Dark Souls gameplay discussion - spoilers ahoy!

There's nothing in Valley of Drakes as such, other than a few items which may or may not be useful to to, depending on your level and other equipment. New Lond Ruins is full of ghosts that you can't hurt unless you've been cursed (or use a Transient Curse item), or you have a cursed weapon. Demon Ruins has 2 bosses in, and I found both to be fairly easy (one especially as he can be tricked into dying in about two hits). From there you can go to Lost Izialith, which I seem to remember being good fun, with an Ember or two worth grabbing.
 
Did Valley of Drakes last night, slightly disappointed because as you say, there isn't much there, it was hardly worth the effort, probably the poorest area in the game.

However, Demon Ruins was good fun, it was fairly tough overall (if exploring properly) but all 3 bosses were fairly easy. Now in Lost Izialith and got killed at the start by some demon things in the lava. 200k souls gone :( I'll try again tonight, but it looks like a toughie.

I've really enjoyed this game thus far and I think its the difficulty and lack of in game hand holding that does it. You really have to work at it to overcome its harshness at times which gives a huge sense of satisfaction, I don't think I've experienced any game like it. At the beginning I was worried I wouldn;t stick with it, but i'm glad I did!

I wish they would release Demons Souls on Xbox though, I don't want to have to buy another PS3 just to play it.
 
R0B75 said:
Now in Lost Izialith and got killed at the start by some demon things in the lava. 200k souls gone :(
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Why walk about with that kind of cash in your pocket?! As they say, you can't take it with you. Spend all that up the second you get a chance.

Just completed it tonight, overall took me 67 hours. Probably had more trouble on the last boss than I should have!!!! But alas it is done. Had a go on NG+ and made it upto the bridge fire dragon and had to turn it off as I was being sucked in yet again!!!

GOTY
 
Cos levelling up costs more souls than I had on me :D I retrieved them anyway tonight. The patch came out today and those demons that killed me yesterday didn't even attack me this time after the patch. Strange. Made Izalith pretty easy in the end.

67 hours? I'm on 80+ and I haven't even done The Four Kings yet! Got the the abyss and realised I hadn't got the ring I needed. Doh!
 
I got the new patch yesterday but it made little difference to me as I was in the final area but it nerfed my weapons, iron flesh and armour i was using to take on Gwyn.

When I started NG+ I made it past the taurus demon and had a total of 40k souls for getting to that point. I had nowhere near that amount last time I was at that point. Does NG+ increase soul output or is that purely the patch giving me that amount?
 
R0B75 said:
Did Valley of Drakes last night, slightly disappointed because as you say, there isn't much there, it was hardly worth the effort, probably the poorest area in the game.
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Probably because it's not actually an "area", it's really just a back door hub to several different places that happens to contain dragons.

Will be installing the patch asap and starting a new game, hopefully some of the annoying stuff will be fixed and I can start PvPing properly.

@EezerGoode - The patch increased the number of souls given by bosses to both players and phantoms, however in NG+ the soul output is increased as well.
 
Urgh, just read the patch info, and while some of the changes are definitely good, some are definitely not so good. They've definitely nerfed some of the more useful equipment in the game (like my beloved Crystal Ring Shield), though I guess some of it was overpowered and did make things a little easy (something I don't think the developers ever want to hear about Dark Souls).

If anyone is interested, here are the patch details...

Version 1.05

Release Date

11th November 2011 (Japan)
22th November 2011 (US-EU) (1.04 cumulative)

http://w.livedoor.jp/project_dark
•fixed online summoning issues introduced by 1.04.
•relaxed the conditions towards invading other players.
•readjusted the parameters of the Elite Knight Armor set.
•enemy placement adjusted ◦the two soldiers guarding the tower overlooking the Taurus Demon fight are both situated to the right of the ladder
◦the initial location of Shiva of the Easts Bodyguard is inland from his previous cliff edge start point in the Darkroot Garden

•Magic Changes:

Pyro Glove nerfed from 270 to 230.
You can see resonance signs now.
Vow of Silence range increased.
Sorcery spell damage as a whole was slightly buffed, but Homing Soul Mass and other pursuit style spells were nerfed.
Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds.
Strong Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds. Invincibility removed. Effect on Stamina drastically reduced.
Tranquil Walk of Peace and other Slow duration reduced to ~10 secs. Effect supposedly changed from 100% encumberance to 50%. Rolling possible if your equip burden is lowered. Slowness is similar to swamp effect.
Iron Flesh effectiveness nerfed.
Invisible Body duration remains unchanged.
•Status Changes:

Base Equipment Burden increased (~6-10 points)
Humanity Item drop rate increased from 10 to 210
Medium roll recovery faster? (unclear and unconfirmed)
Defensive bonuses gained via Humanity reduced. Other defensive bonuses remain unchanged.
Item discovery gained via Humanity improved. Capped at 20.
•Equipment General Changes:

Reported some weapon scaling gets improved at higher normal upgrades (+15 uchi dex scaling goes to A)
Some scaling reported as changing from A to S with higher upgrades
•Upgrade Changes:

Normal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +14).
Crystal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +4).
Lightning +4 nerfed by 2% (+5 remains unchanged).
Raw scaling buffed by 10% (all levels).
Magic stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
Enchanted stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
Divine stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
Occult stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
Fire +9 nerfed by 2%. (+5 remains unchanged)
Dragon stat scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +5).
•Specific Gear Changes:

Grant scaling changed to Strength:B and Faith:A
Gold-hemmed nerfed, still can't be upgraded.
Dust skirt nerfed hard (streamlined to match the other pieces).
Silver Knights, Sun, Hollow Soldier's Shield and other medium shield stability nerfed to ~70 at max upgrades to improve Great Shield viability.
Crystal Ring Shield scaling drastically nerfed. Does around ~200 +-50
Dragon Greatsword buffed from 360 to 390.
Silver Knight's Sword lightning effect removed. Now enchantable.
Elite Knight gear nerfed, then buffed slightly in 1.05
•Combat Changes:

Lock-on acquisition range increased.
Lock-on changing/switching got easier (more responsive).
Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.

Play in standard definition
Play in high definition
•PvE Changes:

Overall increase in souls gained (~2-2.5 times more)
Damage reduced on some mobs?
HP lowered on some mobs?
Reduced acquisition range on normal enemies.
Supposedly reduced poise on some enemies.
Bosses drop Humanity and Homeward Bones
Ghosts and Skeletons give souls now.
Twinkling Titanite drop rate improved.
Pyromancers in Catacombs drop Skull Lanterns.
Darkwraiths in New Londo drop Dark Hand.
•Online Changes:

You can see resonance signs.
Some invasion restrictions possibly changed? Darkwraith upperlimit confirmed as unchanged.
1.05: Summon restrictions improved slightly again.
Amount of souls the Master of the game gains changed.
Cracked Eye Orbs no longer get consumed on failure. Confirmed
You can hit Select to rate messages.
1.05: Fixed 1.04 bug where summon signs were invisible.
•Covenant Changes:

Covenant Material drop rate improved.
Lowered requirements for Sunbro covenenant (requirements moved from 50 to 25. 3/4 assists should do the trick)
•Other Changes:

Official Guide nerfed.
Forest Hunter NPC farming remains unchanged.
Dark Anor Londo NPC farming remains unchanged.
Kiln Skip Glitch still works in 1.05
•Merchant stock updates:

Male Undead Merchant: Also sells bottomless box
Female Undead Merchant: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
Andrei: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
Domnhal of Xena: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Master Key (5000)
Giant Blacksmith (Fapsmith): Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Titanite Shards, Large Titanite Shards, Twinkling Titanite (8000 per, inf amount), Green Shards, Repair box, upgrade boxes
Vamos: Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Titanite, Large titanite, Repair box / upgrade boxes
Ingward: Sells Transient Curses
•Fixes:

Fixed some freeze issues
Lvl up screen displays souls needed properly now
Dragon-head glitch, snuggly, and magic shield glitches fixed.
Fixed a bug where your inputs come out 1 second later.
Fixed a bug where the second solaire event wont progress.
Fixed a bug where feeding frampt a titanite stone then going over 99 resulted in having zero.
Fixed some specific map areas where you'd get stuck or be unable to progress.
Changed some english subtitles on the overseas port.
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Finished this last night, got the Dark Lord ending, took me just over 86 hours. I didn't know there was more than one ending so no idea how I got it. I started NewGame+ and flying through it so far but kept getting owned by the dragon on the bridge :( so I left it alone. I should really get back to Skyrim but this game is addictive, I even enjoy getting invaded now.

Edit: I just read about the 2 endings. Next time I won't light the fire.
 
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Finished my second playthrough last night and got the other ending. Still really enjoying this game and started my third play through and time played is 115+ hours so far.

I need 2 x Titanite slabs, 1 x White titanite Slab and 1 x Red titanite slab to finish all the weapon upgrades. They are a pain to get!
 
went back to this after ages sl50 and had a bunch of humanity (about 20ish) but lost it all trying to take on both Stray demon (yeah i know how you are supposed to beat him -- stab his bum - but he one hit kills me pretty much quite difficult thought Wolf sif would be easier ha! if i get in close he just jumps back. he swings his sword i block one and am lucky to block the second but his overhead slash gets me.

notably couldnt seem to get the option to summon before stray demon. with sif i put summon sign down but no joy.

Whenever you look at a guide for help they usually mention X weapon makes it so much easier...only problem with that is that weapon is usually much further on in the game!

stuck as a very stuck thing indeed! any ideas ocuk? my divine samurai sword is +5 and got +5 eastern armour
 
So what is it you're stuck on exactly. Sif?

With Sif I just let him do the running. He usually swipes 2 or 3 times and then you get a hit in. Just block all his swipes. I can beat him without losing any health.
 
Just started a new game and I have to say the PvP has gone waynhill, I'm SL15 still to do the gargoyles and I've seen people with full Havel's set throwing Chaos fireballs at me. I joined somebody in co-op yesterday dropping twinkling Titanite shards and Titanite slabs, we were then invaded by someone in Darkwraith armor who nearly killed me with one hit, then killed the host with one chaos fire whip. I think i'm just going to go through the game in offline only rather than constantly get paired with people who've run through the game at the lowest possible level to get the best equipment and use it against new players.
 
R0B75 said:
So what is it you're stuck on exactly. Sif?

With Sif I just let him do the running. He usually swipes 2 or 3 times and then you get a hit in. Just block all his swipes. I can beat him without losing any health.
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i can block two of his swipes - but that takes all my stamina so the third swipe takes a chunk of my health. So i either hit him or heal. If i hit him instead of healing then the next round i will probably die as not enough health. I eventually run out of heals.

What weapon were u using to beat him?

Will give it another go tonight.
 
Stamina is important for sure. I'd do some soul farming in the Darkroot Garden to build up stamina and defence.

I was using the Gravelord Sword, but I also beat Sif last thing before facing the Four Kings as you need his ring. I was a fairly high level by that time.
 
R0B75 said:
Stamina is important for sure. I'd do some soul farming in the Darkroot Garden to build up stamina and defence.

I was using the Gravelord Sword, but I also beat Sif last thing before facing the Four Kings as you need his ring. I was a fairly high level by that time.
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gonna join the forest covenant to get items and level a bit. Unfortunately i put lots of points into Faith rather than things like hit points and stamina (mainly because i wanted to do a dark paladin or paladin build but no joy there!)

So will leave gravelord servant covenant (dont seem to be much benefit to it tbh)

Did get the fire ember that the giant mushrooms were guarding. which blacksmith needs that for upgrades?
 
Surfer said:
gonna join the forest covenant to get items and level a bit. Unfortunately i put lots of points into Faith rather than things like hit points and stamina (mainly because i wanted to do a dark paladin or paladin build but no joy there!)

So will leave gravelord servant covenant (dont seem to be much benefit to it tbh)

Did get the fire ember that the giant mushrooms were guarding. which blacksmith needs that for upgrades?
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I think its the undead blacksmith in the Catacombs, Vamos is his name.

OH and don't join the forest covenant or no one will attack you. You can get 7k souls every 2-3 minutes if you let them chase you, they fall off a ledge. Go back to the bonfire up the stairs, rinse and repeat.
 
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