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From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

Arnust

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I have less playthroughs in DS2 than other souls games
The game is also longer if you do "everything" than any of the others, added to PvP value letting you go on with a character, AND Soul Vessels letting you try out builds without stating over. So I can believe that, unless it's "unexpectedly" a dissing comment.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
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Not Europe
I have less playthroughs in DS2 than other souls games
The game is also longer if you do "everything" than any of the others, added to PvP value letting you go on with a character, AND Soul Vessels letting you try out builds without stating over. So I can believe that, unless it's "unexpectedly" a dissing comment.
It's not necessarily longer but I did something like 30 hours worth of farming at some point in DS2, which pushed ny first playthrough to be over 90 hours. Didn't play PvP at all

In contrast, even though demons souls is shit. I have about 4 playthroughs that are almost as long as my one DS2 playthrough
 

Grimlorn

Arcane
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
10,248
So I beat DS2 main game along time ago. Also beat the first DLC because it had just released but never the other two. I decided to play again on SOTFS and I finally beat the game and got through the first 2 DLC. I was surprised because I remember having problems with Sinh in the first DLC but I beat him on my first try.

I think I remember people saying Fume was the hardest boss in DS2, but I beat him on my first try. Alonne seemed a bit harder but I only died to him 3 times. I switched from Defender GS to +10 Bandit Axe after my second death since I was having problems with it being too slow and running out of stamina. The axe was a bit faster and consumed less stamina which allowed me to roll dodge more easily. I haven't even been using any buffs like pine resin or green blossoms. I keep forgetting, but it's probably better this way.

I've been having a pretty easy time with bosses after getting use to the slow Estus healing. DS3 spoiled me. I've died so many times while trying to heal. That and the limited stamina is the only thing that makes it challenging. I'm ambivalent about it. The drinking animation being so slow makes it so you generally have to wait for an opponent to attack, dodge, then drink, but there are times when bosses or enemies just charge attack immediately after their attack and kill you. There are also times when I hit the drink button after rolling and it doesn't trigger and that's annoying because then I have to wait and dodge again to heal.

I did die about 15 times on the 2 pursuer fight in the throne room. That was a tough fight. I was just two handing a weapon and rolling, didn't try parrying or using a shield to block. Was set on beating it with just rolling and two handing. Maybe that's why Sinh, Fume and Alonne weren't that tough.

I don't know why but it seems even with the patch for durability that I run out of it way too quickly. It seems about the same as before but it's been awhile since I've played.
 
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Grimlorn

Arcane
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
10,248
Just got done with the Ivory King DLC. Good stuff. Had a little trouble with the tigers in Frigid Outskirts, dying 3 times and a few times on those ice horses as well. Maybe I was a bit tired from doing the DLC all in one go, but I had trouble dodging a lot of their attacks during the snowstorm. Running through Frigid Outskirts a lot was a pain in the ass. Aava and Ivory King were easy and I didn't die at all. Maybe I shouldn't have rescued any Loyce Knights to make it harder.
 

Arnust

Savant
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
680
Location
Spain
I might as well beat you to it


To me it balances out, texturing is way shittier but FX are cranked up waaay less. Like, "actually be able to see shit" less. And parts like say 10:30 actually look better. CC should have shown the Mirror Knight/Drangleic Castle demo instead compared to the final version.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
7,304
Meh, SOTFS looks fine to me. Original version did look bit boring but better lighting and ambient occlusion in DX11 version was enough of a change to me. In many ways I prefer its colourful visuals to dull look of DS III. And it is easy to run, meaning easy to get 60 FPS downsampling from 4K.
 

Grimlorn

Arcane
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
10,248
yeah in SOTFS I remember needing to use a torch in that area at 2:30 because it was too dark to see anything at first. SOFTS doesn't look as detailed or good as in the original, but it's a lot better than that washed out look in the regular release.

Here's some screens to compare. This is the room above Cardinal Tower
23uewq8.jpg

This is the stairs to that room, I already had the torches lit so can't show the room dark.
izoqis.jpg

And here's the lighting in the room
e7bfbn.jpg
 
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praetor

Arcane
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Apr 27, 2009
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Vhoorl
the main graphical problem in DS2 which persisted in SOTFS is the really obvious tiling with small textures in many many places that feature big surfaces. i hoped they'd fix that in SOTFS but it's probably too much work
 

Correct_Carlo

Arcane
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
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Pronouns: He/Him/His
I platinumed the original DS2 on release. I bought SOTFS edition on a whim on sale recently and I'm completely sucked back in. I don't think the lore and level design are as good as DS or DS3, but this might have the best pure gameplay mechanics of any Dark Souls game. I forgot just how massive the gameworld is, how much shit there is to do, and the staggering number of different builds you can work with.

Breezed through most of the game so far. Strangely, the only bosses that have given me trouble are the original Smelter Demon (I always sucked at him and still think he's the hardest boss in the vanilla game) and Sir Alonne (I don't have the dexterity for long, drawn out, dodge heavy battles. I always end up making a mistake somewhere, and Alonne just has too many hitpoints). I killed Fume Knight with no NPCs my second try.

This game I decided not to plan to heavily, so I started as a deprived and then just built my playstyle around what I found. Which means I ended up going for a pure dex rapier build, which I've never done in a Souls game before. It's been awesome. Certain bosses are entirely trivial (Fume Knight, for example). I will probably need to respec to a magic build to beat the Dark Lurker, though (I'm sure someone has done it melee, but she's too much of a headache for a pure melee build....especially since you have to spend one humanity to fight her every time).

Only thing that sucks is that the game is kind of dead. I very rarely see summoning signs anywhere and I think I've only been invaded by a human once the entire game. It is trying my skills, though, as I can no longer rely on human summons to get through boss fights.
 

cvv

Arcane
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Mar 30, 2013
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Finally caved and bought a controller, for DS but also Nioh, Kingdom Come, next FromSoft game etc. First time in my life. Never held a controller before.

Goddamn. Been trying it for an hour and still keep running into walls and off ledges. But it's slowly coming on. Most controls seem easier than with K&M, the movement is much better than with WASD, but there are a few hiccups. The menu button (got myself a DS4) is pretty annonying and locking a target by pressing the thumbstick is kindda stiff and needs some force. I guess it'll soften over time.

But the biggest problem by far is the camera control. It's the only thing where mouse is vastly, vastly superior. Controlling the camera with the right thumbstick is so fucking clunky OMG. I really hope I'll get used to it eventually. Right now I feel like a paraplegic.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
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Grab the Codex by the pussy
You'll get used to it eventually.

Japanese games like Dark Souls or platform-based incline (Super Metroid et al., this includes a few Western games as well) are the only games you can play with a controller without exposing your soul to the taint of decline. Even fighting games must be played with an arcade stick box in order to avoid tainting.
 

Correct_Carlo

Arcane
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Pronouns: He/Him/His
I came very close to platinuming SOTFS too, but the game is completely dead to summoning. So ranking up in the Sunlight Covenant to get the necessary spells has become incredibly difficult. And farming sunlight medals in offline mode as drops is really, really, hard. I was in full luck increasing gear and averaged 1 drop every 10 rounds (I could never get the sunlight medals to drop consistently). Then Nioh was released and I lost interest.

It's a shame, though. They should release a patch to make some of the achievements easier to get offline now that the game is basically dead. You have to get 30 sunlight medals, which was really easy to do pre-DS3, but now is even harder than ranking up in the Belltower Guild (which used to be the hardest guild to rank in). The only bosses that are at all active for summoning are DLC bosses, but even then you will have to sometimes wait 5 minutes for one summon.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
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Eh, last I checked PvP was still active. No trouble finding action with Bell Bros, Blood Bros or on the Bridge. Must be lack of noobs that kills the summoning part.
 

Dawkinsfan69

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck Bethestard
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inside ur mom ᕦ( ▀̿ Ĺ̯ ▀̿ )ᕤ
I have less playthroughs in DS2 than other souls games

The only souls game I've actually completed is DKS1.. These games get super tiring about a third of the way in once you realize that everything is basically the same the whole way through.

Yeah as you progress it introduces new enemies with new bullshit attack patterns to learn, new bullshit environments where things jump out of nowhere to gank you etc.. But the actual gameplay stays pretty much exactly the same throughout, and it hasn't changed much at all since the first game. It just started feeling like a slog once I put a certain number of hours into playing the series unfortunately.

I'm not really dissing the series though because according to steam I have like 500 total hours played between the three games. I get sick of most games within an hour or so :/

ANYWAY one thing that I really enjoy about the game is the co-op/pvp. It can get really lonely playing these by yourself and having other people around to smash shit with makes it way more fun. Unfortunately a lot of encounters become trivial when you summon people in, so hopefully sometime in the future they design a game like this with co-op in mind as a central feature.
 

cvv

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I came very close to platinuming SOTFS too, but the game is completely dead to summoning. So ranking up in the Sunlight Covenant to get the necessary spells has become incredibly difficult.

Yeah, when I completed SotFS last time, about a year ago, the sunlight medal grind was the worst. I managed to do it eventually but it took some good goddamn time. I just put in my sign, alt-tabbed out, did something else and listened for the sound cue (the sound suddenly mutes out). Usually it took 15-30 minutes for someone to pull me in.

And when I reinstalled the game recently I found out DS2 is not supported by the Steam cloud so the save with my geared up dude was gone forever. Feels bad.
 

Arnust

Savant
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
680
Location
Spain
And when I reinstalled the game recently I found out DS2 is not supported by the Steam cloud so the save with my geared up dude was gone forever. Feels bad.
Ironic that the game with the worst PC port is the one who does have Steam Cloud support instead :argh:

Also, for sunlight medals I just get in the reddit discord for DS2/3 and offer to do some runs in a couple of bosses and with more people, you can get a bunch in a session of that. Not like I feel like doing that for every single of my characters, hell naw. I think the games could use a system like Borderlands 2's "Stash" container, which is universal among characters, to make all the work in one not be completely pointless. Granted, with all the bullshit arbitrary level restrictions and whatnot to not have people tearing their hair about it.
 

cvv

Arcane
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Tell you what, trying to master a controller playing Dark Souls makes the game feel like a completely fresh experience :D Suddenly everything is so tense and challenging, even tho it's NG+ which is much easier, at least in the early to mid game.

Regardless, beat Pursuer on my 2nd attempt and same with the Sentinels. Those assholes scarred me for life when I fought them on my virgin playthrough.

Controller is getting more and more familiar but the fact my right thumb has to handle the right thumbstick AND the roll button is still a huge pain in my arse.
 
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cvv

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Anyone up for some co-op? SM 11M, NG+. We'd do the double tigers, the gank trio, Elana, Sinh and basically the entirety of Brume.

I'm mainly doing that to farm some sunlight medals, Sunlight Spear is pretty much the only thing I'm missing now. You can drop a PM anytime today or tomorrow.

Btw tried to as around on some Discord channels but nobody gives a shit lol.
 

CthuluIsSpy

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Dec 26, 2014
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On the internet, writing shit posts.
Anyone up for some co-op? SM 11M, NG+. We'd do the double tigers, the gank trio, Elana, Sinh and basically the entirety of Brume.

I'm mainly doing that to farm some sunlight medals, Sunlight Spear is pretty much the only thing I'm missing now. You can drop a PM anytime today or tomorrow.

Btw tried to as around on some Discord channels but nobody gives a shit lol.

You could just farm it from those ogre things in Earthen Peak. That's how I got my sunlight spear in the original. They should still drop them in Scholar.
 

Arnust

Savant
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Dec 22, 2016
Messages
680
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Spain
Ogre things? AFAIK the only PvE drop of Sunlight Medals are Falconers', which are a bit easier to come by in NG+.
 

CthuluIsSpy

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Dec 26, 2014
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On the internet, writing shit posts.
Ogre things? AFAIK the only PvE drop of Sunlight Medals are Falconers', which are a bit easier to come by in NG+.

You know, those big guys in earthen peak with the little midgets on their backs. I guess blaster-masters would be a better name.
In the orginal they had a low chance of dropping from them. Haven't tried farming medals from them in scholar, but I think its the same.
They also drop from falconers in NG+, yes. I think they drop from the blaster-masters in NG.
 

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