Dark Souls 2 PC - April 25, 2014

Get some summons, that really helps tremendously. Not the shit NPCs though. Even with two down the second is not hyper aggressive like some duos. My primary experience with them also was NG+. I saved game file in front of the fog wall (because fuck unicorns) and eventually managed to solo them. Brutal though.
 
The one time I managed to win that fight was solo. For me, the issue with summons (at least on NG+) is that our shots did so little damage that the fight kept dragging on and on. The typical lightning spear spam that most summoned players do barely even registers.
When I killed 'em, I took out the first cat relatively quickly with some wide swings of my Dragon's Tooth. I think in some circumstances it hits both of their legs and does more damage.
It eventually broke and I had to finish the 2nd one with my bow, which was stressful and also took way longer than I would have liked.

I will say this - several fights I struggled with in previous games have been quite different in my recent replays. I took Artorias out on my 2nd try and nearly the first. I made Kalameet look foolish. I've beaten most of the DS2 bosses in 1-2 tries, but struggled mightily with the early normal areas. For all I know, that might be a 1 and done fight.
 
Whew. Two DLC's down, one to go. I forgot what a bear the Crown of the Old Iron King was. Blue Smelter, Fume Knight, and Sir Alonne all in the same area. Not to mention the horrid cave areas and ambushes placed throughout.
Blue Smelter I managed to take out solo by swapping over to all magic defense gear. It certainly wasn't easy nor was it in the first 5-6 tries either.
Fume Knight was surprisingly easy with a summoned other player. I died on him dozens and dozens of times in my NG+ run. This time he went down on the 2nd try. It was surprised to see how little damage scaled down with summoned help. It barely made a difference, so that was a non-issue. The whole fight probably only took just over a minute.
Sir Alonne was the opposite. Even solo I was doing minimal damage with a maxed out set of clubs. After getting wasted 3-4 times I ended up summoning both NPC helpers and just nickel and diming him to death via a long, long fight. Both he and the helpers have tons and tons of health, so I just ran around getting the occasional shot in while they distracted him.

So far the Ivory King DLC has been easier than the other two. I've made the first pass through in order to stop the wind and I only died once on the first boss.
 
...and it's over!
Lud and Zallen are MUCH easier on the first pass instead of NG+. That extra health they have in NG+ forces you to fight both cats at the same time for a lot longer. With this one (+ a Brightbug), I was taking 15-20% of their health per hit. The first cat can be killed in 1 sequence after the 2nd one shows up, which makes the fight relatively simple. The "super armor" sequence the 2nd one does is annoying, but you can ride that out and he normalizes after a minute or two.
The final bosses (and the Ivory King) are a cakewalk after the valley of the horses and those cats.
This was my first experience fighting the Scholar and it's pretty simple once you figure out when you should and shouldn't hit her.
With DS3 now available and after seeing and doing everything in the game for the 3rd time, I'm done. I can't see myself playing this one again any time soon if ever.
 
I don't really understand the whole Scholar thing, it is just a pointless battle, no xp or items, very different from the rest of the game
 
I don't really understand the whole Scholar thing, it is just a pointless battle, no xp or items, very different from the rest of the game

I don't disagree at all. After the (fairly cool) buildup to the battle with the various bonfire encounters it's a throw away. It isn't fun, you don't get anything from it, and it doesn't really serve much purpose. I guess it's one more boss fight after 2 (somewhat) trying ones in a row.

You also can't skip the credits this time...and they're pretty long.
 
I love the Souls series so I'm starting a replay of Scholar of the First Sin...DS2 is the Souls games I have the least amount of hours with (997 hours) so it's time to go back to Drangleic!...will probably try playing at 1600p or 4K with Nvidia DSR
 
not a bad choice really. many hate DS2 but I like it :)

the Scholar of the First Sin version definitely improved things but I still feel the base game pre-DLC is the worst of the 3 Souls games...still a great game but it felt too easy and didn't wow me until the 3 DLC chapters
 
For me I enjoyed the atmosphere from DS2 the most of the games. The pirate caves, the foggy woods, the dragon's mountain, aldia's keep, the epic outdoor shrine of amana, etc. They were large and it felt like your journey was something beyond what was covered in 1 and 3. "Epic" is an overused term, but it had that kind of vibe. Like the Odyssey.
At the same time, the level designs were inconsistent and the bosses felt phoned in. Some areas simply weren't fun or were excessively easy/hard. Especially in the First Sin edition. It was brutal early and a cakewalk late. The DLC additions were among my favorite DS content to date. They were tough, but fair.

For me I'd rank the games in order, with Bloodborne being on par with #3.
 
I'm nearly at the end of my current playthrough (I'm up to the final DLC)...I forgot just how good this game was...the Scholar of the First Sin edition is definitely the definitive version of the game and did a lot to fix some of the missteps of the original version...much more challenging and it looks better with DX11...multiplayer might be the best of any of the Souls games...as far as difficulty, I forgot just how annoying some of those DLC bosses were without the right gear/weapons- Fume Knight, Alonne, Blue Smelter Demon, Lud/Zallen etc...Darklurker from the base game is still one of the hardest bosses in any Souls game (took me around 20 tries to defeat)
 
I'm nearly at the end of my current playthrough (I'm up to the final DLC)...I forgot just how good this game was...the Scholar of the First Sin edition is definitely the definitive version of the game and did a lot to fix some of the missteps of the original version...much more challenging and it looks better with DX11...multiplayer might be the best of any of the Souls games...as far as difficulty, I forgot just how annoying some of those DLC bosses were without the right gear/weapons- Fume Knight, Alonne, Blue Smelter Demon, Lud/Zallen etc...Darklurker from the base game is still one of the hardest bosses in any Souls game (took me around 20 tries to defeat)

Most of the DLC bosses in DS2 are among the toughest in the series. I found myself using exploits to deal with them in many instances. With Darklurker, I beat him very early on my first trip through the game. Maybe 3rd or 4th try. Yet when I replayed the game a year or so later, I probably took 15-20 tries if not potentially more. It feels like there's a lot of luck in play after he splits. Lud and Zallen, too. With most of those multi-boss fights, the difficulty has a massive range depending on what the AI randomly chooses to do. In playing through Nioh, it follows the same rules except your "living weapon" is a borderline insta-kill on all but the biggest of bosses.
 
Most of the DLC bosses in DS2 are among the toughest in the series. I found myself using exploits to deal with them in many instances. With Darklurker, I beat him very early on my first trip through the game. Maybe 3rd or 4th try. Yet when I replayed the game a year or so later, I probably took 15-20 tries if not potentially more. It feels like there's a lot of luck in play after he splits. Lud and Zallen, too. With most of those multi-boss fights, the difficulty has a massive range depending on what the AI randomly chooses to do. In playing through Nioh, it follows the same rules except your "living weapon" is a borderline insta-kill on all but the biggest of bosses.

the DS2 DLC definitely adds another level of difficulty to the game...I like it but I didn't like that for some of those bosses there was no bonfire close by so you needed to trek through some long ass, enemy-infested areas which were difficult to just run past to the fog gate...for Lud/Zallen and 1 or 2 others the brightbug item was really useful as it doubles attack damage

with DS2 drinking estus seems to take forever as well which adds another dimension to fights as you need to time things much more carefully then any other Souls game...also weapons degrade super quick...I'm glad I replayed this as I really appreciate the game a lot more now...I always liked it but didn't consider it on the same level as the other games...I think Scholar of the First Sin now stands alongside the other Souls games
 
Last edited:
Dark Souls 2's annual Return to Drangleic community event is underway

Return to Drangleic is live now through March 11 and encourages players to engage in PvP and co-op play as often as possible...much like the first Souls game's Return to Lordran endeavour, new and old players have begun filling the game's subreddit to discuss tactics and tips and to arrange meet-ups for topping challenging bosses...

 
I'm playing through DS2 with a friend currently having given up on our first attempt. What's unique to this event that we wouldn't have experienced otherwise?
 
I might give this a shot since there's nothing else out or coming out for a few weeks. While the most epic of the 3, it's also the one I found to be the most infuriating. At least the DLC sections. The core game wasn't too bad once you get out of the early areas, but once you get to the DLC it's insane.
 
I been playing Scholar of The First Sin on my laptop. Its a 3.2 ghz dual core Ivy Bridge i-5 with hyperthreading for 2 cores/4 threads. Intel HD4000 graphics. 16gb of ram.

720p
max textures
low shadows on sometimes (gotta have em on, so you can see the invisible hollows). But I do turn them off sometimes when I want a bit more performance.
Max effects quality
Max water quality
Max model quality and character rendering
Depth of Field turned on
SSAO on medium
Anisotropic filtering on low

Everything else turned off. The character motion blur doesn't even render correctly on the HD4000.

With these settings, it basically never goes under 30FPs in Majula (one of the more graphically demanding areas). And usually sits in the mid - high 40's, in most level areas. As they are usually tighter quarters and easier to render. Sometimes it hits the mid 50's. Turning shadows off completely, nets me about 8 more FPS. So I turn that off situationally.
5400rpm laptop hardrive still only takes 5 seconds to load areas when you travel between bonfires.

Interestingly, I can't play with hyperthreading turned off. The game crashes within between 30 - 60 minutes. No crashes with Hyperthreading turned on. Not looking to troubleshoot that. Just file it under "Huh".

Here's some screens. Still looks like Dark Souls 2! and the aliasing really isn't bad at all.
astd.jpg

estd.jpg

fstd.jpg

hstd.jpg

istd.jpg

jstd.jpg

kstd.jpg

lstd.jpg

nstd.jpg

mstd.jpg

ostd.jpg

pstd.jpg

qstd.jpg
 
That is impressive AF for an hd4k.. my sis tried to play Skyrim awhile back on a similar laptop and it was like walking around in a world of fog lol
 
Yeah I thought Dark souls 2 was a good game. When I got the lightning spell I was holy cow this is nice.
 
I just played through DS2 for the first time. Not a 100% playthrough (skipped some of the DLC bosses because there was a huge difficulty spike I didn't feel like taking the time to overcome) but covered most of the game, got all the bonfires, etc. I really liked it overall. The controls with a gamepad are weird as hell compared to all other From games and required me using a tool called Durazno to setup some weird deadzone/saturation tweaks that make the gamepad controls feel more natural like Souls 1 and 3 and Bloodborne.

It's my least favorite From game so far (working on DS3 and Sekiro right now) but it's still like an 8/10 overall for me.
 
he was involved with the DLC. The DLC has all the hallmarks of classic DS1, with complex interconnected levels and shortcuts. The rest of the game was like a bunch of different groups made some levels and then they were all connected together. shortcuts that don't make sense and so forth. a lot of the stress from the original game was lost because of the teleportation from the start of the game. you don't experience stuff like being in painted world or depths with broken ass weapons or missing ammo. good times. That being said I still enjoyed DS2 a lot and probably played it more than DS2. You could reset bosses in areas and that made it damn cool.
 
...you don't experience stuff like being in painted world or depths with broken ass weapons or missing ammo. good times. That being said I still enjoyed DS2 a lot and probably played it more than DS2. You could reset bosses in areas and that made it damn cool.

or even worse being in the Depths and getting cursed (and losing half your health) :D ...I do agree that warping between bonfires takes away some of the tension...DS1 did it perfectly...you don't get to warp until the halfway point and only after defeating one of the toughest bosses in the game- Ornstein and Smough
 
or even worse being in the Depths and getting cursed (and losing half your health) :D ...I do agree that warping between bonfires takes away some of the tension...DS1 did it perfectly...you don't get to warp until the halfway point and only after defeating one of the toughest bosses in the game- Ornstein and Smough
another great moment was being in tomb of the giants without teleport and having to figure out how to get the hell out of there
 
You can get cursed very early in Dark Souls 2, during the first encounter with the Pursuer, up on that platform. His impaling body slam move will curse you. Also, Dark Souls 2 cuts your health down with every death, Like Demon's Souls did. You have to get the cling ring, to partially counter that. And in SoTFS, the cling ring is guarded by some pretty difficult enemies. Heide's Knights, in particular, have a pretty tough fight style. If you aren't very good and/or don't start with certain weapons: you may not get the cling ring for quite awhile. Also, you have to find it, you know? Demon's Souls pretty much led you right to the cling ring. But, you could also only wear 2 rings in that game. So, you might find yourself wanting to take it off!

Scholar of The First Sin edition actually made lots of little changes which, in aggregate, improved the game quite a bit. There is plenty of difficulty in this game, especially with the changes in enemy placements and types. And the changes in item placements. Many enemies have late swings in their move sets, so you have to either be more careful or more aggressive, compared to Dark Souls 1. And there are some pretty nasty enemies in some of the areas. I think the only major problem with Dark Souls 2, after the SoTFS edition; is that a couple of the early areas are pretty plain in design. Things improve as the game goes on, however.
 
Last edited:
DS2 in NG+ adds more enemies, stronger enemies at that. so it isn't the simple formula of the first. And all 3 of the DLCs are fantastic. Much better IMO than the 2 DS3 DLCs
 
I liked some elements of DS2 better than the original. Mainly the feeling of size/scope. The areas are absolutely massive and everything has an epic journey type of vibe going on. By the end of the game (especially after the DLC), you have seen and experienced some crazy things. At the same time, the level design isn't particularly good and the difficulty is inconsistent as hell. The Scholar of the Last Sin version even made that worse. It's super tough early and the last 2/3 is mostly a breeze...followed by the crazy hard DLC areas.
 
The lack of a coherent, interconnected world is what killed this game for me. I just felt extremely bored and never got around to finishing it.
 
The lack of a coherent, interconnected world is what killed this game for me. I just felt extremely bored and never got around to finishing it.

you should play it just to complete the DLC, it is well worth doing and represents everything that makes DS great
 
The lack of a coherent, interconnected world is what killed this game for me. I just felt extremely bored and never got around to finishing it.
I've never really understood this criticism. Dark Souls 1 isn't completely interconnected. Only about half of it is. and while the part which is connected is a pretty neat achievement, it does have drawbacks. Each main area of the world is smaller than the individual archstone areas of Demon's souls. and the actual connections between areas often result in weird looking nooks which have nothing going on and are often arbitrarily stuffed with something half baked. Demon's Souls' having separate areas, allowed them to much more cleanly execute ideas and themes. And they could really dig in and deliver something larger, for each separate area.

Dark Souls 2 has connections between some areas. And you can actually look back over the landscape and see how it works. However, the connected aspect is a little looser and some areas don't have connections at all. That loosness affords them the ability to make larger areas. which is a good thing. However, some of the areas definitely lacked in ideas and/or execution.
 
Last edited:
well, the interconnectiveness led to so many "Oh - thats where that goes" moments. lords of the fallen did it as did nioh. pretty cool when you see that in games
 
I've never really understood this criticism. Dark Souls 1 isn't completely interconnected. Only about half of it is. and while the part which is connected is a pretty neat achievement, it does have drawbacks. Each main area of the world is smaller than the individual archstone areas of Demon's souls. and the actual connections between areas often result in weird looking nooks which have nothing going on and are often arbitrarily stuffed with something half baked. Demon's Souls' having separate areas, allowed them to much more cleanly execute ideas and themes. And they could really dig in and deliver something larger, for each separate area

I agree that the interconnected-ness is overblown...it's a neat thing to have but I'd rather have fully fleshed out areas and enemies over trying to connect one area to another via a shortcut...level design is more important to me then connecting areas...DS2 was the weakest in the Souls series for me but it's still a great game...it just grades lower when compared to other From Software games...taken on its own it's still better then most other games...the 3-part DLC is what really put the game over the top...also the Scholar of the First Sin version made the game better
 
DS1 isn't totally interconnected, but DS2 almost completely lacks it. It feels more like a series of levels than a world. Some of those levels are amazing, others a different seemingly just for the sake of variety. Some of the coolest things in the DS games are when you see something in the background and know that's where you're headed. It isn't just a background image, it's an eventual destination. #2 lacked that compared to the others.
I feel like when DS2 hit stride, it knocked things out of the park. About 1/2 of the game is entirely forgettable to me, though.
 
So I have been on a tear trying to finally complete this game. I respect the world a lot more and think it is beautifully made. Excellent use of lighting that is missing from the third game. I like that there are areas where using the torch is almost a necessity (more so in SotFS). I hate how when a game is in development such as this one, showing off the importance in lighting, they step it back in the final release. Realistically you could make it through the entirety of the original game without the torch.

I have now come to the realization that what really kills this game for me is the combat system. It feels so janky coming from the first and third games, where combat is extremely smooth and immediately responsive. Everything in this game feels like it comes built in with at least a couple tenths of a second of delay, even after you have all of your stats leveled. The iframes in your rolls also seem really inconsistent to the point I am always doubting whether or not I will be able to roll through an attack when facing a boss. That doubt leads to me falling back to reacting in panic and getting me killed. It really just kills my overall enjoyment of the game while I otherwise am enjoying every other aspect of it. I like how there is so much stuff to find. Seems like every time I have to run through an area again I am finding something new. I quite enjoyed Black Gulch and Iron Keep.

On another note, I accidentally deleted my save game after a rage when trying to restore my backups, so I had to start over again after 20 hours :oops:. I'm going in with a more relaxed mindset this time and am starting to find more enjoyment now that I am starting on autopilot like in the first and third games. The combat still really gets on my nerves at times. I am playing through the original game first including all DLC, by the way. I'll go through Scholar of the First Sin after I'm done with it.
 
I think someone else was talking about it here, but the PS3/Xbox 360 version of SOTFS is interesting because it has the DLC, extra black phantom invaders, but none of the new item locations for old items. And none of the new enemy placements.
 
Just finished Drangleic Castle and trying to get through Shrine of Amana. Definitely taking it more easy this time and am enjoying myself. Kind of disappointed I didn't get a PC during the Looking Glass Knight since I killed him too fast. I'm now laughing at parts in the game I find absurd, and Shrine of Amana is chock full of those moments. It's crazy that I'm moving through the game much faster than the last time and I'm barely halfway through the game at 25 hours. My first casual playthrough of the first game was 18 hours and was 32 hours in the third game.
 
Back
Top