Dark Souls II

DinoRex

tok9 wrote: »

I haven't invaded anyone yet but I am mighty tempted to go back to the castle now and check that out... do you really just leave the summon sign anywhere or is it where the fight is?

Anywhere in the castle. Apparently you'll increase your chances if you keep replacing it every 10 seconds.

krudler

krudler wrote: »

With the Chariot boss once you get the red spirit out of the way you can just leg it past all the other guys who ambush you, just keep armour light and get through there asap, once you make the bridge it's not so bad

the enemies where not so bad once you

took them one at a time and didnt fall for the ambush

it just took a fair amount of time to get there nothing compared to some of the bosses in the first game though

DinoRex wrote: »

When the enemies stop respawning on a boss run that's when I decide that I'll need help and actually summon. Only had to do this twice so far, generally hate summoning for help on a boss that I haven't beaten on my own yet.

iv been tempted once or twice but im stubborn as a mule i dont mind summoning npcs but i dont want to summon other people untill my second playthrough.

ShadowHearth

sheehy83 wrote: »

Used the Drangleic armour for most of the game so far, only recently swapped it for the headless knights armour. Miss the cape

You can get Helmet for that Set too.

There is a talking head in Shaded woods in a Foggy part of it. Keep the left and you will come to shrine area. Talk to him and buy stuff off him and he will give it to you.

Mickeroo

tok9 wrote: »

I haven't invaded anyone yet but I am mighty tempted to go back to the castle now and check that out... do you really just leave the summon sign anywhere or is it where the fight is?

Anywhere in the castle apparently, some saying it only works in NG+ and beyond though but others saying tat's not the case and it works in NG too. I haven't had a chance to try it yet myself.

tok9

tok9 wrote: »

I haven't invaded anyone yet but I am mighty tempted to go back to the castle now and check that out... do you really just leave the summon sign anywhere or is it where the fight is?

the bell covenant is a lot of fun if a bit trolly as sometimes it ends up two of ye against one but you can practice your pvp without losing anything and if you win you get titanite.

krudler

Mallory Rancid Sunset wrote: »

the bell covenant is a lot of fun if a bit trolly as sometimes it ends up two of ye against one but you can practice your pvp without losing anything and if you win you get titanite.

If you have that talisman that turns you into a background item the Belfry is troll central, mine turned me into a pile of barrels, and you can move around as them :pac:

krudler

krudler wrote: »

If you have that talisman that turns you into a background item the Belfry is troll central, mine turned me into a pile of barrels, and you can move around as them :pac:

thats hilarious i will have to try that

Mickeroo

krudler wrote: »

If you have that talisman that turns you into a background item the Belfry is troll central, mine turned me into a pile of barrels, and you can move around as them :pac:

Some funny vids on youtube of that already. Saw one where a guy actually followed the invader around as a pile of barrels for a while.

krudler

Mallory Rancid Sunset wrote: »

thats hilarious i will have to try that

It's great craic, do it as soon as you know you're being invaded and just sit and wait, if you're lucky you'll get invaded by two people, just hang out and watch them wander around looking for you, one will usually get annoyed and leave then just surprise the other one. You change back as soon as you hit attack you he's there gawking at a sconce or bile of barrels next thing he's getting a sword in the mush :pac:

J_E

krudler wrote: »

Does anyone find the level design to not be as good as the first game? I prefered the interlinking aspect of Lordran, not that areas in DS2 don't intertwine either but a lot of them are branched out and don't connect without warping. I thought there was more of a sense of discovery opening a gate or door and finding a way back to someplace knocking off loads of travel time instead of just warping around.

Generally speaking, DS2 does not have that same iconic feeling that DS1 has, same goes with music as well as level design, bosses, etc. I do love it to bits but it'll never match Lordran in my mind.

krudler

Cydoniac wrote: »

Generally speaking, DS2 does not have that same iconic feeling that DS1 has, same goes with music as well as level design, bosses, etc. I do love it to bits but it'll never match Lordran in my mind.

Maybe it's overfamiliarity with the setting and mechanics or something but the world hasn't grabbed me the same way. I don't dislike the game, far from it actually it's fantastic, a few niggles alright and some things I prefered in the first game but overall it's a fine sequel.

Speaking of the music, I actually prefer the Things Betixt theme when you'er near the firekeepers cabin to the Majula theme, it's more relaxing and more despair/hope filled.

krudler

krudler wrote: »

Maybe it's overfamiliarity with the setting and mechanics or something but the world hasn't grabbed me the same way. I don't dislike the game, far from it actually it's fantastic, a few niggles alright and some things I prefered in the first game but overall it's a fine sequel.

Speaking of the music, I actually prefer the Things Betixt theme when you'er near the firekeepers cabin to the Majula theme, it's more relaxing and more despair/hope filled.

i think this is huge i never played demon souls so at the start of dark souls there was a massive feeling out process for me because iv done that there has been no moments like the tutorial boss for example. having said that its still awesome to be playing new dark souls content and i do like the new physics and a few things like that

Zero-Cool

ShadowHearth wrote: »

You can get Helmet for that Set too.

There is a talking head in Shaded woods in a Foggy part of it. Keep the left and you will come to shrine area. Talk to him and buy stuff off him and he will give it to you.

Yeah met him, was looking all over the screen looking to see where the voice was coming from haha. I think I got his helmet, the tiger one or did I get that somewhere else?

DinoRex

Gameplay wise it's an improvement over Dark Souls. Things have been refined just enough.

But for level design and for the most part boss design it falls short.

I guess not having Miyazaki on board is the real problem. Hopefully he's working on something amazing instead for next gen machines.

But definitely with Dark Souls 2 it feels like they've gone with quantity over quality.

It's still one of the best games I've ever played though.

calex71

krudler wrote: »

Maybe it's overfamiliarity with the setting and mechanics or something but the world hasn't grabbed me the same way. I don't dislike the game, far from it actually it's fantastic, a few niggles alright and some things I prefered in the first game but overall it's a fine sequel.

Speaking of the music, I actually prefer the Things Betixt theme when you'er near the firekeepers cabin to the Majula theme, it's more relaxing and more despair/hope filled.

If i never hear the singing in Shine of Amara again it will be too soon, 1st on my pre-ng+ hitlist :pac:

Mickeroo

calex71 wrote: »

If i never hear the singing in Shine of Amara again it will be too soon, 1st on my pre-ng+ hitlist :pac:

I'm nearly certain it's the exact same as the singing of an NPC in Demon's Souls.

krudler

calex71 wrote: »

If i never hear the singing in Shine of Amara again it will be too soon, 1st on my pre-ng+ hitlist :pac:

or that horrid heartbeat sound in The Gutter, it's just oppressive

calex71

Mickeroo wrote: »

I'm nearly certain it's the exact same as the singing of an NPC in Demon's Souls.

You could be right, only have a vague memory of that.

iamanengine

I think I prefer DS2 to the first one but I can't place my finger on why exactly.

It just seems more fully realised or something, I do agree about the level design not being up to scratch but I think it makes up for it in other ways.

It does seem more like a AAA title then DS1 did.

I think actually I'm preferring DS2 as I am doing way more online, summoning, invading, getting summoned etc, didn't really do any of that at all in DS1.

Also I think it could be just because I feel like I'm better at DS2 then 1 :P

krudler

Not enough human effigies though, or I'm just rubbish at finding them lol

penev10

krudler wrote: »

Not enough human effigies though, or I'm just rubbish at finding them lol

I've used 3 and have 10 in stock and am only in my 4th area?

Is there a glitch as I thought I had about 3 or 4 then looked and I had 8 out of nowhere

tok9

People following the thread will see I say the exact same thing.. I rarely have an effigy and when I do it's usually 2 max.

I would say of the 40 hours I've played at least 15 with 70% health or less.

Kirby

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

I was doing 23 Damage per swing two handed with a +10 Blacksteel Katana with 40 Dex and your guy hits hard? lol. Not sure if this was with zero or one souls..

The blacksteel Katana at +10 isn't that impressive damage wise.

With 40 Dex the katana only hits for 330 damage. A standard Club +10 with 40 str hits for 398.....and the club is actually faster than the Katana. A Blacksteel Katana strikes 5 times in 5 seconds and the club strikes 7 times.

So 330 x 5 is 1650 damage for the Katana........ and 398 x7 is 2786 damage for the Club. That's a massive difference in the space of a few short seconds.

So alot more damage. The katana also uses a lot more stamina per swing so you will need a larger bar to hit consecutively.

If you want to go slightly bigger, The Great Club +10 with a Fire, lightning, or Dark infuse hits for 676 per swing. Single handed primary swing. It hits 4 times in 5 seconds. So 676 x 4 is 2704 damage for the Great Club. Also more than the Katana.

Don't get me wrong, It's a good weapon for a Dex build. But in comparison to some of the other weapons out there, I wasn't impressed. I think its popularity comes from the fact that a few early adopter streamers are using it....and its a Katana so it looks cool. Its damage isn't the best.

YouSavedMyLife

Kirby wrote: »

The blacksteel Katana at +10 isn't that impressive damage wise.

With 40 Dex the katana only hits for 330 damage. A standard Club +10 with 40 str hits for 398.....and the club is actually faster than the Katana. A Blacksteel Katana strikes 5 times in 5 seconds and the club strikes 7 times.

So 330 x 5 is 1650 damage for the Katana........ and 398 x7 is 2786 damage for the Club. That's a massive difference in the space of a few short seconds.

So alot more damage. The katana also uses a lot more stamina per swing so you will need a larger bar to hit consecutively.

If you want to go slightly bigger, The Great Club +10 with a Fire, lightning, or Dark infuse hits for 676 per swing. Single handed primary swing. It hits 4 times in 5 seconds. So 676 x 4 is 2704 damage for the Great Club. Also more than the Katana.

Don't get me wrong, It's a good weapon for a Dex build. But in comparison to some of the other weapons out there, I wasn't impressed. I think its popularity comes from the fact that a few early adopter streamers are using it....and its a Katana so it looks cool. Its damage isn't the best.

Kirby

I could perhaps have made it easier to read. :P

johnny_ultimate

Had a go at getting summoned for the

knight fight

there, no joy, just kept getting summoned as an actual dark spirit even when I tried to hide the sign :pac: Tried for around half an hour (including the 'ten second' approach), a handful of medals of spite are all I have to show for it! Some funny moments though - one fight where we both landed the fatal hit on each other at the same second, and another where I triggered the elevator before King's Passage, unleashed firestorm and managed to knock the host into the hole with a single cast.

Also slayed

old crazy Vendrick with 5x Giant Souls

, the key is definitely to stay close and circle. I hacked away with him for a while with a crystal magic weapon cast on my +10 raw shortsword (pretty much the only melee weapon I could actually wield due to my farcical strength and dexterity stats!) and then took some opportune moments to pyro him for major damage. A challenging fight simply because of his one-shotters, his pattern is actually manageable once you're used to it - the hardest part is getting back into your own pattern if he leaps at you. I'm assuming you can't actually summon anyone for that fight? While the area was absolutely littered with summon signs earlier on, didn't see a single one the several times I approached to take on

Vendrick

.

All in all I thought it was a fantastic experience - if it falls short of its predecessor in some regards, it actually is on par or even surpasses them in others. While I loved how interconnected Lordran was - that's missed here are there are far more 'dead ends' so to speak - I actually found myself more fascinated by the history and secrets of Drangleic. Towards the end especially it feels like we learn more about this world. It also helps that the final stretches of the game are pretty much an endless succession of remarkably beautiful locales - perhaps even some of the best yet seen in the Souls series. If it starts off a bit blandly, it makes up for it tenfold later on. There was definitely copious bonfire placement in comparison to the last game, sometimes too generous. However, I also think this helped minimise frustrating moments, and prompts the player to push on as there's fewer bottlenecks. There's still plenty of challenge here, but certainly they've managed to make it more accessible without damaging the core appeal of the series.

I definitely made much more copious use of online this time too, especially co-op (both as host and phantom). Will definitely spend more time working on that aspect in the post-game now, as I find it immensely satisfying helping out others on the parts that gave me trouble earlier on. Pay it forward, as a **** film once told us. I definitely think the game actively encourages co-op more than its predecessor, simply due to the way several bosses work. Areas like the shrine are pretty nightmarish for certain builds and unless you've opted for the walking tank route those summon signs are insanely tempting.

A few more things to sweep up - last couple of sorceries and the like - over the next few days but will definitely be taking a break before deciding on NG+. This game proved incredibly compulsive and hopefully will be able to get more productive stuff done now that I've gotten it mostly out of my system (at least temporarily) :P

Think my final run time was around 46 hours, and SL 135 or so.

krudler

Doe anyone else take practice runs at bosses? I do if I get slaughtered on my own, lob the summon sign down, help someone else out and get a feel for the fight ahead before I do it myself

Zero-Cool

Man I have yet to throw down my summon sign, very greedy on wanting to progress my own story . Must head back to an old boss area and throw the old sign down. Can people only summon me who are around the same level?

iamanengine

Does any have an explanation actually for how summoning ranges work this time around?

Mickeroo

iamanengine wrote: »

Does any have an explanation actually for how summoning ranges work this time around?

Apparently it goes by soul memory rather than level, so all the souls you've earned over the course of your game including the ones you lost when you died.