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

I've been having a good time invading. Been doing fine one-on-one but haven't figured out how to deal with groups very well yet, at least with this build (fast roll, katana). Currently past the Four Kings and at the beginning of the dlc, but before Lost Izalith etc.

Also the enemies definitely have a larger aggro range and follow you farther than they did in the original version. I had to bail on the Garden at low levels because they were coming from everywhere, it was ridiculous. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I'm pretty certain it used to be easier to pull one of them at a time, and that you could run by the initial ambush area without triggering it.

just beat the Duke's Archives. kind of had a realization that the area is a kind of spin on The Tower of Latria. the whole library section is kind of like the jail with the two opposing sides and the prison section has that spiraling staircase going down (Tower has them going up). what make me start making the connection was all the cthulu dudes.

oh i encountered my first vagrant! was running through Darkroot Basin and started getting hit and i turned around and there was this octopus looking dude spitting homing arrows at me. definitely a wtf moment

started a strength run too. it is way more difficult to play melee-only! the gargoyles are destroying me rn. upgrading your weapon is a must.

downloading this

i just made it to Ash Lake. this place is so wonderful. the sand looks very nice in the Remaster.

the trip through the Great Hollow was pain-free. it seems they have fixed the camera issues. i can recall several spots where i used to get caught up on the geometry & it would suddenly shift the camera in a very precarious way (this used to happen while travelling across the flying buttress in Anor Londo).

i only died once or twice on my descent.

Ash Lake is all-time. Also triggers some gamer PTSD in me.

The toadstool monsters in the Hollow are one of the better jokes in the game. Adorable... and then they punch you like a Mack Truck

gonna take me a bit to get used to the dark souls controls, every other action game i play uses X/Y for attacks. i get why its this way though, dont really want to remap them if i dont have to

but i've already died multiple times because i drank from my flask when i wanted to attack

xpost yeah the toadstool monsters are hilarious w that sucker pucnh. the wind up....and the pitch!

just defeated the Sanctuary Guardian and am in the DLC area. i love how it is clearly a version of Darkroot Garden from long ago. instead of being dark and foggy, it's bright and sunny, there's a nice garden (the moving grass looks really good here), and instead of getting sucker punched by toadstools you are having a pleasant conversation with one who is a godmother to the character you helped earlier.

there is that land bridge to the other side, which i guess in the present is that area by the waterfall. crossing that was the first time i realized where i was. Artorias fight is probably the best in the series, and im glad DS3 leans so heavily on it. the connection between him and Sif is imo the best story bit in the game.

it's funny playing this now that i have played Demon's Souls, it feels just as much a remake of that as anything. the fire dragon, the phalanxes, Patches, the gargoyles that take you to a place, the skeleton wheels, etc. so many things were present in that first entry. which is nice, it helps to have consistency across a series.

(Dark) Fantasy has always leveraged that kind of nerdy cataloging of these strange worlds. it is fundamental to the genre, in both movie/tv/comic/lit sci fi and fantasy and the real history of mythic archetypes. if you read Renaissance era magical grimoires they are full of this stuff, lists of items and lore about legendary figures. they even use the same language that modern RPGs use for elementals & supernatural beings. DS does a good job of producing its own very unique spin on Dark Fantasy and it is intoxicating.

I thought this was neat:

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--AMJkHcKO--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/i14sumaq3uydutjreszc.png

i love that map. the world design is reason enough why this game is so beloved.

was fighting Treant Gardeners in the Royal Woods today and saw the ones with the shears just trimming trees and ignoring me.

http://darksouls.wikidot.com/local--files/npcs/marvellous-chester.jpg

Marvelous Chester is a trip. like a character from a T-Rex song or something. he's from the future? some say he is a link/hint to the future game Bloodborne.

New FROM game looks exciting, although I'm a little bummed that it supposedly won't have the now-traditional co-op/invasion system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OgoTZXPACo

yeah that game looks cool! i like how they are switching it up. i always heard Nioh was lacking in level design, which is why i never checked that out. w From and Miyazaki doing level design on this then i am in.

not gonna miss invasion, personally. lol. every time i play as a human in the Remaster i get invaded and some red idiot inevitably backstabs me as i'm fighting my way through enemies. it has made me not want to do co-op as much.

Lost Izalith has the glowing hot effects somewhat lessened. i think i am among the few who actually loved these areas and the art direction. i remember first getting to the room w Solaire by the bonfire and seeing the insane bloom. it looks like it should hurt to look at, imo it is a very immersive design choice.

Dag, Dark Souls on Switch went from a hyped prime-positioned Direct announcement to sharing a release date with the other consoles to letting convention people play it to it getting delayed with no firm date beyond a vague "summer 2018" and now apparently it's been downgraded to a generic "2018." I wonder what happened?

Quick question that I don't think I have asked before: I have a copy of Dark Souls and a copy of Bloodborne, but which should I play first? I've heard that the latter perfects (or at least improves on) a lot of the ideas of the first, but there's something to be said for starting at the (more or less) beginning and rewarding myself later with the sequels/spinoffs.

Josh just pick one and play the damn videogame

Play both in alternating sessions so you can do a comparative close reading

I've heard that the latter perfects (or at least improves on) a lot of the ideas of the first

this is inaccurate and is helping to give you the wrong impression about the relationship between the two games. they're like 2 different takes on a concept, rather than a continuation/development/improvement.

there's both great games and you can't go wrong, but fwiw i don't believe there is a consensus that bloodborne is better than dark souls

Play Dark Souls first.

They're probably as close as you can get to opposites in the series -- DS promotes a slower and more deliberate approach, BB is weighted toward speed. It would be more of a shock to adjust to DS speed after playing BB than the other way around, so I say start with Dark Souls.

Will do! (Eventually)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2tZyh4pwM0
faster pace but unmistakably a fromsoft game

Obviously going to play this, but it'll seem a little lonely without multiplayer

JIC asking the important questions so I don't have to! Thanks!

Ha, just wait until the delve into the controversial matter of player build!

I thiiiiiink I'm making real progress on Hollow Knight, so after that I will likely knock off Doom (which isn't hard so much as reliant on momentum) then hopefully move on to DS!

So you’ll get to Breath of the Wild sometime in 2020?

If I'm being honest, probably ... late fall 2018 or winter 2019. I play the long game (and these games are long).

Temperature's down, overcast day ... I think I'm diving into Dark Souls later! Wish me luck.

bookmarked

this year i finally got to grips with this game after dying a lot when i gave DS3 a feeble attempt a few years ago.

you're gonna have a great time!

lol was stuck on the very first screen, where it says to adjust the brightness so that you could see the fire but not the dragon. But I could never see the dragon, even on 10, so I set it to 8 or something. Otherwise, so far, so good! I haven't made it that far, but I did kill the asylum demon (on my third try?), and I've been accumulating ... stuff. No idea what any of it does. And while wandering into that graveyard early on gets my ass kicked by skeletons, I don't think I've lost all my souls yet. Unless I just did, but quitting the game before I retrieved them from where the skeletons killed me? Doesn't matter much, I used most of my other souls to level up a few things at the first bonfire.

This is my first even PS4 game, btw, so I have to get used to the controller/camera. Also, creating my character was kind of dumb, but that's neither here nor there. Someone recommended being a warrior your first time, so that is what I am. Others have recommend playing defense more by movement and less with a shield, so I have been fighting like that so far, too. But I'm enjoying it!

I’ve got a preorder for the Switch ver on the books but I’m tempted to cancel since I’m not sure I’ll care. But on the other hand it’s a whole phenomenon I haven’t experienced yet.

I was going to get it on the Switch, but then I thought fuck it after the umpteenth delay. The only advantage is portability, but for this type of game the screen is too small for me.

you almost waited long enough to start playing it for the Switch release to roll around!

That's true! Though there was just as good a chance that had I waited for the Switch version I would have just started my mental clock then.

you're still a weirdo either way

I mean I hear you have children so I suppose that's a mitigating factor

You have no idea.

I think playing Hollow Knight first did indeed prime me for this. I'm still at the start and have died a lot, but mostly by experimenting and practicing when I don't really have much to lose. There are so many stats and items and bullshit that I'm worried I'm going to miss something, but that's only encouraged me to take it all in and take my time.

Right mindset. Explore, be confused, struggle, DIE, overcome, be elated, all that Souls stuff.

Plz update frequently here because it’s oddly fun for old heads to hear about someone’s first time with the game and we can give subtle, non-spoilery suggestions if need be.

Well, I'm still mucking around, since months ago I watched a play through up to the second or third boss (to know what I was in for) and then stopped, so in these very early stages I broadly know what's in store at some points but not in so much detail that I'm not still getting lost and surprised and messed with. For example, I was hit by the boulder coming down the stairs, even though I knew it was coming! But on the other hand, I beat the asylum demon on the third try, which is not some incredible feat, except I've seen accounts that even that boss has given some folks trouble, and I figured, hey, if I get stuck with him then maybe I'm over my head.

One lesson I've already learned is that ... you don't have to fight everything! For example, that first graveyard with the skeletons, I assume it's totally avoidable, because I cannot believe anyone can survive an onslaught of giant and regular killer skeletons that regenerate and kill you in a few hits. At the same time, you can generally outrun or even avoid the baddies, if you're smart about things, or at least draw them to a more favorable area, and in this case it's so close to the fire that you might as well give it a shot and find cool stuff. (Which I think I did, but it's hard to know.) The skeletons have been useful in another regard, and that's as fighting practice. Even if they constantly kill me, I'm learning how to parry, and if that means one successful parry for every three times I get hit and killed, that's better than nothing. And speaking of parrying, I saw some accounts that it's even better to play defensively but without a shield, so I've been experimenting with that, too.

Also getting over the newbie hump of accidentally drinking from a flask.

Anyway, I'm in absolutely no hurry, but I do like the game so far, and look forward to more (not least because I'm barely into it). The great thing is that so many people have played this game so many different ways, so any and all answers are out there, and yet it's still sort of this cult thing, as mysterious as I want it to be.

Sounds like you're doing just fine.

As far as shield/no shield, it mostly depends on weapon moveset imo. Shields are great as long as you don't use them as a crutch and learn how to dodge too. I.e, I like to use a katana and mostly go two-handed (because it does more damage) , but will switch back for blocks/parries, or if I'm in a narrow corridor and want to use the thrust that's part of the one-handed moveset.

Yeah, I'm still getting used to the controls and what does what. I have a couple of swords, maybe a bow and arrows, the morning star mace (which wipes out my stamina?), some bombs, but I mostly use the second sword I got. Longsword?

Some guide suggested for leveling up to focus at first on the two or three traits your build already has relatively high. Seem like the right strategy?

I don't want to ruin your 1st playthrough by spoiling or otherwise giving too much advice but i'll just say don't put any points into the resistance stat when levelling up

I picked a warrior, and it started relatively high in strength, dexterity and ... endurance? So those are the stats I've been (modestly) leveling up so far.

Endurance is always a safe bet. And vitality.

I am advancing as slowly as a football game. I think I must have already missed the second (real) bonfire, since I keep getting kicked back to firelink shrine, so I should probably check what I didn't see. I've gotten my ass kicked by a few ambushes, where two or three baddies just corner me and kill me (a la Doom, sort of). I'm impressed by the AI so far!

One thing I may have discovered for myself, unless I did something wrong, is that if you quit the game before dying I think you resume where you left off, not at the last bonfire. Because there aren't really checkpoints other than bonfires in this otherwise, are they?

Here'a question: I keep accumulating weapons and other crap. 1) is there a limit to what I can carry and will it affect my character's abilities? 2) Are there serious pros and cons to various weapons, or is it just a matter of a point higher here or a point lower there? I think I get the idea of scaling - certain weapons will do better paired with certain stats, right? - but (maybe again like Doom) is it fine, despite the arsenal, to just pick one or two weapons you like the most and save the rest for specialty work, as needed? For example, I think I have a bow and arrow, and some firebombs, so those are my ranged weapons. Will it be obvious when I should use them? And swords and close weapons, are they by and large comparable? At least at the start? No doubt there are nuts who have beaten this with the introductory broken sword hilt.