From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Gozma]

If you're willing to wait and wait for him to slowly dragass across the oval arena he's in so there will be ample space behind him after he breathes/punches, you can run around and get a whack on the tail then keep moving to the empty space behind him, let him whiff the tail whip and reverse position and do it again. Trying to get the tail cut without getting space behind him means about 90% of the time the little cuttable tail section will be clipping through a wall, and 99% of the time you will get hit by the tail whip. Just takes forever.

 

[Wulfstand]

I've finally bought the game for like 10 bucks, I'm as late to the party as one can be, but that's okay. With DSfix, mfix and changing the controls with a keyboard layer, the game is really enjoyable.

It might sound amusing to some, but I do have a few newbie questions: what are the ghostly figures that sometimes pop-up? Are they different players? Do those yellow texts on the ground randomly spawn each time I die/go to a bonfire? Why does GFWL suck so bad? How do I get into joyous co-op?

If i aim at using swords/spears, should I go for str first, over dex? My first build will mainly be end+vit and str/dex.

 

[praetor]

what are the ghostly figures that sometimes pop-up? Are they different players?

yup. and the closer you see them to a bonfire, the "clearer" you can see them

Do those yellow texts on the ground randomly spawn each time I die/go to a bonfire?

i don't know if anybody ever figured out the algorithm for "spawning" the messages, but it could be somewhat random. and i guess the more votes the message has, the higher the chance it will be shown?

Why does GFWL suck so bad?

dunno... it stopped working completely for me a couple of months ago hopefully they'll remove it soon

How do I get into joyous co-op?

you'll get the white sign soapstone after you beat the first "real" boss (Taurus demon). just don't kill the grossly incandescent NPC (you can do it and get his armour/weapon/shield and the soapstone, but then you're not a bro )

If i aim at using swords/spears, should I go for str first, over dex? My first build will mainly be end+vit and str/dex.

depends how big you want your swords. for regular longswords, they're mostly either "quality" weapons (where you'll need both Str and Dex), but what is probably the best longsword in the game is a pure Dex weapon. most spears (almost all the good ones, anyway) scale with Dex (16/40 Str/Dex is what you want to aim to use what is probably the best spear in the game). consider investing in 12 Att for 2 slots so you can put on some pyromancies (they don't require any stat investment), they're an excellent option for when you are in a pickle, although they can become a crutch so...

small loot spoiler if you don't mind:

Spoiler

get the Winged Spear from the graveyard area in Firelink (do suicide runs to get it, so spend all your souls beforehand. then when you get to Undead Parish, farm the Balder Knights wielding a longsword to get the Balder Side Sword.. the best longsword in the game. range, speed, damage, moveset. it has it all

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

STAMINA
HEALTH
ENDURANCE
EVERYTHING YOU CAN EVER NEED

Ssry im butthurt from dying to a giantdad who swapped his zweihander movesets with balder's sword. Cheeky fag

 

[Wulfstand]

you'll get the white sign soapstone after you beat the first "real" boss (Taurus demon). just don't kill the grossly incandescent NPC

I know, I've already met Solair, I've beaten the taurus demon half an hour ago. I thought Solair said 'joyous coop', but I think it might've been jolly or somesuch.

depends how big you want your swords. for regular longswords, they're mostly either "quality" weapons (where you'll need both Str and Dex), but what is probably the best longsword in the game is a pure Dex weapon. most spears (almost all the good ones, anyway) scale with Dex (16/40 Str/Dex is what you want to aim to use what is probably the best spear in the game). consider investing in 12 Att for 2 slots so you can put on some pyromancies (they don't require any stat investment), they're an excellent option for when you are in a pickle, although they can become a crutch so...

Cool, I'm currently at 14 STR, just so I could use this 1h axe I found. You mean those big knights that were also shown in the introductory clip, who were working for 'Gwyn', was it? I can barely hit those fuckers! I imagine that riposting/backstabbing him might actually help, but I momentarily suck hard at doing them.

STAMINA
HEALTH
ENDURANCE
EVERYTHING YOU CAN EVER NEED

Ssry im butthurt from dying to a giantdad who swapped his zweihander movesets with balder's sword. Cheeky fag

How...
Dramatic

Spoiler

Thank you, too.

 

[praetor]

Cool, I'm currently at 14 STR, just so I could use this 1h axe I found. You mean those big knights that were also shown in the introductory clip, who were working for 'Gwyn', was it? I can barely hit those fuckers! I imagine that riposting/backstabbing him might actually help, but I momentarily suck hard at doing them.

no, no... you'll see the Parish when you get to it. there'll be a number of undead zombie knights there, that look and fight like an "upgrade" of the regular zombie dudes you've been fighting until now. if you mean that one Black Knight with his greatsword (he wields it like a longsword, but when you get it it's a greatsword. if you get it, i'd advise against using it, since it will make a lot of the game a bit too easy... and the Balder sword + winged spear combo is way more fun anyway ) in that "tunnel" near the Taurus boss, yeah backstabbing and parrying are the best options at low levels. once you get the hang of backstabs, he becomes pretty easy

 

[Jaedar]

Black knights are optional enemies. No real need to try to kill them that early in the game.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

real men must parry them to death

 

[Gozma]

I'm pretty sure the messages are like the summoning signs - as soon as you boot up the game it starts building a list of connections to P2P with and as you connect with them you receive their orange messages. People that aren't online to connect with probably have their messages vanish.

It might be when you uprate the message you also become able to perpetuate that particular message across the P2P network and it persists even if the original guy isn't online. I kinda doubt it though because you never see non-hacked messages with more than 2-3 uprates on the PC version and "amazing chest ahead" would probably have snowballed...

 

[StaticSpine]

real men must parry them to death

Yup, they're just great to train your parry skills.

 

[StaticSpine]

Holy shit, Oolacile township nasty sorcerers. Hate them.

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

I've finally bought the game for like 10 bucks, I'm as late to the party as one can be, but that's okay. With DSfix, mfix and changing the controls with a keyboard layer, the game is really enjoyable.

It might sound amusing to some, but I do have a few newbie questions: what are the ghostly figures that sometimes pop-up? Are they different players? Do those yellow texts on the ground randomly spawn each time I die/go to a bonfire? Why does GFWL suck so bad? How do I get into joyous co-op?

If i aim at using swords/spears, should I go for str first, over dex? My first build will mainly be end+vit and str/dex.

I think everyone fucks up their first build - you don't really know what stats you want until you know the weapon you want to use. And it's kind of tough to know what weapons you want to use until you've tried them all and figured out which movesets you like. You might want try using elemental weapons through the midgame and hold off on leveling str and dex beyond the minimum requirements for each weapon until you know what you want to use. I think having a 16 Str and 14 dex will let you use most spears, katanas, curved and straight swords one handed and a good chunk of the greatswords two handed. You'll probably need to bump up your strength if you want to try out the great axes and hammers though.

Plus you'll have the option to throw some points into faith and int if you want to try out sorcery and miracles. The force miracle only needs 12 faith and is pretty fun if, like me, you enjoy knocking enemies off cliffs just a bit more than is healthy. On the sorcery side, an int of 14 allows fall control, repair, hush and hidden body, all of which are great for lazy people. Fall control, hush and hidden body are nice for taking shortcuts and skipping enemies (and fall control makes the Great Hollow alot easier) without having to play around with your rings. Repair was a surprisingly high quality of life improvement. I just kept a catalyst in one of my unused slots and I never had to deal with the hassle of going through the repair menu at the bonfire. Just cast every now and then and you're good to go.

 

[StaticSpine]

Hey guys, I have a question.

I've got a +15 Manserpent sword equipped in my right hand. My STR now is 43, yesterday I got some souls to level up, I tried to upgrade STR, but the right hand damage didn't increase. Why is that?

 

[praetor]

40 is the "soft cap", meaning that any point beyond that is, for all intents and purposes, wasted (up until 40 you get something like 3dmg/point, beyond 40 it's more like the inverse, i.e. 1dmg/3points. these aren't exact numbers and they vary from stat to stat, bracket to bracket, it's just to illustrate the point ). put those souls in Vit (until 50), End (40 or more if you want heavier armour) or Att for some pyros... or buy some upgrade materials

 

[StaticSpine]

40 is the "soft cap", meaning that any point beyond that is, for all intents and purposes, wasted (up until 40 you get something like 3dmg/point, beyond 40 it's more like the inverse, i.e. 1dmg/3points. these aren't exact numbers and they vary from stat to stat, bracket to bracket, it's just to illustrate the point ). put those souls in Vit (until 50), End (40 or more if you want heavier armour) or Att for some pyros... or buy some upgrade materials

Aw, it's a shame I didn't know that earlier. I'll invest in END and VIT. Thanks man.

 

[Wulfstand]

Those fuuuuuuucking gargoyles!

I didn't know that I had to actually give that soul to that chick at the firelink shrine in order to upgrade my Estus Flask, so I just used it and got souls (which I lost after a few runs)!

In regards to fighting bosses, is the halberd or the axe more effective? I'm guessing the halberd has a wider grip/range, and I could also upgrade it a bit. My +3 axe isn't all that I'd hoped it'd be.

Edit: I actually managed to get humanity off of those undead knights, grabbed a halberd +3 and summoned Solaire. The whole area feels really thought out, as in there are many ways to overcome the difficulty, if you persevere.

 

[praetor]

the more effective weapon is the one you're more comfortable using what axe are you using? hand or battle? stats? but yeah, the halberd is likely the better choice

 

[DragoFireheart]

the more effective weapon is the one you're more comfortable using what axe are you using? hand or battle? stats? but yeah, the halberd is likely the better choice

He could go to 46 and one-hand the Demon's Great Axe.

 

[Wulfstand]

the more effective weapon is the one you're more comfortable using what axe are you using? hand or battle? stats? but yeah, the halberd is likely the better choice

Hand-axe+3, which has 123 damage, from what i recall. My halberd+3 is 130something, and is also quite fun to use. Now that I've gone to the cemetery behind the firelink shrine, it's especially fun to line up those skeletons and bash them the fuck in. If only I could hit with it faster/it had a faster animation (but I guess I need more str/dex for that, right?).

The yellow texts are particularly amusing at times, I love how all these details make the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

By the way, what's with that anvil-headed iron demon beneath the blacksmith? The texts surrounding him advise me to use pyromancy, guess I should read up on the magic system a bit, since I've no clue where to procure any spells.

Somehow, this game reminds me of Gothic 1/2, and that's a pretty damn solid compliment in my book.

 

[DragoFireheart]

By the way, what's with that anvil-headed iron demon beneath the blacksmith?

You should melee him without a shield.

 

[praetor]

Hand-axe+3, which has 123 damage, from what i recall. My halberd+3 is 130something, and is also quite fun to use. Now that I've gone to the cemetery behind the firelink shrine, it's especially fun to line up those skeletons and bash them the fuck in. If only I could hit with it faster/it had a faster animation (but I guess I need more str/dex for that, right?).

The yellow texts are particularly amusing at times, I love how all these details make the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

By the way, what's with that anvil-headed iron demon beneath the blacksmith? The texts surrounding him advise me to use pyromancy, guess I should read up on the magic system a bit, since I've no clue where to procure any spells.

Somehow, this game reminds me of Gothic 1/2, and that's a pretty damn solid compliment in my book.

screw the hand axe. it can be a decent backup weapon early on and/or PvP, but you want something better. dunno if you read about it somewhere, but just to be safe: there's 2 damage values, a) base damage and b) scaling damage. the 2nd depends up on your stat and the scaling rating of a weapon, which goes from E (worst) up to A and S (best). most weapons scale with either Dex or Str, some with both (usually called quality weapons, and they have scaling ratings something like C/C or C/D or D/C so you'll need to invest in both Str and Dex to use them effectively, or upgrade them along an elemental path that removes scaling altogether. the halberd is such a quality weapon, as are the more "traditional" longswords and (ultra)greatswords)

that's a Titanite Demon. he drops.... Demon Titanite! (material required to upgrade weapons crafted from boss souls) he doesn't respawn and gives a decent amount of souls for early on (1-3k iirc?). he does have a weakness...

fighting tactic (they become pretty easy once you figure it out, so try it by yourself without spoilerifying before reading below)

Spoiler

hug his missing leg, there none of his attacks can hit you and you only have to worry about that plunging jump attack that can eat up all your stamina if you block and even do some serious damage, so just roll a second or so after he jumps

you'll unlock magic vendors soon enough. although you can find a very basic one near Firelink if you explore. locations/spoilers:

Spoiler

1. is the basic "Int magic" vendor, you'll be able to unlock after you get the key where you found the halberd [it opens that locked door after the taurus demon/just before the drake bridge] and you buy the residence key from the undead burg merchant. warning: Int magic is quite boring and can be very, very OP in PvE and trivializes a lot of the bosses. he'll move to Firelink after you free him
2. is the basic pyromancy trainer. after you clear the Lower Burg [area from 1.^], the boss drops the key to unlock the depths.. he's in a room with many barrels. do not break them with your weapon, but use rolling so you don't run the risk of injuring/aggroing him. he'll also move to Firelink. again, warning: if you farm a lot of souls and upgrade the pyro flame like there's no tomorrow, you'll also run the risk of unlocking easy mode, although at a lesser extent than Int magic

 

[Wulfstand]

Thanks DragoFireheart and praetor, I've already managed to beat him and have started travelling through the darkroot forest. After gathering the elite knight armor set, I kindled the fire, and managed to explore the woods a bit more thanks to some random guy whom i managed to summon. We went up until this faery dragon boss, where my share of the travel ended since the damn thing's missiles two shotted me, even though I tried to block them. I couldn't even figure how to reach it, having no missile weapons to hit her with. I'm guessing I'm not supposed to fight it just yet.

I've also found this ring that supposedly increases my poise. Poise is the ability to not get stun-locked, right?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Thanks DragoFireheart and praetor, I've already managed to beat him and have started travelling through the darkroot forest. After gathering the elite knight armor set, I kindled the fire, and managed to explore the woods a bit more thanks to some random guy whom i managed to summon. We went up until this faery dragon boss, where my share of the travel ended since the damn thing's missiles two shotted me, even though I tried to block them. I couldn't even figure how to reach it, having no missile weapons to hit her with. I'm guessing I'm not supposed to fight it just yet.

You need a good bow or magic to kill it

OR

keep dodging until it lands and then smash it.

 

[Wulfstand]

You need a good bow or magic to kill it

OR

keep dodging until it lands and then smash it.

I can shield/dodge its spears, but her 4 magic missiles go though my shield, somehow.

 

[DragoFireheart]

You need a good bow or magic to kill it

OR

keep dodging until it lands and then smash it.

I can shield/dodge its spears, but her 4 magic missiles go though my shield, somehow.

Don't block any of her attacks. Dodge dodge dodge!