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[Nillo]

If you decide to go through the graveyard first and complete the area on the other side, there's actually a really good reward waiting for you over there. It's a legit strategy, but it's probably too hard to pull it off if you're not already familiar with the level.

[Raptor85]

well, the funny part is if you're good enough to get the "reward" early you're most likely the kind of player who would never bother using it. You can't get much farther in the area than that as well due to one of the walls that you can't pass through without the lordvessel being placed down there.  I only really bother with it if I'm doing a gravelord sword run (rush gl covenent for the sword then use it all game)

My normal route though the game
Quelaag
Ceaseless (i do these two without bonfire so i can quick warp to firelink after)
gargoyles
(butterfly if non-pvp build)
sif
(kappa and gaping here if going iaito build route)
golem
O&S
(Gwyndolin if doing a faith/buff build)
(dlc bosses/asylum revisit here if doing 100%)
4kings (or, more accurately, 3-5kings)
pinwheel
nito
seath
(firesage/centipede if not saving solare or going pyromancer route)
troll of chaos
gwyn

i never fight priscilla, done it for the tail cut/trophy on one character and felt like a bastard even for that, but i'll normally go loot painted world just before 4k.  I find my normal route here to be a LOT faster and more fun than the normal "intended" route, as it lets you level up and get early weapon upgrades

[s0]

i try to mix up my route a little each playthrough. keeps things fresh. dks1 is still king of replay value in this series.

[Raptor85]

my build I'm going for generally determines my route, that's why there's so many branches i listed :D

a few fun things to try if you havent are "ceaseless skip" where you use the islands to get to firesage without killing ceaseless, skipping pinwheel like the chump he is, and of course the good ol "seath skip" where you skip the whole prison segment entirely by skipping the unwinnable fight with seath.

Honestly darksouls 1 just never gets old to me, nor does demon souls and i have to say bloodbourne i'm getting there too as different as it is (i LOVE the "twist" later in the game of what the enemies are, but then i'm a huge lovecraft fan) those three are just pure fun every time i play them. Never much got into dark souls 2 after beating it though, game got boring really fast.

[s0]

playing bloodborne made me realize what dks2 did wrong. already said this many times itt, but i can't even bring myself to play scholar of the first sin. im only at no man's wharf.

anyway i haven't heard of the seath skip, looks like im out of the loop 

will try on my current save

[Raptor85]

seath skip is actually one of the older tricks speedrunners of the game use, it's a little tricky, but once you get the timing down you can pretty well do it every time. The basic idea is you send the elevator back down, quickly roll onto the railing of the elevator as it's going down then jump across to the upper area of the archives as it's going down, it pretty much takes you right to the second staircase which you just turn and leave for the crystal caves. Personally i can do it about 1/3 of the time, but if you're fast you can quickly exit out and try again at least.

And yeah, even though the combat/pacing and setting are vastly different, bloodbourne FELT more like a souls game than dark souls 2, the level design in bloodbourne is FANTASTIC and it all flows together so well, and each boss is just so unique and exciting, it just all flows so well.  But i think what really makes it is the massive enemy variety, it's not just shitloads of dudes in armor everywhere, and I LOVE how the kidnappers come out after dark and if you get caught you can visit the unseen earlier in the game, and after the blood moon the whole game, including previous areas, changes dramatically

[s0]

i would say dks2 kinda lacks a clear direction. it's kitchen sink souls. bborne by contrast is a smart reworking of the souls formula that plays to the series' strengths. i'm pumped for the dlc. hope they finally *officially* announce it at TGS this month.

[s0]

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/09/08/dark-souls-iii-mages-getting-an-mp-bar/

btw, dks3 will have a MP bar like demon's souls. DISCUSS.

[Nillo]

Excellent, I always loved going AFK for 3 minutes after each fight to restore my mana.

[DJFloppyFish]

Sounds like they're making some very smart refinements. I hope the MP bar recovers quicker than it did in DeS though, I'd like to see it function more like a stamina bar that regens at 1/4 the speed.

I like what Miyazaki had to say in the game informer interview. The guy clearly gets what works and why, and it's very encouraging to see. I suspect based on his statements about illusory walls we'll be seeing some crazy hidden areas again.

[s0]

Sounds like they're making some very smart refinements. I hope the MP bar recovers quicker than it did in DeS though, I'd like to see it function more like a stamina bar that regens at 1/4 the speed.

i hope there's no way to recover it at all other than bonfires [sinister dark souls npc laugh]

maybe there'll still be limited castings and theyre just reintroducing the separate "spell stamina bar" from kings field. otherwise i cant see this working if they just let you spam infinite aoe spells and shit like that.

[DJFloppyFish]

Infinite may not be so bad if the cooldown between uses is extreme enough... then again that might make playing a pure magic build kinda shitty. idk, it's certainly tricky but I wasn't a huge fan of how DeS magic worked.

EDIT: I do seem to recall miyazaki confirming a similar system to weapon arts would be in place for magic. maybe the super powerful stuff will be tied to that somehow?

[s0]

well i guess bringing magic closer to melee is a good idea, seeing as how magic was always mechanically kind of boring, especially in pve. i mean it's good as a supplement to melee, but i haven't played a build that relies primarily on magic in a souls game in a loooong time.

also i hope consumbles will be streamlined in a manner similar to bborne. the idea to make throwing knives and etc scale with stats was great. also reduce consumables to what is actually useful and regularly usable and get rid of "rare" consumables like divine blessings and shit like that.

[s0]

WELL WELL WELL

[FK in the Coffee]

WELL WELL WELL

Audio mixing might be a bit shoddy but WHOA FUCK this is spectacular

Just have to finish the main game now DD:

[s0]

SPECULAYSHUNS: theyre going to introduce more time phases and more changes to the game world as time time progresses. one of the new areas shown is the be the hemwick coastline. it could also be a prequel/time travel dlc just like artorias of the abyss (u know, with that title and all).

also the mansion level already looks super rad. as great as the level design in bborne is, it was kinda lacking in cool interiors imo (other than cainhurst, nightmare of mensis and upper cathedral ward).

[DJFloppyFish]

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015/09/15/bloodborne-expansion-the-old-hunters-launches-on-24th-november/

ludwig boss confirmed, past hunters are trapped in this new location somehow

SO MUCH HYPE

[s0]

oh so we're going to explore the nightmare worlds more. that makes sense too. 

also lol how this basically AotA: bborne edition

[FK in the Coffee]

I just really want more Byrgenwerth tbh

The in-game place was so much more underwhelming than the lore hyped it up to be.

[s0]

the lecture building used to be part of byrgenwerth before it got sucked into the nightmare. the "balcony" willem is sitting on is actually a broken bridge.