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toasterwarrior posted:Just need to vent but Sister Friede is From jerking themselves off about how Dark Souls is soooo hard and they can go gently caress themselves for how loving stupid bullshit the fight is The first two phases are relatively easy. The first just run up to her when she turns invisible and watch where the snow moves to see where she lands. The second just focus on her dad while running to her when she heals. The third is tough, but the safest route is to run away when she performs the air leap attacks and go in to damage her during her ice phase attacks with one or two hits. You can interrupt many of her attacks IIRC. But yeah, I'd say she is the hardest boss in the entire series. If you can beat her you can beat literally anything the series has to offer.
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May 2, 2020 00:06
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Cheers and thanks all, finally got the fucker. Accidentally did it too without summoning Gael since I forgot to get him, lol. Replaying DS3 now, I still have a particular hatred for all the spinny, infinite stamina bullshit enemies they added (Outrider Knights are basically an early taste of this crap).punk rebel ecks posted:But yeah, I'd say she is the hardest boss in the entire series. If you can beat her you can beat literally anything the series has to offer. I think it took me twice as much tries against Friede versus the Nameless King from way back when during my first run. Using a Claymore instead of a straight sword definitely made parts of this run much more difficult, since its slow speed is so tough to use against Friede's anime bullshit. I legit think it's a thematic mistake, on top of her loving slog of a fight, to have a boss that is so obviously more fitting in a character action game than a Souls game to be this level of threat, but whatever; the series is long done anyway and hopefully Elden Ring won't have them resorting to gameplay mismatches like this.
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May 2, 2020 01:28
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toasterwarrior posted:I think it took me twice as much tries against Friede versus the Nameless King from way back when during my first run. Using a Claymore instead of a straight sword definitely made parts of this run much more difficult, since its slow speed is so tough to use against Friede's anime bullshit. I legit think it's a thematic mistake, on top of her loving slog of a fight, to have a boss that is so obviously more fitting in a character action game than a Souls game to be this level of threat, but whatever; the series is long done anyway and hopefully Elden Ring won't have them resorting to gameplay mismatches like this. I disagree. She's my favorite fight in the series.
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May 2, 2020 01:57
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So I finally restarted playing this after a long hiatus and I think I spooked myself out of finishing Cathedral of the Deep. I thought I was just supposed to avoid those giants. But it turns out that they are super easy if you just stab their ankles. Is there any purpose of those giant gates? I never really got the giants to move out of their spots. Also is Farron Keep the "swamp" area of Dark Souls 3? It was pretty tame for a From game. Although I guess Dark Souls 2 didn't really technically have a swamp area unless I am misremembering. I don't think Harvest Valley counts.
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May 2, 2020 02:13
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blackguy32 posted:Also is Farron Keep the "swamp" area of Dark Souls 3? It was pretty tame for a From game. Although I guess Dark Souls 2 didn't really technically have a swamp area unless I am misremembering. I don't think Harvest Valley counts. Yep, they've been getting smaller. The swamp area in Sekiro is just like, one room with a miniboss.
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May 2, 2020 02:17
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Lowering one the gates lets you walk across the top to something iirc but other than that and walling off the incredibly easy to kill giants for some reason I think that's it.
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May 2, 2020 02:19
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blackguy32 posted:So I finally restarted playing this after a long hiatus and I think I spooked myself out of finishing Cathedral of the Deep. I thought I was just supposed to avoid those giants. But it turns out that they are super easy if you just stab their ankles. Is there any purpose of those giant gates? I never really got the giants to move out of their spots. Faron Keep is overhated. It's super short and easy. And it's kinda fun at the end game to roll around the swamp and explore.
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May 2, 2020 02:36
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I beat Crystal Sage, then finished off the Hollow Manservants and Evangelist next relatively easily. I also went back to the Vordt bonfire to farm the Lothric Knights in the area, and I've managed to become a lot better at fighting them (even the blue one, which you could walk up to for a full combo). When I first reached them it was a battle to the death but it's mostly about spacing and baiting their attacks. In the Cathedral area, I beat the enemy couple which seemed to be redux of the fight in Road of Sacrifices, only they were much faster. The stabby guy was very annoying but I managed to kill him anyway. Then I died at the dogs + archers room. It looks like you could run in the trenches to avoid most of the arrows but since the next bonfire was just a bit ahead I don't really need to put myself through that pain anymore.
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May 2, 2020 04:08
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Fargin Icehole posted:How about soundtrack? Because Dark Souls 1's OST is a million miles better than 2 and 3. Just bring this up to the next page, i maintain what i said.
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May 2, 2020 04:24
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Fargin Icehole posted:Just bring this up to the next page, i maintain what i said. Listen I don't disagree with you really, and DS3's soundtrack is so chock full of 'generic epic fantasy swelling orchestration w/ Latiny-ish sounding choir chants' that they are completely unmemorable and the tracks might as well be nearly indistinguishable from each other in a boss battle. Hell, all I even remember from the Cinder fight music is the Gwyn plink plonk homage. That being said, there are just a few that I did find good and are memorable (like, if I close my eyes and think back to the fight I can recall the music and the mood of the battle): Abyss Watchers, Dancer, Friede, & Midir. The best DS3 song though is actually a song from King's Field IV. (warning: spoilers for the whole game)
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May 2, 2020 04:53
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Gael has a good song
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May 2, 2020 12:40
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN8dCyG-Pqo This is my surprise standout track from DS3 I really like the crazy string melody that starts about half a minute in
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May 2, 2020 12:50
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Fargin Icehole posted:Just bring this up to the next page, i maintain what i said. This is a straight up nah, soul of cinder is great but Freide’s song?? Gael’s? Vordt and Ludex gundyr and the fire link shrine after you’ve given the fire keeper the uh...things. That said people go on about the Nameless King’s theme being so good and I think it absolutely sucks. DS1 has some pretty duff tracks as well - the Taurus Demon comes to mind as particularly bad. But it also has Gwyn’s theme which is a perfect summation of the entire series’ themes. I’m not finished DS2 yet but so far it does have some great music even if I can’t remember any tracks in particular.
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May 2, 2020 13:03
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Taurus Demon is the best* song in DS1 so it's actually you who is wrong
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May 2, 2020 13:23
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Aidan_702 posted:This is a straight up nah, soul of cinder is great but Freide’s song?? Gael’s? Vordt and Ludex gundyr and the fire link shrine after you’ve given the fire keeper the uh...things. That said people go on about the Nameless King’s theme being so good and I think it absolutely sucks. I've always had a soft spot for Majula's theme. While Firelink's music in 1 and 3 really hit the feeling of trying to scrape by in a dying/dead world, Majula's music has this feeling of utterly surreal tranquility. Dark Souls 2 has a heavy emphasis on memories, and Majula really feels like a place where you end up, slowly forgetting everything, and settling into some sort of dream-like limbo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ShsHeYkeI Also shoutout for Vendrick's theme. Such a simple piece, really, but how it's used just hits you in the face. The entire game up to this point talks up how much of a great and powerful king Vendrick was. Making it past Velstadt, ready to face him, and you're met with a broken hollow of a man, aimlessly wandering his chamber, not even aware of anything around him  .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnoZG6iCbjU Ziddar fucked around with this message at 18:52 on May 2, 2020 |
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May 2, 2020 18:45
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Bloodborne has the best music, but DS2 and DS3 have some solid tracks. DS2 and DS3 do have a lot more choral stuff layered over the music, and I do feel like it hits a point in DS3 where a lot of the chorus drowns out the cool instrumental bits under it, though. DS2's DLCs have some great stuff in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alTQiC6hhGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGyYWowMgc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf5Ymjn3z4w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAVCkVclNR4
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May 2, 2020 19:01
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I love Majula's music because it reminds me of King's Field the Ancient City for some reason.
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May 2, 2020 19:32
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Ziddar posted:I've always had a soft spot for Majula's theme. While Firelink's music in 1 and 3 really hit the feeling of trying to scrape by in a dying/dead world, Majula's music has this feeling of utterly surreal tranquility. Dark Souls 2 has a heavy emphasis on memories, and Majula really feels like a place where you end up, slowly forgetting everything, and settling into some sort of dream-like limbo. Majula's theme is my favorite souls music piece. It works so perfectly for the area.
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May 3, 2020 01:06
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Ziddar posted:I've always had a soft spot for Majula's theme. While Firelink's music in 1 and 3 really hit the feeling of trying to scrape by in a dying/dead world, Majula's music has this feeling of utterly surreal tranquility. Dark Souls 2 has a heavy emphasis on memories, and Majula really feels like a place where you end up, slowly forgetting everything, and settling into some sort of dream-like limbo. The Moon Monster posted:Majula's theme is my favorite souls music piece. It works so perfectly for the area. I haven't played DS2 in ages but Majula's theme has definitely stuck with me. I saw someone comment about it recently that if you just sit and listen to it you get the feeling it keeps missing notes, and the pauses feel like the player is forgetting exactly where they are in the song, or even how it goes, or what they were doing in the first place. Which is pretty perfect for what they were going for there. The other thing I remember about sound in Majula though is this: quote:Bearer-
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May 3, 2020 01:23
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Majula's music is so utterly devoid of hope and depressing it's a major thing that keeps me away from ds2.
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May 3, 2020 05:09
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cougar cub posted:Majula's music is so utterly devoid of hope and depressing it's a major thing that keeps me away from ds2. What, Majula is the relaxing 'you're safe and all your friends are here for a big party!' music
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May 3, 2020 05:56
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cougar cub posted:Majula's music is so utterly devoid of hope and depressing it's a major thing that keeps me away from ds2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OQUshZtGo4 Majula always reminds me of this song and it gives me such great memories of King's Field Ancient City. Edit: I was getting my rear end kicked in the Catacombs of Carthus until I discovered that using a club wrecks all the skeletons down there. blackguy32 fucked around with this message at 07:39 on May 3, 2020 |
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May 3, 2020 06:03
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Logan 5 posted:I haven't played DS2 in ages but Majula's theme has definitely stuck with me. I saw someone comment about it recently that if you just sit and listen to it you get the feeling it keeps missing notes, and the pauses feel like the player is forgetting exactly where they are in the song, or even how it goes, or what they were doing in the first place. Which is pretty perfect for what they were going for there. it does sound that way, and whatever you decide the missing notes should be changes it up again. its clever
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May 3, 2020 09:11
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cougar cub posted:Majula's music is so utterly devoid of hope and depressing it's a major thing that keeps me away from ds2. I can honestly say that's the first time I've ever heard that reaction. Majula is unique of all the souls hub areas in that there actually is hope. You spend the whole game gathering together a little community of people to help you and for once almost no one goes crazy or dies. I've always thought the music reflects this theme of one place of peace and hope in a dying world.
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May 3, 2020 12:03
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Regy Rusty posted:I can honestly say that's the first time I've ever heard that reaction. Majula is unique of all the souls hub areas in that there actually is hope. You spend the whole game gathering together a little community of people to help you and for once almost no one goes crazy or dies. I've always thought the music reflects this theme of one place of peace and hope in a dying world. No one dies or goes crazy (apart from the shopkeeper I guess) because no one does *anything*, even the blacksmith and titanite lady never interact despite being like ten paces from each other. Everyone's just there to ride out their hollowing dementia in relative peace.
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May 3, 2020 12:26
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multijoe posted:No one dies or goes crazy (apart from the shopkeeper I guess) because no one does *anything*, even the blacksmith and titanite lady never interact despite being like ten paces from each other. Everyone's just there to ride out their hollowing dementia in relative peace. Yeah its nice
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May 3, 2020 12:30
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Regy Rusty posted:Yeah its nice It's an aesthetic sure, but 'hope' or 'community' aren't really the first words that would spring to mind
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May 3, 2020 12:37
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multijoe posted:It's an aesthetic sure, but 'hope' or 'community' aren't really the first words that would spring to mind Honestly, Majula's soundtrack in particular highlights what I think is my favorite part of DS2: a world that's ended with neither a bang nor a whimper, but a steady endless grind. No more ragnaroks, just archaeological layers upon layers of time.
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May 3, 2020 13:32
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Nobody doing anything in Majula makes it nice and safe but that also makes it boring imo
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May 3, 2020 14:02
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oldpainless posted:Nobody doing anything in Majula makes it nice and safe but that also makes it boring imo That’s what the pigs are for
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May 3, 2020 15:19
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I haven't played DS2 (I intend to play DS1 Remastered first), but the polarizing reaction from fans is really interesting. Story-wise it seems to be trying something, but DS3 rolled back on that. (I'm also not sure why DS3 started up the embers thing instead of humanity, was there a significant story/lore reason to do that? Or embers = cool?)
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May 3, 2020 16:03
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Schneider Heim posted:I haven't played DS2 (I intend to play DS1 Remastered first), but the polarizing reaction from fans is really interesting. Story-wise it seems to be trying something, but DS3 rolled back on that. Game play wise DS3 is better, but I had a much better time with DS2. There were just so many builds and weapons that were viable and the PvP was LEAPS AND BOUNDS better.
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May 3, 2020 16:10
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Schneider Heim posted:(I'm also not sure why DS3 started up the embers thing instead of humanity, was there a significant story/lore reason to do that? Or embers = cool?) DS2 does it too, it has "Human Effigy" instead... But there's a thematic element to all 3 iterations of the item. DS1 - Humanity - Self evident. DS2 - Human Effigy - "A warm, soft, shadow like effigy. Use this item to reverse Hollowing. It also weakens the links to other worlds, invasions and most cooperation. Peer closely at an effigy, and one begins to perceive a human form, but whose form it takes depends on the person looking." Ties into the theme of DS2 of losing your memory / identity. DS3 - Ember - No Unkindled can ever truly claim the embers that burn within a champion’s bosom, which is precisely what makes their yearning for warmth so keen. Again, thematic... By DS3 the fire has been linked so many times that all the top tier champions / undead are long gone, leaving only Unkindled Ash, undead who are basically the unfit to even be the bench warmers of linking the flame. Which in itself is barely sustained. From the intro, referring to the Unkindled, (you): Nameless, accursed Undead, unfit even to be cinder. And so it is, that ash seeketh embers.
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May 3, 2020 16:20
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Schneider Heim posted:I haven't played DS2 (I intend to play DS1 Remastered first), but the polarizing reaction from fans is really interesting. Story-wise it seems to be trying something, but DS3 rolled back on that. It's meant to because even the relinked Fire is getting tapped out and there's only lovely embers left. As for DS2, the problem isn't so much with the concept as the execution. The game had to be massively reshuffled during development and as a result the world is really incoherent and slapdash from assets just being thrown together to get a product out the door, though the DLC does make up for it with superb level design and and (mostly) really cool bosses.
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May 3, 2020 16:36
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Schneider Heim posted:I haven't played DS2 (I intend to play DS1 Remastered first), but the polarizing reaction from fans is really interesting. Story-wise it seems to be trying something, but DS3 rolled back on that. DS2 was in development hell for a long time and a lot of the final product we got was quickly thrown together in a final rush to get it out the door after a change in the development leadership. You can see that most in the middle of the game where the levels are often short and stacked with random enemies, and the bosses needed a few more passes to be memorable or challenging. There's the infamous "sky volcano" elevator that was linking together two levels that were never meant to join up, but they must not have had the zone walking up to the Iron Keep (shown in the initial cinematic trailer) in anywhere close to a complete state. It makes the middle parts of the game feel slow and awkward, but it does pick up again by the end and with the DLCs. It has some weird mechanical choices, like tying your roll's i-frames to a stat, your player-to-player interaction rules being based off the total number of souls you've ever absorbed, and the changes to the movement controls can feel offputting or just outright awful, depending on how sensitive you are to that. There were things people hated in the initial release that were gradually patched, like the perma-despawning enemies that were patched to respawn if you join the Covenant of Champions and the enemy layout in the Shrine of Amana. There are also some points that people mark off DS2 for that the other Souls games do, but I guess they stick out more when you're already annoyed by other stuff in DS2. There's still a lot of cool things DS2 has that the other games don't, like the small white soapstone, the really detailed and fun dual-wielding mechanics, the open branches right at the start of the game allowing for you to jump down one for a specific spell or item then down a completely different order in your next playthrough, the NG+ mechanics and bonfire aeshetics making replays or upping the difficulty of an area rewarding, the unique covenants like the dark divers and ratbros, and it even has neat little rewards from doing no-death and no-sitting-at-bonfire runs that the other games don't have. The DLCs are great and up there with the quality areas in any of the other games. There's plenty to enjoy about DS2, and honestly I think its level of badness has been meme'd beyond the present state of the game because it's still a Souls game and plenty of fun on that level. The ending of DS2 does lead into the premise of DS3, where one person on the throne isn't enough to extend the age of fire any longer and they have to burn through multiple epic heroes at once to keep it going. DS2 did largely try to keep DS1 references to subtle background nods, which DS3 dropped in favor of leaning super hard into DS1 lore and callbacks, but DS3 does that with Demon's Souls, DS2, and Bloodborne, too.
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May 3, 2020 20:57
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For me the fundamental problem with DS2 is that it just lacks the polish and quality of design that the rest of the series has. There's only a handful of bosses who present any real challenge in the base game and even less who are actually engaging to fight, but the enemy and encounter design is sadistic and crude in a way that the Miyazaki titles basically never are. You have several enemies like Cyclopses, Drakekeepers and Fire Salamanders who are just completely busted to fight conventionally and are strongly incentivised just to cheese with ranged attacks and areas like Drangleic Castle where the game just spams high HP, high poise enemies at you where you have to continually kite and reset aggro just to get get past. Even in the much better DLC packs the encounter design is still based around gank squads with additional enemies frequently aggroing from out of vision and the poise of standard enemies being difficult to break without a 2H Mace & Stone Ring build, and the NPC invaders even cheat around basic game mechanics just to make them even more of a shitshow to fight. To me at least, it feels like the devs took the 'Dark Souls is the Dark Souls of Dark Souls games' meme way too much to heart and made a bullshit romhack game that's constantly trying to gently caress you rather than provide a tough, but very fair challenge like the previous games did, but also somehow completely hosed up the epic climactic boss fights everyone loved grinding their faces against which was a large part of why the difficulty was popular to begin with.
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May 3, 2020 21:26
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multijoe posted:For me the fundamental problem with DS2 is that it just lacks the polish and quality of design that the rest of the series has. There's only a handful of bosses who present any real challenge in the base game and even less who are actually engaging to fight, but the enemy and encounter design is sadistic and crude in a way that the Miyazaki titles basically never are. You have several enemies like Cyclopses, Drakekeepers and Fire Salamanders who are just completely busted to fight conventionally and are strongly incentivised just to cheese with ranged attacks and areas like Drangleic Castle where the game just spams high HP, high poise enemies at you where you have to continually kite and reset aggro just to get get past. Even in the much better DLC packs the encounter design is still based around gank squads with additional enemies frequently aggroing from out of vision and the poise of standard enemies being difficult to break without a 2H Mace & Stone Ring build, and the NPC invaders even cheat around basic game mechanics just to make them even more of a shitshow to fight. The cyclopses are awkward because DS2 in general has very unforgiving grab mechanics, where any part of your body brushing up against a grab hitbox will pull you into a grab. When they're not spamming grabs, they're super fun. They nerfed the drakekpeepers and they're not any different than the old knights nowadays. The flame lizards and some of those other quadraped monster enemies do have off hitboxes that needed more time to work on. I can't really say DS2 is the only one that loves using clusters of swarming enemies and high-poise tanks when DS3 pulls that trick in quite a few areas like High Wall of Lothric/Lothric Castle and Ringed City DLC.
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May 3, 2020 21:39
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The thing that gets to me about DS2 discourse is that game gets a ton of poo poo for things, while the other games just seem to get a pass for their problems.
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May 3, 2020 21:41
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I mean if you really want I'll start whining about how the invasion/covenant mechanics have been getting worse every single game since DeS, but that's yet another case where they bounced back a little in 3. It's not like 1/3 are flawless, but 2 shares and magnifies most of their flaws in addition to having a unique set of its own. Standard disclaimer: haven't touched the game since it first came out, so I have no experience with the DLC or mid-late patches.
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May 3, 2020 22:02
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I just started DS3 and my main problem with it is that enemies don't have the same handicaps that you do. The main ones I can think of is basically enemies having unlimited stamina and their weapons can swing through walls and other enemies. I have a pretty big soft spot for DS2 SOTFS, which apparently fixed a lot of the nonsensical stuff in DS2. I really love the environments in DS2. Drangleic Castle with the rain, Majula, Dragon Aerie, they are all very nice looking. Im a bit annoyed with DS3, because while it is faster, I don't think many of its enemies need to be that way. Then again, I noticed that bonfires or shortcuts seem to be closer in general in DS3 than the other games. Also, Demon's Souls I still find to be confusing and incredibly janky now, and my only experience with an invasion in that game was some guy in 1-2 that had higher level gear that pretty much one shot me. After that, I just stayed away from being human in general in most of the games. blackguy32 fucked around with this message at 22:09 on May 3, 2020 |
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May 3, 2020 22:03
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