Dark Souls 2

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Discussion

LandR

Original Poster:

6,249 posts

253 months

Saturday 8th February 2014
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y2blade said:
Can't wait for this.
I didnt realise it was so close, got my preorder on PSN yesterday.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Thursday 20th February 2014
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I finished Dark Souls last week, it's easily one of the best games I've ever played. I'm glad I came back to it, a bargain at £3.74 for a download, once I had my build heading in the right direction I was pretty much unstoppable, I was able to finish most of the game's bosses on the first try and the regular enemies were trampled under foot. Patience is the key to Dark Souls, not allowing yourself to be rushed, and not being stressed or annoyed by failure, which makes you more and more vulnerable to mistakes.

The game world is one of the best I've experienced. I loved how everything was interlinked, no loading screens, and the world was built vertically as well as horizontally. After climbing to the heights of the undead parish, to them descend into lower burg, then into the depths and even further into Blighttown, and further still through the hollow and down to the ash lake area, gave such a sense of scale and journey, almost like a Dante's Inferno style affair. At the end of the game, before I went and crushed Gwyn solo without him even landing a hit on me, I visited the valley of drakes, from where you can see the giant bridge leading into the undead burg from the Firelink shrine, what an amazing sense of scale. The care and the craftsmanship that went into this world and the creatures that inhabited it was simply staggering. The only enemy I thought was a "miss" in design terms was the Bounding Demon, which was just the lower half of the Centipede Demon boss. Everything else was AAA, 10/10.

I'm really, really looking forward to DSII now, I'm sure it will be nothing less than incredible, even with this seemingly stupid addition of allowing more invasions, which were dire. I spent 99% of the first game as a hollow so that I wouldn't be invaded, only turning human when necessary. Even still, I managed to get invaded right outside the Kiln of the First Flame by some tt with a super strong PvP build who just skirted around me and locked me in a backstab chain until I died, what a fking pain.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Friday 21st February 2014
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The tv advert is now out

http://www.youtube.com/user/NamcoBandaiGamesEU?v=o...

Best trailer I've ever seen. Swee' jesu. This is the one.

aww999

2,068 posts

260 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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So, has anyone got their mitts on this yet? Thinking of picking it up on the way home, but I have BBQ, car maintenance, F1 and sudnay service to keep me busy this weekend so I don't even know if I will get around to playing it!

Zoon

6,654 posts

120 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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Looks great. Saw that advert on TV last night. Do I buy it though, I already have a load of games I've not even started yet.

VeeDubBigBird

440 posts

128 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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Ok guys i will be buying a copy tonight (never played the original). Is there any plans for a PH clan (PS3) or is this not possible in the game ?


Read a lot of the reviews and been told quite a bit about it from friends and work colleagues and it does sound like the game actually hates the players, so looking forward to future threads of grown men reduced to tears, or lots of the following.
mad
furious
cry



P.S.

Any hints for a noob to the game.

Dare2Fail

3,808 posts

207 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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VeeDubBigBird said:
Ok guys i will be buying a copy tonight (never played the original). Is there any plans for a PH clan (PS3) or is this not possible in the game ?
.
It's not that sort of game. Think of it more as a single player game and you are on the right track. It's not online in the traditional sense. And yes, you will die lots if Dark Souls and Demon Souls are anything to go by.

nosuchuser

837 posts

215 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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Am so looking forward to this as well. Loved Demons' and Dark. Shame its delayed on PC for a bit though.

Fingers in ears... la la la can't hear you

praise the sun

lexusboy

1,099 posts

142 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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Picked it up tonight and played it for about 30-45 minutes and died about 5 or 6 times already.

It's going to be brutal

Baron Greenback

6,961 posts

149 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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nosuchuser said:
Am so looking forward to this as well. Loved Demons' and Dark. Shame its delayed on PC for a bit though.

Fingers in ears... la la la can't hear you

praise the sun
Just seen this one twitch! Dam look good, any idea when released on Pc?

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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They should have made the strapline for this game "Prepare to be disappointed". The way your health bar gets smaller every time you die is a major pain in the arse, you need to use a human effigy to become human again and replenish it, but human effigies are finite. No longer can you keep trying and trying at challenges, as instead of being about tough, disciplined combat the game feels more like an item management quest, a war of attrition to reach the finish line before the items in the game run out - and of course, you can't farm for more souls to level up, or purchase more crucial humanity, as the enemies in the game stop respawning too.

On top of that, the environments, while pretty, lack the character of those from Dark Souls, the grahpics are nice but in a way less charming. Everything looks faster and smoother, but not necessarily better. The game world is not as exciting or inventive as that from Dark Souls either, there is less of a vertical stacking of areas, it's just a flat plane like a traditional RPG, and there is feeling of a feeling of wonder and discovery to the exploration.

It feels sort of like a Dark Souls game, but one that was made by different people who didn't really understand what made the first one so amazing. I'm hoping it will improve and build steam as it goes on, but so far, I am disappoint.

aww999

2,068 posts

260 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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I tried burning a human effigy at a bonfire but my health bar remains stubbornly at the half-way point. There is someone who sells them but clearly I don't know how to use them. Must have died 50+ times in two hours last night, things I have repeatedly tried (and failed) to defeat are:

Hippopotodemons
Guy with a big sword asleep under a tree
A giant
Piglets. Yes, I really did get killed by a piglet. I suck at this game!

Keep getting my arse kicked in the giants forest part so I'm not really sure where to go next to build up some experience. ANy ideas of places to explore early on?

However, I think it is pretty good on the whole. I am not a super-gamer-nerd and I only played through dark souls once (didn't complete it - the last guy must have slaughtered me 100+ times before I gave up), so I am not really interested in the finer points of item farming etc. I am actually trying to be less cautious this time around and embrace the whole dying thing, more fun than keeping your guard up 24/7 and slowly poking people to death with a spear!

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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aww999 said:
I tried burning a human effigy at a bonfire but my health bar remains stubbornly at the half-way point. There is someone who sells them but clearly I don't know how to use them. Must have died 50+ times in two hours last night, things I have repeatedly tried (and failed) to defeat are:

Hippopotodemons
Guy with a big sword asleep under a tree
A giant
Piglets. Yes, I really did get killed by a piglet. I suck at this game!

Keep getting my arse kicked in the giants forest part so I'm not really sure where to go next to build up some experience. ANy ideas of places to explore early on?

However, I think it is pretty good on the whole. I am not a super-gamer-nerd and I only played through dark souls once (didn't complete it - the last guy must have slaughtered me 100+ times before I gave up), so I am not really interested in the finer points of item farming etc. I am actually trying to be less cautious this time around and embrace the whole dying thing, more fun than keeping your guard up 24/7 and slowly poking people to death with a spear!
I'm pretty sure the giant's forest is where you are supposed to go first, by the second bonfire there is a merchant who sells the key to the blacksmith's workshop. Once you climb down a ladder in the cardinal tower (the building containing the second bonfire of the area) you come to an area where you use a twisted tree to climb a castle wall. Off to the right of this tree is a flooded courtyard with ruined buildings. Jump across the top of the buildings and enter a cave, at the top is a lost cartographer, talk to him over and over and he gives you a key to a mansion, which I believe is the locked building in Majula where the piglets killed you.

Also, if you climb the branch up to the castle battlement you'll be attacked by a levitating knight who is dropped by a giant eagle - this guy will smash you to pieces and you will barely be able to hurt him. Don't worry, you're not meant to win this. Next time you climb up to the battlement who doesn't appear, you fight him later on as a proper boss, so you are free to continue on your way for now.

LandR

Original Poster:

6,249 posts

253 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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Mastodon2 said:
The way your health bar gets smaller every time you die is a major pain in the arse
Demon Souls worked like this, I like it. I'm not very far in, but you could pretty much beat Dark Souls without getting hit, I'm guessing Dark Souls 2 is the same. If I keep dying a lot I'm doing something wrong.

Mastodon2 said:
the enemies in the game stop respawning too.
Again, I'm not very far in. Do all enemies stop respawning or just the mini boss type enemies. This is how Dark Souls worked too, certain enemies in the game were 1 time enemies and once you killed them they never respawned (certain dark knights, the armoured boars, the kite dragon etc)

Mastodon2 said:
On top of that, the environments, while pretty, lack the character of those from Dark Souls, the grahpics are nice but in a way less charming. Everything looks faster and smoother, but not necessarily better. The game world is not as exciting or inventive as that from Dark Souls either, there is less of a vertical stacking of areas, it's just a flat plane like a traditional RPG, and there is feeling of a feeling of wonder and discovery to the exploration.
I agree from what I've seen so far, the lighting is crap and the environments do look flat and washed out. That was the first thing that struck me about the game was how ugly it was.

Mastodon2 said:
It feels sort of like a Dark Souls game, but one that was made by different people who didn't really understand what made the first one so amazing. I'm hoping it will improve and build steam as it goes on, but so far, I am disappoint.
I am too, a little, the opening to Dark Souls and Demon Souls was amazing. This isn't grabbing me the way those games did. I'm confident it will improve.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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Certain enemies do disappear if the game picks up on the player farming them, and that includes easy grunts who you might farm for resources. They can be restored by use of limited items, but they reappear at NG+ stat levels, so this could prove a dangerous gambit.

So far, I'm impressed. I love the environments, the combat still feels meaty, the enemy design is fantastic. It seems like the non-respawning enemies and limited health system are big mis-steps though. That hinges the success of the game on every single aspect being perfectly balanced, and experience of Dark Souls tells me that was not the case at all. So I don't hold any hope that this will live up to the nature of the last game as being harsh, but ultimately fair. I am enjoying it though, I thrive on punishment. I fought through Ninja Gaiden II on warrior difficulty, which had the biggest slap in the face ever in gaming (the double boss gauntlet at the end).


Also, WTF is up with those pigs at the Majula shrine? Loads of health, but fk all souls!

Mister V

1,106 posts

199 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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aww999 said:
I tried burning a human effigy at a bonfire but my health bar remains stubbornly at the half-way point. There is someone who sells them but clearly I don't know how to use them. Must have died 50+ times in two hours last night, things I have repeatedly tried (and failed) to defeat are:

Hippopotodemons
Guy with a big sword asleep under a tree
A giant
Piglets. Yes, I really did get killed by a piglet. I suck at this game!

Keep getting my arse kicked in the giants forest part so I'm not really sure where to go next to build up some experience. ANy ideas of places to explore early on?

However, I think it is pretty good on the whole. I am not a super-gamer-nerd and I only played through dark souls once (didn't complete it - the last guy must have slaughtered me 100+ times before I gave up), so I am not really interested in the finer points of item farming etc. I am actually trying to be less cautious this time around and embrace the whole dying thing, more fun than keeping your guard up 24/7 and slowly poking people to death with a spear!
You need to use the effigy's to get your health back. Burning them stops you being invaded for a period of time.

lexusboy

1,099 posts

142 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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These big metal knight enemies are proving to be a source of buggery at the moment.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Sunday 16th March 2014
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Just smashed the Last Giant boss, duck, dodge, dive, roll and avoid the stamps. Took a few tries to get the strategy down, in the end I ran straight at him and rolled through his legs as he went for an arm attack, got a few hits in on his legs and rolled away before a stamp attack and then put some distance between us, rinse and repeat. When he ripped his arm off half way through the fight to increase his swing attack range, it made no difference as running straight at him and rolling between his legs meant that he couldn't hit me anyway. Bosh.

aww999

2,068 posts

260 months

Monday 17th March 2014
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LandR said:
Mastodon2 said:
The way your health bar gets smaller every time you die is a major pain in the arse
Demon Souls worked like this, I like it. I'm not very far in, but you could pretty much beat Dark Souls without getting hit, I'm guessing Dark Souls 2 is the same. If I keep dying a lot I'm doing something wrong.
I get absolutely hammered, many times over, by every guy in the game as I try to progress. So I am pretty-much resigned to playing the whole game on half-health! Currently trying to get past the illusory wall near the second Land of Giants bonfire, can lure the two spear-zombies out without alerting the firebomb thrower, but then (after going dwon the aldder) I always get killed by the four sword-guys that rush out of the room with the bolt-throwers in it.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Monday 17th March 2014
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aww999 said:
I get absolutely hammered, many times over, by every guy in the game as I try to progress. So I am pretty-much resigned to playing the whole game on half-health! Currently trying to get past the illusory wall near the second Land of Giants bonfire, can lure the two spear-zombies out without alerting the firebomb thrower, but then (after going dwon the aldder) I always get killed by the four sword-guys that rush out of the room with the bolt-throwers in it.
The solution is simple in practice, and considerably tougher in practice! What I did was, move towards the door approaching from the LEFT hand side of the door (closest to Pate, the Centurion bloke). As you step back from the door and the ballistas fire, that should lure the shield knight towards you and ensure he is shot in the back and killed. If you approach from the right hand side of the door, he tends to closely follow the wall as he exits the ballista room and the fatal arrow misses him. Once he goes down, try to rush the sword knights as the exit the room through the hole in the wall. If you can hit a few of them with a couple of big swinging attacks, good, because you want to flatten them quickly. If you let them out into the open with you you're in trouble, as they'll quickly surround you.

After that, you can use the ballistae to kill the armoured shell monster that guards the door across the courtyard. This is much more reliable than getting enemies in the castle above to drop firebombs down onto you, or taking him on face to face (though he is quite easy to beat in a straight fight if you are patient).