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I think the LP has gotten dark enough, don't you? Let's wrap up the Gutter and Black Gulch and move on to... well, another series of caverns infested with pests.   23, The Gutter 2/2We finish exploring the Gutter, and I don't know how apparent it comes out in the commentary; but this is hands-down my least favorite "level" in DS2. I don't know how much of that is the Gutter itself and how much of it is the next one, but the other 2 Gs have the same "very short level if you book it, challenges you for grabbing everything" scheme and I think Gutter kills the flow. And yeah, I know most Souls stages are short if you're speed-running, I mean even by those standards Grave and Gulch are small.  24, Black GulchSpeaking of, Black Gulch! "Gulch" is actually the right word for what From was going for (well, assuming the cliff is natural erosion), but it's really weird to look across the ravine and see... nothing. In the Tomb of Giants you could see the archtrees in the distance, whether that's Ash Lake as a real place or [as in Mog's theory] you're going to the underworld at that point; it's something. And the poison spit mechanic is obnoxious enough the annoyance factor overwhelms the "creepy" factor I'm sure From was going for with the glowing green statues. --- Switching gears a bit, something I wanted to ask y'all. If you've made this far, you're clearly OK with our commentary style (or you're just here for Mog ) and with Dark Souls, so you're part of the target audience. Well, my brother and I will be getting Dark Souls 3 as soon as it drops, and the plan is for him to stream it blind, and for me to day-1 LP it, and put both up on our channel as a "friendly rivalry" sort of project. So my question is, since a low-effort blind LP is out (too close to what he's doing), I was thinking of one of two options for the project, either a dual-upload silent-with-subtitles and one version with commentary "tour guide/journal" style LP, or one with traditional commentary but heavy on editing (death montages, annotations to link NPC dialogue back and forth in the same video, more music over stuff, etc.). Don't let the fact my editing this time included a Monty Python sketch dissuade you from option 2, it was a special occasion! And fret not, we'll be keeping this going too (assuming Mog wants to and she has time of course). We're already halfway through at this point!
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Mar 30, 2016 20:43
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KieranWalker posted:The same mod support exists for SotFS, but (bearing in mind I haven't been able to 100% confirm this) From seems to have been kicking people who used ANY sort of hook/injector tool for the game which uses a DLL file--be it post-processing effects, Xinput wrappers to remap controller inputs, even just FRAPS or OBS game capture--into a pool of 'soft-banned' players that can't interact with the larger player base. You're misunderstanding. You'll get banned for mods that involve dropping a DLL into the game's directory. Those are considerably more rare. DSFix for DS1, for example, would fall into this category. That means fraps is okay, OBS is okay, and ironically, Cheat Engine is okay. Things that are not okay include, say, x360ce. The issue is nobody's quite sure if they're banning for xinput DLLs, though dinput ones are definitely going to get you banned. Some people can only get x350ce to work with dinput DLLs, so... Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Mar 30, 2016 |
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Mar 30, 2016 20:50
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Ah... that makes more sense, Tallgeese. Though it makes me wonder if they're going to have the same obnoxious mod detection in Dark Souls 3... Wayne, as far as blind LPs go, I think I would prefer the second option. Edit: Now, you guys don't mention it in the Black Gulch video, but that wooden chest near the Rotten's fog gate is the only chest in the game which has a lock, but is not a mimic. That is, in the original version. I want to know if that's still the case in Scholar, but you didn't show any footage of it. KeiraWalker fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Mar 31, 2016 00:59
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It is unknown. Personally, I do not have faith in From's ability to have proper cheat detection that doesn't give false positives. Given this, I would prefer community-based solutions, because they are more responsive to problems that are actually serious. PVP Watchdog takes care of the vast majority of nasty stuff that hackers can do to you in DS1, for example. You can use Cheat Engine to resurrect any killed NPCs or bosses. Meanwhile, in DS2, you have little recourse for what hackers can do to you without having to worry about risking a softban yourself. However, From has no reason to change their stance. After all, they already have your money. Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Mar 31, 2016 04:24
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KieranWalker posted:Ah... that makes more sense, Tallgeese. Though it makes me wonder if they're going to have the same obnoxious mod detection in Dark Souls 3... Going to have to ask what wooden chest? I'll have a look and aescetic the area if needed since IIRC wooden chests refresh with an aescetic.
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Mar 31, 2016 11:19
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The one Wayne is going for at 18:00 minutes in the Black Gulch video. It's in that little side tunnel off to the left side of the final stretch before the fog gate, sitting in a pool of tar with two poison statues behind it. I think it's actually a little closer to the bonfire than the boss room, but I'm sure you'll know where I mean. If you watch the video very closely, you can see that the front of the chest looks exactly like a mimic, yet it isn't. Given it's sitting in one of the flammable pools, it's probably meant to trick you into lighting it on fire expecting a mimic, leaving you to see that it's a normal chest and throwing your entire world into doubt for the rest of the game, the same way the first mimic did in the original Dark Souls.
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Mar 31, 2016 12:24
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Just checked in Scholar now - still has locks, still not a mimic. Kind of hard to see the locks though due to the darkness. Have also recorded Salamanders since there was a demand for them.
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Mar 31, 2016 14:05
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Oh hey, you probably answered this already, but is there going to be any need for any co-op at some point? I've been meaning to replay Scholar, so I might be able to get someone in the soul memory range if needed.
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Mar 31, 2016 22:23
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I can't speak for Wayne, but I'm pretty bad at scheduling, so tend to just do ad-hoc co-op - normally when I want to un-hollow myself.
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Apr 1, 2016 00:43
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Speaking of Bonfire Ascetics, the quickest and thus most exploitable way to farm them is only in Scholar. There's an endgame area with a petrified hollow (which requires one Fragrant Branch of Yore per playthrough, not per Ascetic, to unpetrify) who drops two Ascetics, and unlike many other such locations there's no boss associated with that particular bonfire. Thus the easy way to deal with this is to repeatedly use Ascetics on the bonfire, kill the fixed black phantom who will get in your way (it's helpful to have a weapon with a smash attack), and then kill the hollow to make a slight profit. (Nearby there's also a Petrified Dragon Bone, which adds perhaps ten seconds per run and which is totally worth it to grab.)
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Apr 1, 2016 17:57
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Replies below the update this time! Here we are for the start of session 6, on the way to the last Old One! We don't discuss it yet, but this entire thing is unnecessary: the way to the Castle opens once you have all four souls, or you rack up 1 million SM times the cycle you're on. Needless to say, skipping a major part of the game is out of the question for the LP; but it's cool that you can.  25, Shaded WoodsWell, speaking of completionism, I can't blame anyone for skipping through the misty woods part of the video. I try to spice it up by using different strategies (loving that RNG weapon selector idea), and fast-forwarding parts that overlap even a little, but there's not much you can do to make fighting 12 identical enemies you can't see in a stage you can't really see either interesting. Hopefully our commentary does the job!  26, Shaded RuinsNow this is a bit more interesting! A sweeping layout you actually can do in a big circuit (well, if you're willing to accept getting the Fang Key right at the start, that's a slight backtrack), unlike the Gutter; and enemies you may have to improvise new tactics to beat (though instead of doing that in any creative way, From just maxed the slider on their poise and elemental resistances  ). Curse urns make you pay attention to your surroundings, you need to explore and not just run through to meet NPCs, etc. I like it, but if you have the enemies in the level, I can understand why you wouldn't (especially in Scholar).The gag comic I reference in the Ruins video is this one, it's been pasted so often I have no idea who the original source is:  --- Tallgeese posted:That means fraps is okay, OBS is okay, and ironically, Cheat Engine is okay. Yeah, that's what ultimately made me bite the bullet and get a 360 controller; you can't play most of these games on Steam with a PS2 controller without x360, and since those are like $5 now that's what I'd been using.  Pretty frustrating!KieranWalker posted:If you watch the video very closely, you can see that the front of the chest looks exactly like a mimic, yet it isn't. Given it's sitting in one of the flammable pools, it's probably meant to trick you into lighting it on fire expecting a mimic, leaving you to see that it's a normal chest and throwing your entire world into doubt for the rest of the game, the same way the first mimic did in the original Dark Souls. Interesting! Yeah, Mog snagged footage of it and we'll put that in our "Road to Drangleic" bonus after this session. If that really was From's plan, they were bit too subtle about it, heh. I mean, I for one didn't even notice the locks on mimics until y'all pointed it out in this LP. Guess that means they did a good job of hiding them (though I still wish mimics would breathe like they did in DS1; that was a way more subtler tell than the chain yet one you could still watch for). Angrymog posted:Have also recorded Salamanders since there was a demand for them. I lost another 6k souls to those jerks. I've lost about 30k worth of SM from losing bloodstains, and about 25k was salamanders. Should've just used the Rings of Life Protection! Found out something cool to add to the video, at least!Gothsheep posted:Oh hey, you probably answered this already, but is there going to be any need for any co-op at some point? I've been meaning to replay Scholar, so I might be able to get someone in the soul memory range if needed. Well, there's been some interest in us doing the DLC together, but Mog and I have both done some of Shulva so that one's out. If there is still interest from the thread (and her ) about doing that, then I could use some thread interaction to co-op that one.NGDBSS posted:Speaking of Bonfire Ascetics, the quickest and thus most exploitable way to farm them is only in Scholar. Interesting, I think I know which one you're referring to but I forgot he dropped those ascetics (after all, by the time you get there, you can buy them; it's only early on when you want them but only have a couple to work with). If I have a regret about not getting the DLC early, it's never getting to take advantage of the "Shulva Run in 12 ascetics" back when the road to the chest full of twinklies and bones included those to keep it going forever.
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Apr 6, 2016 00:43
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I have declared the puzzling stone sword experiment over. Taking suggestions for a new weapon, noting that my upgrades are a bit limited atm.
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Apr 6, 2016 01:21
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Wayne posted:Well, there's been some interest in us doing the DLC together, but Mog and I have both done some of Shulva so that one's out. If there is still interest from the thread (and her Angrymog posted:I have declared the puzzling stone sword experiment over. NGDBSS fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Apr 6, 2016 |
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Apr 6, 2016 03:16
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My vote's on a greatsword, presently, although one of the lighter class. Not the ultra-greatswords like the zweihander or whatever it is. I'm thinking one of the ones you can still swing around one-handed (because I hate the 2H moveset), like the BKG or something.
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Apr 6, 2016 13:50
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KieranWalker posted:My vote's on a greatsword, presently, although one of the lighter class. Right, "greatsword" as opposed to "ultra greatsword" (you can be forgiven for confusing those, because the weapon actually called "greatsword" is actually an ultra, heh). I think the only reason Mog wasn't using those already is because we teased her about her claymore OTP back when I was streaming the Dark Souls 1 spellblade run (that and she tends to use straight swords when playing solo). That being said, I'd vote for a weapon class we don't see very often, like claws, whips, curved swords, etc. AKA the "worst weapon classes" in DS2 because they're slashing and tend to be Dex-based. NGDBSS posted:I've got two characters who are likely in an appropriate range. What's your projected soul memory when you enter those areas? I could do Shulva right now, and I think my Scholar Khafet is at 1.2m SM (wanted to make sure Mog and I were in the same bracket when we did our Grave of Saints footage). I'll probably Agape Ring up and stay near there, because I want to try to get some Looking Glass squire footage and a million SM seems to be about par for Drangleic.
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Apr 7, 2016 20:53
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The two characters I have are in the 3M-5M bracket (#36), which is a bit higher than what you're working with (#27). In theory it's possible to use the Name-Engraved Ring, but that would still require you to have roughly 1.5M in soul memory to not require the Small White Sign Soapstone. That said, reaching that point shouldn't take too long, so if you're fine with it then my offer will still be on the table. 
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Apr 7, 2016 21:06
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More Brightstone Cove! This one ended up being 3 updates worth, which is about right: it's not as long as the Iron Keep route, but definitely longer than the other two (Bastille/3 Gs). I kind of get the impression this one is "supposed" to be last, with the Shaded Woods as a "you must be this tall to ride" sign and the fact that you'll finish Lucy's quest in the other 3 routes and only start Benhart's now, but who knows? 27, Doors of PharrosDoors of Pharros! Interesting level, basically split in half, with some goodies (and Ratbro arena) further in, and a quick two jogs along the cliffs to get out and move on. Because Pharros is much more brutal on grey victims (much bigger than Grave, traps and enemies well-positioned to kill instead of annoy, etc.) it's much more active, to the point that despite being well over typical SM for the first half of the game, Mog and I still got some PvP there. Royal Rat Authority was a pretty infamously tough boss in the original game too, and unlike Sinner wasn't nerfed that much; the tricky part is still dealing with the ratpack and not getting Toxiced before safely moving to the big guy.  28, Brightstone Cove Tseldora 1/3So, uh, how do you all feel about spiders? From here on out, Cove proper is going to be swarming with the things, especially in Mog's footage (Scholar literally doubled the number of spiders running around, at least). We also go from one of the toughest bosses in the early game to one of the easiest, and the game offers you a tank of a summon to make it even easier. Just remember to go back and talk to Benhart after rescuing Rosie, can't count the number of times I forgot to do that, got to this part to summon him and start doing his quest, and...  --- So, after watching Mog stream the first bit of Dark Souls 3, I think I'm going to wait a bit before thinking about LPing it, just didn't grab me the way the other 3 games did (especially Souls 1). Then being said, my brother will be streaming it tonight and I'll be along for the ride, that's starting at 7:30pm Central (well, the Darkest Dungeon pre-show will probably be first, but yeah, DS3 tonight) if you want to take a look! NGDBSS posted:That said, reaching that point shouldn't take too long, so if you're fine with it then my offer will still be on the table. Yeah, back when Iggy was LPing DS2, I streamed playing through enough of the game to catch up to him and rack up enough SM to join in, and it only took a couple hours. That being said, I think I'll do Shulva with Gothsheep if he's still interested (and in range) and do one of the other ones with you if Mog doesn't want to. And if that doesn't work out, then sure, I can go up another tier or two so you can join in.
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Apr 12, 2016 21:06
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OK, the next update will be up tomorrow, and Mog and I will do commentary for Drangleic over the weekend. So, you have a couple days to let us know if you have any requests for stuff we didn't cover we could have so far. We do have: * Salamanders * Santier's spear * Double 9's right way to kill the skeleton lords * Sky-walking parry glitch * Kieran's not-mimic chest in Black Gulch * The next Talking Time video Anything else? Wayne fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 17:46
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I can't think of anything you've not already covered or are going to cover but maybe you could show off some of the sequence breaks you can do at Shrine of Winter, once you get to it? In unpatched versions, you could do out of bounds jumps to get around the rubble leading to Drangleic Castle.
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Apr 15, 2016 12:42
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Mr. Fortitude posted:I can't think of anything you've not already covered or are going to cover but maybe you could show off some of the sequence breaks you can do at Shrine of Winter, once you get to it? In unpatched versions, you could do out of bounds jumps to get around the rubble leading to Drangleic Castle. Yep, I use the parry-skywalk glitch to get over the rubble in my footage.  There's a way you can around it too without doing that (involving some jumps across the hills onto terrain that wasn't "properly" invisible-walled off), but it's pretty precise and I figure the other glitch is more fun anyway.--- We'll have some bonus videos next time, but first! Let's wrap up Brighstone Cove, shall we? Oh, and for the arachnophones in the audience, we'll forgive you for skipping these.  29, Brightstone Cove Tseldora 2/3More Brighstone Cove! We clear up the Pate/Creighton drama (permanently  ), showing both outcomes; then explore the basin some more, meeting up with Ornifex and her creepy doll collection.  30, Brightstone Cove Tseldora 3/3The grand finale of the fourth Old One route! Lots of stuff here: the boss, the hollowed Duke, Vengarl (for me, anyway), a Tale of Pig & Pickaxe told by Mog, and a completely new plot element after lighting the fourth "primal" bonfire. Don't forget to mention any requests for bonus content you might have this weekend!
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Apr 15, 2016 20:55
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I haven't got any particular requests presently but if I do think of something, I'll post again. Tseldora is kind of a neat area, but also really obnoxious. It being impossible to backtrack through really makes it a chore if you want to get everything. For the curious, Aldia actually shows up in the original Dark Souls 2 as well as in Scholar, but only if you're running the most recent patched version of the game.
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Apr 16, 2016 13:53
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If you want obnoxious - The Undead Crypt. Been long enough since I played that I couldn't remember which arch to take after you drop down into the second room with graves and bells. So many times. 
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Apr 16, 2016 14:19
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Nah, the most obnoxious is Shrine of Amana. Almost as bad as Lost Izalith from the first game, saved only by the fact that it's pretty.
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Apr 16, 2016 14:52
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Mr. Fortitude posted:Nah, the most obnoxious is Shrine of Amana. Almost as bad as Lost Izalith from the first game, saved only by the fact that it's pretty. Shrine is fine. It's a lesson in learning to adapt to the enviroment. Someone who refuses to use ranged weapons will find it terrible. With a half way decent bow it's a doodle.
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Apr 16, 2016 15:00
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Hey, sorry about the late update this week, just a busy last couple days for me. Going back to this first:Mr. Fortitude posted:In unpatched versions, you could do out of bounds jumps to get around the rubble leading to Drangleic Castle. Turns out that's not as tricky a thing to do as I thought, so it ended up being in the Road to Drangleic video after all. So with no further ado, here we go!  Bonus, The Road to DrangleicJust a collection of footage that didn't fit anywhere else, such as the Forest's salamanders, some aforementioned glitches, and so on. This one has solo commentary and my first effort at organizing things a bit, with title cards and links to jump around in the description.  Bonus, Talking Time ThreeAnother collection of NPC dialogue. I honestly forgot just how much there was in the game, I was planning on getting everything pre-Drangleic in here, but no; there'll still be one more. That should be ready by the Shrine of Amana session, and I'll re-order the playlist then. For now, this one goes here so more people should see it; and next week or so it'll be replaced by #4. Screwed up the video, check the next post for the correct link! Wayne fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Apr 24, 2016 |
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Apr 22, 2016 00:22
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Angrymog posted:Shrine is fine. It's a lesson in learning to adapt to the enviroment. Someone who refuses to use ranged weapons will find it terrible. With a half way decent bow it's a doodle. On the topic of earlier videos, killing Freya in Scholar with a torch in one hand is fairly painless. Obviously you still have to worry about Freya herself, but her adds will blissfully ignore you. The resultant strategy is then to keep swapping which head you're attacking, so that you begin running around back while she's winding up something that will miss you in the front. After all, who cares about using a shield if the boss isn't making attacks within twenty feet of you? Your issues with plunging attacks on the salamanders are most likely the result of how DS2 reimplemented plunging attacks in general. DS1 and DS3 have a relatively wide targeting area within which you'll be shoved above the enemy to break their skull, but DS2 diminished the relevant area for whatever reason. Thus (not your fault) you weren't actually properly triggering the plunging attack, which should instead have you diving directly on top of the salamander for a small in-game cutscene in the same manner as DS1's Asylum Demon with you taking no damage. I've pulled it off before but drat if it's not finicky.
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Apr 22, 2016 06:48
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Mog is breaking up pretty badly in the Drangleic Castle video. It gets pretty difficult to understand what she's saying.
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Apr 23, 2016 02:08
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Ouch, you're right, starts cutting out right at the start. I had to run some noise reduction on her audio and the spot I tested was fine, but yeah, she fades in the quieter parts. OK, I'll put up a fixed version tomorrow. Thanks for the heads-up! As you might've guessed listening to the audio in the glitch video, I've been pretty tired and overworked the last couple days.
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Apr 23, 2016 04:44
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OK, update is live. Thanks again for letting me know, Kieran. I did the exact same routine I always do, and this time it's fine, last time it wasn't. Must've accidentally ducked the wrong track, or maybe sampled her entire track for noise reduction, or something... anyway, fixed now! We'll be doing the audio for Shrine of Anime on Thursday, so expect the rest of Drangleic on Monday or Tuesday. 31, Drangleic Castle 1/2And last but not least, the first of 3 updates in session 7! This one handles the Ruined Fork Road all the way to the castle gates, and then to the first bonfire. And what are the Falconers doing here...?
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Apr 24, 2016 01:19
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Happy to help. That curved greatsword is pretty neat; I probably ought to give it a shot one of these days. Maybe I can find one in Dark Souls 3...
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Apr 24, 2016 07:03
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KieranWalker posted:That curved greatsword is pretty neat; I probably ought to give it a shot one of these days. Yeah, the murakumo (and arced greatsword from the Flexile Sentry's soul, it's the same moveset) is surprisingly good! Nice range, damage, and poise break, and they seem to be a lot better than DS1 (where there was startup lag on your first swing). And now, the rest of Drangleic. Sorry, cursed one, but your King is in another castle!  32, Drangleic Castle 2/2We explore the first half of the Castle proper (in a pretty creative bit, part of the level is just getting to the level), where most of the differences seem to involve statuary. We also run into the first copy and paste boss, a rematch with the Dragonrider, but this time he's brought a friend.... I also show off another use of the parry-walk glitch, namely walking around the castle to get into Nashandra's throne room. Somehow I don't think this political assassination is going to help matters, though!  33, King's PassageI didn't see any of the Dark Souls 2 pre-release stuff, but I'm not surprised this was part of it, with the dramatic flashes of lightning and one-off enemies that have a cool design and are fun to fight. The boss is also one of my favorites in this game too, even though I had a lot of trouble with him the first time couple times! But before we get there, we finish off the rest of the actual Castle level, where Scholar's jerk moves continue to impress (the room with the golem elevator attendant is such a blatant troll of returning players).
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Apr 26, 2016 16:32
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Drangleic Castle is probably the worst area in the game when it comes to being... well, too much like a game. I don't think I'd fully realized what bothered me about it until you pointed it out in the video, but it really is completely empty. No sign of life anywhere beyond the entrance hall, and the layout doesn't even pretend to be something what could've passed for a living space at one point in its life. It's the gamey-est of gamey environments in Dark Souls 2. Man, going back to DS2 after playing DS3 is going to be a nightmare. Everything in DS2 is just so much slower. Edit: The Dragonrider Bow is one of my favorite weapons in Dark Souls 2, so I can't rag on the boss too hard for at least giving me that. It is a lazy boss, but the Stray Demon and the Demon Firesage in DkS were lazy too. It is what it is, I guess. KeiraWalker fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Apr 27, 2016 |
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Apr 27, 2016 12:56
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Have you noticed just how many levels are castles in DS2? Forest of Fallen Giants, Lost Bastille, Iron Keep and Drangleic. And two of the DLC areas.
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Apr 28, 2016 20:53
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The Souls games are pretty rife with castles of various sorts, which makes sense considering that they fit the medieval settings involved and were intended first as fortifications. Dark Souls II just seems like it has a lot of them because there's a fair bit of distinction between each, unlike environments like the Undead Burg/Parish/Lower Burg or High Wall of Lothric/Lothric Castle/Grand Archives.
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Apr 28, 2016 21:39
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Wayne posted:The gag comic I reference in the Ruins video is this one, it's been pasted so often I have no idea who the original source is: The artist for that strip is called Setz and it (along with some others) can be found here. He has a few more funny strips and a few cute ones like this. I also saw a few strips based on Touhou, Zelda and the like, but I haven't dug that deep into it. This has been you friendly source-checker, signing off.
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Apr 30, 2016 23:25
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EighteenCharacters posted:The artist for that strip is called Setz and it (along with some others) can be found here. Thank you!  I saw that as I was searching, but I wrote off Tumblr hits as probably people hosting it. I'm too old for social media beyond tweeting when we're about to stream, is my defense. So I know a bunch of you have been waiting for this moment since the start of the LP, possibly having never seen 1.0 Shrine of Amana and wondering about how it got the reputation it did. Well... basically imagine dozens of streamers and YouTubers ramming their heads against a wall of incoming homing magic without ever thinking to try to shoot back (Mog's strategy) or counter it with anti-magic gear (mine). This area is meant to make you think (both strategically and in-game; it's very mystical compared to the zones before and after it), and even people who've gotten this far in a Souls game didn't try that.  34, Shrine of Amana 1/3The first part of the Shrine opens innocently enough; you don't see too many enemies in the imminent gorgeous view at the start (especially in pre-Scholar, where there's nothing until you get to the bottom besides a mushroom bug). Then, fittingly enough for this game's water temple (hey, wait a minute...), you get thrown in headfirst with hidden ambush enemies that inflict bleed (losing health and making it hard to get away) and the archdrake knights' propensity for ganging up on you.  35, Shrine of Amana 2/3...but this is the part everyone remembers. You have a wide-open expanse of water with a couple ruined sections to use for cover, while magic-slinging enemies whose spells have no max range (unlike yours) while fire away, doing a fair bit of damage and potentially getting you caught in a crossfire, especially if you aggro their bodyguards. It's tricky to brute-force, but possible (especially if you're human and can summon an NPC).
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May 3, 2016 23:31
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Oh, I've been waiting for this. I have a ~story~ to tell after the next boss. The shrine itself... well, like Mog was saying, it's not bad if you happen to be carrying a ranged weapon or spells with you. Even then, though, I find it to be a tedious slog just because it takes longer to pelt everything to death with arrows than it would otherwise, even with the Dragonrider Bow. I always took the risk of lighting up a torch when I was going for the items close to deep water here, except when I was playing the game on my laptop. Due to viewing angles and contrast, my laptop's screen shows where the deep water drops off as clear as day, so it was never really an issue when I played the game away from my PC. Think of it as cheating I guess, though Dark Souls in general has kind of changed my perspective on such things a bit (i.e. survive at all costs and take every advantage you can get; there are no cheap shots, only living and dying). I'm kind of surprised they didn't move that estus flask shard in Scholar, but I guess there's only so many items they felt like relocating. Well, that and it is potentially just an extra one which you can't use if you've found all the others by this point. I think that is one thing which annoyed me a little bit when I found out about it, actually. There's what, 13 estus flask shards in the game? Why set the cap at 12 instead of just letting you use all of them? Seems a little arbitrary to me, but whatever.
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May 4, 2016 13:48
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I'm guessing that they allowed for additional flask shards as insurance for the player, in case said player didn't find them all or to allow an observant player to reach the cap more quickly. But in general, while the Shrine is (as noted) perfectly doable if you have some sort of bow or greatbow, it's still a significant change in gameplay that doesn't play to the mechanical strengths of the series. The area is fairly open, it's filled with snipers who even with the various changes will still try to hit you from long range, and most of the terrain (shallow water) will notably slow you down. It's comparable to Blighttown and similar areas in other Souls games, but at least unlike them there's no danger of getting poisoned. (Farron Keep is almost certainly the worst iteration of a swamp level in a Souls game.) And in addition, there's always at least one summon available (either Felicia the Brave or Lone Hunter Schmidt) before the big gauntlet at the end of the second section. Sure, they'll charge in and take a pile of damage. But that is exactly the point, that you're grabbing an expendable buddy to take aggro for you while you pick off the enemies. As for the boss...the Demon of Song has for a long time struck me as a boss who's very easy once you understand the relevant gimmick.
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May 6, 2016 04:37
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KieranWalker posted:Oh, I've been waiting for this. I have a ~story~ to tell after the next boss. Looking forward to it! Hopefully you still remember after we had to miss a week (Livestream's foibles ruined the first Crypt recording session, and our schedules didn't sync up easily to do a retake). And yeah, I'm guessing they just tossed in an extra shard in the assumption most players would miss one (I missed the one in Brightstone Cove, above the sand whirlpool). Of course, that's probably the best-hidden of them all; if you see the route in the first place, you might miss the chest half-submerged in water over a background almost the same color.  36, Shrine of Amana 3/3We wrap up Shrine of Amana, and to the end it's interesting how Scholar makes the enemy arrangements much trickier to make up for the fact you're not constantly taking incidental damage from turn-on-a-dime homing spells. The cloud of fireflies is particularly mean; I remember there being some lizardmen there when I played Scholar, but that's probably because I ran around the area grabbing things without killing them first. I also hate fighting  37, Undead Crypt 1/2And now for the end of the "fifth route" if you want to think of it that way (Drangleic -> Amana -> Crypt is probably longer than any of the Old One routes, but Iron Keep definitely has to be close). Scholar changed quite a bit in this one too, with some roadblock enemies to fill once-empty rooms and of course a big change if you turn on the lights.  Bonus, Talking Time FourCan you believe this makes about 2 hours of listening to NPCs talk, not including ones we cover in the main LP, like the end of Lucy's quest and everything Aldia rambles about? I thought we'd be done with 3, but nope! Anyway, this one has all the remaining NPC chatter from the Old Ones routes we did last, Shalquoir explaining what's up with them, and an audience with the Chancellor and Queen.
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May 17, 2016 23:48
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Okay, story time! This is far and away my most favorite moment in Dark Souls, full stop. I died to the Demon of Song. What, you ask? No, this fact is not memorable in and of itself, nor is the Demon of Song a particularly memorable or difficult boss. What makes this death in particular any more special than the six dozen other times I died in Dark Souls 2? It begins--and ends--with hubris. I was merrily proceeding through a NG+ run. Partly due to leveling, partly due to a change in tactics and weapons, and partly due to the power of foreknowledge, I was finding this run to be a lot less difficult than my first playthrough of the game. Still, I had just worked my way through Drangleic Castle with the assistance of my roomate, Corrodias, because I hate fighting the Looking Glass Knight by myself. You know what else I hate doing by myself? You guessed it--the Shrine of Amana. No, not because NG+ makes it significantly more difficult, but because it just takes forever. "Hey Corr," I say, "let's go kill the Demon of Song." "All right." The Shrine of Amana is a lot more entertaining with a friend! Dividing the casters' attention makes engaging them significantly less of a slog--but do you recall that part about the game seeming easier to me now? Well, we got cocky. A couple of cheap deaths didn't dampen our spirits, nor did they really give us pause to consider that we were playing recklessly. Aggroing mobs, rolling around too close to the deep water, even that drat ogre off to the right was handled with an absolute minimum of caution. By the time we get to the Demon of Song's boss room, we're both hyped up and ready to kick some mutant frog rear end. Away we go! We fight a bit sloppy. We're both tanky enough to survive most of what the frog throws at us with a quick heal, and with its focus split between the two of us, we're hacking away at its health bar like a Japanese swordsmith with a surplus of bamboo chutes. Hubris kicks in. Corrodias is dinking around, dancing about far too close, whacking the Demon of Song's face while its mouth is closed--for what reason, I know not. I think to myself "Corrodias had better back off before it opens up again." He didn't. Hey, did you know the Demon of Song has a grab attack? I had certainly forgotten about it by then, and in fact I'm not sure he's ever actually caught me with it. Corrodias could not say the same at this point, as the frog grabs him two-handed and lifts him overhead. "Oh," I think to myself. "Well, Corrodias is probably going to die..." Unless, of course, I can kill the Demon of Song before that grab attack finishes up... I mean, he's down to like 1/5 of his health, and I have a very big sword. Hubris. What the hell, right? LEEROOOOOOOOY JENKIIIIINS! I rush in, sword aimed at the frog's face, intent on finishing it off as rapidly as my stamina meter will allow. Surely, tales of my heroics will spread far and-- Corrodias comes crashing down on top of me before I can finish the thought, much less the Demon of Song. I pancake into the water, skull fractured, back broken, and Corrodias is lifted again, still locked firmly in the boss's clutches. Then once more he is pile-driven into my spine, and again, and again in rapid succession, the Demon of Song doing a fair impression of the Hulk at the end of the first Avengers movie, with Corrodias playing the part of Loki and myself playing the part of Tony Stark's floor. All of this transpires in a span of the longest two seconds of my life. I watch, broken and battered and very confused, as the boss tosses Corrodias aside--who manages to limp away, in dire straits but still alive. But in that final strike, just prior to Corrodias being tossed aside like a wet sack of gravel, a distinctive shhhink! signals the end for me. The Demon of Song had just beaten me to death with my co-op phantom. I can do little more than stare at the screen, stunned, and as the discordant moan of the "YOU DIED" message fades into existence, a final thought makes its way down past my lips from my bemused mind. "I ain't even mad. That... was amazing." KeiraWalker fucked around with this message at 03:38 on May 18, 2016 |
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May 18, 2016 03:33
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