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Paracelsus posted:Ash Lake and the Everlasting Dragon say hi. That...is a perfect analogy. You're right. 
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Sep 6, 2014 19:16
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PRL412 posted:That...is a perfect analogy. You're right.
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Sep 6, 2014 20:25
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If you ask me, the Black Gulch is kind of a pointless area. It's pretty much just a long corridor that leads to The Rotten; I would dislike it less if they'd made it bigger and thinned out the population of those goddamn poison dart statues. As it is, I kind of wonder why they put it in the game at all, given how little substance it has.
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Sep 7, 2014 02:24
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Being bigger would make it terrible. It works wonderfully as the confusing and stressful clusterfuck it is.
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Sep 7, 2014 02:32
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The Rotten is one of my issues with this game; it's like they ran out of ideas and started recycling bosses. That's what, a third one? Norstein, Ratsif, and Ditto? edit: Of course, we haven't seen the most offensive area yet. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Sep 7, 2014 |
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Sep 7, 2014 10:48
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Well at least the Rotten has one thing going for him. The cage on his head kind of looks like an Catarina helmet. Kind of.
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Sep 7, 2014 13:12
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anilEhilated posted:The Rotten is one of my issues with this game; it's like they ran out of ideas and started recycling bosses. That's what, a third one? Norstein, Ratsif, and Ditto? Uhhh... Ornstein okay. He has no place in this game, really. But Rat Authority and Sif are completely different. They are similar in the same way Iron Golem from the first game and Smelter Demon are similar. They are big, have two legs are armored and have a big weapon. Their moveset and overall look is completely different, though. What few similarities they have are due to them both being big and humanoid. Sif and Rat Authority are both big canines but fight in different ways. Which is why I think calling it a recycled boss fight is unfair. One of my biggest complaints about Dark Souls II is the boss designs. To be more specific: The fact that theres a lot of big dudes with huge weapons. Those two hardly belong in that category and are very different from whatever they are supposed to be recycled from. Later on there is some blatant and lazy recycling going on. In the main game, of course, but there's even an example in the DLC where they take one of my least favorite bosses and amp up the ability that makes me dislike him. Speaking of the DLC: In each of them there's at least one area that's supposed to be done in co-op (though, in the second DLC pack there's one I'll want to do alone). We're still a far ways from that but I was thinking of summoning people from the thread for that. I'll do it on PS3 and PC probably. The nice thing about that is that you don't even need to own the DLC to be summoned for those areas. Anyway, I'll let you know once I record the footage for that. It'll be a little while, though. IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Sep 7, 2014 |
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Sep 7, 2014 14:22
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I have a NG++ toon that I'd love to bring if you want to show off the DLC in NG+(++++)
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Sep 7, 2014 14:28
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I've seen Scorpion Lady called a rip-off of Quelaag.
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Sep 7, 2014 14:37
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I meant Nito, yes. Pile of skeletons compared to pile of corpses - functionally they may be different but that'd be mostly because Nito was an interesting boss and Rotten just flails at you. I think the difference is how we perceive the bosses; you seem to be more concerned with function while I meant mostly aesthetics and art direction, and in that the whole area down the well was a massive disappointment. I can't help but think they'd be better off with making just one area that'd slowly shift and progress into the Black Gulch. But hey, that's just armchair design.
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Sep 7, 2014 15:26
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anilEhilated posted:I meant Nito, yes. Pile of skeletons compared to pile of corpses - functionally they may be different but that'd be mostly because Nito was an interesting boss and Rotten just flails at you. Rotten is a hell of a lot more aesthetically interesting than Nito. Nito is some skeletons with some black stuff, the rotten is hundreds and hundreds of corpses. And most of them wiggle. And there's one who is giving orders to the Rotten. Also Nito pretty much just flails at you as well.
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Sep 7, 2014 15:30
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Genocyber posted:Rotten is a hell of a lot more aesthetically interesting than Nito. Nito is some skeletons with some black stuff, the rotten is hundreds and hundreds of corpses. And most of them wiggle. And there's one who is giving orders to the Rotten. Pre-Render Nito is a really good design. The mass of skeletons aren't just placed about randomly and his cape thing actually works. Too bad it didn't translate to the game too well. And what's all this hate on the Old Dragornstein?  He's a great tutorial boss, provided you arent horridly overleveled for him.
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Sep 7, 2014 15:37
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Rigged Death Trap posted:Pre-Render Nito is a really good design. The mass of skeletons aren't just placed about randomly and his cape thing actually works. Too bad it didn't translate to the game too well. Yeah that Nito is great. In-game is just kinda bleh. And really silly once you see just the model, since the black shadowey stuff is an effect added after.
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Sep 7, 2014 15:43
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IGgy IGsen posted:Speaking of the DLC: In each of them there's at least one area that's supposed to be done in co-op (though, in the second DLC pack there's one I'll want to do alone). We're still a far ways from that but I was thinking of summoning people from the thread for that. I'll do it on PS3 and PC probably. The nice thing about that is that you don't even need to own the DLC to be summoned for those areas. Anyway, I'll let you know once I record the footage for that. It'll be a little while, though. Say when and I'll be there! I'm on PS3 though cause my desktop isn't great. Stupid North American consoles not getting a season pass...
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Sep 7, 2014 18:07
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Genocyber posted:And really silly once you see just the model, since the black shadowey stuff is an effect added after.
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Sep 7, 2014 18:23
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I like the idea of tying into the previous game in NG+. Little theme reward for coming around for a second pass, and all that.
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Sep 10, 2014 17:40
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 Another set of PvP areas belonging to one covenant. While these areas are strictly optional there are reasons for you to go there even if you don't wanna do PvP. Oh, I mentioned offline invasions. Those only happen in Belfry Sol to my knowledge, never happened to me in Belfry Luna. Also: I mention Offline phantoms in both areas but I think it's actually only in Belfry Sol. I've never had an NPC phantom appear in Belfry Luna. But it's not a guaranteed spawn anyway so I might have been unlucky whenver ging through the area offline. (UPDATE: It does appear in both areas)   The Skeleton Lord everything together with the hexer's hood. Because the crown looks kinda eh in my opinion. Revisiting twinblades here. I do regret that I did not switch to a different twinblade-type weapon thow. the Red Iron one seems like it could be a good one. I may still try that out at a later time. We're also heavy on buffing this time around. I'm not entirely sure if Sacred Oath cancels weapon buffs or just other generic buffs, to be honest. But it wouldn't surprise me if it did both.  Belfry Gargoyles  Let's take two steps back first: In Demon's Souls there was a late game boss called the Maneater. Once you got him down to a certain level of health or enough time had passed a second one would appear to wreck your poo poo. Just when you thought the game would go easy on you it flipped you the finger. In Dark Souls early on you'd find a Gargoyle on the roof of a church guarding the Bell of Awakening. Once damaged enough a second one would appear and the game had you know it doesn't gently caress around. The fight was also very different from the Maneaters mainly due to the fact that the arena was a lot more spacious and safer. Now, when Dark Souls II pits you against a total of five of them it's not really surprising anymore. Sadly the makers of this game decided that making you fight more of one thing at the same time creates an interesting kind of challenge instead of just making things take a lot longer. You start against two gargoyles. Once you damaged them enough a third and eventually a fourth and fifth one appears. You can manipulate this to some extent and that's about the only part of the fight where strategy aside from "kite them until you get an opportunity to hit" comes in. Mostly because it turns into "kite them until you get an opportunity to hit the one you hit before and not one of the others" because new gargoyles spawn by total amount of damage done to the boss' shared health bar. If you attack only one Gargoyle the next one will spawn once that one's at about half health. You don't really want to use AoE attacks or just attack them all because that'll only mean you have to fight more of them at the same time and that's kind of what you want to avoid to keep the playing field less crowded. This boss fight is kind of a missed opportunity. They had a chance of one-upping the Gargoyle boss fight from Dark Souls in some meaningful way. But instead added just more of the same. Something as simple as changing the arena up in some fashion. Adding obstacles that can be used strategically, or maybe just use an entirely different enemy type so you don't see it coming. How about fighting a duo of demonic Tigers or something only for a third one to hop into the fray once you deal enough damage? Anything. Really. This took me 12 or so minutes on NG++ with the build I was using but It's my own fault for doing that I guess. If you gotta pick a weapon it should have long range and hit hard. A halberd-type seems like a good choice here. Oh yeah, they have attacks too. They swing and thrust with their spear, they fly up and swoop at you. Once at half health a gargoyle may breathe fire, either standing on the ground or flying in the air. Boss Weapons Soul of the Gargoyle of the Lost Bastille. The elaborate stone statue on the belfry mysteriously came to life. Gargoyle Bident  Moveset/Weapon Class: Spear Physical Damage (+0/+5): 100/260 Scales with: STR (C-B) Requirements: 15 STR, 25 DEX Damage Type: Thrust In-Game Description: A two-pronged spear that imitates a weapon mentioned in an ancient text. Gargoyles are said to guard castles and forts from ill fortune, and they have appeared in many forms in all the great lands throughout history. Some of them are so meticulously crafted that they look as if they might come to life. Item Descriptions Pyromancy: Immolation A pyromancy that creates a coating of flame, allowing the caster to incinerate nearby foes. Needless to say, this is a perilous spell that burns the caster while active. If a person is truly desirous of something, perhaps being set on fire does not seem so bad. Black Knight Greatsword Dark Souls II: Greatsword wielded by knights who served a lord of light in a long-forgotten age. Even after their flesh was charred by flame, they remained as strong as ever, and stood watch, challenging visitors to their land. Dark Souls: Greatsword of the black knights who wander Lordran. Used to face chaos demons. The large motion that puts the weight of the body into the attack reflects the great size of their adversaries long ago. Note: In Dark Souls it's just called the Black Knight Sword and looks slightly different but they are supposed to be the same weapon. It's odd that the one in Dark Souls II deals fire damage, seeing as the sword was used against Chaos Demons, many of which were empowered by fire. Maybe this one has been tainted by them, or changed over time. Blue Tearstone Ring Dark Souls II: A ring set with a rare tearstone. Reacts when the wearer is in danger, temporarily increasing its wearer's physical defense. Caitha, goddess of tears, mourns those who have lost loved ones by shedding pure tears of blue. It is said that the stone set in this ring is one such tear Dark Souls: The rare gem called tearstone has the uncanny ability to sense imminent death. This blue tearstone from Catarina boosts the defence of its wearer when in danger. Southern Ritual Band One of the secret treasures restored in Aldia. Raises the number of spells you may attune. This modest-looking ring contains very powerful magic. To imagine what unspeakable deeds were performed to create such rings, one need only recall the cruel fate of the resident of Aldia. Bastille Key Long ago, a bastille lord, driven to desperation by the rapid spread of curse across the land, began to see each subject as a carrier of the blight, and locked them away in droves. This entire bastille was turned into a prison, and left abandoned to rot its prisoners. IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 22:30
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I prefer the Gargoyles here to Dks. In Dks they were a joke since you could easily finish off the first before the second could come out, and even if you didn't it wasn't hard to manage them. Adding more is a good way of increasing the challenge, if not the most interesting way. Not to mention that the Gargoyles fight significantly differently than their Dks counterparts.
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Sep 12, 2014 22:35
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Both belfries have red phantom bell keepers that invade if you're offline.
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Sep 12, 2014 22:40
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Man, Belfry Luna was FULL TO BURSTING of little corpses. I severely wonder if there's a reason for that.
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Sep 16, 2014 18:08
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Veyrall posted:Man, Belfry Luna was FULL TO BURSTING of little corpses. I severely wonder if there's a reason for that. I don't think they are corpses. They are supposed to be dolls and what we see on the pile are parts of them. It's just that only one of them seems to be animated. It kinda explains why the one in Sol and Luna are carbon copies with a little word-replace going on. Kinda.
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Sep 16, 2014 20:25
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IGgy IGsen posted:I don't think they are corpses. They are supposed to be dolls and what we see on the pile are parts of them. It's just that only one of them seems to be animated. It kinda explains why the one in Sol and Luna are carbon copies with a little word-replace going on. Kinda. You're forgetting all the ones you fight in the Belfries.
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Sep 16, 2014 20:35
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Oh yeah, right. Those exist too. I keep forgetting them because they are bellkeeper phantoms and thus totally don't count (they do).
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Sep 16, 2014 20:52
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Genocyber posted:You're forgetting all the ones you fight in the Belfries. For each and every bell that rings/the pile gains another few things.
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Sep 16, 2014 20:53
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  Sinner's Rise is the home to the third Old One we need to steal the soul from so we can go to some castle later. Like with every Old One so far there's a little Lore video for people who're not that familiar with the relevant Lore of the first game. The area itself mostly consists of a long corridor filled with water. It's not nearly as annoying to play through as Black Gulch so despite being about the same length it feels much shorter. Lost Sinner  The Lost Sinner, while bigger than a player character can be, is relatively unassuming. She's about as big as other bosses which were slightly bigger than humans for effect. If you look closely at her intro cinematic you'll see a small bug crawling around on her face and into her eye. Most people believe that this bug is the actual Lost Sinner who's merely possesing a body. This is because one of the first game's most infamous bosses, The Bed of Chaos, is a bug at the center of a much bigger boss creature. The Old Witch's Soul we get for defeating the Lost Sinner on New Game+ is most likely related to that boss from the first game. As for fighting the Lost Sinner: It's mostly a question of whether you can time your dodges right. Blocking gets punished but not quite as much as it used to because in the early versions she was stronger and possibly faster to jump around and attack again. That or I just really sucked at fighting her at first because she beat me up good a couple times. Now I find her easy. She just has a variety of different swings you can dodge easily enough if you learned to dodge properly. She can also do a jump attack, which is probably the closest to a "trick" she has but otherwise it's really straightforward. Until you go to New Game+. Now, you can Ascetic the Bonfire and you'll still get the extra Boss Soul but only on an actual New Game+ you'll have to deal with two more red phantom enemies in the arena. They'll appear after a while and come out of holes in the wall and both of them will use pyromancy. They force you to be on the move a lot more and choose your time to attack wisely. I like to take it really safe by bringing some relatively high damage ranged weapon to deal with them more easily as an opportunity arises but you can be a little more aggressive than me in the video if you're feeling confident. You also don't need to use ranged weapons like I do. Hell, you don't even need to focus on them exclusively and only fight the Sinner again after they are dead, although that makes the whole thing much easier. If you want to see someone better than me take the sinner watch this. But if you care about spoilers turn annotations off because the player does this thing where they link to another video where they fight a boss basically the same way. Lost Sinner's Soul Soul of the Lost Sinner, prisoner of Sinner's Rise. The Lost Sinner eternally punishes herself for the sins of her past. Note: According to dialogue you get from Shalquoir some time after beating the Sinner (it doesn't always trigger immediately afterwards, it seems) she is there for attempting to light the first flame. She voluntarily imprisons herself. I forgot this part when making the Lore video. It's a detail though and you'll know when it's relevant. Lost Sinner's Sword  Trade Soul with: Ornifex Moveset/Weapon Class: Ultra Greatsword Physical Damage (+0/+5): 184/460 Scales with: STR (D/C), DEX (D) Requirements: 24 STR, 18 DEX Damage Type: Slash, Thrust Note: Attacks will also damage the wielder. In-Game Description: An ultra greatsword forged from the soul of the Lost Sinner. It's blade saps the life of its wielder. The true nature of this sword is unknown, even to the Lost Sinner herself. Those who choose this sword will share the burden of the Lost Sinner's misdeeds." Effect: attacks damage wielder Old Witch's Soul Soul of the ineffable. This once magnificent soul continues to exert influence over the land, even after the eons have reduced it to these remnants Chaos Blade  Trade Souls with: Ornifex Moveset/Weapon Class: Katana Physical Damage (+0/+5): 106/205 Scales with: DEX (B/A/S) Requirements: 12 STR, 25 DEX Damage Type: Slash, Thrust Note: Attacks will also damage the wielder. In-Game Description: Dark Souls II: A Katana of unknown origin. Damage to foes also damages its owner. The peculiar pattern upon the blade suggests the sinister nature of this cursed blade. It is an alluring vortex and a lonely soul Dark Souls: A curved sword born from the soul of Quelaag, daughter of the Witch of Izalith, who was transformed into a chaos demon. This blade inherits only the chaotic nature of Quelaag, and has a unique speckled design. Blade wielder erodes along with opponents. Note: Quelaag was a Boss who "guarded" one of the two bells of awakening. She didn't actually care to defend the bell as much as using it as a means of attracting people who want to ring it to kill them and harvest their humanity. Which in turn she'd give to her deathly ill sister who needs it to survive. Flame Weapon  Trade Soul with: Straid Magic Type: Pyromancy Requirements: - Description: A weapon buff. Sets weapon on fire and, of course, adds fire damage to the weapon. In-Game Description: Pyromancy that imbues weapon in other hand with fire. Adds fire damage to the types of damage the weapon already inflicts. Pyromancy and sorcery are said to be like oil and water, but in fact their origins can be traced to a common source Item Descriptions Northern Ritual Band One of the secret treasures restored in Aldia. Increases spell uses, but at the cost of HP. This modest-looking ring contains very powerful magic. To imagine what unspeakable deeds were performed to create such rings, one need only recall the cruel fate of the residents of Aldia.
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Sep 19, 2014 20:12
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Fun videos, although I do think myself and other people found the Lost Sinner pretty hard the first time especially as it seems like most people come here for their first big soul. I'm also impressed you took down the bed of Chaos without falling in a hole.
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Sep 20, 2014 12:55
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Migeman posted:Fun videos, although I do think myself and other people found the Lost Sinner pretty hard the first time especially as it seems like most people come here for their first big soul. I'm also impressed you took down the bed of Chaos without falling in a hole. It's not so much the Lost Sinner her self as it is getting to her. The Bastille and Sinner's rise are probably the second hardest to get through out of all the Old ones.
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Sep 20, 2014 14:07
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Rigged Death Trap posted:It's not so much the Lost Sinner her self as it is getting to her. I think it's easily the easiest with how there's multiple paths to getting to Lost Sinner and the enemies being the weakest. edit: Lost Sinner is also a good lesson for the future of most humanoid fights is to circle strafe to your right and most of her attacks will miss or glance at your shield. Tae fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Sep 20, 2014 |
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Sep 20, 2014 14:15
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I just lured the enemies to the elevator and send them back up. When they wanted to get down, they fell into the water and died. 
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Sep 20, 2014 14:24
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Tae posted:I think it's easily the easiest with how there's multiple paths to getting to Lost Sinner and the enemies being the weakest. They do balance that with quantity though. And It's a lot harder if you dont know the Sentinels are skippable. Or it might just be the one I had the (2nd)hardest time with.
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Sep 20, 2014 14:34
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I think out of multi-enemy bosses, the Ruin Sentinels are the 2nd easiest because it starts out with just 1 guy that doesn't get back-up for ever, so it's effectively two enemies after a short while. All their attacks have wind-up, and there's a very nearby distraction in a NPC near the fog gate. The only area I would arguably say is easier is path to the Rotten, but you're basically running through the area, need a large start-up fund in the Silvercat ring, and learn the layout of the all the poison poo poo between the pit and the Rotten. Stat-wise it's the easiest but easily the hardest for a new player.
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Sep 20, 2014 14:40
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I feel like the sinner works as a first soul, but if you've got one of the others you're probably pretty powerful. She falls part pretty quickly and none of the attacks are that difficult. The run up is pretty difficult, especially if you don't know how to just avoid all the enemies, and its probably actually harder than the boss. It seems like it's supposed to be that way too, given that's one of the earliest branches, and it's different in that it's the one without bone dust. If you go there later once you're a bit geared up and better at the game, you steamroll her pretty hard. I actually quite like the pyromancers, because they give the fight a bit of difficulty. Even in ng+, she melts quickly due to low health, and she's not really that difficult to avoid getting hit on. Even if she does hit, it's nowhere near as dangerous as the other soul bosses. None of the four are massively difficult, but I feel like the other three punish mistakes a lot more. The pyromancers just give it the little bit of difficulty to make you stay on your toes that the sinner herself doesn't provide. It's not like the gargoyles or the ruin sentinels where it's just throwing you more copies of the boss to catch you from behind, and they fall apart easily enough when you focus on them. The first time through might well be before you've got a decent weapon or shield, before you've got your iframes high and for first time players before you've really got a handle on the lock-on and circling things to take her down. NG+ needed something, and it was either change the way she fights or add something else into the arena to raise the threat a little.
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Sep 20, 2014 15:32
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MooCowlian posted:and it's different in that it's the one without bone dust. There actually is bone dust. What's different is that you get it before the fight, not after. I think they expect you to go to the Shaded Woods much earlier than most people go there, because the chest after the boss contains a Branch of Yore which you need to get there. While you could just run past that chest it is essentially unmissable and the first Branch of Yore that isn't somewhere out of the way. Except maybe the one at the end of the Gutter. Basically there is at least one Branch on every path.
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Sep 20, 2014 16:08
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Migeman posted:Fun videos, although I do think myself and other people found the Lost Sinner pretty hard the first time especially as it seems like most people come here for their first big soul. I'm also impressed you took down the bed of Chaos without falling in a hole. Lost Sinner also got nerfed to oblivion with the patch that came with the PC release. Way less HP and less damage. The pyromancers in ng+ also got a significant hp and damage nerf.
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Sep 20, 2014 16:19
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About messages, most I see are either variations of "Praise the Sun!" or puns like "Stab but hole", Demons Souls had an item called Sticky White Stuff and you usually saw the message "Try Sticky White Stuff" hovering around the female NPC's in the Nexus.
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Sep 20, 2014 16:34
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Genocyber posted:Lost Sinner also got nerfed to oblivion with the patch that came with the PC release. Way less HP and less damage. The pyromancers in ng+ also got a significant hp and damage nerf. I did play on release on PS3 I suppose that's maybe why I found it difficult.
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Sep 20, 2014 17:04
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Judge Tesla posted:About messages, most I see are either variations of "Praise the Sun!" or puns like "Stab but hole", Demons Souls had an item called Sticky White Stuff and you usually saw the message "Try Sticky White Stuff" hovering around the female NPC's in the Nexus. Predicting the exact nature of the messages you find around the female NPCs becomes kind of a game in itself.
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Sep 20, 2014 17:35
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Migeman posted:I did play on release on PS3 I suppose that's maybe why I found it difficult. It used to be that each of her hits easily took off more than 1 sip of Estus, maybe 2 depending on how early you got there and which attack she used. The high damage meant that she would often negate a poorly timed heal, if not kill you outright. If you didn't light the oil pits (easily missed because you didn't use/have a pharros lockstone, and never found the Bastille key past the gargoyles), you had to choose when to heal even more carefully. She only had a couple moves that she couldn't recover from immediately.
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Sep 20, 2014 19:47
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KieranWalker posted:Predicting the exact nature of the messages you find around the female NPCs becomes kind of a game in itself. Amazing chest ahead!
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Sep 20, 2014 20:19
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IGgy IGsen posted:There actually is bone dust. What's different is that you get it before the fight, not after. I think the intended use for the stinky stick after the sinner is Straid.
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Sep 20, 2014 20:30
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