Dark Souls - First Impressions

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Thanks guys, I'll give it a try. I was thinking about getting a controller, but I'd like to give it a try with mouse and kb first. Seems people are quite divided how playable it is (judging by that RPS link above) - but I am usually very flexible with regards to control schemes (I was happy bothh with Gothic and with the Witcher 2, e.g.), so maybe it works for me.
 
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However, the console skin remains (which is a little annoying) but there's probably ways to get rid of that already as well.
In regards to this, I´ve been using this.
The mod is functionally still somewhat useless (which is why it didn´t occur to me to mention it earlier) because it only fits the default binding and contains few mismatches, but I think it still might be worth installing for anyone who already remembers the control scheme, as it may be more aesthetically pleasing/less intrusive :).

Also, High-res UI and subtitle fonts does what it says well.
 
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Interesting link DeepO, thanks.

I've made some more incremental progress, but it has been nice and slow. Level 44, with the hours at around 48. I've only managed to beat 5 bosses so far!

The game's difficulty is in full flight now and I'm engaging in some rather shameless mmo-esque grinding in order to obtain souls to purchase more tools/weaponry.
It's a cycle I'll repeat before moving in a particular direction to explore and try to get further within a map region.

An amusing tale:

By sheer luck in the garden basin, I discovered a back passage leading to the Valley of Drakes. I've had some epic fights with the blue, lightning breathing mini-dragons that dwell there. There's a certain exploit you can use where if you attack one on the flank whilst opposite and close to the cliff-face, the drake will sometimes jump backwards off the cliff to a strangely winged demise. :D
They're still awkward for me to killl though - I haven't managed to clean the lot of them off the bridge to nab the loot there as yet.

I also decided to buy the crest from the blacksmith to open the locked door in the garden basin. At 20,000 soul investment, I was hoping it was going to get me ahead somehow. But alas, it merely led to a tougher region.
However, I quickly found that this area was fantastic for grinding souls; as one can easily utilise the cliff face to your advantage and using bully tactics, usher enemies to their doom at sometimes 2000 souls a pop. :)
I think I went up at least six levels here. However, let's just say at this point that the boss in the region had me yelping, retreating and licking my wounds. ;)

My most recent successful mission was at last, victory against the Gaping Dragon. This damn abomination had killed my character quite a few times through sheer intimidation, but once you take the time to observe its movement patterns, it's a clumsy creature and can be dealt with accordingly.

Another bonfire rest time. Might take my first look at Blighttown tomorrow.
 
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I was amazed at how much I initially appreciated the claustrophobic confines of Blighttown, with the threat of death appearing to ooze out of its very walls.
It rewards both caution and observation yet making it through to the bonfires within it raised further questions of whether one truly wished to be respawned inside its air-sapping, poisonously murky heart. :)

It's a really heavy atmosphere and took me quite awhile to traverse down to the swamp portion. Unfortunately, I also lost a large amount of souls in the process and came to the realisation that I wasn't quite ready for the Boss which resides here. With hardly any resources left, I can tell you my journey back to the Firelink Shrine was a tense one!

I've since defeated another boss; the Great Wolf Sif, bringing my lowly tally now to 7. That was a wonderfully evocative fight which took me some time to master.
The strategy itself was easy and simple; yet it was hard to execute and I wondered if at first I was trying to win it too soon.
However, perseverence pays off and there was a fascinating moment of empathy I had towards the battle's conclusion where the Great wolf Sif is so mortally wounded, that it limps in its slow movements to attack you, a mere shadow of its former self. I found myself hesitating and not wishing to make the final swing to end this dignified creature's life.

You know developers are doing a good job when they can evoke responses like this. :)

Anyone else playing? I don't mean to double-post nor turn the thread into a quasi-monologue, but the game certainly carries an indescribable mystique and is both interesting to think and talk about.
 
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Yes I'm playing as well. Absolutely brilliant game! In my opinion, easily the best game in years. I'm enjoying reading your posts since I've gone through some of the same things.

I'm currently in Anor Londo and having a difficult time with the Ornstein and Smough encounter. I killed Executioner Smough many, many times but after that, Super Dragon Slayer Ornstein is a bitch. I had him down to a sliver of health on quite a few occasions but he always gets the best of me. I want to defeat him second because I want his armor :) I think I'll try to level up a bit and try again.
 
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However, perseverence pays off and there was a fascinating moment of empathy I had towards the battle's conclusion where the Great wolf Sif is so mortally wounded, that it limps in its slow movements to attack you, a mere shadow of its former self. I found myself hesitating and not wishing to make the final swing to end this dignified creature's life.
Yeah, that´s an amazing touch.
A slight spoiler in regards to this encounter:
Finishing the DLC quest before fighting Sif (one may have to do certain optional thing in there, I´m not sure because I´ve always done it) will result in different cutscene before fighting him, making the encounter even more memorable than it already is.

Also, congrats on making it to the swamps, the journey down there is definitely one of the more demanding parts of the game :).
 
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I was amazed at how much I initially appreciated the claustrophobic confines of Blighttown, with the threat of death appearing to ooze out of its very walls.
It rewards both caution and observation yet making it through to the bonfires within it raised further questions of whether one truly wished to be respawned inside its air-sapping, poisonously murky heart. :)

It is a disgusting and dark place that reminds me of the Orc spawns in Lord of the Rings movies. The swamps, as you said, are poisonous but if you can get a gear with high poison protection there are few places to explore there and find neat weapons. There is also a bonefire at the bottom of Brighttown near the swamps (which has a tunnel that leads to the sewers!).

Just a wonderfully crafted and aspiring game, and is the first game in my life where I 'needed' to take a long breaks before continuing further into it.
 
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Also, congrats on making it to the swamps, the journey down there is definitely one of the more demanding parts of the game :).

Cheers, mate. Ironically enough though, I died another handful of times trying to return to the swamps from the opposite direction via the New Londo Ruins/Valley of Drakes. Am I the only one that keeps finding another laughable way to die trying to jump downwards near the escalator section or is there actually a clear way to go down without going back via the depths/upper blighttown? :)

@SpoonFULL.
You're right about the rewarding exploration in Blighttown when your character is armed appropriately. I went leftwards along the wall in the swamp upon my second visit and had some fun killing off slugs and finding some of the loot that I'd missed the first time around. Luring out the rock throwing dudes was also a blast.
I never had the Spider Shield first time around when dealing with the majority of those blowdart bastards. Thankfully, they don't respawn. ;)

Good to hear that others are also playing *nods at Dagar*.
I managed another couple of bits of progress last night, two of which were really bugging me.

1. Finally defeated the Hydra. The approach was harder than the fight itself, as its breath weapon can be quite devastating at distance. You can't get too close though, otherwise aieee! You're dead.

2. Found a method to finally deal with the dragon on the bridge in the Undead Parish. I'd run past it a couple of times but found that it kept reappearing at unpredictable moments. So I decided to try and be rid of it once and for all.
Went in two handed at the stairwell in the middle, then fled back to the stairwell when it moved too far behind me to avoid the flames. Repeated a few times = one dead lizard! I really lucked out here. :)

3. Last but not least… I defeated Quelaag in her domain after deciding to return several levels later after my first much less successful encounter. This was a surprisingly easy fight with the assistance of the summoned phantom (Mildred) at the base of the swamps. Very satisfying when I recall how easily she initially dispatched my character.

I'm also looking forward to dealing with the unforseen consequence that I've experienced in the Firelink shrine.
The murder of the Fire Keeper and loss of the bonfire.
This was quite a shock narratively and actually caused me to realise how much I'd come to rely upon the Estus enhancements of this location.

Thus, I'm now up to Sen's Fortress, which from my first little looksee, appears to be a classic trap laden gauntlet run. It'll be interesting to discover how far the chap waiting at the entrance managed to venture…
 
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Am I the only one that keeps finding another laughable way to die trying to jump downwards near the escalator section or is there actually a clear way to go down without going back via the depths/upper blighttown? :)
Late, thus likely redundant response, but the Londo/Drakes route works - you just climb down few ladders and jump on the escalator platform going down. Perhaps you´ve missed a ladder somewhere?
In regards to Depths/upper Blighttown, these areas, Capra demon included, are actually
optional :). It´s possible to bypass them either
via New Londo if you have a master key (thief class or master key as a starting gift) and if you don´t, you can get to Valley of Drakes and thus Blighttown via Darkroot Basin.
1. Finally defeated the Hydra. The approach was harder than the fight itself, as its breath weapon can be quite devastating at distance. You can't get too close though, otherwise aieee! You're dead.
Spoiler in regards to "DLC" content:
Explore the lake if you haven´t. And if you have, but only right after defeating the hydra, do so once more - a certain DLC plot critical enemy spawns there only after reload/bonfire rest (bad design decision imo, if not bug, and the reason why I think this particular moment deserves to be spoiled :)).
 
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Thanks again, DeepO. The spoiler tip is an intriguing one…

Definitely not a redudant response - I'll be sure to try the Blighttown shortcut again when I head that way to explore the Demon Ruins sometime.
I suspect my pitiful jumping skills were to blame. :)

Must say that I had a grand ol' time navigating the tense dextrous dive that is Sen's Fortress. Finding the traps and then trying to utilise them against your numerable opposition, is very fun. Can't say I was ever confident enough to clean out the very bottom of the place though - too risky. Although I think I have enough crazy survival stories of falling into that quagmire of hell and emerging alive somehow none the wiser. :)

The Iron Golem fight had me scratching my head for a bit, but I lucked out after finding the Tarkus summoning point, after which it was much easier.
Alas, that gargantuan sentinel would no longer pick me up and piff me nonchalantly from the battlements!

I've been slowly making my way through the open yet eerily empty splendours of Anor Londo, enjoying the duels with the over-sized knights. My only real spot of bother through the first two sections, were the two brutal snipers, armed with dragon-arrows guarding the only entry point I could find. These two bastards lack the honour of their brethren and delayed my progress for quite some time. :)

After fluking out a charge which knocked one of the archers off the ledge, I finally got to the bonfire are now trying to harvest enough souls for resources to take on Smough and Ornstein.

One query:
I managed to use the black eye orb and seek righteous vengeance upon the firekeeper's murderer, after which I was given an ear to signify my success. However, I'm not sure how else to progress this quest short of returning all the way to Firelink? Or is it finished now?

Another quick one: I haven't managed to find too many feasible alternative one-handed bludgeoning weapons to my trusty starting mace (which is now at about +9) I'm also still relying upon the divine axe I made very early in the game. Hopefully some more options exist?
In contrast, it's hard not to notice the plethora of over-sized double handed weapons which are admittedly, fun to experiment with.
 
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One query:
I managed to use the black eye orb and seek righteous vengeance upon the firekeeper's murderer, after which I was given an ear to signify my success. However, I'm not sure how else to progress this quest short of returning all the way to Firelink? Or is it finished now?
You can either use Firelink´s fire keeper´s soul to reinforce Estus flask (via Anor Londo fire keeper, for example) or return to Firelink and use it to revive the keeper, which will net you a bit of dialogue and Firelink bonfire being usable again.
As for the "all the way" part, defeating the dynamic duo might lead to a shortcut ;).
Another quick one: I haven't managed to find too many feasible alternative one-handed bludgeoning weapons to my trusty starting mace (which is now at about +9) I'm also still relying upon the divine axe I made very early in the game. Hopefully some more options exist?
From these categories, IIRC, I´ve only ever played with battle axe and reinforced club, so I´m not sure. I also remember getting seemingly nice hammer by killing the Anor Londo smith on my "evil" run, but killing a smith is not a very good idea on a first playthrough or early, especially not that one.
That said, the feasibility also depends on your character build and, taking possible upgrading paths into consideration, the trusty starting mace may as well be very good till the end, if you don´t want to take advantage of other weapon categories.
Few examples when it comes to build<->mace:
a) if you have good strength (say, 25+), just reinforcing it to normal +14 (resource for +15 is really rare and might be more suitable to use on something else) might be the way to go - the weapon scales well with strength (even better after upgrades) and you can take advantage of temporary buffs (resins or spells)
b) if your strength is low, but faith is high (say, 35+), upgrading it to +10 and then going divine might be better since divine adds scaling with faith
(If you have strength and faith on roughly same level, I think the normal path is better - strength scaling is more pronounced on normal than faith scaling is on divine + there´s the temporary buffs.)
c) if both strength and faith are relatively low, then upgrading it to +10 and then ascending it to lighting might be the best - you loose stat scaling and as in the b) case you won´t be able to temporarily buff it, but on the other hand you gain better base damage (physical + lighting)

Considering its presumably good stagger effect and faster speed compared to the biggass weapons, the mace seems potentially great to me, especially since the somewhat similar weapon I´ve quite often used in my second playthrough, the aforementioned reinforced club (sold by the sorta hidden undead merchant in the burg), was surprisingly effective after upgrades.
One other thing to take into consideration is that you can use the mace in 2-handed grip - this boosts its damage and stagger effect at the expense of no shield (in this context I liked to use grass crest shield because its stamina regen property remains in effect even after switching to 2-handed).
There may be some other potentially better bludgeoning weapons later, but since you´ve already invested a good bit into the mace I don´t see a reason shelving it.

What I´d recommend though is checking the other weapon categories and picking one or two to add more flexibility/variety. A different moveset and reach (and damage of course) can make a lot of difference and even if you happen to have strict character policy, perhaps you´ll still be able to not violate it by going the divine upgrade path :).
Halberds might still sorta fit with the cleric/knight archetype I think (gargoyle´s halberd is good, for example).
If you don´t have strict character policy, the black knight weapons you can get via lucky drop tend to be really effective (I´ve tried sword and halberd and both certainly were, maybe even too much).
Also, note that to upgrade using a boss soul, you first need to have an appropriate weapon upgraded to +10 normal.

But really, better take a lot of this with a grain of salt - there´s a crapload of ways how to play or build a character effectively so it´s hard to recommend something specific and I´m far from knowing/having experienced most of what the game has to offer in this regard (for one, I haven´t played a cleric/faith build) :).
 
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I just won a copy of Dark Souls for the PS3 on Ebay. As I said, I'm determined to give this game another chance, but I'm done with the PC port.

I'm also bidding on a copy of Demon's Souls along with the soundtrack.
 
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I just won a copy of Dark Souls for the PS3 on Ebay. As I said, I'm determined to give this game another chance, but I'm done with the PC port.

I'm also bidding on a copy of Demon's Souls along with the soundtrack.

Curious about this "anti pc version" thing you have here. I read your earlier posts: is it that you don't want to buy a controller? Aren't the background textures fixed with the "HD mod" at Nexus? I don't own the game so I'm asking, not judging...
 
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The PC version with a controller along with the DSFix mod is the best version by far. It's not even close.
 
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That was my understanding. I have to motivate myself to take the challenge. Its pretty inexpensive these days - saw this for $19 yesterday in a store. How much for a controller and which is best?
 
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Curious about this "anti pc version" thing you have here. I read your earlier posts: is it that you don't want to buy a controller? Aren't the background textures fixed with the "HD mod" at Nexus? I don't own the game so I'm asking, not judging…

I have a decent controller, a Logitech dual-analogue gamepad, but it still doesn't feel quite "right" to me. Although that might be because it's a much cheaper version of the PS3 Dual-shock pad. The HD mod increases the internal resolution the textures are being displayed at, but since the original textures were made for 720p, the unchanged PC version doesn't look superior in any way to me.

That's just my opinion. I know a lot of people haven't actually played both versions. I have, and that's my impression. Plus, since Demon's Souls is only on PS3 anyways, I'd like to have both games there as they both have the same control scheme and feel.

This is also a game that, for me, is nice to be able to play while relaxed on my couch or in a recliner rather than at my desk.

Trust me, I'll always be a PC first guy, but I think this is one of those rare occasions that the PC version might actually be inferior. Of course this might all be a moot point if you don't own a PS3. :)
 
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Trust me, I'll always be a PC first guy, but I think this is one of those rare occasions that the PC version might actually be inferior. Of course this might all be a moot point if you don't own a PS3. :)

Ive played xbox and PC versions extensively. No character slots left styles.

PC version is easily the best because the consoles can't run it properly. The bridge with the drake, blight town, new londo ruins, etc all drop down to awful framerates.

With DSfix try setting the texture res do double your screen res for the most crisp textures around.
 
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I've never played the Xbox version, only the PS3 and PC versions. I didn't notice any framerate issues during my limited time with the PS3 version, but I'm aware they exist. Still, I'll take that with being able to use the Dual-shock 3 controller on my recliner.

I don't see an option for the texture res in the DSfix config. How would someone change that? Considering I've played the PC version at 1920x1200, I doubt I could double that for the texture res.
 
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