[Paganini Alfredo]

My favorite thing to do now is start a new game and run through it in human form and see where it takes me... A much fuller, satisfying experience I think. It teaches you a lot about Pvp though for sure. I'm a lot better at PvP as a result. More at lower levels cause I don't have to fight those annoying guys who just circle you to backstab you or use some tactic that's ridiculously cheap. There was one guy I kept fighting over and over who would camp in Tomb of the giants, using Wrath of the Gods to knock you off the edge. You could not see this guy in the spot he was in, only when you knew what spot he used could you see it. I had to creep up on him, it was pretty intense lol. I felt like I was on a big game hunt. o Ha, but i was able to keep invading him, I did like four or five times, each time he was in a new spot and blasted me off the edge. But he kept using the same spot soon and I caught him and lit him up with pyromancy.
 
I've never had problems with lag. Sometimes someone is else is but it's rare. Do you have a bad internet connection?

 

[kalbee]

I don't know, I might. Or just that invaders are all connecting from further away than most blue phantoms. Or they're doing it on purpose...
The problem wasn't as bad with Demon's Souls.
 
Though if I play other games my internet connection is pretty good even on fighters, to people in the US.

 

[tdockweiler]

Kind of annoyed. Wish I could have backed up my character to another slot before finishing the game. My mistake..
 
Feels like someone took my character and deleted it. Don't want to do NG+ since I missed out on a lot of areas...oh well.
 
Hate having to open all the shortcuts and getting the blacksmith upgrades again...

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Has anyone beaten Kalameet? I'm trying to and he's giving me the hardest time, very difficult. I need the slab of titanite he has in his lair but now I just want to kill him. He has so much HP and deals such strong attacks, just a monster. I've gotten him down to less than ten percent HP but he always gets me somehow. I myself am pretty beaten up by then too.
 
Supposedly Dark Souls 2 will have a LOT more dragons in it. I myself am starting to feel not so excited by that fact.

 

[tdockweiler]

Somehow NG+ is a lot easier for me.
 
Beat the Gargoyles on the 2nd try. Capra Demon took 4 tries though somehow. For me I had to just go crazy, which is a bad idea 99% of the time. All I did was hit him with my Black Knight Halberd+5 with high poise gear as fast as possible. He was dead in seconds. The longer I run around in his room the harder it is in NG+ it seems.
 
Now i'm on to the The Depths and then Blighttown. For that area I usually run through Valley of Drakes.
 
Still haven't gotten STR and DEX to 40 yet. The only weapons that increase in damage right now are those that are rated C in both.
 
Too bad you have to go back and get all the embers for weapons..
 
Still can't figure out why lightning weapons are so awful for me.

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Properly leveling up is confusing. This go around I'm leveling up in a functional sense... If there's a spell I want I level up to the required faith/intelligence and the stop. Or a certain strength level (I'm trying now to get to 40 for a certain weapon). I've stopped with endurance cause stamina doesn't increase and equip load doesn't improve hardly at all after I think 30. I was leveling up other stats (such as resistance) cause they were giving me improvements in defense but now aren't for some reason. So now I'm just increasing my faith to use the darkmoon talisman. It's so much fun to invade and just mess with people using the environment in long, drawn out cat and mouse type battles. I know for a fact I'm pissing a lot of people off but it's fun. It makes me feel better cause I used to and still do get pissed off at the generic duel pvp battles where all they do is try to get behind you and backstab. that gets so boring and not fun.
 
My character is just going into overkill for only being at ng+ at level 170. My previous character was 150 and I was probably in ng++++ I think. Maybe that's why I got stuck with four kings and couldn't beat them in that game, my character was so low in levels that I would need some serious soul farming and leveling up that it just wasn't worth it so i had to start a new game.
 
Finally beat Kalameet. Didn't chop off his tail like I maybe should have to get the Obsidian sword. Not even sure if that's a good weapon or not... Still using my lightning claymore which deals out decent damage and handles extremely well.

Unless you explore each environment you'll miss the embers. I've had a habit of brushing through areas on repeat playthroughs and missing stuff like that and have to backtrack to get them again.

 

[tdockweiler]

Stuck at Ornstein and Smough on NG+. Wow, they totally one shot you! Crazy.
I don't know how people kill them at level 1 with just a club. I think I need to level up Pyromancy to get anywhere.
I think I need to just get faster than I already am and use way less gear.
 
It's kind of funny to me how in NG+ I flew through most areas.
Actually Blighttown was pure hell for me because I took the path through the Abyss. Not a good idea!
After beating Queelag I was rushing and got out of there without ringing the bell. So stupid!
 
I got past Sen's Fortress on the 2nd try. I got way up to the very last section where a lizard flings lightning bolts at you while you cross a walkway with all those blades.
After that I managed to get through Anor Londo with zero deaths. I even impressed myself there.
 
I think for Ornstein I will just call a NPC. I don't need to punish myself since i'm only playing for fun. I plan on quitting the main game just before the last boss.
 
I don't know why everyone says Tomb of Giants and Duke's Archives are so difficult.
 
The hardest area for me was the first run through Sen's Fortress and then Anor Londo. Now they're easy.
 
I absolutely hate going to Blighttown because of all the poison/toxin.
 
Oh yeah, the last part of New Londo Ruins was harder than Tomb of Giants for me. Mostly just more annoying with those giant blob things and the Dark Wraiths.

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Is your equip load less than 25%? Are you using ring of favor and protection? I use that pretty regularly when focusing on PvE, especially a new character. That way you can equip some nice stuff while still being able to move fast. Stack that with Havel's ring and you're set.
 
Senn's fortress was a lot of fun playing through the first time. Or meant to say, it was fun once I got through it lol. Exploring it wall to wall is fun.
 
I think the Catacombs and Tomb of Giants levels are the best in the game. All those evil Necromancers and crazy skeletons.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Is your equip load less than 25%? Are you using ring of favor and protection? I use that pretty regularly when focusing on PvE, especially a new character. That way you can equip some nice stuff while still being able to move fast. Stack that with Havel's ring and you're set.
 
Senn's fortress was a lot of fun playing through the first time. Or meant to say, it was fun once I got through it lol. Exploring it wall to wall is fun.
 
I think the Catacombs and Tomb of Giants levels are the best in the game. All those evil Necromancers and crazy skeletons.

 
Yeah for Ornstein fight I get to under 25% or whatever it is to walk fast. I also use the poise ring and Havel's Ring.
The Ornstein fight is driving me crazy. I called Solaire for it 3 times and died every time. Don't ask me how. I then tried it solo on NG+ like 5 times in a row and I still died. I didn't even get Ornstein to under 50%. I usually keep getting cornered somehow.
 
It's pretty stupid how this boss makes the last one look super easy. I guess i'll need to get a gold live account just to get some help for it.
 
I'm using Dark Knight Halberd+5 with an Eagle Shield because everything else is worthless or too slow.
 
The rest of the game is very well balanced and not difficult, but I ALWAYS have issues with these two. Even the Four Kings I beat on the first try..

 

[kalbee]

Tomb of the Giants was particularly difficult or, say, annoying for me as the giant skeletons kick me/push me off the cliffs all the time haha.

 

[tdockweiler]

I'm officially a quitter!
I can't beat Ornstein on NG+ at all ever. I don't think I have the skill.
After maybe a dozen tries AGAIN, I got Ornstein to maybe 30% HP.
 
I even tried going without any gear and just a shield, so that I could be super fast.
 
It almost seems like Smough got super fast and spams me with his strongest attack.
 
My only remaining idea is to level up Pyromancy and see if that will do it.
 
The only weapon that does well enough in there is the Dark Knight Halberd+5. Everything else is bad, even Queelag's sword.
 
I wish I could cheat and reduce the difficulty temporarily

 
I don't even want to imagine what it's like on NG+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Ferr]

Queelag Sword+5 did wonders to me. They are weak to fire, so piromancy is an option too. Use the pillars to your favor, you can use them to block their attacks, absolutely summon Solaire and fight the oposite one he is fighting, trying to kill him fast enough (because Solaire will end up dying anyways). Othar than that not sure what more I can say other than lvl up more, they are def. the hardest boss in the game.
 
The bump from NG to NG+ is high, but after that is more maneagable.
 

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

^^^ Agreed about using those pillars. Make sure to just block and not roll for any attacks by Smough. Kill Ornstein First cause the big version of Ornstein is a tough mofo. And yeah use pyromancy.

Oh hell, just summon two guys to help you. Should be over pretty quickly. I did that on my recent NG+ playthrough.

Kalameet is the hardest boss in my opinion after my first battle with him. Must have spent HOURS figuring him out. He's ruthless. I literally screamed at him after I beat him lol. 

 

[kalbee]

Kalameet is in the "expansion", right? I didn't get that one since I don't have a English PSN account and my game is the US/CAN version :/
 
I always killed Smough first. Somehow I just have so much trouble with him, not that Ornstein was easy in any way...
That said, I did cheat through my game ^^; with the dragon stone.
Though what I did like about this game is that even with "cheats" it's still relatively hard. Don't think I did NG+ but I should, for nostalgia if I have to put it that way.
...when I get more free time >_< gotta first beat Tales of Vesperia...

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

^^^ Agreed about using those pillars. Make sure to just block and not roll for any attacks by Smough. Kill Ornstein First cause the big version of Ornstein is a tough mofo. And yeah use pyromancy.

Oh hell, just summon two guys to help you. Should be over pretty quickly. I did that on my recent NG+ playthrough.

Kalameet is the hardest boss in my opinion after my first battle with him. Must have spent HOURS figuring him out. He's ruthless. I literally screamed at him after I beat him lol. 

 
Lots of useful tips from everyone here. I have the Queelag's sword but I figured it'd be worthless since I have nearly no humanity left. My DEX is also stuck at 33 or so. I think next I should level my VIT past 35 or whatever it's at. I've heard Queelag's sword still may be useful against them. I think the Dark Knight Halberd+5 is just too slow. I used that to beat them the first time. That thing is really powerful with my character. It kills those Silver Knights in only 3 regular hits or so. Actually my Greataxe seemed to do better with those, but it's range is so short. Zweihander is so awful vs those silver knights due to how slow it is.
 
I also realized that the Eagle Shields stability increases with upgrades. At +1 it doesn't change, so I wrongly assumed it didn't. I think upgrading it for extra stability might help. I can't use any other shields with 85 stability because they're too heavy.
 
I could have swore that Smough's attacks went through my shield, but maybe not. Maybe it was just his most damaging attack that did. Where he smashes his hammer down.
 
I'll also upgrade the Furysword to +5. I also have Claymore+14.
 
I also spent forever trying to get the Balder Side Sword, but with my setup, it's so awful! I have balanced STR/DEX mostly. Guess I need to upgrade it past +7. Silver Straight Sword is much better right now due to better stat scaling.
 
Oh yeah, I also think I should upgrade my Flasks past +4. That really helped the first time around. Using them out in the open is almost a guaranteed loss on NG+ for me though. Have to go behind a pillar of course. I wish they had a Gravity spell like in FFXI you could use on Ornstein

 
I never tried killing Smough first, so maybe that's worth a try.
 
I feel stupid for saying this, but I destroyed my copy of Dark Souls. The next day I wanted to play it. my punishment is that nobody sells it so i need to order it online. First game I officially destroyed. I don't even have a bad temper, which makes it even harder to believe. I was just planning on quitting. Didn't last long. Luckily my controllers are perfectly OK!
 
I no longer feel Dark Souls is terribly difficult, except this boss is such a pain for me. I guess it requires a much different style of play. Guess i'll level Pyromancy, but I may just get help, but what fun is that?