Getting to the final boss in this DLC has left me exhausted. It's a very challenging area, the bonfires are scarce and well apart, and there's even a few sections of the map where I just ran at full speed, dodging enemies and without even looking back...
And this boss, this one IS hard. Lots going on at the same time, and you need to keep an eye on multiple things at once. So yeah, I'm leaving this one for tomorrow because today I just can't.
The Ruin Sentinels were challenging, I got my ass kicked half a dozen times before I managed to deal with them. Nice one! In the end it was a matter of keeping everyone in sight at all times and deal with them one by one.
Incidentally, on my Dark Souls 2 run, I went and killed the Covetous demon first try with my crossbow and axe without having leveled (The character, that is. The weapons are probably +6 or +7 raw by now.). But, then, it's the Covetous demon.
This is a rather irritating area to try to play without leveling, though. I'm definitely occasionally finding myself despawning enemies in my path by repeatedly killing them.
Come to think about it, I didn't summon for that boss fight, partially because I just ran for the fog door. Wonder if there was a summon sign nearby?
Also killed the Congregation first try, without summons or leveling, mostly with a crossbow. No surprise, since it's easy. Spidytown is a pain, though, especially since I'm having trouble remembering where the bonfires are. Lit lots of sconces. Got killed by bowman Guthry repeatedly, as it seems like he spawns every 5 minutes. Almost killed him once, but he chugged estus repeatedly during the fight, and was right near one of those sorcerer guys who kept shooting magic at me.
I actually think I remembered where the lower bonfire and the bird lady are, but I got killed several times going over there.
I'd actually be doing fine if I went and leveled my vitality a bit, but I've gotten this far without leveling...
Continuing on Dark Souls 2 unleveled, I got Laddersmith Gilligan to come back to Majula and build me a latter to the Grave of Saints, and took on the rats a couple times. Almost killed the boss 3rd or 4th try, but it killed me 1 hit away from death, and I'd used half my firebombs, so I decided to grind for more items and regroup. (I was using firebombs to take rats out in groups, then going after mohawk rat.Works, but there are too many rats, and the firebombs usually don't one hit them.)
I'd already burnt the windmill, so I decided to tackle Mytha the Baneful Queen with Jester Thomas. Died several times on the way to the boss, and a few times to her, but she went down.
Arriving in Iron Keep, I've killed Sharron the Fencer and Armorer Dennis. Also had one of those Alonne knights kill me while I was trying to buy stuff. I swear they are never alone.
Biggest trouble at the moment is trying to have a stock of human effigies. Mostly dog hunting to get them...
Just for anyone curious about the process of farming human effigies in Dark Souls 2 via dogs, here's what I do.
First, go to Majula. Use a human Effigy, so the dogs are less likely to kill you. Go to the Victor Stone and join the covenant of Champions. Put on item (+ maybe souls) boosting gear. The Travelling Merchant Hat (or Jester Cap), the gold+1 ring from Magerold, the silver+1 ring from Melentia.
Go to MacDuff's Workshop Bonfire. There are 6 dogs outside, in pairs. Kill them, making sure not to trigger the pursuer in the area, and pick up any drops. Sit down and repeat. Use estus if hurt, since they can easily kill you if you aren't careful.
When done, head to Shaliquar in Majula, and abandon your covenant & maybe change gear. You really don't want to stay in that covenant, we just wanted it so the dogs wouldn't despawn.
You also probably picked up some souls, too, so go spend them on something, like 99 lifegems or black firebombs or heavy bolts...
In Dark Souls 2, after grinding a bit for Human Effigies, & getting myself up to 198 bombs, I went back to the Grave of Saints, and took on the rats a few more times. This time, I managed to kill the mohawk rat, join the covenant, and get down to the gutter.
Tricky part on the gutter is that my weapons all have to be two handed, but I also need to use torches there. I do kinda want to get down through it so I can farm up a few more titanite chunks, though.
What actually has been fun on this run is that since I've just been buying stuff with all the souls I get instead of leveling, I end up not being worried about using a bunch of items, and use them a lot more.
Bleh. Dark Souls 2 & Spidertown. It sucks even more in this playthrough then usual.
It's kinda a maze w/ spiders everywhere, which isn't necessarily an issue.
There are too many spiders, & they go from too far away to hit with the close range handaxe to taking off 1/4th my health immediately.
They are scared of you if you hold a torch in one hand... but I can't one hand anything.
There are titanite lizards all over the place that are hard to hit & suicide or vanish really quickly... and when they suicide, you don't get the item, they just respawn next time through. I've literally tried to kill several of them dozens of times.
Trek to the boss involves working down several stories, getting past a small swarm of spiders, going into a spider filled room, then working your way down an area filled with spiders to the boss... who is a big spider with spider minions. Seriously, they couldn't have thrown in a bonfire anywhere? I do like the multiple npc summons..
You know, thinking about it, I can already see that eventually I'll reach a point where I'll need to level in Dark Souls 2, and while a low level run is fun, I can already see where a few levels would make it so I was enjoying myself more.
This already wasn't a level 1 run anyways, since the Explorer starts at level 10.
So, new rule: I can level twice for each boss I kill, and twice each time I defeat an npc invader, retroactively.
That'll keep it low level enough that I'm not worrying about my souls for levels, while letting me one hand things and have some more hp, adp, endurance, etc...
At the moment, I've killed 8 bosses, Armorer Dennis twice, Fencer Sharon, and the Forlorn. So, 12 x2 = 24 levels I can level.
Largely, I started thinking about if I was struggling now, how it'd be when I got to the Shrine of Amana, final boss time, or the dlc, if I do the dlc...
Weiter geht's auf @CloudplayTalk mit #DarkSouls2 auf der #PS3 , ich hab den Skorpion vergessen, deswegen entgegen der Ankündigung im Podcast gestern nicht zum Rattenprüfer 😅 Aber auch die Lady mit den Scherenhänden war ganz lustig, aber seht selbst 🙃
Zum #RetroMontag geht es weiter mit dem #PlayStation3 Let’s Play von #DarkSouls2 auf @Cloudplay ! Heute nervt mich mal so richtig der Verkomme. Zur späten Stunde stelle ich mich gewohnt souverän an🤣 Na seht selbst, Daumen und Abo nicht vergessen ^^
Es geht weiter mit #DarkSouls2 Vanilla #PS3 auf @Cloudplay Ich habe ganz viel Spaß im Loch 🥳 warum zum Henker macht hier keiner Licht? Naja hab ja ne Fackel🕯️🤣 PS: wer sehen will wie ich an einem explodierenden Hollow verzweifle ist hier richtig..