Topic: Soul Resurgence: come play Souls games with Que!

[Quemaqua]

Okay, so obviously not like geographically. Unless you want to come to Texas and bring a PS3.

I was trying to finally finish Demon's Souls, which I'd neglected too long, when my PS3 died. It was one of the early post-backward-compatibility fat units, and it served me well. I'd even reseated the heatsink and applied new thermal compound at one point, but it always ran hot and the fan would never slow, so it was bound to happen eventually. I'm still grateful at least that it lasted so much longer than my 360, and under at least 4 or 5 times the actual uptime since I never played my 360 as much.

Long story short, I lost both my Dark Souls save (just into a NG+ run) and my Demon's Souls save (around 35 hours, halfway or so through the game). I got a replacement hyperslim PS3, and immediately set into another go at Demon's Souls. I'm about 13 hours in now, and really enjoying it again. My plan is to get through it at least once, then move on to Dark Souls and complete that again so that I can see the DLC. The first time through I beat it before the DLC came out, and ended up getting the PC version which just plain doesn't run well enough on my aging PC, thus I couldn't play it there either. So I'll probably buy the DLC from PSN and play it there. Then, after all that's said and done, I'll move on to Dark Souls II, which I did put a little bit of time into on the PC (much, much better port, so it ran great despite being newer than the first game).

Given that these games are so much fun to play alongside others, thought I'd throw it out here in case anyone wanted to dive back in with me (or for the first time). I know Kman has talked about getting back into DSII, and idol still has to finish up DS. Let's play!

[idolminds]

Let me know when you get into Dark Souls. This might be the motivation I need to get back to it.

[Quemaqua]

I'm really anxious. I loved that game so much.

Demon's Souls continues well, though. Just downed the 4-1 boss, and am prepped to down 2-1 boss also. Still sort of lost on how the upgrade system works. I mean I get it, but I'm always gun shy when it comes to pulling the trigger on upgrades since I don't want to waste materials. That Crescent Falcion +1 from 4-1 even with my relatively minimal magic stat is still worlds better than my Longsword +2, but I like the way longswords play. I suppose I could take that along the crescent route. Bah. I don't know.

[gpw11]

Fuck you, Tapatalk

[gpw11]

Let me know when you hit Dark Souls 2.  I'd like to try it and this sounds fun

[Quemaqua]

For sure! I can't wait to get back to that one also. I played just a bit of the PC version, and really liked what I played.

My Demon's Souls progress continues. Had a bit earlier and found the Dragon Longsword +1 in 2-2 earlier, and upgraded it ... man, it's some good shit. Sort of made the "mistake" of pumping a shit ton of points into magic because I somehow had it in my head that several weapons were going to be the best things ever, but that longsword still outclassed them. Even the Crescent Falcion. Though using the Rune Sword and Rune Shield combo for super-ultra magic defense is tempting. Or it was until I noticed how low their condition thresholds were. Maybe if I really went full magic ... but that's not likely to happen because I like stabbing things way too much. I also managed to break the second chain in 3-2, but am entirely at a loss as to where to go next. Wandered for a good hour and still haven't found a boss. I may need to consult a guide.

Oh and as a last not, holy shit did Japan get a better CE for DS2 than we did. Nice big juicy art book and everything. Randomly stumbled across that earlier and was immediately filled with awe and jealousy.

EDIT - Still making Demon's Souls progress. Have downed Phalanx, Tower Knight, Armor Spider, Flamelurker, Dragon God, Fool's Idol, Maneater(s), the Old Monk, the Adjudicator, Leechmonger, and the Dirty Colossus. So I've still got to clear 4-2 and beyond, the last area of the Valley of Defilement, and the last 2 areas of the palace. Am feeling pretty happy with my development ... got the Dragon Longsword up to +4, and that fire damage is super. Crescent Falcion +2 is coming along, and soon as I get more darkstones will probably surpass the longsword in raw damage. Using the Dark Heater Sheild, but will have to start seriously using the Rune Shield in 4-2 for those shadowmen with the huge beam magic. That crap kicks my ass all over the place.

I'm loving this, but so ready for it to be over. Not because it's bad by any measure, but because I really, really want to play Dark Souls again.

[gpw11]

I....I tried.  I just couldn't do it.

[Quemaqua]

Bullshit! You made that post before you were playing at 2 in the morning. You know you're totally on board.

Yesterday I downed the Old Hero and the Storm King. Got stabbed by the Penetrator. Basically just have to deal with Asraea and then finish up world 1. I'm so close to done! I wish I didn't have to spend all this time on school stuff this weekend. Still hoping I can manage to finish this and start Dark Souls ... which I'm definitely going to be playing on the PS3. Tried to fix up the PC version again, and while I did manage another trick or two that improved the framerate, it's still just frustratingly bad. Like all Blighttown, all the time. So ... yeah. PS3 it is. Which I guess means I'll probably be playing Dark Souls 2 on there as well despite the PC port running well.

[gpw11]

Haha.  Hillariously, like half an hour after you left I realized I just don't have the energy.

[Quemaqua]

So sad, my friend. So sad.

[gpw11]

I had a blast rolling through The Undead Burg and the got to the Taurus Demon, who I almost killed first time, only to get thrown off of the bridge.   And then I was like "Oh, right, I have to level up way more before I fight this guy".  And then I just thought about all the time I'd have to be spending running around the limited area of the Undead Burg and all the time spent after that and kind of just lost interest.

[Quemaqua]

There's really no point in the game where you have to grind. People can beat the game without leveling up. It's all skill, man. Just buy a couple firebombs and take him out.

I'm seriously frustrated with Demon's Souls right now. I have to give up tonight, my will has been completely broken. I'm at the False King. I've done everything there is to do but fight this dude. I'm pumped. I'm ready.

 ... and I can't even get him to half health. Real similar to the last boss fight in Dark Souls, the run back to him is a fucking pain in the ass, which only makes losing the actual fight that much more painful. But man, I just can't get anywhere with him. I've watched a bunch of videos of people fighting him and it all looks to make enough sense, but I just don't roll around like they do, and I can't take the hits like they do. I'm getting my ass straight handed to me.

Oh yeah, and I love the move where he grabs you and actually sucks one of your levels out of you. He telegraphs it and it's pretty easy to dodge, but I fucked up and got hit by it once. Goodbye, soul level 77. Hello, soul level 76.

This fucker is going to haunt my dreams. But I just can't play any more tonight. I need to detox, start fresh tomorrow.

[idolminds]

There is an entire subculture of "one bros" that beat Dark Souls at soul level one, never leveling through the entire game.

[Quemaqua]

DEMON'S SOULS IS DOWN.

Man, that was a great game. I had to do some thinking with the last boss and come at it from a different angle. But I did it! First try today. Though man, it was a great fight. And the ending is really, really satisfying for the kind of game this is. I felt triumphant, I think even more so than when I beat Dark Souls. I believe that Demon's Souls is the harder game for sure.

If you've never given it a whirl, I really recommend it. It's tough and a bit more obtuse than Dark Souls, but man, the feeling of exultation at the end was inspiring.

So now it's on to Dark Souls! I'm super excited since I can play and don't have much else to do today. Going to head in like a badass and start with a Deprived character. Aww yeah!

Who's joining me?

EDIT - Gargoyles down! Little rough going in the beginning due to having no armor with Deprived (Taurus Demon sucked a bit), but that doesn't last long at all. Am apparently going battle axe for the moment, at +4. Feeling pretty good. Enjoying my time back immensely, and it's nice to see everything again. I've forgotten a lot of it, but I remember a lot as well.

One thing that irks me is I didn't let the asshole out of the church prison before I killed the gargoyles. I forget what you eventually get from him, but whatever it is I guess I miss out now.

EDIT x2 - Capra demon down, mostly finished exploring the Depths. Gaping Dragon down, Blighttown about half done or so. Tried Quelaag and got my ass roundly handed to me, which I suppose should come as no surprise. She was one who gave me a real tough time my first go round. Need to finish up the rest of Blighttown, get my fresh Fire Keeper's Soul back to the shrine for an upgrade, and get back on the horse.

EDIT x3 - Finished Blighttown (though I seem to have missed the New Londo key, which sucks ... I could backtrack for it, though I've almost got the Lordvessel), and beat Quelaag. For the first time I really did some multiplayer stuff. Fought two invaders, one of which I beat (though in retrospect I'm now wondering if he wasn't an NPC invader that I just hadn't seen my first time around). The other I got my ass handed to me by. I did a bunch of coop after getting Quelaag down, which was really satisfying, actually. Fought her with others maybe 4 or 5 times, really enjoyed that. Handed in some humanity to the Chaos Daughter. I'm about 15 humanity donations away from getting her covenant to level 2 and opening the shortcut to Lost Izalith (must save Sunbro!).

Then I finished up Darkoot Basin and Darkroot Garden, beat Sif (this boss fight is so affecting for me ... I always hate to do it, and feel really bad when I win). Did Sen's Fortress, which went pretty smoothly, and everything went well in Anor Londo. At least ... until Ornstein and Smough. I got lucky on my first run through the game and beat them on my first try, but I knew from subsequent following of the game and conversations with people that they're supposed to be super tough and horrible. Sure enough, I still haven't been able to beat them after like 6 attempts. Ended up saying fuck it, went back to redo the Undead Asylum, get the doll, and then did the Painted World of Ariamis. Let Priscilla live because I'm a nice guy like that, then ascended my Greatsword of Artorias from Sif's soul.

I'd been two-handing an Astora Straight Sword +4, which I've since gotten to +5, and switching to one-handed when I'd use my very, very limited pyromancy (the only thing I have is 4 shots of Chaos Fireball). I'm focusing on mobility, like I did the first time around, though with heavier emphasis on stamina and stamina regen. I fucked up like a boss when I went to the Garden and pissed off the cat, so I now can't join the covenant in this game and get the ring from the ninja that lets you cartwheel, which really bums me out, but it is what it is. I'll probably be doing this build somewhat different from my first despite the same basic premise. We shall see!

Anyway, I'm using even lighter armor now to maintain my roll, and two-handing the Greatsword of Artorias at +5 while fast-rolling, so I feel good. We'll just have to see whether or not that extra damage is going to help me out in the Ornstein/Smough fight. It's gonna be interesting, as my power comes at the price of the speed of my swing, and I don't have a highly effective block. Hopefully will get that done today, get the key to New Londo from Blighttown, and maybe start down into the Catacombs.

[K-man]

go back to the bell tower where you fought the gargoyles you and you'll be able to pay him to reset NPC tendencies.

[Quemaqua]

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. Good call, thanks man. So many little details that are easy to forget.

EDIT - Took that advice and atoned to the tune of just under 40,000 souls. Expensive mistake! That's only about one level for me at this point, though. I think I'm SL87?

With the nerfing of the Mask of the Father, my old build doesn't work quite so well. I have no ability to equip particularly good armor, so bosses and larger enemies are now often 2 or 3 hit killers for me despite a good-sized HP pool. The build has turned into a very high risk style of play since the survivability is super low. Currently I'm looking like this:

It's a big-ass link.

My chest is +5, legs are +5, gauntlets are +10. Greatsword of Artorias is at +5.

I'm having fun with it despite the fact that it's less survivable than the first time I went through the game and did something similar. I was going to play a bit differently this time, but it just sort of kept creeping back toward this, so I decided to go for it and try to do it earlier, which paid off in spades. The game has gotten harder as it's gone, though, since I can get killed so quickly.

Nito's down, Seath is down, New Londo is opened up ready for Four Kings, Ceaseless Discharge, Firesage Demon, and Centipede Demon all downed this morning, and I opened the shortcut to Izalith and saved Solaire from maggoty doom. Beat Sanctuary Guardian on my first try for the DLC area, then got killed like 8 or 9 times straight by Artorias. I just can't take those hits, and that basically-unblockable rush-stab attack he does is awful. I can't dodge it almost ever (it's just chance, it seems), and even with a shield it'll nearly kill me. So ... yeah. I feel like I should be able to tackle the DLC okay, but with this build it's going to take some extra work. I'll come back to it after I've finished Lost Izalith and the Four Kings. Then hopefully polish off the rest of the DLC and head for Gwyn.

EDIT x2 - Did as I said. Finished up New Londo and the Four Kings, finished off Lost Izalith (well, okay, I didn't really FINISH it ... just shortcutted it and pretty much went straight for the boss after I fucked up and failed to save Siegmeyer, which makes me sad and angry), then went back and got the dark wood grain ring from the Forest Hunters. After all that, I went back to Artorias and beat him on the first try. Which makes it sound like it was easy, and it wasn't. It was fucking tough. Managed to dodge most of those sliding lunge attacks he does, and he did his purple powerup nonsense without me interrupting him toward the end, but I still made it. Just barely. Super cool fight mechanically, visually, and thematically. Did a bunch of the stuff down to unlocking the shortcut to the Chasm of the Abyss, and I'm really impressed with everything the DLC has had to offer. The environments are wonderful. Totally worth the money I had to spend to get it on PS3 since my PC can't handle the game.

Oh, and Gough is awesome. And just the whole thing, really. I love what it is you're getting to walk in on, and the fact that it's something that's already happened that's important to current events. There's something so melancholy and beautiful about the whole thing, which I suppose goes for Dark Souls itself ... but it's very concentrated in the DLC.

Kalameet is up next, then whatever's at the bottom of the chasm. I sort of know but I sort of don't, so we'll see how it goes. After that, it's all Gwyn, all the time. And hopefully he doesn't fuck me up as bad as the first time I played the game.

EDIT x3 - So Dark Souls is done. Managed Kalameet yesterday in a very short play session. He was reasonably tough, but not too bad once you got the attack patterns down. Went straight for Young Sif after that ... another one of those really powerful moments that could be completely lost on someone who doesn't understand who they're saving or why. Got a bit choked up again. I swear, the Sif/Artorias thing is my biggest weak spot.

Manus was tough. My build is effectively zero poise, with little ability to absorb damage. I'm all dodge and damage. Figuring out when it was safe to heal was the biggest problem, then it was all just learning his moves and how best to avoid them. Some I never could figure out great ways around, or at least couldn't pull it off reliably, so I had my work cut out for me even once I knew what I was doing. He could put me down in as little as three hits if he used a really strong attack.

After him I did a little running around, leveled a couple times, got a couple lizards I'd missed, cleaned up whatever loose ends. This wasn't a complete run by any means, so I skipped some optional stuff and probably a fair number of items lying around the game world.

After that, it was time for Gwyn. I got him down to less than a quarter health on my first run, was so ready to just move in for the kill ... when I got signed out of PSN and logged off back to the fog door. SON OF A BITCH. Fucking Charter. God I hate Charter. Anyway, it took me another 5 runs or so to down him. Was a fairly tough fight because he leaves you so little room for healing, and he could basically twoshot me. Since I have zero poise, every hit is the potential for a stunlock, and combined with my inability to absorb damage ... yeah. Thankfully most of his hits aren't so rapid that I couldn't roll away, and once I got his rhythms down again and could figure out exactly when I could roll after getting hit, I managed okay. On both he and Manus I used Power Within as my one pyromancy spell, since it's super helpful for me to be able to dish out more damage. The longer I'm in a fight, the more likely I am to fuck up and die on a mistake. I had to heal a whole hell of a lot in both those fights anyway, so the constantly ticking health was far from a big deal, and that extra damage definitely helped put me over the top.

Feels great to have completed the game again, and the experience only reinforces for me how special this game is. Far and away my game of the generation. I was nearly as obsessed with it on this second playthrough as I was the first time, which is why I managed to do it so quickly. I'm not sure what my final time was ... around 60 hours, I think?

Anyway ... if you were waiting to jump on board the Soul Train (wat) until I got to DkSII, now's your chance! Would be great to have some others to play and discuss with. I'm about to boot it up right now and dig in. Can't wait to see all the new stuff. I'll have about 5 or 6 hours of rehash from the little bit I played before, but we'll see where it takes me.

[PyroMenace]

Man I don't know how you can go through those back to back, finishing Dark Souls was felt great, but did not wish to take another one right after.

[Quemaqua]

I don't really find the games stressful. When you're first going through it there's more of that, but once you know the ins and outs that pretty much goes away completely. Admittedly, I hadn't finished Demon's Souls or played the Dark Souls DLC, but I've gotten pretty comfortable with the way the games work. I'm not feeling any stress going into Dark Souls II. Just having a great time.

Well, I shouldn't say that completely. As I was saying in IRC the other night, coming off of Dark Souls and going straight into II may not have been the best idea. I hadn't realized how significant some of the minor changes really were, and they're quite jarring coming straight from a prior paradigm. The movement in particular is very vexing. Dark Souls II feels almost more fluid, but the way the character changes facing is completely different. It's helpful in certain circumstances and very obnoxious in others, and directional changes aren't as responsive. The character almost "sticks" a bit toward a straight-ahead movement when walking, and you have to move the stick a bit further to get them to go on the diagonal, which is contrary to Dark Souls, which gave you constant incremental freedom. I'm really hating this and after 5 or 6 hours of play I'm still not used to it. I also hate the player animations for movement. They look exceedingly unnatural, as if they're holding their upper body somewhat rigidly while the rest of them is very graceful. It's a weird effect and it bugs the fuck out of me.

This also goes for swordplay. Dark Souls gave you more freedom in terms of how you chose to mix attacks. Like you could generally move seamlessly from heavy attacks to light attacks (like start with a heavy then dive into a few lights or visa versa). Dark Souls II pretty much puts a stop to that, forcing a big gap between these hit-intensity changeups. That alone is driving me fucking crazy. I've only used a couple of weapons, so this is far from a complete analysis, but it appears to have been the case for a dagger, shortsword, and longsword thus far. I really don't like it at all.

A lot of this is mostly frustrating because my muscle memory is completely geared toward the way things worked in the prior game. So a lot of these may only be super negative because I want them to be the same as they were. I'll reserve judgment until I've spent more time with the game, as there may be legitimate reasons they changed these things that I'm just not seeing. I do have a suspicion that I'll never like this as much as Dark Souls in the control department, but it's telling that I didn't notice any of these things whatsoever when I first played a few hours of Dark Souls II a while ago. I hadn't been fresh off the other games and thus was blissfully unaware that there were any changes. So maybe I'll get used to it.

The game in a lot of respects feels like a layer of Demon's Souls added onto the Dark Souls base. In some ways this is sort of cool, in other ways it seems like a bit of a drag. I hate the fact that you have to warp back to Majula to level. Mostly because since you can warp from the beginning of the game, it feels like a pointless waste. You've basically stuck two load screens between me and leveling for no reason. I still just have to travel back to the bonfire, only now I have to warp twice too. I don't really get why they decided to do that. If you couldn't warp it would be a huge deal. Since you can, it just ends up seeming arbitrary.

Art feels a bit different. Characters have a different feel to them as well. Faces and such. The game in general looks much better than Dark Souls, with some nice effects and lots of great-looking scenes, but there's also something a tad less organic about it. It feels a little more like a game despite the fact that the environments should make it seem more real. I haven't been able to narrow this down, and to be honest, it's probably more to do with the way the player character interacts with the world as opposed to the world itself.

Load times are much worse on the PS3 compared to PC; no surprise there. PC version also seems to have the better framerate. I'd read there were no framerate issues on the PS3, and while it hasn't done anything as bad as Dark Souls at times did, it's definitely dropped a bit here and there. Enough that I've been annoyed by it. It makes me wonder if I'm not making a mistake choosing not to stick with the PC version. I sort of felt like ... I just played through both the others on the PS3, and I have both versions, so why not keep going there? If given the choice I generally prefer to play games on my big TV in the bedroom, mostly because then Heather won't feel so much like I'm locking myself away to play games somewhere. There's no way for us to hang out together while I play in the office/library.

So. That's a mouthful of stuff. But it all comes down to whether I'm enjoying the game, and while it seems like I've been whining so far, but I'm actually having a good time with it. Things feel mostly familiar, but nothing is quite the same, so I feel like a newbie all over again. The need to explore is huge, and I'm excited to see what's in store, and to learn more about the world. So that part hasn't changed. I'm definitely not in love with it the way I was with Dark Souls, but my hope is that a lot of this is really just because I want it to be exactly the same thing, and I'll get used to it as I go. It's a bit tough because Dark Souls is one of my favorite games of all time, so any changes to that formula are going to be hard to swallow for me, most especially if I'm coming right off of it.

Anyway, my journey started with a deprived character again. Starts at level 1 with every stat at 6, different from Dark Souls. You do get the basic armor your character wanders in with, not completely naked like Dark Souls, but the early going was a lot tougher for sure. I've now got some halfway decent stuff and feel reasonably confident.

Pursuer killed me straight off (I managed to almost beat him the first time on PC) and I feel hamstrung by my Dark Souls muscle-memory. Keep making dumb mistakes with rolling and attacking because of the differences between the two games. Using the flame longsword from the Forest of Giants, and beat the giant boss. Also went human doing some coop on him once, just to try it. The world feels a lot more populated than Dark Souls, that's for sure. More messages, more ghosts, more bloodstains, and I suspect less wait times for multiplayer stuff. I also opened it up to all regions for that, which there was no option for in Dark Souls (a damn shame, too, as that would extend it's life significantly).

I may not get much time to play this weekend as have tons of school stuff to do, but will try to sneak in a few more hours when I can. I'm anxious to see what's ahead.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I had some of the same complaints with the control that you did Que, since I had just come off of a second Dark Souls playthrough right before Dark Souls 2 came out but I got over it once I found some weapons I liked and got used to them.  Just stick with it, it pays off even though its a bit irritating at first.

[Quemaqua]

Good to hear. I mean I had no intention of throwing in the towel at all, but was at least hoping these wouldn't be niggles that would stick for too long.

Did you ever do a NG+ for II, Belmont?

[TheOtherBelmont]

Good to hear. I mean I had no intention of throwing in the towel at all, but was at least hoping these wouldn't be niggles that would stick for too long.

Did you ever do a NG+ for II, Belmont?

I started one and put in about 10 hours but then moved on to other games and decided I would do another playthrough when all of the DLC for the game is finished coming out.

[Quemaqua]

They're about to release the third one on the 30th, aren't they? And that's the last of it?

I put in a couple more hours today, and I think I'm over the hump. It still doesn't feel as good as the first game, but I've sort of figured out what it's doing. Like with attacking, you CAN launch into a heavy attack after a light one, but you can't go from heavy to light anymore. I don't know why, but it seems to work that way with the weapons I've tried.

Downed the Pursuer a couple times in coop, though not in my game. Just did it to get back to life after dying had sent my health a bit low. I kinda get what he is and does now, but any time I try to take him on by myself it's just a disaster. I can't move quickly enough because for bosses, I'm still playing the game like it's DkS and not DkSII. I just can't get myself out of the muscle-memory for rolling. Even though I know I need to do it sooner, I'm failing to. I'm not actually sure if it's that the rolls are a bit more sluggish to get started in this game (I believe this is the case) or just that I'm used to ninja-flipping around with the dark wood grain ring, but I was able to roll effectively before I got that ring, which was at the end of my game ... so I think it's a slight difference in how long it takes to get a roll started. It isn't much, but when you're dealing with animation frames, even that much can fuck you when you can't seem to unlearn the old way.

But yeah, went through Heide's Tower of Flame and got to No-Man's Wharf. Ghost pirates! Woo!

I'm wondering what the deal is with the torches now. I get the sense that lighting those sconces is kind of a thing, but I'm not sure why I should bother to do it since running around with an offhand torch is usually sort of horrible idea. I did discover the use that light has in the Wharf, mostly thanks to a user message, and then it was demonstrated to me in the gameworld through circumstance, which was cool. But beyond that I haven't figured out why it matters in other places.

Man, the gear I'm seeing on people at bonfires is fucking crazy. Some insane looking weapons and really cool armor sets. I feel like they tried to put in more of that stuff just from what I'm seeing when I'm at a bonfire. One of the huge swords looks dead-on like the sword from Berserk, and since Miyazaki mentioned in an interview that he's familiar with Berserk and had based an armor idea from the first game (was it Siegmeyer's?) on Bazuso, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to look like the sword from Berserk.

 ... I want it. I want it bad.

EDIT - I'd guess I'm about 15 hours in or so, and having a great time now. It did take some getting used to, but I don't feel like most of the things I mentioned before are flaws so much as a concerted effort on the part of the developers to curb certain habits or make the game more difficult. There were a lot of things one could abuse to pretty well negate some of the difficulty of Dark Souls, and while I'm sure others have cropped up for DkSII, a lot of the old tricks, at least, are no longer profitable. It's not broken, just takes some unlearning of old methods.

I've perhaps had a bit too much of an easy ride so far. I've found the game considerably more difficult than DkS so far, but I've also been doing more of the online stuff. I've done a fair bit of co-op boss-running to save on humanity when I get down to half-health as a hollow, and I'm sorta-not-quite ashamed to say I actually called in help a couple times. The first time was on the Pursuer, and I only did that because I legitimately took him down single-handedly during one of the co-op runs while the other guy pretty much cowered in a corner and dinked him with arrows that did virtually no damage. It was a long fight, and I was the one with all the aggro the whole time. So after that I just wanted to get to the next area instead of slogging through more runs, so I called in a guy. It actually turned out to be a great fight. He wasn't very high level, so it was still a challenge, and both of us fucked up several times and had to retreat. So it was actually quite fun in the end (I've actually really enjoyed all the co-op stuff I've done in both DkS and DkSII ... I didn't do much of it in DkS the first time I played, but this time tried where I could to lend others a hand).

My second summon I feel a bit bad about. In my experience, the NPC summons in DkS weren't so amazing, so I called someone in that I'd talked to for the Flexile Sentry, and they made that fight a hell of a lot easier. They almost died, but they kept aggro nearly the whole time, so it wasn't very difficult. And man, the few times I got really well nailed told me how tough that fight would have been without the assistance. I really didn't think it was going to be a win. Most of my NPC summons in DkS were failures. Usually the NPC died first and I followed shortly thereafter. I only tried this a few times in my first time through the game (didn't do any player summons), and did absolutely no summons at all my last run. But yeah, I'm thinking they may be a little beefier in DkSII. I again summoned an NPC (one I'd never met) for the Ruin Sentry, because I wanted to see how this other stacked up again the first summon. She was less OP, and this was the one boss fight I'd had spoiled for me by seeing footage, so I sort of knew what I was up against. Even still, it was an incredibly hard fight. I almost died about 4 times and used all 7 of my mid-level lifegems (resplendent I think they're called?) plus 2 flasks (was already out 2 at the start). The NPC didn't make it, but did get me just far enough to help with the first 1/3, which made the remaining 2/3 doable. I could have won this fight on my own since I knew how to manage it, but I suspect it would have taken me a good several tries at least. So I don't feel as bad about that one ... but still.

Anyway, I feel like I've cheaped out a little so far, and will likely try to avoid NPC summons in the future. I think it's a bit more tempting because I've spent so much time as human in this game. I don't understand how invasions work here, because I haven't been invaded even once yet. I believe you can now be invaded as hollow, but that hasn't happened either. I don't really love being invaded, but it's an aspect I always liked in DkS, and it seems really odd that while way more people are playing DkSII, I haven't gotten invaded even once. What gives? I figured I'd try to participate in some PvP in one fashion or another, so joined the Blue Sentinels covenant, which is supposed to get me summoned in to help out blue apostles who're in the process of being invaded, but while that's happened 3 times now, the apostles have died before I was able to actually get there and help. Each time I've either been sent back to my own world either before the screen has even faded out, or immediately after the loading screen. So that's disappointing. I keep hoping at some point somebody will stay alive long enough for me to pick a fight with a griefer. It seems like it would be fun. I believe the Darkmoon covenant in DkS operated similarly, but I think they just hunted down people who had been indicted for invading a lot? I never joined, so I dunno.

But yeah, really enjoying the game now. There are things I liked better about it compared to DkS, and things I prefer about DkS. Ultimately it's a somewhat different game, and it feels in a lot of ways like a melding of DkS and Demon's Souls. Not entirely, but I have sensed elements that remind me of Demon's a good deal. I can't put my finger on it, exactly, but I'm sure it'll become more apparent as I go.

Not sure what to do with my character. After putting a fair bit of points into strength, I'm kinda wondering if I won't switch to dex. I'd like to try one of the curved greatswords, maybe, or dual-wield katanas. I've thought about going full (or maybe half, 3/4) tank with a big axe too. Just try something very different from what I've generally done in these games. I guess we'll see. I know there's a way to reset your point investment ... I wonder what that costs?

Oh, lastly I should mention I did get completely stuck earlier tonight. Felt like I'd done and seen everything there was to do, but had missed one thing that led to the Huntsman's Copse. I eventually broke down and looked it up because I was doing a whole lot of aimless wandering. So that's where I'm at now. Just got there.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I know there's a way to reset your point investment ... I wonder what that costs?

There's an item you use to reset your points called a Soul Vessel, which there are more than one of in the game.  I had a few of them by the time I was done with the game so don't worry too much about doing it if you feel like it.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I've found two of them so far, I think. Which is good to know, since I'm still sort of experimenting and not really sure what I want to do. I did put a bunch of points into dex, but I'm not sure I really like the dex weapons I've found so far. The twinblade is a lot of fun, but I'll need a better one than the one I've got, and I don't think I want to dump the titanite into it. I've tried a black knight halberd, which is by far the most damaging thing I can wield, but it's taking some getting used to, and I don't care for it as much one-handed. I've manage to get the hang of rolling sort of, but it just isn't as reliable as in the first game, often resulting in my taking damage, so I feel the need for a shield. Anything two-handed and I just have a tendency to make a mistake and get fucked. Which sucks because I enjoy playing an evasion-centric character. I guess I'll just have to practice more. That, or just start pumping shit into strength and tank it out. Haven't experimented with magic whatsoever because I don't know how many points I'll have to put into attunement to even get a slot. It's probably only a few, but at this point ... eh. I dunno. I may just move on to that track and abandon strength and dex for a while until I find a weapon I know I want to use.

So I believe I'm keeping everything pretty spoiler-free for those who may want to read but don't want any spoilers. If I say I got to a boss somewhere I don't think that counts, as bosses are fucking everywhere in this game.

Doing okay, but am now at an impasse it seems. I opened up Belfry Luna and got to the boss there, which is ... yikes. I can see it as doable, but I just can't quite make it. I think I basically just need to level a bit more. I don't think I can technique my way through it any better. The boss of the Earthen Peak is ridiculous too, I can't hack it. I feel like there must be some gear that makes that more manageable, but if so, I haven't found it. And I feel like I've explored about everything I can.

The Shaded Woods I think I've pretty well exhausted, unless there's something else I missed in getting lost. I should go back and see if there's anything else. But the one part I know I could progress from ... no thanks. It's too much for me just now.

I feel like Black Gulch or the Gutter or whatever it is should be my next step, probably, but I apparently was under a misapprehension of how to get down there. I may need to farm souls to get what I need.

I bought all the DLC, so am fully prepared to check all that out if and when the time comes. The last piece came out yesterday.

I'm enjoying the lore stuff and how the DLC appears to tie into that. They're big on the idea that countless kingdoms have risen and fallen before on this spot, and it's kind of a cool theme to reinforce. At least I'm guessing that's what the deal is. There's enough to kind of tie things to the first game, even though this one feels in many ways wholly independent of it. But it definitely isn't ... there are lots of suggestions and hints and ties. I definitely have a lot of my own working theories at this point.

Game continues to impress. It's very, very hard, much more so than Dark Souls was, but not in a way that feels unfair. It just feels like they ramped up the challenge and tightened the game systems. I can't say this feels like a better game, but it feels like a more polished game, which counts for something. There's perhaps a core heart that's lacking compared to the first, an emotional undercurrent I'm not yet feeling, but in some ways that's almost a good thing for me. The world of Dark Souls grabbed me very strongly, and at times maybe even a little too much so. When you actually found out about what had transpired, who some characters were, and how your interactions weighed on those definitions ... man. It could be overwhelming. That game emotionally taxes me at times, and I'm grateful not to be feeling that quite so intensely with DkSII. It has a lot of the same elements, and I may get there when I find out more, but for now, at least, I'm blissfully ignorant. That, or the stuff I know about doesn't hit so hard. It's also just slightly friendlier in the way Demon's Souls was slightly friendlier than DkS.

Can't wait to dive in some more. Might put in a couple hours this morning before class.

EDIT - Also put about 2 hours after class (before my other class). Got through the Gutter, Black Gulch, and killed my first major demon. Also found a DLC area. I AM EXCITE. It's excruciating that I won't get to play tonight. So much cool looking stuff I want to go see ... arg!

EDIT x2 - Missed a ton of stuff in the Gutter and Black Gulch, and made some good headway into the Iron Keep. Doubled back to progress where I couldn't before in the Shadowed Wood, and found some awesome stuff/people/junk. Also a boss that killed me very badly several times. Woo!