Dark Souls II - Personal Impressions Thread.

With the Christmas break period upon us, I've decided to finally dedicate some time to playing this game in the light of my wonderfully immersive experience with the original Dark Souls. For those feeling particularly nostalgic, the first impressions thread can be found here: http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15214&highlight=dark+souls

I've since gone on to beat the first game in NG+ with a Sorcerer and also enjoy a single playthrough of Demon's Souls to its completion. My love for the series can be traced back to an enjoyment of the combat style and environmentally rich exploration found in the Gothic and Risen games.

I will generally be quite liberal in my descriptions, so I'd best give some forewarning now about any potential spoilers for those like myself, that haven't already played the game. By that same token, I'd like veteran players to feel free to post their own stories and accumulated battle tales or perhaps offer a gentle word of wisdom here or there!

I was initially intending to wait and see if the Season DLC Pass would become available at a slightly cheaper price by this time before I start, but alas that hasn't proven to be the case as yet, even if it's still early days in the Steam sales.
Considering I already purchased the Black Armour Edition on PC for $24 or so, I felt this was ample compensation! Aye, so let's get started.

My first hour with the game was relatively smooth though not completely devoid of frustration. I did my best to configure the keyboard controls to as close to my favorite setup from the original game as possible. I found the default settings baffling to say the least. I switched left and right click around and slowly but surely made my way through the tutorial section to get a feel for the game.
The frame rate is remarkably smooth and very polished feeling; everything seemingly moves with a greater degree of fluidity and yet there's also a slightly unwelcome sensation of speed about the whole thing. Still, it was a new environment with a wonderfully beckoning familiarity about it which my Sorcerer was eager to see in all its meticulous glory.

I made my way to Majula and started exploring what felt like was a section comparable to Firelink Shrine and the Nexus (Emerald Herald even talks a little like the Maiden in Black; yet without the same kind of poetic wistfulness).
I also let the underlying musical theme wash over me and tried to completely ignore everything I'd read about the game up to this point and merely attempt to experience it rather than over-analyse. I met familiar characters and pondered their losses (Saulden/Crestfallen Warrior) and encountered several interesting circumstances (gruff dwarven fellow with large green sword and a statue blocking access to an area) which demand I return when a more concrete solution is found.

After several hours of making my way through the first bonfire sections of the Forest of Fallen Giants, I couldn't help but feel an odd watering down and blending of the world design of both Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. Everything felt strangely disconnected and not fully realised, especially where the surroundings would change suddenly.
I also had a strong Bolletarian Palace vibe emanate throughout yet I wasn't quite encountering the same sense of awe and sombre majesty about the environments as I did in the first game. I'll no doubt try to keep these thoughts aside and not let them dominate or hinder my experience too much. Yet keeping these emotions and expectations in check is certainly one of my ongoing challenges; almost like another ongoing "boss" fight in an abstract sense.

On that note, after 18 hours of game-play, I have reached level 50 and yet have only defeated four bosses so far. I'm not using a shield; switching mainly between staff and dagger for finishing touches on wounded enemies. I've been caught by double-click dynamic a couple of times, but by and large the combat is familiar and I'm adapting to the changes from the first game relatively easily.

A small roll-call if you will of bosses conquered in order of defeat:

Final Giant (No real drama here; I took few risks, cautiously observed and got the job done without any hassles.)

Dragonrider (My first death was quite comical: caused by forgetting to raise one of the pillars here; one false roll and downwards to doom, my Sorcerer fell. The strategy here whilst intense, was relatively easy to implement second time around.)

The Pursuer (The first major hurdle and cause of much spirited anxiety in battle! I remembered the pain of making mistakes in this fight and suffered my first "mutual or simultaneous death" in a Souls game. Unfortunately, the game only remembers one death. There are distinct patterns you take advantage of, observation certainly pays off in the end - as does using your environment. (I was too slow to use the ballistae…)

Old Dragonslayer (aka Mr Ornstein Clone) I was pretty dismayed by this boss. It was certainly doing the memory of this great character a massive disservice to have a boss fight so early on and so eerily reminiscent of one of the signature encounters of the original game. I smashed him up good and proper, avoiding his attacks whilst thinking to myself "There can only be one!"

Notable NPCs:
Lucatiel (There's something enigmatic about her which has certainly captured my curiousity.)
Pate (Unhelpful bastard; hopefully he reappears!)
Aforementioned stocky fellow with humungous green sword

I must say that I have appreciated the death of respawning mechanic, as it does make the return trip to bosses after losing so much easier and rewards a player appropriately for diligence as well as preventing straight mindless grinding.

For my next adventure, I'm thinking of revisiting No Man's Wharf which is quite possibly my most favourite area in terms of overall atmosphere that I've found so far. There's a strong sense of hidden threat and eerie menace about the place; a true hive of villainy where one false step can lead to death upon an ambush or choking point.
I found in my first time here that I experienced that ol' familiar pulse-quickening dread in taking a deliberate slowness about exploration there. The bizarrely misshapen long-armed domesticated apes have a creepy aura about them too - with my character dying one particularly grim death, failing to adequately navigate in the area, with at least three of them in pursuit. Excellent stuff!

Well, that's enough writing for now. Thanks for reading! Time for some more adventuring.

I'm about 130 hours into DS2, I've been playing a lot since early November. Right now I'm finishing up the last of the 3rd DLC.

I enjoyed DS2. Probably more than DS1 but that isn't to say that I didn't LOVE DS1 because I did.

I didn't really think DS2 was 'easier' than DS1 as many people claim. Probably the biggest gameplay change is that if you farm an area long enough, the baddies will stop spawning. To some, this makes the game 'easier.'

But for me, it made the game less tedious... especially when having difficulty beating a boss and having to fight your way back over and over again through enemies just to get back to the boss.

Seems like there's a lot more equipment this time around letting people come up with some truly unique builds.

For those playing for the first time, one thing I'd recommend is that you are very careful with NPCs. Don't kill anyone (unless they attack you first) as there are several NPCs you meet who are part of a quest line. Also, some NPCs MUST fight bosses with you in order to progress their quest lines. If you want to pursue these quest lines, be sure to be human and look for summon signs so you can bring the NPCs in with you.

If you're playing a sorcerer and likely to only play DS2 one time, I found this person on Youtube with a particularly good Let's Play:

He not only shows great strategies for building and fighting as a sorcerer but also gives a lot of feedback about items found during the walkthrough and essentially providing some useful information that you'd likely otherwise miss on your first play through.

I love the DS games, but only play them once, so I do enjoy some of the 'spoilers' as I'd otherwise miss out on them altogether.

I finished DSII (without DLCs) first and then played DS 1, and in my view the original Dark Souls is more superior in every aspect.

Level and area design in DSII is linear and poor, not providing much alternatives except to fight a boss to progress. And because of the poor area design, invasions are more problematic. The world in DS 1 is also very rich, artistic and varied that is a pleasure to explore (e.g. giant hollows and ashlake).

I found some of the bosses in DSII harder than DS1, probably because of the co-op design. In DS 1 you have tough mobs leading to the boss, but the bosses themselves are well balanced.

I did not like the limited respawns in DSII, but understand why they implemented them (because of balance and poor level design). In DS1, respawns are well balanced and in fact needed in many areas (e.g. Anor Londo provides a fertile farming ground with high soul count, for you to spend at the Blacksmith and near where you obtain the lord vessel).

Another thing that dissapointed me with DSII was that the heavy attack is assigned as a double click on the mouse, hence introducing a delay for this important move. This means that it is very likely that you will miss a critical attack (in the narrow timing windows available in these games) because of this delay leading to unnecessary death. This leads to failure in enjoying the game because of the way the game was designed (and I don't want to use third party key mapping software that I have to keep changing to avoid messing my keyboard).

I enjoyed DS1 more with its lore, level design, NPCs, environments and tight balance, which I only partially found in DSII.

I might revisit DSII at some stage, maybe when the DLCs go on sale, but I am more than happy to replay DS 1 any time, and it would be my pleasure.

Pessimeister said:

I've been caught by double-click dynamic a couple of times,

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I´d recommend disabling double-click via key bindings options and assigning left hand moves to keyboard (say, left-shift and f) - it gets rid of the input delay, plus guard break and jump attack will become reliable/easy to perform. For some reason the "disable double-click" setting gets reset after quitting the game so you´d have to re-disable it on each new session, but I think it´s definitely worth it. Hopefully the upcoming patch will make it stick.
Speaking of controls, I´d also recommend assigning "confirm" and "interact" to a same key, because it allows you to quickly get rid of "item looted" prompt without having to use the mouse.

Pessimeister said:

I also had a strong Bolletarian Palace vibe emanate throughout yet I wasn't quite encountering the same sense of awe and sombre majesty about the environments as I did in the first game.

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I think vanilla game does have some areas with a chance to evoke a similar kind of feeling in you, but for a more consistent delivery in this regard the DLCs are where it´s at.

Pessimeister said:

Old Dragonslayer (aka Mr Ornstein Clone) I was pretty dismayed by this boss. It was certainly doing the memory of this great character a massive disservice to have a boss fight so early on and so eerily reminiscent of one of the signature encounters of the original game.

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Personally I thought that besides obvious fan service, turning one of the most fearsome and signature opponents into kind of an echo was likely the point, similarly to how a lot of the other Lordran stuff is alluded to in the game.
I think it´s a reasonably fun boss fight at low levels and the dude probably isn´t that much of a pushover for someone who hasn´t played the first game.
Besides that, I found it quite funny that dragonslayer and dragonrider are found in the same area, but like with some other potentially interesting scenarios the game didn´t quite capitalize on it. The upcoming patch is supposed to add new world events or changed item descriptions into the game, hopefully this will be among the addressed stuff.

===================

It seems like some comparisons with the previous game are inevitable in a thread like this, so I may as well add my two cents too .

In short, in my book DS1 is better in most things world, whereas DS2 is better in most things mechanics. As a consequence I found DS1 a more enjoyable game from a first playthrough perspective, but DS2 won quite significantly when it comes to replayability.

By "world" I mean stuff like level design, aesthetical consistence or lore/story presentation, by "mechanics" I mean all kind of stuff ranging from UI, to weapon or spell selection/viability, to stamina/roll/equip load management, to environmental interactivity, to how boss battles play out, etc.
Speaking of bosses, this aspect is a good example of the qualitative differences I see between the two games - I found DS1´s bosses to be overall more memorable/imaginative from an aesthetic point of view, on the other hand I found bosses in DS2 to be overall more fun to play against.

I´d add that while I think DS1 "wins" at level design, it´s mostly due to its general world layout (the area connectivity element where the game is both more ambitious and successful than the sequel) and artistic coherence. When considering the games´ individual areas by themselves, on average I found playing through DS2´s just as fun as doing so in DS1.
DS2 lacks the sense of world slowly coming together and cool moments when you suddenly emerge in an already known area, but otherwise I found minute-to-minute exploration in it to generally hold up well against its predecessor.

At the end of the day I´d say I found DS2 to be a bit worse than DS1: PtD, however that´s only if I don´t take the DLC trilogy into consideration.
When I do so, the tables turn - the three DLCs don´t have the base game´s "world" weaknesses and retain + expand (via new items, environmental hazard/interactions and several fantastic boss encounters) its strengths in the "mechanics" category, resulting in a game which features a bigger amount of quality content of the two on top of already having longer legs when it comes to replays, in my book.

Unless the vanilla game really misclicks with you, I´d highly recommend getting the DLCs at some point, but I´d say no rush - the content can be played post endgame anyway and in the early February there´s supposed to be a patch which will add some new content too (worded as new world events, story additions and updated item descriptions, though I´ve also read a spoiler implying some new enemies may come along with it as well). It´s possible the new stuff will include more interactivity between vanilla and DLC stories.
Moreover, a "next-gen" version which incorporates the above patch, as well as the trilogy, is supposed to be released in April. I don´t think any info on pricing for owners of the current pc version is publicly known, but hopefully they´ll offer an upgrade discount option, would be stupid not to.

At any rate, good luck with the game!

DeepO said:

Moreover, a "next-gen" version which incorporates the above patch, as well as the trilogy, is supposed to be released in April.

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I'm glad you mentioned that. I was looking to purchase DS2 the next time it went on sale, but I'll wait for the updated version now.

From what I just read after a quick Google search, it seems that owners of the PC version will have to purchase the new version separately as it's going to use a new DirectX 11 version of the game engine. I'm guessing the publisher will do something similar to what Square-Enix did with Deus Ex: HR Director's Cut and offer it cheaper to people who purchased the original game.

Speaking of impressions, did any of you happen to see the article on Forbes back in April where the author questions if it's the worst game ever made? I honestly can't tell if he's being serious or sarcastic though. He also claims that, until DS2 was released, DS1 was the worst game. Yet he spent "between 300 and 400 hours" playing it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelthomsen/2014/04/25/is-dark-souls-ii-the-worst-game-ever-made/

Thanks very much for the thoughts and insights gentlemen, particularly to DeepO, thanks for the well-wishes on this grand adventure. Lots of points to consider all round in my ongoing evaluations. I'll most likely wait a few more days for the Steam sale to hit full gear, but regardless the DLC will most definitely soon become a part of my DS2 experience.

I'll be doing my best to not arm myself with too much meta-knowledge when playing, as I do like to go in as green, fresh and spoiler free as possible. I also like the surprise value, learning on the fly and the indirect choices and consequences that you get playing this way. The death of the firekeeper in DS1 was one such example in this regard. In subsequent playthroughs, I've seen it fit to execute the murderer before he gets a chance to do that deed again. No doubt I will experience similar events in DS2 as I make my way through Drangleic for the first time.

To update my progress, I've had a fantastic time clearing out No Man's Wharf and really relishing the atmosphere and all round creepy vibe. I've met two key vendors here and sent one on his way back to Majula which has also enabled some nice character progression.
The task of exploring this location is made much easier once you enable pharro's lockstone. It took me a little bit of time to find the lever and summoning point for Lucatiel, after which we made our way to the ghostly galleon eager end the reign of what I expected would be some twisted crusty zombie Pirate Lord of some kind.

Flexile Sentry:
However the boss fight here was disappointingly simple in the co-op situation. Nonetheless the concept of a mini-time limit imposed by the rising water made for some unique tension and a different feeling. I'm pleased to keep Lucatiel's story going…

One little element I've found more compelling in the sequel so far has been the blood stains. There's some great dark humour to be found in relishing the odd-ball deaths of some players, whether some of these are created and placed by the developers, I don't know. (One dude was trying to cut a rope on the wharf and ended up falling into the water in his post-swing!)

A couple of questions on items related to sorcery to the veterans:
Is there a particular early boss soul I should be looking to keep for usage in forging items? I haven't changed my robe from the start of the game, nor found a new catalyst as yet, although I have upgraded my staff to +5. I loved the moonlight butterfly horn for instance in DS1 and would be keen to find something similar which scales with intelligence.

My last challenge for this update was seeing it through to the mist gate in Lost Bastille. There are some murderous little two-handed wielding gremlins who charge you in this area and my first few encounters with them were quite full-on, until I realised you could take out the first two from an exterior window and then use the space accordingly for the rest of them. Fun stuff!

Ruin Sentinels
My first time in this encounter was quite terrifyingly intimidating to be honest! I mistimed a roll and felt the full force of some bludgeoning before managing to shoot off a few heavy soul arrows, somehow removing the tall figure looming before me off the platform. I got quite the shock when he dextrously jumped back up for some more! My imminent death came when I fell to the floor.

After discovering what I was in for, I decided for the better part of valor to retreat and gain some more souls for more spell-power and to trial out a co-op summoning for the fight. The second encounter was decidedly closer, but I was still brutally one-hit killed. The third time proved the charm however, with a humble cleric emerged using a mace acted as the meat shield for me to fling spells with relative ease. We did get split up at one point, but ultimately it was only a matter of time before two against one swung everything in our favor. Still, this fight was extremely satisfying in the light of my previous two demises and I imagine would be a fine challenge to do solo.

For my next sojourn, I'll be making my way deeper into Hunstman's Copse - my first couple of dips in have been fraught with extreme danger and several lucky escapes amidst the sinister gloom - I can tell that I'm going to like this area. Cheers all.

Pessimeister said:

Is there a particular early boss soul I should be looking to keep for usage in forging items? I haven't changed my robe from the start of the game, nor found a new catalyst as yet, although I have upgraded my staff to +5. I loved the moonlight butterfly horn for instance in DS1 and would be keen to find something similar which scales with intelligence.

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You already have one soul which can be forged into weapon(s) with int scaling, otherwise I don´t think there´s any other early boss soul with such properties.
I remember at least one other such boss weapon available in NG, but that one´s available a lot later.
Probably the game´s most "signature" pure int weapon is available only in NG+ onwards or if you use bonfire ascetic at the right place and kill a certain boss a second time.
Nevertheless, I think all boss souls are worth keeping around - you can read craftable item descriptions before turning the souls in to get some lore tidbits and some of the boss souls can be used to craft spells. Unlike in DS1, you also don´t need to have appropriate upgraded weapons at the ready - as long as you have access to an appropriate weaponsmith you can craft right away. Unlocking the weaponsmith(s) is a bit less straightforward this time.

Besides that you can also take advantage of infusions to make most of the weapons scale with int, including weapons which already have innate magic damage, as well as boss ones. Unlocking infusions requires some exploration and progress in the game, but there are some already infused weapons available via fairly early exploration.
You could also consider weapons with fire damage since fire scales off int+fai total, 60 being the softcap, but then you wouldn´t be able to take good advantage of magic weapon spells.

In regards to equipment for sorcerers, I´d say a lot of it is rather back-loaded (mid-to-late game), at least from a first playthrough perspective, spells come with a somewhat smoother progression which I think compensates for it adequately.
Among other things, the late game offers a rather nifty option for dual wielding as a sorcerer.
Speaking of back-loading in general, that´s another point where the DLCs improve the game to a degree since they create an opportunity to take advantage of some vanilla late game stuff without going into NG+ or PvP. Of course there´s always gonna be content tackled last, but at least there are more ways to shake things up on replays.

Thanks for that DeepO - I'll be on the look-out for those mid-late items you mention. As it is, my original staff remains at +4 (large titanite has been rare) and I did manage to find a nice fire-infused longsword in the tiny cave in the Forest of Fallen Giants.

A new update:
It took a little while to familiarise with the layered gloomy valleys and shadowed mountain paths of Huntsman's Copse, yet this has been a part of the game that I've very much enjoyed. There also remains quite a few treasures I've not managed to get to as yet, most of which require some dexterity and a bit of bravery. (Majula's pit comes to mind here…fire lizard area in FofG too)

The quasi-BDSM crowd of whip-mongers who jump from their ambush spire locations in the ravine before one of the bridges have especially provided some excellent entertainment. If one is unfortunate enough to trigger all of them in a single pass at a lower level, I'm sure it would create some heart-palpitations and all round general chaos.

During my explorations of this part of the game, a friend caught up to me in a speed-run of his own and joined me in the areas associated boss encounters. I'd definitely argue that these fights very much lend themselves to a co-op experience and have particularly helped to make the game more delightfully fun, though perhaps at a cost of a touch of the sense of threat and the consequences for failure. Maybe too, some of the joyful mystique of a complete lone-wolf approach is gone when one resorts to co-op support.
I know From wanted to emphasize and encourage a stronger co-op presence in their design points with Dark Souls 2.

A slightly cheesy exploit regarding the life protection ring has engendered a less menacing quality to these areas: Being able to repair the ring for a negligible amount of souls makes it very much a pseudo-sacrifice. I think a higher cost would be more appropriate given the ease of which these souls are obtained.
Still, it is player choice obviously as to whether or not to use it.

I loved the weaving mountain climb towards the waterfall and all of its miscellaneous skirmishes with the thieves and undead in the caves. Accidentally meeting a shaman for the first time was a bit chilling and the relief I felt at seeing the skeletal respawn not rise again was palpable.

Skeletal Lords:

This fight reminded me of a mixture between Pinwheel with some of the aesthetics of Gravelord Nito. After getting surrounded by wheelies and suffocating to death in my first two outings, it became quickly apparent that concentrating upon one Lord at time and using the hide spots for chugging estus was the way to go. With my friend duel wielding scimitars scuttling bones and my spell-power in support, winning the bout was relatively assured.

After this I experimented with allowing myself to be summoned and helped a few other players beat the fight. I'd never really done this to any large degree in the original game, so this is certainly a new facet of game-play to my overall Dark Souls experience. From have done well to make this aspect feel satisfying and I do like the idea of random strangers meeting to overcome a large obstacle only to bow or wave and then disappear into the ether, probably never to see each other again.

Executioner's Chariot:

What a fantastically unique boss design; probably the most satisfying (yet awkward) to beat in the game for me so far. A real crazy wild ride at first which has some spectacular moments as you progress through to its conclusion. This took my friend and I some rotations to truly master and I was taken back by the memories of our similarly hypnotic experience with overcoming Kalameet for the first time in the DS1 DLC. A huge part of the battle is fighting for the space in the alcoves and removing the vile shamans to prevent their respawning of skeletons.

Finally, a gripping dramatic moment which had me flee back to the nearest bonfire was entering into the Shaded Ruin for the first time. Invisible foes strike out from a foggy forested terrain and the creatures beyond showed some of the strongest magic resistance I've met in the game. Looking forward to coming back here!

Next up:
I'll get back to Harvest Valley's lockstone point, explore further and hopefully find out where Lucatiel's got to. I've also got some loose ends in Majula to address…

So a contrary opinion:

having played some DS2 - and thus in a position to finally comment - it rates as a terrible game experience for me. I didn't realize what kind of game it is - it was billed as an RPG by some, so I thought I'd try it. Played with M+KB and mostly managed OK - I could defeat enemies etc. BUT for me it was completely unsatisfying because

1) their is no dialogue (well, not what I would called "branching" - there are characters monologing repeatedly at you. It all seemed quite shallow.

2) the character progression system is bitty (requiring lots of souls to progress - clearly designed like that, see below) didn't see anything resembling a feat/skill tree…not in manual, if its there its hidden…

3) "Soul farming" - as someone who hates respawning in games and wants things to remain dead when I kill them, this …concept… is anathema to me. I Loathe it - it is tedium personified. So, I killed a number of these armoured critters, was pleased as punch, rested at a bonfire, returned to continue exploring - and Lo! - EVERY creature (in the entire world!?) is back again. Exactly. Who thought this was "fun"? To quote Nan from Catherine Tate ' "Oh, they need shooting
they do!" And no, I couldn't avoid 'resting' because as a newbie sorcerer my pew-pew (single!) spell ran out after a few combats and my melee weapons did hardly any damage. Finding some plant or whatever to recharge that energy seemed very rare, only had a few.

It seems - after I looked about the net for ways to get rid of this "respawning" - that people wanted *more*. Whatever. So, to summarize - every time I quit or use the bonfire, everything un-dies and is waiting to molest me again, all for me, so I get even "mawr" souls to buy upgrades stuff. Once I understood that "farming" was a 'core mechanic', I stopped playing - I managed about 3 hours. Clearly a lot of people love it, but to me it seems like a perpetual combat arena where you simply bash away leveling your character - which leaves me with no motivation.

That's unfortunate you couldn't get into it Booboo and I do sympathise with a couple of your problems with it (namely the lack of player choices in dialogue, there were a few choices in the first game) but some are probably symptomatic of different expectations of the game.

I don't think for example that every action rpg is obliged to have a skill tree. Dark Souls uses a heavily influential stat system which along with its specific itemization, supports a great amount of build types within the base classes. Players are free to develop and plan their characters in diverse directions.

The essential part of the Dark Souls experience is certainly the combat - it's an action RPG at heart with player skill complementing character skill in probably the best third person melee system that I've ever seen. But there is also the aesthetics of the environments to enjoy, the mood, music and atmosphere and the bosses to overcome. I find it exceedingly challenging and very motivating to play. Perhaps try again with a friend sometime, it might become more interesting that way.

In the first game, I characterised the respawning as being like a symbolic representation of reincarnation underpinning the cyclic nature of becoming hollow and being human again. There's almost a hypnotic quality to it. Generally I'm a "Joxerite" and despise mindless respawning as well, but within the Dark Souls framework it has meaning and fits the design purpose extremely well. It's certainly not for everyone's taste though and I can understand that.

I never play to specifically "farm", but rather attempt to set objectives for myself and let my play experience evolve as naturally as possible from that.

Pessimeister said:

speed-run

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Did one myself (finished in about 2 hours) which quite nicely underlined how non-linear the first 2/3 of the game can be .

Pessimeister said:

A slightly cheesy exploit regarding the life protection ring has engendered a less menacing quality to these areas: Being able to repair the ring for a negligible amount of souls makes it very much a pseudo-sacrifice. I think a higher cost would be more appropriate given the ease of which these souls are obtained.
Still, it is player choice obviously as to whether or not to use it.

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Pessimeister said:

Executioner's Chariot:

What a fantastically unique boss design;

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Agreed on both .

Probably due to replaying DS1 right before jumping into DS2 for the first time it never occurred to me to use the LoP rings (and I kinda never felt like the rings are worth sacrificing a ring slot for anyway), but even then and even though the rings are obviously part of the "make your own difficulty" design philosophy I think it would be better if they´d cost substantially more to be repaired and only preserved souls and bloodstain from a previous death, not humanity (that way they´d still be useful on occasions when one wants to recover or prevent loosing large amount of souls). There should also be less of them per playthrough.
Hopefully the upcoming patch will do something about it

As for Executioner´s Chariot, that´s one of my favourite encounters in the vanilla game. Music, art direction, mechanics and the gauntlet before nicely click together there, I think.
I particularly like that there are two notably different ways how to overcome it (one includes not using the lever at all for which the game accounts for by different resolution). Also, alluring skulls as well as yearn spell can make a whole lot of difference in this particular fight.

booboo said:

So a contrary opinion:

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I second Pessimeister´s reply and I would add that

booboo said:

Once I understood that "farming" was a 'core mechanic',

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in my book "farming" in these games is an optional, periphery mechanics you can engage in if you feel like learning combat better or feel like your character is not up to par to the games´ challenges. There are rewards for farming in the form of souls, upgrade materials or rare item drops, but the way I see it these are all optional extras since most of the items can be obtained just via exploration/vendors and you can gain plenty of levels just by killing everything once (not including the possibility to finish both games without leveling pc at all into the argument).
Plus, clearing the areas of enemies may be desirable for the purpose of being able to explore the games´ environments peacefully, but that´s something you really have to do once, otherwise in vast majority of cases you can run to the games´ bosses without killing anything at all.
Personally I think if farming was a truly core mechanics it would be something you have to do in order to be able to progress, or progress notably easier, but you don´t.

Pessimeister, I haven't played any DS game, but I have to say that I really enjoyed your posts in this thread. Love the deep discussion about the game - it sounds wonderful! Feels like I'm actually there . Thanks for sharing!

Hi Fluent, thanks for the kind words. Be sure to check out the first game's impressions thread in the link at the top of this thread if you're curious, as that also has some good discussion from members. It also practically contains my entire "journal" of adventures through Dark Souls for the first time (and DeepO's sage advice too) It's very spoiler laden though naturally, it must be said...

Just one minor tid-bit for now:

Covetous Demon
Ultima dungeon word association imagery aside, This Jabba-esque monstrous creature provided minimal challenge due to its sluggish size and movement, though it did make me raise an eyebrow when the combat message "Sorcerer Staff+4 at risk" came up, after which I switched to my secondary (albeit much weaker) pyromancy skill. It was enough to win the encounter thankfully and enable further progress deeper into Earthen Peak.

My friend and I had an amusingly heroic moment at a rather vicious choke point trap in the poisonous Harvest Valley, where at least four or five bestial dual-sickle wielding terrors had trapped and killed my sorcerer previously. To restore my souls, I summoned my mate to help and we had a tightly contained dance of death with these brutal blighters. At the end of it all, I found a weak wooden panel which would have given me an escape option had I found it before hand. Ahh, good ol' Dark Souls.

A massive update coming soon; have made some big progress overnight with my intrepid mate. For now it's time to rest however. I can hear my bedroom-bonfire calling.

Some critically minded thoughts to begin with on the subject of linearity within exploration in Dark Souls:

Entering deep into the middle of the game now, I've come to have a strangely convoluted sensation as far as the world of Drangleic as a whole is concerned. There is general lack of coherency and vivid connectedness compared to the first game (as DeepO perhaps alluded to in his reflections) Furthermore, as more maps are revealed, the greater this vague haphazard feeling of "it's a little all over the place" becomes more evident to me.

It is much easier to forget elements previously found as play appears to take you from bonfire to bonfire (which are much more common and easier to reach) with a scattered sense of progression throughout. This isn't necessarily a negative view; more just a neutral observation on the general design outlay and the way my first playthrough has evolved.

Moving through new sections of Lost Bastille was fun, including encountering the clambering shockwave zombies and the vertical fights with the crossbow toting crew defending their crumbling forgotten towers. Meeting the NPC/Vendor Straid was a huge boon for my character and soon I was taking an escalator below into an underground water drenched section and a large looming fog gate into the grim distance which beamed with importance. I eagerly summoned Lucatiel and we trudged through the water, slowly taking out the craggy water beasts and exploring the prison cells. It was good to take one's time with an npc summoning, something else I haven't done much of in the first game. Eventually we summoned a third to our little party and entered into the fight with:

Lost Sinner:
This fight was literally a darkened blur in my mind and it wasn't until my friend later informed me that it was possible to literally turn on the lights to make it easier to see and harder for our foe. Regardless, I let my two melee companions do the toe-stepping as I shot soul arrows in all directions in the near dark, sometimes in the opposite to where our two-handed swinging adversary stood. Whilst I didn't have time to think about how good these mechanics work to make the fight more tense, it was through sheer fortune that both summons managed to pile on the pressure and work in concert at the right moment with my hardest spells to win the fight first go. Lucatiel had an empty bar of health and amazingly survived. I do look forward to running into her again! This was the first big soul won; my first primal bonfire lit. (I wonder for how many other experienced players this was their first larger soul battle won as well?)

My friend had to dutifully prompt me on another section of Lost Bastille that I'd yet to find and sure enough after allocating another lockstone, access to Belfry Luna was gained. Little did I know however, of the difficulties awaiting for my friend and I in here, as a rather vigilant covenant of PvP invaders met my initial attempts to enter their main HQ with scorn. I'd had my first taste of PvP invasion and come off second best, but eventually I ducked and weaved my way up the stairs, zapping a mini-dwarf or two before zipping through the fog gate to a most nostalgic encounter:

Belfry Gargoyles:
For me, this was a much more tasteful tribute to fans of this boss from the first game than the ignoble Ornstein clone was. Replete with its original bombastic musical overture, I didn't have a moment to rest in this fight, taking it on solo in a truly feverish bout of dodge, weave and cast. With the array of statues in plain sight, the game plays with your expectations and the memory of the consequences for dallying too long over one gargoyle. It was a very good feeling to win this battle; yet in my eagerness to get back to help my friend achieve the same thing, I neglected to obtain a useful key at its conclusion. I'm not sure I wish to go back into that hive of miscreants to get it to be honest! (Feel free to inform me if I've missed too much in not having it!)

Mytha the Baneful Queen:
My first few attempts at this boss were incredibly embarrasing failures and reaching it had a certain quasi-Sen's Fortress feeling without the dextrous urgency. For the uninitiated, imagine a headless serpent queen shooting blue arrows at you in a poisonous pit, prone to long reaching spear rushing moves and you're on the way to picturing the scene. As my supply of poisonous moss became dangerously low, I realised that my damage output was not enough and that the Queen was regenerating in her own cesspit of venom. I must be missing something and a clue in this regard came in the form of two summons who bluntly refused to follow me through the gate and instead stood at the stairwell and gestured back behind me. Intrigued, I sought the area back from the last bonfire near an exposed view open to the elements at the peak of a bleakly turning windmill. There I found a player message which revealed the extent of their clue: "Try torch" it read. The act of burning down this mechanism effectively drains the poison pit.

The fight after this action was child's play in comparison and with a relieved sigh, I returned to Majula, levelled up and became aware that new denizens had arrived into the ramshackle village, concluding a fascinating long nights adventuring!

Next up:
I'll engage in some proper vertical exploration in Majula and possibly take my first tentative footsteps into the imposing fire encompassed fortress of the Iron Keep.

Pessimeister said:

Entering deep into the middle of the game now, I've come to have a strangely convoluted sensation as far as the world of Drangleic as a whole is concerned. There is general lack of coherency and vivid connectedness compared to the first game (as DeepO perhaps alluded to in his reflections) Furthermore, as more maps are revealed, the greater this vague haphazard feeling of "it's a little all over the place" becomes more evident to me.

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Yep.
I think cohesiveness is definitely one thing that the first Dark Souls has over the successor.
I guess the feeling of "all over the place" at least in some ways may not have been unintentional, since they´ve tried to convey the feeling of travelling all over the place/continent after all, but that doesn´t really make some of the sense of incohesiveness any weaker.
One way to think about the corridors/elevators connecting areas could be to interpret them as a way to show relative directions between the connected locations, but only being symbolic representations of the actual journeys. It may even have been intentional, but it´s still a bit of a crutch .
Most of my personal issues with the above could probably be solved by having more skyboxes showing the connected areas in the distance. This goes particularly for the Earthen Peak - Iron Keep transition which is jarring to the point where I see Harvest Valley´s skybox as a bug .

Pessimeister said:

It is much easier to forget elements previously found as play appears to take you from bonfire to bonfire (which are much more common and easier to reach) with a scattered sense of progression throughout. This isn't necessarily a negative view; more just a neutral observation on the general design outlay and the way my first playthrough has evolved.

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This may as well be one of the reasons, besides mechanics, why I´ve found DS2 more suitable for (at least more immediate) replays - its somewhat snappier progression didn´t make me as familiar with its environments as a more deliberate iteration in DS1. I did miss DS1´s approach during my first play of DS2 though, particularly experiencing Undead Burg/Parish for the first time. Regardless, I´d second the neutral view on the matter .
Also (and I´ll try it to be the last time I mention these), the DLCs feature pacing more consistently in line with DS1´s.

Pessimeister said:

I'm not sure I wish to go back into that hive of miscreants to get it to be honest! (Feel free to inform me if I've missed too much in not having it!)

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The key opens at least one door you definitely want to get behind, though that particular place can be reached by a different procedure which you may have used already.
Congratz on the gargoyles, those guys are quite rough .

Pessimeister said:

"Try torch"

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Considering the difference this makes to the fight, I think in this case the game definitely left a bit to be desired when it comes to communicating the mechanics via level design. Either they should´ve made the poisoned version less difficult, or the solution more apparent. With Lost Sinner they stroke a better balance.

The Iron Keep brought forth a much more calculated and grimly tense play style with its caution inducing set of challenges and infernal industrial majesty, promising a great miscellany of ways to die by fire. I had sweaty palms at key moments here, which is a tribute to what it was like to play.

There are many ways to mistime jumps in the pursuit of loot and I had to hold myself back a few times from the allure of risking death. The lava ambiance of the place literally bubbles out of my speakers and I quite enjoyed using the traps in the environment against its inhabitants. (A tight tunnel guillotine, lowering platforms containing heavily armored enemies into lava, rolling out of the way of compass point flame-throwers to char grill your pursuers etc. )

Smelter Demon
A visually quite arresting and imposingly hard looking construction; I imagine this fight would be much trickier for melee characters than for spell casters. I didn't win this one the first time through though, caught without my stamina ring, I lost a battle with the camera and took a nasty battering. Second time I did a better job at managing the distance, summoned an ally and deftly smelted the fiery fellow down to size.

At the conclusion to this battle, I rested at the nearby bonfire and started to run back towards the entrance to drop my sign and assist my friend. However, I got a most unpleasant shock as an old previously conquered foe found a way to materialize into existence again. This fight was unscripted, unforeseen and unplanned for! I liked it immensely despite my lack of awareness on the lore which would help explain how and why it happened. Amazingly, this second duel resulted in a further double kill which served to only enhance my sense of rivalry for this particular adversary! Luckily, I had no use for his drop (which my friend informed on later) which had disappeared when I returned to the scene.

Old Iron King
I took a few moments to stop and look at the high view of the fog gate leading to this encounter and even took a couple of screenshots. Memories of traversing Lost Izalith blended with perusing the Demon's Ruins came back to me and you could feel something powerful resided in this place. However, for all of the diabloesque and burning in hell-fire cinematic imagery to set the tone, the actual fight itself turned out to be a bit weak and slightly disappointing as a set piece. With that said, it is weak to sorcery! This was my second primal bonfire and I was pleased to be making progress through the main story arc.

DeepO said:

Earthen Peak - Iron Keep transition is jarring to the point where I see Harvest Valley´s skybox as a bug .

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Haha! I know exactly what you mean and I agree with your proposed solution. It did take quite the leap in mental adjustment when arriving at the Iron Keep for the first time. I've been generally pleased with this location though; there's lots to find and do here.

DeepO said:

This may as well be one of the reasons, besides mechanics, why I´ve found DS2 more suitable for (at least more immediate) replays - its somewhat snappier progression didn´t make me as familiar with its environments as a more deliberate iteration in DS1.

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My experience with both games to this point is pretty much concurrent with this feeling too; Dark Souls 2 features a much more accessible, more speedier sense of progression than the slightly more esoteric and more purposefully deliberate design in the first game.

I went back to the Copse for awhile and found a way to some objects I'd missed previously. (including a wonderful ol' favourite in Soul Spear) I also helped others with the Chariot fight again after enjoying it so much.

And now to the vertical exploration in Majula:

Royal Rat Vanguard
This was an odd little claustrophobic survivorist encounter with a rat plague which I was very lucky to win first up. The key point was to find the weakest link so to speak and focus upon it damage wise whilst avoiding other ratty nastiness.

At this point, I was going to stop and go to bed - however something about the nature of the slow and steady exploration here made me keep going. It could have been the connections to the quintessential Blighttown experience in the first game or even the Valley of Defilement to a lesser extent in Demon's Souls. The walls were starting to ooze all manner of foulness and the ladders going downward didn't seem to stop and before I knew it, I was lighting pyres in the Gutter and timidly going about my way this and that, killing zombies and devil hounds, careful to not stand on thin matchsticks which would inevitably break as they crunched underfoot. This place was great to explore and I wanted more, though I couldn't help but rate a message which read "this place again?"

I steadily made my way through Black Gulch which provided some of the most awkward obstructions in the game so far with its pool lurking horrors, giant worms and a veritable army of poisonous statues. It took quite some time before I'd cleared a path and was ready for my final fog gate for this night's adventure:

The Rotten
I summoned a dark spirit for this fight and in the haze of early dawn, went at it, amused yet disgusted by the shambling abhorrence of it all. Ultimately it didn't prove too difficult with good distance management and constant casting at around 47 attunement. And so thus my third primal bonfire was lit.
I can see myself returning to this area to explore it more thoroughly and perhaps help others with the fight.

For the next adventure:
At this point, I have no idea! I'll take stock of everything and see where it leads me. It's probably time to return to the Shaded Ruin though and see if I can make some headway….

First up, happy new year to Watchers, random readers, curious gamers, wandering pilgrims and assorted Dark Souls enthusiasts alike!

It immediately came to my attention after continuing to explore the Shaded Woods that a whole castle had hitherto escaped my scrutiny. Castle Drangleic appeared to look down upon me contemptuously as I worked my way to its entrance past its Elephantine guards and attempted to work out its little opening mystery.

Once inside, little did I know how much of a grind I was going to undertake in order to make serious progress in here. Whilst it wasn't quite on the level of higher Anor Londo in terms of challenge, there were still tough moments where my character would indeed struggle.

The main culprit at first was the statue room after the first bonfire, a dangerous bludgeon and spear filled melee deathtrap where I had some memorably fun fights with both invaders and the "beanpole" sentinel guards.

The second mini-challenge was the climb past the poisonous mask room where I would either be invaded, shot down by archers or positionally squashed by tower shield bearing knights. This was decidedly tricky for a pure caster but with steely perseverance, I got there and made it to the next boss fight:

Twin Dragonriders
Ironically, the lead-up to making it to this fight was more difficult than the bosses themselves, a pattern which has definitely emerged in the game. In this way, the boss was like the "reward" rather than the crux of a challenge to make it into a new section. With a single summoned ally (preferably melee) this battle was quickly resolved. It pays to not stand still too long, lest the second rider pop you with a few arrows, but otherwise as long as you avoid their attacks there isn't too much to worry about here.

Looking Glass Knight
Beautiful stormy night battlement aesthetics and the long drawn out tunnel approach to this fog-gate (a nice feature which would repeat in the Undead Crypt) made this fight highly anticipated. I'd seen this boss feature prominently in videos before the game first came out and by and large it didn't disappoint, with quite a few of my soul attacks reflecting back at me with interest and at unpredictable angles. However, this will be an encounter I'd like to test with a bonfire ascetic, as with only the one summoning, it proved a little bit too easy, even with the mini-dwarf invader joining the fray towards the end (out of the Mirror shield no less…)

The next section in the game is perhaps the highest test my willpower has had when playing Dark Souls II so far. The Shrine of Amana was a highly derivative souless mess which superficially beckoned and soothed via its pretty siren-song, yet could only connote a speck of the grandeur from both Ash Lake or the Great Hollow, two incredible locations in the first game which I feel it borrows heavily from.

Whilst only a transitional area, the often seemingly imperceptibly narrow water walk ways sent my character to a watery abyss on more than one occasion. I had some brutally drawn out affairs with the white clerics and suffered several ignominious deaths by a barrage of mage arrows. Stubbornly I refused to give up on making it to the second fog-gate, but alas achieving this as a solo mage seemed quite tough indeed.
If only there were a walk on water spell! And so humbly I summoned my good friend who's great experience shouldered the leadership task well and helped me through a part of the game which to be honest outstayed its welcome and I don't care to revisit any time soon. Chalk that down as another victory for co-op driven gameplay!

Demon of Song
This portly grotesque death-frog felt like a shadowy throwback to the Sanctuary Guardian in some ways with both similar moves (swap out the water spit for the lightning) and similar locations (treading shallow water). With a penchant for high belly flops and moments of invulnerability, my friend and I were well on the way to victory when unexpectedly he was killed during an excited combinational flurry. The last few tense minutes were a bit of a scramble and circling roll-fest, as my staff was broken and spell-power all but drained, but his relatively slow and familiar movements meant I could bide my time and soon win the day.

Along with my enjoyment, the game improved again considerably when it came to the forlorn Undead Crypt. Eerie shadows, hooded spirit assassins, restless bell-tolling zombies, dark magic spouting, stamina draining witchery and a cultish leader bidding one extinguish all light - all these ingredients combined well to motivate me forward.
I particularly liked the chameleon shield knights and literally yelped when a wall I was looking at, began to suddenly shift and bear down upon me. The final push to the last fog gate here was also very memorable; as I like when I see a goal faintly in the distance and are left to openly wonder about everything in between.

Velstadt, the Royal Aegis:
This fight took me two shots to get right; the first I tried solo and was quickly bruisingly dealt with, mistiming several spells. The second, I summoned the Grave Warden which proved to be enough of a distraction for me to launch enough of the stronger spells in my character's arsenal. (I'd now become reacquainted with Homing Crystal Soulmass and had amassed 6 soul spears)
In short, I enjoyed the atmosphere and feel of this fight, the second half once Velstadt prays to his god and starts using dark magic buffs with heavy resistances, certainly amplified the challenge.

My final sojourn for the night consisted of returning to the Shaded Ruins with a new array of powers to experiment with. The hairy barbaric mob who had frightened me off previously were a lot easier to deal with if I was able to lure them out individually. In fact, going toe-toe with them now was a pleasure, with spells like "Soul Greatsword" an especially useful way to finish and take advantages of tight spots and guard openings.
I took care of the giant basilisk (but haven't yet taken the plunge to explore what it reveals) and also took some morbidly exultant joy in destroying any laughing, cursing, smiling urn I could see in plain sight. I liked looking about the nooks and crannies of this place, but was doubly pleased when I stumbled upon the large mist gate leading to:

Scorpioness Najka (aka Quelaag's long lost cousin)
As soon as this fight began, the strikingly similar patterns to Quelaag's movements from Dark Souls were strongly apparent and this knowledge proved useful in sensing what was coming next.
My only regret after winning this in a fairly drawn out battle, was not manipulating her to smash a tree over in order to retrieve an object at the end of it! A fittingly exhausting conclusion to a long night's Souls-journeying…

In my next adventure:
I'll go beyond the Shaded Ruins and see what I can find as well as return to the areas where the king's symbol is needed to progress (I can think of two at the moment…)

Some relevant musical themes for this entry: (Enjoy in contemplation!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enkEiD8PC5o (Ash Lake from DS1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFRY6fzEQqw (Shrine of Amana theme, Milfanito from DSII,)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xK74qHlyPo (Scorpioness Najka - I quite like the grandiose doom part from 1:08!)

Lastly, I'm going to add something here as a way of celebrating those moments of transience in Dark Souls II where you enlist someone for aid which I'll hopefully update more to as they occur to me.

Thanks for reading!

Co-op Companion Honour board of thanks:

Benji (Skeleton Lords)
Twinkle Toes (Scorpioness)
Hoenvecker (Queen Elana)
Izabelle (Smelter Demon II+Kings Pets)
NoFuture (Fume Knight)
Son of Aleph (Burnt Ivory King)

Pessimeister said:

First up, happy new year to Watchers, random readers, curious gamers, wandering pilgrims and assorted Dark Souls enthusiasts alike!

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Happy New Year and thx for the fun reads!

Pessimeister said:

The next section in the game is perhaps the highest test my willpower has had when playing Dark Souls II so far. The Shrine of Amana was a highly derivative souless mess which superficially beckoned and soothed via its pretty siren-song, yet could only connote a speck of the grandeur from both Ash Lake or the Great Hollow, two incredible locations in the first game which I feel it borrows heavily from.

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Since Amana is one of my favourite areas in the game, here´s a counter-opinion :

I think if there´s anything superficial about it, it´s its similarity to Ash Lake.
Under the surface the area comes with entirely different gameplay design, as well as lore purpose.

On the other hand, I don´t find the inclusion of the soothing song to be superficial at all - I think it works nicely in unison with the somewhat majestic, and at first seemingly peaceful environment, creating a neat counter-point to the hectic gameplay experience the area is very likely to involve. I don´t remember an area in any of the previous two Souls games with such a stark contrast between "atmosphere" and gameplay, which is probably the main reason why I think Amana can easily stand on its own within the context of the series.
Besides that, the song additionally has an actual gameplay purpose too - when it´s sung "the little ones dance" (brightbugs/fireflies) which makes the lizardmen docile and shows you where they´re located.
I think the song itself is a throwback to DS1´s ending theme (which in turn may have been a throwback to Demon´s Souls´) and I´ve always been a fan of this kind of audio-silver lining in a game series.

In terms of combat I think this is a really well put together area. The combination of ranged magic and close physical attacks in the water-y environment accentuates various potential equipment considerations (physical resist x magic resist, low equipment burden for better rolls and faster stamina regen x higher burden for better resists), as well as offensive ones (ranged x close). Additionally in regards to offense, the area is one of the rare examples in the series where using poison arrows didn´t feel like cheesing the game to me . And for a spellcaster this can be a good playground for binoculars antics.
I also like the environmental duality between being helpful (scattered safe spots throughout, more damage via lightning) and a hindrance (slower movement, deep waters, less fire damage).
For the one mandatory area with little cover (before the third bonfire), there are additional options to summon an NPC or getting to the fog stealthily.
To various degrees, the considerations like the above are always on the table throughout the game(s), but I feel this particular area manages to drive the point home a bit more eminently and in a more concentrated form.

I also really like the area´s boss encounter, mostly for the art design, but I also kinda appreciate that the devs made it an easy one, probably to serve as a breather after the perilous areas leading to it (likely similar balancing approach you mentioned in regards to Twin Dragonriders, though in that case the area issue can be solved by finding a hidden bonfire).

Pessimeister said:

Whilst only a transitional area, the often seemingly imperceptibly narrow water walk ways sent my character to a watery abyss on more than one occasion.

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"Try torch" .
Similarly as in No Man´s Wharf (where the torch can be useful for scaring away those long-handed dudes, but gives the pirates a better chance to set you aflame) the area has a counter-measure in the form of lizardmen aggroing you from far away and rolling in water extinguishing the fire, so while it´ll prevent water-y deaths it´ll make the area more dangerous otherwise. There are some fire sources which can make using a torch more flexible. It´s definitely useful for exploration because the area features fair amount of hidden stuff.

All in all, personally I think Amana is a cool feature-rich obstacle course and a successful (and for the series fairly unique) attempt at positioning gameplay and ambience against each other.
To be honest, I probably like it more than Great Hollow/Ash Lake - I love both, especially the latter, for the atmosphere and lore considerations, but I haven´t found either particularly engaging gameplay-wise and the areas´ cool factor of constituting a fairly considerable chunk of content so well hidden I´ve been able to appreciate merely "academically" because I (and I suspect around 99% of other players) wasn´t able to discover it on my own. The way Painted World of Ariamis was hidden was more to my liking, though I fully respect the design decisions surrounding GH/AL.

Pessimeister said:

Scoprioness Najka (aka Quelaag's long lost cousin)
…
My only regret after winning this in a fairly drawn out battle, was not manipulating her to smash a tree over in order to retrieve an object at the end of it!

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Not worth regretting unfortunately. It´s a minor issue, but worthy of change via patch nevertheless, I think.

Btw, defeating Najka after Twin Dragonriders is fairly unusual as far as progression through the game goes I´d say (and a symptom of the fact that by design there´s only one boss fight before Drangleic Castle which is absolutely mandatory for finishing the game).

To begin my next missive, a few words on fast travel, bonfire abundance, and the choices in area exploration.

The amount of locations that one can choose to quick travel to by the deep middle game is quite substantial to say the least in Dark Souls 2. Within the boundaries of each place comes an absolute plethora of bonfires (usually at least 3) which readily help pinpoint progress and ease of return to any previously visited place in the game.

In the original Dark Souls however bonfires were like virtual beacons of hope, pure relief inducing moments of genuine battle-weary sanctuary. Whereas I feel in the sequel their regularity has started to feel more analogous to every day checkpoints, robbing them of much of their potent mystique. Reaching one for me at least, certainly does not evoke or carry the same feeling.

Indeed, the game even communicates after you've completed a section whether you've missed a bonfire. At this point I've missed at least three, a fact which doesn't particularly concern me, though to some extent it does do the game some credit at least for keeping some of these sacred places reasonably well hidden. However, I do hope that this cornucopia of resting flame is not quite as common once I get to the DLCs, as I quite enjoy the extended moments between stops and having my endurance tested.

The quasi-open world oriented fast-travel system has arguably influenced my playing style to the extent now where if an area is not locked down or screaming at me from above with great death-laden peril, I will enter and explore simply to get a feel for how my character can cope within a given area.
This may partially explain my aversion to the Shaded Ruin in favor of persisting with Castle Drangleic.

DeepO said:

Btw, defeating Najka after Twin Dragonriders is fairly unusual as far as progression through the game goes I´d say

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That's most interesting to hear you say that actually because my friend also made comment recently that he thought my chosen progression path through the game was odd too. Ordinarily in most exploration heavy games I would be more disciplined and exhaust a path or plot avenue to the greatest extent my character was capable; the original game being a chief example of this.
(Be sure to read further below for another veering off the established path after Aldia's Keep!)

But at this point in Dark Souls 2, I find myself craving discovery with challenge and are unable to resist wandering off in random directions if the game allows me to access previously locked sections. The introduction of the Pharros lockstone mechanic and tracking their locations has certainly influenced this play style. Again, perhaps the sequels' weaker cohesion and scattered connectedness is a partial cause of this too. Also as an older role-playing game fan, I absolutely love being in areas where perhaps you shouldn't be early on or where the difficulty is higher yet the rewards are suitably greater.

To backtrack a little on the concept of challenge, to my horror I discovered subsequent to finishing Black Gulch via my friend that Lucatiel was able to be summoned for the fight with Rotten, something I'd unfortunately missed. To try to alleviate the problem of a potentially broken npc plotline, I decided to burn an ascetic and attempt to do the fight again. This proved to be fantastic fun and made the battle much more lively with an added dimension of attrition. After some attempts, I just managed to win albeit at the cost of Lucatiel's phantom right at the end of the fight.
At this point, short of taking on the Rotten at NG++ I resignedly gave up and thought I'd failed to continue her questline…*searches for a similar facepalm gesture*

However, Aldia's Keep proved to be quite the diabolical little experimental madhouse and it was with great relief that I bumped into Lucatiel again. In what felt like a final parting dialogue of sorts, her melancholic reflection on the nature of self and generous gifts provided a poignant starting point to exploring this location.
There are some unique little set pieces and artistic touches here that were great fun: From the shocking animated skeletal undeath, mirror prisons, a tormented to the point of hallucinatory and guilt filled npc, arcane dark spirit magic duels, a naked frolic in an acidic dog-death bath, to unrestrained ogres smashing up the furniture and letting their more docile locked up friends out of their cages, there was a good deal here to be entertained by.

Guardian Dragon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd8Qqg6srCQ
This was a most attractive location for a fight (think high tower dragon-cage) and it was mildly awe inspiring to watch the wings of this Wyrm unfurl and for battle to be joined. Cue distance management and the releasing of heaviest projectiles - this creature is also weak to sorcery which no doubt made my time easier with it than others may have experienced. Thankfully, I was never caught directly in its flame…

After a pleasantly familiar cinematic and a great glass-elevator like moment in the clouds, creating a more than apt postcard situation, my arrival in the Dragon Aerie brought a curious shift in my exploration focus. Seeing Emerald Herald and listening to her dialogue gave the place a sense of higher narrative importance which drove me instinctively to wanting to go backwards to areas I'd yet to open. This inevitably led me back to Castle Drangleic to:

Throne Watcher & Throne Defender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n4EavKs1K4
The long tunnel build-up signaled something of importance was to occur here and when I saw the fog-gate in the distance, I simply had to dive in, pausing to summon Benhart of Jugo before I did. This was such a gripping little stoush, a melee duet with a solid variety of potential dynamics based upon the contrasting styles in the two adversaries. Whilst lacking the environmental richness for feature usage of other duet battles like the brilliant Smough and Ornstein encounter, this fight remained solid fun and something I repeated as a phantom to help other players with to appreciate again.
(A spoiler question: Can one reach the little igloo like island behind the stationary golem/giants? I thought I saw the outline of a door….)

My final little mission for tonight's adventure was another bonfire ascetic: This time within Lost Bastille. My idea was to obtain another ruin sentinel soul and thereby deepen my collection of sorceries from Straid, for in my ill-considered haste, I had greedily consumed the soul the first time around. This choice provided a decent challenge as the NG+ Sentinels were more than capable of king hitting my character to death and creating a rush of discord.
However with my trusty colleague Kuikkushirubā and npc Pilgrim Bellclaire as support, after a couple of my funny deaths, we overcame the initial dodging traffic jam on the first platform and won the day.

DeepO said:

Happy New Year and thx for the fun reads!

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You're very welcome my friend! Thanks for reading and for all of the additional comments and Souls insights!

DeepO said:

Under the surface the area comes with entirely different game-play design, as well as lore purpose.

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Thanks for helping me step back from my initial gut reaction to Amana a little and offering an alternative view. You make some articulate and well reasoned arguments which make me realize that it's quite possible my view of the Amana Shrine would improve upon greater exposure and a greater lore based illumination via some reading and a replay.

I also agree with your points on the pleasing contrast between game-play and atmosphere, but would also hasten to cite the Moonlight Butterfly and the final Gwyn encounters as other great examples of atmosphere contrasting game-play.

However, sadly in my first time through Amana Shrine its aesthetic appeal simply didn't connect with me on an abstract or intellectual level. I do stand by my opinion that it by and large stands upon the shoulders of giants (Ash Lake/Great Hollow) in terms of mood and visual style. One aspect I adored about Ash Lake was the incentive to stop, pause and reflect upon everything that had gone before, basking in the awe-inspiring music and the alien thread-bare environment that felt oh so removed from everything else.
I tried to do that in Amana without yielding any real result despite the imploring music, there was no unique feeling as such and my attempts to connect with it weren't successful. That said, I acknowledge and appreciate your efforts to flesh out its virtues and general appeal more vividly and will most certainly "try torch" next time around.

For the next mission:
I'll play-test my newly found Soul Geyser spell for the first time (int 64+ required)
I'll turn my gaze skywards and get back to dragon time!