Dark Souls Confessions (Spoilers Naturally)

1. I've never bothered to upgrade armor in any of my playthroughs. I've always just upgraded MOAR weapons! (also since you couldn't upgrade armor in Demon's Souls I'm stuck in that weird mentality)
2. I've never fought Ceaseless Discharge honorably
3. I didn't learn about poise and how awesome it could be until NG+
4. I didn't start using 100% block shields until dying repeatedly to O&S
5. Gwyn was a showstopper and only boss I didn't beat solo in my first playthrough. I caved and summoned help.
To be fair I didn't know about his parry weakness and my guy had 0 poise(see #3), used pyromancy(way too slow) and wielded a lightning Iaito +5. The problem is I could almost never get a hit off without him destroying me and there was no time to heal.
-Block, block, stagger, stagger, hit, hit = dead
-Stagger, hit, roll away, attempt heal, flying flaming butterfly sword lung from across the map = dead.
-Etc

I've never fought Ceaseless Discharge dishonorably. I assume you mean by kiting him to the entrance and making him fall? I could never get that to work, he'd just hose me with fire repeatedly from a distance. I always have to exploit the tunnel area and whack his tentacle with a 2-hander.

I'm 120 hours in and never have made it past the Law Firm. I suffer from a baaaad case of altitis.

DUDE

And I thought my altitis was getting bad just because I usually only get to the end of NG or beginning of NG+ before making a new character these days.

So good. Here's my confession: I misspend points almost always. My sorcerer has 20 dex. My first character is like:

24 strength
20 dex
32 int
42 end (!!!)
45 vit

Anyway it could be worse. Didn't someone here raise resistance into the mid-twenties?

While discussing the DS2 trailer with my brother yesterday, I said and meant that I hoped I'd have enough time to "finish" Dark Souls before Dark Souls 2 came out.

I've only ever gotten as far as the Armoured Pig Thing, killed that, then found myself unable to locate a way forward. Rather than put any effort into actually finding out from external sources where I'm supposed to go, I've stopped playing and it now drifts away among the flotsam and jetsam of abandoned games that I will never return to.

My first time through I damn near played the whole game with the wiki and map open on my laptop.

I never upgraded a shield past +5. I never considered it.As a corollary to that, did I understand right that if you ascend a shield to elemental, it buffs that damage? So an enchanted will block magic better? Never did that, if true.

I have never killed the hellkite dragon.

I don't think I ever had a successful parry. I found it too twitchy in Demon's Souls, so I never really tried it in Dark Souls.

If I can cheese a boss, I will do so. This list includes Seath, Ceaseless Discharge, Dark Sun Gwyndolin and Taurus Demon (though that was unintentional and for my first time only)(I think that's all). Similarly, I discovered the drake sword on my own, that is I did not read about it in a forum post or wiki. I discovered this because I was trying to cheese the hellkite dragon from underneath the bridge with arrows when, blammo, sword! I soon abandoned the cheesing to cut stuff.

(Nazgûl! It's awesome. I'm wearing it on my current main. Also, Ceaseless Discharge is such a great nod to the Balrog in Lord of the Rings. A fire demon trapped in the ruins of a lost and vast underground kingdom, you can beat it by making it fall down a bottomless chasm.)
It gives great protection along with DAT SKIRT and I like that you can't upgrade it - one less reason for grinding. Must get more weapons!

I know it's long gone into the backlog ether, but you don't have to fight it. Did you find the stairs to the right? Then you can go up and over, drop down behind it and continue. Or try to do some falling swipes on it. Or lure it into the fire. Or 'backstab' it. That's always good for some laughs.

Or you could try the stairs leading down beneath the bridge in the plaza? It's ... not exactly hidden.

Which skirt is DAT SKIRT? I guess I wear them all ...

Me neither.

My very first character (that I abandoned prior to the law firm) put every single point into faith, yet I never made a divine weapon.

DAT crimson SKIRT of The Sealer in Blighttown.

I killed it. But I've explored and been unable to find a proper way forward.

Right behind it to the right are some stairs down. There's that hugh jass gate right behind that. That's a short cut you'll open up after going down and around.

OK. Right next to where he was standing, there are stairs leading down. Under the bridge with the crossbow dudes.

I honestly don't understand why you and a couple others think of it this way. It's really not that spectacular. I hardly ever even collect the thing.

I'm almost certain that I've explored all that bit and just come to dead ends but I'm also just as certain that I've missed something along the way. :)

My first playthrough I tried to make a rogue, I didn't know shit about the game's systems or mechanics and I just threw points around randomly. I got all the way to Lost Izalith and hit a wall, I could not get past those dinosaur asses. I could not even hurt them. So, I started over with a pure Sorcerer and got lucky to get that Trident from the dancing wizard immediately. That weapon carried me through the entire game.

I am happy about this forum. Dark Souls really brought me back to the old days of gaming in my youth, where everything was a discovery and I never knew what was coming. In the modern days of hand-holding tutorials and Prima Guides, it was so refreshing.

I will say that every boss I have cheesed I have also killed the 'honorable' way. I actually cheesed Ceaseless two different ways (arguable if the hanging thing is a cheese). And I think in 1.06 they removed the Gwyndolin cheese method.

Oh another one for me: I've never soloed O&S.

Yes, definitely. This game captures a bit of the magic I felt back in elementary school when my friends and I would discuss Zelda or whatever and compare notes and the secrets we'd found.

Because we love looking awesome. Proof:



It also has some pretty good stats for a less than 25% armor build that doesn't want to wear Havel's Ring all the time.

I beg to differ. All I do is min/max weight and I refuse to go above 25%, and time after time, regardless of level or build, Knight Leggings end up being the best answer.

Edit: also, what's a "helm?" Oh, are those the things that you're allowed to equip instead of the Crown of Dusk? I assumed nobody actually used those, they seem like they might have only been put in for a novelty challenge run.

Because clearly, Dark Souls is all about finding and using one optimal build and then tossing everything else out the window. I've never used Crown of Dusk. My current main character runs around with zero poise, a 95% shield with dubious Stability (Grass Crest) and I'm pretty much just wading through everyone and everything currently. Thief Mask, Gold-hemmed ... coat, Shadow Gauntlets, Dat Skirt, Grass Crest +6, Uchigatana +8, Cloranthy Ring and Favor and Protection. Just going to get the Black Bow and upgrade it and I'm set for Sen's and Anor Lando.

Here's some trollface invasion stories I have. These are all circa 2011, I haven't been able to play DS at all since my kid was born in Feburary.

1. Invaded a dude with the Avenger covenant in Anor Londo. I drop in and see the lightning demons aggroed, heading up to The Ramp. You know the one.
I work my way over there, I get to The Ramp and the dirty sinner has 2 others engaged in jolly cooperation, and I figure I'm screwed. They're up top on that outcropping, I'm standing on the ramp. So, I throw up a Homing Soul Mass and wait with my shield up.
I see the filthy sinner and his friends swapping gear. Then they just stare at me for a while. Soulmass expires, I put up a new one. Sinner decides to make a careful advance down The Ramp. He creeps closer, closer, triggers the soul mass and tries to roll under it, rolls right off The Ramp. Mission Accomplished.

2. I get invaded in Lost Izalith. I am not prepared, at all. No spells, in a bad place, so I quickly put on my Ring of Fog and run to stand on a small rock behind 3 dinosaur asses. I wait. I see throughout the area damage numbers flying up, dude is running through the lava trying to find me. I wait. Now the Xbox Live messages start. Guy is yelling at me, challenging me, calling me names that rhyme with "bag" and "hue". I say nothing. Dude eventually finds me, but his life is very low. I kite him throughout the zone and I let the lava do the work for me. Eventually he wises up and stops running through the lava, and I stand there across a lava channel on another island and wait, emote, etc. Eventually he suicides.

3. I invade a guy in NG+ in Undead Berg. It spawns me in the tower before the Minotaur demon, and my prey hasn't triggered the barrel trap yet. So, I wait for him to trigger it. When he does, I run down behind the barrel along with my skeleton buddy. Guy has to dodge my homing soulmass and rolls right into the nook at the bottom of the stairs with the spearman. So, it's me and 2 skeletons vs the Sinner. I win easily. Xbox Live message pops up shortly after, and I don't think I got a positive rating from that guy.

4. Kiln of the first flame, I get invaded. Dude is wearing that dumb ninja ring with the giant daikatana sword and shit, I am outclassed. So, I run. I run all the way to the narrow bridges and I have a black knights aggro to me. In a fit of focused brilliance I kick each of them off the narrow bridge in sequence. Invader and knight, back to back. I felt so powerful after that! Then I died to Gwyn.

What do you mean misspend!? :P

1. Hellkite, ditto.
2. Bad points allotment, ditto - typically caused by OOH AWESOME WEAPON I MUST TRY IT
3. Have never managed to cheese Discharge, despite trying.
4. Um, does dying repeatedly on content I've breezed through earlier count? Seath, looking at you.
5. Have yet to defeat The Law Firm and Four Kings by myself.
6. My first playthrough I wore the pyro robes pretty much the entire game. Never found anything with a better mix of resistances and low weight to keep me under 25%.

This is no kind of confession! That set is awesome and recognizing that fact on your first playthrough makes you a champ.

Oh hey, I have never killed the Hellkite Dragon. And that's not in the same way as how I've never killed Priscilla because I haven't wanted to murder the poor thing for no raisin, it's because the Hellkite Dragon is hard. Every time I try, I fail. I'm just glad I stumbled on the way to not allow him to show up at all so I don't have to be reminded of my failings every time I cross that bridge.

I eventually killed that asshole out of principal. He almost made me quit the game forever when I first played it, because I saw no path forward except through him and he was clearly a giant firebreathing cockblock, so there must be a path I'm missing.

I had to ask a friend on XBL how to get past him, and he said "Just hug the right wall and run as fast as you can. You will be burned once, try to survive it."

I came back later at like SL 80 with a Moonlight Greatsword, pulled his ass with an arrow, ducked into the stairs to avoid the first breath weapon, then slashed the shit out of his foot when he landed. I remember being shocked at how few souls he yielded!

Well getting past him is no problem; all you have to do is stand in the safe place for a little bit and he'll fly out over the bridge, at which point you can run past him in complete safety and even stop to pick up the Claymore on the way. Actually killing him though... nope. Even at high levels I haven't been able to deal the damage fast enough, although I think I wrote it off mentally and never even tried it on my most powerful builds. Definitely did try it with the Obsidian Greatsword though, and was shocked when I failed.

Shit, I want to go home and play Dark Souls now.

DOOOOO IIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

The only way I've managed to kill the Hellkite Drake is with arrows. Never once in melee.

1) I almost always lose the plot with any given character anywhere between SL50-70. Something about the accumulation of souls and the lack of stuff to spend them on coupled with the loot almost always makes me drop points in weird spots.
2) I really strongly prefer Miracles to Sorcery, which makes me Objectively Wrong About Dark Souls.
3) I have to work myself up to actually doing the Catacombs vs. just skipping the entire thing with that handy shortcut.
4) I always farm for a Baldur Side Sword before having the appropriate ring. I just can't help it. I want that swag.
5) I played 200 hours of Dark Souls in less than two months when I finally started it.
6) The very first time I saw Solaire, I thought to myself "I want that armor." and so I took it off his corpse. Cheers mate.