Dark Souls 2

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:14

Findus Fop wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

I was going to start Demon's Souls this week but decided on Uncharted instead.

I have a feeling Dark Souls is going to be my Ulysses. I started it for the fourth time this week and am approaching the point at the beginning when the dragon drops you off and I can see me getting distracted again when I bump into some skellingtons.

Run away from the naked self assembling skellingtons. Run I say.

lasermink · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1883

Mr Dave wrote:

Findus Fop wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

I was going to start Demon's Souls this week but decided on Uncharted instead.

I have a feeling Dark Souls is going to be my Ulysses. I started it for the fourth time this week and am approaching the point at the beginning when the dragon drops you off and I can see me getting distracted again when I bump into some skellingtons.

Run away from the naked self assembling skellingtons. Run I say.

This goes for both Demons Souls and Dark Souls: When you have a section, even if it's available from the start, that just seems too hard, then save it for later and explore another possibility, or you'll waste time and get upset.

And remember well: You don't need to be human unless you're going up against a boss, no matter how much the game taunts you and makes you want to. You'll just get invaded, waste time and get upset.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

British Nervoso wrote:

I was going to start Demon's Souls this week but decided on Uncharted instead.

You've never played Uncharted? That surprises me given the amount of time you've been PS3-ing.

myp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:41

Bamba wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

I was going to start Demon's Souls this week but decided on Uncharted instead.

You've never played Uncharted? That surprises me given the amount of time you've been PS3-ing.

I've been PS3ing for about two years.

TheVision · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:43

I have no interest in Dark Souls but because of this thread, and a friend of mine playing Skyrim to death... I think I want to play Dark Souls 2.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

British Nervoso wrote:

Buy it in a shop and return the Amazon one when it arrives?

Stupid. Collectors. Edition. So I can't.

myp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:54

Dr Lave wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

Buy it in a shop and return the Amazon one when it arrives?

Stupid. Collectors. Edition. So I can't.

Buy a vanilla copy today, then trade it in when your collector's edition arrives. You might lose £10 on the deal.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

British Nervoso wrote:

Bamba wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

I was going to start Demon's Souls this week but decided on Uncharted instead.

You've never played Uncharted? That surprises me given the amount of time you've been PS3-ing.

I've been PS3ing for about two years.

Exactly.

With all the chat you hear about the Souls games I'd actually quite like to try one but as I'm 99.9999999% convinced I'll hate them I'm not going to actually spend any money. A demo to see exactly how punishing the combat really is would be good but I doubt they'd ever do that.

myp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:01

Bamba wrote:

Exactly.

It's only been my main machine for about a year after I sold my 360. I never really fancied the Uncharted games as it seemed like Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones and it just didn't float my boat for some reason. After playing TLoU I wanted to try another ND game though.

I really love the idea of playing Dark Souls but the reality might be much the same as what you think yours will be.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:02

Bamba wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

Bamba wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

I was going to start Demon's Souls this week but decided on Uncharted instead.

You've never played Uncharted? That surprises me given the amount of time you've been PS3-ing.

I've been PS3ing for about two years.

Exactly.

With all the chat you hear about the Souls games I'd actually quite like to try one but as I'm 99.9999999% convinced I'll hate them I'm not going to actually spend any money. A demo to see exactly how punishing the combat really is would be good but I doubt they'd ever do that.

You wouldn't like it. I think I can state that fairly confidently.

TheVision · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:02

Well, I've ordered the first Dark Souls. It was only £15 so it's not that much of a loss if I don't like it.

I could do with a game that I can sink my teeth into.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

British Nervoso wrote:

I never really fancied the Uncharted games as it seemed like Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones

That's certainly how it presents itself, the characters/settings are very Indiana Jones but the gameplay marries a dumbed down version of Tomb Raider (in that the 'platforming' and puzzles require very little thought) with a cover based shooter. So the combat is much more coherent than Tomb Raider but the rest of it very linear and straightforward. It's big dumb fun in a lot of ways, but the fun aspect is big enough to generally carry you through the dumb and it helps to almost think of them as 'experience' games with some shooting bits added in.

Which only serves to remind me that I really, really want another 'proper' Tomb Raider game. As much as I enjoyed the reboot, and as flawed as Underworld/Legend were in places, nothing else has done the massive room sized temple puzzles anywhere near as well. I'm pretty close to finishing my game backlog entirely at the moment and am very tempted to play through those last few Tomb Raider games again before the PS4 properly gets it's shit together.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:21

I always thought uncharted games would be better with a few fewer enemies and no damn QTEs.

What's that, you've broken into a long lost and forgotten tomb/dungeon/bakery? Oh well, for some reason there's already an army there.

markg · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 16560

I enjoyed the Uncharted games but The Last Of Us improved on them in every way. The writing, the pacing, the combat. Everything about it is better.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

Mr Dave wrote:

I always thought uncharted games would be better with a few fewer enemies and no damn QTEs.

What's that, you've broken into a long lost and forgotten tomb/dungeon/bakery? Oh well, for some reason there's already an army there.

I agree with the fewer enemies thing, there are obvious parts in all the games where they stick you in a locked arena and just keep sending waves and waves of enemies at you. You can literally see the fresh crop make their way in to the arena when you gun down the last of the previous set and it can be pretty gruelling at times. Not necessarily difficult per se but just never fucking ending. They obviously do their best to make the other parts of the games as 'cinematic' as possible but then they just stop trying when it comes to the combat sections and don't seem to give a shit that you can see the joins.

The Buck missions in Far Cry 3 are another terrible example of enemies somehow inexplicably being where they shouldn't. You're breaking into these old temples with a magic compass key that no one's seen or put together for decades and yet hordes of fucking pirate have taken up residence in them already. Which is especially weird because there's no reason to be living in these inaccessible, dank ruined temples miles from anywhere while most of their mates drive around in the sun.

markg wrote:

I enjoyed the Uncharted games but The Last Of Us improved on them in every way. The writing, the pacing, the combat. Everything about it is better.

I'd say they're fundamentally different games so, the studio behind them notwithstanding, I wouldn't even bother comparing them.

myp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:02

Bamba wrote:

I'd say they're fundamentally different games so, the studio behind them notwithstanding, I wouldn't even bother comparing them.

They're not that different. The art style, mechanics and quality of voice acting share common themes. There's more combat in Uncharted and a few rudimentary puzzles and climbing sections in keeping with Tomb Raider, but they're not entirely dissimilar.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

They are extremely different games, but TLoU is a fantastic response to Uncharted where the developer has really sat down and thought about the flaws in their game (namely that their ability to tell a story is massively hampered by the ludo narrative dissonance (I'm a cheeky happy go lucky adventurer you should identify with, but I kill hundreds of people between each cut scenes without batting an eye) and then built TLoU to avoid all those problems.

And boy did it work.

myp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:12

Obviously TLoU is so much better based on the first half of the first Uncharted game I've played so far, but I'd be surprised if that weren't the case, considering the six year gap.

Findus Fop · **Joined:** 14th May, 2009 **Posts:** 4300

lasermink wrote:

And remember well: You don't need to be human unless you're going up against a boss, no matter how much the game taunts you and makes you want to. You'll just get invaded, waste time and get upset.

But what does it mean to be... *cue welling music* human?

What's the benefit? And do I become human by kindling? What is kindling?

Or are these the things one should just discover by playing? I'm all for discovery, but I can't help feeling there are basic things one should know before gallumphing about the place.

markg · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 16560

British Nervoso wrote:

Obviously TLoU is so much better based on the first half of the first Uncharted game I've played so far, but I'd be surprised if that weren't the case, considering the six year gap.

Yeah they aren't bad games by any stretch of the imagination it's just that the elements which were so entertaining in part due to the fact that they were actually ground-breaking at the time won't seem that way now. But I'm pretty sure there should be enough fun in there to get you through the series.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:39

Findus Fop wrote:

lasermink wrote:

And remember well: You don't need to be human unless you're going up against a boss, no matter how much the game taunts you and makes you want to. You'll just get invaded, waste time and get upset.

But what does it mean to be... *cue welling music* human?

What's the benefit? And do I become human by kindling? What is kindling?

Or are these the things one should just discover by playing? I'm all for discovery, but I can't help feeling there are basic things one should know before gallumphing about the place.

Kindling gives you more health flasks when you rest at that fire.

Being human essentially activates multiplayer and provides some stat boosts.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14489

Findus Fop wrote:

But what does it mean to be... *cue welling music* human?

For the previous game :

As a Human you can summon a friendly spirit to your game to help battle bosses
As a Human some NPC characters will react differently to you
As a Human other players can summon you to their game (so you can help them).

There are also questions around getting better drops while your human

Findus Fop wrote:

What's the benefit? And do I become human by kindling? What is kindling?

Kindling is 'burning' a humanity point at a bonfire which gives you an extra 5 health flasks each time you rest at that bonfire.

To become human you burn a humanity point at a bonfire (called reverse hollowing?) - you become human - when you die you re-incarnate again as an undead.

Findus Fop wrote:

Or are these the things one should just discover by playing? I'm all for discovery, but I can't help feeling there are basic things one should know before gallumphing about the place.

Somethings you will discover by trial and error however these games tend to be much more community based and I think you'll get more out of playing a while - getting stuck and asking than either trying to muddle through things yourself - or reading an FAQ with all the answers all laid out.

Findus Fop · **Joined:** 14th May, 2009 **Posts:** 4300

excellent, thank you very much Zaphod and Mr Dave. My wife is running off with the baby this weekend, so I shall put some solid time into killing myself in Dark Souls.

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

Dark Souls 2: GOT!

Had to settle with the Black Armour edition at GAME cause they didn't have any of the versions with more tat. It's got a lovely heavy metal box though. BUT NO PICTURE BOOK THIS TIME.

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

Oh and Uncharted 1, while not terrible, is terrible (but not, y'know, terrible) when compared to Uncharted 2 which is ace. And not terrible. The opposite in fact. Of terrible.

LaceSensor · **Joined:** 2nd Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 3137

where is cheap to just get the vanilla one, like, a real shop rather than ordering online?

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

I'm going to say... supermarkets would be your best bet if you're not trading any games in. I traded games in and got it for nowt. BAM!

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14489

LaceSensor wrote:

where is cheap to just get the vanilla one, like, a real shop rather than ordering online?

Looks like Tesco are doing it for £35 which seems to be the cheapest 'walk in and get it'

LaceSensor · **Joined:** 2nd Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 3137

zaphod79 wrote:

LaceSensor wrote:

where is cheap to just get the vanilla one, like, a real shop rather than ordering online?

Looks like Tesco are doing it for £35 which seems to be the cheapest 'walk in and get it'

alrighty thankjs for that
i might mosy on down and pick it up

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

British Nervoso wrote:

Dr Lave wrote:

British Nervoso wrote:

Buy it in a shop and return the Amazon one when it arrives?

Stupid. Collectors. Edition. So I can't.

Buy a vanilla copy today, then trade it in when your collector's edition arrives. You might lose £10 on the deal.

Hmmm, £10 and about an hour round trip, for an hour of dark souls. It would be insane, but I'm damn tempted.

#dorksouls

lasermink · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1883

Saturnalian wrote:

Oh and Uncharted 1, while not terrible, is terrible (but not, y'know, terrible) when compared to Uncharted 2 which is ace. And not terrible. The opposite in fact. Of terrible.

I did a second playthrough of both games on Hard no so long ago, and had a blast. Whatever little flaws 1 has are more than made up for by the awesome bits.

3 was just awful. I had to force myself to finish it.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 21:15

Time to first death: 40 minutes

I ciould really do with a weapon that isn't enormously shit.

MaliA · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 21:19

Asda is £39 I think.

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

Mr Dave wrote:

Time to first death: 40 minutes

I ciould really do with a weapon that isn't enormously shit.

They've made it easier then?

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

Time to first death: 3 minutes. Don't mess with the locals...

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 22:09

Saturnalian wrote:

Time to first death: 3 minutes. Don't mess with the locals...

How did you even find someone to kill you that quickly?

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

Unarmed yet I thought I'd ruff up those cat things. They had other ideas and ganged up on me.

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

What gift did you take with you? I went for the Seed of the Tree of Giants. Turns out, if I get invaded the seed will make the enemies turn against the invader.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 23:35

Saturnalian wrote:

What gift did you take with you? I went for the Seed of the Tree of Giants. Turns out, if I get invaded the seed will make the enemies turn against the invader.

I went for the boring ring. That sounds much more awesome. Feeling mildly tempted to restart now...

Saturnalian wrote:

Unarmed yet I thought I'd ruff up those cat things. They had other ideas and ganged up on me.

Cat things?

First enemy I found was

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

a herd of some manner of pig. Which could outlast my weapons durability. Hence my earlier comment. I could kill them. But the rewards were pathetic. and they were in a cul-de-sac anyway, so why bother.

Second enemy was

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

A rather large man with a sword. Who I managed to whittle down to no health before accidentally running out of stamina then life. Second attempt at him I found his swings weren't quite as predictable as I'd previously thought, and died again. But hey, as I could kill him, this is the way right. Particularly if I could find a sword not made out of paper. Third attempt, killed him. And in my smugness got leapt upon by another one wielding a rather large hammer. YOU DIED. Turns out that wasn't the way.

Now found a direction which hurts a little less.

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

Yeah, the cat things. Immediately after you arrive but before the old women there are, um, cat things milling about eating bones. They run away from you when you give chase but if you manage to smack one the rest dive on you. YOU DIED.

I chose the swordsman character right off the bat and was horrified to learn that I didn't have a shield. The first two hours have been a balancing act of getting killed a lot while looking for a shield.

Here's what I've been up to...

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

I'd followed the old gamer trope of not doing things as you come across them but choosing to explore so I don't miss anything but, of course, missing them and then having to come back. So I ran past all the misty doors (incorrectly thinking that they led to different worlds) till I got outside, thought something was wrong and went back trying each of them. Introductions done I ran outside learned how to light my torch on a bonfire, thought I'd missed something again and ran back to the misty doors to light all the sconces. I'd messed about so much by this point running in and out that my torch packed up after 5 minutes and I'd failed to light all the sconces.

I still don't know of that will do anything. Tch.

I'd died so many times doing that stupid jump, falling off stuff and getting lazy with the basic enemies cause I had no shield I must have died tens of times.

I went exploring the town purposefully looking for the hidden areas - found the valley of the giants and spent a while figuring out how to jump into the secret area, scared I'd missed something I went back and searches the town some more, found those pigs, talked to some guys and a cat, scared I'd missed something I went back to the start and found the guys with giant saggy bollocks, satisfied this time I definitely hadn't missed anything I tried the other areas - that huge guy (knew that was never going to be the way) and found a shield finally. Over 2 hours in now I was satisfied that the area I first found (giant valley) was definitely the way of least resistence. Tch.

I've clocked the well as an area to fall down and explore and the tower of flame thing. I've clocked the machine that needs a key too just before the entrance to the tower of flame area.

Anyway, I finally set off on a magical journey whereupon I'm promptly set upon by hollow soliders often three at a time. Cue much, much, much dying later and having moved no more than 50 yards.

It's taken forever to get up a ladder and kill three hollows and since I've been dying so much my energy bar in hollow form is at 50% as it keeps dropping with every death. And I can't burn an effergy as I'm a hoarder and you never know when you'll need one. LIKE RIGHT NOW - BUT I CANT CAUSE IM A HOARDER.

Anyway, I finally did make did and found the next bonfire. The valley isn't much to look at but there's at least four directions I can try and I'm not entirely sure which one to follow. One I haven't tried but appears to go off in two directions, one is almost certainly a deadend but with a weapon in a tunnel of fire, one is down a ladder and seems the way to go but splits off. Plus my schmiter sword (being the most powerful weapon I've got) is fucked and I'm using the gay long sword. And I saw a dragon.

I tells ya, it's been a long night.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:47

Yeah, that's the direction I'm now headed in, but

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

the ambush at the top of the ladder is as far as I've made it. Although I'm sorely tempted to go back take on the large dudes again. May well try again now I have a couple of estus.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

It's installing!

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Also no shield! Argh!

It seems pretty damn good so far!

But worried by health consumables. I felt those damaged Demon souls. Where's an estus!?

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2014 13:06

Dr Lave wrote:

Where's an estus!?

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

You'll get it when you get to level up. Although it's.. a little different from dark souls.

I did start off with a shield. But with a broken sword. I finally found myself a non broken sword. So yay.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2014 13:09

Also keeping a log of deaths, so far up to 8. Only one of them was stupid though.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2014 14:52

So yeah, Having finally got a decent sword and some healing, I continued along the path I mentioned earlier

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

Through the tower of flame, or whatever it's called, with the moderately big giants.

Rather glad I did. The reward for doing so is going to make mattersa little easier. (Much like the cling ring in demons souls)

I then proceeded to push my luck, forgot fog doors often found yield bosses. Why, you look a little fa... YOU DIED

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

What's going on with levelling up, or to be more precise, are we not leveling up with souls anymore? I don't want to be able to use magic at some point or I'll cry; that's why I chose the swordsman as he had reasonable points across the board.

Also, did anyone join the first covant you come across just outside the town? It suggested it would make the game harder and I didn't need that so far.

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

Also found the key for the blacksmith and the device that will most likely rotate the room just before the entrance to the tower of flames: in the giant valley there's a woman who sells them both. 1000 souls for the key and 4000 souls for the device. Since my souls, so far, have barely crept above 2000 I doubt I'll be getting the device anytime soon. Key it is.

And, seriously, I'm getting a reet pounding. Be wary of the trap room in the giant valley. The trap killed the guy who came wading out at me. It failed to kill 3 more who piles out. Fuckers got me dashing up the ladder to escape...

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2014 20:40

Saturnalian wrote:

What's going on with levelling up, or to be more precise, are we not leveling up with souls anymore? I don't want to be able to use magic at some point or I'll cry; that's why I chose the swordsman as he had reasonable points across the board.

Also, did anyone join the first covant you come across just outside the town? It suggested it would make the game harder and I didn't need that so far.

Yes you level up with souls. Not that obvious though -

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

Near the fire in the village, there's a woman who you have to talk to two or three times who'll act much like the blind woman in Demons souls and level you up. And give you an estus flask.

Didn't join it as I didn't know what it did. Joined another covenant instead.

Killed two bosses so far. the first of which was something of a struggle and nearly crippled my hand. The other was piss easy.
There are another two I know of who have handed my arse to me on a platter, and am not sure quite where to go. There is a third route behind the boss that I probably wasn't meant to beat so early, so wandering round doing some exploring.

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14359

FYI burning an effergy blocks invaders. It doesn't turn you human by burning it, so just "use" it. Don't waste em like me.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2014 23:52

Saturnalian wrote:

FYI burning an effergy blocks invaders. It doesn't turn you human by burning it, so just "use" it. Don't waste em like me.

What turns you human then?

I'm sure at some point I'm going to want my full health bar.

Be Excellent To Each Other

Dark Souls 2

Who is online