[OffalAl]

i think everyone just misses the maiden in black ;_;

[diplo]

[Felix]

hey, how do you use the spices? I wouldn't mind knocking 5 faith off of the dark orb requirements so I don't have to pump it at all...

[remote]

[analogos]

[Ronnoc]

Had a really long run of not dying to die and lose 50,000 souls on Sinner when my summon got a 'mission complete' mid battle and we finished each other off at the same time. Ran though the boss as a phantom and spent a bunch of time trying to summon, and messaged a whole bunch of people to put their signs down before I realized that I was hollowed :3

How does the whole getting unhollowed thing work, anyways? Sometimes I seem to get it dying in co-op and sometimes I'll go through a whole level and not get it. Also, the reward for co-oping seems to change?

[OffalAl]

[Relevant]

Some of the later areas in the game look pretty nice, its almost like I'm looking at a completely different game.

[BotageL]

I keep being surprised to find more new areas I haven't been to yet, or new parts of existing areas I passed by before.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[OffalAl]

tried going acrobatic against Lost Sinner, but she kept moving out of lock-on range and the camera would whip around leaving my character with shield up in the wrong direction. after 3 or so dismal failures i just hugged her and circle strafed for a flawless victory.
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♟♟
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[Mr. Apol]

[DJ]

lol
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[remote]

sometimes i feel like i'm not even playing the same game as you guys
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[DJ]

To clarify that lol: I, uh, actually finished describing that post to someone else about 30 minutes ago and said you were probably going to be the one to make it, Apol. And, uh, here we are! I actually did laugh out loud when I saw that, not because "HA HA FUCK YOUR OPINION" but "Neat I have supernatural internet prescience apparently."

The way I couched it was, a bunch of people liked Demon's more than Dark 1. We're gonna have people who like Dark 1 more than Dark 2 for what are very likely to be the same reasons, and then I ticked a bunch of them off (combat's different, humanity's different, covenants are different, area flow's different) and basically anyone who wore Dark Souls 1 like a glove is probably going to chafe at these changes, whereas people who weren't licking every seam of that game will probably fare better -- same as Demon's to Dark 1. The folks who Platinumed Demon's with both versions on multiple consoles and sank thousands of hours into it (there are relatively few of these people) are actually pretty lukewarm on Dark Souls 1!

And the conversation was basically:

"So someone on SB is gonna do the Dark 2 sucks compared to Dark 1 because I'm way more comfortable in Dark 1 argument?"
"Probably, yeah, it's kind of a given."
"Who do you think will be first?"
"Apol probably. Dude played a lot of Dark 1 PvP, and that's probably gonna hit the hardest. I think he was the deepest into it so it'll probably irritate him worse than other people."

Welp.
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[remote]

right now my feeling is that both demon's and dark were more... concise with their structure and their approach to lore. maybe deceptively so, especially in dark's case, where in retrospect it was all very well put together. it fit like a glove, as you say. i will say that i am not sure what the hell is going on in dks2. it's so much more sprawling, things are in weird places, and none of the characters even seem to know why they're there. if someone were to ask me how this one relates to dks1, approaching 30 hours in, i would have to say that i have no fucking clue. i assume it will eventually come clear... to some extent, at least. i'm also fully prepared to end up feeling like this one lacks something compared to the others while it also gains a whole bunch more. that's how it seems to go with these games and i have no problem accepting that.

fwiw i bet i played a lot more pvp in dks1 than even apol, if you look at my hours logged in the pc version on top of what i did with the ps3 version.

(i've had worries about the changes to the physical/mechanical feel of the game re: pvp, but so far i've really enjoyed getting my head wrapped around the new nuances.)
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[Ronnoc]

Man, I am not even playing the comparing game yet because I have no idea.

I really like this one tho.



Bosses are kind of lame, as evidenced by how easy I'm finding them. I'm terrible at video games!

[Bingle]

[OffalAl]

that post is needlessly reductive and more than a little patronising DJ.

i'm enjoying the game ~despite~ it being a seemingly inarguable regression for the series in several ways. i do like all the consumables from a single-player PvE perspective (for the RL'ish risk/reward), but history has shown for the PvP community that kind of thing absolutely does not work out. it is going to be a good 4 to 6 months minimum before we get a really good impression of how the larger community feels about the game.

btw Remote has probably played more PvP than Any Human (edit: beat me to it)

[Ben Reed]

Aside from worrying about managing the new soul economy, I like the game. I think I like it SLIGHTLY better than Dark Souls 1 (got about midway through that game before getting pulled away to play other games) and probably better than Demon's Souls if I ever hated myself enough to go back and finish it. (Sorry guys...I learned a LOT about smart Souls play playing Dark Souls, but I still have WAY too many bad flashbacks to the bridge in Boletaria to ever want to do Demon's Souls again. I hate the single-segment levels in that game, and I have WAY too many flashbacks to those stupid rolling assholes in 4-1 to torture myself on that game. Dark Souls felt like WAY more gain for my pain, even soloing Ornstein and Smough.)

Only area I thought wasn't all that great to look at was the one with all the poison. The rest were all right. But I'm biased because this one has a beach hub, and dammit, I love the beach. Every fantasy game should have a beach hub IMO (if not a full-on tropical zone, which sadly this game does not have). Honestly I think the only place this game's design suffers is (slightly) aesthetically. I really like how the areas connect together in this game, feels like there's even MORE back doors than there were in Dark Souls.

I think I joined the wrong damn covenant. I joined the one that the pathetic help-me faction can summon to repel invaders, but I have yet to be summoned, matchmaking for the in-faction dueling aspect seems kinda crappy, and to be honest, I don't think I really like PvP in this game in general. (I can hear the audible gasping already. Please let me explain.)

To me this game has some interesting ideas for a PvP game -- being able to make your own build Armored Core-style, micromanage your character's moveset and attributes instead of picking a preselected one like in a fighting game or a MOBA (though there's ability micromanagement there too with bought items and such). But I don't really find the actual COMBAT that fun on the whole (though I'm biased and I only ever play caveman melee...magic in this game just makes no sense to me and it doesn't really interest me, either.).

Magic vs melee is kind of an interesting dynamic (dodge bolts, get close, cave their face in), but melee vs melee I really don't like that much. It feels like playing a really unbalanced version of Divekick on one round -- IMO you will not LIVE from most of your mistakes to learn from them and determine your opponent's weakness, and some weapons are just way, way, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY less risky to poke with than others (anything 1h versus anything with "great" in its class name...I wouldn't DARE bring a great hammer to PvP, not without money involved). I run regular greatsword and my damage is through the roof, but it won't matter if I die from a single whiffed slash because I SLIGHTLY misread the other guy's intention and get poked to death...or in actual example, more like getting max-range poked to death by a fencing sword because I underestimated the forward range of the R1 thrusts trying to bait a whiff.

Ironically I think I'm better off as a carebear in this game. To me this game is more of a way to relax (in a very bizarre sense) than it is to challenge myself. I hate the PvP in this game and find myself much more entertained joining random people in co-op and watching them either fail or show me neat new things I didn't anticipate. Maybe I should reroll with the Sunbros faction if there's not a big penalty for dropping my current one.

EDIT: one quick-ish remark on "lore"

As for the "lore" in this game and the way it's presented (incidentally, I HATE the way the Internet uses the term "lore", but that's a whole other rant), I don't see it as any superior or inferior to Dark Souls 1, but I respect the way they do it anyway. To me what's impressive about the game is FAR less the revelations you'll get if you talk to a million NPCs ("oh, so-and-so was actually so-and-so's long-lost brother/lover/beloved pet...I kinda don't care, but okay") than it is the fact that so much of it is OPTIONAL. If you really don't give a shit like I do, they don't waste your time forcing you to mash X through it.

These games get by a LOT on atmosphere and I really like that, because to my mind the stupid jokes/ideas I make up in my HEAD to explain the bizarre things I see in these games are far more compelling than anything an NPC could lecture me about. (Didn't really care about Sif and Artorias and their little sob story. I just thought it was cool to sword-fight a wolf, and I really respect that Dark Souls let me leave it at that.)
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[OffalAl]

[Felix]

[rye]

Man, I had no trouble finding EH. She sure doesn't look a like a rock or anything to me?

I've been stuck on Three Sentinels. Made several co-op attempts at it (not my own world; this is how I learn most bosses), but none were successful.

That gang-bang of hollows you have to get through on the way every time doesn't help.

Re: limited enemy spawns: I watched ENB's first guide video and he mentions that Bonfire Aesthetics will reset all enemy spawns per area when used (as well as NG+1 the difficulty of enemies around that BF)

hoping I find some sorcery soon. at least magic weapon.

also, magic looks a lot more fun in this game. going to have to try a full mage build (something I was never that interested in for DkS1)
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[rye]

[whoops]
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[Felix]

[GcDiaz]

Calibration 1.04: Emerald Herald (that name didn't make anyone smirk at From?) now leads you by the hand from the landing spot to the old crone hut.

Pushing level 35, 10 hours in, and I've yet to clear Forest of Fallen Giants. Got the first boss down, haven't even tried the second; been too busy helping other folks do it. I think it's time to move on.
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Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!

[Felix]

[ChairTax]

Felix, maybe white phantom that merwoman a few times. You might run into a phantom that shows you a pretty cool and helpful secret for the boss as I did. After all, you're in Sunbro country.

Just want to give a shout-out to Lucatiel, whose backstory is impressing me most, story-wise right now.

Also, sup, Creighton.

[GcDiaz]

Hey! Have we decided on which God we're going to worship? Do we want to spend more time with each other?
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Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!

[rye]

"Who is god of selectbutton?" is an excellent question to ask.

(I would answer but I haven't picked up the ring yet.)
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[rye]

[remote]

ok so i wasn't quite agreeing that anything felt egregiously like a regression until iron keep. it's like i should love that place, but it feels too much like a disconnected non-place and the obstacle course nature of it doesn't capture the thoughtfulness of sen's fortress and its lived-in look and feel. it's really a lot like something out of a later castlevania game. i dunno — it left a pretty bad flavor in my mouth last night, but i'll try resorting to co-op today and see if that makes it any more enjoyable. certainly my least favorite part of the game so far, though, and i hope it recovers in a major way (and starts to feel like there's actually some sort of connecting thread running through everything...)

it's also quite possible i was just far too tired to be dealing with that place last night.
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[BotageL]

[rye]

Guys, why can't I hit any fucking crystal lizards?
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[diplo]

OK another thing: I let myself get summoned around the second bonfire in the forest and each time got sent back when DUTY FULFILLED and I was like "wait what duty did I just fulfill" so I guess this game has non-boss checkpoints or something? Not sure how to feel about that!

All things considered so far I think the only thing in the game that's really made me go blurghhhh is the Not Maiden in Black at Majula (very gorgeous locale) whose lines and voice actor just have the most unpleasantly obvious quality of portentousness. Like, here is a character I can imagine a Big Fan devising. Lesser complaint: Not into characters having 3 second loop gesticulations when they talk. I much preferred how, before, they'd simply turn their face to you when talking. Devs should've instead spent time on giving people minimal mouth animation!

Pleased by Sakuraba's environmental stuff so far. I think it's part of what's making me refer to WRPGs on top of the settings and level design -- there's a fanciful element to it. I also (mostly) like the slowness of everything. Like, someone out there was really adamant about believing that drinking estus was too casual of an action and turned that into a permeating reactionary design goal. Before I quit last night I returned to a boss fight to retrieve my bloodstain and bone out, and I was glad I'd anticipated a change to the animation's length, because yeah.

[Felix]

[scratchmonkey]

[remote]

once, in no-man's wharf, i went to use the bathroom and when i got back lucatiel was warping home because her duty had apparently been fulfilled

by idling while i peed

that was confusing
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[rye]

diplo, I am glad I am not the only one bothered by the Emerald Herald's lines . Something about the delivery is just really about off-putting. The character feels out of place. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to interact with them so regularly.
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[remote]

part of it is simply that the "bearer of the curse..." lines she intones every time you speak to her just aren't as concise or memorable as

"thou seeketh soul power, dost thou not?
then touch the demon inside me."
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[scratchmonkey]

I'm betting that she'll turn out to be eeeeeeeevil, or the like.

What I've been doing: Just got to the Lost Bastille via the ghost ship in No-Mans Wharf, my strategy of getting to a new area and then spending a bit of time just getting summoned to learn the lay of the land is working out pretty well. Still wielding the Bastard Sword +3, I've also upped my Faith and my Attunement so that I can cast Heal now. Probably going to backtrack to the Tower of Flame and take on An Old Friend and see where that goes.

[Felix]

Yeah her character doesn't seem to make any sense or fit at all, none of the NPCs who start out in Majula do other than the crestfallen warrior and possibly the armorer because he seems so confused and ineffectual

as mentioned though I really like that From indulged to the point of allowing you to add so many others, it feels like it's to a slightly greater extent than previously and it scratches the act raiser itch.

the dragonrider bow, now that I can wield it, does way more damage than all of the rest of my weapons. Uhh. The archery does feel a little more dynamic in this game than the others (like the melee), but I've always been an eh-this-will-do lava bow and black bow of pharis guy so it seems strange for it to be a cornerstone of my offense