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

[Souj]

Oh shit how bad is the flame swathe nerf?

Very noticeable. I have absolutely nothing to back up this data other than eyeballing it, but I'd say maybe 25-50% weaker. The Mastadons outside Drangleic Castle took 5 or 6 hits with it to kill them on NG++ wheras I believe on NG+, 3 hits was a little overkill.

[Souj]

So is infusing Moonlight Greatsword with magic better than no infusion? The stats say its 334 magic damage without infusion but with infusion its 267. Trust what the stats say? And Raw says it puts it up to 384.


Fucking hell, getting up to the Colosseum on NG++ is brutal. All the torturers are replaced with red phantom versions. You can agro the first one all by itself but the next four all come after you at the same time unless you shoot em with ranged attacks

hurray platinum trophy.

[Souj]

Goddamn jumps in this game are such bullshit.
4 hours through the game, no deaths and I die falling off a ledge trying to get the Dull Ember

[Charismatic]

Do you use the stick or the o button for your jumps? That shit is impossible for me with the stick, had to switch back to the old setup.

[Darkmagi]

I was actually totally dreading that and any other mandatory jumps for my no death run, took a break though because that shit is stressful.

[Souj]

Do you use the stick or the o button for your jumps? That shit is impossible for me with the stick, had to switch back to the old setup.

I use the Circle button.
The problem was the angle.
Hexes seem to be the way to go for this Resonant Soul wrecks shit.
Anyone have a better/faster way to get through this stuff yet? What I do so far is;

I start off Sorcerer, ignore everything not picking up any single item or talking to anyone or fighting anything until I get to Dragonrider, make him fall off the ledge, then use the souls I get from killing him and the souls I get for using his soul to level up attunement and faith, then I go back to Things Betwixt pick up the Stone Ring and the small smooth and silky stone then use the Bonfire Ascetic I picked as starting gift and use it in Things Betwixt so I can grab the 3 Smooth and Silky Stones, trade those things to the crows. I then go back to Flame Tower and kill mace giant for his item.

Then I go through Forest of Giants until I get to the 2nd bonfire then I go back to Majula and pay faith girl to open the way to Huntsman's Copse, buy what Hexes I can from NPC dude there, make sure I get the mansion key from the cartographer for the estus, go back to Forest and kill Last Giant with Pate. Then back to Majula where I upgrade my staff and chime as much as possible, level up with the rest, then fighting Pursuer in the place you can first encounter him (far more room there then in his actual boss stage).

Then I make my way through Huntsman Copse to get to the Skeleton Lord which is one of the scariest boss fights in the game because if you fuck up on the bonewheel skeletons it can be quick death. Go through Harvest Valley and Earthen Peak pretty easily, killing Medusa chick with help of Jester.

Then the plan was to get the Dull Ember, get to McDuff and if I was lucky enough to get darkstone from the crows, use that to enchant my chime.

Then I'd probably go Ruin Sentinels > The Rotten > Old King > Scorpion > Lost Sinner > Freya.

I've been thinking Cleric would be a better starting class, but I'd lose the very early access to Soul Arrow and I'd have about 30 less shots as well after getting to beggar lady, and I do abuse the hell out of Soul Arrow...

[gaira]

watch some speedruns if you want route suggestions, considering most are using hexes too for the majority of the playthrough. you definitely don't need to worry about dark infusion on your chime that much, though. it might save you 1 cast at best on a boss.

here's an example:

http://pastebin.com/5Fg0rdyC
http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/c...s_compilation/

[Souj]

tried again treating it more like a speed run, doing maces instead of hexes. Covered nearly the same amount of ground in a 3rd of the time. Only problem was, I kind of zoned out during the skeleton lord fight. Accidentally killed the last two big ones at the same time and had viking skeletons and bonewheels come at me at the same time. Didn't end well lol

[gaira]

made it past shrine of amana to undead crypt with only 2-3 close calls so far. if all goes well, should have my no death ring tonight!

[RakEx]

GL. That would be quite the accomplishment.

While NG was pretty easy I think the difficulty of NG+ is just right and if if you don't play this game through multiple times your doing it wrong. So it seems they got it right for the most part.

The areas are a bit too short for my liking and some bosses to simplistic but overall I think the game is well done.

[Charismatic]

The game simply has too many bosses.
With all these bosses I'm certain they weren't able to put enough time into most of them. Its a shame.

[Insanecyclone]

[Souj]

15 second intro to a 1m 15 sec review followed by a 22 second outro.

[Deadgye]

Not that I usually consider Yahtzee a good reviewer but it's really funny how much his opinion of the series improves as it gets more popular, to the point where he's applauding the same thing in DS2 (lifegems) that he mocked in DeS (grass).

Life gems recover your hp so slowly you shouldn't even mention them in the same sentence as grass. Not to mention their not being the only healing method also makes it completely unrelatable.

Bosses are on par with DS1 bosses in terms of mechanics imo, especially with the ng+ differences. They do lack story backing though, which is a shame.

[Elcura]

They do lack story backing though, which is a shame.

I don't think that's true, but DkS 1 has been out for ages and the lore has been thoroughly looked at with a fine tooth comb. DkS 2 might not have as much in depth but it hasn't been out long at all.

[Darkmagi]

made it past shrine of amana to undead crypt with only 2-3 close calls so far. if all goes well, should have my no death ring tonight!

Very impressive! What build did you use for this?

[gaira]

hexer, started as a cleric. with mace and resonant souls, patience is the only real challenge after you know the zone layouts and boss patterns. didn't have much time to play yesterday, but made it to (but didn't defeat) giant lord, so only 3 fights left!

[tyven]

Don't get run over by statue head on your way to fight him. That would be so anti climactic

[Souj]

I don't think that's true, but DkS 1 has been out for ages and the lore has been thoroughly looked at with a fine tooth comb. DkS 2 might not have as much in depth but it hasn't been out long at all.

Yeah, all the bosses have some backstory. Some are just quite a bit mundane.

[gaira]

i'll just leave this here...