Author Topic: Dark Souls: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Death  (Read 75862 times)

Offline TheOtherBelmont

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #240 on: Saturday, August 24, 2013, 08:54:45 PM »
Wow, that's really good.  Where did you find that?

Offline idolminds

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #241 on: Saturday, August 24, 2013, 09:19:56 PM »
Scary linked it in IRC, and I also saw it posted on reddit.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #242 on: Sunday, August 25, 2013, 04:09:59 PM »
Super cool. I'd play 2D isometric Dark Souls.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #243 on: Wednesday, August 28, 2013, 07:30:13 AM »
Made my way into Sen's Fortress last night, definitely the most difficult I've experienced so far, I was raging on IRC about it, many bad words were said. I was actually doing fairly decent for a little while till I explored a little in the beginning area. Was trying to clear out all the titanite dudes at the bottom of the pendulum room. I got most of them but 2 which I must have spent an hour on, eventually I gave up and just moved along. The serpent guys seemed rough at first but once you learn when to block or even parry they aren't so bad. Also found a mimic chest... yup definitely hitting every chest I come across now. I found various items: defense ring, loot ring, sniper crossbow (useful?), lightening spear. I'm still using that drake sword, I need to put into some time upgrading a weapon that may end up being better than the drake sword. Anyway I got to the iron golem, he's gonna take some time to take down but I pretty much know how to beat him.

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #244 on: Wednesday, August 28, 2013, 08:35:28 AM »
quelaag's fury sword.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #245 on: Thursday, August 29, 2013, 10:56:53 AM »
And Iron Golem down, Anor Londo here I come. Explored a little more of Sen's, found a stealth ring, basically makes me silent. There's also an undead dragon I want to take out in Drake Valley before I head forward to Anor.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #246 on: Thursday, August 29, 2013, 12:44:07 PM »
I tried to get back into this a couple days ago.  Basicallu got cursed and lost all mu souls right away.  Resuming break...

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #247 on: Friday, August 30, 2013, 05:14:14 AM »
Got to learn to embrace the death.  Souls are unlimited in the game.  It's a temporary setback.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #248 on: Friday, August 30, 2013, 04:40:45 PM »
I just got a $5 discount for Dark Souls 2 pre-order on Amazon for the Steam version. Basically it just waives the tax, making the total $59.87 instead of the total $64.74 it would have been.

So yeah.. I'm not paying $60 for Dark Souls 2.

If anyone's interested let me know, I'll grab it for you and you can pay me back in a Steam game(s) of equal value later.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #249 on: Friday, September 06, 2013, 11:07:21 AM »
And Ornstein and Smough are down... first try. Took some time but basically just took laps around the room and waited for hit opportunities, usually when Ornstein would charge at me as Smough was at a distance, I could get a couple hits in since his attacks are easy to dodge. Once he was down, I was super careful with Smough, kept one of the broken columns in the room between me and him and took my shots after his large swings. Still wasn't easy, used up all my flasks and several humanities, I will also say I had the help of Quelaag's Fury sword which Kman mentioned. Thank god for the dark souls wiki to figure out how the weapon crafting and upgrading works, I would have never figured shit out without it. Anor Londo itself is a pretty cool looking place, but not easy, I think getting to the second bonfire was the most difficult, fucking knights and their dragonslayer arrows. The knights themselves are a handful, that is until you learn how to parry their attacks, then they're gravy. Anyway, it's time to recoop the humanities I lost and move on to the next area which is... I don't actually know.

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #250 on: Friday, September 06, 2013, 11:30:48 AM »
At this point you're actually free to visit a number of places. 

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #251 on: Saturday, September 07, 2013, 08:48:40 AM »
I am now balls-deep into the DLC.  The bosses I've fought so far have been terribly difficult.  I was stuck on Knight Artorias for a few days, but managed to get him this morning.  The problem was that Quelaag's Fury Sword was doing little damage because he has such high elemental resistances.  I switched to my balder side sword +13 and the fight suddenly became manageable.  Took another 5-6 tries to get him down, but the last time I got him convincingly.


Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #252 on: Sunday, September 08, 2013, 06:18:31 AM »
Hm, so the DLC wasn't as long as I thought.  Apparently I am already at the final boss.  I'd say by the time I'm done I'll have 7-8 hours invested into it.  I"ve got a dragon yet to kill and the final boss....who is a doozy.

No-brainer to purchase though if you're playing on a console.  a few real nice items, fun bosses, and a decent side story as far as this game goes.

Offline idolminds

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #253 on: Sunday, September 08, 2013, 04:20:57 PM »
Did some praisin' today after a long break. First order of business was to kill the Iron Golem in Sens. I still got my skills apparently because I got him down on my first try. I just got up under his feet and did my best to stay behind him. 2-handed my sword because blocking him wasn't going to do shit. He was able to grab and slam me to the ground a few times but a quick flask and I was still good. About halfway through the fight he got wobbly and a few more hits he fell over, but we were on that narrow bridge part and he fell sideways so down he went. Quick end to the fight.

And now some friendly gargoyles have taken me to Anor Londo. First thing you find is a big-ass knight that seems to ignore you. Well, he ignores you until you get right up to him to see if you can talk. He doesn't talk, only spears. Managed to kill him and then I ignored the rest until I found the bonfire.

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #254 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 06:48:50 AM »
Do you guys use lock-on at all?  I have spent most of the game not using it, but have tried it on a few occasions.  I find that in a lot of situations it actually impedes my ability to dodge.

Offline idolminds

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #255 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 08:15:46 AM »
I use it quite a lot, actually.

Offline sirean_syan

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #256 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 09:25:43 AM »
I use it constantly, but I'm also partial to the spear and halberd which have very narrow hit spaces. Not locking on is generally a path to leaving myself open.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #257 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 10:03:04 AM »
I have no idea how you would play without using lock-on. I know in some situations its good whey trying to hit multiple enemies at once, but its been so terribly useful to me.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #258 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 02:38:37 PM »
Yeah, I used it constantly.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #259 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 06:07:18 PM »
Awesome.  It just makes my victories that much more impressive.

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #260 on: Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 08:31:20 PM »
I locked on to Manus tonight...about 20 times.

I'm actually still in disbelief that I've actually beaten him.  He is a son of a bitch.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #261 on: Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 11:07:03 AM »
I guess we're in the same boat: I maybe lock on 10-20 percent of the time. Mayne I should try it more.

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #262 on: Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 12:03:30 PM »
I went back last night and attempted to fight the dragon in the DLC.  Got him down to about half health my first attempt.  Did worse on subsequent attempts.  Figured I'd call it a night.

I initially went the DLC route because I really wasn't sure where I wanted to go in the regular game.  I think perhaps I'll give ash lake a shot down in blighttown.

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #263 on: Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 08:06:43 PM »
Who took out three bosses tonight?  Yeah, that's right.  This guy.

Black Dragon Kalameet
Helkite Dragon
Gravelord Nito

I think this leaves just one more boss before the final one =/

Offline idolminds

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #264 on: Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 09:11:01 PM »
Anor Londo. Fuck those fucking archer fucks.

Offline iPPi

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #265 on: Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 09:48:57 PM »
I bought a controller so I finally started playing this game after buying it in the Steam summer sale.

Very challenging.  I don't think I have the finesse I had when I played Demon's Souls, nor the time and effort nowadays, so it's a little more frustrating, but I'm still learning and trying to get used to the game.  I killed the Taurus Demon a couple nights ago and right now am debating whether or not to take on the Hellkite Drake.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #266 on: Thursday, September 12, 2013, 05:34:14 AM »
Explored all through New Londo Ruins, basically got all the way to the boss room only to discover I can't even fight him yet. Like literally it's just a spiral stair that goes down to a pit of nothing, couldn't go back since boss rooms get blocked off so I had to just kill myself, there goes all those souls. Talked to kman to learn I needed to kill Sif in Darkroot Basin first so headed that way. Went beyond the sealed door, was able to kill almost everything just short of the Hydra, used up all my flasks, got a bunch of souls so I had to head back to the bonfire since I was too unprepared for Sif. Next time though...

Offline idolminds

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #267 on: Thursday, September 12, 2013, 05:55:22 AM »
So as my last post indicates, the silver archers were giving me trouble. Everything up to that point wasn't all that bad. Those guardian things you can hit with a couple poison arrows from a distance and just wait for them to die since it doesn't aggro them. The bell gargoyle rematch was sorta fun and I got my gargoyle tail axe since I didn't get it up at the bell tower. Those white cultist dudes weren't very hard when pulled one at a time. Those pink gargoyles aren't too bad except that lightning damage was coming through my shields.

Anyway, the archers. I had a plan: poison them. I got into a spot where I could hit them but their arrows would smash into either the tower or the "railing" where I was standing. Using my cheap wooden arrow I would aim and then switch to poison to do my dirty work. Archer on the left was no problem. Aim with wood until I cause damage so I know I can hit him, then switch and poisoned the bastard. Done. Dude on the right was harder, though for...gamey reasons. I couldn't seem to hit him, no indicator would come up. Was he blocking it somehow? Was I missing by just a little and it was sparking off the wall behind him? I would give up and try to rush him but it usually ended up killing me.

I tried one more time last night and it turns out...he was out of wooden arrow range. It seems that arrows don't just vary by how much damage they do but also their "effective range". So the projectile actually stops being capable of dealing damage after a certain distance even if it LOOKS like it's hitting the target. Which is what was fucking me up. So I got it to look like it was hitting the archer and then switched to poison and sure enough I was able to poison him since those arrows have a larger range. Sigh...video games...

So then I got to the bonfire, had a chat with Solaire, saw all the silver knights in the next area and just went to bed.

Offline idolminds

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #268 on: Thursday, September 12, 2013, 11:17:51 PM »
Made my way through the silver knights...only to later find out I completely missed a chest with some upgrade materials. Sigh...I'll have to go back and get that at some point. Opened up the shortcut from the first bonfire so I'm really pleased with that. I came back and found the blacksmith, got myself the fury sword which I suppose I need to upgrade because it doesnt feel that powerful? I dunno, maybe Im not used to it. Looks cool, though. Also got the dragonslayer greatbow. I was like, fuck yeah! Now shits gonna die! Then I found out it needs dragonslayer arrows. And then I saw what those cost per arrow. Shits gonna die all right, but...selectively.

So I cleared that main hall which...easy peasy. Thank you, poison arrows. So its an easy run right to the boss. Before I did that though I invaded the asshole that killed the firelink shrine firekeeper and took him down. So with that all done and having spent all my souls on dragonslayer arrows...welp, might as well see what this boss is like.

I was dead about 30 seconds later.

Fuuuuck. I decided to head out of Anor for a bit, restock my arrow supply, relight the firelink bonfire, that sort of thing. Dragonslayer bow + Dragonslayer arrows = I should kill that red dragon. I'll probably go do that next and then cower in fear of the Anor Londo bosses.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #269 on: Friday, September 13, 2013, 05:24:52 AM »
You can relight the firelink bonfire?!

Offline K-man

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Re: Bro, do you even praise the sun? Everybody playin' Dark Souls! (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #270 on: Friday, September 13, 2013, 06:53:23 AM »
Yep.  And I highly recommend doing so.

I wrapped up Lost Izalith last night, which is probably the lamest boss fight of the game.  It tries to be "different", but it fell very flat with me.  I then ran over to the great hollow and ash lake.  Handed the hydra there its ass and collected a few items.  The realization hit that I had nowhere to go but the final boss...  The final area is pretty neat.  I attempted the boss a few times but failed miserably each time (seems to be a going trend).

Anyway, just a few days ago I thought I had so much left to do in this game.  Actually pretty sad that I'm near the end.  It's really cool that a bunch of us dove in at the same time, and I believe this has been one of the most successful threads we've had in a while.  I am hopeful that we can recreate the experience when Dark Souls 2 comes out.  Because I don't know about you guys, but I definitely got enough hours out of this to have no problems paying full price for the sequel.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #271 on: Friday, September 13, 2013, 12:34:55 PM »
I wish I could. I loved this game a lot... but that's just too much for me at this point. Unless I can find a way to swing it, I'll have to wait. And I may want to get it on PC, but my PC probably can't run it. I can't remember, is it supposed to be for PS3? I think I asked earlier and someone said it was.

But yeah, what a great game. And fucking fuck I hate that end boss. That dude is a son of a bitch. I did figure out a way to reliably fight him, but it was only semi-reliable in the end, really, and it took me a while to make the strategy stick. That was rough times. Let's just say I got really really good at making that run to the place where you fight him.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline idolminds

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #272 on: Friday, September 13, 2013, 01:17:18 PM »
Yes DS2 will be on PS3. As far as I know they have only mentioned current gen consoles and PC.

EDIT: So I decided to step out of Anor Londo for a bit, restock my arrows, and do some other things. I went and killed the red dragon (Dragonslayer greatbow earned its name) and the hydra, so that felt good.
« Last Edit: Friday, September 13, 2013, 03:21:51 PM by idolminds »

Offline K-man

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #273 on: Saturday, September 14, 2013, 08:56:32 AM »
Beat the game.  What a journey.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #274 on: Saturday, September 14, 2013, 10:18:36 AM »
You should just give up video games now, you're done.

Offline Cools!

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #275 on: Saturday, September 14, 2013, 10:28:01 AM »
Now install Starcraft 1/Brood War.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #276 on: Sunday, September 15, 2013, 12:15:29 AM »
Took down the four kings. Definitely one of the most frustrating experiences I had with the game. The fight itself isn't so bad once you figure it out, having to make the run back to the boss from firelink shrine over and over again until you do is completely shitty. So I'll just leave this here:

(click to show/hide)

Went and took out the hydra and that dragon. Is it possible to fight that dragon on foot? I tried but just wasn't possible with his fire attacks completely stun locking you so I just did it from a distance with the dragonslayer arrows. So I got a handful of areas left and the DLC which I need to look up how to do that.

Offline K-man

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #277 on: Sunday, September 15, 2013, 03:19:12 PM »
The Helkite dragon?  I ended up taking him out with regular arrows on the bridge.

Offline idolminds

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #278 on: Monday, September 16, 2013, 02:27:48 PM »
Orenstein and Smaugh are dead! Hooray! Sunbro was very useful in the fight. First time I was about 2 hits from the end but got greedy and killed for it. Second time I played it a bit safer and handled it fairly well.

Amazing chest ahead, indeed.

So now I get to go....wherever.

Offline K-man

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Re: Have you praised the sun today? The Dark Souls thread. (SPOILERS)!
« Reply #279 on: Monday, September 16, 2013, 04:33:59 PM »
very amazing chest.

I'm sort of pissed that I never summoned Solaire now.  I just assumed if he died in a fight he was done for, so I wanted to spare him as much as possible.

Take heart, Idol.  You should be able to solo everything else in the game.