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Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I don't know whether you're interested in messing with the online stuff, but there's at least one private server that maintains some of those features and has some quality of life stuff for manipulating some of the more obscure game elements.

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Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I'd say go with your gut. Explore, see what challenges are ahead, and pick the path that seems to offer the least resistance. The enemies are definitely stronger the farther you go within an area, but depending on what you have to work with, you might find the enemies at the end of one area easier to deal with than the enemies at the start of another. And there are resources all over the place that will be useful in other areas. Any progress you can make is good progress.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
As a purely quality of life tip: There's never a reason not to deposit your upgrade materials with Stockpile Thomas. When it's time to upgrade your weapon, any materials he's holding are available to you in addition to any you might be carrying.

Are you interested in the strategies I use to take down bosses, once you've beaten them? I doubt it will differ much from what you do, but there are a couple of points about Phalanx that are worth mentioning.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
You're right about the firebombs - I usually prepare for this fight by heading back to the merchant and buying as many as I can afford. Turpentine is nice to have, but not essential. The little slimes don't actually respawn, so if you kill them all, Phalanx is defenseless as far as I know. That's my focus, since the main body heals as long as there are slimes attached to it. If you keep moving, you both avoid the spears and lead Phalanx away from the slimes that drop off, giving you a much easier target when you swing back around to pick them off. If you need a safe spot, run to the far side of the room from where you are and hide behind a pillar - none of the enemies are able to track well enough to stop you from healing or using an item or two.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
The only break points for equipment load in this game are 50% for the fast roll and 100% for rolling at all. Another point that I don't think is relevant any longer, given your stat increases, but as far as I know, light shields are unaffected if your Strength stat is too low. I've blocked and parried with, say, the Heater Shield and never noticed any decrease in its effectiveness for either. I think that would only be relevant if you strapped it to your right arm and bashed enemies with it.

I think the key to the Armor Spider fight is understanding how the web attacks work. As you discovered, even if you dodge the initial attack, it leaves a web across the hallway that will cover you if you touch it. When you're webbed, you move like you're overencumbered, including the stun frames if you attempt to dodge. It will go away on its own after a while, but any hit from a flame attack will burn the web away instantly, even if you block that attack with a shield. The Steel Shield is a good choice for this fight, since it's got high fire resistance (a stat which exists, but is not listed on the equipment screen). Fighting from range works, if you've got a good attack (and I think anything is better than that Kris Blade), but I recommend having a melee weapon with decent power and charging right into the room, dodging or blocking the flame attacks and dodging the webs as best you can. Once you get into the main room, Armor Spider switches to melee attacks - two lunges that can be blocked, but may send you flying to the ceiling (ignore that), then a stomp that can be avoided by standing directly in front and at a slight distance away, so the head doesn't smack you. After about three iterations of that, it starts shaking and fills the whole room with flame. If you've got top-tier flame resistance, you can survive that and get right back to attacking, but it's safer to break lock, turn around, and sprint back to the fog door. You get a brief grace period for healing or item management before the attacks start again. Also, the webs at the sides of Armor Spider's room will also web you if you touch them, so stay front and center.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.

rojovision posted:

The kris blade seems like an interesting niche weapon. I need to do a little testing to see how much it actually helps my magic attacks. Anecdotally it's a fairly small amount. Still, I'll probably be switching between that and the axe until we find something else that looks usable. I might go back and give the broadsword a chance as well if I remember, now that I have the strength to use it.

It's one of those weapons that you're intended to equip but not use, I feel. It's definitely the best of the methods you've tried for fighting lizardmen. I don't want to point you too much toward the many superior methods, but the reason that the Kris Blade is effective on them is not because it's the least bit good. It's more that every other thing you've tried is even worse. You've also put a lot of points into Strength, which is great for the Crushing Axe, but not so great for most weapons. Crushing is a specific weapon build that gives extra Strength scaling to a weapon, and the game gives you that one for free at +1.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
A couple of small notes for you: You know at least something of how World Tendency works, so I think it's harmless to point out that dying only affect's a world's Tendency if you die while alive. If you're in Soul Form, the Tendency doesn't change. I think it worked that way when the game first released, but they patched it because it was a bit cruel to keep raising the difficulty the worse you are at the game (rather like stacking Curse in Dark Souls, I think). Speaking of status effects, in this game, Bleeding is just a milder form of Poison rather than a sudden health loss. Poison and Plague are both steady HP drains, but they're completely different conditions (as you discovered), and I believe both also cut all healing effects in half. They build up the same way as in Dark Souls, but there's no visible meter for them.

In the vein of more friendly advice that I hope isn't saying too much, I recommend only going to Blacksmith Ed for your upgrades. Boldwin can perform a few specific upgrades with special upgrade stones, but Ed can do them all, and upgrades are only available at specific weapon levels. If you build up one level too high, you won't see the option to apply a special stone, so you might not know that it's available for that weapon. I don't think you need to have the stone to see the upgrade option, but the weapon does need to be at the correct level. A useful thing to know about Darkmoonstone going in, since you expressed interest in that upgrade - it removes all scaling from the weapon except for Magic, which is really high. Keep in mind that Intelligence and Magic are separate stats - Intelligence boosts MP and spell slots, while Magic affects the damage and weapon scaling.

There should be an aiming cursor for bows. You might need to equip the bow in your left hand to get it. I know, it's weird. Demon's Souls.

Finally, just an aesthetic point - my favorite attack animation for curved swords like the Scimitar and Kilij is the two-handed two-hit strong combo, and I think they also have the best parry animation. Sometimes, I'll get a curved weapon with a bonus effect, like Darkmoonstone, and just put it in my left hand to get the passive effect and parry with it.

I'll leave it at that for now. I've got some more leading gameplay-related tips, but I don't want to give you any information you don't want.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Ah, the free Crescent Falchion +1. If I ever make a video series about how to beat Demon's Souls without needing to have any skill, it will consist of two parts: Part one will cover everything up to defeating Phalanx, and part two will cover strapping a spare shield to your right hand and fighting your way to the Crescent Falchion +1. There is no need for further parts, although you've highlighted a potential addendum in the form of "Look out, that black skeleton is going to kill you!" It's Magic that it scales with, though, not Intelligence. Just in case you planned to build up to take advantage of it - I have no idea why, but the status display when you're leveling up only ever shows Attack when you raise Strength, even if it has no impact on Attack or when you're building a stat that does. Dark Souls vastly improved on leveling up in every way, except for introducing useless stats.

You're correct about stagger damage - both you and enemies should take a bit more damage right after having an attack deflected and losing your "attack poise" or whatever you call it. It's one of my go-to strategies, and I defeat one more enemy with it every time a Souls player tries to tell me I'm playing the game wrong.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Well, that was certainly a way to fight the Tower Knight. He's not difficult to beat head-on, though. Obviously, you want to start by running past him, up either staircase, and then going around the upper ledge and taking out all of the archers. You're pretty safe from the Tower Knight's attacks up there, because I don't think his magic will ever get past the crenellations. Once you've dealt with the archers, the Tower Knight is the completely archetypal "big guy what falls when you attack its legs". Get behind him and whack at his ankles until they spew whatever that green stuff is that drives him, and eventually, he'll fall down. Ideally, he'll fall in such a position that you can hit his helmet, which will do considerably more damage. Admittedly, dodging the attacks while you're that close can be tricky. The backwards jump is the big one to watch for, since it leaves you scrambling to get behind him while avoiding his attack area. Most of the rest of the attacks can only hit you if you're in front of him, or too close to his legs when he slams his shield on the ground. Rolling away to a safe distance is probably second nature by now, though. If you have trouble getting past him, baiting an attack that you can dodge should give you an opening, and remember that you can get between his legs if need be. The safe spaces are the little rooms at the top of either staircase - I don't think it's possible for him to damage you there in any way, so you have time for whatever inventory or equipment management you might want to do.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I was waiting for that fall, and it didn't disappoint. Most people come at that gap the other way, chasing the lizard, and by the time they see it falling, they've already joined it.

By the way, the thing you picked up near the dragon and didn't notice at the time was the Ring of Giant Strength, the proto-Havel's Ring that raises your equipment limit. I don't think it's nearly as essential in this game as Havel's was, just because I spend almost the entire game wearing the Cling Ring anyway.

The Silver Bracelet is the reason that, for me, step one of this game is "Create a female character". Dispensing with gendered equipment was a huge improvement in the later series.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Having to refight the Fool's Idol is one of those parts of the consummate Demon's Souls experience you just can't miss. I think you picked up all of the tricks during the fight - if you've got good enough spatial awareness, you can memorize the positions of the stun traps when the magic circles appear, but avoiding them is another matter. I generally just deal with them - high Magic Defense is the way you want to prepare, and there's a lot of timing so that if you do get stunned, you have a good chance of escaping without damage. You can tell the difference between the real Fool's Idol and the fakes by looking at the beams they shoot - the real one shoots the wide, staticy looking beam. I like to move around the edges, where the columns block many of the shots, and take out all of the fakes each round. I thought any ranged attack would be enough, but it looked like your single arrow didn't do the job. Soul Arrow has always worked for me. Once you can get a bead on the real body with nothing in the way, two-hand your strongest weapon and go for the full offense. Once you score a hit, she won't counterattack, and you can attack as many times as your stamina allows before she disappears. Also, the Baby's Nail is close to impossible to pick up after the fight, since approaching it triggers the cutscene that takes you up to the Archstone, so if you want it, pick it up during the fight.

Also, note the difference between Moonstone and Darkmoonstone. They're different upgrade paths, and the stones you picked up in this video won't work on the Crescent Falchion.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
When your equipment is at low durability, there's a status icon in the top left that shows which piece it is. The one you had looked like the Silver Circlet. It's easy enough to confirm in the menus, but that's not always convenient.

Effect stacking is kind of weird in this game. As you noticed, the Fragrant Ring stacks with the Crescent weapon effect. In general, two different sources of the same effect will stack, but you can't stack two copies of the same source. As I understand it, and I haven't tested this independently, this means that if you have two Crescent weapons at the same level and equip one in each hand, you'll only get the effect of one, but if they're at different levels, the effects will stack.

Good job successfully navigating pretty much every trap in this area. It took me a long time to make my way through there, and the shortcuts are sparse. I'd like to believe that the spiral you climbed is some kind of weird shortcut if you jump off the right way, but it's hard to imagine that they would have done something like that intentionally, and it's also hard to believe that the tentacle is climbable by coincidence, so I don't know what to think. I climbed the other spiral and never found anything worthwhile, so I think they're just weird bits of atmosphere that happen to work like terrain until they don't.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Maneater use that buff before, but that's what you saw a couple of times. You might notice the yellow cloud around it afterward.

Leechmonger is kind of a weird boss, as bosses go. It's a first-area boss, so it's not very strong, but the Valley of Defilement is such a horrible area to get through that most players will have done just about everything else before getting to it, meaning that they're much stronger than likely intended. I could have that backwards, though, since it is indeed a damage race where you're constantly taking damage from the leeches and Leechmonger is constantly healing from the leeches. The path to the bottom spirals down and has some barriers you can hide behind if it throws leeches at you on the way down. Once you're down there, it's mainly just a matter of doing as much damage as possible and surviving. The Regenerator's Ring is a huge help, and this is one of the few times when I think fire damage is more effective than magic by enough of a margin to be worth using over the Crescent Falchion. The Epee Rapier you got in the Tower of Latria should be a fire weapon, if you want to save Turpentine. There are also safe spots at the ends of the various tunnels around the room, although there's less breathing time than against most bosses if you're covered in leeches. I don't think there's a way to get rid of them aside from waiting them out, but I guess you could... try rolling?

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I have to say that the above comment seems way too leading and well outside the spirit of this LP.

So that's all the bosses of Stonefang Tunnel. Definitely one of the easier Archdemons to deal with first, although I tend to put more preparation into Flamelurker than I do some of the other tier 2 bosses. Obviously, the more fire defense you can muster, the better. Flame Resistance, Water Veil, armor and shield with high stats - it's all good. Magic damage seems to be the way to go, as far as I can tell, and the best place to stand is just far enough behind him that you can roll out of the way of the big explosive attacks. If you've played Dark Souls and dealt with the Stray Demon or Firemage Demon, you have most of the skills you'll need. The main difference is that Flamelurker can lunge about halfway across the room for a devastating overhead attack. If you dodge it, that's probably the best time of all to counterattack, since there's no area effect. As the fight drags on, Flamelurker heats up more and more, but I don't remember whether that damages you purely through proximity or it just buffs his attacks. The Regenerator's Ring can help to offset the chip damage, including the times when you'll inevitably find yourself standing in magma, but by this point, you're probably swimming in Grasses and can keep up with healing that way. This is the fight when I switch from Crescent to Half Moon Grasses, just to help with that. As for safe spaces - there are no guarantees, but the sides of the staircase near the exit are a bit more sheltered, and there's a ribcage to the left of the entrance (as you enter) where you can sometimes hide and trick Flamelurker into lurking by the fog wall, where he can't hit you. For more style points, you can try to trick Flamelurker into that gap and try to find an angle to toss Soul Arrows and cheese him completely. Otherwise, the room is long enough that if you get him to one end and run to the far end, you've usually got a few seconds to do some quick menu manipulation or whatever else you need.

The Dragon God is indeed a gimmick fight, and it's nice to see that there is, in fact, an amount of health high enough to survive a misstep. You got lucky there, though - usually, I get trapped between his claws, so even if I survive the initial impact, I'm just trapped until the follow-up fire breath. The key is high physical damage, particularly blunt damage. A strong Mace or Club, two-handed, is probably the best choice, although if you can get a good angle, you can blast the rubble with magic. If you watch the Dragon God's movements carefully, you can dart out and attack the rubble while he's looking the other way, then get back under cover. I recommend planning to swing and reverse course rather than trying to make it through in one go - you've always got a safe route behind you. If you're hidden, he'll just never attack, aside from that initial punch that shatters the window, so safe spaces are abundant. After you fire the first ballista, he'll go through a few cycles of recoiling in pain periodically, giving you a bit of extra time to make progress. It seems to be based on time, rather than progress, so you'll waste that window if you take too long. The last pile of rubble on the stairs is pretty much the final obstacle - if you get to the second ballista, you're in the clear. Any weapon will damage the horn, and if you can hit it from outside the range of the fire breath, there's zero threat whatsoever. Even running in for a swing or two with the Crescent Falchion between breaths isn't difficult.

To address a couple of your speculations - piercing weapons are indeed effective against the lizardmen. There was a developer message at the start of the area that was a hint for that, but it's hard to make the association at the time, and by the time it becomes meaningful, it's easy to forget it was there. This means that backstabs or the first strong attack with Straight Swords do proportionally more damage, and the Pickaxe is highly effective, which is why it's sold there. Magic, however, completely ignores their high defense. The giant worms are also weak to magic, but any attack to their head does about ten times the damage. If you swing just right as they're appearing, you can hit them with your melee weapon, but it's a separate target, which makes it easy to hit them with any ranged attack. Finally, I don't believe that most fire weapons scale with Magic. The Epee Rapier is an exception.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
As I assume you've learned, judging by your comment, there's no reason not to hand over the Red Hot Soul. I have no idea why Ed doesn't notice that you have it until you've exhausted his normal dialogue - if you don't visit him enough distinct times during the game, you might just never know that he wants it, although he does have a line earlier where he mentions that he wants it specifically. It's that, or eat it for Souls. I guess not even Fromsoft could let you throw away such a vital soul by turning it into a spell.

I want to say that the Crescent upgrade requires a very high level, like +8, but I'm probably thinking of a different upgrade that I always used. It is the case that not all upgrades are available to every type of weapon. The upgrade stones list the applicable types of weapons in their description. Crescent may be restricted to curved swords, daggers, possibly katanas, and other dexterity-based weapons.

For the record, while Blessed weapons scale with Faith, and thus won't likely do much for you, they have an HP recovery effect similar to the MP regeneration of Crescent weapons. This information isn't likely to change your upgrade decisions, but the effects of upgrades don't seem to be added to the weapon descriptions, so it's helpful to know.

Finally, I don't think you were doing anything wrong with the Bearbugs. They're just giant buckets of HP with pretty high defense. Magic seems to do significantly more damage, at least. The Crescent Falchion is nice for that because, in addition to all of its other excellent qualities and that lovely flip, it has a Bleed effect, and Bearbugs are one of the very few enemies that will survive enough hits to suffer the effect. Time it right, and you can run away before they die and be even safer from the explosion.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Adjudicator is the boss I recommend most players fight first, after Phalanx. Not only is the Crescent Falchion on the way there, but if the skeletons are still too intimidating, there's a shortcut that must have been intended - from the top of the staircase where you get the Copper Key, you can roll to the gap in the wall across the way and drop down to where the Regenerator's Ring is. You skip more or less the entire level, and nothing of value is lost. Adjudicator is also not too difficult. I'm told it's possible to stand at the top of the room and attack the bird from range, but I have no idea how to avoid the tongue, and the floor collapsing under you can cause severe problems. As long as Adjudicator is in the center of the room, you can circle to the right to avoid all of his attacks (or roll to the left if you're caught off guard), and even early in the game, one hit shouldn't kill you outright. He turns slowly enough that you can get in healing or a quick trip to the menu from behind his back. I think you can also hide near one of the staircases, if worse comes to worst. If he moves toward a wall and you don't have room to circle, get to the far side of the room to lure him out. The rest is just aiming for the wound on his stomach and then the bird. I had no idea fire was so effective, but your Dragon Long Sword is +4, so it's no surprise.

Ah, Patches. I don't remember him showing up there when I first played the game, but I don't remember whether that's because I had killed him earlier, or because I'd beaten the next boss before finding that spot, or because he was actually there and I just forgot, but I'm sure I just jumped down the hole myself. You might now recognize the healing aura you pointed out the last time you saw him - he has the Adjudicator's Shield equipped. The Black Phantom down there is usually my first, and it's easy enough to defeat with just a shield. I always used to leave a "The next enemy is weak to shields" message down there as a hint.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I don't remember ever having an issue with Bleed from that phantom. I don't know whether status effects went through shields in this game, or whether that began in Dark Souls. Your Bleed gauge will decrease over time, but the phantom never recovers HP, so I'm pretty sure you'd outlive it. Worst case, you should have plenty of healing available by this time, and Bleeding doesn't reduce the effectiveness of healing. Even just wearing the Regenerator's Ring would probably counter it.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Nice job with the rest of the area. I think you said most of what I could possibly say. You found the Farming Spot (TM), figured out how to work with the Old Hero's blindness (the Thief's Ring does, in fact, make you nigh invisible to him, although I think magic is more effective than fire, hence the glut of Sticky White Stuff), and handled the Storm King fairly effectively as well. The Storm Ruler is famous for a few interesting attributes, among them the null stat requirements (because if you couldn't use it, you'd be really screwed), the whopping TEN points of Durability (which take forever to decrease because you're not generally hitting anything solid with it), and enough knockback to send the victim of an invasion all the way back to King's Field. It does indeed do slightly more damage with two-handed swings. The Storm King has about five targetable spots, but as far as I've ever been able to tell, there's no difference other than how you aim. It can be hit with other ranged attacks, once you've cleared out enough Storm Beasts to bring it down to attack, so if you prepare properly, you can ignore the Storm Ruler altogether. There's only one potential reason to do that, though, and you may be able to guess what it is.

A bit of friendly advice that I hope won't go amiss: Never warp to the Storm King's Archstone. The Old Hero's Archstone is about thirty steps away and comes with 200% less regret upon use.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Storm Ruler doesn't affect World Tendency, but you're right about the Storm Beasts.

I never messed with Demon's Prank much, although I use Aural Decoy in several strategic parts of Dark Souls. But I do have an idea of why it seems to be underperforming. From my experience, it effectively causes the enemies to react as if you were in the target location for a few seconds. You've been wearing the Thief's Ring most of the time, so maybe the enemies can't see "you" even at that range. I can't imagine I'm right, but it wouldn't surprise me too much. It's probably one of those mechanics that they refined in the later games.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
EDIT: Update on the previous page, obviously.

Ah, the Yurt storyline. It's fortunate that you got the info from Patches when you did, because I suspect that's what triggered Yurt to attack you when you talked to him. If you leave him alone in the Nexus, I don't believe he stops at the NPCs who aren't vital. The only people he won't kill are Thomas and Boldwin, as well as the candle maiden. I could be wrong about that, though - I've never left him alive long enough. Usually, just until the first two bodies appear so I can get the free souls. The first cleric who disappeared when you rescued Urbain, though? He disappears whether you've freed Yurt or not. He is, indeed, the Miracle merchant in the same way that the now-deceased Mage was the Magic merchant, but he doesn't stick around when he's no longer needed. (If you'd like to know how to purchase Miracles, I'll tell you, since it looks like you don't plan to get any.) I have no idea what happens to that cleric. Maybe he feels even more ashamed than the guy who left Urbain and runs away when Urbain returns.

The Warding spell is, in my opinion, definitely worth building up the Intelligence for the extra slot, especially since that also gives you more of the MP you need to use it. Tower Knight is pretty easy to defeat early on, rescuing Freke is only moderately difficult, and you can't use the soul for anything else. There aren't many weapons that I generally bother with (especially among those that require souls that can become magic or miracles), but the Meat Cleaver is a pretty solid choice if you intend to bulk up Strength and Faith. The magic attack is always handy, and I never turn down a weapon with healing. (Yes, my mainstay in Dark Souls was a Fire Server +10, how did you guess?) I'm pretty sure you had enough Strength, but your Faith was too low, hence the ability shortage. I think it still does the full complement of physical damage, but I've never experimented with weapons above my magical class in any of the Souls games. I usually just grind my levels up as high as is practical before going anywhere.

Maneater is a tough fight, no two ways about it. Magic defense is obviously a key for most of Latria, so the Dark Heater Shield you found deep in the Mine is great, and you can't go wrong with Warding. Also, while you don't get anything for cutting tails in this game, it uses its tail both for applying that buff and for shooting most of its spells, so removing it if possible is a good idea. The center platform is the best place to stage your fight, both because you can hide behind the torch for a bit of breathing room and because gravity is the real boss most of the time. Spatial awareness is slightly less of a problem when you have room to maneuver. Slightly. The major issue with this fight is that Maneater changes up its attacks so rapidly, and it can fire a burst of magic just about anywhere. I think you need to learn its tells, react appropriately, and be as aggressive as possible early on - ranged magic is recommended just in case it decides not to land for a while. The best advice I've got for when the second one appears is to keep track of which one was first and focus on it as best you can. Playing defensively or splitting damage means taking longer, and that means more time you have to spend dealing with two Maneaters attacking at once. If you play online, it's not uncommon to find a helpful summon sign here, partly because this is a much easier boss with a partner, and partly because of...

The Old Monk is a gimmick fight that may not have been very well thought out. I think if Dark Souls had come out first, and Fromsoft had seen what invaders do in the Undead Burg, they might not have used this idea at all. The Old Monk has been dead for a long time, and that scarf seems to be animating the body. When you reach his tower, he summons a warrior to stop you. If you're online, that might be a player trying to invade anywhere in Latria - if they're at the right level to invade you, they can be summoned as your boss. It can also be a player who's dropped a summon sign anywhere in Latria. Once, I ended up fighting the same player who'd already helped me beat Maneater. The homing arrow spell is part of the boss, not part of the player's arsenal, but in every other respect, the boss you fight is identical to PVP. That includes the player's full stock of healing items and the weapons everybody hates. If your boss has a lot of grasses, it can be a very long fight. If there's no eligible player, you fight a computer-controlled character with two Claws. Not much of a threat, in my opinion. It's about on the same level as any other Black Phantom human, but with more HP. Again, magic defense is vital. Also, due to the nature of network connections and PVP, the boss is summoned while you're still at the bottom of the stairs. The player has to wait until you reach the fog door to do anything, and if you die on the way there, they just get kicked out. I think they get to keep the big scarf helmet if they kill the host player, but if you die on the stairs, they don't. Alas, due to the ephemeral nature of online-only content, the boss is all but gimmickless now. I'm pretty sure it can be poisoned, but because it has a boss health bar, you don't see the HP numbers from the damage. I believe the poison was what killed it in your winning run - note that it's just standing there, and then it collapses. It should also be vulnerable to both backstabs and parries, although if you're fighting a player, that has all the usual issues with network lag, as well as the unfortunate issue where some condition can cause all damage from an attack to be negated. I think it's if both players attack at the same time or something like that. I thought people were cheating for the longest time. Anyway, the easiest solution is to unplug the network connection or play the game in 2020, when the servers are no longer running.

Nidoking fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Nov 7, 2020

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
2 introduced restrictions on what equipment invaders can use. I never saw a ninja-flipping Havel-wearing Lightning Greatsword invader in Majula. Never encountered an invader in 2 that I thought was unfair. Never encountered an invader in Dark Souls that I didn't utterly hate.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.

rojovision posted:

Regarding miracle casting, I was looking at my stats and I assume Urbain won't help me because I'm a godless heathen.

Correct. I'm pretty sure you need 10 Faith to have a Miracle slot, just like you need 10 Intelligence for a Spell slot. In this game, they're separate slots, even though they all go into the "up" submenu. Miracle slots are considerably more expensive than Spell slots, but I don't think there are as many Miracles worth bothering with, particularly early on. I could probably get a 5-slot loadout for Spells and use them all regularly. Granted, Warding takes up two of those.

I don't believe anything Yurt does has any effect on Tendency. There may be an effect when you kill him, or he may be an exception specifically because not killing him is eventually going to ruin your game.

Also, while I'm thinking about it: My strategy for Capra Demon is one of the rare uses for Aural Decoy. I very rarely have a problem surviving the critical first few seconds.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I think I meant to mention earlier and forgot that the door at the top of the Nexus is the online hall of fame for the top players a.k.a. the hundred or so people who first maxed out their soul counters. It only opens if you're online. I think there are a couple of minor items in there, but nothing that would really change the game at all.

That ledge you were trying to reach in the Valley of Defilement early on is the way you crossed the wall in the first place. I don't think it's possible to reach it from the far side, except by returning via the shortcut and going the long way around.

If you haven't worked it out since the recording, the Large Sword of Moonlight scales only with Faith. The requirement is super high, but weapons that completely ignore shields always have their uses. I think 24 may actually be a breakpoint for an extra Miracle slot, so it's a good target if you're building Faith at all.

I'm certain you can climb onto that ledge you were trying to jump onto in the shantytown. I don't know whether you need to be running, or not running, or hit it from a certain angle, but I know I've done it.

I have no idea how that big guy got onto the bridge to the shortcut. I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to be there - I can't imagine I'd ever have managed to get that far if I had to deal with him along with everything else. But nice job getting past what I think is the worst part of the game. Too many fights against big guys on or near tiny islands. Most of the game is difficult in a good way; that's difficult in the worst way.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I'm on vacation at the moment, so I'm behind on videos, but I can give you my thoughts on part 23 for now and watch the rest when I get home. Dirty Colossus is another one of those bosses that's probably a reasonable threat early on, but few people are likely to get that far without building up a lot, especially given the roadblocks in the swamp area leading to it. Once you've opened the shortcut, that's pretty much the end of the area. Dirty Colossus is another Really Big Guy What Swings At You, and by now, avoiding its attacks should be second nature. It shoots flies that will cling to you and drain your health, like the leeches from Leechmonger, but you can heal through it easily enough, and in the worst case, there are fires burning all around the arena, which you can use to burn them away with minimal damage to yourself. If you've got a good fire weapon, the fight is over before it begins.

Maiden Astraea is a gimmick fight and a regular fight all in one. Shooting her from the upper ledge is by far the easiest way to deal with her, and as you saw, you still get the rewards for killing Garl Vinland. I don't bother with the armor (still using a female character for the Silver Bracelets), but the Dark Silver Shield offers 100% physical and magic defense, making it my go-to shield for the rest of the game. (What little is left, anyway.) The weight and Strength requirement are both pretty high, but like I said before, I've never known that to matter for guarding with shields of its class.

Those who don't like to buy lots of arrows will have to fight Garl directly, which isn't much fun if you're not a parrying master. The stats on the armor and shield are no joke, and if you back off to heal while he's low on HP, he'll use a healing miracle and undo most of your work. Backstabs are effective, but good luck getting behind him, and God help you if he decides to attack while you're back there, because like most human enemies, he can turn on a dime. Umbasa. If you can kill him, the fight is effectively over, but I think it's worth seeing what happens next for yourself.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
A bit more on the final parts of the game:

Penetrator is pretty much the proto-Pursuer, with a big sword that he swings all sorts of ways and the really nasty stab attack you've got to watch out for. It's mainly a contest of stats, but if you go to the trouble of freeing Biorr before fighting Penetrator, he'll actually show up to help in the fight. This is one of the very few places you can make any use of Refresh in a single-player playthrough, and it's hard to hit him with it, but it does work. Also, Biorr will almost be able to finish Penetrator on his own, so it's worth the trip.

The three Black Phantoms shortly afterward are, as far as I can tell, meant to be the remnants of the people who became the three bosses from earlier in Boletarian Palace. Most of the stuff they drop can be collected elsewhere (there's a Tower Shield in the prison area where Biorr is, and there's a White Bow behind an illusory wall in the Shrine of Storms), so there's not much to them gameplay-wise. It's also a bit odd that Ostrava didn't appear in the later stretches of Boletarian Palace. He's got a bit more storyline to him. I believe you're correct in that Yurt must have gotten to him. The Rune Sword and Shield his phantom drops can also be found on a ledge in the Tower of Latria area, although I never use them because I believe they have the same effect as the Ring of Magical Dullness.

It's possible to kill both of the dragons in the last area where they appear. It just takes a TON of arrows and patience, and Biorr will probably die while you fight the Blue Dragon, unless you leave him in his cell. (I suspect that's why he wasn't in the Nexus at the end.)

False King Allant is a fight that actually requires some skill, so I have very little in the way of advice. Warding is a big deal, which is a surprise, since it looks like most of his ranged attacks are magical. When he winds up for the big area attack, I use a yellow light principle: If I'm close enough to reach him, one attack usually knocks him out of the animation. If not, then I run the other way. I never knew you could roll through the attack, but it does have a limited range. Aside from that, the Dark Silver Shield will do your work for you against everything but the grab. The grab is bad.

The Blueblood Sword is a weird one. It has high requirements across the board, but if I remember correctly, it scales only with Luck. Remember how Luck is a stat you can raise? Neither do most people. I like to toss a few points into it just to have a better chance to get stuff, especially upgrade drops, but that's what the Large Sword of Searching is for. That, and having it in your left hand and parrying with it. You correctly identified the issue with Darkmoonstone - it's one of very few upgrade materials in the game without a Pure one to be found somewhere (Bladestone is another, and this might also be true of Moonstone, but I never bothered with that), so you have to get one as a rare drop from a crystal lizard in Shrine of Storms, or as a SUPER-rare drop from a reaper. This would be why you might skip the Storm Ruler until you can safely kill the lizards nearby with the Large Sword of Searching equipped. I've always gotten at least one Pure Darkmoonstone this way. Incidentally, the number of times crystal lizards appear is one plus the number of bosses you've killed in that world. If the lizard starts running, that consumes one appearance. Every time you kill a boss, all of the lizards in that world respawn one further time.

Tendency is a sweeping mechanic that it's strange there's so little documentation on in the game. (They got better at this over time, but it seems like there are always some undocumented features in every Souls game that I don't know how people figured out, and I don't know how they expected anyone to figure it out.) There are two types of Tendency: World Tendency and Character Tendency. Character Tendency is pretty easy: Your Character Tendency moves toward white when you defeat Black Phantoms or (I think) help someone defeat a boss, and toward black when you kill NPCs or (I think) invade someone's world and kill them. Soulbrandt and Demonbrandt scale based on this Tendency, as do your overall stats when in Soul form, and the Monumental gives you a reward if you achieve Pure White. If you reach Pure Black, you can meet Mephistopheles, the one who sent Yurt to kill everyone in the Nexus. Both of them give you rewards that only have any effect in multiplayer, and neither is likely worth it.

World Tendency is specific to each world. It goes toward black if you die in Body form in that world or kill an NPC, and toward white if you kill a boss or a unique enemy that appears in Pure Black. The enemies in each world get stronger the closer to Pure Black you are, and when you hit Pure Black, additional Black Phantom enemies will appear as normal enemies in that world. (On the bright side, Black Phantoms always drop items, every time.) Item drops are affected by World Tendency as well - you'll tend to get more consumable items in white, and more upgrade materials in black. However, the big changes are when you hit Pure White or Pure Black. Each world has Tendency-based NPCs and paths, as well as Demons that can spawn. While there are exceptions, the NPCs will generally appear in living form when the world is Pure White, and as Black Phantoms in Pure Black. The Black Phantom versions will drop their weapons when defeated, and most of those are unique. The living ones, if killed, usually drop armor (like Garl Vinland). Most paths open only when the world is Pure White, and they often lead to unique items. Finally, in addition to the Black Phantoms, there are Primordial Demons in each world that appear when the Tendency is near or at Pure Black. They almost always drop Colorless Demon's Souls when killed, which upgrade the unique weapons that can't be upgraded any other way. One important thing to keep in mind is that a world's Tendency doesn't change until you leave it and reenter, so if you're in Pure White, you can die and still do the Pure White stuff as long as you don't leave first.

When the servers were still up, the World Tendencies would all be reset when you restarted the game, usually to just under Pure White. It was generally helpful. There were also events where all worlds would be forced to Pure White or Pure Black for a week around holidays like Halloween or Christmas. I'm pretty sure I beat most of the game during one of those events.

A quick rundown of Tendency stuff, spoilered in case you want to discover any of it for yourself: In Boletarian Palace, that gate near the start opens in either Pure White or Pure Black, and I believe it never closes again. Executioner Miralda appears in that area, and she'll just attack you in either form. The Binded armor she drops is decent for female characters. I've never messed with her axe much. The Primordial Demon is on that ledge near the Penetrator boss fight room. Also, the dragons in the first area will leave in Pure White, giving you a clear shot at the Large Flame Shield and the other items there. In Stonefang Tunnel, the Primordial Demon is at the bottom of the elevator on the far side of the first bridge. The path to the Dragon Bone Sword in the Dragon God's room opens in Pure White, and Scirvir the Wanderer shows up in a tunnel halfway down the big drop to Flamelurker's area. If you have the Dragon Bone Sword equipped, the living Scirvir will give you a Pure Greystone. The Black Phantom one drops a talisman that can cast both magic and miracles, and the lore on it is really something. In Tower of Latria, I think the Primordial Demon is somewhere on a plank in the swamp area, and the only NPC is Rydell - the Black Phantom version of him is already out of the cell and drops a polearm that regenerates MP. To free him, you need to climb that staircase in the second area in Pure White - there will be a narrow plank leading to the key to the second floor cells. This is the worst part - there's no way to get back to the first area without going through the Nexus, so I hope you didn't die along the way. In addition to being able to open Rydell's cell (he gives you the Dull Rat's Ring, I think), the blockage on the other side of the second floor is also gone in Pure White, and you can find more items in some of the cells. In the Shrine of Storms, the Primordial Demon is behind the illusory wall I mentioned earlier where you can find the White Bow. Also, the item on top of the stalagmite in the pit where you met Urbain will be on the floor in Pure White Tendency. It's the katana "Makoto", another one of those that hurts you when you swing it. The NPC, Satsuki, appears right near where you start the area, and he wants you to find Makoto. If you do, then he attacks you with it and you have to kill him to get it back. There's no point. His Black Phantom even only drops another Hiltless. Finally, in the Valley of Defilement, there's a ladder near the very first big guy that leads to that legendary spear, Istarelle, that Patches mentioned. (It still takes some fighting to get to it, and while it has Poison resistance, I think it scales with Faith.) The Primordial Demon is somewhere in the swamp, like everything else of note, and the NPC is Selen Vinland, who camps on that island you found with a couple of items and signs of life but no actual life. She's looking for her brother, Garl. We know what happened to him. Once you've defeated Astraea, if you return to her lair in Pure White, you'll find Black Phantom Garl Vinland, and no tricks - you have to beat him straight up. He drops his weapon, Bramd, and a seal you can show Selen to get another Miracle-enhancing Ring. The Black Phantom of Selen drops a sword called Blind that ignores shields and is much smaller than the Large Sword of Moonlight, but you have to fight her in the swamp, which is never fun. There's probably more that I'm forgetting, but this is probably enough to give you the idea.

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Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I always used to do all of the Pure White stuff in a single playthrough. (I've never gotten very far in New Game +.) Not dying in Body form along the way is highly encouraged, but given the initial Tendencies, I think defeating one or two bosses should be enough to get to Pure White. Certainly, once you've beaten all three, you're there. Worst case, as long as you don't hit Pure Black too early, you may be able to get to that point, then go through the world from start to finish and do everything to bump the Tendency back up. It might not work that way offline, though. The page I linked upthread with the unofficial server has some messages you can drop to set any world to Pure White or Pure Black artificially, which should make things much easier.

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