Nick Plays FROM; Currently - Bloodborne

[Problem Machine]

I don't think she's easy for someone who's new, but she's GOTTA be easier than the pursuer/sentinels.

The boss run is a pain for sure, though.

[eRonin]

Lost Sinner only took me 2 tries; I think like Capra, most of the difficulty in that fight is arbitrated by the conditions of the level that you fight her in. She didn't give Nick that much trouble either; he mostly had issues getting to the boss in the first place because he kept forgetting to send the elevator back up. But anyway Nick's actually not a newcomer to the series anymore. I feel like chat still treats him as one for the most part though, I wonder why. 

[sclpls]

51 minutes ago, eRonin said:

Lost Sinner only took me 2 tries; I think like Capra, most of the difficulty in that fight is arbitrated by the conditions of the level that you fight her in. She didn't give Nick that much trouble either; he mostly had issues getting to the boss in the first place because he kept forgetting to send the elevator back up. But anyway Nick's actually not a newcomer to the series anymore. I feel like chat still treats him as one for the most part though, I wonder why. 

 

Wasn't trying to suggest Nick was a noob in my comment, and you're right, he didn't have too much difficulty with that boss. My issue was that I was basically a noob because of an unfamiliar playstyle, and it took me a ton of tries to beat that boss even after I figured out how to approach the fight because any time I made a mistake I died which seems shitty for an early game boss. Maybe I was underleveled, but I don't run pass enemies and play pretty cautiously in terms of trying not to lose souls after dying so that seems like it would be a weird problem. Mostly though it is just a boss with a boring move set in a dark room.

[TychoCelchuuu]

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/ShinyGrouseTheTarFu

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/CloudyEagleAsianGlow

[TychoCelchuuu]

[Kyir]

Nick made good progress tonight (as he has been, lately.) DS1 and 3 have trained him well.

 

Though, then again: https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/ClumsySkunkKeepo

 

Then again then again, I ran face first into the same mimic twice today, so Nick's probably way ahead of me now. I've been surpassed.

[Roderick]

Hey, that is indeed a cool bridge

[TychoCelchuuu]

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/AmusedSheep4Head

[Kyir]

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/HandsomeGrasshopperNotLikeThis

 

The classic. The dream.

[eRonin]

3 hours ago, Kyir said:

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/HandsomeGrasshopperNotLikeThis

 

The classic. The dream.

 

This is actually perfect. I love how the Internalization pre-emptively goes up momentarily, then starts to plummet as the votes started going in after he died!

[RubixsQube]

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/AliveWaspNotLikeThis

 

"I haven't seen sconces, where are they"

[Kyir]

 

Nick pledges to never speak on stream again: https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/GloriousHedgehogDansGame

 

Also, thanks SL128 for capturing my box invasion: https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/FriendlyKoalaOSfrog

 

Classic Nick clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/UgliestGaurRalpherZ

[Upthrust]

Nick was talking about invaders hiding as enemies, so here's a video about a guy who dresses up as an enemy to hide from invaders. Pretty much the same thing, right?

[Upthrust]

"Are you a spooky bad man?" Nick asks:

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/ProudSnailAsianGlow

 

(Nick said Chris should see this)

[TychoCelchuuu]

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/JoyousYakWinWaker

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/VastElephantBORT

[eRonin]

6 hours ago, RubixsQube said:

https://clips.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/AliveWaspNotLikeThis

 

"I haven't seen sconces, where are they"

 

I'm dying, send help

[eot]

The animation on those guys in Tseldora is pretty goofy, but I think Dark Souls 2 less polished animations across the board.

 

On 2016-12-13 at 8:54 PM, Problem Machine said:

Really? I think she's a good fight but too easy. Why don't you like her?

Royal Rat Authority is probably my least favorite -- it's just so damn lazy --  though Ancient Dragon is a REAL stupid fight too.

Well, she's easy depending on where in the game you fight her. I don't like the fight because I think it's the least fun one to try to actually do well. The charge / forward stab attack she does has insane tracking and I think it's super cheap. On top of that the run back to the boss is maybe the most tedious in the entire game. When Nick was fighting Gwyn and complaining about it, some people said that his complaints came from him gimping himself, and I probably said something along those lines too. But I think a good boss in these games should hold up even if you do stuff like that, you shouldn't have to offset cheapness with levelling or gear. Smelter Demon, for example, is a much better boss in my opinion, even though it's harder. Although I think that fight has some serious hitbox issues, so it's not perfect.

 

I hear you on RRA though, that thing was my least favourite boss my first time through the game.

 

Also, I gotta say it seems like they toned down Shrine of Amana slightly in SotFS. I'm sure there used to be more than one mage in front of that first fog wall. Maybe a good change though. What's definitely a good change is removing those last two dudes in front of Velstadt's fog wall, who were impossible to pull. That was some straight up BS.

[ghoasts]

I'm really enjoying the streams, so much so I made an account to weigh in

 

I started SOTFS along with Nick so I could watch but also experience it myself first without spoiling the game. 60 hours later I'm done and I'm a bit conflicted. I think Dark Souls 2 is one of the best-worst games I've ever played. It has some really high highs and some really, really low lows. It has some of the best bosses (practically all of the DLC bosses, especially in the Iron King DLC, are amazing) and also some of the worst - I'm looking at you, Ancient Dragon. It has some of the most beautiful and interesting areas in the souls games, and also some of the absolute worst - Black Gulch, Shrine of Amana, and the hellish wasteland that is Frigid Outskirts. I read a pretty convincing argument that Frigid Outskirts was designed as a "Fuck You" to critics of the game, since it specifically is the opposite of some of the aspects of the vanilla game people complained about the most. For example: Too many dude in armor bosses -> 2 kitties; Too many bonfires -> no bonfires; Areas are too linear and narrow -> gigantic open space; mobs are too simplistic and easy -> demonic reindeer with shrine guardian moveset; too many hordes of enemies attacking at once -> one reindeer at a time (usually). I honestly believe they made that area to demonstrate that they could take all of the suggestions people had and still make a bad dark souls game. That's the only possible explanation I can think of for how such a steaming pile of shit made it past quality control. The other areas in the DLCs that are supposedly designed for coop (something I'm completely opposed to in a dark souls game, especially designing for it) aren't nearly as offensive. The runs to Smelter Demon & to Alonne are both hilariously obnoxious but totally doable without fighting anything. I do look forward to Nick cheating hitmanning those. The 3 musketeers in the poison DLC are an interesting fight, and entirely doable solo. But the run to Lud and Zallen takes 5 minutes even without fighting any reindeer - 5 minutes with nothing to look at but bright white glare on the monitor.

 

Overall I think DS2 is a pretty great game, superior to the other souls in some ways (amount of content, viable weapon variety, PvP, beauty of some of the areas, some of the best bosses in the series) but it has some incredibly bad areas and bosses and I think the artificial difficulty criticism is legitimate, meme-y or not. I also didn't like the balance. I've played a lot of dark souls and the vanilla bosses are all too easy and generally boring in my opinion. There are some interesting ideas in there like executioner's chariot, and throne guardians & darklurker aren't chumps, but these are exceptions. The DLC definitely improves here - the bosses are almost all interesting and some of the most difficult in the souls series. It's a good thing they didn't manage to ruin it by designing for coop and making the bosses too annoying difficult to get to, despite their apparent best efforts to do so.

 

Speaking of Frigid Outskirts and Ancient Dragon, is the plan for Nick to do them? I personally felt obligated to because they're in the game, but I can't say I enjoyed either. Ancient Dragon is easy if tedious with the right strategy, but my experience with frigid outskirts was hours of frustration and boredom. I think skipping blue smelter demon and/or Alonne is a shame though - even though smelter is a reskin the fight is a lot more punishing so I at least had to fight him differently than in the Iron Keep, and Alonne reminds me of the final boss from demons souls. The runs to both Smelter and Alonne are also so ridiculous (but actually doable) they're worth doing for that reason alone. Similarly the 3 stooges in the Sunken King DLC are very doable solo, and I think pretty interesting and fun. My vote (not that it matters) is for an all boss run but I don't think I can in good conscience recommend bothering with Frigid Outskirts. It's just bad.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I think Nick will likely skip the Ancient Dragon because the run is too tedious for the stream especially when it's a boss lots of chat recommended against. I imagine the same could happen in the Frigid Outskirts. Even more so, since that part of the level is out of the way and easy to miss.

[ghoasts]

2 minutes ago, SuperBiasedMan said:

I think Nick will likely skip the Ancient Dragon because the run is too tedious for the stream especially when it's a boss lots of chat recommended against. I imagine the same could happen in the Frigid Outskirts. Even more so, since that part of the level is out of the way and easy to miss.

I watched that VOD today, and I was a bit confused. When I fought that boss I was able to run all the way to the fog door every time, and nothing aggroed except the large knights. The dragon warriors just stood around looking at me. I don't know why they were attacking him.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I'm unsure of the exact mechanics (when I played it, I thought you had to do the duel bow to them) but they were attacking Nick for not engaging in the duels with those large knights. Perhaps in your game you'd done something that meant you no longer had that requirement.

[Kyir]

I still think Sunken King is the wrong DLC to start with, but I appear to be in the minority here. I'm predicting (very understandable) frustration with the three well-hidden bonfires, and a lot of aggravation on the trio boss and maybe Elana too. All of this is more palatable the higher level you are, I would say. Nick will probably enjoy Sinh no matter what at least

 

Ivory King is a much better lead-in to the differences between DLC and normal game content I think. Harder, but straightforward bosses (leaving aside the doublecats, which I think NIck will avoid,) and more complex level design without stuff being hidden behind layers of annoying obfuscation. 

[eot]

3 hours ago, ghoasts said:

I watched that VOD today, and I was a bit confused. When I fought that boss I was able to run all the way to the fog door every time, and nothing aggroed except the large knights. The dragon warriors just stood around looking at me. I don't know why they were attacking him.

Wait, which VOD?

[ghoasts]

7 hours ago, eot said:

Wait, which VOD?

https://www.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/v/108731239

[eot]

2 minutes ago, ghoasts said:

https://www.twitch.tv/idlethumbs/v/108731239

Huh, weird. Wasn't showing for some reason. Thanks.