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Jeff Green plays Dark Souls II - The real Black Dragon starts here
- Thread starter SeventhSon
- Start date
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
He did great in the first stream, actually.
Yeah, he really did.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Jeff, each time you die, you lose a little bit of your health bar. Going human by using an effigy restores your health bar. Another way you can restore your health bar is putting down your summon sign, getting summoned, and helping another player by either beating the boss or clearing enemies with them.
The DLC weapons aren't cheap. They're pretty crappy, actually, and on par with a lot of the weapons you can buy early in the game. Don't feel bad for using them.
The DLC weapons aren't cheap. They're pretty crappy, actually, and on par with a lot of the weapons you can buy early in the game. Don't feel bad for using them.
Laurentius
Member
5RAvJ
Last edited:
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
The way overhead slashes track in this game is such bullshit
Laurentius
Member
DdJ9r
Last edited:
AlimNassor
Banned
How the fuck did Jeff beat Dark Souls? He should be stomping through Dark Souls 2. jeff did you notice that guy next to the bonfire in majul? That armor look familiar to you?
That's more of what I was expecting. To be honest I was a bit gobsmacked at the first stream's arrival to Cardinal Tower with only two deaths both due to #Gravity.
This game punishes Dark Souls 1 Pro Play and it shows. I'm learning a lot. #TeamNotes
#Team Jintor is going to need a bigger hard drive.
This game punishes Dark Souls 1 Pro Play and it shows. I'm learning a lot. #TeamNotes
#Team Jintor is going to need a bigger hard drive.
Jeff here are are few Dark Souls 2 specific tips for next time:
1) Enemies stop respawning after a dozen or so kills so pick a direction and stick to it unless you just decide you can't cut that direction yet. You'll eventually make progress even if by brute force of emptying their respawns. One thing that hurt you this stream was constantly changing your mind about which way to go. Had you stuck to one direction you would have eventually cleared that area of respawns (you would have also found some nifty gear upgrades in either of those directions you were heading earlier).
2) If you drain your stamina completely you auto-stagger. Dark Souls 1 wasn't like this. Therefore it's way way more important to never use your entire stamina bar. Do not go for broke. You will get crushed. If you want to know why you constantly kept getting hit, this is why. You were trying to block but you had used all your stamina swinging and were stuck in automatic stagger while enemies beat the shit out of you.
3) Don't always try to hit back as soon as enemies attack once. Enemies use combo and shield break attacks a lot more frequently in DS2. Pay close attention to their attacks and wait until they finish their combo before countering. A lot of the time you just waited until they hit once rather than waiting until they finish all their hits.
4) Because of number 3, rolling behind is often much more effective than blocking now. Enemies will start a combo and you can roll behind them and hit them while they are in the middle of a combo. Obviously this is harder with groups though.
5) Flick the right stick to change your target. Dark Souls 2 involves a lot more crowd control (as you are discovering). This makes changing your auto target important.
6) Estus flasks are much slower than Life Gems. In general, use them during down time and save Life Gems for tough fights in combat. However you can always refill estus so try to use them first if you can and save life gems for when/if you really need them.
7) Warp and bank Souls for levels and weapons every chance you get. Because enemies have limited respawns, you can't endlessly grind like you could in Dark Souls 1 (unless you join other people's game and help them; that's a good way to gain souls). Therefore it's even more important to retrieve your souls and bank them in Majula whenever possible. If you have enough for a level or a weapon/item you want, don't take chances. Warp out. The game now gives you warps to use anytime. Use the ability to warp back to Majula for upgrading liberally. Homeward bone and warp whenever you have a decent amount of souls.
8) Upgrading Adaptability will improve your ability to roll through attacks. By default you start off with inferior rolling to DS1 unless you put some points into this stat. You don't need a lot, but by default the timing window for rolling through attacks is much smaller unless you put some points into this. However HP and stamina seem more important for you at the moment. Nothing helps you if you are dead.
1) Enemies stop respawning after a dozen or so kills so pick a direction and stick to it unless you just decide you can't cut that direction yet. You'll eventually make progress even if by brute force of emptying their respawns. One thing that hurt you this stream was constantly changing your mind about which way to go. Had you stuck to one direction you would have eventually cleared that area of respawns (you would have also found some nifty gear upgrades in either of those directions you were heading earlier).
2) If you drain your stamina completely you auto-stagger. Dark Souls 1 wasn't like this. Therefore it's way way more important to never use your entire stamina bar. Do not go for broke. You will get crushed. If you want to know why you constantly kept getting hit, this is why. You were trying to block but you had used all your stamina swinging and were stuck in automatic stagger while enemies beat the shit out of you.
3) Don't always try to hit back as soon as enemies attack once. Enemies use combo and shield break attacks a lot more frequently in DS2. Pay close attention to their attacks and wait until they finish their combo before countering. A lot of the time you just waited until they hit once rather than waiting until they finish all their hits.
4) Because of number 3, rolling behind is often much more effective than blocking now. Enemies will start a combo and you can roll behind them and hit them while they are in the middle of a combo. Obviously this is harder with groups though.
5) Flick the right stick to change your target. Dark Souls 2 involves a lot more crowd control (as you are discovering). This makes changing your auto target important.
6) Estus flasks are much slower than Life Gems. In general, use them during down time and save Life Gems for tough fights in combat. However you can always refill estus so try to use them first if you can and save life gems for when/if you really need them.
7) Warp and bank Souls for levels and weapons every chance you get. Because enemies have limited respawns, you can't endlessly grind like you could in Dark Souls 1 (unless you join other people's game and help them; that's a good way to gain souls). Therefore it's even more important to retrieve your souls and bank them in Majula whenever possible. If you have enough for a level or a weapon/item you want, don't take chances. Warp out. The game now gives you warps to use anytime. Use the ability to warp back to Majula for upgrading liberally. Homeward bone and warp whenever you have a decent amount of souls.
8) Upgrading Adaptability will improve your ability to roll through attacks. By default you start off with inferior rolling to DS1 unless you put some points into this stat. You don't need a lot, but by default the timing window for rolling through attacks is much smaller unless you put some points into this. However HP and stamina seem more important for you at the moment. Nothing helps you if you are dead.
Laurentius
Member
adJCH
Last edited:
Necromanti
Member
Catching up with the first half of today's stream, and I noticed that Jeff had already reached the second bonfire in the Forest of Fallen Giants when he opened the Travel menu.
Sneaky Jeff.
Sneaky Jeff.
SeventhSon
Member
Jeff reached Cardinal Tower in the first stream. He forgot.
Necromanti
Member
It seems he wasn't the only one who forgot. Whoops.
I foresee a lot of comedy in the coming streams. I'm already giggling at his shenanigans.
dragged through by the nose by people in chat?
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
You're talking about a 2 hit kill weapon versus a 5 hit kill weapon and the same amount of speed. DLC weapons in this area of the game are really freaking cheap. And you wouldn't be complaining about him not using them if they weren't cheap.
And by the way he did not have a non-broken shortsword. He started this stream with only the dagger and two broken short swords alongside the 5 dlc weapons, and the dagger is probably worse than the broken sword.
They might not be a ton better than the tier one weapons, but the tier zero weapon phase of the game is still a part of the game, including saving up the 1000 souls so you can purchase one of those weapons you're talking about.
Not that I'm discouraging anyone from playing the game how they want to play it. If Jeff wants to use DLC weapons that's fine. It certainly doesn't give you an edge forever, but you are lieing if you're saying you aren't skipping a chunk of the game by using dlc weapons from the very start.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Seriously? Are they gone forever? I haven't encountered this yet. I thought the chat was joking when they suggested this.
What's 1000 souls, really? And the dagger is a million times better than the broken sword. I started off with the dagger and it freezes enemies as you slice through them. Jeff probably would've been better with that.
Haven't watched the stream yet bjt there's a free sword above the first white knight in the forest. I had a seriously rough time with the early game until I found that one. It's better than everything else available at that time afaik.
Edit: And yes, enemies do stop respawning after 15 kills I believe. But locking yourself out of exp is next to impossible, even clearing out an entire level just to gain exp for a boss didn't hurt my future gains in any way.
Edit: And yes, enemies do stop respawning after 15 kills I believe. But locking yourself out of exp is next to impossible, even clearing out an entire level just to gain exp for a boss didn't hurt my future gains in any way.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
10 soul gems, or 1.5 level ups, or the blacksmith key, which you kind of need to buy all of them at the start. Also just the task of getting up to that first merchant, which for controller input deficient players like myself is quite the task using the zero tier weapons. And that all depends on if you even know weapons are worth purchasing at that point.
And personally I found the dagger to be extremely hard to use effectively with how short of a range it is. It's also hard to abuse the stun lock when it's so rare to get into one on one battles with normal sized dudes in dark souls 2.
John Caboose
Member
Wow just watched the first 5 minutes and I feel totally redeemed with my stream title (I'm so pro it hurts (for you)). Haha, those YouTube commenters..
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
That's my experience too. I think people stress out too much over it.
Though I have to say Jeff Green throws away at least twice as many souls as anyone else I've ever seen, so if someone could hit a xp limit, it's probably him.
For most people, yes. They come back when you enter NewGame+ or if you burn a Bonfire Ascetic in that area (which turns that area specifically into NewGame+ mode).
If you lose souls by dying and the enemies stop respawning, your 'solo campaign' progress in that area is effectively fucked. You'll have to start laying down your summon sign to help other players in order to accrue souls for that area going forward.
Edit: On the PS3 I started off with the same class as jeff only without the DLC items. Didn't realize that the lady in Majula was the level up NPC. I didn't know what the numbers by the bonfires in the travel screen represented (thought they represented the number of times you could teleport to that spot and, as such, avoided teleporting around) and cleared out all the enemies on the main path through the Forest of Giants. So I was basically banging my head against the first boss with nothing but a broken sword and an unleveled character. It was very fun. I think people forget that going into this game blind, this game does a much worse job of explaining any of its new systems than previous games.
snesfanboy
Banned
jeff, this sounds like whining, but...
is it possible to upload your playthroughs to Youtube a bit faster? when i go to the toilet, i tend to take my Vita with me to watch them and it doesn't support Flash
your videos relax me enough so that the process of doing 'the big business' is like a pleasant journey, so i would appreciate it
oh, and to give a tip : even though youre a warrior class, i would advise to also equip a bow and, if possible, a chime/a staff to cast miracles/sorceries, they can be really helpful in some situations
and if you want a good weapon, use the Heide Knight Sword, i've used this throughout my whole playthrough, save for some moments/bosses were i used another weapon
is it possible to upload your playthroughs to Youtube a bit faster? when i go to the toilet, i tend to take my Vita with me to watch them and it doesn't support Flash
your videos relax me enough so that the process of doing 'the big business' is like a pleasant journey, so i would appreciate it
oh, and to give a tip : even though youre a warrior class, i would advise to also equip a bow and, if possible, a chime/a staff to cast miracles/sorceries, they can be really helpful in some situations
and if you want a good weapon, use the Heide Knight Sword, i've used this throughout my whole playthrough, save for some moments/bosses were i used another weapon
I feel bad for the souls he is wasting farming these guys and not cashing the souls in. These guys probably gave me atleast 10 levels just because I grew tired of losing souls and cashed in as soon as I can.
Also he missed seeing the first appearance of
because he was facing the wrong way. Such a scary awesome moment when it first happens.
Also he missed seeing the first appearance of
The Pursuer
snesfanboy
Banned
makes you want to grab the controller from him and do it yourself
EDIT: and seeing him wasting those lifegems, oh my god
EDIT2: and Jeff, USE LOCK-ON and learn to use it between mobs, will make life much easier
I can tell you that after that 2-hour shitshow, I went on to an 0-6 run in Hearthstone. It was definitely not my night.
Uploading Ep 2 to YouTube now. And taking notes on the advice in this thread!
Mudron
Member
Just piling on along with everyone else:
1. Yeah, the way that you semi-permanently lose a chunk of your health bar every time you die while hallowed (as if you've been cursed or something) is a pretty huge change from the last game. This can be tempered a bit, though, with a ring you can find in a chest in that part of the game with the waterlogged Roman ruins and pretty star-filled sky - that ring will make it so that you never lose more than 20% of your health bar while hallowed no matter how often you die.
2. While using a human effigy will restore your humanity and repair your health bar to 100%, human effigies are scarce. There's a ring you'll be able to find a bit farther into the game that lets you retain your humanity/souls/full health bar after being killed while human, though the ring automatically breaks when you die - you'll have to pay to get it repaired by the blacksmith in Majula if you want to use it again.
Once I found that humanity-retaining ring, I wore it all the time, as the souls you spend constantly repairing that ring is worth being able to play as much of the game as possible while human (and thus able to summon people to help you throughout the game).
3. Make sure to max out all dialogue options with NPCs. Doing so will goad many of them into giving you stuff, teaching you things or selling you stuff they otherwise wouldn't.
4. Speaking of NPCs, be wary of smashing any human-shaped statues you may run into. They may be NPCs who have been turned to stone, and who can help you out if you can figure out how to restore them to their human state.
5. As mentioned by other folks in this thread, all non-boss creatures will permanently vanish from the game world after you've killed them 10-12 times. That's great in that you can eventually clear an enemy-less path from a bonfire to a boss if need be, but that means there's only a finite number of souls to be collected in the game.
Most peoples' solution to this seems to be to farm enemies in really tough areas in the game until they've permanently disappeared from the game world, taking great care to warp back to Majula to level up as often as possible so as to waste as few of those finite souls as possible.
6. And speaking of souls - in addition to the thousands of souls you get for beating bosses in Dark Souls II, each boss also coughs up a special soul item than can then be used to get even *more* souls, or can be traded to a pair of NPCs later in the game for special weapons that are otherwise unattainable. (I saved up all of those special Boss Soul items until the end of the game but found most everything they could be traded for were weaker than the maxed-out normal-ass weapons I already had on me, so your mileage may vary.)
7. You can sell all of your unwanted items/equipment to a vendor who appears in a subterranean wharf a few levels into the game. After you talk to him that first time, though, he'll move to another level farther into the game (and move yet again when you catch up to him), so if you bump into that vendor, make sure you sell everything you can that first time you talk to him. He'll eventually settle down in one place, though, and become a permanent dumping ground for all your junk towards the end of the game.
8. Monkeypants.
1. Yeah, the way that you semi-permanently lose a chunk of your health bar every time you die while hallowed (as if you've been cursed or something) is a pretty huge change from the last game. This can be tempered a bit, though, with a ring you can find in a chest in that part of the game with the waterlogged Roman ruins and pretty star-filled sky - that ring will make it so that you never lose more than 20% of your health bar while hallowed no matter how often you die.
2. While using a human effigy will restore your humanity and repair your health bar to 100%, human effigies are scarce. There's a ring you'll be able to find a bit farther into the game that lets you retain your humanity/souls/full health bar after being killed while human, though the ring automatically breaks when you die - you'll have to pay to get it repaired by the blacksmith in Majula if you want to use it again.
Once I found that humanity-retaining ring, I wore it all the time, as the souls you spend constantly repairing that ring is worth being able to play as much of the game as possible while human (and thus able to summon people to help you throughout the game).
3. Make sure to max out all dialogue options with NPCs. Doing so will goad many of them into giving you stuff, teaching you things or selling you stuff they otherwise wouldn't.
4. Speaking of NPCs, be wary of smashing any human-shaped statues you may run into. They may be NPCs who have been turned to stone, and who can help you out if you can figure out how to restore them to their human state.
5. As mentioned by other folks in this thread, all non-boss creatures will permanently vanish from the game world after you've killed them 10-12 times. That's great in that you can eventually clear an enemy-less path from a bonfire to a boss if need be, but that means there's only a finite number of souls to be collected in the game.
Most peoples' solution to this seems to be to farm enemies in really tough areas in the game until they've permanently disappeared from the game world, taking great care to warp back to Majula to level up as often as possible so as to waste as few of those finite souls as possible.
6. And speaking of souls - in addition to the thousands of souls you get for beating bosses in Dark Souls II, each boss also coughs up a special soul item than can then be used to get even *more* souls, or can be traded to a pair of NPCs later in the game for special weapons that are otherwise unattainable. (I saved up all of those special Boss Soul items until the end of the game but found most everything they could be traded for were weaker than the maxed-out normal-ass weapons I already had on me, so your mileage may vary.)
7. You can sell all of your unwanted items/equipment to a vendor who appears in a subterranean wharf a few levels into the game. After you talk to him that first time, though, he'll move to another level farther into the game (and move yet again when you catch up to him), so if you bump into that vendor, make sure you sell everything you can that first time you talk to him. He'll eventually settle down in one place, though, and become a permanent dumping ground for all your junk towards the end of the game.
8. Monkeypants.
This is what I went through, took me hours to adapt. In fact early DS2 was a lot harder for me than anything in the mid to late game of Dark Souls 1 on NG+ (obvious DLC bosses excluded). I had spent 6 hours with Dark Souls 2 when I finally got to the second boss, and ended up spending three hours on that boss alone, only killing him by using room mechanics as I had no chance in hell to fight him in a fair way. I'm now about midway through the game and everything has gotten easier and easier as I've proceeded forward. There's probably a huge difficulty spike ahead somewhere but I haven't seen that yet.
It's also a big adjustment going from fully geared character (DS1) to a character that has just about nothing (DS2). Again, changes the game drastically even if the game mechanics were identical (and they aren't).
Maybe I'm mistaken but I feel like Jeff has changed a little too much in the course of his playtrough on Twith. Nowadays he's just not himself at all and just keeps making the same joke over and over and over again. I miss Jeff. Like him being a "pro" and all that was fun about a hundred episodes ago. Beating a dead horse would be an understatement. He's on sarcasm mode for 90% of the time and it's annoying. I took a long break from Jeff and I think it's time I do it again
Polioliolio
Member
Maybe I'm mistaken but I feel like Jeff has changed a little too much in the course of his playtrough on Twith. Nowadays he's just not himself at all and just keeps making the same joke over and over and over again. I miss Jeff. Like him being a "pro" and all that was fun about a hundred episodes ago. Beating a dead horse would be an understatement. He's on sarcasm mode for 90% of the time and it's annoying. I took a long break from Jeff and I think it's time I do it again
After watching this stream, you see a much more tired man than who started Dark Souls 53 streams ago.
My immediate hypothesis was that Dark Souls simply broke the man.. But if I recall correctly, he was on top of his game back about midway through Dark Souls or so.. Why would the game suddenly break his spirit and age his mind 10 years?
The truth is, it's not the game. Remember what also happened around that time.. Jeff got a job. Jeff was forced into employment to support his family, and it crushed him.
Stress is making Jeff go hollow.
I enjoyed the new stream though. The beginning was hilarious.
I felt bad for Jeff the rest of the time though. The man needs a break.
Go home and be a family man!
Jeff.. Don't feel too bad about your stream so far though.. Dark Souls 2 does feel a lot different from the other game, and starts out with high difficulty.
- You should probably just farm the simple enemies and level up as soon as you can. No point in punishing yourself.
- Also, stop trying to be a crowd pleaser. If you want to read chat, go ahead and do it. It's still fun for us to watch. You can read fun things out loud like "Will you be my dad?" and things like that.
- And proud players are going to get chewed up and spit out in this game.
There's no shame in summoning another player to share you pain with. It's fun and it feels good to succeed in arms with others. The game is new, so there are tons (countless amounts) of inexperienced players looking to get summoned just for the souls and a good time. You can also judge a player on his equipment by standing over him/her. Don't summon anyone who has badass weaponry you've never seen if you want to keep things on your level, though the game does a decent job of match making anyway, so I'm sayin' just don't worry about it and give it a shot!
- One more thing about summoning, I think you may have missed before.. In this game, there are two types of helpful summon signs. The regular ones you've seen in Dark Souls, and the new tiny soap stone signs! They're at least half the size of the other sizes, so you should be able to recognize them. Anyway, I implore you, if you're concerned about having the game done for you, to summon one of these players! The small soap stone sign makes it so that the summoned player is summoned as a shade, and therefore on a time limit. They're only around for 5 minutes or so before they automatically are sent home. Sometimes it's all you need for that little bit of assistance without feeling as though someone in your game is running the show.
- Also, I'd say this game overall is better suited for multiplayer in general, so rather than hours and hours and hours of intense frustration, join in the multiplayer fun. You're a grown ass man and you don't have time to spend 200 hours taking the most difficult route through a game designed to test your patience to the max. There are also some fun covenants not too far into the game I'd suggest you join, merely for a fun distraction and some reward items.
Anyway, glad to see another stream, but again, don't be a crowd pleaser, just do it the way you want, and don't worry about negative internet feedback. Someone's always going to have a complaint and you can't satisfy everyone, so just satisfy yourself.
Yeah I was looking forward to seeing his reaction to that part and he just completely missed out on it.
Jeff wasn't doing that badly, I think he was being too hard on himself. Once he figured out he was going the wrong way and went down the ladder he was learning with each attempt. Forrest of giants in one next time
I'm dreading seeing him go against
though. Legitimately think that will be impossible for him without summoning
I'm dreading seeing him go against
the sentinals of blue
John Caboose
Member
Polioliolio makes some good points. Don't beat yourself up Jeff, just chill out and play some Dark Souls.
Jeff please take your time with the game. It seemed there were moments where you wanted to rush through areas without observing for the sake of pleasing the audience.
It pays to be observant early on as you can come across many useful items and weapons. There is no need to pressure yourself to get to the boss gate quickly.
It pays to be observant early on as you can come across many useful items and weapons. There is no need to pressure yourself to get to the boss gate quickly.
I think you just need a break for a couple of weeks Jeff, especially seeing as you pretty much dived straight into DS2 immediately after DS1. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy watching all the livestreams but nobody wants to see someone play who isn't really getting into the game.
DS2 is tough at the start, even for a "Dark Souls MLG pro". They changed some gameplay mechanics that might feel off at first and will take a little getting used to. There's some pretty good specific advice above in the thread so I would take that on board and take a couple of weeks off to refresh.
DS2 is tough at the start, even for a "Dark Souls MLG pro". They changed some gameplay mechanics that might feel off at first and will take a little getting used to. There's some pretty good specific advice above in the thread so I would take that on board and take a couple of weeks off to refresh.
JimtotheHum
Member
The only advice I have is when I played, I did some early grinding just to make some of the areas more manageable.
I would suggest a little off-stream leveling up.
I would suggest a little off-stream leveling up.
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement, gang.
Most of my problems last night were indeed psychological---I just psyched myself out and then kept playing. And yeah, the dissonance that I experienced between what I *thought* I understood thru Dark Souls 1 versus the new mechanics in Dark Souls 2 was messing with my mind. Basically....I was ill-prepared for the challenge.
But, hey, upward and onward! I have to actually work for the next coupla days anyway, so I'll get a nice breather before diving back in.
Most of my problems last night were indeed psychological---I just psyched myself out and then kept playing. And yeah, the dissonance that I experienced between what I *thought* I understood thru Dark Souls 1 versus the new mechanics in Dark Souls 2 was messing with my mind. Basically....I was ill-prepared for the challenge.
But, hey, upward and onward! I have to actually work for the next coupla days anyway, so I'll get a nice breather before diving back in.
SeventhSon
Member
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement, gang.
Most of my problems last night were indeed psychological---I just psyched myself out and then kept playing. And yeah, the dissonance that I experienced between what I *thought* I understood thru Dark Souls 1 versus the new mechanics in Dark Souls 2 was messing with my mind. Basically....I was ill-prepared for the challenge.
But, hey, upward and onward! I have to actually work for the next coupla days anyway, so I'll get a nice breather before diving back in.
Dark Souls II is also pretty wonky compared to Dark Souls, so it's not just you.
The Dear Leader
Banned
I'm watching the VOD right now and the loud "FUCK" at 51:44 scared the shit out of me, I was half way paying attention and about pissed my pantaloons.