Well well well, what do we have here? A new blog entry! That's what! In the last blog we talked about our run through the Catacombs and the Tomb of the Giants. I defeated Nito and called it a night. That axe I've been grinding, the hatchet I buried? Well I dug it up and framed it. What we learned from all this is that sometimes, you just need to get to your objective and do it, and forget all the fluff around it... and that revenge is oh so sweet. That was then and this is now. We've got bigger fish to fry and blog about, and I promise you that this fish will taste good. If you're allergic to seafood, you may want to avoid this blog... there are also shellfish in death compilation so readers beware! As always, here are the lessons we've learned so far and a highlight video of the latest session. The death compilation is at the bottom of the blog if you want to just skip right to seeing me die over and over again... in that case, we can't be friends. (just kidding, we're cool... as long as you donate to the Endurance Run Fundraiser: Pencils of Promise

Lesson #1: Expect the unexpected.

Lesson #2: Maintain your composure and always be aware of your surroundings.

Lesson #3: Analyze your enemy.

Lesson #4: Sometimes the best defense is a good (and smart) offense.

Lesson #5: Do not handicap your tactics based on your assumptions that something will or will not work.

Lesson #6: Fight on your terms.

Lesson #7: Explore new areas if you feel that you are stuck.

Lesson #8: Use the environment to your advantage.

Lesson #9: Never underestimate enemies; every enemy deserves full attention and stratagem.

Lesson #10: Don’t keep doing the same thing expecting different results… Yeah yeah, I should have been smarter than that.

Lesson #11: Don't waste too much time worrying being Dark Souls-ed, you can always recover.

Lesson #12: Always watch your back. Always!

Lesson #13: If you're not getting many story beats, you're probably not trying hard enough.

Lesson #14:Never forget that vertical attacks are king and should be used as often as possible.

Lesson #15:Don't play the game, or any game, angry. It will only make you worse at it and make it a worse experience.

Lesson #16:Pillars are your best friend.

Lesson #17: Just do what needs to be done.

Our session first takes us into the magical land of Bob Ross' imagination. Okay, it's more of a prison for a dragon crossbreed lady but really, what's the difference. The design of the world is what I've come to expect from Dark Souls: locked doors, backtracking, and verticallity. It didn't take me long to figure out that the abominations cause toxicity if you get their blood on you. I was lucky enough to still have plenty of Blooming Purple Moss Clumps with me. I knew they'd come in handy. The Undead Dragon here was similar to the one in the valley of the drakes, but there were three levels of platforms in front of him. After studying this for a bit, I found a perfect attack pattern that involves drawing out an attack on one of the platforms while attacking on one of the others. It worked flawlessly and he was down for the count. It was time to move through the fog door.

A lady with a tail told us to leave the painted world. I tried telling her that I have her doll to give to her but she didn't want to listen. I accidentally jumped off the edge (to a sound cue that was definitely out of place in Dark Souls) and made my way back to the first bonfire of the world. Here's something! I remembered my last blog and sprinted past everyone right to the fog gate! I'm learning... adapting... evolving. So Priscilla clearly didn't have any beef with me and just wanted me to take off. I really wasn't sure what to do here. My conscious said just leave her be but I.. I'm playing Dark Souls. My urge to kill got the best of me. I attacked and she disappeared. After some boring running around and wiffing at the air, I saw her footsteps in the snow. It's ironic that I didn't think of this from the get go because not even 30 minutes prior to this fight I was admiring the footsteps left in the snow by my character (the great and almighty Versed). So with this knowledge, she really wasn't that tough of a boss. I defeated her but... I still feel really bad about it. She seemed nice. I murdered her guys... I murdered her in cold blood. What am I becoming.

So we return to the Anor Londo bonfire and run past a guard who's terrible at his job towards the Dukes archives. Fighting past some Channelers and crystal hollows, I finally made it to the top of the tower not sure what to expect. A boss for sure. I walk in and see Seath the Scaleless, the dragon that turned on his species and helped overthrow them to usher in the age of fire. The betrayer. The legend. Needless to say I was speechless to have him right in front of me ready to tear me a new one. And tear me a new one he did. There was nothing I could do and he trapped me in his prison tower, just like the legends said. Finding my way out, the lizards activated some kind of sonophone and the guards dipped out fast. I tried to follow suit and get the heck outta there but they wouldn't let me. Turns out the Picasa's they were running from weren't anything to be worried about. So we got out of the prison tower and made our way out of the archives....

...and into the Crystal Cave. At first I thought that were going to have to be fighting multiple Moonlight Butterflies here but no, that was definitely not the obstacle here. Invisible floors were. And let me tell you, no amount of particles and messages leading the way make it any less terrifying when your character is hundreds of feet (maybe thousands) in the air. There was a specific Crystal Golem that was giving me trouble because of the narrow platform he was on. You can check out that little rivalry in the highlight video. Spoilers: I eventually won. So after some feisty clams, I made it into a little cave within a cave.

I saw cursed players and immediately felt dread. I knew there was one more hydra in the game and I could definitely see a Hydra popping up here. The last thing I wanted was a curse spewing Hydra. Lo and behold who comes flying like the parachute guy in an Evander Holyfield match but Seath the Scaleless. Yeah. Here we go again, let's do it. Oh but guess what, he's invulnerable! Like what?! He immediately starts throwing out unblockable crystal attacks and forces me to start burning through my estus flasks. By the way, my framerate here chucks down to 15 frames per second during his crystal attacks making it even more difficult. I make my way behind him because that's typically the strategy you want to use against almost every Dark Souls boss. Well guess what, he has not one, not two, but three tails that basically cover the whole area behind him when he attacks with them! After some circling around I finally found a crystal which I assumed he was what was protecting him. I broke it and did some damage to a tail and worked my way around him. The reason I didn't see the crystal earlier during the fight was because the cutscene actually turns your orientation around! I was disoriented and the first time I went around his back, I saw a fog gate which I assumed was his back where I originally saw the crystal. When I realized that, I was frustrated with myself but I had to keep going. What happened next was absolutely exhilarating.

I wasn't quite sure I could last much longer in this fight with him considering I had already burned through all of my estus flasks so I had to risk it for the biscuit. I switch over to humanity and rushed towards him. I knew I there was no way to defend against his crystal attacks so I two-handed my Laito, took crystals to the face, and tried to rush his health down. Both Seath and I got each other down to very little health so I decided that it was do-or-die time. No more healing, just straight DPS. Mashing the hell out of my attacks I watched both of our health bars start draining in a war of attrition. My heart was pounding and before I knew it, Seathe vanished into the air. VICTORY ACHIEVED. Hearth pounding. Absolutely heart pounding. The fight went from unwinnable and sure to die, to there's a chance, to Seath down in one.

Lesson #18: Sometimes the best strategy is to just bum rush them.

With my body recovering from the adrenaline, I knew I had to call it a night, which is just what I did. Taking down Seath in one tops Ornstein and Smough in four, but both are up there in gaming achievements. I will continue to repeat myself here that there is no feeling quite like taking down a Dark Souls boss. They start off seeming like an impossible task but lead to you slowly piecing together the puzzle of the fight. Eventually you find yourself figuring out what needs to be done and downing the giant in front of you. Sometimes that puzzle is dropping your defenses and bum rushing the boss in a mash fast... whodathunkit? The experience to the fights is somewhat akin to the battles in Shadow of the Colossus, another high point in gaming. So that does it for this weeks blog. Thank you for watching and reading. For your viewing pleasure, a deaths compilation... sick bastards.

Tune in to my next stream tonight at 7pm PST (10pm EST) which will be part of the GiantBomb Community Endurance Run! We're raising money for the charity Pencils for Promise which helps support childrens expenses for attending school. Every $250 helps send one child to school. No matter how much money we raise, one year of school for even just one child is a difference that we can make in this world. If that doesn't kindle the bonfire in your heart, I don't know what will. As an incentive to donate, for every dollar you donate, I will perform one rep of any exercise of your choice. One dollar will be worth different amounts of reps for different exercises which will be dependent on the amount of money coming in. We'll start off small and increase the $/reps if there are more donations than expected. One thing is for sure though, I will make good on each and every rep. They will add up and be cashed in at every death or 30 minutes, whichever comes first! The initial $/rep is outlined in the below table.

The archives of the full run are only temporary on twitch so they are indefinitely archived on YouTube as well. Included in my channel are most attempts at the boss fights (thus far) and larger enemies, and highlights. I’ll most likely be including death compilations only in these blogs and will make a full death compilation available on my page once I finish the game. Below are the links to my pages if you want to subscribe and follow along.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtJjnxQwdCO6L2FbmytTGqA

Twitch Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/flashflood_29/

Thank you for reading and watching!

*Blog 1 (Day 1 and Streaming) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-1-and-streaming-highlights-included/112403/

*Blog 2 (Days 2 and 3) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-2-and-3-first-full-run-w-highlights/112488/

*Blog 3 (Day 4) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-4-first-full-run-pvp-and-boss-desig/112549/

*Blog 4 (Day 5) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-5-first-full-run-w-highlights-story/112603/

*Blog 5 (Day 6) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-6-first-full-run-w-highlights-death/112674/

*Blog 6 (Day 7) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-7-first-full-run-oands-lautrec-stra/112886/

*Blog 7 (Day 8) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-8-first-full-run-nito-and-glitches/112972/

My next stream will be either tonight at 7pm PST (10pm EST)