Dark Souls Impressions - The FINAL Update

Let's get busy

<- Previous update: Fuck You, Goliath
Recap:
- Discovered the lower part of the Undead Burg
- Rescued Griggs of Vinheim
- Lost 10,000 souls during a grinding accident
- Gave up on saving up for the Crest of Artorias
- Fought the Bell Gargoyles; lost

Current mission:
- Redemption


Pretty much all of you neglected to notice something in the last update, so allow me to assist you:

For a few moments after that death, I was kind of at a loss for what to do. I'm thinking to myself, How in the fuck am I supposed to fight two of these things at once?... What made matters worse were all these people telling me that they beat this boss on their first try. I'm just like, fucking how?

...Then I realized.

...Then I realized.

realized.

.

.

That's right--after my first two attempts, I suddenly realized that I was completely forgetting something: There's a summon sign just before the foggy gate. I could literally just summon Solaire, and victory would be mine.

You can only see summon signs when you're human, though, which is why I forgot about it--but I picked up bits of itemized Humanity back in the Burg, so... in thinking about it, I could easily take advantage of that, if I wanted to.

I sat at the bonfire, contemplating my options. Summoning Solaire was my best bet, by far. But it seems as though a lot of people are expecting me to go in solo. It would certainly be a lot cooler if I did, but I just don't know if I have the patience--but I don't necessarily want to "disappoint" anyone, either. But none of my weapons are ideal for fighting two giant enemies at once--not even my trusty spear. Maybe if I could fire two arrows with my Longbow at once, I could stand a chance, but I'm just not well-equipped enough.

So my only hope of defeating the gargoyles by myself is if I did some extraordinarily cheesy shit. Like, fucking mozzarella. I'm talking running back and forth between the two ends of the roof all day, and waiting for the inevitable opening. I realize there's no shame in that, but that just doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun to me. That doesn't seem "legitimate" to me. I had to start thinking of alternatives, so I decided to relegate Solaire to a last resort option.

I shuffled through my inventory, searching for some kind of item that I could maybe put to use. I knew I hadn't exhausted every possibility.

Gold Pine Resin? That's something I picked up a long time ago. It electrifies your weapon, giving it lightning properties. So perhaps, by Pokémon logic, the Flying-type gargoyles will have their wings clipped by the lightning... or some shit like that. It was looking like a pretty solid idea, until I realized I only had two. Pine Resins don't last, so I'm gonna have to make every hit count. If I fuck up, it's gone for good. I can't purchase this stuff anywhere else, as far as I'm aware.

I had a tough choice to make. Either I could solo the boss with Gold Pine Resin (which may or may not even work as a strategy), or be a lame-ass casual and summon Solaire. Or I could do both, but that poses its own set of risks. I spent quite some time in rumination.


What I ultimately decided was a bit of a compromise: At first, I'll go in solo for the last time, with my Pine Resin strategy. Should I fail, I'll use a Bone to escape, after recovering my souls (for I had gathered a fair amount). After leveling up a couple times at the bonfire, I'll summon Solaire. Hopefully by then, I'll still have one Resin left over.


I applied the Pine Resin to my Winged Spear+3 before I crossed the gate, deciding not to apply it to my Longbow. Previously, my spear was doing a fairly heft amount of damage--100 damage per strong strike. I can only pray that the added lightning properties will help it do more.

And it did. After the first gargoyle made its initial plunge, I instinctively rolled to the side, and counterstruck him for a whopping 150 damage. All right, that's pretty great. Now that I know his weakness, I thought to myself that I didn't need to worry anymore. Taking a slight detour from the plan, I recovered my souls and transported myself back to the bonfire, so I could level up a couple times, increasing my strength and vitality. 150 damage is far more than I expected, so I knew I could afford to do this. I still had one left.

After returning, I just started wailing on the first gargoyle. He couldn't get a single hit in before his healthbar went below half. I even actually managed to cut off his tail, which I didn't realize was possible. His tail manifested as an item drop, which I quickly picked up--it's called a Gargoyle Tail Axe. Sadly, I couldn't exit the prompt fast enough before he struck me back, so after that, I started losing a bit of my composure.

Much to my excitement, I managed to slay the first gargoyle, but the second gargoyle was already on my ass. Hard. Breathing his dumbass flames, as usual, he knocked me down and got me locked me into one spot, from which I couldn't escape. Finished me off.

But I killed the first one, right? That means he's not coming back, right?... Wrong. Apparently, if you fail to kill both, the other one somehow gets revived, because video games. Doesn't make any sense, but whatever, I guess it's "fair." I'll deal with my efforts (and my Pine Resin) being brought to waste.

Either way, it was time to summon Solaire. I tried to record this attempt--I've been planning on recording boss fights and important events for awhile, actually, but as I began to edit the footage, I noticed that the audio was out of sync by like, three full seconds, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. I'll try to figure something out later.


Now, if you're disappointed in my decision to summon Solaire, try to hear me out--I gave this a lot of thought. First of all, there's two gargoyles. It's not like I'm ganging up on just one enemy--there's two of them. So from that perspective, I really didn't have any qualms with tagging Solaire along whatsoever. Secondly, the game is basically handing you the summon sign, behind a gate with two bosses in it. That kinda communicates to me that I'm "supposed" to summon Solaire. I'm being encouraged to. Why else would there be a summon sign there? Maybe I won't even have the option to summon NPCs for future bosses, so it would be foolish not to take it up now.

Not to mention, I was fresh out of Pine Resin--so my damage output was significantly lowered.

In short, I'm simply using the conventions offered to me by the game. Would it have been a lot cooler to defeat these things on my own? Yeah, probably--but frankly, I'm not really in it for the pride. I kinda just wanna progress at this point. I'm sorry if that's sacrilege, but that was pretty much my decision.

Of course, Solaire used lightning-based weapons, making the fight exponentially easier. He cut off the first gargoyle's tail in one strike, and we both brought his health down to a minimum in less than ten seconds. Keeping my sights on the second gargoyle, I allowed Solaire to finish off the first one as I began weakening the other. We made short work of them both, and after the second one was vanquished, Solaire disappeared, leaving behind a Sunlight Medal. I felt compelled to bow, but I forgot how.

Anyway, with the two gargoyles dead, it was finally time to ring the Bell of Awakening.


I'm not entirely sure what that did, but I'll probably figure it out later.

On the way back down from the bell's tower, I met Oswald of Carim, a pardoner who sells some interesting things, like Purging Stones, Indictments, and Rings of Sacrifice. Indictments in particular are the coolest things I've ever seen--it's a shame I have no use for them. People have told me about these before, but they essentially allow you to place a bounty over the head any retarded mongoloid cunt who decides to invade you--but only if they manage to kill you. When used, they'll be added to a list of invaders, who will eventually pay retribution at the hands of a covenant who go by the Blades of Darkmoon, who will proceed to fuck their shit up--or at least, give them a hard time.

Yeah, people have told me about this before. It sounds fucking awesome and all, but it still doesn't completely fix my issues with the invasion system. Don't get me wrong--the idea of giving invaders a bad day gives me a massive, steelclad erection, but I still feel more comfortable playing offline. Maybe some time down the line, I'll join the Blades of Darkmoon, but I need to become more powerful.

So I didn't buy anything from him. Everything he had was very expensive anyway, like the 10K soul Bloodbite Ring, or the 15K soul Poisonbite Ring. Instead, I just made my way back to the bonfire at the old church to regroup and think about my next move.

Asylum Demon
Taurus Demon
Bell Gargoyles
Capra Demon
Gaping Dragon
Havel
Moonlight Butterfly
Hydra 1
Sif
Stray Demon
Quelaag
Hydra 2
Iron Golem
Ornstein & Smough
Crossbreed Priscilla
Dark Sun Gwyndolin
Seathe the Scaleless
Four Kings
Pinwheel
Gravelord Nito
Ceaseless Discharge
Demon Firesage
Centipede Demon
Bed of Chaos
Gwyn

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Why not use the resin and summon Solaire? I don't understand that type of thinking. It's not cheesy to use every tool and advantage at your disposal to succeed.

What would you consider cheesy?

Why not use the resin and summon Solaire? I don't understand that type of thinking. It's not cheesy to use every tool and advantage at your disposal to succeed.

What would you consider cheesy?

Massively over-leveling and looking up the best armor/weapon combos.

Nothing wrong with a summon and a buff. The power provided by a resin is balanced out by scarcity-- eg, you might have gotten a damage boost against boss x but you might have put it to better use against boss y.

Massively over-leveling and looking up the best armor/weapon combos.

Ah, good. I was worried about whether I was gonna have to resort to that shit.

Scarcity seems like a fair balance, I like that.

And by "massively", I don't mean by like 15 levels. I mean running into gargoyles at like sl120 or some shit.

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And by "massively", I don't mean by like 15 levels. I mean running into gargoyles at like sl120 or some shit.

Oh. I'm only level 21 right now--I assume that's low or where I'm at, right?

I updated the OP with my current equipment and stats and shit.

Good job Verb. Bit of a shame that you summoned Solaire especially after already managing to kill one of the Gargoyles (the second one is easy as shit by himself if you manage to stay clear of his fire), but I understand your predicament. I'd suggest you put in at least 10 attempts a boss before summoning anything, but it's your call. Solaire just happens to be ridiculously OP for that fight. On NG+ he can literally solo both gargoyles without you having to lift a finger, which is saying something. No greater feeling than getting better each attempt and then finally fucking up the boss with nothing but pure skill.

And yeah, tails are a common theme in Dark Souls. If you see a boss (or mini-boss) with one, always try to cut it off. You never know what you might find.

Anyways, congrats. Gargoyles was the final boss of what many consider the first introductory part of the game. No more freebies, easy plunges or convenient pine resins that just so happen to be very effective against the boss to come. Have at it.

Area far ahead of where you are spoilers ahead.

Spoiler

Moonlight Greatsword on Seath the Scaleless baby!

And by "massively", I don't mean by like 15 levels. I mean running into gargoyles at like sl120 or some shit.

Oh. I'm only level 21 right now--I assume that's low or where I'm at, right?

I updated the OP with my current equipment and stats and shit.

I'd say that unless you want to do online. Your level is fine.

However for Undead Parish that is a little over leveled. However most people(from what I see) are 17-20 there anyways so you're good.

As long as you are doing a steady damage output any level is fine.

I'd say that unless you want to do online. Your level is fine.

However for Undead Parish that is a little over leveled. However most people(from what I see) are 17-20 there anyways so you're good.

As long as you are doing a steady damage output any level is fine.

Really? Because I've been told by others that I should be around level 30 at this point. Are they just assuming I'm playing online?

I was level 17 for the greater part of my time here. I leveled up specifically for the gargoyles.

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I'd say that unless you want to do online. Your level is fine.

However for Undead Parish that is a little over leveled. However most people(from what I see) are 17-20 there anyways so you're good.

As long as you are doing a steady damage output any level is fine.

Really? Because I've been told by others that I should be around level 30 at this point. Are they just assuming I'm playing online?

I was level 17 for the greater part of my time here. I leveled up specifically for the gargoyles.

You literally can get through that area(with some experience mind you, no offense) at level 10-15. I'd say be at level 30 by the time you head to the mother fucker down under(Capra Demon/next boss after that).

Oh, and swing by the Moonlight Butterfly and adventure there, some good shit there fam.

Oh yeah, about the Capra Demon. I neglected to mention it in update #9, but I already met him. I lost, but only because of his stupid-ass dogs. I never came back, but at least I know where I'm headed next.

Sometimes, something will happen during a play session that's kind of interesting, but I don't mention it, because it's too much of a diversion. That was the biggest thing I had to omit so far.

But yeah, he seems pretty easy. I'll be coming for him next.

Oh yeah, about the Capra Demon. I neglected to mention it in update #9, but I already met him. I lost, but only because of his stupid-ass dogs. I never came back, but at least I know where I'm headed next.

Sometimes, something will happen during a playthrough that's kind of interesting, but I don't mention it, because it's too much of a diversion. That was the biggest thing I had to omit.

But yeah, he seems pretty easy. I'll be coming for him next.

He is a pain for players who are new to him.

Which is why Moonlight Butterfly is the way to go first

Why not use the resin and summon Solaire? I don't understand that type of thinking. It's not cheesy to use every tool and advantage at your disposal to succeed.

But then the salty Souls community will get mad at him for playing like a casul noob

Still waiting for you to get the thing

I will not rest until you find it

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Good job Verb. Bit of a shame that you summoned Solaire especially after already managing to kill one of the Gargoyles (the second one is easy as shit by himself if you manage to stay clear of his fire), but I understand your predicament. I'd suggest you put in at least 10 attempts a boss before summoning anything, but it's your call.

Yeah, well, I'm glad you understand my rationale, at least. I don't intend to take advantage of summons for anyone else in the future, unless I'm in another 1v2 situation--in which case, I'll use it as a last resort with no qualms.

Also, keep in mind that the only reason I managed to kill the first gargoyle the first time was because I had the pine resin boost. Without it, it just would've been harder. At which point, the summon sign started to look very friendly.

It just felt like I was deliberately gimping myself for no real reason, and that's kinda silly to do on your first playthrough.

Nothing wrong with summoning if you've given it a good try on many attempts. In my opinion it only cheapens the experience if you summon multiple phantoms for your first time with the boss, since depending on the boss they might just kill it for you before you learn much about it.

And by "massively", I don't mean by like 15 levels. I mean running into gargoyles at like sl120 or some shit.

Oh. I'm only level 21 right now--I assume that's low or where I'm at, right?

I updated the OP with my current equipment and stats and shit.

21 is 20 levels too high.

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I already passed you Verb

considering i'm playing at a snail's pace strictly for my own convenience, i'm not surprised

Nigga, is this game long or something?

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Nigga, is this game long or something?

no, i just took a month long hiatus of sorts

i just back into it a couple weeks ago

Just kinda tying up some loose ends right now. That elevator that leads down to Firelink Shrine reminded me to go back and take care of some unfinished business there. I'm also trying to experiment with some new weapons.

Look around the Burg

get the thing