It's a bad fight. Super cool thematically to see it all unfold like that, and the stakes ramp up incredibly. But having to do every single phase in a row every time is just tedious. By the time I was able to do it I was long past caring about how cool it all was and I was just annoyed.
Yeah, a whole lot of stuff falls into a "why even bother?" category. The way of white corona could have been good. It can open an attack from an extra angle. It could either catch forgetful opponents offguard or provide an opening to hit the opponent while they're vulnerable from dodging the return swing. However it accomplishes nothing because even trash mobs, much less players, can just stand there and face tank both swings of the attack without a care in the world.
I'm sitting here wondering why I'm really bothering trying to get the darkmoon blade weapon buff. It eats up a huge amount of FP to cast, and yet the vast majority of fights fall into either quick exchanges where the buff wasn't necessary and probably wouldn't have made a difference in the number of hits needed to kill the target, or they're long drawn out yakety sax where the effect wears off before it can do any good. Carthus flame arc wins out because it lasts so long and you can regen most of the expended FP from the slow trickle of a simple infused offhand caestus by the time the buff wears off. Plus it has the "flame" effect that causes so many NPC enemies to effectively lose in one hit due to their "I'M ON FIRE!" animations. It's also got the lowest stat requirements and weightless casting focus going for it... For other damage types, its almost always better to just use resins instead of wasting the FP and spell slot for a spell buff.
Poison and toxin are other mechanics that are just worthless.
Flynn's ring is another failure. To actually get any benefit you pretty much need to be naked and armed with a butter knife, and then your payoff is an extremely small damage boost. A big letdown compared to how beneficial it was to featherweight builds in DS2.
I should probably just stop reminding myself of all the spells and rings that I collect only to stuff them into the bag to never be used...
Darkmoon Blade is almost entirely intended for PvP as opposed to PvE (which makes sense, as it's tied to a PvP covenant), which is where most of its good use comes from. Dark Blade and Lightning Blade work just as well for PvE purposes and are far easier to get.
Agreed on pretty much everything else though, especially Flynn's ring. I have a Flynn-user in DS2 right now, and it's nutso good. It could have stood to be toned down, sure, but as it stands now it's largely useless unless you go nearly naked and make heavy investments into VIT.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Darkmoon Blade is almost entirely intended for PvP as opposed to PvE (which makes sense, as it's tied to a PvP covenant), which is where most of its good use comes from. Dark Blade and Lightning Blade work just as well for PvE purposes and are far easier to get.
Darkmoon blade is identical to lightning blade except it uses magic instead of lightning damage. Both spells work great if the opponent fights, but the duration burns out quick if they just yakety sax. Then you've burned a ton of fp on a whole lot of nothing.
Edit:
I suppose that makes them both wonderful spells for duels but almost worthless for invasions.
I wonder if infinite duration weapon buffs could be balanced if you were taxed fp for each connecting hit.
Darkmoon Blade is almost entirely intended for PvP as opposed to PvE (which makes sense, as it's tied to a PvP covenant), which is where most of its good use comes from. Dark Blade and Lightning Blade work just as well for PvE purposes and are far easier to get.
Darkmoon blade is identical to lightning blade except it uses magic instead of lightning damage. Both spells work great if the opponent fights, but the duration burns out quick if they just yakety sax. Then you've burned a ton of fp on a whole lot of nothing.
Edit:
I suppose that makes them both wonderful spells for duels but almost worthless for invasions.
I wonder if infinite duration weapon buffs could be balanced if you were taxed fp for each connecting hit.
The problem with Lightning Blade in PvP is that characters' base lightning resistances are governed by the Endurance stat, which literally every single character ought to be raising to a significant degree, so, lightning-based stuff is going to be weaker against other players just by virtue of them leveling up.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Alright so I picked up this game on sale and after getting smacked down hard as an Assassin for a few hours I rerolled pyro and am now doing far better.
But I still really don't feel like I've got a clue what I'm doing and would atleast like to understand where I should be putting my stats and such. Any good beginner guides out there?
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited December 2016
So I'm guessing you've never really played Souls in general. A couple of sort of rule of thumb things to know:
As a first time player, prioritize Health and Stamina, so Vigor and Endurance respectively. I would say get both of those to 20 before you do much else. As a Pyro, getting Attunement to 20 for FP won't hurt either. You'll get most of your early game damage boosts from upgrading your weapon instead of stats (in your case upgrading your Pyro hand, and any melee weapon you're using to supplement Pyro). Understanding that Dark Souls is a game about Stamina management will sort of help you think about what to prioritize.
As you get more comfortable with the game engine you can start doing different things with your stats, but for now, Health and Stamina are going to be what takes some of the frustrating edge off the game.
So I'm guessing you've never really played Souls in general. A couple of sort of rule of thumb things to know:
As a first time player, prioritize Health and Stamina, so Vigor and Endurance respectively. I would say get both of those to 20 before you do much else. As a Pyro, getting Attunement to 20 for FP won't hurt either. You'll get most of your early game damage boosts from upgrading your weapon instead of stats (in your case upgrading your Pyro hand, and any melee weapon you're using to supplement Pyro). Understanding that Dark Souls is a game about Stamina management will sort of help you think about what to prioritize.
As you get more comfortable with the game engine you can start doing different things with your stats, but for now, Health and Stamina and are going to be what takes some of the frustrating edge off the game.
What he said. The other big Souls tip is to take your time and look in every corner of the map, talk to every NPC multiple times throughout the game, and generally just keep moving until you find the next bonfire. Everything else will fall into place.
It also helped me a lot to use the Sun Brothers summons sign to partner up with people to fight their boss battles. You get a lot of souls, and you can learn how each boss works without worrying about losing souls if you die.
Some of the enemy placement is infuriating, more frustrating than challenging to deal with.
And as a general rule, I hate large areas of sludge that make you walk slowly for no reason, as well as massive enemies that you doink with 85 arrows from a place of general safety to kill.
The latter in particular is not something we should still be doing this far into the series. Hoping whatever comes after Dark Souls finds another way to deal with it.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
You can kill
the Giants in Cathedral without plinking them to death but you do have to be a bit cheesy about it.
The Giant in Dungeon I always found impossible to kill without plinking him to death, though.
I don't know if they changed the giant's behavior in one of the later patches but you should be able to lure the one in the muck with the adds towards solid ground where you can roll around his feet and ankle them to death and be safe from the rot monsters
So like... I have no idea where to go after killing the Iudex guy... I know I'm missing something, but I can't find any paths to head down. I thought maybe I needed to get past that asshole with the katana, and about 6 tried later I killed him. The gate behind him is locked on the other side. The stairs near katana guy lead to a dead end too... just dead ends errywhere. Do I need to go back towards where that blue crystal lizard thing is?
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
So like... I have no idea where to go after killing the Iudex guy... I know I'm missing something, but I can't find any paths to head down. I thought maybe I needed to get past that asshole with the katana, and about 6 tried later I killed him. The gate behind him is locked on the other side. The stairs near katana guy lead to a dead end too... just dead ends errywhere. Do I need to go back towards where that blue crystal lizard thing is?
Did you try the front door?
(Seriously, if you hit the katana guy, you went to the left of the front door.)
I mean... I went into the shrine and set up the bonfire/talked to all the folks in there. I'm sure there's a door I stupidly missed... I'll have to check tomorrow when I'm not in sleepy mode.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Level up lady did say something about using the bonfire, but I skipped the dialogue cause I was like "I know how bonfires work, woman!"... my bad. I'll continue my adventure as the worst knight ever tomorrow then! Seriously... I'm real bad at this. It took me 10+ attempts at fighting Iudex Whatshisface before I got the idea that maybe I should try blocking his attacks with my gosh dang shield instead of rolling. Like, Skull... me... dude... you have a fucking thing what blocks damage, you dingus!
I beat him the first time I was smart enough to use my shield =/
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
It's dumb because the start of ds3 is the only time you ever use a bonfire to advance to someplace that you've never been to before.
Be careful around the knights on the highwall. They are aggressive.
You also want to get into the habit of dodging boss attacks instead of blocking. Bosses generally swing hard enough that blocking will just ruin your stamina and leave you exposed.
General_Armchair on
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Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
It's dumb because the start of ds3 is the only time you ever use a bonfire to advance to someplace that you've never been to before.
Be careful around the knights on the highwall. They are aggressive.
You also want to get into the habit of dodging boss attacks instead of blocking. Bosses generally swing hard enough that blocking will just ruin your stamina and leave you exposed.
Yeah. Shield tanking generally only becomes viable once you unlock the really good Greatshields like Yhorm's and Greatshield of Glory, and requires substantial Strength investment.
Level up lady did say something about using the bonfire, but I skipped the dialogue cause I was like "I know how bonfires work, woman!"... my bad. I'll continue my adventure as the worst knight ever tomorrow then! Seriously... I'm real bad at this. It took me 10+ attempts at fighting Iudex Whatshisface before I got the idea that maybe I should try blocking his attacks with my gosh dang shield instead of rolling. Like, Skull... me... dude... you have a fucking thing what blocks damage, you dingus!
I beat him the first time I was smart enough to use my shield =/
oh my god i want to hear every single detail of your adventures in this game
Please keep posting about it, this is great stuff!
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
Level up lady did say something about using the bonfire, but I skipped the dialogue cause I was like "I know how bonfires work, woman!"... my bad. I'll continue my adventure as the worst knight ever tomorrow then! Seriously... I'm real bad at this. It took me 10+ attempts at fighting Iudex Whatshisface before I got the idea that maybe I should try blocking his attacks with my gosh dang shield instead of rolling. Like, Skull... me... dude... you have a fucking thing what blocks damage, you dingus!
I beat him the first time I was smart enough to use my shield =/
oh my god i want to hear every single detail of your adventures in this game
Please keep posting about it, this is great stuff!
Sure, I can do that! Gonna play more tonight, but Gravity Rush 2 comes out tomorrow so that may slow my DS3 sessions a bit. But I'll try to post my (most likely cringeworthy) after-action reports in here. If my failed attempt at beating Bloodborne is any indication, there's going to be some high level ineptitude on display.
I will say that I'm finding DS3... easier(for lack of a better word) than Bloodborne. The ability to block with a shield as well as roll around has done wonders for me (when I remember I have a shield...) Like, it took me quite a few tries to beat Iudex but he was still way easier for me to beat than the cleric beast was.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Level up lady did say something about using the bonfire, but I skipped the dialogue cause I was like "I know how bonfires work, woman!"... my bad. I'll continue my adventure as the worst knight ever tomorrow then! Seriously... I'm real bad at this. It took me 10+ attempts at fighting Iudex Whatshisface before I got the idea that maybe I should try blocking his attacks with my gosh dang shield instead of rolling. Like, Skull... me... dude... you have a fucking thing what blocks damage, you dingus!
I beat him the first time I was smart enough to use my shield =/
oh my god i want to hear every single detail of your adventures in this game
Please keep posting about it, this is great stuff!
Sure, I can do that! Gonna play more tonight, but Gravity Rush 2 comes out tomorrow so that may slow my DS3 sessions a bit. But I'll try to post my (most likely cringeworthy) after-action reports in here. If my failed attempt at beating Bloodborne is any indication, there's going to be some high level ineptitude on display.
I will say that I'm finding DS3... easier(for lack of a better word) than Bloodborne. The ability to block with a shield as well as roll around has done wonders for me (when I remember I have a shield...) Like, it took me quite a few tries to beat Iudex but he was still way easier for me to beat than the cleric beast was.
Dark Souls is very good at presenting you with a challenge and making you feel good for overcoming it. Bloodborne is very good at presenting you with a challenge and then making you feel like it was all a pointless waste of time and OH GOD EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE.
Bloodborne doesn't have many alternate ways to solve problems. You can fight your way through DS3 in exactly the same way you fight through BB, but if you're not good at doing things that way, there's like 5 other options that are all viable.
That does make it a bit easier, so DS3 ups the ante by being a complete jerkass with its monster placement. It fucks you with level design more than with its monster design.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
Posts
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I'm sitting here wondering why I'm really bothering trying to get the darkmoon blade weapon buff. It eats up a huge amount of FP to cast, and yet the vast majority of fights fall into either quick exchanges where the buff wasn't necessary and probably wouldn't have made a difference in the number of hits needed to kill the target, or they're long drawn out yakety sax where the effect wears off before it can do any good. Carthus flame arc wins out because it lasts so long and you can regen most of the expended FP from the slow trickle of a simple infused offhand caestus by the time the buff wears off. Plus it has the "flame" effect that causes so many NPC enemies to effectively lose in one hit due to their "I'M ON FIRE!" animations. It's also got the lowest stat requirements and weightless casting focus going for it... For other damage types, its almost always better to just use resins instead of wasting the FP and spell slot for a spell buff.
Poison and toxin are other mechanics that are just worthless.
Flynn's ring is another failure. To actually get any benefit you pretty much need to be naked and armed with a butter knife, and then your payoff is an extremely small damage boost. A big letdown compared to how beneficial it was to featherweight builds in DS2.
I should probably just stop reminding myself of all the spells and rings that I collect only to stuff them into the bag to never be used...
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Agreed on pretty much everything else though, especially Flynn's ring. I have a Flynn-user in DS2 right now, and it's nutso good. It could have stood to be toned down, sure, but as it stands now it's largely useless unless you go nearly naked and make heavy investments into VIT.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Darkmoon blade is identical to lightning blade except it uses magic instead of lightning damage. Both spells work great if the opponent fights, but the duration burns out quick if they just yakety sax. Then you've burned a ton of fp on a whole lot of nothing.
Edit:
I suppose that makes them both wonderful spells for duels but almost worthless for invasions.
I wonder if infinite duration weapon buffs could be balanced if you were taxed fp for each connecting hit.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
i wouldn't even bother with a buff
The problem with Lightning Blade in PvP is that characters' base lightning resistances are governed by the Endurance stat, which literally every single character ought to be raising to a significant degree, so, lightning-based stuff is going to be weaker against other players just by virtue of them leveling up.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
But I still really don't feel like I've got a clue what I'm doing and would atleast like to understand where I should be putting my stats and such. Any good beginner guides out there?
As a first time player, prioritize Health and Stamina, so Vigor and Endurance respectively. I would say get both of those to 20 before you do much else. As a Pyro, getting Attunement to 20 for FP won't hurt either. You'll get most of your early game damage boosts from upgrading your weapon instead of stats (in your case upgrading your Pyro hand, and any melee weapon you're using to supplement Pyro). Understanding that Dark Souls is a game about Stamina management will sort of help you think about what to prioritize.
As you get more comfortable with the game engine you can start doing different things with your stats, but for now, Health and Stamina are going to be what takes some of the frustrating edge off the game.
What he said. The other big Souls tip is to take your time and look in every corner of the map, talk to every NPC multiple times throughout the game, and generally just keep moving until you find the next bonfire. Everything else will fall into place.
It also helped me a lot to use the Sun Brothers summons sign to partner up with people to fight their boss battles. You get a lot of souls, and you can learn how each boss works without worrying about losing souls if you die.
It's super cool, though.
Yeah, from an exploration standpoint it's pretty amazing. It's the highpoint of the game for me personally. Boreal Valley is very cool too.
Some of the enemy placement is infuriating, more frustrating than challenging to deal with.
The latter in particular is not something we should still be doing this far into the series. Hoping whatever comes after Dark Souls finds another way to deal with it.
The Giant in Dungeon I always found impossible to kill without plinking him to death, though.
As a pyromancer, I don't recall this taking many fireballs.
the one giant (and the one in the dungeon) can be chipped down from the ledge where you first enter, roll his attack, swipe, repeat
or you can just ankle bite them
Did you try the front door?
(Seriously, if you hit the katana guy, you went to the left of the front door.)
It took me a truly stupendous amount of time to figure out that you just use the bonfire and teleport.
Level up lady did say something about using the bonfire, but I skipped the dialogue cause I was like "I know how bonfires work, woman!"... my bad. I'll continue my adventure as the worst knight ever tomorrow then! Seriously... I'm real bad at this. It took me 10+ attempts at fighting Iudex Whatshisface before I got the idea that maybe I should try blocking his attacks with my gosh dang shield instead of rolling. Like, Skull... me... dude... you have a fucking thing what blocks damage, you dingus!
I beat him the first time I was smart enough to use my shield =/
Be careful around the knights on the highwall. They are aggressive.
You also want to get into the habit of dodging boss attacks instead of blocking. Bosses generally swing hard enough that blocking will just ruin your stamina and leave you exposed.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Yeah. Shield tanking generally only becomes viable once you unlock the really good Greatshields like Yhorm's and Greatshield of Glory, and requires substantial Strength investment.
Please keep posting about it, this is great stuff!
Sure, I can do that! Gonna play more tonight, but Gravity Rush 2 comes out tomorrow so that may slow my DS3 sessions a bit. But I'll try to post my (most likely cringeworthy) after-action reports in here. If my failed attempt at beating Bloodborne is any indication, there's going to be some high level ineptitude on display.
I will say that I'm finding DS3... easier(for lack of a better word) than Bloodborne. The ability to block with a shield as well as roll around has done wonders for me (when I remember I have a shield...) Like, it took me quite a few tries to beat Iudex but he was still way easier for me to beat than the cleric beast was.
Dark Souls is very good at presenting you with a challenge and making you feel good for overcoming it. Bloodborne is very good at presenting you with a challenge and then making you feel like it was all a pointless waste of time and OH GOD EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE.
But BB is a horror game, so...
That does make it a bit easier, so DS3 ups the ante by being a complete jerkass with its monster placement. It fucks you with level design more than with its monster design.