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

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
If you die or quit very close to a x-2 archstone, you can respawn at the x-1 archstone, cause it considers you to be still inside the x-1 area, so to speak. For example, try this: spawn at the 4-2 Adjudicator archstone, then run down the stairs, leap down and run off the cliff, all without stopping. You will respawn at the beginning of 4-1. If you warp back to 4-2 you'll see your bloodstain is near the archstone, maybe even somewhat behind it, so it considers you to have "died" in 4-1, so to speak.

When you die in body form in some place, and revive as a phantom (either by winning an invasion or red soul sign duel as a black phantom, or by helping defeat a boss as a blue phantom), you will revive where you died, not where you dropped your sign. So, you probably lost your body some time in 2-2, then played around a bit in soul form, then won that "invasion" as Old Monk so you revived back where you last lost your body. The game is wonky like that sometimes.
 

Darkone

Member
Just finished 1-3 and i am still with the same armor when i started, any advice where can i find better armor (playing a Temple knight).

Is the the Tower shield worth the strength points?
i am 5 points away for the minimum requirement.
 

Curufinwe

Member
Just finished 1-3 and i am still with the same armor when i started, any advice where can i find better armor (playing a Temple knight).

Is the the Tower shield worth the strength points?
i am 5 points away for the minimum requirement.

I stuck with the default Temple Knight armor for most of the game, and used the Adjudicator shield once I found it.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Just finished 1-3 and i am still with the same armor when i started, any advice where can i find better armor (playing a Temple knight).

Is the the Tower shield worth the strength points?
i am 5 points away for the minimum requirement.
Armour choice doesn't matter in this game. Wear anything that looks good and that allows to roll fast (<50% equip burden) and you'll be fine.

Tower shield is not worth it, too heavy. The best shield is the Dark Silver Shield by far. But if you don't care about magic block, nor about parrying, the Steel Shield will be more than enough.
 

Mr. RHC

Member
On the one hand, I'm afraid of starting this game, but on the other hand, I'm looking for a challenge. But then again, why would I punish myself or maybe the joy of accomplishment would ease the pain.. hmm.
 

EasyMode

Member
On the one hand, I'm afraid of starting this game, but on the other hand, I'm looking for a challenge. But then again, why would I punish myself or maybe the joy of accomplishment would ease the pain.. hmm.

It definitely will. This game is so satisfying when you overcome challenges that humbled you early on.
 

stn

Member
I haven't played this game since Summer, won't have a chance to play 'til June. As far as I remember I was a SL21-ish melee warrior with the Purple Flame Shield, Winged Spear +7, and I was getting ready to face the Flame boss for the first time. I think its the one in 2-1? Can't remember...

EDIT: I'm posting just in case you guys have some tips.
 

Soulhouf

Member
I haven't played this game since Summer, won't have a chance to play 'til June. As far as I remember I was a SL21-ish melee warrior with the Purple Flame Shield, Winged Spear +7, and I was getting ready to face the Flame boss for the first time. I think its the one in 2-1? Can't remember...

EDIT: I'm posting just in case you guys have some tips.

Upgrade that shield as far as you can and the 2-1 and 2-2 bosses will be a cakewalk. Using that shield against Armor Spider is awesome because you can advance into that inferno surrounding you and stay alive.
 

stn

Member
I beat the Flame Spider. I'm talking about the other boss that is in flames, I *think* he's the Flamelurker? Honestly, I want to beat this game finally so I can try Dark Souls. But still, loving every moment of it.

Once I figured out the mechanics its been an awesome ride.
 

Mike M

Nick N
I beat Flamelurker with magic at a distance. I found him to be pretty damned aggressive, he's pretty much constantly on you with his attacks, and likes to blow up a lot. Dodging like crazy worked, but it was a pain to put enough distance between us to recoup the stamina. Can't even imagine what a pain meleeing him would be.
 

Soulhouf

Member
I beat Flamelurker with magic at a distance. I found him to be pretty damned aggressive, he's pretty much constantly on you with his attacks, and likes to blow up a lot. Dodging like crazy worked, but it was a pain to put enough distance between us to recoup the stamina. Can't even imagine what a pain meleeing him would be.
Purple Flame Shield trivializes that fight melee. It's so effective.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
Got this on sale from PSN and I'm loving it ^_^

But can anyone help me with the Maneater fight? This has been the only fight so far that has really troubled me. Might not be so bad if there wasn't 2 of them! D:
 

Mike M

Nick N
Got this on sale from PSN and I'm loving it ^_^

But can anyone help me with the Maneater fight? This has been the only fight so far that has really troubled me. Might not be so bad if there wasn't 2 of them! D:

I kept at it until I got lucky with Firestorm nuking them : /

If you have the Thief's Ring, you can bait the first one towards the entrance, dodge past him, and run like hell to the other end of the arena. He should lose track of you and stay over there, and after a time the second will spawn by you and you can take him on on his own so long as you don't get too close to the brazier and get the attention of the first one.
 

Curufinwe

Member
Got this on sale from PSN and I'm loving it ^_^

But can anyone help me with the Maneater fight? This has been the only fight so far that has really troubled me. Might not be so bad if there wasn't 2 of them! D:

I had to hide next to the stairs with the Thief ring equipped till they lost track of me, then use poison cloud from behind. They didn't even turn around.
 

Mogwai

Member
Is it just me or do you guys have delayed sounds in Demon's Souls too? Especially the menus are just lagging way behind. When using the menus, the clicks and sounds comes audibly after the buttons have been pressed. But it's generally the same for all sounds in the game.

I had the same issue for the Uncharted games, but in the options I could change the sound channel from Default to Stereo which solved the delay completely. However, this is not an option for Demon's Souls.

Is it just to "deal with it" or is there any smart way to fix this annoying sound delay? I'm running the PS3 through a HDMI cable to a LG flatscreen, nothing fancy.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
i finally got around to playing this game but im not sure it's for me.

i dont enjoy grinding, meticulous stat and item management, or repeating ~20-30 mins of combat after death, should i just put this one aside?

i know, i know, i probably should have looked at the reviews more carefully.
 

Tenrius

Member
finally got around to playing this game but im not sure its for me.

i dont enjoy grinding, meticulous stat and item management, or repeating ~20-30 mins of combat after death, should i just put this one aside? i know, i probably should have looked at the reviews more carefully.

Fortunately, Demon's Souls features none of those! Really, you don't have to grind at all unless you're trying for the platinum, the stat management is practically not a thing (you have to pick like three or four stats you'll need to level up when you have the chance, and one of them has to be vitality) and there's not much in terms item management either. This is not a loot game, I don't like item management in those myself. You just pick a weapon you like (most of them are functionally different, with different movesets) and then you upgrade it (if you like). Even simpler if you use magic.

Don't give up on this game. The only downsided is that you have to repeat stages a lot, but that's more about creating a tactical plan and then executing it than just doing the same thing all over. Once you "get" it, you'll breeze through areas very fast.

EDIT: And a rule which makes life easier: whenever you get a significant amount of souls (e.g. after killing a boss), spend on level ups or essential items ASAP, don't sit on them.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
Fortunately, Demon's Souls features none of those! Really, you don't have to grind at all unless you're trying for the platinum, the stat management is practically not a thing (you have to pick like three or four stats you'll need to level up when you have the chance, and one of them has to be vitality) and there's not much in terms item management either. This is not a loot game, I don't like item management in those myself. You just pick a weapon you like (most of them are functionally different, with different movesets) and then you upgrade it (if you like). Even simpler if you use magic.

Don't give up on this game. The only downsided is that you have to repeat stages a lot, but that's more about creating a tactical plan and then executing it than just doing the same thing all over. Once you "get" it, you'll breeze through areas very fast.

hmmm, ok, ill give it another shot later. thanks for the advice!
 
i finally got around to playing this game but im not sure it's for me.

i dont enjoy grinding, meticulous stat and item management, or repeating ~20-30 mins of combat after death, should i just put this one aside?

i know, i know, i probably should have looked at the reviews more carefully.

none of these elements are present in the souls games, treat them as action games. the stats largely just determine what playstyle you want to lean into. the game is easily beaten without using magic if you wish to treat it as a 100% melee action game.
 
Many of the bosses are hard to beat using melee and some grinding for souls will likely be necessary.

what bosses are hard to beat with melee? every boss is designed specifically around melee combat for the most part. also the souls you get just in the process of completing a level is WAY MORE than enough to progress.

edit: I honestly recommend people play this game the first time as a melee focused character, all of the bosses are designed around figuring out attack patterns and openings. The most enjoyable way to play the game is with melee characters. Running around bosses and enemies casting projectile magic from a distance is not really the Souls experience. This is emphasized even more in the ("spiritual successor") sequel where magic is even more limited (health restoring items and MP is handled in a much better way in the sequel). Putting some points to get some helpful auxiliary spells isn't a bad idea though. My first playthroughs of Demon and Dark Souls were 100% melee, and I always found that playthroughs later where I used arrows/spells make encounters way, way less interesting.
 

Mogwai

Member
Wow, I just killed
Adjudicator.
How underwhelming. The trip getting there was much more difficult than the actual fight.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Does anyone here do some PvP in 4-1 still? I had some good run ins with my 120ish character with some GAFers totally at random, would be fun to arrange some duels.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Does anyone here do some PvP in 4-1 still? I had some good run ins with my 120ish character with some GAFers totally at random, would be fun to arrange some duels.
I think that was me. :)

I still play fairly regularly, though whether or not it's busy really depends on whoever's online at that moment. For optimal duels, you need someone in body form hosting a blue and a red phantom in neutral world tendency (the whiter the WT, the more powerful blue phantoms are, and the blacker the WT the more powerful black phantoms are, so for fair duels NWT is important) but if it's too dead, I don't mind fighting a BP as host or vice-versa (though I hate hosts who wear rings, especially the rat or regen rings xD). And of course not everyone is willing to host PvP sessions for hours, though sometimes it happens, so you can't be too picky about duel conditions. These days I'm just glad that my red or blue sign gets summoned at all and I don't get ganked... hell, sometimes I don't even mind the ganking cause it's fun to slaughter the idiots. :D

Let me know if you want PSN chat invites and we could arrange duels. Though there's a lot of idiots in those, cocky assholes who think they're so good cause they spam lagstabs or whiners who will cry and call you a "try hard" because you beat them even with a lolbuild, but when the kids are in bed and the adults are playing it's mostly just sign summoning and GG's. :) Also, if you need tips about builds or tactics or whatever, I could probably help. I have PvPed way too much for my own good. xD

Wouldn't that just be the natural result of an influx of new players beating the bosses?
Yeah, the server always resets the WT to something close to PWWT, usually at -1. You kill a boss or an invader and bam, PWWT already.
 
Noob to Demon's Souls but veteran at Dark Souls here, is there anything that I absolutely should avoid doing in regards to character building and weapon upgrading?

My build is:

Vitality 33
Intelligence 10
Endurance 23
Strength 14
Dexterity 29
Magic 10
Faith 7
Luck 13

SL 59

I'm going for a dexterity / magic build.

Any advice?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Noob to Demon's Souls but veteran at Dark Souls here, is there anything that I absolutely should avoid doing in regards to character building and weapon upgrading?

My build is:

Vitality 33
Intelligence 10
Endurance 23
Strength 14
Dexterity 29
Magic 10
Faith 7
Luck 13

SL 59

I'm going for a dexterity / magic build.

Any advice?

Upgrading luck is a bad idea at all times. Using the moon or crescent upgrade path is the best for magic builds (scales with MAG), sharp path is what scales best with dex, but farming the pure bladestone is a nightmare. If you want dex for a katana, you might be better off with using the Hiltless and upgrading it with Colorless souls (and using spiderstone for bows) unless you wanna farm for hours.

If you wanted dex for other non-katana weapons then... good luck. :(
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I think that was me. :)

I still play fairly regularly, though whether or not it's busy really depends on whoever's online at that moment. For optimal duels, you need someone in body form hosting a blue and a red phantom in neutral world tendency (the whiter the WT, the more powerful blue phantoms are, and the blacker the WT the more powerful black phantoms are, so for fair duels NWT is important) but if it's too dead, I don't mind fighting a BP as host or vice-versa (though I hate hosts who wear rings, especially the rat or regen rings xD). And of course not everyone is willing to host PvP sessions for hours, though sometimes it happens, so you can't be too picky about duel conditions. These days I'm just glad that my red or blue sign gets summoned at all and I don't get ganked... hell, sometimes I don't even mind the ganking cause it's fun to slaughter the idiots. :D

Let me know if you want PSN chat invites and we could arrange duels. Though there's a lot of idiots in those, cocky assholes who think they're so good cause they spam lagstabs or whiners who will cry and call you a "try hard" because you beat them even with a lolbuild, but when the kids are in bed and the adults are playing it's mostly just sign summoning and GG's. :) Also, if you need tips about builds or tactics or whatever, I could probably help. I have PvPed way too much for my own good. xD

You were pretty much fighting my best character, the one I platinumed the game with and made all the trophy weapons on. She's a dex build. Favorite weapons are her bow and the Dragon Sword +5. Sometimes I'll dual katana, but it's not really my style.

Also, Morion/Rat ring combo if I'm feeling vicious. :p
 

Mike M

Nick N
Took the Tower of Latria to PBWT. Stupid Crystal Lizards that are stupid only dropped chunks. No Moonlight +5 for me this playthrough : (

4-2 is kind of kicking my ass. Damned ghost lasers are destroying me, and I'm having a bitch of a time getting the timing right to roll through them. I can regularly get to the third Reaper, but I keep fucking it up. Argh.
 

AlexBasch

Member
Took the Tower of Latria to PBWT. Stupid Crystal Lizards that are stupid only dropped chunks. No Moonlight +5 for me this playthrough : (

4-2 is kind of kicking my ass. Damned ghost lasers are destroying me, and I'm having a bitch of a time getting the timing right to roll through them. I can regularly get to the third Reaper, but I keep fucking it up. Argh.
Not sure if you can learn Anti-Magic Field now, but I think it does work against the reapers. Only need to watch out for their weird physical attacks I guess.

Anti-Magic field made Tower of Latria a cakewalk, because fuck the bell monsters. >:c
 

Mike M

Nick N
The only Mindflayers that gave me trouble were the two Black Phantom varieties on the stairwell in 3-3. Just such cramped conditions, but at least it was easy to break their line of sight and they couldn't really zap you that easily. They just took a ton of damage to kill.

The one right before the boss in 3-2 was kind of a pain too, if only because of the footing.

The Reapers haven't been too hard, actually. The first I can take out in two shots from a sniping perch, the second gets his hitstun locked as I stab him to death. The third is only trouble because he's tucked behind that blind corner, sitting on top of a laser ghost. The ghost takes several arrows to kill from a distance, and invariably revs up his laser before I kill it, and if I melee either of them, the other gets me.

Maybe I should just come back with the Dark Silver Shield and make my life easier.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
What SL is your character?

And I deal with the Mind Flayers by sniping the majority of them from above levels, and sneaking up on the rest.
 

Mike M

Nick N
SL is about 55, I think.

I can take out Reapers and ghosts without too much difficulty, it's just the specific pairing at the third Reaper that's killed me multiple times because I keep botching my approach.

Mind Flayers were cake, their only challenge was that the BP version take me forever to kill.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
SL is about 55, I think.

I can take out Reapers and ghosts without too much difficulty, it's just the specific pairing at the third Reaper that's killed me multiple times because I keep botching my approach.

Mind Flayers were cake, their only challenge was that the BP version take me forever to kill.

Snipe him if you can, let him come running, and wait for him to start walking back. Then run up and backstab him. Run away, repeat.

You'll need the Thief's Ring of course.
 

Soulhouf

Member
Took the Tower of Latria to PBWT. Stupid Crystal Lizards that are stupid only dropped chunks. No Moonlight +5 for me this playthrough : (

4-2 is kind of kicking my ass. Damned ghost lasers are destroying me, and I'm having a bitch of a time getting the timing right to roll through them. I can regularly get to the third Reaper, but I keep fucking it up. Argh.

Any shield will be a big help.
I beat the game SL1 and with a miserable leather shield I was able to avoid being killed by these enemies.
 
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