When the host heals himself, do I heal? And vice versa? Because I was getting healed without healing myself. Or is it like a "heal all" miracle that I haven't learned? And I do heal when he heals, is it only when he uses his estus flask or can I be healed by his heal miracle too? I'm pretty sure if I heal whenever he heals it doesn't matter what type.

All I need now is a magic weapon and it occurs to me that I should have used magic on my winged spear so I could call it my magic wang spear AKA my "Magic Johnson".

Pretty sure I won't be getting summoned again because my level is too high.

Or because it's 12:15 am on a monday.

Either way, I'm going to wait another 15 mins. If nothing happens than I'll turn human and beat them for myself tomorrow. And thats where I'll leave it for probably a month or two as I'll be playing other games.

If you have been summoned, you can't heal yourself with Estus flasks. Only the host can heal you. And vice-versa obviously. You can heal yourself if you have miracles and there is an effective healing miracle that hosts can use on everyone but it's a very high level Faith to use. Some hosts are pricks and won't heal when you get close to beating the boss, for whatever reason. When that happens I usually hang back a bit and won't join back in if I think they're sitting back trying to get me to do all the work for no pay. I think some of them believe they get less souls if they beat the boss with phantoms, which is not true. The phantoms get half as many souls but the host always gets the full amount. You can't lose your souls if you die when summoned.

When you beat the boss of the Catacombs, he drops an object that lets you kindle bonfires 3 times so you can have a total of 20 Estus flasks, I recommend getting that at some point if you haven't already. Get a strong Blessed/Holy weapon for the Catacombs.

If you want to get summoned for the bosses at Anor Londo, leave your sign at the nearest bonfire rather than at the door. Cap your level at 120, however, as after that you're unlikely to get summoned anywhere. That said, you will get summoned by people on NG+ at those levels, so be wary, as most enemies will one or two-hit you in NG+ (but they drop loads more souls, that's the way you'll likely realise you're in an NG+).

I put it at the bonfire below the twist screw elevator and not having any luck. Might go try it at that other bonfire where all the knights are.

Actually, I don't know what I'm thinking, I should just go beat it myself.

The bonfire where the knights are in the big cathedral is best. I don't think I could have beaten those two bastards on my own. I think I've still lost more battles than won even with 2 co-op companians. If you forge the Crystal Ring Shield it may help a good bit. You need some sort of effective ranged attack for the powered-up boss part.

Once you beat those bosses, you can warp between some bonfires which makes the game somewhat better, rather than running everywhere. Also, the next area, The Duke's Archives, is a good one to get summoned for to level up as people always need help with the boss.

Yeah, pretty awesome game.

I just realized that of the 3 times I helped beat the bosses in Anor Londo, 2 of them were in NG+ because I got 90000 souls those times. Still had better luck putting my sign down before the door itself.

I went human and some guy invaded me and killed me. But then he messaged me if I wanted help so it was cool. His summon sign was orange and he glowed orange which meant I had to look up what that meant after this was over. (Turns out, orange guys are just strong/leveled up versions of regular white summonable warriors I guess. Stay away from red as that's the one that you invade into.) And then recruited another guy (white guy) outside of the door. The orange guy died right as he took out Smough and then me and the other guy took out Giant Ornstein without too much of a problem. Went back down, leveled my souls, went back up and got the thing to warp between bonfires.

At first, I wasn't a fan of the multiplayer but it's kind of growing on me. In general, I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to get through any part of this game without the guide. How was I supposed to know about the Drake Sword? The brass ring for the swamps? Hell, how was I supposed to know where the brass ring was and that I needed to climb up to that raven to even get back there?

And how am I supposed to know what these covenants do? Without the guide, I would be fucked.

But I am a fan of the multiplayer. There are times where I wish I could just jump into a game with people on my friends list but after thinking about it, it kinda sucks the fun out of the game. I like the idea of having to assist others in order to move forward before you make that leap yourself and then once you do, you can call on others as they did with you.

Or maybe it is possible to all join up in the same game and I haven't really thought it through. For instance, let's say that we are all about the same soul level, could I tell message someone on my friends list "Hey let's meet up at Anor Londo" and my then friends would see my summon sign? But then that wouldn't be for the whole game, right? Only for a certain section? It would seem tedious to do that for every section of the game. And then if I stop playing for a month (as I'm going to do) and they keep going, would we ever be able to join back up since they'll most likely be a higher level than what I am?

I dunno. There are times when I like the multiplayer aspect (including forums, wikis, and guides) and times when I don't. Right now I 70% like it.


So tonight, I warp to go get some anti toxin, go back to the painted world of artimis, collect everything in there, and then put this game away for a month or two. Just when it's really starting to get good too.

Orange guys are just people who are in the Sunlight covenant. They aren't any more powerful but you get a Sunlight medal if you beat a boss with them which you can offer at the altar of the covenant for miracles.

The whole point even of the co-op is to create a sense of isolation. Demon Souls had the same idea, basically no narrative and no real explanation of what to do or what order to play the game in, just turfed in to this hostile world with only ghostly hints to guide you along. The community helps alot. I think you can meet up with people in theory but the developers have tried to minimise. Also, most people, as I said, cap their level at 120 so the co-op or PvP stays available.

This is most likely coming to the PC soon.

I had a bit of a break playing for a few weeks, picked it up again yesterday and remembered I had been grinding souls to be able to craft a +5 Lightning Claymore. Crafted that then proceeded to beat my way through the latter part of the game fairly quickly. Opened up the end game area with the final boss but I'm going to have an explore through the Great Hollow and Ash Lake level as I haven't been in there yet.

Probably going to start this again next week.

Here are some articles to read:

http://www.1up.com/features/dark-sou...pager.offset=1

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...waste-of-time/



Here is a sweatshirt that some guy on Reddit is making. It's a bit difficult to follow, but I don't think orders have been placed yet if you want to grab one. I'm thinking of getting one.

I'm gonna get this.. I had never paid attention to it, but with getting close to the end of The Witcher 2, I typed in "best RPG games 360" on Google and this had a 9.5 rating and was ranked right up there with Fallout 3, Oblivion, etc..

Do you know anything about it?

:lol: This game will eat you alive. That said, it is one of the best RPGs I've ever played. It will still crush you repeatedly.

I think I may be getting this tomorrow or sometime soon. Watch the News for any updates.

My little brother told me it was one of the hardest games ever made..

Still haven't picked this back up again because I want to finish other shit.

But once I finish that other shit it'll just be this and MLB: The Show until Borderlands 2 comes out.

I have 3 character builds all roughly near the end (Faith, Strength/Pyromancy, Magic/Dexterity). Still haven't beat the final boss, bit scared to take him on again because he is a bastard. It is entertaining enough invading other people's games as a spirit of vengeance with the different playing styles available.

Think after I beat Deus Ex, I will play this more.

Holy fuck.

Its not so much difficult, its just trying to find those goddamn bonfires. I was running for my life with a black knight and a lancer behind me and found one. Never so happy to see a save/continue point in my life.

I finished it today for the first time. Walked in with my Strength/Endurance build and smashed the end boss with a +5 Black Knight Greataxe and the Dragoncrest shield. Ended up being not a massive challenge.

I love this game by the way.

Started playing again today. It is depressing to see a save file with WELL over 100 hours, and level 57. And then a level 34 with only 8 hours.

Rocked through Blighttown in a little under an hour, now I'm in the dafouiwfasdfasduofh swamp that I hate. Except this time I have the ring so I don't have to worry about it as much.

Beat Qelaag my first try. Rang the bell. Forgot that I already killed douchebag Lautrec or whoever so he didn't kill Anastacia this time. Upgraded Uchigatana to +8, and started my rapier upgrading and it's like +4 now. Gonna do lightning Uchigatana like last time, and probably fire rapier. Or get Ricard's Rapier later and upgrade the hell out of it.

Was talking to Requiem when this happened earlier, had a good laugh at it.

http://i.imgur.com/ieaUS.jpg

Actually, might do Chaos Uchigatana. ECG, what's the deal with chaos weapons? I've never used one before. Will the Uchigatana still have its bleed effect if I make it a Chaos weapon?

Yep, bleed effect stays. Chaos Weapons scale with humanity i.e. the more humanity you have, the more damage that Chaos weapons or spells will do. Typically you need to hold about 10 humanity to get the top damage. I mean activated humanity, obviously, not just holding it in your inventory. This can be a bit of a pain in the arse if you die, as you suddenly have a weapon that isn't as powerful and maybe takes 3-4 hits to kill enemies when before it needed 1-2. If you can't retrieve your greasy death spot then you basically have to farm humanity to get the most out of it. The best places for doing that are the weird tentacle things in the Duke's Archives and the aborted baby skeletons just before Gravelord Nito's boss fight.

I deleted my old Faith build game and started a new one, just so I have 3 good variation options for PvP play.

Damn, that seems pretty rough. So you recover lost humanity when you retrieve your souls? Guess I always assumed those were just lost for good on death. Might not do Chaos then. Hate grinding for things even though it does sound powerful.

You can use a +10 upgraded curved sword with Quelaag's soul to make the Furysword, which is a Chaos weapons. It does a lot of damage at 10 humanity but has no bleed effect. So you could grab a Falchion or Scimitar from somewhere and upgrade it to that and upgrade your Uchigatana to +10 Fire or Lightning. That way you don't use up precious red or green titanite getting your Chaos weapon.

I think at 10 humanity, a +5 Chaos weapon beats a +10 Fire weapon in damage, so the humanity is important. And yes you do recover humanity when you grab your souls back.

Also, different question. But have you done much with greatswords/greataxes? Some of the stats on them are CRAZY but I wonder how difficult it would be not being able to use a shield. Seems like they do some massive damage, but that the experience is much more difficult due to probably using heavy armor and never being under half equip load.

Just seems like it would be pretty badass to strut around with a MASSIVE fucking greatsword.

I alternate between +5 Lightning Greatsword (does ~760 damage at my current stats) and a +5 Black Knight Greataxe in the Strength build I have. I managed ok, I mixed the armour around until I upgraded enough Endurance to go with Ormstein's armour and the Eagle or Black Knight Shield permanently. I actually lost Havel's Ring on the first playthrough because he killed me at the exact moment I killed him, so I didn't get his souls or ring, which made things more difficult. I made sure to get it on NG+, so now I'm set.

A fully upgraded Greatsword or Greataxe annihilates everything. The Black Knight Greataxe is almost a cheat weapon because the swing is so fast too.

Drake Sword is unbelievable in the first bit of the game. Had a bit of trouble with the Bell Gargoyles and with the Drake Sword equipped I had the first one down before I got hit.

Yeah, gunna go ahead and undo my +4 Lightning Winged Spear and make it a Magic Wanged Spear aka Magic Johnson.

Then going to make a Lightning Partizan because the difference between that and Lightning Winged Spear weren't that huge.

Considered making the Moonlight Butterfly Horn but it doesn't do enough physical damage if I'm reading the charts right.

I think I understand the differnce between Magic and Enchanted and I'm just going to try for a +10 Magic Johnson instead of making it enchanted

Any tips on starting the New Londo Ruins?

Dickhead won't take my Winged Spear and make it magical. He descended it no problem, but I can't Magic it.

Fuck it, I'm goin to bed.

So I go back to the Giant Blacksmith and he'll ascend my recently descended Winged Spear back into a Lightning Winged Spear.

The normal blacksmith will not offer to ascend it to a Raw Winged Spear. The blacksmith in the cell at New Londo will not ascened it to a Magic Winged Spear.

Are you telling me I cannot ascend a descened weapon into something else?

If that's the case what's the point of descending at all?

Please tell me I'm doing something wrong.

I'm going to bed.

Magic weapons are ascended at +5/6 normal weapons, Lightning at +10. So you may have to descend it to +5/6 before being able to make a Magic or Enchanted weapon.

You need to give him the Large Magic Ember also before he will ascend to +10 magic.

Haven't played this since last week due to work. Cannot wait to pop this in later.

Simply getting to the Four Kings can be a hassle. I decided to stop fighting my way there while cursed and instead just wield the Jagged Blade instead of my Talisman. That way, I can start from Firelink Shrine, take out the first two ghosts with the blade, walk a little to the right and drop down, switch to spear and take out Darkwraith Knights, switch back to Jagged Blade and take out a few roaming ghosts, wait at the door.

The other option would be start at that bonfire near Valley of Drakes but there are too many Drakes to deal with. I suppose I could just run right past them but that's kinda risky.

So that's where I'm at now. I collected everything (or at least I think I did) in New Londo and I've helped twice so far with the Four Kings except both times I forgot I was cursed and died pretty quickly