Current Events > Dark Souls 1st time playthrough topic. *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

After like 3 or 4 attempts I've finally got into the gameplay loop. I was hoping if I stuck it out enough I would finally "get" it, and I did. Hurray! Now I understand the appeal of Dark Souls, somewhat. There's still some hefty, mighty bullshit, and lots of moments where I realise I just spend 30 minutes doing something I have to do all over again, but I'm beginning to understand what people were talking about when they said the game "teaches" you, and that it's immensely satisfying when you learn. And also trying to appreciate that I don't need to kill every being I come across. In fact often it's a very bad idea to.

The hardest boss in dark souls is fighting your way back to the boss area. The second hardest boss is falling off a bullshit ledge.

I can't tell you how many fucking times I tried to kill that first black knight on the undead burg (finally got him after upgrading my sword). I fucking hate those ent bush people. I have learned humility by having my ego checked by low level enemies countless times already.

Probably the main thing I've learned is that while there is some bullshit, it feels like the game is deliberately inviting you to cheese enemies/bosses. Like ok, they can kill you in 2 hits, but also you can bait them into drinking their esper flask, or you can plunge attack again and again. There's usually some way to fuck them up if you learn it.

Class: Warrior, Dexterity, level 32 (dropped most of my points into vitality, then dex, then endurance, keeping the level caps in mind)
Weapon: uchigatana +5
Gear: Hard Leather Armour, gargoyle helm, black leather gloves and boots
Rings: Wolf Ring, Ring of the Evil Eye

I feel like my gear is pretty sweet but I'm unsure which path to take my weapon down, and I'm unsure if it's pointless or not to upgrade your armour. The uchigatana is real nice (speed and reach) but man is it brittle.

ALRIGHT so I'm a little ways in so far. Abyss demon was pretty easy. Taurus demon gave me some trouble until i figured out how to keep plunging. Titanite demon was real scary. Bell Gargoyles seemed absolutely impossible until I figured out how to use the roof to my advantage, levelled up my sword and Capra demon was a bullshit fucking fight, jesus. Getting the wolf ring was a massive boon. I figured I can grind for titanium shards at the old church (multiple knights around there).

I'm currently exploring the depths. I got cursed and that was fucking horrible, had to go all the way back to the weird guy on the belltower to get rid of that.

OH. Massive problem. I accidentally hit attack in front of the monk/crusader guy at firelink shrine and had to kill him. Then when I went back two crusaders and a mage woman attack me every time now. i've tried to kill them but they're too powerful for me. At the moment its a pain trying to go through firelink shrine. I uh...hope they werent important because if one thing pisses me off in this game, it's how you can't pacify NPCs.

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In my first playthrough of Dark Souls I got cursed, and I accidentally attacked the woman in the sewers who sold the curse curing stones or whatever. So for a bit I just had to play the game with half health :(

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MJOLNRVII posted...

In my first playthrough of Dark Souls I got cursed, and I accidentally attacked the woman in the sewers who sold the curse curing stones or whatever. So for a bit I just had to play the game with half health :(

Damn, couldn't you get the guy at the top of the bell tower, or hadnt got that far yet?

I found the bonfire in the depths, hurrah

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Could you elaborate on what you find bullshit? Because I will probably argue with you till you get annoyed and block me.

Also if you started with the master key I will shake my fist in the air at your direction.

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DeadBankerDream posted...

Could you elaborate on what you find bullshit? Because I will probably argue with you till you get annoyed and block me.

Also if you started with the master key I will shake my fist in the air at your direction.

I'm gonna say right off the bat if you are one of those soulsborn fans that likes to tell people Dark Souls isn't hard because after dying 3000 times you've gotten pretty good at the game then we are not gonna see eye to eye >:/

Anyway in terms of bullshit, being clipped off an edge and falling to your death is pretty bullshit. The titanite's leap slamp has a hitbox about 7 miles wide and homes in on your location.

My least favourite thing is when there's a brutally difficult boss fight that demands you being at full health, but the way TO the boss fight has a thousand small enemies and it's more or less impossible to get there unscathed. At the very least, you'll spend 10 minutes just getting to the fight. I hate that. I hated it in Hollow Knight and I hate it here. It's so frustrating trying to learn a boss's attack patterns when after every death you need to spend far more time backtracking to his lair.

Whether that is bullshit or not is questionable, but I just think it's a bit too nasty and not in a fun way. In fact a lot of things you could argue are not technically bullshit and are just incredibly mean, but I'm gonna call them bullshit because sometimes I don't want to spend 3 hours learning how to do something not very fun

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Amazing chest ahead

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Well, I disagree with most of that other than the clipping that I haven't personally experienced, and yeah there's some wonky hitboxes here and there. I imagine we would disagree on the issue of difficulty indeed, but I'd never impose my own perception of a game's difficulty on other people so let's just leave that alone.

Which means I have no more comments. Carry on, Greg.

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DeadBankerDream posted...

Well, I disagree with most of that other than the clipping that I haven't personally experienced, and yeah there's some wonky hitboxes here and there. I imagine we would disagree on the issue of difficulty indeed, but I'd never impose my own perception of a game's difficulty on other people so let's just leave that alone.

Which means I have no more comments. Carry on, Greg.

Haha :) I just note that Dark Souls fans (and I address this at no one in particular) have this tendency to say that dark souls is not difficult...after they have put hundreds of hours into it and failed a thousand times repeating the same thing over and over...like what even is difficulty?

Anyway speaking of difficulty, the gaping dragon was laughably easy. I actually wondered if my game was glitching out. It looked intimidating as hell but all it did was crawl past me so I could stab it on the butt. Really? First enemy in the game (nevermind boss) that I beat first time.


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The Gaping Dragon is kind of famous for its first impression and not its actual fight.

I still think it is a good fight. Not everything is about how difficult an encounter is and it represents well in other aspects.

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Definitely a cool creature.

Ok made it to blighttown. Got scurred and ran away. Decided to go upgrade my gear a bit.

Upgrading armour...is it worth it?

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As a priority? No. If you've nothing else to spend your titanite on, why not?

Some armour cant be upgraded.

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Class: Warrior, Dexterity, level 32 (dropped most of my points into vitality)

my guy, you did everything right.

Haha :) I just note that Dark Souls fans (and I address this at no one in particular) have this tendency to say that dark souls is not difficult...after they have put hundreds of hours into it and failed a thousand times repeating the same thing over and over...

i was just about to complain about something like that somewhere else lol. way back in the day, dark souls fans would tell you not to level vit because they were 'screw up points' and that you should just get good instead. so instead you'd have these players who died constantly but felt like that meant they were better at the game.

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The Gaping Dragon was one of the hardest bosses in the franchise for me. Because I still sucked horribly at the game, and had terrible gear, and didn't know how to properly level my stats. That's the boss where I finally had to learn what I was doing!
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DeadBankerDream posted...

As a priority? No. If you've nothing else to spend your titanite on, why not?

Some armour cant be upgraded.

Figured. The payoff doesn't seem worth it, but i seem to not need standard titanium shards atm.

Fluttershy posted...

my guy, you did everything right.

Haha, I did do a little bit of research to see what builds were viable. And from a previous run through I realised that being fast > being powerful.

i was just about to complain about something like that somewhere else lol. way back in the day, dark souls fans would tell you not to level vit because they were 'screw up points' and that you should just get good instead. so instead you'd have these players who died constantly but felt like that meant they were better at the game.

I can understand for some theres a purist thing to it but I just want to beat the game without breaking my controller, lol.

TheOnionKnight posted...

The Gaping Dragon was one of the hardest bosses in the franchise for me. Because I still sucked horribly at the game, and had terrible gear, and didn't know how to properly level my stats. That's the boss where I finally had to learn what I was doing!

I must have got him stuck in a loop or something. He only did two things the entire fight: slam down onto his face and then charge forward into the wall. I was able to just stay way back and wait for him to mosey on by. I also cut off his tail.

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pinky0926 posted...

I must have got him stuck in a loop or something. He only did two things the entire fight: slam down onto his face and then charge forward into the wall. I was able to just stay way back and wait for him to mosey on by. I also cut off his tail.
CE's Resident Scotsman.

Yeah, if you're solo he's a really easy fight since he loops behavior: bait the slam, slap his floppy face a few times, move to the side for the charge, smack his tail a few times, repeat.

If you summon though, especially if you bring Solaire into the fight... He starts to use a bunch of high damage attacks which cover a wide area. Oddly enough Lautrec does a better job in this fight; though he still isn't worth summoning for. One thing that can make a crazy difference though is if you fail to kill the Channeler above the boss arena. He'll empower the boss and fire spells down into the arena.

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Whether that is bullshit or not is questionable, but I just think it's a bit too nasty and not in a fun way. In fact a lot of things you could argue are not technically bullshit and are just incredibly mean

as a career invader across all of the games, i have no issue telling you that invasions are straight up unfair and could rightfully be called bullshit. this game gets away with stuff, i think, because the penalty on death isn't so bad.

I can understand for some theres a purist thing to it but I just want to beat the game without breaking my controller, lol.

oh, no, i'm straight up saying that they were wrong. i don't think a player that has high HP is bad at the game; i think players that run with low HP are bad at the game and their build has excuses maxed out instead.

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Whatever you do don't spend slabs on armor. And once you get it, great scythe is an amazing dex weapon.

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Whatever you do don't spend slabs on armor. And once you get it, great scythe is an amazing dex weapon.

hi enb

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Nah, Great Scythe is a decent PVE weapon. Any of the polearms are really. They provide higher damage without being as ponderously slow as the Ultras; which are hindered in boss fights as a result.

Edit: Also, what ever happened to ENB? I know he split from his wife just before he turned his Youtube channel into an abandoned attraction with the comments disabled...

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Urgh. Blighttown. What a nasty place. I got all the way down to the swamp after many attempts and then died as soon as I got into Quelaag's domain. There has to be a closer bonfire. I'll go round to the right this time.

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Edit: Also, what ever happened to ENB? I know he split from his wife just before he turned his Youtube channel into an abandoned attraction with the comments disabled...

i know as much as you do. but he also started streaming again recently! and i'm pretty sure it was even dark souls!

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pinky0926 posted...

Urgh. Blighttown. What a nasty place. I got all the way down to the swamp after many attempts and then died as soon as I got into Quelaag's domain. There has to be a closer bonfire. I'll go round to the right this time.

Keheehee!

Part of the trial is finding the closer bonfires and all the shortcuts. Quelaag certainly has one not far from her domain.

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pinky0926 posted...

Dexterity

Filthy fucking casual. Strength or bust.

Jk, Praise the Sun fam

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Fluttershy posted...

Edit: Also, what ever happened to ENB? I know he split from his wife just before he turned his Youtube channel into an abandoned attraction with the comments disabled...

i know as much as you do. but he also started streaming again recently! and i'm pretty sure it was even dark souls!

remember EWGF I barely do

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Ok. I found the bonfire. Man I wish I went that way the first time.

I also skipped those weird guys outside Quelaag's domain (tiddies) and went straight in. got her down to 30% health first try, shouldn't be too hard. She telegraphs her hits really obviouslyand takes ages when she does that lava spew. Only thing is her sonic boom attack knocks off nearly all my health.

Will have a go later but at work atm.

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Tag.

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Alright, I finally figured out Quelaag. Had to kindle the bonfire because I kept losing a lot of health just on the way to her lair because of the poison swamp.

Unlike a lot of bosses, this is one you want to stay in front of. Need to be able to see that AOE attack coming because it knocks out almost your entire health bar. Her forward swings happen to pass over head if you just stick to her spider head and strafe left. After I figured that trick out it was a cakewalk, but still took around 10 or so tries.

So i rang the bell. It opened that lizard den. I tried it out and those two lizard boys at the front hit freakin hard so I figure thats not the place to go yet. Firelink bonfire is missing now :(

I've gone back down to darkroot basin. The knight at the bottom was easy this time. The ents were easy. The crystal golems were easy. but..the fucking hydra. Jesus christ. Will have to see about that one.

Uh, what else. I felt like i didnt explore the depths totally. there was an interestng tree but didnt go into it. I upgraded my katana again. I love this sword.


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pinky0926 posted...

Firelink bonfire is missing now :(

someone killed the Bonfire Maiden

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I decided to go back and see if I could chop off the bridge dragon's tail, which I did. I didn't manage to kill him though. But now I have yet another unique sword I'll never use. Starting to think I should have gone strength with all this gear I can never use but I do like the speed.

Kind of unsure where to proceed next. I guess that Hydra is the logical choice, but I can't imagine beating him. His death ray water blasts travel like 500 metres and knock out all of my health.

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After shit loads of playthroughs, I never beat that hydra. In fairness I only tried like 4 times, but it held no interest for me.

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It's a really annoying fight. At least with melee. Never done a magic run. Usually I pick off the last head or two with a bow.

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iirc, beating the hydra is important to get access to the DLC later on, plus it gives you an alternate route to the forest.

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For the Hydra and melee half the battle is getting out into the shallow water. If you dodge the hydro blasts then it's mostly a matter of blocking with a 100% physical reduction shield and then countering. As mentioned, for the last head of the Hydra it might be easier to just stand in place and use a bow.

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The only difficult part of a hydra fight is not accidentally falling in the deep water. The heads are just annoying to chase down
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I just snipe the hydra from the top of the waterfall in the back of that forest area.

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I definitely cheese Hydra fights with arrows.

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Ok I gave up on hydra for now. Went back to valley of drakes from the old londo ruins/blighttown side. that skeleton dragon on the ledge I just cheesed by backing off and stabbing his claw.

Actually you know what? There is no such thing as cheesing in a game where an enemy can 1-hit kill you through a shield block and their attack is 10 metres wide. Any tactic to win counts.

Gonna keep going down here.

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This game has completely consumed my brain.

The mushroom hollow tree area is so annoying. I thought these guys would be friends. They're not friends. They're angry mushies.

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I wanna say something, but I also don't want to.

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Angry mushies!

Kill their babies!

Spread your seed!

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pinky0926 posted...

but the way TO the boss fight has a thousand small enemies and it's more or less impossible to get there unscathed.

you should be able to sprint from a bonfire to every boss w/o being touched. i only fight my way through the first time, or if i have a bloodstain with a LOT of souls and i'm being ultra careful

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Wow, ash lake music is cool. But man it sucks to get there and i just died falling off the edge chasing a shiny pick up item.

I'm not going to bother killing the mushies this time. just gonna sprint down there and see if i can sprint past the stupid hydra.

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pinky0926 posted...

Wow, ash lake music is cool. But man it sucks to get there and i just died falling off the edge chasing a shiny pick up item.

I'm not going to bother killing the mushies this time. just gonna sprint down there and see if i can sprint past the stupid hydra.

Did you fight butterfly?

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Oh my god, I had no idea there was a bonfire at the beginning of ash lake, facepalm.

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deoxxys posted...

Did you fight butterfly?

Yeah that was quite early on, was it the same music?

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pinky0926 posted...

Yeah that was quite early on, was it the same music?

Same music? I am not following. /

I just wanted to know how much of the forest you completed because I just sniped the hydra from the top of the waterfall.

Edit: OH just looked of a video of ash lake, never actually been there, how did you get there?

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deoxxys posted...

Same music? I am not following. /

I just wanted to know how much of the forest you completed because I just sniped the hydra from the top of the waterfall.

Edit: OH just looked of a video of ash lake, never actually been there, how did you get there?

Go to the very bottom of blighttown (the swamp). On the left hand side there's a tree root that leads up like a ramp. At the top is a chest and it looks like a dead end. Hit the wall behind and it's an illusory wall. Keep going down through the hollow of the tree, avoid mushies. It's a fucking trek!

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pinky0926 posted...

Oh my god, I had no idea there was a bonfire at the beginning of ash lake, facepalm.

Muwahahahaha, the trap is sprung.

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Fucking bonfires, seriously.

Anyway, I got there in the end. Man it was a trek. Prayed to the big majestic dragon, now I'm a dragonboi.

I went all the way back to clank clank. Kind of stuck on where to go next. I figure it's either lizard fortress or new londo ruins, but neither seems remotely appealing right now. New londo ruins has ghosts I can't kill and those lizards are fucking tough.

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Ok, maybe sens isnt so bad. I hadnt been since i upgraded my sword and these guys are very manageable now. maybe that first.

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