Dark Souls II

[Garrett]

I specifically avoided killing everything possible to keep my soul memory from going up.

I don't think SM is that big of a problem as everybody complaining about it says. I never had trouble finding people to summon in NG during primetime hours and so far NG+ has been the same for multiple characters. I can only see it being a problem if you want to farm an area in NG, but I'd rather have that inconvenience than dealing with SL10 invaders smacking me with a lightning washing pole in the FoFG.

[Pine]

I specifically avoided killing everything possible to keep my soul memory from going up.

I don't think SM is that big of a problem as everybody complaining about it says. I never had trouble finding people to summon in NG during primetime hours and so far NG+ has been the same for multiple characters. I can only see it being a problem if you want to farm an area in NG, but I'd rather have that inconvenience than dealing with SL10 invaders smacking me with a lightning washing pole in the FoFG.

I think a lot of people who might find problems with it are those big on PvP. If you are killin too many doods eventually its going to be harder to find doods to kill.

[Garrett]

And I get that but I thought SM stopped mattering at 15 million and higher. Therefore the arenas always have someone to duel and invasions are still possible against high NG+++etc. players.

The only thing SM prevents is organized, SL restricted duels and fight clubs which were never intended by the developers anyway. You still get 1v1 duels in the arenas so I don't really see what the problem could be. Fighting Havelyn mages at high level/soul memory is no different than fighting cookie-cutter giantdads at SL100.

[Perfect Villain]

So i made it the farthest yet and ended up getting stuck in a corner and dying and my 2000+ souls are sitting there, guess ill have to wait till after work to try to retrieve them, i went up on a ledge at 1 point and a big eagle/hawk dropped some massive guy and i quickly retreated... who was that? Also i have 2 bows is it worth investing in using them and buying arrows?

[Roirdan]

So i made it the farthest yet and ended up getting stuck in a corner and dying and my 2000+ souls are sitting there, guess ill have to wait till after work to try to retrieve them, i went up on a ledge at 1 point and a big eagle/hawk dropped some massive guy and i quickly retreated... who was that? Also i have 2 bows is it worth investing in using them and buying arrows?

That was the Persuer. He won't appear there again if you run away, to the best of my recollection. He will be beyond a mist wall later in that level though. He is rather tough at lower levels, unless you manage to hit him with one of the ballistas in that area.

[metacide]

Also i have 2 bows is it worth investing in using them and buying arrows?

I use my bows pretty frequently. They're great for destroying smaller things blocking doors (if you can get the vantage point on them). I beat the Giant using just my little bow, so I say it's worth it. Later on you'll want to invest in a little bit of magic but in the early stages bows can be a life saver.

Recently I have been invaded quite a bit by red spirits. I'm not sure what caused the sudden shift, are people suddenly getting more interested in PvP now that they've beat the game and are probably rolling second characters? I haven't even beaten NG yet.

[Perfect Villain]

Not too fond of being invaded, kinda why im wanting to go through co op to be prepared =P

[ShiftyDevil]

Also i have 2 bows is it worth investing in using them and buying arrows?

I use my bows pretty frequently. They're great for destroying smaller things blocking doors (if you can get the vantage point on them). I beat the Giant using just my little bow, so I say it's worth it. Later on you'll want to invest in a little bit of magic but in the early stages bows can be a life saver.

Recently I have been invaded quite a bit by red spirits. I'm not sure what caused the sudden shift, are people suddenly getting more interested in PvP now that they've beat the game and are probably rolling second characters? I haven't even beaten NG yet.

I'm on my second play through, still haven't gotten red phantom invaded (Walking into one of the bell towers or rat areas doesn't count). Wore the blue sentinel ring for a long time and never got summoned.

Not too fond of being invaded, kinda why im wanting to go through co op to be prepared =P

Don't worry about it. Don't stress about stuff like that, you're still so, so early in the game you aren't going to get invaded. It's basically a 0% chance right now. Don't worry about forcing yourself to co-op. Co-oping a ton is just going to make the learning curve steeper.

[metacide]

Also i have 2 bows is it worth investing in using them and buying arrows?

I use my bows pretty frequently. They're great for destroying smaller things blocking doors (if you can get the vantage point on them). I beat the Giant using just my little bow, so I say it's worth it. Later on you'll want to invest in a little bit of magic but in the early stages bows can be a life saver.

Recently I have been invaded quite a bit by red spirits. I'm not sure what caused the sudden shift, are people suddenly getting more interested in PvP now that they've beat the game and are probably rolling second characters? I haven't even beaten NG yet.

I'm on my second play through, still haven't gotten red phantom invaded (Walking into one of the bell towers or rat areas doesn't count). Wore the blue sentinel ring for a long time and never got summoned.

I wasn't counting the gray spirit invasions in the Bell Tower or Rat areas, I was only referring to the Red Spirit. Once was in the shaded woods on my way to Undead Purgatory, another time in ... the big windmill poison area (whose name escapes me at the moment). There were 2 other times but I can't recall where they were now.

One thing I learned about invading others as a red spirit is that it makes your sin level go up. This ranks up at 10 and 100 successful invasion. At 100 successful invasions your max health while hollow can be as low as 5% instead of the typical 50% (Die 19 times, 5% loss to max health each time).

[Joel]

So apparently, this is a thing:

[ShiftyDevil]

I've been waiting for Vaati, my favorite Souls youtube to start doing Dark Souls 2 videos going into the story (his youtube channel can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe0DNp0mKMqrYVaTundyr9w), well he finally did a video on the over all lore and examines the ending, as well as how it ties into the first DS.

One of my favorite things about the game is how obtuse the story is, and, that it makes you search it out. While that can be a pain in the butt, it also adds something to it. Anyway, Vaati's first story video can be found below, it is OBVIOUSLY filled with spoilers, if you don't mind the ending spoiled or have already beaten it and want to know more about what just happened definitely click below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hwCGxhF ... e=youtu.be

Also, I highly recommend his "Prepare to Cry" videos, I don't think he has any for Dark Souls 2 yet, but all the ones for the first DS are amazing. Adds a ton to the NPCs and bosses you encounter. Oddly, arguably the easiest boss in the first DS had one of the more interesting and sad stories.

Oh and Iron Tarkus is a freaking bad ass.

[Bronze Fox]

Three DLC Chapters in the Future

$10 per chapter, $25 for a season pass. July 22nd, August 26th, and September 24th.

[Bronze Fox]

Anyone else buy the DLC and/or the season pass?

Also I hadn't played in months and jumping four versions and six calibrations is very jarring.
It feels like all my weapons do way more damage and all the enemies do way less damage.

[Joel]

In case anyone's interested, IGN posted some screenshots of the third DLC for Dark Souls II. Lots of snow this time around and also icy-looking creatures to fight. (Gee, I wonder why I'm posting this.)

Anyway, I've been meaning to get back to Dark Souls II for some time now, barring any schoolwork I have to do along the way. I was gonna originally playing it blind, but curiosity and cowardice got the best of me, as I looked up walk-throughs and how-to videos regarding items, bosses, and whatnot—as well as inadvertently catching glimpses of the final boss and ending.

[Bronze Fox]

I'm very interested to see if anything happens for obtaining all 3 crowns on one character. People have thrown around ideas like a special boss or a new cutscene with some closure. I'll admit that I'm in the boat that hopes at least something cool happens. The first crown already opened new dialogue with an NPC so I guess anything is possible. And then it'll be interesting to see if they add any more content afterward.