Dark Souls II by Distortion2 in

[@gamesdonequick]

Runner introduction starts at 00:02 Run starts at 00:40 Jhobz interviews XepiccatX at 2:49:47 Couch commentary is provided by Bawkbasoup, QTTSix and Larxa Sooraya is host.

[@silent9834]

😂

[@distortion2]

Hey guys, Distortion2 here. Hope you enjoy the run and if you'd like to see more of the souls games feel free to come check me out on KZbin or Twitch. I stream almost everyday! Thanks for having me at GDQ :)

[@xvelest]

Distortion2 was so glad to see u finally to a run at GDQ. Solid run even with that technical issues u had. Keep going love ya

[@jamesgreen6211]

Distortion2 hey dude great run, but I don’t recall seeing executioners chariot, is that not part of all bosses?

[@jakdariipa]

@@jamesgreen6211 around 2:05:00

[@ooze5752]

@@jamesgreen6211 2:05:35

[@efholtz]

2022 and here I am! great run mr Dist.

[@Thanatos2996]

Gotta love the surprise Blighttown mode.

[@sparkplug8763]

Blighttown never dies... it just changes form

[@joaomesquita3069]

watching the archive, i wondered what you meant by that. didn't take long to find out lol

[@qwopiretyu]

@@sparkplug8763 now go... let the legend come back to life

[@stompingpeak2043]

This game easily has the worst blighttown. Literally 4 areas filled with poison that acts more like toxic from ds1

[@TheMorrogoth]

This was one of the most entertaining but disastrous runs I've ever watched... Kudos to him for his composure!

[@goldbigeagle6772]

The death at 38:12 was really painful, you can see him swallow his pain with that water bottle, kudos for real for powering through and delivering such a great GDQ

[@CharlotteMimic]

Don't mind me, rewatching old GDQs because they feel safe and cozy

[@swiftlyfat5791]

I ran out of things to binge for quarantine so I’m here with you

[@niconiconii4561]

same here m8

[@Makkvery]

ayeee ditto my friends

[@HEADSHOTPROLOL]

Fucking same bro, I don't mind you, I'm with you my man

[@sterlinggonzalez5229]

Sammmeee

[@Sammy102093]

Having only played SotFS, it feels so weird seeing so many rooms without packs of enemies (especially the statue room in Drangleic)

[@istvanfodor9749]

For speedrunning I can completely understand but I'm so glad I have scholar because the game feels so much more fleshed out

[@injusticeleague461]

@@istvanfodor9749 if you look closely some enemies from the vinilla dark souls 2 are not in scholar some rooms in vinilla version are worse than scholar

[@noobnoob8922]

I can't believe how calm no man's wharf was. And the path leading up to the boss in lost bastille. No invis soldiers in the forest before najka either.

[@briancooley8777]

Vanilla ds2 is ugly as hell

[@briancooley8777]

But it has better character movement

[@mykelmellen2378]

I'm not anti-Any% runs, but runs like these are my favorite. When you're speeding through the game closer to the intended method of design.

[@leonweindinger3364]

any% nmg is always best imo

[@Yawyna124]

Not GDQ without a bug happening for the first time ever!

[@ErichKramer]

playing the whole game with the menu open is like the dark souls of dark souls 2

[@juliamano8900]

TSfish94 true scholar just forced it

[@voidgivenfocus]

@@TSfish94 currently playing scholar and never played the original ds2, what did they change about it besides graphics?

[@rianrichardson4297]

@@voidgivenfocusClassic DS2 has less enemies spawn, different enemies placement, DLC keys already placed in the inventory, no Aldia fight, different items placements. On the contrary, I don't notice any significant changes in graphics.

[@KJ-kn8pg]

@@voidgivenfocus enemy placement, item placement, 1 new boss( aldia scholar of the first sin), better graphics, and more, can't remember. From my casual experience, Scholar is better for normal playthroughs, more fun but for speedruns I guess vanilla is better.

[@joshbooyy9868]

@@rianrichardson4297 @K J im stoked that people think aldia is scholar exclusive. they patched him into vanilla after the release of burnt ivory king dlc, he is in both versions

[@divinesamurai5155]

Distortion2 is the boy. Always fun to watch.

[@Atamosk-bu7zt]

i have to say, that persuer dodge roll to ballista beats out my parry to ballista strat hands down. :3

[@NeThZOR]

@@Atamosk-bu7zt it's an old strat though, nothing new

[@DieEineMieze]

@@Atamosk-bu7zt don't you just cat smiley me without hitting me with that uwu

[@MrPidi86]

*Every 15 mins* Nobody: Frames : My time has come

[@jacoballen5773]

My time has gone*

[@rarehatmd2120]

I thought they were being serious about the difficult boss, then I saw the routing to tower of flame...

[@cheftrinker09]

I never cheesed him Still easy even on babystage

[@studiobluefox]

@@cheftrinker09 I don't think there is a way to beat Dragonrider that wouldn't be cheesing his AI. It's just so dumb that anything you do to Dragonrider ends up exploiting it. Poor bastard can barely turn fast enough to keep up with you if you walk around him.

[@GriziDaWiz]

He is my first boss, just run past all the enemies to him then cheese him, and if you somehow fail just kill him the normal way. He is basically the laughing stock of ds2... or close to it.

[@artius2993]

Same lol

[@seanpmannn]

So happy these come to KZbin after they are done streaming. I realized I was at work during this stream and tried my best to watch it lol

[@wraith.ferron]

Over a year later, and I still think BarkSouls is a hilarious name

[@henryzhang9771]

I immediately figured out what the name means when you said it. Didn’t know it before.

[@Raquya]

Damn, he got better by 26 minutes and is currently Number 2 in the world

[@eddatat]

Wow the random character creation trick: Amazing...oh you just made my day. Super delighted :) :)

[@sev2067]

The Lost Sinner committed what some would believe to be the ultimate sin; attempting to light the First Flame.

[@2401blue]

I think she's probably related to/from Izalith (maybe even a remant of the witch herself), the sin there being the attempt to create an artificial 2nd First Flame!

[@Agos226]

*kills boss in 15 seconds without taking any hits* “Alright bretty good fight”

[@arsenal200789]

Even with the technical issues, it was incredibly fun to watch. Only run I've ever planned ahead to make sure I could watch live.

[@flapadodawhitewoods5670]

This has always been one of my faovorite gdq runs. You can really tell how much this guy loves the game. How much hes dissected and mastered it. It's alot of fun to see him do these pixel perfect tricks.

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

3rd dlc boss:: "casually this boss isnt too bad. But since this is a speed run, we're just gonna fight him invisible" lmao - guy literally wears no armor, doesn't use dex build.. Absolute legend

[@christianstachl]

So, i'm in the middle of DS2 and thought i watch this until he gets to an area which i don't know and then stop. So far, so good. When he got to Heides Tower and got the bonfire i was annoyed...i never knew there was one. I died quite a few times there and always had to get there starting from Majula 😅 Edit: 13:57 aaand i'm out 😄 I was down in the well but didn't get any further so far. Well, great run so far and i'm gonna save this and watch it after beating DS2 😊 Edit: Finally done with the game, great run!

[@cristobaldiaz9696]

the dedication

[@juliamano8900]

I was an idiot and didn’t even know there was a bonfire in majula until my friend said what are you doing

[@robertwallen1582]

That's really rough Julia

[@anddatkat796]

19:08 Distortion: "You can run this game on a toaster" Me, playing the game on a toaster-tier laptop with a stable 30 FPS: **Happiness noises**

[@jadookazam9319]

Yeh i played this game on a 700€ laptop from 2013. It ran so smooth and for that this game holds a special place in my heart.

[@28Pluto]

It's so awesome to see Distortion running at GDQ!! And to see "All Bosses" get some love too!

[@christianolson8543]

Distortion2 is one of the most skilled speedrunners ever. Also a great dude. He does get a little testy at the games during his stream, but that’s because he’s always competitive and challenging himself. It makes for a good entertainment.

[@jakexdilla]

DISTORTION2 LETS GOOOOOOO. This is awesome to see.

[@GabeDoppel]

makes me happy seeing distortion run. he always seems in his element (:

[@koganusan]

really love the humor in this run, great guy

[@jlgamingdudeslair6935]

Everytime they said: "OK, now we're making our way". Me internally: "DOWNTOWN, WALKING FAST ...."

[@Maximus-ke5wm]

Really wish I hadn't read this comment before I started watching.

[@Radicalistco]

I did the same thing the second before I saw this comment. You get a like.

[@jim_tennant]

I was just thinking the same thing! Glad I wasn't....Alonne

[@lucascel5827]

Yes! Every damn time

[@pious83]

As someone who completed Dark Souls 2 on version 1.0, it was super satisfying watching Ancient Dragon die...

[@mazpratim]

Today I learned that you can fight Aldia in vanilla and that Elana can summon pigs

[@elijakiger]

I don't know how I can have 20 runthroughs on DS2 vanilla (roughly 600 hours) and not know that Aldia was on base game

[@Arxae]

They patched it in later for the vanilla game. I believe it was the last patch before scholar launched.

[@Meaverickk]

I believe that the Lost Sinner wanted to recreate the first flame or wanted to relight the first flame or something of that nature and punished herself for that. The door is wide open, but she still remains there to eternally punish herself.

[@thekidwhodraws]

I never considered that the door is open. She’s powerful enough to fight the hollow knights for sure. She really is sitting in there willingly. I love the dark souls trope of “person sitting in one spot forever” like the black smith under the stairs in new Londo. Really sells the idea of a world so horrifying that it compels people to willing reduce themselves to stationary objects

[@themightymcb7310]

Some speculate that she was the Old Iron King's pyromancer, Eygil. If that's the case, then her sin would probably be giving life to the smelter demons and ultimately causing the Iron Keep and the King to sink into the lava.

[@setsunaes]

Burnt Ivory King: He really knows how to introduce himself into a conversation.

[@vesilli621]

Can we appreciate that near instant re-equip of armor after the Smelter Demon at 42:54. I had to watch it frame by frame to see that it wasn't some sort of macro.

[@Filsaveol]

1:49:30 A shiny smelter demon has appeared!

[@captainwafflezs4799]

The donation reader has a really soothing voice.

[@soulsborne1513]

My boy Dist running at gdq, and I missed it...

[@umbrellamuffin]

This is my favorite Souls game. It's a shame it got so much shit but I'm glad some people are still giving it the love it deserves

[@BraveShowBoys]

Funny thing is i think its aging better than 1 and 3 most ppl i talk to say 2 is their fav.

[@imoffended2444]

Exactly what makes you like ds2 more than the other games

[@BrokenGodEnt]

It's my least favorite still, but I've always liked it. Bloodborne is my favorite soulsborne game, and then it's DS1, and DS3 before we finally get to DS2. I haven't played the new game yet unfortunately.

[@michaelmaguire4147]

It's been a while since I played it, but really I think the only big problem I had with it was the smaller fall distance. A much smaller problem to have than 3's poise; yikes.

[@River_StGrey]

It's so wild seeing vanilla DS2 and not needing fragrant branches of yore for everything.

[@Bluhmann]

"the hitboxes in this game are pretty good" 1:54:20 that moment is peak DS2.

[@hilmarsson1]

Dist2 a dark souls legend

[@ThirdEyeThriving]

Wonder how many times he has played this game.. truly amazing.

[@jaebrowne6780]

This guy is monster amazing muscle memory and skills but even better stage presence perfect explanations gives tips on how to skim the time down in certain areas all around beast @distortion2

[@jesusdiaz270]

"I don't know what were thinking with this boss" Dark Souls 2 in a nutshell.

[@Gender_Ascender]

With exceptions! The Sinner and the Pursuer are some of the best imo, and Najka is a cool boss idea as well. DS2 just has... I'd say some of the least interesting or fun bosses... Last Giant and Vendrick (thought I like how you do more damage with the more you go out of your way) are whet come to mind more than anything else. Even the least popular bosses do some very cool, very interesting things. Ruin Sentinels are manageable if you hold your position, as they're designed to have one open to attack at the start. Flexile demands you beat it fast while also being a semi faster moving boss. Throne Watcher and Defender force you to whittle them down together or you have no chance to stop them. Dragonriders are... Just terrible. But Sinner and Najka force you to realize the environment around you is important too, and I love that shit

[@fats2010]

Imagine the audience reaction if dist did a sekiro speedrun showing all of the out of bounds glitches

[@derekcampbell4209]

Good job dist, sucks about the constant frame drops.

[@lunchmeat9118]

Maybe the real hardest souls boss was the frames we skipped along the way

[@jimbo_13]

Ah, a nice mini Monster Factory at the start. Great run!

[@fpcooper95]

I flipped over in bed and missed a boss lmao

[@lisle1998]

I read this comment and missed a boss haha

[@anil9653]

So cool to see qttsix here, he was one of the first runners I ever watched and he's really funny

[@Altair112pl]

"they all float down here" lmao

[@MrTakatschun]

Isnt this from GoTs Patchface?

[@Caggen218]

Takatschun banane No, it’s Pennywise the Clown from IT

[@Karanagi]

Really entertaining. Gotta follow Distortion2!

[@limc0225]

watching the old and gold gdq run, miss it :))

[@handsome3181]

Lost Sinner tried to rekindle the first flame

[@hillandfox3215]

Wow... Holy shit this is COOL to see how easy u do this

[@CoffeePotato]

For Najka standing still, there was a boss that was basically a robot scorpion that showed up twice in the Armored Core series (same devs), which also just broke if stood on. Maybe it was a reference?

[@thekarateben]

I played 2, 2AA 3 and silent like + half of 4. What scorpion are you talking about? I know dark lurker has references to the energy blades

[@PaxIesus]

I love the Soulsborne series; I'll definitely be subbing to this runner's Twitch/KZbin channel!

[@GiganFTW]

The best DarkSouls 2 ever made!

[@Racingboom]

Jesus the rng was so good this run

[@SplicerOtter]

But the frames were not lol

[@Xanime95]

Shoa Mien Law of Equivalent Exchange.

[@aquam135]

Praise the run

[@matthewgriffin3486]

This run is so iconic

[@philippn.743]

nice to see qttsix at Dist couch! great community

[@KWCHope]

This is awesome, just replayed this game recently so seeing this man destroy it makes me sad at my own skill

[@XadePsyconic]

To be fair, he's played this game over a thousand times.

[@Amainville93]

Don't be! DS2 isn't easy.

[@Tenchua917]

This what made me subscribed to distortion2, pretty chill guy

[@jasonw1776]

39:20 I knew there was a way to drain the poison!! I just finished Dark Souls 2 for the first time and just kinda face rolled the boss. Couldn't figure draining the poison out...

[@rw3168]

Burn the giant wind wheel with a torch, there's a wall borken and a grave warden guarding it, right outside the second bonfire in that area.

[@furryfaster]

Another great run by dist,love watching gdq

[@Penniwhistle]

Praise the sun!

[@Dino_Pony]

Love dist, he seems a bit nervous in this run but he killed it :D

[@andreedstrom2853]

"The hitboxes are actually surprisingly good in this game." _The Rotten immediately vomits_

[@cloud1641]

The random oohs and ahhhs from the guy on the couch as if he’s never seen them before lol

[@ShadowReignhart]

I've seen people go over estimate at GDQ a couple of times, and usually they blow the estimate by a good few minutes to almost an hour. To only go over by 57 seconds is amazing. Especially with all that went wrong. This was an amazing run, and Dist did an amazing job adapting to the frame drops and such.

[@CaidhMor]

Praise the Run.

[@Mi2Lethal]

This run was so fun to watch and informative, good job Dist.

[@sheltongolden4394]

Elden Ring finally got the soulsborne games to "click" with me. Since then I've been working backwards through the catalogue (sans Bloodborne: no PS4 😥). Just finished Dark Souls II this week. It's not nearly as bad as some people were making out to be. Maybe it's because I played the vanilla version. Some bosses were underwhelming, but overall it's was a good time. If you're interested in the genre, don't skip it.

[@tintdlb]

Distortion2 my fav speedrunner gj!

[@blaketracy4377]

15 minuets in and this man has already used two bonfires i didn't even know about.

[@LGreymark]

So many high value donations this run

[@AkibaMomoro]

Fume Knight: hold my hitbox

[@endromeda9640]

Very late to this video, but I've gotten the frame issue before and I was the only one of anyone I talked to that ever got it. No idea what caused it and never fixed it either.

[@TheOaklandBoy]

re-watching like a proud dad.

[@tytsty5716]

blight town strikes back

[@nickharper3137]

Cant believe my self when i am actually finish this game back then

[@cringeycronk6710]

Honestly, DS2 is my favorite Soulsborne, love this game and love this run

[@naquan59]

I knew I could find at least one person that though that way in comments.

[@setsunaes]

Ah, a man of culture! glad to see someone else like me here.

[@srsgoblin]

Same actually. Best PVP of the series. DS1 PVP was super janky and DS3 made stamina management irrelevant.

[@morallyemptycorruptedmaggot]

@@srsgoblin lol rolling 1000 times before your stamina depletes

[@1993Delicious]

Great run dist Hurray for Skeleton!

[@Nagantios]

You always rock it, man! Great couch, great runner, great game.

[@realnito6422]

“The hitboxes are surprisingly good in this game” That’s the best joke I’ve heard all year

[@benandrew21]

Every souls game has borked hitboxes. I swear the soul of cinder could've hit me from Irithyll dungeon I was so far from his sword

[@christophercollins3632]

Sure. It’s the bad hitboxes. Not your skill, that is the problem. Kappa. Seriously, the hitboxes are clean.

[@Tinyvalkyrie410]

I wish I had good enough sense of direction to play souls games. I get lost in games that occur in one small building with fully realized maps, mini maps, and freaking way points. These labyrinthine beasts might actually kill me.

[@jakubSwaps]

A lot of games you can get lost in because you just sort of move area to area without ever having a reason to pay attention to the level, not really the case in Souls games. DS1 specifically has a very well realized world that makes a lot of sense when you go through it and you familiarize each area as you go through because you tend to spend a while cutting your way through and return later on. DS2's world and level design is a big downgrade but still ample time to familiarize most levels.

[@zethrasgorgoth3145]

So basically this guy beated the whole game in the same time it takes me to create my character xD

[@YamishiMizuandDracus]

True, pyro's never been that OP from the perspective of a speedrun, but in DS1 PvP it's basically god mode at 45 dex.

[@krisla8211]

Ahhhhhhh back when the world was normal and fun!

[@dwest84]

Aldia was ADDED to Vanilla, right? I'm certain he wasn't in the game when I first played it. We all still thought the big dragon was Aldia at that point.

[@kennethandersen2730]

Aldia isn't in the vanilla version of the game. What From Software did was they made a revamped version of the game called Scholar of the First Sin which mostly just changed things like enemy placement and came with the other dlc as well (needed to complete the dlc in order to fight Aldia). However I don't remember if you can fight Aldia if you didn't get SotFS and just bought the dlc for vanilla. I think you can but I only over played SotFS.

[@GoudaBug]

@@kennethandersen2730 you can indeed fight him in vanilla if you have all three crowns

[@benjaminurra2019]

Aldia got added to vanilla after SOTFS released

[@christophercollins3632]

To fight Aldia, you need to talk to him all the times he appears at a bonfire. You must also kill Vendrick. And Nashandra must still be alive. He’ll appear as the secret final boss.

[@Ejtan]

Dist is a machine!

[@DickOswald]

Best speedrunner imo playing so much games

[@DenAcied]

Eyy Belgium represented! :-)

[@RenegadeVile]

I know, I was surprised too.

[@sunjoexys7251]

Scholars version of this game is one of my favorite.

[@juliamano8900]

I play on ps3 cause I still cannot afford ps4 and I play dark souls and dark souls 2 wish I could play 3

[@drsmote]

you have a good hat, don't let them take it from you

[@jerre550]

Representing Belgium on the couch there!

[@DMSteeley]

Rats, rats, we're da rats!

[@Solimonti]

Nice

[@rocksy7156]

celebrating yet another birthday bash

[@Gobblesthepatient]

Does anyone know how to do the mace attack @ 13:55? I'm on mouse and keyboard and can't figure it out.

[@Jonk_Jonk]

Press w and strong attack at the same time

[@zioberrr]

I need dark souls 4 ❤️

[@DickOswald]

We all do!

[@aldo_pinheiro]

Bawkbasoup is funny af