From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Murk]

The main thing is to get behind him IMO; often people die after their first panic roll when they fall.

 

[Renegen]

So quick questions, I'm thinking of buying Dark Souls 1. I haven't played any of them yet but the game is right up my alley obviously like many people here. Does the game still have Game for Windows live attached to it? Additionally, how is the multiplayer for a game this old and what should I expect if I want a purely solo experience.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

So quick questions, I'm thinking of buying Dark Souls 1. I haven't played any of them yet but the game is right up my alley obviously like many people here. Does the game still have Game for Windows live attached to it? Additionally, how is the multiplayer for a game this old and what should I expect if I want a purely solo experience.

It has GFWL attached to it, which is very annoying, and multiplayer connectivity is kinda bad. The multiplayer itself has two layers, so basically you can play the game three ways:

1. Completely offline. This works perfectly fine, and for some people enhances the atmosphere, although you miss out on a kind of camraderie the passive multiplayer mechanics promote. Playing offline makes the game more difficult in some ways (more on that later) and easier in others (some mechanics are balanced by having multiplayer-related drawbacks).

2. Online, with "passive" multiplayer. Just by being online, your game will change in certain ways that generally provide you with more knowledge. These include messages left on the ground by other players; "bloodstains" left by other players dying, which let you see how they died; and some minor helpful stuff like getting small amounts of certain resources when another player does something of import in an area you're currently in.

Dark Souls feels like it's designed with the "collective knowledge" afforded by messages and bloodstains in mind, at some points. There are a few very useful secrets that messages can clue you in on, as well as some nasty ambushes and traps. Can also get some good advice on how to tackle troublesome enemies and bosses from them.

3. Online, participating in "active" multiplayer. This part is opt-in, you join by using a certain consumable to change the state of your character. Death removes this state from you, so you're not locked in to it. Doing so allows you to summon help in the form of other players (and NPCs), but also opens you up to being invaded by others; you can also participate in these scenarios from the other side, either letting yourself be summoned by other players, or invading them. It's more complicated all in all, but that's the gist of it.

Summons will generally make the game a lot easier for you, and you won't really get the proper "Dark Souls experience" .

I'd personally suggest that you take option 1 or 2 for your first playthrough, and on the second or in NG+, you can fuck around with summons, invasions and covenants.

 

[Caim]

Alright, I defeated Ornstein and Smough, got the Lord Vessel and fought my way to Seath, whom I can beat if I don't try to cut his tail off. But from there: who's next? Four Kings, the catacombs and beyond or towards Lost Izalith?

 

[Jasede]

It doesn't matter. Whatever seems interesting to you. Lost Izalith is the worst so maybe do it first. Giant's Tomb is a treat. (Hehehe...)

 

[LivingOne]

Alright, I defeated Ornstein and Smough, got the Lord Vessel and fought my way to Seath, whom I can beat if I don't try to cut his tail off. But from there: who's next? Four Kings, the catacombs and beyond or towards Lost Izalith?

Remember there's also the DLC content you can access if you have the broken pendant.

 

[Caim]

Yeah, I got the pendant and been past the Hydra. When should I do go that stuff?

Also, I've mananged to get myself to Chaos Servant +2, but the shortcut from Quelaag's Domain does not seem to work. How can I take that shortcut?

 

[Murk]

Wiki reports that it is a bug; supposedly killing a boss will open it. They suggest ceaseless or demon firesage.

 

[Raghar]

Remember boy, Catacombs should be done when Petrus returns from that undead mission. Preferably without finishing depths.
That area behind catacombs is just meaty without bone latern.

So quick questions, I'm thinking of buying Dark Souls 1. I haven't played any of them yet but the game is right up my alley obviously like many people here. Does the game still have Game for Windows live attached to it? Additionally, how is the multiplayer for a game this old and what should I expect if I want a purely solo experience.

Didn't finish it yet, but avoid spoilers.

Also you can't summon sunbro if you are hollowed. And keep spare weapon after you find it. Actually I think that best start for a new player is offline and deprived.

 

[LivingOne]

Yeah, I got the pendant and been past the Hydra. When should I do go that stuff?

Also, I've mananged to get myself to Chaos Servant +2, but the shortcut from Quelaag's Domain does not seem to work. How can I take that shortcut?

It depends.You can do them now to get the best experience/challange out of them,but then the other end-hame areas will feel even easier than what they are now.Imo,whatever you do you should keep Izalith as last area,the boss there is a gimmick and regular mobs are underwhelming anyway.

 

[Caim]

Wiki reports that it is a bug; supposedly killing a boss will open it. They suggest ceaseless or demon firesage.

Ceaseless didn't do the trick, so Firesage it is.

 

[StaticSpine]

Yeah, I got the pendant and been past the Hydra. When should I do go that stuff?

SL 80-90 is pretty okay for the location, not too easy and not that hard.

 

[Caim]

This has likely already been posted on here, but in case it wasn't...



Make sure to put the subtitles on.

 

[toroid]

Got most of the way through Dark Souls 2 and realized what I really need is more DS1.

I've decided I'm going to do some low level invading / SUNBROing and I'm looking for some suggestions as to what starting class is most appropriate for low level melee, which I've never focused on before. I want to keep SL as low as possible. Is there a consensus? I can't really say I have a particular weapon in mind as a goal for establishing stat requirements; it just needs to be fast. I do know that I'll be grabbing the Estoc right off the bat, and I'm sure I'll be using a reinforced club too. Also, I plan on staying under 25% burden.

Hunter class seems nice, only need to level up once to get an attunement slot for pyro. Pyromancer seems like a good choice as well, only need to level DEX a few times to wield a fairly wide variety of weapons, and he has enough INT to supplement with simple offensive sorceries, and his starting armor is pretty fucking fantastic.

So, any thoughts?

 

[Perkel]

I am currently doing long play DS with archer.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/long-play-dark-souls.93267/

I can say that ranger build is valid for half of the game. Later in game you simply don't have time to shoot and damage done via arrow is definetely inferior to sword and board even with shitty shortword. Some bosses are nearly not possible with archer builds.

So imo bow user needs to supply it with good dex based weapon like silver knght long sword. After S&O i rarely use bow. Most of the time it is use to get attension of one dude intead of group and sometimes getting those archers which i can't get easily without using bow. Sure there are times when i can kill someone only using bow but later enemies have bloated HP and it takes 5-9 shoots to kill.

 

[ZodoZ]

Dude, your over analyzing a game that is too ephemeral and intuitive for analysis.
Be the sword. Be the axe. Be the polearm. Let your inner warrior guide you.
Namaste.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

But if I don't overanalyze how will I know I need 105 Agi for a 14 iframe roll?

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

So, any thoughts?

Going Pyro is probably your best bet for lower level PvP if only for the two attunement slots, which you'll want to fill with one of the following setups:

-Black Flame, Great Fireball
-Great Combustion, Great Fireball
-Black Flame, Great Combustion
-Black Flame x2
-Great Combustion x2

You'll probably want a loadout with GFB because of all the mindgames that one can play with it. Unlocked casting is a great way to catch opponents off-guard provided you make creative use of it, and toggle-canceling the animation can be used to bait foes into making an attack that is wide open to punishment. But if you aren't comfortable with that, load up on the Combustions to punish for heavy damage; Black Flame damage is split between physical and fire damage types and does more stamina damage when blocked, so keep that in mind when choosing which to attune.

For weaponry, you'll probably want a spear or thrusting sword, because pokes are stupidly good in this series' PvP (no air game to cross up poke-turtles and no spammable projectiles, like a Hadouken, for zone control game) meta. A pyro will only need a few levels in Dex to be able to poke for days...more if you want to use bigger/longer ones.

Pyros have enough strength to use some of the better medium shields, though you'd need to invest a bit in Strength for a Silver/Black Knight Shield. Shields are more of a PvE thing, but in low level PvP there aren't a ton of weapons available that can "dead-angle", so shields may be a bit more useful.

It probably goes without saying that toggle-cancels will help given that you probably won't have a lot of poise (unless you decide to use the Wolf Ring).

 

[toroid]

So, any thoughts?

Going Pyro is probably your best bet for lower level PvP if only for the two attunement slots, which you'll want to fill with one of the following setups:

-Black Flame, Great Fireball
-Great Combustion, Great Fireball
-Black Flame, Great Combustion
-Black Flame x2
-Great Combustion x2

You'll probably want a loadout with GFB because of all the mindgames that one can play with it. Unlocked casting is a great way to catch opponents off-guard provided you make creative use of it, and toggle-canceling the animation can be used to bait foes into making an attack that is wide open to punishment. But if you aren't comfortable with that, load up on the Combustions to punish for heavy damage; Black Flame damage is split between physical and fire damage types and does more stamina damage when blocked, so keep that in mind when choosing which to attune.

For weaponry, you'll probably want a spear or thrusting sword, because pokes are stupidly good in this series' PvP (no air game to cross up poke-turtles and no spammable projectiles, like a Hadouken, for zone control game) meta. A pyro will only need a few levels in Dex to be able to poke for days...more if you want to use bigger/longer ones.

Pyros have enough strength to use some of the better medium shields, though you'd need to invest a bit in Strength for a Silver/Black Knight Shield. Shields are more of a PvE thing, but in low level PvP there aren't a ton of weapons available that can "dead-angle", so shields may be a bit more useful.

It probably goes without saying that toggle-cancels will help given that you probably won't have a lot of poise (unless you decide to use the Wolf Ring).

Is pyromancy really relevant in PvP for an SL5 Pyromancer with 13 DEX and lame-ass casting speed against a potentially high-level invasion host (or any host, really)? I know it's going to be tough, which is why I wanted to try it in the first place, but I don't really know any highly advanced PvP tactics... yet. I suppose this will be a painful crash course. I understand the necessity of feints, and I also understand that my casting speed will be shit, and I also understand that if somebody blocks any of my thrusting attacks then I'm most likely insta-fucked during my stagger animation..

 

[Ninjerk]

So, any thoughts?

Going Pyro is probably your best bet for lower level PvP if only for the two attunement slots, which you'll want to fill with one of the following setups:

-Black Flame, Great Fireball
-Great Combustion, Great Fireball
-Black Flame, Great Combustion
-Black Flame x2
-Great Combustion x2

You'll probably want a loadout with GFB because of all the mindgames that one can play with it. Unlocked casting is a great way to catch opponents off-guard provided you make creative use of it, and toggle-canceling the animation can be used to bait foes into making an attack that is wide open to punishment. But if you aren't comfortable with that, load up on the Combustions to punish for heavy damage; Black Flame damage is split between physical and fire damage types and does more stamina damage when blocked, so keep that in mind when choosing which to attune.

For weaponry, you'll probably want a spear or thrusting sword, because pokes are stupidly good in this series' PvP (no air game to cross up poke-turtles and no spammable projectiles, like a Hadouken, for zone control game) meta. A pyro will only need a few levels in Dex to be able to poke for days...more if you want to use bigger/longer ones.

Pyros have enough strength to use some of the better medium shields, though you'd need to invest a bit in Strength for a Silver/Black Knight Shield. Shields are more of a PvE thing, but in low level PvP there aren't a ton of weapons available that can "dead-angle", so shields may be a bit more useful.

It probably goes without saying that toggle-cancels will help given that you probably won't have a lot of poise (unless you decide to use the Wolf Ring).

Is pyromancy really relevant in PvP for an SL5 Pyromancer with 13 DEX and lame-ass casting speed against a potentially high-level invasion host (or any host, really)? I know it's going to be tough, which is why I wanted to try it in the first place, but I don't really know any highly advanced PvP tactics... yet. I suppose this will be a painful crash course. I understand the necessity of feints, and I also understand that my casting speed will be shit, and I also understand that if somebody blocks any of my thrusting attacks then I'm most likely insta-fucked during my stagger animation..

There's a guy named Seraphim7 or something like that on YouTube that made a fuckton of PvP videos. If you skim through enough of his videos, you're bound to find a bunch of cheap PvP builds (he hates them) as well as "fair" ones. I remember one build he used specifically to punish those triple-ganker parties in the forest (I don't remember a lot about it but it involved some quick-casted pyro spell and a high-damage hornet ring weapon).

 

[toroid]

There's a guy named Seraphim7 or something like that on YouTube that made a fuckton of PvP videos. If you skim through enough of his videos, you're bound to find a bunch of cheap PvP builds (he hates them) as well as "fair" ones. I remember one build he used specifically to punish those triple-ganker parties in the forest (I don't remember a lot about it but it involved some quick-casted pyro spell and a high-damage hornet ring weapon).

TheSeraphim17? I'm watching some of these now. This is pretty much what I had in mind. Focused on melee, except I'll probably start at a lower level and then level up whenever I want to move on.

 

[Ninjerk]

There's a guy named Seraphim7 or something like that on YouTube that made a fuckton of PvP videos. If you skim through enough of his videos, you're bound to find a bunch of cheap PvP builds (he hates them) as well as "fair" ones. I remember one build he used specifically to punish those triple-ganker parties in the forest (I don't remember a lot about it but it involved some quick-casted pyro spell and a high-damage hornet ring weapon).

TheSeraphim17? I'm watching some of these now. This is pretty much what I had in mind. Focused on melee, except I'll probably start at a lower level and then level up whenever I want to move on.

That's probably him. Always ends his videos with "go with god my son" or some shit.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

 

[Raghar]

Jaeger. Did the manga explained why his "father" kept him on strong psycho leptics and basically brainwashed him? Or is it still at all these: they betrayed us. They are eating stuff.

 

[StaticSpine]