From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[toro]

Watched a lot of DaS and DaS2 on twitch.tv and I've started to have the impression that the majority of DaS/DaS2 streamers are shit.

It seems that streaming has attracted a special kind of people ... attention whores. Maybe not all of them are like this but I would estimate that 90% are suffering from some psychological disorder.

A lot of the pvp streamers are twinking and healing and obviously they are very successful thanks to the retarded SM invasion mechanic. Some of them have pvp builds which they cannot really explain (I saw a couple of them pretending to know what they are doing).

But most of all, I'm enraged by the imbeciles summoning like 3 or 4 phantoms/shades to fight a boss. Most bosses and especially Fume and Sir Alonne deserve better than this.

 

[Ivan]

I agree. I don't mind helping others (for souls) but when it comes to my campaign, soloing bosses ought to be the way to go.

Also, glamour duels:

 

[chobbes]

Not sure if already well-known, but here is a fairly efficient way of farming Awestones and Dragon Scales concurrently.

What You Need :
chaos storm, firestorm, 99x wilted herbs, 99x rusted coin, dark pyro flame +10, CBR +2, gold serpent ring +2, watchdragon parma, jester's cap, prisoner's hood, prisoner's tatters

Procedure :
Join COC (for unlimited respawns)
Go to Dragon Shrine
Run all the way to the giant staircase (ignore all other dragon knights you encounter)
Aggro any of the dragon knights on the staircase with an arrow
The whole bunch of them will start to move towards you
Run back to the door with the narrow tunnel.
Close the door (the door leading to the knights, not the door leading to the tunnel)
Wait until all the Knights are clumped outside the door (they won't open the door but you can see their weapons sticking inside the door)
Cast firestorm or chaostorm near the closed door, eat herbs as required
Collect shiny objects on the floor when the carnage clears
Repeat infinitely as required


The black dragon knights have a rare chance to drop either awestones or dragon scales when you join the COC covenant.

 

[toro]

 

[chobbes]

If I keep my Fragrant Branches of Yore in the storage box, then progress on to NG Plus, will it remain in the box?

Has anyone tried this out?

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

Nope. All branches are removed.

 

[Makabb]

Still i like dark souls more than bloodborne because muh shield.

 

[Talby]

Shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity.

 

[Seari]

Shields are for pussies.

 

[chobbes]

Nothing beats splatting DLC enemies with a +5 Demon's Great Hammer.
This has to be the melee equivalent of flinging Great Lightning Spears in terms of satisfaction.

Maybe I should try powerstance +5 Demon's Great Hammers x 2 + Lightning Resin / Sunlight Blade + Sacred Oath + Torchbug + RobFlynn ... hmm

 

[Lhynn]

Was wondering if this review was already on the thread, but im not gonna go look for it.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Was wondering if this review was already on the thread, but im not gonna go look for it.

Yes, it was posted a couple of times before. Even I posted it.

There's a lot of points that are very debatable on this video, and a lot of them are the same in other Souls games. But looks like people like trashing Dark souls 2 under the flag that the game wasn't directed by Muhazki.

The first point of the video, for example: The critic of the intro and the player's identity is flawed. The woman who appears in the intro could be the mother of the player as well, one of the most important memory in the majority of humans, and the player being a male in the first 5 minutes of the game have it's explanation in the fact that the character lost all the humanity. The player's character doesn't remember if he is a male or not. The Player's character doesn't remember nothing. Player's character remembers who is when the old women give to us an human efigy, which provides humanity.

IMO the only thing useful you can take about the general criticism of Dark souls 2 are the hitboxes critic and the level consistency critic (That volcano behind a windmill when the mountain is far away). The rest is butthurt and "Dark souls is better".

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

The video is not loading for me but I assume it's Matthewmatosis shit? Level design is the only thing he's right about. Using "boring" as a valid point of criticism is gr8 too.

>bandit starting class
>85 AGL
>shit at dodging attacks
MUHHH HITBOXES MUHZAKI WOULD NEVER

 

[Lhynn]

Ah i see. havent played the game. Was wondering if he was correct as some dudes were comparing him to mrbtongue and bunnyhop and i usually like those two.

 

[nomask7]

Ah i see. havent played the game. Was wondering if he was correct as some dudes were comparing him to mrbtongue and bunnyhop and i usually like those two.

There was a poll about DS2 vs. DaS:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/dark-souls-ii-poll.97592/

Many people thought DS2 was a great game, and I've joined their ranks.

 

[pakoito]

It was worse because the PvE is worse and barely holds together. Now, for PvP it probably is the best choice. Kind of a KoF 97 vs KoF 98 thing.

 

[Night Goat]

I'm on my first playthrough now. Is magic worth investing in? Miracles have been recommended in shoutbox (though I heard they got nerfed hard), but what about the other types?

 

[Caim]

I'm on my first playthrough now. Is magic worth investing in? Miracles have been recommended in shoutbox (though I heard they got nerfed hard), but what about the other types?

Not really. Utility magic had its uses in Dark Souls 1, but here you don't really need it here. In Dark Souls 2 you get more uses out of your spells, but to get the maxium out of them you need like level 94 Intelligence/Faith, which is not practical at all.

 

[pakoito]

I started with an Int character and respecced late into the game because the damage output was laughable with 80+ INT even after farming Crystal Soul Spears.

 

[Jaedar]

Lightning spears are super strong (get headshots for maximum effect). Dark magic is ok too, but requires heavy stat investment. Don't bother with sorcery.

 

[Caconym]

I started with an Int character and respecced late into the game because the damage output was laughable with 80+ INT even after farming Crystal Soul Spears.

In my experience, having and using a magic stat-scaling weapon alongside your catalyst makes for a much more fun gameplay than pew-pewing magic exclusively.

 

[praetor]

as others have said, pre-nerf Miracles in vanilla were easy-mode. now they make a bit more sense with the nerfed damage and number of casts, but are still relatively powerful and found relatively easily and early, as are some of the better chimes to cast them (the best ones are end-game, but the ones you have early on are pretty much the next best thing)

don't listen to the haters, sorceries are good, but pretty fucking boring since 80-90% of the time you'll be using the same arrow/spear over and over again as the cooler spells are rather situational and others were nerfed to oblivion. yeah, they have some utility spells, but other than chameleon they're 100% useless (and i guess yearn if you don't want to buy alluring skulls)

hexes are probably the best for pure damage, but again you'll be spamming the same thing over and over again (Dark Orb. considering the stat reqs, amount of casts, damage and availability, it's easily the best projectile spell in the game. by veeery faaar). just be prepared to invest heavily into all 3 spellcasting stats, leaving little room for other stuff (aim for 50/30/30 att/int/fth at least)... although that means you'll have access to quite a few powerful miracles and sorceries (particularly if you farm for spices), and pyromancies

speaking of pyros, they da best. most fun to use, have some versatility and variety and are decently powerful and only really require Attunement (but will be even better if you invest something in int+fth)

 

[pakoito]

In my experience, having and using a magic stat-scaling weapon alongside your catalyst makes for a much more fun gameplay than pew-pewing magic exclusively.

Until they nerfed it. Bottomline, why TF are you building a mage if your damage output is lower than literally any other build and utilities are worthless.

 

[Night Goat]

So what weapons do you guys like best? I've had the most success with Greatsword, but I'm looking to diversify my portfolio.

 

[Urbanolo]

Is vanilla DS2 multiplayer still alive? I've been a hardcore PvPer since launch till January 2015, but since I'm bored I was thinking about jumping right back into the game. Not going to buy SotFS though.