# "Your Wings will Burn in Anguish"



## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

This is a tag line from the Dark Souls 2 trailer. I'm very excited for the game, as I've only started playing Dark Souls 1 recently and it has completely drawn me in with the lore and deep gameplay. I'm just past Anor Londo.

Anyone excited for the new game? Discuss. My apologies if this discussion belongs elsewhere. But don't be mad... no one wants to see you go hollow.

Praise the sun!


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Everyone is excited for Dark souls II.

Everyone is also terrified that it might sell out to aim for a wider audience and go the way of Dragon Age II.

We'll find out next month


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Resonance said:


> Everyone is excited for Dark souls II.
> 
> Everyone is also terrified that it might sell out to aim for a wider audience and go the way of Dragon Age II.
> 
> We'll find out next month


A year ago, sure. Now?

- Each time you die you lose a percentage of your max HP up to 50%
- You can be invaded while hollow
- Backstabs can whiff
- You start with a single estus flask
- Enemies around a bonfire will cease to respawn after a certain number of kills, so no more safe farming
- There are wandering miniboss type enemies that will follow you, like the black knights were originally meant to do.
- There's an item that you can throw into a bonfire to increase the difficulty
- Armor has stat requirements
- The only way to turn human again is to use a human effigy and supposedly there are a finite number of them.

So no worries. It's still hardcore. From playing the beta test I can say that in my experience it's harder than the first. Enemies are more reactive and won't hesitate to rush you down if you dare turn your back.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Yeah, it looks brutal in some of the gameplay I've seen so far. I will buy it right away, but I'll probably leave it until after the semester, where it will compete for my attention against a newborn.

But the graphics look updated as well. I'm worried about this game transitioning to next gen, as the spiders in the ps3 games are manageable, but may be too convincing in future sequels. I had to summon Man Eater Mildred and a phantom just to overcome Queelag. I ran like a ------ for most of the fight.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

87wayz said:


> But the graphics look updated as well. I'm worried about this game transitioning to next gen, as the spiders in the ps3 games are manageable, but may be too convincing in future sequels. I had to summon Man Eater Mildred and a phantom just to overcome Queelag. I ran like a ------ for most of the fight.


Mildred always just stood in the lava and died for me lol.

This game is coming out for current gen and shows what a PS4 Souls game may look like:


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

midnightson said:


> Mildred always just stood in the lava and died for me lol.
> 
> This game is coming out for current gen and shows what a PS4 Souls game may look like:


Yes, I was a little underwhelmed by a gameplay feature I saw on that one, but I'm excited for Witcher 3. I'm getting back into RPGs since I've conceded that I always have and will suck at shooters. I get too pissed off with FPS stuff.

I also want Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day for my PS3, which is Suda 51's new joint. I really like No More Heroes 1 and 2, and Killer is Dead. I'm skipping Metal Gear until V comes out officially.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

87wayz said:


> This is a tag line from the Dark Souls 2 trailer. I'm very excited for the game, as I've only started playing Dark Souls 1 recently and it has completely drawn me in with the lore and deep gameplay. I'm just past Anor Londo.
> 
> Anyone excited for the new game? Discuss. My apologies if this discussion belongs elsewhere. But don't be mad... no one wants to see you go hollow.
> 
> Praise the sun!


I'm obsessed with Dark Souls. I played that game to the point of being able to beat every boss without leveling up (the ENB challenge) and I know just about every trick/shortcut/technique/lore in the game. Same with Demon's Souls. Cannot wait for DS2!

Feel free to pm me if you're stuck on something, Anor Londo = maybe 40% through, depending on how many minor bosses you killed on the way.


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## Salvador Dali (Oct 26, 2013)

midnightson said:


> A year ago, sure. Now?
> 
> - Each time you die you lose a percentage of your max HP up to 50%
> - You can be invaded while hollow
> ...


I'm one of those people who's always thought that both Demon's and Dark souls weren't really that hard. I've played more linear games on their highest difficulty settings that have been harder than the souls games, so I'm actually really pleased about these increases in difficulty in Dark Souls 2.

The only one that's got me worried is still being able to get invaded while hollow; I would almost always get invaded literally seconds after turning human in Dark Souls, so I had to play most of the game in hollow form. I guess I'll just play in offline mode in DS 2 if the invasions are too frequent.

This is definitely the most anticipated game being released this year for me, the Witcher 3 comes very close though. :yes


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Salvador Dali said:


> The only one that's got me worried is still being able to get invaded while hollow; I would almost always get invaded literally seconds after turning human in Dark Souls, so I had to play most of the game in hollow form. I guess I'll just play in offline mode in DS 2 if the invasions are too frequent.


I have heard (without bothering to check if this is legit from the devs) that there will be items (consumables with a temporary effect?) to prevent invasions, and that invasions will be more (or entirely?) targeted at players who have sinned (invaded other players, betrayed covenant, attacked NPC's and whatever else counts for sin in DaS2, presumably).


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Gwynevere said:


> I'm obsessed with Dark Souls. I played that game to the point of being able to beat every boss without leveling up (the ENB challenge) and I know just about every trick/shortcut/technique/lore in the game. Same with Demon's Souls. Cannot wait for DS2!
> 
> Feel free to pm me if you're stuck on something, Anor Londo = maybe 40% through, depending on how many minor bosses you killed on the way.


I did Ash Lake today and headed for the Catacombs. I'm far too leveled up - killed Pinwheel with 3 or 4 hits. Thanks for the offer, and I will! Praise the sun!


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## Cheese Sandwich (Feb 7, 2014)

Since I'm here, well... Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are on sale on PS3 and XBL respectively. If I'm looking for a hard game that is _not_ based on trial and error, would anyone recommend those?


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

Cheese Sandwich said:


> Since I'm here, well... Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are on sale on PS3 and XBL respectively. If I'm looking for a hard game that is _not_ based on trial and error, would anyone recommend those?


No, these games are 100% trial and error. The idea is to die over and over and over until you learn the trick.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Gwynevere said:


> No, these games are 100% trial and error. The idea is to die over and over and over until you learn the trick.


Yeah, I'd have to agree as a recent noob myself. But I love how the theme of 'death' is not only a procedural element of the game, but also at the crux of the narrative. Dark Souls is more fun than The Last of Us because it tells a story as an old school game, not a new school movie. But both games are great and challenging.

Maybe you [Cheese Sandwich] should try TLOU.


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

87wayz said:


> I'm far too leveled up - killed Pinwheel with 3 or 4 hits.


Pinwheel always dies in 3 or 4 hits, you can actually kill him super early (like, pre-gargoyles) to have rite of kindling for the whole game. what level are you, out of curiosity? I remember on my first Dark Souls playthrough I got stuck and Smough and Ornstein and spent ages level grinding to beat them, so I was at an insane level (over 100), before I beat the game, whereas now I can comfortably beat the game at level 20 or so...haven't done soul level 1 run yet.



Gwynevere said:


> No, these games are 100% trial and error. The idea is to die over and over and over until you learn the trick.


Crystal Caves :lol


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

Resonance said:


> haven't done soul level 1 run yet.


Not as hard as it sounds at first, you do it as cheaply as possible. I mean you can't make any mistakes because of the low health, but it's not so bad when you've got ring of favor, red tearstone, fire within, and a +15 weapon.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Resonance said:


> Pinwheel always dies in 3 or 4 hits, you can actually kill him super early (like, pre-gargoyles) to have rite of kindling for the whole game. what level are you, out of curiosity? I remember on my first Dark Souls playthrough I got stuck and Smough and Ornstein and spent ages level grinding to beat them, so I was at an insane level (over 100), before I beat the game, whereas now I can comfortably beat the game at level 20 or so...haven't done soul level 1 run yet.
> 
> Crystal Caves :lol


I'm level 79. I thought Ornstein and Smough were rather easy... at least compared to my expectations. I get owned by mushroom parents and giant cats though, even wheel dudes. I've been using a guide to find all the good stuff though, so I'm still a scrub.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Warning: a few gameplay spoilers but nothing major. Sounds good so far!


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

Meh.. I think people in this thread are kind of over-hyping the potential difficulty. The fact that they are essentially bringing back the plants from Demon Souls instead of using flasks, and having the ability to teleport between bonfires as soon as you find them (another game making players lazy with fast travel...) says rather a lot in context. Don't get me wrong, i'm totally stoked for DSII, but i don't think it's going to garner the same difficulty as previous titles, even if Tanimura is trying to convince otherwise when he started getting criticisms for making clear that he was trying to make the game more accessible to more players.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

Kiba said:


> Meh.. I think people in this thread are kind of over-hyping the potential difficulty. The fact that they are essentially bringing back the plants from Demon Souls instead of using flasks, and having the ability to teleport between bonfires as soon as you find them (another game making players lazy with fast travel...) says rather a lot in context. Don't get me wrong, i'm totally stoked for DSII, but i don't think it's going to garner the same difficulty as previous titles, even if Tanimura is trying to convince otherwise when he started getting criticisms for making clear that he was trying to make the game more accessible to more players.


2 things to say
1) you can always make it harder yourself by choosing not to use any healing items(like I did in Dark Souls)
2)fast travel should be in every single game as soon as you discover new areas. There is no excuse to not have it. It is ridiculous to plow through enemies you already know you can beat, and especially when you get far in the game and are killing minor thugs with 1 hit or just running past them. *This is especially true of Dark Souls where the game is based almost entirely on the bosses, after my first play through I never bothered killing minions again, just ran and dodged past them *


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## Dissonance (Dec 27, 2011)

....****

I refuse to be associated with some of the Dark Souls fans here.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Kiba said:


> Meh.. I think people in this thread are kind of over-hyping the potential difficulty. The fact that they are essentially bringing back the plants from Demon Souls instead of using flasks, and having the ability to teleport between bonfires as soon as you find them (another game making players lazy with fast travel...) says rather a lot in context. Don't get me wrong, i'm totally stoked for DSII, but i don't think it's going to garner the same difficulty as previous titles, even if Tanimura is trying to convince otherwise when he started getting criticisms for making clear that he was trying to make the game more accessible to more players.


The healing from the gems is very slow, it's more of a regen item. I can't remember if you could buy them in the beta or not, but they don't drop often.

The teleport thing is kind of annoying, but in both prior games it didn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get to any location. In addition to the sublevels in DeS and warps in DkS both games had shortcuts you could open. I don't think it's going to be a big deal.

One thing I forgot to mention is that attacks no longer track enemies. You can lock on, but when attacking you have to manually aim every time. This makes a big difference, believe me.

The only things I'm still worried about are the "glide running" and lame stagger animations.


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## MuckyMuck (Oct 15, 2013)

Really cant wait for this, basically this and Witcher 3 are the only two games thats i am excited for.
I actually got a few people i know hooked on Dark Souls. Like someone mentioned on here, i played that for a ridiculous amount of time, i know every little nook and cranny.

Playing Demon Souls now, kinda my favorite for the experience i had playing it for the 1st time, yet i miss the online aspect, everyones playing Dark Souls. Plus, playing Demon Souls, its a lot harder than Dark Souls, theres an unbelievable sense of dread and tension just walking around that world.

3 more weeks.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

MuckyMuck said:


> Plus, playing Demon Souls, its a lot harder than Dark Souls


I've always wondered if DeS was actually harder or if it just felt that way because I cared less about exploring. I played to DaS to the point where there was no challenge left, so when I played DeS and actually died, a lot, it felt like it must be super-hard. I never ended up exploring or learning all the shortcuts, and tricks, and weapon locations. Just played through linearly, beat it, and never put it in my console again.


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## Umpalumpa (Jan 26, 2014)

Is this series more of a cut n slash games?

Where are the good old games like gothic 1/2 or might and magic 6/7/8...
Why no company releases such games


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

midnightson said:


> The healing from the gems is very slow, it's more of a regen item. I can't remember if you could buy them in the beta or not, but they don't drop often.
> 
> The teleport thing is kind of annoying, but in both prior games it didn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get to any location. In addition to the sublevels in DeS and warps in DkS both games had shortcuts you could open. I don't think it's going to be a big deal.
> 
> ...


I still think people are looking for any which angle they can to suggest that the game is going to garner some sort of heightened difficulty when one of the primary goals of the developers this time around was to make the game much more accessible to a greater array of players. I'm sure it's still going to have it's moments of intense frustrations, but i just don't see it having the same edge as the previous titles, but i honestly don't think it's going to take away from the game all that much seeing there are things you can do to handicap yourself.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Kiba said:


> I still think people are looking for any which angle they can to suggest that the game is going to garner some sort of heightened difficulty when *one of the primary goals of the developers this time around was to make the game much more accessible to a greater array of players.* I'm sure it's still going to have it's moments of intense frustrations, but i just don't see it having the same edge as the previous titles, but i honestly don't think it's going to take away from the game all that much seeing there are things you can do to handicap yourself.


That had nothing to do with the difficulty. He was talking about the simplifying the weapon upgrade system and including fast travel.

Just look at the changes I've listed and tell me they're trying to nerf the difficulty.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Gwynevere said:


> I've always wondered if DeS was actually harder or if it just felt that way because I cared less about exploring. I played to DaS to the point where there was no challenge left, so when I played DeS and actually died, a lot, it felt like it must be super-hard. I never ended up exploring or learning all the shortcuts, and tricks, and weapon locations. Just played through linearly, beat it, and never put it in my console again.


It's easier just because of grass. At the mid-point you can farm for souls in 4-2, buy 99 new moon grass and never worry about dying again. Also Warding and Second Chance were OP.


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

midnightson said:


> That had nothing to do with the difficulty. He was talking about the simplifying the weapon upgrade system and including fast travel.
> 
> Just look at the changes I've listed and tell me they're trying to nerf the difficulty.


None of that means anything if they optimized difficulty by Nerfing enemy damage output/speed/attack, and/or made it easier to get good gear early on, or even just made gear in general better or stats carry a greater weight or a number of other things. Which one of the primary uses of the Beta was to tweak optimization from compiled statistical data, so beta could be a very poor indicator of the final release difficulty. Also, if you look at the later updates to the original Dark souls, the amount of enemy nerfing and accessibility to rare weapons they did was mind boggling, it was barely the same game from when it was initially released, so even if Tanimura didn't say anything, if you followed the trend line, it was rather suggestive of easing the difficulty.


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## MuckyMuck (Oct 15, 2013)

Umpalumpa said:


> Is this series more of a cut n slash games?
> 
> Where are the good old games like gothic 1/2 or might and magic 6/7/8...
> Why no company releases such games


I guess it is, in a way. But there is just so much more to it that you wont understand until you play it and the best thing about this series, its a love or hate situation, ive never come across someone who was in between, people either loved it or had no interest at all. So best advice i would give is pick it up and give it a go, you'll know pretty quickly if you'll like it.

I never played the Gothic games, but i reckon these games will definitely fill that "oldschool" itch you have.



Gwynevere said:


> I've always wondered if DeS was actually harder or if it just felt that way because I cared less about exploring. I played to DaS to the point where there was no challenge left, so when I played DeS and actually died, a lot, it felt like it must be super-hard. I never ended up exploring or learning all the shortcuts, and tricks, and weapon locations. Just played through linearly, beat it, and never put it in my console again.


Thats a good point, and also what midnightson said about the Grass. Even right at the start you nearly mount up around 30 pieces of Grass before you fight a boss.
Like you said though, DeS is of course a lot more linear than DaS. Also, when i played it first and finished it, that was it, but then again i was just very eager to try Dark Souls. I have gone back to DeS a lot of times, but haven't come close to the amount of hours i put into DaS, but a lot of that is down the the higher online activity in Das, i would spend a lot of time co-op'ing.

But back to whether i felt it was harder or not, i do. Mainly because it seems like you have more to lose when you die, the linearity meant that there was only one way thru a level, most of the time, so when you died near the end you would have to go thru all that again, whereas in Das there would nearly always be a shortcut you could take or a nearby fireplace. Also, maybe its partly because i feel the atmosphere in DeS is a lot more intense, more melancholy and dread, which always made me sit on the edge of my seat. Like, today i was right at the bottom of Stonefang Tunnel, going thru those dark tunnels where you can only see a foot in front of you, and you have those tough lava bugs roaming around too, it was just so claustrophobic. That applies to most levels, its very tight, whereas Das is very open for the most part, which makes fighting enemies a lot easier.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Kiba said:


> *None of that means anything if they optimized difficulty by Nerfing enemy damage output/speed/attack, and/or made it easier to get good gear early on, or even just made gear in general better or stats carry a greater weight or a number of other things. *Which one of the primary uses of the Beta was to tweak optimization from compiled statistical data, so beta could be a very poor indicator of the final release difficulty. Also, if you look at the later updates to the original Dark souls,* the amount of enemy nerfing and accessibility to rare weapons they did was mind boggling,* it was barely the same game from when it was initially released, so even if Tanimura didn't say anything, if you followed the trend line, it was rather suggestive of easing the difficulty.


Where's the evidence that they've done this?

What rare weapons are you referring to?

If you played the original release, you'll also remember that you could wreck everything with crystal ring shield and iron skin.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

Also lol at rare weapons. Everyone knows lighting Zweihander was the best and you could always get it immediately.


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

midnightson said:


> Where's the evidence that they've done this?
> 
> What rare weapons are you referring to?
> 
> If you played the original release, you'll also remember that you could wreck everything with crystal ring shield and iron skin.


I'm not saying they have, but i don't understand why you're getting so defensive from me suggesting the possibility that increasing the difficulty might not have been at the top of the priorities this time around and that "increasing accessibility" goes beyond a few trivial elements like fast travel and weapons. and I wasn't talking about the original release at any point in time. I'm not digging through updates, but they increased drop rate for several rare items such as the knights drops.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Kiba said:


> I'm not saying they have, but i don't understand why you're getting so defensive from me suggesting the possibility that increasing the difficulty might not have been at the top of the priorities this time around and that "increasing accessibility" goes beyond a few trivial elements like fast travel and weapons. and I wasn't talking about the original release at any point in time. I'm not digging through updates, but they increased drop rate for several rare items such as the knights drops.


You can't make a claim that the game is being made easier this time around without evidence besides the DkS patches creating a trend. The first patch a couple of months after release saw an increase in soul drops and supposed nerfed damage from certain enemies, whether it was proven or not I can't remember. Most of the other stuff was bug fixes and PvP balances.

I don't recall weapon drops being changed. As Gwynevere said, an upgraded Zwei or Claymore or Uchi could easily take you through the game and those could all being found before leaving the burg.

Do you really think they would nerf the difficulty when they know it's what the series is infamous and beloved for? They'd be shooting themselves in the foot.


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

midnightson said:


> You can't make a claim that the game is being made easier this time around without evidence besides the DkS patches creating a trend. The first patch a couple of months after release saw an increase in soul drops and supposed nerfed damage from certain enemies, whether it was proven or not I can't remember. Most of the other stuff was bug fixes and PvP balances.
> 
> I don't recall weapon drops being changed. As Gwynevere said, an upgraded Zwei or Claymore or Uchi could easily take you through the game and those could all being found before leaving the burg.
> 
> Do you really think they would nerf the difficulty when they know it's what the series is infamous and beloved for? They'd be shooting themselves in the foot.


We will see what happens and even if they do, they wouldn't do it to some crazy extent, just to the point of increasing play-ability to newcomers who aren't use to the difficult learning curve. But i still don't think it's going to be *more* difficult than previous titles. If they can make the game appealing to a greater audience= greater market saturation means greater profit. It wouldn't be the first time a company ****ed over their fan base in favor of higher profits.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

Kiba said:


> We will see what happens and even if they do, they wouldn't do it to some crazy extent, just to the point of increasing play-ability to newcomers who aren't use to the difficult learning curve. But i still don't think it's going to be *more* difficult than previous titles. If they can make the game appealing to a greater audience= greater market saturation means greater profit. It wouldn't be the first time a company ****ed over their fan base in favor of higher profits.


I don't think From is the type to do that. They've been making niche games for years. They could've turned Armored Core into something like Titanfall by now.

As long as the PvP is deeper and the lag issues are fixed, I don't mind if the difficulty is on par or even easier than the previous games. I only played all the way through PvE in the last two games twice anyway.


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## Sephiroth (Jun 22, 2012)

"I don't really care I'm simply crestfallen"(can't believe there was any reference to him yet)

Okay I will be the official crestfallen of the forum.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Try holding with both hands.

What are people's thoughts on DS2.


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

Not really all that far yet.. So far I haven't had all that much trouble. I just beat the First boss which was sort of annoying but wasn't that big of a deal. I'm digging having access to the blacksmith almost right off the bat and being able to buy just about anything of use at a vendor at a reasonable soul price...


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## Raynic781 (Feb 8, 2013)

Hate to bump this thread, but I rented Dark Souls from Gamefly and even though I'm getting my sh*t kicked in, it's so fun! My only problem is that I have no idea where I'm supposed to go half of the time. I just go it today and it took me two tries to beat the Asylum Demon, I suck so bad! 

I plan on picking up Dark Souls 2 eventually, it looks really fun.


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## Salvador Dali (Oct 26, 2013)

Just beat the game at level 162 and 50 hours into the game. Did about 8-10 hours of covenant stuff (Pilgrams of Dark and Rat King namely) since I never bothered with covenants in the previous game. Even with that and doing all the optional areas and bosses, the game was not as long as I hoped, but at least I spent a bit more time on this game than the last two titles which I both completed in under 40 hours.

Amazing game, probably my favourite in the series so far. I love that they brought back so many of the elements from Demon's. There was almost no repercussions for being dead/Hollow in Dark Souls, in fact, since you couldn't be invaded while Hollow, it was actually an advantage to just wander around and explore while undead.

Speaking of invasions, it might just be because the game is still new, but there's barely any invasions in Dark Souls 2. I only ever got invaded in the Belfry Luna/Sol and the invasions there were extremely frequent. But everywhere else, I would only be invaded by NPCs.
I do think this is a good thing, since people who have no interest in PvP, but whom still want to play online can do so without being harassed while just minding their own business.

Just a theory, but I think you need to have sinned in this game in order to be invaded, which seems fairly hard to do since you no longer receive sin from leaving covenants, you can go back and force willy nilly between covs and nothing bad ever happens to you.
You receive sin from killing non-hostile NPCs (or ones you can't lock-on to anyway), that's about all I know.

Leveling seems to require much less souls in this game, at level 162 I need 30k-something souls in order to level up. I swear I needed 40-50k+ souls at around level 80-90 to level up in either Demon's or Dark (or both). It doesn't seem to make the game any easier mind you, but I wouldn't have dreamed of reaching level 120 in the last two games on my first play-through without a lot of hard work, never mind 162, lol.

Anyway, I think I've rambled on long enough...


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

I beat the game a bit ago too and came to the realization that if you really wanted to, you could beat the game without leveling without too much difficulty if you just summon for everything....


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

I'm really enjoying the game, although I find it to be more difficult than the first. I'm ashamed of how many times I died on the Smelter Demon. I have been cursed, petrified, and ganked so many times and it's a lot of fun.

My last great soul is Freja, and this entire area is so hard for me because I'm arachnophobic. I dealt with Blighttown just fine, but I had to summon for Queelag as well. Freja doesn't bother me that much, it's the little ones and the room with the webs. I hate how they fall down from the ceiling and pop up from the ground at times--disgusting. It doesn't help that Freja is wrecking me with her arachnid take on Piccolo's unblockable dark magic laser of death attack.

Anyone else struggle with spiders in these games? I almost had my wife interested in watching me play, but she is totally scared of spiders and incapable of watching them in any capacity. Her extreme fear is probably the only thing that forced mine to relax a bit.


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## Salvador Dali (Oct 26, 2013)

87wayz said:


> I'm really enjoying the game, although I find it to be more difficult than the first. I'm ashamed of how many times I died on the Smelter Demon. I have been cursed, petrified, and ganked so many times and it's a lot of fun.
> 
> My last great soul is Freja, and this entire area is so hard for me because I'm arachnophobic. I dealt with Blighttown just fine, but I had to summon for Queelag as well. Freja doesn't bother me that much, it's the little ones and the room with the webs. I hate how they fall down from the ceiling and pop up from the ground at times--disgusting. It doesn't help that Freja is wrecking me with her arachnid take on Piccolo's unblockable dark magic laser of death attack.
> 
> Anyone else struggle with spiders in these games? I almost had my wife interested in watching me play, but she is totally scared of spiders and incapable of watching them in any capacity. Her extreme fear is probably the only thing that forced mine to relax a bit.


Smelter Demon was the hardest boss in this game for by far, I must have died 30+ times trying to kill him.

I own pet tarantulas, so I didn't have a problem with the spiders, though I felt somewhat upset killing them.
Try to stick close to Freja and stay on either side of her head(s), her attacks are fairly easy to dodge/block the closer you are to her. Don't worry about the spiderlings too much unless they surround you.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Salvador Dali said:


> Smelter Demon was the hardest boss in this game for by far, I must have died 30+ times trying to kill him.
> 
> *I own pet tarantulas*, so I didn't have a problem with the spiders, though I felt somewhat upset killing them.
> Try to stick close to Freja and stay on either side of her head(s), her attacks are fairly easy to dodge/block the closer you are to her. Don't worry about the spiderlings too much unless they surround you.


Not cool.

Finally killed Freja--I had help from a Sunbro. I had almost killed her solo, but was brutally murdered by a small spider with 2 hits left, so I threw up my hands and summoned a phantom. I had quit summoning them because they were dying so carelessly to the laser attack.


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## Kiba (Apr 26, 2013)

Was anybody kind of disappointed that their weren't any mini bosses and you couldn't hack the tails off bosses for weapons?.....


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

87wayz said:


> I'm really enjoying the game, although I find it to be more difficult than the first. I'm ashamed of how many times I died on the Smelter Demon. I have been cursed, petrified, and ganked so many times and it's a lot of fun.
> 
> My last great soul is Freja, and this entire area is so hard for me because I'm arachnophobic. I dealt with Blighttown just fine, but I had to summon for Queelag as well. Freja doesn't bother me that much, it's the little ones and the room with the webs. I hate how they fall down from the ceiling and pop up from the ground at times--disgusting. It doesn't help that Freja is wrecking me with her arachnid take on Piccolo's unblockable dark magic laser of death attack.
> 
> Anyone else struggle with spiders in these games? I almost had my wife interested in watching me play, but she is totally scared of spiders and incapable of watching them in any capacity. Her extreme fear is probably the only thing that forced mine to relax a bit.


Ahh the smelter demon. I died so many times I gave up and looked up the solution.

I killed the last boss and thought I beat the game...but then that wasn't the last boss, and then I killed the real last boss and thought I beat the game...but that also wasn't the last boss. I'm so lost right now.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

Gwynevere said:


> Ahh the smelter demon. I died so many times I gave up and looked up the solution.
> 
> I killed the last boss and thought I beat the game...but then that wasn't the last boss, and then I killed the real last boss and thought I beat the game...but that also wasn't the last boss. I'm so lost right now.


Lol good to hear someone else struggled with the Smelter demon. He murdered me until all of my effigies were gone, and then some.

My last boss, before new game+, was the royal rat authority. My favorite fights were Vendrick, Ancient Dragon, Smelter, Lost Sinner and The Pursuer (those were the hardest for me). The final boss before the ending was basically a damage race. Aesthetically, I love the demon of song, Freja (because she is a real terror) and the last giant.

All in all, I ended the game as it began: an emaciated, shirtless zombie with no effigies.


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## midnightson (Nov 6, 2013)

I have to say I'm enjoying the game a lot more now on my fourth (I think) playthrough. Even if PvP kinda sucks, PvE is just plain fun, the most fun of the three. I'm co-oping more than I ever did in the other two (no problem getting summoned in NG despite how people b*tch that soul memory is broken) and I like how every playstyle is viable now, sword and board, dualweilding, sorcery, faith, hexes and pyro, and how NG+s add new elements besides buffing enemies. 

They just need to fix scaling and make elemental weapons unbuffable and release a PS4 version with the original lighting and the game will be excellent.


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## 87wayz (Jul 5, 2012)

midnightson said:


> I have to say I'm enjoying the game a lot more now on my fourth (I think) playthrough. Even if PvP kinda sucks, PvE is just plain fun, the most fun of the three. I'm co-oping more than I ever did in the other two (no problem getting summoned in NG despite how people b*tch that soul memory is broken) and I like how every playstyle is viable now, sword and board, dualweilding, sorcery, faith, hexes and pyro, and how NG+s add new elements besides buffing enemies.
> 
> They just need to fix scaling and make elemental weapons unbuffable and release a PS4 version with the original lighting and the game will be excellent.


I like this game more than the original as a 'game', although the lore in the original was just perfect. I've been enjoying it a great deal, although I'm still totally unconvinced by my attempt at a mage build. I prefer strength and dexterity with a little pyromancy, magic is boring.


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