A Dark Souls Diary - Day Three

[BloatedGuppy]

Before I go I wanted to say this. Since you seemed to have a tough time with the Bell Gargoyles, were you getting hit by that sort of overhead swing they do with their halberds? This is something that players learn the hard way. If you dodge forward to avoid it you still might get hit from behind since it does area damage. I won't spoil anything, but just be wary of enemies using those types of weapons. Any of the ranged pole weapons (halberds,spears,battleaxes,lances) can be very tricky to dodge and they are telegraphed really well, and they hit in areas you won't expect.

It was more that they'd box me in...they seemed to move in unison. The stupid tip was "divide and conquer", which generally works alright on trash, but these guys stuck together like glue. Eventually I'd run out of roof, and they'd be right on top of me. If I blocked a swing, I'd get doused in fire. If I rolled to avoid fire, I'd eat a swing.

Ah well, c'est la vie. They're dead now, thanks to Whatsit. Mr. Mumbles.

 

[Aeonknight]

Before I go I wanted to say this. Since you seemed to have a tough time with the Bell Gargoyles, were you getting hit by that sort of overhead swing they do with their halberds? This is something that players learn the hard way. If you dodge forward to avoid it you still might get hit from behind since it does area damage. I won't spoil anything, but just be wary of enemies using those types of weapons. Any of the ranged pole weapons (halberds,spears,battleaxes,lances) can be very tricky to dodge and they are telegraphed really well, and they hit in areas you won't expect.

It was more that they'd box me in...they seemed to move in unison. The stupid tip was "divide and conquer", which generally works alright on trash, but these guys stuck together like glue. Eventually I'd run out of roof, and they'd be right on top of me. If I blocked a swing, I'd get doused in fire. If I rolled to avoid fire, I'd eat a swing.

Ah well, c'est la vie. They're dead now, thanks to Whatsit. Mr. Mumbles.

I'm going to go ahead and hazard a guess that you don't have the Drake Sword. It makes mincemeat out of generally everything up until Sen's Fortress, and is entirely obtainable right after the Taurus Demon. Just need a bow and about 30ish arrows. Won't go into details if you don't want me to though.

Also, if you like the game's atmosphere now, just wait until Anor Londo, or Painted World of Aramais. Love those places.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm going to go ahead and hazard a guess that you don't have the Drake Sword. It makes mincemeat out of generally everything up until Sen's Fortress, and is entirely obtainable right after the Taurus Demon. Just need a bow and about 30ish arrows. Won't go into details if you don't want me to though.

I do not. I have a Black Knight Sword, but my arms are too skinny to lift it. I need to level up some more. In the mean time, I'm carrying it around in my magic box.

 

[Souplex]

The ring increases your equip burden by 40.
Your equip burden determines how nimble you are.
25-0% of your equip burden allows you to move quickly at minimal stamina cost, and do crazy ninja flips. (There's a ring you can get that enables you to do kung-fu movie flips at 25%>)
50-26% of your equip burden leaves you with average mobility.
51-99% leaves you at the mobility you started out with as the knight.
100% and up makes you nearly immobile.

 

[Aeonknight]

I'm going to go ahead and hazard a guess that you don't have the Drake Sword. It makes mincemeat out of generally everything up until Sen's Fortress, and is entirely obtainable right after the Taurus Demon. Just need a bow and about 30ish arrows. Won't go into details if you don't want me to though.

I do not. I have a Black Knight Sword, but my arms are too skinny to lift it. I need to level up some more. In the mean time, I'm carrying it around in my magic box.

The Drake sword has pretty low stat requirements to wield, and is easily the best weapon at low levels. that ends pretty quickly though since it has 0 stat scaling, whereas your Black Knight sword will replace it. But if you're interested in obtaining it, here's how:

Spoiler

Remember that Red Fire Drake you encountered after the Taurus Demon? The one that torches the bridge? Go back there.

Now... remember the walkway under the bridge? With the 2 skeletons and the rats? Go back there. Specifically to the right side of the walkway.

Look towards the end of the bridge, and you should see the Drake's tail wavering back and forth. Put an arrow into it.
Rinse/Repeat about 30 times to claim your reward.

Also, this is kind of a future spoiler, but

Spoiler

this is going to be a common theme. If it has a tail, chances are cutting it off yields a special weapon of some variety. Only exception I've seen is Manus.

 

[Cezar Virtosu]

I had -so- much fun reading your Dark Soul dairy. Hilarious and very creative.
Now, as a fellow cleric, I would advise you in trying your hand at co-op games. Leave your sign (with the white soap) in front of the boss chambers (even those you cleared out) so that people will summon you to help them, like Ser Mumbles helped you. It is a very rewarding experience, plus you gain a heckload of souls and humanity to boot!
ALSO if you help 10 people by aiding them in slaying the boss, you could kneel before the sun-lit altar (not going to tell you where it is) and become a warrior of the light. And throw lightning spears like Ser Mumbles does. It is the epitome clerical badassery, and from there, the sky is the limit.

 

[Aeonknight]

One more bit of advice before work.

You mentioned on day 3 you hit that skeleton lady who was at the end of the sewer tunnel?

Bad, bad idea.

She sells a consumable that is damn near vital to getting through Blighttown, I recommend you go pay a visit to Velka at the top of the gargoyle tower and have him erase your sins. It's going to cost you a lot of souls, but this is the only way to remove the enmity between that NPC and you. And you're not progressing further without it...

 

[Fat Hippo]

Also, use Fire Keeper souls to increase you flask's potency. Talk to certain characters near bonfires and trade in the soul when asked. They are rare though, you can even kill certain NPC's to get them.

I just...I just clicked on my soul. And it said do you want to use it, and I said "yes".

Did I waste it?

I'm sorry to say you did. Happened to me my first time too. You'll find more later on. To upgrade them, you need to bring them to firekeepers, like that mute woman behind the bars in the firelink shrine. You definitely wan't to upgrade your flasks with any firekeeper souls you find in the future.

 

[DementedSheep]

Ha thanks for posting this. It?s fun to read especially since I?m playing it right now.
The problem with me playing dark souls is while I am enjoying it I?m a wee a bit of a perfectionist and I?m having to fight the urge to start again because I've died too many times or lost a bunch of souls. I?m up the gargoyles and considering summoning help to take them on because both of them at once is kicking my ass.

I also keep forgetting to close the menu after I use it and the being all "AHHH WHY CAN'T I BLOCK?!....oh". Yes I'm an idiot.

For those who have played the game should i join that fat blond guys covenant to get access to his miracles or not? does this have an effect later? I'm playing a Wanderer so didn't start with a heal though so far I'm doing fine with the just the flasks. When I die its not due to running out of heals.

 

[JagermanXcell]

GFWL/PC port...

As much as I don't want to jump on the "get the superior console version it was made for" I unfortunately must go hollow and tell you to get the console version for a less buggy experience.

Otherwise have fun, take your time, put points into Vit and End, and learn to die A LOT.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I also keep forgetting to close the menu after I use it and the being all "AHHH WHY CAN'T I BLOCK?!....oh". Yes I'm an idiot.

Failure to Close Menu is one of the most deadly bosses in the game. It has done for me many a time.

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm going to go ahead and hazard a guess that you don't have the Drake Sword. It makes mincemeat out of generally everything up until Sen's Fortress, and is entirely obtainable right after the Taurus Demon. Just need a bow and about 30ish arrows. Won't go into details if you don't want me to though.

I do not. I have a Black Knight Sword, but my arms are too skinny to lift it. I need to level up some more. In the mean time, I'm carrying it around in my magic box.

The Black Knight Sword swings slowly, even after you've got the stats to use it, but it is an excellent early-game sword and scales extremely well when upgraded. My level 72 knight is still using it, for example.

Also, you'll eventually need to go to Blighttown to continue the story, and I would recommend you find your way through the Valley of the Drakes into the back entrance instead of trying to charge on in through the Depths. It's confusing to get to the Blighttown Swamp from the back entrance (and you might die trying to get onto the elevator that leads you down), but it saves you a lot of time.

You can continue to hang around Darkroot Forest for a while though, kill the Moonlight Butterfly if you haven't and possibly check out Darkroot Basin and the Hydra (the path leading to the basin is really perilous and has a Black Knight at one bottom point, though). The entrance to the Basin is on the right pretty shortly after you've entered the Forest from the Blacksmith's tower, around when the first Ent comes crashing out to attack you.

[sub]If you don't have the ring that lets you run in water, from revisiting the tutorial Asylum, you might want to avoid trying to kill the Hydra though.[/sub]

 

[IronMit]

SNIP

That was fun to read.

I saw the tips people sent you..i'll try to add a few other bits of info you might find useful.

I guess you figured out that 'need humanity' means 'this is a good place to turn human, because you can summon people here'.
One guy that you probably summoned is the sun guy that was chilling on the other side of the dragon bridge looking at the view. His a NPC (obviously). Most other summon's will be human players. He is also part of the sun covenant...you can join it by leveling faith a bit and being summoned and helping other people fight bosses. It's a good covenant because you see more summon signs when human

You will have a white soap stone...you can put that near a fog gate or fire near a boss once you have beaten the boss. You can then get summoned and help players. Maybe if they get invaded you can practice lol

You can only get invaded if your area boss is still alive btw. so no risk is involved at your end

People that are summoned cannot heal themselves. But they heal when you drink your flask..So make sure you heal them when they are tanking the boss

It's likely you were not invaded because you were part of the white cleric covenant. (That fat guy next to fire link shrine at the start of the game). It greatly reduces invasions.

PS. the havel ring is probably the best ring in the game. Try to wear the strongest armour that is either under 25% or 50% of your max weight to maximise defence to movement ratio.

There are a few goodies in that forest if you explore enough. Hint..there's one or 2 trees that you can hack down...
Don't bother farming souls to open the big door yet...it's extra difficult there.

The balder side sword is one of the best swords in the game you could have now. Those stronger knights in the church have them. Not the rapier small shield ones but the big shield guys. Rare drop though. (Adding humanity increases drop rate but with diminishing returns so have 1 or 2 humanity on the top left counter)