Dark Souls 3

Hallelujah!...finally!...From Software should have fixed the servers sooner...a lot of people who played Elden Ring as their first From Software game probably wanted to try the other games
 
servers are offline again

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Just beat this game for the first time, level 93 dex build using mostly Sellsword Twinblades. It was a great ride but I feel like it ended pretty abruptly and it only took me 33 hours.

Will probably do a second run but I’m thinking about picking up DS remastered and giving that a go. I tried Sekiro for a few min but was just not a fan of the movement and gameplay style, though it seemed to have fantastic lore.
 
w35t said:
Just beat this game for the first time, level 93 dex build using mostly Sellsword Twinblades. It was a great ride but I feel like it ended pretty abruptly and it only took me 33 hours.

Will probably do a second run but I’m thinking about picking up DS remastered and giving that a go. I tried Sekiro for a few min but was just not a fan of the movement and gameplay style, though it seemed to have fantastic lore.
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did you play the DLC?...From Software's DLC is always better than the base game
 
Armenius said:
They're a pain in the ass, is what they are.
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I feel relieved that you said that. I'm level 100 atm, have gone back and forth between both a few times over the past couple days haven't even gotten to a second bonfire yet in either, getting very annoyed.
 
w35t said:
I feel relieved that you said that. I'm level 100 atm, have gone back and forth between both a few times over the past couple days haven't even gotten to a second bonfire yet in either, getting very annoyed.
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The concepts are definitely awesome. I especially like the idea of diving down into old game areas after the world is destroyed, and going beyond into where the primordial serpents came from. In practice the enemy placement and their tactics are such a pain in the ass that I hate playing through them. It's a real shame, though, as the bosses are some of the best in the series.
 
Armenius said:
The concepts are definitely awesome. I especially like the idea of diving down into old game areas after the world is destroyed, and going beyond into where the primordial serpents came from. In practice the enemy placement and their tactics are such a pain in the ass that I hate playing through them. It's a real shame, though, as the bosses are some of the best in the series.
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I did not have this sense, and some of that might have been because some hacker messed my save game up (I was able to recover it but then kept a manual set of backups) right when I got to the DLC so that set the bar pretty high in terms of what it would take to get me bothered.
 
The difficulty spike at Pontiff Sulyvahn is ridiculous. I was really enjoying this game up until now. I feel like this is harder than any boss in Elden Ring, Malenia included. When can I even get a hit in??

edit - Beat him. I don't think my heart rate has ever been that high from a video game. Jesus Christ. Trick was to stay right up against him and circle strafe to the left (his right). Using 100% shield often to block his attacks and getting single swings in with my claymore.
 
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TwistedMetalGear said:
The difficulty spike at Pontiff Sulyvahn is ridiculous. I was really enjoying this game up until now. I feel like this is harder than any boss in Elden Ring, Malenia included. When can I even get a hit in??

edit - Beat him. I don't think my heart rate has ever been that high from a video game. Jesus Christ. Trick was to stay right up against him and circle strafe to the left (his right). Using 100% shield often to block his attacks and getting single swings in with my claymore.
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Yeah Pontiff gave me a hell of a time as well.
 
cageymaru said:
Dark Souls Archthrones: Gameplay Showcase
https://ko-fi.com/Archthrones

Just saw a YouTube video of this mod in my feed. That is literally all that I know of this mod. Looked interesting at least. :)

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Whoa. This looks absolutely badass. I was expecting minor UI changes and boss changeups but they've got new assets, new levels, new enemy models. For a mod this is next level.
 
Pontiff was originally the final boss of the game, but late in development they changed things up to place him in the middle of the game - so yeah he's a bit of a difficulty jump. But nowhere close to as difficult as the tough Elden Ring bosses.
 
Drexion said:
Pontiff was originally the final boss of the game, but late in development they changed things up to place him in the middle of the game - so yeah he's a bit of a difficulty jump. But nowhere close to as difficult as the tough Elden Ring bosses.
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I found the DLC to offer the most challenging bosses. Sister Freide in particular gave me a tough time. The only non DLC boss that really worked me over was Nameless King. From was throwing players a bone when they made him optional.

That said, I never found Pontiff all that difficult. He did require a bit of thinking outside the box . It's been a while but I do remember using less aggressive tactics and lots of backing off at the right moment. You can't just get up in his face and swing for the fences.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
The difficulty spike at Pontiff Sulyvahn is ridiculous. I was really enjoying this game up until now. I feel like this is harder than any boss in Elden Ring, Malenia included. When can I even get a hit in??

edit - Beat him. I don't think my heart rate has ever been that high from a video game. Jesus Christ. Trick was to stay right up against him and circle strafe to the left (his right). Using 100% shield often to block his attacks and getting single swings in with my claymore.
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He's weak to parrying. It's easier to parry him with an empty left hand or Buckler, since they have a wider window. When he splits in two you just have to be patient and try to focus on his shadow unless you're confident in your parrying ability.
 
Absalom said:
That said, I never found Pontiff all that difficult. He did require a bit of thinking outside the box . It's been a while but I do remember using less aggressive tactics and lots of backing off at the right moment. You can't just get up in his face and swing for the fences.
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he was pretty easy as a melee character...I also didn't find him difficult...especially since he's near the end of the game so you should be pretty leveled up by then
 
polonyc2 said:
he was pretty easy as a melee character...I also didn't find him difficult...especially since he's near the end of the game so you should be pretty leveled up by then
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That was my experience, too. I nearly always play brutish melee characters, and I've clobbered him every time I've fought him. On the other hand, I recall actually getting to him being pretty challenging.
 
polonyc2 said:
he was pretty easy as a melee character...I also didn't find him difficult...especially since he's near the end of the game so you should be pretty leveled up by then
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Pontiff Sulyvahn is at the halfway point of the game, not near the end. I'm usually around SL30-40 by the time I reach him. I guess it depends on your preferred route through the game, but Irithyll of the Boreal Valley feels like the natural halfway point.
 
My initial post was more of a knee-jerk reaction because I did end up beating him in less than 10 tries. I just couldn't believe how aggressive he was with seemingly unlimited stamina and never ending flurries of attacks which were hard to predict. He punished the shit out of my roll dodging, much more so than any other boss has. Once I started circle strafing with my shield up he did become a lot easier.

I also beat Aldrich the other day. He was an absolute joke compared to Pontiff.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Once I started circle strafing with my shield up he did become a lot easier.
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That's my strategy for like 75% of enemies :p Circle strafe with my shield down, but raise it at the last second just in case. It works pretty well in 3, but it thoroughly wrecks almost everyone in DS2. At least until you reach the DLC areas. I usually drop the shield for my NG+ runs (once I know the various enemies), but I'll happily use it as a crutch for my first runs.
 
Yhorm the giant... What kind of design decision was it to put the gimmick weapon in the boss room? "Gee let me pull up my inventory and scroll through a list of 100 weapons for the thing that I just picked up while a giant is pulverizing me."

After beating him, it warps you to some room without any indication at all that walking forward will trigger a new boss fight with the dancer. So there I am stuck with the same gimmick weapon to fight the dancer with, only it's not effective against her. So naturally I die again while frantically searching my inventory for my weapon. Then I'm left with no clue how to get back to the dancer.

Complaints aside, the dancer was the coolest boss ever! Loved the way she moved in slow motion and her delayed attacks. It was soooo good. But also very easy?
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Yhorm the giant... What kind of design decision was it to put the gimmick weapon in the boss room? "Gee let me pull up my inventory and scroll through a list of 100 weapons for the thing that I just picked up while a giant is pulverizing me."

After beating him, it warps you to some room without any indication at all that walking forward will trigger a new boss fight with the dancer. So there I am stuck with the same gimmick weapon to fight the dancer with, only it's not effective against her. So naturally I die again while frantically searching my inventory for my weapon. Then I'm left with no clue how to get back to the dancer.

Complaints aside, the dancer was the coolest boss ever! Loved the way she moved in slow motion and her delayed attacks. It was soooo good. But also very easy?
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Yeah, you've got a legit gripe there with the old lady click bait. From really set first timers up for easily losing 100k souls they just won.

But to be fair, Yhorm IS a gimmick fight. So it's not like you had to put a lot of effort into that fight. Dancer is the real fight.

And getting back to Dancer is relatively easy. If you don't have a clue where you got teleported to you weren't paying attention near the beginning of the game. The fact is this not your first encounter with the old woman nor your first entry to that area. So not knowing how to get back there is on you.
 
Absalom said:
And getting back to Dancer is relatively easy. If you don't have a clue where you got teleported to you weren't paying attention near the beginning of the game. The fact is this not your first encounter with the old woman nor your first entry to that area. So not knowing how to get back there is on you.
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to be fair it's not easy to remember how to return to every single location you visited on your first playthrough, especially in a big game like this
 
polonyc2 said:
to be fair it's not easy to remember how to return to every single location you visited on your first playthrough, especially in a big game like this
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This. It doesn't help that the location is a cathedral in a game full of cathedrals. And the old lady there wasn't exactly memorable IMO. She said a few lines like most NPCs and that was that. It's been over 30 hours of gameplay (any many weeks of real life) since I last saw her.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
This. It doesn't help that the location is a cathedral in a game full of cathedrals. And the old lady there wasn't exactly memorable IMO. She said a few lines like most NPCs and that was that. It's been over 30 hours of gameplay (any many weeks of real life) since I last saw her.
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Yeah? Well... Welcome to Dark Souls.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Yhorm the giant... What kind of design decision was it to put the gimmick weapon in the boss room? "Gee let me pull up my inventory and scroll through a list of 100 weapons for the thing that I just picked up while a giant is pulverizing me."

After beating him, it warps you to some room without any indication at all that walking forward will trigger a new boss fight with the dancer. So there I am stuck with the same gimmick weapon to fight the dancer with, only it's not effective against her. So naturally I die again while frantically searching my inventory for my weapon. Then I'm left with no clue how to get back to the dancer.

Complaints aside, the dancer was the coolest boss ever! Loved the way she moved in slow motion and her delayed attacks. It was soooo good. But also very easy?
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You don't need to use the Storm Ruler against Yhorm.
 
I've never actually used the specialty weapon vs. Yhorm in 3 playthroughs. You can beat him using standard melee tactics. Now the Storm King on the other hand...
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Is there a trick to doing more damage with a standard weapon? I tried with a standard weapon (+7 Claymore) and it his health bar was barely moving. I would've been there forever.
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You need to attack his arms or legs until he drops in pain, then you attack his head. It's more effective to attack the arm holding his axe, so you need to wait for certain attack patterns that makes it within reach of your attacks. His head is his only weak spot. That is the point of the Storm Ruler since it automatically targets his head while he is still standing, so it makes the fight easier.
 
I think Champion Gundyr is the new hardest boss in the game for me. I don't like these bosses where the window where you can attack is literal milliseconds.
 
Armenius said:
Champion Gundyr is another boss who is weak to parrying.
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Yep. I parry him all day long. The parry window for his overhead attack is obscenely large.

I got to thinking about the Yhorm fight. I wonder if it's possible for Seigward to solo Yhorm? Do the area effects heals work on NPC friendlies?
 
Parrying is my weakness. Mostly because I never put in the effort to get the timings down. I think it's too late at this point. Might as well finish the game parry free.

Finally beat Gundyr. He took the most tries of any boss in this game so far. Here's my 2nd phase run. It ain't pretty.

 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Parrying is my weakness. Mostly because I never put in the effort to get the timings down. I think it's too late at this point. Might as well finish the game parry free.

Finally beat Gundyr. He took the most tries of any boss in this game so far. Here's my 2nd phase run. It ain't pretty.

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Looks about how my fight with him my first time through the game went, to be honest.
Absalom said:
Yep. I parry him all day long. The parry window for his overhead attack is obscenely large.

I got to thinking about the Yhorm fight. I wonder if it's possible for Seigward to solo Yhorm? Do the area effects heals work on NPC friendlies?
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Area of effect heals and buffs do work on NPC summons. I've never tried myself, but I have seen videos of Siegward beating Yhorm by himself. The issue is it's not a guarantee since he likes to stand in the line of fire when charging up the Storm Ruler for an attack, so he'll often get knocked down before the attack goes off.
 
I suck at parrying in all of the Fromsoft games except Sekiro. It's one reason I typically favor the "get close, circle, and hit 'em with something big when they miss" approach to fighting. It mostly eliminates the need to parry enemies. I've made it through all of the Souls games as well as Bloodborne and Elden Ring without parrying, so it's definitely possible to totally skip it. I practiced doing it a lot back in the first game, but I never could do it consistently, so I stopped trying.
 
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