- Developer - FROM Software
- Publisher(s) - [JPN/ASIA] FROM Software / [NA/PAL] NAMCO Bandai Games
- Director - Hidetaka Miyazaki
- Platform(s) - PlayStation 3 [JPN/NA/PAL/ASIA] / XBOX 360[NA/PAL/ASIA]
- Rating(s) CERO: D / ESRB: M / PEGI: 16
NAMCO Bandai / Preparetodie.com
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Beginner's "Mini-Guide" (Credit: V_Arnold)
V_Arnold said:Character creation:
You are free to decide what class you are going for. In the first ten-fifteen hours of gameplay, you will unlock every single spell and/or starting weapon/armor vendor. The one class that is last unlocked this way is the Pyromancer: if you want lethal magic, he is one of the safest bets you can get. You are not locked to anything! You can alter your stats later on, you can equip any weapon that your stats allow to do comfortably so, and you can cast spells as long as you have the required faith/intelligence/casting item). To cast spells, you will need to set your talisman(cleric)/wand(sorcerer)/glove(pyromancer) to your secondary weapon slot, and upon switching on it, the Attack will be the cast of your selected spell.
Starting item: Master key is a useful and otherwise unobtainable accessory that lets you open some basic locked doors, so it is pretty much a good starting item, one that you will not regret to choose.
Stats and combat information:
The combat is very simple and straightforward once you familiarize yourself with how it works. Basically, your health (determining stat: Vitality) reaches zero, you die. You have a second, green slot (determining stat: Endurance) which depletes if you perform action such as blocking an attack, rolling, jumping, attacking (heavy attacks are more exhausting than simple attacks). If you decide to block an attack with one weapon or two weapon equipped, the amount of damage that will get through is the attack's damage minus the reduced amount of your weapon's "physical block". The shields are way more effective if you plan on blocking a lot (which you should), quickly reaching the 90-100% block damage reduce area where you really take no damage if you block. The two main melee/ranged combat stat is strength and dexterity. Straightforward weapons such as maces require no high dexterity, and bows require no strenght - the others require a healthy, balanced towards one or other mix of the two. Increase these if you plan on engaging close quarter/ranged combat - which you will, believe me, unless you are insanely good and a tactical mastermind at the same time - then feel free to equip only spells.
Parrying and finding openings: Just as when you miss your hit, you are vulnerable for counterattacks, so does your opponents. Everything is fair game for them just as for you. The two main thing is: after you block a hit from an opponent, you can usually hit back with a fast attack, and it will connect. You can parry also, which is hitting the (LT on 360, ?? on PS3) button just once he is swinging towards you with his weapon. After this, a sound effect confirms your parry, and a normal attack will be a cinematic attack with increased damage - usually killing any normal mob if your weapon is upgraded properly (see more on this later). While you are engaged in a parry cinematic, you are IMMUNE TO ALL INCOMING DAMAGE SOURCES! Meaning that sometimes it can very easily save you - but it will be your risk to take.
Equiping more than one spell: For example, you start out with Soul Arrow (30 charges) as a Sorcerer, but once you buy more Soul Arrow spells, you can equip more (how much? Determining stat: Attunement. -11: 1 slot. 12-13: 2 slot, ...). Sorceries scale with your Intellect, and Miracles scale with your Faith. All spells scale with strenghtening your catalyst (wand, trinket, glove, etc) - or in Pyromancy's case, that is the main source of improvement, rather than relying on a sole stat.
The most common pitfalls in combat:
-Chain hitstun: If you engage 4-5 opponents by going into a room where they are, chances are that you will have to block the first, then the second, then the third, and by the time you blocked all (and ran out of endurance to act), the first mob will already start his second attack. Do not do this. Plan ahead by having always a path open for a small retreat - you will be comfortable with faking a retreat than hitting back, if the mob's weapon and behavior is compatible with this playstyle - but do not engage more than 2 mobs together unless you are really, really good, or simply are overgeared and confident. See: death section
-Falling down: Yep. Everyone can be tossed down from a cliff/building. If you have no wall behind your back, you will be pushed down even if you block, however slightly. Blocked and connected attacks push everything, you can kill and you can be killed by being pushed down on such places. If any mob dies while you are nearby, you will gain the soul from its death, but any potential loot gained will be lost if he falls to the Void.
-Forcing parry too much: The mobs have a tendency to sometimes switch it up, attacking more faster or slower than usual. So parry only when you are sure that the attack that is coming is at the speed that you anticipate. Sometimes it is much easier to just block the hit and counterattack immediately.
Roll > Block: Especially with bosses, their hits are HUGE. They can deplete your stamina by 50% with one hit if you decide to block - and if that attack has a followup, you will be toppled sooner or later, with no option to counterattack. Find the pattern, roll if you can, cause that costs less endurance than blocking the hits. This is not always the case in tight spaces and non-bossfights, but you will know it in time.
About Bonfires, Death and Humanity:
Bonfires:Bonfires are like Save Points. While you can save anywhere if you quit the game, the Bonfires are the place where you will be resurrected once you die. At the bonfire, you can replenish spells (automatic), decide to learn new spells (or set the spells you already know to your slots, to be more precise) (non-automatic), refill Estus Flasks (automatic, they are the healing potion of the game), level up (non-automatic), Kindle Bonfire (non-automatic, has a cost of 1 Humanity and a requirement of being in Human form, see later) which doubles the Estus Flasks regained in this bonfire, and reverse hollowing (non-automatic, cost 1 Humanity, turns you to human form). If you reached a point where you will most likely stay for a while, go for it, and reverse Hollowing, Kindle, then enjoy having more potions starting from here.
Death: If you die, you lose all collected Souls, and you lose your humanity points. If you were Human upon death, you will lose your human form, and be a Hollow again. If you can succesfully run back to your corpse (marked by a green flashing stuff on the ground), you can regain your lost humanity points and souls, but you will NOT revert back to human form. If you die again, the souls and the humanity points will be lost permanently, and a new green flashing stuff will appear, in the place you last died. If you fall off from somewhere, your "corpse" will appear in the last valid and reachable position in the map, nearby to the place you died.
Humanity: Humanity is a farming-heavy stuff, basically. Humanity exists in two forms. One is items, that can be stored, are not lost upon death (such as "Humanity" and "Twin Humanities"), other is Humanity in its active form. You can randomly(to be confirmed) get active humanity points while you play, you can get active humanity by killing invading Spirits (other players with humanity). You can only be invaded if you are in Human form. You will gain more chance to have loot from enemies with every new humanity point you have. It is around 125 percent with 2 humanities, and around 145-150 with 8 points, will post proper points later. You can check this in the stat screen. The increase is present even with Hollow-form, so you need not spend point on being a non-hollowed if you just want to farm and does not want to get invaded/invade. Humanity is a requirement for kindling and reversing hollowing process, and Rats have a quite good chance of dropping it, so do not worry about it too much, you will have your chance to get LOTS of it.
About item upgrades:
There are several kinds of Item Improving methods, but this guide will only cover the most basic one - the others just require a different item, and the process is the same. If you are with the blacksmith or have the toolbox needed, you can repair and/or improve your armor/weapon. Titanite Shard (can be bought for Souls by the blacksmith OR can be found on almost any enemies randomly, low chance drop) is used to turn into a "Longsword" for example into a "Longsword +1". It scales, so you will spend 1, then 1, then 2,2 shards per upgrade, and for +5, you will need 3 shards. The improvements are higher damage usually, you can check the stat differences by toggling the stat screen on the upgrade process. Upgrading armor gives you more resistance aswell, in addition to the armor/stability benefits.
If you hit a Stone Wall, with an unkillable (or so it seems) boss and nothing else to do:
- Make sure you are using the right weapons. Every weapon (at least every weapon type, but there are further differences even withing same weapon types) has a different attack animation, hitbox and attack length, recovery lenght. Make sure you are using one that you are comfortable with, can feel the limits easily, and does not get stuck in the enviroment too much. This is very important on bossfights too - you need to know the spacing of your weapons and attacks to properly counterattack after you roll out of danger on bosses.
- If you feel that you have the proper weapon and armor, upgrade them! Upgrading only costs souls (and once you meet the blacksmith, you can buy enough titanite shards to upgrade every basic item you want) if you have the upgrade indegriends, and it will have an immediate effect. You will oneshot mobs that needed two hits, two-shot mobs that needed 3, etc. It scales well, and upgrading armor means you will survive more hits, basically.
- Grind a few levels. Make sure to adress your problems in this grind process: if you need that more endurance for one more roll, or faster roll (Endurance increases the amount of armor you are capable to wear without being slowed down or having a longer roll animation), increase that in these levelups. If you need more health, increase the Vitality. If you have a fancy new potential weapon, but need more strength, increase that. Set a midterm goal that keeps you going on.
- Practice, if all else fails. Make sure to reach the boss with no humanity activated and too much souls, and just roll, evade as much as you can, and try to memorize their attack's distance, recovery time and speed. You will see the openings.
- Wander around somewhere else. Maybe you need to clear another area first. Dark Souls's world is vast, after all.
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Infinite_Daremo said:
