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

I murdered the hydra last night. Surprisingly easy boss once you get what's up. I'm doing pretty good against black knights and Havel, takes about five tries to get a perfect "riposte" scenario going on, but I can do it and I'm getting better at it.

Climbed up the infinite ladder to some higher-ground place in Darkroot Something and the Demonic Plants seem to have a lot of Demonic Plant Protein Powder up there and are doing double damage to me.

What should I do next? I got Vitality to 20, Strength to 18, Dexterity to 17, and have been pumping all my levels into Endurance so I can deal with heavy melee assholes better (Endurance is at 27 or so now).

I went back to the Insane Asylum but was just getting no joy out of multiple attempts at killing the Surprise Basement Demon. Couldn't do it. Got the Rusted Ring and the Doll and traded an egg for a dragon scale and left.

Should I farm some souls and upgrade my Elite Knight armour? Havel's Ring has made me quite lithe and I'm not switching back to Thief armour any more. I haven't +1'd any of my armour yet-- been focusing on upgrading a longsword in hopes that I might imbue it with fire fire (it's at +5, as is my Knight shield). Should I start upgrading? My grass shield? The spider shield? Something else?

I know Blightown is next but I'm feeling like I might need a little buffing for my dude, he's very melee-only

depths then blightown. If you've settled on a weapon then upgrade that as much as you can, don't bother u/g armour or shields.

I'd say the hydra is more like local megafauna.

Yeah upgrading armor isn't worth it, upgrading shields improves their stability but I never really bothered (just weapons).

Goddam, Sen's Fortress. As far as I can tell the only way to find your way around it to all but invite death. Hey, let's jump in this dark pit! Hmm, I wonder if I can outrun a boulder? Cool, I can, but I think I have to ... run toward them now? Erm, there seems to be no way to avoid getting hit by magic, guess I should just take the hit and try to attack the source. I have no idea how far I've made it before I die, and like I said earlier, not even a point trying to recover my souls, I'm just going to lose them again.

Like, the entire level feels like a relentless boss fight with no room for error.

Ah, Sen's. <3

I will say that once you reach the rooftops, there is a second bonfire that's rather cruelly hidden. So definitely explore thoroughly (or look it up, that's the spoiler I was probably happiest to know my first time through).

I haven't found a first bonfire yet!

Oh I was considering the first bonfire = the one upstairs from the blacksmith.

Oh, ok. Something I always have to keep in mind is that these levels aren't ultimately that big, so maybe I've made more progress than I thought.

You'd be amazed how quickly one can get through Sen's on subsequent playthroughs (both knowing the route and not needing to explore every cranny).

But out of anything in the game, Sen's is probably the most akin to learning an old Mario level or something.

I do have to say, counter to anyone that calls Dark Souls unfair, the fact that the boulders do not one-shot you (as long as your health is up, of course) shows that the game is nowhere near as cheap as it could be.

sen's a cunt pass it on

Will I at least get to kill Sen?

I've got some bad news for you

Sen's Fortress is a pain in the ass. Perhaps the first place in this game where I think I know what I'm doing and know where everything is, more or less, but still keep getting knocked off or run over in lame ways. Probably mostly my fault, but still. So many traps and ambushes and boulders.

I'm, oddly enough, cruising through Blighttown. Had a problem when I was coming in from Firelink Shrine via Valley Of The Drakes but as soon as I started entering in from the Depths everything just became... easier. Those big clubbed monsters are still nastyfuckers but I haven't had much problem with the leaping ghouls. The snipers are nicely placed on this approach and easier to deal with. I'm wearing some fancy new Shadow armour

^my preferred outfit

Iron Giant: vanquished! Imposing cut scene of next destination: triggered! Somehow I feel like I didn't find everything there is to find in Sen's Fortress - in fact, I know I haven't - but I'm also not sure I care. Just glad to be done with it. Assuming, that is, that I proceed to imposing new cut scene destination. Is that as logical a next place to go as it seems, or am I really supposed to backtrack through Sen's?

Nope, onward it is (to one of the most iconic areas of the game)

Ugh, I was hoping for a breather to just farm and chill. Oh well, it'll be fun. Hopefully I'm equipped well enough.

Aren't there catacombs, or do those come later? I still have Ruins, too.

you're more than ready for the catacombs now, in fact it might already be too late for some story triggers

Aw. Is that in the graveyard? Do I have to back through Sens?

not really, the catacombs themselves are 100% optional just like darkroot garden is, an area beyond them is required to beat the game but only after going through anor londo. not worth backtracking now, in fact i'd suggest you do the whole of anor londo before anything else for reasons

I always do catacombs near the end (not my favorite area tbh).

Before I went on I jumped for a door in a tower I hadn't visited yet. After a couple of failed attempts, which got me yet another ring and some other stuff, I made it, found a vendor, went down a bunch of stairs and got a key, which I discovered was for one of those elevator cage things I couldn't open before. (Though I already had the master key, and wondered why it wouldn't open it.) Anyway, took me down to the start of Sen, once I got my bearings, so I booked it to the original bonfire and spent a bit of time leveling up the snake sword I got. Now it's just as easy for me to get back to the top of Se as it is to get back to Firelink. The world is my oyster!

Btw, what is that dinosaur back at Firelink?

one of the few exposition dumps in the game

Went back to the Undead Asylum, just to see what's what. I'd include this as a part of the game that I would literally never have considered, nor known how to get to, had I not seen some hints way back when. Killed a couple of knights, think there's a boss? Will try that tomorrow.

Did you go back to your starting cell?

I actually found the return path to the undead asylum in my blind run but didn't wait long enough for the thing to happen, thought it was just a cool easter egg, then walked away. same for a certain covenant

there's 3 things you need to get in the asylum, one of which is 10/10 would return again stuff and it's indeed in your starting cell

No, killed two knights, got a doll and some red (?) titanite, then had to go do something else. I have to remember where my return cell was, but it can't be that hard.

In the meantime I raised my snake-man sword up to +10, which is cool, but in return had to pump up my strength a bit, I think. Plan to still use the claymore as my primary, but the snake sword seems like a pretty good blunt force weapon. I still have my +10 katana, too, but it seems best suited for fast finesse work, and at this point all the enemies seems too strong to dance around. Maybe I'll put a bit more practice into it. In the meantime, as the souls become available I think I'll focus on bringing my dex up a bit, maybe level with the strength, and keep pumping points into endurance as well. Still not sure what to make of the other magical weapon paths (fire, lightning, etc.), specifically whether they offer a real advantage to my character or only had I gone a different character route. Same with magic powers I've accumulated in my arsenal, like pyro (I think). Don't know if I'll ever use it!

If you got the doll, then you're good.

yeah, the doll is the really important thing. you... didn't find the asylum boss?

Oh, I found it. I just haven't fought it to the death yet. So far some (many? most?) of the bosses haven't been as bad as the journey. Hardest might be capra demon, but he's the least of the problems; it's all about the room and the dogs and zombie ninjas leading up to him. Same with iron giant; he's nowhere near as tough as the swinging blades. Sif - not as bad as the forest people whose convent I had to join. Fire chaos witch? Nowhere near the equal of poison and whatnot in Blightown. Butterfly? Can only assume it was inserted as a breather; it literally comes down to your level and stays still while you hit it. Gaping dragon wasn't bad. Is there a way to fight that bridge dragon? He seemed pretty tough. Everyone says Anor Londo boss is the toughest, that's one reason I put off exploration of that place for the time being.

Murdered the spider lady, took a few tries. Feeling like I might need to change my main weapon. I love my Drake Sword but... is it worth upgrading? Can't decide. I'm favouring strength at the moment and am thinking of switching to this handy Black Knight Sword I got. Or: maybe ascending my basic longsword +5? Raw? Divine? Don't know. Was hoping to make it fiery but I read that you can't do that until later.

Took a look at a guide and pre-emptively dove into some Demon Ruins and got a red-banded robe thing. Love it. Trading between that and my Elite Knight outfit, depending on if there is poison/fire, what have you. Switching between Spider Shield and Knight Shield +5.

Currently doing some fundraising. Set up a home-base next to the Undead Parish and I'm hitting that knight trio and the dudes down the stairs. Trying again and again to kill the black knight there... he's tougher than the ones I've fought before. Want to hit 20000 so I can buy the key from the blacksmith.

This game is very fun. I can't describe how the somewhat awkward combat actually feels weirdly realistic, stay on your toes, don't button mash, more of a strategy game than anything else

Definitely time to ditch the Drake sword - it doesn't scale with your stats, so while it's good for early game, it'll be worse than any other weapon as you get into higher levels.

Josh it sounds like your gear/stats is more than adequate for anywhere you want to go. That boss's reputation is mostly because it takes a certain style of play that you haven't been forced into much yet.

hit once then run away?

Yeah I couldn't beat the Guy Fieri Demon either. Tried many different tactics! couldn't even get him down to 10/12 health bars. Maybe it's my silly Drake Sword.

fgti, if you're online the best way to fundraise is helping other people kill bosses. just from the gaping dragon you get 25K each time (or maybe 12.5K, don't recall)

jordan otm, drake sword sucks, you need dragon scales to upgrade it which are the rarest type of material. but even upgraded it's not worth it, there are better dragon weapons

i've spoken against min-maxing many times itt but it's time to finally drop the act: knight shield is a newbie trap, don't use it.
the devs put it at the end of that corridor with the balder knight facing away from you that probably kills you with a parry/riposte the first time you fight him, so you sorta expect the reward to be worth it. it isn't, obv

you can buy a shield with the exact same stats but a whole equip load point lighter from andre

Reallllllly. OK, I've never done any online play stuff. I'll investigate.

Stray demon down!

Congrats on getting the only slab you can reasonably expect to find in the main game

what do I do with it?

Check out the item description :)

Hmm, I still don't really get it. So will it upgrade any (normal) weapon I have to +15, even if I don't have an ember?

Been goofing around, killing time (so to speak). Explored Firelink and got a key to the asylum that I missed the first time (to a door that was locked when I went back there), so went back to the Asylum again, opened the door, and got another ring. Which, if I read correctly, might be already too late for me to make good use of. Oh well. Then I finally found my way down to the catacombs, and ... no idea how to get past the reanimating skeletons (just like starting over). So maybe Anor Londo is indeed the place to go next (which the game itself made pretty obvious, when it carried me there by gargoyle).

no, you still need the embers

the ring is the last and least of the 3 things going back to the asylum is worth for

i went through the catacombs before quelaag i think? definitely before sen's because blind run, and there are decent reasons for doing so. it's probably my 2nd favourite area in the game. but the intended path is probably quelaag > sen > anor londo

npcs gain new dialogue once certain triggers are met, if you talk to andre again after giving him the divine ember he drops useful hints

to clarify: slabs just do the final +14 > +15 upgrade (or the equivalent levels for other paths). chunks only go up to +14