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

i don't understand what is happening

parry > quickly swap all gear into giant dad meme build > riposte, win game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjQxNf5uTSE

that is nice. one-shotting the boss seems like the more impressive part tho.

I've been watching a few playthroughs, or at least looking into the game a bit more (since its mechanics/instructions/goal were totally mysterious to me), and I'm unclear about something. Well, several things. If you make it to a future stage of the game and it turns out you don't have the Ring of Constipation or Sword Lube or whatever, can you go back to an earlier level and get it, or are you hosed? That is, are there decisions or mistakes you can make early on, or things you missed or forgot, that screw you over, and is that just then how it's going to be, until you start over at the beginning and try again?

Also - and I know this is part of the mechanic - there seems to be several different ways to kill many (all?) enemies, some really easy, most really hard. Like, one guy I saw made sure to gift himself the fire bombs right off the bat, knowing it would be key to easily defeating the first boss. How did he know that? Others said don't get the firebombs (or a few other things) because they're easy to get or find later. How did they know that? And even knowing that, is it better to get your ass kicked repeatedly by the first boss (as practice?) than to defeat it easily and move on? Likewise, I saw another clip that struggled with the second boss, on the bridge. Person died over and over again. But the other one I watched, the dude is all "you just need to apply this resin to your sword and it's as simple as that" and he kicked the boss's butt. How did he know that?

Couple of more questions. I see people reading notes/hints left for them. When I get the game for Switch in a few months, will those messages not be there when I start a fresh game locally? Or do they only show up if you're playing connected to the internet at large?

And then a last question. Some of the clips concede they've been doing some mining/grinding off-camera. Is this a part of the game, or is it just a cheaty shortcut to getting more powerful that some people take?

I can only speak to one point based on my limited experience with Demon's Souls, which is yes, the messages are online only (which I learned because the soon-to-be-expired Demon's Souls server was glitching like a motherfucker and I had to start playing offline to preserve my sanity).

I mean, I assume that this also holds true for Dark Souls.

f you make it to a future stage of the game and it turns out you don't have the Ring of Constipation or Sword Lube or whatever, can you go back to an earlier level and get it, or are you hosed?

you can always go back. there are very few items you absolutely have to get, and the ones there are you can't really miss. but there are items which will make your life easier in way way or another

How did he know that?

these are kind of 'how long is a piece of string' questions tbh - maybe they've played it before or read a guide or got lucky or any number of things. some players will find some enemies super-easy, others will struggle - it's kind of the nature of gaming that skill levels will vary

I see people reading notes/hints left for them.

you've gotta be online for these to show up

Is this a part of the game, or is it just a cheaty shortcut to getting more powerful that some people take?

both - i find it can be helpful to do a bit of grinding for practice with enemies i find challenging and level up a skill or two before i move on. on the other hand, some people can finish the game totally naked without ever levelling up or healing. it's enough of a game of skill that playing it like a total madman, iron man challenge-style, is an option, but most players will find their own level

honestly, just play it for yourself! part of the joy of it is finding what works for you. like, i've used magic approximately twice across all three dark souls games cuz melee-only builds are totally viable ways to play

and i'm too dumb to understand how magic works

Ok so:

That is, are there decisions or mistakes you can make early on, or things you missed or forgot, that screw you over, and is that just then how it's going to be, until you start over at the beginning and try again?

No, you can always go back. However, for much of the game, you can't go across the world instantly, so you might have to walk/fight your way there. That said, I can't think of anything so essential that it would block your progress if you didn't have it.

xp

Also - and I know this is part of the mechanic - there seems to be several different ways to kill many (all?) enemies, some really easy, most really hard. Like, one guy I saw made sure to gift himself the fire bombs right off the bat, knowing it would be key to easily defeating the first boss. How did he know that? Others said don't get the firebombs (or a few other things) because they're easy to get or find later. How did they know that? And even knowing that, is it better to get your ass kicked repeatedly by the first boss (as practice?) than to defeat it easily and move on? Likewise, I saw another clip that struggled with the second boss, on the bridge. Person died over and over again. But the other one I watched, the dude is all "you just need to apply this resin to your sword and it's as simple as that" and he kicked the boss's butt. How did he know that?

One of the great parts of the game is that there are so many different approaches. People using the bombs or resins early on probably played the game before, or watched a video of someone doing a speedrun. All valid approaches, but yeah, it's better to first learn to do it the old-fashioned way (learning a boss's moves so you can dodge or block them, then counterattack when it's safe). Unless you're not having fun, then do whatever.

Couple of more questions. I see people reading notes/hints left for them. When I get the game for Switch in a few months, will those messages not be there when I start a fresh game locally? Or do they only show up if you're playing connected to the internet at large?

Not those notes, but I'm sure players will start leaving notes for each other as soon as the game comes out. There are a couple notes in the game left by the developers that are there even offline though.

And then a last question. Some of the clips concede they've been doing some mining/grinding off-camera. Is this a part of the game, or is it just a cheaty shortcut to getting more powerful that some people take?

Mmmm, it's only a part of the game if you want it to be. If you're having trouble with a boss, grinding is not usually the answer, but it can help. Basically improving your stats & weapons just gives you more room to make mistakes. But people (who have played the game before, a lot) complete the game without ever levelling up.

When I first played DS I looked at this site a lot: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/

I tried not to read ahead, and mostly use it as a resource about the mechanics etc, but I think part of the fun of Dark Souls is the player-base as a whole figuring out this big puzzle that doesn't explain how it works. So I'd be at the gym seeing what I'd missed and thinking about my build etc.

Apparently one thing that can't be undone - and I guess it makes sense that it can't - is leveling up (I think?). That is, if you add five nerd points to strength but you realize you should have allocated those nerd points to lip gloss sheen, it's too late, you can't shift the stats around.

Also confused about what humanity means or does. Kindling a fire is different than lighting a fire, right? But being human/not hollow looks like it matters mostly if you are online. But it also sounds like it might make it easier to ... find stuff? There was one video that said you should try to keep a balance of 10 humanity, but then the comments were about the struggle to keep even one!

But yeah, I guess I'll find out when I play it. I've always liked watching people play these epic games, regardless, but I'm trying to save some surprises. It helps that some of these people zip through and skip stuff and some explore. When I'm watching a "blind" playthrough it's also unclear how good they are at these games to begin with (which helps). Likewise watching a play through when it might be their 10th time playing through. .

if you make it to a future stage of the game and it turns out you don't have the Ring of Constipation or Sword Lube or whatever, can you go back to an earlier level and get it, or are you hosed?

you never really need to collect an item to progress. there are a few impassable fog walls that disappear once you kill some bosses but aside from that i think every area in the game is accessible right from the start.

are there decisions or mistakes you can make early on, or things you missed or forgot, that screw you over, and is that just then how it's going to be, until you start over at the beginning and try again?

not at all. you can return to the very start of the game at any point. the world is all interconnected and always available. you never get cut off from accessing any earlier areas. on the contrary everything becomes easier to navigate between.

i'd tell brand new players not to be afraid to follow a build guide because it is hard to make head or tails of any of it until you've played some. if you don't like the game it doesn't matter, and if you do like the game you'll want to play it again and then you'll be in a better position to go your own way with your build. my own very simplistic but effective approach to early build is here DARK SOULS: if you need me i'll be in an induced coma so mvrch comes tomorrow

If you're not going for a super-optimized pvp build, there's a lot of room for error. A few points here and there isn't going to make much of a difference, and you may not know what approach feels good until you try a few.

The one thing I would say is that new players usually focus on upping their damage stat (strength, dexterity) but it's probably more important to increase your health and endurance. That's going to give you a lot more room for error.

Also confused about what humanity means or does. Kindling a fire is different than lighting a fire, right? But being human/not hollow looks like it matters mostly if you are online. But it also sounds like it might make it easier to ... find stuff? There was one video that said you should try to keep a balance of 10 humanity, but then the comments were about the struggle to keep even one!

Oh man. Kindling gives you more estus (heals) when you rest at a bonfire. That's important, but I didn't bother with all the other esoteric properties of humanity when I played. It only mattered if I was trying to be human to summon a phantom. It's all here, but I wouldn't worry about it too much: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/humanity

See, even the stats, I've encountered so many different recommendations. Focus on faith, focus on dexterity and endurance, don't touch resistance, and so on. I guess there is no clear answer, except that some weapons/acts/things require certain stats to be at certain numbers, right?

There's no one right answer because there are a ton of different possible builds.

My first time through, I did a strength build so that I could have the biggest possible shield in one hand and a big sword in the other, and never dodge. My stats were probably a mess but it didn't really matter.

The second time, I had a katana and no shield and dodged everything.

Faith = casting miracles (heals etc), intelligence = magic spells, etc.

But seriously don't touch resistance though.

trying to not get hit >>> trying to take less damage from hits

there is no best build for everyone and no wrong approach, except maybe dithering between directions instead of just choosing one. i recommend concentrating stats in either magic or faith for a first run through because less is closed off that way - you can still be very strong on melee with the correct weapon upgrades but you also get the opportunity to try out the spells or miracles.

one additional benefit of gitting gud at dark souls is that you’ll likely be better at other games to - it’s great at teaching you patience and methodically examining opponent’s weak points

#TrueWarrior

Will I be missing anything actually fun if I play only offline? I don’t want other jokers coming into my game. But I’ve never looked up how that works or what it does. (Will be getting Switch ver.)

Did everyone who hadn't already suddenly (like me) buy a copy of Dark Souls within the past week or something?

silby, you def want to play online. The notes at the very least are part of the fun. don't worry about getting gamecrashed; you'll need to play for a great many hours before that happens.

You might want to summon friendly help too (there are NPC phantoms, but that's not as fun).

Did everyone who hadn't already suddenly (like me) buy a copy of Dark Souls within the past week or something?

Pre-sale for the Switch, so you're going to get lots of me asking dumb questions until May, when I actually play the game for the first time. Some of my questions might be smart, though.

Did everyone who hadn't already suddenly (like me) buy a copy of Dark Souls within the past week or something?

I bought Dark Souls! But I just started replaying Demon's Souls (which is kind of misleading inasmuch as my initial attempt lasted about half an hour) so now I don't know whether to continue with that or cross over to the Dark side with the sudden rush of fellow newbies.

dark souls is the core, the heart music imo, and maybe a smoother introduction to the series so it might be easier to go back to demon’s souls once you’ve played it for a bit

i love Demon's Souls. in a lot of ways it feels like the closest game to Dark Souls III.

count me in for a Dark Souls NG in May when it drops on the Switch

Duuuude, I just killed what I guess is the first boss in Demon's Souls (giant spear-wielding snail thing that shits out smaller snail things) without dying. That was rad. Should I refrain from getting cocky? Well, too late.

o shit a souls savant

No worries, I only got owned a dozen times before I even made it that far. I expect to make it roughly twenty feet before it happens again.

(I wish I understood technology better so I could show you guys how stupid I made my Demon's Souls character look. I swear sometimes that 90% of the appeal of videogames for me is making my avatar look ridiculous and giving him/her a ridiculous name, e.g. my Disgaea party, all of which are named after McDonald's menu offerings or lead singers of shitty post-grunge bands.)

(PS, I am twelve, if that was unclear.)

my videogame avatars are usually hulking, hideous mutants called ‘fucknuts’

Hey, speaking of online, did they say if the Dark Souls remaster will be cross-platform playable or whatever?

It will not, unfortunately

So if I even wanted to play with online nerds, I'd be limited to nerds on the Switch?

I don’t think you’ll have to worry about there being under a million such nerds available

Does the Switch have a hatemail function?

(PS, Some asshole dragon immediately handed me my ass a half dozen times just after beating the aforementioned Demon's Souls boss, turns out this shit is haaaaard.)

git gud!

I knew this already about the Souls games, but I clearly need to curb my usual hack n' slash gaming habit of leaping into the fray like a hulkamaniac (this is probably why God of War is so bad and hated by me). I'm chill as eff with ranged weapons but put some cold steel in my hands and I'll happily make a mad berserker dash toward the spear pointed right at my midsection.

the secret to gitting gud is just patience, really - never, ever run your endurance bar all the way down, always have a bit in reserve to block or roll, learn your oppponent's tells, and just methodically chip down their health bar

oh, and trying to master parrying is a good idea

congrats, you are now gud

https://kotaku.com/dark-souls-expert-beats-entire-series-without-getting-h-1823662283

someone beat the entire Dark Souls series 1 2 & 3 without getting hit. it was a glitch-free and magic-free run! this is how fair & well-designed these games are.

Huh. I'll check that out, but I haven't seen clips of people doing stuff like that without, if you pardon the phrase, gaming the system. Getting overpowered, or exploiting a design weakness or something.

I've really been enjoying Doom on the Switch. I think it looks pretty great, tbh, though even post patch I have encountered a couple of tiny glitches. Hopefully they don't get worse. It does leave me a little dizzy after playing, though. I think that is more a function of it being a FPS and not like Dark Soul's ... third person perspective? Anyway, between the rampant death of Celeste and the challenge (and rampant death) of Doom, of getting myself prepped for Dark Souls.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/04/03/here-are-all-the-differences-between-dark-souls-and-dark-souls-remastered

i'm such a nerd i'm considering buying both the ps4 version to play it in super-smooth 60fps and the switch version so i can play handheld on the couch while my wife watches tv

pls send help

old lunch, how's your playthru going?

will try to demo the switch version at pax next weekend to see how good it feels on there

I tried playing Doom on handheld and it was just too small for me to see/fight well. So I suspect I'll be couching it up for Dark Souls.