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Demon's Souls |OT2| Soulsuckingly brilliant RPG full of Demon's Crack

Alright, I'm considerably farther in than when I posted my first impressions and there are a few things I need to address. I've currently killed:

Phalanx
Tower Knight
Penetrator
Armor Spider
Flame Lurker
Dragon God
Fool's Idol
Maneater
Old Monk
Adjudicator
Leech Monger

I must say that much of my opinion hasn't changed. In fact the game my opinion of the game has only increased since I've played it. I feel confident in saying this is easily the best PS3 exclusive. However, this game has some of the worst Mario-type Boss Dissonance I've ever seen. There are some solid bosses in the game, but way too many are pushovers in comparison the stages that precede them.

As a shield/sword strength/stamina build and a self confessed block whore, the hardest boss by a long shot was Penetrator. He wrecked my shit multiple times. Until I found Biorr when exploring and the guy just trashed the Penetrator for me.

I think the worst boss is the Adjudicator. I remember the build up to him was horrifying. The guy destroys the ledge you're standing on and you fall into his pit. Shit was horrifying, especially given how long you have to battle to get back to him. The guy has a great design as well. Unfortunately, all you have to do to defeat him is move counter clockwise. He literally can't even hit you.

The biggest letdown was the Old Monk. He didn't have any presence or challenge to him and he came after the Fool's Idol and the Maneaters, two much harder and overall better boss fight.

As far as the level, I love all the Stages, but the Tower of Latria stands out, with its striking visual design in every area and its fantastic use of sound. However, the Valley of Desecration can burn. Its such a pain in the ass to navigate and it is waaaaay to dark, even compared to the other stages. I seriously have no clue what the hell this stage is. Is it a cave? Is it actually a valley? I can't tell what the hell it is. The plagues and poison are incredibly annoying as well.

Despite my bitching, the game really is still awesome.
 

Ferrio

Banned
Mortrialus said:
The biggest letdown was the Old Monk. He didn't have any presence or challenge to him and he came after the Fool's Idol and the Maneaters, two much harder and overall better boss fight.


Uhh about the monk

If you're playing online the monk is a real player, otherwise it's an npc and the gimmick of the fight is lost

Easily one of the coolest bosses.
 
Ferrio said:
Uhh about the monk

If you're playing online the monk is a real player, otherwise it's an npc and the gimmick of the fight is lost

Easily one of the coolest bosses.

Yeah that'd about do it. Wow that would have been amazing. Too bad PSN is down.

That said, theres still no excuse for the Dragon God and Adjudicator.
 
Part of me says the Mario-Boss Dissonance thing is a valid complaint. The other part says that the bosses are actually very well balanced with the rest of the game: just like all the other enemies, they're easy unless - unless you're careless and/or stupid, etc., in which case they can fuck you right up in a hot second. The only boss that has never killed me is Armor Spider.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
For a challenge, play off-line. I have no choice with PSN being down, but I'm doing another game. I kinda need those messages from others, or I just get ganked too much.
 
I'm playing NG+ right now, and something's been bugging me. For equipment that says "Its heaviness slightly impedes stamina regeneration", does that mean it always slows down stamina regeneration, or is just like the game saying, "this armor has a high equip burden, so it might make you go over your burden thresholds and thus make your stamina regenerate slower"? I've been testing it out and it doesn't seem to make any difference so long as I'm under the halfway mark for the equip burden.
 

genjiZERO

Member
This game is pure cut horse I'll admit. I finally got time start playing it yesterday (after it sat on my bookshelf for the last year). The only complaint I have is the lack of a pause button.... I'm a little confused though: do you have to beat each dungeon without dying? It the game about figuring out how to most effectively make your way through dungeons?
 
genjiZERO said:
The only complaint I have is the lack of a pause button...

Provided you're out of enemy range, you're safe as a baby in a crib. You can stand there unharmed for five hours if you're so inclined.

I'm a little confused though: do you have to beat each dungeon without dying?

Well yeah. :p

It the game about figuring out how to most effectively make your way through dungeons?

No, not most effectively - by any means necessary.
 

Havok

Member
I picked this up with my PS3 that I bought the other day, and I got around to playing it last night. I beat Phalanx (after what I could only guess was almost two hours and many deaths) and talked to the Monumental guy. So, do I keep going through the Boletarian Palace and fight (I assume) the dragon, or move to another world? From what I was reading I know you're free to go into the other worlds and complete them, but is that the recommended path? Any other tips for a beginner would be great. I'm playing a Knight, since it seemed to have pretty balanced stats and I didn't know what I was doing.

(also: I don't have a PSN account, what with the whole downtime thing. Once the servers go back up and I make my account, will that be linked to my local account so I can continue my current save? I have zero idea how account management on the PS3 works)
 
Havok said:
I picked this up with my PS3 that I bought the other day, and I got around to playing it last night. I beat Phalanx (after what I could only guess was almost two hours and many deaths) and talked to the Monumental guy. So, do I keep going through the Boletarian Palace and fight (I assume) the dragon, or move to another world? From what I was reading I know you're free to go into the other worlds and complete them, but is that the recommended path? Any other tips for a beginner would be great. I'm playing a Knight, since it seemed to have pretty balanced stats and I didn't know what I was doing.

Each world has multiple sections. I'm also rolling a knight but the class you pick is less important than what stats you chose to level up with your demon souls. I went into a Vitality, strength, endurance build myself. I'd recommend going on to world 1-2, and after defeating the boss going on to Stone Fang Mountain and Tower of Latria and completing those before going back to world 1. Worlds 4-1 and 5-1 are doable as well.
 
I brought my CT back up then down to full black again and I still can't get that friends ring.
I did say yes
I haven't killed all the archfeinds
very very sure it's at full black (checked with demon brandt)

I swear this happened to my when I played the game on one of the other copies but I don't remember how I fixed it.
 

bone_and_sinew

breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
I'm playing NG+ right now, and something's been bugging me. For equipment that says "Its heaviness slightly impedes stamina regeneration", does that mean it always slows down stamina regeneration, or is just like the game saying, "this armor has a high equip burden, so it might make you go over your burden thresholds and thus make your stamina regenerate slower"? I've been testing it out and it doesn't seem to make any difference so long as I'm under the halfway mark for the equip burden.
According to the wiki (or was it the forums?), metal armor always slows it down, even if you're under the halfway stamina mark. It's by a lot few fragments of a second though when you're under vs over. I don't remember the exact section where I saw it but they had figures with the exact numbers of stamina recovery with no metal armor, metal armor below 50% stamina, and metal armor at/over 50% stamina.
 

Nakiro

Member
BobTheFork said:
I brought my CT back up then down to full black again and I still can't get that friends ring.
I did say yes
I haven't killed all the archfeinds
very very sure it's at full black (checked with demon brandt)

I swear this happened to my when I played the game on one of the other copies but I don't remember how I fixed it.
I think you might be confusing the CT with the WT.
They are both separate. It's really really difficult to get CT to pure white. I don't have the little book with me at the moment so I can't give specifics.
 
Demon's Souls was easily my GOTY when it came out, still my favorite Ps3 title along with Uncharted 2. Great to see so many people still love and adore this game.

I definitely need to do another run through of this game sometime soon. I still can't believe how much it knocked me away when I first played it. I loved every inch of it. .

Still recall going to 4-1 rather early and those skeletons kicking the shit out of me until I figured them out.


Mortrialus said:
However, this game has some of the worst Mario-type Boss Dissonance I've ever seen.


I wasn't familiar with this site, I expected some Wikipedia link (didn't look), but was honestly a bit surprised they would have an article on "boss dissonance". Course, I realized it wasn't Wikipedia and subsequently that made sense. But love this little site and all the game jargon. Each page I come to has 10 new references to new jargon, each with links with pages that have about 10 more references. I'm just overly surprised at the amount of descriptor pages basically.
 
DownLikeBCPowder said:
I wasn't familiar with this site, I expected some Wikipedia link (didn't look), but was honestly a bit surprised they would have an article on "boss dissonance". Course, I realized it wasn't Wikipedia and subsequently that made sense. But love this little site and all the game jargon. Each page I come to has 10 new references to new jargon, each with links with pages that have about 10 more references. I'm just overly surprised at the amount of descriptor pages basically.

Tv Tropes will ruin your life.

I love the site. I've been going there for years now. It isn't just gaming jargon either. It charts recurring tricks of the trade and occurring elements found in story telling, called tropes. This has since expanded into games. Check out a show or game you really like and see all the tropes and elements that make it up. Its a lot of fun.
 

theta11

Member
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
I'm playing NG+ right now, and something's been bugging me. For equipment that says "Its heaviness slightly impedes stamina regeneration", does that mean it always slows down stamina regeneration, or is just like the game saying, "this armor has a high equip burden, so it might make you go over your burden thresholds and thus make your stamina regenerate slower"? I've been testing it out and it doesn't seem to make any difference so long as I'm under the halfway mark for the equip burden.

Heavy armor makes stamina regeneration slower regardless of equip burden. It's explained in detail here.
 

theta11

Member
BobTheFork said:
I brought my CT back up then down to full black again and I still can't get that friends ring.
I did say yes
I haven't killed all the archfeinds
very very sure it's at full black (checked with demon brandt)

I swear this happened to my when I played the game on one of the other copies but I don't remember how I fixed it.

I'm confused about what you are talking about. :/

To get the Friends Ring you need PWCT, because there's no online the only way to raise it is to shift all the worlds PB then kill the special BPs. From PBCT->PWCT you need to kill all 5 of the BPs.

To get the Foe's Ring you need PBCT then complete the quest from Mephisto.
 

genjiZERO

Member
NEOPARADIGM said:
Provided you're out of enemy range, you're safe as a baby in a crib. You can stand there unharmed for five hours if you're so inclined.

Well yeah. :p

No, not most effectively - by any means necessary.

thanks. I didn't really know what to expect. To this point, Oblivion is the only "WRPG" I've ever played.
 
I have finally finished up my first play through of Demon's Souls. Frankly, the last boss was the biggest disappointment. However, the final boss of the Valley of Defilement was, despite not being difficult in the slightest, very emotionally gut wrenching and fantastic because of that. Overall its easily one of the best games this gen. I will probably try the new game+ in the future. I seriously cannot wait until Dark Souls, that game is going to be a beast. .
 

pastacopy

Neo Member
I did Dragon God, then Garl, then False King, before going below the Nexus. I think I would have been disappointed too if I faced the Dragon God last. As it was, it was an epic fight. I can't remember the last time I felt so victorious/relieved to beat a boss.
"How did you defeat my precious demon? No human has an appetite for souls such as you."
 

i-Lo

Member
After a long break I restarted playing DS from a week and a half ago after PSN was non functional. Uber fun. Boss battles are great but it's the normal enemies that take the cake.

Btw, any idea when the DS servers going to be back online (error 443)?
 

Havok

Member
It's a shame the servers are down, I was hoping to see some of that stuff today.

I've been continuing my first time through the game, and dude. Fuck that Flamelurker guy. I finally beat him with a healthy helping of cheese (getting him stuck on the stupid spine), but that was so much harder than anything else I've encountered so far. Which was weird, because it's immediately followed up by the simplest boss fight I've seen, the Dragon God. Its taken me a while, but I'm finally getting the hang of things; I've made the Scraping Spear and have been using that for an hour or so (being able to attack while defending is nice), I can finally navigate the Tower of Latria with confidence (after getting lost for a full hour), and hopefully I never have to go into another mine again! The camera in there was not my friend.

Mortrialus said:
Each world has multiple sections. I'm also rolling a knight but the class you pick is less important than what stats you chose to level up with your demon souls. I went into a Vitality, strength, endurance build myself. I'd recommend going on to world 1-2, and after defeating the boss going on to Stone Fang Mountain and Tower of Latria and completing those before going back to world 1. Worlds 4-1 and 5-1 are doable as well.
Thanks for this, by the way. I ended up doing basically this, but I haven't finished more than the first stage of Latria. 4-1 kicked my ass the first time I tried it, but it's gotten easier with some upgrades.
 
So I went and fought the Maneater's for the third time today (and first time as a magic user). It's amazing how much easier they are with magic, I literally killed them one at a time with Firestorm and took no damage. Then I went to fight the Old Monk, but realized the Demon's Souls servers weren't up and wanted to experience it online for the first time, so I'll just wait.
 

i-Lo

Member
SUBZERO-08 said:
So I went and fought the Maneater's for the third time today (and first time as a magic user). It's amazing how much easier they are with magic, I literally killed them one at a time with Firestorm and took no damage. Then I went to fight the Old Monk, but realized the Demon's Souls servers weren't up and wanted to experience it online for the first time, so I'll just wait.

Yea, I have heard that magic users have an easier time. Some of it I'd say is down to balancing issue but mostly because people can play it in conventional fashion as a third person lock-on shooter. With melee combat character, you have to be disciplined... thoroughly. Sometime, I think using magic as primary offensive is doing disservice to game's own philosophy.


Btw, just wanted to ask: Why is Dex build recommended for PVP? AFAIK Dex is good for reducing fall damage besides increasing Attack power but in contrast to only Strength upgrade the Attck power is less of a linear progression. So why is it popular?
 
Havok said:
It's a shame the servers are down, I was hoping to see some of that stuff today.

I've been continuing my first time through the game, and dude. Fuck that Flamelurker guy. I finally beat him with a healthy helping of cheese (getting him stuck on the stupid spine), but that was so much harder than anything else I've encountered so far. Which was weird, because it's immediately followed up by the simplest boss fight I've seen, the Dragon God.

Flame Lurker is one of the harder bosses in the entire game. That said, I think he's easier to deal with than worlds 3,4,5 which is why I recommended going there. I absolutely agree about Dragon God. He was so disappointing for how visually imposing, intimidating and impressive it is. I

ts taken me a while, but I'm finally getting the hang of things; I've made the Scraping Spear and have been using that for an hour or so (being able to attack while defending is nice), I can finally navigate the Tower of Latria with confidence (after getting lost for a full hour), and

I spent like an hour completely lost in the first part of the Tower of Latria because I repeatedly missed the stairs to floor 1 and 2. That said, I love the way the zone looks. Its probably my favorite level. Every section is a delight visually and atmospherically.

hopefully I never have to go into another mine again! The camera in there was not my friend.

If you think the mine sucked, just wait until you go into the Valley of Defilement. Damn near pitch black, and its an unpleasant mix of shanties, extremely wide open and disorientating areas, plague, poison, and a poisonous swamp.

Thanks for this, by the way. I ended up doing basically this, but I haven't finished more than the first stage of Latria. 4-1 kicked my ass the first time I tried it, but it's gotten easier with some upgrades.

4-1 is probably the nastiest part of 4.
 

shffldrllshn

Neo Member
How crucial would you say it is to play Demon's Souls online (PvP)? I've always only really used the tips other people left behind. When I'd come back alive after killing a boss I'd kill myself in the Nexus en go at it again in spirit form so there wouldn't be any Black Phantom players interfering :E I like being able to take it slow and not worry about anything except the scary monsters around every corner...
 

Dyno

Member
Mortrialus said:
I absolutely agree about Dragon God. He was so disappointing for how visually imposing, intimidating and impressive it is.

What I've come to love about Demon's Souls is that there are a great many things that are beyond your comprehension. Dragon God clearly shows the limitations of the game code but From Software wrapped that up with an enigma.

Okay, so Dragon God was in a kind of kill room that the demon was trapped in but the mechanisms hadn't yet been activated. How did he get there? Who built the room and why? The whole situation is a head scratcher to say the least. And let's not even talk about Maiden Astrea. That situation is twice as fucked up.

In the end however what makes both encounters great is that they are not what you expect them to be. Demon's Souls isn't for a mortal to completely understand. You are a plaything and your imagination is going to be staggered by things great and small. Even when you win you are thrown back into the game in a Groundhog Day type scenario. To even put the game into your console is something of a curse taking effect.

That's why it's the greatest game I've ever played. It's never truly finished, it never truly lets you go, and it's never going to be truly understood.



I finshed my latest NG+ and my faith/melee character has everything the game can offer. I would easily play it again but I think it will be with a totally different build, a ranged/arcane character I think. But I'm taking a big break. Funny, but I started Final Fantasy XIII and because of Demon's Souls it's perfect! I played the first two hours being wowed by visuals and concepts but gameplay-wise I did almost nothing other than hit the X button at the proper times. A great respite from Demon's Souls! I know I'll enjoy it before the accured game calls me back.
 
I did NG and NG+ when it came out, I've nothing new to play until Friday so I've started a new game and finished 1-1 and 2-1, I love Boletarian Palace. Demon's Souls is probably the only game this gen that I've completed more than once and still loved like it's my first go.
 

oracrest

Member
Dyno said:
What I've come to love about Demon's Souls is that there are a great many things that are beyond your comprehension. The whole situation is a head scratcher to say the least. And let's not even talk about Maiden Astrea.

The Valley of Defilement is a wretched home for the abused and neglected citizens of Boletaria. A dumping ground for the Kingdom’s unholy, the Valley became notorious as a place where one could leave the fetus of an unwanted child to rot in the festering swamps. Hearing of the Valley’s dreadful circumstance, the Sixth Saint Astraea took it upon herself and, along with her companion, Garl Vinland, traveled there in hopes of freeing the depraved souls consumed by thefog. The mindless drones that now remain in the Valley will violently attack any who threaten them in hopes of claiming souls to offer up to the great Maiden who showed them compassion. In the deepest pits of the Valley are born two vile demons out of the putrilage and plague that lingers in the deadly bog. It is said that Astraea pledged herself to the will of a Demon’s Soul to help ease the pain of the suffering, rather than to accept the aid of a cruel God who would allow such a place to exist.

Garl Vinland is Maiden Astraea’s loyal bodyguard and companion, and speculatively, a lover as well. He followed Astraea into the Valley to carry out her will of bringing peace to the suffering. Heprotects her with his life and has gone to great lengths to keep himself and her safe from pillaging adventurers. It is said that Maiden Astraea discovered the truth about God’s existence - or lack thereof - and thus explains why she accepted the Soul of a Demon in order to ease the troubled abandoned. Hers is ironically referred to as the most impure Soul. Yet still, Garl will never leave her side.
 
Can I just say the NeoGAF DS community is one of the best. I can't wait to usher in more folks when Dark Souls releases. The OT will be sure to keep shit real. I can promise that!
 

thorin

Member
INDIGO_CYCLOPS said:
Can I just say the NeoGAF DS community is one of the best. I can't wait to usher in more folks when Dark Souls releases. The OT will be sure to keep shit real. I can promise that!
For real. I'm always happy to see this topic bumped. I was LTTP for Demon's Souls and had lots of little things spoiled for me, so I'm really looking forward to going into Dark Souls blind and seeing the OT unfold as everyone experiences it for the first time.
 
I need to sit back down and give this game another go.

I got way to mad at it... so I quit playing.... thing is... I never get mad at video games

EDIT*** I'm thinking about starting completely over... as i'm not that far into the game with my current character... I just wanna retry and see what else I can have fun with.
 
oracrest said:
The Valley of Defilement is a wretched home for the abused and neglected citizens of Boletaria. A dumping ground for the Kingdom’s unholy, the Valley became notorious as a place where one could leave the fetus of an unwanted child to rot in the festering swamps. Hearing of the Valley’s dreadful circumstance, the Sixth Saint Astraea took it upon herself and, along with her companion, Garl Vinland, traveled there in hopes of freeing the depraved souls consumed by thefog. The mindless drones that now remain in the Valley will violently attack any who threaten them in hopes of claiming souls to offer up to the great Maiden who showed them compassion. In the deepest pits of the Valley are born two vile demons out of the putrilage and plague that lingers in the deadly bog. It is said that Astraea pledged herself to the will of a Demon’s Soul to help ease the pain of the suffering, rather than to accept the aid of a cruel God who would allow such a place to exist.

Garl Vinland is Maiden Astraea’s loyal bodyguard and companion, and speculatively, a lover as well. He followed Astraea into the Valley to carry out her will of bringing peace to the suffering. Heprotects her with his life and has gone to great lengths to keep himself and her safe from pillaging adventurers. It is said that Maiden Astraea discovered the truth about God’s existence - or lack thereof - and thus explains why she accepted the Soul of a Demon in order to ease the troubled abandoned. Hers is ironically referred to as the most impure Soul. Yet still, Garl will never leave her side.


It's really awkward when you get down there and she's just sitting there while you kill her. It's not like the other fights, she's not trying to attack you and Garl is just defending her so you really feel like you're the bad guy. It didn't help that I didn't even fight Garl I just shot her with arrows, so on top of everything else I wasn't being "honorable" either.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Damn. This game is kicking my ass! I've been stuck on 1-2 forever, I did manage to make it to the end fog, only to be greeted by the tower knight boss, which made short work of me. I have the Kite Shield, Fluted Armor set and a Battle Axe +2. I only raised my stats once, and I went with strength.

I have the Cling ring, but other than that, what am I suppose to do? Well the server is down, but if I used a blue stone, someone would help?
 
I'm enjoying this game, but... I've been playing for three hours and I'm still on the first castle. :\

I can see myself getting bored just because running from the very beginning every time you die is so tedious. I wish there were checkpoints...

I've stopped because the dragons killed me and just to get back there will take 20 minutes, then a similar instant death can send me right back to the start.

Just not sure if I'm going to like the way the game is designed. I find the combat really satisfying but yeah...
 

Dyno

Member
Tylahedras said:
It's really awkward when you get down there and she's just sitting there while you kill her. It's not like the other fights, she's not trying to attack you and Garl is just defending her so you really feel like you're the bad guy. It didn't help that I didn't even fight Garl I just shot her with arrows, so on top of everything else I wasn't being "honorable" either.

Yeah exactly. Was she truly evil? We'll never know for sure.
 

Dyno

Member
RPGCrazied said:
Damn. This game is kicking my ass! I've been stuck on 1-2 forever, I did manage to make it to the end fog, only to be greeted by the tower knight boss, which made short work of me. I have the Kite Shield, Fluted Armor set and a Battle Axe +2. I only raised my stats once, and I went with strength.

I have the Cling ring, but other than that, what am I suppose to do? Well the server is down, but if I used a blue stone, someone would help?

First, run up the stairs to the second level. Take out all of the crossbowmen. Don't get too close to the edge or else Tower Knight can shoot you. If you have strong missile or ranged magic then you can start fighting him from relative safety on high.

If not, you need to go down and melee his ankles. Two-hand your weapon and roll to avoid his attacks. (Lightening your armour load might be necessary to achieve fast roll.) After several hits to the ankle he falls and you have to hit his head. He will get back up so be prepared to attack his other ankle as well.
 

Facism

Member
Boss souls are used for certain spells and weapon crafting. Don't use them like you would use soldier/hero souls. Check the wiki for demon soul usage if you don't mind having boss names spoiled.

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/bosses and then the "view usage" tab to see what you can use each soul for.

[edit]DYNNNNNOOO
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
I'm enjoying this game, but... I've been playing for three hours and I'm still on the first castle. :\I can see myself getting bored just because running from the very beginning every time you die is so tedious. I wish there were checkpoints...

I've stopped because the dragons killed me and just to get back there will take 20 minutes, then a similar instant death can send me right back to the start.

Just not sure if I'm going to like the way the game is designed. I find the combat really satisfying but yeah...

Does this ring any bells with you?

1286838296048.jpg
 
Yeah, I tried to get past him 4 times before I went the other way.

I just beat the first boss, so I feel a bit better now. I did, however, use his soul and after reading the above posts I wish I didn't.

I'm 50/50 on the game at the moment. I like it, but a difficulty option would be nice.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
Yeah, I tried to get past him 4 times before I went the other way.

I just beat the first boss, so I feel a bit better now. I did, however, use his soul and after reading the above posts I wish I didn't.

I'm 50/50 on the game at the moment. I like it, but a difficulty option would be nice.

You're not alone...

I used his soul as well... before I found out that I shouldn't use it.
 

oracrest

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
I'm 50/50 on the game at the moment. I like it, but a difficulty option would be nice.

The game will get easier, now that you can level up (which can only be done after the first boss.)

Also, spending more time with the game, and learning the fighting system will help you out a lot. Progress in this game is 2 parts learning, and 1 part leveling.
 
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