Dark Souls

[briareos_kerensky]

Does the knight at the

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top of the spiral staircase

drop anything good?

IIRC

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a Tanite Chunk.

Don't know if their drops are randomized though. Probably he could also drop armor or his weapon.

[Blaiz0r]

Lastly I'm out of humanity and the rats aren't dropping. Any tips?

Try joining other peoples games as a phantom, if you kill the boss of the area with them you'll get humanity I believe. It's best if you choose an area that you are already familiar with, then you can help them through it and minimise your risk.

I've found this game is much more about the coop than DeS, although I know people are having trouble with it, I seem to be getting into games regularly, and when I'm in a new area it is the first thing I do to become familiar with it, there's nothing like the confidence you feel when you're running through Blight Town with two other players, if nothing else, the sharing of agro is invaluable.

Last night I was running through Sens Palace, after I entered I would always drop a sign to join another game and could hardly progress through the next few rooms before I was summoned by someone, it was brilliant, by the end of it I completely knew the area and now find it a breeze to run through without anyone, but I won't. I'll return to human form and summon a couple of my own phantoms to help me out

[ItsThere]

@ Synthesthesia Same here... I'm hoping I can still

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revive her. I died just after I killed the main guy, but still won if you get me, wonder if this had an effect.

.

[Brad]

Thanks. I love this game. Hearing the sound of the Blacksmith in the distance was lovely and seeing the bonfire such a relief. When it pops up that someone has invaded you your heart starts beating faster. Will they be more powerful than me? How many souls am I carrying? Should I prepare a stone to send them back!? The utter joy as they realise that despite wearing an impressive set of armour and carrying a big sword they are no match for the tramp in pants and try to run away, but their armour is too heavy. No other game (apart from Demon's Souls) can provide gaming moments like these. I'd love to see Miyazaki and Kojima collaborate!

The online features in this are crippled compared to Demon's Souls though. Hardly any bloodstains or messages. None of the messages are rated and if they are it's like 2 or 3. Last night tried hooking up with a mate but it was impossible. Clearly our gaming sessions were not linked to each other in any way. We even tried removing each other from friend lists (in case From didn't want you playing with friends), restarting game etc but no dice. BTW I know this isn't how you are supposed to play the game but it highlighted the fact that there's no huge world that we're all in anymore :-( I also suspect that it might decide who is in whos world by location or ping or something, which might help in terms of lag and stuff. It's an understandable decision - Demon's Souls servers will be switched off next year so at that point it'll DsS will become a solely single player experience.

[SUMIRE]

God damn, I thought i would try and backup my save as my PS3 keeps freezing but I can't as its copy protected. The only way to do it is buy PSN+

[crocky-chocky]

Beat the

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Giant Butterfly

last night...A surprisingly chilled encounter with just one or two hairy moments. I loved fighting the

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stone giants

in the forest before it - They cast a spell that slows your footwork right down, but it makes for some really satisfying fights as they're slow enough for you to block all their attacks if you manage your stamina well. Combat feels a bit more diverse than in Demon's.

Coupla quick quessies:

I just gave the Ember thingy to the Blacksmith, and he says I need something like Green Titanite to ascend my weapon. Can anyone drop a hint as to where I'd find some?

Also, my shield blocks 90% of the time, but for some reason the Knight at the top of the spiral staircase near the Metalli-Boar breaks through my shield with almost every attack. Is there a way I can solve this by levelling up, and what stat should I be looking at to see if my shield has a better defence rate against sword attacks?

Cheers!

[briareos_kerensky]

Also, my shield blocks 90% of the time, but for some reason the Knight at the top of the spiral staircase near the Metalli-Boar breaks through my shield with almost every attack. Is there a way I can solve this by levelling up, and what stat should I be looking at to see if my shield has a better defence rate against sword attacks?

You want a shield with 100% phisical damage reduction and high stability. 100% damage reduction means that an attack will be completely blocked by a raised shield, less than 100% reduction means that part of the attack will affect your health; for example, Fire Bombs will always allocate some damage if you don't have a shield with 100% fire damage reduction. Same goes for magic and lighting.
Higher stability means less stamina consumed by blocking an attack.

As that Knight uses a two-handed great sword (IIRC), the shield will block his attack until you have stamina and once an attack goes through your stamina, it will start damaging you. Bigger the weapon, more powerful the attack is and more stamina is consumed by blocking: problably your shield and stamina are good enough for a couple of heavy hits before getting a guard crush.

[Brad]

I imagine you could lure him down to where the boar was (after you've cleared it out) and then just give yourself space, make sure you're fighting light so you can roll around and just dodge him and backstab. If your shield isn't blocking him then it's no use to you so you'll have to dodge.

Note I haven't actually killed him myself yet because I've decided that he needs to die by being kicked off the top of that tower so I need to beef up some more until I *can* block him and force him where I want him.

[SUMIRE]

Yeah i did that bit by luring him down the stairs for more room. I always make sure i lower my sheild when ever there is a gap to regain energy.

[crocky-chocky]

Thanks for the tips B_K and FSW

I imagine you could lure him down to where the boar was (after you've cleared it out) and then just give yourself space, make sure you're fighting light so you can roll around and just dodge him and backstab. If your shield isn't blocking him then it's no use to you so you'll have to dodge.

Note I haven't actually killed him myself yet because I've decided that he needs to die by being kicked off the top of that tower so I need to beef up some more until I *can* block him and force him where I want him.

Eureka!

I actually tried luring him down to where the boar was too, but I weirdly did much better whilst jabbing him on the way down the stairs - I think by the time I'd got him down there, my nerves were shot and I just panicked...The place where the crossbow guys are is a good spot for healing btw...just don't jump down on to the fire below like I did.

Several times.

[Riskbreaker]

The online features in this are crippled compared to Demon's Souls though. Hardly any bloodstains or messages. None of the messages are rated and if they are it's like 2 or 3. Last night tried hooking up with a mate but it was impossible. Clearly our gaming sessions were not linked to each other in any way. We even tried removing each other from friend lists (in case From didn't want you playing with friends), restarting game etc but no dice. BTW I know this isn't how you are supposed to play the game but it highlighted the fact that there's no huge world that we're all in anymore :-( I also suspect that it might decide who is in whos world by location or ping or something, which might help in terms of lag and stuff. It's an understandable decision - Demon's Souls servers will be switched off next year so at that point it'll DsS will become a solely single player experience.

The whole online thing seems bizarre, I've no lack of messages in my world. Admittedly most them are unrated, but many also say "Here" or "Praise the Sun!" in which case they don't deserve a rating for being damn useless. Haven't had much trouble getting games either, had the a few failed summons but aside from that it seems to work okay.

Have you and your friend both tried joining the Covenant of the White? Apparently players in that covenant are closer to each other on the network and can see each others signs more easily. I joined that covenant early on which might explain the easier co-op matches I've been getting.

[Brad]

ooooh, that sounds like a plan! I'm in the white covenant, not sure if my mate is. Have just suggested he join if he hasn't already.

@crocky - yeah, fear is your worst enemy. Last night when I decided I was indestructible I had three of the normal knights after me plus that big fella that's guarding the fire keeper soul but I stayed calm and beat them all even though I was surrounded by them. When panic sets in though you make mistakes and as we all know, that's YOU DIED time.

Regarding the online messages. Some of them are crap. Like the one 6 feet from the blacksmith that said "blacksmith". I had another one at the end of a path where I could go left or right that said "Bonfire". Why not go the extra 6 feet and put that sign on the actual path that leads to the bonfire!?

[MisterBubbles]

Well 1st off, i dont use any wiki's or anything like that and have tried to stay away from the spoilered stuff. I made it up to the blacksmith last night after a marathon session until 4am, have been killed loads , and used humanity to see if my drops would get better, i saved up their but had no firebomb to try and make the long journey back to Burg, not sure if theres a vendor up at the blacksmith but there needs to be, cause time you get up there with a few thousand souls you need to repair lots of your equipment, which i'd have rather of spent on upgrading my weapons and armour.

[Riskbreaker]

Silvergun, did you find out what the Eye symbol summon was? I saw one last night in Blighttown, but while I was gearing up to fight it the symbol vanished

[chopemon]

I've been playing this and I think it is a wonderful game and one of the most interesting things I've ever played.

That said, I think I'm done with it. I'm only up to the Taurus Demon and it is really bumming me out. I get to the boss, it kicks my ass before I can get a handle on it and then it takes me 15 minutes to get back to it. If there was a bonfire in that tower I'd definitely continue as I really appreciate the difficulty and the need to get better but I'm sick of the sight of those goddamn skeletons, the fire bomb enemies and Undead Burg.

I really want a game like this where nothing is handed to you on a plate and you work and learn and get better but I'm finding the checkpointing really frustrating.

What really bums me out is that this is the most interesting game this 'fall period'.