Dark Souls 2

[Dr Gonzo]

I have had my hands on a copy of this since Monday of this week... around a fortnight before release. I know a guy who knows a guy etc and he knew I was a fan so got me an advanced copy. It is a review copy but the complete retail game nonetheless, Black Armour edition

I loved Dark Souls. It was insanely difficult, yet more rewarding than any other game I have played. You figured out the lore and the story on your own and it didnt hold you hand. I was so jaded by the COD generation where everything was sorted out for you so DS was music to my ears. I have played more PVP multiplayer on DS than any other game by far. Nothing brought me more joy than building up a magic character or a tank melee and beating ass in the Undead Burg etc.

Now, DS2. Wasnt sure what to expect. I will lay out a few points for people who are considering picking it up...

1. It is more accessible early on but certainly not easier, I think it is actually harder. New players will find themselves immersed quickly, a problem with the first one was many people gave up early because they didnt know where to go or found it too hard. DS2 leads you in, makes you comfy and then BAM. You start with one Estus flask, this heals instantly, or you can find gems which regain life over a few seconds. The early enemies are as tough as some of the mid game enemies of the first one and you will die ALOT early on. Some enemies wont attack unless agro'd and i found it best to leave them until later. Overall i found it harder than DS1 but even MORE rewarding

2. Every class and weapon has pros and cons and is a viable choice provided you know how to use it. In DS1 it became apparent that only about 25% of the gear was good in PVP and everyone used it. I never fought someone with an enchanted dagger or a plank shield because they were crap. In the sequel its a matter of knowing how to use it and just about any weapon, stat or class can be beastly. Resistance is actually useful in this game!

3. PVP is much different and much fairer. Gone are the 3 v 1 ganking sessions. Summoned phantoms are on a timer and only have a certain amount of health. You can be invaded whether hollow or human. There are different invasion and summoning covenants and this makes it all well balanced.

4. Lastly, the level design and bosses are wonderful. No more walking miles and miles back to a bonfire, you can instantly warp. I think this is great but some will disagree. Dark levels give you the option to carry a shield or a torch, and light is a very important tool in the darker levels. Some bosses are insane, one boss can summon human character to help it. Crazy!

I give it a 9/10 at the moment... but with more gaming who knows!

 

[simmo1]

Super excited for this. Didn't get the first one till pretty late so didn't have much opportunity to PvP, but looking forward to it this time round.

Preparing to rage.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Super excited for this. Didn't get the first one till pretty late so didn't have much opportunity to PvP, but looking forward to it this time round.

Preparing to rage.

You wont regret it mate. Its a seriously cool game. The replay value in the PVE will be big, and the PVP will provide months of entertainment as the Dark SOuls community evolves and figures things out. You can rely on the developers to keep working on it and patch if anything gets over or underpowered

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

DkS was GOTY

Looming forward to this. I hope it's not easier or dumbed down for the casuals/pussies that can't handle games that hold your hand.

I agree that finding out the lore and secrets yourself is part of what makes it great but so is the difficulty. You can still get wrecked in the undead burg if you take it too lightly.

You can get invaded in hollow form now can't you?

I'm most excited to see the bosses tbh and of course more ENB videos

 

[Dr Gonzo]

DkS was GOTY

Looming forward to this. I hope it's not easier or dumbed down for the casuals/pussies that can't handle games that hold your hand.

I agree that finding out the lore and secrets yourself is part of what makes it great but so is the difficulty. You can still get wrecked in the undead burg if you take it too lightly.

You can get invaded in hollow form now can't you?

I'm most excited to see the bosses tbh and of course more ENB videos

I can confirm it is certainly NOT easier, and infact I would say it is slightly harder. And on top of this, you can place an item in the bonfire to make enemies even harder. More HP, more aggressive and higher damage. The bigger enemies are no longer slow, you get attacked in mobs and enemies wont just return to their point if you run away - they will chase you a fairly good distance.

The bosses are a great mix... much more interactive, a bit more like Demon Souls bosses actually. Nothing worse than the mirror knight boss throwing his shield down, summoning a human player and then having to fight both. I would say as a whole it is a bit more like Demon Souls than Dark Souls was.

Yes, you can be invaded at any time. Invasions require MUCH more skill. Backstabs cant be fished, they require perfect timing. Also if you hit a persons shield enough times it will stagger them and put them in a parry type animation which allows you to stab them on the ground. Also, you must swing your sword where you think they will be not where they are if they are moving.

On the whole the thing that impressed me most is how the devs listened to the community. Every major gripe has been fixed. PVP is flawless, each weapon has pros and cons, armour actually protects the player, enemies are smarter, all stats are useful and level design is fantastic. So many hidden secrets... i would urge you not to watch ANY footage before you pick it up.

Please do not be put off by the opening hour or so. It appears the game will be easier but this is just a false sense of security but also to help new players learn the basics. After that i assure you that you will die HEAPS. Some early enemies simply cannot be beaten until you reach later soul levels.

After playing all weekend and having hours of PVP i will give it a 9.5/10... the only down side is that it doesnt look as nice as the original. But other than that it is a much improved version with all the bugs ironed out and a huge land to explore.

I look forward to hearing your opinions on it

 

[Dr Gonzo]

here is how the stats are explained

A few changes... the resistance stat is useful... I am a level 65 sorcerer with soul arrows and have levelled adaptability and attunement... i can cast really quickly and it takes lots to stun me with melee. Resistance against poison is also VERY VERY handy in this game. And bleed actually matters for once.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Damn, the game was released yesterday and the servers are completely overloaded... i played offline before the release date but when i tried to finally connect it was an epic fail

I dont get it... these games are expensive, they can tell what the server load will be by how many copies are pre ordered etc...yet 50% of releases are f**ked up during the first week and fail miserably when online features are used

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

So it looks like you can choose to go online or play offline at the start menu? That's a good feature if it is because I don't always want to play PVP.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Hey Dr Gonzo can you not roll through stuff like barrels and carts etc any more or run and jump?

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

I find the answer to both of those ^^ L3 being jump was weird at first but I'm diggin it.

I went with a warrior at first but I wasn't liking it. My sword broke and I hadn't found the blacksmith key and I got utterly f**ked up at that ambush in the forest where you climb the big ladder so I started again with a Knight. Cooler looking starting armor IMO and I found out you can enlarge your tattoo so it looks like you have war paint that's cool

I just made my way to The Last Giant and homeward bone'd the F out out of there because I had 10k souls lol The archers are merkins and will definitely be a high source of death. I like that if you get hit in the head from an arrow you stagger.

The tutorial and starting level is more immerse I agree. Majula feels more like DS than Firelink Shrine which is good but I did love Firelink.

I'm diggin the forest too. I loved the DkS DLC environment and it's straight in to a similar feel.

Parries are hard as shit and really get me in trouble. Not even bothering after a few failed ones cost me, I just found a buckler though so maybe I'll practice. Backstabs are quite hard too which is good the animation is awesome when you do get it though.

It's cool how the more you die you lose max health (not as much as DS) but also your character's form gets worse and worse. By about the 4th or 5th death with my first character that had no sword my beard was gone and I looked more like you do in DkS.

I love it so far. For a sequel it literally feels like DkS which I think is good. Same start menu, mostly the same sounds and ambience etc it doesn't feel like an entire new game that is sequel in title only.

 

[Pierced Soul]

you died

i wish they kept stats on how many times you die. i've got to be up to a hundred. I feel its a win if i go for more than 5 minutes without dying. I rage quit the first one, trying to last longer this time round.

I gave up on parrying quickly as well, my new strategy is to roll out of the way. I saw some people online in a vid saying that if you roll correctly you're basically invulnerable for a short gap of the roll. it works pretty well with the "normal" enemies, but not as successful for the big bastards at the start of the tower who horizontally slash several times

 

[Dr Gonzo]

So it looks like you can choose to go online or play offline at the start menu? That's a good feature if it is because I don't always want to play PVP.

What i do is burn a human effigy in the bonfire of the area where I am being invaded alot. Once you burn a human effigy you cant do any multiplayer in that area for a few hours

I find the answer to both of those ^^ L3 being jump was weird at first but I'm diggin it.

I went with a warrior at first but I wasn't liking it. My sword broke and I hadn't found the blacksmith key and I got utterly f**ked up at that ambush in the forest where you climb the big ladder so I started again with a Knight. Cooler looking starting armor IMO and I found out you can enlarge your tattoo so it looks like you have war paint that's cool

I just made my way to The Last Giant and homeward bone'd the F out out of there because I had 10k souls lol The archers are merkins and will definitely be a high source of death. I like that if you get hit in the head from an arrow you stagger.

The tutorial and starting level is more immerse I agree. Majula feels more like DS than Firelink Shrine which is good but I did love Firelink.

I'm diggin the forest too. I loved the DkS DLC environment and it's straight in to a similar feel.

Parries are hard as shit and really get me in trouble. Not even bothering after a few failed ones cost me, I just found a buckler though so maybe I'll practice. Backstabs are quite hard too which is good the animation is awesome when you do get it though.

It's cool how the more you die you lose max health (not as much as DS) but also your character's form gets worse and worse. By about the 4th or 5th death with my first character that had no sword my beard was gone and I looked more like you do in DkS.

I love it so far. For a sequel it literally feels like DkS which I think is good. Same start menu, mostly the same sounds and ambience etc it doesn't feel like an entire new game that is sequel in title only.

To me it feels more like Demon Souls 2 than DS2. I love helping people fight bosses. And I LOVE protecting the Bell Tower. It is like the forest in the original, you auto invade any non covenant member that enters the tower.

you died

i wish they kept stats on how many times you die. i've got to be up to a hundred. I feel its a win if i go for more than 5 minutes without dying. I rage quit the first one, trying to last longer this time round.

I gave up on parrying quickly as well, my new strategy is to roll out of the way. I saw some people online in a vid saying that if you roll correctly you're basically invulnerable for a short gap of the roll. it works pretty well with the "normal" enemies, but not as successful for the big bastards at the start of the tower who horizontally slash several times

the roll in DS1 made you basically invincible... but in this one you only get a small part of the roll to be damage free, you really need to roll at the very last minute otherwise you will get hurt

if you wanna know how many deaths you have log on in offline mode and then go behind the bonfire in Majula, up the stairs and look at the stone tablet. Normally it tells you how many DS2 deaths worldwide but if you log in offline it only tells you YOUR deaths, not everyone elses.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Do you guys think it is harder? So far i think it is a fair bit harder but it wasnt instant, it was a slow incline and then BAM, suddenly your being pack raped by hollows.

I just cant get over how big this game is... apparently there is 32 bosses, about a quarter are optional.

I love the soul vessel. I started a dex character, but i kept finding strength weapons, so i reassigned my stats and started using the large club which has an A scaling.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Personally I don't think it is harder per se but I'm usually pretty cautious so I don't often get into bad situations. There's a lot more ambushes and ranged enemies that cause strife which is difficult to combat at time. I've been through

Forest of Fallen Giants
Heide's Tower
No-Man's Wharf
Lost Bastille

So maybe I haven't been enough places yet to get the harder enemies and the Zweihander wielding guys in The Lost Bastille are a real pain in the arse three-at-a-time. A couple of bosses have been extremely weak so far but I did check out a boss in Heide's Tower that looked familiar ;-) but with so many souls I had to homeward bone out of there. Going there next.

The environment in this game is awesome. From Soft have amazing level design in this series. I really love every area I've been to so far.

I just found my second soul vessel so I might go back and put more in to strength seeing as though the shield I use is 16 STR and the fire long sword scales with INT which I'm not interested in.

you died

i wish they kept stats on how many times you die. i've got to be up to a hundred. I feel its a win if i go for more than 5 minutes without dying. I rage quit the first one, trying to last longer this time round.

I gave up on parrying quickly as well, my new strategy is to roll out of the way. I saw some people online in a vid saying that if you roll correctly you're basically invulnerable for a short gap of the roll. it works pretty well with the "normal" enemies, but not as successful for the big bastards at the start of the tower who horizontally slash several times

Are you talking about the Old Knights in Heide's Tower? I found you can get behind them and after they finish their combo you can get two or three strong attacks in depending on stamina and you can stagger them with enough poise attack (stone right is great here)

The second one doesn't respawn either and drops an amazing item too.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Personally I don't think it is harder per se but I'm usually pretty cautious so I don't often get into bad situations. There's a lot more ambushes and ranged enemies that cause strife which is difficult to combat at time. I've been through

Forest of Fallen Giants
Heide's Tower
No-Man's Wharf
Lost Bastille

So maybe I haven't been enough places yet to get the harder enemies and the Zweihander wielding guys in The Lost Bastille are a real pain in the arse three-at-a-time. A couple of bosses have been extremely weak so far but I did check out a boss in Heide's Tower that looked familiar ;-) but with so many souls I had to homeward bone out of there. Going there next.

The environment in this game is awesome. From Soft have amazing level design in this series. I really love every area I've been to so far.

I just found my second soul vessel so I might go back and put more in to strength seeing as though the shield I use is 16 STR and the fire long sword scales with INT which I'm not interested in.



Are you talking about the Old Knights in Heide's Tower? I found you can get behind them and after they finish their combo you can get two or three strong attacks in depending on stamina and you can stagger them with enough poise attack (stone right is great here)

The second one doesn't respawn either and drops an amazing item too.

if you are having trouble with those big knights the easiest way to beat them is with the holy water bombs the guy after Old Dragonslayer sells. They are only like 200 souls a piece and it only takes 2 of them to take down those guys. They also completely rape most early bosses. THey are pretty OP but heaps of fun to use. The blue covenant guy in Heides Tower sells them as i mentioned above

i really struggled with the sentinel bosses... fighting 3 of the pricks was tough, in the end i summoned help because I was struggling so bad

easiest boss was Dragonrider or whatever his name was. Just circle, roll and hit. The gargoyles are my current challenge and those f**kers are TOUGH.

 

[Pierced Soul]

if you wanna know how many deaths you have log on in offline mode and then go behind the bonfire in Majula, up the stairs and look at the stone tablet. Normally it tells you how many DS2 deaths worldwide but if you log in offline it only tells you YOUR deaths, not everyone elses.

wooo gonna do this when i get home!

Are you talking about the Old Knights in Heide's Tower? I found you can get behind them and after they finish their combo you can get two or three strong attacks in depending on stamina and you can stagger them with enough poise attack (stone right is great here)

The second one doesn't respawn either and drops an amazing item too.

i do try that but i'm incredibly impatient. i always go for one too many hits and get smashed when i have no stamina to get away. also it seems i'm unco and still have trouble getting right behind them - what is "stone right"?

if you are having trouble with those big knights the easiest way to beat them is with the holy water bombs the guy after Old Dragonslayer sells. They are only like 200 souls a piece and it only takes 2 of them to take down those guys. They also completely rape most early bosses. THey are pretty OP but heaps of fun to use. The blue covenant guy in Heides Tower sells them as i mentioned above

prob i guess is getting there without getting crushed by the knights

thinking of just bolting past them to the right and entering the mist

 

[Dr Gonzo]

wooo gonna do this when i get home!




i do try that but i'm incredibly impatient. i always go for one too many hits and get smashed when i have no stamina to get away. also it seems i'm unco and still have trouble getting right behind them - what is "stone right"?




prob i guess is getting there without getting crushed by the knights

thinking of just bolting past them to the right and entering the mist

i think he means stone ring, this increases poise... it is a must for me because i am a sorcerer

man i tell you what, i am WRECKING in PVP and I consider myself a very average player. I think about half the people that bought the game are new players and the other half have played a souls game. Last night I did some PVP in the belltower area, and each time you win you get a titanite slab. I went 23-1 within an hour and couldnt believe it. I guess lots of people arent used to PVP. THe poise break works well and the backstab critical hits from weapons like the dagger are INSANE. Last night I got a backstab with a parrying dagger +5 plus magic weapon and it did 900 damage. One shotted the guy.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Yeah sorry I meant the stone ring which helps to stagger opponents as well as increasing your poise I believe, I normally two-hand strong attack them from behind. They're slow enough so if you stick close and get behind and strafe you'll be able to get 2-3 hits depending on your stamina and you're good to go. I do recommend upgrading stamina which add 2 points until you hit level 20 on Vitality (I think?) then it becomes largely not worth it.

Being impatient is the number one killer in the Souls series haha I love it. "Praise the sun and be wary of overconfidence"

I fought the Sentinel Knights earlier this morning, tbh I thought they were pretty easy. I'm up to 7 or 8 bosses by now and really only the Pursuer gave me trouble and I don't know why he did. I'm anticipating some bullshit hard bosses to come though.

Had a gray spirit invade me just past the Sentinel Knights but had to leave for work, kind of bumed because that was my first PvP invasion. I had an NPC invasion just before the boss in the forest with the three skeleton lord things that summon skeletons and pin wheels but he feel off the cliff :lol:

 

[Pierced Soul]

84 deaths in 12h and 15 mins

i think my math roughly worked it out to dying once every 7 minutes. i think thats inaccurate. im sure i've died way more times then that. i was actually thinking i was closer to 120....

getting better at the knights. had a few goes at both the old dragon slayer and dragon rider and got beaten a few times. i'd go ok, get a few good hits in then impatience.... that old dragon slayers reach is bullshit. i'd run away and try and use estus and get imapled from across the room

TT i thought i read somewhere theres like 45 bosses or something, with about a quarter being optional. that overconfidence quote is spot on. i upgraded my sword and was doing heaps more damage to the knights, then i went back to the dragon rider and thought "i'll just smash you you fat f**k" and got hammered trying to be to have a stand up fight with him....

 

[Dr Gonzo]

84 deaths in 12h and 15 mins

i think my math roughly worked it out to dying once every 7 minutes. i think thats inaccurate. im sure i've died way more times then that. i was actually thinking i was closer to 120....

getting better at the knights. had a few goes at both the old dragon slayer and dragon rider and got beaten a few times. i'd go ok, get a few good hits in then impatience.... that old dragon slayers reach is bullshit. i'd run away and try and use estus and get imapled from across the room

TT i thought i read somewhere theres like 45 bosses or something, with about a quarter being optional. that overconfidence quote is spot on. i upgraded my sword and was doing heaps more damage to the knights, then i went back to the dragon rider and thought "i'll just smash you you fat f**k" and got hammered trying to be to have a stand up fight with him....

Dragonrider and Old Dragonslayer are both very easy if you know the right tactics. For me, it was simply a case of locking on, keeping your shield up, get as close to them as possible and circle clockwise. If DR does shield bash or ODS does magic attack then just roll. Hit them at every opening but only once or twice MAXIMUM. Patience is key. Anymore than two hits and you will run out of stamina and not be able to block or roll effectively

I must admit when I fought the Sentinels I was tired so I ended up summoning the NPC to help. Mofo had soul spear and wrecked shop. I am a sorcerer level 70... 30 INT and i use the twin blade which needs 26 DEX. It is a beast.