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Dark Souls |OT3| This thread moves faster than the Blighttown framerate

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johntown

Banned
corrosivefrost said:
Sounds about right -- you just need to be worried about bosses OHKO'ing you. :p
Pinwheel, of all bosses, did it to me. I had to go back there with Iron Flesh and Crystal Homing Soulmass. :lol
I am just curious what SL you guys are at if you are one shoting bosses in NG+. I was at SL 80 something and I could one or two shot most of them until Gaping Dragon and beyond.
 
johntown said:
I am just curious what SL you guys are at if you are one shoting bosses in NG+. I was at SL 80 something and I could one or two shot most of them until Gaping Dragon and beyond.

I was in the mid 90s, probably, maybe low 100s to start NG+ and had pushed to get my INT to 50. Once INT was 50, I pushed to get my END to 40 and then was leveling up VIT.

With the dusk crown, bellowing dragon ring, and logan's catalyst, I think it took 3 shots of Crystal Homing Soulmass to ace Pinwheel. If I was using tin crystalization catalyst, probably 1.

I think by about 50% or more (killed Smough/Ornstein) in NG++ -- placed lordvessel via Frampt to open up Duke's so I could farm Channelers for the trident to complete my platinum -- I was around 130ish.
 

Haunted

Member
jorgeton said:
My least favorite part in the game has to be New Londo, just because you need to be cursed to hit those ghosts. I've pretty much tackled everything else except that damned place.
pun intended? :p

Yeah, it's more of a pain in the ass than anything. Didn't especially like the design and layout ofthe level either. Lots of repetition.
 

scy

Member
johntown said:
Well, I use my Magic Uchigatana+9 (will have another blue slab soon) for all PVP encounters because I like it better and it beats my Enchanted Falchion +5 on everything except the magic stat......plus is causing 300 in bleeding damage which can be nice for PVP.

Well, Enchanted+5 vs Magic+10 on the same weapon would be fairer. But, yeah, if you actually make a STR or DEX build with INT then Magic will win out most likely due to the better physical scaling. Low STR/DEX (e.g., just the reqs) with High INT is more the territory of Enchanted.

I'm half contemplating raising my PvP SL cap and taking my caster to 36 STR (BK Greataxe) with 50 INT for Crystal Catalyst + Crystal Magic Weapon. Maybe when the patch hits, depending on it fixes things.
 
Phat Michael said:
Yep. And the dark souls defenders will be "Oh you just dont get it its a brilliant piece of game design just follow the snow flakes!"

in other words. its cheap, its lazy, its boring, it adds nothing to the game or the story and you just basically have to bring a bow and arrow and shoot the "ground" to get across or watch a walktrhough. i fell off a few times but its not that hard....it just..sucks. Another testament to the fact that they really ran out of ideas through the last half of this game and went for cheap rather than well designed.

or you can watch where the snowflakes fall, or you can throw down multiple shinning stones to make a path or you could follow the signs other player put down telling you where to go, just the way the system was meant to be played.
 

johntown

Banned
corrosivefrost said:
I was in the mid 90s, probably, maybe low 100s to start NG+ and had pushed to get my INT to 50. Once INT was 50, I pushed to get my END to 40 and then was leveling up VIT.

With the dusk crown, bellowing dragon ring, and logan's catalyst, I think it took 3 shots of Crystal Homing Soulmass to ace Pinwheel. If I was using tin crystalization catalyst, probably 1.

I think by about 50% or more (killed Smough/Ornstein) in NG++ -- placed lordvessel via Frampt to open up Duke's so I could farm Channelers for the trident to complete my platinum -- I was around 130ish.
Ok, I see a little bit higher than me......I started NG+ at like 78 or 79. I hate the dusk crown because I don't like how it looks. Even though it does not give any magic boost I wear Big Hat Logan's hat with gold hemmed for the rest and Beatrice Catalyst.

Why Logan's instead of Beatrice? I could have sworn when I compared the stats Beatrice had better magic damage.
 

scy

Member
johntown said:
Why Logan's instead of Beatrice? I could have sworn when I compared the stats Beatrice had better magic damage.

Logan's becomes the best (non-Crystal, anyway) Catalyst at 49 INT. Which is a bit silly but ... just how it is :/ I want to say Beatrice's is the best in the upper 40s before that, though. I kept meaning to check but I forgot about it on my recent caster character :/
 

tokkun

Member
Zzoram said:
NG+ is a breeze so far, magic ezpz

still 1 shotting enemies and 3 shotting bosses

Yeah, it's another thing to highlight the imbalance between magic damage versus melee. For people using elemental weapons, everything takes more hits and there is no way to increase that damage.
 

EasyMode

Member
About the Demon Ruin's, what's the deal with
that closed stone gate just past the centipede boss? I know there's two paths into Lost Izalith, and I've taken them both, but I'm just curious.
 
See You Next Wednesday said:
or you can watch where the snowflakes fall, or you can throw down multiple shinning stones to make a path or you could follow the signs other player put down telling you where to go, just the way the system was meant to be played.

Yeah I had no problems with it either. I didn't fall off once. I thought it was an interesting place.
 
Ladyboy101 said:
i played demon souls was when OMA noobtubes were allover the place in MW2, I had no other game to play.

i like games like ninja gaiden and devil may cry on hardest difficulty, hard sure. but i can also pull out deadly combos to kill everything.

the problem i have for this series is character i control is very clumsy and fragile.

I refuse to believe anyone who played DMC & NG on the HARDEST difficulties can find this game hard.

The combat plays out exactly like a slower paced Ninja Gaiden that just throws in stamina bar management into the battles.
 

K' Dash

Member
plasticpassion said:
Yeah I had no problems with it either. I didn't fall off once. I thought it was an interesting place.

I loved anor londo/archives/crystal caves until the maneater shells, those things freak me out and are damn strong.
 

orion434

Member
Phat Michael said:
well its not the same..but i have 99 INT, bellowing dragoncrest ring and logans catalyst and the crystal soulmass was doing about 1200 damage ...

The Tin Crystallization is higher on Magic, but it halves the usage of your magic, ie. 10 Homing Crystal Soulmass is now 5.

At the moment I'm using Izalith Catalyst + Crown of Dusk + Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring and I'm doing 1,500 damage with a Homing Crystal Soulmass ( 36 INT )
 
scy said:
Logan's becomes the best (non-Crystal, anyway) Catalyst at 49 INT. Which is a bit silly but ... just how it is :/ I want to say Beatrice's is the best in the upper 40s before that, though. I kept meaning to check but I forgot about it on my recent caster character :/

Sounds about right -- I didn't get Beatrice's catalyst til late in NG+, by which time I'd already been using the Izalith catalyst for awhile and then magically noticed that Logan's had eclipsed it (must've been when I hit 50).
 

Beats

Member
Is it possible to fight the Four Kings without ringing any of the bells?

I was thinking that I could talk to Kaathe before Frampt appears by killing Sif first, then killing Ingward to get the key, then fight the Four Kings, and possibly save the crestfallen warrior in the process since Frampt goes away if you side with Kaathe.
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
See You Next Wednesday said:
I refuse to believe anyone who played DMC & NG on the HARDEST difficulties can find this game hard.

The combat plays out exactly like a slower paced Ninja Gaiden that just throws in stamina bar management into the battles.

In Dark Souls, dodging has fewer i-frames and the controls are surely not as responsive as Ninja Gaiden. Let's not get too deep into this comparison because I don't think it's a fruitful one, but there are clear mechanical differences preventing the Ninja Gaiden skillset from translating directly into skill in this game.
 

Dresden

Member
With 50int / Logan's Catalyst/ Bellowing Dragoncrest/ Crown of Dusk my sorc was doing around 1,800 with HCS on some enemies, assuming all orbs hit. Without Bellowing Dragoncrest it was doing 1,445 or so to the black knights in the Kiln.

99 int isn't going to help all that much I think due to how stats scale in this game. You rarely need to go beyond 40; 50 is for Int users, mainly, because it's not like Faith has anything great at 50 unless you want to devote two slots for Sun Spear.
 

Dresden

Member
Beats said:
Is it possible to fight the Four Kings without ringing any of the bells?

I was thinking that I could talk to Kaathe before Frampt appears by killing Sif first, then killing Ingward to get the key, then fight the Four Kings, and possibly save the crestfallen warrior in the process since Frampt goes away if you side with Kaathe.
You probably can, can't think of anything that would prevent you from doing it.
 

Victrix

*beard*
It's way way harder to play this game as an evasive ninja type than any of the major action tps games.

By far the hardest run I did in DS was a dual wield only character with light armor.

Running around with a big shield and a bunch of stamina is miles easier.
 

Grampasso

Member
kodt said:
Are you summoning Solaire and Laurtec to help?

If you have talked to Solaire he should be available to summon right before the white fog. If you freed Laurtec and talked to him back at Firelink shrine he is available on the landing just below where you go to fight the Gargoyles.

With both of them it becomes much easier. If you need humanity to turn human you can try farming the rats underneath the dragon bridge.
Maybe it's just bad luck but if I turn human in that point I keep being invaded (3 times now) so it's quite impossible for me to reach the boss in human form -.-
 
So, when is that patch coming? I just did three invasions with the Forest Hunters, and every single one of them was using the ring of fucking fog.
 
Dresden said:
You probably can, can't think of anything that would prevent you from doing it.

Doesnt you need the lordvessel? How are you suppose to leave the abyss/firelink altar?

I guess if you dont turn those bonfires and use a homeward bone...

Maybe I try that on my NG++
 

scy

Member
corrosivefrost said:
Sounds about right -- I didn't get Beatrice's catalyst til late in NG+, by which time I'd already been using the Izalith catalyst for awhile and then magically noticed that Logan's had eclipsed it (must've been when I hit 50).

At 48 INT, Sorceror's = Logan's. Unfortunately, when I went ahead and decided to raise my INT to 50 it was when I had just gotten Logan's and the TCC :/ Completely forgot about Beatrice's and the Izalith ones. Maybe if I ever make another caster, I guess...

Dresden said:
You rarely need to go beyond 40; 50 is for Int users, mainly, because it's not like Faith has anything great at 50 unless you want to devote two slots for Sun Spear.

Occult scales normally at 40-50 so it's still worth it for that; it also has the same issue with Talisman scaling as Catalysts do so you need 48+ to get the most out of the Darkmoon Talisman. Besides that, yeah, not much reason to get to 50 :/
 

soldat7

Member
sixghost said:
Do Bows ever scale to a point where they become effective damage options?

Not yet. My bow is mostly used to just irritate enemies into attacking me. I usually get bored wearing down large enemies, so I'll run in after not too much time. It's very thrilling and often very dumb.
 

HildyB

Member
Rektash said:
I just tested the backstab thing for a bit. No matter how perfect your positioning is, as long as you are strafing left or right the backstab won't trigger (maybe there is a threshold which regulates the speed at which are allowed to strafe and still activate backstab?). It may be that it also works when you go towards the backside of your enemy, even though I found it a lot easier to just go into neutral.

I've never had stick in neutral. I'm always moving around. I did find being just off center to the right of what seems like directly behind the mob is a backstab every time. And I'm a backstabbing fool. It's the only way I can kill anything in any decent amount of time.

I'm actively hugging and strafing clockwise around whatever I'm trying to kill, so as I get just past their weapon arm I let down my shield and strike with a backstab. But, different strokes, whatever works right?
 
soldat7 said:
Not yet. My bow is mostly used to just irritate enemies into attacking me. I usually get bored wearing down large enemies, so I'll run in after not too much time. It's very thrilling and often very dumb.


I have a lighting composite bow +14 which do about 90-100 dmg with wooden arrows (the cheaper ones), the dragon slayer bow does about 200-250 its +5 I think.

Anyway I only use the dragon slayer with foes I need to make them fall (like in sen fortress) or if they are far away.
 
Woooowwww, I just got backstabbed from ten feet away.

In front of me.


Get your shit together, From.

And I keep invading the same prick over and over again, the fuck
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
How are people legitimitely killing Hellkite Dragon in NG+? Thing really was cockblocking me until I eventually gave up and went looking for the cheesy back-shot from the black knight's tower.

I'm well geared and at SL 118 have been destroying other bosses. Hell I even went hyper mode (low hp + red terstone ftw) with my Dragonslayer Greatbow+4 and couldn't even snipe him down from below because every time he got below 40% hp he'd return to his perch and regen at an astronomical rate.
 
hey_it's_that_dog said:
In Dark Souls, dodging has fewer i-frames and the controls are surely not as responsive as Ninja Gaiden. Let's not get too deep into this comparison because I don't think it's a fruitful one, but there are clear mechanical differences preventing the Ninja Gaiden skillset from translating directly into skill in this game.

Hence the slower part.
It's not as lighting quick & needs to be played much more methodically, but the core mechanic are nearly the same.
Conservative use of button mashing, heavy reliance on blocking & evade/side-rolling into a openings.
 

Beats

Member
sotodefonk said:
Doesnt you need the lordvessel? How are you suppose to leave the abyss/firelink altar?

I guess if you dont turn those bonfires and use a homeward bone...

Maybe I try that on my NG++

Yeah if you just light the bonfire, but don't rest at it you won't respawn/return there. I wonder if the dialogue will change without the Lordvessel or if they give you another way to "get out".

Is the door to the Four Kings blocked by the yellow light? I don't remember it being there when they show you the doors in that cutscene. The Four Kings have part of a lord soul so I was thinking the door to them could have the yellow light blocking you.

I'll probably try it later.
 

Dresden

Member
Right now due to how scaling works crossbow > bows, unless you really need aiming (I never do; drake tail is like the only thing that really demands it, and even then you can just chop it off by luring it onto a bridge).

Fire +10 Avelyn deals up to 600 damage per burst with Heavy Bolts. I wonder how high it'd go if I had a Lightning +5 Avelyn and used only Lightning Bolts.
 
Clear said:
How are people legitimitely killing Hellkite Dragon in NG+? Thing really was cockblocking me until I eventually gave up and went looking for the cheesy back-shot from the black knight's tower.

I'm well geared and at SL 118 have been destroying other bosses. Hell I even went hyper mode (low hp + red terstone ftw) with my Dragonslayer Greatbow+4 and couldn't even snipe him down from below because every time he got below 40% hp he'd return to his perch and regen at an astronomical rate.

I think you have to take him on wen he starts walking on the bridge.
 

Venfayth

Member
Someone was mentioning that you could get an Iaito with lightning AND fire on it? How does that work?

I raise it to +5, smith it to a flame iaito, raise that to +5, smith it to a lightning flame iaito? >_< Sorry if this sounds incoherent, I really don't know what I'm talking about, lol.
 

Dresden

Member
Also, I can't back-shot the Hellkite dragon on some of my characters. >.> It just pops out of existence when I climb the tower with the black knight. Then if I go back down to the bridge I'll hear a roar and it'd come flying back down. It's not consistent enough (on some of my character I can do it, and some I can't) for me to figure out.
 

anddo0

Member
Screw Seath, and screw From.. The stupid moonlight sword is the only thing standing between me and the platinum.. As if getting behind him wasn't tough enough (he circles forever, even with the ring that makes you silent), his stupid tail refuses to come off. I'm playing NG++ so you only get but a few opportunities to strike before he kills you.
 

kodt

Banned
Acullis said:
Someone was mentioning that you could get an Iaito with lightning AND fire on it? How does that work?

I raise it to +5, smith it to a flame iaito, raise that to +5, smith it to a lightning flame iaito? >_< Sorry if this sounds incoherent, I really don't know what I'm talking about, lol.

Pretty sure that is not possible.

You might be able to create a Fire Iaito and then put Gold Pine Resin on it for a temporary Lightning effect. (or Charcoal Pine Resin on a Lightning weapon) Not sure if that works though.
 
anddo0 said:
Screw Seath, and screw From.. The stupid moonlight sword is the only thing standing between me and the platinum.. As if getting behind him wasn't tough enough (he circles forever, even with the ring that makes you silent), his stupid tail refuses to come off. I'm playing NG++ so you only get but a few opportunities to strike before he kills you.

I found a somewhat helpful strategy for this yesterday. Basically I tried to stay to the behind/side of him, near one of this side tails. Being that close, when he moved, the movement of the side tail would push me along with him, making it easier to stay behind him. It beat trying to sprint around the side tail most of the fight, which is just frustrating.
 

sleepykyo

Member
scy said:
I think people are slightly misunderstanding the scaling problem; it's not that they don't scale, but that the Elemental Weapons get to just as high values (or higher!) but with no stat associated to them. Magic and Enchanted scale rather fine (A-scaling Enchanted should beat out Lightning Weapons at 50 INT mark in terms of raw split damage power pre-resistances).

STR/DEX do lack a bit, though ... but I suppose they're "supposed" to make up for it with weapon imbues ... but nobody really goes a STR or DEX build and plans for 25 INT for CMW.

Incidentally, Magic scales worse than Enchanted unless it takes off somewhere in the 70+ region for some bizarre reason.

They could carry around resins. I can't lightning resin the golem axe even though it has no special ability, magical damage or elemental damage. The heck?
 

HildyB

Member
kodt said:
Pretty sure that is not possible.

You might be able to create a Fire Iaito and then put Gold Pine Resin on it for a temporary Lightning effect. (or Charcoal Pine Resin on a Lightning weapon) Not sure if that works though.

I think you can only add resin to + weapons that don't have a status already (Fire, Lightning, Magic, etc..). I'm not sure if you can add resin to RAW though.. never bothered making a raw weapon. Edit: and apparently special/rare drops don't take to resin either. I'll have to farm a bunch and try it on all my weapons tonight.
 

sixghost

Member
sleepykyo said:
They could carry around resins. I can't lightning resin the golem axe even though it has no special ability, magical damage or elemental damage. The heck?
Yeah you could, but resins only last 30 seconds if I remember correctly, and they take some time to apply, which would be a problem in PvP.

Like someone just said though. The problem is that it's such a huge stat commitment to get the damage above elemental weapons. I would much rather dump those points into END/VIT or INT.
 

HildyB

Member
sleepykyo said:
They could carry around resins. I can't lightning resin the golem axe even though it has no special ability, magical damage or elemental damage. The heck?

Guess I should add non-special weapons to my above thought on what you can and can not apply the resins to.
 

UFRA

Member
A few days ago I mentioned how I was kinda struggling in Sen's Fortress.

I put the game down for a bit as I was concerned I fucked myself over by trying to make an all-around good character rather than focusing on specific stats on my first playthrough (which I am now doing).

Well, I toughed it out (ended up losing 7 humanity in the process) and made it by myself to the
Mimic
and got the
Lightning Spear.
WOW. It pretty much saved my ass from suffering through hours of struggling.

It feels so good to be powerful again lol.

Edit: After I got that weapon, I went on a killing spree and completed all of Sen's Fortress by myself, collected all items, etc. Still need to beat the boss though. Feels good to have this area done with.
 

sleepykyo

Member
sixghost said:
Yeah you could, but resins only last 30 seconds if I remember correctly, and they take some time to apply, which would be a problem in PvP.

Like someone just said though. The problem is that it's such a huge stat commitment to get the damage above elemental weapons. I would much rather dump those points into END/VIT or INT.

Good point.
 
Dresden said:
Also, I can't back-shot the Hellkite dragon on some of my characters. >.> It just pops out of existence when I climb the tower with the black knight. Then if I go back down to the bridge I'll hear a roar and it'd come flying back down. It's not consistent enough (on some of my character I can do it, and some I can't) for me to figure out.

This happened to me too. Go back to firelink shrine and rest there, then go back were the dragon is, it should appear now.

Just wanted to say thank god for the guy (dont remember) who said you can equip the "more souls" serpent ring after beating bosses. You have plenty of time to change the ring and get 20% more souls :).
 

sixghost

Member
UFRA said:
A few days ago I mentioned how I was kinda struggling in Sen's Fortress.

I put the game down for a bit as I was concerned I fucked myself over by trying to make an all-around good character rather than focusing on specific stats on my first playthrough (which I am now doing).

Well, I toughed it out (ended up losing 7 humanity in the process) and made it by myself to the
Mimic
and got the
Lightning Spear.
WOW. It pretty much saved my ass from suffering through hours of struggling.

It feels so good to be powerful again lol.

Edit: After I got that weapon, I went on a killing spree and completed all of Sen's Fortress by myself, collected all items, etc. Still need to beat the boss though. Feels good to have this area done with.
Yeah, it's the Drake Sword mk.2
 
UFRA said:
A few days ago I mentioned how I was kinda struggling in Sen's Fortress.

I put the game down for a bit as I was concerned I fucked myself over by trying to make an all-around good character rather than focusing on specific stats on my first playthrough (which I am now doing).

Well, I toughed it out (ended up losing 7 humanity in the process) and made it by myself to the
Mimic
and got the
Lightning Spear.
WOW. It pretty much saved my ass from suffering through hours of struggling.

It feels so good to be powerful again lol.

Edit: After I got that weapon, I went on a killing spree and completed all of Sen's Fortress by myself, collected all items, etc. Still need to beat the boss though. Feels good to have this area done with.

They really know when to throw in a good weapon when the game starts getting too hard.
 
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