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[ixix]

Where can I use my Large Fire Ember? The New Londo, Undead Parish and Anor Londo blacksmiths either say they can't use it or just don't acknowledge it. Is there another blacksmith who can use it who I just haven't met yet? I'm in the Abyss right now.

That Ember is for

Spoiler

Vamos

who hangs out in

Spoiler

the Catacombs.

 

[roxya]

Managed to get in two parries but damn, he's too tough Upgrading the target shield to +14 was kinda pointless. And this shield is supposed to be the easiest one because of the parry window?

I was crap at parrying. Although tbh, with the time it takes to get back to Gwyn, I lost patience and didn't try it much.

On NG+ he was raping my endurance by forcing blocks, so I just circled around the stalagmite to the left of the entrance (when you go in). That one more than others, he has real issues attacking through and passing.

Lord of Cinder? I'm the fucking Lord of Stalagmites. Come at me bro.

 

[DigitalDevil]

I was crap at parrying. Although tbh, with the time it takes to get back to Gwyn, I lost patience and didn't try it much.

On NG+ he was raping my endurance by forcing blocks, so I just circled around the stalagmite to the left of the entrance (when you go in). That one more than others, he has real issues attacking through and passing.

Lord of Cinder? I'm the fucking Lord of Stalagmites. Come at me bro.

I made the mistake of summoning someone when I got to the kiln. We kicked ass all the way to the boss and the game was over inside five minutes

 

[spwbym]

I started a new game and forgot to talk to Solaire twice to get my white soapstone.

I went ahead and defeated the gargoyles and went back to get my soapstone but Solaire was gone. I've read that he shows up again in Anor Londo, but noone mentioned if you could get the soapstone from him there. Anyone have any ideas?

I'm fine with starting over as I only have a few hours invested in this character.

Check the sunlight altar (by the bonfire behind the dragon on the bridge)? I think he might go there. Not sure though.

I ran under the dragon, but Solaire wasn't at the sunlight altar. I went to the other end of the bridge where he was originally and he was back. Got my soapstone and all is copacetic, seems like he would've come back if I just reloaded.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Spoiler

Anor Londo

just blew my mind. The art direction in Demon's Souls is unique and absolutely breath-taking. I've never seen castles as massive and intimidating as in DS.

 

[roxya]

So what are people doing with stats when they start getting into later NG+++'s?

I've got 46 strength, 33 int, 40 end and 35 vit. I'm wondering if it's worth taking END past 40 to get higher equip burden while not having to use Havel's. I could max INT I guess.

 

[H_Prestige]

Spoiler

Anor Londo

just blew my mind. The art direction in Demon's Souls is unique and absolutely breath-taking. I've never seen castles as massive and intimidating as in DS.

I just got there too. That and Darkroot Garden/Basin are the best looking locations in the game.

I'm still using the starting Thief set with no upgrades and I feel wrong for using a basic set this late in the game. I have the Stone set and the defense is incredible, but I'm too slow in that. Is there any kickass light set I could be using now? I'm also still using the Crest shield, is there something better?

 

[ixix]

I started my new character over as a Thief, and I managed to become a rank 2 Sunbro within 2 hours of starting fresh. These connectivity improvements are mighty nice.

So what are people doing with stats when they start getting into later NG+++'s?

I've got 46 strength, 33 int, 40 end and 35 vit. I'm wondering if it's worth taking END past 40 to get higher equip burden while not having to use Havel's. I could max INT I guess.

Once I reach that point I'm usually pretty much done leveling. Usually if I do pump anything it's Vitality.

I did pump Endurance to 50 on my second character and had no regrets about it, but that character was toting some pretty heavy weaponry and I wanted to get under 50% without needing assistance from a ring. How high to pump Endurance is pretty heavily tied to your typical equip burden, I'd say.

 

[SUBZERO-08]

I'm wondering what shield I should start upgrading. Before the patch I had began to upgrade the Hollow Soldier's Shield, since I heard it was good, but now it got nerfed. It's only +2 or +3 anyways so I don't care. But which shield should I upgrade now, preferably something similar in size.

 

[one85x]

I think the Balder shield and the Silver Knight shield are the two best medium shields after the patch.

 

[elty]

Silver Knight Shield (all around)
Black Knight Shield (high fire)
Crest Shield (stamina)
Dragon Crest Shield (high fire)
Glass Crest Shield (high magic)
Iron Round Shield (deflection)
Eagle Shield (lightest heavy shield)

All of them are pretty good I think.

 

[2real4tv]

You can use humanity to turn yourself into a human. When you use humanity there will be a one on your hud instead of 00. If you are human and have one humanity you can kindle bonfires. If you kindle a bonfire it will give you 10 potions to start instead of 5. If you have the master key you can get havels ring which is really usefull in the beginning of the game. It raises your maximum equip burden by 50%. If you are interested just search for it on youtube. He is really easy to beat once you know how to beat him.

Edit: Are there any ways to farm Dragon Scales? It looks like the best way to get Dragon Scales is PvP becuase the drops on Drakes is terrible. If that is the case man that is some bullshit.

Wow did not know this thanks.

 

[gamelova]

Damn, getting the chanellors to drop a trident is a pain in the ass.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Silver Knight Shield (all around)
Black Knight Shield (high fire)
Crest Shield (stamina)
Dragon Crest Shield (high fire)
Glass Crest Shield (high magic)
Iron Round Shield (deflection)
Eagle Shield (lightest heavy shield)

All of them are pretty good I think.

I think you got your Grass Crest and regular Crest shields mixed up. Crest Shield is good for magic defense, Grass Crest has stamina boost.

 

[SUBZERO-08]

Silver Knight Shield (all around)
Black Knight Shield (high fire)
Crest Shield (stamina)
Dragon Crest Shield (high fire)
Glass Crest Shield (high magic)
Iron Round Shield (deflection)
Eagle Shield (lightest heavy shield)

All of them are pretty good I think.

Thanks. How about the Blood Shield? That one looks pretty awesome, is it worthwhile upgrading? And does it constantly raise your Bleed and Poison meters, or is that just for a few seconds after you equip it?

 

[malfcn]

I think I want this game. But Amazon's sale ended. I can wait. Playing alone doesn't hinder the game (or cheevos) does it?

 

[shiroryu]

I think I want this game. But Amazon's sale ended. I can wait. Playing alone doesn't hinder the game (or cheevos) does it?

The game is fine playing alone, but part of the Souls' experience is reading and leaving messages to help and hinder other players. You'd also miss out on jolly cooperation in beating the game with friendly phantoms, and PvP as well.

Now because they changed the connection model to P2P instead of server-based, I think the multiplayer will have longer legs, atleast a year or more, but expect the traffic to drop off once From's new game Dark Forest comes in.

 

[sixghost]

The game is fine playing alone, but part of the Souls' experience is reading and leaving messages to help and hinder other players. You'd also miss out on jolly cooperation in beating the game with friendly phantoms, and PvP as well.

Now because they changed the connection model to P2P instead of server-based, I think the multiplayer will have longer legs, atleast a year or more, but expect the traffic to drop off once From's new game Dark Forest comes in.

Is that name confirmed? That name is fantastic if so.

 

[ixix]

I think I want this game. But Amazon's sale ended. I can wait. Playing alone doesn't hinder the game (or cheevos) does it?

You obviously miss out on all the online aspects, but unlike Demon's Souls there are offline simulations of sorts of some of the online functionality, with AI-controlled invaders and allies. It's still a fine game without the online component, even if the online is where a lot of the game's longevity comes from.

None of the achievements or trophies require you to play online. There are some that require you to get items that are awarded for doing things online, but there are alternate means to acquire all of them. The recent patch also significantly increased the drop rates on some of the more notoriously difficult to get items, making some of the achievements easier to attain for offline players.

 

[Thagomizer]

Is that name confirmed? That name is fantastic if so.

Last I heard, that name was found in a (translated) copyright document, but nothing's been confirmed.

 

[shiroryu]

Is that name confirmed? That name is fantastic if so.

http://oo.thebanzaieffect.com/2011/10/from-software-files-dark-forest-game-trademark/

Only link I can open at work, but what Thagomizer said. I thought that a trademark filing pretty much signals intent, though?

Edit: A comment at Reddit notes that From applied for "Yami no Mori" instead of "Dark Forest", unlike what we saw with DeS and DaS. Don't know if that's part of the Soul series then, but I can certainly hope so.

 

[Thagomizer]

While we are on the subject of forests, I was a little dissapointed in Darkroot. Even through it was a pretty big area, it felt incredibly empty and boring, with greats swaths of land in the Basin with absolutely nothing to do, look at, or fight, and the

Spoiler

catbeasts

were a pretty pointless miniboss. Also,

Spoiler

Alvina not acknowledging you fighting Sif or entering Astorias' tomb- remember, the entire point of the Covenant (in-story) is to prevent people from entering the tomb- was odd. I dallied fighting Sif for so long because I thought I'd be booted from the Covenant

and I was actually a tad dissapointed when I wasn't.

 

[shiroryu]

While we are on the subject of forests, I was a little dissapointed in Darkroot. Even through it was a pretty big area, it felt incredibly empty and boring, with greats swaths of land in the Basin with absolutely nothing to do, look at, or fight, and the

Spoiler

catbeasts

were a pretty pointless miniboss. Also,

Spoiler

Alvina not acknowledging you fighting Sif or entering Astorias' tomb- remember, the entire point of the Covenant (in-story) is to prevent people from entering the tomb- was odd. I dallied fighting Sif for so long because I thought I'd be booted from the Covenant

and I was actually a tad dissapointed when I wasn't.

Yeah, the Basin was surprising -

Spoiler

four golems, a Knight and Hydra.

was all it had. In terms of level design, though, the area is beautiful - a huge waterfall, a lake, greenery - it's my favorite area in DaSo so far. Just wish it was bigger than being a Garden sub-area.

 

[sixghost]

While we are on the subject of forests, I was a little dissapointed in Darkroot. Even through it was a pretty big area, it felt incredibly empty and boring, with greats swaths of land in the Basin with absolutely nothing to do, look at, or fight, and the

Spoiler

catbeasts

were a pretty pointless miniboss. Also,

Spoiler

Alvina not acknowledging you fighting Sif or entering Astorias' tomb- remember, the entire point of the Covenant (in-story) is to prevent people from entering the tomb- was odd. I dallied fighting Sif for so long because I thought I'd be booted from the Covenant

and I was actually a tad dissapointed when I wasn't.

I'd second that. I was so excited to get there because of that one screenshot and the little clip of the forest they had in the trailer, but it really looked nothing like that in-game. I think if they made it a little harder to see and if light-coming-through-the-trees effect was a bit better, that would have went a long way.

They could have made that place scary as hell if it felt more like the forest-covenant was constantly hunting you whenever you were in the area, rather than the same 4 guys spawning in the same place every time.

 

[Thagomizer]

I'd second that. I was so excited to get there because of that one screenshot and the little clip of the forest they had in the trailer, but it really looked nothing like that in-game. I think if they made it a little harder to see and if light-coming-through-the-trees effect was a bit better, that would have went a long way.

They could have made that place scary as hell if it felt more like the forest-covenant was constantly hunting you whenever you were in the area, rather than the same 4 guys spawning in the same place every time.

Even just adding randomized spawning for the RoF users would have gone a long way, or if they actually ambushed you like the Ents or Hollowed Bandits in the bottom of the Burg instead of just standing idle in one spot and charging you like pitbulls once they actually see you. Pharis was the only one who acted like he knew what he was doing- using cover behind trees, using his invisibility to hide, taking potshots at you when you are blundering about like an idiot looking for him, luring you back to his allies ( I was REALLY impressed once I realized he was doing this), and only pulling out a sword if you got all in his grill. I had a lot of fun fighting him, because it felt like I was playing the Most Dangerous Game; too bad none of the other enemies acted like that. That area is tense and exciting exactly once before it just becomes a spot to exploit the game's shitty pathfinding and farm.

 

[malfcn]

Hope it goes on sale again. I am not entirely it is my cup of tea.

 

[ixix]

Man, people in Blighttown are downright generous. I've been helping people with Quelaag and I'm a bit of a skinflint when it comes to consumables so I never bother to heal the poison from the run through the swamp. About half the time the host drops a Purple Moss Clump for me. Which is sweet of them, but really quite unnecessary.

While we are on the subject of forests, I was a little dissapointed in Darkroot. Even through it was a pretty big area, it felt incredibly empty and boring, with greats swaths of land in the Basin with absolutely nothing to do, look at, or fight, and the

Spoiler

catbeasts

were a pretty pointless miniboss. Also,

Spoiler

Alvina not acknowledging you fighting Sif or entering Astorias' tomb- remember, the entire point of the Covenant (in-story) is to prevent people from entering the tomb- was odd. I dallied fighting Sif for so long because I thought I'd be booted from the Covenant

and I was actually a tad dissapointed when I wasn't.

I think Darkroot suffers from the double-whammy of being largely optional and needing to do double duty as a PvP arena. What's there is mostly quite nice, with the whole trip from

Spoiler

Andre's forge to the Moonlight Butterfly

being just fine, albeit brief. And the

Spoiler

descent down the cliff face to the Hydra's lake, as well as the Hydra itself

are entirely unobjectionable, but then it's basically over and there's nothing left but the largely-empty area beyond the

Spoiler

Crest of Artorias

door, which is nothing but a few scattered enemies and items if you're not inclined to partake of forest PvP.

 

[shiroryu]

Another problem is that humanoid enemies in the forest just don't strike the same 'fear' notes than something like

Spoiler

Ents or the Stone Knights

do. They feel organically part of the forest, the NPCs don't. They could've added an enemy that stays in the treetops and jumps down on you when you enter the forest, kind of like the

Spoiler

slimes in the Depths

.

 

[Thagomizer]

Another problem is that humanoid enemies in the forest just don't strike the same 'fear' notes than something like

Spoiler

Ents or the Stone Knights

do. They feel organically part of the forest, the NPCs don't. They could've added an enemy that stays in the treetops and jumps down on you when you enter the forest, kind of like the

Spoiler

slimes in the Depths

.

Like most of the other covenants, it just feels rushed and unfinished. The 9 Covenants could have been compressed down to 5-6 quite easily (the Princess Guard especially should have been folded into Sunbros or WoW) which would have allowed them to be much more fleshed out and better integrated than they currently are. Gravelords, I'm looking at you.

 

[shiroryu]

Like most of the other covenants, it just feels rushed and unfinished. The 9 Covenants could have been compressed down to 5-6 quite easily (the Princess Guard especially should have been folded into Sunbros or WoW) which would have allowed them to be much more fleshed out and better integrated than they currently are. Gravelords, I'm looking at you.

In my first play session with 1.05 last week, 10 minutes in I got a message saying "The Gravelord has been defeated. Disasters have been removed from your world." Nothing had changed as far as the enemies were concerned till then, so wonder what the effect was.

 

[Babalu.]

trying not to read spoilers so please forgive the probably obvious question:

is the final patch out for 360? The one that fixed str and agi and nerfed the elemental and all the other changed that japan got?

Forza/saints row/battlefield have taken me away from dark souls but i want to go back and finish it.

 

[DontTouchMe]

pvp is unplayable ever since this patch. So many lag back stabs and bullshit.
It was fun while it lasted.

 

[ixix]

trying not to read spoilers so please forgive the probably obvious question:

is the final patch out for 360? The one that fixed str and agi and nerfed the elemental and all the other changed that japan got?

Forza/saints row/battlefield have taken me away from dark souls but i want to go back and finish it.

Patch 1.05 is out for both platforms now. I don't think we know if it's the final patch or not yet, but it's the most recent update.

 

[roxya]

Greatshield of Artorias is ridiculous. I miss my flip ring (need Havel's to stay under 50% and I love my Favor and Protection), but jesus, this thing blocks pretty much everything using such little stamina.

 

[catashtrophe]

Can anyone help me with the "Knights Honour" trophy

Im at soul level 89 and just need 2 weapons for the trophy

• Demons Spear
• Greatshield of Artorias

Anyone willing to drop both items or will let me hold them both till trophy pops u?

Also a question about Shiva of the East.

I joined and left the cat covenant and now read i can buy the Demon Spear from Shiva.

Can i re-join the Cat Covenant and speak with shiva and buy it or is it too late since i left the Covenant for another one?

 

[krakov]

Been messing around with the Darkmoon Covenant and quite like what I've seen so far. I'm not sure I understand how the Blue eye orb works though. As I've read you can use it anywhere but so far I'm pretty sure I've only gotten it to work in Anor Londo and I've been trying everywhere. Once in Dukes Archives I was invaded by 5 different people in half an hour and there were 4-5 summon signs by the bonfire with different people, still impossible for me to invade.

Also, is it usual to run into modded people on 360? I think I've only seen one obvious cheater so far that ate numerous crystal homing soulmasses and soul spears while just running at me with a twohander. He kneeled over from the hits several times but no damage done as far as I could see. You get this feeling a lot though with this awful netcode.

 

[NEOPARADIGM]

Can anyone help me with the "Knights Honour" trophy

Im at soul level 89 and just need 2 weapons for the trophy

• Demons Spear
• Greatshield of Artorias

Well I can't personally help, but just for the record Demon's Spears are dropped at a pretty good clip by the Anor Londo flyers. I had three or four on an older build just from regular (ie., non-griding) play. And all Artorias takes is upgrading a shield to +10 and the Sif soul, it's yours. Obviously your proposed method of obtaining them is easier, but I can't imagine you're more than a few hours from just getting them for yourself. Good luck.

Also, is it usual to run into modded people on 360? I think I've only seen one obvious cheater so far that ate numerous crystal homing soulmasses and soul spears while just running at me with a twohander. He kneeled over from the hits several times but no damage done as far as I could see. You get this feeling a lot though with this awful netcode.

Not entirely relevant, but my PvP experiences break down something like this:

75% - "You are not going to kill this invader. I mean, you have no chance at all."
15% - Perfect match, good fight, comes down to who makes a mistake.
10% - The invader seems way out of his league, I destroy in 3-5 hits.

 

[Thagomizer]

Well I can't personally help, but just for the record Demon's Spears are dropped at a pretty good clip by the Anor Londo flyers. I had three or four on an older build just from regular (ie., non-griding) play. And all Artorias takes is upgrading a shield to +10 and the Sif soul, it's yours. Obviously your proposed method of obtaining them is easier, but I can't imagine you're more than a few hours from just getting them for yourself. Good luck.



Not entirely relevant, but my PvP experiences break down something like this:

75% - "You are not going to kill this invader. I mean, you have no chance at all."

This happens for me with katana users. For some reason, those guys are always really laggy- I could be twenty feet away from them, and they'll swing their Iatio, hit nothing but air, and I'll still take damage. Huh? And no, it wasn't a washing pole, just a regular-length katana.

 

[Totalriot]

Also a question about Shiva of the East.

I joined and left the cat covenant and now read i can buy the Demon Spear from Shiva.

Can i re-join the Cat Covenant and speak with shiva and buy it or is it too late since i left the Covenant for another one?

He indeed sells the spear and it should be no problem to rejoin the covenant if you haven't been kicked out due to killing the NPCs. If the cat won't let you rejoin, you'll have to abolish your sins at the bottom of the church first.

Once you're in, before going to the Blighttown make sure to talk to Shiva in the forest first or else he won't be there.

 

[Minamu]

In my first play session with 1.05 last week, 10 minutes in I got a message saying "The Gravelord has been defeated. Disasters have been removed from your world." Nothing had changed as far as the enemies were concerned till then, so wonder what the effect was.

You probably just didn't run into the really hard gravelord enemies then. I got the same message yesterday while farming in darkroot garden and saw nothing, but once I ran into a huge red black knight in Anor Londo that wasn't supposed to be there, so tougher enemies are real. He died because the Gravelord died.

I made the mistake of summoning someone when I got to the kiln. We kicked ass all the way to the boss and the game was over inside five minutes

I've been summoned into other people's games in the Kiln but none of them tried to do anything but pvp. Maybe I should clear the level of enemies and then ask for help and just rush it. The knights are pretty pathetic after all.

I was crap at parrying. Although tbh, with the time it takes to get back to Gwyn, I lost patience and didn't try it much.

On NG+ he was raping my endurance by forcing blocks, so I just circled around the stalagmite to the left of the entrance (when you go in). That one more than others, he has real issues attacking through and passing.

Lord of Cinder? I'm the fucking Lord of Stalagmites. Come at me bro.

Okay I'll check it out

 

[captscience]

I've been summoned into other people's games in the Kiln but none of them tried to do anything but pvp. Maybe I should clear the level of enemies and then ask for help and just rush it. The knights are pretty pathetic after all

Funny, I got summoned four times in well under an hour while farming chunks in the Kiln. Each time was to kill Gwyn. He went down in seconds each time. Kind of felt bad for the summoners. So anticlimactic!

 

[JRPereira]

Anyone know whether the Lifehunt Scythe's scaling goes past B since the patch? Been working on a dex character and it might be a nice weapon to carry around when not using a +15 Uchu/CMW.

 

[Minamu]

Anyone know whether the Lifehunt Scythe's scaling goes past B since the patch? Been working on a dex character and it might be a nice weapon to carry around when not using a +15 Uchu/CMW.

Mine's at +5 and it's str E dex B. Still pretty badass with the bloodbite ring.

 

[astroturfing]

wow, have people decided that invading is not part of the game?

7 out 10 i invaded last night disconnected on me, seriously. what a bunch of pussies. and the 3 who didn't disconnect were all japanese, yet none of the 7 cowards were... hmm, maybe there it's still considered part of the game? i don't get it.

also, this one guy disconnected on me even though he had a phantom with him... and a few minutes later i manage to invade him again and this time he had TWO phantoms with him and still disconnected! (because i managed to kill one of them). just WOW. incredibly lame. and so selfish, the host was wasting everyone's time.... the phantoms and i had to sit through loadscreens several times for nothing

the funny thing is, probably most of these people could have easily beaten me, as i was invading with shitty gear (unupgraded Darkwraith set, for the evil look heh), with the sole purpose of just having fun fights and providing a little excitement for them.... oh well, their loss. now i'll be invading with the best gear i have and 0 mercy lol. fuck this spineless community.

 

[Backfoggen]

Never got gravelorded. Also never saw any vagrants.

 

[NEOPARADIGM]

^ Wow. I've never invaded before so I can't comment, but I wonder how prevalent that is. 7/10 is shockingly high.

*looks up at my "75% of invasions are un-winnable" post*
*notes coincidental statistical correlation*

 

[Sullichin]

wow, have people decided that invading is not part of the game?

7 out 10 i invaded last night disconnected on me, seriously. what a bunch of pussies. and the 3 who didn't disconnect were all japanese, yet none of the 7 cowards were... hmm, maybe there it's still considered part of the game? i don't get it.

also, this one guy disconnected on me even though he had a phantom with him... and a few minutes later i manage to invade him again and this time he had TWO phantoms with him and still disconnected! (because i managed to kill one of them). just WOW. incredibly lame. and so selfish, the host was wasting everyone's time.... the phantoms and i had to sit through loadscreens several times for nothing

the funny thing is, probably most of these people could have easily beaten me, as i was invading with shitty gear (unupgraded Darkwraith set, for the evil look heh), with the sole purpose of just having fun fights and providing a little excitement for them.... oh well, their loss. now i'll be invading with the best gear i have and 0 mercy lol. fuck this spineless community.

I never quit when I get invaded. It's happend where I just used up my last humanity and it's my only chance to summon a phantom to help me beat a boss, and still don't quit. I think it's always fun to get invaded. Particularly, I like to see other people's loadouts. I will use my estus flasks even though they can't, though (although of course they can always pop a humanity). After all, you're invading my game and I'm trying to stay alive.

 

[Frank]

wow, have people decided that invading is not part of the game?

Happened to me a lot these past days. Built a character just to have a low level Darkwraith and play at being an 'enemy' for random people, but there's a lot of people just pulling the plug when you invade, or when you seem to be doing marginally better than the host thinks you should.

And I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, the Darkwraith character is quite regular in everything, and I'm sure as hell not some skilled player. I'm not using the character to wreak people's experiences, but they end up wreaking mine.

Grow some balls people. Swing that damn sword. Be better than me. Seems like it's quite a lot to ask, somehow. Surviving whatever you find is the thrill ride the game offers you. Why would you quit? :-/

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

I think it's fair enough if someone wants to benefit from summoning people and reading messages but doesn't want to lose progress because of an invader.

It might not be the "right" way to play but I understand it.

I haven't done it, before someone asks!

 

[coldvein]

i always get raped when i get invaded. usually just play hollow.