OK - Just bought Dark Souls - What do I need to know?

Just keep smough between yourself and ornstein. Get yourself 81 poise and a big upgraded shield. Keep trying.

Just realised that I had totally forgot about Havel back in Undead Burg. Finished him off and found the back route into Darkroot Basin and Valley of the Drakes which should keep me occupied for a while whilst I gain levels, weapon strength and the moral courage to go back to those two arseholes in Anor Londo. Might have another go at Old Londo ruins as well.

That's one of the beautiful things about this game, that you can get really frustrated about one part of the game and the remember that there was some path you abandoned hours back whose foes you are now ready for, or even happily overpowered against.

I tell you all though, I can't imagine playing this game without being able to ask for help from other players and wikis. I am going to grab Dark Souls 2 right on release day and I imagine that will be a very different story. Interesting, in that you can be part of the conversation all the new, intrepid explorers are undertaking, but also scary because there will be no definitive help until the mass of player experiences uncover the mysteries.

It is interesting that when I look on some of the forums on DarkSoulsWiki etc you can see that there is a lot of misinformation and conjecture in the discussions around the release window and it is only the later posts where the information is more definitive. I really hope that in an attempt to make the game more accessable they don't start explaining too much about the mechanics and structures of game up front. I would prefer they made the game easier than removed the mystery, although there is no need to do either even though some of the boss fights make me want to break the controller over my skull. One of the great things for me about Dark Souls has been the way it doesn't follow the rules, structures and expectations of modern gaming. In a lot of modern games the only uncertainty for the player is how the plot will play out and what the game will look like, everything about control, structure and progression is comforting and familiar. Dark Souls shares a lot of the basic ideas of modern gaming but by leaving the player to unpick how everything works makes the game that much more mysterious and exciting.

How was it for those of you who got the game on day one? Did it make it much harder? If you had played Demon's Souls did this make a difference?

@leebmx: I had played Demon's Souls and finished it once before playing Dark Souls. I went in with the expectation that I knew pretty well what worked for me and intended to take a similar route in Dark Souls, just without looking so many things up.

Because the animations had changed though I wasn't as comfortable with a curved sword as I thought and ended up having trouble adjusting in the beginning. I eventually looked a lot things up too, like how to finish different NPC "storylines", and naturally got a lot of help from reading things people posted here. I just didn't want to miss anything. I eventually learned a lot about the mechanics of weapon scaling, upgrading and shield stability that I hadn't picked up on my entire run of Demon's Souls (it helped that the Dark Souls' system for upgrading is a lot more approachable as well). Having all that information finally click and make sense was a great help to enjoying the game.

In expecting Dark Souls 2 I am again pretty confident that I know what I'm getting into, though it feels significantly more justified this time around. Being set in the same world they might not even change many things about how upgrading works and like mentioned I have a good grip on scaling and stability now. Not to mentioned that I've gained a mindset that I feel will help me to quickly get good at the combat again, in case it feels significantly different from what I've become used to. Lastly, unlike when I had finished Demon's Souls and went into Dark Souls, this time I'm sure I will want to play through the entire game more than once, so I'll be less worried about missing anything and thus won't feel as compelled to look things up.

I'll still probably spoil myself a bit by watching trailers and participating in the talk about the game once it comes out though. Learning about and teaching people stuff about the game was one of the most fun times I've had on these forums.

@jacksukeru@ravenlight@mentaldisruption@mordeaniischaos WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Just beat Ornstein and Smough. I don't think I have ever been so overjoyed at anything I have done in a video game before. The adrenaline rush and sense of satisfaction was immense.

I did it with the help of Knight Solare, but what the fuck, I will take any help I can get. What made it even more satisfying is all the preparation and work which needed doing before hand, in order to be strong enough. I spent hours trying to get the large fire ember as I heard they were weak to fire weapons, then ground out all the titanite I needed and made sure I was leveled enough. So satisfying when it all pays off.

I definitely feel Smough is the easier of the two to take down in super form. I had whittled Ornstein down a few times but could never quite finish him off. The first time I ended with Smough, my fire sword ripped through his fat, lardy arse, like er.., well like a hot knife through butter.

This game is amazing in the way in presents you with areas and enemies which look impossible at first but eventually can be conquered. Anor Lando seemed so intimidating at first but now I am taking those Giants down with 5 swipes of my +5 Lightning Uchigatana, and every time I go back to Undead Burg it seems insane that I was stuck at the same bonfire for 3 days and almost stopped playing.

Anor Londo is quite a beast in the beginning, but after running through the area more times than I can count it really becomes a walk in the park. I think you are now ready for this video. Enjoy it.

@leebmx: You will die horrible deaths, but it feels amazing to conquer the areas you fail originally; Just be prepared to die. Its you gaining experience alongside your character

@leebmx: Congrats! It's a good feeling to finally be able to take those two down. Anor Londo is one of my favorite areas in the game. There's just something awesomely different about the environment compared to previous ones seen at this point.

Ornstein definitely is the tougher one to take down. I've only bothered to do it on a dex build that had a lot of hp and endurance at the time. My first character, a faith guy, just didn't have the hp to take his powered up attacks if I made a mistake.

Oh and you've now made it far enough in the game to truly understand this:

I was going to post this video too, but I was going to see what the thought of the song first.

There is also a third video, but that can't be shown until he beats the game.

Very good and sums up my experience quite nicely. There is a special kind of self-hatred and despair that you feel when you've battered your way past the two Royal Sentinels and the Silver Knight so you can summon Knight Solare, and then get killed in 2 swift hits by Ornstein seconds after you pass through the fog gate.

Since I didn't have a Ps3 all I knew about the games was from drooling over Demon's trailers. Got Dark Souls at day one. And goddamn man. Not knowing anything about these games and trying to figure shit out, is REALLY HARD. My first playthrough took I think, 95h. 95h of getting lost, dying over and over again, figuring out how mechanics work, figuring out how enemies work, just plain figuring out anything. The lack of information online FORCED me to do it myself. And really, even if a lot of it kind of sucked or pissed me off, there was always just enough to keep me going. That was a completely unique experience, and I'm afraid that even going blind into DkS2 won't be the same.

Still, I'm looking forward to new adventures. And considering the amount of time I've spent in Dark Souls there obivously is more to it than just the first puzzle. Really excited for the follow up.

So since this is bumped and I didn't want to make a new thread just for this Ill post here. Started a new character last night. Got up to the gargoyles and was doing pretty good solo on my first try until....I stepped off the roof like a dumbass. Haha.

I think there must be something wrong with the way I play games then. Either that or I am just really rubbish. With all this information I am on 120something hours and still have a way to go. To be fair I have spent a lot of time exploring areas and then backing out to go elsewhere. I also think that all the leveling up I did to eventually beat O&S might have made me very overpowered because I just fought the butterfly thing in Darkroot Garden and I ripped through it first time in about 5 hits.

I have a similar fear about Dark Souls 2 to you I think. I hope they change stuff up enough that it continues to be a mysterious experience that this game has been. If it is just the same mechanics with a load of new levels it might not be as enticing as this game has been. The point of Dark Souls seems to be not just to progress through the game to discover more about the world but to discover about the game itself - hopefully this stays the same.

@demoskinos: Classic. Steep cliffs is every souls player's worst enemy. XD

@leebmx I stand by that there is no wrong way to play a game, at all. As long as you're enjoying it. That said, 120h is a really long time, is that actual game time or just steam clock? I don't really know how it could get dragged out that long unintentionally. :c