I think part of the lack of motivation came from not really knowing where to go next exactly, or not having a clear direction. However, I had a hint from the onion guy and so ventured down into New Londo Ruins. Used the item (can't remember its name) so that I could damage the ghosts, and fairly easily cleared my way through the area. Spoke to the guy who mentioned something about Artorias and not being able to get through without an item, so decided to head back up to the surface and come back later.
As I'm going through the game I have a mental checklist of places that I haven't been to and still need to explore, and one of those was the door in the forest that you needed a glowing orb to get through. I remembered something about Artorias in the name of the orb needed to get through this as well, so I bought the orb from the blacksmith and went through. There were some tricky human enemies in here - not so bad on their own, but if they gang up on you it can be dicey. Dealt with them though, and then explored the rest of this area, which I'd been to before (partly) when climbing the ladder up from where the hydra was and exploring from there.
Backtracking slightly though and going through the little building (with the cat inside), I went through to a slightly different part of the forest and encountered some little mushroom guys. These guys are cute
, and didn't attack me, so I explored this, and then defeated the giant rodent things that had wiped me out when I first explored this area. The only thing left here was the fog door over the bridge, and I went through here to find Sif. Really not too bad after you learn his attacks, and so I finished him off pretty quickly.
I struggled again with motivation at some point around here, and so rather than going back down into New Londo Ruins I decided to try a new area, and went over to the Duke's Archives. The two boars in the entrance weren't too bad, and while there were some annoying enemies in here with long-distance attacks, it wasn't too tricky and I just steadily made my way through. Encountered Seath, and found myself in a prison cell. Got out of there, worked my way down to the bottom and cleared the enemies here, then went back up and through the big door. Can't remember where this led to exactly, but eventually made it to the bonfire and opened the shortcut to get through to the staircase that leads down and outside.
I was expecting to face Seath again right here, but turns out there's an annoying area to get through first. The Crystal Cave was a bit irritating with its hidden pathways, but not too bad I guess. Went through, and found myself up against these clam things. For some reason I really struggled against these
, but got past them in the end and went through to Seath. I actually damaged him a fair amount before succumbing to his spike attack and curse. The prospect of the tedium of going back through the Crystal Cave was quite off-putting though, so again I decided to focus on a different area.
Another place on my list of areas I haven't really explored was the Great Hollow, so I warped down to underneath the second bell, through the swamp, and into the Great Hollow. This was a piece of piss this time, as I didn't really care about getting cursed. Quickly made my way through here, and then down into Ash Lake. Again, a piece of piss really. Got the greatsword from the dragon down there, and that's pretty much where I'm up to now.
Next up is either trying Seath again, or maybe going to New Londo Ruins and working my way through that area down there. Valley of Drakes is still somewhere I need to explore though, so that might be up. I feel quite indecisive and without a clear direction still, so I'll just see what takes my fancy.