Been back on Dark 1 for the first time in about 5 years.  I was sick of it back then but I've managed to avoid looking at it for long enough for it to be a Good Game again.

Inspired by ENB's "Classy" runs, I went knight, stuck with the starting gear and held off levelling until S&O (42 damage per hit, no thank you).  Also gave myself Havel's ring because fat-rolling through the first few bosses with base HP was bad enough.  Butterfly was actually pretty scary.  It's probably more fun to do what ENB does and level from the start, maybe pump Vit so you can be a fat tank man.  Then I tried a not-very-speedy run (~2hrs) as the starting cleric, no glitches or anything, just a nice way to freshen it up without it being too punishing.  Might try to figure out a route for the knight.

Grabbed the Trilogy for £33 from Shopto as I never did get round to 2 or 3's DLC.  Remastered looks really bright and washed-out to me but it'll be nice to have it for convenience.

I never did play 3's DLC. Was it any good?

I thought it was great. I actually didn't like DLC for 2 that much. I know i'm in the minority there! I still played it and liked it.. just didn't get all the raving about it. Anyway its more really good Souls what more can you want.

Had a quick Gravelord Sword run through the Remaster.  It was worth buying just for the silky smooth Blighttown and NLR, which feel almost wrong after putting up with the original chugfest for so long. 

Went straight through to 2 (SotFS) afterwards.  It was quite fun, once I got used to the sluggish controls, to go through the first half of the game with an appropriately vague memory of it all, my brain sometimes nudging me towards illusory walls and valuable items.  Earthen Peak into Iron Keep was the point where it started to grate.  Several tough enemies who chain-pull into a comically fast sprint and hyperarmour through your attacks while an equally tough ranged enemy pings you with arrows/magic.  The DLC really doubles down on this kind of thing.  Thank god you can re-spec because taking on those mobs with a great hammer was not a fun time.  Demon's and Dark1 make you the butt of the joke every so often but this game's a big bully!

There are things I like, and I enjoyed it enough to do almost all the bosses (left a couple of 2v1 fights).  It has a great selection of ridiculously large weapons.  Powerstance is a good idea but never quite as cool as it should be.  Demon of Song stands out next to any boss in the series but comes after a far-too-long trudge through Amana.  Even the DLC has some fun stuff but is similarly marred by repetition and long gauntlets of punishing encounters.

So it's onto DS3, it's all the things you like about Dark Souls...again!  Buffed Estoc is appealing at the moment but I always seem to switch to Strength/Faith the moment I find a large mace.

Are we likely to see more Elden Ring at this Xbox thing this afternoon?  It's been a while.

Fume Knight was the DLC boss for 2, yeah? He was a right dick, iirc.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck wish i'd known that lol

Woah woah woah.Some people will be very upset if you call Dark Souls the original Demons Souls is the original, i struggled to get into it but the PS5 remake looks incredible. I think Dark Souls 3 is a good place to start graphics and gameplay wise.

WRONG!

Yeah all good points. I did look into it and can completely understand the difference in gameplay could take some getting used to when I eventually switch between the games.

I was only going to get DS3 but DS2 was so cheap I couldn’t resist.

Just got to find the time to play them now.

I never really got on with the remaster at 60fps to be honest. Something about the graphics. They look too clean.

I too struggled to get into Demons. Remake looks amazing though.

I am continually amazed at the level creation in these games. I’m working through Undead Settlement and thought I had most of the area mapped out and sorted...only to find a church I can enter with even more interesting stuff to explore!

In Blighty now, died once to Capra (totally understandable as the first encounter is always a wtf is going on moment) and died to Gaping - don't think I've ever died to him before.

Halberd +5 is making life a lot easier compared to my other playthroughs. However, got toxic'd so that was game over last night.

Am I getting old or is there only one Basilisk in the depths? I've only seen one and I could have sworn there is an area with 3 or 4 together. Maybe I'm getting mixed up with the big tree later on. There was a pit I decided to go around so maybe they are in there.

Thought there were maybe two not in the pit?

Getting wrecked to bonewheels in Aramis now. Good times