Dark Souls 3 - April 2016 : You Died, You Died, You Died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HIxuGi_2TQ

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/09/16/hands-on-with-dark-souls-iiis-new-magic-system.aspx

that crowned skull looming out of the darkness at 1:24 is giving me the serious heebie-jeebies

psyched for this obv

coma until March, please

i signed up for the beta network test

same. if i get in i look forward to explaining to my gf why i have to play video games for three hours on a Friday night.

ditto

japan needs me

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-17-dark-souls-3-is-a-surprisingly-different-beast

Critical Arts are special attacks tailored to each weapon and available when you're two-handing. With a scimitar, for example, you launch into a dervish of blades, while a greatsword can be used to launch enemies comically high into the air. There's a magic meter sitting between your health and stamina bar, a throwback to Demon's Souls own approach, and performing critical arts as well as summoning spells eats into this. Restoring MP's more straightforward than the spice gathering of Demon's Souls, too - you've now got in your possession a second, blue estus flask that can be glugged to top up that bar.

Hoping this comes out for PC also.

they make too many of these games

it'll have been two years since the last dark souls came out by the time this is released, and four-and-a-half since the first one was released - it's not exactly fifa in the churning-them-out stakes

but also bloodborne! that's one every 1.5 years

three games in one series, each with their own subtly different take on the template, and one offshoot with distinct differences in its combat system and overarching theme, all packed with content - i dunno, i'm happy to play them as regularly as they come out as long as the level of quality remains this high

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyd8dY8rRtA

If Bloodborne is any indication then this is going to be the best souls game yet.

http://cdn.yourepeat.com/media/gif/000/085/261/88fed98d30151cb92ae8c81165ac80f8.gif

I'm in on the beta!

nice! i didn't get in, but at least i don't have to explain why i'm cancelling all Friday night plans now.

yeah, there's a conversation i'm looking forward to.

have You Died yet?

testing is fri/sat/sun from 8pm to 11pm

should i liveblog tonight, y/n

just post I DIED every time you get killed

k

y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcAa8gHHfg4

fucks sake, this is 8pm PACIFIC
which is 11pm until 1 in the morning.

still not working...

a quick look around reddit and the internet suggests it's borked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyARBkovYCw&

i died about six times. this looks fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c2EJMd7ZN7w#t=253

http://i.imgur.com/NmX9h6f.gif

that's pretty much my dark souls experience except i'd be getting stuck in the corner and accidentally rolling off a cliff, too

if it ended with the rolling guy running out of stamina then getting one-shotted by his opponent it'd be more true to my dark souls experiences for sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI09ZVuX5XI

looks predictably fuckin' awesome.

cool that you can kinda go into Bloodborne-mode using those knife/bow weapon arts.

i dunno about you but what i really needed was a dark souls branded endless runner for my phone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LputQewHUIw

lol.

it's getting really hard to avoid knowing more about this game than i want to. truly excited.

feel like today opened the floodgates of early game DS3 footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igWjGlNlgH0

so far it looks really good. a bunch of references to Dark Souls get spoiled in the above video btw.

i have seen some people freak out (not here of course) that it isn't a totally interconnected world like Dark Souls was. except Dark Souls wasn't. Undead Asylum was cut off from the rest of the world, so was Anor Londo, so was the Painted World.

i think the areas themselves will be bigger and more intricately designed. already just from watching this footage it looks 100x better than the starting Betwixt/Forest Of The Fallen Giants areas from DS2.

cannot wait to die.

i'm not worried about it. i know there's warping from the beginning, and Although I did love the parts of Dark Souls where it felt like you really might not be able to get back (like going down into Blighttown or the Great Hollow for the first time), I'm sure they know what they're doing.

I'm also super excited for pvp in this game. I never really did it in DS1 because i missed the learning curve (everyone still playing was already way too experienced for me to even learn from my mistakes, it seemed like), and by the time i wanted to go back and try, I didn't have XBL anymore. I kinda sucked at DS2 and didn't want to keep playing it after finishing, and played Demon's Souls offline on a borrowed PS3. But Bloodborne is where I finally did enough pvp to mentally relax and not care about dying (which is really 90% of it), and learn some of the psychological tricks (switching up attacks & weapons, not repeating attacks on people who will parry you, baiting people into getting parried, etc). Feel like this is going to transfer over to DS3 pretty well.

Worst parts of being into these games:

1) Looking at Reddit for info. I'd never actually looked at it before Bloodborne came out and the depressing parts definitely creep in.

2) Most people who make Souls videos are into terrible music.

3) Occasional hate mail from children when playing online.

Do these games have a story? And is there a larger, interconnected story?

they have a story but it's really up to the player to piece it together.

as for are the games connected there are many theories and i thought the world of 2 was largely completely disconnected from the world of 1 but 3 has a lot of things returning from 1 so who knows maybe we will be playing in the past or future of places we have been to before. the first game was tightly directed by creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, then he took on a more supervisory role for 2 so that he could make Bloodborne at the same time. 3 looks like it will be a return to form in many ways receiving his full attention and his intention for it to be the final game in the series. so chances are good there will be some overarching story themes concluded or fleshed out.

imo dark souls 1 starts when you are cursed/hollowed/undead. the main mechanic of the games - dying over and over - is part of the story. as a hollow you cannot die; that is your curse. this is the same with all of your non-boss enemies and many of the NPCs that populate the world. how this curse is tied into the king-queen-god-monsters whose thrones you usurp remains to be seen. the motivations for many characters, including the "helpful" ones who guide you, is unclear. the writing and voice acting is pretty great. then there are the major themes of the series: the meaning between Light and Dark, the flames, the bonfires and kindling, death and rebirth, etc.

i've beaten the two Dark Souls games multiple times and can barely grasp the story. there is a lot of symbolism and ambiguity there. if you want there are dozens of hours of lore analysis waiting for you on youtube.

i think from software's games are some of the greatest examples of environmental storytelling in gaming history tbh

what adam said, but basically the story is very vague and easy to miss/ignore (both the main one and those of the characters you meet). a lot of it has to do with reading the descriptions of the items you pick up.

i also love how it's done, partially because i like the option to completely ignore it much of the time. they provide just enough details to create atmosphere and let you fill in the gaps.

there is massive complex deep lore if you want it and it's totally not necessary to know while you play.
http://soulslore.wikidot.com/

3) Occasional hate mail from children when playing online.
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Thursday, March 3, 2016 2:07 PM

this is a plus in my book

playing the deep game

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.fromsoftware.darksoulscamera

important information imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm4IOCkc5n0

I wonder if Burial is trying to get that next EP done before this comes out.

reviews coming in for this now, sounds like more of the same? http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/dark-souls-iii/critic-reviews

perfect

yeah not a bad thing. I'm a bit discouraged by he Polygon review which said that environment design is more akin to DS2 than DS though.

huh, my impression was that it's the opposite, we'll see i guess.

I saw this thread was updated and fully expected to click through and see this: (warning bare butt semi NSFW) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfG10WFUYAAgTOm.jpg:large

Read a few conflicting reviews about world design and difficulty

Eurogamer's preview from the Japan build said it was slightly too easy, then the full Rich Stanton review from today said he wouldn't be surprised if the difficulty wasn't patched downwards because it's so brutal. Interesting to note he thought it spells out plot points and relies on fan service too much. I wonder if the localisation was by the same personnel as before?

The Eurogamer review is a bit too detailed re: locations and bosses for people who want to be surprised btw

Can I finish the Bloodborne DLC and late game in time to get DS3 on release then get burnt out by it, hm

he wouldn't be surprised if the difficulty WAS patched downwards ^

Read somewhere that one of the pre-release/review versions were easier in terms of low boss hp, at least in the beginning, but who knows. I'm sure there will be some early patches. I'm just looking forward to early days multiplayer chaos before everyone knows what they're doing.

apparently the XBox version everyone is playing early is a preview build that will be fixed in a day one patch. all enemies do lower damage to the player in the preview build.

i bought this yesterday, Steam said I was coming out April 11! i thought it was coming out April 12!

looks like it will unlock on the 11th at 7pm EST

I'll get a physical copy in the mail on the 12th, spent the rest of the day downloading the patches, then go out of town for work the rest of the week. ;_;

preordered a ps4 copy from an online retailer who often sends stuff out early - hoping it arrives tomorrow...

https://www.facebook.com/darksouls/videos/1069455576460819/

heh, just added that to the game-related lolz thread

omg my copy has shipped

goodbye weekend, i didn't have any plans 4 u anyway

so stoked for this, only know a few small facts about this and have kept myself in the dark to avoid over-hype like i fell for with 2 (which i wasn't into and didn't finish)

ahh why isn't tuesday now

very admirable, i let myself look at mechanics/weapons/pvp info, but drew the line at any levels/bosses/walkthrough videos.

order placed

2 days and 22 hours on steam

gahahah ShopTo sent me a dispatch e-mail at 12:30 and it came through my letterbox minutes later, say what you want about Royal Mail but

I'm on the Research Hall on the Old Hunters rn :/

no, my son is *also* named Vordt

Don't know if it's just me trying to go to back to a lumbering blubbertank character after playing a cardio freak in Bloodborne, but not really feeling the idea that the combat has been honed to perfection here, getting lots of camera lock-on fuck-ups and unwanted useless kicks coming out in critical situations

so far had very tough bits of levels but not really any tough bosses

mine now isn't arriving until Thursday, that's what i get from ordering from the evil empire.

watching Steam unpack this thing right now is torture!

alright i failed to get my brand new DS4 controller to work so i went KB+M (for now, hopefully someone will hack something to get this working)

but damn. this is already really great. i just fought a giant version of a common enemy in the other souls games and it was a lot of fun. i love having this speed in these games, this is going to be incredible.

art design is just draw dropping and dreamlike. i am just staring at corners for minutes looking at some strange beautiful scenery.

i've got to stop because i have work in the morning. but damn, this game is amazing. it LOOKS incredible, just the way light hits everything looks way more impressive than any Souls game. there is this cool green light left behind from your soul echoes in this game, which makes for some really cool lighting situations.

the game is hard too! ive been dying over and over in the beginning area for about an hour and a half, just loving it. the game looks amazing. that dragon draped over the entrance near the bridge is so cool. the combat/controls is flawless, perfect, all systems check. I would say Dark Souls: Championship Edition but the atmosphere in this is so thick and unique it really feels like a thing of its own. i love it!

http://i.imgur.com/I8z6Lk1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/c3Vfqad.jpg

supposed to get here Wednesday. I am hyped.

went deprived, stuck on 1st boss. don't go deprived

there is no other way to go afaik

i feel deprived.

the club moveset/weapon art looks pretty cool though?

is there anything fundamentally new in DS3? that sounds like a disparaging remark but it's not meant to be - i'd gladly play it if it's just the same formula with new enemies and locations.

the main new things are weapon arts, which are weapon-specific special moves and magic now has its own health bar and flask to refill it

i got past 1st guy deprived after ~20 tries, felt really epic. immediately bought some ugly armor and shield but still using club. backstabbing is little more tricky now that enemies guard their own back which is cool. parrying also not as easy because of how fast enemies are.

adam are those pc screenshots. looks so much better, that area on console is really washed out and yellow

Have you tried lowering the brightness in the system menu, am0n?

my copy finally arrived today

of course virtually the first thing i did was wilfully ignore a 'turn back' warning and get killed by a giant crystal lizard thing

feels like comin' home

lol i saw that message, saw big blue thing in distance and did an about-face

i had brightness down but i'll try lowering it

ok i think i need to avoid this thread for a week or so

annoyed that i bought this pre-release and am waiting for it to be delivered! get your shit together amazon!

same

i still haven't used a disc with my PS4 - i've just downloaded everything. i suppose that might change once i hit the HD capacity, but i'm rarely playing more than 3-4 games at a time anyway, so i plan on just deleting games i'm not currently playing while keeping the save states.

this is the first one i got a disc for, because i have shitty internet and didn't want to face multiple days of downloading the game. i thought this would be faster. ;_;

i'm doing a terrible job of not clicking on this thread.

amazon always fuck that shit up. better off going to walmart/gamestop

Picked this up this morning. Came home and played it for 30 minutes, then had to start packing to move house in two days. Hastily throwing away boxes of stuff without looking to close so I can justify playing more this evening.

I one-shotted that crystal lizard because I am a fat knight, having nearly been killed by an emaciated level 0 tutorial scrub hollow minutes before; when I remembered you could hold L1 to block in this game I was like uh isn't that cheating

Possibly a bit sick of tramping through marshes and swamps right now but the world design has been good so far, it's on a much bigger scale so it doesn't have the tightly-wound Firelink shortcut revelations of DkS1 but there have still been plenty of neat bits where you suddenly realise you can see a landmark you fought through earlier from a different place

I have a Zweihander and I'm going to start upgrading it so I can work towards the Bet The Farm On Killing Everything In The Room With One Incredibly Slow Swing playstyle. I haven't been beefcake since DkS1 and it feels weird throwing away all these hardcore dex weapons

I one-shotted that crystal lizard because I am a fat knight

I mean I didn't die on it, not that I effortlessly parried it and killed it in a single hit

took down bordt of the boreal valley at the first attempt, enjoying the brief sensation of competence i am certain will be snatched away again in no time

i've gone for a sword-and-shield nimble warrior but a lot of the muscle memory i built up for bloodborne is getting me through without having to use the shield a lot of the time

xpost those screenshots up above are from Steam. yeah my brightness is lowered all the way to the bottom. game looks incredible, just incredible.

JoyToKey works for mapping a controller btw.

last night i was tearing my hair because my DS4 controller wouldn't work and i had tried x360ce, DS4Windows, and InputMapper. i said screw it and got out the old PSOne Dualshock 1 controller and the cheap blue USB adaptor. thank you sweet jesus for creating JoyToKey.

unfortunately i started a new job recently that requires i keep sensible hours so no playing Dark Souls 3 until 4am before the weekend for me...

still 'expected to ship today', lol

favourite moment in this so far is the way the camera's field of view subtly gets wider as you reach the approach to the undead settlement to give you a more epic view

the non-violent undead worshippers are creepy as fuck and i feel bad about killing them but i need those souls :(

It seems quite hard to farm early on, after having 8 grand burning a hole in yr pocket from gundex and the crystal lizard in the first 10 minutes

Interestingly Souls expert EpicNameBro knows nothing at all about this game and is doing a completely blind playthrough while cackling with glee

Gundex? Iudex?

ludex iirc?

there's a spot on the high wall which is pretty decent for farming early on, with a fair chance of getting titanite and gems

got through the first couple zones blind, really loving the aesthetic and the combat mechanics and basically everything. The town at the bottom of the tower is legit unsettling with all the bodies hanging from ropes. Playing from launch on ps4 has been great, everytime I'm human I'm tripping over summon signs and being invaded constantly. could not be happier at this pt. I am trying to go totally blind which is proving super hard (desperately want to know what weapons are better scaling off str so I can spend my precious upgrades the right way) but I sense that this will be a min/max multiple playthru kind of game like ds1 was

favourite moment in this so far is the way the camera's field of view subtly gets wider as you reach the approach

ya that was great and that area after is str8 up hieronymous bosch apocalypse

at the tower on the wall bonfire i fired an arrow at the dragon just to see what's what and loled at the result

has anybody tried to hit his tail a la DS1?

Okay, this is on tonight.

man the first miniboss really is no joke, huh
got him but it sure was an early gut check
ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL hit ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL hit RUN RUN RUN heal ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL hit

so in one day with this thing I have:

launched with deprived, tinkered with the face to make him look like an emaciated owl
killed the iudex, gundex, whatadix
chased off the dragon (not that difficult!)
killed the crystal lizard dragon
killed the mimic
killed both monstrosities
found my first normal crystal lizard
killed the fat guy
killed the blue knight
unlocked all the doors and freed the prisoner
activated the elevator
fully explored the first level and done a full kill sweep of the entire area
leveled to 21 and balanced the build so i can use magic, miracles, a bow and an axe
bought and used all the available armor/magic/weapons/items from the merchant
improved my sword to +2
have etched the first world layout/enemy placement firmly into my mind
got the banner
found Vorgul and have tried going after him three times now, I have yet to hit him more than twice

this is dark souls 3, day one

xp all the items except that 20k key of course

finally playing this tonight. it is amazing. you can't sleepwalk through this game but it just plays better and more user-friendly imo. i like this starting area on the wall and rooftops way more than some of early DS1.

the game is beautiful. so beautiful. they have turned up the dreamlike elements. this is HD dark fantasy at its peak. impossible architectures.

the speed is great but something to get used to after playing Dark Souls 1 so much recently. so much stamina! like 5x as much more something! why even level up endurance when you have that much? Dark Souls 1 you really have to be economical w your rolls but here you can dodge like a maniac, slashing your weapon. it's more button-mashy. but still good and strategic! best combat yet. i get trapped by my own impatience still but it gives you more leeway to make mistakes. still hard but more forgiving.

level design is lovely. everything is still a mystery and i am enjoying the flow of silent storytelling. again this is something Dark Souls sort of pioneered for the modern era and here it is done extremely well. i am getting some old fantasy Heavy Metal goth Edward Gorey or Frazetta feelings from many places. i want paintings of every screen of this game.

the dragon draped over that building in the beginning is so great. Alfred Hitchcock would be proud.

the shrieks from these ghouls are insane

you are probably going to like the next zone it really creeps me out

if you can stand next to a candle you can watch the light flicker across your shield and armor.

damn this green glowing cobblestone floor is amazing. this game is really impressive i bet at 4K it is just dropping.

art what zone are you talking about? where im at reminds me of Undead Parish especially the place you find Solaire at.

ahhh! woah!! surprise boss fight! yes! not gonna spoil this thank you!

um...so that wasn't a boss fight. he respawns! so glad i have pyro.

this game is really really good. level design is top notch. better than Bioshock Infinite quality graphics. level design so far like Undead Asylum stretched out to 5x the size with few mobs and lots of jump scares. i love it.

parts of it remind me of Undead Parish too but this is way way better than the basement area w Capra Demon.

gonna call it a night. im still only at the 2nd bonfire but i feel like i've done so much. SPOILERS i had a bunch of cool pyro fights with a princess mononoke dark liquid monster on the rooftops in between two dragons. i fought Smough in a really beautiful Castlevania style town square with a classical statue water fountain and full of empty suits of armor set up everywhere to look like they are resting. i threw fireballs from top of some stairs at 3 skeleton dudes with spears that were trying to get me.

http://i.imgur.com/f3ziSHk.jpg
set of screenshots from tonight
http://imgur.com/a/SFV6K

I started this last night also as a pyro guy, I liked the antler thingies he wears. Also at 2nd bonfire, need to take out that pesky knight after the flame run

GIANT ENEMY CRAB

@adam once you get to the legit boss of the area where you currently are, the zone after that is the one im talking about.

i turned HUD to auto in settings, much better for screenshots

think i've killed 4 or 5 bosses now, still not sure how far i've gotten. none of them have been main dudes in the intro. also had a few invasions in the crab area and killed them all. the npc invaders have been much tougher!

i turned brightness all the way down and now it looks perfect. seems like they took cues from dragon's dogma with the natural lighting

not feeling the disconnected world thing i've complaints about either, there are numerous times where i've looked around and realized where i am in relation to where i've been. it does seem to deliver on the whole "if you can see it you can go to it" concept

man, I do not enjoy beg covered in worms D:

torch ;)

that first boss....damn that fight was good!

it was really tough but i totally felt that WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS feeling at the end

found out im nearly able to score the red eye orb, need to invade in a very serious way

this game just got super medieval. i found this fat self-immolating alt dimension spanishi inquisition official who laughed like Tiny Tim and shot some dark magic at me, slowly sneaking through the air, so I was hiding around corners while he cackled in the distance, surrounded by a pitchfork-wielding village mob. so cool.

second boss down. i need more time to sak this in.

Tomorrow morning, I'm finally going in

the evangelist is a weird-for-dark-souls bad guy: near miniboss hitpoints, distance and close up attacks, generally flanked by a few underlings and it TALKS which was very off putting

Swamp covenant is the most fun. seems like many/most fights involve at least three phantoms and summons are so constant i had to take off the item to progress the story

yeah the evangelist! i haven't played through Bloodborne yet but i remember seeing some of these types of enemies in that. i am really glad they did that, Bloodborne was great.

another cool new thing: roll hits? rolling/dodging actually can stun enemies now! i don't think that was ever a thing before, right?

evangelists are super creepy when they start reading from that book.

i love it every time they have crows scattering. this game is pushing all the right buttons.

Swamp covenant is the most fun. seems like many/most fights involve at least three phantoms and summons are so constant i had to take off the item to progress the story

True, but it pisses me off slightly they no longer refill your estus when you win a PvP invasion or successfully kill a boss.

Have they raised the max human players cap for this? I may have miscounted but it seemed at one time there were more than 3 phantoms at once. Though one of them may have been one of the scripted NPC invasions.

I love how chaotic things can get with mad phantoms, swamp covenant, npcs and regular enemies all getting at each others throats.

wow the 2nd boss is incredible. like something out of Shadow of the Colossus. this game may be better than Dark Souls 1.

killed my first Lord of cinder and now I dunno where to go :(

if its the one im thinking of, you can keep going thru the back of the room

i fell for one of the oldest tricks in the dark souls book re: an npc, gg from

evangelist = fat official from demon's if you look close

really? fuck xp

XPS - with that gnarled hand item you buy in firelink you can summon 3 phantoms then at least one can invade or possibly two if you're in the swamp. I want to say the cap is 6 including the host but it might be 5. either way it's totally nuts and chaotic and exactly what i want

i think there's a second area protection covenant but i haven't made it far enough yet

where do i join swamp cov

i had 2 blues invade at once in crab area and i was alone. killed 1 and the other ran off and 'returned home'

ok this is great. i just got through the tree boss.

coolest thing that's happened so far is probably summoning a mad spirit just before that point, to see what they would do. they helped me clear out the whole area, then he finally attacked me once we got to the fog gate (i won).

got the red eye orb and have had some fun invasions so far, although it's too chaotic for me when there are two whites/yellows plus the host. much prefer duels.

there's a big wolf u pray to in the poison swamp farron keep zone. As u advance thru the zone u will find a long ladder going up the side of a bridge support, scale it,pray to the giant sleeping wolf, ask to join the cov and boom - unlimited invasions forever

ok yeah i got there but didnt join

parrying is tricky in this game but seems crucial

every game, i start out promising myself THIS is the one where I'm gonna force myself to learn to parry correctly. never happens.

i parried like a motherfucker all the way through bloodborne but i can't seem to find the rhythm this time around. lotta backstabbing though! seems easier to backstab in dsiii?

parrying is useful in pvp this time around as the counter to R1 spamming enemies. i haven't been able to consistently get it working in regular play

and yeah backstab looks to be back to DS1 levels

http://i.imgur.com/BL9zuJf.jpg

lol smell the halberd

i guess it was too much to hope that dark souls 3 wouldn't feature skeleton wheels

i hate hate hate those bastards

Just installing now. This is my first try at a souls game. Any tips for a noob?

The manual is uncharacteristically sympathetic and helpful this time out

I'd say practice blocking with a shield and dodging in the tutorial bit, and read a wiki mechanics page so you understand the status stuff like resistances, attributes, how weapon upgrades work etc

i played an embarrassing amount of this game over the last 48 hrs but felled 2 lords and am almost to anor Londo (having gone through the capital first). looking to get into the other zone defense covenant and maybe relax and farm my levels for a little bit.

not sure what the ideal pvp lvl is yet but theven build im tentatively working toward is basically good at 80 which should keep open the door for a wide range of coop options

theven isn't a word, phone u should know that

nooo, after looking it up, i apparently missed the trigger for the Mound Makers covenant. :( at least until late game. i was looking forward to that.

otherwise i'm at the obligatory poison swamp area, and i'm messing around with a rapier for pvp. felt like the katana was just a little too slow for a fast weapon, but it's great for pve.

the weapon arts for the rapier are amazing btw.

fuuuuck i killed the onion knight. saw him come down the elevator and got aggro. very sad.

can i resurrect these guys by forgiving my sins as per prior games. This is bothering me more than it should.

The forgiveness npc is actually in the same area you killed the onion knight. Unless perhaps you already found it and are only asking to know if it's worth the cost, in which case I have no idea because apparently I'm not a sinner yet.

Oh thank god, i was about to restart. Now i gotta find that guy

i just did that sidequest! killed the big fire demon w him. the trick to the elevator is that there are two of them, the top one goes up and the bottom goes down.

Now i gotta find that guy

or lady. or statue.

And even with that... No luck

Never mind, persistence paid off
But killing the onion knight is apparently not a sin! Bah!

Bummer. I wonder what sin is then since now it seems you can switch covenants willy-nilly and no one gives a fuck.

But that reminds me:

Just installing now. This is my first try at a souls game. Any tips for a noob?

Be careful who you attack, npc deaths are permanent and (not sure about DS3 but at least in the other games) can in a few cases make progression extremely difficult. Don't attack anything that's not visibly aggroed, normally if you can't lock on it's almost certainly not an enemy but there's no 100% reliable way to tell.

In other tips, learn to run past enemies, if you thoroughly explore a section and then die a little further down the road, don't bother killing every. single. thing. on the way to where you died. This is especially true for runs to the boss door, it'll do wonders for your enjoyment of the game.

Also, if you find the stats screen overwhelming or don't understand some gameplay mechanic and don't want to risk being spoiled by looking at a wiki, feel free to ask here.

so high lord volnir knows how to make an entrance huh

http://41.media.tumblr.com/81cd39af9078a33bfee5c34c6fcc4930/tumblr_o5ca102uo61r707vso1_1280.jpg
rip big man, sorry i killed you

maybe sinning is just aggro-ing and not killing?

so i've been playing without really using a shield and getting by, but i'm on the hunt for a 100% block shield that can still parry. some of the npc invaders & red-eye enemies are just relentless and it would be nice to be able to block once in awhile.

a 100% block shield that can still parry

the thief merchant you rescue in the high wall sells one

thanks. i've been terrible about going back to talk to npcs in Firelink.

got through the wolnir fight in the cheesiest possible way: summoned some guy who used some crazy powerful magic while i impotently whacked wolnir in the wrists with all the fearsome power of a tired kitten fending off unwanted cuddles

plus there were fucking skeleton wheels grrrrrr

the view over the area which opens up next is utterly breathtaking (and like a perfect fusion of dark souls and bloodborne's aesthetics)

i am playing this on easy mode, aka "summon two helpers at every boss".
I used to refuse to summon on my first playthrough, getting old.

top ten souls moment: rolling away from sabre/club kids on the swamp island, I take out sabre and am one hit away from getting club when a giant fucking crab merks me from behind

lol those crabs are fucking hardcore

just hit my first major difficulty spike in central irithyll but I think I'm getting to grips with it

central irithyl was a pain in the ass because of those pontiff knights. i found using a long reach weapon like arstor's spear works really well against them.

i told myself i wouldn't summon at all for bosses this time, but made my first exception for the Crystal Sage. i was using up too much Estus getting to the boss, and then for the fight itself i was like 'ok i get it' but kept getting stuck in a hurricane of magic when trying to find the real sage. it seemed like they were encouraging co-operation on that one.

any opinions on whether i should do the Cathedral of the Deep or Farron's Keep first? so far i've been messing around in the Keep swamp, trying to figure out the map and having some truly ridiculous invasions (fat-rolling after people as they try to fat-roll away in the water).

xp it is turning out to be a pretty good farming spot though - just one more level up to strength and i can use the cool-looking dark sword I found in *REDACTED*

I did cathedral of the deep first, didn't regret it for a second

any opinions on whether i should do the Cathedral of the Deep or Farron's Keep first?

cathedral is a massive zone with lots of shortcuts and loot and a relatively easy boss, i think it's intended to be the lower level step but probably doesn't really matter (fwiw i did farron's first because i didn't realize cathedral was a thing until i tried to enter irithyll.

i'm also playing this on easy-mode via summoning for bosses. about half the utility of souls games for me is pvp so sometimes it's hard not to get there as fast as possible. i grinded ds1 through without summons and i don't always have the stomach for that approach anymore

OK, so an hour into my first DS game, and I am so unbelievably shit at this. After getting my ass whooped by a crystal monster thing I decided to leg it instead and press on. Maybe I'm meant to come back to that? I dunno. Since then I've spent ages trying to do this first boss guy who has an FLCL-type snake coming out of his head halfway through the fight. Just as I think I'm edging nearer to victory I panic and start button mashing and drink health instead of pressing RB, and then die. And this is like the first level/ tutorial guy? JFC

Roll, roll, roll, hit, roll roll roll roll roll hit, roll roll die.

Not gonna throw in the towel tho, the game's too beautiful for that, all the moody vistas and cool as fuck character design already makes me think things will get spectacular down the line. I'm sure I'll get the knack, this brick wall's gotta give way before my head splits open against it.

Roll, roll, roll, hit, roll roll roll roll roll hit, roll roll die.

you'll have more luck if you

evaluate, engage, test the water, pull the rug, flip the hourglass, roll, tip the hand, cross the picket line, listen to your heart, carry the zero, crack the knuckles, crack the whip, contest the convention, roll, listen to the opponent's heart, bend the moral arc toward justice, three deep breaths, then hit

fear is the mid-killer - keeping a cool head is absolutely crucial in dark souls. take your time, study your opponent's move set, and learn their tells - everyone you fight will telegraph their moves in one way or another

dunno what your rolling strategy is but for me the key was realising that, counter-intuitively as far as I was concerned, often the best strategy is rolling towards your enemy when they attack, under their guard, delicately sticking a knife in their ribs and then dancing away from their response. rinse, repeat, enemy dead.

the other thing is that you might not realise it yet but chances are every time you die you've learned one more thing about your enemy's weaknesses. dark souls wants you to get better, it's just a harsh and inscrutable teacher a lot of the time!

or y'know what Karl said

i know that's what you're supposed to do, but in practice i usually end up making the sharp intake of breath/hissing noise while yelling "nooo! noo! NO! aaaghhh! NO! phew, phew....NO!!" and rolling around

these games are amazing at occasionally making you feel like a world-class boxer, picking apart your enemy's defences with clinical precision

more often though I end up trapped in a corner and get stabbed to death by some embarrassingly low-level scrub I've killed a thousand times before

for the first guy, stay close for your hits, back way off and then rinse repeat. you don't want to go toe to toe but if you pick your spots you should be able to cautiously chip him apart.

also, don't worry about the crystal dragon; that is indeed for later.

NotEnough don't get frustrated. first time i played Dark Souls i spent my first hour dying over and over to the regular bad guys. just see every death as a learning experience. practice makes perfect. fighting a boss is about learning how to read his attacks and how to dodge them and finally how to then land an attack as soon as possible. you will start dodging slightly earlier than necessary in order to land more hits. you should only ever focus on hitting a boss 1 time per dodges, any more at your experience level will leave you vulnerable to counter-attack. practicing will teach you the tells. you will start to feel victory when the boss's HP is lower than last time when you die. every time you play you get better, these games reinforce this attitude. and of course if you're having trouble don't forget level/equipment grinding after all this is a JRPG.

the crabs are insanely OP. i just got there and i keep dying. i like the forest area here though it seems a bit too bright.

Curse-Rotten Greatwood took me a few nights to beat. i won by avoiding the front altogether until i needed something to attack.

that's the key i think, the back. also i got lucky and spammed him to death as he was doing one of those "pick up a guy, play w him a little, then tear him in half" attacks to the sunbro that joined me. rip, sunbro, but i got the kill *guitar solo*

how do u do co-op in this? i never successfully figured out covenants in the other games. i want to help people fight bosses!

nvmd its the same. White Soapstones. guess i never waited around long enough?

OK, so an hour into my first DS game, and I am so unbelievably shit at this. After getting my ass whooped by a crystal monster thing I decided to leg it instead and press on. Maybe I'm meant to come back to that?

That's sounds about right for a first experience, honestly. FWIW, that lizard is beatable right off the bat with some classes at least but you actually learnt the right lesson there: if something seems too hard and there's an alternate path unexplored, ignore the former and take the latter.

Quoting myself:
I wonder what sin is then since now it seems you can switch covenants willy-nilly and no one gives a fuck.

Turns out that's completely wrong and a formerly helpful npc has just threatened to kick my arse next time we meet. Haven't check with the forgiveness npc yet, maybe it's reversible.

i think that happened to me too - did you meet him at the tower?

the tower behind firelink shrine, i mean?

SPOILERS obviously:

I don't think so, I don't know who you're talking about there.

It's Sirris (?), the woman from I assume the Blue Sentinels, she appears sometimes inside the shrine next to the fire keeper and she offered to help me during boss fights (this after I had already got the red eye orb and successfully invaded other players) and eventually I did summon her for the Cathedral boss but after I found and joined the Rosaria covenant she considers me an enemy now. Gonna check with Velka next time I play.

hmmm, innarestin'

a bald guy locked me in the tower then threatened to steal everything I owned after he killed me and I haven't seen him since

the mysteries of dark souls

Was it Patches?

yeah, I think it was - cheers

just ploughed through irithyll and uh I did not expect to end up where it leads. can't wait to see what happens next!

im at irithyll and ballista lake

Just vanquished a second Lord of cinder up above ithiryll and now descending into the depths of some kind of prison where I keep getting rekt in tight spaces :(

a bald guy locked me in the tower then threatened to steal everything I owned after he killed me and I haven't seen him since

ha, i did that today. try looking in the hallway near where you left the shrine to go to the tower.

i did Cathedral of the Deep, pretty cool area. also i'm a filthy hollow now, which honestly is an improvement for my character's face.

i forgave him though i don't know why

i didn't and it didn't seem to bother him, he still gave me a gesture and (i think) an item to get on my good side.

i made it to a part of irithyll that induced ptsd from ds1 :(

YESSSS! FUCK YOU FLCL DUDE!

I feel like the mistake I was making was being too timid. I kept backing away and thinking the distance would protect me, as soon as I started to get up in his grill (like y'all told me to) I had a lot more success. Also getting the timing of the rolls right - not too early so I stand up before he hits me, not too late that I get clobbered, but just right so he's looking around perplexed as I run up behind him an RT his ass.

So pumped right now.

welcome to dark souls, it is fucking amazing

VICTORY ACHIEVED

just reached the profane capital bonfire with a shred of health left and no estus. phew

the lighting in this game is really phenomenal

i made it to a part of irithyll that induced ptsd from ds1 :(

― am0n, Wednesday, April 20, 2016 12:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that fancy room w the silver knights? fuck that room

the room right below there with the spider-women creeped me the fuck out

also holy shit those crocodile dog things are maybe the hardest non-boss enemies i've ever fought :O

those things its like why bother. huge enemy w/ infinite stamina and massive hp

no art, the area after that. not gonna spoil it for others other than to say its outside and involves a heavy dose of 'fuck you' enemies

the room below i had a gut reaction to because those things look like house centinpedes ugh

the 'fuck you' enemy area is tough in places, yeah

worth it for the wtf reveal at the end tho

word to the wise: get the 20k souls backyard shed key asap.

yep, cosign

no art, the area after that. not gonna spoil it for others other than to say its outside and involves a heavy dose of 'fuck you' enemies

ahh yes i got adept at cheesing this area.

i realized that my souls play follows a pattern whereby early in the game i am very methodical and safe and i try and survive as long as possible and solo bosses but by hour ~20 i hit new zones it's really "wheeeeee" as i hurl myself toward progress with reckless abandon. both playstyles have merits imo

sounds like i'm a bit behind most of you (i'm taking things slooow, 18 hours in and i'm at Farron's Keep), but i got my red soapstone if anyone wants some friendly dueling practice.

made it to lothric castle after some serious help from sunbros and wooo i think i need to level up a bit before proceeding D:

i think i'm starting to get the hang of parries in this game, you have to do it like exactly when they start the swing (after whatever wind-up the weapon may or may not have). but it's still tricky depending on which type of attack is used, and pvp is a whole 'nother thing.

xp

Red-eyed knight causing you grief? Must have died about ten times in that first room before finally killing it and then dying to the very next enemy. Then did a few suicide runs and got a bunch of titanite chunks, guess it's time for lv 7+ weapons.

only played for a bit in the castle - the knights getting buffed by the spellcaster fucked me up until I got their rhythm down, then I was getting humiliated by overpowered basic enemies, so I went to the king's gardens and ended up getting wrecked by two dragon-headed mutant monsters :(

i'll say one thing though, as a mostly melee-focused character the last few areas have made me super-glad i upgraded my bow a lot and stocked up on arrows - having a ranged option when I need it has been u&k to progress

if anybody is curious the anor londo covenant is as fun as the swamp one with respect to chaos/mayhem in pvp

I got their rhythm down

Way ahead of me there, even the not-red-eyed ones wreck me almost everytime. I can't parry for the life of me, guarding drains all my stamina in a couple of hits, and dodge rolling never lets me actually hit them. They're pretty great!

I just leg it now. And there I was thinking I might be over-leveled just yesterday...

roll around their shield side when they attack and then backstab is my favoured tactic. all bets are off when there's two of them tho

damn aldrich was hard! i was in a loop of getting summoned to help ppl with him and then summoning someone to help me who would then die halfway leaving the boss hp rly high. finally soloed him, got him down to a fraction then he did the arrow bs but i yolo'd and killed him as i died. still counted, phew

Those crocodile-dog things turned out much easier than I thought they would. Witch ring + flame clutch ring + chaos fireball does quite a number on them, I almost felt sad for the critters.

hey guys? if and when you get the chance to dunk your head in wax, you're gonna want to do it. trust.

as true today as it ever has been

some invasions are finally starting to go my way now that i have this Farron Greatsword setup. it feels closer to my Bloodborne build where i enough options to stay unpredictable. on the left hand i switch between katana, shield, and the built-in parry knife, with the big slow sword on the right, so it's really got everything. i haven't even moved into the Catacombs because i've been having so much fun invading around the rooftops above the wolf.

All upgrade materials bar slabs confirmed as purchasable.

i finally figured out co-op and have had some fun sessions. i really love the High Wall and Undead Settlement areas (maybe my favorite in the series) so replaying those with extra people is fun and turns boss fights into OP battles with magic spells and fire flying everywhere. got summoned to the Dancer of the Boreal Valley secret boss fight once and we got it down to 50% but that boss is TOUGH.

still amazed by the new enemies that pop up. for all the stuff they take from Dark Souls 1 and 2 the new monsters are some of the best they have ever made.

xp only in limited numbers from the old woman in firelink shrine tho, unless i'm missing something elsewhere

You're missing something that I'm deliberately not spoiling unless requested (not that's a huge deal or too hard to guess what it is, mind).

Otoh, I've never seen her sell them in limited quantities, so I missed something as well.

just co-opped the final boss to the death. he's kind of an asshole!

in retrospect, i should have gone back and explored a bit more. I'm sure I'll uncover all sorts of shit in ng+

the backdrop to the final battle is utterly jawdropping :O

made it to Irithyll, so many cool things there. i poked my head into the dungeon and it's soooo Tower of Latria.

also got involved in a weird version of a fight club where the host summoned as many red soapstones as he could (there were at least three of us there at once) and took reds on one at a time. he was using the butcher's knife and just destroying everyone.

xp

btw the Abyss Watchers were easy, right? cool fight but i was able to first-try it, and helped a bunch of people out after.

I finally got to the big pvp spot after Pontiff, so I'm super happy to be getting regular duels. I found myself doing well by using a greatsword against fast weapons (for the hyper armor), and the katana against big heavy weapons. It seems like that would work against me in the same way that it's working for me, but hey, so far so good.

btw the Abyss Watchers were easy, right?

lol no i'm having a lot of trouble w it. got any tips?

Well, for the first phase, you just have to stick it out until they start fighting each other, and pick off whoever's alone. For the second, a 100% shield helps a lot, and it's very possible to circle/roll behind him to get backstabs. Also I was using a fast weapon, which helps because they stagger very easily.

Btw apparently by wandering into the dungeon in Irithyll I inadvertently broke two or three NPC quest lines. Nbd as this happens to me in every game and the triggers are so inscrutable and unforgiving.

you just have to stick it out until they start fighting each other, and pick off whoever's alone

Only one of the watchers is the actual boss of the first phase, damaging the others won't speed up the fight but the red-eyed "ally" can help by distracting the boss (and the damage he deals to the boss does count).

You can tell who's who by locking-on: the extras will display a regular enemy health bar over their model, the actual boss won't because his health bar is at the bottom.

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf3Wj_d-aOE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DmFUU1Ino

daaaaa deeeee
deeeee daaaaa
deeeee daaaaaa
deeeee
daaaaa

second phase is really tough. i like the fire sword though, very cool. he kind of reminds me of Artorias.

I'm pretty sure there are *lore* reasons for that

played some co-op helping with bosses and red phantoms. it is very fun! a whole new dimension of play from single player really. going through the level and seeing dead enemies and wondering where your host is, trying to keep them alive through the whole level.

back at the shrine i realized i had several unburned undead bone shards so now my estus is up to where it should be. about to try again. i love the forest you go through to get to this boss fight, it reminds me (as much of this game does) of the oolacile ancient forest DLC from the first Dark Souls.

bttf fire sword got me

dang this is amazing like the DS2 sentinels but w DS1 Artorias and then a DS1 final boss battle but with a way cooler sword!

i'm guessing fire sword dodge has to be a hard R/L?

i love it when the fire trail is delayed, just like bttf, and you think you are safe and then WSSSSSHHHH YOU DIED

Anyone know where the wolf ring is?

apparently it's only a covenant reward or ng+ item, but i thought the jury was out on whether poise actually does anything in this game?

http://kotaku.com/the-mystery-behind-dark-souls-3s-seemingly-useless-pois-1773373128

Huh, didn't know that about poise, never tried heavy armour due to low vit.
And also because I wanted complete the 4 knights ring set, it's the only one I'm missing.

i've been grinding pvp and boss battles to get all my stats up to 20 across the board. it's a dumb way to play but it's what i always seem to do.

i'm only leveling vigor, endurance, str, an dex.

so i had a duel yesterday against a guy who was spookily good at parrying. he didn't even have a weapon, just parried every attack i made without fail. even the katana.

also the new thing is apparently using the caestus for parries, because it's pretty much instantaneous (DS1 style). much easier than using a shield, unless you're already used to the shield timing.

I also grind a lot of souls by co-oping, I finished NG at lv 99 but haven't started NG+ yet, I've been stocking up on upgrade materials and re-visiting some areas for loot that wasn't there the first time I went through, like Havel's set and Greirat's ashes.

finally took down the Abyss Watchers. my strategy of trying to stay out of range for the 2nd phase wasn't working so I started attacking less w pyromancy and more w melee attacks, thrilled to discover that in the 2nd form he is susceptible to attack stun, letting me get 2-3 hits in. pyromancy is just too slow sometimes...

hit a "what the hell do i do from here?" point until i fumbled into the ithyrill dungeon.

I was banging my head against Aldrich for awhile yesterday so I went back and did Smouldering Lake and the dungeon. Then got Aldrich, after one of those near misses where you're one light hit away. Cool fight, glad I stuck it out and didn't summon.

lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbqTA1HbNqI

oh man, so dark souls

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

i caved and summoned someone for the second Gundyr fight. he's just so aggressive, with so little margin for error that it's hard to learn counters. that whole area is really cool though.

i think i'm maybe 2-3 zones out from the final boss but i've basically given up advancing in favor of invading/fight clubbing after pontiff bonfire, in anor londo, and with aldrich faithful. as much as people complain about pvp in 3, i'm really enjoying it. i love these games in the early days when summons are still basically instant despite advancement (and there's still a decent distribution level wise before everyone gravitates toward whatever the preferred pvp level shakes out to be)

yeah, i am enjoying level building (up to 109, where the costs start bumping up against decreasing benefits) and getting into nonsensical free for alls. lack of voice support is so crucial for this game.

Just beat the giant guy with some help, which seems the best way to get him done. Gotta look around for next steps and explore the last few zones more closely.

same. i'm having so much fun with fight clubs and invasions (and my success rate has skyrocketed since switching to a sharp Exiled Greatsword!) that i'm reluctant to finish the game.

art, are you on PS4?

xp

giant guy = Yhorm?

yeah, think so.

but you used the, um, item in the room during the fight, right?

no idea what you're talking about so no. did i fuck up?

ok either you're talking about a different fight or you did things the very hard way.

xp to Jordan - i am indeed on ps4, psn: vrilr0

someday ilx fightclub? i'm going to roll an alt character to advance up to aldrich then basically just stop for fights in the usual arena. i've heard some suggestions elsewhere that fight clubs should move to ashen lake because of the optional boss, but for now the desirable locale is still pontiff bonfire

lack of voice support is so crucial for this game.

souls games are basically the only games i play online for this exact reason

cool i'll add you, let's definitely do some red soapstones if we happen to be on at the same time.

for sure. i need all the practice i can find if i ever hope to get gud

(i believe my psn name is Mr_Kitka btw)

i would love to fight with y'all; i'm on as forksclovetofu

jordan, the giant fight i did was in the cathedral with the divebombing gargoyles and the covens of fire priestesses. He had a huge machete and lunges at you. I spent about fifteen minutes rolling under his feet and hitting his ankles with no benefit. Called in some help with magic attacks and they killed him easily with head shots.

yeaaaah, so there's a sword in the arena (Demon's Souls callback) with a special attack that can kill him in about 5 hits. it did take me a long time to figure out how that attack works though.

i'm down for ilx fight club this Sunday during the day if anyone's around.

oh tru? i had no idea

i wonder if your summons were actually using that weapon.

one of the guys was using something that i assumed was magic that looked like a big wave of power shooting through the room.

that's the one.

but for now the desirable locale is still pontiff bonfire

― geometry-stabilized craft (art), Friday, 6 May 2016 16:49

been sticking with the high wall fight clubs, i like the location better, nice little arena there w/ observation deck

I'll have to check back there, I imagine that's mostly people who have started NG+? This would also be a good spot for an ilx fight club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZESDHIRYpfA

Nameless King fight was nuts btw. I felt like I could have gotten through it on my own eventually, but a friend and I took turns summoning each other and it still felt challenging & fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtWC6Djtdw

I'm just arrived at the big Dark Souls 1 fanservice area and am loving the chance to farm regular and large titanite from these two knights at the base of this long stairway. But DAMN they are killing me over and over w this lightning sword.

It's gotten to the point where it is extremely comical now. While I am dying I can see my ghost from the previous attempt ..... also dying!

Just got there myself. that frostbite dog warrior thing can fuck off too.

Oh yeah that huge spidery thing w all the eyes?

I got a strategy that is starting to work w the 3 knights at the start. Rolling diagonally into their attacks is best then attacking from the side/behind. Two backstabs is easy. Once they bring out the lightning that's it. You better clear your calendar and get ready to roll.

ofc now that means i build up 70k souls before losing them

naw, that guy down the stairs on the left in the room with a pile of chests

my duels lately have been either easy wins or i get parried on my first attack and then one-shot with a surprise Smough's Hammer + hornet ring.

Is it just me, or are the bosses a lot easier this time around? I was able to kill nine of them on the first try, including the "final" boss. The Lothric Bros were the only boss that made me yell at the TV and rage quit (haven't gotten to the Nameless King yet). Maybe I'm just more familiar with DS play mechanics this go around.

End humble brag.

this library stage is fun

nameless king has a 3rd boss added to it... the camera

Is it just me, or are the bosses a lot easier this time around? I was able to kill nine of them on the first try, including the "final" boss.

good for you! im at Aldrich just getting killed a lot and working the health bar down inch by inch and slowly learning all the attacks. the shower of spears killed me a bunch when i was being super-aggressive so i started backing off and the pillars turn out to make great shields. the bosses in this are at least 2nd hardest. i was able to first-try many of 2's bosses but none of 3's. so far most of 3's bosses have stumped me for an evening or so and then i'll revisit it and figure out some new strategy that unlocks another chunk of the boss health bar.

nameless king has a 3rd boss added to it... the camera

truuue. from watching videos, i was making the first phase harder than it needed to be (in terms of camera + the downward fire attack) by getting under the dragon/behind the head.

btw i'm really starting to hate the Dark Sword in pvp. the other night i fought the same person three times trying to find a counter...the first time i walked into their R1 spam, the second time i tried to parry unsuccessfully, the third time he black crystal-ed out as soon as he came into my world.

anyone up for ilx pvp on saturday during the day?

does the password system work w/ red sign too?

yup

xp Adam - I must have just gotten lucky with my build this time around. DSII was REAL rough for me.

anyone up for ilx pvp on saturday during the day?

i'm hoping to be online saturday afternoon, so this sounds good. if i have time enough to farm chunks for my last slab-worthy weapon i'll respec to luck and start NG+ then try and push to the high wall bonfire so i can host several phantoms for a proper fight club.

high wall it is. password: ilx (if that's not too short?)

sounds good, i'm tentatively suggesting a 2pm cst start if that sounds good. i believe all levels can attend if we use pw as well

I can do that. I'll be available at least 2-3.

i was range attacking Aldrich w pyromancy and my dark shield on to block incoming magic missiles then Aldrich, Devourer of Souls just spammed that strong magic blast at me in double shots killing me quickly. by then all the pillars were smashed so there was no place to hide. i guess dodge roll into them?

seems like staying close is an option u can dodge roll around him to avoid the rain it is cast in a half-circle it seems?

i really want to hit more than twice but he does that raising up the staff to pound the ground/make a purple cloud

his attacks are actually pretty slow and easily telegraphed but i can't seem to not get trapped by him doing multiple attacks at once. rain + heavy magic blasts how am i supposed to doge this?

fuck this rain of arrows

the arrows i think you have to just run around until it stops esp in phase 2 where it follows you around and side roll the 2 magic blasts. he is a pain in the ass, if you see him raise up the bow just start running. i had trouble w/ most bosses but oceiros and champion gundyr were easy for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esOpx7ybPt8

entered ng+ for the first time in the souls series last night. there was a very emotional mass murder of all the NPCs. now i am being constantly invaded at the high wall while ember'd while i follow a walkthrough to cover everything i missed on my blind first pass.

looking forward to dlcs, this game continues to deliver

the linearity bums me out. didn't bother me in bloodborne but every souls game gave you choices of where to go. next playthrough i'm gonna do dancer/lothric castle first, thats about the only change-up it allows

the level design is flatter and less creative than ds1, definitely, but i felt like there were at least a few other opportunities for choice as far as zone selection went (farron vs cathedral, optional zones like ashen lake and second gundyr fight) and i still much prefer the design over ds2 or demon's souls

really? it's not DS1 in terms of being able to skip large parts of the game, but it feels like there are more branching options than Bloodborne. once you hit the first swamp you can go to Road of Sacrifices/Cathedral or to Farron Keep/Catacombs/Smouldering Lake, although i guess you need to do both routes to get to Irithyll. Then you can go to the Dungeon or A*** L****, and there are also the dragon peak/Untended Graves Side areas.

xp

the side areas are little branches but you can't deviate from the main route. the world feels more of a piece in 3 but that one-way funneling hurts the replayibility for me. ds1 you can go straight to the worst parts if you want, turn pve into different challenges. the choices this time feel more illusory

i even liked demons/ds2 hub setup because you could do the spokes in whatever order. just my preference. ds1 went just far beyond, i guess they'll never recapture that.

ok i get that. i like that each area is pretty twisty and intricate, but i suppose it's true that each playthrough is going to look more or less the same. i wonder if the speedrunners will figure out any crazy tricks.

the areas themselves are expansive which helps. the cathedral/castle areas are massive and they did a good job of utilizing the vertical space too, ground to rooftop

i got the shrine rooftop jump down where you run up the tree and jump up before you've bought the tower key. hope they don't patch that or the butt glitch

yeah i get what you are saying wrt world linearity but i wouldn't trade it for smaller areas, which seems like it would be the trade-off they would have had to make. the first couple of areas (High Wall and Undead Settlement) are so great i really don't mind the linearity and the game opens up pretty soon anyways once you get to the Dilapitated bridge/tree boss/that whole area that connects to the also forest and the catacombs.

started a new game yesterday to try the default knight. it was way easier than my pyro build! they give the knight some really good equipment early on.

god, High Wall is so beautifully designed. every time i go back to visit i just love it, the lighting, the weird rooftops, etc. it's up there with Undead Burg from DS1 tho personally i like the DS3 levels far more (both art-wise and monster-wise).

fight Club in high wall pw is ilx come join if u want

Putting my sign down shortly!

I got killed trying to summon, I will turn on and off the code for randoms as needed. What's your char name?

Enomoto

this purple Phantom why do I keep bringing him he doesn't understand what's going on

lol

how do you do this? put down a white soapstone? do u need a covenant? what do i do to get on this

Go to high wall bonfire drop white or red summon sign I'll start using ilx as pw again for the next few mins. What's ur char name? No cover needed but fair warning jordan is killing everyone rn

Adam we're both on ps4 :(

Covenant not cover

ah this is ps4 only? i guess no cross-platform

Stacia

Yeah no cross-platform unfortunately.

Some really good matches here! Also some healing goofballs but that's ok too.

Oh man I really need to get that guy who's having a streak w/the fire twinswords.

Wow people are actually using magic to good effect. With this one guy, it's like fighting a boss.

Yeah this magic is tearing it up v interesting

I can host too if you want some action

it's cool I may head off in a little bit I'll keep it going until then. Ps 136k souls for free

lmao i think that's it for me today

I'll push for pontiff next time, I need to get hollowed for this build

Ok thanks, that was really fun!

Back to figuring out what to do about the Princes I guess

Ok the last boss was hilarious. Kinda cheesy, but pretty fun to fight (so many moves to learn how to read).

I'm sure I'll keep doing pvp for awhile and it would be fun to try some other builds, but finishing the game always breaks the spell for me. Which is probably a good thing, as I've been playing this every spare moment I had.

omg that final fight
maybe on ng+ i will start fighting bosses solo. i doubt it tho.

bosses i summoned for:

Crystal Sage (don't regret it, seems tailor made for co-op, otherwise it's bullet hell)
Wolnir (eh, don't feel like i cheated myself out of anything in particular)
Champion Gundyr (the main regret of my playthrough, should have figured it out solo)
Nameless King (kinda regret this but it was fun teaming up with a friend)

i missed out sat., maybe next time. im doing 2nd playthrough w/ no summoning and am up to cathedral. i embered to get the npc invader in crab area and it pulled in 2 additional blue invaders... what kind of balancing is that? or is there some watchdogs thing im not getting?

like sentinels helping you? probably that patch that was supposed to make the matching more lenient for blues and darkmoons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5vnejEieA

1 npc and 2 human invaders so 3v1

oh that sucks, must have improved summoning ranges for watchdogs too.

the library is so cool. way better than DS1 library.

this crazy wax sorcerer who has a lit candle on his head walking through this doorway was pretty dreamlike and scary and the grasping spectral arms that grow out of certain books in the library are fantastic

it's almost like...vector graphics? what is this effect? just a low poly monster?

http://66.media.tumblr.com/d3766fc79b3b0d0ed2720c75c3918a00/tumblr_inline_o6q5c1T6oC1s1rrb3_500.png

i was too dumb to figure out what dipping your head in wax did, a friend had to tell me.

5 million bucks!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/steamforged/dark-soulstm-the-board-game/description

anybody want to fight?

sick minifigs

Yeah, $100 for all that is actually not that bad and if it's ever available for straight up purchase, i will likely cave.

So, again: anybody want to fight? Or co-op? I'm on my first NG playthru and at the start of the poison marsh level.

i mean it's like 90 minifigs and the game for $110... but it's shipping from China and god knows what that's gonna cost ultimately.
http://steamforged.com/late-pledge

are you on steam? gonna play some DS3 tonight and i am down for some co-op!

do we need to be the same covenant or soul level or something? i'm forever fuzzy on the specifics of PvP.

PS4 unfortunately.

i'm down during the day on Sat.

i will be at the studio sadly.

ok good, i'm supposed to be in the 'studio' too.

i kinda love these btw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX8-qKJruUI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvSAgFVUr6w

lol, i know which one i am.

anybody wanna fight? I'm free until the golden state game

how would people compare this to Bloodborne difficulty wise? bloodborne is the only souls game i've played so far, and looooving it despite the PAIN. just curious if i should leap into DS3 after that, or maybe go back to the ps3 titles first. opinions please!

my brother and I have been talking about this a bit as we were in the same position: the rhythm's slightly different. more focus on defence, depending on your build. bonfires/lamps a lot more frequent in this particular instalment. i was hit quite hard by loss of sidestep and R1/R2 combos, and it's taken me a while to get used to shield and two-hand wielding/special moves. I mean you can have a Bloodborne style build, but I'm not sure that half the fun isn't clanking round in armour with a large claymore. levelling's a more subtle and meaningful affair too. I'd say just jump in.

http://i.imgur.com/gTEo2J1.jpg

:(

i think Bloodborne > DS3 is probably an easier transition than going to DS1 or DS2. but they all have their own feel and mechanics that take some adjusting.

always classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj6MROfFed4

this is p disturbing

http://imgur.com/gallery/U51Xmzf

so idk about anybody else, but i'm still playing this (or rather, i abandoned an attempt at playing through it again, but still love the pvp and try to squeeze in a few duels per day). very psyched for the dlc.

i love you for still playing it

played thru 3 times for all the endings and platinum trophy so i am good for a while. dlc might drag me back in but not any time soon.

Got stuck. Abandoned. As usual.

friendly souls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B486_C4LWZA

that's great and gives me hope for the future in a strange way.

anybody else play the DLC? it's pretty awesome. you are in a big DS1 DLC-style forest, only it is snowing, and full of all-new enemies. it's very fun to fight the packs of wolves! the guys breathing fire are pretty cool too. the giant knights are hard as crap (esp that one in the tower) but are really rewarding fights as always!

i might be down to retry this during the holidays

it's great. i've been really enjoying the official arena too, especially 2v2 mode. it's my go-to thing for when i have 15 minutes free.

https://www.bandainamcoentstore.com/product/435037/dark-souls-iii-x-mas-fleece-sweater-size-s

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/12/20/why-dark-souls-3s-aldrich-is-2016s-best-boss/

this is pretty good and goes into some of the lore of DS3

Someone discovered a glitch that allows people to invade into boss fights, and it's fantastic (while it lasts). I was invading in Lothric Castle for awhile, ran out of people to invade, and decided to move on and fight the Dragonslayer Armor. A purple phantom shows up in the middle of the fight and it honestly made it so much more exciting.

replaying this again from scratch to get to the point where i can jump into the new downloadable content. it's a very very good game.

can't find the DS1 thread via google, but pretty much all the drums on this are DS samples ;)
https://www.residentadvisor.net/tracks/840047

this is crazy but true. last night i was struggling against the Abyss Watchers and was farming that area to save up enough souls to level up. i was at level 48 meaning i had to get 13,979 souls according to http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Level. i killed some bad guys and not paying attention to how much i had warped back to Firelink and leveled up. i ended up with 1 soul left!

http://i.imgur.com/57AkuCq.jpg

i ended up with 13,980 souls, exactly 1 more than i needed. feels like a crazy coincidence but then again i bet they have all the numbers for enemy soul yield and leveling intertwined.

Nioh is really messing up my Dark Souls muscle memory when it comes to the controls.

Watching this guy's videos was very helpful to upping my invasion game btw: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkeh30ZpOrazSqZ9_RCFog

#teamilx?

https://twitter.com/DarkSoulsGame/status/842012500665217024

http://i.imgur.com/uYDSW0l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FvRfIxml.jpg

It's really good, I only wish it was longer.

(I'm currently at what I assume are the last two bosses, both of whom are still in their 'seemingly impossible' phase of familiarity)

i've just killed the three angels and am at the first boss(es). it's a really good fight. looking forward to seeing the rest.

I never found the, um, way to kill the angel in the swamp. Too stressful running around there.

I don't think this is going to be a very good place for invasions (especially compared to the last dlc), as almost every moment is a gauntlet or set piece. You're always running through trying to avoid lasers/arrows/fire/tons of enemies, and an invader could probably just come in and do nothing until the host dies from the environment.

holy shit all these respawning archers

the city itself is really cool. i love the moss-covered lost city look.

http://i.imgur.com/J9onyNS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zxV3qHg.jpg

really happy with how the new DLC turned out. feels really quite expansive and it's surprising me with all these different environments. the Inner Ring is fast becoming one of my favorite levels, that sun-dappled, mossy, ruined lost city is simply gorgeous. the guys with the giant holes in their chest are a lot of fun to fight, and taking out the turtley monks while dealing with them is a fun challenge. the giant headless guys are fun to fight too! they keep killing me but they are fun! i found another swampy area, full of bits of ruins sticking out, those giant ghost archer summoners roaming around in the distance. i really like the scale of it all, feels like they are going out with a bang!

beating this optional boss has turned into a second job for me.

btw try plunge attacking those giant headless things.

hell yeah, that insta-kill is sweet. once again the level layout there is phenomenal, that bridge being a perfect place to plan your attack, after you clear out the lightning guys of course.

i like how the patrolling headless are set up so that one of them is in front. the first time i entered this area i saw one and was like "oh hell no, not one of these guys". and then the other two showed up! Dark Souls has always excelled at moments like that, where things seem pants-shittingly impossible.

Did it! Had to do it the old-fashioned way learning every move and how to deal with it, but I honestly think it's way more doable solo than with phantoms. When there are multiple players its movements are much less predictable, and harder to react to.

Now I'm having sooo much fun with the covenant that gets unlocked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_19er_GOOk

Tonight. 7 PM Pacific. Jesse Farrar will attempt to speedrun Dark Souls 3 (all bosses). https://t.co/zACHXnrQDd

— Stefan Heck 💻🚽 (@boring_as_heck) August 14, 2017

Quick update: Jesse has apparently never played Dark Souls before.

— Stefan Heck 💻🚽 (@boring_as_heck) August 14, 2017

I like Jesse's style

This is a silly thing to do but I recently started pressing 'save video clip' after invasions that seemed interesting or exciting:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDz6pkTVAF3WWgYGLstA-UbokJwJpKA7i

NB I have no video editing software

i'm having a great time with DS3, no surprise. i'm most of the way through the undead village portion of the game (the area the demons fly you to after the second giant beast hound boss).

most quintessential dark soulsy moment, so far: sloooooowly taking down the dragon from afar with tons of crappy wooden arrows, only to get torn apart by a mimic as i tried to claim the treasure from the building the dragon was resting on top of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMbzmfx6GYs&t=0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMbzmfx6GYs

oh that is brilliant

Karl, i envy you your first playthrough; DS3 is the jam

All his videos are ridiculously clever.

Have fun Karl! Tell us your character name so I know if I invade you! ;)

I think I am Valdiev

but i am super stingy on embers so i'm rarely invadeable (iirc)

The other night I was invading at low-ish levels, and got invaded myself. The invader dropped me, like 130 embers. I felt slightly guilty since I don't need them, and when I find solo hosts who seem nice or new I only drop like 5. I've been trying to pay it forward though, so if you want embers and are on PS4, lmk.

for some reason the last day or two i haven't been able to connect to the network anyway, so i've just been in offline mode. it's weird because i can stream tv/movies and other games on my ps4, but i can't connect to the Dark Souls network.

one very underrated feature of dark souls 3 is the atmospheric barfing noises. i've been playing the game on headphones and it is VIVID.

this whole undead village is just wreeeetching

♫♪♩· ♪♩·

don't wanna close my eyes

I think that's a widespread thing, something to do with the PS network (haven't tried to connect though).

hah yes there are some great sounds, lots of ghoulish shrieks, moans of the damned, gargles of the undead, etc. later on there is a dungeon that has some random screams that never cease to scare the shit out of me

good luck on your quest!

that dungeon has one all-time jump scare too iirc

i am trying to figure out whether i should go ahead and do the fight with the giant cursed tree, or try to ascend the tower and take out the crazy watchman who can shoot out giant arrow/bolts/trees/spears, whatever they are. meanwhile, everyone is throwing up

I highly recommend the tower first, but, um, keep an open mind.

The giant cursed tree is always the hardest boss in the game for me for some reason, and the only one I routinely try to summon for. Having a weapon with some vertical action/range can help.

it's remarkable how widely ppl's experience of these games vary. the tree boss was a relative breeze for me each time. my worst boss was the one grimes is fighting there, the guy on the rooftops. if it took me literally 50 tries the first time i would not be surprised. i remember being baffled by my friend who nearly quit demons souls because he couldn't beat tower knight and then (twice) beat maneater on 1st try. also interesting to me how sometimes after eventually beating a very hard boss it's like the code is cracked and i can then beat them easily on subsequent occasions, e.g. ornstein and smough

Yeah, it's so subjective! I've never had a problem with the one you're talking about.

I think I have an easier time with the humanoid ones, and a harder time with the ones that are so big that when you're close to them, there are parts that are off-camera (so you really need to be observant in order to see their tells and not get smushed).

uuuugh, real life and dark souls just collided in the most intensely frustrating way. I went to the tower and resolves the spear thrower situation, then kept going and took out the monster thing circling the fire. I thought about home boning to level up, but decided to keep going a bit further. I got in over my head with the evangelists but managed to whittle them down to the last one, no estus flasks left, no stamina, evangelist down to one last hit, they’re winding up and I’m literally going “aaaaagghhhh!!” IRL and then - the fucking power went out in our building! Everything just shut down (except for the loudest carbon monoxide detector in the entire world, just outside my door, which will now beep every 30 seconds and keep me awake through the night until maintenance comes to fix it 2-3 days from now

Time to walk the dog

But good lord that was intense. Also, very biased because I was on a winning streak there, but this whole undead town and surrounding area is my favorite part of the game so far.

Do keep posting here, with your DS3 thoughts/observations. It's interesting. Tempted to start a new build tbh. Can't work out which the monster... oh wait the woman priest with the hug? She's a fucker, even when you're totally late game overpowered. Excited for some of the stuff you're yet to encounter. Still haven't beaten the final boss in this game (rebuilt my build and fucked up on load carrying and now can't carry on with it).

if i do manage to make it all the way to new game+, i'd like to try some sort of sorcerer or magic-based build. i went with a standard knight STR-based build for this first attempt. i'm trying to test out various weapon styles as i get them, but i reinforced a battle axe with dark damage early on and it's been my go-to during more difficult portions of the game so far. i'm so STR-heavy that it doesn't seem super-slow to swing, either.

i took down the curse-rotted Greatwood last night and also explored the sewers with the key. getting ready to head back in now :D

Melee is more fun imo. I always intend to make these hybrid builds and abandon them for another dex character (I do have a poise + strength one but it's not as fun for me).

Melee is more fun imo

it's a lot more terrifying, too. this game scares the bejeezus out of me, and it's never more frightening than when you're 5 feet away holding up a shield, before you have the enemy's movement patterns memorized.

i'm a couple bonfires into the road of sacrifices. in a game of spooky sound effects, the scream of the magic using dude who emits green fog and fire (don't know most enemy names, sorry) might take the cake so far. luckily they're really easy to kill just by rushing them, but still. i'll be glad to get out of these woods (and i haven't even been into the swamp yet, fuck)

i'm trying to strike a balance between trying to discover everything on this first runthrough vs pushing ahead to new areas. i know there's all sorts of gear i could have collected at this point, but right now i'm at the second bonfire of the road of sacrifice, LVL 32
Vigor: 15
Attunement: 10
Endurance: 14
Vitality: 16
Strength: 25
Dexterity: 16
Intelligence: 9
Faith: 9
Luck: 7

RH: Deep Battle Axe+2 (Physical 116 and Dark 116)
LH: Wargod Wooden Shield (lol at me for having a wooden shield this far in the game but it's better than the knight shield so)
Longbow

Knight Helm, Lothric Knight Armor, Lothric Knight Gauntlets, Northern Trousers

That part is hard! And the swamp can be ridiculous if you get lost/turned around.

Not to be that guy, but I would say the knight shield is better, it blocks 100% of physical damage and the wooden one does not. The starting knight gear is solid for the whole game. Also you're doing great but I would try to get some more vigor as soon as you can.

swamps poison so tiresome. boss battle at end is all time tho.

and yes dex or str builds 4ever.

kinda wished i wouldn't have just blown 20,000 on the tower key...:-/ (i don't think i care about hollowing and don't really want the free levels)

although i guess i am enjoying this conversation about pickle-pee and pump-a-rum. very thought provoking!

i found a boss in the swamp (not sure if there's more than one) on accident but i'm leaving it alone for now.

tower key may seem like a waste but is worth it! there is a very valuable secret near the Pickle-Pee Pump-A-Rum

Yeah I would try to get in the rafters and poke around.

Have you tried giving the crows any presents?

chucking random stuff into the nest is u&k imo

Thoughts and observations: this was my first Souls game and I got near the end (The Nameless King), quit, and can't continue because the controls/mechanics are too difficult to remember.

ayo karl
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/dark-souls-3-all-crows-nest-trade-items-pickle-pee-pump-a-rum-crow

it's not cheating if you have no idea what the game mechanics are. also the covetous serpent ring is IMPORTANT, don't miss that

dang. i never made it far enough to find a crow's nest in DS2, so i had no idea.

Heh I've never used that. Although, I was making this lvl 40-ish invader character, and killed an over-leveled, password-summoned phantom in the forest. Voila, I had enough souls to level up to 44. I was like, ok, I guess my build is done all of a sudden?

(been having fun with this one btw, they have an offhand scythe to mess around with spacing/timing, and I can invade in the catacombs and cathedral)

xp

I think the crow's nest is in the tutorial area in DS2? ;) It's been awhile though. Probably easy to miss.

heh yeah i cannot remember for the life of me the crow in DS2. honestly i thought they skipped it.

the Deep Battle Axe is a great weapon. its a nice reward for fighting the mimic and can probably last you the entire game if you want. it does great base damage and the dark bonus makes it hit twice as hard. i think pretty much everything in the game is vulnerable to dark.

the Tower Key area becomes important later on once you visit the Cathedral of the Deep (a good contender for the best level in the game). if you revisit the area later on there is a story event related to the Onion Knight.

you can also climb up the tree and jump onto the roof to get up there are the very start of the game. it's a pain though, you have to run up the tree just right.

I put some of my recent invasions on Youtube because I apparently did not have anything better to do with my mid-30s

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDz6pkTVAF3WWgYGLstA-UbokJwJpKA7i

just downloading this now... trying not to read the thread for spoilers

spoiler: it's good!

i'm wrapped up in a project right now but i hope to You Died many more times once mid-May hits

It IS good isn't it? it has reminded me how bad I am at the souls games though... or no, actually how bad I am at the *bosses* in souls games

Fine, you happy, sticklers?

I did more exploration of Spookytown Settlement. It kind of spoils you with two bonfires more or less right at the start, so I'm wary of going too deep into town, but I'm doing OK looking around and killing creepy things.The most awkward thing this game does is make you feel like you are cheesing when that's often what the enemies do - hide in ambush, shoot/attack from a distance, etc. Like I said, I keep coming across places that seem designed for you to stick around and pick enemies off at range. Or, for example, aggro enemies chased me to the arena where the ice dog was, but they didn't follow me in. I felt kind of silly attacking the blue knight with glowing eyes from in there (where he cornered me), so I eventually just went out and finished him myself.

A couple of questions. It appears leveling up weapons here is different than in the first game. I've got my claymore up to +3, but I think to get it further I need ... titanite slabs? Is that right? And then the gem infusions, is that like enhancements in the first game? I like the claymore, but I'm considering at least one alternative with a faster moveset, at the least as a backup.

Also, rolling (as usual) seems a pretty important component of battle; even early on there have been several enemies (like those lothric knights) that seem to resist the standard circle-and-slash method of battle. As a knight I am relatively heavy and (I think) kind of fat rolling. Should I start focusing a few more stats on ... vitality? To bring my weight down? I don't really know what levels mean in this game, but I'm hovering around 27 right now. Been putting souls into vigor, endurance and strength, mainly, but was thinking of dumping points into dexterity, too, not necessarily for the fabled "quality" build, but just to give me a couple of other weapon options, like the lothric sword or the uchikatana.

You definitely want to keep your equip load under 70% in this game, so either unequip some things or raise your vitality to just enough.

Weapon upgrades:

http://darksouls3.wikidot.com/reinforcement

I'm not sure what I really have equipped besides my sword, shield and armor, nothing heavy at least...

The claymore is a lot heavier than your starting sword, that probably tipped it. Also if you have multiple weapons equipped etc.

Does upping vitality one or two points make much of a difference for weight capacity?

Okay, leveled up my dexterity a couple of points so that I could use the lothric knight sword. what it has in more speed and lighter weight it lacks in sledgehammer power, like the claymore. think I will switch back to the claymore for now and maybe just work on upping endurance and vitality. not sure I really need to level strength or dexterity any higher than they are now, which I think is 18.

I like the fast travel in this a lot, makes me more likely to take risks, since I know it's pretty easy to pop back and forth. Also, kinda curious that this game has two overpowered enemies so early in the game, the sword master ninja and the blue Lothric knight with glowing red eyes. Both are super easy to avoid, but the fact that they're there at all seems like an invitation.

Fast travel right out of the gate kinda ruined this series a little bit imo. Ruins the sense of familiarity with the world and how things fit together. Also eliminates that dangerous feeling of being lost in the depths or wherever else and miles away from a safe haven.

agreed but tbf dark souls is the exception, everything else (demon's, bloodborne, etc) has fast travel from early on

Yeah, but it’s also the best game of the series. Not saying because of it, but at least partially.

And Demon’s was the only precursor and had that central hub that you would just transport to different worlds from, kind of a different thing, so not like there was a heavy precedent.

There was that thread recently where several people mentioned how they could mentally walking through the Dark Souls map. Probably nobody doing that with 2 or 3.

The original Dark Souls map is really well thought out, but I don't miss it too much, since each area in DS3 is still dense and flows impressively. Like, even that first part, it might not ultimately connect the same way to Undead Settlement (which is where I'm at now) the way the first game connected to, say, the Depths and Blighttown, but you still get a pretty good sense of the layout, and there are lots of precipices and balconies that let you pear toward new destinations. And even if the map is not the same, the character design in this one is really creepy and cool.

DS3 is really good! Superior in a lot of ways to DS1. But I can mentally map out that first one and can’t remotely do that with DS3 even though I’ve played it more recently. That sense of geography was a really cool thing that I was sad to see get left behind.

I can with 3, just because you have to for proper invading (except for the poison swamp, because f that place). But I agree, it's definitely not as elegant as 1. Although it is cool that you can at least see most of the areas in the distance.

Man, there is so much to explore and find in Undead Settlement, it's hard to believe this is just the (more or less) second area. I found ... not a guide but an outline somewhere online that lists stuff to keep an eye out for in each area but not exactly where to find it, which is a nice relatively spoiler-free way to know when to keep exploring. I haven't fought the boss yet (though I know where the arena is), haven't fought the blue ice monster yet, killed the fire monster, made friends with the lady in the sewers, found Onion Knight, even got a ride to Mound of Bodies Land in a cage (to no discernible benefit yet). Made friends with the arrow-shooting giant only after I took all that loot while he shot at me. (That's where I got the white birch to belatedly befriend him, Angela's Ashes or whatever, a few other goodies.) Some enemies are getting stronger, but so far nothing so bad I avoid it. I finally replaced some of my knight gear with lighter stuff to get my load below 70%, but I also have found a couple of cool rings that make things easier, like the one that regenerates stamina faster. In the first Dark Souls I almost always wore that magic shimmering green shield that did much the same thing. Stamina seems to be key when you've got a powerful weapon.

Key lessons learned from the first game: kiting enemies and, when needed, simply running past them. No doubt will come in handy whenever I get around to playing Bloodborne.

bloodborne is, in some ways, Undead Settlement: The Game

Beat the tree on the third try, first time to figure out what to do, second death because I was sloppy, third time was the charm. Then I beat the frost monster (which is really fast and kind of an asshole, like the titanite demons from the first game), and explored (finished?) the Road the Perdition or whatever it is called. Met those two knights chilling by the fire. All the weird dialogue and creepy giggling makes me think any and all of them might try to kill me later. Except Onion Knight, he's a bro.

I hate that tree.

The next area is the first big pvp zone, if you were playing online. Native environment of the hornet ring + chaos dagger + parry spammer twink.

I poked my head in and it looked a bit like daylight Darkroot Forest, which (iirc) was a popular DS1 invasion spot.

If one were playing online and got invaded, does that mean you have to deal with native PvE enemies in addition to PvP enemies?

Yep, they don't just start ignoring you. :) Although note that in this game you're much more likely to get invaded if you've already summoned help.

Cleared out the swamp, killed my first black Knight. those crucified guys and crabs might be the first common enemies that are real trouble. Killed those two NPC tag team baddies pretty easily, somehow. I think I've got another area and a boss next.

I still think playing these games totally blind would be a fool's errand. You would miss so much. Secrets and items etc. Even learning about leveling, and weapons, and infusing and so much else, it's still all so inscrutable that even hints don't help so much. You still have to do the work, baddies don't beat themselves. ( Except when they fall off cliffs or whatever; I saw a clip of a guy luring a black Knight into the open to aggro out a ton of enemies!)

This is a pretty good depiction of what playing DS3 in 2019 can be like and why I still do it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBNTJDQVTb8

I watched that entire thing and lol I spent the whole time wondering what he was getting at. And then I finished it and ... I still don't get it. He's saying it's been a while since there was a new game from From (not including Sekiro, I guess)? But that soon there will be a new game? And that will be cool? He still seems to be having fun playing this one, even if I'm not sure what his complaints are, exactly. Anyway, I liked DS1 a lot and I like this one a lot, too.

He's basically saying that some of us have been playing the same game for three years, and continue to do so since it provides a unique multi-player experience that you can't get anywhere else. Even though it's definitely changed/declined since there are very few people genuinely playing through the game at this point. But it's still better than anything else, until the next big From game comes out.

Aren't there a lot of multiplayer online games? Or are those all just shooters?

Speaking of Dark Souls, I totally chipped in for the Kickstarter for the the hardback of this: https://kotaku.com/a-closer-look-at-dark-souls-most-difficult-player-creat-1840512938

Seems a fun bit of esoterica to have on the shelf.

was thinking i might do a DS run through this Christmas, either DS3 plus expansion, which I've completed, or DS1, which I still haven't. I *loved* Sekiro, thought was amazing*, but there's no wider connected space for invasions etc. W

*well, mainly amazing, but I couldn't complete one of the storylines because i didn't listen to someone whispering at the right time, which was incredibly vexing, and difficult to know about if you didn't look it up on the internet.

Aren't there a lot of multiplayer online games?

Sure, but not like this. They're all specifically set up to be competitive multi-player games, with things like 'balance' and preset characters. Boring! In these games the multiplayer feels like this side feature that almost shouldn't be happening, which makes it a lot more exciting.

I don't know of another game that lets me take the character that I built, go into someone else's world while they're playing through the game on their own, and engage in this meta-game where you can hinder or help. And after you've played the main game and it's old news, it's a whole new level of thrills to play against humans (with the odds stacked against you, because that's how invasions work) and use the level, whatever tricks and psychology you can figure out, etc.

I do like how there are multiple levels to these games. You can play them offline, unkindled (or whatever they call it in DSIII, embered?), you can play it kindled and get different benefits (different stats/abilities/storylines, summoning NPC phantoms), you can play it online and open yourself to help but also invaders (who all have to be overpowered assholes, right? Because why else would they invade?), you can change your equipment, stats, etc., all of which change not just gameplay but often story. It is pretty neat. But yeah, the reason I don't play online, even if I had PS Whatever, is because I just assume that's where hardcore gamers ready themselves to gank you at a moment's notice, which doesn't sound fun to an engaged but (erm) casual player like me. Novel, sure, but fun? I'll save that for watching others do it in youtube clips or whatever.

One think I don't get about said videos is that the players are often carrying a huge pile of souls, often in the tens of thousands, if not more. Is this because they've been playing so long there is nothing more they need to spend the souls on? Or is it sort of a humblebrag? Or is it a taunt, like, try to take me on, I am so good I carry a balance of 199,283 souls and I am not worried about losing them. Or do you not lose them if you die to an invasion?

Souls just don't matter after a point. If I have an invasion build that's designed for a certain level range, I'm not going to upgrade anymore so the only thing that souls are used for is refilling consumable items (bombs, arrows, charms, etc). And souls are easy come, easy go.

(who all have to be overpowered assholes, right? Because why else would they invade?)

This is what I'm trying to explain. While sure, there are some invaders who get off on easy kills or never losing, the game is designed so that the invader is at a disadvantage.

1) Invaders have half the estus of hosts
2) Invaders have 30% less max health
3) The matchmaking is weighted so that you're much more likely to be invaded if you've already summoned white phantoms to help you. Solo embered hosts only get invaded if there are no groups in the area (or the host as willingly used the dried finger item).
4) Hosts can still summon blue spirits to help after they've been invaded (and whites).

So most of the people invading in DS3 do it because it's a challenge, the odds are against you. The real overpowered gankers are the hosts who summon their overleveled friends (using a password), sit around at the bonfire or having already cleared all the enemies out, and wait for invaders to kill in a 3v1 or 4v1 (and they usually disconnect if they start to lose). It's extra satisfying to win in that scenario because it's so difficult.

I dunno, it seems to me that with players good enough to beat the game blind, or with voice only commands, or with bongos, or at level 1 with bare fists or with no hits or whatever, whatever disadvantage they are at as invaders seems kind of moot. It'd be like playing a pro ball player in HORSE, and starting with HORS already, and them playing in stiff, heavy dress shoes with one hand or something. They're still going to kick my ass.

Still ... fun to watch! And the beauty of these games is that that online aspect is entirely optional.

1v1, totally. But if you summoned 2 or 3 people to help? That takes some doing even if they're all new players, because you can't attack them all at once no matter how good you are.

Also I think the whole challenge/speed run thing is a totally different skill set than pvp. Both fun, but one doesn't really translate to the other.

I was super sloppy fighting the Crystal Sage (or whatever), but once I realized my shield was doing nothing and went two handed, and after a long break and a couple of drinks, it wasn't so bad. It looks like there are a couple of options now, Farron Keep (another swamp?) and Cathedral of the Deep, which seems to be guarded by some real PIA enemies.