Dark Souls and Demon's Souls Megathread VI. Katana Gank Squad Edition - Games

[QUOTE=Highwind017;47864551]Here's a question, DkS1's Hollow/Human system or DkS2's gradual hollowing the need for Human Effigies system? I really think Humanity worked better.[/QUOTE] DaS1. I've been watching gameplay of DS2 while I wait for Scholar to get cheaper and the health shrinkage looks annoying as fuck.

Health shrinkage is a terrible mechanic and I hope they drop it forever. It was bad in Demon's Souls and it was bad in DS2. Having curse half your HP until you can 'cure' it is a much better way of cutting a player's health because it isn't a dumb punishment for every death, it's a punishment for letting the bad effect kill you.

Humanity was a system that actually functioned. You could either play offline and be fine and dandy or you could go online and get a slew of benefits, but be invaded. The only difference between Human and Hollow in DS2 is heaalth and summoning for the most part.

[QUOTE=Highwind017;47864551]Here's a question, DkS1's Hollow/Human system or DkS2's gradual hollowing the need for Human Effigies system? I really think Humanity worked better.[/QUOTE] Right, I forgot about that mechanic in my list. I'd have to say a mix of both. I liked the visual of the character slowly hollowing, but I hated the health drain. I liked having the soft humanity as a feature of DS1 too but the convenience of using effigies anywhere and not just a bonfire. I don't like getting invaded while hollow though. If I can't summon when hollow, you can fuck off with your invasions.

That health drop didnt concern me too much but, i always had the damn ring on so that might be why. Oh, you know what Dark Souls 3 needs? Less Bell Guardians, More Forest Hunters. Give us a big playground for that kind of thing, not two small playgrounds.

[QUOTE=Highwind017;47864475]I really need to make a list of things i liked from DkS2 and stuff. But the main things to point out would be better two hander movesets. Go more for DkS1 style than DkS2 style and give the player more of a reason to use strength weapons... It's little wonder there are so many katana users in DkS2 when the movesets for the two handers are such wank. Also, Majula felt like an experement of trying to combine Firelink and The Nexus into one. It doesnt work that way. Either have one or the other, Hunters Dream worked because it didnt try to be both Nexus and Firelink. It would be good to have the same ammount of choice you had at the start of DkS1, Skeletons and Ghosts not being the recommended way for when you start. But going to areas that are bound to kill you should give you more choices of loot and weapons to use at such an early stage. (Winged Spear, Estoc, Zweihander...) Just give us better map design and encounters in general, i want to be a cunt like i was in Anor Londo, Iron Keep just doesnt work for that. Heck, i wouldnt mind seeing the return of the Master Key. Life Gems i wouldnt miss. Also, let's not have another "bearer seek seek lest" just to level up. [b]And no Adaptability and Soul Memory, please for the love of god. I just don't think they worked out too well and it would make peoples lives easier if we didnt have to worry about how many souls they collected.[/b] Infact, don't pussy out of invasions. I don't understand why summoned phantoms can drink flasks and use lifegems yet a invader phantom cant.[/QUOTE] I had the idea of combining DkS1's level system with an "equipment level" sort of thing, where being at a low level but having a Zweihander +10 and Giant armor, for instance, would bump you up in the matchmaking. That way, if you tried to invade at low level with endgame gear, you'd get matched up against people who also had that gear but probably had better stats. Soul memory seemed to be a way to combat Twinks, but it's way too easy to get a bunch of souls, lose them, and be stuck at a higher tier with nothing to show for it. Similarly, it's way too easy to just rush your way to the Agape ring and stick at around 90-140k, where new players could still be learning the ropes, and invade them with your Havel setup. To avoid worrying about "equipment level" or whatever they would call it, the system could look first at your level and then at your gear. If you've got late-game stuff early on, it would look at your equipment and determine that you should be higher up in the queue. If you've got late-game stuff when you're supposed to get it, then it'd match you according to your level.

Upgraded my gaming rig with a new motherboard, CPU, and GPU, and it feels so fucking amazing to get buttery smooth 60fps in Scholar of the First Sin.

What about a progression-based matchmaking? Depending on what bosses were defeated or checkpoints that were reached you'd be paired with other people around that same checkpoint. For example: Last Giant - 1/4 old ones, 2/4 (etc) - Mirror Knight - Demon of Song - Velstadt, etc

Tbh i think they should do away with the Great Souls or at least try to do something new or different with them.

[QUOTE=Ekalektik_1;47864738]I had the idea of combining DkS1's level system with an "equipment level" sort of thing, where being at a low level but having a Zweihander +10 and Giant armor, for instance, would bump you up in the matchmaking. That way, if you tried to invade at low level with endgame gear, you'd get matched up against people who also had that gear but probably had better stats. Soul memory seemed to be a way to combat Twinks, but it's way too easy to get a bunch of souls, lose them, and be stuck at a higher tier with nothing to show for it. Similarly, it's way too easy to just rush your way to the Agape ring and stick at around 90-140k, where new players could still be learning the ropes, and invade them with your Havel setup. To avoid worrying about "equipment level" or whatever they would call it, the system could look first at your level and then at your gear. If you've got late-game stuff early on, it would look at your equipment and determine that you should be higher up in the queue. If you've got late-game stuff when you're supposed to get it, then it'd match you according to your level.[/QUOTE] I thought about that myseldf a while ago, I'd rather they just use something thats tried and tested that trying to made a new system all together but maybe at a push, it matchmakes through how much souls are in your currently equiped gear plus level by spent souls rather than how many souls gained, full stop. But i'd like to see another game do that and not something from From Soft. The better solution is to use what you know works and they did that with Bloodborne with both SL matchmaking and the invasion item being both infinite and extremely early to find. A single arena instead of two makes more sense to me for those who want to duel. That arena should be close to whatever the third games Firelink will be. I'd love it if they made it an actual coliseum, complete with being able to spectate and shit.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;47864522]Oh this so much. The push was only useful against enemies who kept their shield up constantly, in PVP it was practically useless once people knew it existed.[/QUOTE] i'm not gonna lie though when a kick or a push with the shoulder can break your guard but a oversized iron chickenwing or 4 lasers of magical energy can't it is sorta silly, i'd at least prefer the character doing something like grabbing onto the shield and pushing it to the side but beggars cant be choosers

[QUOTE=MoopsiePook;47865521]i'm not gonna lie though when a kick or a push with the shoulder can break your guard but a oversized iron chickenwing or 4 lasers of magical energy can't it is sorta silly, i'd at least prefer the character doing something like grabbing onto the shield and pushing it to the side but beggars cant be choosers[/QUOTE] I like to imagine it works off of an element of surprise. They're looking for the weapon in your hands, so they're not expecting you to just plow into them or hit their shield from below.

So how legit is this Dark Souls 3 rumor? i would think there would be more discussion with a bombshell like that

that's because it isn't confirmed

ima wait til E3 to get excited

all i ask from Dark Souls III is windowed borderless support

If team B's making the game, I'm not in. I bet Miyazaki will just be like, and invited advisor or something. And drop the enigmatic act of the characters. The level up lady in DS2 lady especially, she spoke as if shes a hippy on drugs. Just tell me where to go and what to kill. I cant really explain it well, but Dark Soul 1 had more objectivity to it. Dark souls 2 is like, an emo kid trying to look mysterious with filmsy make up.

Given the impression Dark Souls 1 left on me, I'm excited for a potential Dark Souls 3, but I've still got to play the second first. But what's lacking in the DS2 department? I hear tons of people say it doesn't live up to the first game. What's different?

[QUOTE=UntouchedShadow;47867862]Given the impression Dark Souls 1 left on me, I'm excited for a potential Dark Souls 3, but I've still got to play the second first. But what's lacking in the DS2 department? I hear tons of people say it doesn't live up to the first game. What's different?[/QUOTE] The sense of 'unity', a copy paste: The lore and characters and world in Dark Souls 1 was far more interesting. Dark Souls one felt like you was playing through the left over of history of that land trying to make a future of it even go as far as going to the past to meet legendary characters and take part of that legend. On Dark Souls 2, you start the game and you beat it and you're like what the fck just happened in my 40 hour journey ? you just remember your play-through. But did any of the adventure make sense to you? hell no. Which in turns makes for a disappointing last boss almost makes it seem like the last boss was just totally random. Unlike Dark Souls 1 who you know who you're going to end up fighting and know the importance of that character in the world you've given your time to get to know. And also that tracking. Whats the point of moving my character anymore now that all enemies seems to have GPS embedded in their system?

without enemy gps it turns into a backstabfest though they just need better animations for it

i'd so excited at the idea of dark souls 3 with miyazaki behind the helm. it's gonna be weird going back to dark souls after playing to much bloodborne though. i've really been enjoying the faced paced combat of bloodborne, i just hope they can make the ds3 combat just as exciting.

Holy shit, been chugging along, doing okay. Fully upgraded my weapon, and decide it's time to take on the Lost Izalith. Now, I already figured the shortcut via the Chaos Servant covenant (taking an embarrassing number of tries to punk out that one Titanite Demon) but I wanted to save a bit closer to the Bed of Chaos and minimize my inevitable trip back to it, which requires the orange charred ring so I don't die on the lava. Therefore, it's time to fight the Centipede Demon... and oh man... is this thing nearly WORSE than I thought it would be. This boss is BULLSHIT. One saving grace that the bonfire is basically just outside the fog wall, but what asshole, incompetent, or BOTH designed this fight?? I've seen people fight it on some land to the right, but trying that fried my balls off, and I don't imagine Solaire would fare much better if I didn't. Therefore, I'm stuck on this tiny front yard-sized space to fight it from. Shit, little wonder the Capra Demon music is playing. What's that track titled, "Claustrophobia?" So this thing has about as many free shots as it wants at me before I'm at any range to hurt it. Easy enough to block I guess, but the game continues to stack the deck in Dr. Heiter's favor by making sure my locking range is pathetic and easily broken. I wouldn't even bother, except I've got to block all the damage coming my way. This thing is too fast and ever-present for Estus to be anything but a gamble. Add to that how when it FINALLY gets up in my face and gets busy kicking my shit in, I swear to fuck my FRAMERATE starts plummeting! My framerate, in a locked 30fps game made YEARS ago... [B]and I'm rocking a fucking GTX 980!!![/B] Maybe the game is processor-heavy, but I have an i7 4790K, it's not like I'm using a Pentium. No OTHER point in the game has ever made it chug, not even the dreaded Blighttown. So while all that is going on, you're basically up the Centipede's ass while you're fighting it, and it's damn near impossible to pick up on its body language. My god, it's like PLAYING one of the Transformers movies! Give us some wide-shots, assholes! One time I got totally fuck-you'd when it grabbed me and munched on my plated ass twice in a row, only to die after that dumped me straight into the lava. But what REALLY made me stop and take a break was the one attack that consistency finished me off three freaking times. I've actually whittled it down to a sliver of its health a few times, but what ultimately killed me is the biggest logical contradiction of the fight: it's one-shot-kill stomp attack. What the fuck is THAT shit?! The thing barely telegraphs it, not that I can tell when it's doing something anyway, it's such a chaotic frenzy of rippling limbs and legs. But regardless if I'm blocking I die, like it's an area of effect move. And even if I COULD see it coming, there's nowhere to get out of the way TO! This landmass is barely the size of your average tennis court! But what pisses me off about it, I mean the FINAL nail in the coffin, is how minor the animation for it is. The thing basically alternates stomping its feet, picking them MAYBE three feet off the ground while doing so. Oh sure, one of its minor attacks is to lose your lock by jumping a hundred feet in the fucking air and slamming its entire bulk down, and maybe losing you a third of your stamina bar... but it stomping its feet suddenly like a toddler with a tantrum spells certain death. Fuck you. EVERYTHING about this fight reeks of poor, rushed design. Right down to the texture quality of the boss itself. I take some pot shots myself at some of the seriously low-res textures in certain environments, the UVW stretching in places, but the characters, the bosses in particular, have always seemed to be where the majority of the performance budget goes. They all look gorgeous, incredibly detailed, with some oddly impressive realtime effects attached to them. I STILL don't know how Quelaag's lava effects are achieved, or what they even are, because they LOOK like volumetric particles. But the Centipede Demon finally breaks the combo, with really flat-looking, CLEARLY low-resolution textures. I dunno if maybe it's a result of how complicated it is, or if they were doing their best to make it blend-in with the rock wall before you fight it. But the Gaping Dragon still looks incredible, and IT has so many moving parts and individual bones its ridonkulous. Seriously, I've got Bed of Chaos to look forward to, and already my patience is being tested? I think I'll be really glad to have this section out of the way...

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;47868013]without enemy gps it turns into a backstabfest though they just need better animations for it[/QUOTE] The problem is even enemies that can't be backstabbed track you. And enemies that have anti-backstab measures already, like the turtle knights. And you can take damage while backstabbing, so you're discouraged to do it while fighting several enemies (which is 95% of that game).

[QUOTE=J-Dude;47868547] man that centipede demon sure is a pile of garbage[/QUOTE] This is personally one of my least favorite sections in the game, so I understand your pain :v: That said, if you can make it to the larger section of land to your right, the fight's way easier. You have time to heal before he gets to you if you sprint right after you exit the fog door. I'm not sure Solaire is really worth it for this fight, I've never actually summoned him for it but it seems like he's not being super useful while buffing the boss's health at the same time. Try just getting over to the larger piece of land and fighting it solo once or twice and see if it's a bit easier.

[QUOTE=Midna;47868699]This is personally one of my least favorite sections in the game, so I understand your pain :v: That said, if you can make it to the larger section of land to your right, the fight's way easier. You have time to heal before he gets to you if you sprint right after you exit the fog door. I'm not sure Solaire is really worth it for this fight, I've never actually summoned him for it but it seems like he's not being super useful while buffing the boss's health at the same time. Try just getting over to the larger piece of land and fighting it solo once or twice and see if it's a bit easier.[/QUOTE] Thanks, that actually worked. Mostly I wanted Solaire just as distraction, but you're right about him doing basically nothing damage-wise. Put on a fire-defense ring and the Black Iron Armor and actually found myself able to traverse to the right consistently. Again, you're right, that space doesn't look big, but at least here I feel like I have room to maneuver. Yeah, surprising how few hits it actually takes to down him without Solaire. It's just finding an opening to strike that's the issue. Gonna go buy some arrows now and enjoy slaughtering some dragon pelvises... which, by the way, are minor foes, yet still look far better than the Centipede Demon graphically... [editline]3rd June 2015[/editline] Ho-lee shee-yit! After all that trouble with a minor boss... would you believe... fried Bed of Chaos on my SECOND LIFE! Tried it first summoning a player, figured divide and conquer on the outer roots, but for some reason they didn't do anything. Clearly skilled player, but after taking out the first root she got swepped into a pit on the way to the other. Somehow I managed to guard the wooden arms without having the same happen to me, and took out the second root on the same life. Died attempting the jump onto the branch towards the heart. Kinda expected it. Shrugged, ran back. Killed the heart flawlessly. It nailed me with its fire-AOE attack, which I've seen kill letsplayers outright. Somehow my build is tough enough that I can JUST survive it though, so you know the rest. I was legitimately DREADING this one, more than the Centipede Demon. Not sure if I lucked out, or just knew enough of what to expect. Either way, VICTORY ACHIEVED!

[QUOTE=MrGreed;47868556]The problem is even enemies that can't be backstabbed track you. And enemies that have anti-backstab measures already, like the turtle knights. And you can take damage while backstabbing, so you're discouraged to do it while fighting several enemies (which is 95% of that game).[/QUOTE] But if you put invincibility on backstab, it becomes trivial. It's like Assasin Creed if i can put that way. Either make it Bloodborne style which it has invincibility but you need to charge the strong attack for a backstab opportunity or keep the damage on while doing the animation. Plus while i do agree on the tracking, i don't have trouble with turtle knights, i just bait their anti backstab animation which gives me a guaranteed kill.

[QUOTE=Sweater;47870062]But if you put invincibility on backstab, it becomes trivial. It's like Assasin Creed if i can put that way. Either make it Bloodborne style which it has invincibility but you need to charge the strong attack for a backstab opportunity or keep the damage on while doing the animation. Plus while i do agree on the tracking, i don't have trouble with turtle knights, i just bait their anti backstab animation which gives me a guaranteed kill.[/QUOTE] It's not the Turtle Knight anti-backstab measure that bugs me. It's the Crystal Back Spear Wielding Shield Fuckers in Ivory King that bug me. Parrying feels too broken to even try on something that can essentially stunlock you for 3 hits at a time.

[QUOTE=Sweater;47870062]But if you put invincibility on backstab, it becomes trivial. It's like Assasin Creed if i can put that way. Either make it Bloodborne style which it has invincibility but you need to charge the strong attack for a backstab opportunity or keep the damage on while doing the animation. Plus while i do agree on the tracking, i don't have trouble with turtle knights, i just bait their anti backstab animation which gives me a guaranteed kill.[/QUOTE] I think you misunderstood my post, I didn't have a problem with those things I mentioned, I have a problem with them when paired with tracking. The tracking is there to stop you from abusing backstabs and stuff, but what's the point of having it when enemies already have some sort of built in method to deal with it anyway?

one thing i do hope they implement is a ring slot for covenants

I don't think I've seen a dumber boss than bed of chaos what a shame that was