The Depths didn't really bother me that much; I let the creepy atmosphere and tight corridors spook me at first, but once I unlocked the shortcut, I realized how small the area actually was and that made it easy to master. It's just really, really good at psyching you out.
When I started sunken king I was using a pew pew int build and the enemies just wrecked me, I switched to magic greatsword+10 and board and I am just destroying them now.
All that's left for me now in sunken king are two dlc end bosses.
That dragon looks quite hard to beat.
And I've been too lazy to do the 3 guys properly yet.
The dragon is not really a big problem. I had waaaaay more trouble reaching him (freaking Drakeblood knights, and above all fuck that Jester asshole) than I did actually fighting him.
I actually maxed my sunbro covenant there. I basically just camped there and beat him for people. He's really fun.
I go there once a cycle to kill the Hydra and pick up the Spell and every time the entire trip makes me nervous it's the water and the music.
PvP In dark souls is still alive and well.
12 Messages of pure cursing and hate from somebody because they invaded me at Sens while i was buying something from the Merchant they spent almost an hour trying to leap the gap to get to me only to get pegged mid jump by my Dragonslayer great bow land with no health heal up and repeat until they finally got bored and disconnected
Blighttown I weirdly enjoy despite all the fall hazards. It's still can be damn hard (went through on both my 2h and sorc fairly recently) but man it feels good reaching the end--to a big, fuck-off poison swamp. :rotate:
It also helps that the Blowdart guys don't respawn.
It's also a fairly annoying sequence breaking you can do with the Master key
So from the start of the game if you have the master key you have quick access to 3 firekeeper souls which is a significant help one in the Blowdart/fire rat area of blight town near where you pick up the Red robes , One in Londo ruins guarded by the Ghosts that you can just grab and suicide , and the one at the Alter in the undead parish now if you collect all 3 of these even if you don't release Laurtec from his prison he will ninja escape and kill your firekeeper cutting off the Firelink bonfire for a fairly long period
Productive evening in Dark Souls 2. Tried some of Sunken King and promptly got dead-ended twice with no way out except suicide or Homeward Bone. So I went to Drangleic Castle and cleared it, both bosses, Shrine, Demon of Song, and about 3/4 of the Undead Crypt. Once I have the King's Ring I'll go back to Sunken King with a brand new Crypt Blacksword to smash those knights with.
Blighttown might be unnecessary for further playthroughs.
but for firsttimers it's the single most important rite of passage.
And honestly, I can't really see how a firsttimer playing blindly would really make a different route other than (upper bell) > lower undead burg > depths > Blighttown. In order to go through new londo (which is a hell lot harder than that route) You have to kill the red robe dude, drain the water, fight the evil dudes in black, then kill the Drakes. Those are a hell lot harder, and you'd have to know that the red nice NPC has the key to move forward.
Blighttown might be unnecessary for further playthroughs.
but for firsttimers it's the single most important rite of passage.
And honestly, I can't really see how a firsttimer playing blindly would really make a different route other than (upper bell) > lower undead burg > depths > Blighttown. In order to go through new londo (which is a hell lot harder than that route) You have to kill the red robe dude, drain the water, fight the evil dudes in black, then kill the Drakes. Those are a hell lot harder, and you'd have to know that the red nice NPC has the key to move forward.
Couldn't someone go (upper bell) > Dark Root > Take a right turn > Valley of Drakes > Blighttown pretty easily?
Blighttown might be unnecessary for further playthroughs.
but for firsttimers it's the single most important rite of passage.
And honestly, I can't really see how a firsttimer playing blindly would really make a different route other than (upper bell) > lower undead burg > depths > Blighttown. In order to go through new londo (which is a hell lot harder than that route) You have to kill the red robe dude, drain the water, fight the evil dudes in black, then kill the Drakes. Those are a hell lot harder, and you'd have to know that the red nice NPC has the key to move forward.
Couldn't someone go (upper bell) > Dark Root > Take a right turn > Valley of Drakes > Blighttown pretty easily?
and that involves running past/killing 2 Drakes.
The door that takes you to the depths isn't the easiest to find. You have to remember that you passed a locked door just in front of the Drake bridge, then decide to go back and check it out instead of heading to this forest that seems like the natural next place to go. I can easily see a new player who is going in blind doing this progression here, yeah.
Don't you need the key in the valley to open the door between the drakes and darkroot, though?
You need a key to connect New Londo with Valley of Drakes, but you can immediately go Undead Parish > Darkroot Forest > Darkroot Basin Path (with BKH Knight) > Bonfire Cave to Valley of Drakes > Water Wheel Entrance of Blighttown.
That's how I ended up in Blighttown before visiting the Depths.
I was co-opping with someone who told me to bring a Spider Shield and showed me how to get the three fatties in the beginning to run off of the bridge to their doom.
Also I had a ton of purple moss from consistently getting my shit rocked in the forest.
I still managed to fall off of the waterwheel like a dork two or three times though.
I've spent so much time with dex and sorc/hex builds and whatnot that I forgot how powerful a str+heavy armor build was. I'm keeping my equip load under 50% and also putting points into faith for heals and lightning damage, but even then i'm just annihilating everything. I've done Executioner's Chariot all the way up to where I currently am just past the Smelter Demon without dying. Usually there's a couple of fuckups here and there along the way but not so far.
- Finished Undead Crypt. Velstadt was being a bit of an ass when it came to being killed by me and my rapiers. Ghosts can suck it and also the undead who ring the damn bells.
- Got invaded in Aldia's Keep by a very odd player. He pointed me around to some places so I would open up a large room with no one in it to serve as an arena. Then we dueled and I wiped the floor with him.
- Got to Dragon Aerie and promptly noped out of there for now to go get some souls via
- Killing the Undead Chariot I had completely bypassed because my first run this boss killed me more than any other.
- Also went to go smack Throne Defender and Watcher around because they're easy souls
- Then I chose to go to Sunken King and actually the area is not all that big once you really get down to it. Also ghost knights can't climb so I lured them off the walkway and broke their real bodies at my leisure.
- Got Flynn's Ring and a bunch of other stuff.
Productive evening again. Tomorrow I enter the big shrine in Sunken King.
Posts
What comes after, however...
except for those basilisks, they're pretty sucky.
The dragon is not really a big problem. I had waaaaay more trouble reaching him (freaking Drakeblood knights, and above all fuck that Jester asshole) than I did actually fighting him.
I actually maxed my sunbro covenant there. I basically just camped there and beat him for people. He's really fun.
Oh god. What, uh, what comes next?
The killer of framerate known as "Blighttown".
Don't listen to this man. There's a reason that "Fuck Blighttown" is a thing.
(Don't open this spoiler until you've made it to the first bonfire in Blighttown.)
But Blighttown isn't really that bad, you just need to 1. Bring your Spider Shield and 2. get good
GAME DESIGN
I only know how to suicide charge into the Valley of Drakes.
Sweet sweet cheevos?
I go there once a cycle to kill the Hydra and pick up the Spell and every time the entire trip makes me nervous it's the water and the music.
PvP In dark souls is still alive and well.
Steam achievements are the most worthless thing without at least some points attached to them or a platinum-equivalent trophy.
I'm sure I'll feel great when I beat him, but I'm not enjoying the experience.
Steam Badger A greasemonkey script for better gifting and peering
There is some worthwhile treasure in blighttown. The place is not so bad once you know where the blowdart guys are.
It's also a fairly annoying sequence breaking you can do with the Master key
Ah, that's what they meant.
Secret tip for fighting Fume Knight:
It's slightly easier, and you only have to learn one moveset, and you don't have to get him to half health to practice against it.
but for firsttimers it's the single most important rite of passage.
And honestly, I can't really see how a firsttimer playing blindly would really make a different route other than (upper bell) > lower undead burg > depths > Blighttown. In order to go through new londo (which is a hell lot harder than that route) You have to kill the red robe dude, drain the water, fight the evil dudes in black, then kill the Drakes. Those are a hell lot harder, and you'd have to know that the red nice NPC has the key to move forward.
Couldn't someone go (upper bell) > Dark Root > Take a right turn > Valley of Drakes > Blighttown pretty easily?
and that involves running past/killing 2 Drakes.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
The door that takes you to the depths isn't the easiest to find. You have to remember that you passed a locked door just in front of the Drake bridge, then decide to go back and check it out instead of heading to this forest that seems like the natural next place to go. I can easily see a new player who is going in blind doing this progression here, yeah.
And only just recently have i discovered the bonfire on top of the elevator in the valley of drakes that connects to the darkroot basin.
Also, you still go usually through (upper bell) first. Is there any noob who goes to Blighttown first?
Oh, I just remember you need to ring the bell in Quelaag's, so you MUST go to BT at some point, no matter the route.
You need a key to connect New Londo with Valley of Drakes, but you can immediately go Undead Parish > Darkroot Forest > Darkroot Basin Path (with BKH Knight) > Bonfire Cave to Valley of Drakes > Water Wheel Entrance of Blighttown.
That's how I ended up in Blighttown before visiting the Depths.
Also I had a ton of purple moss from consistently getting my shit rocked in the forest.
I still managed to fall off of the waterwheel like a dork two or three times though.
The closest I got to giving up was Anor Londo, I felt like such a genius when I figured out how to cross the chasm on the tower buttresses.
Because lordy did that ruin everything's day.
I consider it payment for playing a miracle based character my first time through Dark Souls.
Ornstein and Smough took me the better part of a week because all my gear was lightning based.
- Finished Undead Crypt. Velstadt was being a bit of an ass when it came to being killed by me and my rapiers. Ghosts can suck it and also the undead who ring the damn bells.
- Got invaded in Aldia's Keep by a very odd player. He pointed me around to some places so I would open up a large room with no one in it to serve as an arena. Then we dueled and I wiped the floor with him.
- Got to Dragon Aerie and promptly noped out of there for now to go get some souls via
- Killing the Undead Chariot I had completely bypassed because my first run this boss killed me more than any other.
- Also went to go smack Throne Defender and Watcher around because they're easy souls
- Then I chose to go to Sunken King and actually the area is not all that big once you really get down to it. Also ghost knights can't climb so I lured them off the walkway and broke their real bodies at my leisure.
- Got Flynn's Ring and a bunch of other stuff.
Productive evening again. Tomorrow I enter the big shrine in Sunken King.