You're farming blimps? 
Oh the Humanity!
Explored the Depths a bit. Thought I ran into a dead end until I fell down a hole I thought was bottomless...
It wasn't --BUT-- ran into a group of Frogs that cursed me, killed me and halved my Hit Points...
...now I have to go find some Healer in New Londo. Uh-oh! Guess I'm facing off against those Ghosts afterall!
Yeah, I was very surprised when I realised that gates you open don't remain open like they did in Demon's Souls. I thought they would stay open as permanent shortcuts but apparently they don't. I traversed the back corridors of the castle after the boar encounter and opened the gate and when I went back to it the next time it was closed again.
I don't yet understand the concept of humanity as a transferable quantity. I'm not sure what you are supposed to do with it. I was at one time carrying some but I didn't know what to do.
On the performance issues, I find that it's very random. Sometimes the games plays perfectly without any issues at all (but this is very rare) at other times it momentarily freezes all the time (before it freezes for good). Very annoying
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
You gather the Black Humanity Sprites as an object, like you do the Unknown Soldier Souls, for example. Consider it an item to use when you need to, which you cannot lose when you die. Once you --DO-- use the item, the counter in the upper left hand corner goes up by one. The Humanity you are holding like this (counted in the gauge) --CAN-- be LOST if you die, but can also be retrieved if you touch your Bloodstain.
It takes one Humanity to revert back to Human. It takes one to Kindle a flame. You must already BE human to Kindle a flame. Kindlining adds 5 more uses to your Estus Flask, in case you didn't know this already. You use your Humanity in this way from the Meter in the left corner. You can't use the item to do these things. You also CAN'T simply use the Item to revert to Human anywhere you like. It MUST be at a campfire.
The trick and the risk is: The more Humanity you are holding (the higher the number in the meter) the more it adds to your stats. The more Humanity you hold, the more demons drop ITEMS, for example.
Praise the Sun! I did it!
FUCKING GARGOYLES DEAD!
Bell has been rung!
* and I got the bastard's tail too! ...Dick! 
*
I keep dying when the second one comes 
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Finally managed to beat the Taurus Demon...admittedly cheating a little, but beat that prick nonetheless.
darthhomer said:Finally managed to beat the Taurus Demon...admittedly cheating a little, but beat that prick nonetheless.
I kept climbing up the tower and falling down plunging him on the way. Took about 3-4 hits
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
bugsonglass said:I kept climbing up the tower and falling down plunging him on the way. Took about 3-4 hits
You don't take damage yourself from falling?
Foolz said:bugsonglass said:I kept climbing up the tower and falling down plunging him on the way. Took about 3-4 hits
You don't take damage yourself from falling?
No, none at all. And the Taurus is quite readily at the foot of the tower by the time you climb up ready to be plunged from above. I only took the tiniest damage in the entire encounter when he cought me the last time I was trying to climb up the tire
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You cheap bastard, you!
bugsonglass said:No, none at all. And the Taurus is quite readily at the foot of the tower by the time you climb up ready to be plunged from above. I only took the tiniest damage in the entire encounter when he cought me the last time I was trying to climb up the tire
Foolz said:You cheap bastard, you!
The game actually teaches you how to do this and it is incredibly obvious this is --HOW-- you are supposed to kill him!
Only problem with this, and this --DID-- happen to me: If you look down on him for too long, waiting for a good time to jump down on him, he CAN and WILL jump up after you! I learned this the hard way!
My God, the Gaping Dragon was what he resembles...
A big, gaping Pussy!
*DEAD!*
On to Blight Town... If I can find the door, that is! 
While everyone's falling head over heels over Arkham City I'm still playing this whenever I can and I was able to put a few hours in yesterday after work. I picked up the Drake sword which has made a tremendous difference. I slaughtered the Capra Demon which was a piece of cake and also beat the Gargoyles which had been impossible before with my ordinary longsword +3. Also beat that stupid scorpion guy who shoots jolts of electricity in the room joining the castle area and the forest area. I went around the forest area some and picked up some nice items but I haven't been able to beat the Midnight Butterfly boss yet. Not very good at dodging her ranged attacks and I have no spells to do any damage to her while she's hovering about (arrows seem to do nothing).
Playing this game I get completely immersed. It makes me feel so calm and tranquil, hours seem to just fly by. Wish I could just do this for a couple of weeks without having to go to work or do anything else.
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I started a new file. Started as hunter. In about 3 hours of playing I beat three bosses and reached level 20, investing all my points in dexterity, strength and endurance. Have decided not to bother with sorcery, pyromancy or miracles this go around. I will also not join any covenant until I can become a "Forest Hunter", though I'm tempted to stay away from covenants altogether. As Vader explained in his review, the online multiplayer aspect of the game (which is ultimately what the covenants determine) is half-baked and glitchy so I may not bother at all. Will decide later.
Also speaking of glitchy, I realised what the source of the slowdowns and the freezing and glitches is. It's not my PS3 as previously thought. It's being connected online. My connection is not of particularly good bandwidth and most of it is clogged up by my downloads. Anyway, I took the PS3 to my new flat over the weekend and played a bit there. As I have no internet there yet, I played offline and the game run very smoothly. I experimented some more and I'm confident that's the source of the problem. This is a huge relief for me as this has been annoying me no end.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
This has been the only game I've been playing sort of semi-regularly over the last couple of months. Since I took my PS3 (and all other games and consoles) to my new flat which is without internet connection, I've been playing it offline - which is both good and bad. It's good because there is no slowdown or choppiness at all - that was something that was bugging me no end since the beginning. It's bad for a number of reasons, mostly it feels very lonely playing without seeing any ghosts of other players and without seeing any hints (which a lot of the time are life-saving). Also having not been online means I'm playing without the latest patch which by the sounds of it is making everything that little bit easier.
Anyway, it seems I made some decent progress over the last few days. I braved the perils of Blightown and beat the Spider Queen to ring the second bell. In the meantime I had gone back to the Asylum and defeated the Stray Demon. I made a good bit of progress in the Forest area and I killed the Hydra. I also played through Sen's Fortress and got as far as the boss. I tried a few times but I couldn't beat him even though he seems like something I could handle with a bit of luck. Decided to leave it there for now but I hope to get back to it over the weekend sometime.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
I beat the Iron Golem boss at with just my second attempt tonight. All it took was a really cool head to avoid making a rushed and silly mistake (leading to imminent death). I love how in this game that (and learning to fight properly) counts for much more than many hours of grinding and levelling.
Annor Londo ... here I come!
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Got stuck at the Bell Gargoyles, so I went to explore around areas I may not have found yet. Discovered The Depths and have been Humanity farming.
The thing I like and the thing that scares the heck out of me all at the same time: The more Humanity you hold (in the upper left hand corner), the more certain stats go up, like Item Drops, for example!
Hold more Humanity to get more Humanity.
Of course, get killed and risk losing them!
I was holding 3 at once and was trying to Kindle the Fire by the Drake Bridge/Undead Parish; Got killed on the way!
...and the fuckers CLOSED the GATE just before the area where my Bloodstain was located!
Luckily, I made my way back and discovered you --DO-- regain your Souls --AND-- your Humanities if you can reach your bloodstain!
*Whew!*