After a long escape through the New Londo Ruins I felt like I had found everything that there was. I got some loot, a nifty ring, found a guy that wanted to uncurse me, and found the way out (although it was locked). One thing that I did find was a balcony overlooking the Valley of the Drakes. So for a lack of anything better to do I decided to go back there. I fixed my curse and started wandering around.
In the Valley of the Drakes I beat one dragon in claw to sword combat then decided to just use arrows to kill the rest. The same could be said about the undead dragon I found clinging to a cliff. At this point I think I have shot somewhere around 1000 arrows. It is how I manage to control my fights so they stay one on one.
With all of the dragons/drakes dead (and me unable to open a giant door under the balcony) I walked past the spot where the undead dragon was. I found some bridges that got me to a closed gate (one that would eventually lead up to New Londo Ruins) and then there was a tunnel. In the tunnel I was warned to look out for "Fattys." I didn't really know what they were talking about, but I did spot some big oafs with clubs in the distance. Those fuckers hit hard, and there were two of them so I had to do a lot of maneuvering to avoid getting killed. They also poisoned me, but I had enough stuff to block the poison. With them dead I wandered forward into Blighttown. I've been poking around Blighttown a bit, trying to shoot anything I can rather than get into combat. I'm coming in from the top, so it involves lots of climbing down ladders. It is kind of disconcerting because I don't know what is on a lower level when I go down there, but so far things haven't been too bad. I have killed a bunch of mosquito things and some strange Fly looking things (like from the movie). I'm not a fan and don't want to fight them in close combat. I'm going to spend my time wandering around Blighttown for the time being.
Speaking of gear (?!), I found some Embers and have given them to Andre (the blacksmith under the Undead Parish). I also have been buying titanite shards from various people. I found a blacksmith in New Londo Ruins, but he seems to specialize in magic so I didn't really use him. I'm still wearing my chain mail armor with eastern helm. My weapons are the bow of Pharis+3, a winged spear +3, and I spent a pretty penny getting a Falchion up to +5. The Falchion apparently has all of the same stats as my Scimitar (which I started the game with) but is slightly heavier and has a longer reach. I think that is where I am going from now on since it ranks S with dexterity. Right now my dexterity is 35 (or so) and I don't plan on working any other stats until it is 40. But I am running into a problem. I don't really want to level up since I have killed so many things and haven't found a bonfire near my current stomping ground. I think that is why I am being so cautious. If I die now I'm pretty fucked.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
2/27/14: Cursed! Cursed? Cursed!!
The last one is a happy "cursed."
After spending a lot of time in the Catacombs, and eventually dying twice in the Tomb of the Giants (the kind of twice that cost me 26,000 souls) I decided to leave and see where I else I could go. Dan had pointed out that the other bell wasn't in the catacombs but rather through the depths. So off to the Depths I went. I had done a little bit of clearing house here earlier, but I wasn't sure what was going to come back to life. After running through some hollows and some dogs I was relieved that some sort of strange butcher didn't come back to life. Then, behind his table of meats, I noticed an exit. I decided to follow it and it led me to an balcony over looking a giant rat. I remember Dan talking about the gigantic rat, so I decided to lay back and shoot it to death with arrows. After that I wandered the balcony and decided to kills some rats before dropping down. I found a small corridor leaving that room off to the side, and again after killing some rats I made the mistake of falling down a hole. The game was struggling with the hole, because I was standing right on top of it and was fine (I ended up on top of it because the camera in the small hallway was shitty). As soon as I stepped off of it I fell again and was immediately set upon by some sort of giant eyed, thin legged monster.
Here let me take an aside to point out that I am long time arachnophobe. I remember distinctly the part of Resident Evil 1 where you first fought a bunch of small spiders that crawled on the ceiling, then fought a giant spider in a room. My tactic for the small spiders was to use rockets as soon as they saw them. I used fire rockets for the big one. What is lost in this retelling is after the first spider dropped on top of me I immediately threw the controller and stopped playing the game for a few hours. I don't like spiders.
So when I thought this was a spider (I think it is a kind of frog) I dropped the controller and had no ability to fight the curse I was getting. I died, and as a result was cursed.
Being cursed means having half life, accruing no humanity, and other stuff. I read online how to get rid of my curse and realized I could buy a cleansing. I was just about to head to get that done in the Undead Parrish when I read that I could now attack ghosts. I had previously ran from the ghosts I found in the New Londo Ruins, but now that I was cursed I figured why not. So have been running through the ruins, trying to figure out how to deal with the ghosts and managing the closest thing this game has to platforming. Having only half life certainly makes things difficult, but I have been able to make some progress. Aside from the ghosts moving and attacking through walls this fight hasn't been too tough. One type of ghost tries to stab me if I am close and shoots lightning if I am far away. The tightness of the corridors has eliminated my usual strafing tactic, so I am using a spear and just stabbing away. I don't know what is at the end of this road, but for now it is worth exploring.
After spending a lot of time in the Catacombs, and eventually dying twice in the Tomb of the Giants (the kind of twice that cost me 26,000 souls) I decided to leave and see where I else I could go. Dan had pointed out that the other bell wasn't in the catacombs but rather through the depths. So off to the Depths I went. I had done a little bit of clearing house here earlier, but I wasn't sure what was going to come back to life. After running through some hollows and some dogs I was relieved that some sort of strange butcher didn't come back to life. Then, behind his table of meats, I noticed an exit. I decided to follow it and it led me to an balcony over looking a giant rat. I remember Dan talking about the gigantic rat, so I decided to lay back and shoot it to death with arrows. After that I wandered the balcony and decided to kills some rats before dropping down. I found a small corridor leaving that room off to the side, and again after killing some rats I made the mistake of falling down a hole. The game was struggling with the hole, because I was standing right on top of it and was fine (I ended up on top of it because the camera in the small hallway was shitty). As soon as I stepped off of it I fell again and was immediately set upon by some sort of giant eyed, thin legged monster.
Here let me take an aside to point out that I am long time arachnophobe. I remember distinctly the part of Resident Evil 1 where you first fought a bunch of small spiders that crawled on the ceiling, then fought a giant spider in a room. My tactic for the small spiders was to use rockets as soon as they saw them. I used fire rockets for the big one. What is lost in this retelling is after the first spider dropped on top of me I immediately threw the controller and stopped playing the game for a few hours. I don't like spiders.
So when I thought this was a spider (I think it is a kind of frog) I dropped the controller and had no ability to fight the curse I was getting. I died, and as a result was cursed.
Being cursed means having half life, accruing no humanity, and other stuff. I read online how to get rid of my curse and realized I could buy a cleansing. I was just about to head to get that done in the Undead Parrish when I read that I could now attack ghosts. I had previously ran from the ghosts I found in the New Londo Ruins, but now that I was cursed I figured why not. So have been running through the ruins, trying to figure out how to deal with the ghosts and managing the closest thing this game has to platforming. Having only half life certainly makes things difficult, but I have been able to make some progress. Aside from the ghosts moving and attacking through walls this fight hasn't been too tough. One type of ghost tries to stab me if I am close and shoots lightning if I am far away. The tightness of the corridors has eliminated my usual strafing tactic, so I am using a spear and just stabbing away. I don't know what is at the end of this road, but for now it is worth exploring.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
2/25/14: More Wandering
Dan's information on how to get to the lower parts of the Undead Burg provided a long romp into unknown places. I was able to get to the lower parts, kill some dogs and then get ambushed by thieves a few times. None of this way very difficult because I am apparently over leveled and was able to kill the thieves in two hits. Normally fighting three things at once is really bad for me, but it was ok. I was also able to get the bottom level and then rolled through the dogs. Eventually I made it to the Capra Demon, who managed to kill me a few times before I was able to figure out how to keep it at bay. With that done, and at least part of the lower levels explored, I headed back up to the top to see what I could find. Next stop the catacombs.
I've been in the catacombs for 2 days now, and have made it "pretty" deep. I passed through one white wall and managed to beat another one of those gimped lightning throwing mini-bosses. I ran into some laughing guy next to a switch who I was pretty sure was going to backstab me. Fortunately he didn't and I think I just need to keep going "down" in the catacombs until I find the bell. The last thing I did was fall through a hole in the floor near the lightning guy and almost immediately get killed by a black knight with great tracking and an axe.
Oh, and I also wandered down to Old Londo, walked right by some hollows and failed to do any damage to a ghost before I got the fuck out of there.
I've been in the catacombs for 2 days now, and have made it "pretty" deep. I passed through one white wall and managed to beat another one of those gimped lightning throwing mini-bosses. I ran into some laughing guy next to a switch who I was pretty sure was going to backstab me. Fortunately he didn't and I think I just need to keep going "down" in the catacombs until I find the bell. The last thing I did was fall through a hole in the floor near the lightning guy and almost immediately get killed by a black knight with great tracking and an axe.
Oh, and I also wandered down to Old Londo, walked right by some hollows and failed to do any damage to a ghost before I got the fuck out of there.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Atone of a Bell
Last week, I was deterred by Sen's Fortress, so I spent some time expolring and grinding in the area through the forest door that requires the Crest of Artorias to open. Although, seeing as there's a ladder there that leads down to the Darkroot Basin, I'm wondering if there's a back way into this area if one can get past the hydra. Even in retrospect, coming up with 20,000 souls to purchase the Crest seems more manageable than killing the unapproachable hydra.
I learned a few fighting tips off my repeated engagements with the Forest Protectors. I've started using the kick move a little more, as it opens up the guard of a (man-sized?) enemy that's hunkered down behind a shield. Also, the bandit and the fogged knights were very effective at switching between one- and two-handed attacks with their weapons, which could stagger my character and deal large amounts of damage quickly. I'm still unsold on wielding weapons with two hands (the amount of damage that gets through a weapon block seems unnecessary to risk when one is accustomed to being almost invulnerable when blocking behind a shield), although changing from horizontal to vertical attacks has been helpful in certain situations.
Anyway, finally I got to the point where I could kill the sorcerer, bandit, and--if necessary--the cleric & thief reliably, so I was able to venture into the area past Alvina the cat. I'd remembered from your (Martin's) previous post not to take the bridge across from the far corner of the forest area, which is guarded by cat beasts. Eventually, I found the back way into this area, and as soon as was facing two beasts at one, I left it for later.
There are these adorable little mushroom people moving though this area. If you happen to attack one (for scientific purposes), they squeal and scamper off into the middle of the area, where their big siblings are guarding the Enchanted Ember. The big mycos are slow, persistent, and hit hard--a swipe would take off half my hit points and knock me down for the followup. After dying at lease once, I lured the first back toward Alvina's ruins, where I could get it with a drop attack, and was able to outmaneuver the second and use my longsword's thrust attack to prick it to death from a mostly safe distance. The big ones drop lightning resin, which is awesome, but not an item of which I've made a lot of use as it doesn't stack with my Drake Sword or my divine longsword.
The other notable part of this area is the grave of Sir Artorias the Abysswalker. The first time one enters this area, there are doors to be pushed through; afterwards, they're replaced by a gate of white light. When you get here, walk behind the large gravestone to find the Hornet Ring. Going up the the gravestone and Artorias's greatsword causes Sif, the Great Grey Wolf to show up, grab the sword, and go to town. Despite his adorable animations, he's a formidable boss, and someone I don't think I'm supposed to be taking on just yet: His attacks were massively damaging and I barely could scratch him. After a couple rounds of trying to recover the lucky humanity point that netted me an Egg Vermifuge, I decided to leave this fight for another day.
Oh, so title of this post came from realizing that without too much effort, I could earn the 24,500 souls I need to receive absolution from Oswald of Carim for killing Laurentius and Eingyi, and calm Blacksmith Vamos so I can visit him for fire weapons later. I paid my debt (No achievement?!), and shortly thereafter accidentally killed Siegmeyer of Catarina during my first push deep into Sen's Fortress.
*sigh* Now I'm guilty again, but at least no one's coming after me.
I learned a few fighting tips off my repeated engagements with the Forest Protectors. I've started using the kick move a little more, as it opens up the guard of a (man-sized?) enemy that's hunkered down behind a shield. Also, the bandit and the fogged knights were very effective at switching between one- and two-handed attacks with their weapons, which could stagger my character and deal large amounts of damage quickly. I'm still unsold on wielding weapons with two hands (the amount of damage that gets through a weapon block seems unnecessary to risk when one is accustomed to being almost invulnerable when blocking behind a shield), although changing from horizontal to vertical attacks has been helpful in certain situations.
Anyway, finally I got to the point where I could kill the sorcerer, bandit, and--if necessary--the cleric & thief reliably, so I was able to venture into the area past Alvina the cat. I'd remembered from your (Martin's) previous post not to take the bridge across from the far corner of the forest area, which is guarded by cat beasts. Eventually, I found the back way into this area, and as soon as was facing two beasts at one, I left it for later.
There are these adorable little mushroom people moving though this area. If you happen to attack one (for scientific purposes), they squeal and scamper off into the middle of the area, where their big siblings are guarding the Enchanted Ember. The big mycos are slow, persistent, and hit hard--a swipe would take off half my hit points and knock me down for the followup. After dying at lease once, I lured the first back toward Alvina's ruins, where I could get it with a drop attack, and was able to outmaneuver the second and use my longsword's thrust attack to prick it to death from a mostly safe distance. The big ones drop lightning resin, which is awesome, but not an item of which I've made a lot of use as it doesn't stack with my Drake Sword or my divine longsword.
The other notable part of this area is the grave of Sir Artorias the Abysswalker. The first time one enters this area, there are doors to be pushed through; afterwards, they're replaced by a gate of white light. When you get here, walk behind the large gravestone to find the Hornet Ring. Going up the the gravestone and Artorias's greatsword causes Sif, the Great Grey Wolf to show up, grab the sword, and go to town. Despite his adorable animations, he's a formidable boss, and someone I don't think I'm supposed to be taking on just yet: His attacks were massively damaging and I barely could scratch him. After a couple rounds of trying to recover the lucky humanity point that netted me an Egg Vermifuge, I decided to leave this fight for another day.
Oh, so title of this post came from realizing that without too much effort, I could earn the 24,500 souls I need to receive absolution from Oswald of Carim for killing Laurentius and Eingyi, and calm Blacksmith Vamos so I can visit him for fire weapons later. I paid my debt (No achievement?!), and shortly thereafter accidentally killed Siegmeyer of Catarina during my first push deep into Sen's Fortress.
*sigh* Now I'm guilty again, but at least no one's coming after me.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
2/20/14: Wandering the Wanderer
Last night I felt like I didn't really know where I wanted to go. I have this broad objective of wanting to ring the second bell, but was no where near Blighttown. So I started to wander.
I began in a cave next to the black knight with a halberd looking thing. At the end of that cave was an elevator I thought was going to lead to the catacombs. I was wrong. Instead it led to the valley of the drakes (?) where I was easily able to dispatch one drake from a distance by shooting him with ~40 arrows. Unfortunately I didn't have any more arrows so I had to try to fight next drake by hand. Their lightning attacks gave me fits so that didn't work that well and I had to leave.
Next, when I exited the cave, the Black Knight had returned. He was pretty easy to kill this time by ducking in and out of the cave and stabbing him with my winged spear. So that is one more of those fuckers down. I wandered up a hill and around a chasm to find some sort of crystal monsters (which were easy to kill) and a hydra(?) in a lake that tore me up. It was launching some sort of water attack at me that seemed to do splash damage and track me. So I managed to get the fuck out of there just before dying and went up a hill to a door. I opened the door and immediately had to fight what I hope was another Black Knight. He was wielding a massive club and if he hit me I died. This happened a few times, but I was able to go get my souls back pretty easy. I tried to fight him with my spear, backing up when he went for the big swing (which was pretty easy to dodge), but I was doing very little damage. So I went with another tactic (this is the third time I tried) where I hugged his body and rotated around him. His club strike had great tracking, but I was able to completely miss some of the strikes and then get in some back stabs. Eventually I killed him and then I went up some stairs and ended up in the Undead Burg. So I guess that is a short-cut.
I wandered around the burg for a bit killing some things that felt useless. I kind of don't get out of bed for 80 souls any more. I tried to find a way down to the bottom walkways of the Undead Burg, but had no luck. Eventually I decided to head over to the catacombs and see what happened.
First of all, fuck those skeletons. I'm fine at killing the skeletons in the graveyard (although I don't like having to fight more than one because my character has very little crowd control), but in the catacombs when those fuckers don't die I ran into real problems. I was thinking that if I killed one and then ran past it I might lose it before it woke up. That didn't work, and there were more of them as I went. So eventually I was fighting 5 skeletons at the same time. Remember that I am bad at crowd fights, so this was terrible. I almost just left, hoping that there would be another way into the catacombs. But I decided to try one more time and through maybe if I just kept running it would work. So I ran . . . right into some guy holding a lamp throwing fire at me. Then the skeletons caught up and I died. I tried one more time and killed the person, hoping that the skeletons would fall apart after he died. Still no luck. I'll try going in again and maybe if I kill the lamp-holder those skeletons will at least die when I kill them. I'm beginning to think that I am not properly spec'ed to have an easy time in the catacombs. Sigh.
I began in a cave next to the black knight with a halberd looking thing. At the end of that cave was an elevator I thought was going to lead to the catacombs. I was wrong. Instead it led to the valley of the drakes (?) where I was easily able to dispatch one drake from a distance by shooting him with ~40 arrows. Unfortunately I didn't have any more arrows so I had to try to fight next drake by hand. Their lightning attacks gave me fits so that didn't work that well and I had to leave.
Next, when I exited the cave, the Black Knight had returned. He was pretty easy to kill this time by ducking in and out of the cave and stabbing him with my winged spear. So that is one more of those fuckers down. I wandered up a hill and around a chasm to find some sort of crystal monsters (which were easy to kill) and a hydra(?) in a lake that tore me up. It was launching some sort of water attack at me that seemed to do splash damage and track me. So I managed to get the fuck out of there just before dying and went up a hill to a door. I opened the door and immediately had to fight what I hope was another Black Knight. He was wielding a massive club and if he hit me I died. This happened a few times, but I was able to go get my souls back pretty easy. I tried to fight him with my spear, backing up when he went for the big swing (which was pretty easy to dodge), but I was doing very little damage. So I went with another tactic (this is the third time I tried) where I hugged his body and rotated around him. His club strike had great tracking, but I was able to completely miss some of the strikes and then get in some back stabs. Eventually I killed him and then I went up some stairs and ended up in the Undead Burg. So I guess that is a short-cut.
I wandered around the burg for a bit killing some things that felt useless. I kind of don't get out of bed for 80 souls any more. I tried to find a way down to the bottom walkways of the Undead Burg, but had no luck. Eventually I decided to head over to the catacombs and see what happened.
First of all, fuck those skeletons. I'm fine at killing the skeletons in the graveyard (although I don't like having to fight more than one because my character has very little crowd control), but in the catacombs when those fuckers don't die I ran into real problems. I was thinking that if I killed one and then ran past it I might lose it before it woke up. That didn't work, and there were more of them as I went. So eventually I was fighting 5 skeletons at the same time. Remember that I am bad at crowd fights, so this was terrible. I almost just left, hoping that there would be another way into the catacombs. But I decided to try one more time and through maybe if I just kept running it would work. So I ran . . . right into some guy holding a lamp throwing fire at me. Then the skeletons caught up and I died. I tried one more time and killed the person, hoping that the skeletons would fall apart after he died. Still no luck. I'll try going in again and maybe if I kill the lamp-holder those skeletons will at least die when I kill them. I'm beginning to think that I am not properly spec'ed to have an easy time in the catacombs. Sigh.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris
All this time, I thought the second Bell of Awakening was through the New Londo Ruins, an area that has been unyielding in giving up its secrets to me. I did manage to grab a Firekeeper Soul on my last trip down there, before I confused the visual effect of my Wolf Ring for my Transient Curse and got wrecked by a congress of ghosts. Good timing on this, though, because the mute fire keeper at the Firelink Shrine, along with Lautrec, has disappeared following ringing the second Bell of Awakening.
Having conquered the Catacombs, been [crushed in an embarrassing fashion] by the Tomb of the Giants, and deterred by the New Londo Ruins, I decided to explore the only place I had left: the pleasantly named Blighttown. As it turns out, harrowing walkways, insane ghouls, toxic assassins, and a poisonous swamp lead to the demon realm that houses the second bell.
The most interesting detail, for you (Martin) perhaps, was that after finding a bonfire deep in the swamp, I was invasion-like attacked by a red phantom, and after defeating her, later was able to summon her as a white phantom for the battle with the guardian of the second bell. So that was cool.
What was less cool, however, was when I mistakenly attacked a major supporting character--who looked just like the enemies in the area--on my way to the next bonfire. It turns out this guy--Eingyi--was not only the other pyromancy mentor (one may recall I'd previously killed Laurentius of the Great Swamp in self-defense), but also the only character who sold the cure to the infestation that he carried and that afflicted me too when I wandered around this area.
This egghead state halved my souls acquired off enemies, as well as deprived me of my helmet. This made for an interesting choice: I could earn enough souls--at half-speed--to atone with Oswald of Carim (I imagine I was in the neighborhood of 70,000 souls required for atonement at this point), or try to grind an Egg Vermifuge of the poisonous two-headed geckos in the Darkroot Garden.
This game.
I went with grinding the lizards. I estimate I killed over 40 before I got the drop, and even that took me breaking down and cracking a crystal for a point of humanity to try and raise my find rate. At this point, I had over half the souls I needed to purchase the Crest of Artorias, so already sick of nearby Sen's Fortress, I ground out the rest of those souls and have been exploring the area through the forest door since.
Having conquered the Catacombs, been [crushed in an embarrassing fashion] by the Tomb of the Giants, and deterred by the New Londo Ruins, I decided to explore the only place I had left: the pleasantly named Blighttown. As it turns out, harrowing walkways, insane ghouls, toxic assassins, and a poisonous swamp lead to the demon realm that houses the second bell.
The most interesting detail, for you (Martin) perhaps, was that after finding a bonfire deep in the swamp, I was invasion-like attacked by a red phantom, and after defeating her, later was able to summon her as a white phantom for the battle with the guardian of the second bell. So that was cool.
What was less cool, however, was when I mistakenly attacked a major supporting character--who looked just like the enemies in the area--on my way to the next bonfire. It turns out this guy--Eingyi--was not only the other pyromancy mentor (one may recall I'd previously killed Laurentius of the Great Swamp in self-defense), but also the only character who sold the cure to the infestation that he carried and that afflicted me too when I wandered around this area.
This egghead state halved my souls acquired off enemies, as well as deprived me of my helmet. This made for an interesting choice: I could earn enough souls--at half-speed--to atone with Oswald of Carim (I imagine I was in the neighborhood of 70,000 souls required for atonement at this point), or try to grind an Egg Vermifuge of the poisonous two-headed geckos in the Darkroot Garden.
This game.
I went with grinding the lizards. I estimate I killed over 40 before I got the drop, and even that took me breaking down and cracking a crystal for a point of humanity to try and raise my find rate. At this point, I had over half the souls I needed to purchase the Crest of Artorias, so already sick of nearby Sen's Fortress, I ground out the rest of those souls and have been exploring the area through the forest door since.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
2/16/14: I killed a butterfly and felt no joy from it
I have spent a little bit of time leveling in my secret forest of killable things. At some point I was level 37 (still might be) and went through my first multi-level upgrade, which was kind of fun. Unfortunately I wasn't really improving any of my gear during this time, so I eventually got itchy to go see new things. Suspecting that crossing the bridge guarded by the Axe guy was going to lead to fighting the strange river octopus-thing I decided to go down a different path from the Darkroot Garden bonfire. Next to the door there is a downward path that I took. Aside from some tree guys (that are pretty easy to kill now, even in groups) there were some interesting enemies in this little open area.
Most interesting was the Stone Giant. While I lost the first two times to the stone giant, that is never going to happen again. I can easily get behind him and kill him that way, so the only thing I have to worry about is his spell that prevents me from running (and maybe rolling). That allows him to beat up my stamina and then slaughter me with his gigantic sword. But it turns out he has a long delivery on that move and I can just run away from him when this happens. So now I can kill them with no problem . . . shame they only get me 600 souls.
Down another path I saw a purple thing that I thought was the poisonous frog you (Dan) spoke about somewhere else. I decided not to interact with those. The other two, strange enemies I encountered were a lizard on a tree (which was easy to kill with arrows) and literally a slowly moving tree. I don't know what happened, but a tree started to slide my way while I was fighting a giant. I killed the giant and then shot an arrow at the tree. It took damage, and the tree was wiggling, but it never attacked me . . . so I killed it.
Anyway, I cleared that section, got some Great Knight armor that I assume I will never use. It seems like there are specific places where you get full sets of armor. That is how I got my Eastern Armor and my Great Knight Armor, at least. At the end of this little opening there were stairs that I took up and a white door. The last white door led me to the opening and not a boss fight, so I was unsure where this would go.
I walk through the door and immediately the boss life meter pops up and I am fighting the moonlit butterfly. I die twice on this boss, first because I walked in with no Estus and didn't know how to dodge all of his attacks, second because I got hit by a tree on the wrong side of the light door. Either way the boss was super easy to beat. Having arrows I shot the shit out of it and then beat it up when it landed on the bridge. The attacks were easy to dodge and when blocked didn't kill me in one hit.
This is the first boss that I killed without spamming it in some way, yet I found little joy in killing this butterfly. It made me wonder if there was a non-lethal approach . . . but the butterfly attacked me so what was I to do.
After killing the butterfly I thought that I might have opened up some great new location, but instead it was just a tower that led me to a petrified blacksmith. I took items from him (which was scary because I thought he was going to wake up) and got some humanity (I've got a good stash of unused humanity), a key, and something else. So now I'll have to press a little more in a different direction and see what is up there. I'm still curious about blighttown (now that I have run the first bell), but I might get the courage up to go to the Darkroot Basin or cross the bridge.
Most interesting was the Stone Giant. While I lost the first two times to the stone giant, that is never going to happen again. I can easily get behind him and kill him that way, so the only thing I have to worry about is his spell that prevents me from running (and maybe rolling). That allows him to beat up my stamina and then slaughter me with his gigantic sword. But it turns out he has a long delivery on that move and I can just run away from him when this happens. So now I can kill them with no problem . . . shame they only get me 600 souls.
Down another path I saw a purple thing that I thought was the poisonous frog you (Dan) spoke about somewhere else. I decided not to interact with those. The other two, strange enemies I encountered were a lizard on a tree (which was easy to kill with arrows) and literally a slowly moving tree. I don't know what happened, but a tree started to slide my way while I was fighting a giant. I killed the giant and then shot an arrow at the tree. It took damage, and the tree was wiggling, but it never attacked me . . . so I killed it.
Anyway, I cleared that section, got some Great Knight armor that I assume I will never use. It seems like there are specific places where you get full sets of armor. That is how I got my Eastern Armor and my Great Knight Armor, at least. At the end of this little opening there were stairs that I took up and a white door. The last white door led me to the opening and not a boss fight, so I was unsure where this would go.
I walk through the door and immediately the boss life meter pops up and I am fighting the moonlit butterfly. I die twice on this boss, first because I walked in with no Estus and didn't know how to dodge all of his attacks, second because I got hit by a tree on the wrong side of the light door. Either way the boss was super easy to beat. Having arrows I shot the shit out of it and then beat it up when it landed on the bridge. The attacks were easy to dodge and when blocked didn't kill me in one hit.
This is the first boss that I killed without spamming it in some way, yet I found little joy in killing this butterfly. It made me wonder if there was a non-lethal approach . . . but the butterfly attacked me so what was I to do.
After killing the butterfly I thought that I might have opened up some great new location, but instead it was just a tower that led me to a petrified blacksmith. I took items from him (which was scary because I thought he was going to wake up) and got some humanity (I've got a good stash of unused humanity), a key, and something else. So now I'll have to press a little more in a different direction and see what is up there. I'm still curious about blighttown (now that I have run the first bell), but I might get the courage up to go to the Darkroot Basin or cross the bridge.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Slime Grind
I just wanted to write that.
For the past two nights, I've been grinding slimes in the Depths to get green titanite to upgrade my divine longsword from +4 to +5 before heading into the boss fight in the Catacombs. Joke's on me, though, because the slimes leave behind one of two kinds of titanite so it's coin flip even when I get a drop.
Despite a point of humanity upping my item discovery, it's been slow going. I might have to crack a black crystal for a second one (the rats drop these from time to time, which is a nice side effect of grinding in this area), which would be fine in the long run because I plan to unhollow my character so that I can double-team the Catacombs boss.
For the past two nights, I've been grinding slimes in the Depths to get green titanite to upgrade my divine longsword from +4 to +5 before heading into the boss fight in the Catacombs. Joke's on me, though, because the slimes leave behind one of two kinds of titanite so it's coin flip even when I get a drop.
Despite a point of humanity upping my item discovery, it's been slow going. I might have to crack a black crystal for a second one (the rats drop these from time to time, which is a nice side effect of grinding in this area), which would be fine in the long run because I plan to unhollow my character so that I can double-team the Catacombs boss.
2/13/14: Snow Day! No Way!
Another night of little progress. I found the bonfire next to the sealed door. If someone describes something as illusionary I feel like I should just be able to walk through it. I shouldn't have to hit it with my sword.
I spent the rest of my time clearing out the yard behind the sealed door. The things I thought were Darkwraiths are instead part of a forest covenant, The Clan of Forest Protectors. I think the "real" ones respawn, but the "ghost" ones don't. But then again I just fought a knight and a thief for a second time . . . so maybe they do respawn. I eventually found an archer that I just couldn't get a hit on. She keeps her shield up all the time unless she is at range. If I was a knight I feel like I could break down her defense, but as a wanderer I don't really have that option. I also fought some spell caster that was pretty easy (I referred to him as Master last time) and a Cleric (?) with a mace. There was an executioner looking mother fucker with an axe that was the end of me last night. They are blocking a bridge with some sort of small gargoyle on it. When I walked up to the bridge thinks felt strange so I shot the gargoyle with an arrow at which point some text happened. I didn't read the text/hear the audio because I was running for my life (I was out of Estus).
The other big thing in the area is the trees . . . there are lots of them. So far I have found a full set of Eastern Armor. It is pretty cool, but when I put it on I became so slow that I went back to my standard chain mail. I guess in order to get around that I need to get stronger, but for now I am just working dexterity, vitality, and endurance. Maybe I am doomed to just keep my chain mail (at which point I need to start buffing it).
I have a feeling I will be staying here for another night or two. Every real person I kill is wort 2,000 souls and the ghost people are worth 3,000. The trees are kind of crap (100) but with the people respawning I can rack up ~8,000 souls per run. There may even be more quality loot in there somewhere. An eventually I need to cross the bridge . . . although I looked over the edge at one point and thought I saw some tentacled monster in the river below.
I spent the rest of my time clearing out the yard behind the sealed door. The things I thought were Darkwraiths are instead part of a forest covenant, The Clan of Forest Protectors. I think the "real" ones respawn, but the "ghost" ones don't. But then again I just fought a knight and a thief for a second time . . . so maybe they do respawn. I eventually found an archer that I just couldn't get a hit on. She keeps her shield up all the time unless she is at range. If I was a knight I feel like I could break down her defense, but as a wanderer I don't really have that option. I also fought some spell caster that was pretty easy (I referred to him as Master last time) and a Cleric (?) with a mace. There was an executioner looking mother fucker with an axe that was the end of me last night. They are blocking a bridge with some sort of small gargoyle on it. When I walked up to the bridge thinks felt strange so I shot the gargoyle with an arrow at which point some text happened. I didn't read the text/hear the audio because I was running for my life (I was out of Estus).
The other big thing in the area is the trees . . . there are lots of them. So far I have found a full set of Eastern Armor. It is pretty cool, but when I put it on I became so slow that I went back to my standard chain mail. I guess in order to get around that I need to get stronger, but for now I am just working dexterity, vitality, and endurance. Maybe I am doomed to just keep my chain mail (at which point I need to start buffing it).
I have a feeling I will be staying here for another night or two. Every real person I kill is wort 2,000 souls and the ghost people are worth 3,000. The trees are kind of crap (100) but with the people respawning I can rack up ~8,000 souls per run. There may even be more quality loot in there somewhere. An eventually I need to cross the bridge . . . although I looked over the edge at one point and thought I saw some tentacled monster in the river below.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
2/12/14: Progress and the First Bell!
I've been playing most evenings for a while, but I haven't posted since progress hasn't really been happening. That changed a few nights ago when I figured something out. See, no one had explained the difference between being hollow and not-hollow. I think I understood that being non-hollow meant that you were human again and that people could then invade you game and kill you. What no one had told me was that if I was human I could summon people into my game (in particular the Knight Solaire). I heard something about this on a podcast so I decided to give it a try. I became human and then wandered up the church tower to where the gargoyle lives (at this point I only thought there was one). I was able to summon Solaire and we went onto the roof together and started killing the gargoyle. Things were going well as the gargoyle was distracted by Solaire and I was able to sneak behind him and attack. Then I got lit on fire and died because the other gargoyle showed up.
Still, that felt like a success. I decided to try it again and started grinding kills in order to get enough souls to get humanity (I'm still not sure the mechanics of that). Eventually I get enough to do it and so I become human again. This time, when I enter the church I notice all of the doors go white and a prompt tells me that someone had invaded my game. Some magic caster showed up and wrecked my shit pretty good. I was under the impression that I would lose everything if this happened, so I was panicked trying to get away from him. I was revived and relieved to see that I didn't lose all of my gear or anything else. But it dissuaded me from trying that route again.
If I was going to beat those gargoyles without help I knew I was going to need to be tougher, so I started grinding and was trying to figure out where the best place to do so was. I had left a lot of souls on the roof, so I wanted to make sure that I didn't die and lose those souls. I ended up wondering if I should be going somewhere else first and started to explore my surroundings. I found the forest out the bottom of the castle, and killed some tree things. I found a door with a seal on it, and wandered into a region called darkroot basin. I didn't go very far in that direction because I felt like I found a boss door and didn't want to die.
I also went the other direction, starting to wander down to Blighttown. I didn't make it the whole way, but realized that I could manage the skeletons as long as they were coming one at a time. I even figured out how to beat the large skeleton, but it involved running away to trigger his return animation. While I was wandering around the graveyard I found lots of nice things that don't fit my character. I did eventually wander into the catacombs where I dodge some floating head that blew up and figured out that skeletons there don't fully die. I barely made it out of there with my life and decided not to do it again.
Eventually I had leveled up a few times and decided to try my hands at the gargoyles again. I went up there three times, each time being sure to grab my souls in case I died. Once I managed to run to a distant corner where the gargoyles couldn't physically reach me. Unfortunately the fire breath could and while I could head to counter balance, I was doomed and died. It became increasingly clear that I couldn't deal enough damage or manage both of them, so I decided to try my luck with Solaire again. This time we were able to get it to work and I got some sort of Sun Medallion, all of my souls back and went up the tower to right the first bell.
At this point I was sitting on 15,000 souls and then I remembered that the blacksmith had a key to the door in the forest that cost 20,000 souls. I had a pretty good route for grinding ~4,000 souls per bonfire by running through the Undead Keep so I decided to grind until I was able to get the key. I got the key, wandered through the forest to the door and walked in. The description of the key was pretty ominous and suggested that there was some bad shit in there. I entered slowly and eventually was set upon by a semi-transparent knight. I ran from him, luring him to a different location, where despite my blocking he still was able to kill me pretty easily. I went back to get my souls and tried again. I fought him in the room he started this time and focused on keeping my range. This seemed to work until I got hit by some magic attack and ran out of the room. The knight followed, just like last time, and has become my M.O. I found his range. At this point he started returning to his location and I shot him full of arrows. I did the same trigger-run trick that I had done before and killed him for 3,000 souls. If he returned after a bonfire I was certainly going to use him to grind. I went back into the room and killed the magic guy. He had a sword and wasn't taking much damage from mine, but I was able to dispatch him pretty easily. I read some glyphs and figured out that the knight (Darkwraith?) was attached to the guy (Master?). I wandered around some more until multiple trees started attacking me so I ran all the way back to the bonfire (being out of Estus). Having reset the world I was worried that the Knight would be back. Turns out he wasn't, but the Master was. The Master was worth 2,000 souls so that was fine by me. I wandered through the forest where I found what turned out to be another Master. I wasn't able to kill him because he brought his own Knight with him (and this one healed himself). I'm thinking that if I can kill the Master it will destroy the wraith, but I honestly think I have a better chance against the wraith one-on-one than I do the Master two-on-one. So I'll go back in tonight (or today) and try to see if I can kill both of them and explore the forest some more.
I now feel like there is some room for movement in the game. It is still an exercise of grow until you die, but I have a basis for how I can move through the game and make more consistent progress (at least for a little bit).
Still, that felt like a success. I decided to try it again and started grinding kills in order to get enough souls to get humanity (I'm still not sure the mechanics of that). Eventually I get enough to do it and so I become human again. This time, when I enter the church I notice all of the doors go white and a prompt tells me that someone had invaded my game. Some magic caster showed up and wrecked my shit pretty good. I was under the impression that I would lose everything if this happened, so I was panicked trying to get away from him. I was revived and relieved to see that I didn't lose all of my gear or anything else. But it dissuaded me from trying that route again.
If I was going to beat those gargoyles without help I knew I was going to need to be tougher, so I started grinding and was trying to figure out where the best place to do so was. I had left a lot of souls on the roof, so I wanted to make sure that I didn't die and lose those souls. I ended up wondering if I should be going somewhere else first and started to explore my surroundings. I found the forest out the bottom of the castle, and killed some tree things. I found a door with a seal on it, and wandered into a region called darkroot basin. I didn't go very far in that direction because I felt like I found a boss door and didn't want to die.
I also went the other direction, starting to wander down to Blighttown. I didn't make it the whole way, but realized that I could manage the skeletons as long as they were coming one at a time. I even figured out how to beat the large skeleton, but it involved running away to trigger his return animation. While I was wandering around the graveyard I found lots of nice things that don't fit my character. I did eventually wander into the catacombs where I dodge some floating head that blew up and figured out that skeletons there don't fully die. I barely made it out of there with my life and decided not to do it again.
Eventually I had leveled up a few times and decided to try my hands at the gargoyles again. I went up there three times, each time being sure to grab my souls in case I died. Once I managed to run to a distant corner where the gargoyles couldn't physically reach me. Unfortunately the fire breath could and while I could head to counter balance, I was doomed and died. It became increasingly clear that I couldn't deal enough damage or manage both of them, so I decided to try my luck with Solaire again. This time we were able to get it to work and I got some sort of Sun Medallion, all of my souls back and went up the tower to right the first bell.
At this point I was sitting on 15,000 souls and then I remembered that the blacksmith had a key to the door in the forest that cost 20,000 souls. I had a pretty good route for grinding ~4,000 souls per bonfire by running through the Undead Keep so I decided to grind until I was able to get the key. I got the key, wandered through the forest to the door and walked in. The description of the key was pretty ominous and suggested that there was some bad shit in there. I entered slowly and eventually was set upon by a semi-transparent knight. I ran from him, luring him to a different location, where despite my blocking he still was able to kill me pretty easily. I went back to get my souls and tried again. I fought him in the room he started this time and focused on keeping my range. This seemed to work until I got hit by some magic attack and ran out of the room. The knight followed, just like last time, and has become my M.O. I found his range. At this point he started returning to his location and I shot him full of arrows. I did the same trigger-run trick that I had done before and killed him for 3,000 souls. If he returned after a bonfire I was certainly going to use him to grind. I went back into the room and killed the magic guy. He had a sword and wasn't taking much damage from mine, but I was able to dispatch him pretty easily. I read some glyphs and figured out that the knight (Darkwraith?) was attached to the guy (Master?). I wandered around some more until multiple trees started attacking me so I ran all the way back to the bonfire (being out of Estus). Having reset the world I was worried that the Knight would be back. Turns out he wasn't, but the Master was. The Master was worth 2,000 souls so that was fine by me. I wandered through the forest where I found what turned out to be another Master. I wasn't able to kill him because he brought his own Knight with him (and this one healed himself). I'm thinking that if I can kill the Master it will destroy the wraith, but I honestly think I have a better chance against the wraith one-on-one than I do the Master two-on-one. So I'll go back in tonight (or today) and try to see if I can kill both of them and explore the forest some more.
I now feel like there is some room for movement in the game. It is still an exercise of grow until you die, but I have a basis for how I can move through the game and make more consistent progress (at least for a little bit).
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Curses, foiled again!
The Depths of the Undead Burg have proven to be . . . difficult. I've managed to lose several thousand souls, two points of humanity, and kill the pyromancer Laurentius irrevocably. Two nights ago, I'd thought I had a good handle on the place: I'd found the bonfire, dispatched the butchers without too much trouble, and identified what I figured was the white light to take me to the area boss.
It turns out there was more to the Depths than appeared on the surface. A missed jump on my way to the intended boss fight dropped to an even lower level, filled with rodents of unusual sizes and the seemingly innocuous basilisks. (Had I known their name, I wouldn't have written off the strange, frog-like creatures.) I explored this level extensively: Despite its twists, turns, and drops, the enemies were manageable and the souls were plentiful. I even met a peculiar peddler selling crystal weapons and Gold Pine Resin, along with a happily purchased Bottomless Box for a mere 1000 souls.
This lower area also opened upon balconies facing an immense open area. A sorcerer, like in the Undead Parish, was targeting me from an upper mezzanine, but I saw no way to reach him. The balconies led to another door of while light--which obviously would take me into the vault--and, not wanting to risk my progress or take on something that I figured must be immense, I made my way back to the previously discovered area boss.
Much to my surprise, a wrong turn in a tight passageway led me face to face with the rodent of most unusual size, which cornered me and made short work of my knight. Apparently, it was not through the while light on that level (which I now assume also leads to the vault). On my way to retrieve my souls, I found a doorway that connected to the sorcerer's ledge and decided not to risk confronting him. A misstep, however, returned me to the lower level, where a tackle of basilisks cursed me, which killed me and thus washed away my chances of retrieving my previous humanity and souls
As being cursed halved my health, I set out to remedy the situation posthaste, which also proved difficult. Indeed, just getting back to the Firelink shrine from the unkindled bonfire took a couple tries. The undead woman in the aqueduct dos not sell Purging Stones, and Oswald wants 6000 souls for his (along with 60,000 souls to cleanse my sin of killing Laurentius), so I had to return to the Undead Asylum and trade with the mysterious crow for a couple. Pro tip: Don't test yourself against the extra boss in the Asylum out of spite. You're not ready for him, yet.
The despondent knight at the Firelink Shrine told me that there's someone either in Blighttown or through the New Londo Ruins who truck in removing curses, however facing those ghosts is no more appealing than returning to the Depths.
There's also the lost woman in the Catacombs, and not a divine weapon in sight . . .
It turns out there was more to the Depths than appeared on the surface. A missed jump on my way to the intended boss fight dropped to an even lower level, filled with rodents of unusual sizes and the seemingly innocuous basilisks. (Had I known their name, I wouldn't have written off the strange, frog-like creatures.) I explored this level extensively: Despite its twists, turns, and drops, the enemies were manageable and the souls were plentiful. I even met a peculiar peddler selling crystal weapons and Gold Pine Resin, along with a happily purchased Bottomless Box for a mere 1000 souls.
This lower area also opened upon balconies facing an immense open area. A sorcerer, like in the Undead Parish, was targeting me from an upper mezzanine, but I saw no way to reach him. The balconies led to another door of while light--which obviously would take me into the vault--and, not wanting to risk my progress or take on something that I figured must be immense, I made my way back to the previously discovered area boss.
Much to my surprise, a wrong turn in a tight passageway led me face to face with the rodent of most unusual size, which cornered me and made short work of my knight. Apparently, it was not through the while light on that level (which I now assume also leads to the vault). On my way to retrieve my souls, I found a doorway that connected to the sorcerer's ledge and decided not to risk confronting him. A misstep, however, returned me to the lower level, where a tackle of basilisks cursed me, which killed me and thus washed away my chances of retrieving my previous humanity and souls
As being cursed halved my health, I set out to remedy the situation posthaste, which also proved difficult. Indeed, just getting back to the Firelink shrine from the unkindled bonfire took a couple tries. The undead woman in the aqueduct dos not sell Purging Stones, and Oswald wants 6000 souls for his (along with 60,000 souls to cleanse my sin of killing Laurentius), so I had to return to the Undead Asylum and trade with the mysterious crow for a couple. Pro tip: Don't test yourself against the extra boss in the Asylum out of spite. You're not ready for him, yet.
The despondent knight at the Firelink Shrine told me that there's someone either in Blighttown or through the New Londo Ruins who truck in removing curses, however facing those ghosts is no more appealing than returning to the Depths.
There's also the lost woman in the Catacombs, and not a divine weapon in sight . . .
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
2/4/14: Killing Them Softly
I have spent a lot of time in the castle at this point and I have killed a fair number of things that don't come back. The boar, headless lightning monster and mace-knight had already been finished when I started to play last night. Then I started getting attacked by some projectile/conjuring mother-fucker upstairs in the church. It took me a while to get up there to fight him (after wading through a swarm of easy kills), and when I did he really took it to me. I ended up flanking him and going up the other stairs, where I eventually found a NPC in gold armor. I let him out of the cage and went about my merry way (although in the back of my mind I remember Brad Shoemaker saying that I should kill him). The guy said he was going to reward me, but I'll have to wait. Who knows what that is about.
At this point I walked back down the stairs and saw the conjuring guy across a long balcony opening. He wasn't attacking me, so I took out my arrow and shot him in the head. He woke up, started hurling magic my way and I hid behind a corner up near the stairs. Eventually he stopped, so I shot him again. He woke up again, started throwing fireballs (or whatever) my way. We did this dance for a while until he eventually died. Unlike many of the other enemies that don't return, his corpse remained. This made me worried that he was going to come back in the future.
After a little more grinding and fixing my weapons I decided I might as well try that knight on top of the tower with the spiral stair case. Last time I fought him he whooped me pretty well, but this time I felt confident that I could clear out area around him, lure him back to the church and then if I died I wouldn't have to go so far to get my souls back. When I made it to the church I turned around and he was walking away. I figure that I had run too far so he was returning to his spot, so I ran after him and shot him with an arrow. He immediately turned, ran after me all the way back to the main room (nave?) of the church and then I turned to see him run until he hit the door, try to attack (from way out of range) then stop and turn around. I shot him in the back, and then we repeated that game for a while. I don't know why he couldn't enter the room. Maybe because it was close to where another black knight was and they don't tread on each other's territory. Either way it made him an easy kill.
So at this point my main tactic for fighting things that you only kill once is to hide, shoot them with an arrow, then hide again. Aside from the mace knight this is how I have killed everything important. I guess that is going to be my "strategy" for the game? Although I think the boss that I have to kill at the top of the church might have a different idea. Oh, and I started going through the forest then turned around when it gave me a title card. I want the key for the forest, but it is fucking expensive. And now that I have a way to get back to the beginning I'm feeling like fighting the skeletons again. Fuck those guys.
At this point I walked back down the stairs and saw the conjuring guy across a long balcony opening. He wasn't attacking me, so I took out my arrow and shot him in the head. He woke up, started hurling magic my way and I hid behind a corner up near the stairs. Eventually he stopped, so I shot him again. He woke up again, started throwing fireballs (or whatever) my way. We did this dance for a while until he eventually died. Unlike many of the other enemies that don't return, his corpse remained. This made me worried that he was going to come back in the future.
After a little more grinding and fixing my weapons I decided I might as well try that knight on top of the tower with the spiral stair case. Last time I fought him he whooped me pretty well, but this time I felt confident that I could clear out area around him, lure him back to the church and then if I died I wouldn't have to go so far to get my souls back. When I made it to the church I turned around and he was walking away. I figure that I had run too far so he was returning to his spot, so I ran after him and shot him with an arrow. He immediately turned, ran after me all the way back to the main room (nave?) of the church and then I turned to see him run until he hit the door, try to attack (from way out of range) then stop and turn around. I shot him in the back, and then we repeated that game for a while. I don't know why he couldn't enter the room. Maybe because it was close to where another black knight was and they don't tread on each other's territory. Either way it made him an easy kill.
So at this point my main tactic for fighting things that you only kill once is to hide, shoot them with an arrow, then hide again. Aside from the mace knight this is how I have killed everything important. I guess that is going to be my "strategy" for the game? Although I think the boss that I have to kill at the top of the church might have a different idea. Oh, and I started going through the forest then turned around when it gave me a title card. I want the key for the forest, but it is fucking expensive. And now that I have a way to get back to the beginning I'm feeling like fighting the skeletons again. Fuck those guys.
Gear
Let's take a moment to talk about gear.
In one of yesterday's comments, you (Martin) raised the idea of level-two gear, however I'm not sure that there are level-two (or higher) arms and armor for each class; or, rather, I'm not sure that the gear progressions are particularly linear or class specific in Dark Souls.
For example, I believe that the Chain Armor sold by the Undead Merchant is intended to be the main armor upgrade for classes like the Warrior and Cleric for the first part of the game. Playing as a Knight, it was a long time before I found anything that challenged my Knight Armor +1. Even my recently acquired Grass Crest Shield, which has a great special ability, I had to upgrade to +3 before its stats were comparable to my Knight Shield +1.
Early on, it seems like gear differences are horizontal, rather than vertical: Morning Star's knockdown vs. Longsword's thrust vs. Spear's reach and defense. The weight difference between the Knight Set and the Thief Set. (I wore the Thief Set for a while after I'd trashed my Knight Set and had to grind Souls to repair everything. The added mobility was a lot of fun.) I like the subtleties of this system, and it further reinforces that . . . reinforcing arms and armor is more important than finding strictly better gear.
Which is why, to editorialize for a moment, the Drake Sword feels so ridiculous. Even though it doesn't scale with any stats, the raw damage is so much higher than any upgraded mundane weapon. I'm not sure what to think about that, or what a reasonable alternative should be.
In one of yesterday's comments, you (Martin) raised the idea of level-two gear, however I'm not sure that there are level-two (or higher) arms and armor for each class; or, rather, I'm not sure that the gear progressions are particularly linear or class specific in Dark Souls.
For example, I believe that the Chain Armor sold by the Undead Merchant is intended to be the main armor upgrade for classes like the Warrior and Cleric for the first part of the game. Playing as a Knight, it was a long time before I found anything that challenged my Knight Armor +1. Even my recently acquired Grass Crest Shield, which has a great special ability, I had to upgrade to +3 before its stats were comparable to my Knight Shield +1.
Early on, it seems like gear differences are horizontal, rather than vertical: Morning Star's knockdown vs. Longsword's thrust vs. Spear's reach and defense. The weight difference between the Knight Set and the Thief Set. (I wore the Thief Set for a while after I'd trashed my Knight Set and had to grind Souls to repair everything. The added mobility was a lot of fun.) I like the subtleties of this system, and it further reinforces that . . . reinforcing arms and armor is more important than finding strictly better gear.
Which is why, to editorialize for a moment, the Drake Sword feels so ridiculous. Even though it doesn't scale with any stats, the raw damage is so much higher than any upgraded mundane weapon. I'm not sure what to think about that, or what a reasonable alternative should be.
Monday, February 3, 2014
2/3/14: Two down
I have made it further into the castle whose name I don't remember right now. Unfortunately I felt like every direction I turned led to another black knight. The good news is that I eventually found a path to a blacksmith (the one near a bonfire). With the souls I accumulated I boosted my heater shield and my scimitar to +1. I then went in to fight some strange monster with no head that shoots lightning. I'm fairly confident that with enough arrows I can just hide and kill that monster with little trouble. I didn't have enough arrows this time, but I'll try again tonight.
The good news was that I was able to kill a black knight wielding a mace. It was harrowing, but only because I was out of Estus. He was pretty easy to dodge and poke with my spear. I still haven't tried to kill the one that is on top of the tower (near the dragon) but I might try to go after him soon.
Your (Dan's) suggestions about the Drake sword has made me curious. I think I am a little hesitant to move away from what I see as my character's main trait (dexterity to roll well and attack fast) but at the same time with such little guidance I might very well be leaving a bunch of money on the table. For example: what the heck and I doing with humanity? Have I missed out on some sort of leveling component and that is why this game is so frigging hard at times?
The good news was that I was able to kill a black knight wielding a mace. It was harrowing, but only because I was out of Estus. He was pretty easy to dodge and poke with my spear. I still haven't tried to kill the one that is on top of the tower (near the dragon) but I might try to go after him soon.
Your (Dan's) suggestions about the Drake sword has made me curious. I think I am a little hesitant to move away from what I see as my character's main trait (dexterity to roll well and attack fast) but at the same time with such little guidance I might very well be leaving a bunch of money on the table. For example: what the heck and I doing with humanity? Have I missed out on some sort of leveling component and that is why this game is so frigging hard at times?
Drake Sword
Thank you for the tip on acquiring the Drake Sword. I trashed it immediately by trying out the two-handed special attack, however I made major progress after I did a little grinding to be able wield it with one hand. It busted open this stage of the game, but just long enough to get me in over my head again. One bell rung!
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