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

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.

I don't remember From ever saying there would be no invincibility. Seriously getting the feeling you just pulled that out of your ass.
 

Neoweee

Member
Attunement also increases your Agility, but at a lower rate. It's less of a direct pump, but you get more spell slot and casts in exchange.

I'm going to disagree on the "pump it immediately" crowd. Sure, a few early points can help, but don't go rushing the max at the expense of better armor, HP, or stamina. There's a lot of things that make up your defensive toolkit, and being able to roll good armor while rolling far and frequently matters a ton, too.
 

Neoweee

Member
Thinking maybe I just spend 30 and get the DLC for PS3 instead of PS4 version.
Those enemy placements just seem frustrating for no reason.
Are the visual upgrades worth 30 more dollars?


edit: ah hell. I know I'm just gonna buy Scholar. Why even pretend

Most of the zones & bonfires are improvements. It's just a few that are giant dick punches.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
Did
The Lost Bastille
get a massive new zone if you enter
through the ship
, or was it me that never go to it before? There's a
Pharros lock
and a shortcut to
the bonfire with the petrified dude
.
 

PauliusM

Neo Member
Did
The Lost Bastille
get a massive new zone if you enter
through the ship
, or was it me that never go to it before? There's a
Pharros lock
and a shortcut to
the bonfire with the petrified dude
.

Old.

Why are DLC bosses so hard? Even if i dodge their attacks they somehow damage me and nearly one shots me.
 

Huggers

Member
So. I loved Demons Souls. Played it to death. I am halfway though a NG+ play through of Bloodborne which I fucking loved. What an amazing game. So the question is , should I give DS2 a try? I missed both the DS games for various reasons and it seems a shame. I was never fussed about DS2 as it gets a lot of negativity but BB has me enjoying another From game and I'm keen to play more.
 
So. I loved Demons Souls. Played it to death. I am halfway though a NG+ play through of Bloodborne which I fucking loved. What an amazing game. So the question is , should I give DS2 a try? I missed both the DS games for various reasons and it seems a shame. I was never fussed about DS2 as it gets a lot of negativity but BB has me enjoying another From game and I'm keen to play more.

Yes, play it.
 

Hypron

Member
So. I loved Demons Souls. Played it to death. I am halfway though a NG+ play through of Bloodborne which I fucking loved. What an amazing game. So the question is , should I give DS2 a try? I missed both the DS games for various reasons and it seems a shame. I was never fussed about DS2 as it gets a lot of negativity but BB has me enjoying another From game and I'm keen to play more.

You'll probably get people telling you not to but it's a great game and I really recommend you to play it. I loved all 4 games. Although, I'd recommend to play Dark Souls 1 first.
 

Huggers

Member
You'll probably get people telling you not to but it's a great game and I really recommend you to play it. I loved all 4 games. Although, I'd recommend to play Dark Souls 1 first.

Yeah it's annoying I have no means to play the first one as I sold my PS3. How important is it story wise to have played the first?
 

Victrix

*beard*
Yeah it's annoying I have no means to play the first one as I sold my PS3. How important is it story wise to have played the first?

Not at all. I'd still say play DS1 first, for various reasons. If you liked DeS, you'll enjoy DS a lot as well.

Do you have a PC that can play? The PC version (with dsfix) is great, and it'll pretty much run on a toaster (true for both games afaik).
 

def sim

Member
ADP is pretty dang important, yeah. Bring it up to the 20s to get a similar feel to the original DkS. Some of the hit box issues people seem to have is actually a lack of invincibility frames in their dodge roll.
 

Huggers

Member
Nah no PC with a 3d card. Just an old laptop. It's cool, I'll grab the sequel. I can't see me not enjoying it. Plus if story wise it stands alone it's all good. Better still it's pretty cheap
 

dissa9

Neo Member
I did ask earlier in the thread but is there a distinct lack of blood in this game compared to DS1. I have it set to 'on' but I'm yet to see any noticeable blood for back stabs, ripostes etc, I can't remember seeing any blood at all?

Is this normal or is it an issue with the ps4 version?
 

Ac30

Member
The Heidi knights at the tower of flame, is there any negative to killing them? They're passive and I just want to make sure I don't screw a later quest or something :/
 

Victrix

*beard*
I did ask earlier in the thread but is there a distinct lack of blood in this game compared to DS1. I have it set to 'on' but I'm yet to see any noticeable blood for back stabs, ripostes etc, I can't remember seeing any blood at all?

Is this normal or is it an issue with the ps4 version?

Have the same problem on the PC, wondering if they screwed something up
 

Carlius

Banned
The Heidi knights at the tower of flame, is there any negative to killing them? They're passive and I just want to make sure I don't screw a later quest or something :/

are you talking about the white knights? passive now...sure. lol
 

N30RYU

Member
I was looking to buy it... But since i'm on bloodborne NG+ and read all the fuss about the relocated enemies, the throw all at the player and weapon durability (and the fact that the PS3 is 20€ cheaper than the PS4 one and that pisses me off), I'll stick with BB a little longer till a decent price drop.


Also, no thanks to full price remasters, as if they made a new nextgen game.
 
I'm trying to farm the Heide knight set but so far I have had ZERO drops from these guys. Zero. Considering how frustrating it is to face them (poise in them works and it takes like 3-4 hits with a sword to even make them flinch). Does the set even drop from them now?

Cleared Black Gulch and holy crap I wasn't expecting what happened down there.

The double invaders, both doing the same stupid gesture and coming with giant swords, lol, the fact that you can summon a shade and another dude balance this battle out but that was a nice one. Now, if only people would drop their summons there so we can go kill those damn giants...

The game contains a fair amount of "Kodak moments" like these. I get the impression they at least went the extra mile to future proof the game once servers are shutdown (it's bound to happen) so it'll have more than a hefty amount of NPC invasion (who do gestures and mock you when they beat you) and summons to fill in the gaps.

I asked this before but it was overlooked amidst the durability talks:

What's up with the shadow resting at the fortress in Forest of the Fallen Giants? This one.
 

drotahorror

Member
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.

Naw, it definitely sounds annoying. Having to clear before bosses now or get invaded by hordes of enemies? Horrific weapon durability? I loved DkS2 but this definitely putting me off buying it a second time, I was originally hype for it.
 

Neoweee

Member
Naw, it definitely sounds annoying. Having to clear before bosses now or get invaded by hordes of enemies? Horrific weapon durability? I loved DkS2 but this definitely putting me off buying it a second time, I was originally hype for it.

The first was blatant BS by whoever wrote it. The second is what it was for the last year on PC.

Five hours in, I've gotten a durability warning only in FotFG, and only in one section, before I learned to press R2 to thrust and not smash walls.
 

void666

Banned
I'm trying to farm the Heide knight set but so far I have had ZERO drops from these guys. Zero. Considering how frustrating it is to face them (poise in them works and it takes like 3-4 hits with a sword to even make them flinch). Does the set even drop from them now?

Cleared Black Gulch and holy crap I wasn't expecting what happened down there.

The double invaders, both doing the same stupid gesture and coming with giant swords, lol, the fact that you can summon a shade and another dude balance this battle out but that was a nice one. Now, if only people would drop their summons there so we can go kill those damn giants...

The game contains a fair amount of "Kodak moments" like these. I get the impression they at least went the extra mile to future proof the game once servers are shutdown (it's bound to happen) so it'll have more than a hefty amount of NPC invasion (who do gestures and mock you when they beat you) and summons to fill in the gaps.

I asked this before but it was overlooked amidst the durability talks:

What's up with the shadow resting at the fortress in Forest of the Fallen Giants? This one.

Try attacking it.
 

Gbraga

Member
Started a playthrough in vanilla Dark II, went up to the Shrine of Amana, just to be sure if my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, but nope, I definitely prefer vanilla.

I do appreciate how easy they made to skip the entire
Dragon Aerie
in Scholar, though, haha.

EDIT: Oh, thanks for the Agility breakdown, I've never seen it so clearly explained before. I always get mine to 93, but I guess 92 is enough already then.
 

Ayt

Banned
Naw, it definitely sounds annoying. Having to clear before bosses now or get invaded by hordes of enemies? Horrific weapon durability? I loved DkS2 but this definitely putting me off buying it a second time, I was originally hype for it.

Don't let people determined to hate the game to the point of flat out making things up dissuade you.

As mentioned above, regular enemies don't enter boss fights. The durability is the same as it has always been on the PC and really is not a big deal. A lot of the mob pictures people have been posting only aggro if you do it intentionally.
 

NBtoaster

Member
So the shrine...
The dragon dudes there didn't even care when I killed the Ancient Dragon, and they dont do anything when you just run past the knights. Because there are a lot fewer knights the path to the dragon is much simpler.

Also killed the boss on my first attempt, but I don't think it's any different. Falchion+10 is a beast
.
 

Neoweee

Member
Don't let people determined to hate the game to the point of flat out making things up dissuade you.

As mentioned above, regular enemies don't enter boss fights. The durability is the same as it has always been on the PC and really is not a big deal. A lot of the mob pictures people have been posting only aggro if you do it intentionally.

There's a lot if interesting AI now in general. Do hollows in HC now do really weird things, or did I not notice before? Drawing on floors or walls, some turbo zombie...

NPC spawn conditions, tree aggression, slumbering or passive mobs until you do certain triggers, boss flybys or cameos...
 

drotahorror

Member
Don't let people determined to hate the game to the point of flat out making things up dissuade you.

As mentioned above, regular enemies don't enter boss fights. The durability is the same as it has always been on the PC and really is not a big deal. A lot of the mob pictures people have been posting only aggro if you do it intentionally.

The first was blatant BS by whoever wrote it. The second is what it was for the last year on PC.

Five hours in, I've gotten a durability warning only in FotFG, and only in one section, before I learned to press R2 to thrust and not smash walls.

Ah, well I played it on PC first and never really had issues with durability.

So normal mobs don't follow you into the boss rooms? Also, what mobs do then? Thanks and this is really determining whether or not I pick this up on PS4.
 

Neoweee

Member
Ah, well I played it on PC first and never really had issues with durability.

So normal mobs don't follow you into the boss rooms? Also, what mobs do then? Thanks and this is really determining whether or not I pick this up on PS4.

No mobs follow you into boss rooms ever. The original version had short chase ranges due to framerate concerns, but they're just generally expanded now. NOT unlimited, though.
 

Pimpn Drop Bear

Neo Member
I am 3/4 of the way through new game plus and need to drop some truth bombs. A lot of this shit is over exaggerated guys..... I had one issue with weapon durability and that was in the forest of fallen Giants, had to use a secondary sword for about 3 enemies. Enemy placement is not as bad as people are making it out to be, and whoever initially posted that picture of the Knights in the run up to ancient dragon needs to be shot for scaremongering. As has been mentioned and ignored a bunch of times by various people THOSE KNIGHTS DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY AGGRO ON YOU. I'll spoil why just in case
There are two or three rooms before that hallway that have a stone knight in them you fight, once you kill them the Knights bow and let you past, they only aggro on you if you run through the area, and seriously, they're basically the same enemies in heides tower so if you can't handle killing one by the end game, don't know how to help you.

The other common complaints are that there are too many petrified people, and that the ruin sentinels are blocked off by one. The branches you need are everywhere, in particular one for the ruin sentinels can be found
extremely close to the statue, in a chest on the building to the left when you enter via the pursuer bonfire
I never had an issue with running out of branches. Also, this is probably a better thing overall, as not many people realise they are optional in the first place and bang their heads against that boss for ages

Also there are numerous places and things that have been made EASIER. For example you receive
the dull ember for lost Bastille blacksmith
MUCH earlier, and it is nearly impossible to miss as it is in a new chest next to a bonfire. Also the
shaded woods
is much easier with many of the enemies having been removed, along with the giant basilisk.

The complaints about
heides tower and iron keep
are probably the most valid, however the first area is a run up to an optional boss, and the second you never fight more than a knight or two at a time, plus the fact that the asshole archer is now gone above where the dull ember used to be.

Anyway, those are my experiences with the game after 30 odd hours, I don't mean it to be confrontational or dismissing the experience of others, however I do believe a lot of this stuff has been blown out of proportion and I would hate new players to read some of this shit and be put off by it, especially the misleading ancient dragon hallway.
 

Pimpn Drop Bear

Neo Member
So the shrine...
The dragon dudes there didn't even care when I killed the Ancient Dragon, and they dont do anything when you just run past the knights. Because there are a lot fewer knights the path to the dragon is much simpler.

Also killed the boss on my first attempt, but I don't think it's any different. Falchion+10 is a beast
.

I had the Knights in what I think is the second room aggro on me once, and that was when instead of fighting the stone knight I tried running up the small staircase to the left. Other than that no issues
 

drotahorror

Member
No mobs follow you into boss rooms ever. The original version had short chase ranges due to framerate concerns, but they're just generally expanded now. NOT unlimited, though.

Word. Not sure why I keep reading misleading info then. Mostly on this forum. I even relayed some of the information to a friend and now I have to tell him it was BS.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
I was in FoFG and tried to fight Pursuer solo and died (although I did get him to half health). Summoned help and he was nowhere to be found! Man, what a tease. I probably could have killed him if my sword did more than 80 damage when double-handing.

My co-op buddies helped me kill the boss though, although he honestly didn't seem that hard: he telegraphs his moves very early and they're really easy to dodge.

As a first time DS2 player I have to say that the durability bug/feature is real. At least in FoFG, I had to switch between three different weapons to get from the first to the second bonfire. It's not ruining my enjoyment of the game by any means, but it is present. Maybe it will become less prevalent as I level up and get better weapons.
 

Shine

Neo Member
I was in FoFG and tried to fight Pursuer solo and died (although I did get him to half health). Summoned help and he was nowhere to be found! Man, what a tease. I probably could have killed him if my sword did more than 80 damage when double-handing.

My co-op buddies helped me kill the boss though, although he honestly didn't seem that hard: he telegraphs his moves very early and they're really easy to dodge.

As a first time DS2 player I have to say that the durability bug/feature is real. At least in FoFG, I had to switch between three different weapons to get from the first to the second bonfire. It's not ruining my enjoyment of the game by any means, but it is present. Maybe it will become less prevalent as I level up and get better weapons.

You have one chance to fight him before the last giant. If you lose you don't get a second try till after.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Durability for me has only really been an issue with the Old Whip at this point because I guess it always triggers and hitting dead bodies on a killing blow. Lame, but haven't had an issue with my other gear.
 

drotahorror

Member
Can someone recommend me a mage type build? I haven't played DkS2 since launch and went full 2hander. I don't even think agility had been figured out by the time I completed the game. Thanks.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
You have one chance to fight him before the last giant. If you lose you don't get a second try till after.

Oh, weird. Guess I'll just have to face him later then. He didn't seem too bad as long as you dodge to the right. I only died because I dodged one of his attacks too early and ended up getting speared on his sword.
 
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.

Probably one of the most frustrating aspects of DS2 and why I like DS1 more istthat the designers seemed to think that the challenge in the game derives from throwing lots of enemies at you at once and having them rush you instead of the more deliberate and tactical encounters from DS1. It's stupid and takes away a lot from the game. It made the game feel as if it was trying to capture the wrong things about what made DS1 good. And yeah, getting punished for running the game 60 FPS with the double decay rate is stupid and an inconvenience at best.
 

Shine

Neo Member
Oh, weird. Guess I'll just have to face him later then. He didn't seem too bad as long as you dodge to the right. I only died because I dodged one of his attacks too early and ended up getting speared on his sword.

GrossGaseousAntarcticgiantpetrel.gif
 
Man. Trying to get to the second bonfire in iron keep, didn't have any lifegems, ran out of estus. Killed pretty much every enemy in the first area, went to the second, killed all the turtle knights there, all the archers, the regular knights, and....put my controller down to type something and somehow the platform I was on fell in lava.

Where do you find the ring of sacrifice in this game? Asking for a friend.
 
I asked this before but it was overlooked amidst the durability talks:

What's up with the shadow resting at the fortress in Forest of the Fallen Giants? This one.

It's
an invisible hollow. He drops an item (don't remember what.) Not even sure if more of them show up later in the game, but I thought he was kinda neat!

Man. Trying to get to the second bonfire in iron keep, didn't have any lifegems, ran out of estus. Killed pretty much every enemy in the first area, went to the second, killed all the turtle knights there, all the archers, the regular knights, and....put my controller down to type something and somehow the platform I was on fell in lava.

Where do you find the ring of sacrifice in this game? Asking for a friend.

The life protect rings? I've literally only found one in my entire time playing - a Ring of Soul Protection
in the back of The Gutter
. I think From might have noticed the dominant strat that completely invalidated a central game mechanic.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member

Yeah I dodged that attack the other way multiple times and never got hit with it. In fact I put down a summon sign and helped someone kill Pursuer. Was pretty cool, got like ~20k souls. Probably a good location to farm souls early in the game.

I have to say, playing this game in jolly cooperation is quite fun.
 

pa22word

Member
I've never played Dark Souls 2 and I'm playing it for the first time with SotFS. I'm also reading through this thread daily, so I appreciate the spoiler tagging when it happens.

I don't think it's fair to assume everyone wants to know the name of areas in the game.

Don't take that away from people and potentially ruin something for them. I love finding out the names of areas in souls games. First it starts with area names, then it's enemies, bosses, weapons and items.

If they/you have such a bug up their/your ass over something so insignificant then maybe you should forgo discussion all together and pull up a gamefaqs guide, because at the point where people have to think about censoring common, everyday language just to satisfy their/your own inane and frankly misguided ideals about what's important in a game said person is harming discourse way more than they are helping it.

Also, funnily enough you just "spoiled" a boss in your most recent post. Maybe you should remove it in case anyone might be "spoiled".
 
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