Dark Souls!

[tdockweiler]

Wow Co-Op vs Ornstein is annoying. Helped so many people and most of them are way too aggressive and die before the helpers do. So no souls of course.
I think 90% of them don't realize we can't use our flasks when we help...
 
I think one time we finished both in record time with 3 total people.
 
Another time, everyone died I think with 3 people. WOW. Felt like just 2 minutes!
 
Then you have people that summon you and keep switching back and forth between both of them for some reason.

 
At least I got 4 levels today. SL108 right now and so close to having my main stats at 40.
 
This is the first day I did any Co-Op or online stuff. 90 hours in too..how sad..

 

[Ferr]

Thats weird, I would assume the vast majority of players are experienced with the game and they are just making new characters for try different builds. Guess not
 
 
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For some reason all elemental (fire and lightning) have all been horrible for me. Even the Lightning Spear was awful for me. I think i'll get another Claymore and try making a Fire Halberd or something. I guess they're better for those that don't have higher STR/DEX.

 
Elemental weapons are the best for the lower levels, but at high levels the normal ones are better. Not only the normal weapons have stats scaling, elemental weapons have to go though 2 defenses in enemies (normal defense and elemental defense).

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Thats weird, I would assume the vast majority of players are experienced with the game and they are just making new characters for try different builds. Guess not
 
 
 
Elemental weapons are the best for the lower levels, but at high levels the normal ones are better. Not only the normal weapons have stats scaling, elemental weapons have to go though 2 defenses in enemies (normal defense and elemental defense).

 
Haha, I was bored and browsing the internet with Dark Souls up and waiting to help people. Out of maybe 6 fights, only 2 of them won. That's just sad!
I've found a few good weapons that flew under the radar I think will be good. One is the Lightning Gargoyle's Halberd+5. This has 550dmg overall and requires very little stamina per hit. I must be the only one who loves Halberds.
It even outdamages the Black Knight Halberd+5 (my favorite weapon).
 
I also noticed for my build, the Lightning Uchigatana+5 will do more damage than a Longsword+15 and Baldur Side Sword+15. About 50 more damage, but it's slower.
Due to my stats, the Uchigatana+15 is actually worse. I can't understand why people love the Balder Side Sword except for it's speed. Mines only +12 right now and those Silver Knights murder me when I use it.
 
Found this useful calculator:
http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/
 
Queelag's Sword still stinks for me. Supposed to have 400dmg or so, but I think maybe most of the stuff in Anor Londo is strong vs Fire or something.
 
Once I actually get a Titanite slab i'm getting Claymore+15. Stuck at 14 for awhile. It's one of the few greatswords that doesn't seem slow.

 

[kova4a]

I didn't expect to find a Dark Souls thread on head-fi - nice! I've been a huge fan of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls for quite some time - actually, when the first review of Demon'Souls came out it was the main reason I bought a ps3. Anyway, I've spent hundreds of hours on both - I also have Dark Souls both for my ps3 and pc, so a huge fan. I have to say that for pure PvE I think that an endurance/intelligence build is the easiest way to beat the game fast - you just destroy everything hard from distance and make an enchanted PGS or washing pole for close encounters. I don't even spend one point to raise my vitality in NG. I have to say that I'm kinda annoyed that they made the game easier with the additional bonfires for warping and selling twinkling titanite but that's just my opinion. Demon's Souls is still a lot harder on NG+ and beyond, especially Old King Allant in comparison to the hilariously easy Gwyn. I do have to give props to the devs for Kalameet as I've always wanted a proper dragon fight and he was pretty hard - took my like 30 tries to slay him, which is impressive as on my pc run I already knew what stats I need and what I need to get and upgrade, so the other bosses in NG and beyond were pretty easy.
 
edit: their are some very useful sites for DArk souls info on everything like http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/

 

[tdockweiler]

Man I must have done thousands of google searches for this game. I think without the internet it might be even harder or i'd get lost. The Wiki helped a ton.
Playthrough videos on Youtube help, but I NEVER go further than I am in the game when viewing them. I don't want anything ruined.
 
After beating Ornstein I went through new Londo Ruins. I died on the first try due to stupidity. I ran through there and got surrounded by ghosts when my Transient Curse ran out.
 
I even got up to getting my Very Larger Ember, killing all the Wraiths and giant slime things. I've still yet to see a Titanite Slab. I got some items for farming so that'll help when I go back.
I can't fight Four Kings until I do some other stuff first.
 
I've never played Demon's Souls yet. I owned it, but it sat on the shelf forever because I was worried it'd be too hard!
 
I actually found the game kind of hard early on when I was new, but that mostly was due to me figuring out the game. That area with the giant boar gave me troubles. Then it took me awhile to get to the first Blacksmith somehow.
It's amazing how many Bonfires and shortcuts I missed so that it made it even harder!
 
Compared to all the old NES games, this game isn't any more difficult than the average game. Back then games were so much tougher. Some of them almost impossible to beat (like Battletoads i've read).
 
Towards the end of Dark Souls i've glad it didn't suddenly get 10x harder.

 

[kova4a]

Well, you can get one titanite slab for sure each playtrough when you go back to the asylum and defeat the Stray Demon. Also, you can trade with people if you're lucky - I was dong some PvP a week ago on the pc version and the guy who I invaded in the forest sent me a message for trade coz he was looking for titanite slabs and I gave him one in exchange for one blue titanite slab - a good deal for me.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Defeating the Stray Demon will surely net 1 titanite slab. Also, I don't mind farming Dark Wraiths for the slabs, they produce a good amount of exp especially in NG+/NG++.

 

[Ferr]

Theres also that quest for the onion head knight, but is tedious as hell.
 
I never played Demons too, I only have a 360. I really want to, and hope someday I can (I heard Demons is darker in tone and slightly harder).

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Yeah, the Siegmeyer storyline. Forgot about that one.
I did the quest with a FAQ in fear of missing an event in the storyline.

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Quote:

I didn't expect to find a Dark Souls thread on head-fi - nice! I've been a huge fan of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls for quite some time - actually, when the first review of Demon'Souls came out it was the main reason I bought a ps3. Anyway, I've spent hundreds of hours on both - I also have Dark Souls both for my ps3 and pc, so a huge fan. I have to say that for pure PvE I think that an endurance/intelligence build is the easiest way to beat the game fast - you just destroy everything hard from distance and make an enchanted PGS or washing pole for close encounters. I don't even spend one point to raise my vitality in NG. I have to say that I'm kinda annoyed that they made the game easier with the additional bonfires for warping and selling twinkling titanite but that's just my opinion. Demon's Souls is still a lot harder on NG+

 
I was huge into Demon's Souls and just played it so much I haven't touched it since Dark Souls came out. No scratch that I did do one playthrough some months ago. I like it but largely prefer Dark Souls, although I could see how someone could like Demon's souls better. I think the game is just so much better in how they set up things this time. Things like the Bonfire, the way magic works, interconnecting worlds, environments, etc.
 
Quote:

Man I must have done thousands of google searches for this game. I think without the internet it might be even harder or i'd get lost. The Wiki helped a ton.
Playthrough videos on Youtube help, but I NEVER go further than I am in the game when viewing them. I don't want anything ruined.
 
After beating Ornstein I went through new Londo Ruins. I died on the first try due to stupidity. I ran through there and got surrounded by ghosts when my Transient Curse ran out.
 
I even got up to getting my Very Larger Ember, killing all the Wraiths and giant slime things. I've still yet to see a Titanite Slab. I got some items for farming so that'll help when I go back.
I can't fight Four Kings until I do some other stuff first.
 
I've never played Demon's Souls yet. I owned it, but it sat on the shelf forever because I was worried it'd be too hard!
 
I actually found the game kind of hard early on when I was new, but that mostly was due to me figuring out the game. That area with the giant boar gave me troubles. Then it took me awhile to get to the first Blacksmith somehow.
It's amazing how many Bonfires and shortcuts I missed so that it made it even harder!
 
Compared to all the old NES games, this game isn't any more difficult than the average game. Back then games were so much tougher. Some of them almost impossible to beat (like Battletoads i've read).
 
Towards the end of Dark Souls i've glad it didn't suddenly get 10x harder.

 
Ha I kind of assume anyone who has internet access to use the wiki. I use it a ton just to look at stats of different weapons, armor and stuff like that. As far as using it as a guide my first playthrough only used it so i wouldn't accidentally go into an area that I wasn't supposed to be in and just wasting my time. I remember getting all the way through the catacoms and tomb of the giants one time only to suddenly realize you needed the lord vessel to beat tomb of the giants. Yeesh and then I had to backtrack ALL THE WAY to firelink shrine lol.
 
I'd say those old SNES and NES games that were hard were "technically" hard. Like having to have perfect timing, hit buttons so fast etc. Dark Souls isn't hard like that. Its difficulty is the steep learning curve on virtually all enemies you encounter throughout the game. Go and have a roll in the hay with Kalameet though, he's pretty hard.
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Yeah, the Siegmeyer storyline. Forgot about that one.
I did the quest with a FAQ in fear of missing an event in the storyline.

 
I had to use the Wiki to finish his storyline... I never was able to figure out on my own to kill that crystal golem in The Duke's Archives and save his daughter to move the storyline on.
 
I was finally able to get 6 castings of Wrath of the Gods... just love that for PvP. I would have 9 if I had gotten it on my first playthrough I'm on NG++, level 180 and still lose most of my PvP battles just cause I'm still figuring out how to be an effective pyromancer which will destroy anyone in PvP if done right.

 

[kova4a]

Quote:

 
I was huge into Demon's Souls and just played it so much I haven't touched it since Dark Souls came out. No scratch that I did do one playthrough some months ago. I like it but largely prefer Dark Souls, although I could see how someone could like Demon's souls better. I think the game is just so much better in how they set up things this time. Things like the Bonfire, the way magic works, interconnecting worlds, environments, etc.
 

Well, I agree as far as I like the complete package that is one interconnected world with great variety in the environment but I really liked the Demon's Souls for the world tendecies with the higher difficulty, the Black Phantoms, who made me **** my pants in the beginning and the Primeval Demons. It was just a harder game overall - you either kill the boss in the world or you die and start over while in Dark Souls there are so many shortcuts, drop shortcuts and bonfires that even if you die you can literally reach the area boss in few minutes. It was super cool how the devs made certain days super hard by changing the world tendency for everyone - one day you're on white tendency and the other you're pulverized by black phantoms on each step.And I won't even mention all the farming to upgrade the items coz in Dark Souls you can pretty much buy most of the stuff and the only hard thing to get is the slabs. I do remember also reaching the tomb of giants without the lord vessel and I was literally going to start the game all over coz I couldn't find the way back to firelink shrine - that was hard. I also remember that on my first play of Dark Souls I never paid attention to the Onion knight's quest - I just finished it by chance coz I explored everything. I also don't like how they nerfed a lot of stuff just coz of the PvP like with the hollow shield which was awesome for INT builds and I spent so much resources to upgrade just to wake up one day and have a ton less stability. Also INT builds were super weak for PvP in Dark Souls, which I didn't like at all and thankfully they realized that and added the Dsrk Sorceries which are just destroying in PvP if you time the spells right

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Ahh yes those dark sorceries do split you in half... That's why I always carry my trusty crest shield which is top dog for lighter shields reducing magic damage. I can at least take a solid hit from whatever the spell is which shoots out like ten dark balls and still have 3/4 of my hp left anyway.
 
Also figured out that poise is very important in PvP.

 

[kova4a]

Quote:

Ahh yes those dark sorceries do split you in half... That's why I always carry my trusty crest shield which is top dog for lighter shields reducing magic damage. I can at least take a solid hit from whatever the spell is which shoots out like ten dark balls and still have 3/4 of my hp left anyway.

Well, it's all about timing. If I hit you with Dark Bead right at the moment you're swinging at me when you're opened without any protection - you're dead. I got a ton of messages saying that's cheap but it's not when it's just good timing like backstabbing - now double backstabbing - that's cheap.

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

I love PvP cause since I'm in the darkmoon covenant. if i come across a player who's using some random cheap tactic i just reinvade over and over and kill him using whatever counters his stategy the best. The best example; I was invading in Kiln of the four flames and a guy was camping and just as the character invasion animation finished he would backstab you and you'd be dead cause he had some ridiculous high damage weapon for backstabs. And he did that stupid gesture where they shrug over and over and over, which made me mad (warning to future players, this is just a cheap tactic to make you infuriatingly mad, don't get too worked up about it if you're in Blade of the Darkmoon). So the next time i invaded (and always do ever since this happened) i had wrath of the gods ready to go so I knocked him down which gave me some time to run. I ran all the way halfway down that huge valley, and those idiots never kill the black knights so I get him to chase me all the way down to the narrow walkways after I let him kill the black knights in peace. keep in mind i have a good lead on him and he can't see around that corner that leads to those cliff walkways. So i used chameleon and hid behind one of the pillars and he couldn't see me, he kept going, all the way down to where the boss is, killing all the knights on the way. I go out in the center of the walkway disguised as whatever those little pillar things are with spikes on them, and when he comes back to look for me he runs right by again and I used wrath of the gods to knock him off the cliff. It was a personal victory for me, since I've always considered myself a poor PvP player, but Dark Souls gives you options in how to fight battles.

 

[kova4a]

Well, I never joined the darkmoon covenant seriously I either just destroy intruders in the forest covenant or do PvP in the dragon covenant in Kiln
 
Edit: btw, I've seen a ton of cheap strategies - the latest was a guy using hidden body in the forst and placing an item next to the abyss and he was just shooting people down  with the Dragonslayer bow. He killed me the first time and after that I just destroyed him and he had the impudence to send me a message that using crystal magic was cheap even though he was the cheapest player I've seen in quite some time.