Dark Souls

[Pete for President]

Anyway yeah point is the game picked up a lot and is getting good now.

I'm glad you gave it another shot! Have fun exploring : )

welcome to the party, that's where it picked up for me too... burg is pretty much stressful the whole time, but parish is interesting.

i spent tonight in the garden grinding on the forest saviour power rangers and invading sinners. kept hitting this scythe clad ghost guy and his golden retriever who kept doing me in. they weren't even cheap, they were just good. whenever i went after the retriever the scythe backstabbed me out of nowhere.

but i must've hit them like 7 times tonight... frustrating, cause i would've liked to hit someone i could actually take.

their initial method was, the ghost hides beside the stairs from the bonfire, and the golden summon lures you out, which i fell for like a sucker. should've realized the whole 'just stanidng here what up' thing was a trick.

good times though. i'm getting less freaked out at invading. it's easier in anor londo cause i know the place pretty well, whereas in the garden, i still dunno how to move around properly. but it feels like everyone in anor londo is tanked the smurf out.

Hunting in the forest can be tough but also very fun. I'm glad you're on the invaders side instead of the gankers

Some advice and tricks if you don't mind:

- Never trust anyone in the forest. As you've noticed the hosts and summons have tons of tricks up their sleeve. So don't bow when they do; it might be a trap. Always keep your guard up. It also helps to scout them a bit from afar and see what equipment they're using. Moonlight Greatsword? Expect magic. The Grant? Expect Wrath of the Gods, and so on.

- As a blue phantom, never trust red phantoms. As a red phantom, never trust blue phantoms. Whenever you invade a host fighting a phantom of different color, always make sure you keep the host in the middle of the brawl. Don't turn your back to the other phantom; sometimes they will just as easily kill you.

- The cleric NPC enemy is the most valuable of all the NPC hunters; he often casts AoE healing miracles which also heals invaders like you. Pretty neat huh? So stay close to him if you're fighting a host along with the npc's.

- Shooting gankers from afar with a bow usually gets their attention and they will often chase you. That's when you lure them to mobs and you should know where to find them; the forest npc's right at the starting area, the vegetables in the back of that same area, the giant kitties after crossing the back bridge (success guaranteed if you lure them here unless the host has already killed them) and 2 giant shrooms where the enchanted ember treasure is after crossing Alvina's bridge. Use them!

- There is a cliff to the right of Alvina's house which has a treetrunk lying close to it, followed by a rock. There's one particular edge where the other side is close enough to jump to. Try to get the hang of jumping to the other side. This can often be your escape route if you need to heal or rethink strategy. Gankers usually don't follow and even if they do they don't always make the jump. Place a message on the edge you feel confident of jumping from so you know where to find the sweet spot even in the heat of battle. It's a very spectacular escape route and it will save your life.