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Dark Souls II - Prepare to Die, Again

Uzi

By Uzi,
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robdood

robdood

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Yeah I think BNS it's confusing enough so I'd probably just use 'ATK' instead for each.

Right, well when I get a chance I'll dig through the textures dumped using the GeDoSaTo and see what I can find.

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mayor_mike_haggar

mayor_mike_haggar

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I think being able to teleport between bonfires from the start really hurts the sense of scale (and of place more generally), because a large part of the first game's greatness was in the way you had to learn and interrogate the world in order to make progress - and fast travel diminishes the need for that. DS2 might have an amazingly intricate and interesting landscape much as its predecessor did, but the player will only ever find that out if they deliberately ignore the teleport tool they've been given which almost always allows them (at least for as much as I've played so far) to jump within a couple of hundred yards of the place they want to be - no experimenting with routes or shortcuts required, no long runs back and forth across the world to backtrack to stock up on resources, etc. When I ran out of repair powder I didn't have to weigh up whether or not to go back and find more, I just used fast travel to quickly nip back and stock up - to know that I'll never be in danger of arriving somewhere unprepared, like when I got stuck at the bottom of blight town with no repair box and one broken weapon, reduces the stakes for each decision the player makes. Basically it removes some of the interesting decisions the first games demanded of players and also lets them bypass the whole process of repetition which was what helped them learn the environment and come to understand the logic of the world, and the game would be a lot more fun if that mechanic was withheld in the same manner as in Dark Souls the first, even if everything else was the same.

I also find that it immerses you in the locations a lot less. Basically every time I've got a decent amount of souls I'm immediately going back to the hub to either buy stuff or level up or whatever, which takes you out of the atmosphere of the bit you're in. Like I remember the first time going through the depths , working my way down into blighttown, the whole time felt very opressive, because you were constantly underground in this dark poisonous area, and it would have been a real long slog to work your way back and escape. And then once you'd explored enough of blightown to come out the other side and finally make it back to the firelink shrine, there was this palpable sense of relief at having made your way through this horrible dungeon and escaped out into the daylight. Wheras now I'm at most a homeward bone and a loading screen away from being back at the hubworld. And makes the world feel smaller, too. They should at least make it that you can't fast travel in a certain area until you've beaten the boss, or something.

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NecroMorrius

NecroMorrius

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OK, so perfect example of the durability bug (unless I've missed something, which is totally possible!)

Starting with a fully durable weapon at the first bonfire in Black gulch. I clear all the annoying green statues, kill the Twilight Princess things which pop out of the holes in the ground, kill the sluggy things which pop out of the walls, then notice what looks like a secret ahead. Ah ha, I think. I jump down to discover it's a ledge with a door on, great!

ITS LOCKED

Oh. Thanks I guess? No option but to homeward bone back to the bonfire and clear all the cunting green statues again. Awesome game design. I notice that my weapon has gone down about 3-5% durability from fighting all those things and hacking at statues before I use the bone and warp twenty feet to the bonfire.

So, with my durability at max again, I walk from here to here:

7CLC2ri.jpg

Repeating the same action, hitting about six statues. Before I even get to the first enemy, my weapon has lost about 60% durability, as you see above.

I go back to the bonfire, repeat the same action again, and the durability loss barely registers as I hit 20+ statues and a bunch of enemies.

It's fucking annoying. If I'm doing something wrong, tell me so I can slap my forehead and know better.

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hughes

hughes

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Just spent 2 hours on Ancient Dragon. I went from a centurion with a big sword to naked with a big club.

Still can't do it. That area of effect attack, even though you know when it's about to happen, where do you run to? Sometimes he goes straight up and then down, sometime he goes perpendicularly left, sometimes right, I think he's even done a few 180s. I almost never get far away enough quickly enough. Really struggling.

I've got 5 ATN and INT, is it true soul geyser kills him in one (all 4 finding their mark) hit? I'd be tempted to respec up to 64 INT and just using that then respeccing if I decide to NG+.

Anyone here beat him pure melee? Tips?

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robdood

robdood

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OK, so perfect example of the durability bug (unless I've missed something, which is totally possible!)

Starting with a fully durable weapon at the first bonfire in Black gulch. I clear all the annoying green statues, kill the Twilight Princess things which pop out of the holes in the ground, kill the sluggy things which pop out of the walls, then notice what looks like a secret ahead. Ah ha, I think. I jump down to discover it's a ledge with a door on, great!

ITS LOCKED

Oh. Thanks I guess? No option but to homeward bone back to the bonfire and clear all the cunting green statues again. Awesome game design. I notice that my weapon has gone down about 3-5% durability from fighting all those things and hacking at statues before I use the bone and warp twenty feet to the bonfire.

So, with my durability at max again, I walk from here to here:

7CLC2ri.jpg

Repeating the same action, hitting about six statues. Before I even get to the first enemy, my weapon has lost about 60% durability, as you see above.

I go back to the bonfire, repeat the same action again, and the durability loss barely registers as I hit 20+ statues and a bunch of enemies.

It's fucking annoying. If I'm doing something wrong, tell me so I can slap my forehead and know better.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong tbh. Baffling that I've not had that at all yet.

But as for some of your other points.. Re the ledge.. You didn't have to bone out, there was another ledge to drop down to..

Also, top tip is light a torch and use it to smash the statues, it has infinite durability! Heheh

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Lovelyman

Lovelyman

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I really like it again now I got out of shitty No Man's Wharf. Killed the Skeletons Lords first try, and then found a gassy place Harvest or something but the massive monsters just one shot me. So I am going the other way over that bridge but for some reason the shredder guys all aggro at the same time and I ran away to what I think is the boss door but they killed me going in.

Then all the graphics except the buffs, summon signs and bloodstains disappeared so I turned it off for a bit.

Really love Huntsman's Copse and these kind of gothic environments.

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villenium

villenium

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i re-specced to magic and it's such a joke how easy the game is now. just lobbed 7 Lightning Spears (got shitloads of Faith & Int) at The Rotten and he was dead before he could touch me.

Early levels with a sorcerer/faith/archmage are quite tough. Some bosses laughably easy, others (anything that can mob you) can be murder. Mid to end game is a joy though. I used my sword a lot because I knew I could whip out a hex, miracle, pyromancy or sorcery at any point if it got tricky. You can pretty much have a spell for any occasion in your back pocket.

By the time I used ascetics to farm soul geysers it was all over. But you know what, the early pain I suffered at NMW and the Copse was so bad I deserved to be OP at the end.

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robdood

robdood

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OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD modding the HUD is a fucking ballache.

Mainly because the icons are TINY and blown up (which is one reason they look shit), and because despite making nice clean replacements, they're getting weird artefacts when they're loaded in!! Good grief.

Hopefully will be worth it, though!

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LiMuBai

LiMuBai

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Posted

Just spent 2 hours on Ancient Dragon. I went from a centurion with a big sword to naked with a big club.

Still can't do it. That area of effect attack, even though you know when it's about to happen, where do you run to? Sometimes he goes straight up and then down, sometime he goes perpendicularly left, sometimes right, I think he's even done a few 180s. I almost never get far away enough quickly enough. Really struggling.

I've got 5 ATN and INT, is it true soul geyser kills him in one (all 4 finding their mark) hit? I'd be tempted to respec up to 64 INT and just using that then respeccing if I decide to NG+.

Anyone here beat him pure melee? Tips?

Took me a while, but I did. I wrote a good strategy a few pages back if you can find it (can't link right now as I'm in mobile). But, tl;dr:

Stamina is key - go naked and equip any stamina regen items you have; rings, shields etc.

He's weak against lightning - equip your best dps sword and use a gold pine resin

Stay by his back feet - he'll mainly try and stomp you. Alternate attacking each foot between stomps, but always keep enough stamina to roll if necessary.

Keep the camera pointed towards his front - don't lock on. Whilst you're hacking away at his feet pay attention to his front legs and wings. If he rears up on his hind legs, move to the side out from under him as he'll breathe fire between his legs.

If you see his wings move, GTFO! Locate his tail and sprint like fuck towards it.

Obtain damage boost by using red tearstone ring and going in with minimal health to activate it. You can kill him without getting hit, and to be honest every attack he can do will one shot you anyway.

Good luck!

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FozZ

FozZ

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Posted

The Master Race are totally selling me on their experience in this thread.

As with any game you'll generally only see complaints from people suffering issues. I'm on PC, it plays perfectly at a constant 60fps, everything maxed out and haven't had any issues other than Steam going down for 10mins once, but that's only the same as live/psn having a hiccup. Haven't felt the need to mod anything unlike with the first game. It's great; Praise the (PC) Sun!

*

\[T]/

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CrispinG

CrispinG

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god i love this game so much. i've spent 150 hours on it and only just now realised if you buy one bloody thing from that stuttering Willy Loman figure by the pit in Majula he suddenly sells all the armour from every boss in the game :facepalm:

i was wondering where people got all their cool shit from. i'm still running around in Havel like every other nobody.

HAHA, when you come back after spending 16000 he's leaning back looking smug and has a real attitude about him.

edit: scratch all that, the boss armour is as shit as the boss weapons.

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