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Dark Souls 2 bishes. This time I'm getting in on the ground level, so to speak. First day buy my friends.. whos with me?
 
Good news: I am in on the next Dark Souls 2 closed beta network test (PS3 only). They had originally said 30,000 people would get in, now they're saying 90,000.

I'm not sure if all slots have been filled yet. People can try entering this code into their PS3 accounts, it's the same for everyone: 38QQ-8DNE-97AA. The code was first posted about 5 hours ago and is redeemable on a first-come, first-served basis.

I actually had a hell of a time getting it to work. I kept spamming the code as soon as it was posted, but apparently by doing that early on my account got flagged as some sort of spambot, so after I tried it five or ten times or so without success it kept just erroring out on me. After 30 minutes of trying to redeem the code on my account, I was able to create an entirely new PSN account just to get into this beta test, which thankfully worked. I imagine I'll delete the second account after the beta is done.

Anyway, this is primarily meant to be a network test, and with 90,000 people trying to log on at the same time, I may end up not being able to play at all, like in the launch of many MMOs. But hopefully I'll actually get to play it some.

In a somewhat irritating turn, the actual time of the test is scheduled in the wee hours of the morning. For MDT, it runs from midnight to 3:00am on Sunday! Maybe that's a convenient time in Japan or something.

Anyway, if I actually manage to log on and play this thing over the weekend, I'll post some impressions here.
 
AtheistPreacher said:
Good news: I am in on the next Dark Souls 2 closed beta network test (PS3 only). They had originally said 30,000 people would get in, now they're saying 90,000.

I'm not sure if all slots have been filled yet. People can try entering this code into their PS3 accounts, it's the same for everyone: 38QQ-8DNE-97AA. The code was first posted about 5 hours ago and is redeemable on a first-come, first-served basis.

I actually had a hell of a time getting it to work. I kept spamming the code as soon as it was posted, but apparently by doing that early on my account got flagged as some sort of spambot, so after I tried it five or ten times or so without success it kept just erroring out on me. After 30 minutes of trying to redeem the code on my account, I was able to create an entirely new PSN account just to get into this beta test, which thankfully worked. I imagine I'll delete the second account after the beta is done.

Anyway, this is primarily meant to be a network test, and with 90,000 people trying to log on at the same time, I may end up not being able to play at all, like in the launch of many MMOs. But hopefully I'll actually get to play it some.

In a somewhat irritating turn, the actual time of the test is scheduled in the wee hours of the morning. For MDT, it runs from midnight to 3:00am on Sunday! Maybe that's a convenient time in Japan or something.

Anyway, if I actually manage to log on and play this thing over the weekend, I'll post some impressions here.
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FYI, I've confirmed that as of now there are still slots open for the beta test.
 
Argh, very frustrating. The Dark Souls 2 beta test that was supposed to be tonight didn't end up working. I was supposed to be able to start playing at midnight, but no one could get on. I kept trying for two hours, until finally at 2am Namco announced that the test is cancelled for the Americas. Fun times... nothing like trying to log into a game continuously in the wee hours of the morning. Apparently people in Europe got in... for some reason their client was the correct version of 1.02, while no one in in North or South America could update beyond 1.01.

At least they've also said the test is being re-scheduled. Maybe it'll even be re-scheduled to take place at a reasonable hour, especially since it's the Americas specifically that got screwed over for this.
 
So, two things:

1) After the debacle two weeks ago, I finally got to play the Dark Souls 2 Beta tonight. It was damned good. I really have no complaints. If anything, it actually seems a little harder than the original. I played it for two hours, and the test was scheduled for an hour more, but I beat the first boss and figured that was good enough. In any case, if anyone wants me to go into detail about my experience with the game, let me know (or I may just type something up tomorrow of my own initiative ;)). I'm just too tired to type up a big ol' narrative right now.

2) So a game that is completely FREE to play just came out called Path of Exile. It's basically a Diablo/Torchlight clone, but with some interesting new systems. I played it for a while today and had quite a good time with it. My major complaint is that the user interface kinda sucks in places, but the combat and the looting is spot on, and the class system they have is pretty interesting. In any case, if you have some free time, check it out. Hard to argue with free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXoOK44CR8k
 
Safetydan said:
Yes, please
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Okay, here goes then.

As I said in a previous post, there were six classes to choose from. I went with the Sorcerer because I relied pretty heavily on magic in the last game. However, I also wanted to have decent melee to work with, so I knew I'd probably have to spend some points in strength to be able to use a decent melee weapon.

So, the game starts. I immediately checked my spells and inventory. I had a crappy shield that didn't even block 100% physical, a crappy little dagger, and my catalyst for casting spells. For spells, I had four attunement slots, with more than four spells available: I had Soul Arrow (20 charges, your basic magic projectile), Magic Greatsword (four charges, swings a magic sword that cuts a wide swath in front of you), Soul Rain (name could be wrong, it basically made soul arrows fall from the sky in a small area, I didn't end up using it), Fire Whip (5 charges I believe, makes fire appear in front of you in an arc), and Heal (a Miracle with four charges).

Unlike last game, pyromancy and magic are both used with a catalyst -- there are no more pyromancy flames. Miracles, however, are still based on faith, and tend to focus more on support and healing. Miracles also need a talisman rather than a catalyst to work.

After I'd checked my inventory, I perused the merchant's wares (they start you with 5,000 souls to use). I bought a copy of Soul Arrow, as well as a brand new spell, Soul Spear (10 charges, basically a more powerful Soul Arrow). I attuned my spells so that I was using both copies of Soul Arrow, Soul Spear, and Fire Whip. Incidentally, I found it annoying that the two copies of Soul Arrow didn't stack. In the last game, if you had two of the same spell, they would combine, so that you would see one pool of forty Souls Arrows instead of two pools of twenty each. It's just more crap to scroll through. But I suspect this has something to do with individual spells having levels now. I'm not sure how this is going to work, whether you need materials to upgrade them, or maybe just have to use the spell enough times.

I also bought a shield with 100% physical block, as well as a half-decent sword. The sword required 11 strength to use, and I only had 8, so I ventured forth knowing that my first priority was to get enough strength to use my melee weapon.

After killing one crappy enemy, I marched forward into a dark cavern, where I promptly fell into an abyss. My first death.

When I next went in I managed to navigate the dark cavern without falling to my death again. Next I approached a building where an ambush was waiting: an archer across a chasm where I couldn't get to him, and a fast dude duel-wielding some swords. I backed out of the archer's sight, but the guy with the swords almost killed me. He was unexpectedly fast and aggressive, and my spellcasting was slow by comparison. I did manage to kill the enemy and heal myself.

I should say again at this point that spellcasting has had some changes. Most notably, double-handing a catalyst now increases damage. I thought that I would be double-handing most of the time, but given how quick the enemies are, that didn't turn out to be the case. I double-handed when I really needed the extra power, but otherwise I tended to stick with the one-handed catalyst and a shield. Also, apparently magic now also has strong and normal attacks just like weapons do. However, when I was playing last night I didn't even realize it, so I didn't get to check out the heavy spells. From what I read they're more powerful, but slower to cast. Makes sense.

In any case, I was then able to kill the archer with a few souls arrows and beat another ambush where a guy busted through a door the second I opened it. I found another bonfire as a checkpoint, and I had enough souls to put a couple points in strength, one away from being able to use my new weapon. Next, I made my way to a bridge where there was a big baddie with a couple of scythe-like weapons. I was doing fine firing magic at him and backing up... until I backed myself off a cliff. Dead again. I went back and got my soul, then killed a few more enemies, and finally had enough points to use my short sword. It wasn't great, but good enough to kill most enemies in four hits, archers in three hits.

I turned my attention to a shiny object that was across a chasm from the second bonfire I had found. I climbed a ladder to a ledge overhead and tried to jump over to it... and fell to my death (sensing a theme here?). My second jump I made it... problem was that the shiny was on a tiny raised platform on the island I had jumped onto, and I couldn't clamber up to get it. It appeared that to get the shiny, I would need to jump onto that specific portion. Grr. Anyway, I looked around and discovered there was no way to jump back to where I'd been. Instead, there was ledge below. I jumped onto that, and then went into a dark cave. I went to what appeared to be the end of the road, and was confused for a minute or two when there didn't appear to be anywhere I could go. However, there were chasms to either side of the path in the cave, and I guessed there must be solid ground at the bottom, because there was no other exit. Turned out I was right. I fell into the abyss and found myself in the middle of three enemies and near a big chest. I beat the three enemies with my new melee weapon, but when I went to open the chest, the damn thing exhaled a big poison cloud on me. I had to use up all my estus flasks just waiting for the poison effect to go away. But the good news was that the chest contained a full armor set that was a lot better than what I had. It was heavier (meaning my roll wasn't as good), and it required 13 strength to use, but I was able to quickly get the points I needed for that. I started taking a lot less damage, and I had a much better poise rating (resistance to being staggered by attacks).

It turned out that the exit from this cavern I'd fallen into looped back around into the building where I first got ambushed. Being out of healing items, I didn't make it out alive, but I didn't really mind that much, as I didn't have too many souls saved up. I decided to march my way toward the boss, and here was able to summon my first phantom to help me along the way, a dude with a big two-handed sword. He was a big help as we marched through a forest full of ambushing thieves -- ambushes really are more frequent, elaborate, and effective in this game that the last. My buddy last about 5-10 minutes before he ate it.

Eventually I was able to find a key that opened a building with a third bonfire -- the one nearest the boss. The next big event happened when I was most of the way to the boss and was ambushed by a couple of big n' burly NPC black phantoms on a narrow ledge... one appeared behind me, and the other in front. They were powerful enough to take out all my stamina when I tried to block the first hit, then kill me with two subsequent hits. The first time I didn't stand a chance. The second time I was able to take out one with soul spears before the other killed me. When I went back a third time, it turned out that NPC black phantoms don't respawn, so I was able to dispatch with the second one all by his lonesome. After that, I made it to the fog gate before the boss, and was able to unlock a shortcut back to the bonfire.

The boss was tough. It was three skeleton lords with big scythes, plus a bunch of other skeletons and pinwheel skeletons as minions closing in from every side. I had hoped that my Magic Greatsword spell and Fire Whip spell would come in handy for crowds, but it wasn't enough for a crowd of this size. I died three times before I was able to summon a phantom to help. With him at my side, I was able to make the most of my powerful spells, and we emerged victorious.

Overall, the game does seem somewhat harder than the last, although this may just be because I haven't been able to build up my character from the beginning exactly the way I want him, and also needed to shake some rust off (haven't played Dark Souls for quite a while now). But enemies definitely seem faster and more aggressive, and item use has been slowed down. So even though there are more healing items available besides just estus flasks, it's even harder to use them in the heat of battle without getting killed.

In any case, I think that's about it. Sorry that it was all a bit rambly and disorganized. If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer. Also, as I've said, there's plenty of footage up on YouTube from people who recorded their beta test sessions (I posted one above). No doubt after last night there will be a lot more user videos up soon.
 
Tony said:
Gonna go check my local Kmart after work today. The PS4 is only available to members there so I got my fingers crossed.
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Probably smart. I've poked around a bit, and Costco/Sams are names that keep popping up as places that have some.
 
Any of you guys played El Shaddai? So awesome. I play it in 30 min spurts usually, and then I try to think about what I just played, and I can't put it all together. It's just super wild and the most fun I've had gaming in awhile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=552opRR03Yo
 
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Duck Rodgers said:
Any of you guys played El Shaddai? So awesome. I play it in 30 min spurts usually, and then I try to think about what I just played, and I can't put it all together. It's just super wild and the most fun I've had gaming in awhile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=552opRR03Yo
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I enjoyed it. Gameplay is so basic, but it's one of those rare games that has such artistic beauty that you could almost play it just for that.

Valkyria Chronicles and Okami had the same level of prettiness going on, though IMO they were both stronger in the gameplay department. Two of my all-time favorites. I'd kill for a non-handheld sequel to either one.
 
Johnnyfan12 said:
Valkyria Chronicles and Okami had the same level of prettiness going on, though IMO they were both stronger in the gameplay department. Two of my all-time favorites. I'd kill for a non-handheld sequel to either one.
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Definitely. I loved Valkyria Chronicles too. Okami was kind of billed as Zelda with a wolf, and I kind of bought into that hype a little too much because Zelda is my favorite game series, and then played it and didn't like it because it wasn't Zelda. I should give another run though now that it's been years and my gaming tastes are different.
 
Anyone following any crowd funded games? Banner Saga comes out next week. I'm also excited for Broken Age and Massive Chalice from DoubleFine.
 
Duck Rodgers said:
Definitely. I loved Valkyria Chronicles too. Okami was kind of billed as Zelda with a wolf, and I kind of bought into that hype a little too much because Zelda is my favorite game series, and then played it and didn't like it because it wasn't Zelda. I should give another run though now that it's been years and my gaming tastes are different.
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Duuuuude. Yeah. You really need to check out Okami again. Especially now, you can just download the HD remake version for I think $15. So great. Definitely on my short list of best games ever.

Only thing that really kills me about it is that long un-skippable intro. Ugh.
 
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