Dark Souls 2 (PC/PS4/XB1/PS3/360)

[fantasticdan]

Spoiler: show

I think that 'duke' was some kind of vessel for seath (remember dukes archives?), although I'm not sure if the duke/vessel in question would be the undead guy or the spider itself. Brightstone is clearly the crystal caves, and you get what is heavily implied to be seath's soul from beating freja on NG+ (which also makes the MLGS). I don't remember the dialogue, but IIRC man-scorption tark (who gives you a ring as a reward for killing his 'creator' after clearing brightstone), as well as the cat in town both also make allusions to seath.

I mean I guess that guy could be aldia as well but I didn't see anything to hint that.

[Teknique]

Fuck the royal rat authority. Fuck whoever came up with that shit. Its not sif, and its bullshit that he does over half my life no matter how much i have, or what armour i wear.

[Avarice]

I'm starting to think I hate the Gargoyles more than anything else in this game. I even love the Ancient Dragon and that god awful climb up to him more than the Gargoyles.

[Deadgye]

I'm not looking forward to killing the Gargoyles again. I had to shield+spear them to death over the period of like 15 minutes on my first character.

In regards to the lore stuff.

Spoiler: show

The ancient dragon is a fake dragon that Aldia made/resurrected/whatever using the giants souls in an attempt to bring the Dragon Child (Priscilla?) into the world earlier than it would have been normally. He wanted to break the death/rebirth cycle of fire/darkness I think. But it failed, and the result was a weak half human half dragon hybrid-- The emerald herald.

[Dngnhack]

Fuck the royal rat authority. Fuck whoever came up with that shit. Its not sif, and its bullshit that he does over half my life no matter how much i have, or what armour i wear.

I just magic killed the 4 normal asap then stayed underneath him. Just roll under his legs as soon as possible if you get out for some reason.

[Galkaeater]

trick with rat authority is to not use the lock on

[fantasticdan]

Do you need the listed str requirement to equip bows like in dks1, or is the requirement always reduced like des1?

[Souj]

Spoiler: show

I think that 'duke' was some kind of vessel for seath (remember dukes archives?), although I'm not sure if the duke/vessel in question would be the undead guy or the spider itself. Brightstone is clearly the crystal caves, and you get what is heavily implied to be seath's soul from beating freja on NG+ (which also makes the MLGS). I don't remember the dialogue, but IIRC man-scorption tark (who gives you a ring as a reward for killing his 'creator' after clearing brightstone), as well as the cat in town both also make allusions to seath.

I mean I guess that guy could be aldia as well but I didn't see anything to hint that.

Spoiler: show

Did a little more reading and yeah, I don't think the duke and the King's brother are the same person. The guide names the guy after the spider "Duke Tseldora" while some items call the King's brother "Aldia" who I was assuming was just the name of a place.
I don't think Navlaan is Aldia though as his name is "Royal Sorcerer Navlaan" and that sounds like a pretty official title to me. It looks like Navlaan also has blue skin which would make him one of those fenito dudes.

Drangleic could be Lodran, but I think it's possible it could be somewhere else as well.
And while Freya definitely has Seath's soul, it's not necessarily him. It could be it just happened upon Seathe's soul and maybe that soul began to influence it? idk. Nothing like that had ever been explored in DS1 Though from dialog it's definitely implied to those who played DS1 it is. Freya was definitely controlling the Duke though. If Freya is literally a reborn Seathe then Iron King would have to be Gwyn, the Rotten would be Nito and Lost Sinner would be the Witch. Tho the fenito do say their master, the first of the dead is still around. And I do think there's a chance the Lost Sinner could literally even be the exact same Witch of Izalith assuming the "sins she feels guilty for" is her failed attempt at recreating the first kiln, among other things. Just now fought the Lost Sinner again and definitely had forgotten about the bug that crawled into her eye.
So it's entirely possible.

as for 2 handing bows, I can tell you that 2 handing a crossbow lets you use it with half the STR.
I have 10 STR and using one hand on the heavy crossbow (20str) i get the penalty for not enough strength, but two hands it lets me use it.
Bows I'm not sure. I have very limited bows on me on my mage character and my other character has 40str.

[Souj]

Anyone know if it's worth it for a pure sorcery build to raise up Faith for the extra dark damage?

Also, back to more lore;

Spoiler: show

Is the Lingering Dragoncrest Ring basically proof that Drangleic is what used to be Vinheim?
"A ring used long, long ago in a land that existed where Drangleic does now."
and of course the ring's lore in DS1 was "A special ring granted to only the most accomplished
sorcerers at Vinheim Dragon School."

[fantasticdan]

Spoiler: show

His armor makes it clear navlaan is a relatively new alias, not his original name. Seems to be the name of whatever's possessing him, or the name his split personality gave itself. Going by the forbidden sun text, he has to be heavily involved with the going ons in aldia keep, even if he's not aldia himself.

My first guess on the lost sinner was that she's quelana (the pyromancy trainer from dks1, and the person who invented it) rather than her mother, since she's still humanoid, and the gloves from her armor set boost pyro. Thou I guess it could actually be both; quelana is the sinner and her mother is (still) the chaos bug.

[Darkmagi]

I seriously love item descriptions in these games, they give the biggest chunks of hidden lore. That sounds like proof to me.

Spoiler: show

Yeah, I was thinking the same. Between the cat saying stuff about her trying to light the first flame, the pyromancy armor, and the bug(chaos bug?) crawling in her eye

[Kaelan?]

Only if you raise it up to 40, any less isn't really worth the trouble

[Souj]

Spoiler: show

His armor makes it clear navlaan is a relatively new alias, not his original name. Seems to be the name of whatever's possessing him, or the name his split personality gave itself. Going by the forbidden sun text, he has to be heavily involved with the going ons in aldia keep, even if he's not aldia himself.

My first guess on the lost sinner was that she's quelana (the pyromancy trainer from dks1, and the person who invented it) rather than her mother, since she's still humanoid, and the gloves from her armor set boost pyro. Thou I guess it could actually be both; quelana is the sinner and her mother is (still) the chaos bug.

Spoiler: show

I don't think the Lost Sinner is Quelana. Granted I have no proof she isn't other than just my personal belief and the fact she doesn't use pyromancy and wears shackles that boost pyromancy. Why would she have those shackles on if she possessed the talent for it? Either the person who put them on her or herself probably wouldn't have wanted to make her stronger (assuming the effect of the shackles can even be considered canon.) And I don't think there's anything she would have felt guilty about. She felt her sin was leaving her sisters and mother alive and that seemed to have been corrected in the first game.
And the lore makes it sound like its the mother herself. "She committed what some would consider the ultimate sin- she attempted to relight the first flame."

The problem is whoever the Lost Sinner is and whatever the bug is, it all depends on what the Witch of Izalith was in DS1 and that was an answer that was never made clear. Was she the bug? Was she the tree creature? Was she one of the many witch corpses, or was she none of the above? Personally I'm leaning towards the Lost Sinner being the Mother and the bug being the Chaos she created after failing to create the first flame.

[Darkmagi]

Spoiler: show

I had my details mixed up, it definitely sounds like the mother based on what the cat says. Can't find the exact dialogue, but it's something along the lines of her failing to rekindle the first flame.

[Souj]

I quoted it in my above post.

[Darkmagi]

woops, skimmed past it.

[fantasticdan]

Spoiler: show

She might not be able to cast with both hands in the shackle, pyromancy in souls is a physical endeavor, you actually have to throw it and shit. For whatever it's worth, she has pyromancer adds on NG+.

The cats quote seems a bit off if it's talking about the mother, or atleast her actions prior to dks1. She didn't try to rekindle the first flame, she tried to create a new one in a different location. Rekindling is what gwyn did, possibly the player afterwards. I think whatever the cat is talking about would have had to happen after dks1.

[AoE]

I did not know there was an invasion time limit but now I know.

[Souj]

And knowing is half the battle.

Shit. These bison people are really resistant to magic. That's going to make this area quite a bit tougher...

[fantasticdan]

Yeah, it seems like a lot of the people I invade are trying to just time me out with chameleon.