I tried out the Claymore before, but on my most recent character I upgraded it and gave it a good test run, and it's indeed a very good weapon... It should be a good fit for Jeff.
It has a very versatile and useful moveset: sweeping running attack with a large aoe, a stab, and a great leaping heavy attack. I did a run with the manserpent sword before, which is very similar, but for some reason I like the Claymore better.
Well, Faith isn't too bad, with that he could go buy some Healing and Homeward miracles from the creepy-looking dude in Firelink Shrine... ...oh. Never mind!
When you're human, your drop rate is higher, you can kindle bonfires to get more estus flasks, and you can summon people. The latter is super helpful for bosses. That big grey number on the top left of your hud is how much humanity you have on hand. You'll get it sometimes out of nowhere for a reason I forgot, but you lose it if you die. So if you see a '1' or '2' in there, go to a bonfire and go human because you just might as well.
You don't get item discovery or curse resistance from being human, you just get it from holding liquid humanity. Also, the random humanity you get is for killing "human" (hollowed, undead etc.) enemies in areas where you haven't beaten the boss, you can get max 10 in an area and it gets progressively slower. Interestingly, the cragspiders count
Well, Faith isn't too bad, with that he could go buy some Healing and Homeward miracles from the creepy-looking dude in Firelink Shrine... ...oh. Never mind!
Yeah no miracles for Jeff since he killed the dude that sells you white magic. I really think Jeff should be all in on VIT/END/STR and fuck all to everything else except maybe one more spell slot eventually.
But really white magic isn't all that great anyway.
If he wants magic (and it's always good to have a bit) he shoudl go Pyro since it doesnt' require any Intelligence stat and is really easy to use and effective.
Magic is not essential Jeff, but it is great for 'softening up' enemies before you go in for the kill. For the most part, most of the vendors that sell you different magic types will Appear around Firelink Shrine and will appear there gradually throughout the game as you get deeper into it. Firelink is kind of like the hub for access to the other areas and as you free/talk to others throughout the world, they will appear back at Firelink to offer you advice and sell you stuff.
Yeah no miracles for Jeff since he killed the dude that sells you white magic. I really think Jeff should be all in on VIT/END/STR and fuck all to everything else except maybe one more spell slot eventually.
But really white magic isn't all that great anyway.
If he wants magic (and it's always good to have a bit) he shoudl go Pyro since it doesnt' require any Intelligence stat and is really easy to use and effective.
Yeah, I think Jeff would like Pyromancy a lot. I went for a STR/Pyromancy build on my first playthrough and it served me well.
Information for Jeff: Pyromancy is "close-range fire magic" and it doesn't require any stats. You just buy the spells with souls and upgrade the casting item with souls like a weapon.
Yeah, it definitely helps to fit your equipment around your play style, strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Since I did not see him roll often, I think heavier armor would suit him and allow him to take more hits. That would also benefit the fact that he seems to go for offense over defense, so adding a powerful weapon on top of that would let him just power through a lot of enemies (more so than with the current build and set-up, at least).
Things get easier once you build up your muscle memory, though. Eventually, it becomes more second-nature as to what hit-boxes are, when and where you're vulnerable, the different attack poses of enemies, when to shield rather than attack, and so forth.
I had the benefit of beating Demon's Souls once before I started Dark Souls, so going with a lighter armor--the gold-hemmed black set, which I refuse to take off, at least in its entirety (for aesthetic reasons, too)--and using the Dark Wood Grain ring to focus on rolling felt natural to me.
Fighting
Ornstein and Smough (with killing Smough first)
was painful at level 15 and took a few tries, but it felt rewarding to stick to a play style I enjoyed. When I was getting one to two-hit by
The Four Kings
, I almost compromised and tried a heavier set, other rings, other weapons and so forth that I just did not enjoy using--and it did not help. Eventually I buckled down back to my old equipment and got smarted with my responses, and obliterated them. I think once he fights them--and some other bosses--his play style will naturally evolve in response since more finesse is expected of you, and he'll get better as a result. Eventually, it will feel simple to kill or merely ignore a horde of basic enemies that may have given you trouble earlier.
Heavier gear also has the advantage of making you stagger and fall down less often. You are like a rock that can't get knocked down and getting staggered/knocked down is pretty brutal.
Jeff stat that effects how much you are staggered/get knocked down is poise.
It's like we went on a couple hesitant blind dates together first, in which, hey, I'm not gonna try too hard yet because she could be a psycho and chronic projectile-vomiter with really bad breath. But now that I know that she's actually kinda dateable, I'm willing to step up and commit.
To be fair, Dark Souls kind of is a psycho. But the make up sex is great and once you learn to understand it, all the other "normal" games seem like they are the ones that crazy with their mindless banal button mashing and loot grinding and large empty spaces where nothing interesting happens for long stretches at a time.
Just wanted to let you all know that Jeff started Dark Souls 20 minutes ago (saw it on my Xbox One activity feed) and he is playing right now while not streaming. Maybe he'll start streaming soon?
He is probably just practicing and equipping stuff but now I am afraid to go boot up Mario 3DWorld in fear that I may miss a livestream. That's right: this stream takes precedence even over new Mario game that I have yet to remove the shrink wrap from. (I was saving it for when I made some progress of on my diss. today but Jeff Dark Souls would be even better.)
Just wanted to let you all know that Jeff started Dark Souls 20 minutes ago (saw it on my Xbox One activity feed) and he is playing right now while not streaming. Maybe he'll start streaming soon?
Another thing Jeff: feel free to continue ignoring the chat every now and then. Exploration and testing the waters is part of what makes Dark Souls great and too much advice is definitely bad (I say as someone spamming advice in chat, I can't help it!).
Yeah I was basically testing stuff out after reading this thread.
I did do ONE thing with Moron, though. Which is that I put a point into STR and then tested out the Claymore. I didn't want to do that while streaming. Oh and I upgraded the Claymore to +1. But I didn't actually do anything in the game yet. Stream will probably be tomorrow due to the dreaded "dinner guests" tonight. Freaking wives.
Yeah I was basically testing stuff out after reading this thread.
I did do ONE thing with Moron, though. Which is that I put a point into STR and then tested out the Claymore. I didn't want to do that while streaming. Oh and I upgraded the Claymore to +1. But I didn't actually do anything in the game yet. Stream will probably be tomorrow due to the dreaded "dinner guests" tonight. Freaking wives.
Good choices, in my opinion. Btw, you can buy Titanite shards from the blacksmith to keep upgrading Claymore if you run out. Also don't forget about any souls you may be carrying as items.
I now feel free to go play Mario 3D World the rest of the night.
Good choices, in my opinion. Btw, you can buy Titanite shards from the blacksmith to keep upgrading Claymore if you run out. Also don't forget about any souls you may be carrying as items.
Regarding those, they're always ordered from lowest soul count to highest in your inventory. That can be good to know so you don't eat way more souls than you need to, but not enough to get another level.
Yeah I was basically testing stuff out after reading this thread.
I did do ONE thing with Moron, though. Which is that I put a point into STR and then tested out the Claymore. I didn't want to do that while streaming. Oh and I upgraded the Claymore to +1. But I didn't actually do anything in the game yet. Stream will probably be tomorrow due to the dreaded "dinner guests" tonight. Freaking wives.
You might not feel the Claymore for a little while because it's slower than the Uchigatana. But when you get used to the new moveset, it's a powerful weapon. Especially when upgraded.
Regarding those, they're always ordered from lowest soul count to highest in your inventory. That can be good to know so you don't eat way more souls than you need to, but not enough to get another level.
Yeah I was basically testing stuff out after reading this thread.
I did do ONE thing with Moron, though. Which is that I put a point into STR and then tested out the Claymore. I didn't want to do that while streaming. Oh and I upgraded the Claymore to +1. But I didn't actually do anything in the game yet. Stream will probably be tomorrow due to the dreaded "dinner guests" tonight. Freaking wives.
You should try out the Halberd btw, it was my main weapon for probably 90% of the game. Easy upgrade path, good range, low stat requirement and decent stat-scaling, slash+pierce attacks, and a really good moveset. I'm especially a fan of the running heavy attack
You should try out the Halberd btw, it was my main weapon for probably 90% of the game. Easy upgrade path, good range, low stat requirement and decent stat-scaling, slash+pierce attacks, and a really good moveset. I'm especially a fan of the running heavy attack
Another awesome thing about Dark Souls is that pretty much any weapon becomes viable as long as you keep upgrading it and learn how to use it properly, but certain weapons are better for individual's play style.
Halbreds are cool but I always hated the fact that if you whiff and don't hit any enemies you automatically get staggered with them (as you would expect from whiffing with a giant swinging weapon). That's a pretty huge downside.I'm a "great sword" guy primarily, though. Claymore and Zweihander (Lightening Zweihander was my bestest friend!) are the move sets I grew to love the most.
The melee combat in Dark Souls is so great. So much nuance in terms of weapon types and how they perform, but simple basic mechanics that are incredibly rewarding. There really isn't any other game I can think of where I like the hand to hand combat as much as I do Dark Souls. I also love how the enemies all play by the exact same rules. Enemies with spears can attack while their shield is up just like you can with spears with a shield up. Enemies stagger and drink potions and parry, etc, just like you. Even the armor sets they wear have the same effect when you wear them as when they wear them.
You can totally take credit for the Gargoyles, Jeff. Summoning other players is part of the game and you risk invasions when you're human, too. So, it's kind of balanced. You managed to stay alive despite only fighting that boss the third time (I believe), you've got several good hits in yourself and you healed the phantoms.
The second phantom you summoned was an NPC btw. You get the opportunity to summon an NPC phantom at almost every boss in the game. Their signs are usually hidden somewhere near the fog gate.
In terms of leveling and upgrading, you did everything right (there really is no wrong in this game... everything just costs souls, which means time to earn these souls).
You can totally take credit for the Gargoyles, Jeff. Summoning other players is part of the game and you risk invasions when you're human, too. So, it's kind of balanced. You managed to stay alive despite only fighting that boss the third time (I believe), you've got several good hits in yourself and you healed the phantoms.
The second phantom you summoned was an NPC btw. You get the opportunity to summon an NPC phantom at almost every boss in the game. Their signs are usually hidden somewhere near the fog gate.
In terms of leveling and upgrading, you did everything right (there really is no wrong in this game... everything just costs souls, which means time to earn these souls).
I agree. He can totally take credit for the Gargoyles. This is Dark Souls - the game was made to be played with hints, and people talking about strategies.
One thing I noticed is that Jeff is really into the game now. The last two streams have been full of pure gold moments.
Yeah he's about at that point where you start thinking about fucking Dark Souls all the damn time when you aren't playing it.
I remember that time. Now I have to vicariously live it through others. I roped both my brothers and two friends into playing through it too and they loved it. And I would constantly ask about their progress to live vicariously through their play throughs.
To Jeff: Awesome session tonight man. You are almost at that point where the training wheels can come totally off and we can just help out when you get stuck/stumped. It feels like watching a kid take off on her bike for the first time without you guiding them.
The only tip I really have left for now is to maybe try to get some long distance weapon lik ea bow and arrow (different from cross bow) or at least some bolts for your crossbow or something in the near future. The blacksmith should sell something.
You can equip two weapons in each hand and quickly flip between them. So just put the bow in your sword hand as your alt weapon. You can use them to soften up the demon and they will be really useful for the next area (forrest).
The Spaghetti episode was soo goood. How long do Twitch streams usually take to archive on YouTube? Our internet at work is too shitty to stream Twitch.
I thought, "Hey, I'm going to see if I can join Jeff.. Probably not going to work, probably going to summon fail, but it'd be really cool if I could." So I grabbed my new character and put my sign down where I thought he'd see it... and When I saw it in the stream I was like.. Oh wow!
Gotta say, I was a bit nervous. I've killed the gargoyles before, but I didn't want to leave Jeff hanging by dying!
Anyway, happy to have helped, and way cool to play with Jeff Green while watching his live stream.
I thought, "Hey, I'm going to see if I can join Jeff.. Probably not going to work, probably going to summon fail, but it'd be really cool if I could." So I grabbed my new character and put my sign down where I thought he'd see it... and When I saw it in the stream I was like.. Oh wow!
Gotta say, I was a bit nervous. I've killed the gargoyles before, but I didn't want to leave Jeff hanging by dying!
Anyway, happy to have helped, and way cool to play with Jeff Green while watching his live stream.
The Spaghetti episode was soo goood. How long do Twitch streams usually take to archive on YouTube? Our internet at work is too shitty to stream Twitch.
I've never had a problem streaming Giant Bomb for some reason this stream is total strobe light for me but I watch it anyway because I can't help myself. I wish I could just lower the resolution to something really shitty just so I could watch even if it was blurry. I don't really care.
Ha, nice coincidence that it was actually a fellow Gaffer! Good work.
So, here's what I'm thinking... maybe this would be the perfect opportunity for Jeff to try out some coop the other way around. He doesn't even need to be human for that, he could earn a shitload of souls and he can polish his skills a little bit with no risk involved.
And just like ntbthedude, I now have to live Dark Souls through others. This game is something else. You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave.
I thought, "Hey, I'm going to see if I can join Jeff.. Probably not going to work, probably going to summon fail, but it'd be really cool if I could." So I grabbed my new character and put my sign down where I thought he'd see it... and When I saw it in the stream I was like.. Oh wow!
Gotta say, I was a bit nervous. I've killed the gargoyles before, but I didn't want to leave Jeff hanging by dying!
Anyway, happy to have helped, and way cool to play with Jeff Green while watching his live stream.
I thought, "Hey, I'm going to see if I can join Jeff.. Probably not going to work, probably going to summon fail, but it'd be really cool if I could." So I grabbed my new character and put my sign down where I thought he'd see it... and When I saw it in the stream I was like.. Oh wow!
Gotta say, I was a bit nervous. I've killed the gargoyles before, but I didn't want to leave Jeff hanging by dying!
Anyway, happy to have helped, and way cool to play with Jeff Green while watching his live stream.
That is fucking Amazing! You got to play with Black Dragon!
Also, I was asking Jeff on the chat what type of GPU he had. Watching this stream gave me an itch to play the game again and was wondering if my laptop could run the game. I installed the game on my laptop which has a GTX 650m and I honestly was just expecting the game to run at minimum settings. Turns out this game is all CPU. Dark Souls is running at full 1080p with Durante's fix and the framerate is rock solid except when there are lots of particle effects i.e. when you kill a boss.
This game is absolutely gorgeous. First time I've played it at 1080p. Jeff, when you get your new pc, you are going to have a blast and eyegasms left and right.
edit: It's also going to be a damn shame if BAMCO doesn't patch GFWL and the service closes down next year.
That is fucking Amazing! You got to play with Black Dragon!
Also, I was asking Jeff on the chat what type of GPU he had. Watching this stream gave me an itch to play the game again and was wondering if my laptop could run the game. I installed the game on my laptop which has a GTX 650m and I honestly was just expecting the game to run at minimum settings. Turns out this game is all CPU. Dark Souls is running at full 1080p with Durante's fix and the framerate is rock solid except when there are lots of particle effects i.e. when you kill a boss.
This game is absolutely gorgeous. First time I've played it at 1080p. Jeff, when you get your new pc, you are going to have a blast and eyegasms left and right.
edit: It's also going to be a damn shame if BAMCO doesn't patch GFWL and the service closes down next year.
Even if Namco doesn't patch GFWL out, i find it impossible to believe that the community will let it die. There will be an unofficial patch and unofficial servers. Hell those still exist for goddamn Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast.
BTW, Jeff, did you enable the save backup feature in DSfix? If not you should do it. Games for Windows Live sometimes corrupts the save files and that DSfix feature makes a backup of the save file every X minutes (whatever setting you put it at in the config file) as you play.
It'd be tragic if Games for Windows Live took away your save file after all this progress.
ps. congrats on getting past the gargoyles. In my opinion they're one of the top three hardest bosses in the game, so you just got over a huge wall. A lot of new players quit at this point. The bad news? The next boss is also very, very tough for a new player. If weak-willed newbies didn't give up at the gargoyles, they probably give up at this bastard. But if you can get past him, then it'll be smooth sailing for a while.
edit: You experimented with rolling a bunch at the end! Progress!!!
BTW, Jeff, did you enable the save backup feature in DSfix? If not you should do it. Games for Windows Live sometimes corrupts the save files and that DSfix feature makes a backup of the save file every X minutes (whatever setting you put it at in the config file) as you play.
I'm not sure his DSfix is actually working judging by the visual quality.
Nice to hear he beat the Gargoyles, I'll have to watch the archives. Please do some EU time streams too Jeff! Also nothing wrong with summoning, it's there so you don't have to beat your head against a wall endlessly (Gargoyles can do that), but I recommend slaying some bosses solo just for the satisfaction of it.
