[amphibian]

There's a guy who beat the game at level 1 without kindling a bonfire that he didn't have to for the story. It's possibly the most insane video game achievement I've ever heard of.

[Satan]

That and that bloke who did a solo run with the aubergine in Spelunky.

[Dolmen 2.0]

There should be an award for this kind of thing.

Edit: By that I mean like a gaming equivalent to an Oscar or something. This kind of commitment is worthy of it.

This post has been edited by Also Not Brent Weeks: 06 December 2013 - 07:21 AM

[Traveller]

Also Not Brent Weeks, on 05 December 2013 - 09:50 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 December 2013 - 06:05 PM, said:

People beat this game with characters that never go beyond Level 1. So everything can be dodged in this game, it's just a matter of "Do you want to build that type of skill or not?"

Spoiler

As for right now, get out of the Giant's Tombs area. Go back later. You can go fight the 4 Kings with lots of armor on - it's a hack'n'heal as fast as you can situation, although if you're really good, you can dodge every attack the 4 Kings throw at you. Roll under the magic swipe, roll back for the magic explosion, avoid the grab attack, slash them up. You also may want to go into the Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith area to find the Sunlit Maggot or find a Skull Lantern, so you can see in the Giant's Tombs and get the fourth Lordvessel piece.

This! I hate heavy armor builds in this game, fights just don't feel right. can't really explain why. Gonna lift my dodge game a try with a +10 Great Scythe. Think I'll track down this ninja flip ring everyones talking about...

I can't imagine finishing this game at Level 1. that's impressive.

The ninja flip ring had its uses but with only two slots I usually ended up ditching it for something more useful depending on the situation.

I never really went for heavy armor, but finding a light set and maxing it out upgrade-wise gives you speed and a decent degree of protection. Putting Souls into armor is actually more effective than levelling up a lot of the time.

The thing is, so much stuff can one- hit kill you that you're better off being able to avoid getting hit in the first place.

Also, if you're quick enough you can dodge and run past some enemies while they're still winding up to hit. Like the undead Giants... You can run past a lot of the first ones you encounter without getting touched.

You can get a light spell to help in the dark if you have that sort of build.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 06 December 2013 - 10:46 AM

[Dolmen 2.0]

I sadly have really low magic stats.

I've invested in pyromancy but that's it. I'm currently looking for titanite chunks to get my light armor maxed out. I have the wanderer set equiped and its worked out well so far, have yet to find something that offers a better defence-to-lightness ratio. This means I can roll dodge four times reliably before stamina runs out and the grass crest shield replenishes my gauge fast so I can keep moving.

is it worth leveling magic if I have a dex build?

[Traveller]

I had dex build first time through. I think I only got as far as being able to use the fall-control (good for shortcut to Tomb of Giants) so it's probably not worth it. I did put a lot into Pyro though which really paid off for bosses like Sif.

The Black leather is good as far as I remember, being light, easy to upgrade, and offering bonus protection against something else, can't remember what right now. I had the trousers equipped for the whole game I think, plus Havels ring which let me use the Black Iron armor in certain situations without too much penalty.

Stamina boosting equipment is really, really useful. There's a mask you can get later on too.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 06 December 2013 - 12:58 PM

[Satan]

I did a armour build and it worked like a charm for me. Ended up with Havel's set sans helmet which took be above the half load limit. Maybe if I went into NG(++) I'd replace it with an upgradable set, but for the first run through it was ace. Even Kalameet didn't one-hit me with it (mostly). Pour souls into strength and you wont necessarily be that slow either, and you'll dish out a lorra lorra damage too.

Didn't really have any use for the pyromancy, though. Spent a fair bit of souls at it too, but I felt a bit too exposed while casting and my main hand weapon usually did more damage anyway (and was loads faster).

Also, for an alternative, light armour set I had the Gold-Hemmed Black set from the Deamon's ruins. Also non-upgradeable, but it works quite well as is.

This post has been edited by Satan: 06 December 2013 - 03:19 PM

[Traveller]

Just goes to show that in Dark Souls, the different builds really are different. Where ES' s games like Skyrim allow you to be everything all at the same time, DS' s rewards you for committing to a build, but also means other areas remain inaccessable without a replay.

I've played through a few times but still never invested in miracles and Faith - I can imagine that's a different game again right there.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 07 December 2013 - 06:57 PM

[Dolmen 2.0]

This is PVP I think. anyways the builds are ridiculous online.

heres a vid of a one shot mage just generally being A BAMF

[Dolmen 2.0]

So I have made quite a bit of progress on this:

Killed Neeto
Killed The Four Kings
Killed Seethe the scaleless

Now I'm heading down to the lava area. Ceaseless was an ok fight, the demon firesage killed me pretty dead but I got the gist of his moves. Whats really got me worried is the boss battle called bed of chaos...I've heard worrying things...

[Traveller]

There can be a tiny element of frustration involved...

This post has been edited by Traveller: 07 December 2013 - 06:59 PM

[Dolmen 2.0]

I detect a hint of understatement in that sentence...

[amphibian]

Naaaaw, Bed of Chaos is a pushover. I mean it literally pushes you over.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Ok so I killed the weird chaos worm lava thingy...now what? I can walk on lava...What game-gods want me to do with it? I ran around the areas with lava but nothing seems to suggest progress...

[Traveller]

There's a passage off that cave to the left that you can now access.

You can also now reach an ember back at the beginning of the Demon Ruins, behind those Taurus Demons.

[Overactive Imagination]

Dark Souls II is the first game I've planned on buying on day 1 full price in years.

[Defiance]

Overactive Imagination, on 23 December 2013 - 06:02 AM, said:

Dark Souls II is the first game I've planned on buying on day 1 full price in years.

This.

I always keep coming back to Dark Souls. It's fun as hell to try all sorts of wacky builds, and I really enjoy the world that From Software made. Dark Souls has probably the best level design I've ever seen in a game - it's amazing how well everything connects, and it was very satisfying to still be finding new shortcuts in my third playthrough. Spending several hours to get somewhere, only to realize that it was just a quick jog away from Firelink Shrine, was awesome. And there's something about the way the lore and story is presented that I really like. It's subtle and very hidden in the details (quite literally; without reading item descriptions it's impossible to piece things together, and even then it can be difficult), which allows for a complete focus on gameplay but also offers a lot of satisfaction for those who spend the time to sift through things.

I'm very excited to see what Dark Souls II brings to the table.

[Jakovasaurus]

I got Dark Souls for Christmas for the PS 3. Holy hell this game is difficult. I've got shit for equipment (I choose the Knight). The Asylum Demon is making me his/her/it's bitch. You veterans got any advice for a noob? Also, what (without spoiling anything) can I expect as I (hopefully) progress in the game? Any general rules of thumb or advice?

[Morgoth]

Jakovasaurus, on 28 December 2013 - 11:44 PM, said:

I got Dark Souls for Christmas for the PS 3. Holy hell this game is difficult. I've got shit for equipment (I choose the Knight). The Asylum Demon is making me his/her/it's bitch. You veterans got any advice for a noob? Also, what (without spoiling anything) can I expect as I (hopefully) progress in the game? Any general rules of thumb or advice?

Try not to get hit.



When that is said, a more beginner friendly style of play I think is to use a spear and shield. That way you can hide behind the shield and still attack. It's a little more forgiving.

[Overactive Imagination]

I seem to remember spear/shield combo being better in Demon's Souls.

For a knight in Dark Souls, get a good shield that absorbs 100% of your enemy's attacks... I seem to remember one called the Baldur shield or something available early on which can even last you the entire game.

Spend your level points wisely... put them into the categories that give you hitpoints and more stamina and damage (endurance and strength? i forget). Do not just spend them evenly or you will never beat the game.

Also doing backstabs is an easy trick. Block and circle until you're behind your enemy and backstab them for a 1-2 hit kill.

For bosses, it's going to be a pain in the fuckin ass dying over and over and then getting back to the boss to die again... that's generally how the game goes. I'd suggest leveling up and getting stronger before going back to attempt a boss you just died on to avoid frustration.. or watch some tutorial videos. There's a good one on youtube called Let's play dark souls and the guy has a nice voice and it's good quality and everything,,, I enjoyed watching that and it helped a lot of course.

Also level up your shield and weapon once you get decent ones. This makes a really big difference.

This post has been edited by Overactive Imagination: 29 December 2013 - 06:09 AM