat element, both PVE & PVP.
I'm just thinking that I started DS mid to late last year when it was all patched up - I can't remember seeing an update on XBL - and it was awesome, whereas I'm starting DS2 from day 1. I wonder when all the patching is done, say by Christmas time, will we be looking at a far more balanced game?

iamanengine

How viable would a bow only run be?

Gi joe!

Is there a better strength weapon than the Claymore+10 to start on New Game Plus?

I'm sure there is but I'm having a tough time figuring out the weapon system and don't wan't to waste all my titanite on something I won't use. Keep in mind I've saved 90% of my souls if I need to trade for one.

J_E

iamanengine wrote: »

How viable would a bow only run be?

With poison arrows you can take down pretty much everything. I imagine bosses and hordes of enemies would be a little harder. For example, Rat Authority would be a real pain I bet.

johnny_ultimate

GK1001 wrote: »

With the talk of how tight DS felt in comparison to this, how many of us played DS1 on release?
And when I say tight I mean the combat element, both PVE & PVP.
I'm just thinking that I started DS mid to late last year when it was all patched up - I can't remember seeing an update on XBL - and it was awesome, whereas I'm starting DS2 from day 1. I wonder when all the patching is done, say by Christmas time, will we be looking at a far more balanced game?

Hell yeah it had changed. I finished Dark Souls either just before or just after the release of the first patch, and I remember having a look at the patch notes and noticing how many aspects had been nerfed or adjusted! It definitely had its fair share of little imperfections, so there's nothing new there, although perhaps not to quite the same extent as here.

Danonino.

Dark souls version 1 or whatnot was tough, I remember the patch gave homewardbones and humanity as boss rewards and stuff. It was still brilliant.
Dark Souls 2 lost Bastille invading with silver talismans is some laugh, Im currently a pile of barrels waiting patiently wuh hahahaha. I'm a filthy sinner me.

Edit: It took over 11 kills by invasions to be tagged as a sinner, maybe thats why its so hard to invade as a blue phantom the first playthrough, I mean how many cracked red eye orbs do you get in the first playthrough without joining the bloods? I'm guessing only a few. You'd want to be killing NPCs and the like to get tagged.
Being a sinner is fun though, I never invaded in DS1 unless it was for the darkmoos so being the **** is a nice change

richymcdermott

I dont know if it just me but there has being alot of strange bugs sibce this game was patched I did not experience in my first playthrough.

Enemies sometime vanquish then re appear again and the golems that open the switches in the castle would not open for me even though I am doing the correct things for them to open the doors for me.

Quite annoying having to do things about 5 times for the thing to work

weiland79

Where can i get more Pharro's Lockstones? I'm in Lost Bastille and have gone past two places i can use them. Do i just have to come back later or is there somewhere i can purchase them. I already bought one off the Vendor in the tower and she has none left.

krudler

weiland79 wrote: »

Where can i get more Pharro's Lockstones? I'm in Lost Bastille and have gone past two places i can use them. Do i just have to come back later or is there somewhere i can purchase them. I already bought one off the Vendor in the tower and she has none left.

There's one in a chest in the mansion in Majula, if you met Cale the Cartographer he'll give you the key to it.