Taurus Demon beat my behind many, many times before I brought him down. The chief problem, which I think Pokey described, is that you sort of get tangled in his legs while trying to maneuver, because he takes up so much space on that bridge. Even the ideal strategy for defeating him isn't easy for that very reason. It takes maybe 4-6 hits to kill him, and getting up the ladder that many times is a real effort.

Sounds: you often hear noises from other players' games, particularly in the Undead Burg/Parish area. Whenever you hear a church bell ringing, for example, that means someone somewhere has rung one of the bells. I'm not sure about the breathing, though. I'll have to listen for that!

I've been toddling through my NG+ and joined the Forest Hunter Covenant. Part of your responsibility in that one is to kick the ass of anyone who wanders into Darkroot Garden, and the Covenant will actually force you to invade other worlds to accomplish this. You're just standing there, minding your own business, and up pops, "You are invading another world." You'd think this would give me some kind of advantage, but the truth is I stand at about 3 wins and 1,526,899 losses. And two of those wins were by default - I appeared in the other world and was told I'd won, because some other Covenant member had already beaten me to the kill. I'll take what I can get though. 🙂

Pokey, you're not missing anything, it's just really hard. Take out those skeleton archers on top of the tower before you lure Taurus out. He can jump up onto the tower with you, so don't assume you're safe up there... but the plunge-attack is the way to beat him. He's a huge turning point. Once you've got him down, the whole Undead City is open to you. Look on the bright side! After Taurus Demon, you can look forward to dragons, SB's Imposing Thing, brutally tough cape-wearing knights, and the first Bell. Then there's giant wolves, spider ladies, trees that eat your face, snake people... I'm not making this sound good, am I?

Gregg, to my knowledge From Software owns the Souls IP and has a friendly relationship with Sony, but isn't beholden to them. I think they did a spiritual successor with Dark Souls simply because they wanted to, not because there was any ownership that wasn't theirs.

Nice work, Pokey, on Taurus Demon and the Drake Sword! That latter is a fantastic weapon. Its only real drawback is that to upgrade it you need dragon scales rather than the usual Titanite hunks, and dragon scales can be tough to come by.

SB, I was hung up on the Bell Gargoyle for a long, long time. It's a very tough fight. If you're alive when you approach, you should see a special summon sign up the ladders, near the fog door. That will allow you to summon Solaire of Astora, the friendly NPC who gave you the soapstones and spends a lot of time staring at the sun. He's available to help with a number of tough boss battles. Summoning him doesn't interfere with summoning real players either, so feel free to do that too if you find other summon signs up there. 

Also, if you haven't, be sure to thoroughly explore the church. A few interesting plot events around there.

That first trip to the Parish bonfire is a doozy. It's a long, long walk from the Dragon's bridge through the courtyards and past all the enemies, but once you've done it once you'll have the opportunity to open two very handy shortcuts - one back to Firelink, and another that makes it simpler to get between Burg and Parish. I'll go out on a limb here and say that, aside from Firelink, the Parish bonfire is the one I depended on most. It's a very convenient location, near practically everything on that side of the game, and even comes equipped with a friendly blacksmith down in the basement.

Botch, if you freed the prisoner in the Church I think you've covered the highlights. He'll find his way back to Firelink sooner or later. I've mentioned him in the Diaries. Lautrec of Carim is his name.

Note - this is easy to miss - there is a second bonfire in the Parish, far closer than the first. It's not as convenient, but it is there. Cut across the under-bridge and through the room with the rats, then climb the ladder to the Parish. Instead of going to the right, which will take you up the steps to where the Armored Tusk was hanging out, turn left. You'll find a room with a bonfire. If you look out through one of its doors, you'll see where you are in relation to everything else. Don't poke out too far, though, or the Hellkite Dragon will eat you.