don’t worry mike you’re fine as long as you went to undead burg before catacombs there’s really no wrong place to go from here on out
… actually there is, but you’ll probably get on a roll now that you’ve been there and it’s unlikely you’ll take many wrong turns. just listen to the NPCs and pay close attention to some of the doors you can’t open early on in the game that you pass by.
i’m glad you’re playing it! everyone knows i’m crazy about dark souls.
thats no good.
it was really awesome seeing everyone last night. good games.
i’ll make it to tubby dog next week, for sure.
last week was fucked up. lol
On my way to Dickens early today. I’m hype for dat Persona!
My vlx
Not anymore!
what time you headed down at today? i may head down early too if others are gonna be there.
I dunno dawg, have you gotten all the achievements?!
GGs last night guys. It was fun playing everyone again.
I’m hype for Persona too!
i was about to then i didn’t get credit for one and lost all motivation
(pyromancy)
basically all i had left to do was turn all the boss souls into weapons.
did you guys play the entire game w/o looking up anything online?
did you guys play the entire game w/o looking up anything online?
good seeing everyone last night. good times!
thanks greg for running the tourney 
sooo hungover… never again.
for my first playthrough i did… hence i had a really hard time and a shitty build…
I remember when i read the description for the fire keeper’s souls. It said it was used to level up your estus recovery so I was like cool! and I selected the item and hit “use”. Never even had the slightest clue you were supposed to give them to the fire keeper at FLS ti level up your estus flasks… By the time i found out what i was actually suppose to do with them i was probably 2/3 of the way through the game so i think i finished the game with like estus flasks at +1 level.
i had a friend helping me out the first time i played through the game. Something i regret hard.
number 1 rule when playing demon/dark souls:
don’t try to be a hero. take your time.
you will die, accept it.
the necessity of being able to dust yourself off and try again is crucial. once you get a hold of the battle system and level your dude up you’ll be ready to take it on.
go for broke mike!
oh, and if you don’t want to play with a guide, just test your feet in the water of the areas you explore. if it’s to crazy, don’t go there. try another way.
i’m trying to give it a fair shake, and i think the world / monster / characters are really cool. plus it reminds me of FROM’s other games like otogi, which i really enjoyed.
i’m just trying to figure out how the developers intended the game to be played (actually open? sort of open, but really there’s only one way to play? relying on clues left by other players?). and i’m assuming that this trial and error stuff (“you died because the giant bridge dragon breathed fire on you with no warning, start over” / “this enemy can parry your attacks, and there were no tells, and now you’re dead”) is toned down after a while.
oh … i did that too. 
does using the item actually do anything at all or is it just destroyed and that’s it?
I think if you just consume the soul, you get some humanity and maybe some souls? Not sure.
The game is KINDA open in that you can skip alot of stuff if you know what to do and you can pretty much decide which area you want to finish in whatever order.
I played both games on release so there wasnt much to go off (except demon’s souls since the jp version was out for quite awhile i think), i had to look up a few things in demon’s souls but for the most part i didnt for the first playthroughs. In both games i did look up good soul farming spots though. I also fucked up with the first fire keeper soul haha
Demon’s Souls was way harder, playing though and getting black world tendency without knowing how to avoid it was GG lmao
The general idea is get a 100% physical damage reduction shield, and always have it up when you’re exploring a new area lol, wait for any new monster to attack and guage their pattern, then start attacking back when you know whats going on
Part of the intended gameplay mike is that they do expect you to consult forums and guides. Tha is why dark souls has an excellent community, everyone is always helping each other out. They don’t expect anyone to find all secrets for themselves at all, it takes the community at large to figure everything out. Finding ash lake for instance is a total crapshoot if you’re alone all the time
Even if u have help knowing where to go, te battle system is nuanced enough that it’s never too easy. And btw I can’t think of an enemy that parries you without a tell, some are just more subtle than others.
As for the dragon haha yeah he a total cock sucker.
I would recommend playing the game yourself, but if you are concerned you’re doing something dumb, ask someone who’s played it for a spoiler-free tip. Someone would have told you not to consume that fire keeper soul, for instance.
The game basically never really tones down the trial and error, except eventually you get better at the game so you handle the trial and error a little better, and you get used to dying so it’s not as bad.
Kind of sucks you consumed the fire keeper soul. If you’re not too far in the game I’d almost recommend starting over. :\
Demon’s Souls was more difficult (I argue Dark Souls is better designed). For one, healing items in Demon were permanently consumable and you had to grind to replenish them if you struggled in an area for too long.
One thing I don’t like about Dark Souls is how obscure everything is, though. They make you scared to experiment (for example, with the fire keeper soul thing, now you’ll think twice about using items), and then they don’t really explain how the game works so you might miss doing something you should have done. I had to look up online what kindling a bonfire did, for example. If you can get through it, the game has some nice rewards for you in the form of epic bosses and areas, but IMO the game kind of tries its hardest to make you give up before then. But it becomes a cult classic because the areas are sweet, and people like to be abused by games.
The one thing I would avoid doing is asking for spoilers on an area or boss, because the joy the game gives you is in seeing the areas for the first time and trying to explore them on your own. Though if you get stuck on a boss after trying for a while, asking for tips is fine.