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

Those guys are a lesson in poise imo. There's no way you can interrupt their attacks (or even block really), so you have to learn spacing rather than stunlock them to death.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/f9ca541f1d70950f8828e393d359e969/tumblr_mkoo6d3Iwp1qbper1o1_400.gif

supposedly hardest hitting non-boss attack in the game

I love this game now

Capra Demon was insane but I'm getting a nice pace on this, starting to get a feel for the levelling and so on. Really wish there was something comfortable and protective for me to wear so that rolling was more of a possibility? considering switching to a Dex build or something idk

Love this game

I don't get the impression most armor is particularly helpful. As opposed to shields, all of which seem to be degrees of good, or at least effective.

are the blight town issues still there on switch in handheld mode ? or is the frame rate solid on switch. anyone even playing on switch here ?

Josh is otm, it's better to block or dodge than to tank hits. Unless you put your whole build into endurance + heavy armor + poise, which takes a lot of levels to do effectively.

Glad you're enjoying it fgti!

i heard the switch version has some audio and visual compromises but there are no frame rate issues at least

and yeah, armour is a lie, just the game abusing convention/your expectations. in terms of damage reduction anyway; poise is a thing, i suppose.

Btw there is a ring found in the garden on that can give you poise without bothering with armor, it's very good.

really enjoying fgti and josh’s real-time souls conversion experiences itt, thx guys

armour is mostly for looks, yeah. when trying to kill the undead parish drake and fiddling a lot with fire-resistant gear and spells all it accomplished was that i'd die in 2 hits instead of 1.
min-maxing, pointless, etc

poise is a Big Deal in ds1, though, it's for armour what stability is for shields, the one stat (other than weight) you should look at when comparing items

i think some heavy weapons have hyper-armour properties, which iiuc means that even if your character has 0 poise they won't be interrupted when swinging that weapon

So should I switch to my newfound thief set and enjoy a roll in the slime

I tried taking off my elite cuirass and leggings and just going helmet and mittens and I got tree'd right away very easily so I went back to tank-mode

nothing more satisfying or useful in these games than a lithe, athletic roll that costs virtually no stamina

OK, I spoke too soon: my grass shield is pretty useless against the first two snake people in Sen's Fortress. So far I've been most effective two-handing and killing as fast as possible. The swinging blades are a PIA, but I made it a bit farther than the spell casting monster before being lured into another snake people trap and thinking I already need to take a break. Needless to say, preserving my souls might be a fruitless task here, given how often I'm getting killed. For that matter, between this and the forest people I suddenly sense a steep difficulty incline that will necessitate a change in strategy or something. I'm sure when all is said and done I'll be a master at Sen's Fortress, but it already seems to be throwing significant challenges at me with every turn of the corner.

played this with my son (9) watching last night... We lost 9 humanity to the Capra Demon, but in doing so, learned him a life lesson that Lego City Underground is unable to.

Dark Souls gameplay as parenting lessons.....

imo DS is one of the few games that teaches actual life lessons

such as "be sure to hoard purple moss"

- bob marley

One big life lesson: if the game gives you the ability to cheese ... should you cheese? What if you're *supposed* to cheese? What if by cheesing you are exploiting a glitch or design flaw?

life is mean and unfair, don't feel bad about taking shortcuts if they present themselves.

I murdered the hydra last night. Surprisingly easy boss once you get what's up. I'm doing pretty good against black knights and Havel, takes about five tries to get a perfect "riposte" scenario going on, but I can do it and I'm getting better at it.

Climbed up the infinite ladder to some higher-ground place in Darkroot Something and the Demonic Plants seem to have a lot of Demonic Plant Protein Powder up there and are doing double damage to me.

What should I do next? I got Vitality to 20, Strength to 18, Dexterity to 17, and have been pumping all my levels into Endurance so I can deal with heavy melee assholes better (Endurance is at 27 or so now).

I went back to the Insane Asylum but was just getting no joy out of multiple attempts at killing the Surprise Basement Demon. Couldn't do it. Got the Rusted Ring and the Doll and traded an egg for a dragon scale and left.

Should I farm some souls and upgrade my Elite Knight armour? Havel's Ring has made me quite lithe and I'm not switching back to Thief armour any more. I haven't +1'd any of my armour yet-- been focusing on upgrading a longsword in hopes that I might imbue it with fire fire (it's at +5, as is my Knight shield). Should I start upgrading? My grass shield? The spider shield? Something else?

I know Blightown is next but I'm feeling like I might need a little buffing for my dude, he's very melee-only

depths then blightown. If you've settled on a weapon then upgrade that as much as you can, don't bother u/g armour or shields.

I'd say the hydra is more like local megafauna.

Yeah upgrading armor isn't worth it, upgrading shields improves their stability but I never really bothered (just weapons).

Goddam, Sen's Fortress. As far as I can tell the only way to find your way around it to all but invite death. Hey, let's jump in this dark pit! Hmm, I wonder if I can outrun a boulder? Cool, I can, but I think I have to ... run toward them now? Erm, there seems to be no way to avoid getting hit by magic, guess I should just take the hit and try to attack the source. I have no idea how far I've made it before I die, and like I said earlier, not even a point trying to recover my souls, I'm just going to lose them again.

Like, the entire level feels like a relentless boss fight with no room for error.

Ah, Sen's. <3

I will say that once you reach the rooftops, there is a second bonfire that's rather cruelly hidden. So definitely explore thoroughly (or look it up, that's the spoiler I was probably happiest to know my first time through).

I haven't found a first bonfire yet!

Oh I was considering the first bonfire = the one upstairs from the blacksmith.

Oh, ok. Something I always have to keep in mind is that these levels aren't ultimately that big, so maybe I've made more progress than I thought.

You'd be amazed how quickly one can get through Sen's on subsequent playthroughs (both knowing the route and not needing to explore every cranny).

But out of anything in the game, Sen's is probably the most akin to learning an old Mario level or something.

I do have to say, counter to anyone that calls Dark Souls unfair, the fact that the boulders do not one-shot you (as long as your health is up, of course) shows that the game is nowhere near as cheap as it could be.

sen's a cunt pass it on

Will I at least get to kill Sen?

I've got some bad news for you

Sen's Fortress is a pain in the ass. Perhaps the first place in this game where I think I know what I'm doing and know where everything is, more or less, but still keep getting knocked off or run over in lame ways. Probably mostly my fault, but still. So many traps and ambushes and boulders.

I'm, oddly enough, cruising through Blighttown. Had a problem when I was coming in from Firelink Shrine via Valley Of The Drakes but as soon as I started entering in from the Depths everything just became... easier. Those big clubbed monsters are still nastyfuckers but I haven't had much problem with the leaping ghouls. The snipers are nicely placed on this approach and easier to deal with. I'm wearing some fancy new Shadow armour

^my preferred outfit

Iron Giant: vanquished! Imposing cut scene of next destination: triggered! Somehow I feel like I didn't find everything there is to find in Sen's Fortress - in fact, I know I haven't - but I'm also not sure I care. Just glad to be done with it. Assuming, that is, that I proceed to imposing new cut scene destination. Is that as logical a next place to go as it seems, or am I really supposed to backtrack through Sen's?

Nope, onward it is (to one of the most iconic areas of the game)

Ugh, I was hoping for a breather to just farm and chill. Oh well, it'll be fun. Hopefully I'm equipped well enough.

Aren't there catacombs, or do those come later? I still have Ruins, too.

you're more than ready for the catacombs now, in fact it might already be too late for some story triggers

Aw. Is that in the graveyard? Do I have to back through Sens?

not really, the catacombs themselves are 100% optional just like darkroot garden is, an area beyond them is required to beat the game but only after going through anor londo. not worth backtracking now, in fact i'd suggest you do the whole of anor londo before anything else for reasons

I always do catacombs near the end (not my favorite area tbh).

Before I went on I jumped for a door in a tower I hadn't visited yet. After a couple of failed attempts, which got me yet another ring and some other stuff, I made it, found a vendor, went down a bunch of stairs and got a key, which I discovered was for one of those elevator cage things I couldn't open before. (Though I already had the master key, and wondered why it wouldn't open it.) Anyway, took me down to the start of Sen, once I got my bearings, so I booked it to the original bonfire and spent a bit of time leveling up the snake sword I got. Now it's just as easy for me to get back to the top of Se as it is to get back to Firelink. The world is my oyster!

Btw, what is that dinosaur back at Firelink?