In anticipation for Bloodborne I fired up Dark Souls 2 and decided to jump into New Game Plus. I had no idea this game had Falconers in it. I immediately found out.

I also found out about the increased damage. While my build was still capable of dealing substantial damage my character was no longer capable of taking it. I would go down easy, much easier than I expected. But that is ok, it challenged me to take my build into a different route. I decided to focus more on defense this time around since offense was pretty well sorted at this point.

So I started pumping souls into my intelligence in order to use some more spells for protection and long range battle. The bow I have is good, but pales in comparison to the Lightening Spear. Or maybe I just need a new bow. The added benefit is the added INT also increases the damage of my flame sword so that’s just free damage as far as I’m concerned.

Once I got the hang of things again and became re-acclimated with Drangleic I pressed forward and met a lot of red NPC phantoms, some tougher than others. I’m not too proud to say my ass was handed to me a few times but soon I was able to turn the tables. These guys were a surprise to me, I’ve read nothing on the New Game Plus modes as I wanted to go in blind and just experience the changes first hand.

My biggest surprise so far are the boss fights. Now that I’ve beaten them once and know the patterns they are proving to be much, much easier. Granted my build is leveled quite a bit higher than when I faced them in New Game, but I was expecting more or a challenge. The Last Giant, Dragon Rider, Old Dragonslayer and Ruin Sentinels all fell in the first encounter. Only Pursuer put up a fight and actually killed me. But on the third try after I remembered his patterns I beat him with taking no damage.

But I’m still having fun and feel challenged. I think that because I’m having an easier time, I’m on edge thinking that the developer almost wants me to fall into a false sense of security only to bash my head in at any moment.

Well Bloodborne comes out tomorrow and then the re-release of Dark Souls 2 on PS4 so that means I may have to wait even longer until I delve further into New Game Plus. Oh well, it will be a trip worth waiting for I’m sure.