Dark SoulsFollow

I don't know what to tell you.

You're kind of supposed to explore and try things out and figure stuff out on your own. That's the kind of game it is. If that doesn't jive, there are online resources for you. It's really not as complicated as you make it out to be.

I'm not saying it's insanely complicated and no one could ever work through it. I made it through Demon's Souls mostly on my own, after all. It's just asinine that the game is so completely unfriendly to anyone who doesn't want to go find out about the game through a wiki or fansite.

It's mostly defining terms, like Humanity, Hollow, etc. I mean, you go to use a bonfire for the first time after the tutorial, and there's several options that don't mean anything. I'm willing to admit that these may be in the manual; it's been so long since I've seen useful information in a game manual that I long ago quit reading them. But other stuff, like "don't use this item because later on some obscure NPC hiding under a rock in world 2-1 will use it to enhance your weapon" is just downright unfriendly.

Humanity has multiple functions. It's kind of a form of currency. You use it to Kindle fires or Reverse Hollowing. Being Hollow is being Undead. Reversing this makes you Human, and costs 1 Humanity.

When Human, you can be invaded, but you can also summon phantoms (NPCs or other players) to help you.

Kindling a fire makes it give you 10 Estus Flasks upon resting there instead of 5. This costs 1 Humanity, but you have to be Human to Kindle. So if you are Hollow (Undead form) it costs 2 to Kindle; 1 to Reverse Hollowing, 1 to Kindle.

Humanity also affects item droprate. Your base Item Discovery is 100. This is just a percentage multiplier. Think of it as 100% or a 1.00 multiplier for each item's individual droprate. Having one Humanity (shown in the counter next to your health, not the on-use items - you have to use them to actually gain Humanity) increases your ID to 120, or a 1.20 multiplier. I don't know how much each additional point of Humanity increases this, but there's a chart somewhere. I think at 15 Humanity, my ID was around 180.

Humanity is lost and recovered along with your souls when you die, so there is some risk to having a lot of Humanity used. It's common to just store the consumables and use them to Reverse Hollowing and Kindle. Typically, unless I'm farming, I stay around 1 Humanity for that initial 20% boost.

I think you just kind of get it sometimes (very rarely). The rats in the depts are a good farm target for the consumable humanity items.

Also, if someone kindles a fire you are near, it gives you an extra flask.

I want to make use of the ability to summon other players, but I just can't bring myself to do it yet. I never want to summon them on my first run at a boss, for fear of making an embarassing mistake and dying in front of them.

So I give it a go solo, and inevitably die at least once. But usually then I have a good idea of how to win, so I just try again and beat it myself.

I should really make a point of summoning, just to break up the loneliness.

He took me three tries. SpoilerThe first two I got pinned near the entrance by him and the dogs, and his heavy attack just ripped through me. The third time I managed to get up the stairs and kill off the dogs in pretty short order, after which he became pretty reasonable.

I think this is the same guy that spoon posted a video about a few days ago.


He's pretty hardcore

Could be. The one I posted was a completion in 1:28. However, he uses Quit Game to save himself from death a couple times, so some people aren't counting it. I've watched about half of the run. He just destroys stuff as Pyromancer. He pretty much just knows exactly where to go, so he skips 98% of regular mobs, running straight through to the bosses.

I'm using a lightning spear +3 right now. It's awesome.



SpoilerIf you mean the first bell after the gargoyles then:

Undead Burg second part > The depth > Blight town

You might want to go to Darkroot Garden to farm some anti-poison moss before going to Blight town. You can also buy them from the merchant in the sewer shortcut from Firelink shrine but you'll need a lot of them and it gets really expensive.

SpoilerI bummed around Darkroot Garden/Basin aimlessly for a while after ringing the first bell, and found it to be pretty reasonable for my level. Killed the Hydra and Moonlight Butterfly. You get some nice gear (Elite Knight's Armor and Grass Shield, in my case, perhaps even more), level up a bit, and get some unique souls.

Considering how awful things purportedly get from here (I left things off cursed, having returned to the first bonfire in the depths; the one behind the slimes) I'd say the diversion was worthwhile. I suspect I'm going to hate Blight Town.