Demon's Souls - Spoilers are Harsh. Evaluate me

[Morfiend]

So I have the full game cleared except the boss of 1-4. My character is magicless except for Hide, and uses a Uchigatana +8 and the Dark Steel Shield, with the Lava Bow.

Currently soul level 71.

I think I am going to try and push all the zones in to pure black to get the extra items and the primal demons and crap.

Too bad you aren't using Magic, the Beast Talisman from 2-2 pure black is totally worth it (and awesome).

I have my first character who does us magic, and he is currently black. Going to try and get the Beast Talisman with him, he is soul level 60. I'm trying to decide what weapon I should go for on him. Right now he uses a Dragon Longsword +3 and a Longsword +5. I want to get one of the big swords for him, but I messed up on world 2 and cant get the keel. Also, Faith and Luck are really low, so I think Meat Cleaver and Blueblood are both out of the question. I could go for the Large Sword of Moonlight, but really his best stat is STR at like 32. Magic is at 20.

[ghost]

Well, I finally cleared Phalanx after about fifty hours played.........

Consoles hate me.  Good game.

[schild]

Well, I finally cleared Phalanx after about fifty hours played.........

Consoles hate me.  Good game.

It took you 50 hours to kill... the first boss?

[Typhon]

Don't hate the player... hate the fact that I don't have this game yet.

[ghost]

Well, I finally cleared Phalanx after about fifty hours played.........

Consoles hate me.  Good game.

It took you 50 hours to kill... the first boss?

Okay, so a bit of exaggeration, but it did take a while. 

A couple of thoughts so far:

1.  I can see this game getting very grindy.  Maybe not, but it does seem possible.

2.  Soul arrow is almost 100% necessary. 

[Ard]

2.  Soul arrow is almost 100% necessary. 

Is not.  My girlfriend is just about to finish the game with a character with zero magic memorization slots.  She does however use a bow a fair amount, but she's mostly melee based (spear/tower shield). 

Don't make me pull out a "you're getting beaten by a girl".

[Falconeer]

Nothing is a true necessity in this game and that is what makes it GRRRREAT.

Sure, you can do better with certain weapons against certain enemies or boss, but getting better, smarter and faster does better than any weapon.

That said, the most useful skill in the game is the Summon and the Blue Stone. If anything is mandatory, that is multiplaying.

[ghost]

Soul Arrow is a 100% necessity for..........Ghost

I'm not a console gamer typically.  Seriously, ranged of any kind makes this game about a thousand times easier.  My barbarian just sucks.  It is like a melee glass cannon.

[Morfiend]

Soul Arrow is a 100% necessity for..........Ghost

I'm not a console gamer typically.  Seriously, ranged of any kind makes this game about a thousand times easier.  My barbarian just sucks.  It is like a melee glass cannon.

I started with a pure melee guy, and the first level was brutally hard for me. When I picked up Soul Arrow I was amazed how much easier it was. Then on my second guy, I bypassed magic altogether and went with bows. Wow, they are way better that Soul Arrow.

The game actually gets easier as you figure out the play style needed and get more acquainted with it. I probably had more trouble with the first level than any other. Keep at it man.

[Arinon]

Hardest thing for me was the 2-2 boss.  Mind you I haven't went back to him on another char now that I have much more experience with the game.  A lot of the later bosses seem really weak and totally killable the first time you meet them.

[Morfiend]

Hardest thing for me was the 2-2 boss.  Mind you I haven't went back to him on another char now that I have much more experience with the game.  A lot of the later bosses seem really weak and totally killable the first time you meet them.

The bosses that gave me the most trouble was Tower Knight and Maneater. I didnt have much problems with Flamelurker, but I managed to kind of cheese him by getting him stuck behind some of the bones.

[ghost]

Any recommendations for the blue eyed Knights?  Those seem to be the guys that are kicking my ass the most.

[apocrypha]

Timing. Their main damaging attacks are very slow with an obvious wind-up, just dodge them then stab them in the back. When you're out of range or in a position where they won't hit you then lower your shield to speed stamina recovery. Parry can work very well with them too but your timing has to be impeccable.

Lock-on is not always a good idea either - you want to roll to dodge their attacks so that you end up behind them, which is much easier to do when not locked-on.

[Falconeer]

And don't attack him when he's walking slowly with his shield up. He'll parry and cut you to your doom. Wait for him doing the first move.

The trickiest part when I was a weakling for me was in 1-2, with two blue-eyed knights at the end of a bridge burned to crisps by a dragon and protected by archers. A good tactic there is to slowly lure them on the bridge, and as soon as you hear the dragon wings flapping UNLOCK target and run back towards the archers: blue eyed knight hot steak.

[Yegolev]

I'd add that you would want to use a thrust attack or some sort versus armored enemies.  He's a bitch due to his arcing attacks and you have to watch it when dodging.  I haven't decided if the one with the shield is worse than the one with the claymore or not.  The one with the shield is a pain in the ass to damage, but the one with the claymore will fuck your shit very quickly.

[Morfiend]

Any recommendations for the blue eyed Knights?  Those seem to be the guys that are kicking my ass the most.

Be patient. Watch their attack animations. They have 4 basic attacks:

1) Swing, Swing. Pause.
2) GRRRRAAARRGGG SWING. Pause.
3) Charge attack.
4) Shield swipe.

They sometimes chain them together. The one you have to watch out for is the charge attack quickly followed by pattern 1. I use a bate method. I move in close, then back out. Trying to bate him to do attack 1 or 2. After he does it, you can usually get off two hits before rolling away. When you see him stop to heal, smack him quickly if you can.

Patience is the best tactic on these guys. Also, try to keep your stamina full and your shield up.

[Ard]

Any recommendations for the blue eyed Knights?  Those seem to be the guys that are kicking my ass the most.

Alternately, if you're high strength and two handing a spear or halberd, or maybe a great sword, you can do what I did and instead be super aggressive by doing a running charge in to break his block and just hammering him down into oblivion.  If you're strong enough, you'll kill him on your last hit as you run out of stamina, before he has a chance to recover.

[LK]

Learn to watch those guys and their slow movements. The enemies  you face later will be ten times worse in speed and wind-up time, so much so when you come back to this area these blue eyed knights will seem trivial.

[Rasix]

Any recommendations for the blue eyed Knights?  Those seem to be the guys that are kicking my ass the most.

The third soul arrow will break their guard. CHEESE.

[ghost]

Any recommendations for the blue eyed Knights?  Those seem to be the guys that are kicking my ass the most.

The third soul arrow will break their guard. CHEESE.

Yeah, with soul arrow they are easy mode.  Not too bad with ranged either.  Pure melee they are tough.

[Azuredream]

I just got this in and played it for a few hours. So far, the aspect I am most liking is the Resident Evil/Silent Hill effect. I was playing through 3-1 in total darkness and the place just oozes creepiness between the zombies, the background noises (zombie lurches/SAAAVE MEEE), and the I-don't-even-know-whats that can paralyze you then OMNOMNOM.

One thing I wish is if it could at least give me "you should probably be around this soul level to try this area, unless you're very good" since I feel like I'm just picking an area out of a hat (2-2, 3-1, 4-1, ??) and seeing if I can beat it.

[Falconeer]

Freedom of choice is a good thing at times. There's plenty of handholding games, hats off to the few that require decisions.
Other than that, it's pretty much 1 = easier and 4 = harder. Wet your feet, try for yourself and be independent!

[Falconeer]

How do I take the weapon in 2-3, Dragon God room, behind the rubble? Wiki says you need pure white soul. Since it's not so easy to understand your soul degree of whiteness, I assumed I had pure white as the monumental kid gave me the friend's ring, something the wiki says is only awarded to pure whiters. Then, I get into the Dragon God room and the rubble is still there and the sword still impossible to get. Ideas, so we can even correct the wiki eventually?

[schild]

How do I take the weapon in 2-3, Dragon God room, behind the rubble? Wiki says you need pure white soul. Since it's not so easy to understand your soul degree of whiteness, I assumed I had pure white as the monumental kid gave me the friend's ring, something the wiki says is only awarded to pure whiters. Then, I get into the Dragon God room and the rubble is still there and the sword still impossible to get. Ideas, so we can even correct the wiki eventually?

If you logged out in the Nexus, your tendency got reset.

Known bug. Sucks. Never log out in the nexus.

[Falconeer]

Uhm, no log out. I took the friend ring and IMMEDIATELY went to the Dragon God and rubble is still there. So either you don't need pure white to get the friend ring, or pure white is not the only thing you need to clear the rubble.

Are you supposed to just get in the room, take a left and the rubble is not there, or pure white opens a DIFFERENT path to that sword?

[schild]

Uhm, no log out. I took the friend ring and IMMEDIATELY went to the Dragon God and rubble is still there. So either you don't need pure white to get the friend ring, or pure white is not the only thing you need to clear the rubble.

Are you supposed to just get in the room, take a left and the rubble is not there, or pure white opens a DIFFERENT path to that sword?

What? you get the friend ring from the Monumental when you, yourself, as a character, are pure white. Character Tendency and World Tendency are two different things. Dude, wiki, read the world tendency part.

[Falconeer]

Character Tendency and World Tendency are two different things. Dude, wiki, read the world tendency part.

Oh fuck. My non-English speaking brain must have skipped the difference between character and world tendency. Wiki or not, can't believe how confusing this is especially by looking at the in game screen and the known bug you are mentioning.

Back to the wiki, which I thought I read too many times.

[Morfiend]

Yeah, schild is correct, you get the friend ring for being pure white character, and the keel smasher for having pure white world. That is one of the two aspects that I think they could have done better. The  tendency is confusing, and has a "tendency" (pun intended) to reset its self. I havent logged out in the nexus since I found out about that. Last night when I logged in (in 1-1) on one of my characters, it had reset ALL worlds to neutral. Also, I found that when I got world 5 to white tendency, it carried over to all my other characters, although, only world 5, no others.

Also, on my main guy, I used the death trick to bring world 2 down to pure black tendency. I was going for one of the Black Phantoms, and I accidently fell off a ledge. When I respawned the world had reset its self to neutral.

Oh yeah, and Ostrava is missing on one of my characters, so I cant get the key. 

[ghost]

Well, I'm sure it was the pep talk, but I ran through to beat Phalanx on my first try with a wanderer tonight, including all three blue knights.  Or maybe it was the rum 

[Morfiend]

Well, I'm sure it was the pep talk, but I ran through to beat Phalanx on my first try with a wanderer tonight, including all three blue knights.  Or maybe it was the rum 

I love my Wanderer, he is my highest level character. Soul level 90ish. Wields a +10 Uchigatana and the Dark steel shield, with the Lava Bow.

[Falconeer]

Is it me or the False King sucks your levels and stats away?

Stinks, especially when you can't equip some weaponry anymore after the treatment.
Is there some sort of a known tactics/trick to prevent that?

[Falconeer]

We (me and the son) completed the game today.

And we already have a little digital hole in our lives.
This game is SO GOOD that it's hard to explain to whoever didn't play it.

First, it's the first game that really sucked my son in, since forever.
Second, it's the first game where the action, the combat, is so good and satisfying that you are sad it's over and can't wait to start again in NG+. Loot, exploration, levels. They arenothing compared to the pure experience of just fighting.

It'll take a while to wash away the feeling of what DS'S has been, and as I said elsewhere, swords will never be the same again.

A few complaints:

1) I hoped NG+ could do a little more than just giving you the same identical game with better equipment. Actually, so far it is even easier than our first run through the game. Does it has anything new? No new equipment, no new bosses, I don't think it has any new Black Phantom either, as those are just tied to world tendency. So well, I am glad the game let you go on after the ending, and yes fighting is better than achievements, but it would have been nice to have something, anything new other than North Regalia after a restart.

2) Too many bosses can't realize you are arrowing them to death, or just can't react. First few that comes to my mind: Armor Spider, Leechmonger, Maiden Astraea, the huge dragon in 1-4. All those bosses can be sniped with a basic bow and basic arrow without them being able to lay a finger on you. The cheater who hides in my son easily found those exploits and while he was all happy about it I felt a bit sad. My favourite boss fights have been Phalanx and Flamelurker. After that, it all became too easy with exploits or summoned Blue Phantoms able to destroy them in thre hits or something.


But the point of this post is not complaining.
Demon's Souls is over for us, and it has been the best videogaming experience I had in such a long time. And the best ever for my 14 son. And we'll keep coming back there, just to smash the Brand on the ground, or to have a fair fight with the three red knights in 1-3, or hoping for a cool one with a daring human Black Phantom. Oh, it would have been silly, but how much I would have loved an "arena" option, that quickly pairs you with a random someone for a quick duel! Better than Soul Calibur.

But it's over. Sadly, it is. And now that swords are forever different, there's hoping for a Demon's Souls 2. Or else, eternal sadness.

[Arinon]

Something that bothers me more and more as I play is how good the Cling Ring is.  You spend so much time in Soul Form and that ring is pretty much 100% required.  Lots of other cool rings but it's always Cling + 1.

Other then that gripe I agree this game is wicked.

[schild]

Something that bothers me more and more as I play is how good the Cling Ring is.  You spend so much time in Soul Form and that ring is pretty much 100% required.  Lots of other cool rings but it's always Cling + 1.

Other then that gripe I agree this game is wicked.

The cling ring is the only real set of training wheels in the game. I didn't even carry it on my third character.

[Morfiend]

1) I hoped NG+ could do a little more than just giving you the same identical game with better equipment.

I agree that NG+ is a little disappointing in that respect, but I have been trying to get the hard upgrades and stuff and trying out new weapons. Also, I have had an absolute blast doing coop and fighting off Black Phantoms. Although on my alt who I play as a Black Phantom, I suck. I think I have 2 kills and about 30 losses. I dont think he is built to be a good Black Phantom.

Oh, it would have been silly, but how much I would have loved an "arena" option, that quickly pairs you with a random someone for a quick duel! Better than Soul Calibur.

If you finish the game with the "evil" ending, you can get a Redeye Stone. This puts a red message on the ground, and allows a person to summon you as a black phantom so you can PVP with them. I am planning on grabbing this at the end of NG+.