From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[CthuluIsSpy]

Nah, Poison was always super deadly in DS2. In DS1 it ddn't matter, but it DS2 its an actual threat.

Are you sure poison didn't change going from vanilla to sotfs ?

It was as deadly in vanilla as it is in Sotfs. I played both and in both versions poison was brutal.

 

[Silva]

PorkyThePaladin , have you tried Bloodborne yet? It has arguably the best/non-cheesing combat in the series due to being a "Thief-only" Dark Souls. I also recommend it for the setting and mood alone, which rival DS1 Lordran to me.

Also, if you saw potential in Souls combat but ended up disappointed with the final result, try FOR HONOR. No kidding, this game takes Souls concept as base and improve it in all manners possible. It has got a bad rep due to being a mess at launch, but devs fixed it and now it kicks ass. As a plus, it has a somewhat realistic vibe that will give a boner to history buffs: like a shinobi that looks more like a farmer-terrorist instead of a black pajamas magician, a highlander with a huge claymore shouting Dunmaglass! and a norse berserker that looks like a hobo on meth.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

PorkyThePaladin , have you tried Bloodborne yet? It has arguably the best/non-cheesing combat in the series due to being a "Thief-only" Dark Souls. I also recommend it for the setting and mood alone, which rival DS1 Lordran to me.

Nope, I don't really console game. I will play these either when they port them to PC or run on emulators.

Also, if you saw potential in Souls combat but ended up disappointed with the final result, try FOR HONOR. No kidding, this game takes Souls concept as base and improve it in all manners possible. It has got a bad rep due to being a mess at launch, but devs fixed it and now it kicks ass. As a plus, it has a somewhat realistic vibe that will give a boner to history buffs: like a shinobi that looks more like a farmer-terrorist instead of a black pajamas magician, a highlander with a huge claymore shouting Dunmaglass! and a norse berserker that looks like a hobo on meth.

Isn't that mostly multiplayer? I am too old for deathmatch type games.

 

[80Maxwell08]

So I started another character and decided to go for a full on spell caster after playing mostly melee characters in DS3. I'm trying to grind sunlight medals from the smelter demon for the sunlight spear just to get it out of the way. I'm amazed just how bad people still are at this level and boss. There's this one idiot that summoned me for smelter, nearly got himself killed but managed to survive while me and another phantom killed smelter. Then he summoned me again to try to run from smelter to the old iron king. I swear he's summoned me like 5 times in the past hour because he keeps dying. I tried to show him the bonfire and the way to turn off the fire but he ran past it and died to the old iron king's first attack. It's almost amazing just how bad this person is.

 

[Jigawatt]

80Maxwell08 That was where I farmed my medals as well, and exactly my experience. Obviously there's a fair amount of selection bias because the competent people just solo the boss of move on - but it still amazed me just how inept nearly everyone I helped was. Worst cases were when people were on their nth attempt and should have realised I could kill the boss myself if they would only stay alive, but despite knowing they need help to get through they gotta try to be a hero.

 

[Somberlain]

It's pretty annoying that you get sent back and won't get any reward if the host gets themselves killed when you can't usually even do anything to prevent it.

It's like the Dark Souls of co-op systems.

 

[Arnust]

You could just invade too, you'll get Medals from winning or even just showing up when a host dies, because lol fuck it

 

[ColonelTeacup]

PorkyThePaladin , have you tried Bloodborne yet? It has arguably the best/non-cheesing combat in the series due to being a "Thief-only" Dark Souls. I also recommend it for the setting and mood alone, which rival DS1 Lordran to me.

Also, if you saw potential in Souls combat but ended up disappointed with the final result, try FOR HONOR. No kidding, this game takes Souls concept as base and improve it in all manners possible. It has got a bad rep due to being a mess at launch, but devs fixed it and now it kicks ass. As a plus, it has a somewhat realistic vibe that will give a boner to history buffs: like a shinobi that looks more like a farmer-terrorist instead of a black pajamas magician, a highlander with a huge claymore shouting Dunmaglass! and a norse berserker that looks like a hobo on meth.

Bloodbornes lack of options disappointed me greatly. After coming from Dark Souls 1 & 2, I didn't expect a pittance of weapon variety, when compared to the plethora of weapon/armor options presented to you in Dark Souls.

 

[Somberlain]

Most DS weapons in the same category are functionally the same while all the weapons in Bloodborne are different

 

[Deflowerer]

It's just the armor variety that sucks.

 

[praetor]

I'd say build variety in general sucks in BB, mainly because of the limited amount of bullets, the magic consuming bullets and the lack of defensive options (this last one is understandable considering what they were going for, but still...)

 

[80Maxwell08]

So you guys remember this only afro video?

I bring this up because someone actually started the fight by buffing their weapon with either charcoal pine resin or flame weapon. The idiot actually did more damage when it wore off. Then he charged in when the smelter did its plunging attack and died from the shockwave. He later summoned me and decided to use aromatic ooze instead. This time he didn't die. Still, I've barely made any progress with sunlight medals. I think my best bet is farming falconers at this point.

 

[Primordial Ruination]

I'd say build variety in general sucks in BB, mainly because of the limited amount of bullets, the magic consuming bullets and the lack of defensive options (this last one is understandable considering what they were going for, but still...)

It's true that Bloodborne's build variety is poor, but it's not the bullets that hinder it. There's an early rune you can find to increase your capacity, and you have +5 blood bullets per vial as well. Some of the hunter tool costs were also reduced in later patches, but it was bad on release. It's namely the lack of skills to work with, including arcane being crap early on. There also weren't enough hunter tools to utilize, and this absence was further hindered by the fact that most of them (including the first offensive spells) couldn't be acquired until the middle or end of the game. This trivializes early arcane builds, forcing you to initially rely on molotovs, the flame sprayer, and elemental weapons via blood gems (which require the chalice dungeons to become effective). Arcane then appears to be a disappointing and useless stat on first playthroughs, and even when you find a tool, the damage/utility was often too poor or lackluster to make them worthwhile, especially since the offensive options required heavy arcane investment for respectable damage (eventually fixed/balanced with patches). Dark Souls 1/2/3 at least gives you sorcery and pyromancy options from the beginning, with much greater variety and utility as you progress. You can even start and finish those games with pure magic builds, which unfortunately seemed like a rushed afterthought in Bloodborne. With the arcane stat out of the way, you're left with strength, skill, and bloodtinge. Not much more to be said there.

On top of that, some of the more entertaining trick weapons can't be obtained until later in the game. A few require meta-knowledge on which NPCs to kill early on, and the burial blade/Kos parasite are locked behind the respective final bosses (not true anymore for the burial blade, thanks to early save-edited chalice dungeons). The tacked on beast and kin forms from the DLC were also good ideas, but it was a little too late to be utilized properly. It certainly would have alleviated the "dearth of weapon choice" criticism if more of the trick weapons were available earlier. And while armor isn't that important in Bloodborne, I agree that more fashion options wouldn't have hurt. The Souls series had closets filled with circus outfits, including the more practical choices, which BB lacked.

 

[Silva]

...and yet BB is the best in the series along with DS1.

 

[Deflowerer]

...and yet BB is the best in the series along with DS1.

You mean Demon's Souls 1, right.

Yes.

 

[Average Manatee]

If only there was reason to number the Demon's Souls...

 

[ColonelTeacup]

BB's variety is great, get outta here, especially since you have several weapons rolled into one and all of them are pretty much unique in both style and mechanisms.

Which leads to having a handful of weapons, whereas DS1 and DS2 both have dozens of options. It's the same issue with clothes when it comes to bloodborne. A handful compared to DS1 and DS2 having little to none. It's incredibly disasppoiniting to me as i'm a big fan of lovecrafts literature and liked From Softwares take on the Eldritch gods. But the atmosphere and gritty clothing are the best parts, everything else is sub-par. Even the "werewolf" transformation is disappointing and a retarded version of the dragon transformation from DS1, DS2 & DS3.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

So you guys remember this only afro video?

I bring this up because someone actually started the fight by buffing their weapon with either charcoal pine resin or flame weapon. The idiot actually did more damage when it wore off. Then he charged in when the smelter did its plunging attack and died from the shockwave. He later summoned me and decided to use aromatic ooze instead. This time he didn't die. Still, I've barely made any progress with sunlight medals. I think my best bet is farming falconers at this point.

The guy in that video is such a freeloader. I didn't see him attack once in that video. He just hid in the back.

 

[Silva]

Which leads to having a handful of weapons, whereas DS1 and DS2 both have dozens of options.

Bro, I'd rather have 3 - and only 3 - weapons that allow for deep and varied playstyles and nuances, than 300 that are copy-pasta of another 12 that are shallow as fuck.

Also, what's the point of having different viable builds when all them except shieldless melee is overpowered bullshit?

 

[Pirata Alma Negra]

the SotFS version really has a terrible brightness or is it just me?

 

[Arnust]

 

[Pirata Alma Negra]

before yesterday, I would never be able to conjure someone pretending I don't know how to adjust brightness in-game, any game. living and learning

 

[Jarmaro]

People on Codex actually defending DS2, the fuck happened to you guys?

 

[praetor]

People on Codex actually defending DS2, the fuck happened to you guys?

people finally realised what makes a good game

 

[Adon]

We're not all some sort of hivemind that just follows popular thought or what some guy in a youtube video says. If there's any reason I've stuck around the Codex is because you're going to get wildly different opinions here.

Oh, and because DS2 is actually good.