Well there's been some good news since my last entry on the matter (LINK HERE!). And well, some not so good news, so it sort of evens out. My dad now no longer hates Fable 2. Nope, apparently he now plays it every night until at least 2am, content with the game after he "figured out the rules". no mention of my excessive hand-holding for a week solid or anything. This is both good (my Xbox 360 purchase wasn't all in vain) and bad (family dinners are promptly followed with an hour's worth of TV watching and then a night filled with listening to villagers saying "Wow! That's impressive!" or "You know, I love you so much!" and the gem "Some people are getting married! But some people have rings ya know..." Apparently my father has danced, whistled and bribed his way into the hearts of the entire damn population of Albion so he can't turn a corner without some character's annoying Cockney accent grating on my frontal lobe.

So in an effort to break things up, I thought I'd bring along another game for our next family gathering. Mum made a nice meal and we settled down to a nice wholesome game of Dead Space. Hey, gimme a break, my intentions were good. I WAS tempted to bring Dark Souls ya know...

We turned off all the lights and I grabbed a bowl of chips. I have to say, that game is damn scary. It never seemed as scary when I was actually playing it a couple of years ago, but now watching it, fatherly bumbles and cussing aside, it was genuinely unsettling in a theatrical kind of way. After watching my dad get stuck in the space ship that crash lands on the Ishimura, before finally finding the doorway out TEN (yes TEN) minutes later, I was beginning to wonder if my judgement of late was flawed, possibly by some degenerative genetic disease perhaps.

My dad slowly bumbled his way through the opening sequences. He does the most annoying thing I can see gamers do. They don't look around. I was happy to leave him waltz past several ammo boxes and containers, but it got to me, just GOT to me when the necromorphs first attacked. He wasn't even watching. "Up there! Look at them, down look at the wall!" I've seen other people miss similar moments too. They're too busy looking at stuff which doesn't even matter they miss the actual plot. He was like "Where?" moving the right stick in seemingly endless, random circles. "THERE! THE PEOPL- Sigh, nevermind, it's gone..."

That wouldn't be so bad if he then didn't go "What happened?". GRRR! If you were looking, then you'd know. Facepalm. He did a similar antic whenever a controller tutorial prompt arrived on the screen. "What? What did the woman say? Does she really expect me to read THAT? That small writing? And I don't know what those symbols are! You're not explaining it all to me very well at all son!" I'm usually calm and collected, but it's so annoying when a note of dire panic rises in his voice for no particular reason when the matter isn't even important at that stage in the game. But it's life and death, and usually I'd prefer to choose death. Immediately preferably...

You can tell when my father isn't enjoying something when he pretends he's got stuff to do. "Well, thanks for showing me that game son. It was really nice of you. But I've probably had enough. BIG day tomorrow. Yep..." "Just a little bit more. You've only killed once alien." "Okay. I guess it won't be far until the next chapter..."

The first puzzle floored my dad. Unlike Fable, Dead Space isn't made for idiots who don't know the fact that if something is glowing red, it's off limits, and if something is glowing blue, it can be interacted with. Like the age old gamer rule that if an enemy seems impenetrable, but has one HUGE glowing mass on its body, you SHOOT IT THERE. So when he came to a door early on which was blocked, he was stumped. There of course, and obviously to me, was a bright glowing, blue wire box next to it. He looked at the door for close to a minute before I burst out "THE BLUE BOX! HIT THE BLUE BOX!!" "Why?" "To open the door! There is no other way through! You must hit the box! It has WIRES, blue GLOWING wires leading to the door not a foot away!!" "Gee, how was I supposed to know THAT??" My forehead is now a low shade of necrosis from the continual facepalming.

So the next challenge was even more frustrating! The one with the tram on the tracks and he had to use stasis to slow it down and then head to the other control panel and activate the arms? Yeah that one. Yerr, no chance in Hell. That challenge was primarily the reason for why it took him 2 hours to finish the first chapter of Dead Space. He did everything. Well everything he wasn't supposed to do. Look in the vents. Examine necromorph bodies. Hit the controls over and over. Put stasis on the controls. Left the room. Reentered the room. Shot the controls. "This game is broken. Nothing is happening." I had to give him a minor clue, but even then it took him a good 15 minutes to eventually have the rusty cog in his mind finally creak around. I could smell the smoke from where I sat. But you have to give him credit - he had no idea and he stuck with it for a long time. You could see the battle of wills going on between him and the machine. His narrowed eyes harked back to a time of D-Day heroes plummeting to their doom and Sly Stalone getting back into the ring. I would definitely liken the experience to watching someone play Limbo after you've already finished it. Tell them to do a hard level on that game without checking the internet or anything, and it'll take a while and drive you crazy because you know the simple answer, but it's both hysterical and frustrating.

So when he figured out he had to stasis the mechanical arm and then run to the top control panel, he almost looked defeated. "What? I have to run ALL that way!? That's impossible!" he said in a tone almost identical to a child being told he has to wait until another date before he can do something or the hours before you're free to play with them after work. "I'll never make that!" The length he was referring to was of course the princely marathon of 5 metres, but to him, it could've been a mile away. So after a couple of attempts, controllers flying wildly as he randomly mashed buttons hoping they'd get him some place fast, but inevitably cannoning him into a wall, he finally made it. "Piece of cake..." Another facepalm.

After that he began to stop worrying about the time. Dead Space is a really good game like that - once you begin to master the controls, you can begin to take in the atmosphere and without any annoying HUDS or menus - your health and metres are on your back or gun, and tap a button to see where to go. The rest is just open screen. He actually began to look at the details of the ship, and holding back tears, I truly felt as if I'd just released a precious young deer into the wild and was watching its little clumsy legs wobble, but begin to hold up its body.

After a while he did get fairly capable of holding off entire hordes of necromorphs. Aiming was difficult, but he became adept at the melee. Well, a lot adept. And curbstomping dead bodies. It was funny to watch. Eventually even the gun made a feature, with melee combos being complimented by flourishes of gun fire making an appearance. He learned a good lesson about dismemberment though, after a carefully placed headshot felled an alien who slumped to the floor bleeding. However, when he reached it, it sprung back to life and promptly sliced his head off. Good times.

So we were away and running. The spooky violins of the game and rapid plasma cutter fire were humourously interrupted every so often by my mother poking her head out from behind the computer, lowering her glasses and proclaiming that the game was "Very violent" before laughing at my dad's head being eaten again and then returning to her screen. And after a couple of hours, with many a scare and laugh, we finished the first chapter. Towards the end he wasn't even asking for my advice! So overall, a win for the forces of good (or evil if you believe the rubbish that video games cause murders...) and hopefully, an end to endless nights of English people being awed by a hero farting (or in my dad's case, often sh*tting his pants!).

For my father's birthday, I bought him an Xbox 360. This was probably the worst decision of my life. I must've been abducted by aliens and had all my neo-cortex removed, including the part which held the devastating memories of how terrible he is at video games. And not just terrible. I mean a noob gamer mixed with an impatient/angry gamer mixed with someone who thinks that it's all for young people and that I'm withholding information from him simply because I want to see him suffer endlessly finding his way out of the proverbial paper bag!

Since the only games it came with were Kinect enabled, I lent him Fable 2 (because apparently finding his hand and holding it up without activating the Kinect menu and then promptly quitting the entire Xbox 360 was too difficult). Thinking he'd be okay with it (I mean the reason I disliked that game was purely because it was far simpler than the first game) I left it at that. Now I'm literally getting calls at 10pm, and even one at midnight, asking for advice with the game. He went through the entire first few days only pressing one button, and despite not being able to do most things, refused to press any others in case he killed any more villagers. Which he does. Often. Because apparently the B button is in the wrong place.

I tell him there are hints at the top of the screen, but he swears he cannot see them. Despite sitting mere feet away. Things got especially testy when he was helping a store owner clear his store of beetles during the tutorial, and accidentally knocked over a barrel which (due to a glitch) trapped him between the wall, a box and the barrel. Refusing to break it (God forbid you lose karma!!) he literally sat there for 10 minutes waiting for something to happen, unable to move, simply staring at the screen and cursing what a terrible game Fable 2 was. If there wasn't a massive glowing trail leading to the next objective, I'm sure he'd wander around the same area endlessly until he begged me to release him.

I've tried assimilating him with gaming in the past - Half-Life 2 saw him rage quit (yes, my non gamer dad began rage-quitting before rage-quitting was probably commonplace!) before he even found a weapon. Halo saw him set the difficulty to easy and still die every few minutes. Wipeout literally saw him destroy our controllers with his button mashing (and he wonders why his vehicles continually move on their own and slam into walls!). And he restarted Morrowind only a few quests out from finishing the story because he saved right when a hard enemy was on him and he literally cannot use the Look and Move joysticks at once, so died instantly every time. No game has truly worked, except the first Fable game.

So as I write now, I'm sitting at his house "assisting him" in his ventures. He's currently spamming the entire populous of Albion with emotional actions, so every few seconds I hear some villager say in an incredibly annoying voice "Oooo! How lovely!" or "More more more!" It's as if he is simply doing it to piss me off or to boost his ego so far that he doesn't need to complete the game.

A family friend wants us to join his Battlefield 3 clan and play online with him. He goaded my dad into buying the game, but neither person is connected to LIVE yet, so the storm is still brewing. I just can't wait to see the reaction when they both inevitably get told they're newbs by some snotty ten year old who's balls haven't dropped yet. And I'll probably bear the brunt of the blame, for not teaching well enough or going slow enough. Thus the eternal hell will continue and not only will I have to deal with my dad's gaming prowess, but also have my entire squad filled with people who will sit at spawn waiting for the attackers. Lest they deplete our entire respawn count between them alone...

So next time you have a relative or parent or friend who you think would benefit from an online gaming experience, don't. Just don't. Take caution from my tale and tell them to stick to board games and cards or adopt some twelve year old just so they can then bother THEM with questions.

And those where the last words Barker from Kinect Carnival Games heard before his life force was slowly, ever so slowly squeezed out of him in front of a crowd of screaming children waiting to spin the wheel of chance. As I watched his round, comically moustached face turn blue, I laughed and told him softly that his stupid monkey would be next. I told him my plans to strap him to the tracks on Gold Rush Coaster and watch as his innards are torn asunder and sprayed all over the children eating candy floss below. Before long, Barker's eyes closed, but I continued with my tight grasp on his neck just to make sure he was dead. Very, surely dead. Gone and dusted. As the last breath of air escaped his lungs, I smirked and let go of my grip. Deep hand marks were evident all along his scrawny neck but I didn't care. I could finally walk the carnival in peace. Now for the monkey...

Okay, maybe a bit OTT there, but I recently bought my Dad an Xbox 360 with Kinect for his birthday. It came with a couple of games; Kinect Adventures was surprisingly awesome; Carnival Games was surprisingly sh*t, especially after Adventures. Your host, some toffy-nosed w*nker called Barker, who dons a black bowler hat and bow tie and has a hideous sidekick monkey, is probably the most annoying video game host EVER. Even Mr Potatohead had the sense to STFU and not mock you if you screwed up a round of Boggle.

The already terrible sideshow-style games are only further tarnished by this annoying host. I found myself literally wanting to kill this little computer-generated man. "Ha ha ha, looks like your cake fell off! FLOOR CAKE!" "You need to bulk up!" "Oops, looks like you didn't do so well!" Really? Really you're telling the contestant with the oversized hammer he is weak? I'd advise you to rethink your stance Mr Monopoly dude-wannabe! *Slams hammer into his head*

And then his monkey. Egads, it looks like that creepy doll we all saw as kids. You know, that one probably stashed at your grandmother's house that probably has the eyes that flop around and the fixed, ceaseless smile that permeates your very soul. The one you grew to fear during sleep overs? This is supposed to be a damn kids game and you've got some horror-movie sidekick on one side throwing cakes at you (And all his owner does is make excuses for him instead of actually getting that thing under control or put down or sterilized or something!!) and then you've got Barker on the other putting you down and telling you how terrible you just did!

Then only thing that kept me going in the game was the knowledge that someday Barker is going to get old. Maybe he'll have a little "accident" and "fall" into one of the roller-coaster cog works. Maybe his monkey will be "flagged" as an AIDS carrier and reported to Disease control and euthanized. Maybe some of the screws on his rides "come" loose and a cart load of children die horribly, leaving his carnival in ruins. Whatever and whenever, he will eventually be undone and destitute. It's the way of the carnival. And if he's going to live by it, he's certainly going to die by it too.... One day....

I was thinking today how my life could have easily been created by Bethesda. It's so like Skyrim in so many ways that it's scary! Well not really but a few if you stretch your mind to it...

I was in the changing rooms today and I was quite disheartened by the extra pounds I could see on myself in the mirror. So it's safe to say that the mirror has a Demoralizing effect spell on it for 5 feet radius and 2 hours duration. Or at least I had some chocolate which made me feel better (probably the Courage effect the chocolate ingredient has in it from the alchemy table). Yer I know I'm a fatty. Then while shopping with my girlfriend it was safe to say I was over encumbered with useless items such as cups, plates and cutlery which let's face it, I'm never going to need. And I'm sure when she sent me to get my wallet from the car I heard a quest pop-up tone somewhere nearby!

And after a while she left a store and wandered out and turned around and wondered where I was. And just like the occassionally scary and bad-at-path-finding followers in Skyrim I caught up eventually and suprised her. Which got me thinking, hey, maybe I'm just a Housecarl or hired hand in someone else's game! Geez, not even the main protagonist! Definitely proved further by her appearance as the Dragonborn, as when she shouted at me I felt a small bit of myself die silently inside. She definitely knows all three words of that shout!

So there you go. Sigh, this better get my speechcraft skill up writing all this drivel...

Dear Diary,

I'm speeding through Skyrim at a blistering pace now. Not by choice but because I vowed I'd catch up to my friend on story completion, gamerscore and level. I was 5 levels ahead of him when he began, but as he seemingly has no life he has sped past me to level 36! I have been torn thus between a great RPG experience of only using the skills that "fit" my character, or just boosting the sh*t outta everything to compete. But alas, he has it on lock down for now. For now...

I got stuck into the dragon combat today. I met one far east of the throat of the world up a steep slope. I hid in some barns, but it was a brutal fight. It is too hard to see when the dragon breathes fire on you IMHO. Add that to night hours and you've got a recipe for instant death unless you have night vision. Luckily the first dragon's head got stuck inside a barn wall and I was able to blast it away while it just stayed there. The second came to me over some hot springs. As it was a frost dragon, and I was a Nord (and also thanks to a helpful flame atronach who attacked along side me too for some reason!) the fight was easily won, even on the harder difficulty.

And now I'm coming to terms with the harder decisions in Skyrim. I had to find the remains of a girl after her mentally disabled brother asked me - he thought she was still alive and couldn't sleep without her. I found her skeleton but when I told him his sister was dead, he was distraught and I felt bad. So I reloaded my game and told him she was coming home and he was happy, and finally could sleep. I felt sad because he'd never see her again but I figured it was better than him knowing the truth.

Another hard decision came in the form of a husband who's wife had been kidnapped by bandits. Turns out his wife was actually the bandit leader. I found a dead body of a woman they'd captured, obviously signaling foul play and decided to put an end to the wife's life as a bandit by slaying her. Only later did I found out the dead woman was actually accidentally killed (oops, missed that note!) but it was too late now. Bandits be damned! However, when I told the husband, he attacked me and I had to kill him too! Like I said, tough decisions, tough consequences! Good to see Skyrim really makes you think about your choices....

Dear Diary,

I began my first jaunt outside the city walls of Whiterun today. After spending many hours completing dialogue options and joining the Companions I decided to finally venture out into the vast realm that is Skyrim. Other than my dungeon crawling in Bleak Falls Barrow and Riverwood, I'd only really seen the interior of Whiterun. I had my follower all set to go (Aye, I am now a Thane of Whiterun) but she mysteriously disappeared when I began a Companion quest and has never returned. If you've seen here or have information about her whereabouts please phone 555... And she disappeared with my dragon scales, bones and a full set of nordic armour! Damn you thieving wench!

So out I went. Hmmm, what's that camp ahead, I thought to myself. Oh my a big cuddly giant! I edged closer. It detected me but did not attack. Oh a friendly giant I thought as I sprinted up to it and pressed the talk button. Hmm? No talkies for Mr Giant? Oh well. Wait, what are you doing? Wha... HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..........................!

That was the sound the giant probably heard as it smashed the living sh*t outta my brains with its massive club, sending me literally hurling 100 kilometres in the air in some sort of glitch. My limp, lifeless body was already dead from the trauma before it was dashed against the rocks somewhere near the southern border of Skyrim. Moral of the story? Giants don't want to talk.

And neither do mammoths either apparently. Thinking one was as cute and cuddly as Manny off the movie Ice Age, I approached it. One of its posse arrived from around a hill and they both began chasing me. Lucky for me I had learned a new dragon shout and scared them off. Basically, if something is big and gentle looking in Skyrim, it is not. In fact, the opposite. Go pick on rabbits.

Dear Diary,

Visiting my first big city today was daunting indeed! It was hard to keep track of my character role-playing when there were sooo many dialogue choices to choose from! Like a kid in a candy shop, I had to have them all, and before the hour of greetings was through, I had 5 new quests, numerous more miscellaneous tasks and no sense of where I was going. I'm but a humble farmer, not accustomed to the big city life...

Okay maybe a biit too much role-playing there heh. That said, the best feature I found today was the new and updated alchemy mechanics! They were amazing! It's like a mini adventure mixing ingredients together to discover their secrets. So many combinations are afoot that it was almost as exciting collecting and mixing ingredients as it was slaying undead minions the day before!

Sadly, my time of fast-paced travel is at an end. With no house to store my goods (Alas! 5K for one house!) and too many precious items to ditch, I've been traveling at a snail's pace for at least 2 hours since I cannot see my encumbrance level due to my sh*tty TV. I hope that there's some use for these blimey dragon bones and scales! And yes, I faced off against my first true dragon. Got killed a couple of times (on account of not being able to see my health bar or the screen due to my TV falling in sunlight) but with the clever use of poison-tipped arrows and magic, the beast went down. To see the dragon pick up a guardsmen and throw him clear across the field with a flick was both terrifying and awe-inspiring in equal measures!

Dear Diary,

I found myself on my first extensive dungeon crawl today. Due to my TV's lack of HD I found myself constantly encumbered and having to drop precious items (annoyingly!) - the bottom inch of the screen cuts off my health, magicka, stamina, gold and weight. Despite this set back, I carried on and explored Bleak Fall Barrow. I was very impressed at the detail and the way the levels were laid out. Each area felt fresh and new, as if it had a story and history which your mind could create as you moved through it. And even more pleasingly, the enemies weren't just laid out as they had been in Oblivion - boringly, one every so often and with little creativity. Now the undead spring from catacombs and cluster in groups or stalk strategic areas in the dungeon. Various types of enemies inhabit logical areas too, instead of odd combinations such as trolls in an Elven ruin.

It was good to see this variety, in addition to some great traps (I lured one undead into one trap which slammed him clear through the dungeon with a most satisfying THWACK killing him outright!) and although most of the combats are not too close, when the AI groups together or attack at times when you least expect it, the combat does indeed get tricky and exciting.

I was also glad to see the incorporation of the beautiful item system, where you can view the item in your inventory and inspect it closely, helping with quests if it has clues on it for example. When unlocking one of the doors you had to use this feature to progress and it adds another level of play to your puzzle-solving.

When I reached the end of the dungeon it merely made me want to do more. Although I'd spent about an hour and a half or so creeping through ancient halls and caverns, it was such an enjoyable adventure that it was a very far cry from the bland, infuriating dungeons of Oblivion. So now, I give dungeon crawling the official seal of "Spawn Man thinks this rocks!". Very good indeed! Waffle waffle waffle...

Dear Diary,

What can I say? Finally Skyrim has landed and I've spent a good chunk of the last two days playing it. After playing Dark Souls for so long, I guess I had forgotten how much fun it was to actually role play with your character. Thanks primarily to a very good starting default face build, I'm now totally immersed in my character. He's a hard man, but a good one. And of course he's played by Sam Worthington (shame there's no vocal choices for your character in the builder - can you imagine an australian accent in Skyrim??).

After doing the mandatory dash from the dragon (damn that thing is cool with its scary shouts and ability to pop up anywhere) and escaping to Riverwood, it was great seeing my character evolve and coming up with what was going on inside his little pixel head. At the risk of sounding like a total geek, he likes the magic he's found, but knows there's nothing better than a good sword and shield. And he's got such a sense of adventure. That's what I like about Skyrim (and to a degree it seems amplified since Oblivion). That you feel your character evolving and get to know him pretty well.

After clearing out some bandits at this massive ruin about Riverwood (his curiosity got the better of him) he made his way to Riverwood. Soon after, it was time for some "fun" aka evil time. Enter the save game and start killing everyone phase. I'm disappointed you STILL can't kill children (was looking forward to some kiddy killin' time!) but everyone else is pretty much fair game.

After a few rounds of that (and the discovery of how to move bodies) I reloaded and began life as Skyrim's first serial killer. I prowled the night, waiting for unsuspecting ladies to roam too close to the town's edge. Then I'd strike. Before long I was dragging their lifeless corpse to the Riverwood bridge Muahahaha!!! Definitely one of the best serial killer re-enactments I've ever seen in a game lol! Not that I've tried in other games or anything... *Shuffles feet*

I don't know if you've ever seen Bones or CSI, but after I dropped her off the bridge and the strong current carried her away down-stream, her body stranded amidst tree roots under the water's edge was pretty realistic. And I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for that meddling ax man!!! He spotted my crime and attacked me, but was promptly cut down.

What happened next made my first day of Skyrim worthwhile. Sitting next to me as I murdered the wood cutter was a little rabbit. It was just there watching. It looked up at me then dived straight into the water. Before I could even laugh it began swimming back up the current, over rapids like a salmon (which by the way, the game has! And they dive up stream too!). Then, thankfully due to a glitch which has not been patched and shouldn't, the rabbit suddenly began jogging on top of the water and darted like an arrow to the other side. Super, snuff-watching rabbit! Thank goodness the wolves that were chasing me didn't know how to swim though.

Oh yeah, then I disposed of the man's body down the waterfall and watched it slowly slide off the edge into obscurity. Muah Muaha MUAHAHAHAAA!! A strange way to end up finishing your first day in Skyrim, but Bethesda has made the river mechanics perfectly. And I'm probably evil deep down too...

Who knows what the next entry of my Skyrim diary will bring?

P.S. Have written my review on my time in Skyrim here: http://www.giantbomb.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/61-33394/user-reviews/?review_id=21282

Well I've reached it! My first 24 hours in the glory that is Dark Souls. I never thought I'd say this, but, I can pretty much say that Dark Souls has crushed all anticipation I felt for Skyrim! Dark Souls is just such an AMAZING game! It's massive, the items, places and enemies and things to do are varied, intelligent and well designed. There's secrets and the feeling of achievement for those people who take the time to explore and figure things out. And it's all a mystery! They tell you nothing and you must find it all out for yourself! And this, despite having little direct contact with other players in the game, creates probably the BEST gaming community I've ever seen! I mean, people leave messages, try to help you and the online forums are just packed with people all trying to find out the mysteries and go towards a common goal. It's touching!

So in my first 24 hours, let's have a re-cap! Probably spoilers... Started off in the Undead Asylum, made my way to Firelink Shrine. Battled my way to Undeadsberg after finding the Catacombs and New Londo ruins too hard. Boosted a whole lot to defeat the Taurus Demon, got to the Undead Parish and stopped there for sooo long. Boosted a bunch more. Got into Darkroot Garden, but couldn't get far. Cleared out the Bell Tower of evil gargoyles after summoning a stranger. Boosted to 20K souls to unlock the path to the Darkroot Graveyard. Boosted on the bandits there. Died by the giant wolf. Killed a few giant cats. Saw a hydra, ran away screaming. Finally got past the stone guardians to kill the giant moth thing in the Gardens. Unlocked underneath Undeadsberg. Killed the Goat Demon. Went to the Catacombs and cleared out most of the levels before succumbing to the skeletons. Found the secret way back to the Undead Asylum. Got killed over and over by knights, stray demons and Hollows. Came back to Firelink. And that is it! My first 24 hours!

Boy has it been eventful! Probably done way more than is described above, but yeah, generally, even though the list is small, it's soaked up 24 hours seemingly quickly! The funny thing is, I came into Dark Souls never having played a game like it, dreading the fact I'd probably get stuck and that I'd get overly angry. But the truth is, I've only REALLY died (IE, lost all my souls and died) a handful of times and in total, I've only really lost about 10K souls all up. So not the disaster I thought I was going to be. And versing new challenges? I've either boosted above them, learnt a glitchy way to get past them or learnt the proper way to fight them and succeeded. But no real hair pulling moments (except for when I had died by the gargoyles for the umpteenth time and had 6K souls sitting there and a Hollow swordsman kills me!!! GRRR!!!) and From Software has by no means been unfair - my deaths have been from my own mistakes really. It's surprisingly been very very enjoyable. The adventure, secrets and achievement factors vastly out weigh the grinding you sometimes must do, the moments of despair and hard enemies. I'd highly recommend the game to anyone who has the time and effort to put into the game.

So yeah, will Skyrim be as awesome as I thought it was going to be? Probably not now. Dark Souls really shoved it off its pedestal. I just hope that Dark Souls keeps on keeping me entertained for another 24 hours. And many more after that. I'm sure it will...