Let's Talk Dark Souls II

Not too concerned about the invasion stuff, but I always thought reducing your health when you die was kind of a shitty mechanic, so I'm not thrilled that that's back.

Lately all of the vidoes have been jittery for me but this one was really bad.

I like a lot of what I heard/saw in this video...except for jump being mapped to L3.

Every input counts in the Souls series, and I imagine getting screwed from an accidental click jump would be a somewhat common occurrence for me. Or having the action of clicking the stick slightly change my run trajectory and send me off a cliff. Yeah...jumping with L3 is a bad idea.

@tesla: You can map the jump back to circle (or "b" on 360). First thing I did in the network test beta after failing to do even the most basic jumps across small gaps.

@cptbedlam: Awesome news, thanks man. I was pretty bummed out there for a bit.

I love how almost everyone on staff is now into Dark Souls, it makes me happy. Now to convert Jeff...

Animation still looks off somehow. Can't quite put my finger on it.

I'm sure I'll get used to it though.

Bring on the pain!!!!

Hey I'd buy a VinnCo guide for Dark Souls 2!

ancient hardware is what's up

Also no rag dolls = LAME

invading being forced = SUPER LAME, Griefers rejoice...

@jedo: You mean, what's up with a PS3 and 360 game in 2014? Age of the systems.

I'm sort of confused with the zeitgeist thing. I played Demon's Souls using the English language Chinese import back then it came out in Japan so I know about the fun of working it out for yourself and not having any guide. But people seem to say "I want to play it when it comes out before anything is known" but also seem to at the same time want to be involved in "working it out with other people" which as soon as someone finishes the game (which I am going to give 48 hours, max), will be pretty much like using a FAQ.

If the appeal is playing it without knowing anything about the game that experience is not at all limited to the launch window. Just don't look at FAQs or wikis.

@hayt: I don't think all the souls games unknowables were created equal. Learning the enemies bosses and environment layouts and exploring them as well as discovering neat mechanical interactions is fun.

But while discovery is fun theres an unfair disparity in how easy it is to find the sellers for certain builds in a way that could leave you with 30+ points in int and up shit creak with only soul arrow to fend off the piranhas.

At a certain point as long as you are exploring all areas thoroughly and trying stuff out mostly yourself looking up some stuff in the wiki is fine in my opinion.

I'm not sure when the last time I was this hyped for a game, I feel like a kid again.

Wait, this is a teen-rated game?

Who buys weapons from shops in Dark Souls?

Me too man. I'm getting these Halo 2 feelings back again from the lead up to this game

@fiercedeity said:

Anyone who wants to use weapons like the cestus or the claws, for example.

Because how reliant you are on upgrading existing weapons rather than replacing them with new ones, shops are only really useful for getting weapons you can't get anywhere else, and stat comparison on a DPS level is hard to do because a weapons moveset and how much it is upgraded factors in more than its base, unupgraded stats.

So while it's kinda annoying that you can't compare the stats of a weapon in a shop to ones in your inventory, it really wouldn't be that useful anyway.

Extremely excited for this. Tripple dip incoming!

Here's an idea. Dark Souls belongs on Best of Gen list.

Dual shielding, eh Rorie?

Movement def seems quicker.

I noticed you don't do that horrible animation if you try to drink no estus.

Matt Rorey: Repeating everything Brad just said, because he was reading chat instead of listening.