And in the Iron Keep I was able to shield tank the greatarrows, it was more an issue of finding and dealing with the archers themselves since I’m not so strong on distance combat. I mean, I dunno how much further into the game you are but Iron Keep is far from the hardest place imo.

My biggest complaint so far is the uninspired boss designs, both visually and how they fight. But one of my biggest compliments is how the weapons are much more versatile. Dual weilding is now a thing. If you have two similar weapons in each hand, hold Triangle for a bit to set them up, then press L1 or L2 for dual attacks. Early game the Heide sword and Flame Longsword make a devastating combo.

In addition, the Iron Keep level is an exercise in tedium, and cheapness. Setting you up to have multiple duels with samurai-like knights while four or five archers with insta-staggering arrows results in a dog-pile of aggro damage and leaves you feeling like you faced a challenge that could be overcome fairly, and more like a lame attempt to up the difficulty reputation by spamming you with enemies.

Now that said, I also find that there’s many improvements. There’s a ton of more diverse, absolutely beautiful locations that have stopped me dead in my tracks and made me say, “Whoaaaa.” The instant repair of weapons and gear without a need to meticulously do so item by item, as well as the ability to snap off several lost souls to add to your own are welcome. The animation of the clothing is a very nice touch, and the importance of covenants add a lot more to the gameplay and will no doubt extend the game’s life.

I like Dark Souls 2 a lot. I’m just hoping they patch up some fixes for the issue of lag with the same care they did with the first Dark Souls.

Also, your issue with two-handing your shield is because you’re holding Triangle down too long (assuming you’re using a PS3, on a 360 it’s Y). Tapping Triangle two-hands your main-hand item and *holding* Triangle slightly longer allows you to two-hand your off-hand item (which is usually a shield). This is different from Dark Souls 1, because in 2 they wanted to make dual wielding weapons more viable and in doing so they allow you to two-hand either your left or right equipped item. Just tap Triangle and you’re good.

One problem I’ve -really- been annoyed with: When I backstab a foe, I immediately switch to two handed form to deliver massive damage before they get back up. However, in doing that, it keeps making me two handed grip my shield, rather than blade, for some reason. Which usually results in my death.

I agree with you on the being lost front. This is the actual definition of open world game. It’s wide open and you just tread around and find things you didn’t notice before that lead into whole new areas, or come back to a locked door you’d forgotten about and find yet another winding area. Dark Souls, I always said was the bastard child of Zelda 2 and Symphony of the Night, and the area design in this one makes it even more evident.

But something else I’m finding that’s not got me thrilled is the lack of direction. I’m continually lost in where to go. I finish an area and just have no idea where to go next. It’s just a dead end. Being obtuse in the plotline or some aspect of what to do is ok and being open ended and less linear is fine, but this game REALLY lacks a sense of direction. You have to just randomly prod around places you’ve been to in order to progress in some cases. Dark Souls 1 never gave me that problem. If I couldn’t progress in that game it was because the enemies were kicking my ass, not because I didn’t know where to fucking GO next. I’ve spent hours so far wondering around before finding out what to do or who to talk to. One of the greatest strengths of Dark Souls 1 was how tightly designed its environment was and how everything fit together amazingly. DS2’s world is so HUGE as to be ungainly (at least for now, while I’m new) and all the warp points and locales blend together. I was never once lost for direction in Dark Souls 1. In this regard DS2 combines Demon’s Souls warp-oriented travel and Dark Souls 1’s interconnected world and it comes of as worse than just one or the either.

Dark Souls 2 is a game that shows its original director is no longer on board as it cribs directly and nearly equally in its design choices from both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, and not always for the better. However, the game was very well funded and prepared for so the result is a very polished effort that plays less like a “best-of” and more like a “second helping” of the good stuff in the previous two games. Some design choices seem glaringly “safe” as if they were afraid to upset a rabid fanbase. Others seem like cameo additions more than series traditions, if that makes sense. But, of course, I’m enjoying myself immensely. This might be a case of “too hard to get it wrong” but I’m ok with that. Now, by the time Dark Souls 5 is out and we’re still seeing all of these things, don’t expect me to come to the same conclusion.

I’m not done with the game, but I guess that’s my current opinion.

“We’re in America. Work harder; make less money.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26560262

In an MMO, you have to be willing to engage with the game systems to see the world. You can’t just wander around looking at stuff. And, quiet honestly, as pretty as it all is, that won’t keep you playing.

I loved FFXI’s beautiful vistas, and I loved FFXIV’s almost as much–but they’re not real and there simply aren’t that many to see. MMOs, even the largest, are still very small (and with access restricted by level). That’s not enough to keep up a game with a monthly subscription cost, esp. given the time investments required to get access to the things one wants to see.

My XI friend stopped playing it years ago, yet lingered on with WoW for some time. His biggest complain was commonly that XI turned into a waiting game for finding a party to tackle dungeons, which he said wasn’t an issue with WoW. Most recently he’s become disenchanted with MMOs in general, having also given XIV a quick try only to say that it had too many of XI’s social-emphasis trappings.

To my stance about RPGs and a general love of the worlds from inside the game, that approach -has- backfired many, many times with titles like White Knight Chronicles. Perhaps XIV would be a similar experience. Beautiful to behold, but ultimately unlikely to hold my interest.

Square says they’re pretty dedicated to upkeeping XIV. But then, Square says a lot of things that aren’t true in the long term. Or even short term, really.

Blizzard is perfectly willing to throw the entire game system out and start over to make it modern. The Final Fantasy XI system in place today is exactly the same as that in place at launch. XP has been boosted, but it still lags behind. The game remains hopelessly arcane and impenetrable to anyone who hasn’t got a lot of friends in-game and an encyclopaedia to hand. Even finding quests requires foreknowledge, let alone trying to complete them without directions or maps. Using abilities effectively–any ability–requires the creation of macros. Per ability. Which are not stored on the server. And this requires a knowledge of the macro language. It’s all terribly, terribly unintuitive.

By comparison, Vanilla WoW is not in any way the same game as WoW today. Literally nothing is the same. The entire world has been rebuilt. The old quests themselves are gone. When I say Blizzard are willing to update their game, I mean that they are willing to build a new game every couple of years. FFXI, on the other hand, has largely made updates on the order of ‘you can level up more quickly’. Compare this to Pet Battles, PvP zones, Raid Finder, Flex-Raid, Dungeon Finder, Scenarios, Halfhill, and so on– there really isn’t a comparison there.

I’m sure that people who play and are in love with FFXI think that the changes are significant. And sure, if all you experience is FFXI, any changes would feel significant. But when you have a somewhat broader view of MMOs, then you see what ‘significant’ changes actually look like. IT was an insular mindset which did for the launch of FFXIV, and it is something they addressed with the relaunch.

The concern I have is that they still seem unwilling to be entirely willing to make *huge* changes, and that they are becoming increasingly so over time. Once FFXIV ossifies and becomes something which they are reluctant to really update, it’s done for. It will become the next FFXI–a game with a tiny population, effectively in a ‘maintenance’ mode.

Part of why I look at WoW with no interest is it’s art direction. It’s not bad. It’s simply not to my liking. XIV, by comparison, is vivid, lively, and full of those little environmental details that JRPG lovers like ourselves take notice of. So in answer: I would not be playing the game with a deep interest in the mechanics (though good mechanics would certainly make the experience a longer-term engagement), I’d be doing so to admire the world craft.

You do make very valid points about Blizzard’s dedication to making WoW a dedicated, long-term effort, but from what I understand XI did a fairly good job of catering to it’s players in a similar fashion up until recently.

The ultimate problem is as it is with all MMOs: Are you willing to accept a game whose premise is simply to get gear for the purpose of getting better gear until you have the best gear–at which point, you must wait for an update when still better gear will be added?

WoW is a good, solid, dependable, and constantly-updated game. You can play it on anything. And you can rest assured that it will never lag far behind the times. Blizzard is serious about keeping it competitive and they constantly tinker with it to make sure that no other MMO steals a march on them. It has a lot of stuff beyond the basic PvE gear-grind: there’s PvP Combat and Pet Battles, so players can get the best gear and then fight against other human beings, which gives one an ever-changing target whilst waiting for content updates. If you don’t like PvP (like me), then this isn’t going to interest you.

FFXIV is made by a company with a notorious habit of never changing anything. At the present, it compares semi-favourably, but my concern with its long-term feasibility has to do with SE’s reluctance to change things down the road. I can’t imagine them ever implementing the kinds of changes that Blizzard has done to WoW. And consequently, one wonders how competitive FFXIV will be in a few years’ time.

Sheesh, you people are almost as bad as my staff members!