Bjorn

YES Edited to add: Knee jerk reaction. I haven't played Last Light, but 2033 would have been worth it to me just for the first couple of hours and the uniqueness of the world. That might not be as neat if you've played Last Light.

I kind of like it, it's like your dad trying to make a hip joke and failing, but in a charmingly embarrasing way. Which is kind of fitting for Nintendo.

The Dragons are my favorite covenant. Once I'm high enough SM to see their signs, or reach the covenant myself, that's pretty much the only PvP I do. You will get gankers occasionally, I've been attacked while bowing and even had someone unleash hexes on me as soon as I spawned. But its rare. You can roll out of bow animations, so just always be ready to do that. Once you beat Darklurker, you can freely enter the portals without an Effigy anymore, giving infinite access to Bonfire Ascetics through farming. I haven't experienced anything like that in the towers before. Usually if there are two defenders, I melt like butter. The name of my whip/spear character is Devo. When I murder people with whips, I switch over to the Channeler's Trident and dance on their dead body. The tablet shows total number of Awestones given. It takes some time to sync up to the server to show your current number, just check the next time you play and it should show up. I've been learning a ton about spears the last few sessions. I always looked at their damage numbers and felt they were average to bad. You really can't judge a spear on paper though. The Dragonslayer Spear in particular looks terrible, particularly for a boss weapon. But they have high counter damage (hitting someone during an attack or animation), and some of them seem to have a larger counter window to hit in. Throw on the Old Leo Ring, and counter damage is boosted even more. The result is that a lot of your hits end up doing damage that's 50 percent higher or more than you expect. They are very hard to dodge if someone wants to hit you. They can roll around, stay back, whatever. But if they want to do damage to you, they are going to have to go through the spear to do it. The strong attack of the Dragonslayer Spear is brutal up close. Both the spear and the lightning strike will hit an enemy. On PvE enemies, I saw it hit for 800+ a couple of times when I 2-handed it, and it's not fully upgraded yet. You can also use the binoculars to manually aim the lightning, just like a spell.

Holy crap I just had the most amazing series of fights in all the hours I have put into any Souls game. I had decided to try out the Dragonslayer Spear, since I've developed a sudden fondness for power stancing spears. I bought it, respecced to have the stats to use it, upgraded it to +3, and then discovered that you can't infuse it, which means you can't just turn it into a lightning spear (which is what I was expecting to do). Figured I'd still try it out. Killed some enemies, it worked, and headed for the Iron Keep Bell Tower for some PvP. I put on the Covenant ring, stepped into the bell tower killed the witch and first little bell bro, then dropped a summon sign. Figured one way or another, I'd have some fun. it was my first time there on this character, so all the unique one time spawns are there (hence the witch at the beginning). I killed the next little bro, and then got invaded. I needed to hang back from going any further, lest I aggro greatsword phantom and the one remaining little guy. The defender comes down to meet me from the roof. Some spear poking and a couple of lightning strikes from the Dragonslayer spear and I get him down to about a quarter health when the second defender shows up. With both of them on me, I have to run. I get around a corner, heal, and discover that the unique red Berserker phantom has also spawned. I now have berserker, greatsword guy, little guy and both PC guys after me. Cue the Benny Hill theme. FUCK. I sprint to the ladder to get the high ground, and almost take a face full of Avelyn since I forgot that NPC was on the roof. I tag him a couple of times before the defenders get up to the roof, then I run again. Now I've managed to aggro the second greatsword guy by the exit, who climbs up to the roof to join in on the fun. FUCK. I drop back down to the main floor, where I manage to get the second defender killed. One down, original defender to go. I sprint around some more and end up with both greatsword guys down below with me, so I head back up to the roof. I finished Avelyn guy, and enough time has passed that another invader has shown up. FUCK. I've never spent enough time in a Bell Tower to get 3 invaders. At this point my Dragonslayer spear is hosed. I'd used it's special lightning attack multiple times and shredded its durability. I switch to my pair of Bloodied Whips. The new invader catches me near the top of the ladder, where I was waiting on the original defender to climb up. I hadn't realized the new guy had spawned behind me. I dodge his attack and unleash a pair of L1 combos on him. He panics, rolls, and sails right off the roof to his death! Two defenders down! That didn't take very long Just the original guy left, still at a third health. Now he's on the main floor with two greatsword enemies, the berserker and a little dude. He actually gives me the SunBro sign twice, bows, and then turns his back on me and doesn't move. Cool! He's ceded the fight! I head for the exit to take care of the two little BellBros who are still guarding it. But the exit is still closed since I never had a chance to ring the bell. I need to try and sneak around all the enemies to get the bell rung and get out of here. I drop down, and the original defender is right there on top of me, swinging! I guess he didn't give up. I dodge, and a pair of whip combos later he goes down. Three defenders in a row killed! I could have left by the front door and called it good now, but I wanted to exit proper like. Before I can even do anything though, I get summoned to defend the Tower against a trespasser! I forgot I had the covenant ring on. Wooo! As long as I win, I'll get my durability back. I show up, and there's a great fight going on already between two guys. I've sworn to stop ganking at the bell tower, now I just watch if there is a fight already in progress. But I did break out my Channeler's Trident and do a cheerleader dance for my fellow BellBro. Ultimately he prevailed, I did another victory dance, and returned with full Estus and restored durability on my weapons. Berserker has separated himself from the greatsword twins, so I pounce on him and finish him off. The remaining little BellBro goes down next, and then I aggro one of the greatswords and kill him. I'm feeling stupid confident at this point, and of course damn near bit it. Second greatsword got a combo off on me that took me down to a sliver of health before I was able to finish him off with a pair of power stanced thrusts from my trident and spear. Now the way was clear to ring the bell! YOU ARE BEING SUMMONED! To another world we go. I'm fighting a guy in the full Jester's Outfit and I cannot land a spear hit on him to save my life, literally. He's slowly whittling my health down, so I switch to whips. People do not know how to defend against whips, and if you don't have heavy armor on, they hurt. The fight went from him steadily winning, to him being dead in about 8 seconds. Woo! Back again with full Estus and durability again! I ring the bell and begin to strut for the exit, when the announcement pops of another BellBro arriving! Lucky number 4. Let's do this. I've been in constant combat for probably 15 minutes at this point, I'm fucking pumped and I'm getting really comfortable with how the Dragonslayer Spear works. This guy has what looks like the Drangleic gear, sword and shield. I poke at him a couple of times until he drops his guard to attack, at which point I roll into a three hit combo, literally. Roll with downward slice, followed by poke, followed by lightning charged R2 that destroys him. Four of my fellow BellBros dead at my hands. It feels gooooooood. And then I strut to the exit, feeling as badass as I've ever felt in a Souls game.

So far, the only things I have really felt were worth infusing have been weapons with existing elemental damages OR you're intending on buffing the weapon with an enchantment on a regular basis, thus driving the elemental damage up even higher, since spell buffs now give also give a percentage bonus based on the base elemental damage.

Weapons gain bonus damage from the stats that they Scale with. If they scale with a stat, it will have a letter rating under that stat. Scaling ratings go from good to bad S->A->B->C->D->E. Weapons with S scaling in a stat gain the greatest benefit the higher the stat goes, weapons with E gain very little benefit from the stat (but more than 0). When you look at an equipped weapon, it's damage will say something like 100+85. That +85 is the bonus from Scaling (and the Ring of Blades if you have it equipped). Strength Scaling is much, much stronger than Dex scaling, but a high Dex gets great poison/bleed bonuses. If a weapon has D or E scaling (or no scaling), there is almost no benefit to raising the associated stats for it. In a case like that, you can just have the minimum stats and invest in other stats instead. The letters basically give you an eyeball estimate of what kind of scaling you can expect. It is not entirely consistent between weapons. One weapon's A scaling may give +125 damage, while another one may give +110. Each letter appears to cover a range, rather than be a fixed point of bonus. Eventually you will be able to enchant weapons with elemental properties. If you do this, ignore the letter values. They become close to meaningless once you infuse something. You'll just have to try infusing it and see what bonuses you get after the fact. When infusing, physical damage drops while element damage is added (or increases if it is inherent). The physical scaling drops MUCH more than the change in scaling would indicate, while for weapons with innate elemental damage, scaling can increase significantly more than you expected. Magic scaling on Chimes and Staves is a bit different. The numbers for those items affect the power of spells. If you're casting lighting spears, the higher the Lightning damage on your chime, the stronger your Lightning bolt is.

I made another new character. I'm fucking addicted to starting over (DS1 was the same, but DS2 has been even worse for me). Twin Bloodied Whips and twin Channeler's tridents, and hopefully Old Whips for PvP eventually. After playing around some on my of my established characters, I decided it would probably work if I managed durability. I don't even want to talk about farming to get this stuff. Starting over with the Petrified egg a few times to get the first trident, then farming Smooth Stones with the small summoning sign at Heide's Tower to get the second one to drop. It only takes 3 kills there to be sent home successfully, so you can crank out sessions quick. Then having to farm the twin whip guys that guard the bridge to Undead Purgatory to get their fucking rare ass whip to drop. It's arguably the best whip in the game for usability, since the Old Whip has shite durability for use outside of PvP and the Spotted Whip is purely for poison. I did get one Old Whip during the drops, just need a second one now for PvP. All I got done last time I played was farming those items. But the bit I played around once I had them, I'm absolutely loving it, plays a lot different than any of my other builds and looks rad as hell.

Less a prediction, and more a hope that Sony reveals whatever Project Beast is.

Drangleic Sword is good early, mostly because of it's speed and the relative damage it can do. Problem is it takes Twinkling Titanite, which will remain rare until about two-thirds of the way through the game. It takes 15 Twinkling to upgrade it, and it's entirely possible if you missed a few ores that you could reach the end game without finding 15 (there are more than that in a single playthrough with lizards, some are just missable if you're not scouring each area). If you like it, keep using it, but I'd think about upgrading a regular titanite weapon as a backup, and because it will likely outperform the Drangleic eventually as you'll be able to upgrade it much faster. There are six Soul Vessels per NG cycle, and the two late game ones are respawnable via Bonfire Ascetic.

I bought it at release and have tried it three different times now. By myself, with one co-op partner and with two co-op partners. I've wanted to like this game soooo much. Everything about it is appealing to me...except actually playing it. As much as I love the art style, it also makes my eyes bug out after about 15 minutes.

^^^^^ That makes me want a kitten so badly. I grew up on a farm, and we had farm cats, which meant that we had new kittens every year. I thought it was totally normal to have a dozen kittens to play with every spring. I would totally foster parent kittens if I wasn't so terrified of becoming attached. A couple we are friends with have three cats, but they decided to try being kitty foster parents for the local shelter when they are over capacity. They ended up adopting the first two kittens they fostered, and now have 5 cats. They are not going to do it anymore for fear of ending up with 20 fucking cats. Which is exactly what would happen to my wife and I.

Drilling down into stuff like iFrames, the frames per animation and seriously min/maxing stats is not necessary, and in fact I think worrying about that stuff on a first playthrough would be detrimental, because you'll feel like you're missing out on something crucial. You're not. This stuff really only matters for high level PvP and going through multiple NG+ cycles. Even then I'm not sure it's that necessary, but past a certain point I want to completely understand how something is working and not have any ambiguity. As for your game, what weapons are you using? That would be super useful to know in regards to your stats. Are you upgrading your weapons, or hoarding titanite because it seems so rare early on? On my first playthrough I was terrified to waste titanite for awhile, and so didn't upgrade past +2 on anything until I had killed...like 7 or 8 bosses. Of course, I had lightning spears to carry me in boss fights. Upgrade materials do become much more common eventually, and getting a good weapon to +5 or +6 early on can make a world of difference. If you wanted to respec (you should be to a point where one or two Soul Vessels are available to you), I would shift 11 points out of Endurance into Health and Vitality. Unless your current preferred weapons require a 20 Dex, or you're powerstancing weapons, I'd drop Dex down to the minimum you need and dump those into Health or Str if you have an A or S scaling Str weapon. You could also move any of those points into Faith and/or Attunement to have more miracles. Emit Force and the basic Lightning can carry you though most boss fights through the mid-game.

Me too, I loved playing through each episode in a single sitting and treating it like a TV miniseries, usually taking a day or two off in between episodes.

I remember playing ZAMN in co-op with my brother, and it being one of the best co-op games I had played at the point (I was a kid, no clue if this is true). I also remember it being really batshit insane. I'd vote for Psychonauts being one of the next ones, would love to see your reactions to that.

This is healthy and normal. Do not let anyone question your love of Dark Souls.

So somebody final figured out exactly how Agility and rolling works! Yah! Short version is that 90 and below is like DS1's slow roll, while 100-105 are like DS1's fast roll and 115 is like DS1's ninja flip. 115 takes a massive stat investment to reach. The two biggest breakpoints are probably 100 and 105. You get 12 iFrames at 100 and 13 at 105. So there's no need to crank it up to the softcap of 110, unless you're depending super heavily on throwing knives and need the faster animation. The frame duration of a roll and the iframes in the roll are the same regardless of how far you roll. So it takes the same amount of time to execute a roll at 0 encumbrance as it does 70 percent (25 frames). You just go farther at 0. For PvE, multiple weapons are likely still required even if you are using magic, unless you go whole hog and have a half dozen attunement slots. Even with my goofy themed builds that depend on a single weapon, I have to keep backups that break my theme. Those backups usually include a Mace, a Great Club and whatever halberd my stats support. So many enemies are weak to strike damage that the mace is always useful. The great club is perfect for crystal lizards and enemies that you need to knockdown to control them. Halberd is there for crowd control through spinning. I may only need each of those a couple of times during an entire run, but when I do, they are life savers. This isn't counting durability loss and the need for backups due to that. For PvP, I usually don't enter into a fight without at least two, and preferably three weapons on me. I'd rather have three weapons than a shield, if I have to pick by weight. Main melee weapon, backup melee weapon that compensates for weaknesses of main weapon and a bow. I'm currently rocking a Channeler's Trident as my main, with a Bloodied Whip as my backup. Trident is more powerful, but only has forward pokey attacks, while the whip has crazy hitbox and multiple AoE attacks, including a 360 degree one.

I full endorse Caestus builds (and an eventual upgrade to Vanquisher's Seal). That ended up being how I finished my PS3 run, and I've got one on the PC now. The most fun builds for me, no question. The hitboxes on punching can be a little weird with a few enemies, so keep something with a little more reach as a backup if you seem to be whiffing on a particular enemy.

All forms of magic in PvE can be godly, but mages and hexers start off very weak and remain weak until midgame. Lightning slingers are powerful from the getgo. In PvP, magic is easily countered if you've put some thought into your build and equipment (see the discussion recently on infusing shields). If you aren't ready to counter magic, it is more than capable of one-shotting many players. Weapon enchantments are a bit harder to counter, but it's still doable. As for Dex, I honestly haven't put a lot of time into Dex weapons, and those that I have I've infused and chosen to level up the stat that raises the elemental infusion. Dex weapons get much, much lower scaling than Str weapons. A lot of people see that and declare Dex weapons useless. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but I do think Dex weapons have to be approached differently than just pumping up raw damage like Str weapons. I think I'm going to try and make a Whip and Trident build, which will eventually use a pair of powerstanced Spotted Whips for instant poison (hopefully?) and then the Trident for keeping them on their toes and at a distance as the poison does it's work. It'll be a kind of gladiator theme. If you can hit with the L2 in powerstanced whips, it should proc around 1000 poison in a single hit. In my head it sounds glorious, but will probably be a disaster based on the few whip users I've faced in PvP. The few spotted whips I've seen have only ever managed to poison me once, and I crushed that player just seconds later.

Something I've never tried, but wondered if it would work. So there are a BUNCH of hidden doors in that room (just use the action button to open them). One of the doors has a ladder that takes you upstairs, to another hidden door, and back out to the main boss room. I wonder if those open and are not fogged over when you're in the fight? If so, you could use the ladder to get upstairs, heal, buff, whatever. And then just kite them around. You'd want to have bought the Silvercat in Majula for this though, since you do take damage when dropping into the arena floor. I may have to try that on my next run. I hadn't tried the Bracing Knuckle Ring with it. Assumed it would help, but I kind of hate giving up a ring slot to just make a weapon last longer. I might just farm an asston of stones somewhere and try to get a second one if I decide I want to dedicate a good amount of time to using it.

That's a contender for best tumblr post ever.

We were just discussing this in the DS2 thread. Dodge is now tied to a stat, Adaptability. After having run a bunch of characters with ultra-low adaptability, I finally took one up to 38, and it is a big difference. Rolling feels much closer to DS1 now.

He never came back...must have gone well... I like that there isn't a clear winner for best medium shield, that many of them fill a quality niche, and you can switch as needed. The Drangleic shield is a red herring to me. Most builds shouldn't still be using it once they unlock McDuff as a merchant. At that point you should either just go with the Royal Kite Shield or be using specialty shields. Seeing a Drangleic Shield in PvP lately has been an early indicator of victory for me. I decided to mess around with the Old Whip and Channeler's Trident tonight for something different. I've eventually got both of them on every character I've played, but never gave them a chance. The whip is unusable. Either it's the buggiest of all durability bugs, or they never intended it to be used. It only has 40 durability, and it can lose 6 of that if you hit a wall with an R2 attack. Most enemies took 2-4 durability, though a few took as much as 8. Other whips do not degrade like this. The Trident is fine as long as you're just using R1, it's a fancy looking spear. But if you try to use it's groovy 1HR2 attack, kiss it goodbye. That attack causes the head to spin around hitting the enemy multiple times. It melts durability. I had it whack off as much as 10 durability in a single shot. So that sucks, the attack that makes it neat and makes it stand out from the other spear weapons is basically unusable.

I'm speechless.

My kid uses her 360 and PS4 on her monitor in the dorms, I just set up the audio to route through her PC and play through her PC speakers/headphones. So if you have a monitor and a PC, you don't *need* a TV. On topic: I actually never got super deep in my NG+ playthrough on DS1. I had the same problem (only worse) that I have on DS2, I'd rather make a different character and start over than continue NG+ cycles. Whenever I wanted higher level dueling, the platform right outside of the Undead Burg tower bonfire was already really popular with RS signs, Dragon signs and invasions on NG+. I remember having a lot of fun there and a huge range of skill and build quality. I thought that DS2 would break me of continuing to start over with new characters since I could respec and try different stuff. But the ability to actually name your character and have other people see that name lets me have way to much goofy fun making role playing builds and trying to stick to a limited play style that fits the name as much as possible.

Badminton is my jam. There's no better way to spend a summer afternoon than knocking the cock about.