[Megathread] Dark Souls

[Voidgazer]

I've gotten to the 2 Gargoyles on the rooftop, but I just cannot defeat it. I only have 8 fireballs and I run out of them before I even kill one.

Ged gud skrub.

No, seriously, you should get better at the game. Meaning, for example, that you actually have to use melee weapons regardless of your class. Pyromancy, sorcery and miracles aren't meant to be the only or probably even major way of doing damage. Think of them as a tool to use when it's not possible, or not safe, or not effective to engage the enemy in melee combat.

ib4 people telling him how to get the Drake Sword

[Cyclone Jack]

No, seriously, you should get better at the game. Meaning, for example, that you actually have to use melee weapons regardless of your class. Pyromancy, sorcery and miracles aren't meant to be the only or probably even major way of doing damage. Think of them as a tool to use when it's not possible, or not safe, or not effective to engage the enemy in melee combat.

This is good to know, as I was thinking of making a caster for my second play through.

[Totori]

I got DS in the winter steam sale and have run into trouble. I don't like looking up guides for games on my first playthrough, but I'm really stuck. I'm playing a pyromancer, and I've gotten to the 2 Gargoyles on the rooftop, but I just cannot defeat it. I only have 8 fireballs and I run out of them before I even kill one. I've been advancing vitality, endurance and intellect, but it have a feeling that doing intellect is not improving my spell damage, despite it saying in the tooltip/explanation that it should. Is there any way, other than googling it to determine how a pyromancer should skill up in early game?

So. I'll explain the stats. It is rather necessary. Else it is a bit trial error ish at the beginning, and it can be frustrating as it does make your run more griefy.

Vitality: Health, pretty standard, soft cap 50. HP increases as a bell curve.
Attunement: Amount of spells you can attune. Max 50 stats / 10 slots.
Endurance: Increase bleed resist, equip weight, stamina. Stamina caps at 160 at stat 40.
Strength: Increases damage and equipment requisite for the respective weapons / shields. Soft cap 40.
Dexterity: Same as strength, just for dex items.
Strength and Dexterity weapons are two types. Strength tends to be slower, stronger hitting. Dexterity faster and weaker.
Resistance: Physical, Fire, Poison resist. (Useless don't get it, consider it a troll stat).
Intelligence: Requirement and modifier for int related spells. Also may be requirement for weapons.
Faith: Same as int, except for faith related spells and weapons.

Weight cap, you have 3 movement speed. 25% weight, 50%, and >50%. 25% and lower = fastest, then 50%, then >50% = fatty. Obviously has their trade off and depends on your play style.
Since you don't want to look at a guide, I'll leave this for you to make a decision on how to build your character. A lot of people have their own preference and such.

Note, pyromancy are non stat scaling spells. They scale by the upgrade of your pyromancy flame.

[Jinna]

Note, pyromancy are non stat scaling spells. They scale by the upgrade of your pyromancy flame.

Thanks for taking the time to put that together. That's exactly what I need. I'm almosy back at the gargoyles again on my pyromancer restart. The biggest failing I believe was that I put nothing into strength, and everythig in vit, end and int. This time around I'm doing much smoother with almost 17 in strength already. I got the morningstar from the lift-shaft area and am one-hitting most normal mobs now. I should have a much easier time of it against the gargoyles now.

I'm also going to spend a little time getting my agility up and get a bow.

[Cyclone Jack]

I'm also going to spend a little time getting my agility up and get a bow.

I have found the bow to be quite useful. Pulling enemies is useful, and I have found some mini-bosses to be much easier with a bow, (like the armored boar and the 1-legged scorpion thing that shoots lightning (seriously, WTF is that thing!?).

[Fallen Angel]

I have found the bow to be quite useful. Pulling enemies is useful, and I have found some mini-bosses to be much easier with a bow, (like the armored boar and the 1-legged scorpion thing that shoots lightning (seriously, WTF is that thing!?).

The titanite demon by the blacksmith?

[Totori]

I have found the bow to be quite useful. Pulling enemies is useful, and I have found some mini-bosses to be much easier with a bow, (like the armored boar and the 1-legged scorpion thing that shoots lightning (seriously, WTF is that thing!?).

Titanite demon / Faceless Demon. Used / killed to get Demon Titanite for upgrading certain weapons.

[Cyclone Jack]

Found the Capra Demon, finally (forgot about the door leading to the Lower Undead Burg). He tore me up last night a good dozen times, but it was late and I decided to sleep on it. This morning I tried a different approach and firebombed his sorry ass back to hell! Heading into The Depths, wish me luck. My Wanderer armor is +2 and my Scimitar is +3. This game is quite fun.

[Shinzai]

Found the Capra Demon, finally (forgot about the door leading to the Lower Undead Burg). He tore me up last night a good dozen times, but it was late and I decided to sleep on it. This morning I tried a different approach and firebombed his sorry ass back to hell! Heading into The Depths, wish me luck. My Wanderer armor is +2 and my Scimitar is +3. This game is quite fun.

~Strange Creature Ahead~

~Imminent Curses~

[Totori]

~Strange Creature Ahead~

~Imminent Curses~

To be fair, the strange creatures are kinda funny. Big ol googly eyes.

[Cyclone Jack]

Those googly eye creatures are awesome! Not difficult, but a great little creature. The boss in that area was...unexpected, but a fun fight nonetheless. Now to find the next door.

[Totori]

Those googly eye creatures are awesome! Not difficult, but a great little creature. The boss in that area was...unexpected, but a fun fight nonetheless. Now to find the next door.

Since you met them. By the way, they curse you. When you're cursed, you get instant killed, turned into a statue and show up on other people's game. When you revive you get 1/2 health. Curses stack until you have 1/8th of a health.
They serve a secondary function for you to find out yourself.

To get rid of it, buy / find a Purging Stone or seek out a particular NPC.

[Cyclone Jack]

I noticed the very short bar, and saw it fill similar to how the poison/bleed bars fill, so I never stuck around long enough to find out what it did. I figured it just turned you to stone, due to all of the stone people standing about, blocking my movement.

[Shinzai]

Those googly eye creatures are awesome! Not difficult, but a great little creature. The boss in that area was...unexpected, but a fun fight nonetheless. Now to find the next door.

I love that boss, just the little crocodile type head pops up and you're like "Oh crap, a giant crocodile!...", then the rest of it comes into view and it's like "...why couldn't it just be a giant crocodile?" *runs*.

[Deafknight]

That's funny, I found Darksiders 2 to work really well on KB+M, I tried it on the Gamepad and it just felt really weird, probably because I was already used to the PC controls.

Just seen darksiders beat in like an hour and a half on stream by someone using keyboard + mouse, i guess its not too bad

[Zonas]

Ended up beating the game not too long ago. Got it when it first came out but I put it away a third of the way through for a few reasons.

Honestly, it's a fantastic game that has alot of overlooked aspects to it. Like the lore and story can be completly missed if you ignore item descriptions and NPC dialogues.

Though it does lose alot of the fun your second way through. It's a very different experience after you've played it through the first time. I always took baby steps with my shield up half of the time, always expecting some sort of giant flying fire monkey to swoop down and explode me to death. Then, when you know what to expect, it's easy to just blow through the areas to the bosses.

And I really dislike how Gwyn has no cutscene to him while most other bosses do. Just going through the fog and begining the fight straight away was kind of a mood killer. Just like a two second shot of how far the sun god had fallen due to his time trying to keep the fire alive out of desperation would have been great. Though, the music that plays is so awesome.

Besides that, I really can't say I enjoyed what they did with Artorias. I mean, the entire time you play through Dark Souls, you're hearing about how much of a bad ass he is. Then when you go through the DLC area, he turns out to be a complete bitch. Where he gets utterly destroyed by some worthless humanity monsters and couldn't even make it to a boss that was even easier than his own battle. All for him to take the credit for it all in the end. I don't know, I had hoped for something better with the guy.

[wynnyelle]

Though it does lose alot of the fun your second way through. It's a very different experience after you've played it through the first time. I always took baby steps with my shield up half of the time, always expecting some sort of giant flying fire monkey to swoop down and explode me to death. Then, when you know what to expect, it's easy to just blow through the areas to the bosses.

And I really dislike how Gwyn has no cutscene to him while most other bosses do. Just going through the fog and begining the fight straight away was kind of a mood killer. Just like a two second shot of how far the sun god had fallen due to his time trying to keep the fire alive out of desperation would have been great. Though, the music that plays is so awesome.

I disagree with you about running through it a second time. I have spent so many hours in Dark Souls just trying different builds. There are different strategies you can use depending on how you're building your character, and I have not gotten bored yet! I can see how some people wouldn't like it though if you normally aren't an altoholic in games like I am. (;

Also, I think it was kind of fitting that Gwyn just attacks you unceremoniously. I think that in itself shows that he is just a shell of what he used to be. There aren't any words that need to be spoken or actions that need to be shown. He simply rushes you mindlessly. I remember wanting more at first, but after a while I kind of changed my mind, and now I think that it fits very well.

I agree with you about Artorias though. I really like what they did with Sif though and how you can get a different cutscene with him during his fight in the forest if you summoned him to fight Manus with you.

[Totori]

I've gone through a dagger int build.
Strength black knight great axe.
Dex balder's / fury sword.
Great sword of Artorias non cursed build.
Claw build.
Low level grief build.
What else...

Demon's Souls, gone through a magic enchant uchigatana build.
A moon uchigatana build.

[Zonas]

I disagree with you about running through it a second time. I have spent so many hours in Dark Souls just trying different builds. There are different strategies you can use depending on how you're building your character, and I have not gotten bored yet! I can see how some people wouldn't like it though if you normally aren't an altoholic in games like I am. (;

Also, I think it was kind of fitting that Gwyn just attacks you unceremoniously. I think that in itself shows that he is just a shell of what he used to be. There aren't any words that need to be spoken or actions that need to be shown. He simply rushes you mindlessly. I remember wanting more at first, but after a while I kind of changed my mind, and now I think that it fits very well.

I agree with you about Artorias though. I really like what they did with Sif though and how you can get a different cutscene with him during his fight in the forest if you summoned him to fight Manus with you.

Well, I'm not saying it's replayability is bad or anything. The game just feels ALOT different after you've played through it once. Since you know what enemies are coming and how you can get by them. It's the unexpected part of the game that really makes it tense and exciting. After that, while you can still enjoy the combat and new builds, you're already prepared for what's coming after you.

[wynnyelle]

Well, I'm not saying it's replayability is bad or anything. The game just feels ALOT different after you've played through it once. Since you know what enemies are coming and how you can get by them. It's the unexpected part of the game that really makes it tense and exciting. After that, while you can still enjoy the combat and new builds, you're already prepared for what's coming after you.

Yeah, I can see what you mean by that. Of course, I still randomly get my ass handed to me if I'm being careless or not paying attention, so the game still keeps me on my toes, but yeah, it's not quite the same as that first run through where you're stumbling around not knowing which way is up. I remember freaking out sooo much over my first Ornstein and Smough kill because it took me so long to kill them and I was so proud of myself when I finally beat them. It's not nearly as satisfying now. Still fun, though, but just not the same!