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Red Mundus posted:Only advice I can give is buy some throwing daggers when you get access to them and use them to finish off weak enemies and whittle down groups of enemies. And having a limited number of prism stones prior to the endgame makes no sense whatsoever. Prism stone spam isn't going to unbalance the game, especially if they're 300(!) souls a pop.
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May 27, 2014 21:26
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Flytrap posted:The Age of Dark is just as unnatural as the Age of Fire though. There's no reason to assume that the Age of Dark would have any permanence to it. Yeah, this is true. Remember the description of the Dull Ember. quote:An ember radiating a dull light.This flame seems nearly exhausted, but exhibits an eerie resilience. This seems to hint at the flame being something that may ebb and flow over time. We've seen what the Dark has done to a place and that it eventually fades away (as seen with Oolacile becoming Darkroot Garden/Basin). This all seems to be cyclical and like Tallgeese said, the lore is basically Samsara: The Game.
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May 27, 2014 21:27
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Flytrap posted:The Age of Dark is just as unnatural as the Age of Fire though. There's no reason to assume that the Age of Dark would have any permanence to it. I'm certain stuff like the dull ember's "eerie resilience," Straid's lines about flames reigniting from ashes, Chloanne talking about the previous kingdoms that rose and fell where Drangleic is now, etc. etc. is specifically meant to say that, no, nothing is permanent, not even the Dark.
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May 27, 2014 21:27
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lonelylikezoidberg posted:So i just started this, and I can't really even make it through the forest in the beginning, I die after climbing up the ladder into the second zone. And I die repeatedly. I'm terrible at videogames generally, but am I doing something wrong? Or is this game just stupid hard? The way I solve that problem is after getting to the top, making a beeline to the right and climbing up the second ladder and just turning around and waiting. The enemies all follow you to the ladder, stand there kind of 'hurr' and then follow you up, where you can easily rip them into shreds one at a time. You could also climb right down he first ladder immediately after catching the mobs' attention and beating them down there. A lot of the game's difficulty stems from the fact that it is much harder to deal with multiple enemies at once, and there are many places where they will pull this. Once you get further in there is a merchant who will sell you throwing knives and firebombs, for a first playthrough I highly recommend stocking up on a bunch of them, as they are very useful at thinning out crowds, weakening a tough opponent from a distance, breaking pots filled with stuff you'd rather not be near, and so on.
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May 27, 2014 21:28
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For all we know there was an age of dark between the two games. The way these games conceptualize time, it could be thousands or billions of years between the two. Edit: one of my favorite things in the series is the skull on the beach in ash lake. Everything down there is so still and permanent. It could even be something from before the dragons, and the game presents it to you in a way that tells the player "Who cares? Doesn't make any difference now, does it?". I liked the setting from the first game a lot more than the second. Now that everyone is talking about the different souls influence in the second game, I like DS2 a lot more. I didn't catch any of that(haven't beaten NG+ yet), and it makes the series seem more whole. Leadthumb fucked around with this message at 21:49 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 21:31
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Dark Souls II takes place in an age of darkness (i.e. it's been a long while since the flame was kindled), which is why there are no Firekeepers, and is probably why Ornstein has turned slightly dark, being corrupted by the constant slight presence of darkness. There have been many ages between the two games; see many NPCs referring to how many kingdoms have risen and fallen, and so much time having passed that everything from that age is forgotten, or at best barely remembered.
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May 27, 2014 21:41
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I really miss two things from DSI: a) Crimson Set  b) Great Scythe  
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May 27, 2014 21:43
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The great scythe had a super wonky one-handed running animation so I don't miss it, that poo poo got on my nerves Edit: oh
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May 27, 2014 21:44
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You can buy the Great Scythe from Gren. Also the spiders in brightstone drop it.
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May 27, 2014 21:44
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Genocyber posted:You can buy the Great Scythe from Gren. Also the spiders in brightstone drop it. Those spiders drop a lot of weird stuff.
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May 27, 2014 21:45
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GreatGreen posted:And whoever said that the perfect Souls game would be DS1's world with DS2's gameplay mechanics, gear, and items was right on the money. DS2 does almost everything better except for the world design itself. That's no huge fault though, considering that DS1's world is probably the single most well designed game world in existence. Except that person is completely wrong for two possible reasons: 1) They didn't play Demon's Souls and/or 2) They don't respect Demon's Souls. The actual perfect Souls game would just be Demon's Souls with the broken archstone linking to the Oolacile DLC with most of DaS2's gameplay mechanics/gear/items (except no Soul Memory or ADP, bring back DaS1 bleed, and buff slash/thrust to be equivalent to strike.) E: Oh, and bring back the uncracked Red/Blue Eye Orbs, of course. King of Solomon fucked around with this message at 21:51 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 21:49
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Genocyber posted:There have been many ages between the two games; see many NPCs referring to how many kingdoms have risen and fallen, and so much time having passed that everything from that age is forgotten, or at best barely remembered. It makes me wonder what is going on in the rest of the world. Everything comes back to the kiln eventually, but in the mean time there are other kingdoms in other lands that are totally out of the loop until the curse becomes a problem.
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May 27, 2014 21:51
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Leadthumb posted:It makes me wonder what is going on in the rest of the world. Everything comes back to the kiln eventually, but in the mean time there are other kingdoms in other lands that are totally out of the loop until the curse becomes a problem. Given Luca's statments, the people of Mirrah thought that the undead were just some myth until they actually showed up.
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May 27, 2014 21:53
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Genocyber posted:Dark Souls II takes place in an age of darkness (i.e. it's been a long while since the flame was kindled), which is why there are no Firekeepers, and is probably why Ornstein has turned slightly dark, being corrupted by the constant slight presence of darkness. Kingdoms rose and fell in between Gwyn linking the Flame and the Chosen Undead arriving. It was a longass time, long enough for Lordran to become more of a myth to most people. From this, I don't see how the situation of Dark Souls 2 is any different. There has never been an Age of Dark, this is just the Age of Fire on it's last legs...again.
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May 27, 2014 21:56
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So people in Dranland know whats up, and there's this contest over the first flame, and then when one side wins it's like judgement day to all these people who know nothing about it. That owns!
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May 27, 2014 21:57
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King of Solomon posted:Except that person is completely wrong for two possible reasons: 1) They didn't play Demon's Souls and/or 2) They don't respect Demon's Souls. The actual perfect Souls game would just be Demon's Souls with the broken archstone linking to the Oolacile DLC with most of DaS2's gameplay mechanics/gear/items (except no Soul Memory or ADP, bring back DaS1 bleed, and buff slash/thrust to be equivalent to strike.) Demon's Souls is my favorite of the three but lets not pretend like world/character tendencies are good ideas.
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May 27, 2014 21:58
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Manatee Cannon posted:Demon's Souls is my favorite of the three but lets not pretend like world/character tendencies are good ideas. Okay, yes. I actually forgot about that for a second (though technically I think that would be covered by the gameplay mechanics being largely DaS2's)
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May 27, 2014 21:59
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Genocyber posted:You can buy the Great Scythe from Gren. Also the spiders in brightstone drop it. Yep. Its a complete trash though so I wouldn't recommend it.
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May 27, 2014 21:59
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Manatee Cannon posted:Demon's Souls is my favorite of the three but lets not pretend like world/character tendencies are good ideas. Hey buddy wanna farm some pure bladestones
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May 27, 2014 22:00
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Captain Oblivious posted:Kingdoms rose and fell in between Gwyn linking the Flame and the Chosen Undead arriving. It was a longass time, long enough for Lordran to become more of a myth to most people. From this, I don't see how the situation of Dark Souls 2 is any different. There has never been an Age of Dark, this is just the Age of Fire on it's last legs...again. Um, no. The game takes place in an age of dark for the exact same reasons I mentioned. Had Vendrick "took the true throne" and decided to kindle the fire, it would be an age of fire. But he didn't, so it's been an age of darkness. An age of darkness is when the age of fire has passed without someone kindling the flame. It's also likely that there have been many ages of darkness and ages of fire since the time of Dark Souls. In the end it doesn't matter because it's all a cycle that repeats.
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May 27, 2014 22:00
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turtlecrunch posted:Hey buddy wanna farm some pure bladestones This somehow reminds me that a good Souls game needs black phantoms to have a guaranteed drop.
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May 27, 2014 22:02
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turtlecrunch posted:Hey buddy wanna farm some pure bladestones I abuse the copy glitch maliciously in DeS for just that reason. I always have at least 99 of every upgrade material I find.
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May 27, 2014 22:02
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Genocyber posted:You can buy the Great Scythe from Gren. Also the spiders in brightstone drop it. Yes, but isn't it way worse than the DaS1 version? That was what I was talking about, but if it's the same, then ignore me. 
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May 27, 2014 22:03
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Those of you saying that the age of fire and the age of dark both continue the cycle seem not to have understood this game's ending voiceover the same way I did. It says something like "Once the fire is linked, this poo poo's gonna go down again. It's up to you to embrace this or reject it if ya want." That makes it sound like the alternative to linking the fire is also the alternative to the cycle. Statements like "fire is born from the ashes" don't imply to me that another age of fire can happen during an age of darkness - it sounds more like a reference to what we definitely see play out in the first game and possibly in this one: the fire being rekindled during a time of cindery, lovely fire.
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May 27, 2014 22:04
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 And so, Arya Stark finally achieved her goals of getting revenge on all those who had wronged her family. At long last she sat the Iron Throne, confident that her reign would bring a new era of peace and prosperity to Westeros. No one bothered to correct their new monarch. Such is the way of the Curse. And that's it. I'm now a true Dark Souls veteran. It's been quite the experience these past two months, discovering how fun these games are. I think I'm going to need a long Dark Souls break before deciding if I want to tackle NG+. The game was fantastic. There were some elements that DS1 did better I think, but overall this had fewer sections that felt like they weren't well designed. I liked the final boss well enough, although honestly the throne twins were more fun and challenging before I figured out their trick.
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May 27, 2014 22:05
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Space Hamlet posted:Those of you saying that the age of fire and the age of dark both continue the cycle seem not to have understood this game's ending voiceover the same way I did. It says something like "Once the fire is linked, this poo poo's gonna go down again. It's up to you to embrace this or reject it if ya want." That makes it sound like the alternative to linking the fire is also the alternative to the cycle. I have no idea what the gently caress you're trying to say. Both fire and darkness continue the cycle. Fire is a continuation of normal life, as it were. An age of darkness is literally just doing nothing and keeping the flame as embers, with the option to rekindle them always being open.
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May 27, 2014 22:07
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King of Solomon posted:Okay, yes. I actually forgot about that for a second (though technically I think that would be covered by the gameplay mechanics being largely DaS2's) Also poor boss design allowing most to be cheesed from complete safety with either ranged attacks or magic, Poison Cloud working on the final and optional bosses, the ability to skip most of 4-1, Scrapping Spear+Acid Cloud... I could go on but I won't. None of these games is perfect is all I'm saying! Flytrap posted:I abuse the copy glitch maliciously in DeS for just that reason. I always have at least 99 of every upgrade material I find. You still had to find them to do that. Have fun getting those pure stones at all.
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May 27, 2014 22:07
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Pure bladestone, or any upgrade materials, being hard to get doesn't matter at all. You don't need anywhere near a max upgraded weapon to beat the game, or the first few ng+'s. The way the game is balanced you don't need anything stronger than +5 to not have trouble.
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May 27, 2014 22:12
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Genocyber posted:I have no idea what the gently caress you're trying to say. This is the part where we're disagreeing in interpretations, and why we're diverging in how we view the events between Gwyn/DS1 and DS1/DS2. But there's not really enough evidence to conclusively say either way so I guess agreeing to disagree and all that.
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May 27, 2014 22:12
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Manatee Cannon posted:Also poor boss design allowing most to be cheesed from complete safety with either ranged attacks or magic, Poison Cloud working on the final and optional bosses, the ability to skip most of 4-1, Scrapping Spear+Acid Cloud... I could go on but I won't. None of these games is perfect is all I'm saying! I'd still say Demon's Souls has the best bosses in the franchise overall, even if you can cheese them.
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May 27, 2014 22:16
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Genocyber posted:Pure bladestone, or any upgrade materials, being hard to get doesn't matter at all. You don't need anywhere near a max upgraded weapon to beat the game, or the first few ng+'s. The way the game is balanced you don't need anything stronger than +5 to not have trouble. Don't even need that much. The Butcher can be made from a base weapon, and that's pretty much the only weapon you'd ever need.
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May 27, 2014 22:16
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Genocyber posted:I have no idea what the gently caress you're trying to say. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm saying that the game would appear to textually disagree with you. Here is what's said during the ending: You who link the fire, you, who bear the curse. Once the fire is linked, souls will flourish anew, and all of this will play out again. It is your choice to embrace or renounce this. Great sovereign, take your throne. What lies ahead, only you can see. The way I read this, it seems to lay out your two options as such: 1. Link the fire, renew the cycle. 2. Don't link the fire, renounce the cycle. I suppose it's possible that the fire could still be linked sometime later if you take the second option, but I don't know of any evidence for or against that one way or the other.
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May 27, 2014 22:16
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I loved the PVP in Dark Souls 1 but for some reason I'm getting completely curbstomped about 3 outta 5 matches. Featured: me after getting hit with a Washing Pole from 6 feet away. I don't know if it's the netcode or what have you but it feels like I'm backstabbed and parried while my model is a good clip away from the opponent. I also hear my hit connect sometimes yet there's no feedback or indication that I've hurt the other player. I'm grousing since it feels like I've gotten barely anything accomplished in the last couple of hours of PVPing.
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May 27, 2014 22:17
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Captain Oblivious posted:This is the part where we're disagreeing in interpretations, and why we're diverging in how we view the events between Gwyn/DS1 and DS1/DS2. But there's not really enough evidence to conclusively say either way so I guess agreeing to disagree and all that. No, the dark lord ending to Dks pretty clearly support what I'm saying. What do you do to bring about an age of darkness? Nothing, essentially. After killing Gwyn you do nothing. As Straid tells you in this, everything fades naturally. Progressing from an age of fire to an age of darkness is the natural way of things, as Kaathe also tells you, as the Dull Ember hints at, and it requires actual action to stop that. Space Hamlet posted:Sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm saying that the game would appear to textually disagree with you. Here is what's said during the ending: That interpretation doesn't really fit with what the game is saying, though. Everything is part of an endlessly repeating cycle, and no human can break the cycle because all life is a part of it. That's why Aldia was researching so heavily into the ancient dragons; predating the cycle, they exist outside of it. Genocyber fucked around with this message at 22:19 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 22:17
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King of Solomon posted:Except that person is completely wrong for two possible reasons: 1) They didn't play Demon's Souls and/or 2) They don't respect Demon's Souls. The actual perfect Souls game would just be Demon's Souls with the broken archstone linking to the Oolacile DLC with most of DaS2's gameplay mechanics/gear/items (except no Soul Memory or ADP, bring back DaS1 bleed, and buff slash/thrust to be equivalent to strike.) Demon's Souls is really good and I actually enjoyed my first playthrough of it a lot more than Dark Souls 1 for a number of reasons (mainly I thought the difficulty curve was way more sane related to bosses) but it had a lot of problems the two Dark Souls didn't. The world and character tendency thing was incredibly dumb and the upgrade system was almost more baffling than Dark Souls 1's. If I recall correctly there were 11 different upgrade paths, which all split off from one another at different times, but with some random exceptions too, because From Software. It didn't really seem to understand itself that well either. Like it viewed being human as this super valuable thing that you would only rarely experience and would do everything to recover, but which you would tragically lose soon after each boss which gave your humanity back (or something). But due to the unbelievably stupid mechanic where dying in human form lowered your world tendency by 30%, it was actually a huge liability to run around as human so everyone just suicided in the Nexus instead of taking that risk. This also meant that if you just wanted to invade or do co-op, you would have to suicide after every successful attempt because it would give you your body back. Which made miracles like Resurrection even sillier--It just gave friendly phantoms you summoned their bodies back and sent them back to their worlds. But there was also a miracle called Banish that kicked invaders back to their world and cost them a level, and I wish that was back.
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May 27, 2014 22:18
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Vanderdeath posted:I loved the PVP in Dark Souls 1 but for some reason I'm getting completely curbstomped about 3 outta 5 matches. The washing pole in particular gets real hosed with lag, because of it's already enormous hitbox. You should basically just roll whenever it's swung, no matter what your position is. That hit-but-not-really thing is infuriating though.
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May 27, 2014 22:19
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Gestalt Intellect posted:Demon's Souls is really good and I actually enjoyed my first playthrough of it a lot more than Dark Souls 1 for a number of reasons (mainly I thought the difficulty curve was way more sane related to bosses) but it had a lot of problems the two Dark Souls didn't. The world and character tendency thing was incredibly dumb and the upgrade system was almost more baffling than Dark Souls 1's. If I recall correctly there were 11 different upgrade paths, which all split off from one another at different times, but with some random exceptions too, because From Software. Mhm. Mechanically, Demon's Souls is rife with problems, I'm not going to pretend it isn't. Item Load was also extremely stupid, and the harsh nature of the phantom mechanic basically meant you realistically only have 1 ring slot unless you're playing as a human a lot, which is less than ideal because of the aforementioned Scraping Spear. King of Solomon fucked around with this message at 22:24 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 22:21
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Genocyber posted:No, the dark lord ending to Dks pretty clearly support what I'm saying. What do you do to bring about an age of darkness? Nothing, essentially. After killing Gwyn you do nothing. As Straid tells you in this, everything fades naturally. Progressing from an age of fire to an age of darkness is the natural way of things, as Kaathe also tells you, as the Dull Ember hints at, and it requires actual action to stop that. The Dark Lord ending doesn't really say a whole lot of anything, and is pretty open ended to say the least so...nah dawg. ~I disagree~. Also I'm loathe to take anything Kaathe says ever as objective fact.
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May 27, 2014 22:24
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Genocyber posted:Pure bladestone, or any upgrade materials, being hard to get doesn't matter at all. You don't need anywhere near a max upgraded weapon to beat the game, or the first few ng+'s. The way the game is balanced you don't need anything stronger than +5 to not have trouble. Pure Darkmoonstone. You have a chance of being locked out of completing your upgrade for the rest of your game because.....? It wasn't the only pure stone like that if I remember correctly, but it was one of the actually useful ones.
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May 27, 2014 22:25
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Gestalt Intellect posted:Demon's Souls is really good and I actually enjoyed my first playthrough of it a lot more than Dark Souls 1 for a number of reasons (mainly I thought the difficulty curve was way more sane related to bosses) but it had a lot of problems the two Dark Souls didn't. The world and character tendency thing was incredibly dumb and the upgrade system was almost more baffling than Dark Souls 1's. If I recall correctly there were 11 different upgrade paths, which all split off from one another at different times, but with some random exceptions too, because From Software. Materiels for upgrades were also just plain rarer, too since there were no merchants that sold most of the tiers and grinding for it was slow and tedious. Whether you needed a maxed out weapon to beat the game doesn't matter because you did in fact need it for PvP/trophies and getting those pure stones is about as far removed from fun as is humanly possible to be. And gently caress crystal lizards in DeS. In a perfect world we'd have the DkS2 upgrade system and ease of slab grinding with the DkS1 giant blacksmith for buying the rest. I miss Soulsucker. You'd almost never hit anyone with it but when you did it was just the best gently caress you imaginable. Also the Meat Cleaver and Blueblood Sword.
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May 27, 2014 22:26
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