Let's Talk Dark Souls II.........

Beat the Ruin Sentinels with some help from an MP fighter, then turned around and helped someone out with the same boss fight. Man do I like DS2 better than DS1 on a minute to minute basis---I'll have to return to DS1 sometime now that I've got a developed understanding of the souls formula.

One thing that I think this game gets perfect (BIG CAVEAT: FOR ME) is mulitiplayer. I'm mostly out of the game---I used to play a lot of Gears w/voice chat and game nights but those days are mostly behind me. I don't like dealing with other people on a minute to minute basis like Call of Duty, but the Souls series is great at putting multiplayer in fun and meaningful places but not making it a chore or something you have to think about all the time. I know there's a big PvP scene for it and you can go hog wild... while I can't imagine that the basic level of involvement is perfect. The idea that people online (usually) are there to help you in a tough spot of a tough game is just brilliant for making multiplayer this really joyous, fun, thing. It makes the occasions where you're rudely dismantled by some random troll pretty annoying, but they're super rare outside of a couple of designated (usually optional) areas. And death is very rarely really that punitive in Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne. I do think Bloodborne MP is a step back from DS2 MP---partly simply because of the twitch action nature of Bloodborne combat which doesn't fare as well in the laggier environment of MP.

My DS2 monologue continues...

Since I'm pretty overleveled, I mopped up a couple of areas pretty easily. Now I just finished the poison valley area and finally joined the covenant of sun bros, which is cool.

What I mainly wanted to talk about is weapons. I've been using the battleaxe for a long time, but I finally leveled enough armor stat to wield the base ultra greatsword (one that looks like Cloud's sword from FFVII) and carry a shield, which was my target. I started using it and it's cool, but... I'm wondering if my natural playstyle in these games is incompatible with these giant weapons. I feel like the swing takes forever (obviously) and it does more damage than the axe---but it doesn't seem to stagger anyone or interrupt anything, which I feel like makes the giant sword a pretty significant disadvantage. If I wanted to chip away at someone without staggering them or gaining any sort of advantage, I'd just use something that attacked more quickly and allowed me time to get my shield up and/or roll away. Anyone have any tips for fighting with the larger weapons (e.g. great axe, great sword, ultra great sword) categories?

FWIW, I also have a 100% physical protection royal kite shield and upgraded knight armor... I also carry the Heidi Knight helm which is way heavier than I really should be using but I can't help it, it looks fucking rad. STR 30/VIT 30 are my main stats, but everything else relevant to fighters is fairly solid in the 15-18 range.

Incompatible? Not at all. Tougher? Well, maybe. Assuming you don't play to your strengths.

Heavy, slow weapons in Dark Souls deal heavy poise damage, meaning you can stagger an enemy far easier than with, say, a dagger. This allows heavier weapons, like a bigass sword or dual maces, to stunlock enemies into beatdown mode. To use these weapons effectively, you've gotta be quick to lead in to an attack rather than counter attack; the faster you can land a stun, the better off you are. This means dodging rather than blocking is your friend, as it places you in a more aggressive position.

Next, parrying is more effective with a huge weapon, as it deals more damage, while only exposing you to the same amount of threat as it would a light weapon.

Third, you deal more damage per blow. Really effective against bosses with narrow-ish openings that allow single blows rather than combos.

The caveat of all these things is that heavy weapons demand more of an eye as to enemy movement to figure out when these attacks can be launched. Slower attacks commit you deeper, but you spend overall less time attacking per tick of damage without the reliance on combos and the general safety of opening up on a staggered enemy.

Remember that it sometimes takes a few hits for the stagger to come into effect. Toy around on how much it takes per enemy.

So this is super helpful. Is the poise damage/stagger cumulative absolutely or is it how much damage you can do over a particular window of time? If it's #2, then it just means I'm not getting 2-3 hits in in a row which may actually be able to stunlock/stagger enemies w/the ultragreatsword.

I can't let go of my fire broadsword (+6) and old Knight Armor. Have you found any life rings? Those things are fantastic and reduces your reliance on effigies big time. I've joined a few orders but none really suit me though the Rat one in the underground cave is kind of cool. I love the NPC stuff and the Player assistance but not keen on the Invader stuff. I've never hit a wiki so hard, in fact really ever in my long gaming history, this game seems to call for it though.

Yeah, I found the one that limits how much you lose from hollow. It's nice because it means I don't really worry about being human unless it's a boss fight.

Last night the ultra greatsword class started to make sense to me. Samoko's advice about initiating with it was spot on---it's really long, long enough that you really have to be aggressive and get the first hit. Your attack isn't fast enough to act as a counter and that is now starting to make sense to me. It really is a different playstyle. It also came in super handy, I wasted the Sinner boss in Sinner's Rise without taking a single hit... then it REALLY proved its mettle because I fought the Gargoyles in the Belfry and its wide sweep R1 attack was hitting 2-3 at a time and dealing massive damage. Would have been a tough fight with my old battle axe.

Dr. Mabuse wrote: I can't let go of my fire broadsword (+6) and old Knight Armor. Have you found any life rings? Those things are fantastic and reduces your reliance on effigies big time. I've joined a few orders but none really suit me though the Rat one in the underground cave is kind of cool. I love the NPC stuff and the Player assistance but not keen on the Invader stuff. I've never hit a wiki so hard, in fact really ever in my long gaming history, this game seems to call for it though.

Are you using the "Old Knight Armor" or just the knight armor? I've got the regular knight armor breastplate and Heidi Knight helm, gauntlets and leggings... the Old Knight Armor is truly massive in its encumbrance...

Old Knight Armor. I have to wear the ring that gives me more strength to make my kit functional. I find I'm shit with these kind of games in finding the right combo of weapons and armor. I think that's why I've held on to the armor and sword for so long. This probably explains why my pvp percentage is probably 25% successful.

One thing I've liked about DS2 (thus far) is that early weapons/armor aren't necessarily a lot worse than the stuff you pick up later, usually just much more generalized and generic---but if you upgrade them they still do the job pretty well.

I'm sure the PvPers disagree and have some very specific builds, but in general most stuff is pretty good.

Now I'm in the gutter. It's kind of annoying section, since platforming has never been this series strong point yet it insists on including it sometimes. It's still a very atmospheric location, probably the most atmospheric thus far in DS2---it definitely evokes a real sense of desperation among the pathetic hollow souls that are left in the location.

One thing I like in From Software's games is that sometimes you run into things that are not aggressive---and not just NPCs but animals or monsters. It's always incredibly intriguing. It makes me feel like there's a strong story reason that there's a giant ant queen that isn't aggressive and heals you in the Gutter section.

Finally got through the Black Gultch. The Rotten wasn't easy but I killed him on the first try with help from some NPC summons. The hardest part of the whole area is killing the three giants which are hiding in this spot in a hidden ledge. They were real assholes to beat, had to cheese them out one by one and then strike them in the butt when they turned around to head back into their big room.

So I feel like by doing the "consult the walkthrough" thing on this game I really ended up slowing down and then stopping my progression for the most part. I'm at the Iron Keep after having done everything I can before it. It's an ok area, but the fire thing gets boring and there is some weakass archery annoyance bullshit. Overall, I think I'm more of a Bloodborne guy though the builds in DS2 and the item combination stuff is about a million times superior here... I just prefer the more fast combat pure test of Bloodborne.

I hope to get some time this Christmas break where I really just grind this game finished (I'm overleveled, probably) and finish the Bloodborne DLC. I'll be buying DS3 first day.