Dark Souls II

733 Fire Defense with my Hex build character spamming Great Resonant Soul from ranged, healing when needed.

I've still been getting used to Dark Souls II's playstyle, so for most of the game thus far I haven't really been comfortable enough to try parrying, apart from that one time in the Forest of Giants with that one knight with the greatshield in front of the fancy unopenable door. Then, this evening, I finally got to the Ruin Sentinels (after beating the Lost Sinner for a Fragrant Branch of Yore just behind her, because I was rather frivolous with mine), and I remembered a video where a dude parried them a lot and decided, "Ah, what the hell, I'll try it."

And then lots of parries happened.

Well, okay, I missed something like 50% of them, but damn it felt good when I managed it.

By the by, could anyone give me build advice? I've been spreading my points out between carry weight, stamina, strength, dex, and agility, with dex being my highest stat at the moment. Also, I've been investing in my pyromancy flame a bit. I dunno where I want to go from there, although I've been thinking about getting myself a Warped Sword at some point, maybe eventually progressing to an Alonne build. This is my first playthrough of the game, so I don't know much of what to expect.

edited 27th Mar '17 11:47:17 PM by EndlessSea

In Defense of Dark Souls 2. A 1 hour+ video analysis by youtuber H Bomberguy about why Dark Souls II is actually a pretty good game. I haven't played this game yet, but I have to say that I did notice quite a few of the points he makes when watching Let's Plays of it, particularly the ones about bosses and the healing system. I'm not sure that I agree with his opinion on interconectedness though.

His initial arguments make sense, but by the halfway point he starts getting into the realm of opinion and some of his points don't really make sense. Still insightful, though. Haven't watched the whole thing.

OMG I forgot how good strength weapons feel. Pancaking enemies is so. much. fun. Plus it feels awesome.

It's funny because the 3 amigos aren't bad for me anymore. After you take out Cerra(greatbow enemies sure are annoying aren't they!?) It's actually pretty easy, plus you can parry them, even the Rock fanboy. In fact you can parry a lot of things in this game. I suck at parrying though.

Also it turns 100 AGL is unnecessary. Around 95 is fine.

Dark Souls 2 is a great game on it's own.

It just happens to be a little overshadowed by it's brothers.

I think of it as a mediocre Souls game but a fairly good fantasy RPG.

I'm liking it about the same as Dark Souls 1, to be honest. It's filled with obvious flaws, but I can't bring myself to dislike the game for them.

You didn't even play the whole game though <_< Watching a game and playing it are two different things.

I'd put it over 1 easily and 3 slightly, 3's grown on me a lot since the beginning. But honestly the first hour or two of 3 aren't too great and 2's DLC segments are best Souls period. Plus the game feels like it has the most content.

honestly i would say 2 had the worst start of the games.

the forest of giants is a pain in the ass for a new character and in 2 it can take a while before your character grows into the build you want.

Forest of Giants is evil, especially in Scholar.

I have my issues with the game, but it's definitely not bad. It also explores what it means to Hollow, something which I don't think was expanded upon in neither 1 nor 3.

Lothric Wall has zero business being where it's at. They toss some of the hardest enemies in the first half of the game(lothric knights) in multiple numbers and you're forced to deal with them(pretty sure you can skip the ogre in SOFTS and it wasn't in the original), while FOTG the harder stuff is at least optional. Undead settlement should've been the first post tutorial level as the enemies were generally easier, well minus the ballista section which sucks anyway and I doubt anyone would miss it. Or with Lothric high wall, they should've removed the lothric knights. because it's kind of ridiculous that enemies harder than sword/axe + shield black knights in DS 1 are just mooks wandering around in what's basically the game's undead burgh. If they were optional okay not a big deal but they aren't, sadly. Doesn't help the stage has a high enough enemy density anyway. Funny because too many enemies at once was a common complaint with DS 2's stages and DS 3 is a WAY bigger offender in this regard yet those same people are oddly quiet about that. If anything the problem is much bigger in DS 3 due to how much more damage enemies are dealing in general. Yeah I don't like high wall lol. Or more accurately, I don't like its placement in the game.

Also you don't have to start with FOTFG. You can start with Heide's if you want, and really having a choice IMO is pretty cool. Granted those old knights will rip many new players apart but with decent strength and a strike weapon you can actually do fairly well there, and they have relatively high soul output for that point so they're easy to grind. In fact first time I played DS 2 I did Heide's first because I didn't know FOTFG existed yet lol.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure why DS 3 didn't give you a choice either. Being able to choose between Lothric wall and settlement would've alleviated the Lothric wall difficulty spike at least.

edited 17th Apr '17 8:47:30 PM by Vertigo_High

Heide is a lot harder in Scholar, as I understand it. The Heide Knights evidently weren't there before, and they're pretty nasty to deal with, especially the spearman. Also, dragon. Damn that dragon.

The Heide Knights as in the white ones, yeah? Instead of the huge golems?

Yeah I'm looking at a list for some of these SOTFS changes and jeez some of these sound like a downgrade TBH. Particularly the placement of stoned folk everywhere. Seems like it kind of kills some of the freedom, no? Also I know heide was a bit small originally but I felt that sort of worked since it's literally one of the first levels. SOTFS heide sounds terrible TBH. The dragon obstacle was always more annoying than enjoyable in Souls.

the lothric knights on the highwall are not especially tough, hp wise, or even damage wise. im pretty sure they're scaled down from their counterparts in the castle, so the only reason they seem a so much bigger threat than everything else on lothric wall is their ai, which is i think better then the vast majority of enemies in the game.

that being said running up and attacking will generally allow you to get a combo off against a sword knight without em blocking, and you can rinse and repeat till it dies. the spear knights are harder, and i dont have any exploits for that ai, but eh, i dont generally have trouble with spear weilders for some reason. its also fairly easy to isolate them, but...you do need to know where they are and what their path is first. and i certainly didnt on a first playthrough.

of course, the difference between 2 and 3 is that i already had a weapon i wanted and stats to wield it by that point in the wall, because you're not expected to invest nearly as many levels into your character in 3 to be able to do anything (though as ever, god help you if you want to use a 40str weapon on your first playthrough) as 2, where by heides tower i was still investing points into my str or dex to get use the drangleic sheild, or points into adpt to increase estus, or into endurance to attack more than 2 or 3 times, or into vitality to survive a few hits, or into vigor to wear shit.

honestly its kinda weird to me that SL 120 is pvp lvl in 3, considering i ran out of stats i felt necessary to raise by lvl80.

heide's tower is fine in SOTFS more or less. i prefer it. it makes more sense to me to have the knights, and beyond that and the drake not much is different. the knights leading up to the dragonrider arent active unless you attack them until you kill the boss, so you're given free reign to practice against em in peace. the stoned people are a bit limiting, but only in that you cant switch whenever you want. you can still choose the order you progress in, because you get more branches of yore, and an additional one you can buy, but theres not enough that you can open a path, go in a little bit, then go back and open a different path.

well, unless you're fine with leaving 2 boss weapon npcs stoned until mid/end game.

edited 17th Apr '17 11:39:06 PM by Tarsen

Re: Ruin Sentinels

Wait, you can parry those CLAMP-designed, stick insects? Okay, I'm trying that tonight. I had good luck parrying the Pursuer, so why not?

So, hi, SCM here, first time poster, relatively new player who until recently has been playing with mouse and keyboard (a finicky mouse at that, so sometimes it didn't attack when I told it to), and so has been dying a lot. For added masochism, decided i wanted to be a sorrcerer, and stuck with it even when I realized how painful that would be.

I've beaten Dark Souls II as a PvE sorcerer. The biggest hurdle is simply getting an upgraded staff after you beat the Forest of the Fallen Giants and Hiede's Tower of Flame. After that, you have to be willing to use Bonfire Ascetics to farm Soul Spears from Huntsman's Copse. Finally, learn to sacrifice damage spells for utility spells like Yearn.

Far enough to buy that, unfortunately, No-Man's Wharf is making me paranoid, due to dying there a lot. Might try to get it from him tonight anyway though, it sounds useful. And i already have over 30 int, so free item time!

Tips for getting a Sorcerer started;

• On the way to Huntsman's Copse, Felkin will give you free stuff if you got 20 INT & FTH. So start pumping those FTH points early on, get the Hexer's Hood that increases spell charges you get and then either keep going as a Hex Maniac... Or just utilize the Soul Vessel from Majula Matata Manor to re-allocate those points from FTH to anything else.
• There is a chest with a free Soul Arrow (or was it Heavy Soul Arrow?) hidden in Forest of Fallen Giants behind a hidden door at the ambush Patches "Peit" somethingaboutthatpronounciationbothersme has set up. More scrolls = more casts.
• Don't forget the petrified Pyromancy lady and Straid, both offering useful spells, though Straid needs boss souls and his first few spells feel a bit more Pv P oriented.

Man, haven't touched this game in ages, but hooking up my 360 would be a hassle.

edited 10th Aug '17 3:33:43 PM by Geist-Fox

Got the first two, and looking for a branch of yore for Straid. Also, thanks for hooking me up with Yearn, it's a lifesaver for those suicide bombers after the Ruin Sentinel area! Now, just have to deal with those guys shooting at me on the bridge towards the enxt misty area.

I found Soul Spear in Huntsman's Copse a couple nights ago.

Decided to join Company of Champions for farming purposes. At the very least, I can farm those mummy things in Lost Bastille.

I'm using it to search for Heide Armor.

BTW, does the covenent work if it's the original DS 2 and not Scholar? The guides I'm reading aren't very clear.