Nom nom nom

I've been devouring souls lately... Restarted my game (again) and actually finished it! Admittedly, I had help through the PWWT event, but at least it's done! And now I'm suffering through NG+, which isn't as bad as I thought. I initially complained because I lost a large number of souls early on and the fact that my Crescent Falchion +5 wasn't quite cutting it anymore. Until I started abusing the Clever Rat's Ring to boost my attack, then switched over to the Crescent Uchigatana +5. It was unusually easy to upgrade that weapon, and I'm not sure what else I should make. There are still a bunch of upgrade paths that I need to complete for trophies.

Phalanx went down really quickly, though I did play around with it while blasting it with Soul Ray. Tower Knight gave me a little trouble because I couldn't lock-on to its head about half the time. Ended up rescuing Biorr for the Penetrator. Couldn't take it down fast enough alone... Can get him to about the halfway point before getting overwhelmed because I generally hate going around in circles just to kill something. Haven't gone against Allant because doing so would place my status as endgame. Not something that I want to do just yet since it would block off talking to the Maiden in Black for gaining Soul Levels. Stonefang went down really quickly. Didn't take too many arrows against the Armor Spider, though I did end up getting hit a few times. Took off about half my HP while in Soul Form. The Flamelurker was a funny little fight. I actually managed to get it stuck in a loop for a bit, then got a little too trigger happy and got it unstuck. Died in a swipe. Since I didn't exactly want to melee against it, I decided to poison it from behind. Sure it took forever, but it was the safest way to do things. My build probably sucks for PvE. Dragon God died in one go. For once. Tower of Latria wasn't too bad either. Didn't have the Anti-Magic Field when I went through the first 2 areas, but didn't need them for the most part since Poison Cloud worked just fine against everything there. Decided to spam it for the third section to go "Happy Squid Head Stabby Time!" against the BPs there. Played against the Old Monk offline since I don't like dealing with PvP. Shrine of Storms went by OK... Had some difficulty against the Adjudicator since I couldn't quite remember how I dealt with it the first time around. Ended up jumping down to melee the damn thing since I couldn't shoot it from above or below. The Old Hero was easy while sniping, but getting there was the hard part. What was it again...? It was the opposite of the Kirby Type boss run. The Storm King was pretty fun. A little aggravating because I couldn't find the little nook for hiding against its assaults. Ended up using my Sticky Composite Bow +5 to kill off those Storm Beasts. The sword was too weak(?!) and took too long to swing. Also, I suck at using large swords. Only thing left? Valley of Defilement. Keep dying at certain parts, so it'll take a little while before I'll get through it. Will probably need to tag along a weapon that could be enchanted with fire damage... or using that Lava Bow or tagging along an obscene number of Fire Arrows. Good thing my DEX is 40... But the biggest problem is that I'm going to need a weapon that scales with my DEX and can also be enchanted for higher rank runs.

While online, ended up meeting a few players. Many were quite nice, while one was rather... annoying. He kept summoning me in 4-2, to the point that I was quite happy to see someone else summon me. I don't like summoning others, mostly because I don't want to be invaded and that I'm not exactly the most careful player around. At least my ranking's been improving quite a bit. Got a bunch of S ranks through helping others get through the final parts of World 1 (Penetrator and Allant). While helping out, managed to kill at least 1 BP, which helps in shifting my CT back towards white. Had it Pure Black to deal with a sidequest to get the Talisman of Beasts. It's pretty amusing to kill Ariona/Ostrava in a second with Poison Cloud, stopping him from suicide. Or was it assisted suicide? I'll never know... but at least he's alive this cycle so that I can listen to his little bit before he kills himself.


Anyways, also got in some SenBASA while I was at it. Finished Mitsunari's Grey route (100%!) while having only the most basic weapon equipped. It was pretty interesting testing out some of his properties. Turns out that he can do quite a bit of damage while using his delay. Found that it was easier taking out bases using the delay property than using a bunch of his skills. Seems like he requires a little zoning as well, though not as much as Oichi. In the meantime, also started up Motochika's, and hopefully I'll get through it soon. All of the allies he can recruit are very straightforward to get; just playing the route is enough.

And for a little added fun, restarted Last Remnant. Well, more like restarted the Athlum-only runs because I don't quite remember what I was doing. Added a little extra to the Normal mode run; fresh Athlum-only. Ransatsu gets the bonus of NG+ goodies, though it won't do any good anyways. Along the way, I'm going to have to gather rare monster HP values since quite a few of them are still missing.

That just shows you how much you suck

How to beat Demon's Souls in under an hour. Exactly what it says on the tin. Watch, and feel absolutely inadequate as a gamer. I never knew some of the shortcuts this guy took, so I think I'm going to look into a bunch of them, especially for NG+. It's going to take a lot of practice to get the dodge timings right against the Penetrator, that's for sure. He's going to stab you with that long, long sword. ... I need to get off TVTropes.

Speaking of which, I completely forgot about Atlus celebrating Demon's Souls' success by doing the server thing again. Hm. Maybe I should try my luck against the Pure Black Black Phantom Miralda? Haven't dealt with her yet. Got the Pure White thing, so that's all good. I should probably finish it already, but I also want to restart with a new character. Don't really quite remember what I did, but I do know that I haven't gotten past 5-2, the level that everyone loves to hate. It's just that I haven't played in so long. I think I last touched it in February, for the Valentine's Day switch (voted black), in which I died against BP Miralda pretty quickly.


So the game came in. Haven't touched it yet aside from reading the manual. Been playing the JP version, trying to finish up some of the stuff. Well, mostly unlocking everyone because I want everyone open for when a friend comes over for a little co-op. I have about 2 weeks to do that. Already started Keiji's path, so that should be enough to unlock Oichi (already have Kotaro at 90% completion). She's pretty overpowered, so getting to Nobunaga should be a breeze~ Then I'll use Mitsunari (on Extreme) to get 2 trophies at once; the "only use normal attacks" and "use only the default weapon with no accessories on Extreme" ones. His default weapon is already at ATK232, which is pretty close to max. Should probably continue with the fugitive hunting with him and Yoshihiro, since I'm also doing the "kill less than 100" trophy. They'll need the ATK and DEF boosts. Still missing 3 stages, and I know exactly which ones those are. Looks like I'll be going with the Blue route using Keiji to get Sekigahara - Strongest, and the other 2 are Honnoji related. Should probably get moving on that. But first, I need to figure out how to keep the NA version from changing the SB3 trophy icon to the SB:SH one. I really don't like the logo as the "Sengoku" part looks so obviously out of place. Maybe I'll just play it on my NA account...? It would work since it shares the trophy set, and then I can retain the SB3 icon during trophy comparisons in my main account!

Another few!

Got the Red Dragon after about 79 arrows to it. It's probably a lot closer to 73 arrows though since I missed a few times, but I used 79 for the venture. Not too bad for only using a Compound Long Bow +1. It's now up to Sticky Compound Long Bow +3. Should really get going with farming Shards and Chunks of Spiderstone.

Got through 2-2 so I can finally start forging the more advanced weapon branches. The Dragon God however... Keeps punching me out, so I'm not too keen on approaching that fight for the next little while. Almost did get to the second harpoon launcher thing. Also, I'm surprised that Warding was effective against the Dragon God's punches. Thought that it would go straight through the defense and outright kill me. The fire breath still does, which is what is now preventing me from finishing the damn level. Still, getting roasted without getting punched out is already a vast improvement. Now all I need to do is just, well, RUN FASTER AND SMASH THOSE PILLARS. Then run away. Really fast. Damn it, I should have focused more on Endurance for more stamina and not so much on Strength since most of my weapons aren't modified by that stat. Whoops. Not to mention that I'm being more and more like an archer than a mage.

Tower of Latria has been completely finished, but I didn't manage to get it to PWWT, so I missed out on a few things. Killed off the Leechmonger in 5-1, but wary of going into 5-2 because of the poison swamps. I don't know how many arrows I should carry with me before dealing with it. Also don't have any Colourless Demon's Souls to upgrade the Adjudicator's Shield, nor do I have any Blessed weaponry or the Regenerator's Ring. I DO have the Black Leather set for higher poison resistance. The Shrine of Storms is going to be hell. I only meant to push it into Black WT, but dying another time pushed it all the way to PBWT. Got the Black Phantom Satsuki on my tail now, meaning that I can't proceed any further until I finish my little duel with him. Can't get hit once or else... Not to mention that I have to finish fighting him before finishing 4-1 to get to 4-2's boss to get the Soul for the "Second Chance" miracle. Shouldn't forget that I haven't rescued Saint Urbain yet. Guess I should farm 1-3 until I can get enough Souls to bring my magic stat up to 24 for the Epee Rapier. That's going to more useful since I can hide behind my shield while making jabs.


Bayonetta will be here in about a week's time! And I won't have Demon's Souls on hand since I'm lending it to a friend.

Two more Demons down!

OK, made to to Soul Level 22 and it's getting much more expensive than anticipated for raising stats now. Time to just finish 2-1 with using as few items as possible then hop onto the server for 1-2 and watch those (not so) poor souls get roasted. Never mind. Just sniped with Soul Arrow, Compound Longbow+2 and hiding behind a pillar. 2-1's actually pretty nice for farming some materials, although it seems like I've already missed 2 of those crystal geckos. Also beat the boss there, so the fire-breathing armor spider is no more. Off to 3-1, Tower of Latria! I REALLY HATE THOSE MINDFLAYERS. HOLY CRAP THEY CAN ALMOST ONE SHOT ME.

I should probably start worrying about my World Tendency. World 3 is getting pretty dark, while Boleteria's practically white. World 4 isn't too bad, but apparently it being pure black is the best for farming both souls and materials. Gotta stop freaking out against those dual-wielding katana black skeletons. The white ones are easy enough now, but the black ones are still a problem. Maybe I'll snipe them from a distance since my longbow is pretty strong for now. And I have way too many arrows. Actually, it still takes too many arrows to kill, and too much time as well. One shot makes it move, so you have to wait until it gets into range again before you can take another shot at it. Killing it DOES net you about 1000 souls. Going to keep farming to buy the Ring of Avarice from the singing woman in the Tower of Latria. Only need about 45000 more souls! It's not too bad since my Soul Level's pretty high now. Maybe I should take on that Red-Eyed knight?

I wonder where that red dragon went... I sniped it with over 100 arrows, but it flew off, so I don't know if I can find it to kill it off for good. It's still scorching stuff in 1-2.

Farming souls

Eh?! Bon Jovi's doing the theme song for FFCC: The Crystal Bearers?! That's... Yeah, "what the hell?!" basically sums up my response. Still, I haven't actually heard the track, so I'll reserve judgement until then.

Died a bunch more times due to being sleepy and just goofing around. I probably shouldn't do that since it affects my Tendency in a negative manner... if I were in my body. I'm still getting roasted by that dragon, mostly because I keep rushing ahead without waiting for it to make its rounds. Also, OSTRAVA YOU SUCK BIG TIME. YOU DO NOT ENGAGE THE ENEMY LIKE A FREAKIN' KNIGHT TEMPLAR YOU DUMB PIECE OF &$%#$. Though... That did net me the Mausoleum Key, so... STILL. NOW I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MY NEXT PLAYTHROUGH BEFORE I CAN SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS (AGAIN).

*ahem* Anyways, farming souls in 4-1 against the White Skeletons to raise my stats. Hoping to get to Soul Level 15~17 then continuing on with 2-1. I'm skipping 1-2 for the time being so I can go online with that chapter. It seems that being on the server hurries along the dragon a bit, so maybe I won't get roasted as often.

One Demon down...

Well, I restarted the game as a Royal because I wasn't getting anywhere as a Thief. I'm probably going to play this game twice (or more) anyways, so starting as an "easier" class would be a better idea for someone who isn't familiar with these kinds of games. Within the time frame that I played as a royal, I was killed a few times (about 5?), accidentally let Ostrava die (or did I accidentally kill him?) and killed the Phalanx by pelting it with firebombs, magic and setting it on fire with my scimitar covered in turpentine. Shortly afterwards, I got roasted by a dragon while crossing a bridge. Woohoo.

... I need to upgrade my equipment some more, but I lost my souls on the stupid bridge after being toasted. It was funny seeing all the phantoms running around and "dying" from the same mistake though! At least I'm not alone with the dying from stupid things... And really, the game's worth playing online if your connection's stable enough to stay on the server for an extended period of time. A lot of the messages and bloodstains are helpful~

Dying isn't that fun, but it's fun to OHKO!

OK, I'm annoyed. PS3 Bayonetta's screens looked really washed out on the net... but when I was playing the demo just now on the HDTV, everything looked comparable to the 360 version. Except for the massive screen tearing and a few framerate issues. But even then, the framerate problem didn't really pop up unless I was using a Climax Attack, Bayo blowing a kiss, or during the cutscenes (what). It's due to the settings from the PS3 that you can easily adjust, like activating the full colour range amongst other things.

Anyways... More death! None of the ones so far today were spectactularly bad in any way. Just running back and forth gathering souls and repairing equipment for now. And farming some of the grasses because I kinda stupidly used a whole bunch of them yesterday. OK, I lied. I did die in one stupid way: falling off a high platform. High enough to kill me in one shot. Twice. The second time was by accident though. And found out how to OHKO. Not very good at doing the attack, but it also nets you a few extra souls which is good for repairing and upgrading.

EDIT: Yay, someone uploaded a demo rip for Bayo's music! Boo because it looks like the boss music against Jeanne is exclusive to the PS3. I really like that track...

EDITx2: OK, someone managed to get a (fairly) clean rip of the boss music! Has something of a Spanish feel to it... Pretty heavy on an instrument I can't seem to ID and lots of piano (with some guitar mirroring it).

Whee. Playing Demon's Souls.

OK, died once against the giant demon in the tutorial level. Then again because a certain someone was telling me to get her cell. I was chased by a mook and it hurt. And now I'm down 180 odd souls. Next one was from a firebomb. Being set on fire really hurts. Then I died against being stabbed by a higher level knight while running around to get enough room to use healing items. Maybe starting as a Thief wasn't such a great idea. But it's so fun! I really didn't mind the fact that I even died because I actually deserved all those deaths. Except for the first 2 because one is mandatory and the other was due to an outside influence. Will go back to playing it after finishing up one assignment tonight.

Note to self... DON'T RUSH ANY OF THE STAGES. And repair equipment... All of it is starting to get worn out and I need more healing herbs.

Will post an update for all the other deaths that occur. And I should really play this game off-line. My connection's still so bad that I disconnect from the server after 15 minutes. Will also try playing it on the HDTV simply because I can't really read anything on the screen.