Dark Souls III: Physics Breaker

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Beyond the Church I arrived at the chamber of the sleeping princess, who wasn't so much sleeping and more long dead. Poking her destroyed the illusion that is the Ringed City (much like I heard that if you poke Gwynevere you reveal the true "dark" Anor Londo in the first Dark Souls) and left me standing in a massive desert of ash and ruin. Apart from one of the Princess' Knights who I put down, the only other one here is Gael... having grown to a massive size by cannibalizing the "people" here. He then turns to me with murderous intent.

The boss fight against Gael is certainly one of the "prettiest" in the series, with the physics defying knight flying in unexpected angles as he attacks. I only attempt two practice runs to read his basic set before summoning sunbro DogHow and S***A to assist. They are clearly experts at the fight and we have no problems as Gael switches to his even more beautiful phase 2 and phase 3 sequences, ultimately slaying the old slave knight with no friendly casualties. Thanks guys!

A picture cannot capture how awesome this fight is.

This just leaves one mysterious boss fog I found in an earlier secret passage which I couldn't enter. At first I thought it to be a bug, but it turns out there was a pre-requisite to open it first... defeat the dragon on the bridge.

TESO: Perchance to Dream

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

After cleaning up some left over Bloodthorn cultists at Glenumbra I move onto Stormhaven which is plagued by a totally different set of cultists who worship Vaermina and her nightmare realm. They are actually quite effective in getting people to behave irrationally, causing wide spread disturbances and even a high profile assassination. Eventually I reach the capital, Wayrest, and meet High King Emeric. He tasks me with stopping this nightmare cult and in exchange agrees to hold the advance of his army camped near the Rift.

Just as well he does for he too eventually falls under Vaermina's spell and I save his sorry Breton hide from... himself, basically. And Vaermina's beholder champion, Galthis. Vaermina is notably upset at this, trying to trap me in her domain but the attempt is so poor it barely is worth mentioning. I guess she's really out of steam in this region at that point. For my efforts I am rewarded with a pet monkey. Lol, what?

Awesome!

Anyway, this area is also where I complete my first solo dolmen, defeating liches, a naga and a dread grievous twilight demon in a really long fight that involves hiding behind many nearby pillars and trees. It's not the most efficient nor the fastest way to clear a dolmen, but I certainly felt heroic after doing so.

Dragon's Dogma: Aught to Kill You

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Deciding that it is time to confront the dragon, I return to the Dragonforged who is nice enough to tell me where to find him. He also mentions that when he tried, he lost and is now just a ghost. That does explain why only I can see him! The beasts lair is beyond the Great Wall, guarded by hell hounds, succubi harpies, and gorechimera. It is also strangely familiar in that it is the same place I dreamt of at the start of all this... only Savan and his team were the ones hunting the wyrm.

More awesome than Zhaitan.

We eventually reach it and I am surprised that the tavern keeper Inez is a prisoner here, and the dragon offers me a choice: fight him and potentially end the world, or kill Inez (who represents my love interest I guess?) and live forever... which is what the mad Duke did. Obviously I fight the dragon - and what a glorious fight it is, covering a huge distance as we run through and a top of ruins, shoot at it with ballista, ride on it's back, and ultimately face it in a big arena!

Heat seeking magic arrows are very handy in this fight, but in the end the dragon goes down due to my learning how to double jump and grab onto its chest - followed by daggering its heart ad nauseum. After a long battle, the dragon falls and I eat its soul (Dovahkiin)! Well, not really - but he is nice enough to magically return my missing heart before disintegrating. Afterwards we take Inez back to Cassardis afterwards where she shows her appreciation, by giving free drinks and snacks all around! :P

Dark Souls II: Meat Grinder

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Since I wasn't getting anywhere against Vendrick, I opted to return to the Dragon Shrine and try my luck against the Ancient Dragon again, requiring I beat three giant warriors and Transcendent Edde to reach it. They weren't a problem (though duels with Edde did take a long time). The dragon though, totally stomps. Literally and figuratively. In my mind I could hear the other non-hostile dragon knights snickering at my increasing death count.

Run run run run run!

It got so bad that the enemies on the path stopped spawning (apparently the game detected I sucked that much) which was a slight relief. It didn't stop Gamesting (player) from invading though, and he showed me that parrying still works since he both backstabbed and parry countered me during our little duel. Best I could do was annoy him a tiny bit with turtling. Sigh.

Eventually I managed to find the dragon's weakspot though: the big toes on his hind legs. You can almost control the beast by simply going for those, and once he became predictable - he became defeated soon after. Gahh that was tough! Having finally avenged Bashful Ray I decided to face Vendrick again as a true dragon slayer! And the old guy whooped me with his WTF overhand swing. It's almost like a feint as he begins the attack, or seems to - then waits for your dodge to finish BEFORE slamming the giant sword on your head. FFS. I'm gonna get you Vendrick!

Just like I got this one.

Dark Souls II: Silly Little Human

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The shrine is a pretty cool place. There are tons of dragon guards around, but they just bow and salute me as I pass. The few giant warriors aren't as nice, but at least I can handle them since they come individually. During my exploration I nab a petrified egg which angers one Dragonfang Villard whom I have to kill. I then find my ninja buddy Bashful Ray in a lower courtyard - he's here to kill the dragon!

EEEP!

Well, since he helped me before I decide to return the favor but those dragon guards are onto us immediately - swarming Ray in the final ascent. I can only sprint past as he uses his last lightning jutsu before being impaled by twenty different things. Somehow I reach the ancient dragon and he is massive! He also tells his guards to piss off and senses I'm a candidate for the throne.

That's right, it's me!

After giving me a strange heart which he tells me to use on "the withered ones", he tells me to go away too. So I take a few selfies then draw my sword and attack in true heroic knight fashion! "This is for Ray!" I yell, just before the dragon sighs and insta kills me with his little toe. Undeterred I do it all again, the dragon guards letting me go this time (provided I duel the big warriors on the way). Obviously I need to be more agile!

The dragon is unimpressed and stomps on me again. "Damnit, this isn't over!" I whisper at him as I vanish back to the bonfire. Looks like I need to level up a bit.