A few questions about Dark Souls...

I got into the Souls games the last month or so and they have completely taken over my gaming time, usually i like to have a single-player game and multiplayer one (BF3 in this case) to split my time between, but i cant get away from Souls, its such an absorbing game.
Anyway, ive never come across game that ive put so many hours into and still have so much stuff that i dont know about. Not that its a bad thing though. Everyday im online trying to find out stuff about certain aspects of the game. But ive been unable to get clear answers to certain things so i hope you guys can help out here;

1- Im still not too clear on Convenants. I know they're like 'Clans' within the game that give you roles regarding pvp i.e. go kill these guys because they're done such a thing... But people seem to talk about them like they're much more important and also how do they know they were invaded by such covenants i.e. i got invaded by loads of darkmoon guys last night, stuff like that. Also, whats with the "Evil", "Neutral", "Pure Neutral" rating i see on the wiki?

2- Soul level with regards to Invading/Summoning. Now i know there is limits to who you can invade/summon for balance reasons, its something like within 10 soul levels plus 10% when summoning or only above when invading. I also know there is exceptions to this in certain places and if your in certain covenants (i guess that adds to the importance of covenants). But i noticed when i summoned guys that they were way more powerful than me and when i asked a guy about this he said that he was in NG+. So i assumed he was in the same soul range as me but just in a ng+, i thought that explains why some of the guys invading me were also way more powerful than me, they must of been in a ng+ but a lower soul level. A bit unfair i thought. But i learned something today that made it even more confusing, i was assuming your SL resets in ng+, but it doesn't!. You can summon/invade across ng's right, but then how do those restrictions with the SL apply? Or do i have it all wrong?

A few less important ones...

3- Im in the Tomb of Giants and its a complete bastard of a level. I cant see a thing, so my question, i have this Lantern, but how the hell do you light the damn thing? Or does it even light?

4- This is something that just baffled me. I was having a hard time the other day in Anor Londo, i was getting invaded every time i was waiting for a summon sign to pop up. But this one guy left me scratching my head. He invaded, i was on the elevator between the 2nd bonfire and the steps to the boss. This guy ran up, bowed but then ran straight by me (as i embarrassingly try to hit him but completely missed) and over to the lever and started turning it. I let him do his thing because i just assumed this was another aspect of Souls i was about to learn about. But after turning it a few times, with things getting repetitive and his actions starting to look very pointless, i attacked. He attacked back but then rolled away and back to the lever and started turning it again. This went on for while, us fighting, he running to the lever, fighting etc.. eventually, in my typical pvp fashion, i fell off the elevator and died.
Was this just a random mental event, or was there a point to all his actions?

Sorry for the long post guys, sometimes i type like im writing a novel.

1. Covs are online additions that have purposes in game, Sunbros are for Co-Op, Darkwraiths are for stealing Humanity, and Darkmoons are the "police" of sorts (Or the corrupt police) that punish you if you have attacked any Human NPCs or Invaded as a DW.
2. summoning is +/- 10% or 10 levels (whichever is highest) and invading for Darkwraiths is down 10% and up infinite. Darkmoons is up or down 10% (or down is unlimited). And NGs dont matter, its all about Level.
3. Equip the lantern as a shield and block. Viola. Theres also a helm in Izalith you can get, or a sorcery by Oolacile (lady from golden golem past Hydra.
4. I have no idea

1 - The "good" covenants supposedly make it easier to summon and be summoned by other members of the "good" covenants. All the rest are focused on invading, they just have different rules and mechanisms for doing so. You can know the covenant of your invader by their color, your location, or the invasion message.

2 - Invading/Summoning only check soul level - NG+ is irrelevant. It's not unheard of for a player to complete the game at a low SL. It's also not unheard of for a player to complete areas of the game out of order using various shortcuts, thereby gaining access to powerful gear and spells earlier than normal. Last, but not least, it's not unheard of for players to abuse a glitch to start with ridiculously powerful weaponry, generally for the sole purpose of griefing (i.e., invading low level players at significant advantage).

3 - The Skull Lantern is the least efficient light source for the ToG, but you use it by pressing L1 while it's equipped in your shield hand. Better options are the Cast Light spell or the Sunlight Maggot.

4 - He was just messing around. You run into all kinds of crazy folks online.

Oh, it seems darkmoon blades can invade at any level provided you have sinned once.

since the others answered your other questions i will answer number 4.they were trying to troll you(at least the funny kind of trolling), im guessing they saw a certain sansvie vid where a player does something very similar. basically you are invincible while you are turning the lever. they were most likely trying to get you to attack them while they were turning the lever to try and piss you off cause you could not dmg them. thats what it sounds like, i may be wrong.

FruitPunchNinja wrote:since the others answered your other questions i will answer number 4.they were trying to troll you(at least the funny kind of trolling), im guessing they saw a certain sansvie vid where a player does something very similar. basically you are invincible while you are turning the lever. they were most likely trying to get you to attack them while they were turning the lever to try and piss you off cause you could not dmg them. thats what it sounds like, i may be wrong.

You should be glad they were doing semi-funny trolling like this instead of "trolling" you by just taunting you after an insanely cheap kill.

If you see someone just running around breaking all your breakable items (trees, pots, etc) or something like this, they are just trying to confuse you.

Cant believe you get the lantern to work by putting it on the other hand, all the things i tried and it was that simple, the one thing i didn't try. (and probably the first thing i should of).

Regarding the crazy lever guy, yeah probably bored and tried to troll me, which in that case he failed as i was simply bemused. Never invaded anyone yet, but when i do, instead of fighting, im gonna challenge them to a dance off, using the gesture buttons. They wont know what to do when they see me gesturing all over the place.

Anyway, thanks guys, finally have my head around covenants and invading/summoning, appreciate the help.

unfortunately pretty much no one has a sense of humor in the dark souls community, you will be backstabed then get the "well what is it" gesture. i love when find other people who dont really care so much about duels or winning but are just trying to have fun. they are rare though.

FruitPunchNinja wrote:unfortunately pretty much no one has a sense of humor in the dark souls community, you will be backstabed then get the "well what is it" gesture. i love when find other people who dont really care so much about duels or winning but are just trying to have fun. they are rare though.

Well, dont worry, im gonna be dancing all over the place and sooner or later people wont be able to resist.

Although, you're probably right, im probably more likely to get a lot of backstabs....or will i?

Actaully, lets be realistic, i will definitely be just backstabbed a lot.....




or will i?

bring along a channelers trident and do the 2 handed r2, dance party victory is yours.

Chain along the "What is it" and "Point up" gestures to resemble disco.

Or use the force spell and do lude pelvic thrust over their dead bodies . . . . .what! are you looking at awe common tell me none of you have ever thought of doing it.

I did think of how the Force looks like a pelvic thrust, noticed it on that Cosplay video with the Boar, very noticeable with Smough armor xD

See, the list of possible dance moves is endless.
Why stab a guy in the back when you can "Flashdance" him or "Travolta" his face off?
Viva la Souls dance revolution!!

Trident 2h R2 is just the best dancing. PS, I'd show that you have no weapons at all by switching from bare hand to bare hand in both hands, then dance. Heck, switching to bare hand could be a dance move! Then grab the trident and then...

DO THE TRIDENT!

What about the armor?

Hmm. Disco dancing, then? I'd say gwyndolin's robes aaaaand... pharis's hat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76iPvmAclM0 Welcome to dark souls.

FinPeku wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76iPvmAclM0 Welcome to dark souls.

Brilliant.
The "Trident" move is hilarious, now that ive seen it in action, its gonna be hard to top.