[SilverEars]

I got to try majority of the weapons and It's not a surprise what weapons are highly regarded. I tried the Logarius wheel and it's kinda meh. Boom hammer is fun, but not easiest weapons to use due to it's timing. It will be difficult to fight bosses that hits quickly. You have to time the hits really well then. However, it's very practical for crowd control. When ignited, and using charged R2, hitbox is ridiculously large that it will take out multiple enemies within that humongous hitbox.

In terms of most practical weapons besides the obvious ones (pizza cutter and the Ludwig Holy Sword), Church Pick, Saw Spear, and Rakuyo would be my top picks.

If you are fighting kins, definitely the Church PIck. It melts kins. Saw Spear untricked is my best choice for Laurence.

If you find that lots of weapons are too slow for Orphan of Kos, I highly recommend Rakuyo. Rakuyo is so fast that you don't have to wait for attack animations to finish for a long time, and dodge comes up immediately. Most weapons have too much of a delay after you commit to an attack that you see Orphan's hit coming to you before you can even dodge due to weapons being too slow. This is the weapon I could beat Orphan of Kos on NG+, I struggled with other weapons. Orphan of Kos can be beat easily if you parry, but that wasn't my strategy.

And we all hate Winter Lanterns with a passion. They do a grab I really hate. You can actually stagger their grab with the right weapon, the Church Pick.

 

[SilverEars]

Oh my gawd, this is hilarious. There's people having trouble with blood starved beast, and people are saying follow Beyonce. I had know idea what that meant until I saw this vid.

 

[SilverEars]

Feels so right when I use this. Hey, it's a Fromsoft game, greatswords feels right. Two hand just feels perfect. I luv the weapons in this game. No wonder they brought it over to Elden Ring. Chikage is fun also. lots of fun weapons. I hope their next Souls game is another aggressive combat game without shields, but parry guns. Also add bloodletter to the OP weapons list.

 

[SilverEars]

The dude's comments are exactly how it feels to fight Soulsborne bosses. lol

 

[SilverEars]

Why the 2nd one sucks

 

[Leonarfd]

Why the 2nd one sucks

For some reason after watching the video i think I need to beat DS2 again

 

[SilverEars]

For some reason after watching the video i think I need to beat DS2 again

That video pretty much did opposite service to you. I need to have the drive to go through that crappy game experience again. Not worth it. Probably the only Souls game I'd never play more than once. Elden Ring might be close 2nd. On my 2nd run I got tired of trying to pick up all the crap on the open world, started to become a chore. I prefer just dungeons only. Demon's Souls I played more because the remake looks so gorgeous and I do like the world. Much much better than DS2 world, which makes no sense.

Those 3 would be least replayability of Souls games.

 

[Leonarfd]

DS2 is indeed a odd one, the feel of dread and hopelessness. And yeah it's not designed well and has aged bad, not that it was good when it came out with the slow motion combat

Still had some good time in a few parts of the game, while all the parts of DS1 and 3 are good or great.

Got a ps5 and have it digitally, beaten it with faith/Str, int/faith and Str build. Might wanna try a katana run

 

[SilverEars]

I can tell she isn't lying when she says that it's her first time. I think a lot of Youtubers lie about the recording being their first playthrough.

 

[SilverEars]

 

[SilverEars]

This is why I luv watching newbie vids. She's got 20k blood echoes, and look what happens. Just classic! Miyazaki would be rolling seeing this. lol

 

[DenverW]

Well, just about to finish dark souls 2, but realised nashandra doesn’t pop without a few items I had skipped. I’d say I have a couple more hours on it, then I’ll shift over to bloodbourne for the next game .

 

[Leonarfd]

From Software is as secret as ever with the teaser picture of the expansion on Elden Ring, curious where they will take it. Probably going to make another build when it comes out to have a fresh start again

 

[tdockweiler]

Started back up my yearly playthrough of Dark Souls 1 on the old Xbox 360. I realized that for my 2022 character I only made it to the Crystal Caves at level 67 and stopped playing. It makes sense.

This time I decided to try my first ever DEX build and get the Uchigatana. It made the early game very easy.
One mistake new players seem to make on the Gargoyles is not upgrading their weapon or using a bad one.
Once you upgrade your weapon to +5 they are a LOT easier.

I actually died on my first attempt. It's like I forgot how to play the game and got greedy and spammed attacks too much. Oops.

Capra Demon was also no problem, but the fight is always chaotic for me and when I get the win it's like "What just happened?!".
I like to run up to the left ledge, kill the dogs and then use the plunging attack on the boss.
The hardest part of this fight is the camera and the lock on thing.

Before fighting The Gaping Dragon I actually farmed Large Titanite shards and got a few levels and upgraded my weapon to +7 or so.
Such a massive pain to farm though with only a 150 item discovery. I also have killed a ton of Dark Knights and zero weapon drops yet!
This is the first run i've had where that has happened.

So for the Gaping Dragon I have bad luck with him and never found him "stupid easy". I've had him one shot me or run me over and murder me.
On this run I took my time and somehow only had to use 1 flask, which is a record for me.

Now it's onto Blightown, which is one of the worst areas ever, but not as bad as the swamp in Demon's Souls.
My usual strategy for this is to use the gate key and go in the back way.
I run past the 3 giants and get to the bottom as fast as possible.
In and out ASAP. I only get the items in the swap at the bottom.

Got the boss on the first try, which isn't usually normal for me.

The funny part is that I run to the top to get out of there ASAP and get hit with a toxic dart. Didn't bring any items to remove it.
Of course I die and have to try again.

On my 2nd try I get toxic and decide to use my flasks and try to make it back to the 1st bonfire of the game.
I barely make it there and the bonfire is GONE! The firekeeper was murdered. Thankfully the toxic wears off with my last flask and me being at 60% HP.

I'm really tired at this point so I try Senn's Fortress. I die on first set of swinging blade. Not even kidding. Never happened before!
The one part that always seems to kill me is the final narrow walkway of blades.
If you didn't bring arrows or any sort of ranged attacks, you are in big trouble.
The snake mage will knock you off the ledge. Luckily I was able to kill her with fire bombs!
Thankfully got to the hidden bonfire on my 2nd try.

Now this is sort of embarrassing, but i'm TERRIBLE at the giant boss fight. I don't know how.
My Uchigatana was doing very little damage. Almost nothing. I actually died somehow.
I try to stay behind him and hit the legs, but had some seriously bad luck.
I came back with Reinforced club +5 and he died much faster.

Now it's onto Anor Londo. Not looking forward to it.
The only hard part of this level for me is the archers.
Once i'm past them it's all downhill.
I usually just run past everything until I get to them.
I think I only clear them due to luck or them falling off.

After Anor Londo the game for me turns into CRAP.
I don't enjoy any areas beyond that, at all.
It just feels like a complete chore and no fun at all.

My most dreaded moment in the game by far is getting the ember in New Londo Ruins due to the ghosts.
Or maybe going through Tomb of Giants with no light. Farming the light item early doesn't always go as planned.
Tomb of Giants is easy if you're at a very high level.

Also, RE: Dark Souls 2. Yes, lots of people hate it, but I absolutely love it. Every single area. OK one area I dislike and it's Doors of Pharros.
I have so much fun in the game and fly through it. Once it's over I immediately want to play it again!
I find the game to be by far the easiest in the series. At least after the first playthrough.

I'm basing this off the Vanilla Xbox360 version. I played the "Scholars of the First Sin" version once and that changes a LOT.
I actually think that version might make the game even easier. They even give you a lot more upgrade items and let you upgrade weapons earlier.

One game I have no interest in playing again much is Demon Souls. I stopped playing at the last level. Had zero interest in beating the boss.
Dark Souls and Demons souls are so different to me. Dark Souls definitely has the harder bosses for sure.
I actually had a hard time on my first Demons Souls playthrough. I had the PS3 version though.
One thing that made Demon Souls harder is maybe less bonfires and shortcuts?

 

[tdockweiler]

Beat Ornstein and Smough on the first try! I guess i'm getting a lot better than before.
I was level 51 and yes, this is not impressive, but i'm more of a casual player for sure.
I remember the first time playing this game it took me 20 tries and a lot of frustration.
Even getting to the boss was a challenge back then. I was not aware of the staircase jump method of passing all the silver knights.
On this run I used my Uchigatana +10 and mostly used R2 when I was in the clear to stab Ornstein. Didn't get greedy.
Of course I cheesed Big Smough during the final phase and used the pillars the whole time. Is that cheating? Sort of, but I don't care.
I took my time and only ran in for an R2 during his butt stomp move.

You know those archers in Anor Londo that are super annoying? I used poison arrows, went AFK for a few minutes and they died.
You can even pull the 2 gargoyles hiding in the area before them and just poison them too.
They can't even run up the staircase. One will even fall off the ledge.

There is one thing I'm bad at with a DEX build. The silver knights give me problems. I'm used to demolishing them so easily with my claymore.
Even with my Uchi+10 they take quite a few hits. It feels like they are draining my stamina so fast when I fight them (Endurance at 25).
I probably should be using the Grass Crest Shield instead of Baldur Shield.

I have a feeling this weapon is not going to be great when I visit Tomb of the Giants.

I honestly don't know if I like a DEX build that much, but it did make the earlier parts of the game way easier.

PS I also got lucky and finally got a Baldur Side Sword. Maxed that to +10 already.
I remember once it taking several hours just to get that to drop. Not sure if it's worth it.

I think my favorite weapon though in the game is the regular Halberd.

Too bad I haven't see the Dark Knight Halberd in several playthroughs.