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| This looks like an appropriate setup for this game |
Since my last Dark Souls post, I have made some more progress (and deaths) in the game.
But death isn't a big deal, even though you lose the souls you have found. During my last post, I mentioned that as I crossed a bridge that had enemies I was prepared to take on, a giant dragon flew in and set me on fire, killing me instantly and losing souls that were acquired.
Fortunately, I was able to make it back to that point and pick up the souls that drop when you die. If you are careful, death is not the worst thing that can happen because the souls (which is experience and also money) can be recovered if you get back to the point you died and collect them. Most of the time I can do this, but it's still a good idea to use your souls once you save up a bunch. First of all, you are going to need the extra levels and upgrades. But more importantly, you can't take anything for granted in this game. You could make a minor mistake and be killed even by an enemy that is supposed to not be difficult.
Anyway, what I discovered was a path below the main bridge that accomplished two things. I avoided the dragon entirely, saving me another death. Halfway through this lower path, you find a ladder you can knock down that gives you a shortcut back to the last campfire where you can restock your Estus Flasks and save your progress. I was going to need it, of course, because a rat poisoned me shortly thereafter which would have killed me if I didn't rush back to the campfire.
Once I got past the rats, I arrived at the Undead Parish where some skeletons and a giant Armored Boar were waiting for me. While the boar is strong, I don't know if it is considered a boss. At first I thought the right approach would be to avoid the boar entirely, but then I discovered that the boar took significant damage if I got him to charge at me through a lit fire. Since I had plenty of flasks, I let him charge at me twice and took hits, but the boar died and I was able to move on.
After that I fought some more basic enemies and found a diverged path. I could go right over what appeared to be a rickety, makeshift wood bridge, or left where there was something that resembled a church. I read the messages left for me to give me hints (a key part of the game) and decided to go left which...was not my best decision. I died fighting a giant knight.
Once I made it back that way I discovered that the path to the bridge led to a campfire and a blacksmith. I upgraded a ton of stuff and beat some demon that shot lightening at me, and then proceeded further to more enemies in a forest. I found a bunch of heavy armor by running around these other difficult enemies and went on to fight this moth that killed me. To this day I don't think I have what I need to beat it, so I ended up retracing my steps.
Finally I realized that there was a path upwards in the church with the giant knight I talked about before. The knight went down, and eventually I made my way up to the top of the church where I fought two gargoyles that I suppose were the bosses of the area. Here's a picture.
This was a difficult fight since you had to shield yourself from fire from one gargoyle while the other gargoyle would aggressively attack you. After 3 or 4 attempts I managed to be conservative enough to win. The path unlocked, I climbed to the top of the tower, rang the ball and I guess "completed" that area.
It probably helped that I found a way to upgrade my Estus Flask to give me stronger healing.
At this point I continued to fight random enemies as I tried to figure out the next place to go. I really had no idea. Eventually I decided this weekend to go back to Firelink Shrine and retrace my steps from the beginning. Around the part where the giant dragon lit me on fire I noticed there was a closed door which I now had a key to unlock and proceeded downward.
On a side note, I really like how the game puts in shortcuts back to the beginning. The level design is really great because it is this huge world with clever little ways to quickly traverse once you discover them.
As I went further down, I eventually made it to a sewer with lots of poison/curse type enemies. While these enemies were not difficult, I needed to be careful to avoid the status effects since they punish you badly. I was cursed once and had to go all the way back to where I fought the gargoyles to find the item to heal my curse (at great expense of souls). Eventually, I made it back down and stopped playing the game after losing one battle to this dragon. It's a gaping dragon, apparently. I don't know what that means, but it made a gape in me.
I wasn't damaging this guy that much, but I'm still confident I can take him down. It may require some better weapons or a few levels, but I believe it's manageable.
That's where Dark Souls stands as of now. More to come!
Once I made it back that way I discovered that the path to the bridge led to a campfire and a blacksmith. I upgraded a ton of stuff and beat some demon that shot lightening at me, and then proceeded further to more enemies in a forest. I found a bunch of heavy armor by running around these other difficult enemies and went on to fight this moth that killed me. To this day I don't think I have what I need to beat it, so I ended up retracing my steps.
Finally I realized that there was a path upwards in the church with the giant knight I talked about before. The knight went down, and eventually I made my way up to the top of the church where I fought two gargoyles that I suppose were the bosses of the area. Here's a picture.
This was a difficult fight since you had to shield yourself from fire from one gargoyle while the other gargoyle would aggressively attack you. After 3 or 4 attempts I managed to be conservative enough to win. The path unlocked, I climbed to the top of the tower, rang the ball and I guess "completed" that area.
It probably helped that I found a way to upgrade my Estus Flask to give me stronger healing.
At this point I continued to fight random enemies as I tried to figure out the next place to go. I really had no idea. Eventually I decided this weekend to go back to Firelink Shrine and retrace my steps from the beginning. Around the part where the giant dragon lit me on fire I noticed there was a closed door which I now had a key to unlock and proceeded downward.
On a side note, I really like how the game puts in shortcuts back to the beginning. The level design is really great because it is this huge world with clever little ways to quickly traverse once you discover them.
As I went further down, I eventually made it to a sewer with lots of poison/curse type enemies. While these enemies were not difficult, I needed to be careful to avoid the status effects since they punish you badly. I was cursed once and had to go all the way back to where I fought the gargoyles to find the item to heal my curse (at great expense of souls). Eventually, I made it back down and stopped playing the game after losing one battle to this dragon. It's a gaping dragon, apparently. I don't know what that means, but it made a gape in me.
I wasn't damaging this guy that much, but I'm still confident I can take him down. It may require some better weapons or a few levels, but I believe it's manageable.
That's where Dark Souls stands as of now. More to come!
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