I had a devil of a time with the gaping dragon. The key is to learn its patterns–in particular, get out of the way when it charges and then go in for a few two-handed swipes at the tail before backing off again. If you haven’t mastered the dance of switching to two-handed combat, taking a hit or two, and switching back to your shield, this is a really good time to do so.
My biggest problem was the drop attack after it takes flight; I never did figure out a good way of consistently avoiding that one.
Have you killed the Channeler (magic dude) on the balcony with the rats? If you somehow forget to kill him first, he can buff the Gaping Dragon and make him nigh unkillable. The channeler will also pester you with soul arrows from on the ledge, very unpleasant.
Ok so thanks for the help guys. Restarted as a pyromancer (just to make my life easier) and got back to the same point I was at previously in about 20 minutes.
But then I was stuck again for the next 2 hours, but this time trying to kill the Taurus. Controller nearly went into the tv a couple of times. It wasn’t so much the difficulty in killing him, it was the tedium of fighting all the way back from the bonfire to have another attempt if I died.
Also thank god I watched a YouTube walkthrough for that part and was able to avoid the fiery surprise the dragon has round the corner once you managed to down the Taurus. That seemed like a particularly unfair event to throw at you right after all the hard work.
Anyway up to the next bonfire and managed to pick up the Dragon sword. Again with the help of YouTube (how the hell is someone supposed to figure that out without a guide?).
So I’ve gone from teeth grindingly mad to exhilarated I’ve made some progress at last. I’m sensing a theme might be showing…
And another is bit by the bug…
Yes, I killed him. Funny story is that is set my summOn stone and helped someone kill the dragon, but they didn’t kill that dude and bit it right after the dragon. Reminded me of Taurus as I fell off the ledge fighting him and he followed and I got credit for it.
After fighting as a white demon I tried myself and summoned help. We were doing well when I got a text from my wife that she was a coue blocks away (we had to run to a dr. appt) so I pressed it and died. So it goes. This post brought to you by the letters E and N.
That was me at the 3rd boss I faced. Co-op was (and is) the way to get past those.
liminal
1787
This is what’s kept me away from Dark Souls for a while now. I have no problem at all with extreme difficulty. Heck, after feeling disconnected from the Saints Row 3 campaign because of the lack of challenge, I crave it. What I do have a problem with is punishing player mistakes with tedious content repetition. I did that Taurus run enough times to have the satisfaction of taking him down spoiled by my lingering irritation. Combats in the Souls games need to be more dynamic if the player is going to be forced through the same ones so many times.
OTOH, I have felt the craving to return for weeks now. I will be pulled back.
tromik
1788
I haven’t had a whole lot of time for games this year, but with a week off from work I decided to get into something deep. I went to Best Buy on Boxing Day and grabbed a few games, including Dark Souls.
I’ve never enjoyed anything by From Software. It’s been years since I’ve played an enjoyed a Japanese developed game. FPS games are my goto genre. Why would I like this?
I love it and it has been a revelation. It has problems, but I haven’t lost chunks of time to a game as I have to this in a very long time.
psu_13
1789
I will never quite understand why I don’t mind redoing the fights in this game as much as I usually would in other games. Maybe it’s because as you fight your way back to where you were, you get something out of it (more souls) assuming you don’t die again. Maybe it’s because I feel like I need the practice, since the combat rewards being patient and practiced. In any case, it’s not too bad, and the game worms its way into your brain.
Finally made it to Blighttown and feel like I don’t belong there. Those brutish things that greet you are pretty tough even with my drake sword. I am missing the direction that there was in Demon’s Souls and am not too much of a fan of this open hub system.
Hanacker
1791
I think you’re supposed to be there - those guys are just tough. That was my first stumbling block when I rolled a new character.
If you can get to Blighttown at all (short of using the Master Key), you’re in the right place.
The brutes are actually dead easy once you get the hang of them. They telegraph their attacks well in advance and are very easy to backstab. The hardest part is dealing with the first one or two where you don’t have much room to maneuver.
The little guys after the brutes…they still give me nightmares. Nasty bastards with a vicious instakill attack and a bad habit of sneaking up on you from behind. I think Blighttown was the single most difficult location to traverse for me. It’s a brutal pit of misery and despair; once you’re out, it’s all uphill from there.
A hint for an area you’re getting close to: You’ll meet an NPC right after fighting Quelaag. He’ll ask you a question. Your answer has implications; if you don’t care about spoilers, you may want to look him up before replying.
Jape
1793
it seems NG+ smoug/ornstein fight wasnt that much more difficult.
Noticed at the boss door that i forgot to reverse hollowing so i cant summon any help. So decided to give it a shot solo.
Sunlight spear ripperd smoug completely apart. And ornstein died pretty quickly to barrage of wrath of the gods, emit force, and +10 fire claymore.
Jape
1794
So I’ve got a few hours into this and I don’t quite get it. Am I supposed to keep grinding away on the skeletons until I’m high enough level to kill the bosses?
How… quaint.
No…
Perhaps you should read the last few pages as it’s almost entirely been helping people new to the game.
If you have specific questions other than the one Morberis just answered, feel free. In general the skeletons are a relatively challenging bunch until you can at least get to the first blacksmith and upgrade your weapons and shield. I would recommend focusing on the undead burg (up the stairs and through the tunnel) and parish. Level will not do that much to improve your chances against a boss unless you are looking at access to something (a spell or gear) that you know is substantially better than what you have now. Those first gear upgrades, though, they will improve your quality of life tremendously.
Cute that you posted that immediately after a video of someone beating the game twice at level 7.
So today in the evening we did some late NG+ stuff, including the pain in the ass of the duke’s archives. The upped health on the crystal goblins means backstabbing is a must, and we had one persistent invader that kept coming in every ten minutes or after one of our deaths. That’s not the royal we, of course, but my wife and I using the best worst coop ever made.
Anyhow, among other highlights, we had his last invasion, and this guy really knew the level well so we pushed on down the long ladder figuring we’d deprive him his usual games of stair rotation and flanking, followed by all sorts of nasty pyromancy. He blew right past me as I guarded what I thought was the only entrance (clearly wrong), and headed right into the room where he thought my wife was. She was, but she was finally getting to use that damned chameleon spell that she carries around and never has a use for. I followed him in, backed him into her corner, and I bet he got quite a shock as the furniture clobbered him. He had some more dancing to do, but I like to think his morale was broken as I cut him to ribbons one last time. Pretty much made the evening, especially since the last time he’d run circles around us and tried to taunt me into splitting up (via stair rotation), and then bailed once he was badly hurt. No more belly laughs today, friendo.
metta
1800
A 45 page thread on the game and that’s your conclusion?
Maybe this one is more your speed.
