Current Events > Dark Souls: 1st playthrough topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

So after yesterday's topic (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/78269221) I decided to take the plunge. First ever time playing any souls game. Go in blind homies.

Let's crank her up.

---

Oh man this character creation menu is oooold school. I feel like I'm playing a 90s game. Lol at these faces too.

---

Is this the remastered version? Without online play it's just not the same.

---

Remastered, yes. I don't plan to summon players for this first playthrough.

I have no idea what classes are good but I chose warrior because that seemed appropriate for a first playthrough. Goddess's blessing.

---

Class isn't as important as your build, and you really should look up recommended stats ahead of time to make the game more enjoyable. Especially what soft caps are.

---

are you on PC?

and oh my god, of all the topics to miss. yes, dark souls is fun. i hope people didn't spoil too much of it for you.
---

PC, yes.

Wow, that opening sequence was pretty amazing. The lore is cool in this. So far it seems like I'm a dead guy and someone is trying to help me escape.

---

Class isn't important. Understand your stats and value.

Do you want to go more magic focused? Physical weapons? Pure strength with heavy equipment?

You typically should pump points into dex or strength, top off the other when you're close to the end. Soft cap is 40, stuff doesn't scale good past 40.

---

Vitality: soft caps at 30 and 50. Massive diminishing returns after 50.
Attunement: 1 slot every 2 points until 16, after which it's 1 slot every 3 or more. Diminishing returns until a hard cap at 50 Attunement (10 slots)
Endurance: Hard cap on Stamina gains at 40, equip load increases evenly up to max (99 END)
Strength: Soft caps at 20 and 40. Note that 2-handing grants the benefits of 50% your strength rating, meaning 27 STR hits the softcap when 2-handing a weapon.
Dexterity: Soft caps at 20 and 40 for damage scaling. Also provides a slight speed up of casting times for offensive spells, from 30 to 45 Dexterity.
Resistance: Doesn't provide enough benefit to level, but it's worth noting it's bonuses to defenses soft cap at 15 and 30.
Intelligence: Soft caps at 40 for INT-scaling weapons, with further caps at 45 and 50 for catalysts.
Faith: Soft caps at 50.

From Reddit.

---

Great Scythe ftw
---

Oops, I pressed a bunch of buttons and lost some of my items O_O

So far ive punched some skellybois. This game is easy, what is all the fuss about

Oh, tough enemy ahead, apparently. And I still don't have a sword.

---

Ok, a bonfire. I assume this is like a checkpoint.

Ooh, there's a bloodstain on the floor. Should I touch it? I'm going to touch it. It feels like a bad idea tho.

---

pinky0926 posted...

So far ive punched some skellybois. This game is easy, what is all the fuss about

---

oh my god what the fuck is that

Sure just throw a giant hammer wielding slug monster on me at the beginning of the game while I have no weapon, sure

---

you can't beat him with just sarcasm tho

also, since you said you liked the lore, i have to throw out there that you should read item descriptions.
---

Don't attack any NPCs, at least until you're completely done interacting with them (like buying all of a merchant's wares). If you're not sure, try to lock onto them. If you're able to, that means they're hostile.

Most boss strategies are stabbing them in the ass and dodging their telegraphed attacks.

---

ok I have a sword and shield friend. I killed a bow skellyman. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

So there's some knight dude helping me out for unknown reasons.

Pancake posted...

you can't beat him with just sarcasm tho

also, since you said you liked the lore, i have to throw out there that you should read item descriptions.

How do I do that

---

hit start to bring up your main menu and go to items. one of your keys/buttons should be set to 'toggle display'.

this will let you cycle through a few panes of information on every item and it's actually pretty useful to have it all at hand sometimes.

you can also hit select on a lot of these pages for additional help (including a stat-by-stat look on your character page).
---

What I'm already learning: if at any point you think you're getting the hang of it, this game will remind you that you suck

I just got run over by a big bowling ball thing. Derp.

---

oh snap i didn't see that you picked warrior.

nice.

may i give a tiny bit of advice in regards to that?
---

---

Honestly the only info that a new player should have is that resistance is a worthless stat and dont pick the master key as a starting gift for a first time playthrough.
---

Ooookay. I thought I was safe standing on that ledge looking down at sludgemaster. I was not. He did a shoryuken and wrecked my ass.

Pancake posted...

oh snap i didn't see that you picked warrior.

nice.

may i give a tiny bit of advice in regards to that?

Sure.

---

Ok this time I did a jumping tombstone mega slam on sludgemaster and it took off like half his health, nice start.

I still died though. I guess you can't just wail on him till he dead.


---

Honestly the only info that a new player should have is that resistance is a worthless stat and dont pick the master key as a starting gift for a first time playthrough.

resistance absolutely is worthless. that's good advice.

i just wanted to say: the 13/13 str/dex you have gives you a really good spread of available weapons right off the start, so try them out.
---

pinky0926 posted...

Ok this time I did a jumping tombstone mega slam on sludgemaster and it took off like half his health, nice start.

I still died though. I guess you can't just wail on him till he dead.

Rolling is the most useful thing in the game. Just get used to rolling away from attacks. Shields are a thing, but if you ever decide to play Bloodborne you will need to learn to play without them anyway.

---

pinky0926 posted...

I guess you can't just wail on him till he dead.

True of almost all enemies. DARK SOULS!

---

Going from post 13 to 14 was just too perfect.

---

Sigh. Alright. It's another day. Time for take 2 with sludgemaster.

I figure I can stomach an hour or two of this game a day at most.

---

pinky0926 posted...

Sigh. Alright. It's another day. Time for take 2 with sludgemaster.

I figure I can stomach an hour or two of this game a day at most.

until you suddenly kick ass and it's like "oh shit, I need to see how far I can go kicking ass!"

---

Eh, people say "roll, roll, roll" but there's no easier way to beat the game than pumping vitality, putting on the heaviest shield and armor in the game and just face-tanking everything.

Sure, if you get invaded you're fucked, but against non-player controlled enemies it turns the game into a joke.

The more you progress through the game, the more you will be disappointed with the level design, it really goes to shit after AL.

---

Okidoki, sludgemaster wasn't so bad in the end. I missed the tombstone mega slam this time, but I found just rolling out of the way and getting some light attacks in did the trick. So far finding light attacks way more useful than heavy attacks. And I don't know what to do with two handed, might have been useful here since the shield was useless anyway.

Just got taken to Lordran by big birb. Time to level up.

These messages all over the floor, are they left behind by other players? I might stop reading them.

---

pinky0926 posted...

These messages all over the floor, are they left behind by other players? I might stop reading them.

But then how will you know about the amazing chest ahead?

---

I put all my points in strength, level 8 now.

What's this about soft caps? Is it like the attribute gets nerfed above that point? Why are there two soft caps for say, strength?

---

Urgh, got my ass handed to me by a regenerating skeleton. I think I need to kill them faster or something?

---

Don't read anybody's posts in this thread until you've beaten the game at least once. Play blind, to experience all the game has to offer, which includes uncertainty and learning from mistakes.

Ignore the whinging elitist and do what you want.

---

pinky0926 posted...

I put all my points in strength, level 8 now.

What's this about soft caps? Is it like the attribute gets nerfed above that point? Why are there two soft caps for say, strength?

Soft caps means the returns get bad. Hard cap means no return (as in putting points in it does nothing). In general going past a soft cap is a bad idea and will gimp your character. There are two for strength because it goes from good to okay to bad.

---

ssjevot posted...

Soft caps means the returns get bad. Hard cap means no return (as in putting points in it does nothing). In general going past a soft cap is a bad idea and will gimp your character.

Only if you intend to stop leveling for the purposes of PVP. You can max every stat in the game.

pinky0926 posted...

Urgh, got my ass handed to me by a regenerating skeleton. I think I need to kill them faster or something?

i dont like that people are giving you insane amounts of very specific advice in this thread but i will give you one for your sake: a bunch of people stop playing the game cause they see those skeletons and just keep running into them and dying but youre not actually supposed to go that way at first. look around

---

Rimmer_Dall posted...

Only if you intend to stop leveling for the purposes of PVP. You can max every stat in the game.

Sure, but it's needless grinding. Better to reach the softcaps first.

---

DrizztLink posted...

Ignore the whinging elitist and do what you want.

Is this directed at me? Or the many other posters who felt the need to give their input? Why is suggesting playing blind an elitist suggestion while suggesting not playing blind by giving advice isn't? Both come with advantages and disadvantages. Both perspectives are equally personal. I did nothing a bunch of other posters in this thread didn't do. Frankly you sound like you're projecting.

For me it's more that I played Demon Souls not knowing anything about soft caps or useless stats way back when it came out and then when people discovered them I was annoyed I had to basically start over to make a good build for PvP. By the time Dark Souls came out everyone was ready to investigate soft caps and what stats were good or not so it was less of an issue. Maybe that is fun for some people to not know what stats do or how they work, but I think most find that frustrating.

---

Hey everyone, when youre giving advice that TC didnt ask for, how about putting it in spoiler tags?

especially this:

ultimate reaver posted...

i dont like that people are giving you insane amounts of very specific advice in this thread but i will give you one for your sake: a bunch of people stop playing the game cause they see those skeletons and just keep running into them and dying but youre not actually supposed to go that way at first. look around

TC would have eventually figured that out.

ssjevot posted...

For me it's more that I played Demon Souls not knowing anything about soft caps or useless stats way back when it came out and then when people discovered them I was annoyed I had to basically start over to make a good build for PvP. By the time Dark Souls came out everyone was ready to investigate soft caps and what stats were good or not so it was less of an issue. Maybe that is fun for some people to not know what stats do or how they work, but I think most find that frustrating.

I can see that. Though for me worrying about min-maxing on the initial play through while following the instructions from people who already played the game, a hindering distraction and more like homework.

masterbarf posted...

Is this directed at me?

Mostly, since you spent a huge chunk of time bitching about whiny elitist shit in my DS2 playthrough topic.

---

Ic3Bullet posted...

TC would have eventually figured that out.

I did that. It brings back fond memories. We know the game is hard, but not how hard. So we spend our time going the wrong way. It really makes me smile thinking about it.

Ic3Bullet posted...

TC would have eventually figured that out.

an immense amount of people did not. quitting at the skeletons was incredibly common for first timers

---