So far, I'm about five hours in. Leveled to 26. Taken down the first boss. And have died about 12 times. I'm a swordsman, thought I went to carrying around a leather shield and using my scimitar because block is always good.

How far have you made it, numbers of deaths, what class, and so on and so forth?

Mine's coming in the mail, so I await the delivery lady.

Such a wait. Such a pain.

So, I ran into the second boss by accident. I was destroyed. Lost 3000 souls.

It's not that bad. When you're on crippled-schedule, you stay up late playing FTL, then slide out of bed to let the dogs out in the morning, and then return to sleep until like 2, when the mail gets here. So basically, I'm only waiting like fifteen minutes starting.........now.

mdk said
It's not that bad. When you're on crippled-schedule, you stay up late playing FTL, then slide out of bed to let the dogs out in the morning, and then return to sleep until like 2, when the mail gets here. So basically, I'm only waiting like fifteen minutes starting.........now.

I love that cripple schedule. I sleep about 5, 6, or 7 am. Wake up anywhere from 12 to 3 pm. And repeat.

Because March for me is a weird month for monies, I'll be getting Dark Souls when it's cheaper.

But I plan doin a bandit playthrough.

Two bosses down, SL25, Swordsman, Fire longsword +3 and Heide Knight sword(lightning) +3 for mains, pair of +2 Caestus for backup. Total of 176 deaths, mainly against bosses. With a shot taken for each one(even off of my attempted stream, until I ran out of whiskey) it's a miracle I don't have alcohol poisoning. Now co-oping for hours.

First boss down, level 13 swordsman. Dual wielding the standard shortsword and scimitar because shields are for candyasses.

It's like I was told twice TP. Here and FB

So I played for a little bit today (oh who am I kidding, I played a LOT today), and suddenly turned a corner to where now I'm like, SL50 all of a sudden from dropping the soap in front of .

I don't know what to do with all of this power.

mdk said
So I played for a little bit today (oh who am I kidding, I played a LOT today), and suddenly turned a corner to where now I'm like, SL50 all of a sudden from dropping the soap in front of_____ .I don't know what to do with all of this power.

Yeah, I did the same for a while. How I got all of that upgrading done on my weapons and armor. About four hours worth. Now in the next area, Co-Oping to get a feel for the area and farm more souls.

Any opinions on the standard difficulty so far? I've been watching snippets of play and to be quite honest it seems like Dark Souls 2 is a large step down in difficulty compared to the first from what I've seen. :\

I'm really hoping it's still really difficult. Otherwise I'll have to join the Difficulty Covenant on my first run. I'm getting my copy in the mail tomorrow. I am so psyched you have no idea.

Asuras said
Any opinions on the standard difficulty so far? I've been watching snippets of play and to be quite honest it seems like Dark Souls 2 is a large step down in difficulty compared to the first from what I've seen. :\I'm really hoping it's still really difficult. Otherwise I'll have to join the Difficulty Covenant on my first run. I'm getting my copy in the mail tomorrow. I am so psyched you have no idea.

The gameplay you're seeing is likely from mainly people that got the early copies(so time to get used to the changes from one) and true blue Souls Vets. The game is actually harder, but at the same, time easier. For a vet, it will be a quick refresh and figure out of the changed parts. For someone who's had the game down for a while, it will be a harsh, but rewarding, challenge. But for both, it's a new experience.

You can watch all the gameplay you want, most of it is from AFTER they have figured things out, such as Peeve's streams and videos(he had a early copy from Namco, so was on NG+ before the 11th). But for those going through the first time, it will be a fight.

Asuras said
Any opinions on the standard difficulty so far? I've been watching snippets of play and to be quite honest it seems like Dark Souls 2 is a large step down in difficulty compared to the first from what I've seen. :\I'm really hoping it's still really difficult. Otherwise I'll have to join the Difficulty Covenant on my first run. I'm getting my copy in the mail tomorrow. I am so psyched you have no idea.

It's not easier, no. The humanity system is fairly overhauled, to where it's a *lot* more punishing to be hollow (you lose some of your max health every death, and getting it back is a whole metagame thing). If you set in a single area and grind, the enemies stop respawning (forever? They haven't come back for me yet). And a lot of shit like that.

However there are aspects that are easier too. Bonfire warping is there from the get-go (although the bonfires themselves seem a lot more scarce). Initially at least, the bosses haven't been very overwhelming -- but the levels are tough. Getting a summon to help you out is *instantaneous* right now, this close to launch, and several hours into the game I haven't encountered an invader yet (though again, there's math happening with your hollow-level, so I might accidentally be avoiding reds).

Overall this feels like someone took Dark Souls and said, 'How can we make this more like Demon's Souls?' And then they did, and it totally works. It's pretty engrossing. No Man's Wharf is kicking my hyperpowered ass right now, and the nightmares are only just beginning -- to this point, most of my foes have just been hollow (and a handful of golems and some rats and.... okay, but MOSTLY hollow areas). Now the creatures are starting to show up, and they're *mean*.

Waiting for the PC port.

Question: Is offline more or less viable now?

I noticed the no respawning part. Think of it lore wise. "One who dies over and over goes hollow. Once completely hollowed, they die one last time." It could be that us killing the hollows over and over is driving them to become completely hollow, meaning that final time we kill them, it was the breaking point and they are no more.

You can now be invaded while hollow(had it happen to me a couple times) and in areas where you have already beat the boss(es).

Summons are cut down. Using the small sign stone, you can kill a handful of enemies before your "Duty is fulfilled" and you're forced to return home. The normal sign stone is more like a few dozen before you're set back. As before, however, beating the boss sends you back with a nice fist full of souls. White phantoms/"Shades" can use any and all healing items now. Black phantoms/"Dark Shades" can not use any healing at all save for miracles.

More info to toss about once I learn more, and slightly more sober to process said information.

Turtlicious said
Waiting for the PC port.
Question: Is offline more or less viable now?

Very much so, I would say. Several NPC phantoms, a covenant that makes it so you cant summon phantoms at all(for that offline feel though you can still be invaded) and a plethora of NPC invaders. And NG+ has more BPs than you can crack a whip at tossed in every area as normal spawns.

Turtlicious said
Waiting for the PC port.Question: Is offline more or less viable now?

Yes.

......I don't know, probably more viable. I think all the bosses I've faced so far have had an NPC-summon available for help (not that you necessarily need them -- there seems to be a dynamic-difficulty slider to where Boss C has more hitpoints if there are more players in the room, which also means if you're solo, he's a little squishier).

BUT, on the other hand, if you're playing offline, you lose the option to recover humanity in co-op mode, which might make things **significantly** harder in the long run. Or not. It's really hard to tell. Drangleic is fuckin' flooded with white phantoms right now. I can hardly imagine NOT having the option to instantly summon (or become) help.

SL75. 8 or 9 bosses down. Drangleic armor, drangleic shield, scimitar+5. 4 estus flasks +2.

But, the difficulty is higher than Dark Souls. And, I'd say harder than Demon's Souls for most of it.

Just barely had taken down Pursuer before his actual fight. ;_;

2 hours in, 1st boss down. I've died maybe 5 times.

The fact that you’re estus is scarce has really bumped up the difficulty for me. I love it too, it means I can’t just run into situations and have the luxury of healing right after. It’s also barring off future areas, meaning that if an area before it was too hard and I already used my estus, then I wouldn’t be able to continue. Not that I couldn’t go on if I wanted, but that I’d probably die if I went in unequipped.