Which ending to aim for first playthrough?

[[Army of Two] Wolfi]

So i am playing as blind as i can, but after getting the dark sigil i just had to see what this curse was about.

So i know that to get the 3rd ending(unsurped or something), i have stay with this curse. I briefly read that removing the curse becomes more expenisve the longer you have it, so i just want to know if i should stick with it and go for this ending or if this way of playing is way too hard the first time through the game?

And if i should NOT go for the unsurped, should i remove the curse asap?

please dont spoil :)

[Mr Chappy]

There is no harm in having the curse for any ending AFAIK. It's just that your guy will look like a zombie if you don't use a purge stone on a regular basis or wear a particular ring. I would rather have the five free levels with it making no difference.

You do need it for the Usurpation ending though, and without healing it(and possibly purging, I did this once and it did not matter but some say that it does...???).

[[Army of Two] Wolfi]

So, besides looks, there is ZERO difference between beeing cursed and not?
No special ending, no items no nothing?

[Mr Chappy]

AFAIK no there is not, it is nessasary for the Usurpation ending but does not seem to stop any of the other endings from being possible either.

[SundownKid]

Originally posted by Army of Two Wolfi:

So, besides looks, there is ZERO difference between beeing cursed and not?
No special ending, no items no nothing?

Being cursed doesnt do anything besides making it possible for you to do the Usurp ending and making you look like a hollow.

[Aigle1705]

well i took the ultimate but hole ending the first time, summon the firekeeper n backstab her asa she took the fire. still... its the only ending without a trophy...

[Washing Machine]

Eh, I got the firekeeper ending the fire one. Didn't know I could do anything during that to change it.

Just seems like the natural ending since if you explore the entire game before the final boss, that's what you'll end up getting.

Sans some questline endings, but alot of those are so obscure I doubt people get those on first run without guide reading.

[Anelyn]

1h of farming and I got 560k souls to remove the dark sigil at end of 1st playthgrough (went for lord of hollows ending).

Really once you are 90+ SL you don't need the free levels from Yoel if you already got that ending on first playthrough. You will be swimming in souls from NG+ onwards.

From that point on it really depends what you want to do with your character: do you want to stop at ~100-120SL for pvp, or you just want to continue leveling all the time and go through NG7+ etc?

As you will have a chance to do all the other endings (which IMHO are easier to do than the hollow one) in the next playthroughs.

[SundownKid]

Originally posted by Anelyn:

1h of farming and I got 560k souls to remove the dark sigil at end of 1st playthgrough (went for lord of hollows ending).

You do realize that all the Dark Sigils disappear at the start of NG+. So if you already got the Lord of Hollows ending you could have started NG+ and been normal again.

[Mr Chappy]

I got the Usurpation ending without reading up on it until the point where I'd already pretty much done it, partly through luck I'd have to admit.

I found my dead bride and wondered do I really want to do the marriage? So I looked it up and found that by chance I done everything right for this ending apart from this, so I did it.

I nearly killed the assassin, I was co-oping and they hinted at the hidden assassin, I revealed him had a brief chat but had no idea who or what he was so left him alive. Only realised when he gave me the sword for my dead bride. So as long as you explore fully and don't kill any non aggro NPC's it's not that hard to stumble upon...

Originally posted by SundownKid:

Originally posted by Anelyn:

1h of farming and I got 560k souls to remove the dark sigil at end of 1st playthgrough (went for lord of hollows ending).

You do realize that all the Dark Sigils disappear at the start of NG+. So if you already got the Lord of Hollows ending you could have started NG+ and been normal again.

You are still hollowed in NG+ even though the sigil's are gone, I'm guessing I would still have to pay to get rid of this when the option is available again, though I can't confirm this until I reach that point again during this play through...

[Anelyn]

Yeah I know, but I don't plan to start NG+ anytime soon and I like my Yuria of Londor to be able to look human without consumables / rings ^_^

Still got plenty of stuff to test out, weapons, mechanics, spells etc, I'm SL 102 atm and not planning to go higher until I fully decide how to spec for NG+ :)

Souls are easy to get after you finish first playthrough. For example you can equip a pyro flame, attune rapport and just go in heavy crowded areas of late game and charm 2-3 guys to clear everything for you (angel knights and other large enemies can't be charmed, also non-humanoids).

[Dodon]

Originally posted by Mr Chappy:

I got the Usurpation ending without reading up on it until the point where I'd already pretty much done it, partly through luck I'd have to admit.

Yeah, it's actually totally reasonable that you'd stumble into that ending; the only part of that questline that might elude MOST people would be the part where you have to break that bridge and climb down. That's the only thing I can think of that's "out of the way".

[Anelyn]

@Result

There are tons of messages telling you to destroy that bridge and that it's a ladder afterwards. Normally newbies to series and 1st playthrough players would read most messages as the very start of the game encourages you to do that :)

[Mr Chappy]

Originally posted by Mr Chappy:

Originally posted by SundownKid:

You do realize that all the Dark Sigils disappear at the start of NG+. So if you already got the Lord of Hollows ending you could have started NG+ and been normal again.

You are still hollowed in NG+ even though the sigil's are gone, I'm guessing I would still have to pay to get rid of this when the option is available again, though I can't confirm this until I reach that point again during this play through...

I got to this point again, I wanted to see if I got my free levels again and I did. I should have waited and done it the other way round but I do know the fire keeper is only trying to charge me for 5 levels not the 10 I have now received in total. So maybe it would be free...???

[Anelyn]

No, you are wrong. The fire keeper will charge you based on your SL (soul level). ~SL70 is about 350k souls, ~100SL is about 570k souls (and will keep rising if you level up more obviously).

The only thing based on your dark marks is the amount of hollow points you recieve per death. To cleanse your hollow at statue in sewers costs you 100 souls per hollow point, meaning at 99 hollow (max) costs you 9.9k souls to remove the hollow state (but you will continue accumulate hollow points and decay as you die, since it does not remove the dark mark).

Same thing with the stone, will only remove / reset the hollow value, but you continue to build up as you die. Only way to remove the curse is via fire keeper, paying a cost that increases with your Soul Level.

Hope this helps! ;)

[Mr Chappy]

I thought soul level had been abolished in DS3(it has for PvP!)???

My cost seems to be based on what it would be for 5 levels gain not on anything else, maybe I've lost so few souls throughout my first play through that they are roughly the same...???

I'm level 109, she wants 387173 souls, 5 x my current level up cost = 371873, then you have to add the extra per level which seems very much in-line with level and nothing else... ???