Part 18: Sinner's Rise
Sinner's Rise is the home to the third Old One we need to steal the soul from so we can go to some castle later. Like with every Old One so far there's a little Lore video for people who're not that familiar with the relevant Lore of the first game. The area itself mostly consists of a long corridor filled with water. It's not nearly as annoying to play through as Black Gulch so despite being about the same length it feels much shorter.
Lost Sinner
The Lost Sinner, while bigger than a player character can be, is relatively unassuming. She's about as big as other bosses which were slightly bigger than humans for effect. If you look closely at her intro cinematic you'll see a small bug crawling around on her face and into her eye. Most people believe that this bug is the actual Lost Sinner who's merely possesing a body. This is because one of the first game's most infamous bosses, The Bed of Chaos, is a bug at the center of a much bigger boss creature. The Old Witch's Soul we get for defeating the Lost Sinner on New Game+ is most likely related to that boss from the first game.
As for fighting the Lost Sinner: It's mostly a question of whether you can time your dodges right. Blocking gets punished but not quite as much as it used to because in the early versions she was stronger and possibly faster to jump around and attack again. That or I just really sucked at fighting her at first because she beat me up good a couple times. Now I find her easy. She just has a variety of different swings you can dodge easily enough if you learned to dodge properly. She can also do a jump attack, which is probably the closest to a "trick" she has but otherwise it's really straightforward.
Until you go to New Game+. Now, you can Ascetic the Bonfire and you'll still get the extra Boss Soul but only on an actual New Game+ you'll have to deal with two more red phantom enemies in the arena. They'll appear after a while and come out of holes in the wall and both of them will use pyromancy. They force you to be on the move a lot more and choose your time to attack wisely. I like to take it really safe by bringing some relatively high damage ranged weapon to deal with them more easily as an opportunity arises but you can be a little more aggressive than me in the video if you're feeling confident. You also don't need to use ranged weapons like I do. Hell, you don't even need to focus on them exclusively and only fight the Sinner again after they are dead, although that makes the whole thing much easier.
If you want to see someone better than me take the sinner watch this. But if you care about spoilers turn annotations off because the player does this thing where they link to another video where they fight a boss basically the same way.
Lost Sinner's Soul
Soul of the Lost Sinner, prisoner of Sinner's Rise.
The Lost Sinner eternally punishes herself for the sins of her past.
Note: According to dialogue you get from Shalquoir some time after beating the Sinner (it doesn't always trigger immediately afterwards, it seems) she is there for attempting to light the first flame. She voluntarily imprisons herself. I forgot this part when making the Lore video. It's a detail though and you'll know when it's relevant.
Lost Sinner's Sword
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Ultra Greatsword
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 184/460
Scales with: STR (D/C), DEX (D)
Requirements: 24 STR, 18 DEX
Damage Type: Slash, Thrust
Note: Attacks will also damage the wielder.
In-Game Description:
An ultra greatsword forged from the soul of the Lost Sinner. It's blade saps the life of its wielder.
The true nature of this sword is unknown, even to the Lost Sinner herself. Those who choose this sword will share the burden of the Lost Sinner's misdeeds."
Effect: attacks damage wielder
Old Witch's Soul
Soul of the ineffable.
This once magnificent soul continues to exert influence over the land, even after the eons have reduced it to these remnants
Chaos Blade
Trade Souls with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Katana
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 106/205
Scales with: DEX (B/A/S)
Requirements: 12 STR, 25 DEX
Damage Type: Slash, Thrust
Note: Attacks will also damage the wielder.
In-Game Description:
Dark Souls II: A Katana of unknown origin. Damage to foes also damages its owner.
The peculiar pattern upon the blade suggests the sinister nature of this cursed blade. It is an alluring vortex and a lonely soul
Dark Souls: A curved sword born from the soul of Quelaag, daughter of the Witch of Izalith, who was transformed into a chaos demon. This blade inherits only the chaotic nature of Quelaag, and has a unique speckled design.
Blade wielder erodes along with opponents.
Note: Quelaag was a Boss who "guarded" one of the two bells of awakening. She didn't actually care to defend the bell as much as using it as a means of attracting people who want to ring it to kill them and harvest their humanity. Which in turn she'd give to her deathly ill sister who needs it to survive.
Flame Weapon
Trade Soul with: Straid
Magic Type: Pyromancy
Requirements: -
Description: A weapon buff. Sets weapon on fire and, of course, adds fire damage to the weapon.
In-Game Description:
Pyromancy that imbues weapon in other hand with fire. Adds fire damage to the types of damage the weapon already inflicts.
Pyromancy and sorcery are said to be like oil and water, but in fact their origins can be traced to a common source
Item Descriptions
Northern Ritual Band
One of the secret treasures restored in Aldia.
Increases spell uses, but at the cost of HP.
This modest-looking ring contains very powerful magic. To imagine what unspeakable deeds were performed to create such rings, one need only recall the cruel fate of the residents of Aldia.