From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Abu Antar]

I wonder if this promotion to president means Miyazaki will have even more influence, or if this will keep him busy on a desk job and prevent him from working on other titles.

Their previous president was involved as director in some of their other games. Hideo Kojima is vice president of Konami. Him getting promoted doesn't mean he can't be involved in development. The question is to what degree he can be involved. I wonder how much business know-how he has, though. Obviously, he has some but I didn't really expect him to get a role like that.

 

[praetor]

 

[Kanedias]

I'm close to finishing to level my build.

The spin attack seems to consume all the stamina I have, but against some enemies I have done more than 1000 damage (enough that I one shot the crypt guardians in the Undead Crypt), and my warped sword is not even fully upgraded. I have high hopes for this.

Also, I didn't upgrade any ranged weapons and I don't use magic at all on this character, so I got to experience the, uh, Amana experience. The last bit in particular is so badly designed for melee characters. (the part between the 3rd bonfire and the Demon of Song).

 

[Shadenuat]

experience the, uh, Amana experience

NG or NG+? On NG I shot casters with unupgraded bow with fire arrows. The spot is end of long stone platform with pillars before fog door to 3d bonfire.
U can at least shoot melee guys and lure them out 1 by 1.

Part between 3d fire and demon, you can just run through it.

 

[Murk]

I am pro all the ninja turtles dudes.

I am so stupidly in love with punching shit. Definitely gonna farm awestones to get my vanquisher seal. This shit is STUPID fun, and I am blown away that I actually beat people in duels or when I get invaded.

I fucked up like 4 bell keepers (not all at once, at most 2 at a time but even then one of the dudes was cool and laid back til I finished with the other guy) who were using magic, buffed katanas, greatswords, shields, all that shit. I'M NOT EVEN WEARING ARMOR. I have the fucking hollow soldier board-shorts shit going on.

then i got my ass handed to me by some havelyns and a sunlight bladed zweihander but you know what they say; "fuck you"

Also, the old sun ring is definitely under-rated. Killed a guy by barely escaping with like 20 hit-points -- the ring goes off and kills him. Holy shit was it ridiculous. Similarly, I punch a guy to death and die from his ring of thorns activating. What the fuck hahaha.

 

[Murk]

Also; solid thread on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/264t6s/the_actual_truth_about_hitboxes/

seriously, fuck those dogs -- they are broken and backwards as sif.rat

http://gfycat.com/NarrowInfiniteFairybluebird

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

I've been trolling invaders in Aldia.

My second bonfire is around 8 intensity and I have quite a bit of giant tree seeds... I broke down all the paintings/cages too... Waiting in the acid pit with powerstanced gyrm greateaxe/gyrm greathammer... Oh AND i'm in way of blue... Anyways, it was some pretty awesome chaotic fun.

 

[Shadenuat]

So where do people put points when they don't know where else to put points? Do I just like, pump VGR and END to 50? I don't want to become hybrid or use attacking spells.
Should I pump my faith above 50? Should I pump agi above 105? Or people just screw around and start to carry 3 weapons at a time and get even heavier armor? I don't want heavy armor for now. And I'm satisfied with my all purpose spell set (sunlight blade, big lightning, small lightning, great heal, great magic barrier).
Also are there good ultra great swords to infuse with lightning? I want to throw parry-masters into ocean and try some Guts'ing too. Big toys are fun...

Also; solid thread on reddit:

And they ask why I carry fucking shield around. Well now I often use lance against bosses too, cause shield-poke-shield-poke
Game doesn't care a fook about physics. Most large weapons go through walls and pillars. Game only wants you to roll, roll, roll, all the time.
Or you can be like me and poke from shield.

I actually poked Smelter Demon on NG+ to death using King's Shield. And that lance rush, it took 30% health from Iron King when I ran into his fist (1-handed), and even more from Rotten (I ran into him with lance 3 or 4 times while other guy was tanking - boss dead). I find best way to activate that paladin's charge is to backstep+R1. It's easier to do than just sprinting.
Maybe I'll manage to 3-shot Nashandra.

 

[Murk]

If you want to do a running attack on command then backstep + r1 is definitely the way to go. If you let the backstep go all the way, you do a mini juke + counter attack too. Not bad, but doesn't work on reach weapons.

 

[Fockatar]

Guys does anyone remember a video which was a fairly good if someone what lengthy (>40mins) critique of DKS2? I believe it was posted here.

Ok so I originally ran a strength build (like I always do) and decided to try something else so about 2/3rds of the way through I respec'd to be a faith user. I'm 20 STR/13DX/55FTH erm...24ATT I think (or 23?) are the salient stats. Anyway it's kind of...boring. I like elemental damage is more viable this time around but I miss the pure oomph of the maxed out great club. Alas nothing in this game matches the majesty of the Serpent sword but ok.

Anyway is it worth my upgrading the Heide lance do you think? It's much weaker than the great lance but it seems to be the only one I can use stats wise and it's just sitting in my inventory.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Heh, the spear statues in Drangleic Castle are like the perfect counter to my dual-wielding dex character with most damage coming from Ricard's Rapier. I deal shitty damage, cannot stagger them, can barely see their weapons in the dark, they have some annoyingly fast attacks, and a lot of range. The room where you have to fight three at once was harder than Dragonriders and Looking Glass Knight combined.

On that note, I had to abandon my normal weapons and upgrade two maces to +5 to be able to kill LGK before he killed Benhart. I hear that DEX scaling is pretty bad, but what's the alternative? Lightning/Dark infusions and pumping Faith?

Also, I didn't upgrade any ranged weapons and I don't use magic at all on this character, so I got to experience the, uh, Amana experience. The last bit in particular is so badly designed for melee characters. (the part between the 3rd bonfire and the Demon of Song).

Why is that part badly designed? You have tons of cover close to the mages, it's really easy to ambush them from behind those pillars. And you don't even have to do it if you don't care about the loot, can just run straight to the boss.

Now, the part before the 3rd bonfire, with two mages and two archdrake knights in completely open space, is very cheap, and extremely annoying if you don't want to kill the last mage with ranged attacks (meleeing her causes the knights to aggro). Although on my first playthrough with CoC, I ended up just aggroing them and then running back to the hut, worked out surprisingly well.

On that note, I don't remember ever needing to do this in previous Souls games, so I don't know if it's new, but these homing spells in DaS2 have sound effects very clearly designed to make dodging them completely by ear possible, and not even particularly difficult. In SoA now with my dex character, and dodging shit coming up from behind me very consistently.

 

[Murk]

Sound cues are p good about those spells, and the a

ffinity like spell in undead crypt (tho it does so little damage that it almost doesn't matter; albeit it does push/interrupt pretty hard).

shrine of amana is fine to me now. In terms of gameplay, it is like blighttown -- where people hate it until they learn the layout. Amana is even easier than blight town was in DS1 so all you need to do is learn the layout in 1-2 runs, really. I straight up run people through it and basically beat the level for them now. You really only need a 1-shot strategy for the lurkers and a safe way to kill the 2 arch-drakes near Rhoy's Resting Place bonfire.

The boss is so easy it's somewhat mind-boggling why that its... but that's kind of a theme in this game. The basic enemies are WAY more dangerous (not harder, but more dangerous) than the bosses.

Unrelated. punching Vendrick to death is horrible because of his stupid hurtbox.

I am also 20 awestones into my vanquisher seal. Gonna fuck some bitches up in PVP tomorrow when I finish farming them.

Sorry, my typing is sloppy. I'm kinda drank :D

 

[Shadenuat]

I hear that DEX scaling is pretty bad, but what's the alternative? Lightning/Dark infusions and pumping Faith?

Flame blade, great mag weapon... I fight fast flame weapons often. Mundane weapons too. Poison/bleeding is bad in pve I heard, most bosses just ignore poison.

 

[praetor]

Also; solid thread on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/264t6s/the_actual_truth_about_hitboxes/

seriously, fuck those dogs -- they are broken and backwards as sif.rat

http://gfycat.com/NarrowInfiniteFairybluebird

easily one of my biggest gripes in the game. in DaS1 95-99% of the times i died (other than gravity, of course ) i knew what i was doing wrong and my reaction was "damn, I fucked that up, ok let's try it this way", in DaS2 most of my reactions were "fuck you, that's bullshit, i wasn't even close/was behind. fuck you"... that's very unSouls-like, and not fun at all. the hitboxes and how they're applied/calculated are really fucking stupid (and i'm not even talking about on-line, where everything becomes 3 times worse)

Why is that part badly designed? You have tons of cover close to the mages, it's really easy to ambush them from behind those pillars. And you don't even have to do it if you don't care about the loot, can just run straight to the boss.

he's very likely talking about the acid cloud huge mushroom right after the bonfire blocking the way forward. that part is just retardedly designed and just cheap and boring trolling

 

[Hobo Elf]

That's some shit. Is it the PC version or what? I know that weapon durability loss is doubled on the PC because of 60FPS, but I also hear that this affects the hit boxes and i-frames on rolls as well. DaS2 is making me question FROM SOFTWARE's ability to design and code games.

 

[Avellion]

That's some shit. Is it the PC version or what? I know that weapon durability loss is doubled on the PC because of 60FPS, but I also hear that this affects the hit boxes and i-frames on rolls as well. DaS2 is making me question FROM SOFTWARE's ability to design and code games.

So that explains why I needed to carry and switch between multiple weapons just to get from one bonfire to another.

 

[Visperas]

That's some shit. Is it the PC version or what? I know that weapon durability loss is doubled on the PC because of 60FPS, but I also hear that this affects the hit boxes and i-frames on rolls as well. DaS2 is making me question FROM SOFTWARE's ability to design and code games.

Is the 60 FPS and durability thing true? Any source?
After all the "great PC version" propaganda, everything we have to endure is bullshit.

Edit: I was sunbroing the Old King and a heavy guy goes in shield up. The very first attack launches him into de hole. Hilarious.

 

[Damned Registrations]

You can poison most bosses actually, it just doesn't do enough damage to warrant using over some other kind of boost (though poison arrows or dark fog can be pretty nice. Actually, dark fog is great in general for the AoE vs normal enemies, in the room before Veldstadt you can kill like 6 Syan knights with a single cast, it also doesn't aggro enemies some times, like the sleeping dragons in the aerie) Bleed is awful, even on normal enemies it'll add like 200 damage to a hit on a 6k hp enemy, and take 10-15 hits of buildup to do that. Pretty much any resin is going to add more than 30 damage per hit, even on something shitty like a dagger.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Been doing jolly co-op as a Sunbro to earn Sunlight Spear. How amazing is it? Can it one-shot non-bosses? My Great Lightning Spears can one-shot those turtle dudes on NG.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Also; solid thread on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/264t6s/the_actual_truth_about_hitboxes/

seriously, fuck those dogs -- they are broken and backwards as sif.rat

http://gfycat.com/NarrowInfiniteFairybluebird

On an unrelated note, it's hilarious how much butthurt the 2H Mace Drakekeepers have managed to induce. "I CAN'T CIRCLESTRAFE AROUND THIS ENEMY WITH MY SHIELD UP THIS GAME IS BROKEN AND UNFAIR" .

I mean, there's a lot to complain about in DaS2, and shitty hitboxes (relative to DaS1) are certainly a major issue, but like half that reddit thread is idiots crying about unrelated enemies and attacks whose only crime was requiring them to think autonomously for more than 5 seconds. There's even a dude claiming that you can't melee the Undead Jailers in Lost Bastille without a shield because of hitboxes.

 

[Shadenuat]

Been doing jolly co-op as a Sunbro to earn Sunlight Spear. How amazing is it? Can it one-shot non-bosses? My Great Lightning Spears can one-shot those turtle dudes on NG.

Totally. For example, it can one-shot mastodons or giants in dream sequences. (Don't forget Dragon Chime and infuse it with lightning)
You only get 3-4 depending on your ATT though, but it does help.

On an unrelated note, it's hilarious how much butthurt the 2H Mace Drakekeepers have managed to induce.

Well it's cause they're BS.
I'd like to tape a few DS developers to a chair and make them fight those whole day, or try and kill Freja without phantoms on NG+.
Or, the thing I REALLY would like them to do is to open and close door to Ornifex while standing outside getting shot with 2-3 homing missiles at a time. I'd make them create all souls weapons while getting shot with those. I wonder what kind of disorder they would get after.
Oh, oh, and run through NG+ to Undead Chariot, through those 6 red respawning phantoms.

Crap, and I haven't reached NG+ Amana yet, just killed 4 bosses. That would probably take the cake. I wonder how many red phantoms they've put there.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Been doing jolly co-op as a Sunbro to earn Sunlight Spear. How amazing is it? Can it one-shot non-bosses? My Great Lightning Spears can one-shot those turtle dudes on NG.

With 50 faith, Dragon Chime +5 and sunbro ring mine hit for 1100-1200.

 

[praetor]

I'd like to tape a few DS developers to a chair and make them fight those whole day, or try and kill Freja without phantoms on NG+.
Or, the thing I REALLY would like them to do is to open and close door to Ornifex while standing outside getting shot with 2-3 homing missiles at a time. I'd make them create all souls weapons while getting shot with those. I wonder what kind of disorder they would get after.
Oh, oh, and run through NG+ to Undead Chariot, through those 6 red respawning phantoms.

no, man.

they'd need to fight Vendrick with -5 giant Souls so they do 1 HP damage per hit. and Vendrick would have a dual avelyn attack and could backstep parry and better tracking on his attacks. and hitboxes as big as the room you fight him in. and a WoG attack with a lingering hitbox that lasts for 10 seconds. and they're not allowed more than 10Vigor. and every time they die, they respawn at the Sinner's Rise bonfire, with 12 crossbow black phantom royal swordsmen and 15 undead citizens all around the bonfire. and they do not stop respawning. and they can't go home or get any food until they've beaten it

 

[Cowboy Moment]

On an unrelated note, it's hilarious how much butthurt the 2H Mace Drakekeepers have managed to induce.

Well it's cause they're BS.
I'd like to tape a few DS developers to a chair and make them fight those whole day, or try and kill Freja without phantoms on NG+.
Or, the thing I REALLY would like them to do is to open and close door to Ornifex while standing outside getting shot with 2-3 homing missiles at a time. I'd make them create all souls weapons while getting shot with those. I wonder what kind of disorder they would get after.
Oh, oh, and run through NG+ to Undead Chariot, through those 6 red respawning phantoms.

Crap, and I haven't reached NG+ Amana yet, just killed 4 bosses. That would probably take the cake. I wonder how many red phantoms they've put there.

Those Drakekeepers are easily killed by baiting their Smough-like charge attack, and then rolling through it. They likely have more moves that they can't follow up if you're behind them, but I haven't checked after finding the winning strategy.

Rest of your post is just venting about stuff that pissed you off recently. There's nothing especially difficult about opening the door to Ornifex, and then you can close it if a missile somehow hit you while talking to her (never happened to me). NG+ isn't just a carbon copy of NG with increased numbers, what a travesty.

 

[Shadenuat]

They're easily killed by whatever, it doesn't excuse poor JRPG design ala Cloud waving huge sword around like it's made of cardboard. I like when weapons have weight and to feel kinetic force behind them. I think people are mad at them cause those mobs break rules of the game (attack patterns)/asymmetric bs design (stamina). And rightfully so.
Uh, NG+ is a carbon copy of NG with increased numbers. Well that and Dragon Age 2 red phantoms spawning out of thin air in front and behind you while you walk thin ledge I guess.

And yeah shitty design does tend to piss me the fuck off. But what truly maddens me is that after playing through the game even on NG+ I still did not find anything which made me think "well, that is actually difficult, I need to master this". I was waiting to meet second Kalameet, so to speak, but I never did. So only fun for me comes from PvP now.

Rest of your post is just venting about stuff that pissed you off recently. There's nothing especially difficult about opening the door to Ornifex

faek edit:
These little things are when I ask myself - If I am a game designer, and I want players to pay me money and then waste their precious time playing my game instead of doing something more productive, would I do things like that? Would I place a vendor which rewards players for accomplishing my hard tasks in such a way that they'd get hit by infinite homing missiles or get trash mobs aggro on them? Would I place mobs at places where player is supposed to take a break from taking on my challenges? And so on.
A question of fair rewards for fair accomplishments is something I am thinking often as a dungeon master, and I know the answer. I would not allow little bullshit parts like that to slip into my game. Especially if players are encouraged to replay it again by it's design.