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I also started DS2 last night, but not for the first time. It's been a couple years though, and most of my memories of playing are not from SotFS. My number one impression is that you start off deficient in pretty much every sense. You don't just start with base stats, you start out with complete trash stats. The first hour of the game is a tedious slog of getting stun-locked to death by Hollows and doing no damage. The game doesn't really start to open up until a couple of bosses in and you can start to pump your stats. And holy poo poo does Adaptability (raising AGI stat) make a huge difference in being able to dodge attacks. I think I neglected that stat in my previous playthroughs, not realizing how important it is. I just hit 96 AGI and I finally feel like I can dodge the same way as in Dark Souls 1.
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Jun 16, 2018 19:12
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Where all can you get Slabs in SotFS? I have two in my inventory and I've used one, and yet the only one that I've actually picked up that's mentioned on any of the Wikis is the one from killing Prowling Magus. I haven't gotten to any of the late game areas where they drop and I haven't done any of the other mentioned events that give you one either. I swear I picked up one the first time I killed the workers in the spike-filled room just before Freja, but I can't find any mention of that being possible online. I have a feeling that I might have picked one up in the poison in Harvest Valley as well but again, there's no mention of that online. I guess the Wiki is just massively out of date (probably predating Scholar).
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Jun 20, 2018 04:05
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Pretty sure the only Lockstone I've used thus far is turn the lights on in No Man's Wharf. edit: I checked all the Wikis I could find: wikidot, fextralife, wikia edit 2: Confirmed, just grabbed the one at Forest of Fallen Giants. Now I've got 3 v  v
Volte fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Jun 20, 2018 |
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Jun 20, 2018 04:16
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No, haven't done any online stuff. Pretty sure I've just found all my chunks, haven't farmed for them.
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Jun 20, 2018 04:34
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Contra Duck posted:There’s one in the spikes in tseldora. Fextralife mentions it, make sure you’re looking at the dx11 version of the page if you’re playing sotfs because things can be different. edit: One of the comments on fextralife's Harvest Valley page mentions a Slab right next to the Sunbro covenant, so I'm not crazy after all.
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Jun 20, 2018 04:58
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I started with the regular mace as my main weapon but I could not handle the short range on it. Like, it's so short that you'll regularly whiff the second hit of a combo just because the first hit knocked the enemy back a couple of inches. I switched to Bastard Sword and found the game a ton more enjoyable until I got to Doors of Pharros and got a Mastodon Halberd. Haven't looked back since then.
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Jun 20, 2018 16:06
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DS2 definitely has the snappy controls people complain about, but I don't really notice it being that bad. I "fixed" it with Steam controller settings but I think Steam's PS4 controller support still kind of sucks and occasionally I'd get weird acceleration spikes or instances of continuing to move for a brief moment after releasing the stick. I switched back to using DS4Windows with the stock inputs and I haven't had any problem controlling the character. As far as Bloodborne being good training for shieldless Dark Souls, I found the opposite. After playing Bloodborne and getting good at shieldless gameplay, I found it almost impossible to do the same in Dark Souls, since the dodging moveset is a lot clunkier and affords a lot fewer opportunities for counter attacks. Especially Dark Souls 1, where you can only dodge in a cross shape.
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Jun 21, 2018 15:51
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Forest is a pretty difficult area until you get a decent weapon, just because there are numerous areas (in fact almost every encounter that I can think of) where you're liable to get swarmed by hollows if you're not pulling them carefully, and as soon as you take one hit you're basically stunlocked to death if you're fighting more than one. Plus the hollows in DS2 can sprint towards you and do charging stab attack with no wind-up. It's definitely my least favourite area in the game. There are others that are irritating but usually by then you at least have the capability to use decent weapons and armor. The shortcut into the Cardinal Tower bonfire room is also stupidly non-obvious and I've had to refresh a couple of times just because the exploding barrels get destroyed by the surrounding hollows, and that's when I'm trying to make it blow up. I don't think I discovered that shortcut on my first playthrough at all.
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Jun 23, 2018 02:07
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BattleTech posted:I've beaten SOTFS maybe 10-15 times and FOTFG doesn't even rate in my top 5 worst/least favorite areas in the game. Black Gulch was literally made by Satan.
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Jun 23, 2018 13:26
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Having just finished SotFS and currently working on the DLCs (just finished Sunken King), I agree that there are a ton of mandatory group fights with high-poise enemies where such a thing was rare in Dark Souls. The main change is the group aggro mechanic which was not used that much in Dark Souls 1. Getting chased by a horde is a common unavoidable occurrence in Dark Souls 2. I don't mind it that much but it does mean a lot of kiting.
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Jul 2, 2018 00:04
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When I faced Jester Thomas I had sprinted past all those ghost knights all the way down to the T-Rex Tadpole door, saw those things out there (along with a message that said "boss ahead" so I figured it might be an actual boss), promptly turned around and booked it all the way back to the room with all the poison bugs, which I had already cleared. Thomas was the only one that followed me down there so it was a relatively straightforward battle. Once I got to the second floor of the spike room I had an easier time, since I pulled all the ghosts from the armour room and they all fell off the bridge, allowing me to destroy their armour and pick them off from safety. A good DLC in my opinion. Clearly built around using somewhat non-traditional battle tactics (as opposed to just fighting things one-on-one, especially considering you can barely event hurt half the enemies at first), but I kind of like that about it.
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Jul 3, 2018 16:09
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Am I missing out much if I don't finish the co-op content in the DLCs? I've run up against the gank squad a few times, and it's annoying even getting to the boss door in Iron Passage, so I'm wondering if I should just move on. I don't feel good about skipping bosses, but if they're not designed to be soloed then I'm fine with not doing them.
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Jul 5, 2018 04:08
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Is Sir Alonne also considered an optional co-op area? I assume so since there's a summoning room with all the statues at the start. But from what I read (after beating Fume Knight), I need the Smelter Wedge after his battle to get the last soul fragment from the Idols. The run across the room with the Alonne Knights and Fire Salamanders is one of the most ridiculous loving things I've ever seen in a Souls game. I can't even sprint across the room without being poo poo on half the time because Alonne Knights walk like they're on a VHS tape being fast-forwarded.
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Jul 5, 2018 18:52
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Also, does anyone have an issue with sprinting not working half the time in this game? Like, full stamina bar, holding circle, moving at full speed, but it just won't go into a sprint. I think "WHY THE gently caress ARENT YOU SPRINTING WHAT THE gently caress" is the most common thing I've yelled at my monitor during this SotFS playthrough.
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Jul 5, 2018 19:01
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One Hundred Monkeys posted:If you spend all of your stamina, you get winded for a bit and can't sprint. You can sprint more overall if you stop just before stamina reaches zero and let it refill, instead of emptying the bar completely
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Jul 5, 2018 19:16
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Ok gently caress Sir Alonne, I've made it to the boss room twice out of ten runs. One time I decided to do it meticulously and kill everything, and summoned the two NPC helpers, and I got my first human invasion in 45 hours of playtime. Didn't matter though because I accidentally fell into the lower part of the second room (with the grate floor) and was killed by literally 12 Alonne Knights at the same time. So...moving on. ^ Yeah I figured you couldn't sprint again until the stamina bar refills, but it's actually a bit longer than that - I was just testing it.
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Jul 5, 2018 19:23
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If you drunk Estus near him he'll reliably do a super slow overhead slam that you can use to get several hits in (unless you're right in front of him, then he'll just stab you). I got him down the whole way just by drinking all 10 Estuses in a row and punishing him immediately afterwards. He didn't even get a chance to do his second phase.
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Jul 7, 2018 04:38
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Vendrick is a pushover if you have all the Giant Souls (you need the one the Ancient Dragon drops for a total of five to really make it easy, otherwise he's still got something like 2x or 4x defenses). I don't think the fight is intended to be epic or even much of a fight. My interpretation is that the Giant Souls don't actually make his defenses weaker, but rather that they add the power of the Giants to your own in the battle against Vendrick. Basically you can't do poo poo to him yourself, so you symbolically recruit a small army of ancient, incredibly powerful beings with a vendetta against him to help you, and only with the full complement can you equal his power.
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Jul 9, 2018 01:46
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You can also get the Ring of Binding from Heide's Tower of Flame which caps the HP reduction at 80% instead of 50%.
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Jul 18, 2018 18:19
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Just finishing the Eleum Loyce DLC (probably my favourite one overall gameplay wise) now and wow, the final boss is the laziest poo poo I've ever seen. It's basically Penetrator with way too much health and a ludicrously long reach and you have to spend 10 minutes fighting a million reskinned Black Knights first. This is taking "annoying run to the boss room" to a whole new level. The four Loyce knights don't even make good aggro sponges because they're so squishy.
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Jul 31, 2018 15:47
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Started NG+ last night, which is something I've never done in DS2 before—the game is so long that generally I'm burned out by the time the ending rolls around. I never realized just how different it is second time around. Didn't expect to have to actually fight stuff in Things Betwixt  I managed to do the Burnt Ivory King finally, by summoning both NPC phantoms and running around drawing everyone's aggro so that everyone lasted until the boss fight. Once that started it was pretty much just chipping away at the boss's considerably inflated HP bar while everyone else absorbed the hits. The whole DLC had an air of Demon's Souls about it (hell, when I first entered Eleum Loyce, I swore I was looking at Boletarian Palace) including the way the map gradually became interconnected via shortcuts. Even though half the shortcuts are useless because of warping, I still appreciated that the map was designed around them. Still thought the boss battle should have been separated into two individually completable parts but in retrospect, at least it's not Bed of Chaos. That marks the first time I've ever exhausted all the content of Dark Souls 2 (minus the coop areas in the DLCs) and honestly, I think it might be my favourite Souls game, with emphasis on game: Dark Souls 1 has better atmosphere and map design in the first half, Bloodborne has better combat and production values, but Dark Souls 2 has the best overall game elements. I love how easy it is to upgrade weapons (I have two +10 Maces, a +10 Lightning Mace, a +10 Fire Mace, a +10 Large Club, +10 Bastard Sword, +10 Composite Bow, and a few other things at +7/+8, and I still have 7 slabs left) and the fact that Lifegems exist for between-encounter heals. I also really like the linear leveling curve, so that even at level 160 or whatever I'm still getting a level just from running through an area. My only real complaint is that the early game is a complete slog and is probably responsible for my previously negative opinion of the game. I'm looking forward to charging through NG+ though.
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Aug 1, 2018 14:54
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Appoda posted:With huntsman's copse, you at least respawn right next to it. Bed of Chaos sucks forever because loving up that fight adds another five minute run up to the boss door all over again. IIRC, that area in copse just has a bunch of junk anyways
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Aug 20, 2018 11:47
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There's a spot you can kill the Drake easily, at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to its platform. if I remember correctly, there's a bunch of pillars or buttresses sticking out, so you can plink it with arrows, it'll fly up, send a fireball into those obstructions, and sit back down again. Shouldn't take long.
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Aug 21, 2018 12:23
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codo27 posted:I cant believe I read even part of this tripe
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Aug 24, 2018 12:03
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loving up your playthrough and getting salty about it and then a year later telling other people that they should have known better is a Dark Souls rite of passage. Let's not tamper with tradition here. edit: I should add that I bumbled my way through my first Dark Souls 2 playthrough without understanding what Giant Souls even were or that Vendrick was a boss and not just an NPC. Only this year did I realize what I had missed. I don't think I ate any of them but I might as well have. Volte fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 22:03
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Look Sir Droids posted:No one would compare Sekiro to Souls if it wasn’t a From game. It’s just a totally different skill set whereas BB and DS3 are evolution of the same skills. 
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May 4, 2019 19:41
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I have a strange affinity for Iron Keep because it makes a good intermission to do some soul farming with a clear end goal (get all of the knights to stop respawning). Dark Souls II leans further in the direction of gameplay mechanics over the more cerebral aspects of the first Dark Souls that I really did love, but I don't let that get in the way of enjoying a perfectly good game. I like that I have the choice of three different Dark Souls games to play depending on what type of game I'm in the mood for (plus the other Soulsbourne games). I like Dark Souls II a lot. I really like the world aesthetic too and its abstract sense of space. People make fun of the elevator between Earthen Peak and Iron Keep as an absurd bit of geography, but I prefer to interpret it as an abstraction representing discontinuous travel (either literally in space or within a fragmented memory or dream) since it fits well with the overall narrative. Another example is that you can see Heide's Tower way off in the distance from Majula across the water, but you can get there through a short non-descript hallway in about ten seconds. It's not the way Dark Souls' world was laid out, but it still reads okay to me. It's a bit like Demon's Souls archstones, but without loading screens. I personally rank Dark Souls III at the bottom, but that's not because I think it sucks, it's just the most combat-oriented linear game in the series, and that's never what I cared about in Dark Souls. It feels like it's for the people who played Dark Souls and wished it had a boss rush mode. I barely remember the first time I fought any of the bosses in Dark Souls, but I definitely remember the way I felt walking around the areas for the first time. The first time I got to the first bonfire in Blighttown and not knowing what was coming next is one of my favourite memories out of all the games I've played. Dark Souls III is hyper-polished but it's also hyper-punishing which means there are several areas in the game where my memory of it is just rushing through it so I didn't have to deal with all the horseshit. Irithyll of Boreal Valley is one of those, and it sucks because it's such a gorgeous area, but it's loaded with punishing enemies and they are all respawning, so even going through the effort of clearing them out doesn't really reward you with anything in the long term. Look Sir Droids posted:I like Iron Keep aesthetically and because of new player experiences with That Room. But it’s definitely the weakest of the DLCs. Still light years better than 90% of the base game.
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Oct 18, 2019 01:14
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Maybe it's controversial but I really liked DS2's expiring enemy respawns and I wish DS3 had them. There are several areas I've never really fully explored in DS3 because the enemies are just too annoying to deal with over and over, but I'd have been willing to farm them for a bit to lighten the load.
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Oct 22, 2019 14:28
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Regy Rusty posted:4 souls is the usual number because killing Ancient Dragon is way more difficult, tedious, and pointless than 4 soul Vendrick.
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Oct 27, 2020 14:45
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Happy Hedonist posted:The Surge and its sequel get it imo. They ain’t perfect, but I enjoy them both almost as much as the soulsbourne games.
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Dec 27, 2020 18:31
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I've never played DS2 on NG+ to this day because the base game is so fuckin long.
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Nov 10, 2021 23:23
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Amana is okay as an area but it's usually the spot where I think "god drat this game just will not end"
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Oct 26, 2022 22:42
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It's the next-gen remaster - the first time being released on PS4/Xbone, despite being originally released several months into those consoles' lifespan in the first place. I imagine they felt that just releasing the same game on PS4 with slightly updated graphics would not be a big enough draw for fans who probably already played it on PS3, so they wanted to release something that would entice people that already played it on PS3 to buy it again.
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Apr 20, 2024 21:57
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