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Dark Souls III |OT+2| Why Can't We Poise the Game?

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I am looking for something to tide me over until DS3 DLC. Would anyone here like to recommend Salt and Sanctuary? I have been thinking of playing that or Scholar of the First Sin (played the original DS2 and loved it. How different is Scholar?).

Any opinions are appreciated!
Both games are amazing! However, since you already played DS2, I'd recommend Salt & Sanctuary for something more "fresh". SotFS is really good, and I'd recommend it as well, of course, but despite the changes it's still fairly similar to what you already played.

On the flipside, S&S is shorter (though still a substantial game), and DS2 Scholar is massive. Depends on how much content you need until late October I guess. ^^
 

Amirnol

Member
Both games are amazing! However, since you already played DS2, I'd recommend Salt & Sanctuary for something more "fresh". SotFS is really good, and I'd recommend it as well, of course, but despite the changes it's still fairly similar to what you already played.

On the flipside, S&S is shorter (though still a substantial game), and DS2 Scholar is massive. Depends on how much content you need until late October I guess. ^^
Thanks for the suggestions. I was just reminded of Dragon's Dogma on PC, haven't played that one either. Would you rate this one even high than those?
 
Just farm the 3 knights in Anor Londo. It's honestly not that long. Go to Rosaria, offer up a tongue to respec, get crazy high Intelligence and Soul Spear them to death. If you've got a spare slab, get that sweet Court Sorcerer Staff to + 10.Take about 2 for each knight, and goes super fast. Remember to pop a rusted coin, and to wear your mimic head!

Plus your new build can plow through Nameless King with ease!

I had intelligence at 36 anyway, but I just spent 3 hours farming them, got about 15 of them and about 4.5 million souls which I've put into luck so I'm at 28 now. I'm at about level 20 with them now, so another good grind and I will get another 10 of them.
 

grmlin

Member
I had intelligence at 36 anyway, but I just spent 3 hours farming them, got about 15 of them and about 4.5 million souls which I've put into luck so I'm at 28 now. I'm at about level 20 with them now, so another good grind and I will get another 10 of them.
They must have patched it then. I tried to farm them maybe 3 weeks ago and got only one after more than an hour.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Thanks for the suggestions. I was just reminded of Dragon's Dogma on PC, haven't played that one either. Would you rate this one even high than those?
Ah good question. I'd probably not rate it higher, and as Relaxed said they're very different games, but Dragon's Dogma is also an excellent game with tons of content, that's going to last you a while.

Honestly you can't really go wrong with any of these. ^^
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
has anyone had the game freeze for a second or two in the irithyll dungeon (pc in particular)? i have a feeling it has something to do with the jailers. maybe it's some kinda of effect that is really heavy? the rest of the game has been running fine for me except boreal valley where i got a little stuttering. i don't think it's my pc causing it.
 

grmlin

Member
I'm not very sensitive to frame drops and 30 FPS in general, but on PS4 I never experienced freezes or heavy drops at all.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
i can't seem to defeat this Dancer boss. i'm only getting maybe 1/4 of her health down if i'm lucky. there's no where else for me to go. she's blocking access to the remaining locations. also can't seem to find any summon signs for npcs or players.
 

grmlin

Member
i can't seem to defeat this Dancer boss. i'm only getting maybe 1/4 of her health down if i'm lucky. there's no where else for me to go. she's blocking access to the remaining locations. also can't seem to find any summon signs for npcs or players.

how often did you try?

That boss was the first real challenge for me in DS3, and it got a lot worse after that :D
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
What the fuck. I was trying to do Anri's quest the normal fashion on NG+ (never even spoke to Yoel!) and yet Anri is dead in Anor Londo. The shit happened? I'm not even HOLLOW! Am I stuck with that ending?
 

Tarkus

Member
What the fuck. I was trying to do Anri's quest the normal fashion on NG+ (never even spoke to Yoel!) and yet Anri is dead in Anor Londo. The shit happened? I'm not even HOLLOW! Am I stuck with that ending?
Besides the hollow arm of the questline, there's about 4 different things that can happen depending on what you did. Did you kill Horace? Did you tell Anri about it? Did you kill the chameleon pilgrim? Did you get a chance to help Anri fight Aldrich?
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
Besides the hollow arm of the questline, there's about 4 different things that can happen depending on what you did. Did you kill Horace? Did you tell Anri about it? Did you kill the chameleon pilgrim? Did you get a chance to help Anri fight Aldrich?

I killed Horace but didn't tell Anri about it. Chameleon pilgrim was dead near Anri's corpse. I wanted to get to help Anri with Aldrich. T_T
 

Tarkus

Member
I killed Horace but didn't tell Anri about it. Chameleon pilgrim was dead near Anri's corpse. I wanted to get to help Anri with Aldrich. T_T
If you didn't kill the pilgrim hiding at the Church of Yorshka bonfire, then you ended the questline. The pilgrim killed her and took her body to the Darkmoon Tomb, then the pilgrim died as well as it fulfilled its mission.
 
Yeah for sure. I was happy though that
Irina got to be a fire keeper!
Sort of. I never would have found that on my own.

Same. Some of the quests in this game are obscure to the point of being ridiculous. I have no idea how anyone figured that one out. Or the Sirris questline, for that matter.
 

RiggyRob

Member
We made it to Anor Londo and Aldrich!

Part 56 &Part 57.

Keep getting wrecked by
Silver Knights, especially the fucker with the immense spear lunge range, but they aren't as bad as the Lothric Knights at the start of the game. The spider creature that drops Aldrich's Ruby (which we fought legit this time, thank you) was relatively easy in comparison.

Easterner's set seems cool fashion-wise but not all that practical, especially since I'm not expecting there to be many katana-wielding enemies, which is a bit disappointing.

Also, someone mentioned it earlier, but I find it a little annoying that being a member of the Aldrich Faithful covenant doesn't make you invisible to the clerics like the Rat covenant made you invisible in Doors of Pharro's in DS2. It's not like getting the covenant is easy or obvious, and that would've been a nice reward not having to worry about them for the boss run to Aldrich.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
how often did you try?

That boss was the first real challenge for me in DS3, and it got a lot worse after that :D

i have lost count of how many times i've tried. i feel like i've hit a brick wall because like you say this is probably the first proper challenge. i thought aldrich was bad.

what do i do? i really don't want to farm souls to lvl up. i can't upgrade my weapon because i need titanite chunks which are all found in the areas i'm currently locked out of because of this boss! i'm just doing so little damage to her.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
what do i do? i really don't want to farm souls to lvl up. i can't upgrade my weapon because i need titanite chunks which are all found in the areas i'm currently locked out of because of this boss! i'm just doing so little damage to her.
What weapon are you using and what are your stats?

FWIW, bleed works wonders on her. If you have a moderately fast weapon, use Carthus Rouge and take off huge chunks of her health with bleed.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
What weapon are you using and what are your stats?

FWIW, bleed works wonders on her. If you have a moderately fast weapon, use Carthus Rouge and take off huge chunks of her health with bleed.

i beat her!..well i had to summon help. uh i think my raw claymore was at +6. i was using the fallen knight set but switch out some parts to lothric knight but i'm fat rolling.

right now i've cleared the consumed king's garden. not sure if i'm gonna do untended graves or archdragon peak next. my raw claymore is +8 and my shield of want is +3 now. i'm lvl 80.
 

Tarkus

Member
i beat her!..well i had to summon help. uh i think my raw claymore was at +6. i was using the fallen knight set but switch out some parts to lothric knight but i'm fat rolling.

right now i've cleared the consumed king's garden. not sure if i'm gonna do untended graves or archdragon peak next. my raw claymore is +8 and my shield of want is +3 now. i'm lvl 80.
The extra damage absorption is never worth giving up your fast roll. Raw infusion becomes outclassed by +6 on most weapons and most builds. Use a shriving stone to get rid of the raw infusion. Check the numbers for heavy, sharp, and Refined infusions, depending on your build.
 
I don't know what it is about Aldritch but I completely dropped the game for the last two months after about twenty tries of this piece of shit.

That arrow spam move pissed me off to the point of white knuckled hate and came hot on the heels of a general air of the 'been there done that' disappointment of the entire lead-up and eventual arrival to
Anor Londo
. As a matter of fact, strike that, the 'been there done that' and uninspired world layout in general.

I'll probably pick the game up again for a new run if I feel compelled once the dust of potential Souls burnout settles next year or so.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
The extra damage absorption is never worth giving up your fast roll. Raw infusion becomes outclassed by +6 on most weapons and most builds. Use a shriving stone to get rid of the raw infusion. Check the numbers for heavy, sharp, and Refined infusions, depending on your build.

I just unequipped my shield and 2 handed my claymore to stay under 70%. No way would i have survived that fat rolling.

I had a look at the damage of my claymore. It says that with raw +10 it does 345 and normal +10 it does 275. So i should keep the raw infusement or am i understanding you incorrectly?
 

Cat Party

Member
I don't know what it is about Aldritch but I completely dropped the game for the last two months after about twenty tries of this piece of shit.

That arrow spam move pissed me off to the point of white knuckled hate and came hot on the heels of a general air of the 'been there done that' disappointment of the entire lead-up and eventual arrival to
Anor Londo
. As a matter of fact, strike that, the 'been there done that' and uninspired world layout in general.

I'll probably pick the game up again for a new run if I feel compelled once the dust of potential Souls burnout settles next year or so.
The arrow move drove me crazy at first. But it's totally avoidable. When he goes back to draw the bow, you start running in a circular/serpentine path, then about half way through, start rolling to avoid the magic attacks.
 

Tarkus

Member
I just unequipped my shield and 2 handed my claymore to stay under 70%. No way would i have survived that fat rolling.

I had a look at the damage of my claymore. It says that with raw +10 it does 345 and normal +10 it does 275. So i should keep the raw infusement or am i understanding you incorrectly?
Is that with stat scaling or are you looking at a wiki? You should be doing upper 400's. My refined Claymore on a 40/40 str/dex does over 500.
 
The arrow move drove me crazy at first. But it's totally avoidable. When he goes back to draw the bow, you start running in a circular/serpentine path, then about half way through, start rolling to avoid the magic attacks.

The second bullshit phase is what gets me. I mean it lasts like 30 seconds while he's shoot homing soul arrows and whatever else. I've tried everything in my moveset and it fucks me up every time. I've beaten every other Souls game so I can't say I'm just crappy at the game itself haha.

I put the game down when the Nioh Alpha came out, continued after about three weeks, played for another few days up to Aldritch and haven't touched it since. When I see the box it just gives me a dejavu and irritating-boss headache.
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
I don't know what it is about Aldritch but I completely dropped the game for the last two months after about twenty tries of this piece of shit.

That arrow spam move pissed me off to the point of white knuckled hate and came hot on the heels of a general air of the 'been there done that' disappointment of the entire lead-up and eventual arrival to
Anor Londo
. As a matter of fact, strike that, the 'been there done that' and uninspired world layout in general.

I'll probably pick the game up again for a new run if I feel compelled once the dust of potential Souls burnout settles next year or so.
Pyromancy utterly wrecks Aldrich. He lasts seconds. Great Chaos Fire Orb is the tool for that fight. Respec into Pyro, if you aren't already and destroy him with it.
 
Just finished grinding covenant items for blades of the dark moon, mound makers and watchdogs of farron. Glad that is over.
Just need the proper bow gesture and the +2 rings and the other ending in playthrough 3 and I have the platinum. What a journey this has been.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
Is that with stat scaling or are you looking at a wiki? You should be doing upper 400's. My refined Claymore on a 40/40 str/dex does over 500.

i looked at the stats on a wiki. i'm not sure what my claymore does right now. i thought with raw infusement it takes away the strength scaling? honestly i'm not too sure about how all it works. i've always just picked what does the most damage.
 
i looked at the stats on a wiki. i'm not sure what my claymore does right now. i thought with raw infusement it takes away the strength scaling? honestly i'm not too sure about how all it works. i've always just picked what does the most damage.

Raw removes scaling altogether in exchange for a bigger base dmg, raw is usually a bad choice unless you are going for a magic build.
 

RiggyRob

Member
We killed Aldrich! (Not to rub it in your face, Bloodporne): https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLnhwVsYSH1o1jW-5r-UfCbFz4VcQalzj5&v=SUwIyCk4Bjg

He's a tough motherfucker, that's for sure. Took us maybe around 20 tries, and there's about 9 or 10 just in the video after being edited.

The strategy for the second phase arrows that I found worked best was to start as far away as possible, use the pillars/stumps to block their path a little, then run in tight circles (the arrows can catch up to you if you run in straight lines). Best example of it is at 18:35 in the video.

The most annoying thing about Aldrich isn't actually the second phase arrows, or the dark spear magic - it's the fact that he teleports all over the fucking place. It was annoying with the Crystal Sage, but at least he didn't do damage when teleporting. Makes it frustrating to just try and keep up with him when you're chasing him all around the arena, and then you don't have any stamina to attack him with.

I guess that's why he's a Lord of Cinder for might instead of virtue!
 
Raw removes scaling altogether in exchange for a bigger base dmg, raw is usually a bad choice unless you are going for a magic build.

Raw is actually really good in Dark Souls 3 early game, because it adds a lot of damage to Raw Astora Straight Sword which has easy to meet requirements, and you can build HP and Stamina early.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
Raw removes scaling altogether in exchange for a bigger base dmg, raw is usually a bad choice unless you are going for a magic build.

how come it says that i will do more damage with it than without it then for my claymore? right now it does 311 damage and if i remove it then it will go down. i'm at +8.
 
how come it says that i will do more damage with it than without it then for my claymore? right now it does 311 damage and if i remove it then it will go down. i'm at +8.
Are you taking in to account the bonus damage from stat scaling, which is shown as a separate figure on the weapon stats screen? (the figure with after the + or - next to the damage figure).

The base damage of raw is higher because that is the function of the raw upgrade path, it gives a damage boost early game because you don't have the stats to benefit from scaling bonus. But it is soon outclassed if you are leveling up your character stats that your chosen weapon receives damage bonus from - in your case Claymore is D scaling in both STR and DEX, so level up both/either of those to increase the bonus damage. (It is on a simple letter grading system, S being the best, then A, B, C etc).

estocstats43ui4.jpg

This example: the weapon scales D/D with STR and DEX, and the base damage is 105 physical, with a stat scaling bonus of 12, so the actual damage you do is 117, which will increase every time that player levels up STR or DEX.
 
Pyromancy utterly wrecks Aldrich. He lasts seconds. Great Chaos Fire Orb is the tool for that fight. Respec into Pyro, if you aren't already and destroy him with it.

Thanks for the tip but I have no pyromancy at all in this go-round consciously. I think I'm good for a bit on part III.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
Are you taking in to account the bonus damage from stat scaling, which is shown as a separate figure on the weapon stats screen? (the figure with after the + or - next to the damage figure).

The base damage of raw is higher because that is the function of the raw upgrade path, it gives a damage boost early game because you don't have the stats to benefit from scaling bonus. But it is soon outclassed if you are leveling up your character stats that your chosen weapon receives damage bonus from - in your case Claymore is D scaling in both STR and DEX, so level up both/either of those to increase the bonus damage. (It is on a simple letter grading system, S being the best, then A, B, C etc).



This example: the weapon scales D/D with STR and DEX, and the base damage is 105 physical, with a stat scaling bonus of 12, so the actual damage you do is 117, which will increase every time that player levels up STR or DEX.

ahh ok i think i get it now! i will go remove the raw infusion now and see what i get. thanks :)

edit: removed it and yep...with raw it was 311 damage and regular with scaling i'm now at 356!
 
ahh ok i think i get it now! i will go remove the raw infusion now and see what i get. thanks :)

edit: removed it and yep...with raw it was 311 damage and regular with scaling i'm now at 356!
Great :) - I think we've all been there at some point, the weapon stats screen in Souls has never been the most self-explanatory!
 

Amirnol

Member
Thanks to some suggestions here, I started playing Scholar of the First Sin. I played original DS2 when it came out and loved it at the time, but now playing Scholar after DS3, what a huge step back in terms of mechanics. DS2 feels so incredibly slow compared to DS3, really just clunky overall. Definitely makes me appreciate DS3 even more, and once all DLC is released, I wouldn't be surprised if DS3 ends up being my favorite of the Souls series.

But in Scholar's defense, I love the new enemy placements, they feel so much more interesting and organic, like they have purpose. And the lore feels stronger for it. I still feel like DS2 might have my favorite story and lore. One of these days I will do a Dark Souls 1-3 playthrough, it should be an epic experience.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
Thanks to some suggestions here, I started playing Scholar of the First Sin. I played original DS2 when it came out and loved it at the time, but now playing Scholar after DS3, what a huge step back in terms of mechanics. DS2 feels so incredibly slow compared to DS3, really just clunky overall. Definitely makes me appreciate DS3 even more, and once all DLC is released, I wouldn't be surprised if DS3 ends up being my favorite of the Souls series.

But in Scholar's defense, I love the new enemy placements, they feel so much more interesting and organic, like they have purpose. And the lore feels stronger for it. I still feel like DS2 might have my favorite story and lore. One of these days I will do a Dark Souls 1-3 playthrough, it should be an epic experience.

i hated the combat in ds2. it felt like there was a delay between pressing the button and it actually happening. also at times i couldn't attack or roll when being attacked. lvl up ADP stat helps a bit. get it to about 95-100. even when i had that it still felt a bit awkward. ds1 and 3 are way faster. the way humanity/estus/levelling/health works was putting me off at first since i had came straight from ds1 but after a while it becomes less of an issue and i actually prefered it.

the bosses in ds2 are in my opinion the worst of any souls game including bloodborne. i can only think of two off the top of my head who i struggled with. the final boss i got was disappointing. but the rest of the game was enjoyable. lots of areas to explore and it's probably the only game i've had an idea of what was happening story wise. so far DS2 is easily the longest out of them all again including bloodborne. i've only got DS3 to finish but i'm 24 hours in and at lothric castle. i finished bloodborne in 25 hours, DS1 in 32 hours and DS2 in 39 hours (none including DLC)
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
so i've now cleared lothric castle. i've accessed the first bonfire in archdragon peak. i only have that area and grand archives left before the final boss. i know archdragon peak is optional. what one should i do first? i think maybe do archives then peak but if i beat the boss at archives will i be able to return to peak or will there be a point of no return where i can't go back?
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Thanks to some suggestions here, I started playing Scholar of the First Sin. I played original DS2 when it came out and loved it at the time, but now playing Scholar after DS3, what a huge step back in terms of mechanics. DS2 feels so incredibly slow compared to DS3, really just clunky overall. Definitely makes me appreciate DS3 even more, and once all DLC is released, I wouldn't be surprised if DS3 ends up being my favorite of the Souls series.

But in Scholar's defense, I love the new enemy placements, they feel so much more interesting and organic, like they have purpose. And the lore feels stronger for it. I still feel like DS2 might have my favorite story and lore. One of these days I will do a Dark Souls 1-3 playthrough, it should be an epic experience.

DS2 favours relatively slow weapons like greatswords almost as much as DS3 favours fast hitters like straight swords, combat also perceptually "speeds up" drastically due to the way that flask speed is stat driven. One of my biggest beefs with DS3 is that combat never evolves, what works at the start works at the end. My fresh lvl 20 char doesn't feel much different from my SL230 trophy build.

In DS2 a level difference like that is literally night and day.
 

Tarkus

Member
so i've now cleared lothric castle. i've accessed the first bonfire in archdragon peak. i only have that area and grand archives left before the final boss. i know archdragon peak is optional. what one should i do first? i think maybe do archives then peak but if i beat the boss at archives will i be able to return to peak or will there be a point of no return where i can't go back?
You can return to anywhere. I'd go GA first since AD is the most difficult area in the game.


Dammit! I was out last night. If you see me on PSN and ever need some help, just send me a message :)
Thank you! I actually just need an unupgraded Swordspear.
 

Tarkus

Member
Sorry for the DP!

Havok's 16-man Non-meta Tournament today at 1 pm est! All the greatest PC players from around the world. No bullshit weapons!

Today 1PM EST

WEAPONS ALLOWED:

Daggers (DAG): All except Scholars Candlestick, Corvian Greatknife

Straight swords (SS): Shortsword, Astora SS, Broken SS, Barbed SS, Cleric's Candlestick, Lothric's holy sword

Greatswords (GS): Bastard Sword, Executioner's GS, Wolf Knight GS, Claymore, Firelink GS, Black Knight GS, Wolnir Holy Sword, Flamberge, GS of Judgement, Storm Ruler, Moonlight GS, Twin Princes' GS (All except Hollowslayer + Drakeblood)

Ultra Greatswords (UGS): All except Astoras

Curved Swords (CS): Warden Twinblades, Dancer's Twinblades, Painting Guardian Sword, Rotten Ghru CS, Scimitar, Sellsword Twinblades, Crescent Moon Sword

Curved Gratswords (CGS): All Curved Greatsword class weapons allowed

Katanas (KAT): Darkdrift, Bloodlust, Black Blade

Thrusting Swords (TS): Rapier, Crystal Sage's Rapier

Greataxes (GA): All except Yhorms Great Machete

Halberds (HB): Crescent Axe

Spears & Pikes (SP): All except Gargoyle Flame Spear, Drang Twinspears, Dragonslayer Swordspear, Dragonslayer Spear, Lothric Knight Spea, Plow

All weapons may be used from the following classes:

Hammers, Great Hammers, Axes, Reapers (Scythes), Whips, Bows, Greatbows, Crossbows, Stave, Flames, Talismans & Chimes

1QXPmei.jpg


Full rules here.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
ran through the grand archives to unlock all the shortcuts. really can't be bothered fighting them all right now. if i need to lvl up anymore (i'm at 89) then i'll run through and kill them or go to archdragon peak. this boss is really tough. will try tomorrow again.
 

grmlin

Member
Currently helping with Yhorm to get sunlight medals. I had some matches where he pretty much one shotted me with two attacks after mistiming the roll. In other fights he takes away 20% of my HP with a hit. Almost done and feels good to help other players trying to kill him with their normal swords.
 
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