What is the last video game you played?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Are there any good wrestling games?

[Quintus 5,399]

eeeh.. it's pretty hard after all

Pretty much every thing can kill you with 1 or 2 hits and if you lose your concentration a split second your dead

I just lost 2 levels worth of souls

Harder than the original? By hard I mean GRIND. Is there even more grind?

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Ya, the main line of wrestling games are pretty good. This game has bad controls which really hurts the replay value.

[King Mark 3,631]

eeeh.. it's pretty hard after all

Pretty much every thing can kill you with 1 or 2 hits and if you lose your concentration a split second your dead

I just lost 2 levels worth of souls

Harder than the original? By hard I mean GRIND. Is there even more grind?

I'm not sure grinding is the main part of it. The A.I of the monsters just makes them wicked hard to beat. They almost seem alive

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Prince of Persia on the 360. The controls are a lot simpler than the newer Prince if Persia game which is not necessarily a good thing.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Decided I would accept the grinding gameplay of Demon's Souls and go at that first area over and over as long as I could. Turns out they turned the world "Pure White" or whatever the fuck that means, so some locked up areas are open and the enemies are easier. I got back to my previous bloodstain fairly easily and sailed in confidently to the Tower Knight only to be killed in a split second.

Fuck off.

I played Crysis for the rest of the night.

[King Mark 3,631]

Tower Knight

1)go kill the archers in the back

2)use the stairs in the back to rest and heal

3) fire soul arrows at him.

Grinding:

Go to world 4 (storm fortress or whatever) and kill the 5 armored skeletons near the exit (about 1200souls total ) . You can easily gain multiple levels very fast.

If your playing a warrior ,raise Endurance stat first , your stamina bar will go up and monsters won't knock you on your ass to kill you when your shield is up

And you should really start with the Noble guy, he casts soul arrow and has a magic regeneration ring .Knight is not good with his slow moving armor.

45 hours into Dark Souls. I think you'd like the bonfire thing better

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I know how to take the Tower Knight down. I've encountered him 3 or 4 times before, and actually got close during one of them. This time I couldn't even take two steps before I was dead.

Magic is too expensive and I tried it once and didn't even work.

I can wait 2 weeks until Battlefield 3.

[King Mark 3,631]

I basically beat Demon's Souls with 2 spells: Soul Arrow and Soul Bolt. I almost never used melee combat except on slow enemies. Magic does work . You need the magic regen ring that comes with the Royal and buy a bunch of Spice. Since spells auto aim when enemies are locked it's way easier than the bow for ranged combat.There's a lot of enemies you don't really want to get close to

With Dark Souls your forced to melee combat, so like I said pumping points into Endurance is the way to do it

It's too bad your giving up because you get some amazing environments later in the game. With both games you get the best art design I've seen in videogames

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I don't doubt that, I even said it earlier. The design in these games is marvelous.

I might try it one more time trying to focus on magic. You mentioned Noble before but now Royal, which is best to suit my problem? Are those two spells available to me before I get to the Tower Knight?

Arrows are pretty effective at damaging those blue knights, but once you hit them come charging over and pretty much only give you time for one hit.

[Quintus 5,399]

I'd love to have the patience to play those games but as someone who generally hates bosses in ALL games I just accept that Souls isn't for me. What I did play of Demons Souls, I could see and feel its brilliance, and that's what bugs me.

Anyway, halfway through both Crysis and Gears 3, with the former edging out the latter so far. Not really managing much campaign antics at all lately anyway since most nights have been spent playing Gears online with the lads. It's absolutely brilliant.

Played up to rank 10 on Uncharted 3 as well, but it's not really grabbing me I have to say. I'll give it another go later.

[King Mark 3,631]

I don't doubt that, I even said it earlier. The design in these games is marvelous.

I might try it one more time trying to focus on magic. You mentioned Noble before but now Royal, which is best to suit my problem? Are those two spells available to me before I get to the Tower Knight?

Arrows are pretty effective at damaging those blue knights, but once you hit them come charging over and pretty much only give you time for one hit.

It's the Royal. He comes with the ring and spell right off the bat and you can use it for the first run through the castle. And those blue knights you have to to hide in a safe spot or run away and hit them from far.They usually resits 1 or 2 hits then go down. Make sure you lock target with the spells. Later in the game you can tackle more enemies at closer range if you make a good upgraded sword. there's also a ring in boletarian castle you can get now that lets you have 75% of hit points in souls form, find it's in the lower levels somewhere.

And there's other stuff you must do before the Tower Knight

1)Create Royal and always use light/medium armor you can roll in

2)Do first run and kill the blob (still better to throw fire bombs at it or put turpentine on your sword)

3)Find the 75% hit point ring in Boletarian Castle (cling ring). It's somewhere in the initial area at the bottom of a spire

4)Kill armored skeletons in World 4 and level up ( by talking to Maiden in Black) as high as you can. In your case boost Magic and Vitality for now. Yes you have to repeat this for 2 hours.

5)Buy a bunch of spice from the blacksmith

6)Go kill the Tower Knight, or go explore the mines first.

Get the Evacuation spell as soon as you can

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Appreciate the help KM. Is that cling ring the one guarded by the Red Knight? I remember on my first play through I thought I could take him down. Boy was I wrong.

[King Mark 3,631]

NO! there's only a fucking locked door I could never open behind the red knight. Don;t bother with him

The cling ring

1-1: Between the double portcullis at bottom of tower stairwell past the first encountered Blue Eye Knight

You'll be keeping it on most of the game

You get the spell Soul Ray after killing the first boss in the Latria Tower

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Alright, thanks for the tips. I might start up a new game right now.

This week, the ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus Collection as well as the God Of War Origins Collection are $25 each at Best Buy. Gonna pick up the latter, can't beat that price.

Okay, started a new game as Royalty. Soul Arrow is pretty fuckin' awesome, and this class is pretty swift in the movement department. Only downside is that my melee attack damage blows.

I cleared out the first level and killed the Phalanx, ending with 6,500 souls excluding all the ones I picked up from dead heroes. Should I pour that all into Vitality and Magic, or maybe beef up my strength a little too?

Do you also think I could take on the one dude in the first area with the axe? To clarify, when you first spawn in 1-1, and head up the path towards the Phalanx gate, there's a detour to the left that leads to a cliffside. A bunch of red ghost soldiers spawn there, and once you reach a door into the castle, and mega dude with an axe pops out. As a Knight, my heavy attach would only take away a dot of health. Would Soul Arrow do more damage to him or no?

[King Mark 3,631]

Yeah wait a bit before tacking bigger opponents .I think for my playthrough that area was locked because I didn't have the worlds aligned correctly

Start by beefing up Vitality and Magic

Raise strength and Dexterity ONLY to the minimum to carry a long sword and a bow (you still need a bow sometimes) .You can upgrade the weapon to compensate

Raise Faith to the minimum to cast the Heal and Evacuation spell. You'll find the talisman later

Raise the stat to have 4 or 5 spell slots

What you want to raise if you want to do melee fighting later is Endurance. Stamina is the most important thing to resist damage.Always carry a shield. In Dark Souls I raised Endurance to 35 and I can roll with my knight armor .Bosses can't knock me over with 1 hit

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Spells are fucking expensive man

I used up all the heroes souls and got another 6,500 on hand. Should I save those for Evacuation or go ahead and use them on Heal? Don't I have to "learn" them too before I can use them?

[AI 0]

Just think of it like a Dentist would approach teeth..

[Koray Savas 2,251]

First off - Thank you again, KM, your guide is working great thus far. Those skeletons were tough at first but I can kill them all easily now. How much should I level up before I start exploring elsewhere? I see that fat dude that kills you in the tutorial waiting for me past the skeletons

My Vitality is at 16, Endurance 12, Strength 10, Dexterity 12, Magic 20, and Faith at 16. Where should I “stop"? I've purchased Heal and Evacuate and have the Talisman Of God. Ranking up is starting to get very expensive.

[King Mark 3,631]

Yeah the fat dude . You need to kill him from far with your bow, even if it takes 100 arrows. He doesn't re-spawn

As for your stats, go for vitality and magic for now. Later you can push up Strength and Endurance. Faith at 16 is enough if you can cast Evacuate (buy it as soon as possible, it's very useful. You can go further into the level and come back to the nexus when you risk dying and losing your souls.)

Always spend the souls you have on hand and use only the hero souls when you to buy something now. So they are "safe" if you die twice.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah the fat dude . You need to kill him from far with your bow, even if it takes 100 arrows. He doesn't re-spawn

Will he chase me through the gate in the wall with the two archers up top? Doesn't seem like he can fit, just want to know if I can run to a safe spot during the battle.

Always spend the souls you have on hand and use only the hero souls when you to buy something now. So they are "safe" if you die twice.

Yep, a given.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I think I'm gonna be able to go through this game fairly easily now. I have yet to die without touching my blood stain, and that annoying ass Tower Knight has been slain. I killed the fat dude by just standing in one spot and shooting Soul Arrow at him. I went further into the world and got slashed dead by some crazy Dark Maul looking fucker So now I'm going after the spider in the caves.

KM, why didn't you tell me about Flame Arrow or whatever? That thing is better than Soul Arrow, kills the skeletons in almost one shot.

[King Mark 3,631]

yeah, flame arrow is ok but it depletes you mana bar faster and takes longer to cast

Try to get Soul Ray in the Latria Tower, a much stronger version of Soul Arrow

The game is still gonna be hard, but at least you seem be past the hump of dying all the time

[Koray Savas 2,251]

yeah, flame arrow is ok but it depletes you mana bar faster and takes longer to cast

Try to get Soul Ray in the Latria Tower, a much stronger version of Soul Arrow

The game is still gonna be hard, but at least you seem be past the hump of dying all the time

Where's Latria Tower?

I killed the Armored Spider. On my first try, surprisingly. I don't understand how anyone can play this game with pure melee, it's impossible. KM, could you explain forging weapons a little bit for me? I know all those shards of rock and whatever I pick up have to do with it, but does it matter which ones I use? The strategy guide says to kill crystal lizards as much as possible to get rare ores. I've seen them around and today managed to finally kill one.

As for the ability shortage on weapons, how do I remedy that? For instance, when I equip a Compound short-bow or a Battle Axe, it says ability shortage and my effectiveness will be lessened in battle. Is that a strength issue, dexterity issue, or both? I want a good bow to be able to kill those flying mantises in World 4, as well as the dragon in Boletaria Palace.

Speaking of World 4, that Darth Maul guy I was talking about earlier is actually easy to kill. Three shots with Flame arrow or whatever and he's down, and he nets you 1,000+ souls. Oh, and is there a way to get past those traps that kill you with arrows? I tried rolling over it to no avail.

[King Mark 3,631]

1-Latria tower is the third world, the one that starts in a prison with the octopus head mages

2-Weapon material. You need to FARM them from monsters. That's a JRPG hallmark. Meaning you might have to kill 30 monsters to get 1 drop, even more if it's a "rare drop". If you need something specific (iron shard), google which monster drops them. You'll also meet some vendors that sell some materials

3-Since I'm forced to play a mostly melee fighter in Dark Souls, it seems raising Endurance (Stamina) is the key. But I was a magic user in Demon Souls

4-Ability shortage. Look at the weapon stat page, the various requirements are indicated, if it's red it means your stat (dex, str) is not high enough

5-traps...run fast and try to time yourself

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah I didn't realize there were so many different menu options. I got past the arrow traps and got to the cliffside with all the gold skeletons, but got raped by those damn sting rays. Lost 15,000 souls. So now I'm working to build my Strength up to 22 so I can wield a decent shield and bow. I got to the Flamelurker in the caves, but decided not to go through the fog until I can hold the Purple Flame Shield.

I killed that Executioner chick in that locked area in Boletaria Palace, as well as the Red Eye Knight. Easy as pie. Boletaria is the best place to stock up on grass, almost every enemy drops some.

[King Mark 3,631]

The Flamelurker is hard. If you get passed him you know you can finish the game

There's a nice shield that regenerates hit points in the castle where the manta rays are shooting at you, it's in the area of the arrow traps and a stronger red eye skeleton is guarding it

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I think I got that one. Has some painting on it, right? Also got this awesome sword that deals magic damage in the area where that tree girl is.

[King Mark 3,631]

Dark Souls is a true gaming masterpiece, so you have to play it after Demon's Souls.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the game now

[Wojo 2,453]

As a warmup for Arkham City out on PC next month, I reinstalled Arkham Asylum in XP because I never beat it, and I was starting over in the hopes that the user-made drivers for my gamepad would work. They do, to a point, but it has two less buttons than a X360 controller. This means that what should do the right trigger brings up the pause menu, making it impossible to execute a silent ground takedown without switching my hand to the keyboard. When I tried to subdue Zsatz, I grappled to the ceiling, and I had never seen his game over animation before. It also reverses the direction of the Y axis on the left stick, making me pull back on the stick to move forward, which is ok for just walking around, but the heat of combat makes the Dark Knight a clumsy old fool.

I give up. I've gotten much better at using the keyboard and mouse, which allows for much more fluid controls. I actually beat Bane in one setting instead of throwing my computer out the window like I did last year. But I still don't think I'll be able to beat the last two Titans before Joker like I couldn't get past before without a gamepad. Mine works great on something with few moves like Super Meat Boy, or totally mappable like a console emulator. The problem comes down to Arkham Asylum not allowing the user to remap buttons, and insisting on using a one-size-fits-all approach for the 360 controller.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Dark Souls is a true gaming masterpiece, so you have to play it after Demon's Souls.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the game now

I'll Dark Souls like I got Demon's Souls. A year later for half price. Btw I think I've reached my limit of grinding. Can't stomach it anymore. Tried the two other worlds, the prison one being an absolute bitch to get through, and the last one being unbelievably annoying with all the high drops and small planks. Not to mention the giant retarded guy or whoever he his killing me in two swipes.

The difficulty rises the more you die for some odd reason, and now killing the skeletons over and over is becoming harder.

I'm going to play through Uncharted 2 before Drake's Deception comes out.

[King Mark 3,631]

Lol, those big guys with the club. Are you in the swamp where your feet are stuck and can't move properly and also poisoned? They're even worse there

when you start dying too much it means your tired or trying to button mash too much instead of waiting for openings. I kept falling off the same ledge in Dark Souls for 2 hours and got it the first try the next day

There comes a point where grinding at the skeletons's doesn;t pay off. At the end I was grinding just before the last boss of the Latria tower. the mages there are worth 2000 souls each

[Quintus 5,399]

Dark Souls is a true gaming masterpiece,

What, like Super Mario World? Or Portal?

I doubt it.

Souls is a mere sequel, for starters.

[King Mark 3,631]

Well the average reviews of 9.5 /10 disagree with you

[Red 75]

Waiting on my pre-order for Arkham City. I thought it would come in on launch day because it was shipped last Thursday but it hasn't yet. It's testing my patience.

[Quintus 5,399]

Well the average reviews of 9.5 /10 disagree with you

I'd argue that such well designed games are relative masterpieces, not "true" ones.

I'm not saying Dark Souls isn't great, but like Joey would say (words to the effect of): calling one thing a masterpiece is an insult to the real masterpieces.

Maybe now you see, no?

[King Mark 3,631]

No, because I've played a lot of videogames...excuse me RPG's....and this is one of the most beautifully designed ever. And the combat system is the best I've ever seen in a videogame

Maybe because it's a true fantasy world with hand draws levels, not made from some generic game tiles. If you want generic look at Dragon Age 2

And I'm not sure how you can such a firmly set opinion of it without having played it .

[King Mark 3,631]

I beat Dark Souls . Played 125 hours

I really took my time making cool weapons and stuff and it was so fun to wander around the world they built

[crocodile 8,016]

So anybody played Arkham City yet?

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'll be playing Battlefield 3 until Uncharted 3 next week.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

I still haven't decided where to order UC3. Damn PSN Store region codes.

[Quintus 5,399]

So anybody played Arkham City yet?

Karol

I've put about fifteen hours into it so far. It's immense. Presentation is fabulous, the gameplay sublime and the player control is tighter than a nun's cunt. I think it even betters Uncharted 2's excellent environmental player movement, which when one considers that this is an OPEN WORLD sandbox playground - compared to Nathan Drake's carefully staged linear theatrics - is truly a staggering achievement in that regard. Here, Batman is like a ninja ballerina who with effortless grace and poise flows and brawls his way from one stunningly detailed locale to the next. This game lets you BE THE BATMAN.

[crocodile 8,016]

That's very encouraging. Will check it out as soon as I get the chance. Thanks!

I finished the first one some time ago. Really entertaining stuff.

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

I love the original, yet somehow they managed to better it. I knew that within ten minutes of playing.

[Red 75]

So anybody played Arkham City yet?

Karol

I'm playing it right now. Huge game, so much to do, so much to just experience. It's more than I expected really, and I've been anticipating this game for quite a while (the concept of a sandbox Batman game had been on my wish-list long before Arkham Asylum). It's one of the most rich environments I've ever seen, all of it feels alive. I have some nit-picks with it, mostly with the way a few characters are handled, but so far it's game of the year for me.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Battlefield 3

EA delivered a pretty impressive marketing campaign, it's too bad they didn't live up to it. I'm about an hour or so into the single player, and it's trash. "Above and beyond the call"? It's the exact same crap. Slow motion during pivotal explosions, Russians, same crap story AND method of telling said story as Black Ops... just a huge disappointment. The graphics don't look as clean as they did in the 15 minute play through video, voices don't synch with lip movements; and it's not even close, I feel like I'm watching a dubbed Japanese film.

I haven't jumped into multiplayer yet, let's hope they actually fixed the plethora of bugs from the beta.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

are u playing it on the console or PC? we all know the console versions are rather neutered. no 64 player mayhem? bah!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

PS3. The multiplayer is excellent, so at least it wasn't a total waste. I don't like any of the maps with vehicles though. Like you mentioned, PC has 64 players while we have 32. I spent the whole match jogging about and finished 0-1. Couldn't find a single person.

[Quintus 5,399]

Is it still butt-ugly in multiplayer, like the beta? Does it look like a newer build?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

No, but then I never thought it looked butt ugly. There are still a few bugs though, and the squad system is pure shit. When I create a squad with 3 other friends, and I go to find a game, I fully expect all 4 of us to be in a squad together in the game, not half of us on one team, the other half on the other team, and all of us in separate squads with random people.

Makes no sense.