Dark Souls group therapy session

[drunkenmonkey]

There's a few transient curses on a dead body just past some ghosts down the stairs and around past the mist door.

[Cez]

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!!

[Lambonius]

Moonlight Butterfly.............so pretty................oh wait, it's trying to kill me!  Aaaaaaaand....it succeeded.

[wilco64256]

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:

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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.

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.

[Lambonius]

Once you get over the shock of a flying boss, the Moonlight Butterfly isn't that hard.  You just

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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.

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

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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.

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.

[drunkenmonkey]

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.

[Cez]

For the butterfly...

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Use magic!! Fireballs do fine!

And yes, the Hydra can be frustrating to kill. Actually the secret is...

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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

Lamb the basement key....

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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.

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!

[Lambonius]

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.

[Cez]

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.

[Lambonius]

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. 

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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?

(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

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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.

[drunkenmonkey]

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: -

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I used the doorway technique and a big axe

. 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.

[Cez]

Lamb, that guy that you just saved...

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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!

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.

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There's one in the forest and another one in the catacombs

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

I also went down the catacombs. I'm stuck at...

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another headless guy, much tougher than the first one. Also, a divine weapon works wonder with the skeletons, making them super easy!

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

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.

[Lambonius]

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.

[wilco64256]

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.

[Lambonius]

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

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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.

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.

[drunkenmonkey]

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.

[Lambonius]

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:  

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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.

[wilco64256]

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.

[Lambonius]

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. 

[Cez]

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.