BBAlpert

@rorie: I noticed the same thing. There were definitely times when it started to look pretty choppy, but the reported framerate in the corner rarely strayed from its range of about 28-31.

Edit: That being said, I was running it on a 570 and the framerate at its worst was still never terrible.

If chompin' pups is wrong, Rorie doesn't want to be right.

Do they automatically get souls if I die or is it a looting thing? Because I was able to retrieve all the souls I lost from the suicide. And I realize now that I probably could have just waited around at the bonfire and tried to fight, but I was at the tail end of a fairly long session so my patience was wearing pretty thin by that point.

I feel really stupid right now. I must have gotten mixed up reading about another section that you apparently can't leave until you beat. I'm still kind of frustrated, but learning that the game didn't just strand me in Anor Londo without the means to beat it does deflate a lot of that. Thanks for the tips!

Edit: I am feeling better today. I think I just really needed to vent a bit.

No scimitars, falchions, shotels, nothing. I could get a painting guardian sword by killing enough of those guys by the giant painting, but I realized that it wouldn't even matter because I didn't have the foresight apparently to give Andrei the large ember I picked up earlier, so I can't upgrade any weapons past +5 (and I'd need a +10 curved sword).

It's just so fucking frustrating because I've already burned through most of my humanities trying to summon help only to get immediately invaded or have the summons fail (playing on the PC). I finally managed to get someone summoned with my second-to-last humanity and was able to destroy Ornstein with the Caravella method (Havel's armor, iron flesh, and double fisting the biggest, heaviest, hardest hitting weapon I have). Then super-Smough killed me with one hit when I tried to heal right as iron flesh wore off.

The thing is that the boss wouldn't even be all that bad if it weren't for the 3 minute jog from the bonfire to the boss room. And the fact that 1 out of every 4 or 5 of those 3 minute jogs needs to be done all over again because I got stun-locked and killed trying to run past those last 2 super sentinels.

I know I should stick with it, and I will for a little while longer, but the fact that I've held on this long is a testament to how much potential I see in this game. I've definitely quit playing games over much less than anything like the Capra Demon or the Gaping Dragon. And that makes the prospect of giving up that much more disappointing, that I'd be missing out on the rest of this neat stuff. It's just that it's getting closer and closer to the point where the prospect of maybe someday seeing some awesome late-game content simply isn't worth spending any more hours making myself genuinely unhappy.

Every single guide I've seen says "you should probably equip a fire-enchanted weapon." But as far as I can tell, I have absolutely no way to get one. If I don't have a curved sword to make Quelaag's whatever and I haven't done whatever stuff is needed to forge/ascend fire weapons, am I just fucked?

Up until this point, the game has been fun. Tough but fair, and fun. But this sort of frustrating bullshit is precisely why I avoided playing Dark Souls until just a few weeks ago. I don't want to quit, especially not this far into the game, but this simply isn't fun any more.

@roninenix: No, this was a player invader (I'm pretty sure, at least). I was at the bonfire near the top of Blighttown, on kind of a bridge. Once I got down to the swamp at ground level, I went to that other bonfire in the tunnel and also got the AI invader with the cleaver.

I had just gotten to the first bonfire in Blighttown, and I became human in order to kindle. Within a minute or two, I got invaded. I had a bunch of souls already that I didn't want to lose, roughly 80% what I needed to level, so I ran over to the bonfire I'd just rested at and jumped off the ledge to my death. That way I would spawn right next to my souls for retrieval.

Was that rude of me?

Same. I also never found the net either. You CAN buy fairies at one of the shops, though, if you have an empty bottle.

If their past games are any indication, I'm a little concerned that these are going to range from alright to so-so. Keep in mind, this is based on my opinion and incomplete knowledge of their full history, but this is what I recall.

Telltale's projects (in roughly chronological order)

• Some poker games (this is long prior to Night at the Inventory)
• Some murder mystery adventure game, I think
• An adventure game based on the comic "Bone"
• Sam and Max Season 1: A big hit! Adventure games are BACK, in the form of episodic point-and-click comedies!!
• Monkey Island Season 1: Also pretty good! Not that much different structurally from Sam and Max Season 1, but that's fine.
• Strongbad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Not perfect, but it certainly has its moments
• Sam and Max Season 2: Decent but very formulaic
• Wallace and Grommit: Not awful but just as formulaic
• Poker Night at the Inventory: Yeah sure, why the fuck not?
• Sam and Max Season 3: You could set your watch by these games at this point
• Back to the Future: Adventure games are officially no longer back.
• Jurassic Park: What are they DOING over there?
• The Walking Dead: A huge hit! Adventure games are BACK, in the form of episodic dialogue-driven dramas!!
• The Wolf Among Us: Also pretty good! Not that much different structurally from The Walking Dead, but that's fine.

I just hope that Game of Thrones, Tales from the Borderlands, and The Walking Dead Season 2 don't repeat the same downward spiral.