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

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I'm in love with this game, just took down the Gargoyles. Not much in games these days gives me a real sense of achievement but this game really does make me feel good every time I learn from my defeats and overcome them.

That feeling of achievement is only going to grow. Enjoy the game!!!
 

krakov

Member
It's really bumming me out to get this far and fight such a bullshit last boss. I can understand hard, but this just seems unfair.

Homing crystal soulmass should destroy him, put on the crown of dusk and dragoncrest ring (boosting sorceries) and he should go down in 3-4 hits at worst. There are some places where you can get him stuck in the environment for a bit to recast. Be on the move and keep out of his reach.
 

shiroryu

Member
I think Way of White has lost the only thing it had going for it post-patch, its invasion resistance. Pre-patch, I wasn't invaded once despite going human a number of times in the Burg, and going human for the Gargoyle fight, but now it's crazy. Going human in the Depths, takes just 15 seconds for an invader to come in.
 
I think Way of White has lost the only thing it had going for it post-patch, its invasion resistance. Pre-patch, I wasn't invaded once despite going human a number of times in the Burg, and going human for the Gargoyle fight, but now it's crazy. Going human in the Depths, takes just 15 seconds for an invader to come in.

Once you're invaded once, though, you won't be invaded again for a while (it's like 20 minutes or something).
 

sixghost

Member
Eek, this sounds bad.

I'm definitely going to try summoning to avoid this type of frustration. It will be horrible for the game to end on a sour note after 60 glorious hours. He's my next stop tonight!

I think that's an atypical experience for fighting
Gwyn.
You'll definitely die 4-5 times against him, but there and numerous ways to kill him. Parrying, completing Solaire's questline, Iron Flesh/magic shield used to work, using the pillars in the area still works.
 

Sullichin

Member
I think that's an atypical experience for fighting
Gwyn.
You'll definitely die 4-5 times against him, but there and numerous ways to kill him. Parrying, completing Solaire's questline, Iron Flesh/magic shield used to work, using the pillars in the area still works.


I wish I only died 4-5 times on him! three hours. Parrying is probably your best bet but if you mess up you're toast. I do think he's the hardest boss. Makes sense.
 

Soulhouf

Member
I wish I only died 4-5 times on him! three hours. Parrying is probably your best bet but if you mess up you're toast. I do think he's the hardest boss. Makes sense.

A good stamina and the black knight shield +5 make the fight a lot easier if you are a melee fighter.
Otherwise he is weak to fire, so if you can get good fire spells/glove, it will make the fight more manageable.
There are always a way to win this fight.
 

Derrick01

Banned
If you've never summoned somebody before, remember that you need to be in human form to do so. You need a stored Humanity (that's the number in the upper-left next to your life and stamina bars) and then you need to go to a bonfire and choose Reverse Hollowing. Once you're human you'll be able to summon allies and be invaded. Lautrec's summoning sign is on the large landing after climbing up the first ladder leading up to the fog door, Solaire's is right in front of the fog door.

There are actually NPC phantoms available for most of the bosses in the game, though some of them have summoning signs in out-of-the-way locations or rather byzantine requirements to make them available.

Just an update on this, the fight was a joke with both of those guys helping me holy shit haha. Lasted about 30 seconds for both bosses.

So what happens after they disappeared? Can I summon them again or was that just for the 1 time/1 boss fight?
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Holy shit... already time for an OT4? I gotta get back into this game. Delayed the rest of my playthrough for Skyrim, Uncharted 3, and Batman.
 
Just an update on this, the fight was a joke with both of those guys helping me holy shit haha. Lasted about 30 seconds for both bosses.

So what happens after they disappeared? Can I summon them again or was that just for the 1 time/1 boss fight?

Certain Phantoms appear on certain bosses. Some of them are obvious, and some are really well hidden. For example, Solaire and Lautrec will both be back for the
Gaping Dragon
in the
Depths.
 

tokkun

Member
I think Way of White has lost the only thing it had going for it post-patch, its invasion resistance. Pre-patch, I wasn't invaded once despite going human a number of times in the Burg, and going human for the Gargoyle fight, but now it's crazy. Going human in the Depths, takes just 15 seconds for an invader to come in.

I'm not sure that was ever a real feature of that covenant. I know that it was claimed, but a lot of stuff that was claimed about covenants was either false or didn't actually work.

The reason you are seeing what you're seeing is that very few people try to invade in Undead Berg and Undead Parish because

A. The characters are low-level, so your darkwraith has to be extremely low-level to be allowed to invade.
B. There aren't many players there to invade because they don't have much humanity at that point in the game and there is little reason to go human, other than briefly for the Gargoyle fight.

The Depths, however is a great place to invade for a low-level Darkwraith. There are always a lot of human players either going for the Kirk encounter or for summoning at the Gaping Dragon. Those things are also true for Blighttown, but it's a pain to have to deal with the poison effect as an invader.

I've had great success getting nearly 100% pairings invading in The Depths, with the main problem being the type of players you end up invading: Either noobs who can't put up a fair fight or level 400 players who camp the area in NG+ knowing that it is an invasion hotspot.

Just an update on this, the fight was a joke with both of those guys helping me holy shit haha. Lasted about 30 seconds for both bosses.

So what happens after they disappeared? Can I summon them again or was that just for the 1 time/1 boss fight?

Phantoms are always banished after killing the main area boss. If you want a longer co-op session, summon them at the beginning of the level rather than just before the boss. I wish more people did this, because I like playing through the levels in co-op and it's kind of boring just to get summoned for a 1-minute boss fight.
 
So is phalanx really one of the best way to farm souls? They only give 250 souls each.

The Forest Covenant members in the forest have an easily-exploited pathfinding bug that'll make them suicide off the cliff, with a bonfire literally 20 ft. away. You could also use the Darkmoon members that spawn just outside S&O's bossroom after you kill Gwyndolin.
 

Sullichin

Member
So is phalanx really one of the best way to farm souls? They only give 250 souls each.


Eh, maybe if you're stuck in the painted world and don't have any humanity. I'd chill in the depths, Quelagg's domain, the top of Sen's, or the second bonfire in Anor Londo and wait to get summoned for a boss fight. Bosses give lots of souls and summoning is much better after the patch. It also happens to be the most fun this game has to offer, imo! There's always the forest dummies too.
 
I know about the forest thing, but it's just not efficient anymore at my SL.

Getting summoned in Anor Londo and beating the boss sounds good, and it is really fun. But I was having trouble getting summoned when I tried yesterday. At first I got summoned twice in a row without much waiting in between. But then I couldn't get summoned no matter how long I waited. I'm placing my sign near the giant stairs leading to the cathedral. Is there a better place?
 

one85x

Member
The 2nd bonfire is the other popular spot. Also, I think you need Wrath of God or something similar for Phalanx to be a viable farming spot.
 

Sullichin

Member
I know about the forest thing, but it's just not efficient anymore at my SL.

Getting summoned in Anor Londo and beating the boss sounds good, and it is really fun. But I was having trouble getting summoned when I tried yesterday. At first I got summoned twice in a row without much waiting in between. But then I couldn't get summoned no matter how long I waited. I'm placing my sign near the giant stairs leading to the cathedral. Is there a better place?

I always have better luck putting it right at the second bonfire (the one right after everyone's favorite archers). By the time people get to the stairs, they might already have 1 or 2 phantoms with them, they might be running past the sentinels and a red phantom and not bother summoning, etc. If they have the shortcuts unlocked you only have to kill 2 knights before the boss. If not, it's just a few more knights. That whole area of the game seems made for co-op with a side of invasions.

The trouble with O&S for farming is that you might get caught up in a lot of PVP games, or be paired with people who aren't very good and just get destroyed by the boss.

Have you tried waiting outside the Iron Golem fight? It's an easier fight, and it's faster.
 

tokkun

Member
I know about the forest thing, but it's just not efficient anymore at my SL.

Getting summoned in Anor Londo and beating the boss sounds good, and it is really fun. But I was having trouble getting summoned when I tried yesterday. At first I got summoned twice in a row without much waiting in between. But then I couldn't get summoned no matter how long I waited. I'm placing my sign near the giant stairs leading to the cathedral. Is there a better place?

The summon frequency varies. Last night I had my character idle for about an hour while I did other stuff around my apartment before I got summoned. The day and time you are playing makes a difference.
 

Insaniac

Member
I've farmed 1.6 Million souls and 99 humanity o_O at SL 45 at the Iron Golem in Sen's.... waiting for my friend to progress with me before I do any leveling or what not, anything worth spending my souls on to strengthen my character? (aside from levels)


Also, where can I find and what titanite do I need to upgrade to occult weapons?
 

140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
On my 5th play through now...why can't I stop? My friends want me to play Zelda so I can talk about it with them but I just can't tear myself away. Almost cleared NG+ and still at SL33. Will I get less interaction with others if I bump up to 50?

Man it feels to good to use a parry strike for the final blow against Gwyn.

Also, I noticed everyone who invaded me at 3am in the forest were Japanese accounts.
 
I've farmed 1.6 Million souls and 99 humanity o_O at SL 45 at the Iron Golem in Sen's.... waiting for my friend to progress with me before I do any leveling or what not, anything worth spending my souls on to strengthen my character? (aside from levels)


Also, where can I find and what titanite do I need to upgrade to occult weapons?

SL45 isn't really very high.. you will find summons and invasions at any level. I think the darkmoon blades do not have the same level requirements to invade guilty players, as darkwraiths have to invade regular folk.

I'd try to get a STR, FAI, or INT up to 40+

White titanite can be found in the catacombs with the skeleton pillars, or if you are in the Kiln, one of the last knights prior to Gwyn has a 100% drop of a white chunk.
 

sixghost

Member
I know about the forest thing, but it's just not efficient anymore at my SL.

Getting summoned in Anor Londo and beating the boss sounds good, and it is really fun. But I was having trouble getting summoned when I tried yesterday. At first I got summoned twice in a row without much waiting in between. But then I couldn't get summoned no matter how long I waited. I'm placing my sign near the giant stairs leading to the cathedral. Is there a better place?
Have you started NG+ yet? At a certain point in NG, there just aren't any places that are worth farming since it takes so many souls for 1 level up. The amount of souls you get for killing bosses in NG+ is fucking unbelievable. Gaping Dragon gives you something like 100,000.
I've farmed 1.6 Million souls and 99 humanity o_O at SL 45 at the Iron Golem in Sen's.... waiting for my friend to progress with me before I do any leveling or what not, anything worth spending my souls on to strengthen my character? (aside from levels)


Also, where can I find and what titanite do I need to upgrade to occult weapons?

I believe white titanite chunks and green large shards maybe?

If you have a shit load of souls and don't want to level up, you could just go find the crestfallen merchant in Sen's, buy about 100 large shards, then head back to andre and buy as many shards as you need and just fucking upgrade everything. You'll get just about every piece of equipment and weapon you want up to +6/+9. Doing that sort of thing is dangerously close to breaking the game though. Gear that good isn't really intended to be used that early.
 

shiroryu

Member
I'm not sure that was ever a real feature of that covenant. I know that it was claimed, but a lot of stuff that was claimed about covenants was either false or didn't actually work.

The reason you are seeing what you're seeing is that very few people try to invade in Undead Berg and Undead Parish because

A. The characters are low-level, so your darkwraith has to be extremely low-level to be allowed to invade.
B. There aren't many players there to invade because they don't have much humanity at that point in the game and there is little reason to go human, other than briefly for the Gargoyle fight.

The Depths, however is a great place to invade for a low-level Darkwraith. There are always a lot of human players either going for the Kirk encounter or for summoning at the Gaping Dragon. Those things are also true for Blighttown, but it's a pain to have to deal with the poison effect as an invader.

I've had great success getting nearly 100% pairings invading in The Depths, with the main problem being the type of players you end up invading: Either noobs who can't put up a fair fight or level 400 players who camp the area in NG+ knowing that it is an invasion hotspot.
Oh, does the swamp itself poison you in Blighttown? I thought it was only the creatures.

I wonder if Way of White's "drawn closer to Princess Guard/Sunbros" holds true. Does anybody see more summoning signs in Way of White as compared to the PvP covenants like Forest Hunter?

Since I've already helped about 3 people with Capra and 1 guy with Gargoyles, I should probably just go SunBro to see how things change, though I'm never gonna use the miracle. How's the Sunbro experience? More/less invasions, more/less summonings?

What exactly is the benefit of Occult weapons anyhow?
Occult improves the scaling of Divine weapons with Faith, and reduces STR/DEX scaling. So high Faith builds get more mileage out of Occult. However, making a Divine +5 weapon Occult will make it lose its 'holy' property - you cannot destroy skeletons permanently with it.
 

chunk3rvd

Member
SL34 and being summoned into Anor Londo to help people with S&O while I farm souls & titanite chunks. Just been brought into a game where the royal giant gaurds were dropping 4500 souls, which means they were dropping 9000 in reality. Was I in NG+ or NG++?

Managed to take down Smough but Super Ornstien took me out like nothing. First spear jab took most of my stamina and stunned me while the 2nd killed me in one shot
 

Sullichin

Member
SL34 and being summoned into Anor Londo to help people with S&O while I farm souls & titanite chunks. Just been brought into a game where the royal giant gaurds were dropping 4500 souls, which means they were dropping 9000 in reality. Was I in NG+ or NG++?

Managed to take down Smough but Super Ornstien took me out like nothing. First spear jab took most of my stamina and stunned me while the 2nd killed me in one shot


SL34 is pretty low for Anor Londo! That spear jab is a bitch no matter what though. Soloing Super Ornstein in NG+ was one of my biggest personal achievements in the game.. and I was like SL130 lol.


And I believe the royal sentinels drop 9,000 in NG+. Weird that a person would be in NG+ at around SL34 though.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Oh, does the swamp itself poison you in Blighttown? I thought it was only the creatures.

I wonder if Way of White's "drawn closer to Princess Guard/Sunbros" holds true. Does anybody see more summoning signs in Way of White as compared to the PvP covenants like Forest Hunter?

Since I've already helped about 3 people with Capra and 1 guy with Gargoyles, I should probably just go SunBro to see how things change, though I'm never gonna use the miracle. How's the Sunbro experience? More/less invasions, more/less summonings?

Anecdotally, being in the Sunbros really does seem to make it easier to co-op with other Sunbros. My Sunbro character seems to see more Sunbro signs relative to the number of white signs, and when that character gets summoned and the host has a second phantom the second phantom is another Sunbro more often than it is with my character that I just stuck in the Chaos Servant covenant to unlock the shortcut and then never bothered to leave. It may be that Way of White and Princess Guard have a similar effect, but there's really no way to tell since they don't change the looks of phantoms at all.

Pretty sure that engaging in Sunbro-ery doesn't reduce invasion chances at all.
 

Wool

Member
Number of summonings are probably a little better because people prefer to summon a Sunbro over a normal white phantom since they will get a Sunlight Medal.

If I am summoning people to help and I've got a choice, I usually go with the sunbro just because it means they have probably done a lot of co-op and know the level well. I usually check to see how many co-op victories they have with the black separation crystal, and I haven't written them down or anything but more often than not the sunbros have a lot more victories.

Also, I don't know about you guys but I play with Japanese people much more often than I play with Americans. Are they just way more active or is 10:00PM - 2:00AM central time the perfect time for them and too late for Americans?
 
However, making a Divine +5 weapon Occult will make it lose its 'holy' property - you cannot destroy skeletons permanently with it.

I know you're 100% right but I really really seem to remember using my Occult Club and my Divine Iaito for the catacombs but I'm really sure I ended up using my club because it both stunned them to bits and made them not respawn.
 
I know you're 100% right but I really really seem to remember using my Occult Club and my Divine Iaito for the catacombs but I'm really sure I ended up using my club because it both stunned them to bits and made them not respawn.

They won't respawn if you kill the necromancer, regardless of what weapon you use. You can use a fire weapon as long as the necromancer is dead.

5 more souvenirs of reprisal until I can get my darkmoon talisman. My favorite thing to do is cast Vow of Silence if I see a guy running around with homing soulmass. If I can dodge the first one, they usually try to cast it again, and you get that head-scratching animation.. enough time for a backstab.
 
They won't respawn if you kill the necromancer, regardless of what weapon you use. You can use a fire weapon as long as the necromancer is dead.

See, I actually don't know who the necromancers are. The dudes with robes that attack with something like fireballs?

I really didn't know killing those made the skellies stop resurrecting, maybe that's why I thought my Occult weapon worked with them. Anyway I think that after killing every necromancer there still were some skellies that, if killed with say a lightning spear (it's what I ended up using to kill them faster after too many walks through the area) still resurrected.

Either way, I was convinced Occult worked against them :p Maybe I'll reconvert it to Divine +5 for NG+ then...
 
See, I actually don't know who the necromancers are. The dudes with robes that attack with something like fireballs?

I really didn't know killing those made the skellies stop resurrecting, maybe that's why I thought my Occult weapon worked with them. Anyway I think that after killing every necromancer there still were some skellies that, if killed with say a lightning spear (it's what I ended up using to kill them faster after too many walks through the area) still resurrected.

Either way, I was convinced Occult worked against them :p Maybe I'll reconvert it to Divine +5 for NG+ then...

Well if you want to be 100% certain, you can always use a divine weapon. You should have one around anyway, in case you find some skellies that keep popping back up.

Oh yeah, you should do divine +10 (or +9) at least (if you don't want to use up your white titanite slab)

I have an occult +5 uchi, and a divine +10 Iaito.. bleed for me!
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
I will always love the Nexus and that theme, but my first time arriving in Lordran was also very memorable thanks to the music that plays at Firelink Shrine.

In fact, every time I head back towards the Shrine, I find myself craving those melancholic strings. Just that feeling of safety and 'home' that isn't offered anywhere else.

Also there's something about a place that always plays music (compared to the rest of the game) that has a great impact. It certainly gave an impression with Ash Lake and
my first trek to the Stone Dragon
.

Edit: Following on from the Divine/Occult talk, I think you can just have a Divine weapon in your off-hand in order for skellies to not resurrect. I.e. right-hand weapon slot 1 is Lightning Spear +5, while right-hand weapon slot 2 is a bog-standard Divine Scimitar - you should still be able to kill them permanently with the spear even without killing a Necromancer.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Seriously. The first visit to Ash Lake was one of the most (weirdly) moving moments in video games for me.
 

Yo Gotti

Banned
Seriously. The first visit to Ash Lake was one of the most (weirdly) moving moments in video games for me.

One of my favorite moments in Dark Souls for sure. The place is so serene, and the music... Then the walk up to the
Dragon
. No other game...
 

140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
Seriously. The first visit to Ash Lake was one of the most (weirdly) moving moments in video games for me.

It's breathtaking. So epic. And the fact that you can look back and see the giant tree you came down in adds so much to the sense of exploration and cohesiveness of the world. I like how you can see Ash Lake from the Nito entrance as well. I never thought I would actually be able to go down there when I saw it for the first time from there.
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
It's breathtaking. So epic. And the fact that you can look back and see the giant tree you came down in adds so much to the sense of exploration and cohesiveness of the world. I like how you can see Ash Lake from the Nito entrance as well. I never thought I would actually be able to go down there when I saw it for the first time from there.
Damn, I missed that. Went to Ash Lake first, though, so probably not quite the same.

Seeing the Great Hollow winding up is indeed awesome. Looking into the distance, I'm sure the horizon is dotted with other trees - no doubt just as massive as the one you come down. You really get a sense of scale down there, like looking into space.

Ash Lake may not have been as impressive as other parts of the game level-design-wise, but as others have said before, the brevity of it all makes it feel very well implemented. That place is not necessarily supposed to challenge you; it's not even necessary to the story. It is just there, and it is integral to the world. Something unique and awe-inspiring that the creators put there for players to witness.

Edit: Have to add that the effect is even greater after the nightmare descent that is Great Hollow. Pretty decent design when you consider the 'reward' factor alone, but in true Souls fashion, not without its own sense of danger.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
I think the craziest thing about Ash Lake is that
it's probably the place in the intro movie where Gwyn, Nito, and the Witch of Izalith are fighting the dragons.
 
I think Way of White has lost the only thing it had going for it post-patch, its invasion resistance. Pre-patch, I wasn't invaded once despite going human a number of times in the Burg, and going human for the Gargoyle fight, but now it's crazy. Going human in the Depths, takes just 15 seconds for an invader to come in.

I fucking hate the Depths now. It's like, ganker/griefer central nowadays. Went in there with my L95 in NG+, and just like you said within less than a minute some typical, cookie cutter Claymore-wielding douche came in trying to spam Fire Storm and backstab like they always do.

I stood back while he expected me to run in so he could Fire Storm me, he used them all up. Then he proceeded to do what everyone does after the patch, circle for a bit then run at you with target lock on so they slingshot around you and backstab. I turn around and introduce him to my Murakumo. He's frustrated and stupid at this point and actually tries to trade blows with me, resulting in him getting killed while I had about 30% of my HP left.
 

Derrick01

Banned
Holy shit I think I obtained a sword I wasn't "supposed" to get this early. I found a cheap way to range attack the
dragon in undead burg or wherever, and as I struck at his tail with arrows it broke off after about 15-20 hits or so and I got a drake sword
. Does 200 damage compared to the 90ish my longsword was doing. I wreck fools now :lol
 

pmj

Member
Finally beat S&O on NG+ after doing painted world first.

I discovered that I had upgraded a scythe all the way as my fire weapon, and it kicks so much ass. Lightning spear for Ornstein in phase 1 for lots of safe jabbing, then fire Scythe on Smough in phase 2 for the damage and reach. They went down so much quicker than when I tried to use only my fury sword. But just to keep me on my toes, Solaire almost ruined NG+ for me by being just a hit or two away from killing Smough before I could take Ornstein down.

I can't believe I haven't used scythes before, nor experimented much with weapons in general. I feel like I've missed out on a lot. Finally got a Black Knight Greataxe as well, which I somehow never got in NG despite a good number of Kiln runs with boosted item discovery, but holy crap is it ever heavy. I'll have to compromise even more on my armor if I'm gonna use it, and that's at 45 stamina and Havel's ring.

But it's supposed to be great, right?
 
Holy shit I think I obtained a sword I wasn't "supposed" to get this early. I found a cheap way to range attack the
dragon in undead burg or wherever, and as I struck at his tail with arrows it broke off after about 15-20 hits or so and I got a drake sword
. Does 200 damage compared to the 90ish my longsword was doing. I wreck fools now :lol

Nope, it's cool to get that sword. Just be warned, it'll make the game easy mode up until Sen's.
at which point the game will give you a weapon that lets you keep on truckin' with easy mode -_-

Anyway, I'm gonna go start on my Dex/Faith Sunbroette now.
 
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