Support NeoGAF

[Fancy Clown]

Wow the boss at Heides tower is a total joke. Just literally keep walking in circles staying behind him and getting a couple smacks in. Bosses haven't been good at all so far, but besides that I'm enjoying the game. Just made it to No Man's Wharf, it's a pretty sweet location thus far. Will probably go back to Heide's though and explore the rest of it before beating this area first, now that I have a +4 bastard sword.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Indeed, I'm hoping the weapon arts is gonna make up for the lack of powerstancing...

I hope they offer an equivalent to the shields of Reeve and Orma. So much fun.

Wow the boss at Heides tower is a total joke. Just literally keep walking in circles staying behind him and getting a couple smacks in.

Dragon Rider is the saddest boss in the game. The next one should be more of a challenge.

 

[Bedameister]

Powerstancing is so much fun. Best new feature and the game doesn't even explain it at all. xD

Ok this is the first time I've heard of powerstancing. Now I have to try this!!

 

[darkjedi187]

I started last night and couldn't figure out if I was really, really rusty or if the game's difficulty got changed. I died more in the beginning of the Forest of Giants than I ever remember. There seemed to be more guys than I remember and they were relentless in following me. I eventually figured out my difficulty issues ( I joined the covenant in Majula that increases the difficulty ). Still think the AI got tweaked and I'm rusty but i'll get back into the swing of it.

 

[theaface]

I joined the covenant in Majula that increases the difficulty.

Made the same mistake and it took me bloody ages til I realised. After platinuming DeS, DaS and Bloodborne, I couldn't understand why SOTFS was kicking my ass! Things definitely got a bit easier after that.

 

[DamagedInc]

I started last night and couldn't figure out if I was really, really rusty or if the game's difficulty got changed. I died more in the beginning of the Forest of Giants than I ever remember. There seemed to be more guys than I remember and they were relentless in following me. I eventually figured out my difficulty issues ( I joined the covenant in Majula that increases the difficulty ). Still think the AI got tweaked and I'm rusty but i'll get back into the swing of it.

I didn't play the vanilla version but from what i've read/heard there are more mobs than there used to be and they will follow you pretty much through the whole level if you try to run past them, I found the first few hours a real struggle but it does level out, well it did for me anyway and i'm not particularly great!

 

[darkjedi187]

Made the same mistake and it took me bloody ages til I realised. After platinuming DeS, DaS and Bloodborne, I couldn't understand why SOTFS was kicking my ass! Things definitely got a bit easier after that.

Got a bit easier after I realized it and switch covenants.

I didn't play the vanilla version but from what i've read/heard there are more mobs than there used to be and they will follow you pretty much through the whole level if you try to run past them, I found the first few hours a real struggle but it does level out, well it did for me anyway and i'm not particularly great!

I was really surprised when I ran by all the guys at the top of the ladder at the beginning of the Forest of Giants and a dozen guys would be chasing me. Was a test of patients for sure.

 

[Fancy Clown]

No Man's Wharf was such a great area. Loved the atmosphere, had solid level design, and a bunch of surprises (those creepy monsters bursting out of walls--and finding out they flee if you have a torch, assassins, Viking hollows hanging off ledges, and the ghost ship was insanely cool).

Flexile Sentry was a fun boss fight. It had a neat design that added a little strategy to it, but it was still super easy once I wore lighter armor. But I'll take fun and easy over boring and easy.

The wharf was a great change of pace coming off of the terrible Heide's tower area. That place is really pretty, but the layout is uninteresting and the enemies are sooooo annoying to fight. There are too many big guys, and smaller Knights aggro so quickly now and they take a lot more punishment than the big guys. I still have one more corner of the place to check out (the left door in that big circular room with the 3 big guys), but it's so annoying to go back there.

 

[DamagedInc]

No Man's Wharf was such a great area. Loved the atmosphere, had solid level design, and a bunch of surprises (those creepy monsters bursting out of walls--and finding out they flee if you have a torch, assassins, Viking hollows hanging off ledges, and the ghost ship was insanely cool).

Flexile Sentry was a fun boss fight. It had a neat design that added a little strategy to it, but it was still super easy once I wore lighter armor. But I'll take fun and easy over boring and easy.

The wharf was a great change of pace coming off of the terrible Heide's tower area. That place is really pretty, but the layout is uninteresting and the enemies are sooooo annoying to fight. There are too many big guys, and smaller Knights aggro so quickly now and they take a lot more punishment than the big guys. I still have one more corner of the place to check out (the left door in that big circular room with the 3 big guys), but it's so annoying to go back there.

That was probably my favourite area in the game, I loved the lighting in there especially once you light all the torches and opening up the 2 shortcuts was great, I must admit I never noticed the water on the Flexile Sentry as I had Lucatiel and the other fella with me and we sorted it out quickly!

 

[Morrigan Stark]

No Man's Wharf is what made me fall in love with the game on day 1. The level design and atmosphere is some of the best in the whole Soulsborne series.

Explore every nook and cranny of it, it's worth it!

 

[Bedameister]

Yes No Man's Wharf was also one of my favorite areas. Together with the Wood of the fallen Giants. I really love the beginning of the game (fuck Heide's Tower though)

Man Power Stance is really great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYGfIDJeIzQ&feature=youtu.be
But I hoped it would do more damage. I think I will stick with a single Demon's Great Hammer.

But damn, beating up people is so much fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXStLwsO0K4&feature=youtu.be

I think I will upgrade Havel's Armor Set and then run around beating up everybody

 

[Fancy Clown]

Beat the Pursuer finally (he has a really simple moveset but for some reason I would always slip up and it took a lot more tries than it should have. Also, really don't like how Estus is basically useless in a boss fight because it takes so long to use), so I've opened up both paths to Lost Bastille. Enjoying Lost Bastille quite a bit, it's got lots of hidden stuff and is nice and twisty, but do I seriously have to fight all those knights every time I do the Ruin Sentinal boss fight? There are soooo many guys ugh. I'm absolutely loving the game but one of my chief complaints (along with super slow estus and terrible starting roll) is that there are just too many enemies. I feel like when decided to include despawning enemies as a necessary game mechanic, it was just a patch on the underlying problem of some overzealous enemy mobs/placements, and too much aggro on them. The other games don't need despawning enemies and it works great, but here I'm frequently trying to despawn guys. I'm ragging on the game a bit here, but I've played like 11 hours in the past two days, it's crazy addicting. Absolutely a worthy Souls game even if I may not like it as much as BB or the first Dark.

Also, really don't like that they made flexile sentry a regular enemy and put it in the watery basement in Sinner's Rise. You're too slow to fight him there so I ended up just luring him to the stairs where he cant fit and slowly chipping away at his health. And of course he respawns. He can't even fit in level, he keeps getting caught on walls and stuff so even luring him takes forever. Silly enemy placement. Also once I cleared that basement there were just a bunch of locked doors I couldn't get through. I already got one key in Lost Bastille, but I guess it's not for these doors. I'm assuming I get it after beating the ruin sentinels?

That was probably my favourite area in the game, I loved the lighting in there especially once you light all the torches and opening up the 2 shortcuts was great, I must admit I never noticed the water on the Flexile Sentry as I had Lucatiel and the other fella with me and we sorted it out quickly!

Was I supposed to notice something about the water?

 

[takriel]

No Man's Wharf is what made me fall in love with the game on day 1. The level design and atmosphere is some of the best in the whole Soulsborne series.

Explore every nook and cranny of it, it's worth it!

why is it worth it? low-tier items only I seem to recall.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

why is it worth it? low-tier items only I seem to recall.

Vanilla:
- Ring of Life Protection
- Estus Flask Shard

Scholar:
- Fragrant Branch of Yore

Both:
- Royal Soldier's Ring
- Greatsword
- Fire arrows (really useful against the bleed monsters who hate fire)
- Emit Force
- Bandit axe
- Titanite shards
- Dark pine resin
- Lifegem x7

All of those are really good so early into the game.

 

[Mman235]

but do I seriously have to fight all those knights every time I do the Ruin Sentinal boss fight?

No. On the lower floor of the Knight spam area there's a door that opens into a fall, but, from the blacksmith's bonfire, you can run off an edge and fall through to skip the Knights and reach the boss quicker. Unless they've changed it in SOTFS anyway.

 

[impact]

No Man's Wharf is what made me fall in love with the game on day 1. The level design and atmosphere is some of the best in the whole Soulsborne series.

Explore every nook and cranny of it, it's worth it!

Wasted potential. It should have been like 2x the size and it would have probably rivaled Anor Londo for GOAT zone. It is a really cool zone though, and those arm things the first time through gave me a heart attack.

I love the boat too, though it's a shame the boss is so free.

 

[Sanctuary]

No Man's Wharf is what made me fall in love with the game on day 1. The level design and atmosphere is some of the best in the whole Soulsborne series.

Explore every nook and cranny of it, it's worth it!

I keep seeing praise for that area and I have no idea why. It's extremely short and is basically just guys standing around in houses or alcoves. Is it supposed to be so great just because it's not super bright like most every other area in the game?

 

[Fancy Clown]

No. On the lower floor of the Knight spam area there's a door that opens into a fall, but, from the blacksmith's bonfire, you can run off an edge and fall through to skip the Knights and reach the boss quicker. Unless they've changed it in SOTFS anyway.

What's the blacksmith bonfire? I have the two bonfires at the forest/wharf start points and the one on the tower at Sinner's Rise.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Wasted potential. It should have been like 2x the size and it would have probably rivaled Anor Londo for GOAT zone. It is a really cool zone though, and those arm things the first time through gave me a heart attack.

It's already bigger than many areas in Dark Souls 1 really (only Blighttown is really large tbh). Funny you should mention Anor Londo, it's big but the definition of "empty". Even Miyazaki acknowledged that!

I keep seeing praise for that area and I have no idea why. It's extremely short and is basically just guys standing around in houses or alcoves. Is it supposed to be so great just because it's not super bright like most every other area in the game?

Extremely short? Come on... every Souls area is extremely short when you know them already, but it took a while to explore every corner the first time. And you could reduce every area ever to "it's just some enemies standing there".

 

[Fancy Clown]

I keep seeing praise for that area and I have no idea why. It's extremely short and is basically just guys standing around in houses or alcoves.

Cool atmosphere, nice shortcuts, I like the path from water walkways up to this shanty town on the cliffs, and then back down again, with lots of buildings to explore. The creepy monsters bursting through walls were a great surprise, torches being useful for fending off monsters and brightening the place up, and the ghost ship was sweet. It's short but sweet, ala Cainhurst in Bloodborne.

 

[Iorv3th]

No Man's Wharf was such a great area. Loved the atmosphere, had solid level design, and a bunch of surprises (those creepy monsters bursting out of walls--and finding out they flee if you have a torch, assassins, Viking hollows hanging off ledges, and the ghost ship was insanely cool).

Flexile Sentry was a fun boss fight. It had a neat design that added a little strategy to it, but it was still super easy once I wore lighter armor. But I'll take fun and easy over boring and easy.

The wharf was a great change of pace coming off of the terrible Heide's tower area. That place is really pretty, but the layout is uninteresting and the enemies are sooooo annoying to fight. There are too many big guys, and smaller Knights aggro so quickly now and they take a lot more punishment than the big guys. I still have one more corner of the place to check out (the left door in that big circular room with the 3 big guys), but it's so annoying to go back there.

I got this when it went on sale for 24.99. Got to no mans wharf and near the end and I screwed up and died. I opened the short cut though so I will have to go back and fight the boss, no bonfires anywhere in there though made me really weary of getting on that ship. That's next place i'm headed.

 

[Sanctuary]

And you could reduce every area ever to "it's just some enemies standing there".

Why did I know you were going to say this? Anyway, other than it being dark with a lot of "gotcha" attempts, it really isn't that great. Also, depending on how early you go there, the enemies seem really imbalanced the first time through. Just talking about the standard soldiers too. You could argue that the zone is pretty neat the first time there, but it just doesn't hold up on replays as anything special.

 

[Mman235]

What's the blacksmith bonfire? I have the two bonfires at the forest/wharf start points and the one on the tower at Sinner's Rise.

You should have found a staircase with an explosive barrel at the top, there's something you can do with it .

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Why did I know you were going to say this?

Probably because it's true.

Also, depending on how early you go there, the enemies seem really imbalanced the first time through.

I don't understand what you mean. I always go there early because it's, well, early, and never had a problem with the enemies being imbalanced.

Just talking about the standard soldiers too. You could argue that the zone is pretty neat the first time there, but it just doesn't hold up on replays as anything special.

And again, you could say that about every area. I mean what is an area that does "hold up on replays as something special" for you, anyway?

 

[Fancy Clown]

I got this when it went on sale for 24.99. Got to no mans wharf and near the end and I screwed up and died. I opened the short cut though so I will have to go back and fight the boss, no bonfires anywhere in there though made me really weary of getting on that ship. That's next place i'm headed.

There are two shortcuts, make sure you open the bridge on the docks because then it's a straight shot from the bonfire to the ghost ship without having to go up into the settlement.

You should have found a staircase with an explosive barrel at the top, there's something you can do with it .

Hmmm I don't remember that, I'll have to explore some more!

 

[Sanctuary]

And again, you could say that about every area. I mean what is an area that does "hold up on replays as something special" for you, anyway?

Pretty much any part of Boletarian Palace. 3-1 and 3-2, Anor Londo, Catacombs, Blighttown, Undead Burg, Huntsman's Copse, most of the Dark Souls 2 DLC areas.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Undead Burg? Really? I mean it's fine, but I can't see how it's remotely "special" on replays.

Anor Londo with its vast empty hallways? Yeah, I don't agree. I prefer NMW over Anor Londo any day. *shrugs*

 

[Sanctuary]

Undead Burg? Really? I mean it's fine, but I can't see how it's remotely "special" on replays.

Anor Londo with its vast empty hallways? Yeah, I don't agree. I prefer NMW over Anor Londo any day. *shrugs*

Thought we were talking about level design as well as atmosphere (which includes aesthetics). If you want to focus more on level design in general, then Sen's Fortress and Lost Bastille (although it looks rather boring). I mean, like what you like, but to consider it one of the better constructed areas across "all" of the Souls games seems like a really big stretch to me. Maybe it was just more memorable due to the majority of pre-DLC Dark Souls 2 areas being rather forgettable?

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Thought we were talking about level design as well as atmosphere (which includes aesthetics).

Yeah, we were talking about both. Anor Londo is pretty but kind of empty. Undead Burg is a fine level but neither particularly atmospheric or intricate.

 

[Snuggles]

I love this game. Aside from when I hate it. Definitely an emotional rollercoaster so far. I almost quit at one point, but now I'm obsessed. Just got the twin blades tho and things are looking up. So badass.

 

[DamagedInc]

Was I supposed to notice something about the water?

The water

Spoiler

slowly rises as the fight goes on longer which slows down your moevement

 

[takriel]

Vanilla:
- Ring of Life Protection
- Estus Flask Shard

Scholar:
- Fragrant Branch of Yore

Both:
- Royal Soldier's Ring
- Greatsword
- Fire arrows (really useful against the bleed monsters who hate fire)
- Emit Force
- Bandit axe
- Titanite shards
- Dark pine resin
- Lifegem x7

All of those are really good so early into the game.

Thanks for taking your time to write all these down!

I'd say the branch of Yore and Greatsword are the only items worth getting imo. That said, I don't recall where the branch is! Might have to fully explore this area once again!

 

[Fancy Clown]

The water

Spoiler

slowly rises as the fight goes on longer which slows down your moevement

Ahhhh that's cool. Definitely didn't notice it though.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Ahhhh that's cool. Definitely didn't notice it though.

Might change in NG+.

Spoiler

it gets minions in future fights

 

[Ferr986]

Ok, reading this thread, I decided to do yet another character on the game.

How are Twinblades in SOTFS? I remember being kinda useless in vanilla (other than the red probably) but I would love to make a character around them (not sure if STR/DEX based or more towards buffing them).

 

[Breads]

Yes No Man's Wharf was also one of my favorite areas. Together with the Wood of the fallen Giants. I really love the beginning of the game (fuck Heide's Tower though)

Man Power Stance is really great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYGfIDJeIzQ&feature=youtu.be
But I hoped it would do more damage. I think I will stick with a single Demon's Great Hammer.

But damn, beating up people is so much fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXStLwsO0K4&feature=youtu.be

The damage boost is okay. My favorite thing about power stancing is how many moves it adds to your kit. For a long time my favorite build included Majestic Greatsword/ Any +10 Curved Sword (parry, running L2)/Shield left hand and Fume Sword right hand.

What's the blacksmith bonfire? I have the two bonfires at the forest/wharf start points and the one on the tower at Sinner's Rise.

You know the barrel that is sitting right before the stairs with the mummy dude immediately behind it? Try bating him over with a throwing knife (so that he doesn't ruin this for you), and pushing the barrel down the stars towards the cracked wall. If it doesn't blow up make sure you roll the barrel close enough and hit it with a fire weapon/ arrow/ firebomb and that the dogs don't get to it first! You get to access this bonfire and the blacksmith a bit early this way.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Ok, reading this thread, I decided to do yet another character on the game.

How are Twinblades in SOTFS? I remember being kinda useless in vanilla (other than the red probably) but I would love to make a character around them (not sure if STR/DEX based or more towards buffing them).

Probably? Dude the red iron twinblade isn't called the red iron winblade for no reason. It's late in the game though so you could always start with the regular one, and then use a soul vessel to respect to strength when you get the red one.

 

[Listonosh]

After reinstalling this again recently, I once again rediscovered how absolutely bullshit The Iron Keep is. The egregious placement of all the Allone knights is insane. It's one of those sections that require you to wipe enemies forever, because they swarm you so goddamn much. Running to Smelter is impossible too since they can all backstab you right before you make it through the fog gate.

To me, this right here was the breaking point, where it was clear the B-Team was under the direction of "Hey, our last game marketed really well under the 'Prepare to Die' campaign, so we want to keep pushing the difficulty. Just make it as brutal as you possibly can." This is honestly the reason why Dark Souls 2 is on the bottom of all the Souls games. It, for the lack of a better phrasing, lacks the soul that made those other games great.

Also, I REALLY wish that the remixing of enemy placement from Scholar was a toggle. Like, I was hoping that Scholar of the First Sin would come defaulted with the new enemy placements, but that players also have the option to play vanilla DS2, which imo was better.

 

[Breads]

After reinstalling this again recently, I once again rediscovered how absolutely bullshit The Iron Keep is. The egregious placement of all the Allone knights is insane. It's one of those sections that require you to wipe enemies forever, because they swarm you so goddamn much. Running to Smelter is impossible too since they can all backstab you right before you make it through the fog gate.

As much as I love DS2 I'm not gonna lie the path from majula to the end of the iron keep is kind of a chore. Unless I specifically want to play the DLC again or the Ring of Blades +1 I use the gift, tseldora, and bastille bonfire ascetics on the Rotten for that 6-digit soul boost to open the Shrine of Winter on my way to Drangleic castle, skipping it altogether.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Ruin Sentinels down, and Lost Sinner down. Both were pretty good fights, I'm impressed! The former made for some intense multi-enemy skirmishing. The first one goes down easy since I just stayed on the platform and killed it before dropping down and taking on the other two. Pretty challenging too. On their own they're easy, but not when they're together.

Lost Sinner was a super cool fight. The enemy itself had a great design (she's like Lisa Trevor with a sword), and the arena was really creepy too. She had a fun, fairly unpredictable moveset that required you to stay on your toes, but in the end she was pretty easy. Like the Pursuer you just have to dodge at the right time and know if it's a 1 hit or 3 hit attack and then get a couple hits on her back. Turns out she must have been pretty important because I got a great soul and a primordial bonfire.

Lost Bastille/Sinner's Rise turned out to be a pretty great location. Loved the creepy prison atmosphere, and there were a lot of secrets and some intricate and dense level design. I probably haven't explored everything there yet because there are some gargoyles flying around but I haven't encountered them.

Not sure where to go know though. I went back to Heide's tower and finally checked out the left path and realized there's a dragon there! And a whole cathedral behind it. Do I have to fight the dragon to get there?

But I haven't found any paths leading to knew areas yet so I guess I'll poke around Heide's tower some more.

You know the barrel that is sitting right before the stairs with the mummy dude immediately behind it? Try bating him over with a throwing knife (so that he doesn't ruin this for you), and pushing the barrel down the stars towards the cracked wall. If it doesn't blow up make sure you roll the barrel close enough and hit it with a fire weapon/ arrow/ firebomb and that the dogs don't get to it first! You get to access this bonfire and the blacksmith a bit early this way.

Yeah I ended up doing this. And then running off the ledge saved me a bunch of time for the Ruin Sentinel fight, when I didn't die from it that is.

 

[DamagedInc]

After reinstalling this again recently, I once again rediscovered how absolutely bullshit The Iron Keep is. The egregious placement of all the Allone knights is insane. It's one of those sections that require you to wipe enemies forever, because they swarm you so goddamn much. Running to Smelter is impossible too since they can all backstab you right before you make it through the fog gate.

It just shows how different this game is for everyone, I really enjoyed the Iron Keep and didn't find it too bad at all yet I hated the shaded woods and the area after it with the lion guys.

 

[Ferr986]

lmao there's people in the Forest with a crown and dragon gear already. Too much for SM.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

After reinstalling this again recently, I once again rediscovered how absolutely bullshit The Iron Keep is. The egregious placement of all the Allone knights is insane. It's one of those sections that require you to wipe enemies forever, because they swarm you so goddamn much. Running to Smelter is impossible too since they can all backstab you right before you make it through the fog gate.

To me, this right here was the breaking point, where it was clear the B-Team was under the direction of "Hey, our last game marketed really well under the 'Prepare to Die' campaign, so we want to keep pushing the difficulty. Just make it as brutal as you possibly can." This is honestly the reason why Dark Souls 2 is on the bottom of all the Souls games. It, for the lack of a better phrasing, lacks the soul that made those other games great.

Also, I REALLY wish that the remixing of enemy placement from Scholar was a toggle. Like, I was hoping that Scholar of the First Sin would come defaulted with the new enemy placements, but that players also have the option to play vanilla DS2, which imo was better.

Hmm. Really didn't have any problem with the Alonne knights myself, new or old placement. They die in two hits. There's lots of them but they don't come swarming all at once unless you rush in YOLO style, and, well, being swarmed by mobs if you rush and luring them by pairs or even one by one is a staple of the Souls strategies.

If anything the new placement is actually less annoying, because there's no longer that super annoying archer that sits next to that Pharros bath. You just had to snipe this fucker or else he was just too annoying, but now you can just carefully melee everyone.

lmao there's people in the Forest with a crown and dragon gear already. Too much for SM.

Agape Ring... which is a dumb thing 'cause it removes the point of SM to begin with (preventing low-level griefers). -_-

 

[Lasthope106]

What is the recommended level to tackle the DLC areas?

I'm at the end of the game I think. I just need to beat the last boss, so I decided to go and try the DLC, but holy hell those are damn hard. The bosses in the two DLC then sunken and Iron are way too tough. Even the weakest enemies take half my health with a single hit. Are these meant to be tackled in NG+ or what?

 

[Morrigan Stark]

They'll be even harder in NG+, so no I would recommend to be at least level 80-90, I'm typically above 100 myself when I start tackling them.

It's doable at lower than that of course, it depends on your setup, but for most players I'd say being at least 100 helps a lot. What level are you and what build/gear are you using?

 

[Lasthope106]

I'm around 140 I think. I'm using the Bastard Sword, and the Elite Knight Gear all leveled up to +10.

So I was just watching some videos in youtube and I just discovered what infusion is lol

 

[Burt]

What is the recommended level to tackle the DLC areas?

I'm at the end of the game I think. I just need to beat the last boss, so I decided to go and try the DLC, but holy hell those are damn hard. The bosses in the two DLC then sunken and Iron are way too tough. Even the weakest enemies take half my health with a single hit. Are these meant to be tackled in NG+ or what?

Yeah, the DLC are tough. My bane in Souls games is beating my head against the wall doing areas too early, and that was the second time I did it in a single game. Cleared No Man's Wharf before even finding the forest... starting with only the explorer class gear. So like, a knife, some +item discovery crap, and zero understanding of things like enemy despawning, lockstones, and where the hell you level up. Got baited in a bit because the Heide a Tower boss walked itself right off a ledge without doing anything as I backed off to check its moveset. Brume Tower was almost as bad.

Loving the game, though. I never PvP'd in Dark Souls but I'm addicted now. I can't beat the game because I can't stop dueling, which I know is a terrible idea because I'm 'under geared', but I just can't help it.

With that being said, I do think that the design is significantly worse than DS1. The world feels more like working through disparate areas in something like Diablo than the tangled world knot of Dark Souls that would sort of blow your mind when a shortcut would connect two areas you didn't realize were adjacent. Multiple times I've felt like bonfires, rather than being well placed to create a tough but fair gauntlet, are placed way too closely and used as an excuse to say, "Yeah, this spot is shitty-difficult, but there's a bonfire!". Bringing the two points together, having bonfire quick travel ruins the magic. It's a cheap substitute for interesting, intricate design, and it feels like it. Even when I do like it, it's just because I'm imagining how atrocious it would be to traverse the world. All well-established complaints, but definitely true.

And give me a rusted iron ring, dammit.

 

[Aphexian]

I feel like I'm the only person that couldn't get into Dark Souls 2 at all. I loved Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Bloodborne a little more because of the vast improvements over Dark Souls. I bought DS2:SotFS edition on Steam shortly after beating Bloodborne (I had finally beaten Dark Souls just a little before that.) Nothing felt right about it at all. The animations were stiff and robotic and all the weapons felt disconnected from the second you hit the buttons. I dunno, I think I got 1-3 hours in and I just had to put it down. Major disappointment.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I feel like I'm the only person that couldn't get into Dark Souls 2 at all.

You and every hater on GAF you mean...

I loved Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Bloodborne a little more because of the vast improvements over Dark Souls. I bought DS2:SotFS edition on Steam shortly after beating Bloodborne (I had finally beaten Dark Souls just a little before that.) Nothing felt right about it at all. The animations were stiff and robotic and all the weapons felt disconnected from the second you hit the buttons. I dunno, I think I got 1-3 hours in and I just had to put it down. Major disappointment.

So you didn't even give it a chance. w/e...

 

[Fancy Clown]

Well I wasn't stuck for long and have found a bunch more areas since beating Lost Sinner.

I discovered Belfry Luna which contained a covenant and then I immediately got destroyed by a gray invader. Then I found the path to Huntsman's Copse. In terms of atmosphere and story I loved this area. The green sky, the birds, the rickety bridge, and forest full of creepy enemies, its awesome. The cave with the laughing and the witches was legit scary too. And the whole background of the area with undead hunts and the hunters themselves turning undead, I got major Bloodborne vibes from the whole place. The boss was really cool concept--being overwhelmed with skeletons--and had a cool arena, but it was super easy. One shotted it. And as much as I like the area, its level design is kind of questionable. Two bonfires super close together, no shortcuts, a really arduous path to the Undead Purgatory, ehhh. Still liked the place a lot though.

Found Harvest Valley and Earthen peak too. The windmill in the distance makes for a cool setting but this place seems perhaps a bit too hard for me at the moment. So much poison too, ugh.

Lastly I bought a ring from the cat and discovered grave of saints and then just made it to the gutter, which seems like Blightown 2.0, where I'm at now.

Good stuff.