Dark Souls Catch-All

Mesa wrote:

Had an epic 3 hours during kid nap time today. Went back to the burg and got havel's ring. Then I decided it was time to cheese that black knight; didn't get much of a drop (does he have a chance to drop a weapon or a shield?).

Yes.

imbiginjapan wrote:
Druidpeak wrote:

How important is picking up the Great Heal excerpt? I'm sitting in front of Petrus right now with enough souls to purchase, and upgrade my faith to use it. I understand there will be the possiblity to purchase it for less in the future, if I do it right.

I'm inclined to ignore miracles this play through and continue to upgrade my equipment. I'm working on a Strength build right now, and am enjoying tanking.

If it's the only miracle you want do regular Heal instead. It's not as powerful but you get more uses. But then still only if you frequently find yourself short on Estus. It's not so much the cost of the spell as the cost of the levels in Faith. At a certain point leveling up becomes very expensive. If you decide to go that route I would suggest getting the Thorolund Talisman as well because it works on a fixed magic adjust rather than a faith based magic adjust. That means it will be more effective when your faith is low than the standard talisman.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to go with my plan of not increasing faith. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't making a game crippling decision. After reading some other folks accounts on message boards, I'm doing just hunky dory. Also, everyone says that no matter what, you can finish the game.

Still enjoying the heck out of this game.

Cory and I assault the Gaping Dragon.

Stray Demon has become my weekend project it seems. I have it pretty well dialed down, but keep slipping up every now and then.

I bought Dark Souls from the Steam sale at Christmas, played an hour or so only. Went to start playing it again and now it just crashes almost as soon as I launch it. I still have DSfix 2.0.1 (can't see a newer version), removing it didn't seem to have any effect, and telling Steam to check the game cache didn't help either. GfWL is logging in normally. Is there anything I can try before downloading it over again?

Uninstall then update video drivers?

Any chance you missed a file or file(s) when removing DsFix? Something similar happened to me when I replaced an older version of DsFix with a newer version and overwrote the files instead of removing it altogether.

I would get past the opening splash screen and then crash when I tried to load a game. I could also create a new character and then as soon as the full game started it would crash. I had to fully remove all the DsFix files, boot up without any DsFix then changes my settings, then go back and put DsFix back on.

Druidpeak wrote:

Stray Demon has become my weekend project it seems. I have it pretty well dialed down, but keep slipping up every now and then.

The thing that would always get me was when he would fly up to face me then drop down. I would either get squished or not get behind his tail fast enough to avoid the followup attack. I found not locking on worked better. Turns out he's easy to hit because he's a big fat...target.

Sitting on 33k souls and a bit confused on what to upgrade or go after next. Just killed the butterfly boss and gave the ember to the blacksmith. I don't have any green shards (I don't think I should have any at this point).

Wearing Elite Knight gear picked up in the garden. It is all +3 and I need large Titanite Shards to go further (can't seem to buy those from the blacksmith). I'm still using the drake sword; upgraded the claymore to +5 and while I liked the range of the claymore the drake sword still hits harder and swings faster. Using a hollow soldier shield in the left hand.

So upgrade the shield, bank the rest of the souls and wait for large titanite shards?

Mesa wrote:

Sitting on 33k souls and a bit confused on what to upgrade or go after next. Just killed the butterfly boss and gave the ember to the blacksmith. I don't have any green shards (I don't think I should have any at this point).

Wearing Elite Knight gear picked up in the garden. It is all +3 and I need large Titanite Shards to go further (can't seem to buy those from the blacksmith). I'm still using the drake sword; upgraded the claymore to +5 and while I liked the range of the claymore the drake sword still hits harder and swings faster. Using a hollow soldier shield in the left hand.

So upgrade the shield, bank the rest of the souls and wait for large titanite shards?

Definitely upgrade the shield. You should be able to get it to +5. Stability is a big deal.
In the Depths and Blighttown you can farm the slimes (depths) and leeches (Blighttown) for Green and Large shards.

Drake Sword is still fine for you if you haven't found a replacement you like yet. You'll find a clear upgrade for it in Sen's Fortress if you haven't replaced it by then.

Mesa wrote:

So upgrade the shield, bank the rest of the souls and wait for large titanite shards?

I wouldn't upgrade that shield. It's not great. Just level up some. Boost Your End or Vit. Boosting your endurance will serve the same purpose as upgrading that shield, but it will also give you higher equip load, and you won't be wasting souls on gear you're going to throw away soon.

Or boost your Str or Dex in preparation for a piece of gear you're planning to use.

There's no point banking that many souls. You're going to die and lose them.

Yeah, do not upgrade that shield. You will find many better shields before long.

I also agree that you should spend those souls rather than carry them around.

Mesa wrote:

Sitting on 33k souls and a bit confused on what to upgrade or go after next. Just killed the butterfly boss and gave the ember to the blacksmith. I don't have any green shards (I don't think I should have any at this point).

Wearing Elite Knight gear picked up in the garden. It is all +3 and I need large Titanite Shards to go further (can't seem to buy those from the blacksmith). I'm still using the drake sword; upgraded the claymore to +5 and while I liked the range of the claymore the drake sword still hits harder and swings faster. Using a hollow soldier shield in the left hand.

So upgrade the shield, bank the rest of the souls and wait for large titanite shards?

One of the easiest upgrade shields you can get in the next little while is the spider shield. There are 2 that can be found in the game, one is on a corpse in the Depths. I know there are plenty of better shields, but this is a good 100% damage block shield that is very light and can be gotten early.

Why not upgrade the shield until he finds a better one?
800 * 9 shards = 7200 + 1000 for upgrade cost = 8200. A drop in the bucket.

Edit: I do recall now that one of the patches nerfed the Hollow Soldier shield. Still, I think upgrading just about any gear you are actively using to +5 is a super cheap investment.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Why not upgrade the shield until he finds a better one?
800 * 9 shards = 7200 + 1000 for upgrade cost = 8200. A drop in the bucket.

Edit: I do recall now that one of the patches nerfed the Hollow Soldier shield. Still, I think upgrading just about any gear you are actively using to +5 is a super cheap investment.

It's not a big if he does, but it seems like a bit of a waste. There are a couple shields that are much better in the next 2 zones.

As I mentioned, upgrading endurance serves a purpose similar to increasing shield stability, and it won't go to waste when he replaces the shield.

I really like the Eagle Shield found in Blighttown, even after they nerfed it long ago. It's 95% physical reduction, but it only weighs 6.0, and it has 70 stability without any upgrades.

Capra Demon down! Holy s*** that was a white-knuckle fight. Boss hits like a truck constantly and hey what the heck here are two dogs as well (oh and let's put everything in a tiny rectangular room...).

Back to shields... I started the game with the spider shield. I guess i just assumed it wasnt that great because i started with it. I'm looking at it VS the un-upgraded hollow shield and it looks like they have the same base stability but the spider shield has 7 more fire resist, 2 less lightning resist and weight 0.5 units less. Definitely looks like a better shield and I should have been using it but is that stat difference considered big in this game?

Agreed on spending the souls. On my 3rd attempt on the Capra demon I died in the back corner of the room after jumping off the staircase. On the 4th attempt I was up on the ledge and didn't have my block up. The demon did that jump attack and knocked me down. I swore I heard the death groan from my character and for a moment thought I lost all those souls. Mid face-palm I realized I had a sliver of life left and was able to spam A and recover before getting killed again

Mesa wrote:

Definitely looks like a better shield and I should have been using it but is that stat difference considered big in this game?

Not really. There are a few fights where it's nice to have a really high fire, lightning, or magic resist, but the main stat you're concerned with on shields is the stability. You also just about always want 100% physical resist, though I think there are slight exceptions to this, as I mentioned regarding the Eagle Shield.

If you really want a good shield, plan on getting to 32 STR and acquire the soul of Sif!

Another noob question: I've tried to kindle a bonfire twice now. Both times I use one humanity to get back to human form; after that happens I get kicked out of the bonfire menu and the bonfire becomes unusable. What gives?

Mesa wrote:

Another noob question: I've tried to kindle a bonfire twice now. Both times I use one humanity to get back to human form; after that happens I get kicked out of the bonfire menu and the bonfire becomes unusable. What gives?

Hmm... that's... odd. Maybe you're getting an invasion attempt immediately after going human, which I suppose is possible. That would cause the bonfire to not work until either the invasion fails due to network stuff or until you deal with the invader.

It should look like this:

imbiginjapan wrote:
Mesa wrote:

Another noob question: I've tried to kindle a bonfire twice now. Both times I use one humanity to get back to human form; after that happens I get kicked out of the bonfire menu and the bonfire becomes unusable. What gives?

Hmm... that's... odd. Maybe you're getting an invasion attempt immediately after going human, which I suppose is possible. That would cause the bonfire to not work until either the invasion fails due to network stuff or until you deal with the invader.

You can immediately quit back to the main menu and then load back in and try to use the bonfire as quickly as possible, but I don't think you should be kicked out of the bonfire menu by anything. You ought to be able to have your two soft humanity ready, use one to reverse hollowing and immediately use the second to kindle without problems from invasion.

psoplayer wrote:

You can immediately quit back to the main menu and then load back in and try to use the bonfire as quickly as possible, but I don't think you should be kicked out of the bonfire menu by anything. You ought to be able to have your two soft humanity ready, use one to reverse hollowing and immediately use the second to kindle without problems from invasion.

You can get kicked out of the menu if an invasion occurs but man that is some crazy timing for it to happen twice.

The first time it happened I only had one humanity ready for use so I did have to bail out of the bonfire menu to use another humanity. When I went to go use the bonfire again I was locked out. The second time I was definitely booted from the bonfire menu.

Mesa wrote:

The first time it happened I only had one humanity ready for use so I did have to bail out of the bonfire menu to use another humanity. When I went to go use the bonfire again I was locked out. The second time I was definitely booted from the bonfire menu.

I think you also cannot use the bonfire if a gravelord servant has cursed you.

Gravelords can't do anything but cause the game to emote at you unless you're in NG+.

Elycion wrote:

Gravelords can't do anything but cause the game to emote at you unless you're in NG+.

I have put hundreds of hours into Dark Souls and I have yet to understand what Gravelords do.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:
Elycion wrote:

Gravelords can't do anything but cause the game to emote at you unless you're in NG+.

I have put hundreds of hours into Dark Souls and I have yet to understand what Gravelords do.

They cause extra tough versions of the normal enemies to spawn in the games they target, and a summon sign the targeted players can use to go into the Gravelord's game and try to kill him. If they kill him, all the infected games go back to normal. (I think they infect something like 3-5 other player's games each time they use the item.)

Basically reverse invasion.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:
Elycion wrote:

Gravelords can't do anything but cause the game to emote at you unless you're in NG+.

I have put hundreds of hours into Dark Souls and I have yet to understand what Gravelords do.

You can be forgiven for not really getting the whole concept... I think there might be 3 people in the history of Dark Souls who actually used the Eye of Death as a Gravelord and actually got invaded in return. When most people see a black summon sign on the ground their reaction will be "Aw hell no, I'm not touching that." It's out there with the Path of the Dragon in terms of fringe elements.

imbiginjapan wrote:
Gimpy_Butzke wrote:
Elycion wrote:

Gravelords can't do anything but cause the game to emote at you unless you're in NG+.

I have put hundreds of hours into Dark Souls and I have yet to understand what Gravelords do.

You can be forgiven for not really getting the whole concept... I think there might be 3 people in the history of Dark Souls who actually used the Eye of Death as a Gravelord and actually got invaded in return. When most people see a black summon sign on the ground their reaction will be "Aw hell no, I'm not touching that." It's out there with the Path of the Dragon in terms of fringe elements.

It's one of those features of the online portions of the game that I found brilliant but, for whatever reason, hardly explored by players. It saddens me. I hope these sort of things are better fleshed out and made a little more prominent as part of the online portions of DkS 2 - without it being forced upon players, of course. I guess, maybe they can make it a little more attractive.

brokenclavicle wrote:

It's one of those features of the online portions of the game that I found brilliant but, for whatever reason, hardly explored by players. It saddens me. I hope these sort of things are better fleshed out and made a little more prominent as part of the online portions of DkS 2 - without it being forced upon players, of course. I guess, maybe they can make it a little more attractive. :D

Agreed! In general, I found this to be the case surrounding both covenants and humanity. Considering some of the NPC dialog in the game, I've repeatedly gotten the impression that these things were originally to have a more significant bearing on NPC interactions and thus secondary and tertiary plot elements. As is, the fragments are there and the implementation feels incomplete. Which is why the word "hollow" is overloaded. Which is why Brodouche McHardass with Petrus and Rhea tells you not to approach Rhea "looking like that" regardless of your human/hollow status and whether or not you're in the Way of White with them. And so on. I, too, am hoping that these elements or comparable equivalents have slightly greater ramifications in the sequel.

Just wanted to let y'all know something. Like many of you most likely do, I like to give cool names to my computers and devices.

My first computer was Adam Selene.

My iPod Shuffle was Meloku.

My current iPod is Samus.

The Samsung Galaxy s4 I just got?

Solaire.