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Edit: Update on previous page. I'm not quoting that massive wall of text. --- My fiancee got me the DLCs as a random "hi honey" kind of gift. I have halfway given up on ever beating Friede--managed to get her pyromaniac form down to half health approximately one time, and haven't made it that far again--and every enemy in the first five minutes of the Dreg Heap has stomped my rear end into the dirt. It's actually fairly discouraging.
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Apr 7, 2017 14:25
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KieranWalker posted:Edit: Update on previous page. I'm not quoting that massive wall of text. I used to dislike the Friede. I played through the DLC two times before any of the recorded runs and only solo'd her once in those two runs. In going through the fight again for the DLC I learned to love it (and I can do it somewhat consistently since) It's still a very tough but in my opinion fair fight. It just really requires you to step up your game. I don't really think there's any bosses as challenging in the Ringed City DLC (ymmv, of course, plus we haven't seen any of them in the LP yet) but The Ringed City is probably my favorite out of all the Dark Souls DLCs. But I too was surprised by how hard some of the enemies hit. It's just pretty hard overall and you're not the only one to have complaints about that. I haven't recorded all of it, but we might see a few more deaths than usual as we go through more of it.
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Apr 7, 2017 14:57
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   Let's go on through the Dreg Heap and meet our first boss of this DLC. I began showing some of the item descriptions on screen as we pick up items, though. They might not be on screen for long enough to read sometimes, if this is the case you may either have to speed up your reading or I cut it off because there was a part I didn't want obstructed or something. Some extra info on the Lapp Questline: If you don't find the treasure in the swamp (a Titanite Slab, though, some also say it's the Ring of Favor +3) he will actually go and find it for you. I don't know what exactly triggers it but it's worth mentioning that our little buddy, true to his word, actually will go and fetch it for us. Though, he'll only get the Titanite Slab for you, which might mean the Ring of Favor doesn't matter after all. Demon Prince  This fight has a really interesting dynamic. While both the Demon from Below and the Demon in Pain do basically the same things they both have a powered up, and a powered down state they can be in. Powered up they are very aggressive and melee centered while a powered down demon will hang back a bit and use ranged attacks. Most annoyingly, they can toxic you. The fight will begin with the Demon from Below powering up immediately, while the Demon in Pain will stay depowered for a few seconds. Once the Demon in Pain also powers up the one from Below will eventually perform an attack where he smashes his fists into the ground, causing a small explosion. This Powers that demon down. They will continue powering up and down and for the most part only one of them will be powered up. It's best to attack that one as the weakened one's attacks are easier to avoid while fighting the strong one because their ranged attacks can usually be avoided by moving around. Generally, when fighting a powered up demon, it's a good idea to wait for one of their attacks and then dodge under them. Meanwhile, should you decide to focus on the weakened one, you really need to pay attention to the other one as it'll just come in at you while you try get some hits in. Once you manage to kill one the other one can be dealt with much more easily. But which one you defeat last will determine the boss' moveset in phase two, when the last demon will revive as the Demon Prince. The Demon Prince has mostly the same attacks as the two demons, however they are a bit souped up, often have an AoE or a tail of fire going along the ground. Additionally he gets aerial moves. One has him form a fireball before flying up to throw it down. He can also perform a swooping attack. I found both of those are fairly easily dodgeable if you go towards the Demon Prince and dodge for good measure. There's also a grab. Nothing too fancy, just picks you up and throws you around. The following moves, or rather sequence of moves, depend on which demon you killed last. If it was the Demon in Pain he will summon two floating fireballs that will continuously launch smaller fireballs at you. Shortly after the demon itself will fly away to gain distance and breathe fire into the air to create a large ball, once complete a meteor shower will rain down. The moments prior to this are great for getting some hits in, but as soon as the meteors start falling it's best to keep moving until it all blows over. If the demon killed last was the Demon from Below the Demon Prince gets some sweet Lasers to work with. He begins by flaying away and charging up briefly. It's best to rush towards him as quickly as possible. If you can manage to get close fast enough you can get a lot of damage in and potential stun him for a visceral attack. He will follow up with an explosive laser burst that goes straight forward, but deals AoE damage all around the demon. So best gain some distance when he does that.  Soul of the Demon Prince The demons, birthed from a common Chaos, share almost everything between them, even the pride of their prince, and his nearly-faded flame. So that the last demon standing may rekindle it. Demon's Scar This chaotic thing, the last flame kindled by a demon prince, is shaped like the claw marks of a demon. It is both a fiery bladed weapon, and pyromancy flame. Skill: Spin Slash - Spin to stoke a fierce chaos flame, and use momentum to transition into a spinning strong attack, creating an evanescent lava chamber. Seething Chaos The last flame lit by the demon prince. This pyromancy hurls a clump of chaos. Upon impact, this clump of chaos seethes wildly, condenses briefly, then explodes violently. To the demons, these clumps are shreds of life. Aquamarine Dagger A dagger fitted with aquamarine crystal. Engraved with a prayer in the old tongue to ward off incident. Perhaps it was a parting gift given to one sent off on great travels. Skill: Crystal Blade - Release magic for the aquamarine crystals, creating a fleeting blue crystal blade, lengthy enough to swing as a straight sword. Giant Door Shield Unusually shaped paired greatshields resembling great doors Heirlooms of the knight who was known as the protector of the meek, yet who failed to protect anyone. Skill: Shutout - Get a stalwart defense, and shield bash, or strong attack for a heave that holds shields to block nearly all damage. Desert Pyromancer Set Dark Souls III: Garb of the desert pyromancers, who once walked the halls of the Earthen Peak. It is said that the thin, burgundy cloth breathes with magic. Desert pyromancers, most of them female, were known for their great fans of flame, and enchanting looks. But what is enchanting can also be deadly, especially when clothed in such alluring garb. Dark Souls II: Sorceress hood from the distant land of Jugo. Appears to be a plain, thin fabric, but is permeated with powerful magic. Desert Sorceresses have enchanting looks, and they use them to catch people off guard. Oddly enough, even those who are perceptive enough to realize the ploy fall prey to their seductions with alarming regularity." Flame Fan Pyromancy of Zoey, descendant of the desert pyromancers. Use repeatedly to brush the fan left and right. Zoey possessed true beauty, as did all the desert pyromancers, but hers did not poison, and so she became the unassuming queen of the feeble ones. Murky Longstaff The long-handled staff wielded by the murkmen who rise from the depths. Slathered with a black murkiness, and fit for dark sorceries. Skill: Chant from the Depths - Works with staff equipped in left or right hand. Briefly boosts the strength of dark sorceries. Murky Hand Scythe A short-shafted hand scythe wielded by the murkmen who rise from the depths. Enveloped by a black dampness, and imbued with the strength of dark. Harald Armor Set Armor worn by the Harald Legion, who sought the dark soul. The armor sank into the dark with the legion, where their cavities bloated in grotesque displays, never again to fit any ordinarily-shaped body. Harald Curved Greatsword Giant gold-decorated curved sword wielded by warriors of the Harald Legion, who sought the dark soul. The swords sank into the dark with the legion, where their blades were severely corroded. Skill: Sever - Hold the giant blade with both hands and slash repeatedly at foe's feet. Small Envoy Banner The small banner used by envoys of Great Lord Gwyn in the days of yore. Face the ringed cliff and hold the banner high to summon facilitators of transport. For the pygmies, who took the dark soul, the Great Lord gifted the Ringed City, an isolated place at world's end, and his beloved youngest daughter, promising her that he would come for her when the day came. Note: We haven't picked it up yet, but this is in the room immediately after the Twin Demons boss fight IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Apr 21, 2017 |
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Apr 14, 2017 17:26
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Spin to win, IGgy. Spin to win.
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Apr 15, 2017 07:44
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See, I didn't have much trouble with the demons individually, but the Demon Prince kicked my rear end the first time (which was also the first time in general), and twice more before I took him out. I didn't realize what was going on with his altered attacks, and that really threw me off. My successful run was against the Pain version, and hoo boy do I wish it had been the other one, because that meteor shower sucks.
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Apr 15, 2017 20:22
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Seething Chaos looks like it would be a lot better if it acted more like a sticky grenade. In your demo it looked like it just did a fraction of the damage and disappeared if you huck it right at the enemy.
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Apr 16, 2017 01:02
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liquidypoo posted:Seething Chaos looks like it would be a lot better if it acted more like a sticky grenade. In your demo it looked like it just did a fraction of the damage and disappeared if you huck it right at the enemy. Yeah, you saw that right. The spell would be really great if it stuck to enemies plus it'd have some potential for fun shenanigans. The way it is it's only really useful to ambush enemies. Luring them into it doesn't seem viable as it explodes relatively quickly. If you're comfortable aiming manually it could still be good in normal combat, though.
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Apr 16, 2017 01:29
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  Now that we're entering the Ringed City proper we're about to face some of the tougher challenges the game has to offer. You might have noticed that I stay more quiet about the lore than usual. While we do get a couple neat tidbits of information it's putting it into context that makes it interesting. And if below wall of text is any indication it'd make the videos even longer if I covered it inside them. Fair warning: The below does, aside from facts, feature speculation and interpretation. It also delibarately leaves stuff out that would spoil things that are yet to happen. Also: Here's the Bonus LP Episode that should have gone along with last week's update. Episode R: Plinky and Plonky Covers everything up to the Demon Prince. Once again featuring shibbo and Skippy. The Ringed City, The Darksign and the Firelink Curse Seeing as this LP is about to and this is probably the last chance for a big lore dump. So it's about high time we talk about the Darksign, among other things. And there's no better place to do that than the Ringed City, which is both symbolic for the Darksign itself. Where the Darksign is a ring of fire that contains the dark, the ringed city seems to be in its own bubble as well. In the Kiln as well as from the Dreg Heap we could see the Darksign sun accompanied by the orange sky. Down below in the ringed city we there is no eclipse. Just the regular yellow sky we've throughout most of the game before the eclipse. Could also be that we somehow traveled to the past... or future. But it's more likely that we are in a place completely isolated from the rest of the world. Description of the Small Envoy Banner "The small banner used by envoys of Great Lord Gwyn in the days of yore. Face the ringed cliff and hold the banner high to summon facilitators of transport. For the pygmies, who took the dark soul, the Great Lord gifted the Ringed City, an isolated place at world's end, and his beloved youngest daughter, promising her that he would come for her when the day came." This is the first time this youngest daughter of Gwyn is mentioned. We are told to find the Dark Souls we need to find Filianore. Filianore meaning Daughter of the Sun. "Filia" is latin for daughter, "Anor" as in Anor Londo means Sun in elvish. Another interpretation would be that it means "Friend to the Dark" as "Philia" is greek and can be translated as brotherly love while "Noir" means black in french. Perhaps it is supposed to evoke both. After all she is the daughter of Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, and resides in a city that is home to the pygmys, beings of Dark. Filianore, together with the Ringed City, was given to the Pygmies, primeval humans, as a gift by Gwyn. While it stands to reason that Gwyn gifted the city, presumably as thanks for their unsung contributions in the war against the dragons there's that lack of credit the humans got for their efforts that makes me believe it was not as simple as that. He likely placed his daughter in this city of humans to spread his cult of the way of white. He did his best to make sure humanity and with it the dark could never truly prosper. Humans helped Gwyn fight the dragons but no one remembers this fact. Now that line from the intro of Dark Souls about that furtive Pygmy, "so easily forgotten" makes more sense. It's forgotten because the Pygmies have never properly entered history and we only know about them from the first game's intro. From the Description of the Ringed Knight Armor, Spear and Straight Sword: "Black armor/spear/sword worn/wielded by the Ringed Knights. The armor/arms of early men were forged in the Abyss, and betray a smidgen of life. For this reason the gods cast a seal of fire upon these spears, and those who possessed them." The info about the pygmies/humans being involved in the war about the dragons comes from the Ringed Knights' shields, which we havent found yet, but we've seen them. From the Description of the Dragonhead Shield and Greatshield "This shield, as hard as a great boulder, is formed by the head of the descendant of an Archdragon. The Ringed Knights, by command of the gods, stood amongst the ranks who set out to slay the dragons, but their contributions were never lauded." While the fact that the Darksign is not natural has been assumed to be true previously, it's now confirmed. And the human's role in the war against the dragons is quite a revelation, every source so far never made mention of them playing a part only divine beings (and a traitor dragon) were ever mentioned. But why were they denied to be a part of recorded history? The only other person we know has been erased from history was Gwyn's first born son and his sin was allying himself with the dragons. There is no evidence that the humans sided with the dragons as well. The above description very much makes clear that the opposite is true. They fought under orders of the gods but they simply weren't credited. It's probably as simple as the humans being beings of Dark. It's a known fact that Gwyn feared the Dark. So much in fact, that he was content using himself as fuel for the first flame to prevent the inevitable age of Dark from ever happening. As for why he feared the Dark? We can't say for sure. Could just be that he wanted his legacy to live on somehow, as a being in possession of a Lord Soul, which affiliates him with Light. Compared to what happened in Oolacile during Gwyn's Age of Fire the Ringed City, a city of humans and the Dark, doesn't have anything nearly as bad as the Chasm of the Abyss. So it's not clear if what happened in Oolacile is the nature of Dark or if the Abyss is just a less friendly variant of it that came to be due to the use of the Darsign, which is a literal ring of fire around the dark, to keep it in check. This goes as far as that the linking of the bonfires could be viewed as lighting up a giant, more spiritual, darksign to stop the Age of Dark from happening. There's also the fact that by the time of the Artorias of the Abyss DLC the Ringed City and by extension the Darksign have probably already existed. At the very least it's set after the war against the dragons. The perpetual linking ofthe flame is also very much unnatural. At least if Kaathe is to be believed (by the way, Kaathe is confirmed dead. The original japanese script has Yuria lament that she could not fulfill Kathe's dying wish as she herself dies) "Lord Gwyn trembled at the Dark. Clinging to his Age of Fire, and in dire fear of humans, and the Dark Lord who would one day be born amongst them, Lord Gwyn resisted the course of nature. By sacrificing himself to link the fire, and commanding his children to shepherd the humans, Gwyn has blurred your past, to prevent the birth of the Dark Lord." If you believe that Kaathe is too biased there's also Aldia from Dark Souls II "Once, the Lord of Light banished Dark, and all that stemmed from humanity. And men assumed a fleeting form. These are the roots of our world. Men are props on the stage of life, and no matter how tender, how exquisite... A lie will remain a lie. Young Hollow, knowing this, do you still desire peace?" And Vendrick has the following to say: "Drangleic will fall, The fire will fade, and the souls of old will reemerge. With Dark unshackled, a curse will be upon us… And men will take their true shape..." "Fire came to be and with it disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, light and dark. Dark was seen as a curse. Shadow is not cast but born of fire. And the brighter the flame, the deeper the shadow. Inherit fire and harness the dark. Such is the calling of a true leader." "One day fire will fade and dark will become a curse. Men will be free from death; left to wander eternally. Dark will again be ours and in our true shape We can bury the false legends of yore. …only is this our only choice? Seek strength. The rest will follow." The brothers Aldia and Vendrick clearly reached different conclusions as to what the nature of the undead curse is and how to deal with it. Vendrick, despite being human, appears to follow the reasoning Gwyn could have possibly had. With the flame which holds the Age of Dark back fading, so does the darksign that seals away the dark within man, turning them undead. The are incapable of dying properly. But is this really the natural state of things? After all humans return to a bonfire, representing the first flame if they fall. Not just that, it's also possible to interfere with that link that humans have to the bonfire. It's what Seath did when he forced us to awaken at a bonfire in a prison cell. Aldia's take seems to be that humans only assumed a "fleeting form" because of the Dark and the Undead Curse, which is called the Firelink Curse by Lothric. Aldia believes that mankind can only achieve it's true form by overcoming the undead curse. Breaking the curse as a whole seems to be impossible but the player character in Dark Souls II has the ability to negate its effects using the power of the crowns. Ultimately the Scholar of the First Sin Ending of Dark Souls II sees the player just walking away to lead an existence as one outside of the firelink cycle. Though, calling it a cycle might be a bit of a misnomer as Dark Souls III implies it's more of a downward spiral with the flame growing weaker and weaker, despite being continously rekindled. At this point it's a common theory that Gwyn linked the fire to humanity, which could be the First Sin of which Aldia is a scholar (Alternatively the relighting of the First Flame itself could be that First Sin). Considering the above that checks out. Not only did Gwyn refuse to accept an age of Dark but he also instated a faith, in the way of white, to force humans to continue linking the fire and providing their humanity as fuel for the first flame. Gwyn seemed to value perpetuating the age of fire over his own life. But was it a noble sacrifice for the greater good? Or as Kaathe put it, simply resisting the course of nature? Aldia seems to feel the same way. Some questions, though, will most likely never be answered for sure. And I'm one of the people who find it more fun to ponder them. It's best to keep in mind that Hidetaka Miyazaki created the lore with his own experience reading english language fantasy novels in mind. While he does have some grasp of english he could very often not understand certain passages and found that he had a lot of fun filling in the blanks with his own, probably better, ideas. So before you complain about not getting concrete answers, consider that the poo poo you can smoke up has the potential to be so much cooler. Plus you can insert insignificant characters like Lloyd and Velka all you want and give them value. You can also isnist that the Dune Worm in Smoldering Lake is actually Solaire or something. I dunno, some people believe that.
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Apr 21, 2017 17:17
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What's with the whispering in the background toward the end of the video?
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Apr 21, 2017 18:40
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Discendo Vox posted:What's with the whispering in the background toward the end of the video? Those are the locusts I claimed would only say "I shall partake" but they have other quotes too, Including "Let the feast begin"
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Apr 21, 2017 18:47
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Those double-door shields are ridiculous. Is there an area where they excel at all, or are they just for theme invading and silliness? I mean, shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity. Also, that White Preacher Head item description seemed a bit on the nose. Maybe it's just that they don't usually address the PC directly.
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Apr 21, 2017 20:12
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So... the Ringed City broke me. I have given up; Dark Souls has finally beaten me. I made it past Filianore's church, after hours upon hours of struggling, got curb-stomped by the first enemy I set eyes on in the proceeding area, and decided "I can't do this anymore." I uninstalled the game and haven't looked back. I feel like we have reached the point where the developers were so focused on making this the hardest loving thing in the entire Dark Souls franchise that they forgot to make it fun. I've drat near hit the soft cap for most of my character's stats and I'm using fully upgraded weapons. My character literally can not get any stronger and this DLC was just flattening me every time I tried to do anything. I will continue watching the LP and wonder at all the neat things they threw in, but I do so with regret that I can't experience it first hand.
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Apr 22, 2017 01:40
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Tasteful Dickpic posted:Those double-door shields are ridiculous. Is there an area where they excel at all, or are they just for theme invading and silliness? I mean, shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity. And yeah, the White Preacher Head is the only item in the game that does that. Might be the head talking to us. Might tie in with the whole preacher thing. I normally just copypaste these descriptions from one of the wikis and I found that one so odd that I checked one of the other wikis too to make sure this isn't some guy writing his fanfiction in item descriptions. KieranWalker posted:So... the Ringed City broke me. I have given up; Dark Souls has finally beaten me. I made it past Filianore's church, after hours upon hours of struggling, got curb-stomped by the first enemy I set eyes on in the proceeding area, and decided "I can't do this anymore." I uninstalled the game and haven't looked back.
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Apr 22, 2017 20:04
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KieranWalker posted:So... the Ringed City broke me. I have given up; Dark Souls has finally beaten me. I made it past Filianore's church, after hours upon hours of struggling, got curb-stomped by the first enemy I set eyes on in the proceeding area, and decided "I can't do this anymore." I uninstalled the game and haven't looked back. If you're on PS4 we have a co-op group that can assist. Take you around, so you some tricks.
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Apr 23, 2017 12:54
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One-on-one I'd rather deal with the ringed knights or harald knights than some of the things in the main game, like Lothric greatsword knights, or ogres from Dark Souls 2. This area's long and the enemies come in packs, but they can be broken up and taken in more manageable chunks, as the video shows.
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Apr 23, 2017 15:04
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hanales posted:If you're on PS4 we have a co-op group that can assist. Take you around, so you some tricks. I'm on PC. I appreciate the offer, though.
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Apr 23, 2017 15:12
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  On into the Abyssal Swamp. Looking at it it seems like part of the Ringed City has sunken into it. Darkeater Midir  Midir is a Dragon battling the Dark in service of the gods. While he is there to stop the spread of the Dark in the Ringed City he himself has been affected by the Dark. If Shira is to be believed he has not quite forgotten his duty yet but he is still a magnificent beast doomed to a slow and possibly endless descent into ruin. He is described as a descendant of Archdragons, which I find interesting because Gwyn and co. (including humans) made a pretty big deal out of genociding that race as hard as they could. It's even more peculiar that he's still alive considering the Ringed Knights roaming around the area are dragonslayers that are also linked to the Dark. So much so they have giant glowing Darksigns on their chests. Midir's job is to fight the Dark. There are several encounters with Midir. First we only see him cling to a tower. This is easily missed because we have to turn around at the right location to see him. Later on he takes a more active role by breathing fire down the path we need to follow to get through the area. He does the same thing again later, but this time we are in a position to actually attack him. Once defeated here he will fall into the dark chasm and the actual boss encounter will unlcok. As far as the battle itself goes Midir will seem very overwhelming at first, possibly kill you with his first attacks. And so he should. This the first proper fight against a large dragon in the series after all. These are the beings that gave the gods we killed in the first game trouble so they should overwhelm one at first. The keyword here being at first, the fight is actually very forgiving. Midir as many attacks but they are all very distinct and no single hit is enough to kill you. Well, this isn't quite true. There are two attacks that are capable of one-shotting most builds but one his a heavily telegraphed grab (I had to intentionally run into to showcase for the LP) the other one is a laser disco which he rarely does and is easily avoided as well. Midir has a huge health pool and they definitely want you to attack his weakspot: The head. Not only does this make the fight go by faster, but it also makes the fight much more fun. What you'll want to do is dodge his attacks in a way that positions you near his head so you can get a couple hits in. Which isn't to say that you necessarily need to focus on his head alone but what you definitely don't want to do is stand under it. As soon as you get under him he'll breathe fire downwards. It will reach a bit behind him too but you can still use it to you advantage by running just out of his reach to whack his tail a few times. Does way less damage but still a good use of your time. With that said, all of his attacks allow you to dodge them in a way that makes you end up right in front of his head. If you mess that up you'll potentially have to run a long way to even get close to Midir again. In phase two he gets two attacks we didn't get to see in the video. One has him summon a bunch of humanity sprites that will home in on you like the Pursuers spell. I recommend running until it's over in this case. The other attack is the aforementioned laser disco. He'll just go nuts and laser everywhere. It's best to close in on him here because he will be exhausted afterwards. But not for long. To avoid getting hit by that attack it's probably wise to just spam your dodge, just to be on the safe side. For me this fight hits all the right notes as far as Dragon fights go. It's a very huge and imposing opponent that is still quite mobile. Not only is it obviously fought differently from all the humanoid opponents, he's also different from other dragons or big monster bosses. The music is fantastic and if you actually attack his head you'll be rewarded with a visceral attack as a finish, which will usually take off the remaining eighth of his health. Soul of Darkeater Midir Soul of Darkeater Midir. One of the twisted souls, steeped in strength. Use to acquire many souls, or transpose to extract its true strength. Midir, descendant of Archdragons, was raised by the gods, and owing to his immortality was given a duty to eternally battle the dark, a duty that he would never forget, even after the gods perished Frayed Blade A dragon weapon symbolizing Darkeater Midir. The one-exquisite blade is now stained black, and frayed at the hilt. Without its sheath, it will soon crumble into nothing. Skill: Hold - Assume a holding stance in which a normal attack sends a shockwave along the earth, and a strong attack commences a series of slashes. Old Moonlight A memory of an old sword found deep within Midir. This sorcery uses souls to grant form to the thought, and attack with it. Attacks are coupled with lightwaves, and sustaining the stance before attacking increases their speed and potency. The sword is named after moonlight, but it is slightly different than the one fashioned of the paledrake Seath. Perhaps it is rooted in an older memory, from not long after the Beginning. Spears of the Church A green-rusted ornament of young grass, the crest of Princess Filianore. Equip to join the Spears of the Church covenant. The Spears of the Church watch over the Princess' slumber, and when the church is compromised by a trespasser, the Judicator summons them as loyal spirits to eliminate the threat (Summoned automatically while this is equipped). Loyal spirits summoned as Spears of the Church are granted a blessing of protection. Antiquated Plain Garb Ordinary garb from an ancient land of sorcery. The gold embellishments betray a faint residue of magic, but this clothing was never intended for battle. When a mission visited the Ringed City long ago, one of its younger missionaries elected to stay behind. It was he who became the last recorded Spear of the Church. Violet Wrappings These arm wrappings, sewn with violent cloth and embroidered with gold thread, were intended for everyday use. Yet they served well enough in many a battle, enwreathing the arms of one who would go on to embrace the sword. Sacred Chime of Filianore A sacred chime blessed by Princess Filianore, matriarch of the church. Filianore's favor knows no boundaries, and this sacred chime expands the range of vicinity-affecting miracles that heal, cure, or provide other enhancements. Skill: Pray for Favor - Works with chime equipped in either left or right hand. Heals HP very slowly for a duration of time. Affects caster and those in vicinity. Ringed Knight Spear Black spear wielded by the Ringed Knights. The arms of early men were forged in the Abyss, and betray a smidgen of life. For this reason the gods cast a seal of fire upon these spears, and those who possessed them. Skill: Ember - Thrust the timeworn spear and watch it restore its ancient brilliance and reignite a short-lived flame, whose dull aftermath will carry on. Ringed Knight Straight Sword Straight sword wielded by the Ringed Knights. The arms of early men were forged in the Abyss, and betray a smidgen of life. For this reason the gods cast a seal of fire upon these swords, and those who possessed them. Skill: Ember - Stand ready with the timeworn blade as it restores its ancient brilliance and reignites a short-lived flame. From this stance transition to normal or strong attack. Ringed Knight Set Malformed black armor of the Ringed Knights. The armor of early men was forged in the Abyss, and betrays a smidgen of life. For this reason the gods cast a seal of fire upon such armor, and those who possessed them. Dragonhead Greatshield This shield, as hard as a great boulder, is formed by the head of the descendant of an Archdragon. The Ringed Knights, by command of the gods, stood amongst the ranks who set out to slay the dragons, but their contributions were never lauded. Skill: Dragon Roar - Even the descendant of an Archdragon perishes not, and use of this skill restores its former strength, sending surrounding foes flying with a dragon roar. White Birch Bow A short bow crafted with white birch. Endowed with light-manipulating magic. The bow is a relic from an ancient land of sorceries that was swallowed by the Abyss, most known for its folktale of the heroic Abysswalker. Skill: Unseen Arrow - Arrows shot by large pulls of the bow are enchanted with a golden spell that turns them nearly invisible. Preacher's Right Arm The dessicated right hand of a white-faced locust that rose from the abyssal swamp, that happens to perform as a catalyst for sorcery. The white-faced locusts were meant to beckon men to the dark with sermons, but most of them are unable to think past their own stomachs, the unruly mob! Skill: Feasting Branch - Use souls to weave a sharp branch to fillet prey. Can be used repeatedly. White Preacher Head An empty head of a white-faced locust that rose from an abyssal swamp. The white-faced locusts were meant to beckon men to the dark with sermons, but most of them are unable to think past their own stomachs. Someone must rise to the occasion, and restore the path of righteousness. Perhaps that someone is you? Did you not arise from the Abyss, and did you not resist drowning in the Age of Fire? Locusts and men are kindred spirits. Ruin Set Armor of the company of knights who were sent to the Ringed City on an old king's orders. The knights sought the dark soul, but were so soundly crushed, they had little choice but to swear themselves to the Judicator Giant. The ill-fated company was later immortalized in a dark fable, inspiring the aspect of certain golems in whom their name lived on. Black Witch Set The purple garb of the witch Zullie, who inteded to seduce Alva the Wayfarer, but eventually became his closest supporter, spending her entire life with him. It is said that Zullie the witch, who was never loved, nor loved another, experienced all manner of misfortune, and yet in the end, found her purpose in life. Black Witch Veil The purple veil of the witch Zullie, who intended to seduce Alva the Wayfarer, but eventually became his closest supporter, spending her entire life with him. Zullie's veil was for travel, and to hide her affiliation with the misunderstood craft of witches. Iron Dragonslayer Set Stark melted iron body armor of the ancient Dragonslayer Armour. The Armour, defeated by the Champion of Ash in Lothric, was left ages to rust, until it slipped into an abyssal swamp, where it was possessed once again by the memory of the hunt. Blindfold Mask An eye-occluding mask of unknown origin. Small cracks allow the wearer to see. Strengthens dark attacks, but also greatly increases damage sustained from dark. This purple steel creation has a certain resemblance to the Fire Keeper's crown, but the similarity is purely cosmetic. Ledo's Great Hammer Great Hammer wielded by the Silver Knight Ledo. Ledo's hammer is by far the heaviest weapon amongst those wielded by the knights of Anor Londo. Ledo, an eccentric who traveled aross the outskirts, became a close friend to the giants and even Havel, the Rock. Skill: Call to Stone - Spin to lure stones to the steel hammer, and use strong attack to transition into an earth slam that shatters the stones in a shockwave. Lightning Arrow The few female knights who serve in the age of the gods used this miracle for dragonslaying. Draw lightning bow to fire a lightning arrow. The lightning arrows offer a great improvement to the range of the spears, and were said to have been used to pierce the eyes of the dragons from afar. But remember, beautiful stories are always marked by embelllishment. IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 28, 2017 13:29
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I am very curious about a few elements of this episode. 1. we found Zullie's wrappings in front of an altar that pretty clearly is a place a Primordial Serpent comes out of 2. Midir has a number of similarities with Seath and other corrupted dragons- blindness, crystals, and laser attacks. And Moonlight, of course.
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Apr 28, 2017 22:51
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Fighting a dragon with an over sized hammer? The real Monster Hunter starts here...
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Apr 28, 2017 23:15
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Discendo Vox posted:1. we found Zullie's wrappings in front of an altar that pretty clearly is a place a Primordial Serpent comes out of I think you may be confusing the violet wrappings with the Black Witch Wrappings that are part of the Black Witch's Set. I did forget to add the description of the Violet Wrappings, though. I added it now. I'm not sure how a Primordial Serpent would fit through such a small opening, though. Violet Wrappings These arm wrappings, sewn with violent cloth and embroidered with gold thread, were intended for everyday use. Yet they served well enough in many a battle, enwreathing the arms of one who would go on to embrace the sword. They were found together with... Antiquated Plain Garb Ordinary garb from an ancient land of sorcery. The gold embellishments betray a faint residue of magic, but this clothing was never intended for battle. When a mission visited the Ringed City long ago, one of its younger missionaries elected to stay behind. It was he who became the last recorded Spear of the Church.
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Apr 29, 2017 15:07
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IGgy IGsen posted:I think you may be confusing the violet wrappings with the Black Witch Wrappings that are part of the Black Witch's Set. Whoops!
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Apr 29, 2017 16:25
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Midir is likely the greatest example of the issues with DS3's boss design, and I'm baffled as to why you think that he's a good fight. He's got the usual staples of having 2+ notably different phases and an onus on the player to have Bloodborne levels of mobility, but he also has the DS3 DLC boss issues of having way too much health/defense/damage (that fire breath has a good chance of one-shotting you or at best doing 80% of your health in damage) at the same time. In general DS3 doesn't seem to have realized that it's not Bloodborne, that to compensate for less ability to outrange attacks (because a lot of enemies will zip forwards just before an attack in the middle of a combo if you've avoided the rest of it) you need your own capacity to match that speed.
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Apr 30, 2017 04:30
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NGDBSS posted:Midir is likely the greatest example of the issues with DS3's boss design, and I'm baffled as to why you think that he's a good fight. He's got the usual staples of having 2+ notably different phases and an onus on the player to have Bloodborne levels of mobility, but he also has the DS3 DLC boss issues of having way too much health/defense/damage (that fire breath has a good chance of one-shotting you or at best doing 80% of your health in damage) at the same time. In general DS3 doesn't seem to have realized that it's not Bloodborne, that to compensate for less ability to outrange attacks (because a lot of enemies will zip forwards just before an attack in the middle of a combo if you've avoided the rest of it) you need your own capacity to match that speed. If anything the Dark Souls 3 mid-roll is faster than Bloodborne's dodge (either roll or sidestep) and certainly faster to chain together, so that's sorted. His second phase is pretty much his first with 3 new moves, none of which really matter. Damage is a non-issue because the Estus flask is both powerful and insanely fast. Agreed about his health bar, but that's a niggle- the thing that really brings this fight down to Ancient Dragon quality is the camera. Without lock-on you can't see what's going on; with it you really can't see what's going on.
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Apr 30, 2017 04:45
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NGDBSS posted:Midir is likely the greatest example of the issues with DS3's boss design, and I'm baffled as to why you think that he's a good fight. He's got the usual staples of having 2+ notably different phases and an onus on the player to have Bloodborne levels of mobility, but he also has the DS3 DLC boss issues of having way too much health/defense/damage (that fire breath has a good chance of one-shotting you or at best doing 80% of your health in damage) at the same time. In general DS3 doesn't seem to have realized that it's not Bloodborne, that to compensate for less ability to outrange attacks (because a lot of enemies will zip forwards just before an attack in the middle of a combo if you've avoided the rest of it) you need your own capacity to match that speed. Nah man you can beat him without rolling around like a fool. It just takes patience and a willingness to do a few suicide runs for learning's sake. He has a ton of health but come on, his soul gives you a lazer katana.
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Apr 30, 2017 05:26
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Sum Gai posted:If anything the Dark Souls 3 mid-roll is faster than Bloodborne's dodge (either roll or sidestep) and certainly faster to chain together, so that's sorted. His second phase is pretty much his first with 3 new moves, none of which really matter. Damage is a non-issue because the Estus flask is both powerful and insanely fast. Agreed about his health bar, but that's a niggle- the thing that really brings this fight down to Ancient Dragon quality is the camera. Without lock-on you can't see what's going on; with it you really can't see what's going on. And somehow I'd forgotten to mention the camera, but yes that was really weird as well. At least Sinh had multiple lock-on points that you could freely swap between. Edit: Midir is mild on the phase changes, but when every single DS3 boss that isn't just a puzzle boss (like Wolnir, the Ancient Wyvern, or the upcoming boss) has a phase change it gets really tiring to wonder the obvious "and what surprises do you have for me accessible only at half health?  ". It's something that's better suited for a handful of setpieces and/or evolutions of boss AIs, not "here's a completely different fight stapled on that you can't just checkpoint to when you solve the previous fight" in the cases of Friede and the Soul of Cinder (for instance). It really drags, y'know?
NGDBSS fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 06:35
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Fasdar posted:GIT
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Apr 30, 2017 07:25
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Truly your debating skills are unmatched!
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Apr 30, 2017 07:39
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NGDBSS posted:Having seen a lot of Bloodborne I wouldn't call anything faster than its sidestep. Plus mobility isn't just about distance, but also about control, and DS3's roll (for all that I've come to grips with it after playing on actual good settings) still has the inaccuracy problem that DS1's had. As for damage...if you get hit you might end up spending two flasks to not get one-shotted by the next attack, and unlike every other game in the series your supply of health restoration has a pretty hard limit. I haven't really done tests or anything, but I legitimately do think that Dark Souls 3's rolls can be chained together faster- so an individual sidestep might be faster, but but two sidesteps are slower than two rolls. I don't think this is a good thing in practice, but Dark Souls 3 actually feels a little faster than Bloodborne to me in some ways. Sinh's camera was much, much better, although in fairness he was also smaller- you couldn't really get under him. The only problem was when he went airborne. I've got mixed feelings about the multi-phase thing. There's something about a second healthbar appearing that's kind of discouraging, but Dark Souls 3 is balanced around the player being aggressive and setting up staggers and ripostes. You can kill nearly every boss except Midir, including all three of Friede's phases, incredibly fast if you're good at getting hits in. But the multiple health bars make them feel like they take a while even when you can beat them in under a minute.
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Apr 30, 2017 07:46
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NGDBSS posted:Midir is likely the greatest example of the issues with DS3's boss design, and I'm baffled as to why you think that he's a good fight. He's got the usual staples of having 2+ notably different phases and an onus on the player to have Bloodborne levels of mobility, but he also has the DS3 DLC boss issues of having way too much health/defense/damage (that fire breath has a good chance of one-shotting you or at best doing 80% of your health in damage) at the same time. In general DS3 doesn't seem to have realized that it's not Bloodborne, that to compensate for less ability to outrange attacks (because a lot of enemies will zip forwards just before an attack in the middle of a combo if you've avoided the rest of it) you need your own capacity to match that speed. Midir is likely the greatest example of DS3's boss design and I'm baffled as to why you think that he's a bad fight. He's got the usual staple of having 2+ notably similar phases that build on one another and punish behaviour you've been taught was bad in phase 1 (getting under him is bad, staying away is bad, space yourself properly and you don't need even to change up your phase 1 strategy). The fight expects you to make use of your toolkit, there's ways to dodge attacks, be it by simply walking or rolling that will put you in an advantageous position. The fight itself is also incredibly forgiving. His damage output is balanced against how difficult they are to dodge, how obvious their telegraphs are and how much time you have to recover afterwards (a lot) and even then you ever never straight up one-shot except for the attacks that have a tell to go along with it (The grab, the downward fire breath only kills you if you're right in the middle, the laser disco only kills you if you're not topped off or have low VIG (like me when playing by myself, not in the LP). His health pool is fairly high but I wouldn't have it any other way because it just feels right to me after beating him a couple times. Plus you get the last 1/8th for free so it's less than it appears at first. Not sure why you bring up the supposed BB vs. DkS III identity confusion now of all times. You seem to have a fundamental problem with a change in design that Dark Souls III made compared to Demon's and the other two Dark Souls games. But I never felt that I was not given the abilities to handle the situations I was put in by the game and think it's balanced very well in terms of your mobility vs. enemy movement and attack speed. I did never think I was too slow or not mobile enough to handle faster enemies. To me, this change is what makes Dark Souls III great instead of just Dark Souls 1 but with an omnidirectional dodge (which I'd still play the hell out of). You're not much more mobile in BB compared to Dark 3, what makes BB feel faster is that its mechanics encourage you to stay in the fight instead of making you focus more on pacing and spacing properly. Which is still important in BB, but less pronounced. I didn't have any problems with the camera in any of my attempts (including the two recorded ones) either. If you have problems with it regardless, fair enough. But the game does give you the tools to keep track of Midir. I don't lock on and I didn't get hit due to the camera not playing along. It basically did what I wanted it to do. There isn't even anything related to camera control I had to learn for this specific fight. If you have problems with that aspect of the fight it's fine, but don't blame the game. Midir is a great fight because he is very different from any other fight in the series and yet is reliably beatable with the abilities you're given by the game. It is very overwhelming at first, but with every mistake you make you learn something new and that's something that the series just hasn't done for me after the myriad of humanoid bosses in all of the games. There's an attack here and there that can throw someone off, sure, but generally you can fall back on tried and tested strategies you only need to adjust somewhat to remain successful. Not so here, because Midir is actually unique and made me feel like a feeble cursed one again until I learned him.
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Apr 30, 2017 16:19
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Midir would be well suited for a hack-and-slash game like Devil May Cry et al., but he constantly moves about the battlefield with an agility and speed that the PC certainly can't match. (He changes his footing about as much as you'd expect of a real-life master swordsman.) So while yes, he punishes you for staying away, oftentimes I felt that I was just being skewered on Morton's Fork when he'd use the laser disco right after zooming halfway across the arena. I'll probably try the fight again at some point to see if things click (as you imply should be happening), but for the moment that'll take a while unless I find some way to reset the encounter with a save editor.
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Apr 30, 2017 16:51
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Someone needs to watch hbomberguy's Bloodborne video. You've been playing the games wrong.
Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 17:04
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I've seen it before and understand the associated lessons.  NG++ Fume Knight in DS2 is what taught me something similar, actually, but in any case my problems aren't about insufficient aggression on my part so much as less ability to put that aggression to use. (Both of my playthroughs of the most recent DLC were shieldless despite how good some of DS3's greatshields are.)
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Apr 30, 2017 17:19
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Just drop your summon sign in front of the boss door if you want to practice Midir. He's a lot of fun in coop in my experience.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:31
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Tarezax posted:Just drop your summon sign in front of the boss door if you want to practice Midir. He's a lot of fun in coop in my experience.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:59
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  Finally, we'll be heading into Filianore's chapel and awaken the princess. But what exactly does this entail? And what will happen once Gwyn's youngest daughter opens her eyes? She is, after all awaiting her father. Who, how we know so very well, is long dead. Spears of the Church  We get access to the Covenant after killing Midir "A green-rusted ornament of young grass, the crest of Princess Filianore. Equip to join the Spears of the Church covenant. The Spears of the Church watch over the Princess' slumber, and when the church is compromised by a trespasser, the Judicator summons them as loyal spirits to eliminate the threat (Summoned automatically while this is equipped). Loyal spirits summoned as Spears of the Church are granted a blessing of protection." This is an interesting Covenant because it allows players to take the role of a boss. While a spear of the church does not get any Estus they get a automatically regenerating Homing Soulmass type spell Additionally invaders will get higher defenses depending on how many phantoms the challenging player has summoned. Whoever wins will get a Filianore's Spear Ornament as a reward. So you can level this covenant up both by defending and attacking. Filianore's Spear Ornament "The Spears of the Church watch over the Princess' slumber, and this serves as proof of their fulfillment of their duty. The embellished gold cloth is woven with a crest of young grass. The Princess' knights proudly displayed these precious flavors, which were most often seen swaying from their identical ceremonial spears." It is possible to reset this fight a the purging monument by reinstating the king's decree in exchange for some souls. The fight will usually begin with Judicator Argo holding is speech. You can kill him while he does that but whether you kill him or not doesn't change a thing. First a Painting Guardian will be summoned, then, moments later, the Spear of the Church. Once the Spear is down to half health a "second phase" begins and another Painting Guardian is summoned. The Painting Guardians have the ability to cast a heal spell and are the only source of healing for the Spear player. If you're playing offline or there's no other player available you will instead fight Halflight, Spear of the Church, an NPC version of the fight. He can be handled like any other NPC opponent. You can collect the covenant items and acquire rewards whether you are online or not, though. Ritual Spear Fragment (You get this one for free near the Covenant's monument) "Online play item. A fragment of the matching ritual spears once held by the knights of Princess Filianore. They are the namesake of the Spears of the Church. When Spears of the Chruch face unduly treacherous foes, this allows them to draw upon former majesty, and summon a row of upward-thrusting ritual spears" Young Grass Dew: (For 10 Filianore's Spear Ornaments) "A small, transparent stone that once graced the green young grass crest. This semi-precious gem honors a Spear of Church after a battle well-fought, and is said to slightly enhance their blessing of protection. (while held, this effect is constant)" Divine Spear Fragment: (For 30 Filianore's Spear Ornaments) "Online play item. A fragment of the matching ritual spears once held by the knights of Princess Filianore. These Divine Spears of gold were placed in the trusted hands of exalted Spears. When Spears of the Church face unduly treacherous foes, this allows them to draw upon former majesty, and summon a row of upward-thrusting ritual spears." Filianore and the Embraced Shell  After ascending the staircase and entering her tower we find Filianore sitting there asleep, resting on what looks like an egg (some Loresters (tm) speculate that it's a Transposing Kiln for whatever reason). As mentioned in a previous post, Filia is latin for daughter while Anor is elvish for sun. Daughter of the Sun. Alternatively it could be viewed as philia, brotherly love in greek and noir, black in french. Friend to the Dark. She is the lastborn daughter of Gwyn, former Lord of Sunlight and first Lord of Cinder, who left her behind in the Ringed City promising to return to her "when the day came". What that day is, is unknown and seeing as Gwyn chose to become fuel for the first flame he clearly valued the Age of Fire over that promise. When we find her Filianore has been asleep for possibly thousands of years. The only thing we can do, really, aside from leaving, is to touch the embraced shell. It's awfully fragile and crumbles immediately, which awakes Filianore who looks at us rather confused. A light comes from the remnants of the shell and... umm. I don't know really. Filianore is now a rotten corpse and we find yourselves in a Wasteland, everything is in ruins except for Lothric and Anor Londo way in the distance. Most people assume that means we've traveled forward in time to world's end. Others assume that some kind of illusion has been shattered, like we shattered Gwyndolyn's illusion after attacking the fake Gwynevere. But I don't think that theory holds because you can actually travel back to the Ringed City and it will be as we left it. Going back through Filianore's Church into her room she will be gone completely. Another theory is that the Ringed City is contained within a bubble. Mainly because the sky lacks the giant Darksign we've seen all throughout the Dreg Heap. But but that eclipse is also not visible from the Wasteland. The Pygmy we find just when entering the Ringed City tells us that "[Filianore's] slumber is a deceit. A lid covering an overgrown privy; a prop to keep thee from the dark soul of thine desire.". This implies that it is an illusion of some kind. For some reason I find myself leaning towards the "a lot of time passed" theory. Venturing into that Wasteland we can see a Pygmy King crawling, once we're close enough we can see that his head is nearly separated from the rest of his body. He's crawling to Filianore for help, trying to warn her that the red hood has come to eat them. To eat their dark souls. Slave Knight Gael  Here we have Gael. One regular human being that has slain and consumed the pygmy kings in order to reform something that resembles the Dark Soul. Only it's taken the form of blood. It's most likely that what he wanted to do was to create a world free of the curse. At least this is what we can only assume the purpose of painting a world with the Blood of the Dark Soul is. It's not outright stated, but I have no idea what else it could be. After consuming many pygmies one could say that he's become an amalgamation of humans, similar to how the Soul of Cinder is an amalgamation of Lords. Gael must have known that he had no way to maintain control of his own self when acquiring the Dark Soul and going through what could have been many many years of slaughter, assuming that what happens when we touch the egg is time passing to the end of the world. (It could of course also be just a bubble that isolates the Ringed City from the outside). So he made sure to guide us through the Dreg Heap, to the Ringed City where he was certain we'd eventually catch up with him, although in a convoluted way. He wants us to kill him to take the Blood of the Dark Soul to the Painter Girl. With the blood pouring out of him he seems to remember part of his identity, he stands upright and fights using more human motions. And in the final phase of the fight more small glimpses of his consciousness surface every time he begins crying immediately before a stream of dark essence erupts from him. In fact, for almost all my Gael kills, he did this specific attack that lets you get in several hits for free when he was near death. Presumably to let us land the killing blow. While it didn't happen in the main LP video it did happen in the bonus LP and all my other successful attempts. While it's not a guaranteed thing I'm fairly sure that it's scripted to happen more often when he's at very low health and that there's significance to it. But maybe someone else has had different experiences here. The fight itself is separated into three phases. After the initial cutscene, the end of which mirrors Artorias' intro cutscene which in turn is a reference to the introduction of the Penetrator from Demon's Souls, Gael rushes towards you on all fours. His fighting style is very feral and he uses his sword exclusively. Easy opportunities to get hits in are when he performs a flying downward thrust at the end of a combo or after his grab, which is telegraphed by him glowing red and then dashing towards you. This phase lasts until a third of his health is gone. After that a cutscene will play. Gael collapses to the ground and starts bleeding. The cutscene makes it look like he's bleeding from his face somewhere but the description of the blood mentions that the blood we get after winning is from the hole in his chest. Though, it's kind of hard to see that hole actually bares his Darksign. It's the first time we ever actually see someone's brand as something other than an inventory item. In any case, seeing his own blood, which he calls the Blood of the Dark Soul, seems to give remind him of how he used to fight. And so, in phase 2, we see Gael stand upright and he gets a completely new moveset. He's much less mobile and istead moves very slowly, using ranged attacks instead of distance closers, though he can run towards you if you are too far away and while it's never happened when I played he can also teleport towards you. In addition to his sword he now uses his repeating crossbow as well and a version of the Way of White Corona that shoots out multiple discs. Most importantly, though, his cape gets weaponized as well. In practice this means that the hitbox of his swings lingers for a bit because it usually follows his swings. The cape itself does much less damage. In fact, it's viable to trade hits as he doesn't do as much damage as in phase 1 overall. If you really want to avoid getting hit by the cape I suggest always dodging counterclockwise as all of his swings except the one where he swings clockwise, will have the cape be on his right-hand side, your left. Generally, don't dodge against his attacks unless you are certain you got the timing down. It's better to avoid his hitboxes completely than trying to minimize the time overlapping with it during a dodge roll due to it being active longer. But again, it doesn't do that much damage and trading hits might make things go by quicker. Once is health is down to one third he'll begin phase 3 by weeping. Don't be fooled. While this is an opportunity to get hits in you should first get a feel for what's about to happen. Gael's crying is the tell for one of his new attacks in phase 3. Skulls will erupt from the hole in his chest. While those skulls damage you on their own the real attack is them landing on the ground making it glow white. These glowing spots will be struck by lighting that can damage you as well as Gael within a few seconds. Somehow a lot of people don't make the connection between the lightning and that. In this final phase gael's cape still makes dodging through attacks more difficult than usual. In addition to his weep he also has a specific combo that unleashes the Thunderskulls. Generally, when you see skulls just get away to be safe. Unless you're confident to not run into the spots they mark for the lighting. In contrast to phase 2 where he moved very slowly he now pretty much flies across the arena to get to you. I find this phase more imposing than anything. It's not too hard avoiding his attacks and as soon as you figure out which attacks end a combo you'll be able to output damage at a reasonable pace. By the way, he shares no moves the first two phases. In fact, none of his phases share moves with one another. Esentially, Gael is three unique bosses with one long health bar. In contrast to Friede, which is a boss that builds on the respective previous phases but has three separate health bars, which irked some people. While it's functionally the same it feels different to a lot of players. FromSoft must have considered that when designing Gael. I find this difference in how a challenge is viewed interesting. Because I personally feel like I'm making more progress if I have separate health bars to take down but others feel cheated that them defeating a phase does not end the fight or at least give them permanent progress. On the other hand, I would not want Gael to have shorter health bars for each phase as his big one makes him feel much more powerful. Anyway, enough with this tangent about the psychology behind boss health bars Once Gael is down we get the Blood of the Dark Soul in addition to his Soul. Which raises the question of what exactly the Dark Souls is. Was it really as we initially assumed split up and turned into what we knew as humanity? After all, the item called humanity only ever appeared in the first game, so maybe it changed over time. Then again, the sprite of the Ember in Dark Souls III is essentially the sprite of the humanity item. Only on fire. Which implies that the flame and the dark formed one. Or it could be another "Darksign" with the flame surrounding the dark of the humanity. I'd like to point out that all this is purely speculation. Whatever the case may be, the Dark Soul in Dark Souls III has taken the form of blood or specifically, as it's called the Blood of the Dark Soul, the Dark Soul bled or became one with the blood of the Pygmy kings Gael slaughtered. Ultimately it's up to us to decide what the hell any of this means. Much like with the rest of the lore, we get just enough information to fuel our imagination, but not enough to get real answers. I mentioned this in the lore dump accompanying the Ringed City Streets episode, but this is very much in line with the way Miyazaki wrote the lore and what inspired him to do it, being unable to fully understand english language fantasy novels. So he had to fill in the blanks. Some people expected concrete answers to lingering questions regardless. I'm personally very happy with the DLC and how it didn't give us clear answers. Just a bit more info that helped us make some sense of things. And then some more info that raises more questions than it answers. I feel if it truly tried to tie it all together it would end up being forced and probably much less cool than whatever it is that people come up with. Even if goons collectively sneer as any theory mentions Lloyd and roll their eyes at Velka. Or how I personally always laughed at any theory that involves Solaire. Except the one that he's just crazy. Because he's nuts. Did you listen to that guy? Like... ever? That said, did you know that Siegmeyer is secretly and very clearly Old Man McLoyf? Wait, you don't know who Old Man McLoyf is? For shame. Don't even google it, you're not worthy. Blood of the Dark Souls Blood of the dark soul that seeped from the hole within Slave Knight Gael. Used as pigment by his lady in Ariandel to depict a painted world. When Gael came upon the pygmy lords, he discovered that their blood had long ago dried, and so consumed the dark soul. Soul of Slave Knight Gael Soul of Slave Knight Gael. One of the twisted souls, steeped in strength. Use to acquire many souls, or transpose to extract its true strength. The red-hooded, wandering slave knight Gael sought the blood of the dark soul as pigment for the Painted World. But Gael knew he was no Champion, that the dark soul would likely ruin him and that he had little hope of a safe return. Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords Paired black greatswords wielded by the Ringed Knights. The arms of early men were forged in the Abyss, and betray a smidgen of life. For this the gods cast a seal of fire upon such weapons, and those who possessed them. Skill: Ember - Cross the twin timeworn greatswords to reignite a short-lived flame. A lightning-quick upward heave slices the very air, and transitions into normal or strong attacks. Gael's Greatsword Greatsword of Slave Knight Gael, the only weapon that he kept with him from beginning to end. Originally an executioner's sword made for decapitation, this blade is heavily chipped and stained with the blood of countless battles. Skill: Blade of Peril - A precarious technique unique to undead Gael. Leap in any direction, slamming the greatsword to the ground, then follow with normal attack for a large spinning slash, or strong attack to back-step and jump foward in an overhead slam. Repeating Crossbow This crossbow, customized for repeat-firing to face mobs alone, was wielded by Slave Knight Gael. Used in the battles of an endless journey, this crossbow is covered with twists and dinks, rusted with blood, and made extremely brittle from overuse. Skill: Repeat Fire - Assume stance to activate repeat firing mechanism, and repeat fire with normal and strong attacks. Dragonhead Shield This shield, as hard as a great boulder, is formed by the head of the descendant of an Archdragon. The Ringed Knights, by command of the gods, stood amongst the ranks who set out to slay the dragons, but their contributions were never lauded. Skill: Dragon Breath - Even the descendant of an Archdragon perishes not, and use of this skill restores its former strength, sweeping foes with a frontal exhalation of dragon breath. Shira's Set Armor of Shira, knight in service to Filianore. A rare women's piece from ancient times. With a spun gold shawl draped over the silver breastplate and a green woven skirt, this armor offers a subdued yet refined elegance, apropos to both a handmaiden of the Princess and one whose veins coarse with royal blood. Shira's Crown Crown of Shira, knight in service to Filianore. Finely crafted with silver and fashioned with a pearl from a Man Eater Shell. Shira delivered the crucified mad king to the darkroom, where she stayed, in her formal wear, even though none would see her. Crucifix of the Mad King A cross spear hung with a malformed corpse. Once, a mad king was born to the pygmy royalty and Shira, knight of Filianore, put him to rest. But Shira's cross spear, unable to kill the undying king, only pinned itself to him. Shira delivered them together to the darkroom, where she stayed and held them close. Skill: Mad King's Folly - Slam malformed corpse into the ground to briefly awaken it, then fillet with strong attack to trigger a roar, a blessing, or vexation. Lapp's Set Steel armor of the amnesiac Lapp. This plate-armor body, that covers the torso cleanly without even slight gaps, provides heavy defense. Quite fit to conceal a hollowed body, and indeed one's very identity.  And now for the thing I always do at the end of my LPs: Boring numbers put into some kind of context. Ah yes, stats. Since I've LP'd all three Dark Souls games let's have a look at some of the facts I can still gather.  The numbers don't match up with the stats from the end of the Dark Souls or Dark Souls II LP. I don't quite know why, but I did go through my old folders again to make sure the numbers are right this time. Dark Souls was my first proper LP. While I did make a couple really bad ones beforehand that was the first one I did seriously. At the time I considered it a very big project, which it was. It came out before Dark Souls II was even announced, so Dark Souls, while successful, was not quite the phenomenon it later became. It took me six months to complete the LP, but it pales in comparison with the other two. If I a new version gets released I just might do it again to have an excuse to wipe the horrible audio of the first 12 episodes of the LP off the earth. While some people seem to think this is the hardest game in the series it takes little more than playing it after the second or third game to see that it is, in fact, much easier than either of the other two. At the end of Dark Souls I said I probably won't do another project of that magnitude, then Dark Souls II came out and not only did it take me longer (weekly updates, sometimes more), I decided it would be a great idea to record every area twice, once on a fresh file, another one in NG+ in an effort to show footage of the NG+ changes every time they came up. Also sometimes to hide flow-breaking deaths and other shenanigans. The two full comprehensive runs I only showed half of explain the higher amount of raw footage cimpared to the total runtime of the LP. I then went on to say that I probably won't do a project of that magnitude again. And then Dark Souls III came out. And that's where we find ourselves now. The Main LP was about as long as Dark Souls II while the Bonus LP was much longer this time around. While Dark Souls III has less videos than II and took me longer to complete, all that really means that my update "schedule" for III was more consistent. I only missed one week, and that was Christmas, so I think I have an excuse. Dark Souls III turned out to have some of the best individual areas, best bosses and what I feel is the best DLC with the Ringed City. As a result Dark Souls III is my favorite of the three games, which is probably not that common, most people seem to prefer one of the first two games. That said, I have no plans to take on another LP project that big... yeah my next LP, whatever it may be, will probably take two years to finish but don't tell anybody. Over the course of the Bonus LPs I had a total of six co-commentators in order of their appearance: Krimsh (I, II, III), JunpeiHyde (I, III), Interrupter Jones (II, III), BFC (III), shibbotech (III) and Skippy Granola (III). Thanks to all those kind folks for lending me their voices, their humor and their insights to make the Bonus LPs worthwhile. And yes, Krimsh was the only one to appear in all three bonus runs but every single one of those who participated appeared in the Dark Souls III bonus vids. Once my usual suspects weren't available for a variety of reasons I brought in shibbo and Skippy for the home stretch. Over the course of these bonus LPs I owed Krimsh three canadian dollars (haven't paid him yet), became a kayfabe brazilian, we managed to make time convoluted within the LP. Not a simple feat but I think I can blame Skippy for wanting to do the DLC before the Soul of Cinder and Nameless King videos. With all that said I think the only thing left would be for me to thank you for following the LP. Seeya around! 
IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 01:23 on May 6, 2017 |
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May 5, 2017 18:42
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Nice LP, pal! Thanks for having me along for the bonus run
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May 5, 2017 19:07
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A job very well done, Iggy. Seconding Skip's sentiment, the bonus run was a lot of fun. And now thanks to you I actually have an interest in picking up some of the souls games. Congrats on finishing, pal. 
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May 5, 2017 22:07
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That was a fun ride and I enjoyed you playing with different styles just to show off how you could change up the gameplay. As for the show you Humanity hint thing, I think the random rear end young white birch tree was suppose to be the hint... but if it is then it's a lovely one.
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May 6, 2017 06:33
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McGwee posted:That was a fun ride and I enjoyed you playing with different styles just to show off how you could change up the gameplay. Well, there's the tree and some Iron Dragonslayer Armor's description calling the area the Abyssal Swamp which COULD be taken as a hint. It at least tries. But it's still pretty arcane. I'm pretty sure it was only figured out so quickly because some people really like Chameleon in PvP.
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May 6, 2017 09:47
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Are you gonna do Bloodborne friend?
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May 6, 2017 12:12
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