Dark Souls 2: YOU DIED HARDER

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http://cdn.segmentnext.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Dark-Souls-2-Logo1.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIVAmgEXvLI

dark souls II may have serious side effects. please see a medical professional if you play dark souls II for more than twelve hours straight. pregnant women, seniors and some people on medication should not play dark souls II.

The first review for From Software's Dark Souls 2 has been published. German gaming mag M! gave the action RPG a glowing write-up.

M! (via NeoGAF) says that it's "the hardest action role-playing game in the world."

More Serafinowicz on DSII

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/feb/25/peter-serafinowicz-dark-souls-ii-game-video?CMP=twt_gu

can a n00b like me even play this game? It all just seems so daunting

apparently they've made DSII a bit more accessible for n00bs, less of the "work it out for yourself" stuff, though I would think there will still be a fair amount of that. DS also has a really strong wiki culture which will be replicated for the sequel, I guess.

I'm a terrible video game player and a total n00b at all of it but I love DS so just take your time and let it ~~flow~~

i was a n00bling who got sand kicked in my face by DS but now i'm > HERO OF THE BEACH <

*applauds*

if you need me i'll be in an induced coma so mvrch 11 comes tomorrow

I cracked and pre-ordered it.

i guess only one more week now, huh? for NA folks anyway. psyyyyched.

I'm in the UK, Amazon are saying it will arrive on the 14th...

so who's gonna start off as 2 chainz swords: http://www.ign.com/wikis/dark-souls-2/Dark_Souls_vs_Dark_Souls_2

Fast Travel between Bonfires is now available from the beginning of the game. Players may travel at will between Bonfires without penalty, though doing so causes all enemies to respawn.

it seems crazy to me after playing dark souls, although i guess this is more like demon's souls, right? sort of a mega man setup?

btw wouldn't "demons' souls" be more accurate?

Fast travel between bonfires would address one of the things that I found annoying about the last game. I reached a point where I just couldn't figure out where to go next, and wandering around the various sections of the map on the brink of death for hours turned into negative fun and I just quit. Being able to warp to the different bonfires would have eased my pain considerably.

i started dark souls from a character development pov with the assumption that it would work much the same as demons souls, which was a fair basis, and so i will approach ds2 like ds1. that means probably no 2 sword guy, although it did look cool in the gameplay videos. the great thing with these games of course is that you can go anywhere with any character, the starting classes are just good for starting stats and info. it is annoying that they have split up the stats governing stamina and equip load, but even without helping you carry better gear, stamina is m/l the most important thing in the game, so endurance is still going to be the most important stat. probably i will take sorcerer to start with some magic and then initially build more combat-y stats to be able to use the decent sword and shield i will be hoping to find early on. one variable between demons and ds1 is the power and importance of bows. dex build was much better in demons. i am happy to just skip that to start with tho, you can be fairly sure magic and a sword and shield will be effective.

not that i have been thinking about this or anything

the bonfire teleporting thing makes the movement between areas kind of a hybrid between demons and ds1. my gut reaction is to tentatively disapprove but we'll see.

yeah, i'm a little suspicious of being able to fast travel from bonfires right off the bat in this one. thought the way it was handled in DS1, really making those early game trips between fires dangerous and risky and finally opening up fast travel when the game starts to sprawl, was pretty much perfect. as much as i loved Demon's Souls, Dark Souls' open world was a vast improvement over DeS's overly game-y "choose your level" method imo. but, yeah, this does seem like a hybrid. also brought back from DeS: having to talk to a specific NPC to level.

amazon claims to be delivering my black armor edition and 400 PAGE HARDCOVER STRATEGY GUIDE on march 13; I will be carving out the majority of the weekend to explore. Need to finish DS1 first: y or n?

i also read something about how there is a mechanic (at least at some point in the game) to reshuffle your stats, so you won't even be locked into your character type after leveling up. mostly i'm agonizing about whether to purse a similarly tank-like strategy like i did in DS1 or to try a dex or magic build this time.

i used the wikis to figure out what path to take (at least i started to after initially wandering into the graveyard and wasting a lot of time there) so i was never really frustrated by not knowing where to go. i wonder if that's what they're trying to prevent with the fast travel, to create more viable ways to get through the game?

i did love seeing how the areas connected and finding the shortcuts, hopefully that isn't lost.

yeah, the fiendishly clever interconnectedness of the world design was really the secret strength of Dark Souls

amazon claims to be delivering my black armor edition and 400 PAGE HARDCOVER STRATEGY GUIDE on march 13; I will be carving out the majority of the weekend to explore. Need to finish DS1 first: y or n?

― PSY talks The Nut Job (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, March 4, 2014 5:28 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i pre-ordered mine months ago and just recently got an e-mail confirming a March 13th delivery date. i went in to my account and changed my shipping to 1-day and then back to 2-day (what i had it at initially) and my delivery date is now listed as March 11th. worth a try if you'd like to get it release day.

hm, good idea! i'm prime btw

yup, that worked

good lookin' out

black armor addition = a tin and a CD I will never listen to y/n?

I would have probably bought the full blown special edition if it had been the same as the Dark Souls one, the art book was cool and the intro strategy guide was actually useful but it seems like the DS2 one is standard issue £100 plastic tat for suckers

i think it's like five bucks more for the special edition, figgered fuggit

really? my "black armor" edition didn't cost anything extra, but i guess that's because i pre-ordered way early. the tin case looks pretty neat at least:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/02/24/unboxing-dark-souls-ii-collectors-edition

yeah, it was the only option i saw for pre-order. i'm happy to get the soundtrack, maybe i can use it for another mix.

thanks for the tip upthread re: changing shipping to 1-day and then back to 2-day. so weird that it works!

1 WEIRD trick etc etc

yeah, np! found that tip on the internet. hopefully it comes through next Tuesday.

I pre ordered the standard game, might see if I can upgrade to the black armour version...

http://www.edge-online.com/news/prepare-to-dine-inside-tokyos-dark-souls-cafe/

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19bryayr8456njpg.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPO8l4ir_Jo

pc/steam release is april 25 but who cares right ps3 master race lololo

☼

\[†]/

lol just saw a DSII ad on TV (during an episode of Star Trek, appropriately enough) soundtracked with "Where is my Mind?" by the Pixies

love it

http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/02/14/dark-souls-2-uk-cinema-spot

nice

yeah that was the one!

there's another one soundtracked by Jethro Tull. who's picking the music to these?

anyway, the day is here. hopefully i can get some time in tonight. busy week unfortunately.

plz to report back. I got one half of my Amazon order (records & CDs today) but no DSII. Hopefully by the end of the week...

bummer. looks like my Amazon order is being shipped through UPS and is marked as "out for delivery", so mine should arrive today.

reviews seem solid so far. DS1 range. hard to rate a game like this without proper exposure to multiplayer though.

I'm in the UK, so I think it's due to ship slightly later over here. I'm away at the weekend too!

I'm only a short way into DS2 so it's too early to say. Going into the tutorial I was a bit "I dunno if I can cope with these grotty tunnels, they all look pretty lo-fi and samey" but then I emerged into Majula and thought "Oh this is like the First Step or Anor Londo, it's really pretty!"

I don't really play Souls games for the graphics, mind you, much as there have been some beautiful updates to Elden Ring lately. It's part of that "accepted jank" I get from these games. Plus, I mean, it's a PS3 game that was polished up a little later for the next gen, I don't expect it to be amazing-looking.

I was talking about this with a friend yesterday actually, about how some games *cough God Of War Ragnarok* are beautiful masterpieces with amazing visuals, sound and acting. But ultimately the story was a bit directionless and the game itself was a repetitive sequence of gamey puzzles and tappa-tappa battle sequences. So often I would see an item in an inaccessible place and think "hmm, I wonder how to get to it? there must be a secret path or a hidden door or something", when the solution was almost always to keep walking and you'll get to it in a minute or two.

I think that's the big appeal of the Fromsoft games for me: not just the convoluted lore (which I love), or the difficult battles (which I'm also very into), but the way the levels build on each other, the dopamine hit of working out how to get to a certain place or unlocking a shortcut or a new area. That's largely why Stormveil Castle is my favourite level of any game, it's just full of secrets. I really hope DS2 isn't bereft of all that

Dark Souls 2 is a good video game and the shit it gets is a bit out of proportion. It is the wonky little brother of the group, but it’s still probably better than 95% of whatever else came out for your console in 2014.

TBH the one I felt the most cold on was Dark Souls 3. Some “The Force Awakens” corrective vibes to that one that felt kinda hollow to me.

I've heard people rep for DS2 while saying that DS3 is let down by nonsensical fan service

DS3 is much better than 2. Probably my fave of the series. The coolest areas, the smoothest combat, great atmosphere. Closest to the feel of ER.

agreed. not sure what those people you mention mean tbh dl.

in other news i fancied some old school “crunchy” DS1 vibes so relaunched it for a go round.

rage quit after trying to return and collect a lot of souls and mobs just rng’d the fuck out of me.

agreed. not sure what those people you mention mean tbh dl.

It's the hard opinion of the Bonfireside Chat podcasters I listen to (who are generally very good and OTM and know so much about Souls games). They're fans of DS2 but felt that stuff happened in DS3 that didn't make sense beyond "look, here is a reference from the first game for no apparent reason", to the extent that characters and items turn up that shouldn't exist. They had some mechanical qualms too, but I haven't played enough DS3 to really make my own judgement

That is a crazy opinion. DS2’s crow trader, instead of being tucked away mid-game, shows up in the tutorial section to scream fan service at you

Ah bit that's in the tutorial section where you might totally forget to go back to later. I quite like the crow being there as opposed to having to parkour up a complicated series of walls, then get taken to another area entirely (actually, also the tutorial area of DS1 now I come to think of it) before I can swap a few trinkets and items

Plus, I think there's perfectly cromulent lore for the crows to be there in DS2. The argument doesn't seem to be about rhe fan service itself, rather the fact there are things inserted I to DS3 "just because" and this doesn't always make sense to the story- the reaction is "Oh hoh! That's very cool, i recognise this thing... but why?"

Ha, as if DS2 is innocent in that respect. Ornstein as an early boss, just because? Also 'fuck it, we're going to six gargoyles.'

Ha, forgot about them. I forget about everything in these games, despite spending so much timr immersed in their worlds.

I thought the relentless enemy aggro range in the game was a real challenge.

I'm maybe what around 50 hours in, and only killed Fake Ornstein and got to that pirate ship area but I can't say I'm not really enjoying this game so far - possibly more than even DS1 which I found unnecessarily fussy in its cruelty in the first half, then a bit empty in the second.

I really loved Forest Of The Fallen Giants. Love how the first level of every Fromsoft game (Boletaria, Undead Burg, Central Yarnham, Stormveil Castle) is always this gurt overlapping thing with loads of secret little hidden bits and shortcuts and paths that crisscross each other - they're my favourite kinds of levels. It's great to just work through these meticulously and figure out what you're meant to do and where. I beat both bosses and I think I found most of the items before progressing.

Heide's Tower Of Flame felt trivial at first, eerily familiar compared to Anor Londo. But I made the mistake of just running up to the Dragonrider and beating him before realising this would aggro the sedentary Heide Knights who made my life a serious issue when trying to fight the red dragon there. I spent most of yesterday night trying to clear them all out, then I summoned the NPC and beat the Old Dragonslayer (Ornstein). It took a long time, but I was determined and it was very satisfying.

So far, every area has required a unique logical approach, even compared to DS1. So with the pirate bay level I'm on now, it's clearly all about making sure you light the sconces so that when you inevitably die and reset, you have advantage over your enemies in the next run

Other things I generally enjoy about the game:

- Perma-deaths of certain enemies. I thought I wouldn't be into this, but considering how many runs I often have to do fighting the same dude over and over again, it's kind of cool that FromSoft included an "I GET IT" feature. Anyone know how many times you need to kill an enemy before it stops respawning?

- Adaptability. Controversial, but I'm into it. You feel your character get better at dodging and rolling as you level this up; it's pretty satisfying

- Levelling up. Speaking of which, I'm impressed at how quickly I've managed to level up my character and some of my weapons without really having to grind. My first Souls game was Bloodborne, and I couldn't imagine getting through that without farming those bridge hounds a few times. This feels fairly balanced. Plus you get the re-spec item pretty early on

- It's a big big game (I realise I'm still at the start 50 hours in), but the levels are pretty short and manageable, so I feel like I'm progressing even if I can spend a whole night on just one area.

- I like how many NPCs I'm running into. There are so many! And whenever I see one I'm like "Oh boy!" Love this.

- The "fan servicey" stuff is just right for me here. I like the fact Heide's Tower Of Flame is kind of an Anor Londo tribute, and there's some lore speculation as to whether the Dragonslayer Knight is literally an old and diminished Ornstein or whether it's some sort of imposter. Then there are more subtle things, like the pirate area feeling a tiny bit like Archstone 5 in Demon's Souls.

Stuff I'm not sure about:

- The NPCs are strangely cheery and I'm just not used to that. The Crestfallen Knight is especially chatty. Not sure how I feel about this.

Anyone know how many times you need to kill an enemy before it stops respawning?

12, I think? Glad you're enjoying it, love to see it.

Something thst is getting my goat a little is the sheer range of aggro and how far enemies will kite you before giving up. I'm not asking it to be easy, but meticulously clearing an area over and over again before moving on can get pretty tedious after a while

I do kind of "like" it in that enemies hitting their range limits is a little immersion-breaking, and it feels more realistic to have them trod (or run) after you as long as they can see you. Of course it's annoying af.

I was thinking about this while playing Elden Ring last night, how hilarious it would be to run across the open world and gather a small army of animals and enemies chasing after you.

Oh the aggro/de-aggro range in ER is tiny by comparison.

This pirate level is super annoying because its such tight spaces and there are so many enemies. Plus some of them are lying down / barely visible so unless you tread really carefully each time, stopping to check no one's after you, you can get ganged up on so easily. It's fine, until you have to do it a dozen times

And I swear there are some enemies (like dogs) who can hit you after you've clearly killed them. Like, they jump at you, miss, you hit and kill them mid air, half your health bar disappears. That feels unfair

Maybe the dogs have bad internet connections

my ds1 playthrough (sorry for derail) has been characterised by me going “oh *yeah*, everyone follows you forever” (just before succumbing to a weakling mob, while dodge rolling to futility, as they go absolutely rng on my ass after several blameless runbacks)

lol xpost

In an attempt to save estus, I
have taken to equipping the restoration ring, killing a few enemies, running to safety, waiting for ages for my health bar to refill, then relaying back.

If I do push ups while I'm waiting I guess it's a health plan?

I beat Old Man's Wharf or whatever it's called. The pirate level. Man, it was tough, but I think that has to be one of my favourite levels from any of the Souls games. Then I find out that it was largely optional because I could have got to the same destination via Forest of Fallen Giants(?!) Dark SOUUUULS!!!!!!

Was expecting to have terrible trouble with rhe Belfry Gargoyles but I mashed them all up first go in under a couple of minutes. Wahoooo!

Good soapstone jokes are very far between, but I had a proper LOL moment yesterday.

After beating the gargoyles, I walked cautiously into the next area, a dark windowless room with incredibly noisy floorboards that made a loud clomping sound when I walked on them. In the middle of the room is a soapstone that simply reads: "horse"

Haha. Enjoying these vague memories of DS2 being jarred loose.

Lost Bastille was EXCELLENT too - even better than Old Man's Wharf. I'm enjoying the fact there are a lot of "Stormveil"-style levels in DS2 where you're crawling around a castle with loads of ramparts and towers and you'll come out somewhere and look around and think "Huh, I was over there a minute ago!"

It's definitely one of my favourite things about all these games. Elden Ring really capitalised on that. Like when you're at the Chapel of Anticipation, you can use binoculars to look out at that whole section of Stormveil with the knife eagles and the path leading down where you crash through several platforms.

The bit in Lost Bastille where you need to roll a barrel and then blow it up felt very non-Souls in a fun way. More like a Mario reference or something.

haha yeah. i wouldn't have guessed you need to do that without a hint. there's a bit in Fallen Giants area that's a bit like that. The Pursuers are nails though. I had to literally clear a whole courtyard of enemies until they stopped respawning to make that even close to a fair fight

Skeleton Lords toppled on second try (although I got a bit of help from Creighton and the Large Club). Man that was a fun boss fight! And I enjoyed the Huntsman's Copse even though it was VERY SCARY! More than once, I thought I'd totally cleared an area when one of those hooded thieves would sneak up behind me - and they hit hard!

Okay, hot take time. The more I play DS2 the more I believe DS1 is actually the outlier in this whole series. If anything, DS2 picks up where Demon's Souls left off, with more NPC interactions, a similar plotline, and a hub and spoke map system. Miyazaki is also correct in saying there's a lineage between DS2 and Elden Ring.

One thing I like best of all about DS2 is that unlike DS1, Bloodborne and a few others, I have never once felt the need to grind in order to get past a certain area. There was only one bit, in the Huntsman's Copse before you get to the Undead Purgatory where there are something like five meaty Silent Hill bastards who jump down from these towers, and who I decided to clear out entirely so they couldn't respawn. It took a while, but it was worth it. Other than that, I've so-far found it the perfect level of difficulty. I genuinely prefer playing DS2 to DS1 so far.

Iron Keep. I love this level. I hate this level. It's easily one of the toughest areas I've ever played in any Souls game.

One thing I will say: Thank From for incorporating that system where if you fight an enemy, like 15 times, they eventually disappear forever because it gives us hope that even if an area is CRAWLING with enemies, you can eventually clear it out as I did here, and a few other places.

It's pretty tedious to have to do this, but also there's something kind of satisfying about progressing slowly through an area and really getting used to the tight spots, the enemy placements, and what to expect.

Jump scares a plenty too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bl-QKvPddg

Love it! Not least because my retention for these games is shockingly low, despite all the time I put into them, so watching any playthrough is surreal, as each nudges from the slumbering depths of my brain barely remembered echoes of my own gameplay.

God this game gets tough. and there was me thinking Drangleic Castle was the final area - every time I went through a fog door I expected to be fighting Vendrick, but NO! Of course not, this is FromSoft. DS1 didn't stop when you rang the two bells. Elden Ring doesn't finish when you get to the foot of the Erdtree. These games keep on giving. And boy do they give.

The weird thing about DS2 is how short and concentrated a lot of these areas are - they're just often incredibly tough. I enjoyed Iron Keep and Drangleic Castle, but I was kind of expecting a bit more of them after hearing so much about them. You can pretty much go through both of them in a night each, and these are main areas of the game.

The other thing about DS2 (and DS1 and a lot of the other games), is that you can spend an enormous amount of time playing through and having NO CLUE what the story is, only for a character (Wellager) to dump an incredible amount of lore and science on you in one big go right in the last quarter of the game.

Similarly, I find on my first playthrough of these games that I'm pretty much always running a strength build and wielding roughly the same weapons and armour all the way through. Upgrades being so scarce, and the fact you only really get the chance at magic abilities a good way into the games means I'm reluctant to put souls into INT/FTH when all I'm running around with is a sword or a hammer. And while I've been playing this game for several hours now, I only have two re-spec items I can use, so what if I HATE being a caster?

It's funny. I assume these games are designed in a way to encourage you to try new builds out in NG+, after which the lore in general should make more sense, but the first time I play them I generally feel that the lore and story is backloaded, or it only really comes apparent AFTER the fact.

I've hit a big wall at the end of this game, similar to where I got to in Bloodborne where I have the choice between several very tough bosses or I could just skip over to the DLC early.

Vendrick is causing me grief. I know what I have to do, just stick to his left side and don't get too greedy with the attacks, slowly chip him down. Trouble is, I always ALWAYS end up making a tiny mistake and getting two-shot before I know it.

Alternatively I could go and fight that big dragon and get another Giants' Soul, but it's a long run to that boss and I've heard he's a real pain to fight.

Or I could just spare Vendrick and journey on to the Throne of Want, but I lasted all of 15 seconds in the ring with the Throne Watcher duo, and apparently the ending is different if you don't fight Vendrick first.

One last thing I could do is go Dark-diving or whatever it is, but the idea of slogging through dank sewers fighting really tough enemies for a few random rewards isn't thrilling me.

Wow, had to google Vendrick because I had absolutely no memory of that boss! Same thing with Ancient Dragon, lol. Or Throne Watcher Duo. (Wasn't one of the DS2 criticisms was that the bosses weren't that memorable?) Anyway, I vaguely remember a couple of the DLC bosses being great, if challenging, but the thing to keep in mind is if *I* managed it, you can do it!

Vendrick is slow and technically an easy fight, but he has SO MUCH HP that really the challenge is just managing to stay in there without getting caught by any of his wide sweeping attacks. It's easier said than done though - he has a blind spot where he can't get you, but as soon as you're out of it he'll chop you down. Plus the run back is boring to have to keep doing. The run backs in this game are pretty annoying to be honest.

Ancient Dragon is... a dragon. I am so bored of dragons in these games and I don't want to fight them. Plus the run back to this guy is with the big golem dudes and the lion-head people so the only advantage to killing it is to receive a Giant Soul to make Vendrick easier.

Only gave the Throne Watchers a quick go, but it seemed like an Ornstein & Smough gank duo type affair.

Honestly, I don't come to these games for the bosses really, so I might just summon for the THrone Watchers. You can't summmon for Vendrick, but I think it's just a matter of patience.

Ooh, Vendrick is one of the few DS2 boss fights that I have a strong memory of. Like you say, it's pretty unique among Souls bosses...slow, 'easy', but a pure test of patience due to the HP and damage. The Getting Over It of boss fights?

Other DS2 bosses that left a strong impression...Chariot, Pursuer, Covetous Demon (because it was so shit, iirc), and some of the dlc ones.

lol forgot about Covetous Demon, that's a good if obnoxious gimmick. Also Pursuer, that's kind of a cool enemy; if I recall correctly, Dark Souls 2 has a lot of things that pursue you. The DLC has that crazy op knight, right, and also an NPC gank squad?

Pursuer is fun. The first time he shows up it's intimidating, the second time it's like "fuck, again"? And every subsequent time it's like, ah, hello old friend, let us dance.

I've noticed that this game seems to have generally pretty easy bosses? And the tough ones all appear to be optional. Aside from my first dozen rounds with Pursuer, the Old Iron King and Smelter Demon are the only ones who have given me substantial trouble. All the rest went down in one to three attempts. TBH I didn't even fuck with Chariot Executioner. I'm now at Shrine of Amana, so perhaps they get tougher from here.

no surprise that I can't remember which is which, but I think certain respective souls games might punish you for the wrong build. like, some games really favor strength, perhaps most of them. but I want to say a couple are really really hard to do if you don't have ranged abilities. can't think of any boss that can't be demolished with a good strength build, though. I've always played with strength builds, though iirc elden ring and the DLC, it's so big and you acquire so many souls that I eventually built up some magic range powers I used a lot as well.

I've found my one cool trick is to max out a hammer and to mostly use that. hammers are very trusty in this game

I stubbornly play dex melee in all of these games, but I think the katana build in DS2 was underwhelming and I may have done strength. It's been so long though that I really can't remember (also unlike any of the other games).

The first time I played any of these games I went quality build, but honestly the mechanics are so arcane I wasn't sure what I was gaining from the dex, aside from certain weapon requirements. I steadily shifted more strength and played the rest of the game, and other games, like that. It's all about damage output, health and stamina. I would usually have an upgraded bow for range, too. Sniping sneaky enemies hiding above me, or cheesing big monsters trying to eat me. Everything in this game is designed to be stacked against you - one-shot damage, infinite stamina, and so on - so I have no qualms giving myself every advantage possible.

xps I too have been hammermaxing. Magic Mace has been my best friend. The only drawback is the relatively limited range

Another thing I've often found in DS2 is to champion agility over armour. If you're struggling with an area, take your clothes off and dual-wield*

CONTEXT, PEOPLE. please!

Haha. I was dex-pilled by watching early pvp videos for the original Dark Souls, where the lesson was that it's better to be able to swing 3x with decent damage in the time it would take to swing a huge weapon once for big damage. Also you're less committed with faster weapons (shorter recovery time after swinging), so I find it more fun to be able to move in and out, and try and get parries/backstabs for big damage (although that doesn't apply to a lot of bosses obv).

Then again my first playthrough of the Elden Ring DLC used the anvil hammer, which was a blast.

Fecking Vendrick. I swear he's getting harder!

I have a question about Bonfire Aescetics. Not sure I totally understand how they work. I accidentally followed the advice of someone who was clearly trolling on a Reddit thread, who said that a good way to get a fifth Soul Of A Giant was to use a BA at Black Gulch and fight the two giants in that hidden cavern again. It doesn't work, obviously. But I wonder if the BA might have actually buffed Vendrick now? Surely not - he's in a totally different area, right?

Oooof... So after trying and failing to beat Vendrick, I decided to take on the Ancient Dragon. Talk about a long way around. That was a stressful hour-or-so of run-backs and getting one-shot by his gigantic hitbox. Managed it in the end, and managed to kill Vendrick not long after.

I don't recommend watching this, but if you want to hear me swearing and complaining for the best part of 2 hours, be my guest ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mppgj-hXISQ