LogFAQs > #967618724

I don't know what I expected when you said a worse boss name was coming, but it wasn't that.

We get a Very Large Ember (how much bigger will they get by endgame!), and one of those wormy things breaks my weapon but uh I'm not sure what that means as nothing seems out of the ordinary in the equipment list. Maybe it lowered the durability a bit. I'm becoming very fond of the Poison Mist pyromancy spell, it's great on stationary enemies and its effects don't seem to run out.

Back to Demon Firesage, where my fancy new fire resistant gear doesn't seem to do that much good. It doesn't take me too long to beat this thing, but I can't say the victory feels earned. I never learn how to fully avoid the big booming attacks, I can block most of the damage with my shield but I feel like there's a better way. In the end I get lucky, staying close to its legs means it very frequently does those big jump hover stomp moves, giving me plenty of time to get some hits in and roll away to avoid damage entirely. I use a couple of potions to heal the unblockable damage from the wide-spanning red mist aftershocks but it's not an eventful fight. This is not a very memorable or unique battle, I think they should have added some more stuff to this or maybe taken it out entirely.

...Especially because not 5 minutes later we have another boss fight! Down the winding roots and staircases I think we must be heading for Izalith, but suddenly we're back in the fire with a Centipede Demon. This lava-filled arena seems strangely familiar to me, I may have seen a vid of someone fighting this years ago for some reason. If so, I don't remember how they did it. This boss is definitely unique, if only for the arena, but I'm not really in the mood for another boss when this one comes up so I only try this a handful of times before giving up. It seems annoying with its constant arm reaches that pull away too fast to be hit, and swallowing me whole. I wish there was more of a platform to move around on, but I suppose that's the point. I'll come back to this one next time when I'm more geared up for a fight.

Sorry for all this warping around lately, it must make for frustrating reading! But I want to go exploring, so I leave the lava pits and look at my checklist of things to do. In Anor Londo we go back to the big hall with all the Ezio cosplayers and suddenly it's Mario 64 time in the Painted World of Ariamis!

We enter the painting (thanks a lot to GK for getting me to read the doll description) and land in a snowy castle area with crows, harpies, bizarre blob amalgamations, a decrepit dragon, and the most annoying basic enemies yet in the form of spinning wheels. Fuck those things in their tight corridors with their endless stamina-eating bullshit spins. But I digress.

I love stuff like this in games, when you're suddenly dropped into a level where things are very out of the ordinary and it's up to you to figure out what's going on. We're stuck here of course, and it takes me some time to work my way around the area. The level design is good, very tight and deceptively complex, but it's the atmosphere that draws me to this place. The winding staircase to nowhere in the crumbling coliseum-like building, the crow calls and eerie noises here and there, the lighting blurring the distance, the statue in the courtyard surrounded by the strange unexplained blob creatures, it's all good. I haven't given enough praise to this game's sound design, it is really strong with all the unique little creaks and background noises as you travel through any area.

We pick up some interesting items- some new spells, a dried finger (?), an egg vermifuge (??), a bunch of online stuff, some gear, and a Dark Ember. Reading the descriptions we learn of Velka, the goddess of sin, and her Pardoners (one item mentions plural pardoners, another mentions a single capitalised Pardoner who was a skilled swordsman. Maybe they're like Yoshis/Toads in that way). There's also some lore on the Painting Guardians (it appears nobody knows why they are guarding these paintings anymore), but the most interesting description lies with the Dark Ember. This thing was hidden by the church as it can upgrade weapons to occult status, allowing people to hunt the gods themselves. Oh hell yeah, that seems like it will come in handy!

In what is sadly becoming a trend lately, I cheese the dragon fight. I simply hide behind one of the walls, run in the direction its poison breath isn't targeting, and get a swipe or two on its claws before rushing back. Rinse and repeat a few times, job done. Amusingly the dragon's lower body remains where it is until I bash it a lot, then it stands up to let me pass underneath lol. I run past the shield knight through the mist to face this area's boss, expecting to be wiped by the abomination who owned the doll.

Instead what I find is a ghostly woman in white with a scythe, tail, and a posh accent. She begs me to return home and not fight her. I of course accept, partly out of cowardice but mainly because I'm thrilled the game has let me choose mercy for once. Maybe I should have fought her because I would really like to know more of the lore behind this strange woman (Is she related to Gwyn? What makes her an abomination? Why does she claim this world is peaceful and kind when it is obviously not? What's the deal with her doll? Does she not want to escape?), but I don't want the info enough to kill a non-hostile NPC.

What a curious diversion that was, I'm left with more questions than anything else. But it was a fun time, and I am now in possession of an ember that will help me kill gods. Watch out, inevitable final boss god!