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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel

Soulhouf

Member
I've came back to Dark Souls after a few months of not playing it with a goal to clear the game before DS2 hits.
I picked up my save where I was about to enter the Depths a few days ago and yesterday I finally managed to get to Giant Blacksmith.
Andor Londo's snipers died on my second try - rushing to one of them, waiting for him to switch to sword and shield and running away so he would fall turned out to be a surprisingly viable strategy.
This is my current eq/stats:
OSIjL9N.jpg

Plans from now on:
- Get Darkroot Bow
- Farm Darkwood enemies behind the locked gates to generally improve my stats (vit/dex/end)

I know it will probably take some stat grinding, but I've been thinking about using Havel's Armor (need to go get his ring ring as well) with my current sword.
Should be enough to clear the game, right?

With your high str and dex, you can have much stronger weapon than the Furysword <- it scales with humanity as well.
Take any weapon with C/C or C/D str/dex scaling and upgrade it to +15.

Also, these are some shitty rings you have. Look forward to changing them ASAP.
And stop leveling up resistance.
 
- Farm Darkwood enemies behind the locked gates to generally improve my stats (vit/dex/end)

I know it will probably take some stat grinding, but I've been thinking about using Havel's Armor (need to go get his ring ring as well) with my current sword.
Should be enough to clear the game, right?
Stat grinding isn't really necessary, weapon upgrading is. Always make sure your weapon is as high as you can get, and if you want to grind for anything, farm upgrade materials.

Farming the forest folk isn't really the fastest souls farming method imo, it's much more profitable to do co-op. Slap your summon sign outside the Sen's Fortress boss fog door and watch your souls stack up, 20,000 each kill for a couple of minutes work. That's the fastest one imo because the boss is so easy and you're still in level range for a lot of action. You can also do O&S (place summon sign in bonfire room), but that's a longer run.

Agree about the rings too, there are so many better choices.




I don't see how.

I fought them again tonight, I just get decimated in phase two, Smoug kicks my ass all over the place.

As if the bosses weren't frustrating enough, now I can't even try out a strategy because of ganker players.
You could always play offline just for the boss fight so you can summon Solaire.

Have you done the Catacombs yet? The boss drops a very useful key item that will help
Rite of Kindling, allows kindling of bonfires for more Estus refills, max of 20

Go for Ornstein second if you are find Smough difficult, although most people feel Smough is the easier of the two, Ornstein's attacks are easy to roll dodge and all you have to do is GTFO for his butt bounce. The Eagle Shield is also useful since it's high stability and wooden for good lightning resistance. Smough is slow so if you have any ranged spells or weapons use those and then go in for big two-handed hits when it's safe. I still find it difficult to consistently dodge his running swing, I always roll too early and get smacked up in the air, so if you're having trouble with that, dodge at the very last second.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
You'll get there, getting past the first phase is the real challenge and you can already do that. When fighting super Smough just be patient and try and keep a pillar between you.

Actually, taking down Ornstein first in phase 1 seems fairly easy for me, as it's easy to seperate him from Smoug. Plus I have Qualog's firesword which just wrecks him. I've tried taking down Smoug in phase 1 instead but that butt slam gets me every time, no matter which one is doing it. Ornstein phase 2 seems harder to me.

The game punish you for trying that boss with a phantom. It's Karma

Seems like. I kind of want to take them truly solo anyway, just for the challenge of it.

This playthrough confirmed a belief I had that relative to where and when you meet them in the game I think the rooftop gargoyles are tougher than S&O for a ranged attacked based character. They tend to both get on you at the same time more and the environment is hindrance rather than a help like it is with S&O.

That's something I considered last night, as I was about to die to super Smoug for the 20th time. Keeping pillars between myself and Smoug is a great tactic for holding him at bay, but the downside is I can't attack either. And every time I run it to hit him a few times he punishes me with either a hammer to the face or a butt slam, which I'm having difficulty avoiding. Maybe I need to try pelting him with ranged weapons OVER the pillars that I keep between us? I wonder how well poison would work on him. I think I have a new gameplan to try out for tonight's edition of The Slaughter Mengy Show...
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Thanks for all the advice.
As for the resistance and the rings - those are left from when I went to the game blind. Can't blame me for not knowing that a stat is useless and not being able to find cool stuff :(
I'm using a wiki now, so I guess I'll check what I should get, weapon and ring-wise.

Edit:
I've checked the list of swords and the best thing which has C/C and Astora's Straight Sword seems to be the best not "great" one. I already have it, but the wiki page shows that it can only be upgraded to +5.
Would it be better than my Queelag's sword?
 

Sullichin

Member
Thanks for all the advice.
As for the resistance and the rings - those are left from when I went to the game blind. Can't blame me for not knowing that a stat is useless and not being able to find cool stuff :(
I'm using a wiki now, so I guess I'll check what I should get, weapon and ring-wise.

Edit:
I've checked the list of swords and the best thing which has C/C and Astora's Straight Sword seems to be the best not "great" one. I already have it, but the wiki page shows that it can only be upgraded to +5.
Would it be better than my Queelag's sword?

Astora's Straight Sword isn't very good. It's decent in the early game but you're already past its point of usefulness.

These are some good weapons that scale with str and dex (upgrade to +15):
Claymore / Bastard Sword
Longsword
Halberd / Gargoyle's Halberd / Scythe
Zweihander (better STR scaling)
Washing Pole (better DEX scaling)
Murakumo (bring your STR to 28 to one hand this, it's worth it)
Composite Bow

You should get a lot of mileage out of the furysword if you upgrade it though, even if your stats aren't min/maxed around it. No one's stats look good on a first playthrough. But you can definitely beat the game with that weapon if you wanted to.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
Got back into the game for a bit yesterday after a crazy week at work. Did a bit of exploring in Darkroot Garden and found my way to the Black Knight, who I successfully vanquished and got the Grass Crest Shield (or whatever it's called). Worked my way down to the Valley of Drakes and realized I was WAY out of my league so I nope'd the fuck out of there. Did a bit more exploring and found the
hydra
, which I took down on my first try. There were a bunch of ladders that led up to a spooky open area that spooked me so I decided to go back down and spend my souls first.

On the way down though I decided to explore Darkroot Garden and came up against these massive sleeping statues that were no match for my Claymore+6. I then saw this weird
living tree
that I attacked and which opened up a new path for me.

This game is pretty weird.
 

Inskipp

Member
On the way down though I decided to explore Darkroot Garden and came up against these massive sleeping statues that were no match for my Claymore+6. I then saw this weird
living tree
that I attacked and which opened up a new path for me.
Did you happen to follow this path to the end? There's a pretty good ring at the end of it.
 

Randam

Member
I've came back to Dark Souls after a few months of not playing it with a goal to clear the game before DS2 hits.
I picked up my save where I was about to enter the Depths a few days ago and yesterday I finally managed to get to Giant Blacksmith.
Andor Londo's snipers died on my second try - rushing to one of them, waiting for him to switch to sword and shield and running away so he would fall turned out to be a surprisingly viable strategy.
This is my current eq/stats:
http://i.imgur.com/OSIjL9N.jpg
Plans from now on:
- Get Darkroot Bow
- Farm Darkwood enemies behind the locked gates to generally improve my stats (vit/dex/end)

I know it will probably take some stat grinding, but I've been thinking about using Havel's Armor (need to go get his ring ring as well) with my current sword.
Should be enough to clear the game, right?

like people said before: get the composite bow.
it is the only quality bow.

quality means str and dex are at the same level.

and for a quality build something like the bastard sword or the claymore would be better too.

and yeah, don't start farming souls.

I don't see how.

I fought them again tonight, I just get decimated in phase two, Smoug kicks my ass all over the place. So I decided to try going human and summoning the phantom NPC guy to help me out with the fight, I figure two on two would be more fair. Problem is, every time, and I mean EVERY time I go human at the bonfire, I get invaded by someone else before I even reach the boss door. Actually before I even make my way to the summon mark for the knight. I used up five hard humanities simply trying to make it to the boss door, and every one of them I got invaded and killed by another player before getting to the Ornstein and Smoug.

As if the bosses weren't frustrating enough, now I can't even try out a strategy because of ganker players.

Guess I just need to keep trying them solo, truly solo, because going human doesn't seem a viable strategy what with PvP and all.

get a good shield(one of the 2 kite shields, balder shield, silver knight shield or a great shield) and a powerfull weapon and be patient.

and if you can reach phase 2, but keep dying, try a bow or crossbow on super smough.
 

Chitown B

Member
Stat grinding isn't really necessary, weapon upgrading is.

I keep reading this, but you still need to grind for VIT/END no matter what, if you want to be able to move and/or take hits.

finally stumbled upon the Depths bonfire last night, which happens to be outside of an area with a ton of slimes to farm, which is nice. I also killed the archer above the boss, and he didn't respawn after I kindled. I did get invaded after I became human to kindle though, so of course I died. Bah.
 
I keep reading this, but you still need to grind for VIT/END no matter what, if you want to be able to move and/or take hits.

finally stumbled upon the Depths bonfire last night, which happens to be outside of an area with a ton of slimes to farm, which is nice. I also kill the archer above the boss, and he didn't respawn after I kindled. I did get invaded after I became human to kindle though, so of course I died. Bah.
You certainly want to pump VIT & END on your first run, but the reason why so many people do SL1 runs is because equipment trumps levelling in terms of damage output early on. When you start out, you could put a load of levels into STR or DEX, and it wouldn't be as beneficial as upgrading your weapon. That's what is meant by upgrading over levelling.

The Channeller doesn't respawn, same as the one in the Parish church doesn't, and his funny dance buffs the enemies attacks, including the boss, so good job taking him out there! The invader you faced may have been an NPC invader, there is one in the Depths and a few other areas, so it's always worth going through an area once as human, even offline, because they drop unique gear. And you miss the chance to get them if you defeat the boss before killing the NPC invader - boss dead = no invasions.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Have you killed the Depths boss yet? If not, the invader you faced may have been an NPC invader, there is one in the Depths and a few other areas, so it's always worth going through an area once as human, even offline, because they drop unique gear. And you miss the chance to get them if you defeat the boss before killing the NPC invader - boss dead = no invasions.

Really? Crap, I've done most of the game so far as hollowed. I wonder how many NPC invaders I've missed out on....


I beat Lautrec in Anor Londo last night, using the black orb was my first experience with invading another world and such, had no idea how that worked until now. Maybe I'll try invading someone else's game just to see what it's like. Anor Londo seems to be a favorite place for invaders or something, I can't go human there at all without getting invaded within a minute or so. And they all seem to be super geared too.
 

Chitown B

Member
You certainly want to pump VIT & END on your first run, but the reason why so many people do SL1 runs is because equipment trumps levelling in terms of damage output early on. When you start out, you could put a load of levels into STR or DEX, and it wouldn't be as beneficial as upgrading your weapon. That's what is meant by upgrading over levelling.

The Channeller doesn't respawn, same as the one in the Parish church doesn't, and his funny dance buffs the enemies attacks, including the boss, so good job taking him out there! The invader you faced may have been an NPC invader, there is one in the Depths and a few other areas, so it's always worth going through an area once as human, even offline, because they drop unique gear. And you miss the chance to get them if you defeat the boss before killing the NPC invader - boss dead = no invasions.

nope I haven't beaten the boss yet. I tried once, but I was rushed and died. I've had friendly invaders before, which makes me not sure what to do when invaded. I start to assume they'll help me, and then I die.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
I've got my furysword to +3, longbow to +10 and got my hands on the hawk ring.
I've also found Scythe but since I'm happy with my current weapon, I'll uograde it later (if ever).
 

Randam

Member
Really? Crap, I've done most of the game so far as hollowed. I wonder how many NPC invaders I've missed out on....

there are 5.(1 in the dlc)
one of them invades you 3 times in different locations.

you should have missed 2 so far.
one of them being the guy, who invades you 3 times.
but now wont anymore, because you missed him the first time.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
there are 5.(1 in the dlc)
one of them invades you 3 times in different locations.

you should have missed 2 so far.
one of them being the guy, who invades you 3 times.
but now wont anymore, because you missed him the first time.

Although, now I'm wondering if some of my PvP deaths were actually to NPC's? o_O


I was invaded two times by one guy in the Depths, around the curse frog things, killed him the second time,and then I was invaded by a female at the bottom of Blighttown, right outside the bonfire actually. Do NPC characters do waves and gestures too?

Man, this freakin game, I have no idea if I'm actually dying to people or NPC's now, LOL!!!!
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Although, now I'm wondering if some of my PvP deaths were actually to NPC's? o_O


I was invaded two times by one guy in the Depths, around the curse frog things, killed him the second time,and then I was invaded by a female at the bottom of Blighttown, right outside the bonfire actually. Do NPC characters do waves and gestures too?

Man, this freakin game, I have no idea if I'm actually dying to people or NPC's now, LOL!!!!
That Blighttown female was an NPC. You can summon her for the boss fight after that.
 

Randam

Member
Although, now I'm wondering if some of my PvP deaths were actually to NPC's? o_O


I was invaded two times by one guy in the Depths, around the curse frog things, killed him the second time,and then I was invaded by a female at the bottom of Blighttown, right outside the bonfire actually. Do NPC characters do waves and gestures too?

Man, this freakin game, I have no idea if I'm actually dying to people or NPC's now, LOL!!!!

the npc invader spawns more by the rats.
that female was mildred.
and no, the dont wave.

and if you got killed, it was a real human.
the npc incaders are pretty bad.
 

Soulhouf

Member
So,preorder DLC weapons for Dark Souls 2

Fuck you Bamco (&#12494;`&#1044;´)&#12494;&#24417;&#9531;&#9473;&#9531;

I did well to purchase the Japanese version so that the money goes directly to From.

e: plus they don't sound to be normal weapons. This literally goes against all what they learned from Dark Souls 1 mistakes. Well done gentlemen.
 

hohoXD123

Member
I stupidly finished the game without playing the DLC first. I managed to
rescue Dusk of Oolacile but I forgot about the broken pendant
. Now that I have to start again, roughly how long would it take me to be able to access the DLC? Is there some sort of shortcut? Not sure if I'll bother if I have to go all the way back to the archives...
 

Tawpgun

Member
Whatever, I hope those are like the drake sword that will be OP early on and then those players get fucked in the second half of the game.
 

Soulhouf

Member
I stupidly finished the game without playing the DLC first. I managed to
rescue Dusk of Oolacile but I forgot about the broken pendant
. Now that I have to start again, roughly how long would it take me to be able to access the DLC? Is there some sort of shortcut? Not sure if I'll bother if I have to go all the way back to the archives...

You need to beat Anor londo first but it can be done in less than 2 hours in NG+.
 

PatzCU

Member
I found it a few days ago. This was a well hidden bonfire, but there are clues to it's location if you are looking around while keeping an eye out for hidden stuff. I'll tell you what led me to find it, and I'll keep it semi vague but I'll spoiler it all the same just in case you don't even want a semi vague hint:

A broken section in a knee high wall made me curious enough to take a closer look.

From the sound of it you are close to it, look at my hint if you want a loose clue, if not then good luck to you! Sen's Fortress was one of my favorite areas so far, I'm now stuck at the end of Anor Londo...

I'm weak, I peeked!! After another 20-30 minute play session, I still couldn't find the bonfire and ran out of time to keep exploring last night. However, with that said, I was definitely going to investigate what you mentioned in your hint tonight anyway. I still feel kind of guilty.

I love the usual learning curve flow in this game. When I first got to Sen's it took me an hour and many deaths to make it to the top. Last night, I made it from the blacksmith bonfire to the top of Sen's in about 4-5 minutes without taking any damage. Makes me feel like such a bad ass... until the next new area when the game humiliates me again.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I love the usual learning curve flow in this game. When I first got to Sen's it took me an hour and many deaths to make it to the top. Last night, I made it from the blacksmith bonfire to the top of Sen's in about 4-5 minutes without taking any damage. Makes me feel like such a bad ass... until the next new area when the game humiliates me again.

That's what I'm finding most amazing about the game too. The learning curve is a lot more skill based (instead of gear based) than most other games like this. At the beginning I would have trouble getting through the Undead Burg up to the Taurus Demon rampart. I almost always needed a few swigs of estus on the way up. Now I can run through there naked with only an un-upgraded shield and sword, and I can literally decimate them as I dance around their falling corpses. Even the damn shield bearing spear holding skeletons, they might take some more time to maneuver around to backstab them, but I know their tells and patterns and I can't fathom now what I ever found hard about them. Similarly I run through Sen's now like it's cake. It's not any easier than it was before, I just know more.

This game is an amazing piece of art. I almost feel guilty for having bought it for $5.
 

Sullichin

Member
Fuck you Bamco (&#12494;`&#1044;´)&#12494;&#24417;&#9531;&#9473;&#9531;

I did well to purchase the Japanese version so that the money goes directly to From.

e: plus they don't sound to be normal weapons. This literally goes against all what they learned from Dark Souls 1 mistakes. Well done gentlemen.

It's worse in Japan, where each weapon set is tied to a different retailer. At least elsewhere, you'll get all of them at once and not have to worry about where you're preordering from.
 

Soulhouf

Member
It's worse in Japan, where each weapon set is tied to a different retailer. At least elsewhere, you'll get all of them at once and not have to worry about where you're preordering from.

I don't care, I'll purchase the digital version without preorder.
My point is that I'm sure this stupid idea is coming from Bamco, so I'm not supporting them by buying the Japanese version (From is the publisher there).
 
Whatever, I hope those are like the drake sword that will be OP early on and then those players get fucked in the second half of the game.

Beating the second half of Dark Souls would be easy with an upgraded Drake Sword, especially if you took advantage of it's non-scaling and put all your points into Vit and End. Most weapons are perfectly viable for a moderately skilled player. Never understood the disdain for the Drake Sword.
 

mannerbot

Member
Beating the second half of Dark Souls would be easy with an upgraded Drake Sword, especially if you took advantage of it's non-scaling and put all your points into Vit and End. Most weapons are perfectly viable for a moderately skilled player. Never understood the disdain for the Drake Sword.

50k souls and 10 dragon scales though? I mean you're certainly right, you can do it but there are just better alternatives.
 
50k souls and 10 dragon scales though? I mean you're certainly right, you can do it but there are just better alternatives.

I agree.

Also worse alternative - whip, caestus, etc. I prefer not to trap myself by thinking a weapon's worthless just because there's something better.
 

mannerbot

Member
I agree.

Also worse alternative - whip, caestus, etc. I prefer not to trap myself by thinking a weapon's worthless just because there's something better.

But that's the thing, the Drake Sword is a noob trap specifically because it isn't obviously worthless. Nobody's going to be tricked into thinking a broken sword hilt or fist weapon is a good weapon. On the other hand, the Drake Sword leads players to believe that they can continuously get more and more op drops that will one-shot enemies throughout the game. It's so much better than "regular" weapons that new players won't really see the value in upgrading other weapons, and it's not only expensive but difficult to upgrade the Drake Sword -- how many Dragon Scales do you expect a new player to find on a first playthrough without help? So yes, while an end-game Drake Sword isn't necessarily worthless, it IS made obsolete by actual endgame weapons that scale (or have high requirements and high base stats).
 
I think worse traps are many of the boss soul weapons.

The most dissapointing weapons for me are the Mail Breaker and Dragon Bone Fist. Not necessarily because they're the worst but I just had high expectations and really wanted to use em seriously.
 

Stillmatic

Member
I completed the game on PS3 about a year ago, and recently bought the game on PC after watching the Jeff Green stream. Mainly bought it again to play through the DLC, which I just finished. Damn that was great! I occasionally looked up strategies etc for my original DS playthrough, so I played the DLC blind, and I'm glad I did.

By far the hardest boss in the entire game for me was Kalameet! I was straight melee, and maybe a little under leveled (sl60)? After a few hours of trying I decided to summon, the person I summoned was great. He was just targeting the tail, once he got that for the most part he sat back and let me do most of the leg work to finish the fight. It took a while, but felt like such an epic battle. To make things even better, the dude I summoned dropped a Titanite Slab for me. :)

Manus I found really easy, I tried about 3 attempts, lost all handily, 4th attempt got him to the point he uses dark magic, then died. Figured to use the pendant I found earlier and ended up beating him the following attempt. I just dodged everything, and was careful with my attacks. The only time I would attack is after dodging his ground slap that has him stretched out idle for a few seconds. It was a pretty awesome fight though, probably one of my favorites.
 

Hobobloke

Member
I love the usual learning curve flow in this game. When I first got to Sen's it took me an hour and many deaths to make it to the top. Last night, I made it from the blacksmith bonfire to the top of Sen's in about 4-5 minutes without taking any damage. Makes me feel like such a bad ass... until the next new area when the game humiliates me again.

That's what I'm finding most amazing about the game too. The learning curve is a lot more skill based (instead of gear based) than most other games like this. At the beginning I would have trouble getting through the Undead Burg up to the Taurus Demon rampart. I almost always needed a few swigs of estus on the way up. Now I can run through there naked with only an un-upgraded shield and sword, and I can literally decimate them as I dance around their falling corpses. Even the damn shield bearing spear holding skeletons, they might take some more time to maneuver around to backstab them, but I know their tells and patterns and I can't fathom now what I ever found hard about them. Similarly I run through Sen's now like it's cake. It's not any easier than it was before, I just know more.

This game is an amazing piece of art. I almost feel guilty for having bought it for $5.

Definitely one of the most satisfying aspects of Souls, and congrats Mengy!
 

Nerokis

Member
YEAH, speaking of the wonder twins:

That was the hardest fight I've encountered yet in the game, BY FAR.

Whew, time to rest my weary dark soul for a bit...

Congratulations! I love the screenshot of you staring at an almost down Smough with zero flasks. That must have been a tense moment.

On my end, I'm almost done with my NG+ playthrough. Doing some reading after I first beat the game last Friday, I was alerted to a few significant things I missed the first time around (including the DLC), but even then, I've discovered a number of other very interesting things, as well. I'm in love with this world.

I could finish the game right now, but there are a handful of things I feel like doing first. I want to re-explore some areas, I still haven't gone to the
painted world
, I'm contemplating entering
Gwyndolin's chamber
, and of course, I've done my best to save the DLC, my final major blind spot, for last. It's incredible to imagine that after pretty much going through the game twice, I still have this seemingly acclaimed chunk of content to go through. I'm excited, but I think I'll have to wait till next week to jump in.

Also, I ended my first playthrough with 40 Dex, 40 End, ~16 Str, and ~16 Vit, with even more minor allocations elsewhere. Now I have 30 Vit, ~25 Str, ~27 Int, and a maxed out Pyromancy Flame. Were I to ever dive into into NG++ with this character, I'd probably focus on seeing what interesting directions I could take him, along with online play. Chances are that's not happening, though. Even if I were to come back to Dark Souls at some point before the sequel releases, there's too many other interesting alternatives to try (making a brand new character sounds tempting, and so does co-op with a friend). I've grown weirdly attached to my aimless wanderer, though, so with the end of this almost two week ride in sight, I can't help but to think of a line I heard earlier: "Our time together was short, but sweet."
 

ArynCrinn

Banned
I don't care, I'll purchase the digital version without preorder.
My point is that I'm sure this stupid idea is coming from Bamco, so I'm not supporting them by buying the Japanese version (From is the publisher there).

Not only that, but have you seen the utterly sickening level of bandwagon marketing Scamco is doing by doing a whole Dark Souls 2 clothing line and accessories? Just sad to see this happen, I so wish this franchise had just stayed niche. Namco is to the Souls series what Activision is to the CoD franchise, pretty much. Same I suppose goes for Bethesda and the Fallout franchise...

No wonder they got rid of Miyazaki, and if I were him I wouldn't want any part of this shit, goes against all of his game design philosophy basically. By now we've seen more of DkS2 before release, as well as important info than we ever did the two previous. Only thing I can really hope for is maybe this game won't need as many patches.
 
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