Dark souls 2

Yeah. You have to unpetrify the NPC in Lost Bastille. Most of the items require a high ST but I got some decent weapons.

I'm a DEX/Pyro Build and have been using a fully upgraded Blacksteel Katana +10 and a +6 Pyro flame.

Has anyone been using the ring of protection exploit? I am but only because I can't invade (Brotherhood of Blood) unless human.

 

I didn't even know about that exploit until you mentioned it. Definitely not intended by FS, I'm sure they'll patch it out. I don't plan on using it. I had like 80 human effigies at the end of the game anyway.

 

If you wear it while human and die you still keep your souls and humanity. Its repairable for $3000 in Majula. Rinse repeat. Comes in handy for me at least in Belfry Sol were everyone is invading.

 

This makes me want to actually pitch Havel's Greatshield a little more. To me it really seems like one of the more unbalanced items in the game. Its only disadvantages are that it takes high stats to use (45 STR, plus it weighs 20 pounds, making it the heaviest shield in the game) and -- like all greatshields -- you can't parry with it. That aside, the protection it affords is second to none. Not only does it have at least 70% damage reduction on everything (incl. 100 phys, 90 mag, and 80 fire and ltng), but it starts with 80 stability and upgrades all the way to 88.

Let me emphasize how insane that 88 stability rating is. Stability represents how much stamina gets consumed when you block. 88 stability means that you only take 12% of the intended stamina reduction. By contrast, the most stability you'll get with a regular, parry-capable shield is 55, i.e. 45% stamina drain, or almost four times more than Havel's. Meanwhile, only one other greatshield -- the Gyrm Greatshield -- even makes it to 75 stability, and many of its damage reduction stats suck (it only blocks 30% of magic and lightning damage, for instance, while Havel's blocks 80-90% of those damage types). All other greatshields only make it to 70 stability, or about 2.5 times more stamina drain on hit than Havel's.

All of these technical numbers just go to show that Havel's Greatshield is by far the best wall to hide behind that you can get in Dark Souls 2. Hits blocked will drain your stamina only a fraction of the extent that they will for any other shield, and its damage reduction numbers are great across the board. So, if you're okay with not being able to parry, and can invest 45 points in STR and enough in VIT to be able to handle the weight, you're really going to find yourself at a major advantage.

Location info:

Spoiler

Havel's entire armor set can be found behind a locked door in the area "The Gutter." The key needed to open the door can be found in the subsequent area, called "Black Gulch." Defeat the two giants there (jump off a cliff to reach them), and you'll receive the needed key. The giants are a very tough fight, btw, nearly impossible without some ranged attacks to help.

 

Yeah, I'm aware how the trick works after I did a Google search. But it really removes all tension from the game. Dying doesn't matter when there aren't any real consequences to it. So it's not something I'm planning on doing.

FS really screwed up with that one. Obviously the ring is supposed to break and not be repairable. How that slipped by them, I'm not sure...

 

I reckon it'll get patched along with a few other overpowering items. If you could at least consistently turn human every time you helped a player defeat a boss then it might help a bit with effegy PvP problem.

One thing that annoys me is the reach of the great swords. In PvP I'm clearly well beyond it's reach but it still manages to hit me. Its a complaint among the PvP crowd.

 

At the very beginning of the game it's a cost. In late game or even mid-game, 3,000 souls is a drop in the bucket, especially considering the benefit of having max health and being human all the time, being able to summon and invade whenever you want, and limiting the number of souls you can lose per death to so little.

 

Finished the game, ending is underwhelming. Last boss fight was easy, struggled to defeat the Giant Lord sp?.

Probably go back in to kill the King and I'm not sure if there's much else to do other than start a NG+, which I won't.

 

At the very least NG+ adds new enemies into the mix, and also allows you to get items that were unobtainable in the first playthrough, although I can understand one playthrough being enough. But for me, I should be finishing up NG+ today... unsurprisingly, it's gone a whole lot faster than the first run.

Agree that the final boss was disappointing. Overall the first Dark Souls is a better game, but not by much. Plus Dark Souls 2 is saved by having more content and some good gameplay/balance changes. It's still a 9/10.

 

That 1.02 patch kinda messed up my game. I used to see a ton of soap signs everywhere. I'm in the Gutter and haven't seen one or Grave of Saints. Is this normal?

 

I wonder if they'll release another Dark Souls? DS2 reused a lot of assets from Demon Souls and Dark Souls. Dark/Demon Souls is the action rpg I've always envisioned as a kid, but it doesn't really have much of a story.

I like the world layout better than the previous entries and how you can sort of recruit npc's to join your little village. I think my favorite part of the series is in Demon Souls when, where you're in this prison. When you reach the top, you have to fight 3 real players to complete it. Or maybe you had to fight 3 real players to get that huge swirly hat, which is amazing for mages.

Maybe I didn't do enough research (actually barely did any) or I didn't level high enough, but it's difficult to make a good swordsman/mage hybrid like in Demon Souls. I enjoyed having several different layouts for different scenarios and situations. Here, since I'm handicapped by my level, I'm stuck with basic layouts. For example, I can only use the short bow and long swords. I don't have the stats to use a beefy two handed sword, mace or katana etc.

 

<div style='width:650px;font-size: 12px;'><embed src="http://cdn2.escapistmagazine.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.12.swf" flashvars="config=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/config/8945-3dc4857b92aa7e6fb5d3eae1996614da.js%3Fplayer_version%3D2.5%26embed%3D1%26autoplay%3D0" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" width="650" height="391" wmode="opaque"></embed><div><a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com'>The Escapist</a> : <a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation'>Zero Punctuation</a> : <a href='/videos/view/zero-punctuation/8945-Dark-Souls-2-Prepare-to-Die-Again'><i>Dark Souls 2</i> - Prepare to Die Again</a></div></div>

:grin:

 

Couldn't beat the Lost Sinner boss so I caved and looked on the internet for guidance. Was trying to avoid this, but I didn't wanna die anymore lol. After reading some tips, beat him on the 2nd try no problem.

 

I haven't been thoroughly frustrated up until the Smelter Demon. I'm not even sure how many tries it took but I finally took him down after learning more about magic and magic defense.

Whew.

 

The Smelter Demon was tough for me, too. It had some added tension for me since I left a big bloodstain in the room first time I fought him. Luckily, even though I had to fight him at least half a dozen times, I didn't lose any souls out of it. I made it harder for myself, though, by not calling any phantoms for help on the first playthrough. That was the way I wanted it. Second playthrough I used a helper, and he went down like a punk.

Worth noting that Smelter Demon is actually skipable, although if you do skip him, you lose access to a convenient bonfire.

I'll play it through a third time at some point, but for now I've moved on to other things. Been playing the Diablo 3 expansion, it's a much better game now than it was one release.

 

Nothing is more soul crushing than The Lost Sinner in NG+.