[The Xtortionist]

If you want to invade, getting the red-eye orb for giving him 10 humanity is easier than buying cracked orbs. For 30 humanity you get the sword & armor from the dark wraiths. Can't recall if the sword is needed for the trophy or not.

It's not. Just the Dark Hand.

[CountAntonius]

probably not trolls so much as the Giants / mask / DWGR derp setup.

Yeah it's really pretty annoying. Wish the dev team would have made the flip ring under 25% or something. It's very unbalanced. There really is no downside to using havel ring plus DWGR with some combo of giants and havels armor. High poise and defense should come at the cost of speed but with havels and DWG they are as fast as anybody. The only drawback is a slight slowdown in stamina regen but most of them use a grass crest shield and/or that green weed that boosts stamina.

[Robot Pants]

Missed this earlier, but didn't you say you were in undead burg in your first post? Either way, not being invaded for 2 hours standing around is nothing short of a miracle.

Yea you are right. The first time was in the undead Berg and I left my game for two hours with nothing happening. But in the tomb of the giants someone invaded me finally but it took an hour. I'm new to the gravelord so I bought into the rumor that someone dying to the BP you cursed their world with, gave you half their souls. But that's not true is it?

[Orayn]

probably not trolls so much as the Giants / mask / DWGR derp setup.

Guilty. This is what I use.



...Well, I guess the other guys are the guilty ones, since I'm in Blades of Darkmoon. Feels vindictive, man.

I'm considering retooling this into something slightly more honorable that uses lighter, prettier armor and ditches the shotel so I can drop to 40 END. I might also downsize and make a SL70 version. I dunno. No matter what I do, I'm using a +5 lightning claymore because that shit is AWESOME.

[weekend_warrior]

No matter what I do, I'm using a +5 lightning claymore because that shit is AWESOME.

Really? I hate that they changed the 2H heavy attack from an overhead strike (in demons souls) to horizontal slash. I hate horizontal strikes. The Zweihander is my favorite weapon. Does the Claymore have a knock-down affect?

[Orayn]

Really? I hate that they changed the 2H heavy attack from an overhead strike (in demons souls) to horizontal slash. I hate horizontal strikes. The Zweihander is my favorite weapon. Does the Claymore have a knock-down affect?

The two-handed light can knock down some enemies, but it's spammable as hell and pretty great at making dudes flinch regardless. I love the zweihander too, but the huge reach on the claymore's one-handed heavy and easier combos made me a believer.

[weekend_warrior]

I hate that they added a sheath to the claymore too. God they had to ruin my favorite weapon form Demons Souls.

[Zertez]

Thanks - I already started leveling up faith for that purpose and so I can use the Artorias Sword properly. I just was annoyed by some guys who did not tell me what they want and just waited so I clear the whole "level" for them while they wait behind. Neither healing nor fighting. But the majority of players is really great and helpfull. I had a guy help me with the tail of Seath and I don't know how I would have done it without him.

Some people seem to overlook spells altogether when they play a melee class. Even though you may not may able to use the most powerful versions, you can still find some great utility spells to help with both pve, co-op, and pvp. You just have to remember to switch at bonfires depending on what you are doing. If you have some extra souls to burn, you can always upgrade the pyro glove. Since pyro spells arent tied to your int/faith, you can use some nasty pyro spells doing next to nothing but spending souls.

[Mxrz]

Pyromancy in general can trump PvE while letting you have whatever build or keep to the sl-level you want. One-shotting the skeletal dogs with greater fireball was a huge help for some of my characters.

Won a pvp match with a fire claw. Funny stuff. The guy kept trying to get behind me, and i kept doing dodge-back-slashes. Now to win one with a whip.

[Wowbagger]

Yea you are right. The first time was in the undead Berg and I left my game for two hours with nothing happening. But in the tomb of the giants someone invaded me finally but it took an hour. I'm new to the gravelord so I bought into the rumor that someone dying to the BP you cursed their world with, gave you half their souls. But that's not true is it?

You spent two full hours in the Undead Burg without getting invaded? And you were afk as well? Holy shit! I usually get invaded before I can reach the bonfire. If I had gone afk for just two minutes some douchebag would surely have drained all my humanity.

I've done a fair bit of gravelording and never gotten any souls from anything but beating invaders. Don't think I've ever been invaded through my gravelord sign either. All it's done for me is ensure a constant stream of invaders, like using the dried root would, but with a smoke effect that goes well with my armour. :)

[torta_smasher]

Does anyone have a few demon titanite that they are willing to give? I need 5 more

[AEGISX]

Farm it, it's really easy

[krakov]

Yea you are right. The first time was in the undead Berg and I left my game for two hours with nothing happening. But in the tomb of the giants someone invaded me finally but it took an hour. I'm new to the gravelord so I bought into the rumor that someone dying to the BP you cursed their world with, gave you half their souls. But that's not true is it?

Correct, you get no notice on what is happening. Gravelording is almost the same as just standing around. The sign will be were you are so I'm not surprised about the low traffic in ToTG. Usually you get a lot of usual red invaders though.

[Soulhouf]

@Sullichin: did you beat the game with your SL1 character?
I just made a new cleric (SL2) and I'm planning to beat the game without leveling up at all.
So if you need help, feel free to ask me.

[Mxrz]

Rhea is acting weird towards my Dex/invader gal.

In the church, her "Talk." prompt wasn't appearing. Few hours later, I'm running to the fire-shrine elevators, when she's there in front of the vases, and she is hostile. Only she isn't attacking, but instead running away. On the next trip through, she ran up and punched me, but then ran off again. Never seen that before. Maybe doing the sin-payoff will fix her.

[PetriP-TNT]

Does anyone have a few demon titanite that they are willing to give? I need 5 more

Run from the second Demon's ruins bonfire to the Lost Izalith shortcut bridge, kill the demon, use Homeward (Bone) and repeat. One Demon Titanite takes about 3 minutes to get.

Rhea is acting weird towards my Dex/invader gal. In the church, her "Talk." prompt wasn't appearing. Few hours later, I'm running to the fire-shrine elevators, when she's there in front of the vases, and she is hostile. Only she isn't attacking, but instead running away. On the next trip through, she ran up and punched me, but then ran off again. Never seen that before. Maybe doing the sin-payoff will fix her.

Maybe some enemy had aggroed her? (Or maybe she is just jealous for your looks...)

[Red Liquorice]

In general is it better to upgrade weapons as high as possible up to 15+ or to go elemental? (Thinking about PvP more than PvE).

[Sullichin]

@Sullichin: did you beat the game with your SL1 character? I just made a new cleric (SL2) and I'm planning to beat the game without leveling up at all. So if you need help, feel free to ask me.

Nope that character is stuck at Four Kings. I haven't played in a while, stopped to play Demon's Souls and i'm also playing through Dead Space 2 now. I'm sure it won't be too long before I pick it up again, I'll let you know. Thanks!

[Mxrz]

Maybe some enemy had aggroed her? (Or maybe she is just jealous for your looks...)

They can do that? I don't remember hitting her, but absolution worked.

4 hours of invading? 4 hours of Claymores, Zweihanders, a few of Moonlight Great swords, and two or three Estocs. Disappointing.

In general is it better to upgrade weapons as high as possible up to 15+ or to go elemental? (Thinking about PvP more than PvE).

Depends on a lot of things like the build, the weapon's scaling and stuff.

+15s / Buffs gives the most real damage, but has a 1 minute time frame. Elemental gives a little less, but lets you boost Vit / End more when you're trying to keep to a specific level range. Honestly in pvp it doesn't matter much either way. Most of the time it'll come down to who gets in the lag stab or stunlock first. A few damage points aren't too important in the long run. Personally I take things up to +14/+9/+4 until I've until I use them enough to decide whether to use slab or not.

[Akainu]

I'm completely in love with Black Knight weapons! I don't need anything else.

[ihearthawthats]

I'm completely in love with Black Knight weapons! I don't need anything else.

its a blessing and a curse for me. i'm using a black knight sword which so far does ridiculous amounts of damage, but i hate the animations for it, especially the slow-ass heavy attack. i keep hoping to find a better weapon, or just to simply stop caring about the ridiculous damage it does, but i can't.

[Akainu]

its a blessing and a curse for me. i'm using a black knight sword which so far does ridiculous amounts of damage, but i hate the animations for it, especially the slow-ass heavy attack. i keep hoping to find a better weapon, or just to simply stop caring about the ridiculous damage it does, but i can't.

It's all about the timing. It's so satisfying watching enemies fly.

[AEGISX]

its a blessing and a curse for me. i'm using a black knight sword which so far does ridiculous amounts of damage, but i hate the animations for it, especially the slow-ass heavy attack. i keep hoping to find a better weapon, or just to simply stop caring about the ridiculous damage it does, but i can't.

it works great on mobs that are charging at you, you have to predict when they are about to reach your sword tip when you doing your heavy attack. its really satisfying seeing more than one enemy flying with one heavy attack. beware there's a glitch that the BKS heavy attack may send enemy below the floor, you might lose a loot.

[H_Prestige]

I'm completely in love with Black Knight weapons! I don't need anything else.

Agreed. BKGA is ridiculous. I also like the Chaos Blade for pure physical damage.

[SiegfriedFM]

So I got my main up to Painted World in NG+ and farmed all the souvenirs of reprisal again. Finally could grab Darkmoon Blade and also one miracle in Painted World I had missed. Then trekked all the way down to Ash Lake to spank the hydra and get the last miracle. I thought. Apparently when I printed my list, it somehow skipped Seek Guidance and I obviously never bought it myself. So back to Firelink and luckily Petrus was still around. And boom, another trophy.

Now I just need the Magic Weapon, Rare Weapons and finishing the game once more.

[Pakkidis]

I am about to play this for my first time, never played demon souls so I have no idea what to expect.

What is a good starting class? What attributes are more important to level up strength, dexterity etc...?

Any other non spoiler advice for a newbie?

[Cloudius12]

I am about to play this for my first time, never played demon souls so I have no idea what to expect. What is a good starting class? What attributes are more important to level up strength, dexterity etc...? Any other non spoiler advice for a newbie?

Learn how to backstab, for some enemies it helps very much. Also roll into barrels with people in them.

[SiegfriedFM]

Never ever upgrade resistance as a stat. A good starting class is Sorcerer or Pyromancer, but you'll need to use melee weapons a lot in any case.

[H_Prestige]

I am about to play this for my first time, never played demon souls so I have no idea what to expect. What is a good starting class? What attributes are more important to level up strength, dexterity etc...? Any other non spoiler advice for a newbie?

Start with any class, never upgrade resistance, if you end up in an area with skeletons or ghosts turn around, you're in the wrong place.

[weekend_warrior]

Fuck you From Software. Fuck you for making the brilliant Demons Souls. And fuck you for making the equally brilliant Dark Souls. I can't do anything but this game, it's too addicting!

[Robot Pants]

Start with any class, never upgrade resistance, if you end up in an area with skeletons or ghosts turn around, you're in the wrong place.

Hahah that's actually really sound advice. especially the last part of it.

[ihearthawthats]

Start with any class, never upgrade resistance, if you end up in an area with skeletons or ghosts turn around, you're in the wrong place.

i coulda used this advice when starting :(

and i liked the bandit, good speed, good damage, and good equips overall. warrior is good overall too. if you want to start out with spells, than pick one of the caster classes. as for stats, i like a balance between vitality and endurance + either strength/dex/intelligence/etc depending on which you want to specialize in. i made a glass cannon, stacking pure strength and it wasn't a fun time getting 1-hit ko'd by a lot of the later monsters, especially when you're carrying a lot of souls. it only takes about 15-20 points in vitality to essentially double your hp.

[NaturalHigh]

so gravelord for pvp is still fairly pointless? i am at least going to join to get the gravelord sword on this character. i have never used it...is it worth it? (str character)

[InfiniDragon]

Agreed. BKGA is ridiculous. I also like the Chaos Blade for pure physical damage.

As I said earlier, real men roll Chaos Blades. XD

I'm one of those people who doesn't roll with the Pinwheel or Havel's business though, I stick to sets I like for the look of my character and make a build around that.

Oh, and Gravelord Sword can be used in PvE and PvP. Though I'd recommend Murakumo over it, it's definitely viable.

[H_Prestige]

I'm carrying 27 million souls and have no idea what to do with them.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Playing other games now but I wrote a bit about Dark Souls as a (hopefully temporary) send-off.

First off I'm not a big fan of Demon's Souls. Why? All you need to know is that I didn't like it. However with Dark Souls if I had played it last year I'd probably have considered it one of my favorites of 2011. For quite awhile I was almost entirely immersed in this game. Not only would I be playing Dark Souls but I'd also be watching DS streams at the same time. This title is a perfect example of "Making the game yours". This is a motto I came up with for what I believe exemplifies great game-design. As long as the player adheres to the rules set forth by the game they should be free to complete it in the manner that suits them best. The options for getting through this game are innumerable and there's no real wrong way to play. Certainly the first play-through is going to be very intimidating but once the player figures things out they'll be able to push themselves further by creating their own challenges. This game is consistent in that it rewards skillful as well as intelligent play. If all else fails there are always the easy ways out such as summoning other players to assist or creating an all-situation weapon such as a lightning claymore. After that first play-through the game really opens up. While combat is a constant in this game outside of boss-fights it isn't always required. I started a completely fresh character and spent the first couple hours running through every area the master key opens to acquire useful equipment. While the possibility for grave mistakes is very high it makes for an all the more thrilling experience. Rushing through areas where normally I'd be in way over my head feels really natural. This really shows how well this game was thought-out. I will say that the worst idea is to ever do the same thing twice. This has happened to me before with other games. On subsequent play-throughs I find myself going through the motions and doing almost exactly the same thing I did before. This game is simply not designed for that sort of play. Sure it's nice to beat XXXX boss without getting hit or getting through so-and-whatever area without dying but in order for this game to stay fresh you always have to be willing to try something new. Try out new builds, alternate routes, mess with soul-levels, always do whatever you can differently.

[weekend_warrior]

I just made it through Sen Fortress without dying for the first time ever, even had 3 chaos servant invaders. Next step- giant blacksmith to make some bitching lightning weapons!

[B-Genius]

I'm carrying 27 million souls and have no idea what to do with them.

Buy 99 of every item you can and drop them all at the feet of the next guy who summons you/you invade.

[soultron]

I beat it today for my the first time. I feel like a champ. Although Nito was my second last boss and he was much more challenging than Lord Gwyn. I made the mistake of triggering the bonfire there instead of warping back to the Lordvessel Chamber, which means I've started my NG+.

First thing I did when I got to Firelink was killed that crestfallen motherfucker who always sits by the bonfire. Always hated that guy. Now I won't have to fight him when he goes hollow in New Londo Ruins.

Amazing game. Can't wait to do some real weapon building now.

[sixghost]

Do you guys have any recommendations for some weird weapon pairings to play PvE with?

I was thinking about trying Claw/Whip.

[weekend_warrior]

Do you guys have any recommendations for some weird weapon pairings to play PvE with? I was thinking about trying Claw/Whip.

crossbow/whip.

Or crossbow/pyro if you want something useful.

[2AdEPT]

interesting. i'll make sure to keep that in mind for my next character. ng+ doesn't reset your level does it? also, reading up on the wiki...level 700 something is the max? damn... has anyone even ever attempted that? lol lol i did the same thing. the only consequence is that you can't buy anything from him anymore. some of the unique items he sells (iirc) are repair powder and lloyd's talisman. i seemed to have gone through the game so far just fine without either item. in terms of selling stuff, i don't think you can yet (if at all). the inventory items don't count towards your weight, so its kinda harmless other than being disorganized. however, you can use the bottomless box to store items at a bonfire for better organization.

Thanks to both, I did buy the bottomless box from him :) If disorganisation is the only downside of hoarding all stuff, I'm okay with that.

Of course there is always a way to get by without stuff...but You are so early in the game I would start over. It will take you a fraction of the time to catch back up to where you were, and you can reverse many ohter mistakes you likley made as well....I say likley becuase I always make some even now after 8 or so characters!!! HAving the master key and starting as pyro really help early game exploration.....and early game exploration is thebest aspect of the souls games for more than several of us onhere.

Do you guys have any recommendations for some weird weapon pairings to play PvE with? I was thinking about trying Claw/Whip.

I was experimenting with my Kirk toon and upgraded his spiked shield to lightning +4...it now shield bashes over 400 damage....he currently uses the lightning barbed sword but I think this with a high DEX user +15 shotel with buff is what I will try....talk about messing with shield mentalities...one turns it hostile the other diminishes its pristine intent.

Speaking of toons, my Kirk gal (with thorn helm on its hard to tell she is a she but she is "very slim") got summond along with a genuine full replica Mildred phantom......stil kicked A$$$$$ for the host on Orn and Smu but I broke role and switched to Chaos Great scythe 2H for orn....as it appeared the host was not able to help much and although Mildred was doing well...no armour and all made her a little vulnerable so I wanted to clean up faster. Who says multiplayer is broke!!!! Still having as much fun as ever helping on bosses!!!!!

[Akainu]

Agreed. BKGA is ridiculous. I also like the Chaos Blade for pure physical damage.

Black phantom Leeroy comes charging at me. *R2!* MAJOR ALTITUDE! XD

[Ratrat]

Hell yeah I just beat the game today. Feels good as someone who couldn't best Demon's Souls. Great game. I'm ready for Dark Souls 2 Fromsoftware!

[B-Genius]

Congrats Ratrat! In celebration, I propose some sort of Nito meme coupled with your avatar :D

Until the next Souls hits, why not try NG+, or make a new character/try a new playstyle?

Also, I recommend going back to DeSouls if you haven't in a while. It's surprisingly different, but you'll find yourself more at home than before.

The invasions in Demon's are a different story altogether. I've had several Black Phantoms actually run away from me (just me, no summons). I'm not talking about running into an area full of enemies in an attempt to outnumber; I'm talking proper bail outs here.

So satisfying having that little edge in equip burden/stamina, gradually catching up to them and finishing them off with a Winged Spear from behind. Now that's what backstabs are all about!

[Soulhouf]

The invasions in Demon's are a different story altogether. I've had several Black Phantoms actually run away from me (just me, no summons). I'm not talking about running into an area full of enemies in an attempt to outnumber; I'm talking proper bail outs here. So satisfying having that little edge in equip burden/stamina, gradually catching up to them and finishing them off with a Winged Spear from behind. Now that's what backstabs are all about! !

Yeah, I miss that in Dark Souls where now most of players are cheesing the game min/maxing their equipment in a ridiculous way.

[w00pdiw00p]

I recently started my seccond playthrough with a new character (never finished the first one).
But man, I am doing way better than before. Knowing what gear is good and how to properly upgrade stuff is great. Plus my actual skill has gone up, just blazing through Anor Londo at the moment having no hard time whatsoever with the black knights and sentinals (who would kick my ass before)

[Pakkidis]

I just started playing and I am getting my ass kicked every which way. Died about 5 times in the very beginning. I just reached the first bonfire after the opening tutorial..where am I supppose to go next? I went up the stairs and faced a whole bunch of skeletons and died a few times, afterwards I went down some elevator shaft and died.

I started as a pyromancer
A few questions, is there any reason to go two handed vs one handed?
What does humanity do? I found a few, should i use the humanity crystals right away or should I save them? I also some item called the souls of the undead, what does that do?

[sixghost]

I just started playing and I am getting my ass kicked every which way. Died about 5 times in the very beginning. I just reached the first bonfire after the opening tutorial..where am I supppose to go next? I went up the stairs and faced a whole bunch of skeletons and died a few times, afterwards I went down some elevator shaft and died. I started as a pyromancer A few questions, is there any reason to go two handed vs one handed? What does humanity do? I found a few, should i use the humanity crystals right away or should I save them? I also some item called the souls of the undead, what does that do?

Try not to get frustrated at how much you are dying early on, that happens to everybody.

Humanity: This can be kind of confusing at first. There are two types of humanity that you can find. The first is a consumable, the type of thing that just sits in your inventory until you use it. It won't have any effect until you do. The second type is active humanity. That's what that number in the top left of your screen is. Your active humanity goes up if you kill a bunch of enemies without dying, or you use one of the humanity items in your inventory. Remember, once humanity is active you risk losing it when you die.You are still able to corpse run and retrieve it though.

Humanity doesn't really do much if you just let it pile up in active humanity. It increases a few stats like item drop rate, and defense, but barely. The thing you want to focus on using humanity for is turning human and kindling bonfires. Turning human allows you to summon other players or NPC characters into your world to help you out, but it also allows you to be invaded by other players or NPC characters. If you aren't connected to XBL or PSN, only the NPC phantoms/invaders will be available, which you should still use. Second is kindling, each time you do this it permanently increases the number of estus flasks that specific bonfire will give you each time you rest at it. Kindle it once, and it will give you 10, then 15, and so on. You can only do this once you are human, so it essentially takes 2 humanity to do this. Doing this is a pretty good habit to get into, especially if you are in an area that's tough, the extra estus' will save your life.

From the starting bonfire, don't go down the elevator, don't go into the cemetary, head up the huge hill towards the aqueduct.

"Souls of the Undead" are consumable versions of the souls that you get each time you kill an enemy. They are nice since they will stick into your inventory even if you die, unlike the souls you get from killing enemies.

One handed vs two handed - there's a few uses for this. Two handing a weapon reduces the Strength requirement to use the weapon by 33%, so it can allow you to use weapons you normally couldn't use. Also, it will do more damage, and I believe it gives your attack a higher stagger stat. If you're still getting used to the combat, I'd recommend just sticking to the onehanding your weapon and using a shield. Twohanding a weapon is extremely useful once your familiar with the combat, and feel comfortable enough to dodge enemy's attacks without blocking.

I recently started my seccond playthrough with a new character (never finished the first one). But man, I am doing way better than before. Knowing what gear is good and how to properly upgrade stuff is great. Plus my actual skill has gone up, just blazing through Anor Londo at the moment having no hard time whatsoever with the black knights and sentinals (who would kick my ass before)

That is still one of my favorite moments playing this game. I barely made it through the game my first time, then started a new character a few days later and realized I was actually kind of good at the game.

[Sullichin]

Hell yeah I just beat the game today. Feels good as someone who couldn't best Demon's Souls. Great game. I'm ready for Dark Souls 2 Fromsoftware!

Nice. I also second that you should go back to Demon's Souls. I played DeS first and just could not get very far in that game at all, but after beating Dark Souls (several times...) I went back to Demon's and found it much more approachable, and was compelled to platinum it. It's an excellent game and more of the same core gameplay that makes this series so great.

I just started playing and I am getting my ass kicked every which way. Died about 5 times in the very beginning. I just reached the first bonfire after the opening tutorial..where am I supppose to go next? I went up the stairs and faced a whole bunch of skeletons and died a few times, afterwards I went down some elevator shaft and died. I started as a pyromancer A few questions, is there any reason to go two handed vs one handed? What does humanity do? I found a few, should i use the humanity crystals right away or should I save them? I also some item called the souls of the undead, what does that do?

if you find 'undead burg' you are going the right way. There's a few other paths from the start of firelink that shouldn't be tackled until much later on your first playthrough.

You get a strength bonus when wielding a weapon two handed (your strength stat * 1.5) - this can allow you to hold weapons in 2 hands that you don't meet the requirement to hold in 1. Weapons also have different move sets for 1h and 2h, they tend to be more powerful attacks. This is at the cost of not having a shield, but dodging is just as an effective of a strategy, if not more so, than blocking. You can also block with weapons, but it typically won't reduce the damage as much as if you were using a shield.

Humanity is a semi-complicated mechanic. If you have 1 active humanity in your counter (number in the upper left corner of the hud), you can use it to 'reverse hollowing' at a bonfire. This will put you in 'human' form, which will allow you to summon others for help, and opens you for invasions. if you die, you lose your human status. When in human form you can also kindle a bonfire if you have another active humanity. Also, your character won't look like a zombie anymore. Kindling means that you will get 10 estus flasks instead of 5 from that specific bonfire. Later, you will be able to kindle further, up to 20 flasks per bonfire. So - in a hollowed state (your character looks like a zombie), you'd need to consume 2 humanity to reverse hollow and then kindle a bonfire. Simply having humanity in your counter does not mean you are in human form; you have to reverse hollowing to do this. Having humanity in your counter does increase some of your defenses, increases your item drop rate, and will increase the damage of 'chaos' weapons/spells. For now, I'd save humanity unless you are using it to kindle bonfires.

EDIT: I knew someone else would reply when I was writing this lol. Hopefully I didn't just repeat everything sixghost said.