Support NeoGAF

[Clear]

Tomb of the Giants is a really small area, with probably only a dozen or so enemies in it*. This game is amazingly good at making you think the threat is actually larger than it is.

A good example is the respawning mosquitoes in the Blighttown swamp. There are only 2 or 3 of them, but they are positioned in a central location meaning that if you aren't stealthed up they always seem to be after you!

If you allow the game to rattle you, either out of fear or frustration you end up on a slippery slope, but on the other hand if you get in a groove and your confidence rises you can hammer through it like nobody's business.

Fantastic game, I recognize it has its flaws but overall its such an intense experience I can happily disregard them.

*Not counting the pool of baby skellies which you can simply avoid, and the pinwheel clones which are such a non-threat I kinda forgot about them.

 

[SUBZERO-08]

So, yeah, I finished Blighttown I think. It wasn't nearly as bad as some of you made it seem. I was expecting the frame rate to be like the start of the Dragon God fight in Demon's Souls, but it seemed like around 20fps or so the whole time. The enemies in it weren't so bad either, I stocked up on poison cures and never even had to use any.

 

[GeekyDad]

Progress question:

I downed the Gaping Dragon. Where should I go? Blighttown or should I head back to Darkroot Gardens since I haven't really explored that place yet?

I'm thinking you might as well do Blighttown and ring the second bell. That'll open up other options for you.

 

[Booshka]

The

Spoiler

Dark Lord

ending is pretty good. Plus,

Spoiler

those tits are fake anyway.

I'd rather look at some fake tits than have a bunch of

Spoiler

dildo serpents bow to me.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

agreed. anor londo is an all time best Souls level

then shit

The Dukes Archives and The Catacombs are pretty great, I reckon. But yeah. Man. Wow.

I didn't mind New Londo either, there wasn't really much of it, but the boss fight was just awful.

 

[Mortrialus]

agreed. anor londo is an all time best Souls level

then shit

I think you confused Anor Londo with Sen's Castle.

While still really good, and aesthetically one of the best levels in the Souls series, Anor Londo is when things start to go wrong in the game.

I think my primary complain with Anor Londo is how tacked on the exploration in the zone feels compared to the previous areas in the game. Gone is the complexity of the level design seen in areas like Sen's Castle, Blighttown, Undeadburg and the Depths. Instead, once you get past the archers it's a series of square rooms connected by a single hallway.

The Dukes Archives and The Catacombs are pretty great, I reckon. But yeah. Man. Wow.

I didn't mind New Londo either, there wasn't really much of it, but the boss fight was just awful.

As disappointed as I was with the Crystal Caves, the real problem areas of the game are specifically the Tomb of the Giants and Lost Izalith.

I'd rather look at some fake tits than have a bunch of

Spoiler

dildo serpents bow to me.

Yeah but think of all the tits your character gets to look at now that

Spoiler

he/she rules the world

 

[tranciful]

So what're the details about boss damage scaling? Vit help? Armor help? I assume I shouldn't go in naked...

 

[anddo0]

0-2 trying to get Priscilla's dagger... Maybe NG++

 

[bob_arctor]

The Dukes Archives and The Catacombs are pretty great, I reckon. But yeah. Man. Wow.

Seconded. I thought it was amazing. I found

Spoiler

the Blacksmith

by accident and it blew me away. And all the

Spoiler

breakable walls

reminded me of Zelda.

 

[NervousXtian]

agreed. anor londo is an all time best Souls level

then shit

Painted is okay.. but you're right. There wasn't shit after Anor Londo worth a damn at all.

I traded my copy in, the thought of NG+ just sitting there was too much.. I'll rebuy if I ever want to replay. It was a great experience, but I wish it had another 6mo's to a year to actually have From finish the game.

 

[Mortrialus]

0-2 trying to get Priscilla's dagger... Maybe NG++

Dude, just walk up behind her when she's still friendly, two hand your weapon and take a whack at her tail. Should come off in one hit.

There should be an option to leave the doll by her or give it to her.

 

[Y2Kev]

The Dukes Archives and The Catacombs are pretty great, I reckon. But yeah. Man. Wow.

I didn't mind New Londo either, there wasn't really much of it, but the boss fight was just awful.

Duke's Archives isn't bad, but FUCK that

Spoiler

unavoidable death at the hands of SEATH

and fuck the Crystal Cave part it requires.

Don't like Catacombs meselffff

 

[Septimius]

So I've gotten 800k souls by invading people today. Seems like an OK time to call it a day.

 

[Insaniac]

Okay whats this "Disasters are gone after the defeat of the Gravelord servant?" I've got 1.16 million souls banked and I don't want to risk losing em

 

[Deleted member 30609]

But seriously, Undead Burg and Parish were all round amazing areas as far as Im concerned. Maybe because this is the first Souls game I've seriously played (other than 1-1 and some 2-1 a year ago), but yeah, as far as introducing me to what this series is all about, they did their job and then some. They were such a joy to explore.

 

[dreamer3kx]

Im getting a bit confused on the world in this one, I prefer the organized structure of Demon Souls instead of the open world of Dark Souls, just me I guess, Im early in the game so maybe I have to observe more.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I love every level in this game to an extent. They're all manageable. They all went from frustrating to I got this.

 

[Aeana]

Aww, I missed a good ring in the Tomb of the Giants.
Oh well. I am so not going back there.

 

[corrosivefrost]

The

Spoiler

Dark Lord

ending is pretty good. Plus,

Spoiler

those tits are fake anyway.

No way dude. She's a goddess. She can make them as big as she wants.

Spoiler

Try binoculars.

Okay whats this "Disasters are gone after the defeat of the Gravelord servant?" I've got 1.16 million souls banked and I don't want to risk losing em

Red phantoms everywhere.

Somewhere there should be a sign you can use to invade the gravelord who infected you.
Kill him to make it go away.

I had this happen in the catacombs. RED PHANTOM ASSHOLES WHO WON'T DIE (without divine weapon or killing the necro in the area). I don't understand how it works, because everytime I got my splotch, I got all my souls back, though I though half were supposed to go to the gravelord servant?

And I couldn't find that summon sign for the life of me...

 

[Mortrialus]

No way dude. She's a goddess. She can make them as big as she wants.

Spoiler

Try binoculars.

Spoiler

A goddess? She's actually an illusion created and controlled by the very male Dark Sun Gwyndolin. So they are about as fake as fake tits get considering they don't even exist.

 

[bob_arctor]

Don't like Catacombs meselffff

crazy talk. shit was dope. i didnt like how it led me right to Tombs though. seeing all that darkness, I backed the fuck up and left mad quick. Relatively. Was a long trek back to the surface.

 

[Xanathus]

Spoiler

A goddess? She's actually an illusion being controls by the very male Dark Sun Gwyndolin. So they are about as fake as fake tits get considering they don't even exist.

I think she's actually more like a

Spoiler

clone or artificial being since she's still alive even after you kill Gwyndolin

Also I think the biggest shortcoming of the Tomb of Giants is that there should be a shortcut at the end to Firelink Shrine because it's possible to go in there before you get the ability to teleport, and you can get kinda fucked if you do that.

 

[corrosivefrost]

Spoiler

A goddess? She's actually an illusion being controls by the very male Dark Sun Gwyndolin. So they are about as fake as fake tits get considering they don't even exist.

Spoiler

Well, true -- but in theory, she existed at some point, no? They have statues of her in the room with the painting. So while she might just be an illusion of the only remaining deity in Anor Londo, it stands to reason the illusion was made to accurately portray his sister.

Makes me sad I'm going to have to make her disappear again...

 

[Mortrialus]

I think she's actually more like a

Spoiler

clone or artificial being since she's still alive even after you kill Gwyndolin

Spoiler

It's more like a cheap preprogrammed routine.

Besides, Priscilla for life.

Spoiler

Well, true -- but in theory, she existed at some point, no?

Unconfirmed.

They have statues of her in the room with the painting. So while she might just be an illusion of the only remaining deity in Anor Londo, it stands to reason the illusion was made to accurately portray his sister. [/spoiler]

Spoiler

It's possible but it is just as likely Gwydolin had been ruling through her by proxy for a long time.

Spoiler

Makes me sad I'm going to have to make her disappear again...

Spoiler

Dark Anor Londo is worth it.

 

[Y2Kev]

I love every level in this game to an extent. They're all manageable. They all went from frustrating to I got this.

It's not about manageability. It's about design. It's about interesting encounters that are challenging and fair. It's not about stacking what is essentially a corridor with 30 dinosaurs that make the framerate go to shit as soon as they are aggro'd.

That's disappointing to me considering how genius the early parts of the game are.

 

[corrosivefrost]

It's not about manageability. It's about design. It's about interesting encounters that are challenging and fair. It's not about stacking what is essentially a corridor with 30 dinosaurs that make the framerate go to shit as soon as they are aggro'd.

That's disappointing to me considering how genius the early parts of the game are.

I had 4 or so aggro at one point and no framerate problems. But I constantly have problems in areas with ladders (the room with the 3 rats under the hellkite, the room with the butchers on route to the depths, blighttown, etc.).

--

How does the dragon covenant work? Using the grey orb? I know you get scales when you invade and win, but who do you invade? Random people carrying dragon scales?

I'm trying to figure out what covenant to switch to permanently after I open the lost izalith shortcut and get my weapons from shiva...

 

[Quote]

Man, I hate bosses in Demon's/Dark Souls. Mainly because i'm bad at them. I think I'm getting better at the Quelaag fight though, got her to 50% last time.

If I want to summon that butcher looking NPC, where do I have to be for her to invade my world first?


EDIT: Also, Blighttown isn't as terrible when you find out how small the place really is. I think I like it more than Valley of Defilement minus the low FPS of course. Well, and the stupid flying bugs till I figured out that the whip is awesome against them.

 

[Y2Kev]

I had 4 or so aggro at one point and no framerate problems. But I constantly have problems in areas with ladders (the room with the 3 rats under the hellkite, the room with the butchers on route to the depths, blighttown, etc.).

--

How does the dragon covenant work? Using the grey orb? I know you get scales when you invade and win, but who do you invade? Random people carrying dragon scales?

I'm trying to figure out what covenant to switch to permanently after I open the lost izalith shortcut and get my weapons from shiva...

I don't know how you could have a steady framerate in Lost Izalith. Like at all.

 

[corrosivefrost]

Man, I hate bosses in Demon's/Dark Souls. Mainly because i'm bad at them. I think I'm getting better at the Quelaag fight though, got her to 50% last time.

If I want to summon that butcher looking NPC, where do I have to be for her to invade my world first?

She invades you as you take a right out of the bonfire cave as you travel along the wall toward the waterwheel -- she'll come from across the marsh. Once you vanquish her, she will have a summon sign right outside the Quelaag fog.

I don't know how you could have a steady framerate in Lost Izalith. Like at all.

I dunno -- I know I aggro'ed a bunch of the dragons from the root that lead in using my darkmoon bow -- let them stomp on each other; when I ran for the temples in the lava, I only had 1 or 2 aggro at a time -- it was hard to get more than that.

The worst thing I can say for it was I died taunting one while running over some lava and had a fucking problem finding my stain with 20k souls.

 

[Quote]

She invades you as you take a right out of the bonfire cave as you travel along the wall toward the waterwheel -- she'll come from across the marsh. Once you vanquish her, she will have a summon sign right outside the Quelaag fog.

Thanks! I'll try that the next time I boot it up.

 

[Insaniac]

No way dude. She's a goddess. She can make them as big as she wants.

Spoiler

Try binoculars.

Red phantoms everywhere.

Somewhere there should be a sign you can use to invade the gravelord who infected you.
Kill him to make it go away.

I had this happen in the catacombs. RED PHANTOM ASSHOLES WHO WON'T DIE (without divine weapon or killing the necro in the area). I don't understand how it works, because everytime I got my splotch, I got all my souls back, though I though half were supposed to go to the gravelord servant?

And I couldn't find that summon sign for the life of me...

I just saved and exited.. did that stop it?

 

[Haunted]

Yeah, Xen Syndrome hits the game pretty hard.

Thankfully, its really only two areas that are outright awful, Lost Izalith and The Tomb of the Giants.

FFUUUUUU I hate you for linking to tvtropes.


Maybe I'll just spare me the trouble and stop playing after the good levels.

 

[cj_iwakura]

It's not about manageability. It's about design. It's about interesting encounters that are challenging and fair. It's not about stacking what is essentially a corridor with 30 dinosaurs that make the framerate go to shit as soon as they are aggro'd.

That's disappointing to me considering how genius the early parts of the game are.

Oh yeah, Izalith was hell.

Until I made all the dinos kill each other.


Then it was cool.
(My eyes still burned, though.)

 

[corrosivefrost]

I just saved and exited.. did that stop it?

I eventually killed pinwheel and used homeward miracle to get back to the hidden bonfire in the catacombs, when I ran out of there, there were still red skeletons guarding the second bridge. I took them down and ran back to firelink -- that seemed to stop it. I think it's only for whatever realm you're in -- in theory, if the gravelord who invaded you is offline when you come back on, it should stop it, I'd guess?

Creepiest shit was when the whole world would rumble like godzilla was coming for me.

 

[Mortrialus]

FFUUUUUU I hate you for linking to tvtropes.


Maybe I'll just spare me the trouble and stop playing after the good levels.

But then you won't be able to play the genius parts of the game again in NG+

 

[Varna]

Duke archives is a huge difficulty spike for me... I do well but one hit from anything is half my life and in many cases much more. Guess I should finally put some points in vitality.

 

[sleepykyo]

I think she's actually more like a

Spoiler

clone or artificial being since she's still alive even after you kill Gwyndolin

Also I think the biggest shortcoming of the Tomb of Giants is that there should be a shortcut at the end to Firelink Shrine because it's possible to go in there before you get the ability to teleport, and you can get kinda fucked if you do that.

Agreed. Hypothetically speaking, having a shortcut to the Parish and revealing that Nito is actually the patron god of that church would have been much better than the "here's your campfire, warp out" that came to signify the second part of the game.

 

[Booshka]

The best thing to do for Lost Izalith is to start playing Nile-Unas Slayer of the Gods, right after you beat the

Spoiler

Centipede Demon

and start running toward the area. It should kick in right when you get to the Dino's, then just book it and run around trying to make them kill each other to the sounds of awesome death metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYQB7AsSkg

 

[Hawkian]

Lol, there are so many bonfires in and around Demon Ruins.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Man, so much hate for the closing chapters of the game. Tomb of Giants was a good zone, but there is NOTHING telling you that you should go and do Demon Ruins/Lost Izilath first to get Sunlight Maggot. There should be a big neon sign telling you to do that. If you get Sunlight Maggot, Tomb of Giants becomes much more fun.

Where did New Londo hate come from? That one was good. Nice design, good treasure, and

Spoiler

when you drain the water and see what is underneath, you start to get an idea that maybe Gwyn isn't so great a guy afterall

. And who said Abyss? That's not even a zone! It's one room.

Lost Izilath? That one is 50/50. The design is great, the enemy placement is lame.

That leaves my only unliked final area, Crystal Caves. I hated the invisible bridge mechanic, it was just too hard to see... and lets not even TALK about the path to get the blue slab. I would have preferred having to get some sort of item so that you could see the bridges, versus how it was. At least once you finally figure it out (which is frustrating, I will admit) you discover there are only 2 straight paths to get to the boss, takes about 60 seconds to run back. But then FUCK those clam things, they have NO business being on the way back to the boss, they should be in a side area. Not to mention they are way to strong.

 

[Xanathus]

Heh, NG+ is a joke if you were a completionist in your previous run and have access to all these powerful (and broken) rings, spells and weapons. Level 40 now and up to Sen's Fortress in about half an hour. Skipped the Depths and stuff with the master key.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Heh, NG+ is a joke if you were a completionist in your previous run and have access to all these powerful (and broken) rings, spells and weapons. Level 40 now and up to Sen's Fortress in about half an hour.

Yeah that's what it seems, things hit a lot harder, but I did Quellog --> Gargs --> Sens --> On S&O now, skipped capra/depths for now. Was super quick.

Spoiler

What I really wanted to try was to go and kill Dark Sun Gwyn right away, since it clears out almost everyone in the zone, and see what happens. Unfortunately there were a few silver knight items I still needed so I couldn't try that out.

 

[Xanathus]

Yeah that's what it seems, things hit a lot harder, but I did Quellog --> Gargs --> Sens --> On S&O now, skipped capra/depths for now. Was super quick.

Spoiler

what I really wanted to try was to go and kill Dark Sun Gwyn right away, since it clears out almost everyone in the zone, and see what happens. Unfortunately there were a few silver knight items I still needed so I couldn't trying that out.

Errr killing

Spoiler

Gwyndolin

doesn't make the zone dark, it's

Spoiler

Gwynevere

which does that. Also making the zone dark doesn't remove the silver knights.

 

[demosthenes]

Man, I hate bosses in Demon's/Dark Souls. Mainly because i'm bad at them. I think I'm getting better at the Quelaag fight though, got her to 50% last time.

If I want to summon that butcher looking NPC, where do I have to be for her to invade my world first?


EDIT: Also, Blighttown isn't as terrible when you find out how small the place really is. I think I like it more than Valley of Defilement minus the low FPS of course. Well, and the stupid flying bugs till I figured out that the whip is awesome against them.

Just about right outside of the bonfire on the ground floor.

Blight > Valley easily in my book.

 

[FairXchange]

You guys sure aren't making the levels past Anor Lando sound much fun.

Right now I'm in the painting world and am awestruck at the freshness of it, so I'm a bit concerned to think that feeling will be torn away from me soon after leaving there.

Anyhow, I genuinely didn't like the swamp-like level in Demon's Souls, it was an atrocious experience but it didn't take away from my overall love of the game.

At this point, Dark Souls has done so much right in terms of levels, environments, mechanics, gear, a few off-kilter levels will not spoil my experience.

Also, Blighttown was kinda crap for me, but still enjoyable because of it being connected to interested areas once you explore some.

 

[Clear]

I dunno, it just seems to me that the levels people don't like are just the ones that deviate most strongly from the template established by Undead Burg/Parish.

I don't see the problem. Filling the Lordvessel is basically a 4 path trial with each leg giving you a specific set of environmental handicaps to overcome.

I think the scale of it kinda distorts the intention. I mean Demon Ruins isn't actually short on content, its just very spread out.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Errr killing

Spoiler

Gwyndolin

doesn't make the zone dark, it's

Spoiler

Gwynevere

which does that. Also making the zone dark doesn't remove the silver knights.

Wow really?

Spoiler

I thought Gwynevere was an illusion powered by Gwyndolin so if I got him, it would shut everything down early. I thought the knights would be gone to... though I have only 1 more item to get from them so their time will come soon enough.

 

[offtopic]

I'm near the end of Anor Londo right now so I haven't seen everything by any means but Anor Londo is a distinct cut below the areas that preceded it. Not sure I understand the love.

 

[Ghost_Protocol]

Ok guys, seriously, what the fuck is up with the ending? Did they run out of time or something?

 

[corrosivefrost]

Heh, NG+ is a joke if you were a completionist in your previous run and have access to all these powerful (and broken) rings, spells and weapons. Level 40 now and up to Sen's Fortress in about half an hour. Skipped the Depths and stuff with the master key.

It took me about 3 hours to clear everything up to the depths. I think I'm about 6 or 7 in and I'm in Anor Londo with everything else done except TotG, Demon's Ruins, and Duke's due to the barriers. I have some extra errands to run once I get back, like getting my Washing Pole and opening the shortcut to the lost izalith.

Man, so much hate for the closing chapters of the game. Tomb of Giants was a good zone, but there is NOTHING telling you that you should go and do Demon Ruins/Lost Izilath first to get Sunlight Maggot. There should be a big neon sign telling you to do that. If you get Sunlight Maggot, Tomb of Giants becomes much more fun.

Where did New Londo hate come from? That one was good. Nice design, good treasure, and

Spoiler

when you drain the water and see what is underneath, you start to get an idea that maybe Gwyn isn't so great a guy afterall

. And who said Abyss? That's not even a zone! It's one room.

Lost Izilath? That one is 50/50. The design is great, the enemy placement is lame.

That leaves my only unliked final area, Crystal Caves. I hated the invisible bridge mechanic, it was just too hard to see... and lets not even TALK about the path to get the blue slab. I would have preferred having to get some sort of item so that you could see the bridges, versus how it was. At least once you finally figure it out (which is frustrating, I will admit) you discover there are only 2 straight paths to get to the boss, takes about 60 seconds to run back. But then FUCK those clam things, they have NO business being on the way back to the boss, they should be in a side area. Not to mention they are way to strong.

About your spoiler -- I missed that; what's he have to do with New Londo?

And about the clam things in the caves -- I ran around them every time without a single problem. You just skirt the left edge and run directly to the fog.

Wow really?

Spoiler

I thought Gwynevere was an illusion powered by Gwyndolin so if I got him, it would shut everything down early. I thought the knights would be gone to... though I have only 1 more item to get from them so their time will come soon enough.

Yea, the only things that remain once you attack Gwynevere are (1) silver knights (not sure if this includes the archers, i'm not stupid enough to go look ) and (2) the new guards of the boss room, a female and male un-named NPC much like those in the forest.

If you want to cash in on souls, get yourself the homeward miracle for speed runs, warp to chamber of princess, drop down, kill both those NPCs with silver serpent ring equipped (+12k souls), warp. Rinse, repeat. I can't wait to see what they drop for souls in NG+, since I went from clearing 7k to clearing 25k+ in the forest in NG+.