Dark Souls Catch-All

PlainGreyT wrote:

Good answers, though I think for my ability with games like these a bit of grinding will be necessary.

What prompted my questions was that I was having trouble with the capra demon with a thief build. I just beat him by using firebombs and rolling away from his attacks after going though most playthoughs without touching them. I really like that the outcome didn't come down to what build I was using but rather focusing on how I could do damage to him, rather than how I should be doing damage to him.

Sounds like you did a great job of finding a strategy that worked for your character. That's what Dark Souls is all about!

And everyone has trouble with the Capra Demon. Bastard.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Sounds like you did a great job of finding a strategy that worked for your character. That's what Dark Souls is all about!

And everyone has trouble with the Capra Demon. Bastard.

Thanks! Its real nice to find a game where the more you look, the more there is to see - most games that I've really enjoyed in my time have had this quality to them.

PlainGreyT wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Sounds like you did a great job of finding a strategy that worked for your character. That's what Dark Souls is all about!

And everyone has trouble with the Capra Demon. Bastard.

Thanks! Its real nice to find a game where the more you look, the more there is to see - most games that I've really enjoyed in my time have had this quality to them.

SO true of Dark Souls. SO true. The ugly menus and such kind of conceal an unbelievable depth. Love it!

PlainGreyT wrote:

I came up with an overly verbose questions to pose to you guys but I guess it comes down to one thing:

How much do you grind when playing Dark Souls?

If there were no RPG features in the game I guess it be much more straight forward but as it is you can lv up you character, weapons, change tatics all on top of simply giving a challenging section another shot.

I've ground out some levels and done some item farming on some of my many characters, I've probably made more than 10 at this point. However I have a character that I've never leveled and I only have two more bosses left in the game.

The point is, which you already discussed, that your skill and your tactics can allow you to defeat every single enemy in the game.

Huh. Didn't realize that

Spoiler:

Painted World

was optional. Well, I really enjoyed it, so I'm glad I did it.

I guess I need to break out the DLC, because it looks like I've done every area I can prior to giving the boss souls to Frampt.

PlainGreyT wrote:

I came up with an overly verbose questions to pose to you guys but I guess it comes down to one thing:

How much do you grind when playing Dark Souls?

If there were no RPG features in the game I guess it be much more straight forward but as it is you can lv up you character, weapons, change tatics all on top of simply giving a challenging section another shot.

In my fist run through the game I did no ore than about 2 hours grinding across my whole play time.

DanB wrote:

In my fist run through

This... rules

It should also be noted that generally, grinding is fun as hell.

I do a lot of soul farming. After I finish an area I always drop my sign and play co-op. It makes farming a lot more fun. It also makes the game less daunting, because by the time your returns start diminishing, you know you are well prepared for the next area and ramp-up in difficulty.

Getting invaded by a blue phantom in Anor Londo while struggling with the two giant knights before S&O pissed me of to no end. I had Solaire with me to go into the boss encounter, but he just strolled up to me with his grass crest shield and his stupid lightning katana and sliced my poor sorceress up like butter.
All those humanity and the souls I had lost in the boss room. :c

I'd love to know why he was a blue phantom. I never invaded someone aside from the black eye orb invasion right there in the same room. :/

Blue phantoms are invaders that are challenging you because you were indicted.

Edit: in other words, because you invaded someone, that blue phantom avenged the death of that person.

Invaders are a challenge. They craft their characters specifically for PvP. In most cases, you need helpful phantoms with you to tip the odds.

You're sure you never invaded anybody? Like Dave said, the only way a blue phantom will invade is if you've been indicted. You don't need to have invaded someone via a Red Eye Orb either, could have been the Forest Covenant, Black Eye Orb (Gravelord Covenant), or a lot of other ways.

This new content is fantastic. Makes me want a sequel so much.

SixteenBlue wrote:

This new content is fantastic. Makes me want a sequel so much.

I attacked this problem in the last two days by buying a PS3 and Demon's Souls.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

This new content is fantastic. Makes me want a sequel so much.

I attacked this problem in the last two days by buying a PS3 and Demon's Souls.

Already have both.

I will be going back to Demon's Souls sooner or later though.

But yeah, as Dark Souls built off of its predecessor by having one big map (mostly), I want to see the evolution from here.

I still need to play the DLC, and then see how much pre-NG+ stuff I can stomach doing before wrapping it up. I'd like to, but I don't have much intention of playing a NG+. Just hate to skip it and later decide to go for NG+, cheevos, etc.

It came to me too late why I was invaded by a blue phantom:

Spoiler:

I pushed the ninja guard from the forest covenant down to get at his ring and did not bother to absolve my sins right after.

All in all, the mage build is quite different. I cannot wait to try out a pure tank build.

f*ck Patches, man.

Can anyone suggest a good guide or forum for Character builds in Dark Souls? Most of the builds on the official wiki read like bad fan fiction.

I'm at Sens Fortress (hate) at the moment with my thief build but it seems like the best way to optimise your build is to know what gear/weapon your going to be using and I'm haven't a clue about these things and it feels like I'm doing something wrong

I've gotten quite far with a +9 thieves dagger and two handed Drake sword for bosses & larger enemies but I don't know if this will stand to me for the rest of the game.

If you haven't yet, grab the lightning spear in Sen's.
That and the heater shield helped my thief character long enough to get through a good portion of the game.
I cannot remember off the top of my head if you can upgrade the lightning spear right away with the smith, but if you can do this first.
Upgrading weapons and other gear comes always first to me before I invest more into stats, aside from a point of endurance or vitality here and there.

Also, don't be afraid to restart with a new character if you feel you planned your character wrong. The next run will be way faster since you know the places of good stuff and how to handle the enemy.

PlainGreyT wrote:

Can anyone suggest a good guide or forum for Character builds in Dark Souls? Most of the builds on the official wiki read like bad fan fiction.

I'm at Sens Fortress (hate) at the moment with my thief build but it seems like the best way to optimise your build is to know what gear/weapon your going to be using and I'm haven't a clue about these things and it feels like I'm doing something wrong

I've gotten quite far with a +9 thieves dagger and two handed Drake sword for bosses & larger enemies but I don't know if this will stand to me for the rest of the game.

Add and upgraded Longbow to your gear and grab a ton of standard arrows, plus as many poison arrows as you can. That should help a high Dexterity build.

But, my "min./max." build for Sen's Fortress/Anor Londo....

Primary Stats: Endurance, Vitality
Secondary Stat: Dexterity
Right Hand: Longsword, Pyromancy Glove (Combustion)
Left Hand: Tower Kite Shield, Longbow (Standard and Poison Arrows)
Rings: Wolf Ring, Ring of Favor and Protection
Armor: Elite Knight Armor
Ancillary (Situational) Gear: Ring of Fog, Poisonbite Ring, Purging Stones, Purple Moss Clumps, Blooming Purple Moss.
Covenant: Way of White->Warroirs of Sunlight->Forest Hunters

It is a basic non-holy Knight build that focuses on protection, blocking, and survivability. All the gear is obtainable and can be ascended to high levels before hitting Sen's Fortress, although some Wiki help might be needed, depending how well you know the areas before Sen's Fortress. Your damage output will be unimpressive early one, but once you upgrade and ascend your weapons, and start putting points into Dexterity, you will get much better results.

The strategy for fights is to take the first hit, then, when their stance is open, hit hem with a couple of quick hits. Some people go with Strength over Dexterity, but Dexterity will increase the power of both the Longsword and the Longbow. You need the longbow for ranged attacks. Having Combustion is also good compliment to the up close melee style, since it has such a short range. Plus, Combustion is cheap, powerful, and you get 16 charges. There is a way to get two copies of the spell before Sen's to get 32 charges, but you will need to spend points on another Attunement slot.

You will have to engage in jolly cooperation to get the souls you need. I would drop your sign several times after each boss fight and focus on upgrades first, then leveling. The Undead Parish is where you farm Tantanite Shards and the bonfire in the Depths is where you can farm Large and Green Tantanite Shards. Drop your sign, go farm, and wait to be summoned.

Only use Humanity to reverse Hollowing and for Kindling. Keep as much as you can in inventory. Your Humanity level will get high through co-op alone. Always stay human. It is required for summoning helpful phantoms.

heavyfeul wrote:

Add and upgraded Longbow to your gear and grab a ton of standard arrows, plus as many poison arrows as you can. That should help a high Dexterity build.

But, my "min./max." build for Sen's Fortress/Anor Londo....

Primary Stats: Endurance, Vitality
Secondary Stat: Dexterity
Right Hand: Longsword, Pyromancy Glove (Combustion)
Left Hand: Tower Kite Shield, Longbow (Standard and Poison Arrows)
Rings: Wolf Ring, Ring of Favor and Protection
Armor: Elite Knight Armor
Ancillary (Situational) Gear: Ring of Fog, Poisonbite Ring, Purging Stones, Purple Moss Clumps, Blooming Purple Moss.
Covenant: Way of White->Warroirs of Sunlight->Forest Hunters

It is a basic non-holy Knight build that focuses on protection, blocking, and survivability. All the gear is obtainable and can be ascended to high levels before hitting Sen's Fortress, although some Wiki help might be needed, depending how well you know the areas before Sen's Fortress. Your damage output will be unimpressive early one, but once you upgrade and ascend your weapons, and start putting points into Dexterity, you will get much better results.

The strategy for fights is to take the first hit, then, when their stance is open, hit hem with a couple of quick hits. Some people go with Strength over Dexterity, but Dexterity will increase the power of both the Longsword and the Longbow. You need the longbow for ranged attacks. Having Combustion is also good compliment to the up close melee style, since it has such a short range. Plus, Combustion is cheap, powerful, and you get 16 charges. There is a way to get two copies of the spell before Sen's to get 32 charges, but you will need to spend points on another Attunement slot.

You will have to engage in jolly cooperation to get the souls you need. I would drop your sign several times after each boss fight and focus on upgrades first, then leveling. The Undead Parish is where you farm Tantanite Shards and the bonfire in the Depths is where you can farm Large and Green Tantanite Shards. Drop your sign, go farm, and wait to be summoned.

Only use Humanity to reverse Hollowing and for Kindling. Keep as much as you can in inventory. Your Humanity level will get high through co-op alone. Always stay human. It is required for summoning helpful phantoms.

Yeah I went ahead and re-rolled and having a high stability/heavy armour seems like a good way to. I actually don't have Live so sadly there isn't much of a chance for co-op but hey, why go easy on myself? (I still use the NPC summons there available)

Also Elite Knight Armour - thats in Darkroot basin right? I should be able to pick up that fairly easily. Is there a place pre-Sen's that I can farm Twinkling Titanite shards? I know I can get Large shards at the bottom of Blighttown but a place to farm twinkling would be nice.

Plastefuchs wrote:

If you haven't yet, grab the lightning spear in Sen's.
That and the heater shield helped my thief character long enough to get through a good portion of the game.
I cannot remember off the top of my head if you can upgrade the lightning spear right away with the smith, but if you can do this first.
Upgrading weapons and other gear comes always first to me before I invest more into stats, aside from a point of endurance or vitality here and there.

Also, don't be afraid to restart with a new character if you feel you planned your character wrong. The next run will be way faster since you know the places of good stuff and how to handle the enemy. :)

You mean hitting the mimic with that grey talisman? Yeah I saw that on a lets play (which I'd reccommend:)

https://www.youtube.com/user/commiss...

Yeah I try to invest more in equipment before levels but sometimes the raw materials are hard to come by - also have restarted as Deprived for a laugh

The Elite Knight Armor is in the Darkroot Garden (not the area past the seal). You can basically walk to it, pick it up, and then run like hell to escape. The Wolf Ring is also easy to get to, although you do have to fight one Stone Knight. You then grab the ring and use a Homeward Bone. There are videos you can watch for both I bet.

Large Titanite can be farmed from the Slimes in the Depths. You can buy more from the Merchant at the top of Sen's.

Twinkling Titanite: Barrels before Taurus Demon (lizard), Darkroot Basin path (lizard), Undead Asylum Revisited (trade moss clumps with Hawk-Girl; can only do one of each type, one at a time, and only once-cannot use to farm unlimited). You will be able to buy more later (Anor Londo). The gear I listed just uses regular titanite, although, the Fang Boar Helm (if it drops) has great Poise and Physical Defense; it upgrades with twinkling.

Since you do not have online functionality, it will be hard to farm souls. I am at a loss on how to ramp your character up quickly without co-op. It complicates getting the Ring of Fog too, I think.

PlainGreyT wrote:

I actually don't have Live so sadly there isn't much of a chance for co-op but hey, why go easy on myself? (I still use the NPC summons there available).

If you have a PS3, you can pick it up now for about $20 new. I just got it for $15 used at my local game/cd shop. The PC version is $40 on Steam (includes new DLC).

Either version will work the same and you get the online functionality without having to shell out extra cash. The PS3 matchmaking will work better than the PC version, however.

I think the online component is stellar and it makes the game a lot less daunting in certain areas.

I've found that they did a good job with the NPC summons to make Dark Souls easily playable solo. The only fight I wish I could have an NPC for is the Capra Demon.

Ok, this games finally gotten its hooks into me

I can see why you guys generally didn't reccommend grinding - I'm in Annor Londo and those Silver Knights are really generous. I also got to try out co-op for the first time and man it makes gaining souls/humanity a lot easier - its also nice to help out other gamers since with some bosses you can be at a real type disadvantage depending on your class.

I'm currently grinding at my own leisure before the boss which I'd like to solo (beaten them a few time in co-op). Trying to get my Lightning defence up since the second incarnation seems to deal quite a bit of it.

Playing co-op for boss fights feels so much like MMO raiding, in a really good way.

PlainGreyT wrote:

I can see why you guys generally didn't reccommend grinding

The thing is, the benefits from levelling stats is typically so marginal that it is almost completely overwhelmed by being more skillful. The few times I did any grinding was when I needed the odd stat point in order to wield something.