First time playing, question about Drake in Undead Burg

gcates - I would certainly not limit your use of this forum for help. It helped me a ton. I kind of had a mixed strategy on my first play through. Trying to do most on my own while leaning on the wiki and the forum for hints and clues, when I was stumped for extended period of time. As others have stated. Do what is most fun for you. Some like to be lost and stumped for days. Others get satisfaction out of consistent progress. Whatever works for you.

I think the moralistic and interpretive discussions of the best way to play the game can be interesting, assuming everyone respects the fact that everyone does not agree. I don't think it is worth it to get too emotionally involved in those types of discussions though as with many discussions of those types people can quickly misinterpret the intentions in the written words.

Good luck!

Knavery wrote:

Do whatever it is that's going to make you enjoy the game more. Personally, I'd start over, because I like my merchants alive and am a perfectionist that way. If others on this site feel that it's the easy way out, that's their problem--not yours.

Doelker wrote:@gcates:
First of all, don't waste your time trying killing the Drake right now. I believe its kind of overpowered for the stage and the SL your toon is right now and the weapons you carry.
You say you are playing pre patch, so I think the blacksmith at the Parish won't sell any arrows. You'll find a female merchant later when you open a shortcut from the Lower Undead Burg to the Firelink Shrine through the acueduct ( remember the closed gate inside the acueduct from the shrine to the burg?)
My other advice is, if you don't have much time to play, then use this toon as a training toon, try to get by yourself as far as you can, actually is harder in a pre patch game imo.
When you get back safe home and you can really put some time into it then start a new toon and you'll be already used to it and start to really enjoying it.
Good luck!!!

My plan with this character is essentially to just forge ahead, see what lies out in the great unknown, and if I can, beat the game. If not, later on when I can really dig into it, I'll start from scratch.

Either way, this is the most unique game I've ever played in terms of atmosphere and depth of combat. Early on I would charge into enemies thinking I was playing Devil May Cry or something, and I learned a hard lesson. Every enemy, no matter how weak, demands your respect and complete attention. You can run the same area 20 times successfully and still die on the 21st. You can open a door, run down a huge staircase and find a Knight at the bottom that elicits a response I am not used to in video games; fear. I literally sprinted as fast as I could away, got to a ladder, tried climbing it, and was killed with one hit while doing so.

I've never, in any game, been afraid to die...but in this one you respect death on a basic level...you don't want to die...and I love it.

^^ That is why this game is so amazing, and actually by dying you are learning how to play. So don't be afraid of dying to much, think back on what was your aproach and what might have been wrong in previous strategies to come up with a new one.
Try to learn the scaling system and how you want to build your charactet so you get the best damage output for the weapon you are handling.
I am no expert in the matter but I can tell you that in a second run or a new character build you will be able to try different things and discover a lot of new things.
I know it can be frustrating sometimes and yes the game itself is unforgiving and thus the tiniest mistake can lead you to a terrible end.
I really hope you enjoy the game and have the guts, endurance and tenace to go on further and further. A lot of incredible things (and deaths) await you!!!
Cheers!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GFcx5PBzLs
This is what I used to do, as long as you have 200ish arrows at base dex for a bow then it's doable, at level 15, but unless you really want a claymore or to become a sunbro early on then there's little point.