Talk to me about Dark Souls

Someone post Dunkeys latest Dark Souls video. You guys are going to loooove it

stick to his ass as much as possible

It's amazing how many "epic Dark Souls boss battles" boil down to "get under it and stab it in the ass".

SaMoKo wrote: If you need to, throw some firebombs, use a pine resin, or go for a leap attack off the archer tower.

I lightning'ed up my katana and just did three plunging attacks off the tower and he was dead. The bridge was too tight for me to dodge around him, and he never jumped up on the tower so I just kept jumping down at him.

The big metal boar at the beginning of Undead Parish got stuck in the level geometry (or stuck between two columns or something) and so I decided I didn't care and just hit him until he was dead. Now I have this sweet boar mask that feels like it weighs a ton.

Yeah, that stupid falling attacking thing...I did that too.

Elemental effects can be decisive. Don't forget/neglect all of that stuff. A little fire/lightning applied can make your life much easier.

Souls/Bloodborne is really good about giving you a bunch of tools that can actually make your life easier re: consumeables. I really like games that make you use consumables instead of hoarding them for a moment that never comes. Like, for example, by 1/2 through a final fantasy game every boss is immune to poison, elemental attacks, etc so it is pretty much pointless to use any of those tools except for the one fire boss they threw at you. I hate that. Why have those aspects in the game? Souls games make those tools valuable contextually throughout the game, even near the end you might run into someone with a slight weakness to poison or something.

It's one of the reasons I like Shadows of Malice, actually, to tie it back to a boardgame reference.

This game is awesome.

That is all.

Disgustipater wrote:

SaMoKo wrote: If you need to, throw some firebombs, use a pine resin, or go for a leap attack off the archer tower.

I lightning'ed up my katana and just did three plunging attacks off the tower and he was dead. The bridge was too tight for me to dodge around him, and he never jumped up on the tower so I just kept jumping down at him.

The big metal boar at the beginning of Undead Parish got stuck in the level geometry (or stuck between two columns or something) and so I decided I didn't care and just hit him until he was dead. Now I have this sweet boar mask that feels like it weighs a ton.

One of the subtle things the game teaches you with the first fight:

Dodging backwards or away from an enemy is intuitive. It's also intuitive to place yourself out of harms way by dodging out of harms way well before the attack launches. Both of these intuitive ideas are dead wrong.

Dodging towards an enemy is very often substantially safer than dodging away. And instead of dodging early, try rolling right before the attack connects to take advantage of invincibility frames (you'll know it works when the enemy's attack clips right through you!). The frame timing in Dark Souls is fairly generous compared to fighting games, character action games, or Monster Hunter, so you don't need to practice dozens of hours to get it down.

If an enemy is large with big sweeping attacks, try to dodge under it (dodging under Taurus' legs will almost guarantee victory in that fight. No need to even take advantage of frames, the attacks will harmlessly pass over you if you've done this). If an enemy is humanoid with a sword and shield, dodge towards the shield side (the attack will typically have a gap at the end of it's arc, so the shield side is safe). You only really want to dodge away from attack if it's very close range or an AoE. Pay attention to how an enemy's attack arcs and where it originates when deciding where to roll.

Yeah, I haven't done so well against the few other bosses I've come across. Maybe I should spend some time practicing on that weird legless boss next to the blacksmith, since there's a bonfire right above him.

I was inspired to come back to Dark Souls 2. Then I was fighting my way through the Iron Keep again and remembered why I had put it down. Not fun.

for those that haven't seen it, if you've played any Dark Souls at all, you'll really enjoy this I think

I've now killed three of the Lords of Cinder in DS3. This has passed the original as my favorite xSoulsBorne game, but I would definitely recommend someone still start with the first.

I had DS to download since it was free with Gold some months back. Now seemed a good time to start it. That Master Key sounded cool so I made a thief.

First through the Asylum, the game seems to want you to practice your attacks on those poor, unagressive souls in the dungeon. I ignored them. Then the Asylum demon is unkillable with the broken sword hilt you start with, until I notice a message saying "RUN!" and I find this little side passage (this is a recurring thing in this game, little side ways you don't always notice right away, I keep finding new places to go). When you get back to the demon, it says try a plunging attack. WTF's that? Hah he's way all the way down, I'm safe up - waaaah he can jump and reach me up here?!?

I also had that run-in with the resuscitating skeletons, after finding a mace I thought I had their number but nope!
Then down the elevator in the New Ludo Ruins got killed by ghosts...first time I turn around to run away, then step off the gangway and fall to my death in the water.
The Master Key let me in through this Drake valley area, where I find this dead dragon. "I'll bet it isn't dead though! Wait, you can totally see its rib cage - that's dead - aaaaaarrrrrg!"
After many tries, I beat the three ogres in the nearby cave (500 souls each yeah!) to reach Blight Town - yeah there's a bell down here I have to ring - only to fall to my death. Go back, beat the ogres again, then get poisoned! Okay, forget it, tired of using that elevator every 3 minutes to go back down. Back to the Undead Burg to beat easy critters.
Oh shit these undead have shields and spears! They're unbeatablaaaaaaaaargggggg!
Reach the Taurus boss and get trampled while getting plinked by undead on the towers.
Find the black knight and get sliced apart.
The Master Key let's me go down instead of up to Taurus - warning me of a tough enemy: I glimpsed this white midget holding what looked like a dinosaur rib club and ran back up.

So I spent a little while leveling up and buying equipment before heading back to Taurus.

The first couple of hours I can't say how many times I was pressing Y to attack, only to have my character grab her weapon 2-handed-release-grab-release SHIT this isn't the right control. Remember to use your shield to block-woops that's a shield swing!

Also what's with the rating with each message? "Praise the Sun! Rating 0" "Beware of trap ahead Rating 2" "Try jumping Rating 37" "Tough Fight Ahead Rating 5" etc.

Is there a use for the souls you find (Souls of an Undead, etc.) beyond cashing them in?

That post is actually pure gold in terms of what you feel like the first time you play a soulsborne game.

When you walk over a message and read it, you can give it an upvote. So GENERALLY helpful messages have more upvotes. But not always true.

Some souls are only use for cashing in for souls (generic ones). The boss souls, however, if DS1 is like DS2, can (should?) be held onto because you can make some unique weapons with them. So you might not want to pop those boss souls, but feel free to pop any of the smaller souls.

Whoa, back that up a bit. Pop those souls ONLY when you need to "make due" on a level up or other purchase. DO NOT just bust them, you will go out and wind up losing them. Use them only when you are ready to spend them. They are the ONLY way to "bank" souls.

I still like Bloodborne the best, but DSIII is probably the best of the Souls games...slightly more refined, slightly more accessible.

I'm at the Bell Gargoyle right now. In my first encounter with him, I managed to randomly hit his tail (?) and got his tail axe. I'll have to see if that affects him more than my battle axe.

After a couple if deaths, I ran over near the bell tower and noticed a narrow path on either side, so I ran down one. Dead end. However, it appeared too small for the gargoyle to get into.

"Can you get in here?"

He takes a few swings but his axe doesn't fit.

"Haha, fucker. Now I can take pot shots at you and there's nothing you can do abou--"

The gargoyle breathes fire at me, something I did not know he could do.

"Shit shit shit!"

YOU DIED

Man, there's nothing I want to do more right now than play this game.