Current Events > Playing Dark Souls 3

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is my first Souls game, all I know is that the games are hard as hell. Playing the PC version with mouse and keyboard. Chose Warrior for my starting class.

Played up to getting the ring from the thief in the prison last night. First boss took me SUUUUPER off-guard, probably took me 6 or 7 tries to beat it.

Attempting to get the key kicked my ass for at least an hour due to a combination of me being impatient, me accidentally drinking from my flask when I didn't want to because the confirm and item keys are right next to each other, the lockon system not working the way I wanted it to, and me generally being bad at the game. I absolutely understand the appeal, though; it's extremely addictive and satisfying.

As for optional things, I killed the crystal wolf monster and the katana-wielding dude. Also, nearly all the weapons I pick up say that I have insufficient attributes to properly wield them, what's up with that?
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If you have an Xbox controller laying around, try using that. The game is much smoother on a controller.
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Garioshi posted...

Playing the PC version with mouse and keyboard.

get a controller. trust me.

Garioshi posted...

Also, nearly all the weapons I pick up say that I have insufficient attributes to properly wield them, what's up with that?

weapons have stat requirements, which are listed on the weapon stat screen. if a stat is red that means you don't meet the requirement.

Garioshi posted...

the lockon system not working the way I wanted it to,

how so?
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Enjoy!
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Get the PS4 version and I'll co-op you.
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tips

- get a controller if you have one, much better than kb+m for this type of game

- take combat slow and get used to the pace. only attack when you have an opening

- dont freak out about dying and losing your souls. you'll have lots of chances to get more souls and it's not like DS games arent generous with them. they are no doubt hard games and punishing but they're (usually) not overly punishing for the sake of making things unpleasant for the player

- practice rolling, dont rely on your shield

- know that you dont always have to lock on to an enemy. sometimes it is easier to fight without locking on. you'll get a feel for this more as you play

- 90% of the time, when you get to an enemy encounter that you think is obnoxiously difficult, there is some kind of secret or way to make it more manageable. for example you might come to a bridge with 5 enemies on it and you wonder how you kill them, but if you look around you'll find there's a secret path to get around to the side of the bridge so you can sneak past the enemies or take them out from behind. shit like that

- use summons when you need them, this really helps on tough bosses

- google what the different attributes do and figure out what you want to specialize your dude in as you level up. i find the best way to do this is to pick a weapon or weapon type and build your guy around this (i.e. heavy weapons vs light ones)

- dont freak out about decisions you make leveling, as i said before the game is hard but in terms of overall design it's not punishing. you can always recover from a build that you dont like or whatever, the game is generous with souls and you can even farm them at certain points

- sorceries make the game ez mode in the early levels
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Romulox28 posted...

tips

- sorceries make the game ez mode in the early levels

No. You're getting it mixed up with DS1. If anything, physical is the best in DS3.
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i second everything Rommy posted but i'll also add

- increasing Vigor (HP) is almost always a good use of a stat point
- lookup the 'softcaps' of stats -- the point where the returns diminish greatly.
- note that almost all weapons can be infused to alter how they scale with stats
- that's another thing, weapons scale with certain stats. on the weapons stat screen there will sometimes be a letter ('S', "A', 'B', 'C', etc) under a stat which indicates how well the damage scales with that particular stat.
- do NOT kill NPCs that are not hostile towards you
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Romulox28 posted...

- dont freak out about decisions you make leveling, as i said before the game is hard but in terms of overall design it's not punishing. you can always recover from a build that you dont like or whatever, as i said before the game is generous with souls and you can even farm them at certain points

in addition to this, there's also a way to respec your character up to five times per playthrough
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DarthWendy posted...

Romulox28 posted...

tips

- sorceries make the game ez mode in the early levels

No. You're getting it mixed up with DS1. If anything, physical is the best in DS3.

im doing a pyro build for the first time ever and it absolutely WRECKS in PvE. Chaos Bed Vestiges can hit for almost 1000 damage, it's cray.

edit triple post sorry =/
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UnholyMudcrab posted...

If you have an Xbox controller laying around, try using that. The game is much smoother on a controller.

I have a Gamecube controller, which doesn't have stick buttons or a second trigger on the left side. It also doesn't have guide or back buttons. Will I have enough buttons to properly play the game?
Giant_Aspirin posted...

weapons have stat requirements, which are listed on the weapon stat screen. if a stat is red that means you don't meet the requirement.

Kinda strange to be throwing all these weapons that I can't use at me, then. One weapon has a requirement for 16 in a stat that I initially had 7 in.
Giant_Aspirin posted...

how so?

There's a segment with crossbowmen opposite the way to progress that will shoot you unless you take them out. When you take the first one out, two swordsmen will climb up the balcony to protect the other crossbowman. One of them climbs up in front of the crossbowman, and the lockon system likes to choose the swordsman instead of the crossbowman even if the swordsman is off to the side. I keep moving forward because I anticipate locking on to the crossbowman, pass the swordsman, and after realizing that I'm locked on to the wrong target try to move the camera to the crossbowman, so it takes a few moments for me to realize that I need to undo the lockon, during which time I'm trying to move the camera with my movement. I then lock on to the crossbowman, but the new locked-on camera combined with the direction I'm holding causes me to run off the ledge and die from fall damage. I might just be bad, but it happened to me multiple times.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

DarthWendy posted...

Romulox28 posted...

tips

- sorceries make the game ez mode in the early levels

No. You're getting it mixed up with DS1. If anything, physical is the best in DS3.

im doing a pyro build for the first time ever and it absolutely WRECKS in PvE. Chaos Bed Vestiges can hit for almost 1000 damage, it's cray.

edit triple post sorry =/

Too situational. And how many CBV do you hope to cast vs mobs, it's the strongest pyro there, and most consuming. Unless you go all blue estus.
Also in NG+ and beyond, one spell flavour specialisation will hamper you seriously. Whereas STR/DEX lets you use the neat tools with optimal damage vs everything. Or at least STR/FTH and use the new lightning bow spell a lot.
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Garioshi posted...

I have a Gamecube controller, which doesn't have stick buttons or a second trigger on the left side. It also doesn't have guide or back buttons. Will I have enough buttons to properly play the game?

probably not, you need all four shoulder buttons.

Garioshi posted...

Kinda strange to be throwing all these weapons that I can't use at me, then. One weapon has a requirement for 16 in a stat that I initially had 7 in.

the game doesn't place items based on your character. finding those weapons early on is nice because it shows you what's out there and what you could be building towards.

Garioshi posted...

One of them climbs up in front of the crossbowman, and the lockon system likes to choose the swordsman instead of the crossbowman even if the swordsman is off to the side

go to the options and turn off the "auto lock on", i suspect that's your problem. i dont like it either.
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Romulox28 posted...

tips

- get a controller if you have one, much better than kb+m for this type of game

- take combat slow and get used to the pace. only attack when you have an opening

- dont freak out about dying and losing your souls. you'll have lots of chances to get more souls and it's not like DS games arent generous with them. they are no doubt hard games and punishing but they're (usually) not overly punishing for the sake of making things unpleasant for the player

- practice rolling, dont rely on your shield

- know that you dont always have to lock on to an enemy. sometimes it is easier to fight without locking on. you'll get a feel for this more as you play

- 90% of the time, when you get to an enemy encounter that you think is obnoxiously difficult, there is some kind of secret or way to make it more manageable. for example you might come to a bridge with 5 enemies on it and you wonder how you kill them, but if you look around you'll find there's a secret path to get around to the side of the bridge so you can sneak past the enemies or take them out from behind. shit like that

- use summons when you need them, this really helps on tough bosses

- google what the different attributes do and figure out what you want to specialize your dude in as you level up. i find the best way to do this is to pick a weapon or weapon type and build your guy around this (i.e. heavy weapons vs light ones)

- dont freak out about decisions you make leveling, as i said before the game is hard but in terms of overall design it's not punishing. you can always recover from a build that you dont like or whatever, the game is generous with souls and you can even farm them at certain points

- sorceries make the game ez mode in the early levels

Thanks, will definitely take this into account as I play.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

i second everything Rommy posted but i'll also add

- increasing Vigor (HP) is almost always a good use of a stat point
- lookup the 'softcaps' of stats -- the point where the returns diminish greatly.
- note that almost all weapons can be infused to alter how they scale with stats
- that's another thing, weapons scale with certain stats. on the weapons stat screen there will sometimes be a letter ('S', "A', 'B', 'C', etc) under a stat which indicates how well the damage scales with that particular stat.
- do NOT kill NPCs that are not hostile towards you

This, too. Out of curiosity, what's the penalty for attacking non-hostile NPCs?
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DarthWendy posted...

And how many CBV do you hope to cast vs mobs, it's the strongest pyro there, and most consuming. Unless you go all blue estus.

I'm at end-game and i run with 10 orange, 5 blue and i dont run out of FP during PvE runs. i have 34 ATN and a good amount of FP. i think i can cast like 6 CBVs before chugging. i sometimes equip Great Chaos Fire Orb for when I need to hit a group and run with a couple other spells.

i've been using a Chaos Claymore and pyro spells almost exclusively and i'm kicking ass on NG.

i realize NG+ will be harder but i don't really plan on doing that so shrug
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No penalty, but you may miss on their quest lines and useful thingies you can earn. There is no "sin" system in the game, unlike DS1/2.
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Garioshi posted...

This, too. Out of curiosity, what's the penalty for attacking non-hostile NPCs?

you can hit them a few times and they won't aggro, they'll just say stuff like "HAAAY STOP HITTING ME". if you do accidentally aggro an NPC you can undo it but you have to pay a fee to a certain merchant and if you kill the NPC they're permanently dead for that playthrough

DarthWendy posted...

There is no "sin" system in the game, unlike DS1/2.

http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Velka+the+Goddess+of+Sin
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

probably not, you need all four shoulder buttons.

welp, guess i'm sticking to keyboard + mouse for the time being.
Giant_Aspirin posted...

the game doesn't place items based on your character. finding those weapons early on is nice because it shows you what's out there and what you could be building towards.

Ah, good to know. That katana looks like it can fuck up enemies a lot better than my broadsword.
Giant_Aspirin posted...

go to the options and turn off the "auto lock on", i suspect that's your problem. i dont like it either.

I manually lock on; it's an issue of the lockon choosing a different target.
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Garioshi posted...

I manually lock on; it's an issue of the lockon choosing a different target.

auto-lock on does that, iirc
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Garioshi posted...

This, too. Out of curiosity, what's the penalty for attacking non-hostile NPCs?

some have special questlines, some have special items for sale, some become phantoms you can summon to help you on tough parts, etc. and once you kill an NPC he's dead for good so it's not worth it
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Garioshi posted...

That katana looks like it can fuck up enemies a lot better than my broadsword.

katanas are nice because they attack quickly and they can inflict Bleed status, which can deal some good damage. they don't stagger much though, which is incredibly helpful sometimes.

the broadsword is a very solid weapon, though.

also keep your weapon upgraded the most you can.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

you can hit them a few times and they won't aggro, they'll just say stuff like "HAAAY STOP HITTING ME". if you do accidentally aggro an NPC you can undo it but you have to pay a fee to a certain merchant and if you kill the NPC they're permanently dead for that playthrough

Any benefits to killing NPCs, then?
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

That katana looks like it can fuck up enemies a lot better than my broadsword.

katanas are nice because they attack quickly and they can inflict Bleed status, which can deal some good damage. they don't stagger much though, which is incredibly helpful sometimes.

the broadsword is a very solid weapon, though.

also keep your weapon upgraded the most you can.

Which one do you recommend?
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Garioshi posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

you can hit them a few times and they won't aggro, they'll just say stuff like "HAAAY STOP HITTING ME". if you do accidentally aggro an NPC you can undo it but you have to pay a fee to a certain merchant and if you kill the NPC they're permanently dead for that playthrough

Any benefits to killing NPCs, then?

often times killing an NPC is the only way to get their armor/equipment. as Romulox said, it's usually not worth it.
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Lol, that's a fake sin system, not the actual one :)
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Garioshi posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

you can hit them a few times and they won't aggro, they'll just say stuff like "HAAAY STOP HITTING ME". if you do accidentally aggro an NPC you can undo it but you have to pay a fee to a certain merchant and if you kill the NPC they're permanently dead for that playthrough

Any benefits to killing NPCs, then?

you can loot their stuff. a few of them have some good things
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

you can hit them a few times and they won't aggro, they'll just say stuff like "HAAAY STOP HITTING ME". if you do accidentally aggro an NPC you can undo it but you have to pay a fee to a certain merchant and if you kill the NPC they're permanently dead for that playthrough

Any benefits to killing NPCs, then?

often times killing an NPC is the only way to get their armor/equipment. as Romulox said, it's usually not worth it.

Ah, good to know.
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Garioshi posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

That katana looks like it can fuck up enemies a lot better than my broadsword.

katanas are nice because they attack quickly and they can inflict Bleed status, which can deal some good damage. they don't stagger much though, which is incredibly helpful sometimes.

the broadsword is a very solid weapon, though.

also keep your weapon upgraded the most you can.

Which one do you recommend?

it's sort of an apples / oranges thing and it comes down to preferences.

consider the available moveset when picking a weapon. tinker around with what it can do. note that strong and weak attack are different, two handing has a slightly different moveset than one handing, doing a roll and then an attack has a move, doing a 'hop back' then attack has a move, etc.

some weapons are good at 'horizontal' attacks that sweep the area in front of you, some are good at 'vertical' attacks and some are good at thrust/poke attacks.

personally, i do enjoy the Katana for PvE quite a bit.
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also one more piece of advice i have, and i know this is going to be really controversial, is to look up the locations of the Estus Shards.

I know that a lot of the fun of Dark Souls games is figuring things out as you go along, but if this is your first DS game especially, having the shards will be very helpful to you as you adapt to how the game works.

At the very least I'd suggest looking up the general location of where they are (ex: "ok, I know there is one shard in Earthen Peak"). IMO there is a difficulty spike when you get to Irithyll so I think it would be helpful to ensure that you have the proper amount of healing items so you are prepared.

but of course this is up to you and your playstyle. some people like surprises, some don't, and some like a mix
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Romulox28 posted...

also one more piece of advice i have, and i know this is going to be really controversial, is to look up the locations of the Estus Shards.

I know that a lot of the fun of Dark Souls games is figuring things out as you go along, but if this is your first DS game especially, having the shards will be very helpful to you as you adapt to how the game works.

At the very least I'd suggest looking up the general location of where they are (ex: "ok, I know there is one shard in Earthen Peak"). IMO there is a difficulty spike when you get to Irithyll so I think it would be helpful to ensure that you have the proper amount of healing items so you are prepared.

but of course this is up to you and your playstyle. some people like surprises, some don't, and some like a mix

+1. if you miss out on Shards it'll be a lot harder. most of them aren't hidden too much, but missing out on one would stink.

also look up the locations of the Undead Bone Shards, which increase the healing power of your Estus.

and if you want to co-op, i play on PC (steam info in profile) but the only character i have right now is like level 100.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Romulox28 posted...

- dont freak out about decisions you make leveling, as i said before the game is hard but in terms of overall design it's not punishing. you can always recover from a build that you dont like or whatever, as i said before the game is generous with souls and you can even farm them at certain points

in addition to this, there's also a way to respec your character up to five times per playthrough

Unless they've patched it, there's a glitch that lets you respec infinitely
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Romulox28 posted...

also one more piece of advice i have, and i know this is going to be really controversial, is to look up the locations of the Estus Shards.

I know that a lot of the fun of Dark Souls games is figuring things out as you go along, but if this is your first DS game especially, having the shards will be very helpful to you as you adapt to how the game works.

At the very least I'd suggest looking up the general location of where they are (ex: "ok, I know there is one shard in Earthen Peak"). IMO there is a difficulty spike when you get to Irithyll so I think it would be helpful to ensure that you have the proper amount of healing items so you are prepared.

but of course this is up to you and your playstyle. some people like surprises, some don't, and some like a mix

I'll look them up if I run into serious trouble and can't find them naturally.
Giant_Aspirin posted...

also look up the locations of the Undead Bone Shards, which increase the healing power of your Estus.

and if you want to co-op, i play on PC (steam info in profile) but the only character i have right now is like level 100.

that might be just a tad broken
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Garioshi posted...

that might be just a tad broken

the game only lets you summon phantoms within a certain range of your level

http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Summon+Range+Calculator

so if im level 100 the lowest you could be and still summon me is 80, if i did that right. i might even be wiling to make a new character just for you (and because i <3 the game)

the game is still very active on PC though. when i drop my summon sign it's usually picked up in less than a minute.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

that might be just a tad broken

the game only lets you summon phantoms within a certain range of your level

http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Summon+Range+Calculator

so if im level 100 the lowest you could be and still summon me is 80, if i did that right. i might even be wiling to make a new character just for you (and because i <3 the game)

the game is still very active on PC though. when i drop my summon sign it's usually picked up in less than a minute.

Ah, that's slightly less broken. Good to know the community is active.
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Garioshi posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

that might be just a tad broken

the game only lets you summon phantoms within a certain range of your level

http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Summon+Range+Calculator

so if im level 100 the lowest you could be and still summon me is 80, if i did that right. i might even be wiling to make a new character just for you (and because i <3 the game)

the game is still very active on PC though. when i drop my summon sign it's usually picked up in less than a minute.

Ah, that's slightly less broken. Good to know the community is active.
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If you're both using a password, you can summon a phantom of any level, but the game decreases their stats to roughly match your soul level
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^ good to know, thanks. so that means my fire infused lady toon can help you
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Romulox28 posted...

- google what the different attributes do and figure out what you want to specialize your dude in as you level up. i find the best way to do this is to pick a weapon or weapon type and build your guy around this

Correct me if I'm wrong (my experience is only with Dark Souls 1 so this might've changed) but you can go with a quality build too and be pretty versatile with the weapons you use. TC, that's a build that levels both STR and DEX so you can take advantage of weapons with scaling in both.

Edit: also Aspirin if you're on PC I'm working my way through the first one right now if you wanna do co-op sometime
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InYourWalls1 posted...

Romulox28 posted...

- google what the different attributes do and figure out what you want to specialize your dude in as you level up. i find the best way to do this is to pick a weapon or weapon type and build your guy around this

Correct me if I'm wrong (my experience is only with Dark Souls 1 so this might've changed) but you can go with a quality build too and be pretty versatile with the weapons you use. TC, that's a build that levels both STR and DEX so you can take advantage of weapons with scaling in both.

you can, sure, but if you pick something that scales better with STR over DEX, you'll want to pump STR more and only get the minimum DEX required.
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Getting my ass handed to me by these armored knights. I'm bad at picking up on patterns, so this can only go well.
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Garioshi posted...

Getting my ass handed to me by these armored knights

which ones? are you at High Wall of Lothric?
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Tfw it's time for me, Aspirin, and TC to jolly co-op
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

Getting my ass handed to me by these armored knights

which ones? are you at High Wall of Lothric?

Yeah. Their shields are the main problem, as they really like hiding behind their shields even when attacking. The spear guys are by far the worst.
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MacadamianNut3 posted...

Tfw it's time for me, Aspirin, and TC to jolly co-op

\[T]/

Garioshi posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

Getting my ass handed to me by these armored knights

which ones? are you at High Wall of Lothric?

Yeah. Their shields are the main problem, as they really like hiding behind their shields even when attacking. The spear guys are by far the worst.

they are definitely hard when you first get there. but they teach you things like how to bait attacks and be patient. get close to one until it attacks and do the quickstep to hop back. you should have the combo memorized and you should know when it's about to finish. your opening to attack is right when their combo finishes but before they put the shield back up.

you can practice on the one that's right between the dragon and the bonfire right after. rest at the bonfire, go fight the knight, rinse and repeat until you're comfortable fighting them.

one thing I <3 about Souls is that it really makes you feel like you grow as a player. encounters that were hard as shit at first become easier as you memorize the patterns and become comfortable fighting the enemies. going back and wiping the floor with enemies that used to do that to you is so satisfying.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

you can, sure, but if you pick something that scales better with STR over DEX, you'll want to pump STR more and only get the minimum DEX required.

Yeah you can tweak it a bit to suit you - I went a bit more STR heavy cause I like my zweihanders :p - but I like being relatively balanced so I can switch things up and change my strategy/keep opponents off balance

Giant_Aspirin posted...

one thing I <3 about Souls is that it really makes you feel like you grow as a player. encounters that were hard as shit at first become easier as you memorize the patterns and become comfortable fighting the enemies. going back and wiping the floor with enemies that used to do that to you is so satisfying.

Definitely, it's also fun touching the bloodstains in those areas and seeing the people currently struggling; in a "reminds you of where you came from" sort of way (rather than a sadistic one)
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Strength builds are really good in 3
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also one thing to note is that you dont have to kill the enemies every time.

running past them is a viable tactic sometimes, especially if you're low on resources and a bonfire is in sight, or you're retrying a boss
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Beat Vordt on my third try. Honestly think it(?) was easier than the first boss.
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strength all the way

dex nerds can go trip and fall
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Garioshi posted...

Beat Vordt on my third try. Honestly think it(?) was easier than the first boss.

good job!

the first boss really punishes being timid and gives people trouble. the farther away from him you get the harder he is, while if you get right up in his face he's not too bad.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Garioshi posted...

Beat Vordt on my third try. Honestly think it(?) was easier than the first boss.

good job!

the first boss really punishes being timid and gives people trouble. the farther away from him you get the harder he is, while if you get right up in his face he's not too bad.

That's some good game design if I've ever seen it.
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