Souls-Mates: The City of the Gods

The saga of my Dark Souls co-op adventure with the girlfriend continues. I’m wishing I’d started this whole series earlier in our game. So, here is a little recap. A bit drab, but nice for context.

The Adventure Thus Far (Spoilers)

1. She chose Knight, I chose Wanderer
2. After exiting the Undead Asylum, we each soloed the Undead Burg and then defeated the Taurus Demon. There was much girly screaming, namely by me while fighting him. Hey, it had been a while.
3. After acquiring the white soapstone from Solaire, we were both ready for some jolly cooperation!
4. We proceeded to the Undead Parish and began our co-op adventure. We had our “running with the bull” moment of course, that ended in someone being immolated and butt-stabbed.
   
5. We are starting to get the hang of this co-op thingie. We decide to play it safe and help each other to get to Andre of Astora’s bonfire as a jumping off point to the Undead Church. The baddies there gave us no trouble, be we got our first taste of what was to come with invaders.
6. Our first invader manages to kill us both in record time. I, being the phantom, try hopelessly to chase the invader around my GF, while he stabs her in the back and ripostes her attacks as she panics and sobs into her mic. The second invader shows us that our PvP style is an episode of “Two Stooges” essentially. By the third invader that interrupts before we get to the roof, we begin to understand the current state of Dark Souls PvP:
   1. Most invaders in Dark Souls use twink characters with drastically over level equipment (probably sandbagging their soul level too so they can murder newer players with impunity).
   2. There are tons of cheaters who you just can’t damage. PVP Watchdog is a must.
   3. There are lots of hotspots for invasions, the Undead Parish and Blight Town being two of the worst we encountered where you cannot possibly co-op together without expecting to get invaded regularly.
   4. DSCM‘s blocking feature is pretty much the only way to get through parts of the game in co-op at times. Either that, or gitting gud, scrub.
7. After blocking a bunch of repeat invaders with DSCM, we finally get to the top of the church, summon Solaire, and fight the Bell Gargoyles. Finally, Victory!
8. After some respective housekeeping, visiting merchants, blacksmithing, leveling, etc, we meet up in the Lower Undead Burg. We kick the Capra Demon’s ass like a pair of bosses (twice of course).
9. We descend into the Depths. My GF insisted the Butchers have boobies. I adamantly protested and called into her question her powers of gender identification. But, after a quick check on the wiki, turns out she was right. I kinda forgot to admit it at the time, I’m sure it isn’t important enough to bring up now, right?
10. Depths prove to be a sinch, despite the GF getting cursed by falling in a nest of basilisks requiring a quick return to the surface to cure her. Also, more than a few annoying invasions. But, we are developing techniques for dealing with those.
11. The Gaping Dragon proves to be a very drawn out battle. We beat him first try in my world, but through a rash of bad luck, have to repeat him 3 or 4 times on the GF’s.
12. Key in hand, to Blight Town we continue our descent. Besides the frustrating FPS nightmare of this place, we face a continual invasion by a griefer who poisons and toxics us with an unlimited supply of arrows and dung pies from afar. Of course, he depletes our supply of moss. We finally block him after he kills us and sets us back several times. Damn, we suck.
13. The Chaos Witch Quelaag gives us way more trouble than I remember the first time I faced her, requiring several painful repetitions.
14. Finally, we ring the lower bell and proceed to the Demon Ruins to defeat Ceaseless Discharge before starting the long journey back to the surface.
15. It was a pain ascending out of Blight Town solo, but we finally left that accursed place behind us.
16. We take a stop off in the Darkroot Garden and defeat the Moonlight Butterfly. And shunned the Forest Hunters Woods. Given that it is a PvP hotbed, we figured we’d just skip it and solo it later as hollows.
17. By now, we’ve developed into the two cogs of a killing machine. My attacks are quick combos with rapier, spear, or katana while my GF brings the pain with heavy blows from her greataxe or halberd, putting the enemy off balance so I can deliver a hail of devastating blows. I’ve focused on sorceries while she’s learned a little pyromancy to give us a little bit of a punch at range, or when only one of us can engage an enemy in melee such as on a catwalk. Combat has become like a dance with us as partners. One of us draws an enemy’s attention while the other circles around for a flanking attack. We fight well together, wordlessly complimenting each other’s attacks and keeping careful watch on each other’s health meters, leaving our voice channel open for banter or overall strategic discussion.
18. Off to Sen’s Fortress after preparing our gear and ascending our choice weapons and armor. This dizzying maze of traps and ambushes is a nightmare to co-op through. Especially since our first run through an invader jumps in and kills us moments before we reach the bonfire. Luckily, the Iron Golem goes down quickly for each of us.
19. We reach Anor Londo finally.

Anor Londo Part 1: Infiltrating the Chapel

I remember the first time I arrived in Anor Londo about 40 hours into my first game (hey, I got lost and ended up in The Tomb of Giants via The Catacombs). Just seeing the massive scope of the architecture of the city was enough to drop my jaw. I thought I’d reached heaven. This was it, this must be the final chapter of the game. Little did I know I was barely halfway through.

By the time I reached it, I finally was beginning to feel like a veteran. I felt like I could take all comers at this point, after all I’d been through to get there. I felt like I’d earned my place in that city, that I belonged. The Bat Wing Demons had winged me on high because I was finally worthy, the Sentinels standing their silent watch accepted my presence.

Of course, all that changed when I reached the section where you first encounter Silver Knights. It is a breeze leading up there. By now, the GF and I were veterans at dealing with Gargoyles, we slaughtered the two on the bridges with ease. Furthermore, the Sentinels and Bat Wing Demons and Painting Guardians were no match for us. But, those damned Silver Knights with their great bows are the first real challenge I feel anyone encounters in Anor Londo, but they are only a taste of what is to come.

We also began encountering a new breed of invader. Contrary to the twinks, cheaters, and griefers we were used to, now we were facing honorable, but highly skilled invaders. Unfortunately, these invasions are constant. Luckily, I’d say we come out on top in about 75% of encounters. It is a test of patience to charge up the staircase, deal with the two Sentinels, fight flocks of Bat Wing Demons, perhaps have to fight off an invader, only to die in a hail of arrows or knocked off the narrow ledges by those blasted Silver Knights and have to do it all over again. We finally prevailed in my GF’s world, I took the knight on the left, she took the one on the right. Of course, we wanted to make sure she rested at the bonfire with our old friend Solaire immediately after entering the Chapel. But, that left me to take on the gauntlet to the chapel and those Silver Knights alone. So, after her hearing my agonizing complaints, I finally managed it and met up with her inside the Chapel walls.