From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Average Manatee]

But how are players supposed to know how cool the boss monsters I made are unless I tell them? -- Blizzard game devs.


Obviously powerful enemy at the end of a hall with their back turned is a bit overused though tbh.

 

[Jasede]

I haven't bought the DLC yet, so I want to know:

A) Is there anything added other than the new DLC areas?
B) How do I start the DLC areas?

 

[Serious_Business]

"This game isn't so hard, the difficulty is overrated"

How about this :

FUCK YOU

That fucking Spider boss, man. Died 4 times. I had her twice, but I got excited and bum rushed her. Not a good idea.

In comparison, first boss took 2 tries, the bull demon 3, Capra 2, gaping Dragon was easy. But this bitch. Ggngngngngn. Not that hard I guess. But shit, this game as a forced ironman mode. This is what makes it a fucking challenge.
5th time better be the good one or I will be very angry
I'M ALREADY VERY ANGRY

 

[felipepepe]

Obviously powerful enemy at the end of a hall with their back turned is a bit overused though tbh.

That's the classic "Dr. Evil" approach, as you come near he turns and make a speech about ruling the world or somehting... In DS they are staring at you, in a very intimidating way.

And just managed to get the black dragon on the ground, that thing is a beast! I suppose he is some sort of optional, hardest boss of the game. That fucker has tons of health! One Crystal Soul Spear of mine took like 15-20% of Artorias HP, yet only did like 5% on him! Killing him with a mage will definetly be a challenge...

 

[felipepepe]

A) Is there anything added other than the new DLC areas?

There are 3 new areas (all connected), 4 bosses, some new magic & equipment and a PvP arena.

B) How do I start the DLC areas?

Once you get the lordvessel, enter the library, kill a golem there and the pejndant he'll drop. Then go to the first hydra, kill the golden golem if you haven't yet, then a portal will appear where the golem was, at the far end of the lake behind the hydra.

 

[Jasede]

TY.
As to A), what I meant was, is there anything to be found in old areas that's new, or is all the new stuff in the new areas?

I'm pining for more dialogue or an alternative ending. ._.

 

[felipepepe]

Ah, sorry. No, everything is exactly the same...

 

[Jasede]

That's a shame; I can't help but want more, more, more. If only all games were as mysterious and made you dream of forgotten worlds.

 

[felipepepe]

I understand your feelings very well, I almost beated the DLC, all that's left are two bosses, but the new areas are fully explored...

While Dark Souls has a huge replay value, it never feel as good as the first time... all that mystery, that fear of getting killed, the glory of finally beating a boss, of finding a new weapon & armor or seeing a Dark Knight for the first time... you don't get that as strong on the second playthroughs...

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, a couple balance changes, but those don't count for much.

The lack of music does wonders too. Atmosphere is so much better when the silence is only broken by the sounds of violence.

Aren't rapiers supposed to be backstab/riposte weapons?

Yeah but half the shit in the game can't be riposted or backstabbed, and the shit that can is just as easy to kill with any weapon if you can do that stuff. So rapiers are basically super effective against targets that are weak anyways. Against something like a black knight, you can technically parry them, but it's pretty fucking dangerous and good luck learning the timing when they're using a different weapon every time and you meet like 1 an hour. OTOH, try fighting a titanite demon when your weapon is plinking away for 15 damage a hit.

I mean, it basically just boils down to me being stupid for trying to exclusively use a rapier (with a weak build focused on some lategame shit at that), but it still makes me rage a bit, because you have no such problems exclusively using a spear or a bigass 2 hander.

 

[Average Manatee]

It makes sense that a rapier is more of an anti-human weapon though. For specific enemies you can still go with poison buff or w/e. No one weapon is supposed to be great everywhere.

 

[felipepepe]

My main issue with rapiers are how horrible they are to hit some enemies, especially big bosses like Sif. Thus I use Velka's rapier, since the R2 attack is a great combo that hit on a wide angle. Still, I'm backed by magic, playing purely with a rapier would be REALLY hard...

 

[Damned Registrations]

Rapiers are awful at stuff low to the ground too. The hellhound things in lower burg are a total pain in the ass. I don't even want to think about the slimes in the depths or other nastier things. Well, I'll have pyromancy soon enough, and a kickass (THE most kickass) bow before long as well.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Winning streak against bosses ended against the gaping dragon. Everything seemed to be going alright but I got nailed by a forward charge. Then as I was returning I fell down a hole and some frogs cursed me. Then I quit 'cause I didn't feel like backtracking to get uncursed.

 

[Fat Dragon]

Winning streak against bosses ended against the gaping dragon. Everything seemed to be going alright but I got nailed by a forward charge. Then as I was returning I fell down a hole and some frogs cursed me. Then I quit 'cause I didn't feel like backtracking to get uncursed.

For curing Curse, the cheapest place to get purging stones is that priest guy at the gargoyle bell tower. He sells them for 3000, much better than the undead merchant who charges 6000. Also might want to buy his poisonbite ring while there, a godsend for exploring Blightown.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

That'll make a difference. I remembered him having them, and I knew the undead chick had them since I looked at her list shortly before going down here. Didn't realize about the price difference.

IIRC that poison ring was expensive as hell, more than I've ever had. Then again I guess I could use some of these "item souls" I've been stockpiling. Not sure how many souls those are worth, but if they're worth a lot I could maybe get that ring and the armor from the guy in the sewers. I think that armor was better than mine anyway.

 

[Fat Dragon]

That'll make a difference. I remembered him having them, and I knew the undead chick had them since I looked at her list shortly before going down here. Didn't realize about the price difference.

IIRC that poison ring was expensive as hell, more than I've ever had. Then again I guess I could use some of these "item souls" I've been stockpiling. Not sure how many souls those are worth, but if they're worth a lot I could maybe get that ring and the armor from the guy in the sewers. I think that armor was better than mine anyway.

Well, the Gaping Dragon gives you a whopping 25k souls upon defeat, more than enough to buy the gear you need for Blighttown. It's a good idea to stock up on poison/toxin-cure moss clumps (female undead merchant) and any poison resistant gear, it's a pain in the ass to navigate. Lots of good loot and spells to find there tho.

One last thing, there's a secret dark invader encounter inside the sewers that only triggers if you're exploring while human, and only appears if you haven't killed the dragon first. If you kill it first, he won't appear and will lose the hidden quest.

 

[Dexter]

Yeah the capra demon is a pretty shitty fight since it'll largely boil down to what attacks the fucker ends up using. In quarters that small you can't possibly avoid all the shit and observe him, and some of the moves he has will completely fucking wreck you.

I dno, seemed pretty straight forward to me after the first time he bumrushed me, block as soon as you enter and run up the stairs as soon as you can, kill the 2 dogs and alone he's easy as shit.

why was gaping daemon the hardest boss in the game for me
am I retarded or smth

Once you figure out his attacks he's pretty easy, just don't let him land on you or run you over and always attack when he has downtime, which is kind of a lot of the time.

Btw. people are working on improving the graphics even further, this is at 2560x1440 with 4xMSAA and SSAO activated for shadow/depth effects through NVIDIA Inspector:

 

[made]

I like how some areas/encounters can go from frustrating to almost trivial with proper preparation. On my first trip to Blighttown I actually thought the whole area is toxic (didn't notice the snipers) and I ran out of cures in no time so I said screw it and went to stock up on all the poison resist items I could find and farmed some ents. Then it was smooth sailing on the next trip. Made it all the way down in one go. The ground level is also made a lot easier if you have the ring from Asylum, and with the rags you find there you can pretty much run around at will in the poison. Queelag was also a walk in the park since I was lucky enough to have a BK shield on me.

Though that also means that a second playthrough loses its edge as you pretty much know the perfect path through the game that gets you the right gear for each area.

 

[Tommers]

Yeah the game is completely different once you've finished it. It's also nice when you summon somebody and they don't just destroy everything in 2 hits.

The game is good cos it scares the shit out of you the first time. That's why all the marketing goes on about how hard it is, 'prepare to die' and all that - coupled with the level design, the build up to the bosses - it makes you anxious.

Once you know where everything is and you've beaten the bosses then that kind of goes. It's still (very) good but it's not the same. I've spent most of the time since trying to recapture that. The only thing that's come close is playing through without levelling.

Glad to see everybody seems to be enjoying it though. It really is a great game.

 

[praetor]

Guess I was lucky with the guy; only took 5 tries. Stray demon on the other hand took like 20. Guess I was really underleveled for it.

the trick for Stray is avoiding the first hit as soon as you land and... bleed!

"This game isn't so hard, the difficulty is overrated"

How about this :

FUCK YOU

That fucking Spider boss, man. Died 4 times. I had her twice, but I got excited and bum rushed her. Not a good idea.

In comparison, first boss took 2 tries, the bull demon 3, Capra 2, gaping Dragon was easy. But this bitch. Ggngngngngn. Not that hard I guess. But shit, this game as a forced ironman mode. This is what makes it a fucking challenge.
5th time better be the good one or I will be very angry
I'M ALREADY VERY ANGRY

oh come on.. quelaag is easy if you observe her. her most dangerous attacks are telegraphed days in advance and she leaves herself open wide during lava spewing for quite a bit... just be patient and watch her moves (or you could summon Mildred to distract her, although that will bump up her HP)

Ah, sorry. No, everything is exactly the same...

not everything

Spoiler

Sif's cutscene is different if you fight him after the DLC and you freed him in the abyss

the armor from the guy in the sewers. I think that armor was better than mine anyway.

no no no no... that armour is a waste of souls. crappy and unupgradable

also is there a way to kill the hellkite dragon without cheese (arrows) ? i tried loading up on fire res and whacking at him with a gravelord sword but it didnt do much

yeah.. get on the stairs, fire an arrow to lure him down, get in position where his head will be, whack at his head once or twice and run back down asap. repeat

or, if you have some of the more powerful spells (and/or +magic boosting gear), you can position yourself near the entrance to the room where the rats are and manually snipe him from there

 

[made]

the trick for Stray is avoiding the first hit as soon as you land and... bleed!

Yeah I figured that out eventually after a dozen quick and frustrating deaths. But even when I had his predictable attack pattern down the controls and camera still fucked me over as I would roll in the wrong direction , or too far, or too close...
Bleed is only good if you can get in a bunch of quick hits, my club was too slow. In the end I played it safe, did one jump attack, then back off and dodge, repeat for 5 mins.

Seriously, club jump attack + rolling is what got me through 90% of the game. So cheap, yet so effective.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Finally uncursed myself and killed gaping dragon. Took a few attempts, even though I killed everything else in my first go, gaping dragon messed me up. I think what was happening was I was attacking his side, and then he'd trigger a forward charge and one foot brushing me was enough for instant death. Eventually got his pattern down pat and slowly whittled him down. He also had way more HP than anything else I'd fought and took a HELL of a lot more hits to take down. Shield also seemed completely useless so I went two-handed.

Got a zweihander from the graveyard as per Praetor's suggestion, and that seems neat. Gonna take me a while to get the 24 STR or whatever it needs, but if I two-hand it it's kinda cool. Tempted to make a run to a blacksmith so I can upgrade it. Haven't upgraded anything but the black knight shield yet, got a bunch of normal titanite. Probably could do all my knight armor or something.

 

[Tommers]

upgrade weapons over armour if you haven't got much stuff... IMO.

 

[made]

Gaping Dragon was a funny fight. I had him at 10% on my first try, then he suddenly grabbed me and ated me. XD
Took another dozen attempts after that to get him down. Again a fight where you're struggling with the camera more than the boss, desperately trying to look behind you as you run away from him.
Then on the final try the necromancer above shot me dead me the very instant I got the killing blow on the dragon. Luckily the souls from t he kill were in the pool when I returned.