From Software 'n such

[qmish]

Shadow Tower Abyss might be my fav game from them, it's so unique. Cutting enemy limbs (which changes their attack patterns), firearms (even rocket launcher), weird mix of themes in designs, interesting concept of world. Though you may say game is easier in 2nd half than kings fields

[Obscura]

Huh, it's surprising to me that you'd zero in on the second half being easy; of the four areas of the game that gave me any real troubles, two of them were on the second-to-last floor (Moving Platform area [which I actually just gave up on and left, I didn't have enough ranged power to fight those drone bastards while on the platforms] and Illusion area).

[qmish]

I said "easy by From software standards", not "easy"

Autoaim magic rings and regenerating armor help a bit, and if you were melee on earlier levels you would have enough firepower.

[Obscura]

Sorry, I guess "firepower" was a bad word. I had enough raw ammo (although I think I missed a few of the better guns; the best ones I had were the secret versions of the AR-15 and shotgun), but I couldn't actually kill the bastards that swarm you on the moving platforms before getting overwhelmed and murdered. Putting no points into any of the magic stats for the entire game probably didn't help; the homing fire and homing poison rings I had were doing fairly low damage.

EDIT: And my surprise wasn't from you saying the game was easy for From Software standards (I'd largely agree with that), but rather saying that that the second half was the easy part, compared to the first. Unless I misread you?

[qmish]

Well, i wass killing drones in small rooms with treasures, then that "boss" that gives you item, but enemies above platforms are painful yeah so i was kinda escaping from them. Still, what i said about second half of game stays as my impression unless you go for 100% kills/items.

[Obscura]

How were you handling those minibosses with the swords in the Illusion area? Those guys fucked me up really hard -- harder than anything outside of the moving platform drones (trying to just ride it out and do the best I could to dodge while getting blasted proved fatal for me). Before going after them, I had 12 potions unbought in the shop; after finishing that area, I had bought every one of the potions and only had 4 in my inventory. Also, the boss of that area was by far the hardest for me.

[qmish]

I'm not sure for 100% as it was Spring 2014 when i played it, but as i remember them i was using magic (fire, i suppose) and i might have used "cheap" way of "open door, fire, run away", though i remember killing at least one of them in melee after running circles around him. And by that time i had that self-regen armor you get after killing optional giant in desert world.

[Eaglet]

Ok, so a quick write-up.
Finished NG of Bloodborne with all bosses killed and every area explored a couple of days ago.
Liked the faster paced combat and especially the well designed bosses that were obviously made with an aggressive playstyle in mind. Most bosses nerf themselves as soon as you get in their face and give you attacks or grabs that are pretty easily dodged or parried.
The opposite was true for all of the bosses that were badly designed in my mind like

Spoiler

some of the damn giants in the Chalice dungeons. Fucking things sucked

.
Graphic design was top notch as usual and atmosphere was great.

Spoiler

Not entirely sure if i liked the "explore suicidally to find bellringing bitches and rush on respawn in Yahar'gul" parts or if they broke the game flow but at least they were a change of pace.

Best boss fights in my mind where

Spoiler

Ebrietas and Orphan of Kos that i ended up soloing most of since my coop partner died after about 10 sec
Laurence was surprisingly easy and i killed him on my second try. Could have something to do with me being level 110 with some good fire resistance but still... most of his moveset is pretty well telegraphed and the crawling part is easily solved by strafing in an inner circle.
Gehrman had some incredibly bullshit attacks that one-shoted me the first times. Weird timing on his dive bomb attack. Great final boss though. Moon Presence was a laugh and a half.

Boss i had most trouble with was... the old dude at the top of Cainhurst (forgot his name). Was probably underleveled at the time but he one shoted me so many times during the first phaze it wasn't even funny.

Doesn't have that afterglow feeling that Demon or Dark Souls had where i just want to go back and explore some more but i hugely enjoyed the game and might get back to it.
Psyched for DS3!

[Squire Grooktook]

Spoiler

Not entirely sure if i liked the "explore suicidally to find bellringing bitches and rush on respawn in Yahar'gul" parts or if they broke the game flow but at least they were a change of pace.

I don't think you really have to be suicidal, just fast, but yeah, I like the sense of urgency in that section. Compliments where the story is going.

Doesn't have that afterglow feeling that Demon or Dark Souls had where i just want to go back and explore some more but i hugely enjoyed the game and might get back to it.
Psyched for DS3!

Yeah same, although maybe for different reasons for me. With Dark Souls the game was so long that it was like finishing a credit of Gradius 5. Totally cathartic and made me just wanna collapse and lay down for a bit lol. After finishing BB, it was short enough that I was still excited and hungry for more.

Then again, I didn't do the DLC. I only just bought it this weekend and have been working through it.

[Eaglet]

I don't think you really have to be suicidal, just fast, but yeah, I like the sense of urgency in that section. Compliments where the story is going.

True! It did feel pretty suicidal to me though as you had to find

Spoiler

the well hidden bellbitches

while exploring with

Spoiler

unlimited enemies spawning in your face.

Then again, I didn't do the DLC. I only just bought it this weekend and have been working through it.

Good luck! I don't think you'll have that much trouble with it if you're not on higher NG loops.
Some great challenges ahead!


Btw, if somebody wants to add me on PSN (Nandeyanen123123) for DS3, please go ahead.

[Blinge]

I had time on friday so I played Ds1 from start to finish, including all the DLC bosses. My clear time was 6 and a half hours.
I'm damn proud of that feat..
No summoning, but I did get a BK Halberd halfway through. My god that weapon is broken!

[qmish]

It's awesome halberd and stop that "oh no its overpowered" bullshit as it's not as easy to get (and dat twinkling upgrades =/ ) and also can't use until you have needed specs.

Though you may disagree as i spoke from position of remembering my first DkS1 walkthrough which was like ~100 hours (including AoftA content), where i was playing some kind of knight who went mostly this route of weapons: bastard sword -> fire zweihander -> black knight halberd, with black iron set in later game.

And that was way before i started playin shmups and other "more difficult than soulz" games, so ok

[Blinge]

It's awesome halberd and stop that "oh no its overpowered" bullshit

Jeez dude I didn't realise you were married to the thing. I know this is the internet but have you forgotten how to speak to a human?

I'm glad I found that weapon, it suited my 'finish the game in a day' purpose just fine. It's also a favourite of speedrunners for a reason; compared to most base weapons in the game it is overpowered!

You only need 16 STR, 18DEX to wield it two-handed.. I did so against little Ornstein and took him down in roughly 6 hits!

There's enough twinkling titanite loot in the game to upgrade it, AND you can just buy twinklies off the giant blacksmith or Gough, so.. I'd it's pretty easy to upgrade.

You can get it way early in the game, all you need to do is kill the black knight in Darkroot Basin. Which isn't hard if you know their patterns or abuse backstabs.
If it doesn't drop you get another chance in Giant's Tomb.. and respawning knights in the Kiln.
So unless you mean the drop rate, which is increased by humanity held, I'd say it is quite easy to get.

[qmish]

That's your problem then. "Finding early" "two handed" "abuse to get". Like those people who say that in Ninja Gaiden you can farm health supplies and that's a disaster.

Still, there is nothing wrong in it being one of most high attack points weapon, it's not something you buy at blacksmith etc., hell you can even totally miss it. That's a classic for rpg games - somewhere there is amazing weapon hidden.

As for "bosses die quick". It's shitty when only a healthbar length is real treat of bosses; which is not usually in souls, luckily. As you freaking die from boss attacks etc.

[Blinge]

You can get it with very little effort, and deal huge damage out the gate without upgrading it.
So yeah, overpowered.

I have no idea why this has rustled your jimmies so much. All I've said is an observation about one weapon in the game, with no conclusions attached.

Lol at "two handed" being a problem.

[qmish]

Dying ten times from black knight little effort? And he might have dropped smth else instead.
It's not overpowered its naturally strong , so don't say it's "broken".

And what you say about difficulties is biased as you are shmupper with 1ccs and stuff, you find "oh it's easy" what most people find difficult.

Edit:
Forgot it weights a ton in equip load, even when you have havel ring

[Blinge]

Right, I see where you're coming from now.

I speak from the perspective of someone who's played a helluvalot of darksouls. It's nothing to do with shmups.

Calling the BurgerKing halberd overpowered is in relation to the other weapons in the game, and the effort required to get a similar damage output from a different weapon. We're talking fully upgrading other weapons and taking full advantage of stat scaling/enchants just to be in the same league as a base level BKhalberd.
The bottom line is: huge damage output for little effort, compared to other weapons.

The game seemed so much easier to me on that last run after picking it up. I've never been able to tear through bosses that quickly before.

Sure the black knight is a tough enemy, but you don't have to fight him straight away, and dying ten times on something is par for the course in Dark Souls, especially for a new/"bad"player. There's also a bonfire right next to him, or a simple path to him from the undead parish bonfire.

Again: OP compared to other weapons; it's not a dig at anyone that uses it.

[qmish]

I just can't get why people start calling powerful weapon as OP. Like, well it's one of strongest weapons here that's why you might wanna get it, and so?

Same for that black piromancy punch from dlc content which needs melee impact and damages a lot. The problem? I wouldn't used it if it didn't do such damage, lol.(though how you punch with dark flame looks badass to watch)

[KAI]

RIP Dark Souls
From Software talks future of Dark Souls, Armored Core, and new IP

"What is certain for now is, to me personally Dark Souls is over"

[Zaarock]

A new miyazaki armored core sounds nice. For Answer had a great single player campaign. Wonder if they'd keep with the major multiplayer focus of V/VD

[qmish]

That quickboost madness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GK9uzqsW0Q

[Blinge]

This week on Everyone's a Game Designer:




ps. bk halberd still OP

[Blinge]

So I was messing with DS1 yesterday and started a pacifist run to see if I can do it, basically. Master Key essential.

The only things I've killed thus far are Asylum Demon, Gargoyles, and Quelaag.
Quelaag was done with a base halberd, took a while o_o

However I'm now in a bit of a pickle because I have no idea what to spend my limited souls on. Advice anyone? Immyr? I assume like Immy's SL1 run that a fire or lightning wep is the way to go.

Also kindling/human form is out cause I'm gonna need to amass 30 humanity for the izalith shortcut eventually.
I tried picking up the humanity item inside the aqueduct at firelink, could not get past the rat.

[Immryr]

That sounds pretty insane. Are you going to the extent of cheesing bosses to death without hitting them? I.e. Making Taurus jump off the bridge and getting the centipede demon to clip out of bounds with his grab attack? Obviously you can't do this with all bosses though.

If you're gonna be low level then yeah, lightning or fire are the way to go. You can get a maxed out fire weapon really early on, if you want, but iirc lightning ended up doing more damage.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I just found a piece missing from Demon's Souls in Dragon's Dogma - the sound design. I don't think what DD does there during night was necessary in Demon's (both can be Thief-dark sometimes*, but in Demon's, I typically memorise what I can't see and it's chalked down then, whereas DD's world is more disorienting by nature), yet it's DD which - at least played with stereo headphones on - puts more vital sound cues on the map than perhaps any other console game I've played to date. DD sounds more "3D" so to speak.

Who expects From's "new IP" to be more "vast terrain exploration" by design? Something not as compact as Souls. Happened to Final Fantasy (XII) nad MGS after all, so perhaps the wind still blows that way.

*) Isn't Demon's in fact darker than Dark Souls?

[Necronopticous]

Also kindling/human form is out cause I'm gonna need to amass 30 humanity for the izalith shortcut eventually.
I tried picking up the humanity item inside the aqueduct at firelink, could not get past the rat.

You could dupe uses of a Fire Keeper's Soul, but I'm not sure how you feel about such a thing.

[Blinge]

^Ah too glitchy/exploity for me.

That sounds pretty insane. Are you going to the extent of cheesing bosses to death without hitting them? I.e. Making Taurus jump off the bridge and getting the centipede demon to clip out of bounds with his grab attack? Obviously you can't do this with all bosses though.

If you're gonna be low level then yeah, lightning or fire are the way to go. You can get a maxed out fire weapon really early on, if you want, but iirc lightning ended up doing more damage.

Won't need to fight Taurus at all, will look into the centipede trick.

As it stands I ran down to Ceaseless for the gold hemmed set, managed to get him to fall off for some much needed souls. Got a Halberd+5 but maybe I should've got the claymore instead.
No wait, I can't get to the claymore without fighting Taurus, unless I go from Undead Parish, past the rats, and kick the hollow out of my way, but not off the ledge.
I tried to trick the black knight into falling off, for his halberd, but he wouldn't. He also wouldn't follow me to the Hydra to die there either so that's out. Argh!
I've had a few attempts at running past the hydra and up to Sif, made it once but died against the wolf. My other attempts had me die on the ladder.
So now I'm at the bonfire in Sen's Funhouse. Getting through there was probably the funnest part so far.

[Blinge]

Aaalright. Pacifist run: Mission Accomplished.

I didn't realise the bomb thrower in Sen's keeps throwing during the Golem fight if you leave him alive, so I had to retreat to the fog door and try to fight in that tiny space. I had 0 flasks left when he got his leg stuck, and I managed to make him fall off.

Getting past the archers in anor londo went better than expected, I ran up to the rightmost one to get him to draw his sword, then slowly drew him back to the bridge so I could run around. Took a couple of arrows in the ass in the process, but this was when I was still at the wall so didn't fall off.

O&S weren't much of a problem as I managed to get a Fire Halberd +5 at the giant blacksmith.

the Black Knight in Giants Tomb fell off when chasing me, and I got his halberd, pretty lucky
Nitos buddies were annoying as fuck, especially when I had just 5 flasks but managed to clutch it out after a few attempts.

Went and traded my skull lantern for a fog ring; combining with the slumbering dragoncrest ring allows for some sneaky gameplay.
I thought it'd make the hydra easier to run past in the basin, but it didn't. However I managed to tank a bit more dmg at this point and get up the ladder, put the wolf down.

Spooky Londo was easier than I thought. Ghost house nearly killed me but the stealth rings probably saved me, from opening the gate its a simple drop to Four Kings, and my newly upgraded broke-ass knight halberd took them out quick.

Spent 30 humanity to open the Izalith shortcut and proceeded to die over 11 times trying to run all the way and fail at Bed of Chaos. It was far more trouble for me than usual, I don't quite know what I was doing wrong but it was just trying to reach the middle that caused me to get knocked off so much. In the end I just took a hit from the right hand so I could ignore the second swing and just roll down there.
The annoying thing was that in order to skip Demon Firesage and Centipede, I had to keep running all the way from Demon Ruins, as I couldn't use the lift.

Duke's archives was no problem. Just ran right past all the Picasa/blue haired maidens and died grabbing the key. Seath also no problem with the halberd.

Gwyn kicked my arse though holy shit. Maybe it was being underlevelled or not being able to swing muh halberd with one hand, but he's just too damn quick. I only managed to parry him twice in the several attempts it took; ended up relying on the extreme reach of the halberds' R1 to get a safer hit.

[Immryr]

new armored core confirmed! as well as some kind of "weird" game.

[Bonus!]

I have a question for The Souls aficionados: it seems to be consensus that the DLC for these games is generally of very high quality as they genuinely add to the game. As someone who has yet to tackle Bloodborne and the Dark Souls games, I wonder if the DLC makes the base game redundant. From what I gather, there seem to be quite profound additions. For instance, the Bloodborne DLC apparently has a lot of new weapons which allegedly trivialize parts of the main game. Ignoring the "you could always restrict your play style" argument, is it worth first playing through the unmodified base game, and then the DLC/complete editions? (SotfS is a special case as there is the regular base game, the PS3 SotfS version, and the PS4 SotfS version with remixed enemy placement etc.)