• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
Yeah.. I thought all the hate for the sequel was just a gaf thing but apparently not.
--

Anyways, just beat the game. sogood.gif

I almost immediately want to start a new game but I'd actually like to try Dark Souls 2 next. Now to figure out which platform I want to get it on..

Just a heads up, but Dark Souls 2 is also really, really fantastic.
 

zsswimmer

Member
Just a heads up, but Dark Souls 2 is also really, really fantastic.

It was a little disappointing going from the 1st to the 2nd imo. The DLC in SotFS, however, is really challenging and has some gorgeous scenery, but it has less of that gloomy vibe amd great atmosphere that DS1 had. Some people probably like that though. Its definitely worth to play, and when you start to get bored of the 2nd you can go back and go to NG+ in the 1st. Switching back and forth seems like a good way to keep things fresh.
 

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
It was a little disappointing going from the 1st to the 2nd imo. The DLC though in SotFS really is challenging and has some gorgeous scenery.

I think nearly any game you try to compare to Dark Souls will be disappointing, but looking at it on its own merits DSII was really magnificent. It still offered things that no other games out there match, and evoked feelings in me that are singular to the Souls series. I actually think DSII had more moments that legitimately took my breath away, made my hair stand on end, those types of moments. The peaks of Dark Souls were so incredibly high though and it was such a breath of fresh air, I don't know any other game will ever reach that high for me.
 

zsswimmer

Member
I think nearly any game you try to compare to Dark Souls will be disappointing, but looking at it on its own merits DSII was really magnificent. It still offered things that no other games out there match, and evoked feelings in me that are singular to the Souls series. I actually think DSII had more moments that legitimately took my breath away, made my hair stand on end, those types of moments. The peaks of Dark Souls were so incredibly high though and it was such a breath of fresh air, I don't know any other game will ever reach that high for me.

Well that's true except that its not just comparing Ds1 to any other game but to it's sequel, so it's not like Ds2 is a bad game, just not as good as the original imo. I played Ds1 first, Ds2, Bloodborne, SotFS, and Demons Souls last (just about 2 or so months ago), and Demons Souls is better than Ds2 as well. It's all about the atmosphere for me.

I'm sure playing Ds1 makes me a bit biased, but Demons comes pretty close. Like for instance Ds1 was a great transition from the first Souls game, it kept the atmosphere while polishing up some of the rough edges of an older game. The transition to the 2nd wasn't quite as smooth and kinda big in some aspects. But its all personal preference, some people would prefer it to have big changes in each title and its still one of the better games on the market today.

Even the worst Souls game beats a large portion of other games. The value of what you're getting for 60 bucks is phenomal, and if you buy it on a big sale then it really is a steal.
 

Red Hood

Banned
I've finished it yesterday for the second time and first time on PC (praise to Durante), dove directly into NG+. Do boss souls stack? As in, for example, having multiple
Artorias
souls at once in the inventory? I purposely didn't craft any special boss weapons because I wanted to do them all at once after I got
Gwyn
's soul.
 

zsswimmer

Member
I've finished it yesterday for the second time and first time on PC (praise to Durante), dove directly into NG+. Do boss souls stack? As in, for example, having multiple
Artorias
souls at once in the inventory? I purposely didn't craft any special boss weapons because I wanted to do them all at once after I got
Gwyn
's soul.

Yeah they stack, I just got into ng++ with a few stacked boss souls.
 
Is there another way to get to the stray demon without taking fall damage? There seems to be a white light behind him, but I cleared the place out and found nothing.
 
The white light (fog) behind him is the ladder out after you defeat him.

There is time to heal as you land. It's a trick that most people know, but if you hit roll/backstep just as you land from a fall you can avoid the long 'stun' animation from taking a fall and that definately gives you time to heal. btw, there isn't a fall damage ring in DS1 (there is in Demon's and DS2).
 

zsswimmer

Member
I don't have either of those. This is my first playthrough of the game. But that tells me I just have to deal with it. Thanks.
You still stuck on him or what? He's a pretty easy boss if you know how to deal with him,. I was stuck on the 360 for awhile until I figured out what to do, and havent died to him since then. Basically don't lock on to him and get two hits on him and then run away from his attacks, the forward pointing type attack means you run behind him. The one where he drives into the ground you just run away from any viable direction (cant remember if he does this one or its other asylum-type demons), and the butt slam is the same deal. Staying close to him as soon as the attack aura fades means he usually does the buttslam pretty often, which gives you an opportunity to heal when youre out of range.
 
You still stuck on him or what? He's a pretty easy boss if you know how to deal with him,. I was stuck on the 360 for awhile until I figured out what to do, and havent died to him since then. Basically don't lock on to him and get two hits on him and then run away from his attacks, the forward pointing type attack means you run behind him. The one where he drives into the ground you just run away from any viable direction (cant remember if he does this one or its other asylum-type demons), and the butt slam is the same deal. Staying close to him as soon as the attack aura fades means he usually does the buttslam pretty often, which gives you an opportunity to heal when youre out of range.

Nah, I got past him. I like to figure things out on my own(at least until I am utterly stumped), so that's why I asked.
 
Giving this game a second go, unashamed to admit I never finished it the first time since I went in blind, ended up with a terrible build and no humanity and got to Ornstien and Smough and just gave up. But uh, I'm back again and after killing Ornstien and Smough I've placed the lordvessel and decided to proceed to New Londo, I've already drained the city but right now I'm working on getting the very large ember and the pesky dark wraiths are making it a bit difficult, I've got a +10 Zweihander right now that I'm hoping to upgrade for the four kings to make the fight a bit easier and not have to face more than one at a time, but does it really make that large of a difference or would I be fine going in as is? Also after New Londo where is it reccomended I progress? I was thinking of doing Oolacile next or going to the Dukes Archives but right now Oolacile seems like the path of least resistance if the first boss is anything to go off of.
 
I would get that ember before doing anything else. More damage can only ever help. Certainly for Four Kings because that fight is a DPS race.

It doesn't matter what order you do the rest of the game in (unless you want spells then do Dukes, or miracles do Tomb of the Giants). Oolacile is probably the hardest actually, the bosses are rock solid (and lots of fun) and even the regular enemies in Oolacile township hit very hard.
 
So the Fire Keeper
is dead.
I just went to blighttown and got some sorcery stuff and another FK Soul, and then fell off a ledge accidentally.

Did I do something wrong?
 
Have to say I'm a bit confused on what to do. I've done depths/blighttown and rang the two bells, but now I can't progress much at all. Caved and bought the crest of artorias to shortcut myself into the garden but my longsword +5 does shit damage and I don't have much else going for me in the weapons department (except the drake sword that I'm trying not to use since it doesn't scale at all?). Tried Sif a few times but am not even very close, and my sword does like 25+ damage. I can barely get past the two first guards in the fortress (through gate that opened so I guessed that's where I was "supposed" to go). Absolutely loving it so far but I feel I hit a bit of a brick wall at this point, lol.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Have to say I'm a bit confused on what to do. I've done depths/blighttown and rang the two bells, but now I can't progress much at all. Caved and bought the crest of artorias to shortcut myself into the garden but my longsword +5 does shit damage and I don't have much else going for me in the weapons department (except the drake sword that I'm trying not to use since it doesn't scale at all?). Tried Sif a few times but am not even very close, and my sword does like 25+ damage. I can barely get past the two first guards in the fortress (through gate that opened so I guessed that's where I was "supposed" to go). Absolutely loving it so far but I feel I hit a bit of a brick wall at this point, lol.
You surely picked up an important item in the Depths (if you skipped them and went through Blighttown with the master key, therein lies your problem - visit the Depths asap). Go talk to Andre the blacksmith and give him that item. He can use it to upgrade your weapon to +10.
 
You surely picked up an important item in the Depths (if you skipped them and went through Blighttown with the master key, therein lies your problem - visit the Depths asap). Go talk to Andre the blacksmith and give him that item. He can use it to upgrade your weapon to +10.

Yeah, did that but I don't have more than a couple of shards. I think I get it to +6 but considering how weak it is at +5 I was thinking I might need to upgrade another weapon so I held off.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
The longsword is a fine weapon really. You should have enough shards to take it at least to +7 or +8 by now. You could always try farming the slugs in the Blighttown swamp, but if you really don't want to farm well, you can
try to reach the top of Sen's Fortress, some NPC vendor sells large shards there.
 
Spent all my shards to upgrade it to +8, finally got Sif down after several more tries. Tried to get into Sen's Fortress but met heavy resistance. I feel like I still haven't figured shit out yet, and I just need to play smarter I guess.
 
Those two snakemen at the start of Sen's are perfect for practicing parries on (which is the best way to deal with them imo) - their attacks are pretty telegraphed and easy to parry. You can also circle around backstab them, but they should go down on one riposte.
Especially if you're wearing the hornet ring which you should've picked up from behind the grave in the Sif boss room
 

Red Hood

Banned
By the way, and I'm most likely late to the party as usual, it just hit me that the body where you find the Hornet Ring in the
Sif
boss room could very well be
Ciaran
from the DLC, right? I mean, the body's behind the
Artorias
grave/memorial and according to the description it's her ring. Coincidence?

Yeah they stack, I just got into ng++ with a few stacked boss souls.

Thanks, I just crafted the
Great Lord
Greatsword (and upgraded it to +5) to replace my Black Knight Sword +5, but if I read the in-game statistics correctly, I think even though the
Great Lord
Greatsword has a higher base damage, the Black Knight Sword will scale better with my 50 Strength, right?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Thanks, I just crafted the
Great Lord
Greatsword (and upgraded it to +5) to replace my Black Knight Sword +5
That was a mistake... xD
, but if I read the in-game statistics correctly, I think even though the
Great Lord
Greatsword has a higher base damage, the Black Knight Sword will scale better with my 50 Strength, right?
Yeah, Great Lord gear kind of sucks. Whereas Black Knight gear is invariably good. I guess the GL greatsword will be slightly stronger with very high dex? Not a significant amount, I would have saved the materials for something else personally, especially since the movesets are fairly similar.
 

Hikami

Member
So I did end up buying the second game.. but kept playing this one instead. Found out that I had missed a bunch of optional bosses.

I took them on in NG+ instead of creating a new character though. Damn that was challenging-- but really fun. Got the other ending and now I'm finally ready to move on to DS2 I think (after a break so I don't get burn out).
 

Red Hood

Banned
Damn, getting
Ornstein
's soul is at least twice as hard for me compared to getting
Smough
's soul. Super
Ornstein
kept pounding my ass ruthlessly. Though I should add I'm doing NG+ now, so maybe he's considerably stronger here than starting a new game.

Also, since yesterday I find myself doing a lot of the Forest Hunter PvP, pretty fun. The only downside is sometimes it takes so long to find someone to invade. I usually get my ass kicked, but I could do it all day.

Yeah, Great Lord gear kind of sucks. Whereas Black Knight gear is invariably good. I guess the GL greatsword will be slightly stronger with very high dex? Not a significant amount, I would have saved the materials for something else personally, especially since the movesets are fairly similar.

Yeah, they're very familiar in terms of moves, but I switched back to my Black Knight Sword since it did a little more extra damage (and the additional damage on demons), so on NG+ I'll take every little extra I can get.
 
I don't like playing this game online. I feel like the hints just ruin a lot of the discovery and exploration to be had in the game.

Invasions suck too. Seems like stuff better suited for late-game or NG+.
 

Tarkus

Member
I don't like playing this game online. I feel like the hints just ruin a lot of the discovery and exploration to be had in the game.
While that's true in some aspects, there are things hidden so well in this game that you'd likely never find them/figure it out without messages or a guide.
 

Kaleinc

Banned
I don't like playing this game online. I feel like the hints just ruin a lot of the discovery and exploration to be had in the game.
Yeah, I have issues with orange hints plastered all over the place, ruins the mood and sense of discovery. Not to mention a gazillion of praise the suns. Being invaded every 5 seconds isn't the best experience for the first playthrough either.
 

Red Hood

Banned
Just finished NG+, Super
Ornstein
made me his bitch and
Four Kings
proved more difficult than the first time. Others felt either the same or easier. All melee, no summoning.

I think I'm going to start a new game next time to focus on PvP and other online related stuff. I wanted to get summoned so I could help people with bosses, but apparently my soul level (141) was too high to help with "regular" level players. I also want to dive into PvP, I'm a beginner and I usually got my ass handed to me by other people with a similar level range, so starting fresh with a new character could ease the transition for me.
 
Just finished NG+, Super
Ornstein
made me his bitch and
Four Kings
proved more difficult than the first time. Others felt either the same or easier. All melee, no summoning.

I think I'm going to start a new game next time to focus on PvP and other online related stuff. I wanted to get summoned so I could help people with bosses, but apparently my soul level (141) was too high to help with "regular" level players. I also want to dive into PvP, I'm a beginner and I usually got my ass handed to me by other people with a similar level range, so starting fresh with a new character could ease the transition for me.
Even though the pure PVP soul level has always been SL120-125, if you want the best of both worlds (co-op and pvp) I wouldn't really go above SL80.

In 40-50 range you get loads of action in Anor Londo and Dukes, 50-80 would be DLC/Lord Soul bosses range. I get summoned constantly at that range in Dukes/4 Kings/Artorias/Nito/Gwyn etc. I don't usually go above SL25 until I get to O&S because at that level you can co-op pretty much anywhere in the first part of the game from Burg, Parish, Forest, Depths, Blighttown even Sen's (30-40 would be better for Sen's though).

For me lower/mid-range pvp is more fun than full-on SL120 just because it makes things a bit more interesting having more limited stats, evenone has to compromise somewhere: which is why I much prefer DS1 pvp to DS2.
 

Korezo

Member
So whats the best hex weapon, I beat the game a ton of times way back but after playing bloodborne and daS2 again, I feel like starting this one over again but as a hexer since I never had a cast build before and was always melee. I see the Chaos Blade on DaS is much different than the one on DaS2, is blue moon sword the weapon?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
My hexer used no melee at all. Pew pew the whole time. OK, I did have one starting dagger for backstabbing the lion warriors in Shaded Ruins, but that's it. Hexers are so powerful they can be very viable pure mages.

Edit: wait, this is the DS1 thread. Uh, yeah, as SiegfriedFM said below me, there are no hexes in DS1, they're all like normal sorceries. The best melee weapon for sorcery users is probably the Moonlight Greatsword, yes. The Chaos Blade is for dex builds.
 
So whats the best hex weapon, I beat the game a ton of times way back but after playing bloodborne and daS2 again, I feel like starting this one over again but as a hexer since I never had a cast build before and was always melee. I see the Chaos Blade on DaS is much different than the one on DaS2, is blue moon sword the weapon?

There are no specific hex spells in DS1. Some corresponding spells were introduced in the expansion but they work like regular sorcery, so look for a build for that.
 
Really struggling with the Anor Londo archers and getting quite bored, especially with the trek there. A few more tries and I'll probably make it through but does this area get better later on? It's beautiful but a bit underwhelming up to this point. Did the painted world, which I did enjoy quite a bit.
 

Greddleok

Member
Really struggling with the Anor Londo archers and getting quite bored, especially with the trek there. A few more tries and I'll probably make it through but does this area get better later on? It's beautiful but a bit underwhelming up to this point. Did the painted world, which I did enjoy quite a bit.

It's almost done! There's also the best boss of the Souls series coming up.

The archers are kind of annoying, but they also serve as an important skill gate. Get good at rolling. That's basically all you need to do to avoid them.
 
It's almost done! There's also the best boss of the Souls series coming up.

The archers are kind of annoying, but they also serve as an important skill gate. Get good at rolling. That's basically all you need to do to avoid them.

Yeah, did manage to pass them right after that. I enjoy fighting the silver knights when not on ledges and them not shooting spears at me so it's already getting a bit better but phew was that part frustrating.
 
I've started to play this again after finishing Bloodborne and Dark Souls 2 recently and I'd forgotten how good it is, it's taking a while getting used to not being able to travel between bonfires, I don't know how that was received when Dark Souls 2 came out but I think it's better I've had a bit of a session today where I've just beaten the Capra demon and some of the running back to firelink is a bit monotonous but overall I'm loving being back in this world again.
 
This is my first and probably the only post in Dark Souls |OT| until I finish the game:

FUCK SEN'S FORTRESS

Hardest level in the game so far. Much harder than Blighttown. Even harder than Valley of Defilement or Shrine of Storms in Demon's. Makes No-Man's Wharf look like babbies first playground.

Fuck the Serpent Sorceres, the Tar Pit with Titanite Demons but before anything else FUCK. THE. SWINGING. AXES.

I spend 6 real-time hours trying to beat this level. SIX HOURS REPLAYING THE SAME PATH AGAIN AND AGAIN. I died millions of times to the Sorceres, Axes, Iron Golems throwing gigantic Fire Bombs and of course Iron Giant himself (the key was to fight him unlocked). I finally did it and got to Anor Londo and lit the bonfire there.

Then on my way back to Firelink Shrine, after 6 hours of playing this fucking level, I discovered:

- the hidden bonfire near the roof level... are you f'ng kidding me?!? YOU COULDN'T HIDE IT ANYMORE EVEN IF YOU TRIED, FROM
- the Steel Armored Merchant
- Old Big Hat the Sorcerer (freed him)

Jesus Christ. This level. So good. So nasty. Amazing loot, tho: Phys Def Ring and Lightning Spear.

The famous gif tells it all:

CRZa7.gif
 
Sen's Fortress is my favourite level in the entire series I think. I spent so much time doing co-op/pvp in there. Once you know the run of the place you can be entrance to exit in seconds, and the axes are all swinging perfectly timed/distanced so you can run through them - it's genius level design.
 
Sen's Fortress is my favourite level in the entire series I think. I spent so much time doing co-op/pvp in there. Once you know the run of the place you can be entrance to exit in seconds, and the axes are all swinging perfectly timed/distanced so you can run through them - it's genius level design.

After having one night's sleep I can agree with that. One of the best levels in the series for me as well - up there with Latria 3-2 and VoD 5-2. Nothing in DaS2 comes close. Maaaaaybe Eleum Loyce/ Brume Tower but they are piss easy compared to Sen's. I think B-Team wanted Earthen Peak to be the second Sen's Fortress. LMAO. They failed on every single level.

This morning I made another attempt just for the sake of it to reach Anor Londo from the Undead Parish and made it in through the Fortress in 4 minutes. It's all about keeping cold blood and systematically taking down the Man-Serpent's.

Just incredible, genius level design.
 

Kyuur

Member
So I finally beat the game single player* for the first time. All bosses minus Priscilla, who my fiancee wanted me to leave alone. First time playing through the DLC and I also did a majority of the quest lines for the first time, missing only a few things (watched lore videos afterwards to see). Went completely balanced build with every stat 20+ (including Resistance lolol) and ended up using this fully upgraded set:

*I used NPC summons in some spots, notably Gargoyles, Quelaag, attempts at O&S/Manus (beat solo though), Gwyn

cgXc9I5.png
UqreG3N.png
Nvc1EuC.png

J5n7o6U.png
SpNGMdk.png
GX15xiD.png

m5nAWxg.png
h1yPtWq.png
fS0FK0j.png
AIMW9hK.png

OlwNU1e.png
JnA7yGQ.png


I beat Stray Demon this time, who just ended up being a bit of a stronger Firesage (for some reason I had it drilled into my end that he was super strong). Also found and defeated Gwyndolin fairly early, was expecting harder here as well. Ended up just getting close by running up the wall and chucking a chaos fireball into his face before he teleported.

Accidentally messed up Oniondad's quest by defeating the things in Izalith before he even got there, so that kind of sucks. Watched the real end afterwards,
not sure I would've wanted that anyways. :(
His and Solaire's quest lines are probably the best in the game.

For the DLC, I wasn't a big fan of the areas themselves but the bosses were great, all O&S level. Manus gave me the most trouble with the
goddamn fucking piece of shit
combo attack. Would have been a lot harder had I not learned the existence of the pendant in the town which I missed the first time (found the note but missed the idea). By far the best part of the DLC was
finding Sif and his subsequent reaction in the main game. :(((( It's to bad he was kind of useless in the Manus fight, could barely land a hit.

Just as fantastic as it was the first playthrough, although I'll still give Bloodborne the edge (minus the replayability due to build choices). Onwards to play Demon Souls for the first time!
 
Top Bottom