Lots o' killin'

RISEN 2: DARK WATERS (PC)

It's somewhat shaping out like a proper Risen title.

Risen and Gothic both started you out with next to nothing. Through survivalist tactics and careful grinding, you eventually ascend into the roll of an armor-clad badass or a staff-toting spell-slinger. Dark Waters kind of does the same the thing. You begin with not even a shirt on your back and a basic sword, but you (should, at least) have plenty of healing items called "provisions." Pretty much any time you nab a generic food, instead of separating each particular morsel into slightly different items types, they're all counted as provisions. Yeah, so a jug of wine and an apple have the same effect...

Anyway, I haven't done much story-wise. I initiated a quest to resteal a prisoner's duds, two of which I can't even obtain yet. One of them, a pair of boots, I nabbed by sneaking into the barracks and swiping them from the front of someone's bed. Other than that, the only significant feats I've managed thus far include:

-Killing some monkeys
-Fighting a jaguar
-Finding the pirates' hideout.

One thing I found profoundly stupid about this game is that the pirates won't let you in through the front gate. Instead, you can pad for a short while around back and enter through the unguarded backside of their community, complete with gaping entryway. So, what's the point to having a guard at the front? I also found a blacksmith here selling a sword that I covet.... for 1000 gold. I have something like 200. I'll be doing a bit of farming for a while, as you can tell. Let's just say I don't feel as motivated to play this one when I'm currently invested in...

---

DARK SOULS (PS3)

I've made a lot of progress, with one possibly huge mistake made.

After grinding for a bit, I decided to slice my way through the Undead Burg. I carved up a bunch of muthas, gained levels, found a hidden merchant, and did some shopping, especially getting my hands on a short bow. Eventually I came to a semi-hidden walkway where a knight donning a horned helmet stared off into space. I thought that maybe I could backstab the guy if I sneak up be-fuck, he heard me! I still attempted to take him on, cleaving off a mere fifty or so damage, which only took away a sliver of his HP. He, on the other hand, bent me over and spanked me with his sword, Beatrix Kiddo-style.

I limped back from the bonfire and luckily recovered my lost souls, then pressed onward. After some more dying and leveling, I came to a misty entryway, obviously signifying a boss encounter on the horizon. I battened down the hatches, scared only because of the mind games Dark Souls and its ilk love to play. I came to a partially ruined bridge and saw nothing. I thought maybe there is no boss and the game is just psyching me out. That's when the minotaur-like Tauros Demon appeared and charged at me. I knew I wasn't anywhere near ready to face this guy, so I panicked and threw myself off the bridge. After even more grinding, I gave the fight a sincere attempt. To my surprise, I was really putting the screws to the demon, pushing right up against his groin and cutting loose as many swipes as I could. I noticed, though, that despite the fact that he didn't touch me, I was still losing HP because of a couple of snipers placed on a nearby tower.

I attempted to regroup and take a swig from my Estes Flask when calamity struck. Thanks to the camera, I didn't realize I was close to a ledge and inadvertently fell off. YOU DIED, the game admonished. However, as those words dissipated, something else appeared on the screen: the flailing form of the Tauros Demon, screaming as he too plummeted to his death. YOU DEFEATED.

I thought that it wouldn't count and that I would have to rematch the creature. To my surprise, he was well and truly dead, plus I was able to recover the souls I earned through "killing" him. Oh well, one down, many more to go...

A familiar sight came after the demon: a long bridge populated by a handful of soldiers. "Crap, there's a dragon coming, isn't there? Stupid Demon's Souls..." No sooner had I stepped on the bridge than a Hellkite Wyvern appeared and burnt most of my foes to a crisp. The creature then clung to a tower on the opposite side of the walkway. Thankfully, midway across the bridge was a shortcut that took me back to the bonfire, which stays permanently accessible once you kick down a ladder. I did that and decided to do some research on the wyvern before going much farther. I discovered something rather interesting........

I made my way back to the dragon and passed through a door leading to a pathway under the bridge. After securing the location, I took up a stance and began firing arrows at the dragon's tail. After about fifteen or so shots, I had acquired a new weapon: the Drake Sword, which was more than twice as powerful as my broadsword!

With this in hand, I was one-shotting almost everything in the Burg. I even went back to the dark knight to give him a piece of my mind. Although he nearly killed me, I was able to prevail and pick up the ring he was guarding that boosts your defense when your HP is low.

Before long, I entered the Undead Parish and got killed again by what appeared to be the antagonist from Razorback done up like Mechagodzilla. After a few tries, I nearly gave up, but then discovered that he would turn around if he chased me to a certain point. So I lured Mecharazorback to this location and slashed him as he was walking away. I repeated the process until he oinked his last. Thanks to the Drake Sword, I was able to blast my way through the Parish pretty easily, and even topple a few one-time foes. I soon came to another boss fight and that's when my knee started knocking.

I shouldn't have been terrified when fighting the Bell Gargoyles. By this point, they could barely damage me and my sword was stealing whole chunks of their HP with each blow. The first one fell with a little difficulty, only because he wouldn't sit still. The second one, though, died after a combo or two. After that, I ascended the nearby tower and rang the first bell. Boom! I came back down and saw something ghastly: a creepy humanoid thing with its arms spread outward. It kind of reminded me of the gimpsuit-donning ghost from American Horror Story crossed with the winged devourer from Beastmaster. I expected it to hypnotically float towards me, latch on, and start stealing my HP, possibly even liquify my flesh and leave me nothing but a pile of bones. So horrified was I by this sight that I took a slash at it, only to realize it was an NPC. Possibly a useful one, to boot...

One thing I hate about this game: if you piss off a character, they won't calm down unless you talk to Oswald to absolve your sins. The one I just pissed off was Oswald. Well, crap...

Long and short, I killed Oswald because I knew he would never settle down. I just hope I don't accidentally hurt someone else, now...

For now, I'm getting ready for a battle against another boss, the Capra Demon. I'm pretty much grinding and farming materials to reinforce my armor for the coming battle.

Most recent blog posts from Joseph Shaffer...
Stuff Played Yet Again Joe Playing Stuff Part 8375 Obligatory What the Hell is Joe Playing or Planning to Play

Feedback
	honestgamer - July 07, 2015 (03:33 PM) I think I talked to Oswald once on my trip through the game, and I don't think I ever had him absolve any sins. You could have done a lot worse, as I recall. Just be VERY careful in the future.
	JoeTheDestroyer - July 08, 2015 (12:06 AM) Yeah, I'll have to be. I only found out that Oswald was the man to absolve sins because I Googled a way to "unaggro" NPCs. Everyone agreed he was the man to talk to, unfortunately.
	Genj - July 11, 2015 (09:38 AM) There's an NPC later that literally looks like I monster and I'm pretty sure I ended up killing him by accident but all it did was lock out a Covennant. If I recall, I think Zipp aggro'd the 1st Pyromancy merchant while playing as Pyromancer. That's one of the reasons the online messages are really important. I played Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne at launch, so there were always loads of "friend ahead" type messages around NPCs.
	JoeTheDestroyer - July 14, 2015 (12:24 PM) What they ought to do is offer a rare item that you can use on angry NPCs to calm them down. Just as long as they don't make it an olive branch. I don't think my eyes would survive the rolling.