• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dark Souls II |OT| The Dark Souls of Dark Souls

Status
Not open for further replies.

Seance

Banned
I mean, in regards to magic, the way they've expanded it, even going as far to create a separate system in Hexes, makes it seem like something from is putting a huge focus into. The sword stuff is still fun but it's been roughly the same for 3 games now, though dual wielding should be fun.

Str weapons have much better movesets this time round too.
 

Mendrox

Member
Any good staff in my current playthrough? I've got the Sorcerers Staff, but I think after killing the first 4 bosses
last giant, dragonrider, dragonslayer, pursueder
that I need something better... Sorcerers Staff is upgraded to +3, but my DMG is not that good at the moment (have 30 INT).

Locations avaiable :

Forest of Giants First Bonfire (Are there more?)
Heides Ruin + Tower
No-Man's Wharf

Anyone an idea where I should go? My only location left
No-Man's Wharf I already got the pirate ship, but is there a shortcut to the boss? The way is too long otherwise.

And where do I get other sorcercy spells? :(
 

Zeliard

Member
So let me tell you what's sort of bullshit about this game's numerous death penalties.

None of them are bad on their own, but picture this: you're stuck on a boss. You have nowhere else to go right now, and because you've died so many times enemies aren't spawning anymore. You don't have
Any effigies to use to become human, and your health bar is stuck at 50%.

Grinding for levels is pretty much out of the question. Effigies cost 5k souls, but again, grinding is made much more arduous thanks to the de spawning enemies. Fighting the boss is made all the tougher thanks to your lowered health.

Unless you really luck out and ace the boss, you're almost completely SOL. It always felt like there was something else to do in DeS and DkS - I think roadblocks happen much more frequently than in previous games.

I can see how this would be an annoyance for a lot of people.

But honestly, I think I actually like it, at least on paper. It always bothered me to some extent how you could ultimately grind your way through the previous Souls games by just farming the same enemies, leveling up stats, and upgrading gear until you just brute-forced your way through.

I like the notion that this isn't so feasible this time around, since it puts a bit more emphasis on mechanical skill.
 
Jesus the character editor is terribad. Like the options are good (except the crummy amount of hair options, WTF) but the horrible loading and lag after changing everything makes it REALLY dificult.

Hopefully they fix that with a patch.
 
I can see how this would be an annoyance for a lot of people.

But honestly, I think I actually like it, at least on paper. It always bothered me to some extent how you could ultimately grind your way through the previous Souls games by just farming the same enemies, leveling up stats, and upgrading gear until you just brute-forced your way through.

I like the notion that this isn't so feasible this time around, since it puts a bit more emphasis on mechanical skill.

On paper I agree that rewarding mechanical skill will always trump other means of getting better, but grinding in Souls has always served, in my mind, as a form of practice. Sure, you're collecting souls when you kill the same guys over and over in DkS, but you're also investing time in getting better at the game.

The stats in Souls have always taken a backseat to the actual combat mechanics anyway. It's not like many RPGs where enough big numbers will mitigate everything, you still need to actually execute fairly perfectly. In practice these competing punishment mechanics feel more like the game yelling GIT GUD SCRUB rather than providing means for you to practice and get better.
 

Shengar

Member
I like the notion that this isn't so feasible this time around, since it puts a bit more emphasis on mechanical skill.

I agree with this. Even down at 50% health, and maybe underleveled stat, it is still possible to beat a boss provided you have the skills to pull it through. The problem with stat overleveling is that its makes you possible to tank bosses attack and ignore the risk of boss rushing. 50% health penalty basically just makes every miscalculation and mistake even more punishing, but it doesn't make a boss impossible like in a SRPG/TRPG.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Tearing would totally ruin that immersion in Dark Souls for me.
Eagerly awaiting PC release to double dip on... (fuck I hate that phrase).

360 version here. The tearing is pretty bad during cutscenes (and I also notice flickering o_O) but during gameplay I cant say I notice it.

Put a couple hours in. I made fairly little progress. This is gonna be one loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong game. It seems to combine elements of DeS (more linear design, hub, life gems = grass, death penalty) and DaS (no magic bar, estus flask, effigies = humanities) while adding in its own quirks (weapon health can be revived at bonfires, way more slots for everything). Very interesting game. Even after watching hours of streams and vids, the vast majority of this will be uncharted territory.
 

Zeliard

Member
On paper I agree that rewarding mechanical skill will always trump other means of getting better, but grinding in Souls has always served, in my mind, as a form of practice. Sure, you're collecting souls when you kill the same guys over and over in DkS, but you're also investing time in getting better at the game.

The stats in Souls have always taken a backseat to the actual combat mechanics anyway. It's not like many RPGs where enough big numbers will mitigate everything, you still need to actually execute fairly perfectly. In practice these competing punishment mechanics feel more like the game yelling GIT GUD SCRUB rather than providing means for you to practice and get better.

This seems like a fair criticism. I haven't played the game yet so I don't know how it'll work in practice. Remains to be seen!

I did however always like playing Souls by pretty much ignoring the Vitality stat, even on my first playthroughs. I just really like the idea of big risk-reward mechanics, where I can be a character who's very mobile and dishes out a lot of damage but is also extremely vulnerable, so I think the health penalty on dying will be interesting to play around with.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Man, I can't wait for my package to arrive tomorrow (or um, later today seeing as it's almost 5 AM... xD). Kinda jealous of those getting the digital game. Hope you're all enjoying yourselves.

Why? He seems to agree the whole thing is dumb and Gwynevere wasn't his design.

Oh, it had a certain kind of fanservice.

iERyt58O4mpO9.gif
Not really, no.

Miyazaki my dude. Unpopular opinion, but I'm honestly sick of fanservicey stuff in everything these days.
Indeed.

I'm not sure what exactly is pathetic about it. It makes complete sense when you learn about the background of the area where that event takes place.
lol?
 

Shengar

Member
Why? He seems to agree the whole thing is dumb and Gwynevere wasn't his design.

Wasn't Miyazaki allowed that because the designer is pratically have shiny sparkle around his eyes when he showed it to him? Well, not exactly like that but I presume the designer was really serious and determined with his design.
 

Dresden

Member
Wasn't Miyazaki allowed that because the designer is pratically have shiny sparkle around his eyes when he showed it to him? Well, not exactly like that but I presume the designer was really serious and determined with his design.

Puppy dog eyes.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Yeah. Which is kind of what I'm saying. He wasn't terribly fond of the design but his designer looked so happy with it, he didn't have the heart to say no and let it slide.
 

Shengar

Member
Miyazaki is your one boss that would make such thing happened provided you're determined and enthusiastic about it without being strayed from his design vision. But I doubt it he will let it slide again later for the eventual release of
Demon's Souls 2
.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Yeah. Which is kind of what I'm saying. He wasn't terribly fond of the design but his designer looked so happy with it, he didn't have the heart to say no and let it slide.

That's a good excuse from him.... hahahaha.

Anyways! Only played Demon's and Dark Souls for about like, 10 minutes each, but I've been itching for some RPG lately so I am wondering whether this will be a good game to buy (for PS3).
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
That's a good excuse from him.... hahahaha.

Anyways! Only played Demon's and Dark Souls for about like, 10 minutes each, but I've been itching for some RPG lately so I am wondering whether this will be a good game to buy (for PS3).

What are you looking for in an RPG really?

Do you look for great combat that scales satisfactorily with the stat system?

Do you look for beautiful dungeons and worlds to explore?

If so then yes. Probably.
 

Shengar

Member
Both, as in Dark Souls 1 and 2?

How's the single-player offline experience anyways? Most, if not all the time, I will be playing alone and offline.

Souls games offline experience is still solid, so you'll be fine. The multiplayer component add tons of gameplay experience though.
 

big_z

Member
I remember them talking about a room of candles where a new lit candle would show up for every death. did that make it into the game?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Both, as in Dark Souls 1 and 2?
As in Demon's and Dark, but I'm sure Dark Souls 2 will be awesome too.

How's the single-player offline experience anyways? Most, if not all the time, I will be playing alone and offline.
See this:
Souls games offline experience is still solid, so you'll be fine. The multiplayer component add tons of gameplay experience though.
I'd suggest you at least go online to patch them, though. And I'd suggest getting the PC version of Dark Souls, it's definitely the definitive version. Unless your PC can't handle it of course.
 

GamerJM

Banned
Watching my roommate play this for the past hour or so. Never actually played a Souls game myself but it looks really good. I need to play them, he has Demon's available for me to borrow and Dark is sitting in my Steam library unplayed.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
As in Demon's and Dark, but I'm sure Dark Souls 2 will be awesome too.


See this:

I'd suggest you at least go online to patch them, though. And I'd suggest getting the PC version of Dark Souls, it's definitely the definitive version. Unless your PC can't handle it of course.

I am not a PC gamer, so I must settle with PS3. Hopefully the game performs well... anyone here got the ps3 version can share their experience, perhaps?

Was looking to get Tales of Graces F initially, but all of sudden this game caught my eye. A foreboding and oppressing RPG from the looks of it...
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I played both. The PS3 version is generally fine, though not nearly as nice as the PC one. No screen tearing. A very particular area has nasty framerate drops (that get even worse in multiplayer but you'll be solo, thankfully), unfortunately, but other than that it's fairly stable.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
I played both. The PS3 version is generally fine, though not nearly as nice as the PC one. No screen tearing. A very particular area has nasty framerate drops (that get even worse in multiplayer but you'll be solo, thankfully), unfortunately, but other than that it's fairly stable.

You are talking about the 1st Dark Souls? I know about that infamous area, since a lot of people are making a huge ruckus over it on the Internet, hahaha.

I was actually asking about this game, Dark Souls 2. So if any PS3 players can share their experiences here, which I guess will still be very limited since it just gets out, I would be grateful.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Magic or Melee?
Magic or Melee?

I can't decide.

Both? Have melee as your main, magic as your supplement. It's what I liked about the Moonlight Greatsword - it's a great weapon for melee even though it's Int-based. Because it's Int-based my Int will be high enough to use magic too. It's what I did in Dark Souls 1 and what I'll likely do here.

It had only two real downsides. One was that I was kinda gimped in terms of power as good weapons like Claymore scaled with Str/Dex, and my stats were at a bare minimum (16 Str and 10 Dex I believe), and I also couldn't use a bunch of weapons. It wasn't till I reached the Anor Londo blacksmith and created a Lightning Claymore +5 that I didn't feel held back. Also, DLC bosses had magic resistance. MLGS damage was still alright, but it wasn't great (though I found the Soul Spear sorceries to have a good effect on them *shrug*).

For Dark Souls 2, the Str and Dex requirements for the MLGS are higher, so I'll have to see if that opens up my options open, even though if I'm keeping those stats relatively low compared to other builds. But more than that I hope I can get the MLGS early. It's apparently only available
on a NG++, but you can also just use two Bonfire Ascetics to make the area NG++ level. Hope the area itself is early on though.

Edit: Actually now I'm hearing just NG+.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom