ThePigMarcher

Been keeping an eye on this game for a while so I was pleased to be able to have finally given it a look. I haven't spent long with the demo as yet and I certainly didn't make a lot of progress but what I played of it, I absolutely loved. Will definitely be spending more time on this whilst it's still available and it has also become a day one purchase.

Also received my copy this morning from The Game Collection. I've done the first boss and opened up a bunch of shortcuts in the following area. I've also just discovered the second boss but made the rookie mistake of being greedy so failed against it so far. I say second boss but there appears to be three paths open to me which I'm yet to explore so who knows where those might lead. Thankfully I managed to sustain my media blackout prior to the release and it feels great to be exploring a new Souls game, especially fresh and with no knowledge of what lies ahead. I made the mistake of seeing too much of the previous game before release and that led to quite some disappointment. In fact, I'd only just returned to it recently after not touching it since release. I'm assuming the servers go live on Tuesday so I'm not sure just how much more I want to do before that time because, whilst I never summon help on my first playthroughs of any Souls games, it still feels very wrong to be playing offline.

Just finished this and man, what an excellent game. Already touched on the level design and variety of bosses and these stayed constantly brilliant throughout, there were a couple of latter areas which seemed to rely on leaps of faith which undid some of the previously excellent level design but thankfully this was rare and for the most part there seemed to be subtle visual indicators on most of those. Judging by the trophies, I discovered all the Creeds and bosses (including a couple of optional ones) but then exploring the island was such a joy it would have been hard to miss them. I did seem to miss a couple of the NPC questlines however so I'll need to be more mindful of that in the NG+. Speaking of NG+, I did make a very brief start on it and it appears that it really does not mess about, even the first boss gave me a little trouble and that was with me wielding a maxed out weapon. Admittedly, I could probably have done more armour upgrades first time around and given just how hard that first boss could hit on NG+ that will be my priority should I continue on at this time. I would but my backlog is pretty nightmarish at the moment so I should probably tackle some of those instead, at least until the Vita version of this game arrives. Money well spent and comes highly recommended. In fact, I'm a little surprised that only myself and Drahkon seem to have picked this up.

Been on a bit of a roll since yesterday afternoon after taking down those two bosses which I failed to cash in the salt for. I managed to drop three more bosses last night (inc the only one so far that I didn't get a trophy for :confused), found another 'brand' as well as another Creed. That latest Creed I managed to level my devotion to six straight away and I only have one more 'job' to do for them so I'll be really reluctant to leave them should I find anymore. That last job is going to be a bit of a pain though as the enemy required is rare enough in itself so getting the drops is going to be even harder. This afternoon I have managed one more boss which also led to me finding the last 'brand', so now that I have them all it'll make exploring the island that much easier. Looks like it's time to backtrack to some of those paths that I couldn't access previously, assuming I can remember where they all are . EDIT: Been wrapping up a few more of those bosses and I don't imagine there being many more left in the game. @drahkon, found a sort of solution to the unwanted NPC's in Sanctuary problem, although it means losing all the NPC's in one and not just the unwanted guest.

Currently level 63, which may be overkill. I equipped the 'Grasping ring' quite early and have never really taken it off, combine that with moments of getting lost (so frequent farming) and that salt soon mounts up. I'm also not buying much in the way of gear from merchants as I have most elemental damage/resists covered already, so if the cash accumulates I just buy bags of salt, after all, it also means there's less cash for the 'mystery man' to grab every time I die

From what I recall, as long as it's a new Creed and not one that you've previously been a member of then yes, you'll be instantly converted the moment you pray to that Creed. That said, I have only discovered three Creeds and most of the Sanctuaries I have discovered lately have all been empty so it was simply a case of claiming them for my current Creed, so my memory may be failing me. Hopefully I'll soon find a new Sanctuary which is already inhabited so I can refresh my memory , although obviously it would mean giving up my 'Stone Roots' membership which has now been levelled to 5. Definitely yes, this game would be a perfect fit on Vita. However, given how badly they've implemented Remote Play, or so I've heard anyway, that Vita version may be a little way off yet.

I also noticed the candle thing and someone told me that more candles light up according to the number of deaths to that particular boss, however, I didn't really notice that, especially when one boss yesterday resulted in numerous retries. I also noticed that a couple of the bosses appear to have gallows nearby which look to have the corpses of recent victims hanging from them. I also agree that the creed thing is needlessly convoluted and that has been my only real issue with the game so far. It is bad enough that, at first, placements of NPC's at Sanctuaries is a crapshoot so it would have been nice to have been able to remove those that weren't needed. In a couple of Sanctuaries I have Sellswords placed but given that I have no intention of doing co-op in the game their placement is a waste. Rejoining a creed that you've previously abandoned is also a bit of a pain and, despite numerous short-cuts, traversing back to the required NPC is still inconvenient. Also any progress you've made levelling up within the creed appears to be reset, I'd levelled the 'forest' creed up to 4 previously but after briefly leaving them I then had to re-level it. Not a particular issue as I still had numerous items needed but it may be a pain later on if the required items are rare. I've done nine bosses so far, most haven't been too challenging (bar one or two) but they have been memorable and unique enough, certainly more memorable than any of those in Dark Souls II. I had a bit of a lucky escape with one as I was exploring an area I don't think I was supposed to be in yet, an area which had invisible/very hard to see enemies. Whilst exploring said area I fell off a ledge whilst fighting one of the invisible enemies and I thought the fall would kill me but I survived it with a slither of health, only to be greeted by a bloody boss. Thankfully, I recovered just enough and managed to kill the boss on the first attempt. I'm currently running around a little lost now as most of the areas that I should be headed to next (I assume anyway) are gated off and it appears that I may need to find another 'brand' or two to progress. I am loving my Dex/thief build and have now transmuted my principle two weapons so I'm now sporting poison daggers as well as a pretty nasty sword/whip thing which has been levelled up a bit and on which I tend to swap between lightning/fire damage. I've also opted to build my guy to allow for use of some 'prayers' and have a couple of decent ones, that includes some for faster healing, removing poison and applying holy damage to weapons. One other point worth mentioning is that Ska Studios have absolutely nailed the level design. One area in particular that I was in a couple of days ago must have contained 4 or 5 short-cuts in to/out of the place as well as really nice short-cuts from the Sanctuary (and another shrine) to the area boss. It was reminiscent of the very best of Dark Souls and Ska have aped that perfectly.

I played a bit more of this today and opened up a few more shortcuts as well as found a couple of secret areas which had some useful items in them. Managed to get to the second boss but because I was foolishly treating the game as a hack-n-slash I had more trouble with that battle than I probably should have. As soon as I adopted the more measured 'Souls' approach I did get past it. Having a look through the menus I noticed the bestiary tells you how many of each enemy you've slain as well as how many times you've died to them, bosses included, I have a feeling that I won't be looking in there too often Found a couple of new Creeds and have joined a new one, although I haven't really worked out the pitfalls/benefits of each one. That said, depending on which NPC's you add to a specific sanctuary owned by said Creed it does seem that different 'services' become available. Either that or I've just not picked up on how many different NPC's can be found in the game. Also a bit more exploring led me to the fourth boss, I say fourth but the game isn't completely linear so I may be going in the wrong direction and given the beating I'm currently taking I could well be. In short, absolutely loving this game so far and any fans of 'Souls-like' games REALLY need to pick this up.

Played a little of Salt and Sanctuary last night and early signs are extremely positive. Admittedly, From Software's lawyers must be looking hard at this game as it's not just influenced by the 'Souls' games, it's more a blatant rip but damn, the first hour or so I played was so much fun. Did a load of exploring in the opening areas, unlocked a few short-cuts, only beat the first boss and started exploring the new areas after that boss. I still need to figure out some mechanics and the purpose of some items but yeah, it been a blast so far. Also, the skill tree is bloody massive.

Been keeping an eye on this one myself for quite a while now and was pleasantly surprised when the release date suddenly popped out of nowhere and so soon too. Definitely grabbing this day one although I would have preferred to play it on the Vita, so hopefully that version isn't delayed for too long.

I just wanted to pop by and give a shout out to all of those that have posted in this thread, had you not I probably wouldn't have played this game. Unfortunately, the forums where I've been hiding out over the past few years have been slowly dying a death for some time and truth be told, even if they hadn't it was highly unlikely that any of the regulars there would have been discussing this game anyway so thank fuck I still periodically lurk around here. Whilst I was slightly interested in the game I still wasn't too sure but after reading this thread I picked this up a couple of weeks ago. I've just finished the main campaign as well as done a fair amount of side stuff and I've had an absolute blast doing so. It's just been a hell of a lot of fun to play. Looking forward to cracking on with the post-game stuff now, whether I can survive it is another matter, judging by some of the difficulties some of you seem to have expressed, but anyway, thanks again guys.

I wasn't sure about the combat at first and whilst I'm still early in the game, I am absolutely loving it now that I've spent a little more time with, it reminds me a lot of the combat in Graces f just with a little extra depth. I'd have to agree with others above that the skills system does seem to be needlessly convoluted and I do wonder if my consistently fusing extra gear isn't always a good thing, yes the core stat increases may be useful but I'm also a little wary of losing a really beneficial skill. I will give it a but more time to see if I can get a proper grip on it though. It's probably a little too early for me to comment on the story as yet but it does seem to be a little darker than some of the previous games in the franchise.

Another fantastic episode in what has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.

Had a brief dabble with it myself this afternoon and have to admit that it's a lot of fun despite me being absolutely useless at it, I did finally manage to score a couple of goals in my last game but that was more luck than anything else. I really should read the PS Blog a lot more because had it not been for me still periodically lurking on these forums (haven't posted for quite some time) I wouldn't have known anything about this game.

I was a fan of the sport years ago but gave up on it for a while. That was until I finally discovered the MLB: The Show franchise last year, not only did it reignite my interest in the sport, it really put me off of other sports games because IMO no other sporting franchise comes close to capturing it's subject matter as this does. I exclude the NBA2k series in that statement as that's one sport I just can't get on with. As for The Show 14, there's no denying that it looks absolutely stunning and if it maintains the same level of realism and immersion that previous games have done (given SDS's track record there's no reason it shouldn't) it should be an absolute must-buy for anyone with even the slightest interest in the sport. With that said, I'm not picking it up this year. Largely because I'm trying to give up picking up annual sports updates (even great ones like this) and I'm still on the PS3 so any improvements will likely be marginal. I'd also be reluctant to upgrade to the PS4 for this because, outside of inFamous (which I don't consider a system seller), there's little else on the console that currently interests me. When I do eventually trade up though, The Show will be one of the first games that I will pick up.

Yep, feel the same which is why I tend to tolerate some of their questionable practises *remembers buying up the Asura's Wrath DLC *

Quoted for truth, I absolutely loved the game although I also couldn't help feeling that I ended up getting trolled by Capcom I initially completed it on the 360 but after I switched platforms it was one of the first games that I re-acquired for the PS3. Shortly after that, Capcom announced the expansion so I had to buy the game yet again a year later, only for it to appear on PS+ a few months after that . Any other game and I'd have been really annoyed but for this one, I didn't mind too much. That said, the PS3 playthrough has been criminally neglected due to time constraints and an extensive backlog.

Lost YET another character last night (only a level 9, but still) so reluctantly decided to plough through the tutorial for the upteempth time although I'm gradually losing the will to live every time I do it. That said, it looks like Rockstar have finally acknowledged that issue so hopefully a fix will be coming some time soon.

On that mission I just did with you, you could have warned me that I was taking cover right next to a bloody gas tank , that wasn't pretty.

Having played a little more of it over the last day or so I would be inclined to agree with Dcubed. I'm mid-way through Act 5 so still have a little way to go and I'll reserve final judgement until I have beaten both games but I can easily see this topping Legends. That not to say Rayman is a bad game, far from it but there is just so much charm and inventiveness in Puppeteer it will prove hard to top.

Managed to put a couple of hours into this today and whilst I wasn't convinced at first (despite really enjoying the demo) it's really beginning to win me over (only just started Act 3 of 7). Really solid presentation, completely off the wall in places and now that a couple of extra gameplay elements have been introduced things are really picking up. It's obviously not going to be the most challenging game ever, judging by how many extra lives I seem to be stocking up but at least it'll give me a break from those awful Living Dead Party levels in Rayman Legends . A little bit awkward to get to some of those secrets as a solo player due to the amount of other stuff going on, especially when the screen can get a little bit 'busy' but it will give it a little more replay value as there appears to be a fair amount to unlock, if you're so inclined.

Great read and the only thing I'd disagree with is the claim that it's riddled with bugs. In my 100hr+ playthrough when I had the 360 I only had one side quest that glitched out on me and never ran into anything else buggy. I actually remember being really impressed with just how bug-free the game was, given it's scale. That said, I know I'm in the minority and was probably just bloody lucky. In fact, the only real issue I had with the game was a complete lack of challenge as it was far too easy to blacksmith something that would carry you through a large chunk of the game. When I switched platforms, it was also one of the first games that I re-purchased for the PS3 but I've just not found the time to return to that particular playthrough. Reading that article may be just what I need to get back to this gem of a game.