2 Handed heavy, seems to block? Wait, let me to try it again, maybe I’m doing it wrong.
I went down there twice, both times Kalameet is flying and basically toasts the crap out of you each time as he flies by. I decided to leave it, and do the Oolacile Township… and then the Chasm of the Abyss, and finally got to Manus himself. I didn’t have any estus left when I went through the fog door, but I thought what the hell. Got killed obviously, but after Artorius I feel that anything is possible.
I went back to see the big guy in the tower after unlocking the door, couldn’t help noticing the large bow, and sure enough he put one into the dragon for me. Nice! So I tried him again. Toast! (me, not him) Well, at least I stand a chance now.
So two bosses to do, decisions, decisions.
By the way, the Oolacile Township was a lot of fun, especially taking on those sorcerer things. A couple of them were quite a challenge, but fortunately I’m good at hiding behind scenery.
Yeah, I wanted to say this earlier, but I wanted you get to the Oalacile Township first to illustrate. It’s not that the ‘later’ levels weren’t a challenge in the main game, they were just designed with the open world in mind, where the player can tackle the stuff pretty early on. It’s only later in the game that you’re getting better because of your equipment, and more importantly you’re getting better at playing the game, your player skill has leveled up significantly too, which is why the later areas seem easier. But yeah, it is possible to do New Londo Ruins and Demon Ruins and all that pretty early in the game compared to when we did them. In fact, I did do New Londo right after the Depths, while I was cursed, and it was damn hard!
The only strange thing, I thought, was putting Ceaseless Discharge as a gatekeeper to the rest of Demon Ruins. I think that area would have been extremely challenging and satisfying when I first got down there after Blighttown, way back in late March/early April. But Ceaseless Discharge was too tough for me to beat. It’s only when I went back and beat him that everything else felt so easy.
But the Oolacile Township is a good example of an area that’s part of the expansion, so they already know you’re not here early in the game, you’re not underleveled (else you wouldn’t have gotten past Sanctuary Guardian and Knight Artorias), and they provide some new variety very effectively. Overall the expansion is really well done, isn’t it? The boss fights, the new variety of enemies. Did anyone else freak the hell out when you get to this cliff in Chasm of the Abyss and you see all those things staring back at you? I think I actually exclaimed something out loud. Very cool moment.
I think it’s because the later levels, in the base game, don’t quite feel part of the same world. You can’t see how they’re connected, and there are fewer or no short-cuts. I’m thinking specifically of Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith, which feel like they could be from completely different games. I mean, I enjoyed them, but didn’t feel like they had that amazing sense of place as part of a grand design that the earlier levels had. The DLC content is definitely more like the earlier levels, there’s that sense of place there, which I really love. And yes, hard bosses!
I must have lucked out with the Ceaseless Discharge. It slammed down its giant tentacle repeatedly in the exact same spot just to my right, so I just kept hitting it. Took me about 30 seconds and I took no damage.
Those ghosts in the Chasm were a pretty epic moment, yes. A real “What the effing eff are those?! RUN AWAY!” moment.
I’m having a really hard time coming back to this after putting 70 hours into Dark Souls 3. Part of it, admittedly, is the graphics, but I also feel much more sluggish and clumsy, despite having a similar build.
And I don’t suppose it helps that I’m currently cursed and in The Depths, and still have Blighttown to look forward to.
Come and join the <25% equip load club!
I think that is a big part of it. When I went from Dark Souls 3 back to 1, I was surprised that I didn’t miss 3 that much. You are correct though that 3 feels much less sluggish and clumsy. But that also depends a little bit on the weapons you are using in Dark Souls (1 or 3). The crisp graphics do give 3 a hell of a face-lift though. It feels like a cleaned up, crisp Dark Souls.
In other news, I beat the final boss and beat the game. Man, talk about Anti-Climatic, huh? On the other hand, I feel like a god in the brief minutes I spent in New Game plus that immediately started. Level 100 after the final boss, 99hXXminutes played. So about 100 hours. A truly great game.
But now I need to go through Dark Souls withdrawal. I’ll do that by cheering on anyone here who isn’t done yet. Come on krayzkroc! Come on marxeil! And also those in this thread who were farther behind. I feel like you guys were my brothers in arms. Thank you for this experience, and for helping me along the way to everyone in this thread.
Oh, I beat Gwyn today. Felt like a cheese with parrying, especially after experiencing Artorias. This was actually my 2nd run. My first was STR based, and I completely missed the DLC. This time I went with DEX (hello 25% club) and it was much more fun, plus I got much better.
I’m trying to decide now if I should continue to DS2 or straight to DS3. People seem to think 3 is better…
My personal bias was to wait on DkS 3. Not because I don’t love it, but because I wanted to play it all in one go. They plan to release DLC for it this year and then DLC in 2017 as well. I’d rather play it once all the DLC is part of the game.
Do you have access to Bloodborne? I tried playing a little Bloodborne again today, and gosh, I just hate the look and feel of that game compared to DkSouls. But I think I can overcome that instinct.
Damn, I feel like the room is emptying and I’m one of the last ones at the party! I’d better get that Manus character beaten, eh? There’s a summon sign in his arena, but I’ve yet to make it across the room in one piece to see who it is. Hopefully Solaire is back and ready to take on the darkness. It would be appropriate for him, after all. No wait, it can’t be him, this is set in the past. Hmmm.
I definitely feel like I can do Manus; same approach as with Artorias, <25% equip load, two-handed Black Knight Sword, learn when to dodge. I got him down to 1/3 health just then. The main problem is that sorcerer that blasts you as you run down the long bridge over the chasm! I can usually make it with a sliver of health, then I estus up. Also, I learned - after the entire game of not realising this - that if you’re drinking an estus and you press the drink button again before the animation has finished, it’ll immediately give you the second shot without going through the entire drink animation again. That would have been useful to know earlier!
I knew I shouldn’t have posted that bit about feeling Manus was possible! I haven’t done more than 1/5 damage in about six attempts now. He also casts a spell that explodes dark magic outwards which, it seems, is an instakill for me. Wow. He doesn’t seem to do it if I stick close to him, but then when he roars and does a manic series of attacks around him, I can’t seem to get out of the way in time. Still, I’ve only tried about a dozen times now, I must have done Artorias about 40 times before I started to feel confident around him.
I feel that some more strength on my BKS will be beneficial too. Could be time for a brief vacation to the Painted World!
Wait, what? Are you serious? How is this possible?
Edit: By the way, I usually vary up my approach for different bosses, and for Manus it worked for me to wear high armor, high poise, but still stay below 50%. I got hit by Manus a lot. But I also drank a lot of Estus flasks. In fact, like I mentioned upthread, when I beat him and looked down, I then realized I had drunk all 15 flasks during the fight.
Bloodborn - that’s a PS exclusive, no? I have no plans to buy a console. But your idea about DS3 seems right. I’ll probably wait a bit.
You should have some pendant that can help with his magic attack.
Regarding the oolacile magician, have you found the shortcut to oolacile township? Coming that way will help deal with him.
Also, to summon, you need to free someone…
It’s only really in the Artorias fight that I needed to estus up twice in a row. Normally I’d only ever use one at a time, waiting until my health got down to the right level so I’d not waste any of it. But with these late game fights, I need all the help I can get. I just never really needed to try it before, basically.
I do? I had a look and I don’t think I even have a pendant. Well, other than the broken pendant, but that doesn’t seem to do anything useful.
That way seems much further though. The last few runs through, I managed to find a way of dodging the first attack, and it didn’t cast another while I was on the bridge (well, the poison cloud thing, but that’s no threat).
I found puppy Sif in a magical prison, and he gave me an interesting looking shield. I remember now someone talking about this much earlier in this thread. PUPPY SIF! Unless he grows a lot though, I’m not sure how much help he’s going to be! I’m trying Manus hollow for a while until I learn his moves, then I might give the summon a shot.
No, no! I meant, how is it possible that you can drink twice in a row without the penalty of a longer animation. It doesn’t seem fair. Obviously, I didn’t know you could do this either.
You can drink three times in a row, as I keep finding out because I’m hammering the X button to drink when my health gets low. This is usually a sign that I’m going to fail anyway, I need to reach my zen-like zone to be successful against these kinds of bosses.
I had to look up the pendant, his arena-wide magic attack seems impossible to avoid otherwise (at least with my low armour / high agility approach). I found that area before (where the pendant is) but presumed the message about light was just yet another silly player message about the view / the sun, so I ignored it. The large thumping sound, though, I just figured it was one of those casters trying to hit me with a dark orb spell.
Trouble is, I’m having dexterity issues (real life ones!) trying to switch between estus and pendant in the heat of the moment.
I’m trying a distance strategy at the moment, stay out of the way and attack his hand when it slams down. Works great, except I invariably end up with my back against the arena’s forcefield at some point, and then I have nowhere to go. Trying to circle instead, but this needs practice.
Second attempt eh Rock8? I’m impressed. This is another Artorias-level fight for me, just have to gradually learn his moves through trial and error (mostly error).
Ok Manus, you win. I must have tried 30 times now, with Sif, without Sif, fast rolling, tanked up with max poise, two handed, one handed with shield, went up to SL 100, nothing is working for me, I’m not even coming close to beating him. At least with Artorias I felt I was making gradual - if slow - progress. Not here. There aren’t any player summoning signs either, and without help it’s not happening. It’s also changing the way I feel about the game, from being completely awesome to being really fucking frustrating, and I don’t want it to end like that. That’s as good a reason as any to back away.
So, back to Kingseeker Frampt. Time to start the end game. I hope Gwyn doesn’t make me regret this!
Gendal
2780
I did finally beat him, but only by sheer force of will. Otherwise I pretty much had the same reaction as you did.
