Dark Souls 2

[PaleRobbie]

Replaying Dark Souls again, and I forgot how annoying some of the early parts of the game are.  I never had any trouble with Quelaag, but she put up a pretty obnoxious fight this morning.  She managed to spit lava everywhere, preventing me from even moving, and then swung her sword and caught me twice in areas that have always been safe before.  Then she jumped and landed on me (didn't even realize she could do that).  Managed to kill her on the second fight, but she caught me with a lava shot directly 90 degrees from her mouth, which I had never seen before.  Wondering if they changed some things with the Artorias patch. 

[Yggdrasil]

A few bosses have some moves that they rarely use, it has happened to me before with Quelaag and The Sanctuary Guardian.

[PaleRobbie]

It doesn't help matters that I'm rusty as hell at this game.  Made some pretty stupid mistakes here and there that have gotten me killed.  Maybe I should stop starting as a pyromancer.  The extra fire spells help in a pinch, but his equipment is just awful at the start.

Also, forgot how bad the framerate can get in Blighttown.  Good God, is that ever awful. There's also a few parts in there where the geometry gets all wonky.  I ended up falling to my death because I was half trapped in the flooring.  Really bizarre stuff like that kills any flow you may build up with Dark Souls.  Going to take a break for a day or two to let the fail wash away from me. 

[Cyril]

A few bosses have some moves that they rarely use, it has happened to me before with Quelaag and The Sanctuary Guardian.

I didn't see the  Gaping Dragon's vomit attack until my fourth or so new game. I about dropped my controller in shock; its range is huge.

[Yggdrasil]

I just killed The Capra Demon with Dung Pies on NG+.

[PaleRobbie]

I still debate with myself about whether or not I want them to include a formal co-op system in the next game.  I love the anonymous nature of the current online portion, but the game is pretty much unplayable in places if the community stops playing.  I spent some time tonight with my new character and my level 130 starter, and there were hardly any summon signs to be found.  This made the archers section in Anor Londo a real chore and essentially made Lord Gwyn unstoppable.  It also seems like most of the players are playing as black phantoms anyway, so there's that whole mess to deal with.  I kinda hope they put in a system where if the population playing drops below a certain threshold (which should be easy to monitor with dedicated servers) you could summon friends much easier.  Any thoughts on that? 

[Eusis]

I think being server based is supposed to aid in that. I was still able to get in co-op games in Demon's Souls, circa the release of Dark Souls PC.

But yeah, it's community dependent, and admittedly this is an area where being a console exclusive IS an advantage: you cut down on the potential number of players in favor of funneling them onto one server.

[PaleRobbie]

Not to mention the fact that the Dark Souls multiplayer never worked quite as well as Demon's Souls.  It basically makes Dark Souls much much harder than it should be because certain boss fights practically require aid during a first playthrough (or, in the case of Four Kings, during NG+).  Playing Dark Souls now if a very different experience from when it first came out.  The game is far more frustrating because of the lack of help, and the black phantom population punishes you for even trying. 

[Eusis]

There actually IS a summonable AI for the Four Kings, but it requires

Spoiler: show

noticing you could summon her for the Crystal Butterfly fight and doing so.

Though Ornstein & Smough need more than one person helping. Fuck. Also don't forget levels ARE a factor, you get too high level and you're not getting much of anyone to play with.

[Yggdrasil]

Playing Dark Souls now if a very different experience from when it first came out.  The game is far more frustrating because of the lack of help, and the black phantom population punishes you for even trying.

The game is way more managable than it was last year.

PvP is still a festival about backstabbing (specially in the forest) and two/three guys bitch slapping the invader though.

[PaleRobbie]

Oh yeah.  There were some broken mechanics and the soul glitching was rampant when the game first came out.  All of that stuff has been taken care of.  But the lack of a large online community really takes away from Dark Souls.  My fondest memories were of helping and being helped during some of the trickier sections.  I just hope there's a way we can reach a happy compromise between the ideals of the series and functionality/community. 

[Yggdrasil]

Demon's Souls was better in that aspect.

The only part I remember needing help was in the last area Boletaria. That place of full of strong enemies, there is: Four Black Phantoms, one Dragon (optional), three Red Eye Knights, one or two Boletarian Soldiers, one Imperial Spy, two Fat Officials and the False King that is ready to fuck your shit up.

1-4 of Boletaria is a short segment, but is extremely dangerous if your are not careful.

[Mullane]

I don't understand the comments about "requiring/needing" help from players/AI.

I beat both Demons and Dark Souls by myself with no help from either other users or AI summons.

[DPB]

I don't understand the comments about "requiring/needing" help from players/AI.

I beat both Demons and Dark Souls by myself with no help from either other users or AI summons.

Why is hard to understand that other players have different levels of skill? You're obviously better than average.

I needed all the help I could get for O&S, but that was at least partly due to losing my focus after being invaded repeatedly. Almost every time I turned human in Anor Londo I was invaded and killed outside the fog wall, which was really aggravating.

[PaleRobbie]

Agreed.  Some people are really good at the counter attacks, for example.  Me, I suck at them. 

Gave up on my new playthrough because I forgot how hard some the areas can be without the proper equipment.  Picked up my level 120 character with the Artorias Shield and made mincemeat of Gwyn.  Took a while, but I really wasn't in any kind of danger.  I can't believe how dumb I was for turning a blind eye to great shields.  This thing is making all the difference on my NG++ run.