Dark Souls Confessions (Spoilers Naturally)

That's one of the reasons I'm curious. Griggs clearly knows of and references Logan, but there's never a reference in return from Logan. Combined with Griggs' stealth items and the like, I tend to favor the "spy" theory with him.

You mean the thing where Siegmeyer is laying in a crumpled heap on the ground? I'm very familiar with completing his quest line and collecting the slab (the only skippable part is, fyi, either one but not both of the Sen's Fortress encounters), it's the "no you can totally save Siegmeyer and he lives happily ever after" part that I haven't seen proof of.

Gwyn is kicking my ass all over the place. It's like my shield doesn't exist. It's so bad I'm wondering if it's a bug. Iron Round Shield is supposed to stop at least something at +14 I hope? It does against everything else. Maybe it's the fire damage that gets through, I thought Flash Sweat would help. As it is, if he swings, he hits and damages me. Every time. Unless I'm rolling like a moron, then he gets me when my stamina is out. Guess I'll try summoning.

I think the 68 stability is kinda mediocre. Yes, with every swing you are going to get hurt, 72% fire damage is not enough. It took me taking a +14 Black Iron shield to have the stability I liked, the fire mitigation (90%), and my +5 robes, +5 DIS SKIRT and havels (or stone, I forget) gauntlets to get that damage down to a sliver. Only then did flash sweat stop stop his fire damage.

Mostly what makes this fight tough, IMO, is how flipping fast he moves so that you don't get an opportunity to drink some estus. A summon divides his attention and makes it so much easier. Good luck, though, outside of Solaire (once) I never got a summon to show up.

Yup, I'll have to gear up special for him. Got a BK shield drop and I'll see what kind of poise gear I have I can use. This has been my light/cloth armor guy and I managed both Sanctuary Guardian and Artorias (I cheesed Manus) solo without changing gear but now I just want to finish. Waited 20 minutes for a summon sign, didn't see one. Not sure if my port is correctly open atm either.

Ah, my bad. I misunderstood what you were saying, as I just assumed the "happy" ending was what it is in the video. You know, relatively speaking. I agree that the other is likely bullshit.

Ha! I mean yeah, I guess in Dark Souls terms there's at least some closure, so it probably has about as much right to be called "happy" as most of the other stuff that happens in the game.

It probably is. I think that everyone is just trying to finish it and they don't put their sign down. Of course once you do beat it you can't put your sign down.

Oh, the (in)humanity! I created a sorcerer and died to Taurus demon!

Learn Parry, Gwyn is susceptible to parry, and he has a big tell for it. I had trouble with him on my first build, a mostly pure DEX fighter that could not deal with his damage output until I learnt to parry his swings and take him out that way, Yo can practice parrying with the thieves down in Lower Undead Burg, or the Silver Knights in Anor Londo.

Yeah, okay. So I found him and his daughter. Not so much with the happy ending, I guess. Sorry, Seigmeyer! Clearly I should have left you down with the tentacle demons.

Nah, you did it alright. He gets to be a big damn hero at last. I mean, did you hear that battle cry of his when he charged those things? That's not the sound of a man who's sorry that he's going to his death.

I helped him with the tentacle demons and he survived, telling me how glad he was of my help and ... then he keeled over with no warning (poison, I think). It was very much a DARK SOULS moment for him, I think.

If he drops below 50% health in that fight he kills himself after. If he survives with more than 50%

There's something I don't understand about the Seigmeyer quest chain. One of the times you speak with his daughter, she says something like "I hope he doesn't go hollow. I would have to kill him again, and that's such a bother." Implying, of course, that death is no big deal and he's experienced it before. It's actually a pretty amusing line when she delivers it.

But then at the end of Seigmeyer's quest chain, his death is played up as a tragic event, with much wailing and gnashing of the teeth. (As well as a titanite slab. Woot!) So... what gives? Why the inexplicable change in tone?

I actually made it to this part on my first character but didn't realize where they went afterwards, so in my head they're just fine! :D

So I just fired up my NG character after a heated exchange with extarbags and realized that my low STR, avg DEX guy that I made into a buffing sorcerer/fast-light combat guy has, in his inventory ... the BKS, TWO! BKHs, the BK Battle Axe, a Demon's Axe and a Demon's (or Giant?) Hammer.

.... naturally my other character, the heavy weapons guy, has none of these drops.

/facepalm

Death is kind of an unresolved thing in the DS world. I suppose any 'blank' that you fill in is the answer. So many solider and hero souls around, but what made them die and not go hollow? If anything, and I'm providing my own fill in the blank answer here, is that Seigmeyer fulfilled his quest by going to the ends of Lordran and had no reason to go hollow anymore, thus real death. And his daughters tears who figured it out too late.

I always read this as her having killed him the first time he died, as a living human. He (like all of the other undead NPCs) does not have the darksign so he won't be reborn when he dies. There's some confusion here though, sounds like: "hollow" is when you lose your humanity and go insane, and it happens eventually to all undead. Being reborn again and again and again only happens to undeads that are cursed with the darksign, like you.

Well, what makes them fine is if you abandon the questline partway through. It's part of a larger theme that runs through the game, which is that a lot of the people whose lives you touch would have muddled through on their own but are instead eventually destroyed by your actions and/or your interaction with them.

Well, not everyone obviously. But you've got Siegmeyer, Logan, the Crestfallen Merchant and Knight, Quelaag's sister and probably some I'm forgetting, and if you count people who you help out of a jam initially and then help them to even worse fates either by trying to continue to help them out or just by going about your business you can add Laurentius and Sieglinde and I guess Dusk and who knows who else.

Fuck Gwyn. This has taken all the fun out of the game for me. I think I'll just step away and do something else for a few days. I'm not really interested in running off to upgrade a whole set of gear just for one last single fight and I'm just too poor a player to get him by myself as it is. I think I just passed 30 deaths in a row. Even if I know what works (basically heavy flame-resist armor with lots of poise, a big ass shield and a fire weapon) I don't have the patience to whittle him down. My best weapon against him is my Fire +9 Scythe which I'm not very fond of. Typical of me to run out of steam at the end-game boss.

So anyway, I've almost completed playing through Dark Souls plus DLC using only a mouse and keyboard. Now I might start learning how to use these new-fangled controller things everyone is raving about. Or I might not.

Parry. Parry. Parry. Parry. Dead.

The longer explanation - he has a huge parry window and a very obvious tell. I think after 30 attempts you're more than entitled to use it. I also tried to take him down in a way that didn't feel quite so cheesy but after 5 attempts I realized it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. 2 more attempts at a parrying kill - and I only really try those against the Hollows in Undead Burgh! - and he was gone.

Or you can summon Solaire. He's pretty useful for keeping him off your back when you need to heal or whatever.

Solaire, alas, got his very own sun and a katana through his throat earlier on. I'll go the parry route then. It's not a mechanic I'm overly fond of, nor is it very easy to use with this setup.

That's the great thing about parry. It works across setups about equally, apart from taking the hit to stability and using the heater shield for the slightly longer parry window. In fact, you have a big advantage in using slow, high damage weapons because why not, and you can bump up your armor to 50% as well as take advantage of the unique properties of the hornet ring to really fuck his world up. IIRC crits are absolutely magical with elemental weapons.

If you're going to parry you might as well one-shot him.

Ah. I was referring to my mouse and keyboard setup. Sorry for being unclear.

You are on the cusp of realizing that you are actually pretty good at the game and were just hobbled by the m + k.

Solaire + Crystal Homing Soulmass turns Gwyn into a "wait, were you fighting me?" kind of experience.

I suck at parrying. It'll be interesting to see what happens when I go up against Gwyn. Just need to finish Oolacile (first time ever, and very enjoyable so far) and probably kill Gwyndolin.

Apropos of nothing, I've taken out the last two dark phantoms to invade me--which is really satisfying, since I didn't survive a single one on my first playthrough. One was in the Tomb of the Giants, which is a seriously fuck-you kind of place to invade. He was standing in the pit with the large divine ember, which is a fuck-you-squared kind of place. Unfortunately for him, I'd already killed all the giant skeletons and he apparently wasn't prepared for a fair fight. I hit him over the head with my club until he stopped moving.

The second showed up in Oolacile and discovered that knockback and ledges don't mix.

The divine ember spot is actually a spawn point for darkwraiths. When invaded, it's good to scan over the bonfire (if you were near patches, for instance) in case they show up there and you can get a drop attack, or stand near the opening from the divine ember (I always switch to slumbering dragon + fog if available). Remember you can't see other people's sunlight maggots. Also, I love invading the Tomb, although I never use PvE for an advantage there.

My last few games I've tried to get Solaire's Gwyn sign to show but have been unsuccessful. What's the trick? I even entered Lost Izalith via the backdoor.

ETA: Funny enough I got him to show on my first ever NG.

I have a confession. I played Dark Souls last night after a looooooooooooong break due to being obsessed over a certain fantasy 4x game with poor graphics. (*cough* Eador *cough*) I decided to finally try the hunter SL1 run that I've talked about a couple times. I start playing and realize that I'm kinda rusty. The movement doesn't quite feel like second nature anymore, and I can't quite remember what the moves of the short sword are.* On the positive side, I was impressed all over again by the ambience and feel of the game world. Damn, Lordaran is fucking bleak.

Anyways, so I quickly go through the undead asylum, and when it comes time to fight the Asylum Demon for reals (i.e. after you've gotten your gear) I realize my timing just ain't what it used to be. Well... that, and I'm using a shitty leather shield. But mostly the problem is my timing, and I take more damage in that fight than I usually do. So much so that I actually need to drink, and that's when I realize: I don't fucking remember how to use my Estus flask. I've completely forgotten. Now if I were a brand new player I'd probably just start trying all the buttons on my controller until I drink. It's gotta be one of 'em, right? But I'm not a new player. I should know this. I'm so stunned by my ignorance that I start flailing around and the Asylum Demon flattens me with his club. Yes, the Asylum Demon killed me. I don't think I've ever died to him before. Jesus.

No... wait... I remember one time I tried killing him the first time you meet him, just to see how hard it was. Turns out it's very hard, and I did die then. But man.... never after having gotten my gear.


*BTW: my professional opinion is that the short sword fucking sucks. It's kinda like a long sword, except way worse in every conceivable way. Terrible range, not-so-great damage, looks stupid, and it makes you feel like less of a man when wielding it.

Hey also Hammett if you don't want to get the hang of parrying he goes down pretty easily to Iron Skin tanking and just smashing him two-handed with the BKH. It'll take you a few tries to time your heals correctly but it's better than trying to poke him while he chases you around the room.

Aaaawww, that's sweet, thanks. Anyway, using WASD for movement and perfectly timing Tab key presses actually IS kinda hard for me. Shift is fine, Tab ... not so much.

My Master Plan was to play through the whole game using a dex and cloth armor build with m+kb without magic just to say I'd done it. Well, I came close anyway.

I had so much fun with my sorcerer on my xbox that I rolled one on PC. I'm much more balanced with my stat usage this time around and spending my souls on stuff more than levels, or so it seems. In my xbox game when I learned that damage scaled with INT I pumped that fast. Imagine my surprise that when I used HSM that there were only 3 of them! And then I spent my Iron Golem souls on Soul Spear only to learn I need 10 more INT to use it! Gah!