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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel
- Thread starter Dresden
- Start date
So, Queelag was seriously kicking my ass at about level 32, so I decided to venture back out of Blighttown using the shortcut through Valley of Drakes and back to familiar ground to grind some levels. Went into the Garden instead which i skipped earlier.
It's interesting to see how "easy" Undead Burg and Undead Parish feels now. Even the harder enemies there just means you have to engage in some skillful sidestepping and dodging.
Regarding the Drake Sword versus every other weapon:
I chose a longsword as my weapon and I have leveled it to +6, with some levels in strength as well, but it's still nowhere near the Drake Sword in damage output. Using the longsword instead of the Drake sword still feels like gimping myself...
BTW, anyone else finding it difficult to decide whether to level up health, stamina or say str/dex? Feels like you need everything at once and those levels are starting to cost...
It's interesting to see how "easy" Undead Burg and Undead Parish feels now. Even the harder enemies there just means you have to engage in some skillful sidestepping and dodging.
Regarding the Drake Sword versus every other weapon:
I chose a longsword as my weapon and I have leveled it to +6, with some levels in strength as well, but it's still nowhere near the Drake Sword in damage output. Using the longsword instead of the Drake sword still feels like gimping myself...
BTW, anyone else finding it difficult to decide whether to level up health, stamina or say str/dex? Feels like you need everything at once and those levels are starting to cost...
If you think using something other than the Drake Sword is gimping yourself then you've already fallen into the trap of using it as a weapon sure you can use it but you don't put the emphasis on upgrading and scaling that you should because of it. As for the the other aspect just chose which one you need most or invest in upgrading your weapon instead.
Red Liquorice
Member
I would get your weapon to +10 then see if you want the Drake Sword. The leeches in Blighttown drop large shards and you'll only need 8 to get the +6 sword you have to +10 which will obviously help against Quelaag. 
All I'm saying is, it seems like you need to level your weapon quite a lot plus level the correct skills also before nearing it being equal to the Drake Sword in damage output. Of course I understand that the Drake sword is not the end all be all of weapons and that other weapons will surpass it...
Dr. Benton Quest
Banned
Once you get just a little further you'll start to find it lacking. Start upgrading a weapon that scales well with your main skill.
nightmare-slain
Gold Member
just got this game recently. i'm about 4 hours in but some of that is from setting it up with DSfix and i restarted to change my character.
i'm lvl 13 knight and just at the bonfire before the Taurus Demon. the one where when you leave you have a skeleton guy on the stairs and one with a crossbow to the right and to the left there is a narrow bridge that has skeletons spamming fireballs.
at this point i can easily get to the Taurus Demon but i have been farming souls a little to level up, buy firebombs/throwing knifes, and get a repairbox. I think i'm ready to move on now and take on this boss. First time i faced him i died of course but I think i know what to do. 1. go up the ladders and kill snipers. 2. go down and let the boss spawn 3. run back up the tower and drop attack him 4. lure him away then run back and up for another drop attack.
i still feel quite overwhelmed at the moment trying to understand everything. not sure if i'll manage to complete the game but i'm gonna give it my best shot. i played a bit of bloodborne and couldn't get into it. i just got so annoyed by dying all the time and i was the same when i tried dark souls. i actually request a refund but decided to cancel it. now dying doesn't bother me. it now feels like when i die that the game is punishing me for making a mistake and if i just learn from it then i will get better. no more frustration so that's good.
i'm lvl 13 knight and just at the bonfire before the Taurus Demon. the one where when you leave you have a skeleton guy on the stairs and one with a crossbow to the right and to the left there is a narrow bridge that has skeletons spamming fireballs.
at this point i can easily get to the Taurus Demon but i have been farming souls a little to level up, buy firebombs/throwing knifes, and get a repairbox. I think i'm ready to move on now and take on this boss. First time i faced him i died of course but I think i know what to do. 1. go up the ladders and kill snipers. 2. go down and let the boss spawn 3. run back up the tower and drop attack him 4. lure him away then run back and up for another drop attack.
i still feel quite overwhelmed at the moment trying to understand everything. not sure if i'll manage to complete the game but i'm gonna give it my best shot. i played a bit of bloodborne and couldn't get into it. i just got so annoyed by dying all the time and i was the same when i tried dark souls. i actually request a refund but decided to cancel it. now dying doesn't bother me. it now feels like when i die that the game is punishing me for making a mistake and if i just learn from it then i will get better. no more frustration so that's good.
It seems that way but it really isn't the Drake Sword has a steep drop off point at about the point you're at now.
Red Liquorice
Member
That's the best attitude to have with Souls games, you're absolutely right. Oh and you have right idea about how to deal with the Taurus Demon too.
nightmare-slain
Gold Member
That's the best attitude to have with Souls games, you're absolutely right. Oh and you have right idea about how to deal with the Taurus Demon too.
i just beat him! that was amazing. i'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the controls now. right now i'm about to face the dragon but stopped off at the bonfire. it just kinda amazed me that it wasn't a new bonfire but the one i've been using. i didn't even notice there was a ladder in that room that would've took me right up to the dragon. the level design is really fantastic in this game.
i'm taking a break at the moment but i'm excited to continue.
Red Liquorice
Member
There are two physical editions - the original (no DLC) and the Prepare To Die edition (with DLC). They have different covers so it's easy to tell them apart.
Spehornoob
Member
Hey guys! So, I recently played through and beat Bloodborne and had a really great time (and am still working to Platinum it and do the DLC). It was my first Souls-esque game.
I'm thinking of giving this a try because I had so much fun with BB. Is this worth getting on the PS3? Is the frame rate playable. For references, I was fine with BB's 30 FPS and occasional hiccups. Is this comparable to that?
I actually own it on PC, even though I've barely played it (Steam sales, man), but my graphics card died on me and I probably won't be replacing it for a while.
I'm thinking of giving this a try because I had so much fun with BB. Is this worth getting on the PS3? Is the frame rate playable. For references, I was fine with BB's 30 FPS and occasional hiccups. Is this comparable to that?
I actually own it on PC, even though I've barely played it (Steam sales, man), but my graphics card died on me and I probably won't be replacing it for a while.
Red Liquorice
Member
I have it on PS3 and it's fine - comparable to BB yeah I'd say that, except in Blighttown, which is bad on any system (except PC with fixes of course). It does get pretty awful in lower Blighttown if you are in multiplayer - summon two phantoms and have an invader in Blighttown and it's going to chug very slowly! But that's an extreme case, and in any case really the only reason to summon there is to run to the boss and once you're out of the swamp it returns to a normal framerate, it's like a 20-30 second run between the summon spot and the boss room.
Beta Stage
Neo Member
Reposting for the new page
Glitchesarecool
Member
Oh good lord, someone tell me there's an FOV slider that I'm not seeing on PC. This game is reeeally pulled in compared to Bloodborne.
Red Liquorice
Member
Which do you want more the sword or the miracle? IIRC his sword is like a Claymore type if that helps.
nightmare-slain
Gold Member
made a bit of progress today! got past the dragon on the bridge after the Taurus Demon. picked up the Claymore sword which is amazing but i had to level up my strength to 16 (was at 14) and it uses a LOAD of stamina so leveled that up twice. my character feels really slow now though. I'm at 34.5/59 equipped. i'm still using my starting Knight gear but if i change the helm/armor i can get to 30.1/59. i've read that ideally you should keep at 25% but i'm struggling to get to 50% as it is. maybe i will find more powerful and lighter gear as i progress. in a way i quite like how slow my character runs because it makes me concentrate more but rolling just feels so sluggish.
i got a bit confused in the undead parish area. i managed to beat the armored tusk and head down the stairs to where you find the mystery key. that's when i didn't know where to go. eventually i noticed the ladders going up. that's as far as i got. i seen the white fog so i assume there is a boss coming up.
i got a bit confused in the undead parish area. i managed to beat the armored tusk and head down the stairs to where you find the mystery key. that's when i didn't know where to go. eventually i noticed the ladders going up. that's as far as i got. i seen the white fog so i assume there is a boss coming up.
Oracle Dragon
Member
Is there any good information on the weapon scaling formulas yet? I'm really curious to find out the optimal upgrades/breakpoints for the weapons. For example, it seems like you could start with a fire gem and infuse fire, and use that up until you could raise str/dex high enough that a scaling weapon would start to be better, but I'm not sure how to figure out which point that would be.
Beta Stage
Neo Member
I am leaning more towards the miracle but the sword looks pretty sick. And the sword would finish my Great Lord Set.
I would argue you'll be fine with medium roll (50%). My first time (and lots of characters) were with that equip load and I was fine. Only fat roll is a no go.
Red Liquorice
Member
I would always take agility over defense, in fact agility is the best defense imo. 25% of bust. I would wear lighter or less gear (or level up endurance) in order to get <25%.
If you haven't already got it, there is a ring that increases your equip load and can be gotten super-early in the game.
If you haven't already got it, there is a ring that increases your equip load and can be gotten super-early in the game.
Holy shit I haven't been this stuck in this game in a long time. NG+ Gwyn feels like an insurmountable foe at the moment. I'm at the point that I've done it so many times that now I've started dying to the Black Knights before him again...
My parrying is getting worse! What do I do?!
My parrying is getting worse! What do I do?!
Ok, I did what I don't usually do. I buckled and went to get some form of upgrade. In this case that meant retiring my Balder Side Sword +15/Grass Crest Shield combo that I've been using for at least 70 hours now and upgraded my Great Scythe to +15 as well. I then said to hell with parrying Gwyn and 2 handed this bloody thing with the Gold Hemmed set and a Ninja flip ring.
Lo and behold, I got the fucker on the first try with just dodging and whacking him every once in a while.
I should have made the switch ages ago!
Lo and behold, I got the fucker on the first try with just dodging and whacking him every once in a while.
I should have made the switch ages ago!
Goddamnit Queelag is still kicking my ass!
Summoning Mildred is freaking useless, except she keeping Queelag busy for like one minute. It's just too damn difficult to keep your distance from the slashes, the area attack, not step into the lava (or getting it vomited on you) and at the same time be close enough to actually manage to do something.
At most I've gotten her down to 1/3 health, and then she always kills me for some crappy reason....
Summoning Mildred is freaking useless, except she keeping Queelag busy for like one minute. It's just too damn difficult to keep your distance from the slashes, the area attack, not step into the lava (or getting it vomited on you) and at the same time be close enough to actually manage to do something.
At most I've gotten her down to 1/3 health, and then she always kills me for some crappy reason....
opticalmace
Member
If you stay right up against her she can't hit you with her slashes.
Noticed that. Works about 50% of the time... If she does get a hit... Bye bye 3rd of my health....
Have any stronger armor?
opticalmace
Member
What weapon and armor/shield are you using? Fast roll, mid roll?
If you want to play cautiously, you could just go in for hits when the spider is puking or whatever.
And any decent shield should be able to easily take her stab attack. Just gotta avoid the AOE.
Queelag was one of the most difficult bosses during my first playthrough. Kind of weird because today I think she's one of the easiest, even when she's the first boss I fight. I'm not really sure which aspect I improved to get better at it, but it was probably dodging instead of hiding behind the shield.
JadedWriter
Member
Finally picked this back up after getting severely pissed off with Dark Souls 2. Made it to Ornstein and Smough...oy.
Is level 50 under leveled?
Is level 50 under leveled?
I had a lot of trouble with Queelag my first time through as well. What finally helped was sticking to her right hand side really close. There she just can't hit you with anything except her AOE. I would just stick to that spot like glue and hit her with my weapon 2handed whenever she stopped moving to attack.
Red Liquorice
Member
For O&S I would say 50 is right on target, if not a little over-leveled but if it's your first playthrough it makes sense to be a over rather than under.
At least you can redeem yourself in the DLC and hit up some jolly cooperation.
Even though the Sif summon is trash
JadedWriter
Member
Then why do the giant sentry guards before that fight push my shit in? Before I can kill one they just fucking heal again...bastards.
Just run past them. They are indeed a hassle.
nightmare-slain
Gold Member
now i'm at the undead parish. bonfire is at the tower where you can hear the armorer hammering away below. i noticed there is some huge boss down the stairs next to him (optional maybe?) and also there is some guy sitting at the closed gates waiting to go through.
had a little trouble with those 3 knights guarding the front entrance. easily beat the big guy hiding at the back and the other one up stairs who fires white stuff at you. set the prisoner free (he promises a reward). other than that...i've just been saving up souls and reinforcing my gear with those shards .i'm still having trouble with equip load (36.5/60) and this claymore i've got uses a load of stamina.
my stats right now:
lvl 24, hp = 15, attunement = 10, endurance = 20, strength = 16, dexterity = 14, resistance = 10, intelligence = 9, faith = 11.
i think i'm OK at the moment. my claymore is doing me fine. i'll upgrade stats if needed when i find a new weapon. i want to increase my HP but i'm putting everything towards endurance. so how do i get more than 10 estus flasks? i found something that makes them more powerful (can't remember exact name) but not sure i used it correctly.
Next up I'm gonna go back into the church and go through the fog at the top of the building. i don't know what happens after that.
had a little trouble with those 3 knights guarding the front entrance. easily beat the big guy hiding at the back and the other one up stairs who fires white stuff at you. set the prisoner free (he promises a reward). other than that...i've just been saving up souls and reinforcing my gear with those shards .i'm still having trouble with equip load (36.5/60) and this claymore i've got uses a load of stamina.
my stats right now:
lvl 24, hp = 15, attunement = 10, endurance = 20, strength = 16, dexterity = 14, resistance = 10, intelligence = 9, faith = 11.
i think i'm OK at the moment. my claymore is doing me fine. i'll upgrade stats if needed when i find a new weapon. i want to increase my HP but i'm putting everything towards endurance. so how do i get more than 10 estus flasks? i found something that makes them more powerful (can't remember exact name) but not sure i used it correctly.
Next up I'm gonna go back into the church and go through the fog at the top of the building. i don't know what happens after that.
Red Liquorice
Member
Well it depends not only on what you do with those 50 levels (you might have dumped them all in to Resistance!) but also more importantly your weapon.
If your weapon is on the normal upgrade path (using regular titanite) the game expects you to be at least +10 by this point. The giant guards actually drop chunks at a not too terrible drop rate, so they can be farmed if you're not quite at +10 yet.
You can get an item from a non-optional boss that allows kindling a bonfire so you can get a maximum of 20 Estus, the boss can be found from the start of the game (well arriving at Firelink Shrine) but most first time players would face this boss about mid-game. The Firekeeper's Souls you find are what strengthen the Estus Flask (make each sip recover more HP) and you need to turn them in to Anastacia, the Firekeeper at Firelink Shrine, the girl behind the bars. If you consumed the Firekeeper's Soul you found, it's gone for good. They fully heal and give you 5 soft humanity (the number top left of the HUD) - so they are really NOT worth consuming.
The demon that is just down the stairs from Andre is a bit of a mini-boss, but it's not too difficult. It hits hard but can be killed quite early or you can run by it to explore.
lol, his pathing does this every time, it is annoying! You can get him to walk down the stairs thoughh if you stay by his summon sign and babysit him.
JadedWriter
Member
I was using a +10 Claymore...17 str though with 13 dex. My main weapons seem to be the +10 Claymore, +9 Halberd and +3 Lightning Spear.
opticalmace
Member
BKH is pretty OP. You can basically just bumrush every boss with it.
Red Liquorice
Member
That sounds fine to me, but if you're finding it tough you can always back track a little and get the very large ember and then a fully maxed +15 weapon. The giants are best dealt with one at a time, you can use the stairs to do plunging attacks on them. Just stay close to them so if they go for a heal you can wail on them, their shield slam is also a very good opportunity to get in damage.
JadedWriter
Member
Where is the large ember again. I know I saw ENB get it in his series. but that was months ago for me. I feel like I should go back and farm some materials for upgrading cause yeesh I feel like I want a weapon that doesn't put me over the equip burden like the Claymore does. Lightning Spear probably isn't the best weapon for Ornstein and Smough and I want to upgrade my armor some more. My gear is pretty much half dingy set and half red set.
Red Liquorice
Member
New Londo Ruins.
Let me just say, PRAISE THE SUN!
I finally beat Queelag on my second try today.
Switched to my Elite Knight armor, used some Flash Sweat, shield up, kept my distance, waited for the lava vomit, circled around and beat on her legs.
Took me quite awhile to wear her down, but I finally did it! Thanks for all the tips, guys! And the Drake sword is definitely retired now.
Took my first steps into Sen's Fortress after that. Made it to the first Fog door, before I was corned by 2 snake soldiers and killed. Fun times!
I finally beat Queelag on my second try today.
Switched to my Elite Knight armor, used some Flash Sweat, shield up, kept my distance, waited for the lava vomit, circled around and beat on her legs.
Took me quite awhile to wear her down, but I finally did it! Thanks for all the tips, guys! And the Drake sword is definitely retired now.
Took my first steps into Sen's Fortress after that. Made it to the first Fog door, before I was corned by 2 snake soldiers and killed. Fun times!
JadedWriter
Member
Is that where all that ghost bull shit is underneath Firelink? I don't know how to even get back to there.
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