Dark Souls

**Syl** · 12-22-2011, 23:51

Originally Posted by Fragony

Bull Demon is a peace of cake, there are two towers, once you enter the white light head to the right and climb the ladder. Kill archers, climb down, wait for demon to appear and run back, climb ladder, and do a plunge attack on bull-demon for massive damage. You have enough time to hit his legs a few times. Run to other tower, repeat.

Or just lure them of the open part of the bridge and let him fall to death, gravity is your friend in this game!

I was so freaking close. I took your advice and introduced the demon to Sir Isaac Newton, and I also applied a lighting salve to my blade before the fight. It was extremely effective and took off about half his health with plunge attack. Then I struck his legs two or three times and he had just a sliver of hp left. Then he smashed me into the ground. By the time I finally got up, he smashed me again before I could move and I died. I had full health at the start. Grrrrr.

That little ladder up to the top of the tower is really easy to miss by the way. Thanks for the tip. I'll get him next time.

**Fragony** · 12-25-2011, 10:45

What, no progress? Que? It's just a 5 meter high bull-demon that kills you with two hits. Who am I to talk to if you don't press on, people just don't understand it if I tell them that I found my knight shining armor. Darkness will fall

**Syl** · 12-27-2011, 05:04

Sorry for the absence on this, I got a bit distracted with the holidays and an issue with a hard drive dying. I do have a few things to mention and a lot of questions for you though, depending on how patient you're feeling when you get around to reading this.

I've actually started a new character. It seems that the bosses damages are so high and generally unblockable that your only real option is to avoid their attacks all together and dodge. The Knight is a bit slow due to his armor and I'd spent some of my levels on resistance mixed in with vitality, endurance, and strength. It seems that I'd be better suited focusing on my damage output. On that note I'm making a bandit and am going to focus exclusively on strength, vitality, and endurance.

I haven't beaten the bull yet on my Knight yet

. I'm able to leap down on him and get some good initial damage, and them back up along the bridge fighting him and hurting him as I go, but I haven't been able to finish him yet before he finishes me. That's where I'm hoping this new approach with the bandit will come in

. We'll see how that goes when I reach him.

My PS3 hadn't been hooked up to the PlayStation Network since I got it, but it is now. It seems really neat with the added details like seeing other players ghosts here and there and people at bonfires. Now onto the questions barrage. First, can other players manage to hurt me? I know there is pvp in the game so there is a way for that to happen, but I'm unfamiliar how and that seems a good thing to be aware of. I'd like to have my guard up when it needs to be :p. I actually like that extra little danger in the world, it seems to suit it.

Secondly, similar to in the Undead Asylum, I'm seeing messages written in flame on the ground, except now there are much more and in the main game as well, where there weren't any when I was offline. This could be the result of having the game patched and it added in since then, but I was curious if they were added by the developers or if other players are able to leave those notes.

Third, when the raven drops you off onto the tower like hub in the ruins I hadn't noticed that you could go down. In my exploring I got a bit caught up going up and didn't get a chance to head back. Heading down I met a mute woman and farther down I met a smith who can upgrade items. At the very base along the water in the cavern was a series of rickety wooden bridges leading across the lake. On traveling it ghosts came after me that I couldn't attack (but were more than happy to attack me). I noticed I got a transient curse from a corpse in a vase prior to this area, which says it allows you to temporarily hurt specters. I'm sure I could use that to clear them out, but I only have two, so I'm weary to use and waste them if I'm not ready to take on that area. Is it something I should avoid until a bit later, or should I go ahead and take the plunge?

That's all that comes to mind at the moment ^^, I'll have more to say when I get to have round two with Mister Bull

.

**seireikhaan** · 12-27-2011, 06:29

Definitely avoid the ghosts for now. That area only gets worse. Probably the hardest boss of the game lurks at the end, and I can say with certainty you just can't win yet. Go take on the bull again, for sure.

Those messages you're seeing now were left by other player. Their accuracy will depend on the integrity of whoever left it.

And, as you noted, mobility is really important. Tanking isn't viable against bosses until later, when you get better shields and armor.

**Fragony** · 12-27-2011, 11:56

You can kill the ghosts if you use the proper curse, check your inventory. They seem really eager to drop a cursed blade which is incredibly vicious, it breaks pretty down fast but it has really high damage, that bull-demon won't be so intimidating if you have it. Try mounting/plunging twice, lure it away after your first plunge attack, repeat. You will take some damage, bit of a leap of faith, if you aren't quik enough he will jump on the tower so don't heal, you don't have the time for it

**Fragony** · 12-27-2011, 12:27

Can't edit.

Play the game with PSN connected, it was designed to be played like that. Messages from other players are helpfull, and if you touch a bloodstain you can watch the last moments of their sorry lives. Other players can be summoned into your realm, but they aren't always friendly, it's pretty rare but you can be invaded. Another thing, unlike Demon's Souls there is no penalty for dying, if you died a lot in Demon Souls the world tendency would grow darker, making enemies much stronger. Makes sense huh, making things harder if you die a lot. But no more of that you can die at will

**Syl** · 12-29-2011, 05:21

Originally Posted by issaikhaan

Definitely avoid the ghosts for now. That area only gets worse. Probably the hardest boss of the game lurks at the end, and I can say with certainty you just can't win yet. Go take on the bull again, for sure.

Those messages you're seeing now were left by other player. Their accuracy will depend on the integrity of whoever left it.

And, as you noted, mobility is really important. Tanking isn't viable against bosses until later, when you get better shields and armor.

Thank you for the tip issaikhaan ^^. I'll leave that fight for another day then. And thank you for the heads up about the writing. Some have been really helpful in pointing things out or giving a warning about traps, but I soon saw enough suspicious 'try jumping off here' into empty pits to realize all was not well :p.

I really like that you can see other players scribbles and their ghosts as you go along in a primarily single player game. I tend to enjoy single player content the most (or co-op with friends) more then playing with a lot of strangers, and it's an interesting way to give some extra life and interaction to the game without ruining that experience.

Originally Posted by Fragony

Play the game with PSN connected, it was designed to be played like that. Messages from other players are helpfull, and if you touch a bloodstain you can watch the last moments of their sorry lives. Other players can be summoned into your realm, but they aren't always friendly, it's pretty rare but you can be invaded. Another thing, unlike Demon's Souls there is no penalty for dying, if you died a lot in Demon Souls the world tendency would grow darker, making enemies much stronger. Makes sense huh, making things harder if you die a lot. But no more of that you can die at will

I really see no other way to play it now after seeing the full thing like it is meant to be played ^^. Also, I did actually manage to beat the bull.

He was still tough but I think I'm getting more used to the game and was able to dodge better. I was also able to get back to the tower a second time to do another dive at him. I'm really enjoying my bandit character as well.

Also...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I think a good way to describe Dark Souls, besides amazing, would be a perpetual state of out of the frying pan and into the fire.