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i probably could have nabbed the forth great soul today but i cleared iron keep and then spent time mucking around in the shaded woods and revisiting a few areas for fun. found a few things i had missed! did a bunch of jolly co-op on old iron king for easy souls. now i have more of drangleic castle to look forward to, but... perhaps after dinner/movie time tonight. my controller needs a chance to recharge, after all!
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

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no please keep doin what you're doin dj

will post my stats later, about to watch a movie
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

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if dks1 was akin to castlevania 2 or 4, this one is more along the lines of symphony of the night
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it also increases your invincibility frames by a very small margin while rolling, which might be considered useful (though particularly for pvp) since i think low ADP rolls are quite a bit less forgiving than those in dks1. it'll also raise your resistances and attack power by little bit. i think it's a great overall stat, but for a casual run through the game? maybe not quite vital, especially if you're using mostly ranged attacks and kiting. personally, i felt like blocking and rolling were way too mucky until i pumped my ADP up.
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i haven't tried magic yet but yes from what i've heard you should be upgrading your staff. i mean, take it to the blacksmith and highlight it and see if it shows its magic adjust going up -- that would be your answer.
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i will clear this game for the first time on my quality build dude later this week, and it's gonna be hard not to immediately start some sort of magic-using character, but ng+ might end up being enough of a draw going by hints that have been dropped. will probably try to have patience and make a cleric or sorcerer when i get the pc version...

i really looking forward to having access to a build-devising site like the one for dks1.
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she's at the entrance to harvest valley
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i'll have to check again tonight to be sure but i think like other merchants her stock eventually expands and items become infinitely available
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i was hoping lost sinner would be a bit more fun to solo, but her movement feels weird and slippery compared to artorias, where they are otherwise a bit similar. the fight with artorias is so fast, brutal, and probably the most fun boss battle in that whole game, but lost sinner feels like the same thing except we're both stumbling around drunk. idk. pursuer was a much more enjoyable boss fight of a similar style.
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nah, the first one is across the river you come out at
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this game is so full of stuff that i think a lot of it is still going to feel very fresh for 2-3 playthroughs, if not more
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

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so... in drangleic castle you have to kill the stone knights near the big statues to get them to light up and open shit? i had to google this a few times after running around like an asshole for hours. fucking dumb. oh well, time for bed, and i can get back to this tomorrow...

(i have been enjoying the game a lot, but that particular "puzzle" is beyond stupid.)
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i'm looking through that checklist and noticing a bunch of things i've wondered about (like the spot of blue light and sound left where freja drops her soul) and i might like to have some answers right up front, but i know that things will become clear in time, more organically. i already feel like this game might have lore as rich as the first game's, but that it's much more brazen in waving so many more loose threads in your face until you find a way to tie them together.

i am also on the lookout for the usual berserk influences, and there are some, but i feel like it's the inverse here and there aren't nearly as many compared to the first game! (it only really clicked with me last night just how much artorias resembles guts in his crazy wolf armor...)
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i guess i need a shovel.
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annnnd here we go with the pvp vids

this one demonstrates how hilariously overpowered the halberd really is!



(i see a number of patches incoming)
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any thoughts on whether or not sunlight blade would be any good if i managed to incense the requirement all the way down to 10? i'm not sure whether it scales with faith or the chime you use, but if not it could be a hell of a buff to my halberd or sun sword with this quality build...
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60 is going to be considered super low for dks2, i think, particularly if we decide ADP is a vital stat. i'm at the end of the game and my character is 150 and will probably end up at 175 or 180, though it sounds like maybe i've leveled up a bit more than some others on their first run because i've done so much jolly co-op. but yeah, somewhere between 160 and 180 is the new 120 imo.
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granted, i started this character as a knight (largely because i liked the starting armor set and knew i wanted a no-magic build my first time through), and ended up pumping ADP to 39 (which seems to be the accepted soft cap for boosting agility) with quality build stats on top of that. so, yeah. you certainly can get away with lower level builds if you forego some ADP and pump magic stats and stuff instead. i'm not just blowing smoke, though, since 160-180 is what a lot of the youtube pvpers seem to be talking about as a target for pvp builds. obviously, clearing the pve game is a bit less complicated and more just "do whatever works"

in any case, i'm sure i'll end up doing something more well-rounded and fun for my next character...
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yeah, i'm not clear on that yet either, with the whole soul memory thing.

also, uhhhm, it turns out we may have been wrong about the whole ADP thing. :/

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/693331-dark-souls-ii/68799675
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look at my theory, felix. :B i think it's obvious that the body you see is not her own.

i wish i had some idea who the embedded is, if it's supposed to be anyone in particular. got a real amnesia: the dark descent vibe there.
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62 hours into my first run and i'm still exploring. what's the rush, y'all?
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credits rolled last night. i do not feel anywhere even close to being done with this game.
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oh, also: i scrapped my quality build in favor of str/faith recently and grabbed the defender greatsword, upgraded that to 5 (max) and infused it with a boltstone... so far this change has been quite enjoyable. this guy is def my casul 1st run "build" so i'll just continue leveling him in ng+ up to... whatever i feel like! good times. here he is as he looked at the end of the first run (totaling 73 hours, though i still haven't initiating the 2nd cycle, so...)

http://i.imgur.com/iYtnuAZ.jpg
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

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uh, weird... i was kind of expecting that to happen, but like... i just crossed it normally?
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very weird. i would guess it's not really that much of a departure; even dks1 had little cinematics for ringing the bells and arriving at anor londo
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i suppose it was because i held down the run button and was anxious about being attacked as i crossed. i noticed my pace being slowed, figuring it was an effect of the bridge swaying and wind and stuff, but it didn't quite register as cinematic. :( i will be more careful to observe next time.
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spoiler thread for lore and postgame discussion is here

http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopic.php?t=43115
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slash weapons degrade super fast on heavily armored/stone enemies, too
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that seems to be unique to the moveset of specific weapons, like ultra greatswords

i doubt it's a bug or anything...?
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yeah, i'm 100% sure i've revived while dying in co-op, too, so if that's not intended...
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you won't hollow, but you'll drop your souls wherever you were standing before you invaded
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this weekend i bought katamari damacy and the left behind dlc for the last of us on psn, while i barely played any of this game. i think that i am mainly going to focus on doing invasions in ng+ with my first character, now a strength build monster masher, and maybe playing around with a new sorcerer a little bit. basically, i supremely enjoyed round one with this game but am feeling pretty content to chill out a bit until the pc version is available, whereafter i will be pretty consumed by this game for the summer. at least this is how i'm feeling right now.
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so i'm a ways into ng+ with my first character, but i am increasingly dissatisfied with him as a str/faith character and none of my really good strength weapons are upgraded yet (for pure str build) and this is sapping my desire to play or commit to another character with the pc version looming. i feel like that's kind of dumb of me, buuuuuut... wish we didn't have to wait another month to play on pc. might just end up starting numerous new characters to get a feel for starting classes and playstyles i might enjoy experimenting with more deeply later on. kind of hate that i'm feeling this way about the game right now, but i guess it can't be helped.
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

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gonna guess you're mixing those up with giant souls
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

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some useful info on soul memory:

http://illusorywall.tumblr.com/post/81323771367/dark-souls-2-level-range-and-soul-memory-how-to-make
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam