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I skipped out on posting goals/results for the past couple days because I was having so much fun in game that I wanted online ASAP. Nothing like dedication, right?
Well, for those of you who haven't been able to make it over to the stream the past couple days... here's my new SunBro. For the uninitiated, That link is to MugenMonkey where you can theory-craft builds and save yourself a ton of heartache. I actually used this tool before I wasted 20 hours of my life because I blew a few stat points where I didn't want them... again...
Anyways, that site is great once you've been through the game a few times. It really did give me a feeling of confidence going into my 5th character. I knew I wasn't going to be shocked when I got where I wanted to be.
A couple adventures later and I'm at level 60 and ready to take part in JOLLY COOPERATION!
but... for the REALLY uninitiated... I'll explain more after the jump.
Skip this section if you understand how players interact in Dark Souls
Dark Souls is not a single player experience. When you move through the world you'll see the ghosts of people who are close to you in their own games. You'll see the petrified corpses of adventurers who met their ends being cursed. Touching a blood stain will give you insight into how a person died on that very spot by replaying the last few seconds of their life for you to see.
Then there's actual multiplayer. How you interact in each other's worlds is up to which "covenant" you join. If you're looking for players to help you work your way through the game The Way of the White is available right at the start. It puts you on the bottom of the "kill me hard" list and makes it easier to see where there is help from other players available. Players who want to help leave "summon signs" on the ground that are either white if you're not in the Warriors of Sunlight or orange if you are. These Warriors of Sunlight are dedicated to helping other players defeat bosses and they can rank up and get more powerful spells just by helping people progress through the world. If you're looking to battle other players, the Darkwraiths are given an item that allows them to "invade" the worlds of players who are in human form and higher in level than the invader. The Forest Covenant auto-invades people who tread on their turf. The Darkmoon Blade punishes sin by invading the worlds of sinners (and invades down in level... and they don't have to be human). The Dragon Covenant is the pvp choice of those looking for "honor duels." They drop a sign that looks like a dragon's eye. You click that one, and someone's coming in looking for a duel. Finally, there's the Gravelord Servants who get their Player vs Player kicks by making Player vs Environment a nightmare for their prey. They infect other worlds with super hard NPCs that stay up until the Gravelord is invaded through his summon sign (that follows him around).
In essence, the covenant you choose (and you can swap back and forth with a few exceptions) determines which interactions are the easiest and most readily available for your character. Your Soul Level (SL) will eventually make a huge difference in how often you see other players. Sure, you could be a SL700 Darkwraith, but there won't be many people for you to invade that are higher level than you are. It's the same if you want to co-op. Not many people are waiting outside the Capra Demon's fog door waiting for help at SL200. Co-op, and many PvP scenarios are based on your level. You can co-op invade people who are YOUR LEVEL +/- (YOUR LEVEL +/-(10% of YOUR LEVEL). So, once you have an idea of where you want to go and what you want to do you need to figure out a "build" that will work at the appropriate soul level.
What did you choose?
I had 4 characters when I started this one.
- SL94+ Forest Covenant [PC]
- SL90+ Darkwraith [PC]
- SL50 Darkwraith [PC]
- SL18 Darkwraith [xbox]
Notice a trend? They are all PvP characters who are looking for fights. The only exception is my first character who didn't get involved in pvp very much. The other 3 are invaders by design and are ready to watch the light go out of people's eyes.
But I love the PvE experience too... but none of these other dudes are really where they should be for maximum action.
SL60 SunBro ACTIVATE! I didn't really "choose" that armor as much as I picked it up early and have always really liked it, so I figured it'd work until I found a "better" combination. The build was originally going to be a Grant build, but I couldn't make it work at anything less than SL100 without it being very low hit points or very low endurance. JEEEEEEEBUS from the chat mocked that build up and asked what I thought. I loved it. I've always been a fan of the greatswords but have never equiped a Man-Serpent Great Sword. GREAT!
A couple days and some bosses later I'm all set up to co-op. I've already co-op'd enough on the Xbox to rank up a couple times in the Warriors of Sunlight and I really appreciate the opportunity to practice the bosses multiple times before moving to NG+. This game is tough. The bosses can be extra tough and you only see them until you kill them then they're gone. If you drop a summon sign in a good place outside their domain you can fight them all over again. Do that enough and you can become quite comfortable with each boss fight.
Sounds like solid practice for the upper NG+s, doesn't it?
I have the most trouble with Ornstein and Smough, so stopping at SL60 made a lot of sense. That gives me the opportunity to be summoned to help with O&S by players between something like 45 and 75. That's a good chunk of the people who are in that area. I figured if nothing else I'd always be able to go to that fight for extra action regardless of how I do in other areas.
On top of that, there are a ton of people from the chat that have characters in that area. That means more ChatBros to play with! JOLLY COOPERATION!
How's the SunBro life so far?
On my way to 60 I stopped in Sens Fortress for a while to see if anyone was interested in fighting the Iron Golem together. I believe I was SL54 at the time and I was picked up in 4 minutes the first time. 2 minutes the next. I stuck around another 3 minutes for fight number 3 then there was a delay of about 10 minutes before I was picked up a 4th time. I racked up a ton of souls, humanity, and Sunlight Medals from the fights and had a really good time. It's a very different feeling to be summoned to someone's world to help them. It feels like I'm sort of balancing out all the invasions I do on other characters. At the end of a good boss kill I'm left with that nice warm feeling of doing something good for my fellow man.
I mean... we're all just trying to avoid going hollow. Might as well work together, right?
Well... the other side of being summoned is that I'm finding some people who have exactly zero idea what's going on. I was summoned at the bonfire outside the Ladyboy fight by someone using a lightening spear and he started running straight upwards towards O&S (who really couldn't care less about lightening damage). He was stunlocked and killed seconds after going through the fog door. I talked with him via messages a while and found out it's his first play through. It made me happy he was trying out the game, but also made me feel clueless on what to do to help. I could drop him a +15 claymore, but would he even learn anything from that? Would it ruin his experience? Is learning how things upgrade part of the learning curve that everyone loves so much? Or, will this fight push him away from the Souls games forever because he simply can't figure it out?
I put my sign back down and hoped I'd see him again so I could at least lead him to the superior bonfire. He didn't get a chance to summon me because a dude in full Havel's armor with a Drake Sword summoned me next. He also ran to O&S from the wrong bonfire but the difference in this fight was he was practically un-kill-able in his gear. He chugged Estus hard and slowly pecked away at Ornstein's health while I rolled around with Smough. I normally pay attention to how they behave in regards to Biggie Smalls and pick which one to pull away or murder based on who he attacks. About 5 minutes later I wasn't sure he was even attacking, so I turned my back on Smough long enough to see him slashing away. Okay, so he has no idea what's up but somehow figured out how to get the Drake Sword and Havel's armor. He seems like "skim the wiki" or "browse a forum" first guy, but obviously didn't dig all that deep into what it had to offer.
I figured it was time to kill the boy/girl and think about how I should handle the rookies in co-op. The chat felt like it was okay to send messages before starting and make sure I know what THEY want before dropping items or giving unsolicited advice. I agreed. Some people like to drop upgrade materials or an extra weapon here or there, but I feel like every item you find on your own is its own little mini-victory and don't want to get involved in taking that away. In the case of the man with the lightening spear, I would have gladly given him 9 titanite shards to help him get started upgrading a different weapon, but it didn't get that far. It's actually easier to just forget the rookies and move on, but I feel bad about it. I'd like to help without spoiling. Give a little guidance without taking away discovery. I just don't know how.
The final piece of the SunBro experience is that any time you're summoned your host is open to invasion. That means it's my job to get him to the boss room. There are no "honor duels"... just survival. Anor Londo is notorious for being heavy with invaders and my experience as a SunBro has proven interesting. It's exciting to be invaded as a gold spirit and puts a little more selflessness into player vs player combat. I really felt like I discovered a whole new viewpoint on PvP and it's great.
There's just so much depth to this experience. I don't think I'll ever have enough time to soak in everything Dark Souls has to offer.
Going forward
I have my SunBro parked at SL60. I plan on opening up most of the world and co-oping for practice at any boss I have trouble with personally. Then, I will advance this guy through to NG+ and do it all over again. I'm in no hurry because I've already become quite interested in trying out some new stuff and have my SL18 Darkwraith at the Kiln already. It's about time I step him up to the big leagues and try out some NG+. On top of that, I JUST INSTALLED DSFIX! My head exploded, I turned off the game, and I got on here as fast as possible so I could actually get some writing done before jumping on and streaming myself saying things like "wow" and "so awesome" a few thousand times. Looks like there may be a compelling reason to be on the PC after all... at least with a character that's almost exclusively PvE.
I may get on for a few minutes to test out DSFix and how it interacts with my hardware, but I'll be on tonight for real to get some stuff DONE!
http://twitch.tv/t6srof
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