Another chance? From the Steam achievements it looked like you're playing it for the first time. It's still my favorite Souls game btw. Keep at it, it's gonna get better and better, the DLC areas are especially great.Originally Posted by faetal
I tried playing SotFS a while back and hated it due to the cheaply ramped difficulty in the early stages, then played Dark Souls 2 instead for a about 20-30 hours and lost interest.
This is really a fair run at DS2SotFS having previously had a pop at both versions.
Ok, the first really frustratingly hard challenge so far is Royal Rat Authority. It's fucking Sif with 4 toxic Capra Demon-esque dogs.
Much of the bastard.
Nuke the small rats at the beginning with Firestorm or a similar pyromancy (or any AoE spell for that matter), and then it's just the boss and you.
Or use faster weapon and keep on the move. It seems to take them a while to adjust to the player's location. If you stand in one place for too long you're toast.
The two-handed R2 of the halberd style weapons works pretty well for taking out the small rats in one swoop as well.
I've yet to die once to either of the rat covenant bosses in either of the Dark Souls 2 games (original and SOTFS) but I guess it just goes to show that different people have problems with different bosses because of different builds and playing styles.
My current build is a mid-roll quality guy with a +8 fire longsword and drangleic shield with relatively decent armour and 100 agl.
How do you have 100 agility with only a +8 weapon?
Because I levelled adaptability?
I mean if you maxed out a stat you are likely on ng+ or more unless you are absurdly overleveled, which would imply you have the ability to +10 that weapon several times over.
I'm only levelling str/dex/adp and a little end. Nothing else. I am around level 70.
You don't need to max out any stat to have 100 agility (checking with a character planner about 25 adaptability gives 100 agility). In fact agility does go higher than 100 if you keep putting points into adaptability.
Another stat that also increases agility is attunement although it does it much more slowly.
Unless you are putting points into intelligence or faith I would recommend getting rid of the fire infusion to get better str/dex scaling or switching to another weapon.
The drangleic sword is for instance pretty good, has good scaling and will have some more range than your longsword.
My bad. It's been too long since I've played. I thought agility was the attribute and not the child stat. I was scratching my head why anyone would have maxed out adaptability lol.
I also have a +7 mace and a +7 rapier. Will give the drangleicc sword a look see though.
I fired this up today for a quick play and was gobsmacked by the amount of players that I came across. It seems to be just as popular as is was shortly after it was released. Interestingly enough, I went to several bonfires in DS3 to make an arbitrary comparison and came across hardly anyone. Are there any stats available on numbers of people playing DS games?
I think the Dark Souls games on PC are only playable via Steam. And therefor the Steam player statistics should be reasonably accurate.
DS1: http://steamcharts.com/app/211420
Old DS2: http://steamcharts.com/app/236430
DS2 SotFS: http://steamcharts.com/app/335300
DS3: http://steamcharts.com/app/374320
DS1, average in January 2592, peak 4280
DS2, average in January 581, peak 1176
SotFS, average in January 2371, peak 4168
DS3, average in January 8960, peak 14531
Last edited by Gryzemuis; 4th Feb 2017 at 13:16. Reason: I didn't realize that DS2 and SotFS are 2 different games
You forgot Scholar of the First Sin
January 2017 av 2,371.8 peak 4,168
http://steamcharts.com/app/335300
Interesting. Might have just been a once off then...
You mean the beginning of the game? Where you found many players? And by players you mean signs? I haven't played it in a while, but it's far from being abandoned, according to forums.
Something I found interesting while trying to play SotFS recently.
You don't ever think any of the DS games are all that greatly different from each other. Going through DS1, to DS2, to DS3 linearly like I have leaves you the impression that each new game is but a slight tweak upon the one that came before. It's only when you try to go back to a game that came before that you realize just how different each one is.
I got my ass handed to me when I went back to DS2. Everything feels so slow in comparison. It's thrown my timing off. I can't even dodge roll anything, or get any good attacks with a quick weapon in without leaving myself wide open. It's not anything I couldn't get used to in about an hour or so of reacclimating myself to it, but it amazed me how different it actually plays while still looking like it's fundamentally the same on the surface.
I enjoyed DS1 when I tried it. Took me a while to get into it. But that was an enjoyable experience in itself. Setting up DSfix and DSMfix. Learning the combat and movement, programming my joystick so I could easily control my character. Learning some of the RPG mechanics. I must have spent 20 or even 40 hours before I made it into the Undead Parish. Once I was there, and got my beloved Halberd, the game started to click. Even the hellhole called Sen's Fortress couldn't discourage me anymore.
I got into DS3 even quicker. I started as a dual-wielding Mercenary. I got my ass handed to me by Iudex Gundyr 30, maybe 40 times. Then I switched to warrior with a 100% block shield, and beat the Iudex on my 2nd try. By the time I was on the High wall of Lothric, I knew DS3 was gonna be an awesome game.
Dark Souls 2 ?
I tried it long time ago. For maybe 3 hours, messing around in the starter area. I didn't like anything in that game. So I stopped playing. I tried again later, while making a post here asking for help. Still didn't like the game. It's fugly, even compared to DS1. I hate the mechanic where you play at 50% health if you're a bad player. I had no clue what I was doing, where I was going. As far as I remember, the controls and combat in DS2 feel completely different than in DS1 or DS3 (agree with Renz there).
On the other hand, DS2/SotFS is the only Dark Souls game I can still play that I haven't played yet .... So I'm sure one day I'll give it another go.
Unless I buy a PlayStation and give Demon Souls and BloodBorne a try. But tbh, I don't see myself buy a console ever.
The Undead Crypt. I was referring to the ghosts of others players making their way through the area at the same time as me. There were so many in fact that it became somewhat distracting -- I readied myself to strike on a number of occasions.
I didn't think that it was abandoned by any means, I just didn't think that it would still be so popular. There have been some price drops on recent Steam and PS4 sales though so that might have something to do with it (if it wasn't just a coincidence).
Interestingly enough, I found that after beating BloodBorne I became a better player of DS2 to some extent and DS3 in particular. However it didn't help me at all with DS1, which I feel is probably the slowest of the three games.
DS2 is great. It definitely picks up after a while and has some of the most varied locations in the series. The DLCs are also amazing.
DS1 isn't just the slowest, it also feels the most spastic, like the controls are a little too loose and jerky. DS2 feels so much more fluid in comparison.
Also, Gryz, listen to Twisty about DS2. It might take a bit to get going compared to the others, but once it does, it's hard not to love. The DLCs are, in my personal opinion, among the best standalone areas in the entire series. So yeah, you should really reconsider giving it another go.
And lastly but not leastly, well...I'd skip on Demons Souls. I played it after beating DS1, and while I thought it was good, it really felt more like a beta for all that came later. Just about everything you know and love about the rest of the series is represented in DeS, albeit in a rougher, more simplified form.
Bloodborne? Now that's one you need to play. It's up there with DS3 in quality of presentation, and it plays like...well, Dark Souls on Adderall. Just one fair bit of (vague) warning if you do get around to it: prepare yourself, your muscle memory will fuck you.
I paused my first play-through of Dishonored 2.
The Last Giant is down.
It took a while to get used to DS2. The controls just don't feel right. They still don't, but I manage now. I use the same keybinds as in DS1 and DS3, I have my joystick configured exactly the same way. But everything feels slow. I can hardly roll. Most of the time, when I press the (mouse-)button to roll, nothing happens. I use the other mouse-button for blocking, and that is slow too. Last night I read about "adaptability". Maybe I should invest a few points in adaptability, and maybe that'll help ?
The game isn't as pretty as DS3. And imho even DS1 with extra textures looks better. The only good thing is: I run the game in 5120x2160 resolution on my 2560x1080 monitor. And it *never* drops under 60 fps. Now if I could get rid of the black side-bars, that would be nice. (I've got that to work earlier this year, it requires running in borderless window-mode. But it's a pain to get to work and I can't be bothered right now).
Last year, or the year before, I actually looked up the location of the Ring of Binding. This time I just ran there, didn't fight any of the Heide Knights, and got myself the ring. It helps me to reduce frustration because "losing health when hollow". Thank From we got 4 ring slots now. I also looked up where to get the Fire Longsword, and got it easily. For the rest I've been playing blind, not using the wiki too much. (Only to read a bit about game-mechanics, like adaptability). It was a big surprise when I suddenly stood in the Last Giant's room.
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