From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Hyperion]

Forgot Magerold.

Edit: Maughlin's black?

 

[Blaine]

Forgot Magerold.

Nah, I was editing as I filled it in. I remembered Magerold.

Edit: Maughlin's black?

Well, he sure as shit ain't white.

I'm pretty sure Straid is black too, although since he's wearing a black robe in a very dark room, it's hard to tell.

 

[Timeslip]

Yeah, it's 1 point of physical damage mitigated per 10 points of armor. With fully-upgraded Havel's, Ring of Steel Protection +2, and very high stats, you're looking at physical attacks being reduced by approximately 105 points of Strike damage, 120 points of Thrust damage, and 135 points of Slash damage.

Elemental and status defense on the other hand are percentage-based, and 900 points of spell defense (you start with an unseen base of 100 in addition to what's shown) is enough to almost completely negate damage. It caps at 99% reduction or something in SotFS, but used to negate entirely.

Ah, ok. That's pretty poor for Havel's. Was armour more effective in DS1 or did they use same formulas?

Yeah, armor should have also been percentage base. Flat reduction is pointless if the attack deals like 1000 damage.

Was thinking exactly the same thing.

It has a thrust attack when two handed, which is the best way to use it anyway.

Yeah, but then I can't cower behind a shield

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

By the way where does the fatso that buys items from no man's wharf move to?

Earthen Peak, then he'll disappear and remain at Doors of Pharros.

Speaking of merchants, this game has too damn many to keep track of. Try naming them all from memory and I guarantee you'll forget at least three.

Here, I'll try (list in progress):

Spoiler

Gavlan
Shalquoir
Petrified pyro lady
Calli-whatever sorceries guy
Hollow blacksmith dude
McDuff
Crazy stone collector woman
Maughlin the Negro
Merchant Hag Melentia
Laddersmith Gilligan
Homicidal scarecrow midget
Rat King
Darkdiver Grandahl
Hermit hex guy sitting in a dark corner
Straid of Olphais
Targray the Blue
Ornifex
Licia of Lindelt
Magerold of Lanafir
Blue gravekeeper guy who's allergic to light
Chancellor Wellager
Royal Sorcerer Navlaan

I'm sure I forgot at least one or two, and probably three.

Harvest Valley, actually. He's in that cave past the first poison fart gas area.
Its not as if there aren't a bunch of merchants in DS1 either.

You got -

Undead Merchant
Moss Merchant
Ingward
Andre
Giant Blacksmith
Vamos
Magic Black smith (rickart, wasn't it?)
Crestfallen Merchant
Elizabeth
Dusk
Chester
Gough
Petrus
Patches
Rhea
Laurentius
Griggs
Logan
Eigy
Quelaana
Dornhall of Zena
Evil Samurai Dude who's name I forgot
Oswald of Carim

 

[Multidirectional]

It has a thrust attack when two handed, which is the best way to use it anyway.

Yeah, but then I can't cower behind a shield

Good. Dark Souls II is easy enough without a shield.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Shields are useless by the time you get to the DLC. Unless you are using a greatshield (and even then I wouldn't bet on it), then chances are every boss attack will drain your stamina, and they attack so often you won't ever be able to counter attack.

 

[Blaine]

Shields are fine versus the vast majority of normal enemies in Sunken King and Ivory King, provided you have a good deal of Stamina and a relatively high-stability standard shield. They're largely unnecessary though, since it's easy to roll and get 2H insta-backstabs on those enemies. Some of the Ivory King enemies have horseshit cheat moves, like the ice impale that simply goes through shields because fuck you, but those too are easy to sidestep/roll and backstab.

It's only once you hit Old Iron King that non-boss mooks start dealing retarded Stamina damage to anything that isn't a greatshield.

As for bosses though, yeah lately I always 2H a gigantic lump of metal or something because ONLY ONE PLAYSTYLE IS ALLOWED, BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE ANY OF THE OTHER PLAYSTYLES CHALLENGING, ONLY HOW TO RENDER THEM USELESS AND UNVIABLE.

 

[Blaine]

praetor Fuck off, retard. I'm starting to believe you've never actually played a Dark Souls game at this rate. Do you just read the Wiki and watch YouTube videos?

DS2's "game mechanics identity crisis" is pretty bad, as the blanket 70% all-elements resistance From added to the DLC enemies clearly shows, but DS3 is probably the worst of the lot. Nonexistent poise, pointless heavy armor, near-pointless shields, magic nerfed to near-uselessness and only becomes marginally useful when utterly min-maxed with a full complement of rings and fully-upgraded endgame staff, the list goes on.

The franchise should be called Stark Rolls at this point, because your best bet is to get naked and roll everywhere. This is objective fact and you are objectively a moron for failing to recognize the blatantly obvious. There's no need to defend FromSoftware from meanies like me, they aren't going to read this.

 

[Orma]

By the way where does the fatso that buys items from no man's wharf move to?

Kony? Harvest valley and then Pharros gates

 

[Orma]

Shields are useless by the time you get to the DLC. Unless you are using a greatshield (and even then I wouldn't bet on it), then chances are every boss attack will drain your stamina, and they attack so often you won't ever be able to counter attack.

Greatshield worked pretty well in Sunken kang dlc for me

 

[Arnust]

praetor Fuck off, retard. I'm starting to believe you've never actually played a Dark Souls game at this rate. Do you just read the Wiki and watch YouTube videos?

DS2's "game mechanics identity crisis" is pretty bad, as the blanket 70% all-elements resistance From added to the DLC enemies clearly shows, but DS3 is probably the worst of the lot. Nonexistent poise, pointless heavy armor, near-pointless shields, magic nerfed to near-uselessness and only becomes marginally useful when utterly min-maxed with a full complement of rings and fully-upgraded endgame staff, the list goes on.

The franchise should be called Stark Rolls at this point, because your best bet is to get naked and roll everywhere. This is objective fact and you are objectively a moron for failing to recognize the blatantly obvious. There's no need to defend FromSoftware from meanies like me, they aren't going to read this.

13 rolls

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Fred Durst's Bizarre Adventure.
Seriously, they needed to nerf rolls, not shields. I liked that you actually needed a stat investment in order to get good rolls, but that just makes it a stat you need to level up first, like endurance in DS1.

 

[Blaine]

This is the entire game now. Just roll and backstab. The shield is there mainly so that I don't feel I wasted 15 dragon cocks upgrading it or whatever it was.

Summoned Masterless Glencour on a lark, he was nowhere to be seen after the first minute or so.

Sinh fight was pretty cool and varied yesterday, except that I was in no way prepared for my weapons to break constantly. Went through 2 1/2 weapons before finally finishing him off.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, Sinh appears to have a hidden trait where weapons break faster than usual. That took me by surprise too.
I had to run away from him to switch to the thorned greatsword.
Fortunately I had that dragon bro NPC distracting him.

I should really fight him solo sometime. Maybe with my new nascent pyromancer character.

 

[Blaine]

Yeah dude, pyromancy will be great versus a dragon with fuckhuge fire and poison resist.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Well, obviously I won't be using pyro against him.
I don't like pure casters. I played something of a pure caster in DS1, and it was boring. Most boss fights were trivialized with magic, even ones you'd think would be magic proof, like Manus and Seathe.

I just need to work out what weapon to use. I tried the halberd for a bit, and its a nice weapon, buts its pretty slow and you have to be a certain distance away to get the most of it.
I'm using a fire longsword now, and it somehow deals as much damage as I normally inflict with the halberd, its faster and I can get a good combo off.
Dunno if I should go minimal stats, 40/40, strength or dex.

 

[Arnust]

Just go FTH/STR hybrid if you haven't! Making a Paladin is actually a fun experience here. You don't even have to go with the meta setup, and getting the Sunlight Spear from the covenant is really up to you, and you'll need anyway if you want the archievements.

 

[Hyperion]

This is the entire game now. Just roll and backstab.

Sounds like you need to give Nioh a shot. Heavy Armor shits all over Light, and Blocking is a legitimate strategy for a large number of attacks.

Damage Reduction is a mix of both flat prevention, increased by higher level armor, and percentage, which is much higher with heavy armor. And it's extremely noticeable, especially if you stack armor increasing effects.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Just go FTH/STR hybrid if you haven't! Making a Paladin is actually a fun experience here. You don't even have to go with the meta setup, and getting the Sunlight Spear from the covenant is really up to you, and you'll need anyway if you want the archievements.

But that's a miracle build though, isn't it? I was thinking pyro / hexes.

 

[Arnust]

Just go FTH/STR hybrid if you haven't! Making a Paladin is actually a fun experience here. You don't even have to go with the meta setup, and getting the Sunlight Spear from the covenant is really up to you, and you'll need anyway if you want the archievements.

But that's a miracle build though, isn't it? I was thinking pyro / hexes.

Hexes are kind of boring and Pyromancy is best served as a secondary thing.
Both do scale on INT/FTH so pick your flavor. Hybrids for both are viable of course, for hexes not so much unless you're in high SL and such.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Hm, maybe I should go miracle. It will take some levels though; I started as a swordsman this time, so my str stat is pretty low.
It's odd though, because when I tried leveling my int past 8 (both int was at 8 and faith was at 7) I didn't get any more fire bonus, but when I leveled faith up to 8 I did get the bonus.
Is the calculation different in the original or something?

 

[Arnust]

Hm, maybe I should go miracle. It will take some levels though; I started as a swordsman this time, so my str stat is pretty low.

Respeccing, my man! Another reason why I said Miracle (Lightning, rather) is because it's arguably the most useful and effective element. The things that it underperformed to is versus the... Throne Defender and the Congregation. Also the DLC mobs have extra elemental resistance, but that's with everything. Meanwhile, it deals normal or extra damage to everything else. It's like the "Blunt" damage type for casters.

 

[Blaine]

Sounds like you need to give Nioh a shot. Heavy Armor shits all over Light, and Blocking is a legitimate strategy for a large number of attacks.

Damage Reduction is a mix of both flat prevention, increased by higher level armor, and percentage, which is much higher with heavy armor. And it's extremely noticeable, especially if you stack armor increasing effects.

Not really an option, as I don't have a PS4 yet and don't plan on getting one until I can get a good one real cheap. I'm playing on PC.

Dragon's Dogma covered multiple roles extremely well. The mechanics are designed around the player having two complementary pawns with him. Basic vocations: a well-rounded hardy defensive Fighter with a shield; an agile Strider with daggers and a bow (who can specialize in climbing large enemies to stab weak spots and deal damage from range); and the Mage, a generalized magic-user with offensive, buff, healing, and utility spells. Specialized vocations: Warrior, a less-defensive, offense oriented version of Fighter; Ranger, a more ranged-focused version of Strider; and Sorcerer, which gives up healing and some utility for damage and debuff specialization. Hybrid vocations (player only): Magic Knight, your classic spellblade class; Mystic Archer, the ranged version of this; and Assassin, a powerful combination of Fighter and Strider, with some drawbacks.

It worked really, really well. It's just a shame the Souls games don't have much room for genuine build diversity. In DS2, the DLCs basically guarantee

 

[Hyperion]

Dragon's Dogma is my biggest sore spot, as it's my favorite game of the last 10 years, sold well globally, and Capcom refuses to give us the MMO and / or a fucking sequel. I'm probably in the minority, but I think it completely obliterates the Souls series in gameplay for the exact reasons you stated, while Dark Arisen matches them in terms of atmosphere. Personally, I liked heavy armor in Dark Souls 1, but the PvP crowd fucked it all up. Once From started balancing everything around PvP, build diversity went down the shitter, with Dark Souls 3 being a complete joke. It got heavy armor nerfed harder and harder in subsequent gamea, ninja flipping nerfed (kinda ridiculous, but fuck it was fun), miracles nerfed to the fucking ground in 2, Santier's Spear obliterated, the list goes on. Only Katanas went untouched.

It's tough to compare them side by side though, as DD is balanced around group gameplay, and stats play a big role. Fighters and Warriors can get their defenses up so that most attacks barely leave a scratch. If this were achievable in Souls games, the light armor, roll only crowd would throw a bitch fit for the ages. Could you IMAGINE if Souls games had Perfect Blocking where a Block would consume 0 Stamina? The PvP asshurt would be an unstoppable freight train.

I think the comparison of how unique every class felt in DD compared to builds being samey in DS is a testimony of comparing RPGs vs Action Games, with a well designed RPG always feeling more unique than being built around action / twitch skills.

 

[Blaine]

What pisses me off isn't that we didn't get the MMO, but that there's an MMO instead of a proper sequel.

Yes, I agree that muh PvP balance has had a huge effect on Dark Souls mechanics, to the series' great detriment. The focus should be on PvE and co-op first, and PvP fourth. I realize there's a raft of people who only or mainly play for the online experience, and that's great, but that raft can fuck off down the river if they expect the game to be balanced around PvP. Online is supposed to augment the primarily single-player, exploration- and difficulty-based main game, not dominate it... but there you go.

Despite all the allowances and compromises made for PvP, DS3 is routinely trashed as having the worst PvP in the series. It's widely agreed that if not for Soul Memory, DS2 would be the favorite (and probably still is, anyway). Go figure.