I forget how much I'd upgraded them, but I remember on my first playthrough, my regular longsword was dealing more damage than my Drake sword by the time I reached Blighttown. The whole point of the Drake sword is that it's powerful early on, but becomes redundant by the mid-game.
Oh, bother.
I wasn't even out of Undead Burg before i stopped using it. The moment I found Andre and put the Titanite I'd gathered to use on my Zweihander and Claymore, the Drake Sword was obsolete.
Also, I just finished the Depths and killed the Gaping Dragon and got the tail axe. Next...Blighttown.
<Sigh>...at least I got the Rusty Ring already.
Edited by M84 on Nov 3rd 2019 at 7:09:00 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Madman
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
best of luck friend, you'll need it
Oh, bother.
I still have vague memories of Blighttown back when the game first came out.
They weren't good memories.
Disgusted, but not surprised
I avoided upper Blighttown on almost all subsequent playthroughs. Bad memories too. Chief among them, thinking about it now, was getting invaded there by people abusing the Rat Ring and Tranquil Walk before they got nerfed into the ground.
Edited by artfulscruff on Nov 3rd 2019 at 6:09:17 PM
Oh, bother.
Okay, about halfway through Blighttown, almost at the second bonfire. Unfortunately, it's late so I'll have to play later.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Absolutely no relation to NLK
Dark Souls gets vastly easier on subsequent playthroughs on the whole. Though I do have to say that after going for a zero-poise DEX/INT build with a high-stability shield my first playthrough and feeling that I was cheesing after the build came together (mad DPS, sniping stuff with Sorcery defuses a lot of encounters), going for a pseudo-Giantdad build for the second playthrough taught me that I was just making things difficult for myself that first run. Poise and an upgraded Zweihander just barrels through most of the challenges.
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
Oh, bother.
Didn't have much time to play last time — just got to the second bonfire and killed Maneater Mildred. The overhand R2 strike of the Zweihander made it pretty easy.
As someone who is dreadfully afraid of insects and arachnids, this part is creepy as hell. Especially those respawning mosquitoes that home in on you from far away.
Debating whether to go to the Great Hollow and Ash Lake or Quelaag first. I might go to Quelaag first just to unlock Chaos Servant and get to work farming Humanities. Especially since I'm a Pyromancer.
Edited by M84 on Nov 4th 2019 at 9:52:46 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Madman
I advise saving Ash lake for after you get the lordvessel out of convenience
Captain of the Dead City
True, climbing back up out of there by foot is a bit of a slog.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
Oh, bother.
Figured as much.
Man, I miss being able to teleport between bonfires from the start.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Captain of the Dead City
I enjoy the footslog. Makes the world feel more like a real place somehow, rather than a collection of video game levels.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
Yeah thats something ds1 did that the two sequels never delivered on. The world is designed in such a way that until you get the lordvessel, it doesn't take that long to get to where you need to go because the world is so nicely interconnected.
Captain of the Dead City
And a the furthest extremities of the map are blocked off until you get the Lordvessel anyway.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
Madman
It doesn't help that some areas are so far disconnected from the rest it almost necessitates a teleport
Captain of the Dead City
Nah, just hoof it you wimp 
Absolutely no relation to NLK
And the Lord Soul areas just end up in no-exit roads anyway. The first half of DS 1 has some of the best level design ever, but the latter half is a bit of a letdown in that department.
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
Oh, bother.
Welp, decided to put Ash Lake on hold for now. Took out Quelaag, joined Chaos Servants, took a detour to get the Gold-Hemmed Set and killed Ceaseless Discharge with the trick, leveld up my Flame so I could see Quelana and learned some Pyromancies, and am getting ready to go to Sen's Fortress. But that can wait till tomorrow.
Disgusted, but not surprised
In some games I'll not bother with fast travel, because I just enjoy that feeling of a connected world. That said, Dark Souls isn't one of them :P
Oh, bother.
I certainly don't enjoy taking in the "scenery" of Blighttown.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Madman
Oh boy Sen's Fortress, the masochists den.
Oh, bother.
On a side note, after being summoned to fight Quelaag a few times and giving the Humanity I earned from said fights to the Daughter of Chaos to level up Chaos Servant, I suddenly realized that what I was doing was kind of fucked up. I'm easing her pain with stuff I earned from repeatedly killing her sister in alternate realities while she thinks I am said sister.
Edited by M84 on Nov 6th 2019 at 2:43:22 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Welcome to Dark Souls lore.
It's kind of fucked up.
The real Dark Souls starts here :D
I never get it in my playthroughs anymore, personally. You can get a +5 weapon without that much trouble and most of the time those aren't that much weaker than the Drake Sword.