Yes, Dark Souls (including DLC) took me about 120 hours, according to Steam. A large part of that was the DLC area though. I was really feeling done with the game, feeling like it should end. And then the DLC area was just invigorating. It gave me a second wind.
I’ve had a couple of times, like right before going into the Patches cave (I think) where I get a notice I’ve been invaded and a red guy comes at me. I didn’t think people could just randomly invade you if you aren’t playing coop?
Sounds like an NPC invader.
Yea, down the River canyon from Patches cave there is a point where you get invaded by an NPC, and while that is going on another MPC shows up.
Any time you are playing solo and you get invaded it is an NPC. FROM’s way of trolling people who either hate invasions or who refuse to play online.
Several places an NPC invader will come at you.
The NPC invaders are (almost) invariably part of someone’s questline but often you have no idea which or what it’s about specifically. (The only ones that are not that I can think of are the “Bell-bearing Hunters”.)
There are a bunch of NPC invaders, and many of them drop really good loot. You always want to kill them, even if it takes several tries.
Thanks for the feedback on the NPC invaders. I did manage to kill that one, even though he was fast and I finally took out the guy in the Roundtable (over the balcony.)
FWIW I accidentally killed Patches. I knew he would beg for mercy and I was going to let him live, but he was doing some annoying damage and I wasn’t doing as much as I should have, so I hit him with my rock sling. Ooops. One shot from that and he was dead. Since theres’ no built in save, nothing I can do to revive him.
I am not sure if the Absolution you can perform in Liurnia a bit later actually revives NPCs you killed or only changes outcome toward quest progression. So maybe?
As Peach said, talk to the Turtle Pope and I bet you can bring him back by taking a bath.
He will just try to kill you later, or at least get you killed. He is not a nice guy.
Have we talked about how great the “guard counter” mechanic is?
From what I can tell, this is a new thing for the series.
Block a hit with your shield, immediately press R2/do a strong attack. So satisfying! Turtling never felt so good!
I agree, it’s a great addition. I know @Timex was singing its praises early on as if it broke the game in the player’s favor, but it really doesn’t. But over time I’ve come to recognize that although it doesn’t break the game, it’s a great tool that is fun to use and can be effective against the right enemies. Meanwhile, if you use it against other enemies, you’re liable to get killed.
Is guard counter the same as the Parry special action? Also, any tips for pulling it off? I found it really hard to get the timing right.
The timing for Parry is hard, the guard counter is really easy. Just block with the shield (LB or L1, depending on the controller). When someone hits your shield, press RT (or R2). The timing is very generous. I’ve never not done it when I wanted to do it. I’ve even done it sometimes when I DIDN’T want to do it.
Note that it is not a special, unstoppable, unblockable attack, like a backstab.
It is more like a VERY fast R2 attack…but one that can still be interrupted. So if an enemy is hitting you with a chain of attacks, you want to wait until the last attack bounces off your shield to R2.
You can also miss, if your R2 has a narrow field of attack and the enemy is moving.
Tips for parry.
- Smaller shields have longer parry windows, buckler is best.
- There is an ash called “golden parry” that gives your parry more range, and has a generous timing window, it’s the easiest to pull off.
Yeah, exactly. I discovered these things really quick early on when the praises were being sung about the move, and realized it can get you into trouble more often than it can help you. But over the course of the game, I’ve got a good sense of when to use it.
One thing I miss is not have weapons that have charge attack. I really enjoyed the charge attack in most games, it’s my favorite move in video games in general, I just love the sense of risking damage by charging up an attack. But sadly I chose weapons to level up in Elden Ring that don’t have charge attacks or don’t have satisfying charge attacks. If I ever make a second character, that should be my number one priority: find a weapon with a good satisfying charge attack, and level that up.
Is it bad that I have 119 hours in just my latest character? I’m scared to look at what my main character hours are.
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Oh my. It’s 203 hours for my Mage. eek!
I’m at about 140 hours for my level 150 Magic Samurai.