Noonan

You must of kindled the bonfire you were at a few times. It raises your number of flasks when you rest there.

wlj

really? I didn't know you could kindle a bonfire more than once. also it seems like i read somewhere that if someone gives you a good rating for a message you left you can get an extra flask...is that true or did i just dream that up


HERE IS A BIG WTF??:

I read on the web that you have to have the Rite of Kindling to kindle bonfire more than once. it says that you get that from defeating Pinwheel at the Catacombs. I have never been to the Catacombs or beaten Pinwheel.

that is a humdinger right there

Noonan

You can kindle them three times each. If someone kindles the bonfire you're currently spawning from, you'll get an extra flask. I think it happens with ratings too but I never bothered with those.

wlj

yeah, but how can i kindle more than once if i haven't gotten the rite of kindling from Pinwheel? is it possible that 10 people kindled the bonfire i was respawning at making me have 20 total?

Noonan

If you don't have the rite yet, then I don't know. You can only kindle once before then.

Brooklyn

For me it seems that however much humanity I have active as I'm roaming around is the amount of extra flasks I get. They come in one at a time after I've been away from the bonfire for a while. My character glows and sparkles and a woosh sound effect occurs when the extra is added.

wlj

i have been doing some digging on the web. it looks like there are lots of glitches with the Forest Hunters Covenant and wearing the cat's ring to get summoned randomly. Some people have had weird things happen from those invasions such as getting things they shouldn't have.

wlj

i went down to the Catacombs for a little while last night. Yeah I can definitely understand the dislike for this area. Those skeletons are a pain in the ass. I went in there with a Divine winged spear, but I left after about 15 minutes down there. I needed to upgrade it before going back. I got it to +5 before I went to bed. I will give the Catacombs another shot soon

Noonan

You mean the wheel skeletons? I found that the key to them is to not lock on. Every time I did, it would fly past me and another one would kill me from behind when my character would turn around to stay locked on the first. Make sure you go in with heavy armor. You should have Havel's set by now.

MoviePage

True story: I tackled the Catacombs first thing after ringing the first bell. I didn't even know what a divine weapon was at that point. It wasn't fun, but I finally conquered the place.

Later I realized that I should have waited and it would have been much easier. Finding my own way through the game was part of the fun, though. And part of the agony.

wlj

I couldn't imagine going through the entire game with no guide or online resource(wiki or forums). I would have been frustrated a long time ago. I would have missed alot of stuff as well. I don't use a guide every step I take, but I do use online resources when I get stuck. I don't have the actual strategy guide. This game is awesome, but I have a tough road ahead with what areas I have left -- New Londo Ruins, Catacombs, and Tomb of the Giants. I think that is all I have left to do. 65 hours in and counting.


From playing last night, I don't have the Rite of Kindling, but the firelink shrine bonfire is kindled to where I get 20 flasks each time i rest there. That is evidently a glitch of some sort.

MoviePage

Yeah, I wasn't criticizing your way of playing the game. Just relating my own painful experience. I got the game at midnight on release day, and the resources simply didn't exist at the time. It added an extra sense of dread to the experience, but it also enhanced the feeling of exploration.

wlj

No, I didn't mean to imply that you were criticizing. I was just was telling my experience. Sorry for the miscommunication. Whew, I bet you did have a tough go at the game to begin with without any resources available.

Poink

In the Catacombs, if you take out the mage/pyromancer guys (there's maybe 4 total) the skeletons in each section won't respawn. Nor will the mage. Keep that in mind if you'd rather use your more powerful weapons. I just enter, make a run for the guy, take him out and then clear the place.

The big cave with the 8-9 "Wheel" skeletons is a pain, but you can actually just make a run for it to the far side (which is where the boss is at) and you don't have to worry about them.

MoviePage

If I remember correctly, the skeletons do respawn if you exit the area completely and then return, but the mages never come back in your current playthrough. Did that change with the patch or something? Or did you just mean respawn in the sense of coming back to life?

Poink

Yeah, I meant "respawn" in the sense of them not re-assembling right in front of your eyes 5 seconds later. If YOU die or come back later, they will be back. But they can be "killed" so long as the pyro guys are gone.

Tomb of the Giants is still worse in my opinion due to the annoying placement of the archers and those "dogs."

wlj

I did some more weapon upgrading last night. I am not real excited about heading to New Londo Ruins and back to the Catacombs. So I have been putting it off by weapon upgrading. I also decided to start a new character. I am a female sorcerer. Wow the soul arrows certainly make things very easy at the beginning. It is fun to see how much I have improved. I just plowed through the undead asylum and the undead burg. I did lose to the Taurus Demon right before I went to bed, my character just got stuck under him. I would have easily beat him had that not happened. I will go back to my "main" game. I am just procrastinating

wlj

Well Tomb of the Giants is the most frustrating area i have been to....controller throwing frustrating. I am trying to get to the first bonfire but I keep falling off. that sunlight maggot sure would come in handy right now. However i cant open the shortcut to Izalith to get one.

dom56

After getting killed about twenty times I finally beat Smough and Ornstein by myself. What so annoying about this boss fight that I have to concentrated on fighting one of them without the other trying to knock me down and it was pretty frustrated. So, I gave up fighting with my weapon and decided to use magic. I killed Ornstein first with the Soul Spear and he was dead in three hits, I then use the Homing Soulmass on Smough and finish him off. Yah!!!! the Lordvessel is finally mine. I'm trying to get to the Crystal Cave next so I can get the Moonlight Greatsword which I heard is a good weapon for mage user but I have no way how to get there.

Brooklyn

I recently knocked off Smough and Ornstein going solo too. Being a straight melee character (axe wielding bandit) with no magics I had to take them down in the same order you did as Ornstein was just too powerful if left for last. Man, I got sick of that walk back to the fight

If the Crystal Cave is what I believe it is, it's above the Duke's Archives, which is beyond the seal in Anor Londo that you break with the Lord Vessel.

Poink

wlj- The first part of Tomb of the Giants isn't *quite* as bad as it seems once you get the hang of it. Meaning: Get to the first bonfire in one piece. Those colored prisms are your guide; if you walk a straight line from one to the other you'll be on solid ground. After sliding down three times, you'll be just above the bonfire. There's a ladder, but you can safely drop down to it as well. After the first bonfire, climb back up and stick towards the left hand side and you'll be lead to the item that makes it a hell of a lot easier.

dom56- As mentioned, Crystal Cave is the part that follows Duke's Archives, which is reached near the first bonfire in Anor Londo. You get that sword by cutting off Seath's tail. It will be the second time you face him (you'll see what I mean). I suggest watching a video on how to do it, since it looks like there's a bit of a 'trick' to cutting it off properly due to the initial setup of the fight. Also, he's not the toughest boss out there, so be careful not to kill him before getting it.

dom56

Thank, for the tips guys.

After watching on the Youtube, I have to go back to Firelink Shrine and talk to that big serpent to unlock those sealed doors. I also have the peculiar doll that I can enter the painted world. Should I go ahead there? or go to the Crystal Cave and tried getting the Moonlight Greatsword.

Poink

The Painted World...

Well, it's completely optional. There's some good treasure to be had in there, but none of it is truly game-changing. The biggest downside is that once you enter, you cannot leave until you've either defeated the boss, or take the plea deal and leave at the end. So I'd only go in there if you're fairly confident in your character. It's not a particularly "tough" area compared to other locations, but being stuck there if you're just not feeling it kind of sucks.

MoviePage

The Painted World was my favorite area of the game. Definitely recommend a trip there.

wlj

Well guys:

drumroll......................................................I finished the game last night.

The Tomb of the Giants was alot more manageable when I found that skull lantern. Which I just happened to come across by luck. If I hadn't found it, I would still be in there I am sure or the game disc would be broken in half. Nito was quite easy -- I was surprised. However, I leveled alot in this playthrough and upgraded weapons alot so I was just well prepared I am sure. After I killed him, I finally started New Londo Ruins. I had been dreading going to this place so bad, however it turned out to be not too bad. I was starting to panic about running out of transient curses, because the female undead merchant in the tunnel just sold me a couple and then they were all gone. So I went in there with just 2. I knew that the ghosts were "supposed" to drop them, but they weren't dropping a damn thing to start with. When I was on my last curse, they finally started dropping them, which gave me a big sigh of relief. The darkraiths are very simple if you can backstab. I could get them in one shot with my lightning halberd. However, if you got more than one after you, you would have some trouble. I just figured out where they were and would lure just one out and a time and take care of business. Now, on to the Four Kings -- I was very apprehensive about taking on these guys. I put on my Havel's Armor and double-handed my lightning halberd and walked through the fog door. I just ran up and started whaling on the first one as quick as I could. I was able to kill each before the next one arrived. I did it my first try which was exciting. However, like I said before -- I spent alot of time leveling up myself and my weapons so I was probably overleveled. Now I was headed to take on Gwyn, I farmed the black knights for a little while to stock up on titanite chunks then gave my first attempt at Gwyn. I had read that parrying was really the only effective way to beat him solo, which excited me because I suck terribly at parrying I summoned a guy to give me a hand and we took him out. The ending of the game was pretty pitiful considering all of the hell you have to go through to beat the game. A short cinematic of you lighting something and then the credits rolling was not good enough IMHO. All and all, I loved Dark Souls. It is definitely in my top 10 games of all time. I immediately started NG+ and after 45 minutes, I had the first bell rung. It is amazing how something that took me several hours to do the first time around, only took me a few minutes. I am sure the game will get alot harder with the damage the enemies can dish out. Whew, I can only imagine S&O in NG+. Thanks to everyone for their help.

71 hours total game time through first playthrough.