Dark Souls 2

Pyros, ya she begs you to leave peacefully so she and her friends can live in peace, it is rather... different.

There is plenty of lore in the games but it's not spoon fed to you. Though in Demons Souls the lore wasn't nearly as compelling. I never really felt threatened by the Old One but the world was simply amazing. Dark Souls has a more robust story with a lot of elements to it.

Also, the voice acting is amazing in Demons Souls and Dark Souls. It's far better than most games out there. All of the actors have very appropriate voices. You really get a feel for how melancholy and desolated the two worlds are. I especially like the voice actress for the The Maiden In Black (the blind chick who you trade souls for levels in Demons Souls).

While we're on the topic, can anyone recommend a good DS build? I've seen tons online but its hard to tell which are legit good. Part of my struggle might be that I don't really know how to make a good build or the right strategies.

I personally used a very basic and low skill build in Dark Souls: I played a Cleric and made sure to build up Endurance (for stamina and equipment load - always good to stay under 50% for mobility) and tried to find early a shield with 100% physical and decent stability without being too heavy (which might require some points in strength too). From there the mantra is "Keep your shield up, wait for openings and don't be greedy". It's a stamina management game, so don't roll and attack frantically are you will be left with nothing to block attacks. Note that stamina replenishes faster when the shield is down, so dropping and raising the shield during fights when able to is a good idea. Not a very flashy way to play the game (I rarely rolled and only learned to parry very late in the game), but you can try more adventurous methods when familiar with the enemies and the mechanics.

Gravelord Sword with light armor started for single wielding it ASAP is my rule of thumb personally. If you muscle through getting it first thing and do some trades to get it to +2 or +3 you can kill Capra in one diving attack and such. Hilariously good for quite a while.

Also Toxin hits pretty well on shield heavy mobs too after a few hits making breaking their guard unnecessary.

It is high skill to get almost all the way to Pinwheel that early though. (And I usually knock him out while there anyhow for the mask, all work great with the build)

I wouldn't recommend getting the Gravelord Sword on a first playthrough.. kind of cheats the game.

Noodleface_sl said:

I wouldn't recommend getting the Gravelord Sword on a first playthrough.. kind of cheats the game.

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Heh, that it does, but it's addictive to go through the 1-2 hrs of hell to get it for future playthroughs for sure.

Great Scythe is an amazing dex weapon plus it is quick an easy to obtain from the start of the game

Dark Souls: How to get the Scythe (Great Scythe) [Quick Version] - YouTube

Zweihander is also decent but after running through the game with both weapons the Great Scythe is definitely much better.



Forin

forin_sl said:

Great Scythe is an amazing dex weapon plus it is quick aneasyto obtain from the start of the game

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If by 'easy' you mean deep down a portion of the game infested my skeletons that respawn if not killed by a holy weapon (when you did not kill their handler) that you will reach maybe a dozen hours into a first play through. I suspect that even with a full guide it's almost impossible for a beginner to reach the Scythe at the start of the game. And if you are able to do it, you don't need it.

Naw, it's pretty easy to get Holy Damage to keep them dead early on early on Szilia - get the Holy Sword (Astora's or something like that?) in front of the Plague Dragon on the backside of Blighttown right off the bat and the skeletons stay dead. (And it's a good fill-in until)

Although if you're going for it, I don't know why you wouldn't take the extra few steps to get the Gravelord Sword instead. It's like what, one more necromancer deeper?

Video does ignore that you need to do a switch - rolling before that switch is a suicide... (That's the Patches lever'ed one IIRC)

Szlia_sl said:

If by 'easy' you mean deep down a portion of the game infested my skeletons that respawn if not killed by a holy weapon (when you did not kill their handler) that you will reach maybe a dozen hours into a first play through. I suspect that even with a full guide it's almost impossible for a beginner to reach the Scythe at the start of the game. And if you are able to do it, you don't need it.

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My memory was rusty so I started up a new game file. From starting at the Asylum to Great Scythe and not killing a single Necromancer ( just ran with shield) it took 16 minutes. Yah I died a few times but it really isnt difficult. If you wanted to be careful and hunt down Necros it might take a few more minutes but would be safer, anyways I still stand by my Great Scythe being a great easy to get early weapon


Forin

Vaclav_sl said:

Naw, it's pretty easy to get Holy Damage to keep them dead early on early on Szilia - get the Holy Sword (Astora's or something like that?) in front of the Plague Dragon on the backside of Blighttown right off the bat and the skeletons stay dead. (And it's a good fill-in until)

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Don't you need the Thief's key to do that straight at the beginning?

lanx_sl said:

man reading this thread makes me want to finish up dark souls, i went all the way up to gwyn, then rl projects and everything else took over, just played non thinking games like ass creed, think i'll just make a new game, gotta finishing moving first tho

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Isn't gwyn the last boss?

Noodleface_sl said:

Isn't gwyn the last boss?

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He may have meant dark sun gwyndolin, that annoying hallway boss in anor londo?