::Out-of-Character Forum::

[Yamiko Enoki]

Hnnnn... *lays back* I guess I'm open for rpin' from anyone! Ozzie's still about, he's a pretty chipper fellow, a character willing to talk with anyone.

Sooo yeah I'll just say that and yep.  

[Great Ryoman!]

Pyromancy is a backup art that you use in Dark Souls, no matter what your normal fighting style is. >.> It isn't based off your stats, you just level up the fire itself, and then buy stronger fire spells. It works on almost everything, including things covered in fire most of the time; a maxed fire can pretty much one-hit bosses. The only draw back is it's limited uses, but if you level up Attunement, you can just hold more fire spells. >_> In that regard though (using up your Attunement), I guess it doesn't mesh well with magic.

Spears are almost broken. They're the only thing you can use with a shield up, so they negate the chance of being hit if your attack fails...best. anything. ever. And the attack power of good ones (Silver Knight Spear, especially) beat almost all other weapons.

Bows are another 'you need it no matter your weapon' choice, since it gives you range. Plus, again it requires only like 1 single stat point, and then arrows. And arrows are cheap. There are some things that just die via pricking from afar, or that you're much better of poking with an arrow, causing them to run senselessly off a cliff.

Knives are fun! 8D They're exactly what they sound like; a weapon that will never, ever deal too much damage. But they're so ridiculously fast I've whittled bosses to death with them. >.> And they have a special bonus for back attacks, so if you hit an enemy from behind, it deals like, one bazillion times the damage of any other back attack.

I used katanas recently. They were fun, and fast hitting with medium damage. >_> I guess their specialty is bleeding, so if you land two or three hits, the build up does a sudden large amount of damage. Nice against fleshy things, but really since you're open like any other weapon, and it does medium not massive amounts of damage, and it's specialty doesn't affect not fleshy things...it's an okay weapon, not spectacular. v.v But again, fast attacks are nice. It as lets you sprint at an enemy and fast draw and slash, kind of Mitsunari style, so that's fun.

With Naniyori I tried the Greatsword/Broadsword weapons. Of course, I used a greatsword that didn't require all strength, but balanced stats. Artorias' Greatsword, the weapon of the holy hero, and a Demon Weapon, used to beat the Darkstalkers in the Abyss and hunt them down. v.v b Anyways, it leaves you ridiiiculously open, and not so much after your swing as before. I'd of felt the trade off was worth it, if it actually one-hitted any enemies a normal weapon didn't. The upside, I'd suppose, is that when I do hit it usually piledrives enemies into the ground...if they're small enough. Overall, they're kind of lackluster, except that for some reason they're almost the only thing people seem to use. Truly, baffling.

Magic is it's own build in Dark Souls. Other than holding up a shield, if you use magic, it's basically said that you should just put points in the magic stat. It's got limited uses per spell, but with such high magic attack power, the high number of use, low-attack spells you start with will kill anything ordinary just fine, and you shouldn't have a problem with running out. Plus, it has some long range specialties, so it covers plenty of categories. I haven't used it though, honestly, cause I like close-range weapons. Then again, I've met my fair share of problems because something resists physical.

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As for armor, once you hit a decent level, and get Havel's Ring (basically the ring you use unless you're going for some specialty build), you should be able to wear anything you like without hindering your movement. Unless of course you pile on the greatshields and greatswords.

<_< But yeah, as far as armor goes it's basically what you feel like wearing most of the time (I kind of like ninja gear), except some areas require a special something. For example, an area full of guys shooting magic arrows, with no cover, heavily implies putting on robes will help. >_> Or of course, Blighttown and it's constant poison...

Naniyori wore the Dragonslayer Armor! 8D He looked boss. And Cesc lazed around in just a pair of pants. >_> Shuddup I was suicidal.

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Ultimately though, it's as Stick said. In Dark Souls, it's not so much difficulty for difficulty's sake, as if you fail, you probably just didn't know what to do. If you walk through a door, there might be a guy who tries to jump you, so you just have to know to jump through. If you run towards a boss, and he fires a plethora of arrows of doom at you, it might be you have to shoot him with poison from afar and watch him die without putting up a fight. >.> Or sometimes, you're just suppose to get close to them, asap.

In fact, that's 90% of Dark Souls' difficulty. Scary a** monster, but if you just run right up in it's face and then circle around it you'll never be hit. >_> Enemies seem to like to swing out ahead of them, and they will try to turn to keep up with you, but eventually they'll swing and end up attacking a completely different direction...entirely.

And that, probably, is my number one hint for going through all of Dark Souls without any harm. = w= b A hint amidst all these annoying factoids. Whether it's the half-naked spider-lady breathing lava, the building-sized bone dragon, the God of Death, or just the first boss in the game which looks like it could hit anywhere with it's axe. Just circle at point blank, and enjoy the game. = w= b  

[Rednal]

...Half-naked spider lady? *Interested; likes monster girls* But she's probably not very attractive... not like cute drider girls, anyway. XD  

[Necromonium]

You read all that, and THAT catches your eye?
Jeez...  

[Great Ryoman!]

She's got the upper torso of a woman.

On top of a twenty foot tall lava-breathing, hairy spider of death. >_> I don't even...cute spider ladies...?

Anyways, anyways, moving on! 90% of that game is side stepping. There are a few bosses who are infuriating though. Bed of Chaos, for example, is this big semi-circular room with a big plant (which slowly turns into a burning phoenix) on the far side, and the idea is to run to it's left, cut the vines, then right, repeat, and as you do parts of the floor fall out (in no particular order, and some are huge holes, thus you can't time anything), and the whole time it swipes across the room left to right, right to left, or so on with it's vine arms and you can't dodge. So aside from high damage if hit, it's also hoping you fall in a hole.

And FINALLY, with both vines cut, a giant hole opens up in front of it, revealing it's roots sticking out, so you have to run and jump and stick the landing on the vine while it's doing one of it's sweeps, and then run into the plant and stab it's heart.

Aaaand what I'm trying to say is that that rare moment of suckitude exists. >_> And it sucks.


I like to pretend it's counter-balanced with Priscella though, the Nicest Boss in the world.

<_< She's just a nice half dragon lady who was rejected from the world, so someone created a world inside a Painting for her to live in peace, and then you come tramping in like a jerkass. And even when you enter her boss room, she's like "Please leave now. The door's right over here, I won't even fight you. There's a suit of armor next to it, you can even take that as a prize of victory if you want.". And she doesn't fight you, if you just leave. =D

v.v And there's no reason to kill her, so if you do attack her and fight her to the death, it's just because you're a jerk. v.v Nicest. Boss Lady. Ever.  

[Rednal]

What? gonk Have you not seen how cute monster girls can be? Though like I said, I'm not expecting moe-moe stuff out of Dark Souls...  

[Great Ryoman!]

v_v; Goooddd, goood, because Quelaag trying to kill you is most definitely not moe.

Ironically, her twin sister is a very nice lady. She's using all her power to hold the spider demon part of her in check, even though it causes her constant inconceivable pain, and she teaches you the strongest Pyromancy's in the game. She can't even speak from the pain, but if you get the Old Witch's Ring during character creation (you're allowed to pick ONE item from a few), you can speak to her telepathically, though she still sounds horribly pained. She's also the only way in the game to save Sun Bro (Solaire), who is just a bro if ever there was a bro. v.v b

'Course their third sister, who didn't get turned into a spider lady, asks you to kill them both since they're horrible abominations...>_> But that's neither here nor there.  

[Rednal]

I don't believe in killing monsters just because they're monsters. XD *Would totally spare her* Dragon girls can be cute, too. ^^  

[Great Ryoman!]

Yeah...of course, she'll settle for their mom.

Basically they were all powerful witches who protected people, but when the fire of creation started to die out, they tried to create an artificial one. It failed though and they all got turned into horrible monsters, with only one sister escaping without becoming a demon, and then only Quelaag's sister keeping her evilness in check. They're mom's the source of Demons, being the one who cast the spell though, so she's gotta die. v.v And Quelaag's in your path, so that's just a necessary pwning. >_>

Not that I wouldn't pwn that ugly spider face anyway! D< Rawgh!  

[Rednal]

Yeah, but you're a bloodthirsty battle maniac. XD  

[Great Ryoman!]

One who doesn't like lava vomit or flaming demon swords thrown at my face. You know, she'll literally cover the battlefield in lava if you let her. v_v' It's why they suggest to just move away from her from time to time, and go to another side of the area to avoid the trap.

Though, I like her soul though! 8D *Quelaag's soul makes a wicked flaming curved sword that powers up with how much humanity you have, OR a cursed katana with especially high damage but hurts you back*

Any weapon with Chaos Flames is fun. >.> Which basically...is any weapon made from her soul.  

[Rednal]

Yay, chaos! =D  

[Yamiko Enoki]

A wild Mei has appeared! Time to respond!  

[Rednal]

*Nomnomnom* o wo  

[Shadowkeykeeper]

Hey you guys. I'm sorry for not posting in a while. I haven't been feeling well this week and it's still affecting me (like I can't really talk well and my throat is not even sore). But I will try my best to post inbetween my homework. :3

How is everyone though?