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I have the AMAZING Futurepress guide(buy this, we need to support this kind of guide-making, the Deus Ex:HR guide was incredible too), so if anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask me. Everyone complaining about the Drake Sword being "easy mode" needs to realize that you can pump 3000 souls into a loving generic longsword and make it stronger than the Drake Sword. This is Dark Souls, the game is hard, but it's designed so that if you know the systems you can mitigate a lot of that difficulty. Getting the Drake Sword is knowing one of the systems (tails=loot). Upgrading a regular sword is knowing the systems (strait +physical upgrades are cheap and a great way to mitigate the difficulty early on). The reason the Drake Sword is good isn't because it has 200 attack, it's because its upgrade potential is much higher than a generic weapon. Of course, it is REALLY expensive to upgrade. Believe me, that 200 attack is not going to cut it in NG+ or even later on in your first run through.
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Oct 5, 2011 17:48
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Chachi posted:I keep hearing from people about how the big jerk up on the ramparts was supposed to drop a weapon when he died. Does this happen 100% of the time? All he gave me was a thousand souls and a headache The Black Knights have a chance to drop several things: A low chance to drop their weapon, a medium chance to drop their shield, and a pretty high chance to drop a Titanite Chunk. I'm not sure if they can drop multiple things, I think they can. I recommend getting your Humanity up and equipping one of those item find rings before fighting them, because the weapons are awesome. One thing I'm going to post is about spell scaling. Intelligence DOES affect both Sorceries and Pyromancies. However, Sorceries get a double dip because Intelligence also affects the Magic Adjust stat on Wands (Faith does this for Talismans), which makes them provide more magic damage. The Pyromancy Flame's Magic Adjust is tied to it's UPGRADE LEVEL not your Int. Wands and Talismans CANNOT be upgraded, but the Pyromancy Flame CAN, and this is what affects its Magic Adjust (it's starting Magic Adjust is really high as well). So while Intelligence DOES affect Pyromancies, it does not have nearly as large an effect for Pyromancers as it has for Sorcerors. To add to that, Pyromancies generally have much fewer charges than Sorceries. So as a Pyromancer you are encouraged to get some Str/Dex and go beat people up, since it doesn't affect your spell damage that much to sacrifice Int. It is also interesting that the Pyromancy Flame has REALLY HIGH attack, so you can actually FIREPUNCH people really hard with it! This is awesome. Certain Wands also get really high Attack so a Wand/Shield Battle-Sorceror is a definite build.
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Oct 5, 2011 18:11
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I am also going to post the best thing. This is a big 'ol spoiler to do with the Covenant's (a specific one) so do not read if you want to have a real WHAT THE gently caress moment in MP. The Darkwraith Covenant gets a fist weapon called the Dark Hand (yes there are fist weapons) that has a unique strong attack and a unique parry(left hand only). The strong attack is strait up Soul Suck. You grab a motherfucker and suck Humanity out of them, only works on players. The parry creates a God drat Energy Shield that lets you block. Yup. The Dark Hand has 200 Attack (same as baseline Drake Sword), no Parameter bonus, the energy shield has 80% resist to ALL types of damage and 30 Stability (that's low). Pretty much the best thing. EDIT: Chachi posted:I'm talking about the Taurus Demon, not the black knight. Sorry, my mistake. That guy has a medium chance to drop a Demon's Greataxe, which takes 46 Strength to wield. Don't worry, there's two more ways to get the axe, and 46 Str is balls high so you wouldn't be able to use it for a while anyways. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 18:21
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Smelly posted:So I asked a couple pages back but this thread moves fast. Where can I find the Spider Shield? Easy Mode for the Spider Shield is to start as a Bandit. Probably a little late for that though, so the other place to get it is in the Depths-Upper Levels, in a corner of the room where you fight the Giant Rat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQrSZafpIpo has it around 4:20. Apparently you can get it in the New Londo Ruins as well, I think it drops off an enemy there. Edit: Dr.Cthulhu posted:Also, I just freed some Gold knight from his cell. He...seems sketch bag. But he gave me some medallion thingy. The Gold Knight is pretty interesting. He will KILL the Firekeeper at Firelink Shrine, disabling the Bonfire there. So kill his rear end if you want to keep that. You CAN kill him later, which nets you some sweet loot+the Firekeeper's soul so you can ressurect the Firekeeper at the Firelink Shrine, but you will be without that Bonfire for a WHILE. It's your call. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 18:58
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The Wise Teen posted:So people keep saying the pendant does plot stuff. I took the pendant, but what does it actually do that I wouldn't see otherwise? Okay this is Covenant spoilers, but it's also very relevant for offline-only players, so you may want to read it if you are an offliner. The Pendant is used to trade with the Hawk-Girl in the Undead Asylum (at the nest, she talks about wanting "soft, warm things"). When you give her the Pendant, she gives a Souvenir of Reprisal. This the ONLY way to get a Souvenir of Reprisal that I know about, offline. The Souvenir of Reprisal is the item you need to level up the Darkmoon Blade Covenant. When you level it up, you get the Miracle: Darkmoon Blade (Buffed up Magic Weapon) and the Darkmoon Talisman (one of the strongest Talismans for Miracle users in the game, has the highest possible Magic Adjust). Edit: Jimbot posted:Also, am I correct in assuming that Pyromancy Flame is the only catalyst for Pryomancy? I've looked at the wiki and found nothing. Been upgrading that thing as much as I could as soon as I found the Pyromancer trainer. The Pyromancy Flame is the only catalyst for Pyromancy. The trade-off is that it's the only upgrade-able catalyst, and you can upgrade it quite a bit. The reason it is upgrade-able is because it does not scale it's Magic Adjust rating with Int, therefore it needs to be able to be upgraded to scale. This is so that Pyromancers don't need to purely focus on Int, and can instead put points into Str or Dex and be good in melee as well. This actually synergizes quite nicely with a lot of the Pyromancies, many of which are short range, and which tend to have fewer charges than Sorceries (meaning you will need to rely on your melee attacks more often). The Pyromancy Flame itself is also quite a strong melee weapon, ending up with GIGANTIC attack and high Flame damage as well (going off the data in the guide, have not verified in game on that point). AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 19:15
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Malachite posted:Finally got my copy from Amazon after those delays, but they sent me the wrong version. I don't have a 360, what the gently caress Amazon. As far as I know, that's the only use for the Pendant (going from what the guide says). It lines up with the Pendant's description as well so it probably is the only use.
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Oct 6, 2011 03:19
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Man, what a game. I've been going at it pretty hard this weekend. I farmed a lot in Anor Londo and got to Soul Level 65, with a full set of Silver Knight armor at +2, a +5 Black Knight Halberd, and a +5 Black Knight Greatsword, along with whichever Crest shield I needed at the time (the Crest shields are particularly resistant against specific damage types). Normally in a game when you farm for 2-3 hours you are significantly ahead of the power curve. Not here. I walked by a pair Hollow Soldier in the Parish, and they jumped at me and comboed me for half my life despite my Silver Knight armor and 25 Vitality. However, that farming did pay off when I went to get Artorias' Covenant (it's a ring not a Covenant) so that I could do New Londo. I walked in to Sif's room with a Stone Greatshield (68ish Stability) and my +5 Black Knight Halberd (345 Attack + another 180 from it's Str Parameter Bonus) and proceeded to easily block his attacks and kill him in 4 hits. Made his soul into the sexiest shield in the game, Artorias' Greatshield. 88 Stability and great all around resists. Now I have the perfect offense and the perfect defense. The second half of the game is crazy though. The difficulty goes wayyyy up. I found Duke's Archives to not be that bad, but the boss is brutal(Hope you like Curse). Tomb of the Giants was SO PAINFUL (especially getting the Large Divine Ember, 5 Giant Skeletons in a TINY rear end ROOM: Good loving Luck, I ended up just suiciding to get it) but the boss was really easy for me, since I could just block everything he did and I killed him in like 10 hits. This game is so good, I can't wait to try out different characters or play Online (I wanted to do an offline run through first).
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Oct 10, 2011 02:22
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Eej posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvoeFbH8hHc That's pretty much how I did it. Havel's armor, +5 Black Knight Sword. They do WAY less damage with their melee swings if you are close in, so you just get right up in their face, switch to two handed, and go nuts. Just block when they do their explosion and dodge when they do the grab (both SUPER telegraphed) and keep swinging. With my gear I could kill a king 5-10 seconds before the next spawned, SUPER easy. EDIT: Forgot one trick that helped a bit: Eat a Green Blossom before the first one spawns, let's you burst them down much faster.
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Oct 10, 2011 22:30
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Just beat my first playthrough. The last boss is AAA+++. Amazing atmosphere, amazing fight, amazing ending. I chose the Good ending, and it was just perfectly understated. You release the Flame back into a world where only Embers remained. That's it. Credits roll. Then the opening cinematic plays again, welcome to New Game+ motherfucker. I ended the game around SL 70ish, I farmed a fair bit in Anor Londo the first time I went there. I finished the last third of the game with Ornstein's armor, the Greatshield of Artorias, a Divine Claymore +10, a Black Knight Sword +5, and a Black Knight Halberd +5. I swapped Ornstein's armor out for Havel's and the Gold-Edged Black set for a few bosses. The only spells I used were Heal and Replenishment. I found the best way to enjoy the game is to just embrace your inevitable death. The last third of the game is just the game killing you instantly in new and novel ways, and you learning how to avoid it. Every fight can be won, I was playing the game offline and was Hollow about 99% of the time. I didn't use any special Soul farming tricks or super optimized builds. The hardest fight for me was Seath the Scaleless, but once I realized that his frontal attacks are actually easier to deal with than his rear attacks I just ran up to him and smacked him down in one go. I'm really looking forward to trying different builds out. I played through with a big fat shield and big armor for 90% of the game, especially in the end. The Greatshield of Artorias is just AMAZING. With the right rings I could tank the last boss through every single one of his attacks for 30 seconds or more before my stamina started to get low. I never lost more than 10% of my stamina in one shot with that ridiculous shield. I think my next build will be a Dex/Int caster, focusing on Sorceries and weapons like Velka's Rapier and the Moonlight Butterfly Horn. I love that there's at least 4-5 more ways to play the game that I haven't even touched yet. What a great experience.
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Oct 11, 2011 01:30
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I love the degree to which you can break this game (Master Key  ). I started my second character since I wanted to see how an Int/Dex MAGICAL DUELIST would play out, since my first character was a gigantic Str/End Greatsword+Greatshield+Huge Armor guy. I rushed through to the Parish blacksmith, farmed 20k souls, bought the Crest of Artorias, killed the Prowling Demon, and farmed the Forest Hunter guys until I was SL 20 or so and could buy another scroll of Soul Arrow and Heavy Soul Arrow from the Vinheim blacksmith in New Londo. Then I went back to Firelink, went down into Valley of the Drakes, and entered Blighttown from the back entrance. I dropped down, ran over to the Great Hollow, went all the way down to Ash Lake. I glitched the Hydra out (get him to jump over to the other side, then run back and make him jump back, he's too fat to make the return jump and will instantly die) ran over, and got the Dragon Covenant. Used the Item Breath glitch to get some souls and humanity, leveled to SL 70, went back to the blacksmith and upgraded my Estoc to +5 and my armor to +3, then went back into Blighttown's back entrance, killed Queelag, went back to the parish, killed the Gargoyle's, ran through Sen's Fortress, and now I'm outside Ornstein and Smough's room with a +5 Magic Estoc, +5 Knight's Shield, +5 Black Sorceror's set, a ton of different Sorceries. Total time played? 4 hours. Amazing. Before anyone complains about the glitching, I'm offline only at the moment and just enjoy seeing all the different ways I can build my character. I beat the game with my first character entirely legitimately (didn't even Forest Hunter farm) and entirely solo (didn't even summon NPCs) as a Heavy Armor guy, so I think I have experienced plenty of the challenge. Now it's time for the hilarious gimmick builds and speedruns!
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Oct 12, 2011 01:32
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Beat the game again (different character, not NG+) with my Sorceror, first run through was as a Knight. It's really interesting to see the difference in play style. Some bosses are really easy for the Knight (4 Kings, Sif, Nito, Capra) because you can either just ignore their pathetic attacks and blitz them down with a huge sword or block everything they do with a giant shield. Other bosses are super easy for the Sorceror (S+O, Butterfly, Seath) because you can just dodge everything they do and blow them away at range. Conversely, bosses like S+O or Seath can be quite difficult for a Knight since just tanking their damage isn't a real option (I spammed about 5 curse removal items to kill Seath on my Knight), while bosses like Capra Demon/Gargoyles/Nito are really tough for the Sorceror since there's always something right up in your grill. And let's not talk about Priscilla as a caster, thank God I had the materials to upgrade Velka's Rapier to +4 with me or else I don't know what I would have done. Also, having seen a lot of the equipment in the game, I have a sneaking suspicion the ideal *solo* build would be a hybrid built around the Greatsword of Artorias(either version). 30ish Str, 20ish Dex, 20 Int, 20 Faith, lots of End/Vit/Res and a bit of Attunment. You'd take that, and then the Talismans/Catalysts that have static Magic Adjust (Oolacile Ivory Catalyst and Thorolund Talisman) and some good baseline spells (Great Soul Arrow/Great Heavy Soul Arrow, Homing Soul Mass, Replenishment, Karmic Justice) as well as some good utility spells (Repair, Hush, Resist Curse, Remedy, Heal, Homeward). Those are all usable at 20 Int/Faith, and are actually quite powerful with those static Magic Adjust items. The Greatsword of Artorias is just a really solid, all around weapon, that does a ton of damage (of multiple kinds), works well 1H or 2H, and even comes in a pre-cursed version for all your New Londo needs. Package all of that with two sets of armor, one lightweight (probably Gold-Hemmed Black + one of the Crest Shields) and one heavyweight (Havel's, Smough's, Black Iron combined with the biggest shield your Str will allow), and you will be good to go. If a boss is weak to sitting back and plinking away with spells, you equip your caster rings, your light set, and blast away with Soul Arrows and Soulmasses. If it's weak to just getting up in it's face, you throw on your heavy armor, the appropriate defensive/utility rings, and go to town with your big rear end sword, while Replenishment and Karmic Justice keep you topped off and safe from one shot grabs.
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Oct 12, 2011 10:13
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Vargs posted:Are there any better large weapons than a +5 lightning Zweihander? I'm debating on whether or not to keep boosting my strength. Anything that does more damage fully upgraded, while also retaining the Zweihander's heavy attack pattern which puts your hitbox too low for many enemies to hit after swinging? The other weapons in that category (Ultra Greatswords) are the Greatsword (off Tower Knights), the Demon Great Machete (Capra Demons), the Dragon Greatsword (Cut off the Stone Dragon's tail in Ashe Lake) and the Black Knight Greatsword (off Greatsword Black Knights shockingly). -The Greatsword is identical statwise and only differs in it's Strong Attack animations. It has an identical upgrade line and identical stats across the board. -The Demon Great Machete has a tiny bit more damage and better Str scaling at the price of requiring 40 Str to equip. It also has a different Strong Attack animation, and just slightly out-damages the Zweihander across the board. This is the min/maxers pick. Same upgrade line as the Zwei, tiny bit better numbers everywhere (I mean tiny, like 3-4), and a letter grade higher (B vs C) Str parameter bonus (no Dex bonus though). -The Dragon Greatsword takes a whopping 50 Str to even equip, but has an absolutely ridiculous 360 Attack unupgraded. At +5 (maximum upgrade) it is sitting on 540 Attack! However, it has no Parameter bonus whatsoever, so while it's still the Attack king at 50 Str, if you start going above 50 the others will overtake it. It's Strong Attacks are different, and the 2H Strong Attack is a giant energy wave that takes off 50 of it's 400 durability points. It also has no elemental upgrades, just raw physical power. Takes Dragon scales to upgrade. -The Black Knight Greatsword has a really high starting Attack at 205, and requires 32 Str to equip (18 Dex as well). It has better Str scaling and worse Dex scaling than the Zweihander, has the coolest Strong Attack animations in the game (FORE!!), and upgrades to +5 with a total of 307 Attack. Like all the Black Knight weapons, it is significantly stronger than any competition until you start hitting the end-game upgrade levels (+15 Zweihander has 325 Attack vs BKG's 307, BKG scales with Str at B however), where it remains competitive but not the definitive winner. No elemental upgrades, takes Twinkling Titanite to upgrade, which lets you max it sooner but Twinking Titanite is a finite resource unless you want to do some truly aggravating farming (hope you like long runs and giant clams), meaning you will have to choose what to spend it on. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Oct 12, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 10:38
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doomfunk posted:So the guys in Blighttown that drop large shards and green titanite. Are they the big buggy things that spit fire? It's the giant leeches you want. Starting from the bonfire, go straight out of the cave, cross the swamp to the far wall, and start going around it to the left, eventually circling back to the bonfire. You'll hit several groups of them. Magic damage is ideal I believe, but everything works. Dolphin Fetus posted:That said, I'm really not sure if I want to just keep going with my sorcerer or go make a pyromancer. From what I've read on the wiki pyromancy looks absolutely superior to sorcery in every way because it does good damage (according to folks) and you don't have to sacrifice any points in INT so it'll be easier to be a hybrid/someone who supplements melee with magic. Pyromancy is definitely the way to go if you want to be able to swing big weapons and wear heavy armor and also use magic. If you wanted to do that with Sorcery you'd have to do some weird hybrid build like I posted earlier. Pyromancy just works right out the gate, and also has some really good buffs that synergize perfectly with being in melee. Sorcery however, works quite nicely with a Dex/Int build aimed at using Thrusting Swords, Spears, and Daggers with the Magic upgrade line (+5->Magic+5->Magic+10 OR Enchanted+5). There's also some nice unique's that scale really well of Int: Velka's Rapier, the Moonlight Butterfly Horn, the Moonlight Greatsword, and the Channeler's Trident. Conveniently, they all work well with Dex, and scale excellently off of Int. So basically if you want to be a giant axe swinging, fire slinging madman, go Pyromancy and focus on Str/End/Vit. If you want to be a refined magical duelist, go Sorcery and focus on Dex/Int/End. Grab some Attunment and Resistance with both and you are good to go. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 10:59 on Oct 12, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 10:50
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Been doing a bunch of investigating into different possible weapon setups now that I've beat the game four times. Thought I'd post some info. First let's talk about dual wielding. Flat out, it's not as good as sword 'n board 99% of the time. Being able to block 100% physical is just too useful for saving your butt. However, dual wielding can be totally usable despite not being as good. It's very dependent on your weapon choice. There's basically five weapon categories that are useful for dual wielding in the off-hand: Off-Hand Weapon Choices Daggers(Slash Damage) - Daggers make for quite a viable DW build. All of them can parry, and the Parrying Dagger has probably the most active parry frames out of any weapon, shields included. Daggers are also super light, letting you keep your weight down. They also come with a swift off-hand strike that hits a fairly wide arc in front of you, letting you interrupt weaker enemies and trigger the daggers bonus crit damage. Finally, the Bandit's Knife and Priscilla's Dagger have excellent Bleed effects, giving you a really solid additional form of damage. The best choices for Daggers are: -Parrying Dagger(Found in New Londo ruins): Full range of upgrades, TONS of parry frames, super light. -Bandit's Knife(Thief starting weapon, drop off Lower Burg Assassins): Full range of upgrades, 30 per strike buildup 30% hp bleed effect, light like all daggers, basic parry. -Priscilla's Dagger(Cut off Priscilla's Tail): Dragon weapon upgrades (purely physical, dragon scales required), 20 per strike buildup 50% hp bleed effect, otherwise similar to Bandit's Knife. Curved Swords(Slash Damage) - Curved swords are great DW weapons. They share a universal parry animation that is EXCELLENT, competing with the Parrying Dagger and parry shields (Target Shield, Buckler) for number of active frames. They come with higher damage than daggers, and their off-hand strike has a similarly wide range, albeit with a tiny bit less speed. Finally, curved swords come with a good range of extra effects, from Bleeds to the ability to ignore shields. The best choices for Curved Swords are: -Scimitar/Falchion(Found on skeletons, skeletons, skeletons, Scimitar is Wanderer starting weapon and can be bought from the Undead Merchant): Nearly identical, with the Falchion gaining about 5% more damage for almost double the weight (1.5 Scimitar 2.5 Falchion). Comes with the full range of upgrades and the excellent curved sword parry. -Shotel(Bought off Shiva, found in Sen's Fortress): High damage, low weight, curved sword parry. Comes with everything the Scimitar/Falchion do but has the additional feature of IGNORING SHIELDS. -Painting Guardian Sword(Drop off of Painting Guards): Low damage, low low weight. Full suite of upgrades, curved sword parry. Comes with a nifty 30 per strike 30% hp bleed. -Quelaag's Furysword(Ascend Soul of Quelaag from +10 Curved Sword): Amazing fire damage, great range, requires Demon Titanite to upgrade. Probably won't be dual wielding this until NG+, as it is a GREAT main-hand weapon and is hard to beat in that role. Remember that it powers up substantially with increased Humanity, up to 10. Katanas(Slash Damage) - Katanas round out the Slash Damage trio as solid choices for dual wielding. While they lack the excellent parry of the curved swords, featuring just a basic parry animation, they come universally loaded with high damage, great range, and strong bleed effects. All four katanas make for strong off-hand weapons. Keep in mind that katanas have PATHETIC durability, always be aware of repairing. The choices for Katanas are: -Uchigatana/Iaito(Bought off Shiva/Found in Blighttown): Middle of the road katanas featuring a full suite of upgrades, the basic parry, good damage, and decent range. Also packs a 33 per strike 30% Bleed. -Washing Pole(Bought off Shiva): Hilariously long katana with the best range of any non-whip off-hand. Same damage as the Uchigatana, excellent range, full upgrades, basic parry, 30 per strike 30% Bleed. -Chaos Blade(Ascend Quelaag's Soul from a +10 Katana): A strong choice for an off-hand from the start, due to it's low base damage. Only physical damage, upgrades with Demon Titanite, features a 36 per strike 30% hp Bleed. Like the Furysword, powers up substantially with stored Humanity, up to 10. Thrusting Swords(Thrust Damage) - The first non-Slash damage choice for off-hands, and the Gentleman's Choice. Thrusting swords feature excellent speed and good range, although they only strike in a strait line. One of the three weapon types(daggers,thrusting swords, fist weapons) that is fast enough to regularly interrupt enemy attacks, they have a bonus to the crit damage this creates. They also have an improved parry that is in-between the godly parry of the parrying dagger/curved swords/parry shields and the plain-jane parry everyone else gets. All of the thrusting swords make for good off-hands, and generally only vary in their damage and range. The choices for Thrusting Swords are: -Mail Breaker(Found in Undead Burg): The shortest range and lowest damage of the lot, the Mail Breaker nontheless features the highest crit-damage bonus and fastest off-hand strike, making it excellent for interrupting attacks and generating crits. Full range of upgrades and the thrusting sword parry. -Rapier/Ricard's Rapier(Bought off Undead Merchant/Drop off Undead Prince Ricard): The middle of the road for thrusting swords, has decent damage, speed, range, and crit bonus. Full range of upgrades and the thrusting sword parry. -Estoc(Found in New Londo): The heaviest of the thrusting swords, has the longest range and most damage with the least speed and crit bonus (it's still fast). Full range of upgrades and the thrusting sword parry. -Velka's Rapier(Found in the Painted World): The unique thrusting sword, packs high magic damage and a high Int scaling bonus. Otherwise identical to the Rapier. Upgrades with Twinkling Titanite and goes to +5 only. Whips(Regular Damage) - Whips are a pretty lackluster weapon generally, but they secretly shine in the off-hand. With the longest range of any off-hand, they can neatly compliment a slow or short ranged weapon like an axe, mace, or strait sword. Both whips have access to the standard parry as well as the full range of upgrades. The choices for Whips are: -Whip(Found in Blighttown): Great range and average damage and speed. Comes with the full suite of upgrades and a standard parry. -Notched Whip(Drop off of Xanthous King Jeremiah): Identical to the whip except it trades 5% damage for a 33 per strike 30% hp Bleed effect. A great choice to provide a Bleed for bosses and bigger enemies. Gauntlets(Strike Damage) - The final weapon type that is suitable in the off-hand. Gauntlets have short range (with one exception), low damage, and a regular parry, but make up for those downsides with their blistering speed (one exception again). Packing the fastest attack in the game, gauntlets are great for pairing with a main-hand that can't take advantage of small openings. The choices for Gauntlets are: -Caestus(Bought off Andre of Astora): The baseline gauntlet, the Caestus comes with the short range, low damage, blazingly fast gauntlet off-hand strike, regular parry, and the full suite of upgrades. -Claw(Bought off Shiva): The second most unique gauntlet, the Claw has several major differences. It does Slash Damage, it's off-hand strike is a slow, wide slash with great range, and it comes with a 30 per strike 30% hp Bleed effect. Otherwise, it stays the same, with the full suite of upgrades and a basic parry. -Dragon Bone Fist(Ascended the Iron Golem Core from a +10 Gauntlet): Identical to the Caestus in most respects. Has lower base damage, higher scaling, and upgrades to +5 max with Dragon Scales. -Dark Hand(Darkwraith Covenant): The most unique gauntlet. Functions as a shield in the off-hand, with 80% resistance across the board, making it very effective versus sorcery/pyromancy/miracles. It is not upgradeable. The biggest advantage of the Dark Hand is it looks incredibly badass. Whew, that ended up a fair bit longer than intended, forgive my OCD. The advantage of dual-wielding is it allows you to cover the weaknesses of your main weapon or diversify your options. Have a slow, vertical mace in your main-hand? Grab a dagger or curved sword to let you handle a crowd as well as take advantage of small openings. Using a greatsword and need an attack for those tight corridors? Grab a thrusting sword or gauntlet. While shields are definitely, DEFINITELY the easier path, dual-wielding can really spice up your game, especially once the game loses its bite and starts becoming easier as you gain experience.
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Oct 18, 2011 12:24
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Gazmachine posted:Great DW post, Bacon. Can I ask, regarding the parry animation for the parrying dagger and other daggers - does the dagger parry throughout the whole animation, that is to say, from when the dagger is being held out through to and including the outward swipe? I haven't done any kind of scientific testing on the parrying, but my observations are that the parry dagger has active parry frames throughout most of its animation, making it pretty godlike for parrying. It definitely is the easiest thing in the game to parry with, although parry shields and curved swords are real close. In terms of PvP, I'd imagine it works, although lag is definitely going to be a factor. Most of the PvP I have done has been me annihilating unsuspecting invaders with horrible sorceries and pyromancies, I haven't actually tried out a dual wield build in PvP yet.
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Oct 18, 2011 12:57
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Mr_Chicken posted:So, I just did the first moonlight butterfly, went to the top of the tower and grabbed the Ember. Went back to Andre to give it to him and I guess use it. So he was talking to me and then my cat jumped up onto my desk, which caused my controller (that'd I put down on the side for a bit) to move and press R2. If you have online I would go kill/phantom Gaping Dragon until you get 50k souls. If you get lucky with summons its shouldn't take that long. The kill is 25k and phantoming it gives you a fair bit.
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Oct 18, 2011 13:06
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I_Socom posted:^^ Thank you for this - this is an awesome post. Totally going to try a dual-wield playthrough next. You can dual-wield a pair of washing poles, right? Yep! Like Hamburger said, you can pretty much dual wield everything. Even bows actually, you just have to switch one to two-handed to fire it. Not that most things are any good for it, but hopefully my post helps people find the good stuff. However, I really recommend packing a good shield (the Kite shields from the Parish Blacksmith Andre are a good look, as well as the Hollow Shield or the Knight Shield) with 100% physical block for those times when you just can't hack it. Those times will crop up unless you are a really good player, so it's just nice to have an upgraded shield sitting at the ready. The glaring example would be Capra Demon, but there's a few other points in the game where you can just get locked down without the ability to block. I'd say 95% of the game is doable shield-less though. For extra  take Power Within and make one weapon Fire, the other Lightning. You become Blendtec: Elemental Edition, it looks pretty amazing.
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Oct 18, 2011 13:45
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FirstPersonShitter posted:How viable is a sorcery character? I'm thinking of going sorceror next time but I've never really used sorcery in either demon's souls or dark souls. What stats should I level up and what should I do for melee weapons and shields? Sorcery is SUPER viable, the only tough part is when you are first starting out. What I did was get 10 Str 12 Dex for the Estoc (there's one right in the start in New Londo, it's behind a wall before the pier leading to the main area, it literally takes 20 seconds to get to from Firelink and there are no enemies in between you and it) and then used that for pretty much my whole play-through. I got it to +5 asap and then turned it magic so it scaled with my Int, eventually ending up with a +5 Enchanted Estoc (equivalent to +15 normal) that scaled with Int at a B. The Estoc is nice because it has good range, is really fast, and its strong attack (RT or R2) is a nice big sweep that can be chained twice, is really fast, has really long range (you dash forward a bit when you do it), and covers a really wide area. I feel that the Estoc is probably tied with the Longsword for best all-around weapon. It just covers all the bases, and is nice and quick. Anyways, get that, or another good low-stat req. weapon, and a decent shield (I used the Knight Shield from right outside the Parish). You basically play as a melee guy with the occasional spell for tougher guy or groups for the first hour or so. Then once you get to Lower Undead Burg (before the Capra Demon) you can rescue Griggs and learn some more spells. From then on you can play the game as a full-on caster or a hybrid. Get the +magic damage gear (the ring especially, though the headgear is good to get as well, it's the gear you get for freeing Dusk) and you will just obliterate things. It makes a lot of the bosses really easy later on.
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Oct 18, 2011 14:05
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Gonna re-link this post since I made it at like 3am last night and I think it will be useful for people: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?goto=post&postid=396680394&highlight=#post396680394 It's all about the viability of dual-wielding and analyzes the strengths of the weapons that are good in the off-hand. ANYWAYS! Gonna talk some more about dual-wielding, for those people who want to try a more challenging yet infinitely more stylish playthrough. The basic idea with dual-wielding is you want to cover your main-hands weaknesses. Sure you can do a DUAL KATANA YEAHHHH build, but you are basically gimping yourself. Totally fine to gimp yourself, but let's talk about making dual-wield builds that are as viable as possible. First, we gotta start with your main-hand weapon. This is going to be the source of 80%+ of your damage, so it needs to be something you are comfortable with, and that packs good utility. Since the viable off-hands tend to be lighter, faster weapons, heavier weapons are a good choice here. Main Hand Weapon Choices -Daggers: Not a great look for the main-hand. Daggers do very well in the off-hand already, and don't really give you anything better in the main-hand. -Strait Swords: A decent choice for main-hand, most strait swords will cover both Slash and Thrust damage, have short-medium range, and are pretty quick. The only problem is Strait Swords tend to just work much better with a shield, since they are so well-rounded they don't really have any weaknesses to offset. -Great Swords: Now we're talking. Packing a lot of Slash attacks and possibly a Thrust attack or two, with good range and good damage, Great Swords do everything well except for speed, which can be easily made up with a lot of the off-hands. Still enough of an all-around weapon that dual-wielding isn't totally ideal, but definitely more workable than Strait Swords. -Ultra Great Swords: The king of swords. Colossal range, colossal damage, colossal swing length. These weapons have some serious strengths and some serious weaknesses. Sounds like exactly what we are looking for. Ultra Great Swords have area attacks and heavy damage on lock, as well as all the Slash damage you will ever need. So Thrust Swords like the Mail Breaker, Estoc, and Rapier, are all great compliments. However, my personal favorite to pair with an Ultra Great Sword is the humble Gauntlet, specifically the Caestus or Dragon Bone Fist (the Claw is not a good idea here, as it provides wide-area Slash damage, not what we need). The off-hand attack from the Gauntlet is the fastest attack in the game, and it does Strike damage, covering two of our weaknesses. -Curved Swords: Another weapon that is already EXCELLENT in the off-hand, so not super necessary in the main-hand. However, the Curved Sword line does come with some cool attacks that can really make for a stylish run when dual-wielding them (forward+light attack, and neutral heavy attack). If you want to min-max however, they are better paired with a Thrust-Sword or Whip. Not a great choice outside of the style factor. -Great Curved Swords: Similar to their cousins the Great Swords, a good all-around weapon that can benefit from an off-hand, but isn't particularly looking for it. Best paired with a Thrust Sword, Gauntlet, or Whip. Pair with a Curved Sword for maximum style at the expense of utility. -Thrust Swords: Amazing off-hands themselves, Thrust Swords can actually benefit from one particular class of weapon in the off-hand: Daggers. Daggers provide the perfect complement, with their wide Slash attack, good parry, and the possibility of Bleed damage. Curved Swords also combo nicely, with a wide Slash attack and excellent parry animation. Like Curved Swords, can be paired with themselves for style over utility. -Katanas: Another strong off-hand choice that isn't ideal in the main-hand when dual wielding, aside from the Iaito Sword, with it's nice wide strong attack. If you insist on main-handing these, pair with a Thrust Sword, Whip, or Gauntlet. Dual-wield these only if you want to be maximum anime. -Axes: Here we go. Axes make GREAT main-hands for dual-wielding. High damage, Regular damage type, slow, short range. There's a lot of weaknesses in there to balance the high damage. Let's mitigate them! Daggers are decent, with their fast, wide, Slash damage attack. Curved Swords are better, providing more of everything we want, in addition to looking great paired with an Axe. Katanas are a higher damage option with less range and a weaker parry. Thrust Swords provide nice range and Thrust damage, along with a good parry. The Gauntlet gives Strike damage and a lightning quick attack, while the Claw is a little slow, but provides good Slash damage. The only off-hand not ideal with an Axe is the Whip, as it provides the same Regular damage type. -Great Axes: Axes but more so. Work well with everything that Axes work with. Top marks go to Curved Swords and Thrusting Swords, with Daggers, Katanas, and Gauntlets also good choices. Even the Whip can work, with its good speed and range. Difficult to dual-wield with since the Str requirement to one-hand these is so high. -Hammers: These guys are begging for an off-hand. Slow as heck, with poor range and no area attacks, but heavy Strike damage and hit-stun. Pair with a Dagger or Curved Sword to give a great Slash attack that a wide area fast. Katanas, Whips, and Thrust Swords also work well, although they don't provide that nice wide attack. Gauntlets are the only real loser here, bringing nothing extra to the table but a quick attack. The Claw however, works excellently here. -Great Hammers: Just like Great Axes to Axes, the Great Hammer provides everything a Hammer does x2. Crazy damage, crazy hit-stun and block-stun, crazy slow, the one area it changes things up is that it is so huge it's attacks hit a fairly wide area. Thrust Swords really shine here, along with Katanas. Curved Swords, Daggers, Claws, and Whips all work nicely as well. Avoid Gauntlets. Difficult to dual-wield with since the Str requirement to one-hand these is so high. -Spears: Not great candidates for dual-wielding. Not through any fault of their own, it's just that they work SO WELL with shields, it's really not a great idea to give that synergy up. However, if you insist, go with Daggers, Curved Swords, or Katanas, as these provide the Slash attacks and wide attacks that Spears lack. -Halberds: A diverse weapon group, Halberds work well as main-hands, thanks to their big weakness: their speed. While they provide great range and damage, they lack a quick attack that can interrupt enemies up close. Pair Thrust/Regular Halberds with Curved Swords, Daggers, Katanas, and Claws. Pair Slash Halberds (Scythes) with Thrust Swords and Gauntlets. The Halberd already has excellent range, so skip Whips. -Whips: Another great off-hand weapon that is lackluster in the main-hand. If you insist on dual-wielding these, pair them with a Dagger, Curved Sword, or Katana, but really, they are better off in the off-hand. -Gauntlets: A fun main-hand that's not super ideal, thanks to it's lack of area attacks and short range (Claws excepted, think of Claws as slightly slower Curved Swords). Dual-wield these in both hands to be the most motherfucker on the block, but if you want to make a really viable build, avoid them. Alright, time for me to go out for dinner, but hopefully those two posts help people come up with some fun, non-standard builds that let you play the game in a new way!
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Oct 19, 2011 02:17
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gravyflood posted:Maybe I'm stupid, but what's the point to dual-wielding if you can only block with your offhand? Is it for more versatility via the heavy attack, or is it just for the sake of stacking stats? Like I say in my first post(that I linked to) 99% of the time using a shield is going to be better. If you want to increase your damage just go two-handed, don't dual wield. Dual-wielding is for those of us that want to try something different. The only weapons that are really viable for use in the off-hand are those that can parry, between parrying and rolling you have a way to deal with most anything, although blocking will always be safer and MUCH easier. My posts are just guides on how to use dual-wielding if that's something you want to try. It's fun and different, I'm currently doing a Dual Scimitar run and a Zweihander/Caestus run and they're really fun and much more challenging than my Greatsword+Greatshield playthrough, which was really easy.
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Oct 19, 2011 03:51
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Wildtortilla posted:Forgive me if this is a terrible question, but do big weapons always attack dreadfully slow and look awkward? I noticed my character stumbles when I swing the halberd with L2 and I just got enough strength to use a great axe and it's stupidly slow. If they're always this slow, I'm just going to remake my character now and spec for using fast weapons. Weapons like Maces, Axes, and Halberds all have built in stumble animations that are mitigated if the attack actually connects with an enemy. They are still slow as poo poo, but the recovery is significantly shorter on all those weapons if your attack actually connects. All those weapons are going to be slowww though, and it can be pretty rough later on if you don't have a good shield and/or can't parry well. If you aren't really comfortable with slow weapons, I would get a good Strait Sword (Long Sword being the best), Spear (I'm partial to the Partisan), or Thrusting Sword (The Estoc is the way to go). I list those three weapons in particular because they cover all the bases. The Long Sword is the most all around weapon in the game, great when wielded in one or two hands, both vertical and horizontal attacks, good range, good speed, good damage. The Partisan and the Estoc are particularly nice because their strong attacks (RT or R2) are wide horizontal slashes, which other spears and thrusting swords lack.
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Oct 19, 2011 04:03
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Dawnfire posted:It's not chaos whip that does it, it's having a quelanna pyromancer flame. She's also only going to show up if you have a pyromancy flame of +10 or higher, at which point she's at the giant stone pillar to the left as you enter Blighttown from quelaag's domain. This is false actually. I've tested it and he only triggers the conversation if you have any form of Chaos pyromancy. So Chaos Fire Whip, Chaos Fireball, Chaos Storm, etc, will all trigger the conversation.
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Oct 19, 2011 09:51
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GreenAcidRage posted:Try going back in through the front door? The second part of the Archives aren't connected as far as I know. They are, you just have to go along the balconies with the movable staircases. The room you first enter into is pretty much directly opposite the bonfire down on the little balcony. It's actually all just one big room, there's just a wall dividing it in the middle. The elevator you want is connected to that middle dividing wall, on the opposite side if you start at the bonfire on that balcony. That actually leads me into possibly my favorite part of Dark Souls. Every single thing in the game is connected physically, it's not just distinct rooms connected by portals disguised as elevators and poo poo like in most games. Here's some of my favorites: -From Firelink shrine you can see the giant dead tree whose roots go down through Quelaag's Domain and into Lost Izalith. If you could no-clip and fly over there you would be able to fly down into Blighttown, the Demon Ruins, and Lost Izalith. -From where you fight the Taurus Demon you can see the old castle where you fight Moonlight Butterfly, and vice versa. -The bridge where the Hellkite Drake flames you is a bridge OVER the Valley of the Drakes. You can actually see the giant gateway entrance to New Londo from that bridge. Well, not the gateway itself, but the bridge with the Drakes and the ruined gateway across from it. New Londo is actually underneath Darkroot Garden, and it borders Darkroot Basin. -When you enter Darkroot Garden from the blacksmiths room in the chapel, if you look up you can see the Moonlight Butterfly sitting on the castle above where you fight it. You can see it from almost anywhere in Darkroot Garden, just chillin. -You can look over all of Anor Londo from the Duke's Archives. The Duke's Archives is actually really cool because you can explore the whole building, everything you can see of it from Anor Londo has a corresponding room inside that you can go in. -When you look down from the top of the Parish, you are looking down into the canopy of the big tree above Firelink Shrine. The wall with the elevator is the foundation of the cathedral. In fact, the only places in the game that aren't contiguous with the rest of the map are the Painted World of Ariamis, the Undead Asylum, and the Kiln of the First Flame, which as far as I can tell are their own distinct areas. Going by it's general location, I'd bet the Kiln of the First Flame is actually directly underneath Anor Londo, which makes sense, but I don't think there's any way to prove it. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Oct 19, 2011 |
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Oct 19, 2011 11:11
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StringOfLetters posted:There is an item called the hornet's ring which you get from right behind the grave of artorias, right after the Giant Sword Wolf fight. It says it raises critical strike damage, and with such a lackluster and highly-situational feature, it's understandable that most people would just ignore it in favor of rings that are always on and useful. That's so great. I love the depth and just amount of undiscovered poo poo in this game. It's great because nothing is actually hidden, it's just...not explained. The Hornet Ring says it improves criticals. It's right there. But you would never think it changes the animation. Just like Siegmeyer says he's going to explore underground and of course he's prepared, don't be silly. Then you find him in Blighttown with no Purple Moss. The game told you what was going to happen. It just didn't explain it. Same thing happens in New Londo, the Remedician tells you that Artorias was called the Abysswalker. He tells you to find Artorias to defeat the Four Kings. But there's a pile of corpses sitting under that tower in the Abyss because people just walked off that staircase. The game tells you everything, explains nothing, and it's amazing.
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Oct 19, 2011 13:14
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I love how Dark Souls punishes you for being a dick. An Xbox Live acquaintance of mine heavily subscribes to the "it's just pixels, therefore my sociopathy is justified" school of thought and he is being MURDERED by Dark Souls. He keeps trying to kill NPC's and has restarted like 3 times because he's hosed himself over so hard. Meanwhile I'm on NG+ on 4 different characters with all sorts of crazy builds and am having a ton of fun. I definitely can see the fun in just going nuts in a game like Saints Row 3 where that is the ENTIRE POINT, but it's so refreshing to see people who are just assholes for the sake of being assholes getting their just desserts. EDIT: The Channeler's Trident 2-handed strong attack is an AoE damage buff for your allies. It's actually pretty handy for Phantoming. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Oct 20, 2011 |
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Oct 20, 2011 02:13
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On all the story stuff, there's some kind of connection between Undead - Serpents - Dragons - Gods. If you read the description of the Silver and Gold serpent rings, they describe serpents as "imperfect dragons" and the serpent as "the symbol of the Undead". Your main guides in the story are the "Primordial Serpents" Kaathe and Frampt (Hmm, a lot of vowels in Kaathe, and a lot of consonants in Frampt, wonder if combined they are an anagram for something). Dark Sun Gwyndolin, the only remaining God in Anor Londo, is human sized and has a lower half made out of serpents. The guards who serve in Sen's Fortress and the Duke's Archives (servants of Seathe) are half-man, half-serpent. Another thing, if you watch the introduction: Gwyn, Nito, and the Witch of Izalith are all much larger than anyone else. This is most noticeable with the Witch, who is 2-3 times the size of her Daughters, who in the game are human-sized (at least Quelaana and the unnamed Daughter outside of Bed of Chaos) and appear next to her when conjuring the fire storms in the intro. Also, when the 3 Souls of Lords are found in the intro, it shows a bunch of humans waking up, and then saying they discovered the Souls: Nito, Izalith, and Gwyn. Here's my thoughts, this isn't a coherent theory yet. The Gods/Lords were within/part of the Flame. Nito, Izalith, and Gwyn are not human and never were, they are either formed directly from the Flame or were found by a trio of humans who were then wholly possessed by them. They then organized the humans to conquer the Dragons. A long war ensues, Seathe betrays the Dragons in his quest for the Scales of Immortality, the Age of Fire begins, Gwyn, Nito, and Izalith establish their respective kingdoms, humankind spreads across the planet. Turning back the clock a bit, the Pygmy is a fourth Lord Soul that was not strong enough/was too cunning to completely manifest in the manner of Gwyn, Nito, and Izalith, and is their enemy. His soul gets passed down among humans, manifesting as the Darksign, and the curse of Undeath. Here's some more thoughts: - I think humans are descendants of or in some way related to the Dragons, who ruled over the world when it was Dark. - The Lords are not human in any way, and merely used the humans to overthrow the dragons and establish the Age of Fire. - The Fire is infused into humans through the actions of the Pygmy. - The Fire is a limited resource, and as more and more humans manifest the Darksign, the Fire becomes diffuse, weakening it. - The Primordial Serpents are a halfway point between Humans and Dragons(which is why they are given such prominent Human-like facial features), and are working to establish a new Age of Dark. Frampt betrays them in service of Gwyn, just as Seathe betrayed the Dragons earlier. - Gwndolyn the Dark Sun, is Half-Human, Half-Lord. That's why he is normal sized, and has a bunch of snakes all up in him, serpents are part of humanities draconic heritage. - Seathe is working to create the Scales of Immortality. He experiments on humans to try and manifest their draconic heritage, creating the imperfect Snake-men. He then abandons this research, delves into his crystal research, finds a corrupted solution to immortality, and goes mad. - The Skeletons in the Catacombs and Tomb of Giants aren't dead humans, they are an actual race created and controlled by Nito and later subverted by the Pinwheels, who I suspect are minor Flame Lords, hence their use of flame magic. - The Tomb of Giants? More the like the Womb of Giants, the bottom of the place is basically a giant womb giving birth to Skeleton Babies, who will then grow up into grown up skeletons, skeleton giants, and skeleton beasts. Anyways, bunch of random thoughts and observances based on reading all the item descriptions and listening to all the dialogue. I'll think about it some more and write up a coherent storyline that covers all those points later. Definitely fun trying to puzzle all this out. Edit: Priscilla is also FOR SURE some kind of Lord/Dragon hybrid. That's why she is an "abomination", the Lords and Dragons are mortal enemies. The reason I know she is for sure Draconic in nature is because her weapons take Dragon Scales to upgrade. QED. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Oct 20, 2011 |
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Oct 20, 2011 05:53
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No homo posted:I think this is a little *too* silly. Going through the catacombs to the ToG, you can see there are old coffins and graves littered everywhere. If anything, you're probably going deeper through time into the very earliest burial grounds for proto-humans (giants). Probably, I put that one in there more for comedy than anything. My real suspicion on the Skeleton Babies is there's some relation with the Pinwheels, who are stated to be usurping/corrupting Nito's power. I do think they are actively creating the skeleton babies though, not that those are the skeletons of actual babies.
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Oct 20, 2011 06:26
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DarkArchimedes posted:Story Stuff I definitely think that there's a connection between the Pygmy, Humanity, and the dwindling of the Fire. And I don't think that Gwyn and his ilk are related to humans. Silver and Dark Knights, Giant Gaurds, Demons, they all disappear when you kill them, and none of those foes bleed. I think they are all manifestations created through the Lord Souls. Stuff that is of the world leaves behind corpses generally, aside from bosses and things that are too big to do so: Hollows leave corpses, Stone Knights leave corpses (these are bigger than Silver and Black Knights), Channelers leave corpses, Undead Dogs, Leeches, Plant Dudes, all that stuff leaves corpses. So that means one of two things: All that stuff related to the Lords (Silver Knights, Giant Gaurds, Black Knights, Demons) is some kind of conjuration/manifestion, or that they are all Phantoms of some kind. Kaathe does talk about how Gwyn is obfuscating things, and Gwyndolyn is DEFINITELY creating a whole bunch of illusions in Anor Londo. Actually thinking about it now, Gwyneverre dies in the same way Silver Knights do, and they both disappear when you piss off Gwyndolyn. Hmm. I also am still pretty convinced of some relation between humanity and dragons. The stuff on the serpent rings is pretty specific that there is a connection. Seathe has something to do with the Serpent Men, and he was definitely looking for a means to reproduce the Scales of Immortality. I definitely stand behind my theory that the Serpent Men are a failed experiment by Seathe who was trying to recreate the scales. Serpents are flat out stated to be imperfect Dragons in the game, hence the Serpent Men are Seathes imperfect creation in searching for the Scales. And I definitely think that the Primordial Serpents Kaathe and Frampt having really Human-like features that are SO PROMINENT, I mean look at their teeth, is not an accident and is meant to hint at a connection.
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Oct 20, 2011 06:48
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Yeah I'm re-watching the intro now, here's exactly how it goes down(their capitalization, not mine): -World is unformed, consists of gray crags, archtrees, everlasting dragons. -Fire manifests, creates Disparity, Light and Dark. -Then from the Dark, They came and found the Souls of Lords. *1 -Nito+dead, Witch of Izalith+Daughters, Gwyn+knights, furtive pygmy. *2 -Challenege the dragons with the Strength of Lords. -Gwyn blasts their scales off, Izalith burns them, Nito decomposes them, Seath betrays them. -Age of Fire begins (shows the citadel that the game takes place in) -Flames will fade, and only Dark will remain -Only embers, man sees not light, but endless nights. *3 -Amongst the living the cursed Darksign is seen. *1 So at this point, with the information we have(Dark=Humans, according to Kaathe), let's assume that They refers to Humans. *2 Nito, Izalith, and Gwyn are all depicted as much larger than their followers. The pygmy is depicted as the same type of being as Them, which we are assuming are humans. *3 A human girl is seen capturing a tiny spark and putting it on top of what looks like a dead, hollowed knight. Not just a corpse but specifically a dried out hollow. The girl looks similar to Anastacia of Astora (the first Flamekeeper) When Nito, the Witch, and Gwyn are all introduced, it is said like this: "They found the Souls of Lords: Nito the first of the dead, the Witch of Izalith and her Daughters of Chaos, Gwyn the Lord of Sunlight and his faithful knights, and the furtive pygmy". I'm going to take that to mean that Humans FOUND Nito, the Witch+Daughters, and Gwyn+knights, and the pygmy, and that they are not actually human themselves, they are of the Flame. The Flame, representing Disparity and ultimately (as the Witch of Izalith found out) Chaos, is fundamentally opposed to the Dragons, who are eternal and static. Interestingly, the pygmy is depicted as the same type of figure as They (who we are assuming are humans). So my timeline is pretty much: Humans come in from the Dark, find Fire. Inside fire are four Lords, three of whom are powerful and have powerful followers, one of whom is not. The three lead the humans in a war against the dragons, and establish a kingdom, Lordran(seen in an aerial shot in the intro), in which they each have domains. Gwyns seat of power is Anor Londo, Nito rules over the Tomb of the Giants, and the Witch rules over Izalith. The pygmy disappears from history and is forgotten. Then, the Fire begins to fade. Gwyn sets out on a quest to Link the First Flame(what does this mean exactly?), after dividing his Soul amongst the Four Kings of Anor Londo and the Duke, Seathe the Scaleless. He gets to the Kiln and then does something that turns him into the Lord of Cinder(as opposed to Sunlight) and the knights that accompanied him are charred and turned into the Black Knights. Meanwhile, the Pinwheel Necromancers invade Nito's domain and are doing something in there, and Izalith gets to involved with Chaos, creates the Bed of Chaos somehow, and disappears, leaving a bunch of horrible Chaos monstrosities. Seathe is investigating the Scales of Immortality, and dispatches the Channelers to bring him subjects for experimentation. He creates the Snake-men, the Moonlight Butterfly, and presumably the Crystal Golems as well as some kind of crystal corruption, which eventually drives him mad. Meanwhile, the Primoridal Serpents Kingseeker Frampt and Darkstalker Kaithe are looking for minions to advance their agendas. Kingseeker Frampt wants someone to do the same thing Gwyn did, and infuse the First Flame, prolonging the Age of Fire. Darkstalker Kaithe wants someone to finish off Gwyn and usher in the Age of Dark. Frampt attempts to work with powerful Undead who arrive in Lordran. Kaithe tries to work with the Four Kings of New Londo, but they do not share his vision and go nuts, becoming horrible humanity consuming monsters. This results in New Londo being sealed by the Four Sealers, presumably dispatched by Frampt/Anor Londo. Speaking of which, after Gwyn leaves and becomes the Lord of Cinder, a tomb is constructed for him. Before he left, Gwyn conceived 3 children that we know of, the unnamed first son, Gwynevere his daughter, and Gwndolyn, the third son. The first son is removed from the annals, and Gwyndolyn rules over Anor Londo in secret. We don't know if Gwynevere was ever real, the current one is merely an illusion conjured by Gwyndolyn. Gwyndolyn is described as unsightly and small, and having great power over the moon. His body is human sized and his legs are made of snakes. It's at this point that you show up. There are very few living residents of Lordran at this point, and things are in a great state of disrepair. In fact, the only inhabitants seem to be Undead who came to Lordran for one reason or another, with the majority of them being Hollowed. Most of the enemies you fight early on, the Hollowed Warriors, Soldiers, and Knights, are all soldiers of the Kingdom of Balder, ruled by Knight King Rendall, whose whole kingdom became Undead and apparently picked up camp and moved to Lordran. We have no idea where all the residents of Lordran ended up.
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Oct 20, 2011 07:43
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Electric Crayon posted:Shiva's body guard will probably be in the forest in that case. A quick warning about the Forest Hunters Covenant that's related to your post: The Ninja Bodyguard has a really bad habit of falling off the cliff there and dying. He will just do this on his own while you are off somewhere else in the Darkroot Garden dicking around. This counts as a hostile action by you and you get booted from the Covenant, everyone goes hostile, and it's generally a lovely situation. TO AVOID THIS DIRE FATE: After you join the Forest Hunter Covenant, go talk to Shiva (he's right outside the building where Alvina is), then LEAVE the Garden and go to Blighttown. Just walking in the back entrance or teleporting to Quelaag's room and then walking out counts, you just want the zone to load, which it will do once you get to a connecting zone (Valley of the Drakes, Queelag's Domain, etc). This causes Shiva and his Ninja to pick up and move to Blighttown, where they will remain happily until you inevitably decide to kill them for that sweet sweet ring and Shiva's awesome sword. Yeah it's a bit of a pain, but it's better than 2000xSL Souls to absolve your innocent rear end of a crime you didn't commit.
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Oct 20, 2011 16:48
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Toiwat posted:So I joined the Daughters of Chaos and donated 30 humanities. I got my pyromancy. Now where the hell is my shortcut. It's not that dead end out of the bonfire room down there that looks so suspicious. It's a passageway immediately before you fight the Demon Firesage in the Demon Ruins, it's to the right of the entrance to his room. You'll know it's the right one because it's full of little Chaos Bugs that are harmless and adorable.
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Oct 20, 2011 16:52
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EvilCornbread posted:Anyone know what I might have done? Can you go through the waterfall or something? Or did I just get myself REALLY turned around? You got really turned around. There should be an open, sloped shoreline with a few stands of trees. Going up the ladder works, but you will have to get past the giant feline sonic trio, which is a pain. If you stand in the lake, face the ladder, and head along the base of the cliff you should hit the shoreline you want pretty quickly. It's fairly dark down there so I guess I could see losing your way. From the lake you should actually be able to pan your camera up and see the tower that Havel is inside, just head for that.
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Oct 20, 2011 17:16
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Alright, now that I got the Dark Soul achievement legitimately on my main character, I've been breaking the heck out of the game. I played through the game <SL60 with a ton of different weapon varieties to try and see what was viable. Here's some general pointers when coming up with a build: Heavy Weapons - Greatswords, Ultra Greatswords, Curved Greatswords, Axes, Hammers, Greataxes, Great Hammers, Halberds -Heavy weapons need high Poise to make up for their slow swing speed. You can strike a pretty good balance between Poise and Weight by using the Wolf Ring, letting you wear lighter Poise armors such as the Chainmail set. Alternatively, use Havel's Ring and/or the Ring of Favor and Protection to go all out with some of the super heavy armor, such as Havel's, Black Iron, or Steel. -Greatshields work well with heavy weapons due to the fact that they will make even heavy enemies bounce when you block their strikes. This gives you a great window to counter attack. With the strongest Greatshields(Havel's, Artorias'), only the biggest enemies in the game can strike you without going into a bounce animation. However, Havel's Ring is required if you want to pair a heavy weapon, Greatshield, and heavy armor. -Quick off-hand weapons also work well with heavy weapons, using their speed to actively cause a stagger animation as opposed to a shield passively causing a bounce animation. Weapons such as Daggers, Curved Swords, and Thrust Swords are great compliments for a heavy weapon, and allow you to maintain a lower Weight and the ability to Parry. Certain Daggers, and all Curved and Thrust Swords also come with improved Parry animations, improving your defense further. Light Weapons - Short Range - Strait Swords, Curved Swords, Daggers, Gauntlets -Short ranged light weapons are very dependent on your Endurance. You need good Endurance to close the gap quickly, defend well, and maintain your attacks. Make sure to have a decent End stat if you want to primarily use these weapons. Rings like the Cloranthy Ring or the Ring of Favor and Protection work very well here. -Since you will be up close with these weapons, Parrying is a very viable option for them, especially since many of them have high Crit modifiers. Small Shields with good Parry animations, such as the Target Shield or Buckler work very well. In addition, weapons like the Parrying Dagger, all Thrust Swords, and all Curved Swords, have excellent Parry animations as well as having an off-hand strike that covers a fair bit of ground. -Poise isn't needed for these weapons thanks to their speed, so go for armor with good all-around resistances and light-weight. Armor like the Gold-Hemmed Black set, the Shadow Set, and the Wanderer Set is a good choice. -Since Weight is a concern, and Parrying is a great tool for these weapons, Greatshields don't work well here. Stick to improved Parry Small Shields or lighter Medium Shields with good Stability. Remember to focus on Dodging over Blocking however, as the quick strikes these weapons provide don't rely on bounce animations for openings. Light Weapons - Long Range Thrust Swords, Spears, Whips -With both Thrust Swords and Spears, shields are an incredible tool, as these weapons can attack while Blocking. This attack occurs during the Block, you don't drop your block at any point during the attack. This is a great tool throughout the whole game, it trivializes many enemies and even some bosses. -Endurance is again very valuable here, as the longer you can Block the better. Focus on shields with good Stability and high Block Values, as the majority of your defense is centered on Blocking. Medium Shields and Greatshields are definitely what you want here, but remember to keep your Weight down so you can stay light on your feet. -Since these weapons offer good range and a defensive method of attack, but very poor horizontal coverage, being quick on your feet is important. Being able to backpedal quickly and move side to side to keep all the enemies in front of you is very important. Since these weapons also attack very quickly, Poise is not an issue, and you should again focus on lighter armor.
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Oct 25, 2011 15:52
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Eddain posted:Who needs a greatshield when you can just upgrade a Hollow Soldier Shield? At +15 it has 85 loving stability, making it the 2nd best shield behind the Artorias one. Yeah but that's all BORING. I like thinking up weird builds that look awesome (ZWEIHANDER + GAUNTLET) then making them work and using them to beat the game. That's the kind of person my posts are geared towards. Bleeds are nice, but they don't work on skeletons. Uchigatanas are pretty cool but it's hard to find armor that looks good with them, shields look weird with them, they look weird with most of the off-hand weapons in the game, and they lack horizontal attacks. Now dual-wielding Painting Guardian Swords (same Bleed as Uchigatanas) while wearing a full set of Painting Guardian armor? That's awesome. And it also works quite well thanks to the ridiculous flurry of attacks on their RT/R2 attack to stack Bleed, and the improved Parry that Curved Swords like the Painting Guardian Sword offer.
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Oct 25, 2011 16:13
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Yeah on my main character I used the Artorias' True Sword +5 for pretty much all of NG+. If you want to look super boss pair it with Artorias' Greatshield and the Steel Armor (+9 is easy, +10 takes 4 slabs if you are crazy like me). Run around screaming about how you are the reincarnation of Artorias the Wolf and heavy attacking Hollows off cliffs.
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Oct 25, 2011 19:41
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Interesting fact I found out: the Bosses scale with your Soul Level(I'm assuming its SL). I was messing around on a SL220 alt testing out some builds, and I went into Gaping Dragon with a +5 Black Knight Greatsword and 60 Str. I was only taking off about 1/100th of his hp a swing when I was two-handing it. I was doing about 800 damage per swing too. This wasn't NG+ or anything. I went and tested it with a low level character, same path from the start of the game to the boss (excepting I used the Drake Sword instead of the Black Knight Greatsword) and my 180 damage swings were taking off almost a bar of his HP. Interesting.
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Oct 26, 2011 00:10
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 01:18 |
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Alright since I see it a lot, I'm going to type up a little guide for Lost Izalith. I did this zone as a melee only guy by myself without any egregious farming, so it's totally doable. Here's the guide: How to Not Lose Your poo poo in Lost Izalith Alright, so you've beat up some Demons, punched some other Demons, and then stabbed a giant Centipede Demon in the face. Feeling pretty good right? Think your hot poo poo? Too bad, Lost Izalith time motherfucker. Here's the deal: -The hardest part of Lost Izalith is the first 15 minutes. After that it's not really hard at all. So hang in there. -There are two ziggurats to the right of where you enter the zone, the rightmost one is your eventual goal. There is a bonfire in there, and it's actually the best bonfire for running back to Bed of Chaos after you get bullshitted to death. -DO NOT FORGET to equip the Orange Charred Ring, and if you don't think you have it, as long as you beat the Centipede Demon, yes you do, check your inventory. You automatically get it for killing any of the Centipede Demons limbs or killing the Demon itself. Let's talk about the Leaping Demons. First, they don't respawn! So that's nice. However, fighting them is unlike fighting anything else in the game. They have three attacks: a triple stomp that hits everything underneath them, a GIANT leaping butt slam that they can launch into from quite far away, and a long range sweeping kick. They are SUPER fire resistant, so Pyromancy isn't going to work well, and their kick out-ranges your fireballs anyways. However, they inflict FRIENDLY FIRE damage on each other with all their attacks, and they kill each other in 4-5 attacks. The best way to fight them is to pull as many as you can with a bow and then dance in and out of their range, triggering their attacks. Once you have one left, the best way to deal with it is to shoot it with Sorcery. If you don't have good Int, get an Oolacile Ivory Catalyst, obtainable from Dusk of Oolacile. I will write a small guide on getting to her at the bottom. If Sorcery is not an option, a Bow/Crossbow works, but takes a lot of ammo. I find that melee works better. The way you kill them in melee is by getting them to do their butt slam attack, which has huge recovery, letting you get a few good whacks in. Retreat and repeat until it's down. Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy, just be patient. Here's the basic path you want to take: Run from the bonfire up the root until you reach the opening to the area. From here, there should be 6 Leaping Demons in between you and the first Ziggurat. Try to pull all 6 to the door with your bow if you can. Get them to kill each other by dancing in and out of their range along the root. Alternatively, or when only one remains, get them to do their butt slam, and run up and hit them/shoot them with Sorcery. After they are down, make a mad dash to the first ziggurat, which is strait ahead and slightly to your right. There will be a doorway on one of the sides, I believe it is the opposite side from where you are starting. Here there should be two Leaping Demons, one to your left and one to your right. Pull them individually and kill them. Once they are down, look at the second ziggurat, to the right of the first one. You should see a root leading up to the top of it. Run up that root, and then, standing on it and facing the second ziggurat (the one you are running up the root towards), make a note that the entrance to the second ziggurat is on your left. It is actually a fake wall, so you will want to run up the root to the top of the ziggurat, drop down, hit the wall, and dive inside, since you will almost definitely have aggroed a Leaping Demon. Inside is the bonfire! Now it is easy mode, just kill the 4-5 demons standing between the doorway of the ziggurat and the root across the way that leads up into the ruins of Lost Izalith. Once you get those last Demons down, the rest of the zone is nothing but super easy fire statues and those adorable tentacle demons that are really weak. Good luck! Dusk of Oolacile Guide: Go to Darkroot Basin and kill the Hydra there. It's pretty easy, just get in close, don't fall in the pit, and chop his heads. Once you kill the Hydra, reload the zone somehow, either by dying or quitting your game and logging back in. Now run to the back of the lake the Hydra was in, there should be a fairly large cave with an Amber Golem inside. Kill him and Dusk will come out. Say yes to her question, and then run back to the shore of the lake, where you will find her summon symbol (don't need to be human). Summon her and she sells the Oolacile Ivory Catalyst, a Catalyst with a flat Magic Adjust (the stat on catalysts that affects your magic damage) that doesn't scale with Int. It's equivalent to having about 28 or so Int with a normal catalyst, so it's pretty dang good. Also if you return to the cave where the Amber Golem was, there will be the set of armor Dusk is wearing, the headgear of which improves your magic damage by quite a bit. So wear that, the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring you can buy from the basic Sorcery trainer rescued from Lower Undead Burg, and as many Soul Arrows/Heavy Soul Arrows as your weak Attunement and Int will allow. AttackBacon fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Oct 26, 2011 |
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Oct 26, 2011 01:59
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