I checked out VGChartz. Did you know Dark Souls sold less than Demon's Souls? I wasn't expecting that.

Inaccuracy aside, Demons Souls was released only on PS3, where as Dark Souls was on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. If you just add up the Xbox and PS3, the sales are about the same. But taking into account the Steam version, Dark Souls has definitely sold more.

But I just don't think those can be accurate. Judging from the amount of internet chatter, I think Dark Souls must have sold more even excluding the PC.

Also, VGchartz is nowhere near accurate.

I did not know that.

Unless a publisher releases sales info, which almost never happens, you can't trust the accuracy of any sites or reports that claim specific numbers like that. I don't know the details about how people come up with those numbers, but a lot of it is probably extrapolation based on incomplete data.

I think it says something about the merit of this game's design that this topic is still at the top of the Games forum a year and a half after release.

What I do to get past the Anor Londo archers is I just sprint up the buttress, roll dodge the first arrow while you are on the ledge, and then just hug the little bump in the wall that he stands behind. When you're there, his arrows can't hit you. Then just hold up your shield, constantly hold left to try to circle between him and the wall, and eventually he will fall off. The most dangerous attack is his shield bash which drains all your stamina. Everything else you can block.

Also, who is Manus? I guess another boss I missed? WTF?? Is this after you beat the Four Kings in the Abyss? I pretty much just bailed out of there after I beat them because there was no clear indication of any paths being down there; it was just pitch black and I figured that was it.

He is one of the bosses in the content you said you missed earlier, which you are now trying to get to.

Legie.

That looks really interesting. What's the gameplay like?

To kill Havel (the knight in the watchtower) just constantly circle to the right and try to backstab. His swings are pretty slow so you can also bait and dodge. Just spend a few lives getting used to his attack timing.

Killed Havel! 

Yep, after some lives, got used to his timing (which is a bit weird at first) and killed him by just dodging and hitting. Using the two-handed stance helped a lot, never noticed before how it does more damage.

Also, got a lot of souls since there's a bunch of enemies between the closest savepoint and him, and it's easy to get your souls back when you die from him (just lure him up).

Nice! The ring he drops is one of my two favourites in the game. Especially good if you are using a great weapon.

VVVVVV clone.

A lot of people called him easy, but to me he was the most difficult boss in the game due to his ridiculously fast and powerful attacks. It doesn't help that summoning you-know-who does absolutely nothing.

Really? Maybe you should hold off giving people advice about how to play the game if you can't even beat Manus. He only a handful of tries if you spend a couple learning his attacks, and that's without co-op. Also, Sif actually helps a lot because he will draw agro enough of the time to let you Estus up without retaliation.

Junior Kimbrough - Done Got Old

I'm stuck... I can either go to the Capra Demon or to the hydra, either way I'm dead. Found some stairs next to the lake, but I can't climb them without getting killed by the hydra. Been trying to fight the knight in the watchtower that can kill me with one hit, not a very good idea.

Tips? :/

To kill Havel (the knight in the watchtower) just constantly circle to the right and try to backstab. His swings are pretty slow so you can also bait and dodge. Just spend a few lives getting used to his attack timing.

Yeah seriously, the bosses in the Oolacile area are fucking rad. I think Kalameet is my favourite boss in the whole game. Getting his tail is a boss fight in itself. I'm pretty sure I got twice as good at videogames just from beating him.

It also contains four of the best NPCs, namely Elizabeth, Marvelous Chester, Ciaran, and the broest of all bros, Hawkeye Gough.

I actually like the site. I think it's cool that Brandon is presenting videogames in a more "stylish" or "mature" light, or however you want to describe it. It seems like there are a few sites coming up with a similar intention, like Kill Screen and Attract Mode. I don't think those style of sites should be the only ones, but it's good to have a balance. The graphic design on Venus Patrol is a little weird though. The header is oddly laid out, and I don't think the parallax adds anything, and I find the post headers hard to read at a glance, but otherwise it's nice.

But I do think it was a lesson in mismanaged expectations. If he had just started the site as a small thing and let it grown organically, maybe people would be more inclined to give it a chance. But having a huge hype parade and a massive kickstarter made it hard for the final result to live up to people's expectations. Blogs are not something that you just "release" like a game, so hype doesn't really work, I think. They have to grow over time.

I'm enjoying the artsy presentation though and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

I just want to vote for Environmental Station Alpha being on the next one.

Fuck yeah! Awesome variety in those shots.

I think coffee has a reverse effect on me. Instead of making me more active it makes me even lazier.

I don't know the details, but from what I understand caffeine blocks adenosine receptors in your brain (which tell your body to go to sleep) causing your body to overcompensate with dopamine and glutamate. So there is always a period of drowsiness while your body compensates before the effect kicks in.

I think coffee has a reverse effect on me. Instead of making me more active it makes me even lazier.

Caffiene doesn't actually make you more productive. It's only good if the only productive alternative is sleep.

Glucose does make you more productive, though. But don't take too much; that stuff is bad for you.

What? That's not true at all. Caffeine is one of the most common performance enhancers for athletes. In almost any study you read it's found to quicken thinking and improve output for certain types of work.

Your body doesn't metabolize caffeine the way it does glucose though, which is I think what you're getting at. So in that way it's not actually introducing new energy into your body. But that doesn't mean it can't make you more productive.

Looking good guys!

Love this idea! I enjoyed the trailer too.

heres mine, some kind of exploration game:
(image)

I love those colours!

Just started. Tutorial was pretty smooth, but after that I've already got the crap kicked out of me a few times just for wandering about.
Apparently 99 bleed resistance isn't the lot it sounds like.

I'm enjoying it thus far, but there's a fine line between not coddling the player and not explaining a thing at all. Kind of concerned it'll have the EYE problem where constant incremental stat increases feel pointless because the difference is too fine. But we'll see!
Seems like equipment is way more important anyway. Now I need to find out why.

Also, this game reminds me of Colossus in a million tiny ways, which is good

The only stats you really need to worry about (assuming a melee character) are Endurance, Vitality, and Strength or Dexterity depending on what kind of weapon you want to use (up to a maximum of 40, or 27 if you plan to two-hand). The only other time you want to upgrade other stats is for item requirements.

Hey, does anyone have any suggestions for good artbooks? Not tutorials, but more game concept art and stuff.

The Spectrum books are fantastic. They are an annual collection of "fantastic" art from all mediums, and they have sections for concept art, book illustration, sequential (comics and stuff). There's almost 20 of them now.

The Dark Souls Design Works is one of my favs too.

The 25th Anniversary Hyrule Historia book is pretty good. It's not that deep but very broad and has a lot of cool concept work. I'm not sure how you get a physical copy though (I just downloaded it).

The Art of Morrowind has some really awesome concept work. Again, not sure how you get it.

Those are the main ones that come to mind. But this thread has a lot more info: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=24948.0