Wow, what an unforgivable chunk of padding the Frigid Outskirts is. Who thought any aspect of this was acceptable? I had been enjoying Eleum Loyce before this, too. I am incredibly close to throwing up my hands and skipping this boss.
EDIT: Finally finished them off, thank god. Still, though.
don't agree that dark souls 2 is a rehash story wise, the comparison i've always gone to is Metal Gear Solid 2. it's a story about having to make a sequel to something that's told in a really interesting way, especially considering it's a story by someone else who had to come in and make a sequel. i found the metaphors behind the story super engaging.
Huh, strange thing I noticed: while fighting the three grave robbers in the Sunken King DLC I would randomly regain spell charges on my pyromancy spells. I wasn't using any consumables that would do that but I was grateful for the additional casts.
Huh, strange thing I noticed: while fighting the three grave robbers in the Sunken King DLC I would randomly regain spell charges on my pyromancy spells. I wasn't using any consumables that would do that but I was grateful for the additional casts.
Anyone else run into that?
What's your hat? IIRC the crown of the iron king restores spells every 2 minutes.
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Even though Dark Souls 2 is just showing us another instance of the cycle happening, it goes a lot deeper into the specifics of all the shit that went down. Also I really appreciate how (elevator between Earthen Peak and Iron Keep notwithstanding) all the areas make sense lore-wise, have a clear purpose and are interconnected thematically. It almost makes up for not having them be interconnected physically like Dark Souls 1's areas were. You really feel like you're following a path that has been laid out for you, even if you don't understand why or what you're doing for half the game. The latter half of DS1 the areas kind of stop making sense, and are neither memorable (except in a bad way) or particularly interesting lore-wise.
The entire path from Drangleic Castle down to the Shrine of Amana and into the Undead Crypt gives you a crazy amount of insight into these characters, particularly Vendrick, and what they were trying to accomplish/prevent. It does so much better of a job having the world itself help tell the story than Dark Souls 1's does. I also like Majula more than the Firelink Shrine.
The sprawling nature of DS2's world works well with the way they set up fast travel. If it had been only to specific bonfires like DS1 the lack of shortcuts would have been excruciating, and if DS1 had had DS2's fast travel to any bonfire system then none of the shortcuts would have mattered. They each went for a specific theme for the world and exploration and then the mechanics supported that.
The games are basically almost equal in quality in my mind at this point. If DS3 continues the trend then this will easily supplant Mass Effect as being my overall favorite video game series.
Oh that would explain it. I just chose it cause it looked the best and I never want to go hollow again.
As you can tell I read all the item descriptions. :so_raven:
The item descriptions don't actually tell you the crowns' special effects, so no shame in not realizing.
Ivory King
Slowly regenerates health, I think faster than the regen ring. They also stack together. I like this one a lot since I use the regen ring a bunch actually, helps reduce consumable usage as I explore.
Sunken King
Lowers Vit and Vigor by 1, raises some other stats but who cares. It sucks.
Alright, I rage-quit DS1 after falling off a set of stairs for no reason on a recovery run (okay, I lost like, 3,000 souls, which I know is trivial, but I deleted my save anyway) and instead I'm gonna dive into Scholar of the First Sin.
This was less a rage-quit and more "I shouldn't do the same Knight-Elite Knight-Zweihander character I did last time and try Pyromancer" start-over, so maybe I'll do that in DS1 instead...decisions, decisions.
Alright, I rage-quit DS1 after falling off a set of stairs for no reason on a recovery run (okay, I lost like, 3,000 souls, which I know is trivial, but I deleted my save anyway) and instead I'm gonna dive into Scholar of the First Sin.
This was less a rage-quit and more "I shouldn't do the same Knight-Elite Knight-Zweihander character I did last time and try Pyromancer" start-over, so maybe I'll do that in DS1 instead...decisions, decisions.
Losing any amount of souls is frustrating. I just lost a loooot of souls and some humanity I had saved up, got incredibly angry and now I'm taking a breather while trying to decide if I should go back to grinding for them or not.
I know I will though..
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You can call me Dances with Wolves.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
edited April 2016
I officially think Forlorn in DS2 are bullshit.
Kalnaur on
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
never-ending-reignPolish Catholicentering a world of painRegistered Userregular
I cannot believe I am STILL stuck on Manus. No boss has given me this level of trouble in either DS1/DS2. Just wanna take him down ONCE and since this is my first time doing AotA, i almost HAVE to do it. Someone come be a pal. :biggrin:
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never-ending-reignPolish Catholicentering a world of painRegistered Userregular
Nito and... Sif ( ;_; ) down. Gonna tackle four kings next, leave Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith for last. Nito was kinda funny, killed him with nothing but pyro spells. Upping my flame to Ascended +5 and wearing the Dragon-something ring makes all the difference. I hope the last boss is not too hard. I'm on SL 86 now, 40 END and 40 DEX. Maybe I'll up Vit (21), Str (16) or even Int/Faith so I can use those cool boss soul weapons.
I let Manus on backburner after beating Artorias and going all the way down to the Manus fight. Those Bloatheads hit REALLY hard.
I cannot believe I am STILL stuck on Manus. No boss has given me this level of trouble in either DS1/DS2. Just wanna take him down ONCE and since this is my first time doing AotA, i almost HAVE to do it. Someone come be a pal. :biggrin:
Sif is in the area.
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Alright, started over...as a Knight, because that's just how I like to play these games. Beat Havel (you guys were absolutely right) and am continually being surprised at how easy stuff that gave me fits during my first playthrough are now.
Trying to remember the "right" progress route - how early can I go to the Darkroot forest? I want to pick up the Elite Knight Set and just use that the rest of the game, but I feel like I'm supposed to go kill the Capra Demon and then Blighttown before I go to Darkroot? I forget which way you're "supposed" to go.
You can go to Darkroot whenever you want. You're "supposed" to check it out before New Londo, but it's pretty ambiguous as to when you actually should do it.
I think the difficulty is fitting because Manus is the closest thing the series has ever had to a big final villain.
Hmm... it's hard to call him a villain though.
I felt much better with the final boss of the normal game. He had it fucking coming.
He's not exactly a villain considering the circumstances of Oolacile and himself, but he definitely needed to be stopped. And stopping him saved the world at that point, but then directly led to all the events of Dark Souls 2.
Dark Souls: Where Everything Sucks No Matter What (TM)
In a related note, what's the best "general purpose" medium shield? I remember using a 100% block shield that looked good next to the elite knight set, and switching to several other shields for specific purposes (the poison one, the stamina regen one, the anti-fire one, etc) but I cannot remember what I used for just running about.
I'm watching EpicNameBro's From the Dark play through in prep for DS3. It was tempting to buy SotfS and play that but I kinda wanted to have everything from 1 fresh in my head. I can also watch(listen) to the videos while working.
I think the difficulty is fitting because Manus is the closest thing the series has ever had to a big final villain.
Hmm... it's hard to call him a villain though.
I felt much better with the final boss of the normal game. He had it fucking coming.
He's not exactly a villain considering the circumstances of Oolacile and himself, but he definitely needed to be stopped. And stopping him saved the world at that point, but then directly led to all the events of Dark Souls 2.
Dark Souls: Where Everything Sucks No Matter What (TM)
I would argue that most Dark Souls bosses could only barely be described as villains. Antagonists, definitely, but active villains not so much. Most of the ones who are doing something actively villainous are no longer in conscious control of their actions.
In a related note, what's the best "general purpose" medium shield? I remember using a 100% block shield that looked good next to the elite knight set, and switching to several other shields for specific purposes (the poison one, the stamina regen one, the anti-fire one, etc) but I cannot remember what I used for just running about.
The blacksmith sells a tower kite shield that looks pretty nice. There's also Oscar's crest shield.
I think the silver knight shield is the best all around, but it doesn't really match the elite knight set as well.
In a related note, what's the best "general purpose" medium shield? I remember using a 100% block shield that looked good next to the elite knight set, and switching to several other shields for specific purposes (the poison one, the stamina regen one, the anti-fire one, etc) but I cannot remember what I used for just running about.
Looking over the shields your tower kite shield you start with already has the 100% physical reduction. Knight shield is the the one most people get since it's easy to pickup in undead Parish. Black Knight Shield was rather nice but depends on a drop.
Grass Crest Shield is another reason to go to Darkroot if you just want additional stam regen.
Alright, started over...as a Knight, because that's just how I like to play these games. Beat Havel (you guys were absolutely right) and am continually being surprised at how easy stuff that gave me fits during my first playthrough are now.
Trying to remember the "right" progress route - how early can I go to the Darkroot forest? I want to pick up the Elite Knight Set and just use that the rest of the game, but I feel like I'm supposed to go kill the Capra Demon and then Blighttown before I go to Darkroot? I forget which way you're "supposed" to go.
Immediately after reaching Firelink if you have the master key. And can dodge some shit.
Elevator down to the entrance of New Londo Ruins, hang left and use key to open the door to Valley of Drakes, run past Blighttown and the sleeping zombie dragon (don't take the loot, RUN), past the blue drakes (dodge dodge dodge) and to the hill-thing to the Valley of Drakes bonfire. From there it's a short walk to Darkroot Basin, and you can climb out of that for the Forest proper (but I think the knight set is actually in that basin descent area).
Oh, you may need to get past a Black Knight to climb out. Good luck with that, and grab the grass crest shield while you're there.
Alright, started over...as a Knight, because that's just how I like to play these games. Beat Havel (you guys were absolutely right) and am continually being surprised at how easy stuff that gave me fits during my first playthrough are now.
Trying to remember the "right" progress route - how early can I go to the Darkroot forest? I want to pick up the Elite Knight Set and just use that the rest of the game, but I feel like I'm supposed to go kill the Capra Demon and then Blighttown before I go to Darkroot? I forget which way you're "supposed" to go.
Immediately after reaching Firelink if you have the master key. And can dodge some shit.
Elevator down to the entrance of New Londo Ruins, hang left and use key to open the door to Valley of Drakes, run past Blighttown and the sleeping zombie dragon (don't take the loot, RUN), past the blue drakes (dodge dodge dodge) and to the hill-thing to the Valley of Drakes bonfire. From there it's a short walk to Darkroot Basin, and you can climb out of that for the Forest proper (but I think the knight set is actually in that basin descent area).
Oh, you may need to get past a Black Knight to climb out. Good luck with that, and grab the grass crest shield while you're there.
Alright, started over...as a Knight, because that's just how I like to play these games. Beat Havel (you guys were absolutely right) and am continually being surprised at how easy stuff that gave me fits during my first playthrough are now.
Trying to remember the "right" progress route - how early can I go to the Darkroot forest? I want to pick up the Elite Knight Set and just use that the rest of the game, but I feel like I'm supposed to go kill the Capra Demon and then Blighttown before I go to Darkroot? I forget which way you're "supposed" to go.
Immediately after reaching Firelink if you have the master key. And can dodge some shit.
Elevator down to the entrance of New Londo Ruins, hang left and use key to open the door to Valley of Drakes, run past Blighttown and the sleeping zombie dragon (don't take the loot, RUN), past the blue drakes (dodge dodge dodge) and to the hill-thing to the Valley of Drakes bonfire. From there it's a short walk to Darkroot Basin, and you can climb out of that for the Forest proper (but I think the knight set is actually in that basin descent area).
Oh, you may need to get past a Black Knight to climb out. Good luck with that, and grab the grass crest shield while you're there.
You can also just run past Havel
That requires clearing most of the Burg. Which is admittedly short. And still needs the master key!
On the plus side for each Forlorn you defeat allows you to buy an additional piece of Forlorn gear off of Straid including their weapons.
I just got my first taste of Blue Sentinels and while I detest PvP in this game I fully support turning the tables.
Wait really? Never thought I'd get anything more than effigies for beating those dudes. I blew up all the Forlorn pretty easy once I figured out that they drop their guard to attack when they come in close, regardless of if there's already one on the way from me. So they'd do their leap attack straight into my dual rapiers, stagger, then follow up to take 3/4 of their life in one exchange. If they tried to heal then chase and punish.
Alternatively Great Club smashes them into the dirt and you can just cheese them with stunlock.
I think the difficulty is fitting because Manus is the closest thing the series has ever had to a big final villain.
Hmm... it's hard to call him a villain though.
I felt much better with the final boss of the normal game. He had it fucking coming.
He's not exactly a villain considering the circumstances of Oolacile and himself, but he definitely needed to be stopped. And stopping him saved the world at that point, but then directly led to all the events of Dark Souls 2.
Dark Souls: Where Everything Sucks No Matter What (TM)
I would argue that most Dark Souls bosses could only barely be described as villains. Antagonists, definitely, but active villains not so much. Most of the ones who are doing something actively villainous are no longer in conscious control of their actions.
I'm trying to think of any besides Nashandra. Like you said most of the bosses are chaos corrupted demons, mindless hollow, animals of some kind, guardians whose protected areas we are barging into, or the owners of Lord Souls who are mostly minding their own business when we murder them. I even only say Nashandra is because while the nature of her Soul drove her to those actions, Alsanna was able to overcome that, making Nashandra's actions hers alone. Elana and Nadalia are more complicated cases and we don't really have enough information to judge.
The actions the player character takes in these games has never been more succinctly summarized than way back in Demon's Souls with Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland's dialogue.
Manus did nothing wrong . Guys he was already dead when they dug up his grave and he just lost it. I would instead suggest Seethe , as he is a traitorous murderous horrible kidnapping jerk. All that before he lost his mind.
Manus did nothing wrong . Guys he was already dead when they dug up his grave and he just lost it. I would instead suggest Seethe , as he is a traitorous murderous horrible kidnapping jerk. All that before he lost his mind.
Actually, I think the only Lord who doesn't have a clear reason to die is Nito? The Witch is tragic but a lost cause...
Seeth (sp?) betrayed his kin, then went into horrific science experiments.
The Four Kings were Darkwraiths.
The Bed of Chaos needs to be put down. But didn't deserve becoming that (or the Daughters the fates that befell them).
Nito is... kind of just minding his own business tending to the (un)dead?
Final boss:
Gwyn has a nice long list of crimes to answer for.
Gwyndolin ending up the way he did (some real child abuse there).
Priscilla even worse (not only is she locked away, he's fucked her mind up enough that she thinks she should be)
All his knights dying when he linked the fire (the black knights? Yeah, those all dead because of Gwyn himself)
I don't actually know who to blame for the citizens of New Londo though...
Other tragic boss fights:
Artorias
Sif
Queelag
Priscilla (damn the devs for making her the source of two of the best dex weapons in the game)
never-ending-reignPolish Catholicentering a world of painRegistered Userregular
Brought Sif. Just me and the pooch. I knew I could do it just wanted it done quicker than it took haha. Sif actually bit the dust with Manus still at approx 45%. Then he just kept spamming his dark moves. Alternating between spamming estus and pendant. And Pyro FTW.
Now just Kalameet and lastly the Lord of Cinder himself. Everytime i play this game I like to incorporate something different as an additional challenge. One of them this time, while it may seem silly, is parrying Gwyn.
I'm getting near the end of my DS1 playthrough and I'm not sure I want to get involved with the DLC. These last few areas have been really... not fun. I kinda just want to beat the game so I can say I did .
Posts
EDIT: Finally finished them off, thank god. Still, though.
Anyone else run into that?
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
As you can tell I read all the item descriptions. :so_raven:
The entire path from Drangleic Castle down to the Shrine of Amana and into the Undead Crypt gives you a crazy amount of insight into these characters, particularly Vendrick, and what they were trying to accomplish/prevent. It does so much better of a job having the world itself help tell the story than Dark Souls 1's does. I also like Majula more than the Firelink Shrine.
The sprawling nature of DS2's world works well with the way they set up fast travel. If it had been only to specific bonfires like DS1 the lack of shortcuts would have been excruciating, and if DS1 had had DS2's fast travel to any bonfire system then none of the shortcuts would have mattered. They each went for a specific theme for the world and exploration and then the mechanics supported that.
The games are basically almost equal in quality in my mind at this point. If DS3 continues the trend then this will easily supplant Mass Effect as being my overall favorite video game series.
Invasions skew heavily to ng+
I forget why
It's extremely difficult to get invasion items prior to NG+, they are in short supply.
The item descriptions don't actually tell you the crowns' special effects, so no shame in not realizing.
Ivory King
Sunken King
Vendrick's (King's Crown)
This was less a rage-quit and more "I shouldn't do the same Knight-Elite Knight-Zweihander character I did last time and try Pyromancer" start-over, so maybe I'll do that in DS1 instead...decisions, decisions.
DS3 preordered.
Losing any amount of souls is frustrating. I just lost a loooot of souls and some humanity I had saved up, got incredibly angry and now I'm taking a breather while trying to decide if I should go back to grinding for them or not.
I know I will though..
All NPC invaders kind of are. They have too much poise and their weapons and spells are more effective than anything a player can manage.
On the plus side for each Forlorn you defeat allows you to buy an additional piece of Forlorn gear off of Straid including their weapons.
I just got my first taste of Blue Sentinels and while I detest PvP in this game I fully support turning the tables.
I think the difficulty is fitting because Manus is the closest thing the series has ever had to a big final villain.
I let Manus on backburner after beating Artorias and going all the way down to the Manus fight. Those Bloatheads hit REALLY hard.
This game is the best thing.
Sif is in the area.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Hmm... it's hard to call him a villain though.
I felt much better with the final boss of the normal game. He had it fucking coming.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Trying to remember the "right" progress route - how early can I go to the Darkroot forest? I want to pick up the Elite Knight Set and just use that the rest of the game, but I feel like I'm supposed to go kill the Capra Demon and then Blighttown before I go to Darkroot? I forget which way you're "supposed" to go.
Just run down there now.
He's not exactly a villain considering the circumstances of Oolacile and himself, but he definitely needed to be stopped. And stopping him saved the world at that point, but then directly led to all the events of Dark Souls 2.
Dark Souls: Where Everything Sucks No Matter What (TM)
I would argue that most Dark Souls bosses could only barely be described as villains. Antagonists, definitely, but active villains not so much. Most of the ones who are doing something actively villainous are no longer in conscious control of their actions.
I think the silver knight shield is the best all around, but it doesn't really match the elite knight set as well.
Looking over the shields your tower kite shield you start with already has the 100% physical reduction. Knight shield is the the one most people get since it's easy to pickup in undead Parish. Black Knight Shield was rather nice but depends on a drop.
Grass Crest Shield is another reason to go to Darkroot if you just want additional stam regen.
Immediately after reaching Firelink if you have the master key. And can dodge some shit.
Oh, you may need to get past a Black Knight to climb out. Good luck with that, and grab the grass crest shield while you're there.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
You can also just run past Havel
My Steam
That requires clearing most of the Burg. Which is admittedly short. And still needs the master key!
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Wait really? Never thought I'd get anything more than effigies for beating those dudes. I blew up all the Forlorn pretty easy once I figured out that they drop their guard to attack when they come in close, regardless of if there's already one on the way from me. So they'd do their leap attack straight into my dual rapiers, stagger, then follow up to take 3/4 of their life in one exchange. If they tried to heal then chase and punish.
Alternatively Great Club smashes them into the dirt and you can just cheese them with stunlock.
I'm trying to think of any besides Nashandra. Like you said most of the bosses are chaos corrupted demons, mindless hollow, animals of some kind, guardians whose protected areas we are barging into, or the owners of Lord Souls who are mostly minding their own business when we murder them. I even only say Nashandra is because while the nature of her Soul drove her to those actions, Alsanna was able to overcome that, making Nashandra's actions hers alone. Elana and Nadalia are more complicated cases and we don't really have enough information to judge.
The actions the player character takes in these games has never been more succinctly summarized than way back in Demon's Souls with Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland's dialogue.
Actually, I think the only Lord who doesn't have a clear reason to die is Nito? The Witch is tragic but a lost cause...
Seeth (sp?) betrayed his kin, then went into horrific science experiments.
The Four Kings were Darkwraiths.
The Bed of Chaos needs to be put down. But didn't deserve becoming that (or the Daughters the fates that befell them).
Nito is... kind of just minding his own business tending to the (un)dead?
Final boss:
Gwyndolin ending up the way he did (some real child abuse there).
Priscilla even worse (not only is she locked away, he's fucked her mind up enough that she thinks she should be)
All his knights dying when he linked the fire (the black knights? Yeah, those all dead because of Gwyn himself)
I don't actually know who to blame for the citizens of New Londo though...
Other tragic boss fights:
Sif
Queelag
Priscilla (damn the devs for making her the source of two of the best dex weapons in the game)
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Now just Kalameet and lastly the Lord of Cinder himself. Everytime i play this game I like to incorporate something different as an additional challenge. One of them this time, while it may seem silly, is parrying Gwyn.