Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - April 7, 2015

[io]

SO I started NG++ tonight. I'm at 10 million SM, so not quite to the cap yet. I.e., I'm not playing with max people yet according to a chart I saw.

But I got invaded almost as soon as I got to the second (main) bonfire in Forest of Fallen Giants. The same thing happened in NG+ - so I'm assuming that is the first place you can get invaded (and that it doesn't happen near the first bonfire or around where the first Heide knight is sitting). On the flip side, there were a few summon signs down for coop as well. I summoned one of those, held the guy off, and we beat him. The invader showed up as white which confused me for a second - was he wearing the white right then? I'm pretty sure they've all been red before.

Then me and the summon took care of the Pursuer on the rooftop in like 5 seconds. He actually died, though, in the crossbow room. But I just grabbed two more guys and we finished off Last Giant in seconds as well. I'm wearing the covetous silver serpent ring + 2 and trying to go through as quickly as possible to open up Shrine of Winter. I guess I need 3 million souls on NG++. I already picked up 250,000 just from that initial portion. I could coop I guess to get there but I'd rather just play through and summon people as I find them. I'll try to avoid tedious places like the Gutter but I might as well get through Heide, Lost Bastille, Huntsmans Copse, Earthen Peak, and Iron Keep.

I'm really trying to keep myself from picking up every treasure and exploring every nook so I can do this quickly. Most of the early treasure is garbage anyway.

 

[Supplice]

But yeah, it will feel strange to play another game. I'm thinking maybe FF X remaster? I never played the original.

You should, its a good game.

But I got invaded almost as soon as I got to the second (main) bonfire in Forest of Fallen Giants. The same thing happened in NG+ - so I'm assuming that is the first place you can get invaded (and that it doesn't happen near the first bonfire or around where the first Heide knight is sitting). On the flip side, there were a few summon signs down for coop as well. I summoned one of those, held the guy off, and we beat him. The invader showed up as white which confused me for a second - was he wearing the white right then? I'm pretty sure they've all been red before.

If the invader was white, then he was wearing the white ring. No idea why an invader would be wearing that ring so late in the game. :lol: Anyway, its still good for the host to wear. If you summon help, the invader won't know who to prioritize unless they bother to remember your name when they enter. Which many of them don't.

 

[guardian_owl]

Well, if the hosts has summons he might be hoping to blend in with them so he can get in a few free hits, on that note...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPBKmaiYvgw

 

[io]

So, I moved on to Heide's Tower of Flame last night. I got invaded almost immediately after I killed the first knight and was looking for summon signs.

The guy came in dual wielding some small weapons (daggers I guess) and switching to a pyro hand every so often. I always assume that these guys are pros but this dude just kept his distance and when I would move in he'd cast combustion or something - a very short range pyro spell right in front of him. That was super easy to avoid, then I'd just keep moving around and hitting him with my sword. If he backed too far off, I'd pelt him with lightning spears. It was overall pretty damn easy.

So, I think, huh, that was interesting. Then I get some summons and take care of the first boss. When I go back for more to get the second boss, the same guy invades again when my 2 summons are already there. Needless to say he is toast, even though this time he retreats into the circular area with all the big knights. While the summons take care of them, I nail the guy with lightning spears - all his rolling around is for naught.

After I clear that boss, I go back to coop and help others to get more souls. The same dude invades me a third time before I get summoned and I take care of him once more one-on-one. This time I was trying to do it quicker and he actually nailed me with that pyro - but it only took about 1/3 of my health. Since he kept backing away I could have chugged easily but I figured I'd defeat him with honor and not do it . Anyway, a couple more swings after he tries to roll behind me for a backstab and he's gone yet again.

This game is 100% better with the lack of (or much reduced at least) lag-stab from DS 1. I think too many people were dependent on getting kills that way and I can destroy them now. I love it.

So, after that I finally get into someone else's game and as we are making our way to the boss, guess what? Yep, same guy invades yet again! Good lord... So I ran into the same guy 4 times in less than an hour. I guess all he was doing was invading on Heide and he must have been the only one last night at that time doing so (at my Soul Memory level anyway). Once again, he was dispatched with swiftness although this time he tweaked his strategy. He tried to hide behind the archway leading into the big round area and nail us with a Firestorm as we came in. But of course we knew he was there so he didn't make contact. Then as he rolled around behind the knights, I nailed him again .

I felt bad for the guy - but then I remembered he was a low-life invader and I made him lose 4 red eye orbs. I hope he paid for them... But I figured he had to be winning other matches - or else maybe he was just a masochist.

 

[io]

An unrelated question. I just noticed that in the elevator on the way from the ghost ship up into the cell area of Lost Bastille there is a treasure that you see in a cave on your way up. I see no way of getting to it. The door of the elevator/cage thing closes while it is moving and you can't block it from doing so. I looked all over the ground floor to see if there was a hidden wall or path. And from above it is way too far down. Any ideas?

 

[guardian_owl]

An unrelated question. I just noticed that in the elevator on the way from the ghost ship up into the cell area of Lost Bastille there is a treasure that you see in a cave on your way up. I see no way of getting to it. The door of the elevator/cage thing closes while it is moving and you can't block it from doing so. I looked all over the ground floor to see if there was a hidden wall or path. And from above it is way too far down. Any ideas?

Been so long since I've been through there, so the elevator cage closes or does the entry way to the elevator also close while the elevator is moving? If I remember right I think you have to ride the elevator to the top, hit the switch, quickly exit the elevator before the door closes and then drop down on the roof of the descending elevator car.

If it's a duel, I'll stick to melee unless they bring out a non-buffing spell, then all bets are off and I'll start hurling sunlight spears (which usually 1-hit KO at 55 faith with the maxed, bolted dragon chime if they are at all damaged). Only time I'll chug is if they cast a spell that causes poison. I've had fun today cosplaying as a Ruin sentinel (armor set + Old Knight's shield + Drakekeeper's War Pick is about as close as I can get) and ranking up in the dragon covenant.

I was just looking up the BloodBros since I remember something about losing penalizing you and apparently you DON'T level up in the covenant by invading and killing, only through duels (which if you lose the duel it counts against your count of 500). That's seems like it would be a pain in the ass to level up in.

 

[io]

Oh, I only used the spells when he ran back and pulled out his pyro flame or when he ran back behind 3 of the big knights. In that case, I figure it is fair game.

But then again, this isn't a duel - it is an evil invader that needs to be banished at all cost .

 

[Backlash]

guardian_owl is right about the elevator to Lost Bastille - just hop out and get on the roof on the way down.  There a similar thing on the elevator on the way down to the Lost Sinner.  At this point it's probably a crap item, though. I can't remember what either one was.

I spent some time last night trying to fight the Ancient Dragon.  I can't remember everything you guys wrote earlier since I was nowhere near that part of the game at that time, but I did remember complaints about the AOE fire and staying near his toes.  I tried doing that, but he still constantly flies up and fries me.  As soon as he takes off it's pretty much game over since I can't see him and have no idea where to run, even if I could run far enough which it seems like I can't.  Such a bullshit mechanic.

Anyway, I did beat the last official boss.  What should I do before moving into NG+?  I figured I'd buy a ton of supplies while I have access to all the merchants, but I'm not sure what else I should do.

 

[guardian_owl]

Well, running around to double check talking to every NPC in the game is a good idea, as a lot of them give you something when you reach a certain stat milestone or kill a certain boss. The merchants also get new stock (for instance, apparently the bird-lady weapon vendor sells infinite amount of the item that replenishes spell casts once the final boss is defeated) Farming to desolation (x10) enemies which drop useful things like twinkling and titanite slabs. If you want the ruin sentinel armor set its best to try to farm for it in NG, as in NG+ the spawn count of them is not X10 but X1 only.

Ya, probably a crap item. I was so annoyed that I kept carefully trying to drop from the zip line in the Dragon Aerie onto that island and all it was was a "soul of a X."

I spent some time last night trying to fight the Ancient Dragon. I can't remember everything you guys wrote earlier since I was nowhere near that part of the game at that time, but I did remember complaints about the AOE fire and staying near his toes. I tried doing that, but he still constantly flies up and fries me. As soon as he takes off it's pretty much game over since I can't see him and have no idea where to run, even if I could run far enough which it seems like I can't. Such a bullshit mechanic.

Stay just in front of his hind toes. The forward fire attack can't hit you, the backward firing attack can't hit you, the stomp attack will miss you if you roll toward the foot when he raises his leg as he will step forward to crush you. Don't let your stamina bar get much below half so that as soon as it takes off you have enough stamina to start immediately sprinting in the direction you were facing (toward the rear of the dragon). If you are lucky the tail will cast a shadow and you can use that as a reference point to run toward if he starts rotating. Just make sure you never get directly under the shadow as it will crush you when it flops back down. R2 attacks or big weapons with longer attack animations are not recommended because if he takes off in the middle of a long windup you'll never have enough time to recover and sprint to avoid the fire.

I 2-handed a claymore and mostly did R1->R1, pause to reset combo, R1->R1, pause to reset combo; rinse and repeat. The only time I would go nuts and deplete my stamina gauge is if he started a backward fire attack as the animation is long enough that you have plenty of time for your stamina gauge to refill to full.

 

[Backlash]

Ok.  I was hoping there was a way to keep him from doing the AOE attack.  I'm also using a claymore, and I guess I'll 2-hand it and strip off my armor since everything is a 1-hit kill anyway.

 

[guardian_owl]

That's why I recommend the hind legs instead of the front, so you are as close to the safe area (the rear of the dragon) as possible. If you try to run to the sides or the front you will never outrun it from under the dragon. If you equip the slumbering dragon shield in your offhand that also helps with stamina regen. The best way to discourage him from doing the AoE attack is to not get too far away from him. If you hang out at his rear after avoiding an AoE attack or run to the side to avoid an AoE attack, it is pretty likely he will follow up shortly with another one.

Or you can try equipping the gyrm's shield from the door of pharros enemies which has 100 fire protection. Run as far as you can before the AoE fire attack starts and then pivot and begin blocking. After a second your guard will break and you will be temporarily stunned but still invincible. If you waited to the last second to block, then the AoE fire attack should be done before invincibility wears off when you get to your feet, though running to the back of the dragon is more reliable.

 

[Backlash]

Thanks for the tips.  I was definitely staying close, right by his hind foot the whole time. Not sure why he flew up.  I think I have a Gyrm's shield, though probably not enough STR to use it.  Anyway, I'll give it another shot tonight.

 

[io]

Thanks for the tips. I was definitely staying close, right by his hind foot the whole time. Not sure why he flew up. I think I have a Gyrm's shield, though probably not enough STR to use it. Anyway, I'll give it another shot tonight.

I did this fight many times and went into great detail about it. When I finally beat him, I was able to keep him from flying up even one time - but you have to be very careful to do so. Being "by" his hind foot (I assume you mean at the side) won't work at all. I was never able to get the shield strategy to work by the way - I'd get staggered and then killed as the AOE continues for what seemed like several seconds more...

Basically, the strategy is this:

1) Run in right at his head and the veer left (to trigger the sweeping attack instead of an opening AOE)
2) Head to back left foot, and get right in between the toes. This is the key issue: you need to get right in between the inner toe and middle toe. If you are even slightly outside this area, he will AOE.
3) Attack a few times, maintaining some stamina. As soon as he lifts his foot, run/roll towards the back diagonal as guardian_owl mentioned. (I found rolling much better since run never seems to trigger for me in key situations).
4) Switch over the other foot and repeat.
5) Another key thing: once you get in between the other foot's toes, he will usually shift his foot a bit which will push you out from between his toes. Once again, you need to press right back in there or he might do the AOE.

I ran through this several times and he did his AOE when I either didn't get to the other foot quickly enough or I let him push me out a bit too much and I attacked from there instead of getting back in between those toes. And I mean it isn't much - if you are still in between his toes but not literally pressed right up against him he will AOE. He also might do the underneath breath. You will see him rearing up on his hind legs. In that case you do want to go back outside his feet, but then get right back in there again after he drops his front feet (watch out as they can crush you). I don't think he did this on my "perfect" run either, but it can happen when you switch feet.

So when I finally defeated him I probably switched feet 10+ times (avoiding just the stomp attack) and he didn't do a single AOE. I two-handed my Greatsword and had one of the stamina-regen shields on my back. I wouldn't bother with all the other armor-removal that some people do. As long as you can roll fast (less than 70% equip) then you should be OK.

I was able to defeat him on coop (helping someone else) once but in that case I actually did have to avoid the AOE 3 times. I just got lucky and picked the right way to run in that case. The other guy was triggering the AOE by staying off to the side behind him and throwing spells at him.

If you want an easier way, you could get Gower's Ring. You'd need to burn an ascetic in Shaded Woods (for the foggy area). That area is not much harder on NG+. I didn't do that myself because I was worried about making it too hard, but after I finally did go through on NG+ it hadn't changed much (no red phantom NPCs like in some areas). But in any case, that supposedly protects you completely from the AOE attack.

-----------

As for what else to do, well, you should beat Vendrick. And do the Dark Covenant and maybe Bell Keepers if you haven't done those yet. I did Bell Keepers entirely offline via the red phantom in Belfy Sol (just remember to join the covenant first!). It is nice in NG+ not to have to worry about that stuff. And keep in mind you will get invaded much more in NG+ so it is better to handle that stuff in NG. I am SM 11 million now and getting invaded regularly, even at odd hours (like 4am this morning). I'm getting really close to the max SM cap at which point I expect invasions to ramp up even more dramatically.

In my own game, I am up past Covetous Demon in Earthen Peak. Just have to finish off Mythra yet again and move on to Iron Keep. If I can get the old soul there, I ought to be really close to opening the Shrine.

My problem now is that I still don't have a fragrant branch of yore in NG++ yet. Where is the first/easiest one to get? I need one for the path to Shrine of Winter of course. I'm thinking maybe the NPC in Iron Keep sells one. If so, that should be perfect. In fact, after I get that I might just go check on the Shrine at that point. Maybe I won't even need to go through Iron Keep.

 

[guardian_owl]

Sticking close reduces the chance of an AoE attack, but doesn't eliminate it completely. Once I knew that the key to avoiding it was to run back I just had to worry about getting killed by phantom foot and leave enough stamina to book it if it flew up into the air. I only managed to successfully co-op it once as a phantom. The first phantom got roasted early. I took up residence in front of one of the hind feet, while the host stayed far forward to the left of the entry way and I don't think it ever 1 AoE attack if even that. If you do summon a helper I think only grabbing one might be the right call as you have the benefit of the distraction while minimizing additional HP. It seems like half the time the 3rd player entering gets roasted by the frontward fire attack anyway.

You don't need to move if he does the underneath breath, as long as you are positioned in between the gap of the toes or just in front of the gap, it can't hit you.

My problem now is that I still don't have a fragrant branch of yore in NG++ yet. Where is the first/easiest one to get? I need one for the path to Shrine of Winter of course. I'm thinking maybe the NPC in Iron Keep sells one. If so, that should be perfect. In fact, after I get that I might just go check on the Shrine at that point. Maybe I won't even need to go through Iron Keep.

Wiki says there are a couple in Harvest valley. First one is in the cave behind the first mounted overseer. Second one is in the evil area with all the sickle users. So Heide->Huntsman->and branch at the start of Harvest.

 

[Backlash]

I did already beat Vendrick.  A little frustrating but not too bad.  Probably would have been easier if I have beat Ancient Dragon first, but oh well.  

I did some Bell Keeper covenant before just to get chunks, but I don't know how many victories I have there.  Probably around 8-10?  I tried it the other night but in NG I think my soul memory is just too high and other players are already past the belfry areas. I could do it offline I guess.  This might be the first Souls game I don't platinum though.  I didn't want to worry about it (or spoil too much) for my first play-through, so I didn't look much up.  Now I see that thing about keeping both those NPCs alive - sounds pretty horrible.  I didn't someone any NPCs my first time through, except Tark once.

I also tried Dark Covenant but I got really frustrated just trying to beat even the first crazy Havel phantom.  He hits so hard and never seems to run out of stamina.  Plus he can pivot 180 degrees in a millisecond so I couldn't get behind him.  Knowing after I beat him I had several more to beat...ugh.  Maybe I'll try it again later.

 

[io]

Wiki says there are a couple in Harvest valley. First one is in the cave behind the first mounted overseer. Second one is in the evil area with all the sickle users. So Heide->Huntsman->and branch at the start of Harvest.

Hmmm - pretty sure I was all over the caves by the first mounted overseer and didn't find one. I did avoid the area with the sickle users as that was a pain on NG. But I thought in the back of my mind there was one around there - I tried luring the big guy out from behind his boards but in NG++ he didn't attack and break them. I thought maybe it was in there. The sickle guys are close to that though. I guess I'll run in there and deal with them.

Edit: Just watched a video. I was definitely where that first one was - that is where Gavlaan is (though he's not there now since I skipped him at the Wharf this time). I ran right past that. Either I missed it or I did pick it up and just didn't notice!

I'm finding NG++ to be a bit of a slog that I am not enjoying all that much. But I am determined not to give up when I'm 99% of the way to the platinum already! I tend to stop a lot of games at 95% or so. NG+ was exciting because of being able to handle bosses much easier with better equipment/skills and the new enemies (red phantoms mostly). NG++, though, is just more of the same. I haven't seen a single difference other than that I guess things have a bit more health (though it is hard to tell in most areas).

But I did solo the Ruin Sentinels this time. That was kind of thrilling I suppose.

Most surprising/hardest manifestation of red phantoms in NG+:

Spoiler

Right after you get the key to the locked bonfire area in Huntsmans Copse, if you proceed just a little bit further up the path towards the Skeleton Lords, where in NG there is a red phantom invader, all of a sudden TWO red phantom sickle guys appear both in front of and behind you. I actually saw one as it showed up and it materialized out of thin air - it did not jump down from somewhere like most enemies do. Those thing killed me the first time I ran into them and last night in NG++ I was helping a few people and they are still hard to deal with - more so than the Skeletons Lords themselves. In fact, they were such a pain that in my own game I actually opted to open up the shortcut through the skeleton caves and use that to make my way to the boss. I never bothered with that in NG and didn't even see the point of it there.

 

[Trakan]

Why not just do the shrine skip, io?

 

[io]

Why not just do the shrine skip, io?

I thought the Shrine skip was to get enough souls to skip having to do the 4 great souls before opening the door. Is there something else?

Alright - I looked it up on a Youtube video. It looks like a bunch of jumps that I'd fail over and over and to top it off, then you have to get to the first bonfire in Drangeic Castle or you'd have to do it all over again. I could see myself dying a few times and getting really frustrated .

I got nearly 2 million souls just in the beginning part. It won't be long before I'm up to 3 million and the door will open anyway. So I can just play it out at this point.

 

[guardian_owl]

Finished Dragon Covenant, was doing really well, had like 12 victories in a row vs honorable meleers, but I guess 7PM is when all the gankers, flaskers, and casters get on as it took another hour and a half to get the last 5. In 3 different matches after 7PM the summoner stood in front of my spawning point and cast chaos fire storm as I was spawning so that as soon as I was able to move I would get hit for a good chunk of my HP.

They patched and added more HP/defense to the NPC summons so it is easier to do, if you have enough faith to have some healing spells on you that is helps quite a bit too. You can also use bonfire acetic 2x on the easiest bosses if you have difficulty with more than 2 of the 4 bosses and it will count.

Something I didn't find out until yesterday is the healing spells are pauseable. If instead of pressing the cast button you hold the cast button you will crouch down and prepare to cast heal (or most other AoE buffing spells) and wait and it will make a constant, low chime noise. Then you can either release the button to cast heal or roll to cancel it. There are many instances when I crouched down to heal Bernhart or Lucatiel and they moved out of heal range, wasting a cast. Now I can either wait for them to come back to release, or roll to cancel and try again.

 

[Supplice]

I was just looking up the BloodBros since I remember something about losing penalizing you and apparently you DON'T level up in the covenant by invading and killing, only through duels (which if you lose the duel it counts against your count of 500). That's seems like it would be a pain in the ass to level up in.

It is a long grind even if you hardly lose, and I've done it once just because I love PvP. In the early days, I reached Blue Sentinels rank 2 in the dueling arenas before heading to the Brotherhood of Blood. I spaced out the duels to fifty wins a day for ten days once I heard rumors invasions/red soap stones didn't count. I was happy to see victors gain a "red aura" around them which peaks at rank 2 (brighter than rank 1 aura). Same thing occurs for those that win at the Blue Sentinels arena except they get a "blue aura." With these auras, people can at least see that you are the real deal when you duel or invade. Since completing that and getting Great Chaos Fireball, I got burnt out on dueling. I stuck to invasions before I stopped playing. I was happy to retire with the "Wretch" sinner title.

Finished Dragon Covenant, was doing really well, had like 12 victories in a row vs honorable meleers, but I guess 7PM is when all the gankers, flaskers, and casters get on as it took another hour and a half to get the last 5. In 3 different matches after 7PM the summoner stood in front of my spawning point and cast chaos fire storm as I was spawning so that as soon as I was able to move I would get hit for a good chunk of my HP.

When I was leveling up in that covenant, I didn't bother to put a sign. Its better to just summon the dragon signs yourself so that you don't have to bother with those cheap situations. You get dragon scales when you win too. However, those I summoned represented the stigma of the Dragon Covenant very well by trying to chug a Sunny D whenever they could. :lol:

 

[io]

Got my platinum! It was indeed 3 million that triggered it. I knew I was close but the door didn't open so I did a little more soul farming and then all of a sudden the Herald started talking about finding the king, which was my cue to check out the door again. Funny thing is on the stairs to Drangleic she makes some comment about me being pallid and not up to the task which she didn't do before. Presumably that was just because I only had 2 of the 4 great souls.

I did end up doing Lost Sinner because I just happened to go over there after unpetrfiying Straid and saw a summon sign so I figured why not. I hadn't even gone down the elevator yet. But me and the summon (and Lucatiel) finished off that area no problem. They really did buff up Lucatiel quite a bit as in NG (pre-patch) she was nearly getting killed just from the initial enemies (the big things and the exploding hollows). I had to clear out the whole area first and then go back and summon her. This time (as well as in NG+) I got her right up front and she made it through just fine. I didn't bother lighting up the Sinners room either like I did in NG+. It was definitely harder that way but I got it done first try. So then I cooped on it a bit more. It was more fun and definitely netted me more souls to coop in Iron Keep though - just from the beginning area. You get a ton of souls just from the knights. But you also get invaded a lot there too. I kept trying to coop on the Old Iron King (final boss in Iron Keep) but the players who were hosting kept dying. It was kind of ridiculous. It isn't that hard to avoid his attacks. They weren't falling off into the lava either, which is sort of understandable given the small area. They kept getting pancaked by him . So I'd spend a lot of time there and not get anything from it - that's why I went back to the beginning of Iron Keep.

I was 3-1 against invaders tonight. The one I lost was a slugfest on the Iron Keep bridge. I got the other guy down to a sliver so it was basically next hit wins and he got me. Another time in Iron Keep I had tried my hand at the Pursuer in the Smelter Demon area while I still had 200,000 souls (since I needed like 275,000 to level up). I figured no harm in trying since it is right near the bonfire. Well, the stupid game decided that right after reviving me from getting killed by the Pursuer (who I nearly killed before getting greedy and taking too many swings) it would send me an invader. That is some f!*$cked up coding there. I mean, it was literally immediately after I stood up. Man, give the player a minute. So of course the entryway to the Smelter Demon area fogged over and I was worried I'd get killed and then not get back to my bloodstain. I put on the Life Protection ring as I waited for the guy to show up - but I'm not sure if that would have kept the bloodstain if I got killed.

In any case, it made for a tense fight. I waited in the bonfire room and pounced on him as soon as he showed up. That took half his health. Then we battled for a while and he got me down to nearly nothing before I took him out. I also got invaded in Earthen Keep for the first time (I was trying to coop on Covetous Demon). I beat that guy too.

Another time, I was in the Shaded Woods invasion hotspot, and I actually had a Blue Sentinel come to help me for the first time since the beginning of NG+. The thing was I killed the invader before he even found us. I saw him come out from Tark's area just as the guy died. So yeah, I definitely didn't need to have the ring on. But I forget if I was human or not at that point. But overall in about 20-25 invasions in NG+ and NG++ I got a sentinel to come all of twice.

Now I think I need a break from this franchise - but on the other hand, I still have that platinum in Demon's Souls to get. I forget the mechanics of that game but I think that I needed to clear two of the worlds to get the final boss souls for spells maybe? I have everything else done. I don't even remember who gives you spells and I barely remember how the worlds worked. I know there are no bonfires. You have to progress from one boss all the way to the next, right? But you can warp in after boss areas?

 

[guardian_owl]

However, those I summoned represented the stigma of the Dragon Covenant very well by trying to chug a Sunny D whenever they could. :lol:

That's when you flip to Sunlight Spear and burn them with holy fire

Now I think I need a break from this franchise - but on the other hand, I still have that platinum in Demon's Souls to get. I forget the mechanics of that game but I think that I needed to clear two of the worlds to get the final boss souls for spells maybe? I have everything else done. I don't even remember who gives you spells and I barely remember how the worlds worked. I know there are no bonfires. You have to progress from one boss all the way to the next, right? But you can warp in after boss areas?

Must progress from one boss to the next, but most worlds have unlockable shortcuts. When you kill a boss an archstone point appears which you can warp to from the nexus. The bosses you probably need are Old Monk in Tower of Latria and Maiden Astrea in the Valley of defilement as those bosses have 4 uses, 3 of which are spells or miracles. Depending on which spells you are missing you either need to find and free the spell vendor in the first level of tower of Latria (death cloud, homing soul arrow) or the other spell vendor in the 3rd level of the Boletarian Palace (soul thirst, relief). It's pretty speedy to get through as the first two levels of those worlds are proper levels, but the 3rd level is just the boss stage.

 

[Backlash]

Killed the Ancient Dragon last night.  I actually got him on the third try using Io's strat, where he didn't do the AOE even once.  Thanks Io!  Using Sunlight Blade on my +10 lightning claymore did pretty decent damage to him, so the fight was only a couple of minutes.

The odd thing is that two nights ago I had no trouble running through the level to fight the boss, just running past all the enemies.  I would almost get hit getting opening the door to the little hallway, but I made it every time.  Last night I couldn't run through worth a damn.  I had to kill the two knights on the platform just to open that stupid door safely, and then several times the enemies on that big stairway would somehow hit me.  It's like they completely changed their patterns somehow.  I was raging big time.

 

[guardian_owl]

I noticed when I was PVPing that occasionally I would hit them dead on, and they weren't rolling or strafing, but they wouldn't take damage. At first I thought my overhead smashes must be overshooting their head and hitting in the back, that maybe they were using gowers, but apparently there is visible spirit on one's back when that is equipped.

In researching it I found that apparently increased agility also adds invincibility frames to backstep, and seems to be the true benefit to increased adaptability as it is easy enough to time a roll for dodging damage with lower agility (I've had adaptability near base for most of the game). But dodging via backstep means you can be quicker to respond with another attack.

Neo dodging begins at 1:25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXCWYBfyPDA

 

[io]

That spirit on the back thing is Gower's Ring. I haven't noticed anyone else using it but I could just be missing it. There were times when it seemed like I did no damage on hit to the back as well. The ring weighs 10 pounds, though, so there is definitely a trade-off. Towards the end of my game last night I was trying to add to Vitality so I could equip it but I never quite got there. Apparently you can use it to cheese the Ancient Dragon as well since then the AOE attack won't effect you (though the ring breaks after 5 hits).

As for the Ancient Dragon, yeah, I just cleared all the enemies when I did it. I figured I might as well farm them for items/souls while I was making my runs. Then I farmed the "optional" ones (like the knight on the way to the petrified egg) to extinction while I was waiting for coop sessions. So by the end on NG I didn't have a single enemy left in Dragon's Aerie .

 

[Backlash]

Holy shit, that backstep video is crazy.

 

[guardian_owl]

Beat Vendrick, wasn't actually hard, got him in a couple of tries (though I did have all 5 giant souls). Pretty much the only scary attack is the horizontal swipe, second time I tried him he opened up with a dash and 3 wide, horizontal swipes which was too much. First one broke my guard, second one did damage, and the third one killed me.

As long as you can avoid getting killed in the opening of the fight you just have to keep close and keep circle strafing him counter-clockwise and hit him a couple of times between his attacks.

I actually had a harder time getting to that damn grand lance in the giant memory. You have to fall at an angle to hit the board and then the board is so short that I kept not getting up to sprint speed in order to jump so I would either fall off the end or I would roll instead of jump.

 

[io]

I actually had a harder time getting to that damn grand lance in the giant memory. You have to fall at an angle to hit the board and then the board is so short that I kept not getting up to sprint speed in order to jump so I would either fall off the end or I would roll instead of jump.

Yeah, and then once you are in there you have to fight a Giant up close in a small room.

So I moved on to Final Fantasy X HD Remaster. Wow, is that some "culture shock" from Dark Souls... SO many cutscenes, SO much talking. I'm getting story overdose and I'm only 4 hours in. And how come I can't roll? And what are these random fights where I don't even see the enemies coming? And how do I find me some coop summon signs before bosses?

 

[Backlash]

The problem I had with Vendrick was that he would eventually pin himself up against the side of the arena where I couldn't effectively stay behind his legs to dodge the horizontal swings.  I also only had 4 giant souls when I beat him, so he had twice the defense.  Eventually I just got really good at dodging around.

Now I just have to beat DarkLurker.  I fought him 2 or 3 times the other day.  I died, but he didn't seem too hard, other than that big dark explosion that comes from behind you.  Still didn't seem nearly as frustrating or cheap as Ancient Dragon, so I feel good about beating him next time I play. 

Then I'm thinking about respeccing and going sorcery for NG+.  My INT is still at 3, so I have a whole world of sorcery and hexes to explore, which I hear is easy mode / overpowered in DS2.

 

[guardian_owl]

He got up against the side of the arena a few times, that's when I would raise my shield and back off a little to lead him back toward the center of the room.

Ya, I didn't even try to beat darklurker legit melee, load up on (great) lightning spears, fast cast gear, heir of the sun ring for a boost to miracle damage, great barrier, and then cast as fast as I can. What would usually get me is I would kill him and then a stray shot from his [customspoiler='aspect of the fight']twin which spawns at 1/2 HP[/customspoiler] would kill me so I wouldn't get credit. Or that damn dark explosion which I found impossible to dodge. I usually just ate the damage and took it as an opportunity to get in 3 casts of lightning spear since the cast animation for that explosion attack is so slow.

 

[CAGkrazy]

Guess ill finally be playing this game soon. Just ordered one at bestbuy. Hehe

 

[BrolyB593]

Guess ill finally be playing this game soon. Just ordered one at bestbuy. Hehe

Join ussssssss

 

[CAGkrazy]

Join ussssssss

And i can finally open the CE guide i bought during launch! I put down almost 150 hrs on the 1st one and then stop all together. Ill be rusty for sure.

 

[BrolyB593]

And i can finally open the CE guide i bought during launch! I put down almost 150 hrs on the 1st one and then stop all together. Ill be rusty for sure.

I just recently finally stopped playing this one.

I have about 100 hours logged so far between my two characters and I am currently on a DS2 break, though I still lurk this thread now haha

 

[CAGkrazy]

Damn so are their griefers still for this game? Hated that during DS1. Hated it so much that i had to try and be a griefer too! Haha! Really hope the matching is better this time around.

 

[guardian_owl]

Damn so are their griefers still for this game? Hated that during DS1. Hated it so much that i had to try and be a griefer too! Haha! Really hope the matching is better this time around.

The matching is slightly different, rather than use a soul level range for multiplayer it uses a new mechanic called soul memory, which is the sum total of all souls you have picked up during the course of playing (including souls you lose if you die with a bloodstain on the ground). So people with X soul memory to Y soul memory can play with each other. The summoning pool is also divided in two, those in NG can only play with those in NG, and those on any iteration of NG+ can only play with other people in NG+.

Once you pass a certain tier (I believe it is 12 million) there is no higher tier so anyone 12 million+ can play with anyone else over 12 million.

There is also no red eye orb in the game, only single use cracked red eye orbs so that keeps people from trolling other people's game non-stop with invasions. Though in this game you can be invaded as a hollow, though it doesn't happen that often. There are also 4 small areas of the game which certain covenants can invade, though all but 1 of them are optional.

There is also a new item called a ring of life protection that when worn prevents you from turning hollow when you die or losing your souls, though it breaks when that happens and must be repaired for 3K souls before it starts working again.

===

The more I think about it, the more I think the Vendrick tune is my favorite DS2 boss theme so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnoZG6iCbjU

 

[Backlash]

And i can finally open the CE guide i bought during launch! I put down almost 150 hrs on the 1st one and then stop all together. Ill be rusty for sure.

Do yourself a huge favor and don't open the guide until you finish your first playthrough. You only get one first playthrough to explore and not know what's coming...

 

[io]

There is also a new item called a ring of life protection that when worn prevents you from turning hollow when you die or losing your souls, though it breaks when that happens and must be repaired for 3K souls before it starts working again.

Is that new? I thought it existed in previous games but really and truly broke. Thus I never used it. Of course, the last two games had the second chance spell which was a lifesaver for me so many times. They took that out.

And I got invaded plenty of times as a hollow. There are definitely certain hot spots for red phantom invasions:

- Forest of Fallen Giants (once you are to the main bonfire). Though you are probably safe on your initial playthrough there. It is when you return later to open the King's door and do the memories and of course in NG+ that you will get invaded there constantly.

- Shaded Woods near the Lion Warriors. I still don't know why this is a big one but it really is. I probably got invaded there more than anywhere else.

- Drangleic castle. Not as much as the last two but enough.

- Hiede's Tower. Again, later in the game when returning. You probably won't be invaded here when you first come into it in NG (assuming you do it relatively soon after Forest of Fallen Giants).

- Iron Keep. This is mostly a PvP (by choice) area with all the red and dragon signs. But I got invaded here several times as well.

A few places I only got invaded a handful of times over 200 hours of play (Gutter, Lost Bastille, Earthen Peak, Dragon's Aerie). I think I was only invaded once in Huntsmans Copse. And one time in the foggy area of Shaded Woods. That was a pain and resulted in my only hate mail (when I defeated the invader - go figure).

 

[Supplice]

OT: This is the latest in rumors as Hidetaka Miyazaki's (Director of Demon's Souls) secret project - Project Beast (From Software and Sony).

More images

 

[guardian_owl]

The place I got invaded the most as a hollow was Huntsman's Corpse (3 times) probably because of the poison leaves/spores, the various enemies you will aggro if you try to run, and its proximity to blood bros covenant master.

I imagine Shaded ruins is popular because the Lions have a pretty long agro range, it is very easy to pull more than one at a time, and they are not easily dispatched. Even with my maxed weapon it would take 4 or 5 hits to kill one and they hit pretty hard as well. Also all of those cursing jars make running away problematic.

edit:

Found another fun thing to do while dueling. At the start of the fight (if you have time) cast chameleon so they won't have any idea what weapon your using / what your opening move will be until you do it as you have full range of movement (including sprinting) while "cloaked". I am actually surprised in my time ranking up in BellBros and DragonBros I never came across someone using the spell hidden weapon.

 

[io]

I always meant to use Chameleon but towards the end I left my INT relatively low and stopped using spells entirely. So it was just never convenient to set it up. I was using a little pyro in addition to my lightning spears.

 

[guardian_owl]

One of the things you can turn into in the Iron keep is a slab of stone with a stone bull head on it. Or if you do it enough times in the Dragon shrine you can cosplay as solid snake as one of the chameleons is a large, rectangular box.

 

[guardian_owl]

Beat the last boss, the credits were very strange, scrunched up on one side like concept art or something should be displaying on the other side like in Demon's Souls but it was just black.

 

[jmbreci]

Trying to remember if I had that issue when I beat it.  I don't think so.  On to a separate play through with a Faith build.  A little more challenging in certain areas when I am trying to do hand-to-hand but still somewhat manageable.  Decided that I need to pump some points into Endurance after failing the Chariot the first time.  I ran out of stamina while trying to make it to the second doorway.  Nothing like asking the Chariot to run you over.

Didn't help much that I forgot to do Belfry Luna before SInners.  That does make Sinners far more challenging though.  

 

[guardian_owl]

I'm currently in the process of NG clean-up getting armor pieces I am missing and I found a really good mad warrior farming guide. Rather than climbing up after each bonfire in Belfray Sol to see if the mad warrior has spawned, listen to the disc drive. It will access it once when you sit down (for mine it is two rapid clicks) at the bonfire to reset the level and a few seconds after that it will access the disc again (for mine a short, single click) when it spawns the Mad Warrior. If it only accesses it once, then the Mad Warrior did not spawn so all you have to do is stand up and sit down again until you hear a double access. This will also make ranking up in the Bell covenant much faster as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD6Y9hxA6Z0

edit: confirmed, tried it myself and it is about 95% accurate, the times it didn't work (no mad warrior spawn) it is usually because the save flame was flashing and the disc noise must have been it saving. Got the entire set and the berserker blade in about 40 minutes (35 kills).

 

[Backlash]

That's hilarious.  I used to use a similar trick back when I was 10 or 11 years old and playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?  I always knew if I went to the right place if the disk access was going crazy

Unfortunately, I bought DS2 via PSN, so I don't have a disk.  I'll just do it the old-fashioned PvP way if I bother, I guess.

 

[io]

I'm currently in the process of NG clean-up getting armor pieces I am missing and I found a really good mad warrior farming guide. Rather than climbing up after each bonfire in Belfray Sol to see if the mad warrior has spawned, listen to the disc drive. It will access it once when you sit down (for mine it is two rapid clicks) at the bonfire to reset the level and a few seconds after that it will access the disc again (for mine a short, single click) when it spawns the Mad Warrior. If it only accesses it once, then the Mad Warrior did not spawn so all you have to do is stand up and sit down again until you hear a double access. This will also make ranking up in the Bell covenant much faster as well.

edit: confirmed, tried it myself and it is about 95% accurate, the times it didn't work (no mad warrior spawn) it is usually because the save flame was flashing and the disc noise must have been it saving. Got the entire set and the berserker blade in about 40 minutes (35 kills).

Hah - I wish you had posted this a few weeks ago. I did it the "hard" way of running up to see if he was there every time. It didn't take me too long though - maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It was still better than doing the Bell stuff PvP.

 

[guardian_owl]

Hah - I wish you had posted this a few weeks ago. I did it the "hard" way of running up to see if he was there every time. It didn't take me too long though - maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It was still better than doing the Bell stuff PvP.

Ya, since I already had 40ish PVP kills for chunks and then the 35 getting the mad warrior stuff I just decided to say it, and did the rest to get 100 for the bell covenant armor even though I'll probably never use it. Tried to get that lion warrior stuff but it must be a really rare drop as I killed all of the lions to despawn and only got 1 piece and a ton of lion axes and troches'. Never fails, still get the occasional invasion in the shaded woods ruins even though I am hollow, that place must be a nightmare in human form. I never was able to get a blacksteel katana, I got one alonne bow and 10-12 dupes of all the armor pieces.

 

[io]

Never fails, still get the occasional invasion in the shaded woods ruins even though I am hollow, that place must be a nightmare in human form. I never was able to get a blacksteel katana, I got one alonne bow and 10-12 dupes of all the armor pieces.

Indeed it is. I probably got invaded there the most and I didn't spend that much time there either.

Are Blacksteel katanas supposed to be rare? I think I sold a few off to Gavlaan. I had 3 or 4 I think. I don't even remember where I got them.

 

[guardian_owl]

Standard Alonne knights in iron keep drop them, I think I must have either had bad luck or it is the lowest quality item drop and because I always have item find gear on it would skip over it. I kind of ran into that a bit in no man's wharf when I had 8 dupes of the viking helm but couldn't get the boots to drop.