ohhthegore
Member
hmmmm starting to get to the point where I'm not really sure where to go
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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel
- Thread starter Dresden
- Start date
ohhthegore
Member
I beat them for the first time about a week ago, good job
Red Liquorice
Member
Congrats Maridia - it's a rite of passage for every Souls player.
Jimnymebob
Member
I beat them a few weeks back. Who did you take out first?
I killed Smough first, because I was having trouble when I was fighting him last. Ornstein was easy enough first or last.
I've played through twice (still the hardest bosse(s) in the game) and O is just easier to kill first, and hard to fight 2nd (when I that far with him). I've tried, but haven't been able to do it yet.
ohhthegore
Member
hmmmmm I think I'm getting sort of close to the end. At what point would it be best to tackle the DLC area?
Woffls
Member
Just playing through NG again because I've ditched the Xbox version after getting all the achievements. I got to O&S and managed to beat them reeaallyyy easily for a change - I got very close on my second attempt solo, but summoned Solaire for the next one because I just wanted it out of the way.
It makes so much difference playing a lighter build and actually paying attention to armour resistances
I think I was about level 40 and had a Fire Halberd +5 or something.
I actually just started playing Bloodborne but... I dunno... I'd still rather play Dark Souls again after ~250 hours.
It makes so much difference playing a lighter build and actually paying attention to armour resistances
I think I was about level 40 and had a Fire Halberd +5 or something. I actually just started playing Bloodborne but... I dunno... I'd still rather play Dark Souls again after ~250 hours.
Jimnymebob
Member
I'm at the DLC area now, and since Anor Londo all I've done is The Catacombs and (DLC access spoilers)
entered Duke's Archive to open the portal to the DLC area.
Tarkus
Member
On the bright side though, you've got 3 epic boss fights to follow. Much harder than Sanctuary Guardian but worth a try.
Sanctuary Guardian and the rest of the bosses are about equal in difficulty. It depends on what level you're approaching them at, though.
The thing with the DLC bosses is the intensity. They're quicker and a lot more aggressive than the bosses from the base game. I also hit a brick wall with Santuary Guardian on my first time around.
Red Liquorice
Member
I think if you take a beat to watch Sanctuary Guardian's attacks he will become one of the easiest bosses. I never go in to a Souls boss first time thinking "I got this", I like to not really attack on the first try and see what they do and how they move/attack.
He can be aggressive but once you know his attacks he really doesn't pose any threat unless you get yourself cornered or mis-time a few roles without healing or something.
He can be aggressive but once you know his attacks he really doesn't pose any threat unless you get yourself cornered or mis-time a few roles without healing or something.
I thought it was rad. Those scythe sweeps are great
Yeah, Windows 10 has not been kind to Dark Souls. It's still playable, but I'm getting lots of screen tearing.
ohhthegore
Member
man fighting Knight Artorias is a bitch
Tarkus
Member
Don't let him buff. He can be staggered out of his animation. Better do it quick though or you'll get blasted with AOE
ohhthegore
Member
yeah I think the problem is I keep letting him buff and then he stacks it, gotta be more aggressive
Woffls
Member
It's running exactly the same as 8.1 for me... except maybe the screen tearing, which may not have been there. I'm just running the Steam version with DSfix and the UI thing.
The weird thing is that my game is working fine at 30 now. I did nothing... Except for restarting the computer perhaps.
Dark Souls on PC is truly a mess and a mystery.
It's a real hard fight. You're onto something, though; aggression is key against him.
ohhthegore
Member
Tarkus
Member
Good for you! Good luck on your journey further.
Recently returned to this after a long absence so I can finally get my final souls platinum. Just nearing the end of NG+ so once I beat Gwyn I just need to beat Sif and ring both bells to get to Anor Londo and the giant blacksmith. What's my quickest path for that?
I'm thinking run through valley of the drakes, up into the basin and light the undead parish bonfire then beat the gargoyles and Sif? Then back to drakes, into Blighttown and beat Queelag before heading to Sen's. Will that work? Does the basin/drakes elevator work if you first enter it from the drakes side or do you have to activate it from the basin? If so, I'm guessing via Havel, into the basin and up to the parish that way?
I'm thinking run through valley of the drakes, up into the basin and light the undead parish bonfire then beat the gargoyles and Sif? Then back to drakes, into Blighttown and beat Queelag before heading to Sen's. Will that work? Does the basin/drakes elevator work if you first enter it from the drakes side or do you have to activate it from the basin? If so, I'm guessing via Havel, into the basin and up to the parish that way?
Red Liquorice
Member
You can get to the Parish via VoD/Darkroot Basin straight away, the elevator is down in VoD, but has a lever any way.
I usually do Quelaag first but I would open up the Parish/Firelink elevator by the route you say through VoD/Basin, use the bonfire above Andre as your base, run down to Quelaag and homebone back to Parish to do Gargoyles/Sif/Sens (or do Gargoyles first time you get to Parish whatever).
twozerotwo
Member
Thanks to Humble Bundle, I picked this up and have played about 2-3 hours. I've watched a ton of footage and know quite a bit about what to do/expect but it's still so much fun.
I grabbed the Drake Sword, knowing it's totally OP at the start just because it's my first playthrough. I'll definitely avoid grabbing it on any future playthroughs.
I grabbed the Drake Sword, knowing it's totally OP at the start just because it's my first playthrough. I'll definitely avoid grabbing it on any future playthroughs.
Tarkus
Member
You should've grabbed the Claymore while you were there as well.
twozerotwo
Member
My brother recommended that as well. He told me where it is so I'm going to run back tomorrow.
I decided to head on back to the Asylum and got everything except I keep getting decimated by the Stray Demon so I'm gonna keep going and come back for this asshole.
Tarkus
Member
He telegraphs his AOE, learn it. Stick to his ass and run to his right when he jumps. You got this.
Jimnymebob
Member
If you go through the Asylum you'll find a
shield
I didn't find him particularly difficult; I was only getting killed by it when it starts butt stomping, not by the AoE shockwave itself. I just stayed behind it as much as possible.
JoeyJungle
Banned
Sorry guys, I just need someone to brag to and nobody I know gives a shit about Dark Souls.
So I got the itch to replay Dark Souls after listening to the Dark Calls podcast, and I decided I'd do a two-handed (no shield) strength run. Beat Taurus Demon 1st try, Gargoyles 2nd try, I just beat Capra Demon 1st try and I'm at 2hours 50minutes of playtime. feelsgoodman.gif (I'm using a beefed up Zweihander so everything dies in 4 hits, but still!)
So I got the itch to replay Dark Souls after listening to the Dark Calls podcast, and I decided I'd do a two-handed (no shield) strength run. Beat Taurus Demon 1st try, Gargoyles 2nd try, I just beat Capra Demon 1st try and I'm at 2hours 50minutes of playtime. feelsgoodman.gif (I'm using a beefed up Zweihander so everything dies in 4 hits, but still!)
I beat the game normally once, this is my second attempt at a two-handed runthrough. I found out today I lost my save that was right after I beat O+S. nbd though since first half of the game is favorite half
ohhthegore
Member
Just finished up the DLC, time to wrap up the main game
I finally bought this game after wanting it for years because of the Humble Bundle and I am having a pretty good time. I never have really gamed seriously on my laptop besides casually playing TF2 so I had to spend a lot of time getting drivers and troubleshooting via watching instructional youtube videos to get my PS3 controller to work. I also downloaded/installed dsfix without really knowing how much I need it.
For the first couple of hours I've been leveling up my stamina (23), strength (19) and now dexterity (13) as I chose to be a Knight and he can't really wear all of his armor and roll, and rolling is life as far as I understand it.
The first boss (and only) I've fought is the Taurus Demon. Lost to him 3 times in a row, but that's because I impulsively wanted to keep the souls I kept losing and I was only leveling up my stamina, which made my hits fairly week at first.
After rolling off some random bridge on the way to healing and losing those accumulated souls (merely 5k) I decided to take on that Black Knight I had avoided because it didn't look all that friendly. Our first fight was me running past him and taking the ring, and then I kept running. I felt like I should be able to take him on but did pretty much no damage at all. Dude was more intimidating than the Taurus Demon.
I've played Demon Souls so I know that in the beginning the Knights seem invincible but you just have to be patient and smart about how you fight them.
Yeah that fight was harder than the Taurus Demon as it took time to adjust my damage output versus intake expectation and understand the timing for the shield parry. Also it's pretty easy to suddenly stop being bold about the riposte once you suddenly only have 1 flask left.
Might be naming my first kid Rip after that fight. Or Block-Circle-Stab-Run-Heal but that'd be a weird name. I'm pretty sure we went (1-7) but I wasn't keep track and that sounds fair.
I was really bummed he didn't respawn but I would have wasted tons of more time grinding him for gear because I got a Back Knight Sword drop and it looks bad ass so I'm going to keep leveling up my stats specifically so I can use it.
Also this is where I first consulted a wiki about what to do next because after that Dragon flew past me I wanted to make sure that walking on the bridge wasn't an insta-fire death. Even with the brief wiki check, I managed to miss the ladder to bonfire on my first run-through of the post-Taurus Demon area but I'm super cautious so I managed to find it on my own before I died, as I decided to poke the Black Knight bear after clearing out all the enemies in the immediate area (except the Boar that looked like a pain in the ass in its own way). He got me down to about a sliver of health before I booked it.
This Knight seems to be stronger thus far and I keep getting poisoned like an idiot against the rats before I fight him, so I have to keep going back to heal. So far we're (0-3) I think. It's hard because I keep engaging him while poisoned so I can't remember if he killed me before I run away after recovering the souls that are hanging out where he killed me the first time.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the game and can't believe it's taken me this long to buy it. One of the reasons I'm keeping track of my fights with the Knights is eventually if they respawn eventually I'm going to go back and leisurely Bare Knuckle Box them to relieve stress, as I found myself doing that in Demon Souls once my character was fast/strong enough. I hope I'm not screwing myself over by not investing in magic at all thus far.
For the first couple of hours I've been leveling up my stamina (23), strength (19) and now dexterity (13) as I chose to be a Knight and he can't really wear all of his armor and roll, and rolling is life as far as I understand it.
The first boss (and only) I've fought is the Taurus Demon. Lost to him 3 times in a row, but that's because I impulsively wanted to keep the souls I kept losing and I was only leveling up my stamina, which made my hits fairly week at first.
After rolling off some random bridge on the way to healing and losing those accumulated souls (merely 5k) I decided to take on that Black Knight I had avoided because it didn't look all that friendly. Our first fight was me running past him and taking the ring, and then I kept running. I felt like I should be able to take him on but did pretty much no damage at all. Dude was more intimidating than the Taurus Demon.
I've played Demon Souls so I know that in the beginning the Knights seem invincible but you just have to be patient and smart about how you fight them.
Yeah that fight was harder than the Taurus Demon as it took time to adjust my damage output versus intake expectation and understand the timing for the shield parry. Also it's pretty easy to suddenly stop being bold about the riposte once you suddenly only have 1 flask left.
Might be naming my first kid Rip after that fight. Or Block-Circle-Stab-Run-Heal but that'd be a weird name. I'm pretty sure we went (1-7) but I wasn't keep track and that sounds fair.
I was really bummed he didn't respawn but I would have wasted tons of more time grinding him for gear because I got a Back Knight Sword drop and it looks bad ass so I'm going to keep leveling up my stats specifically so I can use it.
Also this is where I first consulted a wiki about what to do next because after that Dragon flew past me I wanted to make sure that walking on the bridge wasn't an insta-fire death. Even with the brief wiki check, I managed to miss the ladder to bonfire on my first run-through of the post-Taurus Demon area but I'm super cautious so I managed to find it on my own before I died, as I decided to poke the Black Knight bear after clearing out all the enemies in the immediate area (except the Boar that looked like a pain in the ass in its own way). He got me down to about a sliver of health before I booked it.
This Knight seems to be stronger thus far and I keep getting poisoned like an idiot against the rats before I fight him, so I have to keep going back to heal. So far we're (0-3) I think. It's hard because I keep engaging him while poisoned so I can't remember if he killed me before I run away after recovering the souls that are hanging out where he killed me the first time.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the game and can't believe it's taken me this long to buy it. One of the reasons I'm keeping track of my fights with the Knights is eventually if they respawn eventually I'm going to go back and leisurely Bare Knuckle Box them to relieve stress, as I found myself doing that in Demon Souls once my character was fast/strong enough. I hope I'm not screwing myself over by not investing in magic at all thus far.
JoeyJungle
Banned
Glad to hear you're liking the game! The Black Knight Sword is an excellent weapon at this part of the game, I got it from the same fight my first run through the game and it's a very strong weapon until around halfway through the game (and even then, I kept using it off and on because I liked it). You might've heard about getting the Drake Sword early in the game, you can just ignore that if you're using the Black Knight Sword.
Important stats to invest in early on are stamina and health, and in the first half of the game I think you should only invest in strength or dex when you're trying to get the required stats to use a weapon. Points in strength and dex won't have much impact on your damage output until much later in the game, so it's perfectly okay to neglect them early on after you have the required stats to use a specific weapon you're interested in. Most of your damage will come from upgrading your weapons.
Health and Endurance are very important stats throughout the whole game, so if you don't know where else to put points, it's always good to dump them there. They stop increasing your health/stamina bars at around 40 points, but you probably won't get close to there until the very end of the game.
I've put in 90 hours into the game across multiple run throughs and have only ever briefly touched magic, so I definitely don't think you've made a mistake by not putting points into magic.
ohhthegore
Member
YES! Finally beat it, time to do some new game + and to buy Dark Souls 2. Can't decide if I should go with the PC version or the PS4 though
IdreamofHIME
Member
I'm not good at this game, i'm pretty early and have died like a million times...but defeating that stupid Bull Taurus thing was such an adreneline rush, me and him on just a little bit of health and it really coming down to who would strike 1st. Awesome.
Really harsh to stick that dragon right after that battle though, i got by it by sheer luck but if i'd died there i probably wouldn't have continued on. Is there more of that type of shenanigans? Because that's just not fair.
Really harsh to stick that dragon right after that battle though, i got by it by sheer luck but if i'd died there i probably wouldn't have continued on. Is there more of that type of shenanigans? Because that's just not fair.
Thanks for that, I'm now strong enough to carry the Sword and it's so much fun launching some of the characters with a two handed swing. I'm level 40something and I've put nothing in health yet, but I'll fill it in intermittently with Endurance now.
I envision my character eventually wearing the most protecting of armor and carrying a giant sword as well as a light weapon, I just have to spend a lot of time changing out armors when I switch weapons because of that damn weight limit. I love the grass crest shield as it lets me get about three two-handed swings with the Black Knight Sword and then almost instantly refills my stamina bar.
I thought for the Undead Burg I needed a faith weapon or magic so I grabbed a talisman and a force spell but I totally can't figure out how to use them.
And then I found the Curse thing in the jar so that was a waste of upgrades and oh three-ish hours of grinding souls in the Valley of the Drakes.
I think Dark Souls is like playing the stock market blind or just gambling in general. I've noticed that when I upgrade if I upgrade two or more at the same time there's this stacked bonus that I can't tell if it'll be there otherwise. So I've wasted 26k souls, 19k souls and 16k souls trying to build up enough to do two upgrades at once and subsequently getting myself into a shitty situation at the Valley.
Like fighting my way across the bridge and killing the Lightning Wyverns one at a time and then dying against he last one, thereby leaving the aforementioned 26k souls to taunt me. I didn't need to fight that last one, I had 26k souls I could have just left. But I got cocky and my character can't handle lightning all that well. I made a dash to grab it and totally died again after touching it because there was three of them. So I tried the slow and steady approach and got murdered before I even got close haha.
Anyway, now I have to figure out how to fix the slow down I'm getting in undead burg so I'm glad I have dsfix installed.
SiegfriedFM
Member
Great to see new players. Just one tip for you:
Upgrading weapons is indeed the most important route to dealing more damage for most weapons. That's why Drake Sword is a dead end - it's very expensive to upgrade and unless you farm specifically for it or go out of your way, other weapons will very quickly overtake it. And it still will flatline very early and be useless. Resist the temptation of free damage early on and learn to upgrade instead.
The Black Knight weapons are also very powerful early on, but they require a lot of stats to use. I've used the Halbeard and Greatsword extensively, but know that you will need to focus a bunch of stats that you could have spent elsewhere. On the upside, Twinkling Titanite isn't that rare anymore so they can pretty easily be maxed out and keep pace with other weapons.
The basic weapons - Longsword, Halberd, Bandit Knife, Reinforced Club, Balder Side Sword, Winged Spear, Zweihander, Uchigatana, Claymore etc - are the easiest to upgrade, have very few restrictions and no useless gimmicks, and will last you the entire game if you want to, and can be refined to suit any build. Another plus is that you get upgrade materials naturally through the game as long as you look around.
Upgrading weapons is indeed the most important route to dealing more damage for most weapons. That's why Drake Sword is a dead end - it's very expensive to upgrade and unless you farm specifically for it or go out of your way, other weapons will very quickly overtake it. And it still will flatline very early and be useless. Resist the temptation of free damage early on and learn to upgrade instead.
The Black Knight weapons are also very powerful early on, but they require a lot of stats to use. I've used the Halbeard and Greatsword extensively, but know that you will need to focus a bunch of stats that you could have spent elsewhere. On the upside, Twinkling Titanite isn't that rare anymore so they can pretty easily be maxed out and keep pace with other weapons.
The basic weapons - Longsword, Halberd, Bandit Knife, Reinforced Club, Balder Side Sword, Winged Spear, Zweihander, Uchigatana, Claymore etc - are the easiest to upgrade, have very few restrictions and no useless gimmicks, and will last you the entire game if you want to, and can be refined to suit any build. Another plus is that you get upgrade materials naturally through the game as long as you look around.
Woffls
Member
Awww yeah, just got the final achievements for the Steam version. Got them on 360 a few weeks ago, but felt like doing it again for some insane reason. This game is so damn good. Can't wait for Dark Souls 3.
Got Gravelord infection thing for the first time as well - in Undead Burg to start with, then it moved to Darkroot and uhhh.... seems to be staying there. I don't remember disconnecting or anything, just dying a bunch.
Got Gravelord infection thing for the first time as well - in Undead Burg to start with, then it moved to Darkroot and uhhh.... seems to be staying there. I don't remember disconnecting or anything, just dying a bunch.
Well so far I've been using the Black Knight Sword without upgrading and it's pretty much my favorite, but I'm always so wishy-washy about which weapon I want to upgrade so I'm holding onto my Twinkling Titanite for now as I only have 2.
I also feel as if I'd be better off farming some souls to upgrade my armor but I change it based on needs and have no specific one I keep wearing. If I start upgrading it then I feel like I have to keep wearing it and I keep finding different armors all over the game.
I bought the Grass Root Crest but forgot about it and started exploring the depths of the tower area. I totally had a ton of souls but chose not to buy anything from the Hollow Lady merchant and that ended up biting me in the ass after I fell into a room with these damn frogs that cursed me to death.
I tried farming souls to get rid of the curse but of course I died during that process.
I only lost around 14k souls and some humanity which wasn't the worst but was still shitty. I finally found the magic guy but I'm not sure if I'm going to use anything of his, I'm really liking the heal miracle thus far.
I also finally revived myself to see what that mechanic is like, and I'm not sure if there's a real difference? I definitely haven't kindled any Bon Fires and I'm kinda kicking myself for not knowing what that was when I was walking around with like 06 humanities from constantly murdering people in the beginning.
I looked at a wiki for weapons and still can't decide wtf I want to do with anything, but for now I'm just going to keep progressing and casually falling for whatever traps are set for me.
I also haven't been invaded yet and honestly I don't mind, because that mechanic is a pain in the ass that I remember from Demon Souls. I remember when I finally beat somebody but he had that instant revive spell that I knew nothing about and I wasn't prepared for so after relaxing he just stabbed me.
Hikami
Member
So I've played this game before on Xbox 360, somewhat familiar with it. Didn't get too far since I got rid of my console.
Playing it on PC like a year or two later so I had to start over. About ~2 hours in, someone invades me. Never had this happen when I played on Xbox so I had no idea what was going on. Some person just bowed, took a fighting stance, and then proceeded to kill me in one hit.
Not too bummed since I didn't lose that much progress and was able to recover my souls but, I'd prefer not to backtrack again when someone decides to invade/kill me again. Is there a way to turn these off/avoid them or something?
Playing it on PC like a year or two later so I had to start over. About ~2 hours in, someone invades me. Never had this happen when I played on Xbox so I had no idea what was going on. Some person just bowed, took a fighting stance, and then proceeded to kill me in one hit.
Not too bummed since I didn't lose that much progress and was able to recover my souls but, I'd prefer not to backtrack again when someone decides to invade/kill me again. Is there a way to turn these off/avoid them or something?
Red Liquorice
Member
Simple: always stay in hollow form. (Where your character looks like a gnarled zombie). That way you can still co-op (for others), see messages etc.
If you need to go human (reverse hollowing at the bonfire menu) for kindling or whatever, just kill yourself immediately after doing it and pick up your bloodstain. There are NPC red phantom invaders in a few areas though who drop unique loot and a nice chunk of souls, you will miss out on those if you are not in human form.
Also once you have killed the boss of an area, you can no longer be invaded there even if you are in human form, but you can still put down your summon sign to be summoned by others as a white phantom (helper) or red phantom (to duel as a red phantom) - you don't have to be in human form to co-op in other peoples worlds.