Demon's Souls - Spoilers are Harsh. Evaluate me

[schild]

This thread is where spoiler discussion of the game goes. Also, spoiler-like discussion of item crafting, demon soul usage, level spoilers, etc. The other thread will be relegated to non-spoiler generica.

On Thursday I will publish a non-spoiler discussion/article of the game. In one week I will be making a post talking about the storyline and such. It will be spoiler heavy.

So, if you want to read it, I suggest finishing the game (fucking WORTH IT).

Edit: ANY question asked that I can answer I will answer, spoiler tag it though just to be nice to people. Feel free to even denote (outside of the spoiler) which world the spoiler is about (i.e. 1-1 or Boletaria Palace, or 4-1 Shrine of Storms and whathaveyou).

Edit 2: Yes, we needed a third thread. If any game in the last 5 years deserved 3, it's this one.

[schild]

Alright. I think I've logged enough hours to write my "thing". Inc.

[Velorath]

Edit 2: Yes, we needed a third thread. If any game in the last 5 years deserved 3, it's this one.

Does this (and now the review) officially qualify f13 as a Demon's Souls fansite now?

[Falconeer]

There are mobs that lower your soul level

WHAT!?

[Yegolev]

I met Phalanx last night.  I hacked at him for a good while before I decided that was a chump's game.  Currently amassing a stock of firebombs.

[Moaner]

I finally got to play again last night after a week and a half break (fucking work).  I thought I had killed Flamelurker, but apparently not.  After a few tries I beat his ass and am now deciding whether I'm going to work on 3-1 or 4-1 next. 

Hurray for 3 days off!

[schild]

Edit 2: Yes, we needed a third thread. If any game in the last 5 years deserved 3, it's this one.

Does this (and now the review) officially qualify f13 as a Demon's Souls fansite now?

The game came out a month ago. It's the best console game I've ever played. There are some folks in the MMOG forum still talking about things like Darkfall and KMMOGs. Ask yourself, which would you rather have. And if gamers knew what was good for them, DS would be the only game they were talking about anyway for a good few months as their ain't anything else coming out that deserves it more.

[Falconeer]

Hell. A thread about "The next Blizzard MMOG" reached page two in 20 minutes and you are complaining about Demon's Souls? A game which Blizzard, by the way, could never do. But if they did it, you wouldn't have 3 threads and a review. You'd have hysterical masses founding new religions.

[Nonentity]

If From Software and Blizzard Entertainment ever worked together on a game, their design philosophies would clash so hard, a rift would be torn in the universe and demon bunnies would fly out of it.

[Velorath]

Hell. A thread about "The next Blizzard MMOG" reached page two in 20 minutes and you are complaining about Demon's Souls?

Not complaining.  It actually was enough to finally push me into picking up a PS3 and ordering the game off ebay.

[Yegolev]

Well, I firebombed the shit out of Phalanx then tupentined his ass a bit and now I'm alive again.  From my brief visit to the burrowers' tunnel and the tower, it won't last.

How do I tell which area is #2, #3, etc?  Am I not looking in the right place or do I just need to know the code?  I think I want to go to 2-1 because I think that is where the other blacksmith is, but taking peeks is hazardous to my health.

[schild]

They're in order from left to right

    3

2      4

1      5

[Yegolev]

Oh shit.

[LK]

Phalanx doesn't require fire to beat. Just kill the minions that make up his body by attacking them from the rear when they fall off the main mass.

[Yegolev]

Phalanx doesn't require fire to beat. Just kill the minions that make up his body by attacking them from the rear when they fall off the main mass.

You'll admit that firebombs make this go much faster, yes?

[LK]

Sure. I guess that's the only time they are useful too.

[Falconeer]

Turpentine makes Phalanx criminally satisfying.

[Azazel]

Edit 2: Yes, we needed a third thread. If any game in the last 5 years deserved 3, it's this one.

Make a subforum for this, until interest dies off.

[schild]

Edit 2: Yes, we needed a third thread. If any game in the last 5 years deserved 3, it's this one.

Make a subforum for this, until interest dies off.

I don't see a reason for that unless it gets a US release. Too many people here are afraid to import or don't want to buy a PS3 for an import.

[Strazos]

Phalanx doesn't require fire to beat. Just kill the minions that make up his body by attacking them from the rear when they fall off the main mass.

You'll admit that firebombs make this go much faster, yes?

You know what's better? 2-handed spear, turpentine, R2 attack from point-blank range.

[apocrypha]

* apocrypha emerges from 5 solid days playing this game, blinking like a gitmo hostage having the hood taken off.

Multiplayer in this game is just fantastic. I really didn't like the implementation at first for the same reasons others have stated, i.e. the effective inability to play with specific people, but after a week of it I love it. Why? Because it doesn't break the fourth wall. These are other trapped souls you're summoning, you're at the mercy of the Nexus and the deep fog. This game is so harsh you don't even get a compass let alone a map, so if the multiplayer was any different it just wouldn't fit.

I've had some awesome sessions with total strangers who I will never play with again. We've had epic battles against giant demons, tense cat & mouse games with black phantoms (both victorious and not so) and ludicrous clownshoes falling-off-of cliff 30 seconds after summoning 2 blue phantoms moments.

I can safely say that without the online component I wouldn't have made it through my first playthrough. My reactions are crappy and I am, for sure, actually very bad at this game (still haven't managed to beat the tutorial boss!) but it's still possible to make it through with help. Oh and I missed vast amounts of stuff so there's going to be multiple playthoughs, no doubt :)

One word of caution - after your first playthrough the new game+ is HARSH. I've got a semi-decently kitted out, soul level 120ish, katana-wielding, spell-casting fucking ninja and I'm getting 1-shotted in 2-1 and 3-1 on new game+. Oh and I learned how to do backstabs yesterday 

[Quinton]

I should make more use of the online stuff.  I've been invaded by a black phantom once (almost got her!), and summoned a blue phantom once who helped with the 2-1 boss, but otherwise have done 1-1, 1-2, 2-1 (minus the boss), 3-1, and most of 4-1 now on my own.  Slow going at times, and I'm gradually improving (both player skill and character power) but I still die an awful lot.  It remains fun though!

[Falconeer]

I only killed a black phantom while in blue form (helping someone else). Do you get anything other than sheer satisfaction by killing them? Seemed to me you don't, and that kinda sucks.

[apocrypha]

Killing a black phantom shifts your character and world tendency towards white.

[Azazel]

Make a subforum for this, until interest dies off.

I don't see a reason for that unless it gets a US release. Too many people here are afraid to import or don't want to buy a PS3 for an import.

How many of the f13 regulars have this now?

It's now on my (small) list of "get this when I get a PS3" games.

[Falconeer]

 

Killing a Black Phantom in 3-1, on your own, is the most blood-pumping videogaming experience I had since... not even sure! First Player Killer in UO? 10 years!

To answer myself, I got 1983 souls out of this fucker so apparently they reward you somehow. Just wonder how are they calculated or if I only got what he was carrying. That would be dumb, cause as in pure UO/Shadowbane style you should only pay attention to spend all your souls before going out on a Black (Phantom) Op to avoid any consequence on a failed world invasion.

Ah, a silly question I always forget to ask: how do you see what tendency you have? I know there's a screen for it but the "world stones" there look like a mixture of white and black and can't really figure out how they are supposed to look when they get blacker or whiter. I guess I am still completely neutral but the appearance of the stones is still confusing.

And seriously, this game is unbelievable. It doesn't stop. Me and the son are what, 40 hours in? Still loving it as if it was the first hour. Aware of having only scratched the surface and completely intoxicated with the lonely ghastly feeling of this unique piece of a multiplayer game.

Seriously, if you miss this one then you deserve all the Darkfalls in the world.


EDIT: And this is not in the thread I wanted it to be.

[schild]

Were you invaded or was it the one in front of the church? If so, that one always spawns (like the two down in 2-2) so that you get a black eye stone.

[Falconeer]

I was invaded. I got an invasion notification (it was just right after I got in, first room, seriously it was basically on the nexus stone) and this numbnut had a name. It really looked an played like an idiot, not even the slightest hint of artificial intelligence.

(like the two down in 2-2)

What? Down where?!

[apocrypha]

how do you see what tendency you have?

You check the wiki 

Basically you can't really tell unless you are pure black or pure white, then it'll be obvious on the tendency screen. If you've got the Demonbrand and Soulbrand swords then their bonuses change with your tendency but you won't have them until quite late in the game.

[Falconeer]

Place: 3-1
The gaffe: I killed liar
Cause: Son was enraging me exactly to that purpose.

Question: How bad is it? What did I lost forever?

[schild]

Place: 3-1
The gaffe: I killed liar
Cause: Son was enraging me exactly to that purpose.

Question: How bad is it? What did I lost forever?

Who is liar? What?

You mean the zombie?

You have to kill him. You can't beat the boss until you do.

[Falconeer]

Seriously?!

But was I supposed to talk with him before the kill or anything? A sign on the ground (a fake, I guess) said "good guy" and he didn't really aggroed me. He was standing by some magical yellow circle or something when I landed my shameful pre-emptive strike. When he died in 2 shots, without never presenting a threat, I felt empty and wrong.

[schild]

You're supposed to.

And yes, you have to kill him to finish the level (and before you kill the Doll).

[Velorath]

I told schild the day after I started playing that I thought soul arrow was a bit OP, and he told me to play through more of the game before I said that.  Having gone through over half of the areas now, I feel the need to correct the statement, by saying that ranged attacks in general are OP.  Having fully upgraded my bow to a lava bow, I was able to breeze through 4-2 just now, taking maybe two or three hits total in the process.  I can snipe the reaper in the first room in three shots for an easy 5000 souls (counting his shadowmen who also die when you kill him) using just the cheap 5 or 10 soul cost arrows with zero risk to myself.  Even the boss never even got close to hitting me (of course it helps that the guy is blind).  The whole area is pretty trivial for me to farm now for huge amounts of souls (that more than offset the price of the arrows.

Now I realize that I'm using one of the more powerful weapons in the game (although it's pretty easy to get), but even with some of the best melee weapons you're still putting yourself at some risk.  I could do a lot of the same stuff with a weaker bow, it would just take more time.  I also understand that ranged attacks aren't viable in every situation (small areas for instance), but for the most part it seems pretty imbalanced compared to melee.

[schild]

I can snipe the reaper in the first room in three shots for an easy 5000 souls (counting his shadowmen who also die when you kill him)

This is the preferred method of grinding in the game. Your first time through, all ranged attacks are pretty great - though they suck for some situations. Your second time through the game (NG+) is an explorative journey of self-discovery on realizing you used ranged as a crutch for far too long. Lava bow is, in fact, awesome.