[Dark Souls]'s moon is waning. Soon the nightly hunt begins.

Joshmvii

Lost Izalith is a shitty designed area that doesn't belong in a Souls game, but they were rushed at the end of the game's development and all that, and most of the game is so good it can be forgiven. Really the whole post lord vessel parts of Dark Souls are quite bad compared to the front half, but Lost Izalith just stands out worse than anything. And Bed of Chaos is just the shit cherry on top of a bad area.

I didn't have the worst time beating Bed of Chaos, but that doesn't mean it isn't a terribly designed boss with mechanics that don't really fit what Souls games are about, i.e. not platforming and jumping over holes while avoiding environmental hazard.

BrocksMullet

I actually really like Dukes Archives, even the Crystal Caves part. New Londo is has some annoying sections, but it's got a cool vibe.There's not much actively bad about Lost Izalith, other than the boss, but the boss combined with the size and the tedium of the area really drags it down. ToG knows what it did.

Joshmvii

I disagree. Lost Izalith feels very out of place even amongst the rest of the 2nd half of the game. It doesn't even feel like a Souls area. There's basically no shortcuts or exploration in Lost Izalith, just more or less a straight forward path with a bunch of average to bad boss fights to pad it out.

Kilroy

there's a shortcut to skip the entirety of lost izalith

Beef Avenger

Don't know if this was announced before, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin upgrade costs for pc

Full DirectX 9 version: $39.99
Full DirectX 11 version: $49.99
Upgrade to DirectX 11 for Dark Souls 2 owners who didn't purchase the DLC: $29.99
Upgrade to DirectX 11 for Dark Souls 2 owners who purchased all of the DLC: $19.99

DodgeBlan

Dukes archives is up there with the best souls levels. Everything else post lordvessel has a touch of the shonk.

Joshmvii

Kilroy wrote: »

there's a shortcut to skip the entirety of lost izalith

Well, it lets you skip 2 bosses but not the whole area and not bed of chaos, and it's not something that you will organically come across for 99% of people, and that's not what i meant about shortcuts anyway. I meant Lost Izalith feels out of place because there's no exploration that loops back around using shortcuts to get back to where you started earlier. Basically the hallmark of Souls level design is missing from that area.

I needed anime to post.

Beef Avenger wrote: »

Don't know if this was announced before, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin upgrade costs for pc

Full DirectX 9 version: $39.99
Full DirectX 11 version: $49.99
Upgrade to DirectX 11 for Dark Souls 2 owners who didn't purchase the DLC: $29.99
Upgrade to DirectX 11 for Dark Souls 2 owners who purchased all of the DLC: $19.99

i'm actually really surprised that there's a discount for previous owners, much less dlc purchases

there wasn't any indication that that would be the case

Wyborn

Does the Scholar of the First Sin upgrade include the DLC?

Zay

new londo was pretty much my favorite area in any souls game, so i'm glad to see that sort of ruined architecture style is sort of what all of bloodborne's aesthetic is

love that style

I needed anime to post.

Wyborn wrote: »

Does the Scholar of the First Sin upgrade include the DLC?

yes

Kilroy

what exactly is scholar of the first sin?

is

is it an expansion pack?

Goatmon

Nah, it's just an NPC that makes appearances in the game after a patch from a few months ago.

His inclusion in the game gives a possible alternate ending, among other things.

Depending on your interactions, I believe he is a possible boss fight, too.

I needed anime to post.

it also features new and additional enemy locations, along with the graphics upgrade

other than that (and auto-including the dlc) it's everything that's presently in ds2

Kilroy

that seems... not worth $20

Mr Fuzzbutt

So I just got up to the Fume Knight.

...At least the bonfire's nice and close I guess.

Goatmon

Are you on pc?

If so, what's your soul memory?

Mr Fuzzbutt

Yes and about 1.3 million.

Not so sure I want to co-op this one though.

Unless you're actually asking so you can invade.

Mr Fuzzbutt

I think I need to respec myself up some END.

Or just level up a bit and come back I suppose.

I needed anime to post.

fume knight is arguably the hardest (also best) fight in the dlc

Mr Fuzzbutt

Mr Fuzzbutt wrote: »

I think I need to respec myself up some END.

Or just level up a bit and come back I suppose.

Yeah if I dodge then attack, I don't have enough stamina to dodge his quadruple combo.

Mr Fuzzbutt

Mmm yeah that did the trick, took nearly a full quarter of his health bar!

Mr Fuzzbutt

oh god his sword caught on fire

Goatmon

Kilroy wrote: »

there's a shortcut to skip the entirety of lost izalith

You literally can go straight to the Bed of Chaos,without even having to fight the Centipede Demon.

This shortcut is also necessary in order to save one particular NPC from a horrible fate.

But you've already missed that opportunity by taking the front door in, so that's too bad.

Goatmon

Mr Fuzzbutt wrote: »

Yes and about 1.3 million.

Not so sure I want to co-op this one though.

Unless you're actually asking so you can invade.

Having a phantom does raise his defense a bit, but having someone along who knows what they're doing can help wonders.

Fighting him solo, you pretty much can't afford to fuck up anywhere at all, especially once he goes Super Saiyan.

It's one of two fights in the game that I just have no interest at all in soloing.

gtrmp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj0879lDLZY

Platy

I'm currently downloading Scholar of the First Sin

And then I'll try to progress through the game as fast possible

I played soooo much of it already but I have a hankering for running around in armor

Platy

Vsove and the shotgun surgeon on my friendlist are playing Mount & Blade: Warband, but if I play that, I know I'm going to sink many, many hours into it

Rhan9

So far the SofFS release has been great fun. The new enemy placement feels a lot more like the first Dark Souls, and some items have been moved around to places that balance the experience a lot more evenly.

Also, lots of little tricks to catch people who'd played DS2 already off their guard.

BrocksMullet

So, looking up Demon Soul's videos (the sickness is inside me...), and... is it just a really muddy looking game, even under the best circumstances?

BahamutZERO

if by "muddy" you mean "some enemies look like they're covered in mud for some reason," then yes
if you mean something else by that then I'm not sure, show me one of these videos.

BrocksMullet

Maybe the best I could find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsgnRpp2Oc4

Likely just being hard on a 6 year old ps3 game.

BahamutZERO

Well the textures were definitely pretty brown in the tower of latria, and the swamp level, and the non-lava parts of stonefang tunnel. And the improvement of the artists was pretty clear between demon's and dark souls. I don't think demon's souls' textures or other art look bad at all, but it is even better in the later games for sure.

Cilla Black

The entire series, even Bloodborne, has a pretty dark and muddy style. Its just the aesthetic they are going for. I don't think it works all the time, but they seem to, and that's OK. I never actually hampers my enjoyment of the games so I don't care too much.

The place it works the most is definitely in the area that video takes place in, the Tower of Latria.

It is uncontestedly the creepiest and most atmospheric area in a Souls game, and there isn't really even any competition.

Wyborn

I look forward to seeing the Tower of Latria, then

Because I've beaten Dark Souls thrice and every time I play that game I end up running through New Londo at top speed while dropping increasingly desperate F-bombs under my breath, and can only stop when the Four Kings are dead

BahamutZERO

I find new londo creepier than tower of latria but it's definitely second place on the creepytown list

Joshmvii

Tower of Latria beats all for me on the creepiness level, and I can also say with certainty that if the Upper Cathedral Ward had been longer it would've probably taken its place, because hearing only the footsteps of mindflayers in the dark oppressed my soul pretty hard too.

Honestly, there's a lot of Bloodborne that, if it had been my first Souls game, would probably beat Latria in my mind in terms of atmosphere. But being a vet of all the other games, I'm mostly accustomed to the horrors so a lot of things in Bloodborne that are genuinely horrifying were just like eh, whatever for me.

Platy

I thought the new enemy placement was going to be a minor thing, but it does indeed make the game a lot more like the first Dark Souls

Rhan9

I'd say that grimy is the descriptor I'd use for the Souls games (and Bloodborne).

BrocksMullet

Nah, I'm just being a terrible nerd about resolution.