I'll go ahead and put the TL
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R at the top: I'm so in love with this game. Running around blind has never been so rewarding. I'm amazed by how open it is, and by how much there is to discover. Also, sorry for the length of this post, but I must vent!
Spoilers ahead, in case that matters here
I just reached the second bell, but I spent a lot of time doing this and that between ringing it and the first. I was under the impression the bell would probably be somewhere else for some reason (I think over time I mixed up different things the guy at Firelink Shrine said), and I had
no idea killing the witch-spider boss would lead to it. After getting a glimpse of her and then failing to Homeward Bone out, I decided to move on and save her for later. I wanted to explore the area more, which lead to me exiting Blighttown and being amazed to suddenly finding myself in the part of Drake Valley I had already briefly explored earlier (I chose the Master Key). So then began the series of events that probably
really swept me off my feet.
The fight with Sif sealed the deal. Man, after seeing so much messed up stuff (a gaping dragon, nightmare fuel frogs I shall never forget, the witch with an enormous spider thing as her legs, etc.), he stood out quite a bit. My favorite fight of the game so far. It had this Shadow of the Colossus quality where you're fighting this majestic giant, and nothing in the atmosphere makes you think that's actually a good thing. It became straight up depressing when he started to limp around. Beautiful fight. I also loved the preceding forest area overall.
Another highlight was being introduced to an entire different dimension of the game: online play. I vaguely knew about it before, but just that it existed. God, being so immersed in the game for as long as I was, only to discover there are all these other systems waiting to be dipped in...amazing. I
love the way online integration works. I've had two invasions so far, got killed once and won the other time. Looking forward to being summoned at some point.
Also made a comeback to the Undead Asylum! I was wondering if I would ever return. Discovered there was a body with loot on one of the roofs in Firelight Shrine, discovered how to get to it, discovered it had a key for a door in the Undead Asylum. Stupidly tried to get the bird to take me there with emotes before I caught sight of the nest. For some reason it took me ages to make the jump needed to get to the spiraling staircase again, and I ended up being at around 50% health with 0 flasks by the time I did. God, it was sweet vindication (and really exciting!) when it all worked out and the bird took me back to the asylum! Too bad I was then sent back to the blacksmith, because out of nowhere the floor in the asylum collapsed beneath me, I proceeded to die from falling damage, and the blacksmith bonfire was the nearest one because someone murdered Firelink Shrine's extremely depressing Fire Keeper. This game.
This game.
So anyway, I made my way back to UA. After going through the whole of (weirdly creepy) UA (and figuring out the key I found was essentially useless except for letting me know to come back, lol), I killed the demon guy you see across the bars at the beginning of the game, which I found very cool. Then I bounced. I should note I found a very peculiar doll in either my cell or another one.
Throughout this whole chapter of my experience, at least beginning from when I found the poor Fire Keeper murdered (ugh, the blood stained skirt description...), I tried at various points to get through the New Londo Ruins and hopefully reach Ano Londo or whatever, the place mentioned in the Black Eye Orb description. My entire motivation constituted of revenge and wanting that Fire Keeper back. Gave it another go after securing the relatively-convenient-for-the-purpose Undead Asylum bonfire, but ultimately decided to return to Blighttown and kill the spider-witch boss (very fun, by the way). Doing so ended up being much more productive than I expected it to be. Besides finding the bell, found another extremely depressing Fire Keeper to give a Fire Keeper Soul to. Flasks are now at +2. Wooo. Also, exploring the Demon Ruins, I found a new set of armor compelling enough to force me to finally switch from my Wanderer set, and yet another boss (this makes 3, I think?) that I can't even imagine beating.
So now I'm back at the blacksmith, and the area beyond the gate awaits. Today was pretty much dedicated to Dark Souls, though, and I'll be spending the next few days settling back into real life. What a ride it was truly falling in love with this game. I already picked it up a few months ago, but only got to the Bell Gargoyles before I had to put it away and focus on other things. Started over on Saturday, I think, and I've definitely more than compensated for that.