I was yesterday in a concert of Carmina Burana and at the end there was a song about Blanziflor and Helena. Yeah, this name is not gonna fly anymore. But I wondered who Blanziflor was, probably a knight. So I started a new DS3 character Blanziflor and I am going to explore his backstory. I tried to made him as fat as the editor allowed, because Blanziflor the Bumbleknight had his days long passed.
At least Iudex Gundyr was no problem for old Blanzi, killed him on first try. He remembered the old but trusty pattern.
The little known subtitle for DS3 is, Dark Souls 3: The Search for Aldrich.
Slippery mofo. But the lore he’s left in his wake is pretty great.
Hit a bit of a wall for the first time. There is an illusory wall between the Pontiff’s cathedral and the approach to another area I won’t name cuz spoilers. It has a ladder that goes way down. At the bottom of the ladder is a room with a bit of water and two really tough monsters (Sulyvahn Beasts), one of which you encounter on your way to Irythill.
I had no trouble the first time I encountered the beast, but now, down here in this lair (for the lack of a better word) I’m having a real tough time. I came close to killing one of the two, but couldn’t quite finish it off.
I trust there is something in this room worth fighting these things for.
The Giants do go down fairly easy and while the pay off doesn’t seem great they do give something you could use.
If you are up for some jolly cooperation the boss fight at the Cathedral is a great place for it. Good way to learn the fight and a good way to make some souls (and an ember) helping someone else.
Speaking of jewelry, I can’t believe my reward for going back and beating those twin fat dark witches was just to get Flynn’s ring. That was the reward for doing that whole area. It seems… underwhelming from the description.
You didn’t go far enough. After beating those two you need to go outside, climb some roofs and then drop down into an area. There is some jewelry there well worth the trouble. Heal before doing the final dropping though. Don’t want to die from the fall.
So just…nobody’s gonna acknowledge that I brought back the cinders of a lord, huh? No, “wow, nice one,” or, “jeez, I didn’t think you had it in you”. Just nothing. Typical.
So I have been slowly working my way thru the first DLC, and those damn crow knights or whatever they are kicking my ass. Immense stamina with range weapons, jumping and bleed. Plus, they parry like you wouldn’t believe. I am probably underleveled for the area, well the main boss anyway, but I think I can get at least that far without leaving here for now.
Since I made it to the prior bonfire embered, I decided to summon a helper. It went ok at first, but man those guys were aggressive, and I got stabbed trying to drink. Second time there were no summon signs nearby (oh wait, I wasn’t embered anymore, so that explains that), so I armored up (first time I went in naked) and went back in. It was fast and tense, like some of the hunter fights in BB, but this time I made it, getting juuuuust outside of the range of some of the second phase’s attacks to heal.
Overall I did not care too much for Farron Keep, which is very unsurprising considering my well-established hatred for From’s poison levels. I didn’t have too much trouble with the face, uh, loving goats, after getting grabbed by the first one, although they definitely did keep me on my toes. I spent a lot of this level shooting things in the face from afar with my bow.
I didn’t much care for the swamp preceding it, either. Overall I just don’t like From’s open levels. They are great when making interior spaces, but the exterior ones tend to be very blah, at least for me (although the exterior graveyard path in Cathedral sure was hair-raising the first time through). Looking forward to the Catacombs.
Well, I am playing sellsword twinblades with no shield, so if anybody even looks like they are making a move toward me I roll behind them (or try to). With these guys, it was roll forward right as they went for the initial grab, then under them as they did the jump grab, then hit a couple times and repeat, more or less. With sharp twinblades +4 at my dex they go down after three or four L1s.
Have any of you made your way to Archdragon peak yet? Iirc you need to do some optional content to access it, but it’s one of those areas that are a must see for Souls players. If nothing else then to test your nerves and tolerance for bullshit.
The intended path through the cathedral of the deep sort of through me off when I first played through it. I think it is sort of a confusing area to progress through because the path of least resistance naturally loops.
