@Lothloran
Call of Duty 4 was okay. I found the story to be boring, cliché, and fairly predictable. Everyone was so blown away by the "You die from nuclear radiation" bit and I was just like, "Man, when will this be over? Can I go to the next mission yet? I know you're trying to be poignant, but it's intellectual sophistry for those without brains." Basically, it bored me to tears as other games had done far more gut-wrenching things that it ever does... and books I'd read went into far greater detail on such things than a game that simply hinders your controls until it decides to move you to the next mission. Even the crap in the freakin' car where all you can do is look around until they shoot you in front of a camera. I was bored to tears. Well, okay, except that one time the game glitched out and let me pick up a gun through the floor of the car while we were moving and I got to shoot everyone dead... and was then killed by invisible people without guns in front of a camera. That was pretty amusing.
I don't think any of the Call of Duty storylines have really ever been interesting or good. Okay, I lied, I liked World at War. For me, the only real draw of the franchise was the multiplayer, online or otherwise. Once it ceased being tactical and map design started to get worse (and levels became uncomfortably small with only 3 lanes across them and no way to sneak), they stopped being good. Lowering the Skill Curve didn't help either.
I never played Demon's Souls. Most of my problems with Dark Souls is that the game is just poorly designed. Enemies kill you until you die enough times that you figure out how to win. Ever see that episode of Robot Chicken where they play "The Memory Game!"? Same concept. The frequent "unfair" deaths robbed my desire to continue playing. It only gets worse when the game becomes the easiest thing imaginable once you have memorized how to do everything. Fake Difficulty everywhere. No challenge to really be had. Plus, the terrible controls really didn't help anything. Others are free to enjoy the game, but I find it to largely be a waste of time and frustrating for the sake "elitist gatekeeping". Once you figure out how to kill an enemy without being hit, you can kill them every single time they show up, without damage. The controls themselves were very unresponsive. I was experiencing half second delays from when I'd push a button to when an animation started. So, I not only had to time my swings, but time when the animation would start before the swing as well. It was very awkward. I found it to just be an absolute mess. Maybe it's better on PC, I dunno. The console version was terrible, especially with the "delays before animations start" nonsense.
As for anime... Depends on what you want to watch. There are plenty out there without any fanservice if that's not your thing. I watch a lot of different genres and types, including those that are super fanservice heavy. But, I've got to be in the right mood for whatever I'm watching. It's easier to find really great anime if you just look for things with an interesting premise and not some arbitrary, "I'm not going to watch this because it has X in it". But, that's my experience. For the longest time I didn't like "giant robot anime" because I found Gundam to be so boring and silly and too much like Shonen. Turns out, there's a lot of really great "giant robot anime", if you just read the premise and watch it based on that... instead of based upon whether or not it's got robots in it. I just look for a story that I want to hear. That being said, it's not everyone's cup of tea, and the vast majority of what I watch and enjoy isn't anywhere near close to "mainstream". I'd have you busy for about two years with all the great obscure anime I've ever watched.
My problem with FF7 is that it's graphics are terrible. It is the only game I've ever played where the in game graphics have physically harmed me (namely, my eyes, and in places, my brain as it tried to decipher just WTF I was looking at). It also has a nonsensical storyline that only gets more nonsensical as they release supplementary material to try to "clarify" it (spin off games, movies, manga...). The characters were largely unlikable as well... which is prolly why people were sad Aeris dies... because she's frankly the only likable one among the cast. It's also filled with tons of tedium and a tutorial area that lasts like 5 hours (to the point that players of it often tell you, "Oh, you didn't even get out of Midgar. The game doesn't begin until then", which is frankly terrible game design). Final Fantasy 8 ended up being pretty much exactly Final Fantasy 7... without the polish. It was basically the exact same game, and lots of people hated it... but loved Final Fantasy 7. Boggled my mind. Well, I guess FF8 did add a LOT more tedium than FF7 had.