Dark Souls

• No mana meter, spells have numbers you can use them instead.
• Poise is introduced. The more you have it, the harder it's to stagger you. Heavy armors provide more poise.

Nothing else comes to mind, sorry.

uhhhh

1. dark souls introduced a lot of concepts which made the trade-offs between light and heavy armor a bit more balanced.

in demon's souls armor was kind of not in the best spot because it almost always led you to fat rolling whereas dodging was superior. In Da S they introduced a "mid-roll", a ring that increases your equip burden AND the poise system. Basically the more poise you have the harder it is to stun you, as opposed to demon's souls where any hit had you reeling. you can effectively "tank" some hits provided they do little poise damage because it doesn't interrupt your animations. the poise system applies to enemies too so you can poise break a lot of enemies with large and heavy weapons.

2. demon's souls had a level/hub based structure where you entered all levels through the nexus and it was pretty linear. dark souls has an "open-world" design philosophy instead, kind of like metroid if you've ever played that. it's not really comparable to say elder scrolls because it's much more linear, but you still have choice in where to go and what to do (about as much as demon's souls i suppose, though not in the same way). to accomodate this instead of getting checkpoint flags upon finishing a level, Da S has bonfires. any time you reach a bonfire you get completely healed, are able to repair weapons (provided you have the item), adjust spells/miracles, level up, etc.

3. healing got a big revamp. in demon's souls you could just farm grass and have an infinite healing supply. in dark souls you instead get the estus flasks, which are limited in number. you start off with 5 in most (10 if you rest at a bonfire next to a firekeeper), and can then upgrade to 10 flasks, and eventually 15 and 20. usually 15 is the absolute most you need to get through levels.

And don't put any points into the Resistance stat

Both Manus and Kalameet can go, take their damage-sponge level health and screw themselves with it. Same with Stray Demon.

Gwyndolin went down like a chump once I was able to lay a hit on him though. On my way to touch fluffy tail, then will probably go for the Old Crispy Guy himself.

Also, Titanite Catch Pole is fun to use if a bit tricky.

Double post, but bleh.

Today is the day where I've beaten the game. Didn't beat Kalameet and Manus, but screw these guys.

Gwyn proved to be surprisingly tricky until I decided to just take a full "Four Kings" approach: Full Havel, Firehander +10, Iron Protection and Fire Protection Rings, Iron Flesh. It wore off somewhere in the middle of the fight, but otherwise it allowed me to hack away at him with impunity. Flash Sweat also works surprisingly good.

...man, I didn't notice how bad does that old man look. Yikes.

In any case, I am now in NG+. I suppose this is the good moment to dabble into PVP. What areas are the best for finding folks?

Painted World. You can leave without killing the boss, which means you can come back to it for PVP any time, and the strange shape of the world makes for interesting situations like fighting on the rope bridge or on the narrow stairs.

Also allows for fun "Surprises" such as hiding around a pillar and dark bead to the face :D

Well, if that's the route we're taking, hide behind a wall and Wrath of The Gods or Chaos Firestorm.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Now...May I have technical help?

I want to get Dark Souls, now that I have Gamepad on hand, but something's bothering me. I think my computer is in the ball park of DS, if the system requirements are to be believed, but apparently, the game is hideously broken without DS-fix.

So...Would a PC running with a Radeon HD 5500, a whopping 2 GB of RAM, and AMD Athlon II X3 435 Processor with 2.90 Ghz run the game well, even with DS-Fix? Or are these requirements a buncha big fat lies?

I'm a cheap motherfucker who sucks off of old/non-graphics intensive video games.

edited 19th Mar '15 3:03:58 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

I'm playing Dark Souls like it's a slideshow reel, because of this shit PC, but despite the pathetic framerates, this is pretty fun. You always have to stay vigilant, and on the defensive with even the weakest enemies, the combat has this awesome weight and punch to it, and there's no greater high than beating a boss with an inch of you life, or finding a campfire at fucking last.

I just beat the Capra Demon, using the "bum rush" strategy; madly rolling towards the fucker as he winds up his killer attack, and then slashing like an absolute nutter near the very end. It worked, but with almost no health at the end, I might have to play shit more carefully in the future.

I have a +5 Zweihander, +3 Knight's Shield, and spent all of my souls on Strength, Endurance, and Vitality; with a single point on Dexterity for the Zweihander.

What interests me is that so much of these challenges are doable if you either pay attention or do something the game doesn't explain at all. The Taurus Demon can be leapt on if you climb up a well hid ladder, bypassing the Bridge Dragon is as simple as finding a hard to spot opening, and run under it, Solaire makes the gargoyles a joke, etc. The closest I've had to true bullshit was the Capra Demon, and the fact that you need to pursue a dialogue tree with an NPC to know where the second bell of awakening is (Had to use the wiki since I missed it the first time around).

The gameplay has definitely clicked with me, but I'm not feeling the story yet. It's partially because I dunno why the fuck I'm doing all this, and what exactly happened when the fire died out. I like how the environments paint the picture of a world that once was, though, and I guess I'll just have to dig deeper into the game, and those item descriptions.

edited 25th Mar '15 3:10:31 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

if you like the first game, try the second one

it's shit

I've heard a lot on how it strips things down, but I don't think it could suck that hard. At the very least, it's hard to screw up the core combat, which is awesome.

Okay, I'm going to make life easy for you.

Oh, I have a Dark Souls playing friend, so I know Giantdad like it's a part of me.

When can I do elemental infusion? This swanky great-sword would be so much better with the inaudible cries of anguished souls or if it was on fire.

Elemental infusion isn't as great as it sounds, especially if you've been putting points into strength and dexterity. It basically removes all the scaling of a weapon in exchange for fixed elemental damage.

But fire sword.

Ugh, I'll stick to pumping up the Zweihander with Titanite, then.

Is there value to pumping strength beyond the weapon requirements, or can I stick to this lovely sword, and pump souls on Endurance and Vitality?

edited 25th Mar '15 9:17:53 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

fully upgraded weapon will do tons of damage regardless so pump up stats all you want

Dragon, can that stupid meme just go away already? It got old a long, long time ago.

Well, if you want to go Firehander/Lightninghander probably not. If you're going Normalhander it still has strength scaling(and a little bit of dexterity scaling), I believe.

And if you want to, by chance, go Holyhander/Magichander, you probably need extra Faith/Intellect.

But The Legend never di-(Zweihander'd)

edited 25th Mar '15 10:34:33 AM by FergardStratoavis

@Trip: Cool, cool. It's reassuring to know thar whatever path I take, this sword will always be the best.

@Fergard: Even more help! Thanks!

Crap, every stat but strength, vitality, and endurance is one I've ignored and neglected. And so many options...I need to think on what path I wanna take.

@Hydrall: I'm new and not tired of it yet. Clearly that is all that matters.

edited 25th Mar '15 10:39:11 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

If it helps, once you get a hold of your Pyromancy - since you've mentioned killing Cappy it shouldn't be that far - it scales only with how good your magical fire glove is, so you don't have to worry about putting stats in either Faith or Intellect if you just want to chuck fireballs all over the place(on top of a couple more fancy spells).

That said, it's probably best not to try and go Jack of All Stats, at least IMO early on. Focus on just smashing peeps with your sword, then - if you feel fancy - level up your Intellect/Faith a bit to have access to some basic magicks if you want them.

Also, leave Resistance altogether. Let it rot in obscurity. ^_^;

edited 25th Mar '15 10:44:28 AM by FergardStratoavis

I just want smash.

Just to be sure about that dexterity scaling, though... how many points should I pump in before its bonuses are negligible? I have it at and STR currently at the bare minimum needed for the Zweihander.

And are there bosses on the same bullshit caliber as Capra man?

edited 25th Mar '15 11:01:08 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

I'd say 12 - enough to wield a Short Bow - is enough. You can lure most enemies out with a well-placed arrow to avoid having to fight three at the same time.

@Bullshit Bosses: Cappy's less bullshit and more "get used to my game" type of guy. Without the dogs and the tight corners he's pretty easy. That said, I think you should be fine assuming you'll be going a proper route Depths-Blighttown-Sen's Fortress although every boss has some trick of theirs to surprise you with. Appropriately enough, you can summon phantoms for these boss fights, assuming you know where to look and what to do.

Then you'll reach Anor Londo... and then there's gonna be end-game bosses.

edited 25th Mar '15 11:13:35 AM by FergardStratoavis

Noted. After that, it's just a straight road of pumping the shit out of William the tall female bandit.

Oh, and I want to get ready for that Hydra boss, because I had a taste of what to expect from movement in water and I want none of that. I'm gonna look the shit out for that rusted ring...Or just consult the wiki, whichever comes first.

This game's level design really is a true Metroid-vania, given an extra dimension. Not just the openness, and the shortcuts to earlier areas, just that general feel to it.

edited 25th Mar '15 11:20:11 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

@Rusted Ring: It's gonna come in handy. A lot.

Do you, per chance, recall the one item you couldn't grab in Asylum? That's it. Now, how to reach it back again - and the Asylum itself - I shan't spoil. ^_^;