On January 19 2013 04:51 MiyaviTeddy wrote: Thanks guise :3 <3 you're the best.
And is there like a beginners guide to like dark souls (and pvp) that I should read?
The Dark Souls wiki (easily googled) is extremely informative, but I'd recommend playing through the game completely blind at least once. I don't know anything about PvP yet, but I'm still on my first playthrough (trying to do everything possible). Figuring things out as you go, making mistakes and getting surprised seem to be a core part of what makes this game so unique. The only thing that's really unintuitive is the upgrading system, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it; it's not relevant until a good ways into the game, and you don't want to spend your first playthrough researching and min/maxing anyway.
I'd like to know if there are any major mistakes to be made, mostly regarding the upgrading of weapons. Do i understand it correctly that the base weapons are pretty much the same, and you just upgrade those you like? Or are there some weapons that are bad/do you get better weapons to upgrade later on? So far i have upgraded my basic broadsword to +4. I just basically don't want to waste irreplaceable/rare stuff if you get better basic weapons later.
Basically, yes, all weapons are more or less the same. The difference is obviously damage, speed and moveset. So if you really like the bastard sword, it's definitely not a problem to upgrade it. Personally I prefer the Long sword because it has a stabbing motion on heavy attack which is nice when you don't want to get too close.
There are no weapons which you need to handle in any special way, so it's fine to just upgrade away, you can even revert upgrades later (which is a huge waste of souls and materials, but at least it can be done). One thing worth noting is that some weapons are hard to come by. For example, there's only one claymore in the game (and it's IMO one of the best weapons) so say you want a fire claymore, you probably want to stay away from making it a lightning claymore. You can of course get another claymore in New Game+, so it's not a big deal regardless.
To make boss weapons etc, you need their soul (never use boss souls for souls, always save them!) and a fitting weapon, for example, to make Quelaags furysword you need a leveled normal dexterity weapon such as a katana. At that point though, it's quite easy to just farm up normal weapons, so it's not really something you have to plan for.
On January 21 2013 17:58 Simberto wrote: Ok, but there is no such thing as finding a powerlongsword that is just better then a usual longsword, then?
no, there are some "better" versions of some weapons but thats mostly due to some special traits or stuff like stat reqs,different scaling/upgrade path etc.
if you upgrade your broadsword you dont have to be scared that soon the "cruel broadsword" drops which is the same just with better basedmg. and overall feel free to use your shards as you wish. they can be gotten very easy so nothing big is lost.
just the more rare titanites and esp the slabs (reallly rare but youre far away from finding/able to use em) should be used with more thought.
On January 21 2013 17:58 Simberto wrote: Ok, but there is no such thing as finding a powerlongsword that is just better then a usual longsword, then?
there definately are weapons better than others. while its true that those differences are mostly minor, you definately want to research which weapon you are going for first.
personally i'd go with balder side sword for 1h straight swords all the time. same goes for claymore / flamberge > bastard sword / murakomo > server / zweihander > greatsword.
edit : oh wow i didnt understand your question at all =O sorry. well hope it helps somebody :S
edit 2 : got something to add tho : there are different upgrade paths for magc/faith as well as fire/the other fire thing! they do different amounts of dmg depending on your stats so you have to choose the right upgrade path!
i.e a magic broadsword might do more dmg than an enchanted broadsword on your magic character or vice versa while both are scaling with magic.
On January 21 2013 17:58 Simberto wrote: Ok, but there is no such thing as finding a powerlongsword that is just better then a usual longsword, then?
there definately are weapons better than others. while its true that those differences are mostly minor, you definately want to research which weapon you are going for first.
personally i'd go with balder side sword for 1h straight swords all the time. same goes for claymore / flamberge > bastard sword / murakomo > server / zweihander > greatsword.
edit : oh wow i didnt understand your question at all =O sorry. well hope it helps somebody :S
It's still minor though. Balder Side Sword has identical damage to a longsword, but requires more dexterity to wield. It scales pretty well with dexterity at high normal levels though (so unlike a longsword, it could actually be useful as something other than an elemental sword).
Still, unless you're min-maxing or have something else in mind, the only real reason to go balder side sword over a longsword is if you prefer to have a double-thrust on heavy attack, which is again quite minor.
I haven't used Balder Side Sword much, but it looks like it might have slightly longer reach than longsword as well.
Do NPCs come back to life in NG+ ? I'm wondering if I should kill the firekeeper in anor londo in normal difficulty but I don't want the bonefire to be useless in NG+.
On January 21 2013 21:08 Soulmate wrote: Do NPCs come back to life in NG+ ? I'm wondering if I should kill the firekeeper in anor londo in normal difficulty but I don't want the bonefire to be useless in NG+.
On January 21 2013 21:08 Soulmate wrote: Do NPCs come back to life in NG+ ? I'm wondering if I should kill the firekeeper in anor londo in normal difficulty but I don't want the bonefire to be useless in NG+.
They all come back.
All your sins are absolved too, so if you're close to beating the game you can really go nuts with no consequences.
Bought this game shortly after it came out and couldnt play it / get into it because i didnt have a proper controller (My Onza's right trigger is busted q.q)
I recently got motionjoy to run my PS3 controller and tried this again.
OH. MY. GOD. this game is so fucking brilliant, everything is difficult, you relax for one second and somethings backstabbed and shafted your ass off a cliff, its hillarious fun.
Also, ive killed 2 of the 3 merchants ive come across so far in fear hahahaha. I got a free uchigana off the first though, which helped me own the bell goyles easily enough. +5 ftw. The second ran off behind bars and shouted at me for a looong time lol.
Does this game scare anyone else? I get so shit scared of just walking down a new hallway, so relaxed just farming undead parish / darkroot garden for a while then i go to lower undead and i shit my pants hehehe.
This game is 100% brilliant, only game to live up to its hype in years for me, im going to get my hands on demon souls at some point, i must, i have to.
Also, Fuck capra demon, still stuck on him now :-D
On January 22 2013 03:15 Capped wrote: Bought this game shortly after it came out and couldnt play it / get into it because i didnt have a proper controller (My Onza's right trigger is busted q.q)
I recently got motionjoy to run my PS3 controller and tried this again.
OH. MY. GOD. this game is so fucking brilliant, everything is difficult, you relax for one second and somethings backstabbed and shafted your ass off a cliff, its hillarious fun.
Also, ive killed 2 of the 3 merchants ive come across so far in fear hahahaha. I got a free uchigana off the first though, which helped me own the bell goyles easily enough. +5 ftw. The second ran off behind bars and shouted at me for a looong time lol.
Does this game scare anyone else? I get so shit scared of just walking down a new hallway, so relaxed just farming undead parish / darkroot garden for a while then i go to lower undead and i shit my pants hehehe.
This game is 100% brilliant, only game to live up to its hype in years for me, im going to get my hands on demon souls at some point, i must, i have to.
Also, Fuck capra demon, still stuck on him now :-D
Yeah I was super scared the first playthrough lol! Once you've finished it a few times the scare effects wear off though since there is no randomization whatsoever and you'll be like "yeah i remember the first time i met this guy, lol, lol". In my experience the scare effects are also partly because you know that the enemies kill you so quickly too, and before you learn their movesets it's so nervous :D and then you'll kill shit with a new character with no problems whatsoever which also makes you feel like you've progressed as a player, not just progressed your ingame character. It's really cool.
It's one of the games that you'll play the first time for the experience, the second time for exploring the world and then a hundred times more to experiment with different builds and fuck around in pvp. I agree, one of the few games living up to the hype and one of the few games that I genuinely would say is a masterpiece. I'd definitely get Demon Souls if I hadn't played it before. I'd say it's slightly less accessible and has a fair bit more annoyances in gameplay, it's basically a worse version of Dark Souls but it's still a very good game.
Final note: I love the way both games tell a story without blasting it in your face if you bother to look for it. I was really surprised by the amount of depth storywise when I made an effort to explore the worlds and find all the NPCs.
EDIT - I had tonnes of troubles with capra demon too. Mostly because of his dogs, try to gain some distance to him (not always easy) and kill them off first. Then you can learn his moveset and beat him. If you have a decent shield you can block most of his attacks (probably not his doublehanded overhead smash though but that should be easily avoided)
A lot of the scaryness for me comes from the weird art design (weird in a good way). I mean look at the primordial serpents, who designs something like that? All of the monsters and pretty much all of the environments are designed in this weird way, it's just generally creepy.
At above, yeah its an amazing game, really enjoying the ride and i agree wit hthe fact i'll probably reply it at least twice in the near future just because its that good.
It really is just "creepy" heishe. Even that fucker you first talk to in firelink shrine, i mean..who talks like that *shudder* I went to the bottom of that elevator in firelink shrine too and just turned around, that was too much for me to handle hahaha.
The creepy atmosphere and the "your going to die" feeling you constantly have are enough to make you worry something rotten.
My wife is immune to it though, she posted a facebook message saying i <3 capra demon because she finds my rage so funny. Its a good rage though, not a ladder rage :D
This game kills you in a good way, not in that diablo 3 cheap way...
On January 21 2013 15:46 BeMannerDuPenner wrote: so how do i get more frequent/reliable pvp?
im pretty much through the game. just last boss remaining and the end of the expansion area. at this point just want to fight other people since its fun and it seems ng+ will take me alot of time till i have the freedom again to do what i want.
the arena barely seems to work. in like 2 hours of trying to get duels running it only worked once where i fought the same guy multiple times.thought "hey lets just go for invasions/get invaded!" right outside of the arena but apart from permafoggates barely anyone actually got in and my darkmoon invasions never succeeded(despite obv alot of darkwraiths beeing in the area).
same for pretty much any other area. i sometimes manage to invade someone per blue orb but its rare and seems quite random(convenant ring doesnt do anything,invaded 2 guys that were just waiting for me 2 days ago, since then in hours it did nothing). i spent like 5 hours yesterday just trying to pvp and at best got maybe 15fights in.
A lot of times certain areas are commonly reserved for duels of characters of a certain Soul Level so you might just be over/underleveled in the pvp spots you're looking around in. I think there's a general list of associated areas and levels in the Wiki.
thought red eye invades slightly below to anything above while blue eye invades anything below and slightly above?
thats atleast what i read.
From what I've heard, the base invasion formula is your lvl+-(10 lvls + 10% of your lvl). It will always search closest to your level first before going higher or lower though. The red eye supposedly only invades people higher lvl, and the blue eye supposedly can invade people lower based on how much they've been indicted (1 indictment= possibility of invader being 1 lvl higher than the formula). It's difficult to tell exactly how the game does it though. Also, the final area leading up to the last boss (Kiln of the First Flame) is a pretty good high lvl pvp spot, it may be easier for you to find people there.
@Simberto Weapons are more about movesets than just the damage stat, and the skill of the player with that moveset. There are a few mistakes you can make regarding upgrading of weapons though. I would not recommend upgrading into the Raw or Crystal variety of weapons. Raw weapons aren't as strong base damage as just going normal +15 and have reduced scaling, and if you don't want scaling elemental weapons will be far far more powerful (just the base physical damage of an elemental weapon will often be stronger than a raw weapons base+scaling if you aren't leveling the stats). Crystal weapons have only 10% of the normal durability and cannot be repaired(except by upgrading to a higher lvl crystal weapon), so they are extremely limited in their usefulness for very little extra damage. The secondary paths on weapons will also almost always be more useful since you won't raise multiple stats high (if you are an int build and using a magic weapon, then upgrading to enchanted will usually be better than sticking with magic alone, as your int scaling is worth more than str and dex scaling). Occult is similarly stronger than divine(unless you want to use divine in the catacombs, but it's not neccessary), and Chaos is stronger than Fire if you have humanity, but weaker if you don't.
@Soulmate Don't forget to kill the blacksmiths too before you advance to new game +, they all drop unique things.
Regarding weapons: There are some "bad" weapons - the Drake Sword is terrible past Blighttown, Dark Sword is pretty bad, and Knight's Shield is absolutely awful - but for the most part there will not be a "strictly better" weapon than another. They have either different movesets, different scaling, different requirements, and/or different ranges.
Let's compare some common weapons: -Longsword vs Broadsword: broadsword does more damage, but has a different (and inferior) R2 -Longsword vs Balder Side Sword: same damage, but different scaling (C/C for longsword, E/A for BSS), second R2 is different -Iaito vs Uchi: Uchi does more damage, has a different R2, and requires less dex -Longbow vs Black Bow of Pharis: Pharis does lower base damage but higher scaling; longer range
So for example, you can argue a BSS is strictly better than a longsword, but that's not true, because a 27 strength + 40 dex build will do more damage holding a longsword with 2hands than a BSS. Or you can say an Uchi is better than an Iaito, but many swear by the Iaito because they like the R2, and the only time the Dex requirement matters is if you make a Lightning with base stats instead of a +15.
The only real difference I've found is that Solaire's sword is strictly better than a Longsword, and a Falchion is strictly better than a Scimitar, but both these weapons weigh more than the lower damage versions.
TLDR: When picking a weapon, ignore damage. Just find one you like the looks and moveset of, look at similar weapons, and stick with the one you like. For example, I love the look and attack motions of the Silver Knight Spear, and would never use another spear, even though some spears have better scaling (SKSp is E/C and not enchantable), base damage, or range.
On January 22 2013 05:17 Capped wrote: This game kills you in a good way, not in that diablo 3 cheap way...
Except the goddamn Bed of Chaos, which I learned this afternoon. All afternoon.
Yeah, there are two instances in the game that are just kind of cheap like that, small flaws that mar an otherwise almost perfect game (the other inconsistently being capra demon, sometimes he's fine, but the first time I fought him I was dead before the fog even cleared because he jump attacked immediately, confused me greatly and is pretty cheap if it happens).
Bed of Chaos is a really aggravating boss, it's very limited and unforgiving in how you can tackle it. The best legit advice is to use rolls (blocking just gets you pushed into the pit). You can roll through his arms to get to the sides, and then roll instead of jump onto the middle. It's the only semi-reliable way I've found to get him, without being cheap with the bow that is.
On January 22 2013 05:34 Sandster wrote: Regarding weapons: There are some "bad" weapons - the Drake Sword is terrible past Blighttown, Dark Sword is pretty bad, and Knight's Shield is absolutely awful - but for the most part there will not be a "strictly better" weapon than another. They have either different movesets, different scaling, different requirements, and/or different ranges.
Let's compare some common weapons: -Longsword vs Broadsword: broadsword does more damage, but has a different (and inferior) R2 -Longsword vs Balder Side Sword: same damage, but different scaling (C/C for longsword, E/A for BSS), second R2 is different -Iaito vs Uchi: Uchi does more damage, has a different R2, and requires less dex -Longbow vs Black Bow of Pharis: Pharis does lower base damage but higher scaling; longer range
So for example, you can argue a BSS is strictly better than a longsword, but that's not true, because a 27 strength + 40 dex build will do more damage holding a longsword with 2hands than a BSS. Or you can say an Uchi is better than an Iaito, but many swear by the Iaito because they like the R2, and the only time the Dex requirement matters is if you make a Lightning with base stats instead of a +15.
The only real difference I've found is that Solaire's sword is strictly better than a Longsword, and a Falchion is strictly better than a Scimitar, but both these weapons weigh more than the lower damage versions.
TLDR: When picking a weapon, ignore damage. Just find one you like the looks and moveset of, look at similar weapons, and stick with the one you like. For example, I love the look and attack motions of the Silver Knight Spear, and would never use another spear, even though some spears have better scaling (SKSp is E/C and not enchantable), base damage, or range.
This post needs to be highlighted. It sums up confusion about the weapon system quickly, something that definitely took me a while to get a grasp on when I started playing. It's just counter intuitive to most players. You said it best yourself in that even when something looks just straight up better, there's almost ALWAYS a drawback, even if it's just a bit more weight for example.
Pick for what feels right for you, looks and playstyle. I know the first time I played the game, I loved the plain old halberd. Nowadays I would never use it because it feels so clunky, but when I was fresh I thought it was so cool. Definitely the more important factor for the overall experience.
Somehow, if i do it, i still take damage, so i just stopped doing it and try to evade all attack through running around and/or rolling, but there must be some point to it. This is also why i stopped using a shield, because i don't see the point in it, except against archers.
EPT
