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

nope!

Oh ok, it's just that you may have left your onion friend in there, nbd

I can go back!

You may have to make a quick trip back to the Blighttown swamp first, not entirely sure

you're probably right, after anor londo he shows up in firelink, then blighttown, and only then izalith iirc. i don't know if you can skip any of these

Hmm, have I seen him in Blightown? Maybe. Can't remember. Maybe I do remember him saying he's going down below or something? I assumed he was going to the Catacombs.

> Maybe I do remember him saying he's going down below or something?

that's in firelink and he's referring to blighttown. there he'd ask you for moss and if you give it some he'll move on to izalith. if it's not too late he should be in the poison swamp now, on the wall opposite the bonfire cave

Mm

I would recommend to you Josh that you read up about Onion Friend In Izalith before you speak to him, just a thought. It was one thing I wish I'd read-the-walkthrough for before doing

agreed, especially if you want to grab the 2nd of only 2 slabs in the main game. it's dubious whether you'll pull it off even knowing about what to do, it's that silly

Newbie question - is there a particularly good character type and artefact to choose at the start of the game? Especially if you're the sort of player without much experience of fighting games...

You can mold any of them how you want, but probably Warrior or Knight because they both start with a shield that blocks 100% physical damage. Or pyromancer if you want to hang back and use ranged attacks.

Oh and then the only real choice is whether to take the master key or not. It opens up a few doors without having to find a different key, some of which allow accessing areas early. Idk, I say take it, it makes the world feel more open (and you can get some items that may help in the early game).

I started Warrior but I'd recommend Bandit I think, Spider Shield is such a great thing. Definitely Master Key as starting gift

honestly I thought the beginning part of the game was challenging enough even with the master key, I'm not sure how much more trouble it would be without the master key.

It wouldn't be that different if you take the main route...but you can't go through Havel to the basin early, can't go to the Valley of the Drakes to grab the items there or take the back door down to Blighttown, etc.

I know I didn't do the first couple of things, not sure about the third. For some reason I feel like there were a few other locked doors it helped me pass?

You can mold any of them how you want, but probably Warrior or Knight because they both start with a shield that blocks 100% physical damage. Or pyromancer if you want to hang back and use ranged attacks.

Spider Shield is such a great thing

the master key is an experienced player item but it certainly won't hurt to have it as a newbie. it's the most mechanically useful of all starting gifts

Me having the Master Key meant that on my first try, I went the wrong way for about two days, and not-understanding-the-currency-of-the-game meant I was resolutely going back to the face of the Undead Dragon to try and rescue my measly 800 souls over and over, and got bopped many times by a dude with a large club, and iced by skeletons over and over

But it's been worth it. I must confess I went right into NG+ and it's been a blast. The world feels so small now

I can't remember where I got the Spider Shield. Depths? It was super resistant to poison, but I mostly stuck with the grass crest shield I just popped purple moss. And as for rings, almost always Havel's Ring, except as needed. Or maybe covetous gold ring, when I'm grinding. But I got the other gold ring I can't take off earlier, which limits rings (though most of the rings seem pretty useless, just like most of the other shit I've accumulated).

Spider Shield is on the ledge overlooking the giant rat in the Depths, yes

I love the Grass Crest Shield and was so happy to get it back. I read that some players who enjoy going two-handed just put the GCS on their back for the passive stamina upgrade

I think at a certain point I did start fighting mostly two handed. Every once in a while there would be enemies I was used to killing with one hit or so who were giving me trouble, and then I realized I was holding my sword with one hand instead of two. Big power boost with two hands!

Had to take a little break for holiday and family stuff, but dove back in today. New Londo Ruins didn't seem so terrible, but it took me a while to realize (afaict) that there is no bonfire, so was pretty sloppy with my estus and died picking a fight with a drake, then lost 30K souls fighting the zombie dragon by the bridge getting back to where I wanted to be. At this point though I don't think souls matter too much - I'm leveled enough - but it was nice to get another ember and fire keeper soul, so I upped my estus and pumped my sword to +13. So that'll be fun.

I do have to say it is totally perverse, probably intentionally so, that after introducing curses as a totally overpowered attack to avoid, in New Londo curses are not a weapon but a defense, and you need to use them on yourself rather than on an enemy.

Killed the Four Kings on my second try! But I will say this: I think they're my favorite boss so far, not a mess of teeth and weird design, just this mysterious thing that looms in a total darkness that messes with your depth perception as you swing wildly trying to kill it/them. It helps that I'm pretty strong, and they're not the fastest boss(es), but they're still a pretty cool way to convey menace with minimal design. Would have died a million times had I not known to put on that ring. Same as the curse to fight the ghosts. Do people playing totally blind just give up at this level?

I liked a lot of the other enemies here, too. The Darkwraiths aren't too bad, but they have neat attacks and can not be knocked back (poise?). The ghosts themselves are pushovers but I like that they can attack through walls, different ways, and need to be fought a specific way. And those giant slime spitting blob things ... they're mostly in the way, but I like the slime attack that slows you down and drains your HP. Again, all pretty easy at this point, but I was pretty into it, lack of bonfire aside.

the sealer straight up tells you about needing the ring and where to get it and i think the curse is mentioned on the item description and you can grab at least one in the ghost-free beginning of the level

Congrats on the second try kill, this is one of the most annoying trips back to the boss. what's with this board and people steamrolling this game?

If it's any consolation, capra and stray demon took me a million tries.

I got the ring way earlier, after I killed Sif, but I don't remember being told what it does. Did the guy on the roof in New Londo say something about Artorias? Anyway, the description says something about the Abyss, but I wouldn't even know what the Abyss was unless I was down in it, and if I was down in it without the ring I would be dead. Right? Sometimes (so far) I think the most difficult thing about the game is all the shit you accumulate and discover, some of which means something, some of which doesn't, some of which might, some of which might not, much of which can be ignored, or, conversely, be essential, depending on how you are playing. Like, I've got everything from gold coins to rubbish and I literally have no idea what to do with it.

I still contend there is next to no way to know some of this stuff without looking it up, and there is some stuff I am just dumbfounded that anyone ever discovered in the first place. Like locations of certain merchants and blacksmiths, or how the upgrade system even works, and so on. Just blows my mind. Respect to the spreadsheet nerds that figured it out, though I also suspect someone must have prodded their progress. Though who knows, people figure all sorts of shit out. That was one of the biggest problems with Ready Player One. Some dork would have solved the mystery in like 8 hours.

Speaking of which, having played (still playing) the first Dark Souls, when I move on to II and III, will I more or less know what to expect? Or look for? Or how things work? Or is it impenetrably arcane in whole new ways?

The details and mechanics change slightly in each game, but the overall approach is the same. III is much more like I, I'd actually recommend doing that before II (which is sort of its own animal).

yeah, without spoiling things too much, ds3 is a much more direct sequel to the first game than ds2 - i'd probably just skip straight to the third one and then if you're still jonesing for more dark souls action go back to 2

tbh i'd probably recommend playing bloodborne before circling back to ds, bloodborne is very much a masterpiece in its own right

I think that might be the plan, as such. I actually already have Dark Souls II, because a while back the complete version with the DLC was on sale, but DSIII I guess hasn't put its complete version on sale yet so I will wait for that. I do have Bloodborne, though (in fact through a comedy of errors I have two copies) plus its DLC, so will get to that at some point.

Killed Gravelord Nito. Tomb of the Giants was a huge pain in the ass.

Blightown was more annoying than I remembered on NG+. On my first play through, I was the most guide-dependent in this area, and with no guide, it's just a confusing mess. Unhollowed and murdered Quelaag first-try (with Mildred in tow), but then died very honestly (several times) while attempting to ascend the conveyor belt to get home.

If you wanted to, you could have just taken the back door! Dip down from Firelink to New Londo, take the elevator to Valley of the Drakes, then take the conveyor belt down to Quelaag and you're done.

Btw a friend doing his first playthrough brought his Switch over so I could get him to Andre's bonfire (I think he had gotten there himself, but hadn't noticed the stairs, then kept dying and lost motivation). I've never felt more useful in my life.

So what am I supposed to do next? I can't remember if I was told or if there was some hint, which is one other downside of a game this esoteric, especially if you take a few days off, or hope around in a weird order. For example, I bumped into someone at Firelink but I wasn't sure if I recognized them. Asked me a question about pyromancer, I told him, and ... now he's vendor. Then there was a woman in Tomb that I didn't know; I killed her dudes, and she gave me something, but I don't know what to do with it. Was she the one who used to be praying in Firelink with a bunch of bodyguards? Also down in Tombs some asshole kicked me off a cliff; was I supposed to know him? And last I saw my bud Solaire he was moping defeated in Lost Izalith. Why? Did I miss something?

Ok Josh I think it's time to look at the wiki
http://darksouls.wikidot.com/npcs

I think now you can either go to the final boss, or go to the dlc. You should go to the dlc (and that you definitely need a guide on how to access...it's ridiculous, but I think when they released it they really wanted people to go back through the game to figure out what was different, and work together to figure out how to do it).

Yeah I know about that shortcut but I just kind of... ended up dashing through the world and not thinking. Got to Quelaag's sister-- also, I FORGOT SHE WAS HIDDEN BEHIND A SECRET DOOR, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GAME-- and realized that there was no shortcut activated, just the Lavalous Chamber Of Boredom, so I turned around

I am definitely probably not going to move on past getting the Lordybowl, no real positive memories of the back half of this game

Might do DLC again though

Things I haven't done, afaict: giant tree/ash lake, Crystal dragon area (?), final boss, vanishing boss in a long hallway ... ? I'm sure there is a ton of other stuff I've missed, too. It's hard to tell what to do next because the goal of the game has always been deliriously vague!

Wow, I looked at that wiki and it is remarkable how few of those names I recall from memory, how few of those NPCs I recognize even from reading their descriptions, and ... well, why I should care? Onion Knight is the only one I ever really seemed to interact with much. And Solaire, I guess. The other people would talk and offer things, but to what end ... I dunno. I assume if I had a different build. So far in the game almost all my purchases and equipment and upgrades I've gotten from Andre and the Undead Female Merchant.

Giant Tree is annoying, Ash Lake is a slog but it's pretty. Doing the vanishing boss was sad, because you break bad to do it, but it was fun and worth it, I guess, it kind of goes full Japan on you for a bit.

Hmm, so I've been spending time Duke's Archives, and as far as I can tell I've killed everything but Seath the Dragon, more than once, and 1) I still haven't found a key to unlock Hatman in the basement and 2) the two times I faced Seath he just kept his distance and then killed me instantly with those crystals. Is this like the Hydra, where you have to find the magic spot? And where is that stupid key?

I did like how the first time I faced Seath he was pretty easy to get to, and then as soon as I died I woke up in some random cell by a random bonfire that wouldn't let me warp. So far I think I've found three bonfires in Duke's Archives, which seems ... excessive?

you can't kill seath in that room, you need to ignore him and find another way out of the archives. i don't remember where logan's key is exactly

I must be turned around then, since I thought I explored everything.

*extremely quiet whisper* you have to let Seath kill you

Oh wait you did that. I can't remember where Logan's Key is but you need to unlock him to kill Seath iirc? I remember Duke's Archive's being very long and very tedious

The cut scene had a hint, but you need to find something in that room that will make him vulnerable.

(no need to unlock Logan, he's optional, but the key is near the bonfire before you leave the Archives to go to the caves area, behind the bookshelves somewhere)

huh. I really must have just gotten turned around.

doesn't make it any less confusing to throw one of those turning staircases in the middle of it.

Killed Seath, was relatively easy once I stopped getting cursed. Fount Gwyn once and lost, but don't foresee it being too bad when I head back to the game. I like the spooky, desolate, lonely vibe of that last level, and particularly like that they don't make you fight a million pia monsters on the way to face the Big Bad, just a few easy to kill knights.

Oh, wait, do I do the DLC before or after I face him? How about the Giant Tree and Ash Lake, should I do them first? Is Gwyn the end-end, roll-the-credits end?