From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[sullynathan]

I beat manus first time NG, now he's just kinda crazy. Kalameet is a bitch.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I thought Kalameet was way harder than Manus. They're both pretty bad bosses though, to be honest. I much prefer Artorias.

 

[cvv]

Fuck, I can't beat Manus no matter what. After like 30 attempts I'm ready to give up. I had similar problems with the Capra Demon but there I felt if I can stabilize and kill the fucking dogs first it'd be easy, and it was. With Manus it's a different story. I feel like to beat him you gotta be absolutely perfect on your timings and dodges. The space for error is non-existent. Problem is I'm playing with M&K, plus I'm not in the twitch gen anymore and because of that he's constantly buttraping me.

Is there still any online activity in this game? I'm thinking I'll finish everything else first, then go online and seek some help. The little wolf is useless he doesn't hold aggro and does zero damage.

 

[sullynathan]

use sif, she takes aggro off you and you can beat manus. If not, you'll have to do some rolling faggotry

 

[Seaking4]

Don't use a summon to beat one of the best bosses in the game any boss.

If you don't have the silver pendant, get it. Should help with the second half of the fight plus it has the added effect of looking really cool when you use it. If you can, a high stability shield helps when you need to block his attacks. The most important thing is staying far enough away that he does that long distance attack with his hands. Then you just hit his hand because it stays put for a few seconds.

Kalameet and Manus are both amazing bosses. Up there with Artorias.

 

[Rolk's Drifter]

Seaking4 It's cool you're helping and all but doesn't giving him a strategy contradict the do-it-yourself philosophy?

About the secret areas, there's a miracle that reveals developer messages which spoil a lot of secrets. The pendant you need for the DLC has a description that mentions it's from Oolacile. So pretty big hint. Plus Dusk is a vendor so I'm guessing some peeps just went back and couldn't find her. It's quite natural they would go back to where they first found her. So if you're into spells and/or read shit, it's not too obtuse. But can't say I would have found them lol.

sullynathan Will you be trying NG+ in DS2? It's really worth trying if you liked that game. And yeah the Zweihander... awesome weapon. Broken as shit though considering how early/easy it is to get/use. It can stagger early bosses with just one hit lol.

Wolfe Yeah the bosses are one of many disappointments in DS2. But you can parry most of them though so that can still be fun. Kinda pointless if you're alone but with summons it can be a fun little challenge. Velstadt is a good boss for that. Especially if you have a little lag to spice things up haha... can be pretty embarrasing if you fuck up though.

Still, it's not like most pre DLC bosses are that great in DS1. I think they're better for sure and I still enjoy fighting most of them.. but there is a strange habit of comparing DS1+DLC to DS2 vanilla which is pretty fucked up imo.

So apart from DLC, which bosses in DS1 are that amazing? I like Gwyn, Que... erm Spider-Tits and O&S depending on order + setup. O&S can be a really nasty bullshit fight at times but what ever. Still kinda fun even then. But what else is there? Taurus? Capra? Gargoyles? Gaping Dragon? Asylum? Ceaseless? Butt monster 3.0 fire version? The scorpion thing? Bed of Chaos? Four Kings? (ok.. don't like it myself but ok..) Pinwheel? Nito? (lol at people bitching about added monsters in DS2).

 

[cvv]

Yeah I got the pendant, it's just a bit tricky to switch between the juice, pendant and green blossom (without the stamina regen I can forget using shields against Manus) on the fucking mouse. I summoned the wolf twice but neither time he took ANY aggro at all, Manus was up in my grille all the time. Btw Kalameet was a great boss, probably my best so far. Took 7 attempts with my sorcerer dude but I guess for melees he'd be much harder.

Btw the most annoying thing about Manus is when I fail to block or dodge and he hits me I stay splayed on the ground so long he gets in another smash as soon as I stand up. What influences how long I stay on my back, poise? Coz I got none in my light armor, maybe that's the problem.

 

[sullynathan]

sullynathan Will you be trying NG+ in DS2? It's really worth trying if you liked that game. And yeah the Zweihander... awesome weapon. Broken as shit though considering how early/easy it is to get/use. It can stagger early bosses with just one hit lol.

Yeah, I'll try NG+ in the future, maybe this time with less summons. I really want a legal copy though, I heard how much quicker all the multiplayer aspects of SOTFS are and I want to try it.

 

[Rolk's Drifter]

sullynathan Will you be trying NG+ in DS2? It's really worth trying if you liked that game. And yeah the Zweihander... awesome weapon. Broken as shit though considering how early/easy it is to get/use. It can stagger early bosses with just one hit lol.

Yeah, I'll try NG+ in the future, maybe this time with less summons. I really want a legal copy though, I heard how much quicker all the multiplayer aspects of SOTFS are and I want to try it.

It's much better. None of that waiting around for 5 minutes waiting for an invasion to fail. Lag is pretty crazy at times though but if you can laugh it off there's still a lot of good fights to have. I prefer invasions to duelling. Many duelists just backstep around waiting for you to attack. It's really fucking tedious imo. Really liking the look of pvp in DS3 but maybe that's just cos the metas haven't taken hold. That's probably the biggest thing that pisses me off about the early release.

What influences how long I stay on my back, poise? Coz I got none in my light armor, maybe that's the problem.

I dunno but it's worth trying. Happened to me a lot the last time I fought O&S. Was nekkid with Grant which is a slow greathammer. As soon as one hit me, the other would get me without having a chance to roll. There was some serious sperg rage. My favourite was when Big Smo' spawned in on top of me, which stunned me, then he one shot me before I could do anything. Good times lol.

 

[Mystary!]

So, I did the DLC last night. Fun, if a bit short. The double guardians was actually the hardest part for me.
The rest of the bosses I beat in 2-3 tries, using my standard, pretty much fool-proof approach.
First I'd go in with shield and just try to stay alive as long as possible to learn their attacks and which are safe to attack after.
When I'd eventually die I'd go back in but this time ditch the shield as it often does more harm than good against these types of relentless, hard-hitting enemies.
Two-hand strongest weapon, +15 large club in my case, use Power Withing and whatever Resin I hav on me, focus on dodging everything until I find the openings, like when Manus gets his arm stuck in the ground, that's worth like two attacks, which was almost 1/4 of his health with my set up.

 

[cvv]

Manus has fallen. Christ, what an ordeal. Turns out all I had to do was buy the best stability shield I could find, the Balder Shield, and upgrade it as high as I could (+12). Then stack the sorcery ring, crown of dusk, Tin Catalyst and cast Power Within right before entering the pit. With all this Manus got his asshole ripped wide open The lesson is if you can't do something don't bang your head against the wall but change equipment or tactics.

Btw one question - sweeping the Oolacile Township one last time lest I overlooked something. In the general area where you find the Crest Key there's a room with three chests. Leading out of the doorway there's a broken bridge and a solitary tower with an entrance on the other side. Problem is the gap is way too big to jump and I can't see any other way to it. Is it legit or just a red herring?

 

[Mystary!]

Speaking of magic, what's the appeal?
Was watching some of KayPlays boss fights, man, magic really trivializes the fuck out of everything... she/he never even gets to see half of the bosses melee moves at all, just back back back back shoot back back back shoot and bosses can't do shit about it. It's disgusting, really...

 

[Great Deceiver]

Speaking of magic, what's the appeal?
Was watching some of KayPlays boss fights, man, magic really trivializes the fuck out of everything... she/he never even gets to see half of the bosses melee moves at all, just back back back back shoot back back back shoot and bosses can't do shit about it. It's disgusting, really...

It was even worse in Demon's Souls, actually. I'm also of the opinion that magic is for fags and ruins the game - beefcaking through everything is the only way.

 

[cvv]

Speaking of magic, what's the appeal?
Was watching some of KayPlays boss fights, man, magic really trivializes the fuck out of everything... she/he never even gets to see half of the bosses melee moves at all, just back back back back shoot back back back shoot and bosses can't do shit about it. It's disgusting, really...

It was even worse in Demon's Souls, actually. I'm also of the opinion that magic is for fags and ruins the game - beefcaking through everything is the only way.

After going through my first DS playthrough with a sorcerer I kindda agree. There are a few tough spots for a mage class, especially bosses that won't get out of your face like Capra or Manus, but a good shield will solve that problem very quickly. With a sorcerer all the places that are obviously meant to be tough are rendered trivial, which is further compounded by summonning NPC or players. With Solaire's help I utterly smashed Gwyn on my first try within 10 seconds.

While we're at it, summoning ruins the game even more than magic IMO. The game is either badly balanced for coop or not meant to be played that way. When you summon a help the mob count should go way up and they should become much more aggressive, otherwise the game is retarded easy, especially with the dumb backstab mechanics. And NPCs should definitely not take all the aggro from bosses, like Solaire does with Gwyn (saving Solaire is neigh impossible without wiki but still).

 

[Jasede]

Summoning and Magic exist so reviewers and 98% of the people who bought it can see the end of the game.

Only the Jasede way is the true way: no shield, 1 sword, Final Destination

 

[Multidirectional]

Honestly I find no shield run way to be way better in DSII, so much that I never picked up the shield since my first playthrough.

 

[Caim]

Pick up a shield that'll increase your stamina regeneration rate or heals you when you hit stuff, then pick up a big heavy weapon and go to town with it.

 

[sullynathan]

I tried a lot (like 30 times) and I finally beat Manus. He's an annoying fucker without Sif to draw out his attention but still one of the best boss fights in the series. Came close to beating Kalameet. I tried using a tank build to beat him and it worked for a while until he reached half health and burned me out of nowhere. I swear, I can't connect to multiplayer whatsoever.

 

[cvv]

I tried a lot (like 30 times) and I finally beat Manus.

Yeah, 30 times is about my number too. I found him pretty impossible without a good shield and pretty easy with one. His magic is a matter of learning the timing with the silver medaillon.

 

[sullynathan]

on NG with Sif it was easy, I beat him the first time. NG+ is another story. The magic attacks really fucked me up a number of times. I two handed the whole fight, and I didn't use the silver medallion because I'd rather heal.

 

[vortex]

 

[sullynathan]

I was cursed for the first time in the great hollow. I didn't even know such a thing existed. The great hollow isn't half bad.

 

[Deflowerer]

Ash Lake was frickin' beautiful. Overall atmosphere reminded me a lot of the wetlands I used to hike when I was young.

 

[sullynathan]

Just beat seath on a second try, was really easy this time with Havel's full set & shield, and bastard sword +15 and sunlight blade. Curses have gotten me thrice now in NG+, something that never happened in NG. Seath wasn't as hard as I thought.

Onwards to lost izalith and I beat demon firesage in first try, I really want to get this place done so I will go through the shortcut. I think it might still be closed though, I could have sworn I gave the humanity needed in my last playthrough.

 

[sullynathan]

Didn't feel like wasting my time failing at beating Kalameet. I instead went to beat Gwyndolin and Gwyn and beat the NG+. Gwyn killed me 3 times, more than NG. My parries weren't as effective as before, he really is a difficult boss if not parried. I lost 190,000 souls in the process. I think this is a good enough time to start a new character.