DARK SOULS: if you need me i'll be in an induced coma so mvrch comes tomorrow

Not that I think I will finish with this for a season.

Adam, you're balling, I don't think I succeeded against the Titanite Demon until I came back later in the game (and with those guys I always circled around to the right, i.e. on his left, maybe that would have helped).

I found Demon's much more satisfying and closer to my experience with Dark Souls, definitely glad I borrowed a PS3 for it.

Yeah I tried circling right because he doesn't have a left leg and I thought it would be easier, but in truth it just makes it easier for him to trap you between him and whatever rubble is around. The result of which is more often than not getting humped by a giant headless demon.

getting humped by a giant headless demon = welcome to Dark Souls

Q: Do I need to go back and play Demon Souls after this?
A: YES

Absolutely play Demon's Souls. I was all into Dark Souls 2 early on, but as it progressed it became apparent that it just did not have the same magic as the other two. Worth playing, but do Demon's first. Supposedly the From Software A Team was mostly occupied with Bloodborne during the DS2 production cycle, so fingers crossed for that one. Only a coupla weeks now!

Took down two (!) bosses last night, the Gargoyles and the Moonlight Butterfly. Butterfly was easy enough. Gargoyles gave me a really hard time until I focused on quickly taking out one of them. Once they start breathing fire you are pretty much dead if there are two around. Also the Giant Stone Knights in the garden (near the secret bonfire) are hella tough until you figure out a strategy and then they make really good farming enemies. Lock on, strafe-block, and attack in between his attacks. Again I have to thank the halberd, which I am pouring upgrades into, for all the wonderful range it provides.

Watched some of Demon's Souls last night. DAMN it looks good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcDh4ILcVKQ

This is actually me, getting my ass handed to me early in the garden.

For what it's worth I just got to the part of DS2 with the unnervingly authentic unscrupulous West of Ireland builder and I feel like that tips it into greatness

the garden is SO MUCH FUN. please note that no great leaping is required to explore every element of that level. tread carefully.
this is making me want to play again

This is actually me, getting my ass handed to me early in the garden.

nice! get yr weight below 50% and you'll be able to move/roll quicker

^sage advice, sacrificing armor for speed at this point would mean a lot more successful dodges. also you can put points into endurance if you want to use heavy armor/weapons.

Well I stumbled upon Black Leather Armor and a thief's hat and a bunch of lightweight stuff and made the change and definitely like it! I'm still most comfortable holding down that block button but it is nice to be able to run everywhere. Took out Havel and took his ring. I really wanted that dragon tooth he had but whatever!

oh you'll get it eventually :)

...so

I tried the restore humanity + summon Chap thing at the weekend and it was all going great until the big fucker pushed me off the roof which never happened before. So that's the end of that plan for now. All I can really think of to do now is attempt to run around for a bit and grind in order to lvl/refine weapon etc, maybe even pick up another humanity marble thing if I'm lucky (if I can). Either that or fuck the game off entirely.

Apparently I have some good kit as well, it's just heavy... The Claymore, a Knight Shield and that super-cool boar head helmet.

I think the game just has a difficult learning curve for me since I usually try to force my way through these kinds of things with sheer brute strength so I'm going to have to rethink my strategy maybe.

I know why everyone hates Blighttown.

Also here is evidence that Dark Souls is evil: found that Wolf Ring in the garden that gave me hella poise so that no more does blocking attacks knock me backwards. Suddenly I drop down into Blighttown (using Depth entrance, which was probably my main error here) and there are bottomless pits everywhere, and suddenly, the enemies have super powerful attacks that bypass my Wolf Ring, knocking me to my death.

The board head helmet is super cool! It's a shame it makes you really slow because it does look awesome. I'm definitely warming up to the speed-over-tank methods so I'm just hoping that if you level up enough endurance you can wear it and still run around.

I'm at about level 51 btw, 40 hours in. I am addicted to this game.

going in through the Depths is the proper Blighttown experience.

otm

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1MSIM_enUS625US625&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=dark%20souls%20getting%20out%20of%20blighttown

The bottomless pits are horrendous, but I'm at the point where I can navigate them and take out monsters before getting one-hitted by a giant slug.

Also LOL at the moving platforms. In other games your character would automatically move with them. Not here buddy.

heh. so you haven't reached the bottom yet, right?

that blighttown route is seared into my brain forever

I haven't reached the bottom of Blighttown yet, other than repeatedly careening off narrow ledges onto the swamp floor below with YOU DIED coming up. Going to get the Rusted Iron Ring before taking it on again.

Just made it to the spider witch boss in the swamp. So cool! These boss fights are the best: no matter what level you are at, if you fight smart, you can win.

Just fought her 4 times and died w only 2 hits left. As long as you stay far away when you are not right up close slashing you can win. Going to find my Dio record before do this.

Just beat the spider boss. Hah, thought i was going to do it in one go!

It was very nail-biting though, I was running low on poison curing stuff. I had bought like 50 or so the last time I was out of Blighttown, and by the time I killed the boss only had 8 left. Then I would be doing really well on the boss fight and miss a cue and end up getting one-hitted because I was standing right next to her when she did her super powerful attack. The distance you are from the boss dictates how much damage you may take.

After slaying this giant spider monster (which, along with finding a whip and using it to take out airborn creatures made me nostalgic for some Castlevania) I rang a bell that told a giant on top of a fortress/castle on the other side of the world (that I had discovered dozens of hours ago) to raise the portcullis. A new path! Metroidvania goodness! Went downstairs and found a much-welcomed bonfire. For some reason the nearby wall looked notable to me, so I slashed it, revealing a secret passage containing a poor plague-ridden man with a half dozen giant spider eggs embedded in his back, crawling on his hands. He was guarding another spider being who took up an entire wall of this cavern. I tried talking to the part that was human - a pale woman - but she didn't have much to say beyond offering to upgrade my flask. Which reminds me, I need to go find some more Firekeeper Souls. I only have the one from the church in Undead Parish.

god i need to play this again

For some reason, my longbow stopped working. Anyone ever have this problem? I was using it to shoot down poisonous mosquitos in Blighttown and ran out of arrows. Ran out and bought a bunch of new ones, but for some reason I can't use them...

gotta equip the arrows

Thank you!!!!

no prob; i had the same problem 4EVA until i stumbled on the answer.

I rang a bell that told a giant on top of a fortress/castle on the other side of the world (that I had discovered dozens of hours ago) to raise the portcullis.

next stop: sen's funhouse!

Is that where I should go next? Cos I saw there is the Demon Ruins down past the spiders (which I skipped cos, Demon Ruins, sounds pretty tough), and I tried doing the Catacombs to get my Estus Flask count upgraded. Got pretty far but I need to obtain a holy weapon before taking on all those skeletons.

yeah i would avoid the Demon Ruins for now. and the Catacombs leads to some tough late-game places as well.

um, not to say that Sen's (and where it leads) is easy. but it's the standard place to go at this point in the game.

catacombs doesn't require holy weapon i don't think, just take out the lantern guys and they stop respawning

i guess if you just want to take out Pinwheel the Catacombs aren't bad, but the area right before the boss is crazy tough, depending how you approach it.

http://darksouls.wikidot.com/local--files/enemies/skeleton-wheel.jpg

i hate those fucking wheeled skeletons so, so much

Forgot to look into the room in Darkroot Forest that is past that huge gate you have to spend 20,000S to open. I opened it a while ago and use it as a bank (there is a trick you can do to fool some valuable enemies into jumping off a cliff) but never explored it. I love this dark forest, it might be my favorite looking area of the game. At any rate I came upon a huge wolf and got into a pretty tough fight, dying a bunch, but slowly figuring out how to handle it. All this time I am thinking this is a boss or something, because he is so tough. The first time it killed in just a few hits. The next time I started off really strong doing about 1/3 damage right in the first dozen or so moves between us, but the wolf does this thing where it rolls up into a ball like Sonic the Hedgehog and goes shooting across the forest, doing massive damage even with my shield up.

Third time I am winning! The giant wolf is down to 1/4 health, when all of a sudden..... comes.... another giant wolf! Dammit! Is this a dual boss battle or something?

I am in the zone so I roll out of the way, dodging both of their attacks, and miraculously manage to take down the first wolf. Then out of the mist.... comes.... a third wolf! And hell, why note, a fourth wolf too! Three giant wolves tearing me to pieces! What a surprise!

When that third wolf's head peaked out from the evaporating soul of the first one, that scared the shit out of me. My favorite experience in the game so far.

pretty sure those are...cats.

i mean, when it's a giant wolf, you'll know it.

best way to deal with the cats is to find out where their boundaries are on the map and then peek out, hit em around a bit, fall back, heal, repeat.
but you have to be on the right side of the map.
lol at jordan. giant wolf.... eventually.

Oh dang.

Went into the catacombs, survived, took out Pinwheel in one go. Eff those skeleton wheels.

If you enjoyed the Catacombs, you're going to LOVE the Tomb of the Giants!

OMG these damn snipers in Anor Londo!!! Is this the hardest part of the game?