SL128

Nick Plays FROM; Currently - Bloodborne

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14 hours ago, Kyir said:

Nick putting on the Calamity Ring is amazing. I can't wait to hear about it on the podcast after a stream full of frustration.

 

That was an exquisite stream.

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50 minutes ago, Nick Breckon said:

God, I am very tired today. This is going to be one hell of a loopy ending. 

Just want to say that if you block while sprinting you can't jump, so watch out.

 

Also, that covenant that makes the game harder in Dark Souls 2 doesn't make the it that much harder. It's like going from Hurt Me Plenty to Ultraviolence, not Nightmare.

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I'm not in support of Nick joining that covenant right off the bat. I'm not saying he shouldn't join it, but I think it's jumping the gun a little in  regards to how hard he finds the game.

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Yeah I'm also not in favor of that covenant pickup. It's one thing to put on the double damage ring in the late game when you have an OP character. It's another to make the early to mid game that much more challenging.

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If he joins it, I think it would be best to wait at least until arriving at the first boss door.  Once there, though, I think he might as well take it for the extra souls.  Whether or not to swap back should depend on how rapid internalization of DS2 mechanics is.

 

But while still on DS1, I think it will be worth fighting the Hellkite Drake and the Undead Dragon since they're decent minibosses.

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Hellkite is barely a fight. If it were a proper boss it'd be one of the worst in the game in my opinion, and it does insane damage without the calamity ring.

 

CoC is the only way I've played DS2 actually, because I did it for my first playthrough and then I thought it'd be weird to make the game easier on subsequent ones.

 

 

You do have to join the Pilgrims of the Dark for Darklurker though.

 


Best boss in the game.

 

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I'd vote against joining the CoC unless Nick specifically wants it. When I started DS2 I accidentally joined it, and was getting creamed with damage, not realising that was why. It just made the game seem more punishing and hostile. Even if Nick is aware what the CoC does, I wonder if it'd be hard to separate the added hostility from what the base game experience is.

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58 minutes ago, SuperBiasedMan said:

I'd vote against joining the CoC unless Nick specifically wants it. When I started DS2 I accidentally joined it, and was getting creamed with damage, not realising that was why. It just made the game seem more punishing and hostile. Even if Nick is aware what the CoC does, I wonder if it'd be hard to separate the added hostility from what the base game experience is.

 

I agree. Also, I feel like DS2 changes the most of all the Dark Souls games and I don't think it'd be fun or interesting for Nick to be adapting to those changes while also dealing with the effects of the covenant.

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On 12/6/2016 at 4:23 PM, Problem Machine said:

Hey, watching through the vod now and seeing a lot of dropped frames. You might want to drop your bitrate if you haven't already, assuming that there weren't like background downloads or something going that you put a stop to later.

 

Is that the first stream?  Yeah my internet went to shit that first night.  It was a whole lot better the next day back at 2500 bit rate.  That's what I stream during the day with no problems, I think at night my provider just poops it a bit.

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This stream is getting distressing. I know Nick's memory will leave him with nothing but good feelings about this in a few weeks, but I think I may be scarred for life.

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"'Lord of Cinder'? More like 'Lord of Good Times'!"

 

As a side note: I have mentioned this before, but, ugggh, 'Lord of Cinder' is such a good title for a character in this game.

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1 hour ago, notanimal said:

Did Nick end up beating the Lord of Cinder last night?

Sadly not.

 

I have some suggestions for what Nick could try if he keeps struggling next time. He's probably aware of most of them but still:

  1. Shields. I know you said that you're not used to playing with them, but I'm not sure if you realize how effective they can be. The Black Knight Shield blocks 100% of physical damage and 95% of fire damage. It drops at a high rate from the enemies you fight (or don't) on the way to Gwyn, but you'd probably need to upgrade it slightly to reduce the amount of stamina it takes to block. You won't be able to block every attack (you'd run out of stamina), but it will make it so much easier to get an attack in safely and makes it so you can circle behind him. A shield that you do have, the Black Iron Greatshield (100% physical, 90% fire) probably would let you just stand in front of him and block every attack he does, but you'd need to level strength five times to equip it (that's about 200k souls). The only tricky part of using a shield is stamina management, which I don't think you've practiced much.
  2. Upgrading your Estus twice more would make it heal 750 health instead of 650. I'm not sure if this would make a difference but it can't hurt to try.
  3. People suggested this a hundred times already, but trading your yellow hat for a second ring of Favor and Protection (20% more life). I'm quite confident it'd make you more survivable than the defense ring you have at the moment. You do this back in the tutorial area the bird takes you to.
  4. If you want to keep fighting him your current way (which I think is fine), try to be more disciplined in when you attack. You know that the flying charge move he does gives you time to hit him twice if you dodge it (not the leap, the charge). His other attacks really don't, so you need to not get eager and just keep moving backwards from him, while circling the room and waiting for that attack. This is where a shield can help you because if you have your shield up and dodge too late you'll simply block instead. There's no need for you to be close to him, trying to dodge his sideways swings. In fact, his attacks do more damage the closer you are to him (correct me on that if I'm wrong), so backing away will help you take less damage even when you get hit.
  5. There is a way to get him stuck in a loop where he never attacks if you use a certain Pyromancy.
  6. I suspect you won't try parrying again, but if you do I'll just say that after a parry there is always time to heal, and when he gets up again he consistently does the same attack. First a left-right swing (which is hard to parry), and a right-left swing which is much easier. With the Black Knight Shield you can block the first attack and parry the second. You can parry with your shield raised too, so if you're too late you block (just like with dodging). The Silver Knights in Anor Londo are really good to practice parrying on, I honestly think you'd get it down in 10-15 minutes.

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3 hours ago, eot said:

Sadly not.

 

I have some suggestions for what Nick could try if he keeps struggling next time. He's probably aware of most of them but still:

 

7. Take off the ring that makes me a level 1 character

 

I'm going to try again today. Same time (4pm Pacific). Definitely will not be going as long as last night. But I'm going to beat this stupid, stupid guy. 

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I'm calling it in 2 this time, Nick. Keep my prediction streak alive.

 

In all seriousness though, I think you've got it as soon as you get an attempt where he uses a lot of grabs again. Not that you can't do it otherwise, but those attempts were good in the past.

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4 hours ago, eot said:

Sadly not.

 

That's too bad.

 

I agree with Nick's sentiments from last night. The Lord of Cinder is unforgiving in a way that no other boss in the series is. On my first play-through of DS1 I spent a solid week trying to beat him, and by the time I finally did I was so utterly bored with the fight that I didn't even feel accomplished. I had that feeling that Nick talked about on the podcast, where I had already beaten him in my mind so I was no longer invested in the fight.

 

I still liked it better than the final boss from DS2.

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28 minutes ago, notanimal said:

I agree with Nick's sentiments from last night. The Lord of Cinder is unforgiving in a way that no other boss in the series is. On my first play-through of DS1 I spent a solid week trying to beat him, and by the time I finally did I was so utterly bored with the fight that I didn't even feel accomplished. I had that feeling that Nick talked about on the podcast, where I had already beaten him in my mind so I was no longer invested in the fight.

 

I'm beginning to feel like I missed out, because I figured out on my own that I could tank it out behind the Black Knight Shield and then beat him in two tries. I did some parrying, but didn't really need to, so I didn't keep it up.

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46 minutes ago, Problem Machine said:

Oh I thought you were streaming at noon. I guess you meant high noon in the metaphorical sense

 

That was my original plan, but I'm a little busy this morning, and I want to give it my undivided attention. 

 

Quote

The Lord of Cinder is unforgiving in a way that no other boss in the series is. On my first play-through of DS1 I spent a solid week trying to beat him, and by the time I finally did I was so utterly bored with the fight that I didn't even feel accomplished. I had that feeling that Nick talked about on the podcast, where I had already beaten him in my mind so I was no longer invested in the fight.

 

The fight itself is whatever, but the fact that his animation is buggy is a real shame. It's kind of a slap in the face to see him glitching from one anim to another when you're trying to hit these absurdly precise timings. 

 

Also, I really don't think it should ever be that hard to heal in a boss fight. Maybe if it's a short one, or has some other trick to it. But not the final boss. 

 

Anyway, I'm just dumb for not taking off the ring. 

 

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