Dark Souls II

I'm very conflicted after finishing the dlc. One one hand, I could wear a crown and never go hollow again. But on the other hand, I could wear the Mirrah Hat and look super cool.

Eh, regaining humanity isn't too difficult. Co-op sign next to bonfire, much?

Though the Crowns do have some nifty effects. Ivory restores HP, Sunken did... Something. But Iron is awesome: it fucking restores spell uses!

... Every two minutes. But that's still really useful outside of Pv P.

Sunken boosts your stats like woah. Really popular with SL1-runners for that reason. :P

edited 17th Dec '14 9:17:16 AM by Hydrall

The crowns are okay, but I still prefer my Hexer's Hood. Not hollowing is kinda standard for me. I tend to use the ROLP from Iron Keep onward since then souls become easier to obtain then effegies. Well, didn't die that much in NG+ anyway.

...and I have about 20 of those rings anyway, thanks to that stupid Heide Knight not dropping his pants.

So, Loyce Souls. I already respawned the king since that seemed to boost the knight's drop rate in general(also, 6k souls each, damn). But I'm still not sure if it's worth farming the other 25 souls now that DS 1 runs via Steam and thus is portable for me.

I've been down to farm Loyce Souls a few times with item drop gear and still don't have any. Don't know if I can be bothered to farm 50, even for that sweet Ivory King armour. It's too much of a hassle to fight three of the Charred Loyce Knights at once.

"Steel wins battles. Gold wins wars."

Some advice: If you got all four loyce knights, you can just ascetic the bonfire. This restarts the boss battle, complete with several waves of charred knights. Summon Luca and Twiggy and go in with item-finding gear. Fight them until the boss starts to arrive, then send the NPCs home and homeward bone / feather out. You can just resummon the NPCs and go back in.

edited 18th Dec '14 12:28:38 PM by Hydrall

I just farmed Loyce Souls by dropping my Co-Op sign down, since I didn't read the wiki on the boss untill after I killed it.

And Phantoms apparently have higher drop rates than hosts in there.

Got summoned by the same host multiple times, doing the whole "kill flunkies, bail out of boss" thing. Was really convenient farming for all three of us!

Shame I can't drop these souls after I got the armor. Now they just sit in my box. I'd love to give them to others, since I have zero use for them. But nope, can't drop those.

Or titanite.

Or spices.

Y U NO LET US TRADE KOOL THIANGS FRUMSOFTWAIR?

So I was thinking of buying Dark Souls II because Steam Sale but the reviews are all saying don't do it because there's an HD Rerelease coming out?

Scholar of the First Sin?

Anyone here got anything on that? And is it coming out for PS 4? I'd much rather have it there than on PC.

edited 20th Dec '14 4:11:47 PM by LeGarcon

Oh really when?

The PC version of Dark Souls II just gets an update that gives the new chapter for free. Not sure about the graphics bump, but mods exist for that.

BUT the PS 4 and X Bone versions have one thing over the ole Pee Es Three Sixty n' Pee See versions: they get expanded areas, more enemies and the maximum player limit per host world is increased.

Atleast last I checked, that was the case.

Oh, and once it's out, they're gonna change the matchmaking system on all versions too. Lets hope it's better than the purely soul memory based one, which is pretty asanine.

"Oh, you're level 100 with millions of soul memory? Here, have this level 400 dude with also millions of soul memory! Should be an even match!"

Also, I just can't decide what to do with my build. Playing with the raw power of a sorceror is awesome and fun, but being a dick and using dual wield poisoning also sounds appealing. Or a poison + bleed combo.

edited 20th Dec '14 4:30:25 PM by Alabaster

So it is coming out for PS 4? Excellent. I can finally get around to playing it.

What are the big differences between this one and the first one?

Oh really when?

This one and the first Dark Souls, or the Next gen release and this one?

If you mean Between Dark Souls and Dark Souls II, some hefty mehcanic changes.

Rolling is different. Load is your distance, not your i-frames. You start to fat roll past 70% burden though. An Agility stat (raised with Adaptibility) now affects the i-frames of rolls.

Magic now costs stamina as well, but we also get spell restoration items.

Much fewer and slower Estus, but we also get other healing items.

Speaking of items, Agility affects your item use speed. Including Estus and thrown weapons.

Heavy Poise nerf. No more taking three hits of a two handed UGS to the face and laughing it off. Still functionable, but you need to stack it more and some attacks just cannot be poised through anymore.

Bleed is nearly useless. The damage caps at 200 HP, you cannot cause it in rapid succession and it cuts your max stamina for about 3 seconds.

Poison is more of a treath now, causing damage faster. Toxic is mildly stronger than poison, but I think you can be poisoned and toxicated at the same time.

Dual wielding! Now holding two weapons at once actually serves a function, other than looking silly.

You can play as a lefty. Shields in the right hand now block, instead of being used like a boxing glove. And most weapons retain their normal moves on either hand, but there are exceptions. (Curved swords mostly.)

Six active weapon slots! Three items per hand! Ten belt slots! Four ring slots! But rings now have weight. Mostly very minor, but some are absurd.

Covenants are more gameplay integrated, instead of being there just for flavor. (-Cough- CHAOS SERVANTS! -cough)

Remember Darkmoon Blades and how it was impossible to get any invasions done? Well, now it's actually frequent with The Sentinels.

edited 20th Dec '14 4:43:11 PM by Alabaster

The PC version might get updated with the new content.

It might not, too.

We don't know to what extent the current PC version will get updated. My guess is that not much. They said the actual extra content will be PS4/One/DirectX11 version exclusive, but the PS3/360/DirectX9 versions will have access to new NPCs and some of the changes in enemies? Maybe? They weren't clear. Basically, the existing versions will get somehow updated to something that is not the new version but is not the old version either.

But, anyways, the new release will also have the three existing DLCs tacked onto it, plus the new one. So yeah, it'd be better to wait if you want it on PC.

I spent evening after evening for months spamming blue orbs. I think I invaded less than 30 people as a Sentinel.

edited 20th Dec '14 5:04:23 PM by 2Zak

They call it the Rumour Mill because every time one specific guy posts I definitely feel cards going from my library to my graveyard

So I should hold off for a while then. When's this coming out? Now I'm all excited.

Oh really when?

Okay, more frequent with Sentinels. Then again, I haven't kept count on how many people I invaded.

And I tend to have better luck at one of the DLC areas.

For some reason, I had better success at lower SM than now.

Another reason why SM was a silly idea to prevent twinks WHATTHEHELLEVERISTHETROPEFORTHATTHINGWITHLOWLEVELPLAYERSHAVINGPLUSFIFTYFUCKYOURSHITUPGEAR from sucking the fun out of the game for new players.

edited 20th Dec '14 5:37:05 PM by Alabaster

What we originally heard was that everything was coming in a free update except for the improved graphics, DX11 support, and 6-players-per-world multiplayer. This is what I maintain is probably gonna happen, but since then we've heard so many conflicting reports and translations that I have no idea. One rumor's that only Japan is getting the free update, and everyone else will have to buy the new game. I really hope not.

Oddly enough, I don't feel much pity for PC players. All I could do was laugh and think "Where's your mods now?!"

I am Knight Virchow. Loyal servant of the Ivory King of Eleum Loyce. I wish you well, wayfarer, on your journey.

Still here, actually. Just upgraded my graphics card so I can run ENB at full settings - it looks very nice indeed.

Plus, PC still doesn't have to buy a whole new console to get the updated stuff.

Actually, From Software is including all the Scholar of The First Sin bonus content in a free patch for us console users. Quite convenient really.

I am Knight Virchow. Loyal servant of the Ivory King of Eleum Loyce. I wish you well, wayfarer, on your journey.

Well, For Xbox 360 and PS 3 anyway. Not sure about Xbox One or PS 4.

I am Knight Virchow. Loyal servant of the Ivory King of Eleum Loyce. I wish you well, wayfarer, on your journey.

When does this Scholar thing come out? I want Dark Souls II for my PS 4.

Oh really when?

Which is the same they're doing for PC versions.

Mods aside.

But PC players can play the wholly updated version without buying a new console.

edited 30th Jan '15 12:19:08 PM by 2Zak

They call it the Rumour Mill because every time one specific guy posts I definitely feel cards going from my library to my graveyard

Sometime in April.

I am Knight Virchow. Loyal servant of the Ivory King of Eleum Loyce. I wish you well, wayfarer, on your journey.

Actually, i think PC has to go out and buy the new Sot FS version of the game. At least, that's what I've heard.

I am Knight Virchow. Loyal servant of the Ivory King of Eleum Loyce. I wish you well, wayfarer, on your journey.

Current versions will get updated with extra content. Then the new versions will come out.

In the case of consoles, that means there's one game in PS3/XBox360 and one similar game with some extra juice in PS4/XBoxOne, in the case of PC, that means there's two very similar games, except that one has some extra juice, in the same platform, and they're apparently being treated as if they were completely different entities (this is: both cost full price despite the new version being pretty much a re-release of the previous one).

They call it the Rumour Mill because every time one specific guy posts I definitely feel cards going from my library to my graveyard

Both PC and consoles get the balance patch, covenant changes and new NPC in an update. Neither will be getting whatever's in the actual SOTFS edition game, which includes expanded multiplayer and improved graphics, as well as DX 11. PC just has to buy the new game - If you want it on X Box or Playstation, you'd need a XBO or PS 4... Well, you can get it on PS 3, apparently? So in that regard both PC and PS are on the same level.

But we still have mods.

Miyazaki has implied there's more to the 'new game' than just multiplayer and graphics - but we have yet to get any info on what that something is.

edited 30th Jan '15 1:17:01 PM by Hydrall