Another halberdier, excellent.Yahtzee Croshaw said:Dark Souls 2 - Prepare to Die Again
This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Dark Souls 2.
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If you want real reach, try Pate's Spear.
Another halberdier, excellent.Yahtzee Croshaw said:Dark Souls 2 - Prepare to Die Again
This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Dark Souls 2.
Watch Video
Oh look someone who knows about all the games I played despite never meeting me in real life, or ever conversing with me in the first place. He/She must have read the list of games that I've played that doesn't exist. I mean, they must have otherwise they might actually be someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.Branindain said:Oh look, Machine Man got in before Zira this time.Machine Man 1992 said:Here's a tip: Don't.Under_your_bed said:Hey, he said that Souls 2 was "easier for the noobs". As a noob to the Souls series, is it a good idea to do 2 first to get the hang of it and then do one? Any veterans got anything to say?
There are better, less frustratingly ass-backwards games out there that are worth far more of your time and money.
Yes I hate the series with every fibre of my being, why do you ask?
You know when console fanboys come onto forums to tell you that games on the other console, that they haven't played, are bad? I've always found those people so interesting and insightful.
My biggest problem with Dark Souls wasn't the difficulty per say. I can get behind ludicrously challenging games, in fact ever since I tried Dark Souls, I've been putting every game I own on the hardest difficulty as some kind of test of my manliness. Borderlands 2 got really good on Ultimate Vault Hunter mode, where enemies require careful aim and constant slagging to beat. Metal Gear Rising is the best game ever made, and it's pretty difficult on Hard and Very Hard (have not tried Revengence yet. I'm kinda scared of it).remmus said:Most fans of the souls series (including myself) enjoy the games because they harken back to older video games who treated you like a adult and forces you to learn patience and hon your reflexes.Silentpony said:I will never understand the cult that has started in the wake of these games. I played the first one and it was awful. Spent 6 hours getting absolutely nothing done. I think I found one campfire(but don't quote me because its such a miserably designed game it was hard to tell one spot from another)
Seriously guys, why is a game like this that waste your time so much considered the be-all, end-all of games but Final Fantasy 13, where you run down a hallway for 30 hours, is considered a horrendous insult to gaming?
As far as I can tell the only difference between those two time sinks are the graphics and FF13 at least wants you to play it. Dark Souls made it clear it didn't want to be played and I couldn't oblige it fast enough!
Haven't played DS2 but everyone says its just like DS1, so I'm going to do it a huge favor and just not buy it. Why waste both our times when neither of us are committed to having a good gaming experience?
And consequently the reason most people (again including myself) dont´enjoy FF13 is because it´s seen as a front figure for the pampering, curling parent style way players are treated as kids, to be spoiled and pampered.
Basically Souls forces you to work for that feeling of being awesome, FF13 just hands it to you on a silver plater.
Well first of all it's not the be-all end-all of games, but it is a damn fine game with well done mechanics you don't see much nowadays. No map or quest markers encourage exploration, scraps of dialogue from few npcs and item descriptions tell you about the world little at a time to make you hungry for more. Unlike many games that encourage exploration there is no cut&paste dungeons, every location is unique. Some are worse than others. It can evoke fear and awe just about every time you get into a new location,even more so if you are holding extra souls. And it tells you volumes about the world with enemy and world design visually, without needing countless exposition dialogues from faceless npcs.Silentpony said:I will never understand the cult that has started in the wake of these games. I played the first one and it was awful. Spent 6 hours getting absolutely nothing done. I think I found one campfire(but don't quote me because its such a miserably designed game it was hard to tell one spot from another)
Seriously guys, why is a game like this that waste your time so much considered the be-all, end-all of games but Final Fantasy 13, where you run down a hallway for 30 hours, is considered a horrendous insult to gaming?
As far as I can tell the only difference between those two time sinks are the graphics and FF13 at least wants you to play it. Dark Souls made it clear it didn't want to be played and I couldn't oblige it fast enough!
Haven't played DS2 but everyone says its just like DS1, so I'm going to do it a huge favor and just not buy it. Why waste both our times when neither of us are committed to having a good gaming experience?
Huntsman's Copse / Licia was the only part that seemed to fit what he was describing, that I could think of as well. There's just one problem with that idea, though. Huntsman's Copse isn't a vital part of the game. It (and the 4 Great Souls) are just an optional side-quest to give you some objective during the first part of the game for you to learn the ropes until you're ready for Drangleic castle.The Dead Singer said:Oh, yes I do remember that. Uhm, interesting since I don't really think she's easy to miss since she's right in front of a bonfire. Then again I had already learned that people give you stuff if you talk to them a lot or they move to Majula, so once I got to her it was easy to figure out that she'd be useful for something later, if you get to her early and without previous knowledge it's easy to get confused.Vicioussama said:You can't get to Huntsman Corpse or whatever without talking to Licia and getting all her conversation done. And then you have to have her move and find her down the path to have her use the device... it is a pretty stupid idea on their part.The Dead Singer said:I'd like to know what character is he talking about exactly about opening up a whole section of the game - I don't remember that in any of my three playthroughs, and for the most part there are multiple ways of getting to certain sections
Can you get to drangleic castle without all of the great souls? i tried with one and two of them but the door told me I need greater souls so I collected all four of them and got to drangleic after that. And one of the great souls is through the huntsman's copse.Manfred said:Huntsman's Copse / Licia was the only part that seemed to fit what he was describing, that I could think of as well. There's just one problem with that idea, though. Huntsman's Copse isn't a vital part of the game. It (and the 4 Great Souls) are just an optional side-quest to give you some objective during the first part of the game for you to learn the ropes until you're ready for Drangleic castle.The Dead Singer said:Oh, yes I do remember that. Uhm, interesting since I don't really think she's easy to miss since she's right in front of a bonfire. Then again I had already learned that people give you stuff if you talk to them a lot or they move to Majula, so once I got to her it was easy to figure out that she'd be useful for something later, if you get to her early and without previous knowledge it's easy to get confused.Vicioussama said:You can't get to Huntsman Corpse or whatever without talking to Licia and getting all her conversation done. And then you have to have her move and find her down the path to have her use the device... it is a pretty stupid idea on their part.The Dead Singer said:I'd like to know what character is he talking about exactly about opening up a whole section of the game - I don't remember that in any of my three playthroughs, and for the most part there are multiple ways of getting to certain sections
Was Yahtzee talking about something else, or did he just not do his research on this one?
There are two conditions by which the Shrine of Winter will open: Having all 4 Great Souls, or having 1 Million Soul Memory.Zendariel said:Can you get to drangleic castle without all of the great souls? i tried with one and two of them but the door told me I need greater souls so I collected all four of them and got to drangleic after that. And one of the great souls is through the huntsman's copse.
Yeah, you would probably need to do some co-op or pvp to reach that number without the huntsman's copse or at least the old sinner(probably the first great soul most players would get) as one way is very difficult to get to without going to huntman's copse and beyond or having really high hp and/or some luck getting one enemy armor, which is blocked by statue that can be removed using an item that you can find after the old sinner, or the way that is difficult to get to without very high hp or some stuff you can't get without having the item or getting to huntman's copse and beyond. There are also some pretty vital things on the huntman's copse route, while not absolute necessities, are still pretty important.Manfred said:There are two conditions by which the Shrine of Winter will open: Having all 4 Great Souls, or having 1 Million Soul Memory.Zendariel said:Can you get to drangleic castle without all of the great souls? i tried with one and two of them but the door told me I need greater souls so I collected all four of them and got to drangleic after that. And one of the great souls is through the huntsman's copse.
The game doesn't tell you this, and collecting all four great souls is definitely the recommended path; you're pushed to continue exploring. But, even if you don't talk to any of the NPCs, can't seem to beat one of the bosses no matter what you do, or are just blind to one of the branch paths, the Shrine of Winter will eventually open up for you and let you continue into Drangleic Castle, even if you don't know what you did to open it.
I agree. It's not intended to be something most players would do, just a back up route they can take. You might be overestimating how hard it is to accumulate Soul Memory though; bare in mind that it's souls ever acquired, even if you lose souls, it doesn't matter. So while most players would be somewhere around 1 Million after killing all 4 Great Soul bosses anyway, a player who's struggling with the game, or lost and wandering around looking for another path, would be killing more ordinary mobs and accumulating more souls.Zendariel said:Yeah, you would probably need to do some co-op or pvp to reach that number without the huntsman's copse or at least the old sinner(probably the first great soul most players would get) as one way is very difficult to get to without going to huntman's copse and beyond or having really high hp and/or some luck getting one enemy armor, which is blocked by statue that can be removed using an item that you can find after the old sinner, or the way that is difficult to get to without very high hp or some stuff you can't get without having the item or getting to huntman's copse and beyond. There are also some pretty vital things on the huntman's copse route, while not absolute necessities, are still pretty important.
And well, to be honest without playing the whole game, as he mentioned in the review, doing some research online (which if you want to play blind or relay the experience of the game fully is not recommended), and which would pretty easily point you to huntman's copse anyway, or doing a lot of online interaction(yahtzee i think is not known for that) i would assume it would be almost impossible to open shrine of winter before finding huntsman's copse. not completely, but very difficult. even more so with the enemy respawn limits.
Just because you can fulfill the alternative condition you're never told about exists doesn't relegate huntsmans corpse to a side area.Manfred said:I'm not saying you should avoid going to Huntman's Copse, or that there isn't some nice stuff to find in there; but an optional side area that is not required to beat the game hardly constitutes a "fucking vital section of the game" as Yahtzee put it. It would be like complaining about not finding the DLC area in DS1. Oolacile is a cool area, and it would be a shame to miss it, but not finding it on your first playthrough doesn't really negatively impact your experience of the game when there's still plenty of other stuff to do.
Wait I got this...Silentpony said:why is a game like this that waste your time so much considered the be-all, end-all of games...
And I maintain Yatzhee had gone soft. Yatzhee from two years ago would have eviscerated this game, comparing it to those God awful early NES and SNES games and their arcade-milk-you-for-quarters gameplay. You know, the ones that nostalgia blinded games mistake as good when really they were just old. Hell, why not go play Milon's Secret Castle if the idea of an obtuse game is so thrilling.Nomanslander said:It is what it is, I'm afraid DS just can't help being that awesome. Obviously the bigger something gets, the more hate it'll generate from the naysayers. But... look at it this way... Yahtzee was one, and now he isn't. So riddle me that.Silentpony said:why is a game like this that waste your time so much considered the be-all, end-all of games...
Yeah, that whole "Yahtzee is now one of US" spiel was just a blatantly crude attempt to make a half-ass argument to see if you'd bite... speaking in behalf of another person's opinions as if though they were mine.Silentpony said:This is just like when he reviewed Gears of War 2, said it was good then a year or so later played an actual good game and had to concede the point he was simply starved on quality and mistook the urine shining off of GoW2 as gold. Something similar will happen to these Dark Souls games. Everyone(Yatzhee included) is simply too used to hold-you-hand CoD games, so anything even remotely different is seen as the second coming of Christ. And when all the hysteria calms down, people will admit the gameplay/story/setting/characters/enemies weren't all that good. And I will ask "Then what IS good?" and no one will have an answer.
Manfred said:I agree. It's not intended to be something most players would do, just a back up route they can take. You might be overestimating how hard it is to accumulate Soul Memory though; bare in mind that it's souls ever acquired, even if you lose souls, it doesn't matter. So while most players would be somewhere around 1 Million after killing all 4 Great Soul bosses anyway, a player who's struggling with the game, or lost and wandering around looking for another path, would be killing more ordinary mobs and accumulating more souls.Zendariel said:Yeah, you would probably need to do some co-op or pvp to reach that number without the huntsman's copse or at least the old sinner(probably the first great soul most players would get) as one way is very difficult to get to without going to huntman's copse and beyond or having really high hp and/or some luck getting one enemy armor, which is blocked by statue that can be removed using an item that you can find after the old sinner, or the way that is difficult to get to without very high hp or some stuff you can't get without having the item or getting to huntman's copse and beyond. There are also some pretty vital things on the huntman's copse route, while not absolute necessities, are still pretty important.
And well, to be honest without playing the whole game, as he mentioned in the review, doing some research online (which if you want to play blind or relay the experience of the game fully is not recommended), and which would pretty easily point you to huntman's copse anyway, or doing a lot of online interaction(yahtzee i think is not known for that) i would assume it would be almost impossible to open shrine of winter before finding huntsman's copse. not completely, but very difficult. even more so with the enemy respawn limits.
I certainly wouldn't recommend looking up everything online, but Yahtzee certainly seemed to imply that he had himself looked it up on gamefaqs; else why would he be complaining about it?
I'm not saying you should avoid going to Huntman's Copse, or that there isn't some nice stuff to find in there; but an optional side area that is not required to beat the game hardly constitutes a "fucking vital section of the game" as Yahtzee put it. It would be like complaining about not finding the DLC area in DS1. Oolacile is a cool area, and it would be a shame to miss it, but not finding it on your first playthrough doesn't really negatively impact your experience of the game when there's still plenty of other stuff to do.