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[Seanspeed]

Ugh, Four Kings on New Game+. Any recommendations? From what I've read, the most important thing is to deal out a lot of damage quickly. But I can't seem to manage that, and seem to be quickly surrounded by four or five kings. I've tried using a +15 Lucerne, which does a good chunk of damage, but I feel it's just too slow. I've tried a +5 Black Knight Sword, but kind of the same problem. My +15 Longsword just didn't deal out damage quickly enough.

As for armor, I'm going with Havel's for the great damage and magic defense, and the Mask of the Child for the stamina regen. My shield is the Crest shield, as it blocks most of their magic attacks. Using Havel's ring so that I can get a medium roll.

Any suggestions on how to beat them on New Game+? I can get them down to about half health, but then get swarmed.

I found that the best strategy for dealing a lot of damage isn't to go with the big, heavier, slower weapons. Those are useful if you can only get in one or two strikes at a time, but with Four Kings, you can sit around longer. Whip out a fully upgraded katana or something and wail away. You'll do less damage each individual hit, but you'll be getting 2+ more hits in depending on how much stamina you have. Ultimately, it equals more damage output and it also allows you to dodge quicker if you need to.

Two-handing also helps get in more damage. You'll use a bit of extra stamina, but the extra damage will balance out. All in all, its nearly the same one-handing or two-handing in terms of damage per full stamina bar, but the quicker you can get that damage in, the quicker you can recharge your stamina to do it again.

The build up to the attack is long enough that you can see when it's coming, so try to stay in view of her body and keep moving after a few hits (and don't lock on). I usually attack from the side - the legs - and try to stay away from the back as it blocks your view of what her body is doing and means she's more likely to do any of the big attacks like AoE, fart gas or the stomp.

Sometimes summons can send her AI koo-koo too, so it might be easier without Mildred. If she's just concentrating on you, you'll have a better idea of what attacks to expect.

Yea, I've been attacking her back a lot.

Its weird. I tried like 15 times to do it solo my first playthrough and just got whooped each time. Summoned Mildred once and beat her no problem. Now I cant seem to do it either way. I'll try some more things, though. I'll be a little less greedy in terms of how many times I strike and I'll stay to the side.

 

[Arjen]

Been trying to do some invasions with my current character. But yeah, that's not really working out for me, i suck major balls at it, but it is fun, and i guess i'll try some more and practice.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Been trying to do some invasions with my current character. But yeah, that's not really working out for me, i suck major balls at it, but it is fun, and i guess i'll try some more and practice.

I don't have enough Red Eye Orbs to practice invading

 

[Antiwhippy]

Is the forest hunter covenant popular for invading?

Last time I tried it I get matches once every 15-30 minutes.

 

[Red Liquorice]

Is the forest hunter covenant popular for invading?

Last time I tried it I get matches once every 15-30 minutes.

On PS3 as soon as I put the ring on I'm invading. I'll do a few invasions to get the ring of fog, then off to Blighttown for the real reason for joining - Look Skyward gesture XD

Only join if you like gank-squads.

 

[Nekki]

Yes, it is. And its unforgiving.

I'm on my SL4 playthrough and I cant beat Chaos Witch Quelagg for the life of me. This was one of the hardest bosses for me my first playthrough and I had to rely on a summon to get through, but even thats not helping me right now. Mildred dies very quickly and I cant do enough damage in the meantime to make things easier. That area attack gets me everytime. I try and move away and it means a 1-hit kill everytime. I need to just block that and take the huge HP hit, but it usually means getting hit again and dying.

Shit is difficult.

I know you probably know it, but using a shield with good fire resistance made a world of difference for me in that fight. most attacks you can dodge, even the flame wave, but you must anticipate it.

Anyway, I finally made it past the archers in Anor Londo, lol. So far inside it's been pretty easy since there aren't many monsters. Though that crippled stone demon is quite hard to defeat. I don't know if it's the small room or what, but damn. First time i killed it back in Darkroot Garden entrance wasn't this hard!

 

[Arjen]

I don't have enough Red Eye Orbs to practice invading

If you have acses to kaathe you can buy them from him

 

[Nekki]

And just when I was cursing being so far away from the blacksmith, I find one in an unlikely place hah.

I need some advice. I just got a silver knights sword and it seems quite powerful, more than the Zwei I'm using now (once upgraded obviously). The thing is that to use it I need around 22 dex, that would mean investing around 5 levels into dex. Will I spread my stats too thin if I do that?

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Anyone willing to give me a balder side sword? I'm trying a new ago based char (only helping in gsrgoyles) but the damn sword never drops! Char is lvl 25 and I'm on of Xbox live account xixxarro!

 

[The_Hitcher89]

If you have acses to kaathe you can buy them from him

Damn, already placed the Lordvessel

 

[yamo]

My wizard of Catarina on the way to Lost Izalith. Running a full Catarina set +5 and Moonlight Greatsword +5/ Logans Catalyst.

Somehow I managed to piss off or kill every npc in firelink shrine... feels lonely

 

[Mileena]

- Make backstab possible only with small weapons (daggers, rapiers, swords...). Doing backstab with big weapons doesn't make any sens

From won't listen to you but this is a way to break the game, not fix it. Horrible suggestion.

I've been on Demon's Souls lately debating which game is better and yea dedicated servers is all we needed in Dark Souls for the PvP to be good. Demon's is such a better game in many ways, really wish there was a PC port.

On PS3 as soon as I put the ring on I'm invading. I'll do a few invasions to get the ring of fog, then off to Blighttown for the real reason for joining - Look Skyward gesture XD

Yea on PS3 people actually play the game. Seems dead in every area on the PC, really quite the sad thing.

 

[Sullichin]

I don't have enough Red Eye Orbs to practice invading

If you're on PC I can probably give you some, what SL? I have invasion characters at 40, 70, 100, and 119

From won't listen to you but this is a way to break the game, not fix it. Horrible suggestion.

I've been on Demon's Souls lately debating which game is better and yea dedicated servers is all we needed in Dark Souls for the PvP to be good. Demon's is such a better game in many ways, really wish there was a PC port.



Yea on PS3 people actually play the game. Seems dead in every area on the PC, really quite the sad thing.

It's very active on PC, GFWL just sucks. But if you keep the game open for a bit to fill your IP pool and your NAT is open, you will be able to get plenty of action. I played my PS3 version recently and it's nice to never get the summoning/invasion failed though. Man GFWL sucks. I can't go back to the console version though.

And just when I was cursing being so far away from the blacksmith, I find one in an unlikely place hah.

I need some advice. I just got a silver knights sword and it seems quite powerful, more than the Zwei I'm using now (once upgraded obviously). The thing is that to use it I need around 22 dex, that would mean investing around 5 levels into dex. Will I spread my stats too thin if I do that?

Nah, your zwei will benefit slightly from those extra dex levels too. SKS is cool, I like its move set. Zweihander will hit much harder but it's slower.

 

[Mileena]

It's very active on PC, GFWL just sucks. But if you keep the game open for a bit to fill your IP pool and your NAT is open, you will be able to get plenty of action. I played my PS3 version recently and it's nice to never get the summoning/invasion failed though. Man GFWL sucks. I can't go back to the console version though.

I know this all, and even with open NAT and my game running for a while is still took me like 20 minutes to summon you in my game the other day -_-

Things like that is pretty much while I'll get the PS4 version of Dark Souls over the PC if they're out the same day. Who knows, maybe they'll learn their lesson and not use GFWL ever again.

 

[Sullichin]

I know this all, and even with open NAT and my game running for a while is still took me like 20 minutes to summon you in my game the other day -_-

Things like that is pretty much while I'll get the PS4 version of Dark Souls over the PC if they're out the same day. Who knows, maybe they'll learn their lesson and not use GFWL ever again.

Yeah I really hope they ditch GFWL. And maybe even use something with anti cheat protection.

 

[Nekki]

Nah, your zwei will benefit slightly from those extra dex levels too. SKS is cool, I like its move set. Zweihander will hit much harder but it's slower.

Alright then, I'm going to work toward that dex, it's only 4 levels anyway hehe.

Man, Ornstein and Smough: What a fight!!! Unfair to boot! Having to pay attention to both enemies movements made me test my patience and reflexes.

Keeping my distance and running around with my shield up proved to be a good tactic, since Ornstein would approach me more often and be open for attacks all alone. Then as I killed him, Smoug gets powered up?? I thought I was a goner for sure, but he was quite predictable.

My god this game is hard. Now the game's opened up again, and I have several places I can go to, and I can even warp so that's going to make it less cumbersome.

 

[Laurentius]

Are the online issues actually GFWL's fault? This makes it seem like it's just From's online architecture for the game, and not GFWL actually causing the problems.

 

[dimb]

Are the online issues actually GFWL's fault? This makes it seem like it's just From's online architecture for the game, and not GFWL actually causing the problems.

It's largely From, but GFW Live certainly brings its share of problems to the table.

 

[Sullichin]

Are the online issues actually GFWL's faulst? This makes it seem like it's just From's online architecture for the game, and not GFWL actually causing the problems.

GFWL seems to compound the problems caused by the online architecture. Play on PS3 and you won't get fog walls that stay up for 10 minutes without an invader, constant summoning failed, and you'll be summoned for bosses much quicker. There's tons of players on PC but they have trouble connecting to each other. I didn't have to forward ports/change any settings on PS3. It can get really laggy on either platform though.

 

[Mileena]

Are the online issues actually GFWL's fault? This makes it seem like it's just From's online architecture for the game, and not GFWL actually causing the problems.

Doesn't explain why invasions/summoning are 100x faster and more frequent on PSN than on PC. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with GFWL, because GFWL is a gigantic disaster.

 

[Soulhouf]

From won't listen to you but this is a way to break the game, not fix it. Horrible suggestion.

Mind to explain why would that break the game?
Doesn't that make sens to limit backstabs to knife-like weapons? These weapons don't do great damage and currently even critical damage is lower than big weapon's despite the fact they don't have critical modifier.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Anyway, I finally made it past the archers in Anor Londo, lol. So far inside it's been pretty easy since there aren't many monsters. Though that crippled stone demon is quite hard to defeat. I don't know if it's the small room or what, but damn. First time i killed it back in Darkroot Garden entrance wasn't this hard!

Yeah, the one in Anor Londo is very hard (though there's one harder one later... he's optional, but he respawns!). He has a lot of HP and hits maddeningly hard and there's little room to dodge. In NG+ he's terrifying.
Did you kill those in the basement of Sen's Fortress? Good practice against those demons. The first two you see are easy enough, they have little HP (you need the swamp ring though). The other two... ouch. A heavy hard-hitting weapon and/or strong pyromancies help.

I need some advice. I just got a silver knights sword and it seems quite powerful, more than the Zwei I'm using now (once upgraded obviously). The thing is that to use it I need around 22 dex, that would mean investing around 5 levels into dex. Will I spread my stats too thin if I do that?

That would depend on your current stats, I'd say, and where you want to take your character. The silver knight sword scales with dex, so it'll be stronger if you keep investing in dex and neglect str. The zwei scales with str and will get stronger if you keep investing in str. Both can be buffed, for what that's worth. Also, the silver knight sword requires twinkling titanite to upgrade to the max, which can be bought infinitely, though they're expensive. Whereas the zweihander will cost a titanite slab, there's only 1 guaranteed per playthrough (2 if you have the DLC), it's farmable but drops are super-rare. So that may factor in your decision.

GFWL seems to compound the problems caused by the online architecture. Play on PS3 and you won't get fog walls that stay up for 10 minutes without an invader, constant summoning failed,

lol, yes, you do get those on PS3 too sometimes... Though it seems it's significantly worse on PC, which means, ouch.

Mind to explain why would that break the game?
Doesn't that make sens to limit backstabs to knife-like weapons? These weapons don't do great damage and currently even critical damage is lower than big weapon's despite the fact they don't have critical modifier.

Sense*
It makes more intuitive sense, true, but that'd mean everyone would be sporting daggers and spamming backstabs even more for PvP and using nothing else. Why try to time a rolling r1 correctly with a big-ass heavy weapon (that will reduce your armour options due to its weight) at your opponent when you can just stack on tons of poise (since you only have a dagger to consider as weight for your weapon), run to his back and hit r1 for a backstab that will do much more damage?

Maybe it could work, but the entire game would have to be rebalanced. Maybe make it so that a dagger backstab hits really hard, but not, say, twice as hard as a hit from a giant sword that should cleave your head in half. *shrugs*

 

[Hellcrow]

So I gave up on killing the straw demon earlier in the game, because the magic blast thing always destroys me. Now I have to kill one that is on fire.

 

[Arjen]

So I gave up on killing the straw demon earlier in the game, because the magic blast thing always destroys me. Now I have to kill on that is on fire.

You have to get behind him, that's your top priority in that fight. Once you get that down he's easy.

 

[Dresden]

So I gave up on killing the straw demon earlier in the game, because the magic blast thing always destroys me. Now I have to kill on that is on fire.

Yeah, just take it slowly. It seems overwhelming at first because he bumrushes you, but his attacks are all heavily telegraphed. Basically, stay behind his butt.

 

[toddhunter]

Doesn't explain why invasions/summoning are 100x faster and more frequent on PSN than on PC. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with GFWL, because GFWL is a gigantic disaster.

The PSN version was broken to start with...I assume this is just the same sort of thing except it probably will not get fixed.

 

[Mileena]

The PSN version was broken to start with...I assume this is just the same sort of thing except it probably will not get fixed.

It's been patched a bunch and the most recent one for AotA fixed the stability even more. Instant invasions in all the hot PvP areas still. It's just a shame really, because I wish the best version of the game also had the best netcode. It's hard to go back to 10-30fps

 

[dragonlife]

Quick question about boss souls: the descriptions say you can use it to get souls or create a unique weapon. How do you get the weapon? Honestly, I've been too scared to even use the soul to experiment, just in case I don't get the desired result. I thought taking them to the Blacksmith would bring something up, but it didn't. When I use it, do I get the option to pick between souls or the weapon? I'm just being careful/paranoid with them and not using them until I know for certain.

 

[Soulhouf]

Sense*
It makes more intuitive sense, true, but that'd mean everyone would be sporting daggers and spamming backstabs even more for PvP and using nothing else. Why try to time a rolling r1 correctly with a big-ass heavy weapon (that will reduce your armour options due to its weight) at your opponent when you can just stack on tons of poise (since you only have a dagger to consider as weight for your weapon), run to his back and hit r1 for a backstab that will do much more damage?

Maybe it could work, but the entire game would have to be rebalanced. Maybe make it so that a dagger backstab hits really hard, but not, say, twice as hard as a hit from a giant sword that should cleave your head in half. *shrugs*

I don't ask to increase damage from daggers backstab. Only remove backstab from big weapons because, aside from looking ridiculous, they do more damage which removes the most useful advantage of small weapons.
Also that would make backstab fishers easier to identify, which I don't think would make many players fish for backstabs.

I don't know, to me it makes more sens...

Edit: oups, I thought it was Mileena who answered me but it seems you answered for him.

Quick question about boss souls: the descriptions say you can use it to get souls or create a unique weapon. How do you get the weapon? Honestly, I've been too scared to even use the soul to experiment, just in case I don't get the desired result. I thought taking them to the Blacksmith would bring something up, but it didn't. When I use it, do I get the option to pick between souls or the weapon? I'm just being careful/paranoid with them and not using them until I know for certain.

The Giant Blacksmith in Anor Londo can ascend a +10 weapon to boss weapons using these souls.

 

[Arjen]

Quick question about boss souls: the descriptions say you can use it to get souls or create a unique weapon. How do you get the weapon? Honestly, I've been too scared to even use the soul to experiment, just in case I don't get the desired result. I thought taking them to the Blacksmith would bring something up, but it didn't. When I use it, do I get the option to pick between souls or the weapon? I'm just being careful/paranoid with them and not using them until I know for certain.

The blacksmith in Anor Londo, can ascend a +10 weapon to a boss weapon. You do need specific cobinations of weapons and souls to make a boss weapon. Best way is to check the wiki which weapon you like to get.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I don't ask to increase damage from daggers backstab. Only remove backstab from big weapons because, aside from looking ridiculous, they do more damage which removes the most useful advantage of small weapons.
Also that would make backstab fishers easier to identify, which I don't think would make many players fish for backstabs.

I know you didn't say that, that isn't what I was arguing against either.

I wasn't intending to respond for Mileena, by the way, just offering my own thoughts on the matter.

The blacksmith in Anor Londo, can ascend a +10 weapon to a boss weapon. You do need specific cobinations of weapons and souls to make a boss weapon. Best way is to check the wiki which weapon you like to get.

Most of the boss souls weapons are terrible, though. Hint: only Queelag's soul and Priscilla's soul are worth anything (and that's only for Dex builds). And, to a certain extent (for Intelligence-heavy builds), Manus's soul for a powerful spell, and the Moonlight Butterfly's soul, that spear isn't too horrible when fully upgraded, but even then the Moonlight Greatsword is a better weapon for int-builds. I guess Gwyndolin's soul is ok if you really, really want a bow for your faith build... then again a Divine +5/Occult+5 composite bow is probably better anyway, but you'd need an extra white slab.

Unlike in Demon's Souls, where most boss souls are very useful, most of the boss souls in Dark Souls can be safely consumed for their souls (seriously, they're that bad, that was a little disappointing).

 

[Arjen]

I agree, i think i only used Queelaag furry sword on my first playtrough regarding boss weapons. Oh and Artorias his shield, is pretty good to, high stability and doesnt require a insane amount of strenghth to use.
But if he wants to go for the 1000/1000 he will stil need them, and some are pretty cool looking imho

 

[Mileena]

If you don't care about trophies/achievements, you're better off eating some of the souls. Check out the gear for each but most of the time it's not very good or useful.

 

[dragonlife]

Great! Thanks for the answers, everyone.

 

[Laurentius]

Well, think I've given up on New Game+ Four Kings for now, after over a dozen or so tries. Really wanted to beat them, since I never got to talk to Kaathe on my first playthrough. (I'm not sure how many people would have ever known about him without a guide.) Will likely come back eventually, but for now I'm just going to play through with my Pyromancer build (which is really fun, by the way).

 

[sixghost]

Well, think I've given up on New Game+ Four Kings for now, after over a dozen or so tries. Really wanted to beat them, since I never got to talk to Kaathe on my first playthrough. (I'm not sure how many people would have ever known about him without a guide.) Will likely come back eventually, but for now I'm just going to play through with my Pyromancer build (which is really fun, by the way).

You've tried using power within/grass shield/green blossum/weapon buffs? Are you two handing your weapon? I've never used the Lucerne, but maybe try a weapon with a faster attack animation. Are you going into the fight with 19ish Estus and some humanity if necessary?

 

[Laurentius]

You've tried using power within/grass shield/green blossum/weapon buffs? Are you two handing your weapon? I've never used the Lucerne, but maybe try a weapon with a faster attack animation. Are you going into the fight with 19ish Estus and some humanity if necessary?

Yeah, I've pretty much tried most of that, with the exception of Power Within. For weapons, I've tried fully upgraded Lucerne, Longsword, and Uchigatana. I also have 20 Estus going in, and Humanity. The problem is I typically die once three or four of them surround me, as it's really hard for me to keep track of, and dodge all of them.

 

[sixghost]

Yeah, I've pretty much tried most of that, with the exception of Power Within. For weapons, I've tried fully upgraded Lucerne, Longsword, and Uchigatana. I also have 20 Estus going in, and Humanity. The problem is I typically die once three or four of them surround me, as it's really hard for me to keep track of, and dodge all of them.

The problem is that there should never be more than 2 alive at any point, and not for that long at that. Power Within is a huge factor in NG+ or higher. You do +40% damage from weapons and I think it increases stamina regen too. Everything you do in that fight needs to be aimed at killing the king before the next one shows up, or as soon as possible. You shouldn't even be dodging or blocking their attacks other than the big magic attack and their grab attack.

Just attack until your stamina is depleted, then while it replenishes, use that time to drink estus or refresh your green blossum. Use the grass crest shield too, you wont be blocking anyway so throw that on your back and two hand your weapon. You really need to pump up your stamina regen since your Havel's armor is slowing it down a ton.

 

[Loxley]

Because I'm still the text-book definition of a novice when it comes to Dark Souls, before I continue on (I'm about, oh, 20 minutes in) I think I just need to have one thing clarified for me about the game in general since I'm a little timid about venturing further. I kept hearing about how the game doesn't hold your hand and spoon-feed you the story or anything like that, so just to be clear, the game never at any point tells you "Hey, go here and do this and then _____ will happen", right?

A friend of mine told me that once you complete the brief 'tutorial' and are dropped off at the Firelink Shrine you're pretty much free to go wherever you want, there's no sort of "wrong" path to take. Would you guys say that's accurate? I guess I'm just asking so I know going forward if I shouldn't be expecting any sort of expository cut-scenes or anything to let me know I'm making progress.

One thing is for sure, even after the 20 minutes I've put in it's already abundantly clear to me that I have definitely never played anything like this before.

 

[Laurentius]

The problem is that there should never be more than 2 alive at any point, and not for that long at that. Power Within is a huge factor in NG+ or higher. You do +40% damage from weapons and I think it increases stamina regen too. Everything you do in that fight needs to be aimed at killing the king before the next one shows up, or as soon as possible. You shouldn't even be dodging or blocking their attacks other than the big magic attack and their grab attack.

Just attack until your stamina is depleted, then while it replenishes, use that time to drink estus or refresh your green blossum. Use the grass crest shield too, you wont be blocking anyway so throw that on your back and two hand your weapon. You really need to pump up your stamina regen since your Havel's armor is slowing it down a ton.

True, my problem definitely is making sure that there aren't more than two alive at a time. Perhaps I will try it with Power Within and see what happens. As for not dodging, even with Havel's I seem to just die so quickly if I don't dodge at least some of their attacks.

For stamina regeneration I've been trying the Mask of the Child so that I can use the Crest shield (and block the magic damage). Maybe I'll try it with the Grass Crest shield and the regular helm, as that should give me better stamina regen, right? Or maybe I should go back with the Elite Knight armor or something, and use the Cloranthy ring...hm...

Because I'm still the text-book definition of a novice when it comes to Dark Souls, before I continue on (I'm about, oh, 20 minutes in) I think I just need to have one thing clarified for me about the game in general since I'm a little timid about venturing further. I kept hearing about how the game doesn't hold your hand and spoon-feed you the story or anything like that, so just to be clear, the game never at any point tells you "Hey, go here and do this and then _____ will happen", right?

A friend of mine told me that once you complete the brief 'tutorial' and are dropped off at the Firelink Shrine you're pretty much free to go wherever you want, there's no sort of "wrong" path to take. Would you guys say that's accurate? I guess I'm just asking so I know going forward if I shouldn't be expecting any sort of expository cut-scenes or anything to let me know I'm making progress.

One thing is for sure, even after the 20 minutes I've put in it's already abundantly clear to me that I have definitely never played anything like this before.

The game is very subtle about its hints of where to go and what to do. I didn't pick up on a lot of it at all until my second playthrough. If you pay attention there are hints here and there about what the story is really about, and your motivation and what you should be doing. But for me, during that playthrough, it was mostly just finding new areas I could access, or ones that I was levelled enough or skilled enough to get through. There are generally a lot of options as to what you can do and where you can go, although certain areas are blocked off until certain points. Sort of Metroidvania-esque in a way.

So yeah, once you hit Firelink you're pretty much free to do whatever you want. However, it's generally best for you to head to Undead Burg at the start, as the other areas are a tad too difficult at low level, and when beginning the game for the first time.

 

[Sullichin]

True, my problem definitely is making sure that there aren't more than two alive at a time. Perhaps I will try it with Power Within and see what happens. As for not dodging, even with Havel's I seem to just die so quickly if I don't dodge at least some of their attacks.

For stamina regeneration I've been trying the Mask of the Child so that I can use the Crest shield (and block the magic damage). Maybe I'll try it with the Grass Crest shield and the regular helm, as that should give me better stamina regen, right? Or maybe I should go back with the Elite Knight armor or something, and use the Cloranthy ring...hm...

Power within takes care of stamina regen too. You can add mask of child and grass crest on top of it, but you can't use green blossoms.

 

[Arjen]

Because I'm still the text-book definition of a novice when it comes to Dark Souls, before I continue on (I'm about, oh, 20 minutes in) I think I just need to have one thing clarified for me about the game in general since I'm a little timid about venturing further. I kept hearing about how the game doesn't hold your hand and spoon-feed you the story or anything like that, so just to be clear, the game never at any point tells you "Hey, go here and do this and then _____ will happen", right?

A friend of mine told me that once you complete the brief 'tutorial' and are dropped off at the Firelink Shrine you're pretty much free to go wherever you want, there's no sort of "wrong" path to take. Would you guys say that's accurate? I guess I'm just asking so I know going forward if I shouldn't be expecting any sort of expository cut-scenes or anything to let me know I'm making progress.

One thing is for sure, even after the 20 minutes I've put in it's already abundantly clear to me that I have definitely never played anything like this before.

Well there's no wrong" way, but there are defintly paths that are uhm fairly harder to take first from firelink

 

[Laurentius]

Awesome! I tried Power Within + Havel's + Mask of the Child + Crest Shield + Charcoal Pine Resin + Uchigatana. The Power Within, and sixghost's advice to just wail on them two handed (and not dodge or heal except when waiting for stamina to regen) totally did it. They went down so fast, that I had to wait 10 seconds or so in between Kings.

So cool, thanks for everyone's advice, I was nearly tearing my hair out. Doing it that way almost made it too easy.

 

[Poimandres]

I started this game up (for the third time) on the weekend.

I'd played through twice on the PS3, but couldn't pass up the $11 Amazon deal.

MY GOD. With the Durante fix applied, downsampled, it looks worlds beyond the PS3 version. Such clarity! That frame rate! Sensational stuff.

My question: how does one access the Prepare To Die content? And what level should I be at before I tackle it?

 

[Sullichin]

I started this game up (for the third time) on the weekend.

I'd played through twice on the PS3, but couldn't pass up the $11 Amazon deal.

MY GOD. With the Durante fix applied, downsampled, it looks worlds beyond the PS3 version. Such clarity! That frame rate! Sensational stuff.

My question: how does one access the Prepare To Die content? And what level should I be at before I tackle it?

You want to be prepared with your best weapons, the bosses are more resilient than those in the lord soul areas.

To access it, you need to-

Spoiler

Free Dusk in Darkroot basin. Place the lordvessel, and kill the first crystal golem in Dukes (he wasn't there in older versions), who will drop the broken Pendant. Then go back to the basin in the area where Dusk was trapped in the golem.

 

[Nekki]

Yeah, the one in Anor Londo is very hard (though there's one harder one later... he's optional, but he respawns!). He has a lot of HP and hits maddeningly hard and there's little room to dodge. In NG+ he's terrifying.
Did you kill those in the basement of Sen's Fortress? Good practice against those demons. The first two you see are easy enough, they have little HP (you need the swamp ring though). The other two... ouch. A heavy hard-hitting weapon and/or strong pyromancies help.


That would depend on your current stats, I'd say, and where you want to take your character. The silver knight sword scales with dex, so it'll be stronger if you keep investing in dex and neglect str. The zwei scales with str and will get stronger if you keep investing in str. Both can be buffed, for what that's worth. Also, the silver knight sword requires twinkling titanite to upgrade to the max, which can be bought infinitely, though they're expensive. Whereas the zweihander will cost a titanite slab, there's only 1 guaranteed per playthrough (2 if you have the DLC), it's farmable but drops are super-rare. So that may factor in your decision.

Thanks for the tips. You guys are being super helpful hehe.

I went into the painted world... I don't know if it was a wise decision haha. That toxic is a bitch to deal with, I'm switching between the painter's armor and my Havel's constantly.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

4 Kings is a DPS race, so you stack everything that can help with that, from stam regen to attack buffs and some decent poise to be able to tank the hits (or you get good at dodging >_> but in a DPS race it's almost better to tank the hits and flask them away and resume attacking, rather than carefully dodging and attacking between dodges).

I LOVE the Painted World. My favourite area of the game. So Legacy of Kain-y. <3 Too bad the boss is kind of a joke.

Because I'm still the text-book definition of a novice when it comes to Dark Souls, before I continue on (I'm about, oh, 20 minutes in) I think I just need to have one thing clarified for me about the game in general since I'm a little timid about venturing further. I kept hearing about how the game doesn't hold your hand and spoon-feed you the story or anything like that, so just to be clear, the game never at any point tells you "Hey, go here and do this and then _____ will happen", right?

A friend of mine told me that once you complete the brief 'tutorial' and are dropped off at the Firelink Shrine you're pretty much free to go wherever you want, there's no sort of "wrong" path to take. Would you guys say that's accurate? I guess I'm just asking so I know going forward if I shouldn't be expecting any sort of expository cut-scenes or anything to let me know I'm making progress.

One thing is for sure, even after the 20 minutes I've put in it's already abundantly clear to me that I have definitely never played anything like this before.

The others have already given you a good response, but I'll add this: talk to the NPCs and pay attention to what they're saying. The one in particular that will help you figure out where to go, is the crestfallen warrior by the bonfire.

 

[Seanspeed]

Beat Quelagg finally. Solo. SL4. Probably my best accomplishment so far. It required me to be more aggressive and get hits in when I could, but also avoid getting hit as much as possible, which would usually make me more cautious, but in this case, I just had to learn how to read the attacks, stay close, and not let up. I hate to take every little opportunity to take a swipe at a leg or at the head that I could.

So yea, that done, and since my weapons aren't upgraded much, I thought I might try a run through Sen's to get the Serpent Ring. That was also pretty difficult, but I did it. I learned how to use a lot of the traps against the enemies there.

But now I'm upset. I got the ring and went back to the Depths to farm Large Titanite Shards, thinking I should be getting them more regularly now, especially with 1 Humanity, meaning I have 350 item discovery. But nope. Apparently, the slime drops are completely unaffected by your item discovery rate. In fact, I did an experiment and found that I got more shards when I unequipped it. I put that down to luck, as the results were close, but in any case, it showed that it definitely doesn't increase the rate of shard drops. Which I was really mad about. I did 15 runs with the ring and then 15 runs without. The results:

With ring:

2 Green
3 Large

Without:

3 Green
1 Large

Really annoying. I'd like to do some side areas before finishing Sen's, but its going to be difficult without some properly upgraded weapons.

 

[human onion]

Beat Quelagg finally. Solo. SL4. Probably my best accomplishment so far. It required me to be more aggressive and get hits in when I could, but also avoid getting hit as much as possible, which would usually make me more cautious, but in this case, I just had to learn how to read the attacks, stay close, and not let up. I hate to take every little opportunity to take a swipe at a leg or at the head that I could.

Damn, and I just beat her for the first time playing normally. I 2 handed a +2 Falchion and attacked during her lava spewing attacks. It was stressful, but I let out a big sigh of relief after it was over.

 

[Antiwhippy]

But now I'm upset. I got the ring and went back to the Depths to farm Large Titanite Shards, thinking I should be getting them more regularly now, especially with 1 Humanity, meaning I have 350 item discovery. But nope. Apparently, the slime drops are completely unaffected by your item discovery rate. In fact, I did an experiment and found that I got more shards when I unequipped it. I put that down to luck, as the results were close, but in any case, it showed that it definitely doesn't increase the rate of shard drops. Which I was really mad about. I did 15 runs with the ring and then 15 runs without. The results:

With ring:

2 Green
3 Large

Without:

3 Green
1 Large

Really annoying. I'd like to do some side areas before finishing Sen's, but its going to be difficult without some properly upgraded weapons.

Huh.

That is the complete opposite of my experience.

You need 10 humanity though to max out your item discovery.

10 humanity with ring gives me a large titanite shard for every run.