From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[janior]

and now i have strong desire to replay it, fuck you

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Well, ok, I did start it back up. And yes, it certainly is a great game. I would want to do lots of stuff.

I never finished it, while playing about 200 hours.

But it's nearly impossible to continue my save and finish the game, after not playing it for many months. The first, puny enemy, kills me without raising a sweat. It takes me about 10 hours to become good enough to get to the next bonfire. And I'm level 70! I cannot even get The Power Within in Blight town! Which should be a cakewalk!

The flies keep me busy until one of the walkers does its fire attack in my back. Hidden body doesn't work, and taking it slow gets me a few meters further after each death.

Why do I bother! Fuck this shit! It looks superb and the mechanics are excellent. But I'm not masochistic enough for this game.

 

[Excidium II]

Blighttown punishes aggressive ppl, just take your time

 

[cvv]

What. Lol.

Get sober and try again tomorrow.

 

[Grimlorn]

I never finished it, while playing about 200 hours.

200 hours and you never finished it? It's a 40-60 hour game for a first playthrough and that's with exploring everywhere and killing everything.

 

[Excidium II]

probably pvp and stuff

 

[KILLER BEAR]

You can always take the easy way and enter Blighttown from The Valley of Drakes. Using that passage makes the whole area way easier, almost a cakewalk really.

 

[Excidium II]

You can always take the easy way and enter Blighttown from The Valley of Drakes. Using that passage makes the whole area way easier, almost a cakewalk really.

u need master key

 

[Jigawatt]

Sounds like he already is going through the back, what with flies and fire. IMO getting Power Within would be way easier coming from the depths, especially since there's a bonfire right in the middle of the journey

 

[KILLER BEAR]

IMO getting Power Within would be way easier coming from the depths, especially since there's a bonfire right in the middle of the journey

It's still faster the other way (and with easier enemies).

EDIT: Oh you said getting Power Within. Yeah that's the only way then.

 

[Machocruz]

lol such atrophy of skills. Can't relate. Came back after 2 years, nailed dat no death run breh. Twitch skillz til I'm 70, don't hate breh.

 

[Seaking4]

You can always take the easy way and enter Blighttown from The Valley of Drakes. Using that passage makes the whole area way easier, almost a cakewalk really.

u need master key

No you don't. You can access the valley of the drakes from Darkroot Basin (and New Londo but that would be much harder).

 

[Excidium II]

Ooooh yeah

 

[Elwro]

Yes, you can, and it's awesome that you can, but if you have trouble with the flies in Blighttown, then good luck with the drakes.

A few days ago I finally managed to open the doors to Izalith and, I hope, saved Solaire for the first time... felt truly elated.

 

[Invictus]

Yes, you can, and it's awesome that you can, but if you have trouble with the flies in Blighttown, then good luck with the drakes.

A few days ago I finally managed to open the doors to Izalith and, I hope, saved Solaire for the first time... felt truly elated.

I always have to save him; I can kill Inguard and the lot of them but Solaire always gets saved

 

[Seaking4]

Meh the Dark Souls NPC quests are too convoluted to bother going through more than once. Although they are pretty neat if you go through with it.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

The first time I played it, I got to level 15 or so. I think I started with a knight, and was using medium and big swords. Those tend to hit the walls more than the enemies, and heavy armor doesn't really work in this game (at least at low level).

After that, I started over as a sorcerer. I got to level 29 with that, and got a good idea of what I wanted to do: magic, with enough str and dex to equip the things I wanted. 16 dex, 16 str and 36 int. As much ranged as possible, and a sword and shield. Start by using spells, parry when they get close and use a fast sword with a powerful thrusting attack, preferably one that can do that while parrying. A spear does work as well, but those don't have a sweeping attack for groups (like the Blight Town flies, or simple undead).

I started a pyromancer (with masterkey) and got the spider shield and estoc, but I wasn't satisfied with that and started farming the Balder Knights in the church in Undead Parish for their side swords. I wanted 10, and it took me a long time to get them. I became quite good at it, of course. I can still do that quite well. Even riposte.

After that, I was (iirc) level 16, with 16 in int, str and dex, and I had spend my souls mostly on upgrading all my equipment to +5. And I was wondering what else I could do to improve it, before starting the game proper (gargoyles). Free stuff!

So, I went about everywhere I could and got all the stuff just laying around, killing all the easy semi-bosses (with maximum cheese), like the undead dragon, the hydra in the basin, the rat in the depths, Havel, the Black Knights, etc. Poison arrows, great/heavy soul arrows, pyromancy, kiting, etc.

After that, I wanted to upgrade my equipment as much as possible, so I figured out (with a lot of trial and error) the easiest way to get embers (killed the Moonlight Butterfly), upgrade materials (the Great Hollow, farming slimes, leeches and such) get to Vamos (drop down) and get souls (have the adventurers in the forest run off the cliff).

By this time I was pretty good in all those low-level things, while still just level 20 (I think, upgraded attunement to 16 as well) and with pretty decent equipment. This took me more than 100 hours. I decided to upgrade endurance to 16 as well (lvl 25), and go for the gargoyles.

Those stupid skeletons on the first floor killed me lots of times, and the gargoyles were harder than I thought, even with the good equipment. The Capra demon was even worse. The gaping demon and Querlaag required assistance.

I didn't have much stamina or health, so I went down pretty easily.

After that first round of bosses, I decided I wasn't ready yet, so I went for another round of collecting, upgrading and a bit of leveling. Ceaseless Discharge was no problem (after Googling). After that, Sen's fortress went pretty well, but Anor Londo was a showstopper.

First, the dragon arrows. I got a lucky break when the Silver Knight fell off the ledge. After reaching the next bonfire, cleaning things out and more farming and upgrading.

Lautrec killed me every time, until I found out how to cheese him. And, Ornstein and Smough killed me many, many times, even with assistance.

Well, after that I took a break, and just started it back up 3-4 times a year. I couldn't get back into it. Run around a bit, try some stuff, level up a bit, but not much progress. Lots of dying.

So, this time I did some more collecting, upgrading and leveling (of course). Pinwheel was surprisingly easy (went down in one or two casts, I just noticed after the second cast that he was already gone), but much other stuff (the archives, the Power Within) very, very hard. I think I'll try New Londo next, when I feel like it.

I like the game, I just don't have the twitch skills to excel in it. I have to take it slow and use as much cheese as possible.

 

[janior]

Dark Souls is easy once you get good also

and got a good idea of what I wanted to do: magic

lol, kys

 

[KILLER BEAR]

Surprising that you had problem with the Gaping Dragon tbh, i found him pretty easy. Capra Demon is easy too if you use the tiny passage for your advantage (it leads to a platform that he can't reach, so you can wait for the dogs to come at you and kill them, and you can also use the falling attack from here).

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Surprising that you had problem with the Gaping Dragon tbh, i found him pretty easy. Capra Demon is easy too if you use the tiny passage for your advantage (it leads to a platform that he can't reach, so you can wait for the dogs to come at you and kill them, and you can also use the falling attack from here).

Yes, that's how I finally did the Capra Demon. But he could still sometimes hit me on that ledge. Next time I'll try black firebombs, from outside his cell.

For the Gaping Dragon I summoned both Lautrec and Sunbro, which I later think was the problem, as it seems that triples his health and damage. They went down fast, and I did puny damage with my soul arrows. And one hit killed me. I should have gone in alone and stay at range. That way it's probably not that hard. That's also how I did the Iron Golem, IIRC.

Still, I think I could now do all the bosses I killed much easier, except for the dynamic duo. Trial, error and youtube.

I tend to play the game either very slowly and methodical (kill everything, one-by-one, from range if possible), or (with respawning enemies or to get somewhere) like a speedrun. That way it is playable, but slow going.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Dark Souls is easy once you get good also

and got a good idea of what I wanted to do: magic

lol, kys

Well, magic is faster and more powerful. It does take a lot of levels (int). And I haven't got the twitch skills for melee, so that isn't an option for me. Well, unless I wanted to play it for hundreds more hours, and just grind slowly through it all. Die a few thousand times.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Sounds like he already is going through the back, what with flies and fire. IMO getting Power Within would be way easier coming from the depths, especially since there's a bonfire right in the middle of the journey

Thanks! Got it!

Yes, that was much easier. I only died twice.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Draining New Londo Ruins and getting the Very Large Ember was surprisingly easy as well. Although the Black Wraiths were lethal, of course. Kill the ghosts, use hidden body for the wraiths.

More upgrading

 

[Excidium II]

Surprising that you had problem with the Gaping Dragon tbh, i found him pretty easy.

Tell that to Solaire.

 

[Zetor]

Capra is rough as a caster (slow casts with comparatively low damage + getting hit even once while getting to the ledge probably means you're dead; magic shield works well, though), but most of the difficulty comes from him being an earlygame boss and not having many options yet. And yea, for gaping dragon you'll run out of casts if you go in with any summons.

Sorcery is fairly powerful in DS1, but it starts off slow. You'll eventually unlock some of the bigger and badder blue icons + some specialized mage gear, which combined make many enemies and bosses waaay easier than melee (contrast this with DS3 where mages kinda got fucked except for invis-cheesing through maps).