So far I have touched on some basic topics in Dark Souls that a rookie or unaware potential player could use in order to increase his chances at survival in the dismal virtual world. The main takeaway besides the technological aspects of strategy and gameplay knowledge is persistence! Any video game, from the very beginning of its creation to modern day games takes persistence in order to conquer new obstacles. With persistence, any game can be beaten with time, patience, and maybe a helpful guide to help lessen the mystery.

The main topic overviews cover combat strategies, items, gear sets and weapons, non-player characters, and online interactions.

With combat strategies, timing is everything. Watching your player’s stamina is crucial in order to block attacks and recharge stamina quicker; it’s the easiest way to dispose of a tough enemy that can’t be defeated in a couple of hits. Know the enemy! Observe and watch the attack patterns and learn how to dodge and time your attacks perfectly. Practice makes perfect! Every time you die, you have more knowledge against your opponent and a better chance to do better next time!

The items in the game can help aid the player’s progress throughout areas with differing ailments. The estus flask is the most important item, as it holds the healing liquid, estus, to replenish the player’s health. The other items can help cure ailments from creatures or environment threats, such as poison or bleeding. Collecting, searching, or buying loot is good for when these situations arise so the player can be most prepared. Also, reading up on the various types of items not mentioned in my guide may help the player in unique situations. Any Dark Souls wiki would have an exhaustive list of the several items scattered throughout the world and what their uses are.

Gear sets and weapons are an important aspect of gameplay that can effect character classes in various ways. Choosing what kind of armor to wear can make the difference between being quick and stealthy or playing like a tank, pummeling any creature in your wake. It would be helpful to have an idea in mind before choosing a character class, but stats can be tailored as the player levels up, so it isn’t absolutely necessary. Heavier armor takes more strength to wear and walk around in, whereas lighter armor does not.

Non-player characters, or NPCs, can immerse the player in the other faceted stories in the world of Dark Souls. Each NPC has a unique storyline that is only accessible by talking or interacting with the character, more often than not, repeatedly throughout the game and in different locations. By doing this, the player can gain the aid of certain special NPCs in boss bottles in the game, a huge plus since they can be extremely challenging.

Lastly, online interactions in the game can help the player feel less alone in the world, even when playing a single player campaign. Hints throughout the areas can help warn a player of enemies or hint toward hidden loot. Some also enjoy the PvP aspect of the game, inviting or invading other players to test their skill against another human.

Hopefully this leads some insight into the world of Dark Souls and makes its reputation a bit less dismal to those un-knowledgeable or too afraid to attempt it before.

In Dark Souls, a unique aspect of gameplay is the way it incorporates online interactions with other players. There are variable ways to interact with other players in the game, whether helping one another through a tough area or challenging each other in a one versus one battle of skills. All online interactions are optional, though playing offline is mainly disadvantageous to the player regardless of whether he decides to directly interact with players. This is apparent through the appearance of messages in the world left by other players.

Messages in Dark Souls can be left on the ground by any player. The messages appear as three bright orange marks on the ground, and to read it the player simply walks over it and presses a button to read it. Each player can only leave a certain number of messages, so spam is prevented. When a player leaves a message, it is a template of predetermined sentences that can aid (or trick) the player. For example, I could leave a pre-written message that says “Amazing ring ahead” or “Tough enemy ahead” on the ground for anyone online to see.

You might think the ground would become overcrowded with messages everywhere with players leaving them, but the messages can only be seen by those on the same server, which the game handles since it doesn’t matter how the player connects online. The messages are incredibly useful for players who may not want to challenge others in a one versues one duel or who don’t necessarilly want direct help from a player defeating a boss or tough enemy. They act as little hints throughout the world that can help guide the player. Also, leaving messages is just as gratifying when conquering a tough area and feeling like you have enough knowledge to want to aid others in the future. This is great if a secret treasure is discovered; I could place a message near it to lead a player to look around for it.

For those who DO want more solid online cooperation, it’s possible to summon another player the same way one would summon an NPC to help with a boss battle. An online player can connect with another player only if he has not defeated the boss of that area. Once he dies, he is banished from the player’s world unless he is re-summoned. Tackling tough areas and bosses becomes much easier with a friend or other online ally, and many enjoy playing this way.

Lastly, the player versus player aspect is especially challenging for those proud of their player stats and skills, and upgraded armor and weapons. While connected online, a player can be invaded by another player in the game. When this happens, it’s impossible to rest at bonfires until the invader is banished. The invader can be banished once he is defeated, the player is defeated, OR if the player has a special item that banishes the invader immediately. Dueling is a great way to gain lots of souls, the currency for purchasing items as well as acting as upgrade points for the player. It’s also entertaining to test your skill against another real life person, instead of normal AI in the game. Many players choose to invade other player’s worlds or leave themselves open to being invaded in order to duel.

This generally covers the ways players can have online interactions in Dark Souls but any further nuances and details can be found on any online wiki or simply by playing yourself and exploring the possibilities!

In Dark Souls, the non-player characters (NPCs) effect an element of gameplay not many other games have. What’s interesting about the NPCs in this game are that each one has a unique storyline only known by talking to the character throughout the game. Some only have dialogue options, some are merchants who sell various goods in different areas, and some will give the player access to important game items. The player can make various decisions or agreements with the NPCs when prompted, and this can effect the NPC’s storyline. Some will show up in future areas the player must work through and there will be a new dialogue or event that takes place.

For example, in an area very late in the game, an NPC will appear and sell goods to the player in this area only if the player has talked to the NPC previously and exhausted all his dialogue options. If the player arrives there and doesn’t see the NPC, he can backtrack and find where the NPC is and talk to him there so that he will appear in the new area. This is useful if the NPC sells unique goods; this one particularly sells spells so a sorcerer would find this NPC quest line to be very helpful! Others may not matter, and in fact, the player may not even encounter or speak to many NPCs without going out of his way. In addition, the NPCs do not often tell the player where they will be, so the only way of knowing is to talk to each NPC and gain as much information as possible, this is despite the fact that the online wiki for Dark Souls has all the information regarding every NPC quest line available.

Perhaps the most important type of NPC in the game though is the ones who can aid the player in boss battles! It’s important to note that every NPC in the game can be killed by the player!! Turning them hostile toward the player with every future encounter until the NPC has died or the player requests absolution from a very specific NPC, a priest, and pays a hefty price. This is especially important if the player recklessly goes around killing all NPCs—he may kill an important ally that would have aided in battle!

The process for gaining an ally in battle is not difficult but does require 3 things: first the player must acquire an item that allows “summoning” another player. This is called the white soapstone and it’s actually gifted to the player very early in the game by the second NPC encounter! It IS possible to miss this encounter if the player is not thorough, but it’s possible to backtrack or to purchase it from a future merchant for a low price.

Second, the NPC must be in the correct state in order to be summoned, that is, every NPC that can aid in battle must at least be found and spoken to first before he or she can even aid the player. Sometimes this can be tricky since as mentioned earlier, it’s possible to miss a lot of NPCs in the game due to them changing locations many times! With some, simply talking to them is not enough. For example, for the very first major boss battle there is an NPC who is found in the same room as before the boss, but he’s imprisoned behind bars. The player can talk to this NPC through the bars and is asked to free him. It’s possible to talk to him and NOT free him, but then he cannot aid the player in the boss battle. Only after freeing him and speaking to him once he is freed (in a different area) will this NPC then be available to be summoned for that boss battle. Also, each boss battle can only have 1 specific NPC summoned, so it is not at the player’s discretion to choose out of a pool of NPCs later in the game to decide who can aid in battle. This would be an amazing feature, but restricting which NPCs can help leads to the difficulty challenge to the game.

The last condition for the player to summon an NPC in a boss battle is that the player must be in a state of condition called “human”. This is completed at a bonfire, where there is an option to do so, but it does require an item called “humanity”. The player is often in a default state called “hollow” and reviving to human has many other benefits that will not be delved into in this guide, but it’s one condition necessary in order to summon an NPC.

If you’ve tried your hand at Dark Souls previously, or still want to, but are daunted by the infamously challenging gameplay, hopefully knowing that help is possible along the way will lessen the dread, as it is very worth attempting. Next we’ll be looking at aspects of online gameplay possible!

Now we’re going to talk about how gear sets and weapons can effect gameplay in Dark Souls. Various armor parts or armor sets, as well as different types of weapon classes, are found scattered throughout the world either as treasure, dropped from enemies, or bought off in-game merchants.

Armor in the game is equipped through the equipment menu by each piece: two boots, pants, a torso, and helmet. Why bother going through this much trouble to equip something that appears cosmetic? The cool thing about armor in this game is, like almost everything else in Dark Souls, it has a lot of influence on gameplay and can increase or decrease certain character resistances.

There are different kinds of armor for different kinds of situations, and also different types of players. Since every player has a max amount of armor weight, it can effect how fast he moves while running or attacking. So a thief class would want lighter armor for combat while a knight may want something more sturdy to take more damage.

As far as increasing character resistances, there are sets found throughout the game in the same ways as pieces. Sometimes special enemies will drop a whole set of armor or it can be found in a treasure chest or on the ground somewhere in the world. Sets are unique and only appear once in the world. For example, there is one set that helps increase a character’s resistance to poison. This is especially helpful when traversing an area with a swamp that gradually poisons the player. Equipping this set through this area will help the player resist the poison accumulation!

The weapon classes in the game are pretty standard for many fantasy games: heavy swords, swords, axes, hammers, spears/thrusting weapons, bows and arrows, crossbows and catalysts/talismans for casting spells. Like with armor, each type of weapon may be better suited for different player classes. A knight may want to use a heavy sword or hammer in battle to make use of his high strength, but a thief might want to use a faster, lighter sword or maybe a bow and arrow to dispose of enemies from a ranged distance.

It’s nice to be able to use many different weapon classes, but some weapons, especially as a player progresses throughout the game, require different stats. Some very heavy swords require a high strength in order to swing. The player can still equip the item and attempt to use it, but the animation for attacking will show the player staggering due to its weight, and the attack is usually not as successful (if at all). Bows and arrows often have a dexterity stat that must be met in order to use.

At the beginning of the game a pretty well-rounded character can probably use most weapon classes, but like I said, as a player’s soul level increases, often his stats become tailored down a certain path and weapon requirements increase, so it becomes harder to wield all weapon types. Make sure to try out as many as possible early in the game to decide which type fits your playing style best! Next we’ll be looking at how NPCs in the world can help a player throughout his journey.