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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel
- Thread starter Dresden
- Start date
Didn't know there was one.
I really need to stop commenting whenever I feel proud about something because I always get an answer telling that somehow I'm doing everything wrong :/
Orochinagis
Member
keep posting, there is no wrong way unless you are a melee sorcerer
Caestus archer?
Oldschoolgamer
The physical form of blasphemy
Shortcut to the Gargoyles?
Made it past the Capra Demon, finally. lol. Flew through the depths. Put on the ring that silences footsteps and Hidden body and cruised through Blighttown. Rang the bell, joined Chaos covenant, and killed the Stray Demon. I want to say that it's taken me around 3-5 hours (not sure) to get to this point.
Went and grabbed the Master key, so I'll have it for NG++.
My stats are all over the place. From what I can remember off-hand.
Int: 50
Dex: 24-26
Str: 28-30
I feel like, this game is could be a lot of fun (and fucking difficult) to speedrun.
Made it past the Capra Demon, finally. lol. Flew through the depths. Put on the ring that silences footsteps and Hidden body and cruised through Blighttown. Rang the bell, joined Chaos covenant, and killed the Stray Demon. I want to say that it's taken me around 3-5 hours (not sure) to get to this point.
Went and grabbed the Master key, so I'll have it for NG++.
My stats are all over the place. From what I can remember off-hand.
Int: 50
Dex: 24-26
Str: 28-30
I feel like, this game is could be a lot of fun (and fucking difficult) to speedrun.
Even this isn't wrong, Moonlight Greatsword and an Enchanted Rapier or Velka's Rapier is a hell of a Melee Sorcerer build.
Orochinagis
Member
Two handed fully havel with a staff and pyromancy!
Banana Aeon
Member
Go through Valley of Drakes, through the Darkroot Basin, and into the Undead Parish.
That's my NG route, as it nets me the New Londo Fire Keeper soul, the Grass Crest Shield, and if I'm lucky, the Black Knight Halberd.
I've finally defeated Smough and Ornstein during my first blind solo playthrough, my life is complete. Easily the hardest boss for a pure melee build up to this point in DS1 and the entirety of DS2 (which I played first) for me. Compared to the other bosses in this game though, SnO regenerating all their health when their partner dies feels like artificial difficulty for me, I feel like the game design got a bit too far away from being tough but fair with them.
Now I've got the lordvessel item and I have to find these 4 great souls from these 4 bosses (I'm guessing they're all bosses anyway). It's a bit like the great soul collecting part of DS2 but with more direction and meaning.
Now I've got the lordvessel item and I have to find these 4 great souls from these 4 bosses (I'm guessing they're all bosses anyway). It's a bit like the great soul collecting part of DS2 but with more direction and meaning.
Orochinagis
Member
Nailed it
Tarkus
Member
I've played through the game with one weapon: black knight sword +5. I'm getting tired of it though and it's too slow for PVP. I maxed the gravelord sword and love its quickness and moveset. Do you guys have any ideas for weapons that are fairly quick and do a great deal of damage? I have a claymore but I've made it a fire weapon, so it's true potential may never be seen. STR-40, DEX-26 and climbing. I'm not a big fan of spear weapons either.
Orochinagis
Member
Weapons deals more damage without elemental infusion and you can upgrade weapons to +15 with larger embers through the game.
I am not so much into melee builds but claymore, zwei and the dark nights weapons are the best for me.
Get rid of that fire on your claymore and upgrade it to +15. With your stats it should be pretty powerful although I'm not sure if you're going to see a huge difference in both damage and move set from the BK sword. With your stats you can use a huge amount of the games weapons so see what you have in your inventory and experiment a little.
Most weapons fully upgraded will get you through the game just fine so see what you like and start upgrading.
Orochinagis
Member
except drake sword, dont waste your dragon scales in that one
Wait until the end game, beat all the major bosses on NG+, then before Gwyn crack out a guide and backtrack. Don't mess around with NPC's so you don't inadvertently screw up their quest lines.
It's up to you though, but I don't suggest reading about boss strategies
I actually did a Drake Sword only run a few weeks ago and there are some pretty good benefits to using it. Once you meet the required stats you can focus purely on VIT and END. Rolling through NG with a shit load of HP and Stamina (and big equip load to wear heavier armor and still fast roll) was pretty awesome. It does decent damage at +5 and doesn't involve a heavy stat investment to use.
I really didn't have any problems in my play through.
I meant things like
the other primordial serpent you find in the void, or how to find Gwyndolin, or saving Solaire, or the Great Hollow
Elemental Vit and Endurance gouges are a thing, you could have had an Elemental Claymore or CHAOS 2HANDER for the same stat investment.
Most new players have no idea that Drake Sword doesn't scale off stats, which is why it's not recommended, because I see plenty of new players with a Drake Sword and like 24/16 STR/DEX. Completely wasted points.
I get that, and I didn't mean to sound like I was endorsing the Drake Sword. I was just pointing out that it can be used effectively if you know what your doing. I definitely wouldn't recommend a new player using it for the entirety of their first run through the game.
daninthemix
Member
Nice - the stigma attached to the Drake Sword is unreal.
It is the best weapon from the Drake bridge to Andre. At that point, you can +5 something and raise it to around the Drake sword's level, maybe slightly above.
Are you really telling me that using it until you can assemble your primary weapon has somehow handicapped your skill? Trust me - thereafter Dark Souls has plenty of places in which to school you.
To be honest, yes. Being able to one shot pretty much every Hollow instead of them taking 2-3 hits minimum severely stunts the early game learning curve. Hollow soldiers are meant to teach you the basics of Souls combat, blocking, countering, pulling enemies, circling for backstabs, using the kick function, switching from 1 handed to 2 handed as needed, etc. Having a one shot Drake Sword throws a lot of that out the window. A lot of new players take a lot of time to recover from never really learning proper Souls Combat and strategy, they rely on co op help, or even more help from the internet, which is where they got their Drake Sword from in the first place.
KittenMaster
Member
If I remember correctly you can one shot most stuff in Undead Burg with two handing the Battle Axe as well.
You don't need to beat Taurus to get it just backtrack from the parish if you've got the master key.
KittenMaster
Member
Don't you still have to take a very roundabout path most new players wouldn't pick up on their first playthrough?
Well since it's Stormtrooper, the answer to this is obviously always "Yes"
PetriP-TNT
Member
Also, as you absolutely destroy everything up to Sen's Fortress, you might not (and most likely will not) understand the power and reasoning behind upgrading weapons and that is the turning point where the game gets overly hard for around 99% of Drake Sword users.
It doesn't matter that you can finish the game with Drake +5, because nearly any weapon plus +5 is perfectly capable for PvE. But Drake is trap for new players and very good at that.
You get the Claymore and the Halberd in Burg which also 1-shot every enemy there except the Baldur knights / black knights. Haven't gotten this Drake sword though, just using Halberd +3.
I just started playing through the game and have only killed Taurus and Gargoyles so far. It's much easier than Dark Souls 2, at least as far as I've played. I'm sure O&S are going to fuck me up, but I'll worry about that when I get there. Just the fact that Taurus demon and Asylum demons were cake compared to early DS2 bosses, and the Belfry gargoyles are much harder than the Bell Gargoyles makes me feel that DS1 overall is easier.
I just started playing through the game and have only killed Taurus and Gargoyles so far. It's much easier than Dark Souls 2, at least as far as I've played. I'm sure O&S are going to fuck me up, but I'll worry about that when I get there. Just the fact that Taurus demon and Asylum demons were cake compared to early DS2 bosses, and the Belfry gargoyles are much harder than the Bell Gargoyles makes me feel that DS1 overall is easier.
KittenMaster
Member
Dark Souls gets harder as you move on from the Undead Burg while Dark Souls 2 starts out harder than Dark Souls 1 did but never gets any more difficult from there, it is kinda flat in that regard.
I'd say that it does even get a tiny bit easier after you get further in when it's not some of the iffier areas or enemies with odd hitboxes.
What do you mean by that?
ANuclearError
Member
Finally got a proper playthrough of this going on. Went with a pyromancer, and so far have rang the first bell. Currently using the Drake Sword, though I'm thinking of giving the Halberd a shot too. Took 3 tries to beat the Gargoyles, with the 3rd time being with Solaire, which did make it fairly easier for me I must admit. But yeah, getting into the groove now for sure.
While the Drake Sword does break the game up to Anor Londo, it's almost impossible to stumble upon it without looking it up in the first place so it lessening the early game is the fault of the player only. If they wanted a true Souls experience then they shouldn't be hunting around on the wiki in the first place.
Definitely check out the Halberd. It's a very good weapon and can easily get you through the game. The only problem with it (and all Halberds) is that if you miss your target there is a bit of a stumble animation that leaves you defenseless for a second but it's not a major issue imo.
The Mango Sentinel
Member
Does installing this game on 360 improve the performance at all?
I'm running out of space on my hd and I could really use the 4 gigs. I don't want to delete it if it helps the game run better though. Framerate already sucks and I don't wanna make it worse.
I'm running out of space on my hd and I could really use the 4 gigs. I don't want to delete it if it helps the game run better though. Framerate already sucks and I don't wanna make it worse.
ANuclearError
Member
Yeah, I watched a Let's Play of the game, which is why I'm getting around to playing it. Sucks that I don't get the whole deal though, but I've still got DS2.
Let's say, if a newbie came here asking what'd be a good dex weapon after just starting the game and arriving on Firelink Shrine, you'd be the one most likely of anybody here to say "You can go through graveyard and get the Great Scythe from the Catacombs"
I actually wouldn't tell them to go get that. I would prefer to direct them to the Estoc then to the Uchigatana if they do not mind killing the merchant. Such assumptions about me are rather unbecoming.
Orochinagis
Member
But of course any weapon can get you out of trouble but the thing is the drake sword is perfect for the first half of the game (which devs intended to be its function) then the second half is significally harder unless you invest all your resources to max out the Drake sword but you can get a better melee for less resources.
Okay?
All of that is why I said I wouldn't recommend a new player trying to beat the game with it.
It will improve load times a good bit, and the game won't run your console so hard, but it doesn't improve game performance at all in my experience. So if you don't mind waiting a couple more seconds every load time, or aren't nursing an old 360 like I am, then I would just play it off the disc.
I can be the STR version of Stormtrooper, I will suggest that people start with Master Key, go backwards through Blighttown and grab the Great Club as soon as they land in Firelink Shrine. Oh, and grab some Soul items, some Large and Green Shards, the Cloranthy ring and Chunks in the Great Hollow while you are at it. Then just Darksign or suicide and respawn back at Firelink.
It's totally doable for any new player, and you only need 19 STR to 2 hand the Great Club.
KittenMaster
Member
I just realized something about New Londo that had completely went over my head until now.
After releasing the dam and draining the water, you're actually supposed to either go down an elevator near the switch, or if you die, make your way through Valley of Drakes and meet your first Darkwraths at the bottom, working your way up. My first instinct after draining the water was going back to the beginning to see if it opened new areas that were obscured by the water which led to finding the easy shortcut that takes you straight to 4Kings.
Where have I ever been like that?
Orochinagis
Member
There are like 2 elevators shortcuts and the mostly used jumping area where invaders like to farm you, hard.
Orochinagis
Member
Its pretty hidden right? and the illusory wall trolling wasnt hard enough you actually descend a huge tree.