Dark Souls 2 is sadistic.

[Deadcyde]

Retarded camera and lock on - seriously, i can't lock onto something i can clearly see because of some invisible clipping or some arbitrary distance required?

Yes, locking on has a range. if you want to hit someone from outside that range you will need a bow or to manually aim with the goggles. You also cant lock on if he is behind a wall.

Camera is mostly only an issue if you are locked on and next to a wall. You can turn of camera auto-adjustment in the option which helps somewhat

Hitboxes and clipping that were written by programmers still in high school, (no offense high school programmers) - my favorite is the hippo monster grab from the start of the game, just needs to brush you when he goes for the reach to initiate the grab also how enemy strikes are unimpeded by walls, yet if i stand close to a wall i can't even thrust strike my dagger cause it bounces off leaving me open for a strike

It entirely depends on the length of your weapon/the monsters weapon. If you use a bigger weapon like a hammer or greatsword you can do the same and hit through walls. Generally i saw it happen a lot less than in DaS1 though.

Bad guys with "safezones" to make my kills feel cheap rather then earned - for example the second salamander after you jump through the hole.. try standing near the iron door down there, theres enough room for him to corner and stomp you but instead he walks back to his spawn point..wtf.

Enemies have a aggro range, which is common to a lot of action RPGs. I have noticed some pathfinding issues though, like an enemy rarely turning around and attacking in the wrong direction.

Locking on having a range is a silly mechanic (in this instance.) If you can see them, you should be able maintain a visual lock until something impedes your vision/line of sight. Though maintaining a lock on through walls is also kind of a cheap mechanic, perhaps losing the lock once LOS is broken then automatically requiring it might solve that, but my issue is mainly arbitrary range that ignores LOS, but overall the arbitrary range bothers me more then locking on through things

The camera is retarded whether auto adjusted or not. It really needed far more work then it got.

As for the weapon/environment clipping. Are you saying they shouldn't bother with realistic effects because people want to use great swords in corridors? Never mind that they gave us three weapon slots to switch. Why do you think samurai used to carry two swords? Because likely as not it was going to be a crush melee with only room for stabbing or then needed the advantage of a quick draw and strike. Basically it's not unfeasible for them to include decent environmental clipping and it certainly wouldn't take away from the game, otherwise they shouldn't be half assing it. Also, bad guys weapons don't clip, no matter how big/small/whatever, period. That is nonsense.

Aggro range is a stupid mechanic for any situation except when the monster is defending something and so can't traipse too far away. An aggro timer relying on line of sight should be the standard, it's not unreasonable to ask and having a monster relentlessly pursuing you because you can't break line of sight would be great for building tension in fights.

Also, all of these mechanics have shown up in other games.

(edited more thoroughly)

 

[lapan]

The camera is retarded whether auto adjusted or not. It really needed far more work then it got.

I only had troubles with being close to walls, as mentioned, because the character either tends to suddenly turn around and swing in the other direction or it zooms so close you can't see your character anymore. Manually moved or in a reasonable distance it works just fine.

They even improved lockon, you can now lock onto specific boss body-parts

As for the weapon/environment clipping. Are you saying they shouldn't bother with realistic effects because people want to use great swords in corridors? Never mind that they gave us three weapon slots to switch. Why do you think samurai used to carry two swords? Because likely as not it was going to be a crush melee with only room for stabbing or then needed the advantage of a quick draw and strike. Basically it's not unfeasible for them to include decent environmental clipping and it certainly wouldn't take away from the game, otherwise they shouldn't be half assing it. Also, bad guys weapons don't clip, no matter how big/small/whatever, period. That is nonsense.

I'm saying that while it's still a valid issue, at least you can do the same to them.

Aggro range is a stupid mechanic for any situation except when the monster is defending something and so can't traipse too far away. An aggro timer relying on line of sight should be the standard, it's not unreasonable to ask and having a monster relentlessly pursuing you because you can't break line of sight would be great for building tension in fights.

Also, all of these mechanics have shown up in other games.

Changes that big are not very likely to be in what is essentially (though not officially) the third game of a series. I don't mind them losing sight of me after a specific distance, it makes rushing for a boss door possible. Without it, dying would be more annoying.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Well, I'm getting slapped around atm by the Pursuer, a very large armored knight who hovers in mid air and charges (flies) towards you, ending with a big swing of his massive sword, occasionally doing three swings in a row and messing your shit up. Died many times and lost 5000 souls after giving up and going off to do other stuff for some cash for equipment, only to die due to carelessness on some minor foe.

I'll get back to him eventually, but he seems to be a case of timing roll dodges perfectly many times over till you can finish him - I've only taken him down 30% at most before dying. He reminds me of Gwyn Lord of Ash or whatever he's called in Dark Souls 1 - I'm still stuck on Gwyn which is frustrating. At least the Pursuer doesn't have a flaming sword is all I can say.

Two things you can do. 1. Lure him to the left of the entrance, run around him when he dashes, then shoot him in the face with one of the ballistas to take him down to ~2% health remaining. Oooor 2. Strafe to the right. He won't hit you.

Artificial group fight difficulty - Bad guys generally don't clip each other and can strike through each other as well. All they needed was just enemies that reacted to each others, falling over when struck, forced out of the way by a charge, whatever, but no, same cheaply coded crap.

Enemies do get stuck on each other (Makes magic semi-broken since you can lead them to a choke point and blast away, and the ones in the back won't be able to get past the staggered guy up front.)

 

[Deadcyde]

The camera is retarded whether auto adjusted or not. It really needed far more work then it got.

I only had troubles with being close to walls, as mentioned, because the character either tends to suddenly turn around and swing in the other direction or it zooms so close you can't see your character anymore. Manually moved or in a reasonable distance it works just fine.

They even improved lockon, you can now lock onto specific boss body-parts

As for the weapon/environment clipping. Are you saying they shouldn't bother with realistic effects because people want to use great swords in corridors? Never mind that they gave us three weapon slots to switch. Why do you think samurai used to carry two swords? Because likely as not it was going to be a crush melee with only room for stabbing or then needed the advantage of a quick draw and strike. Basically it's not unfeasible for them to include decent environmental clipping and it certainly wouldn't take away from the game, otherwise they shouldn't be half assing it. Also, bad guys weapons don't clip, no matter how big/small/whatever, period. That is nonsense.

I'm saying that while it's still a valid issue, at least you can do the same to them.

Aggro range is a stupid mechanic for any situation except when the monster is defending something and so can't traipse too far away. An aggro timer relying on line of sight should be the standard, it's not unreasonable to ask and having a monster relentlessly pursuing you because you can't break line of sight would be great for building tension in fights.

Also, all of these mechanics have shown up in other games.

Changes that big are not very likely to be in what is essentially (though not officially) the third game of a series. I don't mind them losing sight of me after a specific distance, it makes rushing for a boss door possible. Without it, dying would be more annoying.

While i admit the body part lock on is nice, they still need to do more so it doesn't ruin the experience.

As someone who's had my tiny dagger bounce off a wall too many times and open my guard to a wildly swinging hollow with a halberd who's unimpeded by the wall, i hope this change comes soon.

While I agree that the ranged aggro aids certain endeavors, this is a game thats prides itself on it's realistic difficulty. The change to timed LOS aggro would mean less sprinting to the boss, but would also mean kiting would be a more strategic affair and rather then cheap trick difficulty, which i feel it relies on too heavily now. Hell, combine LOS timed aggro with silent attacks and team damage and you could make this into proper strategic fighting instead of trial and error till you get lucky or rely on meta.

For instance:

You're creeping through the dark and dank halls of a lost castle, your only companion the steady moans and screams of the hollowed, clanks and crashes punctuating song of the hollows with unseen fears of darker foes. Suddenly you see sliver of flickering light akin to that of a bonfire in the distance, and you allow yourself to hope as you think of the comfort and restoration of the flames but the straight line seems to be blocked by bars, forcing a more circuitous route. Your steps quicken in the darkness, the robes you use for freedom of movement barely whispering with your steps as you round a corner.

Coming to a halt you notice you way impeded by a group of hollow, each of them lost in whatever world of madness you feel constantly gnawing at the edges of your soul. Thanking whatever deity you manage to remember that you haven't been spotted. Readying your blade, ancient magics folded into it's steal to rob any fatal strike of it's warning noise; you strike the closest hollow, blade piercing it's heart fatally and robbing you of the satisfying crunch of ribs as it passes through, none of it's companions wise to the altercation.

Moving to the next one not looking you ready to strike again, when in a random flail, due to some unseen demon one of the group spots you and lets out a guttural roar of rage, the only thing left to it. Realizing your disadvantage in numbers you kick the hollow in front of your in the back of the knees before it can turn, slamming your blade home in its ear before it can cry out in rage. Before the next closest hollow can brain you with an overhand chop you bring your blade up to parry, your skill and timing catching his broken sword and flinging it wide. But before you can administer the killing blow a great axe sweeps through the hollows dessicated form, bisecting it before your eyes and flinging it out of the way, leaving you to face a monstrous hollow that seems more muscle then anything.

Seeing you're about to be quickly flanked you backflip out of the way, just in time as the monster hollow swings again, this time collecting another poor empty minded sap as the noise attracts even more foes, realizing the numbers are quickly mounting, you dive under a swing by an errant hollows sword and begin to sprint towards the flame in the vain hope that the flames of the bonfire will offer you some salvation. Dodging another blow from the axe wielder before you are out of range you begin to feel your stamina flagging, and much to your dismay the corridors are straight an narrow, affording you no place to hide.

As the light goes brighter you feel confident enough to look over your shoulder and you stare death in the face. The axemen and his cohorts have followed you doggedly, waiting till the moment of your stamina to diminish till you can no longer sprint or dodge. Roaring in triumph as the shining curved blade swings towards your face you close your eyes. Your life flashes before your eyes, yet you can barely remember it, each of the faces of those you knew and long black holes of despair and almost as you're about to accept your fate you hear a clanging crunch as the axemen throughly buries his axes into the wall next to you. Having failed to notice the thinning corridor and going for a wide swing the axemen has left himself open. Almost giddy with your return of fortune, you thrust your dagger forward into the axemans heart ending it's miserable existence.

Standing over your defeated foe you offer warcry to show your superiority, turning to run towards the welcoming light of the bonfire in the distance. Feeling you have reclaimed some of your humanity in your close shave you slow your run and prepare to accept the embers embrace, revitalizing you from your wounds. As you reach out towards it you are suddenly struck forward and sprawling across the flagstones. As the pain overcomes you and your vision clouds you roll over to face your attacker. The sword wielding hollow... it occurs to you in teh back of your mind the large attacker had blocked it's way and so it had attempted to find another way, possibly lead back to your position by your way cry. And so it had kept sight of you due to the long corridors and in your overconfidence at your victory you failed to double check you weren't being followed despite having made your way from the room.

It had followed you, too bad you didn't check to see if anything was...... Perhaps you will in your next life.

EDIT: not a very good story writer. xD

 

[Deadcyde]

Well, I'm getting slapped around atm by the Pursuer, a very large armored knight who hovers in mid air and charges (flies) towards you, ending with a big swing of his massive sword, occasionally doing three swings in a row and messing your shit up. Died many times and lost 5000 souls after giving up and going off to do other stuff for some cash for equipment, only to die due to carelessness on some minor foe.

I'll get back to him eventually, but he seems to be a case of timing roll dodges perfectly many times over till you can finish him - I've only taken him down 30% at most before dying. He reminds me of Gwyn Lord of Ash or whatever he's called in Dark Souls 1 - I'm still stuck on Gwyn which is frustrating. At least the Pursuer doesn't have a flaming sword is all I can say.

Two things you can do. 1. Lure him to the left of the entrance, run around him when he dashes, then shoot him in the face with one of the ballistas to take him down to ~2% health remaining. Oooor 2. Strafe to the right. He won't hit you.

Artificial group fight difficulty - Bad guys generally don't clip each other and can strike through each other as well. All they needed was just enemies that reacted to each others, falling over when struck, forced out of the way by a charge, whatever, but no, same cheaply coded crap.

Enemies do get stuck on each other (Makes magic semi-broken since you can lead them to a choke point and blast away, and the ones in the back won't be able to get past the staggered guy up front.)

That isn't broken, that sounds like reality, forcing choke points to make fire more effective. Thats a viable strategy in real life. What bothers me if you try using choke points for melee so they can't flank you (as is reasonable strategy) they can keep striking through each other rendering the strategy pointless. Leaving just kiting and one on one, basically forcing the same loop of fight types unless your weapon is OP and you have enough poise to just whale on them.

 

[lapan]

That isn't broken, that sounds like reality, forcing choke points to make fire more effective. Thats a viable strategy in real life. What bothers me if you try using choke points for melee so they can't flank you (as is reasonable strategy) they can keep striking through each other rendering the strategy pointless. Leaving just kiting and one on one, basically forcing the same loop of fight types unless your weapon is OP and you have enough poise to just whale on them.

I tend to bait their attacks and get them to attack simultaneously or in a short timeframe of each other, then strike in response to that. Or lure single enemies out with a single arrow or throwing knife

 

[BigOrteil]

Quick question about solving glitches, due to a certain glitch in No Man's Wharf, I can't get on the ship, it's not stopping me from progressing as I got to the Lost Bastille by fighting the Pursuer, I just don't like the fact that I'm not able to fight the boss and get the pyromancy flame which I need to fight the Royal Rat Authority

I think I had the same problem. I couldn't get on the boat, there was no boat at all at the dock. I thought the game glitched so I was considering reseting before going too far into the game but before that I made sure I didn't miss anything. I did, I missed a lever which calls the boat to the dock (yeah... I know). If your problem is a real glitch though, you only have the dark pyromancy option, there's no other pyromancy hand in the game as far as I know (and I searched the net a lot about it, not willing to reset for nothing).

 

[Kopikatsu]

So, shortcuts! I was wondering if anyone found any good ones. For instance, two~ days ago I was running through Forest of the Fallen Giants, dodged a thrown firebomb, which sailed past me and blew a hole in the wall. Imagine my surprise when the hole lead directly to the Cardinal Tower bonfire... (Let the Hollow up on the platform where Pursuer shows up the first time throw a firebomb at the barrels stacked by the wall)

Also, the second bonfire in Aldia's Keep is in an illusionary wall. When going down the stairs to the pit where the Aldia's Key is, mash X/A on the left wall between the two flights and you should open it.

Also-Also, there are a TON of illusionary walls in the Sentinel Trio's boss room. Most have treasure, but one has a ladder that leads you to the item between platforms and saves you the trouble of trying to jump the gap and falling five times before finally getting it right. I've basically just started dryhumping walls and mashing X by this point.

 

[Deadcyde]

the room with the poison urns in it underneath the lever you used to call the ship (it's a few floors down).. ht the back wall with a sword.. gets you the extra carry weight ring and a few interesting tidbits.

Also, kill the pursuer with the ballista, though don't hit anyone else as its a friendly fire weapon.

oh and just to the left of the entrance to the forest of giants near the already lit sconce thingy if you jump up on the edge it leads you around to the binocs and some other stuffs.

And the well will have a ladder built eventually (so i'm told) so it's not absolutely necessary to get the silver cat ring, though if you do make sure you have 1000 health and no armor on, rolling as you drop down (17 vit is also being quoted somewhere.. )

and fuck those salamanders... fuck them in their stupid asses. the entrance is opposite to doors where you enter the cardinal tower bonfire area, drop down make your way to the ground.. one hole has treasure.. the other has a fire spitting bastard and a door with treasure... You need a ranged weapon and lots of ammo... once you kill the fire spitting bastard with ranged stuff you can jump through the hole.. though it may take a few tries... then turn right.. and run across that area, dodging the second salamanders attacks till you get to the iron door and it won't follow you cause of aggro area limits.. once you kill all four of them.. (ugh) you get a fire crest ring thingy +1... though apparently theres another way to this area involving dropping onto a debris pile from near the bottom of the cardinal tower bonfire ladder and the silvercat ring and rolling and stuff too *shrugs*

 

[FriedRicer]

No, I'm not talking about the difficulty of the game.

In Majula, there is a large well with a bunch of very obvious items placed on various planks inside of it. Attempting to jump down the well will result in your immediate death. Right beside this well is a cat that sells a ring that supposedly lowers falling damage for 13400 souls. So, after a good 2-3 hours, I grinded the souls to be able to purchase this ring so that I could get at those sweet, sweet items (Even had to kill the White Knight in the Forest of Fallen Giants)

But the ring didn't help. The fall still instantly kills you even with no armor on. You probably need the Sorcery that does junk to fall damage. I am very the sads now.

You win this round, Dark Souls. (Let this be a lesson. Don't bother grinding for the cat ring).

But on the topic of difficulty...I feel kind of useless trying to go the tank route. For some reason, greatly upgrading my equipment to the Old Knight set increased the damage some enemies did to me. It seems like the only point of armor is Poise, because it certainly isn't for protection. At least I found a Soul Vessel and Greater Soul Arrow if I want to play the 'right' way and cheese everything to death (Which is how Gamestop suggests beating difficult enemies, I guess). Makes me sad, yo.

you have to roll aswell to survive.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

The Silvercat Ring IS one of the most valuable rings in the game, but it seems like fall damage is calculated differently than it was in DS1. Fall damage used to be percentage based--falling from X feet in the air would drain your health by 70% of the maximum--so a low level character could survive any fall that a high level character could, but the fall damage in DS2 seems to do a predetermined amount of damage based on distance that doesn't adjust or compensate for however much maximum health you have. The Silvercat Ring reduces fall damage or at least seems to adjust the heights at which damage is taken, but some falls, such as the one in the well, will still kill you if you do not have enough health (I've made the jump by raising VGR to 18 and using the Silvercat Ring).

There's an NPC you meet in the Earthern Peak (I think?) who, after beating that area's boss, moves to Majula and will provide you with ladders down into the pit for a price. Making the jump down the pit early doesn't really net you much reward though; there's a covenant vaguely similar to the Forest Hunters, and further down you reach a new, badly lit, poison filled area with little to no worthwhile loot--throughout the area you can find a Large Club, Shotel, Great Magic Weapon and a Fragrant Branch of Yore at the very bottom.

Unless you're absolutely determined to explore the pit, you might as well wait a bit until you find an NPC named Laddersmith Gilligan.

 

[EclipseoftheDarkSun]

Well, I'm getting slapped around atm by the Pursuer, a very large armored knight who hovers in mid air and charges (flies) towards you, ending with a big swing of his massive sword, occasionally doing three swings in a row and messing your shit up. Died many times and lost 5000 souls after giving up and going off to do other stuff for some cash for equipment, only to die due to carelessness on some minor foe.

I'll get back to him eventually, but he seems to be a case of timing roll dodges perfectly many times over till you can finish him - I've only taken him down 30% at most before dying. He reminds me of Gwyn Lord of Ash or whatever he's called in Dark Souls 1 - I'm still stuck on Gwyn which is frustrating. At least the Pursuer doesn't have a flaming sword is all I can say.

Two things you can do. 1. Lure him to the left of the entrance, run around him when he dashes, then shoot him in the face with one of the ballistas to take him down to ~2% health remaining. Oooor 2. Strafe to the right. He won't hit you.

Well I managed to beat him. It all came together well, I simply didn't stand right next to him but at a short-medium distance, strafed to the right, rolling when he charged at/past me (I stayed away from the walls so he'd move past) then I ran up behind him and hit him once and just repeated it ad nauseum, having restored my humanity for the hp just a few deaths earlier and crushing the life gems to cope with occasional lapses in defence on my part, so as not to get pinned in one place for too long drinking those estus flasks.

 

[Tuxedoman]

Ugh. So I decided that I was going to pick up the moonlight butterfly set, so I could prance about as a golden butterfly of jolly co-operation.

However I foolishly put the set on when I was standing next to Maughlin, which prompted him to get really angry at me and attempt to kill me with his scimitar.
Moral of the story; why the hell can this butterfly set harm friendly npcs? WehhhhHHHH...

On an unrelated topic... does anyone happen to know where Maughlin's grave is? I kind of.. need him.