Irithyl and its Dungeon

 After futzing around in the Demon Ruins, I got a bit sick of the same-y hallways and I think already had the items most likely to help a sorcerer, so I decided to instead move on to Irithyl.

One of the things that has made playing a sorcerer so surreal is how some enemies become far less terrifying when you have powerful ranged attacks. The big dragon-dog thing that attacks you as you first enter the snowy city is stopped by the barrier you need the doll (from the Deacons of the Deep) to cross. But that barrier does not stop spells, so I was able to just whack him with Great Heavy Soul Arrows from safety, right near a bonfire. I think I even stunned him at one point, but figured I'd stay safe. Given that he does not respawn, it made the exploration of the marshes outside of Irithyl far less stressful.

Also, holy crap do the foes in Irithyl have a lot of souls on them! Just killing the first couple knights (and yes, getting killed by them as well) I'd find I had enough souls to level up after just two or three "pulls" (it's amazing to me how similar Dark Souls is to MMOs like World of Warcraft.) This, after getting like one level off of the Abyss Watchers and Wolnir.

Though not a cakewalk by any stretch, I was able to make my way through the city and I've just unlocked the last shortcut before Pontiff Suleyvahn - I remember finding him surprisingly easy by parrying his attacks, but on the other hand, I don't know if my Mail Breaker is going to be quite as effective. (I've got a +4, I think, Crystal Mail Breaker, which is lagging behind my +6 Sorcerer's Staff.)

Actually, after using the Heretic's Staff for a good stretch, I switched back to my original Sorcerer's Staff, as by this point my Intelligence is high enough that the scaling has finally matched the raw buff the former gets - as I level further, and upgrade the staff, it will come out ahead. (I believe the top-tier sorcerer staff is in the Grand Archives, which I think are still a fair bit away).

When I first played through this, I actually fully completed Irithyl up through Aldrich before even going into the Irithyl Dungeon, but this time I decided to try that path as well. I'm not quite to the Profaned Capital yet - I think I still have a bit of the dungeon to get through, but I got the Jailbreaker's Key and have at least glimpsed the capital.

It is funny to consider that Irithyl is sort of a mid-way point in the game - but it's very memorable (and only in part because of its association with Anor Londo). Still, getting a pretty important shortcut in the dungeon, I decided to go back and clear more of the city, in part because it's allowed me to level up pretty significantly. Honestly, I'm tempted to farm the various Fire Witches and knights for a bit.

Anyway, it does feel a bit like I've hit a stride of being a bit more powerful, which is nice.