the syan knights in scholar are basically the replacement for this. theyre all over the place guarding sublime bone dust
the map of drangleic in well village mansion basement is insane and makes zero sense with what Iâve played through so far and I love it
oh true. i mostly remember those guys as âactually fun to parryâ and âlook coolâ
parry is always autocorrected to party by my phone lol
I played like twenty minutes of this but I remember feeling like it was setting me up in situations where I had to juggle multiple opponents noticeably more frequently than 1. It made it feel like one of those Lost Levels style sequels for folks who mastered the original (not me).
learned about shields and my life is so different now
keep an eye open for out of place shadows, there are some invisible dudes you can hit for an item like piñatas
i dunno, the pig arses though
this seems to be ossified as the SB opinion now but is it really true? one of the major areas of attention in DS2 is in balancing the PvP, as well as the introduction of arenas which make for a much more âordinaryâ competitive experience than the weirdness/hostility of invasions. the bosses similarly tend to be far more 1 on 1 sword duels than anything freaky or experimental. the systems are less obtuse, nothing is as arbitrarily punishing as getting cursed in DS1 or as mysterious as vagrants
also, when i think of the annoying video essayistâs typical analysis of DS1 the term âmetroidvaniaâ floats to the front of mind, but DS3 is a step even further from nonlinear design. and Elden Ring is the one that continues the most ideas from DS2, and itâs their greatest mainstream success
this is the main reason Iâm not a ds2 fan! Itâs not the weird one! Itâs the mlg pro gamer pvp at the lava bridge one
Well I mean these are not mutually exclusive. The disintegration of pvp from the âcampaignâ experience is itself a weird choice in the context of the series; it marks the game out as separate and experimental.
pig fisting is just everyday animal husbandry
where would the state of blood vial farming be without it
I think Cubaâs got it right here. The way this game ends up tuned for PVP is part of the experiment its pulling. The values of this DS2âs design are just slightly off-course from what the Miyazaki games aim for, and you can see that in its covenant system, the level design, what they did with NG+ and NG++, and a bunch of weird one-off or obscure interactions. It isnât frequently different from the Dark Souls games, but the differences are frequently significant. I know we talked about received opinions regarding DS2 upthread, but even if this is a received opinion in some ways, thinking that this game is a unique and kind of refreshing sequel can still be justified by a rote list of mechanical differences as well as aesthetic observations.
Anyway, to say that this game is tuned for PVP isnât really in line with my personal experience either. I know itâs got the strongest PVP community of them all. But despite never touching that shit the weapons and gear in this game ended up creating some of the most fun PVE character building I have experienced in any Souls game. So itâs not like this game is the sweaty normie-core PVP sequel either.
thinking about the late game graveyard and the rooms cluttered with breakable rocks and gravestones that block your path every direction and the constantly spawning zombies that try to beeline to bells that when hit summon evil spirits to harass you and how this is not something a normal game does but is totally normal for fromsoft before souls normalization
I wonât be doing any pvp because Iâm playing a pirated copy so you donât have to argue about that here in my first time dark souls thread
also all fromsoft games are weird so itâs a silly thing to nitpick, especially to someone who hasnât played them before. I knew that the thread would turn into an argument of why this is or isnât the bad one but SO SOON???
pvp - pirate versus publisher
i got to the uh, second bonfire in forest of fallen giants last night. love how the first real encounter you have there is just like, HEY WHAT IF GUYS KEEP APPEARING ALSO THEREâS AN ARCHER
itâs pretty intense compared to what I was expecting having only played DS1.
oh also i went a different way at first and a massive dude with a massive sword knocked me off a cliff. that was cool. and it does meet expectations. also lol at the dudes with the huge balls.
i havenât used any effigies yet because i wanna see how low my HP gets lol
hello! Iâm a man with an arrow shooting at you! Just like the tutorial! donât you want to dispatch me? Iâm. annoying! HAHA YOU CAME CLOSER NOW MY. FRIEND WHO WAS HIDING UNDERWATER AND MY FRIEND WHO WAS PRETENDIN TO BE DEAD AND MY THIRD FRIEND HIDING IN THAT LITTLE COVE ARE ALL HERE TO GANK YOU!! one of us has a shield too!!! HOPE YOU ENJOY IT! LOOKS LIKE MY BUDDY HACKED YOU TO PIECES WITH THAT AXE THAT REACHES FURTHER THAN THE DAGGER YOUâVE BEEN DODGING, GUESS YOUâRE JUST BITCHMADE ENJOY YOUR GREEN SKIN AGAIN
that was my first couple tries. I retried so many times that one of the first two stopped respawning. oops
i like this one bc something about the colour palette feels very grungy second-tier ps2 game. every time i remember a specific area i go âjesus, that part was bullshitâ but somehow all taking place in the shadowman: 2econd coming aesthetic universe makes it kind of better than the other two for me.
my hp got to half and I was like okay I gotta fucking use this and I died immediately anyway
ive been SO CAUTIOUS with dying in this one. âlooks like im gonna die, time to go back to the bonfireâ like every 10 minutes
it hasnât helped
SAME