[Guillotine]

Talbain, RSs are fairly intimidating but eventually they're not all that once you learn when to roll like anything else, I soloed them a couple of times, always melee, once with a katana + resin buff. The boss fight gives you enough time to kill one before another appears, and the second you can near kill before the third jump on the platform. At this point is better to jump down and play carefully to finish the one heavily damaged and then it's a last 1 vs 1.

Of course I got to learn their moveset in another occasion later, free of pressure.

[Talbain]

For anybody who cares, regarding a boss: So, the Royal Rat Authority is super-easy if you just absolutely refuse to target the boss and simply run under the boss and stay there at all times. Make sure that once you get him to 1/3 health or so that you start attacking him mercilessly. Just kill him before he breathes that poison garbage. There's no real strategy I could devise as a melee against the 4 rats at the beginning. I killed them entirely by luck.
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[Talbain]

[scratchmonkey]

Talbain -

Regarding the RSes, you just have to learn when to roll such that they whiff all their attacks. It's a big ask because basically one hit and you could be screwed, the tough part is taking out the first one on the platform, then with the second two I drop straight down (with a mage) and just concentrate on keeping them both in my field of vision while kiting them around the room. It takes a long time, you will eventually get both of them in a recovery animation at the same time enough to pop off spells/do some quick healing. Use the pillars to help out as well and since you're fighting them at range, watch out for the shield throw.

As for the mummies, you can roll out of their explosion, you just need to time it right, basically do it mid-leap and you should be out of it and be able to pop them while they're getting up. Although I've found it more effective to just unload on them when they're running up -- magic does enough damage to them that you should be able to take them out before they get to their leap.

[Talbain]

[scratchmonkey]

The Ruin Sentinels are incredibly tedious solo just because you need to spend so much time defending. The real "crunch" with a mage is the first one on the small upper platform, just in terms of constantly avoiding the attacks and finding windows for damage. I always make sure that my mages at least have a somewhat-viable melee weapon, so getting in a quick stab might be more effective than waiting for a big enough window to fire a spell. Once you drop down and are in a 2v1, it's more manageable just because of the amount of space you have to move around in.

Re: the mummies and melee characters, you should be able to one-shot them, so it's a matter of getting the timing right such that you hit them during the leap. If you can get that down, the only situation with them that should give trouble is if there's more than one of them.

[diplo]

[Talbain]

[Broco]

Refraining from warping truly isn't how this game is meant to be played, so I recommend giving up on that principle. You're going to have an increasingly hard time leveling up and smithing weapons. The only time the linearity should be an issue is in no-bonfire runs (although primal bonfires are allowed in those, so it's still only a big problem on the Drangleic Castle path).

[CubaLibre]

Luna Belfry can suck it yeeeeeah I conquered that shit.

After of course I found DULL EMBER. Game changer.

Man I way really did not expect Pursuer to pop back up in that boss room! Good thing I totally have the number on all his combos and schooled him even though it took like 40 hits.
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Let's Play, starring me.

[Talbain]

[Broco]

The bonus item is not for not teleporting, but for not sitting at a bonfire at all during the game (you can only light them or sit at primal bonfires) -- the main problem that causes is being unable to teleport, but it also causes a few other problems as well. I think it's more meant as a really hardcore challenge rather than a reasonable option (the other bonus item is for no deaths).

[Talbain]

That's definitely fair. I started out not wanting to use the teleport function as much as possible and just ended up using it after about an hour or two of running between some of the starting bonfires.
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[sarsamis]

The gargoyles were actually really easy for me to solo since I could just stand there blocking all their shit. I guess I used ronnoc's prostrat *shrug*

Beat the game earlier, but I still have yet to do some optional stuff.

Having enough equip load to do the decent roll with full armor and the tower shield feels great.

This game has some real Monster Hunter ass hitboxes. I don't remember that being the case with Demon's Souls, but it's been a few years now, so iuno.

[Broco]

[parker]

Is the shrine of amana where the game just says fuck you if you've been playing an offline melee character
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[cavefish]

[Talbain]

[sarsamis]

Buy a lot of poison arrows from Gavlan.

[mauve]

in amana there's an npc summon in the house after the second bonfire/giant death moomin

otherwise yeah just do yourself a favor and get a bow, any bow. even crossbows can be aimed now.
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twit

[Felix]

yeah, it's such a beautiful area, I don't mind how cruel it is to solo melee characters

seconding "get a bow"

[bza]

or be a sunbro like me and yell 420 PRAISE IT throwing lightning bolts at the casters

>:3
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[Broco]

They nerfed the casters' homing in a recent patch so you're experiencing easy-mode Amana. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the other thread.

[Toptube]

Man this game is quite good. But several hours in and I still find the stats menus absolutely abysmal. The symbols are nigh unintelligeble. It's just a bunch of little squares. I know they are supposed to be pictorgraphic, but they are too small and numerous to be useful. They should have just given us a list of words.

[sponkmonkey]

[diplo]

[Broco]

[analogos]

i died in amana less than just about anywhere else, with melee and without

it's simultaneously more linear than the lack of walls would suggest and provides more room to play around with than the presence of bottomless pits would suggest. to me it seems like an area you only need play through slowly once or twice before never needing to spend much time in again, as opposed to more knotted areas in which you bash your head against disjointed clusters of enemies divorced from the rest multiple times, gradually flushing the area of its threats and treats in bursts.

helps that nothing but the safely ignorable cyclops has particularly high health

[analogos]

the HD issue is legitimate, but @broco i actually appreciate the signal to noise ratio. i can see how it would be distracting for some, but i personally find it a lot easier to consider my options when i can see as much information at once as possible.

[Felix]

the point in 2009 or so when new console games finally stopped giving a shit about the possibility of someone not having a 720p+ display was also around when game design got its head out of the ass it'd been in for three years anyhow

not saying those are expressly related

[Tulpa]

I don't agree with Diplo: I found Dark Souls 1 basically unreadable on my terrible CRT TV when the game came out, Dark Souls 2 is about the same level of readability but I thankfully no longer have a CRT so I don't have to suffer through that again.
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[Toptube]

[diplo]

2's text is demonstrably smaller and not as bright. 1 vs. 2

[mauve]

you know what i hate

when i pick up a new item, and i have no fucking clue where in my inventory it is. (the type icons are vague and REALLY TINY on pickup, too. never mind when you pick up Sword X With Icon That Looks Like Your Other 30 Swords)

and there's no manual sort anymore!

i just didn't bother and sorted through stuff every few hours.

also that you can't get "real" information on player status anymore is completely confusing. you have to use the equipment screen for a lot of it, and that's kinda messed up in its own way. (where's my exact HP value anyway... ugh)
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twit

[Felix]

yeah the menus are pretty bad

[Toptube]

I got a Channeler's Trident today. I'd be surprised if there's a quicker spear in the game. Dang.

[Brooks]

Bought a cheap pad, made some progress

Man does this remind me a lot more of Maximo than the last Dark Souls did

[misadventurous]

i got to amana, said "haha. Okay" and started levelling up my greatbow

it was a good decision, maybe the best one.

[sarsamis]

Man, I got Ancient Dragon down to about 10% health earlier, but found myself like 1 pixel short of escaping one of his big fire blasts.

A lot of these bosses are easier if you don't lock on and play with something akin to the claw from Monster Hunter.

[parker]

I'm stuck on the last boss and I can't beat the two optional guys either. My character feels so worthless suddenly maybe I should respec or something, punching doesn't seem to be cutting it here, though up til now the only bosses I had any trouble with were the rotten and the big gold guy. On the last boss even with two npc phantoms I can't seem to get anything going.
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[Toptube]

This player and I shared a fire for awhile