From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Tribal Sarah]

the cheaters on xbox DS1 are off the scale. most of them are flat out retarded too. they invade the undead burg with end game gear and maxed out health/stamina bars, and think that nobody knows they're cheating. its easily just as bad on the pc. although there are far more sperglords on pc, who can't wait to tell you how your weapon is shit and you are shit, after they've invaded and gotten an ass kicking.

 

[Tripicus]

Knocked out the Old Sinner yesterday, finally putting a second flame on the map. The frequent lock-on breaking by Old Sinner was annoying until I just decided to completely bum rush the guy. Now I'm just trying to deal with the Belfry gargoyles. Never had difficulty with the DS1 gargoyles, but something is throwing me off this time. Furthermore, PvP in the tower is making me wonder how so many people can be worse than me at it.

Still haven't joined a covenant yet. The Blue Sentinel guy keeps giving me shit about something.

 

[Jick Magger]

Still haven't joined a covenant yet. The Blue Sentinel guy keeps giving me shit about something.

Have to give him a Token of Fidelity for you to be offered a place into the Blue Sentinels. Not that it matters, since I was in the blue sentinels for around 20 hours of play time, wore the ring for most of it, and was summoned a grand total of once.

Is it just me, or are all there alot more people in the Bell Keeper covenant than the Brotherhood of Blood? Constantly get invaded by Grey Phantoms whenever I go to the bell towers, yet been invaded by red phantoms barely a handful of times in the 70 or so hours I've played.

As for the Old Sinner, you can light the torches via the small rooms on the stairways just outside the entrance. Lights up a portion of the boss arena and makes keeping locked on alot easier.

Don't really like the torch; it's basically just a placeholder gimmick from when the lighting system was gonna be radically different, and it feels like the only reason they kept it in was so they wouldn't annoy players who were expecting it to be kept in.

 

[WalmartJesus]

Not that I'm taking sides in this non-argument, but there's a funny thing with regards to hacking: though it's perhaps easier and more prevalent on PC, it apparently can and does happen on consoles.

No one is denying this.

If a malicious hacker were to invade and somehow adversely affect your character, say by reducing your stats or soul level, or killing an important NPC (I've heard of such incidents in the original Dark Souls), then a character with which you've potentially spent hundreds of hours on is irreversibly screwed and you'd have to either put up with it or start over again. On PC you can simply revert to a back-up save. Sure, it's very unlikely that you'd find yourself in that situation, but it's nice to have that security.

Hackers probably baited the player into killing the NPC. I have NEVER heard of an invading hacker killing the NPC themselves. I've also never heard of the other stuff. On PC or console.

Plus it's not hacking anyways, but just an invader being a griefing asshole. Simple way for a person to remedy this -- Dont be a dumbfuck that fights dickwraiths around Vendors/Essential NPCS.

 

[Kanedias]

Yay, I finally got rank 3 in the Brotherhood of Blood!

Now I have no excuse not to level up my other characters.

 

[Kanedias]

If anyone is interested in PvP, here's a video on parrying, I think it is the first. Setup parries are still possible, and you can check some of the timings here:

 

[Invictus]

Ha ha ha praetor just on my second run through the crypt I got the witch staff...is that what you were farming for? It is damn sweet for a hex build but me I just hang with my Black Knight ultragreatsword :D

 

[praetor]

no. the Lizard Staff from the necromancers (the 2 non-fucking-respawning in the Copse and the 2 in the chariot boss)

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

farmed the mad warrior for 4 hours. nothing, not a single fucking part of his set. i hate this game

but on the bright side there is so much lulz in belfry sol/luna locations i am not even mad. especially if you spam emit force with +10chimney and 40 faith. peple tend to fall of the roofs/ladders and die... also crypt blacksword is sweet even tough i did more damage with grym great hammer+10 but its moveset apart from 2hr2 is rather shitty

 

[DragoFireheart]

Don't really like the torch; it's basically just a placeholder gimmick from when the lighting system was gonna be radically different, and it feels like the only reason they kept it in was so they wouldn't annoy players who were expecting it to be kept in.

It's still useful in a few select dark areas but yes, it's sorta pointless overall.


EDIT:

Spoiler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac

My year matches up with the Rat. lulz.

 

[praetor]

^i think i'm also a rat, but i'll have to re-check

anyway, noticed 2 more things that "bugged" me: 1) there's waaaay too many (human/humanoid) NPCs, and it (for me) really kills the feeling & atmosphere of loneliness, depression, isolation (also the warping) present in the previous 2 games and exacerbates the "themeparky" feel. and their dialogue is a bit too infodumpy. 2) where's the "Sif-like boss" (especially post-DLC... or Quelaag, or Ceaseless, or Astraea) the director confirmed in an interview? can't think of anyone who made me feel bad/like a jerk for killing.. Lost Sinner maybe?

 

[DragoFireheart]

.. Lost Sinner maybe?

Probably lost Sinner.

But since Lost Sinner is a female I immediately lost all care and declared that if she can't use Pyromancy then she should get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich.

 

[Jick Magger]

But I didn't feel bad about killing the Lost Sinner at all during the fight. I mean sure, you can kinda maybe feel sorry for her if you read up a little on her fluff, but it's fairly bare-bones. With Sif they make you feel like a dick during the actual fight, then just hammers home how much of a dick you are with the fluff.

 

[praetor]

yeah.. LS doesn't even come close to Quelaag or Ceaseless (dem feels when you put the Witch ring and talk with the Fair Lady... or realising who was CD and what's he doing there). at the end of the game when you read up on the lore you basically feel like the main villain in DaS1 and the game doesn't make you feel cool at all for pretty much forcing you being an evil cunt and that was pretty awesome. i really really hope there's something cool buried beneath the lore in DaS2 that's waiting to be dug up, because right now it feels like random monster hunting (and i guess it's not that surprising considering one of the directors worked on that monster hunter thing?)

 

[Kanedias]

I am quite annoyed at the inconsistent lag in this game. In Dark Souls 1, people were laggy too, but it was actually consistent. I have been practicing parries with a friend, and this is no longer the case. For example, when we fought in Dark Souls 1, we always had a bit of latency, but it was always the same. Then there were lagspikes, where one of us stopped moving and then the server catched up, but simply blocking or mashing roll solved all problems. Even when fighting randoms and being lagstabbed, you could see a pattern in the lag.

Now, he was using an ultra greatsword that I was trying to parry, and sometimes his second swing would be delayed, and then it would happen extremely fast. This actually changed the parry timing, and both of us had this issue. Also, sometimes the first hit would register a bit delayed, which extended the shield hitstun in such a way that setup parrying was plain impossible. I have had bizarre latency effects in this game, which are 100% unpredictable.

i really really hope there's something cool buried beneath the lore in DaS2 that's waiting to be dug up, because right now it feels like random monster hunting (and i guess it's not that surprising considering one of the directors worked on that monster hunter thing?)

I found the "main" lore to be really good, especially the stuff about the cycle, the old lords, and the nature of the dragons that appear. And I wouldn't say you're an evil cunt in Dark Souls 2, but the implications of what breaking the curse entails are pretty worrying.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

I found the "main" lore to be really good, especially the stuff about the cycle, the old lords, and the nature of the dragons that appear. And I wouldn't say you're an evil cunt in Dark Souls 2, but the implications of what breaking the curse entails are pretty worrying.

i found the "side" lore rather intriguing. especially Alva and his harem of witches/saints, Velstad and Raime, Mytha and the backstory of her marriage and the conflict of those two kingdoms, Melfanito and Fenito and that sick fucker the Embedded, Vengarls story and Dukes relation to Seath, Navlaan and Aldias Keep backstory.
So far no feels like meeting hollowed Laurentius but at least there is no more of Priscila fucking furfag funfiction.

I think people wanted Dark Souls 2 to be just more of Lordran, more of the same(which would still be great cause Lordran fucking rocks), when in fact DS2 is more like a mix of Kings Field and Demons Souls with just couple links to Dark Souls 1. Main quest is pretty much an extended version of Kings Field 2 plotline and all big links to DS1 come first in NG+. Miyazaki would probably do something else and it would be great but i just cant held against the new directors that they wanted to do something else. If DS3 ever comes out i would have nothing against leaving Drangleic and visiting 3rd land

Spoiler

(please make it Boletaria after the events of Des)

.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Fuck the lore, I just want to harass people in my caves of evil or take a temp job and psychotically protect the giant bells.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/21xgnb/from_software_legitimately_april_fooled_me/

 

[DragoFireheart]

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/21xgnb/from_software_legitimately_april_fooled_me/

Sunbros shouldn't be denied their transcendent glory. Besides, it keeps you humans out of my caves.


EDIT:

The first sign that this game has been dumbed down for casuals...

http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/21v5st/the_first_sign_that_this_game_has_been_dumbed/

 

[praetor]

that's a really really cool aprils fools joke

Kanedias
i really like your interpretation of the main lore and pretty much agree with it, but i personally don't find it particularly interesting, or, to use a modern decline buzzword, emotionally engaging. not that DaS1 was better in that regard... i just think it was better delivered and had a more "profound" and lasting impact. and like meanwhileTheRetard said, there's some cool side-stories in there (although i completely disagree with Mytha being any interesting. it's as generic as the iron king)

edit: and yeah, their netcode is supremely shitty. they should hold classes around the world how NOT to do it, 'cause after 3 games (at least in the Souls series) they still can't get it even close to "decent". it's baffling, really (cannot be summoned or summon for the whole of today and i tried restarting and resetting everything possible)

 

[Gozma]

Fighting game people know Japs hold good netcode in contempt because they code for their godly domestic internet latency

 

[Invictus]

How does the covenant of victors work? Does it increase the hp of the enemies and decrease your damage (as NG+) or what does it do? And anybody has tried it?

 

[DragoFireheart]

How does the covenant of victors work? Does it increase the hp of the enemies and decrease your damage (as NG+) or what does it do? And anybody has tried it?

Makes shit harder, can't summon.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

http://www.shacknews.com/article/83830/dark-souls-2-patch-to-offer-difficulty-easing-item

Oh boy oh boy. Well, at least it's optional.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

dude its April 1