Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin

[faetal]

Got any suggestions for which weapons are good then? I think as it's a first play-through, I'll go standard STR/DEX/END focussed build, assuming that even does similar stuff to DkS. I usually prefer to go through without help as the thrill of Dark Souls is in the uncertainty of what the next section holds on store, but I also want to enjoy the damn game and at the moment, I just feel like it hates me.

[242]

Then again, Petrified Dragon Bone (which you need for boss-soul weapons) is even rarer, and there's no covenant that offers it.

Petrified Dargon Bones are easily farmed by using Bonfire Ascetics in the Dragon Aerie. But that's at the end of the game, I recommend to accumulate enough before a new game cycle.

Got any suggestions for which weapons are good then? I think as it's a first play-through, I'll go standard STR/DEX/END focussed build, assuming that even does similar stuff to DkS.

ANY weapon and build is ok in DS2. And it's now much easier to amass a huge arsenal of fully upgraded weapons + you can change your build as many times as you like (there are more than enough of soul vessels in the game). I got like 30 fully upgraded weapons of various types for my various builds at the end of NG++.

[Malleus]

Got any suggestions for which weapons are good then?

I say the mace, rapier and spear are all good starting weapons. As 242 said, you can beat the game with any weapon, but I feel these make the beginning easier.

[faetal]

Do the latter 2 make it easier because of being able to attack fro behind the shield? Because I never enjoyed playing that way, so I may seek out the mace.

[Malleus]

No, they make it easier because they're fast, and they have counter bonus to damage (you do higher damage when you interrupt enemies during their attack animations - and this can happen a lot). The spear is also long, so you can out-range a lot of mobs. I myself only use the poke-from-behind-shield thing in specific situations. The mace on the other hand has strike damage, a damage type most enemies are weak to, plus it has high poise damage (likely to stagger enemies).

[Nameless Voice]

Personally I love Ricard's Rapier, for the reasons mentioned above. It's fast and doesn't use much stamina.
I sometimes dual-wield a warped sword and katana, which does nice burst damage with it's four-swing strong combo - but it has really long windup and uses up almost my entire stamina bar in one attack. Better to poke a few times with the rapier in the same time, with faster animations (so more time to dodge if needed) and much less stamina use.
I tend to find myself going back to the rapier.


Shield-and-rapier cheese can also be good against enemies who are themselves rather cheesy or who just get really annoying/repetitive (e.g. the knights in Iron Keep.)

[faetal]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm playing through DS1 again and am having very few problems - I've rung both bells, killed Pinwheel, Moonlight Butterfly and DRB Hydra with ease.
In Dark Souls 2 SotFS I just seem to get killed continually by even the low level assholes. Finding a decent weapon and shield seems to be tricky - seems you can't have both from the offset (Warrior has the shield offset by shit sword, Cleric or Knight have good weapon offset by no shield). I'm not sure why but I just don't find it enjoyable at all. In the beginning of DS1, I rage quit quite a lot until I got better at the game, but that just doesn't seem to happen at all with DS2. What gives?

[Malleus]

Well, you can pick up the morning star in Majula, which is good enough until you buy something better from the blacksmith, and you can pick up the Crimson whatever shield on the way to Heide's, which works well enough until you get a better one.

[faetal]

I think the problem is the cheap difficulty increase between DS2 and SotFS. I've just bought and installed DS2 and am not finding it nearly so tedious to play.
The latter game seems to be playing up to the 'Dark Souls is supposed to be hard' reputation a bit much, but not in a smart way. They've just jigged the enemy placement and number such that it's much harder to just progress anywhere. I think once I've completed it, I may come back to SotFS, since some of the extra difficulty comes from small changes to basic mechanics - rolling particularly doesn't work the same way.
Seems odd though that they decided to make it harder since you can do that anyway with the Covenant stone in Majula or by burning bonfire ascetics.

Actually enjoying DS2 and the rapier is great - thanks for the tip. Using Heide knight sword as a backup. I may go for a pure dex build, as I'm not a big fan of weapons with long wind-up and it seems that DS2 is far less generous with windows of opportunity. The Last Giant in particular gives very small windows. Beat it on the 2nd try though.

[twisty]

Interesting. I actually found SOTFS easier than DS2 vanilla but that probably had more to do with playing a magic build this time round, as I was able to farm souls quickly early in the game. The other tactic that I think is essential regardless of your build is to get the Fire Sword in the Forest of Giants. In particular, the speed of that thing is just nuts with the right build and you easily carve up most opponents for at least the first 1/3 of the game.

[faetal]

You're not wrong about the fire sword. I've upgraded it to +4 and skipped through the first part of Heide's castle with no problems. I guess those Old Knights are vulnerable to fire because 4 R2 swipes and they're down. I have the ring of binding now too, which is nice.

[Malleus]

...the Fire Sword in the Forest of Giants. In particular, the speed of that thing is just nuts with the right build and you easily carve up most opponents for at least the first 1/3 of the game.

That weapon is good throughout the whole game.

As for difficulty, I found that some areas is SotFS are harder, some are easier, (and some are WAY easier,) but all in all the difference isn't significant. I'm kind of confused by faetal finding it so different...

[faetal]

Depends how good you are at the game I guess. If you're very good (you are - based on co-op play with you), then the difference between hard and a bit harder may not be felt. If, like me, you're simply OK at Dark Souls, then it can make all of the difference.

[Nameless Voice]

I finally finished everything last night, after about 140 hours.

Everything including all three DLCs, all optional areas, getting level 3 in the Heirs of the Sun and Dark covenants and level 2 in the Bell Keepers (killing that Mad Warrior got repetitive.)
I'm still a few spells short of having all of the achievements, and I think I'll go for them.

On to NG+, where I've re-specced as a sorcerer, which is a lot of fun and feels significantly easier (though that's probably because I'm doing the early areas of the game with 10m+ Soul Memory more than anything else.)

[faetal]

Is the fire sword slightly OP maybe? Feels like I can just mash attack to beat the majority of enemies with little issue now.
I'm having that strange guilt that I felt with the drake sword in DS1.

[Starker]

It is very OP. Especially if you have played a Souls game before. I don't think it's quite as bad as Drake Sword though.

[Nameless Voice]

I'm finding the inevitable PvP much more fun as a sorcerer. Mostly because I've murdered almost every red phantom who dared invade me.
Spells actually deal decent damage when they hit and using them feels a little more strategic than both sides just rolling around and hoping they can get a successful stab in between the other person's rolls.

Also amusing to use Soul Greatsword to kill a guy who is repeatedly trying to stay on the opposite side of a small pillar from you while healing himself with a Warmth pyromancy.

[faetal]

Not sure if I should reply to this thread as I'm not playing SotFS, but I can't find a recent enough and relevant generic DS2 thread.
Anyway, I just beat the Belfry Gargoyles on my second attempt.
Solo.

[Nameless Voice]

I finished it again as a sorcerer. I managed to beat most of the bosses first time this time, only the Dual Pursuers and (for some reason) Vendrick (who I'd killed in one attempt the first time around) gave me any real trouble.
... I forgot to kill the Belfry Gargoyles, though.

I kept kept most of the soul items I found, and then went to NG++, ran over to Black Gulch and repeatedly farmed The Rotten until I could get the 3m souls needed to bypass the other three bosses. That let me rush to Chanceller Wellegar and buy the three spells that are only available from him on NG++.... and now I have all spells and all the achievements.

I think that's enough Dark Souls for a while.

[Mr.Duck]

I'm proud of my 15 year old nephew who kicked the Fume Knight's ass solo while wearing Velstadt's helm (same one who also soloed Ornstein & Smough). <3 Onwards to Sir Alonne!

[salass00]

Back to playing SOTFS after quickly finishing Bloodborne NG++ for the last of the three endings.

Just defeated Sir Alonne and did the Ivory King expansion up until the first boss. The different controls and the much slower combat compared to Bloodborne took some getting used to though and I died a whole bunch of stupid deaths before I did.

[Malleus]

You're playing on PS4, I assume.

[salass00]

You're playing on PS4, I assume.

Yes. My PC is too old to run the latest games at decent speed any more so I use it mostly for other things as well as for running older games.

I defeated Aava on my 3rd try. About halfway through the fight my dark scythe+10 was at risk so I had to switch to my dark broadsword+8 to finish her off.

Apparently she has very little health so once you know how to dodge all of her attacks she's a real pushover.

[twisty]

How useful do you find the long reach weapons such as the Dark Scythe for general combat in DS2? Whereas I often used long reach weapons at various stages in DS1 such as the Halberd (although I mainly used the Drake sword throughout), I hardly ever used any reach weapons in DS2 as I tended to find them less effective overall due to a reduced level of agility.

As far as Bloodborne is concerned however I pretty much stuck with the Hunter's Axe right through to the end.

[Malleus]

Not sure what you mean by "reduced level of agility", but reach is always useful and both spears and halberds are very good weapons in DS2 - you can easily beat the game using nothing but these. Being able to hold the enemy at bay with reach is especially useful against NPCs, or mobs that you can stagger. Scythes, are generally weaker though (although I think you meant the bardiche, which is a halberd class weapon, I never figured out why it's called "Scythe" in the game).