Death Count Prediction Thread

For Dark Souls I kept a running journal for the first month or so after release; including wondrous death counts and I think it's an interesting exercise predicting how many you'll have and where they'll come from. I won't have an endless supply of time this time around but I'll try to do the same thing for Dark Souls 2. For me the most deaths I've ever had in an RPG was Vagrant Story at around 130, 25 or so of those being to the last boss; I was 13-14 at the time but that's still my personal threshold for declaring a game as the "hardest ever."

And here we go:

Falling - 25

Generic Enemies - 10

Less Generic Enemies - 10

Traps - 5

Gwyn/Artorias/Manus 2.0 - 10

Kalameet 2.0 - 10

Puzzle Bosses - 5

Other Bosses - 5

I come up with 80 here, my general assumption is around 75 as I expect Dark Souls 2 to be roughly as hard as the original; but who knows they could throw in a curve ball. I don't include PvP in the prediction since that's really hard to predict and even harder to predict at launch/will vary tremendously from person to person. It goes without saying that this is a blind run with a "blind" build.

With Gwyn/Arty/Manus I expect there to be 2-3 bosses of that esteemed caliber and to die around 3-4 times to each; most other bosses aren't going to be a huge deal aside from the potential for Kalameet. The biggest curveball I could anticipate is a boss that is also a puzzle; i.e. you do the puzzle and then you fight the boss and both parts of this process are harrowing; and that might be like 10 deaths by itself. There are also things like the Capra Demon and the Butterfly that could throw things askew.

For Traps I don't include those that involve falling to your death, since that's obviously another victory for Gravity, by far the most prolific murderer in the souls series. I also include things like the Hydra or the Bridge Dragons, because they effectively function as traps.

If there does happen to be a Four Kings I don't anticipate it being particularly difficult on the first playthrough, though on NG+ some will undoubtedly get screwed because of how you built your character. Here's to hoping there's no gear-checks.

Woops, meant to say 5 on Kalameet 2.0, so that does round out to 75. Post your predictions!

I kept count of my deaths on my first play through of Demons Souls and Dark Souls, but I did not keep track of what killed me in detail.

Demons Souls Deaths: 13. Played smart and calm. Had no problems.

Dark Souls Deaths: 94. I died to each boss like 2 or 3 times, fell to my death a dozen or so times and the rest were invasions. I got invaded a LOT. And maybe like 10 or so deaths to Ornstien and Smough...

Dark Souls 2 prediction: 50, optimistically.

This is a pretty good idea. I plan on keep track for Dark Souls 2. I dont envision as much deaths due to how much I have played demon souls and Dark Souls. So between 50 and 100 I'd say.

Would be easier and more fun on PS4. Just hit the share button everytime it happens, and save a clip of the death to the cloud.

Must have been around 50-100 times for me too.

Lots. I'm going to die a lot. Because in my first play through I test things. I play it safe to a certain degree. Like if I am holding a high level of souls. But if not, I run into the unknown and see what happens next. I would wager my death count on the first play through of Dark Souls was well over 500. Also because I got hard headed and decided I was going into the catacombs the first time I got to Firelink Shrine. I probably spent a good 4 days trying that. Probably died 200 times or more. This was also pre any patch. So those skeletons had much more health. And I dealt much less. I remember it taking 8 or more swings of sword to kill them. Well, not kill them. But put them down for a minute.

@sterling: With the master key/astora's the catacombs weren't too bad early on; but yeah doing it with a basic weapon that isn't the Zweihander is an exercise in frustration. Skelewheels are pretty nuts with a terrible shield the first time you see them.

I died a load of times... Sen's Fortress was a major roadblock for me. I was dying to traps, falling randomly, getting killed by enemies and never knew about the bonfire at the top. I died to the boss a decent chunk of times, but first time through - I could safely say I died at least 20 times in Sen's.

I couldn't put a figure on it, but well over 100. I expect now with a much greater understanding of the game, I'll die a bit less in DS2. I would like if there's a way to see how many times you have died in that particular save.

@vaddixbell: That would be a fantastic addition. A death counter on your character screen.

@fredchuckdave: Ya it was the first time playing. I know all that now. I think my first gift was the black fire bombs. And I used them to kill the big guy in the prison (forget his name). I didn't even know you could run from him and fight him later until I started a new character and read a sign someone had left.

@fredchuckdave I assume you won't be using any of the co-operative aspects of the game?

@sunbrozak: I'm very unlikely to summon non-NPC aid for a boss fight, but I might put a white sign down and get summoned. Of course if you go through the game fast enough early enough that's not really a concern. I'll definitely make characters with intent to summon after the first go-around since that's usually the most amusing part of the game.

@sterling: There is a death counter of sorts in Demon's Souls, though it's heavily skewed since you have to commit suicide a bunch to get the best equipment; I'm sort of indifferent to there being one in Dark Souls, just a death counter doesn't work that great if you don't keep track of what killed you.

@fredchuckdave: Well there is a penalty for it in this one. So knowing the number of times you died would actually be helpful. Instead of eying the health meter. I am sure there will be situations/instances where having that info might be helpful.

A lot. I totally plan on doing mad suicide runs for whatever twinkling shit I see in the distance all the while keeping my level as low as possible, spending most my souls on items.

193 deaths or 192 if you don't count the post last boss activities. I'm quite good at the game too, it wouldn't surprise me if there were people that took over 1000 to clear it. About 35-40 of those deaths were just suiciding to get items via platforming/avoiding impossible ambush/etc. which leaves it at around 150-155 legit deaths; more than twice as many as I had in Dark Souls or Demon's Souls; and also a solid 20 more than Vagrant Story, and with that I can comfortably say this is probably the hardest RPG ever made and possibly in the top 5 all time across any genre; the difficulty margin between Dark Souls and Dark Souls II is utterly enormous. Online doesn't work for me so this is just a straight up 95% blind run with a melee character. I finished the game with a solid not-even-one-kindle 8 estus.

Also worth noting is that falling to death is not a huge part of the level design except for one area (which I didn't die in). This is a colossal improvement over the previous two games, wherein falling consisted of 40% of my deaths, now it was maybe 15% (not counting the platforming for loot).

It's really nice that going offline (servers not working) allows you to see your own death count in Manjula. I know mine is going to be very high thanks to the Company of Champions, but I don't think I can play this any other way at this point. Enemies are too easy/weak when I step out of the covenant and I'm basically rolling with base health and scaling stats. I'll pump my weapon stats once I get my hand on a Katana.

I feel sorry for people that don't know about the adaptability stat. I'm basically untouchable, but it comes at the price of piss poor damage on my part and hard enemy attacks when they manage to connect.

@golguin: No matter how overleveled you feel there's always going to be another area a few hours down the line that will be dangerous; though I suppose if you prefer absolutely everything was dangerous you can go the champions route. I picked the explorer class so I've enjoyed my adaptability the whole game; though I didn't boost it all the way to 40. Whereas gems are faster earlier in the game Estus eventually becomes by far the fastest way to heal; too bad I failed at finding shards (granted I just eventually started playing everything to avoid all damage entirely).

Just checking in as I just beat the final boss. Finished up at 39 hours and 90 deaths so my original prediction of 50-100 was correct. Edit: How I kept track of it all.

@jellyfish_gsus: Curious what your build was/blind not blind/how much optional stuff you did etc.

Nice journal page though, I also use tallies but with like 40 different categories.

Hmm how did I never see this thread? Well too late now. I would have guessed around 100 deaths. In the end I came in at around 120-130, not 100% sure because I didn't actually look at the Majula tablet until well after I had actually "beaten" the game and at that point it said like 140 something but I had died plenty of times since. Currently it is up to 160 something and I still haven't "officially" started NG+, I keep farming for drops and stuff/refighting bosses. When you are farming mobs that can 2 shot you deaths gonna happen sooner or later.

The majority of my deaths were by far me trying experimental jumps that seemed doable if only I could get just a tab bit farther...... but in actuality they were impossible. For example the jump in Forest of Giants outside the second bonfire from the scaffolding to the area behind the king's door. I got so close a number of times I actually saw the text to loot the corpse on the edge of the platform, but never close enough to actually land safely. I must have died at least 12-15 times to that alone before I gave up.

@karkarov: I had about 40-45 of those deaths as well, and there's still a good 10-15 suicidal jump items for me to get. I'm about 60% of the way through a no death run at present with a concurrent identical run that has 2 deaths doing the areas beforehand.

@fredchuckdaveI havnt found the Gargoyles yet, Thats the only thing I know that I haven't done, But I do plan on doing it. Finished on Level 147 with my best stats being

• Vigor: 30
• Endurance: 28
• Vitality: 41
• Strength: 40
• Adaptability: 30

I was able to keep my equip load under 70% while wearing Havel armour.