DARK SOULS 2

[guigui]

I have to agree about the control, combat and weapon mechanics : those are at least as good in DS2 than they are in DS1.

Now you'll soon reach the core of why DS1 is generally said to be better than DS2 : DS2's world is way less coherent (not to say it is a total nonsense), it has lost that spark that makes you wanna come back to it again and again.

[Obscura]

Now you'll soon reach the core of why DS1 is generally said to be better than DS2 : DS2's world is way less coherent (not to say it is a total nonsense), it has lost that spark that makes you wanna come back to it again and again.

I'm guessing you're referring to the silly transition between

Spoiler

The Giant's Forest and The Bastille

, and the way that the game is fairly linear, with only two directions I can go in

Spoiler

the aforementioned Bastille and Heide's Tower

? To be honest, this doesn't really bother me any; there's enough exploration possible within a given level that it's satisfying enough to me. Besides, it's not like DS1 was perfect in this regard itself, with the WTF-tastic transitions between Sen's, Anor Londo, The Duke's Archive, and The Crystal Cavern (which also happen to be basically one big linear hallway, much like I've heard DS2 is).

Every time I ever tried to replay DS1, I always got a little way in (usually to about the Parish), and the generally "blegh" feel of the combat made me quit. Hell, the first time I played it, the atmosphere was the only thing that kept me going at all. I'll gladly sacrifice a bit of world cohesion for a better "feel", and honestly, the graphical updates are enough to keep the atmosphere feeling on par with DS1 so far, even if the world's overall build isn't as nice.

[guigui]

You're guessing right. And those are not the only "transitions" that are incoherent in DS2's world.
I remember having a good time going down that well though, all the way to the Gutter, yay !

[CMoon]

Not understanding the complaints about feeling "too weak" at the start of the game at all. It doesn't really feel any different from DS1 in that regard; with Swordsman start class, early game enemies go down in 2-3 hits generally.

Not sure how much time you've put into either game, but a level 1 character can do a lot of things in DS that they can't in DS2. Blame adaptability, really gimped endurance, etc. Also, that perception that the game is a LOT worse or even a bad game highlights how in fact the game is pretty good. Also worth noting that Demon's and DS1 were my two favorite games of this last generation, and among my favorite games of all time. I am HIGHLY critical!

Now you'll soon reach the core of why DS1 is generally said to be better than DS2 : DS2's world is way less coherent (not to say it is a total nonsense), it has lost that spark that makes you wanna come back to it again and again.

This is honestly the biggest problem I have with the game. I mean, there are a million things you could mention, and I've already said them on previous pages, but the difference between DS2 and the games by Miyazaki (for me) is that I intensely get into the worlds he makes. With DS1, I knew that world map like the back of my hand because that world mattered to me, and I felt I had lived in that world. The philosophy behind 'no maps' was that Miyazaki literally wanted you to live in that space. I don't feel any of that in DS2 (and I'm not going to say any of the other games are perfect in that regards the same way Eco is, but they are close), and instead I feel like the spaces just exist as a place for the game to happen in. This is obviously true of any video game, but it is a matter of suspending disbelieve. That said, DS2 has some great areas, but not a coherent world.

I will probably pick this up for ps4 at some point to get the free dlc and the see the graphical enhancements. With all the venom I have toward this title, I still know it is a great game, I just want something more.

[Bananamatic]

so apparently the durability glitch from hitting corpses got fixed...on DX11 only
way to go From

Not understanding the complaints about feeling "too weak" at the start of the game at all. It doesn't really feel any different from DS1 in that regard; with Swordsman start class, early game enemies go down in 2-3 hits generally.

Not sure how much time you've put into either game, but a level 1 character can do a lot of things in DS that they can't in DS2. Blame adaptability, really gimped endurance, etc.

it's all about agility

was trying no death no bonfire before and got killed either by the pursuer or the last giant every time
tried again, went for dragonrider first, pumped agility to 95 and then 100 ASAP and got hit only once by both pursuer and last giant

the iframes on a starting char are way too damn short, not to mention you have only 1 estus starting out making the earlygame a pain in the ass

[KindGrind]

I will pick up the PS4 remake of this at some point, but there's no way I'll pay retail for it.

DS2's level design was boring, cheap and flawed (taking the boat to the other area, really?), whereas DS1 was one of the best since Super Metroid / SOTN. Kicking ladders and opening paths made sense, because the number of bonfires was just perfect. DS2 has a clusterfuck of bonfires and a lot of tiny areas you can run through in 20 seconds. Demon's was more extreme - 1 shortcut, very, very far into the level. You had to beat a boatload of enemies and then the boss on the same go, something the other games in the series pretty much abandoned. It made the boss fights exceptionally tense.

Bloodborne is a nice return to the series, a much better pick at this junction than the DS2 revamp.

Dark Souls is, in my opinion, the best game of the last generation.

[DestroyTheCore]

To be honest I'm not sure I get Demon's Souls. I started the Souls series with Dark Souls, which I beat a few weeks ago. I have spent almost 15 hours on Demon's Souls so far and it seems very unpolished compared to its successor: the item burden, the archstones, the exploration via the Nexus, the cheap traps and the implicit gimmicks make this game more of a chore in my opinion. I understanding it was a really new kind of gameplay back in 2009, but it barely compares to Dark Souls.

[CMoon]

Makes me think we probably need one great souls mega-thread (w/ bloodborne.)

Demon's Souls is a great game, but unpolished would be the right word. Unlike the following titles, even the game mechanics were secretive. Gets a lot of points for being fast, having incredible imagery, atmosphere, music and enemy design. Hell, all the weapons look incredibly cool. Level design is just as clever as dark souls (sometimes more so) but not interconnected. Really needed that 6th archstone and some dlc.

I think its story/lore is one of the best in the franchise because it is relatively simple but still with lots of hard-to-discover nuances. It is also the only souls game where the 'souls' as experience actually makes sense.

I'm kinda hoping that since Sony and From are on good terms now and Bloodborne seems to be a runaway hit that From will consider Demon's Souls 2.

[ryu]

I bought Dark Souls II SOTFS dx11 for PC today, since I don't plan on getting a PS4 any time soon. Somebody here mentioned that the durability glitch has been fixed in this version, but I'm not sure on that. Weapons break considerably fast, and I don't think it was THIS bad in the PS3 version.

Haven't played much yet, but I can say that I'm bummed about the 60FPS lock. It's obvious the game wasn't intended for this with lots of animations running way too fast. But that's probably only news to me, huh...

[Obscura]

I bought Dark Souls II SOTFS dx11 for PC today, since I don't plan on getting a PS4 any time soon. Somebody here mentioned that the durability glitch has been fixed in this version, but I'm not sure on that.

It hasn't. From has claimed that they're going to "fix" it by drastically slowing weapon degradation in general: http://www.polygon.com/2015/4/21/846429 ... -first-sin

(I put "fix" in quotes because I'm still not convinced that this wasn't the way it was supposed to play in the first place. In general, if you have more than one way of doing damage, you should be able to get from bonfire to bonfire without a weapon breaking without issues, and a lot of the animations that are supposedly "too fast" at 60 FPS make a lot more sense than the slow 30 FPS versions. Given that the framerate lock is at 60 rather than 30 like it was in Dark Souls 1, given that From said that PC was the primary platform they developed DS2 for, and given that the game *doesn't* do the "if you're in an area where the framerate is going to go low, lock the framerate to 15 and half the number of frames in every calculation" thing that Dark Souls 1 did, I think it's fairly clear that the "60 FPS" version is how the game is supposed to be.)

[Marc]

Nah, can't be - some weapons won't even last a full boss fight at present on PS4.

[Zaarock]

I've had a few weapons break from full durability in one swing because of groups of spiders dying in one hit (the weapon then loses tons of durability from the corpses). Funny that this wasn't noticed in testing as there's a group like this right next to a bonfire.

edit: I also liked the weapon durability management apart from the glitch with hitting corpses

[Obscura]

Nah, can't be - some weapons won't even last a full boss fight at present on PS4.

So? You have multiple slots on each hand for a reason.

Spoiler

Of the bosses I've faced (total list of bosses I've faced thus far -- Last Giant, Pursuer, Dragonrider, Old Dragonslayer, Flexile Sentry, Royal Rat Vanguard, Ruin Sentinels, Belfry Gargoyles, Lost Sinner, Scorpioness Nathjkha [or however it's spelled], Royal Rat Authority, Prowling Magus + Congregation, and Duke's Dear Freja), the one where weapon breakage is a near certainty if you stick to one weapon (RRV) has a bonfire right outside the fog gate, so they obviously designed around weapon durability being an issue against that boss.

[guigui]

I found the weapon durability increase ring to be mandatory in this game. Especially considering the fact I absolutely loved my Malformed Skull.

Later game, you also have access to a consumable that restores weapon durability. All in all, weapon durability managment was an aspect I liked in this game.

[Necronopticous]

Makes me think we probably need one great souls mega-thread (w/ bloodborne.)

Yes, we do indeed need this so I can post things like this amazing shirt:

http://teespring.com/souls-waifus

[guigui]

http://teespring.com/souls-waifus

Love ! Maiden in Black is, and will always be, my favorite.

[CMoon]

Makes me think we probably need one great souls mega-thread (w/ bloodborne.)

Yes, we do indeed need this so I can post things like this amazing shirt:

http://teespring.com/souls-waifus

Yeah I saw this and thought about it. I did end up buying the dark souls world map poster, but I stopped at souls shirts.

http://www.fangamer.com/products/laudate-solis

[Bananamatic]

Later game, you also have access to a consumable that restores weapon durability. All in all, weapon durability managment was an aspect I liked in this game.

it was only a thing for certain weapons (anything with an overhead because the hitbox still connects with the corpse after the kill and it connects with it for a long time)

if you just use a regular mace/sword it's still irrelevant

that's why it's retarded, it just discourages you from using certain weapon classes entirely

[guigui]

Later game, you also have access to a consumable that restores weapon durability. All in all, weapon durability managment was an aspect I liked in this game.

it was only a thing for certain weapons (anything with an overhead because the hitbox still connects with the corpse after the kill and it connects with it for a long time)

if you just use a regular mace/sword it's still irrelevant

that's why it's retarded, it just discourages you from using certain weapon classes entirely

Maybe we dont talk about the same item.
As fas ar I remember, repair powder http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/repair-powder restores durability of anything, provided it is not broken yet.

[Bananamatic]

drangleic castle is fairly late and wasting souls on consumables like that is dumb, not to mention wasting a ring slot

over 50% of weapon's actual durability is not determined by its durability, but by the moveset's ability to not accidentally hit corpses
there's no "durability management", just "fucking make sure you don't hit any corpses with certain weapons"

you can't defend that as a game mechanic

[guigui]

I was not aware of the "dont hit corpses" stuff. This sounds real dumb for sure.
Still, I had a good time with Malformed Skull, wearing Brace Knuckle Ring and having to take care of its durability, just for the joy its Forward+R2 attack.

[Bananamatic]

speaking of weapons, anything with high counter damage is pretty damn OP in PVE (and makes trades go heavily in your favour in PVP)

the frames during which it applies are way longer than the actual attack animation when you can get hurt and the leo ring boosts the damage even further (plus it's a very earlygame ring)

with lances you're looking at a x1.7 multiplier and with rapiers over x1.5 which is basically free damage
did a grand lance sunlight blade build and killed the throne watcher with it in 4 hits and was doing over 800 damage to vendrick

[Marc]

Nah, can't be - some weapons won't even last a full boss fight at present on PS4.

So? You have multiple slots on each hand for a reason.

Spoiler

Of the bosses I've faced (total list of bosses I've faced thus far -- Last Giant, Pursuer, Dragonrider, Old Dragonslayer, Flexile Sentry, Royal Rat Vanguard, Ruin Sentinels, Belfry Gargoyles, Lost Sinner, Scorpioness Nathjkha [or however it's spelled], Royal Rat Authority, Prowling Magus + Congregation, and Duke's Dear Freja), the one where weapon breakage is a near certainty if you stick to one weapon (RRV) has a bonfire right outside the fog gate, so they obviously designed around weapon durability being an issue against that boss.

It's being patched, I'd guess that shows it was unintentional.

[Bananamatic]

I only had my weapon break on ruin sentinels, though you can just avoid all the royal swordsmen easily and rush them (and if you're using a mace or a rapier with leo ring you can take both sentinels and the lost sinner without even using a bonfire easily)

it's just annoying when you're trying to coop and your weapon breaks because you were hitting your host or other friendly phantoms (or swing at a dead boss and lose 50% of your durability in 1 hit)
it's really just the corpse/phantom thing, you can live with the 60 fps induced double degradation rate easily otherwise

[Obscura]

Nah, can't be - some weapons won't even last a full boss fight at present on PS4.

So? You have multiple slots on each hand for a reason.

Spoiler

Of the bosses I've faced (total list of bosses I've faced thus far -- Last Giant, Pursuer, Dragonrider, Old Dragonslayer, Flexile Sentry, Royal Rat Vanguard, Ruin Sentinels, Belfry Gargoyles, Lost Sinner, Scorpioness Nathjkha [or however it's spelled], Royal Rat Authority, Prowling Magus + Congregation, and Duke's Dear Freja), the one where weapon breakage is a near certainty if you stick to one weapon (RRV) has a bonfire right outside the fog gate, so they obviously designed around weapon durability being an issue against that boss.

It's being patched, I'd guess that shows it was unintentional.

Not necessarily. From has been saying that this was "working as intended" on the PC version for a really long time now and even released the PS4 and XB1 versions working that way initially (long after they obviously knew about it and said that was how it was supposed to work), so it's more likely that they just changed their mind (read: gave into pressure from fans), not that it wasn't working the way they wanted it to.

Bananamatic, how on earth do you break a weapon against Ruin Sentinels?!?! Even killing all of the Royal Swordsmen on your way (which, as you point out, isn't necessary inthe least), you should still have easily enough durability. A full 50% of durability against a single dead sentinel sounds really extreme, unless you're using a katana or something (I've been running Longswords for most of the game, and occasionally Scimitars, and I've never seen anything like that).

Right now, I'm to Dragon Aerie. Still loving the game. Bosses killed so far: Last Giant, Pursuer, Dragonrider, Flexile Sentry, Old Dragonslayer, Royal Rat Vanguard, Ruin Sentinels, Belfry Gargoyles, Lost Sinner, Scorpioness Najka, Royal Rat Authority, Prowling Magus + Congregation, Duke's Dear Freja, The Rotten, Skeleton Lords, Covetous Demon, Mytha, Smelter Demon, Iron King, Executioner's Chariot, Dragonrider x2, Looking Glass Knight, Song Demon, Veldstadt Royal Aegis, Guardian Dragon. Of those, Skeleton Lords, Covetous Demon, Mytha, and Guardian Dragon were killed on the first attempt (I already knew about the "burn the windmill" trick on Mytha); Covetous Demon and Mytha failed to hit me a single time. Most troublesome bosses have been Ruin Sentinels (which actually is the only time in either Souls game I finally gave up and summoned help for a boss), Belfry Gargoyles, and Smelter Demon.

[Bananamatic]

don't ask me, it was my very first run and my falchion broke on the 3rd sentinel

maybe trying to take out multiple royal swordsmen at once and hitting the corpses too much does that
falchion being a shitty weapon helps too

[Marc]

Holy shit, Scholar of the First Sin is hard. Breezed through the FoFG no problems, but I'm at Heide's Tower and I'm getting beaten about. Damn knights everywhere, and a red dragon where the second switch sits in front of the cathedral. Pretty brutal. Coming of the back of Bloodborne, not sure if I've got the patience to spend more weeks cursing myself. Still can't settle on a build either, gone for DEX and ADP this time (rising ADP alongside END) and using a spear+3 to out me on, just don't seem to be doing that much damage. Still tempting just to respect to STR and use the Knight sword I've found. Are there any good weapons later that make it worth sticking with a DEX build?

[Bananamatic]

rapier=god

generally anything with counter damage is OP, get the leo ring too

[Volteccer_Jack]

As long as you have decent stamina/equip load, you can just sprint across to the dragon before it breathes fire and then hack its feet to death. Nice and easy, and you get a shield with plus item discovery to carry you through the whole game. Scholar is for the most part easier than the original game.

As for Dex, Rapier is lolop, Murakumo/Arced Sword are good too, Falchion is nice, that one boss dagger is really good. Syan's Halberd is op. Those are the ones that come to mind, Dex weapons in Dark Souls 2 are mostly either awesome or crap (spear sucks, for example).

[Marc]

Falchion is nice indeed, except it's breaking halfway through the Wharf. I thought they'd patched this shit out? It's loosing seven points on the first four or five enemies alone.