Dark Souls 2 is sadistic.

[loa]

Not being snarky here; just genuinely confused about why people like the Souls games. They do have good segments that are actually difficult, but there's just so much cheap bullshit that even a skilled player cannot predict.

Again, I'm not saying that people don't enjoy these games - they clearly do, but I'll never understand why.

What are you talking about.
If you know the game, nothing will surprise you because you know it comes.
Attacks are being telegraphed pretty clearly and once you know the movesets, you can make predictions to the point of beating the game without getting hit on level 1.
This isn't I wanna be the guy.

 

[tehwes]

Anyone find the fire resist ring or the sweat pyromancy spell? I need them to cross the magma paths in Iron Keep. I guess.

I was trying for over an hour to get the chests on the lava path, using these two things. It doesn't work, at least not that way. I even tried combining with large lifegems and the fire-resist burr. Also tried Iron Flesh, same deal.

I was able to land on the chest, allowing me to literally fall off and hit A... and you STILL don't have enough time.

Someone mentioned you're supposed to use the Pharos lockstone above the archer, but I don't have any left.

But all that does is make a little tiny puddle of water. I think. That's what it did in Earthen Peak.

I guess I could try it, since I just picked up a bunch of new Lockstones from the Shaded Ruins.

Yeah having wet feet is supposed to let you avoid the fire damage, from what I hear.

Eeeeh. I had someone tell me that you could do it by removing all of your armor (for speed) and rolling through the five vases of water near the illusionary wall beside the merchant would let you safely cross the molten rock. Totally didn't work.

I can confirm the Pharos pool of water significantly reduced the fire damage. Combined with a Fire Quartz Ring + 1 and Flash Sweat I can able to get that chest open (the one before Smelter). It's a Phoenix Parma, which is a light shield with low block % for everything except Fire, which is 90%.

The chest in the room with the square movable platforms -- you can get that one by rolling into the pots up the stairs, then jumping down and running across. But, you have to heal through the damage by using Estus until you reach it and have enough health to survive opening the chest AND picking up the item. Inside it is the pyromancy Chaos Storm.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Not being snarky here; just genuinely confused about why people like the Souls games. They do have good segments that are actually difficult, but there's just so much cheap bullshit that even a skilled player cannot predict.

Again, I'm not saying that people don't enjoy these games - they clearly do, but I'll never understand why.

You can predict most of them (Oh hey, this lift has blood smeared across it. Let's stand on top of it and see where it goes!)

For the ones you can't predict (Lost Sinner putting out the lights during your first encounter and probably wrecking your face off), you can prepare for. You're weaker in the dark? Find a way to light up the room. And then lo and behold, Sinner ends up weaker in the light.

Fire demon (OF FIRE!) kicking your ass old school? Equip a Flame Quartz Ring, use Flash Sweat, and laugh as you tank his pitiful damage.

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

I cannot find the gargoyles, How do you get to them? the wiki says they are after the sentinels but I just get lost or dead from suicide bombers.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I cannot find the gargoyles, How do you get to them? the wiki says they are after the sentinels but I just get lost or dead from suicide bombers.

From the Servant's Quarters bonfire, there's a ladder leading to a room below. Use a Parros Lockstone on the thing there and it'll put a face on a nearby wall. Hit the face with a weapon and it'll open the path to the Belfry Luna.

 

[sXeth]

Not being snarky here; just genuinely confused about why people like the Souls games. They do have good segments that are actually difficult, but there's just so much cheap bullshit that even a skilled player cannot predict.

Again, I'm not saying that people don't enjoy these games - they clearly do, but I'll never understand why.

What are you talking about.
If you know the game, nothing will surprise you because you know it comes.
Attacks are being telegraphed pretty clearly and once you know the movesets, you can make predictions to the point of beating the game without getting hit on level 1.
This isn't I wanna be the guy.

"If you know the game" isn't predicting, its using hindsight on the second go (or a walkthrough).

This game does have enemies that literally spawn out of thin air in some of its ambushes (which the first never did to my recollection), the earliest example being the pit in the tutorial zone where even if you clear the entire zone first, an archer will still spawn to shoot arrows down at you after you jump in.

In my ongoing impressions, there's still the meat of Dark Souls in the game here, but there's a lot of unnecessary fat, and some fairly questionable additions. You have to go to the NPC to level up, instead of a bonfire, but you can just teleport to her with any bonfire. All it does is add a loading screen. Even more confusingly, your weapons just auto-repair at bonfires (which they don't bother mentioning, I just noticed after the second confusing trip to the smith to fix my now repaired weapon). They added an annoying loading screen for one thing, but then streamlined the other one to the point of silliness.

The lack of fix on many issues is a bit irksome too. Enemy melee still doesn't clip. Their AI is still easily lured one by one, or tripped up on terrain (Then again, thats almost a requirement in how some fights are balanced, and I don't consider exploiting AI failure to be a valid addition to gameplay). Equipment bonuses show up on the equip menu, but not the inventory screen. There's no comparing stats with items in the shops. I think the explanation of Humanity has gotten worse, and convenants are still complete guesswork without going outside the game.

The story has picked up a little, and for those quoting me and filling in the blanks. I'm aware of who the "witches" are, I was replying sans spoilers to the guy who hasn't played yet.

I gave Dark Souls a 6 originally, bumped to a 7 down the line. DS2 is hovering much more strongly on a 6/6.5 area though.

 

[Bombiz]

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.

there is already a Dark Souls first impressions thread. why not go post this there instead of here? seems more appropriate.

 

[Kopikatsu]

So, the game matches you with other players based on your Soul Memory. You can find this number by going to Player Info and looking in the upper right hand corner of the chart.

I'm wondering if it's total souls collected or simply souls spent? I should hope that it's the latter, but it seems like it's the former.

I mean, I have a Soul Memory of a million right now, but I definitely haven't spent that many souls. But I have lost a lot of souls between my various trips. I'd suck if the game was pairing me up with people who were way stronger despite having the same total souls collected 'cause they were better about getting back to Majula than I.

 

[[REDACTED]]

SNIP

You can see the archer from above the pit. It doesn't take a precise angle to do it either, unless you ran across a bug that I didn't. And I'm pretty sure that when loa said "if you know the game" they meant "if you're good at the game".

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

They are not difficult games, they just force you to play under unreasonable circumstances and repeat the same gameplay OVER AND OVER AND OVER in that same monotonous fighting system... I have no time for such "hardcore" drivel... Which I lament as I really like the imagery / worlds / concepts and am a Namco Bandai fan

I entirely agree with your post with an exception. You see, the first time I played it, I got to the gargoyles and stopped because the game really did seem to be incredibly dull. Months later, I gave it a try and got past the gargoyles and got annoyed with the Capra Demon. Then, about a month ago, I tried once more and breezed through that early stuff, happened to be human for the Capra Demon, got some chump to help me and all was well.

You see, by the time you beat the Capra Demon, you're actually really well equipped to play the game. You start to recognize lots of things that can easily get you killed before dying to them. I made it through the entire depths, killed the boss and made it to the bonfire in Blighttown on my very first try. Excluding bosses, most enemies were just variations on stuff you'd already seen. If you figured out how to kill black knights, Silver Knights aren't a problem. If you can kill a skeleton spearman, you can probably use those skills to kill any spearman. And even when it comes to bosses, it rarely took me more than a few lives to figure out what needed to be done to proceed.

The game does it's absolute best to make itself boring during the early parts and it's a damn shame because the game actually does get quite a bit better as you progress. And once you've made it through the early game once, doing it a second time (if you want to try a different build) takes almost no time at all. I'm not particularly good at the game and I managed to take a starter cleric from the Undead Asylum to blighttown in around an hour - the first time I did that it probably took a cumulative 10 hours of frustration. So, let me assure you that the game absolutely does get better - it's just that those first areas and bosses are silly. Hell, I'd say the Capra Demon was, if judging by my death count, the hardest boss in the game by far and unless you've played for awhile, you might assume you actually have to fight it to proceed!

 

[Mutie]

snip

Ah, you see my experience with the series is almost entirely based on Demon's Souls... And, though I know they're pretty damn unrelated, I like to try and play a series from the start if it's within my power. That said, I think I would probably enjoy Dark Souls a Hell of a lot more. I'm just waiting for the hype to die down a bit and for a great enough amount of time to have passed to prevent too much "lol, told you so pussy" from my less considerate friends.

In the meantime, I'm having a whale of a time on Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen on the hardest setting my my TV on super dark. Yeah, it's might not be super challenging, but that doesn't mean I don't get one-shotted by most big beasties I'll come back to the Souls, I'm sure... In terms of imagery and atmosphere (and general macabre, cautionary tales) it's practically my own personal porn.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

snip

Ah, you see my experience with the series is almost entirely based on Demon's Souls... And, though I know they're pretty damn unrelated, I like to try and play a series from the start if it's within my power. That said, I think I would probably enjoy Dark Souls a Hell of a lot more. I'm just waiting for the hype to die down a bit and for a great enough amount of time to have passed to prevent too much "lol, told you so pussy" from my less considerate friends.

In the meantime, I'm having a whale of a time on Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen on the hardest setting my my TV on super dark. Yeah, it's might not be super challenging, but that doesn't mean I don't get one-shotted by most big beasties I'll come back to the Souls, I'm sure... In terms of imagery and atmosphere (and general macabre, cautionary tales) it's practically my own personal porn.

I actually found Dragon's Dogma to be a more difficult game in a lot of ways. I also quite enjoyed it and would easily play it again if they ever made a PC port (which they almost certainly won't). I'd also say that Dragon's Dogma has several broad thematic and narrative similarities.

 

[Diablo2000]

Oh. I find the Sorcery Magic Thing, it was the Soul Greatsword. I found in the King's Castle and yet no archievement for getting all magics. There's something missing... Say are the Crystal spells in this game even? They would be useful.
Also since I entered the King's Castle, appeared a bunch of ??? locations that I can't travel too, what is this shit?

 

[Bombiz]

They are not difficult games, they just force you to play under unreasonable circumstances and repeat the same gameplay OVER AND OVER AND OVER in that same monotonous fighting system... I have no time for such "hardcore" drivel... Which I lament as I really like the imagery / worlds / concepts and am a Namco Bandai fan

meh. i find it no different then old games like Ghosts and Goblins or Ninja Gaiden. or games like i wanna be the guy. though i do agree that it's not 'hardcore' or difficult. most people who say that haven't really played game.

 

[Mutie]

I actually found Dragon's Dogma to be a more difficult game in a lot of ways. I also quite enjoyed it and would easily play it again if they ever made a PC port (which they almost certainly won't). I'd also say that Dragon's Dogma has several broad thematic and narrative similarities.

Glad to see someone else see a bit of similarity between them: it's kinda why I went to D'sD to be honest. I was thoroughly enjoying Ds'S, untill the phantom invasion fiasco, and wanted a similar game but without the risk of humiliation. I don't have the personal confidence to take PvP in my stride at the minute unless I'm playing FOR PvP, which I leave for League of Legends. That and I think the pawn system in D'sD is a damn ingenious form of interactivity (though the same can be said for the ghosts / blood stains / floor messages of Souls).

 

[Bombiz]

I actually found Dragon's Dogma to be a more difficult game in a lot of ways. I also quite enjoyed it and would easily play it again if they ever made a PC port (which they almost certainly won't). I'd also say that Dragon's Dogma has several broad thematic and narrative similarities.

Glad to see someone else see a bit of similarity between them: it's kinda why I went to D'sD to be honest. I was thoroughly enjoying Ds'S, untill the phantom invasion fiasco, and wanted a similar game but without the risk of humiliation. I don't have the personal confidence to take PvP in my stride at the minute unless I'm playing FOR PvP, which I leave for League of Legends. That and I think the pawn system in D'sD is a damn ingenious form of interactivity (though the same can't be said for the ghosts / blood stains / floor messages of Souls).

fixed that for you.

DD was a lot of fun but i just couldn't get into after a while. lack of fast travel and distinct enemies made the game get very boring for me very fast. i got to the 1st griffin fight beat him but then found out that i had to go across the map to finish the fight. it's around then that i stopped. it being on the 360 didn't help either. If they ever release a PC port for sure i'll get it. though if i end up getting Dark Souls 2 on the PS3 then i'll also probably get Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

 

[gigastar]

Not being snarky here; just genuinely confused about why people like the Souls games. They do have good segments that are actually difficult, but there's just so much cheap bullshit that even a skilled player cannot predict.

Again, I'm not saying that people don't enjoy these games - they clearly do, but I'll never understand why.

Its mostly because its pretty much the only AAA production that sticks to The Old Ways of RPGs. Those being hard, but fair combat and wide open areas full of secrets to explore.

And absolutely no handholding. The game basically teaches you the controls, then throws you to the lions. You have to go out and find the bonfires, merchants, blacksmiths, better equipment, and bosses all on your own. Theres no quest tracker, no map and no objective markers.

But granted, its not for everyone.

 

[cojo965]

To me it seems a bit more artificially difficult than Dark Souls one, because healing items are much harder to come by and Estus Flasks can only be gotten one at a time on top of already being hard.

 

[grey_space]

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.

No way. Really? so my character is a girl now?
Didn't even notice.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I've discovered the method of beating almost every boss in the game near effortlessly. 'Strafe right'. For whatever reason, most bosses have attack patterns that focus on the left side or the right is simply a blind spot. Duke's Dear Freya is a good example. I struggled with this boss for ages...until I realized that it's laser only went from left to right. By strafing right at mid-range, it would continuously use the laser but have no hope of connecting with it, so it was always left open for a counter attack.

Same deal with The Rotten...and Executioner's Chariot...and basically everyone else.