Dark Souls 2

Yeah the optional fights are murder. Fuck the Dark Covenant, seriously. Fuck it twice for requiring an Effigy for every attempt. Ancient Dragon is pretty much just getting close initially and then executing for 20 minutes straight without fucking up at all. Vendrick I am still hung up on, mosty because he seems to magically move me in front of him at random times and one punch crunch me. And I still have not beat the fucking Rat Authority, but my build makes that fight somewhat impossible. I can AE the adds instantly, but the "I am Sif with shitty telegraphs, constant stunlock, and the tiniest hitbox for a giant monster ever" does not work well with a Black Knight Halberd wielding caster.

On the topic of casters, the game is pretty much easy mode if you do it one of two ways. Start out with Sorcery and then once Hexes start dropping start pumping faith until you can toss the bigger lightning bolt spell. You will do godlike hex damage and that lightning bolt is just stupidly broken against anything not resistant to it. And even then, its still pretty good. For combat stats, you raise Str and Dex to whatever you want to cover your preferred weapon and bow. For me that meant Str 20 and Dex 26 to encompass the bows and lances I like. Pump Vit enough to keep load under 50%, because that little bit extra roll distance and not losing stamina make a huge difference in a lot of situations. Mine ended at 21, which was enough for me to wear the mish mash of caster gear I have and equip all my weapons and catalysts. If you prefer swords, you can probably get away with a lot less in combat stats or wear heavier armor, but then you will need to pump attunement to get more casting speed. The bow pretty much supplements the casting and acts as a pulling tool the entire game. Fog Cloud renders some of the hardest encounters in the game trivial, too. By the time I hit the Dragon Aerie, I was mostly a faith caster with Hexes on the side (pyro stopped being useful after the Rotten) and it was faceroll easy until the end of the game. I pretty much one shotted every boss from the giant spider thing onward til the end. My plans with the character are to keep dumping into sorcery until I can do Soul Geysers, which is apparently even more retardedly broken than the lightning spam.

Casters are just fine in this game, except maybe PVP. But even then, a well timed Dark Vortex can end the fight against a mele specialist. Nine times out of ten, they will see the catalyst in your hand and think "here comes the lightning bolt, time to roll in" and then you drop Vortex and chain cast that shit. They pretty much spend the fight on their back getting chain stunned. Even if they have a descent dark resist, they still get murdered and you get what amounts to a free backstab at the end. I am a shitty PvP player (but love the coop in this game) and I still win way more than I lose with that stupid shit. Casters are just fine in this game, in fact, the hexes (especially Fog) could probably be toned down a bit. My only real issue is that there are huge gaps in progression in the Miracle and Sorcery lines that more or less force you into hybriding if you want to be an active spell caster the entire game. A few more mid tier viable nukes in the Sorcery line and some more buffs in the mid range for Miracles would really make going single stat caster a lot more attractive. And I say this as someone with every spell in the game in my inventory.

Anyhow, the game is easier than its predecessors, option fights aside, but it is a lot more fun (outside of the hamfisted forced pvp) and I look forward to playing it a second time as a dedicated mele guy. The visuals are amazing and the variety of areas to explore is just overwhelming. I am still farming in post game, despite having Second Son still in the wrapper. This game is that fucking good.

I am actually having fun just coop helping people with the end boss fights. Dedicated casters are pretty rare from what I am seeing, so I am getting summoned a lot for the harder end bosses. I get a lot of souls doing it and I can have a sign out while farm clearing the area myself. Plus, if the guy summoning me is a fuckup, no harm done. If they ever made a full on coop version or MMO of a game like this, it would be pure awesome. I like the challenge to a degree, but mainly its the mechanics and setting that have drawn me to these games. I struggle to find a single non-linear action RPG that even comes close to the immersion of this game. It is probably, along with Last of Us, the magnum opus of its genre and the best game of the last decade.

And regarding the RRA, I do have a 100% shield. My swipes just seem to whiff and if I ever fuck up dodging his stupid paw swipes I get one shotted. Seriously, that is the hardest fight in the whole damn game for me for some reason. Although Iron King gets my vote for dumbest fight, because of the random nature of where he pops up and if he pops up on the one middle spot, you are more or less fucked with undodgeable bullshit.

That Alonne greatbow is pretty solid for long distance snipes, but the ammo is a bit pricey. I mostly use a Black Bow of Lightning +10, myself. With wooden arrows and S20D26, I can deal enough damage to do the job when I need to drill something from a safe distance. If I need archery to do actual damage (rare for me, because of caster build), I bust out the Alonne but the last zone I actually used it in was the shrine before crypt.

BTW, where does that witch staff drop from? Right now I am using some blue stick thing I found in the Crypt and the chime you get from the final boss soul because it makes the lightning damage retarded.

Yay for Amana farming with crappy item farm gear on. I was lucky to clear that shit pit when the servers were down so I did not get chain invaded there. Not the case lately, though. Guy I was escorting got chain invaded five times during our clear to Demon of Song. Wish I had been Blue Guardian at the time.