Dark Souls 2

[mrchoppy]

You know you are playing Dark Souls when you die in the tutorial section :)

The postie delivered my copy yesterday.  I was feeling quite confident after finally completing Dark Souls 1 a couple of weekends ago but i am finding it hard going atm.   I'm not really sure why, but enemy AI does seem more aggressive and they seem to move faster. 

My biggest concern is the losing of health when you die.  Mine went down to about 50%, so 1 mistake was fatal.  Its hard to get very far in that state and I really dont like this design choice.  Death is punishment enough.   How common are those effigy items?  Reckon i might need a load of them.

[Cyril]

The HP decrease upon death is a holdover from Demon's Souls.  I'm happy it returned, personally, since it really teaches you not to take risks.  If you're worried, you can get a Ring of Binding which stops your HP from decreasing below 75%, which should be enough for most things in a normal game, really.  I don't remember where I got it, but it was pretty early on.

[TiamatNM]

man I killed one of those lizards from above then fell into lava so I couldn't pick up the item....that was bad enough....then the game froze.  just staring at lava none of the buttons did anything.  had to quit game -_-

then 2 people invaded at the same time.  that was really fun.  so much for that item.  urghhhhhhh

[Deufo]

If you're wondering where the Ring of Binding is

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It's right before the boss fight with the Old Dragonslayer, on a chest, in the Heide's Tower of Flame. You can get there by going all the way through the crypt in Majula

[mrchoppy]

The HP decrease upon death is a holdover from Demon's Souls.  I'm happy it returned, personally, since it really teaches you not to take risks.  If you're worried, you can get a Ring of Binding which stops your HP from decreasing below 75%, which should be enough for most things in a normal game, really.  I don't remember where I got it, but it was pretty early on.

My problem with it is when I am ready to try the boss, if it takes me a lot of attempts to kill him, it gets harder and harder with each death.   Im not really taking dumb risks, im having an attempt on a boss maybe trying different tactics in order to learn what works.   Also part of the problem is that im no pro at DS :) and i dont use guides as I think that spoils the essence of the game. 

I got to my first boss yesterday the Last Giant, Ive had about 10 attempts and come close but havent killed him yet.  Keep getting stepped on!  He does seem an easy boss, i just keep making 1 mistake and thats usually enough to kill me.

Having said the above i did get the white co-op stone and I think that is the answer.  I put my sign down as a hollow (with 50%  health cap) and helped out a couple of players to clear the level.   Its a good way of sharpening the skills and at the end when i was sent back I was a human again with some nice souls gained.   So if my repeated failures at killing the boss knock my health down too much, i'll do some jolly cooperation to become human without needing loads of effigies.   

I've always played offline before as i despise pvp, but i found the co-op really fun, so i would recommend it to anyone having trouble like me.

[PaleRobbie]

There's a lot of debate right now about whether you're supposed to turn human again after using a white soapstone and clearing a boss.  That's the way it works in Demon's Souls, but it seems to be completely random in this one.  I've turned human after clearing a boss, after dying, and even after the host died.  Then I've had situations where I've helped five people in a row with no change.  I can't tell if it's bugged or if it's supposed to be random. 

[Cyril]

Hmm, finally beat it.  I had to rush through due to having a ton to do next week and no time to play.  Prepare for a blog, because I feel like I need to get this out of my system.

This is the first Souls game I don't quite feel like immediately starting a NG+ on.  This is mostly because I find the areas and bosses terribly polarizing; I love some, loathe others, there's no real middle ground. I'll be blunt: this game has the worst area in the entire series, and not just because of poison or bad FPS.  It has pre-patch Izalith's problem in that enemies agro from halfway across the area, paired with a few other particularly annoying traits that I won't spoil for those who haven't been there.  I do think they'll patch it and make it easier, like Izalith, but for now it's miserable.

In the end, I wasn't too happy with the way Sorcery was handled.  To even kill bosses in the second half of the game I had to level Faith so I could use Hexes for halfway decent damage. Also hoping for a patch here, because I do think it hindered my enjoyment.

I was a bit cautious about the limited respawns at first, but ended up appreciating this in a few areas.  I don't quite understand why people are complaining so much about this. 

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The main story is actually very well shown this time.  It's far less obscure.  You do have to exhaust everyone's talk options, though.
I find the cycle of Fire and Dark to be the most interesting part of the lore primarily introduced here, but otherwise didn't find it as
interesting as Dark 1's or Demon's.
I was very impressed with the frame rate overall compared to Demon's and Dark 1.  I was expecting dropsdropsdrops in two particular wide, open areas but they never really happened.  I had a few drops in more enclosed, later areas, though.

Kudos to From for adding new, brutal boss mechanics on NG+.  I haven't done them myself, but hearing about them seems brutal.  They silenced everyone who complained about a lack of replay value with that.  (Do people actually complain about lack of replay value in these games?  I find part of the fun is trying out new builds).

[PaleRobbie]

Finished it last night too, and I think the game picked up quite a bit in the last few areas.  I think I know exactly which place you're talking about, Cyril....

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Shrine of Amana and those mages, yes?  I had to kite the shit out of them with my bow.  Feels like arrows are necessary for tricky parts like this and the fucking ogres in Aldia's Keep.  God, that hallway was a bitch, especially with the red phantom who showed up because I'm an idiot and won't listen!

The difficulty in the last few zones is absolutely crazy.  Most enemies will kill you in one hit or stun lock you, but there are some nice tricks to beating them.  I'm really concerned about the ability to summon in NG+, however.  I stopped leveling at 112, which is a bit over what I should have done but dammit I wanted my great club to smash shit.  The soul memory thing could also prove disastrous if they don't relax the requirement for summoning ranges. 

[Cyril]

Yes, that's exactly the area I'm talking about. If I make another character, it's going to have a bow.

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I also didn't listen to the warnings in Aldia.  I mean, From has all of these messages down there telling you "DON'T GO"
that it becomes reverse psychology. It had to be intentional.  I ended up missing his questline if you talk to him before
releasing him and, subsequently, shop because of my idiocy.  

Also, as more people do testing, supposedly the Soul Memory thing becomes less relevant in NG+ and it goes back to levels like before.  From wanted to limit the normal game multiplayer aspects because in Dark people were abusing the ability to invade at low soul levels.  They would build an end-game character with perfect gear, since they had the experience and ability to do so, but wouldn't raise their SL.

[PaleRobbie]

Ugh, NG+ red phantoms need to be addressed.  Not talking about actual players, just the NPCs that populate areas.  They break animation frames like crazy and feel incredibly cheap.  Really hoping they patch that and the fact that certain attacks can hit you through a shield if you're on an incline.  It doesn't feel intentional and makes some of the late game areas feel quite broken.

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Seriously, what the fuck with that last section of Dragon Shrine?  The giant knights with hammers never stop attacking to the point that it feels glitched, the dragon enemies can just break an animation whenever they feel like, and the giant shield dudes are just all sorts of fucked.  I think you can run straight through if you want, but this section had me cursing like a fucking sailor.  This was the worst part of the game for me by far.  The giant knights with swords were randomly hurting me while fighting on the giant staircase and it got me killed quite a few times.  Feels like their engine can't handle inclined plane fighting (remember, I'm a physics teacher!) and it needs to be addressed with a patch.  


[Deufo]

Finished it too. Those last 3 areas were awesome. But right now i'm so tired that i'll only play it again when it's released for the master race.

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That last boss was ridiculously easy though, just like Dark Souls 1. I didn't even see that NPC in Aldia before pulling that lever, and then he started appearing EVERYWHERE in the most inconvenient places. Want to quickly run through a section, just to see if you haven't missed anything? NOPE, ROYAL MAGE WHATSYOURNAME. Yes, i was a little pissed. And i didn't have much problems with those mages in Amana because of the bow (i used the Dragonrider Bow - it scales with strenght, has magical attack and needs only 20 dex to use). Also, is Vendrick supposed to drop something? I killed him and got just 90k souls and no item.
PaleRobbie, isn't that because of your shield? I used a Tower Shield, which is a Great Shield, and did not have problems fighting them in the stairs/inclined planes. But those giants with a hammer though... I died more times to them than i died to the final boss.

[PaleRobbie]

I was using a great shield for the whole game, and there were certain enemies and bosses that were somehow damaging me through the shield even though they weren't using an elemental attack.  We're talking huge chunks of HP despite having 100% damage reduction, and it was only happening occasionally.  As I was telling Stephen yesterday, I think this game has a bit more jank than the others, but its still quite good.  I'm really hoping some of the issues with hit boxes and hit detection are addressed in future patches.  These were minor annoyances in the regular game, but they WILL get you killed on NG+.  Some enemies seem to shrug off their stun animation faster than you can combo, meaning lots of death despite appearing to be able to get an extra hit in. 

[Cyril]

I only found the wonky hitboxes to really hurt on Smelter Demon and the optional boss of Pharros.  Especially the latter, he hits like twice out of his range. Any enemy with a Halberd or those big maces hurts are affected, too.

I honestly think the issue might have been there in Dark Souls 1, to a slightly lesser extent, but we didn't notice as much since we had extra iFrames to compensate.

[Cyril]

So that rumor or being summoned by the Looking Glass Knight in NG+ isn't a rumor anymore.

It actually happens.

Excellent.

[mrchoppy]

Don't think much of the belfry area.  I was hoping to summon some help against those Gargoyles but it's a guaranteed invasion by gray spirits.