• 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: Scholar of the First Sin |OT| Your weapons are weak, old man

Yeah. And the length to plat a game doesn't mean anything. The other games in the series take longer to plat only because you need to farm shit. Take out the farming and they are easier. I got the DeS plat in ~40 hours by duplicating stones for those stupid weapon achievements (I did everything else legit including getting the pure bladestone). There wasn't anything hard at all about that plat apart from being bored to death killing the same enemies for 4 hours in a row.

Furthermore, the Chalice Dungeons are harder than anything you need to do in the Souls games to get the plat.

truth. hopefully next plat is less farming more skill like BB.
 
Just beat L
ost
S
inner
on my first try. I'm reading about it online now and apparently it's considered a pretty hard fight? I thought it was relatively straightforward to just roll through her attacks and swing at her during her recovery animations. Also that entire area is pretty short, which was a bit of a letdown.

They nerfed that boss a shit ton in the first patches the game had. Vanilla LS was a pretty tough fight.

Head to the Huntsman's copse.
 

SRTtoZ

Member
Well I beat the game (none of the DLC yet) and it was good, probably better than vanilla, not sure yet. I ended up finishing the last few hours with a +10 red iron twinblade, that thing fucking rocks. While the game was good, I am starting to miss BB, especially the world design, the shortcuts, the visuals and art style and of course the trick weapons. I love the variety of builds in DS2 but that really didnt make me want to keep playing after going through the entire game. I might take a break for some more BB and then return to the DLC in a few days and flip flop back and forth. Glad I picked it up and I think any Souls or BB fan should do the same.

Edit: Oh and the regain system. I miss the fuck out of that thing especially near the end with those giant knights who seem to have UNLIMITED STAMINA (swing swing swing swing swing swing swing, *laugh* swing). I know I shouldnt be comparing the two games because its not fair but its very hard not to.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
So what do I do to get into Drangleic Castle in this version? I ran past the two 'bigger' enemies then wiped out everything up the top but it won't open, only the statue on the left is in position but the right one will not budge.
have to kill a guy next to the golem statue so the soul goes into it and not into you. same as vanilla.

that's basically how you advance in drangleic generally
 
Well beat the game (none of the DLC yet) and it was good, probably better than vanilla, not sure yet. I ended up finishing the last few hours with a +10 red iron twinblade, that thing fucking rocks. While the game was good, I am starting to miss BB, especially the world design, the shortcuts, the visuals and art style and of course the trick weapons. I love the variety of builds in DS2 but that really didnt make me want to keep playing after going through the entire game. I might take a break for some more BB and then return to the DLC in a few days and flip flop back and forth. Glad I picked it up and I think any Souls or BB fan should do the same.

I agree I will be playing both of these for a really long time. I'm totally emersed in BB atm but been dabbing in DS2 a little not much only cleared 2 bosses so far but I've played through it once before on 360. Enjoying what ive played so far though.
 

SRTtoZ

Member
So that dragon in Heides Tower was a little surprising. Not finding an easy way to kill him either

Take care of any enemies before the Dragon, then once you get near the stairs make a sprint for it and run at him, stay to one side though, either left or right, stay by his feet, 2 hand your wep and swing away at him. He dies pretty easily. Oh, it helps if you use some lightning resin or something.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
the existance of the durability ring (and a +1 and a +2 version still in NG) makes me go on the "its not a bug" camp tbh.

if "fixed" via a mod it renders the ring virtually useless
 

ike_

Member
There are so many little things I really like about SotFS. One of my favorites might be in Dragon Shrine
with that "honorable duel" system. You have to fight unless you want a thousand dragon knights chasing after you.
That might really fuck up speed runs, but I love it in my casual playthroughs.

Also I am still very much in love with this auto screenshot upon trophy thing.

Akw4JKE.jpg
 

Get'sMad

Member
Jesus these changes have all been really lame imo....

So what I've gathered early is that they're basically forcing different routes based on needing to get more fragrant branches and adding additional enemies in areas.

ugh
 

ike_

Member
Jesus these changes have all been really lame imo....

So what I've gathered early is that they're basically forcing different routes based on needing to get more fragrant branches and adding additional enemies in areas.

ugh

Yep, you are going to need a lot more fragrant branches. Fortunately there are a lot more stashed throughout the game in different places.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
Jesus these changes have all been really lame imo....

So what I've gathered early is that they're basically forcing different routes based on needing to get more fragrant branches and adding additional enemies in areas.

ugh

I'm kind of interested in watching a LP of the original version because as someone who never played DS2 I'm really enjoying SotFS. I think it's the best Souls game yet. But there are a lot of people coming in here saying that the enemy changes are for the worse, so I would want to see what they mean by that.
 
Jeez the Frigid Outskirts (Ivory King DLC) have been given me fits. First time I've actually rage quit out of the game. The bosses you fight at the end are probably the second hardest for me that I've fought so far (hardest was Fume Knight). It takes a ridiculous amount of time to cross and the Reindeer you have to fight on the way are fucking haaaaard. All the stopping and starting from the snowstorms and it's just a really frustrating experience.
 

psy18

Member
Jeez the Frigid Outskirts (Ivory King DLC) have been given me fits. First time I've actually rage quit out of the game. The bosses you fight at the end are probably the second hardest for me that I've fought so far (hardest was Fume Knight). It takes a ridiculous amount of time to cross and the Reindeer you have to fight on the way are fucking haaaaard. All the stopping and starting from the snowstorms and it's just a really frustrating experience.

Same problem for me. I ended up despawning the damn reindeers first for a smooth trip to boss. Didn't take too long to do it since they spawn on every snowstorm.

Anyone have better idea on farming
loyce souls
besides coop and ng+?
 

pa22word

Member
the existance of the durability ring (and a +1 and a +2 version still in NG) makes me go on the "its not a bug" camp tbh.

if "fixed" via a mod it renders the ring virtually useless

It's definitely a bug, because if you lock the framerate in the PC version durability works as it's supposed to.

And the ring still has uses, because some of the more niche dex weapons are total glass cannons, even at non-bugged durability. Like the spider rapier drains like nearly a third of its durability with a single heavy attack at 60fps.
 

Hypron

Member
Jeez the Frigid Outskirts (Ivory King DLC) have been given me fits. First time I've actually rage quit out of the game. The bosses you fight at the end are probably the second hardest for me that I've fought so far (hardest was Fume Knight). It takes a ridiculous amount of time to cross and the Reindeer you have to fight on the way are fucking haaaaard. All the stopping and starting from the snowstorms and it's just a really frustrating experience.

I don't know about this version of the game but in Vanilla I'd just summon the two NPCs to aggro the electric reindeer and send them back home once I got to the fog door.
 

pa22word

Member
They nerfed that boss a shit ton in the first patches the game had. Vanilla LS was a pretty tough fight.

Head to the Huntsman's copse.

Vanilla LS was a broken fight because they didn't rebalance the boss around not having the OG lighting system and you'd seemingly randomly lose lock on when she bounced around, leading to getting hit when you shouldn't have been.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
I think the weirdest thing about this game is that I Don know everything yet. I haven't even memorised location names, let alone people names, NPC locations, and item locations. I've undoubtedly missed stuff, people keep mentioning "Early on" in conjunction with Old Whip and I've never seen it, and I see 1000 ghosts running round with Elite Knight's set, but I've never seen it. Maybe that's because I smashed up a few chests early on though.

I am definitely really enjoying this game now, though. It's refreshing playing an area for the first time and exploring it, then fighting a new boss for the first time (and beating some first time like it ain't no thang).

I have no regrets about looking up the
windmill burning
. There was no clue whatsoever about needing a
torch
for that, and no clue that there was anything
flammable
on the metal, so I never would have thought to try that.
 
I don't know about this version of the game but in Vanilla I'd just summon the two NPCs to aggro the electric reindeer and send them back home once I got to the fog door.

I've actually been trying to not summon in my game at all and just do things solo but I think I'm about ready to do just that.
 

Pancakes

hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Yo, grand lance is so amazing when you get it this early. When you 2H you can literally just one shot most anything in your way. It also made the first Pursuer boss fight a breeze. I remember struggling for hours against him the first time I played the game. Mostly because I was an idiot back then and insisted on heavy armor with shield.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
I really enjoyed the
1000 skeletons
boss. It's especially nice not getting any slowdown during it, and while at the time I didn't have any viable halberd-style big swing attacks available, I bet they'd make it a lot of fun. The boss only took me 3 or 4 tries, too.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
finding im getting alot less souls to level with in my mage playthrough both because im dying less and doing stuff faster, and because im spending a lot of souls on spells (pretty much buying every spell)

nothing a quick farming session wont fix mind you, but just something im noticing compred to my tank. anyway, lost sinner down :)

oh and speaking of, I need to start using these boss souls this time, Ill save the ones that are traded for spells or some castr item but in general most are just for physical weapons anyway. I barely popped any on my tank because I was afraid I might want to respec but now that I have a dedicated mage I might aswell
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Are whips a viable weapon on this? Found a notched one in hunters and have enjoyed using it so far. Just wondered if it's worth upgrading.
Notched whip is terrible, unless they patched or tweaked it for SotFS. It cannot be infused, its bleed never procs, and its damage is awful.

The standard whip sold by Gilligan is decent. I loved playing with a dual whip user, powerstanced they're pretty strong. The Old Whip (trade with the crow, requires twinkling) is the strongest one, and two of them can seriously pack a punch when powerstanced, but their durability is the weakest of all the weapons I think. With the durability being more affected in this version I don't know how viable they'll be (I played with dual whips on the PS3 version). If you do use them, wear the Bracing Knuckles Ring at all times and carry lots of repair powder. You can also swap your LH and RH whips (if you dual wield) every now and then since it seems the LH one degrades more slowly.

Note, the Old Whip also apparently has a damage bonus against hollows.

Later you can have a poison whip from a boss soul which can be infused with poison to be even more poisonous, it's not that strong but it can be useful.

Whips are fun and actually viable. Good luck :)

Jeez the Frigid Outskirts (Ivory King DLC) have been given me fits. First time I've actually rage quit out of the game. The bosses you fight at the end are probably the second hardest for me that I've fought so far (hardest was Fume Knight). It takes a ridiculous amount of time to cross and the Reindeer you have to fight on the way are fucking haaaaard. All the stopping and starting from the snowstorms and it's just a really frustrating experience.
That place is hell frozen over. My sympathies. It's mildly fun to coop, strangely enough.... but absolutely terrible to solo. The DLCs really seemed like they were designed with coop in mind, especially several of the bosses.

Good luck. If it's any consolation, the horses/deer/whatever do despawn after being killed about 15 times.
 
the existance of the durability ring (and a +1 and a +2 version still in NG) makes me go on the "its not a bug" camp tbh.

if "fixed" via a mod it renders the ring virtually useless

I'd be fine with the durability issue if hitting a dead enemy wasn't the equivalent of dipping my weapon into acid.
 
How do you open the gates right before lost sinner on the sides? Also is there a useful guide to where all the pharros contraptions are and the reward? I've run across a few but can't remember where or if it's worth using the item
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
did they nerf hexes? I feel like my dark orb isnt hitting for shit. I also forgot that some hexes like resonant soul need chimes to use, so I might stick to just "blue spells" this time around
 
did they nerf hexes? I feel like my dark orb isnt hitting for shit. I also forgot that some hexes like resonant soul need chimes to use, so I might stick to just "blue spells" this time around

There is a weapon that acts as both wand and chime. Black Witches Staff I believe.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
How do you open the gates right before lost sinner on the sides? Also is there a useful guide to where all the pharros contraptions are and the reward? I've run across a few but can't remember where or if it's worth using the item
Use a Pharros Lockstone in the socket below the Servants Headquarters bonfire. Proceed into that new area, and kill the boss. The key for those gates is after, and will make the Sinner boss easier.


...Then again the boss you need to defeat is probably harder than Sinner even with the handicap, but hey. xD Pre-patch the Sinner didn't fuck around but she got nerfed really badly...
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
There is a weapon that acts as both wand and chime. Black Witches Staff I believe.

yeah I remember that. you sacrifice dmg for the convinience tho if I remember correctly. Also, if I remember correctly (again lol), you need equal int and faith for hexes I think? right now im at 30int 20faith
 

Nabs

Member
Use a Pharros Lockstone in the socket below the Servants Headquarters bonfire. Proceed into that new area, and kill the boss. The key for those gates is after, and will make the Sinner boss easier.


...Then again the boss you need to defeat is probably harder than Sinner even with the handicap, but hey. xD Pre-patch the Sinner didn't fuck around but she got nerfed really badly...

I think they switched the location of that key to the area opposite that. Go from the Servant's Quarters out the other way, and it should be on the ledge of the broken bridge.
 

LeonSPBR

Member
Say guys what does SotFS on PS3 add compared to the vanilla DS2 apart from the DLC?? Does it have new boss, new itens, equipements??
 

Rean

Member
Pretty surprising that Lost Bastille
just has a chest with the old ember right when you enter.
I forget when you even get it originally.
 
Discounting the Frigid Outskirts, the third dlc is probably my favorite. The environment is really cool and I think the layout of everything and how you are rewarded for backtracking is really neat. Even the Frigid Outskirts are a cool idea in theory, I just think they suffer from being something you may have to run a few times if you have a difficult time with the boss there (which I was having).

All the DLCs were pretty grand tbh. I'm happy I did them.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
not feeling hexes this time around, surely there are some normal "blue" spells that hit as hard if you go full INT?
 

addyb

Member
Notched whip is terrible, unless they patched or tweaked it for SotFS. It cannot be infused, its bleed never procs, and its damage is awful.

The standard whip sold by Gilligan is decent. I loved playing with a dual whip user, powerstanced they're pretty strong. The Old Whip (trade with the crow, requires twinkling) is the strongest one, and two of them can seriously pack a punch when powerstanced, but their durability is the weakest of all the weapons I think. With the durability being more affected in this version I don't know how viable they'll be (I played with dual whips on the PS3 version). If you do use them, wear the Bracing Knuckles Ring at all times and carry lots of repair powder. You can also swap your LH and RH whips (if you dual wield) every now and then since it seems the LH one degrades more slowly.

Note, the Old Whip also apparently has a damage bonus against hollows.

Later you can have a poison whip from a boss soul which can be infused with poison to be even more poisonous, it's not that strong but it can be useful.

Whips are fun and actually viable. Good luck :)


That place is hell frozen over. My sympathies. It's mildly fun to coop, strangely enough.... but absolutely terrible to solo. The DLCs really seemed like they were designed with coop in mind, especially several of the bosses.

Good luck. If it's any consolation, the horses/deer/whatever do despawn after being killed about 15 times.

I've upgraded the notched whip a few times as I have no other. I quite like it. It only gets used for grunts but I'm having fun with it.
 
Had a hard time begin the game for a week. I wanted to start but didn't at the same time... However now it's been 3 days and I'm finally in the groove.
It feels so weird in some places with not only different enemies but different object placement. I'm at the entrance of the
Shrine of Amana
now. Really curious how they've tweaked that area...
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Not counting DLC spells cause I havent used them, Soul Vortex and Soul Geyser can hit especially hard. Geyser in particular is a Boss breaker.

and those are normal "blue spells"? (I dont know what to call them, the icons are always blue lol)
 

addyb

Member
Have never done any other build then melee in a souls game. Would it be feasible to re spec once I hit NG+ and turn my melee build into a caster?
 
Top Bottom