Dark Souls 2 is sadistic.

[Kopikatsu]

No, I'm not talking about the difficulty of the game.

In Majula, there is a large well with a bunch of very obvious items placed on various planks inside of it. Attempting to jump down the well will result in your immediate death. Right beside this well is a cat that sells a ring that supposedly lowers falling damage for 13400 souls. So, after a good 2-3 hours, I grinded the souls to be able to purchase this ring so that I could get at those sweet, sweet items (Even had to kill the White Knight in the Forest of Fallen Giants)

But the ring didn't help. The fall still instantly kills you even with no armor on. You probably need the Sorcery that does junk to fall damage. I am very the sads now.

You win this round, Dark Souls. (Let this be a lesson. Don't bother grinding for the cat ring).

But on the topic of difficulty...I feel kind of useless trying to go the tank route. For some reason, greatly upgrading my equipment to the Old Knight set increased the damage some enemies did to me. It seems like the only point of armor is Poise, because it certainly isn't for protection. At least I found a Soul Vessel and Greater Soul Arrow if I want to play the 'right' way and cheese everything to death (Which is how Gamestop suggests beating difficult enemies, I guess). Makes me sad, yo.

 

[Dandark]

You probably are not supposed to fall down the well. I imagine there is another way down there, maybe an illusory wall.

 

[Compatriot Block]

No, I'm not talking about the difficulty of the game.

In Majula, there is a large well with a bunch of very obvious items placed on various planks inside of it. Attempting to jump down the well will result in your immediate death. Right beside this well is a cat that sells a ring that supposedly lowers falling damage for 13400 souls. So, after a good 2-3 hours, I grinded the souls to be able to purchase this ring so that I could get at those sweet, sweet items (Even had to kill the White Knight in the Forest of Fallen Giants)

But the ring didn't help. The fall still instantly kills you even with no armor on. You probably need the Sorcery that does junk to fall damage. I am very the sads now.

You win this round, Dark Souls. (Let this be a lesson. Don't bother grinding for the cat ring).

But on the topic of difficulty...I feel kind of useless trying to go the tank route. For some reason, greatly upgrading my equipment to the Old Knight set increased the damage some enemies did to me. It seems like the only point of armor is Poise, because it certainly isn't for protection. At least I found a Soul Vessel and Greater Soul Arrow if I want to play the 'right' way and cheese everything to death (Which is how Gamestop suggests beating difficult enemies, I guess). Makes me sad, yo.

How are you liking it in comparison to the first Dark Souls? I've been craving something in that genre and I can't tell whether to listen to reviews or complaining players on this one. With inFamous on its way I'd rather not gamble $60 without good recommendation.

 

[dyre]

Pffft, wearing armor? Tanking?! Greater soul arrow?!?!?!!! Real pros dodge everything!

Sorry to hear about the well though. I think I'll wait a few weeks after release so there's a serviceable walkthrough / boss guide available in case I need it.

 

[Kopikatsu]

How are you liking it in comparison to the first Dark Souls? I've been craving something in that genre and I can't tell whether to listen to reviews or complaining players on this one. With inFamous on its way I'd rather not gamble $60 without good recommendation.

I think compared to Dark Souls 1, it lacks direction. Which is strange, because the world isn't as tightly interwoven as 1 was (probably due to the fact that you can warp between bonfires now). In 2, I found myself wandering for 30~ minutes at a time just because I couldn't really figure out how to progress. Admittedly, this might just be a problem that only I'm having.

Boss design seems to have taken a hit. Dark Souls had a bunch of really memorable bosses like the Bed of Chaos, Ornstein and Smough, Gravelord Nito, etc. I've only seen one boss and two minibosses so far, but... Dragonslayer is just a palette swap of the Old Knights with a unique arena, basically. Admittedly, I might be judging it too harshly based on the one boss I've seen. Dragonslayer might just be DS2's Taurus Demon. A boss that's just kind of there but doesn't add anything significant to the game other than to serve as a stat check.

It seems like they've made parrying harder. Which is good I guess because parrying let me breeze through DS1, but I'm having a bit of a rough time with enemies like the Greatsword-wielding Old Knights who are super fast and do massive damage. They have relatively low health, but that doesn't matter much when it can kill me from full health in two hits of a three hit combo with long enough reach that trying to engage in melee range with armor weighing you down seems foolhardy at best. Rolling doesn't seem to have I-frames because sweeping attacks can still hit you. Sometimes rolling will let an enemy get a free hit on you (admittedly this has only been the case for Dragonslayer so far).

So, I would say that I don't think it's as good as Dark Souls 1, but, I also freely admit that I haven't experienced enough of the game yet to give a reasonable opinion on the game. I might just be bad, which is entirely possible.

There was one really hype moment though. I got up onto a plateau and nothing seemed to be going on. But then I see a flash of something in the sky. A dragon was flying around with a knight in it's talons. I thought it was a weird detail...until the dragon dived toward me and dropped the knight in front of me. I don't know much about the Knight except that his armor is pure white and he's FAST. A ghost of someone who came before popped up and showed him getting slaughtered by the Knight, so I got the hell out as quickly as possible. But I've never seen the Knight again.

 

[Compatriot Block]

How are you liking it in comparison to the first Dark Souls? I've been craving something in that genre and I can't tell whether to listen to reviews or complaining players on this one. With inFamous on its way I'd rather not gamble $60 without good recommendation.

I think compared to Dark Souls 1, it lacks direction. Which is strange, because the world isn't as tightly interwoven as 1 was (probably due to the fact that you can warp between bonfires now). In 2, I found myself wandering for 30~ minutes at a time just because I couldn't really figure out how to progress. Admittedly, this might just be a problem that only I'm having.

Boss design seems to have taken a hit. Dark Souls had a bunch of really memorable bosses like the Bed of Chaos, Ornstein and Smough, Gravelord Nito, etc. I've only seen one boss and two minibosses so far, but... Dragonslayer is just a palette swap of the Old Knights with a unique arena, basically. Admittedly, I might be judging it too harshly based on the one boss I've seen. Dragonslayer might just be DS2's Taurus Demon. A boss that's just kind of there but doesn't add anything significant to the game other than to serve as a stat check.

It seems like they've made parrying harder. Which is good I guess because parrying let me breeze through DS1, but I'm having a bit of a rough time with enemies like the Greatsword-wielding Old Knights who are super fast and do massive damage. They have relatively low health, but that doesn't matter much when it can kill me from full health in two hits of a three hit combo. Rolling doesn't seem to have I-frames because sweeping attacks can still hit you. Sometimes rolling will let an enemy get a free hit on you (admittedly this has only been the case for Dragonslayer so far).

So, I would say that I don't think it's as good as Dark Souls 1, but, I also freely admit that I haven't experienced enough of the game yet to give a reasonable opinion on the game. I might just be bad, which is entirely possible.

There was one really hype moment though. I got up onto a plateau and nothing seemed to be going on. But then I see a flash of something in the sky. A dragon was flying around with a knight in it's talons. I thought it was a weird detail...until the dragon dived toward me and dropped the knight in front of me. I don't know much about the Knight except that his armor is pure white and he's FAST. A ghost of someone who came before popped up and showed him getting slaughtered by the Knight, so I got the hell out as quickly as possible. But I've never seen the Knight again.

Appreciate the response. I guess I'll wait and see on this one. I never got into Dark Souls like I did Demon's, so maybe I'll go back and finish it instead.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Appreciate the response. I guess I'll wait and see on this one. I never got into Dark Souls like I did Demon's, so maybe I'll go back and finish it instead.

Yeaaah. I'll be able to amend my response once I get a bit further in the game. My only two paths seem to be through Dragonslayer (Who I can't seem to beat because armor is a huge liability in that fight), and another through Forest of the Fallen Giants. I could have gotten further there, but a large knight armed with a mace took my health down enough that I bugged out (This was while I had a ton of souls on me for grinding out that ring). Probably going to head back that way since it's the only viable path at the moment.

The White Knight (Why can I describe so many characters in this game as 'Knight'?) has a really cool design though. When you first see him, he's slumped against a tree with arrows and blood splattered across his armor. He looks like he's mortally wounded, but if you aggro him, you'll find that he's very much alive. But he never speaks. When he's active, he sounds like... it's hard to describe. Like an Autumn breeze, if that makes sense. I really liked him. He dropped a cool Lightning-empowered sword, too. It's just a shame that my best weapons are element-enchanted and I don't have the Int/Faith to improve them further...

 

[Diablo2000]

Appreciate the response. I guess I'll wait and see on this one. I never got into Dark Souls like I did Demon's, so maybe I'll go back and finish it instead.

Yeaaah. I'll be able to amend my response once I get a bit further in the game. My only two paths seem to be through Dragonslayer (Who I can't seem to beat because armor is a huge liability in that fight), and another through Forest of the Fallen Giants. I could have gotten further there, but a large knight armed with a mace took my health down enough that I bugged out (This was while I had a ton of souls on me for grinding out that ring). Probably going to head back that way since it's the only viable path at the moment.

The White Knight (Why can I describe so many characters in this game as 'Knight'?) has a really cool design though. When you first see him, he's slumped against a tree with arrows and blood splattered across his armor. He looks like he's mortally wounded, but if you aggro him, you'll find that he's very much alive. But he never speaks. When he's active, he sounds like... it's hard to describe. Like an Autumn breeze, if that makes sense. I really liked him. He dropped a cool Lightning-empowered sword, too. It's just a shame that my best weapons are element-enchanted and I don't have the Int/Faith to improve them further...

The turtle knight with the big mace it's the way to go, if you can't take him on one on one, lure him in and use the ballistas on him. I never had to use this, but I did because it was hilarious.
There's a summon sign near the Dragonslayer boss door, that's how I beat him. Left my partner tank the hits while I spam Great Soul Arrows at the bastard.
Oh, and the Well. Forget about that for now, even if you could YOU DON'T WANT TO GO TO THAT WAY. It leads to suffering and death and horrible, horrible things.

 

[Kopikatsu]

The turtle knight with the big mace it's the way to go, if you can't take him on one on one, lure him in and use the ballistas on him. I never had to use this, but I did because it was hilarious.
There's a summon sign near the Dragonslayer boss door, that's how I beat him. Left my partner tank the hits while I spam Great Soul Arrows at the bastard.

Oh, and the Well. Forget about that for now, even if you could YOU DON'T WANT TO GO TO THAT WAY. It leads to suffering and death and horrible, horrible things.

I actually ran around in a little circle and let the Hollows rain firey death upon the turtle knight. For whatever reason, the bombs seem to deal lots of damage to him.

AND I WILL GO DOWN THAT WELL, DAMMIT. I JUST NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW.

 

[Diablo2000]

Appreciate the response. I guess I'll wait and see on this one. I never got into Dark Souls like I did Demon's, so maybe I'll go back and finish it instead.

Yeaaah. I'll be able to amend my response once I get a bit further in the game. My only two paths seem to be through Dragonslayer (Who I can't seem to beat because armor is a huge liability in that fight), and another through Forest of the Fallen Giants. I could have gotten further there, but a large knight armed with a mace took my health down enough that I bugged out (This was while I had a ton of souls on me for grinding out that ring). Probably going to head back that way since it's the only viable path at the moment.

The White Knight (Why can I describe so many characters in this game as 'Knight'?) has a really cool design though. When you first see him, he's slumped against a tree with arrows and blood splattered across his armor. He looks like he's mortally wounded, but if you aggro him, you'll find that he's very much alive. But he never speaks. When he's active, he sounds like... it's hard to describe. Like an Autumn breeze, if that makes sense. I really liked him. He dropped a cool Lightning-empowered sword, too. It's just a shame that my best weapons are element-enchanted and I don't have the Int/Faith to improve them further...

The turtle knight with the big mace it's the way to go, if you can't take him on one on one, lure him in and use the ballistas on him. I never had to use this, but I did because it was hilarious.
There's a summon sign near the Dragonslayer boss door, that's how I beat him. Left my partner tank the hits while I spam Great Soul Arrows at the bastard.

I actually ran around in a little circle and let the Hollows rain firey death upon the turtle knight. For whatever reason, the bombs seem to deal lots of damage to him.

AND I WILL GO DOWN THAT WELL, DAMMIT. I JUST NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW.
Oh, and the Well. Forget about that for now, even if you could YOU DON'T WANT TO GO TO THAT WAY. It leads to suffering and death and horrible, horrible things.

You get a set later on that decrease fall damage. I equiped that and the cat ring and got down there... It was the Lion *something* Set. It's a random drop from the LionBros you will encounter...

 

[tehwes]

You can still roll through basically every attack; it's just more strict timing. For side swings, it really helps to roll into the swing. But overheads attacks are the killer in DS2 -- they have extreme tracking.

With parrying, you have to parry earlier and the weapon you're using affects the timing. For example, using a Falchion or Parrying Dagger it's similar to DS1's timing. However, try 2-handing a Greatsword and parrying -- it's hilarious! You literally have to hit parry the instant they start their animation, or before if it's even a moderately fast attack.

For the Old Knights, I just spent half an hour fighting them until I could dodge all their attacks. Just be careful, because rolling takes off more stamina now...

 

[Kopikatsu]

Oh. Question. What does the coffin/boat by the troll things in Things Betwixt do? I get in it, loading screen...then hop right back out.

 

[tehwes]

Oh. Question. What does the coffin/boat by the troll things in Things Betwixt do? I get in it, loading screen...then hop right back out.

Gender swap.

 

[sXeth]

First impressions of 4 hours or so are that it seems a sort of half-hearted effort. Less put into the story, less focused in level design, less variety in baddies, and a more padded out pacing (it took me 2 hours to hit a boss fight). All of which combines to make a rather tedious early experience, especially if you already played Dark Souls and don't need the practice/training.

A certain amount of polish seems to be missing, I'm getting some minor headaches from texture pops on PS3, and its not like they're throwing uber-HD textures at it or anything. NPC's are lifelessly barely animated (if at all). Maybe its cause the more 'open wilderness' doesn't suit it, but it seems like there's a lot less hidden secrets and stashes about.

The story also seems totally directionless, thus far its "You are cursed, so you went to this place, cause reasons. Now you have to see the king, so go find the 4 things wherever.". Compared to the two bells in Dark Souls, which they gave you some vague direction to aim in, and a general (if vague) purpose to what you were doing. They try and put a lot of impetus on "You must do this, or become an insane starving Hollow undead", but there's nothing remotely pushing that tension ingame.

 

[RiseUp]

Boss design seems to have taken a hit. Dark Souls had a bunch of really memorable bosses like the Bed of Chaos, Ornstein and Smough, Gravelord Nito, etc. I've only seen one boss and two minibosses so far, but... Dragonslayer is just a palette swap of the Old Knights with a unique arena, basically. Admittedly, I might be judging it too harshly based on the one boss I've seen. Dragonslayer might just be DS2's Taurus Demon. A boss that's just kind of there but doesn't add anything significant to the game other than to serve as a stat check.

Wait until you get to the Executioner's Chariot. It's pretty awesome.

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

It took me 4 hours to figure out how to level up and I still cannot figure out how to cure the half life BS because pretty much everything can one shot me with only a half life bar. I love the new jump controls and the the scenery around Majula is just breath taking.

 

[Rylot]

The turtle knight with the big mace it's the way to go, if you can't take him on one on one, lure him in and use the ballistas on him. I never had to use this, but I did because it was hilarious.
There's a summon sign near the Dragonslayer boss door, that's how I beat him. Left my partner tank the hits while I spam Great Soul Arrows at the bastard.

Oh, and the Well. Forget about that for now, even if you could YOU DON'T WANT TO GO TO THAT WAY. It leads to suffering and death and horrible, horrible things.

I actually ran around in a little circle and let the Hollows rain firey death upon the turtle knight. For whatever reason, the bombs seem to deal lots of damage to him.

I got to that part and was starting to lure the Turtle Knight in to the room when all of a sudden the fire bombers just let loose with a carpet bombing and killed the Knight in one volley. Funniest damn thing I've seen ever.

As for my over all impressions, it frustrating as fuck. The first hour or so wasn't too bad, (other than those fucking troll things, I just ignored them). Now I'm stuck trying to get the timing down on the turtle knights. The shield and armor combo isn't nearly as effective. I do have to say that the AI does seem to be better. Instead of slowly surrounding me and waiting for me to attack them, enemies try and swarm you when they out number you. It's still frustrating as fuck.

 

[Rylot]

It took me 4 hours to figure out how to level up and I still cannot figure out how to cure the half life BS because pretty much everything can one shot me with only a half life bar. I love the new jump controls and the the scenery around Majula is just breath taking.

Just equip the human effigy and use it like a normal item. That took me a fuck of all long time to figure out. I remember reading somewhere that you had to burn them at bonfires. But no, just a regular item.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Yeah, DS II has some really cheap bits (though I seem to be less further into the game than you; only to the second bonfire in the Forrest of Giants area)... Like how was anyone supposed to figure out that there are two troll things guarding the boat in Things Betwixt? They intentionally obscure the second one with a bunch of boulders! D:

 

[BreakfastMan]

It took me 4 hours to figure out how to level up and I still cannot figure out how to cure the half life BS because pretty much everything can one shot me with only a half life bar. I love the new jump controls and the the scenery around Majula is just breath taking.

Just equip the human effigy and use it like a normal item. That took me a fuck of all long time to figure out. I remember reading somewhere that you had to burn them at bonfires. But no, just a regular item.

That makes no sense. It is named an effigy, and effigies are things you burn! And you have the burn option on the bonfire menu! D: