Sheikah

lol, are you actually taking an official review score seriously? What rubbish, I can't believe anyone would think Xenoblade is more 'game changing' than Dark Souls. Xenoblade is great but by no means game changing. Dark Souls has awesome gameplay and is a slap in the face to just about every modern game out there that is usually a pushover by comparison. It's actually amazing that Dark Souls has managed to go mainstream despite the culture promoting hand holding, lengthy tutorials and constant checkpoint gaming today.

It only has nothing to do with the topic if you can't follow logic. Small girl run over, large numbers of citizens not only don't care but proceed to run her over. Yeah. Hard to see why I'd state I'm glad not to live in China, where human rights count for little.

I don't recall stating that this sort of thing doesn't happen in western society either, so not sure why you posted that. I wouldn't assume that anyway given the number of massacres that happen in USA (where most of your links are from). I said thank God I don't live in China, and that statement stands very solid, and I'm pretty glad I don't live in some parts of USA either. Those links aren't exactly comparable either, in this case it's a child and it also involves multiple people running over her, not just ignoring her. This kind of thing doesn't happen everywhere. If it did, people would not be so shocked as they are in this topic. If it was a homeless person being beaten up I doubt people could care less. This is shocking because a) it's a defenceless child who potentially had a long life ahead of her, b) the driver ran over her a second time, c) another person ran over her, and d) despite the injuries, so many walked by. Regarding homeless people, in many cases giving them money is not going to a good cause. If you really care, buy them a coffee or something to eat.

Thank God we don't live in the clear hellhole that is China. What a tragedy.

Oh, I rolled, purely by accident since I was breaking all the other barrels. Yeah that's the way to do it apparently to not aggro him. Luckily I bought Iron Flesh off him (probably one of the best spells in the game) before I told him about the pyro merchant in the swamp, if you tell him then he goes off and becomes a hollow unfortunately.

Free who? The merchant by the Queen of Chaos is just there from the start, he's covered in eggs but that's how he's meant to be. A common thing is for people to attack him thinking he's a monster, make sure not to do that!

Pyromancy doesn't scale with any magic stat, that's what's so great about it. You just buy it, and you can upgrade your pyro glove using souls to do more damage. Since you killed that guy you can always use either the woman by the pillar outside of the Queelag boss (where those giants are rolling rocks around) or uncover the Queen of Chaos (where you ring the bell after the Queelag boss, it's a hidden wall you have to hit downstairs). The merchant guy there lets you upgrade your glove/buy some pyro spells and the queen herself gives you a good free spell just for joining.

I've got a bad cold too. It definitely seems to be doing the rounds at the moment.

It can be a cinch if you toast him with great fireball/chaos fireball.

I'll bet he has a Master Key, it's surprising how much you can skip with that. I'm currently helping out with bosses to reduce the faith requirement to join that sun covenant. Praise the sun!

What's annoyed me is that I had people help me defeat some of the bosses and they didn't try to cut the tail off (while I did), so I'll have to try get some of the rare tail weapons next playthrough if I want the trophy.

Cool, if you find it slow to run in beefy equipment you could pick up Havel's Ring if you haven't already. It's in the Undead Burg, in one of the towers where you go up to fight the gargoyles, instead go down. The guy has a massive cudgel of some sort and is pretty strong, but the ring is ace.

Since you're near Darkroot Garden it's worth picking up the Elite Knight armour set, you can easily upgrade it by buying titanite shards off the blacksmith and then later on in Sen's fortress you can buy the large titanite shards. Having some strong armour makes all the difference. For a good main weapon to begin with you can go to Sen's fortress (up one floor of the blacksmith and head out the door and across the bridge), you kill a mimic there that gives you a lightning spear. Until you make your own lightning weapon later this is the next best thing, it does tons more damage than other types of weapons of the same rank.

If you go right up to the hydra and shield it should launch all of its heads at you. Then it's just a matter of chopping each one. The Eagle shield is pretty neat to block most things (found in Blighttown, doesn't need mega stats for a large shield). Also of note in the forest (reason for going there) is the elite knight armour set (very good balance of defence/mobility) as well as the divine ember. The divine ember is incredibly useful for going into the catacombs - give it to the blacksmith who sold you the forest key to make weapons with the divine property (use this to make something blunt divine like a halberd). Skeletons in the catacomb are constantly revived by sorcerers hidden about the level. You have the option of either running past lots of skeletons dangerously to kill the sorcerer or bring a divine weapon, which permanently kills the skeletons no matter what. I say this because going into the catacombs to defeat a boss nets you the rite of kindling, making the rest of the game easier because you can make bonfires give you 20 estus maximum. The divine weapon also makes the tomb of giants boss a pushover (place that follows on from catacombs).

No prob. Another thing I'll suggest is to set aside 20k souls to buy the key to the Darkroot Garden from the blacksmith near Undead Parish. Then take the exit by the blacksmith. Eventually after the butterfly boss you can get good exp from the human enemies here. Also join the covenant here and kill 3 player intruders for them to net you the ring of fog. It makes you partially invisible, enemies don't see you unless you're close and other people can't lock onto you or see you that well.

Easy way to do this. Go to the bonfire at Undead Burg, the one inside a building with the option to go outside along a bridge where undead try to mob and firebomb you, or to the right down some steps past an archer. From the bonfire, head immediately right (avoid the archer) and down the steps. Walk a little further and you'll notice there's a walkway to another building to your left. Go across here and roll into the barrels/boxes to reveal a hidden staircase going down. Down there is a merchant selling large arrows. Buy about 20 large arrows and a bow, grind to get the souls for this if need be. Also note this merchant is good to kill later as he drops an Uchigatana. Then go to the bridge where the red dragon tries to toast you. Run towards the dragon and down the stairs, hoping to survive. Now you'll be under the bridge. Go to the right, aim for the dragon's tail. After less than 20 arrows it should break off and give you the Drake Sword. This is really good early on, doing loads of damage to the gargoyles (the weapon damage is set, it doesn't scale so is only best for early game).

I don't like the Wii remote and I have had a Wii since launch. It's definitely not because I'm used to the dual shock. I dislike motion control because it's inefficient. It's far easier and less time consuming to move a thumb than it is to move an arm or wrist. It's also not very accurate to point, the hand is naturally a little shakey (try pointing your wii remote at the same part of the menu screen and see the hand move about). But most of all it's not fun. I don't get any enjoyment from thinking 'I'm the one who killed that monster' because my arm moved in a vaguely similar way to the character on screen. I'm not a child, that's really not fun to me at all.

Absolute bollocks. Motion controls are about the worst thing to come out of this generation. They should have remained confined to dimly lit arcades with hideously priced blocky shoot 'em ups.

Can't believe Dan Dare agrees with me on a game. That's how you know it must be good. Later in the game losing 200k souls won't be a big deal. Sen's fortress is good fun. Finding a lightning spear was nice, as well as a good few rings.

You can upgrade your pyromancy/get new spells by a few methods, with eah offering different spells. One is to free the guy stuck in a barrel in the depths near the bonfire. Careful not to aggro him so roll to free him, then see him later by firelink shrine. Secondly there's a very easily missable, secret wall that you have to destroy to access the witch's lair. Right after you ring the second bell after the boss at the end of bright town, go down the stairs in the bell ringing leaver room and hit one of the walls. Don't attack the guy who looks like an enemy when you enter! Joining her covenant gives you a free spell and she sells others, as well as enhancing your estus flask (handy if Anastacia at firelink is dead and you haven't got to reviving her yet). And the last one I've found who sells uber spells is just outside of the boss that the witch's lair was at. Where the fatties are rolling big rocks around, look for a tall pillar past the poison marsh and bead towards it. Not everyone can get the npc to spawn though. Upgrading your pyromancy is also a good way to increase the power and number of uses of your spells.

Run with circle and press circle while running to forward jump. Those are some good tips Aimless. I have a few more for the stat/gameplay concerned. If you can, pick Pyromancer or Bandit at the beginning. They actually have more stat points due to some internal formula, with sorcerer being worst. The Master Key is the only gift you can't obtain in game. And it's pretty nifty. It's probably a waste of time levelling DEX, STR, Faith and INT. The latter two only if you really want to play as a mage. The reason is that scaling is really bad in this game and lightning owns all. Somebody abused a soul gaining glitch to get L320 and found the lightning uchigatana still bests upping str/dex for weapons (lightning doesn't scale, but it does tons of damage and not much is resistant to it). So basically, try get an uchigatana (either kill the merchant in the undead burg or join the forest covenant and buy it there) and make it lightning to win. Then you can spend your points on great things like endurance, attunement and vit. Pyromancy kicks ass. It doesn't rely on INT or faith, and one of the spells makes you super resilient to damage (you can barely move as a result, but hey, who needs to do that :p). If you attack NPCs and aggro them accidentally, a guy after the gargoyle boss in the belltower can undo the aggression. Cut off tails of some bosses/large enemies. You can get weapons as reward and significantly disable their attack options (especially gaping dragon).

That's not true, in many cases qualifications can advance you from the very bottom. But more importantly they let you go for careers that require qualifications. Such as in science, if you want to be a professor one day you need a PhD. Starting a PhD during the recession was great since it's stable in that you'll not lose it due to the current financial situation. Not being taxed on your earnings and not paying council tax are also pretty sweet benefits. The starting salary for PhD jobs are also really nice.

A handy early game tip is to get the Drake Sword. After coming across the giant dragon in the Undead Burg that swoops the bridge to torch you, go to the underneath of the bridge and aim with a bow at his tail. In about 10-15 large arrows you'll cut off his tail and get the sword. The damage doesn't scale and instead does a flat 200 damage (unupgraded). And that's with the regular R1 attack. Makes earlier levels quite easy.

Not sure whether you're saying you will renew before you're 25 so then it'll be time to renew again just before you're 26 or whether you're saying that because you think you can't get one once 25. If the latter, worry not, in fact the best thing to do is renew again just before you turn 26 so you can effectively have one until you're nearly 27.

That sucks. Although saying that I will be at my parent's house until Sunday so I can't play it either. ShopTo have never failed yet in getting games/consoles to me early. Maybe they're worth trying for the future?