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In the early parts of the game there are some quests that are significantly harder than they apparently should be, so there's a few you should avoid until a little later in the game. (Beware the Mothrakk, do not start that quest until you are over the recommended level.) I ended up just running different characters for solo and for co-op.

Until very recently I actually had some jumping spiders around here and was aware that they are generally beneficial to have around. They had seemed to have been awesomely keeping otherwise troublesome insect populations down and so i was just leaving them alone, but they're gone now and i think they may have died. I mean, and it was just like a few weeks between jumping spiders disappearing and black widows showing up. Seriously though, what? You mean i should artificially introduce more jumping spiders into my home? Where would i even find some for that purpose?

Just the feel of the shoddy physics? Yeah, dude. The vehicles in Borderlands suck. In other news: I picked up the game again, started co-oping through Knoxx and Robot Revolution and then remembered that Borderlands is really kind of a pain in the ass to organize. Trying to figure out who had the least amount of progress and thus who should be host because of the inane quest ineligibility system, and realizing that having your characters more than a couple levels apart turns the game into a brutal, savage slog. (With exp auto-correcting only in a most, most gradual fashion.) So, so glad to hear Gearbox making promises of improvements on some of those things in BL2.

It's a very different game, but i'd recommend also checking out Arkane's other game, Arx Fatalis. (Apparently it's on Steam? I just have an original box copy.) It's the kind of game where you can physically drop a piece of meat next to a fire and the fire will cook the meat just by being near it. Systems and systems and systems. It's just a big, ambitious, and open-ended Ultima Underworld tribute with an incredibly flexible and cool "draw runes in the air with your mouse" magic system. Arkane is very ambitious about their designs, definitely looking forward to Dishonored.

The add-on character won't be available until october, and will be free to pre-orders, i believe. They've also talked about plans for four other content add-ons, and a DLC pass thing to pay a reduced cost up front.

So hey, dudes. Anybody have any ideas about how to deal with an infestation of Black Widows? Normally not bothered by spiders, but this shit can go fuck off.

I just finished Sleeping Dogs. That's a good game, an easy recommendation. Not much needs to be said about it, it really is just GTAIV with a big emphasis on a pretty excellent melee system. One of those games that doesn't break any new ground, but is so completely competent that it doesn't need to get by on novelty.

Are you racially profiling a fictional species?

Tribunal is definitely the most difficult piece of content available for vanilla Morrowind, but if you go at it post-main quest, it's totally doable.

I grew up playing a bunch of SNES JRPG's and kind of just absolutely loathed where the genre went basically on and out from the PS1, but just in the last few years i've suddenly found myself way back into them. I have this feeling that japanese developers finally gave up trying to play follow the leader with Final Fantasy, and now there are suddenly a lot of interesting and cool games, and people just haven't quite noticed yet. Dark Souls and Xenoblade are probably two of my favorite games from this entire console generation, and those certainly aren't the only two JRPG's i've been way into lately.

I wasn't expecting this to be anything, but i decided to get it on a recommendation and i've been having a pretty great time with it. It's so very much GTAIV, but with a bit of Assassin's Creed combat and parkour. Not a terrible thing, i feel. However, I think that it is so much like GTAIV that it invites some unfavorable comparisons. Mainly, i'm really not a fan of their driving model, i think it feels like it lacks weight. I mean, and the game is not really doing a whole lot of anything original to hang its hat on. I think their melee system is really pretty superb, but it is very much the style of combat Assassin's Creed has had going on. Really beautiful game too, i think there's a bit of uncanny valley with the character models, but the city looks absolutely incredible. It's a very nice and well-made GTA-style game, and though it's not really doing anything particularly remarkable, it's likable and worth a recommendation, i think.

Their two FEAR games are pretty limp when it comes to horror, but Monolith's Condemned series is something legitimately frightening. (The first game moreso, the second game kind of loses it.)

Blight town's poison lake? Was it a fat chick with a cleaver? That's one of the scripted NPC invasions. Has anybody been on the receiving end of any actual invasions on the PC version? (Granted, on the 360 version i was invaded maybe only a dozen times in around a hundred hours of play time.)

I try as hard as i can to finish most of the games i play, and only quit if i'm bored to tears or the game is fundamentally broken. I end up giving friends a lot of shit for absolutely never finishing games. (I will endeavor not to do that here.) I just have to say, your description of DarkSiders is bewildering to me when you go on to mention that you have familiarity with the Zelda series on the very next line. (Besides, the combat system is more God of War than DMC.) (Also, i happen to think that Majora's Mask is the best and most interesting game in that entire series, but i won't begrudge you your opinion.) Anyways... I'd have to dig deep to find games i rage quit on or literally could not finish because of technical issues. (I never finished Dark Messiah because of technical issues.) Mostly, it's just that i get bored with it, put it aside intending to get back to it, and never do. I put Dragon Age: Origins aside a while ago fully intending to get back to it, but after ruminating on it for a while, I decided that it just wasn't a very good game. (I think it was a pretty boring and lifeless successor to the whole infinity engine legacy.) I also have a bunch of DS RPG's i mean to jump back into and finish, particularly the ludicrously intricate Infinite Space, but that game is intimidating as hell. (I'd really have to bail on my save and start over.)

Having played both Witcher 2 and Dark Souls, i will say Dark Souls is significantly more savage, but really in the way you would want it to be. I love Witcher 2, but it kind of comes off as poorly paced and balanced, while Dark Souls seems kind of carefully knowing of how specifically ridiculous it is. It's the kind of game that will offer you a clear view of the insanely stupid challenge you're about to embark upon, give you a chance to plan things out. It's definitely not impossible, it's a kind of game that rewards careful and cautious play. Furthermore, in the sense that Dark Souls is a very open-ended game with a minimum of gating going on, you don't really need to follow a wiki/guide. (Try to figure it out with only in-game player signs to guide you, you might find a particularly interesting and unique experience.) Reading up on the game systems is recommended though. (The human/undead disparity, the covenants, the magic system, and the weapon upgrade system are probably the most obtuse things, with the latter two being ripe for potentially damaging mistakes.) Edit: Well... Actually... If you're concerned about the side-quests, then you totally need a wiki/guide. There's no journal to track them, they can spiral into failstates at no notice, and you don't get any second chances because of the autosave. I feel like Dark Souls is a game where you really want to do NG+ runs though, don't go crazy trying to hit everything off perfectly on your first playthrough.

Kindling upgrades the bonfire so you can get more estus flask charges. it's permanent, but only for that bonfire. (So say you upgrade a bonfire twice so you can get 15 estus flasks, then the next bonfire you ping, if it hasn't been upgraded, will only give you a maximum of five. So if you still have twelve from the last bonfire, you won't get anything from the current one. If you only had 3 estus flasks left, the current bonfire would bump you up to five.) Being human lets you kindle bonfires, but primarily it opens you up to the metagame. You're open to invasions and able to see co-op summon signs. (There's also NPC co-op/invasions with unique loot that happen at specific spots in the game. If you're not human when you cross those thresholds, those are permanently lost for the current playthrough.) You do not have to be human to yourself be an invader or a co-op summon.

It sounds like you missed the first blacksmith below the firelink shrine. (There's an elevator down past a path that skirts the cliff immediately by the bonfire.) The next one is a only a little further on from where you are, and there's only a couple others beyond that. It's worth noting that each blacksmith in the game specializes in different upgrade paths for your weapon, and also require specific unique items before being able to upgrade down the advanced paths. (Also, some of the initially better-seeming weapons have shorter and more restricted upgrade paths that require rarer ore and sometimes top out short of where some of the more basic weapons might end up. Things generally do all end up being mostly balanced though.) Also, your earlier question about the thief class. Parrying is hard, yes, but it's more an issue of the thief class starting out with less capable gear than some of the others. However, if you're still making progress, don't worry about it. Being a thief doesn't lock you into anything, you can develop your build however you want. (However, If you chose the thief for that key, be aware that it's more of a sequence breaking thing. You're not getting secret areas, you're opening up back doors into later areas you will be ill-prepared for, though you'll find these paths useful for late-game backtracking.)

Pouring all your souls into leveling up without upgrading your gear will also just get you eaten alive in the metagame, because match-making only factors in your level. Another small thing - Boss fights are basically the only situation where you won't want to use the lock-on. If you're trying to dodge between the legs of the iron golem, or hack off the tail of the gaping dragon, the lock-on camera will only be a hindrance.

Wasn't that shield incredibly game-breaking, though? Like, it has some weird ranged attack ability that people were ohk'ing bosses with and the like. Anyways, I ended up making a bunch of the boss soul weapons, and didn't really like most of them. One of them was the true version of the artorias sword, which has potentially incredible damage growth for a strong character, but extremely slow swings relative to comparable weapons. I think the bow i ended up using was a boss soul weapon, though.

I generally found that the excellent stats of the boss soul weapons were usually offset quite harshly by slow and clumsy movesets.

It's worth noting that the classes don't really impact your character at all, and it's actually the starter gear that ends up defining the classes. You can build your stats out in any way you please, but as a knight, for example, you'll probably end up using that starter armor for a good ten hours or more.

Figure out your chosen weapon's move set and become comfortable with what you can do. (Two-handing prevents you from using a shield, but in most cases will let you do vertical strikes in narrow hallways where your weapon would otherwise clang against the wall.) If you find a weapon you like, stick with it. Most are balanced to be viable through to the end game, and most have long and elaborate upgrade paths to go down. Carrying a shield is almost essential, and while certain builds that emphasize evasion or parries can be viable, it is generally a way more difficult way to play. Don't equip heavy gear unless you specifically want to play a knight, so try to keep encumbrance under half, because run speed and a quick dodge are important. If you're using heavy weapons, make sure you wear armor with good poise so you aren't constantly being staggered out of attacks. Keep a bow on hand so you can pull enemies away from groups and deal with them one on one. That is a very, very valuable tactic starting out. There's three kinds of magic - Miracles, sorcery, and pyromancy. Miracles are governed by faith, sorcery by intelligence, and pyromancy purely by upgrades to your pyromancy glove. (Which can make pyromancy extremely powerful, since it doesn't require you investing levels into making it stronger, but failing a couple tricky questlines can lock you out of further pyromancy upgrades.) Some priority should go towards upgrading your stamina and health. If you find humanities and souls as consumable items, don't activate them until you need them. You don't lose items when you die, only your active stock of humanities and souls. Being human lets you summon co-op partners and upgrade bonfires, but also lets you be invaded. (You don't need to be human to invade or be a co-op summon.) If you're invaded, asshole people will often try to sprint in close and then dodge roll right past your side and stab you in your back. So control spacing, be aware of what people are trying to do, and be ready to roll out of the way. You can carry humanities without being human. The more humanities you have, the tougher you are. (Early going though, you're better off spending them to upgrade bonfires, so you can carry more health restore items.) Don't hoard souls, spend them so you're not constantly at risk of losing them. Certain consumable soul types can be used to upgrade your estus flask, so don't eat those. (I think the bonfire keepers can upgrade your flask? It's been a while since i played.) The covenants all tie into the metagame and can dramatically impact how you play, but there's way too much about that to go into, so just start reading wikis. The most important rule: Just be careful, take your time. The game isn't that hard, it just requires constant attentiveness and caution.

Be sure to read item descriptions if you're interested in piecing together the specifics of the story, there are pieces of lore all over the place, and eventually a larger picture emerges if you stay aware. (There's numerous examples where a really critical detail of the world's history is hidden in the description of some small and easily missed item, but it's information that will just make huge chunks of the game's story fall into place and make sense.) From is essentially using item descriptions like other games might use books or audio logs, but still in a much more ambiguous and fragmented fashion. Dark Souls has an awesome tone though, it's dark fantasy done right, i think. (I love how everybody just seems so perpetually exhausted and spent, there's something very specific about the voice acting in that game.)

I had already offered my answer for a question such as this right here. There's also a lot of cool looking games in upcoming months, so keep a close eye on some of the lower profile 3DS releases that are going to be happening, there's some exciting stuff. Also definitely look into the 3DS shop, there's loads of neat stuff in there. (Let me continue to endorse Mighty Switch Force.) The 3DS has a bright future, i think.

Well, looks like it is, in fact, just an iOS port. The last detail they were telling people to wait for is simply that it has been significantly redesigned. Looks like the combat system completely disregards the dual-battle gimmick of the DS game. Bah.