Be Excellent To Each Other

Haven't experienced many of the online features yet myself. Partly because I'm more interested in the singleplayer stuff at the minute whilst I get used to the game and partly because they don't fucking work! Apparently they're working on a patch, but right now the servers seem to be having trouble coping with invasions and summoning and stuff. Well, they were last weekend when I gave it a try.

Plus you have to be human to get invaded, and seeing as I spend most of my time as a "hollow", I'm yet to be invaded. (In case you're wondering, you start off as a "hollow" or an undead zombie type person, and you can collect "humanity" to return you to human form. There are a few advantages and disadvantages to being both hollow and human, but the gameplay remains the same regardless of what you are.)

It's the same system as demonstrated souls are far a I can tell.

My r, perience of hat was that it has very little effect as I was rarely in an invadavle fofm

*Strokes chin sagely.* Yes, yes I can see why that might be.

My phone appears to be talking more shit than usual.

I think you'll find that there are only some world events that happen when you're in human form so you miss out if you're dead most of the time. I've only been invaded once but in a good way when someone helped me with a boss.

I haven't seen much talk of the dark and light World Tendency events from Demon's Souls. They might not exist in Dark Souls though or perhaps the're more subtle this time. World Tendency was stuff that would happen depending if you were playing good or bad, and you could only affect it as human. So if you kill a good NPC as a human you'd get Dark World Tendency and get different events happen (like, an empty cage now contains some guy who'll fight you) and certain types of weapons and armour dropped. Same with killing the bosses as human you'll get Light World Tendency and new paths that were blocked open up.

Now after all that typing, Dark Souls might not even have it!

Telephone Mr Dave is possibly more entertaining than Drunk Mimi.

I can't stop laughing!

I like to imagine he's dialling it in using a screenless touch tone phone with no way of checking what he's sent until afterwards.

Just had a look at the manual and there's no mention of world tendency...anyhoo, Capri Demon, finally smashed him. Hint to anyone who gets there - ignore him and run to the stairs as soon as you get in the fog otherwise you'll be dead. Very quickly. In fact you'll be dead very quickly anyway. The Soul Arrow had him in the end though, god I love it.

Yeah I just killed the Capra demon as well. Was too scared to head into the Depths so I went and killed that black knight who guards a ring before the first boss. Then I went down the tower that leads to the first boss and god killed by that club wielding bastard in one shot. Will get him tomorrow!

The depths is a scary place to be with no flasks and a tiny bit of energy. You certainly don't want to fall down some hole and be surrounded by a load of poison spewing rat-frogs and 7000 souls in the bank. I've seen the giant rat boss but stupidly thought I'd look around first; so now I have to find my body down some hole in god knows. Hnngh!

Well that was ass clenching. Wandering around praying I'll not meet anyone and having a large turd drop on my head and refuse to let go without sapping half my energy first, and praying I don't get poisoned by rats or frog-rats spewing death in my face. This bloody game has made me stay up on a school night until I found my corpse. And find it I did! And then wandered into the big rat but stumbled across a cheesy way to murder it. It seemed rude not to stick around and finish it off. Is that the time, I better get some sleep...

Game of the year? It's looking that way.

I've also made the dash across to under the dragon's usual perch. He initially flew off and I've been back & forth across the bridge a few times since, but once (after a death of course) I steamed out onto the bridge only to find him hanging on the wall again. I ran in & out a few times & he took off again though.

What or where are these gargoyles I'm hearing about? Surely noone's actually managed to kill the dragon?! When you talk about shooting arrows into the tail, I assume you're referring to getting the sword, rather than actually trying to kill it?

Also, I've had a taster of the guide and would quite like to buy one but it seems to be sold out everywhere. Odd that a pdf hasn't cropped up on the usual torrent sites.

Also, is there a key to open the door at the bottom of the tower before the taurus demon?

I think that door below Taurus can only be opened with the master key the thief starts out with. I certainly haven't found it anywhere.

If you go past the dragon and keep going you'll find the Parish. The gargoyles are on top of that. You can get in either through the front entrance if you're feeling brave, or you can go round the right hand side entrance, which is a bit easier. If you've seen the armoured hog you'll know you're heading in the right direction. There's a merchant nearby too so you're best advised to find him first (again by the right hand side) before you attempt to enter the Parish.

WTB said he killed the dragon with an arrow in the back of the head from a tower behind the dragons perch. I haven't had a go at this but you'll need to kill a badass black knight to get up there. I'd wait till you're fully tooled before you try that. I lured him down the steps so I could blast him with magic which worked a treat.

Yeah so I found the gargoyles, I'll come back to them

Also, my dragon's back again. I was running back across the bridge and he came back to flame me, which was nice. Having said that, at the bonfire under his castle perch I see his shadow moving about, but when I'm up the tower held by the black knight, the dragon can't be seen...as in, the game doesn't show him there. :/

Yeah that's a glitch. He was there when I came back after killing the gargoyles!

Well I reckon that's the depths done and dusted. I would have been in bed hours ago had I not been cursed. Which, by the way, reduced your health by half unless you buy something or see some block in New Rondo. I thought I'd try the latter and have a go at some ghost having three times forgot to change my respawn and make the journey to pick up 5000 souls each time I got caned. Eventually lost the lot. Eventually got uncursed and killed the Gaping Dragon boss with a bit of help from two friendly souls looking for some humanity who joined in before buying some snazzy new gear and exiting to the next area where I immediately got pasted by the first new enemy... That's it I'm buying some more magic now! Tomorrow.

This has really opened up now - the problem is just getting from one place to the next.

I've made it from the top of the castle through the ewers to some shanty town leading to the bottom of the castle. The sense of scale is immense. I haven't touched Londo Ruins or the caves but I've opened up the dark forest near the smith. It's just vast. I don't think I'm anywhere near the end and I've sank over twenty one hours in. Christ, the game is good and I have invaded anyones space yet either.

Awesome, I've just been invaded! But I soon sent him back from wence he came with my pokey stick. Then he appeared before the boss wanting to help out so I summoned him - cause no hard feelings, right? Wrong, he refused to help me kill the flaming spider boss and let me take a kicking while he watched. Gah.

Spider boss done and the second bell has been sounded!

...And now I've been cursed again. Oh for fucks sake.

I think the chap that appears at the bottom of the first bell tower will cure cuses, at a price.

Bought, better be good.

90-minute long complete-game speedrun.

On its way to me from LoveFilm.

They really weren't kidding, were they?

s'good though.

Made some serious progress this afternoon/evening. Rang the second bell, killed a couple of bosses, got an awesome katana, ditched the Drake Sword because it was getting boring, and bagged myself a badass grim reaper style outfit.

The scale of the game world is absolutely incredible. It's not just far and wide but tall and deep as well. You start off on the "ground", you go up hills and the castles/towers built on them, then you go below the ground into caves, catacombs and even deeper into lava-filled hell. And all without any loading. I can't stress how impressed I am with what they've achieved here. I must say, though, there's one particular Blight on an otherwise perfect world (so far at least) - frame rates were frequently dropping far below tolerable levels. Fortunately I was only in that section for an hour or two.

I also love how non-linear the whole thing is. The entire world is connected and intertwined, each area leading into the next which will branch off into three or four more, some of which will lead you back to the start and some of which will go even further, etc. And you don't go through them in a sequential order. You could find yourself all the way through one area, hesitantly trudging towards the next when it becomes pretty clear from the toughness of the first few enemies that you're not quite ready for this bit yet. So you turn back and try one of the other many areas you haven't dared visit yet.

This is definitely one of those games that is almost as much fun talking, reading and thinking about as it is playing it.

Yes, Blighttown: horrible area, horrible framerate.

Everything WTB is spot on. 'Cept my Gold Medallion Armour is better than the Grim Reaper outfit. It's ace and jangly.

I've fought my way back to the surface with half energy finally to get this bloodly curse removed.and found the Orange Knight guy has done the dirty on the fire keeper. He's apparently in Anor Londo which I haven't even found yet. His time will come.

I suppose I could enter the castle to try and finish the game but there's no way I'm doing that until I've explored every area. Valley of the Drakes is probably next for me. I'll leave the hidden areas in the Tree till last since the fear of getting cursed again is too great.

I'm torn with what to do with the soul of Quelaag - loads of souls or unique weapon? Choices, choices...

I absorbed that motherfucker! Free souls! Gave me an extra strength point or something probably...

(Have you killed the Ceaseless Discharge?)

There's a lava filled hell down there. Beyond him there's a massive yellow fog gate which reminds me of the Outlands gateway in WoW. It's guarded by tough enemies - lots of them. Somehow I don't think heading into the fortress is anywhere near the end of the game!

I haven't dared the tragically named ceaseless discharge (although I did pinch the clothing and made a run for it). Just bumped into a dragon in the Drakes so thought I'd try Londo way. Those sodding ghosts are a pain in the ass. Just dropped 15000 souls there!

I want to see what this unique weapon is before I cash in that big soul, although the rate I'm going I might have to cash it in and stockpile a load of transcient curses...

D'oh! Did you not grab the loot next to the sleeping dragon in The Valley of Drakes? One is a sword that kills ghosts without the curse. It also kills the skeletons from the graveyard permanently! You might need to level up your Faith to use it though if you haven't been levelling it.

The thing about this game is every time you die, you learn something new. Even if that is 'stop being complacent/spacky-handed/gullible' most of the time.

I just met the Taurus Boss, got owned, then got mullered by the first enemy next to the bonfire. Cocky=Dead.

One thing that takes getting used to is the complete lack of signposting. You can walk past important stuff, like bonfires or merchants without realising.

I can get the big special edition for 33
Worth getting now or waiting?

Had a quick go last night after GoW3. It's a harsh game but it already feels wonderful. Need to read up now.

Dammit! I only managed to grab one of them at the time and it was the Dragoncrest Shield! Who knew the other item was so valuable! Bloody hell, back I go...

Bit of a strange thing happened last night too. I spoke with the guy (the first one you meet with the bowl hair cut) at the Firelink Shrine after I'd rang the second bell who was moaning that he might have to get off his arse and do something now I'd done all the hard work. I walked into Londo Ruins and he's running about and wants to stab me up? I nailed him of course with the Raw Halbert +3 (man that thing is sexy) and he keeled over and died. It just left me wondering what the hell was that all about. Anyone come across that?

Could do with a bit of a guide for what everything means (thanks LoveFilm for never sending manuals). For a start what's the deal with being hollow/human?

The manual tells you nash all. It's all for you to discover yourself. But basically when you're human, you can interact with 'other worlds'. i.e. you can summon and be summoned, be invaded, etc. Both hollow and human have pros and cons. The Dark Souls Wiki will soon be your friend. It's getting more comprehensive as time goes on. Also, read all of this thread because we've fathomed a lot of the early questions out amongst ourselves already, which may help. And watch that Giant Bomb vid I posted!

ordered, damnit

Are you sure about that sword (asterol sword or something) since it didn't work on the ghosts for me. Fortunately one of the ghosts has dropped the Ghost Dagger which does kill them without the curse. They're still sodding nails hard though. And you get loads of the bastards. Attacking at once. I haven't made much progress down there at all, have you? Valley of the Drakes is off limits too as the dragons are way too tough at the minute. I can't decide to perserve with the ghosts or try the skeleton route

Do you have the required amount of Faith?

Oh, and I don't think Londo Ruins is recommended any way until later on in the game!

Edit: Looking at the contents of the strategy guide I yarr'd, it's pretty close to the end of the game according to them. Also, I'd say we're about a third of the way through the game at best. 60 hours looks to be about right for a completion time. At least I'd say.

Started again as the Pyromancer. Found him much better to play as than the Knight.

I was trying to be super cautious but still made some silly mistakes. The session ending on my part last night was jumping off some stairs to my death while trying to avoid a burning barrel.

This is a fucking brilliant game.

Never felt so tense facing weak enemies, there's just so much to loose.

Managed to get past the dragon on the bridge now I've had chance to play it again. He didn't flame until I reached the middle, just like the first few times I got across, so fuck knows why he was swooping as soon as I set foot on the bridge last time.

And then I fell off a ledge directly onto the metal boar and promptly got fucked. Oops.

What Class did you go for, Malabelm?

Pyro

We are like Gayme Brothers!

I want to go home and play Dark Souls.

I've just verified this. You lied to me Bulge, the Astora Straight Sword only perma-kills skelebones! You owe me 15,000 that I lost because of that*.

I'll take a cheque.

*may actually been because I fell off cliff twice trying to rush about.

Ah really? I read it somewhere, sorry!

Found a brilliant way to spam Ceaseless Discharge where you lure him to throw down just in near down the alley the other side of where he starts. You back up as soon as he starts his move just round the corner and then get four goos hits in till he pulls away and then you walk forward where he can see you before he starts the move again etc etc. Went down in about a minute. Aces.

Then there's seven or eight massive bulls to fight... Jesus, it doesn't let up does it. If you just stay out of reach (taking one at a time) and immediately throw down after their attack, they ain't too difficult.

Hhhhnnnnnnngh!!!!!!!!!

Fucking hell this game is a bitch. Made very little progress distance wise, but managed eventually to get slaughtered by the Taurus Boss. Next time I decided to go downstairs (via master key door) and got mullered by big bone guy. Oh and also got fucked over by the black knight down the corridor a few times. So I still have all those to beat.

Decided to head back to the starting area for a change of scene. Killed the whining knight guy by the fire just for the sake of it and only got souls for the trouble. Went to see the cleric again and this time he let me join his gang, so I did.

Fancied having a look at the graveyard again with those bastard skeletons, managed to kill one (reverted back to fragments on floor) by luring it up the steps into the water in front of the Mother and child statue! Only used my plain mace and used heavy strikes with the trigger button. Went to lure another one in... and the fucking game froze.

Turned it off.

I'll be back though.