DEMON'S SOULS SPOILERS - WATCH OUT!!!

Last May a friend of mine convinced me Red Dead Redemption was going to be awesome and enticed me with his plans of getting a posse together and roaming the west in some multiplayer action. We both pre-ordered and got the game, and I started playing it right away. I loved the game and played it all summer long. However, I didn't see him online much at all, and after about three weeks of him not even logging on to XBL I started getting a little worried/frustrated. Had his wife finally had it and thrown the console out the window?

No, no. He had bought Demon's Souls about the same time, and the game basically sucked all his time. When I got my PS3 several months ago, I knew I had to check this game out. I started playing off and on and was really digging it (still am by the way). As for my friend, he said he was really stuck on the last boss and was taking a break from it. A couple months ago as I was getting closer to the end he said, "hey - I'm going to hold off on the last boss until you are closer to my soul level. That way I can summon you and we can beat the last boss together!" Great plan - sounds awesome! One problem - I accidentally beat the game tonight. Okay, so maybe I didn't so much beat the game, as much the phantoms I summoned beat it while I watched. Oops!

I'd been playing the game for a few months without ever summoning other players, and I'd never been invaded up until this week. (I almost always played in soul form). But after trying the Penatrator on 1-3 several times, I decided to try for some help. That's what the feature is there for, right? So I pulled a guy in to help and just like that the Penatrator bit the dust. Then I went on to face the black phantoms in the next section. Archers down, no problem. First phantom down, no problem. Second phantom (pesky archer) gave me a little trouble because I got too close and pulled in the third phantom (big dude). After a few times dying and breaking my sword and shield on that guy, I decided to try for some help again. I summoned two phantoms and just like that the phantoms were down. Now, that's where I should have turned around. Instead I ran along behind these guys as they cleaned up. And I cleaned up the loot! One of them left at the dragon, but the other one led me all the way to the final boss (false king) and I am not lying when I tell you this guy beat him in less than thirty seconds. I managed to get in four hits with my sword in a quick combo when he had his back turned, and just like that he was down. I went on the end game, thinking the big hard boss must be coming up soon. But no - killed the real king (slug thing). Even after that, I was still so sure that there must be more ...

Okay, so I did and this phantom and I kicked his ass no problem. Then, I go on to face the 3 black phantoms waiting in the next area. Archers down with soul arrow - no problem. First black phantom down - no problem. Second black phantom starts giving me some trouble, because I don't want to go alert the last phantom (big guy), but dumb me I got too close and did just that. Now the big guy is after me. I'm mostly a melee fighter, but my weapons aren't too good for breaking through that beefy shield, so I had a hard time with this bugger. After 3 or 4 long battles where I eventually died (and broke my sword and shield), I decided to summon once again. Those blue markers all over the place were calling my name :) SO, I summon, two dudes show up, and bam - phantoms down. After that they kept running on, and I just followed, picking up all the goodies that they left in their wake. At the blue dragon, one of them left. The other one kept on, and I kept following. To cut to the chase: The guy I was with took me all the way to the top, and beat Old King Allant in less than 30 seconds. Seriously - all I had time to do was run up and lay down a 4 hit combo with my sword while he had his back turned. The other dude did the rest. So, obviously there was still all that end game stuff, but I beat that too because I kept thinking, "that can't be it can it. my friend must be stuck on some boss after this that I'm going to discover".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's it. Now I'm in NG+. Cracks me up - my friend won't be too happy, but neither was I when he didn't posse up with me this past summer. Haha! Still, I can't help but feel I got robbed of the final boss experience that should accompany any action/rpg. I can still remember the days spent trying to beat Ares or Zeus on hard in the GOW games, for example. Or even the hours poured into the Maneater and Flamelurker in Demon's Souls. The sense of triumph and near disbelief that I actually did it, standing in my living room with my fists pumping the air while my neighbor out smoking on her porch gave me weird looks. None of that tonight. Just me on my couch, thinking, "that's it?" Oh well. That's what I get for summoning I suppose.