Dark Souls 2 for consoles is a month away. What do we know about the PC version?

[EDUSAN]

im finding it more easy, but that is probably because im already used to all the tactics from playing ds1...

yesterday i was telling a friend how easy a boss was and he said "its not easy, its because you already played ds1. if you were playing ds2 skipping the other one, you would be bitching about it now"

and he is right

 

[artemicion]

Informal poll:
Invasion - dick move, or morally acceptable because the game encourages it?

(*Spoilers if you are trying to keep yourself in the dark on how certain areas and covenant work in-game*)

Spoiler

I joined Bell Keeper's Covenant not knowing what it entailed or how it worked, but now that I know, I think I'll quit. (Basically, you invade players who are in the Bellfry Luna/Bellfry Sol areas because the covenant "defends" those areas. Easy way to farm Titanite Chunks, because you get one for every successful invasion kill.)

I had a shit time trying to get past the Bellfry Luna area because you get invaded about 50% of the time *and* the gargoyle boss was pretty tough for me. So the thought of ruining other people's Bellfry Luna runs kind of sickens me.

 

[EDUSAN]

thats a pvp covenant, there are some that are pve

when i have some pvp time i will probably join the blue convenant, i like the idea that if a red ghost invades someone ill be called to help that guy...

 

[smackababy]

I don't have a problem with invasions, because it is part of the game and it is easily avoidable in DS2 (burning effigies, for example).

Bell bros are rather annoying as well. But, that part is entirely optional and out of the way enough you can easily never see it, so it doesn't bother me too much. Also, being a Bell bro doesn't stop you from getting invaded by them, so there's that as well.

 

[Revolution 11]

It depends on your stats. I'd just go with whichever you like the most based on its moveset. Keep in mind that actual damage done scales nonlinearly with the damage stat on your sheet. Look up the modeling people did from DkS1, where it was shown that it's almost always better to have 300 listed damage of one type (e.g., physical) that 350 split across two types (e.g., physical and fire). The breakeven point depends on your target, but as a quick DkS2 example my longsword +0 outdamages my heide knight sword +0 by quite a bit on my L30 character with only physical stats boosted so far.

Is that because of resistances? I would think that most enemies and bosses have less resistance to lighting or fire damage vs physical damage. Is that not true?

Also, which stat affects bow and arrow damage? Does any stat affect firebombs and other throwable consumables?

 

[smackababy]

Is that because of resistances? I would think that most enemies and bosses have less resistance to lighting or fire damage vs physical damage. Is that not true?

Also, which stat affects bow and arrow damage? Does any stat affect firebombs and other throwable consumables?

There are a lot of variables. Enemies have resistances to certain types of elements as well as certain types of damage (slashing, crushing, etc). And, your character's stats also determine the scaling of elemental damage (faith raises dark and lightning, for example). Bows generally scale with dex, but also have a strength requirement and scale with strength some as well. The arrow element also is effected by the scaling of your stats plus the damage it does. Also, stated damage on the weapon is generally worth more than damage you hope to get via stat scaling. The club vs mace is a good example. At max level, the club has a low S strength scaling while the mace has a high A. You'd think that at like 40 strength the S would make a difference, however the mace's damage actually makes it hit harder, despite having the lower scaling.

Certain bosses have different resistances and some things work better than others (a certain demon who smelts is very resistant to dark and lightning, where a certain dragon who is guarding is extremely weak to lightning and especially dark; the same spell does around 250 damage to one and 1250 to another.). And it isn't always the case you would suspect either, as in previous Souls games certain fire demons were actually weak TO fire damage.

Also, something to take into account is what part of the weapon you hit with. If you're using a pole arm (halberd and such), hitting them with the pole part won't do nearly the damage of hitting them with the bladed part.

Another large considering is move set, swing speed, stamina usage, and how effective YOU can wield that weapon. If large, slow weapon does double the damage of a smaller, faster one, but you can only swing 1/3 the speed, you're losing actual DPS, but hitting harder. This might be good for PVP, but in a PVE environment, that is wasteful.

Lastly, don't forget about Fashion Souls and what you like playing with.

 

[TheSlamma]

The poise system doesn't seem to work right in this one.

 

[Anteaus]

Does anyone know if there a patch coming for the letterbox issue?> I'd prefer not to use mods at this point.

 

[smackababy]

The poise system doesn't seem to work right in this one.

The poise system is entirely different than in DS1. So much so, that it should basically be ignored until someone finds out what it really does. And in my hundred plus hours of playing, I will admit I am still not that person.

 

[artemicion]

The poise system doesn't seem to work right in this one.

Not sure if the same poise system is used for enemies in PVE, but it seems buggy in co-op. Probably another connection issue for me (UVerse sucks pretty bad in my area during prime time), but I got griefed last night by a mob I normally am consistently able to stagger with my mace, but there must have been some sync issues because he was able to attack through my onslaught unabated, which killed me and my partner. Or maybe mobs get buffed poise when in co-op?

 

[smackababy]

Not sure if the same poise system is used for enemies in PVE, but it seems buggy in co-op. Probably another connection issue for me (UVerse sucks pretty bad in my area during prime time), but I got griefed last night by a mob I normally am consistently able to stagger with my mace, but there must have been some sync issues because he was able to attack through my onslaught unabated, which killed me and my partner. Or maybe mobs get buffed poise when in co-op?

They get buffed everything else, so it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Artorias]

Anyone else get facestabed in PVP sometimes. Like I would be fighting facing my.oponent and then all of a sudden its as if I turned around and he does the back stab animaton. Its not a parry but my character would flip 180 just randomly and see him stabbing me.

 

[TheSlamma]

Anyone else get facestabed in PVP sometimes. Like I would be fighting facing my.oponent and then all of a sudden its as if I turned around and he does the back stab animaton. Its not a parry but my character would flip 180 just randomly and see him stabbing me.

This game has huge network code issues for me, I prefer playing offline now.

 

[Anteaus]

This game has huge network code issues for me, I prefer playing offline now.

Curious, how do you play offline? I'm assuming there is a more elegant way to do it than blocking ports. I can't seem to find an option anywhere.

 

[smackababy]

Curious, how do you play offline? I'm assuming there is a more elegant way to do it than blocking ports. I can't seem to find an option anywhere.

You have to run Steam in offline mode.

 

[Anteaus]

Ok. I wrongly assumed that DS2 would try to contact it's servers in spite of whether Steam was in offline mode or not. Thanks!

 

[Snock514]

ok guys i started playing and i suck.. its pretty aggravating that you have to progress from bonfire to bonfire without resting at one in between.. I guess ima go buy a shit load of healthstones or w/e they're called so i can heal more than twice before needing to rest at one.

 

[smackababy]

ok guys i started playing and i suck.. its pretty aggravating that you have to progress from bonfire to bonfire without resting at one in between.. I guess ima go buy a shit load of healthstones or w/e they're called so i can heal more than twice before needing to rest at one.

Think of it this way: each death allows you to practice the mechanics that caused you to die in the first place.

 

[Snock514]

Think of it this way: each death allows you to practice the mechanics that caused you to die in the first place.

Yeah, it's hard adjusting to these type mechanics I'm not used to at all and I'm not using a controller either which prolly hurts me a bit. The part past the Cardinal Tower bonfire is where I'm stuck. I can't find 3-4 zombies at once I just block forever and lose stamina then take damage or attack and get chain interrupted and die. A noobs life is tough :'(\

and my max health is like 50% cause this i suck

 

[artemicion]

Yeah, it's hard adjusting to these type mechanics I'm not used to at all and I'm not using a controller either which prolly hurts me a bit. The part past the Cardinal Tower bonfire is where I'm stuck. I can't find 3-4 zombies at once I just block forever and lose stamina then take damage or attack and get chain interrupted and die. A noobs life is tough :'(\

and my max health is like 50% cause this i suck

IMO, one of the better ways to progress in new areas is to lay down a summoning sign next to the bonfire you're at. Get summoned into someone else's game, which allows you to explore the new area and practice fighting the mobs without any penalty (getting killed as a summon doesn't have any penalty). As a bonus, if you stay alive long enough in the other person's world, you'll get a reward for fulfilling your duty.

Same thing if you get to a fog wall and you're not sure what lies beyond. Lay down a summoning sign, wait to get summoned, and let the other player show you what lies beyond. If it's a boss, I generally practice fighting the boss as a summon and wait 'till I get the strategy down before challenging it in my world.

PS - in case you haven't found this hint in game yet, "Try fighting one at a time." Lots of enemies can be pulled one at a time if you have a bow. Not sure what the controls are with Mouse + Keyboard, but you can aim the short bow in first person to pull far away mobs.

 

[Artorias]

Yeah, it's hard adjusting to these type mechanics I'm not used to at all and I'm not using a controller either which prolly hurts me a bit. The part past the Cardinal Tower bonfire is where I'm stuck. I can't find 3-4 zombies at once I just block forever and lose stamina then take damage or attack and get chain interrupted and die. A noobs life is tough :'(\

and my max health is like 50% cause this i suck

There is a ring that makes it 75% minimum. Its actually located in an early zone, but you need to get through a few located East of Majula.

 

[EDUSAN]

Yeah, it's hard adjusting to these type mechanics I'm not used to at all and I'm not using a controller either which prolly hurts me a bit. The part past the Cardinal Tower bonfire is where I'm stuck. I can't find 3-4 zombies at once I just block forever and lose stamina then take damage or attack and get chain interrupted and die. A noobs life is tough :'(\

and my max health is like 50% cause this i suck

this is what i do...

Raise your shield...get closer to an enemy and move back, force his attack but dont attack yourself, you are just looking at his attack patterns, repeat and get to know every attack he can do, how many swings are each animation so you know exactly when to fight back

this method works 90% of the game, even for bosses (but the bosses will kill you a couple times because they hit hard when they hit)

for pvp, you wont be able to do this because any mistake can kill you. Thats why people that pvp a lot KNOW what attacks animation each weapon has, so... as soon as they see their player enemy they know what they can do and how fast/slow their weapon is

edit: and btw, you probably wont be able to fight more than 2 enemies at the same time at any time in the game... luring enemies one by one out is a key element in a dark souls game, or making you follow you to a narrow path in which you can avoid getting hit while your attack animation is hitting someone else

 

[Snock514]

edit: and btw, you probably wont be able to fight more than 2 enemies at the same time at any time in the game... luring enemies one by one out is a key element in a dark souls game, or making you follow you to a narrow path in which you can avoid getting hit while your attack animation is hitting someone else

Okay this makes sense I was death free until I had 3-4 melee guys on me at once. Guess I'm not AS shitty as I thought :sneaky:

 

[EDUSAN]

besides your weapon of choice, have another weapon that compliments the one you use for specific moments.

For instance, im using a halbred which has good range but their attacks go in a straight line forward (except the 2nd strong attack, but it takes too much time to get there)
if i need to hit in a wide range more than 1 guy at the same time, i cant do it. So i have another weapon that has a hoizontal swing.

I also have an axe that has a crushing blow to the ground to be able to kill some specific thingies that you will see at some parts of the game that have good loot but they run away when they see you and dissapear after a couple seconds. As they are very small, normal attacks pass above them, except for my crushing axe

always have a bow with tons of arrows to try making only 1 of the enemies react to you if there are more than 1 (or to kill some nasty ranged enemies)

edit: is just a matter of practice... sooner or later you will know what you are able to do and what you dont, what is too risky, what is safe and when you need help

 

[EDUSAN]

And last night i finished it. It took me 43hs and i think i have 2 optional bosses that i still havent that i plan on doing before moving on. And i would like to do some pvp also

edit: the ending was kinda dissapointing, and the final sections were an impossible to understand mess, i had to ask a friend and use a wiki to know what was i supposed to do with what i was given... nothing tells you to go there...