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Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin |OT| Your weapons are weak, old man
- Thread starter VisceralBowl
- Start date
Respec all you want. I am pretty sure I found 8-9 soul vessel just in NG.
You should feel bad about yourself...
No, you don't =D
I kind of want to say that they should have made the area longer but a bonfire midway in one of the buildings...
Oh well.
Loyce Soul grinding is abysmal. If the drop right was actually okay, I wouldn't mind it too much, but christ is it frustrating.
But I still like the Frigid Outskirts a lot. Did it all solo my first time playing the DLC (back in September or whenever it was). Really great concept and the reindeer die pretty quick solo. I actually think they're harder in when you have co-op just cause they take just that many extra swings to take down so you end up getting stuck in the snow.
I do think they should have only made one Reindeer spawn at a time. They are pretty strong already and more than that just becomes nutty.
edit: I think Iron Passage is meh and Cave of the Dead is pretty inoffensive. The Gank Trio is tough and just turns into kiting them the entire time, but I wouldn't call it crap like others do.
edit edit: The DLC trio is still some of the best Souls content there is bar none. Really fun level design and unique encounters with a handful of the best bosses in the series.
Allone and Sinh shit on so much of Dark Souls 1 and 2 (and Sinh is a better Kalameet).
But I still like the Frigid Outskirts a lot. Did it all solo my first time playing the DLC (back in September or whenever it was). Really great concept and the reindeer die pretty quick solo. I actually think they're harder in when you have co-op just cause they take just that many extra swings to take down so you end up getting stuck in the snow.
I do think they should have only made one Reindeer spawn at a time. They are pretty strong already and more than that just becomes nutty.
edit: I think Iron Passage is meh and Cave of the Dead is pretty inoffensive. The Gank Trio is tough and just turns into kiting them the entire time, but I wouldn't call it crap like others do.
edit edit: The DLC trio is still some of the best Souls content there is bar none. Really fun level design and unique encounters with a handful of the best bosses in the series.
Allone and Sinh shit on so much of Dark Souls 1 and 2 (and Sinh is a better Kalameet).
Augemitbutter
Member
i liked all dlc, even the small optional grinding part. i didn't want to end the game, lol.
LlamaJohnson
Member
Armor question:
So I got Havels set, and it's wonderful in terms of defense obviously. Of course I fat roll with it, and this sucks. Also, I hate the way it looks. I have been using Aurous visible set and love the way it looks, and I can roll ok with it, but the defense is much lower.
Being a melee/strength build and using a shield, I rarely roll to avoid attacks. However if/when I need to roll, I'd like to be able to do it and not have it take 4 seconds. Should I put more points into vitality, or just not use the Haven't armor? Not being the greatest player, will I get crushed using a lower armor? I'm about to go to the Shaded Woods or the Iron Keep.
So I got Havels set, and it's wonderful in terms of defense obviously. Of course I fat roll with it, and this sucks. Also, I hate the way it looks. I have been using Aurous visible set and love the way it looks, and I can roll ok with it, but the defense is much lower.
Being a melee/strength build and using a shield, I rarely roll to avoid attacks. However if/when I need to roll, I'd like to be able to do it and not have it take 4 seconds. Should I put more points into vitality, or just not use the Haven't armor? Not being the greatest player, will I get crushed using a lower armor? I'm about to go to the Shaded Woods or the Iron Keep.
Do you have one of the various Royal Soldier's Rings? That'll help a bunch to get you down under 70%. Also, look at swapping the helm and shield out, if you haven't already.
I can't speak to your other queries though. Just buy everything and swap around until you make it work!
I have flip-flopped on the DLC so much. Sunken King I thought was pretty forgettable, except for the boss fight, which I really enjoyed. I haven't completed Cave of The Dead yet, though.
Ivory King I adored for 75% of my time in there, but Frozen Outskirts is such a cuntish area that if you are either ill-equipped or in the wrong mindframe to tackle it, its design is enough to drive you away. Still, I ended up enjoying it, despite and in spite of that!
I think Iron King is my favourite of the DLC, even with the obnoxious curse areas. But then again, I loved the challenge of the normal Iron King area as well, even before Scholar!
All told though, it's a cracking amount of content in these DLCs, they're games enough on their own.
I'll have to go and play DSI again, as I never got around to playing the DLC in it, and compare.
The Dark Souls 1 DLC is... different. I mean to say don't expect Dark Souls 2 DLC levels. It's a really good DLC in its own right but I prefer Dark Souls 2's DLC over 1 even though Artorias of the Abyss is pretty damn good.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
Artorias of the Abyss has three of the best boss battles of the last generation, let alone the Souls series. The whole thing slots into the main game all but seamlessly (aesthetically, mechanically and lore-wise). Like, DS2 DLC is good, but it's telling that they (for all intents and purposes) cut and paste one of AotA's bosses wholesale.
I was trying to stay spoiler-ish free for the guy but
I meant the DLC is basically just a boss gauntlet. It's lackluster and not super interesting level design wise (wheras the Dark Souls 2 DLC trio has some of the best level design in the series alongside Demon's Souls).
Also as I've said, Sinh is a better Kalameet. Artorias is, of course, amazing.
Also as I've said, Sinh is a better Kalameet. Artorias is, of course, amazing.
Like I said, I think it's weird trying to compare the DLCs because they focus on different strengths so saying one is better than the other doesn't mean much because of that.
You want your Agility at like 100-ish (the stat ADP directly affects). That's like 30 ADP? But I think 20-25 is still a good spot without feeling like I'm dedicating too much to it.
StoppedInTracks
Member
So after sidetracking all over the place (Heide's, No-Man's, Shaded, Tseldora) and killing some bosses I went back to The Lost Bastille and faced the first boss.
Wow.
6 melee attacks and I killed him. 6 two-handed light attacks! 2 stamina bars only! Jumped down and took care of the rest.
Then I killed 3 Pursuers who are all over the place like they were nuthin'! I literally mopped the floor with them.
This game is the prime example why you NEVER want to have level scaling in RPGs.
LVL50, Drangleic Armor Set +2, Cleric's starting Mace +8 and that wolf helmet you get from the frog in Shaded Woods. Pure melee build always rolling instead of blocking --> training before Bloodborne.
Wow.
6 melee attacks and I killed him. 6 two-handed light attacks! 2 stamina bars only! Jumped down and took care of the rest.
Then I killed 3 Pursuers who are all over the place like they were nuthin'! I literally mopped the floor with them.
This game is the prime example why you NEVER want to have level scaling in RPGs.
LVL50, Drangleic Armor Set +2, Cleric's starting Mace +8 and that wolf helmet you get from the frog in Shaded Woods. Pure melee build always rolling instead of blocking --> training before Bloodborne.
GreyOcelot
Member
how did you get chunks so early? i was like level 100 with 2 main bosses dead before i started getting them
iRAWRasaurus
Banned
Bell Bro's I am assuming. Speaking of Bell Bro's Spent the last 2 days being a Bell Bro and killing people. I felt like it took awhile since my SM is about ~2200000. Just 2 more kills left until I hit rank 2.
Edit: its 30 kills to hit rank 2 right? Does it matter if its invaded or do I have to be summon as the gray spirit for it to count?
StoppedInTracks
Member
I don't know, I did not farm anything. I can get a screenshot if you do not belive me. There is a lot of Titanite in Tseldora - the crazy miners have bags full of it. I killed some Shining Lizards as well.
So my first impression is, on my GTX 460 and Dual Core processor, Dark Souls II SOTFS runs about the same as Dark Souls II, which is pretty nice, they run into the high 40-50s.
Character creation also LOOKS much better, the model in DSII for me in that menu always showed up kind of fuzzy and rough, now it looks crisp and clear which is good.
So scholars definitely seems much more polished from the get go, however they didn't fucking fix character lighting, it STILL looks like your character is stuck on fullbright mode.
Your equipment is always looks fine, but there is this weird thing that really bugged me about DSII from the beginning, the player body is never affected by lighting properly, only light sources that affect it are things like the sun and so on, it's like there is a universal light that stops the character from blending into the surrounding, I don't mean the glow you always have, because this was never an issue in Dark Souls.
Here
I simply loaded up the default face to check it out, you can see how out of place the player looks even though in the character creation the skin tone and lighting and everything looked just fine, the NPC behind the character shows you how NPCs in general are generally affected properly by lighting, it's not great to look at and just looks like the game is broken, which I guess is what happens when you remove a lighting system and never put it back properly like they should have this time.
What I mean by fullbright mode is this. A console command from Oblivion that allowed you to turn off the game's lighting and shadows so it just looked like one weird equally lit up thing, the fact Souls games use the same Facegen (But better configured) as Elder scrolls is why I made that comparison.
Either way I'll play through the game a bunch of times, I just wish they restored all of the old lighting, and not a few extra effects.
Character creation also LOOKS much better, the model in DSII for me in that menu always showed up kind of fuzzy and rough, now it looks crisp and clear which is good.
So scholars definitely seems much more polished from the get go, however they didn't fucking fix character lighting, it STILL looks like your character is stuck on fullbright mode.
Your equipment is always looks fine, but there is this weird thing that really bugged me about DSII from the beginning, the player body is never affected by lighting properly, only light sources that affect it are things like the sun and so on, it's like there is a universal light that stops the character from blending into the surrounding, I don't mean the glow you always have, because this was never an issue in Dark Souls.
Here
I simply loaded up the default face to check it out, you can see how out of place the player looks even though in the character creation the skin tone and lighting and everything looked just fine, the NPC behind the character shows you how NPCs in general are generally affected properly by lighting, it's not great to look at and just looks like the game is broken, which I guess is what happens when you remove a lighting system and never put it back properly like they should have this time.
What I mean by fullbright mode is this. A console command from Oblivion that allowed you to turn off the game's lighting and shadows so it just looked like one weird equally lit up thing, the fact Souls games use the same Facegen (But better configured) as Elder scrolls is why I made that comparison.
Either way I'll play through the game a bunch of times, I just wish they restored all of the old lighting, and not a few extra effects.
Uh depends what you're looking at, Scholars Of The First Sin edition has lighting upgrades and some hardware intense enhancements that you're not going to get on the PS3 since that gen was the reason why Dark Souls II was even downgraded in the first place.
Is it just me or is Dark Souls II really easy compared to the other souls games? I have played for 18 hours and I'm level 105. For comparison in Dark Souls I, I had played for 58 hours and was only level 76. In demons souls I had about the same gameplay time but was only level 50-something.
I feel like leveling in DSII is much easier. The bosses are not hard. Most of the bosses I have defeated in my first or second try. Most of the times I fought a boss for the second time was because of silly mistakes I made. For example, for the Lava Skeleton boss in Iron Keep, I fell into the lava when I rolled.
The only real challenging boss was the Smelter Demon. The medusa boss too because the place is flooded with poisonous water. Other than that it feels like bosses don't do much damage, and they're very predictable. The rolling seems much more forgiving. I don't have to time my rolls the way I had to in Dark Souls I and Demons Souls.
Even in pvp, it feels like it's much easier. I've been invaded numerous times by other players and so far I've mostly lost when fighting to two or more invaders at the same time. I dunno, DSII is a lot of fun but so far I really don't feel enough challenge that comes with a Souls game.
I feel like leveling in DSII is much easier. The bosses are not hard. Most of the bosses I have defeated in my first or second try. Most of the times I fought a boss for the second time was because of silly mistakes I made. For example, for the Lava Skeleton boss in Iron Keep, I fell into the lava when I rolled.
The only real challenging boss was the Smelter Demon. The medusa boss too because the place is flooded with poisonous water. Other than that it feels like bosses don't do much damage, and they're very predictable. The rolling seems much more forgiving. I don't have to time my rolls the way I had to in Dark Souls I and Demons Souls.
Even in pvp, it feels like it's much easier. I've been invaded numerous times by other players and so far I've mostly lost when fighting to two or more invaders at the same time. I dunno, DSII is a lot of fun but so far I really don't feel enough challenge that comes with a Souls game.
Certain changes from Dark Souls made it easier. But if you play the Scholars version though, the new enemy placement seems to be way, way harder and more in line with what they wanted DSII to originally be.
Leveling is also way lower in both versions of DSII than it was in Dark souls.
In Dark Souls at level 100 you needed 60265 Souls. (Also side note, you need that exact number of Blood in Bloodborne at level 100, so the leveling rate is a Miyazaki thing, I guess the B team wanted it lower in DSII)
In DSII you need 13775 Souls at level 100.
IIRC, the leveling tables are copied from Demon's Souls -> Dark Souls -> Bloodborne.
Dark Souls 2 is completely different, as there are more stats, no bogey stats, and each defensive ability starts worse than it did in Dark Souls 1, so you need to invest to get them up to the same level. Endgame goes from ~70-90 in Dark Souls to around 120~150 in Dark Souls 2, but each level has a lesser effect.
There's a side effect (or perhaps the intended effect?): at any given time, you're risking a lesser fraction of a Soul Level from the Souls you're carrying around and can't turn in.
Any order is generally fine, personally I'd do them in release order, but there's not really much difference.
BizzyBum
Member
Ah, that's true. I'll just do that.
Any order, but don't get hung up on the "challenge paths". The're there just to be super-difficult, optional dick punches.
LlamaJohnson
Member
LlamaJohnson
Member
At least with my melee build, I found that Brume Tower and the enemies within really rewarded super aggressive play. Those Iron Warriors that spew lava from their shoulders go down in just one or two combos (with the second combo safely staggering them) if you get right up in their face from the get go and let fly (Stone Ring really helps against some of the lesser foes, too).
I was power stancing Bandit Axes, or sometimes just 2h one of them. The moment I tried went a little passive, to dance with one, to regain stamina or if another enemy snuck into the fight, it could all go wrong very quickly!
Only have Cave of the Dead left to conquer, and I'll have seen all the content now. A bit LttP on that I guess, given I was there day one with it all last year, but that's how it goes sometimes. DLC and I have never seen eye to eye except in GOTY editions of games, as once I'm done with a game, I'm done. Scholar was really worth it though, I've enjoyed it immensely.
Jellycrackers
Member
Beat it today, after exactly two weeks of spending all my free time.
Such a good game. Though I'm kinda sad now because I started NG+ and now I can't travel to any part of the game anymore until I go and manually unlock them all again... Don't know why that depressed me so much.
I should have just stayed in NG and tried to not suck at PVP anymore. Wish I could undo that...
Such a good game. Though I'm kinda sad now because I started NG+ and now I can't travel to any part of the game anymore until I go and manually unlock them all again... Don't know why that depressed me so much.
I should have just stayed in NG and tried to not suck at PVP anymore. Wish I could undo that...
I suggest backing up save files that are in individual folders labled with location names where they're saved at the first bonfire you encounter in each new area
OK, finished the game...
I like the new final boss, he has a nice variety of attacks and his gimmick is fun... Like how he explained a little more the story and how he even mentioned the other Kings.
I picked the new ending and I like it more than the original... In fact I think that my character would have really choosed that ending and I like that is not as dark as the dark ending of Dark Souls
Now, I just started a NG+ with my good old cleric and holy wow! they really nerfed the offensive Miracles. I didn't used them in my new character and they not only lowered the number of casts but also the damage dealt by ALL the Lightning Spears... It seems that the healing miracles are fine tho and Sunlight Blade + Sacred Oath continues to being awesome.
But after that maybe I need to make a new type of character, soooooo maybe I'm going to make a sorcerer this time, I roleplayed a witch in Dark Souls and was so much fun to throw Soul Spears and the Crystal variants to enemies =P
I like the new final boss, he has a nice variety of attacks and his gimmick is fun... Like how he explained a little more the story and how he even mentioned the other Kings.
I picked the new ending and I like it more than the original... In fact I think that my character would have really choosed that ending and I like that is not as dark as the dark ending of Dark Souls
what with the "Do you seek Light, Dark or something else" line tat Aldia says...
Now, I just started a NG+ with my good old cleric and holy wow! they really nerfed the offensive Miracles. I didn't used them in my new character and they not only lowered the number of casts but also the damage dealt by ALL the Lightning Spears... It seems that the healing miracles are fine tho and Sunlight Blade + Sacred Oath continues to being awesome.
But after that maybe I need to make a new type of character, soooooo maybe I'm going to make a sorcerer this time, I roleplayed a witch in Dark Souls and was so much fun to throw Soul Spears and the Crystal variants to enemies =P
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
What builds do you guys like? More specifically, what weapons?
I played Dark Souls II mostly using the Bastard Sword and Drangleic Sword with a shield and tanky gear. I want to change it up for this, but I can't find a weapon I like. A lot of people said great things about the Mace, but I can't get a feel for it. The range just feels way too short.
And man, after coming from Bloodborne, this game feels really unforgiving. Stamina gauge is small, moves take tons of stamina, hard to stagger enemies, hard to roll dodge attacks, seems like you take a ton of damage, etc.
What is the typically agreed upon "sweet spot" for agility, by the way? I'm at around 92, and it feels like I'm getting clipped while dodging more often than not.
I played Dark Souls II mostly using the Bastard Sword and Drangleic Sword with a shield and tanky gear. I want to change it up for this, but I can't find a weapon I like. A lot of people said great things about the Mace, but I can't get a feel for it. The range just feels way too short.
And man, after coming from Bloodborne, this game feels really unforgiving. Stamina gauge is small, moves take tons of stamina, hard to stagger enemies, hard to roll dodge attacks, seems like you take a ton of damage, etc.
What is the typically agreed upon "sweet spot" for agility, by the way? I'm at around 92, and it feels like I'm getting clipped while dodging more often than not.
CountAntonius
Member
Battle Axe and estoc non power stanched strength build. LLewyn armor under 40% load. I love the power and speed each weapon gives you. I PvP mostly though,.
Yeah the stamina consumption is pretty insane in this game. If your using the heavier weapons (like greatswords, great hammers, etc) you only have enough stamina to attack or dodge but not both until you get to 40 end. You need to get ADP to at least 100 (most of my builds have 110 adp for a reference) in order to not get clipped by dodging.
My usual build is usually either a dex build or a 40/40 build (40 str/40 dex). I also power stance a lot in my builds but that is usually with dex weapons because str weapons just weight too much for me to do it. Some good combos I like while power stancing are rapiers (I usually use the Estoc and either Richards' Rapier or Espada Ropera) and curved swords ( usually the Falchion and the Warped Sword or two Warped Swords). I usually use katanas like the Chaos Blade or the Manslayer but I just two handed it. I also like the Great Club and the Gyrm Great Hammer if I'm using a 40/40 build. I also like the Curved Dragon Greatsword. Rings are usually Chloranty ring +2, Third Dragon Ring, Flynn's Ring, and Ring of Blades +2. Armor is whatever I think looks good.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
You mean Agility at 100, right?
Thanks for the weapon recommendations. What percentage do you usually try to keep your equip weight at?
yes and I usually keep it under 50% equip load but I try to keep it between 35-40% equip load.
Feel_The_Pain
Member
That shield that regenerates stamina, so you need it in you hand or just have it equipped?
StoppedInTracks
Member
Finally found my first staff after 30+ hours and 7 bosses!!! It's the one after first The Lost Bastille boss, in a chest near the clawed and armored werewolf type of enemy.
Now I can finally restart as a deprived and make my favourite character from Demon's Souls - an armored, melee enabled sorcerer!
This game is awesome!
Now I can finally restart as a deprived and make my favourite character from Demon's Souls - an armored, melee enabled sorcerer!
This game is awesome!
CountAntonius
Member
Equipped.
StoppedInTracks
Member
I started with a Cleric who happens to have a Mace. I cannot think about using any other weapon now, really. Mace +8 destroys everything. I tried the Flamesword, the Dark Scythe, the Drangleic Sword etc. and I just cannot move away from my trusty Mace. The heavy 2H hits like a truck and one-shots lots of mobs. Light 2H can be quickly comboed for even more damage than heavy 2H.
Is the range short? Yeah, you have to be up in their face. But ironically it helps a lot with lots of the bosses whose attacks can be evaded by... rolling towards them anyway. You evade, roll, rise up 5 cm before their face and whack them. Then roll backwards/ to the side.
I rolled a Depraved minutes ago and guess what I am buying for 2k Souls?
My mace
StoppedInTracks
Member
Xbone
Augemitbutter
Member
i used so many weapons....
greatsword was one of them. equipped it whenever i had room to fight. it was a good weapon for certain boss fights.
greatsword was one of them. equipped it whenever i had room to fight. it was a good weapon for certain boss fights.
Jinjo
Member
That's not true. The green aura only appears when you have it in your hand, or on your back when two-handing your weapon. If you switch out the shield for something else (even if you still have it on your equip screen) you lose the green aura and thus the bonus stamina regen.
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