So I accidentally rage quit DS3 when I was sick and couldn't tolerate the game and my constant sneezing and coughing. I quit right as you get to Anor Londo "proper" at the bonfire up top (bottom the large stairs). I managed to kill the large curse creature that drops from the top of the chapel and realized I just need to run to the boss past all the annoyances. Now I'm on Aldrich and I'm having one hell of a time. I'm about level 50'ish and 25 hours in but the last time I played this game was about May of last year and I feel as though the time away has killed any muscle memory I have with the game.

Any suggestions on getting back into this after nearly a year away? I want to go back and beat Bloodborne as well :( >< Thanks for any help you duders can offer, cause I'd really like to at least beat this once before accidentally leaving it behind again.

I'm not sure exactly what trouble you're having, but I'll say that when I was playing SunBros co-op, by far the most common cause of death of hosts was failing to run away from his arrow barrage, which can easily one-shot you. Most of his other moves are easily dodged. (My main problem was always his Soul Spear, but even when I got hit by it I could find time to heal up.)

The Phase 1 arrow barrage is different from the Phase 2 arrow barrage. The Phase 1 one just goes in a straight line, while the Phase 2 one lasts longer and tracks you. Keep your stamina up and just run around the perimeter of the room when he does it. Don't stop until you know it's over.

It might be good to grind to get back your feel of the game and to beef up. I thought 60-70 was a good point for killing Aldritch.

I had a hell of a time fighting Aldrich, almost as tough for me as Nameless King. I suggest running through some of the earlier areas again, maybe put your summon sign down near an early boss?

A good magic resist shield helps you block those soul spears he throws at you while you're running from the arrow rain.

If you need to brush up on your souls skills I'd suggest some PvP as Aldrich Faithful. There's a lot of demand, so you get summoned almost immediately and you don't lose anything when you die(unlike invading as a red). The covenant is behind an illusory wall, in a building after the dead giants but before the silver knights(don't kill the fat corpse in the corner).

You could also coop some early bosses, but wailing on enemies backs while they're focused on another player is generally how coop goes. Not sure how useful that'd be if you wanna get good enough to kill Aldrich.

If you wanna try your hands at something different and haven't done it already, you could always go down from the watery/sewer area of Irithyll. There's a seperate Lord of Cinder down there. Might do you some good to gain a few levels and muscle memory that way. Though it is very hard, you could also enter the painting in the Cathedral of the Deep if you have the first DLC, just for a change of pace.

Don't be scared to co-op at times. It's in the game for a reason.

I'm not sure what you're actually having trouble with, you're level 50 and at Anor Londo so if you got there you should be fine.

Remember, take your time.

(If you've the DLC do not attempt Ashes until level 80, and Ringed City until 120-ish.)

Aldrich is a tough one, specifically because of his arrow attacks. Don't be discouraged if you're having trouble with him. If you feel it's a muscle memory thing, try Redhotchilimist's advice. Clear out the Irithyl dungeon if you haven't already, and you'll be back in the groove. If you've already done that area, don't have any new areas to explore and don't want to grind in a section you've already played, then you can always kill Emma to trigger the next boss fight "early" and come back to Aldrich another time. Maybe a different boss with different attacks will be more to your liking.

Also a tip for Aldrich, as soon as you see him start to tilt up with his bow, hold sprint and keep sprinting until his arrows stop. They won't hit you if you keep sprinting.

Just make sure you don't run into his other attacks.

@daftsoul: Dude the co-op is in the game as a concession to modern gamer's sensibilities. None of the enemy mechanics are balanced/tuned for co-op and double teaming most bosses makes them hilariously easy. I wish Souls games actually changed boss encounters and enemy placements for co-op, a fully realized co-op mode would be awesome, but that's no the case.

I mean isn't the thrill of the fight and the taste of elusive victory the point of Souls games. Why would anyone want to blow past the centerpiece moments to mainline the game. To get to the end of the story? What story? Most people don't even know that Dark Souls has an intricate story.

I personally feel like grinding levels is another concession that From made to appeal to the mass market, but that's more my opinion that a widely held sentiment. Leveling is a part of Dark Souls but I wish there was a system in place to reward players who fought a boss while under a certain maximum level. Maybe you get an extra unique boss weapon that way.

If I feel completely outmatched and out my depth, I'll check the wiki for boss weaknesses and strategies. You're right co-op IS in the game, so you do you, but I can't help but feel that you're robbing yourself of the experience and it baffles me why.

I'd agree with you on everything you said, but it's there as a tool to be used if people are stuck and it's okay to do it if people do want to.

I think if you beat bosses on your own you get a better sense of achievement, but hey, if anybody wants to co-op I won't stop and complain, it's literally a feature since the Demons Souls.

Remain patient. But if you have played any of the previous souls games for any length, you should get your legs under you pretty quick. Also check out the dlc zones when you feel confident enough. Theres a lot of cool content and gear there.

Man I'm in the same boat, except way earlier in the game. I'm in the crucifixion woods.....I love Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne, but theres something about this game that just stresses me out. I've never had this issue with previous Souls games, but for some reason I'm having really tough time jumping in this game and committing to it.

I had borrowed DS3 from a friend and got to about the point you were and my friend was going to move to a new state so I gave his game back. Months later I bought the game myself and just had to start over. To my surprise I got to the same point in about half the time. If starting completely over is out of the question for you maybe just go back to some earlier areas and play around, get your Souls legs back.

Also the idea that using co-op is robbing yourself of some transcendent experience is bullshit. The way you should play games is the way that is the most fun to you.

@qrowdyy: You're already looking for help. IMO the jolly cooperation WITHOUT looking up tips is far more rewarding than just looking up tips. I like to Coop DS games first time through with someone who is lock step with me so we figure stuff out together. More rewarding than just looking at wikis that already know most of the strategies for bosses/cheesy ways to kill them and even what direction to circle vs certain bosses/moves.

If you like the solo experience, cool. But don't act like a badass because you "only" look at a wiki or whatever lol. That is a far more surefire way to rob yourself when playing these games. But even then if that is ultimately the way to play for you, right on.

Just a general gameplay tip for anyone having trouble. This game is not balanced as well as other souls game. If you are having trouble I would suggest an all physical based strait sword (or if you really want to use another weapon, make sure the damage is mostly 1 type) or great chaos fireball pyromancy if you prefer spells.

Practice offline for a bit. I booted up DS3 for the first time since launch when the first DLC came out and got whacked hard by an invader almost immediately. Nothing unexpected for Souls, I know, but for some reason it completely discouraged me from playing anymore. I haven't been back. Not even for the other DLC. Maybe sometime.

Oh man, that fight is so fun though! I say just plug away at it. Same as the other bosses in DS games, you gotta get comfy with their movesets. But specifically, having a lot of endurance helped me in this fight. There's a lot to sprint/roll around. If you're around the same level I was at that point you should be able to level after wiping out the whole area before him. Also don't forget to upgrade weapons!

@opusofthemagnum: You missed the point bro. Looking up shit on the wiki is a last resort. I'm not sure how I could have made that clearer for you in my original post.

I personally only resorted to the DS3 wiki to learn how to dodge Midir's laser barrage(nothing to do with my skill level at Souls games and everything to do with patience and being unwilling to spoil myself). That's because I agree with you that figuring shit out is a huge part of the fun of Souls. But bringing a buddy with you means you can just brute force large parts of the game w/o figuring stuff out, because Souls games aren't balanced for Co-op. That was the point of my post, in case you're still under the misapprehension that I'm bragging.

That Souls games have "tacked on" multiplayer is a widely known fact. Take the glitchy, unbalanced PvP in DS3 for example. Miyazaki's focus has always been on the singleplayer experience. Its not an accident that the only game w/o his involvement had the best multiplayer.

Obviously, playing with another person would be fun af, especially in a proper co-op game. But having another player completely trivializes and/or bypasses major boss mechanics(not to mention many smaller enemy encounters). Take the Soul of Cinder for example. It doesn't have many aoe attacks and a major part of the difficulty is it's endless barrage of varied frontal attacks on ONE person. If you bring a second player who just R1 spams on the boss's back while the boss focuses on the first player, the FINAL boss in DS3 is a cakewalk.

And in another game there are perfectly valid reasons to rush to the end as quickly and easily as possible. Maybe you want to see the conclusion of a gripping story for example. But, Dark Souls doesn't have the traditional payoff at the end that most games do. The story isn't in the few sparse cutscenes you get and most people will be thoroughly confused/indifferent to what the game was actually about when the credits roll.

So, if you don't mind me borrowing your words, "Why rob yourself of the experience?"

So to update the thread, I realized I had never done Irithyll Dungeon but I had gotten the bonfire at some point. I went there, cleared it out completely and made my way to the Profaned Capital. I killed Yorm, easily when I realized what that sword did. After that I made my way backwards but sadly I must have missed on of Siegfried's quest points because I realized after beating Yorm that he should have shown up there for the fight to help me :( I did find him and free him, getting the item he gives, before the boss fight so that bummed me out a bit. I also unlocked the other NPC in the dungeon.

After that I made my way back up top and beat Aldrich after two tries thanks to the leveling I had managed in my previous trolling. THEN I got kicked to Dancer of the Boreal valley after not knowing wtf was happening. Had I known I was about to start the boss fight I would have leveled and consumed souls but I got him on my 4th attempt and managed to not lose any souls in the process. Took me a minute to realize how to get to the boss after dying the first time but I got there relatively fast.

Sinusoidal I actually was going to cave and summon for Aldrich as soon as I came back after doing the above and as soon as I was 1/2 up the steps in Anor Londo I got invaded by someone lagging badly who also was super high leveled with lightning gear. I won't do that anymore lol.

@charltonheston That's what I ended up doing, just lazer focusing on him and rolling around the area. The sword I got from the Yorm fight definitely helped out.

@noobsmog I can't remember the sword I've been using but I've been trying to level it as fast as I can and it was a magical longsword. I am now using the sword from Yorm.

@seauton I hated that area going through the first time (and when I unlocked a shortcut back to it later on. There are some tough enemies there when you arrive for the first time. If I am not mistaken there are like 2 different areas you can go to from there but any boggy area in a Souls game is typically awful lol.

@qrowdyy I really am not a fan of people telling other people how to play games (and I'm not saying that as hateful as the text may read). Every time there is a souls related post there is someone deriding someone's choice of class, magic use, co-op use/not use, etc. The game is the game and if they didn't want it to be part of the Souls game it wouldn't be there in every single one. If the mp is tacked on that's the developer's fault (and it makes From Software look like chumps if its that bad and this is the 4th one they are doing).

@sammo21: You're right. Whatever From's reasons/failings, Co-op is in the game. I don't necessarily believe advocating a certain playstyle is bad as long as you're not insulting another person, although there are always people mistake criticism of a thing they like doing as a personal attack(that's not directed at you).

Anyways, congrats on Aldrich. I'd say the next wall you're gonna run into is the optional boss in Archdragon Peak. Hardest boss in the base game, so don't miss it. Also the Second DLC has an optional boss that is a strong contender for hardest boss fight in the entire Souls series.

Alright well after a few days of blindly jumping back in I went from the Crucifixion Woods to beating the pants off of Aldrich....this game is pretty great.