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

where are the ghosts? i haven't run into any yet.

down at the bottom of the steps from Firelink Shrine, or at the top of the lift from Queelag's Domain. Christ I know too much about this game :-/

New Londo Ruins

er, what he said

oh i see -- apparently i just missed the door after taking that elevator from queelag, and couldn't get past the drakes going the other way, so i ended up going back up the way i came in through blighttown.

Even though it wouldn't be a complete waste of time fighting through New Londo Ruins right now, you won't be able to access the boss until you clear Darkroot Garden.

xpsts to forks

you have to complete anor londo to access the boss. however, you need to go through new londo ruins to drain the water at some point anyway, and after that to reach the boss you are best starting at the bonfire between darkroot and valley of the drakes and just sprinting past the drakes.

wait, are we talking about the hydra? i have no idea how to beat that bad boy.

There is a way to beat New Londo Ruins w/out completing Anor Londo iirc. Darkroot Garden is a necessity however.

Hydra's the Darkroot Basin boss.

oh, the giant butterfly then? yeah, i beat that sometime back.

Funny that jordan and i appear to each be about half done, but different halfs

giant butterfly is p easy if I remember. Maybe I should give up on Sen's Fortress for the time being and give that a go...

Sif is the boss you need to kill to gain access to New Londo Ruins boss. Sorry for opening up that can of spoilrz.

it's surprising how much a difference leveling up and beefing up your armor/weapons makes. So many close call deaths are nicely averted by a little push toward making myself tougher... you'd think that would be self evident but the constant loss of souls makes it hard to remember to occasionally grind.

i dunno who or what sif is so no spoilerz!

ah yes of course you can get to the four kings without placing the lordvessel. alternate ending!

everyone knows they have to finish the game at least twice right?

Funny that jordan and i appear to each be about half done, but different halfs

ha totally

am doing the ng+ at the moment, with Artorias of the Abyss DLC.

ah yes of course you can get to the four kings without placing the lordvessel. alternate ending!

I think what you do or don't do with the Lordvessel only determines if you can join the Darkwraiths. What ending you get depends solely on your actions after the final boss.

you have to complete anor londo to access the boss. however, you need to go through new londo ruins to drain the water at some point anyway, and after that to reach the boss you are best starting at the bonfire between darkroot and valley of the drakes and just sprinting past the drakes.

― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, February 11, 2014 4:10 PM

nah u can warp from the abyss w/out lordvessel, only precursor to four kings is to kill sif

oh someone said that. also i find firelink to four kings shortcut (jumping down to darkwraith area near start of new londo) easier than running through drakes

just touched some "Dragon Remnants" and got invaded by a dragon guy who killed me. Assume it's a covenant thing. Anyone else seen that before?

Yeah, that's the summon sign for Dragon Covenant dudes. I don't think I've ever actually seen one.

okay, this fucking great hollow

don't bother with The Great Hollow until you have the Lordvessel.

well what the hell else can i do? Only avenue i see now is this spider queen on the hill.

she should be next on your list.

CURSED FUCK FUCK FUCK this is the worst

I messed around in the hollow but didn't go past the basilisks at the bottom, just got a bunch of swag swag. The cloranthy ring has been indispensable.

Heh didn't mean to write swag twice but it works.

now i'm trapped here and can't get out one way or the other with half hp. what the fuck

TOLD YOU.

first play through i went to The Great Hollow early on, got cursed, made it to the fire all the way at the bottom, realized it was next to impossible for me to kill the boss down there in that state, found out it's a dead end, then had to run all the way back up through that mess. don't fuck with it until you have the Lordvessel to warp yourself out. and a purging stone or two.

well, like Jordan said, it might be worth grabbing some loot in the upper areas, but don't push it.

ugh that's exactly what happened to me - made it to bottom of the Hollow cursed, found it was a dead end and it took forever to get back up again. Never again oh wait it's almost March ^_^

well, i escaped but it took a fuckin' hour. now i gotta raise 5k souls to go get that curse break as i still can't quite get to dude on the rooftop at half health.

i didn't find the bottom bonfire so it was a question of climbing back up outta blighttown and figuring out how to evade the three club wielding shit monsters up top

Ruuun. I invaded Lautrec and killed him with my dying swing. I'll take it but that's my worst habit in this game, going for broke when I think someone's almost dead and leaving myself open.

me too. that's how i lost to the spider queen. One hit away!
Now that i got the fire keeper's soul, the bonfire in firelink shrine is gone. Fuckin'... ahma kill that shithead knight.

you can use the firekeeper's soul on your flasks a couple other places (like the spider queen's sister if you find her nearby).

ornstein & smough down, but i only did by venturing into co-op for the first time (and then mostly staying out of the way). now i'm past the hydra and getting killed by giant kitty cats.

blog update: i had an easier time with sif than any boss so far, go figure. now i'm in ghostland...i made a cursed sword, which i don't have near the stats to wield but it seems to work just fine nonetheless (as far as killing the ghosts in one hit goes).

i beat the spider queen (with a summoned friend) and am now trying to determine if I should go back to that newly opened gate or instead go through the sewer system to the other half of blighttown. i think i may have to step away from this for a few weeks...

probably not worth sticking around in Blighttown, I'd get above ground and give Sen's Fortress a go...

I will when i have the time. quick straw poll: new thread for dark souls 2? anyone want to start it?

i vote new thread

seems superfluous, this one has less than 500 posts. but it is not 2003 and i am not ned so please start as many threads as you wish.

gonna go out on a limb and say this is going to get heavy traffic when the sequel drops so a new thread is sensible.

new thread would be a good idea imo.

four kings :(

load up on poise (havel's armor does the trick) and tank 'em. their sword swipes do less damage the closer you are. if you've messed with Pyromancy, Power Within helps. this is a boss where summoning generally makes it more difficult, so don't bother.

i somehow beat these guys no sweat on first attempt. gave me hell on NG+ tho.