Neo's art of using a guide to play a game. Also Dark Souls.

I decided to play this game on my own rather then without a guide. Apparently using guides is hardcore. Actual use of reflexes and genuine skill isn't the way you're supposed to play this. Anytime the game pulls a cheap move, its your fault as you didn't read the guide that came with the game.

This game can turn into a clusterfuck in a hilarious way. some guy joined my game and detroyed all the bad guys. including the taurus demon. Then i thought i'd help people but then they got invaded and all hell broke loose. Pretty damn fun.

You'll get more challenging enemies pretty soon, aside from the Black Knights everything in the Undead Burg/Parish is meant to teach you the basics ie: use your shield a lot and don't rush things.

The white/golden signs you see on the ground when you're in human form are summon signs, use them to invite people for co-op, any other signs except the orange hint ones will generally bring someone to your world to fight you or vice versa.

If you want to avoid invaders entirely, but also be unable to summon help, you can just stay in hollow form the entire time, you'll still be able to place your own summon signs down in you want to.

But yeah, awesome stuff can happen with this game when you're online, most people are usually out to be the biggest bros ever or just completely fuck up your day but in reality the worst thing that can happen is you die which only sets you back a handful of souls so it's not important.

Oh right so i chould block, i actually got to where i am without doing that. I just change to two handed and rush the enemy before they block seems to one hit kill everything. Then i just roll around lots for boss type beings the black knights wreck me most of the time though.

It's possible to roll around a lot of things and you need to for a lot of the bigger enemies but you'd be surprised at some of the attacks you can completely negate by blocking once you get better shields. What class did you start off with?

Warrior, and i took the master key. I wanted to be thief, which is the build i almost always choose, but i was worried it would be a more advanced class, plus it starts out with the masterkey. I might restart though i want to kill the taurus demon myself.

Don't be afraid to restart if you want to, this game is all about replayability. Also don't worry about minmaxing your stats or anything, just get whatever feels right (though never put any points into resistance), make sure you have enough STR/DEX to use whatever weapon you like and enough END to comfortably attack/block/evade and be wary of going above 40 in any stats as that's the point where you start getting diminishing returns.

I'll probably restart then i really don't like this warrior guy.

PLus if i'm a thief i can runaway from things more efficiently while i force you to kill them.

Oh yeah but also remember that the starting classes really only dictate what you use to begin with, you can end up using whatever you like regardless and the stats only matter if you're trying to optimise your build. The thief class is pretty good, having the masterkey by default is awesome and, assuming you're good at parrying, they can do really good damage without powerful gear.

I'll do that then as i put points one or two points in resistance, stupid poisonous rats.

I also killed the merchant i first saw by accident. Killed ht guy in the tunnel right at the beginning, then had to restart another game as i started a fight with that guy you meet new the fire who laughs a lot and seems like a douche and i couldn't beat him.

You need to play this before the PC version is released.

I never really got into it but i guess i should

You know what i think i'm just gonna trade this in i think i can make a profit and honestly I really couldn't get into this despite trying. Still haven't touched resonance of fate so i probably should give that a try to.

I'm so ashamed.

Well i'll try it again in a day or two but unless the games pace changes (into one where i'm good at it) then i'll probably get bored.

I know the colour and atmosphere is going for something but i really just find it a bit too dreary.

If voice chat an and linking to people worked all the time i'd probably get more into it. I guess i might rebuy it if i really feel an urge to play it again.

So i gave this game another chance i met the gargoyle boss and killed it on my second attempt only got killed as i was blind sided by a 2nd boss, which i honestly thought was cheap as fuck.

Then i killed the capra demon, on my second attempt, i got killed on enetering the room the first time, again cheap as fuck. But jumping on his head made him a joke.

Then i got into the sewers (assumed i was about to fight a giant rat but fell down a series of holes) and i got cursed, then i thought fuck this. So yeah i can't be assed to play this game, maybe if i ever feel like it again i'll get the enhanced PC version.

It is a very fun game if i didn't get cheap shotted twice like that i might have had more patience. As the whole dying mechanic works well.

Honestly both things you described are typical ways people get killed when they're not paying attention or are new to the game, both are pretty easy to avoid.

I fail to see how there's any realistic way how i wouldn't have been killed by that gargoyle, he wasn't in my field of view there was nothing in the game to mention a second gargoyle would show up. Literally on my screen i only knew he was there as a second energy bar appeared, then there was lots of fire. That genuinely made me feel like this is the kind of game people read a guide while they are actually playing. I couldn't even use my shield as he was behind me, so really I fail how to see anyone couldn't think that was cheap, and the flame breaths range meant dodging an enemy that blind sided me just meant i got hit more and exhausted all my stamina.

The capra demon i had a 50-50 chance of not getting raped as soon as entering the room. The demon literally ran at me (there's no space in the room whatever and his range is long) and i dodged left past his sword swing and then get mauled by two dogs with poison got stun locked and then obliterated. On rolling right on my second try he's a joke as you can just run in circles and land on his head.

I wouldn't have found it so annoying if either of those bits were actually hard. If i'd died more times i would've been less annoyed and not felt like i'd been cheap shotted (other areas in the game were fine even with the heavy numbers of ambushes). Even then i thought the boss battles were fine. But i despise sewer levels and this game seems to keep going into them, plus i'm certain i was in an area where i was basically fucked as i lit the bonfire in the sewers but only have half health now i've respawned there. So curing a curse would be tedious (well i might've had the item i needed but i cldn't be bothered to check).

Anyway i doubt newcomers to the series wouldn't have hit the things i did.

The point of the entire game is that those encounters will likely fuck you over once or twice before you learn how to deal with them. They're not cheap, you just don't know how to deal with them yet, which is fine because you'll learn. Using a guide would completely ruin that aspect of the game, most people only refer to wikis for item locations and such.

So from the sounds of it, Dark Souls is basically trial and error, like that Uninvited game.

Bag of Oranges wrote:

The point of the entire game is that those encounters will likely fuck you over once or twice before you learn how to deal with them. They're not cheap, you just don't know how to deal with them yet, which is fine because you'll learn. Using a guide would completely ruin that aspect of the game, most people only refer to wikis for item locations and such.

How many times did you die on those bosses? Remember i'm playing this for the first time.

Like i said if i was actually killed by there actual combat and not by you know dodging left rather then right, I might agree with that. If i'd dodged right the first time then i probably wouldn't be complaining but there really wasn't anytime for me to make a decision on that. As in what on entering the room the first time and within i'd guess around 3 seconds for the bosses weapon to swing, would let me know i'd have to dodge a specific way.

For the gargoyle fight I literally didn't have a chance. There was absolutely nothing I could do in that scenario, seeing as my guess at dodging didn't work. I mean thats pure luck if the gargoyle was behind me or not when he spawned. If you can explain that then ill take back my criticism, but i honestly think this has been put on a pedestal. Sure its a great game, but how is that not cheap or luck based.

Quote :

So from the sounds of it, Dark Souls is basically trial and error, like that Uninvited game.

I wouldn't say it's exactly like that, because it has mechanics that actually make sense and it's never unfair, but, yes, there's an element of trial and error to it.

On my first playthrough I was a bit overleveled because I did a shitload of co-op but I think I beat gargs on my third or fourth try. Capra took me a couple more than that because I wasn't paying enough attention and got frustrated because I felt like the game was being unfair, if I were to start a new character I'd likely beat it on my first try though because the beginning of the fight is completely predictable.

Anyways, for the gargs it's a good idea to cut the tail off the first one so it has limited attack options, from there it's easy to dodge its swings until you wear it down enough for the second one to spawn. Once that happens it's pretty simple (once you get a feel for how much time you can afford to attack) to just run away from the fire while you kill the first one.

Capra demon is honestly one of the easiest bosses in the game, he just stomps the shit out of new players because his dogs can stunlock you if you get caught. Once you learn to dodge both his initial attack and in the opposite direction to the dogs it's easy to just run to the stairs, at which point you've essentially already won the fight.

The basilisks (things that curse you in the depths) can be 1shot with firebombs that cost 50 souls a pop from the Male Undead Merchant in Undead Burg, otherwise it's best to use magic or arrows. If none of those are an option you're better off just 2handing your weapon and hoping you can react fast enough to dodge their curse attack, it can't be blocked anyway.
Also that's the only sewer area in the game, there's a swamp soon afterwards but after that it's all unique locations.

Skip wrote:

So from the sounds of it, Dark Souls is basically trial and error, like that Uninvited game.

Pretty much, it is a polished game and is actually made very well.

As a melee guy battles feel almost scripted. As i mentioned earlier dodging left instead of right will get you killed in this game. That isn't a thing i can really enjoy. It also isn't that hard as its an RPG and if you 'find' the right equipment, which basically means using a guide, you can tank or make most things your bitch. Obviously with basic equipment you will be chipping away for a really long time at stuff.

You can dodge whichever way you like it Dungeon Siege 3, you should play that sometime.

Actually the way the item upgrade system works allows you to finish the game easily with any weapon you like. The unique loot that people often use guides to find will only make a difference if you plan out your entire character build to fit around it, otherwise you're much better off just using a weapon you like the style of and upgrading it as needed.