Dark Souls 3 - April 2016 : You Died, You Died, You Died

Deacons of the Deep: done. First try! I bet they could have made that match tougher, in a more interesting way. Now farting around the Farron Swamp, which is OK, though I did lose a bunch of souls by being stupid in a rush to re-fight the big swamp monster. Made friends with the sleepy wolf, think I'm about to fight a stray demon in the distance.

I haven't played 2, but there definitely seem to be choices 3 made to make things a little easier for players, from more bonfires to a slight potency downshift of bullshit like poison. I'm sure there is bullshit to come, though.

Almost got the Abyss Watcher(s) on my first try, but got greedy and died with plenty of estus and their health bar down to a hair. Ha. But got them on maybe the fourth try. Watching the NPC enemies fight each other is one of this game's early pleasures. Now I'm exploring the catacombs and ... doing OK.

Giant skeleton boss down. Another one that wasn't too bad, as long as you avoid the thing that almost kills you instantly. I assume he was conjuring up those skeletons, too? I also killed a fire demon near a lake, but that lake looks like a pain. Giant monster plus giant arrows shooting at you? Ugh.

it’s not tooooo bad iirc. though made considerably easier if you’ve got the ring that allows you to wade through water without impediment.

Aaaand now Old Demon King done, too. Two tries. Since I was embered anyway, I summoned help, but the phantom took its time and got killed by the giant arrows before it even got to the arena. The second time I embered myself, figuring I was owed a break, since I died the first time to the Demon with extra health but no help. Still, that thing took a licking and kept on ticking!

I know the super-hard bosses must be coming soon. So far the ones that have given me the most trouble have been the ones that disorient you, like the Cleric Clones and giant skeleton.

though made considerably easier if you’ve got the ring that allows you to wade through water without impediment.

This is only in the original game, right? I'm DS3 everyone just equips a dagger and uses quickstep to get through the swamp.

Dagger to be lighter, you mean?

What's quickstep? I just fat-roll around like an idiot.

I don't think I'm in a swamp though, I'm around the lake with the giant worm and giant arrows.

oh wait

/ though made considerably easier if you’ve got the ring that allows you to wade through water without impediment./

This is only in the original game, right? I'm DS3 everyone just equips a dagger and uses quickstep to get through the swamp.

I don't think I'm in a swamp though, I'm around the lake with the giant worm and giant arrows.

I think it's fair to say that the bosses get a bit more challenging from here on out.

just had a quick review of them, and yes, there’s some fantastic treats there.

The enemies down where I spent some time earlier, under the lake, are a real pain in the ass, especially that hallway with three (four?) fire orb casters or whatever. Even when you run away, which you pretty much have to do, their fireballs follow you around and hit you in the back. And them sometimes the monsters themselves follow you, and just when you think you are safe and are trying to get your bearings, you hear them wheezing and growling and then you realize you still have to fight them. That's happened to me a couple of times, and at least once while I was fighting one fire monster another one snuck up and got behind me. And then I died.

Oh, also, I took this alternate route past the basilisks and came across what feels like this game's version of Havel, who kicked my ass with one hit.

If you want, you can summon the phantom version of that guy at the bonfire and eventually have them fight each other.

Also something that you learn as an invader is running forward with the camera looking behind you, to dodge projectiles etc (although admittedly that's much easier when you know where you're going and don't have to worry about npc enemies).

Speaking of cameras, I've had more camera trouble in this one than I had in the first one. Often times I'll lock on to something and it will sort of quickly swing around to me, with a close up on my character, with the locked on enemy off camera and "behind" me (me, the player, perspective-wise). Dunno why this is.

Oh, so it looks like there are *two* hostile NPC characters to (optionally?) fight down here: the heavy shield guy with the giant sword and Horace, who is mad at me for some reason.

Quality Dark Souls cheese: that guy with the ridiculously oversized sword, optional or no, kept more or less one-shotting me, and as I died to him a few times I kept getting sloppier and sloppier, so much so that even the rats on the way back for a rematch started taking me down. So finally I think, screw it, I'm going to make this asshole fight another asshole. I take a breath, go past the basilisks and kite the Black Knight (who is relatively easy, compared to Big Sword) into following me down to the guy with the Big Sword. Of course I discover the knight stopped halfway, because I get back down to Big Sword and ... where's my backup!? I run as fast as I can back to the little basilisk area, and run right into the waiting Black Knight. I immediately turn, roll down the stairs in a panic, get my bearings and ... aggro Big Sword is there again but no Black Knight! So I panic again, tumble *up* the stairs ... right into the Black Knight, who takes a swing at me and chases me back *down* the stairs ... right into Big Sword. I barely know what's going on, so I cross my fingers and roll up the stairs again. Find some space, turn around and ... no one behind me. Phew. I sneak down the stairs a bit, and lo and beyond, Big Sword and Black Knight are fighting like idiots. Even better, they knock each other into the lava, keep fighting (!), and soon both die! Score. Of course I died hopping in to the lava to get the stuff they dropped, but it was worth it.

By comparison, Horace was pretty easy. That giant worm was a pain in the ass, though, even after turning off the giant canon (which I had to look up, it's a pretty involved trek!). Easy to take the worm down, but it took a bunch of ranged attacks from a safe vantage. I'm sure there was a faster way, but all I know is that when I hit him with my sword it looked like I was doing damage but I had no idea how much, and his lightning attack kept kicking my butt. So I did it my way.

Another DS moment: get to Imodium of the Valley, or whatever it is called, and they immediately sic a giant wolf zombie beast on me ... from behind me! Took a few tries to kill that thing, but all the subsequent enemies seem to be tougher, too. And a lot of them seem to penalize you for waiting too long instead of just attacking like a maniac, which makes things a hair more stressful.

Oh, also, accidentally killed the NPC Anri. I was talking to them (her?) when that army of skeletons by the bridge attacked me, and I forgot that not only does talking to NPCs not give me immunity, but that the NPC can be harmed by the baddies, too. But when I was trying to attack these 20 skeletons I accidentally hit Anri, who of course aggroed. So I had no choice but to kill her. Oh well. I wish this game gave you the opportunity to say you're sorry. Wait, doesn't it? Isn't there a way to absolve myself of sin, or is that just the first game? I had to do that once during the first game after accidentally hitting Onion Knight, who is the best hang in the game.

Pontiff Sullivan down! The first time I fought him he kicked my ass fast. The second time I got in a few hits. The third time I think I successfully parried him a couple of times (though there was no gong sound, so who knows), I got his health about halfway down ... and then he did this lame purple AOE that killed me. The next time I fought him I made it past the AOE, but then he spawned a second one (which is like the third or fourth time a boss in this game has done that). After that I just summoned a phantom with a funny hat and the fight wasn't too bad.

I have trouble figuring out scaling in this game, but right now my primary weapon has been a Claymore+6, whose damage and moves do the trick. However, I do have a Black Knight Sword up to +4 (I think), and the numbers imply it deals a lot more damage. Hmm, I may try that one out for a bit. I guess my character is kind of a strength build at this point, though I'm considering putting a few more points into her dex and making her quality, which seems to be a pretty solid route. I mean, people call it quality for a reason! I don't really know what dex does, though.

Dex is just like strength but for lighter, weapons (that generally don't have hyperarmor, meaning it's easier to interrupt their swings). I almost always go for dex in these games.

The next area is Gank City, where you would normally be invaded constantly when embered (there's a covenant that automatically pulls you into invasions there if you have it equipped). Also where people used to have fight clubs back in the early days.

I just made it to Anor Londo after dealing with some BS. Fire casters, those two sleeping giants, a few invisible witches, and those aggro bros. Oh, and also read a tip about an invisible wall, climbed down and had to fight two of those monster alligator zombie dogs, which were honestly tougher than most of the bosses so far. And then right past that point you're immediately rewarded by those silver knights with giant arrows who killed me a lot, which was kind of comical. If there is a plus side to this stuff it's that you amass souls pretty quickly, so I always make sure to spend them down before exploring and dying more. I mean, I've lost some souls, but I can handle losing 4000 at once. I can't handle losing 30,000+.

I did some exploring of a dungeon earlier, I suspect there is more to find there (besides assholes that halve your health). I'm trying to remember if the first game had this many (relatively speaking) progress options.

Beat Aldrich third try. I think I got lucky, because it was only when it was over that I noticed I had no more estus!

Some thoughts right now, having spent a minute in the Profaned Capital: boy, does Dark Souls 3 lean in to the DS reputation. There are lots of enemies that are just perversely difficult or annoying, like invisible enemies, or enemies that suddenly reduce your health bar, or super powerful enemies in cramped rooms (like those fire monsters in the hallway or the giant in the room with respawning rat waves) that you can take down if you really want but which pretty much encourage you to run past, tons of mimics or other things that basically pick you up and chew you up. Having that OP giant alligator dog monster spawn out of nowhere *behind you* in Irithyll, for example, is like a DS programmer in-joke or something. There are of course features that help you out in this game, though, so I guess it's all about the balance.

Unlike the first game, in this game so far Firelink is a pretty lonely place. There used to be a bunch of folks there to keep me company, but not anymore. Weird pilgrim guy is dead and just there. Bloodborne guy has been gone for a while. I had to kill Horace and accidentally had to kill Anri, so they're not there. There's the hooded guy who vanishes for long stretches. There's the sad sorcerer woman who I have no need to talk with. I think I may have missed something important to continue Onion Knight's quest. It's just me, the Firekeeper, the woman selling stuff and Andre. I have no idea whether Patches will show up, but that guy is a dick, anyway.

I think there's a version in which there are a lot more people there, but the npc questlines are pretty inscrutable in this version (I think many require some degree of backtracking, which there's usually no other reason to do).

After my first playthrough the only one I bother with is Sirris, because I can't live without the silvercat ring.

How perverse that after the Giant, which more or less tells you how to beat it and gives that tool to you (still took me a couple of tries to get the rhythm down!), they transport you almost immediately to another, much harder boss fight. Grrr.

That's a good FROM joke. Dancer is definitely one of the harder bosses in the game, if you're underpowered (you can actually access her at the beginning of the game, if you kill the old lady in that room).

Dancer was great. totally took the cowards route by running in sheer panic from pillar to pillar and getting the hits in when i could.

I've only just been introduced to her...

I think I got her on the fifth try! She actually wasn't that bad? I've been mostly using a black knight sword at +3, which is still better than my claymore+7. I got her down pretty low, but I was sloppy. Getting up close to her seemed to do the trick, that and rolling around like an idiot.

I have to admit, one of the reasons I like watching YouTube playthroughs is that I barely remember the fights, I'm in such a state of both concentration and panic.

Dragonslayer Armour, I got him close to one hit away from defeat my first time, but felt confident enough that I could do it again that I just summoned Egon to get it over with. Now I'm at Grand Archives, and it's a bit more ... mysterious. I have a feeling there is a lot to find/defeat.

Oh, also will need to double back to the Painted World at some point, plus Consumed King's Garden, which I briefly popped into earlier.

> I'm at Grand Archives

home to an all time great contextual action button prompt

Dip head in wax?

yep

somewhat surprised with how much less i remember about ds3 vs ds1, despite having played 3 more recently than 1

What I love about this game is that when faced with the prompt "dip head in wax," you just do it. It never says why to do it, you just know it's the right thing to do. And you may never learn why. But in this case, you do.

dipping your head in wax is, in fact, u&k

Recently learned by accident that if you quit out when your head is covered in wax, it shows on the character load menu next time.

When do I tackle the DLC? Before or after main game? Snowy place was introduced hours and several bosses ago.

After, tbh. It's tuned for that imo, maybe they put the guy in the chapel for lore reasons.

Gotta say, I love how inscrutable all the lore is.

i think I'm creeping toward the (a?) end, give or take the DLC and some other stuff. I just killed three fat angel-monsters on the top of a roof, there's a big staircase full of enemies on the way to what must be a boss in the Grand Archives. Plus there's a swamp to explore near/under Lothric Castle. Then I need to do snow land and ... some other DLC. Ringed City? I'm sure there's another final boss, too. I've got a black knight sword up to +5, my claymore (which seems to do less damage than the BKS but has a slightly faster moveset, plus can be buffed, which I generally don't do) up to +8, plus a host of other weapons I can upgrade if I want. My stats are creeping up with each round, too, but not sure how much they matter at this point. In a sense once you hit a level where you no longer need to bother with a shield that pretty much means you're ready for anything this game can throw at you, imo.

Btw, DS3 seems to have more than a few enemies that appear to be on par with a boss, in terms of difficulty and damage they do. I suppose just slightly less HP and no dramatic music.

Now those twin princes ... those dudes are tough. May wait to take them on tomorrow.

Oof, this boss. This might be the first one this game to make me feel seriously underpowered. I'm not, of course, but it's just kicking my ass in a way that no other DS3 boss has really done it. Doesn't appear to be a summon sign for this one, either (and for that matter this may be the first/only boss that talks to you/taunts you), so I guess I'm on my own. I've made it to the second stage once or twice so at least I know that part is possible, but ... yeah, I need to figure this one out.

OK, a primo example of non-intuitive (afaict) DS3 bullshittery. After dying to the Two Princes ... a bunch, I decide to ember up and find the summon sign. There is always a summon sign. But ... not this time. Die a bunch more and finally decide to see what's up. I look it up and it turns out there is no summons because I did not complete the Sirris quest. (Who I forgot existed. I met her once in Firelink, and like everyone else there she vanished, so I figured that was that.) Fine, gotta do the Sirris quest if I want any help. Now, I don't play embered, because I die too much, but it turns out there is a summons sign on the bridge to Irytthal, after you kill the wolf dog. I find it, *she* summons *me* (is this new to DS3?), I kick the other NPC's ass, and she thanks me. Now it turns out that first I have to go back to Firelink and have her thank me *again*. Um, ok. Then it turns out there is a *second* quest, and that I need to be summoned *again* outside of where I killed the Giant Tree. Fine, I do that and help her. Then you have to go back to Firelink *again* and have her pledge loyalty. OK, good to go! Except ... her summon is still not there. Because it turns out first I need to go back to the one place where I killed Hodrick and grab his armor, and *then* I have to go to a grave outside Firelink and grab his shield. Or so I assume, because I haven't tried for the Twins again.

Now, how was I supposed to know to do all that? Even if I was playing embered I don't think it would have triggered all these things I needed to do, I had to know I needed to backtrack, afaict. And that's probably true, I suppose, for all of the other Firelink peeps that have vanished.

I think there's a version in which there are a lot more people there, but the npc questlines are pretty inscrutable in this version (I think many require some degree of backtracking, which there's usually no other reason to do).

After my first playthrough the only one I bother with is Sirris, because I can't live without the silvercat ring.

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, January 14, 2020 9:28 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

And as you know, all bosses can be beaten solo if you learn their patterns. :)