How Flexible Are Level 1 Runs in Dark Souls?

Can You Beat Dark Souls at SL1 using a different weapon for each boss? In Dark Souls 1 and Demon's souls, doing SL1 truly meant being stuck with level 1 stats as stat boosting gear did not exist yet. So is it even possible to beat every single boss in the game using a different weapon for each boss? Especially if we count the pyro flame as a single weapon, meaning only 1 boss can be defeated with pyromancies; and let's also restrict ourselves to only 1 shield as a weapon for a single boss encounter. Does Dark souls 1 even offer enough weapon variety on a level 1 character to complete this challenge?
Also check out these other Level 1 challenges:
How to Turn Demon's Souls into Pure Suffering - Area of Effect Attacks Only at SL1 on NG+
• How to Turn Demon's So...
"Can I Beat Elden Ring as Maliketh Without Leveling up?":
• Can I Beat Elden Ring ...
"Can I Beat Elden Ring Using Deadly Poison Weapons at Level 1 on NG+7?":
• Can I Beat Elden Ring ...
"Dark Souls 2 - SL1 NG+7 - Broken Straight Swords & Crossbow"
• Dark Souls 2 - SL1 NG+...
"Can You Beat Dark Souls 2 Without Even Creating a Character? (All Stats at 1, no stat boosting gear)"
• Can You Beat Dark Soul...
Discord server: / discord
Patreon: / presscontinue
Outro song: • Monster Fight
Track: Monster Fight by Sinyells
Music Provided by: Smokinkat
www.smokinkat.net

[@PressContinue]

Also check out these other Level 1 challenges: How to Turn Demon's Souls into Pure Suffering - Area of Effect Attacks Only at SL1 on NG+ kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmevZnlplLd7brM "Can I Beat Elden Ring as Maliketh Without Leveling up?": kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGG7qIiKrrV8m7M "Can I Beat Elden Ring Using Deadly Poison Weapons at Level 1 on NG+7?": kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWGXd2Z5hMlgp6s "Dark Souls 2 - SL1 NG+7 - Broken Straight Swords & Crossbow" kzbin.info/aero/PL7ZSS2SC_BLkUmR0ng2nx-BRwnnMBRiFZ "Can You Beat Dark Souls 2 Without Even Creating a Character? (All Stats at 1, no stat boosting gear)" kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnOYpmOQbd17hK8

[@bobajeens6029]

Hey @PressContinue I’ve been a big fan for awhile and I love your videos. As a fan of your channel you inspired me to make challenges too. So I have a fan challenge for you if you are willing to accept. I call it - Dark Souls Curse Run💀- - Set level at 125 (add 125 stat points to any class) - defeat all bosses - each boss killed you remove 5 stats points (by the time you get to Gywn you’ll be at lvl.5) - Also, for a challenge no parries on Gywn 😎 So as a side effect I wanted to add once you defeat a boss you cannot remove the same stat from the previous stat (so no removing 5 and 5 again from resistance stat.) It doesn’t need to be 5 fully but can be 1 stat from Vitality or 4 from Endurance. Your videos help be when Covid hit and when I get off long days of work. I’ve been enjoying all of them doing challenges of my own with Elden ring and dark souls challenges. I thought about this one on pen and paper to see if it could work. So I hope this gets your interest peaked. Keep doing what your doing dude 😎

[@avelynbennett2738]

Xd

[@JohannesBee]

Taking Andre's hammer to another smith to upgrade it is hilarious. You'd think a bloodstained blacksmithing tool would be a little suspicious...

[@nikusson]

Vamos was probably too afraid to say a word about it, seeing what he would do to other blacksmiths

[@DarkSoulsSauron]

that nine dex really kills your options. no spear, no long/Short sword, no bows, no daggers besides basic dagger, no curved swords, no claymore. this challenge really is brutal

[@PressContinue]

Well as you can see, I even had options left at the end, so it wasn't that brutal after all. But yeah the low dex is definitely the thing that limits you the most

[@NathanTruby]

Speaking of breaking weapons, that would make for an interesting run. 'Can you beat DS1 before you break all the crystal weapons?'

[@PressContinue]

I actually had that idea before. So perhaps

[@ginogiben1916]

Just finished my first sl1 run of the game the other day thinking I managed to beat every boss + dlc bosses only to watch over the video to realize I forgot completely that gapping dragon actually existed.

[@PressContinue]

Oh I hardly ever include it either. Indeed quite easy to forget

[@dragonking528]

I once did a run where i didnt use any shortcuts and had to google how to get to blightown😅

[@PersonGuy968]

I'm so glad they added Stat-boosting gear in later entries.

[@PressContinue]

Well kind of yes and no. I mean it adds a lot of freedom but on the other hand... it's still leveling up in a sense. You don't keep the same stats you started with. I mean in ER you can be the equivalent of a level 100+ character from gear alone. Are you really playing a level 1 run at that point merely because you don't add levels through conventional means? It's a bit of a 2-edged sword in a sense

[@InquisitorSinCross]

​@@PressContinue and it also means that there's not as much equipment that can work at pure sl1, which to me is a sign of worse balancing

[@danieladamczyk4024]

Lack of stat boosting gear makes Dark souls much different from other games.

[@EinSilverRose]

@@PressContinue I think it works well in Elden Ring otherwise a LV1 challenge run becomes more tedium than challenge since you'd be getting one shot when end game bosses have so much HP to cut through.

[@MmmmmNnnnn]

@@EinSilverRose getting one shotted by later bosses is kinda the point of a LV1 run IMO for me it is about improving my skills with low health and low damage that way you really have to learn the movesets and strategies to beat every boss but I still can't hate on stat boosting gear bcs it only adds options to your runs so if someone really wants to have that "true" sl1 experience they can still get that in ER by fighting everything with a broadsword or you can litterly beat the game by oneshotting every required boss (watch ymfah video for proof) stat boosting gear is just a difficulty slider for sl1 runs

[@bobbywalker2980]

I just wanna say thank you for "continuing" to "press" out that content for us bro , i know repeating the same thing can get aggravating and old fast but the content you bring us i will always appreciate your time for that.

[@lIlIlIlIllIl]

I like stat boosting gear, but I think there needs to be a balance. Old SL1 used to be very limited on weapons and that was part of the challenge. Elden Ring was a little extreme imo considering you could use anything from katanas to Greatswords lol

[@felipefreitas8711]

Just to note that armor of thorns is a viable damage source for stuff like bed of chaos (or any boss if you like suffering) and I think you can equip the tin banishment catalyst with 2h and get it physical damage? but yeah the challenge could be done even excluding the consumables apparently

[@PressContinue]

Ah good point. I hadn't even thought about AoT. But yes that would have been another possible damage source. but not the Tin banishment catalyst since it requires 10 dex and 12 int.

[@jayjasespud]

I think that you could have got away with 2 pyromancies if you count the ascended flame as a separate weapon. (Only 1 boss with pyromancy makes sense to me within the challenge because they all use the pyromancy flame)

[@PressContinue]

Yeah I also wanted to subvert the expectation that this run would be all about pyromancies. Also I tend to include arbitrary rules because er... well that's kinda what I tend to do...

[@ngotemna8875]

​@@PressContinueAh,what would life be without arbitrary self-imposed rules

[@GameBuff2305]

Have I already mentioned that I love that the joystick in the Press segments is the PS4 one when showing it from the back and the PS5 one when showing it from the front 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@PressContinue]

A bit like how the window from inside is a wooden frame with 4 little windows, but is a single solid sheet of glass from the other side ;) I'm consistently inconsistent

[@trharrington22]

Id love to see another Lies of P challenge ❤

[@PressContinue]

Oh so would I. But the last LoP video bombed so hard that it's simply not viable. I mean the channel has been on a very steady decline throughout last year and is currently in algorithm hell. So I pretty much have to play things safe. Hopefully things will pick up whenever the ER DLC finally drops. And if that happens and it becomes viable to expand, I very much would like to try non-fromsoft content again.

[@Ramblering]

You could also buy two different Soul Arrow spells and equip both to have 60 casts.

[@PressContinue]

Ah you're right. From Rickert... so easily forgotten

[@Ramblering]

@@PressContinue I hadn't finished the video yet when I made the comment, when you said that I was the meme of DiCaprio pointing at the screen "YOU FORGOT HIM"

[@donkeysunite25]

Rickert the furtive pygmy confirmed ?

[@DoomWolfOfficial]

the foreshadowing was heavy in this lol great video! Would the armor of thorns also counted? like for bed of chaos?

[@PressContinue]

Yeah a few others mentioned AoT as well. And yes that would indeed have been an option as well. I simply hadn't even thought about that.

[@lharsay]

I tried to kill Gwyn at sl1 with Soul Arrows (with Oolicile Catalyst), it seemed to be possible but I gave up.

[@qcdoomqc]

I love Press videos of the Continue variety :p My favorite Souls challenge channel by far!

[@three_black_knights]

you forgot about the armor of thorns as a possible damage source. speaking of, you could do armor of thorns only run to be a literal thorn in the enemies' backsides

[@PressContinue]

Yeah someone else mentioned AoT as well. Indeed I hadn't thought of that. Too heavy to fast roll on SL1 but at least it was a potential damage source

[@deliriushunter]

Giant Blacksmith Hammer actually being called "Blacksmith Giant Hammer" just blew my mind... wtf

[@MoonlightGr8Swrd]

Gefeliciteerd met 100k subs man :D

[@Innes1]

love that you used dark reality from kings field on the intro, i love that song.

[@yamiryushi]

I wish I could break the like button for that Nightwish reference!

[@PressContinue]

I actually had to think for a minute what you were referring to, because Walking in the Air is of course a song covered by Nightwish but the original is from the movie the snowman (hence the Christmas comment)

[@matthewmorgan1715]

Great video! Really like the routing. I'd love to see a ds2 version 😂. I'm sure you got some feed back on the style where you included the raw streaming footage with your original stream audio but I really prefer this more review like script. Cheers

[@highmeoweldergod8371]

I can tell how much time you put into the script, its actually crazy how goofy the stuff you say is. Great vid bud

[@Play-CRAWL]

I need you to upload more, your videos are amazing!!

[@PressContinue]

I wish I could, but creating videos takes a lot of time.

[@viljamtheninja]

My guy did Priscilla dirty with that pun. Not to mention with the dung pies.

[@PressContinue]

Sowwy...

[@baguetteboi120]

thanks for keeping on posting banger content, man! the challenges dont miss 😎

[@somebody4094]

23:57 for the pronunciation of cestus, the term in Latin, retains the c unchanged in the sweet sound ce as if it were cherry, however in English the c is phonetically replaced by an s similar to the French sweet c also the form caestus pronounced both as written and with the diphthong ae read as e with the Latin sweet C is a correct pronunciation. historically, as a spelling, the latter is also closer to the original. But the a, due to a phonetic issue, has since been lost in Italian since it disappears in the sound unless the alternative phonetics that separates the a from the e in the diphthong are used c like centipide

[@PressContinue]

... so it's pronounced boxing glove?

[@somebody4094]

​@@PressContinueyou can pronounce it however you like, they are all correct because they are all current

[@WillyKurniwan]

Great video man kepp going

[@JaggedBird]

11:49 you couldn't resist could ya, mate?

[@Zarroxius]

The music you use for your outro is sick, especially paired with the cutscenes.

[@vhem6007]

Don’t think I’ve ever been this early to one of your vids, excited to see how this actually goes!

[@martinnilsen2853]

Just what i needed today ❤️ love your videos

[@emmettraymond8058]

Mad respect for limiting the pyromancies.

[@zombievegetron]

yaaay, it's been a while since I've seen a Press video and this just made my night

[@PressContinue]

Then you've probably missed out on my previous 2 videos as well. So in case you're curious...

[@gabrielalen5359]

26:01 "come on, vamos" is funny to me because in portuguese vamos also means "come on"

[@PressContinue]

That was indeed what I was going for there, yes

[@ruileite2634]

You forgot another option at the end: the armor of thorns set. Painful but still an option.

[@LaxonPfc]

Do you plan to do this for other games?? Would be interesting with all the stat boosting gear

[@Juni_0220]

I was literally just watching one of your videos and another one appears! a good dayy

[@skylerbieber4698]

Watch out here he comes, its press continue

[@PressContinue]

Watch out, boy, I'll chew you up

[@steamroy]

oi mate, i do indeed quite thoroughly enjoy your content. Thanks.

[@wasfas1977]

11:14 The reason you can bleed him effectively on his tail is because this is a Japanese game, so he's certainly pumping blood into it.

[@PressContinue]

Japanese pump blood in their tails?

[@wasfas1977]

@@PressContinue Monsters in Japanese media definitely do.

[@tytar1037]

What?🤣

[@rabehaymen6530]

I have a suggestion for a run, i have seen a video called "7 ways to screw yourself over in ds1", can you try complete the game while doing them, or only some of them if it's impossible

[@forgeguy2126]

Im so glad you make videos and show me exactly how terrible i am at games

[@ernestogonzalez2841]

I cant with your constant puns, man. Keep it up

[@SvartUlv9]

Comment for the algorithm!! I always love a new Press continue video!

[@ViralHijack]

You could have gotten a second Soul Arrow spell from Rickert to double the amount for Capra Demon.

[@PressContinue]

Rickert... so easily forgotten...

[@procow2274]

Using starting ac in armored core is like doing level 1 runs

[@PressContinue]

I suppose it would be

[@n0v3mb3r7]

the puns are breaching containment in this one

[@uraccountcrashed8845]

23:52 "Kye-stoos", and plural is "Kye-stye" (Caesti). The word is Greek in origin. And while I'm here, it's "Ornstyne", not "Ornsteen." Don't know why everyone gets it wrong, but I looked it up in the Japanese spelling just to be safe and it's a long "eye" sound. If for some reason you refuse to believe me, check out the Japanese spelling of his name, オーンスタイン and put it into Google Translate or something and have it read it to you.

[@thesturmvogel6359]

Maybe i am just fucking exhausted from 98 hours of flight in the last 28 days and not having any holidays in nearly a year to the day But hearing that the four kings where killed, by only killing 3 was unreasonably funny to me. i was coughing from laughter and i think i might be broken lmao

[@PressContinue]

Actually the 4 kings fight can range from a single king up to 12 kings. Of course there are only 4, but until the shared lifebar is depleted they will keep respawning

[@thesturmvogel6359]

My god 12 sounds like a nightmare.

[@kennyandfriendsadventures2144]

To make this challenge harder you should have done it with one type from each class

[@istoleyunomilesbigmac]

also you can buy the gold pine resing at the one dude under the bridge, dumbhall

[@DrMindy67]

“Variety is the spice of life” Lemon

[@kurtgrgelwrx8376]

loved the Sense Fortress joke

[@doctorstrangepants6706]

Press Continue. I Always Appreciate All your Awesome And Astounding, Albeit Almost Annoying, Alliteration. Anytime, Anywhere.

[@istoleyunomilesbigmac]

14:34 finally someone relates to me this shi happened too often to me

[@xTerminatorAndy]

your accent is quite obvious Dutch (Netherlands). Very nice 🙂

[@Mohgwyn_]

Nightmare weapon rotation

[@rafaelnerymachado5787]

@thebacklogs are you gonna let him say at 4:33 that firebombs are weak????

[@PressContinue]

Well... it wasn't through the roof now was it...

[@soulslikebeastt2024]

18:30 Honestly i can't look at Priscilla dying and not remembering the softlock she does if she dies too quickly...

[@PressContinue]

Priscilla endless moaning is not the worst kind of limbo there is...

[@soulslikebeastt2024]

@@PressContinue Aaah...

[@fromthegamethrone]

Moan%

[@eduardorickrot4763]

Run idea: kill each boss while cosplaying as one of their minions. I love pretending Im the knight next to the final boss when i kill him Besides, fantastic video as always!

[@ElementEvilTeam]

Challenge idea: discard everything (equipment and inventory except estus flask, souls (currency) and key items) after beating a boss

[@PressContinue]

Pretty similar to this. Main difference is that it wouldn't be solely focused on bosses. But the majority f regular enemies in the game can be avoided anyway

[@Mcsteveberry]

i love me some ds1 content

[@godrefl]

This should be taken to another level, with armor and also being changed, or in a non level one scenario, the entire build being randomized occasionally.

[@PressContinue]

Wouldn't that just be a use what you see randomizer run?

[@godrefl]

@@PressContinue yea probably if its not sl1, though what I meant was the items should change after a certain period of time and you cant use the same ones twice.

[@godrefl]

and not just what you see but anything in your inventory and to use nothing if there is no unique item to use.

[@TizioVerde]

Light crossbow was wasted onnthe butterfly, that thing is criminallynunderrated in SL1. Pair itnwith hawk and leo ring and Manus becomes a joke.

[@PressContinue]

Oh really? Hadn't considered that at all since crossbows should be the same on SL1 as on a leveled character and they aren't exactly very good

[@TizioVerde]

@@PressContinue I mean, a skilled playe who as no problems fighting Manus will probably take less time with a decent melee weapon but the light crossbow makes the fight trivial even for average players doing their first sl1. The leo boosted counters are surprisingly strong and easy to land even without specifically going for it.

[@timootto5397]

Everytime when watching a Level 1 run, at one point,m y brain is like, why doesnt he just level Vitality?.... I hate my brain.

[@rolfstalker2986]

Press Continue runs be like: "I'm gonna beat Dark Souls with only dung pies!" Okay that's a fair challenge. "But I can only free-aim and I have to do a 360 before each toss!" Well that seems a little excess... "AND each second I'm gonna pour Tabasco unto my eyeballs!!!" ...Why are you doing this to yourself?

[@PressContinue]

Mwah I didn't go that far in this playthrough. I simply took the focus away from pyromancies

[@rolfstalker2986]

@@PressContinue I guess it wasn't that bad in this video. But your ability to add extra stuff on top of a challenge honestly astounds me (and I must admit, it IS fun to watch).

[@seiki4519]

A Dutch drinking wine instead of Amstel/ Heineken ... that saddens my heart.

[@PressContinue]

Actually I had a glass of Bavaria instead in the DS3 dragon stones only video, but when it got demonetized I decided to cut out anything that could potentially have triggered demonetization, so I removed the Bavaria as well. In fact that's why in the ER Vyke video I put an apple juice box on the table instead.

[@seiki4519]

@@PressContinue So sorry to hear that my friend. I just hope that outside of the algorithm cruel hands, you are, in fact, enjoy a cold one ! Awesome video as always, btw !

[@NotactualyWeezer]

I wish ds1 had a battle pass

[@PressContinue]

Don't give them any ideas

[@LoliFoxQueen]

i fought gaping dragon without killing the channeler first once, i added an extra layer of depth to the fight.

[@PressContinue]

Well Gaping Dragon is located there for a reason I suppose. Then again I'm not sure if the depths really needed another layer...

[@LoliFoxQueen]

@@PressContinueprobably doesn't, the only reason i ended up doing the harder version of the fight was cause i forgot about the channeler in the first place on that run. ... not sure how i managed to first try that one.

[@PhillStone]

pressing x to doubt on this one... lets see how it goes!

[@PressContinue]

Time to unpress that X methinks...

[@PhillStone]

@@PressContinue oooohhh I'm impressed, so I'll unpress it, Press. That was a really good challenge run, not too brutal, not too repetitive!

[@sh-ogun]

Hey Press, serious question I wanna ask. How did you decide on the name “Press Continue”?

[@PressContinue]

Well in retro games you had limited continues. So when you had a game over, if you wanted to keep going you had to press continue. And the essence of challenge running is to keep going after failure. So don't give up... keep going... press continue.

[@sh-ogun]

@@PressContinue ah great logic from you as usual. You’re my favourite souls challenge runner, keep it up bro💪🏾

[@Dying2game]

I wonder if this challenge would work for the other games

[@PressContinue]

Well that would be much more doable since those games do contain stat boosting gear. Demon's souls might be a different story though, however in that game at SL1 you have 12 dex. And that's the most limiting stat.

[@JoaoPereira-bg6fg]

Where is the song that is playing in the beginning of the video from?

[@PressContinue]

King's Field IV OST - Dark Reality

[@JoaoPereira-bg6fg]

@@PressContinue thanks!

[@insertusername9755]

Skull lantern run when?

[@PressContinue]

LOL, believe it or not I had that in a poll before Elden Ring came out but it lost to Bloodborne Whistle Only. And that's a good thing because the skull lantern does like 10 damage or so at best...

[@scrungo7610]

Dude what is that intro music? It sounds familiar

[@PressContinue]

Dark reality from the kingsfield soundtrack

[@scrungo7610]

@@PressContinue Nice! Thanks!

[@PhillStone]

hahha - man of occulture :D

[@ikej1200]

The lower your stamina is in-game, the higher it needs to be in real life

[@terrafimeira]

The puns. The puns!

[@PressContinue]

Punnalicious

[@martinfischer7735]

Greetings from Germany I fucking love your videos 🤘

[@n1mand]

I like his dutch accent!^^

[@PressContinue]

Lekker hè

[@HeroesNoMore.]

Priscilla got shat on😂

[@PressContinue]

Not even the most toxic relationship I know of...

[@jacydesica4069]

Pinwheel is a bigger threat then Malenia. Nobody beats Pinwheel without cheeses or cheats.

[@tututa534]

26:01 omg. Press speaks Portuguese

[@PressContinue]

Was meant to be Spanish but fair enough, that also works.

[@tututa534]

It's the same in both languages. So, counting the english, you made a trilingual pun.@@PressContinue

[@SpikedKirby]

can you beat darksouls without lights in your house?

[@PressContinue]

You have lights in your house? I exist within permanent darkness...

[@PhillStone]

Press confirms: backlogs 1shot release date in 2188 days 30:00

[@PressContinue]

And we're gonna hold him to it!

[@syisstoopid]

i commented the same idea that this video used on a community post but instead of using a different weapon chosen by you, using a weapon chosen by a wheel. i deleted the comment 💀

[@scottt7309]

Hi me again. I would like to sign the petition to change centipede demons name.

[@PressContinue]

Centi

[@scottt7309]

Can we get merchandise with that on it. You know spread the word.

[@lobstrosity7163]

Cool!

[@lobstrosity7163]

4:40 Oh lawd

[@Soapy-chan]

10 bucks says he only died to the butchers to make that joke (I dont have 10 bucks, dont sue me)

[@man....IDK....1]

ima sue you

[@TRIC4pitator]

Jeez

[@PressContinue]

us Christ

[@monkeymaddness3705]

Bro water to play gun game in dark souls😂😂

[@oliverbenedek1497]

Can we just acknowledge that he called the rtsr setup op with the occult club after it dealt three more damage than without

[@PressContinue]

Then you didn't pay close enough attention. I did 3 more damage with an R1 with RTSR active, compared to an R2 attack with power within.

[@oliverbenedek1497]

@@PressContinue thanks I didn't see that

[@Notsogoodguitarguy]

The weapon is pronounced KEKstus.

[@PressContinue]

Ah that must be it!

[@slurpy9021]

Why do you have to post when I am at work

[@PressContinue]

Well once you get home you have to relaxing to watch while putting your feet up :)

[@slurpy9021]

@@PressContinueyea true I just got off work sooooo

[@coobk]

press continue and jk leeds vid on the same day my new great 2ave but trans pride hoofie arrives? can this day get any better?

[@PressContinue]

Ah you right, I shouldn't forget to go and watch his Elden Ring turned Squid Game video myself

[@bullghani]

Whats up press?

[@PressContinue]

Well hello there

[@JKLeeds]

2030 🍋🥶😱

[@PressContinue]

Too optimistic?

[@JKLeeds]

I wish I could post the gif of Homer Simpson disappearing into the hedge here 😂

[@MatsYoo]

gg good 👍

[@scottt7309]

Pupa

[@scottt7309]

Really like the idea of a weapon variety run

[@PressContinue]