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

Jombie

Member
The biggest complaint I have about the enemy placement in Scholar is probably Earthen Peak and those goddamn manikins. They weren't an issue in vanilla, but now they can stun you death in a heartbeat and they're fucking everywhere.

Don't EVER rest as the second bonfire -- you have two immediately above you on the steps, the warden near the windmill, and the two that drop down from the steps down from that. It's a pain in the ass for a pure melee build; I always carry around a spear on each character to deal with those assholes.
 

FloatOn

Member
The biggest complaint I have about the enemy placement in Scholar is probably Earthen Peak and those goddamn manikins. They weren't an issue in vanilla, but now they can stun you death in a heartbeat and they're fucking everywhere.

Don't EVER rest as the second bonfire -- you have two immediately above you on the steps, the warden near the windmill, and the two that drop down from the steps down from that. It's a pain in the ass for a pure melee build; I always carry around a spear on each character to deal with those assholes.

true story. those manikins wrecked my shit several times on this most recent play through.
 
Sinh was surprisingly easy compared to the other two DLC bosses.

I cut off his tail and he never flew again. Just stood there basically and spit fire and got owned.
 
The biggest complaint I have about the enemy placement in Scholar is probably Earthen Peak and those goddamn manikins. They weren't an issue in vanilla, but now they can stun you death in a heartbeat and they're fucking everywhere.

Don't EVER rest as the second bonfire -- you have two immediately above you on the steps, the warden near the windmill, and the two that drop down from the steps down from that. It's a pain in the ass for a pure melee build; I always carry around a spear on each character to deal with those assholes.

Got summoned as an apostle of blue for the first time here last night!


I arrived just in time to see the person I was supposed to help get killed by some loser spamming a dark ball spell while hiding behind the two manikins on the staircase :V
 

Conezays

Member
Playing the PC version and would love some help doing boss 2 and 3 in DLC 2, as well as finishing off DLC 3.

Currently hanging out at the Foyer Bonfire in Brume Tower. Level 200.

Would really appreciate the help! Cheers. Will be roaming around if no one comes but shoot me a PM if you're on.
 
I lose all motivation to do anything in NG+. I'd rather just start a new character and play it over... I don't really understand why. Maybe I need to venture into making my melee build into more of a spellcaster/melee?

Any suggestions?
 

Greddleok

Member
Well I finished it. All bosses except for the 2 kitties because fuck that place. It's ugly and boring to get through.

Such a great game, it's cemented that I prefer the dark medieval fantasy to the Victorian horror of Bloodborne.

I'm going for the platinum, but farming up sun medallions sucks. I can't find anyone to do bosses with any more, and the falconers have a terribly low drop rate.

My main weapon throughout was persuers great sword, but I also dabbled with the mace, Richards rapier and zweihander. My shield was generally drangelic shield, but for bosses I tended to use a fully upgraded blossom kite shield for the stamina regen, since rolling is better than blocking for bosses anyway!

My NG+ run is shieldless, and I'm running a quality spell sword build. It's fun! I might respec since now I don't carry a shield I need less equip weight, and I'll be able to dump more into int/faith.
 

zoukka

Member
Playing this for the first time ever. Just got the shortcut in Wharf and goddamn that was a tricky area to clear, died a bunch of times there. Also I just learned to block properly, coming from Bloodborne I have just basically rolled my way through enemies and bosses...

Game is great so far. Haven't seen anything warranting some of the backlash I saw a years ago. The level design has been awesome so far.
 

onken

Member
For the PC release of SoFS - does anyone know if the framerate is still capped at 60 like the first release or if it can go higher than that?
 
I'm going for the platinum, but farming up sun medallions sucks. I can't find anyone to do bosses with any more, and the falconers have a terribly low drop rate.

For what it is worth it took me 5 real-time hours to get 30 Sun Medals from the Falconers. I noticed that after 2 hours they stopped dropping Falconers Armor pieces and only dropped Sun Medals.

It's boring as hell but you gotta do what you gotta do.
 

Greddleok

Member
I got the Sun Medals in the end. The long weekend here in the UK meant there were quite a few people summoning. I finished off the last 5 by from the Falconers.

Now I just need spells and Lucatiel. The Dark Lurker is probably the most difficult boss I've faced yet. She (?) is an absolute tank, taking my persuer's sword hits for only like 200 each swing, plus I'm pure melee, so I'm constantly running around.

Fun, but tough.
 
I got the Sun Medals in the end. The long weekend here in the UK meant there were quite a few people summoning. I finished off the last 5 by from the Falconers.

Now I just need spells and Lucatiel. The Dark Lurker is probably the most difficult boss I've faced yet. She (?) is an absolute tank, taking my persuer's sword hits for only like 200 each swing, plus I'm pure melee, so I'm constantly running around.

Fun, but tough.

Are you doing the 1000/1000 in NG+? Did you already obtain the Belfry Covenant Rank 3 spell? If not then you have to farm one specific Red Phantom in Single Player but it takes 1-2 hours max vs 5 hours for Falconers.

Luckily I did Darklurker in NG0 otherwise it would be hell. Of course I made a dumb mistake in NG0 and had to kill Fume Knight again in NG+, ha. That was fun. Sir Alonne as well but he is piss easy with Havel's Greatshield.
 

Greddleok

Member
I didn't do Darklurker in NG. I think I got everything from the DLC I needed on the first attempt! I didn't find Fume Knight as hard as you did, he clicked with me quickly, but Sir Alonne got to the point where all the Knights in the memory had despawned because I attempted it so many times. I had to respec to do it! Found my great sword was just too slow.

Not done the Belfry covenant yet, but that's next on my list after Darklurker! I think that's pretty much all I have left, other than the NG++ things. I'll probably do it over the weekend.
 

Who

Banned
If I have a lower to mid range rig (mid to high range laptop), would I be better off buying this, or the original Dark Souls 2 off Steam. I don't know if there would be a performance difference or not considering this version has higher textures and shit.
 

Greddleok

Member
Ding! I got the Platinum over the weekend! I farmed the Belfry invader for 2 hours, then gave up, as soon as I logged in the next day, a person invaded me, and I destroyed them which netted me the sorcery trophy. Was a great way to finish that up!

I made a huge mistake when it came to getting pyro/miracles though. I farmed the rotten with ascetics until I could get into Drangelic castle, only to find that I needed to kill the Miracle vendor, which required 3/4 great souls anyway.

Luckily I blasted through it quickly. The only troublesome part was Shrine of Amana. I fucking hate that place.
 

Dr.Wampe

Member
Hi fellow Sun Bros,

I have to say that the Darklurker and the Dlc Bosses are giving me a hard time. I am now trying different types of weapons and even a bit of sorcery, but it didnt change that much for me ;). Now i am thinking of going to Ng+ to farm more souls or better gear. I am level 160 and played mostly with the Ultra Greatsword +10 which made the Game up to this point relatively easy.
 
Hi fellow Sun Bros,

I have to say that the Darklurker and the Dlc Bosses are giving me a hard time. I am now trying different types of weapons and even a bit of sorcery, but it didnt change that much for me ;). Now i am thinking of going to Ng+ to farm more souls or better gear. I am level 160 and played mostly with the Ultra Greatsword +10 which made the Game up to this point relatively easy.
Don't give up skeleton. You'll get them. They are way harder than any of the normal bosses. I found that I had to roll a lot more than any other bosses. I used a Brightbug on Ivory King as well and it made quick work of him.

If you're really desperate, just summon an army. Everytime I put my sign down in front of them, people are summoning 4 people to fight them. Then you just make sure you stay alive and let them kill the bosses.
 

Manu

Member
So, yesterday's thread about armor sets made me wanna create a new character just to wear Alva's set. It's amazing how much easier the game feels when playing as a classic sword + shield character. After a shieldless + greatsword playthrough I feel overpowered. I think I've probably died less than 10 times and I've already killed the Lost Sinner. I didn't even die until Heide. I even killed The Pursuer when you first meet him, which I had never done before.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
After years of waiting to play this, the $24 PSN deal finally pushed me over the edge.

I'm dying way more often than I did in the early sections of all the other Souls games. I'm just now realizing how much I exploited the enemy AI in the previous games. Kiting, divide and conquer, etc. It's a pretty drastic difference having enemies who are not only faster, but keep pursuing you outside of their spawn area. I'm constantly being chased around levels by increasingly large mobs of enemies, and it's nerve wracking / hilarious. It's lead to a lot more frustration early on than I would have expected, but it's also forcing me to step up my game. It's been fun, though, mostly...
 

Tarkus

Member
After years of waiting to play this, the $24 PSN deal finally pushed me over the edge.

I'm dying way more often than I did in the early sections of all the other Souls games. I'm just now realizing how much I exploited the enemy AI in the previous games. Kiting, divide and conquer, etc. It's a pretty drastic difference having enemies who are not only faster, but keep pursuing you outside of their spawn area. I'm constantly being chased around levels by increasingly large mobs of enemies, and it's nerve wracking / hilarious. It's lead to a lot more frustration early on than I would have expected, but it's also forcing me to step up my game. It's been fun, though, mostly...
It's incredibly unforgiving early on. I recently rediscovered this when I made a new build. Or it could be that I just suck because PvP has ruined me vs the engine.
 
Hi fellow Sun Bros,

I have to say that the Darklurker and the Dlc Bosses are giving me a hard time. I am now trying different types of weapons and even a bit of sorcery, but it didnt change that much for me ;). Now i am thinking of going to Ng+ to farm more souls or better gear. I am level 160 and played mostly with the Ultra Greatsword +10 which made the Game up to this point relatively easy.
It's hard for a melee build but it's possible! Try using either lighting or fire weapons/spells. The darklurker is very weak against those. Good luck!
 
After years of waiting to play this, the $24 PSN deal finally pushed me over the edge.

I'm dying way more often than I did in the early sections of all the other Souls games. I'm just now realizing how much I exploited the enemy AI in the previous games. Kiting, divide and conquer, etc. It's a pretty drastic difference having enemies who are not only faster, but keep pursuing you outside of their spawn area. I'm constantly being chased around levels by increasingly large mobs of enemies, and it's nerve wracking / hilarious. It's lead to a lot more frustration early on than I would have expected, but it's also forcing me to step up my game. It's been fun, though, mostly...

Started this today for the first time and this echoes my thoughts too. A lot more difficult than the beginning of DS1; I've already died a considerable amount to the mobs ways into the Forest of Fallen Giants and not quite used to dealing with 3-4 guys rushing me, flailing and dealing proper damage. My stamina runs out so fucking fast too (at around 11-12 or so) and once that happens I'm pretty much done for. Fairly frustrating but I'm having a lot of fun so far.
 

down 2 orth

Member
I'm going to hop on board from the PSN sale as well. I beat DS1 a while ago and that was great, but I don't know much about this game just because I was trying to avoid spoilers and such.

Any Gaf tips to set us in the right direction or for joining factions?
 
So is parrying a lot more finicky and difficult in this game than Dark Souls or is it just me? Even when I manage to parry I miss a lot of my ripostes as well. Just need more practice I guess.
 
So is parrying a lot more finicky and difficult in this game than Dark Souls or is it just me? Even when I manage to parry I miss a lot of my ripostes as well. Just need more practice I guess.

I got through the whole game without parrying as I am doing in Dark Souls, it's probably because i'm just crap at it, in fact I never managed to pull it off in Bloodborne either!
 

Greddleok

Member
I just can't shield parry. Gun parries in BB just made sense to me, I could pull them off 99% of the time, but using a shield always feels weird to the point that if I get one, I'm lucky.

Meh, rolling is just as effective.
 

Tarkus

Member
So is parrying a lot more finicky and difficult in this game than Dark Souls or is it just me? Even when I manage to parry I miss a lot of my ripostes as well. Just need more practice I guess.
The parry timing is different. You have to initiate a little earlier in this game. For the riposte, you have to wait until the enemy goes down on their knees, then attack. Don't forget to two-hand your weapon after they go down for extra damage on the riposte. Try a small shield that's not specifically for parrying like the Small Leather Shield. It's has a quick animation, good parry window, and fast recovery. I find the parry shields like the Buckler slow and hard to use.

I'm going to hop on board from the PSN sale as well. I beat DS1 a while ago and that was great, but I don't know much about this game just because I was trying to avoid spoilers and such.

Any Gaf tips to set us in the right direction or for joining factions?
Head to the Forest and explore the level for loot. Pick a build type (e.g. melee, mage) and focus on those stats. Vigor is important because of the hollowing penalty. Adaptability is very important too for increasing your I-frames in your roll and back step. If you get to 105 agility, then you'll have the I-frame equivalent of DaS1's fast roll.

For covenants, you can join two right off the bat. Avoid the Covenant of Champions for now. All but two covenants are for co-op or PvP. I probably wouldn't worry with them until you level a bit and upgrade your weapons.
 
A few bonfires in and I have died 3 times, all to the same tutorial jump. Just evil, man. Do most people leave it set to L-stick jumping, or...? I set it back to the B/O button for now. Seems odd to have a jump button on the stick where you control the movement.

I also should have done a quick play of DaS1...so rusty, and I find I'm trying to dodge like in Bloodborne.
 

Tarkus

Member
A few bonfires in and I have died 3 times, all to the same tutorial jump. Just evil, man. Do most people leave it set to L-stick jumping, or...? I set it back to the B/O button for now. Seems odd to have a jump button on the stick where you control the movement.

I also should have done a quick play of DaS1...so rusty, and I find I'm trying to dodge like in Bloodborne.
It's odd at first for sure. I left it on L3 because I sprint a lot and occasionally need to roll through mobs directly out of the sprint. If you use the DaS1 layout, then you can't do that.
 
A few bonfires in and I have died 3 times, all to the same tutorial jump. Just evil, man. Do most people leave it set to L-stick jumping, or...? I set it back to the B/O button for now. Seems odd to have a jump button on the stick where you control the movement.

I also should have done a quick play of DaS1...so rusty, and I find I'm trying to dodge like in Bloodborne.

Which jump are you trying to do? I left mine to the default and it eventually clicked to the point where now i'm playing DS1 i'm struggling in that.

I started DS2 right after BB and was playing it like that and getting battered so I had to just slow down and get back into the groove of playing a bit slower, I spent some time just killing the guys at the start of the forest just to get my timings right, it was worth it!
 
It was that first jump right by the tutorial message on how to jump, I'm not even joking, heh. I got it, but I must have been going too early, since the character would do this skipping animation and slide down. Jumping early worked.

And yeah, I slowed down some, and things were going pretty good...until a mini boss guy shot me in the back and killed me. :/ He'll get his later.
 
It was that first jump right by the tutorial message on how to jump, I'm not even joking, heh. I got it, but I must have been going too early, since the character would do this skipping animation and slide down. Jumping early worked.

And yeah, I slowed down some, and things were going pretty good...until a mini boss guy shot me in the back and killed me. :/ He'll get his later.

Haha nice one, it wasn't The Pursuer that got you by any chance was it?
 
Haha nice one, it wasn't The Pursuer that got you by any chance was it?

It wasn't a typical boss fight, but I don't know any of the names for things in DaS2 yet.

I fought some turtle armor wearing MF with a 2h mace type weapon, went up a ladder to a raised square platform (that set off my Dark Souls hard fight incoming senses), had a flyby with a drake or something that looked to be carrying an enemy (but I didn't notice him get dropped off), so I engaged a jerkwad that was rudely throwing firebombs my way, and then got shot in the back with blue goo. Just a typical day in a FromSoftware game.
 
It wasn't a typical boss fight, but I don't know any of the names for things in DaS2 yet.

I fought some turtle armor wearing MF with a 2h mace type weapon, went up a ladder to a raised square platform (that set off my Dark Souls hard fight incoming senses), had a flyby with a drake or something that looked to be carrying an enemy (but I didn't notice him get dropped off), so I engaged a jerkwad that was rudely throwing firebombs my way, and then got shot in the back with blue goo. Just a typical day in a FromSoftware game.

That's the fella, I hated that guy, best of luck :-D
 
That's the fella, I hated that guy, best of luck :-D

He was gone when I got back there. I played Dark Souls 1 about 10 times, and now I'm like
l3v4P3s.jpg
 
Beat
The Last Giant
and
The Pursuer
. First one was easy...I mean you get NPCs to help, but the second was an asshole. It took 5 tries I think. I won when I slowed myself down, didn't try to use the stupid ballista, and just got a hit in here or there. He doesn't really give much of a window to heal.

I hate the max health drop each time you die. I'm glad Bloodborne didn't have that, and I hope DaS3 doesn't either. :p Time to level up some.
 
So, this is mostly for DS2 vanilla + season pass, but i'll be starting this once I finish the first:

I've played this game to about the first 3-4 bosses a number of times and tend to drop off, mostly due to insecurity about my builds. I want to give this game a real push now that the new version's on sale.

So here's what i want out of my character:
Heavy-ish armor
a shield
a mace
Some kind of side weapon

Basically i can't figure out how to prioritize my stats, Usually i go Health and End up to 20 or so and by this point i've got elite knight's and i'm slow rolling everywhere. I know there's like an action speed stat i need to level at some point, but also a carry weight one, and one for armor specifically? I like the mace's vs armor damage buff but i feel like i might be better off with dex weapons somehow.

Basically i'm overwhelmed, someone explain this to me so i can play the game :(
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
- To be more mobile with heavier gear, you need to raise Vitality.
- To get more HP, you need to raise Vigor.
- To get more stamina (and therefore more swings and rolls during the action) you need to raise Endurance.
- To get more invincibility frames per roll and avoid being clipped when you shouldn't be, you need to raise Adaptability.
- To do more damage against armoured enemies, Strike damage is best, but Thrust is also good. Strike damage is typically from weapons that scale well with the Strength stat, whereas Thrust is typically more Dexterity oriented.

It's of course up to you in which order you level up, but none of these stats are a bad choice really. You should probably cap your Agility (which is raised by Adaptability) at 99 or 100 at the most. I forget at which ADP stat that is, maybe about 20? I would suggest increasing it one or two levels every time you beat a boss or earn a lot of souls to spend on a few levels, and spend the rest on raising your damage (STR or DEX) and HP. Endurance is also important of course. I would keep Vitality last, because I think you can get decent defense from mixing up a heavy armour chest piece with, say, lighter leggings and gloves until later. You also get a ring that increases your equip burden fairly early on, in No Man's Wharf, that will help with wearing heavier armour. Just make sure you stay under 70% of your equip burden to at least roll fast enough.
 
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