From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[AngryEddy]

Anyone know how to get to Sir Alonne?

 

[Castanova]

I didn't even really like the previous DLC that much and this one sounds worse. Good thing I bought the "season pass" ... derp.

 

[Jaedar]

I'm feeling pretty good about resisting buying the season pass after first dlc was good now

 

[Murk]

Even better, the Assassin NPC that invades you by the Artorias greatsword doesn't get poise broken: AT ALL. I'm hitting this fucking cunt with 99 strength with a +10 smelter hammer and he just laughs it off and one shots me with his lance.

When I see shit like this, and then I look on the DS2 reddit and all I see is "OMG NEW SMELTER SO COOL" it makes me livid.

He was total crap; the other invader was mostly OK (tho still took off half my hp with a swing) but there were environmental hazards to use against her. This one is complete crap; I ended up rushing down to remove the curse effect in a suicide dash, then just slowly went down and poisoned him with arrows. The AI bugs up if you bombard with ranged attacks.

Also, on him, I'm reading reports that he

Spoiler

gestures, backstabs you, uses silver talismans to hide, and mocks you on death

Impressions below: somewhat spoilery

Spoiler

So i'm about halfway or a bit more through and I don't know how I feel about this DLC.

The first one was immediately good. This one is... a mixed bag. I don't like the visuals much -- it's somewhat reminiscent of painted world but lacks the atmosphere and tightness. There's a lot of weird dead ends or loops that remind me of the horrible elevator loop in drangleic (before looking glass knight) and overall it seems... strange. There's some neat environmental hazard stuff and a sekkrit or two I saw already but... donno, just seems like a systematic "ok go here oh shit I passed that tunnel go back and check that" type of thing. Vulva city was confusing in a good way and it all interconnected back together... also, it seems Vulva was much shorter. Not smaller, per se, just shorter.

The enemies are weird. They aren't as easy to backstab, which is good, and they are still resistant to magic, which is also good, but their attacks are strange. They are large enemies and have huge reach/range, and so fighting more than one at once is a pain. I am using great hammers and the gatsu UGS to just slam n jam them and its working, but quite often I'll eat a hit cuz the enemy (the floating ghost things with the greatbows) won't get poise-breaked even when 2handing the UGS. I'm not sure if it's because of hyper armor in their attack or if they just have a fuckton of poise.

The regular red wanderer/rogue phantoms are cool, the sword chick was alright and had a neat place to fight, the lance guy is total bullshit. His lance charge changes direction mid attack... what the shit? I get they can track like crazy but this is just plain cheap. I liked gank squad but this guy is worse than any one of the gank squad members and almost as bad as all three at once. Fucking infinite poise, really? And his lance does like 80% of my hp in a single hit. Great.

Haven't fought any of the bosses yet. The big giant guys are ok; their attacks are much easier to dodge (for me) than any of the giants before. And they are usually shown to you in advance so you don't get sucker punched. You also usually have some kind of environmental trick to use against them which is a nice touch.

The giant ass vertical thing... kinda shit. Not digging the drop because it is not visually impressive like Sanctum in Vulva was (the whole area, not necessarily the textures), and it's not mechanically interesting other than a metroid style - go down to activate then systematically clear the side tunnels out. It's not terrible ... just not very good, IMO. At first it seemed interesting but once I got the elevators going I just couldn't give a shit anymore.

The way nadalia is spread out is kinda cool -- one of the few good atmospheric parts of the area. I like that there's a bit of a puzzle element with the curse n stuff, too. Gotta rush to disable her before you get too many flames up your ass.

Why is the invisi roll ring called the 'simpleton's ring'?

Anyway, donno how the bosses are. I got to the 'challenge route' area and stopped so I guess I'll check that out later today.

 

[AngryEddy]

So Sir Alonne is EASILY the best boss in the game atm, of course getting to him is yet another awful chore of rushing past 15 near instant kill guards and a couple of instant kill alonne captain phantoms. Outside of that, this dlc was pretty shitty.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Even better, the Assassin NPC that invades you by the Artorias greatsword doesn't get poise broken: AT ALL. I'm hitting this fucking cunt with 99 strength with a +10 smelter hammer and he just laughs it off and one shots me with his lance.

When I see shit like this, and then I look on the DS2 reddit and all I see is "OMG NEW SMELTER SO COOL" it makes me livid.

you mean this fucker ?

http://i.4cdn.org/vg/1409073017059.webm

http://webmup.com/sRtzo/

So Sir Alonne is EASILY the best boss in the game atm, of course getting to him is yet another awful chore of rushing past 15 near instant kill guards and a couple of instant kill alonne captain phantoms. Outside of that, this dlc was pretty shitty.

I liked Fume fight better and you have to be fucking retarded to somehow waste all 11 wedges you can find and let him heal. Anyway i was left with one healing idol so simply lured him to the other side of area. jobs done

 

[AngryEddy]

Even better, the Assassin NPC that invades you by the Artorias greatsword doesn't get poise broken: AT ALL. I'm hitting this fucking cunt with 99 strength with a +10 smelter hammer and he just laughs it off and one shots me with his lance.

When I see shit like this, and then I look on the DS2 reddit and all I see is "OMG NEW SMELTER SO COOL" it makes me livid.

you mean this fucker ?

http://i.4cdn.org/vg/1409073017059.webm

http://webmup.com/sRtzo/

Is this guy playing NG? I'm playing NG+7 and he doesnt get poise broken even with stone ring, so idk, unless for some reason short swords can somehow poise break on the first hit better than a great hammer.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Even better, the Assassin NPC that invades you by the Artorias greatsword doesn't get poise broken: AT ALL. I'm hitting this fucking cunt with 99 strength with a +10 smelter hammer and he just laughs it off and one shots me with his lance.

When I see shit like this, and then I look on the DS2 reddit and all I see is "OMG NEW SMELTER SO COOL" it makes me livid.

you mean this fucker ?

http://i.4cdn.org/vg/1409073017059.webm

http://webmup.com/sRtzo/

Is this guy playing NG? I'm playing NG+7 and he doesnt get poise broken even with stone ring, so idk, unless for some reason short swords can somehow poise break on the first hit better than a great hammer.

well that clears up a lot.

i am playing at ng+ right now and only Fumes buffed UGS kills me with one hit.

there is also a "secret" way to get to Smelter you just need to pull the levers and run fast enough dodging the fireballs. You can cheese with arrows casters from there and easily get by gank squads.

lurring those barrel guy and using them against those big armored fuckers is fun

 

[Murk]

I'm in ng +6 and shit hurts too. While the stunlock was neat; his guy's AI also bugged up. Normally dudebro stabs your dick into oblivion -- he was just standing and walking around there. He's doable, just a pain in the ass since dodging his hits is a crapshoot if he decides to just turn his lance 90 degrees and keep stabbing you or not.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

I'm in ng +6 and shit hurts too. While the stunlock was neat; his guy's AI also bugged up. Normally dudebro stabs your dick into oblivion -- he was just standing and walking around there. He's doable, just a pain in the ass since dodging his hits is a crapshoot if he decides to just turn his lance 90 degrees and keep stabbing you or not.

well i parried him and once he started two handing his lance i pushed him of the ledge. but with the hp bloat at NG+6/7 he would probably survived the fall

 

[Murk]

It's not necessarily his hp bloat but rather his insane damage (no joke, one r2 from lance = 80% hp, a single r1 from lance =50% hp) and that I can't stun him out of shit, even with things like dagger 2h r2. Basically I can't get hit more than once, and the problem is he tracks like crazy. Rolling can work... maybe, half the time I get hit anyway cuz the lance attack takes a while and unlike players he keeps tracking you while the attack is still going off. But whatever, he dead, just annoying.

Also, i don't know if its' on NG+1 or NG+2 but I (apparently) have tons of red phantoms that other people don't. The red phantom rogue guys and the red phantom soldiers (axe sword bow) are all extra bonuses.

Ya'll don't even know what you don't know.

edit: to clarify, my impression of the DLC is not based on how ridiculous the enemies are but of the location, puzzles, and level itself. I know that shit breaks down after NG+1 in terms of numbers so me being 2-shotted by EVERYTHING is not part of the issue -- that's just the number bloat.

2nd edit: description to baneful bird ring is pretty lol "raime was a dex douche but then he realized dex sucks in ds2 so he went strength lol"

 

[praetor]

so apparently you can get summoned both for smelly and 4ever alone this time. since i was bored and i'm on ps3 (no dlc until the store updates tomorrow. fuck you sony), decided to try my luck there. got summoned for the sir alone. the area leading up to him is pure fucking shit. alone k***hts and shitty salamanders everywhere. boring ass visual design. the boss itself is pretty cool, but in the 2vs1 fight he melted like butter. even got myself stabbed on purpose near the end just to see it. meh. he seems like Lost Sinner 2.0

 

[dr. one]

Also, i don't know if its' on NG+1 or NG+2 but I (apparently) have tons of red phantoms that other people don't. The red phantom rogue guys and the red phantom soldiers (axe sword bow) are all extra bonuses.

I´ve finished the DLC on NG++ and had plenty of phantoms as well, including the ones you´ve mentioned.

My short impressions would be that on one hand I found the DLC packed with cool features - a good variety of new enemies (and NPC enemy routines), two top notch bosses, environmental hazards, summons/phantoms gesturing, contrast between inside and outside - but on the other the enemy count was overall a bit too high for my liking, one co-op area seemed artistically a bit out of place (and leads to a boss that feels just plain redundant) while the one leading to the last boss felt like an afterthought. Compared to Sunken King, overall I´d say this DLC is perhaps slightly richer in terms of building blocks, but the blocks are not as well put together and come with some unnecessary filler.
Had fun nevertheless.
I hope the last DLC will feature some talkative NPCs - I didn´t mind their lack in Sunken King, but in the second DLC I felt one or two such characters could work well at providing some breathing room and making the experience more grounded.

 

[Murk]

two things

one:

that new katana scares me; i haven't upgraded it fully yet but i am afraid it will wreck shit with its range, 150 counter, built in bleed, and how high of an AR boss weapons are prone to get (and its rather sweet moveset)

two:

dark souls 2 really is about bros over hoes. so far every DLC and the main game is a story of some super bro king and his bro knights who were bros; then some gold digging bitch came along and ruined it. shit, even smelter is a bro because he can keep nadalia in check -- p.s she cries too much

patriarchy, in my souls game?! well, i never

 

[AngryEddy]

So i've been playing with all of the new pyromancies, and i've got to say most of them are shit: even Outcry, which is just Chaos Storm but without the awesome tracking/homing ability Chaos Storm has. I would tell you if Outcry does more damage but not one pillar of whacky flames has hit one baited backstabbing opponent i've played against.

 

[Murk]

Fire snake seems pretty good; it goes through walls and seems to leave the flame pillars a bit -- so rolling into it can still hit someone. P fast too.

 

[StaticSpine]

Hey bros, so one must not spend wedges to destroy idols?

 

[dr. one]

Hey bros, so one must not spend wedges to destroy idols?

Not really. If you want to have the easiest version of the boss fight, you just have to

Spoiler

explore thoroughly + let one of the other idols untouched.

Speaking of the main boss, he reacts to player wearing a certain armor (spoiler): http://a.pomf.se/wolwvf.webm
The DLCs are really delivering on the "nice touch" front so far.

 

[StaticSpine]

Hey bros, so one must not spend wedges to destroy idols?

Not really. If you want to have the easiest version of the boss fight, you just have to

Spoiler

explore thoroughly + let one of the other idols untouched.

ok, thx!

I hope the last DLC will feature some talkative NPCs - I didn´t mind their lack in Sunken King, but in the second DLC I felt one or two such characters could work well at providing some breathing room and making the experience more grounded.

I think they just do not have budget/do not want to spend money on additional voice acting.

 

[praetor]

random ramblings (DLC/optional boss)

Spoiler

so, since there's the challenge route with non-dlc summons that leads to Alonne, the smelly 2 fight is even more idiotic from... for all the possible reasons. and they really missed a cool opportunity here to tie the DLC time to the main game "present". the washing pole 2.0 has that smelly self stab buff, so they could've given that to sir 4ever alone (say at 50-30%, if he misses stabbing you he stabs himself) and then a cutscene after you defeat him as he runs away/somehow starts transforming into smelly (f.e. the demon soul has already possessed him, and you defeating him has made him "drop" his own soul so now it's just the smelly part inside him [yeah, yeah i know he's supposed to be just a chunk of animated metal, but they could've slipped in some lore tidbit in the DLC how that soul "erodes the flesh" or whatever]). but no, instead we get another shitty challenge area with an idiotic copypaste boss

 

[Kanedias]

On another note, the Fume Sword is another top tier weapon. The straight sword. It is basically a Sun Sword with 25 poisebreak and a lot more range, S scaling in dex and C in dark. I have a dex/hex flynn build that is perfect for it and it has been doing awesome in PvP. Really fun, even though it doesn't have unique moves.

Also, I already finished the DLC. I am a bit tired now so I won't talk about it much. I enjoyed it as much as the previous one, I thought the area was worse from a level design standpoint, but had much better enemies so it balances up. I really liked it visually, and I guess it will be better for invading thanks to the lack of pillars. I think the items we got in this DLC are more fun than the ones we got in the previous one (though the first one has the Flynn's Ring, the single item I like the most in the entire game). There was one part that I thought was cheap: That enemy horde near the beginning with a crap ton of ashen warriors and one of the large golems. I don't know if I just suck and missed some obvious way to clear some of the enemies beforehand, but that area felt really cheap, and you all know I normally don't mind when the game throws multiple enemies at you. I really liked the bosses. Yet again, the DLC experience is much better than the main game.

I have two complaints, though. The first one is that the optional lazy areas are not needed at all. I don't hate the Smelter Demon as a boss, in fact I really like him, but there was no need to pull a Demon Firesage, its not like the DLC is very short or rushed. They could have completely removed that whole optional part from the game and lost exactly nothing. Same applies to the first DLC, actually. The second complaint is spoilerish

Spoiler

Sir Alonne is one of the best fights in the Souls Series in my opinion, but what the fuck is that lazy gauntlet of Alonne Knights and fucking Salamanders? The boss arena was incredible in terms of atmosphere, and it's a stark contrast with this really amateurish area that comes before. It is unfun, has bad atmosphere, feels really artificial (Salamanders simply sitting there, not reacting when you get behind them and kill them) etc. It actually tarnishes the boss a bit because you have to run through all this bullshit whenever you die to him. Yet again, completely removing that area would have been an improvement. You could skip right to the boss and the DLC would be better for it.

 

[Linden]

So I just started playing DS2 for the first time. I had heard some complaints about it being too easy for a DS veteran, but I'm happy to say those Hollows in the Forest of Fallen Giants have made me scream of frustration more than once. Of course, this is partly my own fault since I started as an Explorer and can't wield anything bigger than a toothpick. Currently twohanding a dagger, :fuckyeah:

Now if I could only find a shield.

And I have no idea where I am/should be going. The castle feels immense.

Majula is truly "like a dream".

 

[Stonewolf]

I have a dex/hex flynn build that is perfect for it and it has been doing awesome in PvP.

Speaking of this, what build are you running? I have a dex/hex katana fag currently in the making and I'm scratching my head at the balance between int/faith and the rest.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Pursuer was probably the hardest boss for me because I got to him very early and he coould almost kill me with one swing. It was a frustrating fight BUT it really got me good at rolling. In the end I could kill him without getting hit at all. The area was more of anuisance actually, you could get stuck on some of the shit lying around, or even fall down from the opening to the right. On the fun side you can sometimes get him stuck in the outside if you get him to make a flying lunge at you and end up outside the terrace.

The second time I found him (yes, you'll meet him again ) the fight was pathetically easy.

Didn't know about the entrance to Heide's Tower. Had to check on Youtube, lol. Anyway, today I played some more, finally beat the fucking Pursuer, quite quickly.

Then I killed Dragonrider and Ornstein and ent to the No-Man's Wharf, but I got lost near the sailed ship at the docks.

Now I just killed Ruin Sentinels, and ragequit at Sinner's Rise sewers.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

BTW, it turns out Heide Knight's Sword is amazing, especially upgraded. +4 so far and it cuts through enemies like butter.