^ Hahahaha thats some good sahit right there, but I bet there is at least one nerd out there that fire backed.

8/24/2012 11:25:32 PM

Is there a good wiki for noobs? I never played the first game and am only now getting into the series because of the hype and because it's finally on the PC (don't own a console). I did the 1080p mod but the game still looks fairly ugly. Mostly due to the darkness and lack of colors. Plus the menu graphics look straight out of Resident Evil 4, like they were designed for 640x480 resolution. Still not enough of a factor to deter playing, so no biggie. Maybe there will be a high res mod sometime soon.

I've played the first bit and ended up with a few questions:
1) As I understand it the penalty for dying is dropping all your souls at the spot where you died. There can only be one spot with dropped souls, so if you die again before reclaiming the dropped souls that original cache of souls is gone for good, replaced by a new cache. So the question is... do they also shave off a percentage of souls just for dying? Say I have 400 souls, die and reclaim. Do I reclaim the entire 400 or some percentage, like 300?

2) Do you level up, or do you just spend souls on stat points? Any stat point guides for beginners, like which stats to level early, which stats are the most important, etc.? It would also be nice to know if enemies scaled. So would I be wasting my time by trying to grind out levels early on.

Given the difficulty of the game and given I suck at games now I guess my strategy will have to be spend souls the instant I can or risk losing them.

Edit:
I originally went with thief for the key, but I don't see it in my inventory. That and after reading the first few pages in the thread it sounds like having a key is more dangerous in the beginning, especially for someone new. I also took a health regen ring because I anticipated that the game would live up to the hype as far as difficulty is concerned. Apparently it only adds 40 to your health with no regen properties. I guess it's time to start the game over.

[Edited on August 29, 2012 at 10:57 AM. Reason : -]

8/29/2012 10:37:06 AM

There is this one, not sure what has changed for the PC one, at least not until the DLC for consoles is out: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/

I know there are others, I was just used to that one from Demon's Souls.

1) For general gameplay, it shouldn't shave off a percentage unless it's a new PC thing to try and make it harder. Humanity will be lost, if you are human when you died you'll have to spend it just like kindling.
2) You spend the point as you level up. If you can play it right, you can use humanity to pick up to pump up your character a bit. It's risky, especially if you were saving a bunch of humanity by not doing your bonfires you might find yourself dead in a tough spot and unable to retrieve all the humanity. I would look at character builds on the Wiki and throughout this thread. Think about the weapons you like, how you want the game in terms of hardness and story and what you want to do online. Balanced characters are ok, but you'll find yourself with some issues throughout the same such as limited use of interesting weapons unless you use ring modifications. Also, for online play you'll be at the mercy of someone designed to kill a specific way. The covenant you join is another factor to consider. Also, you'll need to consider something like a fire heavy character, useful and strong early on, but once you go to areas where enemies are more resistant you'll need to have a weapon that utilizes your stats. The site also breaks down the cost to fully upgrade a fire character such as slots needed and weapon cost.

The key can be useful if you want to play around with runs of collecting items. For instance, going to a difficult area just for a item and not worrying about collecting souls or humanity. You can start out the defaults to get an item then modify the character as you go since leveling up, especially if you're restarting characters, will be faster than normal.

How have the invasions been on the PC? Frequent?

[Edited on August 29, 2012 at 11:25 AM. Reason : ]

8/29/2012 11:18:37 AM

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Character+Building+for+Dummies

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Character+Builds

There is no scaling. If you are getting tooled in one area it may be best to try another area or grind. Kindle bonfires for 10 potions instead of 5. You can stock up on humanity later in the game if you want from an area in the Catacombs.

8/29/2012 12:07:01 PM

Yeah, I really need to read up. 90% of the stuff I read seems like a foreign language to me.

So I understand souls. It's used to level stats and as a currency of sorts. What is humanity? All I know is I can use it to become human to get a minor boost or use it on a bonfire to make it replenish 10 health potions instead of 5.

No invasions so far. You have to be human for that, correct? I don't really need that at this stage. Having people come in and own me. Not my idea of fun for a game that already seems difficult and has a high learning curve in the beginning. That and I imagine online will be full of people that used trainers/cheat engine. I doubt there's fun to be had by inviting that into my game.

Thanks for the links. I'll start there.

[Edited on August 29, 2012 at 12:18 PM. Reason : -]

8/29/2012 12:16:27 PM

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Humanity

Humanity can

- Increase your droprate / resistance to curse (pray you never get cursed)
- Increase defense
- Increase the power of some weapons (rare)
- Allows you to become human so you can summon other players or invade / get invaded
- Using it heals you if you have been summoned or are invading

I typically burn the stuff because I don't want to lose like 10 of them because of bad luck during PvE.. Yea this game takes some work but it is SO rewarding.

8/29/2012 12:45:38 PM

Humanity picks up the slack on a few other things, specifically (from the wiki):

"Weapon damage modifier.
Increases damage with Chaos upgrade path.
Increase Item discovery.
Increase Curse Resist.
Increases all defenses."

Overall, it has great benefit if you can keep a high humanity number.

[Edited on August 29, 2012 at 12:48 PM. Reason : ]

8/29/2012 12:47:15 PM

So.... what's the secret to doing that falling slash from above. I've tried it 100 times now and it never lands. Do you just drop w/o pressing a button? Do you press a button? Do you press some awful combo of buttons that I'll never be able to do? I'm absolutely stuck at the Taurus thing on the bridge. Just lost +15K of souls.

[Edited on August 29, 2012 at 6:32 PM. Reason : 15 now ]

8/29/2012 6:24:21 PM

If you do the lunge/jumping attack it should pick it up as you fall. Sometimes, depending on the distance of the fall you attack again while holding forward (or repeating the lunge attack while in the air).

8/29/2012 6:54:39 PM

Finally landed one and got past the thing after applying shock damage to my sword via some resin. The first try I fell off the bridge with one whack to go. Second time was the charm. I'm really disappointed to see no save on the far side.

I guess that's what this game is about.

8/29/2012 6:59:08 PM

Under the bridge where the dragon is there is a way to drop the ladder to close the gap of the bonfire you were using. There is one passed the dragon as well which also the Sunlight altar. Try to keep up with the Solaire story so you'll have his help fighting a number of bosses.

8/29/2012 7:01:39 PM

Thanks loads for that tip! I saw the dragon, knew I was going to die a million times and wasn't looking forward to fighting the taurus demon over and over.

8/29/2012 7:06:15 PM

15 Days...

10/8/2012 10:12:23 AM

I wish I could play this game again for the first time

10/8/2012 10:23:51 AM

I know it has been out, but I forgot about it until today.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/23/dark-souls-artorias-of-the-abyss-dlc-hits-360-ps3-today

11/8/2012 9:46:22 AM

Dang I forgot about the DLC. Worth it anyone?

12/15/2012 1:50:59 PM

Yes its worth it ... every penny.

12/15/2012 4:03:08 PM

So you can just teleport to the new area after Anor Londo? Is it just one stage?

12/15/2012 4:12:41 PM

Its still a process to get to the new area. Actually, you need to rescue Dusk of Oolicile then go the Duke's Archive and retrieve an item and go back to where you rescued Duck,, then you access the area, and IMMEDIATELY have to fight a tough boss, hahaha. No joke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nzWBhvdbR4

[Edited on December 15, 2012 at 5:47 PM. Reason : /]

12/15/2012 5:38:43 PM

Thanks aha EpicNameBro. I've watched quite a bit of his vids.

12/15/2012 6:57:46 PM