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warning: kotaku

but there is some decent info
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there are too many promising games coming out at once :(
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ahhhh so I just just just started this today and holy crap it's so good

it's making me love videogames again :3

enjoying it way more than demon's souls, which I enjoyed but had a hard time understanding. this game is way more accessible while seemingly retaining all the depth of the original. but then I'm still not sure if I "got" the original.

really digging the more organic, seamless level layout for starters...
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can someone tell me what stat affects poise? my has been increasing but I haven't noticed it when I'm actually leveling up. is it dex??
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ahhhhhhh
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I'm still pushing through my first single player run and having a great time, but can anyone tell me why every time I switch back to the gargoyle halberd I take a small amount of bleed, poison, and toxin damage?

I've tried removing various pieces of armor (except for the ring of favor and protection which will break if I do) and it still happens. it does not seem to be an inherent property of the halberd, either.

this isn't really causing any problems for me but I'm pretty curious as to what could be causing it.
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ohhhh

weird

that's funny though because the item description says it "has no special properties" but I guess it does!
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GOD I LOVE THIS GAME
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I'm andonuts I think
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I've kind of not been summoning phantoms cuz I like exploring on my own. it was really satisfying killing the gaping dragon without assistance, though I think I might be overleveled...
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I'm starting to get invaded on the reg and have been faring surprisingly well at them so far. This game is cool yall.

Is it in my best interest to stay unhallowed as much as possible? it seems like it's the only way to easily increase your humanity rating, which I recently found out was related to item discovery. my humanity was at like 7 early in the game which is probably the only reason I got the fang boar helm.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to wear that helmet for the entire game it's so rad.
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aside from invasions how is it any more difficult when you're human?

I mean aside from the cost of upkeeping humanity when you die...
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they aren't that bad though

at least they haven't been yet

though I think I committed some kind of faux pas because I just started wailing on the last guy that invaded me and then I realized he was doing some kind of taunt gesture and I was like "oh fuck is this like a thing that people do as a sign of honor or something" and I took off like 80% of his health before the animation was finished. it was just as well though cuz I was hella outclassed he had some kind of crazy enchanted weapon and damn near killed me anyway.

am I a bad pvper???
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also, man, I think I'm way overleveled now. after having a grand old time soloing the anor londo boss fight I've been cutting through the rest of the game like butter. the duke's archives were moderately challenging but seath was a cakewalk and so has everything been since. all I've got left is lost izalith and I'm at SL 85. the weird thing is I haven't been grinding and I've also been hoarding soul items (for no reason other than general ocd-ness), so i'd actually be several levels higher if I had been using them. am I overleveled? I don't think I've suddenly gotten that good at this game. I still suck at parrying...
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oh ok

you have to talk to dusk to get to the DLC area, right? are there conditions for her to appear? she won't appear for me anymore, regardless of whether I'm human or not. I have the little broken charm thing.
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yeah I've gotten her to appear before. I don't know why she isn't doing it now. I just killed the bed of chaos and all I've got left is lord gwyn... does she stop appearing if you progress too far in the game?
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but I thought an in-game (non gfwl) message popped up that just said their dark souls name?

did you invade anyone named ondeane?
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so I just beat this. I really wish they'd warn you that lighting that last bonfire ends the game.

the ending is kind of hilarious though.

I started a new game cuz ng+ seemed to be kind of boring and I wanted to try a different character. gonna do dexterity and endurance this time instead of end and str. though I reckon it won't be that different... I kinda just want to re-experience the game now that I actually know how everything works. are there any fun weapons I should try instead of relying the halberd this time around? maybe just do short sword? it seems like that requires considerably more skill...
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:o
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swimmy I can't thank you enough for gifting me this game it has changed my life
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the only bit of advice I can give is never be afraid to use the wiki. dark souls totally is obtuse and opaque as fuck, and sure, that's what's fun about it, but looking up explanations for things and strategies is never a bad idea if you find yourself unable to proceed or confused about what decisions to make. I basically fumbled my way through a playthrough with no real guide or understanding of the game simply by googling stuff every time I got too intimidated to continue, and making the occasional post in this thread. I even got moderately good at single player (enough to fairly easily waltz my way through the main campaign now) without any fancy weapons or a particularly profound understanding of how stats work. like, joe's post is mostly greek to me even after 2.5 playthroughs and I still had a very fulfilling experience with the game. there is no penalty for failing to master every aspect of the game -- there are only certain severe handicaps for missing certain basic, non-obvious things, which can easily be remedied by googling and checking the wiki. in my opinion, this process of looking up people's forum posts about random errata to help you proceed is part of the dark souls experience and you shouldn't be too shy about it. I was pretty relentless about looking stuff up and I still was frequently surprised by the game -- never felt like anything was really spoiled for me. if anything it added more depth and mystery to the game's lore...
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also fuck the forest covenant. totally not worth getting involved with that bullshit when you're still figuring the game out. really the covenants are all pvp focused and don't need to be a part of your first playthrough. dealing with vanilla invasions is more than enough of a taste of pvp for a single player run. the covenants basically exist if you want MORE of that kind of thing -- which I still don't after completing the game a few times :\

one of these days I'll cross over to that world
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that is the most beautifully nerdy thing I've seen in my entire life
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yo, what's a cool weapon for a dex build
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I'm still nowhere near having the inclination to think about pvp or ng+

just kinda wanna keep tooling around with the single player and getting better at it

having a hell of a time with anor londo this time around, even though it seems like my character is more powerful I'm having a much harder time with it. maybe me not putting any points into vitality has something to do with it :\
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man ornstein and smough are DESTROYING me this time around for some reason. are there any protips I should consider? it seems like it's equally difficult to pick one or the other off first.

here's my current build FYI:




(that's an iaito +10 and I think my shield's at +8, eastern armor +3 or something, everything else is at base stats)

(and I'm pretty sure the endurance bonus doesn't stack between mask of the child and grass crest shield but the mask of the child looks so dang cool. I use the stone guardian helm when I need extra defense)
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yeah that's what I've been doing with moderate success. I actually find it easier if I play aggressively and just wail on smough as much as I can. once you kill either of them, they both have those brutal AOE lightning attacks in their second form that destroys me every time. is there any equipment with high lightning resist I should seek out?
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well I've had a tough time of it for some reason.

maybe I should try playing sober

(the true drunk souls starts here)
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well, maybe it's worth putting on the ring of favor and protection, at least for this fight. do y'all generally find it's worth keeping on despite the commitment? honestly both the vitality and endurance bonuses would be very useful in this fight.

I might go down and join chaos servant too. I don't mind the trek and it might get me another level or two. so I should spend a few more points on vitality?

my iaito is definitely +10

are you using a different calculator? the only one I could find (here) doesn't show damage output :\

edit: nm found it. it says "410" but it doesn't let me set the upgrade level of the sword. maybe it means that for +15?

or maybe it's just an error:



double edit, yeah, what mauve said!
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I have the dingy robe! I did the lautrec quest...

the gargoyle halberd is pretty good, I used it my entire first playthrough without any problems.
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