Dark Souls - PS3 - 360

[Viero_Berlotti]

Well, yes, in single player. I don't take it online, therefore others don't have to contend.

I suppose it's each to their own really. Personally I see it as against the spirit of the game as the designers intended.

[Junglist]

Hence why I have a normal character, with which I get all achievements and play primarily with.

[Borboski]

Well I was waiting for Skyrim to come out but I liked the look of this, and the sound of it being a challenge, so invested today.  Started with a Pyromancer and the Master Key - I only ever play a game once so it sounded like a good way to experience most of the content.  Possibly a "pendant" gift gives you flashbacks but I couldn't find anything about it online.

Anyway, I like it, wandering around the tutorial - a couple of things I liked:
1) As you leave the first couple of corridors and are practicing bashing some large jars A GIANT FUCKING DRAGON JUMPS IN AND STARTS SWING AT YOU!  Ran off.
2) As you go up some stairs a big fucking black ball appears and knocks you to the ground. Haha.
3) Ok, I've got my fireball spell, maybe it's time to take on the Dragon, I've just been told about an attack you can do as you fall on something.  Here he is again, underneath me - well, let's have a look, ooh, he's an interesting looking dude WHAT THE FUCK YOU JUST LEAPT UP AND SMASHED ME ON THE HEAD, AND THE LEDGE I'M ON, ONE SHOTTING ME!

For all I know I'm still not supposed to kill him but I will at least this time jump off the ledge, the big green cunt.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I heard the problem with the master key is that although it opens up doors you can't usually open earlier on in the game, the areas behind these doors are often too difficult to contend with so early on in the game. So if you were playing without the master key, you'd find access to these areas at a later point in the game anyway, and you'd probably be better equipped to take them on then. I think there might be some decent weapons and equipment the master key can give you access to at some points though, so a slight advantage there I suppose.

I went for the pendant, fuck knows why, there is very little in the way story to this game and I have yet to see any of these 'flashbacks' which will probably just equate to a couple of extra cutscenes that will add very little to an already confusing premise. You don't play this game for the story though, the gameplay and weighty combat system are what it's all about.

[Borboski]

Ha, yep I think that might happen with the Master Key.  Some big cunt with a big bat chased me all the way up some stairs.

This game seems to involve coming across some big cunt facing the other way, weighing up if you can taking them on, approaching... and they biff you to death!!!

[Junglist]

Re: Big club bastard. Get in close and circle strafe to his right (best if you're at less than 25% encumbered). His attacks means, if you get it right, he'll miss with every one, allowing a backstab each time.

[Borboski]

Well, after moaning about all games being the same - and even RPGs being like FPSs these days, this is the first game that's got me excited in a while.  The combat is meaty - I got me a big axe to whack the skeletons with in Berg and the pennie's dropped that I can kill them with a big hit and a normal hit, or the 3-hit combo; so as soon as you get the attacks in you can start thinking where the next threat is.

But there is a real risk of dieing from even these easiest guys if you get cornered or; someone appears from nowhere.  I enjoyed Dante's Inferno, Assassin's Creed and Batman but in all those games it felt like you could just spam the simple attack and get away with it. 

I logged off thinking "right you big cunt", tomorrow night I am going to get you flame the shit out of you, then run to an open space and start dodging properly and we'll see how you like that, you SHITE.

A few questions:
I'm having problems getting off the jumping forward strike - do you even need it?  Might it be because I don't have enough stamina, or do you need enough space to pull it off?  Does that go for rolls as well - if you're by a wall will you just not roll rather than spam the animation?

I think I've noticed I have less stamina when I've equipped the big axe, would that be likely?

Circle on it's own does the "hop back" move - I think this might be better than trying to roll all the time.

If you get behind them how to do you do the sneaky attack which gives you a neat animation?  Is it just R1?

The pyromancer does look like a good character to start with; but it feels a bit cheating as I can get off 5 heavy damage spells without taking any damage.   What do you get out of the other starting classes and how easy is it to get spells with them?

I notice Petrus wants to sell you a Cleric staff - would all classes at the start be able to do that, or would they have to level their intelligence a bit first?  Is it worth getting it and then can you easily use both the fire and cleric buffs at the same time?  I notice that "attunement" lets you have more spells to chose from at the same time.

I'm trying not to wikicheat too much but I think I'm allowed to read about areas I've been through, and choose to go back.  Noticed I completely missed a merchant in the area where you meet Pertrus?

Read about how to get a mint sword of that dragon, too, weighing up whether to do it.  I do think the pleasure of these games is finding stuff yourself.  So I would normally be pretty pleased about my big axe, but less bothered knowing I can get an uber-sword from this dragon.

[Borboski]

Another question - do you really need to focus on one of the forms of magic; or are you going to be able to purchase spells across the 3?

[Johnny Textface]

The forward jump attack I think depends on the weapon, I use it alot with the drake - its basically LS forward and RT at the same time.

The sneaky attack animation just happens on some enemy's when you basic attack them from behind before they hear you.

I'm a knight currently and haven't been able to use the 'hush' miracle - so maybe I just can't.. I haven't bought any other spells as yet as worried its a waste of souls.

[Borboski]

I'd got nice amount of souls waiting for me at that Taurus Demon CUNT, penny dropped that if I didn't waste my fire spells on the way to him I would probably have enough to kill him from up on the tower, got sloppy and a poxy skeleton killed me, 6,000 souls gone.  I imagine it's not much in the scheme of things but I was looking forward to levelling with it.

Spent some time exploring tonight and found a blacksmith and a merchant.  Picked up some souls and bought the Talisman for the cleric and a heal spell - I figure in this game early on the more opportunities to heal yourself between and during fights the better - Estac appears to be quicker than the spell so I can rely on that more during a fight.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I think I've noticed I have less stamina when I've equipped the big axe, would that be likely?

Yeah, I think encumbrance has an effect on stamina, if not the amount you have, certainly the speed in which it recovers. A handy pointer for stamina recovery you may or may not have noticed is that stamina recovers a lot quicker when you have not got your shield up. At first it feels like you need to have your shield up to block all the time, but if your stamina is low and you need to recover, move out of range of the enemy and drop your guard, your stamina will shoot up quicker.

If you get behind them how to do you do the sneaky attack which gives you a neat animation?  Is it just R1?

Yes, just R1. You need to be in the right position to pull it off though and not all enemies can be back-stabbed. Generally only normal sized humanoid enemies can be back-stabbed.

The pyromancer does look like a good character to start with; but it feels a bit cheating as I can get off 5 heavy damage spells without taking any damage.   What do you get out of the other starting classes and how easy is it to get spells with them?

Your starting class is just a platform to build on, any of the classes can use magic. The only restriction is your stats, which you can level up as you please. I've built a pure melee character leveling up mainly strength and dexterity, the only spell I have is the heal miracle as it is handy to have when estus runs out. You can get through the game with or without magic, you just have to adjust your playing style to suit.

[Borboski]

Ah, I thought the same thing about that Heal Miracle.  I put my Faith up to 12 to get it but I guess can then give it a rest and focus on being a badass Pyromancer with an Axe.  I think I read that Pyromancy damage doesn't scale up as your Intelligence increases - so there's no point sticking lots into it?

This is one of the first games where I've really wanted to level *everything*.  I found a massive sword with a german name; my pussywhipped hero is too weak to hold it so it takes him an age to swing it (doing (1) damage), but at least it looked cool.

So I'm thinking there's little point focusing on Intelligence as a Pyromancer, other than to have the minimum you need to buy a spell?  I'll chuck the rest into Strength and Dexterity and end up with an uber hard dude who can chuck fire and use massive weapons.  If I beat the game and go through again I'll do it as a proper sorceror.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I'll chuck the rest into Strength and Dexterity and end up with an uber hard dude who can chuck fire and use massive weapons. 

Yeah, I think that's the idea behind Pyromancy, it allows you to mix melee and magic and build a 'battle mage' type character.

[Borboski]

Well that's what I'm going to be.  Got me a Drake Sword, some chainmail, and feeling badass.  Resulting to holding the Drake Sword in two hands because I'm still a weak strength pussy; but we'll soon resolve that.  Not actually much good at combat yet - after the dragon walked to the top of some stairs and got bitched by a knight. Pfft.  At least I'm staying alive for about 15 secs; but I think I need to take my time and wait for them to finish attacking.

[Big Jack McBastard]

A giant wolf with a giant sword in his mouth just thoroughly beasted my rat.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Has anyone else been doing any PVP on this yet?

I got the Cat Covenant Ring from Alvina and I joined the Forest Protectors. Basically if you wear the ring and hang around Darkroot Garden you periodically get 'summoned' by Alvina to protect the forest against other players. So you get transported into a multiplayer PVP battle and it can be pretty good fun.

However the strangest thing just happened to me. I got summoned into one battle and it was against some player dressed like a ninja that had this powerful curved blade weapon, there was two of us Forest Protectors against him and he killed the pair of us in one hit each. Upon death however I noticed my soul count at the right of the screen jumped up by 30000 souls. I thought it might be a glitch and that when I was returned to my normal game the souls would be gone. That's not the case though, I am now out of multiplayer and the souls are still there.

It feels like I have just checked my bank account and there has been a load of money put in by mistake. Going to level up with it now though, but for the life of me can't figure out what happened there just then.

[Borboski]

A couple more questions -

Some of the shields seem to offer 100% damage protection - even the cheaper crap ones.  What's the tradeoff between one that doesn't?  And does the size of the shield effect whether you block a hit or not?

How does the summoning work?  Do you have to leave it outside the foggy doorways, or do it anywhere else?  Then what do you do once you've left it - I left one in the area before what I think is the two golems (didn't go through) and walked off, eventually it said the mark had disappeared.

Assume you have to be human to do the summoning - do you tend to convert to human before a boss fight and do a summon.

Or and what about that prick that gave me the orange stone - will he come and help out?  Do I need to be human to summon him too?

[Borboski]

Oohm you can enchant your weapons later on!  So I'm thinking this build will be primarily strength with just enough INT to cast the pyro spells I need.  So I'm going to wind up a ripped badass who chucks fireballs!  One handing the zweihander giant sword!  So more STR and ENDURANCE for meee.

Which gives me something different to aim at if I play through again, which would be ploughing everything into INT to be an epic caster; then focus on a nippy slashing weapon and go that way.  And then enchant the shit out of it.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Some of the shields seem to offer 100% damage protection - even the cheaper crap ones.  What's the tradeoff between one that doesn't?  And does the size of the shield effect whether you block a hit or not?

I think a larger shield will offer a greater area of protection, but the heavier weight of a larger shield will certainly effect stamina recovery and movement speed. Also the thing to look at with shields is not just the physical damage protection, but the magic, fire and lightening protection as well.

As for summoning and co-op play with the orange stone I haven't really done much of that, I've just been doing the multiplayer PVP with the Cat ring which works differently. By the prick with the orange stone I presume you mean the guy that helps you with the Gargoyle fight on top of the church? Yes you do have to be human, if you have agreed to help him or whatever it is you needed to have done, just before the fog door you will see a white summon sign that's him. I did the battle without him so I don't know how much of a help he is.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Oohm you can enchant your weapons later on!  So I'm thinking this build will be primarily strength with just enough INT to cast the pyro spells I need.  So I'm going to wind up a ripped badass who chucks fireballs!  One handing the zweihander giant sword!  So more STR and ENDURANCE for meee.

Which gives me something different to aim at if I play through again, which would be ploughing everything into INT to be an epic caster; then focus on a nippy slashing weapon and go that way.  And then enchant the shit out of it.

Yes, you can enchant weapons later on, you can make divine weapons (stops undead coming back to life in the catacombs), magic weapons, fire weapons, electric weapons, occult weapons and maybe even some more. You need to find the specific 'embers' to make these weapons. Also only certain blacksmiths can make use of certain embers to make these weapons. I don't think you can use the embers with the blacksmith kit you can buy to enhance weapons yourself at the bonfires. So it's not a good idea to kill any of the blacksmiths because you might stop yourself being able to make certain types of weapons if you do.

[Borboski]

. By the prick with the orange stone I presume you mean the guy that helps you with the Gargoyle fight on top of the church?

For some reasons when I play this sort of game I have a constant internal monologue along the lines of
"All right fuckface, fancy some of this do you SMASH, oh your mate wants some too?"
"1000 souls for an axe fuck offffffffff all right matey this time, want a receipt though"
I'm not at all like that in real life, don't know where it comes from.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Yeah, I wasn't making any kind of moral comment on you calling him a prick. Just clarfying who you meant. You are right, he is a prick.

[Johnny Textface]

Any tips on the gaping dragon?

Had my first online experience tonight in the depths - I summoned the spirit of a player (I expect another human person) and s/he helped my find the forementioned dragon fucker. Anyway, I died almost immediately and wasn't able to re-summon this guy. Also lost my humanity now and cursed - so annoyed.

[Viero_Berlotti]

The thing to make use of with the Gaping Dragon is the vast amount of space you have to run around in. You don't need heavy armour for this battle, if you are quick enough you can evade most of his attacks, watch out for the corrosive ooze he spews out every now and then just leg it when you see it coming. Attack his tail first and chop it off, then just keep running around evading his attacks and when you see the opportunity to attack his rear or side just run in do a few hits and run back out again.

[Borboski]

If you aren't playing this game you are a right bellend.

I bought a load of titanite from the blacksmith, haven't upgraded anything yet... I wonder if the cost increases, like stats - if not then you can basically farm it; and spending it on the wrong sword doesn't matter.  If my strength was greater (24!) I'd spend it on the Zweihander; would like to have something that isn't the Drakesword.

I quite liked the Halberd, pointy thrusts seemed to work quite well.

Oh, in the Parish, I quickly learnt that some of the knights have an animation that sets up "parry", so don't attack while that's on or they'll parry and one shot you, UNDEAD CUNTS!!!

[Johnny Textface]

Beat the gaping dragon cunt last night so happy about that.  Thanks for the tips guys.

For some reason I thought 'Blight Town'  was going to be this lovely, sunny happy land.

Spoiler alert

How fucking wrong I was. The grimmness is relentless on this game - I hope there is a lovely, sunny happy land somewhere...

[close]

[Borboski]

Last night I got summoned, smashed some zombies for a while, worked up 4,000 souls and levelled my BIG CLAYMORE to +5.  I'm not 100% sure about that weapon - the R1 standing thrust has good range and it means you can 1-shot a lot of enemies before they get their guard up.  But it is slow.  It's not quite better than the Drake Sword for damage but is getting there.

I wouldn't mind some more pyro spells, I haven't found anyone yet.  I did find a wizard who will I think sell me stuff in Firelink Shrine... but I'm not bothering with INT on this build so that's a bit pointless.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I think the guy that sells the pyro spells is trapped in a barrel somewhere on the first level of the Depths. Be careful not to smash the barrel with a weapon though because you might damage him and he might start attacking you. Just do a front roll into the barrel to smash it. Once freed he will meet you back at the Firelink shrine and he will sell you pyro spells there.

[Junglist]

Quelaag's Furysword is an absolute beast.

[Johnny Textface]

6k souls a minute. Beautiful grinding spot.

I wonder whether they'll patch this as its sort of cheating isn't it?