Okay so I'm finally moving in this game, had the other day to sink a few hours into it and got past a few baddies but I'm sorta lost right now. - Spoiler I killed The Last Giant, Persuer, Dragonrider, Flexile Sentry, Ruin Sentinels, The Lost Sinner and Gargoyles. Gargoyles was probably my favorite boss so far which is a shame because it's an older fight that's reworked and not something entirely new but it was balls to the wall fun with me and this one random I met online. It feels like a real brawl and I enjoy when the enemies are faster and swifter than to slow and plodding like a lot of the giant enemies. I'm not really sure where I should be going next. Going by Sloth's List of the bosses it looks like I missed the Old Dragonslayer somewhere as well as a few before gargoyles. I know I blew through the Wharf a bit fast so tonight I want to take another look around there but any suggestions on where to go poking around or what to look for would be great. Also SL59-ish with a focus on melee.
Hah, pretty much the same so far. That seems to be the most common path. Without going into spoilers, if you're looking for direction then Saulden is the best one to talk to. Going into spoilers of where to go if you want: Spoiler -Old Dragonslayer is in Heide's Tower of Flame. In the large circular room with three enemies, there are two paths out. He's down the path that doesn't take you to Dragonrider. -Flexile Sentry is the only enemy in No Man's Wharf. -Gargoyles, being optional, can be done whenever. You could do it before Lost Sinner if you wanted. I just put it off until later, you didn't miss anything! -Fragrant Branch of Yore can unpetrify a single NPC. You might find someone in need near Majula. -Did you talk to Licia? Complete her dialogue and she'll mention moving somewhere. You might remember a contraption you were unable to move before... -The pit in Majula will kill you if you jump in. But Shalquoir sells a very useful ring. I'm on to new game plus now. It's actually pretty impressive so far. Enemy health is high enough that it feels as challenging as when you first started. Their damage is a little low so far but I'm also still early on. Most importantly, there are far more enemies. Red phantom enemies will hang out in various areas not present the first time around and are significantly stronger than basic enemies. This time I've been taking a different path and actually did Dragonrider first, then Old Dragonslayer. Playing around with what order you can do things in.
Oh wait I'm a newb, sitting here at work reading over your list Sloth and you gave me the hint - Spoiler I can turn one of those statues back into a person with that branch I found the other day. I was trying to use it with my "petrified something" starting gift but should have been thinking more about using it in the world instead. Now the only question is which person do I use it on, the one blocking the doorway in the jail or the one blocking the door near that NPC with the big "moonlight" looking greatsword? I'm leaning to the one near the NPC.
Cool, thanks for the hints sloth!!! I'll make sure to re-trace some of my steps and check that stuff out.
You guys have no idea how much I envy you right now. I have a feeling most secrets will be found till we computer players can play. Why can't it be April 25th already? Appearently someone has already beaten the game without using bonfires and without dying in one run.
Most of the items and such, yes. But if it goes anything like Dark Souls 1 there will still be little secrets being found months later. Between the two "special" rings and the Covenant of Champions there seems to be plenty to give players things to brag about. Oddly enough, playing without dying actually seems pretty easy in comparison to playing without bonfires. Unfortunately, PvP at the moment is less than impressive. Maybe things will settle as metas develop, but it's pretty crazy right now. The pyromancy Flame Swathe is hitting for over 1000 damage for no stat requirements and two casts per attunement slot. Hexes in general are extremely strong, with the most basic spell Dark Orb hitting for ~600 and the more powerful ones like Great Resonant Soul doing 1500+ and one-shotting players. Poise seems useless, so to counter stun locking people are wearing the Old Sun Ring. I've personally had it do over 500 damage to enemies. The best way to describe it so far:
More bosses down during my playtime over the past few days. Still got a ways to go before I finish it. About level 70-ish now, kinda derping around playing co-op the past few days and earning some extra souls. I found I had a lot of trouble in the "Doors of Pharros" area, not from anything the game itself threw at me but the PvP is rough, I kept getting summoned as a phantom in a large room with waist-high water, enemies around me and the jerk phantoms on the ledge above me peppering me with fire arrows and spells while I tried to stay alive doing PvE. Ran into a few players abusing that spot as it seems like a pretty cheap way to score souls. Letting the NPC's gang up on you right as you get summoned and then picking you off if they don't crush you. It doesn't help that you aggro the enemies the second you zone in, that seems to be something the first dark souls never did or maybe I just didn't PvP enough in that game to notice it. I'm still loving the game though, in some ways the story is just like the first two games with very little variation but the NPC's seem to be fleshed out a lot more which I like. You don't feel as disconnected from them as you did in the previous games, IMO. Has anyone else noticed footstep sounds seem "off" in this game? What I mean by that is that even if you aren't wearing shoes/boots, when you walk it still sounds like you are. That's something I didn't remember from dark souls 1 and I'm actually interested to go back and see if there's more variation in the sounds you can make while walking and running. IDK why it bothers me so much but it does, I for some reason can't help but remember more varied sounds while exploring the game world instead of "clop clop clop." Seems like one of those details that should be better than the previous game and not worse unless my memory is playing tricks on me. Guess the only thing to do is load up some DS1 tonight for a few minutes and play around and then jump on DS2 and compare.
Hah, yeah the Rat King covenant. One of the stranger covenants. It's unique in that you are summoned as a phantom to the host's world. Think like how Gravelord signs worked, except automatic for entering the zone. And the host's NPCs aggro on you instead. It's odd because the odds are stacked against you, but the risk vs. reward actually seems to favor the "invader". Since you're a phantom you don't really stand to lose anything. Kill the host and you return to your world (with renewed flasks and such, I believe). Make it to the fog door in their world and you "win", returning to your world at that location. That's the really neat thing, this basically skips the entire zone for you and brings you right to the boss. My suggestions is what got me through: if they're lurking up above watching you, just run straight ahead. It's actually a very short zone with only a couple of NPCs between you and the fog door. If they don't meet you half way to fight then you can just touch the door and win. The other strategy... it's an optional zone past the first bonfire. On future characters I'll likely just skip it. Most obnoxious boss in the game anyway.
Looks like it's back to the boys in blue for me then. At least until I stumble upon the sunbros I've been seeing. I find it hard to pick between the way of blue and the blue sentinels. I like both of them and sorta wish they were merged into one group but I can understand keeping them apart and having them play off each other the way they do in the game. It's a very interesting dynamic. Thanks for the tips again Sloth.
The covenants overall missed what they could have been imo. It feels like Red vs. Blue, and the others are just scattered on the sidelines. -Brotherhood of Blood are all about PvP, but there's little incentive to actually invade. You may as well stay in the arena where it's instant combat and always 1v1. -Way of the Blue don't really give you anything, and with no one invading it serves no purpose. -Blue Sentinels need WotBs to function. Outside of their ring, they're basically a slightly worse BoB since you have less invasion targets, and your arena has a cost. -Bell Keepers are just the new Forest Hunters, baby's first PvP. There's no interaction since it's all in two zones. -Rat King is Forest Hunters with a twist, and I actually respect them more since they put their lives on the line. But again, all in two zones. -Dragon Remnants have the exact same problem as DkS1. If you're not a member you don't need scales, so why volunteer to fight them? -Warriors of Sunlight have no PvP aspect, outside if your host gets invaded during co-op. With most players summoning whenever possible you may as well join this rather than Blue Sentinels. -Covenant of Champions can't summon players. I believe it also disables invasions, but don't quote me. It actually gives you less player interaction than having no covenant at all. It's not all negative, though. I say they missed opportunities, but there are definite improvements. Less "wasted" covenants, WotB is at least better than WotW. No more Chaos Servants being nothing but a pyromancy vendor. No more Gravelords having no effect before NG+. No more Princess Guard which I literally almost forgot to mention. For what it's worth, I've been Blue Sentinels so far. Never been summoned with the ring yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-xOt78rtAw A friend of mine linked this to me today, looks like a dirty PvP trick but it could be useful in PvE I guess unless it gets patched.
Interesting. I had noticed there were two distinct riposte animations after guard break, but didn't quite come to the same conclusions as the video. When testing with a friend we were able to consistently pull it off by simply waiting until a specific point in the stagger animation. I'll have to try this out too and see first hand how it all plays together. It's definitely not an exploit or bug, though. There's a distinctly different animation (at least for the ripostes) that adds in an extra attack and makes a noticably different sound effect.
Alrighty, so I finally made it to the Iron Keep, I know, I know, slow-poke Eiffie but I just don't get much time to play each day. I've been thinking of finally spending some boss souls since I've saved every single one I've obtained so far. I'm level 86 I believe and I think I could use to rework some stats and level up a bit more but I'm worried about spending a soul that could be really useful later. I'm not worried about spending a soul that could lead to a weapon but if they have any other new uses that I don't know about I might want to hold onto them if it seems useful later on. You were certainly right about one thing Sloth - Spoiler No one would ever figure out to burn the windmill at Earthen Peak to make the Medusa fight actually possible unless they had a message hint or a phantom tell them to do it. That was a really shitty puzzle and could have been explained to the player much better than simply trying the boss and dieing and then saying "FUDGE#$#@*&$#@$!!! I NEED TO FIND A WAY TO LOWER THE POISON OR RESIST IT! And the windmill does indeed look like it's made of stone for the most part, especially where you light it so it doesn't even make sense to me that it would burn unless it was soaked in some sorta oil. If they had added another part to it where the game put greater focus on the gears and pumps then I don't think I would have been so irked about how off it felt. I also seem to have a decent amount of trouble finding large titanite shards this deep into the game. I figured that at some point one of the vendors would just sell them to me without a limit but I guess that's either not true or I have to get even deeper into the game or do something to trigger that. I feel more than confident enough to take on some of these later areas but I get the feeling like my gear isn't high enough to simply survive against certain enemies or tank a hit from a boss that other players seem to be able to take. I got 3 pieces of the knight set to +3 and the vengral helm at base level since that doesn't use shards and I didn't want to waste it. I got a +6 or 7 longsword and a +5 fire longsword that have been working out decently enough with my tanky build but the DPS isn't going to be there like it is for a higher level weapon. Any tips on where to get those? I really think part of my troubles is the fact that you can warp between every single bonfire right from the start of the game. When I played dark souls I learned the areas so well since I didn't earn that ability till quite a ways into the game and many areas had me retracing my steps over and over finding things I missed. I had a much better mental image of where things were in the levels and what levels connected with the others. I'm actually finding myself now going back to previous areas and forcing myself to walk through them a few times so I can start to get that mental image burned into my head. I haven't run into any issues with the enemies despawning after you defeat them a number of times but I know that's going to happen eventually and I'm not sure how I feel about that. One one hand, a few of the areas, the gutter for example, I would gladly welcome this since there's so many things that just frustrate me but for the majority of the areas I don't really see this as a good thing. Sometimes I just want to do a run of an area for some quick souls to buy a lifegem or two and it's possible that if I don't play carefully enough I could see some areas becoming too empty to be worth a dam anymore. I heard that it might be possible to respawn enemies by burning one of those items at a bonfire that makes them stronger but it's not like I have a ton of those so there's only so much I can do when it comes to that.
I really do love this game, there's always going to be times where you just get pissed at a souls game and this one is no exception but that's not what bothers me about it. I think it just feels a bit "unfocused" overall. Like it doesn't quite know if it wants to be demon's souls, dark souls 1 or it's own game. I haven't had any great plot revelations yet that made me really think about what I was doing or why the monsters in certain areas are the way they are. It's possible that those punches just arrive much later on, for example, finding out that ceaseless discharge was really the bro of the pyro sisters from the first game, that didn't happen till after the centipede in dark souls and while I always suspected there was something "unhappy" about him, once I actually read that rings description that fight became something else to me, almost a fight I never wanted to do because of how bad I felt for the poor dude. Can't say anything like that has happened to me so far in this game. I like the nods and references to the other games but that's kinda all they feel like for the most part.
By that point you've likely stumbled upon a Soul Vessel if you really want to change your stats. The boss souls are all used on weapons or spells with no other purpose, you just trade the soul for a whole weapon instead of upgrading to +10. Chloanne (I think is her name? The ore merchant) will eventually sell up to chunks in infinite quantity. It's indeed based on some sort of progression, you just have to keep plugging away. Something to keep in mind, +10 is now the maximum upgrade for basic weapons. So if you're at +7 already you won't be gaining that much more. If you have the strength to equip something larger that'd be your best bet for more damage. The Claymore is always a safe bet, you can buy one from Vengarl's Head. Bit of warning: Iron Keep will probably be rough! This area sounds like it's been giving quite a few players a hard time. Particularly melee builds with low DPS. The Smelter Demon boss has already gained quite a bit of notoriety as one of the most challenging ones in the game considering when you fight it. I'd totally agree about it feeling unfocused. There are a great many features which just don't feel like anyone actually thought about what it added to the game. Like how you can fast travel anywhere, but can only level up from the Herald. If you can travel to her from any bonfire why not just... level up at the bonfire like before? It feels like they wanted the Demon's Souls Maiden in Black, and Dark Souls Soulvessel, but didn't think about how the game plays. Or the awkward pacing you're about to get after Iron Keep. Spoilers: Spoiler Once you kill all four Old Ones the game becomes linear. You must go straight forward to each successive required boss in order to advance with no optional or hidden areas. Not until after Velstadt do you again get a few more choices.
I finished this last week on PS3 and am now just doing co op with the final bosses, overall I did enjoy it. Quite surprised you get 1 ending only, previous 2 games you make a choice and then when you go through NG+ you make the alternative choice to see both endings. There are some dirty tricks & traps they put into this one, granted not as bad as the 2 Knights on the ledge at Anor Londo but still they are there. Like mentioned burning the windmill to drain the poison lake, its not obvious, when I was doing co op with that boss if the lake was still there I got the summoner to follow me and took / showed them what they needed to do. Iron Keep can be a bit of a pain, I had decent Poise there and using the Drangleic shield (black kite shield) slightly upgraded, let the knights come at you 1 at a time (lure with bow or magic), shield up to absorb the hit which staggers them and then 2 or 3 hits and they go down. The archer to the right once you make it through the first part of the keep is a bit of a pain, use ranged to kill him, aim so just his arm is showing and take him out that way. You will notice a corpse on a broken walkway below him, jump to it from beside the chest, once you have this you give it to the blacksmith at Lost Bastille to be able to buy stuff from him. He has an infinite supply of Iron Arrows which is handy and he also enchants your weapons. Resistances don't seem to do much on this game, previously you could up your poison for example and just wade through the swamp or blight town if it was high enough and not suffer poison. On this game though I ploughed points into poison resist so over 100 and then add another 80 or so points from my armour and it appears to do nothing. You can however buy a poison bite ring, thing is though the route I took I didn't get it till after doing earthen keep. You can block a fair bit of magic damage if you have the Bandits Great Shield, have mine upgraded to Lvl10, got invaded at Shrine of Amana by a pure magic build and with shield up only took a tiny bit of damage (about 2mm off health), no stamina drain either, needless to say it didn't end well for the invader. Don't farm the dogs at Lost Bastille or the creatures in the water at Shrine of Amana for effigies until you get the Gold Covetous Ring. Once you have this ring also equip either the Jesters mask or Merchant Hat. Then do your farming, you will find both sets of creatures do actually drop effigies quite often. At the Shrine of Amana before the pit to Undead Purgatory to the right there is a bonfire, if you are hollowed you can open the door at the top of the stairs, follow this route and kill the necromancer and talk to the woman. If you have no effigies left at all and are hollow you can restore your humanity at this shrine. Handy if you are stuck on a boss for co op. Once you have the Ashen Mist Heart and Kings Ring you can open various doors and enter various memories. I would suggest going into the memory that is near Pate at the start of the game. The area with the fire barrels and the armored turtle, on the right once the hole is blown in the wall, you will see one of those trees. Go in there and talk to the commander in that memory until he has nothing else to say. Once you have done this you can then summon him (you have to be in human form) for the fight against the Giant Lord making things considerably easier.
Whoa, I simply trade boss souls for a weapon now? Like at a merchant or something?! I musta really been super oblivious for missing that one. Also I do have a claymore (one of the very few weapons I bought because of how useful it was in the first game) and some heavier weapons, in DS1 I always liked having a one of the polearms leveled up by later in the game so I'll pick between either the claymore or the halberd when I get home and bump it up a bit. Yes, I believe I have 2 of those soul vessels for resetting stats so I'll try that and see if mixing up my weapons and stats gives me a better boost where I need it. I pretty much only put points into HP, and the two stats below it that effect stamina and my total equip burden as well as 20 into dex and 40 into strength. I haven't touched magic so far and mainly just use a slightly upgraded bow for ranged damage. I guess the one thing I do like about the consumables now is they seem more useful, throwing knives and bombs overall feel a lot more powerful than they did in DS1 for getting ranged DPS in against regular enemies but I know eventually I should get some magic for tougher fights. I mainly relied on standard weapons back in DS1 and just buffed them with resins and stuff and it was till very late when I went to 100% the game when I actually tried using magic buffs instead. It's probably really silly of me to play that way in the sequel knowing how strong magic can be at times but that's just the sorta character I like to roll with. I'll take my pick of the magics tonight once I re-roll my stats and tune my character better. Thanks for the farming tips Mr Retro, it's nice to hear some other solid ways to earn some humanity. I don't mind about the ending spoiler either, that doesn't bother me at all since, to me, the souls games are 95% about the journey of actually getting to the ending than the ending itself. The ending just marks where NG+ begins and from what I hear from Sloth and others, the game changes a bit more drastically than previous titles and there's still those extra challenge bosses and things to do once the game is complete. I'm happy about that, sounds like a good deal more content once the game is over and NG+ rolls around. If there's one thing to be said about souls games, they will give you hours upon hours of content and enjoyment without the need for any DLC really. (though the DLC for the last game was badass) Tonight I should have more than a few hours to really figure this new info out.
It looks like I might have missed that guy Straid, either that or I just forgot about him, the good news is that I know I can buy another branch from the merchant in the iron keep, the only other branch I used was the first one I got, not sure where it was but I used it on the pyro trainer, Rosabeth who blocked the shaded woods. I noticed in the shaded woods that there was some other stone figures but they looked like enemies so I've been telling myself not to spend a branch unless I know for sure it's on someone that will help me.
