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Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin |OT| Your weapons are weak, old man

Manu

Member
Sinh is stupid hard.

In the air most of the time? Check.

Hits you for over 50% health by barely moving? Check.

The camera can't keep track of him? Check.

It's like all the bad design choices of Dark Souls on a single boss.
 

aravuus

Member
Yes I think scholar changes not only certain arrangements of enemies but also the number of them in specific places.

Cause iron keep seemed like it had a lot more knights with bows than I remember on the 360 version

Wish they would have just added stronger single enemies around the maps, not new bunches of trash mobs. The woods are definitely a bit more annoying this time around, though it was nice to see the big ogre in the very first river and a couple of those turtle enemies added to random spots.

We'll see if the areas get better or worse as I go through. I wonder if the DLC content is different between original DkS2 and SotFS
 

MG310

Member
Wish they would have just added stronger single enemies around the maps, not new bunches of trash mobs. The woods are definitely a bit more annoying this time around, though it was nice to see the big ogre in the very first river and a couple of those turtle enemies added to random spots.

We'll see if the areas get better or worse as I go through. I wonder if the DLC content is different between original DkS2 and SotFS

Didn't seem like there was any difference in the DLC.

It seemed like they were trying to make more sense out of enemy locations except for the weird grab bag of stuff in Drangleic Castle
Alonne Knights, Desert Sorceresses, Executioner Chariot, Heide/Dragon Aerie giant knights, Manikins
 

ElTopo

Banned
Overall I don't really like Scholars and don't think it's a worthwhile upgrade on Steam (unless you get it super cheap).

Certain areas like Dragon Aerie were nerfed to shit, having to find the key to access the DLC areas was dumb, and the final final boss was nothing special. Maybe it's better in NG+ but I had a lot more fun in the Vanilla game in NG when compared to this.

Put 25 hours into it and uninstalled it. I bought it during the summer sale so I'm not going to bitch too much about the cost.
 

Kazuhira

Member
Holy fuck I've done it. I can't believe I have done it. It was a torturous, harrowing experience. I would never do something like this again.

D38D7C354494BB7E2041290E761AA21BCA97801A

Yet so satisfying.

I can finally embrace peace.

Kinda confused about your character stats(15 vit,14 end,13 vit,str 11,adp 11 with lvl 1?)
i´m doing a SL1 run too and the deprived class has 6 points for each stat.
is there an item that increases stats or something?
 
Sinh is dead. Definitely the worst fight in the game so far, bar none.

Just awful all around.

Really? Once I sat down to really try it, I loved it. There's a ton of attacks to figure out and you need to be pretty aggressive - if you try to stay away he'll beat you with range.
 

Manu

Member
Really? Once I sat down to really try it, I loved it. There's a ton of attacks to figure out and you need to be pretty aggressive - if you try to stay away he'll beat you with range.

Did you watch the video I posted above? Whenever I tried to get close he would start flying.

He spent maybe 80% of the fight in the air.
 

Loxley

Member
For anyone who may be interested, a few days ago EpicNameBro began a new playthrough of the first Dark Souls that he is describing as "An "ultimate" walkthrough/playthrough using everything I've learned to this point. Gameplay tips and lore investigations all tied into one, using all the things I've figured out through the years and my knowledge of Fromsoft's development processes."

The first two parts are up and they're both fantastic (one & two).
 

aravuus

Member
Where can I get a good greatsword at the earliest? I realized I've never done a GS run in any of the Souls game and after hitting a lot of things in the face with the holy blade in BB, I realized how goddamn awesome greatswords actually are.

GS + sorceries should be fun.
 

Manu

Member
Where can I get a good greatsword at the earliest? I realized I've never done a GS run in any of the Souls game and after hitting a lot of things in the face with the holy blade in BB, I realized how goddamn awesome greatswords actually are.

GS + sorceries should be fun.

The Fire Greatsword right after the second bonfire in the Forest of Fallen Giants is great.

It carried me all the way to Tseldora.

EDIT: Nevermind, that's the Fire Longsword. Duh. Sorry.
 
Didn't play this game for like 2 weeks again :( Thanks work / life / Final Fantasy: Record Keeper.

So I manned up and entered Sinner's Rise today after fearing the area and inventing excuses to not play this game. 10 minutes later --> uhh, that's it? Shorterst area in the game so far.

The Last Sinner, no joke, was the first boss EVER that I killed on my first try in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 2 PLUS the first boss in DaS2 that I blocked his attacks with a shield instead of rolling away.

Oh - I can finally farm Twinkling Titanite from the Rise's Flexile Sentry, nice.

Huntsman's Copse is the only path left for me now.

EDIT: oops forgot about the red dragon in Heide. He is also blocking something. Gonna try and kill him tomorrow - I got the Fire Res. Ring and Flash Sweat miracle ready.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
I was kinda disappointed in this the first day of playing it, but getting a controller mod to fix the weird-feeling analog stick dead zone made it feel so much better. I'm having a total blast with the co-op too which is a big difference from DS1 which I played 100% solo, not even summoning NPCs to help. The changes they made to the co-op in this game feel really smart, like letting you use your white soapstone while hollow and then making you human for completing your duty. There's so much incentive to help people out!

Yeah I downloaded a fix for the stupid controller deadzone as soon as I got the game and it makes the combat 100% more fluid and satisfying. I'm also a huge fan of how co-op works in this game, and spent a good number of hours just helping people out, especially if I was hollow and didn't want to use a human effigy.
 

Exuro

Member
Got this during the steam sale. Loved DS1 and am starting to get the feel for this one. Just took out the 3 sentinels boss on my second try. After playing around with a bunch of weapons I'm liking the hand axe moveset the most. I've heard the club is great early on but i hate that both weak and strong attacks are horizontal. Makes it a pain indoors.I'm also not liking the deadzone so I'll have to try out that mod.

How much content is in this compared to 1?
 

jb1234

Member
Got this during the steam sale. Loved DS1 and am starting to get the feel for this one. Just took out the 3 sentinels boss on my second try. After playing around with a bunch of weapons I'm liking the hand axe moveset the most. I've heard the club is great early on but i hate that both weak and strong attacks are horizontal. Makes it a pain indoors.I'm also not liking the deadzone so I'll have to try out that mod.

How much content is in this compared to 1?

It's about on par. The core game content seems to be less than 1 (at least based on my experience) but there's more DLC so it evens out.
 
During The Last Sinner fight I often lost focus on him and had to refocus. Was it my controller or this fight's gimmick?

The setup for this fight is brilliant but broken because of too many bonfires and lack of lore.

In the most remote area of The Lost Bastille, past a bridge in a single standing tower, down a very long elevator shaft to the bottom of the cliffs, past some dangerous water area sits the most dangerous prisoner in the level - The Last Sinner. Scorpions are eating his face and flesh under the iron mask, his hands cuffed he sits alone in a solitary cell.

Sounds incredible, no? But where is the lore?!? I only got it was a she from the description of her soul.

Imagine this fight with the last bonfire being the one past Ruin Sentinels ahhh... I hate how many bonfires are in this game vs Demon's Souls. It makes the game very, very easy.
 

jb1234

Member
Had to stop playing the game once I made it to the DLC because the crashes and hard locks I've been experiencing have escalated. It's very frustrating because I know how awesome they are. As these problems don't occur during any other game, I'm forced to conclude it's just a bug that never got patched out. Bums me out. :(

(I still might just try and beat it, skipping the DLC but man, sucks.)
 

EUA

Member
Kinda confused about your character stats(15 vit,14 end,13 vit,str 11,adp 11 with lvl 1?)
i´m doing a SL1 run too and the deprived class has 6 points for each stat.
is there an item that increases stats or something?
yeah, quite a few actually. most of them are located in the dlc areas. You should look them up and make a run for them as soon as possible. I didn't, and it turned fights against Elana and the Fume Knight into a nightmare.

Congrats, man. These two bosses (Elana and sinh) can be quite frustrating because RNG. Elana summons Velstadt and once you've dealt with him she can immediately summon him again...

Also, is there a reason why you weren't double chugging Estus during the fight?
 
During The Last Sinner fight I often lost focus on him and had to refocus. Was it my controller or this fight's gimmick?

The setup for this fight is brilliant but broken because of too many bonfires and lack of lore.

.

Set fire to the oil on each side of the front door outside the boss fight. You won't have a problem anymore.

EDIT: oops forgot about the red dragon in Heide. He is also blocking something. Gonna try and kill him tomorrow - I got the Fire Res. Ring and Flash Sweat miracle ready.

You don't need any of that. Remove all armour, 2 hand your sword. Run under him and don't lock on and hack his legs. When he flies up run to the edge of the platform where you came from. He shouldn't hit you.
 
Where can I get a good greatsword at the earliest? I realized I've never done a GS run in any of the Souls game and after hitting a lot of things in the face with the holy blade in BB, I realized how goddamn awesome greatswords actually are.

GS + sorceries should be fun.

Right after you kill Pursuer in Forest of Fallen Giants (the actual boss encounter) drop down into the huge hole in the floor and there's a corpse with the full Drangleic Armor set and the Drangleic Sword. It takes like 25 Str and 20 Dex to use, but it's got a good moveset.

Unrelated:
I've run through this game 3 times now with fast and light characters. So I respecced one of them to a strength/Vitality build. I've got a little int and faith so I can use the Black Knight Greatsword as well.

I'm using full Mirror Knight Armor (can't help myself, it looks so ridiculously shiny and glorious), some random tower shield I can't remember, and the BKGS. I also use that little int to buff the sword with magic weapon.

I gave myself enough vitality to still have a mid-roll with that setup... but I feel like I suck now lol. I did DS1 with a heavy tank build, but man, going back to that after fast rolling everywhere is painful (even though I look awesome)
 
Man, pyromancy is really uneven. Most enemies I can oneshot with a fire ball, but I'm having trouble doing damage in Shaded Ruins and (of course) Iron Keep. Currently I don't know if I should build an alternate set of spells (I have high faith so I could grab a few lightning spears) for these areas, or try to rely on summons.
 

aravuus

Member
Right after you kill Pursuer in Forest of Fallen Giants (the actual boss encounter) drop down into the huge hole in the floor and there's a corpse with the full Drangleic Armor set and the Drangleic Sword. It takes like 25 Str and 20 Dex to use, but it's got a good moveset.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that. Double-handing dropped the weapon's requirements a bit though, right?
 
I got back into the PvP recently and am having an absolute blast. I've locked my Soul Memory at a reasonable level and so far I haven't been matched up with anyone with a crazy Havel Jester setup. I'm also loving the increased player count for multiplayer, just look at this crowd!

darksoulsii_2015_06_25_21_23_15_by_realghostvids-d8ypagu.jpg


Here's a cheeky backstab I pulled off this evening:

http://giant.gfycat.com/DecentAdorableAlleycat.webm

I'm kind of surprised that it worked at all (the first time I did it was an accident) but it's actually a pretty reliable backstab tactic.
 

Brakke

Banned
Just started in last night, took down the Lost Sinner by way of The Pursuer. Took me kind of while to get used to xbone controller but now I feel like I'm home.

Enemy placement changes haven't been much of a big deal yet. Flexile Sentry under the Bastille was cute but pretty inconsequential. I do love how ubiquitous the Pursuer is now though. I wish I'd taken the boat to Bastille, put off the "real" Pursuer fight until after we'd built up this animosity.

Also I'm confused about this: after I killed the Ruin Sentinels, I managed to explore all of the Bastille all the way back to the boat. I had never done that before, I remember thinking I'd go through Heide next so I could clear out Bastille entirely. Has it always been possible to clear out both sides of the first Bastille section without riding the boat?
 
Just started in last night, took down the Lost Sinner by way of The Pursuer. Took me kind of while to get used to xbone controller but now I feel like I'm home.

Enemy placement changes haven't been much of a big deal yet. Flexile Sentry under the Bastille was cute but pretty inconsequential. I do love how ubiquitous the Pursuer is now though. I wish I'd taken the boat to Bastille, put off the "real" Pursuer fight until after we'd built up this animosity.

Also I'm confused about this: after I killed the Ruin Sentinels, I managed to explore all of the Bastille all the way back to the boat. I had never done that before, I remember thinking I'd go through Heide next so I could clear out Bastille entirely. Has it always been possible to clear out both sides of the first Bastille section without riding the boat?

Man, you are quite fast.
 
I got back into the PvP recently and am having an absolute blast. I've locked my Soul Memory at a reasonable level and so far I haven't been matched up with anyone with a crazy Havel Jester setup. I'm also loving the increased player count for multiplayer, just look at this crowd!

darksoulsii_2015_06_25_21_23_15_by_realghostvids-d8ypagu.jpg


Here's a cheeky backstab I pulled off this evening:

http://giant.gfycat.com/DecentAdorableAlleycat.webm

I'm kind of surprised that it worked at all (the first time I did it was an accident) but it's actually a pretty reliable backstab tactic.


What SM are you at? Also, NG or NG+? I want to try out some PVP with my new character but I feel like I rarely ever find anyone.
 
You don't need any of that. Remove all armour, 2 hand your sword. Run under him and don't lock on and hack his legs. When he flies up run to the edge of the platform where you came from. He shouldn't hit you.

Nah, I did it my way. Ring of Flame Res + Flash Sweat. He pyred me for about 50% health until I managed to get under him them it was just a Rat Authority repeated fight.

And the boss right after the dragon... LMAO... can the bosses be any more pathetic? I was literally hugging Old Dragonslayer and *walking* around him meleeing him and he was not reacting. Once every 5 blows he would attack which was telegraphed miles away so I rolled and hugged him again. He died in 12 blows altogether.

Really disappointed in the last few bosses: The Lost Sinner + Old Dragonslayer + Flexile Sentry.

The game opened with a big bang with The Pursuer then it was all downhill when it comes to bosses both the design and difficulty or lack of it (excluding Belfry Gargoyles). Or maybe it is my Mace +10, lol.
 

Manu

Member
Dark Souls 2 boss fight philosophy is definitely quantity over quality.

The game is still great though. But there's no Ornstein and Smough moment in the game. Most bosses are unremarkable design, mechanic and lore wise.
 

Tarkus

Member
Dark Souls 2 boss fight philosophy is definitely quantity over quality.

The game is still great though. But there's no Ornstein and Smough moment in the game. Most bosses are unremarkable design, mechanic and lore wise.
Raime has cool lore and is well-designed. Sir Alonne too.
 

Tarkus

Member
I meant in the base game. I haven't finished the DLC yet.

But the DLC has been leagues better than the base game in every single aspect so far.
Yeah, base game bosses are blah. I genuinely had O&S moments with the two bosses I mentioned. You will enjoy.
 

MUnited83

For you.
The first half of the base game was really weak boss-wise. It felt like a boss-rush mode of sorts. Lots of easy bosses one after the other. I felt that the way to the bosses were often harder than the bosses themselves lol.
 
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