Finch

Saints Row the Third and Bastion are the two that come to mind. Definitely wouldn't have given SR a sniff had it not been for the outpouring of praise from these guys.

Hasn't clicked with me so far, but I'm going to jump back into it soon and take another swing at it.

They did a really good job of making Earth seem totally uninhabited and quiet. As the OP mentioned, this might be just a demo thing, but man. It's so devoid of the chaos I was hoping for... Yes there's reapers everywhere but they're attacking a generic Mass Effect map... not Earth. There's no one there! No screams, people running around all crazy-like. That's what struck me, anyway.

I'm not sure what it is about this Mass Effect that just isn't grabbing me like all the hype for 2 did. I like the look of the skill progression though. Really didn't play enough to make a proper judgement- just initial impressions.

Excited to play the demo some more and see the finished game.

@The_Laughing_Man: Yeah, the trailer doesn't really do it justice (what trailer ever does?) I'd recommend watching the movie before drawing comparisons between the two, though it's entirely possible you'll still feel there's no connection between them.

@mylifeforAiur said:

Oh, I also love a vehemently morose film or two (though, it's not restricted to films, of course.). I watched Blue Valentine last night, and boy-o, that film is overwhelmingly bleak and probably a little needlessly misandristic. But, alas, it's not quite as glum as Dark Souls. Hmm... you could try playing I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. The game is fairly miserable and deals with some rather 'mature' material.

Any ideas how I can get hold of this game for Mac? I'm a big point-and-click fan. Thanks for the recommendation.

Having recently completed Dark Souls I've begun to really miss its dank morbidity engulfing my every thought day and night. Tonight I watched Sauna, a Finnish film that exudes a similar hopelessness to the world of Dark Souls. The shots are grainy and de-saturated, the characters speak with the same hollow forlornness and nothing even remotely sweet or nice happens. Its utterly depressing. But some of the best films are.

Obviously no 90-minute movie could compare to 70+ hours of traipsing through the bleak hell that is Lordran, but that's probably a good thing. If you've come close to going hollow and enjoyed it, I'd recommend this film.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8IqpZc8Fo

Anyone else got any movies/books etc that remind them of Dark/Demon Souls? It's been a few weeks now but I can't help but think there's really not another experience like it out there with the exception of Demon Souls I guess.

Thanks guys, some great advice here. What I will say is I've shot myself in the foot several times throughout the game. Here are a few of the stupid things I've done for your enjoyment:

-I killed the Pyromancy upgrade man (not while he was in the barrel though, I just decided to kill him at Firelink as I didn't intend to use Pyromancy. I thought he might drop some useful items, too, but he didn't)

-I killed the mouthy tw*t in Sens Fortress. Dude kept insulting me, plus his items were crap, except for, you know, the essential chunks that save you farming in Blighttown. Whoops. He got what was comin' to him.

-I haven't given myself any ranged attacks, and have pumped a lot of souls into Faith in the hopes of getting the cool-looking lightning miracles from the opening video. Though xyzygy's advice about the Black Bow of Pharis means I might try upgrading that as high as I can and going down that road. Thanks man!

Having said all that, I think I've got some good ideas of how to beat them. I definitely get impatient during the fight, which is a huge hindrance on my ability to beat them. This game is all about patience as I'm sure those giving me useful advice have by now realised. My approach will be to bite the bullet and go it alone, dusting myself off and picking myself up every time I die and just sprinting back in to the fight past the giants. That way there's no pressure on me because of limited humanity etc. This game really gets in your head in that respect (at least for me). I'm going to see how far I can upgrade my BBoP to try and get some ranged attacks to beat Smough when he's on his own, and avoid that powerful lightning slam altogether (last time I played I got close, but that attack f***s with me every time). Thanks again for everyone's advice!

[Character info: I'm SL 53, started as a Cleric, pumped souls into STR, VIT, END, FAITH. Using the Eagle Shield +10 and upgraded Elite Knight Armor set to +8 with Havel's Gauntlets and either a Lightning Spear (not upgraded) or Occult Club (also not upgraded). I can't find any Titanite Chunks to upgrade my weapons to lightning.]

Allow me to vent: I've just used up the last of my humanity (a "twin" humanity no less) on this damned Anor Londo bossfight. It's my first playthrough, and I haven't played Demon Souls, so needless to say I'm struggling with the game at the best of times, and getting filthily side-f***ed at the blurst of times. Using my last humanity from the bonfire at the start (where the woman in the armor chills) so I get the 10 Estus, I decide to take out the two giants guarding the door and the guy with the bow on the stairs before taking on the two healing giants in the middle of the hall. I figure if I can kill those guys before I summon the guy from the sunlight covenant (a stalwart hero, in my eyes) he won't waste his lifebar fighting them before we tackle Smough and Ornstein.

All goes well and I end up summoning him to take out the last healing giant because he keeps healing, but Sunlight guy loses only 5% of his health so all's well and good. I go up the stairs and, having fought alongside a few players beating Smough and Ornstein through being summoned myself, I start trying to summon others to help me pummel Little and Large into oblivion. This is going to be awesome.

Except no, because, and I know there's plenty of people raving about this so I'll try not to go on about it too much, the summoning keeps failing. I must've tried 30-40 times, trying to catch different people to summon in case their connections were better or something but nothing worked. And you know what? If anything goes wrong for me in this game like that, anything to disturb my rhythm for the upcoming bossfight or whatever, I just can't shake it, and I'll go into that bossfight with a negative feeling, unable to fathom why the game has such a problem letting me summon people to my game, and then I'll die (which I did). I've been summoned, twice, on the same bossfight, and I've invaded others' games just fine and vice versa. The only time this retched bastard decides to f*** with me is now and I have a hard time staying patient, to say the least.

And I walked through the white light thinking hey at least I have Sunlight guy, but who am I kidding, he stays alive just long enough for me to take out Ornstein before he's toast, and though I know I should effectively be able to kill lightning Smough alone, the idea that there should be at least another player helping me kick this fat f***'s ass into next week is in my head and I f*** up and die. The reason I die is solely down to that jumping lightning attack that, cheaply, throws off the targeting system, and, because I'm backing away with the shield up, turns me around once I un-target him, landing him a whopping 60% damage hit on my exposed, but shapely, back. You bastard.

So now? I've got no humanity, I pretty much can't beat these guys alone, and even with sunlight guy it's a stretch to see me beating Lightning Fatso without some serious practise. Basically, the road ahead is as follows: I'm going all the way back to Darkroot Forest to farm some souls, I'm taking the souls to the merchant before the depths, and I'm buying all her damn humanity. Then it's back to Anor Londo to do this shit all, over, again.

Sometimes I think if I ever beat this game I will seriously consider retiring from any sort of competitive activity as the self-styled Undisputed Champion of Everything. God how I want to beat it.

Thanks for letting me rant. Words of encouragement?

Thanks! I'll check those out.

Yep. I'm looking for two or three recommendations on songs by Meshuggah. I'm trying to get into them but so far I only like Straws Pulled at Random and only because of its epic, epic ending. You can listen to it here:   
 
  

21. If you stand behind Joker on the Normandy, without actually talking to him, he'll say stuff. Sometimes you have to wait a while.

Okay, titles are bold. Thanks for the tip.