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[2AdEPT]

Ffffuuuuuu!!!!!

Seriously.... blocking with your shield takes away toooo much stamina! Argh... I just used up all of my turpentines (which took me forever to stock from grinding) only to be killed because my stamina meter wasn't long enough to block all 3 of the incomming spears after my attack! Now I have to go back and grind to get those turpentines again!

It's so frustrating... but for some reason I keep comming back to play it again

And are we supposed to be able to use magic yet? I see the blue bar and I read the notes on the ground in the nexus telling me I have to learn spells and stuff... but I haven't seen anything with spells to offer yet.. or am I not observant enough?

Worst thing is though... I had to quite because it's bed time and when I restart I will have 0 souls that I spent the last 9 hours grinding

I feel violated

Spoiler

Phalanx is hard unless you bomb him with about 8-10 firebombs first. Rotate around the perimeter, never stop moving, stab the back of the stray blobs with a spear. Use 1 or two turpentines on the main blob once its smaller.

The cling ring and thief ring are actually pretty helpful....forgot to mention that last post....

If you honestly can't stand what's going on, A royal build comes with soul arrow....its not as good as soul ray, but it will get you going if your shield parrying is not coming along.....parrying does not require you to absorb the blow...but you have to time it just right before you get hit (parry using L2.) Then stab with spear for superior damage. The blue eyed knights are hard to beat with out parrying.

Also the bows are easy ways to get projectiles flying ahead of time to weaken your enemies...I find crossbows unwieldy, but there is one for free at the top of the stairs when you go to the left of the starting area. simply fall off the the top of the bridge that connects the first tower with the area where the red eyed night is. The spot will be marked with a message usually, but it is right near where the blue-eyed night camps out. DOn't try to kill red night until you are soul level 20 or 30.

The first bow to come across I beleive is at the top of the 2nd tower along the bridge in 1.2. The best starting base bow in the game is to the left of the main causeway in 4.1 a sole archer protects it, but you will have to kill about 7-8 skeletons to get it.

I am a noob to posting here...how do I make spoiler shading?

 

[SolsticeZero]

I disagree. If this is your first playthrough, don't do this. It'll take away the great feeling of exploration and learning. If youre having a lot of trouble with a boss or such then by all means look it up, but the fresh experience is the best.

Exactly. Half of the fun of the game is defeating those bosses with nothing but your willpower and your own two thumbs. Looking up the Wiki and stuff takes away from that. Don't get me wrong, the Wiki is great if you're trying to platinum it, or if you're 100% absolutely stuck, but those were the only times I used it.

I am a noob to posting here...how do I make spoiler shading?

Wrap the text you want to spoiler in

Spoiler

and [ /spoiler] tags (just remove the space before /spoiler]

 

[Orayn]

I disagree. If this is your first playthrough, don't do this. It'll take away the great feeling of exploration and learning. If youre having a lot of trouble with a boss or such then by all means look it up, but the fresh experience is the best.

You make a good point. There's some degree to "spoiling" already introduced in the form of messages, but I suppose that's much more tightly integrated into the gameplay.

 

[Zzoram]

On NG++ now. Still need to beat the game 1.5x more to get all the spells and miracles to finish platinum.

I think requiring you to beat the game a minimum of 3.5x to get the platinum is too harsh. Beating the game twice should've been enough.

 

[SolsticeZero]

On NG++ now. Still need to beat the game 1.5x more to get all the spells and miracles to finish platinum.

I think requiring you to beat the game a minimum of 3.5x to get the platinum is too harsh. Beating the game twice should've been enough.

I didn't think so. Think about how much more playtime you get out of the game. Also, getting that platinum was a great feeling. At least, for me it was!

 

[oracrest]

Worst thing is though... I had to quite because it's bed time and when I restart I will have 0 souls that I spent the last 9 hours grinding

I feel violated

Playing the game and learning is much more important than harvesting souls, so it's rarely a loss.

souls are easy to accrue, even though it feels like you lose a lot of progress when you lose however many you have gotten after hours of playing.

 

[2AdEPT]

Playing the game and learning is much more important than harvesting souls, so it's rarely a loss.

souls are easy to accrue, even though it feels like you lose a lot of progress when you lose however many you have gotten after hours of playing.

I have to admit I have used the PS3 button to quit when carrying a large amount of souls. I am all learned up and experienced enough now that simply forgetting to equip a ring that would normally help recover mana or HP, then assuming I was full before engaging an enemy after a long stretch of disengagement etc. meant I felt justified....call it a rationalization if you wish but the punishments don't fit the crime in this game sometimes, and I have no problem with people using the PS3 button in rare instances. It can become habit though so watch out. For me, having to wait the several minutes of credits etc. is punishment enough for my stupidity....losing an hour and half's work when I do wish to level up is not my idea of "reality." In the real world today there is insurance etc. and to me this is no different. I agree that the normal "saving systems" used by games like Dragon age or Oblivion make it far too easy and reward stupidity far too often, and htat is why I like DS, but often they go too far the opposite way....not being able to cancel out mistakes like accidentally killing a vendor, or even a bug like the Ed vendor disapperaing for no reason is really annoying and I would hope a happy medium is found for DarkS.

 

[John Rabbit]

On NG++ now. Still need to beat the game 1.5x more to get all the spells and miracles to finish platinum.

I think requiring you to beat the game a minimum of 3.5x to get the platinum is too harsh. Beating the game twice should've been enough.

NG++ and +++ go pretty fast though. i'm nearing platinum myself, just need to get astrea and monk downed and go PBCT for foe's ring.

 

[oracrest]

I have to admit I have used the PS3 button to quit when carrying a large amount of souls. I am all learned up and experienced enough now that simply forgetting to equip a ring that would normally help recover mana or HP, then assuming I was full before engaging an enemy after a long stretch of disengagement etc. meant I felt justified....call it a rationalization if you wish but the punishments don't fit the crime in this game sometimes, and I have no problem with people using the PS3 button in rare instances. It can become habit though so watch out. For me, having to wait the several minutes of credits etc. is punishment enough for my stupidity....losing an hour and half's work when I do wish to level up is not my idea of "reality." In the real world today there is insurance etc. and to me this is no different. I agree that the normal "saving systems" used by games like Dragon age or Oblivion make it far too easy and reward stupidity far too often, and htat is why I like DS, but often they go too far the opposite way....not being able to cancel out mistakes like accidentally killing a vendor, or even a bug like the Ed vendor disapperaing for no reason is really annoying and I would hope a happy medium is found for DarkS.

You're playing with fire turning it off when it's trying to save.

I can't remember a single level that wouldn't take about 20 minutes of harvesting. Are you just holding onto souls way beyond your next soul level?

 

[Zzoram]

I didn't think so. Think about how much more playtime you get out of the game. Also, getting that platinum was a great feeling. At least, for me it was!

I think some of the weapon upgrade trophies were a tad too grindy, particularly the Marrowstone one.

 

[2AdEPT]

You're playing with fire turning it off when it's trying to save.

I can't remember a single level that wouldn't take about 20 minutes of harvesting. Are you just holding onto souls way beyond your next soul level?

Its not just the souls (although this is what the poster I was responding to was worrying about).... it is indeed the time, and boredom of re-doing......plus the odd time I do get low on stone of ephml. eyes.
THe worst is when I lost my meat clever trying to juggle my weight around... I set down the MC just for a sec to check what was dropped that was so big I could not carry it but then was whisked away as a blue phantom (as I forgot I had my stone down.) Obviously I lost ALL the products and dialed up a Faith based character and wanted MC for a reason...had to wait a whole playthrough to get it back.


THe only harvesting I enjoy is the colourless demon souls version invading as a black phantom. I only harvest souls a bit on 4.2 to top up a level. I do indeeed like to do multiplayer for souls as a blue phantom, but re-doing tedious levels like on 5.2. just because I missed a poison bug or a slug jump up and get me is just inane.

I would be very upset if I learned that doign this hurt the machine, but my understanding is that you have a very long time to prepare for the "you died" gong before the HDD light comes on...you can hear the drive kick in also and I never press it when I hear it or see the light. YOu have to HOLD the PS3 button for the quit sign to come up fast...if you try to do it any later it won't work anyway.

Notwithstanding, this should not have to take place. I wish there was some other punishment that could be issued rather than complete loss of a character for example for aggroing a vendor for example during PVP...I finally killed Penetrator on my own (with Biorr) but my last couple swings must have glanced and hit poor Biorr......not that he is really necessary for 1.4 but when you don[t mena to do something and there is no recourse but to start a new character its kinda heavy.

Believe me, I like the punishment aspect to certain extent...just hope that for Dark they finda way to temper the severity.

My suggestion is to take it out of the levels or souls....I would gladly pay a cost to recover a vendor like ED who glitched away on me for no reason, rather than waste a whole playthrough until the next NG. I could be forced to farm if I knew it was my choice or lose the whole trek through the swamp, or worse a whole playthrough.

 

[bucklam66]

Man this tall knight at the end of 1-2 is ridiculous and can I kill the dragon after I beat this knight, later on in the game?

 

[Acquiesc3]

Meh, I'm glad they're upping the difficulty for Dark Souls. Although it's more an issue of making everything more dynamic and less predictable. Demon's Souls is a ridiculously easy game once you know what to expect (and you will).

 

[Ignignort]

Quick question, I've put demons souls on the shelf for a while but I've got most of the equipment and stuff (that magic katana? that deals awesome damage)

But I keep hearing everyone talking about using magic and stuff, I chose the ranger class so do I miss out on that or is there a npc in one of the later stages.
I've beaten all the 1-1, 2-1 etc and a few extras

 

[Acquiesc3]

Classes don't matter after 1-1. As long as you don't kill NPCs (save for Yurt) or consume boss demon's souls, you'll be able to learn and equip anything as long as you have the stats for it.

From experience, I found melee combat a lot more fun than going through the game as ranged or magic build. Your call though.

 

[Zeliard]

From experience, I found melee combat a lot more fun than going through the game as ranged or magic build.

Ditto.

I didn't go full magic before, mixed it up quite a bit with melee, but my current char is pure melee and it feels more rewarding. Just going toe-to-toe with (almost) every enemy instead of sitting back and bombing stuff at them feels tremendous. I'll still shoot the occasional arrow, though. :>

 

[Zzoram]

Meh, I'm glad they're upping the difficulty for Dark Souls. Although it's more an issue of making everything more dynamic and less predictable. Demon's Souls is a ridiculously easy game once you know what to expect (and you will).

Not just that but almost every boss can be cheesed for an easy kill.

 

[Zeliard]

Not just that but almost every boss can be cheesed for an easy kill.

That's another thing I've been completely avoiding on my second go-around. Every fucker I can kill by the sword, will die by the sword.

 

[Zozobra]

Have they made any sort of change to world tendency lately?

I'm playing again for the first time since launch as I lost all my old characters. I've only killed phalanx, the red dragon and helped someone else kill the Tower Knight and I somehow have PWWT in Boletaria Palace. I don't remember it being that easy.

 

[Acquiesc3]

Have they made any sort of change to world tendency lately?

I'm playing again for the first time since launch as I lost all my old characters. I've only killed phalanx, the red dragon and helped someone else kill the Tower Knight and I somehow have PWWT in Boletaria Palace. I don't remember it being that easy.

Not that I know of.. maybe you just didn't die that whole time so you ended up with PWWT.

I'm also glad they're getting rid of world tendency in Dark Souls (from what I've heard). It was pretty half-assed the way they incorporated it and had a certain bias when it came to PvP.

 

[Dak'kon]

Have they made any sort of change to world tendency lately?

I'm playing again for the first time since launch as I lost all my old characters. I've only killed phalanx, the red dragon and helped someone else kill the Tower Knight and I somehow have PWWT in Boletaria Palace. I don't remember it being that easy.

I'm pretty sure the WT of Boletaria Palace on the servers is only one increment away from PWWT. That's certainly the case on the EU servers since I got PWWT after only beating Phalanx on a fresh playthrough. I heard it's the same on the NA servers as well.

 

[Orayn]

Man this tall knight at the end of 1-2 is ridiculous and can I kill the dragon after I beat this knight, later on in the game?

Killing the dragon is a painstaking, unintuitive process that involves sitting around and waiting for it to land in the right place so you can shoot arrows into its chin without it responding. It's boring as hell, but you get some good loot out of it.
As for the Tower Knight, just mop up the archers before you go after him in earnest, and remember to DIP, DODGE, DIVE, DUCK, AND DODGE when you go after the big lug, as his attacks are fairly predictable.

 

[oracrest]

Have they made any sort of change to world tendency lately?

I'm playing again for the first time since launch as I lost all my old characters. I've only killed phalanx, the red dragon and helped someone else kill the Tower Knight and I somehow have PWWT in Boletaria Palace. I don't remember it being that easy.

The server tendency is usually just a few away from PWWT. So killing a couple of bosses in a single run will usually get you there.

I rarely get kicked DOWN on world tendency when starting a new playthrough. The server only seems to check once per play session, so you should be able to go in and out of Nexus while online, and not get hit by the server each time.

 

[AndyMoogle]

Killing the dragon is a painstaking, unintuitive process that involves sitting around and waiting for it to land in the right place so you can shoot arrows into its chin without it responding. It's boring as hell, but you get some good loot out of it.
As for the Tower Knight, just mop up the archers before you go after him in earnest, and remember to DIP, DODGE, DIVE, DUCK, AND DODGE when you go after the big lug, as his attacks are fairly predictable.

I just shot arrows in the dragon as it flew over me. Took 15 mins or so to get it down.

 

[oracrest]

Killing the dragon is a painstaking, unintuitive process that involves sitting around and waiting for it to land in the right place so you can shoot arrows into its chin without it responding. It's boring as hell, but you get some good loot out of it.
As for the Tower Knight, just mop up the archers before you go after him in earnest, and remember to DIP, DODGE, DIVE, DUCK, AND DODGE when you go after the big lug, as his attacks are fairly predictable.

If your talking about the dragon in 1-2, don't try and shoot him when he "lands." He will fly away after a while.

Stand on top one of the battlements, and shoot him as he passes through doing his fire run. Lots of arrows (or magic), but the satisfaction of ridding the world of that guy feels great.

 

[AAK]

Yay Beat Phalanx! Finally got my body back! My barbarian has a voice again!

*few minutes later*

Hey, it's a dog's voice... interesting.

*Gets mobbed by 3 dogs*

Back in soul form :'(

Screw this palace, I'm gonna check out other archstones.

 

[SolsticeZero]

Yay Beat Phalanx! Finally got my body back! My barbarian has a voice again!

*few minutes later*

Hey, it's a dog's voice... interesting.

*Gets mobbed by 3 dogs*

Back in soul form :'(

Screw this palace, I'm gonna check out other archstones.

The real Demon's Souls starts here.

Seriously, you'll say that exact line at least once in EACH archstone.

 

[Kyleripman]

Any tips for fighting the red guy with the shield at the beginning of 1-4? The other two red guys aren't too bad, but all my weapons keep breaking against this one.

 

[Cloudius12]

Any tips for fighting the red guy with the shield at the beginning of 1-4? The other two red guys aren't too bad, but all my weapons keep breaking against this one.

This guy is pretty difficult to melee against. You will need Fire Storm or God's Wrath or just see if you can get blue phantom.

Or you could cheese him to death with Souls Arrow. You can lure him to the Penetrator archstone to the point where it cannot follow you, it will turn around and you can Soul Arrow him.

 

[brentech]

I always picked him off from afar with heavy arrows. Drew his attention, let him start walking away, then run up and whack him. He is a tough bastard though, so if you really want to cheese, just shoot, hide behind pillar....he'll walk away, and then shoot again. You can do it until he's dead.


So glad Playstation+ gave ability to back up my DS save. Been hammering away at GT5 lately, and just started RE5, but been meaning to get back to DS for some time. Still have a few stone types to fill out, along with I think one remaining pure tendency item. Have to look it up though, been a while.

 

[Kyleripman]

Or you could cheese him to death with Souls Arrow. You can lure him to the Penetrator archstone to the point where it cannot follow you, it will turn around and you can Soul Arrow him.

I do have Firestorm, but it's tough to judge the distance needed to use it. I cast it once and he managed to be just inside the ring of fire and avoid getting injured. I'll try again with Soul arrow and see if that helps. I don't have any phantoms because I play offline.

So glad Playstation+ gave ability to back up my DS save.

Wait...can you give me more details about this?

 

[oracrest]

Any tips for fighting the red guy with the shield at the beginning of 1-4? The other two red guys aren't too bad, but all my weapons keep breaking against this one.

If its the spear guy, he will rush, and do a final lunge with his spear. If your stamina isn't enough to block his attack, you might try timing a side dodge as he lunges. Then, you can recover and attack him before he blocks.

Also, it's key to start block/running backwards when he starts his spear run. Good luck.

 

[Zoe]

Is the Small Flame-Scale soul only good as a consumable?

 

[brentech]

Wait...can you give me more details about this?

Newest firmware update opened up cloud backup game saves. Even if the game has locked saves, you can still save to the cloud - just have to wait 24 hours until you can retrieve locked save files.

Says you can upload locked saves as much as you want. The time limit is only for downloading locked saves, but is instant for game saves that don't contain DRM or what not.

Edit: Left out important fact that it's only available to PSN+ members.

 

[GullFire]

Any tips for fighting the red guy with the shield at the beginning of 1-4? The other two red guys aren't too bad, but all my weapons keep breaking against this one.

Lock on and quickly get right up close to his shield side.
Start to circle anti-clockwise immediately.
When he lunges, nail him with a backstab.

 

[Kyleripman]

Thanks for everyone's tips; I got past the three red knights and got all the way to the end of 1-4. After I killed the blue dragon, I read that Ostrava is supposed to meet you and give you the keys to fight Old King Doran. However, after the dragon, the only thing that I ran into was a glowing red guy. I used Firestorm as my first attack on him and he plummeted right off the bridge...so I'm hoping that that wasn't him. Am I SOL on getting to fight Doran?

As an aside, I tried Allant for the first time and died (of course)...that's gonna be a tough one.

Edit: Left out important fact that it's only available to PSN+ members.

Bummer, I don't even have my PS3 connected online usually, I can't justify PSN+ just for backing up one game's save. That really should not be a limited feature.

 

[oracrest]

Thanks for everyone's tips; I got past the three red knights and got all the way to the end of 1-4. After I killed the blue dragon, I read that Ostrava is supposed to meet you and give you the keys to fight Old King Doran. However, after the dragon, the only thing that I ran into was a glowing red guy. I used Firestorm as my first attack on him and he plummeted right off the bridge...so I'm hoping that that wasn't him. Am I SOL on getting to fight Doran?

As long as you haven't already left and re-entered that world more than once, his gear should be available to collect near where he died.

The same happens with Yurt, if you push him off the ledge. His gear will be on the edge if you turn the game off and load in again, or leave and come back.

 

[Kyleripman]

As long as you haven't already left and re-entered that world more than once, his gear should be available to collect near where he died.

The same happens with Yurt, if you push him off the ledge. His gear will be on the edge if you turn the game off and load in again, or leave and come back.

So that really was him? I guess I'm screwed then...I have since died multiple times.

 

[oracrest]

So that really was him? I guess I'm screwed then...I have since died multiple times.

If the real Ostrava wasn't there, he might have died already. Did you help him fight off the red knights right after you opened the portcullis? If you're near the end of your game, you could always just kill him for the key in NG+ 1-1. Doran will be harder though...

 

[Kyleripman]

To be honest, the only time I remember seeing Ostrava was in 1-1, and I think I saved him. He might have died since then, though, or I could be misremembering. Playing through 1-1 is kind of a hazy memory for me, since I was busy coming to terms with the game's mechanics and brutality.

Where all does he appear? Hopefully he is tucked away somewhere and I can still get his goods. I'm definitely nowhere near the end of the game (beat all of Stonefang Tunnel and on the last level obviously of Boletarian Palace).

 

[brentech]

I think it's in 1-3 that after you open the large gate you immediately have to save him from the surrounding goons or he will die.
Again, been a while since I've played, but pretty sure that's 1-3.

 

[Kyleripman]

I think it's in 1-3 that after you open the large gate you immediately have to save him from the surrounding goons or he will die.
Again, been a while since I've played, but pretty sure that's 1-3.

Ah, so his loot is probably gone for good. Well, I guess it's on to Allant!

Is the Small Flame-Scale soul only good as a consumable?

The wiki makes it sound that way (http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/ds-small-flame-scale), and that's what I did, anyway.

 

[oracrest]

To be honest, the only time I remember seeing Ostrava was in 1-1, and I think I saved him. He might have died since then, though, or I could be misremembering. Playing through 1-1 is kind of a hazy memory for me, since I was busy coming to terms with the game's mechanics and brutality.

Where all does he appear? Hopefully he is tucked away somewhere and I can still get his goods. I'm definitely nowhere near the end of the game (beat all of Stonefang Tunnel and on the last level obviously of Boletarian Palace).

He is on that perch in 1-1, underneath the first wall section in 1-2 (you can talk to him through a gate in the corner of the room with all the jellies)

He's also in 1-3, after you open the gate, and finally after the dragon in 1-4.

 

[TheFuryMGS3]

Gaf, whats the consensus on the best class for newcomers? I am staring at the start screen liking the look of the knight.

 

[NEOPARADIGM]

Royal.

 

[theta11]

Temple Knight for Melee, Royal for Casters/Spellswords.

 

[JasoNsider]

Man this game is boss. Still playing it after all this time...a single player game no less! (for the most part). My friend and I have been playing bit-by-bit and we're almost done.

Is this now up for GAF's most active/posted thread of all time? (I'm counting the original OT too) I remember RE4 and Halo threads were up there for a while.

 

[TheFuryMGS3]

I chose a temple knight, this game is amazing! How do I get past the dragon on the skinny bridge that hovers and breathes fire?

 

[2AdEPT]

So that really was him? I guess I'm screwed then...I have since died multiple times.

Yeah, unless you read up on stuff, missing certain KEY acquisitions is inevitable. Ostrava burned me my first playthrough, but never again. I make sure and kill EVERY enemy in the whole level spiraling out from him. I have been tempted to just backstab him in 1.1 to get the key but his gifts are pretty sweet.

Can't believe no one mentioned the Great Sword of Moonlight for your tower shield red guy in 1.4. Totally rocks for A.) the tower shield black phantom (red guy), B.) red-eyed nights, and C.) any invading black phantoms that like to turtle up. Probably my second most used sword in the game....almost forgot....its also boss for anything that has tough armor like the black blobs in 1.1 and 1.2 and the bear bugs in 2.2.

 

[theta11]

I chose a temple knight, this game is amazing! How do I get past the dragon on the skinny bridge that hovers and breathes fire?

My first time through I would run over to where his nest was then run back and sprint across the bridge ignoring the guards. He kills most of the when he sweeps the bridge, so just just let him clear it, run over to nest then once he lands there run back and cross the bridge in 1 go.