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Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


This is like kicking back with an old pal. This game has that kind of effect. It's weird to feel nostalgic for something that came out only four years ago, but here we are.

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Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:



See now, the "Yulia is a cat" thing had me like, okay, you're taking the piss. But this puts it in the right light. And this, now, this is probably one of the single strongest images running through this series, and it's incredible, and it's heartbreaking. When they talk about humanity being a theme and not just a gameplay mechanic, this is what they mean, because this is as human a subject as it gets.

If there is one thing that Dark Souls II does right, story-wise, is carry this theme along. Spoilers just in case anyone has yet to play and intends to, but to lay it all out: The intro cutscene dives right into it by having an image of the classic Madonna and Child, that timeless icon of love and family, melt before a hollowing undead's eyes. It's similarly overt in other places, like with the armorer, and the blacksmith and his daughter. It's subtle, in others, with the sorcerer and his pyromancer apprentice. It's even subverted in places, with the most visibly ancient character, the hag merchant, coming off as lucid, energetic, and even a bit roguish. Your own story starts you off in a home of the elderly, along with their very patient caretaker, who only have dismissals and derisive laughter for you, and reaches a climax showing the fate of the monarch you've been instructed to seek out. No lie, seeing the fate of King Vendrick -- the stark, unfettered, straightforward reveal that it was -- might've been the only time in recent memory where a video game got me seriously choked up. It's all about what "going hollow" actually represents, and it might be Dark Souls' best claim to the old "games are art" argument.

But I still think Yulia is actually the Undead Merchant's uchigatana.

Mazed fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Jan 6, 2016

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


I never liked the "Solaire is the Firstborn" theory. It sort of trivializes his character, in a way. Like, every detail about him, via his gear, seems to emphasize that he's a perfectly normal guy who earned his skills through good old-fashioned practice. While he emulates Gwyn and the nameless firstborn in certain ways, it's more likely that he's simply done his research and is cultivating that image on purpose, given how openly he idolizes the Lord of Sunlight.

Despite other NPCs commenting on his thickheadedness, I like to think he's pretty well-read. "The flow of time is convoluted, and relations shift and obscure" aren't the words of a moron.

Also, no wonder he's so popular. Dialogue and goofy poses aside, he's one of the first people you'll meet who's openly kind and helpful.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Jolyne Cujoh posted:

I'm gonna respond to this because it's the most common criticism of the theory that I see and I've never really seen how it's valid or how it trivializes Solaire's character in the slightest. The ring says that the firstborn had his "deific status" rescinded, which can be read in a lot of ways, and the way I've always read it is that it took away not only his title or his name, but the powers that would have made him godly in the first place. If all of that got taken away from him, if he was left with nothing godly, hell not even a human (or an undead), but he still worked as hard as he could after that to be great again, to find the sun, his father, and became, through himself alone, the badass lightning thrower that we know, I think that makes for a better story than him just being some dude.

That does the theory a little more justice, I think -- also I flat-out didn't consider the possible interpretation of deific status being revoked. But, his ability to throw lightning alone doesn't play into the argument for this, as I see it, as humans are quite clearly capable of performing miracles in the Souls universe, the key factor being, of course, faith, which Solaire possesses in abundance. The thing about how it "trivializes" the character, however, is based instead on the perception of Solaire as this totally normal person who set out to be the ideal warrior in the eyes of Gwyn. One might surmise that Solaire is fully aware of the legend of the Firstborn and thinking to himself that the best way to show his devotion would be to emulate the journey that this fallen son might theoretically go on as both an act of contrition and a means of living up to one's divine purpose.

There's a bit of symbolism here that I don't think was accidental: Solaire resembles a popular depiction of King Arthur, with the symbol on his surcoat being the main giveaway. King Arthur's quest was for the Holy Grail, which may be interpreted as an allegory for knowledge, enlightenment, gnostic wisdom, transcendence of the soul, etc. Likewise, Solaire's quest is to find his own Sun, which can be taken to mean the very same thing.

Those familiar with this game's story know that Solaire's quest takes a dark turn, and he seems to lose track of the meaning of what he searches for (depending on your interpretation, anyway). This is a development that's consistent with earlier points about what it means to become hollow, as he's also clearly suffering from the undead curse. This is what establishes him as a purely human character of non-divine origins. Of course, if the fall of Gwyn's Firstborn did turn him precisely human, it doesn't entirely invalidate that theory either.

Also, in all fairness, the Arthurian imagery could be another point in favor of the Solaire as Firstborn theory, since Arthur was made a ruler by divine right, yet still labored to fulfill his destiny -- much like Solaire does, even if his origins lie in divine providence as well.

Can I just say how I love how this video game makes discussions like this happen.

MonsterEnvy posted:

Was looking at the Old LP. Question anyone know what part Nito is fought in.

:allears:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Dark Souls Design Works is a really, really, really great art book.

Buy it. Seriously.

I did twice. Japanese edition, and then the English one when it came out much later. :shepface:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


The Parish is really one of the neatest areas in the game for environmental storytelling. The existence and placement of specific items, enemies, and NPCs relate a story of what sort of incidents have occurred here, involving the interests of different major characters, one of whom we'll (usually) encounter sooner and another much, much later. And that boar, go figure, is the very first of those clues, not that a first time player would remotely recognize it as anything but a cause for delightful panic.

The very first time I stomped in here, I learned the hard way that yes, that guy will follow you all the way down to the portcullis if sufficiently provoked.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


PvP in Dark Souls is fun only when you totally abandon all notions of fair fights, realize invaders will always have a way of stomping your poo poo in, so if you have some method of cheesing them or screwing with them, embrace it, or embrace death. Which you should've done anyway, because this is that game.

PvP in Dark Souls 2 is actually somewhat balanced, minus the occasional latency quibble. Which is nice, because you can't avoid it just by being hollow. In fact, fights with actual players tend to go better than scripted NPC invasions, some of which were added in the rerelease to be just outright dickish with absurdly massive spells at low levels.

Buried alive posted:

You mentioned the portcullis in the back, but didn't mention how that is also a boar solution. If you do it right, you can run through to pull the lever and drop the portcullis on the boar and kill him. Also I just realized you could, in theory, do the same with the black knight.

poo poo. This is great.

Now I need to do this on the next playthrough.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Hmm.

Hm~mm!

Hmm.

Oh-HOH!


e. by the way, "caestus" is pronounced "KEST-us". Hard C, rhymes with Estus!

Mazed fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Jan 13, 2016

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


RickVoid posted:

Just as an FYI, since you mentioned the weapon but hadn't used it, I once tried to do a punch run of the game, using the Caestus. The base damage is bad, the scaling is bad, I don't recall it doing much to stagger, and you have to be up in the enemies grill to use it. Just really bad all around.

It's kind of fun to buff fists with the various "_____ weapon" spells, but the same is true for every other weapon. At least there's one other gimmicky fist weapon in the game that's kinda fun. I once managed to KO a black dragon with it. The way that went down looks a whole lot different in my imagination than how it looked in actual gameplay, though. :v:

Chalk up another thing that the sequel happily improved upon, though. They really capitalized on the addition of a special stance for dual-wielding to make those things work.

My only complaint about the DS2 caestus is that the custom backstab animation isn't a German suplex.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


I like that nice little hub that Andre's shop forms. While Firelink is supposed to be your "hub", it's a sad, lonely spot where the only semi-permanent residents are miserable jerks, save perhaps Laurentius, and everywhere you can go is from there is spooky and depressing. Here, we're in a nice little spot of nature, with a stroll in the woods not far, an adventurer's playground standing prominently before the bonfire, and a piece of the culture-that-was just over the way you came. Plus Andre, who's just a super nice guy...even if he won't sell you the Balder sword + shield CLEARLY visible on the rack behind him.

It's a little place where, if this game had music in all areas, you'd figure there'd be a Nier-esque acoustic riff playing. Something to chill you down.

7c Nickel posted:

Here's my most recent guy, creepy priest Penitentes.


Do not worry child. I am a holy man.

Almost forgot, the Gauntlets of Thorns have a hidden modifier that boosts unarmed damage a little. Always pick those up.

It's also neat that every thorn armor piece makes your rolling into an attack, even just a weak one. It's enough to mess with anything without good poise.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Alright, so the second gargoyle lacks a tail, and that much is immediately obvious. But, I never noticed before that one of it's wings is all shredded.

Given that the first one is hale and hearty but the second joins the fight at half health, that would make sense. :v:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


I swear, Oswald is the single most effective jump-scare in this entire game.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


So, Vince of Thorolund illustrates one of the biggest issues I've got with the art direction in Souls games.

Everybody's heads are just so very tiny!!

Granted, he's wearing fat armor, but that's why he emphasizes it especially.

To lay it out: In real life, most people are about 5-6 head-lengths tall. In fantasy art, comic books, etc., people tend to be drawn around 7-8 heads tall to emphasize a "heroic" physique, unless they're supposed to be unusually short or huge, with head-lengths adjusted to suit.

Dark Souls characters are roughly 10 heads tall. Unless, of course, you use the "Top Heavy" physique option, which puts them closer to the 7-8 head range, and which, because I cannot un-see any of this, is the only option I can ever bring myself to use. The Tiny Head option, by extension, is the true comedy choice.

The most likely reason that they went with this is that, firstly, most of the time you're only seeing your character from the back and, secondly, you're likely to be going fully armored, helm included, and the additional size added by the helm gives the appearance of the "heroic" physique that audiences are used to seeing.

In any playthrough of Dark Souls I've watched, nobody has ever once commented upon this, but there you go. :psyduck: Now you know, and can't un-see it either.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


The onion set is something remarkably special in itself.

They brought it back for Dark Souls II and made it easier to get with the DLC; it better drat well show up again in Dark Souls III.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Fromsoft's main English VA company appears to be Liquid Violet, who also did, among other things, Bioshock Infinite, Spec Ops: The Line, and Borderlands 2. All those games had pretty excellent voicework.

If I had to name a favorite performance for this series outright, it'd be Hannah John-Kamen's Shalquoir. She'll be appearing here later as Ciaran in the DLC, but she really dives into it for our cat pal in Dark Souls II.

e. and that reminds me, another amazing voice in Dark Souls would be our other feline acquaintance, the yet-to-be-met Alvina. Hoo boy, the words she drops on us.

Mazed fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Feb 14, 2016

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


To this day, I have to wonder.

I knew about curses in advance, thanks to the first review for this game that I ever read, which went so far as to describe precisely where and how it happens. I didn't think much of the spoiler at the time, as I hadn't yet decided I'd try this game.

If I hadn't known, would it have been a game-defining moment of sheer bloody-eyed fortitude in pressing on after inevitably falling victim, or would it have been an unexpected, seemingly wildly unfair setback that would've broken me?

I don't know. I'll never know. My pre-Souls self is another lifetime, as if this game burned me to the ground and something far more maniacally stubborn emerged from the ashes. :black101:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


The sensation of absolute dread that the lighting change past the mighty gate brings is one of those singularly savory moments of each Dark Souls playthrough.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Golbez posted:

Finally grabbed a controller and am running through this again on a clean character. The combination of knowing the game, plus having a sane control method, makes me feel like a tiny Lordran god. I now see the appeal behind light, highly mobile builds, since movement is so much easier, as opposed to my (still preferred) tank-with-black-knight-sword build.

It's been said that there comes a point in every Dark Souls player's experience where everything that was inhumanly impossible earlier can now get completely styled on by a naked level 1 jackass doing somersaults and shooting fireballs. Brings a joyful tear to your eye.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


I genuinely love Blighttown.

It wasn't this way at first, but it grew on me. The reason being: Once you've done a good many playthroughs, not much of the game can mess you up. Certainly everything we've seen so far, once memorized, is a cakewalk. But, Blighttown defies easy memorization, as Vicas points out. The path is so convoluted and the visuals are so busy that navigation is a matter of connecting landmarks to one another rather than following clear paths. Furthermore, the footing is so treacherous that it's going to put your playstyle to the test no matter how you're doing things. Simply put, it's one of the few places in the game that retains some of the tension of a first-time playthrough.

Furthermore, the atmosphere is so thick, and so very rich. It is not "fantasy." It's more like surreal horror than anything else, this maze of scaffolding, strewn with wooden frame-structures that resemble eerie totems, the viscous growls of pale, bloated horrors concealed by the oppressive darkness. As if the footing, dangerous opponents, and misdirection wasn't bad enough, the tension is going to put you even more over the edge.

Now, there's a caveat: The framerate. I was lucky enough to be playing on a PC using DSFix to mitigate the worst of those issues on my first time, but if you're on a console or you haven't picked up the patch (which isn't an official one, therefore easy to miss), the stuttering can totally take you out of the moment and turn a tense challenge into a wrestling match with shoddy technology, and that's enough to be a deal-breaker for lots of people.

Other than that though, Blighttown is good. Great, even. On quick runs I might use the back entrance early to grab a few things from the swamp that I may want for the whole game, but I can never bring myself to skip the rest of it. It feels almost impolite not to let it take a shot at you.


All that said: If you've played Demon's Souls, you've been to the Valley of Defilement. Blighttown is sugar and rainbows compared to 5-2.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


PvP in Dark Souls is basically just dickery one-upsmanship anyway, but it takes a special kind of viciousness to invade in Blighttown.

Which is why it is the best invasion spot ever.

I remember the first time it happened to me; it was some naked dude with no weapon and some kind of hosed up dragon head that I had no idea what to make of. I panicked, got myself turned around, and then he breathed fire on me and I died.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Grizlor posted:

You arrive at Firelink fresh off the turnip truck and you're like "ok, grass, ruins, friendly-ish NPcs, this is a cool ancient land" and immediately you have to go to a dilapidated town, then a ruined church. Then you get lower undead burg being even more messed up than upper, followed by a what else but a sewer level. Finally you feel pretty good for beating the gaping dragon, forget what game you're playing, and think "How much worse can it be from here?" The answer is a lot.

I love this. That ever-escalating sense of, "you've gotta be making GBS threads me."

So you get to Blighttown, and eventually you deal with it, right? You go to do the thing you came for, but happen to glance out over the rail, and then, and then, and. THEN.

"Oh, good. Next level is Literally Hell."

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Cool ninja sword, cool ninja suit, a very nice pyromancy spell, a very nice shield, a joke weapon. These are your tangible rewards for traversing upper Blighttown. But stomping the poo poo out of those snipers and their ghouly pals in their own backyard is the greater achievement.

The swamp, in comparison, is just a big happy romp of free titanite and some nice gear.

The real treasure, the really awesome thing now, that's in the other section of upper Blighttown. You never forget that place. :unsmigghh:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


The Wanderer set that you grabbed might be one of the best in the game when it comes to protection value for weight. It's a really good choice for fast melee builds (not to mention stylish).

As for the mosquitos, you CAN get them to stop spawning after shooting them down five or six times apiece. There are, likewise, some five or six spawn points for them across the swamp, and they spawn in pairs. You'll know you've actually eliminated a spawn when their body ragdolls around on the ground instead of disappearing.

I've taken to just unhurriedly plucking them all off with a bow before going to loot the swamp, and once you've gotten all the loot, you'll rarely need to worry about the bugs again.


This art demonstrates something that the way they render them in-game doesn't make so apparent.

The wobbly, vestigial heads of these cragspiders (as they're called) look like the head of Ceaseless Discharge. Really creepy, awesome detail.

Mazed fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Feb 27, 2016

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Probably not. It seems like that mainly happens with larger enemies so that their ragdolls don't crowd the place, with some strange exceptions like the stone knights in Darkroot. Though, the Black Knights might specifically do that, in addition to having a distinct hissing sound effect when hit, because they're actually ghosts.

On another note: That sword that Vicas grabbed, the "server", is based on the ancient Chinese ram dao sword, not so much a weapon as a tool to sever the heads of sacrificial animals, so the description it has is quite apt. It's also possible that the name was intended to be "severer" (which sounds so much radder) but the translation was botched.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


I look forward to Sen's Fortress because it is basically the best dungeon ever but I'll cheerfully settle for a spooky skeleton adventure, because that's also a pretty excellent dungeon, gently caress the haters. :skeltal:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Choosing to forge ahead past the second bell and seeing the vast expanse of the Demon Ruins, the distant columns, that colossal writhing thing beyond a far cliff, and (most subtly, yet perfectly) the low, ritualistic chanting of the egg bearers accompanying the reveal was one of those...moments.

Like, stop and stare for five minutes thinking about what this game is going to throw at you.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Paracelsus posted:

Sadly, this doesn't spread the infection.

This is such a missed opportunity.


So something anecdotal here, not related to current progress: There's a gaming bar in town, and I was there for a friend's birthday. Copious drinking and Dark Souls mix well, so I took the opportunity to go bumbling around in it for a live audience.

But one thing I ended up stumbling into demonstrating is that it's actually impossible to gently caress yourself over in this game if you keep an open mind on where you're going to go next. After taking the Master Key, making the Great Hollow my first destination, and ending up cursed by basilisks, a roundabout route through Darkroot Basin was the only way I could get to the Parish because the bridge dragon one-shotted me every time. So a Havel's Ring (and multiple Dragon Tooth-inflicted laughter-eliciting deaths) later I was in the back door past Andre's place to get the key to get to the lower Burg to buy a Purging Stone from the nice lady and only THEN to the Parish (but properly) to immediately get invaded by a dude in Havel's armor wielding a flaming zweihander whom I managed to evade long enough to show everyone the Channeler's rockin' dance moves.

Now everyone wants to play the game, because every single YOU DIED is a matter of comedy if you look at it right, and because of the aforementioned pointed demonstration that the difficulty is never insurmountable if you've got the right attitude.

And one thing I liked: a guy just watching who hadn't done much gaming in years said it felt like a true successor to the very first Legend of Zelda. Which if you think about it, it's basically the exact same style. Wander in whatever direction, find neat stuff, die a lot, and relax because there's no wrong way to play.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Getting the Crest Shield is important because it helps complete the iconic promo-art look. Elite Knight Armor, Astora Straight Sword, Crest Shield. A basic yet fundamental Fashion Souls achievement.

I have to comment on Frampt's rather amazing design. When you imagine "Primordial Serpent", you picture something that ought to be majestic, but what instead you get is equal parts awkward and unsettling. No part of him fits together. A distorted humanoid face with a grotesquely large mouth filled with visibly filthy molars and a pair of bizarre, fleshy lobes forming a facsimile of a Fu Manchu mustache, on a stiff, emaciated, impossibly long neck that doesn't even begin to hint at what the rest of this thing's body looks like in the darkness far below. You are instantly put off the second he comes into view; just about every blind LP demonstrates this.

One wonders; did his design start off as part of some sort of hideous goblin enemy, only to be taken and deformed when they needed to fill the role of an exposition-giver at the Shrine? And the fact that he speaks with just a normal voice makes it even more bizarre.

Mazed fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Mar 24, 2016

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Vicas posted:

Personally, I think his unsettling nature is entirely intentional. His entire appearance really hammers in the idea of "Primordial" as "First Draft," ancient and robust, but perhaps lacking the finesse in their creation that later creatures might come to have

Oh yeah, it's freakin' great altogether. And that's a good interpretation.

I'm just picturing the meeting at Fromsoft, when they decided that Priscilla the Crossbreed wasn't going to be the main mission-control NPC like Demon's Souls' Maiden in Black, as was the original plan, "But we still need someone to tell the player what their quest is." "Well, I just doodled this funky goblin dude." "Hey, that could work. Maybe make him huge and his body is just a long neck." "Yeah, yeah! And with those teeth, maybe make it so that the player can feed him?" "Hell yeah, he's the only one you can 'sell' items to!" "Also, eats the player to transport them places." "*finger guns* NAILED IT." <big giant circles drawn around 'FRAMPT' on whiteboard>

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Hooray! :skeltal:

The Catacombs, assuming we keep on going from here, are so great. It's a messy little place that loves to dick you around in multiple ways, full of atmospheric details, and altogether just radiates personality.

Regarding the village as seen from the graveyard: That isn't New Londo, or at least, does not appear to be intended to be. New Londo is inside a massive cavern and bears a sort of self-contained shape, like a secure stronghold that at one point served as an entire functional town. The buildings off the edge of the graveyard have their own layout, and in fact, there's a video of some hack-enabled exploration of it here (This blog goes into a bit about that as well as other notable pieces of distant scenery)

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Jonny Nox posted:

I really love the way the skeletons pat their heads when they assemble themselves

Their sheer personality is one of the reasons that the skeletons in Dark Souls are the best skeletons in any video games (with the possible exception of those in Crypt of the Necrodancer).

Plus the fact that they nimbly hop about, all swashbuckling with their curved swords, I can't help but imagine that they talk like pirates.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


That's a fairly common interpretation. But, the butchers themselves are so deformed and monstrous that they could be anything, really, and hollow-form female undead PCs have much deeper, more gravelly voice clips.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Dark Souls is two for two on skelly-themed bosses being relatively merciful.

Pinwheel is an awesomely creepy entity, with cool music and a bunch of little details which lend some intrigue to the Catacombs themselves. In Dark Souls 2, the Skeleton Lords boss, while less creepy, might be Fromsoft's sincere attempt at humor, with a lot of kooky little things going on, accompanied by music that sounds like it came straight from Halloween Town. But, they're both only tricky if you let yourself get overwhelmed. A calm approach with even moderately good equipment makes them a cakewalk.

As to Pinwheel itself, this piece of fanart is one idea as to what's going on under there. The theorized story goes that he, or rather they, were a family of undead sorcerers, father, mother and child, attempting to resolve their curse using powers related to humanity and bonfires, but succeeded only in fusing themselves together. The corroborating evidence comes from the Firekeepers' Souls items -- masses of humanity fused together to form something which sustains the bonfire itself, and Pinwheel's connection to bonfires is quite apparent given it's possession of the Rite of Kindling.

And here we are, invading Pinwheel's home, a place bearing it's familial iconography on all those statues, populated by subservient necromancers and their silent yet distinctly quirky skeletal constructs. Just like how maybe Quelaag would have eventually cured her sister's ills, maybe Pinwheel would have eventually found a way to reverse it's condition. But, we shall never know, lacking an option to (un)live and let live. :smith:

Golbez posted:

But now you have to make your way back up the Catacombs. And I'm pretty sure I've never, ever had to do that, so... this will be interesting.

Actually not too bad. Take the route near where you find the Darkmoon Seance ring. Just after where you get the Tranquil Walk miracle, the hole drops you back into the room with the second necromancer. It's a short jog back to the first bonfire and the path up to Firelink...emerging from which is a memorably relieving moment, what with how the sunlight is framed as you trudge out of the cold, dark tombs.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


As far as I'm aware, the fused-together family thing is all fan theory, though one that's particularly reasonable (as fan theories go, anyway).

It is outright stated that Pinwheel stole power from Nito.

Puntification posted:

I had been under the impression the fused body thing came from one of the official art books.

I, being an incredible sucker for that kind of merchandise, own all those, and I can't find anything like that in 'em.

Mazed fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Apr 7, 2016

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Sen's Fortress is the love letter to D&D nerds. It's a pure distillation of a Gygaxian hellhole filled with things that unabashedly gently caress you for the sake of loving you, but it's backed by some phenomenal stage design in addition to audio design that not only enhances the atmosphere, but can clue you in to what's coming. It's a playground of dungeon crawl cliches that just works.

That said, the stuff in the tar pit at the beginning is sort of a huge sucker's trap, best saved for late game when you actually have something that uses Demon Titanite and you can just mow through those guys to get it.

Alas for the antisocial El Vámonos, I usually end up killing that guy because he drops a singularly unique helmet and fire/chaos weapons are overrated. :v: But, his whole appearance and workshop setup is pretty hilarious, including the cutscene which makes you think you're in for a boss fight inside that tiny little corridor which may or may not include several skellies behind you.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Lighting torches became not just a neat feature but a driving need of mine in any Dark Souls 2 playthrough. I enjoyed bringing all that bright light to the Gutter! (even though the place might not exactly be up to fire department code.) It's too bad it ended up being more of a novelty than any genuine gameplay advantage.

No worries about the witch set, as it becomes available later in the game anyway. That and it's worth exploring all other Fashion Souls options.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Vnat posted:

Going back a couple of videos, but I feel like it's worth mentioning the trap statues in the Catacombs look kind of like Pinwheel.



Notice how they don't have the Mask of the Father, and the Mask of the Child is approximately stomach level. Oh, and how the spikes shoot out of the mask's eyes and mouth holes.

He mentioned it in the video, I think. Though, the statues deserve recognition anyway, for being such understated yet really unsettling decorations, from the twisted shape to that perfect rusty metal sound effect of the spikes.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


See, on most of my playthroughs, definitely on my first, in any given Souls game, I want to believe that my character is sincerely looking to do good, clinging desperately to their conscience as one of the few things that remain of the life they may have once lived, or maybe what they were missing, if their life had been less than virtuous. It's fuel for the "I'm not going Hollow" motivation.

What I love about these narratives is, it never tries to mess with that in a hamfisted "are YOU the real monster!?" way, nor does it try to vindicate that by presenting some excessive, lurid display of depravity on the part of your adversaries, both of which happen all the time in video games where the player character is clearly meant to be an anti-hero (which are incredibly common).

All it offers is just enough information to understand that whatever is going on here can't be good, but also that this isn't necessarily the reason why it's all so hostile towards you.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


CuwiKhons posted:

That doesn't look like a xanthous crown to me.

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Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


I really dig the Iron Golem's theme. It plays for the Stray Demon too, but it suits the Iron Golem fight tremendously better.

As for the fight, much like Sen's Fortress itself, the methods by which it intends to gently caress you up could not be more obvious or daunting. It makes for a perfectly straightforward challenge that gets much harder if you're nervous, more satisfying if you're bold.

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