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

i have beaten ds2 twice and i never got the hang of parrying

the timing is much trickier in DS2 and it's not as satisfying, i gave up trying.

adam what class and starting gift did you choose

Warrior and Divine Blessing.

Killed that armored boar animal and got his sweet helmet. Been dying a whole lot, and actually made it to the next White Light but died soon after.

I somehow took out one of the Black Knights in Undead Parish without directly attacking, I believe it fell off a cliff or something. I was trying to get away and also test the limits of the level, see if BK couldn't go down certain stairs or something. Ended up around here with the halberd, which I am keeping for the awesome strong attack where you just swing away in a wide angle. Found the blacksmith and got him to upgrade my stuff (which included a Knight Shield) before taking down the Titanite Demon. That was a fun fight! The trick is to keep strafing/blocking/rolling to the left, the side where the Demon attacks from, and if possible get behind it so you can get several attacks in. If you successfully roll past Demon's swinging arm you get to keep most of your stamina, but you can only really block two attacks in a row. Demon will get relentless w its attacks so you need to find out when to release block and when to push it back down again. Lastly you really have to be aware of where obstacles are in the fighting arena, because you can very easily end up in a (hilariously) compromising position.

I think skipped a whole section to take down this boss, cos I haven't seen gargoyles yet. I did clear out a little of the church. This game looks amazing.

keep the faith, adam 👍

i don't know if any other game that so completely rewards reading other people's in game experiences

Also I took time to read about what Humanity is and how it affects the Flasks and all that. I wasn't Kindling any of the bonfires! So I started doing that. It's funny I somehow made it through Undead Burg with only 5 flasks, but once I had 10, it really wasn't a whole lot easier!

Dark Souls is pretty much the greatest video game ever made and it exists in my mind as some traumatic and profound journey that I had while sitting on a couch and I live vicariously through other people clawing their way through it and telling me about it. And I'm kinda being serious here.

Yeah this feels like a complete realization of the promise made by the original Legend of Zelda.

Do I need to go back and play Demon Souls after this? Or should I move on to DS2?

Not that I think I will finish with this for a season.

Adam, you're balling, I don't think I succeeded against the Titanite Demon until I came back later in the game (and with those guys I always circled around to the right, i.e. on his left, maybe that would have helped).

I found Demon's much more satisfying and closer to my experience with Dark Souls, definitely glad I borrowed a PS3 for it.

Yeah I tried circling right because he doesn't have a left leg and I thought it would be easier, but in truth it just makes it easier for him to trap you between him and whatever rubble is around. The result of which is more often than not getting humped by a giant headless demon.

getting humped by a giant headless demon = welcome to Dark Souls

Q: Do I need to go back and play Demon Souls after this?
A: YES

Absolutely play Demon's Souls. I was all into Dark Souls 2 early on, but as it progressed it became apparent that it just did not have the same magic as the other two. Worth playing, but do Demon's first. Supposedly the From Software A Team was mostly occupied with Bloodborne during the DS2 production cycle, so fingers crossed for that one. Only a coupla weeks now!

Took down two (!) bosses last night, the Gargoyles and the Moonlight Butterfly. Butterfly was easy enough. Gargoyles gave me a really hard time until I focused on quickly taking out one of them. Once they start breathing fire you are pretty much dead if there are two around. Also the Giant Stone Knights in the garden (near the secret bonfire) are hella tough until you figure out a strategy and then they make really good farming enemies. Lock on, strafe-block, and attack in between his attacks. Again I have to thank the halberd, which I am pouring upgrades into, for all the wonderful range it provides.

Watched some of Demon's Souls last night. DAMN it looks good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcDh4ILcVKQ

This is actually me, getting my ass handed to me early in the garden.

For what it's worth I just got to the part of DS2 with the unnervingly authentic unscrupulous West of Ireland builder and I feel like that tips it into greatness

the garden is SO MUCH FUN. please note that no great leaping is required to explore every element of that level. tread carefully.
this is making me want to play again

This is actually me, getting my ass handed to me early in the garden.

nice! get yr weight below 50% and you'll be able to move/roll quicker

^sage advice, sacrificing armor for speed at this point would mean a lot more successful dodges. also you can put points into endurance if you want to use heavy armor/weapons.

Well I stumbled upon Black Leather Armor and a thief's hat and a bunch of lightweight stuff and made the change and definitely like it! I'm still most comfortable holding down that block button but it is nice to be able to run everywhere. Took out Havel and took his ring. I really wanted that dragon tooth he had but whatever!

oh you'll get it eventually :)

...so

I tried the restore humanity + summon Chap thing at the weekend and it was all going great until the big fucker pushed me off the roof which never happened before. So that's the end of that plan for now. All I can really think of to do now is attempt to run around for a bit and grind in order to lvl/refine weapon etc, maybe even pick up another humanity marble thing if I'm lucky (if I can). Either that or fuck the game off entirely.

Apparently I have some good kit as well, it's just heavy... The Claymore, a Knight Shield and that super-cool boar head helmet.

I think the game just has a difficult learning curve for me since I usually try to force my way through these kinds of things with sheer brute strength so I'm going to have to rethink my strategy maybe.

I know why everyone hates Blighttown.

Also here is evidence that Dark Souls is evil: found that Wolf Ring in the garden that gave me hella poise so that no more does blocking attacks knock me backwards. Suddenly I drop down into Blighttown (using Depth entrance, which was probably my main error here) and there are bottomless pits everywhere, and suddenly, the enemies have super powerful attacks that bypass my Wolf Ring, knocking me to my death.

The board head helmet is super cool! It's a shame it makes you really slow because it does look awesome. I'm definitely warming up to the speed-over-tank methods so I'm just hoping that if you level up enough endurance you can wear it and still run around.

I'm at about level 51 btw, 40 hours in. I am addicted to this game.

going in through the Depths is the proper Blighttown experience.

otm

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1MSIM_enUS625US625&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=dark%20souls%20getting%20out%20of%20blighttown

The bottomless pits are horrendous, but I'm at the point where I can navigate them and take out monsters before getting one-hitted by a giant slug.

Also LOL at the moving platforms. In other games your character would automatically move with them. Not here buddy.

heh. so you haven't reached the bottom yet, right?

that blighttown route is seared into my brain forever

I haven't reached the bottom of Blighttown yet, other than repeatedly careening off narrow ledges onto the swamp floor below with YOU DIED coming up. Going to get the Rusted Iron Ring before taking it on again.

Just made it to the spider witch boss in the swamp. So cool! These boss fights are the best: no matter what level you are at, if you fight smart, you can win.

Just fought her 4 times and died w only 2 hits left. As long as you stay far away when you are not right up close slashing you can win. Going to find my Dio record before do this.

Just beat the spider boss. Hah, thought i was going to do it in one go!

It was very nail-biting though, I was running low on poison curing stuff. I had bought like 50 or so the last time I was out of Blighttown, and by the time I killed the boss only had 8 left. Then I would be doing really well on the boss fight and miss a cue and end up getting one-hitted because I was standing right next to her when she did her super powerful attack. The distance you are from the boss dictates how much damage you may take.

After slaying this giant spider monster (which, along with finding a whip and using it to take out airborn creatures made me nostalgic for some Castlevania) I rang a bell that told a giant on top of a fortress/castle on the other side of the world (that I had discovered dozens of hours ago) to raise the portcullis. A new path! Metroidvania goodness! Went downstairs and found a much-welcomed bonfire. For some reason the nearby wall looked notable to me, so I slashed it, revealing a secret passage containing a poor plague-ridden man with a half dozen giant spider eggs embedded in his back, crawling on his hands. He was guarding another spider being who took up an entire wall of this cavern. I tried talking to the part that was human - a pale woman - but she didn't have much to say beyond offering to upgrade my flask. Which reminds me, I need to go find some more Firekeeper Souls. I only have the one from the church in Undead Parish.

god i need to play this again

For some reason, my longbow stopped working. Anyone ever have this problem? I was using it to shoot down poisonous mosquitos in Blighttown and ran out of arrows. Ran out and bought a bunch of new ones, but for some reason I can't use them...

gotta equip the arrows

Thank you!!!!

no prob; i had the same problem 4EVA until i stumbled on the answer.

I rang a bell that told a giant on top of a fortress/castle on the other side of the world (that I had discovered dozens of hours ago) to raise the portcullis.

next stop: sen's funhouse!

Is that where I should go next? Cos I saw there is the Demon Ruins down past the spiders (which I skipped cos, Demon Ruins, sounds pretty tough), and I tried doing the Catacombs to get my Estus Flask count upgraded. Got pretty far but I need to obtain a holy weapon before taking on all those skeletons.

yeah i would avoid the Demon Ruins for now. and the Catacombs leads to some tough late-game places as well.

um, not to say that Sen's (and where it leads) is easy. but it's the standard place to go at this point in the game.

catacombs doesn't require holy weapon i don't think, just take out the lantern guys and they stop respawning