Dark Souls II Gameplay

I've managed to survive every PVP encounter I've been involved in, the few there have been.

Okay so I've bagged 13 bosses, two of them opening Primal bonfires. What I like about this game is that everyone I know has taken a different way to get around the game. For example, I was the only one among my group of friends playing (whom I've compared notes with anyway) that cleared out the Bastille before going through Tower of Heidt. I also jumped down into the Lionidas pit in Majula and went through Gutter and Black Gulch before hitting Hunter's Copse (the area we played in the beta), so I didn't realize there is an NPC who sells you ladders to get down there. Thank goodness for the ring that limits falling damage.

I'm in the Iron Keep or the Iron Castle, whatever it is called. Lots of lava and knights. Trying to figure out how infusing is supposed to work in this game (I'm thinking I can get the most out of elemental upgrades by doing it to a weapon I've already fully reinforced, but this is just a guess).

Some tips I picked up in my adventures:

-Silky and Smooth stones. Drop them to the birds nest at the beginning of the game.
-Whips are awesome.
-Talk to NPCs a lot, they often give you items and migrate to Majula after a while.
-Try hording your Petrified Dragon Bones on your preferred boss weapon.
-DO NOT BURN EFFIGIES AT BONFIRES

Balton said:

I just got called a noob for using pyro in PVP. Funny thing is this was the first guy that succumbed to me using pyro
Every other asshole I encountered in the Belfry Luna(as defender of attacker) dodges pyro like a pro

The way I skilled my character makes me very versatile in PvE but I suck at PvP. I either cast magic too slow, run out of stamina swinging my weapons too quickly etc.

I've found the Black Knight Halberd, got it on my first DS run, lucky me and have loved this weapon ever since. In DS2 it's got added fire damage!

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I found the BKH my first play through as well and totally wrecked shit with it. Didn't go to anything else. Glad to hear its in the sequel and just as OP. Now I am on my second playthrough of DS and doing a minimalist run. SL5 and just beat Ornstein and Smough. Yeah I summoned Solaire but you know what.. fuck everyone who says that is noobish. I see this as conditioning for my DS2 run later in April

I completed my Soul Level 1 run through the original Dark Souls in preparation for the sequel literally a few weeks before release. I tried not to use any NPCs for my run but was forced to for a couple, so I know what you mean. Using Beatrix as a distraction during the Four Kings comes to mind, though I was able to do Ornstein and Smough without Solaire so I felt good about that (thank you pyromancy). Hardest fight was Manus in that run but he always is.

I'm at the part of the game in Dark Souls 2 where I don't think I have much left to do but I could be totally wrong. I've seen some crazy zones and battled more bosses than I can count. Thank you Large Club.

So those who have played DS2... does the game also contain the stupid getting hit through solid walls bullfuckery? Dumbest shit I have ever seen. Doing this minimalist run I have noticed this more and more and it really is starting to put a killjoy mood in me. I was clearly behind the wall, fucker lunges and the sword clips through and gets me. The giants in Anor Londo also do this shit with the stairs. My happy ass is racing up the stairs.. I get staked UNDERNEATH where I was going. Hit detection can be pretty odd at times.

Attack clipping and hit-box stuff is always been kinda questionable in the souls games, but in this one I'd say I can't think of any examples of it being heinous enough to recall from my playthrough in 2. There were a few situations where a huge enemy slammed the ground I was rolling away from but the force still struck me. Worse stuff that still happens (and this frustrates me more) are oddball level collision boundaries. Still will I shoot my arrows only to have them hit invisible edges. This was most noticeable in Iron Keep, where I found myself in a lot of bow related situations.

Finished my first playthrough btw. Unlike the first game I didn't really have a sense of my purpose and who the main enemy was towards the end so when I started seeing an ending cutscene after what I assumed was just another boss fight I was surprised. NG+ is pretty fun.

Capt.Toilet said:

So those who have played DS2... does the game also contain the stupid getting hit through solid walls bullfuckery? Dumbest shit I have ever seen. Doing this minimalist run I have noticed this more and more and it really is starting to put a killjoy mood in me. I was clearly behind the wall, fucker lunges and the sword clips through and gets me. The giants in Anor Londo also do this shit with the stairs. My happy ass is racing up the stairs.. I get staked UNDERNEATH where I was going. Hit detection can be pretty odd at times.

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Yeah the hitboxes in this one are better, but sometimes random "bullshit" moments do happen even if it's not necessarily the hitbox causing it.

Doesn't stop the game from being great.

I'd say Dark Souls II is the most "playable" Souls game. What I mean is that it's the easiest to just sink into and not be burnt out from some absurd moments of whatever. Dark Souls II basically made a lot of parts of the game more accessible, while still pulling off the feat of somehow being harder than the previous titles (barring possibly some easy boss fights?).

This accessibilty makes the game fucking addicting. Caveat emptor.

Bring on Dark Souls 2. Artorias and his instant lock on bullshit when I clearly dodged is getting pretty tiresome. Not too bad for a 2nd playthrough and I am quite happy I made it that far, but being at so little health is now getting on my nerves. I will level to a proper pvp level and then turn his shit inside out.

Speaking of Dark Souls 2. Newest console patch apparently nerfs a few bosses and the nerds are crying. Should still be dick hard but it is kinda strange they would choose to do that.

Hey, this is out on PC now! The port isn't terrible! I actually am preferring the keyboard/mouse controls with the small gripe that I haven't figured out how to pull of guard break/leap attack (on gamepad it's forward + R1/R2).

And this version looks sooooo much better than consoles. Definitely the platform of choice for DS2 is PC for me.

Game is awesome but lordy the slight changes have taken some time to get used to. Parry timing hasn't changed but you now have to wait for them to fall to the ground, so no more invincibility frames. Rolling apparently also doesn't give invincibility frames either.

Character movement also feels different as in I can't easily get behind and back stab anymore. All changes made for the better but woo wee do I get fucked if I mess up.

Oh and that Pursuer boss. Fuck your ass I finally killed you after a billion tries. Screw your sword that can hit me 50 feet away.

Capt.Toilet said:

Game is awesome but lordy the slight changes have taken some time to get used to. Parry timing hasn't changed but you now have to wait for them to fall to the ground, so no more invincibility frames. Rolling apparently also doesn't give invincibility frames either.

Character movement also feels different as in I can't easily get behind and back stab anymore. All changes made for the better but woo wee do I get fucked if I mess up.

Oh and that Pursuer boss. Fuck your ass I finally killed you after a billion tries. Screw your sword that can hit me 50 feet away.

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I-frames are dependent on your agility rating(influenced by ADP, INT and FTH I think), the higher your AGL the bigger your 'invincibility-window'

I'm currently playing a hexer(2nd char after I thought that melee is under powered and doesnt have much great gear), never used a shield on this char and I roll through everything, AGL is at 108 I think.

Backstabs have been made more difficult with some weapons having different BS (for a lack of a better word) windows. There are a lot of enemies that are easily backstabbed once you know how much you have to align yourself behind said enemy. Imo, FROM did this right to prevent PVP turning into boring backstab fishing.

Ah the pursuer... the quickest way to kill him is to parry him infront of one of the balistas which stuns him long enough to use the balista on him usually resulting in a very quick death.

Balton said:

I-frames are dependent on your agility rating(influenced by ADP, INT and FTH I think), the higher your AGL the bigger your 'invincibility-window'

I'm currently playing a hexer(2nd char after I thought that melee is under powered and doesnt have much great gear), never used a shield on this char and I roll through everything, AGL is at 108 I think.

Backstabs have been made more difficult with some weapons having different BS (for a lack of a better word) windows. There are a lot of enemies that are easily backstabbed once you know how much you have to align yourself behind said enemy. Imo, FROM did this right to prevent PVP turning into boring backstab fishing.

Ah the pursuer... the quickest way to kill him is to parry him infront of one of the balistas which stuns him long enough to use the balista on him usually resulting in a very quick death.

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Yeah I think my AGL is in the mid 90's. Thinking of increasing ADP at least another 10 points or so. I believe shit starts capping around 25-30, at least that is what I heard. Not really going for a PVP build at this time since its my first playthrough.

As for the Pursuer..didn't realize you could parry that bitch but that came down to me thinking you couldn't parry a huge ass sword like that. What was the age old rule of parry? If the attacker is at least the same height as you then they are parryable?

Capt.Toilet said:

Yeah I think my AGL is in the mid 90's. Thinking of increasing ADP at least another 10 points or so. I believe shit starts capping around 25-30, at least that is what I heard. Not really going for a PVP build at this time since its my first playthrough.

As for the Pursuer..didn't realize you could parry that bitch but that came down to me thinking you couldn't parry a huge ass sword like that. What was the age old rule of parry? If the attacker is at least the same height as you then they are parryable?

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I'm really bad at parrying, so I don't know. I'm good at standing where my enemy wont hit me and the next second I impale or dagger-stab him

Pursuer's patterns are incredibly easy to avoid...once you know them. Getting there is the painful part.

the boss in shrine of amana is seriously weak...

Balton said:

the boss in shrine of amana is seriously weak...

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Was that the
If so I died once just because I didn't realize he could 2 shot me. My second try however the tried and true method of left strafe till they are done attacking worked wonders. He ate my black knight halberd of death stroke.

At the undead crypt right now. Some say the game is easier and I would agree, but I still died way too many times to count. Still having fun. So far I tend to go towards swords/greatswords(claymore ) and halberds/spears. Fuck the ultra swords, they take too long to swing.

yep that's the one.

today I had my second red invader (ever). I was down in the undead crypt farming for souls before I progress(want to try the blue flame so I needed a few levels). Guy wanted me to go down between all the endlessly spawning enemies so I did some sword play with my catalysts hidden. Guy never hits me, when he's low on health he starts to dart off to go chug some estus so I equip my archdrake chime +10 and incinerate him with one final great lightning spear

Balton said:

yep that's the one.

today I had my second red invader (ever). I was down in the undead crypt farming for souls before I progress(want to try the blue flame so I needed a few levels). Guy wanted me to go down between all the endlessly spawning enemies so I did some sword play with my catalysts hidden. Guy never hits me, when he's low on health he starts to dart off to go chug some estus so I equip my archdrake chime +10 and incinerate him with one final great lightning spear

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NG+ right now getting ready to fight The Sinner. I have been invaded twice while hollow so far. Seems more often now that I am NG+ but that might be down to soul memory being nearly 7 million. Won the first invasion pretty easily while the other guy handed me my ass right before a boss fog. Muphuckas

Anywho my dude is a cleric and I think I made the right choice. 50 Faith my great lightning spear does nearly 1k damage and sunlight blade just wrecks shit. It got me through the last few bosses on NG fairly quickly. Lightning claymore +10 plus sunlight blade = yep

Now that my main guy is a high enough level in New Game Plus, I've started messing with Mundane weapons. Holy crap, the damage! I can see this is the way to handle multiple new game playthroughs.

Just started NG++ with my sunbro. Just realized I have yet to fight Darklurker or Ancient Dragon yet so those fights ought to be funsies at this time in the game. Level 230 right now at 10m soul level and the summon signs have once again started to pop like poppy corn.

The hardest battle for new game + for me has been invading Licia with the crushed eye orb. Chick eats spinach and queefs lightning.