Dark Souls II - Now on PS4/XBO

Because game companies still believe that the demographic we fall into really doesn't matter and common place people need purty graffical cutescenes with an emo song playing over the video and having it premiere during a basketball tournament.

 

RELEASE BUMP

Tips for beginners:

• VGR increases health, not VIT; and END only increases stamina. Equip load is now increased by VIT alone. (It's not all that important, I've got on to SL50 without it and my build's pretty tough.) Also, instead of physical defense, you now get little bits of HP every time you level up; VGR just boosts it by a MUCH larger amount.
• ATN now increases casting speed as well as spell slots, if I'm not mistaken. I know it has an additional effect for casters.
• ADP increases your ailment resistance, poise, and general quickness, i.e. reduces frames on a lot of your actions (using items, healing, rolling etc.). Useful stat, I've put quite a few points into it and the difference is palpable; I move pretty fast even at ~49% equip load and most enemies struggle to stagger me.
• YOU CANNOT LEVEL UP UNLESS YOU TALK TO THE EMERALD HERALD. SHE'S ON A CLIFF BY A TREE VERY CLOSE TO THE MAJULA BONFIRE. I had trouble seeing her at first for some reason, and I kinda absent-mindedly went through the first level at base SL :'D
• Ladder mechanics are a little different. First off, your general climbing/descent speed has been increased (again, ty based FromSoft). Second, tapping B/Circle now causes you to jump completely off the ladder, while sliding is performed by holding down and B/Circle. You can also hold it while climbing to shimmy up quickly, but it burns stamina so be careful.
• Every time you die you Hollow a little more, which decreases your max HP. Use a Human Effigy to restore your humanity; this is different from burning an Effigy at a bonfire, which you can only do while human. I know this reduces the multiplayer elements of the game, but I don't know if it's permanent or how potent it is (if it stops all forms of multiplayer or just reduces the frequency of invasions/density of summon signs).
• If you have a torch and want to use it, stand (don't sit) at a bonfire (or some other significant fire source) and press Y/Triangle; this will allow you to light it, and you will then hold it in your left hand. You can light pillars found throughout the world if you have a lit torch in tow. Just use it sparingly, as it's on a five-minute timer and when it goes out, you don't get it back. You can put out a torch by switching it out as if it were a weapon.

Some things I noticed that I'm really diggin':

• Movement while locked on is now WAY more fluid than before; you can run and roll in any direction, including diagonals, which comes in handy for staying aggressive during a duel.
• Dual wielding is AMAZING. Basically, you need two weapons of a single type (and yes you can see what type a weapon is from the inventory), and your stats need to be 1.5x the highest requirements for the weapons. So say you want to dual wield the Halberd (STR 20, DEX 14) and the Old Knight Halberd (STR 16, DEX 20); you need 30 STR (Halberd STR x1.5) and 30 DEX (OK Halberd DEX x1.5). Then you just hold Y/Triangle and you'll go into dual wield stance; from there, R1/RB and R2/RT will do normal right-handed attacks and L1/LB and L2/LT will use a special moveset with both weapons. Each weapon has its own hitbox, so they each deal separate damage and can independently apply effects like bleed and poison.

So apparently the PS3 version is expecting connection difficulties. Typical. That said I have already managed to get many rounds of co-op, and I'm having a ton of fun. SL50 Knight, kind of a well-rounded bruiser at the moment; currently helping people with Old Dragonslayer, but if you need me elsewhere let me know! I've been to No-Man's Wharf and the Lost Bastille.

 

I want to get this so much because it reminds me of dragons dogma and I didn't get the original because it released alongside dragons dogma but this is releasing alongside j-stars and I've had to pick j-stars over it but what I've heard so far is that this game is hard like really really hard

 

Everyone says that with every game, but really you just have to be alert. The level design in the Souls series is one of the foremost features; every area throws a wide variety of tricks, traps, and enemy combinations at you to keep you on your toes, and you have to keep your wits about you and be prepared for anything. If you're attentive, you can stop an ambush before it happens; if you observe enemies' attack patterns carefully, you can beat most of them without getting hit. It's challenging, and that is so much better than just being hard, because a challenge forces you to prove (and improve) your skills.

 

I might buy it next month hopefully if I can spare the money. I need change of pace for a game really to be honest I wish they'd scratch the deep down project and make Dragon's dogma 2 but I'm getting DS2 only for the comparison of Dragons dogma series atleast some of the visuals though a lot of people who i've said this to say they're nothing a like.

 

Dragon's Dogma is more freeing, allows you to have more open choices in the way to develop your character and in the world/enemies to tackle. They're only alike in their challenge, both require some planning and skill to successfully defeat your enemies without being slaughtered. I'd argue Dogma is the more fun game, but not in this thread.
Dark Souls 2, meanwhile, encourages one style per,playthrough to complete the game, since spreading your skill is a death sentence. You're, as such, a bit more limited in your approach, you're always dodging or holding up a shield, striking when the enemy is open to attack after a long combo. These restrictions make it the challenge it is, if maybe not very creative in how to deal with enemies, depending on your class. I like both on their own ways, i'm sure you'd do too.

 

No offense but almost none of that is true, please don't mislead people. First off, diminishing returns discourage players from putting too many points into one stat, or into stats in general (New spells and weapon upgrades are just as useful, if not more so depending on your level); in Dark Souls II many stats soft cap at 20-40 (which means almost no stat goes unused on your average SL120 build), and many weapons and two whole classes of spells scale off of multiple offensive stats or apply flat damage so that any style can use them. Build customization is one of the most appealing aspects of the game; it was widely varied in the first Souls game and it only gets wider with each successive release. Second, dodging, tanking and seizing on openings are only three of many ways to play the game, and none of them are equally effective on each boss. Some enemies will stagger your guard, some enemies have moves with insane tracking, and some enemies really don't leave themselves vulnerable, forcing you to go on the offensive or trade blow for blow. Not to mention many of them come in groups of varying size and type, meaning that each encounter has its own rules and effective strategies.

 

The classes are varied, but you have to start a new game each time to pursue them, at least to more effectively use them. Dogma allows you to switch between the nine classes whenever throughout the game, with a degree of competency no matter how you've levelled up. You can use any weapon to be fair in DS, but unless you're die hard fan, a normal player will favour a weapon to use unless they get an 'upgraded' version or upgrade that weapon specifically. I know a lot of people stuck with the Drake sword for a long time because they liked it, not always because it was the better weapon.

Souls fans get the most out of the games, playing it over and over, discovering new areas and new ways to have unavoidable deaths, but most people who aren't won't play it more than once, or even through once if the game beats the enjoyment out of it, like it has me. I play once in a while and make a bit of progress, but it always beats me back to not caring. I'm never going to play a magic build, nor are many other people in the world. Mass Effect surveyed the classes used throughout the third game and found that the default class, the Soldier, was the most popular at 44% whilst engineer was fifth at 5% of the total number of single player classes. I have played all classes at some point, because i'm a fan, I wouldn't expect everyone to get the joys of building an Adept with Singularity, sniping enemies from afar, or rushing as an engineer with my armour up and striking with deadly heavy melee. It's niche stuff, like DS builds.

If there are more ways to tackle enemies, i've yet to see it. DS is very flat compared to Dogma. Dogma lets you scale enemies, use abilities that you learn and have three other AI players assisting you in your battles, commanding them allows for a lot of variety depending on whether the enemies can fly, are fast or huge to be scaled to get to a weakpoint. I only meant in comparison, the dodging, countering, backstabbing and/or blocking are the basic ways to deal with most enemies. The main tactic i've seen is to dodge then circle big dudes and block, quick strike smaller, faster dudes. Bosses, dodge their attacks and run in for a strike or two. Like I said, if there is more variety, i've not really seen it much or i've seen players revert back to those play styles

 

Yet within one class almost anything is possible. Many builds specify no class requirement; you may play whatever you please and still have a variety of options at your disposal. It doesn't mean you're locked into a play style; it just means your opening stats and gear are tweaked to your liking. (And even that is not set in stone, as most of the games offer several starting sets for purchase early on.) As for weapon choices, if people stick to a single weapon because of preference, that says nothing about the freedom available to them or the myriad options a single player or class can take.

You are speaking purely from bias. Surely you must recognize that with the popularity the series has gained, there are plenty of people who don't feel that way; if your opinion is valid for being your opinion, surely theirs must be more so for being consistent. That appeal is there, regardless of whether you saw it or not, and when someone asks for comparisons between two games it is fair to give your impression of them, but not to misrepresent the facts. You didn't get into the game, that's all there is to it.

And? We weren't arguing how appealing the options are, we were arguing how much freedom the player has. Besides, the Souls series offers a play style for every player; those builds are far from niche.

You have already admitted that you barely got into the Souls games, so your evaluation of their depth is hardly valid. Plus I've heard the opposite; that Dogma lacks depth, because despite the many classes, abilities and minions, combat boils down to a few basic approaches depending on whether you can climb up the enemy's back or not. The dominant strategies take over and it gets repetitive. I'm not saying that to be down on Dogma, merely to demonstrate how easy it is to flip the comparison depending on your perspective. Besides, you have partners and abilities in Souls too, I hardly see how that sets them apart.

 

I'm sorry if I caused an arguement or debate on the simmilarities and concept designs between soul and dogma. I just prefer dogma over souls that said I HAVEN'T played a soul game yet so I plan to get DS2 next week if not the week after alongside J-stars victory vs. are the soul games multiplayer or single player only?

 

Pff don't worry about it dude, you didn't start it :L The Souls games have a unique form of multiplayer which I like to call mingleplayer, where the single- and multiplayer experiences are sort of mashed together. You can use certain items to appear in another person's world and either help them progress or fight them for their souls - Likewise, you may summon help of your own, or your world may be invaded without warning.

In Dark Souls, these elements would only be in play if you were in human form, which you could get rid of by dying; in Dark Souls II it's a little harder than that, because FromSoft wants to encourage people to experience this mingleplayer system. You still lose human form by dying, but while hollowed you can still summon help or be invaded; the only way to eliminate this is to either play in offline mode or rest at a bonfire while human and burn a human effigy there. (This is different from using it as an item; using it restores your humanity, burning it eliminates multiplayer elements.)

 

It's a bit to wrap my head around but I'll probably understand the game terms and everything when I get into it. I'm pretty new to the soul series like I said but everyone's talking about this and I'm looking forward to getting it and thanks for answering my questions in depth ^_^

 

Yeah haha, I'm sure you'll understand once you start playing. And check out the tips I posted above if anything else confuses you once you get going.

 

Also one more question; is the game itself set out in levels; (E.G; DmC) or a Monster hunter type of thing or is it more like God eater if you know what i'm getting at.

 

Idk what Monster Hunter's like, but think of it like Castlevania SotN: You can go in pretty much any direction you want, as long as you can handle the enemies there. Except for a few areas that are gated off by bosses or keys, there are many different paths to choose from right away.

 

So for the most part it's got a basic free roam with some key'd out area's with bosses. I'm glad then because I've played way too many linear games to the point it annoys me I want more games set out like dragon's dogma or even KH I guess with a basic type of open world where you can back track as well without having to go through it like a stage in dmc or sonic if you get what I mean thanks again.

 

Bumpin'. Beat the game some time ago, now working on a hexer and Q pyro. Anybody else get this since early March? Please say yes.

 

I heard they did a pretty good job on the PC port compared to the first game. I'll probably buy it after my exams are over, however I think I'll be sticking with a controller rather than the keyboard and mouse.

 

Yeah, good to hear hehe. Now hopefully they can fix the online issues with DkS1's PC port...

 

Well maybe the PC versions not doing so well as I thought.

Spoiler

Dark Souls 2 PC issues

• We are currently investigating and escalating this issue. Some possible work-arounds can be found here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/558754259683457381/
  We'll keep this space updated as we know more
• Reports of some previously VAC banned players are unable to play online in Dark Souls II. We will update this space when we have more information on this topic.
• Dark Souls II does not recognize or take input from my controller. If you are experiencing this problem, try the following: "Open up Device Manager and under Human Interface Devices, right click and disable all HID-compliant game controllers, and if you have a G13 disable the Logitch G13 Joystick. Restart the game and it should work. You may also need to disable any virtual HID-compliant game controllers as well." If you continue to experience this issue, please get in touch with our support team and let them know what controller you are trying to use. We'll do our best to assist you from there. We will continue to update this space with more information on this issue.
• Reports of players having issues with Keyboard and Mouse controls. We are currently investigating this topic. Please post here with detailed descriptions of your experiences. We will continue to update this space with details as we have them.
• I do not know where my pre-order bonuses are. "Should be located in "x:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Dark Souls II\DARK SOULSâ- DIGITAL EXTRAS" if you have it. Make sure you have the preorder content listed under the games dlc as well." Thank you Cute Little Girl for the post. We will continue to update this space with more information as we have it. If you still don't have access to your pre-order items, please get in touch with our support team.

I think more people are angry at the fact that they delayed the release and still these problems arose.