Dark Souls 2 (Dark Souls successor (Demon's Souls successor))

[Yasawas]

Thanks! No wonder I didn't find that first one, I went down there once on my first playthrough and didn't really have a fun time.

[Trip Hazard]

Not DS2 related (apologies) but I feel that some of the people that frequently post here will enjoy this series:

They get quite deep into technical aspects of game design and the languorous pace is pretty soothing. Dark Souls deserves to be talked about in enormous depth (yes, even more than it already has been!) so I'm ganting on more of this.

[dartmonkey]

I hope you guys are readying a ridiculous thread title for that potential E3 announcement Do you think retconning previous thread titles to include 'predecessor' might be going too far?

[Yasawas]

Imagine where we can take this if it's actually Demon's Souls 2.

[Bjorn]

I'm really hoping for a King's Field reboot for maximum thread title ridiculousness. 

[Mangela Lansbury]

Demon's Souls 2: King's Field would be the best case scenario

[Twig]

It's gonna be a remake of Demon's Souls!

[Yasawas]

I would actually be happier with that than another Dark Souls. I felt like Bloodborne was a great mix of previous mechanics with new ideas and much as I'd still play and enjoy another Souls, the prospect of another sequel, even led by Miyazaki, doesn't excite me that much.

 

Oh God they could remake it and put the sixth archstone in and it would be the best.

[eot]

Potential Dark Souls 3 leak

I want this game if it turns out to be amazing and exceeds all my expectations, otherwise I don't think I'm ready to play another good game that sticks to the same formula. I'm not sure it can exceed my expectations while sticking to the formula, which is the problem.

[Cbirdsong]

I've just started this. Scholar of the First Sin, never played the other one. Picked a sorcerer, made my way through the Forest of the Fallen Giants.

If I've killed the Pursuer and the Last Giant, I'm done, right?

 

I've just been hanging around co-oping and exploring to find secrets I missed, like

the cartographer NPC and the fire longsword I can't use.

 

I also saved up enough souls to buy

a de-petrification stick from one of the vendors, and used it on what turned out to be the pyromancy trainer. I didn't really think about that choice, though, since I assumed it was like Dark Souls 1, where the 1 in the corner was bad UI design and not actually indicative of a consumable item. Where can I find some more of those? I want to explore behind that petrified dude in Things Betwixt.

[Bjorn]

I've just started this. Scholar of the First Sin, never played the other one. Picked a sorcerer, made my way through the Forest of the Fallen Giants.

If I've killed the Pursuer and the Last Giant, I'm done, right?

 

I've just been hanging around co-oping and exploring to find secrets I missed, like

the cartographer NPC and the fire longsword I can't use.

 

I also saved up enough souls to buy

a de-petrification stick from one of the vendors, and used it on what turned out to be the pyromancy trainer. I didn't really think about that choice, though, since I assumed it was like Dark Souls 1, where the 1 in the corner was bad UI design and not actually indicative of a consumable item. Where can I find some more of those? I want to explore behind that petrified dude in Things Betwixt.

 

First spoiler - for now, yes, but many, many hours from now, remember that there is one big ass door here you couldn't open

 

Third spoiler - There are something like almost 20 Fragrant Branches of Yore in the game.  There are one or two more branches than there are statues.  You'll find them naturally or for sale as you progress through the game, though they will be fairly rare for awhile.  I think the pyromancer is the only statue that straight up gates off a big chunk of the game.  The rest are blocking secrets, treasure or in one case an optional boss.  From this point on, I would always try to keep one on you to depetrify statues that look like they may unlock something interesting like a secret path, but if you have more than one, go ahead and de-petrify stuff that just looks like it's guarding a single treasure (some of the statues are just in front of a chest or body). Some depetrified enemies drop unique loot. A few of the branches are pretty missable, if you've got a ways into the game and you have a bunch of statues you haven't been able to depetrify, you might ask where to look. 

[Trip Hazard]

I just started playing it too, Cbirdsong, so maybe it would be fun to team up sometime? I am literally like an hour in though, only level 14 atm

[Merus]

Oh wow, one of those bosses is significantly harder than the other.

 

Killing The Pursuer gives you early access to the Lost Bastille, but if you've got enough souls, you can probably move on to other areas, like Heide's Tower of Flame.

[Dewar]

I bought the update on the Steam Sale. I might get a chance to dig in this weekend?

[Trip Hazard]

So, I'm playing this quite a lot, really enjoying it. It's fascinating going to Scholar of the First Sin from vanilla Dark Souls 2; seeing the change in certain areas, the different enemy placements and whatnot. Not to mention there is stuff I have just plain forgotten.

 

I'm also recording it and throwing it on Youtube, which is kinda nice. Making decent progress! Have slain the P. and the L.G. (in that order) and something like level 38 now?

 

One thing I'll say for it, which is not a criticism but may sound like one, is that it's much harder than Dark Souls 2. Like, there are areas which I thought were challenging in DS2 which in this are absolutely heaving with enemies, and they're not just standing there in the open but hidden, tucked away and ready to take me by surprise. Eg. the third bonfire in FoFG, behind a Soldier Key door. So many ironclad enemies, and that *bleeping bleep* who appeared from nowhere and gave me a hell of a fight!

 

I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who skipped over DS2 and went straight for this one. Maybe I'd have given up by now? It is brutal, and the difficulty is front loaded with the way estus flasks now have to be accumulated as you go.

 

Anyway, very much looking forward to playing more of this soon

[Merus]

Remember that more enemies means that, assuming you handle them okay, you level up faster.

 

My housemate is playing SotFS without playing the base game, and he hasn't had much in the way of problems - at least nothing that he didn't see as par for the course for a Dark Souls game.

[Malkael]

Sometimes having "half a clue" about an area seems like it can be more dangerous than going in without any expectations. Going in with preconceived expectations formed by playing Dark Souls 2 first has the potential to let From Soft play you and your assumptions in interesting, deadly ways. The familiarity almost tempts you to lower your guard slightly despite knowing changes lie in wait, especially if it looks like an old, tried and true strategy still has some validity during the first attempt.

[Trip Hazard]

Yes! Malkael, after I put my comment up yesterday I realised that this is precisely why I'm so frequently taken by surprise. I have a much more cavalier attitude because I think that I know it all, when clearly what I do know is being turned against me

[BadHat]

I got SotFS and uh, it's kind of a ghost town? I've been invaded a handful of times and usually don't have to wait too long to be summoned, but I barely see anyone else's marks to summon them (yes I'm human). Is my soul memory just too low?

[Griddlelol]

What platform are you on? I'm about to play it on ps4, I got to the first major area and I was seeing a ton of ghosts. Need to finish the witcher before I play it though.

[twmac]

Arrrgh, Darks Souls II Scholar of the First Sin is on sale on Xbox One.

 

I must be strong, must resist.

 

Especially as I keep wanting to quit my job.

[Cbirdsong]

I've just gotten past the Forest of the Fallen Giants, and I feel like nowhere I can go feels like the right place on the difficulty ramp. One of the big guys in Heide's Tower of Flame eats six or seven soul arrows before going down, which means I run out of spells pretty quickly, and using a melee weapon is pretty impractical if I can't finish off the enemy quickly. I've poked around a bit in The Lost Bastille, but it seems a little more difficult than this. Same with the Shaded Woods, but harder.

 

I'm trying what may be a weird sorcerer build - left hand wand, right hand mail breaker - which could explain things. (Hiding behind a shield after Bloodborne feels boring.) I'm also sticking to almost no armor since I want the fastest possible rolls. Should I reconsider that policy?

 

Spoilertown:

• The Pursuer keeps showing back up in random places, even in Things Betwixt near the sex-change coffin, and he seems way too powerful for me to kill right now. Is that weird sound I keep hearing him?
• The Pursuer is a cool idea.
• It is hilarious this game has a sex-change coffin.

Aside: I can't believe both Bloodborne and this game ditch the pitch-perfect healing/resource system from Dark Souls 1 in favor of systems that make death have long-term consequences. When dying takes another chunk off your health bar, you aren't encouraged to experiment, and it makes death feel less like a lesson and more like punishment.

[Turrican]

DS is possibly my favourite game of the last 25 years.  However, I hated DSII when it was released.  

 

When BB came out I completed it in a week but then started Scholar of the First Sin (which was released soon after BB).  

 

I never went back to BB.  Scholar, I feel, drew out the true potential of DSII.  I sank 200 hours into it and enjoyed almost every minute. 

 

Can't wait for DS3 now.  If they manage to create a hybrid of the two it will be one of the best games ever made.  

[Dewar]

My memory is a bit rusty, but I believe Heide's Tower is where I went next. While the enemies there are real damage sinks, there aren't many of them (well, there weren't at least, I haven't played the remix yet) and at least half of them are completely avoidable since they're so slow.

 

Lost Bastile is another logical step, though that was pretty slow going for me, a few enemies at a time.

[Bjorn]

Heide's in SOTFS is one of the areas where they clearly wanted co-op to be a potential focus, with the Heide Knight additions, the place can be a nightmare early on when solo.  But with help, it's quite straight forward. 

 

The big guys in Heide's are very resistant to piercing weapons, so your mail breaker is just a laughable toothpick for them.  When focusing on a piercing weapon, it usually is a good idea to have a blunt or slash backup for a handful of enemies.  Piercing weapons can destroy a whole bunch of other enemies in the game though, built right. 

 

I don't personally feel that armor is necessary at all in DS2, but I've also played through it a couple of dozen times now.  My opinion is very skewed at this point.  9 times out of 10 though, rolling is better than tanking a hit.  iframes on rolls are tied to Agility, which is raised by Adaptability and Attunement.  Adp raises it more than att.  You should probably aim for a 99, 100 or 105 Agility depending on how you want to distribute your stats.