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.
Based on that it makes me think that what class I have isn't really as important as what style I want to play, which might be less important than the gear that I have. Even though I may "want" to have dodge and slash sort of character, the damage because of the Drake sword might push me towards using it. The downside would be that in order to use it I think I will have to dedicate two levels to strength. At this point I have a Dex of 20, a Vitality and Endurance of 15 but only a Strength of 11.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like gear and playstyle outweigh class. I've been able to do a fair amount of customization to my character, which has allowed me to dip into miracles and sorcery despite prioritizing my Knight's durability.
ReplyDeleteStick with the scimitar--it looks like it plays quite differently than the straight swords--or see if you can get a Falchion off of one of the cemetery skeletons. Your Dexterity of 20 should scale nicely with those.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of gear, it seems that buying Titanite Shards from the blacksmith is a fact of unlife. You'll never get enough from drops to reinforce your arms and armor as much as I believe you're intended to. Reinforcing something is a good way to bank a 1000 souls that you'd risk losing otherwise when exploring a new area or challenging a boss.