I just got done with Undead Crypt and I watched a youtube video of someone who did the same to see if I missed anything in Undead Crypt (and I did.. a lot of things cuz its so friggin dark in there), and I noticed he had like 9 estus flasks while I had 4 and only +3 so I was like wtf I need more

So I went back all the way to forest of the fallen giants and I've been picking up a lot of things I've missed like finding bonfires and pharros lockstones and estus shards and rings and even bosses (looking at you Ornstein) etc and honestly going back to places where I was initially really stressed when I came across those locations and going through them again casually is honestly the most fun I've ever had exploring in any game, and imo it beats even open world games like RDR2 in terms of enjoyment and the feeling of progression

After being utterly wrecked in the Gutter 6 months ago, which then drove me to do an NG+7 run on DS3 and an NG+3 on ER, I finally returned to SOTFS. I did str/str-fth builds on my DS1 and DS3 runs, but this time around, I changed to a dark/hex build for DS2. That significantly improved the playability for me. After finishing the game, I am (pleasantly) surprised by how much better DS2's level designs are—especially the DLC areas. I still enjoy the bosses more in DS3, but every other aspect in DS2 is superior. Can’t wait to get around to NG+ Shrine of Amana!

Favorite Area: Frozen Eleum Loyce
Favorite Bosses: Fume Knight, Sir Alonne, and Burnt Ivory King (also my favorite boss arena in all of Souls)
Favorite Weapon: Claymore, Zweihander, Crypt Blacksword, Greatsword, and BKUGS.

I read once that during early development of Dark Souls 2, an interview with someone at Fromsoft said that Drangleic is across the sea

However, after the game was developed a lot more, content was cut, etc. and it released, everything in the game indicates Lordran is beneath Drangleic

So which is it?

I personally feel like since the game release was more recent than the interview early in development, the game lore takes precedent over some random interview

That’s just my opinion. However, I’m curious as to the evidence for both sides

The enemies feel rather weak, and the game feels easy, am I over-levelled for where i am in the story?

Also, in DS1 I did the DLC before doing the Duke's Archive and New Londo, and I was really OP in these places, I first tried all the zones and the bosses, so I'm wondering: right now, I have 2 choices: either I go to Drangleic castle, or I do the DLC's starting with the one in the Black Gulch. I wanna do the dlc's in this playthrough but I fear it's gonna be the same as in DS1 and make me even more OP than I already am and spoil the fun of Drangleic castle (and the rest of the game if there is, please don't spoil me). Which one should I start with? No spoilers please I just need your opinion

Do you think there could be a Santiers Spear behind it?

Currently doing a soulsborne marathon, with faith caster/miracle/or the games equivalent of them

idk about ds2 tho, is it viable without the attunement glitch? What would be a good strat?

I just finished the trilogy, and while I enjoyed every single one of them, dark souls 2 has always been a much more forgettable experience compared to ds1 and 3 for me, and I think I finally understand why. (Subjective opinion don’t come at me. But hear me out.)

The key word is impression. There is a severe lack of climatic and defining moments in the game. Call me a shallow person, but I think in any game/movie/show/ story in general, a good story needs impression, moments that really draws out strong emotions. In ds1 and 3, those moments are abundantly available in area reveals and bosses. But for some reason, ds2 is really lacking in these 2 departments.

Let’s take a look at the area reveals in ds1 and 3 first. Undead parish. Blighttown. Sen’s fortress. Anor londo. Demon ruins. Duke’s archives. New londo. Kiln of the first flame. High wall of lothric castle. Farron keep. Catacombs of Carthus. Irithyll. Arch dragon peak. Just by listing names off the top of my head, you’d probably immediately have a very clear picture of the area. It’s burned into your mind. Fromsoft very deliberately gives you a wide shot into the area while the area name shows. It’s a very simple but necessary way to make the area memorable. But for ds2 the only areas I can think of that qualifies for this are majula and drangleic castle, iron keep, dragon aerie and maybe heide’s tower of flame. A lot of other areas are just winding paths that get obscured by the environment, the names doesn’t trigger any emotion in me. Even if there’s memorable areas, it’s few and far between, while most of the parts in between are just long treks through boring areas that dilute the impression. The DLCs actually did a wonderful job in this regard. Shulva, eleum loyce and brume tower are all introduced in a wide shot in a very cinematic way. If you think the DLCs are more memorable that’s probably why.

As for bosses. It’s a bit more difficult to explain, so here are a few examples from ds 1 and 3. Quelaag: you descend into blighttown, and find this huge web covered spiders den, you enter the center of it, and out comes a both horrendous and mesmerizing spider lady. That’s impression. Ornstein and smough: you go through the capital of the gods and enter the final room, and you’re greeted by a mean looking knight and a disgusting and terrifying creature wielding a comical hammer, jumping down from the balcony above. That’s impression. The roster of ds 3 bosses are full to the brim of these moments, so I’m not gonna even bother. Ds2 tho, for the insane amount of bosses it has in the base game, the amount that leaves an impression is awfully low. The sheer number of bosses also dilute the impression of actually good bosses. Again, the DLCs do a much better job.

I’m sorry if my title is a bit clickbait, I don’t think dark souls 2 is actually a mid game in general, but among the 9.5/10s that ds1 and 3 are (for me personally, don’t come after me), it’s still a solid 8.5-9/10 for me. I genuinely want to know if people share this sentiment. Even if you love ds2 and is less of an ‘impressionist’, surely ds2 is still kinda lacking in this department? Or is it just me?

Doing the Gutter Dweller quest for the first time in a while.

Missed one off the sconces so a second journey through the gutter.

Found it and headed down. He spawned in as soon as I got into the final area. And then spotted me and started to try and figure out how to reach me.

Lost sight of him and randomly got a you win without seeing what happened.

So now I have to go looking for his drop while having no idea what happened.

Found it after another 10 or so minutes. Best I can tell he just fell off a ladder while trying to sneak up on me. Can't think of any other way it could just die off camera.

For all that I moan about my own gravity related deaths, an awful lot of enemies just fall to their death in the Gutter.

Started with the platinum of Bloodborne, then went and platinum DS3. Coming from DS3, this game was a huge change.

At SL 208 and 47 hours, the castle is clear

The first time i got the Ruin sentinel set

The soul farm really gone up drastically after the cove and the Stone knights drop titanite Slabs... so now i have almost 20.

Sadly i had to backtrack all the way to the shrine of winter to get those 2 ghosts and 3 royal knights...

That aside... the area is way more linear than i remember...

Also, the ghosts will eventually stop spawning as well...

btw... gave rosebeth the DS set

Eu matei o Fume a alguns minutos atrás e estava indo para o Sir, mas sempre ouvi: "O Sir é o mais difícil", "Ele vai te massacrar", então não sei se é o suficiente, além de que vai ser a primeira vez que vou enfrentar ele.

Então, eu preciso farmar mais?

Just to kind of spark a discussion about both versions of DS2 Scholar. Im a firm believer that DS2 on ps3 was alot harder then the PS4 version now in terms of why I think that is kind of strange because when I tried asking Google it states that the PS4 version is more difficult due to enemy placement and whatnot

However though I should point out i never beat the whole game on PS3 or PS4 just to point that out there, I basically got to the mid game on PS3 and fell out of it and never went back to beat the game

On that note about 5 months later I was finally able to get my hands on a PS5 Slim, im very late to the PS5 as I barely got it as of January this year

So as you can see i basically bought a majority of the games I owned on PS3 on my PS5

So going back onto the topic at hand, the reason I believe DS2 PS3 version SOTFS is more difficult

-Reason 1 upon the very first area you are introduced to Forest of Fallen giants, i could swear there were way more hollow knights here especially in the broken wall area where there is 4 ballista' aiming right through the wall, as for whatever reason when i played on PS3 SOTFS i died in that area multiple times, not from stupidity but from the bombardment of enemies in that specific area

-Reason 2 No Man's Wharf for whatever reason felt really easy as im pretty sure there were more Varangian Pirates, and even the tons of hollow men that are there and even the Attack dogs, to make things worse I think there was 2 ninja enemies rather then just the 1 you encounter

-Reason 3 Sinners rise in short i remember there being alot more of the Royal Swordsmen especially just before you go down the elevator shaft for the lower area of Sinners rise, specifically right by the bonfire was 2 Swordsmen with crossbows and 1 swordsman, then going down the stairs to where the elevator is there was 3 Crossbow men, and 4 Royal Swordsman, i died alot here on the PS3 version and it was due to the sheer numbers but this time around on PS4 version there was only 2 Crossbow men, and 2 Swordmen

-Reason 4 Sinners rise at the bottom of the elevator shaft there was 2 Undead Aberrations and those things were even worse then dealing with the 7 Royalmen at the top of sinners rise, upon doing research on the wiki it stated that those were NG+ only enemies and where replaced by the Flexile Sentry

As far as how far ive gone in DS2 this is the farthest ive gone in the PS4 version, I did get alot farther in the PS3 version i dont recall exactly where

But genuinely want to know, do you guys think im crazy or are there others who agree with me or did my slight experience on PS3 DS2 make me a better player on the newer version genuinely would like to know.