*OFFICIAL* DARK SOULS THREAD FOR W1NNARS!

Phew. I made it out. Lord, I spent over 3 hours just trying to progress an inch in the Catacombs. I got some serious loot that I'll probably never use or be able to.

I have absolutely no idea where to go from Firelink. This game is starting to piss me off.

been sitting for 20 min with my dick hanging out soul sign down trying to get invited to help beat the gargoyle boss.

Nothing.

I'm getting the impression that this game is a lot more enormous than I thought.

I also accidentally'd the guy that teaches you pyromancy. I kind of make it a habit to shoot first and ask questions later. Oops. No fireballs for me this playthrough.

Protip:

1) a lot of the mini-bosses will stay put if you shoot at them from a distance. They do this in the hopes of drawing you into an ambush. I've seen this a total of four times now. I'm able to sit back and sink 50 arrows into these dumbasses without getting a scratch.

2) use your bow to hit a single dude in a group. It allows you to lure them out one at a time so you don't have to fight a legion of zombies

In conclusion, buy or find a bow...and use the medium grade arrows. More bang for your buck.

bdwright77 wrote:

I have absolutely no idea where to go from Firelink. This game is starting to piss me off.

As far as finding the right direction goes, I gauge it by combat. If I am able to put up my shield and absorb a hit or two and have some good combat or take them down easy, then it's a good area for me to be in. If I get skewered right through my shield and they start playing with my spleen like it's a kazoo, then I turn around and find some place else to go.

As far as Firelink goes... go up the hill to your right as you face outward from the camp fire. You will find a narrow ledge there with some dudes guarding a narrow staircase that goes up. That will lead you to the undead burg. Do it. Do. It.

Spoiler:

We should have a boss battle thread so you can give us all pro tips since you'll be done with this game by Sunday. That will also keep any potential spoilers out of this thread so we don't give anything away to Benny as we wait for him to catch up.

Removed the stuff about mini-bosses and bosses. Good point.

Last night I farmed enough souls at the dragon bridge to get my repair box and my basic heal spell. Then I set out to explore the Undead Parish. What a good time!

I got up to the armored boar and killed all his buddies first by pulling them with arrows. Then, for the boar:

Spoiler:

After that I explored the big chapel area, encountered some new ghoul warriors and some HUGE black knight guy. All of these fights were tough, but just the right level of tough. I had a lot of fun and had to work hard to defeat them. I only died once when one of the ones with a rapier and small round shield riposte'd my attack and he did the critical hit animation and skewered me in one shot.

I made my way down to a campfire area and found a blacksmith further down the stairs. He offered to upgrade my weapons, reinforce my armor, etc. etc.

Further down from him I ran into a scorpion dude that used magic bolts and had a huge trident/fork/spear thing. Since I had just kindled, repaired and leveled up I had basically zero souls and humanity, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Avoiding his magic was easy enough, but once I got close to him there were some NASTY attacks. I kept circling around behind him and got in some good damage, but I never noticed what percentage health he was. He would always end up bashing me then one shotting me with that giant spear. After three deaths I gave up and went on to explore other areas.

AlphaShepherd wrote:

I only died once when one of the ones with a rapier and small round shield riposte'd my attack and he did the critical hit animation and skewered me in one shot.

I nearly jumped the first time one of those dudes did that to me. I love it when this game does that to you.

I've noticed you can pull single targets. The different types of enemies seem to have various degrees of sight (and the higher up they are the better LoS they have). The sword and sheild skele/zombies spot me a lot sooner than the spear and sheild ones. And the bad a$$ knights (the ones with the black armor and insta death, and the ouch) don't notice you if you move slowly and keep out of their vision completely. I was close enough to try a run up and back stab on the one near the metal boar, but my cohones shriveled at the thought.

One trick I used (use really cuz I want to plat it) in Demon Souls was to fire arrows at a wall behind a group of enemies, have them look away, and then dash to a more defendable position. Did this with the boar to pick off the swords, spears ,and bows before bbq'n the pig.

I killed Ford Taurus last night. I read a blood stain about plunging attacks but it took me several deaths before I noticed the path to the plunge perch. It felt good hacking up them pesky archers. I got my white stone from the hippie, lost my eyebrows to a dragon, and kicked down a ladder before calling it a night.

Also while clearing out the chapel area last night I heard the tower bell ring... meaning another soul had been victorious in their task. That was pretty cool.

I just ran way from the big black knight in the chapel. He scared me.

Is there a bonfire in undead parish? It is kind of a pain to have to start way back at undead burg.

mbgonzomd wrote:

I just ran way from the big black knight in the chapel. He scared me.

Is there a bonfire in undead parish? It is kind of a pain to have to start way back at undead burg.

I was scared of him too Mule but I beat him the first try. Turns out he was kinda easy. He has a big slow mace attack and that's about it.

The bonfire is to the right as you face him. You'll go out of the chapel, then down a long walkway, to another walkway and down some stairs. There's the fire.

AlphaShepherd wrote:

mbgonzomd wrote:

I just ran way from the big black knight in the chapel. He scared me.

Is there a bonfire in undead parish? It is kind of a pain to have to start way back at undead burg.

I was scared of him too Mule but I beat him the first try. Turns out he was kinda easy. He has a big slow mace attack and that's about it.

The bonfire is to the right as you face him. You'll go out of the chapel, then down a long walkway, to another walkway and down some stairs. There's the fire.

And if you go into the confession booths to the left you find they're a elevator that brings you back to firelink shrine

Dark souls!

Best. Game. Ever.

Beat the Gargoyles and Moonlight Butterfly last night. There's another boss that killed me ded good. I don't want to spoil him...he's awesome.

Also joined the Forest Hunter covenant. It's pretty awesome.

Killed me a couple of gargoyles, Havel the rock, Black Knight and then proceeded to get my arse handed to me the rest of the night by the Capra Demon

I'll help tonight or tomorrow on capra if you want. I want to troubleshoot some MP anyways.

Level 25.

Last night I found the asylum 2nd floor key, and found a nice looking shield and a unique doll. But my word of advice is don't bother going back to the asylum until your approaching SL 50 or so. It's changed and has quite the surprises in store for you.

If you do find the key, look around for my comments (one on the platform you need to jump to, the other on the peak of the "church" facing down toward the bonfire). Rate them if you could, want to see if I can finally get a +1 on my end.

I killed the armor cow and the black night with the mace in the chapel (pansy). I got drakes sword but I couldn't figure out what to do with the dragon. I put about 100 arrows into him but got bored with that strategy. I helped someone else get to the gargoyle but i died in that battle. It's been slow going for me but drakes sword helped a lot.

When I was helping someone else in their world, I could not use my estus flask. But they could heal me somehow. Were they using a spell or their own estus flask?

I bought the heal spell before realizing that I don't have near enough faith to use it.

If you're near them when they use a flask you'll get some health.

That thing below the black smith picked me up by the head with his litter gitter weapon and smashed me into the ground until I was dead.

Nice.

By the way, if you do a lot of MP, pick up the Evil Eye ring, it gives you HP when you kill enemies.

I cannot stress the importance of having purging stones (i.e., curse cures) in your inventory. I about JD'd my game last night.

I found a double super secret area last night at the bottom of Blighttown. You go this way to join the Dragon Covenant....which allows you to morph your head into a fire spitting dragon. Well, I never made it that far. Dropped down a bit and got cursed. The problem is that Blighttown is a bitch. I spent hours trying to get out until I finally found the shortcut.

Anyway, the cheapest place to get purging stones is from the guy in the bellower after you kill the gargoyles. They're worth their weight in gold.