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

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the biggest problem is that the game is fairly open as to where you HAVE to go next to progress, so the level differences vary greatly once you get past sens fortress. Getting summoned up to anor londo isn't too bad if you're level 45 or under, but after that it really slows down due to the split paths you are given to take

I'm about to do the last boss and I'm lvl 108 :(

I fear I might have a hard time finding help for the last boss...

In fact, I'm going to go try the last area now. Gulp!
 
Found someone, done it. :D

I could do a huge post, but I'll just say this was an utterly amazing game from top to bottom and joins Demon's Souls in my top 10. Easily GOTY, needless to say.

Edit: Both endings are pretty shit, but oh well, I wasn't invested in the story.

Edit 2: Haha, wow, in 30mins I ran through and rang the first bell in NG+. Sooo powerful!
 
Just beat Ceaseless Discharge (such a joke) and holy fucking army of capra/taurus demons! Who's idea was that? Tried to run away from the Capras but then dark knight kirk comes out of nowhere from the opposite direction and I get sandwiched on the narrow ledge.
 

Dresden

Member
Just beat Ceaseless Discharge (such a joke) and holy fucking army of capra/taurus demons! Who's idea was that? Tried to run away from the Capras but then dark knight kirk comes out of nowhere from the opposite direction and I get sandwiched on the narrow ledge.

Capra demons are a joke by that point, wasn't a bad idea.
 

scosher

Member
Created my first new character since 1.05, and loving the increase in souls from bosses and the additional humanity drops. I remember the first time through, souls were so scarce between having to upgrade gear/pyro flame, purchase spells, and invest in levels that the game pretty much forced you to grind at a certain point.

Planning on staying in human form as much as possible for constant invasions, although the low-level griefers with Smough's and Lightning weapons are already getting annoying. But with the increased number of summoning signs, I try to bring in 2 other people to 3v1.

Plan on taking this exactly to SL 120 with this build in mind, which I haven't seen much in the Kiln or Painted World PvP hotspots:

40 Vit
19 Att
34 End
16 Str
10 Dex
44 Int
28 Fai

Idea is to use Crystal Soulspear from ranged, and then punish with Wrath of God when they close in, using Moonlight Greatsword's R2 for wake-up hits, and general melee. Got bored of my Estoc/Uchigatana Dex/Int character and having to rebuff CMW midfight.
 
Using Dusk hat and the +20% magic ring - what other armor should I use as a 50Int sorc? Any preference? Using Havel right now because I like to get in close with the Moonlight Greatsword (that some awesome dude helped me lop off Seath the Scaleless).
 

140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
This was me every time I met a boss for the first time in this game:

tumblr_lvtfyd7chi1qdlh1io1_400.gif
 
I just got a message on my stroll out from the Darkroot Forest that said "Disasters are gone after the defeat of the Gravelord Servant".

What exactly does this mean? Who's the Gravelord Servant? I wasn't invaded by anyone... It just randomly appeared, on my way back after beating Sif, if that matters at all. Now the message just flashed again when I entered the Undead Parish.
 

140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
I just got a message on my stroll out from the Darkroot Forest that said "Disasters are gone after the defeat of the Gravelord Servant".

What exactly does this mean? Who's the Gravelord Servant? I wasn't invaded by anyone... It just randomly appeared, on my way back after beating Sif, if that matters at all. Now the message just flashed again when I entered the Undead Parish.

It means someone who is part of the Gravelord covenant cursed your world and the world of two other players by using an Eye of Death. He got killed so the curses were lifted.
 
I'm pretty sure that as a darkmoon blade, you can invade any guilty player at any level. I'm SL130 and I've killed some players who are obviously 50-60 levels below me, they don't stand a chance.

Sometimes I get a good fight, though. Can anyone confirm this?

The guilty pay the price, though. I spent last night invading in the Undead Burg looking for low level griefers.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
It means someone who is part of the Gravelord covenant cursed your world and the world of two other players by using an Eye of Death. He got killed so the curses were lifted.

What does that mean though?!?

I'm pretty sure that as a darkmoon blade, you can invade any guilty player at any level. I'm SL130 and I've killed some players who are obviously 50-60 levels below me, they don't stand a chance.

Sometimes I get a good fight, though. Can anyone confirm this?

The guilty pay the price, though. I spent last night invading in the Undead Burg looking for low level griefers.

What does "guilty" mean?!?
 
What does that mean though?!?

How it's supposed to work is that the game will spawn much more powerful versions of regular enemies in cursed worlds. Somewhere in the area, there is also a sign that, if you find, will let you invade and kill the Gravelord that cursed you.

In reality, the Covenant doesn't really work as intended and is only saved from being the worst because the Dragon and Princess Guard covenants are absolutely worthless.
 

140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
How it's supposed to work is that the game will spawn much more powerful versions of regular enemies in cursed worlds. Somewhere in the area, there is also a sign that, if you find, will let you invade and kill the Gravelord that cursed you.

In reality, the Covenant doesn't really work as intended and is only saved from being the worst because the Dragon and Princess Guard covenants are absolutely worthless.

It's a shame. If it worked well it would be my favorite covenant.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
How it's supposed to work is that the game will spawn much more powerful versions of regular enemies in cursed worlds. Somewhere in the area, there is also a sign that, if you find, will let you invade and kill the Gravelord that cursed you.

In reality, the Covenant doesn't really work as intended and is only saved from being the worst because the Dragon and Princess Guard covenants are absolutely worthless.

I'm still lost. Will I learn what all this means as I play, this game is incredibly vague. I'm up to the gargoyle boss now.

Also, went back and killed that knight guarding the blue ring. Felt like such a badass, so I went to try to kill the knight in the lower tower with the giant club, got my ass wipped. lol.
 

shiroryu

Member
How it's supposed to work is that the game will spawn much more powerful versions of regular enemies in cursed worlds. Somewhere in the area, there is also a sign that, if you find, will let you invade and kill the Gravelord that cursed you.

In reality, the Covenant doesn't really work as intended and is only saved from being the worst because the Dragon and Princess Guard covenants are absolutely worthless.

Way of White is worthlesser.

I'm still lost. Will I learn what all this means as I play, this game is incredibly vague. I'm up to the gargoyle boss now.

Also, went back and killed that knight guarding the blue ring. Felt like such a badass, so I went to try to kill the knight in the lower tower with the giant club, got my ass wipped. lol.

It's a PvP covenant that tries to get people to attack you instead of say, you going into their worlds to attack them. Does this by making their lives miserable with tougher enemies till they find your sign and invade your world. Of course, quitting the game will remove these effects, so gravelords have to be patient, camp in plain sight and not move around too much so the sign stays visible.
 

Sullichin

Member
Just beat Ceaseless Discharge (such a joke) and holy fucking army of capra/taurus demons! Who's idea was that? Tried to run away from the Capras but then dark knight kirk comes out of nowhere from the opposite direction and I get sandwiched on the narrow ledge.

The taurus demons are largely optional, that one group is just guarding an ember, and then there's the one in front of the next boss door. I actually really, really like Demon's Ruins and its use of previous bosses as regular enemies. The Capras aren't so bad, they can still pack quite a punch but you should have decent equipment to deal with them by this point. Not to say the area's a cake walk.

I'm still lost. Will I learn what all this means as I play, this game is incredibly vague. I'm up to the gargoyle boss now.

Also, went back and killed that knight guarding the blue ring. Felt like such a badass, so I went to try to kill the knight in the lower tower with the giant club, got my ass wipped. lol.

You learn about the gravelord covenant if you join it, which is all the way in the catacombs so you probably shouldn't go there for a while. But the game is incredibly vague about most things. Don't be afraid to use Wikis, guides, or GAF to find stuff out.. you can easily learn what you want without spoiling anything. Learning from the rest of the community is part of the experience. Although, as I've said before, the game could benefit by explaining its mechanics better. Just curious, are you aware that you can summon help - NPC or human - for that gargoyle fight? You need to be in human form (consume a humanity, then choose "reverse hollowing" at bonfire), and then look for white signs on the ground. Apologies if you knew this already, but it's the first boss (i think) that you can summon help for, and at that point of my first playthrough I had no idea how that shit worked. You can also drop the white sign summon stone to help other players beat the boss (which will not kill the boss in your world, but you'll get humanity, souls, and practice!)
 
What does that mean though?!?



What does "guilty" mean?!?


Darkmoon blades invade players with Indictments (Darkwraiths, or red guys) or anyone else who has betrayed their covenants (like joining the Forest covenant and then killing the ninja for the wood grain ring). So pretty much everyone. You need to buy the Indictment book from the guy in the Gargoyle tower (after ringing the first bell). Once you get invaded by a Darkwraith (and killed), you can submit an Indictment, and they go on the list. You can also see the top guilty players.

When I roll my Blue Eye Orb, the game searches for players on the list. Depending on the area/zone you are in, you will invade those guilty players in that area. So if I'm hanging out in the Undead Burg and rubbing my Blue Balls, I will invade in that area. I prefer that over Anor Londo because those guys are just waiting for you, usually with a phantom or two.
 

shiroryu

Member
Apologies if you knew this already, but it's the first boss (i think) that you can summon help for, and at that point of my first playthrough I had no idea how that shit worked. You can also drop the white sign summon stone to help other players beat the boss (which will not kill the boss in your world, but you'll get humanity, souls, and practice!)
I saw a summon sign at Undead Burg once, outside the bonfire, but don't remember if I had beaten the first boss yet, though I'm pretty sure I hadn't ( would the game allow a Lower Burg boss run to start there? ). So you can probably summon help for him. You do need to beat the first boss to get the White Soapstone so you can help people out, though.
 

.GqueB.

Banned
the biggest problem is that the game is fairly open as to where you HAVE to go next to progress, so the level differences vary greatly once you get past sens fortress. Getting summoned up to anor londo isn't too bad if you're level 45 or under, but after that it really slows down due to the split paths you are given to take

Agreed. After Andor Londo it more or less becomes a guessing game as to where to put your summon sign. My advice in this respect is to just find someone to play with. Once you get summoned by someone, communicate and ask if you can help them out with anything else. Its surprisingly easy (most of the time) to summon a friend.
 
Weird invasion in Anor Londo.

Invaded and I see the host and his phantom in the distance. Wanting to tilt the odds in my favor, I run up towards everyones favorite archers, for cover, and to think up a strategy. Those guys actually had a plan for this behavior. The host goes into the open with his shield up, and starts blocking the knight incoming arrows. The phantom pulls out the dragonslayer bow and dispatches BOTH Silver archer knights!

So I go back down to the square walkway that connects the lower and upper parts of the archer area. The host comes around the left, and the phantom comes around the right, at the same time. I attempt to use WoG, and both host and phantom use theirs. I died.

The scene reminded me of the dancing Will Farrell and Chris Cattan in Night at the Roxbury. I was in the middle of their WoG gang bang.
 

2AdEPT

Member
Found someone, done it. :D

I could do a huge post, but I'll just say this was an utterly amazing game from top to bottom and joins Demon's Souls in my top 10. Easily GOTY, needless to say.

Edit: Both endings are pretty shit, but oh well, I wasn't invested in the story.

Edit 2: Haha, wow, in 30mins I ran through and rang the first bell in NG+. Sooo powerful!

what took you so long????? Hhahaha.... I always ring BOTH bells ASAP for all new charcters and NG's now....I don't like being restricted......did you get BOTH solaire and lautrec for gargoyles? Lautrec is way tougher than solaire...in fact he has never died on me once on either boss he is available for. Was fun to sit back and watch L and S do their thing in tandem.
 
Quick question.... Is there co-op? Like if me and my brother got it, we can play together or is it just random game join? Sorry for the haste. At work on phone...
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
The taurus demons are largely optional, that one group is just guarding an ember, and then there's the one in front of the next boss door. I actually really, really like Demon's Ruins and its use of previous bosses as regular enemies. The Capras aren't so bad, they can still pack quite a punch but you should have decent equipment to deal with them by this point. Not to say the area's a cake walk.



You learn about the gravelord covenant if you join it, which is all the way in the catacombs so you probably shouldn't go there for a while. But the game is incredibly vague about most things. Don't be afraid to use Wikis, guides, or GAF to find stuff out.. you can easily learn what you want without spoiling anything. Learning from the rest of the community is part of the experience. Although, as I've said before, the game could benefit by explaining its mechanics better. Just curious, are you aware that you can summon help - NPC or human - for that gargoyle fight? You need to be in human form (consume a humanity, then choose "reverse hollowing" at bonfire), and then look for white signs on the ground. Apologies if you knew this already, but it's the first boss (i think) that you can summon help for, and at that point of my first playthrough I had no idea how that shit worked. You can also drop the white sign summon stone to help other players beat the boss (which will not kill the boss in your world, but you'll get humanity, souls, and practice!)


Nope, didn't know that, thanks!
 

2AdEPT

Member
Quick question.... Is there co-op? Like if me and my brother got it, we can play together or is it just random game join? Sorry for the haste. At work on phone...

It is tedious and difficult to find specific players but it can be done... I have no link to this info, but it is posted on wikis etc. My short version is that you:

a.) find a spot that you are sure is a place that can involve summons, ie.e boss still alive for summoner, not a connectivity path but a real level.
b.) ensure you are both within in 10 soul levels of each other
c.) choose a spot that is not high traffic otherwise someone else will summon you
d.) if the summoner (ensure summoner is human) does not see friend's soul sign, then friend must cycle through the servers by re-dropping the sign again and again...i have heard that spamming square form the hotkey menu works better but have never had that method work for me. I usually wait a bout 10-20 seconds to re-drop. I have only met up with people I know a small handful of times, and spent at least 1 hour in futility (lots of messaging with the flipping controller is slow, waiting for friend to get more humanity cause he forgot to be human etc etc. etc.) for every time I actually got a 10 minute boss done with said friend.....good luck.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
What determines when a message disappears?

I've seen some appear right infront of me and other times watched one disappear right as I walk up to it (aside from the person removing it).
 

Wool

Member
THE GUILTY PAY THE PRICE. RETURNING WITH SOUVENIR OF REPRISAL.

love that message for some reason.

That is a great message, thank God the patch didn't change it.

On a side note, I have been indicted before and I've also betrayed at least one covenant, but if I look in the Book of the Guilty it always says that it can't find my info. Is there any good way to look at your online stats like the Nexus had in Demon's Souls? I know if you summon people to help and then use the black separation crystal, you can see how many successful co-op sessions they've had, but I don't know how to look at my own.
 

sixghost

Member
Killed my first invader!

Had the giant ass black knight axe. He probably didn't expect fully upgraded steel armor with 41/41 end vit.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
So what's the best way to go about armor?

I'm running around with knight shield and chain mail and I'm slow as balls. Is it better to go with lighter armor?
 
That is a great message, thank God the patch didn't change it.

On a side note, I have been indicted before and I've also betrayed at least one covenant, but if I look in the Book of the Guilty it always says that it can't find my info. Is there any good way to look at your online stats like the Nexus had in Demon's Souls? I know if you summon people to help and then use the black separation crystal, you can see how many successful co-op sessions they've had, but I don't know how to look at my own.

I don't know any other way to look, other than the book. However, the players with the most indictments (300+) seem to always be on the low level side. One of the top guys was SL1.
 

scosher

Member
So what's the best way to go about armor?

I'm running around with knight shield and chain mail and I'm slow as balls. Is it better to go with lighter armor?

For a beginner, yes, imo. Although getting a shield with 100% phys reduction is just as, if not more important.

Mitigation from heavy armor isn't that great (it's more about the poise stat that prevents getting staggered on some hits), but you really don't get access to high-poise armor until later in the game. It's better to run with light and be less than <25% equip burden, even if that means occasionally taking off a helm or gloves to get there.

Heater Shield btw is a good pickup at 2 weight from the undead merchant in the Burg.

Later on, as your endurance goes up, and you get access to Havel's, Ring of Favor and Protection, or Darkwood Grain ring, you can start assembling a heavy armor set if you so choose. Although playing with light armor in PvE is still viable (just not in PvP really).
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
For a beginner, yes, imo. Although getting a shield with 100% phys reduction is just as, if not more important.

Mitigation from heavy armor isn't that great (it's more about the poise stat that prevents getting staggered on some hits), but you really don't get access to high-poise armor until later in the game. It's better to run with light and be less than <25% equip burden, even if that means occasionally taking off a helm or gloves to get there.

Heater Shield btw is a good pickup at 2 weight from the undead merchant in the Burg.

Later on, as your endurance goes up, and you get access to Havel's, Ring of Favor and Protection, or Darkwood Grain ring, you can start assembling a heavy armor set if you so choose. Although playing with light armor in PvE is still viable (just not in PvP really).

Where do you see the mitigation?

I can't tell what any of the stats mean on armor/weapons, and there isn't shit in the manual about it (who the fuck thought that was a good idea) the only thing I think I know is durability since it's the only number that drops/goes up.

So it's endurance not strength that effects how slow you are with armor?

So you got that too?

Yep.
 

malfcn

Member
Cool, it worried me.

And what about leaderboards with this game? Where or how are they accessed etc?

The text is a little iffy looking in this title too.
 
It is tedious and difficult to find specific players but it can be done... I have no link to this info, but it is posted on wikis etc. My short version is that you:

a.) find a spot that you are sure is a place that can involve summons, ie.e boss still alive for summoner, not a connectivity path but a real level.
b.) ensure you are both within in 10 soul levels of each other
c.) choose a spot that is not high traffic otherwise someone else will summon you
d.) if the summoner (ensure summoner is human) does not see friend's soul sign, then friend must cycle through the servers by re-dropping the sign again and again...i have heard that spamming square form the hotkey menu works better but have never had that method work for me. I usually wait a bout 10-20 seconds to re-drop. I have only met up with people I know a small handful of times, and spent at least 1 hour in futility for every time I actually got a 10 minute boss done with said friend.....good luck.
Thanks. I guess walking around the world with a friend is out of the question? Still want the game. Should I get demon's first? Or has that game's time past?
 

scosher

Member
Where do you see the mitigation?

I can't tell what any of the stats mean on armor/weapons, and there isn't shit in the manual about it (who the fuck thought that was a good idea) the only thing I think I know is durability since it's the only number that drops/goes up.

So it's endurance not strength that effects how slow you are with armor?



Yep.

While in the menu, if you press select, you'll get a more indepth tooltip of each stat. Also when you're equipping weapons/armor, press triangle (for PS3) and it'll change the status screen so you can see how much whatever piece would improve your stats. Press square while highlighting a weapon/armor, and you'll get the details of that weapon/armor's stats.

For mitigation, you're looking at PhysDEF (broken down further for slash, thrust, and strike, ie. blunt, DEF), magic DEF, fire DEF, and lightning DEF. Even though heavier armors generally have higher numbers in physical DEF (usually lower in magic and lightning DEF compared to light armor), the actual amount of damage mitigated is not much more. You'll learn soon enough in the Souls series that the better option is to avoid or block damage, rather than just tank it.
 

Sullichin

Member
Thanks. I guess walking around the world with a friend is out of the question? Still want the game. Should I get demon's first? Or has that game's time past?

Well, co-op doesn't work in every game area. You can't do the whole game with another person. The phantom that you summon will also disappear once you beat the area boss. Additionally, you can't invite friends from PSN or anything like that, you have to drop your summon sign and tell your friend where to look for it, and it's kind of a pain because co-op isn't really designed for that. And your friend has to be around the same level as you, and be in the same part of the game world so they can see your sign. So while it's possible to play with a friend, it's not convenient. You'll have a blast summoning and helping strangers, as well as playing by yourself, though.

I much prefer Dark Souls over Demons - DeS is great but had some design choices that just made me stop playing, although I only beat a couple of bosses.
 

sixghost

Member
Well my first coop experience was rolling around the forest with another sunbro, murdering every forest invader we saw for about 20 minutes.

For some reason the fog door wouldn't reopen even after I killed all the invaders. How do I get it to go away?
 

.GqueB.

Banned
Well my first coop experience was rolling around the forest with another sunbro, murdering every forest invader we saw for about 20 minutes.

For some reason the fog door wouldn't reopen even after I killed all the invaders. How do I get it to go away?

nvm. See below. Havent been there post patch.
 
Well my first coop experience was rolling around the forest with another sunbro, murdering every forest invader we saw for about 20 minutes.

For some reason the fog door wouldn't reopen even after I killed all the invaders. How do I get it to go away?

Start -> Quit Game. Unfortunately. Since the patch, walking human into the forest area (prior to killing Sif) essentially locks you into PvP queue, or fighting the boss.

I've never tried to leave the back way, though.
 
This was me every time I met a boss for the first time in this game:

tumblr_lvtfyd7chi1qdlh1io1_400.gif

This GIF is awesome.

I don't know any other way to look, other than the book. However, the players with the most indictments (300+) seem to always be on the low level side. One of the top guys was SL1.

This is because they're twinked out douchebags who specifically keep themselves low, max out Lightning/Fire weapons and/or Pyromancy and go around griefing legitimate low-level people still rocking Longswords and default armor.

It's one of my great joys in life to kill these assholes.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
This GIF is awesome.



This is because they're twinked out douchebags who specifically keep themselves low, max out Lightning/Fire weapons and/or Pyromancy and go around griefing legitimate low-level people still rocking Longswords and default armor.

It's one of my great joys in life to kill these assholes.

How the hell would you "twink" in this game?
 
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