In which I ramble for a bit about Dark Souls 2....

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Souplex

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Dalisclock said:
Souplex said:
Dark Souls: II's blatant hatred of shield players made me dislike it from the get-go. It still had that delicious Souls combat, but everything was a little off.
Plus they did nothing to stop LagStabbing in PvP. If anything it's worse because now there's lag-swatting (As in swatting a shield not calling in S.W.A.T. against a player you don't like) too.
I know that apparently DS2 is apparently the go to for PVPers. I stumbled across a reedit threat from around release time mostly griping about how DS3 RUINED PVP FOREVER. Maybe opinions have changed somewhat since then.
To be fair what ruined 3's PvP is also what damaged its PvE: No Poise.
 

Dalisclock

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Souplex said:
Dalisclock said:
Souplex said:
Dark Souls: II's blatant hatred of shield players made me dislike it from the get-go. It still had that delicious Souls combat, but everything was a little off.
Plus they did nothing to stop LagStabbing in PvP. If anything it's worse because now there's lag-swatting (As in swatting a shield not calling in S.W.A.T. against a player you don't like) too.
I know that apparently DS2 is apparently the go to for PVPers. I stumbled across a reedit threat from around release time mostly griping about how DS3 RUINED PVP FOREVER. Maybe opinions have changed somewhat since then.
To be fair what ruined 3's PvP is also what damaged its PvE: No Poise.
I heard rumors a couple months ago that they were going to fix that in a patch. I take it that wasn't true then?
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
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Dalisclock said:
Souplex said:
Dalisclock said:
Souplex said:
Dark Souls: II's blatant hatred of shield players made me dislike it from the get-go. It still had that delicious Souls combat, but everything was a little off.
Plus they did nothing to stop LagStabbing in PvP. If anything it's worse because now there's lag-swatting (As in swatting a shield not calling in S.W.A.T. against a player you don't like) too.
I know that apparently DS2 is apparently the go to for PVPers. I stumbled across a reedit threat from around release time mostly griping about how DS3 RUINED PVP FOREVER. Maybe opinions have changed somewhat since then.
To be fair what ruined 3's PvP is also what damaged its PvE: No Poise.
I heard rumors a couple months ago that they were going to fix that in a patch. I take it that wasn't true then?
Don't know, haven't played in a while.
 

Foolery

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I actually really like the world of Drangleic.

"The fire will fade, and the souls of old will reemerge. With Dark unshackled, a curse will be upon us. And men will take their true shape?"

Vendrick gets built up as this godly king from the start, and when you finally reach him, he's a pale shadow of his former self. My biggest complaints with DS2 is that some of the mechanics and world design are janky. I don't like having my health degrade (the binding ring helps), and the hitboxes/hit areas for some bosses are off (grabs that shouldn't happen); and in the SOTFS edition, there are way too many mob encounters (have fun with all those Alonne knights in the Iron Keep).
 

Dalisclock

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Foolery said:
I actually really like the world of Drangleic.

"The fire will fade, and the souls of old will reemerge. With Dark unshackled, a curse will be upon us. And men will take their true shape?"

Vendrick gets built up as this godly king from the start, and when you finally reach him, he's a pale shadow of his former self. My biggest complaints with DS2 is that some of the mechanics and world design are janky. I don't like having my health degrade (the binding ring helps), and the hitboxes/hit areas for some bosses are off (grabs that shouldn't happen); and in the SOTFS edition, there are way too many mob encounters (have fun with all those Alonne knights in the Iron Keep).
Not to mention WeaponSmith Ornifex.

Right down the road my ass....If there was a more inhospitable place in Dranlegic to have a shop, I'm not sure where she could have found one(aside from Black Gulch, obviously).

But Venrick's whole plot arc was one of the high parts of the story and the part that seemed the most fleshed out. A lot of the rest of it seemed like it was kind of there, or meant to be part of a larger whole that never quite came together.

For example: The Great souls. Implied to be the same great souls from the first game but in NG+ you actually get souls that specifically say "Old Witches Soul", "Old Dead One's Soul" and so on. It's implied that maybe the creatures are reincations of Seethe, The Witch, Gwyn, etc except other evidence that seems to say otherwise.

Venrick apparently collected 4 great souls himself so he could claim the throne, so somewhere along the way those souls migrated back to become the new old ones(Who are both so old they don't have names but at the same time apparently younger then Venrick, unless I'm reading it wrong).

Then there's the matter of the Primal Bonfires which, as far as I can tell, have no lore about them at all. They exist as a gameplay mechanic and always show up near the Great Souls to take you back to Majula(without violating the no-bonfire run conditions) but beyond they're not even mentioned. It feels like yet another idea that they planned to flesh out and never got around to.
 

Foolery

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Dalisclock said:
Foolery said:
I actually really like the world of Drangleic.

"The fire will fade, and the souls of old will reemerge. With Dark unshackled, a curse will be upon us. And men will take their true shape?"

Vendrick gets built up as this godly king from the start, and when you finally reach him, he's a pale shadow of his former self. My biggest complaints with DS2 is that some of the mechanics and world design are janky. I don't like having my health degrade (the binding ring helps), and the hitboxes/hit areas for some bosses are off (grabs that shouldn't happen); and in the SOTFS edition, there are way too many mob encounters (have fun with all those Alonne knights in the Iron Keep).
Not to mention WeaponSmith Ornifex.

Right down the road my ass....If there was a more inhospitable place in Dranlegic to have a shop, I'm not sure where she could have found one(aside from Black Gulch, obviously).

But Venrick's whole plot arc was one of the high parts of the story and the part that seemed the most fleshed out. A lot of the rest of it seemed like it was kind of there, or meant to be part of a larger whole that never quite came together.

For example: The Great souls. Implied to be the same great souls from the first game but in NG+ you actually get souls that specifically say "Old Witches Soul", "Old Dead One's Soul" and so on. It's implied that maybe the creatures are reincations of Seethe, The Witch, Gwyn, etc except other evidence that seems to say otherwise.

Venrick apparently collected 4 great souls himself so he could claim the throne, so somewhere along the way those souls migrated back to become the new old ones(Who are both so old they don't have names but at the same time apparently younger then Venrick, unless I'm reading it wrong).

Then there's the matter of the Primal Bonfires which, as far as I can tell, have no lore about them at all. They exist as a gameplay mechanic and always show up near the Great Souls to take you back to Majula(without violating the no-bonfire run conditions) but beyond they're not even mentioned. It feels like yet another idea that they planned to flesh out and never got around to.
Dark Souls lore is vague at best.

I treat 2 as just one the possible worlds that came out of the choice of kindling or not kindling the First Flame (just like how 3 starts out with the last call to light the flame). You can even find a shard of the Lord Vessel in the basement of the Majula mansion. I was also under the impression that the Throne of Want was the reincarnation of the First Flame, you can't truly destroy it, it'll just manifest into reality as something else. Same with the Dark, the remains of Manus became Nashandra, Nadalia, Elana, and Alsanna.

I thought the Primal Bonfires had something to do with Aldia. You're right...it's not terribly fleshed out, huh. 2 does suffer from a bit from video-game-itis, things don't make sense narratively. But Dark Souls' loose style of story-telling makes for interesting conversation, it's like discussing ancient myth, and mythical figures. I dig it.

Also, right down the road?
 

Dalisclock

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Foolery said:
I thought the Primal Bonfires had something to do with Aldia. You're right...it's not terribly fleshed out, huh. 2 does suffer from a bit from video-game-itis, things don't make sense narratively. But Dark Souls' loose style of story-telling makes for interesting conversation, it's like discussing ancient myth, and mythical figures. I dig it.

Also, right down the road?
Someone got the joke.

"Looks like they made the game easy so casuals could enjoy it"
[Pursuer Shows up, One-hit kills]
"Is this too "Easy" for you?"
"You know I actually think the game seems pretty challenging"

Wierdly enough, I saw that long before I played DS2(or even DS1, for that matter). At least now I get most of the jokes.

I guess we might as well chalk it up to Aldia. Aldia is like Seethe for DS2. If something exists that doesn't quite fit into the lore, it's probably Aldia/Seethe screwing around again with some hidously unethical experiments
 

Ravenbom

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One thing I really liked about Dark Souls 2 over all the other Souls (and Bloodborne) games is that it's the only time I ever felt like casters were completely viable.

I really liked Dark Souls 2, in the core mechanics and boss fights, I would rate it as better than DS1. The big thing that I missed from DS1 in DS2 was the way the world was connected as a big, 3D Metroidvania style game.
You can feel like you're miles away from where you started in DS1 and then you unlock a shortcut and surprise! You're back where you started!
DS1 has one of the most amazing level designs of any game IMHO. I liked DS2 level design, except it never wound back on itself and provided interesting shortcuts. Not a dealbreaker, but it just didn't wow me as much as DS1.
 

Danbo Jambo

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Absolutely loved DS2, by far and away my favourite of the series.

I find the gameplay to be very well balanced and the most enjoyable of the series; the world - whilst linnear - very absorbing; and most of all I find it the least repetitive of all the Souls games, especially with the fact that you can kill enemies perminantly (thank God!).

The weird thing is that even though DS1's world is clearly more intricate, better conected, and even more atmospheric.....I personally still much prefered DS2's. I think the areas just have more of a charm about them (e.g. when you hear the lasses eerily singing).

DS2 was a way better experience than Bloodborne for me too.