From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[praetor]

Stats were always "meaningless" outside of a community-established PvP metagame; the character system is pretty lazy and not well thought out. Been that way since DeS, what with the returns to stats stopping before they are halfway developed and the nonexistence of any sort of hard level cap or mutually exclusive stats/equipment/traits.

Sure, Soul Memory is a huge pain in the ass for organized PvP, and an overall poor design decision, but to claim that it rendered the role-playing aspect of the game meaningless is a bit dramatic.

the community established meta is exactly what breathed life in the poor, lazy char system by giving it an effective "hard level cap" and gave stats more "weight". now the idiotic team B doesn't want you to stop levelling making the char system worse. SM is by far the poorest design decision in the entire series, bar none

 

[AngryEddy]

I'll tell you how bad the leveling is: I have a few save states to prevent knuckleheads from invading me in Majula and what not, and I have one save with a 99 STR/DEX Vanquishers seal guy, and I was literally landing maybe 500 damage with both fists on some guy wearing Pyromancer Robes, and then i'd fight a Alonne Knight guy and hit him for 600-800 with both fists landing.

The game is obviously designed around the 838/Mundane meta.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

So what's the general kkkonsensus on this game? I think original Dark Souls was way, way better and more atmospheric.

It's kind of like Fallout 1 vs Fallout 2 - depends on what you liked most about the original game.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

The only comparison I see here is that the second game is a handful of disconnected locations instead of a cohesive gameworld.

 

[Grimlorn]

The only comparison I see here is that the second game is a handful of disconnected locations instead of a cohesive gameworld.

Not to mention there appears to be nothing going on in the actual game's plot. There's no reason to want to take the throne in a kingdom that has no people and is in ruins. It doesn't make sense that Vendrick fled from Nashandra if he was able to conquer the land of Giants. He could have killed her to prevent her from getting what she wanted. We also don't know what he was trying to keep from her. The golem bridge to the throne was also stupid. Seems the kinship is what activates it, but it's not clear why you couldn't just build a regular bridge to the throne to get to it. Maybe the kinship activates something with the throne, but why? Nothing makes any sense.

 

[Murk]

I agree with those who think ds 1 has superior atmosphere, design, and setting but is worse for actual gameplay, user-interface, and any other technical aspect.

I can't comment on the meta stuff because I don't care, tbh. It became pretty clear team b wants people to level and after about level 300 or so the minute gains you get from 5 points of vitality no longer really matter.

I will say this tho... in terms of actually playing the game ds2> ds1 -- in terms of actually enjoying it, I could go either way. DS 1 was my first souls game and so it has it's own "baby's first game" effect. If both were equally active I'd probably still play ds 2. Donno if that makes me a heretic or not but whatever.

they removed the special titanite vendors and force you to grind for them.

Twinklies and Petrified bones are the only ones you have to grind for, and with ascetics you can infini-farm them at certain locations pretty easily. DS 1 had you grind for red, blue, and white chunks too... no? Or was there a vendor for them and I am forgetting? And slabs were super rare (tho I can see a person arguing this is good as it forces you to really consider which weapons you want to max upgrade).

 

[toro]

ds 1 has superior atmosphere, design, and setting but is worse for actual gameplay, user-interface, and any other technical aspect.

This is pretty much the general kkkonsensus on this game.

Personally I will say that DS1 is the better game because DS2 is not matching the atmosphere and game-design of the original.

Edit: Also SM is an abomination.

 

[Murk]

Apparently I never paid attention to The Rotten's theme song cuz it's p fuggin cool

 

[toroid]

One of the many things that pushed me away from Dark Souls 2 was the boring weapons. No weapons really stand out as being significantly better than the rest. So many of them seem like useless filler and a waste of upgrade materials. I have over a dozen boss souls in my inventory because the weapons they yield seem weak and uninteresting compared to the few weapons I've been using throughout most the game. I bet the weapons became overbalanced as a side effect of the focus on "improving" the PvP. From put the PvE experience first in Dark Souls 1 - multiplayer was lopsided as fuck and it was actually fucking interesting because of that.

Fuck you b-team.

 

[Murk]

I'm not sure I get what you mean. Do you mean that boss weapons specifically are boring or that they make the generic weapons boring?

Personally I'm mostly upset at them using shitty movesets for otherwise interesting weapons (whipsword's 1h r1 is infuriatingly bad compared to any other straight sword r1 -- slow and has very little horizontal range).

Or take the giant warrior club -- the highest AR weapon in the whole game and it's missing the iconic first-hit pancake of the other great hammers.

And there are a lot of weapons that have weird hybrid movesets like spear-lance, spear-twinblade, lance-twinblade, hammer-lance, sword-axe, dagger-sword, greatsword-ugs, greatsword-greathammer, etc.

I will agree that things like the shield xbow are shit but eh, some have to suck.

edit: unless you mean there's no clear "This weapon is better than others" which... is good. That would make weapon choices meaningless?

 

[StaticSpine]

So what's the general kkkonsensus on this game? I think original Dark Souls was way, way better and more atmospheric.

It's kind of like Fallout 1 vs Fallout 2 - depends on what you liked most about the original game.

I didn't think about souls that way, but as I've seen the statement I became sure this is completely true. I always was a fan of FO2.

As I began to play DS II I was p. skeptical about it, mostly because of 'dex opinions, but the game grew on me. It's still damn fun to play, yup, there is no such depressive atmosphere and some of the locations do not make sense. But I already spent more time playing it than the original and I still want more. I even dig the DLCs, considering them worth my money and time.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

bearer of the curse

seek

seek

lest this l

 

[StaticSpine]

Is it okay that I'm summoned to NG+ from NG? Or that's the way SM works?

 

[Murk]

Is it okay that I'm summoned to NG+ from NG? Or that's the way SM works?

You can't be unless hax or the host has used an ascetic on that particular section. So, you're not summoned into NG+ but rather you are summoned into an intensity-2 area or what have you.

 

[dr. one]

I agree with those who think ds 1 has superior atmosphere, design, and setting but is worse for actual gameplay, user-interface, and any other technical aspect.
I will say this tho... in terms of actually playing the game ds2> ds1 -- in terms of actually enjoying it, I could go either way. DS 1 was my first souls game and so it has it's own "baby's first game" effect.

Same here.
I´d add that for me DS1´s world design and setting made it overall a more compelling experience when I compare the first playthroughs, but DS2´s minute-to-minute experience eventually made it a winner when it comes to replays.

Btw, made Alonne commit seppuku with my overpowered sl1 dudette, the dude just kept skating :

Spoiler

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

I just beat Twin Dragonriders and Looking Glass Knight in 3 tries. I am dissapoint in this game. Or maybe I should ditch Tower Shield and have more fun.

Part of the problem is that only a select few have cinematics before the fight. Feels like you're just fighting random dudes with slash>slash>delayed slash all the time.

 

[Stonewolf]

Complains about game being easy
Tower shield




Melee only no shield is the only right way.

 

[Murk]

try a challenge run

sl 1 or 'base level' challenge (still easy if you pick a class with high adaptability and just use a rapier or mace or something)

no bonfire

no healing other than resting at bonfires (no estus no lifegem no charms etc.)

no rolling allowed challenge

greathammers only

etc.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Or just join the Champion Covenant if you haven't yet.

The only comparison I see here is that the second game is a handful of disconnected locations instead of a cohesive gameworld.

Second game improves gameplay mechanics, but at the cost of atmosphere and world cohesion. Second game has a lot of individually good areas and encounters, but also suffers from some rather puzzling lows - likely due to a somewhat troubled/rushed development. Second game has more content, but uses a kind of "kitchen sink" approach as to what should be included. It's also more "gamey", and a bit too interested in making tons of meta references and throwing weird shit in seemingly for the sake of it.

Because of all these things, second game generally replays better, while the first game provides a more memorable first playthrough and leaves one with a stronger impression in general.

 

[MapMan]

I just came back to the game after a break. Few patches have landed since and everything is probably more well grounded now. Can anyone suggest some good builds for pvp or pve? I guess for pve it's just whatever but what about PVP? I sometimes get invaded by people who i can handle with my Havel set and drangelic sword but sometimes I see a weird combo that totally reks me. Any suggestions what are the coolest and most useful builds now? I mean, heavy armor + heavy shield + some kind of a sword isn't bad, but I think I could find something much better. Maybe something that demands more skill from the player, but I'm all up for that. Here's my character sheet:

 

[Jaedar]

Because of all these things, second game generally replays better, while the first game provides a more memorable first playthrough and leaves one with a stronger impression in general.

I don't really know about that. The original dark souls has all sorts of cool sequence breaks and stuff you can do, right off the bat. Dark souls 2 is more controlled, areas don't generally open up until you are more or less guaranteed to have gained enough souls to be able to handle them. Can't particularly say I feel it improved the gameplay a lot either. Oh well.

 

[Murk]

havel set n drangleic sword you filthy casul scum

what build man, just level everything and spam r1 or run attacks with a katana

Spoiler

if you plan to go melee then you will want to refocus your stats to get more end and vgr so that you can actually swing/dodge and take a hit or two. there's no "gimme a build" thing, what kind do you want to play? some notes would help give actual suggestions

 

[Bahamut]

Complains about game being easy
Tower shield




Melee only no shield is the only right way.

I have a funny mental block when not using shields,

First time i played, went pure dual wielding, died like a little bitch

On my second, current run i use a small shield, but... i rarely use it, its just acts like a confidence charm, and only use it when things go bad

For DaS vs DaS2

DaS was nearly better in all departements, the "story" and atmosphere was better, clever interconnected areas,
DaS2 has more polished gameplay, though it has a tendency to crank up difficulty with throwing more enemies at same time, solo bosses where easy, bosses with ads where annoying (gah Royal Rat Authority was such a bs fight, or Gargoyles)

 

[Grimlorn]

I think I beat gargoyles on my second try but I had a lot of trouble with Royal Rat. No poison moss and had no gear with poison protection at the time. Had I known he was optional I would have came back later. So I had to kill the poison dogs without getting poisoned or had to try to heal through the poison without getting hit by the big dog. Was awful. Died like 10+ times on that fight.

I also had him dead once as he spewed his acid attack. I was relaxing because I thought it was over. First time seeing the attack and the acid spread around me, but I couldn't get out of it before dying. Had to do the whole fight over again.

 

[Stonewolf]

You guys know about alluring skulls right? They exist for a reason.