Dark Souls

[W8taminute]

Ok I'm a tad bit pissed now.  I discovered the location of Alvina the cat lady you talk to to join the Darkwood Forest covenant.  By accident I answered no to her first question due to it's confusing text.  Now she won't talk to me at all and I missed out on an achievement.  According to the Dark Souls Wiki forums I must pay 70k souls to absolve my sin against her, just for answering no?   >:(

Oh well...It's no to the Great Wolf Sif then and then after that I'm going to attempt another go at Blighttown so that I can ring the second bell.  Or I might go to Rickert of Vinheim and give him the enchanted ember I found in the Darkroot Garden in order to enchant one of my weapons.

[Grimnirsson]

The words of cats are confusing, no? As in real life :P
And I said every decision counts in this game... ;)

Good luck!

[W8taminute]

And the funny thing is I'm a cat owner so you would think I could speak cat.   ;D

But you're right, every decision counts and that is a part of what makes the game great.  In other news, I'm really loving the stone armour set I found.  Although it's heavier than my elite knight armour my guy is moving better but I think it's the high poise of the stone armour.

[Huw the Poo]

My GOD this game is rock hard!  Got it this week but we've had a guest staying so I haven't been able to play much, but I've seen enough to know it's bastard hard!

It might even be a bit too hard for my tastes, to be honest.  I like hardcore games but this is ridiculous...the sheer effort you have to put in just to make it to the next room or building or whatever.  My hands really ache after a session because I'm constantly holding the block button!

Still, it is quite compelling and I'm not ready to give up yet.  The character development system has lots of possibilities.  Things got slightly easier when I kindled the bonfire in the Undead Burg, and slightly easier still when I tried out the axe I'd been carrying.  The axe is able to hurt my enemies even if they're blocking with shields.

One of my biggest frustrations at the moment is parrying.  I started with a knight who was able to parry with relative ease, but now I'm a wanderer and I just can't get it to work, either with a sword or the axe.  It makes the recognisable sound, but I never riposte, I just carry out the basic attack.

[Huw the Poo]

Well I haven't got parry/riposte working with my wanderer yet, but I am making (slow) progress.  I'd been held up my some armoured boar thing for a while but I finally figured out how to kill the bloody thing.  My only reward - a key.  Now I have to figure out which door it opens.  Cue lots of backtracking, I suspect.

Having fun though. :)  It amazes me how much there is to combat, despite there really being only two buttons to attack.  This is definitely a thinking-man's action RPG, you can't just button mash (except against rats :D).

I'm sad to miss out on all the online stuff, but I've never had Gold and I'm not about to pay £40 just to have the online features for one game.

[Grimnirsson]

I'm sad to miss out on all the online stuff, but I've never had Gold and I'm not about to pay £40 just to have the online features for one game.

If you are realizing this game is different and you like the experience then this may be a game that is worth one year of gold...to have real people in your world helping you with a tough fight or being always on the edge because other real players may invade your world actually brings an incredible game to a new level. And one year of XBL Gold is cheaper than 40 GBP if you look on ebay. My gold year is 30€, I have never paid more.

[W8taminute]

Great news Huw I'm glad you're liking this game.  It is incredibly hard but once you get used to how combat works and how to read your opponents moves, it gets easier. 

Some advice I can give you based on my experiences.  Don't worry too much about not being able to parry/riposte just yet.  Get used to the basics of fighting like locking onto your target, circling him, backstabbing, and standard block, normal attack, block, heavy attack, etc.

Monsters or bosses can indeed be tough.  Sometimes it's better to wander off and level up your character both in experience and better weapons, magic, armor, before facing them. 

As for the multiplayer aspect to it I agree with Grimnirsson.  I'll add one more comment.  Don't become human too early or a veteran might swoop into your world and take your stuff.  I have yet to beat a human invader of my world and I'm a level 48 knight with good weapons and armor and some basic magic.  But on the other hand if you are having a tough time beating a boss go human and hope that someone joins your game to help you beat the boss. 

It's been about a month since I last played but during my last game I was in a forested part of the world (I won't say where in order not to spoil anything for you Huw) which is patrolled by human players that have joined a certain in game order.  When my invader approached me I courteously bowed to him before accepting his challenge and he wrecked me to death during my bow.  I never had a chance to defend myself.  This game teaches you so much.  In this case I learned not to be so polite when fighting others online.  I love this game!

[Huw the Poo]

Thanks for the tips W8!  Grim, I'll consider Gold; the online stuff does sound good...

By the way, it was largely this thread that convinced me to buy the game, so thanks to everyone who posted!  Dark Souls really gets under your skin, doesn't it?  It's a very rare game in that sense.  As plenty of people have said before me, when you die it's usually because of a mistake or lapse in concentration, and as such, you're not dissuaded from trying again.  Dark Souls has reminded me why I like hardcore games, not girly games like Bison plays. 8)

Got the Drake Sword last night by the way. :D

[Huw the Poo]

Wow, what a session!  I accomplished a lot of things this evening...reinforced my Estus flask twice, found a blacksmith, rang the first bell and opened up two or three more areas to explore!  I've been bitten by this game!

[Grimnirsson]

rang the first bell

Praise the Sun! Wasn't it great to stand there on that high tower? After some hours of real tension and interesting fights? :)

Grim, I'll consider Gold; the online stuff does sound good...

If you would have been connected to other Dark Souls dimensions fellow players near you (perhaps also on their way to the bell tower while holding their weapon...eh...controller...with sweaty fingers) could hear your bell ringing...and you knowing that others will hear that you made it so far would have enjoyed it even more. It's an interesting psychological level XBL adds to this game, it's a subtle thing, really worth the money. You'll get more out of this than out of a CoD MP match tension-wise...

I plan to go back to my Dark Souls realm soon (now that I'm through with the Far Cry 3 story) and to play with my second character (since the first died the 'corrupted save file death' after 130+ hours as I mentioned here) - already over 40 hours  again :)

Btw, where is our friend DV8? Lost in Lordran?

[Huw the Poo]

rang the first bell

Praise the Sun! Wasn't it great to stand there on that high tower? After some hours of real tension and interesting fights? :)

Yeah, it really was.  I took a couple of minutes to enjoy the moment. :)  I was surprised it was so close to the beginning of the game, though.

[W8taminute]

rang the first bell

Praise the Sun! Wasn't it great to stand there on that high tower? After some hours of real tension and interesting fights? :)

Yeah, it really was.  I took a couple of minutes to enjoy the moment. :)  I was surprised it was so close to the beginning of the game, though.

Well if it puts things into perspective I didn't ring the first bell until several weeks of playing the game.  I guess it took me a while to figure out where it was and then to summon the courage and experience to beat the bad guys on the way to ringing the bell.

[Huw the Poo]

By the way...what the hell is a blacksmith doing, living in a place like that?!

[Grimnirsson]

He had no choice, we are all living there now forever...or at least until Dark Souls 2 is out ;)

Rang the second bell with my new character :)

[Grimnirsson]

Praise the Sun! Finally, after wandering there for days I escaped the horrors of  Blight Town. Blight Town is a difficult and dangerous place but having only half HP because of being cursed makes it even harder. I suppose I have lost around 35.000 souls there trying to find my way back.