Self-Satisfaction: The Story of the Dark Souls Player

[Wayneguard]

I just beat Ornstein and Smough for the first time in Dark Souls after an entire day's worth of attempts and I just HAD to post. I'm so fucking pumped right now RAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

For discussion's sake, what game (or section of a game) have you beaten that was so jaw-clenchingly, face-palmingly, controller-slammingly difficult but ultimately provided immense self satisfaction upon completion?

 

[Dansen]

Wait till you fight the Four Kings.

 

[scorptatious]

Ornstein and Smough are two of my favorite bosses in Dark Souls.

OT: Beating Super Meat Boy in the Dark World. The last level took hundreds of tries, and when I finally beat it, I found myself cheering.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

I remember back when I first beat O and S solo. That was a frustrating time. These days they are actually my favorite boss fight.

Now Four Kings, that fight is a true pain in the ass. I've only ever found one strategy that works regularly, regardless of what type of character I'm playing. At least Gwyn can be beaten without parrying, it's just difficult. If you aren't wearing super heavy armor against Four Kings, you might as well unequip the Artorias ring and save them the trouble of killing you.

 

[Defense]

I'm trying to do a low level run for Dark Souls and I'm getting this feeling exactly. I had about 15 humanity that I wasted completely on trying to recruit people for Quelaag, so I had to beat her solo at SL 6. It was very exciting stuff, knowing a single hit could possibly kill you.

I remember back when I first beat O and S solo. That was a frustrating time. These days they are actually my favorite boss fight.

Now Four Kings, that fight is a true pain in the ass. I've only ever found one strategy that works regularly, regardless of what type of character I'm playing. At least Gwyn can be beaten without parrying, it's just difficult. If you aren't wearing super heavy armor against Four Kings, you might as well unequip the Artorias ring and save them the trouble of killing you.

Well to be fair Four Kings does diddly squat in terms of damage if you keep hugging him. A 100% physical block shield also really helps, so you'll only have to watch out for his magic.

 

[lapan]

Wait till you fight the Four Kings.

4 Kings were much less of a trouble for me, they are only really dangerous if you try to fight them ranged.

 

[Arbi Trax]

I'm doing my first play through. Was looking for the second Bell of Awakening, took a wrong turn down the Great Hollow. Got myself cursed, now I can't kill Chaos Queen Quelaag with half health because I can't summon anyone, de-hollow or kindle the nearest bonfire, and I don't remember how to get back to the sewer lady that sells Purging Stones...

ohgodimnevergoingtogetoutaliveicantdothisgamehelpmeohgodhelpmehelpmehelpme.....

*slap*

TRY. HARDER.

 

[lapan]

You can also get purging stones from the crazy Inquisitor dude in the first Bell-tower.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Wait till you fight the Four Kings.

This. Ornstein and Smough might be dang hard, but Four Kings are just cheap. "Oh, you are killing me? Take your time, I'm in no rush. Oh that guy? Don't mind him, he's just me. Keep taking your time. Oh that other that guy? Yup, just another me, they appear every so often. But don't worry, take your time, it's cool. Oh, you're going to try and rush so they don't appear this time? Ok, well try not to get too panicked about it, you might make silly mistakes like not dodging this unblockable grab that steals your humanity and takes forever so another me appears. Oh, you forgot to dodge that?"

 

[Rheinmetall]

From your description there is only one such boss: Ornstein & Smough I'm still pissed thinking what I have gone through with this f... boss. Each time was a torture to beat it.

 

[King of Asgaard]

How come no one is mentioning the Bed of Chaos?
That ***** is the only boss in the entire game (Dark Souls) that relies on platforming.
Not to mention its attacks are the kinds with outrageous knockback, and did I mention that as the battle goes on the floor falls away, leaving permanent insta-death fall zones?
Well I just did.
Oh, and Lord Gwyn? Fuck you. Fuck you and all your offspring and ancestors.
When a boss makes King Allant seem like a pushover, you're in trouble.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I'm doing my first play through. Was looking for the second Bell of Awakening, took a wrong turn down the Great Hollow. Got myself cursed, now I can't kill Chaos Queen Quelaag with half health because I can't summon anyone, de-hollow or kindle the nearest bonfire, and I don't remember how to get back to the sewer lady that sells Purging Stones...

ohgodimnevergoingtogetoutaliveicantdothisgamehelpmeohgodhelpmehelpmehelpme.....

*slap*

TRY. HARDER.

Go back to where you fought the two Bell Gargoyles.
There's a merchant who sells purging stones for 3000 souls.

 

[Skin]

What? Four Kings is a joke until NG+ in which they become a joke on the opposite side of the spectrum. They are not as hard as O+S in a normal game.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I remember back when I first beat O and S solo. That was a frustrating time. These days they are actually my favorite boss fight.

Now Four Kings, that fight is a true pain in the ass. I've only ever found one strategy that works regularly, regardless of what type of character I'm playing. At least Gwyn can be beaten without parrying, it's just difficult. If you aren't wearing super heavy armor against Four Kings, you might as well unequip the Artorias ring and save them the trouble of killing you.

The way to beat O & S solo is to take out O first, partly because he's the easier of the two to kill and partly because the second part of the fight is easier with a powered up S rather than a powered up O.
Now, about the Four Kings, I actually beat them using light armour the first couple of times (before I found the heavy approach to be effective).
While it is much harder, it is possible if you can do high damage and dodge the nastiest attacks.

 

[VeneratedWulfen93]

I needed help to beat both S and O and the Four Kings. Granted my last character was an archer and therefore terrible against the Four Kings.

 

[butternut]

I just beat Ornstein and Smough for the first time in Dark Souls after an entire day's worth of attempts and I just HAD to post. I'm so fucking pumped right now RAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

For discussion's sake, what game (or section of a game) have you beaten that was so jaw-clenchingly, face-palmingly, controller-slammingly difficult but ultimately provided immense self satisfaction upon completion?

I just played through Dark Souls again recently. But it was as a Magic character so Smough and Ornstein were just pathetically easy. The first time I beat them sounds similar to you though. Solo-ing them with a pure melee character is a more difficult but rewarding battle.

Congrats. Now go do the most irritating parts of the game!

 

[Bebus]

The first time I beat them I ended up just hurling dung pies at super-Ornstein (I wanted his armour!!) and fleeing until he died of poison. This was about day 4 of tries.

I somehow still felt proud of it.

 

[SamuelT]

The first time I felt really pumped when I defeated those bastards. I went into this without knowing how to defeat them, their weaknesses or proper character-build. Swinging my +2 Scimitar with the Darkwood Grain ring and light armour, I could stay alive indefinitely but dish out damage I couldn't. When I did, it was in the most cheap way; enchanting my blade with the Fire effect and killing Ornstein before switching to a lightning spear and killing Smaugh.

Not a couple of days ago, I beat them in another run. Now, swinging a +5 Black Knight sword, wearing full Silver Knight armour and hiding behind the Eagle Towershield, I was able to kill them with only two deaths. I defeated Ornstein in the second half, because I wanted to buy his armour from Dude-Sits-Under-Bridges.

I felt like a bigger boss the second time.

But like said before, the Four Kings are a much bigger challenge, because they're pretty cheap. If you get Heavy Armour, you'll get swarmed by their grab attack. If you wear light, you'll get killed by their swings that have a massively wonkey hitbox.

They're still chumps though, I managed to kill them the first time without any help.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Oh, and Lord Gwyn? Fuck you. Fuck you and all your offspring and ancestors.
When a boss makes King Allant seem like a pushover, you're in trouble.

The great thing about Dark Souls is that you can kill Gwyn's offspring and ancestors.

I do hate the Bed Of Chaos, but then I think how hard it would be if the entire Boss respawned its bits, and im grateful.