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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel

Chitown B

Member
Playing through this for the first time. What do people mean when they talk about SL or SLVL? Soul Level? Is that just overall level?

I'm a level 25 pyromancer, with ~19 in both vitality and endurance. I've also put a fair amount into Dexterity. I'm using a knights shield, hand axe +2, and the rags that I entered the game with.

Took out the taurus demon, got my ass handed to me by the gargoyles and Halberd the Rock. I'm not really sure where I should be going, since I feel like I keep hitting walls.

sounds like you took the master key. probably not the best idea for a 1st run.

Yeah, SL is your "level"
 

Chitown B

Member
I did take the master key, but didn't open up the area to Havel until I couldn't figure out where else to go/heard about it on the Bombcast. I actually haven't used the master key much at all, maybe on two doors.

I'm trying to stay away from the Drake sword. I might grab it and stow it, but it feels like the wrong approach to me.

it only works on like 6 doors, but they're all major shortcuts.
 
Playing through this for the first time. What do people mean when they talk about SL or SLVL? Soul Level? Is that just overall level?

I'm a level 25 pyromancer, with ~19 in both vitality and endurance. I've also put a fair amount into Dexterity. I'm using a knights shield, hand axe +2, and the rags that I entered the game with.

Took out the taurus demon, got my ass handed to me by the gargoyles and Havel the Rock. I'm not really sure where I should be going, since I feel like I keep hitting walls.
The Gargoyles, well that's one bell down. One more to go - the Crestfallen Warrior at Firelink Shrine, the guy in chainmail tells you about the location of both bells. The merchant in Undead Burg also has something to say about the nasties that moved in around him. And you should've picked up a key along the way in the Parish that will let you know the next logical path - reading key descriptions and item descriptions in general is a good idea for clues on what to do, where to go and how the world pieces together in general.

You have a few options open to you though, Darkroot Garden is also worth exploring now for some nice loot and a relatively easy boss fight with some interesting rewards (one of which is negated by the masterkey). I would also upgrade your weapon to +5 before anything else. Andre the Blacksmith sells shards or you can farm them from enemies in the Parish.
 
Did you not go to the depths then? But you could have got the right of kindling that's one of my first things to do in a new game +.

No, I totally missed that door after I had the key for it. First thing I did after ringing the bell was returning to the shrine and going as far as I could from the two other paths there before being unable to progress much further. Then I went back to the Parish and explored the forest a little before being unable to progress there. I didn't think to look around the Burg until later.
 
Master key pretty much makes you skip capra demon, the depths and Blightown which are great for newcomers players to be aware for the surroundings and be prepared for Sen fortress.

But you lose an ember and the shadow ninja set.
 

kionedrik

Member
Standard newcomer first Capra Demon encounter:

Cross fog door.
Catch a glimpse of whats in front of you.
You Died.

We've all been there.
 

Chitown B

Member
Master key pretty much makes you skip capra demon, the depths and Blightown which are great for newcomers players to be aware for the surroundings and be prepared for Sen fortress.

But you lose an ember and the shadow ninja set.

I skipped all of Blighttown at first and did Sen's in one go. BT is terrible because of framerate
 

Double

Member
You'll get another 5,000 for every time you beat them in co-op. It's like 2 minutes work max, and the rewards only get bigger from here.

It sucks if you don't know about hitting NPCs, but we all learn the lesson the hard way, and at least you didn't kill him - there's been loads of people come in to the thread and say the had to kill an NPC because they aggro'd them not knowing there is a way to undo it - depending on your weapon choices Andre is arguably the most important NPC, so 17,500 is a bargain in a way! :p
Don't think I'm gonna be able to play co-op, don't even have Gold left :/

I remembered I actually attacked some useless NPC in the Burg too earlier on, so that surely didn't drive down the price ;P
I actually was aware of the problematic, that's why I stayed away from harming him further. But there's already sooo much "wasting time" in this game by just dying and permanently losing souls and restarting what you tried to beat. I'm okay with that, but pushing it further with this adamant NPC-aggro design goes too far for me. You don't have to suck out ALL the fun in the game, do you?

Any suggestions what I should do with the Soul from the fire demon spider witch bitch?

btw I don't think you can say I did Blighttown "first", I just did everything up to the Gargoyles before, couldn't beat them and found a more doable enemy in Mr. "my garden is kinda small and you won't like it at first" Capra.
 
You should do Blighttown the first playthrough, the lack of visibility, confusion as to what you can and can't stand on, guaranteed-death grabs, toxic, and everything making you flinch make it a pretty awful area. It's not remotely fun to play through.
 

Levyne

Banned
You should do Blighttown the first playthrough, the lack of visibility, confusion as to what you can and can't stand on, guaranteed-death grabs, toxic, and everything making you flinch make it a pretty awful area. It's not remotely fun to play through.

The fact that it's not fun make it fun, for me. I know that make no sense. It's fun to conquer unfun blighttown.
 

Mistel

Banned
No, I totally missed that door after I had the key for it. First thing I did after ringing the bell was returning to the shrine and going as far as I could from the two other paths there before being unable to progress much further. Then I went back to the Parish and explored the forest a little before being unable to progress there. I didn't think to look around the Burg until later.
Fair enough then. I went toothe depths after the Capra then used the valley of the drakes short cut as I couldn't stand the standard way of going through blight town.
 

Double

Member
Got the second gargoyle to come out, but I'm still getting slaughtered. Tried using my fireballs on the first one. I'm probably hitting under 50% of the time on those. Learned that I can block most of his attacks, but not sure what to do against fire.
I'd suppose you to go to Capra and Depths like I did :>
Getting the 'goyls once you've basically outleveled them.
 

Chitown B

Member
Can you just do straight co-op in DS? I mean, after a boss is defeated it seems that the summoned player gets booted every time.

I need someone with all the weapons level 75-110 to help with Knight's Honor achievement. Xbox 360.
 
Can you just do straight co-op in DS? I mean, after a boss is defeated it seems that the summoned player gets booted every time.

I need someone with all the weapons level 75-110 to help with Knight's Honor achievement. Xbox 360.

Sadly straight up co-op is really tricky. There's no real way to make sure you'll wind up in each others games. I've heard there are some tricks to doing it but I don't know what they are.
 

Chitown B

Member
Guess who has spare boss souls lying around that she's not using ever and is on 360?

You can always summon in anor londo I think.

woot :) Otherwise, I need Priscilla and Seath's tails, and fire/chaos maxed weapons. If you have them around. I can drop those back to you.

I'm usually on from 10P-2A Central...... let me know if that time span works for you.
 

Mistel

Banned
woot :) Otherwise, I need Priscilla and Seath's tails, and fire/chaos maxed weapons. If you have them around. I can drop those back to you.

I'm usually on from 10P-2A Central...... let me know if that time span works for you.
I've got a sif soul, quelaag's and another one I think I've got Priscilla's dagger too. Well I can wake up earlier tomorrow as 6 am here is when you will still be on.
 

Overdoziz

Banned
Just beat NG+5 with Solaire helping me fight Gwyn. He actually was the one who got the final hit in. Now it's time for NG+6 so I'm finally ready to move on to DS2.
 

eagledare

Member
I just purchased the PC edition and I'm looking forward to playing a version that doesn't look like a pair of freshly sharted pants, comparatively speaking. The problem I've run into is apparently the game, even with durante's patch, experiences constant frame drops with ATI cards.

Any gaffers aware of a way to fix this? I've tried the suggestions in the Steam thread, which basically amount to 'force all Catalyst settings to their highest value' but that hasn't done much.

Any help is much appreciated.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
this just in

Artorias is bullshit

or specifically

that damn "hit you on the ground a million times in a row so that one mistake costs you the entire battle no matter what your health is" attack is bullshit
 
The last few bosses are so much more difficult on NG+. I think it's because of diminishing returns on leveling up. It seems like after you put 40 or so points into one category, you don't get much for your trouble. There are times when I'll put a point into strength and it won't even increase the power of my weapon. Not to mention I've been stuck on 160 stamina for as long as I can remember.
 
Does anyone have any advice on actually hitting the ghosts? My attacks can hit them, but for some reason a lot of them don't seem to make contact, especially my halberd. I'm currently using the greataxe because of it's wide swing, but that doesn't work well on the section with the stairs where the ghosts hover off the edge and poke at you. Any advice?

Edit: NVM, got 'em. Switched to a different halberd and wrecked them.
 

ColonelT

Member
I've been playing my one and only Dark Souls character on and off since release. Most of this time was spent without consulting guides or other players for advice. I'm SL60 with about 45 hours played. That's probably sad. I've set a goal to finish DS1 before moving on to the sequel when it releases on PC next month.

I want to become wildly overpowered, in the hopes of making my remaining time with DS1 as stress-free as possible. I'm seeking your advice on appropriate next steps: What gear I should acquire and how I should evolve my spec, in order to become an unstoppable killing machine? I'm no longer interested in "the experience" -- I just want to finish. Blasphemy for this thread, I'm sure, but I promise to play DS2 properly. :)

For reference, I've rung the bells, cleared Sen's, killed Sif, Orstein/Smough, Pinwheel, and I'm sure a few others that I can't remember. If memory serves I was going for Four Kings next, but I'm not sure that's the most appropriate course of action.

Here are my stats, and currently equipped gear. Feel free to mock me:

VIT 26
ATT 10
END 22
STR 32
DEX 18
RES 16
INT 9
FAI 9

Currently Equipped: Lightning Spear +3, Knight Shield +9, Mask of the Sealer, Crimson Robe +1, Crimson Gloves, Havel's Legging, Tiny Being's Ring, Hornet Ring. Also have 10 Estus Flasks +1. One attunement slot.

Selected inventory: Soul of Moonlight Butterfly, Core of Iron Golem, Soul of Smough, Soul of Sif, Divine Halberd +2, All Havel Gear.

Finally, my Gold account has expired, so I'm offline-only, and I won't be buying the DLC.

Given all that, I would love your suggestions on how best to crush the opposition.
 
this just in

Artorias is bullshit

or specifically

that damn "hit you on the ground a million times in a row so that one mistake costs you the entire battle no matter what your health is" attack is bullshit

Ahh thats a tricky move, there is a variant that deals a AOE while the normal one is just a frontal attack easilly rollable, his aerial combo is awesome mortal


ColonelT said:
I want to become wildly overpowered, in the hopes of making my remaining time with DS1 as stress-free as possible.

you will die anyway but still just upgrade a claymore or the zwei and you are good to go for easy mode.
 
So, on my first play though, just got done with Smough and Ornstein. Took me over 2 hours. Lost a lot of humanity summoning various times.

Think I'm going to take a day break from Dark Souls.
 
I bought this game today after finally beating Demon's Souls from when I started three years ago (lack of interest, not incompetence). I am loving it so far, and I just got to Blighttown while cursed. I am totally digging Blighttown so far. It is not nearly as bad as the DeS equivalent area. The frame rate is less than desirable, but I have been playing Warframe, so I can take it.

Three questions: what is my most realistic future point at which I can remove curse? It is kind of a bitch!

I cut the stomach-tooth dragon's tail and got a beefy axe. I use a Battle Axe right now, so this is a great upgrade. Is it a realistic endgame weapon, or will something replace it?

Last thing: I just finished DeS, and there are messages everywhere. I see phantoms running around, and was even invaded twice in one evening. I haven't had any player interaction at all in DaS (PS3). What gives? Are there no player shadows in this game or bloodstains? I know there are messages, but I haven't seen those either.

Blightown is the pits.

I'm going to bed, I'll try again in the morning.

I could see the bonfire... T_T
Just run. Kill nothing. I made it to the bonfire while cursed. Of course, it took a few tries, and I lost my lovely 23k souls...
 
Three questions: what is my most realistic future point at which I can remove curse? It is kind of a bitch!

There should be two vendors available to you that can sell you a stone to cure curse. One is in at the bell tower where you rang the first bell after the gargoyle fight, and the other is in the little tunnel that serves as a shortcut from Firelink Shrine and the entrance of the depths.
 
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