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[Ruuppa]

Spoiler

Did the Charred Knights really have to give us another greatsword rather than that axe halberd thing?

Fucking greatswords.

Screw both the axe and halberd, just give me those damn

Spoiler

Loyce Souls!
I have about 4 sets of their armor, 7 greatswords and 6 shields and I still have to get 30 of those souls ffs.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Man, getting frustrated when I go help people as a phantom...

Spoiler

Not a single one of the people who summoned me freed any of the trapped Loyce Knights, so we always have to handle the Ivory King with grunts.

Spoiler

also, do the charred Loyce knights keep respawning after you kill the king?.

 

[Ruuppa]

Man, getting frustrated when I go help people as a phantom...

Spoiler

Not a single one of the people who summoned me freed any of the trapped Loyce Knights, so we always have to handle the Ivory King with grunts.

Spoiler

also, do the charred Loyce knights keep respawning after you kill the king?.

I feel your pain.

Spoiler

Last night only 1/10 had more than one Loyce to help them out. Cripes.

They do keep spawning, don't worry about that. You can also get their drops as a co-op phantom, so that helps as well.

 

[Cannon Goose]

Fair and balanced wallhack gameplay brought to you by the wizards at FromSoft

http://a.pomf.se/htipiv.webm

And that was the second time it had happened!

 

[RVinP]

Man, getting frustrated when I go help people as a phantom...

Spoiler

Not a single one of the people who summoned me freed any of the trapped Loyce Knights, so we always have to handle the Ivory King with grunts.

Spoiler

also, do the charred Loyce knights keep respawning after you kill the king?.

That's mostly because,

Spoiler

the progression to the Ivory King opens up early and it takes a few tries to realize that the other three empty chairs need to be filled

Me and some random player on the steam added each other as friends, trying to CooP the Ivory King early on and then I (assumed) suggested the idea to the other player that "May be we need to find the other three knights, because the chairs are in a specific formation and they are empty".

Then we split up to explore, the other player went about and found another knight. Then I started to backtrack and found all the other three knights, then summoned two human phantoms to defeat the Ivory King (took me two tries).

 

[Mogwai]

I never backpedaled. I ran away and tried to seperate them and parry them but backpedaling seems like a good way to get smashed. Was nice to fight a human sized boss. The only thing I didnt like was From using one of a kind items on them, like Vargh using the Havel Armor and Cerah using Lucatiel's mask.

Backpedaling or running away, call it what you will. It's this passive approach that I'm referring to. It's beginning to feel old and uninspired.

I expect more ingenuity from FROM than that :/

 

[HK-47]

Backpedaling or running away, call it what you will. It's this passive approach that I'm referring to. It's beginning to feel old and uninspired.

I expect more ingenuity from FROM than that :/

I think that was the only fight I felt like I needed to run away. I dont think there is any other fight like it, not even Elena, since that is about dodging the summons and hitting her. I guess maybe Darklurker has that a bit but really you need to go full offense once they split cause being passive means you are probably not doing enough damage and will eventually get blindsided by a spell.

 

[HK-47]

Spoiler

Rampart Golem Armor

looks sick

 

[chunk3rvd]

160 hours into the game and still on my first NG run haha :/ Waiting till I can finish the 3rd DLC before I go NG+. Since I'll probably be waiting for Wednesday for a EU release I figured I might play with a strength build in the meantime. Will make a nice change of pace from my HEX/DEX character

Are there any useful items/rings/weapons I should be making a beeline for ASAP? Was thinking I will get the blacksmith unlocked then power stance a pair of maces to get me through the early game. Also, any stat points I should be aiming for? Do most pure STR characters go 40, 50 or higher?

 

[JustinBB7]

Server down for me.

Gonna try to run to the last boss with the anti-backstab ring, maybe that will work..

 

[Gbraga]

This DLC is amazing, wow. Very impressed with the overall quality, I'd go as far as saying that if the main game had more areas like this, it could very well be as good as the first, or even better (in my opinion, anyway, I know there are people who already like II more).

That is, from what I've played, still didn't finish it, so who knows.

And it's gorgeous >_<

 

[Dascu]

Alright, beat

Spoiler

the Ivory King with four knights and, apparently, an NPC summon. I say apparently because I didn't realize it wasn't a human summon until after the fight (Twiggy Shei).

I liked the boss himself, but it would've been great if you could fight him without the Charred Loyce Knights first. Some clear Allant inspiration too, I think, in his move set and the big laser sword.

 

[neoism]

Your interface looks so colorful.

yeah lol Im a saturation whore with my sweetfx lol I really should turn it down a bit though lol But when I turn it off the vanilla colors are sooo bland and drab... shrugs

 

[neoism]

Unfortunately, due to server updates which are required by our 3rd party server provider, we have to inform everyone that DSII’s online servers will be offline during the following hours on September 30th.

September 30th 11:30AM - 5:00PM GMT

September 30th 7:30AM - 1:00PM EDT

September 30th 4:30AM - 10:00AM PDT

 

[ElTopo]

Man, FROM/Namco's servers are being hammered. So many times has it refused to connect to the servers. That message "Unable to connect to Steam" is the worst thing in the world during a boss fight.

Spoiler

Lucked out and managed to kill the Ivory King. Somehow one of the knights survived until the very end which helped tremendously. I got really lucky, I had 2 knights left and the King killed one of them and that one ran up to portal to seal it and the King chased him and started wailing on him giving me a chance to get some big damage. Cool fight, but I don't think he's really that hard, it's all about dodging and waiting for him to do that one attack that you know he has to recover from and won't do another quick attack. Dodging that delayed unblockable stab is hard as shit though.

I don't really know if I like the gimmick of finding the 4 knights and they help you during that fight. It's different but the A.I. on the Knights isn't great and I don't like how you have to wait for at least 2 of them to die so they seal the portals. It doesn't work like it should sometimes. One time, all of the knights died but only one of the portals were closed and I had to fight the Ivory King with 2 Pyromancers. Needless to say I didn't win that round.

I don't like a fight being determined by chance.

Also, this was a bitch, those grunts you fight who come out of the portals apparently do TONS of durability damage. One time my Red Iron Twinblade (with durability of 175) broke during the fight on the grunts. So, I was forced to equip a 2nd sword (Curved Dragon Great Sword) and even that broke once during that phase of the fight.

Going to try the optional boss later.

 

[JustinBB7]

Made it to the last boss now twice, but died of course. Sigh.

Really not even having fun with this.

 

[ultraspank]

Man, FROM/Namco's servers are being hammered. So many times has it refused to connect to the servers. That message "Unable to connect to Steam" is the worst thing in the world during a boss fight.

Spoiler

I don't really know if I like the gimmick of finding the 4 knights and they help you during that fight. It's different but the A.I. on the Knights isn't great and I don't like how you have to wait for at least 2 of them to die so they seal the portals. It doesn't work like it should sometimes. One time, all of the knights died but only one of the portals were closed and I had to fight the Ivory King with 2 Pyromancers. Needless to say I didn't win that round.

I don't like a fight being determined by chance.

Going to try the optional boss later.

Isn't

Spoiler

that fight on a timer? I mean the sealing stuff. Or a combination of time and the number of knight you defeat before your allies seals the portals?

 

[Punished_Snake]

Is the dlc available on XBL yet?

 

[NEO0MJ]

That's mostly because,

Spoiler

the progression to the Ivory King opens up early and it takes a few tries to realize that the other three empty chairs need to be filled

Spoiler

There was this one guy though who kept summoning me, even though I kept standing in from of him and using the "no" gesture and tried to point at the knight for him. He kept going to the boss anyway.

 

[Foggy]

I haven't dug too deep into this boss yet since I still need to explore but...

Spoiler

Am I crazy or does the Charred king boss have a really similar moveset to False King Allant? At the very least those jumping/swooping attacks brought back memories to Demon's Souls. Also, I answered yes to the queen in the cathedral, what happens if you say no?

 

[Ruuppa]

I haven't dug too deep into this boss yet since I still need to explore but...

Spoiler

Am I crazy or does the Charred king boss have a really similar moveset to False King Allant? At the very least those jumping/swooping attacks brought back memories to Demon's Souls. Also, I answered yes to the queen in the cathedral, what happens if you say no?

His moveset reminded me a lot of

Spoiler

Gwyn

, especially the jumping attack.

 

[HK-47]

I cant see shit in

Spoiler

the outskirts. Is it really suppose to be this hard to see?

 

[JustinBB7]

I cant see shit in

Spoiler

the outskirts. Is it really suppose to be this hard to see?

It's supposed to be that way yes. :/

 

[Ruuppa]

I cant see shit in

Spoiler

the outskirts. Is it really suppose to be this hard to see?

Spoiler

Wait near the ruins until the storm clears, then sprint your ass off to the next set of ruins. Hopefully you won't aggro too many reindeer on the way.

From the last ruins, head down the slope, straight out of the door with a Rampart Golem next to it.

 

[Mistel]

160 hours into the game and still on my first NG run haha :/ Waiting till I can finish the 3rd DLC before I go NG+. Since I'll probably be waiting for Wednesday for a EU release I figured I might play with a strength build in the meantime. Will make a nice change of pace from my HEX/DEX character

Are there any useful items/rings/weapons I should be making a beeline for ASAP? Was thinking I will get the blacksmith unlocked then power stance a pair of maces to get me through the early game. Also, any stat points I should be aiming for? Do most pure STR characters go 40, 50 or higher?

Pure goes to about 70 STR if you want to one hand a smelter hammer. Maces are the right idea though great STR weapons. ADP if you want to roll and VITand END are helpful for heavier stuff and stamina.

 

[Cannon Goose]

The boss at the end of the Outskirts sucks. I think I'll need to wait until the servers are back up and see if I can get some human summons to help me.

 

[HK-47]

Spoiler

Wait near the ruins until the storm clears, then sprint your ass off to the next set of ruins. Hopefully you won't aggro too many reindeer on the way.

From the last ruins, head down the slope, straight out of the door with a Rampart Golem next to it.

Which side of the ruins do I exit out of? I think my GEM settings are making things even worse.

 

[Haunted]

The ENB I was using is completely broken in all Ivory King areas. I guess the sky's too bright for that area, so the base brightness levels are cranked up way too high. It's like the blizzard in the outskirts, but permanent and everywhere. Had to disable it to play.

boss spoilers:

Spoiler

Ivory King coming out of Sauron's eye is the most badass thing I've seen in any of the Souls games.

But hoo boy, that knight melee beforehand. It's like a huge "fuck you" to the people who complained that DS2's encounter design has too many moments where they throw multiple enemies at you. :lol :lol

Fantastic area, even better than the two before it. DS2 has my goty on lockdown. I can't possibly fathom what game could dethrone it at this point.

 

[Ruuppa]

Which side of the ruins do I exit out of? I think my GEM settings are making things even worse.

Spoiler

The last ruins, you mean? From where you come to them, it's out of the right-hand door. If you look in that direction, you should see the ground sloping downwards a bit into a kind of a large depression. Be careful you don't run off the edge.

 

[HK-47]

The boss at the end of the Outskirts sucks. I think I'll need to wait until the servers are back up and see if I can get some human summons to help me.

They pulled a

Spoiler

smelter demon. Its kind of fucking bullshit.

 

[JustinBB7]

I can sometimes make it to the boss now, but then the boss just kills me

Spoiler

when the second boss comes in. Anybody figured out what resin they are weak too? I'm using a brightbug when im there too but it doesn't seem to matter, they still 2 shot me no matter what. (I'm on NG++, there's even a red phantom right before the fucking fog)

 

[Jito]

What bonfire do I need to unlock to get to the 3rd DLC?

 

[Dascu]

I can sometimes make it to the boss now, but then the boss just kills me

Spoiler

when the second boss comes in. Anybody figured out what resin they are weak too? I'm using a brightbug when im there too but it doesn't seem to matter, they still 2 shot me no matter what. (I'm on NG++, there's even

a red phantom

Spoiler

right before the fucking fog)

Hahahaha holy shit.

 

[ElTopo]

Isn't

Spoiler

that fight on a timer? I mean the sealing stuff. Or a combination of time and the number of knight you defeat before your allies seals the portals?

Spoiler

I didn't notice a timer. I think what happens is if a knight is about to die he seals a portal. That, or each knight is assigned a portal and if you kill a dude at the portal he's assigned to he seals it. I dunno.

I can sometimes make it to the boss now, but then the boss just kills me

Spoiler

when the second boss comes in. Anybody figured out what resin they are weak too? I'm using a brightbug when im there too but it doesn't seem to matter, they still 2 shot me no matter what. (I'm on NG++, there's even a red phantom right before the fucking fog)

Spoiler

You can run by the Red Phantom guarding the boss door. Just block his attack and dodge behind him. Those horses will follow you on that path BTW.

 

[Haunted]

What bonfire do I need to unlock to get to the 3rd DLC?

Ruined Fork Road in the Shaded Woods, leading to the Shrine of Winter.

 

[Dascu]

I didn't notice a timer. I think what happens is if a knight is about to die he seals a portal. That, or each knight is assigned a portal and if you kill a dude at the portal he's assigned to he seals it. I dunno.

Spoiler

Can't be it. I've had knights at full health seal a portal, when all charred knights are a dead and even after the Ivory King himself showed up.

 

[Haunted]

boss spoilers:

Spoiler

I had the Ivory King not show up until all the charred knights were defeated and all portals were sealed. I had to go versus the remaining charred knights 1v5, then he turned up. And crushed me.

outskirts spoilers:

Spoiler

Even more opaque is when and where horses appear in the snowstorm. Sometimes I've had two spawn at a time, and in other runs (with near identical routes as far as I could tell), I made it through to the second building without encountering even one.

 

[ElTopo]

outskirts spoilers:

Spoiler

Even more opaque is when and where horses appear in the snowstorm. Sometimes I've had two spawn at a time, and in other runs (with near identical routes as far as I could tell), I made it through to the second building without encountering even one.

Spoiler

I think it could be a case of killing them x number of times and they stop spawning. I could get to the 2nd building with maybe 1 spawning (and it usually it spawns when I fight that phantom with the Avelyn).

 

[JustinBB7]

Spoiler

I think it could be a case of killing them x number of times and they stop spawning. I could get to the 2nd building with maybe 1 spawning (and it usually it spawns when I fight that phantom with the Avelyn).

If this is true I might just try that, I've been trying for hours though. And they don't come at all between the first 2 buildings anymore it seems. I just get overrun by 3/4 near the end.

 

[Haunted]

Spoiler

I think it could be a case of killing them x number of times and they stop spawning. I could get to the 2nd building with maybe 1 spawning (and it usually it spawns when I fight that phantom with the Avelyn).

I don't think I've killed them that often yet.

But if I keep going at this rate, I'll despawn them eventually. Still haven't made it to that boss.

 

[ElTopo]

If this is true I might just try that, I've been trying for hours though. And they don't come at all between the first 2 buildings anymore it seems. I just get overrun by 3/4 near the end.

Spoiler

Once you get near the 3rd structure it's totally possible just to run it to the slope/bridge. The horses and everything else will chase your ass down but if you manage your stamina you can make it through the boss door before they get you.

 

[JustinBB7]

Spoiler

Once you get near the 3rd structure it's totally possible just to run it to the slope/bridge. The horses and everything else will chase your ass down but if you manage your stamina you can make it through the boss door before they get you.

Spoiler

I'm on NG++ there are 3 knights standing between the second and third building. Fighting them AND the horses is impossible. I just stay on the right side after the second building and run straight towards the bridge. I tried going to the third building and I saw a red phantom inside that building as well lol.

 

[HK-47]

I guess in order the balance out the awesomeness of the castle they had to make what is probably the worse area in the Soul series and end it with an insulting boss.

 

[ElTopo]

Revised final mini reviews of all 3 DLC:

Crown of the Sunken King: haunting and maze-like. Smart enemy placement and tons of secrets. Bring plenty of arrows. Only downside is that all 3 boss battles are made of re-used assets but they're different enough. Nashandra 2.0 is kinda' cheap and depends on what she summons. 9/10

Crown of the Ivory King: implements a new gimmick requiring you to destroy idols in order to get a boss soul and make the final boss fight much easier. Enemy placement is much more haphazard and favors ambushes and gauntlets. Two bosses are made of re-used assets and one of them is flagrantly almost the same exact fight, but on the plus side he's optional. The other boss fights are fantastic but everything leading up to them is just more of the same; gauntlets and ambushes. 5/10. If it weren't for the Fume and Alone Knight bosses I would honestly give this a 2/10.

Crown of the Ivory King: huge change in scenery and retains the maze-like gameplay of the 1st DLC. Smart enemy placement, some new varieties of enemies, with an emphasis on re-visiting areas once-thought completed unearthing more content. Only 1 boss is a re-used asset but it's tied to lore and Demons Souls fans will get a kick out of it. Also introduces a new gimmick for handling one particular gauntlet. Only downside is the optional boss (which ends up being more of the same) and some very cheap enemy placement in that particular zone. But the stage is so incredibly unique for the Souls franchise that it's worth playing. 8/10

 

[AngryMoth]

Beat the main boss of the new DLC. Pretty good, although I think old iron king is probably the best of the 3. Will tackle outskirts in a bit. After all the shit people are talking about it in this thread think I'm just gonna go full speed run strats like I did with iron passage lol.

Whats the deal with farming

Spoiler

Loyce Souls then

?

Spoiler

I went back down to the old chaos but no charred knights spawned after the original 3.

Do I seriously need to do that like 50 times?

 

[HK-47]

Revised final mini reviews of all 3 DLC:

Crown of the Sunken King: haunting and maze-like. Smart enemy placement and tons of secrets. Bring plenty of arrows. Only downside is that all 3 boss battles are made of re-used assets but they're different enough. Nashandra 2.0 is kinda' cheap and depends on what she summons. 9/10

Crown of the Ivory King: implements a new gimmick requiring you to destroy idols in order to get a boss soul, and make the final boss fight much easier. Enemy placement is much more haphazard and favors ambushes and gauntlets. Two bosses are made of re-used assets and one of them is flagrantly almost the same exact fight, but on the plus side he's optional. The other boss fights are fantastic but everything leading up to them is just more of the same; gauntlets and ambushes. 5/10. If it weren't for the Fume and Alone Knight bosses I would honestly give this a 2/10.

Crown of the Ivory King: huge change in scenery and retains the maze-like gameplay of the 1st DLC. Smart enemy placement, some new varieties of enemies, with an emphasis on re-visiting areas once-thought completed unearthing more content. Only 1 boss is a re-used asset but it's tied to lore and Demons Souls fans will get a kick out of it. Also introduces a new gimmick for handling one particular gauntlet. Only downside is the optional boss (which ends up being more of the same) and some very cheap enemy placement in that particular zone. But the stage is so incredibly unique for the Souls franchise that it's worth playing. 8/10

Your definition of reused assets is really weird.

 

[Dascu]

Who's with me for Winter Souls? Ariamis and DLC3 rock (Frigid Outskirts isn't much fun to play, but it's visually really cool) and I'd love to see a full game in that kind of snowy setting.

 

[ElTopo]

Your definition of reused assets is really weird.

Bosses are re-used. I think it's pretty clear cut... Sinh the Slumbering Dragon is obviously Kalameet from Dark Souls 1 but has a different moveset, Havel is part of the Gank Squad and is from Dark Souls 1, Blue Smelter is almost exactly the same as Red Smelter, he has 1 AOE attack he does only once and he burns with magic instead of fire, etc.

I'm baffled that someone would get confused by that. What else could "re-used asset" mean?

 

[Ruuppa]

Bosses are re-used. I think it's pretty clear cut... Sinh the Slumbering Dragon is obviously Kalameet from Dark Souls 1 but has a different moveset, Havel is part of the Gank Squad and is from Dark Souls 1, Blue Smelter is almost exactly the same as Red Smelter, he has 1 AOE attack he does only once and he burns with magic instead of fire, etc.

I'm baffled that someone would get confused by that. What else could "re-used asset" mean?

I think he meant in regards to what two bosses you think are re-used assets in Ivory King.

Edit: Oh, you mistyped Iron King, my bad. There really is only one boss that flagrantly re-uses assets in Iron King. I don't see what other boss there is.

 

[ElTopo]

I think he meant in regards to what two bosses you think are re-used assets in Ivory King.

I said one boss was a re-used asset. The Ivory King is

Spoiler

clearly based on the final boss of Demons Souls.