Dark Souls 2

The seed is hilarious if it's not consumed to activate that ability.

it is probably consumed and you can probably get more through normal play. As said, the quest item is probably the best pick - but then again, that seems just way too good, so you can probably get it elsewhere or complete the task in a different way.

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Sean_sl said:

Is the Petrified Something actually useful or another bullshit troll by the devs?

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Was there actually a bullshit troll in DS1?

Pyros_sl said:

Btw that bonfire ascetic sounds like the item that reverts mobs to their normal state if you have killed 15 of them or whatever. Wonder how common they'll be if that's what it is.

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Doesn't sound like that to me. It says "increasesdifficultyof enemies" so I would assume more hp/damage, maybe more aggressive too. I remember from a vid, that the devs made an announcement during the network test that they were going to make enemies tougher (somehow did it on the fly during the test) and the guy said it increased aggro range among other things. Probably the same effect.

If they want to make combat harder, they can simply increase the speed of some of the more ridiculously long wind-up animations for attacks. Half a second of wind-up? Yes...

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It wasn't so much that the item itself was a troll. It was him hinting in the interview that it had a use.

Sean_sl said:

Yep.

Dark Souls Secret Revealed: Director Was Pulling a Prank on Players

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But the pendant actually does something..

Not really. You can trade it to Snuggly yeah, for a junky souvenir of reprisal. And the director's statement made it sound like the pendant was a really important item.

In hindsight it could just as easily be interpreted as not wanting to start with a bonus at all to make the game more difficult.

Except the only thing that really made the game a little easier was the Master Key. The rest was pretty much junk.

This thread has made me want to play DS again. Dammit. I did the enchanted spear+shield route last play through. I was thinking of a parry build since I don't know how to parry well, but I can't fathom playing without a shield. It just seems impossible. Do you swing at the dogs before Capra just before they eat your face? Are you just rolling around like a madman?

Any build recommendations for a second play through for someone who is still pretty bad at the game? Gravelord?

You don't have to go shieldless for a parry build, but it's an option. I would practice with a target shield (slightly longer parry window) until you get the hang of it, at least. I practiced my parry in the burg until I was good enough to parry Havel from full to zero.

Edit: Also, yeah, without a shield, you do have to roll a lot more, but also backstepping is important, you need to learn mob ranges and get good at dancing just out of range.

This is by far my favourite build:
END 40
DEX 40
VIT 40
STR ~14-16 (14 lets you use katanas and Great Scythe, which are amazing dex weapons. 16 lets you use several other nice weapons, including Drake Sword early, Silver Knight Spear and Eagle Shield later)

I'd level STR/DEX to what you need to equip weapons (16/14?), then level 2:1 END/VIT until 40/20, then start raising DEX to max with the occasional VIT.

Weapon: +15 Iaito/Uchigatana/Great Scythe/Balder Side Sword. Until you get whatever you want to use, either use the Drake Sword or a +X whateverweapon. Silver Knight Spear, Bow and Pyro Glove are nice swap weapons to keep available.
Shield: Grass Crest Shield, maybe keep a relatively light high stability shield like Heater Shield or Balder Shield available.
Armor: Whatever gives you the best bang for the buck while staying below 25% equip. Poise is important, otherwise just try to get your defenses up across the board.
Ring 1: Havel early, RoFAP when you get it.
Ring 2: Dark Wood Grain Ring / Item find ring / Whatever utility ring you need

Playstyle: 1-hand, roll through most attacks, block what you can't roll from, parry what you can. You're fast, maneuverable and do high sustained damage from any angle. Just don't turtle. You generally shouldn't need ranged, but you'll do decent damage with a bow if you upgrade it.

It's fun as fuck. Strength builds feel slow and cumbersome in comparison, and magic builds are either piss easy or really hard depending on encounter. This build keeps every encounter interesting throughout the game.

After you finish the core build above, you can either up Magic or Faith for weapon buffs, Attunement for Pyro slots, Strength for some greatsword action, or just pump more END and VIT for even more survivability.

Covenant: Doesn't matter for this build. If you want Uchigatana without killing the dude who drops it, you'll need to join the Forest Hunter covenant before going to Blighttown.

EDIT: As a bonus, the above core build can be developed into what is apparently one of the most powerful PvP builds once you're done with the game, if you want to try your hand at duelling:Frostitutes comments on It's the SL120 MLG Dark Souls Finals, and you're in it. What build do you bring to best ensure your victory?

Kaige_sl said:

You can parry with most shields, just not the great shields since they bash instead.

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What's the purpose of the bash anyways, the damage is shit, it doesn't deal noteworthy poise damage and it's slow.

Humiliate?

Quineloe_sl said:

What's the purpose of the bash anyways, the damage is shit, it doesn't deal noteworthy poise damage and it's slow.

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No purpose as far as I could tell, except to take away parry in order to balance how ridiculously good great shields were at blocking.