Marejula…home
>>41552531>gather an outfit for Rosabeth pone, steadily making her lewder and lewder as per law of poni
>Mare>Seek>Seek>Lest
Mares
ONE MARE
>>41552606What like socks and a g-string?
Try tongue horse but holeRating: +6969
>>41552531DS2 is still my favorite in the series, despite its flaws.There's something about it that keeps me coming back.
>>41554287Based. DS2 is the best one and I'll die on that hill. I swear a huge amount of the hatred for it is due to the bandwagon effect more than anything.
>>41554287You can dislike ds2, I just hate the zoomers and brainrotted freaks that just ask if they should skip it
>>41554287>>41554302I love it too. truly bestkino>>41554974this is actually so insane to me.. wtf? these are the same ass people who say "you use this weapon you're shit!! you summoned!??! SHIT.. don't like that boss?? GIT GUD.." but hate on ds2 and get a free pass for it. it's so cult-like. that cult like attitude and blind rage is why elden ring's dlc is so fucking ass and mind numbing at every turn. they don't want levels or soul. they want boss rush boss rush big spectacle spammy shit
>>41555000kino trips.. also there is a new ds2 modhttps://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls2/mods/1328?tab=descriptionlooks fun. removes ADP.. oh well I suppose normies like that shit. I played this guys other mod (seeker of fire 2.0) and it was quite fun. gonna try this now. may upload pics and or video
based best souls appreciation thread
>>41555000>they don't want levels or soul. they want boss rush boss rush big spectacle spammy shitThis is why I think Elden Ring is the worst game in the series.It's like they wanted to make every boss into Artorias, but completely missed why that fight was special.Playing ER and DS2 at level one really opened my eyes on why I like and dislike them respectively.>>41555022Oh shit, I didn't know about this. I think it's time for another playthrough.
>>41555097I haven't gotten to level 1 any of the games yet (level 4 bloodborne since bloodborne is weird..) and i'm not sure I will. my greed is too high and I'm not good or patient enough for that honestly. but yes you're totally right on the every boss is artorias, every boss is Old King Allant, Artorias, Fume Knight. Pontiff. all the big names across the games every boss has to be the big huge fight making them all nothing. "When everyone is super.. no one is" as the quote goes. https://files.catbox.moe/q6a3u2.mp4here is some early footage of this new ds2 mod.. holy KINO!!! (No I can't parry in sekiro btw. can't beat it, but somehow I can do this)
>>41554287Really glad to hear another anon say this. I've always felt alone in thinkinh DS2 was the most fun. I think it's due to how easy it is to replay, it's one of my comfy games.
>>41555495DS2 ANONS RISE!!No homo but I love you all. after all the absolute shitfest that the 'souls' community has been lately and how much seething and coping and retardation around DS2 it's very nice to see some fellow marefriends who feel the same as I. I truly love dark souls 2
I made a trixie themed build in ds3 because of this image.I couldn't bring myself to finish the playthrough because it was ds3
>>41554287Same, for some reason it is assumed that people who like this game are blind to its flaws while it's completely normal to love something despite it being imperfect and find charm in it. Some could say the same about post-S1 MLP as well. DeS and DS1 used to be treated this way, until the community decided that DS1 is a flawless masterpiece that should always be adhered to as word of god.
>>41555624I feel your frustration. I recently tried a mage build as well, rushed to MLGS right after getting the kiln to transpose it, upgraded it a bit and then after killing all four lords got so bored. I had no fun spells until like the Archives, no simple weapons until mid-late game too, what's the point if it's just basically another melee build? But at least that's something unlike doing a faith build. God damn that sucks even more.
>>41555625>until the community decided that DS1 is a flawless masterpiece that should always be adhered to as word of god.b-b-b-ut ANON!!! THE SHORTCUTS!! >>41555624>>41555648I hate this feeling so much.. I feel it less with ds2. maybe because there are so many paths to take I really can just go to wherever without that much trouble? I don't know.. but I really hate it, spend so much time just trying to get the thing you want then you have it and theres 20% of the game left. and half those enemies resist the damage type the weapon does! wow.. It's.. just not fun, should I just spawn myself the weapon or thing I want? I just don't knowfor dark souls 2 specifically I can say, there isn't a greater feeling in these games (for me) then collecting the crowns of the old kings. 4 great souls of ds1. 4 great 'nameless' lords of ds2. then 4 kings aswell. it just works.. and you yourself become the true monarch, whatever you do or don't do is lost to time even still.. or ds3 is just gay and ignores ds2 cause hurr durr lets put anor londo and gwyndolin in the game again
>>41555788ds2 strikes the right cords for feeling like an adventure. You can almost complete a build before you get to the art deco looking castle and still have a huge chunk of game left. The game also makes it harder to run past enemies, making you actually engage with the level instead of just running from boss to boss like the kind of attention deficit mong ds3 aimed to appeal to. The random npcs you can summon also adds to that adventure feel.Personally my issue with ds2 is that most of the bosses are too simple relative to the build variety you can have. It feels bad demolishing something with such a limited moveset with a character that didn't take much effort to build. The boss design in ER almost lands in that aspect, but they fell short by making some bosses so overtuned that going for something even slightly gimmicky is an active detriment on top of restricting yourself from using game mechanics that turn the bosses as braindead as ds2 bosses (summoning, bleed, abusing stagger)
>>41552827>mare>seek>seek>lust
>>41555991>The boss design in ER almost lands in that aspect, but they fell short by making some bosses so overtuned that going for something even slightly gimmicky is an active detriment on top of restricting yourself from using game mechanics that turn the bosses as braindead as ds2 bosses (summoning, bleed, abusing stagger)I get what you mean on ER having bosses that help with that but at the same time they suffer from the 'artorias' effect as I will call it. every one needs to be some big ass cool shit with a million fans who love it. OMG RADAHN!!??! OMG OMG.. then we all know where that went.. fucking awful that game is and it's fans killed it for me. I've grown to hate elden ring
>>41556043I've been trying to think about why I didn't enjoy ER and why I stopped playing it. I think it's because it feels to me like it's... self aware. Like when DS1 was made, the devs didnt know how popular it would be, it feels like ER was made like it's... fan bait? I'm not sure how to describe it. Kind of the same feeling I got from DS3. And the lore/story and endings... was such an uninteresting, convulted nothingburger to me.
>>41552531why is her cloak not green?
>>41556077I really get what you mean about the self aware thing. ds3 has alot of that very blatant references to ds1 specifically when its supposed to be big time has passed and everything is dust.. yet for some reason.. BLACK KNIGHTS!!.. uh.. ok I guess. so weird and kind of cringe. ER is just that but without the source behind it. just feels cringe and pointless
>>41554287>>41555625Thinking about everything cut from the final product makes me sad. What happened to the gutter and the gyrm stuff was criminal and I'll forever blame it on bandai and consolefaggotry.>>41556043Presentation-wise I'd agree that they're "artorias" clones, but 80% of ER bosses fight like manus on crack and it's all that game has going for it IMO, because it sure as shit isn't the sleep-inducing level design
>>41556077>it feels like ER was made like it's... fan bait?Elden Ring feels like it was made specifically to be watched on Youtube rather than played.The bosses and levels LOOK nice, but actually engaging with them just isn't rewarding or fun.>>41556160>Thinking about everything cut from the final product makes me sad. What happened to the gutter and the gyrm stuff was criminal and I'll forever blame it on bandai and consolefaggotry.The thing that burns the most was the lighting system from when the game first got shown off.Luckily there's a mod that sort of brings that back.Also the cut story elements with Emerald Herald seemed interesting.
>>41556126See I'm gonna be the contrari-anon here and say this: DS2 was like this too. Despite the number of changes, they leaned into marketing to an absurd degree. The game has very little difficulty thanks to things like the overly generous healing system - the only time you'll hit a wall will be when the game spams tanky, fast, high damage enemies in an ambush style or just flips you the bird with stuff like the turtle guy in Iron Keep blocking the narrow passageway. Groups of enemies aren't bad on their own but nothing says OOOOOHHH YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE YOUR SOUUUULS HEEHEEHEE like throwing a bunch of mages in an open area and then putting ambush enemies behind the only cover, or utterly surrounding you in swordsmen twice your size who move faster than you can sprint and chop your health bar in half every hit. I can only think of three places where DS1 did anything even remotely similar, and outside Capra Demon's dogs, it's all optional paths, specifically leading to max level embers. Groups like the Depths rats are easy to take on with some distancing. The Undead Burg hollows are weak as hell even after being buffed. But try running Iron Keep with a rapier, or katana, or Caestus.
>>41556434>But try running Iron Keep with a rapierAlright, what do I win?Nah but seriously I get what you're saying. DS2 definitely loves it's gang bangs.
>>41556434I ran Iron keep with no armor or weapons, fully hollowed on NG+2 and dodge rolled/sprinted away all enemies to the old iron king boss. Can I have a (You) as a reward? It's the only validation I'll ever get for the achievement
>>41556456(You)
>>41555788DS2 is more open so when it comes to planning a build you have more options to "progress" it along the game. And by open I mean not just the paths to walk but also options you can choose for any specific build. The only entry to rival it in that regard is ER but it takes a lot longer to finish. Funny to see people here hating it but for me it's the sequel to DS2 I've always wanted, just the perfect follow-up that shares both its strengths and its flaws. To each their own.
I firmly believe if Das2 didnt have ADP, didnt alter the artstyle so heavily or lean into the memes of “Ie hard dying games” so much it would’ve been better received. The armors and build variety are still great and I think the whole Vendrick/Nashandra and the giants plotline was fine too.
>>41556891I agree, they (namely Bamco) fucked up with marketing. As soon as people noticed the visual downgrade they became cautious of the game, then they've noticed the mechanical changes like the controls, slow mocap, limp sound design, barren levels and annoying enemy placement, and realized it was downgraded in all other ways as well. Then ADP, Soul Memory, no whole red eye orb and so on made no sense to anyone, and as a the final insult to injury the game tried to bank on both the "hardcoreness" and the weird references to DS1, like it was mocking the players. And the worst sin it has committed? It was designed to amplify the challenge while taking away the comfort, something Souls players could not stand and what the marketing team completely missed. It was the perfect storm to make people dislike it, if it was simply built on the DeS engine with all the ways to break it intact nobody would've cared that much.
How would you make a build for each pony?>TwilightPure INT caster with mainly the blue magic missile type spells. That's it.>ApplejackStrength/dex. Lion great axe, bloodied whip, and maybe powerstanced bone fist for the kicking moveset>FluttershyDefinitely a faith build of some kind. Would probably use a spear, reaper, or maybe even the handmaid's ladle. More support-type spells like the heals, the warmth pyromancy, and the more faith orientated hexes like lifedrain patch and promised walk of peace. Fashion-wise she'd be closer to something like prowling magus. It's a shame that rapport isn't a thing in ds2 as that would be really fitting. If this were ER, she would have frenzy spells and lifesteal fist.>RarityEstoc/bow build with enough int to cast defensive/utility magic like magic shield, fall control, yearn, and cast light. Add crystal magic weapon too so she can bedazzle any weapon but only with the help of simpleton spices.>Rainbow DashSantier's spear 100%Maybe lightning-infused claws>Pinkie PieI have no fucking clue. Pyromancer build with dual stance shields because she's just so zany
>>41557017I forgot that ponk grew up on a rock farm, so she'd use the pickaxe. It's in character for her to use something that isn't an actual weapon
>>41557017I can see Fluttershy going for a poison build. Rarity would have spell reflect tools just for style points.
>>41557088Pinkie would do rollpunshes with binoboosting that would somehow still work for her.
>>41557174The moth wings would fit her so well holy shit
>>41555097never got the hype over any of ER, it had a few cool moments and ideas but it really felt like the slopification of souls games, difficulty feels cranked up at every turn because "this is le hard game!!!", massive open world with fucking nothing in it, when it is doing something interesting it feels bloated or forced, maybe im just jaded but i dont think theres a single stand out moment of that game that made me go "wow this is cool"the horse however is cute.
>>41557298>maybe im just jadedSeems like it, I felt like it had more "wow this is cool" moments than any other souls game. Souls fatigue is a common thing, nothing new about it. Same people who had enough of it with DS1 disliked DS2 on the same grounds, practically with the same words you've described ER even.
>>41557311yeah maybe, plus having less time for games nowadays means i might have been rushing it a bit idk.I dont think ill ever enjoy the whole open-world aspect of it though, too much riding from place to place and the stuff in the open areas just didnt interest me.I will say though, i did return to it with the seamless co-op mod a few months ago with some friends and we had a lot of fun just fucking around, i wonder if the game was built with more multiplayer in mind because some sections really did feel better with a couple friends.
Required listening for this thread>https://youtu.be/5i_enopHsqg>>41557333Open world automatically drags any game down
>>41557341fuck i love majula, no other hub area nailed it like ds2
>>41557333Hopefully they'll really take into account seamless coop's ideas going forward like Miyazaki said. Regular coop is too limiting in ER unless you use it like intended with complete strangers.>>41557341Only the modern Western ones.
dark souls 2 kino
>>41557380>Hopefully they'll really take into account seamless coop's ideas going forward like Miyazaki said.did he really say this? if so thats awesome, ds summoning has sucked for a long time now, its always been so fucking clunky, a souls game built around some kind of seamless co-op system would be so kino.
>>41557390It serves its original purpose perfectly, it's just now a lot of people play with friends and do whole playthroughs with them, for this purpose it's not a good system and never has been.
I love the npc phantoms that you can summon along the way and the npc invaders too. They have almost no lore attached to them but they made the world so much more lively
>>41558394Elden Ring was sorely lacking an invader like Maldron the Assassin that made it feel like you were being hunted or having an interaction with a human
>Phase 1>Attacks that are well-telegraphed and intuitive to dodge (aside from the cross slash pre-patch or even worse pre-release when it would literally stunlock you)>Variety of close range combos and long/mid range attacks that close the distance>Several mixups to keep you on your toes>Absolutely bloodpumping HEROic soundtrack, feels exactly like how fighting a demigod warlord should>Just a chad swinging swords and throwing rocks at youHoly FUARK, KINOOO->suddenly Phase 2 just when it was getting good>BRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPs giant blinding AoEs that take up 70% of the arena>spams obnoxious lasers with every swing that look retarded>suddenly afterimage clones like it's Dragon Ball Z>next part of soundtrack utterly kills the vibe from beforeWhat were they thinking
>>41559085https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ3EpD7Dq3ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_-SQvuRWcIRadahn 2 is shit all around. shit lore. completely unoriginal 'modded' tier boss, infact some modded ones in Convergence ds3 and ER feel more original and creative then that piece of shit, examples herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CKGKmFajuUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3M5e901xUYI hate fromsoftware and I fucking hate elden ring. its shit and creatively bankrupt. modders can't even make new animations but still cooler and more original ideas they can create. I don't think I'll buy there next game
>>41558843They really designed him to be a bastard I loved it so much in the dlc
>>41559147he was super cool and also a pain in the flank!
For me, it's still Demon's Souls. I don't know if it's my memory being spotty, but I always thought DeS looked better than DS.
>>41559520it does. it has a more solid artstyle in my opinion
>>41559520Would you link the fire for Celestia? Cmon anon.. don't you want the age of ponies to continue
Surprised the amount of love ds2 is getting. Best souls thread.
>>41554287I can't really say it's my favourite in the pure gameplay sense, but I also consider it my favourite souls game. It has, in my opinion, the most fun world and locations out of all the souls games, and I definitely feel a weird sense of wonder in it. A very gloomy wonder but still
A pony hunter must hunt (for horse pussy)
>>41560903It shares a lot in common with king's quest in terms of locations and scenarios
>>41561304>Aah, Lun, >Or some say Luna… >Do you hear our prayers?
>Anon..Is it okay with you if we go to the Forest of the Gelded Giants together for some..um..bird watching?
>>41562261>Use the mist heart to enter one of the memories in The Forest of the Gelded Giants>Get greeted by an army cutting open a giant horse's balls
>>41562307Neighshandra wanted those giants gone for good
>>41562449I found this cool image, I don't suppose any drawfrens are in this thread willing to redraw this with ponies?
>>41562824SecondingSuggestion: draw nashandra as chrysalis or as some sort of changeling
>>41554974If this thread board, site proves anything, it's that post-millennials do tend to like DS2, being retarded fuckwits that can't into nuance and details.
>>41563555But Anon.. I'm gen z
>Str+fire>Bigass weapon>Medium armorThe ol' reliable build
>>41561304You don't want to watch ponies go insane from a Lovecraftian ideal turning into monsters or eating each other due to schizo delusons.
>>41563555Funny, cause in my experience those who hate on DS2 are the kind of zoomies who follow whatever ecelebs say instead of forming their own opinions.
>>41559520I would save Maretaria from the demons
>>41565155demon's souls is so cool.. I played it last basicallygame play orderDs3, then got all achievements since liked it so muchtried to play ds1. fucking HATED itplayed Elden Ring (100%'d that too). it was ok but at the time I really liked itwent back to ds1. finished it, all achievements. everything. still hate it to this dayTried Sekiro, hated it more then anything and never finished itplayed Ds2 (scholar). my friend kept saying "that's the worst one!!" fucking LOVED it. got all achievements. THEN I fucking bought a playstation to play Bloodborne.. yep. Kino game I think, played it at the same time I played Demon's Souls remake. DeS remake I was coping HARD pretending to like it but at the time I didn't really.. I was doing a fluted knight longsword build. pure STR. it sucked.. but beat that and Bloodborne at similar times (was doing BB in co-op with fren. is his fav game ever). replayed DeS Remake with moonlight. liked it alot more. then played Ds2 Vanilla. it then truly became my favorite game. everything i hated about ds2 was gone in this version and it's truly the better one. then played Demon's souls original.. based as fuck. emulator with a co-op mod. bosses had 4x hp.. too fucking much and it became annoying especially Old King Allant but in the end I still loved it. man holy shit the atmosphere..schizo babble over. in the end I'd say..Ds2>Bloodborne>Ds3(first game I played so heavy bias here)>Demon's Souls> and somewhere here on the same level is dark souls 1 and elden ring. hate them both. going to try ds1 again soon(tm).. maybe I'll eventually like it, I want to I just don't
>>41552531i always liked seeing logan and his big hat even if for the majority of the time that i played the game i never really talked to him
>>41565510>tried to play ds1. fucking HATED itPeople forget how much of a downgrade ds1 is besides the level design for the first half.
>>41566037His quest has a funny conclusion that most players won't ever see because sorcery is for fags
>>41566665it's weirder because I like Demon's Souls.. and in many ways I really wish fromsoft stuck with that level design, gimmicky bosses? they're fun!??! woaa?? linear levels often with some type of shortcuts back to the archstone, it has an atmosphere and visual design that's equally magical as it is creepy. for me dark souls 1 just does not have this, after DeS I thought "Maybe since I like this I can go back to dark souls 1. i mean the combat is nearly the same?" nope. Dark Souls 1 just sucks, I want to like it I really do. I like all the other proper souls games. They're not all my favorite but there are things I can say solid "I like that feature/place" about them but I can't really for dark souls 1. I hate all the early game levels and then as soon as your build is ready with a cool weapon you want to use.. oof there you are in the shittier part of the game, Just don't like it at all..undead burg/ parish? annoyingDarkroot garden? random open area with some trees?? either stone golems or the other part with the random npcs. just.. ok I guess?.. mehthe DEPTHS, YAY I love areas designed to be annoying!.. haha.. blighttown? biggest problem is all the paths with weird collision that i just randomly slide down sometimes if I'm not running on them, then its just infinite spawning enemies down there with those bugs. then there is the two parts I DO like, Sehns Fortress and Anor Londo. especially sehns fortress it's amazing they never quite did that type of thing again, unless you count chalice dungeons (mind numbing activity), then I don't like any of the paths to the great lords, Dukes Archive LOOKS cool but it's fucking annoying when faith build does no damage there because.. magic dmg for some reason, Like come on I struggled the whole game just to get like a couple spells and an infused mace and it's just.. annoying, wow. I get the games are supposed to be hard but there is nothing I look forward too in this game. No boss that I think "Man I can't wait to get to that" no Area, No NPC I really like to hear talk, For the most part I don't even like the music of dark souls 1, I just don't like this game and there isn't anything for me to latch onto that I really DO like to make myself enjoy the rest
>>41566665quints of truth denied
>>41566725>horsewizardart
>>41567184Satan is the prince of lies
Why did they change the dark sign/hollow mark thing from a spindle of roots emerging from the heart into a dark spiral in the middle trap area? Is the idea based on the existence of charkas?Would the dark sign on ponies emerge from their hearts or from their cutie marks?
>>41568240cutie mark for sure
Once, the Princess of the Sun banished the Moon, and all that stemmed from horsekind. And ponies assumed a fleeting form.These are the roots of our world. Ponies are props on the stage of life, and no matter how tender, how exquisite... A lie will remain a lie.Young Mare, knowing this, do you still desire peace?
>>41568240>>41568298So would a human's cutie mark appear on the back of the left shoulder? >>41560903DS2's aesthetic is very different from the other souls games. It's distinctly more etherial and lighter in tone, almost like a (traditional) fairy tale. You're not some "Chosen one" trying to link the fire and save (or kill) a dying world. You're just travelling around, trying to stave off your own curse. There's nothing threatening the entire world with imminent destruction; the world actually feels very alive and healthy compared to DS1 or 3. Sure, there's the regular souls weirdness and misery and fallen kingdoms, but there are also tons of pockets of life and people keeping things going on. It's like you're in the intermission between acts at a show. Nothing like the doomed pessimism of DS3. There's a lot more area and enemy variety and the areas themselves are much more separated than in the other games. This makes it feel more like you're travelling on an adventure through the country, but you're also less engaged with any particular area. The main thing I don't like about DS2 is that its visual design is all over the place. You get regular, souls-y weapons but also these ridiculous JRPG fuckoff weapons and over-the-top armour that's entirely too "fantasy". It's like the visual designers set out to make the most cliche high fantasy equipment they could. >inb4 durr it IS a JRPGYou know what I mean, retard.
>>41568405huh weird I really liked ds2's visual design the most. the artstyle really hightens the dreamlike quality. it reminds me of Demon's Souls
>>41568405I'd like to think that Slave Knight Anon was just a regular Anon living the AiE dream until he somehow gained immortality and lived to see Twilight's Equestria crumble and for a civilization to the ashes that would mirror the entire Dark Souls timeline but with ponies.God I hate that the DS3 forlorn and DS2 forlorn have nothing to do with each other, because Gael would've fit the bill for it
>>41568813>for a civilization to the ashesfor a civilization to rise from the ashes
>need more mares on the inside
>>41569124Amaregydala?
>>41569995lol
>>41557379it's so fucking comfy. nice, well lit, grassy, no real nearby threats except the hogs, and a beautiful view. not to mention it feels great seeing all the merchants and shit move into the town and making it feel more lived in. i think this is pretty much the only game where the crestfallen warrior doesn't go hollow or insane or whatever too
>>41569995AmaregydalaEquinitas, Filly of the Cosmos Rom the Vacuous Changeling Marego’s Wet Nurse Yearling of Kos
Love this thread, I recently 100%ed DS2 and really enjoyed it.
Easy on the hayburgers, bearer of the curse...
>>41570718BASED DASHIEFRENnow, do it again. there are two versions of dark souls 2
>>41571166I´m very much tempted to do so, but man, the Sun Medal grind really discourages me. That took ages.
>>41571253play game in co-op! find a fren and play the game with them. you don't even have to rush the alter if you plan on 100%ing with your friend since you'll be on ng++ in the end
>>41571253Yeah farming covenant shit offline is always one of the worst partsSometimes I still flashback to committing crow/silver knight genocide to get darkmoon blade
>>41557176terrifying
>>41571166I'm too busy playing Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteousness
I'm not ready to let this thread go...A ds2 thread that doesn't devolve to tribal shit flinging AND being able to post cute pastel horsesThe age of archive seldom arrives
>>41573706I understand this too.. I have been watching it hit page 8 then 10 and I just stare wanting to say something but I don't know what to say, do you want to be friends, anon? I don't know how or where or on what platform but maybe this doesn't have to go away forever
>>41573706It's amazing, I'm so used to hearing the tired old circlejerk shitflinging whenever DS2 is so much as mentioned. Horsefuckers stay based.
>>41573910I have something ds2 to share. this locationthis is probably one of my favorite locations in the game or any game. its very small and very short but it conveys so much emotionally it's hard to describe.. once you have the ashen heart mist you can visit the dead dragon that was being eaten by the Duke's Dear Freja, then enter the memory of that old dragon.. to see probably one of his oldest memories, Ash Lake or what's left of it. and him seeing an even older dragon just laying there.. from it you collect the Ancient dragon's soul, is this the same dragon from Dragon Arie? did us taking it's soul effect how aldia brought it back to life with the giant's soul like we see? that's if they're even the same. it could even be the ancient dragon from dark souls 1, the mere baby we see down there in it's nest.. so many questions, so much wonder and mystery, but mostly this infinite despair and hopelessness that dark souls 2's world is so good at conveying. I fucking love the dragon memories so much, despite the sheer emptiness I feel comfortable there.. the loneliness is so.. inviting, I don't know maybe I'm just broken or something
>>41574169Too bad it having a soul shits on the worldbuilding too much. That's why I like Aldia's pet giant fake dragon, he represents what Aldia was talking about perfectly. Clinging to a lie in desperate hopes because the alternative is a godless, dark reality of man against himself. Even before his rhetoric was added to the game it was continuing the idea of fake godhood and authority which has led the world to this state (Nashandra being a fake queen, Vendrick falling short of a true monarch yet being the only leader to rely upon, Shanalotte falling short of solving the curse and instead manifesting as your queen-like entity and so on). It is incredibly poetic yet stated with no words at all.
>>41574218>Too bad it having a soul shits on the worldbuilding too muchits not confirmed that it's that dragons soul specifically. and your're in the memory of an ancient dragon viewing the corpse of a far older dragon, that dead one in the spider's arena (other then sihn) seems to be the only real dragon around in the area, you're far in the past so the soul being there doesn't ruin anything I don't think.. and if you did take out its soul and aldia brought the corpse back to life with a giant soul that doesnt change anything either. you're far far in the past when you get the ancient dragon soul, and from what I understand about how the time travel works from Last giant being angry at you before you travel back to end his invasion. you already took the ancient dragon soul way back then. time is convoluted afterall.. I don't think it takes away from anything, Anon. consider thisif that is the same corpse aldia fucked with to bring back to life.. you just used his Ashen Heart mist to take the dragons soul, from the same dragon that gave it to you, you taking the soul would have maybe been the catalyst for the dragon being brought back to life in a way. hence making it give you the ashen heart mist.. to take the soul.. it's poetic, don't you see?
>>41574240>it's poetic, don't you see?it's confusing
>>41574254yeah, yeah.. but I like it, and I'm a sucker for time travel and all its weird possibilities, the paradoxes and contradictions required to make it possible is so interesting to me, It's one of the many many reasons I love dark souls 2, ds1 and 3 have it too but It's just their DLCs and it's not so integral to the plot
>>41574240>the soul being there doesn't ruin anythingI recon if it's a real ancient dragon it shouldn't have a soul at all since they predate the existence of souls in general. It could've been bestowed one but that'd mean it was an ally to Gwyn's family, or not a "real" ancient dragon like Midir, but he description says that his soul was "created", so that rules that possibility out. Instead it makes that ancient dragon itself seem like a fake, just a different kind that we see in the Dragon Shrine, which raises even more questions.The time travel thing itself is kino. But giving literally every single thing a soul was a mistake in my opinion, seems it was made to mimic Demon's Souls without also porting the meaning of souls from it. Something Dark Souls as a series is heavily guilty of in general.
>>41574169Going into that memory gives me a profound sense of wrongness like I'm not supposed to be somewhere and I'm trespassing. It's dreadful. Humans are not meant to exist in a colorless world without disparity
>>41574346I'm pretty sure the age of ancients only ended after the everlasting dragons were genocided, so I think it's reasonable that the everlasting dragons could've gained souls within the timeframe between societal/civilization progress being cultivated after the first flame was discovered and the war against the dragons. The memory seems to take place after or during that event considering the dragon is dead. It's been a while so I forgot exactly what souls are meant to represent in the series. Isn't it just an aura encompassing everything that takes place within a world with disparities in it, including those that predate disparity? I don't remember where I got this or if it's correct, but the everlasting dragons were only able to breathe fire after the first flame introduced disparity, so it shows that the dragons themselves adapt to the changing metaphysics of the world ergo they can attain souls.I haven't played demon's souls, so how is souls different in that game? The thing with dark souls lore is that it seems to take metaphysical concepts and represent them as living beings.
>>41574827I always had the impression that the memory takes place right after the age of ancients, with great trees still being prominent and everything being gray. I'm not sure they could gain souls just like that, or rather if they would want it. We have Kalameet who prevailed and survived with no need for a soul. Maybe this was a human-friendly late dragon, but then again we'll never know and I doubt they thought about it this much, honestly. Since it's a great set piece and rule of cool is what matters.>how is souls different in that gameWithout spoilers it's much more obvious that soul=power there and everything important has a soul (unlike for example in DS1 where demons don't have souls). Biggest demons in the game has grown them by absorbing other souls, so all the different kind of beings becoming great demons is commonplace, from old beings to automatons. I really recommend playing it because it explains the origin of most Souls concepts and tropes like fog walls, phantoms and summoning, why souls are used as currency, what homeward bones awkwardly tried to imitate and so on. It's much more straightforward, internally consistent and easy to understand but at the same time elegant with its concepts. It's easy to emulate so there's no reason not to try it, it's a short game.
>>41575059>we'll never know and I doubt they thought about it this muchI find that hard to believe since the devs would have definitely consulted a lore bible if it exists that lays out the conditions for getting a soul. Maybe we're supposed to draw the conclusion that it was human-friendly based on how its corpse ended up near the Lord's Private Chambers? My impression of ancient dragons is that they represent space itself or the foundation of the world and their forms are shaped by their surroundings (gaping dragon in depths and kalameet being corrupted by the abyss). To me they're more of a force of nature rather than autonomous beings until they form relations with anything that has humanity, in which they're either given a special soul or it manifests from within as a sort of environmental reaction (which is what I meant in my initial post when I said they can attain souls)>It's easy to emulate so there's no reason not to try it, it's a short game.I really should, I already have everything set up for it but I need to wait for my time to free up and it seems to have the same atmosphere I miss from ds1. Bloodborne emulation is kicking off too so pretty soon there'll be no reason to give sony money for their exclusive souls shit
>>thread 117 posts in and I still haven't posted anythingBest Souls II, ngl
>>41575344>since the devs would have definitely consulted a lore bibleWell for one the devs straight up messed up the description/location of the soul. It clearly references the fake dragon in the Shrine. This looks like a technical oversight more than anything like it was misplaced after they've already finalized the descriptions. It diminishes the immersion to a degree. I think the everlasting dragons are just that, beings beyond time. But strangely they weren't all perfect and unfeeling, seeing Seath displaying human-like behavior. Ancient dragons were even more so akin to what we're used to when we imagine dragons. Which is great because it gives us some cool battles. Compared to fucking SEATH the FAGGOT.>it seems to have the same atmosphere I miss from ds1I think it does but in a different way. It's very basic compared to other souls games but with souls fatigue it loops around to feeling fresh, like the direction is very narrow but as a result they've nailed the vibe they were going for, it's so mysterious and occult but so "medieval" in its presentation, so clearly inspired by fantasy novels. In my opinion they've only repeated that coherent direction in BB (which was originally planned to be set in the DeS world so I guess it's only fitting).>Bloodborne emulation is kicking off tooOh yeah, it lacks polish but it is "playable" so we're almost there. I bet we'll be playing it with no problems on Christmas.
>>41575463DS2 is magic
>>41576257But the sets are cancer to farm
>>41576846No idea what you're talking about, I'm drowning in alone knight armor
>>41576846Farming in general is shit in any Souls game. A week ago I looked up something I missed from ER's DLC and its dropped by an enemy found in one area, in a place where warping removes any item discovery bonuses from consumables, and this enemy's only weakness is a tiny area in its back. The drop rate for this item is low. Bloodborne is probably the only SouIs game where do you dont need to farm for armor/weapons but then theres Chalice Dungeons which are a form of cancer altogether...
>>41577627farming in souls games kills me so much.. I hate it, covenant farming and item farming is so fucking shit and I can't believe they're STILL doing it in elden ring
>>41577627>>41577651I pity the consolefags who don't know the joys of cheat engine
>>41577627Locking objective upgrades for weapons behind procedural slop dungeons is so retarded. Part of the reason why BB pvp died hard
>>41577679yeah holy shit man.. it's gotta suck, I did the farming for all achivements and shit, never again! but cheating in ds1 and ds2 sucksss you have to like replace items and change their ID it's very annoying and tedious>>41577681what didn't help was locking invasions behind co-op or areas with the stupid bell lady, one that all players rush to kill because at minimum she blankets the area in annoying bell sounds and at maximum causes invasions, it's just awful.. there is no arena either or proper PvP space other then like 2 areas with a bell lady all the time, it sucks
Sunken king dlc with the bearer of the curse mod done.Iron king here I come
>>41578006Kino every time
>>41578006Have you, or any other anon played the Seeker of Fire mod? The new map route I saw for it looks interesting!
>>41578006>>41578011mega kino, I'll eventually get there but I literally JUST finished ds2 playthrough then the mod came out so I'm kind of burned out>>41578307I have tried seeker of fire 2.0 and I can say it's really weird.. sometimes the new paths came in useful but most the time I just ignored the changes to the map when possible, my biggest problem is this mod makes bosses faster, some a bit some more. they just make bosses faster to try to replicate the next games but they don't speed you up enough if at all. so my first seeker of fire playthrough was a miracle/katana build and it was fun and EZ since lightning.. but then I did another just strength build and could not bet velstadt, he was just too fast and I never had an opening since he was sped up too fucking much. when you're casting spells at a distance you don't notice this but for this I did. couldn't beat him no matter what I did and I just quit and realized the mod is fucked. if you play it do a spell build at least for the shitty sped up bosses like that
>>41577627Farming weeds out the weak. I once farmed the entire Heide set from the knight in FotFG, in vanilla DS2.
>>41579055I thought that guy didn't respawn...
>>41579133Bonfire Ascetics, son.
>>41579217what the fu.. insane. no way that was worth it
>>41579055Nah some items only have like a 1% change to drop a playthrough
Rarity with the dark souls 2 moonlight greatsword!
>>41580289The question is would she use the real or the fake one?
>>41580379rarity has an eye for gemstones and that sort of thing, I think she'd know something was off about the fake one at least to some degree. if she had no prior knowledge of the weapon and just came across the bluemoon greatsword I don't think she'd question it and just think it's a very pretty sword
>>41580289Almost feel tempted to post this on /v/
>>41580414Be my guest
>>41578011Fume Knight down.Just one more crown and I'm done.
>>41581553Good luck witht the Elyeum Loyce,anon! Damn, now I want to play DS2 again.... like, right now actually. Logging on to steam. Naked Caestus run ftw!
>>41581871>Naked Caestus runBased
I feel bad for Astraea but I also have no regrets killing her either, she was an impure demon that fed on souls and made fetus abominations
>>41582444she must die
>>41581871Only mares can go naked. Have some decency, Anon
>>41581871>>41583637yeah! do Darkdiver Grandahls questline and kill darklurker and wear the Xanthous Set
>>41568331https://ponybooru.org/images/3357976?q=dark+souls
White Mask Maré
Who would be his favorite pony and which mare would try to make him their consort?
>>41585392Golly would want to mindrape him
Why are there no mare Torrent mods
>>41586119>Ponish one, aspring lord of the old order. If you have known sin, if you grieve for this world, then yield the path forward to us. To I, Cozy Glow and to my promised consort, Radahn.
>>41586741pic but myself and GollyNot that she's a great Miquella parallel desu
>>41586744Hidden occult club
>>41586741What the fuck is wrong with her face? Glad this ugly little fuck got stoned.
>>41581113>>>/v/693043865Update
>>41581871When you're crossing the reindeer snowfield, do it as a disguised mimic item. When the snowstorm kicks up, stop moving. The reindeer won't spawn. Not sure if it's infallible but last two playthroughs it's worked like a charm.
>>41588414Good tip
>>41588316>Bro really posted my art to /v/if I find messages on my accounts cause of you I swear I'm going to turn you into soup or some shit
>>41588316Funny
>>41588414No thanks, I'd rather summon my bros Feeva, Manhunter o Harrah, and Vengral so that we can prevail against the elements together and triumph over the endless hoard evil ass ice ponies
>>41591364I did a level 25ish run once, and fucking Twiggy Shei and me got through Ivory King together. I struggled like hell to ensure he survived with Warmths and the like, and I'll always be grateful to that bell-wearing, bow-wielding dumbfuck for surviving long enough for me to kill Ivory boy.
https://youtu.be/yQ2LGEqyvdk?feature=shared
>>41592666Menacing little satanic creatureI wish bonfire ascetics were a thing in this game since the bosses are the only thing worth replaying
>>41592666I wanna fight two kirin or ponies in a lion suit now.
>>41588414>When you're crossing the reindeer snowfield, do it as a disguised mimic item. When the snowstorm kicks up, stop moving. The reindeer won't spawnHuh, I never knew that. It'll come in handy in this silly challenge run I've been thinking of trying soon.
I LOVE DARK SOULS II
>>41593511OUT FUCKING SKILLED
>>41593517The enemies outskill themselves too.
I have no idea how I'm going to beat the game like this
My favorite clip of DS2
>>41591995Doing a low-level friendship only run (summoning everyone) is on my list of ds2 playthroughs I want to get to
>>41593960this npc is one of my favorites, he's so coolthe ds3 mod called 'cinders' added him even
>>41552827All my points are going into raping mares.
>>41593683>You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!
>>41593530God that place was AIDS
>>41570849>FattyKek, thats a stupid message but always make me laugh
>>41595533Is derpy the maneater mildred of equestria or does lyra and her human addiction take that title
>>41596339I see Lyra but not sure I follow Derpy. Could argue for Pinka, considering where the bulk of her fanon has gone. pic possibly unrelated.
>>41596384>not sure I follow Derpymainly the paper bag and mildred's wonky ai when summoning her
>>41596339>>41596406>"huh?.. what do you mean eat people.. uhh anon I think you're confused"derpy.. you call yourself "Maneater Derpy" you sure you're not confused?>"Uhh.. I just thought it sounded cool!"Maneater means.. eating men, like mankind, people. it means you eat people>"Whaa???.. oh that kind of makes sense, Sorry anon I just don't know what we-yeah yeah it's ok derpo, just don't eat me>anon was eaten mere moments later
>>41570849Deserved
>>41557341https://youtu.be/XSdUY5QheK8I prefer this
>>41557341>>41597995*blocks your path*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3jAHIuulWEso pretty and poignant.
>>41575463I did a Lucatiel cosplay run through DS3 once, and when I got to the Ringed City, the poetry of Lucatiel's journey began to come together, and I didn't even really think about it until I was there. I found the statue that cured her Hollowing, removing the Hollow tattoo I had across her face all game. When I finished the Ariandel DLC, the feels I got when the Painter asked my name, and I, getting into my role, and feeling as though Lucatiel has come a very long way, declined to tell the painter my name. Lucatiel was free of her curse, but accepted that one day she will pass on, and that is okay. There was an emotional weight there that caught me by surprise. It felt like the ending she deserved, and I finished that run very satisfied.
>>41598036kino, I feel that so many don't care about this sort of thing now especially after elden ring, challenge runners, speedrunners and generally streamers sucking the life and passion from these games. I wish more people played them seriously so when I see videos it's not just "haha look how ugly I can make my character!!" wow gee you hit random 5 time and made your character neon blue, amazing
>>41598200I don't really find fault with challenge or speedrunners. I had a friend bring up Kai Cenat running the game with a room temperature IQ build, and suggesting I must hate it, but not really. He seemed to really like the game, and put a lot more eyes on it with his audience, and I can't really fault that much. Plus a lot of speed runners and challenge runners love the game they run, myself included. Every game I've always done a low level run on, which is always a lot of fun. The people I abhor are the ones "playing" the game while their level 500 friend one-buttons their way through everything, and just the absolute braindead players I see in multiplayer, who press their singular button and don't seem interested in, or have the capacity, to even try to understand more nuance to the games beyond that.
>>41570849tight spot ahead, but fatty
>>41552531It's comfy
>Burn the crystal castle to the ground and incinerate all that markets and all the creatures.>May ponies take the world!
I best Elden Ring againConsort Radahn still sucks
>>41599892yep. literally ruins the whole game. shit fight, worse lore and the game just fucking ends. and it feels like all I beat was a miyazaki fanfic
>>41599892Once I realized he's basically just an Artorias fight with more moves he became one of my favorites gameplay-wise.
>>41599298GIimdra, Lord of Frenzied Flame
>>41600189WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?
>>41556891The movement deadzones, enemy hitboxes, and painfully clunky "let's put 50% of the delay after you swing" pacing of attacks didn't help either. I keep saying, DS2 had a lot of good ideas and bits that work in isolation, but it just feels awful to actually use the combat system, which makes up 95% of what you'll spend your time doing. The recent spike in defense for it on this site seems less like a realization of its true quality and more like severe rose-tinted glasses for a game whose flaws are painfully obvious as soon as you try to go back and play it.I hear plenty of talk about how its levels are beautiful and unique and its boss fights are varied and it added features that vastly improved the series, and I can agree with all of those points, but as soon as I try and point out how the core mechanics and awful enemy placements undermined all of the game's strengths, the only response seems to be "mad cuz bad". And no, I'm mad because nostalgiafaggotry and contrarianism are suddenly demanding that I not admit DS2 is an overall worse experience than PS3 Demon's Souls.I blame Consort Radahn for this shit.
>>41570301Equinitas sounds like the name of a Blasphemous boss.
>>41600143Miqqy is really annoying. Also sucks there's no FF or Ranni reactivity when Leda needles you about the Erdtree
>>41556891You forgot to mention the horrendous collision detection.
>>41600489>hitboxesA myth. It's been datamined and other than maybe one or two exceptions, DS2 hitboxes aren't any worse than in the other two games.It probably started from people not understanding ADP and then everyone just aped that opinion.
>>41601521Whatever it is, hitboxes or some other factor, DS2 has a vastly disproportionate number of cases where enemy attacks that were nowhere near the player hit anyway. See the post above you for one of many examples.I really am willing to admit that there's a lot of good ideas in 2 that the other games should've kept, especially how interactive its levels are, but it drives me nuts to see so many anons suddenly insisting it's only unpopular because Youtubers told people to dislike it when the core gameplay is still just as unpleasant as it's always been.
>>41600386It's the same type of boss, fast swordsman guy whose moves you need to actually understand to beat. The only difference is his moves are harder to learn because there's more of them. I like these kind of bosses and this is no exception.
>>41600489>the only response seems to be "mad cuz bad"Because people are used to this kind of reasoning to be pushed by people who aren't good at the game, namely influencers. The reason why this happens is that for whatever reason people insist that their playstyle from DS1 should translate 1:1 into another game on a different engine and if that doesn't work then it's the game's fault. You have to realize that a lot of people used exactly the same kind of arguments back when DS1 released in the West and became accessible to the Skyrim audience. To them it was just a bad, clunky, cheap waste of time. We called them casuals back then, we still call them casuals now, the only difference is more people here became casuals over the decade because we aren't in our early 20s anymore.>The recent spike in defenseYou mean bot threads on /v/? That's not recent, the same post have been posted there for years. Those are not real people. And nobody demands anything from you nigga, it's not nostalgia that leads people to think better of the game but contrast with the modern market and perspective on older entries now that they've made gaming history.
>>41601368You rolled too early and your i-frames expired
Even at its worst DS2 never felt as boring and tedious as almost everything Elden Ring had to offer post-margit.
>>41602003I guess my frustration is just that whether here, on /v/, or anywhere else, DS2 only seems to have fans who ignore its many serious flaws instead of ones who recognize how much of a clusterfuck it is and like it anyway. Even I like its good parts enough that I could almost call myself a fan... if I didn't still think it's the overall weakest Souls game. But then, I really like DS3, and I never run into fans of that on any board, so I guess I'm not in good company on this site in general.
>>41603196I love all the Souls games, and they all piss me off for being shit in different ways. I can't possibly squeeze into one post everything about all the games I hate and love. Picrel
>>41603196ds3 was my first souls game, I can't hate it.. I really dislike huge chunks of it and find most levels very annoying but at least they're levels unlike elden boring
>>41603196Because /v/ is a board that thrives on contrarianism. I for example like Fallout 3 in spite of its flaws and corny dialogue but find it to be a vastly inferior game to the previous isometric entries and FNV. /v/ will defend it outright and ignore all dissension. That place is the only hovel on the internet I know of that will defend Shadow the Hedgehog, DMC2, TES: Oblivion, Sonic 06 without a hint of irony.
>>41603196>DS2 only seems to have fans who ignore its many serious flaws instead of ones who recognize how much of a clusterfuck it is and like it anywayThat's just reactionism to people acting like some of its flaws are unique to DS2, or that DS2 was the only flawed one while the entire series was being celebrated for years prior to its release as the perfect "flawed gem" kind of deal, obtuse and janky but rewarding when you figure it out and adapt to its rules. DS2 was simply the first entry people refused to adapt to because they already had their playstyle.I'm also the sort of player who embraces the flaws of the game and loves it despite of them, DS2 included, but I always get lumped together with people who need to defend every single thing. It's just par for the course now because nobody can even imagine liking a game that's not perfect 10/10 to them, and this being the case for Souls series in particular is mindblowing to me. Like if I say I like Code Vein and think to myself that 30% of it was cool and that's why I liked it, people will still assume I loved literally everything about it. But with Souls we see it again and again, like PTDE being defended for technical reasons compared to the remaster, or DS1's PvP being defended as something skill-based. At this point it's a cult-like behavior. Is it any wonder that some people want to dismiss criticism from those kind of players? Especially when it's misguided like the iframe thing or SM actually mattering to anyone in the game itself.>I never run into fans of that on any boardI bet most people have the exact same impression of it you have for DS2, thinking that DS3 is the weakest entry but still enjoying its good parts. I'm the same way, I find DS3 to be boring to replay overall but the parts that I like about it is what makes me come back to it from time to time. It also has great mods which made it stand out before ER came out.
>>41603342I think the only Souls game I don't hate anything about is Bloodborne (I am a shameless chalice dungeon enjoyer).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmmhiXgd_fkFinally, the perfect Souls game.
>>41601752>when the core gameplay is still just as unpleasant as it's always beenWhen was the last time you played it? Cause I played it literally last week and I'm being 100% honest when I say I don't get which part of it is so unpleasant. And this is after playing every other Fromsoft game too.
>>41603766Fuuuuuck an expanded DS2 with more intricate exploration and ER combat (with bosses that complement it) would be better than mare sex>>41603777Trips of truth. I think a lot of what people feel is sluggish about the combat is your character moving slower and turning slower while locked on
>>41604259>and ER combatehhhhhhhh ya lost me there chefkeep your combat jumping and shit in its own game
>>4160367130 FPS that is not stable, and one of the weaker entries in terms of its multiplayer. I think to some extent the builds can feel a little similar too.
>>41604259>>>41603766>Fuuuuuck an expanded DS2 with more intricate exploration and ER combat (with bosses that complement it) would be better than mare sexliteral worst take I've ever seen, elden ring has the worst combat of any of the souls games
>>41605102Nah, that's easily DS1.
>>41605108I don't even like dark souls 1 but at least its not JUMP R2 JUMP R2 JUMP R2 orL2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2. ER is a shit, biggest shit
>>41605122Combat is simplistic in all Souls games by design. You being irrationally mad about it is your own problem.
>>41605075Okay, you're right. I always forget those parts since I first played it before I'd started gaming on PC and I played the whole game offline. Sony's not getting multiplayer subscription fees out of me. The framerate does bug me when I go back and replay it now, though.>>41605102ER has a potentially incredible base combat system but the game's balancing, enemy encounters, and boss designs are usually so lackluster that it ends up feeling less interesting than Fromsoft's previous titles. My experience with Elden Ring has been that I usually have to force it to be good by applying a bunch of self-imposed restrictions and buffs until it stops being mindlessly easy or obnoxiously difficult. Almost all the Souls games have ways to steamroll them, but ER just drops so much overpowered shit in your lap with such a low barrier to entry that it becomes a matter of self-control to not exploit it and remove all nuance from the majority of fights.
>>41605222>I usually have to force it to be good by applying a bunch of self-imposed restrictions and buffs until it stops being mindlessly easy or obnoxiously difficult.IMO the bosses are at their peak when you can sneak in attacks while weaving through theirs and the game doesn't do a lot to facilitate that when you can get better results doing cheesy shit with not a lot of setup. Deflecting hard tear, jumps, the expanded WA system, and air casting were a step in the right direction but you're working harder for worse results than the guy who's L2 spamming flame of the redmanes or whatever it's called
>>41606017Yeah, the balancing issues I mentioned go deeper than just some areas being too hard and others too easy. A lot of the attacks available need re-tuning, and the game could really stand to make it clearer when jumping/parrying/etc. is a viable counter option so that everyone doesn't default to rolling. At least it's possible to do complex stuff like that, but if it requires spending hours trial-and-erroring every enemy and boss's moveset to achieve results you could've just as easily gotten in 20 minutes with a Mimic Tear and a meta build, can it honestly be said that the combat system doesn't actively push you away from seeing its best parts?That's a big part of why I think Sekiro's combat is infinitely better, it gives you just enough guidance through established mechanics, lore, and descriptions that you can piece together what the prosthetic tools might be capable of without resorting to blind guesswork.Anyway, DS2 does admittedly have really good build variety, even if the mechanics it revolves aroind are clunky as hell.
>>41606093I think in Sekiro most prosthetic tools seem completely useless at a glance and you won't discover most of their uses unless you try literally everything on every single boss, or look it up online. In this way Souls and especially Bloodborne combat is way more clear and refined.>the game could really stand to make it clearer when jumping/parrying/etc. is a viable counter option so that everyone doesn't default to rollingIt is absolutely impossible for Souls players to do more than they've done in Dark Souls 1. In ER you have the most flexible build customization system, the most amount of useful consumables and throwables, arguably the most useful spell+stat synergy after DS2, and all of it amounts to is people calling it cheating and bashing their heads against everything with their DS1 build without realizing that glass cannons are called glass for a reason. People refuse to stop optimizing their builds and just play the game like a Souls game. We are at a point where the most basic sword and board knight build is considered cheating, man. There is no argument to be had if this is the base level of this discussion.
>>41606316I mean it, you really can figure out prosthetic tool tricks just by logical cause and effect combined with reading item descriptions. Mist Raven launches you into the air, lightning reversal requires you to jump into the air, so you can lightning reverse with Mist Raven. Requires outside-the-box thinking but the game does give you the information you need. Even the Divine Abduction trick in Senpou Temple, one of the most obscure applications in the game, is hinted at by the description and Kotaro's questline.I'd also disagree that Souls players are incapable of learning, I just think ER expects the player to do way too many things it doesn't give any guidance toward. Probably the most prominent example of an alternative approach, jumping over attacks, is largely ignored because it's just so wildly inconsistent. There are even several "explosion going across the ground" attacks that will still hit you if you try to jump. Good telegraphing is more important than people seem to realize and the lack of it is one of Elden Ring's biggest drawbacks. As for accusations of cheating, I suspect those come from the issue mentioned earlier about some methods giving disproportionate reward for very little effort i.e. Mimic Tear with meta weapons (plus the tidal wave of newfags Elden Ring brought in). Sekiro and Bloodborne also required a change of combat style, but people adjusted. It's not just an issue with Souls players being incapable of learning or adapting.
>>41606316>People refuse to stop optimizing their builds and just play the game like a Souls gameThat's the problem: people haven't been able to play a Souls game like an adventure game for the better part of the series. Beyond just poisoned well dialogue surrounding it, Elden Ring is plagued by the same problems of wanting to be heads-on action which convenes solely on player punishment instead of allowing for interesting player prioritization choice. It's not a wonder common engagement protocol is dodging. Weighted response patterns - deliberately designed for the bosses - dial that into you with attacks that, often times, punish doing anything *but* that. Even beyond these moves, there's little to nothing within common design practice that actually forces you to make engaging choices beyond the roll unless you've personal preference or are gimping yourself. So when you finally face something that asks more out of you than that, it feels like a dingleberry atop a shit sundae rather than an actual interesting dividend from the norm.You want people to play the game like an adventure game, you treat the player like they're playing an adventure game. Have the balls to pull shit like Shadow Tower does. Have some douchebag wizard telepathically tell you, "you can't use magic anymore because I said so." Or have a boss unable to be seen at all unless you figure out how to get a key item that allows you sight of all things invisible (which in and of itself is obtuse as hell to get). Have the willingness to put players in uncomfortable positions that go beyond tired routine of "frame-trap; positional/tracking disjoints; relentless combo strings; etc." Have *combat* that has the willingness to treat things differently, first and foremost. As much credit as I'll give you to enemy response to consumables being the best it's ever been, it doesn't matter when the end result is eating the same shit you've been forced to shovel into your mouth the entire game over.
>>41607035>have a boss unable to be seen at all unless you figure out how to get a key item that allows you sight of all things invisibleAs a DS2 critic, this was still one of my favorite parts and I wish other Souls games had tried more stuff like it. I will also give Shadow of the Erdtree its due credit for having the Putrescent Knight and Rellana fights include moves which were very hard to roll through but easy to jump over, and which visually indicated that fact.But yes, if someone put DS2's level variety, Demon's Souls' boss variety, Sekiro/Bloodborne's difficulty balance, and Elden Ring's build variety into one game, it would likely be the best Souls game ever made by far.
>>41606428Some of the prosthetics are easy to figure out but then you have>use this spear in this precise moment on this one boss instead of trying to strip armor off of everything* (*only a few enemies are affected)or>try creating this whistle that will only work on some enemies and most of them you can distract for free alreadyDon't get me wrong, it's really fun to experiment with combat in Sekiro but you also have to remember that if you use fire umbrella to guard against a fire attack you apparently didn't beat the game.>ER expects the player to do way too many things it doesn't give any guidance towardReading this being said about a Souls game actually feels crazy. But the point is that even after people learn about these things they discard them in favor of the play style they are used to. People who pride themselves as Souls veterans being extremely stubborn because apparent a decade ago back in DS2 days but it's never been this bad. ER is wasted on this crowd and I honestly won't miss them if they don't buy the next entry. >the lack of it is one of Elden Ring's biggest drawbacksI remember this being a criticism of some DS2 enemies but I don't remember any ER attacks not being telegraphed, much less it being a consistent problem with the game. I can give you the annoying input reading at launch, that's for sure, but I personally had no problems jumping over stuff that looked jumpable (except Astel's rings of assrape). Maybe I just haven't tried all of them or something.>Mimic Tear with meta weaponsThere's going ham on the cheese and then there's using a shield or leveling vigor. Those are clearly not on the same level but people that frown upon the former are likely to frown upon the latter. At some point you have to stop and ask yourself if people who treat these games as esports are even worth listening to, and those aren't the newcomers to the series mind you. The "tidal wave of newfags" that play ER came into it with clear understanding that it's a hard game where you will die unless you give it literally everything you've got. They are way more respectful towards the game than some veterans. If you mean the people who came to ER with a guide opened on their second monitor 24/7 then I think it's on par with veteran players who stick to glass cannon builds and try to optimize it right out the gates. Both just want to get it over with and rightfully feel insulted when things don't go their way.>but people adjustedWith so much bitching and moaning some still consider BB the worst thing that has happened to the series. I still remember BSB and Chained Ogre filtering people en masse. Fun times.
>>41607035The thing is ER doesn't want to be Shadow Tower. It just wants to be a Souls game with more mechanics they've taken from their other games. You can make a case for rolling solving every attack situation in the game but we've clearly seen that the human factor is too strong, people aren't willing to learn how to dodge everything because you could get away with panic rolling in the past and nobody has the patience to spend hours on a video game boss in 2024. Now that the game asks precision out of dodging it's suddenly an issue even though on a technical level nothing has changed. It's a tool that has been used incorrectly. Look no further than ADP argument in DS2 to see the proof of that. People literally memed themselves into thinking that the game has taken away 2-3 iframes from them and then decided that this is the reason why they can't dodge attacks. Not the engine's different approach in hitbox positioning that fucks you if you roll too early or too late, not them misundersting new equip load mechanic, just presumed "fat rolling" which also turned out to be false.>often times, punish doing anything *but* thatCan you really claim that when by far the most failsafe way of approaching SotE is using a big ass shield? When most of the bosses there can be parried to death almost on reflex? When deflection tear is so strong because of the counter posture damage? The common protocol is dodging but it's not because it's the best way of dealing with encounters. Look at the people who are crying about the game treating them unfairly and without fail most of them are guide following meta slaves who can't deduce a solution on their own and just assume the game is wrong.>there's little to nothing within common design practice that actually forces you to make engaging choices beyond the roll unless you've personal preferenceThat's the best thing about Souls games. Nothing FORCES you to make these choices. Nothing forced you to use fire against Phalanx but you still felt like a genius doing that a decade and a half ago. We should normalize that kind of mindset again instead. DS2 tried but it was already too late for this fanbase, with new players being more open to experimentation maybe post-ER entries have a chance at it again.
>>41607254Man, I have to ask at this point, where are you finding all these Souls fans who call literally everything besides roll+R1 cheating? I've never heard someone claim something as mundane as the Loaded Umbrella is a cheat, and I can't imagine why they would unless they were talking about a niche situation like the Shichimen Warrior where it turns the fight into a glorified cutscene. The red version sure as hell isn't going to trivialize any fights. I also never heard any complaints about Bloodborne encouraging aggression, except indirect ones where people said it could stand to have more defensive options and build variety. I've hardly heard anyone calling Bloodborne anything less than great, outside of console warriors, and we all know they don't count as fans.
>>41607346>where are you finding all these Souls fans who call literally everything besides roll+R1 cheating/v/, obviously. And before we >imply anything, it's the only place that has been consistently in favor of Souls games right from the start. So it reflects the mindset of a typical hardcore fromfag the best. Other places worship shit like Let me solo her and so on, the situation seems even worse there. It's the same reason there's no point in seeking MLP discussion outside of this board, as bad as it is here the rest of the Internet is just that much worse when it comes to ponies.>I've hardly heard anyone calling Bloodborne anything less than greatIt's not so much Bloodborne itself but its impact on FROM's game design philosophy. I have a friend who considers it the death of the genre because Souls games have taken too much of its combat speed without also adding mechanics to amplify player counters to it like rally system, sidestep (quicker dodge recovery basically) and encouragement of parrying. I disagree with that but I can see where this is coming from. I've also seen people hating how "anime" souls games became after BB compared to slow grounded combat of the early entries with emphasis on new flashy special moves performed by both bosses and players.>The red version sure as hell isn't going to trivialize any fightsThe whole reason it exists is to help you in one specific fight against one specific attack.
>>41607385I won't imply anything, I'll outright say it: /v/ is full of hardcore contrarians, retards, and bait, and isn't a useful place to measure the normal state of anything. You go there for opinions that fall outside the norm, not ones that represent it. Or just to hear people (who may be trolls or bots) mindlessly shill shit.I can see the negative impacts a faster combat speed and flashier movesets have had but I wouldn't blame Bloodborne for that since, like Demon's Souls before it, it had those mechanics for its own reasons rather than just to follow a trend. I personally think there have been benefits and downsides to both changes in approach. But you already said this isn't even your opinion so I'm not going to try and argue extensively with something you're not even saying yourself.I assume you mean the red umbrella is for Demon of Hatred? I only ended up using it against the attack where he falls down and causes an explosion on impact, but having an easier counter to that move doesn't even come close to handing you a win. You're unlikely to even see it more than 3-5 times. And if you mean the fireball throws, I honestly wouldn't be willing to burn the spirit emblems on pulling out the umbrella that often. Either way, I have no idea how anyone could call it overpowered given how absurdly niche it is and how little impact it has in its single use case.
All I know is that the Elden Ring DLC felt like >Mom says it's my turn to attack!And I have to wait for my one counter after enemies finish their combo strings.Too many combo strings, too many fake combo endings for bosses that can be restrung into new combos, and every single boss has a mechanic to fuck off 30 feet from you to disengage like a teleport or flip or flight. Like Romina flying, Radahn teleporting, Midra floating, Metyr floating, dancing lion floating and flying, Bayle the cripple flying. Sekiro's combat system would've been better for these endless attacks.Incidentally, Isshin Ashina and Owl are all better boss fights than every single boss in Shadow of the Erdtree, and the actual boss I liked the most in the DLC was the LEDs gank because even if it was ugly and sloppy and everyone had inflated HP, I had more fun with fighting Tarnished-sized enemies and the fight actually made me feel emotions unlike that shitty fagsort Radahn fight that was a wet fart l and capped off with the worst soulsborne dlc ending ever
>>41607464That's true but as I said it's still miles better than anything other platforms have to offer. Besides I don't care what "normal" opinions are. If you want to be poetic, it's the contrarian cunts who made Souls games successful and the normal state was them being a niche product until they weren't anymore.But is the sentiment of difficulty really that different in other parts of the Internet? Remember that it's the youtubers who were pushing shield-free play style and using one meant you're not an advanced player. It's always been strong but now that it's also significantly safer than panic rolling people suddenly think it's a cheesy tactic. And normalfag guides always seem to involve some form of minmaxing for big dick dps, spanning from Drake sword to Moonveil, and everyone looks down on that. Maybe other sites are less obsessed with "fair play" but I can't imagine those who are have different opinions on it than what you find here.>I wouldn't blame Bloodborne for thatIt all depends on the person's personal limits. I for one consider ER's combat to be the best iteration of it while some hate it and draw the line at DS3. Once Souls fatigue hits you there's no going back.>I have no idea how anyone could call it overpoweredNobody does, but it can easily be considered a crutch for people who are too lazy to learn how to dodge. I personally don't give a shit who considers it what, but then again I always found prosthetic tools a waste of time during boss fights and only used them when I couldn't easily deal with the enemies normally. I think it's a bad example of a puzzle-like system, like oh cool you can't go into one of the zones without an umbrella to defend from bullets or have to use a tech you found on a wall scroll ten seconds before a boss that uses the attack that this tech protects you from, very exciting. I mean technically you can just ignore that but it's the correct answer to the puzzle. I think we need less of this and more of Covenant of Artorias kind of stuff.
>>41607337>[...] you could get away with panic rolling in the past [....]Sorry to gripe a bit here and come off ruder than I'd like to intend, but I've never liked this nudge mechanism.Gargoyles' common thread of gatekeeping goes beyond just the duo gimmick. Most people's resource-drain to eventual death comes from the two's mutual overhead intercept, which acts as a gapcloser/roll-catch, to punctuate their divide and conquer tactics. Further back, Flamelurker from Demon's Souls possesses roll-catches in his arsenal as well, with the interesting caveat being it's comprised solely of fire damage. Forward-disjoint hand slams are his main attack, and it possesses AoE blasts that are tandem to the design of catching anything but a perfect roll. However, fire damage negation nullifies most of the punishment response, and there are numerous ways to pile on these effects to the benefit of the player and how they'd like to play. Numerous people roll themselves into a grave trying to disengage from a Spear Red-Eyed Knight, only to get caught out by their cancel into lance charge that - again - acts as a catch. Spears, however, are universally affected by the deflection mechanic for shields and narrow hitboxes that can be maneuvered around. This is no different for those Red-Eyed Knights.The point being, for most of my post before, is that this exists as an element of enemy distinction that's become the common man's coin. It is the only thing that is allowed to exist, instead of being a tool for the developers to employ when it fits the approach they desire. This, then, goes on to influences players' dictation through response to application. And, well. Things end up preferred when they're shown to work more often, and when you're given the middle finger for attempting otherwise. >Can you really claim that when by far the most failsafe way of approaching SotE is [so on and so on]?>Nothing FORCES you to make these choices.Aren't most of these examples just reductive meta-contextualizations of what was once common player preference paths to begin with? Retrofitted onto enemies that have little opportunity for expression barring this exact methodology of behavior - which was the crux of the complaint there? Rolling was only ever a conjunction to this boring absolute that brought it along in the first place; to help explain the lack of divergence in action that you were complaining about.I agree with you that that explorative mindset should be the approach going forward, but I really don't t have belief that it'll ever come to fruition the way the series is being handled. It's deeper-rooted than just workshopping better ideas, unfortunately.
>>41608036I'm not going to say you should adhere to normalfag opinions, but you shouldn't use /v/, which consists mostly of outliers, as a basis to claim what the average is. And yes, the sentiment in other places is very different. Youtubers were your example, and the trend I've seen there has been a quasi-religious degree of adherence to the idea that nothing is cheating, and even if you kill a boss by doing nothing more than walking into an arena and one-shotting it with Comet Azur using a build you looked up online, it still counts as a 100% legitimate and fair win because "gatekeeping bad". Take /v/'s autistic degree of obsession with proving everyone isn't a real gamer, and flip it to the exact opposite extreme. That's the near-universal rhetoric around Elden Ring playstyles on Youtube right now.Anyway, Loaded Umbrella's consumption of Spirit Emblems makes it incapable of serving as a real free win button for anything but the Shichimen Warrior fights. It doesn't really make Demon of Hatred any easier since the only moves it invalidates either happen too often to use it on every time or aren't even difficult to dodge without it.
>>41608609> is that this exists as an element of enemy distinction that's become the common man's coin.True, this is exactly why people still attempt to panic roll even when it doesn't work. Or rather not "panic" roll but "guess" roll. At some point you get to a skill level where you can get through a boss fight by simply outlasting it on reflexes. Meaning that without much preparation you can guess how to dodge an attack and if it doesn't work, you can guess when it's safe to heal, and by the time you run out of your amount of available mistakes the boss is already dead. Now we are at a point when it's nigh impossible to do that, the game requires you to be deliberate. It's easy to see how this is insulting for some players.>and when you're given the middle finger for attempting otherwise.When exactly does that happen?>Aren't most of these examples just reductive meta-contextualizationsNo, not really. The reality is simple, people want easy wins on their own conditions. Their assumption that all other playstyles are for lesser players than them and that their glass cannon should never be shattered. People's play styles have been based on misinformation and bad habits cultivated not by the game itself, but the community's perception of how the games should be played. I would be happy to see the trend of destroying these expectations continue in the future. I think people would benefit from being humble and taking time to learn the game proper. Some did with DS2, some with Bloodborne, ER just continues this process and knowing fromsoft they will continue doing so in the future.
>>41608768It is what the average here is, I don't really engage with other parts of the community because they often play the game too differently from me. Despite the grim schizo infestations most people on /v/ at least have some accepted standards we use as baseline for our discussions even here, like playing solo or not defaulting to top meta builds when playing the game. Sometimes I forget that most people just summon 3 phantoms and pray that boss dies in one try.>That's the near-universal rhetoric around Elden Ring playstyles on Youtube right now.That's pretty sad but expected. But thankfully it only affects people who give a shit about what others think they should be doing.>It doesn't really make Demon of Hatred any easier I dunno, it did come in handy on my first playthrough. Didn't really feel like "cheating" but I don't remember it being a disadvantage either.
>>41607789Learn to strafe
>>41609551Not that anon, but have you seen the tracking on the average ER boss?
>>41610906Why is he wielding a ukrainian flag
>>41609551Or I could use blood+greatshield+Fatfuck armor+poking. So easy even assmongoloid can beat Radahn with that build
>>41611559I'm wondering more why he has a dead generation as a consumable. It probably functions like the cyanide tooth in sekiro
bump
>>41586744Maud would be the only npc with infinite titanate chunks to sell
>>41552531shouldn't she be a pegasus?
>>41614144yeah actually that would make sense..
>>41614648I can hear the shiny sounds and scurrying.
>>41613973that is a very nice scene there
ds2 sotfs 'bearer of the curse' mod with the lighting engine mod..this mod is fucking insane, I just parried the BELL GARGOYLES
https://youtu.be/hlWTxD_ZyJ8
>>41614664I hate how they let players trivialize their gimmick by quitting to the title screen in ds1 and 3 after just having removed it in ds2. Same for invincibility from interacting with doors/levers/chests and resetting enemy positions, which is more egregious considering that enemy positions play a big role in level design. It reminds me of what >>41607035 said about from's unwillingness to put players in uncomfortable positions but in the context of an adventure game. Nothing breaks the immersion and danger more than becoming impervious to five enemies trying to gang bang you because you interacted with a chest or lever FUCK I hate soulsfags who complain about that
>>41616080To clarify I meant resetting enemy positions the same way you reset the crystal lizards
>>41615110That sounds cool
Question for DS2 enjoyers, did you play it at launch? Pre-patch shrine of infinite range homing bullshit and ancient dragon drained all the good will I had for the game and cemented it as the worst in the series for me. Also how is the dlc and sotfs I never bothered playing them.
>>41616652I played on PC release, so no. But I have an iso of PS3's 1.0 version as well as Network test version ready to be emulated if I ever want to exprience it. The DLCs were great, still one of my favorite pieces of Souls games content ever, SotFS was good, the new lore really completes the game just like with most fromsoft DLCs. Some people disliked how SotFS remixed the enemy and item placements, didn't seem any worse to me. Among the contrarian group of DS2 lovers there's an even more contrarian group of people who only likes the original DS2.
>>41616652I bought ds2 on may 8th of 2023, it's my favorite souls game and one of my favorite games of all time now
>>41616652I kind of just approached the Shrine of Amana with the same stoicism for unfair bullshit I'd cultivated for the last 19 years of playing video games. What I remember fucking me the hardest was the Smelter Demon. His close-up DoT damage and wide af hitboxes on his slams kept me fucked for hours.
>>41616652Pre-patch or not, pic related exists.
I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING I HATE ELDEN RING
>Unfinished dark souls 3 had Pontiff Sulyvahn as the final boss of the game. the big bad"The Old King of The Eclipse" as it was stated in the unfinished files>No idea how much of his lore is the same as it is now in the base game of dark souls 3, all of it? maybe, none of it? maybe..Who was he going to be?.. oh anon it's clear as day, can't you see?>In ds3 anor londo there is a room that carries both imagery of Gwynevere, Nashanda, The Throne of Want and other pictures>It's clear from this room alone he, the Pontiff, ruler of Irithyll and now Anor Londo after feeding Gwyndolin or his corpse to Aldrich has some knowledge of the past and importance of these things, or someone under him does>Aldia's soul stream spell is in Lothric Castle, Prince Lothric & Lorian both refused to link the fire.. interference from Aldia?.. or perhaps his studentSoul Geyser ds2 Description"This blasphemous spell is a family heirloom of Lord Aldia's. It was designed to pummel foes until its power is entirely exhausted."Soul Stream ds3 Description"The first of the Scholars doubted the linking of the fire, and was alleged to be a private mentor to the Royal Prince."the dragon acolytes of Aldia in ds2? Aldia's scholars? perhaps they taught Lothric or the Sorcerers of the Grand Archives.back to Pontiff Sulyvahn..>Two Swords, power stance being a staple of dark souls 2. Two swords of different sizes? FUME KNIGHT>Splits in 2 during second phase? DARKLURKER>Wings like roots sprouting from the back.. ALDIA ANYONEThe END of ds2 states.."There is no path.Beyond the scope of light, beyond the reach of Dark......what could possibly await us?And yet, we seek it, insatiably...Such is our fate."Consider that Pontiff was the Bearer of the Curse, True monarch unable to hollow with his crown. THE OLD KING OF THE ECLIPSE? UNABLE TO HOLLOW, FOREVER MONARCH CURSED TO WATCH THE WORLD DIE AND FADE, With the lords of cinder arisen he'd tell them his tale, death and decay.. endless deaths and rebirths weaker every time, He'd seek a way to end it. bring about that third option.. Maybe the Profaned flame?I think.. I think Pontiff Sulyvahn WAS (not is, in current lore its clearly not true) The True Monarch of Drangleic, final boss? Final lord of Cinder even? perhaps he did link the fire afterall.. it would change nothing one way or another. He would have been (you). but instead we get to fight all the ones of the past who linked the flame, for me I don't really understand how or why soul of cinder exists other then to fight Gwyn again for some reason
>>41617346We can never know what the original intentions were.. if the Throne of Want was an early Throne that would become like that of the lords of cinder, whatever ds3 was going to be it's long gone and all we got was HOLY SHIT DARK SOULS 1 THING?!??!!? over and over. we were robbed I know that for sure. the game feels so weird to me like something great was taken from it. perhaps its the intention of the games 'dead world' design but it so feels like something big is missing.. something to link ds1-ds2 and 3 all coherently without ds2 feeling like the black sheep and 3 feeling so weird
Guiding Moonlight
>>41616652Go with SOTFS, it's the more finished version of the game. People who say it increases ganks are wrong for lacking environmental awareness and retarded because the AI was adjusted so only two enemies from a squad attack you at a time if you somehow get yourself surrounded.I never played pre-patched but it's actually easier to just strafe the projectiles in Shrine of Armana instead of trying to i-frame through them. It never felt overwhelming unless you try to fight the archdrake pilgrims without luring them away from the wizards. You can also just do >>41617096Ancient dragon is still ass but he isn't strictly required and dlcs makes up for it by including a decent dragon fight.
>>41617651Don't tell Jugo...
Bumping with one of my favorite themes so the thread doesn't die while I'm votinghttps://youtu.be/sLrd5XtyV7Q?si=2Kcn44oJu5gsZH5w
>>41618948Aava is a pretty underrated boss.
>>41617074God I'd want Celestia to do this to me.
>>41616652>Did you play it at launch?Only after a few months had passed. The release for DkS II was around the time of my life where I was playing into the whole pompous martyr front. You know, that annoying contrarianism of being "oh so enlightened" yet unwilling to simply let bygones be bygones to prove my sensibilities of the series as being correct. Personal vanguard of my own opinion which was meant only for people who would hate me regardless. It was nice to finally get over myself in that regard.>[Shrine of Amana and Ancient Dragon] drained all the good will I had for the game [....]Concur'd on Ancient Dragon for original Dark Souls II, but I'm one of those freaks that thinks Shrine of Amana is the highlight of the game. It's got everything I could ever ask for in compelling area design.Don't think I'm about to tell you your opinion is 'incorrect', though: the mace-wielding Archdrake Pilgrims can go fuck themselves, and the lack of followthrough on the brightbug gimmick for the Abyss Victims still baffles me.>How is the DLC, I never bothered playing them.Reworked concept works planned for the original games made into actuality; they're stand-outs of such high regard that it felt awkward playing through them in a time where I used to be a vocal dissident of DkS II. Aside from the optional areas, they've a grounded adherence that's always unique to itself, enmeshed so well with the level design, atmosphere and enemy variety that it's hard not to get anchored in. You'll likely get tired of the same common variety of mook just being "medium poised gangly-limbed foot soldier", but everything else works so well that it'll be nothing more than a quick gripe to gloss over.For want of an excuse to go back with fresh mind, the DLC has your back.>>41616080Same Anon here; the resentment for that's mutual, trust me. The bar there's spared for DeS only; Crystal Lizards (and Primeval Demons by extension) in that game were fashioned by the deranged.
>>41617346Wasn't 2 and 3 developed at nearly the same time?
>>41620899Paintershy!
>>41621481I would go to the ends of the earth and become a mindless zombie santa for paintershyhttps://youtu.be/DRHuobucawA
>>41552606wouldn't lewding pony rosabeth be giving her more and more clothing as per law of poni
>>41613146oooLacile
>>41617096That's actually how I got through it pre-patch, but even then it was tedious as shit. I had to hug cover and pop out shoot once then wait to do it again. God help you if there were two that were staggering their spells, you would never get a chance to shoot them without taking a hit. Then everytime you died to an ambush or falling off a ledge it was right back to playing a cover shooter.>>41617750Strafing them was a crapshoot at launch. Their spells moved faster and tracked better so if you were in the water when they fired it you had to roll or find cover, and if there were two of them you would likely get hit by the second right after you finished rolling. Also fuck that one they put behind you right before the boss. Bitch had me convinced their spells could loop back around and hit you in the back if they had enough space.I'll pick sotfs up during the christmas sale if it gets a good discount. Does it fix enemies not respawning after you kill them a certain number of times or enemies who only respawn when you pump up an area's level having non-guaranteed drops? Hated that shit for trying to farm enemy gear. I took the belfry to like +8 before giving up on getting the witch's mask and veil.
>>41623482>Does it fix enemies not respawning after you kill them a certain number of timesNope, it's still like that. But if you join the company of champions in Majula, enemies will respawn indefinitely as long as you're in that covenant. So do that if you're farming gear.
>>41624332A lot more uncanny than 4 arms.
>>41555624Gave it another whirl today. I consider the game after pontiff to be when it starts getting moderately fun but not enough to save it from being r1 spam rollslop. Leaning into gimmicky shit definitely kept me awake enough to enjoy it even when I die https://files.catbox.moe/arfikb.webm
>>416203132 and bloodborne were. this made bloodborne lack all the kino quality of life features from dark souls 2. stat change, not gay upgrade system (bloodgems anyone?) not forced to go to NG+, and other simple things I can't think of at this very moment. then ds3 wanted to be bloodborne like, for me ds3 feels ALOT like the bloodborne dlc. areas are very straightforward in the dlc and the bosses are the big sell, personally this "bloodbornification" for lack of better term is a problem for me, I don't like how ds3/Er play. I played ds3 first but after playing all the souls games I feel taht making dark souls fast was a big misstep and that it should have stayed with Bloodborne or a NEW ip, bloodborne fast, darl(&demon) souls are slow
>>41625279>https://files.catbox.moe/arfikb.webmkino off meta build. works in ds3 so well.. you can giga optimized a build to be EZ af at lvl 60 or lower and beat the game no issue (minus the dlc fights at least for me) or just have fun. is cool, bosses aren't HUGE hp sponges like ds3s younger retarded brother
>>41625684Twilight is too real>feels to go for Chaos
>>41626006twiggle has no such concerns and will burn the world just to see the look on your face
>>41625684Ds3 and ER are the product of incest, more so ds3 with the amount of memberberries in it
>>41626222>trips of truth>ds3 and er product of incester now even has incest plotline even kek. I think ds2 did the ds1 references so soo much better. you have the great lords that represent the past lords.. souls reborn anew.. it's kino "the nameless lords" or whatever Shanalotte says yet one is called "duke's dear freja" why? that's not nameless>the great soul must be picked up from right under the dragonthe dragon WAS the great lord, it's so kino. the whole game is about how the cycle keeps going but the fire gets weaker and weaker.. until eventually there is nothing but dark. ds3 tried to copy this but instead it's just "hey this is like ds1 area!" and.. even their biggest ds2 thing being earthen peak is literally just.. a swamp again
>>41626058So she's this
>>41611559Would be flipped.Gold = wheat fieldsBlue = clear sky
DS2 despite all its flaws and some shoddy areas makes me feel like I'm going on a real adventure and travelling across a vast, alien world. I never got that with Elden Ring. Nothing was hidden, what you say was how the world was, so it was impossible to suspend your disbelief over the logistics of the world. Didn't help that there was an enemy every 5 meters that would interrupt your exploration and force-start combat music.I regret not playing DS2 earlier, it would have definitely become a core memory had I gotten it when it was still new.
>>41626845I choose to believe that the retarded group of people who would use ponies as a mouthpiece would also get the flag of the thing they're soapboxing about completely wrong
>>41626943I totally agree with you on Elden Ring not feeling so real. the combat music is a big part of it. only bosses should have combat music normal enemies triggering it is kind of weird..but more on the world not feeling real, I don't think it's the blocked off paths but lack of infrastructure, where ARE the people? the only people you see are wandering nobles from the golden capitol who are roaming looking for great runes after the shattering. where are the PEOPLE?.. the houses? why do all mines not have any sort of system for moving stone and ore outside of them? where are carts filled with rock nearby mines to make you go "hey look there is a mineshaft nearby" and where are all the structures they're building? other then the big city dungeons. stormveil, lyndell, haligtree, liurnia school.. where ARE the people?.. and the lake of liurnia shouldn't BE FLAT SO YOU CAN RIDE ACROSS IT. you should have to go AROUND IT. or jump across stones and islands to get places. "oh look al the buildings are sinking!!!.. but uh yeah its perfectly flat btw" even the swamp in ds3 had areas of different depth and that was supposed to be a rotten stagnant still water place not a FUCKING LAKE. its so stupid and the whole world feels fake and the lore makes it even worse "THE GREAT KINGDOM OF LIURNIA!!.. yes tehre are 4 lirunia knights.. so?" its so bad
>>41627339>le what do they eat fallacyIs this really the best you have?
>>41627395I feel like you're baiting me, what do they eat? where do they live? where IS the kingdom? where are the people. where is the infrastructure? the only signs of war are in the capitol outskirts and mount gelmir. the rest is just a field. the lore is stupid and shit too. the whole game is stupid and shit lore. why am I even trying to become elden lord? for what reason? fix WHAT world? what is there to fix? who is there to rule? none of the game makes any sense but >>le what do they eat fallacyno no no, anonretard fren. what do they DO at all? nothing, there is nothing in the lands between. and the dlc was the final nail in the coffin for the shit retard world building of a patched together game where they tried to both reference all their past games aswell as follow GRR's shit lore (lets be real no way he finished any of it the fat faggot) it's a huge mess of too many cooks in the kitchen and it's painfully obvious the whole game
>>41627500I agree completely with your sentiment, but I will comment on this. There are other signs of war: on the bridge leading to and from the academy and on the walls of Stormveil castle. Depending on how you define it the entirety of Caelid too. It's not really enough to make the world feel real, and one might even argue the sporadic presence makes the problem even worse, but there are objectively more signs of war.
>>41627503yeah you're right there are other signs of war, it just doesn't feel like enough to me and those were the examples on the top of my head. they're small problems is what I consider a hugely flawed game, I'm not a fan of open worlds.. I love dark souls 2's branching world (eventually stops branching but then DLC comes in to give 3 more branches) and Demon's Souls 5 worlds to play. for me that's good freedom. open world in a souls game just feel right to me. it was a nice try and they did it decently well with Limgrave, I think after limgrave and the weeping peninsula the open world starts to really falter and the flaws really start to show
>>41592666Fluttershy at the head and AJ at the back
>>41627339>where ARE the people?All the corpses you loot stuff from or see are people. All the wandering individuals who look like DaS hollows or rise up from random areas, like those emaciated fuckers who bite you are people. You see "Commoners" in forts all over the game or just lying around dead. All the military individuals are the rank-and-file soldiers you see. And given that nobody really needs to eat to stay alive in TLB and it has a low birthrate to begin with, all able bodied men went to war. Maybe even women. > the houses?All the villages in game, small and large. The terrain has also changed significantly Raya Lucaria is flooding. Lands likely shifted due to war and climate change something that is tied to the state of the Elden Ring.
>>41627557>All the wandering individualsYou mean those with copy pasted models and copy pasted clothes? That doesn't help the world feel immersive, lived in or large. It just makes it seem like there's an irrelevant minion mob scattered about in random places.
>>41627605ER's not really going for those surface-level, Bethesda tier levels of immersion. You're supposed to use your imagination and go with the notion that everything you're viewing is the decaying or overgrown ruins of a once great land. None of their games have ever done that. The closest to giving any rational reasoning for why people aren't present during events is Bloodborne and even that has your nitpick of enemies "looking the same."
>>41627518>I'm not a fan of open worldsYou should've just said this and not embarrass yourself with your /v/ tier shitposting. You're just pretending you're retarded to bait people, if you have even surface level knowledge of Souls games you know this kind of realism has never been the point of these games, the immersion doesn't come from them being believable lived in locales. But despite that you still pretend like you expected something like the Witcher from it. Worse still, you can nitpic every Souls game with exactly the same argument yet you're chosen Elden Ring as your target just because it's the one you don't like. Just go back to your ritualposting on /v/, we've seen all this a thousands times there.
>>41627615>Actually you're supposed to just imagine the game being good and immersive because our lord and savior miyazaki couldn't be assed to do something with the graphical design in his game beyond making a series of designated screenshot bait locationsThis is just embarassing. When you play DS1 and DS2 you don't have to "imagine" over the flaws of the developers. You're just immersed because the worlds and enemies are well designed(dragon butt hell notwithstanding). Funny how you compare it to bethesda and acknowledge that even they can do that, but for some Elden Ring can't.
>>41627655And before you even say anything about nostalgia. I played Elden Ring first.
>>41627655>When you play DS1 and DS2 you don't have to "imagine" over the flaws of the developersSure you can. Things like out-of-bounds areas or small areas not built to scale exist for example. Or something like, a place you cannot visit while only interacting with like a handful of NPCs. The flaws your stating are inherent to many games, and Fromsoftware games have never been about the minutiae of trivial details. They're dungeon crawlers that give exposition for events and people and they leave to player to fill in the gaps, however they want.
>>41627655>When you play DS1 and DS2 you don't have to "imagine"Yeah you do. Of course you have to imagine, that's the whole point. The game spoonfeeds you limited information about the world and reconstructing it from those titbits is up to you. This ruined kingdom was once grand and strong, but now nothing remains but deranged soldiers and desolated ruins, you have to imagine what once was, that's the whole point. There is no Souls game where this hasn't been true, that's the way they create their worlds, you are a nobody in a dead world, nobody is around and you clean up what remains of once great warriors and beings alongside other desperate souls who try to find meaning in this world and almost always fail to do so.
>>41627707>>41627716Those games were not open world. They had room for you to imagine. But even if you didn't, what was before you made enough sense for the small slice of the world you were traversing. That doesn't work when you make an open world game, there is no room for "just imagine the world has life elsewhere","just imagine things make sense in other places" there is no elsewhere. What you see is what you have. And what you have is a shallow, overambitious world that's much less than its predecessors and that's trying to conceal that fact with pretty vistas. Sure, in the older games you could imagine and speculate, but you never had to actively overwrite what was right in front of you. There was a good baseline for the world, which Elden Ring completely lacks.Although perhaps I shouldn't say completely. The royal capital itself was very good, and there were a few small moments like finding the erdtree seal inside the volcano that I did like and made the world feel real.
>>41627640>Just go back to your ritualposting on /v/, we've seen all this a thousands times there.I don't use /v/, I only post mares and like ds2 and hate elden ring
>>41627758I don't really see what you mean. Lordran also doesn't make any sense with or without backdrops.>there is no room for "just imagine the world has life elsewhere","just imagine things make sense in other places"Never did that for other games as well. I don't really care what "elsewhere" is and neither do devs. That's why the world outside of the play area only consists of a few mentions in dialogue and descriptions. As I said these things simply don't matter to the devs, the focus is on how the present reflects the past. Worldbuilding relies on showing you set pieces, the only difference in ER is that instead of being taken on a ride between them you have to walk there on your own. And I get that, not everyone likes walking. If your enjoyment of the game relies on constructing your own image of internal works of the world then I don't think it's the game's fault it doesn't pander to you.
>>41627811Could've fooled me because you act like a typical DS2 thread goer. It pains me to admit it but it does seem like DS2 fans have some sort of inferiority complex and have to put other games in the series down to justify liking it. I'd rather talk about DS2 than constantly turn to "but what about OTHER GAME".
>>41627996>It pains me to admit it but it does seem like DS2 fans have some sort of inferiority complex and have to put other games in the series down to justify liking itwow you really don't like that I like ds2 huh? I like all the others just not elden ring. demon's souls would be my favorite if they had thought of poise and a not shit upgrade system
>>41628056And here you go playing victim again. Why not talk about liking DS2 in a DS2 thread instead of disliking other completely unrelated games? Surely you can find something good to say about it instead of defaulting to bait.
>>41628590alright you got me. I feel for your gay ass bait twice now. GG anon now kys
>>41555624>>41557017What about Trixie? I assume whips and thrown consumables, and an eclectic mix of spells (none of them actual combat spells of course)? Maybe even a faith build to represent her stage confidence and inability to break character?
>>41600489>>41601521NTA but DS2 was the first souls game I ever committed to and beat, and I did 2/3rds of it at minimum adaptation (starting with Wretch or Deprived or whatever they call it in DS2).The only hitbox I would call bullshit on is the ogre's grab attack. Other than that, none of the hitboxes fucked me any worse than my later attempts at DS1 and Elden Ring. It's gotten to the point that I seriously wonder if I'm playing the same game as the hitbox complainers.
>>41607337>Le zoomlet panic rollingYeah, honestly I think that's why DS2 clicked for me- me being a stingy contrarian asshole who refused to upgrade ADP forced me to realize that instead of rolling through every attack I could try just.... NOT being where the attack is gonna hit in the first place?
>>41629288this is why I love ds2. it encourages you to NOT roll and outsmart enemies by your body placement, I love that shit
I hate that running ds2 in 60 fps doubles item degradation
>>41629288I've been doing a 85agi run not long ago and honestly it didn't matter TOO much, most of the times I don't even notice it. But with DS2's hitboxes the unfair hits do feel more unfair when they inevitably happen. There's a world of difference between positioning in Souls games and say Monster Hunter, after DS1 enemies don't really let you comfortably outmaneuver them and the best way to get somewhere is to roll there while the enemy is locked in its attack animation, and there lies the problem. Plus the low adp slower healing animation really fucks me up sometimes.I'm now trying to do Sir Alonne without getting hit on this run and I just can't do it, the inconsistent rolling fucks me up so much. I don't want to like one-shot him or wait 30 minutes for an attack and in a normal fight I can't rely on timings, 90% of the times his charge with upswing seems to have a random destination, too close or too far. I think that's my limit for this run.
>>41630078What about a shield
>>41630568The whole point is to use the standard ADP. The problem isn't beating the guy, the problem is not getting hit even once. Low agility does suck. Not as much as people like to think but it does.
>>41629946Aight I'm a die hard DS2 simp but even I'm not gonna defend that. Fromsoft why y'all gotta tie physics to framerate??
>>41629046Anon from both of those posts, already had a whip for the ds3 build. PvE mage combat is unfortunately too lame for the "trick" spells to have an interesting impact, but that's not to say you can't incorporate them. I imagine they would be hexes and sorceries like Dead Again, Repel/Twisted Barricade, and Repair Weapon (the effect looks like her cutie mark plus it's useful for the horrendous whip durability). Most of the damage output would come from flashy, mostly impractical AoE spells (Soul Shower, Soul Vortex, and Darkstorm) and pyromancies that replicate her fireworks and smoke bombs (lingering flame/flame swathe and toxic mist). Maybe a one-use big fuck you spell of any choosing akin to pic related. All the interesting consumables are sadly stuck in bloodborne and ER unless you want to run urns as your only means of ranged attacks
>>41632148I forgot Chameleon but does that even work against enemies?
>>41632226It's better in pvp, the hidden body shit is better for pve
>>41618948Take off the covenant of artorias!
>>41632148I know what I'm doing after I get through Rogue Trader
Is friendship magic or is it cheating?>enemy health boosts are negligible>boss ai breaks from having to target two or more players>bypasses level scaling with passwords
>>41634288I don't summon but I like helping others. Sunbro medal grind in DS2 is one of the more bearable ones for me.>>41629288Best thing about that is it also works for other games, even faster ones like Bloodborne and Elden Ring. It's surprising how easy it is to dodge some boss attacks just by walking/running.
>>41634701>Best thing about that is it also works for other games, even faster ones like Bloodborne and Elden Ring. It's surprising how easy it is to dodge some boss attacks just by walking/running.People underestimate how tight most of the hitboxes are. The grand majority of players are slaves to the lock-on and roll button and miss out on attack windows, which are very noticeable when you aren't being frame-trapped by doing rolls. Personally, Rellana's attack strings are easier to deal with when you're not spamming roll and weave through her diagonal slash.>https://youtu.be/CKtAZPm1yw4>https://youtu.be/gPTttYpcxb0>https://youtu.be/gHkv4XDGoBQKeep in mind these are autists doing it with complete restrictions and can be applied to a character that won't die from getting sneezed on
>>41635554kino 'nah I can walk' instead of roll.. I'm not good enough to do that in ds3-bb or er.. I can in dark souls 2 and maybe older if I actually got gud at those games. I kind of hate that ds2 is the only one I really enjoy playing.. its online is pretty dead and there are so many cool things in the other games. I just.. don't have fun as much in them, biggest is elden ring.. its so popular now but thje more I play it the more I just hate every choice they made with that game. I cry
>>41635624At least there are return to Drangleic events, it's not as bad for SotFS as it is for the original DS2 or PTDE. And at least there are still real people playing it, in DS3 I rarely find anyone but fully decked out twinks invading at lower levels.
>>41634288You didn't beat the game.
I like that ds2 had challenge run rewards
Never played Dark Souls, but I can listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbO70-JLvo0 everyday.
>>41635833>in DS3 I rarely find anyone but fully decked out twinks invading at lower levels.damn, that's unfortunate.. that game was my first souls and it made me hate invasions the amount of times early game people like that showed up, I still fucking hate invaders.. it's a shame because I really like the idea I'm just so sick of those faggots only there to metagame as hard as physically possible
>>41596854hope you're still here. This was supposed to be done a week ago but life got in the way so much
>>41637577Kek, this is amazing.
>>41637577you're gonna make me cry.. thank you anon. it's beautiful
>>41637577FUNNY
>>41637081SOVL
I once played ds2 for about 10 minutes
>>41639788Not play it again
Fear not the dark, my friend, and let the feast begin
>>41637081>STR vs INT
>>41640932>mare crawls up out of the ground>"I shall partake.">lifts you up and starts nibbling on your neck
Best Souls 2, Pure Kino
>>41641180>It's a spike episode
>>41637577God, I wish that were me.
This will be you, anon. This is the cost of trying to go to Equestria.
>>41640967Tasty. Or a changeling does it
played sum demon's souls.. the red and blue dragon just weren't there so I was free to pick up all the itemscool?.. it was kind of unnerving actually, no fire breathe on the first bridge even but then the red one showed up on 1-2 to breathe fire on the big bridge but still.. wtf
>>41643275I don't drink blood like a retard
>>41644053Was the remake?
>>41644403ps3 emulator on pc. that's probably what happened
>>41644715Yeah sometimes things aren't rendered in
>>41645360no anon.. they weren't there at all. I went to where they sit and breathe fire and they were just gone so I could go pick up all the items for free with no firebreath. the red one didn't even fly over to breath fire on the first short bridge.he showed up in the next part of the level for the big bridge ofc because we can't have nice things. I got a screenshot from a recording I took of the whole thing
>>41643275I'm still wondering why Ludwig was a horse.
>>41645542Le amazing knight was corrupted into a horse man to subvert your expectations
>>41645542>>41645545because horses are cool!.. aswell as different parts of Yharnam and the surrounding areas turned into beasts differently,OG beasts were fishmen. Forbidden woods? snake mfs, central Yharnam? Werewolf dog people shit, even in cainhurst there are like bat-people or something, not sure what that is about I'm not that familiar with the lore but the implication seems to be that wherever he is from or was had horse people illness, maybe he's from /ptfg/
>>41591364The Kirin is frozen
page 10.. guys our thread is going hollow please help
>>41645370anon he meant loaded in when he said rendered insometimes the emulator just doesn't load in certain enemies properly
>>41646646oh ok, yeah it's not perfect.. had some issues with emulator as of late. I updated it and now when I break props the game explodes into 5 fps
>>41646580The only thing we haven't talked about yet is how gutted the final game was. Cut content is always going to be mystic and better than the final product in most cases, but it's such a shame that the Gutter was as gutted as it ended up being from a level design perspective likely due to consoles being too underpowered at the time to make up for the level of optimization you would expect from development hell.
>>41647140there are some odd unused boss cutscenes I've seen. some sort of duo fight that was going to be in the gutter.also I think agdyne and darlurker were meant to be a duo fight, and the the boss reward of the crypt sword was just thrown into the rotten ng+ because idk they got confused I suppose (it makes no sense. all other ng+ boss souls give ds1 reference things. this one just gives that and random ass sword from AGDYNE rfom the CRYPT across the map
>>41647440Nito's soul gives the chode sword because it's what he had. Why do you think his wife left him
>>41647140The game was scrapped halfway through dev. It's a miracle it was released at all
>>41647651Skill issue
Time for a no bonfire run
>>41649114woah really? post screenshots if you do. hey you gave me an idea (somehow)would anyone be interested in some sort of co-op playthrough of a souls game? maybe some arena fighting? never done 2v2 ds3 arena but that would be fricking cool, as long as you're not a twink >:(
>>41646580Lucatiel would be proud
>>41637077Never heard that one before
MLP, Skyrim and DaS all released in the 2010s.
>>416512822010 was truly the beginning of the end, not 2012
>>41649114Always wanted to do it and no-death run but still postponing to this day even though I know I could probably accomplish it.>>41651282Funny how early 2010s were the years of questionable sequels, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2, Starcraft 2. And DS2 just added to that list later.
>>41652359Mass Effect 2 was loved despite dumbing dumbing down gameplay and reconning infinite ammo
>>41652760Because we didn't truly realize how badly EA could fuck up Bioware. Its funny they had three juggernaut franchises to appeal to various niche fanbases (Dead Space, Dragon Age, ME) and killed them all so they could be released yearly or play like Gears of War lite.
>>41652760I still love it was much as 1. But it was also undeniable that >>41652773 is right, it was the time of "press X to awesome" and "we want CoD audience". And then there was SWTOR.
>>41652359>StarCraft 2Reminds me some guy made a video essay about the "death" of StarCraft 2 and when people disagreed he had a meltdown and tells every person that disagrees to debate him on Discord
>>41616652I played only Scholar
>>41652359No-death definitely seems harder than no-bonfire
I'm having trouble deciding if ds1 or ds3 is less replayable. Ds1 is more open ended but the build variety is barebones and the level design itself (not the le interconnectivity) leaves a lot to be desired. You can play the game in your sleep the more experience you have. By that point why bother?Meanwhile Ds3 is literally a straight line and you can't complete certain builds until you're done with 80% of the game, but it arguably demands more of your attention with some of the bosses.>>41649489You'd honestly have more luck in the mlp vidya general thread if you're just looking for other ponyfags
>>41655180DS1 is a pretty relaxing experience for me, definitely more replayable. It's just a good game that's easy to replay and do challenges in. DS3 is more challenging but it's not that fun to challenge yourself in it, if you know what I mean. It does have some nice mods though, those are/were fun.
>>41655355>DS1 is a pretty relaxing experience for mei have this but ds2, ds1 makes me angy..
>>41655520Why?
>>41655943idk. I just don't like any of the levels or really any of the bosses. I want to like O&S but find it annoying. I find every level very tight and cramped and using big weapons is not very useful.. the only thing I really like about ds1 over demon's souls is poise. and ds2? I just like it better. maybe the humanity system and chaos weapons of ds1 but the actual levels. bosses and general gameplay in ds1 bothers me. its so weird because I like demon's souls. i played ds1 before demon's and came back to it thinking "maybe I'll like it now" but I just don't.. I just don't like anything it does and I keep trying and no matter how much I want to like ds1 I just fucking don't.. ds1 levels are so bad and I HATE the interconnected stuff. shortcuts are cool but "look im back here again!" isn't cool to me just like "fuck this isn't the right way" and is annoying to me
>>41647651physics issue
>>41553128I will remember her name...
>>41655355I'm hesitant to count self-imposed challenges as something that would make games more replayable, especially if there's no official implementation (I know hollow knight has the "steel mode" or whatever but that would be an example). I feel like what makes a game more replayable is giving the player more tools, not having them restrict themselves to using less. I fucking hate ds3 for being the most cynically made and watered-down entry in the series in terms of game design, but it gives you more things to play with. I do agree that ds1 is relaxing to sink into and that fact makes it more replayable (not as much as ds2 lol), but it becomes a checklist simulator after O&S if you get what I meanI really should try Ds3 mods. I'm only aware of Convergence from playing the ER version and there's also Archstones, but I'd rather wait for that to finish first.
>>41656623>I'm hesitant to count self-imposed challenges as something that would make games more replayableFor me it does and it goes for any non-story focused game. DS1 a game where not being optimized doesn't matter and sequence-breaking isn't too punishing so anything is fun. I can say the same about DS2, planning a playthrough is half the fun because you're not really punished for doing anything. DS3 for me is so combat-focused that using one weapon instead of the other soon becomes so trivial that cosplay builds quickly lose their appeal while challenges are usually harder to execute making them not worth the effort.>ConvergenceStill pretty fun but I think the last game update broke it and the modders didn't come back to fix it.>ArchstonesDemo was really cool, it's a "demo" but it feels like a legit short game, there's like 15 bosses there. I'd say it's worth checking out as is.There was also Cinders (got completely changed multiple times along the way so no idea if it's good now), Champion's Ashes (not PVE focused enough for me personally) and I really hope Project Eclipse comes out eventually.
>>41656623ds3 has Cinders. it's not THAT interesting and has alot of semi-low effort re-skin bosses but at the same time it also has alot of stuff from past games that never got ported over. and some that wouldn't have. it's really sort of a big sandbox to mess around it with not much real substance in terms of changes. also I almost thought your post as mine and I forgot making it until I read it and realized that ain't me.. that's my art and I don't think I've seen anyone else re-post it before, knowing someone liked it enough to save it makes me happy
>>41657032It's cute anon. There's a dire need for more souls pones
I've played 2 ds3 mods. One added shit to ds3 like chalice dungeon assets. The other was a grueling punishing mod with Heide's tower and a flaming phoenix
First drop.. I.. I was ready for HOURS of farming this piece of shit
>>41658561What are the odds?
>>41658561I dupe 99 Vanguard souls and full moon grass at the start of the game.You should too.
>>41659060very very low..>>41659086I AM duplicating. but you can't duplicate if you don't have it, also kill batponies, decapitate batponies, burn batponies alive ect ect
>>416590931% odds?
>>41658561Haven't played this one yet. Is this for max upgrading? The game probably isn't hard enough to warrant farming through that low drop rate. Or is it for infusion?
>>41659356I have mod that puts it at around 5% (it came with mod that I actually wanted to get the old monk headwrappings offline. its the ps5 versions droprate, I do own that so I don't feel its too much cheaty.. but it's not just the droprate. the black skeleton you have to kill has a ton of HP. you can't just reload areas like dark souls you haev to return to the hub then come back>>41659475its max upgrading a dex weapon specifically. the upgrade paths in this game are pretty bad and require a million materials
I need to beat the DLC before this thread dies so i can read it without spoilers.
>>41660745Remember to visit the sad old man after beating all 3
Moth outfit was BASED
https://files.catbox.moe/k6j9av.jpgThe image was too big to upload. here it is! I FUCKING DID IT HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. WHY IS DARK SOULS 2 HERE TWICE?? HUH?? I DID IT TWICE!!!KINO SOULS 2
>>41661543I can't believe this guy used to give me trouble and now I'm fighting Consort Radahn
>>41588414But she can fly
>>41574218Well said
I loved the ring that decreased enemy poise
>>41584131Twildia made a giant fake Celestia
>>41641180The bridge was kino. The drake hammer giants in the next area are cancer
>>41663866they're insane! I have no idea how they're so strong and fast
>>41656688>I really hope Project Eclipse comes out eventuallyI hope they do a good job contextualizing the cool backdrops from the alpha like the bleeding sun, the flying sperm wyvern things, god's grave, pontiff playing a bigger role. I know sometimes concepts are cut for a reason and won't always result in a better game if they were actually implemented, but the rewrites that resulted in the final version of ds3 were fucking abysmal and shallow. Something that gets me is that there isn't a "second act" like in the prior two games (ring bells>fill up the lord vessel in ds1, attain four lord souls>do ashen mist quest/collect the three optional crowns in ds2), it's just collecting the four lords of cinder skulls the whole game to unlock a warp to the final boss. Getting to that point feels like there's an empty void of cut shit because of the impossibly short development deadlines they were given.
>>41663902I see it. Clear as day.. They won't do it. They're pussies too afraid of the truth
