From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Lyric Suite]

Yeah i got the big sign. Got summoned for the first boss, and lo my humanity was restored upon victory. Had no idea. There were like five white phantoms lmao including a guy wearing two shields wtf.

I then did the boss solo and sadly he was kind of a push over. What was up with that tree those guys were hitting? I feel maybe i should have solved that mystery before doing the boss but i was basically running in circles so i had to finally progress in the game.

Ho, and i'm still waiting to see what the point of the torch mechanic is. Right now i even forgot i got it.

 

[Jokzore]

Game used to have a completely different lighting system, you actually needed to use and and maintain your torch in certain places. It was kind of like an expansion of the Tomb of Giants gimmick from the first game.

It was mostly scrapped before release, you can still see it in early gameplay footage though.

edit: https://youtu.be/z_JFDPCtXFY?t=177

I think there may be mods that try to recreate this.

 

[Multidirectional]

I then did the boss solo and sadly he was kind of a push over. What was up with that tree those guys were hitting? I feel maybe i should have solved that mystery before doing the boss but i was basically running in circles so i had to finally progress in the game.

Yes the first boss is an absolute joke. The mystery of the tree being hit by undead soldiers is gonna reveal itself later.

Ho, and i'm still waiting to see what the point of the torch mechanic is. Right now i even forgot i got it.

There are uses for the torch in some places. I'm not sure I even figured out all the hidden stuff related to it. Lighting up all the fires in tutorial area gets you and NPC invader for example. Only on current playthrough I discovered that lighting up a fire near a certain blacksmith gets him to move there which lets me open a chest behind where he was initially. There are some monsters that are scared of fire. Also a really dark area where you want light fires along the way just to make exploration easier.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I light up all the fires in the tutorial and didn't get invaded by anyone, or is that later, once you go past the statue guy?

Just got invaded by some Dennis fucker. I hope this is not another of those "one try only" events because i want to go back to kick his ass, but for now i need to take a pause lmao.

 

[Multidirectional]

I light up all the fires in the tutorial and didn't get invaded by anyone, or is that later, once you go past the statue guy?

Just got invaded by some Dennis fucker. I hope this is not another of those "one try only" events because i want to go back to kick his ass, but for now i need to take a pause lmao.

If you didn't get past statue then there are fires left. Dennis is gonna be there when you get back.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I didn't see any statues. I had to kill like four of those big turtle guys then as soon as i turned inside a broken house i got invaded. He didn't seem hard at first but then he threw some blue shit that hate at my health in a few seconds. I back tracked to the dark areas with the skellies but he got me with some blue beam while i was trying to heal. At least i didn't have to fight the turtle guys again to get my souls, but i don't feel going back there for now to see if he invades again. Considering i hit him for less than i did the boss i'm assuming i'm not supposed to fight him yet.

Which brings me to my next point, level design in this seems a bit convoluted. I heard people say level design was bad, i was expecting it to be like super linear and boring but it's not that, it's just kinda wierd, not as logically layed out as DS1 was.

 

[Multidirectional]

I mean the statue in tutorial area, the one you mentioned yourself.. There are a lot of NPC invaders that soak up lots of damage in this game, doesn't mean you shouldn't fight them. They're still just dumb bots, easy once you learn to dodge their shit.

 

[Curratum]

Why the hell is DS in the JRPG section? I just bought DS1 Remastered just before Easter and started binge-playing all 3 games simultaneously, but mostly 2. I am up to Anor Londo in 1, got a toon to level 100 and got 2 of 4 great souls in 2 and am at the very start of 3.

This is probably the best action-driven RPG ever produced.

DS2 does have some weird designs but once you learn to live with it, you can really get into it and that's part of its charm.

 

[Gromlintroid]

DS2 is nowhere as bad as people make out.
Yeah some of the level design is dumb but it's still a great game.

 

[Cosmo]

DS2 is nowhere as bad as people make out.
Yeah some of the level design is dumb but it's still a great game.

I'd say you only find it underwhelming AFTER having completed it. That's when you get a global view and a feel of how disjointed the thing really is.
But during the time i was immersed in it i had a blast.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, got to 50% health trying to get the Pursuer lmao.

I almost had him but of course i had to fuck up my timing at the last second (my favored is when i get hit and then roll). Which brings me to another point, i'm starting to see a trend here with bosses made to be "dodged" all the time which is starting to aggravate me. It's either make a fast roller or get fucked as now everything revolves around "timing" and flipping around like a monkey.

Meanwhile, it takes forever to drink which essentially takes estus out of the picture. Just roll, hit, roll, hit, roll, hit and see if you can make it without getting injured. At 50% health i basically have only room for two hits, one if he gets me with that thing that also curses you. I'll keep trying like this until i memorize his combos then i'll get my humanity back by putting a white sign and see how that goes.

I'm also running past all the mobs to get to the fog 'cause fuck losing souls lul, but they sometime get me while i'm passing through the fog which didn't happen in DS1.

 

[Lyric Suite]

HAHAHAH, so i managed to get him, at 50% max health no less (to my chagrin i didn't become human again, wtf, now i gotta waste an effigy), and then all the mobs that were chasing me while i was rushing to the fog door barged in ALL AT ONCE and i had to dash through them like a fucking quarterback who is about to win the championship and ran all the way to the bonfire like i was gonna die in real life or some shit lmao.

I'm now contemplating of getting the cat ring so i can try to drop in the well. Might be worth a few tries now that i'm at 50% before i blow an effigy.

 

[toroid]

Meanwhile, it takes forever to drink which essentially takes estus out of the picture.

Increasing Agility (by leveling up Adaptability and/or Attunement) will speed up Estus usage and also make rolls more effective by increasing the number of invincibility frames.
If you like to create new characters often, having to level Adaptability for each one gets old pretty fast; it's one of the things that interferes with my ability to enjoy DS2. Starting new characters and quickly jumping deep into the game to start a new build is something that DS1 does better for sure.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, i'm running with a D&D style cleric kinda build, which means slow and methodical. I'll only raise agility through attunement for the rest i wanna try staying below 70% load (i'm at 65% now which sucks but there seems to be some good cleric armors down the line that are lighter) and if i can find a 100% dmg reduction shield i'll play turtle as much as i'm going to get away with, for the "theme".

I'll say, the starting mace is a beast so far. I got it at +3 and really took some big chunk off the health of the Pursuer, and i'm at only 18 strength so far. The move set is kinda weird though. It's an overhead vertical attack that's tilted a bit on the side. I have to hit enemies on an angle, something i noticed when killing those pigs in town (why are those things there anyway?). The strong attack only combos with another strong attack so it's mostly hit and step away as i can't follow with a lighter attack.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok, so i'm looking on how to get some miracles, and i noticed the only way to get wrath of the gods is through the Blue Sentinels? I've been wearing their ring since i started playing and i haven't gotten in a single match i assume the only way i can rank up is to grind mobs that drop the thing (a whole 150 what the shit)? Not that it matters as i haven't gotten invaded once either, so it seems it's all useless.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Wait, wrong guild i thought it was the one i joined with the depressed guy on the pillar nevermind. Now i gotta look this thing up. 150 victories, fuck.

 

[Multidirectional]

Mace hits hard but I always found its moveset boring. Longsword is way more fun.

Not pumping Adaptability early on is a mistake in my opinion, but suit yourself. Attunement has a way lesser effect on AGL. I usually pump it to around 30 by the time I'm done with Last Giant and then readjust it later on once my ATT is up. Also just staying below 70% is not necessarily a good idea, the lower your encumbrance is the faster stamina regen and longer roll distance. And it's a linear effect and not based on breakpoints as far as I know. I like to stay at no higher than 50%, late game I even go closer to 30%.

Doing Gutter now and damn I just love the way it looks once you light some fires..

Spoiler

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, i got the grass ring i thought it was enough.

Got 17000 souls on me i wonder if i should get the Alva set. Right now i'm using the hard leather set for head, gloves and legs and that weird robe the cleric started with, and i got some lightweight white round shield that has 90% damage reduction. What adds to the weight is the mace and i also got a crossbow which has been a god send so far since unlike DS1 i can now lock onto enemies from a good distance. I don't necessarily need to have it on me all the time but it's too annoying to raise the menu every time i need to wield it.

Alternatively, i just got that transparent armor the merchant gives you if you show up with no souls but, it looks way too weird screw that.

Keep in mind i plan to respec for pure faith (50 for sure) later on for now i could raise vitality and shit like that but we'll see i guess.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Attunement has a way lesser effect on AGL.

Yeah but it influences casting speed and gives you slots. You can get to 100 agility with 30 attunement and 17 adaptability. The only reason i'm not feeling like raising attunement either now is that i have no spells.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Damn, even after the second boss some doors in the Garden are still locked. That means i gotta go back from somewhere else, probably forget where all the doors still closed are by the time i come back.

I'm heading to where the miracles vendor is, gotta start playing a cleric now. Got scared of the big giant blocking the way turns out he is a regular mob who died in three hits.

 

[Silverfish]

Mace hits hard but I always found its moveset boring. Longsword is way more fun.

Hammer movesets are pretty bland until you've got enough strength to power stance and become a death metal drummer.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Used swords to death in DS1, i gotta try something new.

 

[Wunderbar]

Dual powerstanced maces will rek pretty much everything.

 

[praetor]

On the other hand, it just puts you in the position of not spending souls needlessly. For instance, i can't collect sets now. I bought the Elite Knight but i'm not liking it, a bit too heavy and it doesn't look as good as it did in DS1, and now i'm eyeing the Alva set but all i'm doing is increase my SM just to play dress up it's a bit unsettling.

which is why, for the 100th time, you should not worry about SM and minmaxing on your first character! just get everything, spend souls, kill all enemies until they despawn if you want, farm like an insane asian, make it a SL300 (or whatever) character that can do everything... so that you can have one character to actually try shit before committing to it in later runs with other, minmaxed ones

Which brings me to my next point, level design in this seems a bit convoluted. I heard people say level design was bad, i was expecting it to be like super linear and boring but it's not that, it's just kinda wierd, not as logically layed out as DS1 was.

i don't agree that the Forest is convoluted, it just has a few off-the-beaten-path areas (that were probably meant for something bigger, more complex, but it got axed later in development)

eh.. it's more both more consistent in quality than DS1 (i.e. no truly exceptionally shit levels like Izalith and Demon ruins), but the average quality is also maybe a bit lower... most of the "it's bad" criticism was, imo, because of the not-interconnected world, a feature that elevated otherwise mediocre levels in DS1, that's that "something" that added logic to the levels... and now it's gone

DS2 has some really good levels (Forest, Bastille, Wharf, Tseldora, Crypt, Gutter + Gulch), a lot of meh/average, and some that should've been much more interesting considering what they should be lore/story-wise (like the Doors of Pharros and Aldia's Keep)

that said, the 3 DLC areas might be the best level design in all of Souls, and if they're not the top 3, they're definitely somewhere in the top 10 (which makes the sad state of development of DS2 even sadder... imagine if most of the vanilla areas were given the care and thought of the DLCs? )

 

[Matador]

What is this. Go to the Dark Souls Bad sequel thread.