From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Lyric Suite]

There are Catacombs past the cemetery, an area that is really too much for a starting char, especially on first playthrough. Also, in Cemetery you can find one of the best weapons in game - Zweihander. It has a high STR requirement (you can wield it for half the STR requirement while two handing though) and is slow, but its strong attack is extremely useful because it knocks down a lot of enemies.

Heh, that think helped me kill the dude with the giant club. I've now got a better one, i think. A sword that does twice the damage but has a very slow strong attack. Got it from a dark knight i found down a staircase undead area. Used it to kill the motherfucking Gargoyles protecting the first bell, after dying like a dozen times.

Great game so far, good timing on my GPU deciding to fry itself though. All though, i just stuck a big fan on it and with some down clocking i can get a good 30-40 minutes of play before the frame rate goes to shit. Rebooting fixes it right away so fuck it, i'll just play it this way until i find out WTF is happening and whether the card is truly dying or is just some kind of software fuck up.

 

[dnf]

If you already got the Black knight sword, then you have successfully unlocked easy difficulty.

 

[Murk]

P much; you may want to intentionally not use it at some point just to fuck around with other weapons to have some fun.

 

[Lyric Suite]

If you already got the Black knight sword, then you have successfully unlocked easy difficulty.

For how long? Hopefully you don't mean the rest of the game. Why would they give you the chance to get something like that so early?

 

[Murk]

It's definitely viable if not effective all the way through.

It actually has a low chance to drop and that knight is the only chance you have to get it so early on.

An upgraded claymore is almost near its efficacy, but it's starting attack power (the black knight sword's) is too beastly to compete.

 

[ghostdog]

It all depends on your style actually. DS1 had many good weapons. Spears were pretty good too (DS2 made them useless), Scythes, The Dragon sword you get early on is pretty good, Claymore is great in all souls games, Greatswords and greataxes too in general, Straight swords (Balder side sword) are good, special boss weapons are good (unlike DS2). DS1 had a really good balance with different weapons, much better than DS2 imo.

 

[Multidirectional]

There are Catacombs past the cemetery, an area that is really too much for a starting char, especially on first playthrough. Also, in Cemetery you can find one of the best weapons in game - Zweihander. It has a high STR requirement (you can wield it for half the STR requirement while two handing though) and is slow, but its strong attack is extremely useful because it knocks down a lot of enemies.

Heh, that think helped me kill the dude with the giant club. I've now got a better one, i think. A sword that does twice the damage but has a very slow strong attack. Got it from a dark knight i found down a staircase undead area. Used it to kill the motherfucking Gargoyles protecting the first bell, after dying like a dozen times.

Yes, black knight weapons have better base damage. They do have weaker stat scaling though, so at 40 STR/DEX normal weapon with good scaling usually wins out. In DS it's not only damage that is important, however, moveset on the weapon can also be a game changer. Like ghostdog said, you can try out a lot of different play styles with different weapons, which is what made this thing so replayable to me.

 

[Gozma]

Black knight sword is more than viable, you are really unlikely to find anything that will help you more at any point unless you know the game inside and out. The normal progress of weapon upgrades is designed to bottleneck at a few points (where you need to fight a certain boss with less upgraded weapons to get access to the stuff you need to upgrade more) but the BKS skips that because it just upgrades all the way with twinkling titanite shards, plus it's strong as hell at base and you can just get the minimum stats to use it and put everything else in endurance/vitality and still have plenty of offense. Plus the moveset isn't horribly slow or awkward like some other heavy hitters.

It's probably about as "easy mode" as beelining for elemental weapons or just having a good plan of upgrading something like the claymore or katana, but a new player doesn't have the information to do those things effectively, while the BKS doesn't need any particular knowledge.

 

[Raghar]

I still don't have Black Knight sword and I killed few of them one with 300 chance to get items. My main weapon was longsword +5 and a Divine Club of Infinite Justice +5.

And hollow soldier armor because WTH not. (Also I changed hollow soldier shield to Balder shield.)

Also I'm playing keyboard only, and don't retrieve blood stains as a challenge for the first playtrough.

 

[Jasede]

The BKS is strong but the joy of DS is that every weapon feels differently. You might not even like the way it handles!

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, i now have the Greater Black Knight sword. Maybe i should go play some lottery number? Usually i'm unlucky as fuck when it comes to drops in games like this.

This one has a requirement of 32 strength. Wonder if it would be worth it trying to get there. I'm doing the Diablo 2 thing of pumping vitality and endurance and putting just enough points in srt and dex to use my equipment. 32 srt seems a bit high.

 

[Raghar]

Well, just you wait until you see how much DEX is requirement for better katanas.

That weapon with 40, or 50 STR requirement isn't bad either.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, i now have the Greater Black Knight sword. Maybe i should go play some lottery number? Usually i'm unlucky as fuck when it comes to drops in games like this.

This one has a requirement of 32 strength. Wonder if it would be worth it trying to get there. I'm doing the Diablo 2 thing of pumping vitality and endurance and putting just enough points in srt and dex to use my equipment. 32 srt seems a bit high.

When the game first came out, the drop rates were much much lower, probably around 5% chance maybe? Now they're closer to 15%-20% I'd say. Patch made a bunch of things easier, this change in particular might have been for speedrunners, dunno.

Not a fan of the BKGS myself. If you look at the item stats, you'll note the 'black knight sword' is classed as a greatsword, while the 'black knight greatsword' is classed as an ULTRA greatsword. Other ultra greatswords are things like the Greatsword and the Zweihander. BKS is ridiculous though, those weapons get used for speedrunning for a reason. Aside from the inherently good damage and letting you bypass the ember system for smithing, they do 20% more damage to demons, which includes quite a few boss fights. Not to mention the poise breaking factor; katanas and most light swords tend to be kinda shit at that.

 

[Multidirectional]

This one has a requirement of 32 strength. Wonder if it would be worth it trying to get there. I'm doing the Diablo 2 thing of pumping vitality and endurance and putting just enough points in srt and dex to use my equipment. 32 srt seems a bit high.

It's a perfectly viable way too play, stat scaling isn't the only way to get attack damage, you can make a lot of weapons into fire or lightning versions (though not BK ones) eventually which removes stat scaling completely and gives you enough base damage anyway. Plus this way you get to use both dex and str weapons throughout the game. I'd suggest raising END to 40 first over VIT, stamina will save your ass more than larger hp pool would. Game isn't hard to complete without investing in VIT past 15-20, although it might seem differently on first run.

 

[dnf]

Well, i now have the Greater Black Knight sword. Maybe i should go play some lottery number? Usually i'm unlucky as fuck when it comes to drops in games like this.

This one has a requirement of 32 strength. Wonder if it would be worth it trying to get there. I'm doing the Diablo 2 thing of pumping vitality and endurance and putting just enough points in srt and dex to use my equipment. 32 srt seems a bit high.

I remember myself dieing too many times trying to beat Black knight with BKS and Black knight with BKGS(didn't manage to aquire this one tough). Black knights are one of the best subbosses in Dark Souls, the heart pumping joy of killing such a enemies...

 

[Untermensch]

The one in the tower next to the dragon raped me a dozen times on my first playthrough.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, i now have the Greater Black Knight sword. Maybe i should go play some lottery number? Usually i'm unlucky as fuck when it comes to drops in games like this.

This one has a requirement of 32 strength. Wonder if it would be worth it trying to get there. I'm doing the Diablo 2 thing of pumping vitality and endurance and putting just enough points in srt and dex to use my equipment. 32 srt seems a bit high.

When the game first came out, the drop rates were much much lower, probably around 5% chance maybe? Now they're closer to 15%-20% I'd say. Patch made a bunch of things easier, this change in particular might have been for speedrunners, dunno.

Not a fan of the BKGS myself. If you look at the item stats, you'll note the 'black knight sword' is classed as a greatsword, while the 'black knight greatsword' is classed as an ULTRA greatsword. Other ultra greatswords are things like the Greatsword and the Zweihander. BKS is ridiculous though, those weapons get used for speedrunning for a reason. Aside from the inherently good damage and letting you bypass the ember system for smithing, they do 20% more damage to demons, which includes quite a few boss fights. Not to mention the poise breaking factor; katanas and most light swords tend to be kinda shit at that.

My only issue with them is the shitty attack set. And also the slowness. I'm now using the Drake Sword for the little guys and switching to the Black Knight Greatsword for the bigger ones. My technique for the latter is wait until they do a big attack, leap attack and than nope the fuck backwards. Worked for a lot of the tougher guys i've met so far. Feels like a cheat in a way.

I guess i'll have to get into weapon upgrading before i get to Blighttown. I'm still trying to figure out the mechanic. But i already know i'm going to fuck up my character anyway. Every time i play an RPG without respect option i resign myself to knowing i will probably have to start my character over at some point.

 

[trym88]

Well, i now have the Greater Black Knight sword. Maybe i should go play some lottery number? Usually i'm unlucky as fuck when it comes to drops in games like this.

This one has a requirement of 32 strength. Wonder if it would be worth it trying to get there. I'm doing the Diablo 2 thing of pumping vitality and endurance and putting just enough points in srt and dex to use my equipment. 32 srt seems a bit high.

When the game first came out, the drop rates were much much lower, probably around 5% chance maybe? Now they're closer to 15%-20% I'd say. Patch made a bunch of things easier, this change in particular might have been for speedrunners, dunno.

Not a fan of the BKGS myself. If you look at the item stats, you'll note the 'black knight sword' is classed as a greatsword, while the 'black knight greatsword' is classed as an ULTRA greatsword. Other ultra greatswords are things like the Greatsword and the Zweihander. BKS is ridiculous though, those weapons get used for speedrunning for a reason. Aside from the inherently good damage and letting you bypass the ember system for smithing, they do 20% more damage to demons, which includes quite a few boss fights. Not to mention the poise breaking factor; katanas and most light swords tend to be kinda shit at that.

My only issue with them is the shitty attack set. And also the slowness. I'm now using the Drake Sword for the little guys and switching to the Black Knight Greatsword for the bigger ones. My technique for the latter is wait until they do a big attack, leap attack and than nope the fuck backwards. Worked for a lot of the tougher guys i've met so far. Feels like a cheat in a way.

I guess i'll have to get into weapon upgrading before i get to Blighttown. I'm still trying to figure out the mechanic. But i already know i'm going to fuck up my character anyway. Every time i play an RPG without respect option i resign myself to knowing i will probably have to start my character over at some point.

Did you figure out how to get the drake sword by your own or did you read about it? (be honest :>)

 

[Lyric Suite]

It showed up on youtube while i was checking gameplay videos to see what the game was about back then. I probably would have never figured it out on my own, too impatient to look for those type of details.

I did figure out how to kill the dragon on my own though. Took me literally two dozens deaths, but i can get pretty stubborn over this stuff.

 

[trym88]

It showed up on youtube while i was checking gameplay videos to see what the game was about back then. I probably would have never figured it out on my own, too impatient to look for those type of details.

I did figure out how to kill the dragon on my own though. Took me literally two dozens deaths, but i can get pretty stubborn over this stuff.

If you never had figured it out by your own, you shouldn't use it :>

 

[praetor]

I guess i'll have to get into weapon upgrading before i get to Blighttown. I'm still trying to figure out the mechanic. But i already know i'm going to fuck up my character anyway. Every time i play an RPG without respect option i resign myself to knowing i will probably have to start my character over at some point.

as long as you don't invest points into Resistance at all, or into Int/Fth if you don't intend to use sorcery/miracles, and don't go over 40 on stats, you're not going to fuck up.

weapon upgrades are quite simple: a) there are special weapons that upgrade with twinkling and demon titanite. those can be upgraded only to +5, and they don't require anything special other than the upgrade materials and an upgrade box/blacksmith. they cannot be upgraded along elemental, raw, or crystal paths. b) for now, avoid crystal, raw, occult, magic, enchanted. c) normal weapons upgrade with regular titanite up to 15 (small to +5, large to +10, chunks to +14, slabs for +15). to go beyond +5 you need an ember and then "upgrade" the weapon at Andre the blacksmith. same thing for when you get to +10 you'll need to find another ember and upgrade at the same blacksmith. leave those weapons at +14 and don't go to +15 until you're absolutely sure you love that weapon since slabs are pretty rare (only 3 or 4 are guaranteed per playthrough iirc) and kind of a pain to farm. d) you might want to have a +4 lightning weapon and a +10 fire/+5 chaos one, just in case (for lightning: you'll find the blacksmith at the mid point and a lightning weapon before that. you need a +10 and a regular chunk to make any weapon to lightning. no embers required. fire/chaos blacksmith can be accessed earlier although he's a bit hidden. you need a +5 weapon, green shards to make it fire, then embers and red chunks for +6 fire/+0 chaos and later upgrades). it's not necessary but it may be of some use, particularly earlier on when your offensive stats are nowhere near 40. P.S.: if you see a boss with a tail, you can cut it for a weapon.

don't concern yourself too much with the damage of weapons. find some weapons that you enjoy using/have a nice moveset, then upgrade those. in PvE the vast majority of weapons are viable/useful

 

[Lyric Suite]

Weapon stats contra moveset is a brilliant concept. This might just be the best action game i've played in ages. The only thing about it that i hate is the often confusing camera system, which i guess is typical to how consoles handle this type of stuff. It is really a pity the Japanese market never adopted the PC as a gaming platform. I think consoles is what held them back the most.

Ho, just killed the Black Knight down at the bottom of the Catacombs. No Black Knight Axe. My luck has ran out.

I also couldn't retrieve 12000 souls because of those fucking rolling skeletons. Now that i have to collect so many souls before being able to spend them on anything the game a lot harder.

 

[Bahamut]

On my last playtrough i always had a BK drop, being human + high humanity boost drop rates iirc

My only bad expierience with PC port + DSFix was i once fallen trough map while sliding a ladder, and it looked better than DS2 for me

 

[trym88]

On my last playtrough i always had a BK drop, being human + high humanity boost drop rates iirc

My only bad expierience with PC port + DSFix was i once fallen trough map while sliding a ladder, and it looked better than DS2 for me

What do you mean it looked better. DS2 with GEM-GeDoSaTo looks absolutely insane.

 

[praetor]

DaS2 has waaaay too many tiled textures (seriously, it looks worse than most games from a decade ago that way), a clearly inferior art direction, a weird lighting system where only some lights are dynamic (i mean seriously... Blade of Darkness 15 years ago on half the horsepower had fully dynamic lights and half the game was written in motherfucking python), some shit is oversaturated, some under, some looks like plastic, most looks washed out (because of the change in lighting) etc... the animations are mostly an improvement, as are small details that make it look more "natural", but overall, bar some vistas here and there, it's the worst Souls game aesthetically