Beginner Thread

@cornbredx: It's actually really easy to just run past the drakes without fighting any of them. You just run right between all of them, they'll attack with their straight line lightning breath which is easy to avoid and they're too big to follow once you go up the steps just inside. It'll probably take a couple of practice tries to see where to run but it's much easier and faster than fighting them.

@blamblam: as cornbread said, New Londo skeletors will get you the chunks you need. While the Darkroot Basin bonfire is closest, Firelink isn't much farther when using a simple shortcut and is far less dangerous. As far as weapon choice, your strength is high enough to use a pure strength weapon (manserpent greatsword is probably the best) or a C strength C dex weapon (claymore and the basic long sword are great). I think the halberd would work too. As long as the weapon matches your stats relatively well, it matters more that you're comfortable move set.

Awesome. Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to head down there to farm and see which weapon works for me. Start dumping souls into dex to catch up to strength and we'll see what happens.

So I have the dukes archive, new londo, the demon ruins, and the valley of the drakes left. A few questions

1. does the crystal golem in the dukes archive respawn? I haven't purchased the dlc yet (waiting on psn credit) and I know there's a golem in there I have to kill and get an item off of. Also, does putting the lordvessel in the firelink alter mean I can no longer warp?

2. I went to the valley of the drakes, killed everything, and all that's left is a huge door that's locked. Judging by the areas I have left, should I ignore the valley of the drakes for now? or is there a way to open the big door from within the area (don't tell me in specifics, tell me yes there's a method there, or no move on).

@narujoe93:

1.) Yes, the crystal golem will respawn. You cannot mess up and lock yourself out of the DLC; you just need to be able to get to the Duke's Archives where the golem is.

You will still be able to warp after placing the Lordvessel.

2.) There's no method for you to open that big door yet, so feel free to do other areas and come back later.

@savage: thanks :)

Well, I beat dark souls. Yaaaaaaaay.

Edit: some thoughts on the game: it's great. The combat feels great, exploration is (mostly) fun, sense of discovery is outstanding. My main issue is the reliance on dark and dingy environments throughout the adventure. To me it takes away from what makes the game great, and would much rather prefer vibrant, lush, environments that are pleasant to the eye. The dirty, dark, grungy, takes some of the enjoyment away from me because they aren't all that fun to traverse. I think there's a place for those environments, but DS1 over relies on them. I want more anor londo and less blight town. Hopefully DS2 addresses this issue.

Can anyone give me a small push in the right direction? Right now,

Am I missing something? Keep pushing in either one of those two directions, go grind souls or is there some other area I should explore? Or was I just a little to tired last night and I'm dumb for finding things so difficult?

@buffaloseven: There are multiple places you could go right now. You're correct that Sen's Fortress and Darkroot Garden are two of them. There's at least one other place you could go near Firelink Shrine. There's also a new area beyond where you fought Quelaag. I won't say which of all of these areas is "best" to do right now, but at level 40, depending on your build and gear, you have the potential to take on any of them. I'd recommend exploring as many routes as you can to collect more weapons, titanite, souls, etc. If one area feels too hard, you can try a different one and come back later.

Sen's is probably where you should go next. The fortress isn't as big a difficulty jump as it might initially seem, though the area's bonfires are pretty easy to miss. Take your time to really scout the environment and the enemies. Be ready with some ranged weaponry and plenty of arrows.

Thanks for the direction, guys. Gave it another go tonight and had a blast working through the fortress. That's a fun area! Beat the boss and the sights you see afterwards...prettiest stuff in the game so far.

Anyone have suggestions for faster weapons to use with the Zweihander? For duel-wielding or just to carry in the extra slot.

I want something which is fun to use just to switch things up. I have a shield also.

I'm levelling STR and I already have a ton of endurance and Havel's ring so I can carry pretty much anything.