I have a problem with Dark Souls

[ReservoirAngel]

Farming souls from the same area isn't sustainable. The number of souls needed to level ends up quickly outstripping the number of souls you gain from farmable enemies.

I speak as someone who ran Undead Burg a dozen or so times to level up so I might have a chance of taking the fucking Taurus Demon down at long last.

Spoiler: I never did. Yes, I am just that terrible.

Key to taking down the taurus demon super easily:

Buy residence key from the merchant in undead burg and get the gold pine resin.

When fighting the taurus demon climb the ladder next to the fog gate to the top of the tower, apply gold pine resin to your weapon, do a plunging attack on taurus demon. While he's stunned for a second 2 hand your weapon and go to town. I usually manage to take him down in 3-5 hits and take no damage.

Later on in the game the taurus demon becomes a normal enemy in the Demon Ruins.

It always sounds easy when someone explains to me how to do it, but the second I actually get in there all my higher brain functions just vanish and I revert to my usual gameplay method of "hit buttons until the thing falls down" which is not a winning strategy at any point.

Even with an Uchikatana with Gold Pine Resin applied, I fail. Then there was the one time I decided to try to get out of the narrow corridor of the ramparts by luring him up onto the big circular tower you kill the archers on... wherein I missed a dodge, got hit and got thrown over the edge and down to my death in truly humiliating fashion.

On the plus side of my brief and miserable failure-filled experience with Dark Souls, I am now a fucking expert at taking the Undead Burg. I can do that shit practically in my sleep now the amount of times I had to run through it on my way to getting flattened again.

Yet I'm still very much considering getting my hands on Dark Souls 2 tomorrow... hooray for masochism! Though I've heard that Dark Souls 2 is not so much easier as it is a touch more accessible so maybe I'll get a bit further in that one before I hit the "you don't belong here, get fucked" boss fight.

Yeah...I'd say that if you can't beat the taurus demon in dark souls you shouldn't bother getting dark souls 2. The beginning of dark souls 2 doesn't give you a shield with 100% physical block (and in fact, only one starting class even gets a shield to start with), so if your entire gameplay strategy is "hit buttons until thing dies" you're going to have a bad time.

See, that's not it. With normal enemies I really know what I'm doing, it's just that boss fight. I think if I could fight him on a proper level with some kind of open space to manoeuvre properly I could have him easy, but it's the tight corridor-style that you fight him in that fucks me over.

Because despite how I made it sound, I'm not an idiot. I know how to play Dark Souls, it's just that boss fight always finds some way to absolutely fuck me... largely down to my own stupidity but there's only so far you can evade the gigantic cowbeast and look for a halfway decent opening when you're fighting in a narrow corridor.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Farming souls from the same area isn't sustainable. The number of souls needed to level ends up quickly outstripping the number of souls you gain from farmable enemies.

I speak as someone who ran Undead Burg a dozen or so times to level up so I might have a chance of taking the fucking Taurus Demon down at long last.

Spoiler: I never did. Yes, I am just that terrible.

Key to taking down the taurus demon super easily:

Buy residence key from the merchant in undead burg and get the gold pine resin.

When fighting the taurus demon climb the ladder next to the fog gate to the top of the tower, apply gold pine resin to your weapon, do a plunging attack on taurus demon. While he's stunned for a second 2 hand your weapon and go to town. I usually manage to take him down in 3-5 hits and take no damage.

Later on in the game the taurus demon becomes a normal enemy in the Demon Ruins.

It always sounds easy when someone explains to me how to do it, but the second I actually get in there all my higher brain functions just vanish and I revert to my usual gameplay method of "hit buttons until the thing falls down" which is not a winning strategy at any point.

Even with an Uchikatana with Gold Pine Resin applied, I fail. Then there was the one time I decided to try to get out of the narrow corridor of the ramparts by luring him up onto the big circular tower you kill the archers on... wherein I missed a dodge, got hit and got thrown over the edge and down to my death in truly humiliating fashion.

On the plus side of my brief and miserable failure-filled experience with Dark Souls, I am now a fucking expert at taking the Undead Burg. I can do that shit practically in my sleep now the amount of times I had to run through it on my way to getting flattened again.

Yet I'm still very much considering getting my hands on Dark Souls 2 tomorrow... hooray for masochism! Though I've heard that Dark Souls 2 is not so much easier as it is a touch more accessible so maybe I'll get a bit further in that one before I hit the "you don't belong here, get fucked" boss fight.

Yeah...I'd say that if you can't beat the taurus demon in dark souls you shouldn't bother getting dark souls 2. The beginning of dark souls 2 doesn't give you a shield with 100% physical block (and in fact, only one starting class even gets a shield to start with), so if your entire gameplay strategy is "hit buttons until thing dies" you're going to have a bad time.

See, that's not it. With normal enemies I really know what I'm doing, it's just that boss fight. I think if I could fight him on a proper level with some kind of open space to manoeuvre properly I could have him easy, but it's the tight corridor-style that you fight him in that fucks me over.

Because despite how I made it sound, I'm not an idiot. I know how to play Dark Souls, it's just that boss fight always finds some way to absolutely fuck me... largely down to my own stupidity but there's only so far you can evade the gigantic cowbeast and look for a halfway decent opening when you're fighting in a narrow corridor.

You could just fight him my way, without having to dodge. Seriously, plunging attacks are your friend against him, they do massive damage and you don't have to weasel your way around him in that tight space. Also, Uchigatana isn't exactly a high damage weapon. If you want to end the fight with him quickly you're better off grabbing the zweihander from the graveyard, pumping a few points into strength to be able to two hand it, and use that. I've taken the taurus demon down with 2 hits using that beast. Same strategy, gold pin resin, plunging attack, hit him again while he's staggered = dead boss. No dodging, no maneuvering around him.

Problem is though, you're really going to want to learn how to fight on ledges because you'll be doing that A LOT in dark souls. Tons of small ledges in New Londo, Anor Londo, Dark Root Garden, Catacombs, Tomb of the Giants, The Great Hollow, Lost Izalith, Valley of the Drakes, etc, and same with Dark Souls 2. Dark Souls LOVES setting you up to get knocked off ledges.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Farming souls from the same area isn't sustainable. The number of souls needed to level ends up quickly outstripping the number of souls you gain from farmable enemies.

I speak as someone who ran Undead Burg a dozen or so times to level up so I might have a chance of taking the fucking Taurus Demon down at long last.

Spoiler: I never did. Yes, I am just that terrible.

There is a very easy strategy for taking down the Taurus Demon. Stick to his groin, as he attacks you can literally walk through his groin area and end up behind him, almost every attack will miss you. For those that hit, just block them, it won't do much damage at all.

 

[Samael Barghest]

Yeah, it kinda does break the game a bit. I started playing a week ago with the intent of NOT beating this game due to how bad the physics are. I'm not going to put my all into a game where there are enemies that can swing a cleaver through a wall but when you do it your sword bounces off harmlessly. Anyways, I spent the first 15 hours in Darkroot Garden just pissing about doing nothing. Then, for some weird reason, I decided to fight the Moonlight Butterfly. I lost the first time (its attack went through a wall to hit me) but won easily the second time. So easily that I wanted a challenge. So I fought the Gargoyles but was disappointed by them. So I fought the Capra Demon, which did give me a bit of a challenge until I switched over to the great scythe and wiped the floor with him. I don't even remember the fight against the Gaping Dragon. It was over in under a minute. Quelaag was horrifyingly easy with the great scythe and was another fight that ended under a minute. I didn't actually get any real challengle from a boss until I hit Ornstien and Smough at the 18 hour mark. I've been stuck here for ten hours without making a shred a progress.

 

[Shraggler]

I've only found "soul farming" useful when I want to purchase some (relatively cheap) consumables, such as firebombs, arrows/bolts, titanite shards, resins, or even a shield/weapon that I want to use that I haven't received from a drop at that point.

Also, farming rats for Humanity seems to be useful from time to time, especially in the Depths. If I've been trying too many new techniques with different weapon-armor-shield combinations and just getting my ass kicked, a good amount of Humanities are quite useful and seem to be worth the time sink to farm.

Granted, I've only just reached the Gaping Dragon; that is to say, I've never beat the game. I'm taking my time running around, exploring shit, being super cautious and getting my backstab/parry aptitude up.

Honestly, this is the only game in recent (and maybe even long-term) memory that I didn't want to just rush to the end of the story at some point. It definitely has something to do with the constant, varied challenge the game provides, and the way that it goes about doing so.