From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Murk]

[Cryptic] Not all things are as they appear.

DLCs are all rad and can be done separately, but I'd suggest you go in chronological order if only so the dope ass NPC invasions make sense for when you get your ass handed to you by my boy Maldron.

Sunken king first (after rotten) > Iron king (after old iron king) > ivory king (shrine of winter).

I mean, sunken cuck then iron cuck and then ivory alpha.

Straid and Crowgina hook up boss souls for weapons/spells, you need branches of yore to access either.

---------------

edit: man red orb invasions are so good at low SM. I'm fucking up so many nubs' shit. I wish red orbs gave bloodbro points tho ;((

 

[Caim]

Yeah, do the DLCs in order. Gather all four crowns and bring them to Vendrick, he'll do something cool with them.

 

[Lucky]

I suggest unlocking them and taking a peek inside each to see the look of which most appeals to you, then stick to that one until you finish it. There's no real wrong way to start, but you can tell the order by which they were released from the difficulty. They're all excellent and by far the best part of the game. If the whole game had that level of quality it would have blown away all the other Souls games. Intricate levels, asshole invaders, some of the best Souls bosses and fun weapons if you feel like switching.

Also, a somewhat spoilerish hint so that you don't make a certain boss borderline unbeatable:

Spoiler

Don't stake the first one

 

[Ivan]

Thanks bros. Thoughts so far.

It's not bad but it doesn't have the wonder that permeated Dark and Demon. Most of the bosses have been unmemorable, the creature design has been meh. My favorite boss fight so far has been the Pursuer (though I dislike how they keep milking him, I mean really, in the Iron Keep too? -_- I really like his moveset and think it provides a good challenge for when you meet him.

Favorite Areas: Dragon Shrine was really well designed. I liked how the "secret" areas looped around to the main path.

Finishing up the Dark Guild quest and then on to the DLC. I have the frozen flower and the dragon nail? I'm missing one. Also, there's a door near where the girls sing, but I can't open it. Hmmm, maybe it's Ultra end game? There was a Dragonrider guarding it.

 

[Murk]

So you know how you fought the poop sewer like 9 times in Lost Bastille?

That's only in Scholar of Fisting; base game didn't have him at that location at all. Tho I do like that he comes pre buffed and so you can see some of his fancy spells.

Wait til you do the DLCs, they easily outclass the rest of the game by 2x if not more.

 

[Ivan]

HYPED!

Hardest boss by far (so far)

 

[Gozma]

NG+1 Darklurker the first time drove me insane

Replayed later and rapiered the shit out of him and thought old playthrough me was retarded

 

[Murk]

here how to be victory

equip +5 black witch set, +5 chaos set, or even +5 hexer set; cast great magic barrier

face tank everything

or conversely

Spoiler

get gud

edit: Hahahahah donglake sword <3

 

[Ivan]

How did you...oh. Ya man, Draeglaic is my baby.

My weapon progression (cuz I never found the gud smiths)

Scimitar>Halberd>Dranglec=Poison Katana I found. I kill all magic users. Need to get more Effigies.



Met the smiths. Unlocking the bird smith was retarded. How were you expected to know that that particular monster held the Fang key? Anyyyyyyyyyyyway, got myself the Crved Dragon Greatsword. Time to rape me some Darklurkers

 

[Murk]

Well, the game is about exploration... you'd try stuff you haven't -- and reviving that seemingly 'pointless' monster rewards you.

Anyway, Cadmus did you kill smelter on some caster? Cuz if so, I think I helped you. I helped a char named Cadmus anyway.

 

[Ivan]

RAPING SPREE:

Spoiler

Got back to back invaded, I think they were From made. Intense fight. Now, where were we?

 

[Cadmus]

Well, the game is about exploration... you'd try stuff you haven't -- and reviving that seemingly 'pointless' monster rewards you.

Anyway, Cadmus did you kill smelter on some caster? Cuz if so, I think I helped you. I helped a char named Cadmus anyway.

no, sorry, probably some evil impostor

 

[Murk]

The blue was an actual person, Jester Thomas on the other hand is an NPC (the one that will solo Mytha for you)

get le trole'd xDDD

 

[Lucky]

Love the design of that place, pretty much my favourite one of the three DLC. Really makes you properly feel like an adventurer delving into an ancient place filled with treasure and danger.

I had fun straight up ignoring the jester the first time while looking for a bonefire, running out and nearly getting flattened by the froggies.


Can't say that I liked Darklurker, though. The camera still isn't really suited to dual-bosses and he isn't interesting in the way that O&S were - just spam attacks. There's also no real build-up to the fight and his design felt a bit uninspired, though I did like him having multiple arms. It did provide for a good moment when it caught me completely off-guard the first time I fought it. Just jumping into a hole like normal and suddenly boss fight.

 

[Murk]

The real key is to not lock on to Dark Lurker (or any multi character boss, really).

It makes seeing "the whole thing" much easier and removes a lot of the issues of the camera completely fucking you when the boss jumps to another part forcing your directions to reverse/change.

 

[Lucky]

Yeah, that’s how I beat him too, but it feels like the controls aren't designed with that playstyle in mind. Not twitchy enough. Fighting him just isn’t as fun as the O&S fight with how they have different move sets, size, speed and power. Once you get a grip on how their attacks work you get to see the interplay between them that makes things exciting - areas that they're strong in and areas that you can exploit. It keeps things more dynamic. The Darklurker copy is identical in every way, so the only thing that changes is that there are more attacks and that they can come from different directions. Effective, but sort of boring. You just wait for the spell spam to end and then stick to his back or dodge under his swing while keeping an eye out for whether the other is casting. The only real danger is when you get stuck getting bombarded without room to escape. I guess you could say that him copying is what makes him unique, but it just didn't feel memorable in a fun way.

 

[Ivan]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Can't run away from poison, son.

Spoiler

It's so beautiful.

Sunken King was awesome. 1 great boss fight, so so dragon.

Old Iron King is perfect so far. Awesome looping level, good shortcuts.

 

[Ivan]

Wrapping up Old Iron King


This is best Souls experience I've enjoyed in all 3 games. If the original campaign was this well designed, it would have been the best Souls game to date.

I loooooooooooooooooooooooved the Fume Knight. My favorite boss in the series so far.

Spoiler

http://images.akamai.steamuserconte...248/28C25DB0F49804F7FF70AA9E90675F5071EDE0E0/

Had to keep him away from the fire spirit lest he recovered health. I think I got him without aggroing him to his kaioken form.

Is Ivory King as good as this, bros?

A new challenger has appeared:

 

[Murk]

I would say that Iron King wins in terms of level traversing/bosses, Sunken king wins in terms of atmosphere and cohesiveness of the area (veryyy nice feel to just going through Shulva and the Sanctum), and Ivory King wins on sheer scope. It has a gimmick like the other DLCs, but the gimmick is vastly different.

In terms of boss fights, it won't match up to Fume or Alonne, but it has it's own interesting qualities in sheer scope (huge feeling area, very open and outdoorsy) and visually it's unlike the other areas as well -- all snow and cold.

IMO iron king is better, but Ivory king is still _good_.

And I personally really like the last boss fight for Ivory King, tho many others quickly became upset at it's atypical design. I won't say much more about it because it's actually very cool on the first time you see it. I'll just give you a hint tho, leave the boss until you completely clear the area so you get the full experience.

Fume is probably one of if not THE best boss in DS 2. Tho Sinh feels epic as all fuck when you fight it.

Lucky I don't think Dark Lurker was ever meant to be on par with O+S, and to be honest I don't think from would be able to remake a fight as good as O+S in part because of how unique that fight is. Even a straight recreation of it would fail to live up to the hype. I view Darklurker as a very atypical boss in that it's all elemental (of every element, basically) and that it forces you to rethink your play style when it splits. There's RNG involved, but I've had plenty of fights when upon splitting I had basically 0 windows to attack it because they were complementing each other by spamming spells and lunging with the soul-sword.

Anyway, that fight to me was a puzzle fight, and once you realize how the elemental resistance works it becomes a cake walk. Something I still like to see, because it means there's actual R in this aRPG.

 

[Lucky]

I ended up having the same thing happen. I two-handed my Guts sword and chopped him to bits before could switch styles. For some reason killing him quickly doesn't trigger his fire mode. There's also a nice little detail that you probably missed in that he immediately goes rage mode if you wear Veldstads gear when entering the area. Alonne is also awesome, though the trip to him can get really annoying.

I personally rate them in the order of Sunken King (best design), Ivory King (good at everything) and last Iron King (Fume Knight is best knight). Ivory King does feel like the most climactic of the three and it looks gorgeous. It also strives towards having more of a grand atmosphere, in contrast to how Iron and Sunken are fairly restrained in their scope. Fantastic final boss too, though in a very different way than the Iron King or Sunken King bosses. That's part of what makes the DLC so great, each part does its own thing. It still frustrates me that the development team wasted so much time when making Dark Souls 2 and was never able to apply the same amount of polish to the main game.

Iron King weapon spoiler:

Spoiler

If you like using greatswords consider trading in the Fume Knight soul for the weapon that you get. Beastly weapon that's best when you two-hand it. There's pretty much not a single regular sized enemy that it can't poise break with the R2.

Lucky I don't think Dark Lurker was ever meant to be on par with O+S, and to be honest I don't think from would be able to remake a fight as good as O+S in part because of how unique that fight is. Even a straight recreation of it would fail to live up to the hype. I view Darklurker as a very atypical boss in that it's all elemental (of every element, basically) and that it forces you to rethink your play style when it splits. There's RNG involved, but I've had plenty of fights when upon splitting I had basically 0 windows to attack it because they were complementing each other by spamming spells and lunging with the soul-sword.

Anyway, that fight to me was a puzzle fight, and once you realize how the elemental resistance works it becomes a cake walk. Something I still like to see, because it means there's actual R in this aRPG.

Sadly not. The Throne guards are way less memorable and the Gargoyles are a completely different kind of fight.

Spoiler

Getting jumped by two Pursuers made for a nice OH SHIT moment in NG+ though.

My disappointment with Darklurker is partly due to that I fought him as my final 'normal' boss, because I never bothered to finish the quest until I was tying up loose ends before jumping into the DLC. He feels more like mid-game boss in terms of pattern design, while his attack power and the strength of the chasm spirits suggests that he's late game material. I wouldn't have minded a boss like that as much if he wasn't supposed to be the capstone on a questline. A boss that you mainly have to figure out is a mini-boss, not the real deal.

Then the DLC came along and Fume Knight beat the disappointment out of me, before I ran him through with my appreciation.

 

[Murk]

It's just the Velstadt helm, but yeah. It's a nice little treat.

BTW, make sure to play the full game in NG+ -- DS 2, more so than DS 1 or Demons Souls has a lot of nice touches and changes throughout the game for NG+1. The only downside is if you start off with upgraded gear it makes a lot of stuff very easy. Not a bad idea to test out weapons you haven't yet -- I'd especially suggest power stancing some of the DLC weapons, they tend to have unique powerstance moves (majestic GS, nil curved sword, sorcerer's twinblade, etc.)

Dark lurker has punked many people as an end game boss, you do have to keep in mind that if you go in well prepared it's gonna be easy no matter what. I often have more difficulty on mid game bosses than I do on end game bosses if only because I tend to move quickly and so often I am under levelled and under geared for the mid game bosses. That's not to say they're any real challenge, but that I do less damage and have less health, etc.

Tho at this point every char I make is a twink, and so I'm working with gimped stats that I overload into ADP (need that agi).

Personally, one of my favorite boss fights still is Gank Squad in the Sunken King DLC. It's completely atypical, a trolly humorous nod to the silly builds people use, and is also completely unfair -- forcing you to really think on your toes, use your environment, and to effectively outplay straight up broken mechanics.

It's also facepalmingly comical to see a full havh0le just stand and chug right in front of you.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Ivory King is the weak link of the DLCs, mostly because of that one area, aka, the virtual personification of asshole cancer. Aesthetically speaking all of it's environments are pretty bland but they're laid out well enough and the final boss is pretty awesome. Plus it contains a few truly kick ass weapons. It's a good time, I just don't think it's on par with the other two DLCs which are pure fucking excellence from start to finish, gank squad included.

 

[Murk]

That one area was especially disappointing to me given that the premise for it could have made for some excellent one-time-adventuring. It's the kind of thing that would lose its charm the second time around, but if done even remotely well, could have been a very enjoyable romp unlike any other souls game area. It's huge, it's intimidating, it's confusing, and has a nice gimmick.

Then, the rape.

Had they simply created some means of control/avoidance of the issue, or instead made the enemies vaguely more normal/fair, I'd be okay with it... instead we have strange attack timing, bat shit attack animation, and outright ridiculous damage output. It's very much a sucker punch and one that leaves no real room to enjoy as you get 'better' at it. Hell, just removing the offending monster type altogether would have made that section twice as good (albeit a bit dull). Replacing them with decent enemies would have easily made it an enjoyable but somewhat time consuming task.

The boss at the end tho is oddly fair in its own way. It's a pain to fight, but unlike every other 'multi boss' situation, the two cannot clip through one another, and it very quickly becomes a battle of control and positioning -- using one enemy to hold off the other. I also think it's got a great "lol fuku" moment when the battle goes into phase 3.

 

[Ivan]

What are you guys talking about? I just finished the Ivory King. I liked it. It certainly puts what I liked about Iron King in perspective. I liked the verticality in Iron, the claustrophobia in Sunken, and the cold isolation of Ivory. I beat the boss on my first try, I had the four knights with me so it wasn't too bad. One of them even made it with me when the boss made his cool entrance.

However, Ivory features the strongest phantoms, and I mean that figuratively. The sneaky dude was hilarious, the caster next to the giant knight was a fun tug of war. Bosses were ok, usually with Dragons or Dogs I just hug the hind leg, and free aim away.

Spoiler

Last order of business: Sir Alonne. I get him to half health but the guy never gives me a second to heal. He dashes across the stage like Artorias and wipes me out.

 

[Ivan]

one of the Greatest Boss Fight Ever up there with Senator Armstrong


The Ordeal:

Spoiler

still had the shitty shield with me, instead of the stamina inc one. used the Drakeblood set (my fav)

pressure rises, nerves kick in, mistakes occur

a most compromising position

yeah, not gonna make it through this one

That one really hurt cuz I knew I had him. I got so giddy that I decided to just wail away at him, horrible decision but ultimately a humbling one

With sweaty palms and a racing heart, I dodged his swipes, I attacked with one swipe at a time. In due time, I persevered with minimal damage taken.

The feeling of besting a master washed over me, the pathos. RIP Sir Alonne, you are a legend