From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Damned Registrations]

Still, I'd wager a ring to drop down sold by a nearby NPC is no more inscrutable than murdering a friendly NPC for the DS3 skip. From personal observation, I'd say people choke on Dancer (even experienced players that aren't new) a lot more frequently than they get stuck on dropping in the pit.

Eh, I killed her on my first run out of curiosity. Killing a useless talking npc was certainly less of an investment than spending 2 bosses worth of souls on an item that might not even unlock anything at all AFAIK. If she'd been selling a branch of yore I'd have been much more inclined to buy it. DS2 in general was very heavily designed around the assumption that players would communicate, which I find aggravating.

kill the rotten 4 times through bonfire ascetics, an easy boss that doesn't take much time to down. I wouldn't call that a grind.

Doing something repeatedly explicitly for a resource is the definition of a grind. The fact that it's short if you have metagame knowledge is a lame excuse. Thankfully there's no real reason to do it unless you're doing a glitchless speedrun or something. The grinds to get weapon drops are far, far worse.

 

[sullynathan]

kill the rotten 4 times through bonfire ascetics

That's grinding

 

[L'Montes]

Eh, I killed her on my first run out of curiosity. Killing a useless talking npc was certainly less of an investment than spending 2 bosses worth of souls on an item that might not even unlock anything at all AFAIK. If she'd been selling a branch of yore I'd have been much more inclined to buy it. DS2 in general was very heavily designed around the assumption that players would communicate, which I find aggravating.

It's much less than two bosses worth of souls. You'd have more than enough after Dragonrider, even if you skipped most of the enemies in the stage (just sprinting around them). He's worth 12k alone, and Last Giant is 10k. You'd almost need to actively try to make it two bosses by avoiding every other enemy in the game. I suspect you could get enough souls just naturally clearing the nearby areas for items without taking out the boss though.

Again though, that's not even necessary. Grab the Way of Blue and Life Ring from FoFG and you're golden with a few levels too, no silvercat required.

Regardless, for a new player, getting 13k souls and buying an item is going to be substantially easier than killing dancer.

 

[Wunderbar]

Eh, I killed her on my first run out of curiosity. Killing a useless talking npc was certainly less of an investment than spending 2 bosses worth of souls on an item that might not even unlock anything at all AFAIK.

who in their right mind kills non-hostile NPC on their first run in the game where you can't manually save?

 

[Damned Registrations]

You act like it's 12 hours into the game or something. It takes like 10 minutes to get back there with a new character, and the series has a history of giving you cool rewards for killing friendly npcs. Well, DS1 did that anyways. DS2 generally gave you nothing and let you pay souls to revive them. Except the herald for some hilarious reason.

And while getting down the well is certainly easier than killing dancer, it's less logical. Killing dancer is obviously going to open a shortcut to the late game, there's a big conspicuous ladder in the room and the npc is sending you on a fetch quest to let you progress. The well looks like a deathtrap and there's no indication that the ring well let you survive the fall (and indeed it won't if you're not at full hp.)

Who in the right mind keeps throwing themselves down a well every time they raise their max hp to see if they can survive this time?

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Well, there are items in the well. That's a big hint you can go down there.
Also, if you strip all of your armor, you take less fall damage. Though that's an obscure mechanic that many new players probably wouldn't realize.

 

[Arnust]

You act like it's 12 hours into the game or something. It takes like 10 minutes to get back there with a new character, and the series has a history of giving you cool rewards for killing friendly npcs. Well, DS1 did that anyways. DS2 generally gave you nothing and let you pay souls to revive them. Except the herald for some hilarious reason.

And while getting down the well is certainly easier than killing dancer, it's less logical. Killing dancer is obviously going to open a shortcut to the late game, there's a big conspicuous ladder in the room and the npc is sending you on a fetch quest to let you progress. The well looks like a deathtrap and there's no indication that the ring well let you survive the fall (and indeed it won't if you're not at full hp.)

Who in the right mind keeps throwing themselves down a well every time they raise their max hp to see if they can survive this time?

- for the normal, first time player it's one or even two hours. And it's still unintuitive on every video game standard ever.
- As always you seem to have no idea with how 2 actually works. Killing them early will yield their "friendship" reward that they'll give you eventually, except the rarer ones where that'd be a no brainer. The only case where this is worth it in 1 is with pushing Lautrec off in Firelink for his ring if you want to cheat yourself out of the better quest line in the game. And there's a lot that drop fuckall or that you can't kill in the first place. I don't think Andre dropped anything, same for Crestfallen, Petrus or Griggs, off the top of my head.
- Ah yes it's more intuitive to somehow figure out (and know what for, there's no real clue of what will happen for doing that, that ladder could be a prop as are all the stairs in the very same room), to summon a boss you're way under leveled to, by killing an apparently important character that you had to talk to to proceed and get tipped off.
- Anyone with common sense and assumption that it'll be survivable somehow by shattering logic? It's incredibly simple. There's an item there. Player want item. Player try fetch item. And eventually (they can see the cat ring from the get go on Shaulquoir's inventory) they can find items that reduce fall damage (Spook, feline boots, jester greaves, lion warrior legs) and then see if they can use them.

I just find funny how you seem to defend a first time, intuitive experience yet you yourself do the completely opposite, according to yourself.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There were items behind the statues in lost woods too, doesn't mean they weren't a massive fucking troll. 'Oh boy, the black knight halberd. Now that I have a worthless split damage weapon, all I need is the lion mage set and I can die happy!'

 

[Arnust]

>BKH
>Useless
Okay, this is trolling. It takes the place of the DS1 great scythe as for op early weapons and still viable later.

And anyway, it completely different things, but you know that. One's a drop with no further cost, the other is expending an actually limited, if not quite plentiful, resource for an unclear reward. The Black knight Greatsword isn't even behind a statue, it's in the chest under the bridge tho whose room you just drop yourself into. And anyway, most of the statues aren't even a bad call. From there on you'll have less uses for Branches, one is for saving ornifex, one refunds your branch, another grants Repair and a chest, and there's one on two more that block the way to some Ashes and the other to Vengarl's body, and I'm pretty sure you can skip curing the former by jumping from the place where the latter is.

 

[Lutte]

DS2 in general was very heavily designed around the assumption that players would communicate, which I find aggravating.

So was DS1 and DS3. Oh, I'm sure you found the way back to the asylum all on your own (and it's the only way to get a slab without farming in the main game. You guys talk about ""grinds""? Try upgrading multiple weapons in DS1, this is true grind you fucking faggots) the other guaranteed slab is in the DLC), totally not communicating with other players. And without going back to the asylum you miss one of the best area (although shit boss) of the game, the Painted World. And finding archdragon peak in DS3, like it's totally natural dude.

And how many blind runners levelled garbage like resistance in DS1 not knowing how fucking useless that is because the game doesn't really say anything of value.

Souls games being obscure is part of the thing the series always had going to foster online communities around a mostly single player experience. The plethora of illusory wall shit exists just to make people read the in game messages which are like built-in small impact spoilers because I sure as shit am not going to wack every single bit of wall surface of the game on my own, if the built-in spoilers didn't exist I would not bother with that stuff.

People love being nitpicky with anything that stands out in DS2 because muhmiyazaki muhbteam part 1, and muh graphical downgrade butthurt part 2, the latter in fact probably did the most damage to the game image to the community more so than any gameplay detail because nothing gets the average gamer angrier than being hyped on graphics and having that hype deflated. I don't think codexers are the most butthurt about this, but I have no doubt that this is what really riled up most people online to find every possible thing to nitpick about ds2, going through the game already having built hatred toward its very existence and being overly analytical about it in a way they never were about the other games, much less Demon's Souls.

Who in the right mind keeps throwing themselves down a well every time they raise their max hp to see if they can survive this time?

And this is exactly the sort of nitpick bullshit you don't see people apply to other From games. You're a souls veteran, coming to DS2, a sequel game, you see something that seems close enough you could jump to it if you had more health (it's not a "insta death guaranteed" fall animation), a vendor right next to the hole suspiciously sells a ring that reduces fall damage considerably and you know the game probably also has a spell for lowering fall damage and you feel it's obtuse to jump there and see if you could make it?
You'd have a point if the area you get access to was unbalanced for an early character but actually the enemies fought there can hardly be considered a challenge. The rat boss is a joke, the gutter is, paradoxically, the most relaxing environment to traverse in the game, because it's so dark you traverse it slowly and most enemies are either slow or just have no poise and pose no threat, the biggest hindrance is the npc invader. The black gulch has the poison gimmick but there's two ways of dealing with it : just run until bonfire or boss, or explore the area slowly and carrying a sweeping weapon you don't care breaking to deal with the statues. You then meet the rotten, which is not anymore of a challenge than something like the flexile sentry. Black Gulch bonfire to boss is also the shortest boss run of the game and while it may be gated behind a petrified mob, you can get branch of yores in the gutter if you didn't have any before.
Of the four boss souls you have to seek on a completionist run that doesn't use ascetic to build up souls, it is by far the most laidback area to get through first. It's more laidback than No Man's Wharf -> Lost Bastille -> Sinner's Rise -> Lost Sinner without a doubt. And let's not even mention dat Iron Keep..

Going to the gutter the earliest the game allows you to is very unlike trying to do lower londo early by killing Ingward, doing catacombs early with an unupgraded weapon and having to learn to kill necromancers before dealing with skeles or many other unintended but allowed early paths of other souls games.

Killing the dancer, which requires killing a friendly npc which I again reiterate is not any more natural to do on a first playthrough, immediately makes you understand this isn't a boss you were supposed to meet right now, and the area it opens has Pus of Man land on the left, Knight spam + Fat assholes + hollows throwing anti-estus + pus of man + dragons on the front. I'm not even sure why you'd even want to kill the dancer early in regular NG. It does make sense in NG+ though and I've done it in all my NG+ runs.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The only case where this is worth it in 1 is with pushing Lautrec off in Firelink for his ring if you want to cheat yourself out of the better quest line in the game. And there's a lot that drop fuckall or that you can't kill in the first place. I don't think Andre dropped anything, same for Crestfallen, Petrus or Griggs, off the top of my head.

Each of the smiths dropped a unique hammer (one of which is actually VERY good for a low str/dex build) and you also can only get the iron round shield (the only shield in the entire series that can parry but also has greatshield level deflection, and requires only 16 str to wield) from killing Shiva. You get the uchi in DS1 waaaay before you can get anything remotely interesting by killing the first merchant you see. Killing the keeper of the seal gives you the seal before you acquire the lordvessel, letting you massively sequence break without the master key. Killing Gwenevyre (an obvious parallel) unlocks a bunch of unique content. The Darkwood Grain ring, arguably the most powerful ring in the whole fucking series, was obtained by killing Shiva's bodyguard.

But yeah, sure, no reason to ever kill friendly npcs

Split damage weapons OP, yeah, sure thing buddy.

Oh, I'm sure you found the way back to the asylum all on your own

I did, thanks. Totally missed ash lake though. Try playing a game sometime instead of reading a walkthrough.

 

[Arnust]

Most of that shit still is ultimately pointless, and it's an unintuitive gamble in the first place. The only ones that get saved of this are Shiva, the ninja, and Lautrec. Because those you can and likely will eventually aggro, the former by ever coming back to the forest after killing Sif and the latter's will come naturally if you do his questlines. The Uchigatana guy isn't the first merchant, it's Petrus and maybe the magic blacksmith. The other is a rather pointless sequence break (how are you gonna even do the DPS Kings beforehand and why), gambling on a pretty huge guy lore wise that also cures curse for cheap uniquely. And killing Gwynevere is even more unintuitive, and doesn't lead to "a lot of new content". It changes all the mobs for a couple of NPC's and the minuscule chance for Darkmoon fags to try and invade you. In fact you're getting LESS content by pissing off the Darkmoon fag covenant forever, not to be able to get their unique rank up items.

Really, I'm not sure if you realize how obvious your double standard is. Wow, this unique weapon incredibly early is terrible! BUT UCHIGATANA! Come on.

 

[Lutte]

In fact you're getting LESS content by pissing off the Darkmoon fag covenant forever, not to be able to get their unique rank up items.

Darkmoon blade is arguably the best buff in the game too.

 

[Arnust]

And actually, I forgot Navlan's questline where he sends you to murder NPC's, in reference to DeS Mephistopheles and ultimately giving you HUGE rewards, better than any individual arbitrary NPC murder. Alternatively you can also just do their own quests and fulfill some other requirements, but it's an option. Options are good. I also had forgot Sentinel Targeay who yields a pretty banger halberd and a DEUS VULT cosplay.

 

[Seaking4]

You still need to access the depths though if you want to level up normal weapons to +10

Ya this bugs me because the door to the depths can only be opened after you beat Capra. The master key doesn't work so it forces you to do an entire level that you wouldn't otherwise have to do. Technically you could just pick up a weapon like the lightning spear in Sens and undo the lightning enchantment and you'll have a +10 but there aren't many options.

I think pretending the well or forest were options at the beginning of DS2 is pretty disingenuous. They're arguably less accessible than Lothric was in DS3. There's a sweet spot in DS2 where you have a lot of options after you've gotten a branch of yore, unless you use it on the wrong spot, which is pretty much completely up to chance. Likewise you can spend a long ass time waiting for that well to become accessible if you're not spoiled on how to do it. The DLC in DS2 is far and away it's best feature.

It's disingenuous to suggest that anybody could do it whenever they wanted. That I agree with. For most beginners there is really only two options at the beginning of the game: Heide's Tower or Forest of the Fallen Giants (I'm assuming when you said forest you're referring to the other forest that you need the fragrant branch of yore to access). But what makes the game more replayable is that you still have other options. I would never recommend to someone that they do New Londo or the Catacombs at the beginning of DS1 but the fact that you have the option is fun because it lets you play the game in different ways. You really only have 1 branching path in DS3 and that's Yhorm or Aldritch. Technically you can kill Emma but that option is lame because the key to the grand archives doesn't spawn so you don't get nearly as much freedom as you otherwise should.

Also, for branching paths in DS2 it's much more than just a chose of your starting area.

 

[Multidirectional]

Just use The Greatsword. The Greatsword is the Greatest weapon of DS2.

Definitely one of my favorite DSII weapons, just feels so awesome to use.

 

[Arnust]

Not gonna lie the Greatsword being kinda the normie weapon (never far from a Vengarl's/Drangleic set and a Mace) made it lose some appeal for being so common in my invading/dueling.

Also, you still can go quite early to the other two paths out of immediate way in 2. For going to the Copse and further to the Wharf you only need to kill the Dragonrider, AKA "3, 2, 1, *roll* KO", and for going to the Shaded Woods you can either go to the Wharf or buy one with the souls you got from the Last Giant/Pursuer. Those two things are semi essential in their own way (miracle merchant and the general merchant with the +Souls ring) I myself never really bother with going early to the Gutter, but that's mostly because I like to save it for last, as I'll usually also dip into the DLC for Flynn's Ring and whatnot.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I give up. You're too retarded to even realize how much early access to new londo actually opens up and refuse to admit that split damage is shit. ALL HAIL DSTWO IT HAS NO FLAW. ALL WEAPONS ARE AMAZING AND DOING EIGHT BOSSES IN EXACT ORDER WITH NO OTHER OPTIONS IS THE HEIGHT OF FREEDOM.

 

[Arnust]

It's almost like if you'd look less stupid by actually saying what it is that it opens up and how it's good instead of waving your double standard around like a turd on a stick.

Ah and split damage is kind of bad but it's "almost" like it's still a fantastic early weapon regardless and works fine if you use your non-wiki using gigabrain to figure out how to make the most out of split damage in 2.

 

[Seaking4]

Not gonna lie the Greatsword being kinda the normie weapon (never far from a Vengarl's/Drangleic set and a Mace) made it lose some appeal for being so common in my invading/dueling.

I get that feeling but I absolutely love the DS2 mace. It's easily my favourite weapon in any DS game.

DOING EIGHT BOSSES IN EXACT ORDER WITH NO OTHER OPTIONS IS THE HEIGHT OF FREEDOM.

Ya ... I have no idea how you can play DS2 and come away with that impression but all right.

 

[Jezal_k23]

He's been constantly yelling "DS2 IS SHIT CAUSE REASONS" for weeks now. And then you present a very reasonable argument as to why DS2 is not shit and in fact it does several things really well (and no one here is saying it's flawless), then he covers his ears and starts running in circles yelling "FUCK OFF, DS2 IS SHIT CAUSE REASONS, FUCKING DS2 APOLOGIST, WHAT ABOUT DS3?". It has been boring for a while now to present decent arguments that are completely ignored as far as I can see.

 

[Damned Registrations]

You guys haven't admitted one fucking flaw in the whole game. You think the shrine of amana is awesome, literally every weapon that gets mentioned in an amazing late (and early) game weapon, infinite healing isn't a problem, and yes, the endgame of DS2 is a huge fucking slog through the longest mandatory string of areas and bosses in the entire series. But none of that matters, because DS3 has fast rolling and like 15% faster stamina regen. The horror. Did you know, in DS3 they put two bonfires near each other and it has no effect on the game at all? Wow, worst game imaginable.

It's almost like if you'd look less stupid by actually saying what it is that it opens up and how it's good instead of waving your double standard around like a turd on a stick.

Why? Why should I even fucking bother? You won't admit it anyways. You already look like a fucking moron to anyone who know the layout of DS1. Even after I list all the bosses it lets you sequence break you'll just brush it off like it's no big deal like you did with half a dozen unique and powerful items you get from killing NPCs.

You talk about double standards but your shining example of the difference between the two games is a pair of maps, one of which lists single rooms with nothing but a boss fight (or hell, just a fucking room to pvp in) as an entire branch in the game, the other of which doesn't even show the fucking requirements to enter areas properly.

Ya ... I have no idea how you can play DS2 and come away with that impression but all right.

Because it's fucking true. Looking Glass Knight. Demon of Song. Velstadt. Guardian Dragon. Ancient Dragon. Giant Lord. Throne Water. Nashandra. Eight fucking bosses in a row (woo you can skip one dragon, still have to visit him though) with literally not a single fucking side branch. I was bored to fucking tears by the end. Somehow nobody admits this. I'm guessing because you guys don't actually play any of the fucking games, judging by lines like 'LOL key to the seal only unlocks 4kings why would you want that?'

 

[Lutte]

Not gonna lie the Greatsword being kinda the normie weapon (never far from a Vengarl's/Drangleic set and a Mace) made it lose some appeal for being so common in my invading/dueling.

Never did invasions (some pvp at the keep though) but it doesn't surprise me that lots of people would use it after trying it when it comes to the PVE side of the game. Of all the early weapons you can get it's just the most effective. Other early UGS don't have as much damage, or more taxing build requirement (level dex? No way!), and literally none of the other UGS of the game have as much reach to their hit (not all weapons in the same class are equal in terms of length of reach) which is what makes the 1 handed r1 feel so good against large groups of mobs that are easily staggered. It has both the length and the wide arc and it uses less stamina than the halberds spin to win moves which is the closest thing you get from other weapon class in terms of just wrecking trash groups. The fume probably has equivalent reach but it has no arcing/sweeping attack in the first r1 or r2 hits, only in successive attacks and while backstepping or rolling which is sad. It's also a rather late game weapon. With the GS you just r1/r1/r1 and most groups of mobs just drop dead.
I've played DS2 with many weapons and build but going back to it recently I just can't help but go GS again. In a game about dealing with large numbers of enemies that sort of effectiveness is addicting.
IMHO other large class weapons aren't even in the same ballpark of usefulness. Great axes are pretty meh in comparison and greathammers are mostly for pancaking NPC invaders, the movesets aren't nearly as versatile, although the Great Club would enter a top 5 best STR weapons.

This is all talking about PVE. For PVP slow weapons are kinda ehhh unless you meet turtles to guardbreak or buckstabbu fish. Not a part of the game I care a whole lot for anyhow.

You're too retarded to even realize how much early access to new londo actually opens up

Yeah, trivializing the game early mostly by getting your hands on +15 really quickly. Been there, done that while replaying DS1. Kill some wraiths, get the ember, then go back to asylum and witness the murder you do throughout the game which only slows down once you reach the DLC.
Also lol@the idea that we can't admit any fault in DS2 coming from the resident DS3 fanboy that would defend the absolutely undefendable. DS3 has some amazing boss fights.. and.. well not much else. Build variety? Ah, ah, ah. Environments? How much do you like grey and brown shit? they didn't even bother trying to give some variety to flavor the DLCs. Level design and enemy placement with no real threat and not a single moment where running to a boss feels like a hurdle.

Looking Glass Knight. Demon of Song. Velstadt. Guardian Dragon. Ancient Dragon. Giant Lord. Throne Water. Nashandra.

Yeah, there's some linear stretch at the end but let's not act as if it's 8 separate instances of running toward 8 different bosses the same way you run to other bosses when :
the stretch from Guardian Dragon to Ancient Dragon is entirely skippable since SOTFS (new zipline that puts you right at the end of it and there's no -need- to do anything in dragon aerie if you don't need the upgrade materials that are spammed throughout the area) and running to talk (not kill, is there even a POINT in attacking it? did you really want that extra soul of a giant so bad?) to the ancient dragon takes all of 1 fucking minute. 1 minute. Oh boy, that linear part sure fatigued you greatly.
Same thing for Throne Watcher - Nashandra, I consider them to be the same boss, she appears after the watchers and there's no real risk of dying to her and having to run back unless you're a fucking scrub. This is not like having two separate paths of game to be forced to run through or something.

I don't think the game needed as many bosses as it had and would have benefited from a bit less and more focused bosses, you make a sensible point but in a very, very exaggerated manner that blows up the problem far more than it actually is. There is no way I consider some 10 minutes worth of content to be a hindrance to my enjoyment of the game when replaying it because those 10 minutes can't be skipped.

All From's games are flawed in various ways. I don't feel DS2 is flawless, and I preferred most of DS3's bosses to DS2's main game bosses. But the crowds of people who have an axe to grind with DS2 mostly induced by some serious butthurt from the early graphics controversy is a really special kind of autism. And it was a real disappointment to see how little they've taken from what is actually good about DS2 like the NG+ experience.

Once again, if people had been so analytical with previous From's games, they would have torn DS1's a new asshole because the game sure becomes the absolute epitome of boredom once you're done with Sen's Fortress and all the early content. Heck, even the DLC areas are garbage, what salvage the DLC is the great boss fights. The areas themselves are just shit. The abyss before manus has to be some of the laziest shit they've pulled.

My problem with your type is not that you see a flaw in DS2. DS2 has flaws. It's that you can't even begin to imagine that the other games are actually filled with many similar flaws, sometimes worse. You find the final linear stretch of DS2 to be boring? I find everything about DS1 to be shit once you've completed all early content and done Sen.
Dark Souls 1 is the only game I haven't done a NG+ of because finishing it saps all my desire to even go back to it once more. At least DS3's boss fights were good enough that I did NG+ speedruns to bosses to meet them again. But, why no ascetics? in a game that doesn't have any worthwhile NG+ to the game world, being able to respawn bosses to fight them again directly instead of having to do NG+ would have been fantastic. Yet another good idea of DS2 that was thrown into the bin because of people like you. The internet butthurt can be felt throughout playing DS3 in how little cues it takes from what were genuinely good, honest to god great things about the second game, while aping DS1 in the most abhorrent of ways (oh look, Anor Londo! Black Knights! Silver Knights! Artorias cosplayers! You can go back to demon land and it's every bit as garbage as the first game in terms of area ! We heard you liked swamps so we put 4 of them into the game! and then the only time they reference a DS2 area it feels like a backhanded compliment. Earthen peak in the DLC, this is the area all DS2 players wanted to see again? and that retarded angel gimmick..)

 

[toro]

I have to admit that I hate the entire "Memories" shit from DaS2.

 

[Arnust]

"Oh no 8 bosses in a row" is objectively false when you account for all the other content avaleible at that point. You can access all three of the DLC even earlier but there is when you should do them, you can do the Dark Chasms of Old and fight Darklurker as soon as you get to Drangleic castle, technically you CAN fight Vendrick as soon as you get there, Ancient Dragon is wholly optional and on a more unpopular note, killing the three bosses of the Throne of Want all on a row is the better experience.

I like how stressing the good things means it's denying the bad. As much as I love it, I will NEVER say DS2 is the best. However I can say with no qualm that it's the most fun, for me. There are compromises, there are strokes of genius that may be accidental (sonething DS is not alien to), and there's oh so many little things that drag it down. But, it's ultimately an earnest game. It's a good sequel, and if it's archievimg the textbook definition of the purpose of a sequel as well as it possibly could have considering all the many problems it went during development, I don't see as fair to have such a monumental hate meme against it.

(Hot take, the older graphics looked often like shit and SOTFS strikes the balance just fine. The textures were the main eyesore and that was the same pre downgrade)

Lutte Just imagine if they had instead remade Drangleic Castle, or the fort of the Forest of Fallen Giants. There's so much they could reimagine and reference as both were very eclectic of the whole DS2 world, and redeem the castle. To then, also feature it in the skybox of Gael's arena, as it should have. There's so many other areas they could have brought like Amana if they really fucking wanted another swamp like area or some of Brume Tower if all they wanted was a big cilinder in the middle of an area, it could even explain where the hell did all that ash come from.

I have to admit that I hate the entire "Memories" shit from DaS2.

Shut up, that's the best! If only just because of the Dragon Memory.