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True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8185
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Posted - 2014.03.13 08:26:00 -
[1] - Quote
Forward:
As blithering and bias a Souls series fan as I already am I quite frankly am impressed with what Dark Souls II already has presented me with in my first hour. Even perhaps if I knew nothing of the series I would inevitably find myself drawn to the difficulty and aesthetic/graphical design that is heavily layered throughout the world I currently know as Majula.
I would heartily recommend the game to those who love the RPG genre and are looking for a challenge in their gameplay that other games, or more casually designed games have to offer. I already find myself immersed as a returning Dark Souls veteran to the game and experiencing the same feelings of challenge, satisfaction, and frustration as I did when I first began playing Dark Souls after its release.
As such a huge fan of the series I purchased the Premium Collectors Edition come complete with the 12" figurine of the Knight appearing in the trailer as well as the amazing Art Book, Complete OST, Cloth map of the game, and of course the additional starting content for the Black Armour Edition. All of which is amazing and having briefly flicked through the art book I know I have many horrors to overcome.
Unboxing:
It is with a reverant joy that I begin my unboxing of this massive package, probably the largest Collectors Edition pack I have ever bothered to purchase. Basically unboxing the whole pack top down was an incredible feeling the box itself looks very impressive, and rather intimidating. So opening the whole thing up the first thing you are confronted with is the Metal Hardcase containing your OST and Black Armour Edition Game codes, as well of course as the game itself.
The OST contains the full 35 musical scores from the game and is a full 73 minutes worth of creepy goodness.
The Black Armour Edition game contains the codes for 5 starting shield and weapon sets accessible for you early game notably the Homonculus Mace and Shield, Yellow Quartz Sword and Shield, Bound Axe and Shield, Black Dragon Sword and Shield, and finally the Red Rust Sword. All of which are going to be very unique weapons when I start testing them out tomorrow. I can only hope they aren't unbalanced starter weapons.
The second juicy treasure to come out of the box was the Art Book ( I will post some images a bit laters) which contains an abundance of art features well worth their additional cost. I haven't yet gone through the art book fully but of course you can see just looking at it that the detail and effort when into creating another horror based experience for those long time Souls fans.
Thirdly came the full cloth map of Draigleic which gives me a very good idea of just how much space I have yet to cover.....only just having emerged from The Betwixt.....an eerily confusing place which had my cleric at odds with whether or not he was male of female (more to come on that) and very intuitive tutorial which got me on my way.
Lastly came the 12" statuette of the Warrior from the trailer , well sculped, if the paint job on him was a little iffy.....but a little work here and there on him with some Games Workshop Paints will have him looking fantastic. The Model comes in 3 parts the primary figurine and the dual swords, the pommels of which can be popped off to allow them to be slotted through the gauntlets.
All in all the content of the package, of which I have not yet fully sorted through, seems well worth the cost I paid for the whole pack, some $229 NZD, and is a must have for any long time souls fan.
It is with a reverant joy that I begin my unboxing of this massive package, probably the largest Collectors Edition pack I have ever bothered to purchase
Experience:
I suppose I should really begin with the initial moments of the game.
As usual the game plops you right in the middle of things with an eerie and dramatic cut scene explaining very little, in typical Souls fashion, about what is happening to you and who you are. As with previous Souls titles this is entirely down to you.
You wake up in the middle of a strange place, surrounded by grass, it looks pretty peaceful, in the distance a light shines. It looks so pleasant and peaceful you just want to go to it......but you don't you explore typically and find nothing. Its still really quiet and the only thing you can hear is the sound of grass rustling as you move through it.
You climb a short rise. And notice bones on the ground...... you stop, maybe to admire them, maybe to check them out because they seem suspicious.....and you expect the rustling to stop. Except it doesn't and you look over to see wolves in the grass.....
They test you, sending one against you, rushing past. You of course are unarmed......you have to run.
The only place left is the light. So you run to it. The light resolved into a tree, with a door, and a homely feel to it.
You pass inside and another cutscene begins explaining, once again, very little, but heres where you get to build your character. Dark Souls II incorporates the character creation into this cutscene very cleverly. You are now free to decide how you wish to start your journey, what gifts you wish to take into the new world with you, what gear.
From here I knew my calling. The inner Amarr in me chose Cleric, though in DKS I chose Wanderer or Swordsman.
And with that you set off into The Betwixt, to follow the tutorial through the dark passages, rotting hollows, and reading the tombstones containing all the information you need to know to survive.
I follow the tutorial marvelling at how complex and reminiscent of Dark Souls it is, the mechanics are solid, the enemies are tough, and advanced techniques like parrying require vastly different times.
I spy a large enemy on a sandy shore by a coffin. and arrogantly engage. The monster is not alone, there are two!
I die.
I get a Trophy.
Welcome to Dark Souls II.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
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True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8192
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Posted - 2014.03.13 20:00:00 -
[2] - Quote
Krom Ganesh wrote:Did you use the coffin? 
I did, which confused me to no end when I unhallowed. Weird the first thing I notice was my characters lack of a beard......... then it took me a few mins to find my way back to the coffin after putting two and two together.
The coffin thing is a reflex from Dark Souls II. I thought it would take me to Nito or some guy like him.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
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True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8222
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Posted - 2014.03.14 09:07:00 -
[3] - Quote
Repe Susi wrote:Can't wait to start my journey tomorrow.
I guarantee you will love it.
It may not be exactly like the original souls games but it does retain the difficulty and requirement of precise timing on enemies that are smarter and outright more dangerous than I am actually enjoying being trolled by some of the traps and enemy placements and can feel that pulse pounding souls feeling once again.
I also think you should carefully consider your playstyle before you start a game, it seems to me to be harder to level as your character is essentially given 3 stats that are well developed while the others are pretty poor.
I am also waiting on a little more information to develop from the souls community before developing my character too far down a specific tree so I can create an epic PvP Templar first time, followed my my main PvP build a recreation of Avrik the Crow.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
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True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8223
|
Posted - 2014.03.14 09:23:00 -
[4] - Quote
Repe Susi wrote:True Adamance wrote:Repe Susi wrote:Can't wait to start my journey tomorrow.
I guarantee you will love it. It may not be exactly like the original souls games but it does retain the difficulty and requirement of precise timing on enemies that are smarter and outright more dangerous than I am actually enjoying being trolled by some of the traps and enemy placements and can feel that pulse pounding souls feeling once again. I also think you should carefully consider your playstyle before you start a game, it seems to me to be harder to level as your character is essentially given 3 stats that are well developed while the others are pretty poor. I am also waiting on a little more information to develop from the souls community before developing my character too far down a specific tree so I can create an epic PvP Templar first time, followed my my main PvP build a recreation of Avrik the Crow. My problem with earlier souls games was that my preferred playstyle (all magic/pyro) was not that viable even in PVE, let alone PVP. DS 2 is supposedly better in this, they say every playstyle is viable. We will see, but what are your impressions of this?
Well in Dark Souls pure Pyro and Mage builds were entirely viable and damn effective in PvP. I can tell you I had an accomplice who made a "Crystal Nuke" build that had something pitiful like 300 ish HP.....but if you didn't get close to him before he could cast you would die in one hit.
Pyro and Int builds were also very effective but you really had to couple the right skills together to make it work for you.
I found Dark Bead, Pursuers, Great Combustion, and Fire storm worked well in combination. I could cast Pursuers for cover while I made use of Combustion to get in close and break guards, that way pursuers would hit for max damage. If they avoided these, I could use Dark Bead to keep them at bay, until they think I'm out of spells and try to close in.
Then you Fire Storm them.
Personally I was an RPer even in Dark Souls and had a character called Avrik the Crow as a Gravelord.
I will be rebuilding him in DKSII if possible.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
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True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8321
|
Posted - 2014.03.17 18:43:00 -
[5] - Quote
You know..... I really haven't bothered to upgrade my Str or Dex..... I till don't know which build I want to make so I'm still using my trusty longsword.
However I do have lightning spear.
I'm waiting to find out some info on Hexes and the Scythe of Want.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
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True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8323
|
Posted - 2014.03.17 20:46:00 -
[6] - Quote
Krom Ganesh wrote:From what I've heard, the DRK BNS used by hexes scales off the lowest stat between INT and FTH. In other words a 20/20 build would have better hex power than a 40/20. Also, stats from the wikidot: Boss Weapons
Interesting because that is entirely possible for an early dex build.
Assuming I couple that with an early game Reaper Weapon I have Avrik back.
What are hexes cast off of. I understand they are inverse miracles that were the product of an excommunicated cleric, and thus combine less of the true tenets of Miracles, being the faith in the Gods (of flame from DKS) and meld in the user or the users owned souls.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
|
True Adamance
Praetoriani Classiarii Templares
Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris
8328
|
Posted - 2014.03.17 21:00:00 -
[7] - Quote
Krom Ganesh wrote:True Adamance wrote:What are hexes cast off of. I understand they are inverse miracles that were the product of an excommunicated cleric, and thus combine less of the true tenets of Miracles, being the faith in the Gods (of flame from DKS) and meld in the user or the users owned souls. Hexes are either cast by staves or chimes (each hex will list which it needs). I believe there is a catalyst that could cast all hexes (as well as sorceries and miracles) but it isn't the strongest catalyst and is fairly late game.
Well I figure most PvP will be controlled to a specific number of regions and soul levels..... I can make low level runs as required.
I love Dark themed abilities but hate using staves because they look ****.
I wish I just had a Dark Hand that could fire off Hexes.
" ..- -.- --. I wish I remembered morse code so I wasn't typing random letters"
- Malleus Malificorum
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