Dark Souls 2 (Dark Souls successor (Demon's Souls successor))

[N1njaSquirrel]

  On 3/17/2014 at 2:26 PM, Bjorn said:

I liked that fight a lot as well! It was like, oh, hey, that wasn't too bad, ohcrapohcrapohcrap.

 

Totally.

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I was doing alright in my first attempt, but I figured out there the other enemies came from just as I killed the last lord and the fucking skeleton wheel bastards ganked the fuck out of me. also the fact that there was 4 lords made me think of the thumbs. XD

 

 

  On 3/17/2014 at 2:26 PM, Bjorn said:

I thought that fight used more of a fireball type thing. I only saw them cast it a few times, and was running around a ton in the fight anyways. The graphic of this player spell is that a small fire appears mid-air right behind or on the target, and then explodes after the short delay. It's called...Flame Swathe or something like that. I don't remember where I picked it up.  It only gets 2 casts, so it might have 4 with a very high attunement.  You won't have to dodge very many of them. 

 

Maybe he was also wearing the old sun ring? I haven't worn it enough to see what happens though, but it sounds similar?

[Snow]

After 50 hours, I finally found a katana!

 

It seems broken as fuck. You can cancel out of its heavy attack animation with a roll or a backstep. (You couldn't do that in the old game... could you?)

[dartmonkey]

I've played for a couple of hours so far. I spent a long time in the tutorial area dying a lot. It was a while before I discovered the old z-targeting. When I'd got the basics down, I restarted to give myself a fighting chance with a full healthbar and I didn't die quite so much. I need to spend more time getting to grips with the Inventory and menus but I'm enjoying myself. The stats screen is a wash of grey, red and blue - without devoting time to it I've picked a macey thing that was a lot bluer than the broken sword I was using. Just killed a White Knight with it and legged it back to the green lady to level up - another screen that needs deciphering. Going to spend some time tonight with a cup of tea looking at stats. I've found various bits but don't know if the Hoodlum(?) Gloves are better than what I'm wearing, if I'm even wearing any.

On another note, what do you guys call yourselves? I swapped out the 'i' in my name for a 'y' to make it olde, but now I'm thinking I should have made myself Lord something. Or Lord Somethyng.

[Bjorn]

  On 3/17/2014 at 1:55 AM, TurboPubx-16 said:

On titanite: I have found where all the titanite is. It is out there. Have faith!

  On 3/17/2014 at 8:20 AM, N1njaSquirrel said:

This problem is solved once you find

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the Blacksmith's Daughter

 

What's funny is at this point I have a ton of Titanite Chunks from invasion rewards (something like 26 chunks right now) but no Large Shards. I found the

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daughter, but must not have progressed far enough in other areas for her to have much of an inventory yet. She had 10 shards and no other materials for sale.

 

I'm dying to get some more Twinkling Titanite though, I really want to use the Craftsman's Hammer as my main weapon.  Something about the idea of running around with a blacksmith's hammer is really appealing to me. 

 

Oh, I also respecced last night since I found a second Soul Vessel.  It's pretty straightforward.  Talk to the old lady from the beginning, and there is a dialogue option to respec.  You get a screen where all your points have been given back, and you have to re-assign them before leaving, so you can't use it to de-level.  I also learned that if there is an NPC with a stat requirement to talk to, you can still interact with them even if you respec to a lower stat.  There are at least two NPCs who require a certain intel to talk to.  One of them I raised mine to talk with, but when I respecced, I dropped below the threshold (back down to a 1).  But when I went back to him, he was still willing to talk to me and sell me stuff. 

 

Respeccing was also useful to see how the progression works across the different stats, since I had 60ish levels to hand out.  Health and Stamina are both steadily decreasing benefits over a couple of tiers.  Strength and Dex seem to give steadily increasing benefit until they hit 40, at which point they plummet.  That all seems pretty similar to DS1.

 

  On 3/17/2014 at 3:37 PM, dartmonkey said:

On another note, what do you guys call yourselves? I swapped out the 'i' in my name for a 'y' to make it olde, but now I'm thinking I should have made myself Lord something. Or Lord Somethyng.

 

I'm almost always boring with my names. I use one of a few names of old D&D characters that I played. My current build is named Domain, after an amazon warrior I played in one campaign, since I made a female Bandit to start with.

 

Oh, has anyone used the casket in the tutorial area that the two Trolls are guarding?  I have, took me a minute to realize what it does.

[Snow]

  On 3/17/2014 at 5:29 PM, Bjorn said:

 Oh, has anyone used the casket in the tutorial area that the two Trolls are guarding?  I have, took me a minute to realize what it does.

I thought it was a bug, at first. Still not sure what the point of having that in the game is. Seems too silly for a Souls game, but that's just subjective.

[N1njaSquirrel]

Uh What does it do? I rode it and nothing happened? Am I stupid? :/

[Snow]

I guess it`s hard to tell if you`re hollow.

 

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You either went from male to female or female to male.

[Bjorn]

  On 3/17/2014 at 6:36 PM, Snow said:

I thought it was a bug, at first. Still not sure what the point of having that in the game is. Seems too silly for a Souls game, but that's just subjective.

 

I actually didn't know what caused it initially.  I just knew that

 

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I swapped out some armor and all the sudden I was like, "Where are ma boobs!"  I had to google to see if it was a glitch, and then discovered what caused it.

 

As for whether it's silly or not, I have some thoughts on what may be going on with some general lore:

 

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It may just be a goof, but I like that it's there. And I suspect that it's not a goof, that it's quite intentional.

First, the casket establishes that you should be careful what you play with in this world. It was a bait and switch. In DS1, a casket took you to the Gravelord, and for gutsy players, it was a shortcut to an early super powerful weapon. I'm sure there are people who saw that casket and thought, hmmm, I wonder where that goes!  I did!  I was expecting a shortcut.

Second, identity in Dark Souls 2 is malleable. YOu can see it in conversations, where people don't remember who they were, or why they came here. The blacksmith's daughter doesn't even know her own father. You don't create your character until the old woman asks who you are. You define yourself once you've entered this place. And then you have some ability to change it. You can respec. You can change your gender. Moreso even than the old Soul games, I don't think this place is real. It's an afterlife, or an in between place. Or this is inside the First Flame from the DS1. Somehow I don't think that old Firekeepers retire to a cabin. And yet that's the first thing you're presented with.

So I think the casket plays into the idea of malleable identity. That everything here, even the characters, are in a state of change. This is a place of archetypes, but not a place of permanence in the details.

I'm sure this is completely unintentional, but I also like that it basically lets you create a transgender character if you want. Born male, but transition to female (or vice versa).

[TurboPubx-16]

Another helpful bit of info from Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/20nnd1/faq_from_japans_dark_souls_ii_site/. What we have here is what should have came with the game, a manual.

 

To the person asking about the Zwei, yes, it is only a D in strength scaling, and a C in dexterity. The link I've posted gives a short explanation on how heavy weapons have changed, by the way.

 

I wouldn't know much about heavy weapons because I am dual wielding Ricard's Rapiers (one +10 and another +9) in power stance mode. For those who aren't aware, if you equip two of the same weapon and hold Y/Triangle, you'll get new attacks that have you strike with both weapons at once. It is the greatest thing ever. For the rapiers, the attacks retain most of their reach and the stamina cost is incredibly low for the damage I'm outputting. You can also use one handed attacks whenever you want in this stance. And in the case of the rapiers, no, there isn't a version of the crazy stabstabstabstabstab STAB combo that uses both swords (how do I do a crying smiley).

 

  On 3/17/2014 at 3:25 PM, Snow said:

After 50 hours, I finally found a katana!

 

It seems broken as fuck. You can cancel out of its heavy attack animation with a roll or a backstep. (You couldn't do that in the old game... could you?)

Is that the Blacksteel Katana? That's the only one I've found. The first enemy type I saw wielding a katana forced me to start crushing rusty coins. It starts off with a A scaling in dexterity with no upgrades which has me excited to try it out more.

 

  On 3/17/2014 at 5:29 PM, Bjorn said:

 What's funny is at this point I have a ton of Titanite Chunks from invasion rewards (something like 26 chunks right now) but no Large Shards. 

I hope you talked to the little man and got your

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titanite slab!

 

Speaking generally about progress, I've acquired two of the four major souls but at the same time I feel like I am missing a lot of stuff. For example, I haven't found a single ember, or any other way to give extra qualities to my weapons, despite finding all sorts of crazy titanite. I'm about thirty hours into the game and it still feels absolutely gigantic.

 

[Bjorn]

Thanks for the link to that FAQ.  Mostly I had learned all that by now, but good to see it officially described by From.

 

I hit the 30 kill mark in my current covenant.  Think it's time to move on and try something new!  My favorite kill of the night was nailing someone in the back with a lightning bolt as they tried to runaway and heal.  Hopefully there are more sinners available now and I can start getting Blue Sent defense missions.  I also found another PvP area that's pretty neat, might go with it.  Has anyone else been down to the Grave of the Saints?  Neat stuff, and fun boss fight. 

 

I'm really digging the integration of multiplayer more deeply across the board.  I did a fair amount of PvP and co-op in DS1, but probably half my time so far in 2 has been spent in some form of multiplayer. 

 

 

  On 3/18/2014 at 4:26 AM, TurboPubx-16 said:

I wouldn't know much about heavy weapons because I am dual wielding Ricard's Rapiers (one +10 and another +9) in power stance mode. For those who aren't aware, if you equip two of the same weapon and hold Y/Triangle, you'll get new attacks that have you strike with both weapons at once. It is the greatest thing ever. For the rapiers, the attacks retain most of their reach and the stamina cost is incredibly low for the damage I'm outputting. You can also use one handed attacks whenever you want in this stance. And in the case of the rapiers, no, there isn't a version of the crazy stabstabstabstabstab STAB combo that uses both swords (how do I do a crying smiley).

 

I messed around with dual blunt weapons for a bit, which is neat and useful in PvE, but so far it doesn't feel viable for me in PvP, too easy to take too much damage.  With the blunt weapons, it eats my stamina like a large weapon does as well.  I may have to try some rapiers to see what it's like. 

 

The change to large weapons bums me out.  My strength builds in both previous Souls games were my favorite builds.  Not the most effective, but by far my favorite.  But I just cannot get used to the manual targeting aspect of them now, and having to make sure that I completely stop before swinging feels like it slows down my reaction times too much. 

[N1njaSquirrel]

  On 3/17/2014 at 7:52 PM, Bjorn said:

 

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 Somehow I don't think that old Firekeepers retire to a cabin. And yet that's the first thing you're presented with. 

 

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I thought that was weird too. If this is the same lore, how would the bonfires even be lit? According to DaS1 lore, bonfires are only kept lit by the firekeepers watching over them. Unless you lighting the bonfire in the first game somehow changed this. Also, Dranglake must be on top of an old old Lodran, as I just found the sunbro covenant, which was in a cave, and to join you had to kneel at the all too familiar broken stone statue. It could be argued that it's recycled resources, but given From Software's attention to detail I doubt it. The other two bits of information that makes me think it's so is the boss you fight before the blue sentinels, as well as the fact that the black smith's daughter hints that this land is built on countless old civilisations.

 

 

  On 3/18/2014 at 6:46 AM, Bjorn said:

I hit the 30 kill mark in my current covenant.  Think it's time to move on and try something new!  My favorite kill of the night was nailing someone in the back with a lightning bolt as they tried to runaway and heal.  Hopefully there are more sinners available now and I can start getting Blue Sent defense missions.  I also found another PvP area that's pretty neat, might go with it.  Has anyone else been down to the Grave of the Saints?  Neat stuff, and fun boss fight. 

 

Yep! I just did that fight before I stopped last night. A very fun fight indeed. Kinda bummed that there are two covenants that are essentially the same. Although I didn't try the one in the Grave of the Saints, as I dc'd last night and couldn't be arsed to reset the game. Were you invaded before the boss fight? Also in GotS:

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So many Pharrow locks! They don't all do something do they? One lowered a bridge, which was neato, but another one did what felt like nothing, just a whooshing noise. Can you even get that many Pharrow lockstones?

[Snow]

  On 3/17/2014 at 7:52 PM, Bjorn said:

 As for whether it's silly or not, I have some thoughts on what may be going on with some general lore:

 

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It may just be a goof, but I like that it's there. And I suspect that it's not a goof, that it's quite intentional.

First, the casket establishes that you should be careful what you play with in this world. It was a bait and switch. In DS1, a casket took you to the Gravelord, and for gutsy players, it was a shortcut to an early super powerful weapon. I'm sure there are people who saw that casket and thought, hmmm, I wonder where that goes!  I did!  I was expecting a shortcut.

Second, identity in Dark Souls 2 is malleable. YOu can see it in conversations, where people don't remember who they were, or why they came here. The blacksmith's daughter doesn't even know her own father. You don't create your character until the old woman asks who you are. You define yourself once you've entered this place. And then you have some ability to change it. You can respec. You can change your gender. Moreso even than the old Soul games, I don't think this place is real. It's an afterlife, or an in between place. Or this is inside the First Flame from the DS1. Somehow I don't think that old Firekeepers retire to a cabin. And yet that's the first thing you're presented with.

So I think the casket plays into the idea of malleable identity. That everything here, even the characters, are in a state of change. This is a place of archetypes, but not a place of permanence in the details.

I'm sure this is completely unintentional, but I also like that it basically lets you create a transgender character if you want. Born male, but transition to female (or vice versa).

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I definitely like that characters don't remember who they were, but I don’t know how to talk about this without getting too specific about NPC plotlines. And I think the firekeeper explicitly says you're in purgatory/limbo, but of course purgatory in Dark Souls might mean something different than what's usually associated with that word.

 

As for why I'm not a fan of the casket, to be honest, it's because I attribute that mechanic to games like Fable and Saints Row. Not that Souls games don’t have a sense of humor (getting brutalized by mushrooms). There’s also a lack of context: you re-spec through the use of a soul vessel with help of a firekeeper, and people have amnesia because of the accursed dark sign (that'll probably be explained later in the game), but the casket just looks like any other casket.

 

I ain’t got nothing against letting you play as trans characters, though while we’re on subject, is it my imagination or do characters tend to use neutral pronouns less frequently than in past games, and refer to you as a man when you’re playin’ a woman? Am I imagining things?

 

 

 

  On 3/18/2014 at 4:26 AM, TurboPubx-16 said:

Is that the Blacksteel Katana? That's the only one I've found. The first enemy type I saw wielding a katana forced me to start crushing rusty coins. It starts off with a A scaling in dexterity with no upgrades which has me excited to try it out more.

Yup, that's the one, the renamed the Iaito. It only takes 1 or 2 upgrades to get it to S scaling.

 

  On 3/18/2014 at 4:26 AM, TurboPubx-16 said:

Speaking generally about progress, I've acquired two of the four major souls but at the same time I feel like I am missing a lot of stuff. For example, I haven't found a single ember, or any other way to give extra qualities to my weapons, despite finding all sorts of crazy titanite. I'm about thirty hours into the game and it still feels absolutely gigantic.

 

Regarding embers,

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there's actually only one ember, and you unlock all the "infusions"/upgrade paths.

[Bjorn]

  On 3/18/2014 at 12:00 PM, N1njaSquirrel said:

Yep! I just did that fight before I stopped last night. A very fun fight indeed. Kinda bummed that there are two covenants that are essentially the same. Although I didn't try the one in the Grave of the Saints, as I dc'd last night and couldn't be arsed to reset the game. Were you invaded before the boss fight? Also in GotS:

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So many Pharrow locks! They don't all do something do they? One lowered a bridge, which was neato, but another one did what felt like nothing, just a whooshing noise. Can you even get that many Pharrow lockstones?

 

I'll spoiler thoughts on that covenant, as it's a bit different:

 

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You don't get invaded, you get sucked into another player's world as a phantom. I think this is why there is no co-op in this area, because you're always at risk of getting sucked out. Which means they get all the advantages of being in their world (full access to their items) and you don't. But they are also allied with all the enemies in that area. So all those giant rats are their buddies and helping them out. I got invaded twice, I lost the first time, but won the second time.

I ended up looking up what all those Locks do, as there were SOOO many of them that I didn't want to waste either of the 2 stones that I had. They are used to change and configure the environment to favor you if you are in the covenant. So you can unlock paths, hidden alcoves, traps, more rats, etc. But, you get more of the lock stone thingies for successfully beating people you suck into your world as part of the Rat covenant.

 

 

  On 3/18/2014 at 12:31 PM, Snow said:

...is it my imagination or do characters tend to use neutral pronouns less frequently than in past games, and refer to you as a man when you’re playin’ a woman? Am I imagining things?

 

I'll have to pay attention, it's nothing I had noticed so far.

[Reyturner]

@ Snow.

At any point, did you get into a coffin? Have you actually seen your boobs recently...?

[Bjorn]

  On 3/18/2014 at 5:01 PM, Reyturner said:

@ Snow.

At any point, did you get into a coffin? Have you actually seen your boobs recently...?

 

Oh, also, apparently there is a glitch related to gender as well.  Using a Soul Vessel can sometimes revert a female character to male as part of the character reset process. 

[Snow]

  On 3/18/2014 at 5:01 PM, Reyturner said:

@ Snow.

At any point, did you get into a coffin? Have you actually seen your boobs recently...?

Yes, why do you ask?   (I undid that a long time ago.) 

[melmer]

So I had to google "how do I level up". I know this is dark souls but that's some seriously vague shit. Bad game design, I'm calling it.

Oh and tomorrow I think I'm going to have to google "how do I become human again"

[Snow]

Took me awhile to figure out how to level up, too. You become human by using (not burning) an effigy.

 

 

Does anyone know if you can go inside Heide's Burning Tower?  

[N1njaSquirrel]

  On 3/19/2014 at 12:29 AM, Snow said:

Does anyone know if you can go inside Heide's Burning Tower?  

I'm pretty sure that's where the bonfire is in that level.

[Reyturner]

  On 3/18/2014 at 11:20 PM, Mington said:

So I had to google "how do I level up". I know this is dark souls but that's some seriously vague shit. Bad game design, I'm calling it.

Oh and tomorrow I think I'm going to have to google "how do I become human again"

Go to every place and talk to everyone until they repeat themselves. Then, do it again once you've done... things.

Failure to do so is user error.

/s

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Or IS it /s?????????

[Snow]

  On 3/19/2014 at 12:43 AM, N1njaSquirrel said:

I'm pretty sure that's where the bonfire is in that level.

I mean inside the part that's burning, to find out why it's burning. The bonfire is beneath that, unless you're talking about a third bonfire.

[Bjorn]

I felt super useful this evening!  There are at least 3 bosses I've encountered where you can make a change to their environment prior to going in the fog door, always to your benefit.  I was working on getting ranks in the SunBros this evening, and did a bunch of co-op on one boss, as it seemed the most active in my level range.  This boss is nearly unbeatable without changing the environment.  About a third of the players hadn't discovered what to do when I would be summoned, so there'd be a rather amusing scene of me pantomiming following me, and then trying to pantomime what they needed to do.  Dark Souls Charades!  Only one person managed to be completely dense about figuring what I was doing, and just quit following me halfway to run and challenge the boss by himself.  That was a painful lesson. 

 

Overall I've felt that each area is okay, but hadn't been particularly blown away by any one area the way places in DS1 did.  But the Harvest Valley and Earthen Something combo are real gems, and about as good as anything in DS1.  The whole poison motif gets real tiresome, but the environment itself is really well designed.

 

Oh, and discovered my first mimic.  Thankfully I was not eaten. 

[Snow]

You just named my two least favorite areas. 

 

The one thing I like about Earthen Peek is that

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instead of illusory walls, it has DOOM-styled secret rooms where you run along a wall constantly pressing a/x to find them. There's no button prompt to open those doors and you can't hit them to open them, either.

 

[Reyturner]

for my money, the zones that tell a story are the best. So far, the Forest of Fallen Giants has been the best. No-Man's Warf and bits of Lost Bastille haven't been bad.

[Bjorn]

  On 3/19/2014 at 1:16 PM, Snow said:

You just named my two least favorite areas. 

 

The one thing I like about Earthen Peek is that

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instead of illusory walls, it has DOOM-styled secret rooms where you run along a wall constantly pressing a/x to find them. There's no button prompt to open those doors and you can't hit them to open them, either.

 

You might want to go back and look around. 

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Those types of secret doors are all over the place, I know I found some in...the Bastille and a couple of other places. Earthen Peak just has a bunch of them.

 

  On 3/19/2014 at 2:30 PM, Reyturner said:

for my money, the zones that tell a story are the best. So far, the Forest of Fallen Giants has been the best. No-Man's Warf and bits of Lost Bastille haven't been bad.

 

Actually, that's another reason I like Harvest and Earthen, I feel like there is a good story being told there. Some of it gets pretty explicitly told by an NPC, but plenty of the rest can be figured out from the environment.