Dark Souls is on Steam

You can run through and complete new londo ruins without using using transient curses.
You have to be fast. Run all the way into the first building, pause near the center for a ghost to clear the door to the spiral staircase below. Run, drop, right, through the fog wall, up to the top. KICK the LADDER. It is a shortcut from the top of the stairs where the two ghosts rise up. you can skip the first building using it. Next, run into the next building into the fireplace and climb. If you are lucky you can make it to the roof. If you would rather kill the ghosts in that building, then run in, turn left, down, left and out, up the stairs, into the last building with the seal. From there use a curse, move forward to aggro the ghosts and kill them with a bow. You can get most of them. There will still be the banshee and another ghost in the building but they are not too bad.

tomb of giants also is not too bad if you know where to go. you can run past the first giant dog into the hole to the next section. if you find the bonfire there you can do everything else without aggro the dogs or giants.
 
jiminator said:
tomb of giants also is not too bad if you know where to go. you can run past the first giant dog into the hole to the next section. if you find the bonfire there you can do everything else without aggro the dogs or giants.
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Damn I wish I had known this during my first playthrough.... Those f*cking bone dogs absolutely annihilated me with their furry attack. I was wearing full havels and I might as well have been wearing a loin cloth.
 
Aphotic said:
Damn I wish I had known this during my first playthrough.... Those f*cking bone dogs absolutely annihilated me with their furry attack. I was wearing full havels and I might as well have been wearing a loin cloth.
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if you have max pyro (+5 asc, dusks, bellowing) you can one shot them with fire orbs, or the zweihander will knock them down until they are dead, just move forward slightly past lock on range and two hand it
 
I took down Seath on my first try. I thought I was attacking his tail, I wanted the sword, but apparently it was one of his side tentacles. Now on to the demon ruins and then izalith so I can wear a glowing maggot on my head.
 
get a xbox pc controller (i bought one xtra for this game ) and get the challenge of your life .
Bosses are nasty and mercyless,and (if you manage to play it through without online help) you get tons of gamehours outta the game .
 
notsure said:
Bosses are nasty and mercyless,and (if you manage to play it through without online help) you get tons of gamehours outta the game .
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that's the only part where I think the developers made a big mistake...way too much NPC/player summoning makes most of the tough bosses watered down...I didn't even realize until later playthroughs how many NPC summon signs were available for some of the fights (with some of them you can even summon multiple NPC's)- Bell Gargoyles, Demon Centipede, Four Kings, Ornstein and Smough etc...makes the vaunted difficulty of Dark Souls much less challenging

I think they dumbed things down...I'm not sure how it worked in Demon's Souls but being able to summon your way through boss fights is kinda cheap for a game which prides itself on its sky high difficulty and unforgiving nature
 
polonyc2 said:
that's the only part where I think the developers made a big mistake...way too much NPC/player summoning makes most of the tough bosses watered down...I didn't even realize until later playthroughs how many NPC summon signs were available for some of the fights (with some of them you can even summon multiple NPC's)- Bell Gargoyles, Demon Centipede, Four Kings, Ornstein and Smough etc...makes the vaunted difficulty of Dark Souls much less challenging

I think they dumbed things down...I'm not sure how it worked in Demon's Souls but being able to summon your way through boss fights is kinda cheap for a game which prides itself on its sky high difficulty and unforgiving nature
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At least part of the reason is to encourage people to not play hollow all the time since you can't summon when you're hollow. This tries to ensure there are people in human for that can be invaded and adds a bit of risk/reward to the game.

For the number of different systems in the game, I feel the did a pretty decent job trying to balance everything.
 
Ceaseless Discharge was almost a joke- he was so easy to avoid and take down. But, being SL 76 may have had something to do with it.

I took out that brood of Taurus Demons and found that body in the lava with the item on it and died in my attempt to cross :rolleyes: Knew I shouldn't have done that.
 
After I finish my current game I want to restart and play a Sorcerer, but I'm not sure how to build him. Any advice?
 
polonyc2 said:
that's the only part where I think the developers made a big mistake...way too much NPC/player summoning makes most of the tough bosses watered down...I didn't even realize until later playthroughs how many NPC summon signs were available for some of the fights (with some of them you can even summon multiple NPC's)- Bell Gargoyles, Demon Centipede, Four Kings, Ornstein and Smough etc...makes the vaunted difficulty of Dark Souls much less challenging

I think they dumbed things down...I'm not sure how it worked in Demon's Souls but being able to summon your way through boss fights is kinda cheap for a game which prides itself on its sky high difficulty and unforgiving nature
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dumbed down? They simply added NPC characters for summoning, in addition to summoning player characters while online. In contrast, Demon's Souls did not have summonable NPCs, only summoning of other player character while online. It is probably a concession to people whom have little or no internet access (see: they can still participated in jolly cooperation). But ultimately, it is balanced rather well, is integrated into the lore of the game, and many of the summonable NPCs are not available unless you have essentially "earned" them by doing certain things in game.

And in the end, you don't have to summon them! Who cares if somebody could only beat the game by summoning? Eventually they will get better and won't have to. But maybe they like to? It's ok if responsibility to decide how to play is placed on the player every now and then. It's not like this is some "sandbox" game lacking any sort of focus.
 
chameleoneel said:
dumbed down? They simply added NPC characters for summoning, in addition to summoning player characters while online. In contrast, Demon's Souls did not have summonable NPCs, only summoning of other player character while online. It is probably a concession to people whom have little or no internet access (see: they can still participated in jolly cooperation). But ultimately, it is balanced rather well, is integrated into the lore of the game, and many of the summonable NPCs are not available unless you have essentially "earned" them by doing certain things in game.

And in the end, you don't have to summon them! Who cares if somebody could only beat the game by summoning? Eventually they will get better and won't have to. But maybe they like to? It's ok if responsibility to decide how to play is placed on the player every now and then. It's not like this is some "sandbox" game lacking any sort of focus.
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I love the game overall...one of the best games I've ever played so it's not like I'm hating on the game...my point was that for a game that prides itself on its insane difficulty the summoning aspect sort of marginalized it...doesn't matter that you need to 'earn' the NPC's or that you don't have to use them...if the developers really wanted us to 'earn' the challenges the game provides then it shouldn't have so many easy outs...it's not just for 1 or 2 bosses but literally every one of them...I'm not even referring to other player summons but NPC summoning

NPC's are totally different in that they are put in there by the developers to make the game easier...for a title called 'Prepare to Die' it just sort of makes it less then what they claim...your point about Demon's Souls just makes my point...why didn't they leave it as player summoning only?...meaning they wanted to make this game somewhat easier or more accessible
 
polonyc2 said:
?...meaning they wanted to make this game somewhat easier or more accessible
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I dont think its so much accessibility, but more that they wanted a way to have a buddy for people WITHOUT internet access, since they would not be able to summon players to their game, because of the missing internet.
I know Demon Souls had neither, but I think this thing is more just part of the new online component rather than purposely trying to make the game easier.
 
I got about 75% done with the game on ps3 and am looking to pick it up and continue. has anyone played on ps3 and pc? wondering if I should pick up where I left off on console or buy it for pc and start over on my surround setup.
 
LeviathanZERO said:
I dont think its so much accessibility, but more that they wanted a way to have a buddy for people WITHOUT internet access, since they would not be able to summon players to their game, because of the missing internet.
I know Demon Souls had neither, but I think this thing is more just part of the new online component rather than purposely trying to make the game easier.
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I agree with that but I also think they wanted the game to reach a wider audience...the easiest way to do that is to make it less brutal to newcomers (even by a fraction)...from the things I'm hearing about Dark Souls 2 it sounds like they are going to do that again ever so slightly...I'm hearing warping will be available from the beginning...again it sounds like small steps to make the game reach a bigger audience without sacrificing the games overall principles

EDIT: as a test I was experimenting with different NPC summonings in one of my new games...in the Bell Gargoyle and Quelaag fight I had NPC's and they literally did most of the work while I just stood back and watched...I got in a few shots but I didn't have to do much of anything with them
 
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wadec22 said:
I got about 75% done with the game on ps3 and am looking to pick it up and continue. has anyone played on ps3 and pc? wondering if I should pick up where I left off on console or buy it for pc and start over on my surround setup.
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I did. I got about 75% of the way as well (not counting the DLC levels) on PS3 and picked up the PC version when it was cheap. If you have a controller for PC do it! The DSfix and mods make it much better looking than the PS3 version hands down. I'm not sure on the surround support though.
 
polonyc2 said:
I agree with that but I also think they wanted the game to reach a wider audience...the easiest way to do that is to make it less brutal to newcomers (even by a fraction)...from the things I'm hearing about Dark Souls 2 it sounds like they are going to do that again ever so slightly...I'm hearing warping will be available from the beginning...again it sounds like small steps to make the game reach a bigger audience without sacrificing the games overall principles

EDIT: as a test I was experimenting with different NPC summonings in one of my new games...in the Bell Gargoyle and Quelaag fight I had NPC's and they literally did most of the work while I just stood back and watched...I got in a few shots but I didn't have to do much of anything with them
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But there's risk involved. You have to be human to summon. Which means you open yourself up for invasion. There is no better balance for that. I don't care how good you are at the singleplayer game, an invasion could easily NOT go in your favor. Especially early on when you are a beginner because A. you are a beginner and B. the early sections of the game have disproportionately powerful invaders. and they recently improved the netcode for multiplayer, so invasions are more likely to happen!

I just don't see the problem. You either fight a tough boss by yourself, or you try to survive the level without dying and possibly fight an actual person along the way (if you are "offline", you can't summon a helper in the level, you also won't be invaded by actual people. but you still have to get through the level "alive" and if it's a new level, well that's going to be tough!. and there are NPC invaders in some places). Maybe even more than one person. You can be invaded many times, if it is a busy time of night.

Annnnd finally: You can't just summon all the time as much as you want. You have to be "human" and to be human you have to have "humanity". Which is not exactly plentiful. Yes, it can eventually be farmed if you are observant or read wikis and then are willing to invest the time it takes to farm. But then that feeds into the meta narrative of the player character in this world of Lordran. Lordran turns you into a fiend. You are so desperate for the peace of mind that is brought by the ability to summon due to holding Humanity----that you are willing to run around for hours in not so great places, killing things that aren't exactly challenging. (I'm avoiding outright telling people how/where to farm humanity). It also makes you a fiend for souls, that you don't really need nearly as much as the game would have you believe. But if only you had more of them, you could become more powerful! But how do you get souls? You steal off dead bodies and you kill stuff.
 
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The summons are very good, especially if it's your first time through the game and you're struggling. I don't have hours upon hours to master the combat and mechanics of this game like I did back in college, so having something that evens the playing field for me is a big plus. As has been said before: no one is forcing you to use them.


In other news- the fire demon (who looks like the stray demon... can't remember his name) has killed me twice so far. I got so close to killing him the first time, but then had a major derp moment when I tried to disengange for a second to swig an estus flask and accidentally turned my back on him.
 
chameleoneel said:
But there's risk involved. You have to be human to summon. Which means you open yourself up for invasion. There is no better balance for that. I don't care how good you are at the singleplayer game, an invasion could easily NOT go in your favor. Especially early on when you are a beginner because A. you are a beginner and B. the early sections of the game have disproportionately powerful invaders. and they recently improved the netcode for multiplayer, so invasions are more likely to happen!

I just don't see the problem. You either fight a tough boss by yourself, or you try to survive the level without dying and possibly fight an actual person along the way (if you are "offline", you can't summon a helper in the level, you also won't be invaded by actual people. but you still have to get through the level "alive" and if it's a new level, well that's going to be tough!. and there are NPC invaders in some places). Maybe even more than one person. You can be invaded many times, if it is a busy time of night.

Annnnd finally: You can't just summon all the time as much as you want. You have to be "human" and to be human you have to have "humanity". Which is not exactly plentiful. Yes, it can eventually be farmed if you are observant or read wikis and then are willing to invest the time it takes to farm. But then that feeds into the meta narrative of the player character in this world of Lordran. Lordran turns you into a fiend. You are so desperate for the peace of mind that is brought by the ability to summon due to holding Humanity----that you are willing to run around for hours in not so great places, killing things that aren't exactly challenging. (I'm avoiding outright telling people how/where to farm humanity). It also makes you a fiend for souls, that you don't really need nearly as much as the game would have you believe. But if only you had more of them, you could become more powerful! But how do you get souls? You steal off dead bodies and you kill stuff.
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didn't know about the new netcode...that's pretty nice...I agree that it is balanced well and the summoning vs invasion aspect is definitely a nice tradeoff...as a former newbie I think the summoning saved me from rage quitting Ornstein and Smough my first time through...as far as humanity...easily farmed at the Manus area...doesn't take much time at all with the warp ability...overall I think summoning works fine but I think it can be a bit overpowered at times (especially once you get familiar with the game mechanics)...I guess after multiple run throughs the single player seems way too easy now (not talking about NG+ infinity as I think that's an exercise in grinding...the game ends for me after NG+...in fact I think the real game is NG+ but that's another story) but nothing beats that 1st time playing when everything is new
 
Okay... how do you beat Demon Firesage!?

I've been trying the same tactics on him that I used against the stray demon, but I keep getting killed. Got him down to 1/4 health and then got slammed while trying to back away from his red wind.
 
CreganTur said:
Okay... how do you beat Demon Firesage!?

I've been trying the same tactics on him that I used against the stray demon, but I keep getting killed. Got him down to 1/4 health and then got slammed while trying to back away from his red wind.
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Stay behind him.

He also bleeds
 
polonyc2 said:
as far as humanity...easily farmed at the Manus area..
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There are probably about 3 places to realistically farm humanity. Some easier than others. But all of them you have to get to first. and then you have to spend the time farming, which for two of the areas, is a good deal of time. Manus is like 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through the game (and only if you have the DLC). That's a lot of time running around without lots of humanity. Which is the very mechanism that allows summoning.
 
chameleoneel said:
There are probably about 3 places to realistically farm humanity. Some easier than others. But all of them you have to get to first. and then you have to spend the time farming, which for two of the areas, is a good deal of time. Manus is like 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through the game (and only if you have the DLC). That's a lot of time running around without lots of humanity. Which is the very mechanism that allows summoning.
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how is it a 'good deal of time'?...yes you need to open up the locations first which is the only semi-difficult part of it (Painted World, DLC) but then all you do is warp there...put on the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring...bam!...you don't have to spend hours farming...you farm until you get a minimum that you need...I was just farming the Manus area last night and got 12 in 1 sitting (some are Twin Humanities which count as 2)

not to mention the fact that Humanity is the 1 thing that I had plenty of surplus every time I play the game...you get it after defeating practically every boss (10 from Manus) and unless you are wasting them I don't see how people can run out so early
 
You can also get a fair amount of easy humanity (much earlier on) just killing rats in the sewers, too.
 
That sewer run is really easy if you have Sunlight Altar opened up.

Centipede Demon was surprisingly easy. SO much so that I plopped down a summon sign and helped a couple people out with him before I turned in last night. Jolly Cooperation is a lot of fun!
 
That's just the first time I've ever helped out. It was a lot of fun.

Now I'm just trying to get through Lost Izalith.
 
CreganTur said:
That's just the first time I've ever helped out. It was a lot of fun.

Now I'm just trying to get through Lost Izalith.
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I cruised through that area in my first pass, but in NG+ I struggled mightily. In the end, I ran through most of it with enemies trailing.
 
in all my playthroughs I still don't understand what effect 'sin' has in the game...it doesn't seem to have any consequences except the status of 'sinned'
 
polonyc2 said:
in all my playthroughs I still don't understand what effect 'sin' has in the game...it doesn't seem to have any consequences except the status of 'sinned'
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Blade of the Darkmoon covenant players will invade you. Oswald of Carim in the Undead Church can absolve you.
 
I'm in Darkmoon and I when I put on the covenant ring I never get any of the auto summons to invade a sinner. That seems strange to me.
 
tuaarita said:
Blade of the Darkmoon covenant players will invade you. Oswald of Carim in the Undead Church can absolve you.
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so they can't invade you unless you sinned?...either way if that's the only consequence of sin it's kinda useless...they should have made it something similar to being cursed...the sin aspect sounds like something the developers wanted to expand upon but had to cut
 
polonyc2 said:
so they can't invade you unless you sinned?...either way if that's the only consequence of sin it's kinda useless...they should have made it something similar to being cursed...the sin aspect sounds like something the developers wanted to expand upon but had to cut
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I'd guess the priority is on the sinners and the rest are random invasions.
 
darkmoon does not appear to work all that well. become a catbro though and you will get much more activity. the idea is that when you invade and kill someone they can indict you. This adds to your sin counter. The more sin you have the higher level darkmoon can be to invade you.
 
jiminator said:
darkmoon does not appear to work all that well. become a catbro though and you will get much more activity. the idea is that when you invade and kill someone they can indict you. This adds to your sin counter. The more sin you have the higher level darkmoon can be to invade you.
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yup that's what I do...I joined the Darkwraithe covenant specifically for the Red Eye orb which I use for unlimited invasions...pvp is really fun except for certain cheaters...one guy attacked me before I fully warped in and killed me (using a cursed weapon as well)
 
all my playthroughs and I've still never been able to travel the alternate paths inside the Crystal Cave invisible walkways...can make it 1 way but coming back= death...the alternate walkways criss cross in different directions and is not a straight line like the main ones...always confuses me

I would never have been able to complete the game the 1st time without all the walkthroughs and guides detailing all the weapon locations, secret areas, illusory walls, secret NPC locations, boss strategies, bonfire locations etc...but now that I'm famailiar with the game mechanics I'm looking forward to playing Dark Souls 2 completely cold and without any help
 
why do you need to come back? there are only 2 paths that are important. A 3rd to where a strong golem is guarding a body.. Once you kill seath you warp out. (or farm crabs).
 
There are other paths that lead to some items, but they are also invisible. If i recall, they were not worth the effort I put into navigating through there.
 
daemonmf said:
There are other paths that lead to some items, but they are also invisible. If i recall, they were not worth the effort I put into navigating through there.
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yes that's what I was referring to...I wasn't referring to the main path to Seath...that's easy...I'm talking about alternate paths...there are at least 2 paths where you need to cross some invisible bridges...but you're right, the effort it took to get the items wasn't worth it...I was hoping to find some special weapons or items but it was just some white Titanite or some useless soul

I was able to cross the bridge to get them but I wasn't able to cross back without dying
 
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