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

A ring. Inside of a tree. You guys must be smokin trees.

I will just keep on with the spider witch, thank you.

Probably not a bad idea. But would suggest maybe looking it up later on. Worthwhile.

i just did. Illusory walls were a bad idea in this game. I even smacked one of the walls with an axe after the ellipsis tree comments. But it was the wrong wall.

I maintain that the only way to find all the illusory walls is to walk around hitting all the walls, which is BS. I've still been doing that on occasion in DS3. I mean, when I get stuck I've been checking in with a guy doing a 100% (more or less) walkthrough, who has played it multiple times, and even *he* occasionally walks around hitting walls mumbling "it really seems like there should be an illusory wall here ..." On the other hand, I'm pretty sure there is never anything essential behind illusory walls, just helpful, so yeah, they're totally optional, or things to search for later, if you are so inclined.

So much in these games reward multiple playthroughs, which I do respect, even though I can't imagine playing these games again and again, not with a backlog.

Usually there's some sort of cue for an illusory wall, like it's a dead end where the structure of the environment makes it seem like there should be something there. It's not usually a random spot in the middle of a wall, although I'm sure there are counterexamples.

Also the message system is supposed to go along with secrets like this, although I know you played offline (and really the online mechanics are the main reason to play through the game multiple times imo, or just to keep playing it).

Yeah, that's fair. Whenever I watch any walk-through clips they are almost always playing online, and/or embered, which provides plenty of hints and/or options.

I watched someone complete a full no damage run, and now I think I need to step away again for a bit.

This game is great at telling you one way or another when it's time to take a break.

one thing i found odd about the cadence of my aptitude at this game is that i would spend what felt like weeks making zero progress and increasingly dying to undead soldiers armed with a stick and then nail three or even four bosses in a single session.

By the time I was accessing The Great Hollow, I had guidebook in hand. The double-illusory-wall situation there in the big tree was the one time the mechanism seemed like it was cheap and shitty and theoretically impossible for the unspoiled to determine.

still cross about fucking up the end of sekiro - i *think* i may have been inattentive but also basically think there was no way i could have known you have listen for a bit of narrative at that particular wall at that particular point unless i was checking a guide.

xxpost The walkthrough I've been checking up with has a guy who is good enough to kill most bosses on the first attempt, can narrate casually as he fights off the hordes, has a giant sword that was apparently so overpowered it got nerfed in future updates, and he *still* sometimes dies to easy enemies when he gets sloppy or overconfident.

I can't tell if DS3 is easier than the first game. I seem to be zipping along faster than DS1, but that could be a combination of me just being better and more familiar with the world, plus the gameplay itself being sped up a bit. I've heard that going back to the first game after the third, or after Bloodborne, really underscores how slow and deliberate the first one can be. There are definitely elements I would consider perversely unfair, but I find it funnier this time around.

A lot of skills translate between 1 & 3 in particular, so nothing will be as hard as whichever one you play first.

True to some extent with all their games, but the mechanics in Bloodborne and particularly Sekiro are big enough that it feels like starting over to some extent.

Had some 24 hour travel and could not keep away. Defeated spider witch quail egg by running far away every 2 hits. She only ever killed me with the poison gas belly flop before. Everything I learned about fighting, i.e. locking on with shield up, had to be thrown out to win that one.

I have all of these sorcerer clothes, and no cool warrior gear. I finally got a cool sword, but its scaling bonus is faith and requires special titanite. Switched to grass shield for endurance bonus.

very hard to choose between supplementing melee weapons with sorcery, miracles, or pyromancy. None seems like a great idea tbh.

Pyromancy is good because it doesn't require a stat investment iirc, just upgrading your pyromancy flame.

correct. supposed to scale on INT but that doesn’t affect damage - only upgrading the flame does that. as a consequence of this thread have started DS1 again with a pyromancer and a post sekiro intent to get my parry down pat. keep dying as a consequence and carelessly lost a shittonne of souls twice.

also, classic shouting at screen “where the fuck did *you* come from?” and “oh come ON”.

my first soulsborne game was bloodborne tho, with a dex build, and i’ve never quite got the rhythms in DS1 right, tho DS3 was easier in that respect.

After DS3 and all the refinements & restrictions around poise and parries/backstabs (no standing poise, can't parry two-handed greatswords/big weapons, backstabs having a confirm step meaning you can get out of them, rather than an instant grab), going back to DS1 feels easier in some ways. But still slower, more deliberate, longer animations so you have to be more careful about committing and are punished more for mistakes. I probably die a lot more in DS1.

I was watching this speed run, and there's this fascinating, disorienting glitch he exploits around the 7 minute mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qubpr4XLy5g

I'll never understand the appeal of speedruns with glitches

i find them even more compelling than purely skilled playthroughs

how do people even find out about this shit, it's nuts

just in the "how the hell does someone think of trying that?" sense. I realise some speedrunners are (or receive advice from) game programmers, who obv know how and what to look for but for plebs like me they're amazing to watch

I don't like it as a strategy, but I think it's cool that people figure this stuff out.

This is pretty fun, Sen's Fortress in Mario Maker:
https://youtu.be/RoSWAU4Vk64?t=280

How long until someone does the whole game as a world?

dark souls lightweights - have you tried this yet?!

Dark Souls player drenched in blood every time he gets hit: https://t.co/9NEkD0SLU0 pic.twitter.com/GTRkRB3TPt

— Kotaku (@Kotaku) October 14, 2020

Switch Dark Souls is $20. Having beat it on PS3, is it worth going back? I'm guessing yes.

unless you want the portability you'd be better served with the ps4 or bone versions, if nothing else because of the X and O button mess

Um, fan made sequel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXTyC7ImsvQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfJ3grnyFrg

i'm obsessed with this game rn. i started it when the remaster came out on switch a few years ago but didn't get the hang of it and put it aside. all the elden ring talk and this thread inspired me to give it another go and it clicked this time and now i can't stop. the atmosphere is a big part of the draw for me, it's like ico with the serene beauty mostly replaced by dreariness and dread and the puzzles are not getting killed by brutal creatures. i've rung one bell and then took a detour where i got obsessed with killing the hydra and then sif. i have a habit of halting my progress b/c i get fixed on killing something that may or may not be necessary to advance the game. right now i'm on the capra demon--the inclusion of the dogs in this fight is cruel. my lady knight is beautiful and fearsome, she favors the +5 uchigatana and +5 halberd (haven't figured out how to upgrade past that yet) and she wears an antiquated blouse with a thief mask and black leather gloves and boots

Lovely. I assume a lot of people are going to go back through these games for the first time after playing Elden Ring, and I'm very curious how it goes for them. On the one hand many of the bosses are more predictable ( not as many moves, also not hellbent on punishing heals, etc). But on the other hand there aren't as many options for cheesing them or different playstyles (although summoning and magic was always there). I wonder if it will feel easier or harder to backwards from ER.

beat the capra demon, he wasn't hard at all, the only challenge was dealing with the annoying dogs while avoiding his swings. looks like i'm heading to the depths

Well, after beating Elden Ring twice and getting through a nice chunk of Bloodborne, here I am a short bit of the way through Dark Souls Remastered, cursed and wondering whether to continue through The Depths or use it to my advantage in New Londo Ruins

It's interesting coming to this after ER. Obviously it feels like a more compact world, but also a more concentrated form of the gaming experience. It's a lot less forgiving than ER and clearly there's a lot less opportunity to just randomly move around however you like. Everything feels more methodical - a puzzle to be unpuzzled in a very specific way - and the consequences for messing up are far more punishing (and often infuriating).

that's all a good way of looking at it.

There are certainly a lot of elements that were lost with moving to a more expanded world. I love how neat everything feels in DS1, and I was fascinated to discover that the entire game is based on a single column with levels wrapped around it, which accentuates that endorphin rush of finding a shortcut from one area of the game to a totally different area. Everything connects to each other in this hugely satisfying way.
The mechanics of combat feel a lot more precise and less arbitrary. It doesn't feel like you can just hack away and hope for the best. If you get stuck on a boss, you can't easily farm or grind yourself up till you beat it without a lot of tedious trouble, so you're forced to find a solution or just git gud.

Likewise, the absolute dearth of bonfires is a blessing and a curse. I did feel that ER's generousness when it came to bonfires did make things altogether a little too easy sometimes. At the same time, having to hack my way through the same bunch of enemies again and again and again in DS1 gets pretty annoying - especially at, say, New Londo Ruins where I start back at Firelink Shrine and have to get a lift down every time I accidentally jump off a ledge.

The most frustrating part of DS1, which I'm glad doesn't happen in ER too much, is just having to dolefully gain Souls, not to make your character or weapons stronger but just to regain normality. I spent an enormous amount of time yesterday slowly farming enough Souls to carry out an absolution after I'd accidentally pissed off Griggs of Vinheim in Lower Undead Burg. Then halfway through my farming mission, my sword became blunt and I had to spend a bunch of Souls on fixing that. When I finally had the 15500 Souls to go through Zombie Corridor and get to Oswald and all that, I almost immediately got cursed and had to go back to farming enough Souls to buy some Purging Stones from the same guy. I'd essentially spent three or so hours of game time running around killing the same old enemies just to get back on track with the game, and little to show for it!

This is the stuff of nightmares, the stuff of dreams, the stuff of memories....

Well I just got to Blighttown so it's getting close to the stuff of quitting

lol

presumably you at least don't have to slog through it with the awful slowdown that affected Xbox3/PS3 versions of the game?

one for the original Darks Souls headz there

I'm playing the Remaster.

LOL, I got a bit stuck yesterday and decided to see what DS2 was like... Geee I take it there's not much to be loved about that one?

I think this has been talked over quite a lot over the years, but in a nutshell: it's weird, janky and not as good a game as any of the others, but it has an atmosphere all of its own and some good set-pieces and locations

this is how I break it down to some extent:

God tier: Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne
Great but not god tier: DS3, Sekiro
Black sheep: DS2

[n.b. I've not played Demon Souls]

oh man i loved sekiro for the pure precision and intensity of the combat. simply nothing else like it in gaming. obv i don't game v much so you will tell me i'm wrong here - but it almost feels like guitar hero or dance dance revolution in terms of timing and responsiveness.

yeah I thought Sekiro was fantastic for those reasons as well, some days it's definitely god tier for me but it perhaps doesn't have the immersiveness of my other god tier ones

yes makes sense. i dropped elden ring about... i want to say halfway through? because i decided i probably needed a work sabbatical to play it properly. and then, being an adult, realised that if was going to take a sabbatical i should probably learn a language and do a course in something or other rather than playing elden ring.

still not sure this is correct logic tbh.