Dark Souls

[Unbreakable Will]

Probably one of the hardest rpg's I've ever played, which is why I'm creating this thread for open discussion on good tips/tricks and item locations. If you've got any interesting tidbits on this frustrating game help a brother out!

Possible spoiler for the adventurous 'I want to find it by myself' types; Once you've gotten out of the tutorial take the rightmost path outside of the firelink shrine to the graveyard and hustle past the skeletal warriors (incredibly hard enemies with no rewards once beaten) to gather up all the items which include a magic resistant shield, named greatsword and lost souls.
Also, as a personal preference plug, the master key is incredibly useful in gathering better equipment/items and even easy access to areas throughout the game making it an excellent choice in the character creation.

As a general topic share some of your misadventures within the realm of Dark Souls.

[Flying Arrow]

My favourite game of the last 5 years. The last thread on DS died pretty quick, but I'm glad to see there's another one.

Some tips/advice for beginners:

• Don't be too scared to lose your souls. You will die and you will be surprised by things. Remember: you can always retrieve your souls if you can get back to where you were when you died. But even if you fail at retrieval and lose the souls forever, don't fret. By the end of the game, those 5000 souls you were so careful not to lose will be chump change.
• You can do most things without taking damage. DS is not about tanking damage or attrition (although you can play that way too). Being observant, patient, and careful will almost always net you a victory.
• Pure stats won't win it for you. If the base damage of Sword 1 is higher than Sword 2, don't just toss Sword 2 away. Consider attack speed and attack range. Also, make sure you test out the variety of moves for each weapon. Each one comes with R1, R2, L3+R1, L3+R2, running + R1, and running + R2 attacks for both single- and double-handed wielding. That's 12 possible attacks for every one of the hundreds of weapons in the game. Bottom line: try stuff out, see what works. Not all of it is useful always, but sometimes just 1 out of those 12 possible attacks clicks so well with you that it can carry you through whole portions of the game.
• Also, be mindful of stat modifiers for each weapon. If you have a high Dexterity character, you will deal more damage with a B-scaling scythe than the Drake Sword. Stats scale from E (lowest) to S (highest). The higher your stat for a scaling weapon, the more damage you will do every time you level up that stat.
• Parrying is difficult at first, but try it out on low-level enemies to get the timing down. But remember: only humanoid enemies can be parried.
• Backstabs are great for a quick kill (plus more XP). Remember to be directly behind your enemy and have your shield down before pressing R1. Backstabs won't always initiate for you at first, but once you get a feel for the "sweet spot" it'll become muscle memory. Again, only humanoid enemies can be backstabbed.
• For the easiest time through the game, my suggestion is that you pick a major attack stat (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Faith) and go with it almost exclusively. Wielding some weapons requires certain values in one or more of the stats, but don't go out of your way to level up Faith on your Strength character just because Astora's Straight Sword seems cool. There are hundreds of weapons in the game. There is always one you can find for yourself.
• In my experience, the most important non-attack stat is Stamina. Upgrade this often when you can. Stamina controls both how much you can carry before being encumbered, and how much stamina cost it takes to attack and block. At 50%+ of your carry weight, you can no longer roll effectively. So the more carry weight you have, the heavier the armor you can mix and match before becoming completely flat-footed (although, again, having a slow-dodging, high-poise tank is great for some people).
• The Master Key. This item is the most useful for those who are already familiar with the game world and want to sequence break to find certain items out of order (which is a viable way to play and clearly designed into the game). However, it can also save your butt as a first-timer. All locks require a certain key to open, but most of them are unlockable using the Master Key. You never know when you'll find a much-needed bonfire behind a locked door whose key is hidden somewhere else in the level.
  
  Yeah, you can get yourself into some hairy situations by accidentally walking into high-level areas early, but you'll also get a chance to see how the world connects. The great part about DS's world design is how connected it is and how many short cuts a player can find. Case in point: the Undead Burg level -more or less, the first place you're pointed to go- is completely optional if you know the game's layout. 90% of Blighttown -the place everyone hates- is also bypass-able.

[ljkkjlcm9]

If you played Demon's Souls, be mindful that stat modifiers are not very important especially in comparison. A maxed out lightning/fire weapon will in almost all cases be better than a weapon with stat modifiers on it. Therefore, only raise your stats to the levels you need for the weapons/shield you want to use, then prioritize upgrading the weapon. I spent almost all my souls on upgrading weapons and was very low level and had a much easier time than my friends who had be leveling the entire time.

The most important stats are
Endurance
Vitality
Attunement (if you use magic)
I suggest leveling Endurance almost exclusively until you max your stamina. Maybe some Vitality thrown in there, and then just stats for the equipment you want. After you've maxed stamina and can equip all the gear you want (and attunement slots) worry about upgrading equipment and only increase your vitality. All other levels are essentially wasted.

I also suggest that even if you intend to be primarily melee, to invest in the pyromancy hand. It is quite obviously "broken" in that it gets stronger purely based on how much you upgrade the pyromancy hand. No stats affect it's strength so you can be very low level and EXTREMELY powerful if you upgrade it.

THE JACKEL

[McLovin']

Pyromancy bitches always just try to get close to me and one shot me. They try. Dodge that trout and critical attack on their exposed asses. But seriously they are annoying as hell. All the magic users are.

[Flying Arrow]

Straight up fireball chucking is just asking to be back-stabbed.

The most effective use of pyro in PvP I've found is Surprise Pyro! When I'm my DEX/Pyro guy, I wait until the other player gets into a spot where maneuverability is very low and then, boom, Fire Tempest. For maximum hilarity, try it on the rafters of the painting hall in Anor Londo. It's also useful in areas with lots of cover - step behind a pillar and as your opponent tries to strafe or circle around it - boom, Chaos Fire Storm.

Of course, you'll want to have a good melee set-up for the times you can't pyro (most times). My Lifehunt Scythe covers that.

[krissy]

playing demon's souls right now

it's great
and it hurts so much
and it's great


EDIT: I HOPE THIS BUMPS

anyway i just melee'd red dragon using a meat cleaver

WHAT
LET'S OPEN UP THIS PIIITTT

[krissy]

i finished demon's souls two days ago

62 hours

soul level 80 something

what a ride

anyway dark souls is coming to pc
Dark Souls PC confirmed, new bosses promised | Metro.co.uk

[NeoCracker]

I was so excited to finally beat Dark Souls. The last couple levels were dissapointingly easy though, but on a whole a very challenging game.

I play games like this and see amazingly beautiful environments, some of the best on the system.

[krissy]

Prepare For GFWL In Dark Souls: Prepare To Die | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

should i wait for this or get the ps3 version? i don't know what gfwl is but i don't like anything with acronyms.
demon's relied on timing so much i feel like unless you have a dedicated gaming machine don't even bother with the pc version unless you like being mashed into pulp.

ill probably get the ps3 version anyway actually...once the price goes down a little bit.

[Roto13]

Semi-related, the Demons Souls servers are shutting down on May 31st, so that's happening.

[Slothy]

[i don't know what gfwl is but i don't like anything with acronyms.

Games for Windows Live. Basically Microsofts half-hearted (or assed) attempt at bringing Xbox Live to the PC. It is a pile of trout and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. That said, depending on the implementation it may have little impact on how the game plays (though I find this doubtful given the online nature of the game). I find it funny they're using it though when other developers have been abandoning it completely.

[krissy]

let's tell stories.

I'll tell about the first time I let someone into my game, which was also the first time I got invaded.

I was once invaded in 4-2 while I had a blue phantom helping me out. The invader had a Meat Cleaver (I had never seen one before) and looked quite formidable, especially to me at level 30 or 40 with a +1 mace being my best weapon.

The blue phantom tried to take him out but the invader killed him with one hit. I immediately got a message saying 'sorry! he was too strong for me...lol' which was super nice.

Eventually I lured the invader out onto the footpaths on the edge of the mountain, right after the room with the first reaper. He started messaging me to drop my Adjudicator's Shield, or he'd take it and all my souls from me. I didn't think this was possible, but I honestly had no idea if he was bluffing or not. I decided to fight either way. He kept messaging first, being all 'drop 'em last chance'. I just kept my shield, it was a really cool stand-off.

I'm pretty sure he enchanted his Meat Cleaver, and I rushed in and rolled away after his first hit, realized pretty early on that the Cleaver was a really slow weapon and used it to my advantage.

As soon as he was done his attack, I came up close and started pummeling him with my mace. Got him down to 1/3rd health, but the bastard rolled away and started healing with Full Moon I'm assuming. I did not heal because I didn't think it was worth the grasses to heal during a PvP, and it sort of stinks of lameness anyway.

If he hadn't healed up, I would've had him. But eventually he broke my guard and all he needed was one hit.

Kept my shield and souls were all there on my stain though.

That was my first real experience with Demon's Souls servers. It showed me both the good and bad guys, and it felt great and real and seriously left an impression.

Goodbye, Boletaria bros. It was a great run.

[Pete for President]

Bought it today. Played an hour and a half and like some of you who may have recommended Dark Souls in this thread I made a while back, this is definitely in the right alley. I chose the Wanderer class. I also kind of sense a Vagrant Story-ish vibe in several aspects; atmosphere, difficulty, learning curve, weapons and even combat. Might change though, cause I just started.

First boss battle got my heart pumping. Who else waited too long to drop down?

[Fonzie]

If you played Demon's Souls, be mindful that stat modifiers are not very important especially in comparison. A maxed out lightning/fire weapon will in almost all cases be better than a weapon with stat modifiers on it. Therefore, only raise your stats to the levels you need for the weapons/shield you want to use, then prioritize upgrading the weapon. I spent almost all my souls on upgrading weapons and was very low level and had a much easier time than my friends who had be leveling the entire time.

The most important stats are
Endurance
Vitality
Attunement (if you use magic)
I suggest leveling Endurance almost exclusively until you max your stamina. Maybe some Vitality thrown in there, and then just stats for the equipment you want. After you've maxed stamina and can equip all the gear you want (and attunement slots) worry about upgrading equipment and only increase your vitality. All other levels are essentially wasted.

I also suggest that even if you intend to be primarily melee, to invest in the pyromancy hand. It is quite obviously "broken" in that it gets stronger purely based on how much you upgrade the pyromancy hand. No stats affect it's strength so you can be very low level and EXTREMELY powerful if you upgrade it.

THE JACKEL

Of course, lightning/fire weapons are the best at the beginning. But at later levels they become largely outclassed by the stat modified gear you can possess along with, let's say a CMW enchantment(magic) or BDM enchantment(faith).

[Pete for President]

Hmm I chose the Tiny Being's ring as a gift instead of the Master Key, which turned out to be a bad choice since the ring seems to be pretty useless. Can anyone tell me how much class choice affects the character during the game? I chose Wanderer for example, although Thief seemed rather interesting as well. Would that make much of a difference besides the Master Key?