From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Cryomancer]

really do builds that go beyond the biggest archetypes?

I did pure RP builds on DS2.

• Hexer with a rapier
• Sorcerer with MLGS
• Pyromancer with a Axe
• Viking using a Axe and shield
• Knight using a black halberd

Here is a pure RP build on PvP.

 

[Caim]

DS2 gives you a shitload of souls compared to the other two games, so it's easier to make a themed build. And for some of the weapons, you really need those souls.

 

[Curratum]

For the truly advanced people, there's the mega power build where you pump everything to 99, but most people aren't pro enough for this.

The most broken bullshit I've experienced in my relatively limited time with all 3 DS games was the power-stanced UGS in DS2.

I literally 5-hit-KOd most bosses in the game.

I don't do specialized and meta builds and builds that require specific setups and items to work, I am a simple man. And I have never experienced such raw, brutal, ridiculous power in any DS game.

 

[Caim]

For the truly advanced people, there's the mega power build where you pump everything to 99, but most people aren't pro enough for this.

The most broken bullshit I've experienced in my relatively limited time with all 3 DS games was the power-stanced UGS in DS2.

I literally 5-hit-KOd most bosses in the game.

I don't do specialized and meta builds and builds that require specific setups and items to work, I am a simple man. And I have never experienced such raw, brutal, ridiculous power in any DS game.

Never tried twin UGS before, but if my old twin mace run was anything to go by I reckon this lets you just about melt anything that you can hit.

 

[Curratum]

For the truly advanced people, there's the mega power build where you pump everything to 99, but most people aren't pro enough for this.

The most broken bullshit I've experienced in my relatively limited time with all 3 DS games was the power-stanced UGS in DS2.

I literally 5-hit-KOd most bosses in the game.

I don't do specialized and meta builds and builds that require specific setups and items to work, I am a simple man. And I have never experienced such raw, brutal, ridiculous power in any DS game.

Never tried twin UGS before, but if my old twin mace run was anything to go by I reckon this lets you just about melt anything that you can hit.

You mostly one-hit regular mobs, maybe two-hit elephant knights and sayian knights. Bosses range from 4 to maybe 7 hits max, speaking a bit out of my ass and from memory, but that's the general ballpark.

 

[praetor]

I like Dark Souls 2, but the picture is still funny.

would've been orders of magnitude funnier with DS3

 

[Curratum]

I forgot, I actually played DS2 three times. Twice on DS2+DLC as sword and twin UGS, then once on Scholar, with spears.

The UGS build was hilarious, but I liked the spear the best, including for PVP.

 

[Eyestabber]

Damn, u ppl don't seem to be aware of the proper way to play DaS2. Here:

- make character as ugly as possible (not very hard)
- make your way to Belfry Luna with the lowest amount of SM possible
- come up with a cheesy low level PvP build like 2 handed Estoc, spears or w/e
- obliterate everyone in fun PvP, spam "Point Down" emote
- create another character once Belfry Luna PvP dries out OR proceed to terrorize other areas of the game. No other game allows you to be a dick in the same sense DaS2 does. This game allows you to COMPLETELY RUIN other ppl's experience. Invasions are AWESOME and DAS3 is a turd for ruining them.

Bell Bros 4 life!

 

[Silverfish]

Imagine being a Bell Bro when Rat Bros could invade in the Doors of Pharos. Even if the host survives, they only had the most infuriating boss in the series to look forward to.

 

[ADL]

Dark Souls 2 is saved

 

[Child of Malkav]

DkS2 doesn't need saving.

 

[ADL]

DkS2 doesn't need saving.

only the aesthetics needed saving, with this mod it'll be the game it was always intended to be
gutting the lighting system last minute that the game was literally designed around should be criminal... Especially when they didn't add it back in with SotFS which was next gen exclusive

 

[Ivan]

Seeker of Fire: https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls2/mods/978?tab=posts

notable differences include different combat encounters, particularly the modder borrows from the DLCs new enemies and sprinkles them much earlier in the base game. Some boss fights are shuffled around, feauturing a few new ones. That said, I still found myself SWIMMING in excess souls by the end of the game, such that it killed my desire to keep playing.

On to the base game itself, the biggest weakness I felt during my play was the sluggish combat speed/momentum and the world design. It's funny, I had remembered the combat fondly but this time I found it to be sluggish and noticed that my problem with it is the animations. I was able to identify that most of them have this "posing" effect whereby the characters end their swings in a pose that doesn't relate convey a satisfying swing, many of them look like they're dramatically showing off to an unseen photographer. I wasn't able to put my finger on it before, but now I can and it's specifically that. Fresh off my DS3 playthrough I felt how much better the animations and visual effects helped sell the combat. That aside, everyone knows that DS2's world design and level design isn't particularly strong, at least not until the DLCs (particularly Sunken and Iron).

mod highlights:
-faster boss speed
-reshuffled enemy encounters
-I think there's supposed to be a slower level progression but I was still swimming in souls by late game
-overall world progression didn't differ much from vanilla IMO

 

[ADL]

I'm looking forward to this more than Elden Ring

 

[racofer]

Havel's shield + a big fucking sword throughout the 3 games. Dodging is for faggots.

 

[Ivan]

quite enjoyng this dude's blind LP while bored at the deskjob

 

[cretin]

bought SotFS shortly before i completed DS1. Installed last night and it took me way too long to set up. For whatever dumb jappo reason, From refuses to make games that run on 120hz (it's the same on DS3 and sekiro, so it's not like they learned their lessons with pc ports, they just dont give a shit), so if you don't have a 60hz monitor the game will refuse to fullscreen. And also for whatever gay reason, my laptop only has 120hz or 48hz as options, so I had to download CRU and make a custom resolution for 60hz. Whatever, it works in fullscreen now. Anyway, that's the solution if you're having the same problem.
(and yes I did try "borderless gaming" for windowed mode, which was a no go for me because it felt very "off" in a way i can't put my finger on, and there seemed to be some pixelation)

Then I had to spend 30 minutes remapping all the keys because holy shit the default kbm keys are garbage, especially that double-click shit. Still can't find a good solution for jump attacking, so I may just have to forgo it like I did in DSR.

First impressions, I really like this. I think it's visually more interesting than DS1, and the much maligned movement I heard so much about actually feels a lot better to me. Especially unlocked combat feels more accurate and fluid.

 

[cretin]

Ok lads, I got a solid 10 hours in now and I have to say, I'm really suspicious of anyone who says DS1 is better than this. The graphics are better, the locales are more interesting with more going on, the encounters are more interesting (primarily because fighting more than one enemy at a time doesn't feel like you're trying to jack off a man having a seizure), the UI is vastly better and the combat feels much better and more versatile. Bear in mind: I just beat DS1 a few days ago, so it is very fresh in my head and not at all a product of nostalgia.

So why is it such a popular opinion that DS2 is the worst of the series? Unless it takes a giant nosedive in quality later, I'm not seeing it. However, I also don't know how much SotFS improved things and thus how much is just an undeserved lingering reputation from a buggy release.

 

[Wunderbar]

So why is it such a popular opinion that DS2 is the worst of the series? Unless it takes a giant nosedive in quality later, I'm not seeing it.

- the combat is way slower, you run out of breath after like two hits or three dodge-rolls which is frustrating if you're an awesome button adherent;
- speaking of encounter design, a lot of confused individuals were bitching that "dark souls combat wasn't designed around fighting multiple mobs!", i guess because you can't juggle hollows like in DMC???;
- the combat also feels floaty (not for me, but i saw people complaining about it), i think it's because DaS2 is the only souls title with fully mocaped animations. The rest of them were keyframed by hand;
- dodge-rolls give you less invincibility frames unless you level ADP stat, a lot of players didn't know that and felt frustrated after getting whacked mid-roll;
- this time around, durability is an actual working mechanic, and i saw people bitching about it because their sword broke mid session and they had no backup weapon. At launch it was partially Fromsoft's fault because the mechanic was tied to your framerate and on PC/PS4/XONE it was twice as harsh, but personally i didn't find it too bad even at that time;
- the graphics are actually uglier than in DaS or even DeS, mostly because Fromsoft had to cut the lightning system since it was too complex for PS3/X360 and didn't perform well;
- the world is not interconnected and doesn't feel cohesive, it's kinda gamey and similar to zelda (complete with lava levels, water levels, poison levels, etc);
- the actual main reason the mainstream audience (redditors, etc) are calling DaS2 the worst souls game is because they saw Matthewmatosis' video. It's an unironically good video, but the mainstream audience conveniently missed the fact that it was a "critique" and not a full review, i.e. it was focused on the negative aspects. So every now and then there are retards popping out and saying "Dark souls 2 is a bad game because there's an elevator in the windmill that leads to a lava castle!"

However, I also don't know how much SotFS improved things and thus how much is just an undeserved lingering reputation from a buggy release.

SotFS improved some things - made the world less linear, added a bunch of content, etc. But it also made certain encounters worse (*cough* Iron keep *cough*).

 

[Silverfish]

So why is it such a popular opinion that DS2 is the worst of the series?

For the record, I don't think DS2 is the worst in the series, but I'd summarize its rep as:

1. Expectations. Back in 2014, people wanted "Dark Souls, Again", but got Japan's version of a Piranha Bytes game.
2. Mechanics were poorly explained, both in-game and by "official" tie-in products. Agility "boosts ease of evasion and other actions". Very informative, thank you. Fun fact, according to Future Press' hardcover DS2 guide (that was $30-40 at the time), Adaptability made drinking estus faster and, in conjunction with Endurance, increased poise. And that's it. Said guide also simply used the old mundane stone's item description in its section about weapon infusion, thus never explaining what a mundane infusion actually does.
3. Area for area, level design is pretty good, but a downgrade from its predecessor, since areas don't loop back on each other in interesting ways. DS2 doesn't have the "eureka" moment where you set out from Firelink, go through the Burg, the Parish, down into the Depths, through Blighttown and at the end re-emerge in Firelink. Also,

every now and then there are retards popping out and saying "Dark souls 2 is a bad game because there's an elevator in the windmill that leads to a lava castle!"

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I don't think Dark Souls 2 is a bad game, but I do think it's unfinished. For an unfinished game it's pretty damned impressive. Calling it a Piranha Bytes game is just insulting.
The elevator going up to the Iron Keep makes more sense if you watch the trailer. In the trailer they showed an ashen wasteland leading up to the Keep's main gates, which to me implies that there was supposed to be an intervening area between where you leave Earthen Peak but before you enter the Iron Keep.

 

[Child of Malkav]

I don't think Dark Souls 2 is a bad game, but I do think it's unfinished. For an unfinished game it's pretty damned impressive. Calling it a Piranha Bytes game is just insulting.
The elevator going up to the Iron Keep makes more sense if you watch the trailer. In the trailer they showed an ashen wasteland leading up to the Keep's main gates, which to me implies that there was supposed to be an intervening area between where you leave Earthen Peak but before you enter the Iron Keep.

And there was also a fight with the mannequins at the gates, you can see in a few of the screenshots from the area. And their masks were different, as in better.

 

[Udaller]

Calling it a Piranha Bytes game is just insulting.

Yea, to Piranha Bytes

 

[Silverfish]

Calling it a Piranha Bytes game is just insulting.

I meant it as a compliment, TBH.

 

[praetor]

Wunderbar you also forgot the peasants: "MOST BOSSES ARE HUMANOIDS WITH SWORDS! GAME IS SHIT!". excuse me, sirs, but which bosses are your favourites? peasants: "ALL OF THEM HUMANOIDS WITH SWORDS!". that's one of my favourites

cretin i'm one of those who thinks that DS1 is the best in the series 'cause it's one of those rare games that manages to be greater than the sum of its parts, and used to be one of those "ds2 is shit" haters when it was released. i have seen the light in the meantime and changed my mind quite radically partly because they improved it quite a bit since release (the DLCs are the best Souls content ever, as far as i'm concerned). i think purely as a game it's probably the best in the series 'cause the mechanics and stuff. here on the 'dex i think Edward_R_Murrow was a "pioneer" in seeing it as such

anyway, there's one thing that was never really improved (enough), one thing that will forever remain a true shitstain on an otherwise great game: Soul Memory. that shit needed to die outright with SotFS