Dark Souls Catch-All

imbiginjapan wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

My axe is +2. Would it be worth taking it up a few more levels?

Always.
And there will always be more souls where those came from.

Dyni wrote:

Also, you can summon an NPC for help on that fight if you become human.

Thanks

Renji wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

People who've played both: would you say Dark Souls or Demon's Souls is harder?

Whichever you play first :D

I'm experiencing the total opposite, actually. I thought the difficulty in Dark Souls was a bit overblown, but Demon's is really kicking my ass.

Higgledy wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

Bows are rarely useful against bosses.
Have you upgraded your weapon at all at the smith?

My axe is +2. Would it be worth taking it up a few more levels?

Getting it to +5 will make a huge difference, as will upgrading your shield.
If you're doing good damage, maybe with the Gold Pine Resin if you have some, you can try 2-handing your axe when the second Gargoyle spawns and just try to wreck the first one before his buddy has time to come over.

kyrieee wrote:
Higgledy wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

Bows are rarely useful against bosses.
Have you upgraded your weapon at all at the smith?

My axe is +2. Would it be worth taking it up a few more levels?

Getting it to +5 will make a huge difference, as will upgrading your shield.
If you're doing good damage, maybe with the Gold Pine Resin if you have some, you can try 2-handing your axe when the second Gargoyle spawns and just try to wreck the first one before his buddy has time to come over.

(Other than just playing better) Upgrading weapons is the primary way to increase your character's power; everything else is secondary. You see people going for a soul level 1 play-through, or even naked runs without any armor, but I haven't heard of anyone trying a base-level weapon play-through.

In the gargoyle fight there never really seemed to be a lot of reason to have the shield up. It is most about dodging the attacks and getting around behind of them, so you might as well be hitting them 2-handed. You could also grab a bow and cheese your way to the Drake Sword, as that will be more damage at your level.

The biggest key for me with this fight was abandoning lock-in. It's a lot easier to get in position free running.

Thanks all.

casktapper wrote:

In the gargoyle fight there never really seemed to be a lot of reason to have the shield up. It is most about dodging the attacks and getting around behind of them, so you might as well be hitting them 2-handed. You could also grab a bow and cheese your way to the Drake Sword, as that will be more damage at your level.

The biggest key for me with this fight was abandoning lock-in. It's a lot easier to get in position free running.

Actually, I was just two handing the axe for a while there and that might be better for me on bosses. I'm better at dodging and the getting in with a stronger blow rather tan trying to block or dodge depending on circumstances.

I never thought I'd get this far in. I was really only trying out Dark Souls just in the unlikely event it would appeal to me and to experience it for myself. One things that added to the games fearsome reputation, for me, was the look of the bosses and mini bosses. They look all intimidating and extremely unforgiving but are actually ok to deal with. I realise I may not be saying that later in the game :).

@Higgledy, It's a good idea to get comfortable switching between two-hands for attacking and one-handing to block or parry. Blocking will still reduce a lot of damage if an attack takes you by surprise and you don't have time to anticipate and dodge. There's a lot to consider about the weight, stability, parry-speed, and various resistances of each shield too. I'm very fond of the Heater Shield for a character more focused on dodging.

Well, I regained my human form for the first time to fight a boss tonight. I swear I wasn't in my human form two minutes before I got invaded. I really wasn't expecting to be invaded that quickly at my low level, which is 26 30 (actually). I was expecting him to have to chase me down like they had to do in Demon's Soul. So I rushed as fast as I could to the fog. But the s.o.b. was waiting on me at the top of a ladder and backstabbed. As a consequence, I won't be both in human form and online for a while. I want to... you know... learn how to play the game well before having to learn where the spawn points for invaders are located.

n10sity wrote:

Well, I regained my human form for the first time to fight a boss tonight. I swear I wasn't in my human form two minutes before I got invaded. I really wasn't expecting to be invaded that quickly at my low level, which is 26 30 (actually). I was expecting him to have to chase me down like they had to do in Demon's Soul. So I rushed as fast as I could to the fog. But the s.o.b. was waiting on me at the top of a ladder and backstabbed. As a consequence, I won't be both in human form and online for a while. I want to... you know... learn how to play the game well before having to learn where the spawn points for invaders are located.

There's some dastardly stuff invaders can do to you at level 30. There's a griefing video I want to post but it's probably a minor spoiler.

Thanks S0LIDARITY.

I rang the bells last night

On my first attempt yesterday I nearly killed both (and took the tail off the second. Phew) Then I had a long run of just being wiped out by the first gargoyle. After a break I went back and, on my second try, killed them both without loosing much health at all. I did do some blocking as well as dodging. I still need to learn how to parry.

I have the Gargoyle tail axe as well as a Gargoyle themed shield, pike and helmet.

@Higgledy, the spoiler may hurt your pride.

Spoiler:

The second gargoyle never had a tail.

Here's the tutorial someone posted to this thread 50+ pages ago. It makes parrying pretty clear.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

@Higgledy, the spoiler may hurt your pride.

Spoiler:

The second gargoyle never had a tail.

I'll watch the video. Thanks.

Higgledy wrote:

Thanks S0LIDARITY.

I rang the bells last night

On my first attempt yesterday I nearly killed both (and took the tail off the second. Phew) Then I had a long run of just being wiped out by the first gargoyle. After a break I went back and, on my second try, killed them both without loosing much health at all. I did do some blocking as well as dodging. I still need to learn how to parry.

I have the Gargoyle tail axe as well as a Gargoyle themed shield, pike and helmet.

You rang A bell. There are two.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

You rang A bell. There are two.

Damn.

I don't suppose there's a connecting bus service to the second bell.

Higgledy wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

You rang A bell. There are two.

Damn.

I don't suppose there's a connecting bus service to the second bell.

If only. Now you get the fun of blight town. Bring some purple moss, or a rusted iron ring.

gah.. blight town bad. very very bad.

JC wrote:

gah.. blight town bad. very very bad.

Well it ain't called Tinkerbell Rainbowland.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Here's the tutorial someone posted to this thread 50+ pages ago. It makes parrying pretty clear.

Jeez, this video makes it look so easy! I never used parry in any of my runs through the game, I am thinking of creating a Dex based character that would use parrying exclusively. Sounds like fun at least for some time. Or not, depending on how much time it will take me to "get" the parrying to be reliable.

Only humanoids are parriable though

WRONG!

JC wrote:

gah.. blight town bad. very very bad.

I heard so many horror stories about Blighttown but didn't really have too many problems getting down there. Wading through the swamp without the Rust Iron Ring was a bit of a pain and going up and down the waterwheel resulted in some frustrations, but other than that I didn't really see what all the fuss was about.

I would recommend spending some time in Darkroot farming mosses rather than buying them all like I did.

Blighttown in Dark Souls is a lot better than the swamp level in Demon's Souls.

Hedinn wrote:

Only humanoids are parriable though :(

I don't recall if that video covers it but you can still parry to negate a lot of damage against a lot of bosses. The timing is really really hard though. Parry->riposte is a lot of fun when you get comfortable with it against Havel, Black Knights, and Silver Knights.

You can do partial parries on bosses yes, but it's utterly pointless.

kyrieee wrote:

You can do partial parries on bosses yes, but it's utterly pointless.

Except for

Spoiler:

Gwyn

Which makes that fight a cakewalk

Well, you can do proper parries there not just partial ones

Just don't do what I did and go through Blighttown backwards until hitting the locked door of the Depths and then have to go all the way back. Morale was low.

I'm not sure where I should go next. Any suggestions? I believe I'm level 31 now. I intend to be a dexterity build with powerful pyromancies. I've beaten the bosses in the Undead Burg and the boss in the Undead Parish. I've tried going to the following places: The Depths, Valley of Drakes, New Londo Ruins and Darkroot Garden.

The Depths and Darkroot Garden seem doable for me right now. I'm scared of New Londo Ruins. I worry I will run out of Transient Curses. I only have one left. I could get cursed in the Depths and come back to New Londo, I guess. But that curse is expensive to cure... too expensive. And my stats don't seem to be high enough for the Valley of Drakes.

I still have no bow. I accidentally killed the male merchant in the Undead Burg. I didn't even see him amongst those crates and boxes. I do have soul arrow and a crossbow though.

You should be focusing on the Depths then Blighttown

n10sity wrote:

Well, I regained my human form for the first time to fight a boss tonight. I swear I wasn't in my human form two minutes before I got invaded. I really wasn't expecting to be invaded that quickly at my low level, which is 26 30 (actually). I was expecting him to have to chase me down like they had to do in Demon's Soul. So I rushed as fast as I could to the fog. But the s.o.b. was waiting on me at the top of a ladder and backstabbed. As a consequence, I won't be both in human form and online for a while. I want to... you know... learn how to play the game well before having to learn where the spawn points for invaders are located.

I just want to say to anyone who does not want to be invaded, you can save and quit at any time. That will drop all connections and kick the invader. When you reload, everything else will be as you left it. Problem solved, unless you have summoned someone and don't want to drop them.

Dakuna wrote:

You should be focusing on the Depths then Blighttown :)

That's the route I took, but I think putting a little Darkroot in before Blighttown is a good idea, even if you only end up farming a bit of moss before you want to wait. That being said, I think the Hydra and the Butterfly are both easier bosses than Queelag.