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

I was like "hey, maybe I'll try to get summoned as a phantom for the Mirror Knight!"

and then instantly get WoG'd as I get in.

I remember why I don't bother with PVP in this series.

That was such an amazing mechanic ruined by lack of foresight by Fromsoft. They should have made being a Mirror Squire a covenant rather than having a slight chance of being summoned by placing down RSS. Also it would have been nice if you got summoned earlier and waited in the mirror until he slammed it down, so when you emerge you can instantly fight instead of dying once the loading screen is finished.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
I was like "hey, maybe I'll try to get summoned as a phantom for the Mirror Knight!"

and then instantly get WoG'd as I get in.

I remember why I don't bother with PVP in this series.

edit: Hopefully there won't be any spells at all in Bloodborne because spells have done nothing good for the series except for cheesing.

edit edit: That is a hyperbole but I spells really don't do much for me and are just annoying to deal with. The series excels at sword/board combat and nothing else.

edit edit edit: PVP has never been good in this series.

You could open a salt company.
 

Zocano

Member
Yah I didn't realize the game loads you in as you're already crouched on the ground.

Super dumb thing to do being unable to prepare at all for what's the to happen. I don't mind a delay animation getting out the shield but loading in right in the middle of battle is silly and dumb.

Should have opened with you banging out the shield.
 

2AdEPT

Member
These are some GREAT compliments... can someone confirm if true or not?
A little of an overstatement...nothing compares to Demon's...nothing...you know that ;) Notwithstanding having some of the most fun I have had since sen's fortress!!!

Any tips for the belfry gargoyles? They keep ganging up on me -.- it's like the maneaters all over again.

Hm don't have the faith and fire infusion. Can I change it to lightning or remove it somewhere?

I was a mostly melee character when I faced them and the black knight halberd and flame swathe pyro simply DESTROYED them.
 

Zocano

Member
These are some GREAT compliments... can someone confirm if true or not?

I'll admit they're exaggerations to an extent.

But I'll stand by the belief that the Sunken Crown DLC is the most creative approach to a level since the ones we've seen in Demon's. Nearly all the levels from Dark Souls 1 were just combat slogs with a different coat of paint. Sunken Crown actually makes you interact with the level in an interesting way and it excels amazingly because of that.

The second DLC is good because there is a good fun flow of exploration in the level (along with fun little gimmicky set ups for encounters).

So, yes, I would stand by saying Sunken Crown's level design gets close to what Demon's Souls gave us.
 

ilium

Member
After seeing couple more Screenshots from the upcoming DLC, what probably excites me the most right now
is a another coffin! I hope we can change our appearance and not only gender now.
 
I was like "hey, maybe I'll try to get summoned as a phantom for the Mirror Knight!"

and then instantly get WoG'd as I get in.

I remember why I don't bother with PVP in this series.

edit: Hopefully there won't be any spells at all in Bloodborne because spells have done nothing good for the series except for cheesing.

edit edit: That is a hyperbole but I spells really don't do much for me and are just annoying to deal with. The series excels at sword/board combat and nothing else.

edit edit edit: PVP has never been good in this series.

Filthy mages; burn them.

No one liked them in PvE and PvP. And they freaking made RNG spells too--combining the absolute theory worst mechanics.

On a serious note, I think that spells are supplementary filthy Mage tools (you can heavily specialize at using them though). They are also not supposed to be slow major damage tools, as that leads to exploits and stupid builds; they don't even fit the melee-based souls franchise.

Magic has always broken RPGs.
 

Ruuppa

Member
Aw, the kung-fu moveset is tied to a weapon.
Severed hand like thing, clasping your fist.
Hating that Ruin Sentinel reskin armorset. The helmet is the worst thing ever. Why not a reskin of an actually cool set instead of that crap?
Filthy mages; burn them.

No one liked them in PvE and PvP. And they freaking made RNG spells too--combining the absolute theory worst mechanics.

On a serious note, I think that spells are supplementary filthy Mage tools (you can heavily specialize at using them though). They are also not supposed to be slow major damage tools, as that leads to exploits and stupid builds; they don't even fit the melee-based souls franchise.

Magic has always broken RPGs.

Are you not entertained with the current meta of spellswords wearing minmax gear everywhere? It's balanced, I swear!
 
Is that an hadouken in one of the screenshots? o_O

The weather thing sounds interesting, but I'm skeptical as to how it will play. It's making me think of the fog in Shaded Woods, which is initially neat but ultimately just an annoyance.


I wonder if we'll fight an Omega Vendrick once we have all 3 crowns?
I'm sure there'll be at least one re-skin boss, it's a DS2 DLC tradition at this point!
 

Ruuppa

Member
I wonder if we'll fight an Omega Vendrick once we have all 3 crowns?

We'll fight
Pinwheel, he was the mastermind behind all of it! He only faked being so weak in DkS1 so no-one would suspect him being the super-secret final boss of the sequel! Such guile, such secrecy! We'll also get the True Father's Mask from him, and it will be so cool!
 
I don't think you need to go so far as to change or remove your infusion because getting a new fire infusion stone isn't super easy, but you can if you want to. Also infusions don't really work well if you don't have the stats to support them (for fire, you want as much int+faith as possible, for lightning you want as much faith as possible, and for dark you want int/faith as high as possible) so if your int+faith right now isn't at least like 40 your fire infusion is probably worse than no infusion.

But anyway, another useful fact about gargoyles is when each individual one gets low on HP he will almost exclusively stay at range and breathe fire at you, so you might find it easier to get two of the last three low and fight the third far from them as the other two try and fail to hit you with fire.

Edit: looks like you got em, congrats!

For real? I thought elementals didn't scale like in dark and demons! :D well this is bad!
Where can I get the item for the blacksmith?
 

Ruuppa

Member
For real? I thought elementals didn't scale like in dark and demons! :D well this is bad!
Where can I get the item for the blacksmith?

Much later, in
Iron Keep.
You need to take the route that leads towards Heide from Majula, and change the direction of the road via an NPC.
 

Guevara

Member
We'll fight
Pinwheel, he was the mastermind behind all of it! He only faked being so weak in DkS1 so no-one would suspect him being the super-secret final boss of the sequel! Such guile, such secrecy! We'll also get the True Father's Mask from him, and it will be so cool!

3 crowns, makes sense
 

Ruuppa

Member
What's the sword that kinda looks like the UGS Greatsword, but much wider?

Crypt Blacksword?
u1IifvH.png
 

Ruuppa

Member
Yes! Is it any good?

If you're into the UGS movesets and their slowness, yes. It really only shines if you're a Hexer and it's infused with Dark, but even uninfused and in the hands of a normal character, it's a useful weapon.

Really damn fragile on the PC version though, so watch out for that.
 

Foggy

Member
Kind of hoping for a Maiden Astraea or even a Priscilla sort of boss encounter. As long as there are 3 other bosses or 2 exceptional bosses, it could be a poetic way to end the content of DS2.
 

ScrubJay

Member
After being forgotten about for months (been busy with work and want to play less effort games in my spare time), I finally beat the game. The Souls series has a thing for underwhelming final bosses. I'm tempted to make a caster now, I've never tried that before.
 

SoldnerKei

Member
yuss, news on the 3rd DLC!

and I finally got that crypt greatsword infused with dark and resonant weapon right, 60 INT/FTH 40 STR, doing 700~1000 damage to almost everything on NG+ so pretty, quite useful in pvp if you direct your swings in the right direction, I think I'll beat this DLC with this build and hop on NG++
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
'bout to face a certain dirty royal. Was thinking I'd do some practice runs in co op first. Anything I should know before I go in?

Edit: Obviously what happens after you have all the crowns is that when you sit on the throne of want, it turns out to be an elevator that takes you down to Firelink Altar, then you go through the Kiln and fight some Black Knights.

Edit #2: Did you guys see the stupid IGN guys making stupid claims? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRP7aVz-5LE (Dark Souls 1 released in 2007!)
 
'bout to face a certain dirty royal. Was thinking I'd do some practice runs in co op first. Anything I should know before I go in?

Edit: Obviously what happens after you have all the crowns is that when you sit on the throne of want, it turns out to be an elevator that takes you down to Firelink Altar, then you go through the Kiln and fight some Black Knights.

What boss are you talking about? I can think of many dirty royals :p.

I would love to go back to Firelink so many good memories. So many ad ones too ;~; I STILL MISS YOU PYBRO!
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
What boss are you talking about? I can think of many dirty royals :p.

I would love to go back to Firelink so many good memories. So many ad ones too ;~; I STILL MISS YOU PYBRO!

The one who doesn't think I'm worthy of the mire :(. Squalid Queen. I went ahead and tried to beat her, got her down to 1/6th of health and she stabbed my butt right after I killed one of her skeletons. Those teleports can be a bitch lol.

Edit: The posts about the Lost Bastille blacksmith reminded me of something, ever notice how his and Vendricks dialogue is kind of similar? Both say things similar to "Flame..ohhh flame", and look similar enough to boot. Blacksmith is true final boss?
 

Mistel

Banned
I'm tempted to make a caster now, I've never tried that before.
You can go pure INT, pure FTH, and INT/FTH as a caster or just ATT if you want to go pyro. You will invest less in ADP as ATT raises the agility skill to other than that it really depends if you want a hybrid or not.
The posts about the Lost Bastille blacksmith reminded me of something, ever notice how his and Vendricks dialogue is kind of similar? Both say things similar to "Flame..ohhh flame", and look similar enough to boot. Blacksmith is true final boss?
Funnily enough he says this:
The power of flame, power of the gods… In the end, it is all beyond our reach.
And so, flame allures us, and we attempt to harness its power.
Flame, dear flame…
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
You can go pure INT, pure FTH, and INT/FTH as a caster or just ATT if you want to go pyro. You will invest less in ADP as ATT raises the agility skill to other than that it really depends if you want a hybrid or not.

Funnily enough he says this:

"Dear flame, how brightly you burn.." "Flame... dear flame.." Says the Blacksmith! Can't be a coincidence, they're kinda similar looking too

vendrick-alive.png


Mcduff_Trophy.png


Notice the fat nose.

Edit: Thought your quote was Vendrick. But it was ol' Steadyhand. Still, they both say "Flame [..] flame.." in a very similar and obsessed tone lol.
Maybe "Flame, dear flame" is just the Drangleic version of Umbasa
 
The one who doesn't think I'm worthy of the mire :(. Squalid Queen. I went ahead and tried to beat her, got her down to 1/6th of health and she stabbed my butt right after I killed one of her skeletons. Those teleports can be a bitch lol.

Edit: The posts about the Lost Bastille blacksmith reminded me of something, ever notice how his and Vendricks dialogue is kind of similar? Both say things similar to "Flame..ohhh flame", and look similar enough to boot. Blacksmith is true final boss?

O her. She's a bitch, she' a lot easier if you co-op, however, if you wanna solo her I'd recommend co-oping with others so you learn her move set without risk of getting more hollowed.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
After being forgotten about for months (been busy with work and want to play less effort games in my spare time), I finally beat the game. The Souls series has a thing for underwhelming final bosses. I'm tempted to make a caster now, I've never tried that before.

Not Demon's.
 

Mistel

Banned
"Dear flame, how brightly you burn.." "Flame... dear flame.." Says the Blacksmith! Can't be a coincidence, they're kinda similar looking too
I don't think the look similar at all but whilst on the subject McDuff somehow know the lost art of infusions Leningrad tells you its long gone.
 
Edit: The posts about the Lost Bastille blacksmith reminded me of something, ever notice how his and Vendricks dialogue is kind of similar? Both say things similar to "Flame..ohhh flame", and look similar enough to boot. Blacksmith is true final boss?

Mmm no, one is refering to the pure essence of a soul tied to the original flame while the blacksmith is somehow insane about the Amber's flame properties tied to the lost art of infusion
 
I don't think the blacksmith is related to Vendrick but... Do you remember that Andre was supposed to be a descendant of Lord Gwyn?

Also, I've heard many times that in DSII we don't have an equivalent of the 4 Kings in the previous game... There are 4 crowns in the game though, and each crown was desired by a creature that came from the abyss.
 
I don't think the blacksmith is related to Vendrick but... Do you remember that Andre was supposed to be a descendant of Lord Gwyn?

Also, I've heard many times that in DSII we don't have an equivalent of the 4 Kings in the previous game... There are 4 crowns in the game though, and each crown was desired by a creature that came from the abyss.

It was rumored he was Gwyn's first born because he was very knowledgeable with weaponry(Gwyn's first born if I remember correctly had to do with War, so it's fitting), had said that weapons never backstab you(or was it betray?). And he fights you with his bare fists like only the manliest of men could do. It's also possible that Solaire was his first born due to his immense fascination of the Sun, like a son longing to return.

The Four Kings is a pretty good theory.
Old Iron King has Gwyn's Soul, Dukes Dear Freja has Gwyn's Shard that he gave to Seath, The Rotten has Ravelord Nitos Soul, and The Lost Sinner has The Witch of Izaliths Soul.
So maybe the Four Kings will make a return! Hopefully not though.
 
After being forgotten about for months (been busy with work and want to play less effort games in my spare time), I finally beat the game. The Souls series has a thing for underwhelming final bosses. I'm tempted to make a caster now, I've never tried that before.

I actually never thought of Gwyn as underwhelming (that is, if you don't parry spam him)...I actually love that boss fight.

Anyway, congrats on beating the game! The DLC is great too if you haven't tried it.
 
It was rumored he was Gwyn's first born because he was very knowledgeable with weaponry(Gwyn's first born if I remember correctly had to do with War, so it's fitting), had said that weapons never backstab you(or was it betray?). And he fights you with his bare fists like only the manliest of men could do. It's also possible that Solaire was his first born due to his immense fascination of the Sun, like a son longing to return.

The Four Kings is a pretty good theory.
Old Iron King has Gwyn's Soul, Dukes Dear Freja has Gwyn's Shard that he gave to Seath, The Rotten has Ravelord Nitos Soul, and The Lost Sinner has The Witch of Izaliths Soul.
So maybe the Four Kings will make a return! Hopefully not though.


I was referring to
King Vendrick, The Sunken King, The Old Iron King and the Ivory King

About Gwyn's first born... I don't think he is Solaire. Solaire is just a very powerful human that was born is Astora (people tend to forget he was from that land). In the other hand Miyasaki mentioned in an interview that Andre was going to be the one who open the path to meet Lord Gwyn (the interview is included in "Dark Souls: Design Works"), so... well, many things can be said about that.
 

ElTopo

Banned
I actually never thought of Gwyn as underwhelming (that is, if you don't parry spam him)...I actually love that boss fight.

Anyway, congrats on beating the game! The DLC is great too if you haven't tried it.

I suck at parrying so he was a bitch to fight. It wasn't until I got the Artorias Greatshield that I was able to block most of his attacks and get an attack or two in.
 
I suck at parrying so he was a bitch to fight. It wasn't until I got the Artorias Greatshield that I was able to block most of his attacks and get an attack or two in.
I went in with 50 INT, Manus Catalyst, and Dark Beads and killed him with like 4 or 5 of them heh. I think I was on NG+ too because I had a lot of Dark Beads.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Except the part where Demon's was the epitome of "thematic/underwhelming" final boss?

Like that was the whole crux of that last bit.

Unless you're pretending that doesn't exist and only talking about 1-4 Allant.

Obviously. False King is basically the final fight. Real Allant is there for thematic and plot weight. He isnt a real final boss the way Gwyn or Nasandra are. Nasandra is way more disappointing than Gwyn though. Her theme isnt as good either.
 

chunk3rvd

Member
Before I waste time farming them - has anyone ever seen a Blacksteel Katana drop off the Allone Knights in the the Memory of the Old Iron King? Completely cleared out Iron Keep and Drangleic Castle without a single drop but would still like another so I can dual wield
 

Zocano

Member
Obviously. False King is basically the final fight. Real Allant is there for thematic and plot weight. He isnt a real final boss the way Gwyn or Nasandra are. Nasandra is way more disappointing than Gwyn though. Her theme isnt as good either.

Yeh.

Allant and Artorias still remain the best examples of how to do swordsman battles.

The problem is mostly with the moveset with the rest. Gwyn is honestly pretty boring as far as moveset goes. His main thing just ends up being relentlessness so parrying just ends up being the best way to deal with him.

Allant and Artorias are just so fucking fast and have a lot of distance-closing moves along with strong AoE movesets. Most swordsman don't have that and as a result, staying close and circle strafing just ends up being the most efficient way to deal (this applies to all the silly blob bosses as well).

Which... ends up being why I want more "gimmick" bosses. Because there are a certain set of moves that very combat-oriented bosses must have to actually be good, and doing them over and over again just makes it all boring even if on their own they are great.

The ones (I'm specifically addressing swordsman/human-sized bosses, so nothing like Sif even though he's great) in the series that did have this were Allant, Flamelurker, Artorias, Manus, and (Dark Souls 2 DLC bosses)
Allone and Raime.
They make you work to beat them. Most others just end up pretty boring to engage. I mean, I like Lost Sinner, Pursuer, Velstadt, and Mirror Knight, but they are missing critical moves to actually become really challenging and interesting to engage. I can forgive pursuer because you engage him so early in the game, but the others really demand more moves. They're better than any sort of blob boss, but a huge issue becomes that there are so many and they all start feeling the same. Like if you fought Allone, Artorias, and the two Dark Souls 2 Bosses I named in the same game, it would just feel... samey. Which is a problem. That's why you don't really get a lot of them in the same game because of that (or you shouldn't get them). Flamelurker and Manus are more ape-like in nature but still have somewhat similar approaches which is why I list them.

That's why Demon's Souls' boss gallery succeeds so well. The bosses are *all* different from each other. Not one of them allows you to use the same tactic you used for another.

I hope Bloodborne has more gimmick fights but I feel like we'll just get another repeat of Dark Souls 1 and 2.

Before I waste time farming them - has anyone ever seen a Blacksteel Katana drop off the Allone Knights in the the Memory of the Old Iron King? Completely cleared out Iron Keep and Drangleic Castle without a single drop but would still like another so I can dual wield

Yah I got a Blacksteel Katana in the Memory. I assume the loot tables are the same though, so make sure to stack item discovery if you aren't.
 

strafer

member
It's all tied to weapon movesets. There's no way to make the animations "faster".

If you want to attack fast use weapons with fast movesets, that's all you can do.

Yeah I figured. I really love using axes but they're pretty slow compared to swords but I have to deal with it.

Gotta go slow.
 
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