Dark Souls is on Steam

I generally find that Ornstein's additional speed and aggression makes him the easier of the two to kill. Smough inadvertently hangs back because he's a little slower and if you go after him, Orstein is relentlessly attacking you in the meantime. I typically keep circling away until Ornstein commits to something and Smough isn't right on his heels. He doesn't have a ton of life, so I'm willing to eat some hits to kill him faster.

Super Smough isn't too terrible as long as you have a decent shield. That can mostly alleviate any surprise electric butt-slams. I tend to stay at long distance and bait his jumping hammer attack. When it misses, the F+R2 jumping attack does heavy damage and still recovers fast enough to escape. Super Ornstein is more of a wild card pattern-wise, IMO.
 
Yes, Taurus Demon is simple for a veteran, but not so much for new players.

I'm not sure about that...easy is easy regardless if a vet or newbie...if you do the drop move he's easy regardless if it's your first time or 50th time playing...plus even if you don't do the drop move you can still block his hits with your shield (as long as you have 100% physical protection)...now Capra Demon, that dude is not easy your first time (even for vets it can be tricky depending on if you can make it to the stairs easily...some luck is involved...sometimes they trap me so I can't move)

the gold resin is not really needed to fight Taurus was my main point...yes you can get more later but save it for the Gargoyles or another enemy where it's more worth the investment early in the game
 
and..... that's everything

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fantastic game, one of the best ever made.
I don't PvP but I have done everything else there is to do here
 
I'm not sure about that...easy is easy regardless if a vet or newbie...if you do the drop move he's easy regardless if it's your first time or 50th time playing...plus even if you don't do the drop move you can still block his hits with your shield (as long as you have 100% physical protection)...now Capra Demon, that dude is not easy your first time (even for vets it can be tricky depending on if you can make it to the stairs easily...some luck is involved...sometimes they trap me so I can't move)

the gold resin is not really needed to fight Taurus was my main point...yes you can get more later but save it for the Gargoyles or another enemy where it's more worth the investment early in the game
Speaking personally, it took me 5 or 6 times to notice the ladder behind you as you enter the fog gate. And the drop attack takes a few times to kill it, so you have to learn about leading Taurus Demon away from the ladder, baiting an attack, and then initiating your climb so it doesn't kill you on the way up.

You get a stack of 3 resins, so that's enough for Taurus Demon, Bellfry Gargoyles, and Gaping Dragon. The point of pointing the resins out was that the game tries to lead you in the right direction by laying out items for you to find that are situational.

I played through the game completely blind my first time. I didn't start looking things up until after my third or fourth time. I think it took me 20-30 times to beat Pikachu and Snorlax the first time and now they're one of the easiest bosses for me in the game. I easily overlooked the importance of upgrading your weapons. When watching videos later on I felt like a dumbass because a lot of things seemed so obvious. One of those situational things I ignored was the game giving you all those Large Titanite Shards on the way up Sen's Fortress telling you to upgrade your weapon.
and..... that's everything

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fantastic game, one of the best ever made.
I don't PvP but I have done everything else there is to do here
Go for max level and/or NG+7 if you've never done it before. To be honest the furthest I've ever gotten was NG+4 and around SL300 before giving it up.
 
After winning the game I ended up bailing a little quicker than I expected. Since this is my 5th or 6th time going through the game, I don't think it had the usual lasting grasp. I definitely don't feel like playing #2 again either. The middle sections are great but the beginning areas and final areas are infuriating. I'll probably make another marathon run through all 3 again at some point, but probably not for another year.
 
Go for max level and/or NG+7 if you've never done it before. To be honest the furthest I've ever gotten was NG+4 and around SL300 before giving it up.

I did NG+7 with SL1 character previous game, so I am pretty satisfied with the playthroughs. max level.... seems kind of like a waste of time.
 
I always thought it might be amusing to get to max level, but I don't have the patience for it. At a certain point you're going to have to spend a boatload of time grinding those shielded phalanx guys in the painted world. I get sick of that after 5 minutes, so I just can't imagine spending hours and hours on it.
It would be really funny rocking a full Havel suit and blasting away with death spells in-between Dragon's Tooth swings, though.
I'd be willing to use some form of cheat just to see it even.
 
I always thought it might be amusing to get to max level, but I don't have the patience for it. At a certain point you're going to have to spend a boatload of time grinding those shielded phalanx guys in the painted world. I get sick of that after 5 minutes, so I just can't imagine spending hours and hours on it.
It would be really funny rocking a full Havel suit and blasting away with death spells in-between Dragon's Tooth swings, though.
I'd be willing to use some form of cheat just to see it even.
You can just keep going through NG. Even though souls received and difficulty caps at NG+7 you can still continue the game loop so you don't end up grinding.
 
You get a stack of 3 resins, so that's enough for Taurus Demon, Bellfry Gargoyles, and Gaping Dragon. The point of pointing the resins out was that the game tries to lead you in the right direction by laying out items for you to find that are situational.

One of those situational things I ignored was the game giving you all those Large Titanite Shards on the way up Sen's Fortress telling you to upgrade your weapon.

that's true the game does try and guide you but I still like to save certain items and not use them like the game wants me to :D ...as far as the titanite shards...I don't like wasting them either...I only use them on weapons I know I'm going to use for the end game...meaning I don't use it on the Zweihander even if I use that for the early part of the game (until I get my main Man-Serpent Greatsword)...what I like to do is immediately upon reaching Firelink for the first time and beating Taurus Demon I put all my souls into STR (all of them) until I reach STR 24 which is enough to wield the Zweihander...that way I'm pretty over-leveled for the first few bosses...I don't need any extra health or endurance points for the first few bosses

* I also buy the Residence Key, bottomless box and weapon smithing item as well early on
 
By the time you can upgrade most weapons to +6-10 you should be able to buy shards of all sorts by the dozens. It isn't until chunks come into play that I really care about my resources. At least not counting things that use more rare drops like dragon scales or twinkling/demon titanite.

For anyone new to the series I'd tell them to run with the Drake Sword as long as possible. At least until you're in Anor Londo. There are better weapons, but very few are as quick and friendly to different builds. Especially early. Very few are as good until much later in the game. Prior to getting the Drake Sword, there's nothing wrong with a long sword, bastard sword, or broad sword. By the time you really have to start making decisions about your weapon of choice you should be able to elevate just about anything to at least +7 or +8 in minutes.
 
regular titanite is a non-issue for the most part. you can farm the dark wraith for chunks and get 3-6 per run and probably a slab an hour. To max your titanite costs... 160k. Large titanite is a bit more effort but either blight town works well or alternately the starting area of oolacile township. I like to upgrade all the gear I use as soon as I get access to those areas.
 
By the time you can upgrade most weapons to +6-10 you should be able to buy shards of all sorts by the dozens. It isn't until chunks come into play that I really care about my resources. At least not counting things that use more rare drops like dragon scales or twinkling/demon titanite.

For anyone new to the series I'd tell them to run with the Drake Sword as long as possible. At least until you're in Anor Londo. There are better weapons, but very few are as quick and friendly to different builds. Especially early. Very few are as good until much later in the game. Prior to getting the Drake Sword, there's nothing wrong with a long sword, bastard sword, or broad sword. By the time you really have to start making decisions about your weapon of choice you should be able to elevate just about anything to at least +7 or +8 in minutes.
Not really. Once you reach Andre is basically the point Drake Sword becomes obsolete. Any weapon you get along the way will outclass it upgraded to +5 especially if you've been leveling strength and/or dexterity. Plus, I always highly recommend taking a blunt weapon of some sort with striking damage at that point to take care of armored enemies and skeletons, as those enemy types can take as little as 50% damage from regular/slashing damage.
regular titanite is a non-issue for the most part. you can farm the dark wraith for chunks and get 3-6 per run and probably a slab an hour. To max your titanite costs... 160k. Large titanite is a bit more effort but either blight town works well or alternately the starting area of oolacile township. I like to upgrade all the gear I use as soon as I get access to those areas.
The drop rate is horrible for the leeches in Blighttown. If you need Large Titanite Shards you should be farming Oolacile Township. If you make your run from the bonfire to the sorceress you can 4-8 per run, and each run only takes about 2 minutes compared to 4-5 with the leeches.
 
leeches are not bad, you get 3-5 per run, you need rusted iron ring and ignore the poison. It is also much much earlier game than township
 
By the time you get to Oolacile township you probably have a giant stockpile of supplies or enough souls to just buy anything except chunks and slabs.
 
TIL that the voice actress who portrayed Lord's Blade Ciaran in Dark Souls plays the villianess Ghost in the forthcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp. She also plays the character Dutch in the series Killjoys.

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So I've had the prepare to die Edition for ages and never played it. Should I go straight for the remaster after trying it out with ds fix to see if I like it (will it work at 4k)? Also, keyboard and mouse, or x360 controller for the win?
 
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The only reason to play the original vs. the remaster would be for specific mods. I've played the original with DSFix quite a bit and I don't think it offers any advantages. It slightly shortens jump and roll distances, too.
 
So I've had the prepare to die Edition for ages and never played it. Should I go straight for the remaster after trying it out with ds fix to see if I like it (will it work at 4k)? Also, keyboard and mouse, or x360 controller for the win?
I'd go straight for the remaster. I admittedly never tried the game with keyboard and mouse. But DSFix works with every resolution, basically, including custom ones. I'd stick to 30 FPS if you try it (see below).
The only reason to play the original vs. the remaster would be for specific mods. I've played the original with DSFix quite a bit and I don't think it offers any advantages. It slightly shortens jump and roll distances, too.
Only if you play with 60 FPS in the original. I always played the original at 30 FPS because not only do the distances for various actions shorten, but invulnerability frames and parry windows shorten, too. You're making the game even harder for no reason.
 
I'd go straight for the remaster. I admittedly never tried the game with keyboard and mouse. But DSFix works with every resolution, basically, including custom ones. I'd stick to 30 FPS if you try it (see below).

Only if you play with 60 FPS in the original. I always played the original at 30 FPS because not only do the distances for various actions shorten, but invulnerability frames and parry windows shorten, too. You're making the game even harder for no reason.

...but 30fps...ugh. :watching:
I'd rather play on super death mode.
 
the fact that the game holds up so well 7 years later is a testament to the genius of Hidetaka Miyazaki

As I've been playing through it for the first time, it's become clear to me that this game is a masterclass of game design. Everything from item progression to level design is so thoughtfully crafted with depth, progression, and difficulty curves in mind. The more I play it, the more I WANT to play it.
 
Dark Souls is still better than 99% of other games even with its flaws and (mostly) dated graphics. The level design in the first game might be the best there has even beer. I guess Ninja Gaiden fans might also have an argument, but it's down to those two IMO.
I go back and forth over which one in the series is my favorite and I generally think I like #1 the most for everything except PvP. #3 takes the cake for that IMO. #2 is the most "epic" and Bloodborne is the most fun to just pick up and play.
 
Dark Souls is still better than 99% of other games even with its flaws and (mostly) dated graphics. The level design in the first game might be the best there has even beer. I guess Ninja Gaiden fans might also have an argument, but it's down to those two IMO.
I go back and forth over which one in the series is my favorite and I generally think I like #1 the most for everything except PvP. #3 takes the cake for that IMO. #2 is the most "epic" and Bloodborne is the most fun to just pick up and play.

DS2 is only really epic because of the DLC...the base game is not as amazing...it's almost like it's 2 separate games...DS1, Bloodborne and DS3 are all A+ in my opinion
 
I have DS2 but I've only messed around for a half hour or so in it. One thing I noticed about it right away is that the gamepad controls feel clunkier. Like the camera movement feels... off, kinda laggy and like it has some weird acceleration going on. DS1, DS3, and Bloodborne feel WAY better.
 
So what's the deal with upgrading weapons to flame, chaos, lightning, occult, etc? I tried upgrading my zweihander to +4 lightning, and I made +5 chaos claymore but.. they don't seem to be any better than a base +10 weapon?
 
So what's the deal with upgrading weapons to flame, chaos, lightning, occult, etc? I tried upgrading my zweihander to +4 lightning, and I made +5 chaos claymore but.. they don't seem to be any better than a base +10 weapon?

they're usually not better then regular...but you can use it against certain bosses that are weak to those elements...

https://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Zweihander
 
So what's the deal with upgrading weapons to flame, chaos, lightning, occult, etc? I tried upgrading my zweihander to +4 lightning, and I made +5 chaos claymore but.. they don't seem to be any better than a base +10 weapon?
Fire, Chaos, and Lightning have no attribute scaling, so the base damage is all you get. You can get bonus damage if an enemy is weak to that element and strong against regular physical damage, though, like the armored boars.

The other modifications increase stat scaling and may split the damage in some way. The normal path buffs the scaling already present. Occult adds Faith scaling, and splits damage between physical and magic with a dark modifier. "Holy" enemies like Ornstein, Silver and Black Knights, Sentinels, Gywndolin and Gwyn are weak to dark damage.

You can see the scaling in the bottom-left under "ParamBonus" (in order: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith). A '-' means no scaling with that attribute. 'S' is the best while 'E' is the worst. A better scaling rating has the side effect of causing less damage if the respective attribute is under leveled. 'S' has a max damage softcap of around 40, while 'E' is around 18-20.

Damage modifiers are under "Aux Effects" (in order: Bleeding, Poison, Light, Dark).
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Awesome, thanks! So for a high strength/dex build, should I just focus on normal weapons for the most part, and then maybe one of each elemental damage type for certain enemies?
 
elemental weapons are mainly for people that want low stat builds. they do split damage. dark souls has kind of exponential damage scaling, so the more damage a weapon does the better. It is only a small curve but it is there. With a single damage type it only has to go through one set of defenses. Dual damage types have to go through two sets of defenses, as a result much of the base physical+elemental damage will be ignored.

what people generally like to do is to build for physical, but buff it with either magic, faith or consumables. The buff won't necessarily add much, but it certainly can help.
 
Awesome, thanks! So for a high strength/dex build, should I just focus on normal weapons for the most part, and then maybe one of each elemental damage type for certain enemies?
The advantage of elemental damage is highly situational, like with the armored boar example (there are only 3 in the entire game). For the most part it is best to just carry around a normal +15 weapon of your choice if you're going to be leveling your strength and/or dexterity. You can buy various resins or use sorceries/miracles to add different damage to it while still having the advantage of attribute scaling. You can get Gold Pine Resin (lightning) from Domnhall or Elizabeth, and Rotten (poison) or Charcoal (fire) Pine Resin from Female Undead Merchant. Sorcery has Magic Weapon, Great Magic Weapon, and Crystal Magic which add magic damage. Miracles has Darkmoon Blade (magic damage) and Sunlight Blade (lightning damage). The buff sorceries and miracles give scales with the equipped tool's MagAdjust.

But for normal enemies, Fire and Lightning can be good to have because the effect stuns them.

I personally tend to carry around a +15 and Divine +10 unless I am going for something specialized for the meta game. The Divine +10 is for the skeletons in the Catacombs and the Gravelord Nito fight.
 
The way they give all these options for leveling items but barely explain how it's used (esp when considering boss souls) is just really confusing. It's one of the sillier aspects of this game.

Silliest of all, I'm now rembering as I play this again, is the gear. I wish they had actually made gear worth a damn outside of the poise stat. Seems like you either go poise or go naked, since no gear ever seems to be worth a damn at actually giving you resistance to anything.

I just wish gear choices were at cool as weapons and rings. Or maybe is this just my ignorance talking?
 
The way they give all these options for leveling items but barely explain how it's used (esp when considering boss souls) is just really confusing. It's one of the sillier aspects of this game.

Silliest of all, I'm now rembering as I play this again, is the gear. I wish they had actually made gear worth a damn outside of the poise stat. Seems like you either go poise or go naked, since no gear ever seems to be worth a damn at actually giving you resistance to anything.

I just wish gear choices were at cool as weapons and rings. Or maybe is this just my ignorance talking?

Are you talking mostly about PVP here? I haven't done PVP a whole bunch except for the dozen times or so I've been invaded after kindling a bonfire. Not only have I not defeated anyone yet, but I have landed maybe 4 or 5 hits at all... lol. I can tell there are certain ways to do PVP that are FAR better than things that work well for PVE. Like last night I got invaded by a player who had some kind of fast fire spell that did 25% of my health each hit and I had absolutely no defense against it.

Not to mention that almost every PVP encounter I've done involves someone trying to get behind and backstab.... oooo, so strategy, so skill. :/
 
eh, I don't even bother with PvP. I have never been good at it these games. If my homeward bone goes dim, or bonfire goes out, I exit game. It cancels the invasion. But usually I run around hollow except when I need to trigger NPC invasions.
 
eh, I don't even bother with PvP. I have never been good at it these games. If my homeward bone goes dim, or bonfire goes out, I exit game. It cancels the invasion. But usually I run around hollow except when I need to trigger NPC invasions.
Actually the easiest way to remain human while playing the whole game without the people invading is to just run steam in offline mode. I did that when I was playing DS 1/2/3. I use to block the game at the firewall at one point because they originally used GFWL as the underlying multiplayer connections but once they switched over it became easy to just put steam in offline mode and you were never bothered.
 
Actually the easiest way to remain human while playing the whole game without the people invading is to just run steam in offline mode. I did that when I was playing DS 1/2/3. I use to block the game at the firewall at one point because they originally used GFWL as the underlying multiplayer connections but once they switched over it became easy to just put steam in offline mode and you were never bothered.
Why bother putting Steam in offline mode when the game itself has an offline mode? Just go to the main menu and Log Out. You can still play the game and you won't have to worry about being invaded. You can even go into the options and tell the game to start in offline mode. The other 2 games have this option, as well.
 
Why bother putting Steam in offline mode when the game itself has an offline mode? Just go to the main menu and Log Out. You can still play the game and you won't have to worry about being invaded. You can even go into the options and tell the game to start in offline mode. The other 2 games have this option, as well.

Hmm, where is that option? I'm sure it was right in front of me, but I don't recall seeing it
 
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