I'd prob rank DkS2 a 7.5 or 8 and DkS2:SOTFS a 8.5 while Bloodborne a 9 or 9.5. To put it simply, I think Bloodborne is a better game in a lot of ways.
But, I also put in like 10 times more time in DkS2. Much more re-playable with the different builds. Also, NG+ actually has meaning with new items/etc can only be found during those areas. In the end, I only played Bloodborne once (100% to get platinum), but I've gone through DkS2 several times now and about to platinum it again.
That's what I mean DEX scaling is weaker than that of STR so DEX weapons do a bit less than quality or pure STR scaling weapons. They're still viable but your returns are less.
I only ever played Ninja Gaiden: Black and from what I remember that game is difficult as balls, the two tank fight mahn! Also many games were harder back int he day due to no checkpoints. Altered Beast, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, are amongst the games I played a lot as a kid and could never beat until I got the Ultimate Genesis Collection on Xbox and could save .
Btw, I generally don't do this, but I don't wanna waste what little Fragrant Branches I currently have. In Aldia's Keep there's two statues, do they drop anything when you unpetrify em and kill em?
I'm slowwwwwwly progressing, grinding, leveling up, not really sure about anything. Going back & forth from Forest of the Fallen Giants, fighting soldiers, collecting souls. grinding. This is what I should be doing, right? I'd like to get to the point where I can fight that long limbed giant boss with no face. lol.
My build is a Sorcerer and I don't have the right attributes to use the Twin Dragon Greatshield I bought. Need strength of 20, fuck. Best weapon is the foot soldier sword I got, but it's at the breaking point or whatever (my weapons are weak, old man!).
Wow, hell yes. One of many improvements I'm only finding out about now. Thanks for the spoiler tip by the way, I'm going to run my brain against the wall for another hour or two before highlighting it.
I'd prob rank DkS2 a 7.5 or 8 and DkS2:SOTFS a 8.5 while Bloodborne a 9 or 9.5. To put it simply, I think Bloodborne is a better game in a lot of ways.
But, I also put in like 10 times more time in DkS2. Much more re-playable with the different builds. Also, NG+ actually has meaning with new items/etc can only be found during those areas. In the end, I only played Bloodborne once (100% to get platinum), but I've gone through DkS2 several times now and about to platinum it again.
That's great. I also have the same feeling with BB where I dont see much reason to replay it, since new weapons/armor are pretty much confined to the procedural dungeons.
For what it's worth, some of the last few areas are quite cool. Guessing you aren't going to do the DLC, if you're already so anxious to be done with DS2?
At this point I'm just starting to feel like the game has dragged on for too long already, so no, I'm probably not doing the DLC areas. At least not right now. My main goal is just to finish the game before DkS3.
The cat mentions that, yes. Although, how do I know which way east is? There's no compass, unless I've missed something. I should just know? Maybe someone mentioned something about some direction or other being east a million hours ago when I first started playing, but yeeeeah...
So, for my character I want to make a Guts type character(from the Berserk series). So a 2H build that focus' on greatswords and Katanas. Are there any good Str/Dex builds that would fulfill this?
There's lots of DEX orientated weapons that have STR scaling that's C at best plus you can get them surprisingly early although I wouldn't be put off if you want to go pure DEX though.
You're near one of the VIT soft caps at 30 but 10-15 More ATN will give you more casting speed. There's not much else you can do other than get VGR to the hard cap of 50 you might not even need that though, it's more about equipment at the stage you're at.
There's enough fragrant branches in each play through to use on all of the petrified characters and they aren't that hard to find so don't stress too much. The same is not true for Pharro's lock stones though.
I've been scouring every place to try and find any missing branches because I sill have three statues left. I finally got one, but I wanna know if the ones in Aldia's Keep do anything at all.
So, for my character I want to make a Guts type character(from the Berserk series). So a 2H build that focus' on greatswords and Katanas. Are there any good Str/Dex builds that would fulfill this?
I've been scouring every place to try and find any missing branches because I sill have three statues left. I finally got one, but I wanna know if the ones in Aldia's Keep do anything at all.
I'd say try and up your max equipment load a bit or decrease your current load a bit, you get less stamina regen if you're above 60% equip load. Your stamina regen is 40% slower than it would be at 0% load. That's my only opinion, other than that it looks pretty good.
I'm slowwwwwwly progressing, grinding, leveling up, not really sure about anything. Going back & forth from Forest of the Fallen Giants, fighting soldiers, collecting souls. grinding. This is what I should be doing, right?
Then just keep progressing into the level and opening shortcuts, instead of grinding. Grinding in the Forest too, with those paltry souls yields... yikes. Guess you'll depopulate it soon lol.
My build is a Sorcerer and I don't have the right attributes to use the Twin Dragon Greatshield I bought. Need strength of 20, fuck. Best weapon is the foot soldier sword I got, but it's at the breaking point or whatever (my weapons are weak, old man!).
A sorcerer doesn't need a greatshield, just stay back and pew pew your way to victory. As melee backup you can always use the fire longsword for now, until you get access to better weapons and weapon infusions.
At this point I'm just starting to feel like the game has dragged on for too long already, so no, I'm probably not doing the DLC areas. At least not right now. My main goal is just to finish the game before DkS3.
Yeah, I don't have that item yet. It's not dropped by any boss I have beaten so far, so you must have gotten things mixed up there. I do know I need it though, as I looked it up in my utter bewilderment. How does one know that item is required? There's nothing even hinting at that. This game is ridiculously opaque regarding what you need to do to make progress, much more so than any other Soulsborne game. Like I said before, the only way to figure all this out on your own really seems to be to finecomb absolutely every little area in the game. There's nothing organically driving you toward anything in particular. Which I guess might be fine, but none of the other games are like that even remotely to this degree. DkS1 didn't exactly tell you were to go, true, but there was a rather logical and apparent progression. Ring the bells (which you're outright told to do), go through Sen's Fortress (which you're shown being opened up), make your way through Anor Londo (which you're automatically taken to) and get the Lordvessel, visit the orange fog gate areas (which you are shown, although you do have to find them of course), final area, done. Pretty much. You always had at least an idea what your next goal was unless you weren't paying attention at all. Here I don't feel like I get that. There's just a TON of stuff that seems sort of thrown together, and there's nothing telling me what I actually need to do most of the time.
, which leads to yet another "ok, now where the hell do I actually use this thing?" situation. Again, unless you happen to have been paying VERY close attention and remember all the locations where it might be useful, you're basically left to just explore EVERYTHING again. That's if you even realize what it's for, as that's not in any way apparent either. And again, I'm not saying everything should be spelled out, but this game is pushing it a bit far IMO.
, which leads to yet another "ok, now where the hell do I actually use this thing?" situation. Again, unless you happen to have been paying VERY close attention and remember all the locations where it might be useful, you're basically left to just explore EVERYTHING again. That's if you even realize what it's for, as that's not in any way apparent either.
So you already knew to go east to get the ashen heart mist then? The Ashen heart mist does tell you what to look for in the item description and you probably missed the interaction between the trees in the Forest of Fallen Giants the name is a bit of a give away as well same with a Seed of a Tree of Giants.
, which leads to yet another "ok, now where the hell do I actually use this thing?" situation. Again, unless you happen to have been paying VERY close attention and remember all the locations where it might be useful, you're basically left to just explore EVERYTHING again. That's if you even realize what it's for, as that's not in any way apparent either. And again, I'm not saying everything should be spelled out, but this game is pushing it a bit far IMO.
To be fair, it's not entirely dissimilar to re-exploring areas in Metroid Prime once you have different powers, but the nature of the Souls games means it takes fucking forever.
I've made a point to myself that whenever I happen to come across a locked door/ an event where nothing happens in DS3, I'll make a mental/physical note of it and come back to it later.
Then just keep progressing into the level and opening shortcuts, instead of grinding. Grinding in the Forest too, with those paltry souls yields... yikes. Guess you'll depopulate it soon lol.
About this, what are the conditions for enemies disappearing in an area? Ive had some soldiers just below the church disappear after doing a combination of dying a ton and grinding to upgrade my sword. Which is now a boring Broadsword btw.
Also, is there a cap for the scaling this time? Most weapons are just +40 thanks to scaling, before i upgrade them.
About this, what are the conditions for enemies disappearing in an area? Ive had some soldiers just below the church disappear after doing a combination of dying a ton and grinding to upgrade my sword. Which is now a boring Broadsword btw.
Also, is there a cap for the scaling this time? Most weapons are just +40 thanks to scaling, before i upgrade them.
It varies between things but it's like 12-15 times off the top of my head however you can join champions to stop that from happening among other things. Broadswords are actually really good surprisingly totally end game viable STR weapons. Thee's a stat invsetment hard cap of 50.
About this, what are the conditions for enemies disappearing in an area? Ive had some soldiers just below the church disappear after doing a combination of dying a ton and grinding to upgrade my sword. Which is now a boring Broadsword btw.
Also, is there a cap for the scaling this time? Most weapons are just +40 thanks to scaling, before i upgrade them.
It varies between things but it's like 12-15 times off the top of my head however you can join champions to stop that from happening among other things. Broadswords are actually really good surprisingly totally end game viable STR weapons. Thee's a stat invsetment hard cap of 50.
Ok, nice to know. Have upgraded it twice so far, trying to get it to +3 now. Just meet a guy talking about a map and giving me a key to his house (still in the forest of the giants), nice to see that there probably is an in-game map in this game. Definitely going back to Majula asap.
Went inside, came to a place with literally a ton of bloodstains - and moved away. Not much progress to gain there for now it seems. Going back to the flying knight in Forest of the Giants i guess.
Went inside, came to a place with literally a ton of bloodstains - and moved away. Not much progress to gain there for now it seems. Going back to the flying knight in Forest of the Giants i guess.
Finally found a decent shield, the Blue Wooden one. Been going around without one/two-handing so far, but its nice to finally be able to take cover behind a shield again. Also got the Cloranthy Ring which was awesome in the original, so it got equipped instantly here as well. Loving the game so far, but wonder when Im going to see some giants or bosses? Cant be far now.
Edit: The level design seems pretty mediocre so far. Might be stuff I dont realize yet, but there seems to be a ton of dead-ends without any real payoff. Including an area I was just in, where I was warned of being trapped by the door, got trapped, fought myself out - and didnt really earn anything from it. Way easier now with a shield btw.
Edit 2: Finally opened the shortcut to the bonfire. Two questions though, first, whats up with all the torches? Should I try lightening them? And second, why didnt the flying knight appear when I went back to take him down?
Edit 3: Just spent like 100 arrows to kill a terifying beast down below which seemed like a complete waste lol. Then died on my first boss, the last giant, which seemed very underwhelming really. Killed me in one stomp of course.
Edit 4: Aaaand killed him on my second try. Two-handed and rolled like a boss. Fun game!
Finally found a decent shield, the Blue Wooden one. Been going around without one/two-handing so far, but its nice to finally be able to take cover behind a shield again. Also got the Cloranthy Ring which was awesome in the original, so it got equipped instantly here as well. Loving the game so far, but wonder when Im going to see some giants or bosses? Cant be far now.
Edit: The level design seems pretty mediocre so far. Might be stuff I dont realize yet, but there seems to be a ton of dead-ends without any real payoff. Including an area I was just in, where I was warned of being trapped by the door, got trapped, fought myself out - and didnt really earn anything from it. Way easier now with a shield btw.
Edit 2: Finally opened the shortcut to the bonfire. Two questions though, first, whats up with all the torches? Should I try lightening them? And second, why didnt the flying knight appear when I went back to take him down?
Edit 3: Just spent like 100 arrows to kill a terifying beast down below which seemed like a complete waste lol. Then died on my first boss, the last giant, which seemed very underwhelming really. Killed me in one stomp of course.
You can get something from that area a few things actually sticky white stuff and a spell tool plus the soapstone is tied to the trap. The Pursuer is an optional encounter when it first appears there it's one time only.
You can get something from that area a few things actually sticky white stuff and a spell tool plus the soapstone is tied to the trap. The Pursuer is an optional encounter when it first appears there it's one time only.
I got softbaned D: I edited my soul memory down with cheat engine to what it was before I started farming souls to buy armor sets. It was still way more souls than was necessary to reach my level, but I guess that's not okay either. I'm super bummed I looked around and there seems to be some reports they are temporary. Has anyone ever gotten one and had it go away? Getting rank 3 with any covenant is going to be impossible now.
Was able to open a few new doors, but seems I need to find the message of the king or whatever to progress through one of them. Lots of slow and easy big guys with clubs around, but yeah, one failure against them, and Im dead. Hate the short length of the PS3-controller cord btw, got low battery so had to quit for some recharging, and cant do it while playing thanks to the length
Undead Crypt on NG+ is so bullshit. Those blue spirit things kill me in like four shots, despite full Havel and about 2300 health. And before you mention it
I know to destroy their stone thing to stop em from ever spawning again. It takes like two three our four hits before it breaks though. It also doesn't help that there's hollows that spawn indefinitely and keep ringing the bells.
I wonder how hard the boss will be :/
I'ma spoiler tag this just in case...it has to do with Undead Crypt and after.
So, I decided to burn a Bonfire Ascetic in Undead Crypt(hence my NG+ rage), fought and murdered Vendrick(who was very easy tbh, power-stanced KUGS+5 and Greatsword +10 and he was down after like 5 or 6 hits...then used another Bonfire Ascetic in Shrine of Amana opened the door and...NO SOUL OF VENDRICK VSDUGYUFGDYUF so I go to google and find this tasty tidbit...
"This soul is available only once per playthrough. Burning a Bonfire Ascetic at Undead Crypt and defeating Vendrick a second time won't make another Soul of the King appear in Shrine of Amana." Who told me to do a BA and fight Vendrick again ?
Came up to a deadend in Forest of the Giants, so went to the Tower of Heide for the first time. Pretty cool combination of Anor Londo and New Londo here. Anyways, the giants knights are pretty easy, but fighting several at the time is pretty challenging. Hope to find that ring I was tipped about!
Edit: What did the lever do? Didnt really see anything changing.
"This soul is available only once per playthrough. Burning a Bonfire Ascetic at Undead Crypt and defeating Vendrick a second time won't make another Soul of the King appear in Shrine of Amana." Who told me to do a BA and fight Vendrick again ? [/SPOILER]
You didn't know? I had though I'd mentioned it but obviously not? On the other hand you could go for the stat investment for Fume Ultra it'll give you more range within the powerstance moveset plus it's more or less as strong as Kings Ultra.
Came up to a deadend in Forest of the Giants, so went to the Tower of Heide for the first time. Pretty cool combination of Anor Londo and New Londo here. Anyways, the giants knights are pretty easy, but fighting several at the time is pretty challenging. Hope to find that ring I was tipped about!
Edit: What did the lever do? Didnt really see anything changing.
You didn't know? I had though I'd mentioned it but obviously not? On the other hand you could go for the stat investment for Fume Ultra it'll give you more range within the powerstance moveset plus it's more or less as strong as Kings Ultra.
For real? Pretty cool thing. Guess I cant get the original boss arena now then? Anyways, I got to the boss and lost pretty quickly, but now I have the ring of binding for 50% more health! Also got to the cathedral, but didnt have enough courage to enter. Back to the red knight i guess!
For real? Pretty cool thing. Guess I cant get the original boss arena now then? Anyways, I got to the boss and lost pretty quickly, but now I have the ring of binding for 50% more health! Also got to the cathedral, but didnt have enough courage to enter. Back to the red knight i guess!
For real? Pretty cool thing. Guess I cant get the original boss arena now then? Anyways, I got to the boss and lost pretty quickly, but now I have the ring of binding for 50% more health! Also got to the cathedral, but didnt have enough courage to enter. Back to the red knight i guess!
Ok thanks, I just beat the guy on my second try. Even though I dont do much damage, the huge number of healing items, make slow fights like this almost unwinnable. Anyways, there were two levers I pulled, one inside the litt round building, and one on the road to it. Did both affect the Boss Arena? (this is not counting the lever that lowered the bridge).
Ok thanks, I just beat the guy on my second try. Even though I dont do much damage, the huge number of healing items, make slow fights like this almost unwinnable. Anyways, there were two levers I pulled, one inside the litt round building, and one on the road to it. Did both affect the Boss Arena? (this is not counting the lever that lowered the bridge).
This might just lack of familiarity, but I feel the menus are a step down from previous souls-games. For instance, when you are considering changing weapon, why doesnt it tell you the added damage for scaling right there?
"This soul is available only once per playthrough. Burning a Bonfire Ascetic at Undead Crypt and defeating Vendrick a second time won't make another Soul of the King appear in Shrine of Amana." Who told me to do a BA and fight Vendrick again ?
It's fine, like I said he was super easy, stuck to his leg, power-stanced a KUGS +5 and a Greatsword +5 had 75 STR and 42 Dex and just L2ed him like five times and he died. Also got on my soul increasing items in time so I got over 200k souls .
Btw, for Crown of the Ivory King
Does anyone else hate the Ivory King fight? I mean, he himself is a super fun epic boss fight. But the endless Loyce Soldiers piss me off to no avail. I have all four soldiers but they just take eons to block the gates, and by the time it's done I have like 5 estus left . Too much of a cluster fuck of spawning enemies. Wish they increased the time it takes for them to spawn in.
Got all my spells except for about 8 of them. 4 of which will come from doing NG+ quickly and the rest from reaching Dranglic Castle in NG++. Currently killing off NPC characters to inflate my sin level. Will then use my Soul items on hand and level up past lv 200. I prob have enough to make 500k at the very least. lol
I'll prob go to lv 250, increase my Attunement to 75 to increase it's spell slot & uses 1 more. Not sure if I'll raise my Fire stats any.. Since already at the soft cap of 60 (int+faith). Might be better to increase some other stat. Might raise Agility a bit more to make rolls better. I do a lot of PvP in invasions (both to and from), and to help compensate against lag (or bad hitboxes) that would be useful. Maybe I'll raise my Attunement to 94 just so I can then use 4 Forbidden Suns (+1 for Hexer's hood)
Speaking of which, lately I've been seeing way more blue invaders then red. Like yesterday saw at least 3.
So you already knew to go east to get the ashen heart mist then? The Ashen heart mist does tell you what to look for in the item description and you probably missed the interaction between the trees in the Forest of Fallen Giants the name is a bit of a give away as well same with a Seed of a Tree of Giants.
I did not know to go there for that, no. I didn't know that way was east. I only knew that
the King's Ring opens the gates ("Produce the symbol of the king" is rather obvious)
. I first went for the last one I had seen and clearly remembered the location of, which was the one in
Drangelic Castle
. That obviously led me to that boss fight, which seemed to just be a dead end (although I now know it really isn't). Then I went to the next one I could find, which led to the other item. This is its description:
"Manifestation of ashen mist received from the ancient dragon. The magic of the ancient dragon allows one to delve into the memories of the withered."
A lot of dragon talk there, which made me think of that rather than
trees
. I did remember having interacted with them earlier, but the vague
"Alas, nothing happened"
made me think it was probably just a side-thing rather than a main objective. And then, even if you make the connection, you have to remember where they all are, and explore all of them. There's also really nothing indicating this is something you even have to do (except who you get it from, perhaps). You find a lot of items which are for optional things in this game. So, again, it feels like if you're going in completely blind all you can really do is explore EVERYTHING (which also means remembering what you haven't already fully explored or interacted with, 40 hours later), because the game doesn't really bother to indicate what you should be doing most of the time.
Or I don't know, maybe I just haven't quite been paying good enough attention! Admittedly, my heart isn't quite in it with this game the way it has been with the others. I am playing it because I want to, but also partly because I want it done before DkS3. Not an optimal state of mind for something like this, I know.
Got all my spells except for about 8 of them. 4 of which will come from doing NG+ quickly and the rest from reaching Dranglic Castle in NG++. Currently killing off NPC characters to inflate my sin level. Will then use my Soul items on hand and level up past lv 200. I prob have enough to make 500k at the very least. lol
I'll prob go to lv 250, increase my Attunement to 75 to increase it's spell slot & uses 1 more. Not sure if I'll raise my Fire stats any.. Since already at the soft cap of 60 (int+faith). Might be better to increase some other stat. Might raise Agility a bit more to make rolls better. I do a lot of PvP in invasions (both to and from), and to help compensate against lag (or bad hitboxes) that would be useful. Maybe I'll raise my Attunement to 94 just so I can then use 4 Forbidden Suns (+1 for Hexer's hood)
Speaking of which, lately I've been seeing way more blue invaders then red. Like yesterday saw at least 3.
Wastes a ring slot I could use for something else. Plus, this way I get more spell usages. I should note I am already at 60. So using 34 levels out of 50 isn't much. Prob should also mention this character is more for me getting platinum. I used to wear that ring early on, but not needed anymore (unless I get a 2nd Forbidden Sun lol). Not really doing duals, more PvP invasions (both to and from). Since SL is meaningless in that regard, won't matter what level I am at. My Soul Memory is already so high, that I've reached a period where my summon & invasion circle is huge reaching.
Since I'll still have like 2 weeks or so after getting platinum, I can see myself making a lv 150 or even a lv 100 (Soul Memory equivalent of that, that is) and making a char for doing invasions. Getting Red Invasion Orbs will be a pain though. Doing a Blue Arbiter would be easier to do invasions, but not as much fun lol.
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