Jon Conley

And so I just discovered that the Hallows Eve event (pure black World Tendency) fucked my 50+ hr character, by mysteriously removing Ed the Blacksmith. If you don't know what that means: Ed the Blacksmith is the only way to can great enchanted or upper-level weapons. And he's gone. For no reason at all. Great.

That pretty much sums up how GiantBomb discusses every game. If you go to that site for anything but energy drink and junk food reviews, I don't know what to say. My experience with Demon's Souls went a little like this: "Wow, this game is extremely immersive and difficult. I hope I don't miss anything in this tutorial section. Hey, I just saw a ghost teleport up into the sky, over this bridge! I wonder how I get those items back there? Oh shit, a giant demon! They should've warned me! I don't even have time to equip! Fuck! Okay, so, foggy doorways equals boss Demon. Okay, don't fuck up, don't fuck up. Yes! I got him down to 70% of his HP, and I've been fighting him for 15 minutes! This is ridiculous! Roll, you fucker! Don't get hit by that giant cleaver! No! Noooo! Fuck that! I died! All of that fighting-of-Demon-boss for nothing!" "Oh. I was supposed to die? This is how the game starts, then? The game starts with my death? Wow. This is going to be interesting. This voice acting is really quite good. This is a Japanese game? Whoa, I can customize how I carry items with my arms? I love this game!" *9hrs later* "Fuck this game. Fuck this fucking red-eyed knight! Why is he so fucking fast!? And fuck these fucking dogs! Where do they even come from? Fuck this fucking Tower Knight! Fuck! Fucking, fuck, fuck, fuck! I hate this game!" *After taking a break by beating the entire game of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2* "Oh, hey, I was able to summon two other guys to help me finally beat the Tower Knight. That was pretty neat. Thank guys. PMs sent and S ratings all around! It's a shame you can't just party up and play co-op the whole time. Well, onto the next world. But first, to the Nexus!" "Hey, it's the blacksmith guy! 'Repair Equipment'? Really? You're supposed to repair things? Oh. So, my equipment was all nearly broken? That's good to know. Fixed! Boy, it sure would be nice to just have a 'Fix All' button. Let's upgrade this cool sword and spend the rest of my souls on the Leveling Witch. Haha! 'Touch the Demon inside me'...that's great." *Halfway through the mines* "You know, I'm not sure why I ever got so angry at this wonderful little game. The art style and enemy design varies so greatly between the worlds. This feels like a modern, third-person Diablo game. The controls are surprisingly decent, the music is great. I love this game. Games!" "What's this? A pit mineshaft? I see a bunch of glowing loot down there. I bet I'm supposed to jump down there, on those wooden beams. Yeah, they definitely want me to jump down. But, I remember from the videos I've seen, the character sort of 'slides' when he lands on top of objects, from a jump. Oh well, I'll just be really careful -- like, Mega Man careful. I am so going to make this." *Fall to death 80% of the way down, due to 'slide' and lose 30k souls -- also, giant fucking worms* "...phhhh-FUUUUUUU-!" And the cycle repeats. It's very much a love-hate relationship. There's so much to love about it, but it is unapologetic. It is the only game, in my memory, that actually punishes you for dying and having difficulties. In that respect, it feels very much like playing through a 'Bullshit-hard / dickpunchingly-hard' NES game. Like, say, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( ). The key difference being: Demon's Souls is actually worth playing through, and when you die, it's usually your fault.There are going to be a number of hours where you will sit in front of your PS3 and wonder, "Why did I purchase this evil game?" Just give it time. Find some other people playing it, and ask for some GamePro Pro-Tips. Demon's Souls, despite the fact that it does not really encourage communication between players, really is a community game. It's a sort of word-of-mouth experience, both in terms of "Why do I want to play this?" and "How the fuck am I supposed to play this?" If anyone wants some advice (or hell, can offer some) and wants to try to meet up for some co-op (you have to be within 10 levels), send me a PM. I'm a level 70-ish Knight, with a specialization in Bows, Spears and Swords (with a few crucial magic spells as well). Also, I love this soundtrack. Atlus always has awesome first print bonuses.

And here, I thought The Countdown To Tears ended with the launch of The Last Guardian. Turns out, it ends with Nick Breckon...

I don't think Garnett Lee is Video Games enough for that.