Empty Space
Member
Übermatik;243855565 said:
You do you! People beat these games at SL1 and using a broken sword. Whatever works for you is the best way to play.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=407768
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Dark Souls III |OT+2| Why Can't We Poise the Game?
- Thread starter Tarkus
- Start date
You do you! People beat these games at SL1 and using a broken sword. Whatever works for you is the best way to play.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=407768
ScientificPizza
Banned
hey no offence but the deacons of the deep are a terrible boss
i put down a summon sign just so i could go into someone else's game and get the fee for it before i tried them myself and the person had summoned *three* other people. it was wild
like i don't mean that in a judgemental way i just mean i've never played with four people before. it was kind of cool
i put down a summon sign just so i could go into someone else's game and get the fee for it before i tried them myself and the person had summoned *three* other people. it was wild
like i don't mean that in a judgemental way i just mean i've never played with four people before. it was kind of cool
They were really easy for me. Got them in my first try (irythill ice sword slashes for crowd control) and just focused on the head deacon in charge.
ScientificPizza
Banned
Yeah I got them in my second try. It would have been the first but I got reckless and got cursed when I had only one guy left to kill. Just super underwhelming as far as Souls bosses go.
Red Liquorice
Member
One of my favourite bosses in DS3. I like gimmick bosses though - Micolash, Wolnir, that's my gig!
I really enjoyed Deacons of the Deep! I thought the theme and setting were super cool, and I enjoyed the mechanic. It's an easy fight too.
I'm now exploring both the
and
, but man, I can't get past that
on the bridge at the former nor
So I feel kinda stuck. I might switch to my Claymore again for the
for a bit more speed in attack, because I'm struggling with my new Greatsword.
I'm now exploring both the
Smouldering Lake
Irithyll
Black Knight
that massive fucking lizard monster in the swampy lake in the latter (the one that chases you on the bridge)
So I feel kinda stuck. I might switch to my Claymore again for the
knight
ScientificPizza
Banned
Man that Pontiff fight is pretty rough. I don't feel bad at all for summoning for it. I assume it's a parry fight? Parrying is the one thing I still can't get my head around
Red Liquorice
Member
Parrying definately helps, he's tough though, one of the toughest in the game imo.
The lizard monster in the swampy area is easier to fight on the bridge, if you kill it there you don't have to deal with it in the water. Not entirely sure if he still appears on the bridge if you got him to go down to the water, but it's worth a try warping back to first bonfire and seeing, better than fighting him in the water which slows you down.Übermatik;243885319 said:
Empty Space
Member
It's time to learn to parry the Black knights have super long windups for a reason.Übermatik;243885319 said:
The lizard dogs are nightmarish there's no way around that I don't really have good advice for that one.
Pontiff can be parried on his first swing pretty easily, but no parrying isn't super necessary. The trick to that fight is planning for the illusion and making sure you can burst it down.
Had the same thought and tried my luck, but it appears he doesn't respawn on the bridge - that said I didn't try coming again from the Wolnir bonfire... Hmmm.
Anyways, I managed to un-equip everything and run past him in the lake/swamp.
I haven't successfully parried once when I tried it at the start of the game... Bah. I'm guessing a shield with the Greatsword I'm now using is gonna be a big ask on encumbrance too right?
Maybe my Claymore + parry shield will work out. I'll practice!
Yeah its a weak boss. Even the gimmick isn't that great. Probably one of the weaker gimmick bosses in the entire series for me.
Empty Space
Member
Übermatik;243914824 said:
You could try circle strafing to back stab, but chaining parries is far more efficient. Every single one of the large knight type enemies is super susceptible to parries. Its a useful skill to learn, but not wholly necessary.
If weight is a concern then equip a caestus I'm your left hand slot. It parries just as well as most shields and weighs almost nothing.
Okay, I no longer fear the knights at all. I'm beginning to realise just how hard I hit with this buffed Greatsword! I find I can charge a heavy attack before they even get a chance to hit me. They go flying and take a ton of damage.
Pontiff Sulyvhan, however... man, that guy has reach. I do a LOT of damage with each hit, but I figure staying close has him chaining a load of attacks I can't all dodge.
I can equip a fairly decent shield, so might try blocking/parrying, but yeah. This fight will take some thought.
Meanwhile, guess I'll go back to that Smouldering Lake bridge and see what's past that!
ScientificPizza
Banned
Having seen that whole fight now I think the first half of that fight is much more difficult than the second half. I don't regret summoning for it because I could see the way to do it, but I just didn't want to beat my head against it. I also got to him at the end of like a four hour session and wanted to get through himÜbermatik;243937579 said:
It's super doable though, especially if you have high damage.
The second phase should go pretty quickly with destroying the phantom -> attacking during the summon
I've only had 2 or 3 tries so far, but it seems the trick to it for my setup is to keep distance and pick your moments. I know his second phase includes a good few seconds where he summons the replica, and I think that buys enough time to get the majority of his health down.
What determines your stance?
That is, if I understand it correctly, the ability to maintain posture when hit - not being staggered?
If I can equip a small shield to block at least some damage and any knock-back his attacks have, I'll be set. With that I can tank and swipe.
Empty Space
Member
Übermatik;243954811 said:
Stance has a very specific meaning in Dark Souls 3 it is a position your character stands for the weapon art Stance. That stance can be transitioned into one of two different attacks. The attack will vary weapon to weapon. The Claymore has a stance weapon art.
The thing you're asking about how to stop being staggered is two different stats stability and poise. Stability is easier to understand, so we'll talk about that first. Stability is a stat found on shields that governs how much stamina you lose when blocking an attack.
The higher your stability the less stamina you lose per hit on your shield. As a rule of thumb bigger shields have more stability. You can increase stability I on a sheild by upgrading it. Stability is important, because when you run out of stamina you will be put into a vulnerable state. This is the same state that happens when you or an opponent has been parried. In this state a player can perform a visceral attack on you for a ton of damage, if that player has built their character a certain way it can one shot it's very powerful. As far as I know only players and NPC humans preform visceral attacks in this game, but that state does last a while and if an enemy gets you to that point it's no good.
Now Poise is a complicated and you might want to watch a video explains how it works, because having visuals will help you understand it better, but I'll try my best.
Poise in Dark Souls 3 is the stat that governs how much damage you can take before an attack you are performing is interrupted. The higher your poise the more damage you will have to take during swing to be staggered out of the animation. The big caveat to all this is poise only applies to 2h attacks and is only really noticeable on the larger weapon categories. A two handed dagger swipe has poise, but it's nowhere near meaningful enough to notice. Poise is increased by primarily armor, but some other items and spell increase it too. Poises is primarily a PvP stat if an enemy is interrupting your swing just assume it will always do that no matter what. All the rats in the game are good example of this they stagger everything.There is a single ability that sort of breaks these rules. Any weapon that has the weapon art Perseverance will make you take less damage and be impossible to stagger no matter what weapon you have or if you are 1hing or 2hing. The weapon art duration is pretty short, bit has its uses.
The implementation of poise in this iteration of the series is super controversial and it took people a year or more to understand it. Eventually From overhauled the whole thing, so it was easier to understand, but it's still not simple.
I hope I answered your question.
Regginator
Member
I'm sitting on around 300K souls and I'm not quite sure what to do with them. What's the optimal SL range for the most summoning/PvP activity? I'm at 106 now. Should I stop levelling up?
Cannon Goose
Member
You'll find people at just about any level, at least for PvP. Level 120 is a decent place to stop if you decide to limit yourself at all.
ScientificPizza
Banned
I missed Smouldering Lake and I have no idea how to get there
Empty Space
Member
In Carthus Catacombs remember that wooden bridge you went over to reach Wolnir? Well if you cut the bridge on the side that Wolnir is on the broken bridge will make a ladder. Go down that ladder and you'll gain access to Smouldering Lake.
ScientificPizza
Banned
oh cool, thank you!
Finished The Ringed City today, beat the last boss on my first try!
For those interested, spoilers obviously.
For those interested, spoilers obviously.
Wonderful explanation, thank-you so much!
As it stands I feel I'm a bit 'stuck in the middle' again - can't equip a heavy shield as well as the Greatsword for greater stability; smaller shield gets 'broken' too easily (can be staggered).
One thing that I seem to do fine with is my Poise. I'm rarely staggered mid-attack.
So yeah, anyway... I'm struggling a little against the Demon King, but I think I can do it. Keeping distance seems key, and I've got him very close to dead before. Haven't tried Pontiff Sulyvahn again, so need to decide how to take that fight. Again, feel I have shield issues now. Hm.
Really it's just the bosses I have an issue with. Everything else dies in one or two hits, and I can soak damage from enemies/attack through them absolutely fine.
Just suffering typical strength build encumbrance.
*EDIT* On another note, I made it to the Ballista without immediately realising it could be disabled - so imagine my disbelief when I ran under it and to the ledges to drop down, only to hear it fucking sloooooowly turn around and aim at me from super close range. Was a proper 'OH SHIT' moment! Disabled it now though so all's good, just thought it was funny!
And I may have left a message in said corner to lure people who made the same mistake... Be wary of behind! *Points* 
ScientificPizza
Banned
I got Yhorm down to pretty low health with just regular attacks before finding out The Thing to do
Regginator
Member
Is there any other way to beat him then??? I thought he was supposed to be a huge
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Best franchise ever <3
Oracle Dragon
Member
Those Ringed Knights with the spear and shield are giving me so much trouble! Is there a trick to fighting them? It basically turns into a long drawn out fight where I have to wait until they do either their big jumping attack or their 4-hit fire combo, then sneak in a couple of hits and back off. They always seem to get that shield up at the exact right time and knock me back...
ScientificPizza
Banned
i swear there are twice as many mimics as there are regular chests in this game
There is a sword in the room next to the throne he is sitting on called Storm Ruler. You need to equip it and two hand it. Then holding R2 will charge up the sword. When it's charged you hold R2 and attack and it does this huge wind attack. He then only takes like six hits to kill and it's pretty quick.
Regginator
Member
Stormruler, yo
Woe is me... I should've known it was a gimmick boss, I was far from under levelled by then but I only seemed to tickle him. So this
Storm Ruler
Red Liquorice
Member
Those who played Demon's Souls had a leg up there since the same weapon appears in that game for a boss too with a similar mechanic, seeing the name would be an instant light bulb.
ScientificPizza
Banned
Champion Gundyr has by far been the hardest boss of the game for me so far. There is just no space between his attacks and his reach is insane
Another great fight. Especially because of how it wraps into the story.
He's definitely one of the top 5 hardest in the main game.
Is he optional? I finished the other day but skipped a lot of the optional areas and I don't remember him.
Yes, he is optional.
He is in a dark version of the starting area in the same place where Iudex Gundyr is. The areas is accessed through a illusionary wall in the far end of the room after the consumed king where the path of dragons gesture is.
Empty Space
Member
He is part of a fairly short optional area that has some pretty heavy lore implications. There are three optional areas two of those areas of have what I think are some of the best bosses in the series. If you skipped those areas it's worth going back.
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
Have been working on a couple more pve characters. Have gotten pretty good against Sillyvan and gave him the beatdown with Demon Fists. He seemed very displeased that
Exile Greatsword seems decent on its own, but the same character also has a Dark Sword, which it rather pales in comparison to. I have another character with a Greatsword, which tends to struggle against mobs (the stagger it deals is often shorter than the attacks' recovery time, which seems like a significant oversight), but fairly strong against bosses, especially ones who have a weak spot.
Ashes of Ariandel is easily some of the weakest Souls content. Too much open space and swarming the player with enemies. The one area that actually has nuanced area design and paths has barely any enemies that pose a threat. And the main boss. Ugh. They take the main issue of Dark Souls III's late game and make it even worse. Rather than relying on clever attacks and rhythm, they have incredibly telegraphed attacks that have deceptive range and deal completely absurd damage. Having
Would simply not recommend this DLC. Even the weapons are flawed. The javelin is fun, but has pitiful range for a spear. The sabre is great, like a Falchion but with an actually good weapon art, so that's worthwhile. Crow Quills is a neat idea, but the weapon art and followup are both much too slow and weak, and the dual-wielding attacks are far too slow as well. Little practical point to choosing it over an Estoc.
his clone died in one volley and didn't summon another one.
Ashes of Ariandel is easily some of the weakest Souls content. Too much open space and swarming the player with enemies. The one area that actually has nuanced area design and paths has barely any enemies that pose a threat. And the main boss. Ugh. They take the main issue of Dark Souls III's late game and make it even worse. Rather than relying on clever attacks and rhythm, they have incredibly telegraphed attacks that have deceptive range and deal completely absurd damage. Having
a three phase boss and allowing the third phase to instantly deal 80-90% of the player's health even with 30 vigor is horrible, on top of difficult-to-see hitboxes and absolutely unfair tracking that puts even Dark Souls II to shame.
RetroGameAudio
Neo Member
Starting up a second play through! I haven't played any of the ringed city yet, but was feeling like starting over and enjoying the game from scratch after months of not touching it.
I thought this was my least favorite Soulsbourne. I'm not sure if it still is, but part of it was Souls fatigue and I just needed some downtime.
I'm going to force myself to use heavier weapons, since I usually lean towards lighter weapons in these games.
I thought this was my least favorite Soulsbourne. I'm not sure if it still is, but part of it was Souls fatigue and I just needed some downtime.
I'm going to force myself to use heavier weapons, since I usually lean towards lighter weapons in these games.
ScientificPizza
Banned
for real tho all of those projectiles in the grand archives are testing my patience
NinjaBoiX
Member
Yeah, this series could definitely be better with a more considered difficulty, namely less cheesy enemy AI. I know the challenge is one of the game's biggest draws but invariably I find myself thinking "well that was cheap/harsh/not really my fault" more than "wow, what an exhilarating encounter! I was bested but can't wait to try again!" This is compounded by the lack of checkpoints (not that I'm saying they do away with bonfires, it's a tenet of the series), but it feels like poor design to ask the player to regularly repeat chunks of gameplay to have another stab at the cheating boss that just killed you for the 20th time.
It's almost like they play tested the game, laughed at the responses, and then did the opposite.
The combat is excellent against enemies that feel your mechanical equal, but more often then not you feel like they've horribly misjudged aspects of the design in their relentless desire to make it "hard".
I'll be playing some more Sunday, hopefully it's a rewarding progress session because I truly love these games when I'm succeeding!
It's almost like they play tested the game, laughed at the responses, and then did the opposite.
The combat is excellent against enemies that feel your mechanical equal, but more often then not you feel like they've horribly misjudged aspects of the design in their relentless desire to make it "hard".
I'll be playing some more Sunday, hopefully it's a rewarding progress session because I truly love these games when I'm succeeding!
RetroGameAudio
Neo Member
Yeah I don't usually like when these games are at their hardest (and this is my favorite game series). I do think they're fair a lot more often than not, so we might draw the line in different places, but at the end of the day it's all about having fun and not just saying "git gud" to aggravatingly difficult scenarios.
ScientificPizza
Banned
I wouldn't mind this Lothric fight as much if it didn't take forever to get back to it
e: I beat my first Souls game :')
e: I beat my first Souls game :')
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
Just run back to the boss. Once you know the route, there's no reason not to. The boss of the castle especially makes it seem like they want you to fight through, but just run.
Dark Souls III's main issue with difficulty that neither Dark Souls nor Dark Souls II had is the bizarre amounts of damage enemies deal. Enemies from
Irithyll
The rhythm of combat is also off. Enemies are more aggressive, I guess to compensate for roll spamming being more viable than in the previous games. This, in addition to enemies being able to constantly pivot (an issue Dark Souls II introduced and one of the few things from II that III inexplicably kept), means that fights against humanoid enemies often come down to: Enemy attacks, roll, another attack, roll, try to hit enemy. However, before your attack has even quite finished recovering, the enemy is already attacking again, forcing you to roll cancel and start the sequence over again. Humanoid enemies in the second half of the game barely have to commit to their attacks, and the issue is compounded by that they are very difficult to stagger. In Dark Souls, a two-handed attack was usually enough to stagger an enemy. In III, it takes anywhere from 2-5 attacks to stagger an enemy, with no indication when the stagger is going to occur. Attacks are relatively easy to dodge with the effectiveness of rolls, but punishing and predicting enemies is much more difficult.
ScientificPizza
Banned
I just finished Ashes of Ariandel and was super underwhelmed tbh. Is The Ringed City better, or similar to this? I was going to play through both DLC's before playing 1 but I kind of feel like I wasted my money on Ashes tbh and don't want to feel that way agian.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I liked Ashes well enough, but Ringed City is widely considered better. It has 4 bosses (all of which are great) and the main level (which you reach after the first DLC boss) is excellent.
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
Ringed City is much better. Actually finally expands a bit on Dark Souls lore rather than inexplicable references/ revisiting Dark Souls 1 like Ashes, better bosses, far more interesting level and art design even if it is really, really grey.
It does, unfortunately, have its own kind of bullshit. I really don't like Dark Souls III's insistence on gimmicks.
It does, unfortunately, have its own kind of bullshit. I really don't like Dark Souls III's insistence on gimmicks.
The Ringed City is a lot longer and feels properly difficult to me (that is, it's incredibly hard without feeling cheap). And it answers a lot of questions about the series (if you're into that).
ScientificPizza
Banned
Oh okay, that does sound way better. I might check it out eventually. I went back to playing the first Dark Souls now that I Get It and man this game just feels older in comparison to the first. Like the quick roll is still a lot more sluggish to begin with