I beat Dark Souls today and I'm gonna pick up 2 and 3 soon. I love the shit out of Dark Souls...

I beat Dark Souls today and I'm gonna pick up 2 and 3 soon. I love the shit out of Dark Souls. Second half kinda sucked sometimes but overall was a great experience. Best fight was Artorias. What is your favorite Souls game? What can I look forward to in 2 and 3?

Just leave it on a high note and stop playing user. Do it for your benefit.

Dark Souls 2 is an awkward mess but they did try to experiment with new shit.

Dark Souls 3 is a polished mess that just redoes stuff from 1 and doesn't do anything new at all.

2 is more of an RPG whereas 3 is more of an action game. 2 has some wacky level design so be prepared, also iframes are tied to the agility stat, in case you were a roll fiend.

/thread

But I want to experience the entire series.

>What can I look forward to in 2 and 3?

In 2, you can look forward to a bunch of weird ass design choices that eventually come together into a charming experience, varied environments including a pirate ship, and powerstancing two giant swords for ridiculous combo damage.

In 3, you can look forward to a mess of a game that tries to be both Dark Souls and Bloodborne and fails at both.

2 is the epitome of quantity over quality and 3 is more quality over quantity. Neither of them doing anything nearly as ambitious as the transition from DeS to DaS. Still both worthy experiences.

Thanks for the head up Jazz friend. Also i thought they would both be cheap by now. However 2 is still 40 bucks and 3 is still full price on steam. Goddamn, gonna have to wait for a sale or something. I'll look around on key sites to see if i can find it cheaper.

Skip 2, it's absolutely terrible
3 doesn't quite hit the highs like 1 does, but it's more consistent without and sharp drops in quality in the second half.
Play BB if you have a PS4

What did you guys use on your first playthrough? I was a warrior that mostly used the claymore and silver knight/black knight shield. I also used the black knight halberd when it dropped, but only for a few hours. Went back to the claymore for rest of the game.

Bloodborne looks amazing but I don't have a ps4. I know it'll never get ported, but goddamn i want it so bad on the pc.

If you're not a shitter you can absolutely enjoy Dark Souls 2 SoTFS.

If you're a shitter you can absolutely enjoy Dark Souls 2 SoTFS.
(Reddit Spacing)

DeS DaS and BB are the best

Forget the rest

You need to play it.

Since you want to play the whole series and are going with 2 next (my favorite), I might as well give you a few tips.

>Powerstancing - If you have a weapon in each hand and exceed the requirements for both, you can enter "powerstance" where you swing them both at the same time for insane whirlwind attacks.

>Adaptability - Invincibility frames are now tied to a stat that you have to put points in

>Soul Memory - Online play is now seperated into different tiers based on how many souls you have aquired.

>Bonfire Ascetics - You can burn an Ascetic in a bonfire to transform the area into NG+. You can use this to fight the same boss multiple times in a row.

>Enemies now despawn after you've killed them enough times

>Don't worry about running out of items to return to human form, you'll eventually get an item that allows you to appear as human forever

>Equipment durability is much more important now than in other games

>Be aware that playing at 60 fps causes some bugs with enemy animations

Good luck user

Souls games are all universally trash. Nothing to them but poorly laid out controls that end up dishing you cheap, fake deaths.

>Panic rolling straight backwards
You're just shit.

This man is one of great tastes and is most certainly my kin of darker skin.

Hmm interesting changes. My buddies were telling me that adaptability is required for some fights to not be complete bullshit. Also the despawning enemies thing I can get used to since having to run back to a boss with a shit ton of enemies in the way just for another attempt got old fast. Some you really had a hard time running past.

2 > 1 > 3

To be fair he would have been fine if the knight didn't thrust forward just as he landed. That's what sent him over the edge, not the roll.

Dark Souls was supposed to be a stand alone game.

Dark Souls 2 and 3 exist for milking and money grabbing purposes from Namco Bandai.

Play Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, and then wait for their next game to be released

Are you sure about that? From Software milked the fuck out of Kings Field and Armored Core too.

...

>From Software milked the fuck out

Miyazaki hates sequels

Why does it feel like Dark Souls 2 was made by a different team?

Hi mumsie

ADP isn't required, but it is critical to the point that it may as well be. In effect, you'll need a comfortable amount of ADP for your rolling animation to reflect your i-frames, and to prevent characters' hurtboxes from "lagging" behind.
In general, however, DaS2 is an unpolished mess that tries to do new things - and fails at half of them, while looking like a Source game set to fullbright 1. While I enjoy DaS2, I cannot help but realize it is a bad game in many respects. ADP is among them, but I'm thinking of fundamental flaws in level design, world design, hitboxes, enemy and boss design, balance, and the healing system. Play the DLC if you can, though. It has very good boss fights.

DaS3 is a polished mess that doesn't try to do new things - and suffers for it, but not as much as DaS2. If you're interested in a polished, but linear PVE experience with probably the best invasions in the series, it's very enjoyable. But if you cherish the non-linear nature of DeS and DaS1, repeat playthroughs will be boring or frustrating. Despite the level of quality being a high-water mark in the series (excepting BB), it lacks the inventiveness of DeS and DaS1.

Either way, I hope you enjoy both.

The people who make Dark Souls Dark Souls left to go work on Bloodborne.

Because it literally was. The creative leads of Demons' Souls and Dark Souls were working on Bloodborne, while different leads (and a different director) were working on Dark Souls 2. But even the personnel who stayed on, like the composer, feel like they did worse work somehow.

2 and 3 were shit, you already played the best game in the series

ds2 and 3 are decent experiences, although both have their shining moments, just don't expect it to be on the same level as ds1.

Some of these are questionable at best but
>drake kept in a cage directly outside the aery that is clearly a member of the same brood
>hurr durr re used assets

Bastard Sword two handed stance, STR build. The only way to play.

hi

>Don't worry about running out of items to return to human form, you'll eventually get an item that allows you to appear as human forever

Wait what? I didn't know there was such an item?

The funny thing about this is that many of these "bosses" are better off in non-boss environments. They're fucking mini-bosses with music. If Dark Souls 3 were designed like Dark Souls 2, the following enemies would be bosses behind fog walls:
>Irithyll Knight
>Pontiff Beast
>Pontiff Beast x 2
>Lothric Knight x 2 + Priest
>Deep Accursed
>Giant Crab

Man, Dark Souls 2's base bosses fucking blew.

probably means ring of sacrifice, but its crazy expensive to rely on that (5k a repair I think)

I was bummed at the lack of a ratlike covenant in 3. I had great fun there.

It's disappointing how the regular enemies of Ds3 have more attack variety than the bosses of Ds2

It's still a filler boss regardless, they could have at least given him a slightly different model.

I'm bummed by covenants in general. Non-functional in DaS, despite being true covenants. Non-commital or completely non-functional in DaS2, despite interesting things like the Champion's or Rat covenant. Functional and non-commital in DaS3, however the rewards are boring and there's no real reason to join half of them.

At least Spear of the Church is based, and madmen are fun.

It's hilarious that those stupid crucified beasts in the swamp have more attack variety, and they aren't even difficult. Dragon Rider has, what, three or four attacks? Two of which are incredibly common.

The ring you get when you insert the sword key into the bound creature's face at the top of Drangleic Castle. It makes you appear human even when hollow.

There are rings that make you appear as and as a white phantom my dude, that cheeky cunt invader in the DLC wears the white phantom ring and pretends to be friendly

You know, that tip would be significantly less hot if Dark Souls 2 didn't turn hollows into cartoony fucking green zombies. What in god's name were they thinking?

How do they fuck up things that are already set in stone?

Dark Souls 2 was filler all the way from beginning to end

Playing madman in post sully irythill was the most fun I've had in PvP in ages. The combination of huge ganksquads and invaders of all colors allowed for interesting games of loyalty poker.

Artorias was beginning of the end of good boss fights, roll to win the boss, cool for a diversion but not if all of the game is filled with similar bosses.

>roll to win the boss

What are the other options?

What about Scholar of the First Sin and DS3?

Listen user,
I have no idea why the degenerates in this thread are recommending to play 2 next of all games, but for the love of gosh do not listen to them.

Dark Souls 2 looks, plays, and feels like a third party Knock off of Dark Souls 1. After over 200 hours in ds2 I say this with confidence and clarity.

You still want to scratch that itch that Dark Souls gave you, I understand that, but do not play DS2 next you'll only be dissapointed. It isn't the same thing, you'll only be angry, there's a reason why DS2 is regarded in such a low favor and light among fans of the series.

Play Demon's souls next if you want the closest thing to Dark Souls that exists in their franchise. It's more linear in the sense that all the worlds and levels are seperated from each other, but each of the levels have a lot of exploration about them.

Play Bloodborne if you want a different faster and more aggressively violent game.

Play Dark Souls 3 if you want a game that feels like less impactful, faster, but more floaty Dark Souls 1.

Play Dark Souls 2 last.

SotFS is Ds2 with more enemies and bloom.

Ds3 was a mix of people who worked on BB/Ds1 and Ds2 and turned out pretty good imo

>capra and taurus demon both reused assets in izalith
>THREE fucking asylum demon fights
>blue drakes are just shrunken versions of the first drake on the bridge
>multiple npcs are just reused enemy models
>gargoyles reused in anal rodeo
>random fucking boar before seathes library

Wtf b team

DeS had like 3 bosses that promoted rolling strategy the most, still rolling was never required, just another strategy.

Did you platinum/all achievement the game?

good Mike

>It's almost like the second half of Ds1 is awful
>It's also almost like the entirety of Ds2 is awful

Who woulda thunk

Demon's Souls is actually the least linear in the series, you can tackle the worlds in any order you want worlds themselves often offer some exploration.

Oh I see you're just being contrarian. Well you got me, here's you're (you)

Why is Dark Souls 3 so linear?

>2
Disappointment.
>3
Less disappointment.

con·trar·i·an
opposing or rejecting popular opinion; going against current practice

I meant more in how you have to complefe the levels, but that's also incorrect. You're right, user.

Because there's only like 1 to 2 ways to go about it. It's a straight line with occasional side paths

After you played the 3(4) souls games dont forget about bloodborne its really really amazing.

>play the game that feels the least like the original last so you can get that sweet sour taste left in your mouth now that you're done with the series
Retard

>second half of DS is bad
>popular opinion
Sup Forums is not the popular opinion

Fromsoftware apologized for the second half of Dark Souls. Surely if everyone thought it was great they would have nothing to apologize for.

I'll apologize for fucking ur mum

It was outsourced to Fromsoft India

just play them and make your own opinions, always ignore trash who tells you to "skip" stuff. You won't have an idea of why DS1 is the best until you play the rest, plus DS3 is better in a lot of regards despite what people say.

My problem with these isn't the reused bosses but with the ugly art design, animations, and sounds of this game

Only fucking Sup Forums is autistic enough to call DS3 a complete mess and failure. Is it rushed ?Yes, But that doesn't make it a failure at all. It is better than DS1 currently is and you'd have to be retarded to skip it and just keep playing DS1 like a dumb fuck. Most bosses are cool as fuck, the soundtrack is the best in the series, the combat is a lot better than DS 1 and 2 and the DLCs are perfect. Get the fuck off your high horse and stop telling new people to "skip" it because you have 1000 hours in it and are bored with it.

2 is literally broken compared to das1. it's hard to explain but basically your attacks will not go where you point your analog stick if you rotate too far on a point, that + the shitty and inconsistent level / enemy design were enough for me to drop it after almost 20 hours.
>webm related apparently this mod fixes this shit game
tho it didn't quite match das1, i genuinely enjoyed 3

I enjoyed 3 from a host/invader angle. Since getting a good invasion as an invader is hard as balls with the phantom parties every host throws about, I took it upon myself to play through the game numerous times with a dried finger and just fighting off invaders. It was fun.
I only played Dark Souls 2 once, when it first launched. Ideally, this should have been the PRIME moment for invasions, as a fresh release. But over the course of my playthrough, one invader came to me. Just one.
And if you, the invader, wanted some orbs, you have to duel. For every invasion, a duel. The fuck.

Don't listen to the shitters in the thread. They fail to see the obvious flaws of DaS 1 and venerate unfairly at the expense of other entries in the series. DaS 1 is my favorite as well but I'm very aware of it's flaws. The most legitimate criticisms of DaS 2 are soul memory, game feel (The game feels a lot stiffer and "plastic" compared to DaS 1 & 3) and the lack of an interconnected world like in DaS 1. You can still have fun with the game, anyone who says it's bad is really over-exaggerating. At the very least try it out and form your own opinion instead of listening to Sup Forums regurgitating meme opinions.

> SotFS is Ds2 with more enemies and bloom.

And three extra areas that almost everyone liked. Even the people who found DaS 2 underwhelming liked the DLC.

> Man, Dark Souls 2's base bosses fucking blew.

For the sake of fairness I'd like to list bad DaS 1 bosses as well: Gaping Dragon, Ceaseless Discharge, Moonlight Butterfly, Pinwheel, Seath, Centipede demon, Bed of Chaos, The Two Recycled demons.

DS1 is flawed but overall still a very enjoyable experience. It says a lot about how shit DS2 is considering it is the only release in the series to get a "we fucked up lets try that again" edition.

Except that DaS 1 is the game that would most benefit from a "we fucked up lets try that again" edition in the series. They just never bothered. Everything from the demon ruins to the end of lost izalith is genuinely terrible. You traverse New Londo and the Pre-Nito area in like 4 minutes. The only fully realized endgame zone are the Archives. I fucking wish they made a "whoops we really fucked up" edition for DaS 1 and actually finished the game.

Dark 2 is like if Lost Izalith were a whole game.
Dark 3 is like if Dark Souls were highly polished but also focus tested.
Try Demon's and Bloodborne.

...

Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith are two levels out of many. DS2 is fucked throughout.

Name a single area of Dark Souls 2 that is badly designed.
Meanwhile almost 70% of Dark Souls is unplayable, and 90% of Dark Souls 3 is trash.

I would put DeS and DS2 both in mid tier but besides that I agree.

How about this. Name a single area of Dark Souls 2 that isn't badly designed. Name an area that is genuinely enjoyable to go through.

The Gutter

Poor man's Blighttown.

It goes for a completely different atmosphere. In blighttown the path is almost always obvious, while in the gutter it's pitch black and you're lost 90% of the time. I don't really think they're in competition with each other, sure they're both rickety wooden areas but thats really all they have in common. The gutter is barely even poison based.

There isn't a single area in DaS 2 that is as badly designed as Lost Izalith. The first half of DaS 1 has the best design IMO, the latter half is either too short (like New Londo) or unfinished and terrible like the Demon Ruins which feel like little Timmy designed them in one afternoon. The DLC areas in DaS 2 are actually pretty damn great and maybe Sup Forums would know that if they bothered to play.

>Best fight was Artorias
meme opinion
get good, OP

ok, whats the get good boss user? Is there such thing as getting gud with personal opinion? Actually don't answer that I think I know the answer.

>The DLC areas in DaS 2 are actually pretty damn great
They are a step up from the base game but still inferior to the rest of the series.

>Forest of Giant
>Lost Bastille
>Majula
>Dragon Aerie
>Shaded Woods
>Heide's Tower of Flame
All great fun

Meanwhile in Dark Souls
>Undead Burg
>
I mean, fucking Blight Town, Lost Izalith, fucking Sen's Fortress, Anor Londo. How could anyone defend these?

>The gutter is barely even poison based
Didn't it have these asshole poison spitting statues and hollows with toxic swords or am i thinking of a different area?

Having just replayed and beaten DS2, it feels liess like a dark souls game and more like the team just wanted to make like a D&D game or something and then were told to go make a DS game.

If you want a game where a team wanted to make a D&D game and then actually got to make a D&D game, go play Dragon's Dogma which is fantastic.

Nah, nigga, you just can’t handle a realistic system where you actually have to turn and not just be a puppet on a string. The fact of the matter is, the people hating on Dark Souls 2 are shitters who can’t handle it.

it did but black gulch trumps it in that regard. there's also harvest valley which is plenty wooden and rickety. the gutter is mainly pitfalls and hollows with dark infused weapons

What makes Anor Londo superior to the areas in the crown of the sunken king? I'm genuinely interested.

If you use ds2fix they softban you.