You Have Died - Lets Play Dark Souls

You missed summoning the SunBro for this fight...that may have done in the quest chain iirc.

I actually did check on that one before, and the wikis I looked at make it seem like summoning him is never a requirement for his chain.

So, before I enter Blighttown, I remember that I skipped over a bit of the Depths, so I backtrack a bit to take care of it.

I'm walking through the sewer and I'm aware that there are slimes on the ceiling that fall from the ceiling and try to eat you.

Doesn't matter.



I get too close anyway and become slime food.



You Died 23 Times.

I try again and encunter Laurentius of the Great Swamp. He was trapped in a barrel, apparently waiting to become food for an undead butcher. He's a pyromancer who will meet me back at Firelink Shrine.



That's the only thing of note that I missed, so it's on to Blighttown. I go down what looks to be a giant abandoned well, or part of the sewer system.



I encounter an ogre-looking guy who carriers a giant club. The club somehow does poison damage, and it really hurts if you get hit with it. He's fairly slow, but he can take a beating. (I apologize for the pictures - all the monsters seem to blend into the background in this area)



I kill him and enter the Blighttown city limits.



One of the most annoying things about Blighttown is the guys with blowguns. The blowguns do toxic damage, which is even more lethal than poison. Getting hit by one or two is generally a death sentence unless you use an item to cure the poison.



Fortunately, the developers aren't quite as sadistic as some people think, and if you kill a blowgun guy, he never respawns.

I continue on, and come to an area of scaffolding, platforms, and ladders. It's a long way to the bottom.



A short ways down there's a bonfire, but I'm nowhere near making it to the bottom.



So I get the bright idea that I can make this leap. It doesn't look that bad.



It's pretty bad.



You Died 24 Times.

I try again.Turns out it's either impossible or beyond my abilities.



You Died 25 Times.

A brief note here. I had the well-intentioned idea of recording every death in some detail, and posting the YOU DIED screenshot after every one. Blighttown made that a bit infeasible and probably not enjoyable for either me or the reader to do so. So, I'll do my best, but some things will be condensed a bit.

I die one more time trying to jump across and give up.

You Died 26 Times.

So the main enemy on the scaffolding are these emaciated undead guys. They're pretty harmless on their own, but they use the ladders to show up above and below you, in packs of two or three. If you rush it's easy to get swarmed. And they have a move where they jump on your head and eat your brain if you aren't careful.



You Died 27 Times.

There's also a pair of hell hounds, which are just red pallet-shifted dogs who breathe fire. I never have too much problem with them, and apparently failed to take a screenshot. Just imagine a red dog breathing fire.

Exploring for treasure among the platforms, I die 5 more times to packs of undead, falling off of things, and an ogre who guards a passageway near the bottom. Nothing too exciting.



You Died 32 Times.

I also come across this thing.



It's a squid-looking things guarding a passageway, and it has sharp legs. I throw some fireballs at it, but get too close and it kicks me down the hole. I can't find the screenshot for this death, but imagine me falling a great distance.

You Died 33 Times.

So, remember this view?



I decide to go back up a bit and grab that treasure. You need to get a running start, and jump off the tip of that plank sticking out.



I fail.

You Died 34 Times.

I die once more, then realize I'd jump farther if I stripped off my armor. I still die three times more after that.

You Died 38 Times.

Finally, I make the jump and stick the landing. My reward? A really sweet katana for dexterity-based characters – a paperweight for me.



I kinda knew what it was going to be, but I wanted to get it anyway. Along the way I do pick up the somewhat useful Shadow Gear. It gives a good amount of poison resist.



And it makes you look like an assassin. Keeping the Balder Leggings doesn't help the look much, though.



I find an Eagle Shield. If I recall correctly, it's a very solid shield for this point in the game. I keep the Spider Shield for the poison resist for now, though.



My next screenshots in the folder are six YOU DIED screens, so I guess there are six more garden-variety deaths trying to make it to the bottom of Blighttown. Oh, here's a hellhound.



You Died 44 Times.

So, finally I'm close to the bottom. I know this because I'm encountering giant bugs who spit fire. They can fly, but they're fat, slow, and prefer being on the ground, so they're easy to deal with.



Finally! I make it to the ground.



Fortunately, I know where the next bonfire is. If you don't, you better pray you pick the right direction because there's nothing worse than thinking you've made it and then dying in the poison swamp and having to do it again.

Hopefully there are still a few people reading who aren't intimately familiar with Dark Souls mechanics, because I'm about to explain a couple. You can either get humanity from items or from killing monsters. At a bonfire you can use this humanity to stop being a creepy undead guy and become human.



Look how sexy I look now (those Balder Leggings manage to look even worse now – I should probably put on some pants)



So anyway. When you are human, in addition to opening up co-op potential, other players can invade your game. Usually they are better than you and kill you, but not always. There are certain spots in the world where the game fakes an invasion and sends an NPC invader to attack you. In this case it's Maneater Mildred.



She's scantily clad and wields a giant meat cleaver. Fortunately, if she misses a swing she's open to an attack or two.



I kill her...



...and take her treasure.



You may have noticed some mosquitoes in one of the last pictures. They drive some people crazy, but they're really one of your least worries in blighttown. They constantly respawn, and can cause bleeding or something, but they're easily dispatched with an overhead swing.

A more significant annoyance is that the bottom of Blighttown is filled with a poisonous swamp. It slows you down and eventually poisons you. The poison does damage over time until you cure it with an item or spell (which I don't have) or let it run it's course and heal through it.

I push through the swamp and come to an elevator of sorts up a wooden structure.



On this structure I find a crimson light armor set.



I will shortly switch to the crimson waistcloth because it has ridiculous defense for how light it is.

Somewhere along the line I fall off the structure.



You Died 45 Times.

I climb up again, and enter a chamber filled with the blowgun guys and hellhounds.



I manage to clear it out without taking a lethal dart to the neck. I'm rewarded with a Fire Keeper Soul, which I can eventually use to upgrade my Estus Flasks (healing potions).



I return to the bonfire and gear up for the upcoming boss fight. I stack as much fire resist as I can, and sadly my most resistant shield is still the Spider Shield.



Check out my skirt.



I head to a mound of spiderwebs and egg sacks. Inside are these little piles of eggs with a body underneath. They move around slowly and can attack you if you get too close. If you attack them, about ten worms jump out and attack you. So I don't do that.



I enter the lair of Quelaag the Chaos Witch.

She's a scary spider...



..with a human torso.



In this game chaos magic is fire magic, so she's immune to fire, wields flames as swords and spears, and her spider can spew lava puddles onto the ground. She can also charge up and explode, which at this point, pretty much kills me in one shot if I stick around.



My weapon is a bit underpowered at this point in the game and she's immune to my pyromancy. I run around to her butt while the spider is spewing lava and get a few hits in, but they don't do a whole lot of damage. She gets me once with her fire spear and a couple times with her explosion. I never manage to take off more than half her life.



You Died 48 Times.

I decide to call it a night and think the fight over a bit.

Spoiler: I kill her in the next update, but thanks for any advice you were going to offer here or did offer in the Dark Souls thread. I also grabbed some better Quelaag screenshots so those will be in the next update too.

6 hours 9 minutes played.
You Died 48 Times.
One death per 8 minutes.

Gargoyle halberd! Gargoyle halberd!

You should give the ember to the blacksmith and play the upgrade game...

Yeah, Blighttown will do that to ya...

I'm sure someone in the pro-forum can tell you how blightown is easy if you do xyz, but yeah, I smirked when I saw you take the depths entrance into blighttown knowing that there were a ton of deaths to come.

Alright, I'll give it a shot next time I get some souls. I spent all mine on the Forest Crest and the Greataxe. The Greataxe is... interesting. I definitely don't have the hang of it yet.

I return to give Quelaag another shot. If I become human, I can summon Maneater Mildred to help me out. I'd rather not have to backtrack and upgrade equipment, so that sounds like a plan.

Along the way were some ogres with boulders, but they're easy enough to avoid.



And here's a shot of the outside of the spider mound.



And in this one, you can see the guy stuck under the pile of eggs. He seems to be begging for mercy.



I make it to the door and forget that I had to have turned human at the bonfire. I decide to try Quelaag anyway. Sometimes if you're getting frustrated, just sleeping on it can seriously boost performance.



I realize that by running too far behind her, I was missing the explosion tell (she leans down over the spider). I do a lot better, but I still die.



You Died 49 Times.

I become human and head back to the door.



I summon Maneater Mildred, the dark spirit I recently killed. For whatever reason, now she's ready to help me out.



She may be scantily clad, but you have to give From Software some credit for trying to make at least a semi-realistic body type for a female warrior. The arms could be a bit more muscular since she swings a giant meat cleaver, but that's a minor complaint.



I return to Quelaag. There's one close call where I think I died near the end, but I survive with a sliver of life and achieve victory. The Maneater is a big help.



It's the second bell!



I pull the lever to ring it.



It rings out across the land.



The bells wake up a giant, who pulls on a chain to open up a gate.



It looks to be near the Undead Church.



I use the souls I got from killing Quelaag to level up a few times.



I decide to gradually push strength up to be able to eventually one-hand the Greataxe and use the Dragon King Axe.

I climb back up the wooden structure to leave Blighttown.



Bye, Blighttown! I wish I didn't ever have to come back, but sadly I do.

I see two Ogres in the passageway out.



I don't want to fight two Ogres at once, so I just run by. Running blindly is usually a good way to die, but I think the exit isn't far past them.

I pop out near the New Londo Ruins, and the Ogres stop chasing.



Spooky. Nearby I find Rickert of Vinheim.



He's a magic smith who doesn't mind hanging out in his little room forever, now that he's become undead. He does seem a bit bored. You can get to him very early in the game, and if you want to use sorcery it's a good idea to do so since he sells a few spells.

I leave Rickert and head topside.



I pop up in the Firelink Shrine. Another NPC you can encounter early on is the Fire Keeper, right below the starting bonfire. I never went down to see her, and now she's dead. All those things I wanted to say to her, and I'll never have the chance.

So I loot her corpse.



The only thing of note is the Black Eye Orb

Mystical orb found on a Keeper's corpse. Invade the world of the murderer of a Fire Keeper, to defeat the perpetrator and reclaim the soul of the Fire Keeper. The Black Eye keeps constant watch on the city of the Gods, Anor Londo.

It doesn't do anything now, so maybe when we get to Anor Londo something will happen.

I talk to my old buddy who hangs out near the Firelink bonfire.



He says there's some kind of stinky monster that recently popped up nearby. He recommends I do something about it.

With the Fire Keeper dead, the bonfire doesn't work. Only a few bonfires have a Fire Keeper, and they give out extra healing potions. I haven't stopped at a bonfire since Blighttown, so if I die before I find one, I go all the way back there.



Sitting nearby is my pyromancy buddy, Laurentius. I spent all my souls, so I just say hi for now.



I meet the aforementioned stinky monster.



Finally, we learn a bit of the plot. Kingseeker Frampt is a primordial serpent and a friend of Lord Gwynn. I have been chosen to succeed Lord Gwynn, link the fire, cast away the dark, and remove the curse of the Undead. I'm not sure what's wrong with Lord Gwynn, but removing the curse of the Undead sounds good. I need to head to Anor Londo via Sen's Fortress, a deadly house of traps. (Yes, that's seriously what a huge plot revelation looks like in Dark Souls)

Griggs of Vinheim is here too, but I don't have much to say to him. He tells me that his teacher Logan is around somewhere, so I'll keep that in mind.



When I walk by the Priest guy (Petrus of Thorolund), his friends have shown up.



I talk to the woman he was waiting for, Rhea of Thorolund. She's on a mission and doesn't have time to talk. Fine.

I go back to Andre, the blacksmith and give him my Large Ember.



This allows me to upgrade weapons to +10. I was going to upgrade a bunch of stuff, but then I saw this for sale.



It opens a door in Darkroot Garden. I don't really need it, but I'm here and after using all my +soul items, I have the money. I won't have enough money left over to do much upgrading, but I buy the big shiny thing anyway. I'm sure everyone has done something similar, so don't judge me.

Now I need to find money for weapon upgrades. The Darkroot Garden is close and unexplored – let's go!



First we have to deal with this guy. He can shoot lightning at range. If you get close, he slowly scoots around on his butt and swings his scepter in a semicircle. Not too intimidating, but he also makes up for his lack of mobility with the ability to jump onto your head. The room is filled with stones and other objects to hide behind, so he would be easy enough to kill at range. I go into melee range, he manages to jump onto my head once, but other than that the fight goes smoothly and I win.

On to Darkroot Garden.



This last update was quicker to play through than to write up, so the update on deaths and time played is going to wait until the next one. I have died 49 times to date. I did give the gargoyle halberd a trial run, and briefly played with the Claymore, so my thoughts on those will be coming up.

That's actually really cool.

I enter the Darkroot Garden. The most plentiful monster you'll find here is a bush with arms and legs.



They're mostly harmless on their own, but they have a lot of range on their melee attack, so they can be a pain in large numbers.

I kill a few and come across a stone structure with a magically sealed gate.



Next to the structure is this message, left by a helpful player.



I hit the wall and walk through.



I continue down the path and find a tree that looks a bit out of place.



I hack it a bit and it disappears.



I continue on and see a large suit of armor lying on the ground.



When I approach it wakes up and attacks. It's very slow, but it swings surprisingly quickly and it can cast a spell on you to slow you down and prevent you from rolling. Trying to roll while under this spell makes your character stand there and shake his head for a second. As long as you don't forget and try to roll, these guys aren't so bad.

I kill him and find the Wolf Ring.



It boosts poise, which helps to keep you from falling over if you get hit by something big. I put it on.

I find the elite knight armor, which is heavy but has good physical defense and pretty good poise.



It's a bit too heavy for me right now.

I continue on and find another stone structure. I'm still in human form and I find a summon sign for Witch Beatrice hidden behind a shrubbery.



She can help me against the boss, the Moonlight Butterfly. I don't have full life and I'm out of Estus flasks. I'm a bit overpowered for this area, so I decide to give the boss a shot. It should be pretty easy.



It is, but it isn't that easy.



You Died 50 Times.

I go back and try again. The Moonlight Butterfly floats in the air and fires magical beams at you in a series of different patterns. You can snipe him with spells or missile weapons, or if you wait around enough, he'll get tired and land. You can then proceed to whack him in the head repeatedly. He'll charge up and cause an explosion, so you have to know when to get out.

Beatrice will cast spells at him while he's flying, and they do a serious amount of damage, so I just try to stay out of the way and hit him a few times when he lands.

This time, the fight is pretty easy.



He drops his soul.



I head up a tower behind him. There's a chest and a smith who's been turned to stone next to it. I wonder what happened to him.



Inside are a key, a Divine Ember (for smithing Divine weapons), and a homeward bone.

I now have a decent amount of souls so I head back to the smith.



You can see that the greataxe does significantly more damage than the battle axe. I upgrade it to +7 and decide to give it a shot.

Near Andre is the gate that the giant raised – the gate into Sen's Fortress. It's guarded by a couple of snakemen. They're probably the toughest monster I've faced yet and I'm using a weapon I'm not familiar with. I kill them, but I use up most of my Estus Flasks.

Briefly, on the greataxe. I'm not strong enough to use it one-handed, so if I accidentally try to swing it with one hand, it will go into a really slow, awkward swing animation that hits for almost no damage. I can still swap to a shield and hold the greataxe in one hand no problem, and given how short the range is on it, it seems useful to have a shield up when I'm in close. To swing, I have to switch back to a two-handed stance, and even then the swing is pretty slow. It has a decent overhead chop and a lateral swing that both do good damage, but they're both slow. I'll figure it out.

I continue on, and there's a platform with a bunch of blades swinging over it.



I make it by, go up some stairs, and encounter another snakeman. It's a narrow area, I'm not used to the greataxe, and he kills me.



You Died 51 Times.

I totally failed at taking screenshots of the snakemen, but we'll be back.

I decide to try something a bit easier to practice with the greataxe. I head to Darkroot Basin, located down a winding path from Darkroot Garden.



You Died 51 Times.
7 hours 26 minutes played.
One death per 9 minutes.

BTW, thanks for this LP. I got this game cheap but never had the free time commitment to actually play it. This actually works better, because it's made me realize that I just don't have the time or patience to play this game.

Ironically this LP puts me off ever playing Dark Souls because it'd ruin Skyrim's non-existant combat for me and damnit I will finish that game!

Someday.

I head down the path to the Darkroot Basin and come across a black knight wielding a halberd.



I kill him, but the halberd doesn't drop as loot. I guess it broke.

He's guarding a bonfire, which I use.



I continue along, and come across some crystal golems. They're slow, but have a leap attack and ground smash.



Next I find the bottom of a stone tower and a door. I go inside.



It's Havel the Rock!



He has a giant shield, but he's a bit faster than the last guy with the giant shield. He isn't that hard to stay behind...



...but unless you've been stacking vitality, one mistake is usually death from a giant club smashed on your head.



You Died 52 Times.

You can cheese him through the door, but I fight him up close like a real hero.



You Died 53 Times.

I switch clothes, thinking a change of wardrobe can bring a change in results.



Third time's the charm, and I kill him and grab Havel's Ring.



It boosts my maximum equipped load by 50%, letting me equip much heavier weapons and armor than I normally would. I throw on some pieces of elite knight armor (the skirt stays because it's really good) and continue.

There are some water blasts being shot from a big lake down the way. Let's see where those are coming from.



Oh, it's a giant hydra.



And he's sitting way out in the water. What am I going to do?



Oh, that.

You Died 54 Times.

I quickly realize my mistake and head back. If you stand on land, he can shoot water blasts at you, but if you wade into the shallow water they go over your head (I guess hydras have trouble spitting at stuff directly in front of them). If you wade too far out, you fall off a steep drop-off and drown. Undead can't swim.



Once I'm in a bit closer, the hydra starts lunging his heads at me. They're surprisingly easy to block and cause very little knock back when blocked. It's a little bit implausible, but if the hydra wants to halfheartedly thrust his necks out into easily-choppable positions, I really shouldn't complain.



The greataxe was born for the task of chopping off hydra heads, and soon there are only a few left.



I finish all of them and am reward with a dragon scale (for upgrading things like the dragon king axe) and a dusk crown ring. I forgot to read the description of the dusk crown ring, but the wiki says it lets you cast twice as many spells but halves your life. Ouch.



I head to the area behind the hydra and there are notes saying there's supposed to be a special golem here (and I remember one being here before), but he's out to lunch or something. We'll come back another time.



I climb a ladder and cross a bridge over an unattractive waterfall.



I pop up in a group of shrubbery monsters.



These guys are a lot tougher in the first part of Darkroot Garden. I get surrounded and die.



You Died 55 Times.

I want my 11,000 souls back (that was the main reason I came here in the first place), so I had back to retrieve my corpse. I grab it, but shortly afterwards fall victim to a shrubbery monster move I haven't mentioned yet.



They're apparently carnivorous and like to eat undead heads.



You Died 56 Times.

I'm a bit more careful this time, and the rescue operation is successful. I decide to stop pushing ahead and head back to Andre. Along the way is a Crystal Gecko. They run away as soon as they notice you, so you have to be quick. I saw this one, ran up to it, and took a really slow, clumsy swing at it with the greataxe. 4 damage. Noooo, I was using it in one hand!!! I curse myself, but notice that the hit did at least flip the lizard over and stun him for a bit. I switch to the proper grip and end his life.



He drops some high-end upgrade materials.

I make it back to the bonfire and level up dexterity a couple of times.



Why? To try out the Gargoyle Halberd.



I level it up to +5 and head back to Darkroot Garden to give it a try. I use the Crest of Artorias to break the seal on the locked door.



It's filled with little humanoid guys.



I run the wrong way and pull too many.



You Died 57 Times.

Fortunately the bonfire is literally right next door.

There are some shadowy guys who don't respawn, a sorcerer, a priest, some thieves, and a couple warriors.



I die one more time, but after that I've pretty much got them figured out.



You Died 58 Times.

Thoughts on the Gargoyle Halberd. Like Eightball says, it's a fantastic weapon. Good range, can be used in one hand or two. The normal attack is a fairly quick swing straight ahead that can be comboed four or five times. The strong attack is a sweep that hits a wide arc in front of you. Easy to use, decent damage, what's not to like? I'm going to give the greataxe some more time, but the gargoyle halberd is definitely a solid option.

Oh, and the humanoids in this area give a good amount of souls on their death. I easily make back the price of the Crest I used to open the door. You can quickly farm this area by pulling a bunch of them, hiding by the door, and having the slightly wonky pathing AI make them run over your head and into a hole. I'm not going to do that right now, but nobody would judge you if you did.

So I get past them and come across a cat sitting in a window. It's Alvina of the Darkroot Wood.



Definitely shades of Alice in Wonderland. She tells me this:

Is it not so that thou art new.
Thou fared well to find me.
But cometh thee not for the grave of Sir Artorias?
My advice true, forget this!
The legend of Artorias art none but a fabrication.
… Traversing the dark? 'Tis but a fairy tale.
Have thine own respect, go not yonder knocking for nothing, I say!

I then get the option to say Yes or No. Was there even a question there? I get confused and say No. Apparently that's the wrong answer.



I can be friends with her again if I visit the priest in the Undead Church and have him absolve my sins, but that's expensive. We'll probably take care of that later.

I decide to try out the Claymore for a bit.



It's a solid, if basic weapon. Good damage, decent range, decent speed, solid moveset. I kill a few undead warriors and put it away.

I upgrade my crimson skirt because it's awesome...



...and my pyromancy flame so my spells will do more damage.



I'm still not quite ready for Sen's Fortress, so let's go back to the Undead Asylum. Back at Firelink Shrine, I see the bird that brought me here.



It takes me a few tries but I roll onto the structure that he's on.



I go to his nest and curl up like a ball. This does not sound like a useful thing to do, but it is. The bird flies up and carries me back to the Northern Undead Asylum.



You Died 58 Times.
8 hours 38 minutes played.
One Death Per 9 Minutes.

I liked your post just so I could unlike it.

:P

JOIN USSSSSSS

Actually, I've already read 2 or maybe 3 LPs that convinced me to buy and play the games they discussed. Dragon Age II, XCom and ... DER OMSI BUS SIMULATOR (from the Bus Sim thread). But yes, many others (Gnomoria, Towns) I'd just rather read...

This one though, this one's a keeper.

If you start with the Master Key, you can take a different route into Blighttown that would alleviate some of the pain there, and you can summon other players to help you on any of the bosses you get stuck on, so those things would be slightly less frustrating than in my Let's Play.

Your learning curve would be steeper, though, but once you made it through the initial difficulty (say, beating the first major boss, Taurus Demon), I don't think it would be that bad. I've died a lot, but the only really frustrating places were Twin Gargoyles (which is ridiculously easy if you summon NPC or player help or use a lightning resin) and upper Blighttown (which you can skip and come back to later if you want the items). Most areas have tricks that let you avoid some of the frustration, so asking for advice is always a good idea.

You can get to Twin Gargoyles in a few hours (I beat them in 2 hours 40 minutes, so maybe 4 hours for a new player), and by the time you beat them imo you'd have a pretty good idea of whether or not the game is for you.

And on a completely unrelated note, I started a character who won't be leveling up at all (pyromancers are the only ones who start at Soul Level 1, so it's another one of those) since I'm spending more time writing than playing and I wanted to take a break from writing without getting too far ahead on this character. I beat Capra Demon in under 2 hours so it's easy to see that even with a self-imposed handicap, once you get the hang of things the game gets a whole lot easier.

Pernicious caitiff? The cat is Shakespearean? Lol!

Also, I expect your You Died counter to accelerate again with Sen's Funhouse! Yay!

Slightly off-topic from all the "You Died" action here, but I'll just point you in the direction of a recommendation I made to Mirriam re: making Skyrim's combat possibly suck less (I am, admittedly, assuming you play Skyrim on PC).

Bear in mind that the mod I mention in that post may very well swing the combat from incredibly easy to 'Oh god, make the hurting stop', so...

Anyhow, back on topic... Hanacker, I can't wait to see how ya do in the Undead Asylum 2: Electric Boogaloo. This should be entertaining...

Loving the LP so far.

Thanks a ton, EruditeDragon, now the Civil War questline seems like it could be fun. Once I get around to beating some dragon ass, I'll get going on it. :)

...Hmm... possible Skyrim LP, perhaps? We had one, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside. Certainly wouldn't mind reading another...

Perhaps in the future. I have another presently in the works...

So, I'm back at the Northern Undead Asylum. The bonfire isn't far and the monsters in the way aren't very tough. I'm low on life and out of Estus Flasks, but this should be easy. All I have to do is make it through this door.



I get stuck on the edge and hit in the back.



You Died 59 Times.

It's a bit of a hike, but I make it back.

I head back to the room near the beginning where the dying guy told me to ring the bells. He's gone hollow, which is basically where you lose your mind and become a monster.



I'm forced to kill him. I grab his Crest Shield.



A couple black knights have shown up, and they're both in narrow hallways.



It makes the fights tougher, but I prevail.



Oh, and a quick note on the greataxe. The black knights I can kill with circle strafing and pyromancy, but I've found a move that works great for general usage. If you hop backwards and press the button to strike, you do a quick charge attack. The charge up takes a bit, but the actual swing is quicker than a standing attack. It works very well for quick guys without a lot of health.

I find a peculiar doll.



A strange doll in strange dress. There once was an abomination who had no place in this world. She clutched this doll tightly, and eventually was drawn into a cold and lonely painted world.

Creepy, but not very informative about why I picked this up.

I come to a lock door, search all over for the key, give up, and find on the internet that it was on top of a building near the Firelink Shrine. I saw that treasure before but figured I'd pick it up later.

When I get back to Firelink Shrine, my buddy is back.



It seems that the girl he was with ditched him. Poor guy. I know the feeling...

I grab the key and head back to the Asylum.



There's a Rusted Iron Ring behind the door.



This lets you walk through shallow water or swamps at the same speed you walk on land. Very useful in Blighttown.

I head back to the room where Asylum Demon used to be and the floor falls in.



It's Stray Demon!



I took a bunch of screenshots, but somehow I never managed to get one with his head in it. He has a giant club that can cause explosions, and he can fly short distances and land on you. You always start the fight with less than full life from the fall, and if you don't move fast he will swing his club and launch an explosion blast at you, and you will die.

I avoid that initial death, but I do die.



You Died 60 Times.

He has two blast attacks – one where he swings his club and hits a large area in front of him, and another where he plops his butt down, drives his club into the ground, and blasts a smaller area (I think, I tried not to stand in front of him). Both blasts can hit the sides and slightly behind him, so you really need to sprint to get out of the way if you're in the wrong position. Every once in a while he takes a quick pivot, and gets the swing off surprisingly fast, and that's the one that usually catches me.



You Died 61 Times.

I die 8 times in all. This one was the most painful.



You Died 67 Times.

I had a great rhythm going. Circle strafe behind him, wait for him to use a blast, do a running greataxe attack after it's clear (the greataxe does great damage in a single hit and you don't have time to get in many, so it was working well), get out, and either keep circle strafing behind him, or run away from him if he flies up and does a butt slam. I got him down to a small amount of life while I was still at full life. He flies up, I try to get out of the way, but for whatever reason I'm not quick enough and the middle of his butt lands directly on my head. Dead.

At this point, I had his pattern down and it was just a matter of execution.



Victory.



He drops 20,000 souls and a Titanite Slab, which eventually lets you upgrade your weapons all the way to +15.



I go outside and find Snuggly the Crow's nest.



She wants warm and fuzzies. You can drop an item, exit the game, come back, and she'll have traded it for something more valuable. She only takes certain items, but fortunately she'll tell you if it's something she doesn't want. She'll only make a trade for any single item once. I get some twinkling titanite and some other upgrade materials.



I decide to stop for now. There are four places I haven't completely explored that are available right now – Blighttown and the two adjacent areas, Darkroot Garden, the Catacombs, and Sen's Fortress. The other three I have to visit later regardless, so Sen's makes the most sense to tackle next.

You Died 67 Times.
9 hours 22 minutes played.
One Death Per 8 Minutes.

So we head into the infamous Sen's Fortress, a den of traps and snake men.



My hop back, jump forward and swing knocks the snakemen down and then a swing while they're getting up finishes them. I don't have the timing down perfect so sometimes I take a hit while I'm jumping forward, but I kill them with no major problems.



Sen's Fortress is full of narrow bridges. This one has a guy on it, and another snake shooting lightning bolts.



I rush him and kill him, and avoid the lightning.

Sen's Fortress is also full of swinging axes.



They hurt, but the worse part is they knock you off the bridge. This bridge has a lightning shooting guy standing at the end so I switch to the Eagle Shield, which has the best lightning resistance of anything I have.



I rush across and kill the lightning snake. I think the lightning ones are female and the sword ones are male but I could be wrong.



Sen's Fortress is also full of pressure plates that activate arrow traps. They shoot out of square holes in the walls.



Another favorite trap of Sen's is giant rolling balls.



They roll constantly down set paths. I wait for a break in the balls and run down the hill. I kill two snakemen and meet Siegmeyer of Catarina.



Mmm…mmm…
Mm! Oh-hoh!
Forgive me.. I was absorbed in thought.
I am Siegmeyer of Catarina
Quite honestly, I have run flat up against a wall.
…Or, a ball, to be precise.
…I'm afraid I'm a bit too plump to be outrunning those things
so here I sit in quite a pickle.
Weighing my options, so to speak!
Hah hah hah hah!

The poor fat guy is stuck down here. I'll look for a way to help him. I avoid the balls and head back up the hill.



I find a ring that boosts physical resistance.



The inside of the fortress is filled with rolling balls too.



They fall down holes like these and go somewhere.



There are also treasure chests that stand up and try to eat you.



I find the world-famous lightning spear. Generally your first source of consistent lightning damage. A good mid-game weapon, but eventually you can upgrade other weapons to do lightning damage.



I come to an elevator. Something doesn't look right here.



I get off midway. I don't want to know what's at the top that caused that blood stain.

I reach the source of the balls.



They come out of the ceiling and go down one of four paths. There's a lever you can push to change which way. Maybe this could help my buddy Siegmeyer.

I come across a whole mess of arrow traps.



The key for Sen's Fortress (and most of Dark Souls) is to take it slow through areas you aren't familiar with.

I find a hole in the ground with a helpful note.



It may be true, but I'm not going to find out right now.

I see a lightning snake up the stairs.



I kill her and come to a very narrow bridge with more axe traps. And what is this off to the left?



Another lightning snake just waiting to knock me off. I shoot her with my crossbow and realize I haven't upgraded that thing in a while (it's +2). She falls forward into the hole (and eventually dies) before I can kill her.

These four axes sure look like you have to try to run through all four at once.



If you try that, you'll probably die. There's actually room to stand between #2 and #3. I make it to the top of Sen's Fortress.



That golem up there is the one that drops balls into the room with the lever. He seems like a nice enough guy.

This one, not so much.



He hurls down jars of flaming death. I thought I was standing out of the way, but get caught in one and drink my last potion. I better find a bonfire soon. Fortunately I know where one is.



In general, I think you want to minimize your use of guides during your first playthrough until you reach areas that are too frustrating. Popping out of the deathtrap that is Sen's Fortress desperate to find a bonfire, but not seeing any obvious ones is a fair time to consult one, in my opinion. I drop down and light it.



I played a tiny bit, more but this looks like a good break point for this update. Didn't think I'd make it to the first Sen's bonfire without a death.

You Died 67 Times.
9 hours 53 minutes played.
One Death Per 9 Minutes.

You've figured out the key to doing well in Dark Souls, Hanacker - patience and persistence. So long as you don't get enraged about dying, so long as you take it in stride and keep learning from every death, you'll absolutely be able to master this game. I've got no doubt whatsoever that you can beat it.

Tarkus! Tarkus! Tarkus!

I'm also impressed you got through Sen's without a death. I know you played it previously so you knew about the traps beforehand, but even still...it's a bitch of a place. Did you fully drain it of treasure or just speed run it?

I didn't intentionally speed run it - the place is a confusing maze and I just kept going forward and up. My next move is going to be to backtrack and pick up the stuff I missed (there's the whole basement area, I recall there being a second mimic somewhere, I think I need to talk to Siegmeyer again, and there's Big Hat Logan, right?). It's so much easier when I don't have to worry about losing progress when I die, though.

Also, I had no idea about Tarkus. Huh.

Tarkus is probably the best NPC summons in non NG. He's hilarious...I think in one of my games he beat the boss by himself.

And yeah, you do have to get Big Hat Logan. I hate the basement though just due to the movement speed issues. Thinking on that, does the rust ring work down there?

Yes it does.

I've never been in the basement. o_0

Maybe that should go in the confessions thread. :)

I finally managed to get rid of all the pesky rats in the basement recently.

As you'll see in my next update, you aren't missing much. Fuck that place.