meltingparappa
Member
Going to register a username on twitch just so I can join the braying of the chat that gives solid yet conflicting tips.
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Jeff Green's new band is called "Furtive Pygmy" [Black Dragon plays Dark Souls]
- Thread starter SeventhSon
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Going to register a username on twitch just so I can join the braying of the chat that gives solid yet conflicting tips.
SeventhSon
Member
Follow @greenspeak on twitter, it auto tweets from twitch when he starts broadcasting.
Joseph Merrick
Member
just started watching these while doing something else. anyway
I started laughing when jeff said homeward bone the first time. and it avalanched, with every time he said it. I'm just laughing more and more. and he says it like 20 times. I'm crying.
thanks for homeward bone, black dragon. I needed a good laugh.
that's a homeward bone right there
I started laughing when jeff said homeward bone the first time. and it avalanched, with every time he said it. I'm just laughing more and more. and he says it like 20 times. I'm crying.
thanks for homeward bone, black dragon. I needed a good laugh.
Going to register a username on twitch just so I can join the braying of the chat that gives solid yet conflicting tips.
that's a homeward bone right there
SeventhSon
Member
Jeff is live! http://www.twitch.tv/greenspeak#5886
meltingparappa
Member
Sped past the dragon, mastered the kick, bombed the boar, now has both the claymore and has equipped the uchi-katana. No loss in temper while sacrificing both his dinner and his marriage to do just one more run.
Got a LOT done in a short amount of time.
So great to see someone getting over the learning curve... only to have game lull you into a sense of security before throwing the next set of hurdles at you.
Got a LOT done in a short amount of time.
So great to see someone getting over the learning curve... only to have game lull you into a sense of security before throwing the next set of hurdles at you.
Polioliolio
Member
What the fruit. I checked the stream some time before going to bed and there was no new activity.
Does he post the video to twitch later and stream from somewhere else?
Does he post the video to twitch later and stream from somewhere else?
Link to last nights episode?
Thanks, Jeff I leave my house to socialize and I end up missing your DS stream. Lesson learned. I am never leaving my house again.
SeventhSon
Member
Just watched it. His most important bit of progress was not panicking when stuff went wrong, like when he fell and made a (successful) escape. He got a lot of things done in the last minutes of the stream.
Please start kicking the spear guys more Jeff, you know how to do it. You shouldn't wait for their attacks, just kick and attack.
If you like the UCHIII, stick with it. Great weapon for the entire game. Upgrade DEX for scaling. Claymore is also nice, but you'll have to up your str to 16 to use it (only 11 if you two hand it.
Please start kicking the spear guys more Jeff, you know how to do it. You shouldn't wait for their attacks, just kick and attack.
If you like the UCHIII, stick with it. Great weapon for the entire game. Upgrade DEX for scaling. Claymore is also nice, but you'll have to up your str to 16 to use it (only 11 if you two hand it.
ThanksVision
Member
I really want to play this game. I think I should play demon's souls first though. Winter break is coming up so I'll have a lot of time to sink into it.
Jeff, I think you're reading GAF and taking advice, so i'll just post some little things I was thinking about while watching the stream. I've played a stupid amount of this game so I'd like to at least help a little. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything 
On locking on: Good job getting used to locking-on to everything! Locking-on is so important not only because it means every attack you use will hit an enemy, but because it means you will always block an enemy's attack (or what you can of it) if you have your shield up.
On heaviness of equipment: People were telling you to take off equipment because the lighter you are the less stamina you use, the quicker your stamina regens, and the faster your character will roll, dodge, and run. I won't bore you with the math, so instead just take things off and try to roll around. Notice how slow it gets the heavier you get (it should have 3 stages: fast, medium, slow).
Things Jeff leveled up this time!
1. Kicking: Kicking enemies off ledges and breaking an enemies block (remember that for the spear enemies!).
2. Locking-on
3. Stamina Management
4. Being patient, waiting for an enemy to attack, and counterattacking!
4. Not caring about dieing!
Things to work on/practice
1. Parry / Repost. The Parry is not an [L1] "perfect shield block" kind of thing like you showed in the beginning of the stream. The Parry is a second button [L2] that will swing your shield outwards. It has to be timed right, but not perfectly. If I could suggest something: Find a bonfire with a regular sword or spear enemy that spawns right next to it and practice your parry/riposte-ing. That way, if you die, your souls are right next to the bonfire.
2. Stamina management (Level 2): If you notice, you regen stamina slower when you have your shield raised. For powerful enemies that take a lot of your stamina when you block (Like that black knight) a useful strategy is not keep your shield up the entire time while fighting him. Back away out of attacking range and lower the shield for a few seconds to raise your stamina faster. This is, of course, a risk/reward as some enemies have a lunging attack.
3. Backstabbing: You can backstab something pretty easily just by strafing around it. The enemies have set attack animations much like you, so if you can coax one into attacking you can then strafe around to it's back and backstab it. Even if you don't get the backstab, you still get easy damage on it.
4. Playing online: Look, we all know that Dark Souls is scary, and the prospect of playing online is scary, but you really need to give it a go. Online play is great for three things
I hope all this is helpful. Let us know if you don't want anymore help, or if all this advice just makes us sound like righteous dicks or something.
Edit; Oh, he has been playing online? Ignore that last part then. Play more online! It rocks.
On locking on: Good job getting used to locking-on to everything! Locking-on is so important not only because it means every attack you use will hit an enemy, but because it means you will always block an enemy's attack (or what you can of it) if you have your shield up.
On heaviness of equipment: People were telling you to take off equipment because the lighter you are the less stamina you use, the quicker your stamina regens, and the faster your character will roll, dodge, and run. I won't bore you with the math, so instead just take things off and try to roll around. Notice how slow it gets the heavier you get (it should have 3 stages: fast, medium, slow).
Things Jeff leveled up this time!
1. Kicking: Kicking enemies off ledges and breaking an enemies block (remember that for the spear enemies!).
2. Locking-on
3. Stamina Management
4. Being patient, waiting for an enemy to attack, and counterattacking!
4. Not caring about dieing!
Things to work on/practice
1. Parry / Repost. The Parry is not an [L1] "perfect shield block" kind of thing like you showed in the beginning of the stream. The Parry is a second button [L2] that will swing your shield outwards. It has to be timed right, but not perfectly. If I could suggest something: Find a bonfire with a regular sword or spear enemy that spawns right next to it and practice your parry/riposte-ing. That way, if you die, your souls are right next to the bonfire.
2. Stamina management (Level 2): If you notice, you regen stamina slower when you have your shield raised. For powerful enemies that take a lot of your stamina when you block (Like that black knight) a useful strategy is not keep your shield up the entire time while fighting him. Back away out of attacking range and lower the shield for a few seconds to raise your stamina faster. This is, of course, a risk/reward as some enemies have a lunging attack.
3. Backstabbing: You can backstab something pretty easily just by strafing around it. The enemies have set attack animations much like you, so if you can coax one into attacking you can then strafe around to it's back and backstab it. Even if you don't get the backstab, you still get easy damage on it.
4. Playing online: Look, we all know that Dark Souls is scary, and the prospect of playing online is scary, but you really need to give it a go. Online play is great for three things
- You will see the signs and advice of players on the ground. It can be very helpful (hidden walls, hidden paths, warnings of upcoming enemies) but also people can lie. It's a real fun part of the game. I promise!
- You can place your summoning sign on the ground to get summoned into someone else's game. This lets you explore and learn a new area while helping someone, and mitigating risk of losing souls (if you die, you appear in your game at the last bonfire with all your souls). Think of it like queueing for a dungeon in World of Warcraft. You can drop your sign on the ground and then move forward. If someone summons you, you pop into their game.
- You can make yourself human and then summon other people into your game to help you for really hard parts. This will become more useful as you get towards real bosses.
I hope all this is helpful. Let us know if you don't want anymore help, or if all this advice just makes us sound like righteous dicks or something.
Edit; Oh, he has been playing online? Ignore that last part then. Play more online! It rocks.
Thank you all again and of course I am happy for the advice! It's harder for me to read in chat while playing/broadcasting, so your tips here are great. Thanks.
Three things:
1) I'll put this episode up on YouTube this morning.
2) I was playing offline only because for some reason the game booted me off before I started the stream. Wasn't planned.
3) More today because what the heck.
Three things:
1) I'll put this episode up on YouTube this morning.
2) I was playing offline only because for some reason the game booted me off before I started the stream. Wasn't planned.
3) More today because what the heck.
I watching right now and I'm still at the part when he fights the Taurus (second or third video).
First: much props to him for always keeping a cool head and not rage-quitting. That's exactly the attitude this game needs to be approached with and it'll reward the player all the more for it eventually.
Now I don't know whether he figured those things out in the meantime but I'll mention them anyway in case he didn't:
- left and right on directional pad lets you swap between two slots for each hand (he seemed to be confused everytime the shield disappered, it happened when he accidentally hit left when he wanted to press down to swap items in the item slot), notice that in the equipment screen there are two slots for each hand.. putting items in there will make you heavier though.
- you can toggle the lock-on between enemies with the right stick (so you don't have to lock-off and on again when you want to focus on a different enemy).
Greatly enjoying this.
edit: Oh, hey Jeff!
First: much props to him for always keeping a cool head and not rage-quitting. That's exactly the attitude this game needs to be approached with and it'll reward the player all the more for it eventually.
Now I don't know whether he figured those things out in the meantime but I'll mention them anyway in case he didn't:
- left and right on directional pad lets you swap between two slots for each hand (he seemed to be confused everytime the shield disappered, it happened when he accidentally hit left when he wanted to press down to swap items in the item slot), notice that in the equipment screen there are two slots for each hand.. putting items in there will make you heavier though.
- you can toggle the lock-on between enemies with the right stick (so you don't have to lock-off and on again when you want to focus on a different enemy).
Greatly enjoying this.
edit: Oh, hey Jeff!
eot
Banned
Another thing Jeff: if you're out of estus flasks or think you're about to die it's generally a good idea to run back to the bonfire just so you can retain your souls. It's not super important to level up, but it helps. Also, it'd be nice if you moved your webcam maybe to the top right so we could see your souls!
The Dutch Slayer
Member
Thanks I missed it!
This might be why - have you accepted Xbox Lives new ToS? If it logs you out on boot, you've gotta hit the xbox Guide button, try to log in and then it'll show you the new ToS to agree or disagree to.
Jeff, I see hints of greatness. Make this game your bitch.
my tips: The Resistance stat is useless, never put points into it. Just focus on Vitality and Endurance for the early part of the game. Later on when you know what kind of weapon you want to use, then Strength and Dexterity will become important. Or you can use enchanted weapons (great for beginners) and then you don't need to ever worry about those two stats.
my tips: The Resistance stat is useless, never put points into it. Just focus on Vitality and Endurance for the early part of the game. Later on when you know what kind of weapon you want to use, then Strength and Dexterity will become important. Or you can use enchanted weapons (great for beginners) and then you don't need to ever worry about those two stats.
Watching people Dark Souls makes me want to get into my game (360) and finish the Artorias of the Abyss area. I'm still on the first play through at aout 110 hours or so. A lot of those hours went into level grinding (I'm extremely over powered) and dying. If it wasn't for the dying part, the game would've been drastically shorter. One of the best things about Dark Souls is the sense of the unknown/discovery as well as overcoming a boss after many tries. The UI is definitely unintuitive as the game doesn't explain many of its mechanics.
As for some quick words of advice, Jeff you asked what is Reverse Hollowing and Kindling are. Reverse Hollowing requires that you use one stock Humanity (Humanity that is consumed AKA the number counter that's on appears next to your health) in order to become Human. Once you become Human, you can partake in the game's various mulitplayer options including jolly cooperation by summoning another player into your game or putting down your own White Soapstone sign to get summoned into someone else's game.
You can also Kindle up to 5 times I believe. This does one of several things. It makes your Estus Flasks more potent meaning it restores more health i.e. Estus Flask +1. However, in order to do that you have to beat a boss later in the game which will enable you to do it. You might also notice that you get an Estus Flask +1 when you get to a bonfire (reflected the golden soul animation that goes into you). This is because another player in his/her game Kindled the bonfire in their game which also benefits other players.
Also, I second not pumping any points into Resistance. Since the game doesn't explain a lot of things including stats clearly (one of the game down sides), I ended up pumping a bunch of points into that stat only to later learn via GAF and the Wiki page that it's an incredibly useless stat since it gets raised via other stats. Upgrading armor essentially boosts your defense negating any need to increase Resistance.
I would definitely recommend focusing on Vitality and Endurance as well as either Strength or Dexterity for now. You don't need to worry about the upgrading other stats until later on.
Any way, looking forward to your next stream. I'm glad to see you're enjoying it. Don't have a Twitch account to chime in, but I'll probably make one seeing as how next gen consoles are all about it. Hopefully you'll be as excited about Dark Souls II as the rest of us are by the time you reach the end of the game.
As for some quick words of advice, Jeff you asked what is Reverse Hollowing and Kindling are. Reverse Hollowing requires that you use one stock Humanity (Humanity that is consumed AKA the number counter that's on appears next to your health) in order to become Human. Once you become Human, you can partake in the game's various mulitplayer options including jolly cooperation by summoning another player into your game or putting down your own White Soapstone sign to get summoned into someone else's game.
You can also Kindle up to 5 times I believe. This does one of several things. It makes your Estus Flasks more potent meaning it restores more health i.e. Estus Flask +1. However, in order to do that you have to beat a boss later in the game which will enable you to do it. You might also notice that you get an Estus Flask +1 when you get to a bonfire (reflected the golden soul animation that goes into you). This is because another player in his/her game Kindled the bonfire in their game which also benefits other players.
Also, I second not pumping any points into Resistance. Since the game doesn't explain a lot of things including stats clearly (one of the game down sides), I ended up pumping a bunch of points into that stat only to later learn via GAF and the Wiki page that it's an incredibly useless stat since it gets raised via other stats. Upgrading armor essentially boosts your defense negating any need to increase Resistance.
I would definitely recommend focusing on Vitality and Endurance as well as either Strength or Dexterity for now. You don't need to worry about the upgrading other stats until later on.
Any way, looking forward to your next stream. I'm glad to see you're enjoying it. Don't have a Twitch account to chime in, but I'll probably make one seeing as how next gen consoles are all about it. Hopefully you'll be as excited about Dark Souls II as the rest of us are by the time you reach the end of the game.
It works differently... You can kindle each bonfire once without the upgrade. So use 1 humanity to reverse hollowing (= turn human), then another to kindle. That gives you a permanent +5 Estus flasks for that bonfire. The upgrade you find later, lets you kindle more, with a max. of 20 flasks.
Knowing how kindling works is very important, since having 10 flasks on certain bonfires helps out a lot. On my first run, I played through 70% of the game thinking kindling was temporary, so I never bothered with it. You obviously should, it's very useful.
Actually Jeff, for the part you're about to play through, 10 flasks will come in handy. You should have a few humanities: use 2 and kindle that bonfire you're at now.
Reinforcing Estus is something completely different! That works with fire keeper souls, like explained below. These are items given to fire keepers that make each Estus more potent. But don't worry about that just yet. Kindling is something you can do already, so try that.
StopMakingSense
Member
No, flask potency is upgraded by Reinforcing Estus by offering a Fire Keeper soul to a Fire Keeper.
John Rabbit
Banned
dude. dude. finish that shit, it's amazing content; it feels like the missing world they never gave us in demon's souls.
related: why is jeff green so immediately lovable? also, kraftwerk shirt!
You've got that wrong, buddy.
The number behind the Estus Flask does indeed mean that one portion of Estus gives you more health back ("strength" of Estus flasks). However, it has nothing to do with kindling a bonfire. You need a specific Item (Firekeeper Soul) to upgrade the Estus Flask (maximum: Estus +7). Kindling only means that you get more portions of Estus at that fire.
You can kindle 3 times, btw, and each time you increase the number of Estus flasks by 5 (5>10, 10>15, 15>20). However, for kindling the second and third time you to obtain an item from a certain boss.
Here's what happens: he'll learn how to play better.
Hell, Giantbomb's Vinny only learned how to play properly during the fight against DLC boss Artorias. Up until that point he tanked his way through the game and didn't give a shit about dodging attacks.
Also wrong, you can only kindle once without the rite. For 15 and 20 you need the rite.
Oh shit. It's been too long.
CartridgeBlower
Member
Well, actually sounds like Vinny never learned how to play better, so hopefully it doesn't take Jeff that long. I guess that's cool, though. Everyone can kind of play this game their own way -- differently -- although surely some ways are more affective than others.
Definitely. I wouldn't tell anyone how to play this game beyond explaining the mechanics. Over-level yourself all you want, or don't level at all; Use Havel's armor or run around butt-naked. It's all legitimate and that's one of the cool things about this game. It's almost like an RPG sandbox.
Okay, I admit I will usually advise people not to use a guide for every step they take and not to look on youtube how to beat a boss etc.
Thank you all again and of course I am happy for the advice! It's harder for me to read in chat while playing/broadcasting, so your tips here are great. Thanks.
Three things:
1) I'll put this episode up on YouTube this morning.
2) I was playing offline only because for some reason the game booted me off before I started the stream. Wasn't planned.
3) More today because what the heck.
Another really fun Stream, Jeff.
I think the chat is giving you really good advice and you are making huge progress in terms of learning the mechanics and rhythm of the combat.
I just wish you wouldn't get distracted by the chat quite so often. Taking a minute or two to look at comments/suggestions every 3-5 minutes should suffice. I think in that last stream you literally didn't go 20 seconds without stopping what you are doing to glance at the chat channel. It kind of ruins the pacing both for your own learning to be comfortable with the game and for the people watching.
Again the chat offers good advice, just don't let it become a distraction. This last video seemed more like "Jeff Green Reads a Chat Channel" than Jeff Green plays Dark Souls.
I think a lot of that is trying to play, talk, and read the chat at the same time. He's really charming guy and it's fun to intereact but wish he would focus a bit more on the game at times. There were at least a dozen times in this past stream where he litterally just stopped fighting guys that were already on the screen and got hit as a result and then yelled "Oh fuck." It happened over and over.
Haha.
Duly noted. I'll work on being less distracted by the chat. Oh, and yesterday's episode should be up on YouTube shortly. Processing now!
Haha.
I'll work on being less distracted by the chat. Oh, and yesterday's episode should be up on YouTube shortly. Processing now!
The chat gives good advice and it's fun, especially for those of us in it, to shoot the breeze with you. But maybe just take breaks to look at it every few minutes rather than constantly glancing at it.
CartridgeBlower
Member
With the way Twitch is continually expanding and growing, and with people using it to broadcast hybrid radio/gaming shows, I really think it's the perfect time for someone like Jeff to take advantage of that.
It would probably require a lot of work and some trial by fire, but this whole medium of broadcasting yourself playing games and interacting live with your fans is still so new that there are literally hundreds of ways it can still be exploited and expanded. People are already doing exactly this, and Jeff's personality, plus his knowledge and background, would make for a great 'show.' Just something to think about, Jeff.
In other words...hopefully this is just the beginning...
It would probably require a lot of work and some trial by fire, but this whole medium of broadcasting yourself playing games and interacting live with your fans is still so new that there are literally hundreds of ways it can still be exploited and expanded. People are already doing exactly this, and Jeff's personality, plus his knowledge and background, would make for a great 'show.' Just something to think about, Jeff.
In other words...hopefully this is just the beginning...
AKingNamedPaul
I am Homie
that first stream was so hard for me to watch. Will try to watch more in case it gets good.
As he has said many times, he started that stream as a joke and wasn't taking it at all serious at that point but then got sucked in.
Jeff is making tremendous progress. He now regularly locks on to guys, blocks, chooses his attack openings, and he is even starting to learn to kick away enemies shields when they block. Outside of getting distracted, he has made huge improvements.
We all sucked when we started playing Dark Souls.
AKingNamedPaul
I am Homie
I never suck at any game, thank you very much.Llittle things that he does that lack any resemblance of common video game sense drive me nuts, but he is funny.
Haha.
I'll work on being less distracted by the chat. Oh, and yesterday's episode should be up on YouTube shortly. Processing now!
Can you link to your Youtube channel? I've been watching them on Twitch but if the archived Youtube versions are higher quality I'd rather watch em there.
Channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/Greenspeakachu
To FootNinja: If you never suck at any game, then my channel can prove an educational adventure into what it's like to not be very good. If you're looking for pro play....I'd probably look elsewhere.