Dark Souls 2: Dragons Not Included

[WWmelb]

I like how people keep harping on this, but the guy lives just across the way from the DragonSLAYER... I mean, duh?

Oh snap, that makes a lot of sense. This is my first time playing a souls game and I do get the feeling that my character showed up late, with all the epic battles having already been fought years ago.

This is the unfortunate truth of Dark Souls. The first one had the same feeling, which is fine since it's what it was going for. (Hell, the last boss of the first game is a very literal exemplification of this). All the events of the world have seemingly gone on and have become either legend or half-forgotten stories, ever crumbling at the stairs of a looming abyss. You're just here to pick up bits and pieces and hope you don't fall along with it.

Do you think the first dark souls did a better job at conveying that feeling? I just feel like a hero from any other game, but I do get the impression I should feel much smaller and insignificant than a hero. Maybe it's the warping around at bonfires and how easy it is to become human again. I could see removing some check points and making it more punishing to be undead would make me feel a bigger sense of urgency and futility.

Personally i did, mostly because of blightown and the swamp following it. I heard that part of the game broke many players and not just because of the frame rate drops. Well not the urgency part, but a feeling of dread and futility when i was lost, cursed and had to traverse poisonous swamp and could not find a way out because i was scared there. It was a great experience back then . But yeah i feel that the safer traversal and there being somehow less places to explore and get lost to, the second game is much easier to navigate. And i feel that alone takes some of the feeling of danger and dread away.If you happen to get to a point that is clearly too dangerous, you can just warp away, or if you feel you don't know how to get back to previous bonfire and you don't know if you can survive the area where you'd lit a new bonfire, you can just warp away.

Compare that to first time in anor londo. If i wanted to get back, i had to survive sen's fortress, without the shortcut because i did not find the key, once i got to the castle proper, i had to find a way out of there because the way that I got in from could not be traversed back, enemies killed me with two hits on average(On average i never start with vitality build, or rarely even putting a single point there. not the best way to start souls games but that is just my usual starting playstyle). The area itself had a huge impact because it was beautiful and the first actually bright place in the game. Or the painted world that got me even more lost and could only be escaped by going through the whole area.

The places i mentioned can't really say anything to you because you haven't played the game but the sen's fortress part is for example way more difficult area than anything before it, it has huge amount of deathtraps and enemies that both hit harder than anything before, take more damage, and you fight them in a more dangerous environment, then to get back after you make it through the area, you would need to go through the same traps and enemies backwards, there are other ways that you probably won't think of when you get there the first time and it is easier to do it backwards, but once you have gone up, going down is a new and possibly quite frightening experience, coupled with the fact that if you go there, you have to be able to come back again the proper way. Again, you could find a shortcut, but there is a good change that you would not.

I could nitpick about some other things that make the game feel slightly inferior to it's predecessor, most of them to have to do with setting and how the world feels compared to the first one. But it is still a great game that i hope to sink countless hours into once i get my hands on the pc version.

Very well put post for how i felt in blighttown and anor londo. Fantastic description of the emotions i went through during those areas!

 

[Zendariel]

I like how people keep harping on this, but the guy lives just across the way from the DragonSLAYER... I mean, duh?

Oh snap, that makes a lot of sense. This is my first time playing a souls game and I do get the feeling that my character showed up late, with all the epic battles having already been fought years ago.

This is the unfortunate truth of Dark Souls. The first one had the same feeling, which is fine since it's what it was going for. (Hell, the last boss of the first game is a very literal exemplification of this). All the events of the world have seemingly gone on and have become either legend or half-forgotten stories, ever crumbling at the stairs of a looming abyss. You're just here to pick up bits and pieces and hope you don't fall along with it.

Do you think the first dark souls did a better job at conveying that feeling? I just feel like a hero from any other game, but I do get the impression I should feel much smaller and insignificant than a hero. Maybe it's the warping around at bonfires and how easy it is to become human again. I could see removing some check points and making it more punishing to be undead would make me feel a bigger sense of urgency and futility.

Personally i did, mostly because of blightown and the swamp following it. I heard that part of the game broke many players and not just because of the frame rate drops. Well not the urgency part, but a feeling of dread and futility when i was lost, cursed and had to traverse poisonous swamp and could not find a way out because i was scared there. It was a great experience back then . But yeah i feel that the safer traversal and there being somehow less places to explore and get lost to, the second game is much easier to navigate. And i feel that alone takes some of the feeling of danger and dread away.If you happen to get to a point that is clearly too dangerous, you can just warp away, or if you feel you don't know how to get back to previous bonfire and you don't know if you can survive the area where you'd lit a new bonfire, you can just warp away.

Compare that to first time in anor londo. If i wanted to get back, i had to survive sen's fortress, without the shortcut because i did not find the key, once i got to the castle proper, i had to find a way out of there because the way that I got in from could not be traversed back, enemies killed me with two hits on average(On average i never start with vitality build, or rarely even putting a single point there. not the best way to start souls games but that is just my usual starting playstyle). The area itself had a huge impact because it was beautiful and the first actually bright place in the game. Or the painted world that got me even more lost and could only be escaped by going through the whole area.

The places i mentioned can't really say anything to you because you haven't played the game but the sen's fortress part is for example way more difficult area than anything before it, it has huge amount of deathtraps and enemies that both hit harder than anything before, take more damage, and you fight them in a more dangerous environment, then to get back after you make it through the area, you would need to go through the same traps and enemies backwards, there are other ways that you probably won't think of when you get there the first time and it is easier to do it backwards, but once you have gone up, going down is a new and possibly quite frightening experience, coupled with the fact that if you go there, you have to be able to come back again the proper way. Again, you could find a shortcut, but there is a good change that you would not.

I could nitpick about some other things that make the game feel slightly inferior to it's predecessor, most of them to have to do with setting and how the world feels compared to the first one. But it is still a great game that i hope to sink countless hours into once i get my hands on the pc version.

Very well put post for how i felt in blighttown and anor londo. Fantastic description of the emotions i went through during those areas!

What can I say. I really loved the first game, enough to be able to remember just about everything i felt from my first playthrough about 2,5 years ago. It quite certainly affected the way i feel about the second one. The games have very different focus, the first one feeling grander even though it is smaller gameplay area wise(I remember from software declaring drangleic is twice as large as lordran). The first one focuses more on the world and this is emphasized starting from the intro. Most of the npc:s seem to be mocking the player for trying or they don't care what your character is doing and emphazise the futility and ruin the world is in, The second game is way more focused on the player character and encouraging player(or manipulating by emerald herald choosing your interpretation). And it just feels the world gets less attention.

 

[Lyvric]

I like how people keep harping on this, but the guy lives just across the way from the DragonSLAYER... I mean, duh?

Aw, burn. If his pet killed, at least give the poor tin can a hat.

 

[Vrach]

Blocking has always been a safe and reliable, albeit slow, strategy for Souls games. There are a lot of people who are no good at most action games but still want to get the Souls experience, so they turtle up behind a greatshield with 70+ stability and poke every enemy to death. More power to them! Meanwhile I'm doing exciting things like dodging, parrying and attacking.

Basically, if you are a Souls veteran, you'll want to be on NG+ as fast as possible. All those mysterious blank spots in the world fill up with enemies, the one-note boss fights like Lost Sinner and Flexile Sentry start getting interesting, and the drop rates go back up to the generous numbers they were in DS1.

To be fair, I'm always using the medium shields, but can block pretty much any boss without much difficulty (few exceptional attacks obviously). You don't need a greatshield, a medium shield with ~55 stability does the trick just fine, at least on NG. That said, I also prefer to dodge most attacks, but when I'm feeling uncertain about rolling right, I just put up my shield and it does the job.

Bit disappointed with a lot of bosses I've come up against so far. Stuff like Prowling Magus or the Necromancers are pretty much just a few mobs with a tad more health (but still squishy as hell). Lost Sinner was basically a lame copy of Artorias who you could just block and circle (again, not a Greatshield, I think I had an non-upgraded Drangleic). Most of the bosses I've really had trouble against are the bosses who come in numbers like the Ruin Sentinels. But that's just an extra pain in the arse dodging both and finding moments to strike and whittle them down.

 

[Vrach]

Where the fuck did you get a 55 stability medium shield. They nerffed medium shields heavily in Dark Souls 2.

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Drangleic+Shield

First 100% physical blocking shield you come across, pretty early in the game, you can get it by jumping down after the Pursuer (in Forest of the Fallen Giants). Can get far better ones later in the game (King's Shield or Defender's shield being the best, at 55-63 and 60-68 stability respectively). The Drangleic armor you get there is pretty amazing as well, I'm still using most pieces, not too heavy and it's hard to find upgrades that aren't a lot heavier (I just got to Drangleic castle though, I expect there'll be some good gear there)

I'm using the store-bought Royal Kite shield from the infusion blacksmith in Old Bastille for now as it's got some better stats than Drangleic, is a bit lighter and doesn't require Twinkling Titanite to upgrade (though it only has 50 stability without upgrades, but at +9 it's at 56 or 57 [58 at +10, but I'm not wasting slabs on that]).

I don't think medium shields got nerfed tbh, I haven't had any trouble and the stability is similar to what I had in the first Dark Souls.