Aha! That's brilliant, I will part with my weighty spoils! That telescope has been useless to me anyway. I've already got an unusually shaped telescope that fires arrows and everything. It's called a 'bow'.

Actually, Ostrava was at the Nexus for a while then he disappeared after I found a mausoleum key, which apparently he drops when he dies. I think. I hope he didn't die because as far as I'm concerned he got back to the goddamn Nexus in one piece!

"Night-cap"?

More like "nightmare". [Image Can Not Be Found]

There's a great rhythm to Demon's Souls that I've not seen in many other games and as hard as it is, it's not a game that is a pain to pick up again if you don't touch it for a couple of months or whatever. I put it on the back burner for quite a while and got back into the swing of things straight away. It has that same sort of pick and play quality as Motor Storm: Pacific Rift in that it doesn't require that you be heavily involved with it at all times to keep enjoying it.

Back to my playthrough: The Flame Lurker in the bowels of Stonefang ruined me. By far the most irritating Demon yet, mainly because it kept spamming this ridiculously powerful area effect spell/magick/WMD. I've just fought the pair of Maneaters on that narrow bridge in Latria and that was really tense and very enjoyable, despite the many deaths I endured dodging their attacks and inadvertantly throwing myself into the surrounding gloom. I foresee myself venturing back into the Valley of Defilement again now that I'm a little more battle hardened.

My connection isn't strong enough to sustain a session on Demon's Souls without it kicking me back to the title screen so I sort of have to go in offline. I actually killed the Flame Lurker on my own, with daggers (yes, I know) and it took me so many attempts. Like the spider, I got extremely pissed off with the spamming more than anything else. That treacherous mine shaft that you can carefully drop down to quickly get to the Flame Lurker became a simple reflex action as it got drilled into my muscle memory.

When I was showing a friend Demon's Souls over the weekend my connection lasted long enough to be invaded by a Black Phantom for the first time. It happened twice at the Shrine of Storms where those apparitions and that Reaper are. The first Black Phantom didn't react to me and died very quickly but the second I couldn't land any hits on because of my wobbly connection causing lag so I eventually died from bleeding. While I was being chased by the second Phantom I bought a ton of Half Moon Grasses (sp?) from that dude in the corridor before the apparition 'chamber' just in case I lost all my souls but thankfully a stain was left behind. It was pretty damn tense when I thought I could lose 25,000 souls.

From what I've seen when connected there appears to be a lot of ghosts running around, blood stains and messages dotted about so I can only assume that there is still a sizeable chunk of people still playing.

Oh, and you should also check out Latria. It's very dark and creepy but one of the most interesting places. Just be careful of the Cthulu creatures wandering about...

Four cautious attempts, four deaths, many lost souls, and ultimately no progress.

I am their bitch. But I'm learning . . . . .

For those in the market to lose souls: Amazon has Demon's Souls on sale today: $29.99

FYI, Pokey - there's a shift in World Tendency:

In recognition of the title's tremendous accomplishments and in sincere gratitude to the fan community for two years of unyielding passion and support, ATLUS today revealed World Tendency plans for the month of October. Starting today until October 17, Boletaria will shift to Pure White World Tendency, easing the game's difficulty and unlocking otherwise inaccessible areas and items. From then until the end of the month, the World Tendency will become Pure Black, making the game more challenging and again, opening up otherwise hidden secrets.