DARK SOULS 2

[guigui]

Might seem late, but here's oroboro the ninja's stat breakdown. Apparently we all need 38 adaptability now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-mm8pSmEw0

Nice infos, thanks.

[LtC]

Might seem late, but here's oroboro the ninja's stat breakdown. Apparently we all need 38 adaptability now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-mm8pSmEw0

I wonder why he didn't go to the breakpoints in ATT that give you extra spells. I'd say 43 ATT is the best point to stop since that's where you get an extra spell for each spell that only has one cast originally.

[rapoon]

Might seem late, but here's oroboro the ninja's stat breakdown. Apparently we all need 38 adaptability now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-mm8pSmEw0

until the PC version is released and the numbers are properly crunched, I call bullshit on the 38 adap claim.
there's plenty of videos and writeups showing a placebo effect. additional iframes, taking an estus swill a bit faster? sure.
rolling faster? no. raising your shield faster? no (perhaps a TINY bit). swinging faster? fuck no.

in some of the DS communities, oroboro is considered a reputable source. but as many in those communities have
pointed out, his assertion that adaptability is the end-all stat is grounded in beta mechanics.

[CMoon]

For what its worth, I respecced to 38 ADP and was able to easily dodge all the attacks from The Rotten...this maybe isn't that hard a boss to dodge and I don't have all kinds of other data to back up the idea, but I was seeing swings I don't think I should have been able to dodge and found myself easily rolling through them. It seems to match what Oroboro the Ninja was describing when he referred to the 38 ADP mark as being a sort of 'easy mode' (at least as far as I-frames are concerned.)

Regardless, I agree that there's still tons of stuff we don't know, and honestly I'm not super happy to have a stat that requires pumping a massive amount of points that doesn't do much more than allow rolling with i-frames.

[sjewkestheloon]

Just occurred to me that you guys would be talking about this game, so popped on to say hello.

Finished up the last boss on my first run today, and it was a blast. Excellent game comparable in quality to the first two, but I am looking forward to seeing some of the balance patches they come up with. Dark Souls unpatched was quite a different experience to the patched version we have now in a number of ways, and my first run of that was without the soul boost and rebalancing that happened.

I went with a quality build, 40/40 str and dex, 30 end, 35 vig, 20ish vit, 13 attunement, 15 adp. Running a +10 mace and +10 sun sword, a +5 pyro flame and a crossbow.

Lots of tweaking to do, but thankfully there is a post game this time so I have plenty of time to polish up my build before NG+.

I have managed to miss 13 bonfires in my blind run, so now I am going to go back over the areas and find what I missed. I purposefully avoided delving properly into the PVP areas (Bells and Ratbro) beyond a bit of PVP, so I have those to do too.

[Octopod]

Though by all means get the ring and go down the pit.

I guess I am a Ratbro now. It sure is fun.

[Cagar]

You WHAT? 38 ADP?
No way, the most I've ever had, I think was something like 22, and even then I felt like I had more i-frames than in DkS1. I would never get hit with a well-timed roll, not in PvP or PvE, and pulling off a roll like that easily, doesn't feel like it requires any more than 20 ADP.
Also, I think that agility (aka ADP/ATT) also increases how fast you can use items such as lifegems or estus flask.

[guigui]

I do suck at this game.
13 hours in, started as deprived, managed to reach level 15, beat the last giant and the dragonrider.
Now getting my ass handed up in the Huntsman Copse by that red offline invader.

Still great fun though.

[Marc]

FUCK the Gulch. Fucking terrible level, worst I've played of any Souls game. In general though, I'd say the designs are much improved over the first game, though I do miss the way they were so intricately linked in the first game, this feels a bit more epic get lacks some cohesion because of it.

[sjewkestheloon]

FUCK the Gulch. Fucking terrible level, worst I've played of any Souls game. In general though, I'd say the designs are much improved over the first game, though I do miss the way they were so intricately linked in the first game, this feels a bit more epic get lacks some cohesion because of it.

If you move into the second circular area before the boss door and, looking at the corridor to the boss door, head to the right. Follow it along and you can get to a bonfire that allows you to just drop off a ledge and walk straight to the boss door without having to deal with any enemies or much poison.

[CMoon]

FUCK the Gulch. Fucking terrible level, worst I've played of any Souls game. In general though, I'd say the designs are much improved over the first game, though I do miss the way they were so intricately linked in the first game, this feels a bit more epic get lacks some cohesion because of it.

If you move into the second circular area before the boss door and, looking at the corridor to the boss door, head to the right. Follow it along and you can get to a bonfire that allows you to just drop off a ledge and walk straight to the boss door without having to deal with any enemies or much poison.

*nods* It is actually a tiny area that is only made hellish by the statues and insta-kill grabs. Some nice secrets to the area though.

[guigui]

Is it just me or sounds you make by moving is not really synchronized with your movement ?
When I stop moving, the sound my footsteps stops a little later. Always get the impression that someone else is here. Unless this is intentionnal ?

[IrishNinja]

[Snake]

Is it just me or sounds you make by moving is not really synchronized with your movement ?
When I stop moving, the sound my footsteps stops a little later. Always get the impression that someone else is here. Unless this is intentionnal ?

I found this as well. The audio seems a little laggy overall. It didn't cause me any problems, just something I noticed from time to time.

[iconoclast]

Just finished my Soul Level 1 + Champion's Covenant run. I tried to use melee exclusively whenever possible, but I started using pyromancy during the abyss stages (fuck those blue phantoms) and the Throne Watcher & Defender fight. When I started this run, I thought Darklurker would be the only major pain (because he splits at 50% hp), but as it turns out, the Throne Watcher & Defender fight was like 100x harder than anything else in the entire series. The Champion's Covenant buff makes almost all of their attacks 1-shot you and it's hard to ever find an opening to counterattack because they're always standing right next to each other and/or preparing to attack. So I wound up two-handing a 100% defense shield and using the butterfly armor set to slowly poison them. And even with that method, the fight was still much harder than anything else in the game imo.

My total death count by the end was 955. In comparison, I died 450~ times in my naked/no rings*/no shield/melee only run of Dark Souls: PTDE. So I think it's safe to say that I found DS2 a lot harder, even without as many restrictions.

*I think I used the red tearstone ring for Kalameet because he's resistant to fire & lightning

[CMoon]

Incredible! Looks like you're really digging into this game; I'm so envious as I'm in the midst of a move. I will get to it at some point.

[Marc]

Fuck, how come the Zweihander is now an unusable piece of shit? OK, a tad harsh maybe, but it certainly feels a lot more wild and uncontrollable than its DS1 counterpart. Thought this would be the weapon to see me through those big knights at the Dragon Shrine, ended up having to spend a shitload of Souls upgrading another sword from scratch (whichever it is those guys drop) because I can't use the Zwei to save my life.

Some of the later level design has been stunning, far superior to the original in that respect.

[guigui]

So, Zwei is not that good ? How about great club ? I had a lot of fun with it in DS1

[Zapperkhan]

So, Zwei is not that good ? How about great club ? I had a lot of fun with it in DS1

Clubs and great clubs are amazing with A str scaling and with a few upgrades S scaling. I breezed through the game on PS3 with clubs.

As far as ADP from the earlier discussion I definitely feel there are more iframes with the higher AGL, but I think you also get this from ATT. It was far easier to dodge new enemies/bosses that had new movesets on reaction I felt.

[CMoon]

PC vs console comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnLAw8c ... e=youtu.be

[Acid King]

I'm enjoying the game as such but I'm not a fan of some of the changes. Parry/riposte doesn't feel as satisfying anymore and the lag time between allowing the enemy to fall before being able to stab them makes it a lot less useful when you're dealing with multiple enemies. It's also kinda lame how they toned down the blood and gore, but I guess something had to go to get that coveted Teen rating. Not a big deal but its shitty to see yet another victim of PG13ization. A bigger issue is tht the disappearing enemies take too much of the edge off for my liking. Otherwise it still feels like Dark Souls and is a fine game, but if I had my druthers I'd definitely go back to the old riposte system, crank the blood to 11, and keep the enemy spawning of the first game.

[Acid King]

Also, I stumbled on this write up of the game at Forbes. It looks like the writer comes from the Icycalm school of game criticism. He even drops some Baudrillard in for christ's sake.

[CMoon]

Otherwise it still feels like Dark Souls and is a fine game, but if I had my druthers I'd definitely go back to the old riposte system, crank the blood to 11, and keep the enemy spawning of the first game.

Agree with all of this and really like the game, but feel a lot of the changes to combat were a step backwards. One point to note is 'bleed' which now seems completely worthless. I guess one could make a long list of little gripes that don't really make Dark Souls 2 less of a game. My biggest complaint about the game is still world design...the connected nature of the world in Dark Souls meant you could potentially get some of the best gear in the game with a well-informed run. That is not true in Dark Souls 2, or at least it will be substantially more difficult.

[Gozer]

I've been playing the PC version for the last couple of days now. I just finished up Iron Keep.

I was a little worried about Dark Soul II with the criticisms I kept hearing with the console launch. While most of that criticism are understandable, the issues with Dark Souls II certainly don't make it a terrible sequel. I'm really enjoying my time with it so far.

In general though, I'd say the designs are much improved over the first game, though I do miss the way they were so intricately linked in the first game, this feels a bit more epic get lacks some cohesion because of it.

Yeah, that is disappointing.

Going up the elevator from Earthen Peak to Iron Keep makes absolutely no sense.

[guigui]

Going up the elevator from Earthen Peak to Iron Keep makes absolutely no sense.

Seconded. Connection between places of the world makes no sense. Jesus, just how many suns does Dark Souls II world have ?

Dark Souls II map viewer is available for who would like to appreciate how inconsistent it is :
http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comm ... ap_viewer/

[guigui]

I also add that an unofficial Dark Souls map explorer has been created by Kayin.

http://kayin.pyoko.org/?p=2249

Just extract, run, and be patient : it may take some time to load.
You can explore the whole Dark Souls map with FPS controls (WASD + mouse), or toggle no clip mode and fly like a bird, no collisions. Great !

[Wooph]

I encountered a cheater on DS2 PC last night. Infinite health. Hopefully VAC will be effective in discouraging cheaters. Anyone else encounter any cheaters?

[Pretas]

4Chan's /v/ has leaked the first screenshots of what appears to be the next Souls game, tentatively titled Project Beast. Allegedly, this will be on PS4 and is being developed in cooperation with Sony Japan Studio, so there is a chance it will end up being Demon's Souls 2.

Before you cry foul about the presence of shotguns, know that Shadow Tower: Abyss, the most directly related precursor to the Souls series, already featured a selection of firearms ranging from pistols to rifles and bazookas.

[50Hz]

Looks great, nice to see more blood as well.
I'd rather put up with shotguns than mundane Avelyns anyday.

[CMoon]

I'm hoping this is what Miyazaki was sent off to do.