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Gaming Discussion => Other Games => Topic started by: Raineh Daze on March 29, 2016, 07:44:14 PM

Title: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on March 29, 2016, 07:44:14 PM
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=16461.msg303376#msg303376

I honestly didn't like the Looking Glass Knight. It's... well, let's face it: by this point you've fought the Pursuer (too many times in SotFS since it won't go away), the Dragonrider, more Dragonriders, Ruin Sentinels... it's hard to get excited for another knight boss. Particularly when the quality of summoned invaders (and the return of DSII's annoying habit of having so many enemies involved in everything) varies so much.

I think the person summoned when I fought lasted all of about ten seconds as I threw lightning at him.

Anyway, what confuses me about Sinh: why buff those defences? He was already a hard boss, made harder with the flight and toxic. More than double the HP and resistance against the one thing that should have been a weakness was idiocy.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on March 29, 2016, 07:59:55 PM
The simple answer? It wasn't Miyazaki behind it.  :p
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on March 29, 2016, 08:04:54 PM
The simple answer? It wasn't Miyazaki behind it.  :p

That's the 'how'. What I want is the 'why did the replacement director think this was a good idea'. :P
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on March 29, 2016, 08:19:14 PM
Because he also thought rehashing DkS1 bosses and assets was a good idea.  :p
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 01, 2016, 05:55:50 PM
AHAHAHAHAH, FUCK YOU, RAIME. I WIN.

Even if I ended up stripping naked to do it.



Definitely improved the fights in the DLC... well, aside from Sinh. The humanity cost made that such a pain, though.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on April 05, 2016, 03:38:03 PM
LGK is only really interesting when considering the multiplayer summons, just as per DeS Old Monk.

Sinh... like all the dragon bosses, very easy to kill with a bow, first encounter with him was NG++.

M. definitely gets props for the atmosphere of design, but BB's multiplayer, covenants, and chalice dungeons were such a disappointment.

For what DS2 lacks in the atmosphere of design, makes up for in currently being the best designed in terms of combat mechanics and multiplayer.

Hopefully DS3 will surpass all its predecessors in all aspects.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 05, 2016, 03:52:50 PM
Quote
Sinh... like all the dragon bosses, very easy to kill with a bow, first encounter with him was NG++.

"Things I don't have maxed when doing a Faith build in NG, with this as the first DLC I do". :P

I also tried to avoid changing playstyle for any bosses. Ended up doing it for the Fume Knight only, so... two-handed sword for everyone.

---

They managed to screw up half of DSII's multiplayer anyway. The ranks for Brotherhood of Blood and Blue Sentinels are inflated to ridiculous levels, Blue Sentinels' summoning being reliant on other people being close enough in soul memory, never joining another covenant, being invaded, and your wearing a particular ring...

And the only infinite source of Cracked Red Eye Orbs is... a duel arena. Which has no form of level matching. Good job, that...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on April 07, 2016, 01:25:18 PM
The DLC content was designed to be harder than post-game, and expects you to be that well equipped.

Even as a faith build, you should be able to manage a lightning infused bow to get faith scaling, though I'm not sure how much better that would play out against Sinh's resists. The arrows themselves could be another element.

BoB and Sentinel ranks were indeed a grind.
CREOs could be PvE farmed from torturers.
Soul Memory was a colossal failure that they at least halfway addressed with the Agape Ring.
Arena was changed to be level matched.

Still far far far superior multiplayer experience than Bloodborne. M. fucked that all up imho.

Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 07, 2016, 01:33:47 PM
The DLC content was designed to be harder than post-game, and expects you to be that well equipped.

Even as a faith build, you should be able to manage a lightning infused bow to get faith scaling, though I'm not sure how much better that would play out against Sinh's resists. The arrows themselves could be another element.

Yeah, it was harder, but given that even by the end of the game I hadn't gained the upgrade materials required to have maxed that along with the things I was actually making use of, I'm not sure how that addresses my point. Unless I'm supposed to go with crappy equipment until I got the stuff I wanted that takes twinkling titanite/don't upgrade anything but weapons...

Quote
BoB and Sentinel ranks were indeed a grind.
CREOs could be PvE farmed from torturers.

I can't even seem to find a definitive answer for how BoB ranks even work. It's annoying.

And exactly how well does this game handle grinding against enemies? Particularly in an area that does not contain bonfire ascetics?

Quote
Soul Memory was a colossal failure that they at least halfway addressed with the Agape Ring.

Only the part of it that meant you could prevent outlevelling in PvP. So the least important flaw with it.

Quote
Still far far far superior multiplayer experience than Bloodborne. M. fucked that all up imho.

Never played it, and of course 'there's worse' doesn't excuse the inanity here.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on April 07, 2016, 02:37:29 PM
There were a few areas that were easily farmable with Bonfire Ascetics for materials. Dragon Shrine and one or two of the Sanctum areas.

In BoB every win is +1 towards your rank, every loss is -1 to your rank. Thus you must have a positive W/L ratio to rank up. The setback is brutal, and is basically why there is a lot of venom towards try hard arena noob setups that try to get easy wins through cheesy tactics.

To prevent enemies from despawning, you join the Covenant of Champions in Majula. Enemies can then be farmed indefinitely without bonfire ascetics.

The series comparison is made, as the spirit of the series is really at its 5th iteration with DeS, DS1, DS2, BB, DS3. They shouldn't be making backwards design decisions by the time of the 4th (BB), so I will complain :)

Soul Memory was bad for everyone, except people who understand how to abuse it (like me). It was intended to protect low level players from being invaded by twink players. However, the two terrible side effects were actually making it worse for unskilled players who lost or wasted a lot of souls on deaths or bad decisions, and ruining matching for end game players who didn't necessarily want to level up without end. It has been well established and well known that there's an end game meta level that people revolve around for co-op and pvp matchmaking. Agape ring kind of fixed this, but it was still a late and bitter solution.

Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 07, 2016, 02:56:30 PM
Pretty certain there was nerfing towards farming the sanctum for materials. Don't know about Dragon Aerie, though, but I know the Sanctum was nerfed (also that having to spam bonfire ascetics to max upgrade a weapon in the area before the boss that I need the weapon for is not good)

I met a guy with a lightning halberd in the bridge arena earlier. I rather imagine that counts.

Quote
To prevent enemies from despawning, you join the Covenant of Champions in Majula. Enemies can then be farmed indefinitely without bonfire ascetics.

Which of course has its own downsides. Everything and its mother having unreasonable health and defence on NG difficulty. Heaven help you if you actually burned an ascetic somewhere you want to farm before that. Consumables dropping from despawning enemies is... poor design in all regards.

Quote
The series comparison is made, as the spirit of the series is really at its 5th iteration with DeS, DS1, DS2, BB, DS3. They shouldn't be making backwards design decisions by the time of the 4th (BB), so I will complain :)

Right... and I said I haven't played it, and its flaws in no way justify DSII's flaws. And though it's the same general series, it's not the exact same game, so more radical changes are to be expected.

Quote
Soul Memory was bad for everyone, except people who understand how to abuse it (like me). It was intended to protect low level players from being invaded by twink players. However, the two terrible side effects were actually making it worse for unskilled players who lost or wasted a lot of souls on deaths or bad decisions, and ruining matching for end game players who didn't necessarily want to level up without end. It has been well established and well known that there's an end game meta level that people revolve around for co-op and pvp matchmaking. Agape ring kind of fixed this, but it was still a late and bitter solution.

Which means that it completely failed to do anything it was meant to do. Then the part that got fixed was the part with the least actual problems.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on April 07, 2016, 04:28:51 PM
Huh. I played Bloodborne for a pretty good while and honestly have no complaints about its multiplayer mechanics...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 07, 2016, 04:49:54 PM
Huh. I played Bloodborne for a pretty good while and honestly have no complaints about its multiplayer mechanics...

I think a friend of mine mostly called them odd.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 11, 2016, 09:13:12 PM
I'm enjoying three so far.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on April 16, 2016, 10:25:46 PM
I'm enjoying three so far.

Got mine yesterday. Will play it seriously tomorrow.

A pity magic was nerfed beyond usage. Only pyromancy can hold its own mid-late game.

But this will not stand between me and the Moonlight Greatsword. Those weapon arts are nice.

Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 16, 2016, 10:33:05 PM
I'm enjoying three so far.

Got mine yesterday. Will play it seriously tomorrow.

A pity magic was nerfed beyond usage. Only pyromancy can hold its own mid-late game.

But this will not stand between me and the Moonlight Greatsword. Those weapon arts are nice.



Magic is a coward's choice. :p

And now I go back to dying repeatedly and wondering why I get summoned as a Blue Sentinel so fucking much. xD
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: ketaro on April 17, 2016, 12:22:58 AM
Like gosh the Farron Greatsword you can make from the Abyss Watchers' soul, it's L1 attack sequence is the most beautiful thing :D

That boss is also an awesome fight, even moreso when you can stand back and watch them kill themselves  :lmao
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on April 17, 2016, 11:14:23 PM
FUCK YEAH! TAKE THAT WOLNIR, YOU CHEATING MOTHERFUCKER!

Fun fact: I dealt the killing blow to that asshole ALMOST at the same time as they cast the final vote to impeach our current president.

(OK, there's still one more voting session to go, but.)
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 17, 2016, 11:21:40 PM
FUCK YEAH! TAKE THAT WOLNIR, YOU CHEATING MOTHERFUCKER!

Fun fact: I dealt the killing blow to that asshole ALMOST at the same time as they cast the final vote to impeach our current president.

(OK, there's still one more voting session to go, but.)

It gets worse.

The absolute hardest part of Wolnir is realising what the fuck you need to do--then trying to get his right arm. xD
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on April 18, 2016, 09:00:30 AM
lol, he was no problem. Weak point was pretty obvious. Might have been harder if his attacks didn't hit the summons.

Funny thing is, I almost missed picking up the tome because I didn't fall for the spook trap. Pulled out a torch, which lets you see him at a distance, and shot him in the face to kick things off.

I've been using the Scythe since I found it. Wrecked Abyss Watchers with roll catches, wrecked Deacons with running sweeps, and again multiple weak point hits on the right hand with sweeps. Love this weapon.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on April 18, 2016, 01:07:48 PM
I'm enjoying three so far.

Got mine yesterday. Will play it seriously tomorrow.

A pity magic was nerfed beyond usage. Only pyromancy can hold its own mid-late game.

But this will not stand between me and the Moonlight Greatsword. Those weapon arts are nice.



Magic is a coward's choice. :p

And now I go back to dying repeatedly and wondering why I get summoned as a Blue Sentinel so fucking much. xD

Magic Weapon, Crystal Magic Weapon and such are not so cowardly.

I miss my Profound Still and Tranquil Walk of Peace...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 20, 2016, 09:44:29 PM
THERE, BEAT THE NAMELESS KING. GOOD.

Would probably have gone quicker if I didn't start taking ten minute breaks between attempts because phase one was getting so damn boring. >_>;
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 29, 2016, 08:17:33 PM
Poise doesn't work. Like, it's not broken in any significant way.

It's just implemented fully into the game, displayed on stat screens, has effects and items that buff it... and they turned it off. For players, not enemies.

What the fuck was the point?
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 01, 2016, 12:03:35 PM
Maybe it's just bugged? Wouldn't be the first time.

Also, what are you testing it on?
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 01, 2016, 12:16:02 PM
If this is simply bugged, I'm an aubergine. (https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4gdj3j/discussion_about_a_recent_discovery_about_a/) Plus it explains how the hell things like the Lothric Knights get to shrug off attacks without relying on hyper-armour, because they still have poise.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 02, 2016, 10:03:52 AM
If this is simply bugged, I'm an aubergine. (https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4gdj3j/discussion_about_a_recent_discovery_about_a/) Plus it explains how the hell things like the Lothric Knights get to shrug off attacks without relying on hyper-armour, because they still have poise.

Fair point.

Although the game seems to have gained an awful lot of attacks made especifically to break turtle shielding. (Granted, a lot of them are weapon arts and the rest seem to be tied to really heavy weapons...)
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 02, 2016, 11:23:05 AM
I know rolling and parrying are important, but surely there's a point when the game's still Dark Souls (and not Demon Souls or Bloodborne) that you should at least make tanks possible?
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 04, 2016, 02:28:03 PM
They've never really gotten poise quite right

DeS - just hyper armor frames on some heavy weapon attacks
DS1 - poise lead to walk through attacks to backstab abuse
DS2 - The existence of the stone ring, and some fast weapons with absurd poise damage for their class such as warped sword and broken thief sword making poise worthless. The slow/weird hidden regen poise bar.
BB - back to just hyper armor frames on some trick weapon attacks
DS3 - the current mess

The best thing DS2 did was at least slow down your movement if you poised an attack, so one could not abuse it for a backstab as per DS1. That's probably all they needed to do to fix the legacy DS1 poise system.

The only thing one should count on is that the release code has a ton of bugs and fuck ups, and patches bring much better order. That's been the standing history of Souls.

Hell, they even brought back the weird facing vector you get when using the Force spell, that they had actually fixed and made physics sense in DS2.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 04, 2016, 02:40:00 PM
This would be far less aggravating if enemies didn't still get to poise. Which naturally end up being the enemies with the biggest variety of attacks.

Though Poise might or might not affect stagger times (how completely minor for a stat with a numerical scale)
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 04, 2016, 04:00:31 PM
The stagger time is being debated, no one has put up any hard analysis for frames that I'm aware of, just anecdotes.

NPC enemies poising or hypering through attacks is damn aggravating, which is why I simply counter by using longer reach weapons. It's always been a pretty solid strategy.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 04, 2016, 05:18:16 PM
The stagger time is being debated, no one has put up any hard analysis for frames that I'm aware of, just anecdotes.

Yeah, I've been reading the same thread. :P

Quote
NPC enemies poising or hypering through attacks is damn aggravating, which is why I simply counter by using longer reach weapons. It's always been a pretty solid strategy.

Except even that's an utter pain with Lothric Spear Knights. Were they trying to design the most versatile, annoyingly hazardous enemy they could?
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 05, 2016, 10:34:31 AM
The stagger time is being debated, no one has put up any hard analysis for frames that I'm aware of, just anecdotes.

Yeah, I've been reading the same thread. :P

Quote
NPC enemies poising or hypering through attacks is damn aggravating, which is why I simply counter by using longer reach weapons. It's always been a pretty solid strategy.

Except even that's an utter pain with Lothric Spear Knights. Were they trying to design the most versatile, annoyingly hazardous enemy they could?

Yes, I'm sure they were. For those, I usually try to block approach and kick them while they're blocking, though sometimes they get aggressive into an unfavorable trade. Other times I'll just 2-hand and mash until they guard break.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 05, 2016, 11:20:45 AM
The stagger time is being debated, no one has put up any hard analysis for frames that I'm aware of, just anecdotes.

Yeah, I've been reading the same thread. :P

Quote
NPC enemies poising or hypering through attacks is damn aggravating, which is why I simply counter by using longer reach weapons. It's always been a pretty solid strategy.

Except even that's an utter pain with Lothric Spear Knights. Were they trying to design the most versatile, annoyingly hazardous enemy they could?

Yes, I'm sure they were. For those, I usually try to block approach and kick them while they're blocking, though sometimes they get aggressive into an unfavorable trade. Other times I'll just 2-hand and mash until they guard break.

I've found with the Lothric Spear Knights that it gets surprisingly easy to find a window to backstab them if you block-approach and stay JUST out of the reach of their shield bash. The second he rears his arm back, start moving forward to the side of his shield. He will always whiff and always stab a second time.

They also have surprisingly low poise against thrusts. So if you manage to get one hit in with their guards open, you can just mash through and poke them to death.

The red-eyed knights are still a pain though, because they're pretty relentless, very little breathing room in between combos and such.

Of course, that analysis only came to being after I started farming them for souls...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 05, 2016, 11:31:16 AM
I got fed up whilst farming titanite and started alternately stabbing things repeatedly with a halberd until they died, or parrying.

... I find it absurd you can parry the saw guys in Undead Settlement, but that's possible. @_@
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 05, 2016, 12:11:15 PM
Yeah, I think parry is the new pre-patch 1.01 Lightning Spear.  :P

Too bad the Shield of Want uses Weapon Skill instead...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 05, 2016, 01:30:23 PM
As for parrying...

The return of the Hornet Ring is facepalm, ESPECIALLY with the broken ass fact that parrying is now a 360 degree bubble. 1-shot off a parry is stupid (PvP).
DS2 of course was broken as hell at launch with the banana sword parry and mundane dagger riposte 1-shotting. At least in that case it got patch nerfed.

Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 05, 2016, 01:45:11 PM
The effect's horrific, but I'm kind of glad to see the ring show up when they're trotting out the other four knights' rings. DSII was weird, having the Leo Ring and Hawk Ring but neither of the other two.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 05, 2016, 02:09:23 PM
I'm not a fan of the Leo Ring either. Adding that damage modifier to the most basic bitch R1 mash fiesta is just a slap in the face. Right Eye goes in that same box of crap. At least the Bloodring was done right.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 05, 2016, 02:26:52 PM
The most fun I've had with the right eye is in PvE with the Farron Greatsword. Combined it with the Left Eye for co-op in the Cathedral of the Deep. It makes the Deacons even more of a cakewalk than simply having summoned someone to help. :lmao

I think their problems are more to do with having no earthly reason to not R1-mash except for fearing parries than intrinsic problems with the rings themselves.



I've bee wondering if it's actually possible, with a spear or something (I guess rapiers etc. might be in a similar boat) to take out the Cursed Greatwood without spending an annoying length of time failing to hit its second-phase hitboxes. >_>
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 08, 2016, 10:01:01 PM
*rocking a Dragonslayer's Greataxe +5 in spite of usually disdaining heavy weapons*
*massacres his way through all the early game bosses that frustrated him so much with L2 attack*

WEAPON ARTS ARE USELESS THEY SAID

WASTE OF FP THEY SAID

EAT LIGHTNING EXPLOSION, BITCHES!
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 09, 2016, 05:56:34 AM
And get a simple infusion on anything else, and you can spam it at full power because you only need 1 FP for Weapon Arts.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on May 09, 2016, 08:26:34 AM
*rocking a Dragonslayer's Greataxe +5 in spite of usually disdaining heavy weapons*
*massacres his way through all the early game bosses that frustrated him so much with L2 attack*

WEAPON ARTS ARE USELESS THEY SAID

WASTE OF FP THEY SAID

EAT LIGHTNING EXPLOSION, BITCHES!

And don't forget Farron Ring for a small reduction in the arts's FP cost.

Weapon Arts are awesome.

*looks at Wolf Knight's Greatsword with glittering eyes*
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 09, 2016, 12:39:55 PM
And get a simple infusion on anything else, and you can spam it at full power because you only need 1 FP for Weapon Arts.

My backup off-hand is a Simple Cestus.

For parrying.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 09, 2016, 02:26:36 PM
Btw, any of you guys on PC/Steam? I need some (save scum) trade partners  :smirk

Look me up, same name
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 09, 2016, 02:42:40 PM
I don't trust the sound of that. :P
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on May 09, 2016, 02:46:47 PM
I don't trust the sound of that. :P

Sadly I have to agree.

Dark Souls on PC is bound to attract all sorts of hackers...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 09, 2016, 03:49:52 PM
You just backup the save prior to making a trade, and do it in a 2-step process, so there isn't so much of a trade as there is a copy.
Save backup/restore is even encouraged by Namco.
This is the 'legitimate' way to avoid wasting hours flipping bits on a counter, while avoiding using actual cheat/hacks - not my cup of tea.

Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on May 09, 2016, 03:57:06 PM
You just backup the save prior to making a trade, and do it in a 2-step process, so there isn't so much of a trade as there is a copy.
Save backup/restore is even encouraged by Namco.
This is the 'legitimate' way to avoid wasting hours flipping bits on a counter, while avoiding using actual cheat/hacks - not my cup of tea.

I am aware of that - I do that on the PS4 for other games.

By hacking I mean real hacking - infinite poise/health/stamina, insta proc on bleed, etc...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 09, 2016, 04:06:26 PM
I'm not even sure what you need partners for, though. xD
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on May 09, 2016, 04:13:14 PM
I'm not even sure what you need partners for, though. xD

Nunkuruji wants to dupe items on PC, basically. One will hold the items while the other backups their save and gives the first all items.

This is how you make a megamule, BTW.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 09, 2016, 04:39:27 PM
Yeah, can basically dupe into a mule, but it's mostly OCD, and I want to have a fairly complete NG0 save for when the DLC comes out.
Biggest general benefit is being able to bootstrap friends new starting classes, avoiding tedious consumable farm, and the fact that slabs can't be farmed in this one :shakefist.
At this point I've collected all but a few mutually exclusive items, and the NG++ items.
There's just a few things I want to collect before starting the next cycle.

I think megamule more accurately refers to particular edited save files to have maximum of everything. I think some of those even had edited stat values, like more HP than actually possible, and even weapons with impossible upgrade values  :-\
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Risada on May 09, 2016, 04:42:21 PM
Yeah, can basically dupe into a mule, but it's mostly OCD, and I want to have a fairly complete NG0 save for when the DLC comes out.
Biggest general benefit is being able to bootstrap friends new starting classes, avoiding tedious consumable farm, and the fact that slabs can't be farmed in this one :shakefist.
At this point I've collected all but a few mutually exclusive items, and the NG++ items.
There's just a few things I want to collect before starting the next cycle.

I think megamule more accurately refers to particular edited save files to have maximum of everything. I think some of those even had edited stat values, like more HP than actually possible, and even weapons with impossible upgrade values  :-\

So mule it is.

And while I agree on having a save "DLC ready", I don't know if I played on PC if I would mule my way through... I am feeling kinda lazy, lately...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 09, 2016, 06:47:28 PM
The act of muling in DS is typically used to build pvp characters well after you've already completed the game. It just gets tedious hunting everything down again.

The problem when the DLC is launched, is that if I'm already in NG++++X, the DLC becomes brutally hard. This was the case for me previously, as my characters were well aged and progressed. They've had a pattern of making the DLC difficulty very hard in comparison, and it was frustrating as hell running them for the first time so deep into NG+.

Thus, I'd like to have a NG0 checkpoint to roll back to, without much care that I've lost much of anything.

I certainly wouldn't spoil the game running a mule in a first run. I actually finished DS3 at just SL30. 20 Vig, 25ish Dex Warrior using Scythe. Enough of a challenge without getting OHKO'd constantly.


Anyhow, back to the point. If you're looking for a hookup of a particular weapon or what not, look me up.

Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on May 17, 2016, 12:28:13 PM
You'll wanna use the Late Pledge button on the page for this one.  Dark Souls - The Board Game! (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/steamforged/dark-soulstm-the-board-game)
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: PlzBreakMyCampaign on February 18, 2017, 11:33:58 AM
The best thing DS2 did was at least slow down your movement if you poised an attack, so one could not abuse it for a backstab as per DS1. That's probably all they needed to do to fix the legacy DS1 poise system.
No the problem was with backstabs, not poise. You could use all the poise you wanted in DS1 and never feel any problems. You could also fish for backstabs naked and suddenly realize something's fishy about the backstab system. That's what needed adjusting, not poise.

DS2 was bad. 40% of the game was behind one switch on one tile that looked like a light. Tons of mechanics were broken: no dead NPCs, no ladders, etc I beat the whole thing with 100% slow completionism (50hours) like the dev's imagined and then realized that the light was back there. I didn't have the heart to go through the whole game again. It's like they just threw out the wonderful level design of DS1 "because warpz" and then wondered why people call DS2 the black sheep.

Dark Souls on PC is bound to attract all sorts of hackers...
"Hacks" are great. They allow hyper agression, weapon switching, 1 stamina runs, etc.

Cheaters (infinite hp pvp) are not. You can just cap the HP and check for online damage effects while allowing all the great offline (or online) hacks.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on February 18, 2017, 04:13:14 PM
The level design in two was a mess. Walk between places? Congratulations! They've joined up in ways that don't make any damn sense. All sense of scale is totally gone.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on February 19, 2017, 03:38:12 AM
The level design in DS2 was great.  It wasn't like DS1, however, which is why everyone complains about it.  Think about it, every transition path/elevator/tunnel between areas is actually just a fast-forwarded representation of days or possibly weeks of travel time.  We're talking about that huge map in the mansion's basement, where you're traversing the entire kingdom through your journey, lighting primal bonfires at the far edges.  And the DLCs took place in other kingdoms entirely!  Of course when you don't have a level layout where every area intersects every other area you don't have the shortcut porn that DS1 has.  That layout is really just another bit that DS2 took from Demon's Souls (along with hollowing reducing max health, a ring to counter said health loss, consumable healing items, talking to an NPC to level up ... ).

DS1's layout is the one that really made little sense.  Other than obvious jump cuts to distant areas, the main game is one small area probably no more than 1 mile in diameter, because you can literally walk from one side to the other in far less than an hour (ignoring enemies) even though it's a windy path.  I mean, DS1 could fit almost entirely within about a 20 x 20 city block square.  That is much smaller than the game makes you think it is.

DS2 was bad. 40% of the game was behind one switch on one tile that looked like a light. Tons of mechanics were broken: no dead NPCs, no ladders, etc I beat the whole thing with 100% slow completionism (50hours) like the dev's imagined and then realized that the death->broken right was back there. I didn't have the hear to go through the whole game again. It's like they just threw out the wonderful level design of DS1 "because warpz" and then wondered why people call DS2 the black sheep.

I'm going to have to disagree with you.  NPCs could indeed die (and if you mean hollowed NPCs, no there weren't 'stories' for the NPCs where you help them and they hollow out on you, but that's fine, it shouldn't be trying to copy the first game in every detail), there were lots of ladders (you could buy some from an NPC!).  Powerstance actually worked to make dual wielding actually good!  The paths branched out and could be tackled in several different orders, though they did put some blockers in place to actually keep people from losing track of all the available path options.  Because the land is huge and sprawling, bonfires are all teleportation points, simply to save you time, otherwise everyone would be bitching about how far you have to keep backtracking.  The ability to speed climb ladders, as well as the ability to slide down or just drop off were great additions.  The ability to roll in more directions, especially while locked on, was a huge improvement.

Yes, it definitely has some weaknesses.  Fall damage was worsened when it should not have been.  There should have been more bosses and enemy types that weren't humanoid.  Dex weapons were nerfed a little too much.  You can't make a proper left-handed character (DS1 is still a far worse offender, however).  Arguably, the DLC bonus areas, which are DESIGNED FOR SUMMONING FRIENDS, absolutely suck to try and solo your way through, but at least you can either just skip them entirely, call in allies (they give you NPC summon signs, just in case), or try to be a badass and attempt to solo.

I guess, ultimately, DS2 is more a spiritual sequel to Demon's Souls than it is a proper sequel to DS1.  And anyone who doesn't like (or never played) Demon's Souls, or vastly prefers DS1 over it, won't like DS2 nearly as much because of that.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on February 19, 2017, 10:13:31 AM
The level design wasn't great, and no amount of 'well a kingdom is big' justifies half the WTF going on. Heide's is basically in the middle of an ocean, yet you can walk straight into a cave that leads to a harbour in some sort of cliff face? Walking out of the back of Aldia's house somehow leading to an area far removed from anything else that, by positioning, would be perfectly accessible if not outright on top of the woods or Majula? Or the way to get to the Iron Keep being to ride up an elevator? The Doors of I-can't-remember pretty much marks the most ill-conceived area I've had the misfortune of playing through.

And the size completely works against it, because there doesn't seem to be any rationale for half the areas and their connections to anything else. It doesn't help matters much that the actual gameplay of the levels tends to make playing them frustrating: Iron Keep's SotFS super radar knights (and the "What the fuck" gauntlet in front of Alonne), the damn "spitting poison everywhere" path right after the bit with interesting platforming (which of course has corrosive pots everywhere and ring durability in the game they gave Soul Memory to)...

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I'm going to have to disagree with you.  NPCs could indeed die (and if you mean hollowed NPCs, no there weren't 'stories' for the NPCs where you help them and they hollow out on you, but that's fine, it shouldn't be trying to copy the first game in every detail), there were lots of ladders (you could buy some from an NPC!).  Powerstance actually worked to make dual wielding actually good!  The paths branched out and could be tackled in several different orders, though they did put some blockers in place to actually keep people from losing track of all the available path options.  Because the land is huge and sprawling, bonfires are all teleportation points, simply to save you time, otherwise everyone would be bitching about how far you have to keep backtracking.  The ability to speed climb ladders, as well as the ability to slide down or just drop off were great additions.  The ability to roll in more directions, especially while locked on, was a huge improvement.

Most of my recollection of NPC's is limited to "I hate having to summon you idiots and keep you alive when I want to solo the boss just to progress a story". :T

I didn't get the point of powerstance and thought it just looked stupid. Dual wielding in general isn't implemented in most games in a way that actually makes it remotely interesting and powerstancing is every bit as bad: use any two weapons with generic animations! Be superior to using one weapon because the attacks' wild flailing means more attacks and any dropoff from not two-handing is countered by the worst designed rings in the game!* Not actually a well-implemented version of dual wielding at all. For all its limitations, the double weapons in DSIII stand out more for being unique, I just wish they'd put the damn gold and silver tracers into the game.

And where they improved things, they managed to find something else to go break. The ladder speed running into the fall damage, the estus availability and then the utter mess of ADP, better rolling but the worst parrying out of the three games. Hollowing making you turn green for some completely inscrutable reason. This also being the game where the run animation makes it look like you're trying not to shit yourself is also not a point in its favour...

Some of the petrified guys are in just outright bizarre places in SotFS and there for no other reason than to screw with the player. Straid being frozen when every other person you freeze will immediately attack you is just misleading, but the stone guy blocking the woods, stone guy blocking  getting to the Ruin Sentinels, and the random stone guy before the two trolls in Things Betwixt? Just weird.

*PS: Dex, weaker? With the Ring of Blades, Flynn's Ring, outright attacking faster, being easily doubled up, buffs not scaling, being more easily able to divert points into ADP (no need for END to use heavy equipment) to get better iFrames?

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You can't make a proper left-handed character (DS1 is still a far worse offender, however). 

Majestic Greatsword. Going to Brume Tower as early as I could to get that thing was a pain, and it's probably the only thing I wish they'd kept in DS3 from DS2 that they haven't aside from the blue guy's armour set. If I can go pick up Artorias' sword, let me use it in the left hand GDI.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on February 19, 2017, 08:54:40 PM
If you look at those transitions as literal, of course they don't make sense.  But nobody would want to spend hours in game running between zones just so they could get a more literal definition of the distances between areas.  So abbreviate it down to a 30-second run through a tunnel or an elevator ride that would in reality just be the first 1% of the journey.

I will agree, SotFS really screwed up a ton of enemy positioning that had been better in the original.  Only a couple of those changes actually made sense, like putting the Heide Knights in the Heide's Tower zone, and making the enemies around Straid actually just ignore you now.

If you don't like summoning NPCs for boss fights just to progress their stories, then don't.  I've never had a hard time keeping them alive through the boss fights, myself.  Maybe it's just my playstyle.

Powerstance is very effective in PvE if you practice using it just a little.  Both weapons swing simultaneously and in the same area in front of you so they both hit the majority of the time.  Yes, they could have spent a bit more time doing more animation sets for them, but what they did have at least worked.  I did a run dual-wielding maces, and it was awesome.  Definitely switched over to sun sword and shield whenever I was invaded, however, because that was what I had the best success rate with.

Ladder speed fall damage?  WTF are you talking about?  I've never taken damage from moving on ladders.  And what's wrong with the estus flask?  1-12 uses, depending on how much you improve it, and you have soulgems for backup if you run out.  The only problem is that there may be TOO MUCH healing available.  Adaptability was a bad stat, yeah.  But because you could actually respec in the game (not in DS1!) you could actually test out multiple builds and fix mistakes on where you spent your stats.  Parrying in DS2 had an advantage over DS1 because it was the same timing for both PvE and PvP.  Once you learned the timing in DS2, it was very reliable no matter who you fought, while DS1 had you learn one timing for enemies, and a wholly different one for other players.  That's just fucked up.  Hollowing colours were more corpse-like than the red demon colours in DS1, which I think is what you should look like, a corpse, not a mummified red demon.  Or maybe your colour contrast is just off and it looks super green on your settings?

All those added petrified guys in SotFS was dumb, I will wholeheartedly agree.  Why block progress to more areas and force players down a more linear path?  That did not make sense.  And I mentioned earlier how some of the enemy layout changes were badly designed, or feel totally out of place, and only a few were actual improvements.

Dex is weaker because it scales worse than Str on equivalent weapons.  I tested it out myself.  Sun sword is the best example, because it 'should' have equal scaling in both, but Dex is always 30% weaker.  And that reduced benefit to damage for Dex actually applies to all Dex-based weapons.  The fact that you need rings to bring it back in line shows how much weaker it is.

Artorias' greatsword isn't the solution to the left-handed problem.  For every other weapon in the game, you can't backstab or riposte while playing left-handed, and you do less damage.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on February 19, 2017, 11:12:47 PM
You're not dismissing the Earthern Peak thing as "just a journey shortener". That's an elevator going up from a windmill in clear scenery. Heide's? You're in the middle of a damn ocean and... walk forwards into a tunnel that leads to a harbour cave? Go from someone's house to super elevated peaks that would be completely accessible from any of the previous areas unless we start pretending that directions are meaningless? It's not convenience to have a bunch of totally disconnected areas where the whole environment says "these connections cannot possibly make sense".

And it's lazy design. Take Hunstman's Copse -> Earthern Peak -> Iron Keep. Even if these transitions made logical sense, the areas are completely lacking in any sort of thematic design. They're just random areas joined up with no thought for why they should be connected. Some areas have sensible connections (the stuff below Majula, the Lost Bastille and No-Man's Wharf), others... remind me why the Doors of Pharros are remotely connected to Tseldora?

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If you don't like summoning NPCs for boss fights just to progress their stories, then don't.  I've never had a hard time keeping them alive through the boss fights, myself.  Maybe it's just my playstyle.

Because it requires me to summon to get items/story when I want to solo a boss. Siegward in DSIII is pretty similar, only there's actually a reason and good writing behind it. It's obnoxious in DS2.

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Powerstance is very effective in PvE if you practice using it just a little.  Both weapons swing simultaneously and in the same area in front of you so they both hit the majority of the time.  Yes, they could have spent a bit more time doing more animation sets for them, but what they did have at least worked.  I did a run dual-wielding maces, and it was awesome.  Definitely switched over to sun sword and shield whenever I was invaded, however, because that was what I had the best success rate with.

Not saying it's ineffective, I'm saying it makes no sense, looks bad, and doesn't actually contribute.

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Ladder speed fall damage?  WTF are you talking about?  I've never taken damage from moving on ladders.  And what's wrong with the estus flask?  1-12 uses, depending on how much you improve it, and you have soulgems for backup if you run out.  The only problem is that there may be TOO MUCH healing available.  Adaptability was a bad stat, yeah.  But because you could actually respec in the game (not in DS1!) you could actually test out multiple builds and fix mistakes on where you spent your stats.  Parrying in DS2 had an advantage over DS1 because it was the same timing for both PvE and PvP.  Once you learned the timing in DS2, it was very reliable no matter who you fought, while DS1 had you learn one timing for enemies, and a wholly different one for other players.  That's just fucked up.  Hollowing colours were more corpse-like than the red demon colours in DS1, which I think is what you should look like, a corpse, not a mummified red demon.  Or maybe your colour contrast is just off and it looks super green on your settings?

I was contrasting things they improved with things that they made... well, worse. So ladder speed was an improvement, fall damage was worse. Estus flasks have more sensible availability but the ADP and speed thing is bad, along with lifegems. There's a consistent inability in the game to improve on one area without worsening it in some way. Parrying has a weird animation and for some reason knocks people onto their ass, plus the timing for a proper riposte is even tighter for... some reason. The point with parrying is that it was fiddled with and came out looking worse with bad animations. Can't say I notice anything about PvE/PvP timings (if they're the same, something's wrong--ping would interfere) because I'm too used to different weapons needing different timings.

Hollowing is blatantly green:
(http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140925022434/darksouls/images/thumb/4/46/Lucatiel_face.png/185px-Lucatiel_face.png)

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Dex is weaker because it scales worse than Str on equivalent weapons.  I tested it out myself.  Sun sword is the best example, because it 'should' have equal scaling in both, but Dex is always 30% weaker.  And that reduced benefit to damage for Dex actually applies to all Dex-based weapons.  The fact that you need rings to bring it back in line shows how much weaker it is.

No, Dex is actually better because DS2 has basically no percentile bonuses. Buffs are a flat value, Ring of Blades is a flat value, Flynn's is a flat value, stat scaling is a flat value (also changes by weapon). But the damage calculation shares things with DSI and DSIII: there's diminishing returns for a higher damage stat over whatever armour is in place. So even if strength scaling is in general better, it doesn't matter, because strength weapons already had higher base damage to begin with and it does less.

What makes dex weapons stronger (ignoring the stat benefits by not needing endurance or poise or anything) is their attack speed. The difference between a STR and DEX weapon in pure damage decreases as you add buffs because of the diminishing returns, so the buffs benefit the weaker weapon more. The weapon with initially inferior damage attacking more often then ends up doing more DPS. On top of more DPS, it takes less stamina to swing, less stats to use with a better roll, and is more likely to complete without being staggered or parried. But then go add powerstance on, and you have two weapons both benefiting from these static modifiers hitting twice at once and being far better than any strength weapon.

But that's not all: each weapon has a fixed poise value (plus the ring that buffs poise damage). What's best to shred poise? Not big weapons, quick weapons, due to that damn ring that can be swapped on if you find an opponent with heavy armour. So the thing that makes slow and heavy weapons viable is countered harder by fast weapons than heavy weapons.

It's the game's maths. Dex is better. Buffed powerstanced katanas are OP. :T

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Artorias' greatsword isn't the solution to the left-handed problem.  For every other weapon in the game, you can't backstab or riposte while playing left-handed, and you do less damage.

Well, I can't see another reason you'd want to wield left-handed? Artorias cosplay is the only rationale I can see for not making the game more complicated than it needs to be by adding in ambidexterity.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on February 20, 2017, 01:40:31 AM
If there's supposed to be literally miles of land between each zone, then there shouldn't be any big connection between areas.  That only further supports the idea that transitions are NOT LITERAL, so the elevator to Iron Keep, or the one to Dragon's Aerie both make no logical sense when looked at as literal rather than figurative.  Should they have had loading screens between each area so you could grasp this great distance better?  That's up to you to decide.  Maybe they should have put a map on the loading screen between zones, too, with a dotted line showing your travel path from one zone to the next.  But those don't fit the Dark Souls style.

So the game requires you to use a mechanic provided in the game to do some side quests, and you don't like it?  That's actually really kinda dumb.  It's like saying you hate recruiting new crew members in FTL and that it's required if you wanna unlock the crystal ship.  Or that you hate followers in Skyrim and how the Dawnguard DLC, along with a couple of other questlines, requires you to have a follower for parts of it.  Or better yet, it's like saying you don't want to just talk to NPCs in different places just to see their stories in DS1, because that's only a basic level of interaction, and it should require you to summon them or have them summon you so you could share in "jolly cooperation".

You hate powerstance.  Okay.

Hollowing colours
(click to show/hide)
Red demon vs corpse.

As for left-handedness, I'm a southpaw.  Isn't that a good enough reason for wanting to be able to have a lefty character?  Or maybe a Link cosplay, or another lefty character.  And besides, what extra complexity is there?  Is it really complex to let a left-handed weapon deliver backstabs and ripostes?  Or to use the exact same damage calculations as the right?  Equal functionality for both hands isn't adding complexity, making them different is.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on February 20, 2017, 09:27:16 AM
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If there's supposed to be literally miles of land between each zone, then there shouldn't be any big connection between areas.  That only further supports the idea that transitions are NOT LITERAL, so the elevator to Iron Keep, or the one to Dragon's Aerie both make no logical sense when looked at as literal rather than figurative.  Should they have had loading screens between each area so you could grasp this great distance better?  That's up to you to decide.  Maybe they should have put a map on the loading screen between zones, too, with a dotted line showing your travel path from one zone to the next.  But those don't fit the Dark Souls style.

There shouldn't be a harbour in the middle of the fucking ocean, an area positioned where it should be available from other areas, or an elevator heading up from a windmill. These are all things that mean the developers are being lazy about worldbuilding. There's no free pass on creating areas that actually have good transitions or maps that make you go "that can't possibly make sense". If something like Fallout can accurately position and place settlements based on an actual map of Nevada, or Skyrim can do an entire country and its environments in miniature, then I expect a game going for a big open world to at least meet minimum standards of "oh, so that's where I came from/what's in the distance". Only two places in DS2 seem to bother: Majula can see Heide's and you can see the path down to Brightstone Cove. DS3 isn't as huge but its areas aren't interconnected in the same way as DS1--but when you look at it, even where there's weird transitions you can see where things match up. Hell, I was standing around in Smouldering Lake and realised you can see Irithyll through the wall.

It's not expecting much to have the levels form part of a matched whole rather than being designed almost in isolation.

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So the game requires you to use a mechanic provided in the game to do some side quests, and you don't like it?  That's actually really kinda dumb.  It's like saying you hate recruiting new crew members in FTL and that it's required if you wanna unlock the crystal ship.  Or that you hate followers in Skyrim and how the Dawnguard DLC, along with a couple of other questlines, requires you to have a follower for parts of it.  Or better yet, it's like saying you don't want to just talk to NPCs in different places just to see their stories in DS1, because that's only a basic level of interaction, and it should require you to summon them or have them summon you so you could share in "jolly cooperation".

I don't like it because it's a mostly-singleplayer game in a series that's marketed as being hard and challenging, and I have to summon NPCs in order to do these questlines. Running entirely counter to the game's core concept is a pretty bad step.

And two of the places you can summon Lucatiel are major bosses!

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You hate powerstance.  Okay.

Yes. It's sloppily done, overpowered, and makes weapons less unique as you'll tend to use the same generic set of animations. :T

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Hollowing colours

Brown and veiny:
(http://i.imgur.com/TiITsra.jpg)

The player can end up all manner of fantastic colours and be bright purple even without hollowing, and their hollowed colour seems to derive from their skintone. As opposed to Lucatiel apparently getting covered in moss and Lenigrast looking like Ganondorf.

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As for left-handedness, I'm a southpaw.  Isn't that a good enough reason for wanting to be able to have a lefty character?  Or maybe a Link cosplay, or another lefty character.  And besides, what extra complexity is there?  Is it really complex to let a left-handed weapon deliver backstabs and ripostes?  Or to use the exact same damage calculations as the right?  Equal functionality for both hands isn't adding complexity, making them different is.

That's not a good enough reason to add it to the game. Having to make it so that the different actions can dynamically change hands and can't both be the dominant hand at the same time, with From's track record, is a very good way to add potential complications and the mother of all bugs. Parrying with both hands at once, double backstab opportunities, even more chance of buffing things that aren't meant to be buffed or weird spell interactions...

It's not something that anyone like From should be adding without significant gameplay reasons for it.

Mind, I'm not sure why they didn't do it properly when they added the Majestic GS. Entire game without parries or backstabs because the weapon's designed to be used in the left hand and it can't do that. Was using Faith as well, so that wasn't a good choice. They gave themselves a gameplay reason to do it and... didn't?
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on February 23, 2017, 06:01:16 PM
To glance at a few things,

Dex in DS2 was dominant due to RoB/Flynn flat boosting damage and the magnitude that running attacks increased poise damage by. A pedestrian counter of trying to to heavy weapon poise trade uninterrupted for the 2 hit combo was hard to rely on. And if someone saw that attempt coming, they could just ring swap on the Stone Ring anyways. The increased counter damage on most dex weapons also made it an even trade at worst. You always needed an extra tactic to pair with a slower weapon to deal with reactive players.

Power stance was awkward due to the key/button press hold required. It made transitioning between shield/stance/parry-tool way too slow and problematic. The best setup I ever felt comfortable with was katana/blue flame. Enough versatility staying within stance: battlefield control spells with a nasty power stance counter. I like DS3s twin weapons for being more consistent in this regard.

Dual wield was actually interesting because some attack animations were sped up / dropped frames when certain sequences of attacks are used. For instance, Katana R2 thrust comes out faster when it is followed by an initial attack. That attack does not necessarily need to be its own R1, it can occur following an offhand attack. So, another favorite combo was katana/dagger, where I would get the 2 hit initiative on the dagger and followup with the fast katana R2 for the panic roll punish.

Miyazaki's level designs drive me a somewhat batshit over path decision paralysis when played blind. So I'm not going to fault DS2 vs. the others.

If you want to see some sick lefty play in DS3, check out Limit Breakers. I've thought of trying it with the barbed shield, but I'm not sure it works in the way I hope.

I felt I had more effective & creative build options in DS2, at any level. Most of my DS3 builds just build down to the basics: small shield parry, weapon of choice, tightly tuned stat array.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on April 27, 2017, 08:30:21 PM
And today I was reminded that as bad as some of DS2's bosses are, they are leagues better than DS1's Bed of Chaos and Pinwheel.  Pinwheel is an utter joke that should never have been, and the Bed is total horseshit that only exists as it does because it's just as unfinished as its zone.  And Lost Izalith is terrible.  Nothing but eye searingly bad lava effects and rotting dragon butts everywhere.  Like someone just literally just mouse-clicked their placements practically at random until the area was full.  Nowhere in DS2 is that unfinished.  No, not even there.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 27, 2017, 09:25:48 PM
And today I was reminded that as bad as some of DS2's bosses are, they are leagues better than DS1's Bed of Chaos and Pinwheel.  Pinwheel is an utter joke that should never have been, and the Bed is total horseshit that only exists as it does because it's just as unfinished as its zone.  And Lost Izalith is terrible.  Nothing but eye searingly bad lava effects and rotting dragon butts everywhere.  Like someone just literally just mouse-clicked their placements practically at random until the area was full.  Nowhere in DS2 is that unfinished.  No, not even there.

Pinwheel always feels like a case of "we got the numbers wrong". Though Izalith... good grief, Izalith. Though once you get past the eye searing orange expanse, at least the part up to Bed of Chaos is at least decent, and the shortcut. It's like they put all their effort into that part of the area.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on April 28, 2017, 12:14:09 PM
That end part of Lost Izalith is half-way to decent only because they actually have a bit of level design.  There's a whole 2 enemy types in there, minus the 1 unique never respawns witch.  And of those two, only the Chaos Eater is actually interesting and well designed.  The demonic statues have almost no animation at all, like the devs were out of time and needed another enemy, so one panicked and grabbed an art asset and rigged it with the most basic skeleton ever, then let it breathe fire by leaning forward a few degrees.  And the statues were then just dumped willy-nilly about the zone to liven it up a bit.

Had they had another 3 months to make the demon ruins/Lost Izalith area, it could have been engaging and interesting.  Instead you get early bosses rehashed (Taurus and Capra), a barely animated statue minion, and dragon butts for the majority, with paths that were hastily slapped together.  The rockworms were decently used, at least, and the giant fleas were sort of interesting, if only because of their prominence in Solaire's quest line.  And the architecture of both zones was fairly pretty, if nowhere near as well laid out as any other zone in the game.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on April 28, 2017, 12:24:00 PM
I will say, I still prefer it to Shaded Woods.

I can actually see where I'm going, even if it's hurting my eyes. :P
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nunkuruji on May 02, 2017, 12:05:55 AM
And today I was reminded that as bad as some of DS2's bosses are, they are leagues better than DS1's Bed of Chaos and Pinwheel.  Pinwheel is an utter joke that should never have been, and the Bed is total horseshit that only exists as it does because it's just as unfinished as its zone.  And Lost Izalith is terrible.  Nothing but eye searingly bad lava effects and rotting dragon butts everywhere.  Like someone just literally just mouse-clicked their placements practically at random until the area was full.  Nowhere in DS2 is that unfinished.  No, not even there.

Pinwheel always feels like a case of "we got the numbers wrong". Though Izalith... good grief, Izalith. Though once you get past the eye searing orange expanse, at least the part up to Bed of Chaos is at least decent, and the shortcut. It's like they put all their effort into that part of the area.

The real catacombs boss was the bonewheel skeletons
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 02, 2017, 12:13:52 AM
And today I was reminded that as bad as some of DS2's bosses are, they are leagues better than DS1's Bed of Chaos and Pinwheel.  Pinwheel is an utter joke that should never have been, and the Bed is total horseshit that only exists as it does because it's just as unfinished as its zone.  And Lost Izalith is terrible.  Nothing but eye searingly bad lava effects and rotting dragon butts everywhere.  Like someone just literally just mouse-clicked their placements practically at random until the area was full.  Nowhere in DS2 is that unfinished.  No, not even there.

Pinwheel always feels like a case of "we got the numbers wrong". Though Izalith... good grief, Izalith. Though once you get past the eye searing orange expanse, at least the part up to Bed of Chaos is at least decent, and the shortcut. It's like they put all their effort into that part of the area.

The real catacombs boss was the bonewheel skeletons

That is something I never got. Why are people so scared of 'em?
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 02, 2017, 11:00:32 AM
Basically, because it's ridiculously easy for them to stunlock you to death. No matter what kind of shield you've got, defending against them is just asking for a guard break (making you even more vulnerable). This makes dodge-rolling the most effective tactic, but it also requires you to move around, which means you might end up drawing attention from more of them. Thankfully they don't get raised the same way other skeletons do, but they can still be a real pain to deal with.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on May 02, 2017, 06:35:28 PM
But according to fluffy-tail-dragon-lady, the bonewheel skeletons are peaceful and kind!  They are residents of her land, after all!
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 02, 2017, 06:47:33 PM
Yes, it's all your fault for invading, you bastard.  :p
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on May 02, 2017, 07:52:11 PM
Hey, that magic painting pulled me in without my permission!  And I couldn't find another way out, so I went to ask for directions, and everyone there just attacked me on sight!
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kuroimaken on May 04, 2017, 03:43:08 PM
I find it strange that DkS3 has been out for a while and this thread hasn't moved that much...
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 04, 2017, 04:25:31 PM
I did most of my DS3 talking on Fextralife, so there's that. And I've yet to actually play the Ringed City stuff.

But hey, luck and Bleed are now transparently related, so that's cool.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Kethrian on May 04, 2017, 07:07:39 PM
Honestly, money's been tight for a while, so I'm waiting until Steam has it on sale super cheap.  Possibly with all the DLC, too.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: ketaro on May 05, 2017, 12:35:07 AM
Ringed City is pretty dang fantastic. Also sexy witch outfit.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nytemare3701 on May 22, 2017, 09:02:24 PM
On my second playthrough of DS3. Going with the luck/bleed Uchigatana setup. Turns out co-op has a limit based on what your weapon upgrade level is, so I have to keep my weapon under a +2 for my much slower friend to be able to play with me.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 22, 2017, 09:12:49 PM
On my second playthrough of DS3. Going with the luck/bleed Uchigatana setup. Turns out co-op has a limit based on what your weapon upgrade level is, so I have to keep my weapon under a +2 for my much slower friend to be able to play with me.

Passwords override everything, the last time I checked. I thought that included weapon upgrades.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: ketaro on May 22, 2017, 11:23:13 PM
Playing coop with a password does ignore that restriction, but you do get a Nerf to your stats if you're too much stronger than your friend I noticed in my own plays.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 23, 2017, 01:00:04 AM
Playing coop with a password does ignore that restriction, but you do get a Nerf to your stats if you're too much stronger than your friend I noticed in my own plays.

Yeah, the game tries to balance too diverse summons. But I don't think it blocks any password summon--playing ahead shouldn't prevent you from co-op.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Nytemare3701 on May 23, 2017, 04:12:21 PM
Password coop just removes soul level restriction. We tested it pretty thoroughly. I was locked out of his game as soon as the weapon gap was higher than 2, and my signs showed up again when her got another weapon upgrade.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: ketaro on May 23, 2017, 06:15:57 PM
Weird, maybe they changed it in the last month cause I never had a problem playing with a friend when I had a weapon 3 or 4 points higher upgrade than him
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: Raineh Daze on May 23, 2017, 08:27:34 PM
Weird, maybe they changed it in the last month cause I never had a problem playing with a friend when I had a weapon 3 or 4 points higher upgrade than him

Well, it was always split into distinct groups rather than an exact level difference.

My solution would just be: have more chars. Reserve one for JOLLY CO-OPERATION. Bonus points for making it Solaire with the Sunlight SS.
Title: Re: Dark Souls
Post by: PlzBreakMyCampaign on May 31, 2017, 08:11:19 PM
Dark Souls on PC is bound to attract all sorts of hackers...
Again, this is a good thing. Just check for hp after damage during invasions.

Speaking of that, does anyone know what From bans over? If I give a buddy DLC items when he doesn't have the DLC, will I get him banned? If so, that's hillarious and I'm going to mule DLC items just to litter into people's game world to get them banned!  :P :P