Yeah he's good; found him and that vageta guy both through ENB. I played a bit yesterday after a one-and-a-half week break. I decided to take one of my favourite characters up from 120 to 170. 

[right here would be a moving gif of a very bold/happy looking person; and below my caption would read:]

"That feeling when you level your character in Dark Souls from 120 to 121 and you know there's no going back."

Aside: In recent...times (I don't know if months is accurate...maybe a couple years) I've had things said to me by technically inept people such as my wife, her sisters, or other friends which go something like this: "Oh my god, have you seen that GIF of.. oh wait, have you heard of a GIF? It's like a moving picture taken from a video cli--"  (<-- that's me cutting them off)

It's very funny to me how "GIF" has only recently entered the common vernacular slowly over the past couple years, and now especially in 2013 largely thanks to Buzzfeed ... when to us computer folk (uh oh, I'm an elitist!) it's been around as an image's file extension since what, Windows 95?

But what the hell, since we're talking about ridiculous internet things in general, here's my favourite (non-moving) GIF ever, made immediately after the silly theme of the Mass Effect 3 ending was discovered: here. Okay, I know the "yo dawg" guy is pretty old at this point...but I still love it.

Gravelord Sword is a lot of fun and, of course, easy to obtain. Then again, at this point, I consider pretty much everything in the game easy to obtain.  🙂

What a sassy bitch. Ban him, Steerpike.

To answer the question: no, sir. I have not played too recently. Probably a month ago, or slightly more? As usual, it's not because I've tired of the game (I haven't) or that I've made a conscious effort to move on (I haven't) ... I've just been trying to play some other stuff over the summer. I think about Dark Souls regularly; no lie: during moments of frustration playing other games (Read: Closure) I often envision myself inserting the Dark Souls blu-ray disc into my PS3 and it calms my spirit. 

No kidding, always having Dark Souls there, and having the option to play it (even without having done so for a while) is maybe something like having one last cigarette in the pack that a smoker saves, just in case.

Whenever IGN talks about Dark Souls 2 I see smarmy comments (mostly of "fanboys" or trolls) saying this or that, the latest of which was pepople arguing over whether DKS2 was being primarily developed for the PC, or if all 3 systems were being developed in parallel, or if the PC version will be a port ... and it makes me yearn, just a bit, to be part of the Demon's Souls community in 2009. Because what we know is that 100% of Demon's Souls players were all together, on the same servers. Isn't that thought...inviting? Hooray for inclusiveness and diversity and all, but a selfish part of me wishes that Souls series remained exclusive to PS3 (or just one system, doesn't matter) so that there would be only one community. Does that thought make sense?

But I agree, Botch, I definitely want to be there in the formative days of Dark Souls 2, even if it can't be truly as pioneering as the first game, or even less so as Demon's was. Nonetheless ... I look forward to some truly wonderful times. I hope summoning is simplified so we can hop into Steerpike's world just as effortlessly as he puts notches on his death card.

Steerpike, I've been watching a lot of videos and absorbing all knowledge coming out about Dks2 since E3, and the consensus has, largely, been that most of the changes noted by everyone who got their hands on the playable demo is that the game is not simplified, many of the common exploits of the first game (cheap backstabs, insta-healing, circle-strafing around enemies and generally abusing the AI) have been addressed in ways that essentially bring balance and higher difficulty.

That's right: the general sentiment has been that Dark Souls 2 could be harder, not simplified as was feared early on. Obviously factoring into that is it's new to everyone, so that naturally removes the comfort level of even the most seasoned players. Still, things are looking promising more than worrisome.

The only change I've heard that I'm not in favour of is bonfire warping from the start of the game. Of course, I could change my mind depending upon learning the reasons behind the decision. Could the game be even more non-linear, not having any roadblocks like the bells of awakening, Sen's and Anor Londo? Who knows, but I'm excited to find out. I will probably take a couple days off work once I find out the release date; this will be best for my health and sanity.