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[a secret-boss]

Look at my petrified something gave me. Pretty useless for a sorc. Lol

 

[LiquidSword]

Do you have full humanity while looking for them?

No. I thought it was opposite in this game. At least the human effigy makes it sound that way. It says using it weakens the connection to other worlds preventing invasions and co-op. Am I reading it wrong or something?

 

[Dresden]

I think it's a really good idea that they just didn't implement well. I don't think you can argue that there needs to be a better way to determine character strength than SL. We saw the kind of stupid stuff that happens because of that in Dark Souls. Maybe they just need to widen the range. 50,000 souls, or whatever it is, is way to small of a range in the late game.

I don't think it works at all, broadened range or not. Accruing souls is just a passive side effect of playing the game for most (pvp, etc) and by playing more you slowly lock yourself out of playing with everyone else. It also ruins the concept of a pvp cap and throttles active players out of the co-op pool.

The problems it tries to solve - overpowered twinks, griefers, etc - just aren't major enough anymore to be worth solving like this.

 

[the_batman]

I've got over a thousand ratings on my message that I left at the spot where you do it. I like to imagine that each person shouted "BLESS YOU KIND SIR" when they were clicking the rate button.

Before doing it, that fight suuuuuuckssssssssssss. I mean, it's more difficult for sure, and more interesting in a lot of ways, but it still kicked my ass.

so i must have seen your message, lol. thanks, bro.

 

[dubq]

Can you not summon help from phantoms in the Grave of Saints?

 

[DoubleTake]

luckily i saw a sign on the ground telling me to do that on my first playthrough of the area. dude saved me from a lot of frustration.

You dont realize how lucky you are lol. I was getting genuinely pissed off haha

 

[vas_a_morir]

Beat it. Now, time for the community to figure out the game so I can really play it. lol

The ending was so poignant and moving. Totally didn't expect it!

Spoiler

Naw, I'm just kidding. I have no idea what the fuck happened, lol

Best Level:

Spoiler

Vendrick's Castle.

Best Boss (design):

Spoiler

Frog Demon

Best Character:

Spoiler

Moon Sword Man!

Hardest Boss:

Spoiler

Giant Rat with toxic buddies/Smelter Demon

Weapon of Choice: Giant Club.
Armor of Choice: Smelter Armor
Covenant: Sunbro (lvl 3)

 

[robotzombie]

Look at my petrified something gave me. Pretty useless for a sorc. Lol

oh my god what is that thing i want it

does it actually have good stats/moveset?

 

[Reule]

Somewhat late game spoilers..

Spoiler

So I had read that you needed to defeat the four Old Ones before being able to open The Shrine of Winter but I actually opened it up earlier with having only defeated Lost Sinner and Old Iron King. Not sure if that's a bug or what but I turned around after having made it to the doors of Drangleic Castle.

I'm really enjoying the game and I haven't even really messed around with the covenants yet.

 

[Toxi]

Look at my petrified something gave me. Pretty useless for a sorc. Lol

Sexy as hell. Definitely going to keep that in mind.

 

[PuppetMaster]

Finally got my 35 kills to max out the

Spoiler

rat king

covenant.

That's a lot of poor saps who had to die... And mostly a lot of waiting around.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Could you always be summoned to beat a boss you'd never even encountered before? Ruins it a bit imo

 

[Garcia]

So, any help guys? I appreciate any tips. I don't want to waste my time staring 20 seconds at the screen by warping to a location I shouldn't even be visiting anymore. I just want to finish this game.

I have already vanquished

Spoiler

3 of the Great Four. Lost Sinner, Spider and Iron Keep Boss

. Right now I've found the

Spoiler

Drangelic Castle

but it seems I can't enter yet, I've entered the

Spoiler

Grave of Saints

buy only had 4 Pharros Lockstones with me. . . I need an extra 3 to place next to the rat statues and I can't enter the door that (I assume) leads to

Spoiler

The Gutter

 

[a secret-boss]

oh my god what is that thing i want it

does it actually have good stats/moveset?

its the

Spoiler

demon hamme

r from DS1 I believe. it has

Spoiler

300 atk with 50 str requirement

 

[sixghost]

I don't think it works at all, broadened range or not. Accruing souls is just a passive side effect of playing the game for most (pvp, etc) and by playing more you slowly lock yourself out of playing with everyone else. It also ruins the concept of a pvp cap and throttles active players out of the co-op pool.

The problems it tries to solve - overpowered twinks, griefers, etc - just aren't major enough anymore to be worth solving like this.

I don't think anything you're saying is something that proper scaling of the range couldn't solve. All the people you're going to be cooping with are going to be gaining souls too. The range just needs to expand extremely rapidly the higher it goes, as a 50,000 difference in souls at level 8 means a hell of a lot more than at level 150.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

1. I think so, as fists scale now. It would probably still be tedious though.
2. Can't speak from experience, but I imagine it would still be possible. Though rolling ability being tied to the adaptability stat is going to make it harder (or more annoying) in this game.
3. I'm pretty sure they don't.
4. You cannot parry in power stance. You can parry with certain weapons in your offhand, as long as you are not in power stance. Curved swords for instance, and I imagine parrying dagger as well. Most weapons do not allow you to parry with them in your off hand though.
5. Yes you can parry while 2 handing in this game.
6. Yes it is seriously compromised. You can still get the faster roll animation, and a long ranged dodge if your equip load is low, but there is a bit more of a delay, and much less invincibility with low adaptability.
7. I haven't been interrupted during a backstab. I think this would only happen if you got hit with an attack that had knockback. But the damage you take during the animation is seriously reduced, so I think they toned down this "feature" from the beta.
8. I have heard this as well, but haven't seen it first hand.
9. Basically, it respawns all of the enemies in an area, and puts them in NG+ difficulty. If you have depleted an enemy, they will be returned until you kill them enough times to deplete them again. It also revives bosses, and certain treasures.
10. I read that it tops out on NG+7. But I'm nowhere near that myself, so I can't say much more about that.
11. Don't know
12. I don't think so, but maybe I'm not far enough.
13. I'm pretty sure it does. It is caused by killing that enemy a certain number of times (15?)
14. I haven't really gotten far enough to answer this. I've only encountered two bosses so far. I don't remember any synth though, unless I'm mistaking your meaning here.

Thanks for the answers. I'm extremely happy about double handed ripostes, not happy at all about dodging being compromised. I can hardly believe there are still 7 separate difficulty levels, they can't possibly make all of them interesting. If they do, I'll... well, I'll be playing this game for an insane amount of time. I'll assume nothing until I've seen it confirmed, I just wanted to express that.

By synth I mean electronic imitations of instruments as opposed to actual orchestral performances. I checked out a couple of boss themes posted in another thread, both were synth. I'm really disappointed about this, they sound ugly compared to the first game which was mostly orchestral (the DLC bosses were the only exceptions iirc, and they were far inferior). This was supposed to have a bigger budget? This is still Sakuraba, but he's wasted here.

Spoiler

Enemy positions and types are changed, enemies that are exclusive to ng+ are added.Items you can pick up are either different and/ or of higher tier.
Merchant sell different items.And some armor you can only get in ng+

And a shit ton of other surprises that you would not have expected.
It's enough to make it feel like a different game. People are going to get crushed to dust, and i believe sl1-gimmick into ng+ runs are going to be next to impossible now.

Sounds crazy. PVPers won't be happy about

Spoiler

exclusive stuff in higher rounds

. I'm not into that, but I am into minimalism, so this still doesn't sit right with me. It's something I can't judge until I experience it. I really enjoyed limiting my playstyle in the first game by playing at low levels, and I'd be very disappointed to see that diluted.

 

[stupei]

Other than the usual concerns of finding something better later on, is there any reason not to imbue a weapon with lightning? No bosses are immune to it or anything, right?

 

[Maybesew]

Other than the usual concerns of finding something better later on, is there any reason not to imbue a weapon with lightning? No bosses are immune to it or anything, right?

You will lose stat scaling for STR or dex.

 

[RyudBoy]

So I just learned about respawn limits...

What. the. fack?

Please tell me it isn't permanent?

 

[Mana Sin]

(Iron Keep)

Spoiler

How are you meant to get the chest on the molten rocks in the room with the platforms you can raise/lower

?

 

[SargerusBR]

So i went ahead and created a Lore Thread, fell free to add your speculations
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=104553462

 

[sixghost]

Holy shit this guy on twitch is parrying just about every single one of pursuer's attacks.

 

[Soriku]

So I just learned about respawn limits...

What. the. fack?

Please tell me it isn't permanent?

It's not a big deal. Enemies disappear after killing them 10-15 times. There are a lot of enemies in an area, and that's a lot of souls you'll accrue. You'll have more than enough souls to level up or upgrade equipment before you clear an entire area, if you do at all (so long as you go back to Majula often and don't keep losing souls). The only way I can see that happening is if you intentionally grind a lot.

It's not permanent as you can use an item called a Bonfire Ascetic to bring them back. They're harder but drop more souls (they're essentially NG+ level, and you can use multiple in the same area).

 

[Alebelly]

So I just learned about respawn limits...

What. the. fack?

Please tell me it isn't permanent?

I haven't found it to be a big deal, the only area I farmed out was betwixt, but i did use a bonfire ascetic there, got around 52,000 souls to start the game with

 

[emb]

So I just learned about respawn limits...

What. the. fack?

Please tell me it isn't permanent?

Yes and no. They're gone for good, unless you burn a bonfire ascetic to bring them back. If you do that they'll be stronger though.

I think it's intend to prevent you from grinding, but for me it's just made the game easier (and caused me to grind, knowing that if I lose souls, they're gone forever).

 

[Dresden]

I don't think anything you're saying is something that proper scaling of the range couldn't solve. All the people you're going to be cooping with are going to be gaining souls too. The range just needs to expand extremely rapidly the higher it goes, as a 50,000 difference in souls at level 8 means a hell of a lot more than at level 150.

You don't see the problem in steadily isolating people who play on one character for long periods of time? That people might not want to constantly push on to level 200, 300, etc? That those who enjoy pvp aren't going to enjoy being locked in with the same group of people they face everyday, knowing that there's no real SL cap anymore to their combat, thus removing the concept of constraint in building your character?

That control of who the player wants to play with is completely out of the player's hands is unacceptable.

 

[RyanDG]

6 more strength points before i start power stancing great axes.

 

[rando14]

Damn, (mid-game ish spoilers?)

Spoiler

Royal Rat Authority

is kicking my ass. Any tips? I run in and

Spoiler

try and kill the rats but they always hit me with toxic while the big rat swoops in and just cheeses me...

 

[sixghost]

You don't see the problem in steadily isolating people who play on one character for long periods of time? That people might not want to constantly push on to level 200, 300, etc? That those who enjoy pvp aren't going to enjoy being locked in with the same group of people they face everyday, knowing that there's no real SL cap anymore to their combat, thus removing the concept of constraint in building your character?

That control of who the player wants to play with is completely out of the player's hands is unacceptable.

If the range scales properly, none of that happens. I'll take the soul memory idea with better execution over getting level 5 dark wraiths with fully upgraded PvP gear invading the beginning areas of the game. Soul level was always a terrible way of determining strength.

 

[Donuts]

Damn, (mid-game ish spoilers?)

Spoiler

Royal Rat Authority

is kicking my ass. Any tips? I run in and

Spoiler

try and kill the rats but they always hit me with toxic while the big rat swoops in and just cheeses me...

Spoiler

Prioritize the boss. You kill him and all the little rats run away

 

[vas_a_morir]

Really cool how you can continue to play in your old world after beating the old boss until you want to move on to NG+. Also, I just found out you can redistribute all your points. So, you wanted a faith build? You got it. No need to start over. Although, I don't know if there is a limit to how many times you do it.

 

[DoubleTake]

So were meant to drop petrified somethings for the crows? Or can we keep them for something else?

 

[Jackben]

I haven't found it to be a big deal, the only area I farmed out was betwixt, but i did use a bonfire ascetic there, got around 52,000 souls to start the game with

I hope you realize you've severely crippled your ability summon phantoms and be summoned in co-op, as well as placed yourself in a much higher bracket for PVP invasions...before even starting the game. Welcome to Dark Souls II.

 

[Astral]

Really cool how you can continue to play in your old world after beating the old boss until you want to move on to NG+. Also, I just found out you can redistribute all your points. So, you wanted a faith build? You got it. No need to start over. Although, I don't know if there is a limit to how many times you do it.

So killing the final boss doesn't automatically take you to NG+?

 

[Dresden]

If the range scales properly, none of that happens. I'll take the soul memory idea with better execution over getting level 5 dark wraiths with fully upgraded PvP gear invading the beginning areas of the game. Soul level was always a terrible way of determining strength.

It doesn't matter what the range is. As long as soul memory exists, there's no pvp cap. The more you play, the more you'll inevitably go up in range, and as you go up in range, there's no reason to leave the souls unspent. Leave it unspent and you're stuck with people who did spend it.

You keep insisting that it'll work out if it's done properly, I'm saying that there's no proper way to do it at all without compromising the online community as a whole. I'll take twinks raiding Forest of Giants over this any day. Trying to fix one problem at the expense of everything else is silly as hell.

 

[ElFly]

I wish Emerald sat outside of the Bonfire stone circle.

 

[Gorillaz]

so wait, it's based on how many souls altogether you collected?

yea...they might have fucked up PvP scaling then.....

.

lol damn he overshot all summons for awhile

 

[SargerusBR]

Lobosjr is trying a speedrun right now
http://www.twitch.tv/lobosjr

 

[Grinchy]

So do weapons degrade faster the higher they are leveled? My falchions seem to be made out of aluminum foil all of a sudden.

 

[Alebelly]

I hope you realize you've severely crippled your ability summon phantoms and be summoned in co-op, as well as placed yourself in a much higher bracket for PVP invasions...before even starting the game. Welcome to Dark Souls II.

I've been summoning and being summoned, and being invaded regularly. I'm finding the online experience great fun. I guess if I fucked it all up, then I'm happy I did.

 

[bender]

So do weapons degrade faster the higher they are leveled? My falchions seem to be made out of aluminum foil all of a sudden.

I have used a falchion in a while but it's always seemed to have low durability no matter the level (I stopped at +4).

 

[Sakura]

Just got summoned to help fight The R

Spoiler

otten

and the guy was doing like 20 damage a hit, and got killed in one hit. How do these people even make it this far lol.

 

[Dresden]

I've been summoning and being summoned, and being invaded regularly. I'm finding the online experience great fun. I guess if I fucked it all up, then I'm happy I did.

What you farmed there doesn't really matter. Don't worry about it, if you ever did.

Total amount of souls collected and levels - A character's total number of souls is factored in during summonings/invasions (generally you must be within 50,000 souls of the person you're invading/co-opping with and your level must be within +/- 10 levels).

 

[vas_a_morir]

So killing the final boss doesn't automatically take you to NG+?

Nope. DS1 superfans will hate that, but I like it. There are a lot of things/covenants that I didn't try. Instead of having to make 6 characters and play through the same stuff, you can just go back and give it a try. Once again, DS1's will cry 'casuals,' but I dig it.

Honestly, I expected this game to be a disappointment, but I think this game was as good if not better than DS1.

 

[MuddyDonut]

All my traps in the rat covenant area reset... All those Pharros' Lockstone wasted

 

[ElFly]

The Ring of Life Protection exploit didn't work for me.

I still became a zombie.

Kept my meager souls tho.

 

[LordCanti]

Lobosjr is trying a speedrun right now
http://www.twitch.tv/lobosjr

Has he done any previous runs? I'd love to know what ballpark speedrunners are in currently.

 

[Essay]

Woah, that was weird. My Blue Eye Stone sent me off to hunt someone in the

Spoiler

Undead Crypt

—a level I haven't even visited myself yet. I spawned near the boss door and was so unfamiliar with the level that I couldn't find my way to the enemy. Eventually the level killed him, so everything worked out.

 

[RyudBoy]

It's not a big deal. Enemies disappear after killing them 10-15 times. There are a lot of enemies in an area, and that's a lot of souls you'll accrue. You'll have more than enough souls to level up or upgrade equipment before you clear an entire area, if you do at all (so long as you go back to Majula often and don't keep losing souls). The only way I can see that happening is if you intentionally grind a lot.

It's not permanent as you can use an item called a Bonfire Ascetic to bring them back. They're harder but drop more souls (they're essentially NG+ level, and you can use multiple in the same area).

I haven't found it to be a big deal, the only area I farmed out was betwixt, but i did use a bonfire ascetic there, got around 52,000 souls to start the game with

Yes and no. They're gone for good, unless you burn a bonfire ascetic to bring them back. If you do that they'll be stronger though.

I think it's intend to prevent you from grinding, but for me it's just made the game easier (and caused me to grind, knowing that if I lose souls, they're gone forever).

Thx.

I'm still relatively at the beginning, and I do like to grind since I started as an archer (same as I did in Demons, DS1). I try to use bow only and I like to get my piece of crap weapon to +5 before I do any major exploring, so I was surprised to find enemies disappearing completely. Oh well, shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[gdt]

So do weapons degrade faster the higher they are leveled? My falchions seem to be made out of aluminum foil all of a sudden.

It hit me tonight too after leveling my sword...