I picked up South Park's Stick of Truth, so far fairly entertaining. You have your choice of different classes- Warrior, Paladin, Jew. Of course I had to pick Jew and his powers like Jew-Jitsu. For an Obsidian game, it's not as in-depth as I had expected. After reading the playing time was 15-20 hours, I shouldn't expect that much more. It's fun for what it's worth, but I think they're stretching it a bit calling it an "RPG". It's just not that in-depth.
I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about the game, and they basically said that this is not a game to play for the RPG elements. That's all just in service to the fact that this is you more or less playing an episode of southpark and the gameplay, while very solid, is just secondary to that. I've got it downloading at home right now, looking forward to playing it tonight.
Preordered mine from Namco directly, and it shipped yesterday. Expected Tuesday evening, and I've been replaying DS1 to brush up.
I got the Collector's Edition, and an email that it was ready for pick up Tuesday! Yes, I'm that much of a geek, I got the version with the map and the figurine. Yes, I'm 41.
I didn't do a pre-order, which I hope doesn't bite me in the ass. If I'm not playing the game this week I'll be very annoyed.
I'm 20 minutes in to Dark Souls II and I've already made a couple key mistakes. 1) Somehow I played through the first part without the HUD because it somehow got set to hidden. Not sure how, but it was driving me crazy. Also resulted in me dying. A lot. 2) Joined a covenant that apparently results in enemies doing more damage, me doin less damage, and an inability to get or give help online. Oops. Luckily I also let the 1 character that let's you break covenants, so I'll be fixing that tomorrow. Can't wait to play more. Stupid sleep.
I am trying to remember back when I started Demon's Souls and Dark Souls if it was this difficult. All I can say is wow, I am getting my ass handed to me. The game certainly has the visual feel of DS I, but maybe the difficulty is ramped up a bit? I also don't remember it taking me this long to get a half decent weapon. I've played about 4 hours, and managed to level up 1 stat. So far, I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
The main difference in combat for me has been dealing with groups of enemies. In Dark Souls I was able to draw single enemies out, this time around you're forced to face them in groups. You really need a weapon that can do a little crowd control. I switched from a dagger to a short sword so I would have a wider swing radius, but I'm missing the backstab damage boost. I played for about 2 hrs yesterday and I'm really enjoying it. Can't wait to get a better dex weapon and take on my first boss! I've also only lost my souls once, which I consider a success. Tonight will be when I can really dig into the game. If I didn't have a meeting with clients today there is a good chance I would have called in sick.
I'm waiting until the PC release comes out on April 25th to play it, but I'm afraid it's going to be damn near impossible to refrain from reading/hearing about it until then. Damn them for delaying the PC port!
I am super bummed they don't make DS2 on XboxOne or PS4. I gave my Xbox360 to my brother in law, incorrectly assuming all the AAA released would be multi-platform. That said, I picked up Titanfall today. It's super fun but I have a hard time seeing enemy players unless they are right on top of me. Maybe I'm just getting old...
I'm in the same boat; I told myself I was going to be patient but who knows how long that will last. For the people who've already gotten it; how's the multiplayer? I saw a youtube video that said there wasn't going to be any safe form, so you could be invaded at more or less any time. Are any of you seeing more invasions? Has anyone tried invading another player?
Few more DSII observations: 1) I love that you can re-spec your character with the proper item. Indot feel bad making my build and I don't agonize over how I spend each level point, because I can redo it if I find I've fucked up horribly. 2) I didnt summon any help until after I beat the first boss (Last Giant). Since I started summoning, I have beaten 3 more bosses in 2 hours. I'm not sure if it's amazing or too easy, but with help none of the boss battles have been remotely difficult, and Last Giant was only hard because I wanted to beat him alone first. I've also been summoned a lot. There is a TON of online activity, and I'm digging that . Feels like way more than there was with DS 1.
I did the same, but stopped after the Tower Knight. Because I realized something important, at least for me. I really really want to savor this. I'm playing quite a bit, but I spent a lot of time doing multiplayer and helping folks out with the Last Giant and Tower Knight. DS I was soooo good, and I have a feeling DS II will be just as rewarding, so I'm really digging in to Forrest right now, trying to find things, shortcuts, etc. It's been a great ride so far. For me, I'm taking it slow, at least progression wise, as I want to learn the ins and outs myself. Also agree with the Soul Vessel, I'm not nearly as concerned right now about my build. If I fuck up, I can unfuck it up later. I wish real life had a Soul Vessel, but that's another discussion.
I took my time last night clearing the forest and really exploring it. I'll help some people out tonight with the first boss so I can learn his moves to solo him. Have you guys found a weapon you really like yet? I'm doing a dex build, and the best dex scaling melee weapon I've found so far is the falchion. I'm not really feeling the move set, but I want use some of my shards to upgrade a weapon. Quess that means I'll be messing around with different weapons tonight too. God I love these games.
Early on there hasn't been a lot of choices. I picked up the Fire Longsword in the Forrest, so I've been using that. Prior to that, I was using a Broadsword and Short Sword. I've used the Short Bow a bit too. Haven't gotten used to the movement either, supposedly if you up your Adaptability, it makes things smoother, so I've done that a bit.
I tend to like the Rapier or Spear for melee, but I also focus heavily on using a bow whenever possible (I have a high Dex build, too). I also build up decent Endurance so I can run and attack more between breaks. The Rapier and Spear classes have decent reach and allow you to attack while keeping your shield up, so they're better defensively (which matches my play style). With groups, I usually snipe an enemy or two in the head first, drastically lowering their HP, so when they approach, I can take them out easier. The bow is also handy for Luring enemies out one at a time. Came in handy in Heide's Tower against a lot of those big knights that grouped up. I'd snipe one and lure it out, take it out, then do the same for the next. It does make boss fights a bit tougher, though, as they seem to barely take any damage from arrows and they'll lock on me from a distance and fuck my shit up, so I have to melee them.
Not to throw a dagger into this discussion, but I was watching some game play from DS2 and it looked....kind of boring. Perhaps not actually experiencing gameplay first hand there is a disconnect. I just didn't find it as amazing or ground breaking as a lot of you have been saying. What am I missing here?
I had a big post typed, but of course I lost it, so I'll let Zero punctuation tell you, as this review sums it up quite nicely. Yes it is a review of the first Dark Souls, but it sums up the attraction to the series nicely, as almost all the best parts of DS 1 came back for DS2
So I can't understand the Dark Souls love either. I started looking at videos on Youtube but they all seemed to be starting levels or random shit I didn't understand. If it isn't much trouble for an experienced player, could one of you link a video that shows a good part of the game and what it is like playing it?
It's all like that. Not really a game about doing awesome explosive shit that would look good on Youtube. The love comes mostly from how the atmosphere pulls you into the game world and the sense of accomplishment you get from beating that "go fuck yourself" difficulty level boss. ZeroPunctuation captured the essence quite well: It's tough, but fair and it tells a great story without really telling it. It's also the only game that has properly scared me. Not in the BAM! FACEALIENS! kind of way, but by slowly introducing a permeating dread that comes from the knowledge that, as you haven't been killed in a while, there must be something truly awful just around the next corner. It's terrifying. edit: That said, this is hilarious: Spoiler For those that aren't familiar, you can invade another person's game, if they meet certain conditions. This is a video of some guy doing just that. I can't really explain why, but it's one of the funniest gaming videos I've seen.