So far I'll stick by my comment about Demon's Souls bosses having more than their fair share of gimmicks, but I suppose that applies to any game in the series. There are bosses that you'll beat your head against, and then there are ones you will almost never lose to once you figure out the mechanic that defines the fight. So far between Phalanx, Tower Knight, Armored Spider, and Fool's Idol, they all feel like the later. The Tower Knight is especially noteworthy for ushering in the tradition of having bosses who are made infinitely easier by taking out the normal enemies flanking them from above. Fool's Idol depends alot on ranged if you want to avoid the traps on the ground. Phalanx is the prototype boss where only the adds matter.
So I just started a new account on PSN exclusively for my PS4 title trophies, which means redoing alot of my Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne conquests thus far. I picked a Knight as opposed to my Herald and Gundyr was....trivial. And it isn't because I was better at Dark Souls 3. The damage output from the longsword felt like it was nearly double that of the spear, and I only used one flask. It just reinforces my theory about him being the point in the series where your class matters the utmost. I died at least 10 times to him on launch night doing the exact same thing I did today.
I think I've missed something. Why start a new account? Just for book keeping?
Spears definitely do a lot less damage. They never explain the tradeoff in game though. Unless you're paying very close attention to the spear using enemies many players will never realize that you can attack with them while blocking.
I think I've missed something. Why start a new account? Just for book keeping?
Spears definitely do a lot less damage. They never explain the tradeoff in game though. Unless you're paying very close attention to the spear using enemies many players will never realize that you can attack with them while blocking.
I just have a couple games I got trophies with on my PS3 in which alot of them aren't attainable anymore, and my OCD in this area was eating at me. If I'm going to get trophies, the idea of NOT being able to 100% a game, at least in theory, will drive me nuts. So yes, book keeping in a sense. I didn't have THAT many to begin with on PS4 and at least I know the servers are going to be up for quite some time on a current-gen system. I can still use my PS Plus and have all my games because it's still on the same console, so I'm not really out anything except seeing how much better I can do a second time through in Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne (at least the portions of them I've finished). Signs so far point to much better, and I may go with the axe in Bloodborne to see if it is significantly better than my Saw Spear.
It's also incredibly difficult (in a sense) to even play PS3 games once you've played a PS4. The difference in 1080p and 720p is night and day. The controller is light years better in your hand. The framerates are infinitely better. Even the interface feels lights years smoother. I actually have Diablo 3 arriving in the mail tomorrow and can't wait to see how it plays on the console.
I was certainly aware of being able to use the spear with a shield when I first picked the Herald, along with the starting Heal Miracle. That sounded great on paper. In reality, a Knight is at least twice as easy to play when starting a game.
@jjstraka34 Any RPGamer should intuitively know a knight or Warrior is the easiest starting class
Since I rarely go that route I've never put too much thought into it. The Herald seemed fine, until I realized the spear was not doing solid damage and that the Heal Miracle was only useful out of combat. The second I got the katana and a new armor, I wasn't a Herald anymore.
I picked a Knight as opposed to my Herald and Gundyr was....trivial. And it isn't because I was better at Dark Souls 3.
I rather suspect that your skills did in fact play a much bigger part in it than you realize. Sure you may have been doing more actual damage, but even with that if you don't dodge at the right times and know when it is safe to get in and Whack away, it isn't an easy battle. On the other hand, I've restarted a bunch of times with several character classes and after my initial complaints earlier in this thread, I found Gundyr to be easier each time regardless of class. I still think that there are disparities (Sorcerers and Pyromancers as prime examples) where class actually make a difference "In that fight", I think that skill and knowing when/how to react play a MUCH larger role.
With that having been said, I do find that class plays a much larger role in the game from the perspective of a fairly limited choice of weapons/armor early on in the game. I found that very early, I was pretty much stuck with whatever I started off with. And later (before mid-game) when I did start finding stuff, I had already upgraded to a limited degree such that I still stuck to the weapons I had rather than switching up. And armor, pretty much there are two or three early sets of armor that I can't imagine not using.
On a totally random side note, does anyone else feel that this engine is just absolutely ripe for making another Dark Forces game? The sorceries and sword play just seem meant for the Star Wars universe in my opinion and it would make for a much darker game too boot. Not that I think Disney would go there, just saying that it feels like how I remember Dark Forces to have played out all those years ago.
Even the Lothric Knights, who were a crapshoot on my Herald, are pretty damn easy on a Knight. Reason being?? The Longsword can hit 3 times in succession and actually causes poise damage. You can't get more than two hits in with a spear as it's too slow, and they are going to break your shield after one hit anyway, so hiding behind it is relatively pointless.
As for Dark Forces, I have fond memories of the original (I think I own Steam copies of all of them but they are beyond a hassle to get running on a modern OS). But they always just seemed like Star Wars in a Doom engine to me. I would be up for anything in the Souls engine, but the amount of shitty Star Wars games to good ones is something like 10/1. They kind of tried something from this camera perspective in The Force Unleashed and it was a disaster. Honestly, the best Star Wars games made since the Knights of the Old Republic duo have been the Lego ones....an underrated Star Wars game?? The Pod Racer for N64 was actually pretty damn amazing, but that system couldn't miss on racing games.
Second time is clearly a charm in this game. First time through I co-oped Vordt, this time he went down in two tries, and damn close to a one shot but I just got greedy with him at under 10%....not sure what I thought was hard about him the first time, as you simply need to keep your greed in check and be willing to back off and dodge. The first phase is as easy as any fight in the series, as he can't even touch you if you're underneath him.
So I've actually started from scratch in 4 of the 5 games, determined to just become alot better player. That means Knights in Demon's, 1 and 3 and a Swordsman to try dual-wielding in 2. I guess the goal is to not rely on ranged spells. One thing the original Dark Souls has head and shoulders above the rest of the series is the WEIGHT of playing a Knight (it doesn't seem to matter what class you play in Demon's Souls, every one of them feels like you are almost floating through the game). I've been spending 3 out of every 4 points in endurance so I can get out of the fat roll as soon as possible, and enjoying the progression alot. I took the Taurus Demon on head-on for the first time without using the ladder. I was aware he was susceptible to lightning, but I didn't know he was THAT susceptible to it.
I haven't figured out the best way to utilize dual-wielding in 2 yet. Each button triggers a different weapon, and I'm not quite sure what the advantages/disadvantages are to using the left/right weapons in any given situation, though there must be a strategy to it....
Dual wielding is another one of those things the game doesn't explain, but I found it to be really useful when I got it working.
Simply holding two weapons doesn't enable dual wielding. You need to have 1.5 times the requirements of the offhand weapon (or maybe 1.5 times the higher requirement in each category?) then hold the button that switches to two hand mode. If you have the stats your character will change the position that they're holding their weapons in and you'll be in dual wield mode or "power stance" as people seem to prefer calling it. If you don't have the stats it will just two hand your offhand weapon/shield.
In dual wield mode the offhand attack buttons will now use both weapons instead of just the offhand. Dual wield greatswords for that "I would ask if anyone got the number of that truck but I'm dead" effect.
Ah....ok, so 1.5 times either dex or strength requirement, whichever is greater then?? Then R1 still does the swing with the one main-hand weapon but L1 will execute a dual-wield strike. This must be the power stance I heard about in some podcast....
so 1.5 times either dex or strength requirement, whichever is greater then??
hmm, not quite. you will need to have 1.5 times both the strength AND dex (and maybe faith/intelligence).
The part I'm not sure about is if you are trying to main hand a strength weapon and offhand a dex weapon if the requirements will be all from the offhand or if it will use the higher strength from the strength weapon and the higher dex from the dex weapon.
I was always dual wielding two of the same weapon, so it was a moot point for me.
@jjstraka34@SethDavis Yes, I believe it is 1.5 times both. Also, the general rule is the weapons must share a damage type to be power stance-able, e.g. thrust on both.
They're all melee only at the moment. Running through the beginning of all the games. Most success thus far?? Bloodborne, as I've gone through all of Central Yharnam without a single death (I don't even count the Undead Burg anymore, I don't think I could die there if I tried), though I'm going to level up a few times, as I think taking on the Cleric Beast or Gascoigne with base health and stamina isn't remote something I'm interested in.
Demon's Souls seems just as easy as melee in the beginning. Dark Souls 2 a jump up as a Swordsman from a Sorcerer, but not insanely so. Dark Souls 3 is far easier with the Knight. The killer is Dark Souls 1. The speed limit as a result of heavy armor is just a crazy impediment to numerous things, but I grabbed the Elite Knight set in Darkroot and am very close to being able to get under 50%.....
So, I grabbed the Drake Sword, simply because the health pools of early Dark Souls bosses relative to whatever weapon you are upgrading isn't great. The Moonlight Butterfly isn't a "hard" fight, and I can dodge 75% of it's attacks. But it stays in the air FOREVER and in phase two you are going to get hit with at least 2-3 sprays, 2 homing attacks, and 2 of whatever the hell is going on when he bombs the bridge from above (I have no idea how to avoid it, though running seems logical if I wasn't encumbered). The fact is, my Estus would run out beating it with a Broadsword over the course of the 4-5 landings it would take to kill this thing. Plus, I'm not even sure you're supposed to be here this early. Regardless, this fight isn't made with straight, early melee in mind, but I found a way to do it anyway. Plus I've never fought it before. So....whatever I guess. Gargoyles next without Solaire.
@jjstraka34 I would just use a shield with high magic resist for the other attack that is hard to dodge. Also some resins for buffing the meager weapon damage. Probably better too to fight him nacked or in light armor, because all the physicle resistance isn't of much use.
I started some more heroes in DS3, a dual wielding dagger - mage and a pyromancer with whip (not very motivated to go through ng+ with my other characters )
I'm aware of the shields that provide the magic resist but in this play it's the first boss I have tackled after the Taurus Demon, and I am nowhere near those shields. I did buff my weapon with my last resin from the Undead Burg, but it was wasted when the Butterfly pulled one of it's truncated descents that only lasted about two hits before starting to charge it's explosion. The Drake Sword got it done in 2 descents, or about 3 less than I was getting with a +2 broadsword. Archers, Pyromancers, Sorcerers would all smoke this thing, even this early. If a Cleric came back a bit later and had a Lightning Spear it would likely disintegrate after 3 casts.
So, Gargoyles are piss-easy with the Drake Sword, clearly. But they are also just not that threatening with heavy armor and a shield, and I feel I would have one-shot it even with my broadsword. Took on Havel for the first time this morning, as I REALLY needed his ring. As long as you have a solid shield (and the Black Knight I beat minutes before kindly gave up his) it's just a matter of being extremely patient and making sure you have sufficient stamina to block his next attack if necessary. In fact, I think he's probably the best tutorial on stamina management there is. I've actually be going back to basics getting better at things that seemed intimidating at first, mostly backstabs and parry/riposte. I did a bunch of runs to the enemies in the Undead Parrish immediately before Andre's bonfire to really try to master both. I think I am now able to parry the spear-men with almost 100% accuracy, the Baldur Knights less so, but the general timing is there, but I really have to rock-trolls in Central Yharnam to thank for my improvement in this area, even if the system is different.
In a shocker, Capra Demon in just two tries (almost one) and I didn't even touch the steps. The only key to the Capra Demon fight is surviving the first 3-5 seconds, which is why it's generally the most bullshit fight in the series....
Yeah, I expected Capra to be much harder than it was, but once I survived the first few seconds it was v. easy.
Admittedly, I used the steps. I didn't know that the steps would cheese the Capra Demon that badly, but I kept it up because my main weapon was various versions of Soul Arrow.
I've been meaning to ask if anyone else is having issues with the auto-lock or if it is just me. I am playing on a PS4 so that might have bearing. I just find far to often that auto-lock will break and most of the time it is not for any identifiable reason. Sometimes things standing up will cause it to break. Sometimes it just fades, and I am not talking if it goes behind a wall or backs out of range.
The reason I ask is that I am thinking about re-activating my Sorcerer who is going to be grossly dependent on it and am wondering if I am going to continue to have issues. Anyone?
I've had it break on things that move too fast, even without them going behind the camera, so some moves may just break it. I haven't seen it act the way you describe though.
I've been meaning to ask if anyone else is having issues with the auto-lock or if it is just me. I am playing on a PS4 so that might have bearing. I just find far to often that auto-lock will break and most of the time it is not for any identifiable reason. Sometimes things standing up will cause it to break. Sometimes it just fades, and I am not talking if it goes behind a wall or backs out of range.
The reason I ask is that I am thinking about re-activating my Sorcerer who is going to be grossly dependent on it and am wondering if I am going to continue to have issues. Anyone?
Maybe check to see if you accidentally changed a setting. I know I have come very close to doing so many times when trying to quit the game on PS4.
Comments
Spears definitely do a lot less damage. They never explain the tradeoff in game though. Unless you're paying very close attention to the spear using enemies many players will never realize that you can attack with them while blocking.
It's also incredibly difficult (in a sense) to even play PS3 games once you've played a PS4. The difference in 1080p and 720p is night and day. The controller is light years better in your hand. The framerates are infinitely better. Even the interface feels lights years smoother. I actually have Diablo 3 arriving in the mail tomorrow and can't wait to see how it plays on the console.
I was certainly aware of being able to use the spear with a shield when I first picked the Herald, along with the starting Heal Miracle. That sounded great on paper. In reality, a Knight is at least twice as easy to play when starting a game.
With that having been said, I do find that class plays a much larger role in the game from the perspective of a fairly limited choice of weapons/armor early on in the game. I found that very early, I was pretty much stuck with whatever I started off with. And later (before mid-game) when I did start finding stuff, I had already upgraded to a limited degree such that I still stuck to the weapons I had rather than switching up. And armor, pretty much there are two or three early sets of armor that I can't imagine not using.
On a totally random side note, does anyone else feel that this engine is just absolutely ripe for making another Dark Forces game? The sorceries and sword play just seem meant for the Star Wars universe in my opinion and it would make for a much darker game too boot. Not that I think Disney would go there, just saying that it feels like how I remember Dark Forces to have played out all those years ago.
As for Dark Forces, I have fond memories of the original (I think I own Steam copies of all of them but they are beyond a hassle to get running on a modern OS). But they always just seemed like Star Wars in a Doom engine to me. I would be up for anything in the Souls engine, but the amount of shitty Star Wars games to good ones is something like 10/1. They kind of tried something from this camera perspective in The Force Unleashed and it was a disaster. Honestly, the best Star Wars games made since the Knights of the Old Republic duo have been the Lego ones....an underrated Star Wars game?? The Pod Racer for N64 was actually pretty damn amazing, but that system couldn't miss on racing games.
I haven't figured out the best way to utilize dual-wielding in 2 yet. Each button triggers a different weapon, and I'm not quite sure what the advantages/disadvantages are to using the left/right weapons in any given situation, though there must be a strategy to it....
Simply holding two weapons doesn't enable dual wielding. You need to have 1.5 times the requirements of the offhand weapon (or maybe 1.5 times the higher requirement in each category?) then hold the button that switches to two hand mode. If you have the stats your character will change the position that they're holding their weapons in and you'll be in dual wield mode or "power stance" as people seem to prefer calling it. If you don't have the stats it will just two hand your offhand weapon/shield.
In dual wield mode the offhand attack buttons will now use both weapons instead of just the offhand. Dual wield greatswords for that "I would ask if anyone got the number of that truck but I'm dead" effect.
The part I'm not sure about is if you are trying to main hand a strength weapon and offhand a dex weapon if the requirements will be all from the offhand or if it will use the higher strength from the strength weapon and the higher dex from the dex weapon.
I was always dual wielding two of the same weapon, so it was a moot point for me.
Demon's Souls seems just as easy as melee in the beginning. Dark Souls 2 a jump up as a Swordsman from a Sorcerer, but not insanely so. Dark Souls 3 is far easier with the Knight. The killer is Dark Souls 1. The speed limit as a result of heavy armor is just a crazy impediment to numerous things, but I grabbed the Elite Knight set in Darkroot and am very close to being able to get under 50%.....
I would just use a shield with high magic resist for the other attack that is hard to dodge. Also some resins for buffing the meager weapon damage. Probably better too to fight him nacked or in light armor, because all the physicle resistance isn't of much use.
I started some more heroes in DS3, a dual wielding dagger - mage and a pyromancer with whip (not very motivated to go through ng+ with my other characters )
Especially in PvP its a huge disadvantage. But a lot of fun nonetheless!
Admittedly, I used the steps. I didn't know that the steps would cheese the Capra Demon that badly, but I kept it up because my main weapon was various versions of Soul Arrow.
The reason I ask is that I am thinking about re-activating my Sorcerer who is going to be grossly dependent on it and am wondering if I am going to continue to have issues. Anyone?
Quite interesting insight into DS3 design.
GLOBAL RESTART DAY
All platform's players are invited to restart a playthrough in DS1 on June 10th (right now)
https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/comments/4n9cng/global_restart_day_is_tomorrow_june_10th_reminder/
The increase in coop and pvp situations will be very noticeable! So keep some humanity handy!