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Souls Series and Bloodborne

Zazz said:
Watching the Best Friends playthrough and them freeing everyone's favorite bird-waifu got me thinking:

it'd be hilarious if the next DLC in DS2 got some new merchants based on old DS1 enemies (made specifically for the purpose of trolling players into attacking them).

Bloathead Sorcerer that sells dark magics? A Capra Demon out walking his dog? Crystal golem that sells upgrade materials?
the crystal golem selling upgrade materials is my favorite out of those ideas and would be great. also reading comments on dark souls 2 videos is so painful sometimes and always seems to have a lot of hate in them.
 
Oh, so I can upgrade the Greatsword of Artorias through his soul, and the shield doesn't need an additional Soul of Artorias, just the Soul of Sif. Thanks!
 
PLEASE LET THIS BE PART OF THE OLD IVORY KING DLC.
 
I was waiting for something like this before I bought the game.
I'm gonna do it anyway, but this will...expedite my purchase.
 
CapnWTF said:
I was waiting for something like this before I bought the game.
I'm gonna do it anyway, but this will...expedite my purchase.
Right now that's just an unused move set hacked out of the game's files.
However, it could potentially be used in future DLC, or it could not.
We'll just have to wait and see man.
 
It's also possible that that skill set is used by a boss or NPC. The new gesture might even point at that. Would be nice if Ivory King introduced a NPC or two as these two chapters brought none (though OIK really stepped up by bringing bosses tied to DSII's lore).

Incidentally, FINALLY beat Raime, with my melee build and solo at that. 2 freakin' hours of having to git gud.
49b.gif


Played extremely safe and it was still a very close call. Each blocked swing of his is a full stamina drain, the chip damage he does is borderline pornographic (his UGS is infused with both Fire and Dark so forget about hiding behind Gyrm Greatshield) and his slooooooow wide swing is a OHKO.
Now, I won't cry for nerfs but he certainly NEEDS to be patched. Why? Willy Wonky hitboxes. Plenty of times I've had clean shots phase through him (because the fight isn't already hard enough as it is).

Anywho, I thought I was on home stretch but then hit another wall - Sir Alonne. Now, he IS easier for melee builds but you cannot afford a single mistake because he capitalizes on every single opening. You chug, you die. Period.
Meanwhile, getting mopped by a guy with a big ass katana sure brings back memories... T_T
(Side note, I'd say Please Mr. SENSEI would make a interesting alternate theme for Sir Alonne.)
 
Wait, there's a new gesture? Well, what is it?! (That was me trying to be clever please don't hurt me.)
 
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The video showcasing the (yet) unused martial arts move set also shows a new gesture. Wouldn't be surprised if both belong to a NPC.

Anyway, here's some food for thought regarding Shulva and its inhabitants/guests:
Some interesting theories and, as usual, really good editing.
 
@Balder, is there a lore explanation for why every humanoid boss is twice the player's size?
Even though it's implied that they're just people?
 
In the first game, a lot of humanoid bosses/NPCs are supposed to be gods/demi-gods - Gwyn, Gwynevere, Gwyndolin, Artorias, Ornstein and Smough. Hawkeye Gough is one of the last giants (unrelated to the giant race featured in DS2) and I'm not sure about Ciaran; she might be a demi-goddess as well, but deliberately chose a smaller form because her fighting style focuses on stealth and swiftness.
Gwyndolin is the weirdest one, with all those snakes... o_0

For DS2 (I'm doing a mental recap), there's Vendrick, Velstadt, Nashandra's human form, the Throne Bros, the Lost Sinner and now Raime and Alonne...
My theory for Vendrick and his posse is that they became giants after stealing something from the giants (Vendrick was goaded by Nashandra to invade them and steal something greatly important to them - I'd say it's the item that granted them power, which includes becoming giants) and whatever it was, it was passed among a elite group - Vendrick (king), Nashandra (queen), Velstadt (king's right hand man), Raime (king's left hand man) and the Throne Bros (of self-explanatory importance). Meanwhile, all the others, of less relevance, remain human (and become cursed after Vendrick's departure).
That said, I don't know how to explain the Lost Sinner and Alonne. The Sinner is said to have tried linking the Fire so she must have had something special about her...
I'm crossing fingers for the Ivory King chapter being about Aldia (Vendrick's brother) and also add a bit more lore to the Lost Sinner who so far just carries thin associations with the Witch of Izalith (DS1).
 
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Thanks Balder, I always love reading your walls of text.
For real, I'm not being sarcastic.
 
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watching Best Friends newest DS2 episode and Pat complaining about 2 things left me puzzled:
1. merchants who reside in dangerous areas
2. incredibly weak boss encounters

its like he forgot about Vamos and Pinwheel (who are also right next to each other)
 
I've been getting kind of bored with their play through of the game. It has nothing to do with Woolies lack of skill or Pat's lack of knowledge, it's just the way that they're playing it. It's slow and meek, there's no thrill involved.

I want to see how Liam plays Dark Souls.
"Hi everyone, my name is Gun-Jumper Liam and I'm going to FUCK THIS GAME UP THE ASS."
*Proceeds to do everything wrong and therefore right*
 
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Zazz said:
watching Best Friends newest DS2 episode and Pat complaining about 2 things left me puzzled:
1. merchants who reside in dangerous areas
2. incredibly weak boss encounters

its like he forgot about Vamos and Pinwheel (who are also right next to each other)
yea a lot of pats complaints are things that are also kind of existent in dark souls 1 or just things he doesn't fully know about (mainly lore things and not looking up the item descriptions that describe those things). like Ornifex can't get hit by any of those magic attacks so she is actually safe, and the spiders have trouble getting so would likely not attack her.

There is no boss in dark souls 2 that is as easy as pinwheel is in dark souls 1. also not just vamos but the giant blacksmith also who was right next the mobs. another easy boss in dark souls.

since it's "remember how dark souls isn't a literally perfect like people say it is" time; it's nice how you can kill all the bosses in dark souls 2 without losing any covenants

also the DLC while not making a new character npc, it has given us an new NPC to talk to that we didn't get to talk to before.
 
Gamesandgoodies said:
Also not just vamos but the giant blacksmith also who was right next the mobs.
This is off-topic but what the fuck is a mob? Is it like an enemy or a monster or something?
My brother used to say that all the time when he played Minecraft and it pissed me off to no end.
 
A mob is a just a group of enemies.
 
So I have done everything in my first Dark Souls 2-run now (except killing the Ancient Dragon, but I don’t want to do that), so before I fight the final boss and go to NG+, can I do the DLC now or do I have to do a NG+ before that?

If I buy the DLC, can I visit the new areas now or is there a special thing that is way back that I need to do in order to unlock the new content?
 
Try to do the DLC chapters towards the end of a playthrough - in order to access them you will need to go to these doors in the rooms with the primal bonfires. Also, in this 2nd DLC, Crown of the Iron King, you need the Ashen Mist Heart in order to fight one of the (optional) bosses.

I did not realize that and so I had to play through half of my NG++ playthrough again in order to get that stupid item >_>
 
As I said I have done everything except killing the final boss and the Ancient Dragon, but it is still my first run, so I would like to know if the DLC is accessible now or if I need to do NG+ first.
 
Detective Q said:
As I said I have done everything except killing the final boss and the Ancient Dragon, but it is still my first run, so I would like to know if the DLC is accessible now or if I need to do NG+ first.
Nah, you can do it right now.

As soon as you kill Old Iron King you can do OLK dlc, and as soon as you kill The Rotten you can do SK DLC.

I'm starting a completely new character and am doing the OLK dlc right now.
 
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Thanks, I'll start playing them now. Sucks there's no Season Pass on 360 but the 5 bucks won't kill me... the bosses of the DLC will.
 
Detective Q said:
So I have done everything in my first Dark Souls 2-run now (except killing the Ancient Dragon, but I don’t want to do that), so before I fight the final boss and go to NG+, can I do the DLC now or do I have to do a NG+ before that?

If I buy the DLC, can I visit the new areas now or is there a special thing that is way back that I need to do in order to unlock the new content?
also unlike in dark souls 1 once you kill the final boss you don't immediately go to ng+ you can still wander around and do things like make the weapons from the boss souls or stuff like the DLC. though I will say do the OLK DLC before the final boss cause there's an item there that will make the final boss hilariously easy.
 
Gamesandgoodies said:
also the DLC while not making a new character npc, it has given us an new NPC to talk to that we didn't get to talk to before.
True that. Forgot about the King.
Would be interesting if, once we have the three Crowns, we could fight the non-Hollow Vendrick. But then again, like Gwyn, there's a point in not fighting him in his prime. Bring back Manus instead.

Gamesandgoodies said:
there's an item there that will make the final boss hilariously easy.
I was wondering about this. So, the Hollow Skin works? I thought that since she casts a special type of curse (hollowing plus life drain), it wouldn't work. Well, definitely gotta try that out.


Currently Sunbroing with my melee build and pondering if Fume Knight is the best place to do it. People do need help there but rarely do we all pull through... /[T]\
 
Super fan fiction me would love to see Artorias come back and become crowned as the "true king", fighting a lucid Artorias with his proper sword for control over all life would be baller.
 
Dark Souls should remain true to its integrity in story telling and not debase itself to pandering and reasonless fanservice blah blah blah... I would totally love to see that. :3

Artorias with sword and greatshield. And Sif. You gotta fight both and they do all these nasty ass tandem attacks taking turns at wielding the sword and stuff. And Rules of Nature blasting. Dark Souls II - Prepare to Fangirl Edition
:PUN:

I do love DS for its minimalistic approach to story telling but I do wonder how it would be, presentationwise, if it were like a AAA shameless pandering title with all them cinematics and QTEs...

But real talk, I do hope there's a surprise battle or something when we finally get all the crowns. Maybe a extra area accessed from the Shrine of Winter (all those snakes sure bring back memories...).
 
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Fighting against Artorias in his prime would involve some mindcontrol-misunderstanding-shenanigans though, because Artorias was a pretty cool dude, right? No reason for him to fight you. I would rather have him as an NPC that fights a boss battle together with you and Sif. Or, you know, just tell his story the right way: Meet him as an NPC, see him fall in battle, help him set up the barrier that protects Sif and then watch him get swallowed by the abyss.

But I think it would be best to not over-explain or reintroduce characters in Souls-games. Because the story lives a lot on mindcanons IMO, I think its best to just set up some story fragments and let the player figure out the rest himself.

And I would rather not fight Vendrick in his true form, because he would totally destroy me. Would be cool though if the crowns unlock a new boss battle and some nice loot.
 
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Sooo, I know King Vendrick's defenses correlate to the amount of Giant's Souls you have, and this is when he's hollowed. Is it a similar case with Vendrick in his prime? Because that sounds pretty damn scary considering that Vendrick hits like a train and has quite a lot of health.
 
FiliaRage said:
Sooo, I know King Vendrick's defenses correlate to the amount of Giant's Souls you have, and this is when he's hollowed. Is it a similar case with Vendrick in his prime? Because that sounds pretty damn scary considering that Vendrick hits like a train and has quite a lot of health.

That’s why I'm not looking forward to actually fight this guy when he isn’t a hollow, should that come true. But I guess they would tone down his damage output, because this guy having a somewhat decent move-set with that damage... I don’t know if I would like that.

Would be an interesting challenge though.

But then again... why should we fight him? Just a sparing-match between king and king-to-be?
 
Deleted off topic posts and distributed warning points.

Stick with the discussions related to Dark Souls without the need to make posts with the purpose to flame each other. Thanks.
 
Gamesandgoodies said:
Sunbro's Bizarre Adventure: Death Tendency
and now i want From to make a boss based on a Jojo's villain.

Once they're done referencing Berserk of course.
 
Zazz said:
and now i want From to make a boss based on a Jojo's villain.

Once they're done referencing Berserk of course.

>Once they're done referencing Berserk

I don't think that's happening anytime soon. The devs have a huge boner for Berserk. And even though I don't keep up with Jojo's at all, I will admit at least the concept of referencing it would be pretty interesting.
 
Demon's Souls had a Pillar Man. Just sayin'.

The more pressing matter is: when is Dark Souls going to take some REAL inspiration from Berserk's Tower of Conviction arc? :3


Helping FUKN CASULS taking down Raime feels a bit like a ungrateful task. Get summoned a lot but most of the time, the host gets mercilessly squashed. Likewise, I unceremoniously get my share of Raime's UGS as well. It's weird to fight Raime when he's not 100% focused on me. It actually throws off my dodge timings.
And shout-outs to #GreatswordMasterRace. (It's amusing how around 7/10 people are packing it.)
 
Balder said:
Demon's Souls had a Pillar Man. Just sayin'.

The more pressing matter is: when is Dark Souls going to take some REAL inspiration from Berserk's Tower of Conviction arc? :3


Helping FUKN CASULS taking down Raime feels a bit like a ungrateful task. Get summoned a lot but most of the time, the host gets mercilessly squashed. Likewise, I unceremoniously get my share of Raime's UGS as well. It's weird to fight Raime when he's not 100% focused on me. It actually throws off my dodge timings.
And shout-outs to #GreatswordMasterRace. (It's amusing how around 7/10 people are packing it.)

By #GreatswordMasterRace are we talking Ultra or standard Greatswords? Because either way, I rock both. Mostly UGS tho.
 
Zazz said:
and now i want From to make a boss based on a Jojo's villain.

Once they're done referencing Berserk of course.
if they made a boss with a stand that you couldn't see as it was attacking you that would be nuts.

which reminds me of how there was a completely invisible guy while I was in blighttown who i literally only killed by randomly swinging, was this actual a real thing or just a glitch?

Also the best place I found for sunbroing was the covetous demon since it's a stupid easy boss and doesn't bloat up your souls too quickly, I could not see trying to sunbro at raime turning out well since most people die at him. Sir alone would prolly be easy to sunbro.
 
I have to say that the optional bosses from Crown of the Iron King are actually too much for me. I don't know if the scaling is messed up since I'm on NG++ or maybe I just suck, but I have been trying for hours and hours to beat either of them with no success (to the point to where the minor enemies have stopped spawning).

Does anyone have any advice for fighting them? I've tried three different builds (blueflame/intel, strength/faith, and hex) and haven't had any success on getting them down below 40% - whether I summon one player, two, or go it alone. I was thinking of waiting until the 3rd DLC where maybe they'll be nerfed or maybe taking some new items back to the 2nd DLC, but I would appreciate any tips you cats might have found helpful.
 
Smilax said:
I have to say that the optional bosses from Crown of the Iron King are actually too much for me. I don't know if the scaling is messed up since I'm on NG++ or maybe I just suck, but I have been trying for hours and hours to beat either of them with no success (to the point to where the minor enemies have stopped spawning).

Does anyone have any advice for fighting them? I've tried three different builds (blueflame/intel, strength/faith, and hex) and haven't had any success on getting them down below 40% - whether I summon one player, two, or go it alone. I was thinking of waiting until the 3rd DLC where maybe they'll be nerfed or maybe taking some new items back to the 2nd DLC, but I would appreciate any tips you cats might have found helpful.
The smelter one is hard because he subtly different timings than the first one which makes him much harder cause you will eventually fall into a pattern of dodging like you would the last one which will get you killed, so treat him as a new boss and lean dodging his stuff.

For Alonne you will want a 10% physical block shield and only attack after a very specific dash trust attack. and only drink after it also since he's punishble during it.
 
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Good suggestions, thank you, I suppose I'll take another crack at them....
 
FiliaRage said:
By #GreatswordMasterRace are we talking Ultra or standard Greatswords? Because either way, I rock both. Mostly UGS tho.
Standard.
I'm reminded of one particular moment when me and another Phantom were both packing GSs...and the host power-stancing 2 GSs. Was thinking to myself "this guy looks über-l33t. disgonbgud", only for him to be swiftly squashed by Raime in about half a minute. -_-"
Can't deny that damage though. If he got his evades right, it would have been a very short fight.

Gamesandgoodies said:
Also the best place I found for sunbroing was the covetous demon since it's a stupid easy boss and doesn't bloat up your souls too quickly, I could not see trying to sunbro at raime turning out well since most people die at him. Sir alone would prolly be easy to sunbro.
Indeed, but I also need practice against Raime. I beat him solo but it was a VERY close call. Out of Sunny D and nearly dead close.
Personally, I found Sinner's Rise, Shaded Ruins and Amana (by bonfires 2 and 3) to be the best spots for Sunbroing. Your summon sign will get a lot mileage in those places.

Smilax said:
I have to say that the optional bosses from Crown of the Iron King are actually too much for me.
ddf.gif


Real talk, got repeatedly steam rolled by all of them.
NG++? Here's how I got shit done with my SL150 Dark Chime of Want +5 hexer (relevant stats - 20 VGR, 11 STR, 50 INT, 50 FTH):
Smelter - took the Mastodon AI phantom (and only her!) to tank him while I pumped him full of Great Resonant Souls. #MLG
Raime - very easy for a hexer, just GRS again. Went solo. #Pay2Win
Forever Alonne - very hard for a caster. Everything does pathetic damage and he will punish you anytime you try to chug (gamesandgoodies' mentions you can chug after his dash attack but I personally had no luck; should add my ADP is very low). His dash attack has different timings so I recommended evading on reaction and not anticipation as I do like an idiot (I see him take the stance and roll away - because he moves so fast it some times works but it's not a smart tactic). Anyway, all this talk and how did I pulled it? Brought a Sunbro. (.__.)
With both Raime and Alonne, you really need to learn their combos so you can roll into the last strike (in Raime's case, most of his UGS attacks) and get a hit.

For NG Alonne, I suggest taking the twinblade AI phantom (and only him! yeah, it's the opposite of Smelter). He's very helpful. Doesn't heal but can stay alive a lot longer than the Mastodon phantom.
 
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