Recommended Posts

I'll do an official when I get home(at work atm). I got a ton of info i can complie for a good read. Been adding a lot of stuff to the various wikis.

Game is insanely fun and additive. Last game I had drive to play so much was WOW back in 05. Working on a divine weapon as I hear it does wonders in the catacombs.

So i gave this game a try, but i don't think it's for me. I finally beat the Asylum Demon (ended up just starting as pyro and chucking fireballs at it until it died, race against time, no strategy on my end) and i found it extremely annoying and not fun in the slightest. I landed in the main area, and had little desire to keep going in the game. Wanded around and got some loot, then encountered some skellies and died. I'll likely return it to redbox tomorrow. I think The Elder Scrolls is more my type of huge world RPG. I'm in it for the beautiful scenery, story, and open endedness, i'm not looking for a challenge.

I just learned of the Dragon Tale Sword. When you get to the under bridge with the big red dragon breathing fire, go to the other end of the ledge where the entrance to the rats are. You will get a clear shot of the dragons head, along with his body when he flies down, to pelt with arrows. Takes about 50 arrows with a regular short bow, and using regular arrows. Sword does 200 damage, and has only the reqs of 18 str and 16 dex.... so early game changer right there for a lot of people.

I just learned of the Dragon Tale Sword. When you get to the under bridge with the big red dragon breathing fire, go to the other end of the ledge where the entrance to the rats are. You will get a clear shot of the dragons head, along with his body when he flies down, to pelt with arrows. Takes about 50 arrows with a regular short bow, and using regular arrows. Sword does 200 damage, and has only the reqs of 18 str and 16 dex.... so early game changer right there for a lot of people.

I thought you had to shoot off its tail? Might try it with my pyro as on my hunter I had to kill the merchant when my finger slipped and I got mad and restarted lol.

I started as a Hunter. I finally had time to sit down last night to play and got as far as Ringing the Undead Bell.

Now I'm off battling Wailing Ghosts... pretty tough as you have to be cursed in order to deal damage to them not to mention they literally swarm you as they can phase through walls and attack you from within them :cry:

I thought you had to shoot off its tail? Might try it with my pyro as on my hunter I had to kill the merchant when my finger slipped and I got mad and restarted lol.

You do. Underneath where you fight the two undead (sword guy and spear guy) you have an angle to hit the tail. Tail is roughly around 200HP, so depending on dexterity could take ya 15-40. Well worth it though. I'm still using it and I'm in Sens Fortress atm. Though I should have a divine+10 weapon here soon, so I'll probably switch to that.

In case you didn't see it. Official thread!

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1031533-official-dark-souls/

Good official thread, Slane. Thanks for putting this up :).

Definitely some stuff that I didn't know about in that list. I'm still in the Undead Burg right now, so I'm definitely going to make sure that I stop by that merchant and get the Repairbox.

One thing that I found really helpful was what Audioboxer said in the previous thread regarding the Soul Arrow. That is, you can buy it quite early for 2,000 souls (and the catalyst for 500 souls). Ended up being good for me since I chose a Wanderer, and now having a ranged attack has definitely made things a little less stressful.

does a good job of showing you where to go to find the merchant selling the Soul Arrow.

I've rang both bells and will be heading to Sen’s Fortress next. However for now I'm stuck in the Ash Lake on the Hydra boss.

Last boss I did was revisiting the Asylum, that was fun... and hard.

Love this game soo much, it's a lot better than Demons Souls, but definitely harder.

I've finally rang the 1st guard tower. Had to the get Dragon Sword first, then just beat the gargoyles down finally. Took about 8 tries. Finally, was able to land 5 straight hits on the 1st garg, and the 2nd one is just easy alone.

I've now headed into the sewers... I believe that is what it is called.... took the door by the bridge where the dragon hides. Trying to beat the Capra Deamon, but screw his dogs! I sure hope this is the "next" monster I am supposed to defeat, because he is crazy tough, and I am already lost in where I should be going to get to the 2nd bell. *cries* I want my central hub back :p

Also, why do skeletons not give any souls? You destroy them, and they just crumble. But it seems like a waste of health and time to be fighting them, when there is no reward at all. Not only that, but some skeletons don't stay dead, but will reanimate infinite times until you do something special I assume lol.

I'll do an official when I get home(at work atm). I got a ton of info i can complie for a good read. Been adding a lot of stuff to the various wikis.

Game is insanely fun and additive. Last game I had drive to play so much was WOW back in 05. Working on a divine weapon as I hear it does wonders in the catacombs.

Just to let everyone know, I added Slane's official thread to Audioboxer's post. That way we can continue discussing the game in this thread. :yes:

Just to let everyone know, I added Slane's official thread to Audioboxer's post. That way we can continue discussing the game in this thread. :yes:

Good Idea, but any way to credit Slane's work in the post.. cause it seems like it was Audio's doing with how it is at the moment, and Slain is a great sport for providing what he has :)

Good Idea, but any way to credit Slane's work in the post.. cause it seems like it was Audio's doing with how it is at the moment, and Slain is a great sport for providing what he has :)

He's credited but I added it at the bottom of the post. I'll move it to the top so people read that first. (Y)

Really digging this sites help.... here is a link to how to defeat the Capra demon, as well as a good farming method listed below in the read.

http://supremegamer....the-capra-demon

The boss you are supposed to jump past to get to the gardens is insane! I remember finding him by accident a while ago. He looks like he is carrying a huge black rubber dildo. He started to chase me and I had to cry in the corner because he shoved it up my @$$! :p I dunno what it is exactly about this game, but it is pure sadomasochism.

I knew buying this game new was a mistake - I've got too many games going on already to dedicate to this one and it's already avalable pre-owned lol

This has been the only game so far in a while to really tear me away from LoL and anything else I'm doing in life at the moment. Everything else compared to this is child's play :p

Ok, during my lunch hour, I ran back to the Capra Demon, and using the info the guide gave me, I beat him first try... probably one of the easier bosses. Just block when you first go in, roll behind the dog and boss and go up the stair case and then to the right on the edge. From there, You can take out the dogs without the Capra Demon hitting you. Then, when the CD is at the top of the stairs, drop down, wait for him to drop, hit, run back up stairs, and repeat. Should only take a few minutes.

Now, here is where I am sort of lost. I beat the Capra Demon, went into the depths. I beat the butcher and dropped down the shaftway behind his table. I killed the giant rat and then started running around the area. I killed the spell caster and all the other rats, then jumped down the hole with no water pouring in it. From there, you have to kill the horrible horrible frogs and some rats. I ran through all of that area I believe, all the way to where I finally entered the dragon demon boss who has the upside down mouth. By the time I reached him, I have over 10k of souls. I died.... There was no bonfire I found from the starting one at firewhaterpoint.... So I quickly ran all the way back to the boss, grabbed my 10k of souls, and used a homebound item to get back to my camp so I could level up. After using the souls I found on the way, I had roughly 16k of souls. Plenty for me to buy soul arrow and heavy soul arrow as well :)

But, where is there a bonfire in the depths?

From the guide, the recommended order of playthrough. Thought people might find this handy.

Undead Asylum .................................................. 040

Firelink Shrine....................................................... 044

Undead Burg ........................................................ 048

Undead Parish ...................................................... 056

The Depths .......................................................... 066

Blighttown ............................................................072

Quelaag’s Domain .................................................078

The Great Hollow ..................................................081

Ash Lake .............................................................. 082

Undead Asylum Revisited .................................... 084

Sen’s Fortress ...................................................... 087

Anor Londo .......................................................... 093

Painted World of Ariamis ......................................103

Darkroot Garden ....................................................110

Darkroot Basin ......................................................118

Valley of Drakes ....................................................120

new Londo Ruins .................................................121

The Abyss .............................................................124

The Duke’s Archives .............................................126

Crystal Cave ..........................................................129

The Catacombs .....................................................132

Tomb of the Giants ...............................................135

Demon Ruins ........................................................140

Lost Izalith .............................................................148

Kiln of the First Flame ...........................................152

Enemy Reference Data .........................................156

Ok, during my lunch hour, I ran back to the Capra Demon, and using the info the guide gave me, I beat him first try... probably one of the easier bosses. Just block when you first go in, roll behind the dog and boss and go up the stair case and then to the right on the edge. From there, You can take out the dogs without the Capra Demon hitting you. Then, when the CD is at the top of the stairs, drop down, wait for him to drop, hit, run back up stairs, and repeat. Should only take a few minutes.

Now, here is where I am sort of lost. I beat the Capra Demon, went into the depths. I beat the butcher and dropped down the shaftway behind his table. I killed the giant rat and then started running around the area. I killed the spell caster and all the other rats, then jumped down the hole with no water pouring in it. From there, you have to kill the horrible horrible frogs and some rats. I ran through all of that area I believe, all the way to where I finally entered the dragon demon boss who has the upside down mouth. By the time I reached him, I have over 10k of souls. I died.... There was no bonfire I found from the starting one at firewhaterpoint.... So I quickly ran all the way back to the boss, grabbed my 10k of souls, and used a homebound item to get back to my camp so I could level up. After using the souls I found on the way, I had roughly 16k of souls. Plenty for me to buy soul arrow and heavy soul arrow as well :)

But, where is there a bonfire in the depths?

There is a bonfire down there, trying my best to remember how to explain. There is also a soul arrow magic dude you should kill at the top of the area before going to boss or else he buffs the dragon and shoots at you mid battle.

If you're a human you can summon an NPC to help you fight the boss (2 if you saved a certain someone).

Thanks for the play order, Audio. Watching the Tips & Hints video on LIVE they tell you to go to the Burg first - thought that was kind of bold; guess it was to specifically get a weapon.

Can't imagine why someone would put this up for resale already... :rofl:

Can't imagine why someone would put this up for resale already... :rofl:

The game punished them for being bad at games, and thus they cried their way back to the game store, tail between legs, and shamed themselves when telling the clerk they wanted to return it. :p

In any other game, if I was to die and restart as much as this, I would have said screw it. But there is something about this game that makes you go, " **** me? NOOOO, **** you game!" :p

Thanks for the play order, Audio. Watching the Tips & Hints video on LIVE they tell you to go to the Burg first - thought that was kind of bold; guess it was to specifically get a weapon.

Can't imagine why someone would put this up for resale already... :rofl:

Well technically the first two areas are forced, the game takes you there :p The burg is the first place you choose to go to.

Shakey, the bonfire is at the end of a hallway. Gotta have the key though. Instead of dropping down behind the butcher. Continue you along the like you should. You will eventually come to a skellie that is standing in front of a door. This is where the bonfire. If you have master key you can open it. Otherwise continue through the area and the key is on a corpse against a steel fence, which has 4 or 5 rats in front of it. I believe that's where the key is. At work so I can't run through.

Once I get home I got a nice bit on humanity and covenants ill post.

Thanks. Ya, I read up a little more and apparently I was running right past it. I have the key, so after work, I shall get there again. At least I have basically cleared all the bosses down there and know what to expect. It should also be easier now that I have Heavy Soul Arrow equipped.

I really need to look more into the covenants. There are so many, and some require you to play a certain way or do a certain thing before reaching a certain area... so much to understand lol.

Are there multiple endings based on what covenant you choose? Or is it just the playthrough that changes a bit?

No. Two endings and you make the choice at the very end. Covenant may affect some story but not significantly. In fact only thing I think that does affect story is the Pendant.

Covenants

There are 9 Covenants throughout Dark Soul's. You must take an oath to join a Covenant. There are rewards set by the Leader of the Covenant for following the guidelines of the Covenant. All Covenants have 4 ranks, 0 to 3+. Some Covenants will reward you with a promotion, but not all do. Covenants affect online interactions.

Leaving a Covenant

If you break rules of a Covenant and "sin" you will be removed from the Covenant and placed in the Book of Guilty. This will open you up to invasions from members of the Blade of the Darkmoon. You can cleanse your "sin" by obtaining absolution. To obtain an absolution you purchase it from NPC located in the Bell Tower where you battled the Belfry Gargoyles. An Absolution costs 2000XSL. So if you SL (Soul Level) is 100 you would need to pay 200,000 souls to receive an absoultion. Talking to Oswald the Pardoner you can receive a Pardon and be removed from your Covenant without accruing any Sin.

9 Covenants

Blade of Darkmoon: This Covenant has a good alignment. You can hunt down and invade players who have unabsolved sins while in this Covenant. You use the Blue Eye Orb to invade players who have Sinned, this will alert them and can be used anywhere. If you have the ring equip'd you can be summoned to invade a Sinned players world w/o alerting them. Souvenir of Reprisa is needed to gain rank and you obtain Souvenir of Reprisa by killing characters from the Book of Guilty. Currently there is only rewards for reaching +1 rank. You will obtain Darkmoon's Light Sword(miracle) and the Darkmoon's Talisman. To join this Covenant, head to the bottomw level of Anor Londo. You can only access Gwyndolin's tomb by killing Gwynevere or wearing the Darkmoon Seance Ring.

Chaos Servent: This Covenant has an Neutral alignment. To join this Covenant you must defeat Queelagg. Proceed past the area where you fought here, and descend the steps to the right of where you ring the bell. There will be a breakable wall. Once broken proceed down the path, do not affect the egg dude. Talk to him and he will grant you access to the bonfire behind him. To the right of the Bonfire will be a lady. Talk to her to join the Covenant. Upon joining you will receive the spell Chaos Great Fireball. You will also start growing eggs out of your head (eventually). The cure for this can be bought from the egg dude located here as well as more spells. You rank up in this Coveneant by offering Humanity. At rank 2+ you will the spell Chaos Firestorm.

Darkwraith: This is a hidden Covenant that has an Evil alignment. Covenant is great for players who love to invade others. You will be given an item that has unlimited uses to invade others as well as Dark Hand, which when use it's Strong attack you can steal humanity from players. To join the Covenant you need to kill the Great Wolf Sif and obtain his ring, Covenant of Artorias which allows access to the Abyss. From here you have two options. You can not talk to Framps at all and obtain the Lordvessel, then speak to Ingrid in New Londo Ruins to receive the key to enter the Abyss. Or you can defeat the 4 kings before obtaining the Lordvessel (if you don't you will not be able to join for the rest of Current playthrough) and kill Ingrid to get the key to enter the Abyss. Entering the Abyss starts the battle with the 4 Kings, after defeating them speak to Kingseeker Framp in Firelink Shrine to join. Upon joining you will receive a Dark Hand. At rank 1+ you will get a Red Eye Orb and at 2+ you will get Dark Sword and Darkwraith Armor Set. You rank this Covenant up by victories when you invade other players.

Forest Hunter: Neutral alignment. You join this Covenant by talking to the cat called Alvina. You will receive the Cat Covenant Ring which when equipd will allow Alvina to summon you whenever a non-Forest Hunter player enters the first part of the Forest. After 4 kills talk to Alvina to receive a Ring of Fog. Alvina tells you she hates the wolf guarding the giant sword and asks you to kill him. If you don't you will break the Covenant, but be granted the sword. No rewards for ranking this Covenant up.

Gravelord Servant: Evil alignment.

Path of the Dragon: Evil alignment.

Princess' Guard: Good alignment.

Warrior of Sunlight: Neutral alignment.

Way of White: Good alignment.

EDIT: I'll finish the rest later. All this typing has made me want to play.

I want the guide but I can't find it anywhere.

I'm in Anor Londo right now but looking at Audio post I think I skipped two or three parts. The Great Hollow, Ask Lake and Undead Asylum Revisited. Where is Ash Lake and The Great Hollow?

All the other games I want will have to wait. I don't think I'll play anything else until I finish everything in Dark Souls. :p

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • U.S. partially reverses Anthropic AI ban for Mythos but keeps Fable 5 off the market by Karthik Mudaliar Anthropic says that the U.S. government has finally allowed it to restore Claude Mythos 5. But of course, there's a catch. The rollout is again for a limited set of U.S. organizations that operate and defend critical infrastructure. The company announced this in a post on X (formerly Twitter). This does not mean that Anthropic's latest frontier models are back to normal availability. Fable 5, which was a tuned version of Mythos 5 for public release, remains unavailable. Anthropic said that it is still working with the government to expand Mythos 5 access and make Fable 5 available again, but there's no timeline. Reports from Bloomberg and Reuters say that this decision actually came through a letter from the U.S. Commerce Department. According to Reuters, this would allow more than 100 companies and institutions access to Mythos 5. Reuters also reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s letter removes the need for export licenses for approved companies’ non-US citizen employees, as well as Anthropic’s own non-US citizen employees, while restrictions remain for organizations outside the approved list. Anthropic isn't alone with this kind of controlled rollout. OpenAI's newest model family, GPT 5.6, was announced just yesterday, but isn't available for everyone yet. In its announcement, OpenAI also said that access to these models is initially limited to a select group of trusted partners and organizations, with broader access planned later this year. Both of these cases show that frontier AI launches are no longer just ordinary product releases and more like slow and vetted deployments shaped heavily by the U.S. government.
    • Sol, Terra, Luna - aren't those the names of failed crypto coins? 🤣🤣🤣
    • Microsoft Weekly: 5 years of Windows 11, more support for Windows 10, and expensive Xbox by Taras Buria This week's news recap is here, with Microsoft giving Windows 10 one more year of support, Windows 11 getting new taskbar settings in preview updates, Steam Machine prices, higher XBOX prices, and many more. Quick links: Windows 10 and 11 Windows Insider Program Updates are available Reviews are in Gaming news Great deals to check Windows 11 and Windows 10 Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions. On June 24, 2026, Windows 11 turned five. The controversial operating system was released half a decade ago, and during these years, it received a fair share of criticism (such as poor Windows Search and its web results), which Microsoft is now actively addressing with regular preview updates that deliver missing, long-requested features. With Windows 12 nowhere to be seen on the horizon, it will be interesting to see if Windows 11 can stay on the market for as long as Windows 10 did. Speaking of Windows 10 and staying on the market, this week, Microsoft quietly prolonged the Extended Security Updates program for Windows 10, allowing users to get one more year of security updates if they do not want or cannot upgrade to Windows 11. Finally, Microsoft released this month's non-security update for Windows 11. KB5095093 arrived with a traditionally long list of new features, including point-in-time restore, new Windows Update settings, quieter Windows Widgets, new accessibility features, File Explorer updates and performance improvements, and more. Windows Insider Program Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week: Builds Canary Channel Build 29617.1000 and build 28120.2374 These builds bring new accessibility features, new Windows Update controls, audio improvements, and more. Dev Channel Build 26300.8758 This build includes redesigned taskbar settings, File Explorer improvements, and more. Beta Channel Build 26220.8754 and build 28020.2366 This small update fixes the OneDrive bug in File Explorer, tweaks system sounds in dark mode, and more. Updates are available This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties. If you use AI-powered browsing history search in Microsoft Edge, the company has bad news. A new update on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap revealed that Microsoft is discontinuing the feature. Despite using on-device models for natural search, some users found it creepy, claiming that Microsoft lacks trust in features like this. While the ability to find pages without using 100% precise words may sound cool, customers argued that it was nothing but another feature to bloat the browser with more AI. Good riddance? PowerToys received several updates this week. For one, Microsoft released version 0.100.1 with several improvements and bug fixes for the recently arrived version 0.100. A couple of days later, Microsoft dropped another update, this time fixing memory leaks in Command Palette Dock. In addition, the company is working on a new module that will make it easier to switch between windows within one application using the Alt + ` shortcut. The new module should make it to the stable release somewhere soon. Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting: New Ventoy update adds Windows 11's mandatory update support and more Microsoft updates Visual Studio Code with chat cost tracking and multi-agent chats Microsoft is building an AI datacenter that "uses less water than a fast food restaurant" Microsoft adds new AI study and teaching tools for free to Microsoft 365 Education Researchers claim Microsoft's quantum breakthrough is flawed by basic Python errors Microsoft is bringing a much-needed Recap app to Teams Microsoft's fast coding model, MAI-Code-1-Flash, comes to Copilot Business and Enterprise Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week: AMD Radeon Software 26.6.2 with FSR 4.1 support for RDNA 3 graphics card. However, the driver contained a bug, which prevented installations on Windows 10 PCs. AMD fixed that with a quick hotfix update. Reviews are in Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week This week, Steven Parker published several reviews. He shared his experience with the Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe, a high-quality sound card with a headphone amp, low-latency communications, great build quality, and DSD256. However, it is on the pricier side of the spectrum, and it lacks EMI shielding. Check out the full review here. The second review is about the TerraMaster F4-425 Pro, an octa-core Intel NAS with a stand-out feature: built-in AI (OpenClaw). We also published a few Hands On reviews, which you can view below: We check out the SKG PS700 Neck Massager SKG Hand Massager with Heat OS500 hands on Hands-on with BOOX Tappy: cute little reading accessory Hands on with the ProtoArc EM25 affordable ergonomic mouse On the gaming side Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more. If you plan to purchase a new Xbox, it's time to act now. This week, Microsoft announced yet another Xbox price increase. Starting August 1, 2026, all Xbox Series X|S models with 512 GB of storage will cost $100 more. As for the 1TB models, they are going up in price by a whopping $150. Finally, Microsoft is discontinuing the 2TB Xbox Series X. To make up for that, Microsoft announced a few programs to make its consoles more accessible. Those include BNPL, interest-free financing, pre-owned consoles, certified refurbished consoles, and more. Valve also shared some not-so-welcome news. The company has finally announced prices of the upcoming Steam Machine console, and if you plan to buy one, get ready to spend a whopping $1,049 on the 512GB configuration. The Steam Machine is now available for preorder, with shipments scheduled for June 29, 2026. Grand Theft Auto VI also received its official price tag. Rockstar Games announced that the long-anticipated game will launch at $79.99 for the base edition and $99.99 for the ultimate edition. The latter includes an exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action threaded across all aspects of Jason and Lucia’s story." Those who preorder the game will get extra bonuses, including a Vintage Vice City Pack of cosmetic items as well as a free month of GTA+. NVIDIA announced new games for its GeForce NOW streaming service. Those include Dark Scrolls, SAND: Raiders of Sophie, Deer & Boy, EMPULSE, and more. Steam is running its annual Summer Sale, during which you can purchase plenty of various games with big discounts. It runs until July 9, so in case you missed it, you can still get some games at a lower price. Also, you can get two games for free in the Epic Games Store, plus more deals are available in this week's Weekend PC Game Deals issue. This link will take you to other issues of the Microsoft Weekly series. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing for extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option.
    • Text extractor hasn't been working great on 0.99.1 but I am now updating to this version, hopefully it's better!
    • Yet you did exactly what they wanted you to do - is it better now without "Europrats"? BTW, UK had joined EU (EEC back then) and was one of the leading member states, it never joined Schengen Zone though 😉
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      502
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      226
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      156
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!