From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[praetor]

He has a point. "Insectaur" is a pretty unusual and highly specific thingamajig. In my whole life, I can remember seeing one in the commercials for those terrible Scorpion King movies, the drow goddess Lolth in Dungeons & Dragons, and also Quelaag in the first Dark Souls.

he doesn't have a point at all. the similarity ends at "they're both aesthetically female insectaurs". that's it. they're completely different fights. because, as i already said, if you say that one is "a shameless clone" of the other just because they're the same "race", then you might as well say that every dragon fight in every Souls game post DeS is a Dragon God clone, ignoring the fact they're completely different fights (and that BoC is a shameless DG clone despite looking completely different). it's a spectacularly stupid line of thought

 

[Blaine]

You both have a point, but I'm afraid this level of autism (arguing about video game monster-women) is above my paygrade.

 

[Blaine]

The Lost Sinner being a great soul came as a total shock, I cleaned that guy's clock no sweat... what the Hell?

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, the Great Souls are pretty easy.

Iron King is just another one of those spectacle fights. The instant death pits and his wide sweeping attacks reminded me of Bed of Chaos
Lost Sinner is pretty simple. Just dodge and attack. In NG+ she's an absolute bitch though because of course they put 2 black phantoms in with her
The worst part of Freja is if you use a swinging attack it sometimes hits the armor plating around her head. Other than that not too hard. Her ads are advoidable as long as you keep moving
Rotten is just another big dumb slow boss.

 

[sullynathan]

Yet another lovely design decision made specifically with Sorcerers not in mind: agile phantoms who can't be targeted. I reached the next bonfire and realized that this area, too, is full of untargetable sons of bitches. Back to meleeing everything, and it's hard as shit to completely avoid their damage since you can't target them, can't see what they're doing very well, and they'll guard break instantaneously given even the slightest chance. Also, they have good Poise compared to many fodder enemies. Fortunately, it's not too bad. Usually they can stick me once or twice before I finish them off.

area is one of the worst in the game with a shameless Quelaag clone, it's not a place I like going to when I play souls 2. Good thing is that there is a way to make the soldiers not invisible but that comes after you've passed that area.

how the flying fuck is she a Quelaag clone? because she's half-woman half-insect, despite playing completely different? it's as stupid as saying Sinh (or Midir or Kalameet) is a Dragon God clone because they're both dragons

I could say humans breathe air and you'd still doubt me. Stop asking me stupid questions.

 

[Hyperion]

I cleaned that girl's clock no sweat

FTFY.

Hard to believe, but LS is a woman. Hinted at being a Witch.

On NG, definitely one of the bosses I didn't understand the rage for. NG+ is a whole 'nother story...

 

[Gentle Player]

The visual design for Quelaag actually comes from King's Field III. It's the same with Mytha. In terms of aesthetics, Scorpioness Najka is actually more original than the Quelaag of Dark Souls 1.

 

[sullynathan]

The Lost Sinner being a great soul came as a total shock, I cleaned that guy's clock no sweat... what the Hell?

you know sometimes I think about the story of these games and I wonder how a humanoid like the lost sinner got its hands on a great soul and still managed to be imprisoned.

 

[Hyperion]

She imprisoned herself.

 

[sullynathan]

then you might as well say that every dragon fight in every Souls game post DeS is a Dragon God clone

This is retarded. The dragon boss is a linear "puzzle" boss, Sinh and Kalameet have to actually be fought. Another reason Demon's souls has the worst bosses in this series

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, Dragon God is more like Bed of Chaos. Nothing like Sinh or Kalameet.

 

[Blaine]

I pumped my Stamina to 120 and my Agility to 99 (haven't respecced yet), and hey-oooooh, wouldn't you know it? The game is now a cakewalk. I trashed the Ruin Sentinels on my first retry with 0 spells used and hardly took a scratch. The scorpion woman we're arguing about was just like the snake woman, easy and forgettable.

Funny thing, when I did the Old Iron Lord fight, it went so beautifully the first time through: I nuked down 25% of his HP while he approached, gracefully dodged absolutely every attack taking no damage at all, and carefully but quickly smacked his arms and face until he was down to 25% HP.

Then he did the two-arm slam, and I didn't move far enough away quickly enough. I died instantly.

The second fight was much messier and dirtier, and I took more hits, but I did win, and dodged his fire beam every time to boot.

 

[Gentle Player]

Re: Quelaag "Dark Souls 1 original design don't steal"

The "spider-woman" design was also present in From Software's Shadow Tower (1999), I've just discovered my own screenshots of it:

Spoiler

I remember that the King's Field III (1996) spider-woman looked much more like Quelaag, but unfortunately I don't have a screen to share.

 

[Hyperion]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorōgumo
http://yokai.wikia.com/wiki/Jorōgumo

All of which are taken from the Jorogumo from Japanese folklore.

 

[praetor]

Yet another lovely design decision made specifically with Sorcerers not in mind: agile phantoms who can't be targeted. I reached the next bonfire and realized that this area, too, is full of untargetable sons of bitches. Back to meleeing everything, and it's hard as shit to completely avoid their damage since you can't target them, can't see what they're doing very well, and they'll guard break instantaneously given even the slightest chance. Also, they have good Poise compared to many fodder enemies. Fortunately, it's not too bad. Usually they can stick me once or twice before I finish them off.

area is one of the worst in the game with a shameless Quelaag clone, it's not a place I like going to when I play souls 2. Good thing is that there is a way to make the soldiers not invisible but that comes after you've passed that area.

how the flying fuck is she a Quelaag clone? because she's half-woman half-insect, despite playing completely different? it's as stupid as saying Sinh (or Midir or Kalameet) is a Dragon God clone because they're both dragons

I could say humans breathe air and you'd still doubt me. Stop asking me stupid questions.

you can say whatever you want, it would still be monumentally retarded. as evidenced by this post of yours, where instead of explaining how 2 bosses that fight nothing alike are "a shameless clone", when the only thing in common is the gender and the "race", you completely avoid it. but you'd have to actually be intelligent to answer that question (well, if you actually were intelligent, you'd not have uttered such nonsense)

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

The only thing that makes Nadja like Quelaag is that she has a bug body. Other than that there aren't many similarities. Her moveset is completely different.

 

[Blaine]

This is now a multi-day argument about video game monster women. There are no winners here.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Nuh uh. Vidja gaymes are srs bisnis.

 

[Fabulous Muscles]

Najka is hotter than Quelaag imo

e: Also neither spiders nor scorpions are insect, you idiots

 

[Blaine]

e: Also neither spiders nor scorpions are insect, you idiots

Yes, it's true. They're arachnids. Also, granddaddy longlegs are harvesters, not spiders.

Fuck off, you pedantic piece of shit.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Ok, the Ivory King prefight is bullshit.
Not the Ivory King himself, he's a cool guy.
The fact that I have to fight his private army every fucking time while having relying on the stupid fucking AI to do its job and seal the portals is bullshit.
Seriously, what is the trigger? It can't be time, because I kite the charred knights around for ages and nothing happens. It can't be kills, because sometimes the AI does it before the Ivory King, and sometimes it waits for him to appear before sealing the portal, at which point I have to deal with the king and a fireball fucker. Its just so inconsistent.
Let me fight the cool ass boss, you fucks.

 

[cvv]

Ok, the Ivory King prefight is bullshit.
Not the Ivory King himself, he's a cool guy.
The fact that I have to fight his private army every fucking time while having relying on the stupid fucking AI to do its job and seal the portals is bullshit.

I absolutely loathe this fight, or the first part. Can't stand that stupid BS with the knights. Even if you have all four followers, they're retarded, do hardly any damage and there's constantly two or more mobs on my dick, plus a pyro blasting me from afar. Fuck that fight.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, the aggro is ridiculous. You'll always get at least two charred knights on you, and the AI is so weak that if you let them fight for too long they'll either die or be too weak to distract the king for any stretch of time.
Was DS2 designed by Interns or something, because there are some real shitty design decisions.

 

[Blaine]

Yeah, well, I made the mistake of taking an NPC phantom into the Undead Crypt.

Got a whole lot of souls, once I retrieved them from my bloodstain.

 

[Blaine]

I heard that while DS2 was in development, they considered bonuses for two-handing staves and some other neat mechanics, but they decided that that was too OP.

Real shame, since a lot of these large staves look extremely goofy held in one hand. It would be neat if you could use L2 to aim while two-handing a staff, or if you could deflect spells as is the case with the Cleric's Parma and Golden Wing Shield. You can do that anyway by simply one-handing the staff and equipping the shield.

As-is, it's a pure downgrade not to use a shield with your staff unless you're extremely tight on weight allowance.