Dark Souls - successor to Demon's Souls - Page 2

Already opened that door. I was killed by three guys wearing fog rings almost instantly. I guess I could farm for souls there in hollowed form, but I love how being human ups the drop rate for items.

Also I've beens using that same technique as the one described to fight the hydra, but when the heads come down that one time in 10 one of them clips me in my back (behind the shield) and I'm down for the count.

Yeah man you need to creep through the woods. You can actually run in, pretty much straight from the door and you'll have a mage, one invis thief, a monk and if you go further a fat guy with a shield/axe all after you. Then if you run back toward the steps and hide out on the little ledge they'll run up the steps and right over your head straight to their doom. 2000 for the first three and 1000 for the fat guy with the axe. That's the cheesy way, I like to fight them but my guy is leveled up enough that one fire orb and they're toast and that's not even my big pyro spell. And yet I still go to Anor Lando and run like a bitch from the statues. lol I love this game.

 

The hydra was a bitch for me too but it was more the water bombs he tosses. Once I got in close it didn't take too long to find the sweet spot. You'll get it.

I am trying like hell not to give in and buy this game knowing that on 11/11 I will be buying and playing Skyrim, but these posts are making it difficult.

Give it a shot Bob. Maybe you can find a used copy at a gamestop or something so you'll get that 7 day window to return it if you decide it's not for you.

And TheGhost, thanks for the tip with where to stand in the forest, I'll try it out when I get a chance.

Also I was wondering what your character setup was. I started out with a Pyromancer and for a long time I was favoring the Sheild and spear setup (Grass Crest shield or Crest shield) until I reached Blightown where i found the Iaito Katana. It took a while getting used to it, but I love the huge amount of bleed damage it gives. I'm at level 30 by the way.

Do it Bob, do it! As a guy that plays the fuck out of the Elder Scrolls games this is a completely different experience. Elder Scrolls to me is Lord of the Rings. You're adventuring in the country side with this greater quest and you get sidetracked into some god forsaken mine. In the end though it's all sort of on you. The Souls games are more along the lines of brutal dark fantasy. It's a nasty, terrible world that's godless save the monsters that are crawling around in the dark trying to pull you apart or bend you to their will like a proper servant. Anyway, bullshit aside there's room in your gaming life for both.

 

Man, my setup got kind of wild. I started as a knight with a touch of magic but I really hate wearing heavy armor, I'd rather dodge than stand and tank. The general outline of the build is high dex/vit/stamina. I use the Black Bow of Pharis +8 for whittling big stuff down. Up close I go with Pyromancy or my Lightning Spear +3. I've actually been working on a Winged Spear that's up to +13 but I'm not sure wtf I'm doing with it. I know if I add Lightning damage to it it'll actually be better than my lightning spear since it scales to your str/dex stats. I've leveled up my attunement so I have 5 spell slots. In the beginning they were for Soul Arrow x 2 for 60 shots and Great Soul arrow x 1 plus Magic Shield. When I realized how amazing pyromancy is I pretty much abandoned sorcery though. So now I'm packing Fire Orb, Iron Skin, Poison Mist (which so far seems useless), and Great Chaos Fireball..which is fucking insane. It only has 4 casts but it's ridiculous and gets stronger the higher your humanity is. Sorcery is still great but for raw damage pyro is the way to go, especially when you level up the "weapon"..the little flame hand thing.

 

For armor I'm wearing the uhhh, I think it's Black, gold hemmed stuff. It's down by the Ceasless Discharge. You loot it off a corpse on an altar.

 

So yeah. Typical run is left hand Grass Crest Shield +8, Black Bow of Pharis +8. Right hand is Lightning Spear +3, Pyromancy +15 (which took fucking FOREVER to level). Armor is the black, gold hemmed stuff, it makes you look like a Ring Wraith from LotR. Arrows are Flame and Large. Rings I'm going Wolf Ring, gives more poise so when you take a hit it's less likely to interrupt your own swing and the uhhh Gold Snake Ring of Covetous? Something like that it makes loot drops more likely. When I'm in an area I haven't seen though I swap out the snake ring for the Silent Dragon one..that's not the name but it makes it so you don't make any noise when you move, makes sneaking and backstabbing a lot easier.

 

I liked the Iaito, if you two hand it the strong attack does some Iaijitsu where you sheath and quickdraw it for big damage. The thing with me is though I'd rather toss up a shield and poke with the spear, and so many of the places in the game are tight and can really fuck up your swing with a sword.

 

I'm level 55 right now and from the feel of it I might be able to finish the game at this level, nothing lately has really stomped my ass. There are things that can kill me in a few hits but it's always my own fault or playing sloppy.

 

Where are you right now with your playthrough Sleepless? What was the last boss you killed?

 

If you can tell man, I played entirely too much Demon's Souls so I was really ready for this. I wish I had started as a Pyro though because there are a few points here and there I would have spent in a different way.

 

As a side note I haven't really done much of the multiplayer stuff. I fucked around with the Forest Covenant for awhile but it's hard when you have to kill people that are in the forest and so many super high levels use it to farm souls. Early on I helped a few guys beat some bosses. I like that it forces you to play with randoms so you get a good look at how everyone plays, but on the other hand these games would be so fucking amazing with friends.

I'm not near my console at the moment so i can't go into as much stat detail as you, but let me just say you're leaving me feel a bit humble about my accomplishments in this game. I too played the hell out of the original Demon's Souls right into New Game ++ until I began to question my obsession with maxing out every weapon.

I too tended to leave the multiplayer alone, I don't like invading other people's games. Anyway I can farm humanity pretty easily from the rats in the sewers. The most recent boss I bested was the Hydra, but since that is more of a side boss i guess saying Gaping Dragon would be more helpful in giving you an idea of where I am.

You really seem to have a better idea on where you want your character to be right now. I'm just winging it right now, but I'm seem to be putting most of my points into Dexterity and Endurance. I really want to get my endurance up to 60 or 70 to improve my speed, and dexterity seems to be a better choice than strength because most of my favorite weapons level with it.

Right now I just want to level up until I feel more confortable going into blighttown. My current goal is to take down that golem in the watchtower basement so I can get that equip load boosting ring. I think upgrading my pyromancy flame might be the way to go for that.

Wow after rereading all of that, I'm almost certain that if i find this post in two years I'll have no idea what I'm talking about.

You know how much of a no life that makes me feel like man? I remembered all my shit off the top of my head, lolz. Christ. I'm a total no life anymore man, I pretty much get up, workout, get my kids up, take them to school, go to work, come home, help them with homework, then play. Exciting, I know.

 

I dig the invasions in this one more because most of the time it's actually for a Covenant, so if you're a griefer, you're in a group of other griefers and there's a whole other Covenant with the express mission of punishing griefers. Griefer griefers. I was having a good time with the Forest Covenant thing I just couldn't stick with it and keep trying to kill all those level 90 guys, call me a pussy but meh. Endurance to me is a big deal, especially if you do PvP. Almost every time I've been invaded, or invaded someone you realize pretty quickly that some people have no idea what they're doing or what they're in for. It sounds to me like your build is fine with weapons there are things I would love to use but I just have the discipline to look at their stats and you can see what stat they stack with. If it doesn't fall in line with my build I pocket it and keep it in mind if I build another character later.

 

I don't know if this helps but with my Pryomancy flame maxed my fire orb does 500+ on pretty much everything. The Great Chaos Fireball can actually spike around 800 on certain things but how much humanity you've got at the time really does make a difference with it, the other thing is it leaves a little lava puddle on the ground. So it's great for choke points, hit the first guy, probably the second and there's a second or two of lava for anyone else to run through.

 

Have you gone back to the Asylum yet? If you haven't then do that (Spoiler) -> So the elevator that leads from the Firelink Shrine to the church where you fight the gargoyle has a point where you can jump off just above the firelink entrance. From there jump over to the next building and you'll see a soul. Grab that, it's the asylum key. Then go to the crow's nest and curl up in it then just wait, I've heard it can take up to a minute sometimes. The Crow will swoop in and take you back. So back at the asylum you can find the rusted ring. It lets you move faster in the swamp and really makes it less of  a pain in the ass. There's some good loot down there and a pyro merchant chick that disappears once you fight Queelag. That will REALLY help you with Blighttown. Sadly I found it after the fact but I take my time and search every nook and cranny. With a game like this though you have no idea of what to do in what order. I had actually gotten into the Valley of Drakes and found Blighttown that way. Go figure.

 

Oh and my intelligence stat is a fucking joke, I'm pretty sure Pyromancy power has more to do with your pyro weapons level than any other stat.

 

On a side note I really, really, really want to figure out how to get that lightning spell but I don't want to check a guide until I've beat this at least once. I'm a masochist I guess.

Already got that ring purely by accident. i found the way back to the asylum by fooling around in firelink. I wasn't referring to the swamp when talking about my hesitation with blighttown. It's just that i'd prefer to get my character up to a point where I can down one of those goblins without having to wait for my stamina bar to refill.

Thought I'd add another voice to the discussion.  I haven't gotten to play this as much as I'd like (which would be non-stop), and I deleted my first character and started over (my pyromancer loves me better than that stupid sorcerer ever did), so I'm a bit behind you guys.  I just took out the moonlight(?) butterfly and the capra demon (FUCK that room and those dogs) and I'm making my way through the depths.  Those stupid frog lizard things cursed me and I'm on my way back to the asylum to trade some red whatevers for some curse removers.  Loving the shit out of the game, of course.  I can't believe that it can be so similar to Demon's Souls and yet still manage to feel so fresh.

My God, this game is HUGE.

I finish what I think is the beginning of the end by getting through Sen's fortress, but no. The vista of Anor Lando shows me that I might not even be halfway. Yeah this game is easily twice the size of Demon's Souls, maybe even bigger.

Loving the game so far.  But, one complaint I guess.  It seems to me that they are gimping the magic classes somewhat and forcing you to melee by limiting the number of casts you have for your spells.  In Demons Souls, as long as I had spice I could soul ray the crap out of everything and fall back on my lava bow.  I don't see how it's possible to play a pure sorcerer with limited casting and no mana bar, unless there's something I haven't acquired yet that gives you more casts.  It also seems like it's taking longer to level up with bosses and mini-bosses only giving up like 1500 souls, hehe.  That blows.  But, having said that, still a worthy follow up to Demons Souls.  Man I loved that game. 

Noticed this as well and thought it was an odd decision on the Developer's part. While I like the simplicity of not having to worry about a MP bar, they do need to put in some item that will allow you to refill your cast numbers without visiting a bonfire (maybe something similar to the Estus flasks, but you have to spend souls to fill them up at a bonfire). As it is, you can buy multiple copies of the same spell to up the number of casts you get, but you can only buy one though each sorcery vender, and you don't meet a few of the venders until much later in the game.

I'm not really sure I can agree with that. While I can't cast a spell as many times as I could in Demon's Souls the spells I do have are way more effective in comparison. There's never really a shortage of bonfires either. I think Anor Londo was the first place I ran out of spells and had to go pure melee, though my build is geared more toward that so spells for me are just a buffer. If you're rolling thick with spells just up your attunement. Sorcery gives you way more for your buck, Pyromancy has all the bang though. 

 

Some of the last few bosses I've killed have given 20k-30k souls and there are a lot of them in the environment.

 

If you're going the sorcery route you really should beef up strength or dexterity just in case. Maybe I'm lacking in imagination but I think taking on the Four Kings boss as a pure caster would be a fucking nightmare.

 

As far as leveling goes I think spots like the forest were deliberate ways to make grinding not as tedious. You can pull 6-7k in a few minutes or 10 if you actually fight each mob instead of just tricking them into falling off the cliff. With Demon's Souls there weren't as many areas where you could grind without really grinding, even if it was giving you big souls.

 

Capra Demon. FTW! Wait until you're fighting them two at a time. Then it's really "fun".

 

I haven't made many of the boss soul weapons yet. How about you guys? I'm kind of curious what's good since some of them seem to have multiple weapons you could make.

To each his own. I think the magic in this game is a bit off in terms of people trying to build full sorcerers, because of the limited casting it forces everyone to build their melee skills. The reason why I say this is that the game doesn't do the same thing when it comes to full melee builds, so far there isn't a section yet that forces a player to abandon melee and use magic to get by.

As for boss weapons, I have a moonlight butterfly soul and 10+ sheild ready an waiting for the time when I get to the Blacksmith who can forge it. Hopefully it'll give me a shield that has a 100% magic block, and I hear that it might also create one of the few shields in the game that has an attack abliity.

How's your covenant stuff going?, Right now the two covenants that I'll give a shot are the dragon one and the Darkmoon covenant. I can't really put my finger on why, but both appeal to me.

I get what you mean, having magic is way easier than going pure melee though. I see the allure of wanting to be a total fighter or caster but meh. Best of both worlds all day.

 

I've got the shield, it's pretty boss, decays sort of fast though. That's actually why I was asking. I made it and then I was wondering if I should have gone with the horn/spear instead. Oh well. And yeah it does have an attack. It does massive damage if you're wielding a heavy hitter in your right hand.

 

As far as Covenant stuff I'm a love them and leave them guy. I've been in all of them I've come across so far just for the spells/loot. Right now I'm working on Darkwraith and feel like a dick for eating peoples humanity out of their face but whatever. Tip of the spear and all that.

Well, yeah, you're right in that there's no shortage of bonfires to refill  your casts, but geez, I hate respawning all the mobs whenever I want to cast again.  I guess it's the same for pure melee fighters when they want to refill estus, but I dont know....just seems a little unfair to magic users. That's good to know though that I can buy same version of spells again to up the cast numbers.  I had planned on playing through this one just like my first Demons Souls playthrough.  Use mostly magic and keep upping the my int and vit/end until I found a sword that scaled well with my magic, and then do mostly melee with magic to fall back on.  So far though, I haven't really come across a sword that really scales with intelligence.  I found one that scales with Faith, but that doesnt do me much good. 

 

On a side not though, lol..........I hate Blight Town just as much as I hated the Defilement Valley from the first one, hehe.  *sigh*

 

 

Yeah, blight town blows. Can't tell you how many times I fell to my death because of the camera deciding that it is okay to put a wall between me and it. Also, fuck those mosquitoes, infinite spawns, they drop no souls and there is nothing you can to do get them off of your ass in the middle of a fight.

I've stopped progressing in the story just to do a little more looking around and stocking up on stuff. Bought a few Rings of sacrifice because there are times that having that protection against loosing my souls really eases my journey and I'm getting curious about the Dragon Covenant I just joined. Maybe I will do some invading...

By the way TheGhost, what level does the pyromancy flame max out at? I'm up to +13 but have no idea how many souls I'll need to collect to get it to it's max level. Now that the pyromancer turned hollow on me I have to go all the way down into blighttown to get the upgrades done, so I'd like to do it in one fell swoop and not have to go back and forth several times.

Finally through Blight Town and back on the surface.  I detoured into the tree and down to ash lake, but I couldn't seem to make any progress against the hydra there and the whole area really creeped me out.  

 

Just started into sen's fortress and those snake dudes are really slowing me down.  They look really cool, though.

Did any of you not play Demon's Souls?  As I'm strictly on Xbox and never tried it I'm kind of dumbfounded at how little this game gives you when you start out.  I don't mean the difficulty, really, I mean just teaching me the basic shit.  I'm a pyromancer and I have no idea how to cast a spell unless I unequip my weapon, and I can't figure out a way to do that on the fly in a fight so I melee everything.  Which seems...stupid.  Plus, the menu system is horribly put together and on 3 separate occasions I've died in fights because a little menu was open in the upper right and I hadn't realized it so was completely unable to block.

 

I worked really slow and methodical to go up the cliff from the first bonfire.  Died a few times, farmed enough souls to go to level 3 before I pressed on even further.  Found another bonfire, lit it (I thought that gave me the new spawn point) but didn't rest there because I didn't want to respawn all the stuff I'd killed.  Ended up in a room with 3 melee guys and a dude throwing fire, died and it put me back at the first bonfire.

 

At this point I'm pretty happy I just Redboxed this thing.  When I get punished by a game I'd prefer that it be because I screwed up or I need to learn something (like running past the initial Asylum Demon rather than trying to fight him), not because the game doesn't want to bother teaching me basic mechanics.

Sleepless. The flame goes up to +15, but then the chick in blighttown can give you an upgraded version that starts back at zero. Once you upgrade to that one it's like 30-40k per level of the new one.

 

Ash Lake is pretty boss, I dig it.

 

I played Demon's Souls and it was the same, there really isn't any hand holding. From seems to like to drop you into their game and say, "Hey you paid sixty bucks, enjoy figuring out how to play this motherfucker bitch!" *cackles as they count their giant stack of money* I don't really mind though, too many games have fucking tons of tutorials and dick holding. I can hold my prick and go potty by myself, thanks. You can equip two items in each hand. Two left and two right and the left and right buttons on the d-pad will change them on the fly for you. Lighting a bonfire doesn't do shit, you have to rest at it to get the checkpoint. It sucks but I dunno, I don't mind it.

 

But yeah I tend to go left hand shield/bow, right hand melee/pyro or sorcery. That way you can keep your shield up when you aren't casting. If you're a boss at parrying you can dual wield but you can't block at all, just parry.

 

I'm still in love with this.

 

Oh and as far as bonfires you guys realize if you kill Pinwheel in the catacombs you get the Rite of Kindling? It lets you kindle a bonfire more than once if your estus flask is upgraded. So you can get 15 flasks per rest instead of 10. Just fyi. I've been busy with work so I haven't really played much in the last few days but I'm going to get an hour or two in tonight before bed. I've been doing the Darkwraith thing and I feel kind of bad for the reamings I've put on a few people but whatever. I gotta suck that humanity out of their face so I can get that sweet ass armor and sword.

I'm playing on the PS3, but I don't think the controls between the two would be that different.

You can equip two weapons or shields to each hand. Using the D pad you can then switch between each thing equipped. Tap right on the D pad to switch between the two weapons in your right hand and tap left to do the same in your left hand. Thats how you switch on the fly, still in fights you are stuck with the two items you pre-equipped in each hand leaving you with four equipment choices. Choose wisely because you can't have a bow, a melee weapon and the pyromancy flame all in your right hand. You can move that bow to you left hand and make do with only one shield, because you don't need your shield up when sniping.

It is really just a matter of finding the right fit for the situation. That's what this game is about, trial and error.

One of my bigger errors I do constantly is leaving the item quick slot on the d pad on an item that's consumable. I will inevitably press the wrong button and use my last humanity accidentally when I was trying to do something else.

-Edit-

This post was ment for A-Pathetic.

That'll teach me not to refresh...

So what's everyone's most humiliating / heartbreaking soul loss so far?  I've had plenty of 5000-7000 losses due to my own stupidity, but I was really kicking myself last night in Blight Town.  I had killed the invader girl there (maneater mildred, i think her name was), and I was taking the water wheel up to check out the other area.  I had made it across the precarious branch with all of the blowdart dudes, and then fell off on the way back.  On my way back up to retrieve that, I fell off the fucking water wheel.  13000 souls gone.

I got very lucky with the Hydra in Ash Lake.  I was able to lure him close to the bonfire so I didn't really worry about dying as getting the souls back was not an issue.  I did die several times however until for some reason, he stopped hitting me.  I was standing right underneath it and his heads were hitting next to me, but never touching me.  So about 10 heavy soul arrows put him down, hehe.  I got lucky.  Where I didnt get so lucky was getting back out, lol.  Making my way back up that damned tree was a nightmare.  The bright side was, since I was cursed anyway, I went to the Londo ruins and fought some ghosts :)

 

*In addition - As far as most frustrating soul loss so far...hmm.  Probably when I lost about 11k souls before the Capra Demon, but only because I got careless and was upset with myself.  Having played Demons Souls through NG++++, I am used to methodically working my way through, but having died at the hands of that Demon a few times, I got sloppy working my way back and those damned assassins got me.  I hate dying from my own carelessness ;)

 

Edited by mrparker - 10/17/11 at 6:10am

See, this is helpful.  But I'm not fine with the game being so unhelpful in this regard.  Punish me for not learning to block properly (it did).  Punish me for going too far into an area I wasn't ready for (it did).  Punish me for not using the mechanics that were explained to me (It did).  Don't punish me because you didn't feel like explaining how some of the basic things work.

You're preaching to the choir man, I get how it can be a pain in the ass trying to figure things out. I suppose the devs felt like you'd be playing through more than once so by having some things be tricky there's a chance you'll miss out and pick up on them later. Stuff like setting two items should be mentioned though.

 

I've done the consumable thing too. It's actually gotten to the point where I put general "area" consumables. Like purple blooms and moss anytime I'm in BlightTown. But other than that I just carry my flask. I don't really every use any resins or anything so I dunno.

 

Anyone else fight Kirk? I've had two throws with him and I'm assuming there's a third for me to finish him off but I haven't run into him yet. Shitty little bastard.

 

If you guys have questions and don't feel like looking at the Wiki, honestly I like to discuss this shit with you all, then don't feel shy about asking. The only dumb question in a Souls game is the one you don't ask.

Made some good progress today.  After I found the lightning pole in Sen's Fortress I didn't have much more trouble there.  I did accidentally attack big hat logan, and subsequently had to kill him.  I hope that doesn't mess things up too much.

 

Now I'm in the painting and I just killed the zombie dragon.  I'm liking the boosted soul amounts on the enemies in these areas.

 

If it weren't for Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Arkham City, and Skyward Sword coming out, this would be a lock for game of the year for me.  As it stands, all of those will have to work pretty hard.

Here's a tip I wish I knew when I accidentally attacked the guy next to Queelag's sister. If you accidenally attack an NPC you can go to the guy up in the first bell tower and pay him to absolve you of your sins, doing so makes NPCs forget that you attacked them. But if you killed said NPC there is no bringing them back.

I think the game has a way of making you feel like areas are much more than they are. I mean Sen's Fortress is cool but once you've shut the ball trap down you realize how small the place really is. I was actually wondering if anyone else felt like Ash Lake was a huge waste of space. Outside the Dragon Covenant there really isn't any reason to go there and honestly I hate when games have areas that seem like platforming when there's nothing agile about the control mechanics. The Souls games are so full of times when a bit more control in the actual controls would save your ass.

 

All of that said I still love the fuck out of this. I wish I had less work and more free time. The first few days I was playing a ton now I'm having a hard time grabbing an hour here or there and Arkham City comes out tomorrow. It looks like I'll have a holiday back log of shit to play.

 

White folk troubles.

Yeah, I didn't give this game enough time.  Arkham City is already preordered though, and so is Skyrim.  By the time I have an opportunity to put any time into this I'll probably be able to find it on the cheap.

I meant to post this when I saw it yesterday but wow, lolz this guy makes us all look like some fucking whiny bitches. 90 minute speed run of Dark Souls. Suck it America! Japanese guys pwning everything. If Hikikomori culture got paid in pussy the way they do in ruling at video games they would be some stone cold pimps...isolated, hermit pimps. But pimps none the less. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x9ymysN3qQ8

Any tips for getting past the asshole archers on the ledges outside the castle in Anor Londo?  I either get knocked off the ledge or shot in the back when I try to deal with them.

parry.

You can run up to the archer on the right and kill him with a lightning weapon before he really rounds the corner, that way you won't get shot in the back. The easiest way to do it though is to just shoot him with 3-4 poisoned arrows and he'll become poisoned, then wait him out. 

The Poison strategy didn't work for me, he kept on healing. The way I'd recommend is rushing him and rolling under his arrows when you get close on the ledge. Then just try to wedge between him and the wall and begin attacking. I got a few hits in and then he fell off on his own.

By the way anyone else up for farming Dragon scales for the dragon covenant? I'd like to set up a place where we could take turns invading one another. I'm at level 95, in order for this to work we need to be within 10% of each other's soul level.

That sucks Sleepless. It's worked like a champ for me everytime. I dunno, those archers have never healed on me. But yeah you can rush the one on the right and sometimes he'll fall outright or you'll just spank his ass. It's trial and error. The poison arrow thing has been 100% for me every go.

 

Are you on Xbox or PS3 Sleepless?

PS3.

I'm right in the middle of the Duke's Archives section, I haven't been playing much of the story sections recently because I wanted to get some of the higher up items in the covenants. The dragon covenant is proving to be a bitch, because it requires invading another person carrying a dragon scale's game with their permission.

I did some desultory research on the dark souls wiki and did learn that you are not actually stealing a dragon scale from another person, you just get one as a reward and they lose nothing. I think that's why it's so hard to find some PvP for the Dragon Coveneant, most people assume that I'm going to try to steal a scale from them.

Thanks for the help, I didn't have any poison arrows and didn't feel like running all the way back to buy some, so I tried rolling and it worked great.

 

I was invaded for the first time today, in the hall with the archer and the giant armor guys.  I was in a bad state already and he wouldn't leave those dudes and fight me head on, so I just let him kill me to get it over with.  Asshole.

When I'm invaded and not in the mood I quickly switch to the fog ring and hide in a dark corner, 75% of the time the invader gives up after 10 minutes and leaves.

I feel it's unfair that the invaders can leave on their own. If I can't force you out of my world without killing you, then you shouldn't be able to leave on your own without killing me. I'd love to see some poor guy walk for hours while I sneak around with the fog ring on.

I tend to just fight them, outside the insane japanese players you run into most of them are really horrible at PvP.

Finally beat Smough and Ornstein.  I don't know what the deal was, but no matter who I killed first I couldn't find a good way to kill the other one.  I ended up killing Smough and then poisoning the giant Ornstein.  Also, I tried summoning Solaire for the battle a few times and he was completely useless.

So I just killed Quelaag. I've never had to rely this much on both co-op and FAQs to finish a game before, but I'm still hopelessly addicted to it.

 

The world design is incredible; I gotta admit, though, that I miss the Nexus. So much time is spent hunting down shortcuts and backtracking. I do think Blighttown's design is flawed. I have a resistance stat that's higher than the average framerate of that place, and my resistance stat is woefully low.

 

Cursed frogs have replaced those poisonous headcrabs from Half Life 2 as my most feared video game enemy of all time. If I get cursed again, I may have to quit the game for a while.

I think I like the open world better.  It makes everything feel more cohesive, and it's a bit truer to the non-stop danger aspect of the game's design.  

 

Yeah, those basilisks are motherfuckers.  Clearing that one room in the depths made me think my heart was going to explode from the blood pressure spike.

 

And agreed on blight town, I never want to go back through there again.

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Maybe one of you guys that understands game design better than I do can explain this? It really slogs in some places for absolutely no reason. There's nothing going on anywhere, maybe a leech or two running after you and it's a miserable time. It happens to me around the entrance to Ash Lake.

It's most likely a memory issue. In Blighttown, there's a lot of lighting debt - it's probably the engine that's at fault here. I don't know why Ash Lake would chug like it does, but I suspect that it may have been designed by a different team, as it's an entirely optional area.

 

There I was. Cursed at the bottom of the hollow. Nowhere else to go but up and through blighttown. 2 HOURS LATER VICTORY I WIN +100

I finally got tired of messing around trying to get dragon scales and finished the game last night. (A note to others, once you kill the final boss, that's it! Your game ends and a Newgame + begins. You do not get to go back and finish anything, you and your save file will be put into newgame + whether you like it or not.)

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Thoughts?

I'm in the middle of newgame + and am a bit disappointed that it didn't let me choose a new gift, it just started right up after I finished my first game.

Any thoughts on the best weapon for a strength build? I have a Raw Zweihander that's ok, but I'd like something a little more agile that stacks with STR.

^ Just from looking around the web, it seems that clubs and maces stack the best with strength followed by axes. If neither of those are agile enough for you you might consider trying to make the dragon bone fist. it requires a pumped up caestus (bought from the blacksmith in the Undead Parish) and the boss Iron Golem's soul (You can't make any of the boss souls into weapons until you meet the Blacksmith in Anor Londo). It is a fist weapon, which means fast but super short range.

It's base attack value is only 90, but it rated A in it's stacking ability with strength.

I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

I can't seem to make any progress against the Four Kings.  I'm trying to tank it but it's not working at all.  Any suggestions? 

Fighting the Four Kings sucks. It took me around 20 tries to defeat it, and I think I just got lucky in the end. You have to hit the first one hard and fast. Massive armor or the iron skin spell seem to work well.

 

The best solution, obviously:  two summoned allies. I couldn't manage to get both of my summons all the way down into the abyss, but there are usually summon signs in the Londo ruins just before the narrowest plank leading to the first two ghosts.

 

I had my best gaming moment of 2011 this morning. I'm down to my last humanity near the second Duke's Archives bonfire, just hanging around in the hopes that a summon sign shows up - I'd tried to kill Seath the Scaleless ten times the night prior with no luck - when I get invaded by an asshole hikikomori rogue who starts flipping around the level like a pinball. I have my Fog ring equipped, obviously, so he can't find me in the corner of the main building. He finally gives up, and proceeds to perform the "shrug" gesture. Right in front of me. Naturally, I two-hand my +5 Dragon Sword into his skull, killing him instantly. After getting raped by these guys endlessly over the last week or so, that felt SO good.