LogFAQs > #967331598

The theme of today's session is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXQwx1EolD8

Thanks for the advice Axl, though I'm not looking for specific strategy tips for each fight. At least not until I get super desperate! Oddly enough, I managed to beat Capra on my first attempt today, and this was before Axl's post. I think it was a combination of luck and overleveling, I realise now I wasn't 'supposed' to go to Darkroot or Ghostville just yet (despite the dude at Firelink explicitly telling me about the latter).

My strategy wasn't all that dissimilar to Axl's recommendation, though I didn't use the stairs at all. I sliced the first dog in the initial onslaught, then separated the second from the demon for an easy kill. The 1v1 was then pretty straightforward, although not easy, I finished with a single potion remaining. I kept my distance and tried to learn its moveset so I knew when to strafe/block/roll to avoid getting hit. This included a rather nasty angled slice of its sword which cut right through my shield. But we defeated!

Next, we travel further down into the simply named Depths. There's a couple of smith looking enemies here but they're no harder than the knights in the castle. Honestly I think the game has taken a step down in difficulty, which I greatly appreciate as it tricks me into thinking I'm getting better at the combat >_> Things do feel like they're clicking now though. We free Laurentius of the great swamp, who mentions being 'her' lunch, whoever she is. There's weird sludge monsters here (yes, the first one got me in an OHKO) that I just slice several times with my sword, I'm probs supposed to burn them or something but I'm in no rush.

Then I see the GIANT RAT, and I realise how much fun I'm having playing this game right now. Most of the rats in this area are passive and actually run away from me. I leave them be, thinking that may placate the giant rat or at least not aggravate it. This means leaving a couple of items behind, but no biggie. There's a delightful fake boss gate here, I was sure it was about to lead me into a boss fight with the rat but nope it's just a load. At some point I pick up the Ring of the Evil Eye, which regens my health on kills. Oh hell yeah, this one is staying equipped! There's also some strange amphibian creatures that only seem to spew smoke, and another friendly man named Domnhall. He offers some very specific advice that I note down right away as it seems like it'll be important: "If you seek kindling in the catacombs, use divine weapons. That will repel the reassembling skeletons". Hmm, I don't have any of those.

I eventually enter a pretty beautiful looking room, and wonder how there can be cracks of light in the wall when we must be below the surface by now. Maybe it's mist. I think to myself that this looks an awful lot like a boss arena, but boss arenas always have white mi- oh there's some mist. Boss time it is!

The Gaping Dragon (why do all the bosses have such shit names lol) enters with a cool cutscene. I like that the game shows me its full design before the battle, because I spend 90% of the fight stabbing away at its legs from the side and avoiding its giant mouth. I'm sure there's a weak point I'm supposed to hit (maybe its tiny head), but my side stabs are safe and functional so I don't try to get fancy with it. Amazingly, I down this beast on the first try! Our reward here is 25k souls (!) and a key to the infamous Blighttown. Welp, we're on a roll today, down we go! (How much further down does this world go?!)

We descend into the unusually lit Blighttown, and I promptly die to the first enemy. Great. We're sent aaaall the way back to Firelink, but there's new stuff going on here too! Laurentius teaches us Pyromancy, and there's a praying woman and her guards on their way to some catacombs (I hope they have divine weapons!). Hm, plot. Not sure what to make of it. I like how the characters move around this land on their own quests instead of being stationary, really helps the world feel lived in. Though most of them seem to wind up at Firelink waiting to sell me stuff.

Back to Blighttown, I pick up my 30k+ souls and very slowly inch my way along the opening path until reaching a very welcome bonfire. I spend my souls and, now free of immediate worry, go exploring. To my surprise, I think I actually like this place! Aside from the big dung pie dropping brutes, none of the enemies are very threatening. The main problem to solve here is the layout of the area, everything is laid out pretty strangely and there's lots of back and forth and similar looking bridgework. There's also a weird tentacle beast protruding out of the wall that I can get behind but not damage (I didn't buy any fire spells so maybe that'd do it). I don't bother trying to chase down every little item, but instead slowly make my way down.

When we finally reach the bottom I realise this place is a swamp, and there's some more maze work to do to try to get across the poison water quickly. Thankfully I have plenty of purple moss from the garden, which also comes in handy for the toxin firing dudes. This place is pretty massive, it feels like two environments in one. I have absolutely no idea where to go (I can't see any bell to ring), so I follow some torch lights (nice way to indicate a ladder) and slowly make my way back up, climbing a water wheel and several more ladders. I collect a bunch of items that I don't stop to check for fear of little flies getting me while I'm in the menu, and sadly die to a pair of dung brutes right as I felt I was getting to an exit. Boo!

Right now, I have positive thoughts about this place, but that may change depending on how much time I spend stuck down here >_> I did pick up a New Londo Ruins key, so I'm tempted to go back there first, but I doubt it'd be much quicker than navigating Blighttown again. I'll have a think. Good progress today!