▲ 5 r/DarkSouls2
DS2 fans...
Ima replay this game with max endurance, ADP and dexterity.
No one shall stop me then, not even covetous demon!
Anyone here do endurance builds?
u/HardReference1560 — 1 day ago
u/HardReference1560
▲ 0 r/fromsoftware
Forgotten mechanics, part 1: Non-intelligence catalysts
Hello, I am making a multi-part series covering forgotten souls game mechanics. For this one, we will see Elden Ring impact and also prob no Demon Souls.
The discussion is mostly focused on DS1 so do let me know your thoughts.
TIN BANISHMENT CATALYST:
Basically an early game magic spear.. poor dmg on both magic and physical, but good enough for an early game spear due to surprising range. Certainly odd, but poses some good memories of Blighttown!
DEMON CATALYST:
Very good fire damage and pushes back foes. Scaling is not so bad either. Look at the stats:
D - STR; D - DEX; B - INT; looks like the devs may have wanted it to fall on the hands of quality builds.
MANUS CATALYST:
Another oddball, with 190 base STR, and B scaling, it genuinely can stagger armored opponents per hit due to its weight. Not sure who is going for pure strength/magic build but here you go lol.
TIN CRYSTALLIZATION CATALYST:
Alright, be ready for some speculating. It is like a short magic spear. Due to highest base DMG (240) but nonexistent strength scaling (E), I think that it is a remnant of some sort of development relating to crystal weapons.
Other crystal weapons are found midgame, and have similarly poor scaling, but notice durability. It is higher than you would expect and AFAIK repairable. Maybe devs thought it would be frustrating to have best int-scaled staff break like its crystal brothers, and remediated by giving some scaling to the swords and repairability to the staff.
Relevance? It reminds me of a toning down of durability system, which in Elden Ring they removed. DS2/3 added int/faith scaling as a genuine PVE choice, and one aspect that might have come out of these?
ER's spinning weapon AoW
u/HardReference1560 — 1 day ago
▲ 1 r/fromsoftware
What IS the difference between DS1, 2/3 and ER parry?
Sorry if asked before but I think as a parry nut I must have gotten a quite wrong impression + wanted to see which one you find more realistic.
Like, in DS1, it feels like as long as you press R2 before weapon touch you, you're good.
Same in BB. Meanwhile in other games it feels like you ALWAYS parry to late if you fuck up, which is more realistic. It is really confusing though.
So, after parry runs in all the games my conclusion is that oddly enough, you have more iframes to parry after animation begins, but not before. I def may be wrong, but in newer games I think you will always find more success as an attack begins to land/fall too.
AKA if you press R2 and don't see animation - failed parry in newer games.
Another reason the change is noticeable:
Somehow it feels easier to parry with hand in DS1. Anyone got same experience?
Either way love both now. Took me a while to get used to new parries tho.
u/HardReference1560 — 9 days ago
▲ 26 r/okbuddyretard
Me when I see a sinners(2025)
Why is it that the irish vampire? (Those who know)
u/HardReference1560 — 12 days ago
▲ 12 r/EldenRingLoreTalk
How correct do you think the color theory for Elden Ring is given the DLC?
Hello. I am sure you must have seen this before but hawkshaw's theory broadly presents a good picture of the underlying story. Do you think that it is still relevant? Why not?
To me I think Marika's story must be different due to the DLC reveals.
u/HardReference1560 — 14 days ago
▲ 3 r/DarksoulsLore
Hello. So there is a couple more posts related with this series, mix of evidence and theories that explain character, motivations, and narrative relevance.
This post is a smaller theory. It essentially is about how the DS2 fragments of manus, Nashandra, Nadalia, Alsanna, and Elana represented his emotions that turned him into a monster.
Why does this relate to the furtive pygmy? Well, in my earlier series I pointed the importance of 4 elements and being. Essentially 4 lords, 4 kings, 4 knights.. and so on is a mystery that can be explained by the idea of japanese culture.
Eastern views often assign 4 as THE unlucky number, being a source of calamity and atrocity. For the game, it simply denotes the untimely fate of the dark souls world. kings turn to ruin, lords go mad, and knights go missing.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that the DS2 dark reincarnations of manus would hint at his character. Here's how.
They represent solitude, wrath, fear, and want.
The key to understanding how this relates to Manus being the pygmy is this detail:
Nashandra is the smallest, yet the only one still around, lingering near the throne. The relevance?
She represents want. Want was the least powerful fragment of Manus. In earlier parts I denote that what Kaathe says of the pygmy is correct.
That indeed, he did wait for the age of fire to subside. Did not fall prey like a moth to flame, despite Gwyn crowning him, giving him accolades.
The rest of Manus' emotions are related to his choice to claim the dark souls and ignore the age of fire. There was the wrath of the upturning of his grave, the fear of losing his pendant, which contained his dark soul, and the solitude, his most powerful emotion, driving him mad with obsession over his soul.
note/tldr:
It is not unlike the story of Lord of the Rings. The ring of Sauron is lonely, but perhaps it is best left forgotten, just like Kalameet's ring, and the pendant... Because your want grows into obsession.
u/HardReference1560 — 15 days ago
▲ 12 r/metalgearrising
He could have been senator if he chose macromachines instead. Is he strong?
u/HardReference1560 — 16 days ago
The cursemark was carved into Ranni the Witch, an empyrean. As the lore states, it forms a circle, the mending rune!
Why mending though? Note the cursemark description states:
"carved at the moment of Death Of the First Demigod, and it should have taken the shape of a circle".
We are aware it didn't due to Godwyn. Therefore, I assume that 2 empyrean demigods dying at once breaks order. Death was stuck.
I think this process allow Marika to seal death. However, this was her grand mistake: I think she vowed to fix this by breaking the elden ring.
Ranni and Godwyn? Died in soul, and in body. Many theorize we have a part of godwyn's soul. Which is why we can mend the rune of death. This completes the cycle of death once more, and with destined death unsealed, we can make the age of the duskborn. I think this age reverses Marika's actions.
TLDR: I think that our body can add back death into order because a part of godwyn exists within us. Or rather, memories of godwyn linger in our body, as a fragment of light. We and Fia can reform that shattered soul, which acts like memory.
As the maiden in black in demon souls states:
Soul of the mind, key to life's ether
Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel
May strength be granted so the world might be mended...
So the world might be mended...
In demon souls, this is soul form. The world there is similarly shattered, just like in Elden Ring.
u/HardReference1560 — 17 days ago
▲ 35 r/EldenRingLoreTalk
Fromsoft are great at irony and subversion.
Look at Shadow of The Erdtree's characters. They all follow Miquella to be free from suffering, in exchange for losing their will. Miquella curses them to control them, yet he wanted an age with no suffering.
Messmer is betrayed, yet he is the impaler, a monster. Ansbach is a peaceful blood occultist, and Leda is a murderous honorable knight. Thiollier is a cowardly assasin, and so on.
Much of SOTE's story is to uncover truths, secrets and more. Yet it gives more questions, than answers...
Its greatest subversion? Is exposing Marika's folly. Not unlike Miquella's ambition. You cannot remove death from order. And so, you cannot remove will either.
Yet in another uno reverse flip.. the game does not answer if losing your will for Miquella's age is bad or not. Truly a world with no answers!
u/HardReference1560 — 21 days ago
Maybe that is why Marika killed her using Maliketh. She moved on from her powers of death, and hid them in the shadowlands.
I think every empyrean has this ability. Other than the ones mentioned:
Malenia - scarlet children
Ranni - I think Renna was her alter ego
Godwyn may have died too early.
u/HardReference1560 — 21 days ago