Dark Souls

[rmoxon]

I actually feel even more rewarded by this, both are very fair games but I feel this one is more balanced and satisfying.

Anyway, I cant remember do the one armed stone things drop Demon Titanite? I need some more for upgrades as the Demon Spear is rather nifty. There are still two of those buggers lurking about in sens fortress.

[Uli]

i've read there is a reward level system in there: depending on how much humanity you consumed your item find rate and rarity increases. great, let's farm humanity then!

so, where's the best strategic place to kindle a bonfire to the level max?

[hudson]

Just started out. Have a question about the area structure. At the moment, I'm at Undead Parish and the tough armoured rhino monster I'm currently faced with has made me think whether or not I should be somewhere else or farming souls to level up more. So far, it seems the area structure is linear though, with no hub (like the nexus in DS) with more 1-X areas to have a go at. Should I keep going the way I'm going or...?

[Supergoal]

From what I remember when I was at that point, I made sure I got the Drake sword and then tackled the armoured animal.

[Sane]

Or if you have any kind of ranged attacks you can safely shoot him from the ledge above.

[neoboy259]

Just started out. Have a question about the area structure. At the moment, I'm at Undead Parish and the tough armoured rhino monster I'm currently faced with has made me think whether or not I should be somewhere else or farming souls to level up more. So far, it seems the area structure is linear though, with no hub (like the nexus in DS) with more 1-X areas to have a go at. Should I keep going the way I'm going or...?

Try to lure it into the flames on the ground, crispy!

[briareos_kerensky]

Should I keep going the way I'm going or...?

Or you have to find a way to defeat it easily.

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There are two ways to do this: backstabs or fire. To backstab it you have to dodge (unlikely to block its attacks if you haven't a decent armor and shield) its charges, circle and aim for the weak spot. With fire you can use the alluring skulls and throw them near the fires: the armored boar with go for the skulls and right into the fire.

[briareos_kerensky]

Overconfidence kills. And makes you lose a lot of souls (65k, to be precise).

So I complete the

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Tomb of Giants

and the only difficult place is where

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the multiple Pinwheels (that's why the boss was so easy...) and the baby skeletons are. Even Nito is a pushover, constantly killing its own skeletons; what I had to do was run to him and start hacking with the sword. Healed twice during the battle because my health dropped below 50%, no problems in defeating Nito whatsoever.

And so I had 65k souls in hand, I head over to

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Anor Londo

to face

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Gwyndolyn now that I have the Darkmoon Seance Ring.

The battle against

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Gwyndolyn is tricky, he (yes, he's a man dressed up as a girl) is weak against anything melee but has increbibly powerful ranged attack, including a giant ball of energy, homing soul arrows and a barrage or partially-homing normal arrows. The battle is set in an infinite corridor and Gwyndolyn teleports further down the corridor when the player gets near.

On my first attempt (with 65k souls) I get killed with one attack missing to kill him.
Upon re-entering I don't see my bloodstain anywhere and I began to curse myself about the lost souls. I was about halfway killing him and I get killed myself. Now the souls are gone forever...other attempts go bad, but I see that bloodstains are kept, you just need to prolong the battle a little...and again, I'm cursing myself.
After being unable to do much, I remove my armor and I kill him on my first attempt, as even

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the homing soul arrows

can be easily dodged by a running character.
He gave up a soul and 40k souls...but I've lost 65k in the process. Next time I'm gonna spend every soul before a boss that has a bonfire right in front of him.

[rmoxon]

Just started out. Have a question about the area structure. At the moment, I'm at Undead Parish and the tough armoured rhino monster I'm currently faced with has made me think whether or not I should be somewhere else or farming souls to level up more. So far, it seems the area structure is linear though, with no hub (like the nexus in DS) with more 1-X areas to have a go at. Should I keep going the way I'm going or...?

It starts out feeling linear but it really isn't, there are ususally at least two or three routes open to you. There was actually another two ways to go at the shrine near the start that you probably didn't realise were even there.

[Uli]

i think the firelink shrine is, while not a true hub, the most central place with the two elevators and the shortcut that opens up later. so, in regard to my question in respect to the most strategic place to kindle a bonfire to max i think this might be the place, right?

[Bort]

i think the firelink shrine is, while not a true hub, the most central place with the two elevators and the shortcut that opens up later. so, in regard to my question in respect to the most strategic place to kindle a bonfire to max i think this might be the place, right?

You can only go over 10 flasks later in the game and you'll get humanity throughout. Most bonfires will naturally be 10 with normal play. You'll also be able to warp later so it isn't something your should be overly concerned with.
There are minor spoilers with recommending individual bonfires as well.

[briareos_kerensky]

i think the firelink shrine is, while not a true hub, the most central place with the two elevators and the shortcut that opens up later. so, in regard to my question in respect to the most strategic place to kindle a bonfire to max i think this might be the place, right?

Firelink starts kindled (10 uses of Estus, standard bonfire +1 kindle) because there's a Firekeeper there (the lady behind bars). Depending on the areas you explore and the bosses you defeat further kindles might come late in the game, so it's better to spend humanity on bonfires you feel placed before hard-to-conquer areas.
Also, if you let certain events happen the bonfire at Firelink won't be available until the next playthrough.
Humanity can be bought and certain enemies (like the giant rats) drop them and with the right equipment it can be farmed relatively easy.

[S3M]

but humanity is rare - i am 30 hours in and just came across 3 or 4 of them - and you have to spend one humanity for every kindling. so i guess it makes sense to kindle only one or bonfires in strategic places. which are these?

Not if you ? farm it off the sewer rats as they drop humanity ?

[Sane]

Been working on the

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Tomb of Giants

today, can't say I find it a fun place to be. I actually got frustrated and gave up just now, that hasn't happened to me until now and I'm already 50 hours in.

[Zaki]

->Open Spoiler<-

Anor Londo

is the first area to drive me insane! How do you get past

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the 2 archers

?!