Really? I've done loads of other stuff before that!
I think I found the area he was in a bit dull so I went back to the hub area and explored in some other directions for a while, it was only when coming back to the game the last couple of nights that I remembered I hadn't fully explored around there
Made some nice progress on DS2 last night, think I'm finally back on top of understanding the spaces that I'd opened up from a few months ago now - taking a break really didn't help on that front, I spent ages just going back around places that I'd already cleared out just because I wasn't sure if there was still something to do!
Still, managed to take down a few more bosses without too much trouble:
Scorpioness Najka was a bit annoying, mainly because I didn't work out that you could stand on the stone area to avoid her attack from underground! Overall I enjoyed this, but it did feel like a bit of a weak re-tread of Quelaag without as many interesting attacks.
Pursuer was a nice fight, I enjoy the more agile battles that keep you on your toes. That said this guy was susceptible to what has now become my tried and tested "go to" tactic for tackling Souls bosses: stay close and keep looping around them. It doesn't always work but quite often you will find that they lack the AI and moveset to properly cope with a player that does this!
It's Ornstein Old Dragonslayer! Yeah this guy really can't cope with the up close loop around tactic, poor fella! I guess when you're dealing with both him and Smough you don't have the luxury of moving like this, but they didn't do anything to adjust that when you're fighting him on his own. It was nice to see a familiar face again, but it does feel like DS2 is trading a bit too much on re-using stuff from the first game and not doing enough to offer new, unique and memorable fights of its own.
Made some more Souls II progress last night, I'm up to "Brightstone Cove Tseldora" which is a name that sounds like something spat out by a Dark Souls Name Generator! I'm still having a good time with the game, pretty much all of the elements that make the series and wider "Soulslike" genre in general compelling are all here, it's just lacking that little bit of polish and refinement to really make it stand out. I've yet to come to an area or boss that made me think "okay, that was brilliant!", but at the same time I've also not got to a bit that has made me want to give up and kill myself so swings and roundabouts I guess!
Hey Prowling Magus, Pinwheel called - he wants his "easiest boss fight" trophy back! This was a bit of a joke really, not really sure how this can be classed as a boss encounter but there you go. I guess you could get overwhelmed by the mob if you aren't careful?
This wasn't too bad, but the small rats could be bloody annoying in the same way that those dogs make the Capra Demon fight in DS1 much trickier than it otherwise would have been. Despite being called Royal Rat Authority this is clearly a dog - seems like they might have taken the Sif model as a starting point and thought they could just tweak that a bit to turn it into a rat but yeah, whatever they did it wasn't enough!
The actual boss is pretty easy once you get the little guys out of the way, seems like he doesn't have any real strategies to cope with the player when they get underneath him.
I haven't played a Soulsborne game for a wee while now... but, thanks to Black Friday, I have a copy of Demon's Souls winging it's way to me. I'm looking forward to getting rekt .
Exciting! Are you going to be streaming any of your latest Souls adventure jawa?
I'm still making progress on my DS2 play through. It's hard to get a feel for how far into the game I am, but if I was to take a guess I'd say I'm now closer to the end than the beginning. It's been a fun ride so far!
Jenuall wrote:Exciting! Are you going to be streaming any of your latest Souls adventure jawa?...
I haven't really used my PS5 much yet and I don't know how to stream or anything! It's a little tricky as my PS4 is setup next to my Mac which makes it handy for streaming and chatting... but my PS5 is connected to my living room TV. Maybe I could use my tablet to check on the chat instead.
Jenuall wrote:...I'm still making progress on my DS2 play through. It's hard to get a feel for how far into the game I am, but if I was to take a guess I'd say I'm now closer to the end than the beginning. It's been a fun ride so far!
It's been good to read that you've been enjoying Souls II, Jen! Some folk give it a wee bit of stick but, from what I've seen of the game (thanks, TWA!) it looked pretty neat albeit with maybe more "multiple enemies" than in the first game?
My sources are telling me there's "definitely" going to be a Jawa Direct Stream this afternoon. According to insiders he's keen to show off both his new game and the innovative tablet chat method.
site23 wrote:My sources are telling me there's "definitely" going to be a Jawa Direct Stream this afternoon. According to insiders he's keen to show off both his new game and the innovative tablet chat method.
Haha! I will look into how I get it all working but I can't do it for this afternoon, site . I need to get my PS4 headset hooked up to my PS5 and get my tablet plugged in next to me whilst streaming... and work out how to stream from my PS5! I'll then have a situation of needing to wear "far" glasses whilst using my PS5 and "near" glasses to read the tablet. Dang age issues!
Made more DS2 progress last night, as I get further one of the key things that I think is leaving me somewhat less satisfied with this than other entries in the series is the area progression and design - there are just too many bloody dead ends in the game!
DS1 in particular always felt like you were continually unravelling this big, connected space - behind each choke point or boss fight you would have the catharsis of unlocking/revealing one or more new areas to explore, which felt incredibly satisfying and a good, rewarding counterpoint to the otherwise somewhat punishing feel of the experience. But here more often than not you conquer a section or boss only to be presented with a dead end and a bonfire to warp you back somewhere else which just doesn't feel anywhere near as nice or well designed.
The Duke's Dear Freja - this was a pretty straightforward fight: hit the head(s) and avoid the attacks and little spiders running around. This is another one that felt like it needed some more work to challenge the player, it seems like most of Freja's attacks are easy to avoid and there's not much she can do when you stay relatively close to her. Contrasting this fight to vaguely similar things like Rom or Amygdala from Bloodborne - they have far greater capacity to either push the player back away from them with AOE or sweeping attacks to knock you back, or otherwise a means to quickly get away from the player. Here Freja kind of just stands there and takes a pasting.
Belfry Gargoyles - Look out, Gargoyles everywhere! This was a pretty fun riff on the original Bell Gargoyles fight from DS1, managing the attacks of several is pretty challenging and keeps the player on their toes!
Executioner's Chariot - Didn't really enjoy this one, it doesn't really pose a huge challenge and so in a way it's more of a "puzzle boss" than anything - working out that you need to take down the necromancers to stop the resurrecting skeletons and then finding the lever to bring the chariot down. Not massively satisfying to beat but it was something a bit different which is a plus I guess.
Jenuall wrote:Made more DS2 progress last night...
...Recent boss victories spoilered below...
It's cool that you're working through this and having fun, Jen, despite the game structure not being quite as cohesive as in the first title.
I saw you post a few video clips of your boss battles on Twitter but I haven't looked too closely as I hope to play this myself at some point. It sounds like you're gonna complete this within the coming week or two!
I still haven't had a look at Demon's yet. I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to tackle it just now so I will probably delay it for a while.
jawa_ wrote:It's cool that you're working through this and having fun, Jen, despite the game structure not being quite as cohesive as in the first title.
I saw you post a few video clips of your boss battles on Twitter but I haven't looked too closely as I hope to play this myself at some point. It sounds like you're gonna complete this within the coming week or two!
Yeah I feel like I'm starting to get a good rhythm going with it now, but it's hard to get a feel for exactly how much further I've got to go yet.
There are definitely a few things that haven't quite chimed with me on this game compared to my favourite Souls experiences, but it's still very good overall!
jawa_ wrote:I still haven't had a look at Demon's yet. I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to tackle it just now so I will probably delay it for a while.
It can be a daunting task to jump into a new Souls game so there's no harm in taking your time and preparing yourself!
I was in the mood for some Dark Souls, so picked up the PS4 version.
I've played a bit on PC and the Switch before. The furthest I've gotten was Ornstein and Smough. But since then I've beaten Dark Souls 3 and Demon's Souls.
Things are going pretty well so far. About 10hrs in, and in the depths. Playing a Cleric Knight with mace+5 and the freaking awesome Lightning Spear miracle! Currently level 39.
Basically, I'm using the strategy that worked in Demon's Souls, and cheesing it with magic!
Well I got up to Ornstein and Smough again with relative ease, and it took a good few attempts but I finally beat them!!! I'm now officially further in Dark Souls than I've ever been!