From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Kanedias]

I have 1562 hours of Dark Souls 1 PC with mouse and keyboard. It wasn't that bad. I did a lot of PvP too.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I have 1562 hours of Dark Souls 1 PC with mouse and keyboard. It wasn't that bad. I did a lot of PvP too.

Even you can't deny that a controller is vastly superior.

 

[Kanedias]

Yes, controller is much better obviously. Plus I had to rebind some stuff to my mouse's side buttons in order to do better in PvP, like toggling.

 

[LivingOne]

The other topic related to the PC are the controls. When Dark Souls originally came out on the PC, it didn't support the mouse and keyboard, no matter how hard you tried to make it work. That game 100% required the use of a gamepad. FROM has stated that they would work on the PC controls to make the game just as playable with a mouse and keyboard, as with a gamepad. To put it as delicately as I can, that's a load of crap. Sure, the game is 'playable' with a mouse and keyboard, but it's still inexplicably complicated. When Shift and left click makes you use your currently held consumable, you know something's weird.


However, FROM did make it possible to completely remap the mouse and keyboard controls to your liking, just in case you truly plan on murdering yourself and playing the game that way. Seriously, the game is meant to be played with a gamepad, and given that there are so many choices in PC gamepads, not to mention the tried and true Xbox 360 controller, there isn't an excuse anymore.

http://www.gamezone.com/previews/2014/04/08/dark-souls-2-pc-preview-an-upgrade-of-the-downgrade

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Don't play this game with K/M dude.

But why bother being a PC master race then?

So we can change our Steam display names and have ridiculous gimmick characters.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Hey I got a +10 Bastard Sword and I'm thinking of imbuing it. Any suggestions?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Hey I got a +10 Bastard Sword and I'm thinking of imbuing it. Any suggestions?

If you meet only the basic requirements to use it: Raw or Fire.
If you have high Int: Enchanted or Magic.
If you have high Fth: Lightning.
If you have high Int and Fth: Dark or Fire.
If you have at least 20 in every stat: Mudane

 

[praetor]

Mundane is good/solid on some weapons even with stats below 20 (f.e. people rec Raw for Santier "if you have less than 20" but even at something like 9 or 10 lowest stat mundane is better than raw). but invest some points in fth and int and make it dark (or fire), so that you can buff it with dark/resonant weapon. in DaS2 there really is no point in going pure melee

 

[80Maxwell08]

Hey I got a +10 Bastard Sword and I'm thinking of imbuing it. Any suggestions?

If you meet only the basic requirements to use it: Raw or Fire.
If you have high Int: Enchanted or Magic.
If you have high Fth: Lightning.
If you have high Int and Fth: Dark or Fire.
If you have at least 20 in every stat: Mudane

Well I only have stats in physical attributes so I guess I'll just keep it at is for now. Probably going to need to look into something with elements soon since it seems like a lot of enemies have good resistances to try to get you to mix things up.

 

[praetor]

Well I only have stats in physical attributes so I guess I'll just keep it at is for now. Probably going to need to look into something with elements soon since it seems like a lot of enemies have good resistances to try to get you to mix things up.

getting a pyro hand and the +att slots ring is a good start (at no stat cost) cause Flame Swathe is too good. if you want to invest, go either Fth or Int/Fth (for dark) cause neither of those categories is getting a hard nerfhammer this round of patching

 

[DragoFireheart]

Mundane is good/solid on some weapons even with stats below 20 (f.e. people rec Raw for Santier "if you have less than 20" but even at something like 9 or 10 lowest stat mundane is better than raw). but invest some points in fth and int and make it dark (or fire), so that you can buff it with dark/resonant weapon. in DaS2 there really is no point in going pure melee

Going pure melee is fine for Strength builds having at least 40 strength and the weapons that have strength scaling is at least A. Dual Greatswords is exceptionally scary and can easily 2-shot people.

Dex scaling for just physical damage is usually pure shit though. Poison and Bleed are why you go Dex.

 

[Invictus]

So the PC is exactly what was promised; smooth 60 FPS way better textures (especialy on metal and cloth) and some good AA options.
The lighting issue we knew was going to be like the consoles but the shadows look way sharper and defined.
No big deal for me at all really, I am sure someone like Durante will come up with some cool looking lighting replacement or even a ENB setting for higher contrast and darker shadows or whatever
Me, I am looking foward to replacing the textures of the manequin mask and removing some of the mossy look from the starter areas and I am cool

 

[praetor]

Going pure melee is fine for Strength builds having at least 40 strength and the weapons that have strength scaling is at least A. Dual Greatswords is exceptionally scary and can easily 2-shot people.

Dex scaling for just physical damage is usually pure shit though. Poison and Bleed are why you go Dex.

Bleed is shit, as for Poison you're better off going Dark (with the used and abused bat+dark fog). fuck dex, only meet the min requirements and infuse with some element 'cause the scaling is ultra shit (and an easy fix in a patch). not even Str in DaS1 was so retarded. just wow

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

4k screenshot from pc version.

i wonder if they choose shitty screenshots to advertise their game on purpose how about some colors other than brown motherfuckers ?

 

[Invictus]

I have fairly limited knowledge of C+ and whatever but I bet my bottom dollar that they must have left the code from the CES lighting on the PC version plus assets like the rubble in locations like outside the cardinal tower bonfire. You can see for example the old CES archway which they removed from most of the Cardinal tower's doorways but they left one of the original ones in the bottom level (in the bonfire besides the giant)
I would say that a talented modder like Durante could figure out how to get that working again
Maybe for a first time player the old lighting system was kind of unfair (as well as 2 handed and ranged users) but for players who already played the game on the consoles or for their second run on the game it would be simply awesome
About the nerfing of some bosses and making summons a bit more powerful it makes sense; characters with low starting health like the swordsman and sorcerer can get one shoted by the last giant so making him easier is a understandable.
Having those braindead summons more resistent is also a good idea, especialy since they are required to stay alive to continue their storyline
One a sidenote; I want to try a hex build but what should I do, go for a magic caster build and go from there or pick a class like deprived or a melee based build and respeck after getting my first hexes?

 

[praetor]

^depending what weapon you want to use, the starting class is almost meaningless for hexers since you'll be levelling up everything. if you're going pure caster, then sorc or deprived are the best option because they have the lowest melee stats

and no, without some serious modding tools, we won't see the old lighting or assets/textures back. that would require to actually edit (decompile/recompile) the maps, and without the dev tools you can pretty much forget it since it's a new, in-house engine. the best we can hope for is that the old shit was held back for the inevitable HD new-gen release (very likely), and that said shit will make it to the PC as a patch (not sure if likely)

 

[Hobo Elf]

For Hexing I'd say go Cleric. Invest in int, get the Sorcerers catalyst from Cardinal's Tower and work yourself up from there. Get 20/20 int/faith asap and go to Felkin for your spells and awesome staff.

 

[Outlander]

PS3 vs PC side by side comparison.

 

[DragoFireheart]

not even Str in DaS1 was so retarded. just wow

What's wrong with Strength in Dark Souls 2?

Yes, dex as a whole is pretty shitty.

 

[praetor]

nothing, really. Dex is the ultrashit one (even worse than Str in DaS1)

 

[toro]

nothing, really. Dex is the ultrashit one (even worse than Str in DaS1)

But ... but ... my Uchigatana?

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

nothing, really. Dex is the ultrashit one (even worse than Str in DaS1)

everything is shit

Spoiler

but hexes

i dont know about dex scaling but dex weapons are still awesome in PvP. Manslayer, Washing Pole, Caestus, Ricards Rapier, Halberds all viable.

But ... but ... my Uchigatana?

Berserkers Blade is new Uchigatana for all weeboo faggots

 

[praetor]

Ricards... viable? do you play only with retards? only the R2 deals any kind of damage and the R2 is like asking to be backstabbed :D Halberds are mostly quality, not dex, WP has always been top tier more because of the range combined with the speed. Manslayer is decent because it has innate poison, but it's really not that good by itself and only in combo with other poison proccing gear [fuck, even throwing knives and arrows build up more poison than the vast majority of dex weapons] (and it baffles me there are way less players who stock on poison moss than there were in DaS1 who had purple mosses). katanas have some really interesting combo potential in PvP, but that's about it for Dex. in PvE Dex is abhorrent shit, especially in NG+ and beyond

speaking of Dex and katanas and how utterly broken the game is... get a chaos blade (dark infused if you have the stats, since pure Dex its by far the worst katana in game. holy fucking shit the balance is moronic), an old sun ring, and ring of thorns (+2, if you have it) and go to town. the self inflicted pain will proc the 2 rings so you'll be exploding constantly and 1-2 shotting everybody. for maximum trolling, equip the black hollow mage hood, black witch everything else, dispelling ring, and spell or dark quarz +2, cast great magic barrier and see the magic faggots deal you chip damage (yes, the elemental resistances are %-based, i.e. your resistance/10 is the percentage you'll reduce that elemental damage. yup, somehow From became even worse than goddamned Creative Assembly when it comes to balance. mindbending)

 

[Kanedias]

I don't see what's the problem with elemental resistances actually mattering in this game. They make high level PvP much better, as you will take less damage from Resonant Weapon Chaos Blades and that kind of thing.

On another note, I was finally able to solo the Lost Sinner in NG+, I wanted to do this before they nerf him. Holy shit that was difficult, it took me about 11 tries. I finally figured out I shouldn't kill the pyromancers, so I focused on the Sinner and managed to take her down. Such a fun fight, shame the run to the boss is really annoying (long elevator plus those damn crossbowmen)

 

[praetor]