Dark Souls....I hate it so much it's awesome

[late for dinner]

So...Has anyone else picked this up??? I am a huge fan of Demon's Souls. I had to get this one....Demon's Souls was hard...Dark Souls Poops on Demon's Souls and Calls it a wimp that cant hack it in the big boy league...Seriously, I am having a hard time getting past the first 2 skeletons in the Grave yard...I for one could use some tips. So I thought, Since no one started a Thread on this...(that I know of)...I would. I found a blunt weapon is more useful against skeletons than a blade...and its easier to just lure them to a cliff and knock them off than fight til they die...you do a fraction of what they do in one hit...


Also, if you want to vent your frustrations on this game, feel free to do that...Lets get some discussion going.

[Domochevsky]

The skeletons in the graveyard are a hint for you to turn around and go the other way instead. :smallwink:

(No, seriously, they are.)

[late for dinner]

I did and went downstairs....yeah...the stupid ghosts...I dont even know if my weapons work on them....

[Chen]

This game has been getting rave review and since I couldn't play Demon Souls (only have an Xbox) I figured I'd pick this one up. I haven't yet, so I just wanted to know whether the reviews were right and that its actually a fun game?

[late for dinner]

I like it a lot. Its not a stroll through the park though. Its a hack and slash that you actually have to use the block button on....and roll...and parry. Its a "Fun because it's so challenging" game. You should get it. That way you can come back to this post and vent your frustrations :) (You will die a lot)

It's a breath of fresh air from all the shooters and other rpgs out there.

[Eakin]

I heard great thing about Demon soul but never played it. I know this isn't strictly a sequel, but if I only want to get one of them which one do you guys recommend? Are they different enough that I should try both? Keep in mind my "to play" backlog is crammed already and I have little to no time to play games. That's why I pruned away borderline titles like other M that I would have otherwise looked at (and after the last two unskippable episodes I'm glad I did. Yeesh those cutscenes should never have seen the light of day)

[SuperMuldoon]

I was a big fan of Demon's Souls and just got Dark Souls, really loving it so far. It is just as hard as the first one, and I'm actually liking it better. Late for Dinner, don't go by those skeletons to start, they are wayyyy to hard. If you want just run in there and try to pick up all the equipment, but you are supposed to head to the 'Undead Burg' first. I went to fight those skeletons first too, and got destroyed until my friend told me to head the other way :smallsmile:

[Chen]

So I did pick this up and it is a lot of fun. Difficulty seems about right. Its tough but its not unfair. The only "cheap" things I've seen so far are random things that come down stairs at you like the rock in the intro and a flaming barrel later on. Can't be blocked and its a narrow staircase so I couldn't dodge either.

I am annoyed that you have to exit the full screen menu and then exit the little taskbar thing as well before your buttons start working again. There's no real reason for it and I've been killed a few times for not noticing and then trying to figure out why I can't swing at things that are attacking me. The game also seems a bit grindy...but I don't really mind that in games so its not a big turn off. Still trying to collect the number of souls needed for some items/spells is going to be a pain considering how easy it is to die and lose them all. Still its a fun game so far!

I do need to find a blacksmith though since my gear is falling apart. I've only found the one merchant who I could buy repair powder from I suppose. Or save up for the repair kit. Still I figure there needs to be a smith around the town SOMEWHERE.

[Brumski]

I've logged in about 4 hours so far, and...HooHah, is it hard, and so much fun. I spent a good while around the second bonfire up in the Undead Burg working out how different weapons work and good tactics. Made it up to the Taurus demon once, now it's my mission to get to him without having to heal once before I try to take him on for real.

I don't like how some basic stuff isn't explained yet, like what Kindle at the bonfires, or being Hallowed really means. I haven't played Demon's Souls, but I assume being alive makes you stronger, or something like that?

My master key turned against me once, I went down instead of up in the tower where the Taurus Demon is, thru that locked door, and some stone golem thing just stomped me with one swing.

Thinking about trying my hand against those graveyard skeletions again, now that I feel better about my equipment and tactics.

[late for dinner]

I decided to just see what the skeleton area was like past the stairs...as i normally died right at the first two skeletons....I dodged everything and picked up all the goodies down below. Then died cause there were about 9 skeletons on my tail. So I figured ok...well here is a path down (the one to the left of that guy sitting at the first bonfire) I took out all the worshiping zombies easy...then the ghosts saw me...I had a couple curses that I used on myself to kill the ghosts...then I died cause they wore off and there were 8 ghosts around me...it wasnt until I was about to turn off the game when I finally found the right way to go. I made it up to the tower you have to run to and fight the boar boss...well, I have the master key, so I went down first and accidently ran into a boss who followed me and I just kept running and they eventually accidently fell off a ledge which granted me a sweet 3k souls, but no loot as it had fallen with the boss...so i went up and stumbled across the boar boss on the bridge...It killed me...my 4k souls was sitting up their next to it...So I started my trek again...3rd bad guy parried my attack and stabbed me and his buddy, who smartly got into my flank, finished me off...goodbye 4k souls...

[Chen]

Crossing the bridge with the dragon is a pain in the ass. I only got by because he seemed to delay his breathing that time and I made it to the stairs. Which thankfully have a ladder back to the bonefire you keep respawning at. Doing that run was starting to be a pain in the ass.

If you go down the stairs at the beginning and then up towards the Valley of the Drakes you can get a great sword and shield in front of a big drake. Of course the drake wakes up and kills you, but still the weapons are great. The sword needs 14 Faith to use, but its got 80 physical damage and 80 magic damage plus whatever bonuses you get from stats. I'm not sure how it calculates things but everything before the dragon area except the Archers can be one shot by it which makes it pretty handy.

I'm using an upgraded winged spear (from a graveyard suicide run) to deal with the knights with the capes later on and it seems to be working pretty well. I still haven't found any decent light armor though. I'm still using my original thieves stuff since if I wear any of the hollow armor and hold my sword/spear/shield it puts me over 50% of my equip weight which is a real pain.

[Dragor]

I was a big fan of Demon's Souls and just got Dark Souls, really loving it so far. It is just as hard as the first one, and I'm actually liking it better. Late for Dinner, don't go by those skeletons to start, they are wayyyy to hard. If you want just run in there and try to pick up all the equipment, but you are supposed to head to the 'Undead Burg' first. I went to fight those skeletons first too, and got destroyed until my friend told me to head the other way :smallsmile:

Hahaha, we did EXACTLY the same thing (my friend was playing, I was watching). We first went down the lift to take on the ghosts, failed, and then tried to go through the graveyard. We managed to get as far as the catacombs by pushing all the skeletons (yes, including the giant one) off the cliff. THEN we finally realised we'd been going the wrong way all along... we somehow managed to miss the stairs going up to the Burg. Somehow. Still, despite all the deaths, we got a load of souls in the end. :smallbiggrin:

[Gaius Marius]

This game has been getting rave review and since I couldn't play Demon Souls (only have an Xbox) I figured I'd pick this one up. I haven't yet, so I just wanted to know whether the reviews were right and that its actually a fun game?

Haven't played Dark Soul, but played a lot of Demon Soul.. If they are anything alike.

The game is frustrating as hell, specially if you don't pick up actual gameplay experience out of your failures. If you learn quickly from mistakes, you will do not bad. If you don't, like my ex roomate, you will throw your controller away after the 20th consecutive useless death.

The game, however, is fair. It's going to throw curveballs at you, but won't kill you cheaply like some arcade games often do. You WILL die quickly if you lose control of the situation. It often doesn't take more than 3 consecutive hits to get you ass spanked, and many ennemies do lay out 3 hits very, very quickly (BLOODY RED-EYED SPEARMAN KNIGHT!).

Also, when you are hit, sometimes, you get a bit stunned. Doesn't mean the ennemies are polite and let you catch your breath. They will attack relentlessly, so it happened to me to die just because I accidently got hit and couldn't recover a safe position in time.

[Daremonai]

I do need to find a blacksmith though since my gear is falling apart. I've only found the one merchant who I could buy repair powder from I suppose. Or save up for the repair kit. Still I figure there needs to be a smith around the town SOMEWHERE.

If you head down the elevator into New Londo and bear right, there's a smith in a little cell set into the side of the cliff. He repairs/sells gear, and also has Soul Arrow/Heavy Soul arrow and a catalyst for sale.

[Gaius Marius]

Can someone who played both games (Dark and Demon Soul) tell me what is better, what is worse?

[Gorgondantess]

I'm thinking of getting it, but I haven't played either of the games- should I get Demon's Souls, then play Dark Souls, or should I just go straight to Dark Souls?

[Arcran]

Both are great games but you don't need Demon Souls to play Dark Souls.

[Yhynens]

Can someone who played both games (Dark and Demon Soul) tell me what is better, what is worse?

If you're interested I'd recommend starting with Demon's Souls. It's actually a fair bit easier from my experience, and it would be cheaper to buy now than Dark Souls. It's not really that it's necessarily easier, but it's easier to get into because if you get stuck on something there's a lot of other places to go. Even though there's forks and different areas in Dark Souls, two of the first three are basically unmanageable for awhile.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Dark Souls is actually a better game in general once you get past that. The enemies are more varied, environments are more interesting, and there's more weapons with more differences to create a wider array of play styles. Also they changed the magic system from being MP based to spells having different numbers of uses between resting, which is in my opinion an infinitely better system. Weapon forging is also a lot less tedious since you can just buy the items to upgrade weapons.
One last thing, though: if you like playing a speed dodgy character, Demon's Souls is more your style, where that's not as easy mode in Dark Souls. Armor got serious buffs in Dark Souls, so if you like lotsa armor on your knights, well, go with it.

Taurus Demon was a pushover, but man those gargoyles were insane. I recommend upgrading your equipment if you're having trouble with them, it makes a HUGE difference. Probably more important than your actual stats, even, based on the weapon.

Praise the sun!

[MrPig]

This may be silly, but does this game have a pause feature? The reason I shelved Demon's Souls was because everytime the phone rang I'd die and lose 45 minutes of progress.

[Gorgondantess]

Hmmm... is it practical to make an all-out mage style character, then?

[Starwulf]

Is Demon/Dark Souls a PS3 exclusive game? Don't own a PS3, only an Xbox360, but man would I love to play either of these games. I've been trying to convince a buddy of mine who has a PS3 to buy either or.

[Yhynens]

Mm, I'm not completely sure, but I think it's actually more viable. You're probably going to have to do at least some meleeing, but the basic soul arrow spell has 30 casts per rest. I'm not sure of the rate at which you get more spell slots, but basically the way it works is you get so many spots to equip a spell, and each of those spells usually have between 5 and 20 uses (from what I've seen.) So, I'm pretty sure you end up with a lot more spell uses every time you heal, but I'm not entirely positive because I haven't tried a mage in Dark Souls yet. I'm making my next char a mage though, but I'm not very far and the game's apparently about 40-50 hours long, so I'll know better soonish.

Edit: Dark Souls isn't PS3 exclusive, but Demon's Souls is.

Edit 2: Also, no pause feature still.

Edit 3: ALSO, I forgot how broken magic was in Demon's Souls. It's definitely not as broken in this game, near as I can tell, so maybe less viable after all. Still, that doesn't stop it from being possible!

[Jibar]

I don't like how some basic stuff isn't explained yet, like what Kindle at the bonfires, or being Hallowed really means. I haven't played Demon's Souls, but I assume being alive makes you stronger, or something like that?


Being alive increases your general defense, curse resistance and item drop rates, as well as letting you summon people to help.
Kindling makes a bonfire give you more Estus Flasks when you rest there.
So generally you want to stay alive and if you're going to be coming through an area a lot you want to Kindle the nearest bonfire. If you're worried about a new area, be dead so you don't waste humanity, if you're in an area you know you can clear stay alive to get all the bonuses.

If you want an absolutely amazing weapon for the start of the game, once you reach the dragon on the bridge go buy a bow and about 60 arrows from the Undead Merchant. Get below the bridge and shoot the dragon's tail about 40 times. Bam, Drake Sword. It's got some amazing damage for a one handed sword and has a magical shockwave attack when you wield it two handed.
A must have in my opinion.

Currently whittling away at the Gargoyles. I got so close when I defeated one then the other one got me with fire breath as I downed an Estus. Hate that Fire Gargoyle so much.

[GoblinArchmage]

I didn't know that Dark Souls was out. I might want to get that at some point, as I love Demon's Souls. The thing is, though, the next Zelda is coming out soon, so Dark Souls might have to wait.

[Brumski]

I played a ridiculous amount over the weekend.

The thing so far that was a breaking point was I went down into New Londo and took a right into the Valley of Drakes (I forget if I had to use my master key). By this sleeping vine dragon thing there was the Sword of Artoris (sp?), which I upgraded twice and started two-handing, one-shots everything in the Undead Burg. Also I was able to finish off the first gargoyle before the second one got to me. Much better then the shield and spear combo I had been using.

Got the Drake Sword but my thief isn't strong enough for it.

Can't figure out how to use resins yet. I wanna set my sword on FIRE.

[Yhynens]

You just... use them. You can equip them to your inventory slots in the equip menu (upper right corner where your flask is, you have five slots) and cycle through them with down arrow, then push square to use the item. Or you can just use them out of the menu, but that has its obvious drawbacks in combat.

[MrPig]

Edit 2: Also, no pause feature still.


Ugh, seriously? I'm all for ball breaking difficulty but not having a pause feature is just uncalled for.

[Brumski]

You just... use them. You can equip them to your inventory slots in the equip menu (upper right corner where your flask is, you have five slots) and cycle through them with down arrow, then push square to use the item. Or you can just use them out of the menu, but that has its obvious drawbacks in combat.

Idk, they're grayed out when I scroll through them, and the "Use" option is crossed-out in the item menu. Maybe I need something else specifically equipped? Same with the lightning resin (whatever it's called) and the charcoal resin. The black eye from the Keeper's body is grayed/crossed out also. I figured I was just missing something obvious to use them

[Yhynens]

Oh, right, I think you can't use them on unique weapons or something? Or maybe it's magic weapons. I'm not sure which. Sorry, I forgot.

[PsionicSheep]

Having played Demon's Souls pretty extensively, it was only inevitable I'd get Dark Souls. Love it so far... well, except for New Londo Ruins.

Hate these ghosts. So much. SO. MUCH.

<goes back to raging as a Bandit and trying to get a Ghost Blade>

[Yhynens]

If you've made it to the sewers you can get killed by the weird basilisk thingies to get cursed and be able to damage the ghosts. Except then you only have half health... Uh, don't use a halberd, though, the weapon seems to be glitched against them so that it misses even when you stab straight through them. I think spears might be similarly glitched. But yeah I have no idea why they would ever do it like this. It could've worked if the items were really cheap or something, but 4000 souls is a pretty big investment at that early stage of the game.

[PsionicSheep]

That's what I've been doing since I ran out of those Transient Curse thingies; and I'm not about to spend 4k Souls a pop to get some more.

So... yeah. Bleigh! Talk about hiking the difficulty up >_>

EDIT: Haha, never mind. I accidentally found a round-about way to bypass the Londo Ruins. Take that, you stupid ghosts! :p

[Sleepycrow]

I've been playing about a week now. I have a level 26 Wanderer. I was stoked about the scimitar but sadly I've found the long sword to be far superior. Oh, well.

I've gotten quite far, I think, downed quite a few bosses. After Darkroot Basin I went back to Firelink Shrine and decided to explore the graveyard, and at level 26, those skeletons still kicked by ass. I did a suicide run and swiped all the goodies.

Anyone else notice that everything that drops is for knights? I was hoping for more catering to each class. I wonder if there is a Covenant for each class, as well. I joined the Way of White, which probably just set me up for some nasty curses as I will probably inevitably switch to something more suiting to my character.

Anyone know what happens if you kill the giant raven perched in Firelink Shrine? You can target him but he's up high so you need a ranged weapon to hit him. I threw one firebomb and it did a decent amount of damage.

Thanks for the tip about the dragon on the bridge, that will definitely come in handy. :)

[Yhynens]

I've seen at least 3 different sets of leather armor and two cloth armor sets. The only knight gear I've found (besides what I started with) is the Elite Knight gear. So, you might just be unlucky or something? Try looking in the lower area of the Undead Burg, there's a cloth and leather set there. If you're talking about weapons I feel like they actually have an insanely good spread of weapon types. Other than that, I don't think they were even really thinking about classes beyond it determining your starting package.

For the skeletons, try a striking weapon, or upgrading your sword if you haven't (you can get it to 5 by buying items from the blacksmith in the Undead Parish.) They really shouldn't be that bad by level 26. The Catacombs are terrible though, so be careful~

I might kill all the NPCs before the final boss so I'll know about the bird then, if no one else finds out. I imagine nothing happens, though?

[Jibar]

Actually the bird will carry you back to the Undead Asylum after... something happens. I thought it was after ringing the first Bell of Awakening, but that proved to be a crapshoot.
I do know going back you get to fight the Asylum Demon as a real boss.

[Brumski]

If you jump off the elevator from the Undead Parish you get on top of the Firelink Shrine ruins, where there is a key for the undead asylum. Grab that then shoot the bird a few times, he flies away. Then go to the top of the shrine and he has a nest where you can curl up into a ball, he comes and takes you away. New boss under the very first one, two black nights now chilling in the asylum, and you get a ring that improves your footing in swamp (not sure what that is for exactly).

Killed the Pinwheel Demon in the bottom of the Catacombs, which gives you Rite of Kindling so I can now carry 20 flasks, but the Tomb of Giants beyond him is the most difficult area I've seen yet. Your light doesn't go as far, there's pits everywhere, and the giant skeletons come out and stomp you with one hit. After I got the Rite, the Fire Keeper in that cage/cave had been killed, leaving a Black Eye orb that it says you can use to go after the killer, but it's unusable for some reason.

I don't get the Covenants. I joined the first one, then I joined a different one from the talking cat in the area behind the specially locked door in the Darkroot Garden (Souls Hint: tough guys around, but there are cliffs and they're each worth 2000 souls) I thought maybe the first guy would be mad at me, or his miracles wouldn't work, yet it was fine. When I joined this second covenant a new npc appeared to have spawned next to the cat, we chatted and he just said stuff about how the covenant was some kind of hunters "keep what you kill" thing. Ran by again on another souls run and that new npc attacked me out of the blue. Any reason to not kill npcs if they're not selling you stuff? I got some different stuff from that guy, if pretty unusable by my character.

I'm loving this game so much. Oh and the resins don't work on magic weapons, that was my problem :smallredface:

[late for dinner]

I recently was sick so I had called out a couple days of work...I played Dark Souls all day pretty much. Did a suicide run in the grave yard with my Pyromancer and got the huge sword..(cant remember name, but starts with a Z) It's like 4 times my side. you need 24 strength to use it effectivly. Once you use it though, it is flat out rediculous. I tried shooting the Dragons tail..seriously put 150 arrows into it, but no kill...so I was bored and gave up on it. I have done a ton of grinding and and am level 28 now. I killed the Demon that shoots lightning that is under the bonfire next to the parish. He was pretty easy once I got heavy soul arrow. The Gargoyles on the church were tough. My first fight, I was feeling all cool when I was fighting (successfully) the First, single gargoyle...then, when his fire breathing buddy showed up, he immediatly humbled me by ending my life quickly. (Tip) If you go human, right before you fight gargoyles, Solair, an NPC knight, is available for summon to help fight with you. I found it easy to gang up on the first gargoyle until his buddy showed up, then I let Solair fight the one we started with and I got the fire guys attention and killed him (he comes in with half health) Then I helped finish off the first one...if he wasnt dead yet. The bosses I am having a hard time with are the moonlight butterfly and the Capra Demon. Also, if you didnt know and you are stuck in moonlight forest, right next to the door with the bright seal on it, (Left side) there is a fake wall you hit and a bonfire behind it.

[Dragor]

If you want an absolutely amazing weapon for the start of the game, once you reach the dragon on the bridge go buy a bow and about 60 arrows from the Undead Merchant. Get below the bridge and shoot the dragon's tail about 40 times. Bam, Drake Sword. It's got some amazing damage for a one handed sword and has a magical shockwave attack when you wield it two handed.
A must have in my opinion..

It sounds good, but my friend (who's in the level 40's now) couldn't take down the dragon even with decent arrows and a longbow (doing roughly 19 damage per attack). After going down to half health, the dragon flies back to its perch and begins regenerating health, generally restoring a quarter of his health bar. Basically, this makes him nigh impossible to kill. Is there a particular part of the lower bridge you need to stand at to make him not fly around the middle of the bridge?

[PsionicSheep]

Odd. I didn't have a problem with this, and I was near the edge where you fight the pair of shield skeletons. Just popped him in the tail for about sixteen damage an arrow, and after about twenty or so shots lopped it off. He'd occasionally waddle off to the center, blow fire, then promptly return; as far as I know, he never really went off and healed.

If he was actually trying to kill the dragon, then that might be the problem. He really is designed to be combated by more than one player :p

[Gaius Marius]

Damn... I wanna buy this game...

But first, I gotta finish dragon age. Then Awakening. Then Human Revolution...

[Yhynens]

The bosses I am having a hard time with are the moonlight butterfly and the Capra Demon.

The capra demon is tough, yeah. Try getting up those stairs in the back and throwing fire bombs or spells at him. For the butterfly just focus on dodging all his attacks until he lands. Try lightning.

[late for dinner]

Yeah, that is what I have been trying to do...I have successfully killed one of his dogs once. His big swords and small fighting area make all of his attacks hard to dodge. I do have 30 fire bombs in my supply though...I would love to shoot my fire at him from my fingertips, but casting magic in this game takes some time...and with this guy, you dont get much time. With The butterfly, I was trying to shoot heavy soul arrow at her, but everytime I stop she shoots something at me ( all her stuff goes straight through shields too) I will try the dodge only method.

[Brumski]

You can summon NPC's (thru their little tokens I'm assuming) if you're Unhallowed? Hmmm, maybe I need to be Unhallowed to use the Black Eye Orb.

I shot the red dragon a whole bunch until he flew down to fight. I got past him to the bonfire directly under where he sits, now sometimes he's there and sometimes he's not, weird.

Another unexplained thing I don't like, the buff symbols. For example, I cast the Seek Guidance miracle and I get a new little buff icon, but I can't tell what it does.

[late for dinner]

Yeah...if the black eyed orb is the one u use to invade other worlds, then yes, you have to be unhallowed to use it. And yes..some npcs put a summon sign on the ground. He is not the smartest but he does get the attention off of you for a bit...and that is nice...I found out, too, that if you want to be summoned, your level difference has to be within 10% of the summoner's level. So level 20s can only summon 18-22.

[Jibar]

It sounds good, but my friend (who's in the level 40's now) couldn't take down the dragon even with decent arrows and a longbow (doing roughly 19 damage per attack). After going down to half health, the dragon flies back to its perch and begins regenerating health, generally restoring a quarter of his health bar. Basically, this makes him nigh impossible to kill. Is there a particular part of the lower bridge you need to stand at to make him not fly around the middle of the bridge?

I shot at his tail from the final part, with the two shield Hallows. And you're not aiming to kill, but to destroy the tail. You'll know you have because a message will pop up telling you you've got the sword.


The capra demon is tough, yeah. Try getting up those stairs in the back and throwing fire bombs or spells at him.

My key to success was the brave sacrifice of the knight Thrillhouse, who threw himself at the demon whilst I killed the dogs, and bought me enough time to face the Capras 1 on 1.
May the Sun bless you, Thrillhouse, you noble idiot.

Also defeated the Gargoyles today with the aid of Solaire and a pyromancer. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I've found no downside to summoning someone for the bosses which is frankly marvellous in every way.
Also had my first encounter with an invader. Lovely that you can throw all those fireballs Mr Pyromancer, and lovely that you have that little shield, but I don't care. One swing of my sword breaks straight through your guard. And now your souls are mine! Ha HA!
I'm just working out where's best to go now. I've been into the woods a bit, and into the Depths. Blighttown seems the goal but watching my housemate go through it I'm not sure I want to make that trip just yet.

[PsionicSheep]

Getting to Blighttown is... yeah. It's like pulling teeth with a crowbar. There is, however, a nifty little way to get there WITHOUT going through the Lando Ruins. Much easier when you actually get to Blighttown than it is actually getting there, I've found.

Just head to the Londo Ruins, take a right, go to the Valley of Drakes, and run like a madman to the left. Also, don't loot any of the stuff by the big skeleton. Trust me on this one. Keep going, and you'll get to a little cave on the left; it's essentially the back door to Blighttown. Outrunning the drakes is fairly simple, just don't stop running and you should be fine :)

EDIT: Also, if you need help, just shoot me a PM. I think I'm getting close to the end (I think...), so if you need a hand here or there, y'know, I'll see what I can do :p

[Yhynens]

You can also access Blighttown through the Depths, if you don't have the master key. Blighttown is awful though, wow. It's at least way more interesting than the Valley of Defilement in Demon's Souls, and has less swamp, so that's nice.

Man, this game is long. I just killed the spider witch and Ceaseless Discharge and there's still a bunch more according to my friend.

EDIT:


Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I've found no downside to summoning someone for the bosses which is frankly marvellous in every way.

The only downside is it splits the souls. Other than that, nothing! It's pretty awesome. I did it to kill the spider witch and it was totally worth it, since she was kind of being glitchy and getting me stuck between her legs.

[Brumski]

Yeah...if the black eyed orb is the one u use to invade other worlds, then yes, you have to be unhallowed to use it. And yes..some npcs put a summon sign on the ground. He is not the smartest but he does get the attention off of you for a bit...and that is nice...I found out, too, that if you want to be summoned, your level difference has to be within 10% of the summoner's level. So level 20s can only summon 18-22.

No, the one to invade other worlds is the cracked red eye orb or something. I got the black eye orb from my Fire Keepers dead body (the npc under your first bonfire). I thought it was part of the game cause it happened after I killed the Pinwheel Demon, but maybe another player invaded my world and killed her? Can you do that?


Getting to Blighttown is... yeah. It's like pulling teeth with a crowbar. There is, however, a nifty little way to get there WITHOUT going through the Lando Ruins. Much easier when you actually get to Blighttown than it is actually getting there, I've found.

Just head to the Londo Ruins, take a right, go to the Valley of Drakes, and run like a madman to the left. Also, don't loot any of the stuff by the big skeleton. Trust me on this one. Keep going, and you'll get to a little cave on the left; it's essentially the back door to Blighttown. Outrunning the drakes is fairly simple, just don't stop running and you should be fine :)


If you can get into the Valley of Drakes, just run thru the cave to the right with the three ogres. Jump down one level in Blighttown and you're safe.

[Chen]

Finally killed the Capra demon after grinding out some Souls to upgrade the Elite Knight armor. Drake sword still seems like the best weapon out there which is a bit of a shame. I have Astoria's straight sword and its damage is 80 physical and 80 magic. Does that mean its 160 total damage? If so maybe upgrading that once or twice will put it above the trade sword AND will provide some scaling since it scales with Str, Dex AND Faith.

Tried killing Havel in the bottom of the tower near the Taurus demon but haven't really managed yet. I've seen videos on killing him but he still manages to clip me pretty good with that stupid club of his. I need to get better at backstabbing to get this guy down I think. I really do want his ring for +50% equip weight. Will let me use my Elite Knight armor and still be maneuverable like in my leather.

[PsionicSheep]

Yeah, the Drake Sword is one of those semi-bugged things to get these days. Some people it's very simple; others it's bug-tastical. It's not fantastic in and of itself (there are by and large phenomenally better weapons out there since the Drake Sword has no scaling at all :p), but its two-handed shockwave attack is what makes it so desirable; great for grinding little things and as an impromptu attack to give you some breathing room.

As for Havel, all I can say is go light, tumble out of the way, and backstab him incessantly. That's really the only tactic I found that worked for me, as trying to tank him just got my face beat in ;_;

[Seerow]

Is there a "Let's Play" of this game out there yet?

It's not the sort of game I'd personally play. I prefer my RPGs turn based, and I'll admit I've never been a huge fan of the hardcore style games...

But from what I hear the world is really rich and detailed, and would be interesting to explore. I wouldn't play the game myself, but I'd totally watch someone else play it.

[PsionicSheep]

Look's like it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFrpcEckHTU) :)

[late for dinner]

I got lucky with Havel...I ran away cause I was totally not prepared to fight him and as I ran down the outside stairs where the barrel rolls down on you, he rolled to his right and fell off the cliff...easy 3k souls, but I didnt get any prize from his body :(

[PsionicSheep]

The ring's the only notable thing I recall him dropping; and it's only really decent if you're a low END/Heavy Armor sorta player.

Also, incidentally, beat Dark Souls just a few minutes ago. Great googly moogly was that long! >.>

[Chen]

The ring's the only notable thing I recall him dropping; and it's only really decent if you're a low END/Heavy Armor sorta player.

Also, incidentally, beat Dark Souls just a few minutes ago. Great googly moogly was that long! >.>

Thats a bit of an understatement for the ring. It increases your equip weight by 50%. This is pretty damn significant even if you are pumping End. The Stone Armor or Havel's armor has great defense but is absurdly heavy. Helps a lot with those. Plus moving at the <25% equip weight speed is pretty awesome.

[late for dinner]

part of me wants to, now that I am getting somewhat of a grip on this game, start over...but unfortunately I am level 28 and It would feel like I wasted a lot of time. I am a pyromancer but have not focused anything into magic except the bare minimum to get heavy soul arrow and I only have one fire spell. Where do I get another fire spell?? I do carry a huge sword though...and it's not the drake sword. I am stubborn and dont want to use it. My strength is 25 and endurance is like 19...those are my two big ones....what do you think? Start over or keep moving forward?

[Yhynens]

Don't worry, it's still salvageable! If you've been to the depths, somewhere connected to the Butcher's area is a room full of pots (I THINK you have to go down into the water and up until that hallway through the broken wall, and then take a left, but I'm not sure--just explore that area and you'll find it eventually.) There's a guy stuck in one, just roll into him and it'll free him. Now once you leave he'll be in the Firelink shrine, and he'll upgrade your fire hand and sell you new pyromancies. Pyromancies don't scale to level (or they don't as much? I'm not really sure) so a few upgrades to your hand should make your spells competitive again, even if you've been dumping into strength.
Another thing I'd recommend if you wanted regular sorcery is to get Magic Weapon, since it's a pretty significant boost to your melee. Also make sure you're upgrading your Zweihander.

I started a Pyromancer recently so my friend could catch up for co-op and you'd be surprised how much faster the game is once you know where things are.

[PsionicSheep]

I second that. You're at a point where, really, you're free to roam a bit in your stats. In later levels, the soul cost to upgrade them will be much more ridiculous (like, say, 30k souls-ish at 7x), and from what I've seen, you probably don't need more than a 50 in whatever you want your main stat to be, leaving you still with a wide breadth to sort of tinker here and there.

As an addendum to this, once you get to about 40ish, you can scrounge up 20k souls, buy the Crest of Artorias from the blacksmith (or whatever it's called) and open the door in Darkroot by the hidden Bonfire. Inside are some ghosts and some humans from some covenant that worship a talking cat. They're worth a bunch of souls (2k a piece, as I recall), making this a phenomenal spot to grind souls to sorta 'equalize' yourself if you stretched yourself out thinly in the beginning.

Also, in regards to Pyromancy. It doesn't scale with stats at all; rather, it scales with the level of your catalyst. Pump that up, and you'll be right at home slinging spells. Perhaps not as potently as a Sorcerer or Cleric, but hey, Pyromancy is kinda the middle-ground in that regard, so it's all gravy there :)

[Chen]

As an addendum to this, once you get to about 40ish, you can scrounge up 20k souls, buy the Crest of Artorias from the blacksmith (or whatever it's called) and open the door in Darkroot by the hidden Bonfire. Inside are some ghosts and some humans from some covenant that worship a talking cat. They're worth a bunch of souls (2k a piece, as I recall), making this a phenomenal spot to grind souls to sorta 'equalize' yourself if you stretched yourself out thinly in the beginning.


You can be significantly lower than 40 to do that. The first knight is a bit of a pain but you can kick him off the edge if need be (or get him to roll off the edge). He doesn't respawn and he gives 3000 souls. The next closest human is a spellcaster. He's easily pulled alone and you can use the trees to block his soul arrows. I find switching to a bow and peeking out from behind the trees tends to get him to charge you with his sword and shield, after which he's easy to kill. An easy 2k souls and a quick run back to the bonfire makes this exceptionally fast and safe farming. Just remember if you join the Forest Covenant you break it if you kill these people.

[Yana]

Blast, another game for me to play in the near future. Ooc, how does the online aspect of this game work, and do I need a gold XBL subscription to utilize it

[maratek]

Loving this game so Much its so frustratingly awesome that even when i get really annoyed and rage quit i play a few games of fifa and think i will go back and try that again. I recently restarted my first attempt was a pyromacer who i pumped strengh and really upgraded the halberd to slice through pretty much everything got to plus five then accended somehow was all going well then i tried to ghosts in new londo ruins and it all went badly so i gave up. i restarted yesterday as a sorcerer and there is no contest which is better i think i'm just flinging soul arrows round while walking backwards and one shotting nearly everything that isnt a boss gargoyles only took 12 heavy soul arrows with a little help from soltaire just boosting int and atunement for the slots only thing thats bugging me is the capra demon evertime i atempt it the dogs catch me stun me and he just slaps me down in a combo tried running to the stairs but just isnt working so thats the only thing stopping me from hitting the depths at the moment everytime i hang about there no ones around to be summoned :(

other than that i have been running round killed a few blue drakes there pretty easy one at a time got the elite knight armor with havels ring is fun and the big dragon that guards that sword i cant remember the name of woke up and slapped me when i went back i pressed up right against the edge of the cliff so i could lock on and he couldnt hit me just sat there flinging soul arrows at him easy dragon scale and a good few souls.

I did have one question though if anyone knows like i said im a sorcerer is there any detrimental effect to wearing heavy armor and flinging spells been wearing this elite for a while and black leather before that and i cant see any.

[Yhynens]

Blast, another game for me to play in the near future. Ooc, how does the online aspect of this game work, and do I need a gold XBL subscription to utilize it

I don't know about needing an XBL subscription because I played on a PS3, but the actual multiplayer aspect is generally considered to be kind of poorly done. If you're looking at it to co-op constantly that's probably a bad bet, you have to use humanity to be able to summon and when you die you have to go human again by using semi-rare items. PVP is way fun when the connection's good but it doesn't happen a lot unless you're invading (which can take awhile to actually find someone until you get to like, 120, which I guess is the generally agreed upon PVP level?) or if you're constantly being human.



I did have one question though if anyone knows like i said im a sorcerer is there any detrimental effect to wearing heavy armor and flinging spells been wearing this elite for a while and black leather before that and i cant see any.

The only downside is that you'll either have to sacrifice a ring spot for Havel's or spend a bunch of points in Endurance to equip the armor, when you could be spending those levels in INT and Attunement. If you want to be a heavy armor caster it might be better to try Pyromancer; since it doesn't scale to stats you can put points in Endurance without sacrificing spellpower, but there's nothing really stopping you from doing it as a Sorcerer either. It's still really viable.

[Chris Gardiner]

My copy of this literally just arrived. I never played Demon Souls - has anyone got any tips for a newbie? Anything to watch out for in the early game?

[Gaius Marius]

My copy of this literally just arrived. I never played Demon Souls - has anyone got any tips for a newbie? Anything to watch out for in the early game?

I didn't played Darksoul, only Demon Soul. But I'll tell you the wisdom I gathered.

- you should watch out for taking things too badly. You might become frustrated at time and you will end up making mistakes you usually wouldn't. Mistakes are deadly, and it might make you lose the money you grinded.
- learn from your mistake. Really try to understand why you lose against enemies and, for the Love of Jeebus, don't just try to same tactic. Any monsters can be beaten almost trivially if you do te right things, buy a mistake will kill you.

[psilontech]

Pyromancy is awesome.

As for advice? Always keep your shield up unless you need to run or recover stamina. Never know when something is going to come out of the woodwork.

The best weapon you can have early game is the drake sword. Under the bridge the dragon appears on you can shoot his tail off (~20 arrows?) to get it. If you can't figure it out, google is your friend. You go from regular mooks taking 4-5 shots to go down to one-shotting everything in the early areas outside of Knights and bosses.

The Drake Sword's usefulness starts to taper off there towards the end of the middle bit quite drastically, but at that point you should have the resources to enhance the hell out of a weapon you enjoy.

My roommate enjoys his +whatever Zweihander for the sheer damage output, but even if you have the stats to wield it one-handed the time between attacking and being able to defend again is too much for my tastes. I'm partial to the Lightning Spear at the moment -- Fast, damaging, and you can attack from behind your shield.

What are you guys using for your weapons at whatever point in the game you are at?

[Yhynens]

Claymore's way better than Zweihander or any other 2h sword really, since it attacks at the perfect speed to stunlock. It's on the bridge the dragon burns in the Undead Burg.

In short, upgrade your weapons, primary stats should probably be VIT and END for awhile, use Pyromancy as the above poster said and upgrade your flame for insane DPS. Kindle flames whenever you happen to have humanity. Rating up messages is very nice!

Longer version is that DEX and STR give diminishing returns and only (only only only) benefit weapons, and there are a lot (a lot a lot) of weapons that don't scale to stats, or scale to INT or Faith as well as Strength, so putting points there can be wiser as it's a dual use of stats. On the other hand, you're always gonna need more Health and more Stamina. Raising DEX/STR over what you need just makes your levels in VIT/END cost more; upgrading your weapon once is easily better than like 5 levels in the related stat and costs a whole lot less (though finding the upgrade items at higher levels can get kinda hard it usually doesn't take that long to farm them if you use a guide, but upgrading any normal weapon to +5 only costs... 8200 souls?)

EDIT: Oh, right, I forgot about the question. I used a Halberd or a Winged Spear for the entire game; spear for faster enemies and halberd for slower enemies. As soon as I was able I made them a Divine Halberd and a Lightning Winged Spear. Also never used any kind of magic, whee. The Halberd's actually an insanely good weapon if you're careful, way better than it was in Demon's Souls. Line those enemies up and impale four or five all at once, yeehaw!

[Chen]

My early game weapons were the Drake Sword or Astora's Straight sword. The heavy attack with Astora's is a nice linear thrust which is quite useful in tight areas. Switched to the lightning spear when I got it in Sen's and kept using it until I got the Furysword made in Anor Londo. Still have the spear as a backup at +3 with my main weapon being the Furysword at +5. I have a Divine Claymore +5 for the Catacombs and Pharis' Black Bow +5 along with a Lightning Long bow (which apparently doesnt do lightning damage so I need to go revert that one back to a +10 bow). I didn't realize how much Str you needed for the greatshield made from Sif's soul so it doesn't look like I'll be using that this playthrough. What level are people getting to the end of the first playthrough with? I'm at 63 now and have just gotten the Lordvessel and cleared my way up to the Tomb of Giants.

[CreganTur]

I've got a few tips for new players.

If you want a quick way to farm souls early in the game, you can do it where the Hellkite lives. In the room under the bridge there's a shortcut that takes you back to the Undead Burg bonfire. When you walk down the steps it's on the wall to your left. If it isn't open for you, then you will need to run down the bridge toward the dragon. You will more than likely die due to this, but it will open the door.

To quickly farm souls, take the ladder up from the Undead Burg bonfire to the room under the bridge. Hold your shield up and run up the stairs- there will be a skeleton at the top. Just sidestep him and run very briefly onto the bridge, then quickly run back down the stairs. This will entice the dragon to shoot fire, killing all the skeletons and netting you 300 souls. Then run back to the bonfire and rest to reset. A single run only takes 30 seconds from leaving the bonfire to returning, so you can rack up a lot of souls quickly.

Another tip is for the Armored Boar. You can get the skeeltons in the room with it to come to you one at a time by shooting one with the bow. Kill it when it runs up to you, then repeat. Once the melee guys are dead (don't worry about the crossbowmen on the bridge) shoot the boar. He'll charge at you. Just run back down the stairs and into the tower stair area. He's too big to get at you, so just wait for him to turn around and give up. When he does, run out and backstab him. Rinse/repeat until he's dead.

I had an epic run last night. In a single run- without dying or resting at a bonfire- I kileld the Armored Boar, Heavy Knight, and Channeler. I would have gotten father except for the fact that I was ambushed by an elite guard I didn't know existed who was backed up by a second flock of zombies I was also unaware of.

It's unreal the feeling of accomplishment you get from moving forward in this game.

[Sipex]

This sounds...intriguing.

I will definitely pick it up sometime.

[Chris Gardiner]

Man, I need to write all this down.

Thanks for all the tips. I *still* haven't got a chance to start playing yet. But the version I ordered turned out to be some sort of limited edition with all sorts of free loot - there's a nice little hardback art book and a soundtrack and a behind the scenes DVD. Nice!

When I actually start playing and getting my pants handed to me I will be back to feed, leech-like, from all your superior skillz.

[Chen]

Killed Nito and Gyndolin last night. Not sure I was SUPPOSED to kill Gwyndolin but I did get his/her soul so I guess it can't be all bad. I think I found an almost ideal gearset now:
Head: Mask of the Child - Increased Stam Regen
Body: Havel's Armor - Just high DR and resists
Gloves: Havel's Gloves - Same as above
Legs: Antiquated Skirt +4 - So good for such little weight
Ring 1: Dark Wood Grain Ring - Makes me do flips instead of rolls and as long as I'm <50% Equip weight it lets you move as if you were <25% Equip Weight
Ring 2: Havel's Ring - Allows me to wear is armor and gloves and be below 50% Equip weight.
Weapon: Furysword +5, Lightning Spear +3, Divine Claymore +5 (only good for the catacombs and those ressing skellies), Ascended Pyro Flame (no plus yet), Pharis Bow +5 (will probably make Gwyndolin's bow from some other bow I have lying around).

I'm considering removing Havel's gloves, equipping my leather gloves +9 and using the Ring of Favor and Protection instead of Havel's. I'm just wary of getting to a situation where I need 2 different rings and being unable to take that one off without losing it. For weapons that Furysword still seems to be monstrously more powerful than almost everything else I have. I imagine if I upgrade a Winged spear to a lightning spear it might be more damage than my current one (which was found), though I dont have any more Titanite Chunks to upgrade it. I'm also don't have any Twinkling Titanite to upgrade Giants armor (which apparently is better than Havel's) or any other armor for that matter. Its somewhat annoying.

[Brumski]

I'm using a +4 Lightning Spear, I've pretty much stopped using a shield, two-handing unless I'm in a new area. Killed the Scaleless dragon, then the Firesage in the Demon's Ruins killed me handidly 5 times, that was the last time I played.

The Dark Wood Grain Ring alters your speed also? I guess I'll stop using the Shadow Garb that I've been wearing for non-boss fights, its super light, also it looks the coolest.

Another note, I find the soul-farming method of using the Drake on the the bridge to kill the skeletons extremely sub-optimal. Get a weapon that kills the guys in the Undead Burg in 1 or 2 hits, then just go to town. I restarted as a bandit, two-handing the battleaxe is awesome.

[Chris Gardiner]

I finally got to start this last night. Love it, but it's not kidding about the whole "being really hard" thing is it? Restarted 4 times trying to find a character that worked for me - tried a Wanderer (which I liked, but aren't skilled enough to pull of yet), Knight, and Pyromancer before settling on the Warrior. Good, solid meat and potatoes class.

I'm now out of the asylum and exploring the first proper area. It's so atmospheric, and the constantly high stakes that come from - basically -carrying all your experience around in a bag that you drop if you die, makes it incredibly tense.

I love the messages you find from other players. Although writing "Secret path. Jump off." next to a cliff is..what's the word?...Oh yes: evil.

[CreganTur]

The only purpose of starting classes is to preset the gifts you start with. Once you actualyl start playing the game you can make the character into anything you want- just level the stats how you want them to be.

I took Thief so I could get the Master Key and start with 10 firebombs. I leveled strength a lot so I could use the Drake Sword, but I'm mostly using the Thief items to keep my carry capacity low- I like the quickness.

[Chris Gardiner]

Running around the undead burg now. Even standard encounters in this game are incredibly satisfying. Managed to get up to a dude who'd been raining firebombs on me from a rooftop for 15 minutes, rolled forward under his throw, came up and slashed him back off the roof. He fell a long way. I was pleased.

Of course, three minutes later some crazy 9-foot tall knight guy killed me dead, but whaddayagonnado?

[Yhynens]

Try backstab?

[CreganTur]

Avoid that Black Knight until you're very comfortable with the game. Otherwise, he'll constantly own you.

He is guarding good treasure, so you can attack him, draw him away from the area, and then run back to grab the ring from the corpse he's guarding. He may kill you after you get the ring, but at least you'll keep the ring when you respawn.

[Chris Gardiner]

Avoid that Black Knight until you're very comfortable with the game. Otherwise, he'll constantly own you.

He is guarding good treasure, so you can attack him, draw him away from the area, and then run back to grab the ring from the corpse he's guarding. He may kill you after you get the ring, but at least you'll keep the ring when you respawn.

Cheers - I think I'll leave the giant scary man alone for now. His time will come.

But I'm going to need a bigger sword.

[CreganTur]

Drake sword is awesome. It make the game easier in some ways, but it's given me more confidence to take on the scary stuff.

[Chen]

Drake sword is awesome. It make the game easier in some ways, but it's given me more confidence to take on the scary stuff.

Astora's is better if your faith is near 14. It still one shots almost everything in the burg and it has a nice straight thrust as the heavy attack. The claymore past the hellkite drake is exceptionally good too, though it takes some upgrading.

When I played I went:

Bandit Knife->Scimitar->Drake Sword->Astora's Straight sword->Lightning Spear->Quelagg's Fury Sword->Lightning Claymore.

Still switch between the last two depending on the fight in NG+.

[Chris Gardiner]

/Sniffs

Killed me a bull demon.

/spits

Yup.

[Chen]

Managed to kill Smough and Ornstein with Ornstein second on NG+. Was a real pain though Solair managed to stay alive long enough that I could drop Ornstein to half health with fireballs and then finally managed to kill him. His unblockable lightning spear insta kill is pretty damn cheap and almost had me throwing the controller.

Was all excited to use Ornstein's spear just to find out its crap. Also upgraded the Greatsword of Artorias and found that it too, compared to my Lightning Claymore was pretty crappy. Not to mention its heavy attack thrust is absurdly slow. I really was more just interested to see how good that sword was and I'm probably going to stop playing much of this game anymore. Good thing Skyrim is out friday!

[Chris Gardiner]

So...er...this dragon. The one watching the bridge. I don't have to fight it, right? I can just run and hide? And shoot its tail off, obviously.

Because it's a bit scary.

[psilontech]

So...er...this dragon. The one watching the bridge. I don't have to fight it, right? I can just run and hide? And shoot its tail off, obviously.

Because it's a bit scary.

You can and should avoid the hell out of it. I haven't personally killed it yet, but my roommate didn't make an attempt on it until he was decked out in Havel's Armor and was swinging around a +14 Zwei-Hander.

You can just avoid him alltogether or if you're feeling fast and sneaky, running past him to open up a bit of a shortcut.

The drakesword makes the beginning so much easier, but you should start using something else around the point of Sens's Fortress at latest.


What sort of build are you going for? Giant Armor, Giant Sword? Light armor, dodgey as hell with a fast weapon and maybe some awesome spells?

I'm doing the whole "Do very little outside of pumping INT and occasionally END for when I want to wear heavier stuff and still be under 25%" thing. Enchanted Wing Spear +4 with good INT just kicked Fatty and Ornstein's ass.

[Chris Gardiner]

What sort of build are you going for? Giant Armor, Giant Sword? Light armor, dodgey as hell with a fast weapon and maybe some awesome spells?

I'm doing the whole "Do very little outside of pumping INT and occasionally END for when I want to wear heavier stuff and still be under 25%" thing. Enchanted Wing Spear +4 with good INT just kicked Fatty and Ornstein's ass.

I've gone for a vanilla warrior - medium armour and longsword so far. I like to keep load at 50% or less for the speed. been focusing on STR and DEX to increase my weapon options, plus a bit of vitality and a lot of endurance. Starting to eye up sorcery.

Just got past the dragon, linked the undead burg to the Firelink shrine and am now exploring the Undead Parish after brief, terrified poking into the Catacombs and New Londo ruins. I don't know what was going on in those places but it was clearly above my goddamn pay grade.

[Brumski]

+10 Fire Iato FTW. I'm really curious how much I would have to pump my Dex to get a comparable amount of damage from a straight-up +10 Iato, since the fire and lightning properties remove the ParamBonus. Anyone seen a chart or hard statistics on what the E thru S bonuses actually get you?

I stocked up on a quarter of a million souls the other night from the Darkroot Basin farm, crazy.
Slumbering Dragon Ring + Hornet Ring + above ninja sword = Awesome

Only have the last boss left to kill

[psilontech]

Hey Brum, here's a link that might interest you:

http://sites.google.com/site/darksoulstats/dark-souls-calculators

[psilontech]

So... The 1.05 patch was just released in North America. Thoughts, opinions?

I'm a little miffed at the nerf done to pyromancy and the homing soul mass spells. Though this is more than balanced out by everything else not affecting me negatively in the least as far as pvp is concerned.

I can lock onto Fog Ring dbags now? F yeah!
Tranquil Walk of Peace isn't buttraping me anymore? F yeah!
My Enchanted claymore +5 is going to get S int scaling now? F yeah!
Pvp and Jolly Co-operation are now much easier to accomplish? F yeah!

...
And I can buy twinkling titanite from the Giant Blacksmith now?? Holy balls yes!

[Psyren]

I rented this from redbox and I'm a little frustrated. I gather that to use magic in this game you need some kind of implement (a catalyst?) Do the casting classes start with one, or are you forced to be joe melee with your dagger, and if so for how long? Playing the 360 version.

[Surrealistik]

Pyromancy is still king. GC for life.

[Psyren]

So, no help for me?

[psilontech]

I rented this from redbox and I'm a little frustrated. I gather that to use magic in this game you need some kind of implement (a catalyst?) Do the casting classes start with one, or are you forced to be joe melee with your dagger, and if so for how long? Playing the 360 version.

Pyromancer gets his pyromancy flame, Sorcerer gets his sorcerer's catalyst and Cleric gets his talisman before the end of the tutorial.

For a good bit of the tutorial level you'll be using your starting weapon, though. Dagger for Sorc and a handaxe (Actually a pretty decent weapon) for the pyromancer. No idea what the cleric starts with.

[Psyren]

Pyromancer gets his pyromancy flame, Sorcerer gets his sorcerer's catalyst and Cleric gets his talisman before the end of the tutorial.

For a good bit of the tutorial level you'll be using your starting weapon, though. Dagger for Sorc and a handaxe (Actually a pretty decent weapon) for the pyromancer. No idea what the cleric starts with.

The tutorial ends at the giant crow grabbing you, right?

(Got that far with a Bandit, then ran around killing all the NPCs with riposte attacks. Took forever with that guy by the fire though.)

[Mistral]

The tutorial ends at the giant crow grabbing you, right?

(Got that far with a Bandit, then ran around killing all the NPCs with riposte attacks. Took forever with that guy by the fire though.)

Yep. You also may not want to kill everyone immediately, if only because some of them sell nice things/services and occasionally unlock events. Of course, if you're playing a not-nice character, you know which ones are themselves a bit...unkind, or you already have what you need, then you may as well. Plus, the game is pretty nice about telling you when it's OK to kill most Firelink NPCs. Specifically...

...most of them eventually go Hollow or just plain insane, then attack you. It is triggered for Merchant NPCs when you buy everything they sell, and by most others by story progression. The only exceptions I can think of for the Firelink Shrine (other NPCs that remain outside also vary) are Petrus of Thorolund and Knight Lautrec of Carim (if you rescue him); the former stays in Firelink throughout (all Covenant NPCs will remain human, or at least not-Hollow), and the latter leaves on his own as part of a quest chain, but doesn't go Hollow.

EDIT: Oh, the Firekeeper and Kingseeker won't go insane or Hollow either, since they provide important services.

Oh, and don't kill, or even attack the blacksmiths, unless you never want to get their upgrades for your weapons in that run-through.

[Yana]

I know this should probably be pretty obvious, but how do I sell or otherwise junk this worthless crap in my inventory?

Also, what makes the Winged Spear superior to the normal one?

[Brumski]

I know this should probably be pretty obvious, but how do I sell or otherwise junk this worthless crap in my inventory?

Also, what makes the Winged Spear superior to the normal one?

Can't sell stuff til you ring both bells, then the Primordial Serpent eats them and gives you souls. They don't weigh anything though, just hold out til you get there.

Not sure off-hand, but you can pick up the Winged Spear pretty much at game start with a suicide run into the graveyard.

[psilontech]

Winged spear is generally superior to the regular spear in just about every way.

Greater reach, damage and comparable rate of attack.

Never really got around to selling anything - I just put everything I didn't use into the Bottomless Box on the off chance I would ever need it again.

Honorable combat in the Kiln is always great times. Screw lightning weapons, Enchanted Claymore +5 with stupidly high intelligence is where it's at!

[enderlord99]

People keep calling these games hard. I don't know anything about those games, but they're bound to be easier than I Wanna be the Guy.

[Raistlin1040]

So I'm about 5 hours in, at the beginning of the Undead Parish. I grinded like a crazy man and am a level 27 Knight. I've got the default armor, plus Iron Leggings and Iron Bracers and Chainmail armor. I use a normal Battleaxe I picked up from a skeleton and the Undead Merchant's katana as my backup. I killed the merchant on accident when I was smashing boxes so I can't get any cool stuff anymore and I don't have a bow, so no Drake Sword for me. I even killed the Knight guy because I wanted his lightning spear thing (which I can't even use because I am pants-on-head stupid) so I don't know if I can use the summon that he gave me. Should I just start over?

[psilontech]

> Killed the first merchant - A bit of a setback, nothing to scoff at. Not having the Drake Sword for the beginning of the game makes things a bit... difficult.
You'll want to find the first blacksmith asap and upgrade the balls out of your primary weapon.

> Killed Knight Solaire - Y... You monster. That's like killing poor, poor albino Lolth.

Knight Solaire is the ultimate bro.

[Raistlin1040]

So yeah, start over? And on that note, is Knight exactly worth it? I'm not entirely clear on proficiencies, so if anyone can use a shield, not exactly seeing the benefits.

[Brumski]

Starting over wouldn't be a terrible idea. Especially since you'll move thru the zones you now know much faster.

Starting classes don't mean a whole lot, everybody can use everything. The only main difference is for the caster types (pyromancer, sorceror, cleric) you start with one scroll of their most basic respective magics (fireball, magic arrow, heal), which will give you an edge in the beginning, but are probably to weak for later in the game.

[psilontech]

All characters can end up being whatever you want them to be by mid-late game.

I started as a pyromancer (Easy-mode, pretty much) and I'm now decked out in Elite Knight Armor and Eastern Armor using a lot of Sorceries in addition to my super sexy Great Combustion spamming.

While the starting spells become outdated pretty quickly, it doesn't take too terribly long to find a trainer that lets you buy updated spells and/or upgrade your pyromancy flame to make your fire spells do more damage. That said, having fireballs to chuck around for the first few bosses make things SO MUCH, so much easier.