Beat it. Wasn't as hard, as I expected. By grinding a few hours, the difficulty dropped a lot.
 
Well. After the credits, the game starts again. Same character, all the stats and gear intact. So it's got to be really easy.
 
Nah! It's not. It's harder than ever now. The enemies give 2x the amount of souls and deal about 2x damage.
 
Needless to say, I'm going at it again. I'm alot quicker about it now, because I know my way around. But it's definitly harder and remains a very rewarding challenge.
 
Too bad, I seem to be all alone now. No more blue phantoms around to help me out with the harder bosses. I'm quite afraid of some boss encouters, like the 'Penetrator', which I can't imagine to beat solo.
 
How far along are you guys? Are you about to beat the game? Will you keep on playing on the harder difficulty? Start up a new character? Or move on to new games?
 
I really hope enough people stick around to make the second playthrough just as enjoyable as my first. I need blue phantom power!

I. Haven't even. Played, it, yet. But maybe, I will. Sometime?

new game + everything gets 3 times harder and new game ++ is 8% harder than that so new game++ is going to be much much easier because they are only 8% harder instead of 300%
I'm half way through the game

I think I'm 1/3 of the way through my offline New Game+.  Blue Phantoms are over rated, sure the bosses 1-hit-kill you but all you have to do is not get hit.  I'm also doing all the WT/BT events (its called a Perfect Run in the guide) so I can't play online because it would mess up my World Tendency.  Man, Black Phantom NPCs are tough.

yeah i cant seem to find any blue phantoms but black phantoms thats another story. it seems everyone is out to kill me i hate it. when i beat the game and started ng+ i was immediatley invaded and died in a matter of seconds. why do people like invading? it absolutley ruins it for me and the graverobber's ring doesnt seem to work anymore.

This may or not be helpful... but you can 100% avoid black phantom PCs by either staying out of body form or playing offline. It's what I have done ever since the first and only time I was invaded. I hate competitive multiplayer with a passion.
 
@HomemadeZiggurat said:

" I think I'm 1/3 of the way through my offline New Game+.  Blue Phantoms are over rated, sure the bosses 1-hit-kill you but all you have to do is not get hit.  I'm also doing all the WT/BT events (its called a Perfect Run in the guide) so I can't play online because it would mess up my World Tendency.  Man, Black Phantom NPCs are tough. "

you can also get a spell called banish that instakills black phantom PCs and NPCs

" Are they really much tougher than the first time?  They already kill me in one hit as it is. "

" yeah i cant seem to find any blue phantoms but black phantoms thats another story. it seems everyone is out to kill me i hate it. when i beat the game and started ng+ i was immediatley invaded and died in a matter of seconds. why do people like invading? it absolutley ruins it for me and the graverobber's ring doesnt seem to work anymore. "

" @trophyhunter: Do you have to connect with it or be a certain distance from them?  It would be funny if you could just cast it as soon as you got the message. "

Well that doesn't sound as useful as I'd hoped.  Maybe banish has a very quick animation?  If your invader is using a large two-hander it doesn't seem like you'd be able to get it off.
 
Oh and I was referring to the black phantom NPCs as well as the Old King.  Other than Miralda they've all had some sort of attack that could kill me in one hit.  Scirvir wasn't so bad once I used anti magic field against him.  He doesn't seem to realize it's there and will still try to cast, leading to a long fizzle animation where you can feel free to run around and stab him in the back.  Just don't bother with magic weapons.

Never had a problem with black phantoms. Got invaded once. But I was already fully decked out with great armor and weapons. The dude tried to get through my Towershield for a minute. Evaded a couple of blows from my Dragon Bone Smasher. Then noticed, that he can't cast within my anti-magic aura. So he disconnected. Not getting invaded frequently might come from me sitting in Europe though. Anyways - Brushwood Armor, Towershield, Dragon Bone Smasher, Anti-Magic Field & Second Chance FTW. My avatar is essentially a holy fortress of steel - a paladin. I just read up on how to turn the bosses souls into weapons. Must look into that. Good thing, that I saved them. Other than the ones, I was able to turn into new miracles. I really have to melt Demon- & Soulbrand into one superpowered blade.

I've made 2 characters so far.  My first was a mage that just cost too much to keep mana pool up so I rerolled and made a warrior type character.  Much easier and less costly to play as I don't have to purchase old spice constantly.
 
I've been having fun on 2nd play thru of my second character.  I played my first play thru almost entirely in soul form so I'm doing the second in body form and getting quite a few players trying to kill me.  I haven't died to any yet.  I had 2 attempts on my characters life just going through 1-1.  I find black phantoms to be quite fun, not only that I needed them to increase my character tendency so I could get one of two rings I missed on my first play thru.

" This may or not be helpful... but you can 100% avoid black phantom PCs by either staying out of body form or playing offline. It's what I have done ever since the first and only time I was invaded. I hate competitive multiplayer with a passion."

I'm almost done with the first playthrough and there's no doubt I'll be playing for many more new game+'s.  I'm actually really excited for the newgame+ I feel like it wasn't as hard as it was made out to be and I need a tougher challenge :P  This is one of few games that I actually want to play through multiple times.