RPG night kicks off with a tankard of Doctor Pepper and a new character build in mind… Umbasa!
Mass Effect 3
I got a copy of Mass Effect 3 on friday. I clocked around 6 hours into it over the weekend, but I kept returning to Dark Souls. Not that I’m not enjoying ME3, I’m just pretty addicted to Dark Souls. By the way, I haven’t abandoned my SL1 run, I’ve just been caught up creating a new cleric build. Last night, I upgraded Grant to +5 and I now do 1010 damage on leaping attacks — hundreds more damage than my level 120~ Knight, on a level 93 cleric, all thanks to better build planning. I love Dark Souls. Though I’m starting to regret making my character an obese man with a ginger bowl cut — it’s hard to take his devastating power seriously.
So yeah, Mass Effect 3. Game is pretty, son.
I gave my Shepard slightly greyer hair than in Mass Effect 2. Times have been hard for Shep. I don’t want to sound like I’m hating on Origin, because I’ve had an otherwise pleasant experience with it (as far as pleasant experiences with platforms you’d rather not exist go), but I had such a hassle buying this game from them. First, their payment authentication server was down, meaning no one could complete transactions. Then, for some reason Origin was deemed a risky site to be buying from, so my bank began blocking the transaction. I eventually got it sorted, but it meant I started playing much later than I would have liked. Alas.
The game itself is pretty good. Combat is much improved, but still funky enough to remind you you’re playing Mass Effect. I don’t want to talk about the day one DLC fiasco, other than to say I decided not to buy it because I don’t agree with it. I’ve heard it’s good, but heigh-ho. Vote wit yo wallet.
Narrative wise, it’s early days, but seems to be of the usual high Mass Effect standard. Honestly I’m just loving how great everything looks. Here’s my Shepard looking seedy at a night club.
I have a back-log of games to play through now. I still need to finish Human Revolutions. I beat the first boss (who wasn’t much trouble for me, playing on the easiest mode he took a few shotgun rounds to the face before calling it a day), and I’m questing around Shanghai. That game really picks up after the first 5 or so hours. I think I’ll finish Mass Effect 3 before I return to it, though.
I finally got around to doing the EpicNameBro Puppy Kicker Challenge. I had to kill Sif with no HUD & no healing, and I had to taunt once midfight. This was on NG++. Victory!
The SL1 Challenge Diary #1
In which I create Donaldbaine the Pyromancer, acquire my starting equipment and slay the following:
- The Asylum Demon
- The Moonlight Butterfly
- Havel The Rock
- The Bell Gargoyles
Playtime: 7h 33m 46s
As you probably know if you follow this log, I’m a huge fan of the Souls games. I’ve discussed it in various places around the net and bored my friends to death with talk of it in college.
So, what better way to take my fanaticism with this game to the next level than to embark on the Soul Level 1 challenge?
What are the rules of this challenge, you ask? Well…
1. I have to stay at Soul Level 1. No Leveling.
2. Melee Only. No pyromancy, no magic, no miracles, no projectiles or bows.
3. Offline Mode. No helpful notes, no bloodstains, no jolly cooperation.
4. No NPC Summons. Sorry Solaire, I have to do this one solo.
5. Must Kill All Optional Bosses. No one can be spared.
6. Can’t Skip Any Areas. No avoiding Blight Town.
I lack the capture card to take proper screenshots of the game currently, but will try to provide at least tolerable quality photos and pictures sourced from the internet to illustrate my adventure. I’m looking into getting a capture card.
With that in mind, I set about creating my character.
The only class to start at true SL1 is the Pyromancer. Funny if you consider the rule about not being able to use pyromancy. Anyway, I created Donaldbaine the pyromancer and chose the tiny being’s ring as my starting item. The ring grants a slight boost in health. Items like this are going to be important, I can imagine, as my core stats (and therefore things like my health and stamina bar) are not going to increase as I play via leveling.
I worked my way through the undead asylum as usual, and murdered the Asylum Demon with little issue. Once in the firelink shrine, I ran around the back and grabbed the Morning Star. This little beauty has the benefit of being weildable by a poxy level one, and also has an auxillary bleeding effect — after enough hits against an enemy that can bleed, I will critically damage them.
Once I made my way to the blacksmith Andres, I promptly upgraded it to +5 quality. I knew the Bell Gargoyles were going to be tough, so I needed more physical defence. The pyromancer’s starting robes are good for poison resistance, but little else. As I mentioned before, my level 1 stats severely limited the range of armour and weaponry I can hold, but I had my heart set on the reasonable defence and mobility of the Elite Knight’s Armour.
To get it, I had to rush through a dangerous area — The Darkroot Gardens — and grab it from a corpse before two stone golemns sprang to life and ended me. Back at the bonfire, I equipped it. I could wear it all without exceeding my equip limit, but I was sloooooooow.
There was only one thing for it. I would have to get Havel’s Ring.
Havel’s Ring is incredibly useful as it significantly increases your equip load. The only downside to the ring is who you have to kill to get it - Havel the Rock. Havel is an absolute tank, dressed from head to foot in gigantic armour. He’s slow, but he can kill me in one hit. Not only that, but the key to the basement he hides in is located on the corpse of a dead blacksmith past the Moonlight butterfly.
It took about an hour and a half to kill the Moonlight Butterfly. It’s usually a doddle — chuck firebombs at it until it’s dead — but I had to use melee on a boss that for the majority of the fight is airborne. I ran up the watch tower the butterfly rests on and grabbed the basement key.
Back at Havel’s basement, it took only four attempts to take him down, which I’m pretty proud of. On my winning attempt, he landed zero hits on me, and I had him killed with a sucession of macey backstabs. I stuck on the ring and felt immediately the reward; I could now move around breezily wearing the elite knight’s armour. It was time for the Gargoyles.
The gargoyles were torture. The best I could hope to do was knock the first down to near-death before the second would blow me away with its intolerable fire breath. I experienced the usual feelings of wanting to stop, this time magnified by the enormity of what I was doing. Trying to beat this game at level 1? What the hell? But I persevered and after eight or so attempts, over the course of two days, I took them down. I climbed the tower and rang the first bell.
I feel as though I’m decently equipped to proceed a little futher. With the full Elite Knite Set and morning star +5, and havel’s and the tiny being’s ring, I’m mitigating damage decently and dealing enough myself to hold my own.
I now need to ring that second bell. I’ll post a second diary once I’ve made some more progress.
Currently attending Bede Sixth Form College, in his spare time Ben enjoys referring to himself in the third person, design, obsessively editing the Dark Souls wiki and writing words about games at GGSGamer.
Like what you see? Let's work together.
Copyright © Ben Tyrer & Respective Owners 2012. Praise the sun!
