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Dark Souls II |OT++| Bearer of...Seek...Seek...Lest

Okay! Just fought the actual first boss (I think)!

That Havel was THIRSTY! Almost constantly sipping from the flask. Perhaps FROM took some inspiration from PVP? Also weirdly enough the poise on these three was just like I remember it being before. I was able to stagger the lighter armoured ones easily and the Havel took a few hits but it actually worked.
 

neoism

Member
its already out :O :O :O thought I'd have to wait til 1pm est... :O


Going bonfire intensity 9 lets do this....

<3
 
Quick ques about jumping back in for DLC:

I 100%'d the game about 2 months ago. First run I was pure STR with a mastodon greatsword and shield. Second run was Dark Katana / Hexer. Third run was sun sword FTH/STR build.

I think I liked the greatsword and shield STR build the best. I was going to respec to get my character back to his "normal" self before jumping into the DLC, but wanted to know if any greatswords have become better since the patch?

I saw a bunch of weapons for buffed/nerfed, and I basically only used the mastodon greatsword because it had great STR scaling. Is there any greatsword that I can now use that was previously mediocre?
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
Sinh
fight was really bad. Too difficult to tell whether he was turning or winding up for an attack because of the camera and the openings felt like their length was random.
 

Mistel

Banned
Is there any greatsword that I can now use that was previously mediocre?
The royal greatsword and the flamberge are quite good after the patch. But most the ultras got buffed a lot more the greatsword now has S scaling for instance.
talking about difficulty, which one are you guy playing on? for me it'll be NG+, I wonder if the DLC will be that hard in that difficulty
NG at this point kinda glad I am with all these knights with infinite poise.
 

SoldnerKei

Member
Regular NG so far, I think I'll burn an ascetic. It's harder than late game areas

well the only late game section that actually made take things slow was the Dragon Shrine, not hard, but these guardians where though to kill with just melee

Is there any greatsword that I can now use that was previously mediocre?

I read that Zweihander was really good now, but I think that only applies for PvP, I played a bit yesterday, Dragnleic Sword is nerfed but I didn't see much of a difference, perhaps you will be alright with the Mastodon GS

NG at this point kinda glad I am with all these knights with infinite poise.

damn, I thought you were beyond NG+ or something like that for that to happen, but infinite poise at NG sounds like trouble, does the Stone Ring helps at all with that?
 
man i can't wait to jump into the DLC tomorrow when it hits EU. i know nothing about it lol.

gotta spend an hour or two tonight farming titanite chunks so i can upgrade some of my gear, so i'll be more ready for the new challenges. good times.
 

Ruuppa

Member
Is there any greatsword that I can now use that was previously mediocre?

Butcher's Knife is *kind* of a greatsword, even though it's in the axe-category. The moves and reach are a lot like that of greatswords. It only lacks a thrusting attack. It got buffed quite a bit.

damn, I thought you were beyond NG+ or something like that for that to happen, but infinite poise at NG sounds like trouble, does the Stone Ring helps at all with that?

Stone Ring only helps if enemies can be staggered. From what I've seen now of the knights, they simply can't be staggered, like Old Knights.
 
The royal greatsword and the flamberge are quite good after the patch. But most the ultras got buffed a lot more the greatsword now has S scaling for instance.

I read that Zweihander was really good now, but I think that only applies for PvP, I played a bit yesterday, Dragnleic Sword is nerfed but I didn't see much of a difference, perhaps you will be alright with the Mastodon GS

I actually hate ultra greatswords for some reason. I think they just look too over the top. I'll check out the royal great sword, though. I was just getting a bit tired of the mastodon.

Butcher's Knife is *kind* of a greatsword, even though it's in the axe-category. The moves and reach are a lot like that of greatswords. It only lacks a thrusting attack. It got buffed quite a bit.

Awesome, I'll check this out. Thanks.
 
For all the folks mad about the poise thing, just two hand strong attack with a large or great club. The Sanctum Warriors can be pancaked, making them pretty easy.
 

SoldnerKei

Member
Stone Ring only helps if enemies can be staggered. From what I've seen now of the knights, they simply can't be staggered, like Old Knights.

oh, I get it, I suppose the gang up against you right? Magic would be a good way to deal with them? damn, still 6hrs of waiting to play this!

regarding Fashion Souls, has anyone found some cool looking gear?

edit:

For all the folks mad about the poise thing, just two hand strong attack with a large or great club. The Sanctum Warriors can be pancaked, making them pretty easy.

I was wondering if people tried that out, time to use that ugly big ass baguette
 

ElTopo

Banned
Okay, I just blasted through it (and no I didn't just run by everything and not give a shit ala DSP). Total time was roughly 5 hours and I found most of everything. I didn't find any hidden entrances though.

Spoiler-free thoughts: if I could describe this DLC in one word I suppose I would say it's "Complex"which reflects the level design and at at least one boss fight. But it's still Dark Souls and once you figure out the layout you can blaze though it.

Also, probably has some of the hardest boss fights in the game. There's one fight where I doubt a Magic User will have any kind of advantage (you'll know it when you see it). It's short but extremely satisfying. I do not think it's worth $10 by itself, but if you use that Greenman Gaming code on the Season Pass I would say the entirety of the DLC is definitely worth $20.

Spoiler-filled review:

The whole map loops around in a pretty frustrating way. I wouldn't blame someone for looking up a guide for this one. But it's so rich in atmosphere that it makes up for it. The new grunt enemies that we have cannot be easily stunned but they are very easily backstabbed ala hold block, strafe, once they whiff the attack, backstab them. You can do that to every enemy except the Phantoms. I would love to know if there's an alternate way to kill those turtle/statues. You can fire arrows, I assume you can use magic (I only had 4 Lingering Flames and never got a chance to experiment) but for the life of me I was not able to melee them.

I said it earlier in another post but it's a really, really, really good idea to invest in arrows. Have at least 300 arrows on hand. I like the gimmick with the switches but the entire time I couldn't help but think "Man, if I didn't have arrows I'd be so fucked."

Once you get inside the castle, that little section with the spikes and the ghosts is really brutal and those spikes will wreck your durability. I died a couple of times but just ran past the ghosts only to be greeted with a Pyromancer Phantom. Luckily his A.I. is fairly bad but he has very high health. Then after that you reach an area that is hands down the worst and most pointless spot for there to be a Bonfire. It is a death trap/misdirection. There isn't any path or any secret (as far as I know) where that Bonfire is at. There's a couple of items in that area that might be worth checking out, but it's WAY better to head left especially if you're low on resources.

Figuring out how to kill those ghosts was fun but I discovered a 2nd way you can do it in that spike room. The ghosts can fall to their death, so what you can do is bait them to come near that ledge just after the spike room and hope their A.I. screws up OR you can block their attacks and push them back off the ledge.

That Trio fight... Holy shit that was hard. That must have been the fight that IGN reviewer said took him an hour. I believe it. That could be the hardest fight in the DLC.

Nashandra 2.0 was pretty fun, frustrating, but fun. No complaints. And once you figure out that you can just speedrun to her, dying isn't that big of a hindrance.

Kalameet 2.0 was awesome. Another very hard boss, completely epic showdown. Kalameet was the only boss I didn't fight in Dark Souls 1 but I did watch Slowbeef's LP of the fight so I was a little familiar with his pattern. I also discovered that you can cut off his tail (I did not get an item for this) and if you hit his tail during certain attacks it does stun him a little.

8/10
 

Cruxist

Member
So I've been following the Reddit thread and I'm confused. Is the DLC going to be available on the US PSN today? Or do we have to wait until tomorrow?

That being said, I've watched some boss fight videos and there could be some big lore implications about a certain boss fight. I have an idea of what I'd like to happen, but it might be too ambitious for From.

The Nashandra 2.0 fight. What if we get a different piece of Manus with each DLC and at the end, once you go and fight Nashandra you get a different ending if you haven't used up the souls. Possibly a Manus revival fight? I feel like that's the biggest thing that could be a "surprise" for finishing all 3 DLC episodes.
 

Mistel

Banned
I actually hate ultra greatswords for some reason. I think they just look too over the top. I'll check out the royal great sword, though. I was just getting a bit tired of the mastodon.
Try the red iron twinblade as well that's got A strength scaling now is the strongest twinblade.
For all the folks mad about the poise thing, just two hand strong attack with a large or great club. The Sanctum Warriors can be pancaked, making them pretty easy.
I've been killing them in two to three hits with a Gyrm great hammer it's just a bit cheap to give them poise where nothing affects them.
 
Oh good, more people enjoying the DLC.

*checks DLC Price*

huh, nope, guess I gotta wait

giphy.gif
 

E92 M3

Member
Okay, I just blasted through it (and no I didn't just run by everything and not give a shit ala DSP). Total time was roughly 5 hours and I found most of everything. I didn't find any hidden entrances though.

Spoiler-free thoughts: if I could describe this DLC in one word I suppose I would say it's "Complex"which reflects the level design and at at least one boss fight. But it's still Dark Souls and once you figure out the layout you can blaze though it.

Also, probably has some of the hardest boss fights in the game. There's one fight where I doubt a Magic User will have any kind of advantage (you'll know it when you see it). It's short but extremely satisfying. I do not think it's worth $10 by itself, but if you use that Greenman Gaming code on the Season Pass I would say the entirety of the DLC is definitely worth $20.

Spoiler-filled review:

The whole map loops around in a pretty frustrating way. I wouldn't blame someone for looking up a guide for this one. But it's so rich in atmosphere that it makes up for it. The new grunt enemies that we have cannot be easily stunned but they are very easily backstabbed ala hold block, strafe, once they whiff the attack, backstab them. You can do that to every enemy except the Phantoms. I would love to know if there's an alternate way to kill those turtle/statues. You can fire arrows, I assume you can use magic (I only had 4 Lingering Flames and never got a chance to experiment) but for the life of me I was not able to melee them.

I said it earlier in another post but it's a really, really, really good idea to invest in arrows. Have at least 300 arrows on hand. I like the gimmick with the switches but the entire time I couldn't help but think "Man, if I didn't have arrows I'd be so fucked."

Once you get inside the castle, that little section with the spikes and the ghosts is really brutal and those spikes will wreck your durability. I died a couple of times but just ran past the ghosts only to be greeted with a Pyromancer Phantom. Luckily his A.I. is fairly bad but he has very high health. Then after that you reach an area that is hands down the worst and most pointless spot for there to be a Bonfire. It is a death trap/misdirection. There isn't any path or any secret (as far as I know) where that Bonfire is at. There's a couple of items in that area that might be worth checking out, but it's WAY better to head left especially if you're low on resources.

Figuring out how to kill those ghosts was fun but I discovered a 2nd way you can do it in that spike room. The ghosts can fall to their death, so what you can do is bait them to come near that ledge just after the spike room and hope their A.I. screws up OR you can block their attacks and push them back off the ledge.

That Trio fight... Holy shit that was hard. That must have been the fight that IGN reviewer said took him an hour. I believe it. That could be the hardest fight in the DLC.

Nashandra 2.0 was pretty fun, frustrating, but fun. No complaints. And once you figure out that you can just speedrun to her, dying isn't that big of a hindrance.

Kalameet 2.0 was awesome. Another very hard boss, completely epic showdown. Kalameet was the only boss I didn't fight in Dark Souls 1 but I did watch Slowbeef's LP of the fight so I was a little familiar with his pattern. I also discovered that you can cut off his tail (I did not get an item for this) and if you hit his tail during certain attacks it does stun him a little.

8/10

Thanks for the review. Now I am debating if I should wait for a sale or buy it at 10.
 

SoldnerKei

Member
I was hoping that it would already be on PSN when I woke up today but I knew that wouldn't happen. The wait continues.

waiting-for-gifs-to-load-hopefully-this-won-t-be-super_c7a378_4640566-gif.29215

no dude! your DLC will broke after some uses!

thanks for the summary AlexSA2, sounds like a fun map, and that last boss will give me nightmares, never killed
Kalameet without taking him down
 

deeTyrant

Member
Totally forgot that this was coming out today O_O

Bought it and hoping to jump into it blind on a NG+ character tonight after work, super excited for any new souls content.
 
Does anyone know if I have access to the game through Steam Family Sharing and buy the Season Pass myself, are the two compatible or will I end up wasting my money?
 

bigol

Member
I take this back. It seems to be the compatibility pack only. The dlc isnt even available here yet...

The dlc seems to be free on the Japanese xbox store. It's region locked of course so if you're not in japan i doubt you can download it.

you can download it, just create a japanese account

tbc if it's region free or not
 
I picked up the Season Pass, but still don't have the
talon in my inventory. Does it show up under keys? Does it prompt you when you log in? I'm in NG+ atm, right before the Guardian Dragon.
 

JustinBB7

Member
I'm mostly worried about the length.

PC gamer said roughly 10 hours
IGN said 4/5 (I think i read that here)
User here said roughly 5 hours.

So I'm gonna guess it's around 4/5 maybe 6 hours then? Depending on your skill and maybe NG level. I'll be doing it in NG++ so that might add another hour.

Any more places saying how long it took?
 
God damn it, why did they have to gate the DLC behind Black Gulch of all places... It's going to take me a good ten hours just to get to 3-4 hours of new content. I really wish I never started NG+.
 
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