So, last week over the holiday, I hit 200 hours played in this game, which might make it the videogame I have played the most, at least among games that track this kind of information. The previous record holder was Knights of the Old Republic at something like 160 or 180 hours, where I'd scoured every nook and cranny for lightsaber parts, and hit the level cap while fighting wild rancors on the Unknown World. That was a pretty good game.
Anyway, I've been tying up loose ends since defeating the Bed of Chaos for the third lord soul. As far as the main game goes, I've got to fight Sif, the Great Grey Wolf in order to access the area where I'll obtain the the final offering to the Lordvessel. Makes tangling with Sif long go seem to have been . . . ambitious.
Other stuff: I killed the remaining titanite demons in the lower level of Sen's Fortress, and ground out Sunlight Medals from the bugs in the shortcut to Lost Izalith in order to level up in the Warrior of Sunlight covenant. I took another trip through the Great Hollow and explored Ash Lake, so I believe the only covenant I haven't discovered is the one tied to the Darkwraiths. Lots of goodies remaining in the Great Hollow, though, which I may never take the time to loot fully.
Also, I worked my way through most of the additional content, which had been another dead end earlier this year. I've defeated the necessary bosses, and tangled with an optional fourth boss a few times. I guess they're all optional, seeing as it's downloadable content, but I followed the area's storyline to it's conclusion, which meant three difficult, although ultimately satisfying boss fights (well, the first two were. I was getting impatient by the third). It's kind of an amazing feeling to learn an enemy's attack animations, to anticipate where one's openings will be to strike during a drawn-out encounter; or to time defensive tactics off an enemy's sound effects, to know when to have a shield raised to block, or lowered to restore stamina. This is a pretty good game, too.
My character's about level 105 now; I've been putting my points into Faith, Endurance, and Vitality, all of which are in the low 30s. I see now where the early raising of Strength and Dexterity, along with trying to max out vitality, was somewhat coarse and hasty for the character I wanted to develop, but that's part of figuring out this game. I'll also say that, the more I play, the more play skill seems to be the determining factor for success. Is it strange that I'm not accustomed to this, neither from roleplaying games specifically, nor videogames generally? Something to consider.
