For years I never touched Dark Souls thinking it was too hard or that I wouldn't like it. I watched some lets play videos here with with Vinny Caravella and friends, enjoying the spectacle but never considered diving in myself.

But this spring the sun of Lordran finally shone upon my face!… before throwing me into the darkness. Skeletons, poison, mushrooms, oh my.

As I had seen some videos of the game beforehand I stepped into Dark Souls with a bit of an edge, but it was never like having watched an entire playthrough, only bits and pieces from here and there.

I didn't know all of what humanity did, where to find the best items, how to beat all the bosses (or who they even were). What I did know however was the mantra of close to every Souls-player I've talked to, "have patience, don't rush". I took this to heart, something that might explain why I haven't found the game to be as hard as people have claimed.

I beat the Gargoyles on my third try, Moonlight Butterfly, Gaping Dragon and Queelag on my first, and the Iron Golem on my second. For those interested I'm currently rocking the Black Iron Set and swinging the Black Knight Ultra Greatsword. I tend to switch to the Gold Hemmed Black Set when I need to be light on my feet. I've also invested heavily in pyromancy, which is great for crowd management and just plain fun to use.

Last night I beat Ornstein and Smough, the toughest boss(es) I've faced so far. I think I got them on my fifth try where I summoned Solaire. It was the first time I ever used a summon, quite fun actually.

Ornstein is apparently very weak to fire, something I found very pleasing as I'm a 15+ pyromancer that loves to scorch his enemies… praise the fair lady!

After 30 hours I finally got the power to warp between bonfire, and it really feels like a milestone. I love to explore every nook and cranny of a game (looking at you Skyrim), and this game is just chock full of it. I'm currently working my way down the hollow tree from Blighttown and let me just say… fuck mushrooms.

The feeling of accomplishment that Dark Souls provides when you finally beat that boss or conquer an area, the deep and hidden lore of Lordran and the absolutely stunning design and construction are but a few of the reasons I love this game. It's truly a unique and rewarding experience.

"Skeletons."

This reminds me of when I first tried playing DS... I went through the skeleton area first... and kept going... and kept going... and kept going... I forced myself so far into the skeleton area that once I got past the spinny skeletons I just had to stop... I went back and found the other area (the one that leads to the dragon flying across the bridge) and I couldn't believe how much easier that path was, and how much time I had been wasting pushing myself past the skeleton area... I tore through that area..

then stopped because of life... I can't wait to jump back into DS.

The reward for getting through the hollow tree is one of the most majestic and brilliantly designed things in a video game. I remember playing DS, getting to the bell gargoyles and dying a ton and giving up for 2 months, returning to the game and beating them on my 2nd try, and pushing through the game to make it one of my favorite ever. Very few games have had the impact on me that DS1 did. Now I've put over 500 hours into the entire series in the past 3 years.

@jiggajoe14: I think I'm closing in on the bottom. I just got stuck against a wall and killed by one of the mushroom parents, goddamn they hit hard. So far it's an amazing level! The tree is so intricate, especially when I'm trying to collect all of the shiny goodies.

I'm not far after you but at double the hours. Ormstein and Smough were a real problem to me. I tried summoning which would ultimately deal with one of them but patience and managing my range were never really up to it til Sunday night. Soloing those two felt like a real achievement. I'm also rocking a Black Knight Sword +5. Havel's armour and ring but what I kit myself out with depends on the situation.

I've given myself a slot to do some pyromancy with but I've not found any real use for it. Especially now my damage output is so high. I'm so eager to finish this and get on to the other games in the series. Its never really been the difficulty which put me off but more the lack of direction. Games tend to generally direct you very well but with the Souls games, the best you'll get is a vague direction and a name of a place you've yet to visit.

@shindig: I prefer wearing light to medium armor for mobility. There are some armors that are actually better in defense than Havel's if you level them up, and with Havel's ring you can medium roll them.

What I've found great about pyromancy is that with some spells (like combustion) there is next to no animations before hitting. And the damage stacks if you're quick enough. It's also great for crowd management, especially the chaos fireball as it leaves lava that deals extra damage.

I really want to give Dark Souls a second try. I played about 15 hours before giving up on it. I think the combination of harsh difficulty, cryptic items plus having absolutely no idea what I should be doing got to me.

I died at least 10 times on the Taurus Demon even knowing what I should be doing (jump attack from the tower). Then another 10 deaths on the Bell Gargoyles, and defeating them just felt like pure luck. Then I encountered the Capra Demon which is probably the hardest boss fight I've ever experienced. I don't know how I managed to beat that guy but eventually I did, and again it mostly felt like I caught a lucky break. Then when I got cursed and had to spend an hour reading FAQs on what obtuse things I needed to do to get rid of it, I stopped playing. Going forward after that whole ordeal just felt dreadful. Having a permanent status effect that cuts your HP in half just seems like an attempt to troll the player.

Capra's cheap and in a way too small arena to deal with. He was definitely the first boss I had genuine gripes with. The annoying thing about the early going is the first few bosses rely on the jump attack too often. My reaction to the curse status was just to immediately take on the ghosts with a Ring of the Evil eye. One I realised the Basillisks were easy enough to deal with, I started to get on with it.

@tordah: You should give it another shot, it's all about patience and being aware of your surroundings. Read item descriptions and exhaust every dialogue option and you'll find quite the deep and interesting lore. The curse is quite easy to deal with if you have the item or know where to buy it, but I can see getting frustrated if one knows nothing about it.

@jaytow How so? I'm really interested in Bloodborne, it's among the reasons I want to eventually buy a PS4.