From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[AngryEddy]

So bros, tell me how I'm doing hexing wrong. I have 40 int and faith. And while your resonant souls and what have youz deal quite a bit of damage, they still deal less damage than great lightning spear and really not that much more damage than great soul arrows. Considering it takes twice as many stat points that seems rather little..

You shouldn't rely on your hexes for damage, you should use them to finish off your opponent, I love fighting GRS spamming noobs. You need a Dark melee weapon like a +5 Dark Chaos Blade that you can buff with Great Resonant Weapon. I hit for like 800 damage per onehanded swing against non-Havels at NG+Cap.

I'm mainly PvE. Also I don't have the stats for any bigass melee weapons. Currently using a fire longsword.

Chaos Blade is a Katana, and if you don't want to invest in Mundane stats or PvP, just throw on an Abyss Seal, and use the dragon body buff, so your GRS hits for huge damage.

 

[Shadenuat]

So, finally got to try this today. Some thoughts:

Technically it's not very linear, although major paths feel like corridors a lot. But taking technicalities aside, few people would probably venture from main path and find ways to avoid it. One of additional and most obvious ways to go somewhere else is to make a drop in Gutter, but you need an expensive item to do that, and what would any player rather do in DS with his first 10-20 thousand souls - buy an item knowing that later in game those 10k would mean nothing and jump into a pit with ohshit planks breaking under, not knowing what level you even supposed to have to deal with stuff there; or spend it to raise attributes to handle weapons or spells for their build? First souls almost always go into pumping STR or DEX to handle a variety of weapons you'll find.
Another path requires yet another item which you won't stumble upon or pay much attention too, since it may be a spell or some other way of passing it anyway. And it can lead to places where monsters are very, very tough (I'm talking Najka path, with those minotaurs who instakilled me and were almost immune to my spells at a time).
Then you can skip Pursuer, which I believe developers fought you'd do, and fight through slow boring enemies and two pathetic "strafe right and kill" bosses; but going there before killing Last Giant and getting at least a decent +3 elemental weapon like Fire Longsword or Heide sword would be a chore, since Tower of Flame has ~10 boring knights and a few more underground, and stabby stabby them with dagger is just too long. Just cleaning place from them can break your weapon, lol.
Still, DS2 does not lack in exploration, and people weren't exactly running in packs into Catacombs right from the start in DS1.

As far as weapons go, I prefer fast weapons myself for PvE, because it gives you more options to find that sweet spot when you can land a hit. If your basic hit takes 3 seconds to land you don't have many options, but if you have something quick you can land a hit or two, maybe three, maybe four, and maybe another one when you're not even supposed to, which I like.

Sorcery with it's magic missiles will cary you until you get even more spells. And I wonder if Pyromancy even works on some bosses. But Pyro is badass. Like in DS1, it has a very natural progression to it, spells are easier to find and it's easy to upgrade. On endgame I maxed both, and it's a sight to walk into fight with powerful bosses with a phantom, cast 5-6 fire storms and see everything around dead. I even managed to blow a dragon from the sky with an explosion.

 

[Elwro]

If Najka can be one's first boss -- how can one get a branch of yore without killing any boss beforehand?

 

[Shadenuat]

There are about 5 or 6 of them scattered around the world, maybe there's one you can grab soon.

 

[Murk]

Huh. Old Iron King was piss easy where-as the big ass rat is giving me trouble (mostly crowd control). I'm kind of confused... the boss difficulty either makes no sense or my build (str/faith but almost no armor) is a weird foil for some bosses and weak to others.

Found the hidden bonfire near The Rotten after I killed it. Felt really stupid.

Bonfire placement is fucking idiotic tho; you'll have like 2 within crossbow's range of one another but then have a whole slog through a large stretch to a boss with nothing. I donno what their basis for setting them up was.

I think I'm near the equivalent to when you get the Lord Vessel. Or the end. I lit all 5 primal bonfires. I honestly have no clue why/what's going on tho. They kind of fugged up with the pacing and direction of the game. I've been talking to every NPC I can and checking item descriptions but mostly I'm just killing my way through stuff and sometimes there's a boss.

 

[Hobo Elf]

If Najka can be one's first boss -- how can one get a branch of yore without killing any boss beforehand?

Easily. You can get one down from The Gutter.

 

[Elwro]

But to get to the Gutter you have to kill Rat Vanguard.

 

[Surf Solar]

But to get to the Gutter you have to kill Rat Vanguard.

Que? You can just drop down all the way to the bottom of the pit where those jihad-type undead are, no need to kill the rat.

 

[Elwro]

Whoa. Hm. I honestly thought you couldn't get to that pit without going upstairs and killing the rat. This blocked me for quite a while since I struggled in that fight...

edit: GOT IT. No need to enter Grave of Saints at all...

 

[praetor]

And I wonder if Pyromancy even works on some bosses.

other than OIK and Smelter, Flame Swathe annihilates everything else... but toxic/poison works on them, and they're technically pyromancies, so no.. there are no pyro-immune bosses in DaS2

 

[AngryEddy]

Finally got Wretch status

 

[Cowboy Moment]

So, you basically agree with me that the level design itself is fine, and it's mostly the connective tissue that's subpar?

They are pretty, but not all of them are fine. Some of them look rushed, with issues like enemies spawning near bonfires, or strange ambushes respawning on rest which you'd think were a one time deal (like a basilisk from ceiling). Some of them, I thought, were very boring. I can at least name two which I thought were plain bad. Tower of Flame had no variety in enemies whatsoever and was just a pale shadow compared to the grand Anor Londo, it's just a few platforms somehow holding together and one room with three dudes. And The Gutter is, again, a try on depths from DS1, but it's not a cave with wooden platforms and mixed natural elements and all the interesting stuff like elevators, but just wooden beams and bridges and wooden beams and wood wood wood God knows how held together, with weak enemies - just some zombies and dogs, then followed by corridor which is, sadly, a fairly common level design in DS2.

There's also a lot of "gotcha" moments, which DS1 of course had too, but in DS1 many of those were more of a plot feature, while in DS2 they seem to rise from level design itself, like how enemy packs are placed and how they aggro.

And I didn't even get to corridors, nay, just a Corridor, filled with trash mobs guarding boss gate... I can name at least three of those death tunnels, but you'll see them yourself anyway and probably would agree with me that that is more of a chore than challenge, and just an unelegant way to drain player of his resources and valuable time.

I suppose Heide's is the weakest area I've seen thus far. It looks nice, but feels superfluous. I expected to be able to go up the tower and do some cool shit at the top, but instead you go down a bunch of corridors with the same enemies, just to transition into No Man's Wharf (which I actually liked). I think they could've cut Heide's and just put the blue cathedral elsewhere. On the other hand though, DS1 also had areas like Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith, or even just Darkroot Basin and Valley of Drakes, which are even worse than Heide's, and their only function is to connect a bunch of other places. On the other hand, Lost Bastille and Forest of Fallen Giants are both large, sprawling (for Souls levels), with a pretty good variety of enemies and encounters, and a good amount of semi-hidden nooks and crannies which reward exploration.

Although, again, I'm still not that far into the game, so my opinion is subject to change. I can see your point about "gotcha!" moments, at times it feels like the game is more concerned with fucking you up rather than presenting a fair challenge. And I do agree that it feels a bit inconsistent and unpolished overall, like they bit off more than they could chew in terms of the amount of content. I mean, compare the following

Spoiler

How in the world does this make sense?

Insofar as boss corridors go, thus far the game has actually been slightly more accomodating in terms of "corpse runs" than DS1, I think. Last Giant, Pursuer and Sentinels all had short ones, and of the rest, only No Man's Wharf felt long, which made sense, as the boss was a total joke.

Btw. I've been messing with some SweetFX to make the game darker and the lights brighter, but it fucks with Steam's ability to take screenshots. Will post some comparisons once I figure out how to do it.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Thanks Draco, I guess the chime in the majula cliff works for that, should I infuse it too or just hold on for Cathia's?
I plan on still doing FoG to get enough levels for hexing and decent stats...then to lay the smackdown!

Hold on for Cathia's.

 

[DragoFireheart]

huh? LG, Orn, RRV, Rotten, Dragonrider are the only ones you can fight as "first" (i guess Najka, too). or yeah, the unrealistic notion that someone will grind in co-op for 1mil souls to unlock the Shrine and fight the twin dragonderpers as the first.

Unrealistic but possible.

But to get to the Gutter you have to kill Rat Vanguard.

Que? You can just drop down all the way to the bottom of the pit where those jihad-type undead are, no need to kill the rat.

I still haven't figured that out but I believe it can be done.

 

[Surf Solar]

That is how I went to the Gutter on all my 3 characters. Infact I discovered doors of pharros etc. From an entirely different path

 

[praetor]

Unrealistic but possible.

and even counting that absurd notion DaS1 has more, more areas can be accessed from the start (counting the master key, of course, because seriously), and lots of areas in DaS1 are more than A-to-B corridors to get to the boss/next area, unlike DaS2 where it's only one central hub and the 5 paths (of which 3 are locked at the start). so again, "most non-linear" my fucking ass

I still haven't figured that out but I believe it can be done.

it's really easy since the jumps/drops are rather obvious once you get down to the GoS entrance or the 12k ladder platform

 

[DragoFireheart]

and even counting that absurd notion DaS1 has more, more areas can be accessed from the start (counting the master key, of course, because seriously), and lots of areas in DaS1 are more than A-to-B corridors to get to the boss/next area, unlike DaS2 where it's only one central hub and the 5 paths (of which 3 are locked at the start). so again, "most non-linear" my fucking ass

DK2 sucks as a Soulsvania game.

We get it. Maybe DK3 they'll go back to it. Maybe not.

 

[praetor]

DK2 sucks as a Soulsvania game.

We get it. Maybe DK3 they'll go back to it. Maybe not.

it's not that, i was disproving Hobo's claim of "most non-linear" (as was i already did a couple of times before when others did the same) with hard numbers, and numbers don't lie. oh, and

DaS2 possible first boss encounters:

1. Last Giant
2. Pursuer
3. Royal Rat Vanguard
4. Rotten
5. Dragonrider
6. Dragonriders
7. Najka
8. Ornstein
9. Darklurker

DaS:

1. Asylum Demon

since we're playing the "dense on purpose" game, let mi fix it:

DaS1:
1. Asylum demon

DaS2:
0. ...

you cannot fight a boss in the tutorial area in DaS2, first you have to go to Majula, so even there DaS1 provides more options...

 

[DragoFireheart]

since we're playing the "dense on purpose" game, let mi fix it:

DaS1:
1. Asylum demon

DaS2:
0. ...

you cannot fight a boss in the tutorial area in DaS2, first you have to go to Majula, so even there DaS1 provides more options...

YOU FORGOT THE HIPPO CYCLOPS!

 

[Hobo Elf]

DK2 sucks as a Soulsvania game.

We get it. Maybe DK3 they'll go back to it. Maybe not.

it's not that, i was disproving Hobo's claim of "most non-linear" (as was i already did a couple of times before when others did the same) with hard numbers, and numbers don't lie. oh, and

DaS2 possible first boss encounters:

1. Last Giant
2. Pursuer
3. Royal Rat Vanguard
4. Rotten
5. Dragonrider
6. Dragonriders
7. Najka
8. Ornstein
9. Darklurker

DaS:

1. Asylum Demon

since we're playing the "dense on purpose" game, let mi fix it:

DaS1:
1. Asylum demon

DaS2:
0. ...

you cannot fight a boss in the tutorial area in DaS2, first you have to go to Majula, so even there DaS1 provides more options...

If we are comparing options given in the tutorials then you have the option to:

1. skip it entirely
2. fight one cyclops
3. fight two cyclopi at the same time

After beating the two fat pieces of shit you are given the reward of turning trans so obviously DaS2 does give you the most options. Check and mate, cis scum.

 

[praetor]

If we are comparing options given in the tutorials then you have the option to:

1. skip it entirely
2. fight one cyclops
3. fight two cyclopi at the same time

After beating the two fat pieces of shit you are given the reward of turning trans so obviously DaS2 does give you the most options. Check and mate, cis scum.

those hippoclopses aren't bosses, and we were dick-measuring bosses so 1>0, thus DaS1 has more options. you cannot mess with math

 

[Cowboy Moment]

praetor, you really shouldn't complain about obscure requirements for fighting bosses in DS2 while also including Sif or Capra Demon in the DS1 list.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The master key is entirely unnecessary in DaS1 btw. If you go to new londo ruins and open the floodgates, you can get to the valley of the drakes without it, which is where the master key doors take you anyways.

 

[praetor]

praetor, you really shouldn't complain about obscure requirements for fighting bosses in DS2 while also including Sif or Capra Demon in the DS1 list.

obscure? how is "collecting 1Mil souls" obscure? it's just unrealistic that anybody would go so far to fight with only the small soapstone to collect 1mil souls to unlock the Shrine.. and then be raped by enemies there since you'll need quite a bit of luck to get anything better than a +3 weapon and shield.

and what does Sif have to do with anything? you just walk in and fight. and how is finding a key to a locked door you walked by half an hour ago "obscure"? and if we're complaining about "obscure requirements to fight Capra" than i would also raise the same complaints against Rotten, Najka, Pursuer (since you can only fight him once if you want to count him, and you need to defeat the last giant to access what the Pursuer is actually blocking/guarding anyway), Darklurker

 

[DragoFireheart]

praetor, you really shouldn't complain about obscure requirements for fighting bosses in DS2 while also including Sif or Capra Demon in the DS1 list.

obscure? how is "collecting 1Mil souls" obscure? it's just unrealistic that anybody would go so far to fight with only the small soapstone to collect 1mil souls to unlock the Shrine.. and then be raped by enemies there since you'll need quite a bit of luck to get anything better than a +3 weapon and shield.

and what does Sif have to do with anything? you just walk in and fight. and how is finding a key to a locked door you walked by half an hour ago "obscure"? and if we're complaining about "obscure requirements to fight Capra" than i would also raise the same complaints against Rotten, Najka, Pursuer (since you can only fight him once if you want to count him, and you need to defeat the last giant to access what the Pursuer is actually blocking/guarding anyway), Darklurker

Yeah I don't know what point Cowboy was making. Sif and Capra are anything but.