Anyone out there playing this game?
I've been really busy with work lately, so I've only logged a handful of hours with it, and I am still definitely learning the mechanics, but now beginning to make slow and steady progress.
For anyone not in the know, this game is mind-numbingly, gut-wrenchingly, ass-bleedingly hard, but bloody beautiful--visually, tonally, and in terms of the sense of achievement you get from finally figuring out an attack pattern or defensive strategy that allows you to progress beyond the most recent obstacle standing in your way.
Since the idea of cooperative camaraderie is part of the experience (and since there is no ability to voice chat or set up play sessions with friends), I thought it might be nice to be able to talk, vent, or brag about our experiences in a thread here.
Anyway, it's pretty sweet. Having not played Demon Souls, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I will say that it reminds me of the complexity and difficulty of a Rogue-like game, but with modern production values. Really seriously awesome. And I love the lonely, bleak tone and the ambiguous story that forces you to sort of come to your own conclusions as you explore. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say it's kind of like Rogue meets Shadows of the Colossus (but with better graphics.)
Oh also, let us know your character build, too. Love me some nerdy RPG talk.
I started out as a Wanderer and am slowly but surely working on a character build focused around a sword & shield/bow combo. High dexterity, endurance, and to a lesser extent, strength, have been the focus of my leveling so far.
me, me!!! I got it two days ago but I haven't started it yet.
Oh, but... you probably have it for the Xbox, no? I got it for the PS3.
Anyhow, I'm very much looking forward to playing it. Demon's Soul is probably the best game I've played in the past 5 years. The fact that is as freaking hard as the games from the past were is probably what makes it so incredibly good.
Can't wait to see what this one is like!
I will say that my one single very minor annoyance with Demon's Souls was that swamp level. That was really the only area in the game where I felt like I was being punished by the actual mechanics of the game rather than needing to learn how to approach the level itself. It was just too freaking dark mainly. I guess most of it I didn't even really mind a whole lot, mainly just the huge open beginning areas where you couldn't hardly see a thing. That was the part of the game I always dreaded on subsequent playthroughs, it just bugged the crap out of me for some reason.
Haven't played Dark Souls yet, but I am VERY much looking forward to it.
Quote from: Lambonius on October 08, 2011, 02:42:08 PM
I started out as a Wanderer and am slowly but surely working on a character build focused around a sword & shield/bow combo. High dexterity, endurance, and to a lesser extent, strength, have been the focus of my leveling so far.
I haven't gotten Dark Souls yet, but having played Demon's Souls, the Wanderer is a very balanced class, and the sword & shield/bow combo is the exact same setup that I had for my Wanderer. If they haven't changed the classes from the first game, I'd say you have one of the better character builds in the game.
Call me fickle--I switched to the Warrior class. ;) Didn't want to totally tank it, but the added armor made the early goings a bit easier. Took me a bit to figure out farming and leveling...now I'm getting the hang of this b****! Also, it's definitely worth it to spend the humanity points and kindle each bonfire. The 5 extra health potions it gives you are invaluable. Second boss is still raping me though...
Up to level 15 now.
(Posted on: October 09, 2011, 01:57:15 AM)
Be warned...just when you think you've mastered killing the zombie soldiers with shields/swords/spears, out come the fully armored knights...and just when you've gotten down a strategy for killing those buggers, the giant mace-wielding f****** come out with their unblockable attacks. But...like any good spanking, there is pleasure to be had along with the pain. Oh yes...
Crucial combat tip--stamina recharges at a near non-existent crawl when your shield is up. Roll back now and again in combat and drop your shield for a quick stamina recharge. Things will go MUCH better for you.
I'll see if I can put some time into this game tonight. I was trying to get through Assassins Creed 2 before starting this, but I still have long ways to go there, and I can take a break from it.
Yeah, it's a pretty addictive game. I don't think it quite deserves the 9.0 & 9.5 scores I keep seeing it getting from "professional" reviews, but it's still damn good.
There are a number of unfortunate technical issues and some irritating design quirks that really shouldn't have made it into one of today's video games. Some will say that design issues like the lack of a pause option are a crucial part of the difficulty or necessary for the multiplayer component to work seamlessly, but I think that's a complete cop out.
I can understand having to access inventory and use items in real time, but there should always be a general pause feature, regardless. Things come up, and people need to be able to get up and leave the TV now and again.
Also, NPCs don't move their mouths, heads, or bodies when they talk to you--they all look really oddly static as a result.
Another annoying design flaw is the fact that it takes multiple button presses to clear pop-up messages (which block a large portion of the screen) and close the inventory/options menus. It's very easy to continue playing, go into a fight, and find yourself suddenly unable to attack or block because you haven't fully closed out of the inventory menu. Really obnoxious.
There's no way to compare shop items with currently equipped items to see stat increases and such.
There are a number of messy visual quirks also--namely the ragdoll bodies that stick to your feet or randomly bounce around after death. I've read (but haven't yet experienced it) that there are some major slow-down issues in a few areas as well.
All in all, it's a beautiful, lonely, atmospheric game, with an awesome challenge level, but definitely not a 9.5. It's got too many noticeable flaws. If I was reviewing it, I probably wouldn't give it higher than an 8 or 8.5.
I'd actually agree that a pause wouldn't make sense in this game. Since the multiplayer is a live component of the game it wouldn't make sense to be able to pause the second someone else comes into your game and just leave it paused until they get annoyed and leave.
The ragdoll bodies were present in Demon's Souls as well and I actually died in that game several times specifically as a result of trying to kick them off cliffs and stuff - I thought for sure they'd get those resolved by now, but the physics are definitely impressive other than that annoyance.
I watched just the intro video for Dark Souls and felt like I died several times just doing that, so I'm pretty sure the full game will be an absolute death-fest. I've heard there are plenty of times where you'll just be wandering about and suddenly be trying to run for your life wondering, "Am I really supposed to be able to kill THAT??" I loved that about the first game.
I agree and disagree about the pause feature. Yes, on one hand, it would be nice to have it so that you can go to the bathroom or answer the phone. On the other hand, it just adds to the freaking tension of the game. I remember playing the original game and my phone ringing, ahhhhhh stop calling me, I'm killing this huge beast!! or needing to go pee, I'd hold it until I knew I was safe!
Plus, in a boss fight, when I'm having problems with a boss in a different game, I pause the game to catch a breather, to think, to come up with a strategy, or even to look for hints online. Here, forget about, you can't, and that just makes the game even 10 times more difficult, but at the same time it's part of what makes the game so addictive to the point where you LITERALLY cannot put the controller down :)
I wish they had fixed the comparison of inventory. That's something I did want in the first game that annoyed me.
And yes, the game has its annoyances, and it's nowhere as pretty as other games from this generation --at least Demons' Soul wasn't. But I didn't care. I didn't care about story, I didn't want to talk to people, I just wanted to get into the game and survive. It was actually this game that made me rethink my full approach on game story. I didn't care about a big story at all, and whatever was there just annoyed me because I wanted to go back to play, which is huge for me to say.
I can understand you being an artist and getting annoyed by bad animation./lipsync, etc. I also understand that those probably should be considered in a critics score. Me personally, I don't care for those things as long as the gameplay experience is as solid as the first one.
f*ck it. I'm playing this tonight!
So which way has everybody headed first? Up or down? I know that guy at the beginning says you can go either way but can you really? I didn't really even try to go down, I just started heading uphill. Took me four deaths before I took care of that asylum demon (the plunge strike is pretty much required to survive that thing). And I've only gone uphill to where the first bonfire is in the little village area but I've probably died at least 30 times.
Protip - if you're wandering through the village and there's an armored knight twice your size with his back to you at the end of a dark hallway, it probably is too good to be true. And he will chase you all the way back down the mountain until he kills you. Sheesh. There's my 2 hours of insanely difficult gameplay for the day, back to work!
Quote from: wilco64256 on October 10, 2011, 07:50:27 PM
So which way has everybody headed first? Up or down? I know that guy at the beginning says you can go either way but can you really?
I have no idea what you're talking about since I have no desire to play the game, but I asked my boyfriend who's been really into it. (I'm procrastinating on finishing my homework :P). He said "Can't go down, not really, not at first."
I headed up. If you head up and to the left you can loot the graveyard for some decent equipment. However, you have to contend with some powerful skeleton enemies that will probably wipe the floor with you if you aren't at least level 10. And even then, you need to block/roll/stamina recharge frequently to whittle down their HP. Unfortunately, they give you exactly ZERO souls for killing them, so if you can, it's best to run right by them and grab the goodies.
Oh, and don't even try taking on those armored knights til around level 17 or so...and definitely don't take them on without a metal shield. You'll need lots of room to maneuver, too, so best to lure them into an open space.
Starting with a Male Cleric - Healing, baby!
I'm going to choose the Pendant as my gift. I've done some reading and hear it affects the game ending. I was going to do the Master Key, but I read that it makes the game a bit easier, and I want to suffer!
So, Pendant it is!
Here we go, let's get raped!
----
Neverming, I'm choosing the Witches Ring!
Master Key is good, but it's only for normal locks, the proper key is never too far away, but it saves you going back and checking what key is for what door. Last night, I took out the hydra, killed all three rat bears or whatever they were in darkroot basin. Then exploring onwards, a giant toadstool took me out with one hit. Went back and got my souls, decided not to push my luck. In the valley of the drakes I got pretty far up the scaffolding and some fire dogs relentlessly pummeled me, going back for my souls and humanity today. I really need to find a fireplace up there somewhere. Rats are a good source of humanity shards, there's three rats in the sewers under the bridge with the dragon. Take out the Drake(dragon) tail for the Drake's sword, only takes 50 hits with wooden arrows from under the bridge, position correctly to hit three arrows in a row.
#%*)(&*($&(&(EUIOWEWEO PIECE OF $)(#&*(#$&#@$ TAURUS DEMON!!!!
I was THIS CLOSE. THIS CLOSE. Then the b****** attacked me three times in a row without letting me stand up. ARRRGHHHH
I'll go back to it some other time. #$*(@*(&*(&($
Quote from: Cez on October 11, 2011, 06:09:49 AM
#%*)(&*($&(&(EUIOWEWEO PIECE OF $)(#&*(#$&#@$ TAURUS DEMON!!!!
I was THIS CLOSE. THIS CLOSE. Then the b****** attacked me three times in a row without letting me stand up. ARRRGHHHH
I'll go back to it some other time. #$*(@*(&*(&($
Lol...he had me stumped, too, until I realized you can [spoiler]climb up the tower behind the doorway and take out the archers. Then you can knock down half his health with a leaping attack. If you use the lightning resin that you can buy from the shop, you can kill him in about 4 hits while he's still staggering from the leaping attack. Cheap, yes, but very effective. ;)[/spoiler]
I'm currently getting my ass handed to me by the second major boss, the Bell tower gargoyles. Figured out that you can [spoiler]cut off their tails to prevent them from using one of their major attacks, but that doesn't really make things much easier (though you do get a secret weapon from it.) ;)[/spoiler]
Missed the Drake Sword since I've been trying to play sans walkthroughs. I'll have to go back for that.
PS: Should we institute a spoiler tag policy for this thread? Boss tips, secret locations, etc--use spoilers tags, please. Thanks, guys. :)
It's good to explore both directions and not follow one direction because you never know what you will find to help you in your quest. All that will stop you is: can your character survive going too far in. Don't even think about exploring the swamp until you have the ragged clothes for maximum poison protection. Also have some moss on hand from those pygmy guys that don't appear again after you kill them. Need more moss, kill some giant trees in Darkroot.
Also if you are running around with lots of humanity, go and kindle some fires to increase estus flask regeneration at those points. A fire bearer soul is in blighttown guarded by seven fire dogs, if you don't have an upgraded estus flask yet.
For the Taurus Demon...
[spoiler]I climbed up the tower thinking that I'd be safe there for a while to heal. lol. But yeah, now I attack him there. Didn't think of the leaping attack! I was going to use the lighting today.[/spoiler]
I made it all the way up to the top of Blighttown, busted heads along the way. Then I see some big gates and I'm like Oh Crap! Big Boss fight. So I go over and it says doesn't open from this side. :(
I'm thinking of taking on the Spider Boss but haven't found anything yet to boost my fire protection, even with the tattered clothes I still lose half my energy when the fire comes. There's one more path still open to explore, but I'm done for the day. :-\
I went back down from the town to try going "down" then decided all the darkness and mist was scaring the crap out of me so I went back up again. Still just kinda wandering around and grinding in town, I'm up to like Level 17 I think and I haven't wandered too much yet. Mainly I'm just practicing getting better at being comfortable with the controls, especially parry/riposte timing as that was a HUGE help in the first game if you could get that down.
I've got a bunch of stuff to do with TSL today and then I'll probably play some more Dark Souls for a while tonight, see if I feel brave enough to get the crap kicked out of me by a new boss or something.
I gotta say, I am liking this thread. I'm without internet connection at home at the moment, so no coop for me. But this kind of helps replace that lost sense of camaraderie. Lol
Somebody thought to invade my world just now. So I whipped their ass and sent them packing. They were nice enough to leave me a parting gift though, some humanity and their best weapon. I think that if you stay a hollow you are safe.
Went back and got the Drake Sword. Wow. Gotta say, it really almost feels like cheating...it makes all the enemies in the Undead Parish ridiculously easy. At least I should be set for a while...
Defeated the Taurus Demon!
A bunch of spoilers ahead so read at your discretion.
Taurus and the big sword.
[spoiler]
I made my way through the skeletons in the graveyard and ran quickly to get a big ass sword. That's what I used to defeat the Taurus Demon. Lamb, I tried to jump him when he was down but I kept missing him lol. But even at that, with the sword I was able to defeat him even when missing him.
The sword is just too huge and it made me slow. I try to keep half of my carry limit to keep mobility, and I've been putting some points towards that stat (endurance, I think) to be able to carry better armor. [/spoiler]
Blacksmith
[spoiler]Now I have an axe, and I found a blacksmith, so I made my axe a +2. Blacksmith is down in some ruins, You can get to it from the main hub. There were some ghosts that raped me there so I stopped pursuing that path.
Also, I found some fire soul thing and took it to the lady behind some bars in the main hub. This makes my potions stronger.
[/spoiler]
Going back to the tutorial level.
[spoiler]I also found a secret path to go back to the tutorial section. Once you activate the elevator, you can jump off at one section. From there, you roll to a piece of land that you see far ahead. You climb up and you find a nest. Curl up like an egg and the bird comes and gets you and takes you back. However, there were some guys with torches there that raped me, so again, I'll wait until I'm stronger. [/spoiler]
Taking it from both ends.
[spoiler]
Now I'm at the church. I was doing well with the gargoyle, and then suddenly a second fucker came out of nowhere spitting fire at me, and I died in 2 seconds. Reminds me of the ManEater boss from Demon's Souls.... *shivers* I could only defeat that guy by cheating and taking one of the guys with arrows before I entered it. I have no idea how I'm going to handle these two guys, but I'll keep going. [/spoiler]
Has any of you tried kindle on a pit? I have one humanity point that I haven't used, but I'm not sure exactly how that system works.
To kindle, you have to be human (which takes one humanity--sit at the fire and select "remove hollowing"), then use another humanity to select "kindle" from the menu. I'd definitely recommend kindling every fire you can--the extra potions it gives you are invaluable.
About the fire eater soul--DAMNIT. I got the one from the Undead Parish but tried to use it, thinking it was some kind of powerup (since it said it increased the effectiveness of the potions.) Of course, it vanished from my inventory and didn't do anything. That's one thing that kind of irks me--the translations in this game (it's all originally Japanese) are sometimes either VERY unclear (maybe it's purposeful, I don't know) or downright inaccurate--like the Tiny Being's Ring gift, which says that it slowly increases your health over time, even though it actually only gives you a small one-time 5% HP boost.
Here's how my late night hour of Dark Souls went last night:
Me - "This long wall with no enemies is making me nervous. Oh, a giant bull thing. Oh it killed me."
Me - "Back to the giant bull thing. Oh it's called a Taurus Demon. And it killed me again."
Me - "Back to the Taurus Demon. Maybe if I let it chase me back to the tower and then shoot at it. Oh it can jump up here and kill me."
Me - "Back to the Taurus Demon. Maybe if I climb the tower and then jump down and plunge strike it, then hack at it. Oops, helps to not fall off the wall in the process."
[spoiler]Me - "Back to the Taurus Demon. Climb the tower, plunge strike, several heavy hits, and Taurus is down. Sweet! Hopefully there's another bonfire very soon. Oh look a loony worshipping the sun. That's weird. Holy @#^@*#(*& a DRAGON. And I'm dead."[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Me - "OK hide from the dragon. OK hide from the giant warthog-thing I can't kill either. Holy @#%*@#$)( there's a black knight thing at the top of this tower, run! Hide from the giant pig some more. And now I'm lost and dead and have no idea how to even get back to where I died to recover. Up some stairs then some other stairs and some more stairs and then a skeleton with a red cloak kicked me in the face. Awesome. At least I lowered the ladder to the earlier bonfire for a shortcut. And what the freak is this key for?"[/spoiler]
So if I play today:
[spoiler]My main goal will just be to carefully explore more of that area around the giant pig to see if I can figure out anything interesting to do up there.[/spoiler]
Defeated the Gargoyles in my lunch break. Then BBQ them and had them for lunch.
[spoiler]You can slice off the tail of the gargoyle and get an axe! I also got a Halberd at the end[/spoiler]
How comes I haven't gotten my first "boss" trophy?? This is all a warm up, isn't it??
Where should I go next...?
Anybody know where I can get more transient curse. I need to explore the ghost area some more, but I feel I've done all I can do there for now, picked up some souls and items from dead bodies.
Also if you go to Darkroot and join the wolf covenant be sure not to start a fight with any of those guys till you are ready. The only tactic is run away and divide and conquer, these guys are more difficult than some bosses. I guess I'll never know what the wolf summoning ring is for, this time. Hey, it's not my fault if a guy has his back to me the natural instinct is to pull out my big sword and skewer him from behind (no connotation intended). How was I to know he was on my team(again no reference intended).
I guess the castle reminded me of the first game where that is the path to the king, and I had only defeated two bosses and I realized this was the last guy and I shouldn't be here yet. So after the drake I didn't go further that way, but if you go up from darkroot there's another way to the church.
I can't believe I gave the good item to the crap blacksmith. There are so many ways you can make the wrong decision in this game. You could have upgraded the estus flask with the fire bearers soul, that's the best use for it. Enough crying from me for one night, back to the misery that is Dark Souls. :'(
@ wilco RE: giant warthog thing:
[spoiler]Firebomb the crap out of him from the walkway above. If you've been diligently collecting souls from the corpses and gotten a few decent pickups in human form, you probably have enough to entirely finish him off that way. I killed him with firebombs to spare. He counts as a miniboss, so once he's dead, he doesn't respawn.[/spoiler]
Hide near the stairs and make it charge into the fire if you can. Spear it in the ass when it turns to go back to its territory.(What is wrong with me today :P)
Ah it's also doable using some of that pine resin stuff on the sword. I hit it with a few firebombs (only had 4 on me at the time) and then finished it off with my sword. Yay that it doesn't come back. Ran up that tower and tried to kill that black knight fellow real quick while my sword was charged and then the stuff wore off my sword right when I hit him the first time so I ran back down and was waiting at the bottom for him to come out and fight me in the open and he actually jumped off the top of the whole tower, landed behind me, and killed me. Just awesome.
Quote from: wilco64256 on October 12, 2011, 06:30:40 PM
Ah it's also doable using some of that pine resin stuff on the sword. I hit it with a few firebombs (only had 4 on me at the time) and then finished it off with my sword. Yay that it doesn't come back. Ran up that tower and tried to kill that black knight fellow real quick while my sword was charged and then the stuff wore off my sword right when I hit him the first time so I ran back down and was waiting at the bottom for him to come out and fight me in the open and he actually jumped off the top of the whole tower, landed behind me, and killed me. Just awesome.
I think that tower knight is a red herring--there's not actually anything up there. You do get a fair amount of souls for killing him though. The main strategy with those knights is to [spoiler]lure them into an open area so you can maneuver, and then block block block their attacks. Strike right after they hit your shield--the strong attack can be useful here, since you only get in one or two good hits at a time anyway, so best to make them count. The tricky part about him is that he jumps away from your strikes sometimes (and has a tendency to quickly counter attack whenever you miss him), and his strikes, while totally blockable with a metal shield, will drop your stamina right quick. Just make sure you back away or roll away periodically and recharge your stamina by dropping your shield (this is why you need maneuvering room.) If you follow this strategy, you should be able to eventually bring them down without too much trouble.[/spoiler]
Heh yeah I was able to take care of him just fine the second time he jumped off the tower, he just caught me by surprise with that stunt the first time because I could hear him running around and then suddenly it was quiet so I thought for a second he had just gone back to the top and left me alone, but suddenly there he was right behind me swinging away.
Also, poison sucks.
He has a nice stone, too.
Ok, so here's the report for the day. I cleared he forest area, and got rid of two bossess there (a formal boss and a semi boss)
[spoiler] It's a flying butterfly thing, the boss, and the semi boss is a freaking hard 7 headed Hydra[/spoiler]
The knights in the forest area can be particularly hard to defeat. There's a firepit near the knights area, make sure not to miss it! comes in handy.
Then I headed down the sewers. If you go there, watch for the toads and their "curse" It's the most annoying thing ever since it halves your HP and it's really hard to get the stuff you need to get it off. ugh.
I defeated the boss for the area
[spoiler]The Gaping Dragon or something. Really cool boss. He gave me 25000 souls! [/spoiler]
I'm level 31 now. This game is huge.
I was planning to play a couple hours of this game last night, but I crapped out early before ever starting it. Couldn't keep my eyes open. Damn full time job.
I'm going to work on some more boss stuff tonight if I can. I've found several (the one in the church-ish building that has like fifty friends with him finally convinced me to rage quit last night).
Lure them out so that you don't have to deal with the magic guy and them at the same time.
Quote from: wilco64256 on October 13, 2011, 05:50:11 PM
I'm going to work on some more boss stuff tonight if I can. I've found several (the one in the church-ish building that has like fifty friends with him finally convinced me to rage quit last night).
I lucked out on him. He saw me through the windows and came down the narrow approach hallway before his minions ever noticed me. At that point, it was a simple matter of striking and then waiting around the corner for him to miss me with his magic. Rinse and repeat. Then take the minions a few at a time. Easy.
This one is slow-going for me... it's a lot of fun, but... well, you guys know.
Currently I'm in the Parish, shortly before the Gargoyles.
If you PS3 owners out there want to add me, feel free. Please identify yourself.
PSN ID: Tolin42
Finally got a chance to get back to the game. Rang the first bell.
Now to head downward...
Where's the best place to get [spoiler]transient curses to deal with the ghosts? Are there any other useful methods of dealing with them? The ghosts don't seem particularly powerful, but they ganged up on me and raped me twice. I only had two transient curses to begin with, and now I'm out. Now what?[/spoiler]
Around level 25 now. Think I'm calling it a night.
Pro tip: Grabbing items right from under the nose of a sleeping dragon does, in fact, have consequences. Who knew?
There's a few transient curses on a dead body just past some ghosts down the stairs and around past the mist door.
Ghosts are also affected by magic. Ive killed with fireballs.
No game for me today. I looked today at all that has to be done for the upcoming release and freaked out!!
Moonlight Butterfly.............so pretty................oh wait, it's trying to kill me! Aaaaaaaand....it succeeded.
OMG the butterfly. The tall knight things aren't bad, the gargoyles took me I think four tries, the headless thingy under the blacksmith took me two tries, and then the butterfly just totally destroyed me. I need to get myself a better shield. I think that blacksmith will sell you as much titanite as you want, so that'll be nice for upgrading my armor a bit.
Also, did you guys notice when you first come into the darkroot area:
[spoiler]Right after killing the first annoying little tree thingy if you turn back around there's a second path that heads off to the left instead of back to the blacksmith? Head down that way and there's a gecko and a bunch of random dark knights and then these crystal golem things and then HOLY CRAP what is that THING?? Turns out it's a hydra and it's absolutely huge. Don't even bother trying to dodge 7 (I assume it's 7, it's really impossible to actually count in-game) heads at once, just hope you can block. I gave up on that and went even further down the back path quite a ways before being stomped by another darkwraith.[/spoiler]
Protip of the day - Don't actually use humanity that you have in your inventory until you're at a bonfire and actually need to use it. No sense in risking losing it on a death. Same with the "soul" items you can pick up.
Once you get over the shock of a flying boss, the Moonlight Butterfly isn't that hard. You just [spoiler]have to time your dodges correctly and wait for him to land. Run up and hit him as many times as you can before his light energy builds up (run away before it builds all the way or you'll take massive damage.) Repeat until dead. I got him on my second attempt.[/spoiler]
Killed the headless lightning monster under the Undead Parish blacksmith's place on my first shot. I was pretty happy with myself. Was able to level up with all the souls I got from him, too.
I keep trying to go to [spoiler]the watchtower basement in the Undead Burg with the key I got right after the Butterfly, but that dark knight with the unblockable mace keeps one-hit killing me. May have to suck it up and grind for a bit, I guess.[/spoiler]
I've been using humanity to revive to human for the better item drops. Maybe it's a waste, I'm not sure. Oh well.
A guy invaded my world right in front of me. While he was materializing I backstabbed him twice and he didn't know what happened. I got a sweet spiked shield out of it.
I managed to defeat the giant wolf and gained the ability to walk in the abyss, wherever that is. Also found a dealer who trades transient souls. Watch out ghosties.
Once you make it to the underground sewers just before the gaping dragon, humanity is no longer an issue, with all the rats.
Also I think the firekeeper dies after you ring a bell, so put it off till you have the other firekeeper soul from Blighttown.
You can get to the Blighttown back entrance by going through the valley of the Drakes reached by the lift at the bottom of the cliff path in Darkwood(if you didn't use the master key right from londo town). Be warned, the drakes are tough, but they can be maneuvered around with the right technique, don't bother about the drakes on the bridge, head along the cliff path. Watch out for the poison skeleton dragon, you can just run past him if you want, but he's pretty easy if you attack between his poison belches. And just head on in past the fattys who you can get to fall off the scaffolding and get the gate key to londo town to unlock a shortcut just outside the back cave and across the bridge.
For the butterfly...
[spoiler]Use magic!! Fireballs do fine![/spoiler]
And yes, the Hydra can be frustrating to kill. Actually the secret is...
[spoiler]Reaching the right spot to kill it. You have to defeat the ice golems. I'd recommend losing enough of your armor until you have only a 25% load on, then use your mobility to dodge around things and kill the golems with the same water from the hydra. One those four are dead, go to the hydra and turn left towards the waterfall, around the waterfall, the paths to the hydra becomes full and you can get close to it (not too close however, you'll fall) to the point where she doesn't shoot those water/ice crystals anymore, and only atttacks you with its heads. At this point the fight becomes extremely easy, just get a shield to cover from the head attacks, and keep swinging at those heads until it's done[/spoiler]
Lamb the basement key....
[spoiler]Haven't been able to kill the guy yet, I ran past him. I don't know if I missed any doors on my way up, but what I found is that this connects you to the undead burg. I'm thinking there's gotta be another door connecting this to somewhere else.[/spoiler]
There's also in that same area of the hydra a tall knight with a lance I haven't been able to kill.
I'm wondering where to go next.... I'm really tired today, so I may just call it an early day and play some DS!
Yeah, I ran past that mace guy, too. The basement door just takes you to Darkroot Basin. Kinda anticlimactic, considering how much of a pain the guard is. I'm trying to figure out how to upgrade a weapon to magic status so I can fight the ghosts. I'm not sure if I have the abilities and materials necessary to do this yet.
did you save the pyromancer? He'll sell you some cheap spells. Although they are not enough to make your way through. I've only explored those ruins a bit.
Quote from: Cez on October 14, 2011, 08:16:13 PM
did you save the pyromancer? He'll sell you some cheap spells. Although they are not enough to make your way through. I've only explored those ruins a bit.
I don't think I've done that yet. [spoiler]I saved the one guy in the upper levels of the Undead Parish, but he just gave me a Sun Medal. I'm assuming the pyromancer is someone else?[/spoiler]
(Posted on: October 14, 2011, 10:21:00 PM)
Finally got my internet hooked up at home and was able to play the game with the online content enabled. Kinda neat. Unfortunately, I've been without humanity for a while now, so no summoning yet. I did find some nice loot in this session, including some neat red robes with high poison resistance. Now to head down into Blight Town.
Protip: Did you guys notice that in Darkroot Garden there are [spoiler]certain trees that MOVE from time to time...revealing previously blocked/hidden paths. I didn't fully explore this yet, because I was on my way back to a bonfire to level up, but I did find myself a nifty ring with a wolf on it. ;) Not sure what "boosts poise" means though. Makes my character glow kinda funky though.[/spoiler]
I think poise is your ability to take a hit and still keep your balance, could be wrong, but that seems to be what is happening. Darkroot is just there down the stairs from the Blacksmith near the church if you don't want to see the fat guy with the club, to defeat: - [spoiler]I used the doorway technique and a big axe[/spoiler]. Buy the crest (20000 from blacksmith) to be able to pass through the glowing door(from downstairs of the blacksmith, go outside to the woods, head left and then straight, kill some trees and follow the path around), and there's an illusion wall to a fireplace to the left of the glowing door. Run straight through without fighting and talk to the wolf in the other building to join the cat covenant. There's a big guy with a sword that you only kill once, thankfully, and you get that sword, don't cross them till you can take them on.
Right now I'm in Demon town, below Blighttown, trying to kill some giant minotaur that's bigger than the taurus demon and with a mallet, There were about seven-eight Taurus one's standing together, but they don't come back once defeated. The skull minotaurs, like the one you had to defeat to get the underground key do come back and are causing me the most trouble, in tight battle conditions. I'm going back for some poison arrows, seems to work on the giant minotaurs and the centipedes.
Lamb, that guy that you just saved...
[spoiler]If you kill him, he'll drop a very powerful ring. It gives a 20% boost to health, stamina, weight, and something else. I read that you can NOT kill him yet, and wait until later to do so, where you find him somewhere else and then he'll give you the ring plus one of the best armors in the game. I decided to kill him, because the ring sounded just like I needed to toughen myself a bit, and there will be other cool armors. The ring is SWEET. Also, if you don't kill him, he'll eventually kill the fire soul lady, and destroy the bonfire close to that section. You can restore it later once you find him, but it sounded like too much trouble for an armor. And again, that ring is awesome! just make sure you never remove it once you put it on, because it breaks! Also, if you decide to kill the guy, he could drop off the cliff. I thought I had lost the items, but if you quit and restart there, the items will be there. I was damning everything for a second![/spoiler]
And yes, poise is the ability to keep your balance when attacked. There are tons of hidden past in this game. There are actually invisible walls that disappear when hit. I've found a couple with bonfires behind them thanks to messages left by other users.
[spoiler]There's one in the forest and another one in the catacombs[/spoiler]
I went down to blightown and I'm still trying to make my way through the swamp. Weldon, you are going to LOVE that section based on how you loved the one from Demon's Souls :P
I also went down the catacombs. I'm stuck at...
[spoiler]another headless guy, much tougher than the first one. Also, a divine weapon works wonder with the skeletons, making them super easy! [/spoiler]
I also went down through the ghosts. For some reason magic didn't work anymore. They do drop that curse thing every once in a while. I couldn't get much further down the ruins because I needed a key somewhere.
So, it's either trying to beat the semi-boss in the catacombs or try to make more progress in Blighttown for me.
This game is awesome. And this thread is awesome :D
I also went down the New Londo ruins and got some cool stuff. There's a ring that helps with resistant to curse. There's also a guy that will cure you from curse somewhere in there.
I'm trying desperately to find a bonfire somewhere in Blight Town.
I did figure out a nice glitch that can be exploited (at least in the xbox version.) When you get killed, wait until the YOU DIED flashes on the screen, and then get ready to exit to the dashboard. As soon as the loading screen comes up, exit to dashboard and restart the game. When you load your file, you should start out exactly where you left off, standing next to your bloodstain and souls. Be warned, it doesn't refill your flasks or anything, but you do start at full health. Sometimes, if you miss-time it, the game will load as you are dying, but usually the next time it will load with you alive and at that spot. It takes longer than letting the game actually send you back to the last bonfire, but DAMN is it useful.
I actually have read about that glitch and about a similar one for the PS3 version, though I've also read that there's a chance of potentially corrupting a save if the timing goes wrong. Not really worth the risk to me, I'd really hate having to start this entire thing over again.
I have to throw out massive kudos to the designers, I read previously that this game is laid out like exploring through a gigantic 3D labyrinth and I must admit that is an absolutely accurate description.
I killed that red dragon that's guarding the bridge last night. Going to play around with things for a while today in between work stuff.
I haven't had any issues with that glitch yet, and it's saved my ass several times. :) Knock on wood, but I don't really think there's a major danger of corrupting a save file--you may just lose progress back to the previous bonfire. I think the reason people are saying that is because the game pops up a message box next time you start it up that says that the game wasn't properly quit from the in-game menu last time and that some progress might have been lost. I'll let you know if I have any major problems with it, but so far, so good.
Found an "illusory wall" in Blight-Town that led me to [spoiler]a bonfire (much needed) and then on to a whole new area called the Great Hollow. Passed through that area to Ash Lake, where I was killed by a massive Hydra. My mind is totally f*****. I love that there was absolutely no indication of that hidden wall (other than a message left by another player) and that it not only revealed a hidden bonfire, but also took me to an entirely new area of the game.
[/spoiler]
And as for the idea that the game is like a giant 3D labyrinth--yeah, absolutely. This game IS basically a modern Rogue-like. Seriously, the tone is almost EXACTLY the same. If you haven't played a Rogue-like before, go download Angband or Moria and you'll see what I mean.
The first bonfire in blighttown - if you are coming from the main gate from the sewers - is past the gauntlet and down a few ladders to the stonework and to the left. I f coming from the drake valley cave entrance a bonfire is all the way down the scaffolding to the swamp level and along the wall to the left.
Gaping Dragon...all bark and no bite. Probably the single easiest boss in the game. Had a much harder time with the giant rat in the Depths.
Protip: [spoiler]Find yourself a longbow and buy some poison arrows from the merchant by the door to Blight Town. Lure the Gaping Dragon over towards the far end of the room, and then run back to the opposite end so that you can get a decent shot at the magic using sniper above. A couple of well-placed poison arrow shots should get the poison to take hold--then all you have to do is wait for it to kill him, which doesn't take too long, as the poison damage multiplies. Once he's gone, the Dragon itself should be a piece of cake. Run around to the back of it when its head is down and swing away at the base of the tail. When it raises its head back up, roll and run away to avoid a possible tail swipe. Takes a little while, but you'll whittle him down this way without taking any damage yourself. He's so damn slow, and you have so much maneuvering room, you'll have no trouble getting behind him for several hits at a time.[/spoiler]
You can actually go up some stairs right before entering that room and take that guy out before getting to the dragon at all.
Side note - we should have threads like this for Skyward Sword and Skyrim when they come out over the next couple of months as well.
Quote from: wilco64256 on October 16, 2011, 08:50:20 PM
You can actually go up some stairs right before entering that room and take that guy out before getting to the dragon at all.
Interesting. I thought I had combed the area pretty well, but I missed that. Ah well. Taking him out with poison arrows from afar felt more badass anyway. ;)
Quote from: wilco64256 on October 16, 2011, 08:50:20 PM
Side note - we should have threads like this for Skyward Sword and Skyrim when they come out over the next couple of months as well.
I'm not sure I'll get into Skyrim since Oblivion left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. With Skyward Sword, I don't know if I'll buy it on release. I've only recently gotten into Zelda and not to the point of OMG I MUST HAVE THIS.
There's actually not a game in the near future that I'd be willing to pay 60 bucks to have on release date. Maybe FFXIII-2, but honestly, I'm not even that crazy about it either. I want Batman, and Uncharted, but I can wait till later to play those, and they are definitely not a thread like this games.
Maybe Mass Effect 3? But I don't know if that's a game like this. This is just the perfect game for this kind of thread. It's so freaking hard that you have to come here to do a therapy with others to release some of the frustration sometimes and read into things that can help you. I've hardly felt that with other games, where getting better stuff or going into the hard parts is really only optional. Great idea, definitely, Lamb. :)
Moonlight Butterfly - down. Wow I'm so glad I did all that just so I could get:
[spoiler]A dead end. The soul from this thing better be really good for something.[/spoiler]
Also, I made the same mistake as Lamb and just used the Fire soul that said it would make me flasks better. Bad idea. You actually should take it to an NPC who doesn't talk who lives behind some bars on the way down to the ruins. Stupid translation issues. Though I suppose it did ask if I was really sure I wanted to use it and naturally I just said Yes. Oh well.
My current pet peeve - the constantly re-spawning skeletons in the catacombs. Super irritating.
One thing that makes the ruins area nicer (and the hydra easier, though I still haven't managed to kill it just yet):
[spoiler]Go back to the asylum and you can open the locked door on the 2nd floor using a key that you can grab off a corpse on the roof of the building that's right by the bird's nest before you fly back. There's a ring on that corpse that makes you walk in water as well as you do on dry land. Maybe that was already discussed in this thread, I dunno.[/spoiler]
I also soul farmed for a while and paid the 20,000 souls for the crest that the blacksmith has. It opens the big door in the forest, behind which:
[spoiler]There's this mage or something who summons a ghost-type soldier that you can hurt but not target. Annoying as hell. Not sure what the point of that little area is but it better be good for that many souls just to open the door.[/spoiler]
Also, as far as Drakes are concerned:
[spoiler]I hate them. Are they weak to anything? I hardly do any damage to them at all and they keep flying all over the freaking place so it's a pain to keep up with them. They're relatively easy to kill, they just all feel like mini-bosses and I hate taking ten minutes to kill each one except when I can get them to fly themselves off the cliff.[/spoiler]
Haven't had a chance to touch the game in the last few days. I'm going to have to try and resist the urge to read under the spoilers tags in these new posts, as you guys are probably getting far beyond where I am currently.
Haven't been playing it either recently. I miss it! :(
Too much to do! I sometimes hate having aspirations lol. I hope I can finish this before I leave California for the next 2 months starting mid-november
Protip - sometimes it's better to be able to run faster than have good armor.
[spoiler]Gaping Dragon is an excellent example especially when he spits at you since that stuff corrodes armor faster than a good Coca Cola will. That was an epic easy fight without any armor or a shield and just running up to him two handing a sword every time he rushed and stopped for a few seconds.
Course I then promptly lost the 25k souls I got from him by getting cursed by one of those damn frogs on the way out of the sewers. Wow I was pissed about that one. But now I'm cursed so I'm heading to Anor Londo for a while.[/spoiler]
Ouch. That's really strange--I haven't been having any problems at all with the Curse Frogs. The curse effect seems to build up so slowly on my character--much more slowly than poison. I'm wearing Crimson Robes, which has good defense and high resistances. Found it on a corpse in Blight-Town, I believe.
Yeah I went through that area several times no problem, but then suddenly the last two times I got totally thrashed by like the first one I encountered.
I also got invaded once yesterday and totally thrashed the invader. That was nice to get an easy humanity.
I'll be out of town for the next few days so I won't be playing for a bit, but when I get back it's time to further explore into Blighttown (I only opened the door), Anor Londo (where the ghosts are really pissing me off when they show up in groups of three or four at once), and the Drakes area.
There are some sweet goodies in the Drake Valley...but the enemies are hard as balls. Run past them, I say!! ;)
Ironically I use the Drake sword on the Drakes. ;D The two handed running slash is deadly. Some extra stamina regeneration doesn't hurt either. Not sure about the Drakes that are across the bridge for the moment.
Don't get New Londo confused with Anor Londo, they are different places.
I've made it quite far into the Demon ruins, fire protection is the key, without it you don't have much of a chance against the bosses. 'Flash Sweat' pyromancy spell is really useful.
Anybody know good places to find crystal lizards. I think I found two or three, do they come back. Also there's a strange eyeball thing that appears sometimes.
Awesome protip - how to get lots of twinkling titanite really easily:
[spoiler]Those different moss things that the spiky tree things drop in the forest area fairly commonly? They're nice for curing some poison and stuff, but can also be used to get more twinkling titanite. If you go back to the asylum there's a trading nest to the side of the path by the guys with the torches where you can drop stuff to trade with the crow like in Demon's Souls. If you drop any of those moss clumps and then quit/reload he will have replaced it with a twinkling titanite (2 twinkling titanites for the blooming purple kind).
I've tried dropping various armor items and he doesn't seem to care for those. Don't ever leave him more than one item at a time. Those dung pies (I'm not sure they're actually good for anything ever) will get you demon titanite too, so I think his main use is getting more titanite. But the twinkling one makes me really happy.[/spoiler]
can you do it multiple times? Or just once? I don't remember if I tried it more than once.
I did it several times in a row with the red moss, just drop one then save/load, drop another moss and pick up what was left, repeat. Used all the red moss I had at the time.
I played for a little while this evening and I'll say that I really enjoyed exploring around Blighttown. I love being able to see that there's some item off in the distance somewhere and trying to figure out how to get to it to pick it up. I also killed two invaders pretty easily and they both dropped some decent goodies for me. It seems like the invaders in Demon's Souls were a bit better at coming after me.
I explored quite a lot of Blighttown and then found myself looped back around to a path up to
[spoiler]the ruins.[/spoiler]
I know there's more stuff in Blighttown to do, I just avoided one path because there were a bunch of guys throwing knives at me that made me toxic which I find particularly annoying.
You'll find a fire keeper's soul where the guys are shooting poison darts at you, in Blighttown, down the bottom where the dogs are. Best poison protection is the tattered clothes at this point(until you get past Queelaag), keep your grass shield up and walk towards the pygmy things, once you kill them they don't come back, and they drop moss too.
I made it back to the asylum, going to take on the new boss today.
OMG the double archers in Anor Londo are more annoying than any boss I have ever faced in any freaking game ever. EVER. *punches self in the face*
Where did you say there was an item that makes you walk on water.
I miss this game... I really do :(
*must...finish...episode 4....and...get..ready..for...saturday*
I have friends coming to visit right after the release of ep4. I don't wanna :( I wanna play Dark Souls and sleep, instead :(
Quote from: drunkenmonkey on October 26, 2011, 05:02:49 AM
Where did you say there was an item that makes you walk on water.
Well not really walk "on" water, but rather walk "in" water without being slowed down by it. If you go back to the asylum you can get through the locked door on the 2nd floor to a body that's at the top of a broken staircase. It has a rusted ring (I think that's what it's called) that lets you move through water the same as if you were walking on regular dry ground. Very useful in swampy areas or water.
The key to that door is on a corpse right by the staircase you go up to the bird's nest for going back to the asylum. Just look around by the bottom of that staircase and you'll see a body on top of a building nearby (I think that's the roof to the pool-type area where the NPC that eats items for souls is). You can jump over to it and loot the corpse. You'll have to drop down from that roof and go back around to the elevator to get back to the bird's nest staircase but it's worth the trouble.
Pro-tip: Get the hang of the parry-riposte thing and you will be able to farm souls like no other once you get past those stupid archers in Anor Londo. There's a lot of silver knights inside the castle and they are SUPER easy to kill if you can time the parry-riposte stuff. They each drop 900 souls and I can one-shot any of them so I spent a while just doing some farming last night right before bed.
Archer pro-tip: If you find yourself stuck trying to get past them here's the brilliantly easy solution I found:
[spoiler]Sprint up the first ramp and hope not to get hit. On the second ramp just run normally and save your stamina. They'll miss you every time. Walk over toward the right archer and roll under an arrow if needed. When he draws his sword back away fairly quickly until you're back right close to the top of the ramp. The left archer can't hit you with that tower in his way and the right one will come after you with his sword and just fall off the ledge. Then you can head into the castle and there's a bonfire right inside so life is good again.[/spoiler]
I died there easily forty times before figuring that out.
Oy, just picked up the game again after being too busy to play it for two weeks or so. Lol...looks like I'm going to have to take some time to relearn everything. I'm getting owned here.
(Posted on: October 29, 2011, 12:08:31 PM)
Made some decent progress. Wish there was a bonfire in Sen's Fortress (that I could find.)
Noticed a couple of obnoxious inventory bugs. I had around 100 titanite shards simply disappear out of my inventory (I had been hoarding them to do some equipment upgrades...I get to my bonfire, go to do the upgrades, and poof! No titanite shards. What the f***, game? Are bugs part of your deviousness, too?
Quote from: Lambonius on October 30, 2011, 06:50:27 PM
Oy, just picked up the game again after being too busy to play it for two weeks or so. Lol...looks like I'm going to have to take some time to relearn everything. I'm getting owned here.
(Posted on: October 29, 2011, 12:08:31 PM)
Made some decent progress. Wish there was a bonfire in Sen's Fortress (that I could find.)
Noticed a couple of obnoxious inventory bugs. I had around 100 titanite shards simply disappear out of my inventory (I had been hoarding them to do some equipment upgrades...I get to my bonfire, go to do the upgrades, and poof! No titanite shards. What the f***, game? Are bugs part of your deviousness, too?
There's one at the top, right before the boss. Where that giant guy first starts lobbing those cannonball things at you, look for an area where there's a break in the fence near a big black patch where they land. Look over that break and you should see a bonfire down there. Drop down to it to use, and if you walk back in from it you'll be right past the end of the swinging blades stuff just before the stairs lead you outside.
Also, you should definitely kill that guy before heading to the boss. He's pretty easy if you try to stay behind him and just watch his legs. He doesn't respawn but if you kill the other one that's dropping them into the obstacle course he will respawn.
ok, I'm back into this. Gotta finish it before next tuesday!
I worked down my way pass Queelag and into this lava section. I killed all the demons and got the chaos fire ember, and then started my way down to the other side. I found a centipede attached to a wall that killed me. I noticed I can attack him with arrows but man, that wasn't going anywhere. He eventually killed me. How much HP does the guy have?
Are you talking about the Demon Ruins area? I wouldn't bother tackling that til later. Eventually you will get an item that [spoiler]allows you to warp between lit bonfires[/spoiler], at which point you can head back to those areas with ease and clear them when you're at a higher level.
I've been playing this a lot lately, too, after a long hiatus. I'm around level 57 or so and have been through the Catacombs and Anor Londo. Haven't yet tackled the boss in Anor Londo yet though--I've read he (they) is a real pain. I've been farming a bit there--the Silver Knights are easy once you figure out their patterns (and if you have a good shield), they drop 900 souls each, and there are a bunch of them that you can easily battle one at a time right near a bonfire.
Poison works well against the centipedes and the giant minotaurs. If you have the lord vessel and the yellow mist is away, you need to have all the fire robes and the fire ring and the sweat pyro spell and a good fire shield for the boss through there. And he'll still take away most of your energy with the fire. No real way to defend against the explosions unless you get lucky and face them directly with shield up. Oh you give the fire embers to the blacksmith in the catacombs, he's kind of hidden.
I'm on my way to the lord vessel soul in the catacombs. These Large Skeletons and Skeleton Dogs are tough, and can easily take you out in seconds if you aren't careful. I have my fire weapon so I should be heading back to the archives to dispatch some crystal guards soon.
I just defeated one of the major 4 bosses. I want to finish this game before I leave tomorrow, but I don't think I will.
So....Dark Souls still on anyone's mind now that Skyrim is here?
Yeah, it's a great game, I'm hoping to get back to it when I have time.
I've taken a break from Skyrim to get back into Dark Souls. The game still rules. I've started a new character and am following a guide this time--I know that's lame, but I'm trying out a specific build I read about, so I wanted to make sure I got it right.
I have to say though, now that I've got a small baby in the house--this game's lack of a pause feature is absolutely criminal. No excuse whatsoever can justify it. Just blatant, terrible, player-alienating design. It seems they deliberately cut out a significant chunk of their customer base (the ones who play games, but also have kids or other obligations at home that can't sit still for 5-8 hour play sessions at a time.) Absolutely ridiculous. And the idea that it would screw up the online features is a totally invalid excuse. They could have had the pause feature simply ghost your character, so that you'd still be seen in other players' worlds, but would not be able to be attacked. Sure, this could be exploited, but honestly, the invasion and player-vs-player part of the game is really minor. There definitely could have been work-arounds.
Quote from: Lambonius on December 12, 2011, 11:38:19 AM
I've taken a break from Skyrim to get back into Dark Souls. The game still rules. I've started a new character and am following a guide this time--I know that's lame, but I'm trying out a specific build I read about, so I wanted to make sure I got it right.
I have to say though, now that I've got a small baby in the house--this game's lack of a pause feature is absolutely criminal. No excuse whatsoever can justify it. Just blatant, terrible, player-alienating design. It seems they deliberately cut out a significant chunk of their customer base (the ones who play games, but also have kids or other obligations at home that can't sit still for 5-8 hour play sessions at a time.) Absolutely ridiculous. And the idea that it would screw up the online features is a totally invalid excuse. They could have had the pause feature simply ghost your character, so that you'd still be seen in other players' worlds, but would not be able to be attacked. Sure, this could be exploited, but honestly, the invasion and player-vs-player part of the game is really minor. There definitely could have been work-arounds.
Hahaha this is SO insanely true. Yeah having the kids around just really interferes with games that can't be properly paused. Can't tell you how many times I've just set the controller down to run and deal with some child-issue-thing and just known that I'd very likely be dead by the time I got back.
This game isn't nearly as hard once you know its secrets.
Level the s*** out of your weapons, and ascend them when you get the opportunity. The various ascension states (Magic, Divine, Occult, etc.) all have damage multipliers that are affected by your level in specific stats. For example, pump levels into intelligence, and then ascend a weapon like, say, the Winged Spear to the Magic Spear (first ascension level), and while the base attack level appears to be lower, the weapon actually gets crazy damage multipliers that make it an absolute murderer. And since it is considered Magic damage, most enemies have very little resistance against it. Add to that the fact that chained attacks ALSO multiply damage, and it becomes very easy to annihilate most enemies, especially early on in the game.
Once you get the hang of leveling wisely, the game really opens up and doesn't seem as daunting.
Out of curiosity, which build are you going for?
Quote from: LadyTerra on December 14, 2011, 08:15:23 AM
Out of curiosity, which build are you going for?
I'm doing the "Spell Warrior" build outlined in the following faq. It's working pretty well for me. My first run was as a pure melee character, and it was MUCH tougher going, and I didn't end up finishing the game, despite getting up into the 60s with my level. However, it did force me to get good at dodging and countering, which makes this new playthrough even smoother.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/606312-dark-souls/faqs/63198
Resurrecting this old thread!
Now that I'm back home after a 2 months hiatus, I got back into playing this. I'm ultra high level now (80 I think), using a fire zant.. (forget its name) big ass sword +8. I have been getting all the trophies for ascending all the weapons, just missing fire and chaos.
I was trying to get a trophy for which I need Faith on 50 --Currently I have it on 30. Requirement is supposed to lower if you help others defeat their level bosses, but apparently that's a b**** to get summoned if you are high level. Bah. I want my trophy!
Anyhow, I'm missing 2 of the bosses once gotten the LordVessels, and I guess after that is the final boss. I'm almost around 100 hours put into this game (I have no idea when I've found the time to put that in honestly).
When's the third game in the series out? :)
Apparently there's some DLC in the works for this one.
I have to admit I lost interest in this game in the wake of Skyrim, AC:Revelations, and Arkham City. I'll get back to it one day, I'm sure.
Quote from: Lambonius on January 26, 2012, 12:59:24 AM
I have to admit I lost interest in this game in the wake of Skyrim, AC:Revelations, and Arkham City. I'll get back to it one day, I'm sure.
Same. Haven't played Arkham City though. And Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out next week, then RE:Revelations the week after. Might be a bit before I get back to Dark Souls, but I will eventually.
Uncharted 3 distracted me temporarily but then I beat the whole thing in 8 hours so I'm glad I didn't buy it.
Yeah, that's why I try not to fall in the trap of buy a game as soon as it's released if I still have 20 other games I haven't gotten through yet. But sometimes, I can't resist, like with Dark Souls.
I finally beat it last night. I played a bit through the new game, which was such a breeze with my high levels.
Definitely my fav game of the year so far, but I haven't played any of the others contenders yet, like Arkham City, Skyrim, Zelda, Uncharted 3 or Portal 2.
107 hours was my total time put in. Crazy.
Everybodys favorite auteur Tommy Wiseau has finally played Dark Souls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lK-IOLbvxE).
Can somebody please explain to me why does he still have a career?