Dark Souls: Remastered – Part 8 + 9: The Depths

I almost missed recording on The Capra Demon boss at the start of this run. I’d turned recording on initially, and then died a horrible, horrible death on my first shot at him. It was bad enough that I suspected I’d be here a few goes before I got him, so I stopped recording to save everyone else that pain.

On my second attempt though I realised I had a good shot of actually killing him. I could either die intentionally or attempt to alt-tab, enable recording, alt-tab back and see if I could still kill him after all that.

Turned out… Yes. So you get a little over half hp through the boss fight. Turned out my first attempt was just shaking off the rust build-up that comes with only playing for a bit over 30 minutes each week.

Which is partly why, this week, I went for a two parter! Also because it neatly book-ended completion of The Depths. :)

Part 8: Capra Demon + The Depths

Of course, it can’t all be smooth sailing. This is Dark Souls. That isn’t allowed.

You see- I had run alllll the way back to the Capra Demon. Not killing anything on the way. I made it into the fog gate no problem and thumbed my nose at the enemies I’d collected along the way. They couldn’t follow me in here. Not with the fog gate up.

Of course; once I’d killed the boss… the fog gate disappeared.

And the enemies were still outside in reasonably significant numbers.

Queue ‘You died’ sound.

I made a reasonably good showing of it though. But I had no idea the thief-undead-guys could parry. I’d never seen them do it before. It doesn’t do incredible damage, but in this case, it was enough.

Nevermind. After the soul recovery, I used the newly acquired key to open the door to what would turn out to be The Depths. It didn’t really seem too bad at first. Sure- it was dark and dingy. It was wet. And yeah, it was filled with undead. But hollows? Even ones with increased damage? Pffffffft.

Oh hey- that guy is new. *dead*

‘That guy’ being a big’un in a butcher’s smock and with a cleaver to match. I’d seen him hanging up in the rafters, trying to get the drop on me. I’d armed up with a firebomb and was going to show him the folly of his ways with it. Buuuut he wasn’t set to drop on me as I went immediately under for one of the worst types of surprises you can be offered. No, no- he was quite happy to drop down in front of me from quite a distance and show me that he didn’t need any such gimmicks.

I almost got him first try, but it wasn’t to be.

Next up: A 9 minute amnesia fueled run around the world. I poked my head into Darkroot Basin again for a moment. Didn’t mean to. I completely forgot which of the towers with the circular stair-wells connected from just outside the Depths to the outer world.

Hint: It isn’t the same one that goes down to Darkroot.

No, it is in fact the one that connects up to Firelink Shrine by way of the Aqueduct after opening the middle doorway in it.

Eventually I sort myself out though, and head back for a round two. This time, the Butcher fight goes much better. I recover my souls, save Laurentius (who I assume will join me at Firelink but I haven’t checked yet) and carry on down into what can only be described the sewer, with the giant rats to prove it.

Before the end of this section, I recover a key (Sewer Chamber Key, called it) and take a slide down even further into the area.

Part 9: The Depths + The Gaping Dragon

The first area I choose to explore of this bottom area, the very first one reveals an enemy I’ve seen before in Dark Souls 2. And I’d rather have no part of it. Basilisks — they can turn you to stone with their gas emissions, instantly killing you.

I still haven’t seen a bonfire down here yet!

So I ‘Nope!’ right out of that path and hope the others aren’t as equally unwelcoming.

The next one I try actually heads back up somewhat, and I’m greeted by a hollow. Much more my speed while carrying around 18k souls.

Best of all- that bonfire I wanted is here, behind a door locked with the Sewer key I got earlier. Yay!

Rested and able to level up, spending the souls I’m immediately more comfortable exploring this place. Except maybe for the basilisks. They can wait a bit. In fact, when I finally go back there, it is with some Jolly Cooperation.

Truthfully, I hadn’t intended to use the player ally for the basilisk area. I simply got myself lost looking for the boss again. The boss for this area being a mite unsettling.

Appearances aside, it was also unsettling how little damage I did per hit against this thing. I almost wondered whether this was an optional boss I could ignore for the time being.

Even so, the fight started out OK. Seemed like a very limited moveset, easy to avoid. But then it started to do dragon things like tail whipping for half my HP. And dragon-with-teeth-and-a-mouth-on-its-belly things like pancaking me from the air for even more.

None of which I overly appreciated. Suffice to say, first time on the boss- I died.

If I hadn’t become lost on the way back as mentioned, forcing me to explore the rest of the area first anyway, I might’ve gone back to believing I was supposed to come back for this thing later.

But with the power of cooperation (aka, sacrificing your companion to the bad so that you might live) I got through the Basilisk area and found that it simply looped around and came back. Albeit with loot! A ring that heals me a little on enemy kill. Woo! Worth the trip.

I knew now though, short of going away and exploring a different area entirely, I’d have to deal with this thing. I found my way back and since I was human this time, also found summoning signs for Solaire (the true jolly cooperation partner!) and Knight Lautrec.

I took them both in with me, and also put one of my weapon enchant dusts onto the quick slot to buff up my damage.

Between the AI allies (RIP Solaire though) and having a slightly better understanding of the moveset — the boss went down on second attempt. A theme for these parts, it seems! I’ll take this pattern in future, please. Two is pretty good for me. It did get remarkably close a time or two though.

Next up though… Blighttown. And while I’ve never played Dark Souls 1 through to Blighttown before, it’s infamous enough to know it’s gonna be rough. So… That’s something to look forward to. xD