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Gothsheep posted:I love the Halberd. It was my main weapon for my first playthough. The attack speed is pretty good and the range is really great. Lets you poke most enemies before they get in range to hit you back, and just keep poking away until they die. It's heavy attack is also good for sweeping out a bunch of enemies at once. It got me to the bottom of Blighttown. Sorry for making this my Dark Souls Diary, but here are a couple thoughts I've not seen mentioned before: The lower parts of the sewers in The Depths (where the Basilisks are) always has a smokey pal around it. It's a really cool effect considering what kind the Basilisk attack looks like The choo choo attack of Gaping Dragon is probably what makes it the simplest boss in the game to that point. Need to regen health? Wait for the choo choo. Weapon corrroded? When he slams his body to the ground, to when he goes back to seek mode you have more that enough time to go into your equip screen and select a new weapon. Need pine resin? Choo choo. Want some Pine Resin before going into the Gaping Dragon fight? Hey Domhnal is right there! It is possible to get to the Channeler in The Depths without going through the fog door, there is a back way that the Channeler cannot get through so you just stand where he can't attack and Halberd poke him till he dies. The reputation of Blighttown actually helps when you are going through it simply because if you die a hundred times, it's expected so you don't get the frustration build-up Anyways I get now why everyone who plays this game wants to talk about it and share it with whoever would listen. My brother was online right when I was going to begin the Gaping Dragon fight telling him he needs to see this cutscene, also me dying. (Every death was to the flying smash)
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Mar 10, 2016 09:13
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Jonny Nox posted:
Dark Souls as a game makes me understand the appeal of archaeology as a profession. There's so much history and story told in the architecture and design. It's all left for you to wonder why this room full is full of tables and low ranking hollows, or why this one building is in almost perfect condition even though all the building surrounding it are ruins.
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Mar 10, 2016 12:33
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Gothsheep posted:Dark Souls as a game makes me understand the appeal of archaeology as a profession. There's so much history and story told in the architecture and design. It's all left for you to wonder why this room full is full of tables and low ranking hollows, or why this one building is in almost perfect condition even though all the building surrounding it are ruins. Heck, Dark Souls is an excellent way to understand how history is constructed and interpreted. Some weirdos looked at artifact placement and the odd written document and construct a story about the past. In real life we call these people historians. Their versions vary greatly because of the paucity of the details they have to work with. Eventually a few of these constructions (I am thinking of EpicNameBro or Vaatividya in particular) become generally accepted and spread more or less as "fact". Even if certain aspects of these are way more ambiguous under scrutiny (like Solaire being the son of Gwyn). poo poo, now I want to write a historiography of the lore.
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Mar 10, 2016 20:06
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I enjoy this game about a mute protagonist wandering around a dead world with only the barest and opaque story, crippling difficulty, random merchants sitting around in random places without any human needs, a dragon named Seath, and a draw distance of a few feet ahead. Oh wait, that last bit makes it King's Field 2, not Dark Souls. It is absolutely astonishing how true From Software has remained to themselves over the years. It really makes me want to go back and replay KF2 as well as the other KF games. They've really just been making the same game for 20 years, perfecting it a little more each time.
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Mar 10, 2016 21:35
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This LP got me to try the game out again. Previously I'd only made it to the church in Undead Parish before I kind of lost interest/didn't have the confidence to keep going. Finally beat O&S after way too many failed attempts, half due to being stupid and half from having to suicide because Sunbro melted the poo poo out of Ornstein too fast (I really really wanted his armor). The run back is so drat awful for that fight, too. But that satisfaction of finally beating something is something I can't find in any other game I've tried, and it's awesome. At the point now where I'm not really sure where I want to go next, so I've just been moseying around exploring. The game's truly beautiful and I just love how interconnected everything is. I hadn't noticed until recently that when you look off Firelink Shrine, you can see all the way to the swamp in Blighttown.
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Mar 11, 2016 00:54
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Koushirou posted:The run back is so drat awful for that fight, too.  From Solaire's bonfire, go past the first silver knight, take the door on the right, kill the spear silver knight with a backstab just by circling around him to the left, go up the stairs and out the door, hang a right, then you can avoid the two giants and the archer easily in the huge foyer area.
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Mar 11, 2016 03:28
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Augh, I was using the Fire keeper bonfire since I had it fully kindled and just going through the front door. And I killed every giant on the way since I thought they would attack Solaire after summoning him. And I guess the thought has actually never occurred to me to just walk through a fog door even if there's stuff still up around it. Guess I just kind of assumed it wouldn't let you for some reason.
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Mar 11, 2016 06:58
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Koushirou posted:Augh, I was using the Fire keeper bonfire since I had it fully kindled and just going through the front door. And I killed every giant on the way since I thought they would attack Solaire after summoning him. And I guess the thought has actually never occurred to me to just walk through a fog door even if there's stuff still up around it. Guess I just kind of assumed it wouldn't let you for some reason. Be warned - they can still hit you with swords on the far side of the fog door. Even if they cannot pass through it.
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Mar 11, 2016 07:26
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Koushirou posted:Augh, I was using the Fire keeper bonfire since I had it fully kindled and just going through the front door. And I killed every giant on the way since I thought they would attack Solaire after summoning him. And I guess the thought has actually never occurred to me to just walk through a fog door even if there's stuff still up around it. Guess I just kind of assumed it wouldn't let you for some reason. I think if you're summoning Solaire for the fight you do need to kill the 3 guys in the room, or else he'll get hung up fighting them by himself. At least that's what happened to me the one time I tried not killing them. He didn't enter the boss room until he was at half health and I was like a third of the way done with the fight.
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Mar 11, 2016 07:34
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gently caress this poison swamp and gently caress you naked spider lady. I'm gonna go climb out of here and go visit an easier boss. Like Havel. Seriously I only gave Quelaag one shot and decided to put it off until I didn't feel so slow compared to zippy the loving wonder spider. I've been fat rolling like a bitch, and I think it just caught up to me. Getting the Shadow set on the way down to the swamp is really handy though. Forgot about Mildred, guess that's next Vicas! What's next for your playthrough?
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Mar 12, 2016 09:04
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Well, the currently available areas are Ceaseless Discharge and Demon Ruins, Sen's Fortress, New Londo Ruins, The Catacombs, the area behind the door locked with Artorias' Crest, and that place with the Crystal Golems. E: vvvv Oh yeah, forgot those. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Mar 12, 2016 |
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Mar 12, 2016 10:45
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You forget the Great Hollow, the Valley of Drakes and the Undead Asylum. I finally made it up from the swamp and back to civilization. I spent way too many souls on making a divine whip on a lark. I think Geop made one back whenever and it sucked back then as well.  Oh well, scored a winged spear. Maybe I'll use it for a bit.
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Mar 12, 2016 12:36
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Siivola posted:You forget the Great Hollow, the Valley of Drakes and the Undead Asylum. Winged spear is pretty sweet. I've always really enjoyed the spear moveset for my mans.
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Mar 13, 2016 04:32
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I made the great club divine thinking it'd be good at smashing skeletons in the [possible next area] The catacombs are too confined and have ceilings too low for it to be good like 75% of the time 
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Mar 13, 2016 06:20
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Hello! 25 - Egg Head (art credit to Headdl, please do not ban me for titty) I really like all the story surrounding the Daughters of Chaos. It's all told in a very chilling way, as they breadcrumb bits and pieces of information to you, and it ties in well with the overall story by showing the consequences of the Great Lords trying to prolong the Age of Fire. I'll definitely go more into this as we're given more information about the Daughters, but that probably won't be for a while
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Mar 20, 2016 20:26
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The Fair Lady has such a  background, oy vey. A sickly, blind and weak sounding invalid that is otherwise mute if you don't wear a particular ring. You kill (murder in self-defense?) her sister, however she herself isn't combative at all, and most certainly unknowing of what just happened. She is so enfeebled that she mistakes you for her sister. Why would you want to enter a covenant, and proceed to donate humanity to this firekeeper? While she does have a lot of servile followers, all of them are weighed down by an immense, bloated sack of worms and, with a few exceptions, are docile until attacked. Who else in her "demesne" is strong, and aggressive enough to kill?
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Mar 20, 2016 21:03
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As the player character? Guilt and pity, mostly. The other servants seem to be thankful for being cured of the Blightpus, though there are other NPCs with connections to the Daughters, and potentially their own motivations that we may never know
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Mar 20, 2016 21:15
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That was a series of questions for others to think about, Vicas. I was trying to not outright spell it out what I think is the likely event. edit: That reminds me of my first experience with DS1; watching Geop fumble around the land with you and Kuvo being his, Ulvirich fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Mar 20, 2016 |
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Mar 20, 2016 21:20
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Choosing to forge ahead past the second bell and seeing the vast expanse of the Demon Ruins, the distant columns, that colossal writhing thing beyond a far cliff, and (most subtly, yet perfectly) the low, ritualistic chanting of the egg bearers accompanying the reveal was one of those...moments. Like, stop and stare for five minutes thinking about what this game is going to throw at you.
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Mar 21, 2016 19:21
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Egghead has a couple other aspects to it. It tanks your fire resistance, halves the amount of souls you receive from kills (because the egg is absorbing the other half), and makes you unable to use certain items we haven't seen yet. After the egg absorbs 100k souls, it grows larger and your kick is replaced by a larva shooting partway out of the egg and biting whatever is right in front of you. Sadly, this doesn't spread the infection.
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Mar 21, 2016 20:01
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Paracelsus posted:Sadly, this doesn't spread the infection. This is such a missed opportunity. So something anecdotal here, not related to current progress: There's a gaming bar in town, and I was there for a friend's birthday. Copious drinking and Dark Souls mix well, so I took the opportunity to go bumbling around in it for a live audience. But one thing I ended up stumbling into demonstrating is that it's actually impossible to gently caress yourself over in this game if you keep an open mind on where you're going to go next. After taking the Master Key, making the Great Hollow my first destination, and ending up cursed by basilisks, a roundabout route through Darkroot Basin was the only way I could get to the Parish because the bridge dragon one-shotted me every time. So a Havel's Ring (and multiple Dragon Tooth-inflicted laughter-eliciting deaths) later I was in the back door past Andre's place to get the key to get to the lower Burg to buy a Purging Stone from the nice lady and only THEN to the Parish (but properly) to immediately get invaded by a dude in Havel's armor wielding a flaming zweihander whom I managed to evade long enough to show everyone the Channeler's rockin' dance moves. Now everyone wants to play the game, because every single YOU DIED is a matter of comedy if you look at it right, and because of the aforementioned pointed demonstration that the difficulty is never insurmountable if you've got the right attitude. And one thing I liked: a guy just watching who hadn't done much gaming in years said it felt like a true successor to the very first Legend of Zelda. Which if you think about it, it's basically the exact same style. Wander in whatever direction, find neat stuff, die a lot, and relax because there's no wrong way to play.
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Mar 21, 2016 20:51
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Mazed posted:Choosing to forge ahead past the second bell and seeing the vast expanse of the Demon Ruins, the distant columns, that colossal writhing thing beyond a far cliff, and (most subtly, yet perfectly) the low, ritualistic chanting of the egg bearers accompanying the reveal was one of those...moments. Yeah, I got hit by a similar feeling when I got down there the first time. At that point I had been thoroughly convinced that Blighttown was hell and morbidly curious about what the game would throw at me next. And then it turns out that it's literally Hell. Of course I immediately said nope and ran away, but still.
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Mar 21, 2016 21:22
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The game does a good job of teasing you with samples of the later areas just a little ways off the main path. Almost all the later dungeons have an outer layer that you can challenge early for some prizes, or leave for later on when you're able to go deeper.
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Mar 21, 2016 21:37
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A_Raving_Loon posted:The game does a good job of teasing you with samples of the later areas just a little ways off the main path. Almost all the later dungeons have an outer layer that you can challenge early for some prizes, or leave for later on when you're able to go deeper. I really do like it. I feel like the lava field is pretty much the perfect subtle "you know, maybe I should just go find Sen's" push to the player Also, I have a video!  26 - Taking Care of a Stray This boss fight is uhhhh bad Also sorry Laurentius, I totally forgot Covenant spells can make this happen 
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Mar 24, 2016 04:26
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Vicas posted:I really do like it. I feel like the lava field is pretty much the perfect subtle "you know, maybe I should just go find Sen's" push to the player Yeah, Laurentius' trigger is having any chaos pyromancy, not ascending your pyromancy flame or talking to quelana or whatever.
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Mar 24, 2016 04:42
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Vicas posted:Also sorry Laurentius, I totally forgot Covenant spells can make this happen You rear end in a top hat. You killed the best character in the game  Also I'm pretty sure you're now locked out of upgrading your pyro hand or seeing Quelana.
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Mar 24, 2016 08:53
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Lprsti99 posted:You rear end in a top hat No, Eingyi can also upgrade the pyro hand.
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Mar 24, 2016 09:09
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Vicas posted:I really do like it. I feel like the lava field is pretty much the perfect subtle "you know, maybe I should just go find Sen's" push to the player Oh god, what did you doooooo. D: 
Veloxyll fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Mar 24, 2016 |
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Mar 24, 2016 11:44
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Laurentius might be my favorite character, at least in terms of the acting. He is just so... earnest. He is SO happy to have someone to share pyromancy with, so enthusiastic. And when he gives you the pyromancy, a piece of himself, he really sounds solemn and respectful. And finally, when he sees the fancy new pyromancy you have... you can really hear the shock and awe in his voice. However, we've now come to the only major story fork in the game. (darkening Anor Londo might count as the other but is very much smaller in its scope) Howabouts will you be showing us Kaathe? New game? Bonus content afterwards? I look forward to a good discussion on which one is right. [also how much should we spoiler things in this thread which is clearly meant for people familiar with the game?]
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Mar 24, 2016 16:56
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Stray Demon can be cheesed pretty hard with a bleed weapon.
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Mar 24, 2016 17:47
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Vicas posted:I really do like it. I feel like the lava field is pretty much the perfect subtle "you know, maybe I should just go find Sen's" push to the player Yeah, the Stray Demon is definitely one of the worst bosses in the game, especially since it can be hard to tell at first it even does magic and not fire damage with its' spell attacks. As for making the fight easier, the Stray Demon is weak to bleed damage, but unless your bleed weapon is decently upgraded the overall damage probably is about the same as just smacking it with a stronger base damage weapon. Shame about Laurentius though, he shall be missed.
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Mar 24, 2016 17:53
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Whoa, I don't think I've ever seen that last line of Laurentius' dialogue. Does that only trigger if you show him chaos pyromancy?
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Mar 24, 2016 18:37
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I hate to be "that guy"', but there's a non-obvious way to beat stray demon that turns him into a pussycat. Just stay up close; his weapon is long-range only. Back up when he does a ground pound or a ground stab, but for the love of god don't back up to heal or block or whatever because that's the range he murders you at. After learning that, I've honestly died more to the torch hollows leading into the place.
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Mar 24, 2016 19:34
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Sticking close to him has pretty much only gotten me straight murdered by his close range explosion
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Mar 24, 2016 19:41
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Well, after actually watching the video, what I meant is basically what you're doing on the winning run  . Just dodging in and out so he uses the long-animation ground explosion and butt pound over and over again, which are basically non-dangerous if you're behind him or to his side and you back up.This guy may not be the most interesting boss, but those souls sure are sweet if you do him early. edit: also, like a lot of bosses, he's easier if you don't lock on since you can just target your attacks at the tip of his tail or his legs or whatever instead of just always going for his meaty buttocks. Trick Question fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Mar 24, 2016 |
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Mar 24, 2016 19:50
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Getting the Crest Shield is important because it helps complete the iconic promo-art look. Elite Knight Armor, Astora Straight Sword, Crest Shield. A basic yet fundamental Fashion Souls achievement. I have to comment on Frampt's rather amazing design. When you imagine "Primordial Serpent", you picture something that ought to be majestic, but what instead you get is equal parts awkward and unsettling. No part of him fits together. A distorted humanoid face with a grotesquely large mouth filled with visibly filthy molars and a pair of bizarre, fleshy lobes forming a facsimile of a Fu Manchu mustache, on a stiff, emaciated, impossibly long neck that doesn't even begin to hint at what the rest of this thing's body looks like in the darkness far below. You are instantly put off the second he comes into view; just about every blind LP demonstrates this. One wonders; did his design start off as part of some sort of hideous goblin enemy, only to be taken and deformed when they needed to fill the role of an exposition-giver at the Shrine? And the fact that he speaks with just a normal voice makes it even more bizarre. Mazed fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Mar 24, 2016 |
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Mar 24, 2016 20:02
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the sound of frampt's clacking teeth makes me super itchy i hate it
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Mar 24, 2016 20:13
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Mazed posted:Getting the Crest Shield is important because it helps complete the iconic promo-art look. Elite Knight Armor, Astora Straight Sword, Crest Shield. A basic yet fundamental Fashion Souls achievement. Personally, I think his unsettling nature is entirely intentional. His entire appearance really hammers in the idea of "Primordial" as "First Draft," ancient and robust, but perhaps lacking the finesse in their creation that later creatures might come to have Golbez posted:Laurentius might be my favorite character, at least in terms of the acting. He is just so... earnest. He is SO happy to have someone to share pyromancy with, so enthusiastic. And when he gives you the pyromancy, a piece of himself, he really sounds solemn and respectful. And finally, when he sees the fancy new pyromancy you have... you can really hear the shock and awe in his voice. Yeah, Laurentius is, as I've said, one of my faves in quite a few ways With respect to Kaathe and the biggest game branch, Leanne will be taking the normal path. I've been debating exactly how I'm gonna do this because I do want to show that off, and I think I'll probably roll another character to use just to do the early 4 Kings before Leanne has completed the main game. Kaathe's perspective is very important to the overall narrative, and his own motives and story are super interesting, so I'll absolutely be showing off and talking about that at some point Also I'd give my opinion about whether Frampt or Kaathe is correct but I absolutely do not want people talking about that right now, so I'll hold off, and I'd greatly appreciate if the next 20-30 posts also aren't people giving their opinion on this story element that is pretty much central to the entire game before we've seen literally any of it And lastly, re: spoilers: I think I've answered your question with this post, but just for clarification, from much earlier in the thread: Vicas posted:I am doing absolutely no planning at all and just talking about whatever feels good to talk about. I've been pretty free with spoilers pertaining to DS1 in this thread because this is sort of aimed at people who have played the game before and know the general flow of things
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Mar 24, 2016 20:16
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Looper posted:the sound of frampt's clacking teeth makes me super itchy i hate it I had my headphones on for this and it really started to get to me during the recording session, ha
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Mar 24, 2016 20:16
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Vicas posted:Personally, I think his unsettling nature is entirely intentional. His entire appearance really hammers in the idea of "Primordial" as "First Draft," ancient and robust, but perhaps lacking the finesse in their creation that later creatures might come to have Oh yeah, it's freakin' great altogether. And that's a good interpretation. I'm just picturing the meeting at Fromsoft, when they decided that Priscilla the Crossbreed wasn't going to be the main mission-control NPC like Demon's Souls' Maiden in Black, as was the original plan, "But we still need someone to tell the player what their quest is." "Well, I just doodled this funky goblin dude." "Hey, that could work. Maybe make him huge and his body is just a long neck." "Yeah, yeah! And with those teeth, maybe make it so that the player can feed him?" "Hell yeah, he's the only one you can 'sell' items to!" "Also, eats the player to transport them places." "*finger guns* NAILED IT." <big giant circles drawn around 'FRAMPT' on whiteboard>
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Mar 24, 2016 20:27
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