Demon Souls / Dark Souls

[Chindie]

Gael is one of the best fights in the series. 

DS3 is my favourite in the series because it feels long the point at which they really cracked the gameplay mechanics. And it's the first one that really clicked with me. But it is flawed, it does feel a bit like they wanted to make a tribute to the first game with the benefit of the power and years of feedback they had gotten, so it feels less 'special' in many ways.

[Delphouneso]

7 hours ago, Chindie said:

But it is flawed, it does feel a bit like they wanted to make a tribute to the first game with the benefit of the power and years of feedback they had gotten, so it feels less 'special' in many ways.

Yeah that kinda sums it up, it made the devs input feel more present in my playthrough.

 

10 hours ago, Delphouneso said:

Might have a go at ranking some of my favourite bosses of the series later now I've finished all three.

Found a tiermaker to do the job for me (link for anyone who wants a go) :

 

I'd be intrigued to hear how and why other peoples' lists would differ from mine, I know these games and their bosses can be polarising. I got a bit bored by the time I got to 'Average' and below (man did DS2 have a whole load of forgettable bosses), they're all a much of a muchness from there down so some of them could probably shuffle around a bit but I couldn't be bothered to consider the difference in quality between the likes of Demon Firesage and Demon of Song. 

I also didn't intentionally skip Lud and Zallen, didn't realise they existed and once I'd looked them up I decided there was no way I was going back into DS2 just for that.

[Delphouneso]

Aaaand that's all of them. That wasn't too bad. I feared the worst with the covenant farming but I don't think it's much worse than DS2, there's more of it but it's also more streamlined and the DS3 community still seems pretty active too so I got summoned/invaded a fair bit which sped things up.

Planned on playing Sekiro next but I don't fancy paying full price for a four year old game so I might wait a while for a sale.

 

[dubbs]

@Designer1 is it worth doing the world and character tendency events before doing the final boss if I'm not likely to play through a NG+?  If I do pay it again I'm going for a completely different build.

[Designer1]

44 minutes ago, dubbs said:

@Designer1 is it worth doing the world and character tendency events before doing the final boss if I'm not likely to play through a NG+?  If I do pay it again I'm going for a completely different build.

If you are going for the Platinum then yes. Otherwise probably not.

[dubbs]

2 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

If you are going for the Platinum then yes. Otherwise probably not.

Not bothered about the platinum tbh so thanks

[dubbs]

Well there we go. Finally completed a full run through.  If I'm completely honest I'm at little disappointed in the last couple of boss fights.  

2nd run through all be a brand new character rather than a NG+ run.  There are also the DS games to tackle.  So much choice, and that's not even taking Diablo 4 into consideration.

[JoshVilla]

Currently playing DS3. As mentioned in one of the other threads, I've done Demon's Souls, DS1, Bloodborne, Sekiro & Elden Ring but I never got round to doing DS2 or 3 for some reason.

So far, I think it's great. I like how you can obviously see what they've carried over from Bloodborne with the faster combat and the tendency to encourage you to be a bit more aggressive. I always go for a melee build so it suits me down to the ground.

However, for those on here that have finished them all, is DS3 by far the easiest one in the series? I'm currently at Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, and while there have been a couple of areas that have been a pain in the arse (Farron Keep, Catacombs of Carthus, Smouldering Lake), there's not been anything thus far that has smacked me in the face with its difficulty like the other games in the series. I don't think I've died more than 2 or 3 times with any of the bosses so far (currently level 55). 

All that said, I could be about to get my arse royally kicked in this area, but I definitely had a much harder time with the other games.

[Powehi]

Difficulty ramps up a fair bit from the boss of Irithyll onwards - how you finding it now? 

[Stevo985]

Having finished GOW I’m really trying to get back into DS remastered. Started a new save but **** me this game is so inaccessible. 
 

I have no idea where I’m meant to be going, what I’m meant to be doing. Every direction I go I seem to be able to go so far before I reach something insanely difficult. 
 

What am I meant to be doing? Where am I going?

[Designer1]

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Having finished GOW I’m really trying to get back into DS remastered. Started a new save but **** me this game is so inaccessible. 
 

I have no idea where I’m meant to be going, what I’m meant to be doing. Every direction I go I seem to be able to go so far before I reach something insanely difficult. 
 

What am I meant to be doing? Where am I going?

As someone who has finished DS1 over 100 times, I believe a first run of the game should be blind. I'm so glad I didn't use a guide and I'm always jealous when people are on their first playthrough.

Having said that I'll give you a little bit of advice just to get you in the right direction.

Assuming you're out of the Undead Asylum and have landed in Firelink Shrine, take the hill upwards towards the tunnel. Once you see a massive bastard red dragon fly over you, you know you're on the optimal route. Do not go down the hill towards the regenerating skeletons. That's for later. The game does a good job of telling you which direction by how difficult the areas you come across are. If you are getting one shotted, you need to find another route.

Also, taking the Master Key as your starting gift can make things much easier.

Oh, and keep an eye on your equipment weight. If it's too high, you will be 'Fat Rolling' and that's no good for evading enemies.

Edited December 17, 2023 by Designer1

[Chindie]

Ah Dark Souls.

Its a toxic relationship. But eventually you'll get it. And when you do, nothing else will touch that feeling.

[Stevo985]

5 hours ago, Designer1 said:

As someone who has finished DS1 over 100 times, I believe a first run of the game should be blind. I'm so glad I didn't use a guide and I'm always jealous when people are on their first playthrough.

Having said that I'll give you a little bit of advice just to get you in the right direction.

Assuming you're out of the Undead Asylum and have landed in Firelink Shrine, take the hill upwards towards the tunnel. Once you see a massive bastard red dragon fly over you, you know you're on the optimal route. Do not go down the hill towards the regenerating skeletons. That's for later. The game does a good job of telling you which direction by how difficult the areas you come across are. If you are getting one shotted, you need to find another route.

Also, taking the Master Key as your starting gift can make things much easier.

Oh, and keep an eye on your equipment weight. If it's too high, you will be 'Fat Rolling' and that's no good for evading enemies.

I got to that bit. The dragon scared the shit out of me. I went down as well to some dark horrible place where I eventually met ghosts that I had no idea how to kill so went up instead. 
 

ok I’ll keep heading in the dragon direction. I did make good progress that way but then met some big **** scared me so I turned around 

[Stevo985]

The not being able to save (or even pause, wtf is up with that) makes it much harder to just go in a direction and see what's there. As does all the enemies regenerating when you use a bonfire.

I guess that's the point. 

Also I have no idea what being hollow and unhollow means. And whether I should be trying to be unhollow or not. 

[Designer1]

You need Humanity to become unhollow and can only summon help from NPCs or other players when in that state.

[Designer1]

It also let's you permanently boost the Estus status of Bonfires which means more healing.

[Stevo985]

So should I always be “reverse hollowing” or should I save it for when I need it?

[Designer1]

11 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

So should I always be “reverse hollowing” or should I save it for when I need it?

You're going to be dying...a lot on your first playthrough. I advise only reversing hollowing to boost bonfires and when you know there's an NPC that you can summon for a boss battle.

[Designer1]

Oh and make sure you talk to EVERY npc and exhaust their dialogue. Also, read item descriptions.

Both those things give clues to where you need to go and what exactly is going on.

The game gives info, but never holds your hand.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Designer1

[Stevo985]

It’s **** impossible to be honest. How is this fun?