@marco724:oh man I didn't notice that! I'm going to just stop as well.

@ares42 I hope you're right although I don't need no pity, what does hollow even mean in this game? it's not the same as ds2 right?

I finally started looking thing up to see which weapon to go for and i'm very saddened that apparently they have only one lance in this game? They were my favourite weapons in DS2 :( the leap attack and the dual wielding lances charge were so fun (especially when you ended up falling in stupid places :D)...now i'm not sure what class of weapons i want to use...

Does anyone know where to get any decent early game armor and maybe a shield that blocks 100% damage? I'm a pyro and I'm still using the starting armor and a shield that blocks 80ish percent. I'm currently at the beginning of the Road of Sacrifices.

@gunslingerpanda: Nice, I didn't notice that!

I've beaten my first Lord of Cinder now, the Watchers of the Abyss. It was a pretty cool fight, and the fire effects were beautiful, though I can see someone preferring the Ivory King.

One of my NPCs(The pilgrim) got killed today and I don't know which of these fuckers to suspect. Odds are on the couple from Carim, but I also found one of these guys in a literal cage.

I just got a mimic to kill a miniboss demon for me. Guys this game is pretty great.

It starts a questline so it's worth continuing. This video explains it in detail incase you want to know:

This video is worth watching for everyone actually, there was a lot I didn't know - like there is a charge attack!

@redhotchilimist: I beat him/her/them just now myself, I got wrecked the first time, thought "what the fuck? how am I supposed to find an opening there?". Second time I responded with similar aggression instead of circling around with my shield up and won. That was a cool boss after what is probably the worst level I've ever played in a Souls game (the "swamp").

@alphasquid: I found a shield that blocks 100 percent in the High Wall of Lothric. From the second bonfire, take the stairs down after killing the enemy that transforms and go down the path with the armored knight using a greatshield and pike. Go downstairs but not toward the enemies (i.e. take a right after entering the room) and you'll find an enemy sitting next to the chest containing the shield. The shield doesn't have the best stability though.

@alphasquid: Unsure about good early game armor, but regarding a 100% physical absorption shield: The High Wall of Lothric area has a Silver Eagle Kite Shield in a room above where you might have found an estus flask shard on an anvil. Its upstairs in a chest. The area is right after the second bonfire you light, past the undead sitting on the rooftop. Take the ladder down and follow the pathway that has a greatshield/spear Red Knight. Hope this helps.

lmao. I just spent 20 minutes running around after reaching firelink trying to figure out where the fuck to go because the stupid game bugged out and wouldn't let me light the firelink shrine bonfire.. Took one shot at the asshole above the shrink and actually parried him twice before getting one shotted, shrugging, and deciding that I probably wasn't supposed to fight him yet. But then roamed around forever trying to find another route. Thanks, From.

If you've ever wanted a bird's eye view of the components that make up an entire soul's area have a look at the view from the tower in the undead settlement, at max settings the entire thing was incredible.

I went with the Short Sword available from the first merchant in the game. It's more reliable than your starting Bandit's Knife: better reach, better moveset. Especially if you want to use your shield. The Bandit's Knife is pretty good two-handed. I was having trouble with the first boss until I two-handed the BK and chopped him to bits first try.

@militantfreudian: @purplepartyrobot: Thanks!

@plasmaduck: It helped that they fought against each other, too. I agree with Marco724. Enemies hurting each other is cool. Swamps aren't cool! I don't think it's the worst area ever though.

I'm trying my luck on the area of the sludge guy from the opening, the Deep Cathedral. The status effect here is _disgusting_.

Does anybody have any hot tips on how to more reliably beat those knight fuckers in the first true level? I'm absolutely atrocious at fighting those guys: they come at you pretty hard and fast and then immediately hide behind their shields, thus making it hard to get any sort of safe hits in; blocking their offense does no good without the benefit of a shield that absorbs all damage; they're too aggressive to resort to lame tactics like spamming spells on them; parrying is way too risky for me to pull off reliably, especially given their somewhat unpredictable moveset. And so on. I know a lot of it has to do with me being proper awful at these games, but man, those dudes are my undoing.

Has anyone figured out that sidestep mechanic from that video a few months ago? At first I heard it might be a Thief-specific skill but that can't be right, could it? Or is it a weapon-specific skill? That would make sense given the new unique L2 specials every weapon is getting.

Yeah, I have mostly abandon the shield due to how much more effective the BK is two handed. Can't wait to get my hands on some duel swords.

Oh my fucking god I found the breakdancer greatsword. I am now Dante.

@probablytuna: I couldn't say if it's the same thing, but the skill of the Brigand Twindaggers is a short, crouchy dash. It's pretty fast when locked onto an enemy. It's in the Road of Sacrifices if you want to try it out.

I've found messages pointing out hidden walls, and for some reason I can't get them to reveal. You're just supposed to attack them, right? I'm using a spear

Jab attacks are useful (like the longswords strong attack) as a counter. I have the most success against them using some of the anti-shield weapon arts because like you say they use their shields pretty well. For example the anti shield special move for the longsword is great against them and lets you get a couple good hits in.

Illusory wall messages are the most common troll messages out there. If the wall doesn't disappear after hitting it once, it's probably not an illusory wall. People just somehow like upvoting that shit.

Also, if you happen to have a weapon that has a side-step skill (like a dagger), it will make quick work out of those knights, as you can easily dance around them for a series of slashes.

You can also bait their shield bash by getting right up in their face and then backing away. They're open for a really long time if they miss that. Kicking them with often throw them into a stunned state where you can visceral.

Finally you can just kinda eat one of their hits and just wail on them they have crappy poise compared to a lot of enemies in this game.

Just got to the requisite swamp area.

Yay the joys of Darksouls PvP .... makes me want to go strangle kittens. The first semi challenging mandatory area because of all the assy enemies, lets put a PvP covenant in that zone! Watchers fucking whatever. What a joke. At no point during several invasions was I even in a position to fight anyone, forget the monsters already fighting me, the constant lag pretty much ensures parrying is completely useless, there are now a 100 and 1 ways to flush block down the toilet, half the people teleporting all over the place, shots clearly on target doing nothing, and of course the one the only the traditional lagstab in the back, when the other guy was nowhere near your back a split second ago. Oh yea lets not forget when you get two people invade you at the same time with fast pvp focused weapons, they invade alright, your rectum and your throat. Poise? what poise, that's not a real thing brah. Another time had an invader take 0 damage period after many registered hits. Fun times.

DS1 and DS2 pvp seemed the most tame and balanced thing in the world by comparison. I am never kindling in that zone again or just going offline next time.

Ugh...

Didn't get a single watchdog invasion the entire time I was trudging through that swamp, it seemed really weird.

I only got invaded once and only by one player. Got killed by one of the giant beasts anyway before he even got close. Haven't really had any awful invasions.

Just letting people know that if you are into collecting weapons, it pays to be kindled almost all of the time. NPC invasions can and will drop weapons, items, armor, and gestures, and once you kill the boss of that area, you miss out until NG+.

To be perfectly honest. I am not clicking it with as fast as the other games. First area is rather boring. I have this sinking feeling that Dark Souls III is going to turn into a "greatest hits" of the souls series. While it can be a good idea on paper it also comes at the risk of not really developing a personally of it's own. Mind you, I've only been playing on the first area which is, surprise, surprise, another fucking dingy castle, so this is might be the reason why I am not feeling the game yet.

I hope later areas are much better then this boring section.

Okay, some spoilers for up until the incredibly pretty place the crew mentions in today's podcast. I'm, say, 20 hours in.

My understanding of the different mechanics in different areas is actually pretty poor, as is my exploration skill. In the Catacombs, I actually could not figure out why some skeletons respawned while others did not. Unless some of them are designated Necromancers somehow, maybe the ones with some more clothes than the others. Similarly, I found a Smouldering Lake in which someone snipes at you from far away, and so I tried the stealth trick I got the impression would work in the earlier, similar sections. It does not work at all! That thing aims for me even before we see each other. It's helpful though, it helped me murder a massive and very cool enemy as well as open up a secret area where there are demon bodies from Dark Souls 1. Thing is, I would never even be in that area if not for another of my NPCs dying. I met another one in that area with skeletons, and it really seemed like either he(she??) or his(her??) companion would get killed, so I finally caved and looked up a wiki for that part, and that lead me to this whole new cool area. Cool in concept, anyway. In actuality, it's probably the assets from the skeleton area and the swamp area but with some colors switched around and some incredibly cool new enemies. I was freaking impressed upon entering it.

The skeleton ninjas frustrated me, but the boss of that place is amazing. Such a cool fight. I'm inclined to think this is less the dark souls 1 team's design and more the Dark Souls 2 team having some more experience, because they make bosses that are wonderful for both singleplayer and multiplayer now. Just the fact that enemies can damage each other helps so much since larger bosses take care of their own little minions. I did the same thing that someone else mentioned and managed to use a Mimic and a demon against one another too, and that was a ton of fun. Mind you, the Cathedral boss was a letdown. I feel Jason on that one.

The incredibly pretty place is unbelieavably good looking. It's also 100% Bloodborne. Props for the terrifying enemy that just jumps down at you. There was a similar thing in a large empty room in the Cathedral, and I lost my shit. It really took me by surprise, and they both looked amazing and scary.

Anyone else finding the game to be more difficult than the previous ones? I put in few hours since yesterday and I must've died like a dozen times in each the High Wall of Lothric and the Undead Settlement, which is something I'm not used to in these games. I've had no issues with the generic enemies, even when they come in numbers, but the enemies that are supposed to be tougher (e.g. blue Lothric Knight, the purple invader in the Undead Settlement, the Fire Demon) can kill me rather easily. Both areas I've been to have been quite big, particularly the Settlement, and I'm finding myself running out of Estus after exploring for a while, which is part of the reason why I've died so frequently.

In any case, I'm having a blast with the game. I think the faster pace of the combat, coupled with the fact that certain enemies now have measure against backstab fishing or turtling behind a shield, help make the combat in this game feel reasonably distinct from previous games. Also, the NPC quest lines already seem more complex than those in Bloodborne, which is exciting. Perhaps the only major complaint I have so far is that the majority of weapons I've found don't combo very well, which is disappointing since every weapon in Bloodborne did, and a lot of times in interesting ways (I know there were far fewer weapons in that game, but still).

@mirado: I'm not thrilled about this, but thanks for the heads-up. I really didn't like that system in the first Dark Souls and I didn't think it would make a return.

Game seems more difficult from the get go to me, died so many times in the first two areas.

Enjoying doing what I did a lot in DSII, helping others with bosses. I find it relaxing to just help others with a boss, as well as being able to learn about that bosses attack patterns too.

Had a bit of a bug earlier: Decided to plop a gold summoning sign down to help people with the third boss. The first one went well, but the second one had a bit of a problem: The fog wall never gave me the prompt to step through it. I know the host attacked the boss as he dragged it over to the door, but for some reason it wouldn't let me in. Anyone else seen this?

Fighting alongside Siegmeyer of Catarina is just such fanservice bullshit and I love it. Had a nice screenshot sitting with him on the hill afterwards too. I'll see if I can dump it later.

I'm looking for a specific type of shield, maybe someone here can help me? I want a 100% physical block shield that will let me have my RH weapon skill on L2 instead of parry or anything like that. Ideally it would fall into the medium-size Kite Shield-ish range, but I'm flexible so long as it's 100% phys block and RH weapon skill. I'm early on in the game (only the first boss down), anyone know if there's a shield like this that I can look forward too soon?

@tafae:

This shield that I was led to is exactly like that.

@alphasquid: Awesome, thanks! Now I just have to wait until I get home from work to go find it, haha.

Guys, can we sticky this info at the top post (if warranted, I certainly feel everyone should know this stuff)? It's definitely important stuff.

1. You can hold the down button on the d-pad instead of tapping it to IMMEDIATELY SWITCH TO YOUR FIRST SLOT (generally estus) - do you know how many deaths this would have saved me if I could do that in previous souls games??

2. From a YouTuber's video, I'm sorry I forget his name, the damage resistances are weird in this game. Basically, never have an armor slot empty unless you want a serious resistance penalty (you get a flat defense bonus just for filling the slot, no matter how weak the item is, and this bonus is a lot - like 10-40%). Even if you have the weakest gloves on, there is a huge defense bonus just for having the slot filled period! So, realize if you're playing fashion souls without a helmet or whatever, you're doing so at a larger loss of resistance than before. Try wearing an item like rags or that is otherwise unobtrusive instead of leaving a slot empty.

I really hope the game stops with bosses that copies or summons assistance. Dancing around a hellspawn with the capacity to kill you in a second or two gets infinitely more frustrating if they spawn trash to distract you.

@rethla: Throwaway stuff, there's nothing in there you can't find in the game later.

Anybody else really dislike the Cathedral of the deep, specifically at the beginning, the cleansing cathedral bonfire, that whole section, even with the middle shortcut that cuts it in half, was so tedious. I managed to find the quickest route through it to skip most of the bs but my least favourite parts of these games is when they non stop overwhelm and ambush. I ended up arrowing a lot to pull one at a time to get through, I probably would have taken hours doing that bit if i didn't have a bow. I'm so glad to have finally opened the full shortcut to skip that entire section.

I picked a Kite Shield super early with an L2 shield bash. Like, first two areas early.

I just beat Dancer of the Boreal Valley, damn what a cool boss. Not especially hard, but really unique I feel.

Three bosses down. I'm enjoying it a lot - possibly more than I was expecting to. I found it a bit tricky to get back into the swing of it after Bloodborne but I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it now. Had a lot of trouble with the Boreal dude's second form for some reason. I'm not sure I could do it again. The other two I feel I had more of a strategy with.

Really enjoyed the Cursed tree, although I found his boss run a bit hard to stomach. I thought it was a really nice half-way between a Puzzle boss and a regular boss.

Just had a couple of not great co-op experiences though, with people who hadn't cleared the area at all and were unwilling to take the lead in where they wanted help exploring. That basically says they're relying on me being a shit-hot player (I'm not) and playing the game for them. Of course maybe I'm being unreasonable expecting anything less on the first day!

Man I really really liked the first major story boss, Abysswatchers, didn't expect the dude to rez, got wrecked by second form, changed up my shield, ring and got appropriate resist spell, went back in and pushed his shit in. Glorious combat.

Btw really loving the Darkwraith sword tho at first I was disappointed with the size. It basically is as fast as a regular longsword, but the poise dmg seems to be way higher, I am constantly staggering opponents, even the above mentioned boss. Just a sweet tight little weapon. Only downside is the special skill, really wish it was the same as that of a longsword instead of a greatsword. If it was tho I'd probably never use another weapon ever again.

Is Dark Souls 3 the Dark Souls of Dark Souls games?

The game crashes for me every time I get near that very first bonfire, so that's fun. Hoping once the game actually works I can find the hugest sword possible and run around 2handing that mother like I did in DS1.

Homeward bones take an eternity (about four seconds) to fully activate. I had to retrieve 11K after getting killed during the animation.

The rating counter just adds one whenever the message is rated either way. A high rating can mean "probably true," "probably false," or "divisive." Pretty dumb system, if you ask me. Although I imagine you only get the shot of health from a positive rating.

@hark said:

It was a long trek, but I didn't really mind once I finally opened up that shortcut. Helps that I like the look of the area. The little guys with pronged hoods are a menace, though.

@feathered said:

It's honestly the Bloodborne of Dark Souls 2.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, so I'm gonna do it now: That one skeleton enemy, the ball of skeletons rolling up and down passageways? That guy looks like it's having the time of its life, I like it a lot.

Well....I'm finding the game very easy so far. And bonfires are ridiculously close together, like Dark Souls II.

Does anyone else sympathize?