random games

[ganonfloyd]

please refer to the skeleton lords as papa nito's family circus from hence forth, thank you

[Random]

my mistake

[Random]

Ok, I'm through Harvest Valley, it wasn't that bad. There's a whole bunch of stuff I left in the mist directly beneath the windmill, but I'll go back for that stuff later maybe because

the fire ladies are bullshit

Like, cool, they have an attack that rains fire over everything from a distance, that's fine, you can just bait it out and then roll under it to attack them. HAHA they have a close range combustion attack that does like 1200 damage (estimated based on the fact it does most of my health bar). Just want to put that out there ahead of everything else so that it's understood these raised my hackles whenever I saw them.

Earthen Peak is fine (other than them). The headless dudes aren't unreasonable to deal with (unless you accidentally trigger three of them). I like the hammer guys that poison themselves to death without fail, though I'm not sure they're the only ones who didn't read the baddie handbook about being immune to the environment you work in. The grave wardens seem a bit out of place.

Also I fought the Covetous Demon. I forgot that was in this game, and I wager most of the people who have actually played it have forgotten, too.

I summoned another shade in this area because that's just what I'm doing now, seeing what these people were about. Devotee Scarlett, I think, was put in the game to spoil the windmill secret for anyone who wouldn't know to burn it otherwise. I lit my torch and ran out to the thing, and she literally pointed at it, then did the celebratory gesture when it was burned up. She's also immune to poison, which is awfully convenient for her. Also I used my only Lloyd's Talisman on the mimic in that room with all the poison pots, and then she just starts attacking it. So that freaked me out, but luckily it got poisoned in their ensuing tussle (while I was hiding in the corner).

Also I think I wasted a Pharos Lockstone? There was a contraption in the mimic room that I was hoping would lead outside, but instead water came out of the eyes and made a pool, which I assume cleanses you. But now I have a problem of not knowing how to get outside to the ladder guy. I can see the gate that leads back in from there, and there was a summon sign out there that I'm hoping is Lucatiel? (the one right by the boss door is some sort of jester person). I'll probably look it up as I don't want to miss a step on her quest.

While I was looking around, though, I died in a ball of fire. Lost about 9000 souls, but that's not even enough to level me at this point, so I'm at peace with it.

[Maniac]

i like how conspicuous the desert sorceresses are. i guess every dark souls game has a monster waifu of some kind, but compared to pretty much everything else, they're so blatantly fetishy that they're just weird

their hoods look really good with alva's armor though

[ganonfloyd]

covetous demon isn't a good boss but i like his design so i do remember him

I would do coop in Earthen Peak a lot when II first came out because I liked the boss and liked showing people the fire area. Some of my favorite multiplayer moments happened there. One time me and another guy literally had to point someone there the entire way and I'm pretty sure he thought we were fucking with him.

also cooped with a dude with a name that was a saint vitus song and when i confronted him about this via a message later he was ecstatic that someone finally recognized zombie hunger for what it was, i love dark souls coop

[Maniac]

the only really special ds2 coop moment I ever had was that diabetus summoned me once and i helped him fight a shitty boss with my comically silly demon's great hammer power stance build

[Ƨɒlƚy]

dia who now?

[Maniac]

dia who now?

no

[Random]

anyway

I was on the right path when I was incinerated before, so I found the ladder guy, and I also went back down and talked to Lucatiel again (that summon sign wasn't hers).

The snek lady took me two tries. I think I ate one of her magic attacks at a bad time the first attempt, but she wasn't bad otherwise.

After that I went up and bonfired at the keep, but I backtracked to the Undead Purgatory after that. Rather than making it more of an ordeal than it needed to be, I summoned a dude by the name of Murrdox to tag team the gauntlet and deal with the black phantom at the door. The Chariot, as one might imagine, was the easy part after that.

Used the souls from that win to build all the ladders back in Majula, so those are ready for a later descent.

Then I went back to Lethal Lavaland.

I like the Alonne Knights. They're quite good at being what they are, which is basically samurai in armor. They're super quiet and they always manage to run up to me when I least expect them. And they drop a ton of souls. I probably dodged their opening slash/thrust one in three times, but my mace was two-shotting them after that. The biggest reason I had trouble in the area before Smelter Demon is because twice I screwed up the jump to get up to the Pharros lockstone pool.

Also I guess that very first bonfire outside the castle is like an invasion hub? I got invaded by two NPCs and another player. Beat them all, somehow. Also bested Forlorn for the second time further inside.

Lucatiel joined me for a third time in the Smelter Demon fight, and I didn't really get it until that halfway part where he lights his sword on fire and he started doing half my health bar in one slash that sort of hit me? So kept my distance and let her tank a lot of the pain (again). Turned into another one of those fights where I was kinda racing to kill the boss before he could kill her, but we made it through. Now I guess I just need to keep finding her and talking to her?

As an unoriginal observation, talking to people in this game is sad. There's the armor merchant who is happy to be rich now that I've patronized him, but doesn't remember me and also doesn't remember anything else other than wanting souls. There's the ladder guy who is on the run, but dodges your questions when you ask about from what and for what reason. There was the map dude who decided he should try to recreate the map from the mansion, but can't remember why he actually came to Drangleic otherwise. And then there's the Blacksmith's daughter who doesn't remember who he is even though he's ten yards away from her. The Blacksmith looks the most hollow of anyone but is the least hollow of them all seeing as his tasks keep his wits about him. And obviously Lucatiel is hollowing sort of in real time, losing a little bit more every time I talk to her.

Thinking about talking to the map guy, too, you can imagine he would ask you where you've been and how you got there. And the funny thing of course with this game is it doesn't make sense how you get anywhere, so you wouldn't be able to offer him any helpful information.

The rest of the castle after the Smelter Demon was pretty straightforward, but I've got a lot of cleanup to do that I'll need to look up some stuff for. I summoned Manhunter O'Harrah for the Old Iron King, mostly for some assurance that I wouldn't lose the souls I was carrying around.

Time to go down into the pit then. I opened the way to one of the DLC shrines, but the door there wouldn't open, so I must not have whatever item I need for it. What sort of recommendations do you guys have for when to take on the DLC anyway?

[Maniac]

The biggest reason I had trouble in the area before Smelter Demon is because twice I screwed up the jump to get up to the Pharros lockstone pool.

this is where the dull ember was in the original game lol

like all the other dark souls dlc, the DS2 DLC are all either on par with endgame content or straight up the hardest content in the game. narratively, the game wants you to do them right before the final boss, but you could make some headway right now if you're feeling confident with how you're handling all the mobs right now. also just as an aside, i'll say outright that it's possible for you to acquire the iron keep dlc item right now if you want it

also i fucking hate smelter demon because once he sets himself on fire, all of his attacks start having larger than visible hitboxes that persist for longer than they should. guy looks cool, but he's a technical trainwreck of a boss

[Random]

that seems like a long time to go without having an ember for the blacksmith

also just as an aside, i'll say outright that it's possible for you to acquire the iron keep dlc item right now if you want it

yeah I just watched a video on Iron Keep to help me with cleanup and it points me in that direction

for reference I missed two very obvious ladders between Smelter Demon and Old Iron King, one of which led up to a bonfire and the lever that turns off the fire, so lol

[Random]

Yeah I got to go to the salamander pit finally. Funny enough, Sellsword Luet's summon sign was still there by the Last Giant's door, so I brought him along to literally be a human shield.

After that I went to The Gutter. I had kind of built this up in my head as Blight Town 2.0 (or Valley of Defilement 3.0), but I actually kinda had fun with it?

It comes down to the torches. They have a dual purpose here of casting off the oppressive darkness and also marking where I've been within this mangled labyrinth of plywood. And it's just kinda satisfying to see the area get brighter the more I explore it.

Now I did die once because I got distracted by some red bugs and didn't realize that three torch guys had followed me across half of the level. They got me good. But after that I got back to my bloodstain, made it down the ladder gauntlet, and have stopped for the night at the entrance to Black Gulch.

Also, the collapsing floor underneath you as you head toward the only bonfire in The Gutter is what I would call A Good One on behalf of the devs. Really got me good, there.

EDIT: I missed a bunch of stuff so I'm gonna have to go back. This is becoming a theme.

[Random]

Ok, I went back to the Gutter and I'm glad I did because now I have the Aurous set and my dreams of cosplaying as Sauron are reality.

I also went and did the Grave of Saints, but I didn't get invaded? I thought you get invaded there. Not sure what was up with that.

And also I have switched over now to the Greatsword, which is rather fun indeed. Almost hilariously so. The Aurous set is lighter than what I was wearing, too, so I don't have to worry about equip load much.

With all that out of the way, I returned to Black Gulch and summoned the two NPCs with signs there. One was Bashful Ray, who decided now as a good time to let me know they were a pyromancer (the tar monsters didn't like that very much) and some other dude with a bow. So I spent most of the time running around punching statues while they lit everything on fire. I was glad to have them both when the double invasion happened. Don't remember their names, but the Greatsword made short work of them.

Ray departed before walking through the fog door, but the other guy hung around. It's cool that you can hear The Rotten before you actually walk in there. I have to be cynical and wonder how much cooler that boss would have been if he was in a newer game. Not only would his model have been better, but he probably would have had a more involved moveset than overhead slash, horizontal slash, double overhead slash, grab, slam, and AoE attack.

Oh and I finally remembered to go back and unpetrify Straid. Didn't have a lot of souls on me, but I guess I could pick out a few boss weapons. Do y'all have any recommendations?

One path to go. I've spoken to Benhardt (amazing accent) and Rosabeth, and I'm currently set up at the three-way fork in the Shaded Woods. The Shrine of Winter won't open, so I guess I should be glad I haven't somehow reached the soul memory requirement. I can see the castle on the horizon down the middle fork, so once I resume, I'll be off into the fog.

[Random]

For the sake of the record, I did some more cleanup. Went back and did the rest of Heide's, got the Forgotten Key and all the loot behind those doors, talked to Lucatiel in Black Gulch, talked to the guy who likes Dark stuff, ran through Belfry Sol, aaaaand I think that's it. (Edit: I may have also joined the Blue Sentinels, but I don't know if that will ever be relevant).

Then I went ahead and did the shady part of the Shaded Woods. Only got backstabbed once. Had a nice long chat with Vengarl, too. Cool area.

[Random]

Did the rest of the Shaded Woods and beat up scorpion lady. She didn't knock the item out of the tree for me, much as I tried to get her to. There's someone locked away in the basilisk pit that I don't know how to get to, and I didn't do anything with the other scorpion person that was in the sand pit, so hopefully I can go back and deal with those if they're worth it.

What the heck are the Doors of Pharros? I honestly have no working memory of this area because the people I watched play this game ignored it completely. It seems like the kind of thing that would have required me to save every single Pharros lockstone I've found to this point in order to loot completely. Like there are so many contraptions and such. I get the feeling based on the traps that it's another covenant area, but like, what the heck do I do here? If anything?

I did get to the bonfire right in front of the fog door, which set off some alarm klaxons in my head, so I think there's something in there having to do with the very fast toxic dogs I encountered on the first floor. I stopped there for the night, though.