Played through Crown of the Ivory King, which is the third and final DLC in Dark Souls 2. I liked the level design here, and the enemy variety too. Revisiting the initial location after it got unfrozen and seeing all the changes was interesting as well.

The first area boss, big kitty Aava, was tougher than I thought. I brought two summoned NPCs as a distraction, which helped a lot, since this beastie was pretty fast. My slowpoke build doesn't do so well against such enemies, but I could still dish out some serious damage when the tiger was focusing on the NPCs. Eventually, we secured the victory, and put the king's pet down for good.

Afterwards, I freed all the white knights and went to fight the Burnt Ivory King. The pre-battle skirmish was a bit too chaotic for my taste. My knights vs. his knights, but his greatly outnumbered mine, and they also used fire magic which could one shot me. I had two summons and four white knights on my side, and once his black knights were dispatched, taking the king down became a lot easier. The huge reach of his magic sword caught me by surprise a few times, but I was still able to dodge most of his attacks. It helped that I was using a lightning infused weapon, which turned out to be his weakness, and he went down on my second attempt. Anyway, the actual boss fight was fine, but the skirmish with his knights got boring on the retry.

Lastly, I couldn't find the optional third boss on my own. After looking that up online, entering some coffin apparently takes you to the Frigid Outskirts, but I never noticed it. Doesn't seem like I missed much, as it's just fighting two tigers at once, and the runback is supposedly the worst thing ever. Think I'll just skip that and go straight to the end game. With all three crowns in hand, I got Vendrick's blessing, so I'm ready to finish this.

Finished Dark Souls 2. I beat the throne watchers and Nashandra on the first try, and then got one shot by Aldia, the talking tree. Thankfully, you don't have to fight the former two on a retry, just him. I faced him solo, since the summoned NPCs would draw his targeting, making it more difficult for me to dodge his attacks. And his flaming aura made it hard for my slowpoke build to land more than one hit at a time without taking damage. I also had to take off my armor to improve dodging speed enough to avoid his homing fireballs. After a few more tries, I finally stomped his ugly mug back into the ground. Not a fan of this fight, and it didn't feel epic enough for the finale. To be specific, the throne watchers and Nashandra were fine, only Aldia sucked. Gwyn, the DS1 end boss, was a masterpiece compared to this rotten pile of wood.

Final thoughts. Dark Souls 2 was ok for the most part, but it just wasn't as good as its predecessor. Mainly, three things brought the experience down for me. First, having your health halved due to repeated deaths was too steep of a penalty at the start, before you find the ring which limits that to 25%. Second, having dodging and healing speed tied to Adaptability also made things a lot harder in the beginning. These are both critical gameplay mechanics, and instead of feeling consistent throughout the entire game (like in DS1), they worked differently based on how many points you dumped into that stat. This made it difficult to build up muscle memory, and the combat felt clunky as a result. Third, some of the areas felt unpolished, and certain boss fights just weren't that memorable compared to DS1. It seemed like the devs went for quantity over quality here.

On the flip side, there are also some things that I liked about DS2. Majula, the main hub area had a sense of serene tranquility, similar to Firelink Shrine. It was always nice to come back there after a difficult dungeon, listen to the relaxing music, and hear the Emerald Herald's soothing voice. I also liked how you can fast travel between bonfires right from the start. Also, some areas like the Shrine of Amana, Drangleic Castle and the Dragon Aerie were visually stunning, despite the game's age. And the variety of weapons and armor was absolutely huge, which provides a lot of options for potential future replays.

I now understand why Dark Souls 2 is so polarizing in the fan community. Some people on Reddit and YouTube even suggest to skip it entirely. Personally, I think it's worth experiencing this game, and then forming your own opinion based on that. For me, it was mostly ok, with some noticeable flaws that were likely the result of its troubled development. I also found the DLCs to be decent, but not great. Except for the superb Fume Knight battle, which was my favorite boss fight in this game. Overall, I greatly prefer the first Dark Souls, though this sequel wasn't quite as bad as I was led to believe.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-20, 12:33:

Finished Dark Souls 2.

Congratulations! I'm glad to read that you enjoyed it. I felt pretty much the same was as you did when I first completed the game, but since then I have replayed it a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see if your opinion changes if you ever decide to replay it!

Of course, I'm more interested in reading your thoughts on Dark Souls III once you start it!

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-12-20, 14:47:

Congratulations! I'm glad to read that you enjoyed it. I felt pretty much the same was as you did when I first completed the game, but since then I have replayed it a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see if your opinion changes if you ever decide to replay it!

Of course, I'm more interested in reading your thoughts on Dark Souls III once you start it!

Thanks! I heard that Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne are faster paced than the first two games, so I'm actually considering going back to Demon's Souls. We'll see.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-20, 16:09:

Thanks! I heard that Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne are faster paced than the first two games, so I'm actually considering going back to Demon's Souls. We'll see.

Bloodborne definitely is (I'm not a fan), but Dark Souls III is really not that different from the other games in the series imo, and I think you'd have no problem getting into it.

One thing I forgot to mention in my Dark Souls 2 review is that it had a really awesome OST. From the peaceful Majula theme to the epic chorus of Sir Alonne's theme, there's something for everyone here.

Of course, this applies to DS1 as well, which had just as many superb tracks. Kudos to the composers of both games, they did a stellar job.

Skald: Against the Black Priory
I got this back when it was released and put a good 10 hours or so into it, but got a bit annoyed with the sewers section and stopped playing it. I decided to give it another shot after reading badmojo's comments about playing the game, and I'm having a blast! It was actually ridiculous to put the game down when I did, because the sewers are really surprisingly small, and one of the characters even gives you a pretty detailed map. 20 minutes later, I finished the chapter and started the next. I was so addicted that I blasted through that chapter and now it seems like I'm heading toward the end.

Fun game! I really like the soundtrack, too.

Skyrim: Dawnguard
This expansion is kind of bogus. You just get sent from one linear cave to the next killing skeletons over and over. It also likes to send you to a cave, only to then have to go to three or five other caves to collect doodads and thingamajigs. The absolute worst so far was when the game sent me to what was basically a giant empty field, and then had me kill three skeleton warriors all at opposite ends of the field; what a waste of time.

NOT PLAYING:
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
The entire series is on sale for what comes out to be a couple bucks a game, so even though it requires signing in with a Microsoft account, I decided to give it a go. However, after you sign in with an account, it then requires you to give Microsoft access to unspecified personal data whether the game is running or not, which is absolutely bonkers. Refunded.

Gave my best shot to get into BallisticNG, but had to bail. Way too damn hard for me! It's a WipeOut clone, futuristic racing with apparently pretty horrendous skill ceiling. Tried to play it on my TV PC with a controller first but it became very clear this ain't the game for people with very little experience with analog stick controls to practice with, it wasn't racing, it was pinball and I was the damn ball.

Switch to desktop PC with keyboard controls and I started to do better immediately. Didn't last though, I just can't drive for crap at those speeds in those tracks. And there is no baby mode for casuals, you really do need to memorize the tracks and and have reactions on par with Neo from the Matrix. I don't and neither do I have the time nor the motivation to grind the tracks until I remember every last curve.

Shame really, it's incredibly thrilling when you are doing good. And miserable when you are not. Dark Souls of racing games I guess. At least I got the soundtrack, has some great stuff on it that are right up my alley.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-12-21, 18:37:

Tried to play it on my TV PC with a controller first but it became very clear this ain't the game for people with very little experience with analog stick controls to practice with, it wasn't racing, it was pinball and I was the damn ball.

For me, the Dishonored games and the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy were great for getting a better feel for controller aiming and such. Different genres, but they are reasonably forgiving.

That's what I mostly played when I got back into console gaming, along with Gravity Rush on the PS4, which was good for practicing gyro controls.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-21, 18:58:

For me, the Dishonored games and the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy were great for getting a better feel for controller aiming and such. Different genres, but they are reasonably forgiving.

That's what I mostly played when I got back into console gaming, along with Gravity Rush on the PS4, which was good for practicing gyro controls.

I'm sure I'll get better with time, mucking about with PS2/PS3 games and whatnot.

But ever since I learned gyro controls don't mean flailing around like a lunatic in every game I've been interested in trying it out with a first person game, and you mentioning both gyro and Dishonored made me realize that would be a great game to test that. I've always played it as a stealth game so no need for lightning speed pinpoint accuracy, centainly more forgiving than something like Doom 2016.

But I don't even have a gyro controller yet and as far as I've understood emulating gyro through Steam with games that don't have native support is a bit of an ordeal to set up, so I haven't been in a hurry to give it a go.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-12-21, 19:45:

But I don't even have a gyro controller yet and as far as I've understood emulating gyro through Steam with games that don't have native support is a bit of an ordeal to set up, so I haven't been in a hurry to give it a go.

Out of curiosity, which controller are you currently using?

I got an Xbox Series X controller a while back, along with the official Xbox Wireless Adapter. Worked great for me so far. Supposedly, the input latency is slightly better compared to Bluetooth, and the connection is also more stable, resulting in fewer dropouts. But the best thing is, when the controller runs out of juice, I can just pop in two fresh AA batteries and I'm good to go. No lengthy charge period here. And with Eneloop, I always have a recharged pair at the ready.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-22, 08:29:

Out of curiosity, which controller are you currently using?

8BitDo Pro 2 Bluetooth with 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2. I like the controller otherwise except the triggers, their angle when pressed all the way down is little too steep for my liking. And I got the wireless adapter after having some issues with other bluetooth dongles, that thing works great and supports a lot of controllers. Also as a funny side note the motherboad I used for the TV PC has inbuilt bluetooth... with apparently 30cm range. Really useful!

Out of recent PS and XBox controllers I personally like the PS controllers more, feels more comfortable to hold in my hands. But what I don't like one bit is how you can't replace the battery with AA batteries unlike with XBox controllers. Add in the non-hall effect sticks and it somehow starts to stink like they don't want them to last too long.

Went with 8BitDo for that reason, but no gyro support with this one. I guess I'll wait until I spot a good sale for PS5 controller when/if I need gyro.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-12-22, 09:33:

Went with 8BitDo for that reason, but no gyro support with this one. I guess I'll wait until I spot a good sale for PS5 controller when/if I need gyro.

I wouldn't worry about gyro controls too much. From my experience, those are mostly used by PlayStation exclusives, and not always in a good way.

But if you do end up getting a PS5 controller, its improved haptic feedback (DualSense) might be interesting. I've heard good things about that, and it looks like some PC games support it too, though possibly only in wired (USB) mode.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-12-21, 16:05:

Skald: Against the Black Priory
...the sewers are really surprisingly small

This was one of many aspects of this game that I enjoyed - no part of it overstays its welcome.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-22, 11:00:

I wouldn't worry about gyro controls too much. From my experience, those are mostly used by PlayStation exclusives, and not always in a good way.

Yeah, as far as I know only a few games actually require gyro for something, but it's not that. It's gyro aiming that sounds fun to me to try out, you know, using gyro as "mouse aiming". You can use Steam to emulate gyro as mouse input.

I have a hard time tolerating analog stick aiming in any game that have manual aiming, but gyro sounds like something that could work with me.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard
Finished! This was awful. Two giant but completely empty and annoying to navigate maps, separated by long linear caves where you slay the same couple of enemies over and over. What does this have to do with vampires? I got real sick of collecting three or five doodads at each corner of these boring maps, real quick.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn
Finished! This was a breath of fresh air after Dawnguard. You get a to explore a nice new island that's quite large, interesting to look at, and full of fun stuff to find. The plot is pretty cool for a post-Morrowind Elder Scrolls game, and the final quest was actually quite challenging (but doable) for my completely unoptimized level 22 sword-and-shield fighter.

After completing Dark Souls 1 and 2, I decided to go back to Demon's Souls. For reference, I'm playing the original version on my PlayStation 3, not the remake (I don't have a PS5). It's interesting to see where the Souls phenomena first began. There are a lot of similarities to DS1, but also some unique elements like World Tendency. I've been forewarned about that, so I looked it up, and now (vaguely) understand the mechanics. The UI is also kinda weird, with most ability icons consisting of a bunch of squiggly lines, instead of being easily recognizable symbols like in Dark Souls. Very odd. Anyway, I picked Knight as my starting class, which seemed appropriate, as one is shown in the intro cutscene.

After getting smacked by the big tutorial demon, I ended up in the Nexus, which seems to be this game's main hub area. I took a few moments to familiarize myself with he NPCs here, and then went to the Gates of Boletaria. One thing I noticed immediately is that there are no bonfires here. You can open up a few shortcuts, but it just isn't the same. Not a fan of that. Combat is very similar to Dark Souls 1, so I didn't have too much trouble making it through this area. After spotting the bridge and hearing a dragon in the distance, I immediately recalled a similar encounter in DS1, and ran back inside. As expected, the dragon torched all the enemies on the bridge, but I survived. Not this time devs, I got a bit wiser. 😉

The area boss was Phalanx, who I'm familiar with from DS1. After imbuing my starting Long Sword with Pine Resin Turpentine, the big blob went down without too many issues. I went back to the Nexus, and the Emerald Herald Maiden in Black told me to talk to the Monumental. At first, I thought she meant the huge statue, but nope, it's some tiny child-like doll sitting among a bunch of other dolls that look like mere scenery props. Meh. After being forced to complete the entire first mission without leveling up, I was finally allowed to do so now. Honestly, I found that design decision pretty baffling. As usual, I put all of my starting points into Vitality and Endurance, to increase my survival chances. Not sure where to go next, might just farm the first area a bit and explore it some more.

By the way, I see some similarities between this game and Dark Souls 2. For example, once you die, your health gets reduced by half, until you find a ring which makes that 25% instead. Having a maiden serve as a level up NPC instead of using bonfires is another thing. I'm guessing the DS2 devs wanted to revisit some aspects of this game.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-23, 16:13:

After completing Dark Souls 1 and 2, I decided to go back to Demon's Souls.

I'm looking forward to this! (And I'm glad to read that you're playing the original version; the remake really screws with the tone/atmosphere for no reason at all.)

I remember absolutely hating this game when I first played it (back when it was first released on PS3), and after giving it a couple tries I threw it on the "sell" pile. Luckily, I decided to give it one last try before selling it, got totally addicted and played through it to the end. It's thanks to this game that I went on to have so much fun playing the Dark Souls games.

Due to how the game is structured, I don't think you'll find the lack of bonfires to be too annoying as you play through the game, as the shortcuts are usually quite sensibly placed in the bigger areas.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-12-23, 16:30:

I'm looking forward to this! (And I'm glad to read that you're playing the original version; the remake really screws with the t […]
Show full quote

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-23, 16:13:

After completing Dark Souls 1 and 2, I decided to go back to Demon's Souls.

I'm looking forward to this! (And I'm glad to read that you're playing the original version; the remake really screws with the tone/atmosphere for no reason at all.)

I remember absolutely hating this game when I first played it (back when it was first released on PS3), and after giving it a couple tries I threw it on the "sell" pile. Luckily, I decided to give it one last try before selling it, got totally addicted and played through it to the end. It's thanks to this game that I went on to have so much fun playing the Dark Souls games.

Due to how the game is structured, I don't think you'll find the lack of bonfires to be too annoying as you play through the game, as the shortcuts are usually quite sensibly placed in the bigger areas.

I gave Demon's Soul the old college try back in the day. I was struggling along OK, grinded a few meme spots, used a few OP strats on the notoriously difficult bosses when I got stuck.

Then I got to this one boss in the Asylum I think that I couldn't beat? So I tried recruiting help... but nobody ever showed up. That's odd. So I figure, alright, maybe I'll join someone else's game as help just to see, maybe, how this boss is supposed to be beat.

Instead, the boss summon's me to help him. Well, that explains why I could never summon help. Also, turns out I was the only person who didn't know that, because dude I'm fighting came prepared. Had a sword that broke all my equipment completely. I killed him, but suddenly I was dead broke, all my equipment was broken, and I'd basically need to start over with newb equipment to grind enough money to repair my gear again.

And I never picked up the game again.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
I completed this (also) back in 2022, and actually ended up liking it; it's not anything amazing, but I definitely prefer it to Skyrim. Anyway, I skipped the DLC back then, and decided to play through the two main expansions:

Knights of the Nine
Finished! Short, but pretty fun. There's some decent variety in the quests, and it even starts with one where the quest compass is disabled and you have to refer to an in-game map to find a bunch of shrines. You slowly rebuild an ancient order as you play through the quests, which feels quite satisfying. By the end, you have a half a dozen of knights under your command as you storm the fortress of your sworn enemy.

Shivering Isles
I just started this, but it's cool so far. It's a legit expansion as it takes place on a separate island from the main game, similar to the Dragonborn expansion for Skyrim. I've read that this is much more substantial than Knights of the Nine, so I'll probably put this aside for now and pick it up early next year.