Dark Souls Catch-All

Dyni wrote:

I have no issue with its viability, just its mechanical execution. It just isn't as fun to me as smacking things with a big 2H weapon. In most other fantasy games, I very rarely choose melee over magic.

It's more of a testament to the quality of the melee combat than a criticism of the magic system.

Yeah, this is pretty much the sort of thing I meant to suggest as well. Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was dismissing sorcery altogether.

ibdoomed wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
ibdoomed wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

Sorcery is easy mode later in the game. It's harder at the beginning.

You mean like when the asylum demon dies in 4 shots from all the way across the room out of range of hitting you?

Good luck with that approach for the next bosses. They definitely won't stay out of range or go down in 4 hits. Especially for a new player.

I have been through the game countless times including one character over level 200 on NG++, one that is still level 1 and about finish gwyn, a pyro on NG+, and a sorcerer on NG+ so yes, you can do most/all bosses with sorcery or melee or pyro. I have not tried focusing on miracles, that's next. Taurus in fact was extremely easy staying out of range and SA'ing him to death. Gargoyles, gaping dragon, black knights, qualaag, iron golem, seath, sif, and S&O were also easy with sorcery. The only ones I can think of that were more difficult are capra, four kings and gwyn. I'm forgetting some...

I think you're proving my point. You're an expert, so just because it's easier for you doesn't make it easy mode.

I agree that melee is more satisfying than sorcery. That's why I use my Enchanted Longsword +5 way more than my spells.

I wonder how many Attunement slots most Sorcerors finish with. I'm level 70 and have had 5 slots forever. I don't plan to add any.

I have 4 right now and don't have a lot of need for that 5th one.

Yeah, I agree. I don't regret it, though, as it lets me be less choosy about what I attune.

Also, my character is a Pyromancer as well, so I can mix and match the best of both schools.

Took down the Stray Demon tonight, and played about 10 minutes into the Painted World. So far it's the coolest area I've visited in a looooong time - probably since Sen's.

It was a short night.

Nevermind.

Another short night tonight, but I killed an invader, the

Spoiler:

poison (?) dragon

, and cleared my way to the first boss door in Painted World.

At that point I was out of flasks and spells, so I will start again from the bonfire when next I play.

I killed my first real (i.e. not an NPC) invader yesterday... he invaded me in a watery area so I was able to nail him with a good couple of pyro spells while I made my way to solid ground and then dodge his attacks since I'm at very low encumbrance.

Had a strange day with bosses - downed the boss before the second bell on my first attempt (which was a bit of a change from my usual suckage) and then accidentally killed the first boss in the Demon Ruins while frantically running away from him.

Spent a while falling down the something-or-other Hollow, then said "stuff it" and am heading to Sen's Fortress.

Finally, I now appear to be a Nazgul.

This game is great.

Sonicator wrote:

accidentally killed the first boss in the Demon Ruins while frantically running away from him.

I did that once too. Never could repeat it on purpose.

Interesting comment about low Encumbrance, Sonicator. When I got invaded I was wearing the Favor set and the Sunlight Maggot for light. I immediately switched to my usual Gargoyle Helm to avoid shining a light and giving away my position. Then I realized I was in a place where my invader was probably going to need a minute to find me, so I switched into full Havel's. Since I'm a caster, I figured I might as well go full battleship mode.

It worked great! I used the Homing Crystal Mass spell followed by Soul Spears to kill him. The fight might have actually lasted 2 minutes, as he ran away at one point. He was wearing what I assume was medium armor and two-handing a weapon that did fire damage.

I'll definitely go this route next time I'm invaded.

IM keen to try this on my PC

3 questions before making the purchase

1 Amazon has DARK SOULS with ARTORIAS OF THE ABYSS EDITION and Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition , aren't they exactly the same thing ?

2. Controllers- I live in japan so my local discount electrics store doesnt stock xbox gear, but in the PC section i did find PC controller , thats fine right ?
(its a iBuffalo ...is that a cheap Chinese rip off of Buffalo ? or buffalo's cheap chinese subsidiary ? hmm)

3. Multiplayer functionality - GFWL / any regional restrictions ? I ask because namco hasnt actually released the game on pc in Japan, so im not sure who i can play the semi co-op/invader/hints etc part of the game with.

Thanks

My character has wound up with slightly unreasonable mobility since I put a lot of points into endurance while I was dithering between whether to go with a strength or dex build. I suspect I got lucky: the invader had gone with a big, slow weapon (possibly a halberd) so it was relatively easy to dodge. I don't think he actually hit me, which left me feeling a bit smug. Probably wouldn't have worked against a lot of other builds, though.

The battleship approach does sound interesting though - I may have to start mucking around with an alt along those lines when I get stuck/frustrated with my main. What sort of balance are you going for between the stats?

SixteenBlue wrote:
Sonicator wrote:

accidentally killed the first boss in the Demon Ruins while frantically running away from him.

I did that once too. Never could repeat it on purpose.

I did a bit of reading afterwards and it sounds like it happens if

Spoiler:

he does the ground attack on you when you're very nearly back to the fog gate

Brownypoints wrote:

3. Multiplayer functionality - GFWL / any regional restrictions ? I ask because namco hasnt actually released the game on pc in Japan, so im not sure who i can play the semi co-op/invader/hints etc part of the game with.

Thanks

It does use GFWL (argh argh argh) but not sure if that has any region-restriction though. Not sure about your other questions unfortunately.

Browny - I would special order a corded Xbox 360 controller. It's the best console controller ever. I would not use brand X.

Sonicator - My character isn't designed for PvP or anything, so he's got like 16 STR for the Drake Sword, similar Dex for bows, some amount of Vit and End, and then is just crazily top-heavy in INT.

The thing is, in this game once you reach a certain level of survivability and stamina, you don't really *need* any more. It's nice, but not critical - as folks like Gimpy have demonstrated to dramatic degree - so I just keep going INT to increase my damage output and meet spell requirements. When I meet the requirements for the last spell, I'll probably just stop leveling. I'm in the low 70s now.

@Browniepoints

Do you have a PS3?

The PS3 version has been working great for me. I have had several co-op opportunities and a few invasions. The functionality of the online features has been comparable to the Xbox version, at least up to the Capra Demon.

The PC matchmaking has never worked well for me and I have gotten past the right of kindling on that version. It works, but it is spotty at best.

There are NPCs that can be summoned, but some are harder to find than others and some are event dependent. Plus, all the ones I have seen are near Boss battles. Human players can often help you through a level, which is a blessing, although it can make some sections super easy if you summon an über-powerful phantom.

I did some co-op in the Undead Burg and Havel took down two parties of three. Playing co-op with equally underpowered phantoms is fun, though, because you still have to strategize and think quick.

Can you go in and out of the DLC content or is it the kind of thing you do all at one time?

You can go in and out SixteenBlue.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Sonicator - My character isn't designed for PvP or anything, so he's got like 16 STR for the Drake Sword, similar Dex for bows, some amount of Vit and End, and then is just crazily top-heavy in INT.

The thing is, in this game once you reach a certain level of survivability and stamina, you don't really *need* any more. It's nice, but not critical - as folks like Gimpy have demonstrated to dramatic degree - so I just keep going INT to increase my damage output and meet spell requirements. When I meet the requirements for the last spell, I'll probably just stop leveling. I'm in the low 70s now.

Thanks, may have to have a play around with something like that. I'm not too interested in PvP either, but it sounds like an interstign contrast to the way I'm playing at the moment.

Incidentally, does anyone know if there's any benefit to two handing a pyro flame or the other caster items?

Pretty sure there's not.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Pretty sure there's not.

Nope, but you can dual wield them!

I got invaded by a guy wielding 2 shields once, and it was hilarious. I should try it double fisting pyro flames.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

You can go in and out SixteenBlue.

Thanks. I know the bosses are really difficult but I want to check out the new content now!

Dyni wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Pretty sure there's not.

Nope, but you can dual wield them!

I got invaded by a guy wielding 2 shields once, and it was hilarious. I should try it double fisting pyro flames.

I've put my pyro glove on my off-hand many times, just to have it easily accessible since my main hand was sword/catalyst.

SixteenBlue wrote:
Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

You can go in and out SixteenBlue.

Thanks. I know the bosses are really difficult but I want to check out the new content now!

Well this was an ironic post.

SixteenBlue wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

You can go in and out SixteenBlue.

Thanks. I know the bosses are really difficult but I want to check out the new content now!

Well this was an ironic post.

Why? Bosses weren't hard?

Fedaykin98 wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

You can go in and out SixteenBlue.

Thanks. I know the bosses are really difficult but I want to check out the new content now!

Well this was an ironic post.

Why? Bosses weren't hard?

Went through the portal to the DLC content, immediately greeted by a boss. I was hoping to at least explore a new level or something.

That boss was super hard. Or I should say is since I didn't defeat it.

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 did a decent bit of grinding on the human attackers who belong to the forest covenant, but it turns out I didn't need to. I won't on a future run-through. I also spent way more souls than necessary by being both a sorceror and a fully-levelled Pyromancer.

Imho, you don't need to grind at all in this game.

The only time I've ever actively grinded was because I wanted to use some fat loot.

The only time I ever thought grinding might be necessary was Anor Londo as it's sort of a bottleneck in an otherwise open world. At any other point you can always find something that you can handle at the moment and level up from that area.

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.