Yesterday, I extinguished the 3rd fire, and found the shortcut from Farron’s Keep back to Road of Sacrifices. This shortcut is the first shortcut in the game that really perplexes me. Why is it even there? Was there something in that section of Road of Sacrifices that I need to finish? I defeated that Black Knight again, and still didn’t get any equipment off of him.
Anyway, going the other way, the Abyss Watchers were kind of batshit. After unsuccessfully fighting them 3 times, I decided to munch on my first Ember, in order to see if there was any help I could summon. It tasted sweeter than i was expecting. I always thought an ember would be more bitter.
At first I didn’t see anyone to summon near the door, so I backed up a little. Further back I found Black Hand Gotthard to summon, and with his help, I beat them on the first try! Woohoo! But wait a minute. This cutscene is not going where I thought it was. This guy is coming back to life. Uh oh.
I almost beat the second iteration that first time as well, but in the end he got me. D’oh! Oh well, I got busy after that yesterday, but I’m sure I’ll be able to take him down today.
Kolbex
1742
There are actually a lot of shortcuts in this game that make no sense to me. It’s as if they included them just because “Souls has shortcuts”. Demon’s Souls needed them, Dark Souls needed them, Bloodborne needed them, DS3…so far has not needed them.
Well, all the shortcuts up to this point had helped a lot, actually. The ones on the High wall made each subsequent trip different, and cut out the necessity of going through a certain area since you could now take the shortcut instead. This door at Farron Keep is the first one that didn’t really do that. Though I suppose it makes it easier to try to farm that Black Knight, if I wanted to.
Kolbex
1744
Twelve hours and I’m back to the same point I was 20 hours in with Captain Winblades, and feeling a little fatigued, actually. Hopefully new sights from here on out will reinvigorate me some. Relight the flame, as it were.
I had four more runs at the Abyss Watchers today. On one run I got the second phase again and got just as close as I did the first time in defeating it. But sadly, no cigar.
Luckily, the lead up to the fight (the two dark knights) and the fight itself are pretty interesting, so this is a really fun place to be stuck in.
Yeah, I really enjoyed the Abyss Watchers fight, just on the right side of being possible to learn while also looking freakin’ cool. I managed it second go with Sirris helping out, and like I said I kinda wished I’d had a few more goes at it!
Are you using a lot of pyromancies still?
Scuzz
1747
Doesn’t playing so many different characters kind of age the game for you? I can’t imagine starting over and then re-starting as much as you have. I can tell you there are some twin blades from a future boss that may interest you.
Scuzz
1748
The fight is kind of tricky in that so much depends on how “easy” the first phase is. I have done the fight where the second Watcher seems to show up quickly and starts engaging the original watcher so that you basically end up watching them fight. But the key is to keep track of which watcher is the original one, because that is the one with the biggest health bar and that is the one whose death triggers phase 2.
One other thing, summoning a real player is better than summoning an NPC. If you are having lots of trouble go for one real player instead of two NPCs.
As for phase 2, the main Dark Souls mantra applies, don’t get greedy. Two hits and back off. Watch your stamina bar. More people probably die from low stamina than from low health.
Scuzz
1749
So farm the Knights while having a summons sign down. Getting summoned to help someone in a boss fight serves two real purposes, actually three. (1) You get to re-fight a cool fight, (2) If you win you get souls and an ember, and (3) you get to help someone else and in so doing learn the fight.
This applies to every boss fight in the game.
Yeah, I haven’t actually put a sign down yet. It took me a while to get the confidence up to do this with the original, I’m nearly there now - I need to do this with the Pontiff fight I think, because I know that one pretty well by now, plus it’s fun.
Scuzz
1751
Don’t worry about it. Half the time people summon you and two NPC’s for the Pontiff fight, which makes it much more difficult. Try to get summoned for the Dancer. Put down a summon sign down by Voldt’s fog door. While you wait fight the Lothric Knights for practice. But that little bit of extra time seeing how the boss moves is invaluable.
Kolbex
1752
Kind of, yes, although I didn’t invest that much time in the pyromancer. The strength guy is actually somewhat harder, moment to moment, than the twinblades guy because his attacks are so much slower. I’m definitely going to persist with him, though, as I discovered by accident that I broke a couple of quests on the twinblades save that I’d really rather see through. Now that I’m back where I was I hope the spirit of discovery will kick in again. Although I wonder how much I’m missing not having played the first game past the basin/Blighttown.
Scuzz
1753
So anyway this weekend I have taken out Yhorm and Aldritch. Then the Dancer and the boss in the consumed garden. I have also go tinto the DLC to the boss fight but I thought I would do the easier boss first, except I can’t remember how to get down to the boss. The main boss is a real doozy.
Scuzz
1754
The game makes some references to the other games but mostly it is in the items you find. You will find items that to others bring reminders of the past game but if you don’t know them it doesn’t really detract from this game. DS3 has a lot of call backs but none of them require you know the event or name, It is just for trolling the fans.
Kolbex
1755
Just items? Not, like, environments? I kept wondering if Smoldering Lake/Demon Ruins would remind me of anything if I’d played DS long enough to get to Quelaag’s Domain, given all the references there, and just today a message at the overlook just before Irithyll said something like, “looks familiar,” and I had no idea what it was taking about (if anything).
Scuzz
1756
The environments are named the same, you find objects there making it appear they are the same. but they are not environments you go thru in Ds1. Where Queelag’s Pyromancy book is found in DS3 is nothing like an area you go thru in DS1, except for maybe the fire/lava in the area. In DS1 there is no maze, no smouldering lake. Unless that lake is supposed to be the swamp from DS1.
I admit I am not heavy into the lore, but while some areas in DS3 try to remind you of areas in 2 or 3 they aren’t reproductions, not even close.
I believe DS3 is supposed to be generations in the future, where the world is starting to collapse in upon itself because the fire is fading. You see that when looking out over the landscape from High Tower or atop the building in Farron’s Keep.
Scuzz
1757
That is my message. :) At least I wrote a message like that to the left of the Pontiff boss door.
Anor Londo is perhaps the one big recognizable environment. In fact probably the most memorable fight in DS1 takes place in the same room presently inhabited by Aldritch. FROM tried to rekindle some of that old DS1 memory with the area between the Pontiff and Aldritch. An area dominated by freakin archers.
I’ve never understood why you consistently try to spoil everything in every Dark Souls thread while so many people are playing through the games right now.
Besides one big area that is an amazing reveal, most of the other callbacks are like remixes or evolutions of areas from previous games. I do think there is quite a lot you’re missing if you haven’t played DS1 (not so much with DS2), but that’s only if you care about the deeper souls lore.
For example, the swamps around Farron Keep appear to be Darkroot Garden, which in a previous incarnation was Oolacile. Knowing this, and the truth behind the legend of Artorias, makes the Abyss Watchers fight all the more poignant.
Smouldering Lake appears to be either the swamps below Blighttown, or much more interestingly, Ash Lake (one of the cooler environments in DS1).
Past a certain point, the game really comes into its own with areas unique to the world of Lothric, but the callbacks abound, and it’s a real treat for souls lore nerds.
I haven’t found anyone in the game who sells pyromancies yet. I bought some miracles off the one lady I rescued, and sorceries from the one dude who agreed to help me, but no one who sells pyromancies. So I just have my starting pyromancy spell. And it’s a pretty good one, I do still use it a lot.
There’s only one NPC available to me for this fight. Goddard. And I looked around the area, there’s never any real player summon signs, only the one for Goddard.
