Talk:Shrine of Winter/@comment-11372593-20140619035654/@comment-24398933-20140619040725

If you're on NG, having a Soul Memory equal or higher than 1 million (Not 1 million souls) will open the Shrine of Winter without having to kill the Four Old Ones.

The Drangleic Castle isn't hard itself, just avoid Fire attacks because the rain reduces it's damage.

I would suggest killing the Old Ones to get more experience, though