Dark Souls- PS3, Xbox 360, PC

[Zaarock]

The optional boss is a blast if you have two helpers who know what they're doing.

Nah, alone is where it's at :p managed to beat kalameet by switching to a lightweight setup but Manus is giving me hell, I might have to get help for it since the fight gets ridiculous once he starts using spells (spread attack has to be dodged or have super fast reflex for silver pendant)

[cj iwakura]

How do you dodge the spread attack? I think it homes in on you.

[cj iwakura]

I ended up not getting it due to being stuck into several other games at the moment and not wanting to drop them until I am done. I will be getting it as soon as I feel like getting really stuck in.

I still haven't really got stuck into Demon's Souls either which, in my opinion so far, is a lot harder than Dark Souls.

The toughest bosses in Demon's Souls are infinitely easier than the worst of Dark Souls.

Only the False King stands up to Dark Souls par. Even Flamelurker is easy once you know what to do. Maneater as well.

[Marc]

I swore I wasn't going to bother with this, but the physical package was no nice... sigh. Bye bye life.

[CMoon]

Love how the DLC on gamefaqs has just led to the discussion of time paradoxes.

[CMoon]

Damn the DLC is a complete bitch on NG+ I know, prepare to die and all, learn2play, etc. but I think the DLC is about 4 times harder in NG+ than on NG. Been watching comparable damage on NG and then seeing how my dex build +15 uchi does such shit damage compared to NG damage. Man, actually gonna plow through the rest of the game before I come back here. Good news though--you can grab a couple slabs easily without having to beat artorias.

[mesh control]

Gotta get that Black Night halberd.

[CMoon]

Also, doing duke's archives right now just to level up but also to try to get the crystal ember (going for all the trophies) and noticed that I now hear a weeping sound from the two tentacle creatures that don't aggro (the ones that drop miracles.) Did they always cry and I just never played the game on headphones before, or is this new?

[Zaarock]

They always did, it's related to why they drop miracles. I agree that the DLC is harder than the main game (was for me on NG++ at least, though DWGR nerf affects me), mainly because the bosses dont have weird oversights and are more agressive (very good thing IMO). Hopefully the next souls game has extra attack patterns for bosses on NG+ or increased rank from amount of summons like shmup loops or hard modes etc.. would keep things interesting for even longer.

Too bad the DLC doesn't give much equipment. The biggest thing introduced are the dark sorceries so at least there is something interesting for spellcasters. Dark Bead certainly changes the way mages can be used

[CMoon]

Well I definitely wasn't complaining, though the assessment that the bosses in the DLC (minus the guardian boss) are probably harder than any bosses in the main game sums up things nicely. On NG+ Artorias is downright scary. Even the stone guardian dudes in the woods are pretty scary if you don't know what you're doing--at least on NG+ there's no chance of killing them in anything less than 8 or 10 hits, so each one becomes a serious battle; never mind that they are fast and have a huge aggro range.

But yeah, I'm all for the next souls game to have an AI more like this. With all the patches, the main Dark Souls game is now incredibly easy. Just tanked Seath because his DPS is so low.

[CMoon]

Took a break from that and started doing an SL1 run. Pretty goddamn amazing. Worry it will become impossible later.

[cj iwakura]

I did an SL1 run of Demon's Souls, and it was fun.

Dark Souls? Good luck.

[CMoon]

Yeah, I'm curious to see how far I can take it. Basically have to play like a complete weenie. Got Lautrec's and Havel's ring to get past the endurance barrier and stand a chance of wearing anything beyond a loin cloth. Got a battle axe up to +5 and it seems like my best chance of doing any real damage with it is to get to Vamos as quickly as possible and turn it into a fire axe. Course that means green shards...jesus...can't even imagine doing Sen's with a +5 battle axe and some shit spells. Obviously the first real course of action is to upgrade my pyro flame and get great combustion and so forth. Guess that means its time to take on the two gargoyles which will be genuinely hard (IE for me, impossible) at level 1.

[CptRansom]

Try this out for SL1.

Fast roll is going to be super-important since you can't tank hits at ALL. The only reason to wear heavy armor is poise, and at SL1, you're not wearing enough armor to get any significant amount of it, so just use the Wolf Ring. Wanderer armor has pretty good all-around defense for its weight, and the Mother's Mask will help with your terribad HP pool. (Just stick with default armor until you get those, I guess!)

Fire Battle Axe is probably not the best idea. Fewer enemies have Lightning resistance. Also, maybe consider using the Hand Axe since it's faster and won't leave you as open if you swing and miss.

I did a SL5 run a few months ago (just wanted enough Dex to use BSS) and I encountered no real problems until Four Kings... I kind of want to try again with the PTD content because I'm annoyed with my SL Strength build. It utterly annihilates everything in PvE, but against other players I'm just too bad and I lag too much to use such slow weapons. inb4BKhalberd/greataxe Medium roll is surprisingly not terrible at all and is a fair trade-off for the insane amount of poise full Havel's provides.

Anyway, good luck.

[CMoon]

Was planning on making both lightning and fire weapons. Can't see the point of wolf ring since I really can't tank hits at all. Might consider DWGR, but with my endurance so low, may effectively mean a naked run, not sure.

Definitely think there's a point beyond which it will become impossible, but it's fun while it is lasting.

[CptRansom]

Maybe Bellowing Dragoncrest for more pyro damage or Cloranthy for stamina regen (if you can't have a large pool, might as well make your small pool fill up faster)?

Wolf Ring helps out with the small hits and times you end up cornered by 2-3 enemies when you'd be stunlocked with 0 poise. If that never happens ever to you, then definitely consider one of those two or DWGR.

You've got me wanting to do an SL1 run now, lol. Because I don't have enough to do with personal life, work, NaNoWriMo, and TRP-STGT. AND I still want to do a "hardcore" run of Dark Souls and actually finish it (delete character upon death, not counting the first encounter with Seath [yes, I know about the "shortcut" but it's unreliable, IMO]) because I think it'd be hilariously frustrating... fucking Bed of Chaos.

Definitely think there's a point beyond which it will become impossible, but it's fun while it is lasting.

I'm trying to think of attacks that can't be blocked or dodged and I'm coming up short (even the Four Kings' massive shockwave attack can be dodged by fast/DWGR rolling straight back three times). I'm not 100% on the PTD bosses, but the fights with Kalameet and Manus will definitely be brutal, even on NG. Just my two cents!

[Marc]

So I'm on NG+, but I already beat the Hydra in Darkroot before getting this. Please don't tell me that means I can't access the content until I play through again. Please?

[CptRansom]

Make sure you already have the Lordvessel. Once the Hydra is dead and you've rescued Dusk, go to Duke's Archives. You'll see a crystal golem right after the first elevator (after the two armored boars). Kill it and it will drop a broken pendant. Go back to where the gold crystal golem behind the hydra was. You'll see a portal. Walk up to it. Get raped.

[iconoclast]

I started a naked/melee only SL1 playthrough as well. Just finished Anor Londo. I've mostly been using the Reinforced Club - its base damage is slightly higher than the Battle Axe and it can do bleed damage, so it seems like the way to go. I guess the most important advice I could give would be to get your fire weapon up to +7 before heading into Sen's Fortress. You'll have to grab the ember from the Demon Ruins and head back to the Undead Asylum for two red titanite chunks, but it's worth it for the extra damage against Ornstein.

[CMoon]

Not that far with my SL1 yet. Just beat capra demon and am grinding with the artorias crest to pump up pyromancy as high as possible. Using a +10 battle axe, but also have a reinforced club primed at +5 for fire (seems a long ways off.) Watched some sl1 videos and noted a few players actually went back to the hand axe (lightning of course) for its speed.

If you've got a fire weapon before Sen's, I assume that means you went through the catacombs--did you even bother making a faith weapon?

[iconoclast]

Yeah, I made a Divine Battle Axe +5. The slugs outside of The Great Hollow can drop 5 green shards at a time, so it doesn't take too long to gather enough material for both fire and divine weapons. edit: Plus a divine weapon will be very useful for Nito's minions, as I just found out...

[sjewkestheloon]

After putting Demon's Souls to bed for a while I decided to pick up the DLC and get on with my mage build. I had some trouble with the Capra (I think it is the Capra, the one in the small room with 2 dogs) due to my rubbish damage output with a weapon stopping me from one hitting the dogs. I then got the magic sword spell and killed him in one go. About to take on the Gaping Dragon which is always fun if a little easy.

[CMoon]

Capra is all about getting up those goddamn steps!

OMG, just beat iron demon at sl1. No enchanted weapons yet. Just absolutely absurd.

[iconoclast]

I finished my SL1 run. Kalameet, Manus and Ornstein & Smough were my biggest roadblocks. Kalameet in particular is a pain because he has a ton of health, he's resistant to lightning & fire damage, and only a few of his attacks are 100% safe to punish. I tried to avoid using rings (and items) during this playthrough, but I wound up using the Red Tearstone against him because the fight takes so long without it.

Manus is easily my favorite boss in the game. He has a bunch of different attacks and most of them are punishable on whiff, so it's just a good back and forth battle.

[Marc]

Make sure you already have the Lordvessel. Once the Hydra is dead and you've rescued Dusk, go to Duke's Archives. You'll see a crystal golem right after the first elevator (after the two armored boars). Kill it and it will drop a broken pendant. Go back to where the gold crystal golem behind the hydra was. You'll see a portal. Walk up to it. Get raped.

I'd already killed the Hydra on NG. I bought the new disc, went to Duke's and I'm not seeing any Golem. Think I have to either finish this playthrough or start a new game?

Actually, yes there was a Golum. It dropped fuck all.

[CptRansom]

Did you rescue Dusk from the golem behind the hydra?

[CMoon]

[evil_ash_xero]

I finished this a while ago(the DLC..4th or 5th time through the game), so I thought I'd give my personal opinion on the DLC.

Well, the stages are alright. Royal Wood is pretty much a re-skin of Darkroot Garden. And yeah, I know it is that back in time. The Abyss is...it's nothing really. Just some grey rocks until you get to the boss. Creepy looking spirit enemies though.

The main town is pretty much the only "new" section. It's not bad. I wouldn't put it on par with most of the other sections in the game though. Compared to other "small" sections like the Painted World, it seems pretty underwhelming. But like I said, it's not bad, and adds to the game.

The bosses though...yowza. Artorias, Manus, and Khalameet are all pretty wild. Top of the line Demon's Souls/Dark Souls bosses. It really seems this is where the full team came together. The Sanctuary Guardians are cool looking, but are easily gotten rid of. These other 3 guys are pretty epic. I had some pretty epic fights with all 3 of them, and the designs of Artorias and Manus are pretty great. Top notch bosses.

The DLC should have been 10 bucks. It's just overpriced at 15. The bosses are great, but the stages are short, and only the town is really new. I crack up when I see reviews saying this DLC adds "10 hours of new content!". I can't even imagine how it would take one 10...or 5 hours to defeat these areas. If you had a bit of an idea of what to do, you could probably get by with 2 1/2 to 3 hours FIRST TIME. That is, unless you're underpowered. The enemies and bosses are tough there. Come to think of it, it probably took me about 3 hours to get through the area. And that's primarily from getting killed a bunch by Artorias and Khalameet.

There's my little review of the DLC. Overall, it's worth snagging, just because it adds to an already awesome game. But don't expect to be impressed by anything, other than the bosses.

[CMoon]

Really insane no glitch, no death 1 hour run. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... mu-0DD2WCk

[shmuppyLove]

I really feel like I need to give this game another chance ...

I'd heard lots of good things, and I was pretty pumped when I saw it was finally getting a PC release. But I tried it and it was maybe too hard for me or something ... I made it through the first stage fairly easily, then proceeded to get my ass handed to me by a pair of skeletons in the 2nd world. Repeatedly.