Dark Souls I, II and III

[Scrustle]

I found with those theives it was just a case of remembering where they all are and killing them before they get to hit you. Use a decent shield and they're not that hard. The Capra Demon isn't too tough, I just kind of kept running up the steps on the left and luring him up then jumping down and waiting for him to drop and attacking him as he landed. You'll want to take the dogs out in the fight asap though.

I know exactly where the thieves are, but when you reach them it agros three at once every time. You can't really take them on one-by-one. I'll try looking for a better shield I guess. I think I've already got the best I can have at this point though. I'll look for Darkroot as well and see what I can find there.

[Alex79]

Oh hang on, I'm pretty sure I lured them one by one with a bow when I wasn't yet at the point I could one slash kill them.

[Scrustle]

Well when I try inching towards them on foot as soon as one spots me they all come. Not sure if I've tried using a bow to agro just one. But I'm not sure I can even get to them with a bow, since they all hide in those houses before they ambush you. But I'll try it anyway next time I'm playing.

[Feirsteax]

Try tight spot. Try eliminating one at a time. try parrying

[Feirsteax]

I've also hit a bit of a brick wall in DS II. Those (spoilers) gargoyles are absolutely wrecking me. I can get one or two but their attacks are so strong and poise-breaking that I soon get demolished. Also the hotboxes on their halberds are bloody annoying. I got hit by the empty space above the tip of it a few times.
Need a bit more carry weight, as I'm currently only able to hold a 90% Dr shield, which isn't iideal.

Also I'm using the Great club, which is amazing but needs 2hands two wield effectively

[PressEscToExit]

If anybody's looking for a solid late-game farming point I recommend burning a couple of Ascetics at the beginning of the Iron Keep. I was pulling in north of 60,000 souls in the run up to Smelter Demon with the bonfire at level 3 and about 40,000 when it was at 2. The guys there are pretty easy to agro into a 1 on 1 and the more dangerous captains and red spirits are all extremely backstab friendly.

Heading into NG+ after a few more runs here. I'm pretty staunchly against grinding in general but i've been helping folk with Smelty so figured i might as well get dat sweet soul chedda while i do it.

Also finding it nigh-on impossible to help people with the Gargoyles, every time i put down a summon sign it disappears almost straight away when some grey belltower bastards invade.

[Alex79]

Finally beat the sentinal boss trio in the last bastille

It only took about four hours of game time haha >_<

[spasticmonkey2]

Something happened to me earlier on Dark Souls 2 that was a massive kick in the balls to me.
I was just starting NG++ on a sorcerer that I'd spent the best part of a week levelling up (I think I was around level 210 or so), then, as I was on the way through the opening area, a message popped up on screen "Failed to save game. Returning to title screen." I thought this was odd as I was mid-combat with some enemies, but had no choice but to press A (playing on 360).
Anyway, once I was returned to the title screen I was informed that my save file may be corrupted, and was offered the choice to either try to repair it (pressing yes) or recheck (pressing no).
Obviously I tried to recheck multiple times but to no avail, forcing me to choose the option to try to repair the save.
Unfortunately this has meant that it has deleted my entire save (for all characters, not just the one I was playing on). I can honestly say that when this happened it made me feel a little bit sick, as I've spent most of my free time from the past couple of weeks going nuts over this game.
Needless to say, I'm pretty annoyed about this, even though I know the time I've spent with this in the past 11 days are nothing in comparison to how much I'll probably be playing this, but I'm concerned that this could happen again.
Sorry for the long post, but the main reason I'm writing this is because I'm curious if this has happened to anyone else here on the forum, and also to offer some friendly advice of backing up your saves if you can just in case.

tl:dr - I was playing the game minding my own business, got an error on screen out of nowhere, causing a corrupted save and now have to start from scratch

[ratsoalbion]

Oh boy, that really sucks. Many sympathies.

Back your saves up folks (if the game lets you..?)!

[spasticmonkey2]

It happened to me again today...MULTIPLE TIMES!
However, upon the last time of it happening, I decided to dashboard and put myself in a xbox live party to force offline mode when I launched the game again and somehow, this allowed me to play (no corrupt save messages), so I can keep my character, so it seems like its something to do with the servers.
But until FromSoft/Namco Bandai do an update or something it seems impossible to play the game in online mode.
Needless to say I'm even more annoyed about this than I was last night, and am unable to enjoy a large number of the features that until yesterday, had been working completely fine for me.

[James]

Yikes! That's rotten. Is this to do with an update at all? Wondering if a patch or new set of calibrations has introduced an issue. If so then let's hope From roll out a new patch ASAP.

I'm off to tentatively fire up my PS3 save. Everything is crossed.

[spasticmonkey2]

I think it has to be to do with the update,as I'd had pretty much no issues at all (besides occasionally not getting summoned) until yesterday.
At least I can play offline though, its not ideal, but at least its something

[Alex79]

Eek! I'll be enabling cloud saves pronto!!

I got my first 'great soul' last night in Sinners Den (I think it's called?) Am I right in assuming this is the first of the 'big 4' you need?

[Alex79]

Also, I've not had one single successful summoning encounter yet. I've tried loads of times, tried invading too. The online is plain broken, although I'm connected as my messages are getting rated and I see ghosts etc.

[PressEscToExit]

I'm finding that about 50% of the time when someone tries to summon me the session will get disconnected and then I can't access any PvP or co-op features until I quit out and reload. It's definitely very spotty at the moment, on PS3 at least.

[Feirsteax]

I just got that soul too Alex. Check out the cartographer's map in Majula if you haven't already
I dunno what it means. Could be one of the OLD ONES but I think there might be some EVEN OLDER ones. Just a hunch really. Didn't feel like there was enough of a deal made out of the Lost Sinner for her to be one of the old ones.

[PressEscToExit]

Ah I got the same vibe. For some reason I don't remember that fight at all but The Old Ones' souls look like a big fat fireball in your inventory screen if you want to check.

There's plenty still to do after you have them, though. *zips mouth*

[Alex79]

Hmm yeah it is a big fat one in the inventory. I played the first game constantly checking a walkthrough to make sure I miss anything, it's a lot more fun exploring yourself this time though.

[Combine Hunter]

I've been live streaming a Soul Level One playthrough of Dark Souls. For those who don't know, this means going through Dark Souls without ever upgrading your character. I've taken the footage of me defeating the bosses I've encountered so far, and made these separate videos. I've done this to demonstrate how knowledge is much more valuable than anything else, in Dark Souls.

Asylum Demon (took 1:30, first try.)

Spoiler: show

Taurus Demon (took 2:17, first try)

Spoiler: show

The Bell Gargoyles (took 2:21, third try)

Spoiler: show

Capra Demon (took 2:35, second try)

Spoiler: show

Chaos Witch Quelagg (took 7:02,...several tries) - This one I'm particularly proud of, as I two handed my weapon, summoned no NPCs and used light armour.

Spoiler: show

You can catch my live stream at http://www.twitch.tv/combinehunter every monday from 6pm to 8pm.

[Scrustle]

Some pretty amazing skills there. You make it look so easy! Especially with the Capra Demon. That thing just seems completely impossible to me.