I was invaded by two Mad Dark Spirits at the same time while taking my sweet time getting through a later area (just after Pontiff Sulyvahn). I ran back to the balcony right after the bonfire and summoned the first Warrior of Sunlight I could find. We killed both phantoms and my buddy did the rest gesture in the middle of the balcony.

One thing led to another and uh

I started summoning as many people as I could! I haven't hosted a fight club before, but I've heard enough stories from my buddy (who's way into PvP) and through osmosis that I caught on pretty quickly. One person accidentally hit me and gave me an Ember as an apology!

I used a Dried Finger to get more peeps in and things got even more out of hand. I finally gained my freedom again when one Dark Spirit I summoned was being real sketchy--stood near me, but kept me on lock-on. I was backstabbed and survived with a sliver of health, so I rolled away to heal while the Mad Dark Spirit (who was gesturing and calling for the sketchy dude to fight) killed the traitor before being sent home. Sweet freedom!

That was definitely a different (and very impromptu) experience, but it was a lot of fun and the talking carvings I have got a lot of good use.

I love that area for this reason. There are so many people doing this. Its fantastic. I was involved in two of them tonight myself. Its too bad you don't get an item for killing another phantom. It would make farming for covenant items so much more enjoyable.

shit, you're right...

shooting myself in the foot for not doing the mound makers sooner.

I've hosted several, not accidentally but yea they're great fun.

It makes you wish From Soft got their net code together and made things more stable because it would make for an even better experience.

It's such a strange scenario for online behaviour especially when you compare it to other games that let you kill players in an openish environment most people just don't care and kill you. Souls for some reason through gesturing and specific item usage creates an unwritten agreement if you perform certain actions then most of the user base will adhere to that. The best part is when a rule breaker comes in and starts breaking them, watching the all the players participating in the fight club drop everything and hunt down the rule breaker together is pretty hilarious (especially when there's a bunch of collateral damage.)

I also heartily recommend using Patches squat while observing the fights. It's easily the best way to spectate.

This is just awesome.

I never understood the whole desire for PvP in souls games. If I could 1 shot the host of fight clubs I would do so in a heartbeat.

@baronsamedi: My favorite is when someone heals during a dual, and then everyone jumps down off the balcony and murders them.

@baronsamedi: It really is nuts sometimes. I guess maybe games that don't have a strict over-bearing rule system kind of lends itself to the community making up for it to avoid absolute anarchy? Reminds me of the good ole' days in "Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided." Never before had I seen cohesion by a community more than when it came to the doctors buffing their customers. I never heard the words spoken that commanded people to do so, but 10's, if not hundreds on the weekends, would line up single-file and wait their turn to get buffed. It was amazing.

@baronsamedi said:

I would if I had it. When I rated a message that said Patches squat in this area--the first time I saw that gesture by name--I practically squealed.

Also the controller I'm using has a busted left/right touchpad detection since I swapped to a custom painted gray shell. I have a fully working controller though, but it doesn't look like a dope DualShock 1.

I hope people are still being chill in that area on NG+. I'm slowly working my way through NG+ right now because I'm trying to grind out the mound-maker covenant. Almost everyone has at least 2 phantoms and just hides and waits to gang up on you. It sucks. I'd love to have a bunch of Mound Makers dueling each other, since my understanding is that you get a Vertebra Shackle if you kill the host OR if you kill another Mound Maker. Or at the very least maybe people in that area won't be fucking lame.

@yi_orange: I'm in NG+ right now at that area, and its still the same as it was in NG. Everyone for the most part is there for the same reason. You stumble into a fight club here and there. But a lot of people just looking for one on one to get items.

I didn't pvp much in previous Souls games but I really got in to it this time. Started off with some invasions at low levels and later got hooked on pontiff fight clubs. Though I don't like the pvp meta of level 120 where everybody has the same builds. I find it much more enjoyable at 60-70 where people have to make compromises in their builds.

Souls PvP is always at its best for me when weird stuff happens - whether that's fight clubs, general dicking around, roleplaying - and people actually go along with it. One on one fights and standard duels are good fun, but nothing trumps the silly stuff when all the players are in on it.

Things like this are what make the Souls games some of the best online games ever

Like that time I was invaded by a jester in DS1 and he just followed me around dropping humanity for killing enemies. And dancing while I fought. Then sent himself home when we reached the boss door. Or that time in DS2 when I invaded a guy who had a summon with him, and followed them around healing them with miracles, and dropping very good stones when they killed enemies. Then at the boss fog we all equipped whips and whipped it good. God I love souls games.

I usually just play these games with no regard for the online, aside from getting summoned to help dudes fight invaders. So seeing these sorts of stories makes me think I'm really missing out.

Fight clubs have been a mixed bag for me. Not because they're bad, but because I can't seem to connect to many. I usually throw down my red sign at the usual location, but more often than not I get summoned by a host who then insists on a 1v1 fight. I only get into a fight club maybe half the time.