- I just preordered Apocalypse Edition, which was only a few bucks more expensive than the standard edition and has a cool metal case or whatever. It'll be hard to wait 20 days to play it.
- I've waited 20 days. Let's do this. (Hope it's in the mail today).
- I'm home late from work and my game has arrived in an awesome metal case. I'm super duper tired, so the current plan is to install and update it now, sleep, and maybe get a half hour or so in tomorrow morning.
- I created a Knight named Fightor, and fought my way to the Firelink Shrine, killing the Giant Crystal Lizard and Ludex Gundyr on my first try. After that I was murdered several times in a row by the Master Swordsman.
- I got through the High Wall of Lothric, even though I was stuck for a while because I hadn't found the lowest area yet. I looked carefully at a chest for movement before deciding to open it, and then only finding the maw of a horrible Mimic. First chest in the game! Damn. Vordt wasn't too bad, got him on my second try. Onward to the Undead Settlement, which looks absolutely awesome. I was looking at one of the corpse cages, thinking that it would look gross if it moved around, and then it did. I was genuinely shocked.
- The Undead Settlement was an absolute joy to go through, such beautiful graphics and dense atmosphere. I met up with good old Siegmeyer, we fought a demon together, and I ended up at the Road of Sacrifices, where I fought some horrible birdmen.
- Big new feature: You can drink Estus while on a ladder! :)
- Also, apparently, your souls are left outside the boss area instead of inside. That's nice of the them.
- Oh Big Tree, how I hate you and your stupid grabby arm and jump attacks. I'm gonna make you cry, Kirby-style.
- I can't deal with Big Tree for now, he's killed me so many times, I'm too angry to keep trying. Later.
- I got through the Farron Keep and reached the Abyss Watchers who are murdering me again and again. The second form is a bit for much for me right now.
- Got the Curse-rotted Greatwood trophy. - Finally. Stupid Big Tree.
- Got the Lords of Cinder: Abyss Watchers trophy. - I spent all day today beating these guys. This was an extremely hard boss fight.
- Got the High Lord Wolnir trophy. - Big skeleton dude wasn't too bad.
- I reached Boreal Valley, but can't pass the gate with a 'Doll'. I learned from a guide that I should find the Cathedral of the Deep, which I apparently missed earlier on.
- I found it. Wait a minute? This looks like... a place from another game.
- ...It looks like Anor Londo. I wonder if the Cathedral of the Deep is in Anor Londo.
- So tired. I have been playing all day. I just raised two walls from the big flooded room at the bottom of the cathedral with the giants, and expect that I will be able to traverse to gain progress. This area is fairly complex.
- After talking with my colleagues, I burned some Undead Bone Shards and improved my Estus Flask. Also, I chopped down the bridge in the Catacombs, climbed down, and found a new area.
- I came in the extended weekend to work a bit, but my attempts were thwarted by colleagues and their kids wanting to play VR games and Dark Souls, so I ended up joining the others in creating a new Deprived dude, and clubbing our way through the early parts of the game. I was pretty worthless, but then my concentration was never much good in this kind of social situation.
- Streamed video.
- I just got through the Cathedral of the Deep and defeated the Deacons of the Deep, a fun boss fight against a small army of priest dudes. Now I have access to Irithyll.
- I'm tired after playing all day. I defeated Yhorm the Giant using the Storm Ruler sword, Pontiff Sulyvahn by blocking him a lot, and Aldrich by modifying my Dark Longsword into a Fire Longsword and carefully avoiding showers of arrows. I accidentally entered the Dancer boss fight directly after the Aldrich fight without resting at a bonfire, but I managed to Homeward Bone my way out without dying. I will save the Dancer for the upcoming week.
- Erik and Martin F were playing in the office, and had gotten halfway through the game with our shared character, Boaty McBoatface.
- Streamed video.
- After a 3 week Dark Souls break, I'm back for more punishment. I went back to the High Wall of Lothric, and noticed that the sky had changed, the Sun looked like it was covered by a black void, and fascinating flying creatures reminiscent of sea dragons were slowly floating across the sky. Actually, they could be the final form of humans growing into trees. Fantastic. I beat the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, and proceeded into a new area, the Consumed King's Garden, where I beat what looked like a humanoid version of Seath, and reached the Untended Graves, which is the intro area at night, with a few new enemies, and a badass non-infested version of Iudex Gundyr. He gave way to an abandoned Firelink Shrine, and I moved on to Lothric Castle, where I apparently killed some dragons without knowing how, and reached the Dragonslayer Armor boss. I will save it for later.
- Streamed video.
- I spent many hours getting past the Dragonslayer Armor, but I succeeded and got to the Grand Archives, which I got through without too many problems. Along the way, I dunked my head in candle wax, and was grabbed by cartoony ghost arms reaching out from within books. Exiting the area, I was looking at some neat looking statues, and was brutally attacked by the D&D party of this game: A knight, a rogue, and a mage. After defeating them, I was murdered by two hilarious looking winged fat golden knights. Enough for tonight.
- I got up early and had a stab (literally) at the Twin Princes. I seem to be doing the best with me Fire Longsword, and although I didn't beat them, it seems doable.
- Princes are gone. The Soul of Cinder is tricky, especially the second phase.
- I started out trying to find Archdragon Peak, and had to look up the trick to get there. The peak was a fun area with cool environment art, and I soon reached the first boss fight, the strangely overexplained puzzle boss, Ancient Wyvern. There was *numerous* notes to use a pluging attack on the way up to the place from where you kill it with a single attack. It's still better than the Bed of Chaos, I guess.
- After that, I reached The Nameless King. His first dragon-riding stage was very doable, especially when I hit him in the face with my awesome Black Knight Sword +5, but the second stage was super difficult and frustrating. I ended up taking a break from him, and going back to the Soul of Cinder.
- After leveling up a bit in the Archdragon Peak and training against the Nameless King, I finally managed to beat the Soul of Cinder. My high damage helped a lot, unsurprisingly.
- Got the The Nameless King trophy. - At this point I could have completed the game, but I wanted to have another try against The Nameless King. It was a hard fight, but I got into the rhythm and beat him without too much frustration. And that seems to be it for this game.
- Completed the game. I watched the extremely short ending sequence, and then the game went straight into credits. I have the option of starting NG+, but I'll save that for later. I got the 'To Link the First Flame' ending.
- Playing Dark Souls in the summer heat reminds me of one year ago, where I was stumbling around in the first game. I have played so much of this series in such a short time...
- I'm downloading the Ashes of Ariandel DLC now...
- After returning to the title menu, 'ASHES OF ARIANDEL' shows up in the top left corner, so I assume everything is in order.
- Eurrgh... This is as unsettling as the Bloodborne DLC. Horrible deformed bird-men everywhere. And disgusting fly-monsters in blood-drenched areas. Yikes.
- The Basement of Flies was the most Bloodborny place yet. Gross and claustrophobic. And the worm attacks of the flies negates any advantage I had from being possibly being over-leveled.
- I opened the path beneath the statue. I think I may be close to the end of the DLC.
- That final 3-stage boss fight is *unpleasant*! I'm getting murdered in the final stage.
- I got the final form down to half health. I guess that's progress.
- Completed the game (Ashes of Ariandel). Yes! I got her with the help of Slave Knight Gael. Not too difficult for a level 98 character.
- I created a new Pyromancer named Incineron and played the early parts up to the Undead Settlement. I rescued Greirat (who sells Fire Arrows and a lot of weapons), and found Yoel of Londor (who sells spells).
- I should probably go for the 'Usurpation of Fire' ending, it would align well with Incinerons prime character trait of unchecked, all-consuming pyromania.
- I got some progress in Undead Settlement with Incineron, by playing very carefully. I have not found Cornyx the Pyromancer dude yet, he should be in the early parts of the Undead Settlement.
- Got Cornyx. Now I can start looking for some Pyromancy Tomes in Farron Keep, Catacombs of Carthus, and Smouldering Lake.
- Streamed video.
- Oops, I accidentally played for 4.5 hours tonight. I beat Stupid Big Tree and the Crystal Sage. I got 5 Dark Sigils and Yuria of Londor has appeared.
- The withered husk that is Incineron slowly stabs and burns his way through the Cathedral of the Deep. He is fully Hollowed, and I really like the way he looks now.
- Upgrade notes:
- Crystal and Simple weapons scale with INT.
- Crystal weapons do *not* deteriorate like in DS1.
- Simple weapons regenerate FP (~Mana).
- Streamed video.
- I bought the season pass on 2016-06-25, so 'The Ringed City' should unlock automatically in a few hours.
- It's 20 past midnight, and the DLC is downloadable. It just showed up as 'Free', which I guess is the way the Season Pass works.
- I started playing The Ringed City tonight. It sure does take a sinister turn very quickly, when the horrible angels of death appear and start murdering you with a shower of death rays. Unable to touch the horrible creatures, I managed to run past some of them, only to find myself in a poisonous swamp. It's like I'm playing the Shrine of Storms and the Valley of Defilement at the same time. I'm too tired for this right now.
- I found the Angel Hosts and killed them. The area should now be open for exploring.
- Streamed video.
- OK, first I killed the Demon Prince on my second try, and then the nightmare started for real. I was killed again and again for hours by poison monk dudes, fiery knights, and the Harald Legion Knights. I always try to jump on them to do the cool kill animation, but often fail, resulting in immediate death. I finally found the exit to the right of the big stairs and from there found the bonfire. This is maybe the hardest part of any Souls game.
- Ah, another dragon bridge. And what an awesome looking dragon. I can block its attacks without taking too much damage.
- That double sword Ringed Knight looks so cool. In general, the Ringed Knights are fantastic looking enemies, and they have interesting attacks, too.
- I love Judicator Argo, the giant priest. After being frustrated with the boss fight with him and Halflight, Spear of the Church, I went back to murder him the first area I met him with the many ghostly archers. He respawns, unfortunately.
- Streamed video.
- I found Havel's Ring +3, which isn't *that* much better than the standard Havel's Ring, but it doesn't hurt. Actually, looking at a wiki, there are a lot of +3 rings in this DLC, I should go look for them. I found the Iron Dragonslayer and killed it to get the armour. And, after an awesome revelation reminiscent of the ending of Demon's Souls, I encountered the final boss, Slave Knight Gael. I will save him for later.
- Streamed video.
- Completed the game (The Ringed City). I beat Slave Knight Gael. Nothing happened. What now?
- Darkeater Midir is horrible. I upgraded my Wolf Knight's Greatsword to do a little extra damage, but I barely doing any damage before he tail-swipes me to death. And that run-up is annoying.
- My strategy for Midir is currently:
- Try using the sorcery Pestilent Mercury that deals damage relative to health, of which he has a lot (15,895 HP),
- Use Wolf Knight's Greatsword, which supposedly gives 20% bonus damage to him,
- Use Gold Pine Resin to add lightning damage, which Midir is vulnerable against.
- So, it seems I'll be grinding a bit, so I might as well equip some good grinding equipment. I already have the Shield of Want and Mendicant's Staff, but I'll try to find the Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +3, which should be present in The Dreg Heap.
- I have a couple of problems: I'm not patient enough to get enough Intelligence to cast Pestilent Mercury. Also, I can't use Gold Pine Resin on my sword, and I don't understand why.
- Got the Ultimate Bonfire trophy.
- I respec'ed my character to have enough Intelligence to cast Pestilent Mercury and fought Midir for 3 hours. The best I did was 2/3 of his hitpoints.
- Accomplished Darkeater Midir Defeated. - One hour more this morning was enough, and I have now defeated all bosses that I know of in Dark Souls III.
- I tried to join the Mound-makers and Blade of the Darkmoon covenants, but it seems the opportunity has passed, and it's a job for another character or NG+
- I bade farewell to the world of DS3 by ritually murdering every NPC I could find. It seems the blacksmith, vendor lady, and level lady are unkillable. I can now start NG+.
- New Game Plus! After a quick change of armor to get rid of the NPC blood smell, I quickly got through the first couple of areas. NG+ isn't bad yet.
- I explored the Undead Settlement and found the Mound-Makers.
- I should go for the Usurpation of Fire ending in NG+. If anything fails, I can always revert to The End of Fire instead, which should always be possible.
- Usurpation of Fire update: Got 5 Dark Sigils. Next up: Meet Anri and Horace and exhaust their dialogue.
- Defeated Abyss Watchers and reached Catacombs of Carthus.
- Usurpation of Fire update: Talked to Anri and Horace. Yuria of Londor has appeared and murdered poor Yoel. I should find Anri in the Catacombs.
- Cathedral of the Deep complete. Pestilent Mercury helps with the giants.
- Usurpation of Fire update: Talked to Anri in the Catacombs. Next up is murdering Horace in the Smouldering Lake.
- I need 8 Titanite Scales to fully upgrade my Moonlight Greatsword. I like that weapon.
- Usurpation of Fire update: I've murdered Horace the Hushed. Next is finding Anri near the collapsing skeleton bridge in The Catacombs and tell her about the Smouldering Lake.
- Usurpation of Fire update: I talked to Anri in The Catacombs. Next one is talking to her at the Church of Yorksha in Irithyll, without killing a dude in the corner of the room disguised as a statue.
- I did Irithyll and its dungeon, and defeated Pontiff Sulyvahn and Yhorm the Giant.
- Usurpation of Fire update: I talked to Anri at the Church, and talked to Yuria about the wedding thing. Next up is finding the Darkmoon tomb from the rotating tower in Anor Londo.
- I finished Anor Londo, Aldritch, and the Dancer.
- Usurpation of Fire update: I performed the ritual and have 8 dark sigils and talked to Yuria about linking the fire.
- I got through Lothric Castle and defeated Dragonslayer Armor on the first try.
- The Grand Archives were hard to get through. I'm saving the Princes for later.
- The Princes ... I don't care for them.
- *Finally* got rid of the Princes. I used a combination of Pestilent Mercury and a lot of dodging around them and hitting them in the back.
- I wandered around aimlessly for a while, defeated the Ascended Winged Knights by cowardly tactics, and was murdered by The Soul of Cinder.
- After a break, I defeated the Soul of Cinder without much trouble. It was mostly a question of playing defensively.
- Completed the game (NG+). After exploring Archdragon Peak and Untended Graves, I linked the fire and got the Usurpation of Fire ending.
- Fightor is now level 150.
- I did a little cleanup in my completed NG+ and got the Master of Infusion trophy. I encountered the Monstrosity of Sin, a horrible creature I can't remember encountering before.
- I tried to get back to Incineron and leveled him up one level and found a few items. It was hard to get back into this game, I need to train my skills back.
- I got through Farron Keep, defeated the Stray Demon and the Abyss Watchers. I'm dealing so much damage with pyromancy now, my melee weapons are basically useless.
- Since I already got the 'Usurpation of Fire' ending, the last one missing is 'The End of Fire'. For that I need:
- From Untended Graves, find a hidden wall in Firelink Shrine and get the Eyes of the Fire Keeper.
- Go to Firelink Shrine and offer the eyes to the Firekeeper.
- After defeating the Soul of Cinder, don't touch the bonfire, but the summon sign.
- Also, getting all pyromancies requires freeing Karla from the last part of Irithyll Dungeon.
- I tried to gain a little progress in the Catacombs of Carthus, but was tired and impatient, and only managed to unlock a few bonfires. I did go back and finally defeated the Deacons of the Deep, dying a simultaneous death with them.
- After getting destroyed in the Catacombs, I went back to Undead Settlement and got my Pyromancer legs back.
- I struggled with The Old Demon King, but after retrieving the Flame Stoneplate Ring to protect against fire damage and started using Heavy Soul Arrows instead of Pyromancy (that he's obviously strong against), he wasn't too bad.
- Using the powerful Pyromancy Chaos Bed Vestiges, I banished High Lord Wolnir.
- I spent a long time killing Fire Witches in Irithyll to get the Immolation Tinder weapon to drop. I used the Demon's Fist, which is extremely fun and powerful, and now I'm split between which of those weapons I enjoy using the most. After that, I managed to reach Irithyll Dungeon.
- I went back into the Demon Ruins and found some stuff including the Izalith Pyromancy Tome, and also disabled the ballista and killed the big worm. I hate the Demon Clerics and their meta-fireballs.
- Next up: Get the Jailer Key from the Profaned Capital and go back to Irithyll Dungeon and rescue Karla.
- Done that. And now onwards to Anor Londo.
- Erik visited, and he suggested that I get the Sacred Flame pyromancy and told me where it was. In a pool of lava. I got it using a combination of Spook to mitigate fall damage, and a Red Bug Pellet and Flash Sweat for fire protection.
- After getting the Sacred Flame, we switched to my level 5 fist-only character, Fister, and made our way to Vordt. Needless to say, he is *extremely* difficult with only fists, and we tried many times before giving up for tonight. We could reliably get him to half of his hitpoints, and even down to a third, but his second phase is hard to dodge, and Fister not having any armour makes a lot of Vordts attack kill him in one shot. We had decent luck with summoning the samurai dude that's right outside the arena, but I'm quickly running out of Ember.
2016-03-23
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