Case in Point:

If you notice as you walk on these liltle pieces of dry land past the nest of slugs…..there are scafolding or beams of wood that is holding the bridge up that hugs the side of the mountain…….stand between these last to beams of wood the flank your R/L hands…..Shoot and arrow at one of the goblins…let one come out after you……as he approach…..run on the outside of the beams into the water…..now remember to have your Lotus handy because you will be standing in the swamp for a while…..the Giant will try to hit you with his club…but he cant because the beams are between you and his swing…….unload on his ass until he try to run around the beam…at which time you run back on to the other side…….

its like playing ring around the rosey……..do this and in no time you will have both Giants dead within 10min……

There answer most often comes back as a resounding, "NO YOU CAN'T YOU STUPID FOOL!"

I beat 1-1, 1-2
Go to 4-1 get crescent falcion and arducatiors shield

Then go straight through 5-1, 5-2, 5-3.
Ive got vinland down pat. I dont even bother shooting maiden with arrows any more.
If you make vinland swing then run in you can get a back stab EVERY time.

In my initial play through (that made it past 1-1) i went to world 5 first, 2 i did no damage, 3 didn't like the theme, 4… DX (i had no outside knowledge of the game what so ever back then)
I died about 5 times to the giant goblin 1, celebrated over its corpse, to realize there was a 2nd one : ( it killed another 3
when i reached the boss, died only once, ran straight off the cliff XD

Now to the Poo Swamp, i went here right after 5 -1, you guys can see where this is going
i died over 50 time in that swamp to various reasons:
-meat Cleavers
-pokey plants
-suicide cliff jumps
-giant goblins
-small goblin push combos
-the inability to run
- giant mosquitos
-black phantoms
-lost
-C. Geckos
-Poison
and much more

but after all that, i've learn a thing or 2
-world 5 is always last
-and revenge is a sweet thing (black eye stones FTW)

I died a lot during this level but now I know the way by heart and I can easily avoid the Giant Goblins & Meat Cleaver BP. The most annoying part is after the merchant though (somebody else mentioned it before).

the spot on the bridge youre referring to has a little alcove above it where 6 or 7 goblins hide. not unlimited respawn though, just seems like it when your struggling with them and their stupid breakdance push attack on a narrow path.

I actually found 5-2 a lot easier than some levels. Use assasin armor with ring of poison resist and you can basically wander around for as long as you want in the muck before you have to even worry about lotus' As far as the goblins, theifs ring and lava bow do a fantastic job on them. if they do give chase just you can still usually outrun them long enough for them to lose interest, especially since the world is so wide open.

The biggest killer in this world si the darkness. Enemies are very faitn from a distance so if you arent on your toes you are liable to run right up next to them before you realize, and toe to toe fights here dont often end well.

Those jellyfishes that drop lotuses like diarreah didn't respawn after I died, is this a bug or normal?

Or did I play DS too long? :p

I just felt like sharing my HATRED TOWARDS 5-2!

But in no means was it as hard as 4-2 imo. Once you know 4-2 you waltz through it like a piece of cake, especially if you know when and where to kill the Reapers with a bow, and where the assassins appear (if I remember correctly, there's only 1 you really need to watch out for). Old Hero is easy if you're patient enough to only walk. (I'm a pure melee player)

5-2 was horrible the first time I went through it (Meat Cleaver Chick AND the Giant Goblin at the same time), the second time I only died because of a stupid fall. I can actually go through it perfectly, without ever really getting poisoned or severely hit, the level design and slow swamp just make this level not fun to play. Luckily I got everything from the first playthrough so I don't need to go back through this hellhole.

Had she been placed on fair ground, I'm sure that she wouldn't be any tougher than, say, BP Miralda (hits similarly hard and fast, but easy to dodge), or a Great sword redeye Knight with a huge HP bar.

but yeah giant gobins can kiss my ass i eat them for breakfast :D

If I knew how to upload a video from my Ps3 I would show you all how easy it is. But for now a map will have to do.

Equipment; Black Leather Set (Thieves Starting Gear from 3-1 or the Class), Ring of Poison Resistance, Thief's Ring, Bow of your Choice, 2 Royal Lotus
http://i44.tinypic.com/zohxdz.png
- Green Line is the path you follow (no questions)
- Light Green Circles are the Enemies you kill (no questions)
- There's a spot where I suddenly cut it down into the swamp instead of following. This is because the enemies will ambush you and you're already too high to roll off safely. Fortunately, if you run it in the swamp (holding down O ) and hug the wall you won't get poisoned from that point on.

The Black Leather Set and Ring should give you about 30 seconds before poison inflicts on you. And while your sprint is slower than normal, it shaves off about 10 seconds anyway. All the required enemies can be killed with a bow long before they hit you. And again if you're sprinting/running there won't be any issue about being poisoned except the once or twice.

I only get poisoned once by it too… 5-2 is easy ._."

However, once you level up to a certain point and get a couple key spells, all the other levels / bosses (aside from the ever challenging black phanton Satsuki) become FAR too easy.

So, despite the endless frustration, I actually found it a refreshing challenge which actually made me think about new ways to survive it, as well as level up an extra 25 soul levels that I probably would not have levelled up otherwise.

Although, now that I give it further thought, it is only truly difficult at pure black world tendency.

Those black phantom giant depraved ones are NOT to be taken lightly.

At pure white, you don't get poisoned NEARLY as often and the purple flame shield + any number will block all damage from any enemies.

Just a matter of patience and grinding, as always.

The reason I love 5-2 is the same reason mentioned above. 5-2 can suck for an invading BP if you know your way around. Since there is so much open swamp between the archstone and the first fog gate, you can have the BP wandering around spitting and cursing while you sit at the far end of the swamp, leaning against the wall..weapon resting on your shoulder while you munch on a Lotus weed.

Also, if you have PBWT and LSS, the Slug nest is a veritable treasure trove of Marrowstone. The ONLY enemy that can still ruin my day is BP Selen Vinland when she gets the drop on me… Now that I use the ever-so-helpful combo of Thief's Ring, Graverobber's Ring and Hidden Soul, I can practically climb on her shoulders and tap dance on her head before she knows something is wrong.

Meat Cleaver chick, slayer of the uneducated

LOL I like that. I've just been calling her "Meat Girl," but your title is much more appropriate.

I'm just glad that I can't smell the place!

I NEED TO PLAY IT

CHOCOBO's 4 LIFE

RAAAAAAGGGEEE!

Anyway, back to FFXIII xD.

i thought it was pretty easy to navigate. from where the initial catwalk ends into the swamp, just keep going towards the little patches of land. and it'll take you to the first fog gate. then just follow the catwalk then down to the patches of land again.

i guess you'll have to venture out into the void if you're gonna fight the BP.