Thursday, December 28, 2017

Dark Souls III: No Wall Yet, Fingers Crossed

When I played Dark Souls, I hit the Ornstein and Smough wall. I had heard that they were the hardest boss, and boy did they seem to be. But either because I've played through all of Bloodborne or because Dark Souls 3 isn't as hard, I've been going through bosses at a decent rate.

After the Curse-Rotted Greatwood I went down the Road of Sacrifices and found the Crystal Sage first. As with the other bosses, it's taking be 3-4 attempts per boss (with one exception,) and while it was pretty easy to get this guy to phase 2, I had to learn to patiently eliminate some of his clones before wailing on him in order to take him down.

From there, I went to the Cathedral of the Deep, which is a pretty large and complex part of the game. I eventually got through the Patches encounter - an NPC I actually seem to have missed in Dark Souls 1, perhaps because I did the Undead Tomb (or whatever that area was called) a little early (I also lost my Pinwheel boss souls, which was infuriating.) I did the next part of the Leonhard quest chain - I believe I have to get to the Profaned Capital for the next part. I also got Siegward his armor back (spending my Deacons boss souls on it.)

While the Cathedral itself was very tricky (and there are definitely a couple of it that I still need to explore,) its boss, the Deacons of the Deep, was the only boss so far that I've one-shot. I think it's basically the Witch of Hemwick of the game - a simple puzzle, but once you figure it out, it's quite easy. (It helped that rather than surrounding the "enflamed" member, they simply got between me and the one they were protecting, meaning that I could easily run around the crowd to the back and take out the target.)

Next I went into Farron Keep, which was actually not as terrible a poison swamp area as I expected (I expected Blighttown.) On to the Abyss Watchers, it took again, about three or four attempts before I made it. I realized that damage reduction was not worth it if you couldn't dodge, so I got a bit of a mix of armor sets, still using my 100% physical reduction shield (I think the Dragon Crest) to break up combos. The Watchers don't have much health - it's just that getting a hit in is tricky. Also, they probably have my favorite boss music in the game so far.

I then sojourned into the Catacombs of Carthus. I definitely need to explore this area further (I think the Demon Ruins are below it?) I met Anri for the next step of the Usurp the Fire questchain, though I think I need to get into the aforementioned Demon Ruins to continue.

I did go and defeat High Lord Wolnir, which I really hope hasn't screwed up that quest chain. The first two attempts, I thought I was going to win because I got two of his bracelets off, but then I got swallowed by the Abyss fog, so the next time I played a lot more conservatively (I also attacked the single bangle on his right wrist first, and oddly didn't see any skeletons spawn in the final, successful attempt. I suppose this is Dark Souls' take on a Lich, which is pretty cool.

Anyway, I think my post-boss ember for Wolnir was the shortest-lived yet, as I immediately died to the beast thing that pops up on the bridge as you enter Irithyl of the Boreal Valley.

So, I think what is left for me in the main game is the Old Demon King, Pontiff Sulyvahn, Aldritch, Yhorm, Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Oceiros, Champion Gundyr, Nameless King, Dragonslayer Armor, Lothric, and the Soul of Cinder. But I think that I'll treat Dragonslayer Armor as the "Micolash" of the game, as a boss that will lead me into the DLC, starting with Ariandel and then the Ringed City. Here I was worried I was plowing through the game too quickly, but I've still got a ton of bosses left.

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