A group of us gathered at the Wal-Mart games section and sent one of the employees to head back and look for it, though she made us all pick it up at the register at 12:01....here we go....
Started the download at 0:05 and got some sleep. Now I'm stuck at stupid work.
Life is a bitch
Where did you get the game? 60€ on steam (or 55, for owners of the previous games) seems like a ripoff. PC games were always 40-45€, now the publishers think it a good idea to make the same prices as for console games...
@jjstraka34 I found the lizard quite manageable by rolling and using my strongest attack, the Estoc weapon art dealing 100 dmg.
As for the second phase of the first boss, try keeping close to it and under its massive arm.
I have him down to about 10-20% now, which tells me I'm pretty close. Still, we have a winner for most challenging opening boss in my estimation, if only because you only are what you are. 3 estus and your starting gear and stats....
Frustration setting in a bit....phase 1 is nothing, phase two is another fight where you are battling camera angles where you literally can't see anything....
Frustration setting in a bit....phase 1 is nothing, phase two is another fight where you are battling camera angles where you literally can't see anything....
Jesus christ....finally, with about 1% health left. As usual, dying is all the individual players fault in 90% of the cases. I was greedy and sloppy in the second phase. Success took mastering the first phase to where I used no Estus, and letting patience pay off in the second round. Half your deaths in this game come when you panic. This might be pathetic to say, but I don't think I've ever felt better about beating a boss in these games than the opening here. You simply MUST figure him out to advance, and there is no alternative. Took me about 90 minutes, but I honestly feel like a better player. From strikes again. Damn.
@jjstraka34 Congrats man! Are you running with the Herald class?
I am, which is a very safe choice for the most part I think....you get some miracles for out of combat healing, a spear and shield, fairly agile armor....
"Safe" is all relative in this game....there is no tutorial in Dark Souls 3, it's immediately brutal, at least as much as Bloodborne. I've managed to recover about 2000 souls and no way I'm wasting them. Back to the bonfire. There is a nasty surprise very early in the High Wall of Lothric that just makes you go "you gotta be kidding me"....
Got the lizard as well, which is essentially a boss without a health bar if you haven't upgraded your weapon. They throw you in the deep end this time, and they force you to tread water or drown....
So here's the thing....High Wall of Lothric is pretty brutal with a non-upgraded weapon. I'm sticking with the spear for now, but I'm wondering if I should just turn it raw, or go the Titanite route....other than that, seriously, good luck to everyone in this area. At the moment it makes Central Yharnam seem like a cakewalk.
Gonna go raw....it removes scaling, but will allow focus on other stats for the time being....
The Swordmaster is insanely hard, but meant to be. My goal was to plant myself on the ledge and roll away and try one thrust and a kick. He knocked me off instead, but he took one extra swing and took the dive himself. So the weapon is mine, oddly enough, courtesy of suicide run....as for fighting him one on one, good luck, even with a Knight. The bleed and poise damage he does is off the scale. I think I got him to half health once legitimately.
@jjstraka34, I'm running a Warrior for the low attunement, going full 40/40 quality build. Naked katana guy was hella hard, I couldn't reliably parry him because medium shield. So i just chipped him down after I realized he only ever parrys you on the third hit, if you hit him mid animation. So 1 2 smack then back off.
I'm wondering what everyone thinks of the lore in the first two areas. It's clear that the theme isn't so much being undead as being ash, a fire that has burned out. Technically we are undead, but it's not the same. The dead dragons being prayed to by the hollows are flaking away, almost like Voldemort at the end of the last Harry Potter movie. This land also seems cold, and to the north. Is this near where the Asylum was located in the first game?? What the hell is Andre doing here?? The vendor on the way to Andre is clearly of the same breed as the old women in Things Betwixt. Will this all come together, or is it simply mostly a fan service??
@FinneousPJ, yeah that is true but they are far and few between. Also nothing really ever takes that much faith or int to use, besides whatever version of Artorias's sword we are going to get.
The other reason I stay away from lvling int/fth is I don't want to use spells on my first playthrough. Souls games are generally set up for melee combat and spamming ranged spells feels like cheating most of the time. Don't get me wrong I love spell casters and will definitely be trying all the different spell schools out, just on later playthroughts. Might take a spell school just for the weapon buff but at the point I levels to spare for that, it's probably easier to just farm souls and buy pine resins.
As for starting classes, I'll pick the one with the best looking armour.
People say this, and certain bosses are definitely easier, but there are many that aren't. The Pursuer as a Sorcerer in DS2 is a great example. He's highly resistant to magic damage, and maybe have a nearly useless shield and the Fire Short-sword, with very little defense if you're focusing on magic. You have to be nearmy perfect with your rolls to beat him, and you have to do a ton of them. Meanwhile you're lucky if you can survive two hits. Magic gets much more powerful later, but early on it's only useful if you are capable of constantly keeping range.
Miracles are even more useless initially. You get extra heals, but they are painfully slow. Force is good when you get it, but your offensive abilities are only coming later. I can't speak to Hexes. Pyromancy is a mixed bag in both games, though in 3 we are able to get it right of the bat again until waiting until the 3rd level.
In the end, magic makes things easier in general compared to strictly melee skills, but it isn't quite the cakewalk it's made out to be.
I know this a bit late but I just want to say the Pursuer is probably not the best example of a boss that's harder to beat as a caster than as a melee meathead. The reason being is the fight plays out the exact same way, the Pursuer charges in and you parry his big underarm strike and then hit him for many unblockable damage. Pursuer only has 45% spell resistance but a huge 65% dark resistance and I destroyed him with my Hexer build.
Yes the first ambush is annoying but his first boss fight is really just parry and ballista then win. By the time you fight him again you should have more than enough int/fth/gear/good spells to destroy him.
The only bosses that I found harder as a caster are some of the DLC bosses like Raime, just because the magic/fire/dark resistances in the DLC were insane.
I would like to point out that the method you describe here isn't necessarily a good example. While a sorcerer based character can indeed use this method, it is not USING sorcery and it depends on things that are sorcerer doesn't necessarily have.
What is more, actually using sorcery in this scenario can make it harder to defeat the pursuer.
Couple of hints for those interested, as I'm still discovering all the secrets of the High Wall of Lothric
1). The dragon can be sniped with a bow very much like our old friend in the Undead Burg, though it's possible the rewards aren't QUITE as good, it's still worthwhile. I'll leave it to you to find the best place to shoot from. If you get rid of him you can find a big room with a chest that you may or may not want to hit first....
2.) Same thing applies to the Smough-ish brute patrolling the courtyard
3.) It seems some enemies aren't meant to be fought every time in this area early on. The Lothric Knights are brutal enemies, the deprived hollows who pull the same trick as the first boss even more so. It's possible to kill the later before they transform. The Knights have wide patrol loops that can be avoided (for the most part).
4.) You can do a boss run without running into any problematic enemies once you unlock the elevator. Killing the Swordmaster also allows you to summon him for the boss later.
5.) Buy the tower key from the merchant in Firelink as soon as possible, the rewards available once you do are invaluable going forward.
The first boss was anything but easy, especially if you compare them to the ds1+2 bosses. My depraved died a lot (had 1000ep from the trashmobs(20ep a head) accumulated before I finally got him)
The Katana Master died in the 2nd try. We fought on the cliff, he did a 2 strike combo and finished me off. But his strike took him off the cliff too, so the 2 piece clothing and the sword is mine !
Felt really powerful for a while. Then I met that one undead mutating, similar to the first boss ^^ (right after firelink shrine)
The game seems pretty demanding. The initial setting was set to high on 1050p. Framerate was pretty good, but sometimes the games just lags. Setting it to medium helped, and looks still great. But still a noticable lag in certain situations (using bonfire, boss defeat label appears etc.) 12Gig RAM, i5-2400, GTX960, SSD. I guess the CPU is outdated for most modern games.
Comments
Life is a bitch
Where did you get the game? 60€ on steam (or 55, for owners of the previous games) seems like a ripoff.
PC games were always 40-45€, now the publishers think it a good idea to make the same prices as for console games...
As for the second phase of the first boss, try keeping close to it and under its massive arm.
@Yamcha I paid 32 GBP (40 EUR) @ Gamesplanet. I'm not British but it was the cheapest I could find
BTW the pre-download only took about an hour for me...
Gonna go raw....it removes scaling, but will allow focus on other stats for the time being....
Gaint crystal Lizard eazy peezy febreezy.
First boss lol what a joke.
Naked katana man.....
the stuff of nightmares.
What class are you running to start??
@SmilingSword Thx for the tip. I might try him tomorrow. Signing out for now. Got to the 4th area already!
What is more, actually using sorcery in this scenario can make it harder to defeat the pursuer.
1). The dragon can be sniped with a bow very much like our old friend in the Undead Burg, though it's possible the rewards aren't QUITE as good, it's still worthwhile. I'll leave it to you to find the best place to shoot from. If you get rid of him you can find a big room with a chest that you may or may not want to hit first....
2.) Same thing applies to the Smough-ish brute patrolling the courtyard
3.) It seems some enemies aren't meant to be fought every time in this area early on. The Lothric Knights are brutal enemies, the deprived hollows who pull the same trick as the first boss even more so. It's possible to kill the later before they transform. The Knights have wide patrol loops that can be avoided (for the most part).
4.) You can do a boss run without running into any problematic enemies once you unlock the elevator. Killing the Swordmaster also allows you to summon him for the boss later.
5.) Buy the tower key from the merchant in Firelink as soon as possible, the rewards available once you do are invaluable going forward.
My depraved died a lot (had 1000ep from the trashmobs(20ep a head) accumulated before I finally got him)
The Katana Master died in the 2nd try. We fought on the cliff, he did a 2 strike combo and finished me off. But his strike took him off the cliff too, so the 2 piece clothing and the sword is mine !
Felt really powerful for a while. Then I met that one undead mutating, similar to the first boss ^^ (right after firelink shrine)
The game seems pretty demanding. The initial setting was set to high on 1050p. Framerate was pretty good, but sometimes the games just lags.
Setting it to medium helped, and looks still great. But still a noticable lag in certain situations (using bonfire, boss defeat label appears etc.)
12Gig RAM, i5-2400, GTX960, SSD. I guess the CPU is outdated for most modern games.