StoppedInTracks
Member
That's fine but not with a +1 weapon
You are literally handicapping yourself there.
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Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin |OT| Your weapons are weak, old man
- Thread starter VisceralBowl
- Start date
That's fine but not with a +1 weapon
You are literally handicapping yourself there.Been playing the game for a solid week with 38 hours put in. Don't know what possessed me to do it, but I beat the Fume Knight before tackling the other DLC areas or getting the last Giants Memory. Funny enough, i then proceeded to lose all the souls before I cashed in his soul for his sword.
Debating now whether to tackle Sunken King or go after Vendrick
Debating now whether to tackle Sunken King or go after Vendrick
StoppedInTracks
Member
Heh, I only started it (got the key after the first door and killed the two Black Phantoms).
Can you belive it is the last area of the game for me? That I did Tseldora, Black Gulch, Sinner's Rise etc. all before going there?
That's my luck for playing without any FAQs... I found the first guy that sells Staves after 25 hours when I finally decided to do No Man's Wharf
Tarkus
Member
Boss soul weapons are just OK in general imo. They all upgrade with Petrified Dragon Bone. Some of them have cool little effects. Some kill durability each time their special attack is used. The most useful one for me is Fume Knight's straight sword called Fume Sword.
But in reality, normal weapons are more useful in most situations.
But in reality, normal weapons are more useful in most situations.
Tarkus
Member
Why wear any armor chestpiece but the Alonne Captain Armor? Those shoulder pieces hype af.
this is why you gotta go to the Iron Keep as soon as possible <3
Raime's chest piece says hi!
Actually I use Velstadt's
I just finished! Loved it!
Lore question though please? For final area
Lore question though please? For final area
What the heck is the golem key thing you get in the memory that makes nashandra come to the throne of want? I had killed the throne defenders earlier and honestly wouldn't have known to go back there other than by trying all of the king's doors again.
Although I guess in that respect the kings doors were super helpful, they led to the three post great soul paths you need to finish the game. Thank god those existed.
ALSO: I kinda understand that thing let you command the golems to make you a bridge to the throne. But what if the laddermaker just made someone a ladder bridge, could anyone have sat on the throne?
Although I guess in that respect the kings doors were super helpful, they led to the three post great soul paths you need to finish the game. Thank god those existed.
ALSO: I kinda understand that thing let you command the golems to make you a bridge to the throne. But what if the laddermaker just made someone a ladder bridge, could anyone have sat on the throne?
Just by playing the game, I really had no idea why stuff happened in the final segment at all. Why was Nashandra there? Why was she a gigantic demon? Game doesn't bother to explain (unless you go out of your way, I suppose). I only got the answers by looking at the wiki.
I tried last night but I couldn't stand his voice/intonation.
StoppedInTracks
Member
Why wear any armor chestpiece but the Alonne Captain Armor? Those shoulder pieces hype af.
this is why you gotta go to the Iron Keep as soon as possible <3
Hehe I got this.
Anyway I tried the Smelter Demon 3 times with my current setup and it did not go very well.
Swapped mine Drangleic Shield with a Gyrm Shield and he was a pushover - I heald only once. Kinda wish now I got gud and killed him w/o that shield :/
I thought Nashandra being "evil"/dark/demon-y was pretty obvious in the game. There's a huge portrait of her in Castle Drangleic that curses you if you stand near it lol. Even pics of her radiate dark. Also the ghost castellan guy makes it pretty clear that things started going to shit when she showed up.
I basically agree that the game's story-telling style isn't very satisfying. If you go in blind it's pretty obvious that there's a ton of story buried deep in NPC conversations and item descriptions. But it's impossible to tell what of that story is relevant to the main story of Vendrick and Nashandra and the player character, and what's just texture-y backstory about other kingdoms. So it just ends up looking daunting.
The game does explain a lot. Read item descriptions. Exhaust NPC dialogue.
Hell, you can even
and he'll tell you everything you need to know.
DS2 does a much better job at letting you piece the story together than DS1. It's just impossible to see the whole story in that game without a guide.
Hell, you can even
go back in time and talk to Vendrick
DS2 does a much better job at letting you piece the story together than DS1. It's just impossible to see the whole story in that game without a guide.
Yeah, I'm not very good as a whole at putting together subtle touches like that.
It's just very vague. Dark Souls was also vague but it had more direction. It's hard for me to care about what these NPCs are saying because none of them are interesting and they just become exposition dumps without much personality of their own.
I think the story of Vendrick and Nashandra could have been interesting if it were more fleshed out and the people involved were given stronger personalities but that's just not the Dark Souls approach and that's fine. I'm not playing these games for their stories.
iRAWRasaurus
Banned
Nope.
AuthenticM
Member
Could someone tell me what are the soft caps for this game ? Google didn't give me anything. :/
Cannon Goose
Member
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/stats
There are a couple of weapons in the DLC that are outside the regular hard caps.
Iva Demilcol
Member
That's the Giant's Kinship, which according to Vaatividya it's a bad translation since the name of the item in Japanese is "The Resonance with the Giants" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HvCrnMZJCA), which seems to imply that once you defeated the Giant King, you can now resonate with them (or their souls) and since the golems were made of the giants, now you can kind of control them. Which is something Nashandra cannot do since it seems she can't follow Vendrick to get the ring that opens the doors behind which you can find the giants.
Nashandra cannot follow Vendrick probably for two reasons: 1. She may not be strong enough to reach Vendrick nor could she take down the guardians in her path; which kind of makes sense since she's not as tough as other bosses. and/or 2. She cannot enter Shrine of Amana because of the milfanitos, who sing to make beings tied to the dark go to sleep; we see that a milfanito is trapped at the top of Drangleic Castle, and that probably means that someone captured one to try to find out how to run pass all of them; that's just mere speculation, but to me it makes sense that Vendrick is hiding (from Nashandra) in a place were beings tied to the dark -those who posses the dark soul- are buried alive, a crypt that is guarded by the fenitos inside and the milfanitos outside.
To me, the really confusing thing about Dark Souls II's lore is the chronology in which some events took place.
I've played this game for dozens and dozens of hours so far and just today I learned 1. about "power stance" for dual wielding weapons, and 2. that you can upgrade catalysts to make them deal more spell damage.
Number 1 caused me to roll a third character so I can try out dual wielding caestuses. Number 2 is especially bad because my first character is a SL150 sorcerer/hexer and that extra damage would have made the game a LOT easier...
It blows my mind still that there are so many undocumented, deep systems in these games. What an amazing franchise this is.
Number 1 caused me to roll a third character so I can try out dual wielding caestuses. Number 2 is especially bad because my first character is a SL150 sorcerer/hexer and that extra damage would have made the game a LOT easier...
It blows my mind still that there are so many undocumented, deep systems in these games. What an amazing franchise this is.
StoppedInTracks
Member
You mean Staves and Chimes? You did not know this? You did not play Demon's or DaS1 before?
---
After 40 hours I finally changed my headgear from Travelling Merchant's Hat (uggo) to... Jester's Cap
The same bonus of Item Discovery but much better stats. And it looks so menacing:
---
Question guys, please no spoilers (so basically say: yes/ no):
after I am done with the Iron Keep I will have to kill the 4th Old One (Old Iron King I guess) and then the only open path will be the one to Drangleic Castle, correct? And the Castle is the thing from the trailers with Dragons flying all around a looooooooooooong roped bridge, a big hall with Skeletal Dragon Head boss and a long hallway with paintings on the side? This is what I remember clearly from the trailers 2 years ago. I am asking because the game is kind of getting long now. I am losing the focus because of 5876234 bosses that I have already killed.
1) Yes. 4 Primal Bonfires, then on to Drangleic Castle.
2) No. Drangleic is dark stone. Drangleic -> Under Drangleic -> Further Under Drangleic -> Dragon Castle.
If you're skipping DLC, then finishing the 4 Lords put you somewhere near half way, depending.
StoppedInTracks
Member
50%? With the 3 DLC that will be around 33%. Jesus this game is long.
I played Dark Souls 1, extensively. You can't upgrade catalysts in Dark Souls 1.
My first playthrough in PS3 was 35 hours, 50 hours in PS4 with the DLC.
StoppedInTracks
Member
Jellycrackers
Member
Anyone else have issues with online play? I used to see a decent amount of summon signs around the world but now it feels like a ghost town. Still plenty of bloodstains and messages, but I want to do some Jolly Cooperation with randoms and I never can.
I didn't notice it until I started cooping with a friend using the name-engraved ring. He would always see a bunch of summon signs for randoms that I can't see. He also seems to get invaded and summoned by others way more often.
I know it sounds like a NAT issue, but according to our network settings, both of us have Open NAT. It's driving me insane because I love helping people with bosses. I even set up port forwarding on my modem/router combo despite already having open NAT to see if it makes a difference. Also changed cross-region matchmaking to "Allowed" So far no luck. :/
Any ideas?
I didn't notice it until I started cooping with a friend using the name-engraved ring. He would always see a bunch of summon signs for randoms that I can't see. He also seems to get invaded and summoned by others way more often.
I know it sounds like a NAT issue, but according to our network settings, both of us have Open NAT. It's driving me insane because I love helping people with bosses. I even set up port forwarding on my modem/router combo despite already having open NAT to see if it makes a difference. Also changed cross-region matchmaking to "Allowed" So far no luck. :/
Any ideas?
Cannon Goose
Member
The 12 minute timer on invasions makes me sad. I just went 6-0 in a fight club on the Iron Keep bridge and I also smoked another invader who tried to spoil it by attacking everyone. During my seventh fight I got kicked out and now I'm wondering how much longer I could have gone. My rapier was almost broken and I was completely out of spells, so maybe my time was nearly up anyway, lol.
Tarkus
Member
Happens to me all the time. Think of it as a sign of how badass you are. It does suck to have to go through 2 Third Dragon Rings and switch to the Second Dragon Ring.
StoppedInTracks
Member
smh @ the Old Iron King boss fight. From has a way to fuck up majorly hyped Lava/ Fire Bosses like the Dragon God in Demon's and Old Iron King in DaS2.
I couldn't find the entrance to Drangleic for the life of me. I was this close to asking in this thread but then I remembered about all those closed doors ("Produce the symbol of the King") that I encountered before. I thought they were DLC areas but anyway I went there. First door (Forest of the Giants) - locked, second door in Shaded Woods - locked... I got anxious because the third door for SURE I remembered was called Shrine of Winter and that for SURE is the DLC area but I had to try them. Lo & behold they open (why?) and I moved on.
...
I used all my 9 Estus flasks before I found the friggin' bonfire in the Drangleic Castle! That was one of the most intense parts of the game for me - fighting the two Mastodons on the bridge then the unending wave of enemies before the front gate and waiting for the door to open. I thought they would kill me in the end because there was no bonfire in sight! Shit. Then inside the castle all the stone statues coming back to life, man... I found the bonfire by pure accident. And my Mace was blinking RED!!! Can you imagine? Old school Demon's Souls difficuty moment right there.
The Drangleic Castle is awesome. It feels like a proper "end game" dungeon even if it isn't. It's huge, complex and choke full of enemies on every corner. Made my way to the first fog gate and died to the Two Dragonriders because I was overexcited that I even got to them, heh. They seemed to be pretty easy eating A LOT of damage - a full 2H combo took away 50% of one's health and that is w/o (Greater) Magic Weapon. Also isn't that like 3rd Dragonrider boss battle in the same game? smh @ From. Reusing boss fights is very low.
I love the Castle. It is omnious, frightening and... gamey (FAKE) unlike Boletaria which seemed like 100% real medieval castle to me (I have been to some in Europe)).
Question: can you extinct the stone statue enemies so that they stop respawning?
I couldn't find the entrance to Drangleic for the life of me. I was this close to asking in this thread but then I remembered about all those closed doors ("Produce the symbol of the King") that I encountered before. I thought they were DLC areas but anyway I went there. First door (Forest of the Giants) - locked, second door in Shaded Woods - locked... I got anxious because the third door for SURE I remembered was called Shrine of Winter and that for SURE is the DLC area but I had to try them. Lo & behold they open (why?) and I moved on.
...
I used all my 9 Estus flasks before I found the friggin' bonfire in the Drangleic Castle! That was one of the most intense parts of the game for me - fighting the two Mastodons on the bridge then the unending wave of enemies before the front gate and waiting for the door to open. I thought they would kill me in the end because there was no bonfire in sight! Shit. Then inside the castle all the stone statues coming back to life, man... I found the bonfire by pure accident. And my Mace was blinking RED!!! Can you imagine? Old school Demon's Souls difficuty moment right there.
The Drangleic Castle is awesome. It feels like a proper "end game" dungeon even if it isn't. It's huge, complex and choke full of enemies on every corner. Made my way to the first fog gate and died to the Two Dragonriders because I was overexcited that I even got to them, heh. They seemed to be pretty easy eating A LOT of damage - a full 2H combo took away 50% of one's health and that is w/o (Greater) Magic Weapon. Also isn't that like 3rd Dragonrider boss battle in the same game? smh @ From. Reusing boss fights is very low.
I love the Castle. It is omnious, frightening and... gamey (FAKE) unlike Boletaria which seemed like 100% real medieval castle to me (I have been to some in Europe)).
Question: can you extinct the stone statue enemies so that they stop respawning?
SiegfriedFM
Member
There are only two Dragonrider boss battles but the mob itself is used as a regular enemy at some points, just like a few others.
To be fair,
Sir Alonne
It's the path to him that it's a bitch.
HungOverOnATues
Member
Noticed people using spoiler tags here - not sure if this is really spoiler worthy, but for those that are sensitive to them, it's Ivory King related.
I want the Eleum Loyce and don't want to spend the time farming 50 Loyce Souls right now., but I would like to get the Loyce set eventually. Does anyone know if you can get still the full Loyce set without going into NG+ if you kill Alsanna before farming Loyce souls?
iRAWRasaurus
Banned
Quick question regarding NG+.
Kinda confused about the Shrine of Winter. Am I able to head toward the Shrine of Winter and be able to access it since my soul memory is over 2,000,000? Or do I still have to light the 4 primal bonfires first?
No and no.
You need to earn 2 million souls during that NG+. Your Soul Memory and the souls you have from the first time do not count for it. All must be earned through the new playthrough.
Best way to do it is: farming soul items (like soul of a great hero and boss souls with bonfire ascectics) during your first playthrough and then use them when you begin NG+.
And then you should choose one of the Great Soul bosses to farm while on NG+. Personally I go for The Rotten, which I find the easier to get to(you can just run all the way through if you know the way) and it's also the easier boss no matter the bonfire intensity. If you use thrust weapons and have the leo ring you can do massive damage to him quickly.
Farm him using bonfire ascectics. Defeating him 4/5 times with soul booster sets and using the boss souls he drops is enough to reach 2 million. And way quicker than defeating all the 4 bosses.
Also, the primal bonfires do not need to be lit at all, ever.
You need to earn 2 million souls during that NG+. Your Soul Memory and the souls you have from the first time do not count for it. All must be earned through the new playthrough.
Best way to do it is: farming soul items (like soul of a great hero and boss souls with bonfire ascectics) during your first playthrough and then use them when you begin NG+.
And then you should choose one of the Great Soul bosses to farm while on NG+. Personally I go for The Rotten, which I find the easier to get to(you can just run all the way through if you know the way) and it's also the easier boss no matter the bonfire intensity. If you use thrust weapons and have the leo ring you can do massive damage to him quickly.
Farm him using bonfire ascectics. Defeating him 4/5 times with soul booster sets and using the boss souls he drops is enough to reach 2 million. And way quicker than defeating all the 4 bosses.
Also, the primal bonfires do not need to be lit at all, ever.
iRAWRasaurus
Banned
StoppedInTracks
Member
Arrived in the Shrine (post Drangleic) after beating a 7674th version of an armored knight boss and rolling to the left A far cry from Demon's Souls bosses...
Something happened and now I can see all future teleportation destinations (marked with ???) in the Travel screen when using a Bonfire. Indeed, this is only the half of the game (!). And a week ago I was sure Drangleic is the end game and Vendrick is the last boss. Crazy stuff.
Fashion souls time
My "to-go" set consisting of:
- Drangleic Mail +5
- Drangleic Gauntlets +0
- Drangleic Leggins +0
- Jester's Cap +6
- Drangleic Shield +0
- Mace +10
- Bone Staff +10
- Dark Pyromancy Flame +6
It gives me 49.7% Encumberance. Did not upgrade Gauntlets, Leggins and Shield because I am hoping to find something better down the road. Some of the equipment I am finding now is already close to Drangleic levels (Aurous, Allone Captain sets).
Whenever I have problems with some boss I change the Jester's Cap to something better.
A far cry from Demon's Souls bosses...Something happened and now I can see all future teleportation destinations (marked with ???) in the Travel screen when using a Bonfire. Indeed, this is only the half of the game (!). And a week ago I was sure Drangleic is the end game and Vendrick is the last boss. Crazy stuff.
Fashion souls time
My "to-go" set consisting of:
- Drangleic Mail +5
- Drangleic Gauntlets +0
- Drangleic Leggins +0
- Jester's Cap +6
- Drangleic Shield +0
- Mace +10
- Bone Staff +10
- Dark Pyromancy Flame +6
It gives me 49.7% Encumberance. Did not upgrade Gauntlets, Leggins and Shield because I am hoping to find something better down the road. Some of the equipment I am finding now is already close to Drangleic levels (Aurous, Allone Captain sets).
Whenever I have problems with some boss I change the Jester's Cap to something better.
StoppedInTracks
Member
LiQuid! are you paying the game for the first time? Or did you play it on PS360?
You are basically at the same place as me
You are basically at the same place as me
You can do the DLC after.
Still, I'd recommend you do the DLC before the final boss since the way it fits into the lore is great.
Arrived in the Shrine (post Drangleic) after beating a 7674th version of an armored knight boss and rolling to the left
You mean Looking Glass Knight? That's one of the best fights in the game imo.
You can do the DLC after. You only go to NG+ if you choose too(after the end you can choose to start NG+ at Majula bonfire)
You still have a lot to play to get to the final boss though
. I do recommend doing the DLC before tackling the final boss. Just fits better lore-wise