It's such an idiotic mechanic. It adds a completely unnecessary barrier to co-op that actively punishes you for helping others. The more you are summoned, the greater a separation you create with others as the game progresses and the smaller the co-op player pool becomes. It's frankly moronic and I hope they reconsider it.
It really is the single worst thing about the game. It doesn't even make sense from a balance perspective because a player that sucks can have very large soul number and not so high soul level. And he will likely be paired with a good player that stays at a soul level and farms
I used it for the whole game. No fancy stones needed just straight +10, pump strength 40-45, and then rub some aromatic ooze or pine resin on it right before a boss. The one-handed arcing swing is so beastly that everything in like a 200 degree arc around you just dies. With good poise you can wade into like 5 enemies swinging and they all stagger and die from R1 combos.
I used it for the whole game. No fancy stones needed just straight +10 and then rub some aromatic ooze or pine resin on it right before a boss. The arcing swing is so beastly that everything in like a 200 degree arc around you just dies. With good poise you can wade into like 5 enemies swinging and they all stagger and die from R1 combos.
Thinking about doing some farming. Where would you guys recommend using a Bonfire Ascetic? I'm thinking the Iron Keep run from the first bonfire to the Smelter Demon room will yield a ton of souls. Also, enemies strengthened from Bonfire Ascetic drop more souls than normal, right?
Hey guys, hit a bit of a wall here, due to not knowing where to go. I've searched a fair bit, but cannot proceed due to needing to provide
more powerful souls, or symbol of a king
So far I've only
killed 3 of the lord type bosses, those being Spiderbro in Brightstone, The Rotten in Black Gulch, and The Last Sinner in Sinners rise, or whatever it was called.
Could anyone give me a brief idea on what direction I should be heading in? Just a grenreal nudge with no spoilers if possible? It'd really help me out. Cheers fellas.
If you haven't exhausted the dialogue of the Miracle seller in Heide's Tower yet, do that. Then go through the path to Heide's Tower from Majula again.
Without spoilers, what do you guys think of the areas in this game? Overall, are they as visually interesting and memorable as the areas in the other games?
To me, the other games, Dark Souls 1 especially, evoked a sense of place that few games can. They felt less like hand-crafted areas and more like real places (even though the progression through them is more game-y than your average FPS). For example, the continual descent underground in Dark Souls 1 felt AMAZING to me. It really felt like some long journey underground.
I think Dark Souls II is a little inconsistent in this regard, and that early game leaves a questionable first impression - but as I'm approaching mid game I have had a few 'wow' moments.
Maybe it's a matter of 'nothing is as good as your first', but as a whole - I think Demon's Souls does a better job at creating memorable environments that also feel hand crafted and have a good sense of atmosphere/place.
While I do like the inter-locking world design of Dark Souls I, and there are a few stand out levels - not many of them come to the same impact as my first explorations into Demon's Souls.
Love Boletarian Palace and how it has all of these interconnecting passages, short cuts to open, etc. The atmosphere of Tower of Latria is pretty great also and one of my favorite levels in a video game all around.
As individual set pieces, Demon's Souls wins out - but maybe in the 'world as a whole' Dark Souls might inch it out.
Dark Souls II is very much a hybrid of the two - but instead of a tightly interconnected world, it's more of a hub & spoke type of design - with each spoke having it's own progression, interconnecting areas, etc.
Some of the first few starting areas feel kind of inconsistent / muddy in parts - and don't have much of an 'oh-wow' impact. Heids Tower is kind of neat - but lacks a feeling of 'awe'.
Once I started to get past the starting areas though - I started to become more impressed with the levels. I do think that a few areas do look downright bad. (name of a level...)
Brightstone Cove Tseldora
is just ugly - and the enemy design feels like it belongs in a PS2 game.
One thing I do think is interesting about that area though - as you approach a certian entrance and there is an enemy holding a torch - the immediate area around him actually looks OK. Once he's dead and the flame dies - it goes back to that gray-washed out look. You can tell that at-least on consoles - the lighting really did get scaled back, and you get peaks at 'what could have been' when you get some artificial lighting sources like torches / bonfires flickering off of the walls.
If From had kept the dark areas / 'blacks being blacker' and a more liberal use of torches / lighting sources / etc - and I think the atmosphere that seems to be lacking from many areas would come back.
I also think a few of the early areas relies on 'enemy ambush' a little too often, and enemy placement feels a bit haphazad at times. What I loved about my first crawls through Boletarian, or the Undead Burg / Undead Parish - is that every enemy location felt like it had a reason. It made each little segment feel like a puzzle in how to best approach it - how to lure things out, the order of killing things - and this was something that happened right out of the gate with these games.
Dark Souls II - now and then feels more like a 'randomly placed gauntlet of enemies' early game, and it wasn't maybe until the 10-15hr mark or so (depending on the progression path you take - this may vary) that you start to get this feeling back.
That said - the areas that do start to get that 'environment / level as a puzzle feeling' back, are doing it quite well. The peaking around each corner, getting the layout of each enemy - figuring out the order to best take them out, how to lure them to me to take them out on my own terms have been great and the areas that I am really enjoying - can probably be ranked up there with my favorites from the earlier games.
From what I gather, I'm at about the half-way point of the game (or 2/3rds according to some) - and at 40hrs into the game - I've enjoyed the last half of that far more than the firrst.
Magic or melee is the only thing Ive found that kills them. On the plus side though, they stay dead if you rest at the bonfire. I was farming there since tentacle doods drop large shards and chunks. I also just read that I missed a hidden/secret cave in the area.
Weapons breaking is the stupidest thing in this game. Great, so I'm being punished for being on a roll? And now I'm fucked in the middle of a boss battle.
* Is there any way to make the larger weapons swing faster? Im still using this mace from early on at SL80. Ive even got many boss soul weapons, but theyre just so slow and require so much stamina per swing that it's not worth it.
* Does AGI make you roll faster? What does it mean "increases the ease of evasion"?
* Is there a vendor that sells titanite in unlimited supply?
Weapons breaking is the stupidest thing in this game. Great, so I'm being punished for being on a roll? And now I'm fucked in the middle of a boss battle.
If you haven't exhausted the dialogue of the Miracle seller in Heide's Tower yet, do that. Then go through the path to Heide's Tower from Majula again.
fucking love these scrubs with the greatsword. So fucking bad. Swing, miss, get smashed with 2 soul spears > die. Invaders/belltower trespassers (or bell-ends, as i call them) carrying one of these = easiest PVP wins i'll ever have in this game as a sorcerer.
* Is there any way to make the larger weapons swing faster? Im still using this mace from early on at SL80. Ive even got many boss soul weapons, but theyre just so slow and require so much stamina per swing that it's not worth it.
* Does AGI make you roll faster? What does it mean "increases the ease of evasion"?
* Is there a vendor that sells titanite in unlimited supply?
1. Not really
2. I would say it lets you roll *sooner* not *faster*. Like if you chug an estus and are mashing roll because the enemy is charging you then then roll will come out sooner.
3.
Yes, the blacksmith's daughter. After talking to her in the poison area she moves back to Majula and upgrades her inventory over time until she is selling everything.
Without spoilers, what do you guys think of the areas in this game? Overall, are they as visually interesting and memorable as the areas in the other games?
To me, only 2 were memorable because of how well thought and organized they are:
Iron Keep & Dragons Shrine. First one slightly reminded of Sen's Fortress because of the contraptions required to make progress. Dragons Shrine is beautifully crafted, despite the lack of atmospheric shadows and other details.
Majula has gorgeous exteriors but sub par interiors and immediate passageways to other areas, so it's a mix between both.
fucking love these scrubs with the greatsword. So fucking bad. Swing, miss, get smashed with 2 soul spears > die. Invaders/belltower trespassers (or bell-ends, as i call them) carrying one of these = easiest PVP wins i'll ever have in this game as a sorcerer.
It also burns when they bring it into a boss fight, like against Lost Sinner. You're not presented with too many chances for an attack that won't leave you taking damage immediately afterward if you're using the huge weapons.
I used it for the whole game. No fancy stones needed just straight +10, pump strength 40-45, and then rub some aromatic ooze or pine resin on it right before a boss. The one-handed arcing swing is so beastly that everything in like a 200 degree arc around you just dies. With good poise you can wade into like 5 enemies swinging and they all stagger and die from R1 combos.
I haven't run into breaking weapons very much, but I could see the value of the mechanic if they had certain powerful weapons that didn't have much durability, forcing you to choose when to use them.
it's actually my favorite new mechanic; repair in the previous games was effectively meaningless outside of scraping spear PvP. I've had it affect my game in ways that were pretty exciting. I now keep two good weapons ready all the time.
I think repairing is implemented better than Dark Souls. It's actually somewhat of a threat this time, and you auto repair if you make it to a bonfire before it breaks. It made some early areas more intense for me.
* Is there any way to make the larger weapons swing faster? Im still using this mace from early on at SL80. Ive even got many boss soul weapons, but theyre just so slow and require so much stamina per swing that it's not worth it.
* Does AGI make you roll faster? What does it mean "increases the ease of evasion"?
* Is there a vendor that sells titanite in unlimited supply?
I haven't run into breaking weapons very much, but I could see the value of the mechanic if they had certain powerful weapons that didn't have much durability, forcing you to choose when to use them.
fucking love these scrubs with the greatsword. So fucking bad. Swing, miss, get smashed with 2 soul spears > die. Invaders/belltower trespassers (or bell-ends, as i call them) carrying one of these = easiest PVP wins i'll ever have in this game as a sorcerer.
Not that I've found. I haven't inspected every single ultra greatsword though. I think I saw mention of one with S scaling for strength but I don't have it. I'll need to look it up later. Runner up for me was a boss weapon:
The smelter sword.
Same R1, good range, and neat explosive heavy attacks (at the cost of durability). It is potentially as good or better if you also have faith, but with my faith of 6 the greatsword was better particularly because it can get elemental buffs.
Just wanna say I didn't use pyromancy at all the whole game but when someone invaded me and used the spell toxic on me I immediately panicked and died to trying to heal and having this guy chase me. I looked up the requirements and I am now packing the glove and the toxic spell. Had 2 invasions and through toxic at them and they immediey panicked and died lol. This spell is crazy. It's also good for pve. I've upped the glove to +5 and the spell only has 3 uses. Besides upping the glove is their a way to make the spell stronger and more usages ??
I haven't run into breaking weapons very much, but I could see the value of the mechanic if they had certain powerful weapons that didn't have much durability, forcing you to choose when to use them.
I've upgraded my weapons quite a bit and it's at risk of breaking in a single run. I even took a short cut the boss and barely used my swords. Still got left high and dry.
it's actually my favorite new mechanic; repair in the previous games was effectively meaningless outside of scraping spear PvP. I've had it affect my game in ways that were pretty exciting. I now keep two good weapons ready all the time.
What is there to enjoy about a broken weapon? It's effectively saying "You're doing too good, so lets fuck you up for no particular reason", especially when it auto repairs at bonfires. Resources are limited enough that you can't upgrade too many weapons, so why are they trying to force that on you?
