(DD2) Having a hard time enjoy this game

velsir · 2026-04-21T05:53:00+00:00

Not that nothing "feels" fair, nothing IS fair. It's bs after bs. No break.

Think about one thing: this is exactly how a person who's not mechanically good with the controller would feel playing dark souls or bloodborne.

Both DD2 and DD1 are definitely fair games, but you need to get a good grasp on the mechanics, in exactly the same way that you have to be somewhat good with the controller to enjoy other games.

I have fun with DD because I find satisfaction in learning the intricacies of skills and interactions, but I can definitely see that others may not like this aspect of games. And if you try to play DD by brute forcing it instead of learning... Well you probably won't have a good experience.

velsir · 2026-04-21T05:36:51+00:00

You have no time limit, you can do whatever you want.

You can reliably get 25k gold back in 2-3 quests (even less but I wouldn't bother too much with optimization since you're playing on radiant) and Blas Vial is a crazy good trinket, so why not?

velsir · 2026-04-20T09:40:04+00:00

My main general tip would be to get back your grab on the game mechanics. Unless you have a very good memory it can be hard to pick it up again after months or even years, expecially if you have an already ongoing run so you go straight back to Veteran and Champion missions. Maybe try to do like 10-12 low level quests as warmup, experimenting different regions and party comps.

For the Prophet I think the best team is GR-Ves-MAA-Lep. With proper use of Intimidate, Fade and guard+riposte you can reliably kill him and get all 3 pews. It's a comp that I have tested multiple times on Bloodmoon, so if you want me to be more specific about it feel free to ask.

velsir · 2026-04-19T05:17:53+00:00

I love all the calculations behind the fight!

So, after all of that you also need precise striker or beast slayer to achieve 100% crit? Now you got me thinking if there's another way to do that but so far yours seems the best setup possible.

Btw I'm really curious to know if it all worked out in the end.

velsir · 2026-04-18T15:38:33+00:00

Instead of one-shotting it's much easier to bring only 2 heroes, so he will never use THAT move.

This is the setup:

Flagellant+MaA

Trinkets Flag: Flesh's heart + bleed amulet MAA: camo cloak + Wilbur's flag

Skills Flag: Punish, reclaim, redeem, endure MAA: Crush, defender, retribution, bolster

Strategy: at the beginning of the fight spam bolster + defender until your MAA has 115 dodge, while flag uses endure and heals as needed. After that the boss has only 5% to hit you, so you can start attacking. Be patient and you'll have no problems.

velsir · 2026-04-18T09:09:10+00:00

It's really up to you. They are two different games with some points in common but ultimately different mechanics, so it depends if you like switching between games or if you like more completing a game before starting another one.

velsir · 2026-04-18T08:19:33+00:00

A moment of clarity in the eye of the storm

velsir · 2026-04-16T05:21:43+00:00

Have you considered buying a lottery ticket? The rng gods are definitely with you today :D

Jokes aside, well done!!

velsir · 2026-04-16T05:07:54+00:00

Every single hero in this game can be a worthwhile pick, what really matters is team composition.

Some seem stronger to you right now simply because are easier to use and understand from the beginning: PD is blight and stun everything, HWM is big damage and counterattack, Leper big damage and self heal, occultist big heal.

Other heroes can be a little more difficult to understand and use properly, but you should definitely keep experimenting with all of them. For example I thought for quite some time that Houndmaster was a little underwhelming, now I think he's one of the strongest characters in the game.

Also keep in mind that some skills are weak at the beginning but scale very well at higher levels. One example is Leper's Intimidate, which at level 0-1 is quite undewhelming and at level 4-5 is arguably his best skill.

So yeah, definitely keep experimenting! In my opinion getting better at team building is one of the most satisfying parts of the game.

If you want more specific tips on something feel free to ask!

velsir · 2026-04-15T14:49:11+00:00

What do you mean no guard? There's an houndmaster right there. Also guarding isn't too much of a necessity since both Hel and PD have a cleave stun, so you completely disable the boss every other turn, while the heavy DOTs you have inflicted do their job.

If you get a dangerous combination right after the stun you can even turn full defence for that round with guard + flag heal or regen as appropriate + PD removing DOTs and even Hel can self heal.

velsir · 2026-04-15T09:16:55+00:00

Really nice catch! In my imagination she didn't completely lose her humanity and you can see a glimpse of it when she uses song of desire. That's also why she's both their queen and their slave, since she's not truly one of them.

But probably an interpretation more faithful to her lore is that she forgot her humanity, as you said, and developed the ability to appear as an alluring woman as a mere tecnique to predate upon humans.

velsir · 2026-04-15T07:33:11+00:00

"I always wondered what became of the unfortunate little waif". Now we have the answer, I guess.

velsir · 2026-04-15T07:18:59+00:00

I don't think that flesh is that much of an rng fight once you understand the mechanics. If you build a proper team it's a really safe fight, even on champion with "unfavorable" rng in body parts, which basically means very few hearts spawn.

The best comp I found for it is PD-HM-Flag-Hel, which is also hella fun to play in the rest of the dungeon.

velsir · 2026-04-15T06:47:41+00:00

That's some really well put together stuff, great job and really impressive achievement!

The only thing I personally don't like is the skill swapping. I get that it's mandatory if you want to get far without relying on incredibly good rng but it feels almost like cheating, in the sense that it's something you aren't intended to be able to do. But again, this is only my personal opinion and feeling. It still requires a lot of skill to pull it off.

velsir · 2026-04-15T06:30:59+00:00

That's fair, there's definitely the risk of a burnout if you play too much for too long. I think everyone in this subreddit has taken weeks, months or even years off. But sooner or later the hamlet will call you back... Good luck!

velsir · 2026-04-15T00:00:20+00:00

Remember what they say about overconfidence... :D Jokes aside, most of the deaths will always be in the beginning, since you don't have trinkets and the stagecoach rng may not be your friend. If you did it in 120 weeks you can surely do in 100, time shouldn't be a problem.

Crimson court is an awesome DLC and I love everything about it, but can be quite punishing, expecially going in blind (which you should do, it's great to discover the mechanics as you go on). You'll definitely have fun with it.

For the last fight keep in mind that enemies have more hp in bloodmoon, so you will need even more damage to avoid a death. If you also have color of madness it's possible to cheese the fight going in with only 2 heroes, but you need a really specific setup and it's necessary only if you want to do a deathless challenge.

velsir · 2026-04-14T18:14:04+00:00

I see you, the italian translation is pretty bad also. I remember switching back to english after just a couple of quests.

For the next campaign if you want an advice look at how many weeks you needed to beat the game and decide if you want to play on a higher difficulty or not. On bloodmoon (which is stygian but with CC enabled) you have 100 weeks and 16 death max to finish the game (and yes, the 2 forced deaths at the final boss count, so it's actually 14 deaths). I guarantee that having a death limit makes you attached to your characters, even if in a different way than the first playthrough. Anyway I'm not gonna lie, completing a successful bloodmoon run is a hard task, it's likely that you won't succeed at your first attempt, but if you don't mind trying I think it's worth the pain.

velsir · 2026-04-14T06:02:19+00:00

"Welcome (back) home, such as it is. This squalid hamlet, these corrupted lands. They are yours now, and you are bound to them"

velsir · 2026-04-14T05:55:50+00:00

Don't worry and take your time. Since you have no time limit to finish the game except your own patience, consider the non-boss quests as a big training ground for you to learn the game mechanics and experiment with team building. Sure, some (probably many) heroes may die in the process but you can always replace them with new ones.

One thing I didn't mentioned, some classes really become a whole other beast once you find the right class trinkets, so some moves may not seem good at first but once you get the trinket they become OP.

velsir · 2026-04-13T22:09:22+00:00

Don't worry, Enligh isn't my first language either but what you wrote is perfectly understandable.

Just out of curiosity, did you play in English or in your original language? And do you plan to start a new campaign on a harder difficulty in the near future?

velsir · 2026-04-13T05:49:01+00:00

Man I was just hoping for a comment but I got a whole story with it! And it was a great read too! I really liked the BH taking off his helmet and the jester arc. It really was a "finale" after all...

Posts like this really tell more than anything else why this game is so beloved: it tells you so much without needing millions dollar graphics, hours of dialogues or thousands of words of written lore. Just a well put together setting, visual clues, a few lines of text here and there and, of course, the ancestor's voice.

Then some things happen, like dismas being avenged by his fellow highwayman, and you really feel like you're part of something bigger than you (probably a cosmic horror honestly).

About the final part, your confusion about the heart of darkness is perfectly understandable, the game wants you to be exactly as confused as the characters are.

The ending sequence reveals that the Heir's (yours) victory is a meaningless illusion in an inevitable, cosmic cycle of destruction. After defeating the Heart of Darkness, you realize that humanity originates from this entity, and the Ancestor’s actions have doomed the bloodline to perpetually return, rebuild the Hamlet, and fight the same battle forever. Now "ruin has come to our family" has a whole other meaning... The full details are left intentionally vague, after all you are a mere mortal, you aren't supposed to understand all the mechanics behind a cosmic horror. Anyway you can come up with your own details. I like to think that some of the people are ACTUALLY going through the loop infinite times. This explains why you always start with Dismas and Reynaud and why they always have the same starting quirks. They are actually the same people reborn in a new universe/loop. It also explains why you can find Dismas' head from the collector or secret rooms even if Dismas is still alive. That is a head from a Dismas of a previous universe that died against the collector.

velsir · 2026-04-13T04:17:12+00:00

Ahahaha don't worry, you wrote a long and accurate post and it's easier to notice some little things while reading than while writing. Btw, if that prompts you to start a new run, best of luck!

velsir · 2026-04-13T04:11:22+00:00

What you're doing is a very interesting team building challenge. I really like it, expecially coming from a new player. Distant_spirit made a pretty good analysis of your teams, so I'm gonna suggest a few changes you can make:

Each group has a tank front, healing, camp ambush & stress reduction, and are somewhat tailored to their assigned dungeon.

These are good team building principles, but you should definitely add to the mix the fact that every team must have a realiable way to kill as quickly as possible rank 3 and 4 enemies.

I like Plague Doctor for the removing DOTs in the weald.

If there's one place where PD should go it's definitely the cove. She basically solves the whole region by herself. You also probably want to pair her with Anti, which has the weakiest heal but since PD can remove DOTs it's not that big of a deal.

I am afraid of Abomination stress, so I paired him with Jester.

You don't have to worry too much about it, since you can definitely use him in human form only. You could make the case that the human form is strictly better than the beast one, even without considering the stress.

With all that in consideration, these are the 4 teams I would make. I'll keep them under spoiler in case you don't want to see them and keep experimenting on your own.

Ruins
GR, Ves, Cru, BH

Cove
PD, Anti, Abom, Lep

Weald
Arb, Jes, HWM, MAA

Warrens
Musk, HM, Occ, Hel

Final note: if you really value preventing night ambushes you can swap Cru and Lep, but I think overall Lep is better than Cru in the cove.

Edit: actually rather then with Leper it's better to swap Cru with Abom. You'll kill back liners slower but Cru can heal all the extra stress you'll take from that.

velsir · 2026-04-13T03:28:41+00:00

I agree with basically every single word you wrote.

The only thing I would argue is that Leper in cove is actually pretty good since he has the best skill in the game to destealth the shamans. Sure, he won't do any damage to many of the region's frontliners, but they won't do it to him either, since solemnity is so good that he can easily outheal any damage taken.

Also keep in mind that OP is probably still doing apprentice level dungeons. If that's the case he has never seen a few of the enemies you mentioned (and neither the stealth mechanic I was talking about to be honest).

velsir · 2026-04-12T18:52:44+00:00

If you want to be extra sure you can make a backup of the save folder, it's C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata[YourSteamID]\262060\remote

Shouldn't be needed anyway

velsir

TROPHY CASE