General Dark Souls

@toxicitzi  
Yep.

Gael. please.
 

I don’t know how much more I can take of that phase 3. this is the worst boss in the entire DLC, even Church of the Spear as pathetic as it was, wasn’t this soul crushingly luck based.
 
There is no pattern on this guy in phase 3, he just does whatever the fuck he wants, when he wants it, including attacking while he should be recovering from his long streaks of combos. I died more than a few times with over 8 estus flasks, all because phase 3 is a nightmare and he just doesn’t stop, one time I died with 12 and that’s the maximum number I carry along the 3 ashen flasks.

Stupid red jelly bean preventing me from getting into Ihyll

 

 
I want this image on my gravestone, with the caption, “He died as he lived”.

@toxicitzi  
Poison helped me.
 
@QuasarNova  
Sound about right.

@Meanlucario  
it doesn’t matter. That poison is the equivalent of maybe 3 hits for the duration of the whole entire fight, even when I apply it consistently, which is time I would much rather use either staying alive, taking another hit at him, or healing, because in this kind of fight, every moment counts.

@toxicitzi
 
Screaming and ganked

@QuasarNova  
Here lies King Deprived, the king of fools.

@toxicitzi  
“Abyssal enemy, therefore weak to Farron Greatsword and Wolf Knight’s Greatsword.  
During whole fight, Gael is weak to Strike Damage, Frostbite and Poison/Toxic.”

@Meanlucario  
I think I could try those other weapons, now that I have dex almost as high as my str.

@toxicitzi  
I used the Executioner’s Greatsword and poison coating to beat him on my first try.

CHALICE DUNGEONS ARE BULLSHIT

@QuasarNova  
It’s mostly because things have too much hp, in my opinion.

@Meanlucario
 
I don’t mind that
 
What I think it’s bullshit is the way you have to grind to get items for the next part of the grinding!
 
I HAVE TO GRIND SO I CAN GRIND

@QuasarNova  
Yeah.. there really is no point to that and not to mention, don’t some final materials unlock at ng+?

@toxicitzi  
I may have worded this all wrong, I meant unlocked as in, at the small hat messenger dudes’ pool, so you only farm souls easily in a lorian depths 4 or 5 and get it asap.
 

 

 
^{[side note, that 975 damage, that’s from 3 R1 swings with that sword]}
 
 
also. Gael is finally down.  
I’m just gonna share some thoughts, because I’m done ranting.
 
for starters, the health bar.
 
Table list of all bosses  
Slave Knight Gael: 14,985 / 15,037 hp (NG)  
Darkeater Midir: 15,860 hp (NG)
 
This is about what people said about Midir having the largest health bar, it’s simply wrong, they both have identical health.
 
Now the thing is, from what I can see Gael has no meaningful weakness, not in the sense of Midir has hitting him in the head dealing full damage, which every hit you hit in his head, makes the fight go twice as fast as every hit you score on Gael, or even opening up a visceral attack which Gael has none of (even Nameless King has this), something that is admittedly rare, his 50% damage reduction is Absolute, no matter what weapon you use or where you hit.
 
I’m not saying Midir is an amazing boss fight, but flawed as it is, I for one prefer it better to the mess that is phase 3 of Gael’s fight and the lack luster phases 1 and 2. Gael is just a long ass fight, against a very long and very slowly draining health pool, something consistent across the board, everyone takes a long time shaving off that huge health bar, but the same thing people have said the same of Midir, yet that only applies to Midir? because like I said, You can do full damage, have visceral openings, which does, MASSIVE Damage and you can also use any weapon’s arts or other forms of very heavy and slow weapons after Midir’s attacks, so doing little damage and taking a long time to shave off Midir’s Bloated health bar, is actually not entirely consistent across the board, he has meaningful weakness and chances for cutting a huge portion of his fight.
 
To me, this kind of discussion about shitting constantly on Midir and praising the hell out of Gael, it feels like comparing apples and oranges, I think it’s more about preference.
 
 
on the other hand, like I said before, people like Gael because he is about adjusting to the boss itself to the most extreme possible degree this franchise can get. There’s no way to make his fight easier in any meaningful way, you just have to do it, or you don’t.  
I can understand that, it’s in a way similar to Orphan or any of the og DLC bosses, just any other DLC bosses in general, Artorias, Manus, Kalameet and Sanctuary Guardian, but like I said before, this kind of boss feels more like a Bloodborne one thrown in Dark Souls.
 
 
anyway, that’s the end of my NG+ journey.

@QuasarNova  
If you really need Red Jelly, rob an abortion clinic.
 
@toxicitzi  
The level 5 of the blood and mold, yes.

@toxicitzi
 
I still need to open the dungeon to access the jelly. And it’s not in the normal bath, it’s on the insight one
 
Which means a different type of grinding
 
 
@Meanlucario
 
I’m getting my coat hanger

@QuasarNova  
oof. yeah, I see what you mean now.
 
that is still fucking stupid though. They could have made it so you only had to do it once as a way to unlock those tombs, each tombstone for one type, phumerian, hintertomb, lorian, isz, etc, so you would only need to find these things once to unlock the tombstone and then unlock the depths as you clear the dungeon, that way Zero grinding is required and you can just reset the dungeons after completing them again, in order to do some Root challenge ones, so you can grind for the things you ACTUALLY want, the Gemstones and the runes.
 
having said all that, I just realized how reminiscent that entire process is to fucking Warframe’s grinding.. it’s almost the same, you grind mats, so you can open something once, to get a Chance to grind for something else.

@toxicitzi
 
It’s like fromsoft wanted people to avoid pvp or something

I don’t find Dark Souls 2 that difficult at all so far. Maybe later it will but by that point better equipment and more knowledge/experience of the game makes it more manageable.

@QuasarNova  
well, there is one PvP part in it, but I think just as much addition to PvE is cut as PvP one, because those gems help in either of these cases.
 
not to mention, the PvE part of the chalice dungeons too? you know, bosses, as well as unseen unique bosses from the main game and DLC. :p
 
@Josh103  
Dude.. this is probably gonna sound a bit stupid of me to say but, I thought these posts you were writing were by Darklord Yuri, since he’s our local DS2 player and fan. I just stopped to think about it now, why you were saying stuff as though you haven’t finished DS2.. ^^
 
glad to hear that you’re doing well mate, I went in DS2 right after finishing DS1, with the mindset of rolling and hitting, but I was a lot more of a noob as well back then.  
Maybe someday I’ll return to the DLC, that is the last part of this souls series I haven’t finished, at least in order to finish.

@QuasarNova  
Honestly, I find myself drowning in insight by going through the dungeons.

I had some tries as a phantom on Darkeater Midir. Only 1 was successful and even there, but I don’t feel I did much in that one, maybe around 30-35% of the damage with the riposte at the end.
 
I learned something about co oping at Midir. 50% is in the Dragonslayer Axe/Greataxe, 50% is in ranged attacks, just in case Midir focuses the host.