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

holy fuck. i want that job!!

U DIED

basically i am going to play the fuck out of this game and not eat or sleep is kinda how i break it down to an extent

these are those times where i wonder if i am just wired oddly as a gamer because punishingly difficult isnt a positive in my book

no need to respond to that, i made a different thread to talk about how i am weak-willed and cowardly

i never really found dark souls impossibly difficult. it's hard yeah, but i find it WAY easier and more rewarding than, say, halo. I'm just hardwired to deal well with this kind of shit i guess. I can't get past the first half hour of gears of war or handle bullet hell tho.

wait, so do you have to play this online? p much not interested if that's the case.

don't think you HAVE to, just opens up some elements of bizarro multiplayer

sick.

demon's souls seemed right up my alley but I don't have a ps3. I'm thinking that this might do nicely in its absence.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/undead-days-dark-souls/721426

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/co-op-boss-dark-souls/721543

oh yeah

"You're already dead, and so is everything else, and all of it hates you."

hah is that from the eurogamer review?

Oh man, that reviiew was JUST what i wanted to hear

WHICH CLASS DO I START WITH?>???

I might try thief at the outset but if I get brutally murdered I will explore other options..

We thought you'd like to know that the following item has been despatched and should be with you in a few days.

SO HYPED

i died

My characters name is YOUDIED

play as deprived or feel eternal shame

EXACTLY
damn i gotta check amazon to see when they're shipping my KOLLEKTERS EDISHUN

Delivery Estimate: October 12, 2011 - October 17, 2011
boo

pretty rad game but holy shit are they not lying about the difficulty.

why isn't there a demo of this on the 360?

I cant kill shit

this is pretty brutal. i am desperate for a decent weapon. i have lost way too many souls and humanity points from not getting back to my bloodstains. i was coasting up until taurus demon but it has been straight downhill since the first time i got there and died. and my elation at beating that demon last approx 1 minute before i was fucked over again.

i was coasting up until taurus demon

yeah, this little stretch is what stopped me dead in my tracks. tried level grinding, but that really doesn't help you too much. there's a merchant not too far away, so perhaps grinding some souls for better armor might help a little more? also, just looked up some YouTube videos, and it looks like there's a pretty easy way to dispatch of that Taurus monster.

what is it abt this game drawing some purple prose shit out of reviewers: (from destructoid)

You are undead, one of the chosen few tasked with saving a world which has very nearly seen its demise. The primeval, life-giving power of fire which holds back the darkness threatening to once again consume all existence, has almost flickered out and you are the prophesied last hope, sojourning to the legendary land of Lordran to reignite the flame. Between you and the fate of the world lies hundreds of mindless beasts intent on killing you, which they will succeed in time and again.

so am I correct in noticing this goddamn game wont tell me how many souls you need to level up?

yeah, i am not appreciating that change

its easily googleable but wtf

aw fuck this. if you lose your connection to xbox live the game completely craps out and restarts..

hey, interesting question, why the fuck is the collector's edition coming out two weeks after the regular one and WHAT THE FUCK

to jingle + forks both: bc it's so damn hard, see??

forks not sure what you are referring to but i got the CE y'day

this game is terrifying to play, and rules

yeah, i really dig it. though at my current rate of progress i'll probably complete it in 2014. been looking at YouTube videos whenever i get stuck and i end up kicking myself for not seeing pretty "duh" (in retrospect) solutions. game requires cautious and thoughtful play. every group of enemies and step of the way demands some sort strategy. and, yeah, it's absolutely punishing. i'm only a sliver of the way though, so we'll see how i feel down the line, but right now i'm finding it addictive and i'm glad something like it exists in 2011.

i was discussing with a friend how, with the open level design and because every area or boss you get past just leads to more and harder enemies, the most tangible reward in the game is finding a shortcut so that you don't have to wade through the same bunch of assholes over and over again. finding the ladder between the bonfire in undead burg and the start of undead parish, and then the elevator from undead parish back to firelink shrine, were the most triumphal moments i have experienced so far.

I've been doing so much hard time in undead burg that my goddamn dagger is about to break and I have no idea how I'm supposed to fix it.

you can get a repair kit from the vendor in undead burg that lets you repair your weapons at any bonfire. costs 2k souls i think. essential purchase. so far i have found a couple of npcs who can also repair equipment. the easiest one to reach if you are not in undead parish yet is at the start of the londo ruins (stairs down from the shrine bonfire, elevator, head right to path down the cliff face and npc is behind bars in the cliff)

amazon is not mailing my shit on time i guess.
anyways i guess i'll be waiting a bit.

i feel like i just got over the hump with this game. i think i went too far in one direction and hit a bit of a brick wall but i got passed it and now i have some decent weapons and spells. now going through a couple areas i maybe should have visited earlier and the going is almost comfortable. altho i'm sure i'll be made to regret even thinking that.

this does feel a bit frontloaded in the difficulty department. though i'm not sure how much can be attributed to getting better at the mechanics/having decent equipment vs. the game itself getting a bit easier. still quite challenging, i'm just not being brutalized like i was at the outset. not at the endgame yet, so maybe i should bite my tongue.

anyway, i totally love it. haven't been this into a game in years.

does it make sense to horde humanity or should I be spending it to kindle bonfires.. I keep getting pwnt by the second boss but I should be able to beat his ass if I had 10 estus flasks..

i do tend to stockpile humanity but there are plenty of opportunities to get some as you go along. sometimes you will randomly get +1 in your humanity counter from defeating an enemy and usually if i am at a fire i will use up a stored humanity so i can kindle it (i am basically never not hollow so it always costs me 2 humanity to kindle). i would recommend kindling the fire in the middle of undead burg. you come back there a few times and you can quickly get there from the fire in undead parish with the ladder shortcut, so no need to kindle that one.

this is a handy resource for upgrading weapons: http://i51.tinypic.com/wthr92.jpg

This game is so good.

YOU DIED

http://images.instagram.com/media/2011/10/14/745e43ebc7424528a85aec5f9967fcf6_7.jpg

been playing this all night. also ordered the swank hardcover strategy guide the other day. i've never bought a strategy guide in my life.

so i preordered so i could play during my vacation from work and the game was delivered this monday... to my job.
I DIED

Ugh, I am so bad at this game. :(

this is sitting at home waiting for me to make time for it. Sadface.

Anyway, on my merry way to the Catacombs and back through the cemetery that I remember having terrible trouble with when I first started my game many many moons ago.
But wait - firs tI'd better do a little research, and it says I will be making my journey a LOT easier if I carry some sort of Divine weapon. So there I am, upgrading the Astoria sword I've been carrying around for half my journey and not really knowing what to do with it.
I fully upgrade it to 5+, go to equip it, but NO - you must be at least 14 FAITH to go on this ride. And guess what I've definitely NOT been putting Souls into?
Well my favourite farming spot is no longer since I shot Gwynevere and turned Anor Londo into a cold, dark void. So I'm now farming human enemies in the Forest. It's going to take HOURS. Hope it's worth it.

Yeah, Lost Izalith is often referred to as 'rushed' or 'unfinished', and Bed of Chaos is infamous as the worst boss in the series. On my recent run, I was happy to do it in the normal three tries (at least it saves your "progress" after death!) -- run at the right sphere, then shoot arrows with blind hope at the left sphere until you get lucky and hit the right spot, then run down the middle and jump on the trunk without getting branched. I remember that last step took a million tries on my first playthrough.

Catacombs was probably the hardest part of my recent run. I had Astora's sword but barely upgraded it -- for the reviving skeletons in the level, you can just run past them until you find the area necromancer if you want. After you kill the necromancer then they'll die normally. I only used Astora's to kill the skellies in the boss room. But since I didn't have a light source, I had to watch a video to find my path from the bonfire to the boss. That's my big Catacombs recommendation -- having a source of light helps way more than a divine weapon.

There's one you can find there (which I totally forgot about until I looked it up now), one in Lost Izalith if you do Solaire's quest, or a spell (which is no help if you're not a wizard).

Haha yeah I shot about a two dozen arrows at the left sphere with no luck for some reason. I ended up giving up and jumping over the ravine and just thumping it with my fist! Jumping down to the middle root was no mean feat either. Too often a hand would just sweep me away mid-air. And when I finally managed to get the middle sphere, it killed me anyway! Not a fun boss.

I've got the Sunlight Maggot so that's a good light source.

I was very pained to see both Siegmeyer AND Solaire die within minutes of each other! Siegmeyer gave me no choice than to let him sacrifice himself to a couple of weak enemies. Solaire had been maddened by the Maggot. Apparently I missed him near the first Izalith bonfire, which is a shame - we didn't get to say goodbye!

For some reason I thought there were some weapons that have innate divine/holy/whatever damage that will permanently kill skeletons that didn't need so much faith. Maybe not.

That's one of my least favorite things about these games, enemies weak to very specific things that, unless you are really grinding, most players don't have the stats to wield or use. Makes some sections super annoying.

I'm currently running around with a hooning Black Knight Greatsword (I think), big heavy thing but it TWATS even very strong enemies into next Sunday

Heh, I think my first build was Black Knight Greatsword + tower shield. Classic first time build, max damage and defense, did as little dodging and parrying as possible.

My preferred/pvp build now is a katana, Gold Tracer, Grass Crest shield, and some pyro.

Btw I delved into the dlc the other day and did Artorias and Kalameet, I think I'm stopping there (no desire to throw myself against Manus again atm).

Okay so I'm on the DLC now and man... after a fair few levels of "either I'm overleveled or this is kind of easy really", it's now become tough all over again.

I can't just get away with the old hack'n'slash here. Yeah I'm boasting a mad sword and tanky Stone armor, but the Sanctuary Guardian just mauled me and now I'm back in what looks like the Darkroot Garden but with much more difficult enemies. I slip up at all and I'm just a goner.
DARK SOUUUULS!

I mean, the tough parts about Tomb of the Giants was the darkness and the Catacombs was the respawning skeletons, but other than that it was a cakewalk. The bosses were silly easy. Thought I'd have the DLC done by the time Armored Core comes out. Not so sure now

Artorias is my go-to example of a boss that is totally punishing for the first few hundred goes, then once you get it, it becomes manageable and then finally becomes something like a dance..

Probs my favourite boss of the game...

my Nendoroid of Sigermeyer has just arrived after ordering it in December.

lil' dude's going to sit on the edge of my WFH desk and chill...

I could be wrong about this, but I feel like the DLC bosses are more friendly to a dex/rolling & counterattacking build than to tanks, compared to the main game.

They all went down pretty easily on my recent run, although Artorias was much easier once I switched to a higher damage weapon (crystal Halberd) that knocked him out of his phase transitions. And Manus is always a beast, I still haven't replayed him since my very first time.

The Sanctuary Guardian whooped me. I had several goes with different set ups before finally beating him with my OG big tanky black knight greatsword build, which felt less like skill and more a fluke. He was relentless. I may have to rethink my build, but it's very much based on Strength and Endurance atm.

It's been so long since I played this game that I've honestly forgotten big hunks of it, and thinking back, it's a wonder I ever beat it. It's kind of like having an out of body experience

Yeah, the dlc bosses were where I first had to really learn to read each move and the correct way to evade it. Replaying the base game, I noticed that you could skate by without doing that (barring a few big AoE or grab attacks) for most bosses depending on your build.

I was watching someone play a new mod, and ... how in the world do people make mods? New enemies, new bosses, new locations, new weapons, I just don't understand how it is done.

Which mod? I wanna see that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYGeKIoOi4

God I could just play these games over and over the rest of my life and feel completely satisfied

Ah this Archtthrones thing sounds amazing. Shame I can't play em on PS

Josh I think it involves, y'know, editing the source code. Using existing assets (some of which may be in the code but not actually used in the final game) like taking an existing enemy but making them larger and swapping in the moveset from a different one, changing the speed & poise values, etc. But I don't really know how deep they go. It's certainly the pc nerds who always figure out through code things like the hidden poise system, iframe values, parry windows, for each new game.