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Meet Dark Souls Remastered, same as the old Dark Souls. Well, in terms of mechanics and level design. It does have a new coat of paint and an improved framerate, the latter of which is pretty darn useful in Blighttown.
I originally blogged these tips years ago, but since the game is fundamentally the same, they still apply. I’m sure you have your own spin on them at this point so feel free to share them!
Basic Tips:
- Your starting class doesn’t necessarily matter, unless you want the Thief’s Master Key without using a gift to acquire it, or you want to start as a Pyromancer to allocate as many stats as possible at an early level. After the first 6-8 hours all classes start to blend, and everyone can use anything they have the stats for.
- If you beat the first tutorial boss without running through the door to the left, you’ll earn the Demon’s Great Hammer.
- The first merchant is right near the start of the Undead Burg – go up two flights of stairs – then look right – see the two lance skeletons? Break those boxes on the left and head through the outside door there. You can buy firebombs and arrows, which will help with the next two boss encounters.
- If you want to cheap-out Tauros [the first real boss], grab around 10 Firebombs and just chuck them at him at a safe range – he’ll go down easy. You can also get him to jump off the area, or you can climb the ladder and do a falling strike, a technique that will be useful in upcoming battles.
- Once you make it to the Red Dragon, grab a bow and ~100 arrows (you may only need 40 or so, but just in case you miss) – head to the bridge below him and aim for his tail – keep shooting – after some time, you’ll earn the Drake Sword – one of the best starting weapons in the entire game. Note that it doesn’t scale with your strength/dexterity statistics, so you will want a plan B long term.
- Your first order of business is to ring the two bells of awakening. One is in the Undead Parish, in the church past the iron boar mini-boss gate. The other is in Blighttown – a really hard area that you should tackle second – you can get into Blighttown from the Sewers, or the cave in the Valley of Drakes.
- If you get cursed, head to the top of the belltower at the Undead Parish after you defeat the Gargoyles – the NPC there will sell a cure for 3,000 souls each. It’s the easiest way to purge it.
- Save your humanity pickups for special occasions. What I do is accumulate them, and when I’m at a bonfire with a boss fight I know I can beat, but need more Estus Flasks for, I use two humanity at the fire to kindle it and get that little extra capacity boost.
- Press Circle (PS4) or B (Xbox One) to slide down ladders.
Advanced Tips (late-game spoilers):
- Need to grind more souls for endgame? First you need to purchase the forest key from the blacksmith below the Undead Parish for 20,000 souls (it’s a good idea to buy this after a boss fight). Then, head to the forest using the entrance next to him; keep going straight until you pass 4 tree monsters, and get to the magically sealed door.
Open it, and note the very small pathway near the cliff. Run over to the left and gather the four enemies (the sorcerer, the Templar, the thief, and the warrior) – corral those enemies back to the entrance, and head to the utmost point of that path near the cliff – all the enemies will run up the ledge, and dive over you to their doom. You may need to bait them a bit, but it works.
- After you ring the two bells, if you’re lost, keep reading: head over to Sen’s Fortress – it’s the place where the Onion Knight was sitting at, near the Undead Parish blacksmith. Complete the fortress and kill the Iron Golem. That will lead you to Anor Londo – the next area.
- Once you’re in Anor Londo, head to the middle area, and take the first beam on the bottom floor into the cracked window. Make your way around the building catwalks to the main castle, and enter in from the right side.
- After completing Anor Londo’s main castle, you will obtain the Soul Vessel – this is a story item that will allow you to complete the game by stealing four Lord souls, which unlocks the final boss fight (for the standard ending). The location of the four Lords (unnamed, to prevent major spoilers if you still haven’t played Dark Souls) are as follows:
- One is on the side path of Anor Londo – go straight as soon as you head into the area by way of the gargoyles, and head all the way down.
- One is in the Tomb of Giants – past the Catacombs (near Firelink Shrine), after Pinwheel.
- One is in the Old Londo Ruins (near Firelink Shrine), after you drain the water (you need the Covenant of Artorias ring from the Wolf Sif in the forest to fight this boss).
- One is past the Demon Ruins, after Queelag in Blighttown – beat the Ceasless Discharge and two more bosses, then fight it.
- Another special enemy is in the painting, in the Anor Londo building with the white ninjas – to enter the painting you need the peculiar doll – obtain the doll by re-visiting the tutorial area using the crow’s nest in Firelink Shrine.
