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[QueenOfThorns]

There are clearly too many such people, given that my original reply was to someone who, in his own words, sees DS1 as "one of [their] all time favorite games" but was considering skipping DS2 entirely. I feel bad thinking that some players (who I am convinced would overwhelmingly love the game) are skipping it because of the silly hate campaign that was going on at its release.

While Dark Souls 2 is well worth playing and isn't bad by any means (i mean i dropped god damn 20 extra dollars just to play Enemy Remix Edition™) there are quite a large amount of problems with the game that just makes it uninteresting in comparison to Demon's and Dark Souls 1.

Bloodborne, at the very least reminded me what exploring interesting worlds that look amazing and have atmosphere is like again. Dark Souls 2 has no memorable areas for me. The bosses aren't that interesting either. The world and level design is just...generic compared to the first two games and BB.

It does have some neat NPCs and lots of items and weapons to collect, so it has that over BB at least.

But compared to Dark Souls 1, it just doesn't hold up for me. I can see how someone would be extremely disappointed to the point of not playing it. I really can. Throughout the entirety of Dark Souls 2 I felt like I was playing through the second half of Dark Souls 1. Teleport to this uninteresting area, kill the thing. Teleport here, kill the thing. There was just nothing that grabbed me.

Spoiler

I may be bitter because these dang enemies just killed me when I was trying to rush to the boss gate. I didn't know they could interrupt you. Fuckers. Enemies in Dark Souls 1 were more polite, they had manners back then.

 

[AuthenticM]

Yep.

Thank fuck. With all of the changes to enemies the game has made, this would have been the straw that broke the camel's back for me. At least this way, I know I can just annihilate the enemies before a boss if I want to get rid of frustration. That's what I did before in some places, such as in Iron Keep, and I'll do it again.

 

[Robot Pants]

Ouch. This is terrible. All of those things especially the story part hurts. I loved the subtle story in DS.


Also, wtf is this souls memory people keep talking about?

Yea that's one of the things that made Dark Souls so amazing to me was the subtle story, and the enemy placement honestly was responsible for that. Enemies made sense lore wise with their placement in the world.
Dark Souls 2 was vague just to be vague and nothing really added up (in the core game, I think maybe the DLC changes this).

Now I don't even know what we have. Dragons in Heide's tower just for the hell of it.
It's like a dark souls arcade game that just takes the mechanics and simply makes it a game and disregards anything else.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I guess I kinda preferred the lows of Dark Souls to the great nothings that were Heide's Tower of Flame, Aldia's Keep, The Castle, The Mining Village, The Black Gulch, Huntsman's Copse and on and on. Even when DS1 was stumbling, it felt so god damn bold. Areas felt purposeful within the world.

But obviously many will disagree with that. I thought the DLC was a step in the right direction.

 

[takriel]

1. You're wrong. Combat is much smoother in DaSII than in the original.
2. Good. Invincibility frames are not a good thing. If anything I'm more upset with Dark Souls II because FROM didn't deliver when they said there would be no invincibility at all.

Well I have to disagree with you there. I found the combat to be tedious at parts, but it never bothered me in the other games.

And I like my invincibility frames. I think it's fun to time your rolls correctly and to escape attacks. It's satisfying.

 

[Mogwai]

Thank fuck. With all of the changes to enemies the game has made, this would have been the straw that broke the camel's back for me. At least this way, I know I can just annihilate the enemies before a boss if I want to get rid of frustration. That's what I did before in some places, such as in Iron Keep, and I'll do it again.

You gotta practice running by enemies. It's a little daunting at first. But once you learn the safe routes for sprinting, it'll save you a lot of time. You'll end up spending more time on bosses and less time grinding the same enemies over and over.

 

[HeelPower]

I guess I kinda preferred the lows of Dark Souls to the great nothings that were Heide's Tower of Flame, Aldia's Keep, The Castle, The Mining Village, The Black Gulch, Huntsman's Copse and on and on. Even when DS1 was stumbling, it felt so god damn bold. Areas felt purposeful within the world.

But obviously many will disagree with that. I thought the DLC was a step in the right direction.

yeah I have to agree.

Lost Izalith is a lot better to me than places like Harvest valley,Earthen peak and brightstone cove of Tseldora.

Mayeb because the art direction is so much more "significant' in DS1.Lost Izalith felt fascinating to me despite all of its technical short comings.

 

[Primethius]

I strongly disagree. Here's just a small selection of things DS2 does better than DS1 on top of online:

• Allowing for greater build variety, and supporting it with more unique gameplay (e.g. dual wielding power stance).
• Offering more varied and unique spells, and more distinct schools of spells and ways to cast them. Also making pure casters more viable.
• Basic movement mechanics are smoother and more responsive, and the way armor and stats affect movement is far more balanced. Also, invincibility frames are much more appropriate, making fast rolling less of an auto-win move.
• Level design quality is a lot more consistent in DS2. While there are still better and worse areas, it never quite reaches the lows of say, Lost Izalith.
• The covenants are more interesting in their gameplay ramifications.
• Finally, the sheer amount of content is pretty amazing, especially in the full version with DLCs. This applies to all of levels, weapons, armor and spells.

And then of course there's the online you allude to. Which isn't just a technical implementation thing (though that is incredibly superior), but they also included some challenges specifically designed for co-op in the DLC which are awesome.

I didn't mean to suggest that online was the only thing, but the primary thing.

And I can't say I agree with everything (or in some cases, I agree with caveats). IMO of course and what not:

For example, level design never reaches the lows of Lost Izalith but nothing in DS2 reaches the highs of DS1 either. It's all just pretty decent to good stuff, nothing that makes you go, "wow, this is some fantastic level design." Can't agree or disagree with the movement, I'd have to replay the games to get a feel. All I know for sure is that the hurtboxes for the player character are the worst in DS2. Magic and build variety I can definitely agree with, same with covenants.

Can't talk about the DLC as I haven't played it. Only played the Artorias DLC which was pretty damn amazing.

As to level design, I am going to be absolutely critical of DS2. It never reaches the lows of DS1 but by god, the only way to describe it is "by the book, template stuff". DS2 feels like a game without a Soul. An unnecessary sequel in some regards with its level and world design. It comes off uninspired. I don't mean that in the generic sort of sense but rather, when you compare it to Demons and Dark 1, DS2 is entirely forgettable. It literally comes off as "oh yea, that was pretty cool in Dark Souls 1, wasn't it?"

Is the by the book, template stuff still great to play? Sure. But it in no way touches DS1, let alone Demon Souls.

 

[Victrix]

Well I have to disagree with you there. I found the combat to be tedious at parts, but it never bothered me in the other games.

And I like my invincibility frames. I think it's fun to time your rolls correctly and to escape attacks. It's satisfying.

You're wrong about the iframes though? Upgrading agility gives you exactly the same iframes you had in DS1.

 

[HeelPower]

You're wrong about the iframes though? Upgrading agility gives you exactly the same iframes you had in DS1.

Agility or Adaptability ?

 

[Easy_D]

Agility or Adaptability ?

You put points into ADP which raises your Agility stat

 

[FunkyMunkey]

- Level design is boring, uninspired and lack meaningful shortcuts and thus interconnectedness. Especially mid-game levels like Shaded Woods, Iron Keep, Brightstone Cove Tseldora, Doors of Pharos, the windmill area are all very tedious to play through

Interconnectedness is a valid complaint, but boring? How are those related? There's many different varying environments in DaS2, especially when you count the DLC.

- Combat is much, much worse, especially because it's too slow and unresponsive and stamina is depleted much too fast

Combat is slow and unresponsive? That's simply not true unless you're wielding a weapon you aren't leveled to use or a greatsword or something. And stamina being depleted quickly unless you spec into stamina (endurance) is a great design choice that actually makes you think about what you should level up in. The point is to make your swings count.

- The roll and evading system is fucked up beyond repair. There's very little invinsibility frames, even with added ADP

What? Fucked up beyond repair lol, really? The lack of i-frames is a good thing as it makes the game harder.

- A lot of Bosses are forgettable
- The story is forgettable or not original enough

Valid complaint (I wouldn't call the bosses or story forgettable at all, though).

If you're overall vibe is that the game is worse because it's harder because of stamina, methodical combat, lack of invisibility frames, etc, well that's a reason many people actually praise the game for, difficulty. And on that note I would actually say the game is a tad bit easier than other Souls games.

 

[HeelPower]

You put points into ADP which raises your Agility stat

Thanks.

I'll make sure to put points into that to up the iframes.

 

[Guevara]

Is anyone doing Let's Plays for this new version? Seems like everyone is on BB.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

- Level design is boring, uninspired and lack meaningful shortcuts and thus interconnectedness. Especially mid-game levels like Shaded Woods, Iron Keep, Brightstone Cove Tseldora, Doors of Pharos, the windmill area are all very tedious to play through

Don't agree with this at all. The interconnectedness of DS1 is interesting, but that doesn't mean it's better level design for a video game. So many areas feel bland and empty, like somebody took a real world location and peppered it with video game elements. If anything, I feel like individual area design suffered because they were so focused on making everything fit together so well.

- Combat is much, much worse, especially because it's too slow and unresponsive and stamina is depleted much too fast

I don't know how you came to this conclusion. One of the first things I noticed about DS2 was how much faster and responsive the controls felt, and going back and forth between the two games only reinforces that.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Jesus Christ.

I was gonna say WTF, but apparently they don't aggro, so that's... kinda cool? I wonder if attacking the ancient dragon aggros them.

I find the split between "Controls are unresponsive" and "The controls are much more responsive" quite weird, of all the arguments that those two are at complete odds with eachother. It's just weird.

Makes me wonder how bad the console versions really were. I remember a lot of people complaining about the menu lagging even.

Yeah the console version was really bad for this. Loading times were slow and the menu was laggy in that sometimes the item icons would take several seconds to appear. Very annoying. Moreover, even dialogue was laggy, you couldn't skip it really quickly because it was auto-saving during dialogue and the game just chugged or something. The PC version had no such problems. It was hard to go back to the PS3 version to play with my friend after playing it on PC, haha.

I strongly disagree. Here's just a small selection of things DS2 does better than DS1 on top of online:

• Allowing for greater build variety, and supporting it with more unique gameplay (e.g. dual wielding power stance).
• Offering more varied and unique spells, and more distinct schools of spells and ways to cast them. Also making pure casters more viable.
• Basic movement mechanics are smoother and more responsive, and the way armor and stats affect movement is far more balanced. Also, invincibility frames are much more appropriate, making fast rolling less of an auto-win move.
• Level design quality is a lot more consistent in DS2. While there are still better and worse areas, it never quite reaches the lows of say, Lost Izalith.
• The covenants are more interesting in their gameplay ramifications.
• Finally, the sheer amount of content is pretty amazing, especially in the full version with DLCs. This applies to all of levels, weapons, armor and spells.

And then of course there's the online you allude to. Which isn't just a technical implementation thing (though that is incredibly superior), but they also included some challenges specifically designed for co-op in the DLC which are awesome.

Agreed on all counts, and I'll add this very important improvement:

BEARDS

Therefore, Dark Souls II > Dark Souls.

I kid, but yeah, DkS2 regressed on some things and improved on others. I'm not gonna repeat myself but I'll just relink this old post of mine about this: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=126874499&postcount=56

I have to say, since then I may have changed my mind about the point, "General movement when locked-on; I don't like that my character turns her back if I hold circle while locked on," -- I've come to terms with that, I guess? It's annoying in PvP since I was so used to holding circle for the insta-run and now if I do that while backing away I turn my back, but it was really useful against some bosses. It was the only way to avoid Aava's homing projectiles that I could find while still being locked on. So yeah. Jury's still out. But I maintain what I said about the greatsword movesets. Then again greatswords sucked in Dark Souls as well, I only liked them in Demon's. ^^

Also, I said "nerf hexes", and they uh, kinda did at some point. Hexes are still strong but not as stupidly OP as before, so I think it's fine the way it is now.

 

[Lancelot]

Testing vanilla DX9 vs DX11 in harvest valley and earthen peak

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/119955
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/119956

Can you take more of these comparing the assets of each versions?

 

[Cassius]

Doing boss runs with people is so much fun, holy shit.

I played Dark Souls 1 mostly in isolation.

 

[ebullientprism]

I guess I kinda preferred the lows of Dark Souls to the great nothings that were Heide's Tower of Flame, Aldia's Keep, The Castle, The Mining Village, The Black Gulch, Huntsman's Copse and on and on. Even when DS1 was stumbling, it felt so god damn bold. Areas felt purposeful within the world.

But obviously many will disagree with that. I thought the DLC was a step in the right direction.

I loved all three of those areas.

Anyway, does anyone know if there are significant changes to how poise works? I played the PS3 version on release and poise didnt work like it did in DaS1.

Also any word if the retail version is confirmed Dx11.

 

[Bl@de]

Is the by the book, template stuff still great to play? Sure. But it in no way touches DS1, let alone Demon Souls.

I don't want really want to join this endless discussion again but I think the way DS2 handles humanity and player death is the best one in the series. The more you die the harder it gets, but you can always use an effigy if you accept the risk of player invasions. I like that a lot more than the systems in DS1 and Demon's. It's a great risk/reward system. My opinion the series: All the games are equally great. Everyone has parts I like more and so they are all on the same level for me. That is all. You can now continue to argue why DS2 sucks

 

[Durante]

For example, level design never reaches the lows of Lost Izalith but nothing in DS2 reaches the highs of DS1 either. It's all just pretty decent to good stuff, nothing that makes you go, "wow, this is some fantastic level design."

I simply disagree with that one.

There are many places I found very memorable in DS2, either mechanically (e.g. the flooded passage in Sinner's Rise, the mechanisms, lava, and multiple paths in Iron Keep, the drop down from Majula all the way to the Grave of the Saints, ...), or aesthetically (e.g. Heide's or the Shrine of Amana), or even both (the Dragon Aerie was a real highlight)! And that's just in the base game, which the DLC improves on further.

But it in no way touches DS1, let alone Demon Souls.

This part tells me that regardless of how much either of us posts, we'll never remotely agree, so I'll stop at this point

Spoiler

I consider DeS worse than either DS1 or DS2, it's just too mechanically half-baked and limited to be as compelling as those games.

 

[Card Boy]

Lttp: Dark Souls 1 post (PC version with DSfix and SweetFX)

I finally clocked Dark Souls 1 guys! My body is ready for this and Bloodborne. I honestly don't get the complaints about Lost Izliath and Blight Town. Lost Izliath was a tiny area, just that Bed of Choas boss sucked ass.

I am embarrassed in how long it took me to defeat Lord Gywnn. I eventually went Havels set+Qualags Furysword+Iron Flesh and just tanked that fucker. Apparently he is weak against parry but I can't parry for shit.

Not my first Souls game. Have clocked Demons Souls almost 3 times.

 

[impact]

Durante only likes DS2 the most because he didn't have to fix anything in the port

 

[BriGuy]

I find the split between "Controls are unresponsive" and "The controls are much more responsive" quite weird, of all the arguments that those two are at complete odds with eachother. It's just weird.

It probably has to do with specific character builds, or at least how many points they've sunk into agility. If you neglect it, then yeah, the controls do seem really unresponsive. Everything from raising a shield to chugging estus feels significantly delayed compared to the previous games. But if you do sink enough points into it, you'll eventually wind up with a pretty nimble and agile character.

 

[Divius]

Picked this up earlier, after being on a media blackout (still am) ever since it was announced. I have 600 hours in Dark Souls 1 so I hoping the sequel will hold up.

Obviously doing a totally blind playthrough without looking anything up. Still need to adjust to the new combat/movement.


Praise the sun!

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Picked this up earlier, after being on a media blackout (still am) ever since it was announced. I have 600 hours in Dark Souls 1 so I hoping the sequel will hold up.

Obviously doing a totally blind playthrough without looking anything up. Still need to adjust to the new combat/movement.


Praise the sun moon!

FTFY

Enjoy the (quite possibly) greatest game ever

 

[Backfoggen]

a good thing as it makes the game harder.

Game design doc of DS2 right here.

 

[takriel]

You're wrong about the iframes though? Upgrading agility gives you exactly the same iframes you had in DS1.

Yeah it just seems off at times, but mayve that has to do with the improved enemy tracing behavior (which I'm not a fan of either)

Interconnectedness is a valid complaint, but boring? How are those related? There's many different varying environments in DaS2, especially when you count the DLC.

Combat is slow and unresponsive? That's simply not true unless you're wielding a weapon you aren't leveled to use or a greatsword or something. And stamina being depleted quickly unless you spec into stamina (endurance) is a great design choice that actually makes you think about what you should level up in. The point is to make your swings count.

What? Fucked up beyond repair lol, really? The lack of i-frames is a good thing as it makes the game harder.

Valid complaint (I wouldn't call the bosses or story forgettable at all, though).

If you're overall vibe is that the game is worse because it's harder because of stamina, methodical combat, lack of invisibility frames, etc, well that's a reason many people actually praise the game for, difficulty. And on that note I would actually say the game is a tad bit easier than other Souls games.

That's exactly why I feel it's worse, yeah. I may be in the minority here though, I don't know.

Ok, boring was overexaggerated. But I will say that very little areas in DkS 2 reach the quality of DkS 1 or Bloodborne. Other people have described this much better on this very page.

I don't know what else to tell you. I felt that the combat in DkS 2 was not as responsive as in DkS 1. For instance, what really irks me is that after a roll you simply can't do a follow-up attack in the direction you want. This is a huge problem for me.

The lack of i-frames makes it more frustrating. Learning when to dodge attacks is great and I should be able to do that consistently.

Don't agree with this at all. The interconnectedness of DS1 is interesting, but that doesn't mean it's better level design for a video game. So many areas feel bland and empty, like somebody took a real world location and peppered it with video game elements. If anything, I feel like individual area design suffered because they were so focused on making everything fit together so well.

I don't know how you came to this conclusion. One of the first things I noticed about DS2 was how much faster and responsive the controls felt, and going back and forth between the two games only reinforces that.

Oh hell no. The opposite for me, actually. Interconnectedness for me is a sign of good level design. I think that so many areas in DkS 2 feel empty and bland.

Sorry I'm on mobile, I fucked up my text. I'll change as soon as I'm home!

 

[Primethius]

I simply disagree with that one.

There are many places I found very memorable in DS2, either mechanically (e.g. the flooded passage in Sinner's Rise, the mechanisms, lava, and multiple paths in Iron Keep, the drop down from Majula all the way to the Grave of the Saints, ...), or aesthetically (e.g. Heide's or the Shrine of Amana), or even both (the Dragon Aerie was a real highlight)! And that's just in the base game, which the DLC improves on further.

This part tells me that regardless of how much either of us posts, we'll never remotely agree, so I'll stop at this point

Spoiler

I consider DeS worse than either DS1 or DS2, it's just too mechanically half-baked and limited to be as compelling as those games.

I agree (on being unable to come to an agreement) but it's something to keep in mind regardless. DS2 does many things great but people always forget that not everyone plays the Souls series the same way. Build variety is a fantastic example. It's fantastic in DS2. And yet, the benefit is almost lost on me because I always go melee builds (screw magic/range). The games, first and foremost, are single player experiences. If online was completely removed, along with notes and summon signs, it wouldn't bother me one bit.

Hence you can see why I prefer Demons/Dark 1 above Dark 2.

Anyways, people should play Dark 2. Great game.

 

[Brerlappin]

No, no, in the contrary I hope that I can provide good arguments... so let's see:

- Level design is boring, uninspired and lack meaningful shortcuts and thus interconnectedness. Especially mid-game levels like Shaded Woods, Iron Keep, Brightstone Cove Tseldora, Doors of Pharos, the windmill area are all very tedious to play through
- Combat is much, much worse, especially because it's too slow and unresponsive and stamina is depleted much too fast
- The roll and evading system is fucked up beyond repair. There's very little invinsibility frames, even with added ADP
- A lot of Bosses are forgettable
- The story is forgettable or not original enough

That's off the top of my head. DkS 2 is still great compared to other games out there, but clearly lacks a lot of the "soul" of its brethren imo

To this id also add:

Qunatity over quality in both Areas and Bosses. A lot of areas you can finish in mere minutes, like you enter them, kill a few enemies, and youre done. The thinking behind the bosses in DS2 was just "more is better", but it left you with crap like Royal Rat Authority and The giant worm boss I forget the name of.
You also have some of the worst ever designed maps in a Souls game in the form of the incredibly linear, incredibly crap Giant memories. Theyre so bad I consider them a legitimate stain on the Souls name.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Just asking to be clear.

Before you could summon two friends and roll through as a threesome.

Can you summon a third now and four-man the game?

 

[Carlius]

Picked this up earlier, after being on a media blackout (still am) ever since it was announced. I have 600 hours in Dark Souls 1 so I hoping the sequel will hold up.

Obviously doing a totally blind playthrough without looking anything up. Still need to adjust to the new combat/movement.


Praise the sun!

welcome brother! dont let the haters in this thread, which are so many, put you down, its an amazing game.

 

[Victrix]

If you're going to play DS2, you need to read this, don't care if it's a spoiler free new run or not:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/agility

Takeaway: Get your Adaptability up enough to raise your Agility to 100. Doing so will give you faster item usage and if you get it to 105, you have exactly the same iframes as the fast roll in DS1. 99 is really close, 100 gives you the quicker item usage.

Agility	iFrames
85	5
86	8
88	9
92	10
96	11
99	12
105	13
111	14
114	15
116	16

Higher agility allows characters to use consumable items (like life gems and the estus flask) with greater speed, meaning the player is exposed for less time while using such items. At 90 Agility and lower, an Estus Flask takes 68 frames (2.267 seconds) to use. At 95 Agility, it takes 63 frames (2.1 seconds), and at 100 Agility and higher, it takes 58 frames (1.933 seconds).

Another thing, anything up to 70% weight burden is totally fine - it'll lower the distance you can roll as it increases (and very slightly increase falling damage), but it does not affect your iframes, you still have the same invincibility period.

TLDR: Raise your agility to improve dodge roll iframes and item use speed, do it now.

 

[Carlius]

I was excited for this at one point ,but now reports of giant hordes and annoying durability make me worry if its worth buying /:

you mean the underserved hate the game gets cause people are not willing to play the game with more than one weapon? this thread is full of bs to be honest, you should be the judge not what 5 percent of people are saying in a thread. if you like souls games you owe it to yourself to play it.

 

[grandwizard]

Yeah, they are really different feelings. Out of curiosity, do you prefer one or the other, or are they too different to make that kind of comparison?

I prefer the pace and strategy of the Souls games really, Bloodborne is good but by the end feels kind of one note (dodge -> attack) and it really gives you a lot of leeway to spam out inputs. Recovering from mistakes is easier because of this.

 

[impact]

If you're going to play DS2, you need to read this, don't care if it's a spoiler free new run or not:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/agility

Takeaway: Get your Adaptability up enough to raise your Agility to 100. Doing so will give you faster item usage and if you get it to 105, you have exactly the same iframes as the fast roll in DS1. 99 is really close, 100 gives you the quicker item usage.

Agility	iFrames
85	5
86	8
88	9
92	10
96	11
99	12
105	13
111	14
114	15
116	16

Another thing, anything up to 70% weight burden is totally fine - it'll lower the distance you can roll as it increases (and very slightly increase falling damage), but it does not affect your iframes, you still have the same invincibility period.

TLDR: Raise your agility to improve dodge roll iframes and item use speed, do it now.

Yea this is very important. They really fucked the roll up if you don't level your ADP ASAP. Shit is awful and I hope the ADP stat is gone forever. Bloodborne fixed the problem (and shitty ass soul memory) so lets hope it stays fixed in future DS games.

 

[Tcab96]

Will this be up on PSN?

 

[Card Boy]

Will this be up on PSN?

It currently is ? At least in Australia it is.

 

[Tcab96]

It currently is ? At least in Australia it is.

US PSN, I mean. Sorry, I keep forgetting that there are different releases for each region.

 

[Mogwai]

April 7th for the US.

 

[phoenixyz]

Wow man, those new enemies are just frustrating. "Yea, I mean, it's super sophisticated, just throw large groups of mixed enemy types at the player because harder->more fun, amirite?" wtf

Let alone the ridiculous amount of weapon decay. I somewhat regret buying this as I don't expect any of that to be fixed in a patch.

 

[SirRyanOfSmeg]

I'm really torn on buying this again. The online is great, but I don't know how effective the Soul Memory ring is, and SM is what caused me to stop playing. I don't want to lose out on a ring slot in non-arena duels. Has anyone used the ring in-game yet?

Yea this is very important. They really fucked the roll up if you don't level your ADP ASAP. Shit is awful and I hope the ADP stat is gone forever. Bloodborne fixed the problem (and shitty ass soul memory) so lets hope it stays fixed in future DS games.

I always have to pump points into ADP straight away on new characters. I can't play without the iframes.

I can't remember, does having a higher weight decrease stamina regen rate?

 

[Seanspeed]

If you're going to play DS2, you need to read this

I was able to get through the game just fine without knowing this specific information.

Not that it's bad to know, I'm just sayin I don't think it's necessarily super important or anything.

 

[Cassius]

Going pure sorc. Still rocking a dagger 5 hours in to finish off wounded enemies. It can be hard using up all your arrows, only to realise during the boss fight you'll have to go head on with the dagger. Good times.

Doing the same, except I put a few points into strength early on so I could use the hand axe. Seems to be working out well for me so far.

 

[HF2014]

April 7th for the US.

Yesterday i went to walmart close to me, living in montreal, canada, and i saw it for sale. I didnt jump on iy because i wanted to read the reviews, and surprisingly discovered its not reviwed yet.

Did walmart made a mistake by putting it on the shelf too soon?

 

[takriel]

If you're going to play DS2, you need to read this, don't care if it's a spoiler free new run or not:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/agility

Takeaway: Get your Adaptability up enough to raise your Agility to 100. Doing so will give you faster item usage and if you get it to 105, you have exactly the same iframes as the fast roll in DS1. 99 is really close, 100 gives you the quicker item usage.

Agility	iFrames
85	5
86	8
88	9
92	10
96	11
99	12
105	13
111	14
114	15
116	16

Another thing, anything up to 70% weight burden is totally fine - it'll lower the distance you can roll as it increases (and very slightly increase falling damage), but it does not affect your iframes, you still have the same invincibility period.

TLDR: Raise your agility to improve dodge roll iframes and item use speed, do it now.

Good to know, thanks. Will make damn sure to get these 105 agility points ASAP.

 

[Yaboosh]

Also, dodging isn't about avoiding an attack so much as it is about activating the iframes so the attack doesn't hurt you when it passes through you.

 

[takriel]

Also, dodging isn't about avoiding an attack so much as it is about activating the iframes so the attack doesn't hurt you when it passes through you.

Exactly. Very important.

 

[Mogwai]

Yesterday i went to walmart close to me, living in montreal, canada, and i saw it for sale. I didnt jump on iy because i wanted to read the reviews, and surprisingly discovered its not reviwed yet.

Did walmart made a mistake by putting it on the shelf too soon?

The release seems to be quite confused, but I don't think you'll see it on PSN before the 7th. Here in Denmark, the retailers had physical release one day before the PSN version. It doesn't seem like retailers are very strict about this release.

 

[wickfut]

Wow man, those new enemies are just frustrating. "Yea, I mean, it's super sophisticated, just throw large groups of mixed enemy types at the player because harder->more fun, amirite?" wtf

Let alone the ridiculous amount of weapon decay. I somewhat regret buying this as I don't expect any of that to be fixed in a patch.

That's pretty much how I feel.

What's worse is that you're forced to clear all the enemies each time you get killed. You can't just run passed them and continue where you left off because it's suicide.

I've put 380 hours into DS2 and will possibly put many more in. I've put 8 into SotFS and it's wearing very thin already.