Dark Souls II Catch-All

Nice timing! I've mentioned in a couple other threads that I'm playing DS2 again, but not this one!

I played DS2 on release, when Souls games are best, and it was great! However, I never played the DLC. When SotFS came out on Xbox One, I decided to grab this up-rezzed remix and play the whole game again plus the DLC. The funny thing is that I did replay the game pretty much in one go, but got disheartened (crestfallen, perhaps?) early in the first DLC and put it down. I've made a few attempts to get back into it, but apparently only now, during the pandemic, have I found the fortitude to press on.

Today, I finished the Crown of the Sunken King! Just two more DLCs to go!

I also need to beat the two DLCs for DS3 to "complete" all FROM Soulsbourne content, plus I'm a boss away from platinum on Bloodborne.

It would be extra keen if I can finish this DS2 DLC before May 12, when the new Apex Legends season drops.

I haven't been able to get into Bloodborne. I've tried a couple of times, but it just hasn't clicked for me. Maybe I'll give it one more shot (!) if I manage to finish DS2.

merphle wrote:

I haven't been able to get into Bloodborne. I've tried a couple of times, but it just hasn't clicked for me. Maybe I'll give it one more shot (!) if I manage to finish DS2.

It is so choice.

Still making progress. I'm alternating between playing Dark Souls 2 and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey -- which, for the record, I don't recommend doing, since the controller configuration is very similar, but the gameplay/tactics are not. Once I remembered to keep my cool during boss fights, and not just rush in and spam attack, it got a lot more manageable. I'm level ~100 now, have lit 2 of the Primal Bonfires, and am working my way through Huntsman's Copse.

Also f Black Gulch. Thankfully it's pretty short, but I forgot there was a statue before the second bonfire, and I was all out of branches.

Wait... you made level 100 before the end game? Are you on NG+?

Taharka wrote:

Wait... you made level 100 before the end game? Are you on NG+?

I made it to 150 on my SotFS playthrough without finishing the game or starting the DLC. Went to 150 since that was the PVP meta for DS2.

Taharka wrote:

Wait... you made level 100 before the end game? Are you on NG+?

Yeah, easily - and not NG+. Haven't even popped any boss souls; I've been trading all of them for uniques. Plenty of souls available in the game.

I really need to do another DS2 scholar run. I agree. 150 at DLC is pretty typical from my last run. Even then sections are still brutal. Good luck with Fishmans, that one ate me alive. It is both nice and depressing when you start seeing enemies disappear due to tries. Truly adds to the meaning of going hollow.

I think when you've already played one of these games before, like with my SotFS character, you just don't lose souls nearly as much. Plus I'm less precious with items that give souls.

I think also levelling in DS2 is a bit faster than in DS1 or 3; typical end-boss level for DS1 and 3 is in the 70-100 range, but it looks like DS2 is generally in the 100-120 range.

I recall powerleveling off of Iron King by doing the boss fight again and again. I hated that Turtle invader.

I feel like I finished the game around 80 or so, but that was vanilla.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I feel like I finished the game around 80 or so, but that was vanilla.

Mine felt like rocky road.

Hobear wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I feel like I finished the game around 80 or so, but that was vanilla.

Mine felt like rocky road.

I regret that I have but one like to give for this comment.

I'm making a ton of progress in the 2nd DLC. Today I got to a certain notorious boss dude whose UGS a lot of people like to use.

I helped the same guy with maybe five attempts, but then it was so late I had to call it a night.

I went to the crumbling cathedral area fairly early, and killed all the knights until they stopped appearing. They were high-value enemies for me early on, and not difficult to kill.

Those heide knights wrecked me!

Monday night before Apex Legends Season 5 hit, I beat Fume Knight. Haven't done the labyrinth thingy yet, but hopefully when I need a break from Apex I'll finish that off and proceed to the final DLC.

All four Primal Bonfires have been lit, and I've been working my way through the Drangleic Castle - recently defeated the Dragonslayer Knights. I'm definitely in a groove with my current build/loadout, but I might need to find another weapon to boost up, for enemies that have high fire resistance (I'm using the Black Knight Halberd, which has innate fire).

Also, here's Merphle's Handy Guide to Mimics in Dark Souls 2:
1) Start playing Dark Souls 2
2) Swing at every chest just to check if it's a mimic, before opening.
3) Occasionally get hit by a trap, but find no mimics.
4) Wonder if there are even mimics in the game?
5) Swing at yet another chest and see a health bar spontaneously pop up.
6) Wonder where the health bar came from, then realize it's a mimic and start panic-swinging!!!
7) Get eaten by the goddamn mimic.

Hahaha I did the exact same thing. I had finally convinced myself that they didn't have mimics in this one, and then CHOMP. I done got mimicked.

The Smelter Demon in the second DLC's challenge area has temporarily tabled this game for me.

Poisonous pyro mist was my go to to check if the chest was a mimic or not. Maybe it was DS 2 but i thought if you attacked a chest you would turn the loot inside into rubbish?
I wonder if Dung would do the same for non pyro types?

A single hit doesn't seem to break the chest and turn loot into Rubbish - even from an extremely high-damage weapon. I've had a chest break from multiple hits, but that was because of an awkward combat arena.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

The Smelter Demon in the second DLC's challenge area has temporarily tabled this game for me. :lol:

The most sensible thing to do with the challenge areas in the DLC to nope out of there. I hadn't learned my lesson yet at The Iron Passage, so my tactic was just to grit my teeth, and clear out the enemies until they stopped respawning. Then I summoned the NPC:s so they arrived pristine, and could survive holding aggro while I hit him with everything I got.

And then I found out the rewards were not worth the slog and felt very stupid.

This video made me realize two things:

First, I'm not going crazy; SotFS changed a hell of a lot of stuff from what I remembered with my time with vanilla DS2. One tiny example of this from when I was working my way through Drangleic Castle a couple of nights ago; I could've sworn that knights were supposed to leap out of the mirrors, instead of just knight statues "waking up." In fact, I don't think the mirror mechanic was used at all in Drangleic Castle, up until the boss, which is a shame - makes it feel a bit less cohesive vs the original.

Second, I'm finding myself becoming increasingly fond of DS2 as I continue my playthrough. Also, DS2 feels huge compared to DS1.

And as long as we're comparing and contrasting Souls, I'll throw a bombshell out there. I wish they used the torch mechanic even more in DS2. I initially hated it, because it felt like too much of a finite, irreplaceable resource; but where I'm at in the game now, post-Gutter, I have over 2 hours of torch time available. Clearly there's enough to go around. So here's the real core of my bombshell: Bonfires should require a lit torch in hand, to light. Imagine the sense of progression by physically carrying the fire forward from bonfire to bonfire. The tutorial section felt like it was hinting at that, with all of the braziers placed along the way, but then it just kinda fizzled. Yes, this might result in some awkward re-treading of ground if you're playing super conservatively (i.e. clear all the enemies forward until the next brazier, then go back to light your torch, then forward to light that brazier; repeat), but I feel like the sense of progression would be worth it in the end. And you'd still have the Flame Butterflies if you really wanted to cop out from that, I guess.

The torch mechanic felt like a promising hint of a design where dark and light is supposed to play a much more important role both visually and thematically, but the game as released had a lot of unfinished elements.

Yeah DS2 has a huge fever dream of DS1 feeling to it. Like everything feels DS as hell but kind of off. I agree with everything you said. Each one has it's own best part and huge failure. All in all it's all just fun. The torch mechanic could have been used more but also could have become incredibly annoying, glad it didn't stray over the staying past it's welcome line.

It did change a bunch between Scholar and before as I was listening to a podcast as playing through and it was a different game they played vs what I was playing.

If you thought the torch mechanic in this game was interesting but underutilized, give Ashen a spin. It's imperfect, but they really built the game's dungeons around a lantern as your sole source of light. It's agonizing and tense and wonderful.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's agonizing and tense and wonderful.

If you need to get in the mood for this first balance on a ball & board then attempt to open a red wine bottle with a basic cork screw and pour the wine into a glass rotating on a lazy susan which is on a lazy susan. Get some non orbital wine pouring over a white carpet. Just *muah*

Hobear wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's agonizing and tense and wonderful.

If you need to get in the mood for this first balance on a ball & board then attempt to open a red wine bottle with a basic cork screw and pour the wine into a glass rotating on a lazy susan which is on a lazy susan. Get some non orbital wine pouring over a white carpet. Just *muah*

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