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Diego

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  • 2 weeks later...

As I've got enough work pressure on in RL at the mo, I've given up on the joyless trudge of the Crystal Caves and gone back to a new sorceror build that I started in a moment of utter frustration earlier during the Duke's Archives. Killed the Asylum Demon first time (with a dagger!), but physically I'm much weaker than I was on the previous playthrough and it's fun learning how to do more ranged attacks/cheesing, e.g. went back to Undead Asylum for the Rusted Iron Ring, and only got past the first black knight by luring him up to the main hall and going out to the bonfire area; the poor guy just got stuck behind those doors and I eventually stabbed him to death through the wall, although he killed me a few times beforehand in the same way. (Couldn't see how to get past the second knight to get the peculiar doll though, so just ran away from that one.) I've even done my first ever death-free descent down to Blight Town, where I'm now farming large titanite shards and haven't been hit by a mosquito once (yay soul arrows!)

 

I'll maybe go back to my original game when there's a bit less pressure at work, but for now it's nice to remember that DS can be fun.

 

EDIT: Just realised that I must have done at least one other death-free descent into Blight Town or I'd never have got to the bottom, but this one was definitely the easiest. And yes, I am talking about the easy back route. Still never gone through the front door.

Edited by simplen00b
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And once more my Dark Souls world is turned on its head. After watching James from Gamefront's

, I thought "Ah what the heck", went back to my original build and, blow me down, I fairly quickly got to the stage where it was taking me about two minutes to get from the bonfire to the clam's cave. (Getting past the first bridge golem was a pain, but after three deaths I lucked out on discovering how to cheese it)(I love it when you find out how to cheese a foe by running away from it). Had a spell of farming the clams and then getting killed by Seath, and I now have more twinkling titanite and purging stones than I know what to do with.

 

But then I noticed my estus flask count kept clocking up extra flasks, so evidently quite a few players were around kindling the bonfire. So - I tried putting my summons sign down, and blow me down #2! Got summoned five times in about 40 minutes. First time ever!

 

Breathless-gosh-wow-I've-played-online tales in the spoiler tags. Jaded jolly co-operators have probably seen/read it all before: -

 

#1 - Someone who very confidently pointed in the direction of Seath. Fought our way past the golems and got to the top of the path leading to the Crystal Cave, at which point he ignored the right turn, scampered to the very end of the crystal and fell off the end (which, to be fair, is what I did first time round). I did wonder if it was his way of saying he didn't like my playing style (tank), but see #3.

 

#2 - Someone who obviously had no idea where to go. Opened the staircase for her (I think it was a her), then led her down into CC. Showed her the secret path to the first shiny, then got onto the invisible path leading to the bridge golem, and – oh dear.

Stopped halfway along the path, got the attention of the golem with an arrow and then ran back to safety, expecting her to follow. She didn’t. Went back down as the golem approached, tried to point back up to the top of the path, and then, just as the golem leapt in to attack, I got disconnected from the game.

 

Can’t imagine she was too happy.

 

#3 - Someone who looked very similar to my first summoner. Got to the top of the path to CC and then I got hit by two golems simultaneously and died. If it was the same guy as #1, I suspect two attempts will be enough and he won't be asking me back.

 

#4 - Undaunted – OK, slightly daunted, but what the hey - put my sign down again and got summoned by a very lively female avatar. She had evidently made it to Seath before, so I just followed her down, whacking golems and clams hither and thither as needed. Got swallowed by a clam like a wally but managed to survive, and then we went into Seath.

So far I haven't beaten Seath, so I'm still not sure of the best tactic, so - I just tanked it. Waded into Seath's face (OK, belly) and whacked him with my black knight greatsword while she got his tail and chugged estus on my behalf. And he went down.

 

I think she was happy. I tried to bow modestly while she jumped around but got taken back to the bonfire before my clumsy thumbs could do their thing. IT WAS GREAT.

 

#5 - Host had just been invaded. The invader took a little while to show up, and when he did – well. Just one question: is it possible to have 64,000 HP legitimately? (And Google answers – no. It is not.) Ah well.

 

 

Overall, it was a good experience (hacker excepted), with the boss win obviously being the high point. So, an area I had no interest in exploring and anticipated being a real grind has provided me with a great session of gameplay. How'd that happen? Jolly well done, Dark Souls. (NB: haven't checked my GfWL account yet so it's possible I may have a torrent of 'wit wer you doin faggot' messages to savour.)

 

Anyway - a couple of noob questions:

1. If I kill an enemy, does my host get their souls? The wikis are unclear on this.

2. If I'm wearing the covetous dragon's ring, will my kills be more likely to result in drops for my host? Not a deal breaker, just interested.

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Anyway - a couple of noob questions:

1. If I kill an enemy, does my host get their souls? The wikis are unclear on this.

2. If I'm wearing the covetous dragon's ring, will my kills be more likely to result in drops for my host? Not a deal breaker, just interested.

 

Both far from nooby questions, or at least I'd like to think so as I have no idea. Sounds like you had fun though, lucky as you were to have a low good to bad player ratio, rather than a straight-up terrible run-in with the community.

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lucky as you were to have a low good to bad player ratio

When I was playing my sorceror build in Anor Londo last night I got invaded. Fortunately, as I was descending into my usual panic, I noticed he bowed to me. I just about had it together enough to remember to bow back, and a minute later he bowed again as my screen faded to black. Which was, genuinely, cool. (To be fair, some of my previous invaders may have offered civilities before attacking but I would have been so busy soiling myself I may not have noticed.)

 

Just done another summons from the Duke's bonfire where the shortcut hadn't been opened.

post-9265-0-27303100-1405554630.jpg

I had absolutely no idea where to go, and the two of us faffed around uselessly for ten minutes until another OP invader arrived and one-shotted the both of us within a few seconds of each other. Ho hum.

 

If I carry on putting my summons sign down here, I'll need to change my GfWL name to ICanGetYouToSeathAndThenTankHimOtherwiseI'mPrettyUselessFrankly396.

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Aww...thanks. :P And thanks for the offer of help too (especially given your lack of fondness for online play). At the moment I'm not that bothered about beating Seath, but if that changes and I'm struggling, I may come begging for assistance.

 

The main thing bothering me right now is that I don't seem to have the shrug gesture. No, really. If I keep hanging out at Duke's (which I wouldn't mind doing) and someone else calls on me who hasn't opened the shortcut or wants to go blue titanite slab hunting, I need that gesture.

 

Went back to Petrus but he was too crippled with grief over his precious princess to worry about me and my problems. "Yeah yeah yeah, helpless young woman stuck in a pitch black hellhole with her two faithful companions turned into ravening undead maniacs, BOO HOO," I yelled at him. "Where's my shrug gesture?" And he just looked at me. Honestly, some people. post-9265-0-62266600-1405633117.gif

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Haha, I think you'll have one more chance to talk to him after saving Rhea from the Tomb of Giants (readallaboudit) but once you do the next step after that, things will go down that prevent you from talking to either of them unless you kill him after getting your gesture.

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Yay! Tomb of the Giants!!! No, really!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!etc Anyway, discovered I do have the shrug gesture (it was hidden away under the 'switch' command). 150± hours into the game and I'm still learning the basics. Oh oh and sir sir please sir - I've finally done some proper backstabs. Proper ones with the animation and kicking the bodies off the sword and everything. Only done em when creeping up on unaware peeps from behind, mind, and even then I'm on about 25% success rate. Didn't realise I needed to hit R1 (I've been R2'ing almost every time). 150± hours into the game and I'm still (etc).

 

My original build is now past Seath, thanks to two great summons who kept him busy while I cut off his tale, then let me deliver the coup de grace. It's lovely to have his tale, but it looks like it's gonna cost me 900k souls to up my INT the 16 levels needed for me to use it, so after all that, it may go to Frampt to 1 soul. Or maybe I'll drop it for someone in a Jolly Co-op venture. (Can I do that?)

 

However, mainly been focussing on a third build where instead of levelling up so much, I'm upgrading weapons and gitting (slightly more) gud for more jolly co-op. Now have a level 18 warrior with a claymore +9 (wanted 10+, but those leeches were really stingy with their large shard drops and after 5-6 farming sessions I got bored), Havel's Ring/Ring of F&P and a black knight shield. Bell gargoyles/Capra D, I will be helping people serve your bottoms to you on a plate. Maybe.

Edited by simplen00b
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maybe I'll drop it for someone in a Jolly Co-op venture. (Can I do that?)

 

Yep! I remember a video where a guy kept invading people and waving to them, and if they were nice and waved back he'd give them great gear. If not, he stomped 'em.

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a guy kept invading people and waving to them, and if they were nice and waved back he'd give them great gear.

That sounds great!

 

Gotta say, putting a summons down has been fun on the whole. Just had another really good jolly co-op session in the Crystal Cave - in about 5 summons, I had 3 deaths in the Seath fight (in one, he was down about 5% health when I got killed; the host had another summons with him, so I hope they finished him off), one death from falling off the bridge fighting the golem, and one victory. No invasions either, which was a bonus.

 

There was one host who hadn't got to Seath before, and when we got there it triggered the boss cut scene. Being the JC noob that I am, I assumed this was under the host's control so I let it play out, and when it finished I found myself trapped between Seath and a wall getting thrashed to bits. Managed to survive and get some hits in, but it didn't end well. Would I have been just standing there in the boss fight while the cut scene played out? Can't have looked good. I guess in similar circumstances in future I have to cancel the cut scene.

 

Despite that, this is one of the only games I've played that I'm enjoying playing on-line. Part of it is that your communication options are so limited. I hear that in DS2 you can chat on-line during JC/PvP. Is that true? Can't say it appeals if it is.

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No idea about the cutscene thing, actually. I don't do a lot of co-op in either game, just because whenever I play I go from level 1 to 100 in one sitting and find myself with no viable boss to help people with. There's a ring (or a setting, not sure) that you wear (or turn on) to hear other people's mics, but I imagine next to nobody uses it because I've heard nothing about experiences with it.

 

one death from falling off the bridge fighting the golem

 

Cheese, cheese, cheese!

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No idea about the cutscene thing, actually.

It happened again with another host with Seath, and a few times with the bell gargoyles. I think it is actually under the host's control as nothing I press makes any difference, so I'm wondering if the fight actually starts while the cutscene's taking place. (A quick google later: found this, which doesn't mention about when the fight starts, but it sounds like everyone on-line needs to press 'skip' to avoid the cutscene.)
Oh I wish. Running past enemies hasn't been an option in any JC sessions so far. I always very carefully took out the clams one-by-one on my own runs, now I'm having to learn how to deal with being surrounded by 4-5 of them at once. (It does make it more exciting though.)

 

Had some good sessions with my level 18 warrior helping with the bell gargoyles, although tbh the boss fight itself is fairly predictable; don't think I've lost one yet. Had one troll invasion, but my host just summoned me again two minutes later and we got the job done. There was one session where an invader was waiting for us up in the room with the Channeler and his hollows, and he was actually pretty cool - he waved before attacking, and I waved back, which he could have used as an opportunity to go for the host but didn't. We took him out fairly quickly, and it wasn't until afterwards I realised that he had held back from attacking until we had killed the channeler and all the hollows. Bless.

whenever I play I go from level 1 to 100 in one sitting

Now that's just boasting. :P

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I bet that invader wasn't too happy about being polite and then 2v1d, though =P

Yeah, I don't think my host was interested in being polite (no waving from him). The invader took me on first, then my host joined in, the invader started whacking on him, and well. You've been summoned. You got a job to do.

post-9265-0-35005700-1405973576_thumb.jpg

I know there's loads of PvP etiquette, but really, if I was invading, I'd expect the invadee to assume the worst and do whatever they needed to do to kill me. If I wanted an honourable duel, I'd get the red soapstone and get invited. :smile:

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