Dark souls II - PC Thread

Retr0gamer · 25-04-2014 12:43pm

I found the lighting was a huge step back from Dark Souls 1. Majula and the Dragon Aerie are the only two areas that I thought looked good in the game but going back to DS1, it's a far nicer looking game in almost every regard. The lighting really lets DS2 down and is a massive step back from DS1. Everything just looks so flat. It pretty much playstation 2 levels of lighting.

krudler · 25-04-2014 12:46pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I found the lighting was a huge step back from Dark Souls 1. Majula and the Dragon Aerie are the only two areas that I thought looked good in the game but going back to DS1, it's a far nicer looking game in almost every regard. The lighting really lets DS2 down and is a massive step back from DS1. Everything just looks so flat. It pretty much playstation 2 levels of lighting.

Its weird how they book all the bloom light effect off the lava in places like Iron Keep, it doesnt look like the stuff in say Lost Izalith, which was a bit overdone but it gave a cool heat effect.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 25-04-2014 12:50pm

home at last
finishing preload

WUBBA LUBBA DUB DUB

YouSavedMyLife · 25-04-2014 1:25pm

Game looks real nice with Durante's mod, adds a few more graphical settings. I highly recommend it.

Also anyone know how to remove the mouse cursor. Every time i open any menu's or pick up an item it jumps back into the centre of the screen. Annoying

Cravez · 25-04-2014 1:26pm

Played a few hours so far, my thoughts/opinons:

Pros
- Looks a lot more crisp, better textures.
- Lighting at times looks amazing.
- Animations are overall better (except the walking one)
- Combat seems a lot more difficult, I feel like I'm relearning everything again as opposed to going straight in because of having played Dark Souls 1
- More flexibility in terms of equipment, items etc
- Overall HUD/Menu's seem more intuitive, if at least a bit of getting used to.
- Online is a lot more stable
- No more Games for Windows Live! (see above point)

Cons
- Walking animation is awful
- Replacing the run function to a seperate button instead of the same as running is a lot more awkward.
- It feels almost too fluid at times, can feel weird when in combat or walking around. Dark Souls 1 felt more responsive.
- A con regarding the HUD/Menu's is that generally the stats screen seems all over the place. Very hard to pinpoint exactly the info you need.
- You can slip off an edge very easily but you cant roll off a ladder?
- Not necessarily a con for me, but I still find that the game isn't new player friendly, despite that developers said that they made it that way. If anything it's more confusing than Dark Souls 1

I'm very mixed about Dark Souls 2 so far, whenever I play it I feel like booting up Dark Souls 1 instead. That said, It took me a while to even warm up to Dark Souls 1 at first, and I'm getting more into Dark Souls 2 the more I'm playing so my feelings towards it in regards some of the cons will change.

Burning Eclipse · 25-04-2014 2:35pm

Kiith wrote: »

What's the Dualshock 4 like on the pc? Going to pick up a pad after work today to play this, and was going to get the 360 pad, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere to get the adapter anymore.

As for weapon damage, it is much harsher in DS2. You'll want two weapons...one for trash and one for the boss (at least that's my plan).

I love it. I had said in the past that I didn't know how the Xbox 360 controller could be topped, but this probably does. DS4tool means you can use the trackpad on the controller as a mouse, in my case from the comfort of my couch. I do have one criticism however, in my experience the battery hasn't been as good as the 360 or PS3 controllers from past generations.

Mickeroo wrote: »

Which one?

If I'm remembering the name right it was the Covenant of Champions. No idea what it's about.

Kiith · 25-04-2014 2:36pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

I love it. I had said in the past that I didn't know how the Xbox 360 controller could be topped, but this probably does. DS4tool means you can use the trackpad on the controller as a mouse, in my case from the comfort of my couch. I do have one criticism however, in my experience the battery hasn't been as good as the 360 or PS3 controllers from past generations.

Ah cool, might actually buy one of these in that case. Do you use it plugged in or via bluetooth?

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

If I'm remembering the name right it was the Covenant of Champions. No idea what it's about.

That makes the game tougher. Enemies hit harder and have more HP.

Good luck

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 25-04-2014 2:45pm

the movement is so different, I think I had more success my first time in the undead burg. i'm having my ass handed to me by the games version of hollows

then I

accidentally attacked some white fat knight who I assumed was a statue. lol, nope.

im beginning to ponder restarting as a non swordsman.. this duel wielding isn't as awesome as it looked in the trailer

Burning Eclipse · 25-04-2014 2:51pm

Kiith wrote: »

Ah cool, might actually buy one of these in that case. Do you use it plugged in or via bluetooth?

Works over both, I personally use Bluetooth. Works like a charm.

Kiith wrote: »

That makes the game tougher. Enemies hit harder and have more HP.

Good luck

That'll teach me to blindly join a covenant. We'll see how long I last

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

the movement is so different, I think I had more success my first time in the undead burg. i'm having my ass handed to me by the games version of hollows

then I
accidentally attacked some white fat knight who I assumed was a statue. lol, nope.

im beginning to ponder restarting as a non swordsman.. this duel wielding isn't as awesome as it looked in the trailer

I'm playing as the dual-wielding guy, but I equipped the first shield I found for parrying. As for your spoiler, I can see how it happened... no option to talk!

Robert ninja · 25-04-2014 3:59pm

So I re-purchased the game for €15.94. Still haven't gotten my refund for D2P's forced cancellation of my pre-order.

Honestly, I'm pretty upset with this whole thing. Lighting system removed, not as good as DaS1, and now all this talk that it's just another shoddy port with bad controls and finnicky controller support - not to mentioned 360 controller prompts even when using KB/M... that's just disgraceful. Just disappointment after disappointment these days when it comes to games.

But I haven't gone hollow yet. For some reason, I still have some hope yet that the game will be enjoyable and that there'll be patches or fanmade mods that fix things... or maybe I'll get lucky and not have some of the problems people are reporting. I probably still have some hope because it's my favourite modern game series aside from Batman Arkham series.

Downloading the game now on steam - won't be done for about an hour or less.

calex71 · 25-04-2014 4:05pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

If I'm remembering the name right it was the Covenant of Champions. No idea what it's about.

You'll not be seeing a summoning sign any time soon while in that one , it disables co-op as well as making the enemies harder.

Burning Eclipse · 25-04-2014 4:26pm

calex71 wrote: »

You'll not be seeing a summoning sign any time soon while in that one , it disables co-op as well as making the enemies harder.

Typical Souls game so. Join an inconspicuous covenant, get punished by the game. Sounds like I'm playing hard mode for the next few hours. :cool:

I also wasted a human effigy... burned it at a bonfire, thinking it would restore my humanity... nope! Also, am I right in saying bonfires restore your weapons? That's new.

Damn it feels good to be lost in one of these things again!

Kiith · 25-04-2014 4:30pm

Yeah, bonfires repair your weapons, as long as they are not broken. Have to visit the blacksmith if they are broken.

Burning an effigy means no invasions for a time iirc.

calex71 · 25-04-2014 4:31pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Typical Souls game so. Join an inconspicuous covenant, get punished by the game. Sounds like I'm playing hard mode for the next few hours. :cool:

I also wasted a human effigy... burned it at a bonfire, thinking it would restore my humanity... nope! Also, am I right in saying bonfires restore your weapons? That's new.

Damn it feels good to be lost in one of these things again!

Ah ha but you see unlike DS1

there is no penalty for leaving a covenant by joining another

at least that I know of and you can just talk to

the cat in majula

to leave properly.

Mickeroo · 25-04-2014 4:31pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Typical Souls game so. Join an inconspicuous covenant, get punished by the game. Sounds like I'm playing hard mode for the next few hours. :cool:

I also wasted a human effigy... burned it at a bonfire, thinking it would restore my humanity... nope! Also, am I right in saying bonfires restore your weapons? That's new.

Yeah that's correct, you only need to repair them if they actually break. I wasted a few effigies that way too.

Falthyron · 25-04-2014 4:33pm

Same guy who released the DSFix for Dark Souls 1 has released a mod to fix problems and offer greater visuals for Dark Souls 2. You can get it here: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=gedosato

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 25-04-2014 5:05pm

it's going to take me ages to realise it's not dark souls 1, i keep running into groups of enemies expecting to be able to roll my way around and slash slash slash

YouSavedMyLife · 25-04-2014 5:32pm

Wow! Arrived at a boss door to find about 16 summon signs on the ground :eek: Seen one or two at most on the PS3 version. This is very good indeed. Also summoning is super fast.

krudler · 25-04-2014 6:17pm

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

it's going to take me ages to realise it's not dark souls 1, i keep running into groups of enemies expecting to be able to roll my way around and slash slash slash

The movement is much more floaty alright, not as instant as DS1

Mickeroo · 25-04-2014 6:20pm

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Wow! Arrived at a boss door to find about 16 summon signs on the ground :eek: Seen one or two at most on the PS3 version. This is very good indeed. Also summoning is super fast.

It was like that on xbox on the first day too.

Big Knox · 25-04-2014 7:20pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

It was like that on xbox on the first day too.

I played PS3 day one and this has much more options to summon. The areas are absolutely full of them. The player instances / server shards seem to be much larger on the PC version which is good news.

I've played in human all the way to the Lost Bastille now and every area has been full of summon signs from the bonfires right up to the boss fog being loaded with them.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 25-04-2014 7:40pm

you know what... I actually hate this combat

it's so slow, it's unresponsive

it's everything I gave up on in dark souls every time I tried to play a non dex build

Mickeroo · 25-04-2014 7:45pm

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

you know what... I actually hate this combat

it's so slow, it's unresponsive

it's everything I gave up on in dark souls every time I tried to play a non dex build

That will go away once you level

ADP and get your Agility high, roll speed and that is no longer under the DEX stat

Big Knox · 25-04-2014 7:46pm

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

you know what... I actually hate this combat

it's so slow, it's unresponsive

it's everything I gave up on in dark souls every time I tried to play a non dex build

If you're trying to play a quick build just get your agility to 100+ through either Adaptability, Attunement or both and it will be as you remember it from DS1.

20 adaptability with base ATT with mose classes gets you around 90 - 100 agility which is more than enough but you can go higher. A lot of people like to have agility around 110 to maximise the iframes of the roll.

Edit: Agility also increases the speed you use your flask and items and cast spells.

johnny_ultimate · 25-04-2014 7:59pm

Just a heads up to get the **** out of the Covenant of Champions. I spent the first couple of hours of the game in it and it was a real slog, at least as a caster. Amazed I got as far as I did tbh (three or four bosses).

One benefit though is that it's a serious baptism of fire and will prepare you well for the rest of the game - you really need to learn the mechanics, which is of course beneficial when you finally leave for one of the less masochistic covenants.

YouSavedMyLife · 25-04-2014 8:10pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Just a heads up to get the **** out of the Covenant of Champions. I spent the first couple of hours of the game in it and it was a real slog, at least as a caster. Amazed I got as far as I did tbh (three or four bosses).

One benefit though is that it's a serious baptism of fire and will prepare you well for the rest of the game - you really need to learn the mechanics, which is of course beneficial when you finally leave for one of the less masochistic covenants.

I also think it disables white signs in your game so you can't summon for help. Could be wrong though. Ill get around to playing a champions run at some stage but i'm enjoying the coop on the PC version at the moment since i did next to no coop during console version.

I enabled post processing with Durante's mod and it makes the game look alot better, but it also makes the game dark.

No mans wharf

area after tower of Heide was so dark that i actually walked off a ledge to my death twice :eek: Looking forward to seeing how dark (mid game area spoiler)

The Gutter and Black Gulch

will be.

Grimebox · 25-04-2014 8:25pm

Where did you lads purchase this? As much as DS1 drove me insane, I'd like to start on a clean and give this a shot

3wayswitch · 25-04-2014 8:43pm

Grimebox wrote: »

Where did you lads purchase this? As much as DS1 drove me insane, I'd like to start on a clean and give this a shot

Bought it from Amazon today. €35 and I got the pre-order bonuses too.

Grimebox · 25-04-2014 8:57pm

3wayswitch wrote: »

Bought it from Amazon today. €35 and I got the pre-order bonuses too.

That's not too bad. It looks graphically identical as the last one so I assume it runs similar enough? I had framerate issues at times with the old one

johnny_ultimate · 25-04-2014 9:06pm

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

I also think it disables white signs in your game so you can't summon for help. Could be wrong though. Ill get around to playing a champions run at some stage but i'm enjoying the coop on the PC version at the moment since i did next to no coop during console version.

Yeah I'm sure it's a fine option for those looking for an extra challenge or a new twist. For most players' first play through though I'd say it is far from ideal and not the best way to enjoy the unique sense of discovery, challenge and exploration that you only really get during that precious first go.

Dark souls II - PC Thread

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