So I made a STR build on my first DS1 playthrough. The magic was too confusing too me, and I found the Zwei pretty fast. That combined with Artorias’ greatshield made things a lot easier and managable. That shield saved my butt so many times. It’s also the only thing I found that could stop Smough’s hammer attacks without killing me.
I had to use a buckler for the Gwynn fight though, just so I could actually party him to beat him.
How did you kill that undead reptile thing? Cause I quit the game ever since I kept on walking 10 mins just to get destroyed by it wt 1 hit. 
I do not recall an undead reptile with an overly long approach, would you mind specifying where you are?
It’s initially on a bridge you can only pass wt a special item. After that skeleton boss.
There’s a bonfire right there man, it’s like a 10 second walk down the stairs. It did not one hit kill me and while it certainly took me a good number of tries, I killed it pretty much the same way you kill anything else. Try to avoid it’s attacks and identify openings where you can safely strike.
It is a tough one though and I was told later the idea is that you should actually just leg it and get past the barrier and fight it later on in another location.
No no no, that’s exactly the mistake I made. I ran past it and now it takes like 10 minutes to get there from the closest bonfire…
Ok I do not know exactly where it is if you run past it, but I’m guessing it’s in the watery swamp under the bridge and if it takes you 10m to get there then I’m assuming you’re going from the bonfire in the church. I don’t know if it prevents you from doing so, but if you can walk past it there is a bonfire on the other side of the swamp, down a short flight of stairs. That one should give you a very short retry path.
chances are u cant access that second bonfire except after killing that boss too though
Yeah, that’s it afaik 
I can’t run past it without getting eaten and the walk/fight from the church to the swamp is just too damn long to practice the battle 
It’s not really a boss though, so depending on it’s location I would say there’s a pretty decent chance you can sneak by it if you keep to the left side of the area. But if it isn’t holding up in the niche I’m thinking of but actually in the main area directly under the bridge in question then you might be boned.
Maybe it’s possible to dodge it well enough to disengage on the other side.
@anon63424221 Or if you want to I’d be happy to co-op it with you, get you past it so you can continue the game and find something new to get stuck on.
You get to fight 2 of them at the same time later on, if you find an optional little area.
Yeah it appears shortly before you can reach that first “island” in the swamp, sooo yeah, great fucking spot to place it devs, signals fuck off furiously
Besides that I found DS3 to be a lot fairer than DS2.
the sequel
I didn’t intend to go straight into Dark Souls 2 SotFS, but damn, the Souls gameplay is addictive. Don’t know how I put off Dark Souls for so long after Demon’s Souls. And since my brother had SotFS just lying around I’m going to indulge myself!
Looking at my Dark Souls build it appears that I essentially wasted my time putting points into faith, as aside from the occasional Great Magic Barrier, I only really used Heal which meant I used less Estus at the start of the game until I realised that a) It’s there to be used, and b) Estus heal is faster than Heal miracle. So, tempted by a Str/Int spellsword type build for DS2, but don’t really want to feel that I cheated the game so will probably just go pure Strength.
Any advice on builds or things I should know? I suppose that I regard ranged chipping as ruining the experience somewhat and did Dark Souls with no ranged weaponry or spells…whilst I feel a little sad I missed out on spell fun I believe I had the full fat Souls experience finishing it that way. Have also read that the DLC really punishes magic so that scares me away too.
Any build guide that’s a good framework to go from?
(been busy…forum time in sporadic spurts!)
Well, don’t know who will help you here as Fraggles hasn’t played this one, but I do think I once read somewhere that the only thing you really need to master DS is to git gud, though I don’t know what that means, it must be DS insider talk.
I feel my face starting to fall apart…
Edit - First challenge is getting into the game! Outer card case is shrinkwrapped, then difficult to open, then inner PS3 case is shrinkwrapped…thank heavens the DLC expiry is in 2020! 
Start by getting your adaptability (which is the most efficient way to get more agility) to at least 20-30 to make rolls and actions in general feel more like they did in DS1. Attunement also affects agility to a lesser extent, so if you go for a spellsword type (there are a couple of really fun spells and spell weapons in DS2, but the DLCs are indeed HEAVILY stacked against magic) you should find a balance between adaptability and attunement. There’s now also an option between pure intelligence and pure faith: hexes (and pyromancy)!
I remember strength builds being pretty strong in DS2, although ultra heavy weapons handle a bit differently than they did in DS1 (you can aim your swings even when you’re locked to an enemy). Dual wielding was improved from DS1, so you might want to give that a try too.
Also more quick swap slots this time around. For example on my paladin build I had in one hand a greatsword, longsword and a dagger and in the other a shield, a crossbow and a chime. That was a nice toolkit to have.
SotFS made the game a gankfest (even more than it originally was) in some parts, so be prepared to face hordes of enemies at once. Good luck!
I have indeed not played DS2, nor DS1 for that matter. But I know of one rather radical change in DS2 that you should probably be aware of as it probably will change how you play the game. Your estus charges are going to be greatly limited but they added lifegems to the game which are cheap, fast to use but heals over time and I think you can buy an endless supply of them. DS2 as far as I’m aware is a lot less focused on perfection and allows for far more lose and risky play.
Someone who’ve actually played the game feel free to c/d.
The Gargoyles on that Church come to mind -.-
Fucking hateeeeee this game now.
DS2 feels very loose and linear compared to DS3 imho. Exploring isn’t nearly as exciting, many enemies are extremely difficult to fight simply for the sake of annoying the shit out of you (e.g. Flame Lizard or Suicide bombers who don’t actually die from suicide bombing [wtf FROM]).
The game also has been designed to kill you on many occassions, no matter how careful you might be simply to stress the player out on how “difficult” the game is. The fights feel less responsive than in DS3, too. Then as @nassi mentioned, so many places where the game simply fks you by throwing a dozen enemies at you.
I love DS3 (till that reptile I can’t beat), DS2 is mediocre at best (can’t be picky if there are only 3 souls games on PC)
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