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

Fuckin' invisible walls and special treasures with no explantation. I love it. I mean, I hate it, but I love it. But I hate it.

that bonfire is one of the better hidden ones, on the other side of the waterfall near the other switch that rotates the first bridge you can hear the high pitched bonfire noise and see it through a crack in the wall. they tease you with a glimpse of it and if you pay attention next time you're out in the open you'll remember to look for it.

and of course the entrance is carefully placed in a side path near one of the switches AND in a wall right next to one of the trap spike statues to prevent players from finding it by accident on the one time they go that away because once you've moved the bridge you'll probably never do it again (unless you're pvp'ing and want to send someone to their death)

the wheel skeletons are total bastards, i hate those fuckers

(lol @ Hot One)

ws either of them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJPp9ZyUGFg

Okay, dropped down to kill the Black Knight a different way then successfully outran the skeleton wheels. But Pinwheel, what is up with that dude? Along with the butterfly it's almost like a training/tutorial boss. So weird that the first couple of bosses you encounter are so much more challenging than bosses (incl. Iron Golom) you encounter later on. There must be a reason for it, since so much of the rest of the game is steeped in huge difficulty spikes and obscure challenges/mysteries. It's hard to believe they just ran out of time or something and figured, hey, here's a freebie

Agreed, Pinwheel is weirdly tuned to be an early game boss, like if you made it right down there after showing up at Firelink. Which some people do, I guess, but then you have to backtrack all the way out, if you don't want to keep going through the Tomb? This is why I always do it post-Anor Londo (and because I also don't enjoy the tomb).

― change display name (Jordan), Saturday, November 10, 2018 7:52 AM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, I saw that post when you originally posted it. I just find it strange that I don't consider either the Catacombs or Darkroot Garden or Basin or whatever particularly designed for early players, yet their bosses are the easiest in the game that I've played against so far. Like, I know that some people do speed runs to the Catacombs first thing, but I don't consider those people beginner players. Those are stunt players gaming the system.

Or, the world just allows for many different orders/paths and it's working as designed? I love that you can replay it in a totally different way. But yeah, it's gotta be hard balancing the difficulty level for a game that works like this (Pinwheel being the most ridiculous result).

I think I spent a ton of time in Darkroot Garden my first time through (after reaching Andre), and it was hard but not so hard that I thought "I shouldn't be here" (and the Butterfly seemed about right).

Anyway, when I pick this up again tomorrow, where next? I've got Painted World, New Londo, still a blacksmith to be found in Catacombs but don't know if I need it. There's a big gate in Anor Londo still... Oh, and stuff at the bottom of Blightown to do, right? I assume I can warp there.

Painted World is really good, actually. There are these mutated hollows that toxify you badly if you're not careful, and some tricksy jumping, but it's otherwise a very fun diversion

So head in with more purple anti poison clumps?

Poison is super powerful in this game.

Speaking of Pinwheel, doesn't kindling a fire up to 20 seem a little excessive, or at least the closest you can come to overpowered in this game? I think I play sloppier when I have 10 estus (not complaining!), but twice that seems more than I might need, especially at this stage of the game.

Also, finally occurred to me that building endurance (which I've been doing anyway) affects, in a good way, my weight, allowing me to carry or wear more but stay fast. I'll have to see where I'm at, numbers-wise!

After falling down and dying a lot in Tomb of the Giants (even with a lantern I had to look up how to use) I decided to do Painted World. I have a feeling this game a bit like golf. Not prohibitively hard, per se, but definitely rewards practice and patience, and can definitely see why people play it over and over again, refining their game.

Also, finally occurred to me that building endurance (which I've been doing anyway) affects, in a good way, my weight, allowing me to carry or wear more but stay fast

Good advice for life!

Well, I'm endgame. I'm collecting chunks and upgrading what I can. Level 90 now. Killed the respawning Titanite Demon in Lost Izalith a few times to complete my Shield Of Artorius upgrades. Still have to finish the DLC, but so far it's a cakewalk. I'm pumping up a couple of other fun weapons for NG+ fun. I failed to save Siegmund and/or Solaire, ah well. Haven't really faffed about with Covenant stuff because I don't have an online Nintendo membership... might do so.

I gotta say.. post Lordvessel, this game lost a lot of its appeal for me. I'll likely play NG+ to that point and see how I feel. My friend is telling me that DS3 is the BEST and he can't wait for me to play it, but I don't have any system that would run it, ah well

Oh and I died a LOT fighting the angry tree

No one likes the angry tree.

The last two bosses of the dlc are some of my favorites, both took a lot of practice for me, and you can't just bulldoze your way through them (unless you have one of those trick dark magic/Red Tearstone builds or something).

Well, yeah. Artorius wasn't so tough in the end, and Ciaran died quickly, but Jennifer Keesmaat the Dragon has butchered me up a lot a lot a lot. I really want that tail! I can't even get her down to quarter health, though. I watched a few videos and it seems as if she does a tail slam pretty regularly in them but I can't get her to do it, she just charges me and spins and keeps going. This is a challenge! I like it

Took me a zillion tries to take down that DLC dragon but iirc it was because I wanted that damn tail and I really struggled getting it.

Painted World down for me. I feel like here more than most places there is tons of stuff I missed.

Did you go down to the Demon's Souls tribute area with the phalanx (slugs with shields/spears) and the invasion by the dude with the extremely tall headgear? And the basement labyrinth with the wheel skeletons?

I went to the labyrinth - hate those skeletons - but I think I had to do that, to turn the thing to open the gate to fight the boss. I didn't get invaded because I'm not human. That's only happened once by chance in Blightown and it was kind of a silly fight. Only other time I've benefited from being human was when I summoned Solaire to fight O&S.

Phalanx ... I've got to assume they are there to encourage you to grind for souls? Because ... I did. Am I allowed to go back to Painted World again or was that a one-off?

Next stop ... there's Valley of the Drakes, but that seems more like an in-between place just to fight little dragons (and one big dragon) at this point; no boss, right? I've got New Londo Ruins, Tomb of the Giants, that giant door in Anor Londo. Um, must be more, right? There are bosses I think I've missed so far that I need to take out.

Um, OK, I think I glitched the game? I always forget I can teleport, so I just teleported to (other) fire spider lady under Blightown. I couldn't talk to her still even after joining her covenant, so I went to the web tunnel I somehow missed before. There I found Ceaseless Discharge, who got mad after I got his stuff, like the Valley of the Drakes zombie dragon did. Like the dragon, I just ran away, but unlike that dragon (which immediately killed me), I kept running from Ceaseless Discharge, who caught up with me, slammed his arm on me, then ... got stuck? Right next to me? I thought I was dead, but nope. So I just hit it a few times, which didn't seem to do anything, until suddenly his HP went to zero and he died, with no magic boss shimmer or anything. Then I got a few gifts, but it was a few more seconds until his souls got added to mine. Weird.

Aha! That is definitely programmed in as an instakill (he falls into the lava below). Good job finding it on your own.

I didn't even see him die! I was stuck facing in the run away direction, so all I could see was his fist next to me. That's supposed to happen? Why is this whole area down there at all with next to nothing but an easier boss?

Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OGnG84tkgk

There's another area after this one (accessible after you kill Ceaseless, which drains the lava).

I couldn't talk to her still even after joining her covenant

only way to talk to her is by picking the old witch ring as starting gift

Can also trade an item with the crows (in Undead Asylum) to get it

Huh, there's another area? I'm starting to think I have depth perception problems.

yep, you could see it from the bridge that takes you to ceaseless. with him dead the former lava floor is traversable. say hi to your old buddies on the way

The most satisfying thing about pretty much any video game, but especially those that let you level, is re-fighting enemies that once gave you real problems but now get their ass kicked.

So, don't know much about the DS mythology, but what is with all the toxic infections and dudes with bulbous parasites and stuff? The phalanx, those Painted World toxic guys, the eggheads in the fire/spider level ...

Re: levelling, yeah, exactly. It's been so long since I've played a game that worked like that? I guess Zelda BOTW worked like that, but not quite as satisfyingly

Anyway I saved Sif, went human, didn't see the summon sign, fought Manus solo and beat him first try in a very satisfying showdown. I turned this Gargoyle Halberd into a Chaos object and upped it to +5, and have been fighting folks while carrying 10 humanity to make things go. Really into this combination. I'm at level 92 now.

The sorceresses around the Chasm kicked my ass a few times. And I still am terrified of fighting Keesmaat the dragon. I don't think I NEED that tail weapon but considering how well I'm doing I kind of want it.

fought Manus solo and beat him first try in a very satisfying showdown.

Ok, this is beyond beginner's luck, respect.

And I still am terrified of fighting Keesmaat the dragon.

But you get the best ring in the game when you win.

Jeez, respect to fgti’s skillz. What weapon are you maining? Is this your first Souls game?

Yep, first time playing this game. Watched my friend play it a bunch when it came out, though. I don’t know why I’m much higher level than many players at this point except that I don’t spend Souls much on anything except levelling. No spells, no bombs, no arrows. My only comestible that I invest in are Homeward Bones so I can get out of stuff fast. My weapon path has been Drake Sword to Lightning Spear to Falchion to Quelaag Furysword. Now I’m loving a Gargoyle Halberd that I’ve made Chaos +5.

Also I picked my main game armour early (Giant) and grinded the Royal Sentinels for an hour or so to get it up to +5 all told

You’re going heavy fatroll weight I assume then. Shield? Going weighty is generally dissuaded, but obviously it’s viable. Sounds like you’re a little higher level than typical too, but still never really heard of anyone wrecking bosses like that on a first playthrough. 👊

Gotta play the rest of em after this.

holy shit, fgti

if you have a ps4 do bloodborne next and stream it

I'm relatively high level (77 or so?), have my vit at 30 and endurance at 40, iirc, str somewhere around 34, don't think I've put stats anywhere else but maybe a touch of dex. Have lately been playing with the Man-snake great sword at +10, though for a while used the claymore at +10. Haven't don't anything with any other type of weapon (fire, lightning, etc.). Is it worth it? It looks like they have specific benefits, but don't scale, is that right? Haven't thought much about armor, might be silver knight armor and gargoyle helm? I have occasionally used my bow to shoot poison or fire, but only on rare occasions when I have a distance advantage or to kite something. Mostly I've been staying pretty light, even with havel's ring on, so that I can swing my sword a lot. I guess this makes me a melee/str build? Been mostly using grass crest shield on my back lately, switching to great shield of astoria when I think I might get my butt kicked.

I'm also impressed at fgti lapping me big time, since I think he started a little after I started, but that's the one clear advantage of the Switch version! If I had bought it for the Switch I would totally be playing this game pretty much any time I had a spare five minutes.

Next up for me I think will be back to Tomb of the Giants, that seems pretty doable (and I want to get it over with), vs. New Londo Ruins, which I suspect is a pain in the ass. Oh, and I should go back to Demon Ruins to fight demons, though I don't know what that gains me yet.

OK, Demon Ruins is totally perverse. After running past all those infected people who after hours of a game throwing enemy after enemy at you you are *not* supposed to fight, you are faced with six or so of the first real boss you fight, the Taurus Demon. Then after killing them one at a time, you spy a single capra demon on the other side of the fire lake, who you take down. Then you round the corner and ... there are six more of them or something waiting for you on a bridge. On the plus side, I don't think they respawn after the bonfire. On the other plus side, you can totally poison them from a distance, because fuck you, game that poisons *me* all the time.

Also perverse: putting soul items in the middle of fire, forcing you (more or less) to die getting them. And the first one I got my soul was easy to retrieve. The second one, my soul was stranded on the same suicide island. Ha ha, very funny, game.

Also realized that along with finally taking advantage of the warping to pop around, I've also started using my homeward bones, which I forgot I had and have been making things easier. To, say, zip back to Firelink to buy more poison arrows, because I am a terrible shot.

I very rarely roll! I think I read that my play style (shields up most of the time) has been nerfed in subsequent games in the series, that dodge is encouraged. I only dodge sparingly.

I googled other things to do, and I think I’ve done everything except Gwyndolin and any covenant stuff. (And Black Dragon Kalameet who is still kicking my ass). Will probably murder Gwyn next and spend the rest of the month refining my cooking skills instead of gaming

Did either of you go to the secret tree/lake area?

Btw Josh, of course there's a ring that helps you go through the lava. And of course it's farther down the road.

I did get some sort of ring of fire protection? It's hard to tell if it helped, though, since given this game maybe it just means I die in 3 seconds vs. 2.

xpost No, though I think I know where it is. And that, I would say, is the perfect GTFO that anyone would have discovered it on their own without a tip from someone, somehow, because seriously, how would you know? It's like several layers of secrets. Out of the way in a hard to navigate area, with a secret room in a secret room to a secret place? Come on. Though I guess who knows. I've taken to just hitting random things with my sword, because hey, why not, though that's a pretty time consuming strategy.

Nah there's a different ring, it will be very clear.

I've taken to just hitting random things with my sword, because hey, why not, though that's a pretty time consuming strategy.

the souls games are the spiritual sucessors of the king's field series where checking every single, inconspicous wall for secrets was ostensibly standard practice. dark souls seems pretty tame comparably, the huge tree is noteworthy enough to warrant closer inspection imo