Here is a super awesome megathread for all Dark Souls and related discussion! With so many people getting into the franchise recently and the sequel looming on the horizon, I thought it might be prudent to have a dedicated thread for Souls discussion so as to not crush all life out of the reg'lar video game thread.


[Morri's edit: new players who feel daunted at this allegedly difficult and harsh game, feel free to read the tips below! Enjoy the best game of its generation.]

WHY DIDN'T THIS THREAD EXIST A YEAR AGO!

R.I.P. Video Game Thread.

Okay, somehow I got a fucking pyromancy debuff. I have no idea how this happened except there is now a little down symbol over a pyromancy flame symbol next to all my buffs under the health bar, and my pyromancy spells do like 20 damage. I've been in Lost Izalith recently but I wasn't aware of getting cursed or doing anything that would cause this. Any ideas?

homeboy, you get hit by the spray those octopus things spit out? that damages your weapons and armor, your flame is prolly broken dude. just repair it at a bonfire.

Aaaaah, I noticed it broke some of my armor and got it repaired...Didn't realize pyro flames could also get "broken." Cheers.

I managed to get my Gargoyle's Halberd back to regular status then buffed it to +10...Looking for a nice titanite chunk to electrify it, if that's a good route to follow.

what's your build again? i wouldn't bother with lightning - the additional damage isn't as useful as having the standard scaling - especially if you're doing both dex and strength. I'd just throw on some pine resin if you want lightning damage.

Pyro tank. Moslty Giant's Armor, Wolf Ring, Havel's Ring. I've been putting most of points into End and Strength lately (They're 27 and 30 at the moment, as I'd like to give the Black Knight Greatsword a try when my strength hits 32.) Dex is at 21.

ahh yeah, if you're gonna do mostly strength, you could also just use the black knight halberd or the greataxe - you'll swing for a whole lot. I'd ditch the wolf ring since you have giants armor and place something else on though - giant's offers a pretty great poise rating.

Lost count of how many builds and runs I did on Dark Souls (and Demon's Souls to a lesser extent). I preordered Dark Souls II on Amazon; March can't come soon enough, can't wait to die a billion times again!

even blacksmiths need a hobby.

He certainly needs hobby.

This is on the top of my list of games that I want to play before moving on to the new consoles.

When I finish with exams I am going to get GFWL to work. Worked on my pirated copy as I could bypass GFWL but only play single player but now I have the Steam version I can't save or do multiplayer...

I'm a little worried multiplayer is going to be dominated by hackers though. Hackers piss me off a great deal.

I'm gonna start playing again when they patch out GFWL. I want to start a new character and actually play online this time.

I run into so many hackers - especially this late in the game. I encountered one guy who had 6200 health. I was like "nice glitching bro" and he's just like "whatever dude, you have no skill".

No skill? I did over 3200 damage in like ten seconds with toxic and Priscilla's Dagger... -____-

Pfft the video game thread folks are salty their favourite games don't get enough attention because the GotG destroys 'em all? Oh well.


You got trolled. Why would you even bother PMing these idiots, you're giving them the attention they crave.

I thought toxic did damage incredibly slowly, that's actually how I beat some bosses on my first play through got them poisoned with toxic then just waited in a safe corner until they died... usually took incredibly long.

That's because they're bosses. Ever got hosed down by them shooters at Blighttown? It's no joke, I tell you.

Exactly, this only encourages them to keep doing it.

I had one troll invade me once in Anor Londo and all she/he kept doing was turning up or down the middle spiral stairs and every time I tried to cross by the side (via the broken window and the path with the Painted Guardians) she/he would be waiting for me there with a DragonSlayer Bow to knock me off the ledge. I made the mistake of complaining via PM but then got a reply in a language I could not understand, don't remember what it was but it was quite short so I guess it was something like "nie nie you sux!" or something...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... Accessible
lol

If I encountered a hacker I would just alt f4 if I had a chance to. Not going to waste my time with them.

Ofcourse lol, I dont know who hasn't it is one of the most frustrating enemies and status effects in the game, but I was still able to clear out ALL of blighttown while dying from toxicity just because it takes life so slow and I was able to keep using pots. That one area with like 8-10 of those guys is pretty ridiculous, but I allways clear it for that special goodie.

Thanks for that link, cannot fukn wait until DS2, been saving my sick days for the last year in preparation. Also these words are just beautiful to me and should be applied to all media, games, music or movies... "A main theme in all games developed by FromSoftware is to not fully explain all the elements of how to play and challenge players to figure it out for themselves."

I think ya may be confusing poison for toxic! Poison is only 3dmg/sec and toxic is 5dmg/sec - but that being said, it's still crazy useful in pvp - a lot of people don't run around with purple clumps in their inventory - so you can really fuck people up. Imagine getting 5dmg a second while also occasionally getting hit for 300 dmg and being on a timer that will inevitably kill you (toxic last for like 600 seconds if untreated).

how bad can you possibly suck at the game?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dHz4nYCDdM

I think he is putting on the stupid act. He has no idea you can lock on, no clue what souls do, spent a while trying to figure out how to switch items and the next clip shows him get the drake sword and he has a Zweihander in his inventor. Only then does he figure out what souls do.

Oh and of course he tries to kill the Titanite Demon with a bow and arrow, bitching about how he enemy can move. Yet he has the tearstone ring...

Hehe that video reminded me of this one (a rage quit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do_3eh4D3uY

I don't know if he is putting an act or something but found it funny still.

So I'm having trouble with Dark Souls and I'm stuck in this area:

Seems like the hardest part is getting the fucking thing.

Edited the OP with something most people should probably read before venturing into the game the first time, especially if the alleged difficulty daunts you.

Oh gods, DSP.... that guy is probably a troll. All his gameplay videos suck horribly and he makes a point of being the stupidest, douchiest, most obnoxious player ever, bitching about everything when he's clearly just terrible at the game. I saw some clips of his MGS2 playthroughs and it was unbelievable. I sincerely hope it's on purpose to get views and just be a troll and all, because if he's really that much of a stupid douche, well...

Weeeeeooow, finally have enough strength to use the black knight greatsword. Using the power attack to flip the giant skeletons in the Tomb of Giants off of ledges is hilarious.

Also, what does that list mean by "poise is useful but will sometimes get you killed?" Would that be from the risk of getting mobbed if you're just standing in one place during attacks, as opposed to how being knocked down can sometimes knock you out of immediate combat?

Yes, being knocked down obviously has disadvantages but you have some invincibility frames that you'd otherwise not get by "tanking" with poise. It's fairly rare though. One example that does come to mind is Quelaag's AOE blast attack. With high poise it won't knock you down, but it simply means that you'll eat more hits from that blast, whereas the first hit of the blast will instantly knock you down with 0 poise and the rest of the blast will not hit you while you're downed.

Honestly though I can't think of more examples, but there are probably a few here and there. More poise is almost always better than less poise, but it should be at the smallest cost of mobility possible.

So my new rig for Dark Souls just arrived. Going under the Christmas tree!

One thing I haven't seen any of you folks discuss thus far in connection with DS is the notion of online rendezvouses. Is it even possible to meet up with specific players (i.e. any of you people) within the game or does the online system make it too difficult to even conveniently manage? I'm not really one for WoW-style group gaming but I thought it would at least be interesting to be able to cross paths with some MA folks within the game world. Presumably so that I can be laughed at and told that I sux.

you got the ps3? you'll basically have to join a chat channel independent of the game (if it's anything like 360, you can't have parties in the same comm channel - maybe to give a sense of loneliness?) and tell them where to place their white soapstone signs - it's iffy, but it works 90% of the time. I have had runthroughs with my two good friends four or five times. It's an absolutely blast and you level up way faster because you all fight the same boss three times.

Yeah, it's hard to organize coop or PvP sessions on the PS3 but definitely doable, I did it many times. It works better when using Skype on a laptop or mobile phone for chatting, though, since the PS3 text chats are pretty terrible and the interface is horribly laggy when a game is running. Still, feel free to add MorriganStark or ArrogantSmirk* (yes, I have two PSNs because 10 saves is not enough... xD made lots of different PvP and low-level role-playing builds) on your friend list.



For the PC version owners, my Steam ID is also MorriganStark, as is my GFWL ID (though with a space, Morrigan Stark there), feel free to add me. Haven't played either version in a while though, been playing Dragon's Crown, Kingdoms of Amalur and Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen instead.

Sounds good, I'll let y'all know once I get acclimated.

Hmm...it also just occurred to me that my internet speed might not be up to gaming requirements. I only just realized today that you can take your PS3 online for free using only your existing internet connection. I am a complete next-gen gaming noob. I'll be like a virgin wandering alone in a mall-sized whorehouse, staring and agape.

Yup, gotta love GFWL.

But, perhaps, there might be other outlets for Steam games that aren't, well, Steam.

On that note, to all interested parties, my Steam ID is Kurt Mansmith and my GFWL ID is Smokinggnu12.

(For what it's worth, Kurt Mansmith is not my real name but the byproduct of an old and mostly stupid joke within a group of my friends. )

Just began my first playthrough tonight. Had tons of trouble committing to a class since I'm totally in the dark as to what their actual strengths and weaknesses are, but finally ended up going with a female wanderer. Gift was the Old Witch's Ring for no other reason than that it seemed intriguing.

Gameplay-wise, it's something of a shock jumping from Silent Hill 1 - in which you have all the mobility of an agile shopping cart - to this. Will definitely take some getting used to. Barely really made any headway in the game itself tonight since I spent hours making my character (worth it? not sure) but so far it seems like it's going to be awesome. Wish I had a bigger TV to play on, but eh, can't spare the money right now.

Also region locked (US).

I can definitely buy the game code on Amazon since I have a US billing address, but I'm not sure about what will happen afterwards. It says that I'll still need Steam and GFWL to install and play. Steam might not let me play it and I don't know if GFWL will work at all. (edit: GFWL isn't even working for me now)