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

Next stop ... there's Valley of the Drakes, but that seems more like an in-between place just to fight little dragons (and one big dragon) at this point; no boss, right? I've got New Londo Ruins, Tomb of the Giants, that giant door in Anor Londo. Um, must be more, right? There are bosses I think I've missed so far that I need to take out.

Um, OK, I think I glitched the game? I always forget I can teleport, so I just teleported to (other) fire spider lady under Blightown. I couldn't talk to her still even after joining her covenant, so I went to the web tunnel I somehow missed before. There I found Ceaseless Discharge, who got mad after I got his stuff, like the Valley of the Drakes zombie dragon did. Like the dragon, I just ran away, but unlike that dragon (which immediately killed me), I kept running from Ceaseless Discharge, who caught up with me, slammed his arm on me, then ... got stuck? Right next to me? I thought I was dead, but nope. So I just hit it a few times, which didn't seem to do anything, until suddenly his HP went to zero and he died, with no magic boss shimmer or anything. Then I got a few gifts, but it was a few more seconds until his souls got added to mine. Weird.

Aha! That is definitely programmed in as an instakill (he falls into the lava below). Good job finding it on your own.

I didn't even see him die! I was stuck facing in the run away direction, so all I could see was his fist next to me. That's supposed to happen? Why is this whole area down there at all with next to nothing but an easier boss?

Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OGnG84tkgk

There's another area after this one (accessible after you kill Ceaseless, which drains the lava).

I couldn't talk to her still even after joining her covenant

only way to talk to her is by picking the old witch ring as starting gift

Can also trade an item with the crows (in Undead Asylum) to get it

Huh, there's another area? I'm starting to think I have depth perception problems.

yep, you could see it from the bridge that takes you to ceaseless. with him dead the former lava floor is traversable. say hi to your old buddies on the way

The most satisfying thing about pretty much any video game, but especially those that let you level, is re-fighting enemies that once gave you real problems but now get their ass kicked.

So, don't know much about the DS mythology, but what is with all the toxic infections and dudes with bulbous parasites and stuff? The phalanx, those Painted World toxic guys, the eggheads in the fire/spider level ...

Re: levelling, yeah, exactly. It's been so long since I've played a game that worked like that? I guess Zelda BOTW worked like that, but not quite as satisfyingly

Anyway I saved Sif, went human, didn't see the summon sign, fought Manus solo and beat him first try in a very satisfying showdown. I turned this Gargoyle Halberd into a Chaos object and upped it to +5, and have been fighting folks while carrying 10 humanity to make things go. Really into this combination. I'm at level 92 now.

The sorceresses around the Chasm kicked my ass a few times. And I still am terrified of fighting Keesmaat the dragon. I don't think I NEED that tail weapon but considering how well I'm doing I kind of want it.

fought Manus solo and beat him first try in a very satisfying showdown.

Ok, this is beyond beginner's luck, respect.

And I still am terrified of fighting Keesmaat the dragon.

But you get the best ring in the game when you win.

Jeez, respect to fgti’s skillz. What weapon are you maining? Is this your first Souls game?

Yep, first time playing this game. Watched my friend play it a bunch when it came out, though. I don’t know why I’m much higher level than many players at this point except that I don’t spend Souls much on anything except levelling. No spells, no bombs, no arrows. My only comestible that I invest in are Homeward Bones so I can get out of stuff fast. My weapon path has been Drake Sword to Lightning Spear to Falchion to Quelaag Furysword. Now I’m loving a Gargoyle Halberd that I’ve made Chaos +5.

Also I picked my main game armour early (Giant) and grinded the Royal Sentinels for an hour or so to get it up to +5 all told

You’re going heavy fatroll weight I assume then. Shield? Going weighty is generally dissuaded, but obviously it’s viable. Sounds like you’re a little higher level than typical too, but still never really heard of anyone wrecking bosses like that on a first playthrough. 👊

Gotta play the rest of em after this.

holy shit, fgti

if you have a ps4 do bloodborne next and stream it

I'm relatively high level (77 or so?), have my vit at 30 and endurance at 40, iirc, str somewhere around 34, don't think I've put stats anywhere else but maybe a touch of dex. Have lately been playing with the Man-snake great sword at +10, though for a while used the claymore at +10. Haven't don't anything with any other type of weapon (fire, lightning, etc.). Is it worth it? It looks like they have specific benefits, but don't scale, is that right? Haven't thought much about armor, might be silver knight armor and gargoyle helm? I have occasionally used my bow to shoot poison or fire, but only on rare occasions when I have a distance advantage or to kite something. Mostly I've been staying pretty light, even with havel's ring on, so that I can swing my sword a lot. I guess this makes me a melee/str build? Been mostly using grass crest shield on my back lately, switching to great shield of astoria when I think I might get my butt kicked.

I'm also impressed at fgti lapping me big time, since I think he started a little after I started, but that's the one clear advantage of the Switch version! If I had bought it for the Switch I would totally be playing this game pretty much any time I had a spare five minutes.

Next up for me I think will be back to Tomb of the Giants, that seems pretty doable (and I want to get it over with), vs. New Londo Ruins, which I suspect is a pain in the ass. Oh, and I should go back to Demon Ruins to fight demons, though I don't know what that gains me yet.

OK, Demon Ruins is totally perverse. After running past all those infected people who after hours of a game throwing enemy after enemy at you you are *not* supposed to fight, you are faced with six or so of the first real boss you fight, the Taurus Demon. Then after killing them one at a time, you spy a single capra demon on the other side of the fire lake, who you take down. Then you round the corner and ... there are six more of them or something waiting for you on a bridge. On the plus side, I don't think they respawn after the bonfire. On the other plus side, you can totally poison them from a distance, because fuck you, game that poisons *me* all the time.

Also perverse: putting soul items in the middle of fire, forcing you (more or less) to die getting them. And the first one I got my soul was easy to retrieve. The second one, my soul was stranded on the same suicide island. Ha ha, very funny, game.

Also realized that along with finally taking advantage of the warping to pop around, I've also started using my homeward bones, which I forgot I had and have been making things easier. To, say, zip back to Firelink to buy more poison arrows, because I am a terrible shot.

I very rarely roll! I think I read that my play style (shields up most of the time) has been nerfed in subsequent games in the series, that dodge is encouraged. I only dodge sparingly.

I googled other things to do, and I think I’ve done everything except Gwyndolin and any covenant stuff. (And Black Dragon Kalameet who is still kicking my ass). Will probably murder Gwyn next and spend the rest of the month refining my cooking skills instead of gaming

Did either of you go to the secret tree/lake area?

Btw Josh, of course there's a ring that helps you go through the lava. And of course it's farther down the road.

I did get some sort of ring of fire protection? It's hard to tell if it helped, though, since given this game maybe it just means I die in 3 seconds vs. 2.

xpost No, though I think I know where it is. And that, I would say, is the perfect GTFO that anyone would have discovered it on their own without a tip from someone, somehow, because seriously, how would you know? It's like several layers of secrets. Out of the way in a hard to navigate area, with a secret room in a secret room to a secret place? Come on. Though I guess who knows. I've taken to just hitting random things with my sword, because hey, why not, though that's a pretty time consuming strategy.

Nah there's a different ring, it will be very clear.

I've taken to just hitting random things with my sword, because hey, why not, though that's a pretty time consuming strategy.

the souls games are the spiritual sucessors of the king's field series where checking every single, inconspicous wall for secrets was ostensibly standard practice. dark souls seems pretty tame comparably, the huge tree is noteworthy enough to warrant closer inspection imo

No, I agree with Josh, a wall-behind-a-wall is proof that this game is meant to be played with some manner of spoilers-- I mean, theoretically there'd be a red mark with another player's advice? but I haven't been playing online

oh definitely, the game expects and encourages players to rely on online play, the devs even leave hardcoded messages on places like crystal cave

i was unlucky and had no messages there so obv i missed the great hollow yet a double secret wall inside an imposing landmark still ranks lower in my bullshit scale than arbitrary secrets in totally mundane places. in dark souls 2 there are some examples of the latter that to me seem even more unlikely to be found without explicit guidance than the hollow or gwyndolyn, though tbf they only have crap loot inside and not a whole area/boss

Yeah idk, I think there are tonnes of non-discovery related aspects of the game that I just would never have gotten. The usefulness of certain rings, most of all-- would probably never have been compelled to wear the rusted iron ring in Blighttown, or figured out that I needed to wear the Abyss Ring in order to access that particular section below New Londo. The arbitrariness of getting to the DLC, saving Solaire, all that shit, it just seems... well, reminiscent of the incredibly obscure requirements that they place on characters in ADOM to obtain an "ultra ending"-- 1. feed artifacts to the demented ratling, 2. find a random assortment of obscure objects for the hag, 3. obtain several highly corrupting and difficult to find items and wear them whilst walking through the chaos gate, 4. oh, and don't forget to save Khelevaster, 5. oh, and he'll eventually, if you do x y and z, give you the Trident, 6. oh, and don't forget to have [x] number of corruptions present when you walk through that Chaos gate, or your 40 hours of hard work in building up this Titan of a character will be lost to unseen forces of Chaos in a moment...

Playing a game with an FAQ next to you sounds cheap and Virgo-ish but I rather liken it to reading "Finnegan's Wake" with a "Guide to..." next to you

Well, I didn't get the Dragon Prize but I did kill the dragon. And then... everyone else. Gwenyvere and Gwyndolin. Merchants. Blacksmiths. Randoms around Firelink. I felt really bad about it, I hate being rewarded in games for amoral behaviour. Gwyn killed me on my first try but I'll get him second try.

Got him. I won. I'm going to learn how to make a perfect omelette now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EzjcpCIaiw

You wouldn't bet against him, folks!

Another odd element of this game is that it is so packed with creative creatures and adversaries, yet the asylum demon makes a repeat appearance not once but twice. Despite that I'm finding the third one as weirdly challenging as the stray demon, probably most due to my impatience of having to run the gauntlet of all those other encore demons, plus those annoying giant worms.

I've heard that they were running out of time in development, and people complain about some of the late-game areas feeling unfinished.

The stray demon though, fun fact, you can see it through the bars when you're going down the very first hallway after leaving your cell.

Yeah, I remember that! You can certainly hear it at least.

Btw congrats fgti! You're a Dark Souls phenom.

Since my thing is Dark Souls 3 multiplayer, it never ends. It's nice in that I don't have to buy any other games, but on the other hand my omelettes aren't getting any better.

Think I finished Demon Ruins, but not much down there? Found Solaire by a bonfire, and several giant monsters around the corner. And maybe a big gate or two I can't open? What's left but taking the elevator up to Fire Witch?

There's a different path out of there that leads to another boss (required to finish the game). It's uh, perhaps not the most obvious.

Huh. Well, I killed the Fire Asylum Demon, I killed the Centipede Dragon, I've explored up to a big locked door with a couple of maggots that gave me Sun Medals, and I've found that big lava field past Solaire with what seems like 6 or so giant huge dragon-sized monsters.

Might want to spend some time splashing around in that lava field (I always ignore the dragon butts though).

I killed two of them with a bunch of arrows, so that's a start!

Because there have been a couple of weirdly locked gates, or what looked like locked gates, I had wondered if all those dragons was the end of some other route vs the start of a new one. Regardless, I just assume several dragons standing in lava was a sign I should go a different way. Um, I guess not!

it's a sign you should ignore them as much as possible and find the bonfire behind the invisible wall in one of the buildings in the lava pool. fuck this area and the upcoming boss, good luck!

I think the big locked gate there has to do with Solaire's quest, I think I did it once. It's an alternate route (with added *lore*).

I can only think of one person that's sent me on any clear quests, and that Onion Knight, who had me open the gates to Sen's Castle and later had me fend off a couple of silver knights for him at Anor Londo (weird, since when he was mad he killed me pretty easily). Solaire, I don't recall getting any request or instruction from him or anyone else. Maybe a woman kneeling at the Firelink who's not there anymore?

Often you just need them to find them again and talk to them. The questlines can be pretty arcane and sometimes require backtracking that you would never do normally. Worth looking up after you finish.

You might be able to find the Onion dude in the next area if you look around.

He's the best, that's why I paid my extortion money to be his friend again.

okay yeah, magic fire boots were the hint I needed, plus yours. I think I found where the next boss is, but in the meantime I backtracked and I've been shooting arrows at the zombie dragons to make them kill each other.

Given its pain in the ass reputation, Bed of Chaos really wasn't that bad. It helps that if you die after knocking out either of those side bundles of branches, when you come back you don't have to do it again.

Did you poke around that area by the boss door and find an annoying place with a lot of poison?

nope!