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Dark Souls II
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Synonamess Botch
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July 28, 2017 - 7:25 pm
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I finished Dark Souls 2.  Took me over 3 years but who's counting.

I came back to this game in order to give it a second chance, and it ended up endearing itself to me.  I accepted it for what it was and with that my disappointment subsided a little.  I still don't think it's a very good game.  It really is a mess: the mechanics, the level design, and the world-building.  They failed at it but at least they tried and I appreciate the effort.

The interesting thing is that I switched over to a Cleric with a mace and a great club and had much more fun than with my original Katana-wielder.  Trying to play a fast-moving character with that goofy movement just put me off.  Anyway, it's done.

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Steerpike
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July 31, 2017 - 9:09 am
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Congratulations! I saw you playing it the other day and figured you were being nostalgic. I haven't finished either, and I did grab the Scholar of the First Sin collection on PSN sale some time ago. Despite idiosyncrasies, it seems deserving of the time and attention. I've given DkS2 at least 60 hours and never actually made it all that far; more than any of the others it seems to be one where I spend a lot of time in areas I'm ready to move past. For some reason I don't feel comfortable moving forward until I've "cleared" a section (I have no idea why this is), which is a DkS2-only problem and one of the key things I both appreciated and disliked about the game.

The chief thing that holds me back from trying again is an unwillingness to go through the Lost Bastille again. Though the area is not really any bigger or more difficult than any of the others, I've always struggled with it and it becomes extremely frustrating. 

With Persona 5 nearly finished, I think I'll go back to DkS3 first, and juggle it with Horizon:Zero Dawn. Dark Souls 2 will have to wait for a gaming lull.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Synonamess Botch
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July 31, 2017 - 7:38 pm
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I'm getting the urge for some Dark Souls 3 as well, and I also have the Bloodborne DLC to complete.  But first, Nier Automata after P5.

Speaking of Scholar of the First Sin, I'm very confused about the different versions out there.  I have vanilla Dark Souls 2, with no DLC but fully updated with all patches.  When I completed the game, it displayed "Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin" in the credits.  Also, there are things such as Aldia showing up at some of the primal bonfires or whatever you call the ones after the 4 major bosses.  I encountered these events although I thought they were SotFS additions.  Can anyone clear this up?

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xtal
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August 15, 2017 - 2:32 am
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I have no idea about that, Botch.

Steerpike, what you need is summons. You don't even have to tolerate people. Just wiki it up and check which npc summons are available in what areas. Maybe you'll be able to enjoy things a bit more with hired help. The triple boss is easily defeated when you even the odds.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Steerpike
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August 19, 2017 - 12:00 pm
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Not sure Botch, but my guess is they just patched in some Scholar elements to the vanilla game and included the title at the end for whatever reason. The three additional areas in Scholar are (in a way) less significant than all the other changes it features: rearranged enemies and enemy balance in various areas, improved frame rate, more things that knock me off ledges, etc. Maybe the "Scholar of the First Sin" subtitle is reflective more of the base game enhancements.

The beauty of the internet: you can start by saying "I have no clue" and then write a WHOLE FREAKING PARAGRAPH as if you did.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Synonamess Botch
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August 19, 2017 - 8:33 pm
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Am i the only one who felt absolutely zero emotional impact from the final boss?  Maybe it would have been better had I not summoned my 2 bros blue-blade dude and headless dude.  I felt the same way about the, er, next-to-last boss (?).

Anyway yeah Steerpike, summon some help.  The molasses movement makes it very tough to handle more than a couple opponents (seriously, screw those horse-knight statue dudes).

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xtal
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August 23, 2017 - 3:15 am
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Yeah I also didn't find the ending of Dark Souls 2 too exciting. The double boss fight can be an enjoyable challenge; the final boss (I forget her name) was a puzzle boss lite. Pretty low key end scene too.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Synonamess Botch
Texas, y'all
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August 23, 2017 - 8:22 am
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I understand the need to take advantage of a successful venture (i.e. original Dark Souls) but it's pretty apparent that there was never an intent for the story to be continued.  Given what they had to work with I guess it came out alright, but it all fell pretty flat for me.

That's why I'm hoping From's next announcement isn't Bloodborne 2.

There's a Youtuber I found called Hawkshaw whose analysis of the lore is astoundingly good and who makes the other lore masters I've followed previously look shallow in comparison.

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xtal
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August 23, 2017 - 12:45 pm
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Huh, that's interesting. I've seen some pretty good lore videos.

But yeah, there was absolutely no story planning, they never thought there'd be a sequel. That's why I actually do like Dark Souls 2's general themes of memory loss and confusion about the past. Or as I like to say, its "fuck Dark Souls" attitude.

Then, predictably, with 3 they conveniently ditched most of 2, did obvious fan service by bringing back way more stuff from 1, and said "dark souls 1 was soooooo important oooohohoohohoh and this completes that story oohoohohohohoh" which is lame. Grow a spine, Dark Souls 3. Be your own game. You're starting to look like that Paul Ryan guy from the Somewhat United States. Zing!

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Steerpike
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August 30, 2017 - 12:46 pm
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Paul Ryan's spine was last seen leaving the country from LAX, bound to a remote and uninhabited island in the Fiji archipelago where it will never be found, but will (ironically) drown in a storm surge caused by global climate change.

An element of Dark Souls 2 that really worked for me was the "effects of the curse" stuff -- the memory loss, the sense of distress and confusion; if a character remembered some but not everything, it tended to ignite an almost manic sense of joy and purpose; shortly thereafter each character started to realize how much they didn't remember and became increasingly disconsolate the more they thought about it. I liked the relationships between characters and the sense that there was often a long history that didn't necessarily matter for gameplay but added richness to places like Majula.

Lots of people from From have lamented how little time they had to make Dark Souls 2, and pointed to that as the cause for some of the problems and inconsistencies it had -- particularly the world's lack of cohesion. The addition of fast travel to both 2 and 3 were understandable, but I feel they greatly impaired a player's ability to get to know the game world, which in turn prevented the sort of intimacy most people felt with the country in the first game.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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xtal
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August 31, 2017 - 2:58 pm
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Steerpike said
The addition of fast travel to both 2 and 3 were understandable, but I feel they greatly impaired a player's ability to get to know the game world, which in turn prevented the sort of intimacy most people felt with the country in the first game.  

I strongly agree. In retrospect, fast travel seems to have been handled perfectly in dark souls 1. You get it at the point where it seems fair and appropriate to get it. Dks 2 and 3 could have gone with 1's approach, but then again, I don't think either of their worlds were as rewarding to explore as Lordran.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Synonamess Botch
Texas, y'all
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September 4, 2017 - 11:02 am
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Same here.  You have to make fast-travel feel earned.  Along with that, you have to make traversal feel interesting, challenging, and organically tied to your quest.  In short, not annoying.  I have no idea how you accomplish this, but I know it when I see it.  Dark Souls 1 had it.

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