It seems like when you use any of the gems you heal faster standing still then moving around
=)
So I ventured into the Demon Ruins again. Took down Ceaseless Discharge. Dudes gimmick was really easy to figure out. I also took down the flaming version of the Asylum Demon and quickly followed that up with the Centepede Demon, but now not sure where to go in there. Found the elevator that goes back to Quelaags domain, but going back down and forward just looped back to the flaming Asylum Demon room so I need to explore some down there. For only playing about an hour it went well, got 3 bosses down and lvled up like 3 or 4 times.
You got a ring from the centipede, didn’t you?
Made some great progress.
Spoiler
Slayed the Gargoyles. Fight wasn’t hard at all. Even with 3 on screen. And of course they all left themselves wide open when they started their fire breathing attacks. Took down all 3 Sentinels in Lost Bastille. The Twin Dragon great shield I was using was affecting my speed in terms of attacking/blocking I think. Switched back to the Drangleic shield which while costing me more stamina per block, granted me better movement thus leading to victory. The Lost Sinner was only an issue because of a few things: Pushback, superior reach, and only being able to land 1 hit at a time. I managed to get my Tower Shield at +4. Nothing Lost Sinner could do could get me pushed away. Made it super easy to maintain space. Went down easy.
Walking around with 60K+ souls. Gotta look around to see if some of these boss soul weapons are worth it. I am fond of my Bastard Sword +6 but I need more power.
Yar Lava protection. I checked out the back of the Centepedes room, looked like it should have been a door or somethin but nothin. gonna venture back to the main cavern later and poke around there, bunch of those giant Taurus lookin type demons in there all gathered in one spot, I’m sure there’s something worthwhile back there.
I forgot to mention I made my first boss weapon, Artorious Great Sword, but I can’t use it, my stats in two other fields are too doo doo for it hahaha. Oh well. Sword looks boss anyway.
I also forgot to mention that in the Library yesterday I had my first two invasions. I won the first one and earned a Humanity, was some mage with some kick ass spells but I still managed to beat her ass down. After that a big dude with a spear invaded. Shit was already lookin pretty bad for me at the time so I ran, but the more i ran the worse the situation got and I was eventually being pot shotted by mages and archers, had 5 of those Crystal grunts on my ass, AND the invader. I dunno who killed me but I got tossed lol.
So. I finally met Vendrick yesterday. A lot happened between Drangelic Castle and that.
Spoilers ahead.
First of all, while Shrine of Armana has an incredible atmosphere and level design, it sucks dick to actually try and get through. I don’t even remember how many times I fell through the water just because I wasn’t paying attention to my footing. And as if only to add insult to injury, the entire area is littered with mages who do nothing but spam soul arrow on your ass the entire fucking time. :mad: After enough persistence I made it through though…right up to the Demon of Song.
Was not expecting that shit whatsoever. I love how alluring and beautiful the melody it hums is, right up until you face the reality and grotesque-ness of this creature. What’s incredible is that it sings that song to lure in humans and eat them. Kind of makes you wonder really just how in control of your character you really are…but for real, that thing seriously freaked me the fuck out more than The Rotten ever could. It just makes it even more intimidating considering the only way you can hurt it is by getting up close to its…face-arms…? We’ll just call it the front, lol.
Merc’d him on the second try, though. That’s when I began my descent into the abyss…a.k.a, the Undead Crypt. Shit is like Tomb of The Giants 2.0, except WAY HARDER. But I finally found the Pyromancy I had been looking for the entire game, “Warmth”. Copped the Cast Light spell too before I went in any deeper than that. I don’t even need torches anymore with that spell. It’s incredible.
Anyway, after hours of trial and error with the bells that get rung in this place, I finally figured out how to keep the phantoms from spawning and overpowering me in sheer number. Over. And over. And over again. Getting to the boss door even then was still a trial because of all the goddamn Royal Guards. When I finally cleared them out for the first time, I figured I’d use an Effigy in front of the door to see if any summon signs showed up, but the only one that did was the NPC one so I just called him and figured whatever.
This was my first mistake.
Entered the fog, watched the cutscene, and within 20 seconds Velstadt already managed to make me waste 3 of my 8 flasks. Obviously that’s way too many to waste in that amount of time, so I figured I’d fall back for a few seconds while the NPC fends him off. During this time I manage to set up a Warmth orb, and naturally I stand in it for a few seconds to heal up before running back into battle.
This was my second and final mistake.
You see, this is the kind of moment that makes you really realize how smart the A.I actually is in this game. So after healing up, I run back into battle on the other side of the room to deal some more damage. Well, this fucker literally strafes around me, slowly walks backwards (without losing eye contact, mind you) and stands still inside of my own fucking heal spell. I couldn’t believe it. I was livid with rage as I did everything in my power to damage him OR at least get him to move, yet it wouldn’t budge. And so as he healed up, I got smacked down and basically wasted an Effigy. :sad: Never again.
Came back at him with a vengeance after that shit, though. Eventually a few more tries later I managed to get him and turn his soul into the weapon he uses. Haven’t tried it yet because it requires a strength of 50 (LOL YEAHRITE) but it looks pretty fucking cool.
Most importantly out of all of this though…I want to talk about what we see after defeating Velstadt. Vendrick is just walking around in this dark and isolated room, dragging his sword behind him while hollow as all hell. Through context clues and various in-game text it’s obvious he went hollow a long time ago. But the most interesting thing about that encounter…is the body in the back of the room where you find the King’s Ring.
…is that fucking Gwyn’s corpse?!!
In-game text says that Vendrick used a VERY powerful soul to keep the curse at bay, but even then it still failed after a long enough time. I’m thinking that he used Gwyn’s soul to do this. And so in turn, if this is in fact true, does that mean that Vendrick is really the player from Dark Souls 1? Assuming taking the flame for yourself is the canon ending? I need to know what other people have to say on this!
After all that, I’m all the way in Dragon’s Aerie now…by far the coolest area I’ve seen in the game so far. The Guardian Dragon was literally the perfect boss to introduce you to that area, because as soon as you kill him you get there and see HUNDREDS of them as if they’re just a normal enemy mob…holy fuck. 
Aldia’s Keep was incredibly interesting too. It’s like someone left the front door open to some kind of crazy experiment facility. I’ll have to learn more about that place.
Check the Centipede’s room again, there is a path that leads to the next area. Prepare for the dumbest boss in Soul’s and possibly gaming history at the end of that area.
Taurus Demon section has an ok item, all depends if you had your heart set on making a certain type of weapon.
Ah ok, I’ll look int here again. Thanks.
I think the next Soul weapon I want to make is the Bow. I use my Bow quite a bit to pull enemies, would be cool to have a bitchin lookin one besides the bad ass Dragon Slayer one i found. Damn thing shoots giant Harpoon’s it’s fuckin awesome lol. I took a pic with my iPod.
Dragonslayer Greatbow is the bow of champions.
You could try your luck nabbing Gwyndolin’s bow if you’re looking for a more normal sized one.
i don’t think that bow is big enough
I only have two arrows for it lol. Dunno where to get more and it refuses to shoot any but those fuckin missiles lol.
Martian, your strength doubles when you two-hand in this game, so that 50 STR weapon is really 25 STR. Apparently, some weapons are meant to be two-handed.
On my second playthrough now… I’m gonna try going int/faith with fire weapon/all spells. I already went to NG+ with my other character so I can’t really try any other specs, plus there wouldn’t be any bosses to fight. Anyways, looks like you can skip the Ruin Sentinels… screw those bitches. I’ll be back for them though.
So ever since patch 1.02 I am unable to lay a summon sign. I just get the message ‘Failed to create a summon sign. Timed out from server.’
This is the patch to fix summon issues I didn’t have until the patch. GG From.
I’ve had trouble since the patch too. Don’t know if it is related to the update, but I suspect it is.
My troubles are - nobody summons me, ever - and I’m kicked from multiplayer to offline mode if I try to invade others.
WTF. I finally found the armors from the beta. The Faraam armor looks sexy as hell but it’s a ways away. More importantly, the armor that sold me on going swordsman from the Beta, Black Tuni Set, Straid has it. Considering my build, it will be of no use to me but it looks so good that I might wear it anyway.
Wait, Straid has the Swordsman armor? Pleeeease tell me I don’t have to kill him for it…
Giant Blacksmith.
Nope. Without killing him, have 3 INT, trade 4 boss souls and talk to him. If do you kill him, go back to Majula and talk to the old merchant that is near the bonfire near the ladder in the Lost Giants area. I actually have to check to see if she moved because I did buy enough stuff from her to get the ring that grants more souls upon victory.