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[MomoPufflet]

does anyone find the whole trial and error of the crystal caves absolutely ridiculous? i mean its not even fun..running on the invisible bridges. such a terrible case of poor game mechanics and design.

I think Crystal Caves is like Tomb of the Giants in that they had some cool ideas that just weren't implemented very well. Navigating a dark cave with a lantern in a game like this should be the coolest thing ever, but yeah.

 

[Sullichin]

my first impression of temple of giants is that it sucks. I don't like dark areas in this game! catacombs is lame, blighttown is 5fps and too dark. Tomb of giants is pitch black. I know you get a lantern pretty soon on but I died and have to find my way back from the catacombs. It's just kinda not fun. I much prefer it when I'm stuck on an area because of a difficult enemy, not because of an annoying environment.

I beat demon ruins but didn't explore Lost Izalith. I actually kind of liked demons ruins. Do I need to go through demons ruins again to get to Lost Izalith? (already killed the chaos covenant spider so I can't use that shortcut I heard about)

The selection of bonfires you can warp to is uh... not as useful as it could be.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I think Crystal Caves is like Tomb of the Giants in that they had some cool ideas that just weren't implemented very well. Navigating a dark cave with a lantern in a game like this should be the coolest thing ever, but yeah.

I somewhat wish Tombs had nothing but traps, rough footing, and just crazy terrain to traverse whilst holding the lantern, rather than any enemies at all. It would have been pretty cool.

I also wish bonfires were opened up upon completion of the areas boss. Would have made things much easier.

 

[Zimbardo]

i completed the game 3 times so far ...and only on my 4th playthrough have i found out about 'the great hollow' and 'ash lake'.

so good to have a couple new places to explore. they were pretty interesting.

 

[Mortrialus]

I somewhat wish Tombs had nothing but traps, rough footing, and just crazy terrain to traverse whilst holding the lantern, rather than any enemies at all. It would have been pretty cool.

I also wish bonfires were opened up upon completion of the areas boss. Would have made things much easier.

That would have been neat.

 

[Septimius]

I'll argue it. Absolutely nothing wrong with the zone. Bed Of Chaos is a bit aggravating as an event/boss because its difficulty is inconsistent, but that's the only complaint I have.

Izalith is a small zone, but for what it is, its fine.

Trying to clear the bounding demons in the lava-field without using a ranged weapon to goad them into killing each other makes as much sense as trying to cross New Londo Ruins without (transient) curse, or get through Tomb Of The Giants without some method of illuminating the area.

Its stupid and if you choose to do it that way you deserve all the deaths that are coming tp you.

The game gives you ranged weapons for a reason. They aren't just for "cheesing" bosses they are really useful tools tactically. Example: Arrows are better and cheaper than prism stones for marking out the invisible paths in Crytal Cave also.

That really isn't a viable option. I am not about to start shooting all enemies in the game in the hope that they'll start attacking each other. I certainly wouldn't do it, even if I could. It would still be cheesing, and just because I can cheese a zone does not mean that it's a good zone.

I beat them all melee. Lava ring and patience. Died some times, but that was OK. Really didn't mind, it was just kind of repetitive and boring. I won't even resort to melee, just because I can. They didn't give me ranged so I HAVE to use it to not hate a zone. It's a good option, that's the point. I've used the bow on about 5 enemies in the game, always to lure them to me, then beat them.

I think it's cool that you found that use for arrows to find the paths, but cheapness really, REALLY isn't a concern at that stage of the game. And I don't see what this has to do with anything.

my first impression of temple of giants is that it sucks.

I beat demon ruins but didn't explore Lost Izalith. I actually kind of liked demons ruins. Do I need to go through demons ruins again to get to Lost Izalith?

The selection of bonfires you can warp to is uh... not as useful as it could be.

If you had gone a bit further, you would've unlocked a shortcut. But yeah, now you have to kill all the Capras and the Taurus at the door again.

That would have been neat.

Dare you say that it would've been..

Spoiler

Nito

?

 

[Septimius]

Whops

 

[Clear]

Even using a bow to pull, clearing the Bounding Demons is just obnoxious. There are over 30 of them, randomly dropped through out the zone. There is nothing resembling the well thought placement of enemies seen earlier in the game in this zone. It's simply 30 bounding demons spread randomly throughout the area, followed by thirty demon statues scattered randomly throughout the other half. It feels incredibly lazy, sloppy, and haphazard. It's just a huge, effortless time sink of a zone.

To be fair, they don't respawn and as all you really need to do is clear a path to/near the bonfire you don't actually need to kill half of them. Either way, once you get into the ruins proper there's a whole bunch of useful stuff if you search around - I spent a good couple of hours scouring the zone for all its loot and made a buttload of souls in the process.

Its the only place I think you can get red titanite slabs for maxing out fire/chaos weapons too.

 

[Omotesando]

Dueling for Dragon scales at the start of Kiln. I am a strength built, these pyromancers giving me a hard time. When I am close finally, they start these fire palm thing and from afar they chuf fireballs at me. Damn them.

 

[Diss1Dent]

I was just wondering if this was a glitch anyone else noticed, but in the Tomb of the Giants after I let patches kick me in the hole, I ran back and wanted to get him to sell stuff. After talking to him and answering yes to if I liked him, I checked firelink shrine and he wasn't there. So I went back and killed him, and I checked firelink shrine and he was there.

 

[Septimius]

To be fair, they don't respawn and as all you really need to do is clear a path to/near the bonfire you don't actually need to kill half of them. Either way, once you get into the ruins proper there's a whole bunch of useful stuff if you search around - I spent a good couple of hours scouring the zone for all its loot and made a buttload of souls in the process.

Its the only place I think you can get red titanite slabs for maxing out fire/chaos weapons too.

Again, this doesn't really defend Lost Izalith as much at is makes an excuse. There's loot everywhere else in the game, but you don't see people saying that they're badly designed for any reason. I want to point out that I really didn't mind the zone, but I don't think these are the arguments to redeem it

 

[sixghost]

Dueling for Dragon scales at the start of Kiln. I am a strength built, these pyromancers giving me a hard time. When I am close finally, they start these fire palm thing and from afar they chuf fireballs at me. Damn them.

You should try incorporating Flash Sweat(a pyro spell) or using the Black Knight Shield, it's got 95% fire block.

 

[Zimbardo]

I was just wondering if this was a glitch anyone else noticed, but in the Tomb of the Giants after I let patches kick me in the hole, I ran back and wanted to get him to sell stuff. After talking to him and answering yes to if I liked him, I checked firelink shrine and he wasn't there. So I went back and killed him, and I checked firelink shrine and he was there.

during my first playthrough i killed him in the Tomb of Giants and he showed up @ Firelink Shrine selling me stuff.

ya, i thought that was wierd.

 

[Omotesando]

So where is the best place to farm twinkling titanite, Crystal Caves?

 

[Yoshichan]

Going at this another round tomorrow, this time I'm following the guide straight up!

Also thought this thread is appropriate to post an update on my finger. It's much, much better now. No infection left, no nothing. I still can't play with it 100% but it shouldn't take any more than 2 weeks to fully heal.

NSFW
http://i.imgur.com/ecFL8.jpg
NSFW

 

[Zimbardo]

So where is the best place to farm twinkling titanite, Crystal Caves?

yeah, the clams in there ...and Snuggly The Crow trades you some for the poison cure moss and toxic cure moss.

 

[Septimius]

You should try incorporating Flash Sweat(a pyro spell) or using the Black Knight Shield, it's got 95% fire block.

Dark Wood Grain Ring makes most of the stuff a pyromancer can do harmless. Or even devastating for them. I can backstab them while they finish of their chaos fire-whip. They're so predictable, too, so it's easy to bait something you can dodge and counter. That's just my tactic. Shields really are a no-go for me in PvP. Crecent grass does the work, because I don't want to rely on hiding behind a shield. And I like katanas for being able to punish those that do.

Going at this another round tomorrow, this time I'm following the guide straight up!

Also thought this thread is appropriate to post an update on my finger. It's much, much better now. No infection left, no nothing. I still can't play with it 100% but it shouldn't take any more than 2 weeks to fully heal.

NSFW
http://i.imgur.com/ecFL8.jpg
NSFW

Aw, man. I'm glad you're back! I am still perplexed as to what the hell you did! Looks horribly painful. Glad you survived!

 

[MomoPufflet]

I somewhat wish Tombs had nothing but traps, rough footing, and just crazy terrain to traverse whilst holding the lantern, rather than any enemies at all. It would have been pretty cool.

That actually might have worked. Like in Silent Hill 2 towards the end

Spoiler

the big, dark room with the gallows. There were no enemies the first time and it was terrifying as you realized what you were looking at.

 

[MomoPufflet]

Going at this another round tomorrow, this time I'm following the guide straight up!

Also thought this thread is appropriate to post an update on my finger. It's much, much better now. No infection left, no nothing. I still can't play with it 100% but it shouldn't take any more than 2 weeks to fully heal.

NSFW
http://i.imgur.com/ecFL8.jpg
NSFW

Woah, what happened?

 

[Yoshichan]

Aw, man. I'm glad you're back! I am still perplexed as to what the hell you did! Looks horribly painful. Glad you survived!

Well whatever I did, I definitely learned a lesson - not to delay medicine and treatment for days :lol

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Do people think they're being helpful leaving messages next to switches or are they just trolling? So goddamn frustrating trying to access a switch when it has three messages around it helpfully saying "Switch". Grr.

Going at this another round tomorrow, this time I'm following the guide straight up!

Also thought this thread is appropriate to post an update on my finger. It's much, much better now. No infection left, no nothing. I still can't play with it 100% but it shouldn't take any more than 2 weeks to fully heal.

NSFW
http://i.imgur.com/ecFL8.jpg
NSFW

You've gone hollow!

 

[x3r0123]

Do people think they're being helpful leaving messages next to switches or are they just trolling? So goddamn frustrating trying to access a switch when it has three messages around it helpfully saying "Switch". Grr.

its an open zone so anything goes

 

[Hawkian]

Even using a bow to pull, clearing the Bounding Demons is just obnoxious. There are over 30 of them, randomly dropped through out the zone. There is nothing resembling the well thought placement of enemies seen earlier in the game in this zone. It's simply 30 bounding demons spread randomly throughout the area, followed by thirty demon statues scattered randomly throughout the other half. It feels incredibly lazy, sloppy, and haphazard. It's just a huge, effortless time sink of a zone.

Lost Izalith really pissed me off until I realised the dinos didn't respawn, then it was just tedious picking them all off. Once I got past the lava it was ok. The shitty puzzle boss fight was a letdown though. At least it didn't make you re-do each part.

lol... I didn't kill a single Bounding Demon, or even attempt to fight a single one. I ran like a bat into hell, collecting everything I could find and learning the area. I spent less time in Izalith than in the Duke's Archives, Blighttown, or New Londo. I absolutely wouldn't call it a time sink.

The complaint about the enemy placement is silly too... of course it's random and there are a million of them, it's supposed to just completely overwhelm you and force you to scrape past. It's not a nuanced house of traps like Sen's or haunted ruins like New Londo, it's essentially hell!

Bed of Chaos was frustrating for me and took me more tries than any other boss, but as will all it was still satisfying to beat.

 

[Ra1den]

To be fair, they don't respawn and as all you really need to do is clear a path to/near the bonfire you don't actually need to kill half of them.

Exactly, there is no reason to try to kill all of them, nor do i think the developers even intended players to do so. It's more like " get across this treacherous area any way possible", which is why there are various safe spots you can rest in as you move across.

I think it is a nice contrast to the rest of the game...why should the entire game follow the same patters of exploration and enemy placement? Having areas like this adds variety.

 

[Clear]

Again, this doesn't really defend Lost Izalith as much at is makes an excuse. There's loot everywhere else in the game, but you don't see people saying that they're badly designed for any reason. I want to point out that I really didn't mind the zone, but I don't think these are the arguments to redeem it

Well my point was mainly made at people going there's no reason to explore or farm in the zone, its got some unique and useful stuff in there, particularly if you're making fire element weapons.

For me, I liked the way that it basically sets you up with a choice of brute forcing your way through or trying to figure out a smarter way to get around the risk. Just a different sort of environmental hazard to work around.

I felt that Demon Ruins set it up with the flock of taurus demons surrounding the ember; I just felt that they were taking advantage of having a large open area to setup a different type of challenge.

 

[Minamu]

Have we gotten any sales numbers yet? Or is it too early?

 

[MomoPufflet]

Do people think they're being helpful leaving messages next to switches or are they just trolling? So goddamn frustrating trying to access a switch when it has three messages around it helpfully saying "Switch". Grr.

Yeah, I rate down (even though it does nothing apparently) any messages directly next to npcs or objects I have to actually click on. Messages leading up to something are fine but it's really irritating having to toggle through them. Messages next to illusory walls are fine because you don't have to click the wall, just hit it.

 

[Septimius]

I can confirm that humanity adds resistance all the way to 99 humanity (well, I have only confirmed up to 80, but I can hardly see it stopping there).

The difference between 0 and 100 is pretty big, too. I will document it when I have 99, but at 77, it's this difference at SL 71, 12 in RES

phy   mag   flame light bleed poiso curse item
107   99    104   112   100   42    30    100
152   147   149   158   100   42    150   210

From my last couple of days of science, I've concluded the following: (click for a detailed post)

• the RES stat is useless
• Favor's Ring is much more powerful, because what you lose in resistance from the gear you could wear with Havel's is nowhere near being as beneficial as the HP you get from this ring
• Humanity scales resistance all the way to 99
• Against a normal PvP opponent, you're better off doing one damage type, than higher total AR split on two attack types (roughly 380 is the same as 250/250)
• Resistance is very useful against attacks that do around the same damage as your defense rating
• When an attack hits 1.5 harder than your defense, resistance is moot.

Quoting myself, because I'm awesome

 

[PumpkinPie]

How do I invade?

 

[Yoshichan]

You've gone hollow!

Haha, yeah. My skin is all messed up and shit XD

Woah, what happened?

It's embarrassing... just never, ever pose in the showers.

edit: Excellent find Septimius ♥

 

[Boogybro]

Ok so I have both the divine and enchanted embers.

How badly can I mess this up by giving the wrong ember to the wrong blacksmith? I hear it's important to have a divine weapon for the Catacombs so I wanna get going with that.

 

[Yoshichan]

How badly can I mess this up by giving the wrong ember to the wrong blacksmith? I hear it's important to have a divine weapon for the Catacombs so I wanna get going with that.

Pretty sure you can't mess that up because every blacksmith accepts specific embers. You can't give the wrong ember to a blacksmith.

 

[Manmademan]

Using the hollow shield +3 and he usually knocks me off when i get in his face

Basic shields are so ludicriously easy to upgrade, there's literally no reason not to have at least one 100% physical shield at +10 by the time you hit anor londo.

 

[Ra1den]

Well my point was mainly made at people going there's no reason to explore or farm in the zone, its got some unique and useful stuff in there, particularly if you're making fire element weapons.

For me, I liked the way that it basically sets you up with a choice of brute forcing your way through or trying to figure out a smarter way to get around the risk. Just a different sort of environmental hazard to work around.

I felt that Demon Ruins set it up with the flock of taurus demons surrounding the ember; I just felt that they were taking advantage of having a large open area to setup a different type of challenge.

And speaking of Demon Ruins, that's another area that get's undeserved criticism. It was a rather simple design yes, but that simplicity is itself enjoyable and elegant, and a nice diversification from the prior types of areas. I recall after beating ceaseless discharge and making my way across that pit where the two paths branch off...it was a very cool feeling, seeing such huge areas spread before you, especially to the left where all of those massive demons are huddled together. I would say Demon Ruins is one of my favorite spots in the game.

 

[Boogybro]

Pretty sure you can't mess that up because every blacksmith accepts specific embers. You can't give the wrong ember to a blacksmith.

That's what I wanted to hear. Cheers Yoshi.

 

[Hawkian]

Basic shields are so ludicriously easy to upgrade, there's literally no reason not to have at least one 100% physical shield at +10 by the time you hit anor londo.

Huh. I just realized I never upgraded the heater shield, the only one I use, at all. Almost at the end of the game now... haha

 

[demosthenes]

Screw Seath and screw Parsiclla. Tails won't freaking fall off.

 

[Yoshichan]

and screw Parsiclla

Yes please ._.

 

[Mortrialus]

Yes please ._.

 

[Varna]

Do these knights in New Londo really drop slabs? I've gotten tons of chunks but no slabs yet.

 

[Hesemonni]

Ok, seriously, fuck Seath.

FUCK SEATH.











...any cheap tactic against him?

 

[Mortrialus]

Do these knights in New Londo really drop slabs? I've gotten tons of chunks but no slabs yet.

Yes, but it is very, very rare.

It's probably best to just kill the stray demon and do the Siegmeyer event.

 

[x3r0123]

Ok, seriously, fuck Seath.

FUCK SEATH.











...any cheap tactic against him?

crystal ring shield.... but it really kills the fun

 

[zsswimmer]

I went back to the Undead Asylum so I could try to kill the boss there.. fuck that, it seems impossible.

I think I need to reroll characters, my 28 Wanderer is really shitty for a main, hardly does any damage. On a positive note I tried my first invasion last night in the Darkroot Forest at level 18 (dex build) and won

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

WTF I thought when I join another convent I won't lose the previous ones.
After I joined the Chaos convent, I go back & notice Shiva is gone & his ninja.
I go back to the forest & are now aggressive towards me!

Do I have to pay to absolve my sins to re-renter the Cat covenant or do I just have to get to Alvedia without killing any o the hunters to reenter?

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Ugh I cant seem to defeat the Hydra. Ive tried the method of hugging the right side of the hill but still get killed by his waves. Same with going to the waterfall on the left. Im wearing elite knight armor with the ring to increase my carry load by 50%.

HELP

 

[FINALBOSS]

crystal ring shield.... but it really kills the fun

I made that shield on my 2nd playthrough...loved it. Shit hits for almost 1k

Ugh I cant seem to defeat the Hydra. Ive tried the method of hugging the right side of the hill but still get killed by his waves. Same with going to the waterfall on the left. Im wearing elite knight armor with the ring to increase my carry load by 50%.

HELP

Run right at him straight ahead into the water...get right to the edge of the cliff near him in the water (so you don't fall in). Instead of spitting his water blasts, he'll do head slashes/dives instead. From there it becomes insanely easy. I took almost 0 damage during that time. Shield always up and when his heads hit the water they pause for a few seconds to give you some time to hit them.

 

[sixghost]

Do these knights in New Londo really drop slabs? I've gotten tons of chunks but no slabs yet.

They are considered S drops. Very very rare.

The humanity drop rate from rats is an A for a point of reference.

Ugh I cant seem to defeat the Hydra. Ive tried the method of hugging the right side of the hill but still get killed by his waves. Same with going to the waterfall on the left. Im wearing elite knight armor with the ring to increase my carry load by 50%.

HELP

Can you not even survive long enough to get in the water? Once you get close enough, it stops doing the water-magic attack, and instead does a physical attack that you can just Block 100%. Turn the brightness up on your TV and stand pretty close to the area where the ground drops off into the abyss. It'll stop doing that fucking attack then.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

I went back to the Undead Asylum so I could try to kill the boss there.. fuck that, it seems impossible.

I think I need to reroll characters, my 28 Wanderer is really shitty for a main, hardly does any damage. On a positive note I tried my first invasion last night in the Darkroot Forest at level 18 (dex build) and won

The Stray demon boss is just plain hard. 2 of his attacks are almost 100% insta-kills.
The strategy to beat him is to not lock on to him & run around him, but you can't always see him when doing that & he can get you off guard/

 

[Kalnos]

...any cheap tactic against him?

Walk around him in circles and use pyromancy?