VICTORY ACHIEVED!

5/5 - 4 Deaths / 20 Push-ups

Gwyn is down!

Crossing the Kiln (since I've done it 28 times) was easy enough, but I was still witness to at least one moment of classic Dark Souls despair.

STILL getting trolled by the Black Knights

I was close to going back to trying to parry his attacks but saw something impressive when comparing the stability values of shields. One choice stood out as having a very high stability - one thing Gwyn was able to best me against.

On your knees, for thou art vanquished.

In this case, the key to victory turned out to be the Greatshield of Artorias and the Wolf Ring. The amazing stability of the shield plus the poise of the ring allowed me to finally stand up to his attacks and be able to develop a strategy against him.

It was a grueling battle nonetheless, with a many close calls and both good AND bad luck moments. His four slash combos, burning my flesh even with a shield raised, his incredible reach, his ridiculous speed...

I cheered a victory unlike any other when he went down. It was finally complete...

Victory Achieved!

I beat Dark Souls.

Praise the Sun!

Linking the fires...

New Game + didn't take long to kick in. There was no real denouement, no telling me about my choice and the consequences of it. Did I have an alternative to lighting that final bonfire? I noticed that the fog gate was gone...

All of a sudden I'm reminded of the 'Gunslinger' novels by Stephen King.

Fear not brother; I AM the chosen one.

It felt good taking down the Asylum Demon on his first appearance.

Hello up there. I'm back, but I'm NOT the same.

One of the best scenes in the game.

Well look at that; I'm back at Firelink. Perhaps I should do some exploring...

Shield Designs up on Facebook

Posted some shields for the DaS2 Shield Design Contest...

Hope you like 'em!

PLEASE - Click the shield to go to the Facebook Page and Vote if you like any of them! :)

Battered Friend

Dragon Tooth

Trusted Friend

The Black Knight Farmer

5/2 - 26 Deaths (1 Stupid) / 135 Push-ups

MILESTONE: 2000th Push-up!

There's a really awesome shirt waiting for me. All I need to do to get it is kill Gwyn.

I tried... oh how I tried.

Kiln of the First Flame. Get comfortable...

Oh look! There's my blood stain.

I wish I could ask your assistance dear Solaire, but I must face these evils alone.

It was somehow encouraging to see the summon sign of my good friend Solaire. Oh how I wished to bring him along with me to face that evil, but to give in is to truly go hollow.

This fight is for me alone.

This. TWENTY THREE times. 

"Twenty three you say? But above it says 26 deaths!"

I also got invaded twice (went human just to mix things up). I really wanted to beat Gwyn as a human. Or just beat Gwyn. Lost to both invaders. One had a sword that lit me on fire, the other just beat me because I sucked.

They were honorable invaders nonetheless. Thanks for waiting for me to finish the Black Knights, chappies.

I also walked off the foggy stairs sideways while trying to sip scotch and walk at the same time.

Keep scrolling...

If there's one thing to take as a positive of the whole experience, I now have ~100 new misc shards, 18 new Black Knight weapons and 8 new Black Knight shields... So, I guess I'll pretend I was just farming today.

Yup, that was the plan all along... Farming.

Pure Massacre

5/1 - 3 Deaths / 15 Push-ups

Priscilla. Gwyndolin. Gwynevere. The Blacksmiths. The merchants. The Mages.

All these people who've helped me along the way... I feel bad, but time... time flows differently in Lordran.

For now, Gwyn is alone. I am alone.

Soon, one of us will be dead.

More Clean-up

4/29 - 2 Deaths / 10 Push-ups

I made a bunch of tradesies with Snuggly, the Ring of Fog looks cool as hell when equipped.

The only dying I did was during failed invasions as a Blade of the Darkmoon. Had a hilarious game of Cat & Mouse in Dark Anor Londo but lost when what I thought was a friendly boxing match turned out to be an enemy armed with Chaos Caestus. Oops!


Killed off the Fair Lady, harvested her soul, bought some armor from the chappie up in Sen's (but got warped to an invasion before I could kill him).

Terrible Screenshot.

Also realized that Stupid Petrus killed Rhea, so I avenged her...

Well, THAT isn't going to teach me a gesture...

Screw you and your pleasant covenant!

Dragon Slayer & Welcome to the Kiln

4/28 - 2 Deaths / 10 Push-ups

Valley of Drakes (& Red Tearstone Ring): Check.

Hellkite Wyvern: Check.

Finally put her to bed, with what seemed like a bit of luck and a good combo of hits without the 'fly away and burn you to pieces' bit she normally does.

The bridge is finally mine.

I visited the lordvessel to donate my souls, and finally opened the way to the Kiln of the First Flame.

The black knights were very generous in their drops, perhaps by design.

As I met Gwyn for the first time, I was not expecting a victory.

I was not surprised. He is fast, aggressive and powerful. I think fast-rolling may be the way forward on this one, but despite visiting the end-game arena, I will run a few errands before coming back.

I took the time to note what I could and couldn't carry with me, and as such will spend the remaining boss souls and harvest firekeeper souls from the unfortunate remaining humans scattered across Lordran.

Excuse me sir, your sword is on fire.

Bed of Chao- Oh is that all it was?

4/25 - 8 Deaths / 40 Push-Ups

Interestingly, one of the weakspots was already damaged when I arrived, meaning I only had to take out the second one. 

It took me five lives to figure out what to do with the Bed of Chaos after that. I hacked at his arms, shot arrows at his 'face', tried using fire weapons on the wood...

I was staring at the soft light of my bonfire thinking to myself 'I've attacked the left flank, the right flank, the top... what's left?

Is THIS the true form then?

So I blitzed down the middle. The AoE took me out on the first run, I jumped into the pit on the second, but try three was gold. I wish I took a screenshot of his tiny writhing form before I slayed that arboreal bastard.

Alas, dear Solaire is troubled...

I saw Knight Solaire once more near the shortcut door, surrounded by the little bugs. He was so sad... in his honour I went and joined the Sunlight Warrior Covenant. Praise the Sun!

My time in Lordran draws to a close, I can feel it. In this regard, I am now tying up some loose ends before entering the kiln. 

Finally, I can truly Praise the Sun!

My first stop was to say goodbye to the undead merchant in Undead Berg. Thanks for the help, I'll take good care of your dear friend Uchi.

Next, the Hellkite Wyvern needs to die. A simple task at SL 92 I'm su- OH WHAT THE HELL!? I STILL CAN'T BLOCK THIS?

Dark Souls.

Dominating the Flames

4/19 - 5 Deaths / 20 Push-ups


Went back at the Demon Firesage and only died twice, both times to getting stuck against a root and being unable to avoid the E-Honda butt splash attack.

Back to the Asylum with you!

From there, found a shortcut back to Quelaag which was very cool and very Dark Souls.

Back along my way and not one normal enemy later I was at ANOTHER fog door, this one leading to the Centipede Demon! Two bosses in 5 minutes! I was thrilled to see that the awesome statue I was admiring earlier on the wall was in fact an enemy, very cool to foreshadow like that, though to be honest I was scared shitless of the statue and hoping it wouldn't come alive.

Oh dear, it DID come alive

This one seemed to have very strange and non-exploitative AI, and went down on the second try. Thanks for the ring, buddy!

It was at this time that I found my old friend Solaire. He was downtrodden and saddened that he could not find what he was looking for. When I returned, he was gone. I hope I see you again my friend, I hope you find your sun.

To me, you will always be grossly incandescent...

Ran around in the lava, found the hidden bonfire and chest and made my way back up into the 'village' area. A few dozen running R1's against the living urns and I was back at Fog Door #3. What's that they say? "Third time's the harm?"

This one I was afraid of.

Bullet-hell shooters taught me to aim for your glowy bits.

Ok, is that all you've got? Branches? I'll aim for what looks like a weak spot over here and...

Well, shit.

Oh, there goes the floor, and there I go.

No. No time for this now.

Izalith Found. Sacrifice Lost.

4/13 - 2 Deaths / 10 Push-ups

Not a lot of dying today; it was a day of careful exploration.

I found a bonfire near the far edge of the Demon Ruins. It was defended at the time by a centipede bug, but they're not too bad with a good reach weapon.

You may remember me from such films as 'Tremors' and 'Tremors 2'.

Wandering down an epic stair-bridge from the bonfire is a fog gate and as I stepped towards it - oh what's this to the right?

Fog gate or long dusty chamber with item.... 

Well, the dusty room looks like a dead-end so I'll try that first.

Wandering through, killed some tiny bugs, got the sunlight maggot. Welcome to Lost Izalith!

Titanite demon on a narrow bridge? Damnit. I'm not good at these guys.

Having not kindled the last bonfire, I had very little estus left. I used what was left getting past the Titanite Demon (told you I was never particularly good at them). Luckily they're non-respawning.

Wandered around laying the smackdown on fire-breathing pots.

One time, every time.

All of a sudden, a floor falls away and I'm overlooking a pit of - HEY LOOK IT'S SIGMEYER!

What could be distressing him THIS time?

Ah, he's standing over a Sarlaac pit...

I didn't want to risk another fall-away of the floor so I filled 'em with holes from above before even talking to Siggy. He was grateful for the help and gave me a defense-buffing ring.

Some running around in aforementioned Sarlaac pit later and I found an awesome-sounding ember and some stairs to get the hell out of dodge, but not before I made a strange realization about my best anti-poison armour:

My most poison-resistant option is going BAREFOOT.  

There's a lot of attention to detail in this game, but that choice I do not understand.

Met a pyromancer, met my end while standing in a pool of his lava.

This pyromancer caught me off-guard, but what was REALLY shitty was when I realized I'd left 45K souls on the ground. No worries, at least all the Taurus Demons by the stairs and the Titanite Demon will all be dead still.

WRONG.

Dark Souls for ya. In one level Taurus Demon was downgraded from Boss to Non-Recurring Enemy to Normal Enemy.

The option to go human and kindle the bonfire was tempting, but the fear of an invasion on the way to recover my souls kept me from doing it. I decided to put on a Rare Ring of Sacrifice just in case I died on the way. As soon as I spend my souls or get somewhere safe I can take it off.

I tried running past the titanite demon (it'll be safer, I thought) and one stab in the back as I sprinted past in my Slumbering Dragoncrest ring took me to 5% health. Luckily, I got out of range and healed up. Getting back to the pyromancer was easy, and I beat him handily this time now that I was aware that the lava hung around under his attacks.

Another 25 minutes of wandering around and I'd only found paths into lava pits (certainly not capable of THAT feat at the moment) and a second fog door. Well shit. Homeward bone it is, let's go spend these souls.

Now I might as well check the closer fog gate since I'm here and soul-less.

Haven't I killed enough of your family?

ANOTHER ONE OF THESE FAT DEMONS? This must be the one that moved out of the house.

I did fairly well against him for a first try, only dying when I was in a corner and couldn't roll away from the butt-splash.

That's when I realized something AWFUL;

(Glitchiness is from the DSFix mod)

I wasted a Rare Ring of Sacrifice on 6,000 souls. 

Sigh. 

Exit game.