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

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Fhtagn

Member
Yeah, there are really nods to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and King's Field in this one. All intertwined with plenty of new as well. Good stuff all around.

Ooooh, excited. I love KF and recently beat KF and KF IV.

If I'm understanding everything, (mild mechanical spoilers re: durability and wielding weapons)
balancing the weapon durability so that they break more easily, but repair for free at bonfires, combined with being able to rotate through three weapons in each hand has the potential to be really gosh darn clever.

And if they've actually increased the chance to experiencing tension over weapon breaking, that reminds me of Shadow Tower, where it's a central mechanic.
 

dreamfall

Member
If you've never played one before I don't recommend trying to dual wield through the game. Today's streamer isn't the best player but has experience with the previous games and has been resiliently trying to dual wield his way through the game. It's been incredibly messy, tedious, and drawn out, with hours of retries to the point where he eventually gave up and equipped a shield for the most recent boss. Definitely not nonviable but wouldn't recommend it for a first time experience.

Hmmm I hear you. I played a Wanderer in both Demon's and Dark and the most adventurous I felt with high dexterity involved switching to two handed attacks but relying on a shield when need be. I take it dual wielding would involve a ton of rolling, but I also don't know if I'm comfortable maintaining a steady attack with both triggers.

But that outfit! I hope we can acquire it earlier on in the journey if we select another class, decisions decisions!
 

Clevinger

Member
Dat Explorer.

explorer.gif


Dig it.

Wait. Is that a dead, stuffed bird glued to his/her armor?
 

Dresden

Member
I'm not sure. Whatever those icons are on the right are what she starts with.

exploreritems.jpg


I bet at least one of those things are bombs. And there appears to be a ring equipped. (No one else has a ring)

Hmm, alright. If they start with an extra gift, I'll probably go with them.
 

Deitus

Member
I'm not sure. Whatever those icons are on the right are what she starts with.

exploreritems.jpg


I bet at least one of those things are bombs. And there appears to be a ring equipped. (No one else has a ring)

I think that one of the items is a prism stone and another is repair powder. I guess the explorer is prepared for any situation.
 
I am not digging the Explorer's beret, but I guess a part of Dark Souls is learning to endure... (Maybe it has some nifty drop rate bonus, though.)
 

Fhtagn

Member
So is the depraved the best class for min maxing?

Nah, the classes that start with incredibly low stats in the stats you don't care about are theoretically better. Depends on where you want your final stats to be. A few people have made spreadsheets to figure it all out.
 

bigmac996

Member
I'm thinking about somehow recreating the Temple Knight class from the beta for my first run. Does anybody know what would be a good starter in that case? I'm unsure between the cleric and knight.
 

Toxi

Banned
Is it normal for ads in Japan to use subtitled English? It seems like it wouldn't be a very good marketing strategy.

Also, I feel spoiled, but in a good way.
Hmmm I hear you. I played a Wanderer in both Demon's and Dark and the most adventurous I felt with high dexterity involved switching to two handed attacks but relying on a shield when need be. I take it dual wielding would involve a ton of rolling, but I also don't know if I'm comfortable maintaining a steady attack with both triggers.

But that outfit! I hope we can acquire it earlier on in the journey if we select another class, decisions decisions!
If it's like Dark Souls, every starting class will appear as a corpse at some point close to a dangerous foe or obstacle and you'll find their armor there.

  • Warrior: In the Gaping Dragon's boss room.
  • Bandit: In the giant rat's chamber; the bandit also managed to lodge a Battle Axe in the rat's eye.
  • Knight: Submerged in the hydra lake.
  • Thief: Stowed in one of the hollow thieves' homes.
  • Sorcerer: Stuck in a barrel next to Griggs of Vinheim; it's implied to be treachery.
  • Hunter: On a ledge in Darkroot Basin. Presumably had a nasty fall.
  • Cleric: On a ledge above the wheel skeleton room. Either the cleric had a nasty fall or starved to death unable to get down.
  • Wanderer: Somewhere in upper Blighttown. Presumably killed by the blighted.
  • Pyromancer: Lying in the Blighttown swamp; poison probably did it.

EDIT: I just realized that the deprived is the only "survivor" since you find the Plank Shield in a hidden chest instead of on a corpse. That's hilarious.
 

Dresden

Member
I'm thinking about somehow recreating the Temple Knight class from the beta for my first run. Does anybody know what would be a good starter in that case? I'm unsure between the cleric and knight.

Looks like the Cleric starts with the same robe and cape, so I'd go with them.
 

fedexpeon

Banned
I'm thinking about somehow recreating the Temple Knight class from the beta for my first run. Does anybody know what would be a good starter in that case? I'm unsure between the cleric and knight.

The Knight has the best all around stats for melee. No stats wasted on Int/Faith. High/Avg stats in melee stats: Vig/Vit/Str/Dex/Adp
So if you want to create a Templar Knight, just pump in Faith on the Knight for spells while their other stats will let you use heavy armor/weapon.
 
Nah, the classes that start with incredibly low stats in the stats you don't care about are theoretically better. Depends on where you want your final stats to be. A few people have made spreadsheets to figure it all out.

Kinda glad the theorycrafters will be putting in work long before the PC version is out. Not sure which weapon I'll go with this time around. I hope the katanas are still good.
 

isual

Member
was able to get my copy ship on the 11th before 8pm pst.

sweet.

still no internet once it goes out next week.

sadface

just got back. did the streamer finally beat that boss ? how far is he now ?
 

bigmac996

Member
Looks like the Cleric starts with the same robe and cape, so I'd go with them.

fedexpeon said:
The Knight has the best all around stats for melee. No stats wasted on Int/Faith. High/Avg stats in melee stats: Vig/Vit/Str/Dex/Adp
So if you want to create a Templar Knight, just pump in Faith on the Knight for spells while their other stats will let you use heavy armor/weapon.

Thanks for the tips guys. I think I'm gonna go with the Knight, but that cleric cloak is pretty rad.
 
Looks like the Cleric starts with the same robe and cape, so I'd go with them.

Oh shit, are they going to be able to render capes in this one? I was so bummed in Dark 1 when I got hold of Balder armor... and there was no cape, like the enemies have.
Damnit, I made Leon S Kennedy last time, now I want to make Kamina.
 
So was that one British site the cheapest place to pre-order the PC version? I remember someone saying there was a region lock for the game on Steam, so I'm wondering if I'd need to use a US-based site instead.
 

Dresden

Member
Thanks for the tips guys. I think I'm gonna go with the Knight, but that cleric cloak is pretty rad.

Not that we know how the soul vessel works, exactly, but the fact that it exists is enough for me to disregard whatever statistical advantage one starting class might have over the others. Trying to build your character around a theme is more visual than anything else, so just starting out with that gear would be preferable - my opinion, of course.
 

oroboros

Member
Bandit girl looks Mad Max as fuck. If I wasn't going Deprived, I'd for sure roll with her first time out, Explorer pretty dope too.
 

Lost Fragment

Obsessed with 4chan
#teambandit here. I like speedy characters with good movement options so gonna go with a dex build for my first. Swordsman seems like more of a class that's a better starter when you already know the game. Bandit leaves more room for nooby errors with the better health/endurance stats.

Not that we know how the soul vessel works, exactly, but the fact that it exists is enough for me to disregard whatever statistical advantage one starting class might have over the others. Trying to build your character around a theme is more visual than anything else, so just starting out with that gear would be preferable - my opinion, of course.

Soul vessel spoilers:

I read in the spoiler thread that you get the souls you spent to level back if you take it back to where "the journey began," so I figure you only get a free respec if you progress to ng+. Otherwise, you don't get your souls back and have to pay souls like normal to level. Haven't seen if it's a one time use or unlimited use item yet, but I figure its a one time per play through thing.
 

Jobbs

Banned
#teambandit here. I like speedy characters with good movement options so gonna go with a dex build for my first. Swordsman seems like more of a class that's a better starter when you already know the game. Bandit leaves more room for nooby errors with the better health/endurance stats.

I find myself heavily leaning towards bandit as well. I currently plan to play a str/dex quality build, non-caster, and from what I can tell bandit is the superior choice for this thanks to their stupidity. 11 total wasted points in casting stats (int + faith + attunement) is the lowest of anyone else. Plus most of those wasted points are in faith, too, and since faith is the most likely thing I could be tempted to tinker in, bandit has even fewer wasted points.

like dresden seemed to be saying, a big part of it for me is the concept of the character. the look, the feel, the idea, so while a starting class may be just a pile of stats, for me, it sets the tone differently as well.
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
#teambandit here. I like speedy characters with good movement options so gonna go with a dex build for my first. Swordsman seems like more of a class that's a better starter when you already know the game. Bandit leaves more room for nooby errors with the better health/endurance stats.



Soul vessel spoilers:

I read in the spoiler thread that you get the souls you spent to level back if you take it back to where "the journey began," so I figure you only get a free respec if you progress to ng+. Otherwise, you don't get your souls back and have to pay souls like normal to level. Haven't seen if it's a one time use or unlimited use item yet, but I figure its a one time per play through thing.
You can get multiple soul vessel items in a playthrough so that doesn't make sense. You only lose all your souls if you use it regularly as an item. To get the respec to work you have to take it to a specific NPC in the game. Where the journey began likely just refers to an NPC somewhere in the starting/tutorial area or something to that effect.
 

Dresden

Member
Soul vessel spoilers:

I read in the spoiler thread that you get the souls you spent to level back if you take it back to where "the journey began," so I figure you only get a free respec if you progress to ng+. Otherwise, you don't get your souls back and have to pay souls like normal to level. Haven't seen if it's a one time use or unlimited use item yet, but I figure its a one time per play through thing.

Oh. Well, it could be worse...

You can get multiple soul vessel items in a playthrough so that doesn't make sense.

(⊙…⊙ )

Multiple soul vessels? That doesn't sound good.
 

Deuterium

Member
#teambandit here. I like speedy characters with good movement options so gonna go with a dex build for my first.

I am confused...

In Dark Souls 1, Dexterity was the stat which dictated mobility/speed.
According to the DS2 starting class stat chart, it appears that "Adaptability" is the stat which defines mobility and speed.

If that is the case, wouldn't the Bandit be one of the worst classes to start with, if you are looking for speed and mobility.

Please correct me if I am not looking at this the right way.
 

Lost Fragment

Obsessed with 4chan
I am confused...

In Dark Souls 1, Dexterity was the stat which dictated mobility/speed.
According to the DS2 starting class stat chart, it appears that "Adaptability" is the stat which defines mobility and speed.

If that is the case, wouldn't the Bandit be one of the worst classes to start with, if you are looking for speed and mobility.

Please correct me if I am not looking at this the right way.

I haven't really paid attention to what the new stats do so you might be right. I should probably check the wiki or something.

I know people hate the thought but as a PvP player who had to do multiple playthroughs to min max a new weapon this would be kinda welcome.

It seems like they're taking measures against being able to easily farm a lot of souls, so PvP might end up being the only realistic way to farm souls for multiple full respecs. If that ends up being the case then Im less wary of it. Just gonna have to wait and see how it's balanced with the rest of the game I guess.
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
I am confused...

In Dark Souls 1, Dexterity was the stat which dictated mobility/speed.
According to the DS2 starting class stat chart, it appears that "Adaptability" is the stat which defines mobility and speed.

If that is the case, wouldn't the Bandit be one of the worst classes to start with, if you are looking for speed and mobility.

Please correct me if I am not looking at this the right way.
Dexterity is a "speed" stat because weapons that scale damage with dexterity level are generally faster weaker weapons, as opposed to slower stronger weapons that scale with strength.

The dexterity stat itself never affected the speed of movements/attacks etc. Only the speed of spell casting. ie a character with 10 dexterity moves/attacks 100% the same speed as one with 99 dexterity.

For DkS2 dexterity performs the same function as before but adaptability increases speed of startup on certain actions, as well as increases your resistances. A character with 99 adaptability will perform certain actions much faster than one with 10 adaptability.
 
I can think of several reasons why I dislike having the option
for multiple respecs on the same character
, but none that can't be effectively countered by "just don't use it if you don't like it". That argument can basically be used to brush off criticism to even the worst design choices so long as they're optional.
 

Shinjica

Member
I can think of several reasons why I dislike having the option
for multiple respecs on the same character
, but none that can't be effectively countered by "just don't use it if you don't like it". That argument can basically be used to brush off criticism to even the worst design choices so long as they're optional.

Well
If i've difficulty with a boss I can simply respec to be more deadly against him and then respec back to my previous character and continue the journey.

Is not a game breaker but in my opinion it weak the risk of the PVE in Dark Souls 2
 
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