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Dark Souls II |OT| The Dark Souls of Dark Souls
- Thread starter Vazra
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Ok, cool, thanks for the info
By the way, what does Dexterity actually do? I know that some weapons require a certain level of Dexterity, but what advantages does it give the character? Do you hit faster with your weapon or something?
I believe dexterity only increases the damage dealt by weapons that scale in Dex, it has no effect on the actual speed of attack animations.
Revolutionary
Gold Member
Where is the pyromancer dude located after beating the boss of No Man's Wharf? I don't see him anywhere.
Items drop from enemies when you're a phantom now, too.
And some of the items you might want to farm for are covenant rewards, I think.
Still yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of farming when it comes to building up my PVP character. I don't even know where I can get unlimited arrows/bolts from (that aren't shitty wood ones)
Phantasmal Repose
Member
Ive never been one to grind for souls. I feel like the games are balanced well enough to give you the amount of souls you need through a regular playthrough without doing much extra.
But not being able to farm for shards is really my main issue here. Limiting my ability to create items and work towards a greater goal really sucks the life out of me sometimes.
I dont want people to think I hate the game, because I dont. Hell, I called in sick to work today just to play.
But I still feel like this is a giant underlying issue that needs to be addressed more vocally. I dont ever want to see this feature in another souls game, and the only way to ensure that it never happens again, is to get vocal.
But not being able to farm for shards is really my main issue here. Limiting my ability to create items and work towards a greater goal really sucks the life out of me sometimes.
I dont want people to think I hate the game, because I dont. Hell, I called in sick to work today just to play.
But I still feel like this is a giant underlying issue that needs to be addressed more vocally. I dont ever want to see this feature in another souls game, and the only way to ensure that it never happens again, is to get vocal.
Dwight Schrute
Member
NPC spoiler :
I found Cale the cartographer. He gave me the mansion key. I killed the skeletton and the last giant, and Cale won't show up in the mansion. Why ;_;
LaunchpadMcQ
Banned
You need to find a fast way to clear the rats. Play to your strengths, fire weapons or pyromancies help. Ideally, you want to kill them before the big guy comes out to play, because he will fuck your day up if you're still dealing with the shitty rats. After killing them, just roll and stay underneath Authority where he can't reach you. He'll keep jumping around, you just keep following him and slashing underneath. It's a pretty easy fight once you get past the little rats [and you haven't already died].
That's just not true, they don't respawn at all.
It's just the four, and they are annoying as hell because they can get toxic on you and kill you in seconds
Yes, you don't get a trophy for each one.
Agreed. I can see the argument for it making things harder, but the downside of it is just too much. I have yet to run out of enemies from farming, only from trying to reach bosses (so all the souls I'm getting from these guys disappear anyway). After a while the game just patronizes you and lets you go on through (brings to mind that comic of the goombas encouraging Mario to reach the top of the flag pole. Never thought Dark Souls would get that way).
At the same time, knowing that there is a finite number of souls in the world is brutal. That means I can very possibly reach the point of needing to start over. I'm all for the game being hard, but this is just bad game design. (I realize this kinda conflicts with my other point, but I don't really care. I'm looking for a fun game, hard or easy don't automatically equal fun.) To add to that, farming for souls was rarely as effective in these games as just playing better. This stops you from needing to do the latter, for the most part.
So yeah, I totally agree that it's a very poor mechanic and the option should be there to turn it off.
To play devil's advocate a bit though, there are bonfire ascetics that can restore the enemies (plus make them harder). And practically speaking, it's unlikely to run out of all the enemies and get stuck. Furthermore, you can still beat the early bosses/areas with starting equipment, and find plenty of weapons/armor in the world for free if your stuff breaks.
Phantasmal Repose
Member
Are you sure you're looking in the right place?
He's in the floor below, where the map is.
You must have grinded the enemies all down or something because I am actually going back and doing runs of areas I have been to and they mostly are all still there. I have seen maybe the odd pack of dogs or an Old Knight disappear and that's it. The game has still kicked my ass easily more than the first one has after 20 hours and feels so much bigger, more balanced and a lot more varied. Sorry you are having this problem, but I just don't see the issue.
From Soft chose to do it to encourage you to do NG+. I get that you want things a certain way all the way through your first play through but the point stands that the developer didn't want people either getting all rare drops in one, nor farming for souls by killing trash mobs. You get way more souls from being summoned and that lets you kill the mobs that you may have already despawned if you're going for loot. You can still loot corpses as a summon in my experience.
The summoning aspect of the game seems to have overcome the past focus on farming. It's a multiplayer RPG now versus something that's easy to do all by yourself. I personally enjoy the fact that I can run through the beginning areas without having to fight hollows for piddly souls.
Well I'm dumb. Thanks.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Fucking spin attack bullshit.
AlphaDragoon
Member
The despawn thing is meh. It doesn't even remotely fall into the same neighborhood of pissing me off as the fucking durability system in this. Even with a Bracing Knuckle Ring it happens too fast IMO. Should have just kept it like DS1.
Which bonfire is this again? There's so many areas in this game.
Nah, it's actually a threat this time. I kind of like it.
Nose Master
Member
As far as "finding the
" goes, am I correct in assuming when you get the eyeball cutscene that it's one of them?
Also, is there a lore explanation for (boss spoilers for Heide Tower):
boss souls
Also, is there a lore explanation for (boss spoilers for Heide Tower):
Ornstein being alive?
test_account
XP-39C²
I was actually thinking about going back there to check. I will do that, thanks
Is Gold Pine Resin permanent by the way? I'm going to die many times, so it would sucks ifs gone after a death.Ah ok, i see.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
I uh haven't played it yet, so feel free to correct me if this is off the mark.
Forgetting the fact that there is an item that can make enemies respawn in tougher incarnations, I think I can see their reasoning:
Firstly, by taking away the farming, they've made the souls you collect much more valuable.Souls were pretty disposable in DS because you knew that, given enough time and effort, you could eventually recoup everything you lost. From what people have said in here, they have become an almost finite resource now. It forces the player to be more thoughtful with what they spend them on, making every decision about upgrading much more meaningful. On top of that, players have to be even more careful about dying a second time on the way to pick up their death-stash. It seems to give that second death a lot more weight... at least on paper.
Secondly, again from what others have said, From are really pushing the multiplayer elements. By making online activities more accessible and by essentially taking away infinitely respawning enemies, they've made the online much more of an attractive proposition for players who need souls.
It's an interesting decision. Until I play it myself, I can't really say whether it's one that I'll be able to get behind, but I can certainly see why they've done it.
The character creation is BY FAR the worst the game has shown me. Give it another few hours if you still were considering what to do.
edit:
that they have, and I like it.
Whelp, guess I'm gonna try some different levels and I'll get back to this one when I'm over leveled.
GhostRidah
Member
Heavy dex builds start out pretty weak in this game, it seems every weapon is str based early on and then when you do come across a dex heavy weapon its lackluster. Not to mention most of the str weapons look badass.
AlphaDragoon
Member
I don't really mind Durability mattering more, but when for a fair amount of the weapons you have to carry backups so you don't use your "good weapon" on the boss, that's too far for me.
I was actually thinking about going back there to check. I will do that, thanks
Ah ok, i see.
Gold pine resin is temporary, it only lasts like a minute.
If you want to permanently imbue your weapon with lightning, you need to find a boltstone (random enemy drop in my experience) and have access to the second blacksmith.
Nah,
Ring of Life / Soul protection has it beat. It removes the death penalty entirely. It breaks when you die but you can repair it for 3,000 souls
Oops, double post.
You sure? I'm in some Kings something place. Forest? Its like a run down castle/fort
Nicely put. I wish I couldve crafted my argument more like this. I need more coffee.
And you are right, there is a good and bad side to all of this.
Last night, I kept going to this boss and losing, and along the way was getting pelted by arrows. After I killed the enemies a few times, they stopped spawning. I will admit, I was glad they were gone, but that isnt the point. The point is that the game decided to make it easier on me because I kept failing.
I dont want that.
I want to fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, then succeed. Not because the game let me, but because I persevered and defeated the challenge that was presented.
Its bad game design. Bottom line. Something I would never even dream of saying about a Souls game.
Putting enemies to close to bonfires is also a terrible design decision. In all honesty, I think THIS is why they put the 10 limit in. They created terrible spots to place the bonfires and there only solution to limit easy grinding was to put this limit of 10 in.
hey guys, I'm at the bastille area right now and doing fine, I guess, considering I just keep on playing with 50% health.
I have a +5 falchion but want to try and get the uchikatana ASAP. I have to get to the iron keep first, but is that so far away that it's not worth saving titan shards for? Shall I just try to get the falchion +10, and by the time I get to the ember at iron keep I will have saved enough titanite shards to grade the uchi up?
What I mean is, how far away is it? I'm at the sinners tower thing now.
I have a +5 falchion but want to try and get the uchikatana ASAP. I have to get to the iron keep first, but is that so far away that it's not worth saving titan shards for? Shall I just try to get the falchion +10, and by the time I get to the ember at iron keep I will have saved enough titanite shards to grade the uchi up?
What I mean is, how far away is it? I'm at the sinners tower thing now.
test_account
XP-39C²
Ah ok, thanks for the info
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
I seriously need to figure out a way to counter the
I could manage every move from them except for this one and it inevitably gets me killed.
sentinel's spin attack.
I could manage every move from them except for this one and it inevitably gets me killed.
I had a super productive night and now I'm really enjoying the game.
Still, as much as I like warping around from the get-go I think it was a bad design decision. It makes the game feel way less cohesive, and it also downgrades the importance of shortcuts (which were mindblowing and super important in DaS). I don't know, maybe I'll feel differently as I play on.
Still, as much as I like warping around from the get-go I think it was a bad design decision. It makes the game feel way less cohesive, and it also downgrades the importance of shortcuts (which were mindblowing and super important in DaS). I don't know, maybe I'll feel differently as I play on.
LaunchpadMcQ
Banned
So I have a mechanics question since something happened last night and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. Can you summon phantoms to help you even if you've already defeated the boss of an area?
If no, why the hell could I summon someone in Tower of Flame if I already beat Dragonrider
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
It is so easy to farm a shit ton of souls just by being summoned into other player's world. So unless you're opposed to the online mechanics there isn't actually any worry about running out of souls.
There's another boss
ENB says that you'll generally finish this game at a higher SL than DS1. He assumes around 120.
LaunchpadMcQ
Banned
Well, this is a surprise, I thought for sure that it
was just a path to get to the Wharf after Dragonrider. Where the hell is this second boss?
You are right in alot of ways. But the whole "souls are a finite resource" isnt true in my experience.
I have about 6-7 boss souls I havent used that I could pop. I have about 15 random soldier/knight souls I can pop. And im level 60-70 right now. Souls are everywhere.
So with that in mind, I really dont see the need to limit my number of spawns. Especially since its already been said that I can just go online and farm souls there too. If they are going to give us so many options to grind, just let me have the original option back.
Its just a design flaw that I cant wrap my head around. Maybe I need to beat the game and see how it all pans out in the end. But as I get closer and closer to the finale, I still have the same feeling in my gut about this mechanic.
And as far as the designers wanting me to play NG+, etc. I get that. This encourages it in a way. But most of the time, I just start a completely new play through. I dont want to keep playing the same class/character, I want to start all over fresh. So for people like me, the grinding for shards aspect is fucked.
Im sure ill find a way around it. I just dont ever want to see this feature in any other Souls game ever.
Its just a giant buzz kill on an almost perfect game.
Exactly, souls are not a finite resource. Shards are. This is where my complaint stems from. So they didnt discourage farming for souls, they discouraged farming for items. Which is one of the main components in a Souls game. I spent countless hours farming for slabs in DS1. Even though it sounds tedious and boring, I had a fucking great time. The moment you finally get a slab, you get that feeling of accomplishment.
I miss that feeling in this game.
Facism
Member
The Mace is brilliant. I'm going to keep it until i can find a claymore
STR/INT build is working out well, especially for coop bosses. I can stand at the back and spam heavy soul arrow before wading in and smackin ting down #wasteman
I fucking love how quickly you can get summoned in this. Or invade. Brilliant. I think lvl 35 is a little too high for the last giant now, though
He's in the
huntsman's area place. If you head to heide again after you talk to the miracle lady, she opens up another path for you. Right before the skeleton boss there is a bonfire locked in a cage. If you find the key, you open it up and free a knight who tells you how he was betrayed by a sweet-talker named pate. He says he's easy to identify by his ring.
I was just wondering what happens if you find that guy before you find (super spoiler)
pate. Is pate just not there? Does the game act like nothing happens? What happens if you kill pate? Do you get the ring from him?
Super interesting. NPC interaction is levels above DS1 so far.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Do you know that area with the three giants?
Go to the left instead of the right.
Is this new, harder spawn infinite or does it go away after they die 15 times like the original set of spawns?
LaunchpadMcQ
Banned
But
isn't that technically Cathedral of Blue? I've beaten Ornstein as well already.
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