Dark Souls

Lin

I am becoming a Sunbro! I know I'm late to the party, but... LET'S TALK ABOUT THE GAME.

> be level 24 Warrior in the Depths

> OH MY GOD INVADED FOR THE FIRST TIME

> motherloving Guts from Berserk starts coming at me with a huge sword while I'm still fighting curse frogs

> I'm still wearing my starting gear and using a Halberd +1

> finish off frogs, run my ass off

> Guts corners me and starts going to town on my ass

> almost going to die, no more Estus Flask uses

> Guts charges the attack that will destroy the planet

> PERFECT PARRY

> RIPOSTE

> TSSSSHKSHSKBKBSPKHSKTHKHTKKKKKK

> You have vanquished BLAHBLAHBLAH360.

And that was the moment I realized I loved this game.

Eleanor

I know nothing about this game, but apparently there's a dude in it who cosplays as my favourite tokusatsu hero, so it's ok in my books!

Haern

I like that you literally made it a greentext story.

Xavin

Just don't fall into the trap of thinking level == power. Your equipment is just as, if not more, important than your stats. Don't neglect your weapons and armor.

Haern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi44ajVrmSE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-62fhmWDkx8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hIhlAt3wNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gk_-WiFBI

Barda

Found this bit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbtf3ng6kGk

Haern

Oh, and Dark Souls II is coming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENJnjsO5C50

Realtalk: Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are two of my all-time favorite games. There is very little that scrapes close to my adoration of these games. The themes of despair and loss are done extremely well throughout both games and the recurring theme is what ties the series together. From Solaire's crushing dialogue about losing all hope in his search for his sun to Stockpile Thomas doting on you as you venture forth from the Nexus, it's a memorable experience for me that I hope I'll never forget. I hope Dark Souls II is just the same.

Saarlamen

Except that retarded-looking world worm. God damn fleshy eyebrows...

Haern

MORE PRIMORDIAL SERPENTS. MORE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrZ8bTo7oE

Haern

Saarlamen

What they don't show is the absolute despair that fellow has when he keeps dying on that same spot while attempting to recover his big blob of souls.

My first invasion was actually not until the forest (I started playing pretty early on PS3 so not a lot of invasions), and I ran like Brave Sir Robin until I found a zone line... then I was all "man that wolf has a sweet sword I wonder if it talks... nope OH GOD"

Haern

My first major death was to the archers of Anor Londo. But, yeah, well.

Saarlamen

Trollin twitch.tv for streams of people first going into Anal Rondo is probably my most favorite thing ever.

Well, that and jumping dragon asses.

Lin

I didn't find Anor Londo to be all that hard. The gargoyles were total chumps. The Titanite Demons are a lot less scary when they're trapped in tiny rooms. Everything else dies to the usual strategy of "block and stab when you have an opening". I don't actually have any attunement slots and I haven't used a single ranged weapon, I just stab everything with my Halberd +10, so maybe I just have godlike patience.

That said, I just put down the controller right before Ornstein and Smough. Expect a long, all-caps rant when I get back from work to give them a shot.

Edit: Wait wait, the gargoyles and Dragon Slayer Greatbow archers were total pains in the cojones. BUT I ONLY DIED EIGHT TIMES.

Haern

Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo seem to be the breaking point for a lot of players. I died to the Archers only once, but I also was invaded well over thirty times in my struggle to Ornstein and Smough. THEN I BECAME THE DARK SOULS AND JOINED THE DARKMOON COVENANT.

Lin

Oh god man, Sen's Fortress was like the worst thing I ever went through. Blighttown? Cake. New Londo Ruins? Pain in the ass, but doable. The entire fortress can go burn in hell.

Xavin

I didn't mind Sen's. I actually dealt with my first invasion in Sen's. Sort of a rush, fighting someone on that narrow walkway with the pendulums.

Lin

Lin Log, stardate 4-ES-791:

Reached the last campfire in Anor Londo. Save file corrupted before I could even get a glimpse of Ornstein and Smough. Seriously, I cleared the entire chapel before them, opened the huge front gate, talked to the giant blacksmith, and then logged off so I could have fun after work.

No dice.

So now that I've learned a lot about Dark Souls, I've booted up a new guy, this time beginning as a Hunter for early bow access. The bow is stupidly overpowered and I can't believe that I ignored ranged capability this entire time. Three hours of play time and SL30, and I'm already almost caught up with my first character.

He's a gorgeous, bald black man who doesn't wear shirt, so naturally I named him after my favorite Aetolian in the whole wide world: Exodus.

I also joined the Forest Hunters, and have been having the fun of my life. My first invasion was a guy who didn't take damage. I noticed he was playing like a scrub (no dodges, blindly swinging away even when I was grossly out of range), so I went for a backstab. No damage. I assume he was a hacker?

I kicked him off a cliff.

Several invasions later: a wizard dude and his friend with some truly frightening armor. I couldn't get close because the wizard kept making the entire world explode.

I kicked him off a cliff.

Shieldbro went down pretty simply afterwards. I actually tried to kick him off a cliff, and got three staggers in a row, but he dodged early on so I stopped being cheeky.

From now on, I want to be the enormous, handsome black man who kicks you off a cliff.

Toz

Started playing Black Souls. Thanks to @Lin, @Eleanor, @Meskhenet, @Serrice, @Kiyotan, and like...10000 other people for giving me the best advice ever, seriously.

Aaahhhnold is now a halberd-wielder with no shield. I do not block. I occasionally dodge. There can only be smash.

Lin

Aaahaha, we've corrupted him.

Meskhenet

What's funny is I have never played the game. I was just there, Toz. :P

Seir

Soul Level 130, Darkmoon Covenant with a Faith/Dex Build. HATIN' ON ALL YOU SINNERS.

Dhar

My favorite part of Dark Souls, having played it for 300+ hours now, is definitely the lore. I could literally spend hours rambling about it. There's so much to speculate over and the game doesn't often give you a straightforward answer. Sure, a good portion of knowledge is obtained from shoddy item descriptions, but I don't care! Little stuff that you can't really notice at first glance like Petrus/Way of White or Gwyndolin & the Anor Londo covenants is just too cool. Of course, there's also some conflicting evidence (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, HAVEL'S RING/GREATSHIELD). Which is not cool.

If you're playing it for the first time, I'd highly suggest getting the console version. The PC port was pretty awful. You can usually get it to work decently with just a little tweaking, but it's been my experience that the number of hackers is notably higher for the PC version. Also, if you like Dark Souls and have a PS3, definitely give Demon's Souls a try. People still play it, and it's still a good game - though I prefer Dark Souls personally.

Random protips:

[spoiler]- If you want to Gravelord/be Gravelorded, get to NG+. Phantoms only appear in NG+.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- Use the Silver Pendant to deflect Dark Magic. EXTREMELY USEFUL IN PVP.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- You don't need to have the stats to wield the Dragonslayer Greatbow in order to use its knockback effect. Enjoy knocking people off cliffs.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- Don't bother getting a divine weapon for Catacombs. Just man up and rush the necromancers.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- Darkwraiths in New Londo have a chance at dropping a Titanite Slab.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- If you aren't using spells or miracles, you should definitely have a Pyromancy flame for Power Within/Great Combustion.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- Pyromancy is independent of stats. The more souls $$$ you dump into your flame, the stronger it gets.[/spoiler]

EDIT: AHH SPOILER TAGS

Also, Dark Souls 2 is going to have dedicated servers. Huzzah. So pumped.

Toz

Try jumping.

Lin

Dhar said:

[spoiler]- Don't bother getting a divine weapon for Catacombs. Just man up and rush the necromancers.[/spoiler]

Not sure if trolling.

Dhar

Not trolling. It's easier, for me anyways, to just go straight for the necromancers. Plus, then you don't have to waste your souls/time on upgrading an otherwise worthless weapon.

Lin

Well it's true that they don't come back. There were often just so many skeletons I literally could not get through them.

Saarlamen

Isn't the goo-dragon sword you can get off the bat (thanks skeleton key) Divine? I forget.

Xavin

The Astora straight sword? Yeah, that's a divine weapon.

Haern

You need to get that from the Valley of Drakes near the dead dragon that's hanging on the ledge.

Who's butt is down in Lost Izalith. STOMPING DRAGON ASSES.

Lupin

This thread makes me want to start playing again.

I burnt though the game playing with my boyfriend, it's a little iffy connecting up but once you get going it's awesome.
Also for the Catacombs I made a low level divine spear and slowly plodded though with a shield in hand, ( I do bum rush the first necro though)

Also EpicNameBro on youtube has some good guides on getting armour/weapons/rings and some meaty lore info (and lots of spoilers)