Dark Souls

[Pete for President]

You can totally do the Catacombs at this point and clear it, Jowy; there are rewards enough that you should. If you are messing things up in Darkroot Garden, how are you doing in the Basin? One thing playing through with three characters has taught me: buy a million arrows and keep them stocked.

Sounds like you are pounding through Demon's Souls, Pete for President. Those mindflayers are jerks, and the only real solution to them is trying to blindside them. Have you been to the Shrine of Storms yet? The first creatures you meet there are the poor ancestors of the wheels in Dark Souls. Great place to farm souls.

Have been juggling three characters and have made various progress on them. My main guy summoned a phantom for help and thus found the route I needed to open Anor Londo's first shortcut. Found a painting. Finally sucking it up and putting everything into strength. No actual idea what his SL is.

My pyromancer has killed Blighttown's boss; rang two bells, cleared both Darkroots, revisited the Asylum, cleared the Catacombs, and now debating trying to suffer the Tomb of Giants or go to Sen's. SL 32. Build was going to be Dexterity and Intelligence, but pyromancy is too damn useful; all my slots are for pyromancy spells and I use both my scimitar and bow. There is little room for sorcery and I am regretting that.

Paladin guy, Strength and Faith, is decent, but boring. Miracles do as advertised, but not terribly useful compared to pyromancy or tons of soul arrows. Cleared the Burg, Parish, Depths. Astora's Straight Sword is my current weapon of choice. SL 17.

I am sort of plowing through Demon's Souls indeed, with about 9-10 hours on the clock I've cleared the first two stages of the first 3 Archstones. Arrived in Shrine of Storms and indeed those enemies are like the wheelthings from Dark Souls. Found Snuggly too, hurray for secrets.

About your Paladin; come the latter half of this game miracles will rock every creature upside down. It's good that it's not your first character, because out of all spell-types miracles are the most secretive. The ones you can buy aren't too interesting, but some secret miracle treasures are downright lethal (and one epic defensive one, at least for PvP).

Went back to some Dark Souls PvP today and I had the most epic 1vs3 in the history of 250+ hours of playing this game. Bare with me: (spoiler free, besides some weapons & spells)
So I invaded in a certain PvP area and got ganked. Three guys with ultra greatswords started swinging immediately as I spawned. Luckily I had a few good dodges which I followed up with a Fire Tempest. It hit 2 out of 3 gankers, giving me the time to make somewhat of an escape. Of course the 3 hyena's were eager to chase me. Now the Great Scythe I use has a really useful running R1 attack, slashing about 180 degrees. So while I was running for the cliffside in order to use the environment to my advantage I'd sometimes turn around and swing directly into my chasers, doing good damage. I take some hits on the go, but I manage.

Arriving at the cliffside I crossed the bridge halfway. One of the gankers (propably the idiot of the gang) ran himself right off into the depths. I laughed like an evil villain while shifting focus to the other two. Unfortunately I was unable to hold my ground due to someone casting the Force miracle. That could easily throw me off the ledge and into my grave. So I fled the bridge and the fight continued, 2vs1. They were eager, and some quick dodge moves allowed me to counter with a Great Combustion combo, sending the other summon to his doom. So now it's 1 on 1, me versus the host. The host heals, while I have to decide whether to pop a humanity to heal myself or eat a green herb for faster stamina recovery. I picked the green herb and started an all out offensive with about 40% HP left. I quickly showed the ganker who's boss, cause 2 hits and a backstab later the entire squad was eliminated.

I feel so... fulfilled. Sort of like a... Robin Hood or something. Gankers gotta pay!