Dark Souls 2 [360, PS3, PC] Review

[Golgo]

^ I played into NG (not NG+, sorry!) for an hour or so out of curiosity, Paddy, and it's true there are some really nice (or, rather, nasty) early surprises in there...certainly can't fault the game for its generosity.

[briareos_kerensky]

^ I played into NG+ for an hour or so out of curiosity, Paddy, and it's true there are some really nice (or, rather, nasty) early surprises in there...certainly can't fault the game for its generosity.

Some areas

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have black phantoms waiting for you, in rare occasions standard enemies are replaced by their black phantom version (not that it mattered much), black phantoms present in NG respawn in NG+ (but not "named" invaders).

I've found it a very cheap way to increase the difficulty, especially when bosses become easier than in NG.

[Supergoal]

What kind of builds is everyone going for?

[briareos_kerensky]

Started off as a knight, and kept a tank built for NG. In NG+ went for spells, and ended up with two attunement slots, low INT (16, I think) and high Faith (54, IIRC).

[briareos_kerensky]

First DLC came out yesterday/today, so I gave it a try.
I think everything needed is downloaded with the latest patch, as what you buy from the PSN store is a 100kb item.
The new location is accessed

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from the Rotten's lair, and from the Gulch it takes the poison theme: expect enemies with poison arrows, melee attacks with faint poison, or downright poisonous enemies

. Do you remember ghosts in the first Dark Souls?

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The ones that could only be attacked by using a specific item or with magic weapons. They are back, only here they sport twin blades, they lunge forward like the katana-wielding skeletons in Demon's Souls and cannot be attacked unless you first find and destroy their grave.

Interesting enemies? Oh my!
The level design seems much better as well,

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and there's the obligatory long bridge with fire-breathing dragon for good measure

. The first part of the new area has a lot of leaps and tiny passages, with a lot of enemy snipers...I hope you brought arrows, because snipers are invariably backed up by melee units with incredibly high poise, a good amount of health, and damaging weapons.
The second part is different, with a lot of tight spaces and a lot of traps, from the standard pit, to more vicious inventions. And

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the ghosts I mentioned before

.
Based on various reviews, I'm getting my hopes up.

[briareos_kerensky]

The journey into the first DLC continues, and now uncovered the location of two bosses.
The level design is better than the original DS2, the location you visit is a proper maze with multiple paths, shortcuts, and hidden passageways to ulock in various ways; it's also more difficult, enemies have high HPs and a lot of poise, plus there are some black phantom-level standard enemies lurking around; compared to the Artorias DLC, Crown of the Sunken King is larger, and better thought as a location to explore.
However it does not correct DS2's chief problem: boss design. One boss

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is a group of three adventurers, one dressed like Havel the Rock, the second like Miriatel (more or less), the third like a generic knight

; the second boss I met looks like

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a Nashandra knock-off able to summon skeletons or one other boss

. They are difficult, on average I'd say they are on par with DS2's optional bosses, but they aren't exactly original, especially the

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Nashandra

lookalike. Also, I feel that they are difficult because normally they have the strenght in numbers, favoring magic users a lot; as a physical build with high faith (and guess which attack type most bosses are strong against?), this means summoning other people to help. Even with two human players these bosses are no cakewalk, but I feel they are hard for the sake of being hard: it's like developers heard fans commenting that the game was easy, so they pumped up bosses' attacks and HPs recycling design ideas seen in DS and DS2.
There's some interesting loot in Crown of the Sunken King (my favourite being the Puzzling Stone Sword), but I'm kinda torn on the overall quality: good level design, hard and with a very systematic approach in luring enemies away, but again bosses are a kind of letdown design-wise.

[kellog7]

I'm kicking myself for not staying in post-game. It's not just that the DLC will be harder in NG, but that the later packs may require you to have hit certain points in the game, and I really can't be bothered playing through it again.

[S3M]

I'll wait for a complete edition or a sale on all the DLC once it's all out, not much after game love for DS2 and it's easy to see why. From Software are patching it like mad at the moment, have to see if it improves the game.

[fuse]

I noticed there's a season pass on PSN for this but nothing of the sort for 360. Anyone know if this is due to change? I wouldn't mind saving a few quid as I'm inevitably going to get all three, and don't mind waiting.

[briareos_kerensky]

Second DLC, Crown of the Old Iron King, is out now (at least in the US), so I gave it a spin; didn't progress much, reached just the second bonfire, possibly halfway to the first boss (or at least

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that white fog door at the bottom of the tower

suggests that).
The new area is accessed from

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the Primal Bonfire after the Old Iron King

, so get your

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fire resistant

gear ready for...not so many

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enemies wielding fire

. Uhm. The cannon fodder in this area are

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undead knights that like to spring out of the ground, low poise, medium HPs, high damage

; then there are

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guys carrying around explosive barrels

, and if you like explosions, areas of this DLC will make you squeal like a little child, especially if you yourself set off a chain reaction with a Firebomb; there are

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floating knights with a flaming greatsword and greatbow that can fire in the air to bypass low walls

, and various

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"idols" that you have to destroy with a specific item: said idols can cast Firestorm, heal enemies, or summon more.

From a first impression, I'd say that enemies and the area itself look less interesting than the previous DLC, but

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Iron Kee

p itself was the least interesting DSII location. It starts out in a cool way though,

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you running along a giant chain, then through a tower covered in fine white ash and one idol popping out, filling the air with magic chants until destroyed.

It does look a bit less promising than the first DLC, but maybe it will redeem itself with the bosses.

[S3M]

Just a quick word of warning to everyone it appears the season pass is currently broken in SCEE, so you can't yet download the second DLC if you have one.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-28-dark-souls-2-season-pass-owners-warned-off-buying-latest-dlc-from-psn

[briareos_kerensky]

Hello

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Smelter Demon

, why so blue? Oh, you got recoloured and thrown into the second DLC as a boss? Hint, From Software: you don't need to have three bosses per DLC, if those bosses are mere copies of something you've beaten before but just hit harder.
I'm progressing through this second DLC much slower as I thought, probably because it's not as novel as the first. Sunken King was more unique than Old Iron King, probably because it hasn't almost anything to do with DS2, while Old Iron King expands on an existing area, that I already stated to me is the most boring in the game.

[Golgo]

^ That smelter demon thing is a bit cheeky considering the tremendous amount of practically identical boss-spam in the main game itself.

[Supergoal]

Got to love people moaning about similar bosses in the game. 1st world problems at work. Diddums.
That blue smelter demon boss is no push over and puts up a great fight more than the first one. Loved the challenge.

[Golgo]

Eh? First world problems? This is a gaming forum, isn't it? No one's suggesting this is a major issue of global import on the level of Ukraine, ISIS or Ebola, but it's relevant to a discussion of the game.