Dark Souls 3 {Dark souls 2 successor [Dark Souls successor (Demon's Souls successor)]} (Bloodborne's something)

[Mawd]

I've been watching a mid game pvper and it seems like a good range for pvp is 65 with a +6 weapon if you like fighting in the Aldrich Faithful area. 

Also lately I've been hearing people saying that SL120 is the end game pvp range. Is there anything to the contrary to that? I'm pretty sure 150 won't be because unlike DS2 you can pretty much have everything by then.

[Bjorn]

  On 4/19/2016 at 5:09 AM, Gormongous said:

NB: If you're planning to join the Watchdogs of Farron, keep in mind that the range for PvP matchmaking is (roughly) +/-10 SL and +/-2 weapon & shield level, making the sweet spot for that covenant SL 35 to 40 and +3 weapon/shield. I'm feeling this hard right now, as someone who is SL 55 with a +5 claymore and was looking forward to the Wolf Knight's Greatshield that's the final reward of that covenant...

 

I'm going to try again, at peak hours with my +3 zweihander, and if that doesn't work I'll just be sad.

 

When I first looked up things about PvP, it wasn't clear how matchmaking figured in the weapon upgrade, if it was your highest on you, or just the highest you had ever made.  I would assume over time multiple levels of Farron PvP will exist, much like the forest in DS1 and Towers in DS2, where high levels would still troll around in there on a regular basis waiting to be invaded.

 

Edit: Oh, the wiki shows that the range is Host -10/+40 for the Watchdogs, so you should still be in good range.   Assuming that's accurate.

 

I do like that they have the weapon level matching now though, that's a much better solution to keeping the low level gankers in line than Soul Memory ever was.  At least they won't be able to prowl the starting area with a +10 weapon.

 

 

I beat the first lord tonight (Abyss Watcher).  I am a lord slayer.  Yah!  Probably the most interesting of the boss fights so far, but only solo.  It felt completely trivial when I turned around and co-oped it after I beat it myself (which is true of a lot of bosses, but particularly this design exacerbates that).

[melmer]

Daft souls dark souls special podcast

https://m.soundcloud.com/matt-lees-games/76-the-dark-souls-special

Those people talking about which game they should play, for me it has to be DS3 as co-op is such a massive part of the game for me. I spend well over 50% of my time helping other people, and when it's my time to take on a boss I always enlist help.

I never completed DS1 (I managed to finsh demons souls by getting some co-op buddies) but dark souls 1 is just brutal. I think it is the best game, but honestly I think you've missed the boat. I say this as you've said you've never managed to play more than one hour in the past... That doesn't speak to me as someone who will go on the solo compete dark souls 1. Soz. You'll have a much more enjoyable time if you just jump in DS3 now

[melmer]

[Bjorn]

hahaha, awesome

[prettyunsmart]

I'm in one of those loops where I keep fighting a boss and the boss keeps killing me even though I know exactly what I need to do to beat it. 

 

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The Abyss Watchers destroyed me the first time out but I figured it out the second time through. Once the second phase started, I had a few flasks left and was using a shield with good fire resistance, so it was alright. But I got him down to maybe one stab worth of health, went in for the kill and died. Next time, same thing. Next time, same thing.

 

Probably time for a break.

[Gormongous]

After six hours of a flashing covenant icon and not a single summon, I gave up and farmed enough Wolf's Blood Swordgrass from the Ruined Keep bonfire in the swamp. Not as fun as PvP, but it gave me the items I wanted for my build. I'll come around again on NG+ if I get that far.

[N1njaSquirrel]

I feel like I'm pretty close to finishing the game. I've got 3 out of the 4 souls needed, and i'm on the final stretch, as it were. Unless now is the time for shit to get real.

 

One quick question about the firelake:

 

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is there a way to get rid of that huge bow that's firing at me?

 

I also fanboy'd hard when i saw

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anor londo

 

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Does that mean that the supposed geography of the world, most of the area you're exploring is beyond what used to be the duke's archives? Does that also mean that the huge mansion where you fight that mob boss is where duke's archives was? I guess that explains all the crystal lizards and stuff

[eot]

Dark Souls PC supposedly works online again, for those of you who were thinking about playing it.

[Mawd]

  On 4/20/2016 at 9:09 AM, N1njaSquirrel said:

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is there a way to get rid of that huge bow that's firing at me?

Yeah there is. Some tough peeps along the way though.

[N1njaSquirrel]

  On 4/20/2016 at 11:33 AM, Mawd said:

Yeah there is. Some tough peeps along the way though.

 

Where do you go/What do you do? I've defeated the boss, I guess I must have just missed this :/

[Mawd]

  On 4/20/2016 at 11:46 AM, N1njaSquirrel said:

Where do you go/What do you do? I've defeated the boss, I guess I must have just missed this :/

 

I wasn't sure how spoilery you wanted but ok here's the full dish.

 

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Past the room with the three fire birds there's a corridor with a rat in it. Go down there, past some other trivial enemies until you get to a large set of stairs and a bridge with a black knight. Defeat the knight and go up the ladder. Useful drop near the ladder too.

Up the ladder is a path that is in range of the bolt thrower, go up the path careful of the guardians and deactivate the bolt thrower.

[prettyunsmart]

Wow. So I feel like I hit a wall difficulty-wise. I've fought the Abyss Watchers more times than I can count and all I can really think to do differently is to "stop getting hit." I don't want to summon a Sun bro and just take the easy way out, but right now I don't see myself getting past it just by grinding a bit.

 

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It's just impossible to get out of a combo once they start hitting you, especially in the second stage. I can make it through the first part pretty frequently, but even when I feel like I have a handle on when to dodge, if the timing is off a bit, I get caught and half my health bar goes away.

 

Logically, I know that this is one of those "walk away from it for a while and it will be better when you come back" kind of things, but for now, each time I try I just get and more discouraged.

[N1njaSquirrel]

I didn't have much difficulty with the abyss watchers. Maybe because I did a different area first, after the boss in Farron Keep. I'd suggest to do that route and then come back maybe? Also if you haven't found the firecrest ring, that helps the ol' fire attacks.

 

 

  On 4/20/2016 at 11:52 AM, Mawd said:

I wasn't sure how spoilery you wanted but ok here's the full dish.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Past the room with the three fire birds there's a corridor with a rat in it. Go down there, past some other trivial enemies until you get to a large set of stairs and a bridge with a black knight. Defeat the knight and go up the ladder. Useful drop near the ladder too.
Up the ladder is a path that is in range of the bolt thrower, go up the path careful of the guardians and deactivate the bolt thrower.

 

Ahh right, I must have completely missed that area! Ugh I hate that place ;

[dium]

  On 4/19/2016 at 7:55 AM, Mington said:

...dark souls 1 is just brutal. I think it is the best game, but honestly I think you've missed the boat.

 

Almost certainly not your intent, but this comment was what got me to put my foot down and buy DS1. ;p

 

It's a good time so far!

[melmer]

prepare to die

[dium]

Oh, I'm prepared.

 

I've been prepared to die by all the dying I've been doing.

[Dewar]

Personally, I find Dark Souls 3 to be the hardest of them all. I'm not sure I would advocate starting out with 3 if for no other reason than I can't imagine coping with the difficulty as well as trying to learn all the crazy systems that I've already picked up from past games.

[eot]

I would say that Dark Souls III seems to have more enemies with crazy damage potential, and long combos. At the same time the 'easy' build of going heavy armor, big shield and strength weapon is much less powerful because poise basically does nothing and blocking everything is less viable. Not sure it's harder than Dark Souls II, but that game slipped into unfair territory quite often. So far this game hasn't for me.

[Dewar]

Hmm, I didn't find DS2 to be that hard, I guess it's just the build I've selected in each one.

[Gormongous]

  On 4/20/2016 at 9:29 PM, Dewar said:

Hmm, I didn't find DS2 to be that hard, I guess it's just the build I've selected in each one.

 

If I remember, Dark Souls II was the first Souls game where I made a hybrid melee/caster, because most enemies had non-insignificant physical resistances and spellcasting enchantments to weapons were a must. It definitely felt like a game that was designed by someone who knew the optimal paths that most people took through previous games and set roadblocks across them.

[Reyturner]

Striking damage was extremely strong as a lot of enemies were heavily armored, I found. Once I got a mace early on in DS2 the difficulty plummeted. 

[Bjorn]

Yeah, the fact that you could speedrun the game with a mace, and still crush a lot of late game enemies, was pretty telling to just how vicious striking damage was. 

[Dewar]

My original time through DS2, I played as a dexterity/caster with occasional experimentation with dual wielding dex weapons. I was proud at the time since I didn't use a shield, after relying on it a lot in DS1. My second time through DS2 (still ongoing) I started as a heavy weapons dude, then moved to pole-arm and shield since I never really used spears before.

 

In DS3, I'm going with dex and sorceries again, but this time I'm finding it a lot harder to make the time to safely cast spells, and feeling a lot more fragile than I ever have in the past. On the plus side, I'm finding the actual levels a lot easier than my friends, but the boss fights have been mostly destroying me.

[prettyunsmart]

  On 4/20/2016 at 3:52 PM, N1njaSquirrel said:

I didn't have much difficulty with the abyss watchers. Maybe because I did a different area first, after the boss in Farron Keep. I'd suggest to do that route and then come back maybe? Also if you haven't found the firecrest ring, that helps the ol' fire attacks.

 

So I just finished it up ("I did it!"). It turns out, I was making a few key mistakes. I wasn't wearing gear with fire resistance. I was refusing to switch from my giant mega mace which was too slow to sneak in hits during openings in their combos. Also, I had misunderstood what the bone shards were for, so I was still working with a base level flask in spite of having found three upgrades for it. Whoops. In any case, I made it through. I'm sure it all gets easier from here. Right?