JackOhara

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@JackOhara said:

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@JackOhara said:

Why watch sitcoms in general?

Because sometimes they can be great. Like Cheers, which we've already discussed. And classics like All in the Family, Seinfeld, Taxi. Hell, one of my personal favorites is Roseanne (except for that last damn season).

You'd really be missing out on some great stuff if you just dismiss something merely because it has a studio audience.

@CrossTheAtlantic said:

@PrivateIronTFU: Have you ever read Infinite Jest? There's a passage in there about Norm that has made the character forever heartbreaking to me.

But yeah, still funny, so I can deal with it.

I've never read that, but yeah, just thinking about the fact that he's never at home, he has a wife that he can't stand, and is frequently unemployed and spending all his time in a bar is pretty heartbreaking.

Great in what regard? Production quality?

Um...great as in great. Like, "Hey! Check out Cheers. It's a great show!" Why would I be referring to production quality?

I've no idea, that's why I asked. I think it would be good to identify why you think it's great before recommending it. That's just me though, I typically don't enjoy sitcoms as they often contain lots of filler 'drama'.

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@JackOhara said:

Why watch sitcoms in general?

Because sometimes they can be great. Like Cheers, which we've already discussed. And classics like All in the Family, Seinfeld, Taxi. Hell, one of my personal favorites is Roseanne (except for that last damn season).

You'd really be missing out on some great stuff if you just dismiss something merely because it has a studio audience.

@CrossTheAtlantic said:

@PrivateIronTFU: Have you ever read Infinite Jest? There's a passage in there about Norm that has made the character forever heartbreaking to me.

But yeah, still funny, so I can deal with it.

I've never read that, but yeah, just thinking about the fact that he's never at home, he has a wife that he can't stand, and is frequently unemployed and spending all his time in a bar is pretty heartbreaking.

Great in what regard? Production quality?

Why watch sitcoms in general?

Put on lightweight gear so that you have the fastest roll. He telegraphs both of his AoE attacks, so stay as close to him as possible, DON'T lock on, and just keep running around him in circles and hitting him. When you see him about to AoE, run far away, let it finish then run up and continue. Once you know how to fight him he's pretty easy.

Witcher 2

@Dixego said:

Dark Souls is a 2011 game, right? Yeah, Dark Souls.

Easily

@gtar said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@JackOhara: @ThePaco: Guys, this is exactly my point, I appreciate the game being hard and not holding my hand but clearly it's not based on thinking or skills, it's based on knowing things you don't know.

I had to watch a youtube video to see how to kill that demon, and it looks like I'm gonna be youtubing the entire game and getting tips from people who beat it on here because there's no way for me as a player to figure this stuff out on my own!

I think it's pretty straightforward to figure out how to progress through the game; if you're dying a lot, you need to experiment and try different tactics until you work out how to defeat a section. If you don't enjoy that process then you might not find much to like about this game. But it's far form impossible for discover this stuff.

Case in point though: the Taurus Demon. Obviously he doesn't take much damage from your attacks, so simply trying to avoid his blows whilst damaging him probably isn't the best strategy. First thing you need to do is to look at your arsenal, look at the environment and learn the enemy behaviour. In this case you have multiple valid strategies for defeating him:

1. You probably picked up Gold Pine Resin in the preceding area. The item clearly states that it will do lightening damage. The boss is weak to this.
2. If you found the ladder up to the skeleton archers, then you might have realised that this is a sort of safe zone against the boss. You can also do falling attacks on the boss from here.
3. If you have magic or pyromancy, you will also notice that your attacks do a lot more damage in this fight.

Plenty of options that you could have found on your own without too much difficulty!

Exactly. This is part of what makes the game so great in my opinion, there are so many options you get to discuss with other people playing the same game. I think a lot of people make the mistake of shutting off their brain when they start playing Dark Souls, like you can do with many other games.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@JackOhara: @ThePaco: Guys, this is exactly my point, I appreciate the game being hard and not holding my hand but clearly it's not based on thinking or skills, it's based on knowing things you don't know.

I had to watch a youtube video to see how to kill that demon, and it looks like I'm gonna be youtubing the entire game and getting tips from people who beat it on here because there's no way for me as a player to figure this stuff out on my own!

It is precisely based on thinking and skills, all of this information that we've been giving you is clearly available if you stop, look around, and pay close attention to what is going on. The game really isn't hard once you learn how to play it. If you keep dying by using the exact same tactics and strategies then you are just bashing your head against the wall and trying to brute force your way through it. Dying over and over should inform you that you need to try something differently.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@JackOhara: Yes that's where I keep respawning, and I'm a Knight with two shields that both have 65 protection each. This isn't exactly Skyrim, the loot is extremely scarce.

So I finally killed all the enemies up to the tower, ran out of flasks, no bonfire to save, and boom the Taurus Demon jumps infront of me with an archer shooting from the back and of course the beasts kills me in two blows. Now I have to start all over again.

I'm gonna go work on becoming perfect so I can reach that boss with full health and flask capacity :P

Are you sure your shield only blocks 65% of physical damage? I thought the knight was supposed to start with a shield that blocks 100%...if not then you can buy a shield from the merchant near that bonfire. There's a small area with two spear and shield guys on it, you should spot it if you go out of the bonfire room and down those stairs to the right. Kill them, then break the boxes and go down the stairs, you should see a guy sitting down nearby. Another pro tip for the Taurus demon: as soon as you go through the fog door, look behind you and you should spot a ladder. Climb up it, kill those archers, climb back down and spawn the boss. Lead the boss back near the ladder, go up it, then do falling R1 attacks on him from up there.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@ThePaco said:

@Fredchuckdave said:

@AhmadMetallic: The "Firelink Shrine" bonfire is "Kindled" so it is automatically set to 10, in order to get other bonfires kindled you need at least 2 humanity, 1 to turn yourself human (Reverse Hollowing) and 1 to kindle the bonfire (It's permanent); later in the game the limit on kindling is raised from 10 to 20 (1 humanity per 5), though there's only a handful of bonfires that are worth kindling more than once. On NG+ those bonfires that you kindled previously stay kindled I believe so you could eventually get 20 Estus at every bonfire if you so desired. The storyline reason that Firelink is kindled is because there is a "Keeper of the Bonfire" NPC nearby, only a handful of bonfires have this trait. Killing the keeper extinguishes that particular fire entirely for the duration of your playthrough.

Edit: Humanity is the number at the upper left corner of the screen, and can be gained from items, killing monsters in areas where the boss still remains, Co-op, PvP, and it also drops from every boss post patch 1.04. Much like your "souls" count Humanity is lost whenever you die unless you find your way back to your bloodstain without dying again.

Just to add, to get the Rite of Kindling (ability to kindle bonfires 3 times as opposed to once), you have to defeat Pinwheel, the boss of the Catacombs. I usually find it's best to go around the time you get to Anor Londo (around soul level 50).

Thanks to both of you, very vital information.

@JackOhara said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

I keep dying because this game seems to be designed to fuck with me. All the skeletons I kill get revived when I use the god damned checkpoint bonfire, the combat seems GENIUS but I just can't seem to get my timing right, and the items are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too obscure with annoyingly artsy names and poetic descriptions.

Pro tip: from Firelink, go UP the cliff side staircase, not DOWN to the graveyard.

I did go up and I reached the top, but now between the skeletons throwing fire balls, the skeletons gangbanging me in tight corners, the archers, and that really huge dude with the Pyramid Head sword who one hit kills me I don't see how it's humanly possible to survive until another bonfire, with only 5 flasks.

I've repeated this part maybe 20 times now, I'm running out of patience.

Did you get to the bonfire before the black knight with the massive sword? If you are having trouble with the knight you don't have to confront him. Maybe you need to change up your tactics in combat, try some different weapons. A spear, for example, can hit from behind a shield. One thing I noticed that a lot of people have trouble with is blocking with your shield. Always, ALWAYS block. The real dynamic in the combat is the give and take between blocking and throwing out hits at the right time, and managing your stamina. Also, take a look at the stats on various shields, it should give you percentages regarding how much damage it blocks of each type. You want to be using one that blocks 100% of physical damage.