So I just bought dark souls at wal mart and just finished installing it on my 360 but now I'm sort of afraid to boot it up. I have never really felt this way about a game before but there is just so much to know about this game but all I know is that you will die alot and get super frustrated with it. I sorta want to read the tips and hints for the game but I don't want to ruin the experience. I really do need to start this up because throwing away 60 bucks would be pretty dumb but I just can't bring myself to do it. Anyone else had an experience like this where a game is just so god damn intimidating? Also apologize for the block of text but I suck at writing.

don't be a pussy, man up and die.

don't be a pussy, man up and die.

People say not looking at guides is the way to play this game. I say bullshit. It is exactly the way to play this game. I never buy game guides but I bought the one for this one. It's not for hints about bosses or levels. It's because it's so easy to do or miss to do one single thing and you can ruin your whole playthrough.

As an example, if you fail to upgrade you Pyromancer's Flame to level 10 and then say the wrong thing to the guy that upgrades it when he asks you a question at a certain time, he will disappear and the next person that upgrades the flame and sells you all the best spells will never appear, making your Pyromancy track done.

This game is super auto-save, no re-dos. That is where it's truly difficult.

So I just bought dark souls at wal mart and just finished installing it on my 360 but now I'm sort of afraid to boot it up. I have never really felt this way about a game before but there is just so much to know about this game but all I know is that you will die alot and get super frustrated with it. I sorta want to read the tips and hints for the game but I don't want to ruin the experience. I really do need to start this up because throwing away 60 bucks would be pretty dumb but I just can't bring myself to do it. Anyone else had an experience like this where a game is just so god damn intimidating? Also apologize for the block of text but I suck at writing.

Don't look up guides on this game. It will ruin the whole thing. You need to figure out enemy patterns, locations, secret areas and things on your own. I'm not saying don't google something up, but playing the game with a guide by your side is just stupid. One thing that you SHOULD look up though is how the upgrading system works. Some times you only get one of something in the game and you might waste them if you want a certain weapon.  
 
Trust me, getting through some of the areas on your own without a guide is so satisfying. In some instances I only found out there were save spots in areas during my second playthrough... which made me feel really good that I was ale to beat that area without using a save :)

Well, it's pretty obvious you're into Meat Boy. If you can handle Meat Boy you can handle Dark Souls, difficulty wise. It's hard, but I never found myself frustrated with the game. While I do feel at a loss for information at times though, I find occasional glances at a guide doesn't ruin the experience for me.

Main thing to remember is that NPCs don't take kindly to friendly fire, and they can't sell you shit if they're dead.

Don't use a guide.

@McGhee said:

People say not looking at guides is the way to play this game. I say bullshit. It is exactly the way to play this game. I never buy game guides but I bought the one for this one. It's not for hints about bosses or levels. It's because it's so easy to do or miss to do one single thing and you can ruin your whole playthrough.

As an example, if you fail to upgrade you Pyromancer's Flame to level 10 and then say the wrong thing to the guy that upgrades it when he asks you a question at a certain time, he will disappear and the next person that upgrades the flame and sells you all the best spells will never appear, making your Pyromancy track done.

This game is super auto-save, no re-dos. That is where it's truly difficult.

I advise against looking at the wikis and using a guide on your first playthrough. It's far too easy to get caught up in min-maxing your build, making sure you get everything/see everything/etc. Your first playthrough, which you might not even complete the game on, should be spent taking in the world and learning the in's and outs of Dark Souls. That sense of adventure and uncertainty is really fun in my opinion. Using guides becomes less problematic later on because you pretty much know what to expect.

That pyromancy thing is wrong btw, theres other places you can upgrade your flame other than Laurentius and the requirements for Quelana to appear in Blighttown are still more or less unknown. I've run into her with a +3 glove and Laurentius still alive, just as I've been unable to find her with a +15 glove.

Don't look up guides on this game. It will ruin the whole thing. You need to figure out enemy patterns, locations, secret areas and things on your own. I'm not saying don't google something up, but playing the game with a guide by your side is just stupid. One thing that you SHOULD look up though is how the upgrading system works. Some times you only get one of in the game and you might waste them if you want a certain weapon.   Trust me, getting through some of the areas on your own without a guide is so satisfying. In some instances I only found out there were save spots in areas during my second playthrough... which made me feel really good that I was ale to beat that area without using a save :)

I played this game looking up anything I was confused about, and looked at a guide to know a good completion path to take (the best order to complete the areas in). I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game.

Have you guys played on 360? The frame rate is pretty rough without any enemies on the screen.

Have you guys played on 360? The frame rate is pretty rough without any enemies on the screen.

Let me start by saying that I'm not normally fond of games with crazy difficulty spikes where the game basically wants you to fail, but I bought Ninja Gaiden 2 and played on the hardest difficulty from day one. I got to a mini boss somewhere early(ish) into the game and threw in the towel. I stared at the cover art for months thinking that I would pick it up and give it another go, but alas my fear won out and I traded it in for something else. NG2 may not be Dark Souls, but I understand where you are coming from.

Definitely look up google about things you don't understand and this game will be a blast. All you really need is a little patience, if you take your time in each area nothing is ever that overwhelming.

Dark Souls is only frustrating if you hate dying, which is actually only a mild inconvenience most of the time. Yes, you will have to redo parts but that is all part of the learning experience.

I only started last week myself. It took me a few hours to understand how the game works and how to approach enemies, but now that I'm actually starting to get how my character works, it's awesome. Really, truly, awesome. One of the most entertaining games I've ever played.

Do check out how the upgrading systems work (for your character as well as for your gear) - I still hardly understand either of those - as well as what specific items do. I don't think reading anything else is necessary. And although you should be afraid to die, don't be too scared. You'll get wherever you want to get, eventually. It'll just cost you some souls.

How much was it at Walmart?

@benjaebe said:

@McGhee said:

People say not looking at guides is the way to play this game. I say bullshit. It is exactly the way to play this game. I never buy game guides but I bought the one for this one. It's not for hints about bosses or levels. It's because it's so easy to do or miss to do one single thing and you can ruin your whole playthrough.

As an example, if you fail to upgrade you Pyromancer's Flame to level 10 and then say the wrong thing to the guy that upgrades it when he asks you a question at a certain time, he will disappear and the next person that upgrades the flame and sells you all the best spells will never appear, making your Pyromancy track done.

This game is super auto-save, no re-dos. That is where it's truly difficult.

I advise against looking at the wikis and using a guide on your first playthrough. It's far too easy to get caught up in min-maxing your build, making sure you get everything/see everything/etc. Your first playthrough, which you might not even complete the game on, should be spent taking in the world and learning the in's and outs of Dark Souls. That sense of adventure and uncertainty is really fun in my opinion. Using guides becomes less problematic later on because you pretty much know what to expect.

That pyromancy thing is wrong btw, theres other places you can upgrade your flame other than Laurentius and the requirements for Quelana to appear in Blighttown are still more or less unknown. I've run into her with a +3 glove and Laurentius still alive, just as I've been unable to find her with a +15 glove.

From what I have read the only other person that can upgrade is Eingyi, but this just goes to what I've been saying because when I first saw him I instantly killed him without knowing he was friendly. As far as finding Quelana, the requirements for finding her were for me just like the guide says, at level 10. But you are right about the requirements in this game. They are sometimes kind of wonky.

@laserbolts: Just ignore it and it will go away.

@laserbolts said:

Have you guys played on 360? The frame rate is pretty rough without any enemies on the screen.

Only in certain points. I have it on 360. Only place it got framey was Blight town. 

People say not looking at guides is the way to play this game. I say bullshit. It is exactly the way to play this game. I never buy game guides but I bought the one for this one. It's not for hints about bosses or levels. It's because it's so easy to do or miss to do one single thing and you can ruin your whole playthrough.

As an example, if you fail to upgrade you Pyromancer's Flame to level 10 and then say the wrong thing to the guy that upgrades it when he asks you a question at a certain time, he will disappear and the next person that upgrades the flame and sells you all the best spells will never appear, making your Pyromancy track done.

This game is super auto-save, no re-dos. That is where it's truly difficult.

How much was it at Walmart?

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@laserbolts said:

Have you guys played on 360? The frame rate is pretty rough without any enemies on the screen.

Only in certain points. I have it on 360. Only place it got framey was Blight town. 

Me too. The only place it would do that is in Blighttown, when climbing the first ladder coming from the Valley of the Drakes side, or when actually walking through the swap by the tree. The game was 100% smooth in every other area. I read that both versions have framerate problems in Blighttown though. 
 
Demon's Souls got choppy on a few occasions as well.

I'll just copy+paste some of the stuff I posted in another thread recently, now edited to be basically free of any spoilers and just explaining some of the gameplay mechanics that you'll appreciate knowing about.

Humanity is used to "unhollow" yourself making co-op possible and invasions probable, it is also used once you are alive to 'Kindle' bonfires so that you get more potions when you rest there. Humanity that you carry can be lost and regained the same way that souls can. You will sometimes absorb Humanity from enemies while fighting on a level where you have yet to kill the boss, however rats also drop consumable items that will give you Humanity when used. Having Humanity on you increases the drop rate of items, as well as increase damage for most weapons or spells that have the word "chaos" in it.

There are "crystal lizards" in this game that drop rare materials, when they see you they will attempt to run away a little bit and then disappear, kill them before then. They'll keep respawning in the area until you kill them, unlike in Demon's Souls. If you see one and it runs away and disappears, stand close to where it originally spawned, quit out and reload your game and you can get the drop on it.

The special material that the lizards drop can be farmed later in the game. I think they increased the droprate for it but it still sorta sucks.

You can upgrade your armor as well as your weapons. Most upgrade materials can be farmed late game, Slabs however you need to be careful with, as only the regular variety can be farmed and even then it supposedly has a very low droprate. There is only 1 of each of the other kinds of Slab in the game. Slabs are used for the final step of some upgrades.

Fire Keeper Souls can be used to gain 5 Humanity but you want to keep them to upgrade your healing flasks. To do so, bring the soul to a Fire Keeper.

You need special items called "Embers" that you bring to blacksmiths in order to gain access to most upgrade trees, however some blacksmiths have unique upgrade paths.

Once you moved a weapon onto a specific upgrade path using "Ascension", keep upgrading it through the normal upgrade menu. To learn more about upgrading talk to the Blacksmiths.

There are 4 status effects to worry about; Poison, Toxic, Bleed and Curse. If you get attacked by an enemy that has one of these effects a gauge with an icon will show up and begin to fill. Increase the size of the gauges by increasing your resistances to these different types of status effects (Poison and Toxic have different gauges but increase based on the same resistance, I think). If you let the gauge fill the following will occur based on what the status ailment is:

Poison: You will continually lose health until the meter drains, this takes a couple of minutes waiting or you using an item or spell to cure it. The meter will not increase again while you are in a 'poisoned' state so finish off the enemy that poisoned you before you cure it, with an item or a spell, if you can.

Toxic: same effect as Poison but does more damage. Cured with a different (Rarer) item.

Bleed: A percentage of your total health will be taken off instantly, it seems close to 33%. A special item can be used before the gauge fills completely to decrease it and avoid the status effect.

Curse: You will die and respawn in a 'cursed' state. This halves your health, makes you unable to carry Humanity (from what I can tell) and enables you to attack ghosts. It can be cured with with a special item that can be bought from some vendors, or farmed from a rare enemy.

If you are cursed in an area and have a limted number of curse removal items it might be best to save them for after you have cleared the area.

If you mess up and attack an NPC you'll be able to un-aggro them by paying your soul level x 500 to a 'pardoner' that you find relatively early on. (this used to be your soul level x 2000 so no complaining!)

A few friendly NPC's look scary or even similar to other enemies, be careful who you attack and if you mess up, don't kill them. You should be able to reset anyone with the help of the 'pardoner'.

There are some NPC black phantoms in this game that will invade you at specific points if you are alive (unhollowed). Defeating them usually unlocks something. In some cases a corpse with their gear will appear at a later point or they will be made available for summon at a boss. You CANNOT encounter these phantoms if you are hollowed or once you have defeated the boss of the level.

Ok so these last ones are helpful, but might spoil a thing or two.

@laserbolts: Oh, I remember mine stuttered there too, but not during the boss fight. When I was on the balcony overlooking the courtyard with the bonfire in it, when you meet the dying soldier who saved you... it stuttered as I entered the area and that was it. I remember this because I thought "Oh shit this game better not be all choppy" when I first started and was pleasantly proven wrong. The boss fight was fine for me.

Don't be scared. My 6 year old is on NG++.

The only time I used guides was when I either threw myself at a boss several times without making a dent, or when I was at a loss for where to go.

PROTIP: If you can't beat something/an area is too hard either go farm some souls to imrpove your soul level/gear and come back later. Many of the areas/bosses can be easily overcome by gaining a few points here and there.

Also, If it has a tail, cut it off.

HotSauce, I had to look up how to beat Ceaseless Discharge. He's the easiest boss for me now.

Best advice. Only look at a guide or forum about a particular thing you get stuck on. Dont over do it. 
 
Also man up and just play it. You'll like it, the game is pretty fun. 
 
Also, yes I was afraid to play it too because of the legacy behind this developers last game and how this game was basically a follow up (spiritual successor) to that. You just gotta play it. 

I'm glad you feel this way. Fear is what is going to feed you for the next... 40 to 100 hours of gameplay. ENJOY THE SLAUGHTER.

Demon's Souls and DS are genuinely the only two games that gave me the trembles.

The 3am marathons and pinters of coffee probably didn'y help much.

Man up and die. ; )

But seriously, I was super scared of this game too. I thought I was going to get dominated at every turn and never be able to complete it (like some of those retro arcade games which take SKILL to complete). But you know what? I've had a pretty good time of it and if you too put the effort in, and adjust to the game's alternate style of play, then you too can conquer your fears!

As for exploring hints and stuff - go for it. I've seen a lot but most of it is still very sketchy and spoils hardly anything. The whole point of this game is to rely on the rest of the game's community to get you through. So do it.

Anyone know of a good source for figuring out what level you should be at for certain areas? I wanted to start helping people kill some bosses but im not sure if im too high of a level or not. I'm at level 50 and just got to anor londo. Am i overleveled? I didn't farm really at all so im not sure.

@laserbolts: I know no good sources for this but 50-60 sounds about right if you want to help people in Anor Londo.

@RockmanBionics: awesome thanks man

just use a guide for when you dont know where to go next or which weapon to upgrade or something like that. You dont need to completely follow a walkthrough or anything like that - the messages people leave on the ground help with a lot of stuff. Things aren't as cryptic as some people like to make out, but there is a lot of stuff thats designed to screw you over, but thats kind of half the fun.

Coming from a guy with a Super Meat Boy picture...

@NoobSauceG7: I only managed to beat meet boy light world and cotton alley. Just because i have that as my picture doesnt mean im a crazy gaming god or something. I just really like meat boy and couldnt be bothered changing it.

@WildFloyd: I refuse to use a guide as often as possible i only used it once and that was to find out where to go next. I also watched a youtube video for a trategy on how to beat the big wolf sword dude. Turns out i should have went with pyromancy because the game looks retarded easy if you use it.

@laserbolts: Hehe yeah, after seeing how bosses can be done with pyro on youtube i kind wish i'd gone with that, though i am enjoying playing a thief with curved swords and shield.

Dark Souls made me more terrified of heights than any other game I've played.

@SpaceRunaway: yeah not sure if you got to the iron golem but man i fell off of that shit so many times.

The game is not hard. There, I said it. It really isn't. You will die but that'll usually only be because you're playing impatient or you forget to do a certain thing. The key to the game is to never ever push your luck.

Super Meat Boy is a very hard game, Dark Souls is just one that punishes you for your impatience.

@SpaceRunaway: ahh yeah i think i know what part you are talking about. I just got sucked into a painting though so im not sure what horrible things await me in here.

@laserbolts: Oh god. The painting. Super light spoiler that you probably could have guessed but at the end of the painting you have to fight something, but are given the chance to leave the painting without fighting. If you decide to fight, there's no undoing that choice...it's a pretty challenging fight but doable. Choose wisely and good luck! :)

@C0V3RT: thanks for the tip but i will not leave without killing the boss at the end.