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

most of the stuff you pick up is useless because if you're playing a sorcerer, you probably won't ever make use of this giant hammer that takes 30 strength to wield one-handed, and if you use a straight sword you don't need 10 of them unless you plan to a different upgrade path for each. eventually you'll be able to store it away in the bonfire but until then feel free to just drop common dupes on the ground

like i said, i never knew about the gold resin or any of the other optimal strategy stuff until well after beating the game, you don't need any of it

what you do need is to learn to run past enemies, don't try to kill every one or even just a few on your way back to where you were. this applies to the whole game. very rarely will you need to actually kill some problematic minion to return to a boss arena
so you died at the taurus demon, ok then, get up from the bonfire and make a straight run to that tower right away. learn when and where it's safe to slow down or stop a few seconds to regain stamina

... and this is the one game where you should NOT feel bad about cheesing an enemy. I don’t know if they’ve fixed it but there was one boss quite late on that you could kill really easily due to some cheesy exploit. had no second thoughts about doing it.

I think it was ceaseless discharge

Never occurred to me to just run past all those enemies. Won't they follow me?

One other reason I've felt compelled to kill everything again is to re-accumulate all those souls I lost when I died. Should I not bother? I have no idea how many bonfires there are or where they are, so I wanted to make sure I had souls on hand should I want to level up or whatever. Same with merchants. I found one in Undead Berg, but it's close to the bonfire, so every time I respawn there I have virtually no souls, or at least not enough to buy anything/much. I assume I'll be back here later on? Or there will be other merchants?

Also, had to replace a sword for the first time, because it was getting damaged or dull or something. Will that happen throughout, or at least to some weapons? I just assumed every time I started again at the bonfire that everything on me refreshed as well, but I guess even though I came back intact my weapon had been getting systematically degraded? I'm still having some trouble swapping equipment around, too, for some reason - like, how to replace one sword with a different one - but I'll figure that out eventually. That's just knowing the right buttons.

Running past enemies is a hallowed tradition in these games. There's really no reason to fight them once you've explored the area, if you're just running back to the boss. They'll follow at first, and then give up past a certain range.

One other reason I've felt compelled to kill everything again is to re-accumulate all those souls I lost when I died.

Have you made it back to the place where you died? You can recover them that way. ;)

Also, had to replace a sword for the first time, because it was getting damaged or dull or something.

That is a thing that will happen to all weapons, and in this game they're not automatically repaired at bonfires. The merchant has an item that will let you do that (repair stuff at a bonfire via menu) though, and it's absolutely worth getting. Once you start upgrading weapons, you're going to want to repair them rather than switching to a different one.

Have you made it back to the place where you died? You can recover them that way. ;)

But if you die before you get back to your pile o' souls, you lose everything, right? Like in Hollow Knight? I haven't been paying close attention, since in many cases once I hit the bonfire I level up or otherwise spend most of my souls, anyway.

Yep same thing. That's good, don't spend too much time worrying about souls.

Like, say, the gold resin. Are they given to you because you are supposed to use them soon, or is it foolish to use them early on because they're something limited you should save for later?

You can use them whenever. On my first time, I hoarded them and ended up never using them. Even so, if you use them on a boss when you don't really know what you're doing, you'll probably die anyway (unless you get lucky and outdamage them). And once you learn their tells, you don't really need the resin because you won't be getting hit as much. They're mostly good for speedrunners.

The one exception might be a fight that's coming up soon, where it helps to do a lot of damage quickly, assuming you're doing it solo. :)

Huh. Well I assume when I get around to it I'm going to take out the taurus demon today, so I'll gird myself for what comes after.

Taurus demon down! I used the gold resin and a plunging attack (I figured that was what the tower was there for). Made it kind of around the dragon at first, past some rats (that poisoned and killed me the first time around), then I think hit a new neighborhood and was quickly killed by a black knight. (The same one I avoided earlier? I dunno.) I assume that tells me I did something wrong or went the wrong way, but I think I need to find a way around the dragon. I did buy a bow and arrows earlier, or found it maybe, but I have a feeling I can't just shoot the dragon.

...

(I'll say it's a different black knight. And they're generally placed in ways that don't block your progress, since they're pretty tough for early game.)

Dark Knight up the tower before you get to the metal pig? Yeah, he's a different guy then the one down the stairs before you get to the taurus demon. You haven't seen the last of those fuckers by a long shot.

Yeah, it's up a tower, right before the pig. First time I found him he chased me down and killed me. Maybe I'll just leave him alone up there.

I did end up running past the dragon, eventually, which took a while to time right, and was rewarded by a convenient bonfire. So maybe I will fight the knight after all and figure them out. Right now backstabbing is definitely hit or miss for me. So to speak.

Was doing pretty well yesterday. Killed that black knight after a million tries, got virtually nothing in return. Shard? But now he's dead. Somehow killed the armored pig but have no idea how! That is, I stabbed it a bunch then at some point later was killed by something, and when I came back ... pig was gone! Huh. I did find out the hard way that the dragon comes back to roost, so I know to avoid the bridge for now. I was mildly stuck in a courtyard where there were three or four relatively easy to kill shield knights, and then some honking weird knight and, inside, something shooting magic at me. But I think I know a different way to go, one that I avoided because I assumed a rickety bridge would just collapse under me.

Still confused about vendors or other things that seem to be earlier places I need to hit later on. Do I have to backtrack all the way to, say, the undead burg, to get to that one giggling vendor? Past all the enemies I've killed but respawned again? I've found one or two little shortcuts, but I don't know if they save me that much time. (I did find a different way around the dragon, but that doesn't matter as much now.) Or will travel and shortcuts get easier as the game goes on?

I still need to work on parrying. What I thought was parrying before was just blocking I guess.

Well done with that Knight, those things gave me so much trouble my 1st time. The shard is for weapon upgrades.

There is some backtracking. Between the kicked down ladder to 1st bonfire and the bonfire behind the dragon, you can get from one end to the other of undead burg without too much difficulty. I used it as parrying practise.

What I thought was parrying before was just blocking I guess.

Ok this is pretty funny :)

Sounds like you're nearing another shortcut too. It'll get easier, but yeah, learning the world is part of it and vendors don't really change places (but other NPCs do).

parrying is urgent and key, as is backstabbing

the feeling of unlocking a dark souls shortcut and suddenly realising how one area is related in space to another is one of the greatest pleasures in gaming imo

Ha, turns out I had been using the wrong button for parrying. Much better with the correct button.

i never learnt how to parry in any souls game, bloodborne included

Me neither, but on those rare occasions when I get it to work, that sound effect is so satisfying.

Oh man, how did you guys get through Anor Londo?

The funny thing is that late-game knights are way easier to parry than skeletons at the beginning, who have more moves and those crazy long delays.

xpost Yeah, it's almost like a big gong!

Does this game encourage grinding, or is that sort of a cheese? I noticed as I was practicing my parrying by a bonfire that I could just kill something, rest, kill that thing again, repeat, and obviously my soul count was going up the whole time.

Another question (and I guess there is an easy way to find out): I've noticed twice now some super fast baddie in a basement somewhere that does not appear to be on the way to anything. There's a hulking thing with a club early on, and later, by the first blacksmith, there's a magic shooting giant scorpion thing below him. Are these optional battles with big rewards? Or things I'm going to have to fight eventually?

You can certainly grind but it's almost never a requirement. Like you said, people do broken straight sword runs. But if you're having trouble, bumping up your health/endurance/damage can make things more forgiving, as far as making mistakes or playing carefully.

And everything except bosses (and even then, not all) can be considered optional. So if you're having a hard time, you can always come back later.

I'm not there yet, thank goodness. Nothing has stumped me for long, though I'm sure that'll happen sooner or later, probably soon. My biggest fear is that I will make it really far and then learn I should have done the thing at the thing with the thing but oh well, it's too late now. Because while I can imagine having fun playing this again, god knows it took me long enough to play it at all in the first place.

I do get the impression that some of the more mysterious items and whatnot may be related to online play, which I'm not doing. Though my PS4 asks me more or less 4 times if I want to play online at the start. But fuck a monthly fee. This ain't cable.

I'm up to the gargoyles. Most annoying thing about this game is the perverse way it punishes saving by bringing (almost) everything back. To that point, I can't tell if it's a trademark glitch or not, but I've had two big baddies - the armored pig and the magic channeler (?) - more or less die or disappear without me witnessing their demise. It's possible I somehow killed the pig, but there's no chance I killed that babbling magician; I was too busy killing his army of minions in the hallway. But neither came back, so ... good?

I have several more questions about this game's design. Stuff like scaling and leveling up - how in the world did anyone figure that stuff out? I still can't even see my weapon parameters! Anyone know how to do that on a PS4, so I can learn where to apply my souls to most benefit my weapons? I don't even see the option. And stuff like reverse hollowing - I know you can do that to kindle a fire to get extra flasks, but is there any other reason to be human if you're playing offline? I got the impression it allows you to summon help, but is that only in the form of other irl online players?

Once I found that elevator I went back to Firelink to mine some souls, and the skeletons are still really tough! Can I just lure them out one by one and try to pick them off? Is there any reason to? I think I was able to snag most if not all of the good stuff running through the graveyard, but as soon as I saw those giant skeletons I decided, hm, hint taken, I'm not fucking around in here anymore.

Yeah, certain enemies don't respawn. The pig probably wandered into the nearby fire, the channeler...fell off the ledge?

Stuff like scaling and leveling up - how in the world did anyone figure that stuff out?

Lots of trial & error and comparing notes online: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/

You can go into the menu > equipment and see your weapon stats. Might have to toggle the view, can't remember what button it is but it should say on the bottom.

You can also summon npc phantoms for help, but some of that depends on triggers, like if you've found/talked to them elsewhere. There's also at least one npc invader (only if you're human).

I think you click the right thumbstick:

http://https%3A//darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Dark-Souls-3/equipmenu.jpg

I'll have to try that, because none of the buttons on the bottom do what I want them to do.

I can't remember why I picked Warrior - maybe someone said that's a good first-time character? - but I've been leveling up endurance, vitality, dexterity and strength to the exclusion of everything else, so far. Also more or less as I get enough souls. Is there an advantage to carrying a big balance of souls? Seems like a gamble for no gain, I've been spending them as I get them.

No advantage. Eventually you may want to save up to buy or upgrade things, but that should be obvious.

I hate seeing everybody playing this game while I wait not-so patiently for the Switch release

Having played this a bit now I can totally see the appeal of the Switch version. My worry was, besides those months and months of delays, that it will have performance issues, but you never know. It's also often a pretty dark game, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to see what was going on!

I might even double dip on switch if the price is right. josh has my appetite whetted again

will see what the performance is like

After the Network test, I am a bit concerned about the ergonomics of constantly holding down shield raised on the smaller shoulder button on the Switch, especially when in handheld mode.

Will still double dip as I have DS on the PS3, so no worries about performance being worse than I am used to...

Just beat the Gargoyles on maybe my fourth try! Not quite sure how. Anyway, from here on out I really have no idea where to go or what to do. I assume backwards to Firelink, because I can't think of any more ways to go forward.

That's pretty good! Honestly they can be a tough boss to solo, especially if you have a build that is not good at racking up damage quickly, and you have to deal with both of them.

The game sorta opens up here so there's no one right way to go. Although you did get a key from the gargoyles, so you might want to try to figure out what door it opens (I will say that it's not in the most obvious location, but you have passed it).

Interesting. I think I was so surprised/shocked to have beaten them that I'm not even sure I noticed what they gave me, beside a giant tail-ax that seems kinda silly. Certainly I've passed a locked door or two, but I think that means backtracking. At the least I skipped fighting the black knight in undead berg, and the monster club dude in the basement there, so maybe I'll work on that.

Oh wait, you don't get the key from the gargoyles, you pick it up somewhere else in the area. So maybe you have it, maybe you don't!

I have a basement key, I think, plus my master key, and a mystery key that I used to get a dude out of jail. Maybe a residence key, too?

You're good then

Basically started at the beginning again, where I got to interact with that golden knight sitting on the ledge at Firelink (iirc I'm supposed to kick him off? I can't remember how to kick!), then basically repeated the first few hunks of the game where, after beating the first black knight (I've gotten better), I did indeed find a door to brought me to some stairs down to sort of a ... town? Where I killed some dogs, found a wizard or something that gave me a bunch of magical crap, iirc, then walked into an ambush by some jumping zombie ninjas that leaped on my back and killed me. Time for a break!

kick = up + light attack

can't be done with curved swords as your character will instead do a backflip right off a ledge

Or you could leave him alive, and see what happens ;)

That's a good path you're on btw.

This game should be called See What Happens.

(You die.)

gargoyles were an absolute fucker for me. i hadn't learned to keep my distance and be patient just yet (i cheesed taurus demon a bit) so i predictably kept getting caught on fire.

did you settle on a weapon?

Since I watched a walkthrough back when up to gargoyles, I knew I could shoot the dragon's tail off (once I figured out the shortcut around the bridge) which gave me the drake sword, which has been a big leg up. But I killed the earlier vendor and got the katana, and lately I've mostly been using that, because I know I can scale it with dex (right?). What I don't know is what paying the blacksmith for +1 etc gets me. Do I have to do that before it scales? Does it matter? I have no idea. It's been educational trying to figure out how the wield the katana after the drake - a stab vs a swing, it seems - but they've very different. May also try to wield the claymore I got earlier, since it also seems to scale pretty well, but it's pretty slow. Not sure what difference all the shields make, since even pretty generic seeming shields seem to do a good job.

Katana does more damage if you have high dex yeah, but if you upgrade it, it also gets more base damage, AND better scaling (so you get even more value from having high dex). So if it says 100 + 50, that means 100 base damage + 50 because of the dex scaling. And the 'B' scaling for dex means the scaling is pretty good (better than C or D, not as good as A or, for some reason, S).

do ask about weapon upgrades (or check a wiki if you're not afraid of bumping into major spoilers) because fuck figuring everything out by trial and error and waste all your titanite on a dead end upgrade path.

S > A > ... > E but there's variation within each letter, you can see it when upgrading and you go from B > B but the upgraded B is blue, meaning scaling has improved but not enough to cross over to A

Katanas and other dex weapons cause bleeding but not all enemies bleed

shields tl;dr: get a shield with high stability that is light enough to not impair your movement

how shields work: there's a bunch of dmg reduction percentages for physical, fire, magic, etc damage types. 90% physical means that when an enemy strikes you with a pure physical attack and you have your shield up, 10% of its attack power will damage you no matter what. how much damage your health bar takes from will depend on other factors like your defense stats, armour, etc

the other 90% don't just disappear, though. they go through your shield and deplete not your health bar but your stamina bar. if you have enough stamina to take the hit, you get no further damage. if you use a 100% physical shield and have enough stamina, you take no damage at all.

notice how when you hold your shield up, your stamina regenerates very slowly? keeping it up all the time and getting hit with weak attacks in quick succesion will eventually exhaust your stamina and stagger your character

the conversion rate between attack power and stamina depletion is determined by the shield's most important stat, stability. 50 means 50% of the attack power will be nullified and the other half will drain your stamina; 80 means 80% is blocked and only 20% goes to stamina

How in the world did anyone figure that shit out?