Dark Souls: Strategy and Coping with a Constant Loss of Your Gaming Manhood
-
Interesting thing I saw in the hints on the loading screen - there's some kind of arsehole list you can add a person's name to if he invades your game, which will lead to some NPC retribution within their game. Nice!
-
Watched the Xbox hint thing this week on the dashboard for this, it mentioned shooting the dragons tail on the bridge from a hidden location. Do it enough times and he drops a cool sword.
-
ah, cunt. Just found the stairs half-way along. I got to this before too with all my souls before I decided to press on because I thought you had to get under the dragon. I'm not sure if I can risk a run for them and back now. Worth a shot I suppose.
-
Go down and open up the shortcut first!RexxFiend said:ah, cunt. Just found the stairs half-way along. I got to this before too with all my souls before I decided to press on because I thought you had to get under the dragon. I'm not sure if I can risk a run for them and back now. Worth a shot I suppose.
I saw an orange message about a weapon under the bridge. I guess that's what it was about.ma5h said:Watched the Xbox hint thing this week on the dashboard for this, it mentioned shooting the dragons tail on the bridge from a hidden location. Do it enough times and he drops a cool sword.
-
yeah, the shortcut was a surprise!
I had a quick go at collecting the souls again but got roasted again, managed to get out alive but only just - I think the ring from the black knight saved me there. The dragon's runs seem to get more frequent as you get further up. I guess I'll have to dispatch the dragon first before I try again.
The shield from the black knight is handy here - it has 95% fire damage reduction. You still take a roasting mind, but maybe not quite as much. Getting equipment weight below 25% and sprinting is the only safe(ish) method I reckon. -
Getting the shield to drop from the black knight is another hard one -- although apparently drops go up with the more Humanity you have stored up.
And yeah, I made it to the stairs on the right with low equipment, sprinting and the heater shield (which gives you some fire resistance). I got the sword from shooting the tail, not nearly strong enough to wield it right now, am currently farming the rats in the underside of the bridge to try and get some Humanity. -
I got the sword and am strong enough to wield it in two hands. It seems to confer some sort of shield effect when held in two hands, it also seems to have a range effect like Stormy in the previous game. If I wasn't still concerned about losing my soul cache (still haven't managed to recover them) I'd have a go at wielding the sword and making a run for it across the bridge.
-
ah, cock. I got cocky with the rats and got knocked off the ledge - bye bye soul cache..
heh - this game doesn't reward exploration tho - I had a wee nosy up the circular staircase above the rat's nest. Don't do that ;-) -
Think I hit a bug - the dragon didn't spray the place and I got through. Don't know if it was always bugged for me. He seemed to instantly re-appear on his perch after attacking, there was no swoop around to give you a window to run through.
Speaking of bugs, spears can damage you through stone walls. -
Undead Parish.
This area is a cunt. Shielded guys all over the place. Haven't found the bonfire yet, and just lost about 2000 souls trying to recover my cache. Someday I'll look back on this and laugh.. -
Fucking bonfire is miles away too, past some Undead Knights who are complete cunts.
-
There's a bonfire right under the dragon. You can see it through the gate when you come up from under the bridge. I don't know how you open it, though. Maybe at the top of that spiral stair?
I don't have anything to shoot the dragon's tail with, yet.
I made great progress on wednesday: beating the Taurus, crossing the bridge, killing that boar thing and clearing the immediate area, but got absolutely nowhere last night, and the boar didn't even respawn. I think I made it about two enemies further, in fifteen goes. If I get poisoned by the rats I am basically stuffed.
In the end I decided to go back down to Firelink and have a nosy around there. -
I might do the same - those knights are kicking my arse and it's getting annoying. Is there a fast way down or do you just need to fight your way back down?
I wouldn't go up that spiral stair if I were you.. -
I've been up there. I crept slowly up and peeped over the top, then got a massive sword in the head. I didn't see anything else up there, so I don't really know why you would want to try to fight that guy.
There doesn't seem to be a quick way down - not that I have discovered so far, anyway - but it's not that far from the Undead Burg bonfire. -
I get the impression that Dark Souls is a little more disorientating than Demon's Souls - is that right?
-
It's more open, which can be a little disorienting. DS was very compartmentalised with the different zones and the nexus whereas this is just the one big world. The shortcuts can be surprising tho, the one after the dragon especially - I had no idea that's where I was.
-
Blimey - I can see how that might be an issue with something as punishing as this. I'm scared and I've not even breached the wrapper yet!
Will probably fire it up with my bro next weekend - he is keen but hasn't got a concept of how it plays as he doesnt have a PS3. He's a big RPG fan, and no matter how much you tell someone what its like, you really have to play it to understand. At least, that was the case with the first one. -
I can't think of another RPG where the stats complement your skills like this one, rather than overriding them.
-
Definitely - most rpg's just make you hit harder when you level up and make the monsters tougher as you move through but they are more tactical than skilful. In this (and DS) you can beat any monster any time if you are good enough, levelling just makes it a bit easier.
-
I highly recommend finding the merchant in the Undead Burg as you can buy a rapier or spear from him -- these are weapons that you can use with your shield up, which is very handy, especially against enemies like those rats underneath the bridge. My strategy for them is to lure them out with arrow fire, then safely spear them to death. I'm trying to farm them for humanity, with no success.
-
I got one humanity off one of them once.
I notice my plague meter thing still goes up a little when they hit me, even tho the shield has 100% damage reduction, I'm assuming some plague still gets through somehow. -
Plague meter? Please enlighten.
-
When you get hit by a rat, you should see a little purple meter appear in the middle of the screen. This seems to be how close you are to being infected, as you get hit more it goes up, if you back off it goes back down again, in the same way the infected meter goes down if you actually get infected.
-
So I only bore this game a passing interest until I read this review by the old Gamecentral crew :-
http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/877131-dark-souls-review-prepare-to-live
One simple question. Is it as good as they say? -
@Rexx Ta, i thought I'd seen something when I'd battered one of the scabby fuckers and couldn't quite make out what it was.Post edited by DrWoo at 2011-10-14 15:24:44
-
Just ran back to the Firelink shrine - it was nowhere near as far as I thought. I guess I'm a bit tougher now ;-)
-
ma5h said:
So I only bore this game a passing interest until I read this review by the old Gamecentral crew :-
http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/877131-dark-souls-review-prepare-to-live
One simple question. Is it as good as they say?
Yes. It really is bloody good. And thats coming from someone who really didn't get on with demons souls.
-
Those skellies are absolute cunts tho - I just got ambushed by a pack of them with a couple of the big buggers in tow too. Ouch.
-
Yeah, I just ran round he graveyard and looted the place, then got killed.
-
How are you getting past them to the blacksmith then? I just can't get past them at all - just keep running into more of the cunts and they just wear me down.
Edit - never mind, found the stairs at the back. Hadn't seen those before - I thought you had to go through the graveyard. It did seem especially tough for a start area ;-/Post edited by RexxFiend at 2011-10-14 17:35:28 -
I made some real progress tonight, followed by pain, so much pain.
-
ma5h said:
So I only bore this game a passing interest until I read this review by the old Gamecentral crew :-
http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/877131-dark-souls-review-prepare-to-live
One simple question. Is it as good as they say?
Yes. But it's a steep, steep learning curve if you're not familiar with Demon's Souls.
-
Hmm, the magic spells seem to have become just another consumable resource now - you buy a catalyst and a pile of spell shots and off you go, no MP any more. It's pricey too. I guess that stops you spamming everything with soul arrow.
-
I miss spamming everything with Soul Arrow. And bosses with Firestorm. And King Allant with Poison Cloud...
-
Them ghosts aren't too friendly either.
Fuck it, I'm away back upstairs. That underground place isn't nice at all :-/ -
Darn it, I'm going to have to get this aren't I. Looks like Batman is getting relegated till after Christmas. Why is their so many games now when I'm at my busiest!
:neverhaditsogood: -
RexxFiend said:
Them ghosts aren't too friendly either.
Fuck it, I'm away back upstairs. That underground place isn't nice at all :-/
Yeah, that was why I chose to go upstairs in the first place. I haven't become an more capable of dealing with them in the meantime.
Of course I got myself stupidly killed on the way back past those easy enemies to Undead Burg, as is so often he way, so I'll be starting from Firelink again next time.
Anybody understand what Humanity is about, yet? -
I think you can switch from undead to alive of you have enough, presumably this gives some benefit but leaves you open to invasion (like getting your body in DS). Haven't figured out specifics yet tho.
-
You can also kindle bonfires, which I think gives you 10 refills of the estus flask, not 5. This costs more humanity again, though.
-
Ah, so that's what that does. I noticed the bonfire at the bottom gave me 10 and noticed the kindle option but never made the connection.
You can also reinforce the flask at a blacksmith, I'm assuming this gives youore health when you use it. -
Ah, cock. Got past the first two undead knights (weapon makes a huge difference here - spear did a lot more damage than the battle axe). Wasn't quite sure where to go to get to the bonfire but headed down the stairs and unlocked the big gate. Turned around to go up the stairs and got mulched by a gang of undead knights.
Oh well, at least I got the gate open - should save a bit of time.
edit - FUCK! The gate doesn't stay open. That's a bit rum.Post edited by RexxFiend at 2011-10-15 09:40:13 -
The smaller enemies can close it on you.
-
ah. The cunts.
Made it that time anyway. -
btw - looks like you can drop your useless stuff. Just select it in the inventory menu (not equipment menu) and select drop from the options. You can also rearrange your inventory here to put your most common stuff at the top.
-
Why isn't shit like that in the manual.....oh yeah cos it's a shit pamphlet that's why;)
-
Yeah, you're supposed to figure all this stuff out for yourself but a lot of it is pretty obscure.
I've made some decent progress today - got to the blacksmith and kindled the fire there, found a weapon that seems to be pretty effective and upgraded it to +4, and made a dent in the next boss - he kicked my arse mind, but at least I can damage him. Just have to learn to get out the way of the MASSIVE reach he has. Found the lift too so I can move between the church and Firelink quickly.
I have a fire soul thing too which I think I'll use to upgrade my flask. I think it's the blacksmith downstairs that can do that, isn't it? -
I can understand that I have to figure out plenty of stuff, but having some obscure mechanic to drop items and not giving instructions in the manual is just sloppy.
-
I guess. It's the same mechanic as DS tho, although apparently more people have bought this than DS so some explanation might have been good. At least the stats symbols make a bit more sense in this one - they were completely bewildering at first in DS.
-
It's the silent woman directly below the Firelink bonfire that uses the fire soul, isn't it? I haven't got that far, but I'm sure I remember something about that when I tried to speak to her.
I haven't played the game today, but I have found myself wondering what exactly is on that soundtrack CD. Crunchy Footsteps? -
heh. ;-)
I think it plays music at the boss fights.
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!