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[V_Arnold]

if u glitch u can get easy a million souls per minute with the dragon head stone.....otherwise itll take u a while...

15 runs in the forest behind the sealed door.
It takes around 20mins of grind. (1~min per run max).

 

[PeterVenkman]

15 runs in the forest behind the sealed door.
It takes around 20mins of grind. (1~min per run max).

been trying the forest now - getting my skeleton punched out of my body by mushrooms. Do the guys right in front of the door respawn? all of those forest guardians who refuse to let me lock onto them? they each give me about 1-2k per kill, is that the location you mean?

 

[Raxus]

I said no to the

Spoiler

cat thing

.

Can I still join the first covenant?

Yes you can always revisit covenants and yes you can join covenants you have declined (I do it all the time so the achievement and trophy can pop up).

 

[toastyToast]

Oh man, the Iaito is so satisfying to use, but I get the feeling that someone swinging a big ass katana shouldn't be wearing a crappy leather breastplate along with a dirty dress and an ill-matching helmet.

Is there a more appropriate outfit for someone equipped with such a weapon?

hint: I'm looking for a samurai outfit.

edit: thanks Raxus

 

[Ken]

been trying the forest now - getting my skeleton punched out of my body by mushrooms. Do the guys right in front of the door respawn? all of those forest guardians who refuse to let me lock onto them? they each give me about 1-2k per kill, is that the location you mean?

Soul farming in the forest refers to exploiting the AI of the 4-5 Forest Hunter NPCs guarding the forest. You don't need to actually kill them or cross the ruins to the mushroom people.

@toasty: The only "Eastern" armors seem to be the ninja outfit and the Eastern Armor worn by Shiva.

 

[PeterVenkman]

Soul farming in the forest refers to exploiting the AI of the 4-5 Forest Hunter NPCs guarding the forest. You don't need to actually kill them or cross the ruins to the mushroom people.

must have missed that part, i've just been killing them. do they all follow you and run off a cliff or something?

 

[CatPee]

Oh man, the Iaito is so satisfying to use, but I get the feeling that someone swinging a big ass katana shouldn't be wearing a crappy leather breastplate along with a dirty dress and an ill-matching helmet.

Is there a more appropriate outfit for someone equipped with such a weapon?

hint: I'm looking for a samurai outfit.

edit: thanks Raxus

Yep, behind the Door in the Garden. Be prepared to do a suicide run for it though.

 

[Ken]

must have missed that part, i've just been killing them. do they all follow you and run off a cliff or something?

Yup, you can find videos on YouTube. The spot is right by the door in the corner between the steps and the drop.

 

[Ken]

Yes you can always revisit covenants and yes you can join covenants you have declined (I do it all the time so the achievement and trophy can pop up).

You can't revisit Gwyndolin's covenant after stepping through his area's white fog so that's something to keep in mind.

Edit: woops, double post. Sorry.

 

[scy]

been trying the forest now - getting my skeleton punched out of my body by mushrooms. Do the guys right in front of the door respawn? all of those forest guardians who refuse to let me lock onto them? they each give me about 1-2k per kill, is that the location you mean?

There's a total of 7 NPCs in the forest:

Spoiler

2x Ghost Knights (one at the door, one straight out)
1x Human Mage
1x Ghost Assassin (straight after the Mage, relatively close to the Cleric)
1x Human Cleric
1x Human Pyromancer
1x Pharis (Ghost Archer, back near the second Ghost Knight)

Of them, they all respawn but the

Spoiler

Knights and Pharis

. The only one with any loot is

Spoiler

Pharis

so don't have her fall off a cliff, lest you waste the loots

Spoiler

Twin Humanity, Black Bow of Pharis, Pharis' Hat

.

For the record, the end of the Tomb of the Giants is a good place to level as well (the tiny skeletons); they're only 121 base souls per kill but they respawn infinitely and drop Humanity. A bit of a pain to get there the very first time but pretty easy once you learn the layout. Just advice for the future, I suppose.

 

[toastyToast]

Oh, I've already got that

I thought there was something a bit fancier out there.

Oh well.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

Starting to lose my will to play, unfortunately. =/ Shame, since I've only got the last half of Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith left before the endgame. Gonna have to try to force myself through it.

 

[Ken]

Starting to lose my will to play, unfortunately. =/ Shame, since I've only got the last half of Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith left before the endgame. Gonna have to try to force myself through it.

You should take a break? I found that forcing myself through the end of games to ruin the enjoyment I could have gotten if I had taken a break and not try to rush through.

 

[george_us]

Starting to lose my will to play, unfortunately. =/ Shame, since I've only got the last half of Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith left before the endgame. Gonna have to try to force myself through it.

I've just been using Arkham City as my break. I'm at Sen's Fortress and I just became obsessed with the game haha.

 

[krakov]

That happened to me to; in that case just jump down the hole, you will land okay.

You will also cause Frampt to disappear for the rest of the game thought. Hitting him seems to be the less buggy way to deal with it.

 

[PeterVenkman]

Yup, you can find videos on YouTube. The spot is right by the door in the corner between the steps and the drop.

sweet jesus they're like lemmings.

There's a total of 7 NPCs in the forest:

Spoiler

2x Ghost Knights (one at the door, one straight out)
1x Human Mage
1x Ghost Assassin (straight after the Mage, relatively close to the Cleric)
1x Human Cleric
1x Human Pyromancer
1x Pharis (Ghost Archer, back near the second Ghost Knight)

Of them, they all respawn but the

Spoiler

Knights and Pharis.

The only one with any loot is

Spoiler

Pharis

so don't have her fall off a cliff, lest you waste the loots

Spoiler

Twin Humanity, Black Bow of Pharis, Pharis' Hat.

For the record, the end of the Tomb of the Giants is a good place to level as well (the tiny skeletons); they're only 121 base souls per kill but they respawn infinitely and drop Humanity. A bit of a pain to get there the very first time but pretty easy once you learn the layout. Just advice for the future, I suppose.

interesting, will those skeletons respawn even if I'm wailing on them with divine weapons?

 

[scy]

sweet jesus they're like lemmings.

I swear that

Spoiler

Pharis

is programmed to suicide dive her own damn self. 5 characters now through there and each time she immediately escapes melee to the nearest cliff. Every. Single. Time. I've yet to lose the body but damned if she doesn't try her best.

interesting, will those skeletons respawn even if I'm wailing on them with divine weapons?

Yup. They just constantly respawn. They do Toxic per hit, though, so that's something to keep in mind. Also,

Spoiler

the Pinwheel Servants here drop White Titanite Chunks and Slabs (very rarely). They also drop the +Equip Load, HP, or Stamina masks

.

 

[toastyToast]

sweet jesus they're like lemmings.

Yeah, its pretty ridiculous. It actually isn't all that hard to kill them in combat. The only problem is getting each one on their own. There's a thief ghost who roams around who has a liking for backstabbing.

 

[Jinfash]

Gah, how am I supposed to reach the Black Sorcerer Armor set in Sen's Fortress? I'm reading the official guide, I know where it is, but I'm not sure how I can access the area. The maps in this guide can get a little confusing.

 

[Ken]

Yeah, its pretty ridiculous. It actually isn't all that hard to kill them in combat. The only problem is getting each one on their own. There's a thief ghost who roams around who has a liking for backstabbing.

I suppose the difficulty would be from the human Forest Hunter players invading. I've invaded a few games with soul farmers.

 

[Dorrin]

that's an NPC that invaded you

Well that let the air out of my sails.

 

[Insaniac]

ugh this games restrictions sometimes baffle me. Why can't I use my charcoal pine resin on my black knight sword? too OP if i put fire daamge on it?

 

[PeterVenkman]

I suppose the difficulty would be from the human Forest Hunter players invading. I've invaded a few games with soul farmers.

and that's why I'm always in hollow form. Please tell me I'm safe in hollow form.

 

[toastyToast]

and that's why I'm always in hollow form. Please tell me I'm safe in hollow form.

Yup, been solo/hollow from the beginning (30 hours in).

 

[Augemitbutter]

finishing the last part of siegmeyer's quest was hilarious

Spoiler

i killed all plant like monsters but one. weakened it to 40% and let him jump down. i followed immideately to lend him a hand, it took only one second or so. but then another shithead sneaks up on me and one hit kills me but i managed to see sieg finish it with just one hit as well. so when i got back he was still alive and taking a nap. i got the reward at ash lake and the bad ending. very sad.

 

[DarkoMaledictus]

It's hard to take a boss seriously when his name is pronounced "Smuff".

Or "Gaping" dragon...

 

[DarkoMaledictus]

I get invaded constantly and get one shotted nowdays. Its obvious theyre cheaters too. Online is fooked.

Yeah got one shotted by some spell... my magic protection was high and health bar huge...

 

[Ken]

finishing the last part of siegmeyer's quest was hilarious

Spoiler

i killed all plant like monsters but one. weakened it to 40% and let him jump down. i followed immideately to lend him a hand, it took only one second or so. but then another shithead sneaks up on me and one hit kills me but i managed to see sieg finish it with just one hit as well. so when i got back he was still alive and taking a nap. i got the reward at ash lake and the bad ending. very sad.

What's the ending in spoilers?

 

[DigitalDevil]

Phew... Blighttown is STRESSFULL!

 

[frequency]

and that's why I'm always in hollow form. Please tell me I'm safe in hollow form.

No invasions in hollow form from either players or NPCs. So you miss out on some loot. There's no NPC invasions in that forest though.

 

[Septimius]

So, it seems I'm nearing some sort of branch. I have just obtained the lordvessel. Now it seems that

Spoiler

joining the Darkwraiths

is the evil ending of the game?? Does that mean I can't invade without beating the game the 'evil' way? Cause that's bullshit.

Does that mean that something will be different once I do all this lordvessel business, and progress further in the game?

If you have not defeated Orenstein and Smough in Anor Londo and received the Lordvessel from the Princess, you cannot enter Gravelord Nito's fog

Oh, what the fuck, game. Is there any reason for me to go to the catacombs, then?

EDIT: that one seriously annoyed me.

 

[Augemitbutter]

What's the ending in spoilers?

Spoiler

siegmeyer embarks on his final mission, goes hollow and is killed by sieglinde.

 

[shaneskim]

Just do like 5-7 forest runs it should take under 15 minutes.

So many NPC aggro stories! Are you guys this twitchy in real life? "Yeah just the chips and I'll take a pack of Malbor--POW!! Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I don't know why I just did that, sorry sorry oh god!"

I'm imagining that spoken in a Peter griffin voice. Lol

 

[one85x]

Gah, how am I supposed to reach the Black Sorcerer Armor set in Sen's Fortress? I'm reading the official guide, I know where it is, but I'm not sure how I can access the area. The maps in this guide can get a little confusing.

From the room that redirects the boulders, walk down the path that leads to the Gold Covetous Ring. On that first decline, you'll be able to jump onto a wooden platform with a mage snake. There's a doorway from there that will lead to the armor set.

 

[dreamer3kx]

I hope I can go through this one without using magic, Im just not a user of it with these games, I beat demon souls without using but did need help with some of the tough bosses, we'll see.

 

[Sohter.Nura]

I'm at Ornstein and Smough.

It's like... WHAT THE HELL?!!!

The game got sort of easy on me which I didn't like, but this boss is just... damn.

 

[corrosivefrost]

I'm pretty sure every weapon ascends at +10

once you meet the base requirement, it will ascent regardless -- you can use a +14 sword for a +10 requirement to get a boss soul weapon, for example.

Other trees only require+5 -- fire, magic, raw, divine.
From there, you can go to +5 again with fire, magic, and divine branching to either +6 or chaos, enchanted, or occult.

--

If no-one answered the question about the chest in duke's archives, it's not worth the hassle. You have to drop off the staircase as it's turning, about when it's in line with the entrance (before it's over the bookshelf with the chest on it) you also need to kill all archers in the room before you do this (on all floor, preferably). It's the Avelyn crossbow. And if you don't kill those archers, it's quite possible they will kill you as you open the chest. True story, I died trying to get it and lost 31 humanity -- died on the way back again, so it was permanently gone and I decided I was getting that damn chest no matter what. Finally got the timing for the drop down and was opening the chest when I got shot in the back by an archer, took 80% of my life. I tried to estus and the second archer nailed me and I died. Learn from my mistakes, please.

--

Anyone who has NOT done both Nito and Bed of Chaos should be advised to do Bed of Chaos first -- if you're a mage, you get what I currently use as my main catalyst (Izalith catalyst), plus you can go get the sunlight maggot helmet, which is a permanent cast light.

finishing the last part of siegmeyer's quest was hilarious

Spoiler

i killed all plant like monsters but one. weakened it to 40% and let him jump down. i followed immideately to lend him a hand, it took only one second or so. but then another shithead sneaks up on me and one hit kills me but i managed to see sieg finish it with just one hit as well. so when i got back he was still alive and taking a nap. i got the reward at ash lake and the bad ending. very sad.

I had this happen too -- sorta. I killed them all, and had it down at low health and let him jump in. I should have one shotted it with my bow as soon as he jumped down. But alas, I jumped down with him and by the time I hit it, it hit him below 50% health. So I got the same ending as you

Spoiler

and I killed his daughter out of frustration, but she doesn't drop that ring of his.

.

The best part of it was when they didn't show up where I was expecting them and I came in here to find you had to talk to him in the pit after he jumps down. So I go back to do it and I'm in the pit talking to him and I'll be damned if a single octopus doesn't respawn and it saw me and came to say hi when my back was turned. I turned away from him to run out of the pit and ate a face-full of acid mist. All my equipment busted and I couldn't do jack against it, I died and had to run back up there to murder it and get my green splotch. :lol

 

[Omotesando]

So there is no Bonfire in New Londo Ruins (Lower)? My current bonfire is at Firelink Shrine.

 

[Zeth]

This is going to end up my game of the year by a significant margin, and if you'd told me that earlier this year I'd be really surprised.

Just started a new save after 40 hours on my first DEX/Pyro, and playing through the first few hours is so incredibly satisfying. There's something this game experience gives you that I didn't even really know existed until I played Demon's Souls. I love learning every area and enemy placement, and attack pattern. On top of all this, the sheer amount of content is amazing.

Coming away from my 40+ hour journey to start and finish Arkham City in a few sittings was downright jarring. I appreciate the differences in the two titles but DkS has this certain spark of something that I can't quite put my finger on that keeps me coming back over and over, feeling strangely enthusiastic not only to finish the game, but to come back with new character(s) to play and learn the content again and again. It's a very special game to me and I haven't felt this way about a game in a long time.

 

[KoreanBarbecue]

So there is no Bonfire in New Londo Ruins (Lower)? My current bonfire is at Firelink Shrine.

Yeah, that's a pain, but you can use the bonfire in the Darkroot Basic (the one below/down from the Hydra). Where the bonfire is there's an elevator that takes you to Valley of the Drakes. In New Londo you can open some floodgates that in turn open the door in Valley of the Drakes, creating the "best" shortcut there. It's not super ideal, but it's faster than trekking it from Firelink each time.

 

[hteng]

So, it seems I'm nearing some sort of branch. I have just obtained the lordvessel. Now it seems that

Spoiler

joining the Darkwraiths

is the evil ending of the game?? Does that mean I can't invade without beating the game the 'evil' way? Cause that's bullshit.

Does that mean that something will be different once I do all this lordvessel business, and progress further in the game?

If you have not defeated Orenstein and Smough in Anor Londo and received the Lordvessel from the Princess, you cannot enter Gravelord Nito's fog

Oh, what the fuck, game. Is there any reason for me to go to the catacombs, then?

EDIT: that one seriously annoyed me.

Spoiler

walking away is the true ending, because you are giving man the chance to rule their own destiny without any gods. Linking the fire is pretty much just what Gwyn was already doing, you just replaced him, and you'll eventually gone mad like him. nothing changes.

 

[corrosivefrost]

Yeah, that's a pain, but you can use the bonfire in the Darkroot Basic (the one below/down from the Hydra). Where the bonfire is there's an elevator that takes you to Valley of the Drakes. In New Londo you can open some floodgates that in turn open the door in Valley of the Drakes, creating the "best" shortcut there. It's not super ideal, but it's faster than trekking it from Firelink each time.

Not really. Once you lower the water, if you don't have any reason to want the loot or to farm dark wraiths, there's absolutely no reason to go to lower new londo via the entrance in Valley of the Drakes. You run down from firelink -- when you get off the elevator, you trigger it so it goes back up in case you die, you run past (or kill) the ghosts on the first section but instead of taking the stairs, you drop down on the structure, then into the pit. A quick run up the stairs and you're in the building with 4 kings entrance. Takes <4 minutes, probably from the firelink bonfire and has *no* necessary fights (except, maybe, for a one time deal against the mass of souls in the big open space of the building before the fog door).

So, it seems I'm nearing some sort of branch. I have just obtained the lordvessel. Now it seems that

Spoiler

joining the Darkwraiths

is the evil ending of the game?? Does that mean I can't invade without beating the game the 'evil' way? Cause that's bullshit.

Does that mean that something will be different once I do all this lordvessel business, and progress further in the game?

If you have not defeated Orenstein and Smough in Anor Londo and received the Lordvessel from the Princess, you cannot enter Gravelord Nito's fog

Oh, what the fuck, game. Is there any reason for me to go to the catacombs, then?

EDIT: that one seriously annoyed me.

(1) Spoiler 1 just makes invading easier, as you can get an item that will allow you to do it at will instead of using cracked red eye orbs.
(2) Furthermore, you can invade choosing the other path, just a limited # of times based on the cracked red orbs you have -- but there are other covenants that allow you to invade at will as well, so basically, find a covenant you like if your goal is invading and go get the "good" ending if you want it.
(3) Regarding the catacombs, sure there's a reason -- you can get the rite of kindling to allow you to kindle bonfires to +2 and +3 netting you 15-20 estus flasks per rest. You can also get the loot and clear the way to make it a faster journey into the tomb of giants to take out Nito.

---

I asked earlier and didn't see a response -- Is +7 the max level for estus flask? I tried to go to +8 last night and was told I was at my limit.

 

[Ken]

Yeah, that's a pain, but you can use the bonfire in the Darkroot Basic (the one below/down from the Hydra). Where the bonfire is there's an elevator that takes you to Valley of the Drakes. In New Londo you can open some floodgates that in turn open the door in Valley of the Drakes, creating the "best" shortcut there. It's not super ideal, but it's faster than trekking it from Firelink each time.

I went from Firelink to New Londo, took the activated elevator in the first building with all the ghosts down to where the Darkwraiths are, and sprinted towards the Abyss. Took about 3-4 minutes a run though.

 

[Miroku]

Is there an upgrade to the regular old Talisman for casting miracles? I've defeated Bed of Chaos and havent found one yet.

Also, are there any respawning black knights anywhere?

I cant decide what weapons I want to spend my blue and red slabs on.

 

[Jinfash]

From the room that redirects the boulders, walk down the path that leads to the Gold Covetous Ring. On that first decline, you'll be able to jump onto a wooden platform with a mage snake. There's a doorway from there that will lead to the armor set.

Ahhh, that Snake Mage. I totally forgot about him. The map made it seem close to the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring, so I kept heading there, searching for a way.

The guide is excellent, and so are the maps, but the way they break up floors and explain heights can get confusing at times.

Thanks a lot man.

 

[corrosivefrost]

Is there an upgrade to the regular old Talisman for casting miracles? I've defeated Bed of Chaos and havent found one yet.

Also, are there any respawning black knights anywhere?

I cant decide what weapons I want to spend my blue and red slabs on.

No upgrades, you can buy better talismans though.
I don't remember where I got half of them, but I have about 5.
The one I prefer is Velka's talisman, which can be bought from the dude in the belltower of the undead church.

Spoiler

Also got a darkmoon one, maybe from reaching +1 in darkmoon covenant; an ivory one, gotten from murdering Rhea, a sunlight one which Solaire dropped when he went insane and attacked me... maybe I have more beyond this as well -- for the longest while, I was using the second talisman that Petrus sold, the Thoroughland or whatever it was that had a better magic adjust for low faith with no scaling.

 

[frequency]

once you meet the base requirement, it will ascent regardless -- you can use a +14 sword for a +10 requirement to get a boss soul weapon, for example.

Other trees only require+5 -- fire, magic, raw, divine.
From there, you can go to +5 again with fire, magic, and divine branching to either +6 or chaos, enchanted, or occult.

Interesting... I didn't know that. I always brought weapons to +10.

I didn't really do that much though. I found like 2 weapons that I liked the attack patterns of and just upgraded those to lightning and divine. I also upgraded some +10 sword to Quelaag's Furysword and another +10 to Artorias Greatsword. I guess I went further than I needed to and wasted some shards.

I feel bad for spreading misinformation.

As for talismans, I think the best one I found was in the Duke's Archives

Spoiler

in one of the cells. I think it was Rhea gone hollow because she disappeared from the church and it looks like her clothing. It has a white graphic. I can't remember what it's called.

 

[Aeana]

Ahhh, that Snake Mage. I totally forgot about him. The map made it seem close to the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring, so I kept heading there, searching for a way.

The guide is excellent, and so are the maps, but the way they break up floors and explain heights can get confusing at times.

Thanks a lot man.

I have quit even looking at the guide because the maps are so confusing. As dungeons get more complex with multiple layers, the guide just does not lay them out well and actually makes them look more confusing than they actually are. :\ I officially threw in the towel with Sen's Fortress, because that map makes no damn sense.

 

[Phat Michael]

the painted world of aramis is god awful. of all the stages ive been to this far its easily the worst designed. ive opened up the short cuts, ive got the annex key....ive killed everyone, been everywhere....and i still cant get to the boss. i killed the zombie dragon and saw the big dinosaur behind him...yet i still cant unlock that door at the bottom that i believe will get to the boss.

Honestly...after Anor Londo this game is just getting worse and worse..

 

[Timber]

the painted world of aramis is god awful. of all the stages ive been to this far its easily the worst designed. ive opened up the short cuts, ive got the annex key....ive killed everyone, been everywhere....and i still cant get to the boss. i killed the zombie dragon and saw the big dinosaur behind him...yet i still cant unlock that door at the bottom that i believe will get to the boss.

Honestly...after Anor Londo this game is just getting worse and worse..

NOPE

probably the best level in the game.