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[StoppedInTracks]

After doing my pyro run, it's annoying how the DLC pretty much forces you to change your play style if you were a pure caster, and how Amana is really, really annoying without a bow. But it's not like the game doesn't give you an oportunity to change, with the soul vessel and stuff.

I did Amana w/o ranged (Soul Arrows were doing very little damage to the Witches). Just sprint up to them, 2 hit kill and roll to the side + shield up so you will defend against incoming Soul Arrow from the other Witch. You can aggro every underwater enemy as well w/o ranged.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I did a bonfire ascetic in Bulk Gulch to respawn the dudes that live in the oil puddles. I thought I would farm up chunks but the ascetic doesn't reset kill counts. I those guys killed beyond respawning and they still don't respawn after ascetic. Oops.

Put a bop on the Rotten for no particular reason though. The balance was weird, we each did massive damage to each other. It was fun. Don't miss a dodge or you're fucked, but it only takes a few hits to punch his clock. On this kill he dropped his Rotten Soul and another one that looks different than the others 0_o

Uh... join the Company of Champions Covenant in Majula to respawn enemies.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Glad you beat the Darklurker! You're right, it's definitely one of the harder bosses in the game for sure. The first time I fought it I used over 30 Effigies and had to use a Soul Vessel to completely change my build in order to win. Then the second time I did it pure melee on my third try!

As for your Pyro flame, the Dark version scales with your hollowing. The more times you've died (and the less HP you have), the more powerful it will be. However, I'm not sure this trade-off is ever worth it over just using a normal +10 Pyro flame.

That's a fantastic melee kill. I didn't even think it was possible to kill him in melee after he splits.

Yeah, that boss was a pain in the arse. My artificial limit were 50 tries. I even limited the Human Effigies in my inventory to 50 so that I would not trigger any 50+ tries. I would do the DLC first and then try again. I had a respec thought in my mind as well - into a pure INT 50 Caster using Soul Geysers and other high level spells.

 

[Brakke]

Uh... join the Company of Champions Covenant in Majula to respawn enemies.

And betray my Sunbros! Never!!

\o/

 

[StoppedInTracks]

On the topic of Darklurker I am reading now some posts about him on the web.

How is that possible?:

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/4394341-post36.html

Even if you're a pure melee build, you don't need to respec to cheese him.

1. Get Pyromancy Flame
2. Get it to +10
3. Get Chaos Storm
4. Get Southern Ritual Band
5. Equip/Attune all of the above
6. Get to Darklurker and bring him to 50% using melee (I assume everyone can do this)
7. When he splits, immediately cast Chaos Storm
8. ???
9. Profit

Seriously, he died on the first cast. I had even equipped some herbs because I had never tried any spells before and wasn't sure how powerful they'd be, but a single Chaos Storm killed him after he split.

I have 20 INT and 18 FHT, Dark Pyro Flame +10. Chaos Storm *NEVER* took more than 22% of his health in one cast. Was the spell nerfed in some patch?!? Or do you need super specific placement of you vs the enemy in order for all the flame pillars to hit him? (I never used Pyromancy in this game before this fight). I casted this spell in this fight well over 30 times and it never OHKO'd the boss. The other strategy people were suggesting is Greater Lightning Spear or Flame Swathe (?). I thought Chaos Storm was the strongest Pyro spell in the game?

 

[Erevador]

Have climbed my way out of despair on my first playthrough. Started out as a pathetic deprived, and have now beaten the Last Giant boss and leveled up enough to wield the bastard sword with ease. Just dispatched Armorer Dennis.

No longer getting stomped on quite so much.

Good choice. Buy the Mace ASAP and upgrade STR to be able to wield it.

Followed your advice and used the mace to battle the last giant. Thanks!

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Followed your advice and used the mace to battle the last giant. Thanks!

Ha, I've been using it since the beginning (started as Deprived as well) till the end of the game I just love my Mace +10. Will exchange it for a better weapon (Pursuer's) in NG+.

Game is awesome, enjoy the ride.

Now go, puny Depraved, face The Pursuer and come back as a real man

 

[Cannon Goose]

On the topic of Darklurker I am reading now some posts about him on the web.

How is that possible?:

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/4394341-post36.html

I have 20 INT and 18 FHT, Dark Pyro Flame +10. Chaos Storm *NEVER* took more than 22% of his health in one cast. Was the spell nerfed in some patch?!? Or do you need super specific placement of you vs the enemy in order for all the flame pillars to hit him? (I never used Pyromancy in this game before this fight). I casted this spell in this fight well over 30 times and it never OHKO'd the boss. The other strategy people were suggesting is Greater Lightning Spear or Flame Swathe (?). I thought Chaos Storm was the strongest Pyro spell in the game?

Pyromancy did get nerfed if I recall correctly. It's still pretty damn powerful for something that requires zero stat investment to use though.

 

[LiQuid!]

Yeah its the worst designed area in a souls game by far. Either get some summons or use the ai summons and run to boss door.

I have made it to the boss of that area twice so far and I get 2-shot because his regular ass attacks do 50% of my HP damage at 30 VGR. What a piece of craaaaaaaaaaaap.

On the topic of Darklurker I am reading now some posts about him on the web.

How is that possible?:

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/4394341-post36.html



I have 20 INT and 18 FHT, Dark Pyro Flame +10. Chaos Storm *NEVER* took more than 22% of his health in one cast. Was the spell nerfed in some patch?!? Or do you need super specific placement of you vs the enemy in order for all the flame pillars to hit him? (I never used Pyromancy in this game before this fight). I casted this spell in this fight well over 30 times and it never OHKO'd the boss. The other strategy people were suggesting is Greater Lightning Spear or Flame Swathe (?). I thought Chaos Storm was the strongest Pyro spell in the game?

I ended up using pyromancy on that guy to win. It was not even close to one shotting him, like you say, but it still did great damage with a +10 pyro flame (I used a regular one, not dark). So during his split I'd use a chaos storm and then whenever I saw an opening to hit either one or both I'd use another storm. Even using this method it took 2-3 tries before I got lucky and didn't get slayed when I went down for a cast, but it was doing much, much more damage than my hexes on him (like 500+ damage per cast).

 

[SiegfriedFM]

I never really use the storm spells. They feel too random to me, and take too long to cast. A well placed Flame Swathe does much more effective damage.

Also, I beat Alonne! It took something like 15 tries where I only got to him about half of the time. Eventually I ended up with the dual blade summon and did my decently effective pyromancies while he held his attention. At best I could get Alonne to about 40-50% before my summon died. At that point, it was a really, really tense fight with only my +10 dagger doing about 100 damage. I did record it so I think I'll edit and put it up just for fun.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Finally got my VIT to 42, yay!

Ready for the 3 DLC areas with the following equipment:

- Mace +10
- Black Witch Staff +10
- Dark Pyro Flame +10
- Drangleic Shield +5
- Havel's Armor +3
- Havel's Leggins
- Havel's Gauntlets
- Jester's Cap +10
- 3rd Dragon Ring
- Soldier's Ring +1
- Ring of Blades +1
- the Hollow 75% Health ring

All of that with equipment load: 49.8%. Which is on par with the equipment load I've been having during the whole game (45 - 49%) so I am 100% used to this rolling speed.

Right now with Havel's not upgraded to the max I have average 1000 Physical Resistance. Yessss. Gonna destroy the 3 Kings.

 

[Clear]

I'm very impressed with the enemy/item placement changes in the PS4 version, a massive improvement over the original layouts both in gameplay and lore/world-building departments.

I think my favourite change so far has been in the army camp at the start of Brightstone cove.

Spoiler

Changing the chest to a mimic, inside the house only accessible by dropping down the well and using the underground tunnel was a wicked touch. Not just because its a great "gotcha" dick-move to stick a tough enemy in such a tight and dfficult to access spot, but because once you are aware of it, you can snipe and kill the mimic through the house window from outside in complete safety. Really sweet bit of design, love it.

 

[Bossun]

You know what, I thought I had seen the worst of the game with those shitty DLC and the army of ennemies you have to fight at the same time, but I hadn't saw the frigid outskirt.

Fuck those fucking fucks of reindeer, whoever thought that this was a fun area is a fucking moron.

Being blind 90% of the time, getting blindsided by fucking ennemies that spawn out of nowhere, sometimes two at a time, that hit like a fucking truck, have elemental damage, fly, pop homing lightning, shoot lightning, jump 20 meters from you, are faster than sonic, have a fucking ocean of hp.

Fuck those fuck. Fuck the people that work on those DLC.

Edit: And fuck this fucking ugly ass empty area that is longer than a captain Tsubasa football field.

 

[Manu]

Even I thought the Frigid Outskirts were bullshit, and I loved the DLC.

This is what I wrote:

The ice horses in Frigid Outskirts are the worst design choice in a Souls game ever.

"Hey! Let's make it so you can't see shit, and then put these enemies who move really fast and hit really hard so that you can only see them when they're already charging at you."
"Genius!"

So, so fucking stupid.

I'm still surprised at the hate I'm reading for the DLC in general.

 

[zsswimmer]

Even I thought the Frigid Outskirts were bullshit, and I loved the DLC.

This is what I wrote:



I'm still surprised at the hate I'm reading for the DLC in general.

Well it seems like the DLC just throws hordes and hordes of enemies at you. I was entirely enjoying it, and didn't really understand the complaints until I got into Brume Tower. Constant multiple strong mobs to fight, some that pop out of the ground too. The actual environments themselves are great though.

 

[nilbog21]

I'm fucking done. This game is fucking trash and I've had it. The entire fucking game has been bullshit. I'm so fucking sick of having every single encounter pit me against 3+ guys at the same time. These bosses are fucking bullshit. They aren't fun.

Why the fuck can enemies swivel on an axis mid animation? I can't fucking do that, why can they? I'm fucking tired of enemies raising their weapon to attack and me dodge out of the way only for them to swivel 90 degrees on one foot and bash me anyways.

Everything is fucking overkill. Lets have you fight three guys at the same time who ganksquad you, but thats not enough, lets have unreachable guys shoot arrows at you while you're getting ganged up on, now lets make this trashfucker cast spells to slow you down. Fuck off.

Lets have 30 fuckers casting spells at you that have unlimited range and will chase you to the ends of the earth.

Why the fuck did they change the estus flask to take three times longer.

This shitboss isn't hard enough so lets have it fucking spawn in this other shit boss in the middle of the fight just fucking because. Oh you managed to beat it? Well lets just immediately spawn it in again! FUCK OFF.

Also what the FUCK with arrows. Arrows fucking ATTRACT towards you in mid air. Thats the most fuck you bullshit I've ever seen, my arrows don't fucking curve towards enemies.

This game focuses way too much on trying to be hard. Its not the good kind of hard. Its the bullshit kind. I'm just trying to have fun, not be fucking punished at every turn. If I fucking spawn in phantoms to help with a boss its because I'm having trouble and I need help to make it easier. But no, we can't have that, lets crank up the bosses health 3 times and make it fucking impossible.

I'm done with this trash, I don't even want to play anymore. Fuck this game. I'm not playing another Souls that doesn't have Miyazaki at the helm.

I've been fighting this blue magic smelter fucker demon for the past two hours and I just don't have the time to waste anymore fighting against this bullshit that isn't even enjoyable. I have other games to spend my time on. And apparently the fume fucker is harder. No thanks. Done.

ROFL it's posts like this that tell me that DS 2 haters have no idea what they are talking about

it's actually pretty easy. you can either run through the gate and snipe the archers or just run past all the dudes if you have an ounce of skill :[

but most importantly, how are you struggling vs smelter demon ? :[

 

[LiQuid!]

I could honestly read Frigid Outskirts hate all day and not get tired of it. It's so fitting that this is the absolute last piece of Dark Souls 2 content I need to clear because it's far and away the worst. I guess the horses are able to be made extinct. I think I'm just going to keep plugging at it until I can bee line to the bosses without having to fuck with the murderhorses.

 

[Manu]

but most importantly, how are you struggling vs smelter demon ? :[

Smelter Demon is one of the toughest bosses to solo. Both of them.

 

[LiQuid!]

Wow, I actually just beat the pets. The goal was only to clear out some horses but I decided to go into the dogs fight with all 3 summons and just played super defensively while the 3 NPCs tanked most of their bullshit and I won. Was still completely out of estus and lifegems at the end.

 

[Bossun]

ROFL it's posts like this that tell me that DS 2 haters have no idea what they are talking about

it's actually pretty easy. you can either run through the gate and snipe the archers or just run past all the dudes if you have an ounce of skill :[

but most importantly, how are you struggling vs smelter demon ? :[

Isn't that for people that do not know how to play?
I have never run part enemies in a souls game. What's the point?
I thought the goal was to actually learn enemies position, patterns, attacks to know how to tackle them.
Running part them just make me not want to play with you because you're probably bad...

Anyway the DLCs aren't impossible. Just not fun ta all and not fair because of the number of enemies.

 

[nilbog21]

Smelter Demon is one of the toughest bosses to solo. Both of them.

I guess using Havel's shield is a blessing then ..

Isn't that for people that do not know how to play?
I have never run part enemies in a souls game. What's the point?
I thought the goal was to actually learn enemies position, patterns, attacks to know how to tackle them.
Running part them just make me not want to play with you because you're probably bad...

Anyway the DLCs aren't impossible. Just not fun ta all and not fair because of the number of enemies.

I mean, if you're dying to smelter demon every time it's pretty annoying to fight all those dudes for 20 min just to get to the boss fight and then die again. people value their time differently I guess

 

[Brakke]

Just get good at running through the gates, then it only takes like 2 minutes to get to smelter demon.

 

[zsswimmer]

Lol Smelter Demon is a joke of a boss, probably the easiest of the game. Huge telegraphed attacks that leave him open to 3 or 4 swipes, back off and repeat.

 

[jb1234]

Lol Smelter Demon is a joke of a boss, probably the easiest of the game.

Uh, no.

 

[zsswimmer]

Im thinking of another fire boss but Smelter was still easy solo.

 

[LiQuid!]

Is there any benefit at all to beating

Spoiler

Aldia, after the regular final boss

? I've been waiting to finish all the DLC to roll over to NG+ since I gotta get to NG++ in order to buy the rest of the spells for those achievements. I'd kind of rather just skip it or save it for another play through.

 

[jb1234]

Im thinking of another fire boss but Smelter was still easy solo.

If you have a 100% fire-resistant shield, sure but how many people have one of those by the time they first face him?

 

[zsswimmer]

If you have a 100% fire-resistant shield, sure but how many people have one of those by the time they first face him?

I didn't, actually didn't even use a shield just roll dodged

 

[jb1234]

I didn't, actually didn't even use a shield just roll dodged

Ah. I suck at roll dodging. I guess it depends on your build. I was a tank so dodging wasn't exactly my specialty. I had to face him up close and personal.

 

[zsswimmer]

Ah. I suck at roll dodging. I guess it depends on your build. I was a tank so dodging wasn't exactly my specialty. I had to face him up close and personal.

Guess that would make it a little hard with his fire sword. Did you use co op allies? I was summoned in a couple of times and we took him down quickly.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I was never able to beat Smelter Demon solo so I summoned folks to help me. I've also been summoned in to fight him multiple times, and of all the bosses I've co-oped on he definitely has the highest wipe rate. A lot of the times the person who summoned help will die to Smelter's fire attacks because they either mistime a roll or block with a non-fire resistant shield.

 

[Bossun]

Smelter Demon is not really that hard. He has wide telegraphed attacks and it's pretty easy to learn the right timing to dodge. He actually has a lot of safe zone even underneath his sword arm..

I guess that without a good fire resistant shied it's pretty hard with the fire chipping at your health. But it's not that time consuming to farm a gyrm shield though.
And by that time you probably have some fire resistant equipment to help prevent taking too much damage.

 

[JackelZXA]

Will it be clear to me who the final boss is? It's my first play through.

Throne of Want is final boss town. Go and do the dlc's then. I recommend doing Shrine of Winter DLC first, then Black Gulch DLC, then Iron Keep DLC, then clean up any leftover bosses (with the reward you get for bringing all 4 crowns to the dlc NPC that asks for them) and then do throne of want.

 

[GreyOcelot]

If you have agility at or above 100, both smelter demons ARE really easy his attacks are so slow and obvious

 

[The Amusing Ciderman]

Hey guys. I picked this up when it was on sale after playing and loving Bloodborne. I am currently playing Demon's Souls too (just cleared Latria, so good). I have never played DaS.

I booted this up to just have a quick play with character creator and see what it's all about. One thing that really stands out compared to the others I have played. The complete lack of atmosphere. Does this get better? Majula is alright I guess. Tower of Heide looks ok ish. But that Forest is ass. Do the levels get better? There is no creeping fear or dread that I got in DeS and Bloodborne. Every level there I felt afraid. In DaS2 I just find myself bored. Also is DaS the same with atmosphere? Because it makes me worry that if it's similar in theme to DaS2 I won't like it.

I can't say my first impressions are helping me want to play it more. Textures look awful. Animations seem...off. The enemy tracking is irritating. Two handing weapons seems to help make it more bearable. But that lack of atmosphere really kills my desire to play, more than anything else. It gets better right?

 

[Brakke]

Dark Souls 2 has some cool areas but not as many as 1. Demon's Souls is the king if only for Tower of Latria. Nothing in the Dark Souls games quite get to that level. But Demon's was kind of lame, too, with Boletaria and the poison swamp zone. Demon's spikes highest, Dark is overall more consistently good, 2 is sort of weak (except the DLC zones which I think are all super moody and cool and interesting but some people dislike for balance reasons).

Especially with the bosses, Dark Souls 2 has so few memorable bosses. Dark Souls 1 is the king (who will ever forget their first Gaping Dragon encounter?). Demon's had some dope-ass final-area bosses but a lot of the progression bosses were forgettable.

In the final accounting: Dark > Demon's >> Dark 2. Didn't play Bloodborne yet, no PS4. But I like Dark 2 more than most other games so I wouldn't call it bad. Just less special than the others.

Speaking of DLC I'm in Loyce and what's up with the sad hobo people that don't aggro or talk? I've seen messages that recommend killing and some that say "don't you dare". What's the play?

 

[Bossun]

Speaking of DLC I'm in Loyce and what's up with the sad hobo people that don't aggro or talk? I've seen messages that recommend killing and some that say "don't you dare". What's the play?

Kill them, after a certain event they'll start attacking you but the bastards will actually waits for you to pass by them then will attack you from the back!

 

[Manu]

Speaking of DLC I'm in Loyce and what's up with the sad hobo people that don't aggro or talk? I've seen messages that recommend killing and some that say "don't you dare". What's the play?

They

Spoiler

will aggro

after you

Spoiler

thaw the ice.

 

[EUA]

In the final accounting: Dark > Demon's >> Dark 2. Didn't play Bloodborne yet, no PS4. But I like Dark 2 more than most other games so I wouldn't call it bad. Just less special than the others.

DS2 is clearly inferior to DS1 atmosphere/lore-wise, no doubt about that. Regarding other things... Well, I think both games have a lot of problems.

Gaping dragon is cool? Not in my book. I mean it looks cool, but it's a very boring and repetitive fight. You just bait it into doing a head-slam attack, hit it, repeat. Nothing remarkable about that.

And same can be said about a lot of other DS1 bosses. They may look intriguing (so do many of the DS2 bosses, btw), but they aren't really interesting to fight. Ceaseless, Centipede, Bed of chaos, Pinwheel, Butterfly, Iron Golem, Nito, Seath, tons of identical demons with giant butts and so on. I really didn't like those fights. Some of the areas in DS1 are just as bad. The whole lava level is a nightmare, for example, in a bad way. So are the catacombs and some other zones.

DS2 has a way bigger list of problems, of course. Too many bonfires (Forest doesn't need 4 fucking bonfires, it should have 1), too many enemies, too many items, bosses in the main game are horrible with the exception of a few, lack of atmosphere, questionable design and so on. But man, every run looks and feels so different, there are so many builds and options you can use both in PVE and PVP which is, btw, ten times better. Because of that I've already played this game for 400 hours,and ds1 I completed maybe 2 times. Sorry, I can only enjoy atmosphere so much. It's simply not as interesting to engage and kill enemies in Lordran as it is in Drangleic.

People complaining about tracking, Yeah, it's cheap. But stop circling around and fishing for backstabs. It's no DS1. Use rolls, backstep and parry.

People complaining about magic in the dlc. This guy has done tons of runs. His current one is a pure magic run. He's cleared the first two dlc already. It's not that bad. Third one might be a bitch though.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Smelter Demon is one of the toughest bosses to solo. Both of them.

With 100% fire resist shield he is the easiest boss out there.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

With 100% fire resist shield he is the easiest boss out there.

Generally, this is the case about most things in DS2. In DS1, you can pretty much get by with circle -> backstab on any standard enemy, and all classes have a decent shot at the entire game. DS2 expects you to change things around, which is a bit annoying if you want a specific build/RP/whatever, but the options are there.

One of the things I like most about RPG:s is the opportunity to play a specific character that I want, so that's a major plus for DS2. More options are almost always good. DS1 has better lore and generally looks a bit better in terms of design and most effects, but it's not like it's a a completely different game or that DS2 is in any way bad. It's just the regular fanboy exaggerations going wild as usual. We've got four rad games (although I'm still struggling with Bloodborne). Enjoy them, don't spend all that energy trying to prove that one is superior.

 

[GreyOcelot]

Hey guys. I picked this up when it was on sale after playing and loving Bloodborne. I am currently playing Demon's Souls too (just cleared Latria, so good). I have never played DaS.

I booted this up to just have a quick play with character creator and see what it's all about. One thing that really stands out compared to the others I have played. The complete lack of atmosphere. Does this get better? Majula is alright I guess. Tower of Heide looks ok ish. But that Forest is ass. Do the levels get better? There is no creeping fear or dread that I got in DeS and Bloodborne. Every level there I felt afraid. In DaS2 I just find myself bored. Also is DaS the same with atmosphere? Because it makes me worry that if it's similar in theme to DaS2 I won't like it.

I can't say my first impressions are helping me want to play it more. Textures look awful. Animations seem...off. The enemy tracking is irritating. Two handing weapons seems to help make it more bearable. But that lack of atmosphere really kills my desire to play, more than anything else. It gets better right?

Having beaten bloodborne, then this, and now I'm running through demon's, I see exactly what you're talking about. Most of the areas in demon's are way cooler looking and more atmospheric than in DS2. I'm still early on but tower of latria and shrine of storms in particular just ooze atmosphere. I will agree with those that said the DS2 dlc has some really cool looking areas. Glad to hear that DS1 is known for atmosphere and lore. I'm definitely going to tackle that next.

 

[nilbog21]

From what I recall there's more variety from the levels in DS2 than the DS's. The only thing I can knock is the repeated textures in DS2

 

[zsswimmer]

Having beaten bloodborne, then this, and now I'm running through demon's, I see exactly what you're talking about. Most of the areas in demon's are way cooler looking and more atmospheric than in DS2. I'm still early on but tower of latria and shrine of storms in particular just ooze atmosphere. I will agree with those that said the DS2 dlc has some really cool looking areas. Glad to hear that DS1 is known for atmosphere and lore. I'm definitely going to tackle that next.

ITs got a lot of atmosphere but DS2 has some beautiful looking places too. Demons Souls just nails every level just about. I'm also on a first time playthrough of DeS. I think Valley of Defilement and Tower of Latria are my favorite levels, especially getting to play as an boss versus other players.

Man I dont why the later games didn't feature this type of boss fight, it was a ton of fun in DeS.

 

[Manu]

Man I dont why the later games didn't feature this type of boss fight, it was a ton of fun in DeS.

Dark Souls 2 does it with Looking Glass Knight. Sometimes he'll summon a player as a black ghost.

 

[zsswimmer]

Dark Souls 2 does it with Looking Glass Knight. Sometimes he'll summon a player as a black ghost.

Oh wow, I had no idea, guessed I missed out on that. You'd think a player boss would be in DaS though.

 

[jb1234]

Hey guys. I picked this up when it was on sale after playing and loving Bloodborne. I am currently playing Demon's Souls too (just cleared Latria, so good). I have never played DaS.

I booted this up to just have a quick play with character creator and see what it's all about. One thing that really stands out compared to the others I have played. The complete lack of atmosphere. Does this get better? Majula is alright I guess. Tower of Heide looks ok ish. But that Forest is ass. Do the levels get better? There is no creeping fear or dread that I got in DeS and Bloodborne. Every level there I felt afraid. In DaS2 I just find myself bored. Also is DaS the same with atmosphere? Because it makes me worry that if it's similar in theme to DaS2 I won't like it.

I can't say my first impressions are helping me want to play it more. Textures look awful. Animations seem...off. The enemy tracking is irritating. Two handing weapons seems to help make it more bearable. But that lack of atmosphere really kills my desire to play, more than anything else. It gets better right?

Not especially. I played DaS first and it completely trumps its sequel in terms of atmosphere and level design. If you're not happy with DaS2, I'm pretty certain that the original will satisfy.

 

[drotahorror]

Dark Souls 2 does it with Looking Glass Knight. Sometimes he'll summon a player as a black ghost.

Only time that ever happened to me was during a new game++ run with a friend. It was quite bonkers actually.

 

[zsswimmer]

I dont think it trumps anything about Dark Souls except the latter levels like Lost Izilath. The combat feels more weighty and improved, some areas have great level design and atmosphere, and the estus system and bonfires are better than the systems set in place in Demons Souls. But to each their own of course.

 

[The Amusing Ciderman]

Having beaten bloodborne, then this, and now I'm running through demon's, I see exactly what you're talking about. Most of the areas in demon's are way cooler looking and more atmospheric than in DS2. I'm still early on but tower of latria and shrine of storms in particular just ooze atmosphere. I will agree with those that said the DS2 dlc has some really cool looking areas. Glad to hear that DS1 is known for atmosphere and lore. I'm definitely going to tackle that next.

I am glad I am not alone here.

In DeS I like and enjoy every level. Only world 2 was less atmospheric. In the Valley of Defilement I actually feel revolted as I play it. All the levels are practically dripping with atmosphere.

I get none of that in DaS2 and am at the point of just giving up on it. Regardless of combat/PvP/boss/DLC improvements the levels blow and give me no desire to see more of the game. Shame.

Still I will pick up DaS at some point. Once I finish DeS I think. I just hope it is better with atmosphere as people seem to think.