So with that patch, the online might see some improvement? Good, the game needs it, cause the online is seriously lacking for me.

After about a days rest from the from the game, I was finally able to make some progress again. Finally finished the boss in the painting area and completed the Archives and the boss there. Unfortunately, I couldn't cut off either tail. Oh well...

Now I'm stuck again at the New Londo Ruins. The boss there is totally destroying me, and running all the way back from Firelink to try again is really annoying? Does anybody have any good tips for this part? It's not so bad in the beginning, but I'll eventually get overwhelmed. Don't really have any good magic, and my Pyromancy takes way too long to be of any use, so it's just pure melee for me. Thinking I might don some really heavy armor to take some hits and see how that goes.

Oh, and for anybody going to the Valley of the Giants, do not go there at all unless you have the spell to cast light. It was made for that, and if you need to know where to find it, head down to Darkroot Basin, the area where you fought the golems and the Hydra. There's a ledge by the water fall, it will take you to the back of that area. There's an npc there that can sell you some unique spells, but you need to defeat another golem to reach them. Afterwards, you can buy spells right by the hydra fight.

It is so worth it, though even with the ability to see around the area, it's still so damn hard to get through those enemies. I counted two bonfires in the valley of the giants, but the second one was stumbled on by accident.

_Dez_

I found the best way to get to the four kings is via valley of the drakes - specifically the bonfire in the tunnel that connects valley of the drakes to darkroot basin. I would go down the elevator, run past the wyverns lighting attacks (you can just run past these attacks if you run a little to the side and not right in front of their mouth). As soon as you enter new londo ruins cast invisible body - if you have the lingering dragoncrest ring and the slumbering dragoncrest ring it helps to have these equipped (though not essential). Then run as fast as you can past the wraiths straight to the boss door. If you don't have the lingering ring on you will probably have to cast invisible body again before you make it to the door. I recommend rolling past the second wraith you come across because he usually detects you and attacks.

I didn't fight the kings melee so I can't give much advice there - they got destroyed with crystal homing soulmass and soul lance so if you have enough intelligence and souls I'd recommend buying these from big hat. Crystal homing soulmass is particularly effective.

Off the top of my head -

• Valkyria Chronicles
• Dark Souls
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Uncharted 2
• Warhawk
• Rock Band - Beatles
• Demons Souls

I saw on gaf that From is going to release patch 1.04 to fix the following issues:

- Fixes for several effects of various magic spells (Magic Shield, Great Magic Shield, Tranquil Walk of Peace, Fog Ring, etc).

- Infinite Magic and Item bug exploit fix.

- Balance tuning for elemental weapons and stat scaling weapons.

- Tuning of the matchmaking conditions.

- Fixes for problems while loading in new areas during map changes.

Patch should be released this month for PS3. Not sure about 360 since there is no 360 release in Japan.

I'm making some good progress today - I took out Seath and then went back and exacted vengence upon the four kings. The fight was cake this time thanks to some powerful spells big hat hooked me up with. I agree with rragnaar that it would be cool to hear about everyones' character as there are so many ways to play the game. Here are my current stats:

Starting class: Sorcerer

Soul Level: 73

Vit: 15; Att: 19; End: 18; Str: 16; Dex: 20; Res: 11; Int: 39; Fai: 14

Right Hand: Tin Banishment Catalyst, Lightning Spear+5

Left Hand: Crest Shield+5

Armor: Gold-Hemmed Set

Rings: Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, Ring of Steel Protection

Sorceries attuned: Soul Spear x 2; Homing Crystal Soulmass; Homing Soulmass; Hidden Body

I pretty much just hit hard with spells at range, then when enemies get close I electrocute them. My vitality and stamina are low so the spear helps me keep a little distance, and the ring of steel protection compensates for the low physical defense of the armor.

I'm looking forward to Mario Land 3D. You should check out Pilotwings. I thought it was a really fun game and the 3D effect is impressive. People say it's short but I still got close to 20 hours out of it and still play it randomly sometimes.

big list

LovePotionNo9

That's a really good list.

The OG is my preference. Too many good memories.

I can't take this... :P

Made it thru the archives...I should have just gone here first. Big hat hooked me up.

I think I'm at the point where I can admit that Dark Souls is definitely harder than Demon's Souls was. I've been going through the game at a fairly brisk pace, but I feel like I've run smack into a wall after I've obtained the Lordvessel. The Archives are kicking my ass, the Londo Ruins are destroying me, and I made the attempt to go through the Valley of the Giants and got shanked by all the huge skeleton enemies. To top it all off, I have no more humanity items to kindle any bonfires, and I can't get anybody to summon me for help. Farming the rats doesn't seem to work, even with the item ring on.

Thought I'd be okay around my soul level (70, I think), but getting killed in two hits by everything's making me feel really weak; need to rethink my strategy.

Not to sound too negative, as I'm still having fun when I'm not losing tens of thousands of souls, but the second half of the game really feels like a sharp rise in difficulty. Much more than what was expected. From, you guys weren't kidding.

_Dez_

I'm with you man I'm not really sure where to go next. I'm level 69 and I've been trying to take out the 4 Kings for the better part of 3 hours. I can get them down to about 25% health fairly consistently but by that point they usually surround me and one hits me in the back - I can take about 2 direct hits. It sucks they have a knock down homing spell that is pretty much unavoidable, and even if I block it takes about a third of my health. I really wish they would have just made this fight the 3 kings I'm sure it would have been hard enough. I went human and tried to summon help but no luck. I probably should have just spent one of those hours grinding at the forest door.

Maybe I should head to the archives and try to find Logan. If I could buy another homing soul mass and another soul lance I could probably take out the kings, the only problem is that's about 60k souls combined. If you want to try to co-op in game let me know I'll try to meet you somewhere - I have some humanity.

Yeah it really depends on the game. Like a sealed Xenogears would be worth quite a bit. THPS2 on the other hand is probably not worth much since it was a pretty popular game at the time. I agree it is a great game though. I have it for Dreamcast.