Dark Souls & Other Souls-Likes

Brotherhood of Blood here, in case it wasn't obvious. :3

Kali there is a secret boss in there. It's the last boss I need to do before the final boss now. So that's where I am headed then the final. Apparently go can choose not to go directly into NG+ this time. And choose to at the bonfire later.

Annnnnd finished! Another amazing game. Started out disliking it but it grew on me and everything from Drangleic and forward was awesome.

There were a few things I didn't really like, hoped were in the game or wish it wasn't changed. Too tired now to remember it all so I'll post that tomorrow.

So I started ds2 a couple of days ago, being a fan of the series thus far I'm impressed and slightly disappointed at points. Few things have already been mentioned no pyro at the start, decent amount of time until katanas are available etc. I've also noticed they took the "safety net" away from bonfires, for example the bonfire right inside Sinner's rise the moment you stand up you get wrecked.. Tbh I've found some of the fodder more difficult that bosses thus far.

But for the changes there are lots of high points, seems this one is much larger than ds1. Also enjoyed seeing the return of ornstien much cooler in this one. I've only entered sinners rise and made it downstairs to the waterway before getting mugged but loving the game so far.

If you turn around and rest again at that bonfire. The archers reset and your safety net is there. Just not sure how long it will last.

Also, in this one, if mobs are right on top of you at a bonfire it prevents you from resting to save yourself so-to-speak.

Supposedly around Drangleic it gets harder. Dunno myself though, haven't had much play time to get very far.

I was normally 1-2 shooting enemies and from Drangleic on maybe 4-5 hits especially Dragon's Arie. They also put a lot of touch enemies in packs that you cant pull separately. Some also have unfair fighting tactics (looking at you fast swinging hammer, super aggressive giant!)

I love that it doesn't put you directly into NG+ after you beat the final boss. I actually enjoy fighting along side people and just throwing down my sign at bosses to help.

Jeeez, how would a strict melee person deal with these Salamanders... they're *** ridiculous

I freakin love dragon covenant PvP! I'm up to like 15 wins today. Got my dragon head stone, working on body now.

Things Betwixt
Death 1: Died to giant rat thing before witches.
Death 2: tried fighting it with my new sword :3
Death 3: ^ :x
Death 4: Failed the jumping test...
Death 5: Failed the jumping BACK test xD
Death 6: ^... x.x
Death 7: Died to Twin Ogres guarding Boat
Death 8: ^...
Death 9: Killed one, Died to the other
Death 10: Died to second Ogre
Death 11: Killed second Ogre, Went for revenge for the one at the start.
Death 12: Died to the ogre again, HP getting to be about 50%.
Death 13: Died to the ogre for the last time, but killed it afterwards.

Heide's Tower of Flame
Death 14: Died to the Giant with a big sword ;_;
Death 15: Killed the Giant with a sword, but then swiftly died to the one with the club by falling off the edge into the water.
Death 16-19: Okay, area too difficult :) picked up a human effigy to restore my HP and left.

Forest of Fallen Giants
Death 20: Died to a long swordsman but the area seems more reasonable.

Heide's Tower of Flame
Death 21: Wanted to give this place a few more tries.
Death 22: And I'm backing out again, a room with 3 >_>

Forest of Fallen Giants
Death 23: Died to another long swordsman :<
Death 24-27 Died a few times, up to falling off a tree branch 5 feet and dying <.<;
Death 28: Died trying to recover my souls ;_; *sniff* 7k souls lost~

Heide's Tower of Flame
Death 29-30: Back again, backed off a ledge, I just can't learn, or won't give up Dx
Death 31: Impatience got the best of me, again <.<
Death 32-33: Fell off a ledge... Died to Great Sword giant.. OKAY I GET IT I'LL GO BACK

Forest of Fallen Giants
Death 34-35: Exploring the first part of the fortress.
Death 36-42: Fighting The Last Giant boss
Death 43-49: Exploring the two other areas of The Forest of Fallen Gaints, found the NPC Cale, found the boss The Pursuer, and found another bonfire deeper in. I actually ended up losing the 11k souls I earned from killing the boss The Last Giant (sad), so I farmed the 11k back at this bonfire. I still have to fight the Pursuer, doing that next. Also noteworthy, I beat The Last Giant with my morning star, without any upgrades. I have now gone back to Majula and upgraded it to +4.
Death 50: First death to The Pursuer.
Death 51&52: Deaths against The Pursuer.

Heide's Tower of Flame
No deaths... xP

No-Man's Wharf
Death 53 & 54: Both were from the high bleeding inflicting monsters that have 2 arms and walk around. Both times I had 2 of them on me at once, not a good spot to be in without stairs or a hallway x.x

The Lost Bastille
Death 55-57: The Heide Knight spearman >.>;
Death 58-60: The two undeads that have a super OP AoE attack when they fall down.
Death 61: The group of 5 undead rushing me caught me off guard at the start.
Death 62-66: Fighting the Ruin Sentinels bosses... 3 of them.
Death 67: Ran off a ledge... lost 12k souls...*sigh*

Huntsman's Copse FYI, this was the beta test area
Death 68: Fell down in a pit with poison butterflies and a strong enemy, only 1k souls so left them behind
Death 69-77: Missed a jump :P I found out the correct way to get the shiny :< It's not my fault... I got it by jumping in the beta. ;_;

The Lost Bastille (Belfry Luna)
Death 78-86: bell tower guardians and a bell tower guardian invader :| Finally rang the bell D:
Death 87-102: Belfry Gargoyles fight
Death 103: Got tired of dying, switched to a physical resist 100% shield and then quickly goofed. THE PAIN IS OVER, GARGOYLES DEFEATED \o/ I think I lost 6k souls in this fight.
Death 104: Died from seven dogs and Dark Spirit "Vorgel the Sinner", jerk >:|
Death 105: Suicide run through enemies I can't stand anymore (AoE exploders) to open a cell door at the top of the tower.

No-Man's Wharf
Death 106-107: D pointed out that I missed a building, died xP

Huntsman's Copse
Death 108: Fell off a ledge... Dx

Huntsman's Copse (Undead Purgatory)
Death 109: Failed the jumping back test at the end of the rope bridge after picking up a shiny.
Death 110: Didn't manage the skeletons very well.
Death 111: Got hit by the chariot, lost 15k souls.
Death 112-113: Tried running to the boss entrance <.< got killed entering the fog door :<
Death 114: Died to...idk what to call them, they have a status effect on their polearm/staff.
Death 115: Pretty sure stuff is getting more difficult, I'm doing less damage and they are doing more.
Death 116-117: Dying to the Executioner Chariot
Death 118: Died on the way to the boss~
Death 119: Still dying at the start of the boss battle.
Death 120-158: Dying over and over to skeletons and the Chariot... only 4 attempts I made it to the actual boss fight, 3 of which I obviously died, bringing my total to 44 boss attempts, move over gargoyles, you have a new pain in the *** king. I'm going to take a rough guess and say I lost close to 35k souls before stuff started to despawn completely. The area is basically empty now :\

Huntsman's Copse
Death 159: Died to an NPC invader
Death 160: Failed the jump back from the necromancer
Death 161: Died to normal enemies ;_;

The Lost Bastille
Death 162: Trying to get up the tower to check something, a hunch.

Harvest Valley
Death 163-166: Giant trolls that throw purple magic balls of oneshotness.

Earthen Peak
Death 167-168: Trying to make a jump :(
Death 169: Died to Covetous Demon~ got trapped by accident
Death 170: Fell off the stairs.. lost 14k souls...nice
Death 171: Fell off the same stairs, not even rushing, what is my problem -.-
Death 172: It did some leaping attack while I was next to it, took the rest of my health down~
Death 173-175: Triple ninja attack of death near the bonfire.
Death 176-178: Jumping back fail, gave up trying. Left 2k souls behind
Death 179: Going into battle against 2 shield with my shield unequipped, smart.
Death 180-181: Red Invader NPC kill, or w/e they are called.
Death 182: Pressure plate trap kill :)
Death 183-184: Fire magic in the face 1 hit kill.
Death 185: opened the chest that I was suspicious about, to my satisfaction it was a mimic and it ate me :3
Death 186-188: Died a few more times trying to kill the red invader NPC.
Death 189: Died to the Medusa boss, was one hit away and messed up.

Sinner's Rise
Death 190: Died to an exploding AoE dreadling thing in the waist high water.
Death 191: Died trying to get my souls back; lost ~7k souls. Done with the area for now :)

Grave of Saints
Death 192-193: Swarmed by rats! :< Easy fight though
Death 194-196: ._. exploded. figured out that running is the best tactic.

The Gutter
No deaths... not bad for a decent blightown.. but.... Black Gulch ahead...

Black Gulch
Death 197: Wow... didn't know poison could be so bad.
Death 198, 199, 200: Fighting the Huge giants with dual massive giant stone clubs. Their HP were incredibly high, I'd guess maybe 2000 each, and their attacks are incredibly strong, dodging was required for me to defeat both of them. I can live with them giving me my 200th death instead of me falling off the edge or something lame. Earned their soul and a forgotten key for it.
Death 201: My left foot stepped in fire and I burned :(

The Gutter
Death 202-203: Went to check the door in The Gutter, got Havels armor set for it, but didn't make it back to a bonfire with my souls and no homeward bones. Looks like I need to farm some. 6k souls lost~

Sinner's Rise
Death 204-213: Welp, area is easy, but she's pretty strong with the darkness on her side. I'm pretty sure if I light the oil tunnels behind the two doors the fight will become much easier... but I like the idea of fighting it this way, like how it was intended.

Iron Keep
Death 214-252: Some flame demon thing (Smelter Demon), died 39 times using my usual morning star club.
Death 251: I went and tried Craftsman's Hammer, first try we died at the same time, second try I beat him. It might have been the weapon, or it might have been sleep, just glad I beat him.
Death 252-253: ... the pursuer is back, 3 tries not that bad I guess.
Death 254-260: Stupid OP Great Sword belltower knight :(
Death 261: Death by lava
Death 262: Death by Mimic :<
Death 263: Forgot to kill the knight up on the beam this time.
Death 264-272: Feel cheated. First 3 attempts I should have 1, my last hit always whiffed or his animation threw me into the lava as he retracted his arms, then my fury just got me killed until I could calm down. *** broken ***.

Shaded Woods
Death 273-276: Invisible NPCs in the fog, they aren't hard but once I died once and tried to get my souls and got backstabbed, I didnt' care anymore.

Doors of Pharros
Death 277-278: Learning to fight the Giant things in the water.
Death 279-304: Royal Rat Authority boss fight BS dog rats, favoring long weapon types with sweeping attacks that I don't have.
Death 305: My frustration broke through so many levels that I snapped, and thought using a shield might be a good weapon. It worked out very well, and the very first run I tried using my shield two handed I got the boss to 50%. Second try was finally my win. This boss killed me 26 times before I tried using a shield as a weapon, shield is obviously stronger than any of my "real" weapons xD

Brightstone Cove Tseldora
Death 306: Backed up off a ledge :)
Death 307-308: Died to mages while recovering souls.
Death 309: Fell down a sandpit hole :<
Death 310: An explosive crystal lizard x.x;
Death 311: Died to some spider dreadlings


Drangleic Castle
Death 312: Died outside of the gate
Death 313: Died to two smallfry knights after opening a door ~.~

Dark Chasm of Old
Death 314: >.> entered the area and proceeded to fall off into the water. :)
Death 315: Richard got me ;_;
Death 316: Havel ran to richard for help, cheater >:O
Death 317-318: Tried the portals at Black Gulch, died to the first phantom each try, left behind 7k souls, couldn't justify trying anymore when I couldn't kill the first.

Drangleic Castle (return)
Death 319: Died to the statue room... today isn't going very well :\

Drangleic Dark Chasm of Old is hard as hell and almost made me run out of Effigy's. Havel hits like a truck and there's not much room to move around without aggroing more. Then to get transported directly to the boss upon exit (which I wasn't expecting) was difficult cause I didn't heal up so I died like right away. Then I had to redo that Chasm to do boss again.

I find dressing Rosabeth to be quite humorous.

Ya I definitely chose the most ridiculous stuff I had in my inventory to dress her.

Flame Swathe is OP

I just did 1296 damage to Executioner's Chariot with Flame Swathe .-.

Does the soapstone have a respawn timer? like no matter where I am at, I cannot lay it down.