Dark Souls 2

[Falconeer]

I think you are right, there's definitely a contradiction there. This is why it sounds like a bad design deciaion to me. Farming wasn't an issue, ultimately you had to learn how to play the game. This change removes one of the staple aspects of the game in my opinion which was to teach you how to run a segment, from Bonfire A to Bonfire B perfectly at least one. Now you can fail enough times that you end up making it at, say, the 16th attempt just because you tackled less enemies. That feels awfu. It says "Ok fine you suck jiat do it with less mobs for fuck's sake!"l.

On top of that, as Jakonovski said, it can screw you over because if you keep dying on a portion and can't recover your souls, you are eventually gonna push forward as enemies stop respawning but with less souls in your pocket which means the gameplay isn't getting harder, it's just the design gimping you.
All in all I am sure we'll adapt and it's gonna be a great experience regardless, but this sounds like a totally unneeded change to me, which fucks with the way previous games challenged you to become a better player.

The bottom line is, when I die for the 15th time in an area (yeah it happens) and I have to do it again and some mobs are not there anymore, I feel like I am cheating. I also feel that the game is cheating on me.

[jakonovski]

Good thing I misunderstood the mace knight, was a bit bummed thinking they'd remove spawns that easily.

But yeah, the spawn change doesn't destroy the game by any means, just replaces elegant game mechanics with clunkers that can cause problems at extremes.

[Ghambit]

The bigger problem is the effigy issue.  It's a huge roadblock if you run out.  Once you get to Bastille you pretty much have to coop the boss unless you're way overleveled, aside from the usual  combat advantages of being human.  You cant gain humanity from helping others (as in other souls games), so you're pretty much SOL if you spam effigies (like I did on one boss... having been given bad strat. advice a few times and then had two DCs w/wipes back to back).

I'm literally down to two effigies on a boss I must coop with ideally 3 people total (the NPC is an ass).  Solution?  Grind to 60!!!      I guess technically it's a 55-65 level so hrmph.

[Falconeer]

But you can't grind, cause mobs stop respawning. So, how?

[Ghambit]

But you can't grind, cause mobs stop respawning. So, how?

The spawns dont stop for everything; it just gets piecemeal after a while.  Throw on a soul ring and farm trash and you're ok right there for a while.  Otherwise, you'd grind as a helpful hollow.  This is why they now allow hollows to be summoned/invade.

[Velorath]

I've regained humanity from helping someone beat a boss, but I've been reading that it's inconsistent. Some people have claim that the developers have stated that regaining humanity is a bug and shouldn't happen at all, but I haven't actually seen that verified. Certainly it doesn't seem to be working entirely correctly one way or the other as some people say they've regained humanity after the host died when they were still alive.

[jakonovski]

Man, it's gonna be a culture shock doing all that coop. I'm used to playing offline since my gfwl account died and took ds1 mp with it

[jakonovski]

Time for a respec -- adaptability doesn't actually do anything: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/693331-dark-souls-ii/68799675

[Lakov_Sanite]

Time for a respec -- adaptability doesn't actually do anything: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/693331-dark-souls-ii/68799675

it seems estus flask and item use is still affected.

[Ghambit]

So I guess you can indeed go human in certain instances helping in coop.  Not sure what the trigger is.  Feels like it may be when either you or the summoner die.

[Falconeer]

It is certainly not when you succeed, which is weird.
EDIT: It really seems to be when the summoner dies. Just happened to me. Weird.
EDIT 2: Nevermind. I got humanity back by dying too, and by succeeding. At this point I'd say it's a random chance every time you get summoned regardless of the outcome.

[jakonovski]

Looks like I'm kind of stuck. I can only go Heide's (suicidal) or try , who kills me. No other paths seem open. This game is stupid linear unless I'm missing something. Only beaten one boss too, so can't exactly do coop either. Urge to dismiss the whole game as shit.

 

[Ghambit]

Giant is your first boss, then 1st shot at pursuer (you will die).  There's then a lot of back and forth between FFG and Heide's (very non-linear) until you're comfortable.   Certain bosses like Pursuer or Dragonrider (in close quarters) are near impossible as an early-game caster unless you go melee and then plan to respec.  The only option otherwise is to coop. 

I always coop as a shade my first encounter with a boss; so I can learn the fight. 

Linear?  Feels like the least linear of the 3 titles (so far) imo.  But I tend to try and uncover every nook and cranny.  If you do the 'run 'n gun' routine, you will miss quite a lot.

[jakonovski]

I feel I've been pretty thorough, and all the exploring has given me is a few trinkets and future quest leads. After that everything is blocked except Pursuer and Heide's, which is really railroady. Demon's had five starter worlds, and in the first Dark you could fork off into a huge number of directions after killing the rampart demon. I know I spent like ten hours exploring at that point, and had access to several bosses and mini bosses. Here, one boss, one level that requires grinding the FFG mobs for souls to upgrade to whatever it is I need (I suspect a mace for armor piercing and some more STR, I only have 15 because I thought I could get somewhere with ADP).

[Falconeer]

I can't decide how it fares when it comes to railroading to Dark Souls. Demon's Souls had more options, but Dark Souls? Not sure. From the central hub in Dark Souls you could realistically only go one way (unless you were awesome or crazy), and from there there weren't that many real forks (in the first 10-15 hours). Here, it feels the same way. There's Giants and Heide but you pretty much have to do Giants first. In there, there are a few branches and a few places you can overlook but all in all it all points to the area boss, with Pursuer being only optional (since you don't want to go to Bastile that early anyway). So, after Giants you have to go to Heide, it seems obligated but by then you should be level 40+ and the area could be more than doable. Eventually, lots of the big dudes can be avoided and the distance from the bonfire is very short, and if you kill them 15 times they are gone forever, so you can get to the boss just through attrition. Dragonrider felt like a total pushover -if nothing else because the area is enclosed and he's alone-.

Yeah, after putting it all together it seems like the game shows you many different paths, but you can't really go wherever you want just because they are. Still, I'd claim it wasn't that different in Dark Souls, at least not in the first half of the game. After Heide I can actually choose between unlocking the contraption in the church (does it lead to the Rat King?), or go to Wharf's Something, or go to Bastile. It feels branched enough for me. I have other complains so far, not the railroading. But I am sure based on your build things can change a lot.

Also, yes, coop changes everything.

[jakonovski]

Might be the Explorer, I'm only SL35 and I had to spend a lot of points merely to equip weapons other than a dagger. Because the ADP stat doesn't do anything except make you drink estus faster.
 

[Falconeer]

One thing that feels pretty obvious compared to Dark Souls and Demon's Souls is that they nerfed the rolling very hard. Pretty much everyone hits you in the back when you try to roll away this time around. Or is it me? At any rate, I am tanking up. Big shield, poise, endurance. We'll see how it goes.

[Bhazrak]

One question I have is, has anyone found a pickaxe, and if so, how amazing/different is it compared to Darksouls 1?

[Bann]

Looks like I'm kind of stuck. I can only go Heide's (suicidal) or try , who kills me. No other paths seem open. This game is stupid linear unless I'm missing something. Only beaten one boss too, so can't exactly do coop either. Urge to dismiss the whole game as shit.

 

Advice for Heide's Tower of flame


Advice for Pursuer


Smooth and Silky


Coop/Being Human

[Ghambit]

Here's another non-linear example in the Bastille Area (big spoiler):

[Falconeer]

About the Ballistas and Pursuer...

[Velorath]

13 bosses down. Helped a lot of people with bosses today as a mix of leveling up a covenant, getting souls, and for fun, but appear to no longer be regaining humanity. Had about 15 successful attempts against various bosses, and a few attempts where the host died, but no humanity. Maybe the covenant thing is causing additional problems though.

In regards to the game railroading you, things do eventually branch out more although it might not always be easy to notice. There's at least once instance where you might not notice another pathway is available because you'll typically teleport from bonfire to bonfire. I've also come across at least one small hidden zone that you need to use a Pharros Lockstone to get to which are in short supply especially early one. The only reason I've had enough to open everything I've come across was due to another covenant I was messing around with a bit. There's probably stuff I've missed also despite having a habit of going over areas meticulously (and then going back over them again later because I've seen an item somewhere that I can't figure out how to get to).

[jakonovski]

I think the big two handed knights at Heide are the best example so far of why this game sucks. They track me without animating and sometimes do one-frame 180s to hit me when I get behind them. They keep attacking with such small windows of opportunity that my character can't get a hit in without exploiting terrain. It also makes no difference what armour I wear or don't, because I cannot mitigate or dodge effectively either way. I got killed by a knight's elbow just now. I can block them with my shield, that's pretty much it. The only way out of this is to grind levels, one by one killing 15 of the knights to stop them from spawning. Not fun at all.




 

[Velorath]

Do you have any ranged options on your character? Early on I was a lot more comfortable taking out those guys with a bow, or at least wearing them down a bit before they could get to me.

Edit: I feel like a lot of this frustration just goes back to you picking Explorer. You picked the one class (aside from Deprived) that isn't built around a "this is how you're going to kill things" template. It was clear from the list of options that this was one of the options for people that wanted a challenge. You should probably just cut your losses now and pick a new character.

[jakonovski]

I thought laterally and funnily enough solved my problem. The knights are so slow that I can run rings around them, so I just did that. Stumbled on Old Dragonslayer, killed him with my old bad weapon no problem. Found a bonfire, fuck the knights. I'm half convinced the two handed guys are bugged anyway.

edit: I kinda disagree on the explorer. Sure he had a soul level disadvantage, but pointless stats are just a failure of games design. Especially since the newfangled tooltips make it sound like the perfect stat for a jack of all trades kind of player like me.

[Falconeer]

Yes, the two handed knights suck because they are pretty much going to hit you no matter what if you melee them. It is theoretically possible to find that sweet spot right behind them where they won't hit you at all, but that's a mix of finesse and luck as the 350° swipe they do from every two attacks is really hard to avoid completely, especially with the nerfed rolling. I don't think that zone with the knights is particularly hard, more like boring as you have to lure them to a safer spot in order not to risk falling down like an idiot. And while I religiously don't use any ranged weapon or spell, I'd assume they are very easy once you can plink them from afar, considering how slow they are.

But seriously, to beat the two handed knights, don't roll, just stick to their body and walk behind them (moving to your right). If you roll you die, if you parry you die. Just walk towards them and right, and keep positioning yourself EXACTLY behind them. When you are there just hit them once (or twice, depending on your speed), but not more. You need to always be mobile on your feet to keep staying in that only spot where they can't hit you. That spot right there, as tiny as it is, is mostly safe cause I really believe their sweep is 350°, so you have a slice 10° wide to play with.

[Velorath]

I'm not really sure how you would play a jack of all trades character here. What stats are you leveling and what are you planning on using for weapons or magic? I mean I can see doing a combination of weapons and magic but I feel like most people who do that successfully have a build planned out. You aren't going to be using both str and dex weapons as well as every kind of magic.

[jakonovski]

So then I ran into Dragonrider and he went down in one try. What is going on with this game?

As for jack of all trades. What I mean is just enough str/dex to wield a comfy weapon plus a bow/crossbow, then some faith for utility miracles whenever I get access. I've no idea what kind of utility magic there is, so I'm not planning on that. I was hoping adaptability would help with being a slippery bastard and also having poise.

[Falconeer]

Dragonrider is a mystery to me. I can only assume he was meant to kill ranged characters after a whole zone where being ranged was a huge advantage, but it still makes very little sense. He just can't hit you, he's way weaker than the first boss.

[jakonovski]

I seem to be beating all the bosses by rotating around them anticlockwise. Also, joined a covenant:

[Morfiend]

Anyone playing on the PS3 with a disk notice that load times are really long? I have found the average time to load in a bonfire is around 30 seconds. Ether from death or travel. People on the Xbox or with the download version of PS3 have been reporting 3 to 5 second loading times. This is starting to piss me off.

[Falconeer]

Yes, same here. I knew it would have been longer loading times on disc, but I wasn't expecting it to be this severe. If I had known I would have gone with the digital download. I consider it an additional death penalty, but in all honesty it is boring the hell out of me.

[Velorath]

Load times seem to vary a bit on the PS3 digital download version from my experience. Sometimes it's only long enough to show one item on the loading screen and sometimes although not often it goes long enough to go through 3 items.

[jakonovski]

I have a question. No specifics needed, just a yes or no.

Is there any point to lighting all of the sconces you find in the world?

[Velorath]

Lighting all of them? Not as far as I know but that would be so time consuming I'd be surprised if anyone has done it yet