What games are you currently playing?

[Pokebis]

I don't post in these sorts of threads because I usually cycle through several games at a time, but I appear to have dropped everything else in favor of Skyrim. So this is where my time is going. At least for a while.

[Diamondback1996]

Like 75% of my Steam friends list plays Skyrim. ._.

[Fluffyumpkins]

Demon's Souls was just hard at the beginning when I didn't know the tricks and hadn't learned to be really defensive. I'm always overly offensive in all games. After I got a few levels under my belt and some okay gear I got through the middle of the game just fine. Never did beat the final boss though... Only tried him a couple times though.

Dark Souls feels easier, but it is probably because I know the formula now. Many say it's tougher than the original and it is certainly still very hard. I'm only halfway through too.

I'm about halfway through now. Fun game, but I get annoyed at having to check a FAQ for everything NPC related. I don't want to guess wrong and have to spend 20,000 souls to make an NPC not mad at me.

[Riot]

What are you worried about? Just don't kill em that's really all you have to know. There are definitely things to check guides for but mostly it was for bonfire locations or tricks to killing bosses or getting patterns for me. Or what upgrades to be shooting for, even though there's really only a few things worth upgrading: Upgrade a katana/scimitar/Iaito to +10 and then use Quelaag's soul to make a Quelaag's Fury Sword. Upgrade a Hollow Soldier's Shield to +10 so it has really high poise. And upgrade any small shield to +10 and use the Moonlit Butterfly Soul to make the projectile shooting shield, but this one isn't that important, it's just kinda nice to have. Besides that, using Havel's Armor which you find behind a secret wall in a fireplace in Anor Londo (like halfway through the game) is super good and I used it the rest of the game.

Are you really halfway? When I thought I was halfway I still had a ways to go.

Undead Burg
Undead Parish (first bell)
Depths
Blighttown (second bell... this area was the first super annoying area for me because it was all dark and people were shooting me with poison darts from places I didn't see)
Sen's Fortress (traps were really annoying, but you get the Lightning Spear in a mimic chest here and it's really good)
Anor Londo (long, but good loot here. final boss was hard) When you beat this it's halfway IMO. You get the Lordvessel which lets you teleport to bonfires and have to now go to each of the four final areas which each have two big sections to navigate through with a boss in each
Darkroot Gardens/Basin - Technically you can do the Butterfly whenever (it's optional) but you have to kill the Great Wolf Sif to get this crest item which lets you fight a boss later)

You can do them in any order but here was how I would recommend (each area has the initial zone and then a connected deeper zone with the final lord soul boss):
Duke's Archives - Crystal Caves (you get here by going up the steps past the first bonfire in Anor Londo)
Catacombs - Tomb of the Giants (this place will suck balls unless you have a divine weapon, otherwise the skeletons keep respawning. you get a divine club in Anor Londo though. Tomb of the Giants is pitch black which is annoying, but you can find a torch if you can navigate through for a few minutes... I just watched a youtube vid and followed what he did and was okay. It's a bitch to get through, but ultimately the bosses weren't that hard... imo all the bosses in these final 4 zones aren't super hard and the areas to get to them are much harder)
New Londo Ruins - The Abyss (annoying ghost enemies that can't be hit unless you consume a Transient Curse item, but they're really not that hard if you are careful and don't waste these items. there's a shortcut to the Abyss that lets you get to the boss really quickly if you die once you trigger the water to sink out)
Demon's Ruins - Lost Izalith (again, the bosses aren't hard... but the areas to get to them are really annoying. Lost Izalith especially. The ENTIRE floor is covered in lava (you have to wear a special ring to take minimal damage, but even still you are constantly taking damage as you run), and it is covered in giant lizard monsters that are so big they break the camera. Luckily they don't respawn once you kill them even if you die, so it's just a matter of patience clearing them, and they can kill each other with their stomps)

Then the final boss is just a quick run through some Black Knights, and the boss is hard but if you're good at parrying he's really easy actually. There are additional areas that I didn't even list, but they're optional. These are the required places.

[Fluffyumpkins]

I'm at the Iron Golem now.

[Riot]

I'm at the Iron Golem now.

Good jorb you made it past the traps! Did you get the Lightning Spear? The Iron Gorem isn't too bad you just gotta dance around his feet but roll away when he's winding up to grab you. If you didn't already, be sure to make the jump across the broken bridge that you pass on your way up the top to talk to the merchant. He sells Titanite Chunks which you have to use to upgrade stuff past +5 so that's really useful, plus if you go down to the bottom of the tower he's at you can find a key for the cages which can take you up and down from the top of Sen's to the bottom entrance which is really handy. You're almost at Anor Londo which is really preeeettttyyyy!

[Fluffyumpkins]

I'm at the Iron Golem now.

Good jorb you made it past the traps! Did you get the Lightning Spear? The Iron Gorem isn't too bad you just gotta dance around his feet but roll away when he's winding up to grab you. If you didn't already, be sure to make the jump across the broken bridge that you pass on your way up the top to talk to the merchant. He sells Titanite Chunks which you have to use to upgrade stuff past +5 so that's really useful, plus if you go down to the bottom of the tower he's at you can find a key for the cages which can take you up and down from the top of Sen's to the bottom entrance which is really handy. You're almost at Anor Londo which is really preeeettttyyyy!

Traps only killed me twice. I ran the wrong way from the first set of rolling boulders and plunged to my death. Bad guess. The 2nd time I didn't actually die from the fall, but I tossed the controller. When I saw I wasn't dead, I tried to drink an estus quickly but died anyway to a big ol' demon thing. I'm 0-5 on the Iron Golem (fell each time) but will tackle it again soon with newly equipped spells and such.

I really can't wait until I can Teleport between bonfires. Back to the sewers to farm humanity on rats.

I got invaded for the first time. I did a crap-ton of damage to the guy, but he killed me in 2 hits with some weird weapon I hadn't seen. That was a fun waste of a humanity.

[SoDeepPolaris]

WoW for another month
Skyrim
BF3

[Potter]

rfactor, bf3 (fffffff), dues ex: human revolution - The Missing Link. It's actually playing pretty well for an "add-on" pack and filling in some holes that were in the main game quite nicely.

oh and minecraft

[Fluffyumpkins]

Iron Golem ded. I died 3 more times, and ended up summoning a fwiend to help. Fight was cake after that.

Now I'm in Lando Pando tankin' around with my Havel garb. Havel is probably my favorite character in the game thus far. We don't know much about him, but I've made some assumptions:

- He appreciated a good meal.
- He was a good friend who earned himself the nickname 'The Rock.'
- He took crap from nobody, ever.
- He never drank beer, but enjoyed bourbon a great deal.
- He didn't own a TV.
- He had a pet turtle.
- The ladies loved him, but could not keep his interest.
- He won his ring as a child playing a crane game at the local Aladdin's Castle.

I just made it through the part with the two archers that fire massive arrows as you ascend a ramp. What a pain in the ass.

[Riot]

Everyone on the forum was always crying about those archers but I never even got hit by them. I just ran right up the ledges and they never hit me. I think you just have to move quickly; those bolts go slow and aside from the knockback don't really do much. You just have to run and overpower the knights.

So yeah, you got the Havel set? It's pretty pro. I used it the whole game cuz it's awesome and looks sweet. You can farm the titanite to make a Quelaag's Furysword at the big blacksmith in Anor Londo (have you found him yet)? If you've got Havel's set you're almost at the end... you go past that and into the main great hall with the giant knights which are a pain, unlock the giant front gate to the left so you can easily get back to the main bonfire, but if you go straight ahead to the stairs across from where you came from from the inner Havel's gear area, you find this giant blacksmith with a path out to unlock the little cage door on the left side of the main entrance to the castle. This is the only guy that can make stuff with certain boss souls like Quelaag. You can upgrade the Furysword to +5 if you get enough Demon Titanite, which you get from killing those big minibosses like the one guarding the forest entrance (there's one in the cathedral in Anor Londo just past the Havel set area). The bosses for Anor Londo are a bitch, I'd recommend killing the skinny one first.

AND THEN YOU GET TO SEE A GIANT LADY WITH GIANT BOOOOOOOBIEEEEEEES

[Fluffyumpkins]

Everyone on the forum was always crying about those archers but I never even got hit by them. I just ran right up the ledges and they never hit me. I think you just have to move quickly; those bolts go slow and aside from the knockback don't really do much. You just have to run and overpower the knights.

So yeah, you got the Havel set? It's pretty pro. I used it the whole game cuz it's awesome and looks sweet. You can farm the titanite to make a Quelaag's Furysword at the big blacksmith in Anor Londo (have you found him yet)? If you've got Havel's set you're almost at the end... you go past that and into the main great hall with the giant knights which are a pain, unlock the giant front gate to the left so you can easily get back to the main bonfire, but if you go straight ahead to the stairs across from where you came from from the inner Havel's gear area, you find this giant blacksmith with a path out to unlock the little cage door on the left side of the main entrance to the castle. This is the only guy that can make stuff with certain boss souls like Quelaag. You can upgrade the Furysword to +5 if you get enough Demon Titanite, which you get from killing those big minibosses like the one guarding the forest entrance (there's one in the cathedral in Anor Londo just past the Havel set area). The bosses for Anor Londo are a bitch, I'd recommend killing the skinny one first.

AND THEN YOU GET TO SEE A GIANT LADY WITH GIANT BOOOOOOOBIEEEEEEES

Immanent amazing chest.

[Fluffyumpkins]

Finished Dark Souls. Quick review time!

Grade: C

Combat was clunky and non-responsive. Some attacks clipped through walls while some didn't. PVP was just plain awful. 15 minute snooze fest of rolling, blocking, and the random backstab to the face. I felt like I was battling the game engine more so than the enemies themselves. Every fight was an exercise in exploiting crappy game AI or poor environment design. Other similar games like Zelda or God of War are very clear about what attacks the enemy has and how to counter them. That polish was completely neglected in Dark Souls.

Story was ridiculous, characters were forgettable, and there were loads of opportunities to miss character interactions without the use of a FAQ/Wiki. All you need to know to play this game is don’t kill any of the NPCs unless a guide says you can.

The challenge of the game is about the only redeeming quality. Boss fights punish you for mistakes and make you really analyze them before mashing attack ala Kingdom Hearts. Though anything can, and frequently will, cause you to die, the death penalty isn’t that bad. Even if you lose all of your humanity and souls, they aren’t hard to recollect with a bit off effort. 20 minutes of grinding can net you 50,000 souls in the right spots.

Like with most RPGs finding new weapons, rings, and armor felt rewarding. Some games have between 10-15 substantial rewards to look forward to. Dark Souls, mostly because of the difficulty, had more than 50.

Graphics were just very disappointing. The xbox dropped to a sub 15fps framerate on a number of occasions, especially when spells were involved. Everything was just a brown textured glob for 90% of the game, and a bloom effect for the other 10%.

If you’re bored of the ease in modern games, Dark Souls might be for you. Otherwise buy Arkham City or replay the God of War series. I beat the game just to say I did, but I think I would’ve had more fun resting at a bonfire in real life.

[Riot]

Good little review. I thought the game was fun and challenging. The story was nonexistent, but I knew that going in after Demon's Souls; it's more about the atmosphere and exploration/battle. I thought the battle system was pretty good, despite camera issues. I like having to actually block and be careful and how weapons feel heavy and powerful. The graphics I thought were pretty good, and yeah consoles have slowdown, but it never really got in the way or made me die.

I never did any PVP at all, so can't talk about that. It seems odd that fights would take that long. Seems like it'd be a mistimed attack punished by a roll + backstab and that's all she wrote. PVP in Demons Souls was pretty good, but maybe you just got invaded by some lame people. It'd probably be fun invading other newbs.

Overall, I'd give the game a B+. It was really all about exploring and surviving... both new enemies, situations, dungeons and traps, etc. I think it did a good job of making the journey tense and rewarding... except how it just kind of ends with a whimper.

[Fluffyumpkins]

Good little review. I thought the game was fun and challenging. The story was nonexistent, but I knew that going in after Demon's Souls; it's more about the atmosphere and exploration/battle. I thought the battle system was pretty good, despite camera issues. I like having to actually block and be careful and how weapons feel heavy and powerful. The graphics I thought were pretty good, and yeah consoles have slowdown, but it never really got in the way or made me die.

I never did any PVP at all, so can't talk about that. It seems odd that fights would take that long. Seems like it'd be a mistimed attack punished by a roll + backstab and that's all she wrote. PVP in Demons Souls was pretty good, but maybe you just got invaded by some lame people. It'd probably be fun invading other newbs.

Overall, I'd give the game a B+. It was really all about exploring and surviving... both new enemies, situations, dungeons and traps, etc. I think it did a good job of making the journey tense and rewarding... except how it just kind of ends with a whimper.

The battle system was too slow paced. Just a lot of waiting, blocking, and countering over and over. I used the lunge (forward+rt) all the time. Enemies always lower their shield to counter just in time to get the first hit in. Fireball + lunge = dead anything.

PVP was slow exactly because of the nature of combat. The defensive player was at an advantage. I get bored after a few minutes and try an assault, but usually get beat. To be good, I'd need to focus on opening up the defense with the right equipment which is very different from PVE equipment. I don't have time to make that switch once a fight started. Lag was also terrible, but no surprise there.

By the end of the game, I'd given up exploring entirely. I had the equipment I wanted, so no reason to do anything except rush bosses which isn't so bad since bosses are where the game really shines. A few were crappy though:

Bed of Chaos was lame.
Close quarters Capra Demon was a load of trash.
Pinwheel went down in 3 hits.
Ceaseless discharge was a gimmick.

I really liked Dark Sun Gwyndolin and Quelaag.
If nothing else, I can't wait to play Skyward Sword.