Dark Souls Catch-All

Stele wrote:

Yeah it's pretty tough. You can block with a shield, and some fire resist helps. But it can take a lot out of you.

Ha. Not with my shield you cant.

Thought I would mention the strategy I used for Four Kings. I tried a ton of things, mixed and matched. Stop reading now if you think this spoilerish, but it's not really.

I first went in with my usual armor, shield (the now obsolete Eagle...which I had to +10...sob.), and used pyromancy (Great Fireball, mainly). The fireball hit hard, but I died pretty quickly. It was also far different than I had imagined.

I also tried Havel's armor, Iron Flesh, and all manner of fireballs. Then I tried sorcery instead. I'm sure I tried Iron Flesh and melee sword and shield.

Ultimately, my winning setup was Havel's armor, Grass Crest for the sta regen, and two-handing my sword. Didn't use any spells or consumables. Didn't really try to dodge. Basically meleed as fast as I could while slowly circling to my right.

strangederby wrote:

Well there doesn't seem to be any way of avoiding the magic AOE attack of the

Spoiler:

2nd asylum demon

so I guess I'll just have to come back later.

Spoiler:

If you get far enough directly behind the demon you can avoid it. It's really hard and annoying though.

SixteenBlue wrote:
strangederby wrote:

Well there doesn't seem to be any way of avoiding the magic AOE attack of the

Spoiler:

2nd asylum demon

so I guess I'll just have to come back later.

Spoiler:

If you get far enough directly behind the demon you can avoid it. It's really hard and annoying though.

Do you mean behind but not close to?

strangederby wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
strangederby wrote:

Well there doesn't seem to be any way of avoiding the magic AOE attack of the

Spoiler:

2nd asylum demon

so I guess I'll just have to come back later.

Spoiler:

If you get far enough directly behind the demon you can avoid it. It's really hard and annoying though.

Do you mean behind but not close to?

Yes, exactly. Directly behind his back but far away.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

strange - I'd say just pick whatever seemed like the logical next step and concentrate on that. In your case, it sounds like that would be

Spoiler:

The Depths (sewers).

Good call Fedaykin. That boss turned out to be a bit of a push over.

Blight town is......interesting.

strangederby wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

strange - I'd say just pick whatever seemed like the logical next step and concentrate on that. In your case, it sounds like that would be

Spoiler:

The Depths (sewers).

Good call Fedaykin. That boss turned out to be a bit of a push over.

Blight town is......interesting.

I just popped in to mention my enthusiastic dislike of Blighttown, but since I completely missed a couple of the bosses you mentioned

Spoiler:

butterfly and hydra

I may have gone in too early. Might have to pop back and do them.

You can do those bosses before or after Blighttown, Sonic.

Mild spoiler:

Spoiler:

And they're optional.

I did them before, but mainly because I hated the Depths and was looking for any excuse to avoid them.

Spoiler:

Of course, the Depths are also optional, since I had the Master Key. I knew none of this at the time.

Well, after getting toasted half a dozen times, I've finally gotten past that damn dragon - I've now got a pile of souls and haven't leveled up yet:

Should I wait for the blacksmith to upgrade my axe or spend them on leveling up? I'm sure Vitality and Strength will help for my pyromancer but I'm open to suggestion.

Did you kill the dragon, or just sprint by him?

Before you upgrade Strength, make sure that you're going to want to use a Strength-based weapon. Some weapons scale off STR, others DEX. Some don't scale at all, after upgrades. Some scale off INT or Faith, after upgrades.

I think this is a good game to plan a progression path.

If you don't know what you want to upgrade, you can't go wrong with a little Vitality or Endurance early. An upgraded weapon definitely does help, if you think you've found a weapon you like.

Well, at least now we know...

http://kotaku.com/5957886/dark-souls...

Glad I never chose it. But I did get the one that drops and held on to it for a while. Guess I can trade it for a souvenir now.

Yay! I beat 4 Kings with my lvl 4 Knight. Now I can beat the game if I ever feel like giving up and not defeating the DLC bosses with this character.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

Yay! I beat 4 Kings with my lvl 4 Knight. Now I can beat the game if I ever feel like giving up and not defeating the DLC bosses with this character.

Nice!

Imho beating the game this way is amazing with or without the DLC.

Also, thanks for upstaging the s*** out of me for beating them at level 60.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

Yay! I beat 4 Kings with my lvl 4 Knight. Now I can beat the game if I ever feel like giving up and not defeating the DLC bosses with this character.

Congrats man! That is definitely an accomplishment.

Tyrian wrote:

Well, at least now we know...

http://kotaku.com/5957886/dark-souls...

That makes me so incredibly happy.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

You can do those bosses before or after Blighttown, Sonic.

Mild spoiler:

Spoiler:

And they're optional.

I did them before, but mainly because I hated the Depths and was looking for any excuse to avoid them.

Spoiler:

Of course, the Depths are also optional, since I had the Master Key. I knew none of this at the time.

Hmm, probably makes more sense to do 'em afterwards then to save the long run out. Thanks!

I went to the Depths and suddenly choosing Pyromancer became a really good move!

Played for about 40 minutes last night before Castle. How the heck do you keep the bridge drake from doing the move where he hops up into the air and one-shots you? I was wearing Havel's armor and had Inner whatever (the Pyromancy that makes you tougher but slower), and he still killed me - which I assume means that attack cannot be survived, period.

I wanted to beat him just to check that off the list, but after two episodes of that, and several more times where I ran around the bridge and he never showed up, I took my ball and headed to the Catacombs. The Divine Estoc +5 I made months ago is finally useful!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Played for about 40 minutes last night before Castle. How the heck do you keep the bridge drake from doing the move where he hops up into the air and one-shots you? I was wearing Havel's armor and had Inner whatever (the Pyromancy that makes you tougher but slower), and he still killed me - which I assume means that attack cannot be survived, period.

I wanted to beat him just to check that off the list, but after two episodes of that, and several more times where I ran around the bridge and he never showed up, I took my ball and headed to the Catacombs. The Divine Estoc +5 I made months ago is finally useful!

The only way I've ever killed him was with the dragonbow popping in and out of the area Solaire hangs in.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Played for about 40 minutes last night before Castle. How the heck do you keep the bridge drake from doing the move where he hops up into the air and one-shots you? I was wearing Havel's armor and had Inner whatever (the Pyromancy that makes you tougher but slower), and he still killed me - which I assume means that attack cannot be survived, period.

I wanted to beat him just to check that off the list, but after two episodes of that, and several more times where I ran around the bridge and he never showed up, I took my ball and headed to the Catacombs. The Divine Estoc +5 I made months ago is finally useful!

I never beat him and I kind of like that. I like the idea of an unbeatable boss in the game. That's not actually the case but it's still cool that he's so hard.

Not beating him makes me feel like I'm less of a man. Dark Souls is about mastering the game, becoming a badass. At least for me.

Now, if I did another playthrough, I'm sure I'd skip him and all kinds of optional bosses.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Not beating him makes me feel like I'm less of a man. Dark Souls is about mastering the game, becoming a badass. At least for me.

Now, if I did another playthrough, I'm sure I'd skip him and all kinds of optional bosses.

He's the only thing I've skipped/will skip.

I envy you guys that can skip content. This is the worst game for us completionists. I have no idea how long it will take to get to level 780+ since I'm only 200 now.

ibdoomed wrote:

I envy you guys that can skip content. This is the worst game for us completionists. I have no idea how long it will take to get to level 780+ since I'm only 200 now.

Are there any achievements or other things that require defeating the dragon or is it purely a mental block in this case?

I don't care about cheevos, just owe that mutha a poundin'.

SixteenBlue wrote:
ibdoomed wrote:

I envy you guys that can skip content. This is the worst game for us completionists. I have no idea how long it will take to get to level 780+ since I'm only 200 now.

Are there any achievements or other things that require defeating the dragon or is it purely a mental block in this case?

I loathe achievements. I've purposefully avoided some industry revered games entirely because the achievements annoyed me too much.

It's a mental problem in my case, unfinished business.

There are a couple of ways to beat him. The melee method requires you to play a bit cheesy:

The other method is to bait him down and sprint past him, then lock on from underneath and smack him with a gazillion arrows.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Did you kill the dragon, or just sprint by him?

Before you upgrade Strength, make sure that you're going to want to use a Strength-based weapon. Some weapons scale off STR, others DEX. Some don't scale at all, after upgrades. Some scale off INT or Faith, after upgrades.

I think this is a good game to plan a progression path.

If you don't know what you want to upgrade, you can't go wrong with a little Vitality or Endurance early. An upgraded weapon definitely does help, if you think you've found a weapon you like.

I sprinted by him - I do know about the whole

Spoiler:

'20 arrows in the tail' trick to kill him and get some awesome sword

exploit but I'd prefer to play through in a semi-legit fashion first time round.

I've heard that the Pyromancer axe is pretty serviceable even in the later stages of the game so I might put points into whatever that scales with (strength?)

Regarding getting past him I actually got past him by running when I reached the blackened part of the bridge and going down stairs ahead of the flame - thanks youtube - (and prompty had to do it again due to not knocking down the ladder because I'm stupid)

Second time around I was hugging the wall and the game kinda gliched - the dragon flew at me but was also perched up on his ledge - but I only suffered half health knocked off from the flame instead of dying, which I happily accepted and saved.

PlainGreyT wrote:

I sprinted by him - I do know about the whole

Spoiler:

'20 arrows in the tail' trick to kill him and get some awesome sword

exploit but I'd prefer to play through in a semi-legit fashion first time round.

That trick does not kill him. All it does is net you the sword... and it is entirely legit in the sense that it was purposely put there as a way for newer players to get an awesome sword early on (note: sword does not remain awesome for that long, really). You need way, way more arrows to actually kill him from below.