A month or so away from the release of this game and wondered if anyone is going to pick it up?
Seen a couple of videos of the game and it looks like it will be quite similar to the first one and Demon Souls. One moment in particular springs to mind where a skeletal chariot randomly trundles around a corner, running over the character and killing them instantly, which looked rather amusing.
Also, determined to get into this one early before the gankers (is that a fair term in this game?) with ridiculous names cement themselves in certain parts of the game, using taunts and attacking you at the most in-opportune moments! Not sure how this new game will differ in that regard?
Believe this one is going to be on both PS3 and Xbox, and is being touted as one of the last, top-quality titles for those systems.
Also, it's being designed for PC first, then ported to consoles so you can bet your ass that's the best version.
Where did you get that from? PC version doesn't even have a release date because FROM is making their games for PS first. If I'm wrong here and they learned something from their Dark Souls PC port, please provide a link to the source.
Topic: Also pre-ordered PC version. I really hope this game lives up to the expectations, Dark Souls was one of the best games of the last years for me.
Also, it's being designed for PC first, then ported to consoles so you can bet your ass that's the best version.
Where did you get that from? PC version doesn't even have a release date because FROM is making their games for PS first. If I'm wrong here and they learned something from their Dark Souls PC port, please provide a link to the source.
Topic: Also pre-ordered PC version. I really hope this game lives up to the expectations, Dark Souls was one of the best games of the last years for me.
Where did I hear that? Every interview and news thing that covered it? They were pretty up front about it. CBA to find you a source since I'm at work.
It looks slightly more accessible in terms of its mechanics than the last one. I bought it and played it and I thought was very good, but something about the sticky, imprecise movement didn't sit well with me, so I never finished it.
Plus, knights with fur cloaks. The pinnacle of fantasy.
If you say so. I think it was mainly due to how fast you could move. I'm probably too used to very fast paced games and the slower, more deliberate movement and animations wasn't my thing. It felt like I could never hit or roll or shuffle as precisely or as quickly as I wanted to. Maybe that's the point, but regardless, it wasn't for me. It looks like they've alleviated that in Dark Souls 2. I might end up being completely wrong but we'll just have to wait and see.
I attempted to complete Demon Souls but it became a "party game" for my mates, we would all attempt it and then pass the controller along. Made for good drinking games too. We never really made any progress (unsurprisingly)
Maybe I will actually finish this one. Then again, I probably won't.
iproxtaco wrote: If you say so. I think it was mainly due to how fast you could move. I'm probably too used to very fast paced games and the slower, more deliberate movement and animations wasn't my thing. It felt like I could never hit or roll or shuffle as precisely or as quickly as I wanted to. Maybe that's the point, but regardless, it wasn't for me. It looks like they've alleviated that in Dark Souls 2. I might end up being completely wrong but we'll just have to wait and see.
You're probably fatrolling.
If your equip burden is over half of your maximum, you're going to be a (barely) walking target. If it's over a quarter of your maximum, you'll at least be able to move decently. If it's under a quarter of your maximum, and you've got the darkwood grain ring, you're a freaking ninja.
Anyway, waiting for the PC version to show up on steam. Really disappointed that they're making us wait an extra month for it, especially since it is the lead platform. But scumbag publishers are going to be scumbags. I wish they'd just come out and say that they're doing that because they can charge more for the console version. At least they wouldn't be lying.
He'll, I'd be willing to pay $10 extra for the first month of the PC release.
When I pre-ordered the PC version it was still set for the same date at the store so... no clue what's going on there. And I'm already paying 30 extra for the collectors, I shouldn't have to wait an extra month too..
Having to pay for XBL Gold does suck, but I already have it for a year so might as well use it.
DS used GFWL, which while you don't need to pay for you still sign up for the same thing. I don't know of they will do the same here?
While I generally do prefer PC gaming, will the install base on PC be big enough for it to work? If it does really well on the PC, then I'll probably go for it though.
This might be the last game I get on the 360, and an MS console in general anyway (unless BB:Chronophantasma comes out on it in EU, but chances are it won't)
DkS2 will not be using GFWL. With the dev team saying they really wanted to put in a real effort for the PC version this time around, I'm pretty sure this was the first decision that was made concerning it.
Also, if you've ever gotten the chance to play DkS1 in 60 FPS, looking back at 30 just is never the same. Even if the PC version doesn't run at 60 natively (which would be blasphemous a second time around), there will be mods for it.
Also, I'd consider the gap in community size to not be as big an issue as it was with DkS1 (although, for what it's worth, I never noticed a huge loss when switching from PS3 to PC, and I even found a great group of people to PvP with on a semi-regular basis, in addition to normal duels). Because the 360 and PS3 are on their way out, it's not unreasonable to assume that the communities on those systems will dwindle with them, especially since both current gen systems lack backwards compatibility. The PC version won't be faced with this issue.
While the console versions might have larger communities at launch, I expect PC to be the one that lasts longer. Especially with steam sales down the line to give the community a booster shot every few months.
What about that chap from the cover of the game, I wonder if he will be a starting character?
Have been with this game ever since the original Demon Souls came out on Jap import years ago, can't wait for this one.
The cover guys generally aren't one of the starting classes, but someone who you can get the armour for later.
Demon Souls had Ostrava on the cover, IIRC with his fluted plate.
Dark Souls either had the Elite Knight, or a Black Knight though the regular 'Knight' armour was similar to the Elite Knight set.
The Knight in DS2 doesn't have plate at all this time round, if that picture on the wiki is to be believed.
Although Ostrava was more notable for his sword and shield. Which sucked.
As for the Elite Knight set, it's just an upgraded version of the starting Knight set, with its visor pulled down. Outside of the surcoat replacing the breastplate and reinforced greaves, the armour sets are identical.
Extremely excited about the release. Everything looks fantastic.
EXCEPT the PVP. I've decided to play the Game completely Offline now, and will pull the Plug on day one. Will loose the ability to summon humans and see bloodstains/markings, but as long as I dont have to put up with Invasions, its fine by me.
Im very excited about the new classes and improved combat. Less Backstab-focus will do the Game a lot of good, and make combat less of a "Who can strafe harder"-competition.
Stuebi wrote: Extremely excited about the release. Everything looks fantastic.
EXCEPT the PVP. I've decided to play the Game completely Offline now, and will pull the Plug on day one. Will loose the ability to summon humans and see bloodstains/markings, but as long as I dont have to put up with Invasions, its fine by me.
That's missing out on half the fun, really.
Granted, I absolutely detest chickenhawks, but normal invasions are fun, although I'm more partial to honour duels over hunting runners down (although watching an invader trying to hide on a bridge or other dangerous precipice start freaking out when I pull out a Dragonslayer Longbow is absolutely priceless).
Also, there's a covenant you can join, the Covenant of the Meek (I think), that lets you avoid PvP.
Im very excited about the new classes and improved combat. Less Backstab-focus will do the Game a lot of good, and make combat less of a "Who can strafe harder"-competition.
Even in DkS1, constantly strafing was a great way to open yourself up to a pivot backstab. Good players spend more time feeling each other out with feint pivots than anything else. If anything, there's a good chance that that's what this could turn into, since pivoting looks to be gone (which isn't to say this alteration is a bad thing, but hopefully they've structured PvP combat in a way that makes up for the lack of pivots).
Stuebi wrote: Extremely excited about the release. Everything looks fantastic.
EXCEPT the PVP. I've decided to play the Game completely Offline now, and will pull the Plug on day one. Will loose the ability to summon humans and see bloodstains/markings, but as long as I dont have to put up with Invasions, its fine by me.
That's missing out on half the fun, really.
Granted, I absolutely detest chickenhawks, but normal invasions are fun, although I'm more partial to honour duels over hunting runners down (although watching an invader trying to hide on a bridge or other dangerous precipice start freaking out when I pull out a Dragonslayer Longbow is absolutely priceless).
Also, there's a covenant you can join, the Covenant of the Meek (I think), that lets you avoid PvP.
Im very excited about the new classes and improved combat. Less Backstab-focus will do the Game a lot of good, and make combat less of a "Who can strafe harder"-competition.
Even in DkS1, constantly strafing was a great way to open yourself up to a pivot backstab. Good players spend more time feeling each other out with feint pivots than anything else. If anything, there's a good chance that that's what this could turn into, since pivoting looks to be gone (which isn't to say this alteration is a bad thing, but hopefully they've structured PvP combat in a way that makes up for the lack of pivots).
I DETEST PvP in Dark Souls.
Pretty much every run in with the PvP-Community I had was horrible. Griefers, flamers, it doesnt matter if you win or loose an invasion of your world. You will get "Lol scrub" and other nice messages across the board. If you even _mention_ the slightest distaste in PvP, you'll have countless of the same Flamer-kIddies telling you that you play the game wrong, are a massive carebear and should deinstall.
Not only that, but it also felt horribly inbalanced. I was completely fine with the challenge the PvE offered, it was harsh, but fair. With invasions mixed in, you could be invaded while being in a tight spot, or allready in combat. Not only that, there were a ton of cheaters and hackers, lagabusers and other idiots around. Add in the fact that experienced players knew where to get decent gear and spells early on, or just twinked for the fun of bashing Newbies, and you'll have Griefer Paradise.
DS 2 promises to fix a lot of these issues, but honestly, I dont trust the PvP as far as I can spit. You cant patch the HIDEOUSLY toxic community and some of the more subtle issues. So i'll pass. DS1 was my game of the year and I played it either Offline, hollow, or by rolling off the cliff instantly when "scrubbasherxx1337fethlord" invades yet again. And I never even got the faintes feeling that I was missing stuff.
Daba wrote: Way to turn around once he found out it's popular.
You clearly don't watch his stuff regularly, beating on popular things is exactly what made him popular, not agreeing with the crowds.
Oh, I know that.
Popular was the wrong word, but I think fashionable is better in this case. It's always fashionable to beat on really popular stuff, but this isn't quite there in terms of numbers (yet).
It's just a really big change of tone from the Demon's Souls review from some time ago.
Daba wrote: Way to turn around once he found out it's popular.
You clearly don't watch his stuff regularly, beating on popular things is exactly what made him popular, not agreeing with the crowds.
Oh, I know that.
Popular was the wrong word, but I think fashionable is better in this case. It's always fashionable to beat on really popular stuff, but this isn't quite there in terms of numbers (yet).
It's just a really big change of tone from the Demon's Souls review from some time ago.
To be fair, though I've never properly played demon souls (don't own a PS3) I've watched a lot of it and I can certainly say I prefer Dark Souls' world and story telling.
I do as well, though the game 'feels' about the same when I played it (but I played Dark Souls before myself, so probably could take more risks and play better than someone fresh into Demon's Souls).
After seeing the video, it was an alright review after all. I used for follow Zero Punctuation but it really became hit and miss and less consistently funny IMO.
The director (at least of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls) from FROM Software is really good at atmosphere. I really got into Armoured Core FA which was directed by him; I love those corporate briefings.
Skip to about 2 minutes onwards for the video. I assume these are just characters transplanted into the Dark Souls one game, and this game isn't going to have exactly the same level layout and bosses as the first one!
German games magazine M! has made the first review and given it a very good ranking, so I assume review copies must have been sent out now?
The footage is a mix of beta, trailer, and DkS1 footage, so I wouldn't pay much attention to that.
As for your starting class, I imagine it will be about as important as it is in the previous games. As in, not really important outside of min-maxing, which would require a completely different mindset from what you'd expect from class selection anyway.
You can tell these guys don't know what they're talking about when they say Deprived will be used for min-maxing. Deprived has always been absolutely awful for that, thanks to wasted stat points all over the place.
EDIT: Turns out that the release date for the PC version has been confirmed for April 25. So much for being a lead platform. feth you, Namco Bandai.
Beaten the first two games in the series and am absolutely ecstatic about this being released in 6 days. I pre-ordered the PS3 Collector's edition with knight statue months ago and plan to get in the store nice and early to ensure I have a copy. Best of all I have about four days off from work that week so I'll get to immerse myself in the game completely.
So scumbag Bamco hasn't even announced the PC release date, and we're now less than a week away from the console launch.
At this rate, I'm expecting the PC version to be out in May at the earliest, although August might be more realistic.
With that in mind, if a (good) release date isn't announced before the console launch, I'll probably end up buying the console version, and then wait until the PC version is available for $5 on Steam.
I'd like to say I'm disappointed in Bamco, but with their track record, that's pretty much impossible. Sad part is that this is exactly what they want. Such an awful company, it'd be nice if From managed to sign with a publisher that wasn't garbage.
Fafnir wrote: So scumbag Bamco hasn't even announced the PC release date, and we're now less than a week away from the console launch.
At this rate, I'm expecting the PC version to be out in May at the earliest, although August might be more realistic.
With that in mind, if a (good) release date isn't announced before the console launch, I'll probably end up buying the console version, and then wait until the PC version is available for $5 on Steam.
I'd like to say I'm disappointed in Bamco, but with their track record, that's pretty much impossible. Sad part is that this is exactly what they want. Such an awful company, it'd be nice if From managed to sign with a publisher that wasn't garbage.
Not sure why you would be expecting a PC/console launch at the same time - the other two games were released on the console first and then the PC afterward.
It's not that I was expecting a launch at the same time (although, for the record, the reason why this is the standard is because it is nothing more than a money grab, especially when it's been said multiple times that the PC was supposedly the lead platform this time around), but at the very least, a release date.
Bamco had kept saying that the launch for the PC version would be very close to the console launch, but with us approaching launch day, we've been given absolutely no information regarding that, not even system requirements. With that in mind, we're looking at a timeframe of months, not weeks. Which is very disappointing.
EDIT: Really, I'm annoyed that this whole 'PC comes last' attitude has even become so tolerated within the entire industry. Remember, games are initially developed first on PC before being ported over to consoles anyway. There is no practical reason for this to happen.
Not long to go now! Think the US gets this game a few days before the UK, so I full expect to be invaded by someone with an utterly ridiculous name and one-shotted on the first day's play
On one hand, that's a pretty cool trailer. On the other, I love the hell out of Jethro Tull.
The store I preordered from won't be having a midnight release, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning. Thankfully, they're opening early, and I've managed to reign in my insomnia enough to allow me to be there as they open. Past that point... well... I figure I should inform the roommates that they might not see me for a while.
Waiting on mine from Amazon... The good news is they are handling it better than they did my Y preorder. Its actually shipping today instead of almost three days after release. Hopefully have it by the end of the week
Couple of tit-bits I wasn't aware of until now
- You can be invaded in living and hollow form. Lucky I'm going to get to this game early, in a year or so though this could become a ganking masterpiece.
Although, from the sounds of it the 'covenant' style multiplayer (where you can bring in friendlies from your covenant when invaded by hostiles) will hopefully mitigate it.
- Efficacy of farming has now been reduced.. keep killing low level enemies and they disappear, or new harder NG+ enemies take their place.
- Fast travel is now used, although still feels like Metroid
- apparently 'novelty kills' of big bosses now mostly removed. Shame, I enjoyed the bit in the last game where you could leap on the back of the big rat
God, the whole reduced health when you die thing is nasty. A couple poorly thought out encounters with that white knight by the tree and now I'm in a rather precarious situation.
Beyond that I'm loving the game. Mujira is a lot nicer than the Firelink Shrine and early access to covenants is pretty nifty
EDIT: I'm in the Company of Champions covenant if it matters at all
Some things I'm loving, some things I'm not too happy with. Losing health when you die really isn't needed, considering bosses already hit far harder than they did in the previous two games. It gets worse when you consider that dodging and healing are much slower than they used to be, and shields are generally not nearly as effective.
There are some points where it feels like the developers were trying to live up to the hype the series has for being so difficult, and went way overboard. The fight against the Ruin Sentinals is probably one of the worst offenders, and I'll go out and say that it is a patently unfair encounter.
Also, I'm incredibly disappointed with the treatment heavy weapons (Great club, ultra greatswords, etc.) have received. Not only is the strength bonus for two-handing a weapon removed (you now count as having 2* strength for the purposes of reaching the equip requirement when wielding a weapon with two hands, but no bonus to actual damage), resulting in a noticeable loss in damage output, but the target tracking is absolutely awful, making it more difficult than ever to land a well timed hit. Rolling being slower makes it harder to cancel out of attacks, and since bosses hit way harder and faster than ever before, heavy weapons now require a level of precision that just isn't close to worth the return on investment. A real shame, since the big stuff tends to be what I really love in the Souls games.
One handed/dual wielding strength builds could end up being viable down the road (especially since most one handed str weapons suited for dual wielding are more efficient on soul levels than dex weapons), and I do enjoy my mace so far, but it looks like dex builds will reign king for 3-0.
There are some points where it feels like the developers were trying to live up to the hype the series has for being so difficult, and went way overboard. The fight against the Ruin Sentinals is probably one of the worst offenders, and I'll go out and say that it is a patently unfair encounter.
That sounds very possible, I mean, the diffculty is almost the only thing they try to sell the game with. Its not like DS had a very deep story and cool looks to go around, nope its the "It will feth you up"-thing they go with all the time.
Reading what you say about Two-handed weapons is also pretty dissapointing. I loved runnign around with the Zweihander and Dragonslayer in DS 1.
Although it is worth noting that overall, there are more armour sets/pieces with stat bonuses. They look to be pretty small, and most of them caster based (which isn't exactly one-sided when you consider that most heavier armour now scales with strength.)
Also, if you've seen the trailers with the turtle knights (or you've had the good fortune of fighting them yourselves), you can get their armour. The stats are pretty terrible when you consider just how insanely heavy it is, so I wouldn't be surprised if that giant turtle shell taped on the back helps to prevent or mitigate backstabs. But that's all speculation (and a little bit of hoping, with stats that bad, it'd be entirely worthless if it doesn't have some hidden feature).
I'm looking forward to playing this more than anything that I can remember in recent times, but I made the mistake of pre-ordering it with Amazon. It's now 7PM on Wednesday evening and it has yet to be dispatched, if it doesn't turn up on Friday I'm gonna have to pop into town and pick up a copy.
Yeah, I know it s released on Friday, but if it is not dispatched 'til Thursday then it is not guaranteed to arrive by Friday.
Hence, if it doesn't arrive on Friday I will be buying it from a local vendor (and returning my amazon copy when it eventually arrives).
I have had problems pre-ordering games from Amazon in the past when they have not arrived on release day, which makes me a total fool for not learning from my mistake.
Not going to lie, Shrine of Amana is probably the greatest crime against humanity that I've ever had to endure. When you first drop in, it looks really cool (if you've done some side content in the first Dark Souls, this will be quite a treat), and it starts out decent enough.
And then you pass the first fog wall. It's like the Anor Londo archers before they patched them to be easy mode. Except there's 20 of them. And they have little friends chasing you about while you have to dodge them. And their arrows are magic, so you can't block them. They also home in on you. It's then drawn out for as long as possible to emphasize just how tedious it is after you respawn.
...and then they throw in bugs out of nowhere that break all your equipment, because why the hell not?
Thankfully, the boss of the area is a pushover. Just don't get too cocky, he'll probably one-shot you if you're not careful (but then again, pretty much everything in this game does, so that's par for the course, really).
Also, the Mirror Knight is really disappointing. That said, none of the bosses so far stand out as being really interesting. Most just feel like oversized mooks. The only real exception being the guys from Bowser's castle (if you haven't already been there, you'll know it when you get to it). But that entire area is pretty awesome.
Well, if it makes you happy, there's pretty much no direction given after that.
Just a hint though, make sure that whenever you meet a new NPC, you talk to them until all their dialogue options are exhausted. None of them actually have any information that will actually point you in the right direction, but some areas aren't unlocked until you actually do that. It's kind of silly that they did it that way, honestly.
As for the limited respawns, after you kill an enemy enough times (I've read somewhere between 12-15 times), they stop respawning. You can burn an item at a bonfire in order to respawn any enemies near it, including bosses, but they become more difficult, give more souls, and drop different (typically better items).
I honestly don't mind the system. There are some areas that are just plain abusive (Shrine of Amana instantly springs to mind), and being able to get rid of some of the more annoying enemies (once again, Shrine of Amana, the equipment breaking bugs that spawn right by the bonfire) is nice.
Also, do yourself a favour, and don't worry about armour. Just pick something light that looks good to you. Poise and defense are completely worthless in this game.
Lastly, having beat the main game, NG+ is a bit different from previous games. Some new enemies and black phantoms spawn, and I've heard some of the bosses are a bit different. In addition, some enemies now drop new items too.
I also ended up making a new character, a mage, and I'm absolutely bewildered how easy the game is now, compared to my original character, who was a full strength (later str+faith) character with no ranged options at all. It looks to me like ranged options are what you should use to break the damn game. It now suddenly makes sense to me why everything is able to kill you in one hit. If it didn't, ranged characters would be immortal.
Fafnir, feth me you have completed the game already?!
First impressions of the game are good. The story at the start is cool, always gets me how the Demon/Dark Souls games look like a Western RPG but at the core they are kooky Japanese. It has also retained the dour atmosphere of the previous games, the sad stories, echoing voice - the sound is very well used in this game, right from the sea front and zombie moans when you first go into the game.
Perhaps because I was over-cautious at the start of the game I managed to play for almost an hour without dying, but when I did start to die (tried to take on the big hippo-cyclops thing in the first stage, then found another one was hidden behind and came out and crushed me! ) it was like the un-corking of a bottle and the deaths came thick and fast.
Very amused by the sheer quantity of blood stains in Maluja, the number of players just leaping out into the sea like lemmings (I assume still trying to learn controls) gave me a good laugh this morning when I was playing.
Anyway.. my characters beard disappeared, and he screams like a girl when he dies - not sure if they are both bugs? Kind of amusing though..
You sat in the coffin, didn't you? Turns out that coffin is filled with kinky gender magic. Just jump back in, and you'll get your stones back.
As for having beat it already... Well, I did end up writing a 15 page paper on the atmospheric merits of the first game. Let's just say that little binge of mine was... research.
My first death was in the tutorial area, on the jumping bit. I had the button set to L3 (sooooo much better than the old setup), but my good old DkS muscle memory (I hadn't even played the game in months! I'd been letting myself grow rusty for this!) kicked in, and I hit the wrong button while running straight off the cliff and to my death.
As for the blood stains around the massive pit in the middle of Majula, you actually do have to go down there later. And it's not a happy place, either.
The Heide Knights (the guys in white armour who sit around doing nothing but are still targetable enemies)? No. Other than killing him. There are a few of them scattered throughout the game, and on your first playthrough, they'll each drop their weapon (sword, spear, lance). Subsequent playthroughs will result in them having a chance to drop their armour.
The first one you meet, early in the Forest of Fallen Giants, drops his sword, which does lightning damage and is really useful early on. You can upgrade it to the lightning path later (even weapons that do elemental damage can be upgraded to do more elemental damage), which actually turns it into a fantastic weapon for Str/Faith builds.
On the subject of Faith, for those interested in builds utilizing, I'd strongly suggest staring out as a physically-minded build, and then expanding into miracles after you've finished the physical side. This is because you won't get to see a lot of the really good miracles that justify high faith investment until you're fairly late into the game.
Yes killed that guy, he was a bit of an arse with the sniper at the top shooting you at the same time (and always just seems to hit and stun you when the Hiede knight hit me ) - pretty funny, when I finally got to another one of those sniper guys (that had been shooting you from across the level, while you are trying to melee), someone had put a message simply saying 'revenge' on the ground next to him.
That Hiede sword was pretty good though, was using it 2-H. Replaced it with some random fire sword I found a little later on though (a longsword).
As for the blood stains around the massive pit in the middle of Majula, you actually do have to go down there later. And it's not a happy place, either.
Yes I've seen plenty of blood stains around there, but I just meant generally on the edge of the cliff tops - just so many people throwing themselves into the sea.
And thanks for the tip about the gender-changing box - did wonder what that was, and why my character had started to resemble Meat Loaf in Fight Club!
Now to get back there without being crushed by the death-hippos ..
Also note that, if you have two compatible weapons, and you exceed the stat requirements for both of them by 1.5*, you can equip one one in each hand and enter power stance by holding triangle (if they're not compatible, or you fail to meet the requirement, you'll end up just holding the left handed weapon with two hands instead).
While in power stance, your right hand functions normally, but your left attacks are replaced by power attacks which utilize both weapons, leading to some very nice damage. Just be mindful of the fact that power attacks use up quite a bit of stamina.
DkS2 gets brownie points for not making dual wielding look as stupidly over the top as almost every single other game on the planet does.
Also, you can two hand your shields. Funny enough, my Tower Shield actually hits surprisingly hard (and it's really useful for hitting low enemies like geckos, since the Mace's hitbox is really buggy and has difficulty with short enemies). Other benefits include increased shield stability.
I'll have to go back and kill him then. Been upgrading just a long-sword at the moment.
How 'farmable' are human effigies? There's the limited spawn thing. If they are really limited, my hoarding nature will probably see me not use them very much.
Daba wrote:
How 'farmable' are human effigies? There's the limited spawn thing. If they are really limited, my hoarding nature will probably see me not use them very much.
You'll get a lot of them. So long as you're not constantly burning them whenever you die, you'll have plenty. Save them for when you really need the extra health, or when you want to summon someone, and you should be fine. Plenty of enemies drop them with decent regularity too, so even if one spot dries up, there will be more down the road. There's also a way to return to human form without the need for an effigy at the later part of the game, although I'm not entirely clear on it.
Also, if the reduced health on death is getting you down, you can get the Binding Ring from the Heide Tower of Flame, across the drawbridge (take the left path from the circular room with the three knights) just outside the Old Dragonslayer boss room. It cuts the maximum death penalty to 80%, rather than 50%. Considering most enemies are able to 2HKO you when you're at full health, I'd consider this a necessity.
Coolyo294 wrote:Is anyone else having trouble with the lock on system? It's especially problematic in the fight against the Royal Rat Vanguard.
Well, that fight is kind of like Sif, in that the lock-on can be more problematic than helpful. That said, I have had some issues with the lock on and hit detection. Sometimes I've been right up against an enemy with my mace, swung, and did nothing. This happens much more often than I would like, too, especially against giant knights. Heavy weapons also have no tracking on their swings at all, which makes them pretty worthless, really.
The thing to keep in mind about the Royal Rat Authority is that once his entourage is down, there's not a whole lot that he can do right after a single attack, especially if you're underneath him. So if he does manage to hurt you, just keep inbetween his legs and use that chance to heal.
Really, the worst part of that fight is making sure that his minions die first. If you have ranged weaponry or spells, now is the time to use them, before the boss himself enters the fray. If you were like me on my first run, and don't have that luxury (and you're using a mace, who's awful hit detection causes you to miss against small enemies all the time), you'll have to rush them and make sure they die as soon as possible. If you can lure them with thrown items, that may help.
Came the closest I have ever got to controller-smashing stage since the Manning-lead Colts came back from about 20pts down in the final 2 minutes in a divisional playoff in my version of Madden 2011 - that bloody tree-giant thing (I forget it's name). Smashed/stomped a couple of times before I realised I could summon an NPC from just outside (a guy who had a lot of hit-points to deplete, getting stomped on while I hacked away 2H at the giants ankle).
Anyway, still was getting my arse handed to me with me dying in 2 hits (a lot of the time not even being able to react between hits), burned through all of my effigies and a lot of the souls I've saved - I wonder if at this point the game might literally become impossible, if you're not able to go back through the game and farm some of the low level enemies?
Also - loved the way the game immediately put a dead-hard boss (floating knight guy) immediately after the tree-giant thing - I thought 'oh there must be a bonfire here now, after the big boss' but - oh no! - another boss and I immediately lose the 10k or so souls I was carrying
Thankyou, reading some of that has just sucked the soul out of my body, hollow-style. ..Some people really need to get out more, and I say that as a massive nerd!
Is the re-gaining humanity from jolly cooperation bugged? I helped someone kill Ornstein, and I didn't get humanity restored. It was a really laggy battle though; I think I helped lag-surf the host to victory.
Pacific wrote:Came the closest I have ever got to controller-smashing stage since the Manning-lead Colts came back from about 20pts down in the final 2 minutes in a divisional playoff in my version of Madden 2011 - that bloody tree-giant thing (I forget it's name). Smashed/stomped a couple of times before I realised I could summon an NPC from just outside (a guy who had a lot of hit-points to deplete, getting stomped on while I hacked away 2H at the giants ankle).
Anyway, still was getting my arse handed to me with me dying in 2 hits (a lot of the time not even being able to react between hits), burned through all of my effigies and a lot of the souls I've saved - I wonder if at this point the game might literally become impossible, if you're not able to go back through the game and farm some of the low level enemies?
Also - loved the way the game immediately put a dead-hard boss (floating knight guy) immediately after the tree-giant thing - I thought 'oh there must be a bonfire here now, after the big boss' but - oh no! - another boss and I immediately lose the 10k or so souls I was carrying
If Pursuer is giving you trouble, go do the Heide Tower of Flame for now. Dragonrider is a really easy boss fight, and right after him you gain access to some decent equipment (you can find the knight armour and halberd, amoung other things shortly after him, and you also gain access to No-Man's Wharf, which has all kinds of goodies, despite its dangers. Additionally, if you take the side-route at Heide Tower, you can find the Binding Ring, which will make your situation much more bearable (although I wouldn't recommend fighting the Old Dragonslayer as you are yet. He's not a hard fight, but you'll want a little firepower for him).
If you tell me what kind of build you're going for, I can point you in the right direction for some equipment that might help you out a bit.
Also, for Pursuer himself, I've heard you can mess him up really badly by parrying his attacks, especially if you use the balistae afterwords (do note that, if you're playing with phantoms, ballistae can hit friends as well as foes).
Thankyou, reading some of that has just sucked the soul out of my body, hollow-style. ..Some people really need to get out more, and I say that as a massive nerd!
Don't be hatin'. Back in my Armored Core days, I ended up doing testing for weapon stability, accuracy, and fire rate relations in a similar manner. It can actually be pretty fun to figure out optimal loadouts.
Daba wrote:Is the re-gaining humanity from jolly cooperation bugged? I helped someone kill Ornstein, and I didn't get humanity restored. It was a really laggy battle though; I think I helped lag-surf the host to victory.
Apparently From says regaining humanity from cooperation is a bug.
Thanks very much for the advice on the Heide Tower of flame - managed to get that ring you mentioned, a nice knights shield and armour. Got that as well as a Halberd now which is quite cool, by far the most powerful weapon I have used so far!
Where is this No-Man's Wharf you mentioned, is that the next zone?
Daba wrote: How is the 'limited spawns' thing? Any idea how it works?
Enemies stop respawning after you kill them enough times, although you miss those souls, makes exploring those levels a lot easier.
And From software? Boss next to the fog gate is not fun!
Being a battle mage is awesome, in previous DS i went for a tank built now i am a leather clad mage, evade, magic, slash, die.
The limited enemy spawning + limited effigies + health reduction all seem like mechanics that don't go together. One of their design aims was to make it easier to people to get into the game without reducing difficulty.
The health thing either makes it jump too far for people with reduced health to higher difficulty or it's balanced around the lesser health and it's too easy for someone in human form. Basically, it makes it worse for beginners (who are likely to be on reduced health a lot), while players more familiar with the game will have an easier time - so with this they seem to have achieved the opposite of their goals.
They stated they wanted more people in human form to experience multiplayer and that it wasn't intended that you would spend so much time in hollow form, but limited effigies (and the rarity of them comnpared with humanity), and not getting the 'soft' humanity randomly from monsters pre-boss works against that. Especially as they said that regaining humanity for cooperation is a bug. Note that you could fix this by letting spawns continue, so the effigies are unlimited.
It just seems badly designed (or badly directed) compared to the previous game, due to the 'synergy' of the above mechanics, and things like Shine of Amana.
The cutscene thing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be after the witch thing though, thankfully.
So, has anyone been invaded yet? I've participated in lots of co-op, but after 3 solid days of play I have yet to be invaded. I really hope that this will change, being invaded in the previous games was always a total rush. I've spent approximately 50% of my game time in human form.
I'm a little concerned that From have messed up, making the negatives of invading far outweigh the positives.
As far as having your health cut on death, I wouldn't mind it as much if it worked like Demon's Souls, where it gave you higher damage output and no noise while moving, making you stealthier and deadlier while in soul form. In Demon's Souls, there were actually a lot of occasions where you would want to be in soul form, it was a tradeoff.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: So, has anyone been invaded yet? I've participated in lots of co-op, but after 3 solid days of play I have yet to be invaded. I really hope that this will change, being invaded in the previous games was always a total rush. I've spent approximately 50% of my game time in human form.
I'm a little concerned that From have messed up, making the negatives of invading far outweigh the positives.
I've been invaded twice. Once, in the Black Gulch, where some donkey-cave was trying to snipe me with a greatbow (Seriously, this place is awful enough. The last thing people need down there is an invasion). I just turtled in the corner with my greatshield until he left. I would have fought him if he came to me, but there was no way I was going to play his game.
Second time, some guy invaded me on my NG+. I wasn't running a very PvP viable loadout at the time, but I managed to fight him to a draw. I got hatemail for that one. Pro tip: If you're not doing an honour duel that both parties are prepared for, don't be surprised when the other guy pops an estus. Doubly so if you're not smart enough to backstab him while he does it.
Outside of that, I've done a few other things. Got pulled in as a grey to someone's world where I had to deal with a pair of those really fast toxic rats, a mastodon, and the host while being slowed by the water. Not a fun fight.
Otherwise, it's just been me getting stuck on the bad side of 2v1s.
That said, having gotten as far as I am, thanks to Soul Memory, I haven't seen much activity lately, and unless they patch it, I doubt I'll ever see much more. Apparently the range for Soul Memory is 50k in either direction. Where I'm at in the game, that's less than one run through a level (I've also stopped levelling at 150). There's really no reasonable way for me to consistently get into fights at this point.
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: So, has anyone been invaded yet? I've participated in lots of co-op, but after 3 solid days of play I have yet to be invaded. I really hope that this will change, being invaded in the previous games was always a total rush. I've spent approximately 50% of my game time in human form.
I'm a little concerned that From have messed up, making the negatives of invading far outweigh the positives.
I just invaded someone for the first time today actually.. couple of people fighting hard with little health, one of them got killed by an NPC while turning to face me, the other one started flailing wildly at me and was an easy kill.
Did it as I thought I might get a trophy, but actually felt a bit dirty for it! Think I will join those blue knight covenant guys who protect against Invaders (although not completely sure how that works).
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: So, has anyone been invaded yet? I've participated in lots of co-op, but after 3 solid days of play I have yet to be invaded. I really hope that this will change, being invaded in the previous games was always a total rush. I've spent approximately 50% of my game time in human form.
I'm a little concerned that From have messed up, making the negatives of invading far outweigh the positives.
I just invaded someone for the first time today actually.. couple of people fighting hard with little health, one of them got killed by an NPC while turning to face me, the other one started flailing wildly at me and was an easy kill.
Did it as I thought I might get a trophy, but actually felt a bit dirty for it! Think I will join those blue knight covenant guys who protect against Invaders (although not completely sure how that works).
You just put the ring on and wait, much like the Cat Ring from DkS 1, unfortunately I don't think a lot of people are joining the Covenant we protect because the rings only pulled me twice, and it was VERY far and inbetween.
Sidenote, does anyone know a good place to farm/buy arrows? Because the blacksmith in Majula only has 50 and I'm going to need a lot in harvest valley.
He sells infinite of the crap ones, Probably not Ideal though, other than that though. Im not sure, I've also not finished yet so maybe someone else has some wisdom to share
The limited enemy spawning + limited effigies + health reduction all seem like mechanics that don't go together. One of their design aims was to make it easier to people to get into the game without reducing difficulty.
The health thing either makes it jump too far for people with reduced health to higher difficulty or it's balanced around the lesser health and it's too easy for someone in human form. Basically, it makes it worse for beginners (who are likely to be on reduced health a lot), while players more familiar with the game will have an easier time - so with this they seem to have achieved the opposite of their goals.
They stated they wanted more people in human form to experience multiplayer and that it wasn't intended that you would spend so much time in hollow form, but limited effigies (and the rarity of them comnpared with humanity), and not getting the 'soft' humanity randomly from monsters pre-boss works against that. Especially as they said that regaining humanity for cooperation is a bug. Note that you could fix this by letting spawns continue, so the effigies are unlimited.
It just seems badly designed (or badly directed) compared to the previous game, due to the 'synergy' of the above mechanics, and things like Shine of Amana.
The cutscene thing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be after the witch thing though, thankfully.
I don't think it is bad design, you can always put down your sign and help people. It makes you more cautious and making sure to use your souls when you have enough, I don't mind it
Well, they put in mechanics that go against some of their stated objectives which weren't even present in the previous game!
I mean, the game's been good so far, but those mechanics seem not as well crafted as they could be.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, apparently there is a way for unlimited effigies (more or less), but it's kind of tedious.
Co-op for souls (or if you have enough already no need to coop), then buy prism stones from the NPC. Then swap the stones with the crows and hope the RNG favours you.
Dark Souls II has gotten me interested enough to play the entire series (Demon, which I know is the spiritual predecessor, Dark and Dark II). However, I know online play is sort of important with the whole messages/summoning/invading aspect.
I have an Xbox 360, but don't feel like paying out to get Xbox Live again, especially with the problems Live has been experiencing with Titanfall.
Would it be worth picking up a PS3 just to play the series, and perhaps get some of the 'best of' PS3 games, like The Last of Us?
Edit: Although DS2 is having framrate issues on PS3 and none on 360. Yeesh.
For what it's worth, The Last of Us isn't particularly good after it's (amazing) intro. It's far too drawn out and repetitive. I was begging for it to end halfway through, it would have been much better as a 2 hour long PSN game, since it basically has you doing the exact same things the exact same ways against the exact same enemies from beginning to end.
That said, Demon's Souls is totally worth playing, even if you don't have online.
I've finally managed to kill the flying knight-guy (man he was annoying! ), is DS2 the same as the other game where those giant souls will come in useful for item crafting later on? Did try the blacksmith in Meluja but nothing..
Infinite Array wrote:I have a question.
Dark Souls II has gotten me interested enough to play the entire series (Demon, which I know is the spiritual predecessor, Dark and Dark II). However, I know online play is sort of important with the whole messages/summoning/invading aspect.
I have an Xbox 360, but don't feel like paying out to get Xbox Live again, especially with the problems Live has been experiencing with Titanfall.
Would it be worth picking up a PS3 just to play the series, and perhaps get some of the 'best of' PS3 games, like The Last of Us?
I thought Last of Us was over-rated.. it was incredibly well produced and polished, but really didn't do anything mechanically that hadn't been done in a computer game before. The story was good, but again if you've read any number of novels, or are an avid film buff, you will have seen it many times before.
I first read about Demon Souls when it got a Japanese release, and was one of the people that picked up the game on import (great thing about no region locking with PS3!) - confusing as hell, but a really 'raw' experience compared to the later games. In basic terms I think it shocked you when you played, I can see why it and now Dark Souls have got such a popular following in an age where every game has to hold your hand and point you to the exit.
I've not noticed any frame rate issues by the way (certainly not like the last one, wading through the water in blight town!), but then again I was lucky with being seemingly one of the few people who had a copy of Skyrim that played perfectly despite a massive save file.
Pacific wrote: I've finally managed to kill the flying knight-guy (man he was annoying! ), is DS2 the same as the other game where those giant souls will come in useful for item crafting later on? Did try the blacksmith in Meluja but nothing..
There's a guy in the Lost Bastille named Olaphis of Straid that trades boss weapons. You don't even need an upgraded weapon like you did in the first one, just 1500 souls and the boss soul. That said, he's petrified and you need a fragrant branch of yore to unpetrify him. He's also kind of a dick
Pacific wrote: I've finally managed to kill the flying knight-guy (man he was annoying! ), is DS2 the same as the other game where those giant souls will come in useful for item crafting later on? Did try the blacksmith in Meluja but nothing..
Yes, there are two separate NPCs who trade boss souls for weapons/spells (note that there's no need to level up weapons for this, you just trade the soul directly). One is in the Lost Bastille, petrified in a prison cell just before Sinner's Rise. Use a Fragrant Branch of Lore to revive him. However, you need to have at least 3 intelligence in order to talk to him (basically screwing over no one but bandits who don't want to waste points in casting stats, hopefully From patches this, because it's just silly). Also make sure you clear out the room first, those exploding zombies are annoying as hell.
The second NPC you end up meeting in the Shaded Woods, in the ruins area. There will be a floor that caves in, revealing an underground cave. In that cave is a door. To get the key that unlocks the door, you need to use a Fragrant Branch of Lore on the petrified Lion Warrior nearest the bonfire. Kill the Warrior to get the key. Once you enter the door, make sure you DO NOT attack the NPC (Ornifex). While she looks scary (especially if you did the Painted World of Ariamis in DkS1), she's totally awesome. She won't do anything for you then, but you can meet her later in her house in the Brightstone Cove Tseldora. She'll even trade one boss soul for free, although you'll have to pay for the others. Additionally, she sells a bunch of other useful weapons, items and spells.
I've not noticed any frame rate issues by the way (certainly not like the last one, wading through the water in blight town!), but then again I was lucky with being seemingly one of the few people who had a copy of Skyrim that played perfectly despite a massive save file.
They did end up having to cut back quite a bit on the graphics in order to keep everything running decently on the PS3/360's ancient hardware. Hopefully the PC version will bring back the fantastic visuals we saw in earlier builds.
Anyone else having trouble with blue orbs? I cant get an invasion with them, It always instantly tells me there is no one to invade... Is just no one committing sins or is it bugged at the moment?
DA's Forever wrote: Anyone else having trouble with blue orbs? I cant get an invasion with them, It always instantly tells me there is no one to invade... Is just no one committing sins or is it bugged at the moment?
I am not sure, maybe it has to do with the covenant you are (not) in?
Im in the Blue Knights or whatever its called. If your not it wont even let you try, Im allowed to use them, It just wont actually take me to anyone. I can use red's just fine so I dont think its a problem with my internet.
I've picked up a copy but I haven't played Dark Souls 2 yet.
But I did dig a few splinters out of my shoulder which did involve a mirror, tweezers, a razor blade, and peroxide and that's basically the same thing.
That is about the only thing good that can be said of the Gulch, it definitely doesn't over stay its welcome. Unless the boss hassles you, which I could see it doing if you weren't playing a ranged character like i am at the moment.
Ugh, smelter demon is kicking my ass. Nothing I have does any significant damage to it and it always stomps my face after its stomach catches on fire. The fact that Lucatiel is the most worthless NPC summon doesn't help at all
Lucatiel is literally garbage, she helps with Sentry and then just gets owned by the Sinner. She cant even tank for you which makes it worse, she doesn't have enough health to be a worthwhile distraction.
As for Smelter Demon, you can roll through all of his attacks outside of the big explody burst. Roll under the first attack, then the second, hit him once or twice, rinse and repeat. I find the best way to roll is towards him to the right, so you end up typically behind and to his left.
If he does give you too much trouble, you can always skip him. But keep in mind that once you finish him, Pursuer spawns once more in that location, and he drops a good ring for physical builds if you manage to kill him a second time.
First time i got up at Bastille where the 3 crossbow guys are, suddenly a dragon showed up i went WTF and ran of the ramparts loving the game, dying always feels like it is your own fault.
You say that now, but trust me, there are some parts in this one that will have you changing your tune.
There are definitely some parts in this one that really feel like they got carried away. Not enough to take much away from the game, but certainly some areas that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Just killed the boss that was in the bottom of the galleon. Man that level was a drag, those bloody long-armed black things are a PITA! Found out right at the end that you can hold a torch and that keeps them at bay, although typically only had 30 seconds or so left on it! Might re-visit the level at some point to try and find items I have missed - does anyone know of a good supply of torches?
There is a Pharros contraption that lights up the entire area! its very helpful. It drives them all into houses though which can be problematic for finding items.
DA's Forever wrote: There is a Pharros contraption that lights up the entire area! its very helpful. It drives them all into houses though which can be problematic for finding items.
What's funny is, I did the whole are then accidentally used up a pharos device there (I was expecting a secret door with some items). I didn't even know that light existed until I had already called the ship.
I didn't find Dead Man's Wharf (even without fire) too bad though. I had more trouble in the earlier forest and flame tower, but I did do all of those with only 50% life, more or less.
This game has done nothing to improve my opinion of Seath. I mean, really? A giant two headed spider and angry magic scorpion people? You giant scaleless douchebag.
At least Freja was a somewhat easy bossfight. Scorpioness Najka gave me more trouble than it did.
DA's Forever wrote: There is a Pharros contraption that lights up the entire area! its very helpful. It drives them all into houses though which can be problematic for finding items.
Ah.. I think I got a key for that (found it in a locked house in Maluja) - where is the actual contraption itself?
Anything that keeps the horrible long-arm ghoulies away! They give me the creeps, I end up stabbing at the attack button and getting killed..
When you leave the bonfire and cross the docks, there is the first staircase leading up. About halfway it breaks right, its over there in front of that house.
Boyd literally solo'd Freja for me, It was hilarious to watch. Phantoms knowing how to heal is great.
Old Iron King was a lot easier than his awesome intro video had lead me to believe. Took him down at 75% health and only got killed once when one of his swipe attacks knocked me into that tiny pool of lava.
Really, the smelter demon gave me more trouble than he did. Which seems odd, the miniboss definitely shouldn't outstrip the area boss.
Thats very true, at the moment I'm quite enjoying using Blue Flame as a casting implement. It combined with Soul Greatsword seems to catch people off guard.
Wow.. the Belfry Luna or tower of c**** as I like to call it - probably the first time in the game I've considered playing offline! I've made it up the top to pull the switch to open the gate, is there any other reason to go back up there? Would like to avoid being killed for the 75th time by the Blade Runner-style dwarf things and invading ghosts if possible!
I don't mind the Belfries that much (there are two), so long as you get one invader at a time.
For some reason, everyone who ends up gang-banging you ends up bowing or taunting after they kill you, which just grinds my gears.
Also, I've put my love affair with the Claymore on hold. Despite probably being the second best weapon in the game (the best being longspears, just as they were in DkS1), and probably the weapon I'm best with at PvP, the Gyrm Hammer just makes my loins frothy beyond imagination. Yes, it's incredibly slow and cumbersome, but there's a definite sense of novelty to be had when you're swinging an anvil at somebody. And if you can manage to get a 2HR2 off (easier said than done, especially with the lag, which is even worse than DkS1, and makes playing against mages unsufferable), it's pretty much a guaranteed kill.
Well, I just beat the game today. Dragonrider bow +5 and a few phantom helpers made short work of Nashandra. I feel like I cheated myself though, like I should've beaten her on my own. I'll do that once I finish my next playthrough.
I'd also like to point out that magic is ridiculous right now. Thanks to the ability to infuse weapons that already do elemental damage, and then further enchant them, mages are capable of utterly insane damage in close combat (and thanks to their other spells, everywhere else as well). There's no way someone can survive 2 hits against a mage using... just about anything, really. Magic infused Moonlight Greatsword enchanted with Crystal Magic Weapon is mind bogglingly stupid.
A pure sorcerer is capable of being far more resilient, does way more damage, and is far more versatile than any melee build ever could hope to be.
Faith aint bad, If you work your way up the Blues to WoG you can one shot just about any invader with the right stats.
Yes and mages are broke. I use a magic Blue Flame with great magic weapon and I can 2 shot just about anyone with Soul Greatsword, I didnt even know I'd stumbled upon this ridiculously op combo until I was destroying NG+ bosses with ease
You can get a similar effect by using a weapon with inherent lightning damage (NOTE: The Dragonslayer Spear is an exception to this, since it, surprisingly enough, cannot be infused or enchanted. In other words, it's the way things should be for everything), infusing with lightning, and then using sunlight blade.
The Heide weapons are all solid candidates. The Heide greatlance probably being the best of the bunch. It won't have as much raw power as a Magic Moonlight, but the poke-happy lance moveset should make up for that.
Similarly, Defender Greatsword is another grate candidate. Better yet, its 2HL2 (replaces the two-handed parry) applies sunlight blade without the need to attune a miracle, at the cost of 10 durability.
Additionally, if you want to go the route of Hexes/Darkness, the Crypt Blacksword can be infused with Darkness and buffed with Resonant Weapon, turning it into the most viciously powerful weapon in the game in terms of raw power (and remember, if you two hand it, you only need 20 strength!).
This trend also applies to pyromancers as well. Find a weapon that scales with fire BNS, infuse with fire, and use the fire enchant.
Really, it's insane, and hard to believe this bs even got through the testing phases. Magic of all kinds is overpowered to a criminal degree. If from doesn't end up patching this with some serious nerfs, I can't see the PvP community lasting very long. It's just way too overcentralized like this.
Well.. I have the prospect of being killed by practically every person that invades me, so it actually suits if they get it over in one hit and I can get back to trying to beat the level
I just picked this up as my first entry to the series. I'm a bandit but I'm pumping strength after farming Things Betwixt to death and about to chance taking on the floating knight in the Forest of Fallen Giants. After I might respec for sexy spellcasting when I have things down.
Notice of delivery ver1.03 update file (PS3/Xbox360)
Thank you very much I received for your continued support of From Software than daily .
DARK SOULS II Niokimashite (PS3/Xbox360),
I am planning the delivery of a new update file to update the program .
It should be noted that the adjustment in the current delivery schedule , as soon as they are determined , you will be notified at this page at a later date .
We apologize for the inconvenience to everyone , thank you enough for your understanding .
[ Date and time ]
Delivery schedule during the adjustment
[ Platforms ]
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
[ Items to be improved by the update file 1.03 ]
To change the specifications to be able to revive as a live person when the success of the cooperative play "white sign agalmatolite " and using the "small white sign pyrophyllite "
At Ojo Dolan Greig , the problem was fixed that the progress is impossible gates without opening
Online multiplayer , after a failed matching , correction of phenomenon that can not be used online items such as white sign pyrophyllite
Online multiplayer , when you start the battle with the knight of mirror to summon in other players , bug fixes fail to summon the client
Online multiplayer , modification of phenomenon that error code from being displayed not start normally in Shigo of non- execution chamber
Online multiplayer , modification of phenomenon that would take off the ring of each pledge and before going to the other world after matching
Modification of the phenomenon that item being left to stand for once can not be obtained , would have been displayed "Inventory is full " and
Corrected in the sinus of the gap , so as to display a dialog when entering the coffin where you can change the gender
Bug fixes that illusion , blood stains , the message does not appear in some area
Bug fixes or item object which is installed from being reset to the initial state
Improvement of display response in Character Making
Modification of the phenomenon of tattoo set angle set by the Character Making from being changed
Improved display speed of the Start menu , the bonfire menu
In the round of the second round or later , a particular item modification of phenomenon that are not line up to shop
Modification of the phenomenon that buried under the ground in the tower of the soil , when it is summoned by the wall in front of the main room of the area
A problem was fixed that when you died equipped with a ring of the basket of life , lose Seoul
Modification of the phenomenon of those players face in the dialog of summoning sign is different from being displayed
Modification of the icon image of the " guardian of the fort " trophy
When the guard occurs, is modified to vibrate the controller
The partially modified the text of the Help menu of the equipment " capacity correction value darkness "
(Error) to affect the ability of the higher
I affect the ability ( positive ) lower
Modification of the phenomenon would fall by slipping in the elevator on the rise , when you use the spell in the state that except for the binoculars
※ With the this update , we will update the 1.04 regulation also file .
※ I published at a later date to update the contents of the regulation 1.04 .
※ We will carry out server maintenance separately . I can not log in to the game server during maintenance .
※ During maintenance , playing games on the off-line is possible .
For We ask everyone of players , but we apologize for any inconvenience and Shi kept you waiting long ,
A while now , I ask repeatedly to have you wait until delivery .
This latest update file after application , version notation of title upper right corner of the screen will be as follows .
Ver [1.02 ⇒ 1.03]
Where is the Heide Greatlance? I'll probably need to soul vessel to spec into faith at this point (and get the attunement for a spell slot...).
What do you think of the Flamberge this time? It's lighter than the Claymore, but actually a tiny big longer. Damage and scaling is worse, but has natural bleed. Moveset is the same as the Drangleic sword, including the R2 stabs.
I was chewing through early game stuff last night on my friend's box, and it has been rather enjoyable.
Been using the Halberd, along with the spears, and it is a lot of fun. Ended up getting to the Wharf area before calling it a night.
The moveset on the Halberd is really nice... right up until you try to use it with a low ceiling. Then the nightmare starts. Thankfully if you use it with a shield you can jab like a spear, so that can get you out of sticky situations, but it doesn't have the power of those crazy overhand swings.
And of course, I didn't realize I had oil on my feet when I lit up a torch to chase away the giant-arm-things.
Just got through that skeleton charioteer - bloody brilliant, would go as far as to say that was one of the most enjoyable boss battles I have played in the game series, it just looked awesome.
Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the Covenants is, specifically the Blue Seal? I've been a member for ages, wear the blue seal ring, but not once have I been pulled in to another persons game to help them, or had anyone help me when I've been invaded. I wonder if it's working correctly?
I hung around the Belfry Luna for ages yesterday, leaving summoning marks and helping people get through the Gargoyles boss. Man the gankers are going like moth to a flame at that place, was usually getting invaded by 2 people at a time!
If you're part of the Way of Blue, if you get invaded by a red phantom, a member of the Blue Sentinels who is wearing their ring will be summoned to protect you.
However, the amount of Sentinels who actually participate in this is quite low. Most are just really scummy invaders.
As for the Belfry, members of the bell covenant get a titanite chunk for defeating a host, so there's always a lot of them out there. And, as you've noticed, they're pretty unrepentant gang bangers, so it's best to either move through that place as quickly as possible, or summon someone to aid you.
Ah thanks for that Fafnir. After all of that, realised I was wearing the 'Way of Blue' ring rather than the 'Guardian Seal'!
After entering Harvest Valley I've now joined the 'Heirs of the Sun' covenant and have now taken to helping people with boss battles. And nice to finally be able to do the 'praise the sun!' action!
Regarding summoning, what is the level range that you can summon, and be summoned, either side?
++EDIT++ Ah, it's OK found this calculator on the Dark Souls wiki page
Raw Moonlight, Raw Avelyn, Southern Ritual Band, Crystal Magic Weapon (spiced down to 18 int requirement).
With the Third Dragon Ring, you'll have nearly 2000 HP, you'll have enough load capacity to fit full Havel's armour with room to spare (especially with the Royal Soldier's Ring), and you'll kill any opponent in 3-4 hits (and get many more swings than that).
Within the next month or so, expect the game to become more centralized around this build than it already is (and holy crap, it is).
Every (one handed) swing of the moonlight has more range than a claymore 1HR2 while being a wide sweep, is faster and safer, and delivers much more damage. Considering that the claymore is already a fairly dominant weapon in its own right, and is entirely outclassed by this, that says a lot.
This is insane, and will utterly destroy the PvP community if it's not fixed. Honestly, it's not even fun to play as.
Personally, I've been playing around with a Havel cosplay build (with Dragon Tooth and Havel's Shield, naturally), ever since I got bored of never losing with my claymore. It's a real uphill climb. Not only are most elemental builds (especially the above mentioned) capable of doing way more damage way faster than my Dragon Tooth, but it's really slow, really unsafe, and even with 120 poise, I'm still broken mid swing by the smallest weapons. I can't even stunlock other players.
While I have fun with great hammers, I'd go as far as to say that they're completely unviable right now. Granted, most things are completely unviable in comparison to the above build (I'd go as far as to say that even the freaking claymore could be considered unviable in such a metagame), but great hammers are a special level of suck.
What they need to do is increase the elemental defensive values on all armour to be consistent with physical values (in full Havel's with Dragon Tooth and Resistance Ring, I top out at around 300 elemental defense, in comparison to physical defenses well over 1000). That's going to do nothing to stop incoming damage.
They also need to make poise actually do something (I shouldn't be interrupted mid swing of a weapon by a single hit from a katana while wearing full havel's), remove the ability to enchant weapons that are already infused (with elemental damage), improve stat scaling of physical weapons, and change weapon buff spells to have their bonuses scale off of your relevant stats (right now, they're all fixed bonuses).
Lastly, the ghost range on the Moonlight needs to be removed (it's still far and away the longest greatsword, even without it), the recovery on its attacks needs to be increased, and the amount of stamina used for each attack needs to be drastically increased.
Supposedly, it's only supposed to take effect during "active" frames, such as when you're swinging a weapon or rolling. In my experience, that's patently false.
What's more, the breakpoints for poise are insanely high, with a single hit from a one-handed dagger doing as much as 30 poise damage.
Supposedly, it can also take up to 20 seconds to regenerate your pose after being hit/having your poise broken.
Regardless of what the real data is, what we do know is that poise is completely gutted, and that the loss of value in poise has done some serious damage to the value of heavy weapons.
The first thing needed is some consistency.
First off, I'd make it so that, as I noted above, poise continued to only have an effect during actions (rolling, attacking, backstepping, the use of items).
Poise would take no time to regenerate, instead refreshing instantly in a period where actions aren't being committed (comboing with attacks would count as a single action for poise purposes).
Each action would have its own poise modifier. For example, a heavy two-handed attack with a great club would provide a fairly sizable multiplier to poise, while an action like rolling might give you a negative one.
Additionally, while super heavy weapons (ultra greatswords, great hammers) would always break poise (there's really no excuse for being able to face tank these), poise damage from other weapon types would be significantly reduced, by a third to a half, depending on the attack (typically reduced by half for R1 attacks, and a third for R2 attacks).
Regulation 1.04 patch notes, including a possible Moonlight nerf (is it enough?)
Note: It seems people are confusing what kind of patch this is. There is Game Patch (currently v1.02, and v1.03 has been announced and will be released with Online Regulation Patch v1.04) and there is online regulation (currently v1.03, and v1.04 is this one). The difference is, online regulation most likely affects the PvP/co-op, or in other words the online community, in general. So this influences the balancing issues, etc. Game patch influences more on the bugs and exploits, such as the Drangleic Castle glitch, etc.
Throwing motion for Acid Urns changed to heavy throwing motion; effects of acid toned down.
Durability of Twin Blade category improved.
Moonlight Great Sword revised to be unenchantable, attack speed reduced.
Gyrm Warrior’s Helm weight, poise and defense increased.
Thorn Ring damage reduced.
Old Sun Ring damage reduced.
Soul Spear and Crystal Soul Spear revised to pierce and damage multiple enemies.
Soul Great Sword casting time revised.
Stamina reduction of Homing Soul Mass, Homing Crystal Soul Mass and Affinity reduced and orb speed increased.
Soul Geyser damage reduced.
Healing spell casting speed reduced.
Wrath of God damage effect period shortened.
Firestorm, Fire Tempest, Chaos Storm and Forbidden Sun damages reduced.
Firestorm, Fire Tempest and Chaos Storm duration time increased.
Defense of Lucatiel, Bellclaire, Benhart and Tark increased.
Health of exploding undead reduced.
Homing capability of spells casted by White Undead Sorcers and Amana Priestesses reduced.
Fire ball spitting frequency of Fire Lizards reduced.
Shockwave duration period caused by the attacks of Hammer Wielders (probably ones in Earthen Peak?) reduced.
Last Giant damage reduced.
Lost Sinner health and damage reduced.
Royal Rat Authority damage reduced.
Duke’s Dear Freja’s laser breath damage reduced.
NG+ Lost Sinner pyromancers health and damage reduced.
NG+ Flexile Sentry shadow assassins health and damage reduced.
The moonlight will still remain a top tier weapon, thanks to it's fantastic base stats/scaling, amazing range, and incredibly wide sweeps. But hopefully it'll no longer remain the most dominant weapon in the game, and the best weapon to build for on any build.
For the attacks and poise, for the different attacks, I would have the 'Jump' attack still do a hefty amount of poise damage, even with lighter weapons (a lot of momentum in that compared with their normal attacks), and look at the R2s on a case by case as some are slow, large body heavy hitters while others are faster pokes. Maybe make something like the Bastard Sword R2 a poise breaker, compared with the Claymore one which currently has a much longer range and is the (generally superior) pierce type damage.
Maybe increase the drain from Havel's if it gets rather good under the 'new' poise (or nerf it so it's more in-line with it's DaS1 non-upgradable form)
This gives you a access to the Rebel's Greatshield and Drakekeeper's Greatshield. Dropping strength to 30 to increase vitality/endurance can also work, in which case you can't use the Drakekeeper's Greatshield.
For rings, use the Third Dragon Ring, Royal Soldier's Ring+2, Southern Ritual Band+2, and Clear Bluestone Ring+2.
With this combination of stats and equipment, you gain access to the following:
Great Magic Barrier, Sunlight Blade, Wrath of God, Great Lightning Spear (spice down to 36 faith). You can also replace lightning spear with Emit Force.
Alternate loadouts can reduce faith to fuel vitality and endurance. The important thing is that you have Sunlight Blade and Wrath of God.
Your options for weaponry are fairly diverse. First and foremost, this build gives you access to the Avelyn, which always makes for a fantastic offhand option (when you don't have your shield up). As far as other weapon options are concerned, your options are all over the place. Regardless of what you pick, make sure you infuse it with lightning. Notable weapon choices include:
Mastodon Greatsword
Mastodon Halberd
Defender's Greatsword (gets rid of the need for Sunlight Blade, in which case you can drop ATT to 2, and put those 8 stat points into END/VIT)
Thorned Greatsword
Claymore
Zweihander
Drakekeeper's Greatsword
Mace
Great Club
Pickaxe
Mastodon Halberd
Is there any way of getting more Twinkling? (and Dragon Bones) without Ascetics?
I think I might try Defender's, but I don't have the dragon bones at the moment, so maybe the Lightning +10 Claymore is the way to go.
What about the regular halberd compared with the Mastodon one? (it's kind of annoying to get the 'tip' attacks with it for full damage though, compared with the Sword weapons)
The only way to get twinkling titanite and petrified dragon bones is to farm with ascetics. You'd think that the developers would have learned a few things from the previous games, but this is what happens when Namco Bandai drops your old dev team for no reason.
Hopefully they'll patch this so that Chloanne will sell at least twinkling in an infinite amount after you've beaten the game, since my bonfire intensity for Dragon Aerie is at around 20 now, and Aldia's Keep isn't too far away either.
As for comparing the Mastodon Halberd to others in its class, if you have the strength and the weight allowance to use it, you really should. Its offensive power is incredible, and its one of the few weapons with actually decent scaling.
Looking at it, the damage is incredible bit it's so heavy (double Claymore). I might get one up to +10, though I find Halberds annoying since you only get max damage from them if you hit them at a certain distance, while Swords are a lot more forgiving in that regard.
2 just strikes me as having a load of awful decisions compared with the previous game.
I'd say that as far as build decisions are concerned, it's actually a lot more one-dimensional.
There might be more options, but there are only a few worth using, and they're really just slightly different flavours of the same thing, at least as far as PvP is concerned.
Stat scaling is just plain awful, so builds are a lot less diverse in terms of stat investment (just get the bare minimum for what you need and VIG/END/VIT gouge the rest).
Every build needs an elemental infusion and the respective weapon buff, but since elemental defenses are so ridiculously low in this game, which one you go with is irrelevant.
The ability to spice any spell down to 10 INT/FTH, combined with the piss poor scaling of almost every spell, means that casters can get away with bloody murder, meaning you have no reason not to invest in magic, especially since it'll 1/2HKO most players easily.
Every build needs an Avelyn, since it's just so good right now.
And while there's a massive pool of weaponry, thanks to that awful stat scaling, your pool of viable and optimal choices is greatly reduced. Additionally, since poise does absolutely nothing of worth and stunlocking is so easy for certain types of weapons, many more weapons, especially heavy weapons, are completely outclassed.
Keep up the good fight brother! Each one of those dead 'insert expletive here' is a victory for humanity
Incidentally, if you use the 'giant seed', does that make the local mobs even attack the covenant people who are protecting the tower? I know it usually makes the mobs attack invaders..
Does it take 15 dragon bones to get a weapon to +5 like it does with Twinkling now?
I'm not sure I'll even bother with a PVP build now, as it's going to be a pain to upgrade the armour, and the matchmaking doesn't care about level apparently either.
Yep, every boss weapon requires 15 bones. I'm getting to the point where ascetics are getting hard to find from farming these items which, by all rights, should be in an NPC shop.
As for PvP, thanks to soul memory, the matchmaking really is garbage. Being above 12m SM (a large part of that definitely came from all that farming...), I can now be matched up with anyone in that range, regardless of level. A lot of my duels in the arena are against people who are obviously several hundred soul levels higher than me.
I took a break from DS 2 i just cannot kill the first giant boss from the memory, my whole built is a wizard that fights at a distance and you have to fight this boss at close range it is like the frikkin Goat boss in DS, you cannot invite help, i talked to all the NPC, but cannot see a sign from the guy with the big blue sword, maybe try again in the weekend.
You can still cast from point blank range. Just stay by his left foot, only really moving away when he starts his stomp. Giants are weak to fire if I remember, and he's vulnerable to poison though the poison didn't do much for me (I used the poison resin on my claymore) I think.
You can summon help, both from players, and from Pate (of all the people in the world...). His hitboxes can feel kind of wonky (you're going to find that to be the case for a lot of things in this one, sadly, especially the Giant Lord), but thankfully, the giant's attacks are not too difficult to avoid, especially as a mage. Just keep a basic distance from his feet, while staying mostly between them.
If it's the Giant Lord, Benhart is down the stairs before the fog door. If you summon Drummond, you can't summon Benhart though.
Did you talk to him in the other memory first too? I don't know if that's needed.
I wouldn't summon them though. They made the fight harder, and one of them dragged another giant over to the Giant Lord before the head rolled down and then died, making it a 1v2 Giant fight.
For what it's worth, I've cancelled my PC preorder of the game. Thanks to soul memory, PvP is nothing more than fighting a legion of people at level 838 with an Avelyn and Santier's Spear, and I can't justify buying the same game twice just for the single player, especially when that single player isn't nearly as good as Demon's Souls or Dark Souls 1.
Have you played against Double Avelyn yet? It's ridiculously overpowered and instantly kills most people out there. Another big problem is the Silver ring that transform you into a big jar. Not only can you use it to surprise people, it also lets you skip the attack animation when attacking with the Avelyn in it - you are transformed, attack and the illusion breaks just when you shoot, making it impossible to counter if you do not have your shield up yet.
Once again, From Software has utterly failed at balancing a Souls game.
While the Avelyn itself is too good for its own good, and should be nerfed so that it isn't automatically worth taking for every single build, the dual Avelyn build doesn't strike me as being too bad. The reload time on it is considerable, and the stamina damage it does to shields is quite low. So long as you get close with a shield ready, and dodge any pimp slaps you see coming your way, you can just wait him out until he gets antsy and tries to attack, roll and punish.
Fafnir wrote: While the Avelyn itself is too good for its own good, and should be nerfed so that it isn't automatically worth taking for every single build, the dual Avelyn build doesn't strike me as being too bad. The reload time on it is considerable, and the stamina damage it does to shields is quite low. So long as you get close with a shield ready, and dodge any pimp slaps you see coming your way, you can just wait him out until he gets antsy and tries to attack, roll and punish.
That is precisely the problem - it leads to a very stale and boring battle. As soon as you drop your guard, you are either dead or too far away to attack the Avelyn player, thus allowing him to get in safety, reload his weapons and get back to hiding.
This being kept in mind, though, as there are worse things in PvP you already mentioned, mainly the, again, vastly overpowered magic.
Well.. to be honest, I've now taken to finding somewhere near the bonfire and killing myself just to get back to the game when I get invaded!
I've found as I've gone into the game, I've had less and less chance to kill people that invade, to the point where my attacks (from my +7 flame sword) don't really do any damage. I guess it must be how I've levelled my character, although I am progressing slowly and steadily through the 1-player game. I'm nearly always hollow (using the ring of binding so you don't get too much of an HP hit) so am happy to do this, then add the person to my block list - although don't know it that makes any difference!
Well, I've found that on larger maps with more enemies lag tends to be considerably worse (and it's already pretty bad in the arena), so I get annoyed with invasions myself, although for likely different reasons.
My greatest frustration against other players is when I'm in the arena and someone starts chugging their estus. At that point, I consider it a forfeit on their part and blackstone out. It's not worth my time to fight someone who's willing to turn a duel into a drawn out game of tag.
Another thing is the map isn't sound - it has bits that would technically overlap and the distant object placement is wrong (this is without even mentioning the Earthen Peak -> Iron Keep problem)
Another thing is the map isn't sound - it has bits that would technically overlap and the distant object placement is wrong (this is without even mentioning the Earthen Peak -> Iron Keep problem)
Haha yes that was a bit of a stinker! I do wonder if they intended the lift to go down from the end of Earthen Peak, rather than up.
Thank you SO MUCH for this link. You saved me 50 bucks. Now to go put that money towards a copy of Demon Souls for my PS3... or maybe I should start playing the copy of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition I have installed on my PC.
That said, I'd recommend picking up DkS2 if you can find it at a pretty good discount (such as the inevitable Steam sales). It's definitely not in the same league as the previous two souls games, but it's still certainly worth playing, and still better than a lot of other games out there.
Yeah I'll definitely wait for a sale... honestly I was going to pre-order it on steam to get the soundtrack but I have enough soundtracks I don't listen to already. Not that I don't want to listen to them... just that I have so many. In fact, the other day I found out I had the Baldur's Gate soundtrack from a previous purchase on GOG... who knows what else I have.
For what it's worth, the soundtrack to this one is so forgettable that you'll genuinely be surprised when people even mention that there was music in the game.
I quite like the music in DS2, it's very subtle and builds up an atmosphere - the 3-chord tune on the piano at the start sounds really discordant, really sets the mood for the game.
And the sound in Maluja.. love the waves/sunset, and it sounds great on a good pair of headphones!
Although yes - none of it is really 'buy the soundtrack on CD' territory!
Fafnir wrote: Nothing in the rest of the Souls series can really measure up with Lord of Cinder.
Man that song... That sold the battle for me. So the DS2 soundtrack really isn't that grand? Are there any exceptions to that (my audio is broken so I really have no idea)?
I will concede that the soundtrack was not as memorable.
However, I didn't really notice the soundtrack in the first game until my second and third play-throughs due to trying desperately not to die (and of course failing).
And while I also agree with the questionable enemy placement and quantity in some areas (shrine of amana will forever haunt my dreams), I still like the gameplay in DS2 more overall.
Maybe this should go in its own thread, but From's next project (which I think is probably directed by Miyazaki) has been 'leaked', but we don't know anything more than a few screenshots and the project name 'Project Beast'.
I've seen the screenshots, and it looks pretty interesting, and obviously another Souls Successor. Suddenly removing Miyazaki from DkS2 is starting to make sense, and I have much higher expectations for this.
It'll be interesting to see what they're planning on from a lore standpoint. On one hand, this could be another self-contained universe, separate from the past two Souls worlds, or on the other, what with the reference to "Beasts" in the title, and the fact that it's only noted as being a PS4 title so far, could imply a continuation of the Dark Souls franchise, since The Old One, in addition to also being Umbasa (God), was also known as the Beast (see: Talisman of Beasts).
Also, the one fog wall shown in the screenshots was absolutely gorgeous... not something particularly important, but damn...
The lack of Miyazaki really shone through in Dark Souls 2. The entire game lacked direction, both gameplay- and design-wise. HIghly interested in the future games.
) - pretty funny, when I finally got to another one of those sniper guys (that had been shooting you from across the level, while you are trying to melee), someone had put a message simply saying 'revenge' on the ground next to him.
