Demon's Souls

[DakAttack]

Just wow...

I heard the game was supposed to be 'hardcore' because it's super difficult. It sure is, if by difficult you mean losing hours of hard work because the boss you know nothing about killed you in two hits from across the courtyard, and the next few hours of hard work were pointless because you're too weak to ever reclaim the stuff you lost sitting at the boss' feet. Is that difficulty? Does it help that directly before this boss are two enemies that can both kill you in two hits as well? And before them is a giant fire breathing dragon forcing you into them.

I've never played a game that was so frustrating in my entire life. You progress through what are basically dungeon-like areas defeating enemies, and gaining souls from those enemies. If you happen to die, and you will for even the smallest of reasons, all your souls are dropped right there and you must work your way back through all the same enemies you just killed. The first stage is so long you'll be doing this three or four times.

The rest of the game is great. The combat, while slow, is fluid and you can take advantage of parrying and riposting an enemy or striking them from behind for a critical hit. You can hold a sword and shield, press triangle to two-hand the sword for extra damage, or press the right and left d-pad buttons to switch which weapon you're using the shield with or dual-wield on the fly.

It's all very impressive. But so god damn frustrating.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Demon's Souls

Its pretty clear this game subscribes to a more old-school style of play. As it I'll-kick-your-ass/your-time-investment-means-nothing kind of way. Games like this are usually harder starting out than they eventually end up.

I call it the Matador Factor. Matdor is the boss that murders everyone in SMT Nocturne the first few tries. He comes out of nowhere and kicks your ass. Its not so much that he's hard, its more to the end that you probably hadn't thought the means to beat him yet. The means exist, so the game isn't being too unfair about it, it just the game expects a lot of efficient play out of you and never lets up on that point. And when you figure it out, you kick yourself for not realizing it sooner.

This is a game I will be getting, probably within the next few weeks. I just want it there ready and waiting when I finally get a PS3 and don't want to miss the chance to play it.

[DakAttack]

Re: Demon's Souls

The first two stages are pretty difficult, especially when compared to the first stage of the second level. That place was so easy and profitable. I was surprised that both the booklet that came with the game and the guide that came with my deluxe edition were so light on the details. The guide is just plain wrong in a few places.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's to recruit phantoms when you're alive whenever possible. They're hoping to defeat a boss demon to revive, even if you're there for the first time. It might be a waste of their time if that never happens, but it sure hell isn't a waste of time for you to have that extra protection.

Being alive isn't so great anyways. It's a 25% reduction in health, which seems like a lot, but you'll most likely be overflowing with healing items. There are so many places where an instant death might send you into soul mode that it's a waste to be alive on a level you're unfamiliar with.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Demon's Souls

Atlus USA realized the manual was a tad light on details, so they started a wiki dedicated to the game, here's the link:

Demon's Souls Wiki

[DakAttack]

Re: Demon's Souls

I'd like to rant a little more. I just lost over thirteen-thousand souls because I stepped on a trap in a narrow hallway that activated some sort of Indian Jones arrow-shooting machine gun. I was dead in half a second. It's my fault for not spending all my souls before leaving the nexus, but god damn. Why???

I was messing around with new characters, and I kind of wish I started as a Royal. Soul Arrow is nice, and they start with a badass, rare ring. I wouldn't be the badass level 30 knight that I am now, but I might be a little better equipped to handle more of the bosses I've come up against. Plus, all the farming I've done for souls and ore would be out the window. I think there's a way to transfer items from one character to another, but I'm not sure.

[Balfree]

Re: Demon's Souls

Want this game for the PC nao.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: Demon's Souls

I'd like to rant a little more. I just lost over thirteen-thousand souls because I stepped on a trap in a narrow hallway that activated some sort of Indian Jones arrow-shooting machine gun. I was dead in half a second. It's my fault for not spending all my souls before leaving the nexus, but god damn. Why???

I was messing around with new characters, and I kind of wish I started as a Royal. Soul Arrow is nice, and they start with a badass, rare ring. I wouldn't be the badass level 30 knight that I am now, but I might be a little better equipped to handle more of the bosses I've come up against. Plus, all the farming I've done for souls and ore would be out the window. I think there's a way to transfer items from one character to another, but I'm not sure.

Always run around with your shield up and actually pay attention to what you're walking on. The trap switches are fairly obvious.

Royal is easy mode. What fun is there in playing a challenging game on easy mode?

[Lmnop]

Re: Demon's Souls

It sure is, if by difficult you mean losing hours of hard work because... [unimportant]

Don't give a shit about this game.

[Pwnagraphic]

Re: Demon's Souls

Is it a buy or a rent?

[DakAttack]

Re: Demon's Souls

Always run around with your shield up and actually pay attention to what you're walking on. The trap switches are fairly obvious.

Royal is easy mode. What fun is there in playing a challenging game on easy mode?

Cool tips, bro. I believe if it weren't for my first mistake, I wouldn't have made any others.

What fun is there in playing a game where you're fairly useless? I just started a royal, and within two or three hours I had the first two stages of the first level, and the first stage of the second level complete. Of course, knowing the levels really helps, and I did always bring phantoms as back-up, but after picking my life back up after defeating Phalanx I haven't lost it again. My spells are massive, and I can swing a sword to boot.

Anyways, as for being useless, a lot of the bosses I've come up against would have been much easier if I didn't need to run in and go toe-to-toe. The 2-2 boss is almost impossible to beat as anybody with a melee weapon. I couldn't even hit him with a polearm when I was standing right next to him, locked on. The 5-1 boss wasn't so bad, but you can tell it would have been easier if you didn't need to jump in there with him.

Eventually, it wont matter what class you started off as.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: Demon's Souls

Is it a buy or a rent?

First playthrough can be around 40 hours if you aren't playing on easy mode. If you decide to use all magic or a bow then you can pretty much hide behind things and easily beat every boss without getting touched. The game gets significantly harder with every New Game+ you start so there's replay value in that.



I started as a Barbarian, the only class to start with no equipment but a standard weapon and magic stats so low you'd have to invest 10-20 soul levels in them just to use some basic spells. Played through almost the entire game without magic, towards the end I put a few points into it so I could use the miracle that returns you to the Nexus. Beat every boss in the game with melee attacks only and never once called in a blue phantom for help. Feels good man.

In New Game+ I used the broke ass spell you get for beating the game to farm souls out the ass and rock out the magic stats. After NG+ every stat but the magic ones are mostly useless as they make little difference to your damage output and even max health gets one shotted. I beat the game again in a day by hiding in untouchable spots and flinging ranged attacks at every boss. Feels bad man.


You are free to play it however you want, of course. I just think it's a waste to remove the challenge from a game where the challenge is why it's fun to play.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Demon's Souls

How does one fit 40 hours of play into less than 24, then start new game+? Are there two of you playing and if so, how did you clone yourself because I need another one of me to go help me apply for jobs and catch up on games. I may need three or four of me, actually.

Nice that there's a new game+ feature, though. More RPGs need it.

[DakAttack]

Re: Demon's Souls

Sadly, Tickmeoff isn't far off the mark, it seems. Playing as a royal is pretty easy, and the lack of toe-to-toe risk makes it a little boring as well. I haven't progressed any farther than I have on my knight, but enemies mostly amble around until you're within a certain distance before attempting to attack you, and some don't have a gap-bridging opener. At soul level 22, I took down the red-eyed knight on 1-1 without a scratch on me by taking advantage of his lack of an opener and short attention span. I'll probably end up abusing the poor guy for a while, since he nets a whopping two-thousand souls per kill.

I'm going to move my royal into a more knight-like direction, with heavier armor, or perhaps something lighter that still offers some protection for tangling with enemies. The magic will come in handy for those moments where I want to keep my distance. I can off-hand the Kris for the magic attack bonus.

What weapons are really useful? Everybody and their mother uses polearms, but they're too direct. I've always liked swords, because they can swing wide and pierce if they need to. Axes only seem to swing, while some swords only pierce. I still haven't used a large or extra large weapon, because giving up a shield seems like it would be a huge mistake.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Demon's Souls

I played way too much of the game before the US version but I think I might double dip and start over.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: Demon's Souls

A lot of people like spears because they are direct, other weapons often have really wide swings that can get you fucked if you try to swing at an enemy and accidentally hit the wall in a narrow hallway and bounce off. I never liked spears much so I just used whatever. Towards the end of the game I favored 2 handed swords (Meat Cleaver, mostly) because they swing vertically and are so heavy they knock enemies over. You can one or two hand any weapon, so I carried them one handed with a shield while generally moving/fighting weak shit and switched to two hand for srs business.