nobler

If anyone's getting the pc version, you can buy the digital version off Steam and pre-load it now, ready to play 12am on Friday.

'ere we go again...

Final Fantasy XIII was an odd experience for me. I sort of enjoyed it because it was the first Ps3 game I owned and was quite in awe of the presentation and look. However, I can't argue with any of the criticism it got, the story was poor, the characters other than Sazh were extremely unlikeable and the Crystarium system seemed pretty pointless as you could max everything, so never had to make any choices. Saying all that, I think the combat system has some potential, but only if they made the game harder, you could literally finish the game through spamming the X button and occasionally changing tactic. If the fights required a much larger range of attacks, strategy , planning I think it could be pretty decent. All in all though, compared to its competitors its was a very linear game and even after killing the last boss, which was so incredibly simple, I found myself just running around killing large turtles to upgrade my weapons for no reason whatsoever. Odd game and probably needs a big re-think in future to bring that magic and depth back that it had over other games in the past.

I think when I did Sif I was slightly higher soul level than most people would be when they first encounter him and I had upgraded my Serpent Greatsword to at least +2 Lightning I think, so it probably wasn't as difficult as it could have been. Saying that, I watched one or two you tube vids on him and once you know his attack patterns it was quite simple. You've got the right idea with getting under him. IIRC he has one major swipe from left to right giving you chance to roll under, that's his only devastating one hit attack and once you're under him, just hack away, retreat and repeat. He's pretty weak against fire too, so any pyromancies are a good option. Did you encounter those huge bear/cat things around the area near Sif? Ha, I don't think i've ever shit myself so much when they came rolling at me.

Not too far from the end of my first playthrough now. Recovered the Lord Vessel, cleared the archives and Seath the Scaleless, think I now need to kill four kings ( I don't have the iron flesh pyromancy, so may take some time) and some other hideous necromancer thing, before going for the final areas. For anyone who hasn't made it to the crystal caves yet, it's interesting to say the least, had my first extremely frustrating moments in there but I think I was just playing when I was too tired and felt like throwing my tv out the window. Other than that, it's so far been a massive ride, incredibly enjoyable. Also, it seems that patch 1.04 will be released on EU servers soon, there are hundreds of changes to the game, some welcome, some not, but overall seems pretty good.

Made it to Anor Londo. Took the tourist snap

How's everyone progressing? I haven't had as much time to sit down and really get into it as i'd like to but I'm done with Blighttown and Quelaag, really got annoyed by those damn flies that kept respawning but the area wasn't as annoying as people have made out. Working my way back through Darkroot garden then onto Sen's fortress, gonna farm souls and hopefully find and construct a weapon i feel comfortable with. Still using the Drake Sword which is now starting to lose its effectiveness and got a Claymore+5 which is pretty clumsy and needs to be used 2 handed for full effect. Managed to kill the hydra in the basin, chopping off heads was pretty good fun.

Confirmed on SSN now. Wasn't expecting that, even with recent poor results.

Herd?

Think this might be 1-1

If you haven't played Demon's Souls, i'd suggest playing as a strength based, high vitality/high endurance/heavy armour character. Although it doesn't matter greatly which class you pick (as you can mould any class into anything you like), i'd go for warrior/knight or bandit as they have slightly better stats for starting off. Then when you get a feel of the game, start a character to whichever you enjoy most, magic based/stealthy rogue, etc. Always take your time, never rush into areas, as there are ALWAYS surprises waiting for you, explore and you'll find lots of goodies to help you out. Get a sturdy shield and keep yourself guarded most times. http://darksouls.wikidot.com/ is useful, with good discussion on the forums. The game is still new so there's no a lot of info at the moment as people are still exploring. IGN have a great area by area guide too. I just killed the gaping dragon in the depths, was actually fairly easy but it's the most stunning looking boss fight i've ever seen, incredible,... and need to change my pants.

Absolutely perfect description, Sie. Managed to defeat the Gargoyles, firstly I lay down a summon stone and helped a random guy out co-oping them, after, I picked up that Drake sword and obliterated them, sort of felt like cheating in a way. Not too bothered though, they needed a kicking. Love the nice touches, like when playing online you can hear in the distance when another on-line player rings the bell. Managed to defeat some large guy with the biggest club i've ever seen, dropped a ring that almost doubled my equip burden, which'll be extremely useful. I'm playing through without any guides, which I didn't do during demon's souls. I'll miss a lot of stuff (first time round)but the surprising element is like nothing I've experienced before, genuinely fearful when running into new areas.

How'd you get on with the Gargoyle bosses? Gave them a few goes last night but was quite tired, got a bit messy when the second one joins in. There was a similar boss in Demon's Souls called Maneater, they were quite easy as a magic user as you could just keep your distance, bit trickier as melee. I can't seem to summon the sun dude to help me on it, do you need to be in a specific place?

Really pleased with how it's going so far. It is probably more difficult than Demon's souls but same old thing applies, take your time, don't rush into things and you'll progress fine. Managed to defeat the Tauren Boss, really like the new addition of plunging attacks. Also defeated some sort of huge, metallic boar, which handed my arse to me a few times but once I killed him, I'm running around wearing his head. Started off playing as a dex based wanderer, the new special attacks with scimitars/ninja type swords look and feel excellent to play, however, reading up on a few forums, dex doesn't seem to be scaling anywhere near as well as Strength based builds at the moment and I can pretty much confirm this as i started a str based bandit and tore through the opening areas in a fraction of the time. Haven't had a look at magic based builds yet, but i'm hoping that there's similar type faith builds to demon's souls. The elite skeletons are a bastard, you can spend up to 10 minutes circling round one, waiting for your chance to pounce, like a game of chess, feels great when you beat them though, naturally, you'll get carried away and think that you can get two quick attacks in, drop your guard and get one shotted. Ha! The whole feel and design of the game is beautiful, really can't recommend it enough for anyone who really wants to get deeply involved in a game.

Mine came today! Managed to get hold of the special edition with the art book. Demon's Souls really did cement itself as one of my favourite games of all time, can't wait to get immersed in this. Just got through the starting, tutorial type area, so far so good!

I guess he just couldn't quite nail the accent.

Mancini just confirmed in his post match interview that Tevez refused to come on as sub. Absolutely astonishing.

Not very confident I'm afraid. 3-0 loss

A little bit shocked, I never imagined we'd be that bad. Very worrying and simply unacceptable. Sounded like Gabby, Dunne, Bannan and Petrov were the only people remotely interested. Tactically, god knows what the idea was, didn't seem like much attempt to change things either after a dreadful first half.

2-0

2-0

Horrible first half. Barely anything to even say. Need changes at half time, close down quicker, more urgency and some sort of attacking creativity.

Wheater hits the post.