I'm sure we've all seen player messages that are flat-out lies designed to get you killed. Most commonly, cliffs with "try jumping!", or things of that ilk. But yesterday, I got trolled harder by player messages than I have ever been trolled before. This is a somewhat late-game spoiler, nothing huge, and if you want to avoid what happened to me, read on.

In the Undead Crypt, there's a friendly NPC. But he doesn't like fire. When you come in there with a lit torch, he will warn you to put it out. However, right before I got to him, I saw several highly rated player messages that said things like "Torch needed!" "Hurrah for torch!" "Try torch!". So naturally, I whip out my torch. I approach the guy, and he tells me to put out my torch. Foolishly, I believed the player messages and kept the torch. Then he attacked me, and I had to put him down. It really bummed me out because I'd avoided killing any friendly NPCs up to that point, and I really want to get all the lore and stuff.


Share your tales of trolling messages! Whether by you, or to you.

That sucks duder.

Maybe I've just played these games too long, because I ignore all messages that contradict my knowledge of what I know about how the game works, so I have yet to be trolled by a message. For now.

How ever I have left a few troll messages myself in this one. And some actual helpful info. The troll messages are currently rated in the 500 range and the real info ones are rated at like 4 or 5. It seems everyone wants to be a dick in these games. I put one down in the shaded forest. The one with the super think fog. By a chest next to a cliff. And the fog is so thick you can't tell if there is a ledge below it or not. So I put a sign down that said "Ring ahead", Visions of down". Which is actually true, just not by jumping off the damn ledge. Going back to look at it there is always like 10 stains of people jumping off. And its rated at 540 last item I checked. But the one I put next to a well hidden item that there was no messages around when I got there, telling people to move to the left to to get it, has a rating of 4.

Whilst in the Gutter, "try jumping" got me a couple of times.

I love these. I haven't gotten too tricked by one of these yet, but there was one in the Majula mansion which said something like "hidden passage here" with a bunch of ratings and I'm pretty sure that was a lie. Spent 10 minutes hitting the wall and mashing X in front of it to no avail.

Almost walked off a ledge that I couldn't see the end of in order to read a message that said "Great view!"

I'm pretty sure I've broken some legitimate loot chests because some message said it was a trap.

Oh, yeah! I don't know for sure since I haven't verified, but I also feel this way and now I'm doubting any message that says "trap" in front of a wooden chest if there aren't a bunch of blood stains near it.

For any chest that is or you think is a trap. As soon as the animation for him pulling the lid up is complete, roll back words slightly to the left or right. You will avoid any trap in there. And if you start to see a cloud or anything red, roll back a second time. I have yet to be killed or badly harmed by a trapped chest.

The most difficult messages to ignore in these games is when it "could" be true. Most of the time people place them in spots and they're clearly not true. Every once in a while someone does it right, though.

It's is more difficult for me to tell when they aren't lieing (like when Brad was in 5-1 on demon's souls and read the message to jump down into the hay stack). Some short cuts or other things are hard to tell if they're really true so you won't know unless you actually try.

Anyone made it into the well in Brightstone Cove? Seems a perfect place for troll messages (spoilers: it doesn't kill you it's just a ridiculously difficult jump).

@fredchuckdave: Is that the one in the camp of undead soldiers? That is an actual path to treasure.

There was one that said "keep moving!" directly in front of a blind corner. Thinking there was a trap or something that was about to be sprung, I ran forward...right into a pit.

Normally, I'm pretty good at not being tricked by "try jumping" troll messages and the like, but that one got me.

Yeah, I've seen a couple of those fake "illusory wall" messages too. Some of them are referring to illusory walls that only become interactible after you use a Lockstone, but others just seem to be pure lies.

Approach everything in Dark Souls with a healthy skepticism. Even supposedly helpful messages.

Anytime a message says something like "Run straight through", I end up inching forward, keeping an eye out for reasons to start running.

I think my favorite troll messages are simple ones, like ones saying to look way down over a ledge, right where enemies are about to ambush from behind.

Bonfire ahead. In front of a fog wall. I was on my last leg and about to double back and lvl up some. Believed the lie. Boss ahead would have been more accurate. I lost my life and my souls.

I believe it was in Earthen Peak where there was a fog wall and a message said "bonfire ahead." I believed it was an absolute lie and I wasn't doing too well in terms of health, so I ignored the fog wall and continued in another direction, eventually dying rather quickly. Unfortunately, there actually was a bonfire behind the fog wall I passed and if I had trusted the message, I wouldn't have had to travel all the way back.

I think the last time I got killed by a troll message was in Dark Souls in Blighttown. There was a message written exactly where the boulders that the trolls throw land. Stop to read the message and wait for poison buildup to reduce and bam, blindsided by a boulder. I don't even remember what the message said.

I love these. The msg feature is fairly simple and limited but it adds so much to the game. In fact I think their decision to keep it limited helps immensely. Awesome and unique feature.

I don't leave troll msgs but I've left some joke msgs - absurd stuff usually. "sniper spot" on a tiny stone block and some crude hole msgs. Always my highest rated stuff.

I wrote "mimicry ahead" next to the Ring of Binding chest. I just couldn't help myself.

@tourgen: My joke message and helpful message are at almost the same ratings. I have a 21 for try woman next to the Emerald Herald and a 17 for below next to the hole on the second floor of Belfry Luna. I find it weird that my most simple message in a place on the outskirts has done as well as it has compared to a joke in the most trafficked location. Despite this I still don't know what getting my messages rated gets me.

@mosespippy: you get healed slightly. Haven't noticed anything apart from that.

That's too bad, because he is a pretty good vendor. Though... I kinda forget why. He is the only one that sells dark arrows I believe, but he also gives you a pretty sweet katana if you defeated... the boss in that area? I forget, it may be some other boss. But yeah. He also had some other decent stuff.

As for the messages, yeah it is funny. But I am too stubborn for that stuff. Whenever I read a message like that, I just put my shield up at start paying as much attention as I can, but I always want to find out myself what happens. There were also some messges saying: Not here!, lever. Or something like that. I used the lever anyway. I want to know. I always want to know.

I feel really bad because my highest rated message is an accidental troll.

It's in the Lost Giants forest, near the beginning. There's a portcullis thing that you can see an item through, in the area where the guy gives you the mansion key. I thought maybe there was a switch to open it so I put a message saying "switch?" Not really sure why, I thought maybe someone would put a message down telling me the secret. I think the most I will have achieved is making people wander around aimlessly for 20 minutes.

@fluxwavez: I wish there was some secret passage there, I thought that area was going to be another entrance to a catacombs like area but unfortunately it's just a small basement. I'm playing offline, I don't want messages to spoil secret passages an such, FROM should add an option to disable messages on online play.

Putting the message ''beating to a pulp...'' next to the stump of a tree in Huntsmans Copse always yields a lot of ratings, least from my experience. Almost sort of proud that I was able to come up with a dumb joke within the confines of the messages -- and one that doesn't involve sexual innuendos.

I also saw all of those ''use torch'' messages, but decided it against it anyway. And luckily enough gained a lot out of it! Guy sells effigies for one, but can also be summoned for the upcoming boss battle, too.

Funny, I've just arrived at the crypt, and there are four messages in a row warning me about using torches, all highly rated. I guess you weren't the only one to get tricked.

the messages before the lever right at the start of aldias keep made me so indecisive. the mixture of contradictions just completely messed with me. so good.

my highest rated message is just a direction to some treasure in the tower of flame . I guess I just put it in a good place.

I always rate messages that I find helpful, I love the system and how active it is in this game. every game should have it.

Not troll messages per se but seeing 'Visions of chest' next to Stone Trader Chloanne and later just finding a message that read 'thrust but hole' appealed to my fucking juvenile sense of humour.

Yup. Just came across this one today. I guess we'll be seeing a lot of these messages.

It made me laugh really hard and I upvoted it.

Yeap, did the same exact thing man, I saw the guy and all his guards, and was like, man this shit screams trap so hard, fuck you and had to kill them all. BUT DON"T WORRY, offer 3k souls to his gravestone and you can summon him back, donno if you gotta clear the area first though.

Haha yup I feel ya. I think I did that once. I'm with you though, I usually try and look for bloodstains instead.

I saw a sign that said "illusory wall" right in front of an illusory wall. The problem was it was right in front of it so that you couldn't hit A on the actual wall and would instead just keep hitting the sign.