PvP is still a mess. Stun locking is the real problem as it seems to happen for even low poise weapons and is there even a way to get out of stun locking like in DS1?
I would prefer to go back to the Demons way where poise was gone but stunlocking was no where near as deadly (unless you did the pushlock).
I ditched my STR great club NG+ build yesterday. It was just no fun randomly missing enemies and being left open. So very annoying, out of nowhere you're hitting in the opposite direction. Don't know if this happens with the other huge STR weapons, but I tried out magic instead.
Magic users, what are your favorite spells? Of the new spells I really like soul greatsword
I still end up swinging randomly with ultra-class weapons when I'm actively trying to not touch the stick. Combining that with double attack and double rolling on one button press makes them incredibly annoying to use. It's not my controllers either since I swapped from a DS4 to a DS3 to test it.
I still end up swinging randomly with ultra-class weapons when I'm actively trying to not touch the stick. Combining that with double attack and double rolling on one button press makes them incredibly annoying to use. It's not my controllers either since I swapped from a DS4 to a DS3 to test it.
Finished up most of the optional end-game stuff tonight. Missing a few NPC storylines but I missed out on certain summons so I can't do much about it and I don't want to mess with ascetics.
As far as the A
ncient
D
ragon
goes:
I don't see why people bitched about it so much. I mean, yah, it's pretty strict timing on getting out of the big aerial fire attack but it ended up just about being patient (like with all Dark Souls fights) and attacking really only when you know it's safe. Baiting the frontal fire blast was extremely important, too, and gives you plenty of times to wack at it. I was only using a Greatsword + 10 so I was restricted by my attack speed but even then I had plenty of time to do damage. If you're having trouble, just attack once or twice at its hind legs and always pay attention and ready to run to the edge when you see it raising its wings. This is your time to run as far from the middle as possible. Regarding that, always try to keep it in the center (or yourself towards the center). You need room to run away from it when it ascends. Also whenever it lands, try to bait the frontal fire attack.
As far as my thoughts on the game, I still probably need to let it soak in and do another playthrough, but I think it's a much better game than Dark Souls 1 (whether it's better than Demon's Souls is tricky but it's much closer to it than Dark Souls 1 was).
My main complaint is definitely the most common complaint levied against the game: It's much less clear on where to go. Dark Souls 1 and Demon's Souls were both pretty clear as long as you paid attention to dialogue and cutscenes. Dark Souls 1 pointed out when new areas opened up (Sen's and Post-Lord Vessel). But here, there are three very specific moments where I just had to go look online or ask here. Those three were:
Opening the Huntsman's Copse (to be far, I probably should have exhausted Licia's dialogue but even then, having not done that, I would have never known that's what I needed to do). Finding Drangleic Castle, and where to go with the Ashen Heart from the Ancient Dragon.
It felt too easy to get completely lost and unaware of where to go.
But I don't think that that detracts from the actual level design as much as others seem to argue. Whenever I do Dark Souls 1 playthroughs I always grown when I acquire the Lord Vessel because the latter half of Dark Souls 1 is pretty not good (or hot garbage depending on how I want to exaggerate). I feel like there isn't a single area in this game that made me feel that. Not only art design wise, but exploration wise, I enjoyed every single area in this game. And the game's latter half has some of the best areas in the series, if not the best.
More importantly, I hear some people saying this game's boss fights are worse or just trying to be Artorias-esque. I would argue that each Souls game has a handful of "Ugh" Boss Fights. Just ones that aren't interesting or very good. Dark Souls 1, I felt, was especially plagued by the "circle strafe until victory" boss type and this extended to *all* fights in that game, effectively. Its sequel, on the other hand, I felt tried to correct and diminish the circle-strafe method. It's still prevalent and useful (for obvious reasons), but there are many enemies that feel designed specifically to counteract this fairly boring approach to combat. Aside from maybe the (early game boss)
Dragonrider
, I felt most bosses were interesting to engage in some fashion. Regarding the "Artorias-esqueness" of many encounters:
I really don't mind this. Straight "swordsman" boss fights always end up being the most interesting just because their move sets generally force you to be very actively evasive and careful. So fights like the Pursuer, although "simple" are very engaging boss fights compared to something like the Asylum Demon that are effectively just blobs that hardly move.
Game's good. Real good. Don't think I'll bother with NG+. I've never really cared for the NG+'s of these games. There's nothing interesting in it since you never really change gameplay styles, it's just "number sliders" sliding up and down. But I'll definitely try a different playstyle next time around.
Soul Geyser seems to operate like a soul spear that breaks into more soul spears on impact, but there is a dead zone where the secondary attacks will miss smaller targets. On bosses or large enemies, however, it wrecks. I killed the G
Soul Geyser seems to operate like a soul spear that breaks into more soul spears on impact, but there is a dead zone where the secondary attacks will miss smaller targets. On bosses or large enemies, however, it wrecks. I killed the G
PvP is still a mess. Stun locking is the real problem as it seems to happen for even low poise weapons and is there even a way to get out of stun locking like in DS1?
I would prefer to go back to the Demons way where poise was gone but stunlocking was no where near as deadly (unless you did the pushlock).
I just roll out of hit stun. I have 1.8 poise and never have that happen to me. If you are trying to block out of stun that's impossible from what I can tell.
but decided I wanted to explore and get the other two
boss souls
. This is good because i finally found Brightstone Cove and it is ripe with titanite. I got to the boss/miniboss and died once, but decided to wrap it up for the night and try tomorrow. Gonna have to switch to a magic blocking shield.
I ended up ascending my Longsword to +10 and
got a trophy
. I switch between that, the Warped Sword, and a Poison Claymore. I like the Claymore's wide swings, and I love inflicting poison on some of the bigger, harder enemies. Poison is awesome.
I'd have to test it out more but when I said dead zone, I meant at the moment of impact, the first blast then separates into several other attacks, like a cluster or mirv, but they will appear outside of a small enemy but inside of a larger one.
Is it dumb for a 40 str character to keep upgrading the ultra greatsword past +4/5? I'd hate to upgrade this weapon more to stumble into something better soon.
I'd have to test it out more but when I said dead zone, I meant at the moment of impact, the first blast then separates into several other attacks, like a cluster or mirv, but they will appear outside of a small enemy but inside of a larger one.
Anyone feel that playing with the notes that people leave on the ground takes some of the fun out of the game? I'm assuming they have notes in DS2 like they do in Demon's souls. I'm playing Demon's souls for the first time now and the notes spoil all the stuff. "Use fire to kill the boss" "Jump down here for treasure" "Watch out for ambush here" etc.
Anyone feel that playing with the notes that people leave on the ground takes some of the fun out of the game? I'm assuming they have notes in DS2 like they do in Demon's souls. I'm playing Demon's souls for the first time now and the notes spoil all the stuff. "Use fire to kill the boss" "Jump down here for treasure" "Watch out for ambush here" etc.
I agree, it takes some of the pure exploration and discovery from the game. On the plus side, they are pretty fun and funny to read. But it depends on what experience you want. A lot of people play completely offline.
My char, real close to the end. Just going to do one last respec. Threw a ton of spice on magic weapon and bumped my int to 10 to use it. The damage was pretty much equivalent to my weapon imbuned with lightning/dark...so I'll respec again...not sure where i'll put the points now. Think i need to decide on an armor set too.... probably just go light stuff since def doesn't seem to help much
Is it bad that I'm at work and still thinking about
Huntsman's Copse
? Seemed there's lots to find and delve into there plus enemy design/placement has seen a step up. Its also the first time in the series I've used arrows, but hey, those flappy weird things forced my hand. And then there's that
black pit
which is really tempting me. I avoided the one by the spot where you first meet
the Cartographer
since I was tipped off by all the bloodstains. Best part is that I found this on my own after deciding to re-examine past areas since I hit a bit of a wall against the
Ruin Sentinels
. Actually, I found tons of crap since. Good stuff. Love it when exploring is rewarded.
Anyone feel that playing with the notes that people leave on the ground takes some of the fun out of the game? I'm assuming they have notes in DS2 like they do in Demon's souls. I'm playing Demon's souls for the first time now and the notes spoil all the stuff. "Use fire to kill the boss" "Jump down here for treasure" "Watch out for ambush here" etc.
Armor matters, you can tell big time if you wear the higher def sets and go down to lower end stuff. As a caster I vastly prefer the Lion Mage set. It has spell speed on all 3 pieces
Finished up most of the optional end-game stuff tonight. Missing a few NPC storylines but I missed out on certain summons so I can't do much about it and I don't want to mess with ascetics.
As far as the A
ncient
D
ragon
goes:
I don't see why people bitched about it so much. I mean, yah, it's pretty strict timing on getting out of the big aerial fire attack but it ended up just about being patient (like with all Dark Souls fights) and attacking really only when you know it's safe. Baiting the frontal fire blast was extremely important, too, and gives you plenty of times to wack at it. I was only using a Greatsword + 10 so I was restricted by my attack speed but even then I had plenty of time to do damage. If you're having trouble, just attack once or twice at its hind legs and always pay attention and ready to run to the edge when you see it raising its wings. This is your time to run as far from the middle as possible. Regarding that, always try to keep it in the center (or yourself towards the center). You need room to run away from it when it ascends. Also whenever it lands, try to bait the frontal fire attack.
It just feels like it's extraordinarily unforgiving rather than merely hard. Practically guaranteed instant kill attack with a very, very large area, and most other attacks are instant kill or close enough. It's like their solution to an otherwise simple fight is to just make it so no matter how you prepare if you falter at all on avoiding you die. A lot of fights are close to that or feel like that anyway throughout the series, but this seems to be the furthest of them.
As for armor in the game: I feel it's kind of liekt her est of the souls series in that it can be useful against a lot of the generic enemies, but when it comes to some of the bosses and all it'll barely help (or feel like it barely does anyway) and that you'd be better off with low weight and high speed.
For Dark Souls, I was completely offline the entire game so this time I'm online and making sure to read tons of messages and watching bloodstain deaths as well. Its been a different experience but there's something about the shared experience that still makes it fun. Especially some of the ridiculous deaths. Haha. There was one bloodstain in Majula near the Emerald Maiden and I'm like what the hell?? Well, let's just say they had a running start on their leap of faith.
For Dark Souls, I was completely offline the entire game so this time I'm online and making sure to read tons of messages and watching bloodstain deaths as well. Its been a different experience but there's something about the shared experience that still makes it fun. Especially some of the ridiculous deaths. Haha. There was one bloodstain in Majula near the Emerald Maiden and I'm like what the hell?? Well, let's just say they had a running start on their leap of faith.
Two Pursuers in the throne room @ Drangleic Castle is a rough affair. Vendrick and the Ancient Dragon ain't got nothing on this. These relentless jerks give you so few opportunities to get melee hits in, have a ton of HP, and they hit hard. It's mostly that first attribute that makes them a headache, but the other two compound it.
If you parry one the other is right on his ass attacking, and you can only dodge or block so much before your stamina just gives out, especially as you're also trying to sneak in attacks when you can (and this is with stamina buffs). Did I mention relentless?
Easily the toughest fight of the game so far (I'm at SL120), though I still need to try Darklurker and some of the other NG+ remixes. I can see a heavy tank build doing pretty well against them and trading shots if your defense can withstand it, or a heavy magic user with whatever magic craziness you kids get up to, but for the nimble melee type that's probably one of the tougher encounters to solo.
So I'm probably past the 3/4 point of the game, have all 4 great souls and am making my way through Drangleic Castle...and I'm still using the Drangleic Sword. I only recently upgraded it to +3 as well. For me it's the perfect 1 handed moveset, especially R2/R where you do a thrust first, a big slash quickly afterwards, and then another thrust. In the little pvp I've done that move constantly trips people up even though I'm still pretty noobish at pvp. It's just fast enough not to feel slow, and other attacks like its running attack or jump attack are excellent as well.
I kind of feel like I'm missing out, I have a fuck ton of weapons and like 70 something titanite shards, but I still end up using this thing 99% of the time. The only thing that bothers me about it is its short range, and the fact it takes twinkling titanite to upgrade, which I don't have anymore of. Anyone else use this thing/are reluctant to upgrade and use other weapons?
So were the comparisons between the disc and digital PS3 version verified? If so, I might trade my disc version in and buy it off PSN. Will my saves transfer over?
I really hope it wasn't the latest patch that turned the online from super smooth to a complete lag fest. Maybe my connection is just having an off night, but I didn't get a single fight that wasn't full of teleports and other crazy shit.
Mundane scales with your lowest stat, really good for jack of all trade builds. If all your stats are at 24, but say your Faith is at 23, the mundane weapon will scale off that and you get like +200 bonus damage if the lowest stat is in the 20s or so. There's a detailed thread on Reddit about it.
I fluked opening it without realising and having any idea what the trick is. So when I got to the bottom floor I had nooo idea what the fuck to do, and accidentally would up with a room full of
I fluked opening it without realising and having any idea what the trick is. So when I got to the bottom floor I had nooo idea what the fuck to do, and accidentally would up with a room full of
If you get invaded and killed, do the player gets the amount of souls your holding then? I know that you dont lose your souls, but does he/she gets that amount? Also, is the
Smith For Life
trophy bugged? I've read some guides on it and i have done everything except
spending 10k souls on infusing weapons
, but i dont want to waste souls on that in case it isnt related to the trophy.
I just beat
Acient Dragon
solo I actually didnt find it that hard once i found a good pattern. What i did was this:
First, i ran up to him and he start spitting fire, then i hit his front leg (it doesnt matter if its the left or right one) a few times. After that, i didnt lock on to him and i stood next to his head, and as soon as he went up to the air, i ran forward. This way the flame didnt hit me. Then i waited for him to land, then i ran towards him again. Because i waited a bit before running towards him, he will do the fire spit move again, which means that i can hit his leg. Then i just repeated this process like 7 - 10 times or something, and he was beaten.
Little bit of a faith bonus on helm, then kick ass Stag decal on the armour. Helm also has a neck piece attached to it which bounces around. Nice touch.
Has anyone solo'd the gargoyles as a melee character? I don't see how its possible because as soon as you have one of em lined up for an attack you got 3 more that beat the shit out of you from behind and sideways. My poor summoned ally died within seconds after stepping out the mist door
I managed to solo them with longsword+4 and fire longsword+3 on my first try. Just tried to kill couple of them fast as possible and then just circle around with remaining 3 or 4 and just hit once when I was sure not to get hit and rinse and repeat. Used all of my healing items in that fight and it was pretty tense.
EDIT: How do i use Great Arrows? I put them in my arrow slot, but i cant shoot them. I tried several of bows, but its like i'm holding no arrows when i try to shoot. The arrow sack (or whatever its called) is also empty on my character when i equip Great Arrows.
EDIT 2: Nevermind, i found out that i needed a Great Bow.
They really need to fix the enemy weapon clipping in the next game.
There really is some crap in this game though. NuBlightown, the shrine, and temple are just horribly places with little level design, just tons of enemy spam.
I actually didnt find it that hard once i found a good pattern. What i did was this:
