Picked up Iaito, Pharis' Black Bow and the Dark Wood Grain Ring this morning. I'll have to stick to my default Pyromancer armour to stay under the 25% equip load to make the DWGR worth using, but I'll give it a try. I'm practising hard on nailing parry and backstab attacks, but backstabs are still a little unreliable for me.
My priority is upgrading a Longsword, the Gargoyle Tail Axe, Pharis' Bow and my armour so that I don't take a step back from Drake Sword +2 and Short Bow +9 in damage dealt. I've exhausted how far I can go with only access to Titanite Shards from Andrei; can I buy the bigger Titanite pieces anywhere or am I going to have to rely on pick ups?
Oh, and since freeing Old Logan from Sen's Fortress the NPCs at Firelink Shrine have started disappearing. I killed Lautrec and Petrus of Thorolund, but Laurentius and the whiny blue bugger have vanished. Anyone here able to tell me if I should be worried? I didn't have the conversation with Laurentius about Chaos magic by the way.
If you're looking for consistent access to large titanite shards there's an inexhaustible supply that can be farmed from the black tower knight in sen's fortress on the roof (just after the section where the giant was bombing the floor). I was utilising the golden serpent ring which statistically raised my chance of a successful drop and the large shards were dropping fairly frequently (1 out of 2 times).
I'm finally at the end of the game facing Gwyn, my play time is nearly 56 hours and I'm certainly ready to finish this. I'm finding that my eagerness to finish this is quite severely affecting my patience and judgement and I'm being punished every time. I've attempted to fight him easily 50 times and taken many breaks to clear my head. Truly this boss epitomises the difficulty of the game.
Given that you've recently finished demon's souls too Iwattfodiwwfa, I'm assuming that you may have noticed the inverted difficulty curve of that game that isn't shared by its successor. Demon's souls was noticeably easier as the ge progress whereas dark souls has continually tested my patience. I can't say I'll be returning for a new game plus. I've picked up a copy of sleeping dogs that I've dabbled in while playing dark souls and it felt vapid by comparison. Mentally, I feel that I need to finish this game before I can enjoy anything else. The pressure is genuinely stressing me out, my gums hurt with how much or gritted my teeth.
Finally finished the game. To anyone who has yet to finish it in time for the podcast take my advice.
When facing the final boss, be sure to equip the hornet ring. Also, don't be like me and murder the blacksmith in the undead chapel....ever, unless you want to make an already cruel game more debilitating.
Now that's over and done with I'm going to treat myself with something less stressful and more mundane...like peeling a sack of potatoes.
I'm going through at soul level 1 at the moment and I'm really enjoying it.
It's refreshing to not really care about losing souls and that's not even happening that much.
I wish I could choose some low starting stats and have some DEX rather than be stuck with pyro stats. It's fine though and I'm starting to really like the battle axe.
So far I've destroyed the Asylum Demon, Taurus Demon, Gargoyles, Moonlight Butterfly, Capra Demon, Gaping Dragon, Quelaag, Ceaseless Discharge and the Stray Demon.
It's both easier and harder than I imagined but I'm loving it. 181 hours in this game and counting.
Safe to say that I think this is the best game ever made.
Cheers!
I managed to get Mega Smough down to about 25% health on my first attempt with just a +5 fire battle axe but since then I've barely taken out Ornstein.
I've gone and levelled my axe to max level lightning, killed some men to get some more humanity and killed Vamos for a sweet helmet but I just can't seem to do it.
I wouldn't go that far. My first run took me nearly 100hrs and you're at Gwyn by 56 You're probably better than me at the game I've just learnt a lot about it.
I still can't parry for shit!
FollowMyRuin wrote:Have fun doing the four kings :-S
I'm doing them now. It's annoying me a bit but I took out Sif and the darkroot Hydra and did some invasions before getting there so I'm feeling good about it.
I walked the Four Kings on my first two runs but I'm just not doing enough damage now to get through quickly.
I'm going to try and capture video of all the bosses I have left if I can. Might not post them all here but I think it's interesting watching myself play and seeing al the mistakes I make.
FollowMyRuin wrote:Have fun doing the four kings :-S
I am having real problems getting past them gits, I keep getting to spiting disstance of killing the last one and then it all goes wrong. Maybe I'll try my luck with Nito
I put off playing Dark Souls for over a year. But a couple of months ago I dived right in and it completely hooked me.
I've never concentrated on a game so much when playing, every enemy has the potential to finish you if you even think about getting cocky.
The boss battles can be exciting and frustrating at the same time. And the potential for getting invaded when human means you have to be on your toes at all times.
I'm so glad I took the time to play Dark Souls and plan on starting the DLC and Demons souls in the near future.
Sean wrote:Just wrap yourself up in Havel's armor. You got this.
Havel's ring too. Give you a bit of mobility to get up close and avoid the blades of his melee attacks and you can roll away from the AOEs.
Even with Havels armour and ring I seem to be getting fat rolls. I think I'm better staying light and using the Crest Sheild for magic resistance and dark wood grain for mobility. I've got close enough a few times that I know I can do it it's just kicking my ass. I have ended up with enough Chunks that upgrading a Uchigatana and Black Bow to +15 in NG+ will be no problem.
I'm going to be a dick and sign up with the Darkwraiths so I can invade enough so I always have humanity.
Phew! What a week to be without internet access. No Steam Offline either so it was a week devoid of Dark Souls and BioShock Infinite.
Back on the Dark Souls train now. I took out Smough & Ornstein on the third attempt and actually had more trouble getting to the fight without being invaded than I did beating Little & Large. Since then I've neatly side-stepped Paul Rooney's attempt to have me wreck Anor Londo for myself (thanks to Sean), defeated the Stray Demon and polished off the Prowler Demons in Sen's Fortress.
As far as I can tell I have the tree in Blighttown, the large gate in Darkroot Garden, Valley Of Drakes, New Londo Ruins, the area past the graveyard in Firelink, the large hall with Painting Guardians and the area behind that hall in Anor Londo to explore. Any/all suggestions for where to go next will be warmly received.
I have to agree, FollowMyRuin, Demon's Souls definitely got easier as the game went on. The matching of player and character progression was one of my favourite things about it.
Dark Souls is quite different in that regard, but I think it gives more opportunities for environmental changes that make traversing the world easier. Even though the enemies generally always outmatch the character, there are enough that don't respawn and enough shortcuts to make for progress in smaller steps than in Demon's Souls.
I disagree about Demon's Souls. I personally find it much harder than Dark Souls. I still can't finish Demon's Souls.
I beat Four Kings at SL1 today. Took me even longer than Biggie Smalls.
I'm now working towards getting the Dark set from the Darkstalker Covenant. I feel like a bit of a dick invading all the time but it feels good to win for a change.
Rich wrote:I disagree about Demon's Souls. I personally find it much harder than Dark Souls. I still can't finish Demon's Souls.
Oh, I'm not saying that I find Demon's Souls easier than Dark Souls, just that it gets easier as you progress. Personally I find the number of non-respawning enemies and unlockable shortcuts in Dark Souls to be a significant concession to the player.
Where are you stuck in Demon's Souls, Rich? If I can offer any help I'd be more than happy to.
