Yeah I didn't have a ton of time when I was dipping my toe into the place, but when I get a chance I'm going to just run from the bonfire at Andre to them and practice their timing.
Haven't had to do a lot of parrying lately so I'm rusty.
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Yeah I didn't have a ton of time when I was dipping my toe into the place, but when I get a chance I'm going to just run from the bonfire at Andre to them and practice their timing.
Haven't had to do a lot of parrying lately so I'm rusty.
Consider popping some humanity before that to try and get their sword to drop.
Is it just me or does the Zweihander in DS1 completely break the game?
edit: I should say, break the combat. First time through Sen's or Blighttown isn't gonna be carried by six feet of steel. Even if most other problems are.
Idx86Long days and pleasant nights.Registered Userregular
Playing my first time through Dark Souls right now. Have tried to keep the run as spoiler free as possible, but I did see several mentions of the Drake Sword. Is that a vitally important weapon early on? I tried to obtain it last night but I only have 9 points in DEX and after 40 arrows I still had not obtained it. Each stat point is about 3k souls for me right now, so if it's not worth it to invest in DEX for the sword I will probably just leave it as is.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
Playing my first time through Dark Souls right now. Have tried to keep the run as spoiler free as possible, but I did see several mentions of the Drake Sword. Is that a vitally important weapon early on? I tried to obtain it last night but I only have 9 points in DEX and after 40 arrows I still had not obtained it. Each stat point is about 3k souls for me right now, so if it's not worth it to invest in DEX for the sword I will probably just leave it as is.
It's not important. It'll murder pretty hard in the early game, but it's got no stat scaling so it'll fall off pretty quickly.
So did I, on my first run. I played through 2 and 3 and then my friends all got DS1 on the recent daily sale on steam and I started another run with them. Decided on a whim to try out the Zwei and well, the Claymore just won't cut it anymore.
I swear I will kill you Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon, if its the last thing I do in Dark Souls 2. I dunno if I'm just not leveled high enough (SL 138) or I'm not far enough through the game to have better loot (just finished Drangleic Castle) but he is kicking my ass. I've tried my maxed witch's staff with hexes and both of my +10 weapons, but I'm still not able to get much farther than half health. Its a brutal fight.
I swear I will kill you Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon, if its the last thing I do in Dark Souls 2. I dunno if I'm just not leveled high enough (SL 138) or I'm not far enough through the game to have better loot (just finished Drangleic Castle) but he is kicking my ass. I've tried my maxed witch's staff with hexes and both of my +10 weapons, but I'm still not able to get much farther than half health. Its a brutal fight.
Have you tried the NPC summons? I remember only needing one or two tries because one of them is rad as hell
Still struggling in Sen's. I cannot seem to get parry timings for the snakemen down for the life of me, so I've been making do with blocking (which is hard to do when my L1 only registers maybe 60% of the time) and backstab fishing. My sorceries do precisely jack and squat for damage right now at 30 INT as well. I'm spending 3 casts of Heavy Soul Arrow to kill a single snakeman, assuming no blocks.
I did manage to muddle through some parts and free Big Hat Logan though, so now I can double up on HSA and maybe drop normal Soul Arrow. Hoping that Homing Soulmass will also help, but at only 10 casts it seems like something incredibly situational. Soul Spear is far out of my price range, though.
Long story short: my damage is weak (my +5 magic estoc isn't even breaking 100 damage on a snakeman with its R1), I'm squishy as fuck, and I'm having a hard time even maintaining a good roll distance with even stuff like the Fire Keeper's armor.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
Still struggling in Sen's. I cannot seem to get parry timings for the snakemen down for the life of me, so I've been making do with blocking (which is hard to do when my L1 only registers maybe 60% of the time) and backstab fishing. My sorceries do precisely jack and squat for damage right now at 30 INT as well. I'm spending 3 casts of Heavy Soul Arrow to kill a single snakeman, assuming no blocks.
I did manage to muddle through some parts and free Big Hat Logan though, so now I can double up on HSA and maybe drop normal Soul Arrow. Hoping that Homing Soulmass will also help, but at only 10 casts it seems like something incredibly situational. Soul Spear is far out of my price range, though.
Long story short: my damage is weak (my +5 magic estoc isn't even breaking 100 damage on a snakeman with its R1), I'm squishy as fuck, and I'm having a hard time even maintaining a good roll distance with even stuff like the Fire Keeper's armor.
The Snakemen's main weaknesses are actually melee damage of any kind. Strike, Slash, even Regular. The issue is, as an Int main your damage would be lower with a normal weapon due to scaling, and lower with a magic weapon due to their comparative defense against magic vs physical.
Basically, it's because you chose a squishy magic build that you're doing so little damage. You should probably be using a shield and fishing for backstabs or chances to do R2 attacks.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
I swear I will kill you Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon, if its the last thing I do in Dark Souls 2. I dunno if I'm just not leveled high enough (SL 138) or I'm not far enough through the game to have better loot (just finished Drangleic Castle) but he is kicking my ass. I've tried my maxed witch's staff with hexes and both of my +10 weapons, but I'm still not able to get much farther than half health. Its a brutal fight.
Have you tried the NPC summons? I remember only needing one or two tries because one of them is rad as hell
There is a two handed warrior is helpful, but I ended up, after three days, beating the bastard on my own. I dowsed my magic blade with dark energy and managed to kill him. It was hard, but finally did it.
Finally made it to the bonfire in Sen's. Just ended up having to take things really slow. Pyromancies (namely Combustion) helped a lot, but most of it was the ol' block-and-poke. Died a couple times to silly bullshit, but finally made it to a staging point.
I'll give it to DS1: Its level design may be pretty shit, but it really does deliver a genuine sense of adventure with how its world is interconnected and how dependent you are on bonfires lets you appreciate its use as a staging area for further exploration than a pure checkpoint to head back home with like in DS3.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Finally made it to the bonfire in Sen's. Just ended up having to take things really slow. Pyromancies (namely Combustion) helped a lot, but most of it was the ol' block-and-poke. Died a couple times to silly bullshit, but finally made it to a staging point.
I'll give it to DS1: Its level design may be pretty shit, but it really does deliver a genuine sense of adventure with how its world is interconnected and how dependent you are on bonfires lets you appreciate its use as a staging area for further exploration than a pure checkpoint to head back home with like in DS3.
Level design is DS1's strength when put up against the other Souls games. Why do you think it's terrible?
Finally made it to the bonfire in Sen's. Just ended up having to take things really slow. Pyromancies (namely Combustion) helped a lot, but most of it was the ol' block-and-poke. Died a couple times to silly bullshit, but finally made it to a staging point.
I'll give it to DS1: Its level design may be pretty shit, but it really does deliver a genuine sense of adventure with how its world is interconnected and how dependent you are on bonfires lets you appreciate its use as a staging area for further exploration than a pure checkpoint to head back home with like in DS3.
Level design is DS1's strength when put up against the other Souls games. Why do you think it's terrible?
I would disagree with this. The inter-connectedness of levels is great but I'd say there are more bad individual levels than good when compared to the other games.
Finally made it to the bonfire in Sen's. Just ended up having to take things really slow. Pyromancies (namely Combustion) helped a lot, but most of it was the ol' block-and-poke. Died a couple times to silly bullshit, but finally made it to a staging point.
I'll give it to DS1: Its level design may be pretty shit, but it really does deliver a genuine sense of adventure with how its world is interconnected and how dependent you are on bonfires lets you appreciate its use as a staging area for further exploration than a pure checkpoint to head back home with like in DS3.
Level design is DS1's strength when put up against the other Souls games. Why do you think it's terrible?
So far the running theme I've seen for level design is: mostly short with very tight corridors, acres of ledges over bottomless pits, and a number of places that have ledges that are so narrow that your character model half-dangles off of them (which is design that faded away over a decade ago). So much feels so narrow and for seemingly no other reason than to force the player to fight enemies in cramped arenas. This is fine in and of itself, but it's overdone here. Then there's Blighttown, which is a whole mess in itself, mostly because the already-tired "ledges and ladders and pits" design of the first half is made even worse with the inclusion of intentionally-shitty lighting that inspires more of a sense of frustration than dread.
With what I've seen of Sen's Fortress so far, I like the focus on traps and some degree of a puzzle-solving aspect (with the rolling boulder switch and all), but it's really hampered by being yet another area comprised of claustrophobic passages and insta-death falls.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
Everything you describe as problematic, I found more or less engaging, and very much encouraging me to take it slow, be careful, wield a shield and keep it up at almost all times, take fights slower, grind a bit if I needed, etc. I felt like the perilous nature of the stages helped give a feeling of worry more than dread, but I also felt like that was the point. The interconnectivity, the close, corridors and sharp corners hiding any possible enemy, or trap, or whatever all felt right.
Many of the more solid designs of Dark Souls 2 use similar stage layouts, with a bit more space from time to time.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
All three DS games have their own style, so whose level design you prefer I imagine lies primarily in which one hooked you first. Personally I like the level design in DS1 best (despite Izalith), mechanics in DS2 best and... I dunno... graphics in 3 best? I need to get back to DS3 again and see if it clicks, but that entire game made me go "oh, so this is how all the DS2 haters must've felt... ".
Everything you describe as problematic, I found more or less engaging, and very much encouraging me to take it slow, be careful, wield a shield and keep it up at almost all times, take fights slower, grind a bit if I needed, etc.
The bolded might be some of the problem I've been having, because I'm still pretty fresh from my first DS3 playthrough where I was hidden behind a black knight shield for 70 hours, and wasn't expecting to have to turtle up again.
korodullin on
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Shields are stupid good in DS1, but they're not necessary. If you have some armour poise you can easily just two-hand a big weapon and go to town, not giving any fucks. 'Cause, you know, poise in DS1 works.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
A squishy sorcerer's options are pretty much know what's coming before hand, or turtle up. If you go hybrid or are a hulking brute you could wear high poise armor as Glal says, and that would hold you, but if you're trying to go magic user, you really should have at least 100 block on a shield, in my opinion.
Not that that will help with the DLC bosses. Those you have to spinny-flippy dodge like mad; blocking is basically death for the Black Dragon or Artorias.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
I managed to beat Artorias on my original slow-roll sword&board guy, but it required me to learn exactly how much stamina each of his attacks took, learn all the tells and get the hell out of dodge when the combos that I couldn't block safely started.
He's much easier to fight if you just strip naked and dodge, really (much like Havel, unless you're Mister Parry Oooh Look At You And Your Fancy Parry Skills No I'm Not Jelly At All Nah).
Bleh Darklurker. Anyone got any good advice for this one (or two more precisely)?
AoE pyromancies when he splits. Does damage to both halves simultaneously. For a non-pyro, I have no idea because I'm pretty sure I respecced for this one fight
I don't know why I keep going human in DS1, since apparently all pvp consists of now is either straight-up hackers (most I can kick with Watchdog, but a few slip by) or SL1 uber-twinks that do 800+ damage in a single swing of an axe.
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For clarification
I enjoyed every moment of telling every single enemy in the game how little I cared for them.
Bit more iffy against Bosses.
Two-handed Zwei hits often staggered bosses on my run-through.
I should go back and finish my Zwei run someday.
No weapon comes close to the disgusting magic damage on display in those.
On the bright side, the PvP Watchdog utility caught two hackers trying to invade, so that's good.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Haven't had to do a lot of parrying lately so I'm rusty.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
ZWEIHANDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
So did I, on my first run. I played through 2 and 3 and then my friends all got DS1 on the recent daily sale on steam and I started another run with them. Decided on a whim to try out the Zwei and well, the Claymore just won't cut it anymore.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Have you tried the NPC summons? I remember only needing one or two tries because one of them is rad as hell
I did manage to muddle through some parts and free Big Hat Logan though, so now I can double up on HSA and maybe drop normal Soul Arrow. Hoping that Homing Soulmass will also help, but at only 10 casts it seems like something incredibly situational. Soul Spear is far out of my price range, though.
Long story short: my damage is weak (my +5 magic estoc isn't even breaking 100 damage on a snakeman with its R1), I'm squishy as fuck, and I'm having a hard time even maintaining a good roll distance with even stuff like the Fire Keeper's armor.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
The Snakemen's main weaknesses are actually melee damage of any kind. Strike, Slash, even Regular. The issue is, as an Int main your damage would be lower with a normal weapon due to scaling, and lower with a magic weapon due to their comparative defense against magic vs physical.
Basically, it's because you chose a squishy magic build that you're doing so little damage. You should probably be using a shield and fishing for backstabs or chances to do R2 attacks.
I'm pretty sure it's actually slower to try and get trap kills most of the time, but it sure is fun.
There is a two handed warrior is helpful, but I ended up, after three days, beating the bastard on my own. I dowsed my magic blade with dark energy and managed to kill him. It was hard, but finally did it.
I'll give it to DS1: Its level design may be pretty shit, but it really does deliver a genuine sense of adventure with how its world is interconnected and how dependent you are on bonfires lets you appreciate its use as a staging area for further exploration than a pure checkpoint to head back home with like in DS3.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Level design is DS1's strength when put up against the other Souls games. Why do you think it's terrible?
I would disagree with this. The inter-connectedness of levels is great but I'd say there are more bad individual levels than good when compared to the other games.
So far the running theme I've seen for level design is: mostly short with very tight corridors, acres of ledges over bottomless pits, and a number of places that have ledges that are so narrow that your character model half-dangles off of them (which is design that faded away over a decade ago). So much feels so narrow and for seemingly no other reason than to force the player to fight enemies in cramped arenas. This is fine in and of itself, but it's overdone here. Then there's Blighttown, which is a whole mess in itself, mostly because the already-tired "ledges and ladders and pits" design of the first half is made even worse with the inclusion of intentionally-shitty lighting that inspires more of a sense of frustration than dread.
With what I've seen of Sen's Fortress so far, I like the focus on traps and some degree of a puzzle-solving aspect (with the rolling boulder switch and all), but it's really hampered by being yet another area comprised of claustrophobic passages and insta-death falls.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Many of the more solid designs of Dark Souls 2 use similar stage layouts, with a bit more space from time to time.
I'll politely disagree with that because, you know, opinions.
The bolded might be some of the problem I've been having, because I'm still pretty fresh from my first DS3 playthrough where I was hidden behind a black knight shield for 70 hours, and wasn't expecting to have to turtle up again.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Not that that will help with the DLC bosses. Those you have to spinny-flippy dodge like mad; blocking is basically death for the Black Dragon or Artorias.
He's much easier to fight if you just strip naked and dodge, really (much like Havel, unless you're Mister Parry Oooh Look At You And Your Fancy Parry Skills No I'm Not Jelly At All Nah).
Oo\ Ironsizide
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)