How are you fairing with these two btw, and do you prefer one over the other or equally(especially in the change between the two in how you died and how that affected gameplay)?

With regards to Demons Souls, I've gotten through to most of the final level bosses, just haven't finished all of them off yet. One portion of the Valley of Defilement is really twisting my pants, and the 2nd boss of the Tower is ticking me off too. I've really just started playing Dark Souls, only maybe a couple of hours into it with two bosses down, they both have things that they do well individually. I'm by no means a master of either and I'm constantly getting raided when I venture to the life side of the game.

Dark Souls IMO took Demon's Souls and obviously added to the formula, but in my short time with it, it feels like they added maybe just a bit too much. Personally I thought the layout of the inventory was just fine in the first game. The latter of the two seems to have cluttered it up to me. I do like the aspect of not having to go to a completely different area to respawn enemies though. Dying in either really doesn't change much of anything except for the fact that you have to fight your way back to your corpse and try not to die again in the process.

While on the subject, something odd happened to me tonight while playing. I was in the underpass near the red dragon and was slowly plucking away at his chin with a bow. This after I nearly died to a black knight and managed to lose him, then all of a sudden a gump opens saying Drakes Sword, like I had just picked the item up. Only I didn't and hadn't killed anything to earn it. By the way, the dragon is going to take a ton of arrows, 200 wasn't even going to do it...

It's been a while since I've played Demon's Souls, but the Valley of Defilement is the swamp-like area where you are prone to poison isn't it? I did find that area quite an annoyance to get through. There's an area in Dark Souls that's pretty similar to it once you manage to get to the bottom of that map. You had the ever-spawning mosquito-like enemies too that also could cause poison if I remember. Speaking of difficult aspects in certain areas; you have the problem of the Curse status, which you actually need to be inflicted with to effectively kill the ghosts in New Londo Ruins, but you can obtain the Transient Curse item(which are limited), so it doesn't completely screw over your character while being cursed. (because those frogs in the Depths tend to inflict it on you if you are not careful). As for invasions in Dark Souls, it felt pretty unbalanced compared to Demon's Souls. You had NPC invasions, and certain areas where there would be a constant stream of players trying to invade you, and some of them were accompanied by full-health phantoms instead of half-health like Demon's Souls. It would be definitely be a pain.



I agree, DS's inventory did complicate things a bit(wasn't as easy to find items),and as for difference in exploration, with Dark Souls you are given the ability to freely roam and discover new locations on your own(which I liked), versus reporting back to the nexus and having to unlock the other areas. Certain areas though, made it a scavenger hunt to find the bonfires, especially in areas that tend to be very spread out between the last one found, like Tomb of the Giants, where it seems almost necessary to make use of the bonfire when you can, since it was difficult to get through.



Ha ha,there are couple glitches related to this; usually if it's when you pick off the Dragon's tail hanging off in the stone bridge right under him. He dies and gives you the Drake Sword, or if you hit him in the back the right way, he disappears and gives you the item, and yet when you go back to the first area he appeared in, he either is still there or missing(and just shows up somewhere else). As for the arrows, it helps a bit if you are focused on your dexterity; otherwise, yes, it'll take a shit-ton of arrows.

Went back to Borderlands and AVP 2010, just because of Aliens and Borderlands 2

Sorry I never got around to playing Demon's Souls with you Wong, at this point it would probably take me a while to make a new character and catch up to whatever level you're at, and you're probably pretty far off from my existing character as well. I'm level 90 or so if I remember correctly.

The Maneater (The boss of the second level of the Tower of Latria) gave me so much trouble. In the end I resorted to poisoning both of them and playing footsies around the big fire on the round platform until they died. Speaking of the Tower of Latria, I love that place. Such an amazing horror atmosphere. That's one of the reasons I prefer Demon's Souls, it was possible to integrate vastly diverse worlds side-by-side thanks to the Nexus. With Dark Souls, there's still a good deal of diversity, but because of the need for smooth transitions between areas, we don't get such heavily themed levels.

If you ever need some help with Dark Souls, shoot me a message on PSN. I've got several characters for Dark Souls, one of which is probably within level range for playing with you.

Played Final Fantasy XIII-2 yesterday. I finished the storyline, but I'm still collecting the last remaining fragments, upgrading some monsters, and....... trying to capture Lightning for about the 20th time haha!

I got two characters so far for Demon's. One of them I wound up using a boss' soul before I knew you could use them for Weapons, Spells etc. So I started another and I'm pretty close to catching up already. I completely agree with you about the atmosphere of each world, I like the Tower for it's horror atmosphere, and I love the castle. I think my favorite so far is the Shrine of Storms. Valley can kiss my ass lol!!

As far as Dark Souls goes, I've been progressing decently. I've passed the Gaping Dragon and I'm grinding on Blighttown. I tried working on the Valley of Drakes but, err those Wyverns are pretty rough. If your up to it tomorrow maybe we could run about for a few levels.

Lament of Innocence
RE5 Co-op
Aria of Sorrow

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception.
Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition 2012 version.
Tekken 6.
Mass Effect 3.
Final Fantasy XIII-2, the story so far.
Gems.

The Shrine of Storms is a nice area to farm souls from(the reaper enemies) if you're good with arrows. I really enjoyed the boss from that area too.

I'll also admit that the blue dragon/wyvern-things aren't easy to block; I'm not even sure if they are really susceptible to poison arrows or not, I always try to snipe them from the distance. and then you have those rotting dragons in the area to deal with as well. I think there's a back way to that area if you defeat the Titanite demon in that room right across from the stairs that lead down to the blacksmith/bonfire around the Undead Parish exit.