[DJ]

PC version > * for Dark Souls.

Reasonable playerbase, isn't gank city, lots of "fun" builds, blah blah blah etc. I have the PS3 version and never touch it.
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[Toptube]

[misadventurous]

well awesome, i'm now getting the PC version to work not-shittily so i can experience The True Dark Souls.

edit: so i've bought two games in the last three months. both of them were dark souls.

[Toptube]

For the first time ever, I've having GFWL connection issues in Dark Souls, that aren't resolved by completely uninstalling, signing into xbox.com, and then downloading the latest client.


I can sign into the standalone client, outside of the game.

[mauve]

i played dark souls today for the first time in awhile, fired up my coop char, got summoned by a giantmom in oolacile township along with another phantom.

we cleared all the way down to manus, including side paths, and then he unsummoned us.

the true dark souls experience starts here

(next guy was better. also this is why i usually invade instead...)
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twit

[misadventurous]

i had my first Live Souls Experience(tm)!!
a dude invaded me in the undead burg while i was attempting the leap to the lower burg. we sort of casually played cat-and-mouse for awhile -- my favorite bit was when he tried to surprise me with a chameleon spell on the stairs near the black knight, and i just went through the house nearby instead and waved to him from the gold pine chest.

eventually i got around him and ran for the fog door. i felt kind of lame for not really fighting back but my build is still p. shitty and i haven't gotten my head around the kb+m controls yet (stuck with 'em until i get a gamepad). still, he sent me a polite "first invasion, it was fun!" message & i sent back "first time invaded, likewise :)"

edit: so, for the PC version, when (if ever) can i expect to start seeing summon signs and encountering more players? i mean both in terms of level and location.

so far i've mostly only seen bloodstains and messages. i've tried to leave helpful/encouraging messages of my own all over ("Try courage" is my favorite).

[Ymer]

Regarding Soul Level ranges I think the chart on this page is a nice guide:

http://darksouls.wikidot.com/co-op

There might always be NG+ peeps running around though. And one thing that took me the longest time to figure out is that if you put any sort of summon sign down (which should also be noted that it can be done even when hollowed) you will not be able to see other people's. Also that yours will disappear without notification if you attempt to invade another world (even if unsuccessful) or if an attempt to invade yours is made (again, even if they're unsuccessful). You will notice this if any of your multiplayer items become greyed out in your quick-use slot or impassable fog walls appear.
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[mauve]

I keep homeward bones on my item tray at all times because they are an instant notification of multiplayer/invasions.

Setting down signs does make other signs go away, because if you engage in _any other_ kind of multiplayer your own sign would disappear.
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twit

[remote]

[another god]

I'm betting they're not tossing assets like that out. Look at that ladder. There are two different versions of the level here. This is how the levels themselves won't get boring - variations on the same concept to keep the game fresh for adventurers and invaders.
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interdimensional

[GcDiaz]

Only about 2 months late, preordered last June and finally arrived today.
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Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!

[remote]

oh damn it, i had old cc info on my preorder for that and amazon evidently does not inform you of this

well, should be on its way soon, at last
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[wourme]

[GcDiaz]

I have it! But I took the book to wook, I mean work so I didn't want it getting oil or coolant or steel dust all over it.
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Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!

[Toptube]

Dark Souls is $5 right now, for Xbox Live Gold accounts:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Dark-Souls/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8024e4d083a?cid=search

Side-note: I think MS may have payed to exclusively offer Dark Souls digitally on consoles. Because PSN has never had it. But they do have Demon's Souls.

[Ymer]

One thing I've wondered is how long some of the more obscure stuff in Dark Souls took to discover. Anybody know?
Things like:

How to join the Darkwraith Covenant
Just how the hell Gravelording is supposed to work
The end of Siegmeyer's questline
How to have Solaire join you for the final battle

And similar. We talking a week, month or even later?
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[Oh God Spiders No]

Siegmeyer was probably pretty easy to discover. He's pretty explicit with where he's going next at any point in time, and easy to find for anyone who's committed to exploring.


Darkwraith probably took a lot of work. The clues are:
1. The Darkwraiths are led by someone named Kaathe
2. The Darkwraiths' home is in the abyss
3. Kaathe is a primordial serpent, as revealed in the Bad End.

Someone who really thought hard about that last clue might have gotten the idea to go looking for Kaathe instead of trusting Frampt.

Or, more likely, the first person who tried sequence breaking by taking on Four Kings as early as possible would have discovered it incidentally.
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[mauve]

Darkwraith Covenant was basically known within a couple days.
Gravelording was a mystery for a couple months, even now we don't really know what's up with it.
I completed Siegmeyer's questline on my first playthrough with no hints or help, so probably not long.
Solaire.. I dunno. I will state that there was a full speedrun that took the Izalith shortcut within two weeks of release.
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twit

[apfEID]

Stuff like Kaathe is in the strategy guide book, so whenever that came out; part of why I'm going to go full media blackout for DS2 launch week (and possibly play the game offline even) is that there's a guide that launches same day as the game.

Some other stuff like the return to the undead asylum and pre-patch invisible walkways in the crystal caves are "spoiled" in game by Seek Guidance. I wish I had used that miracle instead of having to look online to figure out the path in Anor Londo to get to the rafters; I was completely baffled by that on my first playthrough.
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Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est
http://ageoffire.tumblr.com

[Kinto]

[Ymer]

[apfEID]

I believe so; I feel like I've read that it was, but checking the patch list at the wikidot, it's not listed as an addition, so only those who played it at launch (or intentionally uninstalled everything and play offline to try the 1.0 version) would know for sure. I got the game after the 1.05 patch.
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Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est
http://ageoffire.tumblr.com

[Toptube]

I haven't noticed it mentioned here, but you can now permanently gravelord yourself (PC version only), in order to add extra black phantom enemies and make some areas a bit more difficult. It is enabled similarly to the aggression mode. You use something called "cheat engine" which forces a binary string that does the job.

[lolipalooza]

I'm finally playing this! And kinda suck at it -_-

6 hours in, got through the first two bosses, now the Balder Knights are kicking my ass in Undead Parish. Playing Knight, wasted my gift with the tiny being's ring ):


Any early advices?
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[Toups]

yo, what's a cool weapon for a dex build
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[mauve]

i actually like tiny being's ring early on.

don't be afraid to run around looking for weapons. heavier weapons stun enemies easier, and higher base attack rating will do more damage vs armored opponents. claymore, halberd, zweihander, etc are all good early weapons if you time your hits well.
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twit

[mauve]

[misadventurous]

[mauve]

fury sword is not a dex weapon, it's a low-stat weapon. an additional 40 points of dex gets you a whopping +70 AR, which given its low physical to begin with is pathetic and will be borderline useless on NG++/vs heavily armored opponents. (heh I remember trying it on NG+ four kings)
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twit

[Toups]

[mauve]

fury sword is not a random drop. at the giant blacksmith, you upgrade a +10 curved sword using quelaag's soul. (edit: most people just break down the enchanted falchion from duke's and use that for it)

also, the OTHER quelaag soul weapon is off a katana, the chaos blade, which is the highest damaging katana but has pretty bad R2s.
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twit

[Toptube]

The regular sized dex weapons all have pretty similar damage. It pretty much comes down to moveset and then any extra peculiarities. For min/maxers, the chaos blade has the highest damage of the normal sized dex weapons. Due to its additional humanity scaling.

daggers/rapiers mostly depend on you exploiting criticals. (riposte/backstab).

[Felix]

furysword is my favourite weapon mostly for the moveset. as mauve said, it's a bit too weak in the latter part of NG+ (it should do 450+ damage if you have 20+ dex and 3+ humanity, but that 450 is like 75% fire and 25% physical which is a shoddy combination due to how defenses work at higher levels), but it will serve you well through NG if you like fast 1H swords that attack in an arc and want to put most of your stat points into end and vit.

if you're willing to also carry something that can do better physical and/or lightning damage I say use it (a lightning iaito fits the bill and is similar in terms of moveset and not being very stat-dependent)

[misadventurous]

[Felix]

Honestly, in NG+ or pvp you're at a disadvantage if you can't do 400+ of pure physical, but if that's not your goal, use a decent fun weapon

[Broco]

[misadventurous]

[Felix]

Maybe so; see Broco's comment about dex builds not being a great option unless you're at a very high level and you also want the casting speed advantage that you get at 40-45 dex, etc.

[mauve]

my personal view of higher level pvp is that the tank builds are usually one-note whereas more versatile characters tend to be harder to survive at tradeoff of having more options. i see a fair degree of hybrids around in general.

admittedly all bets are off in the forest, where if you're NOT heavy armoring I have no idea what the hell you're doing there.
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twit

[Toptube]

I think it works out pretty well with the lore, that only certain types of warriors can solo the upper new game pluses, with any sort of sanity. I think it is rather obvious that you otherwise should do them co-op.

I also realized this may be what undead rapport is actually useful for. But then youtube of course set me straight on that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klAV9F4QWEA

Undead Rapported NG+7 enemies, pitted against invaders.

*this one is fun, as this undead thief has a rather nasty leaping grapple attack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i74hIKZyhE

[Toptube]

In this video, a guy acts as a slow walking horror boss for early game/new players:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHV_JNcGXY