Actually Dark Souls is a PS3 exclusive in Japan but distributed by namco bandai for both 360 and PS3 in other regions. Release date was supposed to be Oct 4 here but I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive.

yes this is not an mmorpg lol.

Same here, picked it up this afternoon from GH. Thanks to this busy season I'll have a stack of incomplete games on my to do list by 2012.

you're probably right, already been killed by rats, skeletons, undead knights, flame bomb throwing zombies, and not to mention mini bosses. Something about the game keeps compelling me to return though. As it is, i'm at work looking online for playing tips..

Those rats have a chance of dropping humanity though...

Just to say that I emphatise with your earlier point on the game lacking a pause function. Having a howling baby while you're trying to recover the souls+humanity that you dropped because you died earlier is very tense. Good thing is there are lots of safe zones where you can just park your character.

I like the way online play effects the game, even though I've not summoned anyone yet or been invaded by phantoms, I've gotten random vagrants (crablike things which shoot laserz! which are supposed to come about from other players dropping stuff or losing their souls/humanity.

On another note the black knight avatar outfit is pretty awesome http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-SG/Product/...d083a?cid=SLink

---

Added on October 10, 2011, 4:52 pmYou mean the ones in the catacombs? You need to use weapons which do magic damage was what I was told when I was watching a friend play. I personally got killed so many times by the skeletons in the graveyard near the starting zone...

This post has been edited by Kidicarus: Oct 10 2011, 04:52 PM

Just joined the forest hunter covenant and thanks to that I've been involved in some lopsided pvp action with my forest friends. It's quite fun and the netcode seems to work quite well - although there were 2 times where i failed to connect.

---

Added on October 10, 2011, 10:08 pmI think everyone makes the same mistakes lol

This post has been edited by Kidicarus: Oct 10 2011, 10:08 PM

Not really, action is never far away unlike in oblivion where you can wander for ages without combat. In this game there are a lot of enemies that can kill you if you rush in all rambo like, you have to understand your enemies - because even the common mobs can kill you if you're unprepared.

The quests are not signposted, so no floating question marks and exclamation points. The open world hub is big and it's very easy to get lost in and also very easy to go to a zone that you're too low leveled for.

Funny you mentioned that, I was actually comparing this with ultima 4 the other day (but no one knew what i was talking about) where you quest to become the avatar.. i think there's an analogy here where your humanity is somehow something you want to keep - although that's not clearly explained. The mobs in ultima aren't as cruel though

The open world as i understand is a bit metrovania - where the more you explore and do, the more zones you unlock but like i mentioned earlier, you can still go to places you're not supposed to and for me that's a brilliant design choice.

You can play as a single player but as long as you're online, you are also effected by the online choices that other players make in the form of clues and bloodstains from people who have died there. You can co-op but you can't co-op with your friends (unless you randomly find him) and you can pvp online.

Also, if you accidentally kill an npc - they remain dead in the game. And you can't cheat the system as the game is constantly autosaving.

They all have fixed spawn positions so you can see them, most of the time. Trouble is whenever you rest at campfires, they respawn at those fixed positions. They trigger when you move into range, so if you run in like a headless chicken you might attract a whole bunch of mobs you didn't see earlier and you'll either be running away like in those old benny hill comedies or you'll be dead.

As long as you go into the game with the expectation that you will die - a lot, you should enjoy the game.

The difference between ultima iv and any game made today is that you have the internet to help you. I remember going over to my friends place and playing the game on his apple II and just exploring having no idea what the moons meant or how to get the more exotic ingredients for the advanced spells.

I've been using the drake sword for quite a while but I have had no problems with the durability - unless you're using it as a 2 handed weapon and pressing RT a lot which will eat up the durability. I play differently using a shield and wielding the DS 1 handed so it lasts as long as any other weapon - and i tend to use it for back stabbing. My problem problem with the drake sword is that it's too powerful at the start and you become over reliant on it that it becomes too difficult to find a nice replacement for it. The other major problem is that it doesn't scale at all with your stats.

Anyway, I'm away on business so i have to take a break from dieing for a week

Also, if you check in the PS3 thread, you'll find that quite a few users experiencing stuttering and freezing while connected online.

I can't imagine playing the game offline.. going online on the xbox version definitely does not result in stuttering even on my pathetic 1mb streamyx connection.

You can still invade as hollow if you're a member of the

summons are random though.

You can't invite your friends into the game for co-op. It's all random.

The dragon's damage does not remain. Anyway, i bought about 100 of the cheapest arrows to get the aiming right and about 20 of the strong ones - what i realise is that you actually have to hit the tail and you'll get confirmation when the tail moves away and then back into position. It's also possible to cut off the tail using melee attacks. Funnily enough, the dragon committed suicide on my run and rewarded me with 10k souls.

humanity basically opens up multiplayer options, increases drop rates of the good stuff from mobs and allows you to kindle fireplaces(to increase the number of estus flasks by 5) after you have reversed hollowing.

cost of forgiveness is 2000xsoul level.

Try to burn the 1st one down quickly using the gold pine resin, i think you pick up 3 on the way to fight the gargoyles. One on one should be a lot easier.

According to forums, there's not much point to occult weapons but I'm not really playing a high faith character so it's a bit hard for me to say from experience. Truth be told, my character's stats are probably a bit messed up as I've been trying to get enough stats to use the true greatsword of artorias.

In the end, I'm still using queelag's furysword as my safest high dps weapon.

Just spent a few hours trying to do smough->ornstein (2nd) in NG+, that's one long and tough fight.