radiofloyd

The differences between the two games are fascinating in a way. I think subtle changes made to the formula have made a huge difference (and largely for the better).

First session post exams - HUGE PROGRESS! In this order I: Beat the Pursuer Found the awesome set of Drangleic Armour Discovered The Lost Bastille Did everything I could there, including finding the second bonfire at McDuff's Workshop, and then attempted the boss fight against those three giants - extremely difficult fight so I left it Went back to Heide's Tower of Flame, discovered those big guys hit hard but go down easy Discovered the Cathedral of Blue and beat the boss there! Familiar looking fellow isn't he... I went down the stairs to the bonfire in the Cathedral of Blue but it looked like a dead end to me, couldn't break any walls Went back to Heide's Tower of Flame and beat the Dragon Rider! Three bosses in a day. From there I discovered No-man's Wharf (btw between Heide's Tower and Flame and No-man's Wharf, I encountered what look like a trap... There was an enemy standing at the back of little tunnel. The setup liked identical to an area in Lost Izalith in Dark Souls, where if you ran forward the ground crumbled and you were surrounded by enemies. So I ignored it!) At the bonfire at Dead Man's Wharf I met the girl from The Lost Bastille, after out conversation she has disappeared again though. I went through a few areas in Dead Man's Wharf, including the Pharos Contraption, which I activated (and has now lit up the whole cavern) I went a bit further and came across a message on the ground saying "the real fight starts here" with a 100+ upvotes so I went back. This isn't where the spiders appear is it? So that's everything I've done. Right now here are my options: The pit in Majula Continue in Dead Man's Wharf The boss fight in the Last Bastille Anywhere here's my character now: Level 61 Weapon: Halberd +5 Accessories: Chloranthy Ring, Ring of Blades, Ring of Binding, Covetous Silver Serpent Ring Armour: Old Knight Helm +1, Drangleic Mail, Drangleic Gauntlets, Drangleic Leggings I also picked up a few unusual items: Sublime Bone Dust - "burn in bonfire to upgrade Estus Flask" - what's the deal with this? Small Smooth & Silky Stone x 3 - "some in this land are in search of such stones" - hmmm... Soul Vessel - "show this to a certain person, and..." - hmmm... Ah, such a productive days work! This game is awesome.

Man the best way to get souls in this game is to help other people with bosses! I've put down my sign outside The Last Giant and fought him 4 or 5 times now. 2500-3000 souls per fight and it's the easiest fight in the world because there's always three of you. While I'm waiting to be summoned I run around fighting those big shell guys (who are really fucking stupid) and I end up with 4500 souls when I'm finished. From killing so many of those big guys, I've ended up with a complete set of Ironclad Armor. I've been pumping my vitality. At the moment my carry weight is 90% with the complete set equipped - it was 110% with just the Armor equipped - so it's been a productive afternoon's work! I'm going to be running around like one of the ninja turtles in this suit in no time. Actually one person summoned me and we ended up fighting The Pursuer. And guess what? We won. I was fighting him down near the entrance and she ran up and shot him with a catapult (which I hadn't noticed when I fought him). It more or less one-shotted him. 6000 souls. I might switch from co-oping The Last Giant to this guy. Actually I might fight him myself first and bring in some friends so that I can gimp him with the catapult!

I've been listening to lots of albums: Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast The Antlers - Familiars Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots Future Islands - Singles The Horrors - Luminous Lykke Li - I Never Learn Ought - More Than Any Other Day Owen Pallett - In Conflict The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Days of Abandon The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream Out of those my favourite would be Lost in the Dream, it's a great album. But it took me a few listens to appreciate for some reason. One of those albums where listening late at night with headphones on can make all the difference. I also highly recommend Future Islands' album, if you haven't seen their performace on Letterman yet you should youtube it. The whole album is great, definitely one of the year's best. Also highly recommend Afghan Whigs, Antlers and my current obsession Ought.

Explored some more tonight. That big guy (who I thought was a powerful one-off Havel type enemy) dropped an Old Ironclad Armor when I killed it. It's far superior to my current armor but heavier. I need to boost my carry weight a couple of times to equip it and be able to move... That led me to The Last Giant boss who I killed on my second attempt. After that fight I had 10,000+ souls (just from killing him) so I was able to level up enough to get my Str to 20 and my Dex to 14 to equip the Halberd. Back to my old ways! I also upgraded my Estus Flask to 3 and bought another Pharros Lockstone from the old hag merchant. I used the Soldier's Key to pick up various pieces of useless loot and also open up a new area which is full of those club-wielding enemies with the shells. I don't know if this leads anywhere or it's just a dead end with lots of enemies and some junk. I also used the Soldier's Key to reach another boss, I think it's the same bird-thingy that came out of the sky earlier. Anyway it killed me pretty quickly. From Majula I explored a couple of more areas. The tunnel which leads to a dead end where an NPC with a Scottish accent is complaining about a lifelike statue. I guess a need an item to progress any further here. I also discovered Heide's Tower of Flame. I had nothing to lose so I legged it past all those giants and ran through the mist into the Dragon Rider boss. I think I will leave Heide's Towe of Flame alone for now. So I have two options in The Forest of Fallen Giants, tackle that boss on the bridge, or tackle the area with the club wielding enemies. There's also the option of seeing what was in that fire tunnel, if it doesn't kill me instantly. This game isn't fucking around anymore.

This is the ladder I'm talking about! You can go left or right. Right leads to a dead end with a chest and some enemies. Left leads to a stairs down to the 3 goons and whatever is beyond them. Also up this ladder you can drop down into the area behind the sealed gate, although with my health permanently halved the drop will probably kill me... Hah, I assume you mean the catapults. Yeah that might be fun to try. Yes, this is where all the stuff we are discussing is located. However I haven't jumped down into the fire pit. In the room overlooking the firepit there are two locked doors as well. Will do! For the most part eh... I'm guessing that the pit isn't the "next main area" so I assume you mean either the area down the descending circular stairs, or the tunnel back in the direction of the tutorial area...

Yeah I haven't been leveling up much in the game, I've been lazy about picking up my dropped souls. But I have a weapon that requires 20 Str and 14 Dex to use, might grind towards that and put a few points into my health.

I've noticed raptr isn't tracking my Dark Souls 2 achievements correctly. It says that "secret" achievements will only be tracked if you download the raptr client, so maybe that's the reason.

Explored a small bit more. I crossed the rooftops to the cave where I met the owner of the mansion in Majula and he gave me the mansion key, inside I found a Pharros Lockstone. I didn't explore the mansion any further because on the path down there were bloodstains everywhere and scary messages like "visions of jog". I also went under the gate with the treasure hunter sitting outside, but I died before reaching the treasure (and now the gate is locked). I've noticed that my health is capped at 50% and I googled the solution, looks like I have to use a human effigy to cure it or else play some online co-op. That's a bit devilish on their part. I think I have a few human effigies though. That leaves with a few options in this area, that I've come across: Fight the boss/miniboss on the rooftop See what's through the tunnel the big guy is guarding Go through the tunnel where I found the Fire Longsword See if that Pharros Lockstone will activate the Pharros Contraption (judging by the number of slots I'm guessing I need two more, I know the woman beside the bonfire sells one) Go back up that ladder which led to the three goons and see what is beyond them - I think this is what I will do next!

Act III is out now! http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/05/06/open-road-kentucky-route-zero-act-iii-out-now/ I'll be sure to play it on Thursday after my exam! Loved the first two parts.

One good thing I've noticed (can't remember if this was in Dark Souls) is that weapon degradation seems to disappear after a while. Assuming the red bar under a weapon (in the HUD) refers to its condition. I've noticed it goes back to full after a while.

One thing I have noticed is that there seems to be way more online "activity" than in DS1, way more ghost characters running about (although I haven't been invaded yet which is strange since I thought you could be invaded hollow). Also, there are bloodstains and messages everywhere. Although the messages don't seem to be quite as instructive as they were in Dark Souls. For example I've come across a few messages that say "illusory wall ahead" (off the top of my head, one between Betwixt and Mujala, another in the second bonfire room in the Forest of Fallen Giants) but I haven't actually found those walls yet, if they exist in those specific places. The second bonfire room in the forest is full of messages. "Beware of horse, try dashing". What? I'll keep an eye out... "Try fire" seems to be a common message, also I'm seeing the words "but hole" a lot. All in all though I think the opening hours of Dark Souls 2 are much more fun than the first game. Mujala is a nice calm hub to explore, the Forest of Fallen Giants has been pretty gentle so far. I've played the game for 5 hours and I haven't fought a boss yet, which is nice. Compare that to having to fight a boss in the tutorial in Dark Souls, and then that irritating slog in the Undead Burg from the bonfire to the Taurus Demon.

Played for a short while. Explored the open area in front of the bonfire, found the Fire Longsword in the tunnel where something is breathing fire at you, nice weapon. I ddin't go into the second open tunnel because there was a message saying "pointless" which is a bit ambiguous...might go in there tomorrow. Also explored a bit more the other side of the castle. Past the room where the big guy is sulking in the corner, I found a dead end with a suspicious looking tree that I could "examine". Come to think of it, it doesn't look like something that is going to spring into life. Another thing I'll check out tomorrow! I climbed up the ladder there which brought me to a new ramparts area, through the door to the left there was a stairs leading down to three goons who unfortunately I allowed kill me...To be continued.

Made quite a bit of progress in the Forest of Fallen Giants. Bought the locksmith's key from the woman beside the second bonfire, I bought the Broadsword from the locksmith and upgraded it to a Broadsword +1 - quite a bit of an improvement from the broken Broken Steel Sword (apparently Broken Steel Swords can be broken) I was using when I first arrived in the forest area. With a two-handed stance I can kill most enemies in a couple of hits now, as opposed to ten or fifteen... I ignored the soldier sitting down in the centre of the glade. I walked right up to him but no "talk" option came up, so I assume he's either an enemy who will react if I attack, or else an NPC I can't interact with yet... From the bonfire I have two options, go out to the open courtyard area or go down the ladder. I went down the ladder (deciding not to jump into the fire pit with the giant lizard) and followed the route up to the ramparts. I saw the warning for "beware of boss" on the ramparts so I didn't climb up onto the large open area (the boss/bird thingy did appear though when I put my foor on the bottom rung of the ladder but I wasn't forced into engaging with him). I continued down to the garden area which forks into three parts (1) a room to the right with some goons which leads down to another room with a chest, a door, some weird smiley face on the wall, and lots of warnings and bloodstains. I attacked the chest thinking it was a mimic. It wasn't so I opened it. But it was a trap and I died. (2) to the left a formidable looking enemy carrying a big ass sword who I don't want to go near (3) and straight ahead an NPC who tells me that he's a treasure hunter and that the room ahead contains treasure but that the door will lock if I go in.. To be honest none of these routes are tempting me so I think what I will do is go back out to the courtyard from the second bonfire and keep fighting these bog-standard goons for now.

Thanks for the heads up, I won't worry about them so. Yeah I've come across the bonfire at the entrance to the forest, I'll play on tonight...

Made a bit more progress. Explored Mujala and talked to all the NPCs there (off the top of my head: the woman who lets you level up and boost your estus flask, the man sitting beside the cenotaph who asks you to join the "Blue Sentinels" covenant, the blacksmith locked out of his house, the cat that sells items and allows you to leave a covenant and the guy selling armour. I also interacted with the rock on the hill at the back of the village but I didn't join the covenant. So as far as what to do next goes, that leaves me with four options: 1. Go through the tunnel between Betwixt and Mujala 2. Jump down into the giant pit with warnings of "posion ahead" 3. Enter the building near the pit which leads down to a winding descending staircase which reminded me too much of Havel for my liking...also the warnings of "tough enemy ahead, try the tongue" didn't appeal to my curious nature... 4. Take the route behind the Mujala bonfire Not surprisingly, option four is what I did. This led to the Forest of Fallen Giants which given the ease of the enemies is I assume the default first area. I killed all the enemies, was about to climb the ladder when unfortunately I forgot I was playing Dark Souls 2 and ran back to the bonfire to level up, instead just resurrected all the enemies... For now I'll keep exploring this place. I might as well ask though, when can I expect to see spiders in this game? And does the game generally signpost their arrival or do they surprise attack you? I need to know because I just can't handle spiders in games...

Recently I've been rewatching Northern Exposure, nearly finished season 3. I just love this show. I'll probably watch it every three or four years. I also started watching the show they made before Northern Exposure, a hospital drama called St. Elsewhere. Brilliant stuff as well.

I've explored a little so far. Ran around a few of the tunnels in the tutorial area, then left there and then went out into the big sunlit area. Lit the bonfire in the sunllt village area. I've only briefly poked my nose in a few directions. The first was when heading towards the village, there's a tunnel going in another direction. There was a message on the ground saying "lever ahead, then enemy horde", so I left it alone. And the second was a cave directly behind the bonfire, which led down to a treasure chest and then a lever which briefly raised a door, but I didn't pass through it. I'll explore all my options and see which looks the friendliest! Playing this game on the blind might be a terrifying experience...

Ok. Well I've gone with a warrior and I picked the "petrified something" as my gift.

Do you guys play with cross-region play and voice chat restricted or not?

Installation 60% complete...come on come on come on. Blind run here we go! Looking forward to the spiders.

So that would be astronomical data usage? Not feasible with a download limit?

One more question? Does the streaming depend on your upload speed and does it use a lot of data? E.g. to stream one hour of footage.

Thanks for the tip. So on the subject of buying an iPhone...any advice? What kind of price plans are you guys on?