What are you playing?

[Michi]

"Let's Modern Together"

I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that.

Just close your eyes and play the banjo louder, Bone.

[Exhuminator]

I want you to report back to me when and if you ever find the Claymore. Just look at it because it will make you laugh. It's about as big as the character model.

In that case I'm thinking of becoming Guts with his Dragonslayer.

Dodging is VERY important.

I do dodge attacks though, typically by circle strafing, or hopping backwards at the right moment. There's other ways to dodge attacks besides just rolling all over the place.

-

And yeah Xeogred, DeS is definitely growing on me. I find myself thinking about it all the time when I'm not playing it. It's been a very long time since a game has had that effect on me.

[isiolia]

In that case I'm thinking of becoming Guts with his Dragonslayer.

I think the Dark Souls games end up having better options there, with DS3 even having some pretty close armor sets. I think the Cathedral Knight Greatsword in DS3 is closest to the Dragonslayer itself, but the Greatsword in all three of them looks a lot like the swords he had before it.

I do dodge attacks though, typically by circle strafing, or hopping backwards at the right moment. There's other ways to dodge attacks besides just rolling all over the place.

There are, and I would say it's actually a very useful thing to get used to doing. Stamina management is a key thing to get good at, and rolling when you don't need to uses more than necessary.
That said, it's also likely harder to entirely do that, to the point that "no rolling" tends to show up more as a self-imposed challenge.

Rolling (dashing as well in Bloodborne) actually offers a significant advantage in that it incorporates invincibility frames (iframes). Not for the entire animation, but for part of it. Essentially why dodging usually involves rolling into attacks, to try to pass through the hitbox while you, well, can't be hit.
Faster rolls tend to go farther, consist of fewer actual frames of animation, and have a greater number of iframes to boot. So, you both get out of the way better, and have far less recovery time. Given that, the bias towards tuning that way is understandable.

Either way, do what works for you. I think a lot about these games is that you'll hit a wall, and then have to strategize and/or improve to get past it. A fair bit of that can be subjective.

[Exhuminator]

Demon's Souls



Tonight among other things, I killed Vanguard in 4-1, killed that ball of corpses in 3-1, and killed the Fool's Idol boss* in 3-1 (thus made it to 3-2). I've gotten decent with the bow. I will probably need it to kill those damn flying stingray things in 4-1. They keep killing me on the sheer cliff where you have to fight multiple golden skeletons in a row.

*Actually had to kill this boss twice, because I didn't know about the revival demon.

Anybody who loves action-RPGs, but hasn't played Demon's Souls, needs to play Demon's Souls. Seriously.

[Xeogred]

You'll get the hang of taking out those stingrays haha.

Fool's Idol!!! Damn, only took you two times to figure out the gimmick? I was stuck there for awhile and clueless. One of my favorite bosses and boss themes in all of these games by far. It took them until Dark Souls 3 to finally have something similar again, but still not as good.

3-2 is amazing. Got claustrophobic in 3-1? Well here you go, we'll take away the walls so now you'll fear the open space. It's such a bizarre abstract level. Nothing else quite like it in the rest of these games. I love it.

Have you still not cleared 2-1 or 2-2? The 2-2 boss is a classic. You probably noticed you don't get jack crap for souls in Stonefang Tunnel, but you do get a lot of upgrade materials. I tend to go through those levels only once or twice.

[Exhuminator]

Fool's Idol!!! Damn, only took you two times to figure out the gimmick?

I don't want to ruin it for people who haven't played yet, so spoiler mode engaged:

The funny thing is, I found the revival demon upstairs before I ever fought the Fool's Idol. I was tempted to kill him when I found him. However, he seemed like a passive NPC, and I didn't want to risk killing a potentially innocent character. That's because I didn't want to alter the World Tendency any darker than it already was. So I left him alone. But after I killed the Fool's Idol, and didn't get a "DEMON DESTROYED" message, I knew that revival demon had to have something to do with it. So I went back up there and slew him. Then I had to go back downstairs and kill the Fool's Idol all over again.

Have you still not cleared 2-1 or 2-2?

Nope. I've cleared 1-1, 1-2, and 3-1. That's it so far. I've spent a lot of time just leveling my build and searching for equipment. I have problems in 2-1 because my scimitar does barely any damage to those lizard burrow people. I'm sure they are susceptible to some other form of damage, I just need to figure out the right weapon. I could certainly use a lot more sharpstone fragments for upgrading another type of weapon (maybe the battle axe), to take advantage of my strength stat. Right now I think I'll keep trucking along 3-2 tonight. I'm doing pretty well in that world.

[isiolia]

If you're wanting to mess with weapons and upgrades, it'd benefit you to explore 2-1 a bit (assuming you haven't already found a certain NPC).

[prfsnl_gmr]

Not including my bow, I used two weapon types in Demon's Souls. A curved sword and a spear. If you have one weapon that can slash and one that can stab, you're pretty much set.

Also, the 2-2 boss is the hardest boss in the game. I would say it is the hardest by far, but 3-2 isn't much easier. (4-1 and 4-2 are the most fun, BTW.) 5-1 and 5-2 are the most difficult levels.

I'm glad you're enjoying the game, Exhuminator. It really is a lot of fun.

[Exhuminator]

If you're wanting to mess with weapons and upgrades, it'd benefit you to explore 2-1 a bit (assuming you haven't already found a certain NPC).

I'll have to do that in order to get the upgrade materials.

A curved sword and a spear. If you have one weapon that can slash and one that can stab, you're pretty much set.

Good advice. I have a spear in stock. I'll get it readied as an alternate weapon for dealing with the burrowing lizard people.

Thanks for the protips guys.

[prfsnl_gmr]

It's also great against dogs, randomly.