Dark Souls 2: YOU DIED HARDER

the bonfire teleporting thing makes the movement between areas kind of a hybrid between demons and ds1. my gut reaction is to tentatively disapprove but we'll see.

yeah, i'm a little suspicious of being able to fast travel from bonfires right off the bat in this one. thought the way it was handled in DS1, really making those early game trips between fires dangerous and risky and finally opening up fast travel when the game starts to sprawl, was pretty much perfect. as much as i loved Demon's Souls, Dark Souls' open world was a vast improvement over DeS's overly game-y "choose your level" method imo. but, yeah, this does seem like a hybrid. also brought back from DeS: having to talk to a specific NPC to level.

amazon claims to be delivering my black armor edition and 400 PAGE HARDCOVER STRATEGY GUIDE on march 13; I will be carving out the majority of the weekend to explore. Need to finish DS1 first: y or n?

i also read something about how there is a mechanic (at least at some point in the game) to reshuffle your stats, so you won't even be locked into your character type after leveling up. mostly i'm agonizing about whether to purse a similarly tank-like strategy like i did in DS1 or to try a dex or magic build this time.

i used the wikis to figure out what path to take (at least i started to after initially wandering into the graveyard and wasting a lot of time there) so i was never really frustrated by not knowing where to go. i wonder if that's what they're trying to prevent with the fast travel, to create more viable ways to get through the game?

i did love seeing how the areas connected and finding the shortcuts, hopefully that isn't lost.

yeah, the fiendishly clever interconnectedness of the world design was really the secret strength of Dark Souls

amazon claims to be delivering my black armor edition and 400 PAGE HARDCOVER STRATEGY GUIDE on march 13; I will be carving out the majority of the weekend to explore. Need to finish DS1 first: y or n?

― PSY talks The Nut Job (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, March 4, 2014 5:28 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i pre-ordered mine months ago and just recently got an e-mail confirming a March 13th delivery date. i went in to my account and changed my shipping to 1-day and then back to 2-day (what i had it at initially) and my delivery date is now listed as March 11th. worth a try if you'd like to get it release day.

hm, good idea! i'm prime btw

yup, that worked

good lookin' out

black armor addition = a tin and a CD I will never listen to y/n?

I would have probably bought the full blown special edition if it had been the same as the Dark Souls one, the art book was cool and the intro strategy guide was actually useful but it seems like the DS2 one is standard issue £100 plastic tat for suckers

i think it's like five bucks more for the special edition, figgered fuggit

really? my "black armor" edition didn't cost anything extra, but i guess that's because i pre-ordered way early. the tin case looks pretty neat at least:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/02/24/unboxing-dark-souls-ii-collectors-edition

yeah, it was the only option i saw for pre-order. i'm happy to get the soundtrack, maybe i can use it for another mix.

thanks for the tip upthread re: changing shipping to 1-day and then back to 2-day. so weird that it works!

1 WEIRD trick etc etc

yeah, np! found that tip on the internet. hopefully it comes through next Tuesday.

I pre ordered the standard game, might see if I can upgrade to the black armour version...

http://www.edge-online.com/news/prepare-to-dine-inside-tokyos-dark-souls-cafe/

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19bryayr8456njpg.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPO8l4ir_Jo

pc/steam release is april 25 but who cares right ps3 master race lololo

☼

\[†]/

lol just saw a DSII ad on TV (during an episode of Star Trek, appropriately enough) soundtracked with "Where is my Mind?" by the Pixies

love it

http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/02/14/dark-souls-2-uk-cinema-spot

nice

yeah that was the one!

there's another one soundtracked by Jethro Tull. who's picking the music to these?

anyway, the day is here. hopefully i can get some time in tonight. busy week unfortunately.

plz to report back. I got one half of my Amazon order (records & CDs today) but no DSII. Hopefully by the end of the week...

bummer. looks like my Amazon order is being shipped through UPS and is marked as "out for delivery", so mine should arrive today.

reviews seem solid so far. DS1 range. hard to rate a game like this without proper exposure to multiplayer though.

I'm in the UK, so I think it's due to ship slightly later over here. I'm away at the weekend too!

amazon telling me that game and STRATERGERY GUIDE are on the way; i am wondering if i need to sleep/eat/work for the next week... and more importantly should i finish DS1 first.

mine should arrive today, won't have time to check it out but i'm considering taking the day off tomorrow to get my car fixed and play it. :)

forks, if i were you i would play some DS2 while it's hot so as not to rush through the end of DS1. maybe switch back when you hit an impasse?

yep. plus it's way more fun to play it when it's new and everyone else is playing it in and DYING over and over.

mine comes in the mail today, but i won't have time to play it until friday at least.

man it's crazy how much is already on youtube (not that i watched any of it, i want to go in as blind as possible now that it's here [except for this thread])

this is the tull one i think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-tl-pJAR4

intrigued by the idea that I can take a break from Dark Souls and come back to it later; I guess they don't seem very mechnically different at the basic level

not sure if ploughing through and trying to do Sif, Nito, 4Kings and Bed of Chaos in the next two days would satisfyingly get it out of the way or drive me insane and make me not want to play DS2 for another year

I think the everyone in the same boat day 1 you died hijinks are probably the key factor either way tho

i loved demon's souls, never got into dark for no real reason, i was resisting this but fuck you people. into the great unknown. faith based build here i come.

this is demons souls-ish in a lot of ways, judging by the beta test i played. you know you want to give in!

I'm thinking I might go for a magician build this time round

i have no idea what i'll do. in games like this i always make the (boring) mistake of not specializing in anything and having fairly balanced stats, although i tend to go for dexterity. i guess it's because i'm not likely to play through the game multiple times with different character builds, so i want to be able to try out most of what the game has to offer in my single runthrough

my strength build seemed to work for me in DS1, i think i need that margin of error that comes with being able to block big attacks without consequence, but i feel like i should at least try something different this time.

Nice thing about this one is you can apparently completely re-spec your character (not sure how this works) a few times per playthrough.

yeah, i'm gonna jump in while it's hot (if only to be able to discuss with you guys) and put DS1 on hold until this gets beaten. it might be 2016!
my understanding is that the respec is a very expensive and very rare item
early reviews are universally positive and most writers mention "after 60 hours of play..." so i think this is gonna be fucking awesome
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/dark-souls-ii/critic-reviews

the respec thing seems most appealing for NG+...that's what i wanted to do in DS1, to use all those spells and gear that i acquired but couldn't use because of my build.

Pre-ordered this and have it on my PS3 HD waiting to be unlocked at midnight on Friday. I'm both excited and apprehensive.

goddamit UPS, I was here what is this "an attempted delivery has been made" shit

Delivered
Delivered on: Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Package was left in or near the front door

:)

what are the fundamental differences between demon's souls and dark souls

yeah, i'm curious about that as well since i've never played demon's souls.

demons = 5 worlds connected by hub and stages are unlocked by beating bosses, checkpoints before each stage, healing items accumulated while playing
dark = continuous open world, bonfire checkpoints scattered throughout, healing flask which resets at bonfire

from what i can tell ds2 is a combo of all of the above minus the locked stages

so did you have to do the worlds in a specific order, or was it more like a mega man game?

Dark Souls 2 is a good video game and the shit it gets is a bit out of proportion. It is the wonky little brother of the group, but it’s still probably better than 95% of whatever else came out for your console in 2014.

TBH the one I felt the most cold on was Dark Souls 3. Some “The Force Awakens” corrective vibes to that one that felt kinda hollow to me.

I've heard people rep for DS2 while saying that DS3 is let down by nonsensical fan service

DS3 is much better than 2. Probably my fave of the series. The coolest areas, the smoothest combat, great atmosphere. Closest to the feel of ER.

agreed. not sure what those people you mention mean tbh dl.

in other news i fancied some old school “crunchy” DS1 vibes so relaunched it for a go round.

rage quit after trying to return and collect a lot of souls and mobs just rng’d the fuck out of me.

agreed. not sure what those people you mention mean tbh dl.

It's the hard opinion of the Bonfireside Chat podcasters I listen to (who are generally very good and OTM and know so much about Souls games). They're fans of DS2 but felt that stuff happened in DS3 that didn't make sense beyond "look, here is a reference from the first game for no apparent reason", to the extent that characters and items turn up that shouldn't exist. They had some mechanical qualms too, but I haven't played enough DS3 to really make my own judgement

That is a crazy opinion. DS2’s crow trader, instead of being tucked away mid-game, shows up in the tutorial section to scream fan service at you

Ah bit that's in the tutorial section where you might totally forget to go back to later. I quite like the crow being there as opposed to having to parkour up a complicated series of walls, then get taken to another area entirely (actually, also the tutorial area of DS1 now I come to think of it) before I can swap a few trinkets and items

Plus, I think there's perfectly cromulent lore for the crows to be there in DS2. The argument doesn't seem to be about rhe fan service itself, rather the fact there are things inserted I to DS3 "just because" and this doesn't always make sense to the story- the reaction is "Oh hoh! That's very cool, i recognise this thing... but why?"

Ha, as if DS2 is innocent in that respect. Ornstein as an early boss, just because? Also 'fuck it, we're going to six gargoyles.'

Ha, forgot about them. I forget about everything in these games, despite spending so much timr immersed in their worlds.

I thought the relentless enemy aggro range in the game was a real challenge.

I'm maybe what around 50 hours in, and only killed Fake Ornstein and got to that pirate ship area but I can't say I'm not really enjoying this game so far - possibly more than even DS1 which I found unnecessarily fussy in its cruelty in the first half, then a bit empty in the second.

I really loved Forest Of The Fallen Giants. Love how the first level of every Fromsoft game (Boletaria, Undead Burg, Central Yarnham, Stormveil Castle) is always this gurt overlapping thing with loads of secret little hidden bits and shortcuts and paths that crisscross each other - they're my favourite kinds of levels. It's great to just work through these meticulously and figure out what you're meant to do and where. I beat both bosses and I think I found most of the items before progressing.

Heide's Tower Of Flame felt trivial at first, eerily familiar compared to Anor Londo. But I made the mistake of just running up to the Dragonrider and beating him before realising this would aggro the sedentary Heide Knights who made my life a serious issue when trying to fight the red dragon there. I spent most of yesterday night trying to clear them all out, then I summoned the NPC and beat the Old Dragonslayer (Ornstein). It took a long time, but I was determined and it was very satisfying.

So far, every area has required a unique logical approach, even compared to DS1. So with the pirate bay level I'm on now, it's clearly all about making sure you light the sconces so that when you inevitably die and reset, you have advantage over your enemies in the next run

Other things I generally enjoy about the game:

- Perma-deaths of certain enemies. I thought I wouldn't be into this, but considering how many runs I often have to do fighting the same dude over and over again, it's kind of cool that FromSoft included an "I GET IT" feature. Anyone know how many times you need to kill an enemy before it stops respawning?

- Adaptability. Controversial, but I'm into it. You feel your character get better at dodging and rolling as you level this up; it's pretty satisfying

- Levelling up. Speaking of which, I'm impressed at how quickly I've managed to level up my character and some of my weapons without really having to grind. My first Souls game was Bloodborne, and I couldn't imagine getting through that without farming those bridge hounds a few times. This feels fairly balanced. Plus you get the re-spec item pretty early on

- It's a big big game (I realise I'm still at the start 50 hours in), but the levels are pretty short and manageable, so I feel like I'm progressing even if I can spend a whole night on just one area.

- I like how many NPCs I'm running into. There are so many! And whenever I see one I'm like "Oh boy!" Love this.

- The "fan servicey" stuff is just right for me here. I like the fact Heide's Tower Of Flame is kind of an Anor Londo tribute, and there's some lore speculation as to whether the Dragonslayer Knight is literally an old and diminished Ornstein or whether it's some sort of imposter. Then there are more subtle things, like the pirate area feeling a tiny bit like Archstone 5 in Demon's Souls.

Stuff I'm not sure about:

- The NPCs are strangely cheery and I'm just not used to that. The Crestfallen Knight is especially chatty. Not sure how I feel about this.

Anyone know how many times you need to kill an enemy before it stops respawning?

12, I think? Glad you're enjoying it, love to see it.

Something thst is getting my goat a little is the sheer range of aggro and how far enemies will kite you before giving up. I'm not asking it to be easy, but meticulously clearing an area over and over again before moving on can get pretty tedious after a while

I do kind of "like" it in that enemies hitting their range limits is a little immersion-breaking, and it feels more realistic to have them trod (or run) after you as long as they can see you. Of course it's annoying af.

I was thinking about this while playing Elden Ring last night, how hilarious it would be to run across the open world and gather a small army of animals and enemies chasing after you.

Oh the aggro/de-aggro range in ER is tiny by comparison.

This pirate level is super annoying because its such tight spaces and there are so many enemies. Plus some of them are lying down / barely visible so unless you tread really carefully each time, stopping to check no one's after you, you can get ganged up on so easily. It's fine, until you have to do it a dozen times

And I swear there are some enemies (like dogs) who can hit you after you've clearly killed them. Like, they jump at you, miss, you hit and kill them mid air, half your health bar disappears. That feels unfair

Maybe the dogs have bad internet connections

my ds1 playthrough (sorry for derail) has been characterised by me going “oh *yeah*, everyone follows you forever” (just before succumbing to a weakling mob, while dodge rolling to futility, as they go absolutely rng on my ass after several blameless runbacks)

lol xpost

In an attempt to save estus, I
have taken to equipping the restoration ring, killing a few enemies, running to safety, waiting for ages for my health bar to refill, then relaying back.

If I do push ups while I'm waiting I guess it's a health plan?

I beat Old Man's Wharf or whatever it's called. The pirate level. Man, it was tough, but I think that has to be one of my favourite levels from any of the Souls games. Then I find out that it was largely optional because I could have got to the same destination via Forest of Fallen Giants(?!) Dark SOUUUULS!!!!!!

Was expecting to have terrible trouble with rhe Belfry Gargoyles but I mashed them all up first go in under a couple of minutes. Wahoooo!

Good soapstone jokes are very far between, but I had a proper LOL moment yesterday.

After beating the gargoyles, I walked cautiously into the next area, a dark windowless room with incredibly noisy floorboards that made a loud clomping sound when I walked on them. In the middle of the room is a soapstone that simply reads: "horse"

Haha. Enjoying these vague memories of DS2 being jarred loose.

Lost Bastille was EXCELLENT too - even better than Old Man's Wharf. I'm enjoying the fact there are a lot of "Stormveil"-style levels in DS2 where you're crawling around a castle with loads of ramparts and towers and you'll come out somewhere and look around and think "Huh, I was over there a minute ago!"

It's definitely one of my favourite things about all these games. Elden Ring really capitalised on that. Like when you're at the Chapel of Anticipation, you can use binoculars to look out at that whole section of Stormveil with the knife eagles and the path leading down where you crash through several platforms.

The bit in Lost Bastille where you need to roll a barrel and then blow it up felt very non-Souls in a fun way. More like a Mario reference or something.

haha yeah. i wouldn't have guessed you need to do that without a hint. there's a bit in Fallen Giants area that's a bit like that. The Pursuers are nails though. I had to literally clear a whole courtyard of enemies until they stopped respawning to make that even close to a fair fight

Skeleton Lords toppled on second try (although I got a bit of help from Creighton and the Large Club). Man that was a fun boss fight! And I enjoyed the Huntsman's Copse even though it was VERY SCARY! More than once, I thought I'd totally cleared an area when one of those hooded thieves would sneak up behind me - and they hit hard!