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It took me a few tries to get stuck into this game coming fresh from Elden Ring -- it just feels so rigid and methodical in comparison, and more unforgiving from fight to fight. I started as a Tower Knight intending to roll Faith, and I had to immediately take off my pants, head, and arms so I could roll properly.  I smoked almost all my grass on the first try at the Tower Knight, and almost didn't come back because I was so frustrated that I'd have to farm up more. So I took a tour of some of the other worlds and leveled up a bit more and found some more items (including pants and arms that I can wear without fatrolling!) and a Blessed Mace +1, and came back to the Tower Knight able to one-shot his crossbow fuckers. There's a fog door stopping me from going to 1-3 until I kill an archdemon, which is a bummer. Where should I go from here? I guess all the worlds are technically open, but are any of them easier, or have important gear?
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May 15, 2022 21:27
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All right, cleaned out 4-1 and got the Adjudicator's Shield. I'm a little bummed that it's only 90% physical defense, though, and it looks like it only gains more regen with levels. It feels like a good shield is a lot more important in this game than in Elden Ring, a lot more tight passages and stuff where I can't really roll out of trouble. (Although I guess ideally the regen cancels out the chip damage from blocking!) Not sure if I'm gonna try 2-1 or keep going into 4-2 next. Where can I get stuff to upgrade more Holy weapons? I grabbed the Claymore from the merchant before I beat the Tower Knight and I'd like to get it doing the whole blessed thing. Still feel like this game is a little clunkier than it needs to be, especially for a remake. The Adjudicator was a good example, and felt a lot like the Tower Knight -- attack an exposed part for basically no damage until he falls down and I get a few seconds to deal damage. But in both cases, it takes way too long for the game to let you know you're doing the right thing. the Tower Knight's ankle armor comes off after only a few hits, and then you have to hit it like twenty more times before it actually falls, and the whole time you're doing like 12 damage and wondering if you're doing something wrong. And I'm still not sure whether or not you actually have to break both ankles. And the Adjudicator literally takes 0 damage and doesn't respond to anything you're doing until you finally hit it for the fortieth time and it falls down. Okay, it bleeds when you hit the weak spot, but it takes so long for anything to happen that I figured I was missing a piece of the puzzle. And you have to go through the cycle at least one too many times for what are essentially bosses with 2 different moves that you fight at the end of an enemy gauntlet.
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May 16, 2022 05:10
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The Anime Liker posted:Also you'll eventually get to the point where you're 2-handing god tier weapons and the judge judy shield just sits on your back constantly recharging you. So about that... I looked into the Colorless Demon Souls it needs to upgrade, and I've apparently gotta get down to pure black world tendency to get them? It kinda puts me off ever using any of those unique items haha. Would it be better to die a bunch of times before I get much further into the game so I can start getting back to white tendency by fighting bosses? Or do most people get all the stuff that unlocks with Pure White and then tank it down to Black for upgrades after they've cleaned out the level? It seems so weird to have these upgrade mats gated behind this stuff! Also, what the heck is the point of the fog doors? From Elden Ring I was expecting a boss behind each one, but you go through so many that just lead to another indistinct part of the level that the actual bosses surprise the hell out of me. They're certainly not checkpoints, and they annoyingly disappear forever once you touch them, so I can't even use them as landmarks. Phenotype fucked around with this message at 23:02 on May 16, 2022 |
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May 16, 2022 22:59
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Stayed up too late tackling 2-1, ended up cheesing the spider at the end with a bow because even with the shortcuts I'm not sure how long that runback is gonna be. I've leveled up the Large Compound Bow to +3 and I'm keeping a stack of arrows on me now -- it's been amazingly useful so far, and if I'm putting resources into it then it doesn't seem as cheesy to kill stuff from too far away for them to respond. Really cool level though, not quite as punishing feeling as some of the other -1s I've dipped into. I kinda want to push on and finish Stonefang. I met the good blacksmith there and I saw he needs the soul from the next boss to do stuff, and I'd really like to get into 1-3 so I can get a Knight's Longsword. It's hard to tell what level I'm supposed to be, though. Doing 4-1 gave me a TON of souls, especially with the runbacks after deaths, and I had to do some weed farming in Boletaria, but then I've dropped a good 10k souls on arrows and gear I'm not using, so I have no idea anymore now that I've gone back to 2-1 and fight miners that drop 6 souls each. I'm at level 32 now I think, 22 Vit, 22 End, 22 Faith, or around there. I've heard I want at least 40 Vit eventually, but does that mean by level 60? 100?
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May 17, 2022 06:42
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Fuuuuck you to those identical tunnels in 2-2 holy poo poo. Is there anything in this game that can tell me whether a fall is lethal? I ran around those drat tunnels way too long because I didn't think I would survive the jump I had to make, and I didn't want to have to make the run all the way down there again. Because an extra gently caress you to the guy who decided those lava bugs would have like 5000 HP -- I even broke my mace at one point. I did manage to clean out the whole place I think, got the Dragon Longsword that seems like it'll hit harder than my Blessed Mace, at least when I'm not in fire hellworld. And met my buddy Patches! Got Flamelurker on the first try, too! Played it incredibly carefully because the runback was gonna be hell. Kept my distance, watched his moves, and only hit him once unless he did his leap and I could get in 3 safely. Felt really good even though it took so long, got that giddy rush afterwards from the release of all the tension I didn't know I had.
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May 18, 2022 05:49
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Killed the Dragon God! That was a really cool little setpiece, and I actually felt bad at the end. I was waiting for him to get back up and start attacking me, but nope, poor guy was too hurt from the spears to stop me from braining him to death. I have Stonefang at Pure White now, and I got the Dragon Bone Smasher and showed it to Scirvir in 5-2. Is there any reason not to go to Black tendency there now for farming purposes? Also ran through some of 1-3 and 3-1 tonight. Got lost in 3-1 but found quite a few sets of keys, and I discovered the mindflayers don't like fire. So then I did just enough of 1-3 to find the merchant, buy a Knight's Sword, and upgrade it to a +4 Dragon Sword which should help when I dive back into 3-1. Also found the merchant in 3-1 and bought a few of those plague flowers for when I try world 5 again. I also found a Mirdan Hammer from fighting the diggers, which is apparently everyone's favorite weapon when I google "best blessed weapon", but I'm not too stoked on the moveset. Is there any issue with sticking with the Dragon Knight Sword and the Blessed Mace all game?
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May 19, 2022 05:11
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You weren't kidding about the Dragon Knight's Sword -- I spent a little while going back to 2-2 and grabbing all the stuff from the lava river, which gave me enough chunks to bring it to +5, and holy gently caress it cut through just about everything in 5-1 in a single hit. The boss there hit me once or twice but went down to a little more than 2 stamina bars' worth of R1 mashing. What a great level that was, though, just icky and slimy and wet and gross everywhere, made me want to shudder anytime I stopped to take it in. I am not looking forward to 5-2, though, or to farming up Faintstone in this horrible place for my Blessed weapons. Not a fan of the gating in the upgrades -- it seems like my Faith build is basically forced to do this level as soon as possible or be stuck with a +1 Blessed Mace indefinitely, and I was starting to feel a lack of damage on it doing 1-3. Also killed the red dragon in 1-2, took about 60 arrows with a +6 Large Compound Bow, and now my Boletaria is Pure White Tendency? Or close to it? It doesn't look quite the same as the icon for Stonefang which is definitely Pure White. I took a run inside and the gate at the start is open, but I only got as far as finding the executioner NPC there and ran back to the archstone...because I realized I was still in human form, and had been vulnerable to invasions and losing my tendency the entire time I was standing zoomed in shooting arrows at the dragon.
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May 20, 2022 15:45
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Just finished up world 5. What a loving nightmare. I was not looking forward to it, but I figured I needed to get the Blessed Mace upgraded if I wanted to get the miracle trainer in world 4. Dragon Knight Sword +5 was the MVP again, cutting through everything in 2 hits except the big Depraved. Otherwise it was actually a little more sympathetic than I thought it would be. The critical path actually seems really short, and all the extra stuff is clearly off the lighted trail so you can duck out, grab it, and come back. And they were pretty good about putting bits of solid ground around most of the enemies so you weren't fighting much in the slog. I think the only thing I didn't manage to clear out was the 3-4 items sitting out in the swamp with 3 big Depraved -- I have no idea how to tackle those guys if I can't dodge their clubs. Super tense level though, the Depraved blend into the environment so well and come out of nowhere, so you really have to be on your guard going through that lovely little village. I was very proud of myself after I beat the maiden  and decided to run around in the plague swamp for a minute because I saw items out in the distance, and then I got killed by weird blood babies. In human form. When I was in Pure White from beating the final boss.  And I was so distraught over that that I ran back and got killed again and didn't even think about the 45k souls on the floor that got lost forever. And then I left the level before I realized I could do the Pure White stuff if I just didn't reload. Hopefully there wasn't anything super important there? I already got the boss knight's armor. (He was a bit of an anticlimax, by the way -- looked really cool, but we're on a narrow plank and he doesn't move, so he slams his hammer down, I dodge back then hit him a few times, reset. He doesn't even chase you to finish you off if he hits, so it was easy to heal after any mistakes.)I need like 4 more loving Faintstone Chunks to get the Mace to +5, so I guess I might as well drop down to Black so I can farm it up easier?
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May 22, 2022 04:43
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It's extra frustrating because I was being so, so careful going through that swamp! And I even remembered to go suicide after I beat the 5-2 boss, and then I beat the archdemon and was so giddy with relief that I wasn't even thinking. Oh, there are sparklies over there! And I'm in a completed boss arena, so I'm safe here, right? And I wandered right out into the plague babies. I read about the spear I missed, but it's no great loss. I found the Moonlight Blade there too, but they both need Colorless souls to upgrade, so I wouldn't be able to get them strong enough to be competitive. I've only found 2 Colorless so far (in PWT Boletaria and trading to the Crow) and I already put them both on the Adjudicator Shield. I might go to PBT on a couple worlds to get more, but I'm not gonna do all the black tendency stuff. I also finished 3-1 the other night, so I think all I have left is 1-3 and 1-4, 3-2 and 3-3, and 4-2 and 4-3. I really didn't expect to enjoy this game so much! I never played Souls games before, except giving up on DS1 in frustration around Blighttown, and I had Demon's Souls marked as a title to ignore when I was looking at the PS5. But the Elden Ring hype got me drawn in, and after 150 hours of experience as a Tarnished under my belt, this game didn't seem nearly as insurmountable.
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May 22, 2022 15:21
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Beat Black Phantom Selen Vinland! I figured if I hosed up the White Tendency stuff in world 5 that I oughta at least do the Black Tendency stuff. Man, that was definitely the toughest fight in the game so far, took too many deaths when my character suddenly refused to move because his toe was touching the sludge. Took about a dozen tries, infuriatingly dragged out because she'd heal back to full, and because the run back is such a long slog through the swamp (with the bonus of maybe the giant red depraved spots you and ruins the run). I kept trying to shoot her with a bow to knock her out of her heals, but the trick was just to chase her down through the swamp when she got low -- she kept backing off and trying to heal even when I had her pinned against a wall. Then I ran down to get the Primeval Demon too, so my swamps are white-ish again and my Adjudicator Shield is +3. I can't imagine having to play this game cold when it first released -- world 5 at least looks significantly more difficult at Pure Black, lots of giant red depraved running around, which kill me in one hit at 28 Vigor and level 60ish. I'm just thinking about all the players who die a few times, maybe use their Stones for more health cause they're struggling, and end up with the most rear end in a top hat version of the level. Phenotype fucked around with this message at 02:04 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 01:33
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Had to take a break due to work and to avoid burnout, but I'm about ready to finish the game up after this weekend, finished every level except for 1-4. I'm level 70, with a +5 Blessed Mace, +5 Blessed Claymore, +5 Dragon Knight Sword, and +5 Adjudicator Shield. Also a Large Compound Bow that I left at +9 -- gave up on trying to find 5 more Hardstone Chunks when even in Pure Black Tendency all the lizards and miners in the first two worlds want to drop Sharpstone and Greystone and maybe Large Hardstone Shards if I'm lucky. That stuff is worse than the Faintstone was! I've done the Pure White stuff for every world but 5(grr) and I did the Pure Black phantom to Primeval Demon run on worlds 1, 2 and 5. The black phantoms have been the toughest challenges in the game, imo -- Selen Vinland in the swamp nearly broke me, and Scirvir was one-shotting me with fireballs at 28 Vigor wearing the Flame Resistance Ring (I could just barely survive one with the Magical Dullness Ring.) The actual bosses have been pushovers for the most part -- I one-shot Flamelurker and Penetrator solo, and I did 3-2 last night and only took 1 death from rolling off the edge on the Maneaters. They were probably the most dangerous, though -- I had a hard time finding safe spots to get in hits after their attacks, but the range on the Claymore R2 was super helpful, and I did enough damage that the first Maneater was dead before the second one stopped dicking around in the air. Really, really cool level btw, just atmospheric as hell and incredible environmental storytelling -- from looking up and seeing the giant brain thing to finding the fuckmen that were enchanting the first chain to finding the elevator and going down down down to ground level and seeing how their magical experiments blighted the earth around them and turned it into a bloody swamp full of wriggling monstrosities. I'm glad I saved it til the end, definitely one of the highlights of the game. Phenotype fucked around with this message at 14:52 on May 31, 2022 |
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May 31, 2022 14:48
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Didn't get to finish up til tonight, just had to go back through Latria to finally free that poor guy that's been yelling for help the entire game he thanked me and gave me a ring and said now he'd just die in peace, which... well, I coulda just stabbed him through the bars if that's what he wanted. Went through 1-4 pretty easily, although lost out on the bow phantom's drop because I died to the last phantom. I drilled the blue dragon full of arrows until it ran away, and then ran into Biorr fighting the dragon (really just standing there and eating the fire breath like an idiot), and I managed to kill it before he died, which I guess felt good? But then Ostrava didn't show up afterwards, which is kinda frustrating because I heard he gives you the key to a good fight behind the locked door in 1-1. I know I saved him in 1-3, he was sitting on his usual arch when I left to do 1-4. I thought redoing the area might help, so I evacuated to the Nexus and he wasn't there anymore, but he still didn't show up once I got back to the steps, and I didn't see him drop a key anywhere. Allant was a really cool fight! I went in at level 74 with the +5 Blessed Claymore, +5 Adjudicator Shield, Cling Ring, and Ring of Magical Dullness, which I think was a pretty good loadout, his little air blasts faked me out a bit at first but didn't do enough damage that it wasn't immediately healed. Got him to 20% on the first try, but he killed me with a surprise Soulsucker after his flurry of attacks. Second try I got caught in a loop of trying to heal and getting hit, but the third try I pretty much had his attacks memorized and only had to heal once or twice. I think that's the first fight that feels modern enough that you could put it into Elden Ring -- he's got the biggest boss moveset in the game, including multiple interesting mechanics like the AOE cloud where you have to run in and interrupt him, melee attacks with deceptive ranged extensions, attacks that can chain into combos, and the delayed rush move that catches early rolls. What a great little package that game was! I expected it to be a much, much rougher and unforgiving version of what we got, but they really had a lot of the system in place even back then. A lot of really brilliant level design and rewarding exploration, and combat that felt really good on its own once I stopped comparing it to Elden Ring. Thanks for all the encouragement!
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Jun 5, 2022 06:53
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That's the one with all the summoner things, right? I don't even think there was a shortcut on that one, was there? This game taught me a lot about playing super safe on the bosses because I sure as gently caress didn't want to have to run the whole level again.
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Jul 15, 2022 16:10
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Simply Simon posted:Magic in DeS is ludicrously busted, if you can't just delete enemies they can be a huge problem. Garl Vinland is absolutely a mountain of HP and seems unapproachable at first, big part of the boss design is definitely that you can also just take out the maiden first. The guides you found weren't written by people bad at the game, they just didn't add "or if you're a mage, just cast Firestorm" for every boss tactic Garl Vinland was an encounter that made more sense in the designers' heads than in the game. It's a good top-down idea, sure, the knight is protecting the maiden so he guards the bridge and won't let you cross. Except that in practice, it means you fight him at the edge of the bridge and just take a step back any time you see him wind up a swing, and if he hits you then you have all the time in the world to back up and leisurely smoke some grass. It's just a scenario that works better in a fantasy story than in an action game.
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Jan 9, 2023 21:15
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Fruits of the sea posted:Been going pretty well so far with one exception: The 4 giant depraved on an island in Miyazaki swamp are straight up the hardest thing I’ve encountered in any souls game. I think that was literally the one thing in any of the levels I didn't bother clearing haha, I dunno how the hell you're supposed to fight them if you can't dodgeroll. I think they're just guarding a few stones of ephemeral eyes anyway.
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Feb 13, 2023 02:27
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