The RPG Thread

Rezz_sl said:

Nah he respawns. I had the same thing happen on my most recent playthrough, saw him at like battle rank 4 or something and only had two unions. Tried a couple of times and then just completed the area and left. Came back at BR 17 and just chain ran back to that area to try and trigger him. Took about 20 minutes but he does spawn again. Not sure if he "respawns" if you kill him though, as I didn't spend any time trying to force him again.

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He definitely doesn't respawn if you kill him according to the wiki. But the wiki also said some monsters never respawn after you fight them and I'm not sure if that meant fight and won, or fight at all. Good to know, thanks.

So I've only played a few hours, but damn is dark souls 2 is fun! Just restarted as depraved, and it's not too hard.

I decided to go a Dex build, and I've put most points into Dex with a couple into Vit for some extra help. Would love to go a spear build as that sounds awesome. Huge range and still able to use a shield. I know strength might be more common though.

Will look into magic eventually. I've gotten to the old lady in the Tower so far so I'm not too far. Lost about 1600 souls so far, and that was a bummer, but oh well! I do agree that it's easier to kill big bads as range than melee, at least in the beginning!

Crone_sl said:

So I've only played a few hours, but damn is dark souls 2 is fun! Just restarted as depraved, and it's not too hard.

I decided to go a Dex build, and I've put most points into Dex with a couple into Vit for some extra help. Would love to go a spear build as that sounds awesome. Huge range and still able to use a shield. I know strength might be more common though.

Will look into magic eventually. I've gotten to the old lady in the Tower so far so I'm not too far. Lost about 1600 souls so far, and that was a bummer, but oh well! I do agree that it's easier to kill big bads as range than melee, at least in the beginning!

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I would recommending getting your Adaptability up to 20 as soon as you have enough STR/DEX to wield the weapon(s) you want to use.

The reason for this is that in DS2 (unlike DS1), it is very uncommon to find shields that block 100% of damage, and as a new player, you're probably trying to block a lot as you're still learning the timings on rolling. Well, the number of iFrames (invincibility frames) you get while rolling is actually dependent on your Adaptability. The soft cap is at 40, but you'll get a pretty large rolling window at 20 that will greatly help in some later fights where shields are almost completely useless.

Another thing about DS2 is that weapons and spells don't scale with stats very well. Unless your weapon has A-rank stat scaling, it's not really advantageous to pump a stat for more damage. (Most of your weapon damage will come through upgrading your weapon with a material called Titanite and various weapon enchantments). Instead, consider investing in Vitality, Stamina, Endurance, and Adaptability. Only get enough STR/DEX/INT/FTH/ATN as you need to use your weapon/spell, then start spending points in the defensive attributes.

Crone_sl said:

So I've only played a few hours, but damn is dark souls 2 is fun! Just restarted as depraved, and it's not too hard.

I decided to go a Dex build, and I've put most points into Dex with a couple into Vit for some extra help. Would love to go a spear build as that sounds awesome. Huge range and still able to use a shield. I know strength might be more common though.

Will look into magic eventually. I've gotten to the old lady in the Tower so far so I'm not too far. Lost about 1600 souls so far, and that was a bummer, but oh well! I do agree that it's easier to kill big bads as range than melee, at least in the beginning!

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So glad you're enjoying it! Dex is perfectly viable, although I haven't done it in DS2. Like Kriptini said, bulk up your character's toughness until you find a weapon you like that's high in DEX scaling. You might, late-game, find your build gravitating toward either a hardcore dex melee build, a DEX/STR or a DEX/INT/FAITH build, as there are powerful weapons that scale with any of those. There's a Spear and a Scythe the have scaling in DEX/INT/FTH.

I reiterate, though, that since you've started as melee, adhere strictly to melee stats (DEX/STR + what kriptini suggested) until you consider the build sufficient according to those parameters alone, and then experiment with magic. But magic's gonna require keeping up with at least two (either INT/ATT or FTH/ATT) or all three for a HEX build. That's in addition to what you already need to invest in.

Yeah, if you want to dabble in magic, I recommend going with 10 INT and 13 ATN. This will give you access to the Soul Arrow and Magic Weapon Sorceries and two spell slots. This will also give you access to Pyromancies that do passable damage if you decide you want to use those, and you can always add more spell slots through rings if you decide you want to use both Sorceries and some Pyromancies. Some key things about each type of magic:

• Sorceries: Require a staff or special Sorcery-casting weapon to use. Damage scales with INT. Damage type is Magic. Lots of offensive magic spells, and some interesting tactical spells as well (such as being able to change your player model into an object to hide from invaders).
• Miracles: Require a chime or special Miracle-casting weapon to use. Damage scales with FTH. Damage type is Lightning. Most spells are support-based, and to get to the damage spells, a LOT of FTH investment is required (22 for the basic offensive Miracle).
• Pyromancies: Requires a Pyromancy Flame to use, which are upgraded with Fire Seeds and NOT Titanite like other spell catalysts. Damage scales with whatever is higher between your INT and FTH. Damage type is Fire. Unlike Sorceries, Miracles, and Hexes, there are no stat requirements for Pyromancy spells, but they often have less uses than other types of spells, and can be harder to aim. They're very economic though, and if you have an empty equipment slot and spell slot there's no reason not to pack a Pyromancy or two just to have that versatility.
• Hexes: Require a staff or special Sorcery-casting weapon to use (just like Sorceries). Damage scales with whatever is LOWER between your INT and FTH. Damage type is Dark. Has two "groups" of spells, INT-heavy spells and FTH-heavy spells (but all spells require a significant amount of INT and FTH to even use them). INT-heavy spells emulate Sorceries and Pyormancies but are often more destructive with lots of uses. The FTH-heavy spells usually require you to pay Souls as a cost to use them, and while they are very powerful, some of them are just plain weird. Hexes require a lot of investment in order to be able to wield them at all, so it's really not recommended unless you're going more or less a "pure" spellcaster.

Noodlemod_sl said:

So I've been playing divinity instead of fallout just because I haven't had a lot of solid time to sit down and I can play divinity in smaller chunks. Holy shit is this game ridiculous. 4 hours in and I'm still in the first town. Hopefully the pace picks up.

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Thats odd because I feel the exact opposite for those two games. If I can't sit down and play Divinity for a few hours straight I feel like I can't accomplish anything.

AladainAF_sl said:

Fantastic story, very fun to play, though marginal soundtrack, and absolutely horrendous implementation of turn-based random encounter RPGs where it takes 20-30 seconds to load a fight, pan the camera around until you can actually get to start issuing commands. Completely would have been solved with a no encounter ring, but noooooooooo can't have that. It's not so bad in the beginning but becomes awful with a full party.

LO was a great game, but from a technical level, it's combat was one of the most poorly implemented turn based combat systems on the planet. I managed to 1,000 that game though because the story was so engaging, that I didn't mind playing through it multiple times to get that annoying treasure trove achievement.

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LO was a really underrated title that got bogged down by some of the stuff you mentioned. Some of the stuff from Kaim's past was the most depressing shit I've ever read in my life. I thought really delving deeply into what it would be like to be "immortal" was brilliant writing. Sadly, it was probably Sakaguchi's last "good" game.

Divinity is a puzzle solver with an rpg candy coating.

I finally finished FF VI on my iPad (first time playing through in like 15 years). The one thing I hate about VI is all of the counter attacks. I poke something with a dagger and then I proceed to get counter attacked for 5 minutes straight. It's not fun beating a boss at full health only to lose two or three people from all the counter attacks AFTER it's died. Kefka in particular was annoying with all of his "fuck you" mechanics.

I went ahead and bought the iPad version of VII. After the 4GB download I only hit the first save point but the controls are going to take a lot of getting used to. I've played FF III, IV, V and VI on my iPad but they are all much simpler games with less complicated control schemes. VII is just annoying with the control overlay trying to replicate everything from the psx version. I know it would have been more time consuming and costly but I wish they had worked harder at the port to simplify this instead of just rushing the game out to cash in. I'll see if it's worth taking the time to get used to the controls. I like playing on my iPad while sitting in the comfy chair with the TV on but this is going to take some getting used to.

Ffffffffuuuuuuuuu

Yours truly,
Dark souls 2

Edit: So I'm pretty sure I'm gonna restart for a 3rd time. It's kinda fun that every time I restart I learn a little more and things go a lot better!

I love how easy melee is to aim, compared to magic. I wish magic was easier to aim, and it wasn't pretty much required to lock onto a target to do your work.

Reason I'm thinking of restarting is I don't like Dex weapons. They have no range! I'm actively wracking at a guy, and a few of the hits whiff because I've knocked the dude too far away? Seriously? That's annoying as shit to me.

It seems strength would be an easier way to go? There's the great sword from the dude you can kill near the beginning of the game. There's a morning star I've gotten on both play through. Hmm.

So couple questions. Are Spears Dex and hence eventually my range problems will go away? And is there some trick to magic and I assume bows that make aiming easier?

Spears tend to favor dex, yes, as do a lot of halberds and scythes and katanas. Range issues should go away. What are you using now?

If you can get a Heide Knight sword to drop your early game weaponry woes are over. Fantastic early weapon - light, modest stat reqs, scaling in 3 stats and bonus elemental lightning damage. Scaling is weak, but it wrecks shit early game. Not sure what the easiest way to get it in Scholar is.

DoctorSpooge_sl said:

Spears tend to favor dex, yes, as do a lot of halberds and scythes and katanas. Range issues should go away. What are you using now?

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DoctorSpooge_sl said:

If you can get a Heide Knight sword to drop your early game weaponry woes are over. Fantastic early weapon - light, modest stat reqs, scaling in 3 stats and bonus elemental lightning damage. Scaling is weak, but it wrecks shit early game. Not sure what the easiest way to get it in Scholar is.

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Ok, so range issues will go away. Right now, I'm early enough in the game, that I'm just level 11, and have a Bandit Knife, or maybe it was Bandit Dagger. So I understand the range issues, but it's fast, which I liked. Took 11 Dex to wield it, and the rest have gone into ADP to get to that magic 20 Kriptini was talking about.

Ah, knives - figured as much. You're definitely not, by going DEX, cornering yourself into a knives-only playthrough.

Like I said, when I did my first and only complete playthrough, the game was new and ADP was in the unceasing process of being theory crafted, so I can't help you much there - the info on its efficacy just didn't exist and I allocated most of my early stats to vitality and endurance. If you're still looking to do some sort of DEX or STR / magic of some sort build, the Fire Longsword from a tunnel in that first forest area serves as a viable substitute for the Heide Knight Sword I was talking about. I don't like it as much, but it's got that same modest scaling in a lot of stats + elemental damage that endeared me to the HKS. They're both ultra quick and have nice, fluid movesets that'll serve you well until you get a weapon that better serves your build as you envision it.

I'd advise against spear usage on the grounds that it's (imo) not a lot of fun. Poking and guarding makes you hard to kill, to be sure, but I never found the damage at all comparable to a more offensive weapon, and you're robbing yourself of a better experience. There are plenty of swords, scythes, halberds, katanas, etc that scale well with dex that you'll have a lot more fun using.

If you do wanna go defensive, a str-based sword and shield build is a lot more fun. That's what I did for the first 75% of my first playthrough before I embraced rolling (thanks Bloodborne).

As an aside, if you dig this series as much as I hope you do, make sure you interrupt whatever you're playing and start Dark Souls III (when it comes out) on day 1. Just winging it and going as far as you can and comparing your progress with people on various forums is a lot of fun, because in-game suggestions are so vague and many mechanics are shrouded by ignorance. I remember somebody here talking about the Lost Sinner (from Sinner's Rise zone) wrecking their shit all night on like the second day of release, but that was one of the last zones I went to before progression converged on endgame zones.

edit: sorry if this meandered. drunk as fuck.

Note about bows/magic: Lock on and cast your spells if you are using sorceries/shooting your bows. You don't have to be in snipe mode to use the bow, it just helps with hitting targets that are further than lock on range (usually to exploit the fact that there's a maximum aggro distance and some bows can shoot further than that). Pyromancy is the same, but some of them are lobbed, and I never played with hexes/miracles so no help there if that is how you are casting stuff. The various soul/crystal spear spells have different speeds and track targets differently. Generally speaking, the "bigger" the spear, the slower it moves and the more likely you will miss if the target is mobile. The weaker spears tend to move pretty fast and track a little bit as well, so if the target sidesteps early you can still hit them. Magic was the tits (and honestly OP in some fights) in Dark Souls 1 and literally almost broken in early Demons' Souls due to starting power and how they scale.

Another tip is to think of the spells much the same way you would a big slow weapon with range on it. You shouldn't just start swinging before the enemy is recovering from an attack most of the time, unless you know you are going to hit them. Block/roll or just sidestep a bit out of the final chain of an attack combo from an enemy and then cast your spell. Same concept as counterattacking melee style.

I was just hoping there was a target reticule I could turn on or something. The couple hours I played as a sorcerer I found cumbersome to have to lock onto targets to even get a hit. Then again, I'm sure you can find videos of dudes just that good at aiming bows or magic, they never lock onto a target. Lol.

Still a toss up on what way I want to go for first play through. Knowing I have the ability to switch to more long range weapons as Dex is nice, and I don't think I'm gonna restart. Just have to figure out whether I'm doing that or magic. Or both! I'm having fun learning things on one character and using it to my advantage on the other and vice versa!

There's a trick to aiming magic. Equip binoculars, center fov on target, then switch to catalyst or chime or whatever without moving your character.

Works well for sniping (if in range of magic) but it's too slow to use in the thick of it.