Dark Souls 3 SL1 progress

[KeltonDSMer]

So I have been having a blast playing through DSIII NG with a SL1 character. Just beat Prince Lothric and am feeling pretty pumped about it! Only Nameless King and the final boss left to go!

 

So far, the Dancer, Pontif, and the Abyss Watchers have been by far the most challenging for me. I died at least 40-50 times on the Dancer alone. I didn't find out until I was 10 hours into this playthrough that it is possible to cheese the Dancer with the "sword master" NPC, or I would have saved like 5-10 hours, but that's cool. That would have also given me a much better weapon for Pontif and Abyss Watchers, but I guess it is satisfying to have gotten this far "as intended".

 

I think anyone who likes this game, but is getting board should consider a "challenge" run, like SL1 or my personal favorite: the "only use what you start with" run (only use the weapon/armor you start with but consumables, rings, spells (if you start with a spell tool), and soul level are all unlimited). I always have a hard time deciding what weapons to use, and how to optimize a general character. Setting some arbitrary "challenge" restrictions feels really liberating. You don't spend hours in the areas picking up every piece of loot because you can't use most of it! It is actually really refreshing and breaths new life into the game.

 

I even got an invasion in Lothric castle last night while I was farming knights (SL1/+10 weapon makes this very unlikely), the guy waited for me at the Dragon Armor fog gate and we had a nice 3-hit death dual! He got the first hit, I got the next two, he then finished me off and gave me a bow...awesome!

 

Anyone else ever done SL1 or other challenge/speed runs in DSIII? Also, my group of friends isn't into this game so I don't have any "jolly cooperation" partners...if anyone ever needs some help with an area/boss let me know and I probably have a character in your SL summon range that I can help out with! I'd love to play through some areas with someone especially when I move on to NG+ with this character!

[Gale]

I don't think I'm going to be doing a challenge run any time soon. I had enough trouble beating the Nameless King King of the Storm at SL80.

[KeltonDSMer]

1 hour ago, Gale said:

I don't think I'm going to be doing a challenge run any time soon. I had enough trouble beating the Nameless King King of the Storm at SL80.

 

What a cool fight that is...epic cut scenes for a Souls game! Was this your first playthrough of one of these games, and if so, did you enjoy it? What kind of character did you end up making?

[Gale]

1 hour ago, KeltonDSMer said:

What a cool fight that is...epic cut scenes for a Souls game! Was this your first playthrough of one of these games, and if so, did you enjoy it? What kind of character did you end up making?

Yeah, it was my first SoulsBorne game. It was a great experience, a polar opposite of spectacle fighters that I'm used to. The game also has an amazing artistic value. I ended the game with an INT/DEX build.

[KeltonDSMer]

38 minutes ago, Gale said:

Yeah, it was my first SoulsBorne game. It was a great experience, a polar opposite of spectacle fighters that I'm used to. The game also has an amazing artistic value. I ended the game with an INT/DEX build.

 

Glad you had fun! Everyone gets to approach the game differently and I appreciate the idea that there is no "wrong" way to play. I wanted to buy some spells, but I never found Orbeck on my first playthrough I ended up using the great club and hurling it around pretty much the whole time...it looks awesome buffed with fire 

 

I'm sure they would seem dated to you but if you like the combat and style of gameplay of DSIII, DSI and even II are really great...cheap too! DSI runs awesome with DSfix, but the port is awful @720p native render and 30fps with drops. If you appreciated some of the art style of III, playing DSI will definitely give you some of those same memorable moments. DSII not so much in that regard but the game play is still satisfying IMO, albeit noticeably different compared to DeS/DSI/DSIII

[Gale]

3 hours ago, KeltonDSMer said:

 

Glad you had fun! Everyone gets to approach the game differently and I appreciate the idea that there is no "wrong" way to play. I wanted to buy some spells, but I never found Orbeck on my first playthrough I ended up using the great club and hurling it around pretty much the whole time...it looks awesome buffed with fire 

 

I'm sure they would seem dated to you but if you like the combat and style of gameplay of DSIII, DSI and even II are really great...cheap too! DSI runs awesome with DSfix, but the port is awful @720p native render and 30fps with drops. If you appreciated some of the art style of III, playing DSI will definitely give you some of those same memorable moments. DSII not so much in that regard but the game play is still satisfying IMO, albeit noticeably different compared to DeS/DSI/DSIII

I didn't find Orbeck until I killed Lothric. I really hate the Road of Sacrifices/Farron Keep area.

 

I actually do have the first Dark Souls, but I gave up pretty early and watched the rest on YouTube.