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Jeff Green's new band is called "Furtive Pygmy" [Black Dragon plays Dark Souls]
- Thread starter SeventhSon
- Start date
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Front page of GAF just earned.
meltingparappa
Member
Oh my god, beat the boss like a goddamn hero, and then immediately died from the same old mooks outside the bonfire right after leveling up.
POWERSPHERE
Banned
ah nuts it just ended.
DarkoMaledictus
Tier Whore
Guess I lost my funny bone... this was just not funny to me...
This just overtook the Giant Bomb Dark Souls stream for me. It's absolutely fantastic watching Jeff get a handle on this game. Next up: Black Dragon vs. Armored Boar! =D
Jeff, since you seem a bit confused by the stats screen, I'll give you a quick run down to make deciding on what to upgrade easier:
Vitality - increases your health bar length
Endurance - increases your stamina bar length (block more and attack more) and increases your equipment load (very important stat for obvious reasons)
Strength - increases your attack damage with strength based weapons
Dexterity - increases your attack damage with dexterity based weapons
Intelligence - increases your damage with intelligence based weapons and magic spells (attack magic)
Faith - increases your damage with faith based weapons and spells (kind of like white magic)
Attunement slot - gives you extra magic spell equip slot (you start being only able to carry one spell at a time). Note: you only get 1 new slot ever 2 or so levels you put in this stat at first and the gap widens from there.
Resistance - increases your resistance to different status effects (universally agreed to be a useless stat; never upgrade it)
Keep in mind that since this is an RPG, anytime you get stuck, you can always grind a bit to level up stats. Vit and End are always good for obvious reasons no matter what your character build. Having more life and more stamina is always good. Personally I think END is the single most important stat important since it lets you attack more w/o being fatigued, block more damage and lets you wear heavy equipment. So it does triple duty. I always dump a ton of points into it.
Typically you only focus on one between Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith, not all four. Maybe focus on 2 at the most. Just pick one based on the weapon type you want to use. Dexterity weapons tend to be faster, lighter weapons with less damage (daggers, bows, short swords, whips). Strength weapon tend to be slower, bigger weapons that do more damage (big swords, axes, clubs). Intelligence based weapons are few and far between but if you want to be a magic user, putting points into this eventually isn't a bad idea. Magic is good for keeping your distance and softening guys up before getting in close to take them on. But it isn't essential. A lot of people play through the entire game never using any magic. You'll learn about magic later when you meet NPCs that sell it to you.
You can see what kind of weapon class something is (strength, dexterity, or intelligence based) by hitting "X" on the stat screen. There is a stat category called "PARAM BONUS (short for "parameter bonus) for these categories (strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith). These are rated like school grades, S being best, E being the worst. For example If a weapon has an "S" or an "A" in strength parameter bonus that means it gets a lot stronger as you upgrade strength. If has a C or D it will at least get a little bit stronger as you upgrade that stat. Some weapons have parameter bonuses in multiple categories (like a weapon can be both strength and dex). Some weapons don't have any Param bonus at all but have a higher regular damage. That means they are good for now, but they aren't going to get stronger as you level up.
Also if you are ever confused about what any of the stat icons mean on any screen, if you hit select you can scroll through all the stats and an explanation of what each does will show up at the bottom as you scroll through them. The menus are kind of obtuse at first (this being a Japanese game and all) but once you learn your way around there is lots of useful stuff in there to help you make decisions.
Jeff, since you seem a bit confused by the stats screen, I'll give you a quick run down to make deciding on what to upgrade easier:
Vitality - increases your health bar length
Endurance - increases your stamina bar length (block more and attack more) and increases your equipment load (very important stat for obvious reasons)
Strength - increases your attack damage with strength based weapons
Dexterity - increases your attack damage with dexterity based weapons
Intelligence - increases your damage with intelligence based weapons and magic spells (attack magic)
Faith - increases your damage with faith based weapons and spells (kind of like white magic)
Attunement slot - gives you extra magic spell equip slot (you start being only able to carry one spell at a time). Note: you only get 1 new slot ever 2 or so levels you put in this stat at first and the gap widens from there.
Resistance - increases your resistance to different status effects (universally agreed to be a useless stat; never upgrade it)
Keep in mind that since this is an RPG, anytime you get stuck, you can always grind a bit to level up stats. Vit and End are always good for obvious reasons no matter what your character build. Having more life and more stamina is always good. Personally I think END is the single most important stat important since it lets you attack more w/o being fatigued, block more damage and lets you wear heavy equipment. So it does triple duty. I always dump a ton of points into it.
Typically you only focus on one between Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith, not all four. Maybe focus on 2 at the most. Just pick one based on the weapon type you want to use. Dexterity weapons tend to be faster, lighter weapons with less damage (daggers, bows, short swords, whips). Strength weapon tend to be slower, bigger weapons that do more damage (big swords, axes, clubs). Intelligence based weapons are few and far between but if you want to be a magic user, putting points into this eventually isn't a bad idea. Magic is good for keeping your distance and softening guys up before getting in close to take them on. But it isn't essential. A lot of people play through the entire game never using any magic. You'll learn about magic later when you meet NPCs that sell it to you.
You can see what kind of weapon class something is (strength, dexterity, or intelligence based) by hitting "X" on the stat screen. There is a stat category called "PARAM BONUS (short for "parameter bonus) for these categories (strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith). These are rated like school grades, S being best, E being the worst. For example If a weapon has an "S" or an "A" in strength parameter bonus that means it gets a lot stronger as you upgrade strength. If has a C or D it will at least get a little bit stronger as you upgrade that stat. Some weapons have parameter bonuses in multiple categories (like a weapon can be both strength and dex). Some weapons don't have any Param bonus at all but have a higher regular damage. That means they are good for now, but they aren't going to get stronger as you level up.
Also if you are ever confused about what any of the stat icons mean on any screen, if you hit select you can scroll through all the stats and an explanation of what each does will show up at the bottom as you scroll through them. The menus are kind of obtuse at first (this being a Japanese game and all) but once you learn your way around there is lots of useful stuff in there to help you make decisions.
To be fair he had a sword equipped that he couldn't use yet.
In general he has made some pretty huge improvements, especially in backing off more and healing/regaining stamina. Except when he panicks, anyway.
Also keep in mind that it is undoubtably harder to play while also commentating and talking to the chat. All things considered I'd say he is actually doing better than the average person when they first start the game. It just looks rough for people who have played it a lot and have a better grasp on things. We were all fumbling once too.
SeventhSon
Member
Jeff beat the Taurus Demon by hiding between his legs and attacking his junk. 
Jeff beat the Taurus Demon by hiding between his legs and attacking his junk.
I was really nervous in the last half of that fight because he had 1/4 life and bunch of heal potions but just kept attacking. But hey, his strategy worked so who am I to judge.
meltingparappa
Member
I actually thought he was doing pretty GREAT overall. He took out the boss on this third turn! Without successfully using the plunging attack no less.
It is indeed really is easy to forgetting how harrowing the game is when you're just starting out and still learning the mechanics accidentally, much less doing a funny running commentary and glancing over at a chat that gives conflicting advice.
If it actually does come to fruition and Sean Elliot trolls him while he plays during the next section, I can only imagine what a triumph it'll be when he beats the Capra Demon.
The only thing i want to say to him is KEEP YOUR SHIELD UP.
Although he got much better at this, he should still, as a rule of thumb, go at an enemy with the shield up, block the enemy attack and THEN attack when they're staggered.
Blocking with a metal shield will stagger most (smaller) enemies, which is a great moment to attack.
Although he got much better at this, he should still, as a rule of thumb, go at an enemy with the shield up, block the enemy attack and THEN attack when they're staggered.
Blocking with a metal shield will stagger most (smaller) enemies, which is a great moment to attack.
Yeah either wait for them to attack and counter OR kick away their shield. He got caught a lot continually attacking enemies that had their shields up when he could have made short work of them by kicking away their shield or waiting and countering their attack.
He got the plunging attack to work on the third try, I believe. That made a huge difference.
I think we should encourage him to hang out in the forest and level up get and get better gear/upgrade it at the blacksmith before going after Capra. That's gonna be a tough one for him w/o some better gear and leveling..
Did Shawn ever play Dark Souls? I don't remember him ever talking about it. As someone who loved the attention to detail and the risk/reward of Resident Evil 5's gunplay, I think he would dig it if like Jeff he could get over the initial barrier.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
What's it going to take to get Jeff and Shawn on a podcast of their own to talk about game mechanics and dissect them? I'd give a lot for this. It doesn't have to be fancy, but preferably without them as guests on another show. I always loved the old GFW shows when Shawn and Jeff would get into the meat of a game and why they felt what they felt, and where things fell short.
I don't get the sense that Shawn plays a lot of games worth talking about anymore probably due to his job. Last several podcasts I heard him on he told the same stories from Planetside 2. Maybe he just doesn't have time/interest to play anything but social games with his friends these days. That was the advantage of GFW was they always had at least some games to talk about because it was their job to play and write about them.
I actually really like Jeff in this streaming format even better than when he was on podcasts. I hope he is at least turning on ads on his Youtube archives or something.He's really good and entertaining at this. If a bunch of arogant young douche bags on youtube can make a living doing this stuff then Jeff sure as hell should be able to.
PuppetMaster
Member
I am enjoying watching Jeff play. But sometimes it's hard to believe that this is the same Jeff that has been playing and reviewing games professionally for most of his life...
Watching the newest video on the archive. He has gotten a bit better at playing. But he still doesn't seem to comprehend stamina management yet. He is going to have to manage that a lot better if he wants to progress much further.
Watching the newest video on the archive. He has gotten a bit better at playing. But he still doesn't seem to comprehend stamina management yet. He is going to have to manage that a lot better if he wants to progress much further.
Eh... I didn't really learn to do that well until I started fighting black knights one on one and I didn't do that till several hours and two bosses past where he is now.
It's not that he hasn't played games, it is that he HAS played other games. Most other games don't require you to play slower and more strategic like Dark Souls. Honestly, I can't even think of any other games where you have to play defensively as much as offensively the way you do in this game.
He just needs to get in habit of glancing up at his stamina bar more often and pulling back for a few seconds to let it charge during fights. It's not that big of a deal. He'll get there. He is already getting a lot better about backing away from fights to heal and to get his bearings.
Probably just a sign he is a PC gamer by nature. These crazy Xbox controllers and their weird labels...
Probably just a sign he is a PC gamer by nature. These crazy Xbox controllers and their weird labels...
Hah.
This is exactly right. I look to remind myself because it's not really second nature.And thanks to all for the tips here--great stuff.
I've probably sorta blown it on point allocation already, at least in terms of specialization. Though I think I've only put 'em in END, DEX and STR. So maybe I'm okay.
It's a great game. Tough, but I'm liking it a lot.
meltingparappa
Member
Nah, he did great and he's traversing the learning curve more quickly than average. It's funny that he mentions the deliberate pacing of the game and if anything, he was rushing through the fights.
The more interesting thing is that as an industry professional, he had to fight with the mod and ultimately gave up because he couldn't get it to work. I'm sure the chat will walk him through it next time and a durante mod isn't standard fare for most PC games, but I feel like that's a pretty harsh statement on the barrier for entry in pc gaming in general.
Edit: oh my god, black dragon himself has appeared
I LOVE that you were trying to figure out how to allocate two simple skill points, and the chat was screaming bloody murder while debating between two equally valid options, and some incredibly ambitious people even started talking about optimizing your build for NG+.
That being said, put a single point in dexterity next time and you'll get to use that katana. It'll take you no time at all to level up again, so people were just being silly.
Omegasquash
Member
Hah.
And thanks to all for the tips here--great stuff.
I've probably sorta blown it on point allocation already, at least in terms of specialization. Though I think I've only put 'em in END, DEX and STR. So maybe I'm okay.
It's a great game. Tough, but I'm liking it a lot.
Don't forget VIT. Those stats sound like a tank though, so you might not need to get too wacky with the HP.
The most important part of stat allocation: don't try to be a jack of all trades, spreading them out thin. Focus on a few stats, especially in the beginning. Vitality and endurance are important no matter what, but if you want to use that katana, go for dexterity as well. Only put points in those 3 stats. Never (ever) put points in resistance.
Strength is for bigger weapons like clubs, hammers, and axes. These can be very powerful though.
Important Jeff: look at the weapon info in the menus for scaling info. For example that katana has a B next to dexterity, which means high scaling for that stat.
btw try ditching armor and see if you like the extra mobility. You can always switch to light armor and go full ninja with that katana. If you feel comfortable with the armor however, leave it on.
Strength is for bigger weapons like clubs, hammers, and axes. These can be very powerful though.
Important Jeff: look at the weapon info in the menus for scaling info. For example that katana has a B next to dexterity, which means high scaling for that stat.
btw try ditching armor and see if you like the extra mobility. You can always switch to light armor and go full ninja with that katana. If you feel comfortable with the armor however, leave it on.
Polioliolio
Member
Hah.
And thanks to all for the tips here--great stuff.
I've probably sorta blown it on point allocation already, at least in terms of specialization. Though I think I've only put 'em in END, DEX and STR. So maybe I'm okay.
It's a great game. Tough, but I'm liking it a lot.
Jeff, great work in Dark Souls, keep it up!
Your stats are just fine. Just don't sink them into any specific stat unless you know you are needing to meet some weapon or spell requirements. More importantly, don't worry too much about it. A good all around character is all you need. Don't bother with specialization until you're very familiar with the game and might be running a second or third playthrough.
Take it easy and have fun!
I was really hoping someone in the chat would explain the quick inventory to you.
Rather than going into those big, cluttered menus with the start button, you can equip 5 or so items (from the equipment page) to your quick inventory (which can be cycled through by pressing down the D-pad). You have to set these in the start menu, but once set, it'll make using items, like Gold Resin, much easier. Please try it out!
I recommend having Estus as your first item, then maybe some firebombs, resins, or anything else that can help in a pinch.
When can we expect the next stream?
Crab Milk Mickey
Member
We could all stand to listen to more of Jeff Green's ramblings about how x game sucks. Like Space Siege!
Again, thanks to everyone here for the tips.
. Noted!!Next stream, if I can't get to it today, will actually not be until Friday, since I'm heading up to PopCap in Seattle for the next few days....
JimtotheHum
Member
Jeff- the moment I knew you turned a corner is when you actually started using your shield.
Block their attacks and then counter! YOU CAN DO THIS.
Block their attacks and then counter! YOU CAN DO THIS.
Yeah it's not a bad idea to put one point into Dex so he can use that itchy katana or whatever it was (I can only hear Jeff's pronunciation in my head now
. But after that he probably wants to focus on only one between Strength, Dex, and Int. While dumping a lot of points into Vit and END since those are the two that will help him stop dying as much and less deaths = more level ups. Yeah it's not a bad idea to put one point into Dex so he can use that itchy katana or whatever it was (I can only hear Jeff's pronunciation in my head now
You mean END?
Endurance > Vitality.
Hah.
And thanks to all for the tips here--great stuff.
I've probably sorta blown it on point allocation already, at least in terms of specialization. Though I think I've only put 'em in END, DEX and STR. So maybe I'm okay.
It's a great game. Tough, but I'm liking it a lot.
Nah you are doing fine on the point allocation. Just focus on Vit and Endurance a lot from here on out and one of what ever other specialty you want. I get the feeling you are a big ass sword/club guy so I'd go with Strength. But putting one point into Dex just so you can use your Itchy Katana is not a bad idea.
Yeah I fixed it. It was a typo. I meant lots into END and then Vit. I go really heavy on END so I can wear heavier gear and have bigger stamina bars.
Team Filler
Member
LMAO.
Maybe not that funny, but it killed me dead.
Maybe not essential, but I think Jeff would enjoy the game much more if he at least understood how to parry attacks. Even without a riposte afterwards, Jeff would still be opening up the trash mobs for easier attacking, and so far it's the trash mobs that present the most challenge to him.
Maybe not that funny, but it killed me dead.
Maybe not essential, but I think Jeff would enjoy the game much more if he at least understood how to parry attacks. Even without a riposte afterwards, Jeff would still be opening up the trash mobs for easier attacking, and so far it's the trash mobs that present the most challenge to him.
John Caboose
Member
@Garnett Lee on GFW Live. I said it in chat when it happened but I am pretty sure he logged onto Xbox Live and not GFW Live.
Someone else in chat said he was playing Ghosts so that basically confirms it.
I agree learning to tight circle strafe enemies and backstab would be good and it's fun. It think Jeff would have fun with backstab. It's a very rewarding mechanic.
He just needs to find some scrub zombie guys and practice it a bit.
He got a lot better at that by the 3rd stream.
Roland1979
Junior Member
I thought a midlife crisis was to not be reminded of your mortality? Because Demon- & Dark Souls is rubbing it in. Hard. Really hard.
SeventhSon
Member
Jeff Green ‏@Greenspeak 8m
As counterprogramming to all the PS4 livestreaming, I'mo do more Dark Souls PC livestreaming. Prolly around 4:30 PST.
As counterprogramming to all the PS4 livestreaming, I'mo do more Dark Souls PC livestreaming. Prolly around 4:30 PST.