You level up dex…on purpose?
I love a good Dex build. Freide’s Scythe build was my last run and it was glorious =)
One build I’ve never tried is a Faith/Dex build. I may do that strange combo this time round…
After losing power for three days (massive “downburst” which I didn’t know was a thing until it kicked my ass and did an insane amount of damage to my area) I finally got a chance to fire this up Sunday.
Made some solid progress. I’m up to what I think is the third boss Tree which I nearly took down on my first try, but that second phase really surprised the hell out of me, and threw me off my rhythm. I thought I was pretty hot shit after I took down the optional entry area big monster crystal lizard on the first go, and Iudex Gundyr on my second try.
But then I spent like an hour trying to kill this one particular blue-caped skeleton knight. I knew he was optional, but him and his red-caped counterparts seemed like early tests–not unlike the black knights in DS1, or Havel for that matter–to make sure I was understanding the combat, and using all the tools available to me effectively.
So yeah, those FP special moves are pretty solid! Not until I got to the skeleton knights did I understand how useful they are. By this time I’d picked up a broadsword for the improved strength scaling, and man, that uppercut is fantastic. Enemies with shields are much smarter in this game. The openings don’t come as often, and if you try and circle around too much they shield-smash you. Rolling through attacks still works as well as it always has, but having the option to open the exchange with an uppercut to knock away their shield is a solid addition to combat.
That method didn’t work so well with the blue-caped knight. After he blesses/charges his sword he pretty much forgets about his shield and relentlessly presses the attack. Just a scratch from that thing took ¾’s of my healthbar. I eventually got him. And it felt good. Just like it always does in these games.
Coming right after my epic battles with the Skeleton Knights, I didn’t have a lot of patience for Vordt. I’ve seen Dark Souls fights like this one a million times before. After slowly whittling away at his healthbar, and doing my best to roll through most attacks, I was eager to move on, so I summoned the Lion Knight and we made short work of him.
And then…I was in a Bloodborne level?
Very much enjoying DS3. For me, it feels a lot like DS1. There isn’t a learning curve/adjustment period like I encountered in DS2. Rolling seems to be like it was in DS1. My character does feel a little sluggish, but that’s probably because I’m playing an armored knight when I’m used to playing lightly encumbered characters. Will drop the heavy armor as soon as I find a lighter replacement. May stick with the longsword/broadsword. Did pick up a fancy straight sword, but I need to level up faith to use it. Not sure if it’s worth it. Maybe I’ll mess around with miracles this time. Never touched them before.
I have a lot more thoughts about the setting and story and how they are cleverly playing with callbacks and level design, but this post is already running way too long.
One question: is it worth it to kill the dragon in the High Wall of Lothric? I see there is some loot that the dragon is guarding….I’m guessing I have to snipe him? There were also a few locked doors I didn’t open. Should I mess around in that area more? Or are those locked doors just alternate paths. I did free the NPC locked in the cell.
That one knight is just to show you how little you know. Killing him has very little pay off. As for the other Lothric Knights in the area, they are great to farm. Not for the souls, but their sword and shields are very good. They also drop Embers and shards.
As for the dragon, he will fly off before you can kill him.
I would recommend if you do farm the knights you put down a summon sign. Do it in front of Vordt. But odds are you will get summoned for another boss and it is a good idea to get the practice in against it.
The tree fight and the Lothric stairs are great areas to get summoned for boss fights. Yesterday I was summoned 4 times between the two areas.
A surprising number of excellent weapons use dex. The greatsword you can make from killing the tree is dex based, and it works very good even late in the game. The problem with it is it requires scales which you really don’t see until later in the game.
I have to remember to do this!
The Lothric Stairs…such a cool name. Very impressed with the look of everything so far.
I forgot you mentioned some locked doors. Some require entrance from a certain direction. If you haven’t tried to run up and under the dragon give it a shot. There is also a locked door in the area that you won’t be able to open until later. Did you meet Greirat?
Yup yup. Got to him on my first pass-through.
Trying to go slow, so I don’t outdistance the other first-timers in this thread, but it’s hard because I’m enjoying it so much!
Got into a real good flow last night. Took Scuzz’s advice and dropped a summon sign on the Lothric Stairs while I honed my skills against the skeleton knights. Got an awesome shield to drop, and a spear. Still waiting on the sword. Got summoned twice to fight bigboy Vordt. It feels so good to help people out in this game.
Did some backtracking to grab all the stuff I missed in the first area. Dealt with the dragon. Opened some doors. I feel satisfied with my exploration. Safe to move on.
The second major area is a bit more confusing, with all the divergent pathways, and winding, broken terrain. I spent more than few minutes scouting the area from rooftops trying to plot my way. Got invaded and to my great surprise I fought off the invader. He invaded right by a bonfire on a narrow path, and after the initial flurry, he wound up with his back to the edge of a drop and I kicked him off.
I think that’s the first time I’ve ever successfully fought off a human invader.
Eventually took down the tree. This is one of those FromSoft joke fights, right? Pretty silly stuff. From what I could piece together, I really love the story surrounding this area. Felt very Bloodborne.
Next thing I knew I had the 20k souls needed to buy the tower key. I figured what the hell. Pretty happy with the results ; )
I think I’m in danger of totally flaking on the end of DS2 (just DLC + Castle left) if I play this much longer. I may take a break until the thread really starts to rev up.
Woo! July 9th is finally here.
Do you have a backup controller krok? Or will you have to drive two hours into town to buy one?
I guess I’ll have a choice tonight: continue my fight against the tree on Xbox, or start a new game on PC tonight. I’ve got the game installed on PC and ready to go.
Ooof, controller malfunctions could be deadly!
What’d you guys roll? Krok, you stuck with Knight? That starting shield is pretty great.
On the Xbox, I did start with a Knight. So I’m thinking of starting with something different this time. A Knight did feel easy compared to my other starts in various Souls games. Starting the game with good equipment, basically, instead of having to find it. It felt a little like cheating.
There is no cheating in Dark Souls, whatever gets you through ; )
That said, I do like the feeling of acquiring gear as I go, instead of relying on starting equipment. And there is a lot of good stuff to be found pretty early in this one! So I kinda wish I went with a different class.
Oh well. I already ditched the starting shield and longsword. Hope to swap out the armor soon.
That was an NPC invader I think based on the location. He invades there if you are embered. In fact there are several NPC invasions if you are embered in various areas of the game. I forget his full name but it is “Hodrick” I think.
Oh damn! I thought I was good. Guess not. Makes sense, as I’m pretty awful at pvp in souls games.
I got some item in my inventory for fighting off an invader, so that’s why I assumed it was another player.
The Invader NPC’s can be pretty tough fights, that guy being one of them.
He is part of a Covenant that involves the area where you fought the tree. There is a way to join it in the area but it is kind of complicated to describe. Later in the game if you follow a certain storyline you may end up returning here. Again, this involves an NPC you will meet later.
I think I might go with the Pyromancer again like I did in Dark Souls. It worked out okay for me in the end, even though I didn’t use the Pyromancer stuff too much. Plus it will be a nice early game contrast to the Knight.
Ok, I’ve been through this part on Xbox before, so I should have a leg up even though I’m creating a new character.
As promised I created an ugly fat Pyromancer with a nice fur coat and torn pants. And the ability to combust some fools. I followed the tutorial messages down to the part where they told me to turn back. I figured, hey, I’m a Dark Souls veteran, I can probably take this guy now. (I remember having too much trouble with my Knight the first time). But with the Pyromancer, I took him down on the fourth try. The starting combustion spell for the Pyro is pretty powerful you guys.
And then, Iodex Gundarm. I didn’t have much trouble with him with the Knight the first time, and this time I had about 5 or 6 deaths, so not bad. The Pyro’s starting axe is pretty short ranged compared to the knight’s sword, so I had to get too close, so I ended up relying on my fire spell again, and it worked well against both forms.
So I made it to the firelink shrine with no real trouble, and all my souls intact. Yay! Then I saw the guy off to the side. I remember having some trouble with this guy with my Knight. But surely he was no match for my fire arm right? So I gave it a couple of tries, and about 3 deaths later, I got good at dodging and backing up enough to keep getting him with the fire spell. Woohoo! All these souls from 3 major enemies let me level to about 19 I think. I was thinking the Pyro was going to be hard, but honestly, it turned out to be easier than even the Knight, so far.
That sounds like a technical error. Are the other inputs on long delay too?
Go into windows gamepad configuration and check if you have any input lag there. If not, try some other game to see if you’re having any issues. Are you playing through big picture mode btw? And is your output laptop screen or TV?
Hmmm, don’t think so. Lag shouldn’t be there, no way no how. Like Bateau said, Big Picture mode may fix it. I had to play both DS2 and now DS3 in big picture because of controller issues. I’m using a PS4 controller.
Never!
Hell yea! I think that first boss is probably one of the harder opening bosses in a souls game. Not as hard as the Cleric Beast in BB (no one seems to have much trouble with him, but he consistently owned my face), but you can’t get away with hugging and circling like you could with the Asylum Demon or even the first giant you fight in DS2.
Here we go, off to the races!
I spent most of my limited play time last night just messing around talking to various NPCs, reading item descriptions, and trying to figure out some of the new upgrade materials.
Still in my starting armor rocking a Lothric Knight Shield and Broadsword +3. Looking for a new weapon. Pretty sure I’m going strength this time, as my DS1 character was a “quality” build using a Claymore, and my DS2 was dex using Katanas.
Oh, and I’m a sunbro now, so look for my golden summon sign if you need a hand ; )