Redshift Brand is optional

[arnauveau]

I don't know whether this is old news, or maybe I'm the first one to report this, but I have just confirmed that the Redshift Brand, the one that allows you to cross barriers of Redshift, is not required to beat the game and can be skipped. The screenshot below shows my character standing in the Still Palace with all the brands that were acquired to that moment. You can clearly see that the Redshift Brand is missing.

http://i.imgur.com/0Znm4aO.png

How to do that?

Proceed normally till you reach the Ziggurat of Dust. When you obtain the Dart Brand, get to the Far Beach and claim the sanctuary there. Go down the tunnel to the left from there - there will be an elevator shaft for the elevator that you're only supposed to get going later on, from the other side. Drop down, on your way down dart to the right to land on a ledge. Proceed to the ground, start the elevator - you're right next to the Bloodless Prince's boss chamber. Beat him and enter the Ruined Temple like you normally would. From that point on, you will not encounter a single Redshift wall that would impede your progress. You won't be able to access a good number of areas, of course, like the Cran's Pass, unless you decide to actually go through the motions and get the Brand after beating That Stench Most Foul. Or you can just proceed all the way to the Still Palace and NG+.

Since it's progression breaking in its pure form, you're skipping a good bit of the game - this is handy if you want to get to NG+ as soon as possible. At the same time, you're missing out on a great number of items and depending on your creed you might not be able to max out your devotion (if you need e.g. Lepris' Ears), get some of the boss weapons, you will also break some NPCs' quest lines.

[Cake for Mumm-Ra]

Hard for me to say if this is an exploit of if it's actually intentional. I'm gonna move this to the Spoiler sub-forum because that's seems like a better place for this kind of info.

[arnauveau]

Not gonna reach many people now... I cri evrtiem.

[Cake for Mumm-Ra]

Originally posted by The Saltborn One:

Not gonna reach many people now... I cri evrtiem.

Well, I mean, if its an exploit it shouldn't reach anybody at all.

If it's an intentional, but semi-secret, method for bypassing a large section of the game instead, that's the type of info that should be sought after instead of advertised imo. And that's exactly why we have this part of the forum.

[Exp]

Mhh I've found the redshift brand in my third playthrough^^ It's not an exploit. If you have the coop key bug (that you don't get some keys like the cellar or mossy) you can't even get it^^

[arnauveau]

Originally posted by Cake for Žižek:

Well, I mean, if its an exploit it shouldn't reach anybody at all.

If it's an intentional, but semi-secret, method for bypassing a large section of the game instead, that's the type of info that should be sought after instead of advertised imo. And that's exactly why we have this part of the forum.

Well, depending on the route one decides to take, one can skip the Mad Alchemist, the False Jester, the Kraekan Cyclops, the Disemboweled Husk, the Tree of Men... An incredible amount of bosses that are not technically considered "optional" are, in fact, perfectly skippable. Something like jump+roll glitch is an exploit. I'd say that this, in contrast, is just an interesting tactics, so I see no reason why would anyone want to actively hide it from the community - but hey, whatever. I suppose I should be glad the post didn't get deleted in the first place :P

[zaku_zelo]

Hell, you don't even need to do any tricky jumps or beat lower Ziggurat and Temple. Beat Lamb, beat Dried King, go down to Pitchwood from the Far Beach sanctuary, keep going left, you'll pass through the bottom of the Temple and end up in Siam Lake. Then just proceed as normal and you're done.
The Third Lamb is seriously a load-bearing boss. Beat him and you can break the game's progression wide open. It makes a lot of the later content much more attractive.

As long as we're talking about this, with sequence breaking in mind, what's the earliest diamond cluster you can get?

[Vagabond Frog]

Hey I'm on my first playthrough and it happens that I'm at the last boss and I don't have this brand. Frankly I thought that was some areas that you would unlock later in the game just like in Dark Souls 1. Where do you get that brand ?

[arnauveau]

Originally posted by Iron Tarkus:

Hey I'm on my first playthrough and it happens that I'm at the last boss and I don't have this brand. Frankly I thought that was some areas that you would unlock later in the game just like in Dark Souls 1. Where do you get that brand ?

Find the Hager's Cavern, beat the boss, proceed to the area called the Mire of Stench, and after you beat the boss of this area, you encounter an NPC that grants you this brand.

[Vagabond Frog]

Originally posted by The Saltborn One:

Find the Hager's Cavern, beat the boss, proceed to the area called the Mire of Stench, and after you beat the boss of this area, you encounter an NPC that grants you this brand.

Ok, that's why. I've found Hager's Cavern in my playthrough but didn't find a boss. Maybe he's behind those locked doors but I don't think I have the key.

[Dovaiikin]

Originally posted by Iron Tarkus:

Originally posted by The Saltborn One:

Find the Hager's Cavern, beat the boss, proceed to the area called the Mire of Stench, and after you beat the boss of this area, you encounter an NPC that grants you this brand.

Ok, that's why. I've found Hager's Cavern in my playthrough but didn't find a boss. Maybe he's behind those locked doors but I don't think I have the key.

He is locked behind a gate and a key, considering its all optional, you may of heard of the boss, "Disembowled Husk" He is a bugger to get to, but if you have the Dash brand or "The Exploit" there is a much easier way to get to him.

[Wyrtt]

wait, what? I thought it how you supposed to rich blodless prince. I found no other way to go,

How in reality you supposed to reach bottom of the ziggurat? I have red brand but still...
I had a thought that game is not optimised for dart brand and something funny might happen. But this?

[Asmosis]

I didnt use anything special or close to an exploit, i ended up in the ruined temple without getting the brand and without using that elevator trick.

I entered from the bottom left hand side and just walked in, nothing special.

I *STILL* havent figured out where that brand is, and i've gone to every location in the game and beaten the final boss. Barriers are still around the place, but to the best of my knowledge i've been on each side of all but 1 of them.

[Raphides]

Yeah, it is optional. I beat the game and only found out about this mark because of your topic right now.