Comment on Warriors in Dark Souls 2 have such a lame mid-game compared to mages
catfeeder@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago Durability
I have no idea why did they get rid of the mechanic in their next games. It’s pretty good IMHO. Sure, it doesn’t influence every hour of play but I like how it incentivizes me to pick up and upgrade more than one weapon, just in caze. Honestly, it could be even more aggressive. And that’s me talking with the Champion’s covenant!
Shield crossbow I think is just bad, unfortunately, lol.
Well, I had the feeling it isn’t anything good.
Shrine of Amana
I respect this area. It’s arguably the hardest mandatory location in the main game, particularly the run between the second and third bonfires. Mages, clerics, ogres, those sneaky bastards, treasure luring into deep water… it’s just a very cruel place in general. I remember being particularly terrified of the archdragon clerics in my first playthrough.
skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Durability technically exists in every main line Souls game as well as Bloodborne, it’s just mostly a non-issue (until you forget about it entirely and your main weapon breaks mid boss fight). I think it mostly just serves as an annoyance in Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne, because the game never really goes out of its way to tell you that you need to repair your weapon, and in DS1 you have to go out of your way to buy a whole smithbox about it or go visit a smith in person.
2 solves this by making your gear repair at bonfires, which was a GREAT change and I was a big fan of it. Many people were not. It also didn’t help that durability was bugged for a while to be even worse than it was intended to be. In response to that backlash DS3 technically shares the same mechanic, but durability was buffed to such an extent that I don’t think I’ve ever actually been in danger of breaking any of my gear, unless being hit by acid attacks, so in practice they just removed durability but in truth it’s still there hiding in the background.
In Bloodborne they went back to having to repair your weapon at the smith station in the Hunter’s Dream and the decision baffles me, but you also only ever have to do it like once every 7 hours so it was whatever.
How’s the Crypt been treating you? Did you light the torches?
The way durability works in DS2 is by far my favorite. In DS1 it’s just a chore you must do from time to time, and in Demons Souls it’s actually quite a big tax on your souls, at least in the early game.
And I didn’t know that Bloodborne also use this type! I mean, it kinda makes sense since you can’t sit at a checkpoint but it could just as well be removed from the game entirely tbh. But I never played Bloodborne (no PS4) so what do I know!
In DS3 it’s so lenient that it might as well may not exist. I don’t think I ever depleted even half the durability bar on my weapon. I generally have issue with how DS3 devs tried to streamline everything and seriously overdid it (removed poise, return to mana, covenants as items, etc).
I haven’t played since the Amana session. Job hunting drains my time and energy, and summer’s heat is already here so it’s hard to just comfortably sit down at my PC and game for awhile. I do want to play though!
skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Hah, return to
monkemana might be my favorite change Fromsoft made for DS3. I was very glad to see it carry forward into Elden Ring. I have a whole rant and a half about Vancian magic, I never liked it, I don’t like it in D&D and I don’t like that they brought it to Dark Souls. I am a wizard, and I can cast exactly three fireballs. I’m not out of magical power after that, I’ve still got lightning bolts and magic missiles that I can sling at you, but I’ve completely forgotten how to cast the fireball I just cast 18 seconds ago. Gonna need a lil nap to address that.Mana bar just makes more sense to me. I stop casting fireballs because I’ve exhausted my innate supply of magical power, not because “i forgor 💀”
Ughhhhhhh. Yeah, been there. Best of luck to you my friend. Imagine a big “Unemployment Defeated” banner coming up when you’re finished, that’s from me.
Update: aaand Velstadt’s done! It was surprisingly easy, not counting quite a few shameful deaths from the blue flame-wielding ghosts. I’m still not fully done with the Crypt since I haven’t lit up the place but the royal ring’s on me.
Adgayne gave me his drip and it’s great. His katana is funny but I’m not a fan of it being nearly invisible at some angles so I threw it into my endless box.
Avelyn… avelyn!!! Such a great crossbow. Switched to it as soon as I could upgrade it. It’s a bit slower but I’m fine high risk, high reward.
The ore seller finally got them chunks! I bought out all 10 and maxed out avelyn and murakumo. I figured washing pole is too unreliable with its low durability, and it’s a bit slow to swing; uchigatana is nice but it’s diagonal attacks miss quite a lot, especially against small opponents; longsword is a bit too short and is kind of a boring choice honestly; and estoc is fairly situational - it’s great against slow armor-clad opponents but isn’t much against mobile enemies who may easily dodge estoc’s narrow attacks. Also, murakumo looks badass with the new Agdayne+thief set of mine!
Speaking of the grave warden’s set, I completely forgor that special equipment can only be upgraded to +5 so I spent most of my twinkling titanite maxing out the robe and kilt haha. It’s not such a big problem as I got an extraordinary amount of twinklies from enemies in the Shrine but it’s quite a silly situation.
Well, hit points are also very unrealistic in what they’re trying to depict. Game mechanics often require suspension of desbelieve to avoid making games actively painful to play ("oh no I was hit by an enemy now I have a 20% chance to suffer a deadly disease and I can’t heal from it because we’re in a medieval kingdom!").
For me, the advantage of Vancian magic is the way it encourages the player to use “expensive” spells. Technically, both Vancian magic and mana system have a similar cost - preparing/casting one spell limits your ability to use other spells. But something about preparing spells at a bonfire instead of casting it in the middle of a journey makes it easier to sacrifice efficiency (using the most practical but boring spell like Soul Arrows to solve every encounter) for cooler and more powerful but also more expansive (less uses, more takes slots) spells like Storm pyromancies.
Thanks! “Humanity Restored” will follow quickly after.